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.

The Payoff

BOTH MAJOR WORKS AND TRIAL EXAMS ARE NOW COMPLETE.

Just had to get that out of the way. All the hard work finally paid off, despite the fact my hand feels like it could probably just fall off right now. I was drawing from 9:00 AM Sunday until like 2:30 AM Monday morning... and basically only stopped for meals. Holy crap.

Finally managed to clear up my little Art corner that looked like a felt-tip bomb hit it. Counted up all the pens I've used up... and the grand total is... *drum roll*

95 FELT-TIP PENS. Wow...

It's raaaaaining pens, hallelujah!

Working on those drawings for so long... all the earlier procrastination just made this last weekend a stress-induced hell where not finishing had become a legitimate possibility. Basically it made me realise the importance of long-term vs. short-term rewards, heh. It was either "play TF2 (Team Fortress 2) right now" or "bust your ass drawing for a few days straight and enjoy yourself later", and to make matters worse I'd just bought Punch-Out for the Wii on the weekend. A brand new game... sitting there... fully wrapped... taunting me day in and day out.

Admittedly, I didn't exactly stick to the whole "long-term is more important" ideal for the entire weekend... seeing as I kind of bludged off all of Saturday to go to UTS and attend Shuang's kickass shin-dig. Soooooo much free stuff, and I ended up with three new shirts at the end of the day! (Unfortunately, one of them didn't fit, bah. Oh well.) Still, as much as I wanted to just game for awhile and collapse on my bed after that long day, I *persevered* and drew well into the night, and the entirety of the next day, heh.

Reminds me of this thing I saw on TED.com (and yes I *know* I reference it a lot, but it's a damn brilliant site), based around showing the long-term vs. short-term enjoyment and goals notion through presenting some toddlers with a marshmallow.

Basically, for those of you who can't be bothered watching (even though this is a LOT shorter than the rest of the TED.com videos I've linked), the experiment showed that, when presented with the option of eating a marshmallow now, or waiting some amount of time to get the original marshmallow and a second one, that based on this decision it showed how well these children would cope with the long-term vs. short-term decision later in life. Those who waited to get two marshmallows generally had good grades and some degree of success, whereas the majority of those who ate the marshmallow and didn't restrain themselves and wait ended up... well, in less than optimum circumstances for the most part.

The amount of times I had to turn down playing TF2 or just chillaxing with some anime over the last week to get this art major finished... I'd like to *think* I would've been one of those kids who managed to wait the duration to get the second marshmallow. At least that would mean I'll be successful later in life, if the statistics are to be believed, heh, even *if* I do indulge in the occasional period of procrastination. Pseudo-restraint is enough restraint for me.

Still, the relief of having all my majors completed now, rather than a few extra games of TF2 earlier and then being riddled with stress at the moment as I'd be forced to draw until all hours of the morning... it's definitely worth it. All in preparation for hopefully getting into Vis Comm at UTS - it shall be worth it eventually.

Guess that's it for now though.

Adios.

Trial Period Has Expired

Freedom.

Oh how sweet it is.

That is all. Adios.

Trials & Tribulations (& Team Fortress 2)

A pun AND alliteration in the blog entry's title!? Oh this is madness. Truly my wit is absolutely astounding.

Nothing particularly thought-provoking tonight - well, maybe. Who knows, maybe you'll find something of interest at the end of this post? I have no idea. It's 1:00 AM at the beginning of typing this so it's probably going to be a bit of a rambling recap of my absence, heh. Haven't exactly done a 'proper' entry since the music lyrics one, so let's see what happens.

Main reason for my lack of updates, obviously, is HSC Trial Exams, as I'm sure you've all struggled through (or are still struggling through, like myself). Problem is, due to my uber-sexy exam timetable, giving me almost a week's break between the first half and second half of my exams, I'm starting to fall into holiday mode despite still having two more exams PLUS two major works to do. 'Tis not good.

Due to this aura of the holidays engulfing me, I've recently become reacquainted with an old friend - Team Fortress 2. I suppose this post may deteriorate into a bit of a gaming-related ramble but bear with me.

One of the things that always appealed to me about Team Fortress 2 was that, despite mindlessly shooting at each other with no storyline or true purpose, like a lot of shooters on the market, the game actually had a great sense of humour and art style about it. Speaking of the art style in particular, compare it to the following:

Present-Day/Futuristic Industrial Wasteland Vs. Original Eras & Stylised Constructions.

Grizzled Macho-Man Archetype Vs. Characters With *Personality* & Distinct Aesthetics.

Grey scale & Craptastically Brown Surroundings Vs. *Gasp* Colour!

Considering the amount of shooter games on the market, none of them seem to entice me because they're all borderline the same. Aside from the weapons, they're all about grizzly macho-men in grey scale (or brown if they're feeling *adventurous*) industrial present-day or futuristic ruins. That's basically it for 90% of them. Team Fortress 2 is a tad more original in this regard though, with each character having a distinct personality beyond this overly generic isolationist 'bad ass' character archetype that seems to engulf the majority of shooters these days.

Essentially, rather than trying to project an overly 'mature' look about the game, which at this point most end up almost satirising themselves due to the saturation of the market, Valve dared to be a bit different with Team Fortress 2 and achieved this unique, aesthetically pleasing, charming, and humorous atmosphere about the game. The cartoon-ish motif mixed with the altogether insane violence, bodies literally scattering into a collection of bloody-yet-colourful limbs after exploding... It just stands out against this ridiculously over-the-top 'mature' market that most gaming seems to be geared toward at the moment. Though admittedly I've played my fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, none of them held me, simply because they're all so generic at this point. Team Fortress 2 however, even if I take a break, keeps me coming back, simply because it dared to be different in its art style and characterisation - even if the gameplay is still reasonably similar to the common shooter (not completely, but it doesn't completely shatter the genre in any way).

Essentially, I guess I just wanted to get this point across that 'mature' games don't have to be ridiculously 'serious' in their tone, because it just ends up ridiculously bland and generic. Hell, this expands beyond games, really. It's often those multimedia works that develop their own style, rather than just emulating what they think they *should* portray, that appeal to me. Take Tim Burton for example - each of his films have this absolute distinct motif and feel to them that's incomparable, no matter how hard others may try. I'd much rather have things visually interesting than having the developer focus on creating five hundred levels of realism. If I wanted realism I'd just walk outside or turn on the news.

There's no need to completely throw out the rulebook and be different for the sake of different, but I'm glad they didn't fall into stereotypes - things are more interesting if you're a tad original.

Adios.

Felt-Tip Genocide

Thought I'd keep this one short and sweet, considering the length of the last post, whilst I do some end-of-holidays cleaning. Amidst the mess I collected up all the felt-tip pens I'd been using throughout the holidays on my body of work. Those things run out so quickly. I ended up counting an amazing thirty-three, give or take a few that I may have lost. It's ridiculous.

There was a purpose to this though. Despite having run out of ink, there is still a use to them. My whole body of work concept, which I won't go into *too* much depth here, basically revolves around minuscule problems such as frustration with stationary being blown out of proportion, then taking that on a literal level and showing the objects as monstrously large. Mr. Kirkby (my Art teacher) recently suggested, however, that considering the theme of my artwork I could use these seemingly useless dead pens to add to the artwork, commenting on my own frustration with them constantly running out during the body of work process. Thus, by the time I'm finished and have a mountain of pens to work with, I can experiment with some macro photography and portray them as monolithic in size as well, alongside the exaggerated felt-tip drawings.

Night falls on the battlefield as these ink-less brethren rest in peace.

Moral of the story: These wasted pens, for all I know, could prove to be integral to the final piece of art I turn in as my body of work, in addition to the ink they provided. Even things which seem tiny, insignificant, or useless can still have a purpose or be inspiring / intriguing, once you look at them for another perspective.

Guess I should resume cleaning though...

Adios.

The End Is Nigh

Yes, the end of the holidays is upon us, my friends. It is a most melancholic affair. I would insert a sad face emoticon around here, but I'm trying to have this blog retain *some* level of sophistication in the writing, as opposed to my usual MSN emoticon spamming. So, I'm afraid, you must imagine the anguish on the little round yellow circle for yourselves, dear readers (if you even exist by this blog post). As of writing this post it is past midnight, and thus it is the final day of this precious "break" (if you can even call it that, as with the impending trials any amount of procrastination leads to immediate guilt).

But yes, holidays are ending. Children across the nation are weeping as the trials draw near. And yet, despite this pressure, procrastination always seems unavoidable. Despite doing a decent amount of my body of work for Art, I've only touched on English a bit and my Histories even less... it's quite disconcerting. Still, with the stress explosion that is soon to occur, I must cherish this last day and relax. See those italics? Doesn't the word just look so cushy and lazy? It's perfect.

Though this is also an end, it is many beginnings. Firstly, the beginning of the final term of high school - ever (though yes, I am quite aware as this is also alluding to another end, so quiet). I can't wait for university... it's so close, yet so far. I just love the city atmosphere, so getting into UTS would be absolute bliss. Then again, there's the fact I still live in Penrith, so about 3 hours commuting there total per day would be terrible. I *would* like to move to the city, but then I'd have to worry about finding accommodation, roommate(s) depending on the rent or size of the place, and a job to pay for it all anyway. Bah, those were dark days working at Red Rooster, so hopefully I can get into somewhere above fast food.

At least I was a productive little worker, right?

This notion of fast food brings me to my next beginning of sorts though - the intense exercise and diet regime that shall commence first day back next term. I've lost weight consistently over the last few years due to a few inspirations, which I may save for a later post I suppose, and although I'm *close* to my ideal, I could do a slight bit more. It has been quite a battle, and my knee operation last year sort of put a stop to my motivation. This fervor shall consequently resume this Tuesday, and hence I have all of Monday to binge, should I see fit, heh. I may walk up to the local KFC and have a End-Of-Holidays Celebration before this cruel health program begins. See, working at Red Rooster used to work as a deterrent as I saw the disgusting kitchen conditions and how terrible and fattening the food really was. Yet, after quitting, for some reason I suddenly felt I could indulge without a care again. So, starting Tuesday:

-No more fast food.
-No more binging on chocolate.
-Alas, no more Tuesday Nachos from the school canteen, though this one will be a struggle to give up.

The goal of this all... well... I don't have a specific weight I'd like to reach. It's more that I just want to feel comfortable, and thus my target is fitting into an item of clothing. More specifically, the Cloud Control T-Shirt I bought from the Save FBI Concert earlier in the holidays. SUCH GOOD TIMES. I'm overcome by nostalgia thinking about it.

Ah, good times. Even got to hi-five my clone, shown behind me.

But yes, as I went to buy an EP Album of the first band that played, they also had the Cloud Control merchandise out. The shirt in question reminded me of one over on www.threadless.com which depicted a deer using its antlers as a hat rack. Though no hats in sight on this shirt, it was still just as cool with the deer silhouette. However, when I went to buy it, the girl could only seem to find shirts that went up to medium size, rather than large. Thus, although it fits, the shirt is a *tad* tight. So, my goal is that, by the end of the HSC, I *will* fit comfortably into this shirt. Here is the damn awesome shirt in question:

Who wouldn't want to wear that? So simple, yet so coolio.

This is my goal. This shirt. This excellently designed piece of apparel, oozing nostalgia from every thread, heralds the new era of exercise and food Nazism. Both a good and bad start to what is the end of my schooling days - at least until university.

I realise this was probably one of the more trivial posts I've made so far. Then again, there isn't much competition as I've only made three at this point in time, heh. Still, this blog just helps me collect my thoughts and set them in stone. Thus, by declaring this health regime I can no longer escape from it, nor can my diet buddy. We can do it. This is where I would insert a smiley face, but as explained in the first paragraph you must imagine the jubilation yourself. It seems we have come full circle, so I shall end here.

Adios.