Aphrodite

Currently Listening To: Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite

First blog entry for July!
It has been a while since I've reviewed any music, so I thought I'd start things off for July with a review of Kylie Minogue's new album Aphrodite.

I don't think I've mentioned this to anyone before but I'm actually a fan of Kylie. Unexpected? Haha.

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite

Anyway, before I left for my KL trip I listened to the album and I must say I really enjoyed it. Much better than her previous album, X. Also, I was seriously delighted when I found out that one of the tracks on her album was written by Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley. More reason for me to love Kylie and Keane!

If you're looking for fun pop songs, Aphrodite's the album for you. It's mostly dance/electro pop stuff - very typical of Kylie, and that is why it works so well. She isn't trying too hard to be someone different (Xtina anyone?) or aiming to shock audiences (ahem Gaga).

Overall: A great album, in my opinion. 8/10
Recommended Tracks: All The Lovers, Get Outta My Way, Aphrodite.

~*~

SPAIN won the 2010 World Cup!

I can't even begin to tell you how nervous I was when the finals kicked off. Watched it at my uncle's in KL at 2.30am Monday night. Can't say that the actual match was exciting, cos it wasn't, but it sure was intense. I was watching with such intensity, my mum actually asked me 'Why the hell are you so tensed?' (AND YES my mum watched the second half of the match!). And when they won, I was absolutely delighted! In fact, I'm still excited now, two days after the finals! I was really impressed with the Spain squad, I've been supporting them all this while without watching them play.

Although I've been a supporter of both Germany and Spain since the start of the world cup, I was secretly rooting for Spain more cos they've never won the cup before. And after watching the Spain vs Germany match, I was sold - Spain all the way! I feel really bad about Fernando Torres though, I'm a huge fan of his (bahahaha not just for his looks, or the fact that he plays for Liverpool) and to see him play so half-heartedly and then getting that injury...ouch =( Here's hoping he'll recover soon AND that he'll stay at Liverpool FC...if he leaves I think Liverpool's screwed. At any rate, I'll be a Torres fan no matter where he goes...

A few hours later...

I think my obsession with Fernando Torres just went up about two notches, after watching vids of his amazing goals. Sobs, please recover well! You can't let all that talent go to waste!

~*~

My results came out last night, and I'm proud to announce that I've passed all the four subjects, including a distinction for Entrepreneurship! That was unexpected, I had been afraid of not doing well for the assignments. And not surprisingly, Strategic Management was my worst subject, but at least I got more than just a Pass for that! Congrats to me =D

On a side note, I finally found Diana Wynne Jones' Year of the Griffin in Kinokuniya after searching around for it in other shops for...two years? I did see the book two years ago, when I was at Kinokuniya, but the only copy they had then was in terrible condition. Thank god they had a new copy in stock this time around!

Distractions

Currently Listening To: John Legend - Everybody Knows

I'm too lazy to blog about AI today, so I'll just blog about it after the guys perform tomorrow. Oh and John Park, Jermaine Sellers (finally!), Michelle Delamor and Haeley Vaughan left the show last week - too bad for John and Michelle, good riddance to the other too.

Anyway, lemme blog about my life instead.
One reason why I'm not blogging about AI is because I actually accepted a job to sort out some data thingy for Inti. Email addresses and phone numbers of applicants. Of course I'm getting paid! 5 bucks per hour, not bad what. I went through 270 of them in four hours.
FOUR HOURS! That's why I don't have time to blog about AI la.
Okay fine, partly because I'm lazy too.

Also, I have about a ton of assignments to complete.
I'm so not joking.
The lecturers for this semester seem to be really fond of tutorials and facilitations/presentations so I'll be stuck doing tutorials every week and preparing for the facilitations every other week or so.
Blah heavy work load. Thank god I'm not taking a fifth subject or I shall die of boredom!

Oh oh I can't wait to watch Alice in Wonderland! I've been trying to book tickets for the 3D one for the past few days but it's FULLY BOOKED =( It looks like I'll have to watch the normal one in Queensbay then...well, I'll save time and money by doing that!

Edit: OMG more forms for me to sort out tomorrow! And and I have one tutorial to sorta complete by Friday...waa! But I'm getting paid right! Nevermind, for $$$ I'll do anything! Dare me to strip for $$$ and I'll do it!

So How's The Weather?

Currently Listening To: Yuna - Dan Sebenarnya

One more week.
After four whole months of doing -almost- nothing, I'll be going back to Inti in about one week.
Technically the new semester begins on Monday, but I don't have classes on Monday so I'm only going back there on Tuesday.
Wheee I'm actually kinda excited to go back (I think I say this after every long break.)

Lately I've been listening to Yuna, a Malaysian singer who kinda sounds Norah Jones-ish.
I know the name 'Yuna' will forever be associated with the Yuna of Final Fantasy X, but this is a different Yuna and she's actually a real life person so it's NOT THE CGI-ed Yuna.



Not bad for a local singer eh?
Oh what the heck I think she's awesome =) Go listen! You can hear her songs on the local radio stations too.

Also, I'm excited to hear the Top 24 contestants of American Idol Season 9 sing tomorrow. Provided if my parents don't drag me off to watch Avatar in 3D.

P.S: Am I the only who enjoys Sora no Woto???

Cheers to 2010

Currently Listening To: Lily Allen - The Fear

The first post of 2010!
I shall dedicate this to my new blog layout.
Whaddya think of it?
I know it's a very simple layout but I kinda like it.
Easy to read. And to edit.
And the colors.
Black and some shade of bright pink.
I don't know why, but I'm suddenly addicted to all shades of dark pink.
Coming from the person who dislikes the color pink, now that's some food for thought.

So anyway, it's already the 7th day of the new year.
A few more weeks till CNY I believe?
To think that I celebrated my 21st birthday last year.
2 x 2.
Sigh.
Dammit I feel old.

I guess I should start inquiring about enrollment?
It should be soon...the coming semester starts in March, I believe.
Some are leaving for Australia and I can't help but feel kinda jealous.
I wanna leave this country too!
Sigh.

I sigh too much.

Zombified

Currently Listening To: Keane - Sovereign Light Cafe

I still don't have anything to blog about, so a few minor updates.

Just finished the Human Resource Management paper a few hours ago.
Yep, another evening paper.
I don't suppose it was that bad, the exam I mean. Answerable at least.

One more paper left - Managing Change next Monday, and then I'll be free for the next few months. Need to get a job, or I'll rot into a pile of ashes by the end of November.

I guess that's all for now, for some odd reason I'm really sleepy tonight so...good night?

A Boring Weekend

Currently Listening To: Akiko Shikata - Katayoku no Tori

Alright, it has been more than ten days since I last updated my blog.

Whatever happened to updating my blog at least once a week eh?

Well at least it's not once a month haha.

Not that anyone's updating their blog often lately anyway.

Now rushing to finish off the case study for HR Management.

Thought it's suppose to be due on the 18th, but it's due on Monday instead.

Just started working on it yesterday afternoon.

Thank God this time I made amazing progress! Only 200+ words to go and I'll be free!

Guess I really do work better under pressure.

Unfortunately when I'm done with this I'll have to start working on a 10 page long case study for Managing Change.

What can I say? Screw assignments!

6

Currently Listening To:Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Oh my g--!
It's week six already.
That's like...halfway through the semester.
I really hate it when time flies.
It just leaves you feeling...displeased and discouraged.
Well it makes me feel displeased and discouraged anyway.

I finally found the softcover version of The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko in Borders!



I've been waiting for that book for...almost a year already. Unbelievable. Feels like I've just read The Night Watch yesterday.

I have other books in mind too...waiting for my MPH voucher so I can get the softcover version of Inkdeath. Saw this book called Ink Exchange. Looks interesting but it's a series...again.

(Ok this is gonna sound crazy but I intend to do this...stock check on the books I own, and see how much I've spent on them. Thanks Becky for this wonderful idea @_@)

What else?
Handed in three assignments today.
Yep, three in one day. Lovely.
One more due next week.

I guess there's nothing else...

Oh yeah one more thing...

CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SEPTEMBER ALREADY!

Also, I've finished downloading the first season of The Tudors.
Will watch it during my next main break I suppose.

One Week of Nightmares

Currently Listening To: Razorlight - Burberry Blue Eyes

Well, I have a study break this week. Call it a holiday if you want, but it isn't. Too swamped with ridiculously stuffy assignments.

Three due on the same day - 1st September, and I'm only about halfway through the first assignment! Darn it.

Maybe I should have started doing it earlier, but I don't think it'll make much difference cos I'm sort of a last minute kinda person.

I swear to you I can just stare at a blank screen or a blank sheet of paper for weeks, and not do anything until the very last moment.

So right now, I'm staring at my laptop and attempting to finish off the assignment for Managing Change 300, with an online thesaurus on standby haha.

When in doubt, write in tongues - that's my motto.

In A Daze

Currently Listening To: Kylie Minogue - I Believe In You

Sigh, I can't believe it's already the fourth week of the second semester of my second year.

Last night, I had trouble sleeping because I just couldn't stop thinking about assignments.

Three due in about 2 - 3 weeks, and I don't really know what to do about it yet.

Some crazy dude in my class had already completed his first draft a few days ago, while the rest of us are still half asleep O.o

Well, I'm half asleep anyway lol.

I need motivation!

The only thing that motivates me right now is Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and that's not applicable in real life =P

Unless...there are freaky murder mysteries for me to solve...

Endurance is a Virtue

Currently Listening To: Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World

I can't believe I managed to endure a 3 hour Consumer Behaviour lecture today, with only the newbies and no one else I know.

Man them newbies are quiet.

And they seem to be a bunch of smart-asses too.

By smart-asses I mean studious people. No goofing off, no sleeping in class, returned SUPER DUPER early from breaks (I think some of them didn't even leave the room O.o) - heck they didn't talk much either.

I mean, they even answered and came up with their own questions!

Studious indeed.

And get this - all of them actually speak decent (almost too perfect) English.

I don't know if I should be impressed or annoyed...

Anyway, that's all for the story of my life today.

(Making an attempt to blog more often. Need to find more interesting topics to talk about...)

zZzZz

Currently Listening To: Sean Kingston - Fire Burning

Right, a little update about college life so far.

I'm kinda sleepy now so forgive me if this post isn't really coherent.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, college.

So far so good I guess. Boring subs.

There are only 6 students for the Human Resource Management class. Amazing huh.

Need to start preparing for assignments...the first one's due in...4 weeks or so?

I'm so unprepared for the new sem...still feeling somewhat disorientated.

The schedule's all over the place too, especially Tuesday.

Class from 11am to 2pm, then a 3 hour break, and back to Inti from 5 - 6pm. Fun.

*yawns*

I should sleep soon.

Deja vu?

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Storia

What joy, the new semester starts tomorrow. Sigh. I'm getting this feeling of deja vu.

As you all know I've been rotting for the past 5 weeks or so, and yet I'm reluctant to get back to INTI.

The idea of studying doesn't appeal to me anymore (just last week I was kinda excited about it O_o).

Let's see, I'm taking 4 subjects again this semester.

There's this subject called Managing Change, and I'm wondering what sort of change are we suppose to be managing. Since Yeoh Khar Kheng's the lecturer, I'm gonna assume that it'll have something to do with the environment. Ideas, anyone?

The other subjects are not so weird sounding I guess, Consumer Behaviour, Sales Management and Human Resource Management.

Decent subjects this sem? We'll see.

Fly Time, Flyyyyy!

Currently Listening To: White Lies - Unfinished Business

You know how time crawls when you want it to fly?
Well time sure is creeping by slowly for me.
To quote Shakespeare (out of context but whatever),

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day..."

Seriously, I just can't wait for Monday to be over!
Just one more paper and I'm done.
And after that, one month for me to rot away in a teeny tiny dark corner or something. That's better than exams anyway!

The three papers I've already sat for did not um, go that well. To sum it up, I'm screwed.

Like totally screwed.

I don't wanna do the same boring old subjects again! =(

Please just let me pass everything so I can move on to even more horrible subjects.

Please please please!~

Countdown

Currently Listening To: Empire of the Sun - We Are The People

4 days

That's all the time I have left for studying.

On the bright side, after the finals I have two weeks off.

Haven't been sleeping well for the past 3 to 4 days...terrible case of imsomnia.

Can't wait for it end!

-x-

If you've been watching Channel V, I'm sure you would have noticed a very um, unusual video by this band called Empire of the Sun. For some odd reason I'm addicted to that song now!

The song has this 80's feel to it, and well, the video's weird so check this out:




I guess the song's not for everyone, unless if you're into electro-pop stuff =P

Wake-Up Call

Currently Listening To: Miley Cyrus - The Climb

Well, it has been a week since American Idol ended but I guess you can say that I'm still recovering from uh...the lack of American Idol this week =/

There's nothing fun for me to look forward to anymore.
No more entertainment on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
No more weird/quirky/awesome people for me to make fun off/praise.

Back to my boring, uneventful life.

Sigh, can't do anything about it until next year.

...

Not that I should be doing anything other than studying for the finals anyway!

2 weeks.

That's all the time I have left for studying.
4 subjects...
2 of them not so bad...
The other 2 just bleh.
Seriously hope I won't fail the freaking thing or I'll have to go through it all over again!
Wish me luck? =(

Shock, Horror, What Else?

I can't take it anymore - I need a break from the EIB essay *screams*
I know it's my fault for leaving this till the very last minute (first submission due tomorrow).
The actual submission date is Monday, but I don't think I can take the risk of not submitting it for uh, trial testing on turnitin first so...frankly speaking I'm screwed.

Anyway, enough of that for now.
American Idol Update first:

This week, a shocking bottom three.
Seriuosly. If you've been watching the show (like me), you'd be shocked too.

The contestants in the bottom three this week are....

...Matt...


...Kris...






....and ADAM.

Kinda unbelievable huh.

Allison and Danny looked absolutely shocked to see Adam in the bottom three.

Ryan (or would that be the American Idol production team...) did the whole "split four of them into two groups and make the remaining contestant choose which group he or she belongs to" trick again.

Remember Melinda Doolittle and David Archuleta? Both of them refused to choose (David A. sat in the middle and everyone thought that it was so sweeeeeeet of him), and I remember thinking "THIS IS STUPID!"

Well this year the victim is Adam, and he actually CHOSE a group. I got distracted by Australia's Next Top Model so I missed that part (hahaha crap I'm really addicted to that too). Okay so he chose Allison and Danny - I have no idea what Ryan asked him but I think he asked Adam "So who do you think the Top 2 contestants are this week?" Naturally, Ryan had to drag Adam over to Kris and Matt, and boy the expression on his face was just...upsetting and scary at the same time.

The crazy fans in idolforums.com are speculating all sorts of nonsense, but you know what? It's just stupid. Just accept that fact and vote more next week! Sheesh.

The person eliminated this week is Matt and Adam was apparently in the Bottom 2 with him so...too bad for Adam? He didn't deserve to be there, but he was, conspiracy or not.

If you ask me, I actually think that the whole Adam in the bottom 2 thing is some sort of a publicity stunt for Idol. The elimination process was too predictable, and they wanted to spice things up so they threw Adam to the dogs for the sake of more votes next week. I mean come on it's Adam. His fans are gonna vote like MAD next week, no doubt about that!

Right, that's all for this week.
I'm gonna continue with my essay now...

Something Other Than AI

Currently Listening To: Taylor Swift - White Horse

Okay, so I shall blog about myself.
Although there isn't much to blog about unless you wanna hear me complain about assignments.
But since I'm already typing anyway...might as well complain about it!
(Twisted logic hahahahaha)

So where were we?
Oh right, assignments.
Curtin University of Technology loves complicated assignments.

Organizational Behaviour Assignment. (DUE TOMORROW - 28th April 2009)
Critical Essay, 2000 +/- 100 words.
Needs 10 references in the essay (not the conventional Harvard referencing system, but the apparently-very-special Chicago referencing system).
At least 5 of them must be jounals. The other 5 can be anything else, as long as it's "scholarly".
The unit coordinator is this dude named Dr. Tadayuki Miyamoto (normally I'll be all "YAY JAPANESE!", but in this case...it's a nightmare! Btw is Tadayuki a he or a she????? He or she is bloody fussy I tell you.)
It's due tomorrow, and I can assure you - at least 50% of my classmates are still...not done with that. Good luck to them.

Environmental Issues in Business Assignment. (DUE NEXT MONDAY)
I don't know what to say about this one.
0% progress so far. I'm just so awesome huh.

Communication in Business: 1 presentation due in two weeks, 1 full report due in three weeks.
Whee JOY.
I hate this subject.
The unit coordinator is boring, fussy and long-winded. The unit lecturer is boring, fussy and long-winded. And it's making me boring, fussy and long-winded!
What more can I say?

One more thing.

Guess what - I have two papers to sit for...from 6.45PM to 8.45PM.
Seriously!
This is the first time I've heard of sitting for exams during dinner time.
Maybe it's something normal in Australia?
Whatever it is...screw it.

Journals and Stuff

Currently Listening To: Allison Iraheta - Alone

For the first time in four days...I finally found some useful journals for my interim report (Communications in Business assignment, bleh). Go me!

But seriously, it's so irritating and frustrating (not helped by the incredibly unreliable Streamyx) to research for serious stuff. Seriously!

Of course, my obsession with American Idol (hahahahaha that's so obvious) did NOT help either.

So, I've found them journals but the actual report itself is still stuck at 0.1% completed.

Really, I'm having serious writer's block. I have no clue how to begin the stupid report at all! Hope I get out of that 'block' soon, or I'm so screwed for next week =(

For now, I've decided to take a break (no use staring at a blank page) by listing down my favourite AI (what else huh ) contestants for all the past seasons.

**Skipping Seasons 1 and 2 cos I missed both seasons.

Season 3: La Toya London! My only favourite that season.
I never understood the appeal of Jasmine Trias, but she made it all the way to the Top 3 - over LaToya and Jennifer Hudson! A bit crazy, if you ask me cos she was one of the worse contestants in that season, in my opinion.

Season 4: Constantine Maroulis & Bo Bice. (Both rockers!)
Yeah, I know Carrie Underwood won and all, but I was never a fan. Was a huge Bo supporter all the way to the end, until he lost to Carrie in the final two Then again, where's Bo now, and where's Carrie?

Season 5: Elliot Yamin ♥ & Katharine McPhee.
A pity my favourites didn't win, cos Elliot and Katharine were so much better than Taylor Hicks. I have nothing against him, but um. Well. He flopped, BIG TIME. I liked Chris Daughtry too, he had quite a few amazing performances but I wasn't really into him. No idea why, since I usually go for the rockers haha. Funny how the non-winners (Elliot, Katharine and Chris) are doing better than Taylor now...

Season 6: Chris Sligh & Blake Lewis EDIT: & Melinda Doolittle!
The season most well known for Mr. 'Fancy Hair' Sanjaya Malakar. I loved Chris Sligh, thought he was really good and funny too. However I can still remember his rendition of 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' and it was not pretty. No wonder he was eliminated. Oh and apparently he's a friend of current season's Danny Gokey. And then there's Blake. He was...interesting, but I guess his style wasn't very marketable cos HE FLOPPED TOO. Poor thing! It's not like Jordin's doing that great either, but at least she had some sort of fame.

Season 7: David Cook ♥♥, Jason Castro & David Archuleta.
David Cook!! Hands down, my favourite idol ever. Kinda snuck up on Season 7's chosen ones David Archuleta, Michael Johns and Carly Smithson. Like Kris this season, David C. was virtually unknown and un-pimped...until he started to outperform all of them chosen ones. And then the Archuleta fans got mad I can still remember Suet Nee skipping class just to watch the finals lol. The Davids were the ultimate Idol showdown, I think and back then I really thought that Archie was gonna win!

And now for season 8. My opinion on the contestants will change since it's still ongoing but my original favourite was Danny. Sadly Danny hasn't been doing much for the past few weeks so now he's only like...maybe...my 6th favourite? I'm not a fan of Kris or Matt, and yet I think they've performed a lot better than Danny ever since the Top 13.

I guess my current favourites would be Anoop, Adam ♥♥ and Allison, then Kris, Matt and Danny. So yeah, in general I like all of them (except for Lil, sorry). It has never happened before, me liking all the contestants.

In terms of vocals...I guess Adam's number one for me? I mean, come on, his vocal range is just amazing! And Anoop is so underrated

If you're thinking that I'm nuts, well - I've always been a big fan of reality tv shows. From Survivor, to Amazing Race, to AI and ANTM. And yes I would have blogged about everything else too, if only Survivor and Amazing Race had not gotten so...samey.

And now if you'd excuse me, I think I need to get back to typing the stupid interim report...

Some Freedom For Two Weeks!

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Aria

Yay I have a two week break from Inti, starting today =D

Of course I'm happy about it, but I do have a lot of assignments and stuff to complete within these two weeks so...is that a good thing or a bad thing? =(

Anyway, I had two presentations on Wednesday and I thought we did pretty well!

The first one was the presentation for International Marketing.
Dr. Z (the lecturer) seemed quite impressed with what we had to say, AND he actually told us, "Excellent teamwork!"

That is just fantastic feedback after the previous team's disastrous try, so I dare say that we are proud of ourselves. Congratulations to us!

The second one, for Environmental Issues in Business, was not bad either. But Mr. Yeoh aka Mr. Supply and Demand commented that our slides were a little too brief. It is true I guess, since we didn't know much about genetically modified food and mostly we were just winging it. Not too bad for two people who knows nothing about biotechnology!

Enough about college stuff, let's move on to American Idol!

Bottom three this week: Megan, Anoop and Allison

HAH! I nailed all three of them! Am I an American Idol expert or what now? =P

So who was eliminated?

Megan

American got it right this time, she deserved to go. I can't remember why she made that "I don't care!" comment, but she sure deserved that "Just like how you don't care, we don't either." from Simon Cowell. And that weird flapping arm motion...what's wrong with her?

To quote NGH from Idolforums, "Megan was told she was in the bottom three. Her response? She cawed three times, flapped her arms, and skipped to the stools. Yeah. Like I said. Bat-@#$% crazy."

LOL. Yeah. I actually lol-ed when I saw that on TV. Creepy.

With that aside, Lady Gaga's performance was strange, David Cook's pre-recorded performance was great, that impersonation session with the idol hopefuls was cute - what else? Oh yeah. I'm starting to really like Kris Allen and Matt Giraud. Hah. Didn't see that coming.

Assignments and what else?

Sigh, I can't believe I'll be spending the whole weekend working on assignments.

At least I'm almost done with the individual International Marketing one. It's all about global products as international icons, so I chose to do it on Nokia. Second time I'm doing an assignment on Nokia. And yet I'm using Sony Ericsson! Ironic.

Which reminds me, my mum just bought a new phone yesterday! Nokia XpressMusic 5130. It's only RM488, and it has a 2.0 megapixel camera and a lovely music player. And radio too! A really good buy, in my opinion.

Anyway back to the main topic.

What else is due this week?

Oh right, the Group Presentation for Marketing and Environmental Issues in Business (EIB).

More mobile phone stuff for the Marketing presentation. Sony Ericsson this time. I don't know about my other team members, but to me the slides for that is almost blank. Really need to start working on that tonight @________@

As for EIB, I guess it's almost done too. Our topic for that would be genetically modified foods. Shouldn't be a problem (I hope!)

Wish me luck! *crosses fingers*

At least we have two weeks off after this week.

Study break. BUUUUT I have about a million and one other assignments to complete during the study break before classes resume. Sigh, again.