2001-11-02 - 12:41 a.m.
#97: No Need for The Talk
Note to self: Well the last few days have been rather busy.... Not busy enough to have prevented me from writing in this journal (that's just laziness, of course ^^;;;) but still a few social gatherings to have kept up with.... Tuesday saw an AAC meeting with a continued viewing of the ever delightful Jubei-chan, than without my fulfilling a private resolution to get to know the newer members of the AAC. I'll do that next time, I hope.... Without being extremely unbalanced by Fergus coming in as a mime businessman from the netherpits of hell. O.o Wednesday was All Hallows Eve, but saw very little in the way of trick or treating. Saw a blue haired guy in the city though, so I assume he was part of the festivities. Or maybe not, I can't tell with young people these days. *grumbles and frets* Went to see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Backs advanced showing at the Rialto, an eminently amusing film with a ton of general movie in-jokes and references to the previous Kevin Smith films to keep its audience of mainly 20s to 30s constantly amused. It's the kind of film you either like because of its overly tongue-in-cheek sophomoric humour, or hate for exactly the same reason. But whatever. Any film which has the actors poking fun at themselves (a la Being John Malkovich, only even more obvious) or the subtitles "Hey kids! It's Mark Hamill! [APPLAUSE]" is okay in my book (oh! And getting Mark Hamill to say, "Don't f*** with the Jedi Mastah!". Priceless). Apparently, we also got to see the movie about 6 months in advance of the theatrical release due to renegotiations with Miramax, (Drug Dealer: "Miramax? They account for 78% of my business!") so that was a neat bonus!
Well, I had over a week to think of "certain issues" (as mentioned here and in this entry) so I set a time with my father (well.... okay HE set the time. But *I* agreed to it. So it's the same thing in the end) to sit down and have a talk with him about what I was going to do. After a series of delays due to me oversleeping and his having to go the the local optometrist for an eye check up, we finally sat down around the kitchen table to discuss my possible options for the future. It took less than 10 minutes for me to finish laying it all out to him. 10 minutes. 10 friggin minutes. I spent a whole week thinking for just 10 minutes? Heck, that might be pushing it: It could have been as little as 5 minutes. Oh well, at least I got off my chest (and butt) about what my possible plan for the future is. And I managed to do it all in time to watch Card Captors on TV3, hee. It's still kinda rickety (my future, I mean), but I'm hoping that it'll somehow hold despite an overall lack of polish.
First on the agenda was my continued education in the Auckland University. The question being "Will I go back into engineering next year?" and my answer being "No, I won't". Besides the obvious reason of my not really wanting to go back to the institution that drove me to the brink of psychosis and back again, another reason that prevents me from getting back into the crash test dummy seat of learning is that I can't. Specific regulations by the School of Engineering say that if I don't get a minimum number of points (ie papers) over a two year period; I'd be forced to take a years sabbatical to work things out before I can show off my cash and go into the whole process again. Picking off where I last left, I assume. Which is failing. But maybe next time the curve won't be as, ah, "dramatic". I didn't tell my parents that I could have possibly applied for OTHER papers not of the engineering school though, otherwise they may have forced me into that position. They basically want me to complete some kind of certificate which will help me find a job in the future: And they don't care whether it's a long winded engineering degree or some kind of shorter coursed technical diploma. Either way, I'm still not interested in furthering my education, so I'm still taking a year off to realign the antennae of my thoughts to "reality check".
After that was the discussion on what I was going to do next year if I wasn't going to go back to University: since my parents really didn't want me just sitting around all day in front of the computer and vegitating. I'd kinda resolved to do that myself, but that seems to have crumbled in recent times when I decided to play "catch up" with a whole bunch of people I knew online a long time before and had somehow lost contact about a year or two ago when I decided to "get serious with my studies". Right. If I knew that "getting serious" meant an outcome like this, I wouldn't have bothered with leaving all the online communities I was part of in the first place. Now that I'm trying to contact all these people again, I'm going to be spending MORE time on the internet because it's just so much fun finding out what they've been up to in the interim you've been away. In otherwords, lotsa clicking on the "check fo mail" button in Eudora and looking for new messages to reply to. Like I'm doing right NOW. I am soooooo pathetic. So in order to make sure I get out and away from my computer more often, I'm going to have to get myself a job.... And I will! This time! Without getting discouraged and locking myself away in my cupboard and crying for two hours! Well, hopefully.
In terms of getting a job, I'm hoping that the one I *may* be able to get with the help of Chris will follow through. Admittedly, a major part of the work involved in his particular line of business is sitting down, hunched over a computer all day.... But one gets paid for it! So that's quite an incentive for someone like me. It might even cause me to hate computers and never want to ever work with them again.... Which could be a plus or a minus depending upon your point of view. Depending upon whether or not you're one of my parents, to be precise. Maybe I should take up console gaming instead.... Hey, at least I'll be out of my room to play on the TV in the lounge, heh. But since that job doesn't take in applicants until January or so, in the meantime I'm hoping to get work at the local video shop, known simply as "The Video Shop". Kinda sneaky, eh? Oh for a funfilled (?) sales service job like in Kevin Smiths Clerks.... Need Jay and Silent Bob-esque people selling drugs outside, though.
But if that job in the video shop just isn't happening, I COULD go and apply for *gulp* Woolworths, despite my adamant refusal in previous entries to even go on another one of those "charity stocktaking helpouts". Tis the season to be insane, I suppose. And hey, it's paid work. Nothing to be ashamed of in the end.... Considering the fact that before he finished his law degree, my dad worked as a postman in London. Which is a bit of a challenge considering the fact that he was (and still is. and getting worse) almost completely BLIND. So for someone like me, with almost perfect eyesight with his glasses on, working in a grocery store shouldn't be that big a deal. I just hope they don't do stocktaking too often. And I just hope I get the job in Teletec period, otherwise.... Well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Probably look for a job somewhere else I guess. How anticlimatic.
So those were the major highlights for the conversation I had with my dad. I also made mention about my want for driving lessons which DOESN'T include having to practice in the family car with my mother in it. Quite frankly, I'm afraid of getting behind the wheel of a car with my mother in the passenger seat. Which is an understandable reaction for most people starting out to learn driving, but the basis for MY particular reason is because due to "The Incident". No, I have not gotten over "The Incident" and I seriously doubt I ever will. Not yntil I get a full license and laugh in the face of my mother anyway. Besides, I really don't want to practice driving a car in my mothers Lexus. That's just really, really, REALLY asking for the sadistic will of God to come down on your head and cause a horrifically embarassing accident.... Again. So, I need someone willing to donate their car and services as passenger aka terrified bystander in order to practice driving in between lessons. Or at least I will, if my learners permit is still applicable. I hope I don't have to retake the test again. A lot of it just reminds me how utterly stupid some New Zealand driving laws are.
All of the above would be useless if I didn't have the time to do it all, of course. Fortunately, it looks like I have, thanks to the magic that as western medicine. Previously, I was worried about my dad's eyesight failing and him having to retire from his work before I had a chance to do all I had to do to form a basis to build my life on. From the medical experts in Malaysia, he was told that the retina for his left eye was completely detached (meaning that he couldn't see out of it now) and that his right eye was starting to develop an increasing amount of "floating particles"; a problem that would obscure his vision until he couldn't see altogether. Going to an eye specialist here in Auckland however, he was told that his right eye (and possibly his left) could be saved with a little bit of surgery. Or at least delay the symptoms of age, anyway. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and just hoping that it'll all work out and that he'll be able to get surgery before he has to fly back to Malaysia. To think I may have this to look forward to in my old age! I can't hardly wait....
But of course, all of what I told my dad was a list of my PRACTICAL wants. A lot of the list I wrote out is still unsaid and vaguely formless. It'll have to remain that way until I can do more than SAY what I want, harumph.
