All James, All Day, Always: May 2005

A view of the waterfront + Table Mountain, in Cape Town...

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Where should I begin my ramblings this week?

Should I talk about my day to day existence, or should I focus on something out of the ordinary?

Or I could express some things that I've been contemplating lately...

Should I talk about the present, the past, or the future?

My hopes, dreams or aspirations?

I could discuss politics, religion, or topics of current public contraversy...Should I share my word views?

Should I even talk about myself? I could talk about friends, family, people...

I could make up a story. What I say doesn't need to be truth.

At home or abroad?

... All these things I could discuss...

Instead I'll talk about none of it.

Goodnight.

The lawn, today...special celeb(?) appearance... well, sort of.... althou some interesting points were raised about NZ

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A rainbow

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Another Day, Another Record...

The highlight of this week was picking up my official Berkeley acceptance letter.

That's right.

I am enrolled.

I even have a Berkeley email address.

"How official", the crowd murmurs.
"Yes, James knows", replies James, both speaking and writing in third person.

I have even applied for the form I need to apply for my visa.

And I downloaded the application form to get on the waiting list for accommodation...

Lots of forms... Lots and lots of forms...

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of forms...

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Last weekend I spent 6 hours scanning in my pictures from my old camera. If I don't have any other pictures to post during the week I will put up some of these, like I did with the Melbourne pic...

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My R.E.A.D.* is progressing along nicely.

*Reading Expansion project I Am Doing -->It's an anagram, how clever I am!

Since the end of last year, when the brilliant idea of undertaking this project came to me, I have made it through...

The Art of War (Sun Tzu, ~400BC)
1984 (George Orwell, 1949)
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller, 1961)
The Day of the Triffids (John Wyndham, 1951)
Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1946)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelle, 1818)
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)

...and am currently making my way through Gullivers Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726). There also might be a couple of others that I can't remember.

I have also started reading a few others (Wealth of Nations, The Prince...) but gave up on them when I discovered that the English in them can get rather tedious. Although they are sitting in my bookshelf, so really I have no excuse.

Like most of my projects that I've undertaken at one point or another...

building a web page (did... got bored of it though, somewhere on geocities still)
guitar (sitting in my room with a layer of dust)
running (was doing 40min, 3x a week. Not a huge amount, but better than nothing)
gyming (was going once a day 5 or 6 x a week)
building a computer (haven't ruled this one out yet, a question of $... maybe in 2006)
learning about cars (I correctly diagnosed the blocked fuel pipe on my coralla '86)
planning an exchange (I leave on the 12th of August!!)
investing in the stock market (had $250 invested last year, another question of $)
buying a house (decided to go on exchange instead)
stone carving (sitting under my bead is my first, and only, sculpture)
photography (hey, you've seen my pictures, pretty good, eh? :-P)
blogging (is there even any point in commenting on this one...?)
the list goes on...

...this one goes through phases.

I have times when I'm good, but other stretches when I'm not.

The good thing about R.E.A.D is that it's more of a long-term thing. Also, books are not cheap, so once again it comes down to $...

I'm not materialistic... Am I? <--- Rhetorical question!!

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And I was going to put up an inspiring quote, but instead I found three...

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
Nothing is so great an example of bad manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; If you flatter only one or two, you offend the rest.

All By Jonathan Swift (Author of GT).

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Oh, and as for the title of this post...

Everyday I seem to beat my current record for number of consecutive days stayed alive...

My Walk to Work

More of fall (See, I'm practicing my American!).

This was taken on my walk to work last Sunday...

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Melbourne...

A photo I took when I was in Melbourne, 2003.

Its a building inside a building!

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Care of our garden

Another addition to autumn, this time a rose...

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TJKW. It's hot.

So this week I implemented TJKW, aka, "The 'James Keep Warm' Project".

Step One:

I installed an elecric blanket on my bed.

Oh. My. God.

This was the best idea ever concieved in the history of mankind. No longer will my bed be icy as I crawl under the sheets. No longer will I lie in bed, waiting to be warm enough to get to sleep. No longer will I be cold at night.

Step Two:

I started wearing my winter hat that I won first year at 2 bears.

Ok, I wore it once, and had the most horrid case of hat hair. But it was warm hat hair I tell you, warm.

Step Three:

Spend every waking moment, thats possible, in a heated environment. Central Library is amazing. It makes going there to study so much more appealing knowing that it's warm in there...

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And speaking of studying, exams are edging their way closer and closer. Is is like that feeling when someone is standing just in your personal space. That uncomfortable feeling you get as you think "why is that person standing so close to me...". "What are they doing...?" "Do I know them?" Yes, that person is exams. And she is not a friendly person I tell you, oh no, she is evil. Evil to the core...

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But exams exams are important, so must be dealt with. I need them to pass. I need to pass to get my degree. I need my degree... to... um... ok, so that's where my plan falls apart. But that is also two and a half years away. Lots of time to decide what to do... (?)

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Meanwhile, America is getting closer. I have started getting emails fromUC, so that's all good. Just accomodation, study plans, plane tickets and timetables to arrange.

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I finished Alice in Wonderland last week. It is a great book.

Also, saw Hitchhiker Guide today. The books are better.

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'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where--' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'

Clocktower, Take Two

Another addition to the Autumn series of photos...

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Head in the clouds...

Some awesome cloud formations I saw on my journey home this afternoon/early evening...

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Decisions, Decisions...

So I've decided that during the week I'll post pictures only, then save text for the weekend when I have hours to spare at work.

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I also decided that detailing my Fiji holiday to too tedious, as is keeping my SA journal online... I might just do pictures with that as well. Either that or just not bother and let it die a slow, quiet death...

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The Uni. Clocktower, on the one nice day this week...

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Back from the tropics...

I got back from Fiji yesterday, and have posted some photos. More may follow, depending on how I feel, and I might give a description... also depending on how I feel.

Uni has started again. It's cold.

I statrted reading Alice in Wonderland yesterday. Very good so far...