Judgement Day

I find it incredibly sad that people make judgements without knowing the facts. This is because, the people making these judgements are the very people ELECTED to listen to all sides of the story and defend people who need help. It's sad that the same people who would stand up against racism, bigotry, and other wrongs against students would at the same time be biased themselves to their own political ends...

My kingdom for an uneventful weekend...

Below is a list of things I did over the weekend (TRUE!)

- I had a very long 'disagreement' with someone very important to me.
- I bit the former National Convenor (aka Aditya)
- I whacked Sarinda's head
- I sucked a new international student (6 days in Australia!) into student politics
- Didn't make it home after the orientation party at SISA because I introduced myself to my downstairs neighbours for the first time
- Tried to pick up a girl at a gay nightclub (unsuccesfully) while out with my neighbours
- Fell asleep talking on the phone
- Made lunch for friends
- Went shopping for a 'little black book'
- Talked politics with a truck driver
- Saw my 'boss' naked, discussing childhood
- Plotted a corporate takeover
- Had a dream about being fed skewers with tofu and eggplant on them while being denied access to the shower
- Played beach baseball with lots of giggles
- Played beach soccer with an Italian tourist
- Shared soup
- Acquired two purple animals (a cow and a frog) in a game of darts
- Watched a Hong Kong movie
- Was given a stuffed dalmation over daiquiri and started an organisation called STAR (Stuffed Toy Animal Rights)
- Slept. Finally!

... There are some strange people in the world these days. Stranger than me. That's a scary thought.

... And I'm missing someone terribly... please call!

What a night

...and what a day.

(to be sung to the tune of 'Yesterday' by the Beatles.

Yesterday. I thought I could study all the day.
Then the meetings meant I couldn't stay
And concentrate on criminal

Yesterday. Swinburne threw a party that was great
On the way home I stopped and knocked
At my neighbours big front door

Why I had to go I don't know
I didn't think
I said something right
So we went
Out all the ni - i - i ght

Yesterday.... etc.

Curious me. I had to go and check out what my neighbours downstairs were doing and what kind of party they were throwing, didn't I? I was just right downstairs from my own door at midnight. Then I never made it in because I had to knock. And they had to invite me in. And then we had to go out clubbing. *sigh*

Earlier in the night, at the SISA party for international students, I think I managed to coax one party crasher from Monash Caulfield into joining NLC's campaign efforts :) And he's only been in the country for six days!!! Oh my god, and he's already been sucked in!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

But then again, I think maybe the alcohol had something to do with it - after all, I saw him throwing up next to the stairs by the end of the night. Oh, well. Got his number, maybe I'll try again.

Aaaah... Swinburne.

I hear Adrian is sick, so a special shout-out to Adrian Cahill, president of the SSU! Hopefully I'll be getting to see you sometime soon in the future!

***

Do you know what the MSA (Monash Student Association) did? Oh my... god. Well, it's quite an interesting tale, which I'm going to ruin in the telling, for sure.

The MSA wanted to arrange a strike this semester, consisting of having the students not attending any lectures and tutorials to protest (why??? what's the point of THAT??! It inconveniences nobody but the students themselves, and it wouldn't make any point to the government at all!). The leaders of the MSA decided that it would be a good idea to show that the Vice Chancellor supported and authorised the skipping of class. In a fit of sublime intelligence, the fearless leaders forged the VC's letter head and signature on a letter saying that not only did he support the anti-VSU movement, but that also, the VC completely agreed with the non-academic week, and that all the students would be allowed to miss their classes that week!

So. Very good move. A VC that actually is a large supporter of the student movement to stop VSU had to release an e-mail condemning the Student Association of Monash. Very smart guys, very smart. An ally lost?

After an e-mail was sent out to all students that the letter was fake, M. Josem, the president of MONSU Caulfield issued a media-release condemning student unions... making smart comments such as that he thought student unions have some use, after all, he is the president of one.

Excellent. So now the president of a Student Union is in The Age, telling them how useless student unions are.

I think it's time for a little better management of Student Unions. Currently, it's hopeless.

*sigh*

Lullaby

Billy Joel


Good night my angel, time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Wherever you may go
No matter where you are
I will never be far away

Good night my angel, now it's time to sleep
And still so many things I want to say
Remember all the songs you sang for me
When we went sailing on an emerald bay
And like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark and deep
Inside this ancient heart
You'll alwats be a part of me

Good night my angel
Now it's time to dream
And ream how wonderful your life will be
Some day your child may cry
And if you sing this lullabye
Then in your heart there will always be a part of me

Someday we'll all be gone but lullabyes go on and on
They never die, that's how you and I will be


Just a beautiful song I was listening to this morning :)

Corny, yet concise... do you know about who/what I feel this way?? NLC!!!

I'm not doing NPO... I don't think I can - not if some plans I have go through - but I certainly will see you all at the next NLCAC or at NUS??!

We'll see.

But no... NLC aside, it's a beautiful song, and it makes me think of quite a few people :)

*** *** ***

Akshay - you are a scheming bastard, man!! Ok, well, I'll see you in the office today and we'll see how your constitutional memorisational skills really are.

Aditya - I'll be missing you when you go back to GC, but I'll see you in a week anyhow, ... but after that?? THANKS FOR GETTING MY BOOK SIGNED BY NEIL GAIMAN!!!

Shout-outs

Hello all you beautiful people...

I feel strangely nostalgic today (could have to do with lack of sleep!) and I feel like I really should be acknowleging a few people in my life... in case they are feeling left out...

Sidhaesh... thanks for being so patient with me! I know I've had so little time, and my voice is still gone - don't know what to do with myself, and I'm sure you don't either!

PK... it was really nice to catch up with you on a personal level (even if we did have a heated discussion about conference at one stage!). I know I did most of the talking (as I am apt to do!!), but I'm glad it was about us as individuals, too - not just NLC!

Isa... thanks for breaking the ice - i really needed that! I feel much more moralised right now, and ready to face my studies with a little more enthusiasm!

Pankaj... I haven't talked to you in ages! I was just thinking - work is one thing, personal relations another. Regarding work, I didn't really have too many disputes with you - and even if I did, it doesn't matter. And I don't hold grudges for personal issues. Give me a buzz sometime, or we should chat on msn!

Jesse... don't know if you read this anymore... but been thinking of you, too! Would love to catch up with you some time in the near future - perhaps in Barcelona??! Hehe.... oh, well... perhaps when you are done with your PhD!

Emma.... I'm so sorry I got you sick too, or are you sick for other reasons? Psychosomatic? No? Then, I'm sorry! Shouts to this very special girl's family, too!

Itt... thanks again for hosting a very very sick me and taking care of me when I was sick, even though you must have been bored off your balls!

Cherrine, Doorshy, Song Yee... good luck on your roles in NLC! I hope you all start working together as a team and get some good stuff going!

Sharon... who recently had a birthday

Tedy... where on earth are you nowadays? Haven't heard from you in aaaaages!

Mimo and Antti.... getting married soon... I'm excited for you!

Sarinda... you are always there for me, always a shoulder for me to lean my head on if I need a rest, always a pair of arms that will hold me whenever I feel that the world is working against justice, always messing up my hair... you rock! A true friend, indeed!

Sachin... you've really been amazingly supportive and a great conversationalist, even though we've known each other such a short time! Can't wait to get to know you better in Queensland!

VIC caucus... you guys are so much fun - love you all!

Vijay and Jeremy... my future housemates - please don't forget me in the next month and a half! I can't wait to move in and start mucking about in the kitchen and making all sorts of things for you guys to try ;)

My grandmother... she's still here with me

Tenzing... so busy now with Hani that you've forgotten all about your friends :(

Steve... I haven't heard from you in quite a while... how are the kids? What's happening in your life? How's our project doing?

Ginny... I know you are happy now, things are looking up. Good for that! I'm glad I was able to be of any assistance at all!

Ma... really, I do miss you a lot, I'm just having trouble finding the time to pick up the phone and call anyone at the moment

My family in Thailand... especially Indy, Inc, and Sand! I miss you all a lot and want to come back to Thailand as soon as I can!

Akshay and Aditya... thanks for coming over for lunch and appreciating the food... I love cooking for people who like to eat :)

Yogeeta... thanks for that really sweet message you sent me on friendster... it's really great to feel appreciated, especially for somebody I have a lot of respect for myself!

NLC National Exec (including Adrian and Tedy, our 'honoraries')... I've thanked a few people separately already, but honestly, I'm so happy I had a chance to work with you all this past year. It's been amazing. I hope to see more of you all in the future, be it in the context of NUS or NLC or ... JUST COME VISIT ME AS A FRIEND!!!

I probably missed a few names... no offence is intended by that. I just don't have enough memory space in my head, it appears...

Timetable SORTED!!!

YESSS!!!!

After much deliberation, I'm pleased to announce that I have managed to fix everything up in my allocations (and without going to the faculty office) and come up with a schedule that HAS NO CLASHES. And HAS NO MONDAYS OR FRIDAYS! And HAS NO LONG DAYS (anymore).

So no 9-8 schedule today! Today I end at 13:00, as a matter of fact!

Hooray!

Peace!

What on earth does hostility prove?

I feel that my parents are being hostile to me because of bad grades this one semester... I know my dad reads this, and I know he probably thinks I shouldn't be blogging this. But it somehow didn't fit into the context of our discussion on uni fees.

I already feel bad that I did badly in the semester. I already have made up my mind to try harder. But getting this sort of hostility when I actually need a little bit of support is just downright demoralising. I've been feeling quite depressed because of it.

*** *** ***

I went to uni today... didn't get much done. I was meant to handle a lot of the admin stuff. But I didn't feel up to it after not having slept at all last night.

I got my timetable last week, and on that timetable I had Uni only on Tuesdays - Thursdays. And just out of the blue, they changed all my allocations today, and all of a sudden, things clash on my schedule. So when I got home from Uni, I started re-allocating myself into classes on the internet, and the only way to avoid clashes was to schedule stuff for today! How annoying! I went all the way to uni, and I would have had class today if the admin at Monash hadn't screwed up my allocations. *sigh* C'est la vie. As they say.

Tomorrow should be a better day, hopefully...?

A long day... 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.... With 5 hours of break in between! *sigh*

Got to get some sleep.

Photos!

Yay! My NLCAC 2005 photos are up! It took me 6 hours, but I did it! (links are to be found on the side bar). Do leave your comments!

Allergies suck

I just got one hour of sleep... only to be woken up by a coughing and spluttering spasm. Why? I'm allergic to dust. Big-time. Whilst I was gone, my windows were replaced, so, as Phil told me, there were woodchips everywhere - which he vacuumed... but did that solve the problem of that fine layer of dust everywhere? No!!!!

Dammit. So here I am, awake. With a migraine induced by the coughing. I have a damn long day in front of me. So I'm not a happy camper at this moment in time. No.

But I had an anti-histamine, so hopefully that helps.

*** *** ***

I had Aditya, Akshay, Tenzing and Hani over for lunch today. I think Tenzing and Hani were a bit affected by the chili because they suddenly decided to go to Canberra with Aditya and Akshay.

Later on I had Ginny and Sarinda over ... just chilling out

*** *** ***

Now trying to upload photos... when that's done, I'll be singing for joy!

Post conference trauma

Hmmm.... not really. Not traumatised. I can't be - I missed most of the conference because of grievance! It was quite interesting - the way things unfolded, and I must admit I'm quite flattered that I got given a lot of credit that was undue... I should probably give it back to the people who actually did all the negotiations on conference floor, but I don't think they necessarily want to be revealed. Oh, well, NSW and QLD know who they are, atleast. But yes - a huge thanks goes out to two very special people who gave me a shoulder to cry on when shit was hitting the fan. And a special shout-out goes to those same people who negotiated so well on behalf of Victoria.

You guys rock!

A strange thing: I've been accused of ratting on deals at conference. Hmmm. Interesting. I don't recall making any deals. In fact, I declared conflict of interest because of grievance committee, and refused to take part of any negotiations. And for the very same reason, didn't run for any position within NLC at conferene. But yeah, it's fun the way rumours go around, isn't it?

I was never much of a gossiper, or a listener to gossip, so it was interesting to hear these things post-conference when apparently this was all going on under my nose...

Fun.

Well... I had fun. It was a good learning experience. Maybe I'll do better in law next semester.

Queensland?

I'm in an absolute state of delirium, and I've set a deadline for myself: I must be well by tomorrow! It's Emma's dad's 60th birthday, and I don't want to miss it!

Currently I'm debating whether or not I want to visit Queensland in a few weeks time... it all depends on my timetable (and whether or not I'll be broke!), whether or not it'll be worth it (I might only have uni on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), but I won't know until tomorrow. Also, I'm not sure if it's quite... appropriate. To go or not to go? I've been to Queensland for NLCAC2004... but it's not as if I really saw Brisbane then? Hmmm... decisions, decisions.

Itt's pen

Itt has a pen on his table that is really fascinating me... It makes me feel like a lab rat, actually... It's a clear pen with a yellow maze inside, and you have to get the two little metal balls from one end to another. Very exciting. Or perhaps I'm just bored and sick. The latter is probably correct.

I've been musing on the drawing of lines recently... Some lines conceal themselves amongst the waves, whereas some are like a trail of footprints on the beach. It's the shifting ones - the ones that are created anew with every contact the water makes with the sand, that are making me think. That line is there... constantly... and constantly not shifting... so is it there?

Ok, perhaps nobody knows what I'm talking about now. Someone will - I'm counting on that...

It's over...

... and what do you know? I have to get sick now! I knew it would catch up with me the moment I relaxed for even a moment. Last night Itt picked me up from the airport and it was sooooooo nice to finally gossip with somebody after keeping a lot of secrets at conference!! I seem to know something about everyone that I shouldn't know... DON'T ASK!

Anyhow... I hope a lot of people find this page and don't go digging too much dirt out of these pages... because YOU WON'T FIND ANY!!!

Right now Canberra... ahhhhhh.... COLD!!!!!

I think Itt is taking me on a campus tour tomorrow... so I'll be a student from Monash Clayton accompanying a bunch of new ANU students and confusing them by telling them I'm from Monash in Victoria and I'm on a ANU campus tour for the heck of it and flying back on Saturday.... erm. Right...

'tick tick tick'

I had a dream last night... a really long one... but part of it was that there was a swimming pool full of cows and a swimming team was about to conduct a race of cows... swimming! Weeeeeird... I didn't get to see the cow race because then my alarm clock rang and I had to get down to NLC work. Fun.

The first thing that happens is the 'womens session'. First hiccough: The aboriginal woman was booked one hour too early. Ooops. I guess we're having her over for breakfast first, and then we'll have her open after entertaining her for a while :)

Things are strangely calm before the conference storm... but they are not really calm. We'd just like to believe it is. Or we're too tired to know any better.

Second day in Newcastle

Delegates start arriving here tomorrow, and I'm not sure if we've got all the logistics worked out... Uh-Oh

Doorshy and I had fun yesterday working out the accommodation for Victorians. We decided to mix up people from unis as much as possible so that they would be sharing a room with somebody from another campus.

Two Queenslanders had special requests that probably had to do with medical needs, so we switched them to the hotel in the city from the campus accommodation... so that means that even though the rest of the Victorians are in the hotel, Tenzing and Sarinda are staying on the campus with me!!

I took some fun pictures yesterday - we spent an hour lost trying to drop Monty off at Eduardo and Veronica's house, and came to the conclusion that a vanful of student politicians can not read a map for nuts.

Before we got lost, we were seeing a movie - War of the Worlds - a grievous disappointment from the book by H.G. Wells. Oh, well... that's what Hollywood does to anything, is it not?

Ok... time to get back to NLC work!