Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jace]

Yay new job!

Me too!

o/

I also have a new job
\o
o/

[Rizzo]

 Im back from hospital, brainmeat somewhat intact. Posting this from my phone at my parents house. Probably wont be on gabbly for a while till I get my computer from my flat.
tired as but almost feeling myself again...

[celticgeek]

Hooray.  Having your brainmeat intact is good. 

[Patrick]

Yes. Yes it is.

[Ladybug]

There is nothing worse than group assignments at university. I think the staff at mine have realised this though, if we do anything in a group its working on a problem question in class with the people you happen to be sitting next to.

Uni here pretty much loves group assignments and group work, because they love to highlight the fact that once we graduate and start working, we'll most likely be working in teams. We even have a full class called Experts in Teamwork, which is mandatory for everyone taking a Master's degree. We're all put into interdisciplinary "villages", and then interdisciplinary groups within the village, and 50% of the grade is based on a "process report" – which describes our process and the outcome of various process exercises and team exercises and yadayada – while the other 50% is based on a "project report", and the project often has nothing to do with what we're actually studying. I was not a fan of that class, but mostly because I had one person in my group who is seriously the most annoying person I have ever met in my entire life.

Then, of course, there are other project-based classes where you have a semester-long project done within a group that makes up the whole grade. These can sometimes be okay, but that depends a lot on the group you're placed in. I have been lucky so far, but I know other people who have had huge problems. But these things are often okay, because they span the entire semester so you have to plan things out etc. What has almost never been a success, though, is group-based assignments in classes where the assignments are just a requirement for taking the exam, especially if there are few assignments. For some reason, it just does not seem to work.

[jodizzle]

Guys guys guys we got all our TCR merch yesterday!  It all bizarrely was dleivered (from 3 differnet places) on the same day.  My desk at work was surrounded by giant boxes and my boss thougth I was a bit mad.

BUT IT IS EXCITING!  I AM MERCH OVERLORD AND I HAVE PRETTY THINGS!

(Jordan I will totes be sending you and Amanda a derby care package when I get around to it and have slightly more money to buy my own merch. haha)

[Barmymoo]

Group work sounds weird. I mean, we did some of that shit in secondary school but never for exams. In fact the whole system goes out of its way to make sure there is no. possible. way. anyone could have helped you in any form. I'm kind of glad, I hate group work for exactly the reasons you're suffering.


Woke up with brain fog again, and slept through two lectures. Now I'm into the four hour library time and I'm still not dressed. Today isn't going great.

[Inlander]

• Went out to a local bar to do some writing.
• Bar was awesome; wrote 700 or so words, thus completing chapter 2 of my current manuscript and completing my day's writing target.
• The only other person in the bar was a pretty girl.
• Chatted to her for a while.
• Managed to make myself sound knowledgable, witty, and self-deprecating.
• Recognised her.
• Found out she works at my local cinema.
• Managed to recognise when it was time to exit from the conversation and leave the girl in peace instead of lingering awkwardly.
• Came home and it was still only ten o'clock.
• Good night.

[Lines]

Holy crap Linds are you actually me circa 1999?

It kind of was like a weird flashback kind of night, so maybe!

[Graphite]

Dear blog thread,
It is now 4.38 in the morning, and I am awake sitting next to my grandfather's hospital bed while he is sleeping, because he hates being left alone in hospitals. Hopefully later today he is going to have fluid removed from his lungs for the second time in two months. This chair is not nearly comfortable enough to fall asleep in. This is what brings me to you.

[schimmy]

I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite so distressing as visiting sick relatives in hospital. I hope he recovers soon.

[Graphite]

Thanks I really feel worse for the guy in the next bed over, though - at least my grandfather's intellectually acute basically all the time and doesn't have a speech impediment that makes nurses treat him like a petulant toddler.

[redglasscurls]

You know? I really can't stand my job.

[Edith]

I wish Groupon had job openings I didn't have to move for. And that I was remotely qualified for any of the jobs they have.

[Barmymoo]

EEEEEEEEEEED.

In other news, I just got blu-tak in my mouth because I forgot that I'd dropped a bit into my drink earlier and not wanted to waste it by throwing an entire glass of juice away. Ugh.

[Lines]

It's an Edith!

[Barmymoo]

It's the best Edith.

[Lines]

And the best Edith is our Edith!

[Joseph]

I have an old friend coming to visit me tonight and am leaving for the train station soon. I have plans for tomorrow night to drink beer (including hopefully delicious beer that a friend of John's gave me) and have a bonfire outside. It snowed the other night and it was really pretty and it didn't stick around to get icy and annoying. I have a couple classes which are really awesome and the professors are giving me good grades for some reason. I haven't bothered figuring out my research project for next semester yet, so right now I don't have anything to stress about there. I just found a book I really wanted to read and I'm really enjoying things I'm reading besides. Halloween was great and my costume was a decent success until part of it went missing. In a couple weeks I'll be visiting my brother and some friends in Ottawa. The future (when I graduate) still seems far enough away to not be menacing.

The only things which seem shitty right now are that my bike is still broken, and it's raining outside.

In short, life is great.

[Eris]

Dear Blog,

Yesterday I went to Macquarie Uni to see my family, who were there because my mum had to see a brain specialist about her possible brain aneurysms. I got there at about 1pm, figured I would hang out for a bit, get some lunch, then go home. I was there for four hours. I had a chocolate jam doughnut to eat in that time. I love spending time with my family.

I was there for ages because mum had to get her brain scanned again because the images she had weren't very clear and the guy wanted to double check (seeing as essentially her whole family has them) that what she had wouldn't need surgery. My brother and I haven't been checked yet, for a number of reasons, so this was a chance to bug us about that. Especially seeing as my cousin (who is my age) had been putting it off for FIVE YEARS got scanned and checked out today (surprise surprise, she was fine).

I explained to mum that at $560 for the CT Scan and $300 to see this guy, I couldn't afford to get it done right now. Which is a perfectly legitimate excuse; I know I will get about $400 back from medicare, but it is still a lot of money for the guy to tell me I am fine and to come back in five years. What she doesn't seem to be paying attention to is the fact that my brother and I have none of the risk factors (other than the genetic disposition to it) associated with it. Both of us are young; neither of us smoke; he doesn't drink, I hardly do; neither of us are overweight or have high blood pressure. We are healthy, young and poor. Give us a break. My cousin was essentially bribed with shoes to go get scanned, which is such bullshit; it was basically hammered into her head that she had something to be worried about, and after seeing her mother deal with the after affects of having a bleed in her brain she was suitably freaked out about it. Instead of letting her get over it in her own time and going and getting checked when the risks were higher and she felt comfortable with it, they nagged and pressured her for YEARS until she gave up and did it to get some shoes out of it. And my mother thinks that will work with me, too (it won't).

Also, mum was saying I needed to organise this future scan (whenever that may be, she assumes soon even though I gave no indication of that) in the school holidays so that she could be there with me. No offence mum, but you are 55 years old and needed your older sister there to hold our hand. I don't think you're going to be much support in this situation. Also, a quicker and easier option is to get ben to come along with me, seeing we are living together and he doesn't have to travel 3 hours to be with me (and I would prefer him over you, tbh). But this is a non-issue because I am not going to get scanned until I want to, which I don't.


Ok, that got a bit ranty. Long story short: I saw my family, enjoyed seeing them, remembered why I don't visit home often, got annoyed at my mother in my head. Also talked to my cousin a bit, who hasn't talked to me in years, so I think we are growing up and getting over the fact that she hated me as a kid. Families, eh?

[Barmymoo]

It seems like the more you grow up, the more complicated family gets because suddenly they're not just family any more, they're real people. That's not so much an observation specific to your situation but a general one I've noticed with my family too.


I am sat in the library reading a textbook and I was about to mentally accuse my lecturer of pilfering a lecture example from the textbook when I realised he wrote the textbook. I still can't get used to this kind of thing.

[David_Dovey]

So wait are you saying you could've got free shoes?

[Eris]

Well they wouldn't really be free because I would have had to spend all that money getting my brain checked. It would be cheaper to just buy the shoes. Then I wouldn't have to spend time with my mum and end up buying shoes I wanted, not the ones she thinks I want.


Also, I have noticed that about my family too. I am kinda less judgy of my dad these days (at least I am when I am not back there and reverting back to my 16 year old self) and I just feel sad for him, because his life must be pretty shit these days. He is not trying to change anything, but it is still sad. Also, hearing stories about my grandmother made me realise why my mum does the things she does in regards to my brother and me, so I can see more of the reasons behind her actions. The still frustrate me so much, but I also get to remember that when I leave them and go rant to Ben for half an hour that i feel better and don't have to live with her doing those things constantly and I feel better.

[David_Dovey]

The moral of the story is Go Buy Some Shoes 

[Lunchbox]

Yeah these past few months I have come to realise that my mum actually does have it pretty hard. I've been in and out of doctors trying to get my shit sorted and so far I've been diagnosed with exactly the same things she's been struggling with for twenty years. I never believed her and thought she was making it all up to get attention.
Boy, do I feel awful.

[Lunchbox]

But on the other hand I feel really good for finally figuring all this stuff out so that I'm not sick and tired all of the time. Woo?

[Patrick]

Tonight I am running my favorite bar's open mic for the 4th time ever. I've discovered that even with my lady volunteering to host for me (without whom I'd be completely lost at this event), meaning I'm only running the soundboard, it's a much more stressful job than I ever anticipated. Thank god they give us both free beer. People are DICKS when they don't get their way, but when they get their way it not only sounds like shit (and gets me audience complaints), I get tons of feedback through the system. And I try to explain it but people just don't fucking get it. It's like working at McDonald's, except I'm actually overqualified to do this job. I love music, and I love musicians, but I hate "guitarists" and "singers".

Also, I dislike how this has made me more pretentious and judgmental of people. It shows just how much a charitable person I truly ain't. This is about just having a good time and everybody cooperating and generally getting along. But I have my responsibilities, and I have things that I just will not allow (drunk people fucking with the board? NAW BITCH) and most importantly to me I have a resume to fill out for similar jobs where this shit actually matters, and nobody's willing to let me do my thing and actually work towards a generally more agreeable sound. That is why my girlfriend has volunteered her time and energy toward hosting, that is why I accepted the ding-dang unpaid job in the first place, and I really don't wanna be doing dinky open mic nights for free beer for the rest of my life. I'd like to have something to show for my work by time I think I'm ready to call somebody regarding a real job in the field. I have a conditional offer if I can pull it off, and so this is serious business for me.

Well, at least I don't smoke anymore. I have been cold turkey for about a week now. Most I've had is a drag or two off somebody else's cigarette in a day. I am going to do my absolute best to avoid bumming a cigarette from somebody tonight, because if I have one, I'll be right back at the gas station on the corner to buy a pack tomorrow. Fuck that.

[tania]

i haven't actually spoken to anyone in my super stress-inducing family since i moved in august, and granted life here is stressful too but it's stressful in a good, productive way whereas with family it's just a lot of fighting and judgment and passive-aggressiveness and manipulation which all requires such an incredible amount of tolerance and i am so bad at that stuff, that kind of thing really just makes me lose my shit. after i moved i told myself i would call them in a day or two and then every time tomorrow came i thought "oh god oh no way i am definitely not ready to talk to any of those people, i'll see how i feel tomorrow" and uh i guess it has been almost three months now and i still feel just as angry and exasperated even thinking about them as i did on day one and they still don't have my email or address or phone number.

man, i thought i was doing so well here on the west coast maturity-wise but i guess in the end i am still kind of a piece of shit human being with a lot of growing up to do.

[Jace]

It's like working at McDonald's, except I'm actually overqualified to do this job.

Dogg, I don't understand how anyone that posts regularly on this forum could be underqualified for McDonalds.

[look out! Ninjas!]

Because of basic literacy?

[Jimor]

Yikes, Tania. I think the fact that you feel guilty about not reaching out to them just proves how much power they held over your life and happiness.

I hereby give you permission to not even think about it for another 3 months. At that time, re-evaluate, and if the thought still gives you knots in your tummy, take another 3 months off from it all.

You're building your foundation now, and you really won't be in a solid position to withstand their crap until your feet are firmly planted enough to not slide back into their petty bullshit that made it necessary to leave in the first place. Taking care of yourself first is in no way selfish or childish.

[Inlander]

Late last night completely out of the blue the inner tube on the front wheel of my bike blew out. While the bike was leaning against the sitting room wall. It was so loud it made my ears ring - I thought a light bulb had exploded for a few moments. The blow-out killed the tyre, too, so I just took both tyre and tube off the wheel. The hole in the tube is the size of my thumbnail!

[est]

Hey look on the bright side, you could have been riding it at the time.

[pwhodges]

I've never had that happen on a bike, but I have  had it in a car, which was pretty frightening.

As was the time my brakes failed catastrophically without warning (a pipe broke) while I was driving back from the garage which had just repaired them (during which repair my expensive car radio had been stolen...).  The broken pipe squirted brake fluid over one wheel, so applying the handbrake put the car into a spin.

[Inlander]

I have on two occasions had the brake cable on my bike snap while I was riding it. Fortunately both times it was the act of braking that actually caused the (old and worn out) cables to snap, so I was going very slowly when it happened.

I had actually pumped up the tyre last night before the blow-out happened, but there was a good two hours including twenty minutes of incident-free cycling between that happening and when the tube exploded. The blow-out completely ripped the tyre apart, too, so I had to get both replaced today for A$53. As it happens, the noise was so loud and startling that when I realised it was just the tube blowing out I was actually relieved.

[glyphic]

Vlog therd.

Yesterday I met up with a guy and had a jam session. Dude is the most competent musician I have ever jammed with. We jammed on a song he had written that had a phrase that didn't repeat for almost a full two minutes. I am excite. Seriously. Haven't been this excited about playing music in a long while. I am going to throw a couple of the tracks he has recorded online and link to them in a minute.

PAT,

Just wait until you deal with a professional set of musicians. Seriously. The first time a guy asked me "What do you need me to do with my tone?" I almost creamed myself. Of course, it also ramps up the stress level considerably, as you suddenly realize that the entirety of the mix is your responsibility now. Anything that sounds poorly is your fault entirely.

EDIT:
Check
This Shit

[october1983]

Oh man I just received a book in the post. A proper history book. That I am supposed to review for a proper, actual academic journal. Why am I doing this it is going to be all wrong shit

[Barmymoo]

That is pretty awesome. My college daughter just got made assistant editor of the Student Law Review and I was like dang, that is a real grown-up person type job. Impressed.


I got things in the post too! A scary-looking envelope clearly from a solicitors which I thought might be a summons or something (no reason why it would be, I was just scared it was) but was actually some stupid personalised recruitment from the City. I haven't even read it.

Also, christmas presents! I've been really organised and started sorting Christmas presents since they'll all have to be posted (going to Norway for Christmas yay!) and I got these ones gift wrapped... and they've wrapped the two things together. But they're for separate people! Who live in the same house, thankfully, but still. I will have to write to them and say "the smaller one is for this person, the bigger one for this person". Or I could just unwrap them and rewrap them but they're so prettily wrapped!

[Metope]

I get things is the post as well! Today I got a letter from my mom saying "sorry we sort of forgot about your birthday, we'll make up for it over christmas", and also some bills! Yay!

Also:

going to Norway for Christmas yay!

WOOOO

[KickThatBathProf]

MY SENIOR MUSIC RECITAL IS IN TWO DAYS

FUCK

[Lines]

My friends are going nuts because of that thing I posted in the relationship thread and it's stressing me out. I am stressed out enough about school, I don't need this shit too. I want to relax when I go home, not have to hear about how my friends are getting aggravated with the guy. And I can't step out of the picture, because I live with two of the people in this particular circle of friends. ARGH.

Also fuck these lesson plans. The format SUCKS and I loathe writing them.

[Barmymoo]

I just had a hilarious half-hour argument about the nature of fairness, centred around a rather ridiculous metaphor about flutes and a very literal-minded, capitalist classmate.

[Christophe]

So I've been hanging out a bunch at the college campus where I graduated from, I have a deep longing to move out of my town and I have a crush on a girl who has a boyfriend. Welp I'm back in high school, except with better music.

[Patrick]

PAT,

Just wait until you deal with a professional set of musicians. Seriously. The first time a guy asked me "What do you need me to do with my tone?" I almost creamed myself. Of course, it also ramps up the stress level considerably, as you suddenly realize that the entirety of the mix is your responsibility now. Anything that sounds poorly is your fault entirely.

EDIT:
Check
This Shit

Dogg, that's the kind of stress I can handle. I work well in situations where competence is expected of me. And competence in this situation isn't a problem for me. Fuck tha hataz.

Also I run it every week now (just got asked last night) and HOLY SHIT THOSE RECORDINGS DUDE

[est]

MY SENIOR MUSIC RECITAL IS IN TWO DAYS

I read that as "RECTAL" and was confused for a moment.

[Allybee]

I am so tired I want to sleep but it is friday night and I need to go listen to kathleen hanna and also party with her

[Lines]

Welp, my friends snapped before I did. We'll see how this goes.

[JD]

My dad point out to me that we are 3 degrees of separation from Hitler. Also we ate the best wings ever at this dinky little pub.

[Aurjay]

met this really cool Vietnam vet tonight at dinner. Made me think no matter how bad the army gets, i volunteered for it. I couldn't imagine being here if it wasn't my choice. Have to give a lot of respect for them. They fought in a war much like ours and did it against their will.

[JimmyJazz]

I finally got a new laptop so now I don't have to spend hours in my college library every day and I can start posting here again woooo

(p.s. i'm drunk)