Yep, test day today... Hey, I'm bored, and it's been a long time since I took any test.
 

Random quiz result...
 

'What kind of Wing are you?' by. Xera

Yes, I've been neglecting blogrounds lately, so I missed a bunch of stuff... er, have a really belated happy birthday, Zeruel.

Oooh... useful list of tasklist programs, for when you want to know what you can ctrl-alt-del into oblivion and what not. *bookmarks* (link off d0om)

Bloody hell, my connection's having hiccups again --;

Oh, and I could swear my kittens possess l33t invisibility skillz. Twice today, one went missing, and we searched all over the house for her, and we went back to where we'd started searching and there she was, looking innocently at us. ¬¬

Oh, I've also been trying to make Thievery work on my computer. It won't. *kick kick kick kick* Guess I'll have to install it on my laptop. Which will involve tidying the desk the laptop's on and getting rid of all my mom's stuff. ¬¬

Yes, I'm aware I haven't posted in a while. Been enjoying my holidays, and have had nothing to blog. I've been playing Thief again, reading books, and all the sorts of stuff you do when you have nothing to do. :D

"Hey," said Shadow. "Huginn or Muninn, or whoever you are."
The bird turned, head tipped, suspiciously, on one side, and it stared at him with bright eyes.
"Say 'Nevermore'," said Shadow.
"Fuck you," said the raven. It said nothing else as they went through the woodland together.

Oh yes, almost forgot... (shows that I'm already deep in the YAY HOLIDAYS mood, doesn't it?)
I'm done with my exams, as you probably have guessed. I reckon they all went well, but I won't have the results for a while yet. Except for two... History of Journalism (30/30, w00t!) and Editing & Publishing (29/30; I got a 30/30 on the written exam and a 27/30 on the essay).
Heh, which goes to show that my standards for myself have risen inordinately in the last year. Before, if I'd got a 29/30 on an exam, I'd be all "w00t! 29! w00t!"... now I'm actually kinda disappointed I didn't get a 30. ^^;;;

Oh, and a bit late (the articles are a few days old), but, for all the still-whining Italians out there: Vittorio Zucconi 0wnz (three links, fyi). Siddown, shuddup, stop whining, people.

*points and laughs* Old hat! Old hat! Old hat! XD Gee, a bit slow on the uptake, Repubblica? HeroMachine has been around for a while. Maybe they should hire somebody else who is better able to keep track of the newest crazes. Hahaha. XD
(And talk about nonexistant color coordination skills... ick.)

Kitten update: they're hyperactive but very well behaved, ie. they don't climb on curtains, scratch sofas, and such. The old cat is still scared of them, while they couldn't care less about him. Hehe.

Went to get my new kitten this afternoon. One kitten is good...

...two kittens are better. :D

Yep, I got two kittens and not one. :D

They're both dark grey, one female and one male. The male is slightly lighter in color than the female, and the female has a white spot under her chin.
My brother named the male - Orione - and I named the female - Luna.

:D Kittens are great.

Oh, and we introduced them to our other cat... this old neutered male that's been with us just about forever.
The male kitten couldn't care less, the female kitten got all worked up, hissed and swiped at the old cat...
...and the old cat, which is easily twice the size of the kitten, RAN. :D
I think we have a new ruler in the house.

And another moron (seems it is Moron Finding Day today): you don't send 68 pages via fax, dumbfuck. If you have that much stuff to send, you send it via email or, better yet, a nice envelope with the stuff inside. There's using technology, and there's abusing technology.

Another bunch of morons. Oh, so I need a new browser to visit your site? And the latest version of Opera doesn't count as a new browser, even if when I tell it to say "hi, I'm IE5" the site works flawlessly? And Mozilla and Netscape 6+ are also too stupid to work with your site? Hah. Morons.
(thanks, zombeh.)

...well, that sure puts things into perspective. We tend to forget how real it is sometimes, I think.

"Linking to or framing of any material on this site without the prior written consent of NPR is prohibited.
Please use this form to request permission to link to npr.org and its related sites." Hah. Bunch of morons.

Two days in the life of a procrastinator (me)

Yesterday
9am: I arrive to uni and find that they've moved the written English exam to the afternoon. Hm, I have a morning to waste. Might as well study Principles of Marketing, since the exam is tomorrow and I've never even opened the book, right?
9:40am: Study study study study... ooo, they've opened the door to the computer room. I'll just go there and check my email, five minutes then I go back to studying...
2pm: ...okay, time to go to the English exam... I haven't studied anything but who cares... I'll study on the train or when I get home.
4:50pm: Exam done, I'm on the train. Now let's study... aw, but it's SO HOT... I can't concentrate... I'm... falling... asleep... zzzzz
5:30pm: Get home. It's hot, I feel like I'm melting, I don't wanna study... I'll study later.
11:30pm: ...time to go to bed... okay, I'll study in bed.
1am: Study study study study... oh look, I'm halfway through... *yaaaaaaaaaawn* I'll just sleep now and finish studying on the train tomorrow morning... zzzzz

Today
8am: I'm at the train station, fuckity fuckity fuck the train was said to be 20 minutes late, oh wait it's the 7:40am train that's late, not the 8am one, oh w00t. I can take this train and hopefully get to uni earlier and study a bit before the exam, too.
8:02am: ...no fucking way I'm taking this train, fifty people stowed in a single car, oh, no, I don't think so. NO WAY I'd be able to do anything but melt in there. I'll wait for the next train, it should be here soon.
8:05am: fuck, where the hell is that train?
8:10am: oh thank God, it's here. Now I'll find a nice quiet place to study, the train is almost empty... but first I'll finish that conversation with the two nice ladies that were waiting for the train with me...
8:30am: fuck it, I need to study. Okay. Study study study study...
8:55am: ...arrived already? I'm only 5/8 of the way through... oh I am so screwed.
9am: ...w00t, the teacher's late. maybe I'll have time to finish studying... study study study study study...
9:30am: ...teacher's here. 3/4 of the way through. I am so fucked.
9:31am: teacher has forgotten the exams downstairs. let's sneak one last look at the book...
9:40am: IamsofuckedIamsofuckedIamsofucked... okay, I'll look at the questions and not panic...
9:41am: ...w00t. Only one question out of 8 I don't know how to answer, and the exam says to only answer 5 out of 8. Let's start and see how well I do... write write write write write...
12:30pm: ...well. I'm done. This went better than I was expecting, I remembered perfectly how to answer each question.
12:31pm: I turn in the exam. Teacher asks me how it went. "Well, better than I expected. I was honestly expecting it to go badly, I don't understand economics-related stuff much" (silently: and I studied NOTHING for this exam). He asks me what I'm studying (Communication & Media Studies). I answer, he nods. "That's understandable", he says. w00t. I 0wn.

Whoa, Thursday already? This week went by quickly. Ever felt like time just slipped through your fingers before you realized it? That's precisely how I feel right now.
At least exam time is nearly over...

Had my oral English exam today. I 0wned it. XD 15+/15. It was this debate thing we had to do in pairs... I did it with my best RL friend on capital punishment. (I was supposed to be against capital punishment, and him for capital punishment.) Everybody else rehearsed their debate, we thought about doing it but we said "fuckit, you gather stuff for your arguments, I gather stuff for mine, then we debate for real". Before the exam, we were like "I'll demolish your arguments, just you wait!" "No, I'll demolish yours!" XD But when we started the debate, we actually found common ground pretty quickly and went on from there to reach an agreement. The teacher blinked, asked us a few questions (which we answered), grinned and said, "well, I'm going to give you a 15+". We kept a straight face until we got out of the room, and then we went "woohoo!" and highfived each other. \o/

One website down, three projects to go. And then of course there's studying for the exams.
And in the meantime, I already finished reading one of the books I got yesterday ("Dragonsdawn", to be specific).
*looks at pile of work to do* *looks at pile of stuff to study* *looks at pile of books waiting to be read* ... I am so doomed.

Hrhm. Might take part in that, if I can think of something decent for the first deadline.
(I'm sure as hell not going to submit any of my already created universes. I like them too much, I'm not giving up all rights to them. ¬¬)

*cuddles Amazon.co.uk* *cuddles the Pern books that just arrived* :D Why do I have the feeling I'm going to find it very difficult to study for my exams?

Me, South Park style. (South Park Studio)

\o/ *goes home* \o/

The Periodic Table (literally), which I already linked a bit ago, now has its own official website, with loads of photos, explanations, and stuff. w00t. \o/

35 minutes left until I leave. If I have to leave, I'll have wasted the cost of the train ticket (I missed the usual train, so I had to take an alternate route to be here in time for class - I would've skipped but I skipped enough already and I needed the photocopies - alternate route which wasn't covered by my ticket, so I had to pay for more). But meh. That was more or less the cost of my lunch, and I skipped lunch.
No, not to buy manga this time. :p Well, I did buy manga, but I bought it in the comic store in my town this morning and since I didn't have enough money with me and the guy who runs the store knows me (I've been a regular customer there since the place opened... what is it, 5 years now? something like that. I've even worked there briefly) so he let me get the manga anyway and I'll pay him back later. (Not a small sum, either... €20.50.)

Mrhmkay. Teacher's stuck on the road to get here due to an accident or something. He has precisely an hour to arrive before I go home. (First train home is at 4:20pm, I have to leave uni at 4pm if I don't wanna miss it.)
I really do hope he won't show up. Relaxing in IRC with my friends + going home + more relaxing in IRC with my friends = slightly more happy me.

If the fuckwit sitting on my left doesn't quit looking at my screen I'm going to slap the fuck out of him. YES YOU MORON SITTING ON MY LEFT IN THE COMPUTER ROOM AT UNI RIGHT NOW, THIS MEANS YOU. GO AWAY.
A huge pile of photocopies (213 pages... ugh) to study for Principles of Marketing, when the teacher had said that we didn't need to get the textbook and that the only things we'd need to know for the exam were the things he explained in class. Fucker. I feel sick... ugh.
Worrying for a friend + a huge pile of stuff to do = sick me.
Wish I could just go home. But I have a class to go to. Ugh...

The world's flags given letter grades. Cool.

I turned in the Journalism essay I wrote yesterday. The teacher asked me a few questions on it and stuff...
I got a 30/30 on it \o/ w00t. Today, against all my predictions, turned out to be a good day.

... o.O okaaaaaaay... (Conteh, this would be perfect for you ;)
(link from d0om)

Oooo... and the Studio Ghibli movies DVD set is down to a price of €110 at the comic store in this city (from an original price of €180). Should I buy it now or wait until the price goes down some more? Hrm...

As for right now, I'm supposed to be in class, but instead I'm just sitting in the computer room, relaxing. Hey, I have a good excuse for being absent from class (the meeting), and I have to revise for the Journalism class I have this afternoon too. :p

Mrhm... feeling slightly better this morning. Took a medicine and went to uni anyway, of course, since I had the meeting for the unpaid internship and an essay to turn in (this afternoon).
The meeting went well... turns out I was worrying too much. Heh.
Basically they need somebody to rebuild their website, as they "built it with FrontPage just to put something online" (their words, not mine). (And I've looked at it, and it really needs to be rebuilt. It's a tad... well, FrontPage-y. You know the kind of sites... the really-plain-wannabe-cool ones.) So if all goes well, I'm going to be working there in July and in September (skipping August, as they're closed and I'm on holiday), rebuilding their website. They'll give me a computer of my own (with an internet connection, too), I'll be able to use the programs I'm used to (ie. I'm not forced to use FrontPage, I can use Arachnophilia), I'll be able to learn how to use Flash, etc. etc.
Oh, and even if it's supposed to be an unpaid internship, they'll be giving me some money to cover my expenses (train fares, eating, etc.).
And the place is really nice, too.
\o/ w00t. Looks like I'll really enjoy working there after all.

Hey. Guess what.

I have the flu.

FUCK.

Update on my university work woes:
- Information Technology essay - done!
- Part of year II project - done!
- Year II project website [shouldn't take long, hopefully]
- Principles of Marketing project [gah! I finish something, and something else to do turns up. I have no clue what this is supposed to be, either, I skipped the class where they explained. Oh well. It's a group project, thank God, so it shouldn't be too hard.]
- "Creative Psychology" "diary" - done!
- "Creative Psychology" project, ~10000 words, due whenever I finish it (in a week or two) [10K words? On my own? The hell I will. It's going to be 5K words or so max. And they won't be able to say anything, as it's originally a group project, but I'm doing it on my own.]
- My part of History of Journalism project - done! [well sorta. I did half of what I was planning to do. The teacher won't notice tho, so who cares.]
- The Editing & Publishing project [this one has the farthest deadline, 21st of June, and is something I'll enjoy doing, so I'm leaving it as the last thing to do]

Gah. I'm stressed to hell and back. I can't even remember the last day I was really relaxed. Hopefully all this shit will be over soon.

FRIDAY
17:25 Going home from the train station, my bicycle starts making odd ta-klunk noises and the hind wheel starts wobbling.
17:35 I get home, tell my parents about it, and resolve to take it to repair next morning.
17:36 My dad says, "I'll repair it for you, no sense in wasting money. You'll have it by Monday morning. Don't worry." I worry.

SUNDAY
18:55 My dad's finished repairing my bicycle. I take it once around the block. Hmm, seems to work fine. Okay, maybe I was worrying for nothing.

MONDAY (today)
07:55:00 Halfway between home and the train station. Bicycle starts making ta-klunk ta-KLANK noises. I worry.
07:55:57 ta-klunk ta-KLANK TA-KLUNK "Oh fu--"
07:56:00 The hind wheel suddenly stops turning. Completely blocked.
07:56:10 Stop. Curse. Kick the wheel repeatedly.
07:56:15 Realize the bicycle is not going to start working again, no matter how much I kick it.
07:56:20 Realize that to make it to the train station in time I'd have to be the fastest person on the earth - which I'm not. Curse profusely.
07:56:25 Call home.
07:57:00 Dad picks up the phone. I explain the situation. He says he'll be here in a minute.
07:58:00 Dad not here. Curse.
07:58:30 Dad arrives. I jump into the car, and off we go to the train station.
08:00:10 Arrive to the train station. See the train leave under my nose. Curse profusely.

[I got back home, and my mom drove me to uni instead. Fast forward to this afternoon.]

16:00:00 Get to the train station. Wonder briefly where my bicycle is, then remember - left it halfway between train station and home. Mutter a curse and start walking.
16:05:00 Get to the bicycle. Check the hind wheel. Still blocked, no way to unblock it except taking the whole bicycle apart and then putting it back together - which I can't do. Curse.
16:05:30 Start dragging the bicycle.
16:05:45 Try holding the hind wheel up instead of dragging it. Find out it's more tiring than dragging the whole thing. Curse.
16:06:30 Make it across the road. Stop and curse.
16:07:00 Call home to see if one of my parents is home and can come and fetch me and my bicycle with the car.
16:07:30 Brother picks up the phone. Parents are not home. Damnit.
16:09:00 Finished cursing profusely, start dragging bicycle home.

[fast forward]

16:45 Get home.
16:46 Consider whether to take a shower or just collapse on the sofa.
16:47 Go to take a shower.
17:00 Shower done. I go to collapse on the sofa.

I know what my dad will say. "Oh, don't worry. I'll fix it."

OVER MY DEAD BODY. >:(

For each of us there is a place, somewhere in the world, a place where we'll always fit in. A place to call home. And often, it's the last place you'd ever have thought it would be, a place that would make you say, looking at it from the outside, "no way, I will not last two weeks in that place". (Life is funny like that.)

And then you realize what that place is for you, and suddenly it means the world, and you know you'll never leave.

:)

[That semi-philosophical, half-wordibullshit but really entirely true rambling was brought to you by thoughtful me. And yes, I'll never leave that place.]

...and now it's starting to be incredibly cold, and I'm glad I didn't wear sandals and brought a jacket. Damn it, Mother Nature, make up your goddamn mind and pick one weather and stick with it already.

Damn but it's hot today. It looked like it was going to rain this morning, but then the sun came out... and now I'm starting to regret not wearing sandals.
Anyway, the internship? I'll have to go back on Wednesday morning, the person I had to talk to was unexpectedly busy and couldn't come. Bah.
The place looks to be really nice, though. Pretty close to the train station, in a nice calm zone, no noise or anything... hrm.

Mrhm. Finished the Creative Psychology "diary" and sent it off. It's awfully short... but it's not my fault. I didn't have anything to say. And there weren't any length requirements, so who cares.

And tomorrow I have the meeting for that unpaid internship... I'm a bit nervous, to tell the truth. Hopefully it'll go well, and the company will be what I want it to be, and all.

\o/ \o/ I ordered the Pern books I was missing off Amazon.co.uk \o/ \o/ And my parents said to consider them a gift \o/ \o/

Here's to hoping June will be better than May has been.