It’s that time of the semester again and with yesterday being a public holiday I've decided to announce today as my first official day of the study.
As the day comes to an end I’m feeling quite accomplished. I stayed in my pyjamas until 4pm (only changing when my brother announced company would be arriving) and read about masculinity in film during the 1980s to early 1990s. This is the topic of my 3000 word essay due next Monday which I will no doubt spend the next 5 days writing.
I'm a little horrified by the word limit, the last time I wrote an essay 3000 words long was in year 12. (I wrote 5000 words while competing with my friend, good times...) I just wonder why a unit coordinator in their right mind would want to read and mark 40 3000 word long essays. I'm not going to stress over that though, it'll do my head in. Like trying to figure out where the universe begins and ends, or what’s beyond space, is it white, is it black, or is it just some kind of empty mass? One day I’m going to have an aneurysm thinking about it.
Aside from the essay I have a research evaluation and a few weeks of journal entries to catch up on. If its one piece of advice I can give anyone, its stay on top of your journals! I had to keep a journal last year as well, so i should have learnt my lesson by now... but no. I'm about 6 weeks behind now and hoping to catch up in the next five days, otherwise I'll get a shock when I reach week 14.
In short, i heart study breaks. They are the best time of the semester to catch up on work, and they make everyone at UWA jealous. They argue that they get a longer Christmas break, but deep down.... they know Murdoch is better.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The unwritten rules of public transport. The loud music edition.
I have used public transport more in the last year and a half than I have ever before in my life thanks to university. And, naturally, along the way I have come across some peculiar people and situations.
Yesterday got me thinking about public transport etiquette. You know when you’re on the train or bus and there’s that guy (or girl, tweens are the worst) who's playing their music really really loudly. Honestly I’m surprised their not deaf, or they are and that’s why they have it that loud, either way it gets a bit annoying if you forgot your own iPod that day. Anyway, the other day a lady asked a man to turn his iPod down.
Yes, she asked him to turn it down. Usually I'd be like "yeah you go lady" but not that day... no. I honestly didn't think it was that loud, and it truly wasn't!! I have pretty good hearing (I would like to think, being 18 and all) and I could hardly hear his music blearing. When I listened closely I could faintly here some sort of music in the distance, and he wasn't standing far from where I was sitting. The thing about this situation was that it was two older ladies involved. I guess they were both in their early to late 50's but they were doing some kind of eye contact exchange. I couldn't see the other lady, only the one in front of me and she was kind of using her eyes to point to the guy. THEN the other lady got up and was all "excuse me that’s very loud could you turn it down" she was a little rude actually... And props to him he goes "it’s not loud, I’ll turn it up!" cheeky, but brilliant. Then she left shaking her head, as they always do. But considering my past experiences this guy was lucky!
One time I was catching a night bus from Fremantle to Murdoch. It was after my friend and I had seen Death Cab for Cutie in concert, so our night was going well. When we got on the bus heading back to Murdoch (so we could catch a train to Mandurah) there was a group of three on the back of the bus listening to loud rap. Not to be judgemental, but I must be to give you a perspective of the situation, they were dressed in baggy rap clothes and well... were a little intimidating for a couple of good girls from the south. We then reached the middle of Freo, and a bunch of people got on, naively we sighed relief. That was until two new bus passengers were clearly drunk (one was carrying her flask of wine) and looking for trouble (the other was already bleeding from the nose and had a ripped shirt). It wasn't long until the three at the back disrupted our new passengers with their loud rap music.
The guy, who had clearly been in a fight already that night, made his way to the back of the bus to make some trouble. We weren't looking so we didn't draw attention to ourselves, but a lady at the front screamed a little at the bus driver saying the guy in the ripped shirt had head butted the guy with the music. He (scary guy) then made his way back to the front of the bus. There was an older man in front of us, probably in his 50s, and he started to try and talk to the guy. All the while I’m thinking oh no... Don’t try and be a hero... but he did. He got up and tried to push the guy off the next stop. BIG mistake. The guy retaliated pushing the older guy off the bus and into the bus stop. We never saw anything, but the sound of his body against the bus stop was enough to frighten us all. (And I don’t mean just once, I mean several times over and over)A couple of girls (tipsy I might add) ran off the bus, so a few of us followed. The three at the back remained, along with the woman at the front (who turned out to be a nurse), and the scary guys friend (he was making zombie noises, so yes he was scary).
We wondered down the dark street not knowing where we were, we tried flagging down a couple of buses that passed but no one stopped. We kept walking until we found a small shopping centre which had a bus stop on the side. We waited at the bus stop discussing what had just happened. When a bus came to the stop, we realised it was the one we just ran from. We got on and it was clear the scary guy had got back on, because there was a trail of blood leading to the back. When I looked up one of the guys from the group of three was missing. The scary guy's friend was at the back comforting the two left behind. Apparently the guy was looking for a fight and went to the back of the bus to find one. The older guy was apparently fine. A little concussed the nurse said, but he insisted on walking home.
No security came, and I never read about it in the papers.
But something good came from this night. One of the girls on the bus was an international student from America. Her name escapes me now, but she was from New York. She told us that she had never seen anything like that in New York, which came as a surprise for us. When we reached Murdoch it was almost 11:00pm. We advised her to wait for a security escort instead of wondering through uni alone. She asked us how to do that. We were a little surprised but explained. Then we began to discuss the need for a manual for international students at Murdoch University. I'm not sure if there is one... maybe she just didn't read it...
Anyway, there’s a long winded explanation as to why listening to loud music can be a bad thing, maybe one of the reasons you can now be hit with a $100 fine for. It annoys people, and could in some instances get you hurt. So be careful my loud music loving friends.
Till next time!
Jess
UPDATE:
Incase any International students have missed or lost security info check out this webpage.
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/ofm/services/security.html#security_escort
Yesterday got me thinking about public transport etiquette. You know when you’re on the train or bus and there’s that guy (or girl, tweens are the worst) who's playing their music really really loudly. Honestly I’m surprised their not deaf, or they are and that’s why they have it that loud, either way it gets a bit annoying if you forgot your own iPod that day. Anyway, the other day a lady asked a man to turn his iPod down.
Yes, she asked him to turn it down. Usually I'd be like "yeah you go lady" but not that day... no. I honestly didn't think it was that loud, and it truly wasn't!! I have pretty good hearing (I would like to think, being 18 and all) and I could hardly hear his music blearing. When I listened closely I could faintly here some sort of music in the distance, and he wasn't standing far from where I was sitting. The thing about this situation was that it was two older ladies involved. I guess they were both in their early to late 50's but they were doing some kind of eye contact exchange. I couldn't see the other lady, only the one in front of me and she was kind of using her eyes to point to the guy. THEN the other lady got up and was all "excuse me that’s very loud could you turn it down" she was a little rude actually... And props to him he goes "it’s not loud, I’ll turn it up!" cheeky, but brilliant. Then she left shaking her head, as they always do. But considering my past experiences this guy was lucky!
One time I was catching a night bus from Fremantle to Murdoch. It was after my friend and I had seen Death Cab for Cutie in concert, so our night was going well. When we got on the bus heading back to Murdoch (so we could catch a train to Mandurah) there was a group of three on the back of the bus listening to loud rap. Not to be judgemental, but I must be to give you a perspective of the situation, they were dressed in baggy rap clothes and well... were a little intimidating for a couple of good girls from the south. We then reached the middle of Freo, and a bunch of people got on, naively we sighed relief. That was until two new bus passengers were clearly drunk (one was carrying her flask of wine) and looking for trouble (the other was already bleeding from the nose and had a ripped shirt). It wasn't long until the three at the back disrupted our new passengers with their loud rap music.
The guy, who had clearly been in a fight already that night, made his way to the back of the bus to make some trouble. We weren't looking so we didn't draw attention to ourselves, but a lady at the front screamed a little at the bus driver saying the guy in the ripped shirt had head butted the guy with the music. He (scary guy) then made his way back to the front of the bus. There was an older man in front of us, probably in his 50s, and he started to try and talk to the guy. All the while I’m thinking oh no... Don’t try and be a hero... but he did. He got up and tried to push the guy off the next stop. BIG mistake. The guy retaliated pushing the older guy off the bus and into the bus stop. We never saw anything, but the sound of his body against the bus stop was enough to frighten us all. (And I don’t mean just once, I mean several times over and over)A couple of girls (tipsy I might add) ran off the bus, so a few of us followed. The three at the back remained, along with the woman at the front (who turned out to be a nurse), and the scary guys friend (he was making zombie noises, so yes he was scary).
We wondered down the dark street not knowing where we were, we tried flagging down a couple of buses that passed but no one stopped. We kept walking until we found a small shopping centre which had a bus stop on the side. We waited at the bus stop discussing what had just happened. When a bus came to the stop, we realised it was the one we just ran from. We got on and it was clear the scary guy had got back on, because there was a trail of blood leading to the back. When I looked up one of the guys from the group of three was missing. The scary guy's friend was at the back comforting the two left behind. Apparently the guy was looking for a fight and went to the back of the bus to find one. The older guy was apparently fine. A little concussed the nurse said, but he insisted on walking home.
No security came, and I never read about it in the papers.
But something good came from this night. One of the girls on the bus was an international student from America. Her name escapes me now, but she was from New York. She told us that she had never seen anything like that in New York, which came as a surprise for us. When we reached Murdoch it was almost 11:00pm. We advised her to wait for a security escort instead of wondering through uni alone. She asked us how to do that. We were a little surprised but explained. Then we began to discuss the need for a manual for international students at Murdoch University. I'm not sure if there is one... maybe she just didn't read it...
Anyway, there’s a long winded explanation as to why listening to loud music can be a bad thing, maybe one of the reasons you can now be hit with a $100 fine for. It annoys people, and could in some instances get you hurt. So be careful my loud music loving friends.
Till next time!
Jess
UPDATE:
Incase any International students have missed or lost security info check out this webpage.
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/ofm/services/security.html#security_escort
Saturday, September 19, 2009
My portrait with a difference.
Okay, so I guess it’s time to stop procrastinating and get to assignment number 1. For some reason I felt a little under pressure, despite the fact that this is kind of fun. The reason I decided to start a blog was so that I could write about things that I wanted to write about, other than what was prescribed by unit coordinators. So I’m not too sure why I was dreading attempting this first task so much. Maybe it’s because I’m not a very good drawer... or my imagination at times is a little dull. So to take the pressure of a little I decided not to be ultra creative and just express things that I like through an image. I hope it worked, but looking at it right now... it does look a little distorted... I kind of look like Lady Gaga from her paparazzi video. (Figure 1)
I guess I have some explaining to do then, which is a good thing, because that’s the point of the blog... .... *awkward silence*... anyway, we’ll start from top to bottom shall we?< Figure 1
My hair is plainly and simple my four favourite colours. Ever since I was young I’ve had a pink room. It has since been painted to represent an older me... but it is still pink (well one wall is, the other three are white). Green is the colour of my carpet. It was also the first colour I started to like while I was in primary school growing away from pink. When I was 10, however, my brother rented the hulk movie from the video store. I didn’t like the hulks colour and I found him a little frightening. I was then traumatised by the colour of the hulk and went off green for several years. It wasn’t until I reached year 11 that I rediscovered how awesome green really is. As for purple and blue, well... aren’t they just generically great colours? I’m sure blue tops the most favourite colour in the world list and purple is a favourite for those that don’t want to admit that they like pink.
My skin is a collage of my favourite bands. These include; Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, Kate Miller-Heidke, Kings of Leon, Muse, Powderfinger, The Killers, The Kooks, The Strokes and The Do. There’s a ton more but I won’t bore with my musical tastes. The variety of music doesn’t only show my love of music but the career I want to enter I guess. The reason I went to uni was to learn about events management. I wrote a letter to the Murdoch uni explaining what I wanted to do, and they placed me in the Bachelor for Media course. So my skin represents the direction I’m heading with my life, as opposed to the things I enjoy.
My eyes are vinyl records. This is where my hobby for music comes into the picture.
I play the guitar and keyboard pretty much every day; it’s a really good way to forget about uni for a little bit. When I was in high school I was in the local schools band playing the trumpet. My trumpet days have long gone, however, I haven’t practiced in several years ha-ha. It was fun while it lasted though. And just like everybody else, I love music. I will tell you it’s my life, because it basically is. No matter degree I end up with I want to work in the music industry, so we’ll see how I go =] I tried to find a movie reel for my other eye, but Google just gave me some really odd choices. So I’ll just explain that I like movies, much easier. I think movies are generally a part of people’s lives, whether you like documentaries, comedies, action or romance. I personally have a soft spot for romantic comedies especially the English ones like Bridget Jones, love actually and the boat that rocked. I’m also a major fan of comedy and will watch anything as long as I’m told it’s funny. I will watch a horror (which I hate) if it’s funny. Like House of Wax, Paris Hilton trying to act was hilarious let alone her death scene.
I just skipped my eyebrows... ha-ha here we go then. My eyebrows are pens and represent two things. The first is my love for stationary. The pens are from Kikki.K who is my favourite stationary designer. The second thing is my love for writing. I try to write as much as possible whether it’s a song, review, twitter update or blog entry. It keeps me going and gives a place to express myself outside the guidelines of university assignments. I also write for fasterlouder.com which has kind of taken a backseat while I’m at uni. Hopefully I’ll get back into my reviews when the holidays hit (6 more weeks! For the lucky ones without exams anyway... which would include me, yesssss!).
My nose shows my love for sport. It's a netball hoop. I’ve played netball since I was 8 years old, and although I had a couple of years off after high school I picked it up this year. That was until fractured my finger and couldn’t play for the rest of the season. It was actually a good thing though because I couldn’t afford to pay my fees and not long after I injured myself they asked us to front up. I would also like to stress that it was a pretty serious injury. Yes I agree, it’s just a finger BUT I had to go to hospital every second week for 6 weeks until the bone had reattached itself. And when you live in Mandurah and have to go to Fremantle hospital it’s a big deal. I even had to wear a splint like the one they give kids when they break their wrists. Mine was hot pink =] It also had Velcro... and was very cool. Sometimes I wish I could wear it as a fashion statement with a pink dress, teamed with a pair of pink heels and bracelets.
Hmm... I kind of went off track there, but it does lead nicely into what has replaced my mouth. That there is a coat hanger, which I have coloured in pink to represent my lips. (Microsoft is telling me that that is a grammatically incorrect sentence, I think it sounds good though so I refuse to listen) The coat hanger represents my love for fashion. When I was on the pay roll I would buy at least one new piece of clothing each pay week. Even with my small pay package I could afford to buy something small, even if it was an accessory. Nowadays, I’m waiting for my work to reopen and I’m broke. I received a bank statement the other which showed that the last time I had money in the bank was April. So to fill the void of non-existent new clothes I read fashion blogs and magazines, which is much more fulfilling than just buying things actually, because it’s free!
So there we have it 1,200 words about me. Wow, that was incredibly painless. If this were an essay for a unit it would have taken several days to construct. Amazing...
Well thanks for your time, I hope you like the picture and it’s clearer now that I explained it =]
Jessiqwa
xoxo
P.S. The xoxo is because I watch too much gossip girl, k thanks.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I had to share this...
This was to good to let go. Sad yes, all due respects to Mr. Swayze he put up a great fight and i was very sad to see him go. R.I.P Patrick Swayze.
But this is a little humorous, in a chaser's kind of way...
Let me know what you think. A little bit funny or Entirely inappropriate?
While you're at it check this: http://kanyegate.tumblr.com/
But this is a little humorous, in a chaser's kind of way...
Let me know what you think. A little bit funny or Entirely inappropriate?
While you're at it check this: http://kanyegate.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wait... you volunteered for MORE work?!
Yes it is true, i put up my hand and volunteered to become a Murdoch blogger. But its only because of the fantastic prizes! (I swear... I'm not some insane person that is driven by an overload of work... i promise) Honestly, who would just walk by the chance at winning an internship at sunset events, that's basically my dream job.
So here I am, extending my writing skills to the world of blogging. My last two posts on this site were faster louder features, so i haven't really blogged since i was in year 11 which is going to make this interesting. To start off I'm aware that people may actually read this site now so i would like to clarify a few things.
Firstly, lets start of with me. I'm 18 (almost 19 he he) and I'm in my second year at Murdoch University. I never did TEE and submitted a portfolio through my school to gain a Murdoch entry scholarship, so that should give those who aren't studying TEE some hope. After all, i was told if i don't do TEE then i won't get to uni. But Murdoch is awesome so here i am =] I am music fan and try to get involved with events as much as i possibly can. I think if i had the same approach to my studies as i do with my passion to music i would definitely be an honours student.
Secondly, Yes that is a line from a Miley Cyrus song in my headline for this blog. I don't care what y'all say, its catchy.
Thirdly, The first two posts on this site are a sign of both my procrastination and short attention span. I was supposed to start blogging thoughts as an outlet from uni assignments a long time ago, but i just kind of... forgot... Hmm lets hope i can stick with this.
Fourthly, I assure you i will be a little bit more interesting in the future. I thought i should give a run down of who i am before i just throw some of my experiences at you.
I hope you like whats left to come, although i think i might fall flat on my face with these 'assignments' we're given. I always get freaked out when something is due and it never really seems to be good quality... i think its just a mind thing, my brain knows homework is no good! For now i will leave you with some good for nothing sites that will keep procrastinators happy:
- mylifeisaverage.com
- www.apple.com/trailers/
- www.perezhilton.com
- http://en.akinator.com/
Till next time!
Jessiqwa
So here I am, extending my writing skills to the world of blogging. My last two posts on this site were faster louder features, so i haven't really blogged since i was in year 11 which is going to make this interesting. To start off I'm aware that people may actually read this site now so i would like to clarify a few things.
Firstly, lets start of with me. I'm 18 (almost 19 he he) and I'm in my second year at Murdoch University. I never did TEE and submitted a portfolio through my school to gain a Murdoch entry scholarship, so that should give those who aren't studying TEE some hope. After all, i was told if i don't do TEE then i won't get to uni. But Murdoch is awesome so here i am =] I am music fan and try to get involved with events as much as i possibly can. I think if i had the same approach to my studies as i do with my passion to music i would definitely be an honours student.
Secondly, Yes that is a line from a Miley Cyrus song in my headline for this blog. I don't care what y'all say, its catchy.
Thirdly, The first two posts on this site are a sign of both my procrastination and short attention span. I was supposed to start blogging thoughts as an outlet from uni assignments a long time ago, but i just kind of... forgot... Hmm lets hope i can stick with this.
Fourthly, I assure you i will be a little bit more interesting in the future. I thought i should give a run down of who i am before i just throw some of my experiences at you.
I hope you like whats left to come, although i think i might fall flat on my face with these 'assignments' we're given. I always get freaked out when something is due and it never really seems to be good quality... i think its just a mind thing, my brain knows homework is no good! For now i will leave you with some good for nothing sites that will keep procrastinators happy:
- mylifeisaverage.com
- www.apple.com/trailers/
- www.perezhilton.com
- http://en.akinator.com/
Till next time!
Jessiqwa
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