Friday, September 25, 2009

The First Of The Lasts...

Today began the vast majority of the first 'last times' for everything at school, with - considering today being Friday and graduation being next Thursday - the final 5 days of school just beginning. For example, today was the last of many things, such as:
  • Last Focaccia Friday at the school canteen.
  • Last Photography free period before graduation.
  • Last Ancient lesson with Ms. LeClerc.
  • The end of the last Week A on the timetable ever.
...And this is only just the beginning. With four days left to go there's not a great deal of time and too many final opportunities, so I'm going to try and make sure I get involved in as much as possible. For example, when the grade came together for that junior uniform day I went out of my way to the clothing pool in order to be able to don a blue shirt the following day and join my nostalgic peers.

The grade lunches have also been kind of cool, just seeing the entire grade come together in one space for a short span of time and just... hanging out essentially. Many photos, including getting drafted into my first proper 'Toyota' photo ever, aside from one failed 'Jolly Greens' one with Shuang/Rose/Nichole. The second grade lunch was kind of soured a bit however, due to the intervention of some teachers breaking up the water fight, which I only got to observe a bit of anyway. Bugger.

Time just seems to be moving too fast, and today was the first day that it really hit me, so to speak, that it's almost over. Before today, I'd been waffling about as though it was business as usual, just with slightly less of a work ethic for the time being.

Not anymore though.

It's time to step it up with both work and enjoyment simultaneously. I'm going to try and remember as much as I possibly can of this final week, as well as start improving my study regime yet again for the final set of exams ever in a few weeks' time. I've started going photo-crazy at school to try not to forget anyone, and even scabbed one of those small books off Bernice to get people to start signing. Even though I only had time to get a few people to write in it today, it's still amazing to find all the little in-jokes and memories with specific people that I'd forgotten.

It looks like the back of a playing card! Sign it people!

Lee's page is absolute post-modern win. I may upload some of the pages later when it's all completed. I'll make sure to get as many signatures and comments as possible by graduation, and probably an enormous amount of photos, considering I usually go a bit trigger-happy with the camera even just on a general outing. It's just exciting, and yet depressing, that this routine of my life as far as I can really remember is drawing to a close. Sure, university beckons, but that 3-4 month gap in between seems so daunting and aimless. No idea what I'll do with myself.

Still, enough about the future. Aside from exam preparation, I'm living in the present until the end of the HSC, and that's it. No time for negativity anymore. I hope everyone else's final days are equally as awesome.

Adios.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

R.I.P. Yoshinoya - Lest We Forget

A humble moment of silence in memory of the greatest Japanese restaurant ever to grace the great nation of Australia - Yoshinoya.

So many good memories, and ever since attending the National Art School (NAS) for a course last year - which was quite possibly one of the greatest experiences ever - I've made a conscious effort to go back to this little restaurant on Oxford Street whenever I'm in the general vicinity. Firstly, for the absolutely amazing beef bowl they make, and secondly purely for nostalgia purposes.

However, after heading to the COFA Spring Fair yesterday, which isn't too far off of Yoshinoya on Oxford Street, I was shattered to find... the place had closed down. Give me a moment whilst I shed a single, extremely melancholic tear. The place was deserted, lights off, sign covered up and hanging sign destroyed. What makes matters worse is that this was the last restaurant of its kind in Australia, with a few others that had existed in the country being closed down previously.

Lest we forget. [Insert solemn silence.]

It kind of makes me realise the impermanance of things. Yoshinoya was this distinct reminder of the good times had at NAS, as well as times after when I'd revisited, of times when I was a bit more open minded as I hadn't tried much Asian cuisine back then. Yet, it didn't exactly last, though I suppose it'll just make me cherrish the final memory of that exquisite beef bowl all the more, heh.

...The food...

...The culture...

...The friends' disgusted looks...

...

...All gone...

But at least I'll have the memories, even if they're now viewed through slightly rose-tinted glasses with any chance to revisit them now somewhat gone.

Adios.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

World Wide Web Of Inspiration

Recently got into StumbleUpon and it led me to this site full of a number of inspirational quotes. I was skimming through and one quote in particular stuck out.

"One who looks for a friend without faults will have none."

The site for those interested: http://www.worldofinspiration.com. Guess I should probably take these sort of things on board. I'm a bit of an offender in this regard.

Adios.

Hello World, Welcome To The Conversation...

Figured I haven't updated in awhile, though I don't know how substantial this post will be. More of a sharing experience. That and Shirley requested a blog post since I hadn't in awhile, heh.

Anyway, got linked to this quite interesting video regarding the evolution of media and how it's shaping conversation and culture. It helped me realise one thing in particular that I'd never really taken note of until now in the writing of this blog - namely, who exactly am I writing to?

I mean, I know people read it, as evidenced by the comments, and I know even more just flick through it occasionally and lurk (because they've essentially told me so), but the video raised the interesting point of the fact that... well.. I never quite know who I'm writing to, let alone when or in what context. Here's the video for those interested:



Wesch raised this point that, with the evolution of the media and its inclusion of blogs and vlogs, etc, we're essentially having conversations that, well, aren't conversations. They're face-to-face in the case of vlogs especially, except we have no eye contact or awareness of the context, time, or whom we're conversing to in the first place. The same goes for blogs to an extent; people are reading this, and yet there's no recognition necessarily between myself (the author) and the other person (the reader), to the point where it's a complete 'conversation' that simultaneously excludes one of the participants from any interaction (myself, unless you leave a comment, heh).

It's just a very intriguing notion, that all these conversational barriers collapse when I'm typing to simultaneously someone and no-one, and the same for those with a web cam doing vlogs - talking to someone who isn't even there are the time but is still forever part of the conversation.

Still, there are those who try and reconnect through this odd form of conversation, like he shows toward the end of the video. Particularly, there was that guy.... I forget the name, but I can't be bothered re-watching the video again, heh, anyway... He basically works anonymously under a mask and uses this lopsided conversation as a call for action. He even takes advantage of the fact that the conversation is debatably eternal, until the video is removed, allowing for an endless stream of replies for a conversation that is technically-speaking long finished. Ironically, all these responses in the disconnected conversation, where he asked everyone to write something on their hand, essentially spoke of calls to action for a reconnection of the world, despite this cultural and media shift.

Just found it an interesting thought that I hadn't really considered since beginning this blog. Still, there's plenty more than just that within the video. Seriously, watch it - very intriguing.

Adios.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

No work and all play makes Ben a dull boy...

I never thought I'd say this but... I wish I had some schoolwork to do.

I find myself sitting here at the computer, totally and utterly bored, quite simply because I've finished all my assignments, exams, and major works, with only the HSC left to worry about. I'm left with an abundance of free time and nothing to do with it, no goals or hobbies or anything to retain my interest or give me some sort of goal to work toward.

Ok, I lie, it's not like I don't have the odd hobby and such. I mean, I was playing the Wii for a good portion of the afternoon, but there's only so much "enjoyment" I can take. With so much time to spare, these little pockets of time that I'd normally treasure between turning to the monotony of working have just become annoyingly pointless. They don't exactly give a sense of achievement either.

Even more annoyingly is that basically everyone else still has work of some description to do. I'm basically only writing this blog post because everyone else on my MSN list that I'm talking to at the moment seems preoccupied with their own remaining work, so the conversations aren't exactly *lively* or anything.

Seriously, I never thought I would actually wish I had more work to do. I went *looking* for homework and was actually disappointed that I couldn't legitimately find any... Without that sense of time pressure and something to work toward, everything has just gone a bit 'bleh' right now and I'm struggling to find some method of entertainment that I don't tire of quickly.

Writing this blog entry was one of those, though I've basically run out of anything further to write as well. God dammit. I'm going to die of boredom after the HSC when I have 3-4 months of nothing. Never thought I'd appreciate school so much.

Adios.