Everything Is Real

This last week or so has been one of mayhem in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Late nights in the computer labs, quick snacks in breaks from assignments, a game of hackey outside to loosen up, pages and pages of paper filled with crossed out equations, spending an evening welding in one of the workshop sessions, running to hand in the first project on time, then straight back to start the next one, running to catch the bus to get to work on time, then straight back to it after work...


It felt SO good to hand in the final project today! I had two projects - one due wednesday and one today, and I had a test wednesday night. Most of the others had three projects - with two due in today. It's been MAD. I love it when it's mad! And everything spins out of control and you're juggling three things at once with no time to stop and take a breath, and problems are springing up all over the place and fall again one by painful one . . . - I love that. I'm not sure why.


But I've thoroughly enjoyed it - there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of finally completing a project well done and handing it in. Even better though was making new friends over the projects and working with them and hanging out in the brief downtimes we had.


Every thursday around lunchtime we have a musical performance in the cafe, and this thursday two guys performed a techno set for an hour. That had to be one of the defining moments of the week for me - not only were they so good that they inspired me (I love dance music, and after watching them I'd like to take it up), but the music they played seemed to fit in so well with the mood of the week -- like, if there was a soundtrack to my week, what they were playing would have been pretty much exactly it. The mix of energy, chaos, urgency, and euphoria in the music couldn't have fitted better.


Speaking of which I went out today and bought Andy Hunter's second CD, Alive. Andy Hunter is a world class DJ whose style I particularly like, and listening to it as I type this, it seems to be such a fitting conclusion to this week - again, the mood of the music fits so well with the mood of the week!

Here's a picture of the album:










I can sum this mood up in one word: Elation.



It was really good seeing Andrew Shorthall on one of the buses to uni this week, and even better to see Dennis the next day. Usually I like my solitude on the morning buses, as it helps the waking-up process, but it was really great having company :) Cheers guys :)


So yeah, I mentioned welding. My last two Enggen 299 - Workshop Practice sessions we have been MiG welding. This has been the first time I have ever welded, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! You have to be really careful when welding, for several reasons. It's very, very bright (brighter than the sun) and emits even worse UV - meaning you can get severe sunburn, or even arc-eye if you don't have proper protection. Arc-eye is where you get such severe sunburn on your eye that it is agonisingly painful and the surface layer of your eye blisters and peels off! You can also potentially electricute or gas yourself, or you can severely burn yourself, because it emits more sparks than a sparkler! But it's really, really elating afterwards, having successfully welded the stuff you were supposed to weld, and to come out afterwards going "Yeah! I mastered that welder! Booyah!"


I watched some of the second season of Scrubs tonight. That show still remains number 1 on my list of TV shows to watch, after 5 seasons! That's five years at number one! And it struck home all over again the importance of friendship and sticking true to the ones you love, and being there for them just because you're friends.

Yeah.


And I saw Snakes on a Plane tonight. It gets:

5
out of 10. It's a pointless splatter comedy that doesn't take itself even slightly seriously but has some good moments. It's fairly gripping and you can expect to leap out of your seat in places.

Yeah.


Elation.