So as you'd already know, Ciera came back to Australia three weeks ago, which is why I haven't really been on messenger much recently 😛. Things have been excellent so far, it's been really enjoyable. Last week, we made some delicious rainbow cookies. They were pretty much just plain lemon cookies based on a recipe from a $4 book we bought at Go-Lo, WITH A DIFFERENCE! We made them awesome by colouring them all different colours (and even made some multi-colour, which was my idea 😄). They were delicious and colourful and made with 100% awesomesauce. Next time we make some, we'll make them all rainbow I think xD.

Yesterday (Saturday), we went to Scienceworks, which is a science museum here in Melbourne. Well, we got there eventually. We had a few minor issues along the way. Firstly, we got off at Parliament Train Station (as the Metlink journey planner said to), and the platform that the train we needed usually comes to was closed, and there was a notice to go to Southern Cross Station. So, we went back to the platform we came from, and caught another train to Southern Cross. When we got to Southern Cross, the train took aaaages to come (then again, it's the Weribee line so it's kinda expected I guess 😛). And then there was another complication — The train terminated at Footscray and we had to take a replacement bus the rest of the way. However, once we caught that bus, we finally got there. Entry is free if you're a student, so that's definitely a bonus.

While I've been to Scienceworks before, it was a long long time ago and I couldn't remember much of it. This time around it was pretty good and I found it quite interesting. They had a toy exhibit, which was awesome! They had a roller coaster made out of K'Nex which was very nice. I want one!! Get me one please? I'm such a child at times, I don't think that'll ever change 😄. Anyways, there was also other exhibits like a flight simulator, a kitchen thingy and a nice fire show (with demonstrations, Aaron would have loved it xD). There's also a planetarium there, but we didn't go this time (maybe we'll go next time). And we also went to the store there, and bought some glow-in-the-dark stars (which we stuck all over the roof in our room 😄). All in all, it was a very fun day, I really enjoyed it! Was definitely worth the $0 entry to Scienceworks, hahaha 😛.

As for work, things are going very good. Since I just passed the six month mark for my IBL placement, I moved from the technical support team at work into one of the development teams. We've been working on improving our products by making commonly-requested upgrades. When clients would like functionality that is currently not available in our system, their request goes onto a wishlist. My team went through the wishlist, rated all the items based on priority, and started working on them. In just two weeks, we've completed heaps, and a few people are very happy 😄! I've also been doing a few other things, it's been quite good. I really enjoy my job! Also since it's about the half way mark now, my mid-placement report is nearly due. I've nearly finished it, just have to confirm that it's alright, and show it to my supervisor and see if he thinks it's alright.

So it's the start of another week tomorrow. I really miss Ciera during the day while I'm at work, but it's awesome coming home to her! Really makes me happy and makes everything I do worth it. ❤️

Until next time,

— Daniel

So, I haven't blogged for a while... Mainly due to real-life getting in the way. Yeah, real life gets like that sometimes, it's rather annoying 😛 . That, and the fact that I'm lazy - I won't really do anything unless I'm forced to (or force myself to). Well actually, most people are like this, it's just very few seem to admit it. And realisation is the first step to admitting you have a problem, right? 😛 . And I haven't really had anything to blog about either. Aaaand this blog has approximately 0 readers. I don't think anyone is even reading what I'm writing right now. If you're one of the 0 readers, then HELLOOOOOOOO TO YOOOOOOUUUUUU!!! I have a cookie for you, come and get it before I eat it.

Well anyways, enough of my stupid rambling... my first year of University is finally over, and geez did the time pass quickly 😐 ! It was generally enjoyable, way way more so than high school was. University life is completely different to high school, in a sense it's a lot more relaxed. Some people take advantage of this and try to breeze through Uni without studying... And end up dropping out 😛. I tried concentrating in class (moreso than last year at high school), but in the end I just ended up not paying attention at all, and rushing all my last assignments (isn't this the case with everyone?). Results day is 13th December 2008, so I guess I'll be worrying about my results until then. There's one... no, wait, two things I really hated though:

1. Exams!

Okay, sure, everyone hates exams. Me moreso than most I reckon. I seriously HATE HATE HATE exams. On a scale from 1 to OMG I HATE THIS, it'd be on the very end. Seriously. They drive me crazy. Crazier than I normally am, and that's a LOT. 😮 I seem to often forget everything and have a whole heap of stuff rush back to me at the last minute. I hate it, haha. At least these exams aren't as bad as the Year 12 English Exam (or maybe Usability is that bad... I'll get to that in a bit)

And especially one of my subjects was a subject about website development using HTML. We had to write HTML (yes, by hand) in the exam. Seriously, what is that testing? Most (hell, all) normal web developers always have references handy (HTML for Dummies, Complete All-In-One Website Reference, Garfield comic strips out of their local news paper, whatever), they don't need to know all HTML stuff off the top of their head (and certainly don't need to write it on paper). But this subject was nowhere near as bad as everyone's enemy:

2. Usability

Falling over might be enjoyable. Jumping off a cliff could potentially be enjoyable. But this, usability, this subject is not enjoyable at all, it's literally the worst subject. Ever. Well maybe not really, but it's boring. Most of the class was common knowledge (you know, things like "red writing on a green background looks fugly", "make sure users find your software interface easy to use", and "don't stab people"). I'm hoping we don't get more subjects that are as annoying as this one was. If we do, I'm stabbing someone with a red and green paper. An easy-to-use one.

Go-karts? Did someone mention go-karts? Oh yeah, it was an idea I had when I was around 8 years old or so. I had this amazingly awesome (and by "amazingly awesome" I mean "it sounded good at the time") idea to build a go-kart that goes along the tram lines (anyone not living in Melbourne should look up "Melbourne Trams" on Wikipedia to see these mythical "tram" thingies I'm talking about). But basically, trams are a form of public transportation here, a form of light rail. The streets have tram lines in the middle of the street, kinda like a train line except it's on the road instead of being separate. Trams have overhead powerlines, which is what gave me this idea. Instead of the go-kart needing petrol or a battery, it could simply use the power the trams are using. Although now I realise several downfalls with this:

  • The go-kart would only be able to go down certain paths. Not all streets have tram lines (while a lot of the streets in the CBD have tram lines, not many suburban streets do). This would restricts its mobility
  • It'd need this giant stick thing coming off of it to reach the power. Kinda like a dodgem car
  • Legalities - Would it be legal to "steal" the tram's power? What if you hold up the trams? I can imagine my go-kart breaking down and screaming "GO AROUND!" at the trams 😛
  • Some fourth downfall that I've forgotten
  • I like turtles

So what else can I say? There's not much really, my life's pretty boring right now. Oh yes, my girlfriend and I broke up, I guess just things weren't working out. So yeah, I'm single again. And no I'm not looking for a girlfriend at the moment, so don't bother asking (unless you like the feeling of being rejected I guess) xD. I guess that made me realise a lot more about myself, who I am and exactly what I'm looking for. I made a special friend that I'm very similar and now extremely close to, it's like we're soulmates or something. She knows who she is, and I'm pretty certain she'd be reading this (maybe she's the one of the 0 readers 😮 ) 😃. As a person I've changed pretty significantly over the past year or so (especially in the last few months), and it really seems like a pretty good thing. But I'll save all of this for another blog post, this one's getting rather long. I should try to blog more about life I guess, it's something I like writing about. If you look through the firsts posts to this blog, they were pretty geeky. Then again, I've become way less geeky (still do programming though), haha 😛 . It all fits in to the whole "change" thing.

Oh, and for anyone from Australia, the NoCleanFeed protests are on the 13th December (same as Swinburne results day!). For more information take a look at NoCleanFeed.com. The protests in Melbourne are going to be at the state library, and I might be going, I'm not sure yet. Perhaps you want some No Clean Feed Posters, thanks to my friend Joseph. 😄

Well that's all for now...

Oh and btw, the cookie's all gone. Sorry about that.

Until next time 😃

  • Daniel