danny’s space

ahhhh i love the rain… the musty smell it leaves behind.. the muddiness of jaz’s paws on my pants.. and also it means that the damn BP demolition/construction site opposite our house ceases to operate - at least for a while, until the water dries up and it’s back to TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT at 8 o’clock in the morning.. it’s perfect timing, the time of year when everything is due and students need to work long hours..

cityrail seems to be slipping in terms of on-time running again.. what a pity, but not unexpected.. i swear, if cityrail ran the NYE countdown, it’d probably go: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 7, 3, 2, 6, 15, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 0..

okay, siesta over.. ah what am i talking about, i take a 10 minute siesta every 5 minutes.. it does wonders for productivity..

the 12 step program of how not to meet your potential honours supervisor

step 1: walk to wentworth in 50 degree heat and slouch on a chair, trying to get some papers read
step 2: get a call from a private number 20 minutes after the hour
step 3: find out that it’s the dean of science on the phone, and that you’re 20 minutes late for your first meeting to discuss honours projects for next year
step 4: apologise profusely for the confusion, saying his secretary had told you that the meeting was tomorrow
step 5: gather up stuff
step 6: powerwalk to carslaw in 50 degree heat, climb 2 flights of stairs, arrive in air conditioned corridoor outside dean’s office sweaty and puffing
step 7: walk into dean’s office, secretary greets you and says ‘oh so you’re danny’
step 8: walk into dean’s room, interrupting him as he’s planning his week
step 9: talk to dean about honours projects
step 10: get a call on your mobile from moo which you forgot to put on silent, feel embarassed, quickly whip out your mobile and turn it off
step 11: continue talking
step 12: thank dean, call him professor, walk out of office while he says ‘people call me david’

well… no okay it wasn’t that bad, david’s a nice guy.. and it’s good to see another plant scientist who understands the battle between biochemists and molecular biologists and plant scientists.. and he wasn’t intimidating at all, being the dean and stuff.. actually very friendly and talkative..

in other news.. on the way home on the train between central and town hall, another train pulled up alongside the train that i was in (because the tracks are parallel) running in the same direction.. this kid in the other train sees me looking out the window and puts his finger up and pokes his tongue out.. and i look at him weirdly, trying to ignore him.. and then he proceedes to get up from his chair, turn around, faces his backside towards me, and well, yes..

today was way too hot.. jaz was flossing her teeth with this length of garden wire she found somewhere.. just found out that a lecture on friday is cancelled, which means… NO UNI ON FRIDAY WOOT.. litty is luckier, having only a 2 day week thanks to thursday off and a public holiday monday and also this cancelled lecture..

hooray! i’m going to waste the whole day procrastinating anyway, but at least i get to procrastinate earlier..

this warm weather is annoying.. insects and other creepy crawlies (the emphasis on creepy), in a desperate attempt to get out of this unexpected heat wave, constantly invade the house now.. it’s probably partly our fault for not using that exterior surface spray thing, but with jaz busy licking and chewing everything within snout height that could get ugly..

so i walk into my room and switch on the light.. straight away this huge ugly moth bears down on me from the ceiling, decides that my face is actually not the source of light, and as in frantically duck out of the way in an attempt to avoid getting bombed with a zillion dirty moth scales, it zooms back up towards the ceiling towards the light that hangs from the centre of it..

now begins 15 minutes of activity that’s comparable with the amount of exercise i’ve done these holidays.. thinking i could whack the moth to death with a big wooden stick, i grab one from under my desk (don’t ask me why i have them there…) and wrap a tissue around the end.. but alas the moth has sensitive thingos on its antennae and detected the stick a mile off..

i bet it couldn’t beat a fine, gas-propelled mist of tasty baygon though

so for the next little while, we played a game of dodge.. i was actually the one doing the dodging - i hate moths, and their dusty scaly bodies and the crap that explodes off them every time they stupidly smash into the light or a wall.. so a few hundred bursts of baygon later, after leaving wet patches of insecticide on walls and fixtures where i sprayed a bit too fervently, it was moth down..

unfortunately my eyes and lungs took a hit as well - but hey, at least my nemesis for the night was obliterated.. i gingerly took 3 pieces of 2-ply tissue paper and wrapped the fat moth up, and threw it disgustedly into its plastic bag grave..

eww

on a slightly different note, holidays are ending, so sad.. back to uni tomorrow for another 4 weeks which will undoubtedly whizz by way too quickly - kind of good and bad, mostly bad.. but good because that means the big long holidays are coming up! but bad because it means assessments and stuvac and exams are hindering the onset of those much-needed holidays.. ah, the bludge that is to come..

my goodness, where to start…

this past week has gone by much too quickly for my liking, too much bludging and not enough work.. i guess that’s what holidays are for anyway, so maybe i’ve actually achieved what a holiday actually means.. unfortunate isn’t it?

so last night was my 21st.. being the pessimist, i was envisaging segregated cliches of friends who would each sit in their own little corner and chat amongst themselves.. who would have thought that i had so many friendly friends! by the feel of it, i think everyone had a good night although the food service kind of stopped half an hour early because everyone eats way too fast and i didn’t think of catering for more people..

but food (as important as it is) aside, many kudos and thanks must go out to everyone who was there and a few that were not.. (where does the apostrophe go in werent? mental blank..)

in no particular order:

thanks to sara and her mum for finding the place and organising cake and for driving and stuff - couldn’t have done it without you.. great speech as well, although i think people were laughing at me rather than with me :P plus good work organising that massive chip-in present that will keep me entertained for ages to come.. and hopefully get me places relatively on time.. thanks for being such a tolerant loving partner over these last few years - don’t know what i’d do without you..

thanks of course to nerd con (moo, joe, bazz, chap, xing, alex, smok) for organising the nerdy powerpoint and avi’s and photo book.. each presentation that nc does improves by the 21st - we won’t however be able to do moo justice at his since he’s the g33k although joe’s apparently moo’s jedi apprentice in this regards.. thanks nerds for putting up with me over the past 9 years (that’s 42.8% of our lives) and for all the fun times and memories - much more still to come i’m sure..

thanks to liz and ken for being great pals and support and encouragement at uni and for speaking - although i do protest at the out of context snippets about giggling and taking snapshots of ed’s hairy legs.. there’s always a good cover-up story hehe.. thanks for the fun times in lab (eg ken spilling acid all over his lab book and blood all over the bench) and in eu (eg getting lost on the way to the science weekend away)..

thanks to the church bunch (so many! umm.. alex wu, amy, poon, chap, charis, cheuky, chris x2, nuggy, dennis, derek, henry, karen, marcus, phil & fiona, ray, rita, sara, ming, sarah, vinci, –insert your name here if i’ve missed you–) for being such open, friendly, caring brothers and sisters.. it’s been great having fun and fellowship together and i’m sure God will use us powerfully according to his plans..

thanks likewise to the eu lot (or little.. iain, dee, poker, albie, maggie, liz) for the great fellowship we’ve been able to have over the last 3 years

thanks to the few sydney-based olympiad friends (liz, ken & anna, the anna with the 7.2mp camera, vince) and for guangy who called - fun times in canberra! ingenious presents too, what with the stargate dvds wrapped in newspaper wrapped in newspaper wrapped in liquorland paper bag wrapped in stjohn bag wrapped in newspaper ad nauseum.. and the toilet tissue holder.. and the hammock! now all i need are two trees :P

thanks to litty, cavegirl, libby & eric, deng, shirley & tommy, tracy & steve as well.. litty my only uni friend hahaha, cavegirl for being such a fun sister in Christ, libby & eric finally got to meet him! thanks for the great times in high school as well, same goes to deng, shirley, tracy.. and their miscellaneous attachments like tommy and steve haha.. thanks :P

thanks also to those who couldn’t make it (not saying that you weren’t wanted there!) like aaron, howie, alfie, kylynn, alex chan, john, jon, guangy, nick, sarax, shereen, sean & julia, loz, lenny, etc - thanks for being great friends but i’m sorry to say that i’ll have to disown you now since you couldn’t be bothered coming last night..

no, just kidding..

i hope i haven’t missed anyone but knowing me and names i probably have.. thanks everyone for a great night and for not using up all the bar tab :P i think the guy was a bit sad that we didn’t drink some more..

thanks for the assorted gifts as well - stargate dvds (stargate fest!), shiny pens to sign bankrupcy forms with, a watch and 6 sticks of dynamite, photo book, simpsons poker set, roald dahl’s book with that fantastic title, john stott’s book, crystal trees, jelly beans (food !), hammock, the dog toilet paper holder, and of course the satnav (woah)..

but of course your presence was the best present of all (i smell corn) so thanks for all those who turned up! thanks especially to those who turned up without being paid off..

anyway, i hope this post posts not that anyone would have survived to the end of this post.. thanks for a great night and i’ll be seeing y’all around hopefully!

argh back to ‘work’.. which means playing texas hold’em online.. blasted addictinggames.com..

hmm i must admit though, 21st’s are a strange experience.. everyone should have one if not only so that their friends can tell dodgy untruthful stories about them.. it’s strange having so many eyes fixed on people talking about you and seeing so many photos of yourself - you do get sick of looking at yourself after a while.. either that or you grow to love yourself too much.. both are dangerous :P but no a great experience 21st’s are nonetheless.. like blogging! well, not quite..