OMG This Site is Fugly!
Wednesday, 29 August 2007, 12:30 +0800 GMT
I just swung past this site for fun after not posting anything for over three weeks. I've been spending heaps of time updating my other site, my JET journal, rather than this one. It struck me as soon as this site loaded, how fugly it is. At least, compared to my JET journal hehe. I still think this design is ok, but it's so cluttered and constrained and line based! Yuck hahaha. Makes me really glad I went open-space oriented for my new one. Thanks for the ideas and HTML/CSS Chris & Shay :D
Wednesday, 29 August 2007, 12:30 +0800 GMT
I just swung past this site for fun after not posting anything for over three weeks. I've been spending heaps of time updating my other site, my JET journal, rather than this one. It struck me as soon as this site loaded, how fugly it is. At least, compared to my JET journal hehe. I still think this design is ok, but it's so cluttered and constrained and line based! Yuck hahaha. Makes me really glad I went open-space oriented for my new one. Thanks for the ideas and HTML/CSS Chris & Shay :D
Leaving Behind
Sunday, 29 July 2007, 02:50 +0800 GMT
I guess it finally hit me today exactly what I'm leaving behind here. Hmmm, that isn't quite true. It's complicated. It's more like a combination of what I'm leaving behind in terms of what I experience in my life normally, plus what I've experienced recently. Let me explain that ridiculous sounding statement, hehe. I often claimed I didn't think I'd have any problems leaving my life here to go on JET. I never really thought I had much here, to be honest. I doubted friendships, burnt myself out at work and generally didn't enjoy my life a great amount. So JET was somewhat of an escape from my own less than exciting life, albeit a life where most of the pain was very much of my own creation. Having made up my mind to leave and with that departure rapidly approaching, my life has somewhat morphed into something so much more enjoyable. My going away party was an example of this - catching up with so many people that in the height of my self-inflicted pain I had shied away from. Actually realising that people were coming to see me because they wanted to see me, because I am normal and because they are my friends.
And I realised it's a double edged sword. The reason why I'm so happy at the moment is purely because I'm leaving - if I hadn't been leaving, I wouldn't have felt or experienced all of this, and I'd still be in my emo 'everyone hates me' mood. The discovery of newfound friendship amongst some people I'd 'known' for years and the forging of new friendships with a few new people I'd met as a direct result of being involved in JET simply wouldn't have happened. So, what will I miss? I will miss the way I feel right now, resulting from the things that happened only because I'm leaving. And flowing on from this, I will miss the people I rediscovered as a result of leaving. Realising that these people do care about me and that I/we am/are normal, whereas before I couldn't see that. Ironic, isn't it.
Sunday, 29 July 2007, 02:50 +0800 GMT
I guess it finally hit me today exactly what I'm leaving behind here. Hmmm, that isn't quite true. It's complicated. It's more like a combination of what I'm leaving behind in terms of what I experience in my life normally, plus what I've experienced recently. Let me explain that ridiculous sounding statement, hehe. I often claimed I didn't think I'd have any problems leaving my life here to go on JET. I never really thought I had much here, to be honest. I doubted friendships, burnt myself out at work and generally didn't enjoy my life a great amount. So JET was somewhat of an escape from my own less than exciting life, albeit a life where most of the pain was very much of my own creation. Having made up my mind to leave and with that departure rapidly approaching, my life has somewhat morphed into something so much more enjoyable. My going away party was an example of this - catching up with so many people that in the height of my self-inflicted pain I had shied away from. Actually realising that people were coming to see me because they wanted to see me, because I am normal and because they are my friends.
And I realised it's a double edged sword. The reason why I'm so happy at the moment is purely because I'm leaving - if I hadn't been leaving, I wouldn't have felt or experienced all of this, and I'd still be in my emo 'everyone hates me' mood. The discovery of newfound friendship amongst some people I'd 'known' for years and the forging of new friendships with a few new people I'd met as a direct result of being involved in JET simply wouldn't have happened. So, what will I miss? I will miss the way I feel right now, resulting from the things that happened only because I'm leaving. And flowing on from this, I will miss the people I rediscovered as a result of leaving. Realising that these people do care about me and that I/we am/are normal, whereas before I couldn't see that. Ironic, isn't it.
JET Going Away Party
Sunday, 29 July 2007, 03:30 +0800 GMT
I had my JET 'going away' party today at my house, it was pretty good fun! I invited quite a few people from work, uni and high school, although it was mainly my uni friends who turned up. One of them brought his Wii with him which provided hours of entertainment hehe. A couple of work colleagues dropped in, which was great. Especially one of my seniors who I hadn't seen since I left almost a month ago, and have a good working relationship with. Thinking back over the night, we didn't really do all that much hehe. The first three people rocked up at about 3pm (oh my god, yes, on time!!) and it pretty much went from there. We chatted a bit, ate craploads of food, played some Wii and then most of the others arrived. From there we started drinking, eating more and branching off to do our own thing. I spent some time in my room with various people, looking at crazy random shit on YouTube and looking at/talking about web design and so on. It was very enjoyable hehe. The Wii was used almost the whole time, I think, and towards the end of the night people started playing Scrabble. I sorta hung around talking to people and playing a little on my shiny new Nintendo DS. Then it was 12:30am and everyone was leaving. Still, 9 hours is a good run :) I was glad to see everyone again, even though I didn't get to see everyone all that much and many people I had wanted to see didn't really end up turning up. Still, overall, a great night! Hopefully one I will remember for some time, as I don't know when I will have the opportunity to forge new memories with these people, who mean so much to me.
Sunday, 29 July 2007, 03:30 +0800 GMT
I had my JET 'going away' party today at my house, it was pretty good fun! I invited quite a few people from work, uni and high school, although it was mainly my uni friends who turned up. One of them brought his Wii with him which provided hours of entertainment hehe. A couple of work colleagues dropped in, which was great. Especially one of my seniors who I hadn't seen since I left almost a month ago, and have a good working relationship with. Thinking back over the night, we didn't really do all that much hehe. The first three people rocked up at about 3pm (oh my god, yes, on time!!) and it pretty much went from there. We chatted a bit, ate craploads of food, played some Wii and then most of the others arrived. From there we started drinking, eating more and branching off to do our own thing. I spent some time in my room with various people, looking at crazy random shit on YouTube and looking at/talking about web design and so on. It was very enjoyable hehe. The Wii was used almost the whole time, I think, and towards the end of the night people started playing Scrabble. I sorta hung around talking to people and playing a little on my shiny new Nintendo DS. Then it was 12:30am and everyone was leaving. Still, 9 hours is a good run :) I was glad to see everyone again, even though I didn't get to see everyone all that much and many people I had wanted to see didn't really end up turning up. Still, overall, a great night! Hopefully one I will remember for some time, as I don't know when I will have the opportunity to forge new memories with these people, who mean so much to me.
Departure #1
Friday, 20 July 2007, 23:57 +0800 GMT
With sudden decisiveness, one of my uni friends walked away for the final time towards the departure gates at the international airport. After a massive caught-by-surprise group hug, of course :) It was strange seeing him go. We'd kinda grown apart over the past year or so but were still definitely friends, just friends that didn't see each other much. Guess we both let each other down there, although it's probably me and my moods more to blame than anything. Thing is, he's leaving for good. Off to work in the US, from where it's unlikely he'll ever return on a permanent basis. Why would you, after working in the country where software engineering is king dingaling, at least compared to here. That's not even mentioning the pay, hehe. Bit of a change, I guess. First time I think someone from our relatively tight-knit bunch of uni friends has left. He was well liked in the group and knew most people pretty well, so I suppose you could say it was a pretty big hit to us all. That's why we were all there at the airport. The mood was happy though, thankfully. It would have been terrible if we'd all just moped around or gotten too emotional or all that shit. His cousin and mum did, but that's to be expected I think. His cousin lived with him and was almost a sister to him, and he is an only child. So it's natural for them to take it so roughly. I don't fully understand why people get so upset when people leave. I used to, but now it doesn't affect me as much. As I said, he's going 'forever' so I doubt we'll see him again very often. Hopefully we will catch up in person in the future though. With Internet the way it is, despite the 12+ hour time difference (which totally sucks) I think we're sure to stay in touch with him. Perhaps the fact we grew apart a bit helped me out here too, if it was my best friend leaving I'd be pretty devestated. Anyway, he is now off on his adventure and I wish him well. I think he will have many exciting times ahead of him in the US.
Friday, 20 July 2007, 23:57 +0800 GMT
With sudden decisiveness, one of my uni friends walked away for the final time towards the departure gates at the international airport. After a massive caught-by-surprise group hug, of course :) It was strange seeing him go. We'd kinda grown apart over the past year or so but were still definitely friends, just friends that didn't see each other much. Guess we both let each other down there, although it's probably me and my moods more to blame than anything. Thing is, he's leaving for good. Off to work in the US, from where it's unlikely he'll ever return on a permanent basis. Why would you, after working in the country where software engineering is king dingaling, at least compared to here. That's not even mentioning the pay, hehe. Bit of a change, I guess. First time I think someone from our relatively tight-knit bunch of uni friends has left. He was well liked in the group and knew most people pretty well, so I suppose you could say it was a pretty big hit to us all. That's why we were all there at the airport. The mood was happy though, thankfully. It would have been terrible if we'd all just moped around or gotten too emotional or all that shit. His cousin and mum did, but that's to be expected I think. His cousin lived with him and was almost a sister to him, and he is an only child. So it's natural for them to take it so roughly. I don't fully understand why people get so upset when people leave. I used to, but now it doesn't affect me as much. As I said, he's going 'forever' so I doubt we'll see him again very often. Hopefully we will catch up in person in the future though. With Internet the way it is, despite the 12+ hour time difference (which totally sucks) I think we're sure to stay in touch with him. Perhaps the fact we grew apart a bit helped me out here too, if it was my best friend leaving I'd be pretty devestated. Anyway, he is now off on his adventure and I wish him well. I think he will have many exciting times ahead of him in the US.
Old Friend
Friday, 20 July 2007, 23:18 +0800 GMT
I bumped into an old friend a while ago and was somewhat caught by surprise at how she looked. She's changed quite a bit since I saw her last - obviously working now. She had formal business wear on and had changed the way she did her hair, into that fashionable semi-perm thing they did. I was chatting to her and looking down I couldn't help but realise she had enormous eyes for an asian, she was very beautiful. I used to be really interested in her and for a moment, looking into those eyes, I forgot why I never tried to take it any further. Then I remembered why we were just friends and I was content. It was nice to see her again, after so long.
Friday, 20 July 2007, 23:18 +0800 GMT
I bumped into an old friend a while ago and was somewhat caught by surprise at how she looked. She's changed quite a bit since I saw her last - obviously working now. She had formal business wear on and had changed the way she did her hair, into that fashionable semi-perm thing they did. I was chatting to her and looking down I couldn't help but realise she had enormous eyes for an asian, she was very beautiful. I used to be really interested in her and for a moment, looking into those eyes, I forgot why I never tried to take it any further. Then I remembered why we were just friends and I was content. It was nice to see her again, after so long.