Saturday, August 14, 2010

H to the izzo, V to the essays

So instead of diligently working at preparing for Adv Eng Paper 2 like I should be to keep my rank up, I scanned in another dewdle from my schoolbook and got rid of all the lines in it so I could use it as my header. It doesn't look as spectacular as I thought it would, and the D and the O are too fat, but woo woo. Since I drew it in English, I spose you could argue that this is what I did instead of studying.


In other news, my Google Chrome no longer works, and I'm actually not even quite sure how to articulate my great disappointment and frustration towards being forced to use Firefox.


this'll have to do.

SO, Firefox users - now that I'm stuck with your browser now, any advice on how to make this thing fantastic? I've heard much love for add-ons, and I'm giving Firefox a proper chance at the moment, although I have installed a Chrome skin on it.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

the typical smeg workstation

1 - TWO CALCULATORS
IS SRS BIDNIT. My calculator actually dies on me sometimes, but all I have to do is smack it against something and it starts working again. Steph was repping that calculator when she was doing math in high school, so I'm actually amazed the battery hasn't ever completely depleted.

2 - iTunes
because I'm into using shitty programs. I've got Windows Media Player, Winamp, I even downloaded Foobar the other day, but yet I cling to this piece of shit like chewing gum made of barnacles. In other news, though, I made myself a new playlist to get me through the exams - two playlists, actually. One's made of chill songs that helps me keep calm (if I'm not being a fag and listening to rain loops). It's called Wattle Grove, because it's actually the nicest place in the SW and the atmosphere around that lake is amazing. The other playlist is just all the new music I've downloaded.

3 - Cat
Okay, this isn't really the 'typical' smeg workstation - normally he's nestled happily on my lap, but if he's nestled happily on my lap, how am I to take photos? That's what I've noticed lately - if he's not annoying the shit out of me for food, and not rolling around on his back outside (he sleeps on my bed at night), his life's goal seems to be to plant himself onto my lap and sleep, while probably getting patted because he's snuggly. Just earlier, when I was sitting in front of the heater, he jumped onto my lap and settled down. I got up shortly afterwards because I was hungry, and now that I'm on the computer, he's on my lap again. Maybe it's a magnetic effect. Imagine if I could attract cats with my thighs - I'd go save a few cats from the shelter and wear them as belts. Fur is dead, but not in this case.

4 - Mathematics
makes me asthmatics, got me wheezing like an addictz. Can I move from guitar to rapping in our hip hop krew now guys? No, really though, math does my head in. Apparently my grandad was an accountant back in the day, but shit obviously ended with my dad because he's horrible with numbers too.

5 - Plate of food
I shouldn't eat while I work since I just end up eating, but with all the bubbles and squeaking to be had, and cheesy-bread, and etc, who can resist?
Everyone, but yeah. The plate hasn't got any food on it in the photo by the way, you can stop jamming your F5. You weren't.

6 - Caffeine
Caffiend, more like. Anyone who knows me knows how pissed off I get in the mornings when I've woken up late and haven't had time to make myself a slick double espresso. I remember just a week ago I'd been staying up late cramming for exams, and didn't have time for my coffee in the morning, and I'd get all withdrawy.
These are jokes, I'm actually not huge on caffeine at all. I bought this bottle of V coz it was on sale for a dollar seventy, and regretted it a bit once I got all jittery, which I really hate. I'll admit though, it did possibly play a part in me cramming my 1500 word essay to a finish. EVEN THOUGH I COULDN'T FUCKIN REPLICATE TODAY

CALM DOWN GENVIN, IT'S ACTUALLY JUST CAFFEINE. LEARN TO USE IT BETTER, IDIOT.

oh my god


WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STUCK AT 87 AND NOT MOVING. THERE'S NO QUESTION MARK ON THE END OF THAT BECAUSE THERE IS NO ACCEPTABLE ANSWER. I STAYED UP TIL TWELVE JUST SO I COULD DOWNLOAD YOU OFFPEAK.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

pretty good one

Genvin Out says:
*i still havent gone over max min
Dannis(||); says:
*dayum
Genvin Out says:
*and probability
*yeah
*success is imminent
Dannis(||); says:
*success is im a mint
Genvin Out says:
*that was a pretty good one
*thats going on the blog

never age again

Naw, ain't that the sweetest.

Anyway, in other news, I've been thinking about getting into the tutoring scene a lot - after the HSC, I mean. I probably wouldn't be that good a teacher for obvious reasons (y'know, seeing as how I actually kinda half fluked my way throughout the entire course), but to be able to provide what Ms Cunliffe gave (and still gives) to me for someone else would be pretty unreal.

Unrelated pictures that I feel like sharing to break up the walls of text.

Of course, like everything else I ever want to do, I'd want to make minimal profit from it. Whether it's giving Dannis shitty shortcut-oriented guitar lessons for $10 an hour, or getting those Shove It shirts done (poorly) last year and trying to sell them for $9, or trying to get the Infinitely Depressing Playlist CD's done and prettied up for $1 donations, I really like the idea of being able to provide something for almost nothing, if not nothing at all, because I know that if I was in the same position, being able to benefit from barely any input would be gold.

Anarchy in Athens.

There's also the pretty important factor of quality - I'm pretty sure those $10 lessons I gave Dannis were probably worth less, if not worthless. WACHOW.

Even more Anarchy in Athens.

There's also the fact that I am really not looking forward to leaving school - at least, not the basic structure and routine. It's a safe bet that I'm not gonna miss going to class, but I know I'm going to miss the idea of going to school every day and hanging with friends and having to cram for exams because that's how it's been for years, and while the vast freedom we get after the HSC is appealing, it's also terrifying. Ridiculous as it sounds, I know I'm going to miss writing essays and feedbacking others because it's what I'm good at. Y'know that feeling you get when you think of something you're really looking forward to? Like, that excited feeling you get all week when you know you're headed to a gig on Friday night? Well, that's me when I think about writing essays for upcoming exams. That's probably a bit of an exaggeration because half the time when I think about stuff like that I wanna die, but for the other half, I'm looking forward to the challenge, because for me, it's almost the same as doing a sudoku or something. I know that as long as I follow the basic structure and method, I'll be fine in the end, and I'll feel good when that happens. I think that's why people enjoy math - being able to rely on a defined structure. Everyone thinks of English as really inconsistent and wishy-washy and a subject where you can write up pages of bullshit and get paid because it's all down to the subjective personal views of the marker, but in reality, the marking criteria in English is almost as rigid as that in math. That's an exaggeration too - English marking, at our school at least, is fucked - but in most cases, if you treat English like Math and bang out the necessary and cut out everything you don't need, it comes out in the end. You don't provide extra working out in Math, so you wouldn't put anything unnecessary in your essays. All you need to do is figure out what is necessary. I'm completely off track at the moment. Basically, what I was saying was, doing English tutoring would allow me to kinda retain a small sense of school routine. Yeah.

derp

I'd probably really enjoy doing tutoring right now, even - if someone approached me and asked me to give them English tutoring once a week, like how Pearson tutors his neighbour, I'd probably be thrilled to do it for free. I'd be even more so if it was someone who actually needed tutoring, with a subpar rank and subpar writing skills, as opposed to someone coming tenth who wants to jack up their rank even further. People like that don't need tutoring - they've got all the skills they need. All they need to do is practice. This doesn't apply if you're Dannis. Sorry Dannis. Meanwhile, people who probably don't have basic essay-writing foundations down, and haven't got a proper grasp of what's happening in the module, are having a hard enough time trying to do just that. Being able to help those people is something I think I'd really feel good about and enjoy. Fuck competitiveness, and fuck darting around people's questions and avoiding them when they ask you for help (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, KONRAD). If someone asks you for help with a question in Math, you don't fucking tell them to 'just answer the question,' so don't do it with English either. I'm off track again.

Anarchy in Athens.


Jeez, calm down Genvin, it's just English.

day 31 - gentle lentils english club

Just gonna throw some updates on. It's not even like I've been excessively busy with studying (even though I should be - the amounts I have to get through are atrocious, though they ain't got shit on the 4u kids), it's just I couldn't think of anything.
Here are some snaps from Wattle Grove, which is probably actually the nicest place in the Sydney South-West. I skipped school for the first time (ish) on Wednesday to explore Liverpool in the morning to find Stephen's birthday present and maybe go scope some opshops (I've decided to try to minimise my use of the word 'thrift' because it makes me feel fucking pretentious). Plan was to end up at Holsworthy Station at about 11:38, but since I'm a king, I ended up at Holsworthy at about 11. We then had high-brow fancy English elitist club, followed by one and a half hours of us wandering around the lake taking shitty photos because we're shitty photographers.

Y'know it took about ten shots to get this one even marginally acceptable.