Newton's The G1 Pen Law

The first G1 Pen Law is about the empirical observation that all G1 pens will disappear one day after a fresh refill is inserted.

The second G1 Pen Law states that the refill will be exactly 99.98% full.

The third G1 Pen Law states that realisation that said G1 pen has gone missing will occur at the most inconvenient time possible.¹

I hate putting in new refills.

1. The best example of The Third G1 Pen Law occured in 1998, when Sir Humphrey Rappaport was held captive by PNG natives during one of his research expeditions. He had with him a G1 pen, a journal and two paperclips. He spent 3 years negotiating his release with the natives, of which one year was spent learning the local dialect, one year attempting to secure an interview with the chief-of-tribe, and another year negotiating his release. The natives eventually agreed to set him free, on condition that he hand over his G1 pen as a trophy addition to the chief-of-tribe's headdress. Of course, by then it was nowhere to be found. Sir Humphrey was eventually rescued by a passing American spy-plane and became a major contributor to the formulation of The G1 Pen Laws we know today.

commonwealth games

Right at my doorstep! Andy (friend from uni) woke me up with a call this morning telling me the men's 40km marathon would soon be passing corner Grattan and Lygon St. In about 15 minutes we joined the throng of supporters lining both sides of the street and waited for the runners. Today's weather can only be described as sublime, and the sky, oh-so-blue. *happy sigh*

After about another 15 minutes the applause began and soon the leading police car drove into view. We joined in much cheering and clapping as the leading pack (a Tanzanian, South African and two Kenyans) ran past, and the crowd erupted when shortly after, the three yellow and green clad runners followed past. They looped back on the other side of the road, so we actually got to see the runners twice. A runner (country unknown) who knew he was out of medal contention started high-fiving the crowd as he ran past, but he was on the other side of the road, so no high-fiving for me. =) It was very fun, and he looked like he was having tons of fun! The crowd was quite enamoured by him I think. Understandably the leading pack were very focused, and too busy winning to respond much to the crowd.

I got back in time to watch the finish for the women's and men's at Melbourne Cricket Ground on TV. The reception was amazing! I'd go through years of blood and toil and gruelling training if only to have that kind of experience once in my life. The men's winner (the Tanzanian runner - I forgot his name) was beaming no end as he ran to the finish line, the entire stadium cheering for him. What an experience! It gives me goosebumps just watching it.

The women's winner was Aussie Karen McCann. The stadium went wild, she was crying, I was teary-eyed and gawd there's just nothing like the joy of winning in sports. It gets to everyone.

Now I'm really looking forward to the badminton semis and finals next weekend, hopefully we'll manage that 1-2 finish in the mens. That'd be awesome to watch. Unfortunately badminton isn't big in Aus so it doesn't get much broadcast time, and if it does, it'll prolly be the Aussie teams. It's at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre just down along Southbank so if anyone is interested in forking out a small sum of money to watch badminton tell me! Tickets for the finals are $25-$65 I think, and the semis $15 (?).

Also, how great are those Visa - Proud Supporter ads on TV? I love them! They're the ones that go "I can't do it aloooooo-ooo-oone...". I'm really impressed by the way they managed to capture the enthusiasm and support of the crowd and the unbridled joy of the atheletes so so well. Those ads give me chills everytime I watch them, and believe me, I've seen them many times.

Oh the Commonwealth Games!

I am procrastinating again.

Commonwealth Games opened yesterday, and I was able to watch some related fireworks from my apartment window. I also saw Lim Keng Liat on TV just now, in the 50m backstroke semis. He came 4th! Good effort, considering he was out-sized and out-muscled by all his fair-haired competitors. International sporting events like this always make me irrationally patriotic. All that Malaysia-Bolehness..it's all coming back to me now.

Uni is picking up, and the disillusionment slowing fading. It certainly gets better when you make new friends. That part's a little sluggish so far, since I haven't really bothered to stick myself out there and actively seek out cool and interesting people (who am I to them anyway..[/insecurity]) But, but, but. Sports have been a good starting point.

Ultimate Frisbee's not very mainstream here, but it's growing. Most of the people that turn up are tall American guys that outrun me by 10 times and a few Singaporeans. (There's this one American guy whom I swear looks just like Owen Wilson!) And there's a Sg dude who apparently played against the Taylor's (?) UF team when they went down to Sg last year. Anyway, they're all terribly friendly and awesome. Ultimate Frisbee brings out the friendliness in people, or perhaps, Ultimate Frisbee brings friendly people together. =)

Badminton is very exciting too. While I won't be anywhere near good enough to play in the Uni Games this year (or even the next), I'm hoping I'll have a shot at it one day. I met this pretty cool ex-Raffles JC girl who claimed she "only played with friends" but trashed us all. Makes one wonder who these friends are. I mention ex-Raffles JC because they all seem to have an aura about them, the type that makes you want to stand next to them and soak up a bit of what makes them tick. Then there was another Sg girl who tried to introduce me to God. I'm sure you've all had this experience at some point in your life.

Girl: Are you Christian?
Me: (Thinks: I can so see where this is going..) No..
Girl: Free thinker?
Me: No..not really. Agnostic, I guess, if you really had to put a label to it.
Girl: What?? Eenglish pls.
Me: Um...It means I don't really think it's possible to prove or disprove the existence and nature of God.
Girl: Whoa...okay...hahahah...

Girl: Are you free Fridays?
Me: Yeah, my classes end pretty early. Why?
Girl: Come to CF!!
Me: (Thinks: I knew it. I kneew it.) Hahahah. No, it's alright..I've been to a fair share of these things. Went to my friend's cell group back home a few times before also! (This is what I always say. It makes them happy.)
Girl: *looks happy* Oh! Cool! Well, CF is different from cell groups..
Me: Oo really? So how is it different?
Girl: Um..I dunno, I guess it's kinda the same, hahah!
Me: Yeah, hahahah! *sweatdrop*

Anyway, she was cool. I'm sure she meant well. =)

Work-wise...so far it's been not-at-all to mildly challenging, but that's partly because I've done half my course in IB already. Accounting is new, and I am oh-so-loving it! It is the subject invented for neat freaks and people who organize things just for the sake of organizing things. I was made for Accounting. All this praise and I thought I'd hate it too. I blame Form 3 KH. It lied to me! It told me Accounting was stuffy and boring and all you'll ever do is learn where to debit and where to credit.

Meantime, I got offers to study Economics in UCL and Warwick in UK, and while this might seem a non-decision to many others, I have a nagging feeling that Commerce, not Economics, is the course I really want to do.

That's all from me for now. That list of homework is looking very dark and ominous.

As food for thought for the wintry recesses of your mind, I'll leave you with a profound quote from my most esteemed Accounting lecturer.

Week 2, Lecture 4.
"Holy COW!" - Dr. Brad Potter on the length of some of the questions posted on the online tutor service.

Speaking of this online tutor Q&A thing, you get to see some real gems every so often. This in particular made me laugh.

"...[question]...I am very confusing right now. I appreciate the help you can give me and thank you from the bottom of my heart."

And thank you all for listening, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

A new month!

And this is significant because it means I get one whole shiny new gigabyte of data! If you think that's nothing at all, go without the internet for 8 excruciating days and come back and tell me 1gb of data means nothing to you. Blah, but really, it's barely enough to survive on, stoopid data cap.

In other news, Uni officially started two days ago. I have 2 or 3 hours of lectures/tutes everyday, and arranged them in such a way that I start at 9am and finish by 1pm. This gives me enough time to go for classes, walk back to my apartment by taking two steps forward and one step back, cook 5 course gourmet meals, clean the carpet and polish every spike on my cactus everyday.

Right, I don't really have that much leisure time. Admittedly my timetable is nowhere near as hectic as the biomed students, but it isn't terribly free either. There'll heaps of reading material to get through, assignments to do and essays to write. The pace has yet to pick up since we're only in the first week of lectures, and I hope it does soon because frankly, my brain is rotting.

Doing Commerce in UniMelb is like...studying in Malaysian central. Or maybe mainland China central. I wouldn't be making a sweeping statement if I said every Malaysian student goes to UniMelb to do Commerce. I NEED A CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT GODDAMMIT!*gripegripegripe* I'm not meeting enough interesting people and my social life is in shambles.

If it weren't for the scholarship, I'd have switched to Comm/Law. It doesn't help that I'm already lusting after the new, sleek Law faculty building with its sparkly floors, modern contemporary executive atmosphere and spiffy laptop workstations. At any rate, I've made an appointment with the careers advisor to seriously discuss my options. Right now, I'm thinking Comm/Law vs. straight Commerce + honours year in Finance vs. straight Commerce + MBA. Is meeting the right people, having a great study atmosphere and a change of environment worth giving up $7000 a year?

I don't know. If I can find out what I need to do to get into that apparently doubleplus 1337 honours year in Finance, and whether I even have a fighting chance to get into it, I'll probably stick with the straight Comm and $7000pa.

Anyway, moving on, I've got myself a 2nd-hand bike yesterday and loving it to bits. I've wanted a road bike for some time now and have been checking out other people's road bikes. Y'know, like, checking out. The traffic around my area and uni is mildly harrowing at times, with 4-way traffic movement, an army of pedestrians and trams to boot. Cycling on the roads here takes a more than usual amount of concentration but I'm hoping with a bit more experience I'll be able to manoeuvre the roads more comfortably.