| A horrible thought occurred to me as I logged on to this computer. The university has informed me that my account will be deleted in 90 days, as I am not a currently enrolled student. Now, I am an Honours student, but the Honours enrolment hasn't occurred yet, so they are not aware of this. It will occur in less than 90 days, but I am now officialy spooked, and not willing to risk some of my essays that I want to keep on the IT staff's competence.
So, without further ado, here are some essays that I can back up on the LJ server by posting here.
( Plato and Platonism )
( Moral Psychology )
( Aristotle and Aristotelianism ) | comments: 23 comments or Leave a comment   |
| Mmm, World of Warcraft.
I mean, NOO! World of Warcraft! I hate MMORPG'S!
I have become everything I've ever hated. Except Bible-literal-fundamentalist-Christian. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| So I went on the departmental annual weekend retreat. You may think that it sounds like a very straight laced affair, with lots of people talking about philosophy.
That description makes no mention of the godawful amount of alcohol that was consumed.
It was good, but I am a bit miffed that I now will have to write my thesis on a completely different area because there will be no one in the department who can supervise me on my chosen area of ethics until halfway through the year. Boo.
Now if I can figure out how to get symbolic logic into LJ, I can illustrate Fitchs paradox for you all. Or not. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | Red Rover | | Time: | 10:15 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/cool.gif) accomplished |
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| It's indeed all over. Well, almost. One exam left of my degree, not for two weeks and only worth 30% of one of my subjects. Piece of piss.
So, now that the shit has ended I'm left almost to my own devices. Ade still has three assessment pieces left, plus she starts working her new job in a few weeks whilst at the same time still working at her old one. She says she'll quit, but I know her. :-) She will, but she'll put herself through a 50 hour week before she does it.
So the last two days I've spent reading, on the net and not much else. Been at uni 'cause I'm keeping Ade company and I don't mind being here when there's no work to be done. Started Bertrand Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy' and should be finished in a week or so, as well as the new Shadowrun book 'Mr Johnson's Little Black Book'. I like Shadowrun. And philosophy.
Gonna get me a copy of China Mievilles 'Perdido Street Station', cause it looks good. Even though I have literally filled my place with books I have yet to read, I'm going to buy a new one and read that. Maybe. 'Heavy Weather' is looking good, the Sterling book. And then 'Distraction', Gene Wolfe's 'There are Doors', Greg Bears 'Queen of Angels' (then 'Slant' if I like it), Stapledon's 'Last and First Men', a couple of SF Masterworks, like 'Gateway', 'Flowers for Algernon', 'Babel 17', 'The Centauri Device', Moorcocks Fantasy Masterworks edition of the Elric stuff, that 'Grendel' book, I think Silverberg's "The Stochastic Man', some of the old Dever and Grant Lone Wolf novels, and I'm tempted to read 'Neuromancer' again. I've also got about half a dozen of Nietzsche's titles I want to have a look at 'cause I think its appropriate for my thesis next year, a book on the 50 greatest Eastern thinkers, '100 Decisive Battles', finish reading the 'Art of War', plus all the stuff I've forgotten sitting here. I love working in a secondhand bookshop.
Add to that all the RPG books I wanna get, 'Unknown Armies', the Darklands book for Mongoose's Lone Wolf RPG, Exalted:The Fair Folk, that new Ex Machina Tri-Stat cyberpunk tome, and half a dozen Shadowrun books I don't have.
Plus there's the X-box (my brothers, but I've become addicted). I want to finish Knights of the Old Republic again, but this time I've gone Dark Side, Mech Assault, Halo, Fable and anything else he gets thats good (which is most of it). I also want to get The Sims on there for Ade, and apparently its also two player.
Oh yeah, and spend time with my girlfriend. :-D
Speaking of Gibson, he's started blogging again, which means that hopefully he's finished his new book and its at the editors. 'Pattern Recognition' was fantastic, but I don't want to sound too muhc like a fanboy so go and read it for yourself. Check out his LJ feed, link in my profile.
Well, I'm off to work soon, but then it'll straight home for a bit of light saber swinging. For darkness baby. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Reports are coming in of a terrorist attack overnight in the nations capital of Canberra. Compassion, Justice, Human Rights and the Environment appear to be amongst the casualties.
More as it comes in. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Oookay, don't panic, this was always going to happen, at least there are no Nazi's or aliens involved. But then it would be simpler wouldn't it? You could just shoot them. Nobody would mind. Nobody would care. No one likes aliens. Or Nazi's. Yes, maybe thats the way to go.
So I've just kinda realised that I have 9500 words of work to do by October 22.
...
...
...
I think I'll wear my brown pants to class tomorrow. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| 
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Gotta love/hate these quiz things. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| I got the 'writing a philosophy essay and can't figure out where I am or what I'm supposed to be doing' blues. Had no class today so used it as an op to do a first draft. Got three quarters of the way through before mentaldown. I just came back to it after two hours away and it's still not making sense so I'm gonna have to try again tomorrow after I go to work and get the car fixed.
Finished reading Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia", then read "The Crazy Iris" which was a mucho depressing anthology of Japanese stories about the Atomic aftermath. Put a little joy in your day. Just started reading Herr's "Dispatches" which is a delightful tale of the Vietnam War by the same guy that wrote the script for Apocalypse Now". It does pleasant things to my mind.
I'm tired and sick of studying. No, I lie. I'm tired and sick of studying because we got ADSL last week and I haven't had a chance to Bit Torrent my ass off yet. Then my bro got an Xbox and I was only able to play Prince of Perisa Sands of Time for an hour. Sometimes not spending any time at home is sucky. Sometimes it ain't though.
Ade conned me into taking last Tuesday afternoon off and it was worth it. I was cured of my sickness and have seen the face of the Lord. Well, nearly.
Brendan's put up a site for Earthdawn stuff which looks good, but I doubt he can keep up the updates with the stupid amount of time I spend checking websites. Oh well. Can't please all yadayadayada.
Rotisserie Chicken Out. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Uni's back and the slow crawl towards the end of the year has commenced. No, that's a lie, the crawl is never slow enough. If it were I wouldn't be already frantic with readings and novels and articles and libraries and bars and drinking and birthdays and anniversarys and such.
My holiday reading has ceased, and academic reading begun. In the hols, I managed to finish Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Both fantastic. Currently nearing the end of Orwell's Homage to Catalonia as part of my lit course on war and conflict. Also read Transhuman Space: Toxic Memes, which I had been waiting for for a good two years. Good stuff.
Adriana's 21st coming up, trying to get stuff ready for that, and then our two year anniversary in October. Can't wait.
Got Honours info sessions to attend in a few weeks, the choice between doing English or philosophy Honours is becoming easier and easier, the English department is just pathetic on the admin side of things. And besides, why waste a year writing a thesis on "Creative Writing" when you could just write a goddamn book?
Earthcore just dimly on the horizon, should be a fucking blast. A lot of friends going down to that one, should be good.
Gotta skip for class, see ya. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Check this out. http://quizilla.com/users/Moscatabaco/quizzes
MARS: You're a Sidereal Chosen of Mars! You enjoy
challenges and are utterly confident in your
abilities. That never gets the better of you,
of course - you are always aware about all the
risks involved and are prepared for each and
every contingency. Life is boring without a
good challenge, and you transform everything
around you into one. As a Sidereal, you're
always ahead in the game and have a sharp mind
to solve any difficulty that dares stand in
your way. Just remember, your vision for
victory might result in more casualties than
you expected...
Exalted5
brought to you by Quizilla
Rock. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Well well, it has been a while hasn't it? Well, you didn't miss much, just the entire fucking exam period. I finished yesterday and am currently in a mad rush burning cd's because Adriana and I are going up to Sydney for a few days to see some friends.
Ahem.
Ok it's gonna be drug and alcohol fueled mayhem, you happy now?
Then I've got just a few days left to finish off the game for DWARFCon with Brendan (Their Finest Hour, check it out, WW2 Zombie action!), lucky there ain't much to do. Gulp.
Dwarfcon should be good though, or as I'm terming it, DDRFest2oo4. Dance Dance Revolution Bitch.
Anyway, back to drinking beer and reading book. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | Drum'N'Bass at the Place | | Subject: | So this is Fashion | | Time: | 07:48 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/thoughtful.gif) contemplative |
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| You know I never thought I'd be the kind of person to use internet cafe's and shit like that. Why would I need to? I get pretty fuckin' fast net access at uni for nothing and I'm there every damn day, why would I need to use it while I'm not there?
That's the wonderful thing about the Internet, it sucks you in if you let it. Suddenly you'll find yourself decked out in your good gear for a birthday drinking night, sitting in a little underground bar on Elizabeth street on a Net terminal because when I bought a beer I apparently get 40 minutes free net access.
So here I am. Being Fashionable.
How long do we have to wait before this migrates from trendy-land into our beloved mainstream? When will I be able to download porn at the pub with my pint and counter meal instead of having to do it in a trendy little underground bar with my pot of Amber Ale?
I think this is one case where I can't wait for a particular trend to succumb to the banality of the mainstream. We, the drinking proletariat, demand access to the information web that spans the globe! Our manifesto may be found here in HTML: www.pornstaringyobs.com | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | Underworld - Moaner | | Subject: | King o' da hood | | Time: | 11:05 pm | | Current Mood: | accomplished |
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| So then I said, 'Read my scripture bitch'.
And it was all like, 'Woah! You can't say that!'
And I was like, 'Bring it.'
And it was like, 'You are da king o' da hood!'
And I was like, 'Word.'
So I finished writing all my major essay's for the semester if you hadn't already guessed. Got my Aristotle essay back today after a mammoth effort last Monday writing the bastard. It always pisses me off that I always hand in my first draft of every essay because I never have enough time to do any more. I spent a month on that freakin' Aristotle essay only to hand in the first draft.
Must of worked though, got an HD. Word.
Handed in my major History essay today, stupid piece of shit took forever. So now i've had the afternoon off and I've spent it playin' Warcraft III Frozen Throne which ain't bad, as well as reading more of my Blue Planet collection *drools*.
I've decided, in the wake of being so inspired by Blue Planet to run a game for next years Dwarfcon combining the two best things about conventions lately, and specifically Arc this year: Blue Planet and SciFi Survival Horror. Been watching all the Alien movies again recently, as well as Predator in the lead up to AVP coming out in a few months, so this might impact the game a little. Tee hee.
Can't wait til I get some actual weekend free time soon, I want to take Adriana to Border's to try the White Chocolate Chai Tea they have in the cafe. It was most rock.
Got a slew of 21sts I don't want to go to coming up too soon. Bastards didn't come to mine, why should I go to theirs? I ain't bitter. Suckwads.
Til we meet again my internet lurking friends. Til we meet again. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Blue Fucking Planet. Fucking Blue Planet. Blue Planet Fucking. Hmm. That last one might be a typo.
I finally have Blue Planet. In it's (mostly) entirety. I ordered it today from Mil Sims, and should be picking it up tonight from DWARF. Rock. I've been after this shit since Arc.
One essay down, two to go. Aristotle essay is coming along, gonna have to skip class on Monday which is a bitch, 'cause Dirk's finally gonna talk about all the shit in the Metaphysics which is the progression of all the stuff I'm writing my essay on. Ah well. The essay comes first. The I'll do my history essay in the two days I have left. Meh. History ain't a major. I don't want to get in to History Honours. Boo History you are boring.
Sickness is finally fading, missed so much shit over the weekend it wasn't funny. Bastard immune system. Ah well. Better now.
Got an HD on the piece of shit short story I handed in a couple o weeks ago. Surprised me. I didn't even really like it. Shows either the quality of the teaching or the fact that short stories like that are best plonked out in twenty minutes.
Rock on Blue Planet. I mean Australia. Whatever. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| So I've had one heck of a week. To start with I went with Adriana to World Vision's Youth Leadership Camp as a "Leader" (slang term for dating the staff), which was really good, helped out there.
Then I got my new car. The one that I've been saving for for over a year. The one that didn't FUCKING START!!!! Spent three hours sitting at home needing to be at uni waiting for slack ass RACV cunts to rock up, only to find that not only do I need to shell out a hundred bucks for a new battery, but that after I've paid for that battery the slippery bastard tells me that unless I get my alternator fixed, the battery will run dead in an hour. Cunt.
So it's all fixed now, and I'm six hundred bucks deeper in debt. Weeee.
Then I had my 21st birthday dinner last night. Was a family thing, had a good time, stuffed myself stupid and got a fucking awesome present from them all which turned out to be a monster of a digital camera. 3.2 megapixel! Rock.
So that brings me to today. Running extremely late with where I'm supposed to be with my essays, starting to get real worried about it too. The reason? I'm starting to feel sick. I feel the flu coming on. Not being able to afford even one day off for feeling sick, I've started taking cold and flu pills to try and stave it off and suped up my exercise regime at the gym. Offense is the best defense. Take this Flu! FU!
So I've got my mammoth 21st drinking session tonight. Makes me even more worried about getting sick. Looks like I'll just have to try and tough it out. Willpower baby, willpower. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | The drone of the student library | | Time: | 02:43 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/wideeyed.gif) awake |
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| So then I realised I had a short story due on Tuesday. Ha! Had no ideas. Of course. Then I started writing and this came out. First draft. If anyone reads this page, let me know what you think. Be merciless.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | The Smashing Pumpkins - Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness | | Subject: | One Bitch Ass Time | | Time: | 04:05 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/yawn.gif) tired |
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| I'm in mental limbo. My head hurts. Everything is alternately great and terrifying. The past two weeks have been wonderful and horrible.
Meh, same old I guess.
Except the downs were further down than usual, but the ups were too. Went and saw The Producers the other week, with Ade's family. Mel Brooks musical. Mmmm, couldn't have ever afforded it if I had to pay.
Bought a new car too. My current bomb, '83 Corolla, is falling apart so I've finally gotten some money (most of it not mine once again) and will be picking up a very swish (compared to my Corolla) Toyota Camry after the weekend. I can't believe it's an '83 as well. Ah who cares, I finally have a car with a 5 speed gearbox! Wooo! No more grinding down the freeway!
Then, on the same day, I nearly broke up with Adriana. We both got completely shitfaced and ended up having a 4 hour screaming match. We sorted it all out though, I love her, I couldn't not have.
Then I woke up with a godawful hangover. And went to Conquest. I had a crappy time, bearing in mind that I was hung over, but I don't think that excuses the fuck up that cost me two games. When someone registers as a DAY player, one cannot expect said DAY player to turn up on a separate day to register. It's silly. Anyway, the games I did end up playing were good, but not great and the highlight of the day was playing a boardgame one of my team-mates had bought in our cancelled session. Duel of Ages! Rock on Genghis, rock on!
Now it's back to the nose grind of essay writing time. Once I fully figure out the relation between Aristotle's concept of primary substance and predicative logic I should be fine. ;-)
SHAMELESS PLUG
Laundry, 50 Johnston STreet Fitzroy. 24th April, 8pm. 21st b/day drinking. Come, or don't. Preferably Come. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | Soviet National Anthem as sung by the Red Army | | Subject: | Boobs for Education! | | Time: | 09:45 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/happy.gif) satisfied |
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| Pretty good week I must say. Not only did I manage to sort of get my head around Aristotle's theory of time (time is a number people!), but I got a copy of the Exalted player's Guide yesterday. Aaah, sweet nerd porn. Haven't had much of a read yet, but that'll change soon.
Anyway, on Thursday we had the big protests at uni over the HECS increases and more full fee paying places. I fully support the protestors, but not being much of a one myself, I was gonna show up, check things out maybe yell a few things on my lunch break, as I was at work at the time.
So 2 o'clock rocks around, and suddenly the fire alarms go off in the Campus Centre (where all the shops are, where I work). We evacuate the place to discover that the Menzies building (biggest building on campus) has also been evacuated, and that coincidently, the evacuation zones for both buildings just happen to be the same place that the protest march is starting.
Normally these student protests are poorly organised and end up with a few hardliners being dicks, witness last monday at the uni council meeting. This time however, respect to those peeps who organised it, 'cause it was fucking beautiful. The cops had no idea what was going on, so there wasn't any violence (contrary to Channel 9).
So Adriana went and occupied the house with the rest of them while I went back to work, and she spent the rest of day lounging by the VC's salt water swimming pool having a wet t-shirt competition. Boobs for Education people, Boobs for Education.
Went bar hoppin' on Brunswick street on Sat night to find somewhere to get drunk at for my 21st, since I'm phasin' out the pills. Decided on Laundry, so if anyone reads this, be at Laundry in Fitzroy on the 24th of April. Mention this blog to get a free drink!
Maybe. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I have a LJ question. What's the etiquette with commenting? I had a blogsite elsewhere for a number of years, but I already knew people on there, so meeting even more people was simple, it happened through them. On LJ, I don't think I know many people, but I've been recently reading through some people's sites I've reached through communities. I'm fairly sure I've met a few people on here in real life, but that doesn't really mean I know them. Hmmm.
In other breaking news, my fiction writing subject ain't so bad, although there are a number of "writers" in there. I hate "writers". "Writers" give me the shits. Runny shits. "Writers" are people who mention regularly they are "writers" and tell you about the state of their "craft".
Wankers.
Anyway, there are only a few of them, although they seem predominatly male. C'mon guys, we're not all wankstains. Don't let the team down.
Went to a 21st on the weekend in the city, was good. Scored a couple of free pints later on in the evening, and tried a couple of beers I hadn't had before. Kronenbourg ain't too bad, and here's me thinking the French can't make beer.
The Exalted game proceeds apace, but methinks I might be getting to big for my boots. I'm cramming in a whole shitload of things, hopefully to ensure I cover most of the obvious possibilties the game can go, although I am waiting for the Exalted Players Guide to come out in a few weeks, as it has a number of things that will sway some decisions I've half made.
Hmmm. Looking at the Milsims catalogue the other day, and the Heavy Gear and Tribe 8 core books have just been released under their latest versions. Problem is, I'd need the Silhouette core rulebok to use them. Not good. I want to get into Heavy Gear, I've played the comp games, and the RPG looks good, but like Blue Planet it's looking like a lot of initial outlay that I don't have at the moment. Crud.
Playing Chrono Trigger on a SNES emulator recently, as Brendan was raving about it. It's good, but I think FF7 shits all over it. It's too bloody short. Like Deus Ex. I spent the better part of a month on FF7, and Chrono Trigger has comparatively taken about 4 days. Bah! I like long intricate plots and games!
Anyway, sex is good. Peace Out. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Mwahahahahaha!
Vague noting and formation of ideas for an Exalted campaign has begun! Blood & Salt ha inspired me to run a game in An-Teng, even more than Kingdom of Halta made me want to run a Lunar war story. Curious that.
Anyway, it's gonna be a Heroic Mortals game at first, with stuff happening like Exaltations later on depending on the characters. Partially inspired in this aspect by the In Nomine game Brendan is running at th mo', in which we are all mortals, some of whom have their sixth force (and one who is even a Saint). I have never desired the Player's Guide as much as I have right now. Mmmmm, God-Blood's and martial arts.
The fiction writing subject nightmare appears to be over, the allocation problems have been sorted and I finally got to sit through a whole workshop without being kicked out. About time considering it's week 3. The subject looks fairly dull actually, but it's a nice change from all the lit subjects I've done over the years, and a nice mental break from philosophy.
Adriana is hot. She's got a job recently, one that means we won't be able to see each other most weeknights for at least the rest of semester. Fuckity fuck. That probably doesn't sound so bad, but we've been practically living together for a year, seeing each other every day at least. Has good and bad points. We both got a lot of work to do this year. Her intership at Parliament is pretty hardcore.
Anyway, i gotta go and not do any studying for a while longer. In the famous words of Icarus, "sploosh". | | comments: Leave a comment |
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