Will’s View

I arrived home on Saturday night, after a hard day’s study to be greeted by a box of doughnuts on the kitchen table (one of my housemates works at Donut King…nice huh!), and so I decided to experiment. I never knew that doughnuts came in so many shapes and sizes.  There are normal doughnuts, doughnuts with icing and sprinkles, there are jam-filled doughnuts, and there are even doughnut people! Now I’m not going to sit here and say that I disagree with the range, it’s amazing what they can do with doughnut-making machinery these days. I’m willing to accept jam-filled doughnuts into my world; I can even see that doughnut-people have a special place in our lives. My problem lies with the Custard-Filled Doughnut. What were they thinking? What on earth inspires someone to say to themselves “Let’s put a rarely used dessert topping inside a doughnut!” Genius guys, pure genius. I have to admit I thought it would be okay, or at least bearable. But the overly gooey nature of the custard, coupled with the fact that it’s cold and lumpy was just too much for me. Who do these people think they are, playing God with doughnuts? God doesn’t play dice, and we don’t need Custard-Filled Doughnuts.

While it must be said that I did finish the doughnut - through sheer power of determination, and the refusal to throw out free stuff - it is not an experience which I would like to repeat. There are many other foodstuffs in this world that I disagree with. Things along the lines of mint M&Ms and anything vegetarian spring to mind first, followed by plain salted crisps and tofu. I could fill several pages with lists and reasons, but I shall leave that for another day as I like to try and keep my posts as succinct as possible, sometimes.

--> I arrived home on Saturday night, after a hard day’s study to be greeted by a box of doughnuts on the kitchen table (one of my housemates works at Donut King…nice huh!), and so I decided to experiment. I never knew that doughnuts came in so many shapes and sizes.  There are normal doughnuts, doughnuts with icing and sprinkles, there are jam-filled doughnuts, and there are even doughnut people! Now I’m not going to sit here and say (More...)

Ok this is just a short post to let all you crazy cats know that it’s been snowing in my home town(you’ll have to zoom out a bit and scroll east to find it)! The photos are courtesy of my bro, and even though we’ve been complaining about the weather over here, its obviously nothing compared to Christchurch!

--> Ok this is just a short post to let all you crazy cats know that it’s been snowing in my home town(you’ll have to zoom out a bit and scroll east to find it)! The photos are courtesy of my bro, and even though we’ve been complaining about the weather over here, its obviously nothing compared to Christchurch!

Let it not be said that studying is the be all and end all during the exam period. There is cake. During a recent ’study break’ (i.e. when mechanics was getting even more boring than usual) it was decided that we wanted a cheap but filling snack, so a runner was sent to Safeway with $4 to spend on snacks. What did they come back with but a cake and 50c change, the wonders of modern cake-making technology! Within our studying clique we managed a knife (see pictures), three plastic spoons, a napkin and a couple of sets of wooden chopsticks, not bad! Although it must be asked why we carry these objects around at all!? Cake must be one of the most efficient snacks I’ve had this study period, and almost as filling as the good ol’ Milo and peanut butter toast routine I’ve been working on for the last few years. I’m not too sure about the nutrient content of either, but the cake was multi-coloured, and that’s always a step in the direction of nutrition. Thought the piccies were necessary, as it was a most momentous occasion, and it served to distract us from mechanics.

--> Let it not be said that studying is the be all and end all during the exam period. There is cake. During a recent ’study break’ (i.e. when mechanics was getting even more boring than usual) it was decided that we wanted a cheap but filling snack, so a runner was sent to Safeway with $4 to spend on snacks. What did they come back with but a cake and 50c change, the wonders of modern cake-making technology! (More...)

It is during this busy period that we can look back at the semester that was, and reflect on the thoroughness of the course content, and our amazing lecturers. Or so it would be if we were in another faculty, but as it is we are left thinking that maybe we’ll need that part of the course that we didn’t cover, and that some of our lecturers may be more suited to an occupation involving big shoes, rubber noses and cream pies.

I’m not saying that all our lecturers are bad: we are lucky enough to have some fantastic lecturers in engineering, and god knows they manage to make the most boring stuff seem interesting for 50 minutes. But on the other hand we have lecturers that fail to inspire, fail to cover the material and fail to achieve the “best learning outcome”. Which makes the two weeks leading up to the exam even more exciting for us!

I’m not going to bitch and moan about bad lecturers, every uni student’s had one, and there’s not much to be done about it. I will however bitch about the lack of student services (thanks impending VSU) during the one time in semester which we actually need them. Walking around uni over the last few days (yeah, I’ve been a study-nerd-hermit over the last couple of weeks - great fun) I can’t help but notice the number of people being shuffled on from various closing study venues. During the weekend (yeah some people actually study over the weekend) libraries are only open until 9pm, and so we end up packing into the 24-hour labs to try and get the most out of our “Services and Amenities Fee”.

I suppose the only thing left is to hope that all the extra money brought in by the “Growing Esteem” re-vamp will help bolster student services, and the quality of the engineering faculty. Heh, sure.

--> It is during this busy period that we can look back at the semester that was, and reflect on the thoroughness of the course content, and our amazing lecturers. Or so it would be if we were in another faculty, but as it is we are left thinking that maybe we’ll need that part of the course that we didn’t cover, and that some of our lecturers may be more suited to an occupation involving big shoes, rubber (More...)

Okay, I’ve seen a couple of things today that I just don’t get:

Fashion-Induced Foolishness:
Studying in the Law Library (or Legal Resources Centre for those who are slaves to ‘proper’ nomenclature) this evening I was lucky enough to see a couple of what I think are the silliest fashion articles this side of the visor (don’t get me started!)

• Extraneous Zippers on Jeans: A zipper for the fly I can understand, even a couple of zips so that one can remove the bottom half and magically turn them into shorts (cracker of an idea if you ask me!). But a zip that follows the seam up the side of the jeans, then proceeds across the bum of the jeans, and back down the other side. Why? Isn’t it uncomfortable? What functionality/usefulness does it add…? I just don’t get it!
• Stupid Scarves: A scarf is meant to keep one’s neck warm, and most scarves are wide and fuzzy and generally comfortable-looking. This I get, makes perfect sense to me. But why on [Insert Deity Name Here]’s green Earth would you wear a scarf that is longer than you are tall, and is about the width of your index finger? This thing looked more like a rope than a blimmin’ scarf, and how warm do you reckon a rope looks? And how much warmer would you feel with a rope wrapped around your neck? Takes me back to the old days when hanging was cool…ah, those were the days.

Unnecessary (I never could spell that word) Use of Manpower (I think):
While walking around the Carlton area this afternoon (on the way to and from exam number one, good times), I saw a peculiar thing. There were (council?) workers parked on the various grassed areas around uni - such as University Square, and Plaza Italia off Lygon street - with petrol powered compressors. They were jamming what looked like a large pogo stick into the ground, and pumping compressed air into the ground. I don’t get it! I know that grass does need aerating in order to help it maintain its growth etc., but I was under the impression that this was usually done in combination with de-thatching, by a tractor towing what looks like a giant rotating rake. If that’s the case, then what were these guys doing? Giving worms a run for their money? Trying to inflate land value? (Heh, I couldn’t resist! )

--> Okay, I’ve seen a couple of things today that I just don’t get: Fashion-Induced Foolishness: Studying in the Law Library (or Legal Resources Centre for those who are slaves to ‘proper’ nomenclature) this evening I was lucky enough to see a couple of what I think are the silliest fashion articles this side of the visor (don’t get me started!) Extraneous Zippers on Jeans: A zipper for the fly I can understand, even a couple of zips (More...)