noogz.net

posted: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 04:40 | filed under: / blog/ life/ | permalink | Comments: 3

Yes, it's boxing day, and it's 4:40AM. Just writing to let you know that in 1hr 20 mins, I will be on a plane to Melbourne so that I can view the cricket, Live at the MCG. Aren't I lucky?

With any luck, regular updates will follow.

posted: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:55 | filed under: / blog/ life/ | permalink | Comments: 1

Well... here they are! Enjoyify!

Me with Jet Holloway. The coat was apparently custom-made by a tailor for the event.

My official portrait for the night

Me with Dad. The photo was taken so Dad could brag that he bought me an alcoholic beverage.

Me dancing with mum

Official portrait of my family and I.

posted: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:48 | filed under: / blog/ life/ | permalink | Comments: 0

Well, I seem to have not done a proper update over the past few weeks, which is unfortunate, given the number of semi-important things that have happened.  So now, you get a nice long dump of stuff that I need to tell you all (who read this).

First up: Last week was my last week of school-related stuff.  Monday consisted of rehearsals, and more rehearsals, Tuesday consisted of a 4-hour rehearsal, which all led up to the School Speech Night, which, for those of you unfamiliar with Hutchins Stuff is a large assembly at Wrest Point which involves the giving out of prizes and such stuff.  So I got to walk up on stage for that.  I got the award for Senior Debater (which means that I am a good debater), the Prize for Computer Science, and a special prize for Service to IT, for which I selects a few hardcovers.

The aforementioned rehearsals was for the production during the Speech Night, where I was in the backing choir.  We basically did a whole heap of motown stuff, which went down really well.

Friday, I again spent at Wrest Point, setting up for our Leavers' Dinner, which was that evening.  Notable Photables will be in the next post.

Finally, I got proper TCE results yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised (after finding out what my awards were), where I was expecting to scrape an HA in Maths, I actually aced the exam, which I was incredibly happy with.  So, I ended up 1EA, 1HA and 2CA's, plus an EA-equivalent at Uni, which gave me a high enough TER for the degree I want to do, which, incidentally, I got my offer for yesterday.  So all is good!

Hope you've all appreciated the update.

Bye now!

posted: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:15 | filed under: / blog/ | permalink | Comments: 5

Well... here are mine: (Emphasis is added to demonstrate which ones I actually counted)

The following tertiary entrance subjects have been used to determine your Tertiary Entrance Rank for 2006-

2006 Chemistry 5C (subject score =16.5)
2006 Computer Science 5C (subject score =20.2)
2006 Mathematics -Methods 5C (subject score =19.1)
2006 Audio Design 5C (subject score =15.9)
2005 English - Communications 5C (subject score = 14.5)
2005 Information Systems 5C (subject score = 20.0)
2005 Physical Sciences 5C (subject score = 18.3)

In addition the following recognised subjects have contributed towards the calculation of your score. The weight given to each result (relative to a full TCE senior secondary level 5 subject) is shown after the score value.
2006 KXT102 Programming with Data Structures 22.0 - (0.5)
2006 KXT101 Programming and Problem Solving 25.0 - (0.5)


Using the rules specified by the University of Tasmania a Tertiary Entrance Score of 101.1 has been calculated from the above information.

Your score equates to a Tertiary Entrance Rank of 95.70.
The Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) is used by students when applying for tertiary courses throughout Australia.

Well... I'm mildly happy, as I have 5.7 percentiles more than I require for the degree that I wish to do. However, I'm quite annoyed with my result for Audio Design. Now I get to wait until tomorrow night to see how badly I went in the exams. Yay!

posted: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:15 | filed under: / blog/ | permalink | Comments: 6

Yesterday, I watched My Favourite Album on the ABC, which, for those living under a log the past few weeks, was a show where for four weeks, people could vote for their favourite album, and the top 10 got discussed on TV. Great concept :P Anyway, I thought I might offer some thoughts as to the the top 100, since I'm sure you want to hear them.

Albums that should have rated higher

• #92 -- Crowded House, by Crowded House: Famous for the song "Don't Dream It's Over". Enough said.
• #81 -- Whispering Jack by John Farnham: As far as Australian Albums go, this is generally accepted as one of the classics (not that I necessarily agree)... so it's a bit odd that it didn't make it higher. Oh well.
• #48 -- Hotel California by The Eagles: Not many albums have three number one singles, all of which are played some 30 years after their release.
• #28 -- A Night at the Opera by Queen: As far as concept albums go, you know it's good when Bohemian Rhapsody blends in perfectly, without standing out
• #27 -- Eternal Nightcap by the Whitlams: My favourite album by my favourite band (but not my favourite album), with some of my favourite songs in the context of an album. Nothing more to be said.
• #13 -- Revolver by the Beatles: Revolver is the product of release (amongst other things). Many people would argue that Sargent Pepper's is the better album (I would agree) -- Revolver, however, allowed Sargent Pepper to happen, both in terms of music and in terms of production: It's where all of the necessary experimentation occurred, and that's what makes it sound so interesting.
• #5 -- Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles: See above. This needs to be higher to bump out Abbey Road

Albums I expected would rank lower (but still appear on the list)

• #2 -- Grace by Jeff Buckley.
• #6 -- Nevermind by Nirvana.
• #4 -- Abbey Road by The Beatles: Why? It's a good record, that has several fantastic songs on it, however, I don't think it has the "album" quality that Revlover does. Therefore, I think #5 should have been Revolver, #4 as Sargent Pepper's, and Abbey Road somewhere in the teens.

Albums that are quite obviously products of the Giggly Teenage/Pre-teen Girl Vote (i.e. Albums that really should not be as high on the list as they are, if at all)

I've ordered this list beginning from "Least Giggly" to "Most Giggly".

• #72 -- American Idiot by Green Day. Not to say that this isn't a good album (it is)... but I get the idea that it's a bit too new to stand the test of time yet. And I honestly think it's only people like my sister who would vote for it at the moment.
• #83 -- The Tension & The Spark by Darren Hayes: Uh-huh.
• #95 -- Hot Fuss by the Killers: A good album, yes, but I'm not entirely sure it will stand the test of time just yet.
• #80 -- Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem. Same principle as above. Except that I get the idea that a certain person in my year group at school would have boosted it highly as well.
• #32 -- Anthony Callea by Anthony Callea. Either it's giggly teenage girls, or the sizable population of Italian Housewives in Melbourne who bought the first Italian-language album made in Australia in how many years? It's an untapped market, yes. But it could have been tapped by something much better.

My Favourite Album

was OK Computer by Radiohead. I'll discuss why in a later post. Maybe.

Anyway, feel free to dump some comments. I'll be sure to respond to them. In the mean time, you may want to view the top 100 so you can comment for yourself.