Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Star Wars - Episode Three

What can I say without giving too much away? Hmmm...

I went and saw 'Star Wars' last night, and enjoyed it fairly well. It was better than one and two, but there are certain things, scenes, that could have been better done, acted, or scripted. One thing that I didn't really think was well done was the point when Anakin became an apprentice to the Dark Side. Yes, you see it happen, but the scene that it occurred in, it...well...wasn't quite right for me. And then there is the whole twins that look full term babies, but, well, Padme looks about seven months when she gives birth....Hmmm...

But all in all, a much better film than the first two. Better scripted, better thought out perhaps. Episode Six is still my favourite, but I will have to see Episode Three again to actually make up my mind fully, and to understand what happens in it properly, to make sure that I don't judge it any more harshly than what I have done already.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

This last Weekend

The last two and a half days have seen me travel (drive) around 780kilometres...just for a birthday party. You say it sounds silly? Well, it was a surprise party for my Uncle. He turned 60, and it was worth going. I had to travel from Armidale down to Maitland, and the traffic was fine until I got to around Singleton. Then all the shift workers, etc, from the mines and other ajoining companies start heading home, and I started finding the trip frustrating. But all in all, the travel both there and back was good, and fun. I love to drive the New England Highway, especially the mountains (the Moonbies) between Tamworth and Armidale.

I stayed overnight at my Uncle Brian's, where I saw 'Die Another Day' for the first time. Oh boy. Very Bond. Need I say more?! But that was good. And then the following morning I got to have a slight tour of the school that I am going to do prac at (starting on Friday, 27th [this Friday]) and then I moved on to where the party was going to be. It was a lunch, so that everyone had plenty of time to get there and get home again afterwards, especially if they were travelling from Sydney. Uncle Bob was totally surprised. It would have been nice to have known how they were going to surprise him, so that the video could capture him properly, but still, just to see his face when he first hopped out of the car. It was good. Uncle Bob enjoyed the party very much, and was talking more to people than paying attention to getting something to eat, as he hadn't seen some people for a long while.

I had to leave the party at about 4:30pm to be able to get back to Armidale in good time, and they were still going strong when I left. Some people were leaving at the same time, because they had to, but I doubt that Mum and Dad would have left before they had started cleaning up things with my cousin and some of his relations on his mother's side. I got back to Armidale at about 20 to 10pm without my car overheating.

Yes, I thought for a little while that I would not be able to go on to Armidale when I got to Tamworth. From about Murrurundi onwards the engine light was on. I thought...I'll stop at Tamworth for dinner, and if it is still on when I get to Armidale, there is a problem for sure, especially if I check the oil and water and there isn't a problem. I had stopped at Scone for a drink, but obviously my car wasn't happy that I had missed the usual Muswellbrook stop and pushed on to Scone and then only stopped at Tamworth after that. The light was off from Tamworth to Armidale, so obviously it wasn't anything to worry about. I'll just have to make sure everything is fine when I travel down on Thursday afternoon to Maitland again.

SO, that is the most exciting thing that has happened this weekend. The party, and then my car mucking up a little bit. I've been watching the digitalised Digital version of 'Star Wars' (the original trilogy) on DVD over the last week. I am really displeased with George Lucas changing the ending of 'Jedi'. Not Happy Jan. They changed Anakin's GHOST!!! How could they? Anyway...best not say any more.

Played soccer this morning. That was good. It was against our good rivals, Duval College, and we beat them 4-0. Marvellous Effort That. They were, however, down players for about the first 20-25 minutes (30 minute halves). We scored another goal after they had got more players, but we didn't score any in the second half. But it was a good game with a bit of rough and tumble happening, but that is what happens when we play our best rivals. :)

Anyway...got to go and do some more work. I have to start planning for the next few weeks, but I don't think that I can do much until I get to prac. But I do have three assignments that I have to hand in during practicum, so that will be fun. Woohoo! Hooroo!

Saturday, May 14, 2005

It's a lovely day today...

Well, actually, it is. For the last three days Armidale has been shrouded in terrible, miserable weather, not knowing sometimes whether it wanted to rain or not. However, today the sun is shining after that interlude, making it seem as though the Weather was just getting ready for Winter.

For the last week my life has not been that exciting. I have been getting ready for a group presentation on Monday with my group, and have attended a movie night. Exciting...

The presentation is for the same class that I did the group critique for. The class got moved to Monday due to the prac teaching day most of the people in the class have on Wednesday. Anyway, yesterday was the final time the group got together to discuss the presentation before it occurs, and we should go just fine, I think. We are all on the same page and know exactly what parts of the presentation we are leading, etc, so it should all be good. :) We are doing our presentation on 'Gender in the classroom' and the guy in our group (the person that I have had afternoon tea with) has become known as the 'sexist cynic' of our group (just kidding...but, oh boy, he sure knows how to make controversial statements!!!) and if he comes out with some of the statements that he made yesterday in the presentation, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an uproar from the women in our class. We had morning tea at his place yesterday to finalise everything, and it was supposed to have started at 10:30am. Twenty minutes later and the other two in the group finally arrived. But hey! It was all good.

The movie night was held also at the guy's place who is part of the group. He is a 'Star Wars' fanatic...like...completely obsessed. The first day the CD soundtrack came out of the movie, he had it. Sad, sad, sad...but the movies were fun to watch again. There were about six of us there sitting infront of the tellie watching Episode's I and II, and making wonderful comments about the scriptwriting of the love scenes and generally paying out Anakin. So much fun paying him out. We came to the conclusion that the reason why he turned to the dark side was due to him having an Oedipus Rex Syndrome. :) Great reasoning.
We started watching the movies at about 8:30pm and didn't finish watching them until nearly 1am, which is fine for me as I'm generally up until that time anyway. However, that didn't stop me trying not to yawn through the Anakin-Padme scenes! What were the scriptwriters thinking??? Or weren't they?? Question will never be solved, I think.
Two of the people who were watching it had never seen an epiode of 'Star Wars' (for shame) but they both enjoyed themselves (possibly due to the outrageous comments made sometimes by the people who had seen the movies numerous times) and are thinking of seeing Episode III when it comes out. I don't think that I can be bothered seeing it straight away (it will be packed cinemas for weeks!), but I am definitely not seeing the midnight session Wednesday/Thursday, having 6 hours worth of lectures on Thursday to attend. Woohoo... Episodes IV, V, and VI still rule in my book, though...and I think, no matter what, will always rule for the Saga.

I have finally found out where I'm going to prac, and that is Maitland, so I will be staying with my Uncle and his wife, which should be good, I think.

I have got my two artworks back from the SFK reps and one of them had some marks on it, as I thought they probably would. I tried to erase them, but one of them is in perminant pink...who know from what. But...hmmm...yay...at least it isn't a bright pink mark, hardly noticeable in some lights...

Oh, and the price of petrol has come down a little bit since last night. Instead of being 116.9c/L, it's only 112.9! Oh joy, oh rapture! The oil price must have hit an all time record 'low' for that to happen. Yeah, right! But hey! It'll be nice to have the petrol at that price for a few days, at least. It generally doesn't fluctuated in Armidale as it does in Sydney.

Okay then. Nothing else to say, so seeya'!

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Another Weekend Over...

This weekend saw a few things happen in the sporting arena for me. Firstly, there was NERF on (the women's version of AFL - you can still tackle people when they have the ball, there are only two goal posts, simple things like that). That was fun. I only played three of the five games that were on (only 6 of the colleges put in to play in the end). I decided not to play the final game today because of a couple of reasons. Mainly, they were going to have a heap of the soccer girls go and play that I would have only been on for one quater at the most, as well as other things.

Yesterday the NERF comp started, and I played in the first two games. We won the first and drew the second and (I found out later) we won the third game that was played. I didn't play the third game because I had to be somewhere else - the UNE netball courts. No, I haven't signed up to play netball this season, but at the rate it's going, I may as well have. For the last two weekends I have been asked to play. Last weekend, there was soccer (MB comp) and a forfeit (weekend netball comp). This weekend, we played with only five players (seven is good!!) and lost terribly. But at least the team we played were very bad. If we had had a full team we might have given them a run for their money.

So, yes, my weekend has been NERF and netball. I haven't signed up to play soccer this year for a couple of reasons. I don't want to do my ankles an injury (after last weekend's efforts, they were slightly swollen and clicky...so...no...not a good idea, I think...) as well as me being in college for only another three weeks before I go on prac. No point, I think. Plus, they will call me up if they need the numbers, I'm sure. They can usually rely on my joining in just for the fun of it.

I still don't know where prac is at the moment. Was supposed to find out by either the end of last week or at the beginning of this week. Well...let's hope that they have their act together in the Prac Experience Office and have a notice up about it tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. I need to contact the school as quickly as possible to start planning a unit of work, if not two.

Well, there is nothing really much else to say. Talk to you some other time, then.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Group Critiques...part deux

Well...received the mark back today, and, as predicted, did not go well. I must admit, though, I was surprised about some of the comments the lecturer put on the page, as he generalised the whole group, rather than stated some true facts about 'Yay Annoying one' that went and did his little lecture. I think he must have been getting ready for his presentation today (the one that did the lecture in our critique) because he pretty much did the same thing this week - lecture - as he did last week. Oh, for a shot gun, or any other type of weapon, for that matter. Don't we all feel that way about someone one time or another?

Last Wednesday, the other person in the group and I got together for afternoon tea to discuss the problems that happened and to talk about other things as well. Well, we did it again this week as well, and it was good. Lots of laughter as his flat mates joined in the conversation as well, so that was good fun. It was good to discuss the problems of the marking and other things about the critique without the problem of being eavesdropped on by people who could report it back to 'Yay Annoying One'.

Anyway, my art and craft pieces did not get put in the competition, so it would have been nice to have been told and had my pictures returned to me before now, but, hey! No hard feelings to them. They must be awfully busy as they are (yeah, right). It would have been nice to have received my pictures back, though, because then I would have been sure that they were in a safe place and that they weren't on someone's floor or anything like that, getting grotty or anything like that.

Okay...life at college is being a real pain to me at the moment, I know, so I will shoosh up now and leave you. Ciao!

Monday, May 02, 2005

Group critiques...the bane of my life at the moment

As you would have read, last week, onWednesday, I had a group critique to present with two other people. Well...

It started off just fine. Two out of the three of us were the ones that began the critique, with the other one just hanging back until his 'part' in it. Well, I tried to get the other person who was starting with me to do what I wanted them to do, but as this was probably their first ever Education Faculty presentation, they weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do. But it turned out well, the class were talking, and the readings were being brought in through questions that related, rather than asked whether they had read the readings.

Then the person that hung back started their bit of the critique. They didn't critique, they lectured. When it had been going for about five minutes, I felt my brain going to mush, and I was trying to keep up so that I could place relevant comments in at the appropriate spots, but I just made a mull of that, so I stopped. His 'lecture' went for about twenty to twenty-five minutes (a good part of the presentation - only goes for about forty to fifty minutes at the most), and we, the other presenter and I, really only wanted him to shut up from about half way through onwards. He turned our brains to mush, and we had to turn our peers' brains back on afterwards! That was tough...

However, I hope that we will be able to recover our lost marks (yes, we have lost marks due to the poor critiquing that occurred...and the poor interaction with the class - not getting the class involved! HELLO!!! I had them involved when I was leading the discussion...but anyway!) during this Wednesday's or next Wednesday's tutorial period. Oh, please let the marks get better! I really didn't like the sound of what our lecturer said this morning about it. Oh well...

Oh, and Art and Craft...I don't know still whether either of my art works have been put in, but if they have, I really don't think they will get anywhere. I've seen a couple of the sketches and they look pretty impressive. Oh well...again...