Updates

In the last few weeks (since i've blogged), I've:

• Received a rejection letter from Treasury (for vacation work) - looks like stacking shelves for me this summer.
  
• Gone to Albany and back (cell retreat) - driving, crying inside every time we pumped petrol into the 4WD, more driving, some sights, some rain, some tennis, some sport... It was all good fun (except for the petrol pumping part).
  
• Fallen sick - upon returning from Albany, what started off as a tightness in my throat went on to become a sore throat on Thursday, a fever that night, and a nice hacking cough on Friday... I probably deserved it though. The only green thing I ate while at Albany was possibly a Natural Confectionery Company Forest Fruits Jelly =P
• Finally completed the student exchange application tonight - its due soon. I'm becoming less of a J - inspired by my Boss (though she does things late out of necessity =P.
  
• Oh yeah, and more songwriting. Still not very good, but I hope I'm improving. I have to say I miss my electric (she's on a trip to the East for some warranty repairs - pickup problems). Never mind, the acoustic's still there to caress - i mean play - curse those Freudian slips.
  

I could sing of your love forever

I was at PCLC last weekend, and they had a different take on the song "I could sing of your love forever". I'm sure everyone's heard it before, but the chorus chords are different, and it adds a bit of oomph. Here's to one of my favourite songs

G D B-Em
I could sing of your love forever
C D-Em
I could sing of your love forever
Bm G/B-C
I could sing of your love forever
D
I could sing of your love forever

The procrastination + tennis + pedals post

I think this blog's getting neglected. I only post when i have time - the sign of an uncommitted relationship. Having said that, I probably wouldn't be completely responsible if I'd had blogged too often during my exams - there must be a middle ground somewhere.

Ok enough with that... on to more pressing matters. Somewhere along the course of this year, I've reached the end of my Commerce degree. After handing in my dissertation on the 15th of October, only two exams (on the 5th and 7th November) stood between me and world domination (well ok, a well-deserved summer holiday). With three weeks being the intervening period, I set about to my task with grim abandon... and the world would become my oyster.

Well no, in reality, i relaxed for the first week (lying to myself that I had to prepare for the aforementioned Treasury interview)... and then relaxed for half the following week (convincing myself that i was studying when all i was really doing was MSNing, Facebooking, Guitaring etc etc with lecture notes propped mockingly in front of me. Eventually, somehow I managed to get some study done, and i think both exams went decently (well actually Macroeconomics was a killer, but that's another story).

After the exams, I managed to catch up with Jia Wei, Chelsea and Selina for a good coffee... and caught up. All is well on their fronts =). Later, Richie turned out to be a rather formidable opponent on the tennis court. While it was a tad warm at 2pm today, that will not be an excuse for a rather inept show by yours truly. I got a good belting (6-2, 6-1)... managing to kill myself with unwelcome double faults and unexpected unforced errors. It was sad. All Richie had to do was put the ball in my end of the court (or let me serve), and wait for me to kill myself.

I think the heart-breaker for me was one game in the first set. After a drinks break, with the score poised at a tantalising 2-2, I completely lost my rhythm and lost the next two service games easily. Serving whilst trailing 4-2, i quickly went down 15-40, before managing to pull off one clutch shot after a long rally. More importantly, I had regained some measure of form, and was actually feeling confident of getting the ball in (I'm a confidence player - when i'm feeling hot, i hit well, but otherwise it all goes to pieces). What was one more break point to survive? Richie's return off my serve clipped the tape and dropped on my end. After that, it was all over...
But kudos to Richie - it was a good win, and he made infuriatingly few errors.

Asides from tennis, I've been shopping for guitar pedals lately. I've recently bought the Vox Bulldog Distortion pedal, which has a valve in-built (for non-guitarists, apparently valve amps impart better "sound" than modern solid-state amps). The in-built valve would not mean much to me, unless the sound was good, and thankfully it is (it also wins my younger brother's seal of approval). Across both channels, the distortion is amazing, and you can get a wide variety of sounds from it, from a low-gain distortion, to a more modern-sounding distortion. An excellent pedal with plenty of sweet spots. the only flaw I've identified is that the treble knob affects the unit's volume. Asides from that, its awesome.

At the moment, I'm looking at wah pedals. I'm tossing up between getting the Morley Tremonti Wah pedal, or saving up for the ultimate: the Fulltone Deluxe wah (nearly double the price). Having said that, based on what I've heard on youtube, the former looks like a pretty impressive wah for its price...

And now, back to songwriting (or possibly grabbing a quick bite).

actually i had no idea how to title this post.
It's been a while since i last wrote... I've been rushed a tad off my feet haha so the blogging tends to suffer a little. Basically in the last month or so:

1. I finished the dissertation and handed it in - thank God its done. I never believed that it would take so long to format something, but yeah now i have my own book =P. Thanks to everyone who kept me going and smiling. Appreciate all the help and encouragement. Aside from one night where i ran through on 2 hours sleep, it was pretty good throughout the last week in terms of workload
   
2. Managed to do surprisingly well in 2 midsems i thought i cocked up... so yeah pleasantly surprised.
   
3. Got an interview for the Dept of Treasury's vacation work program - atm am scrambling to get 2 referees for tomorrow's interview. Wish me luck.
4. Been a little busy writing songs for next year's camp - its been a really enjoyable process actually... nothing quite like penning lyrics out on the go. the only problem is i tend to write in spurts, so it has made the rest of my life slightly disjointed
5. Cut the hair... lightheaded
6. Rugby World Cup - enough said
   

That's basically it - doesn't seem like that much does it?

Nic

volatility

Time to study again...
I completed the Macroeconomics midsem yesterday - it started off well, with the first page stating that the best 8 of the 9 questions would be taken. Q1 went well, as did Q2. Q3 was left blank. So far so good. How hard could it be? Well, Q6, 7 and 9 weren't cakewalks... hopefully the results come out ok. I studied hard for it anyways (if that's any comfort).

On Tuesday, it's time for International Finance to take its bow. Camp is on the following weekend, with the THESIS due on the 15th of October, and another minor (1500 words is minor relative to a thesis) essay due on that week also.

It's starting... i probably wouldn't call it a roller coaster though. The grind sounds more apt for my situation right now.

Things to do:

• Go to another Perth Glory game - went last Sunday, and it was awesome. Pics will be uploaded if i remember. I mean, we lost 2-1, but the atmosphere is great, as are the chants (most of them anyways). The next game is on the 1st Sunday of October i think. Interested, anyone? Tix are $10. best entertainment in town (at a per dollar rate, anyways).
  
• Sleep
• Study... hard
  
• Play my guitar
• Prepare for cell
• Keep fit
• Run over a clown

this post wasn't anything about volatility, but then again, maybe it is.