Monday was good because I got a few assessment marks for some of my subjects. I was rather surprised to see full marks for a group assignment. I was very pleased with that. I wasn’t expecting more than 15/20, considering our presentations were really a mess and I refused to talk in both of them. I’ll admit the bulk of the second half of the assignment was my work – as a group, half of us were displeased with the other half for not contributing very much. Either way, I have to admit that they did attempt to put in effort and even though their contributions were minimal, I won’t hold it against them. In the peer review I was as honest as possible about their contributions. All in all – I’m pleased with that, and it was well deserved, and it should get me a good mark overall for that subject because I did really well in the other assessments.

Also, today I was terrified of picking up my assignment at university (for the subject I didn’t like) because I thought I might fail. I got 20/30 for one of my assignments, bringing my total to 35/60. While I was waiting for this assignment to be marked, I was hoping I would pass.

After having lunch with James we walked to university and I picked up my assignment.

23/40.

Pretty awful, but I passed! I passed! Wheeeeee /bounce

I also won a Cub Scouts CD – they’re an up-and-coming Australian band who released their EP Told You So just recently. I was lucky enough to win a copy just by answering the question “What do you miss most about the 90s?”

I actually don’t remember what I said in my answer, but they must have been pleased enough, because I received the EP in the mail on Monday. They hadn’t notified me by email beforehand so it was quite a surprise. I’ve heard half of it already, as the songs have already been released, but I’m sure the rest of it is lovely.

During the week, aside from work, I’ve been doing a little bit of Christmas shopping. I’m not sure if I’ll be getting my family anything, because I’m at a loss for gift ideas. Our family doesn’t really get into the Christmas spirit, which is sad because we used to be pretty religious. I don’t see Christmas as much of a religious celebration anymore, also because I don’t really believe in a deity the same way I did as a child. Our family hasn’t gone to church for a very long time. Religious points aside, I do like that Christmas is a lovely time to spend with family.

Speaking of family, my dear cousin Ricky is coming to Australia for about ten days around Christmas and new year. I’m super excited because we need to catch up after we’ve been busy with university, not to mention he hasn’t been to Australia at all. He’ll be staying with us in Sydney, but the short week-and-a-half he’s here, we’ll be showing him around all the touristy places here. It’ll be a great time for him and our family to spend some time together around Christmas. I’m planning to go to a few gigs around that time, so I’ll be having a pretty busy December.

Yesterday night I went to see the Griswolds – yes, for the seventh time. I’m usually early as I go to gigs straight from work or after dinner. I got to the venue early and bummed around for a bit. It was at a hotel and the glass doors were wide open, and it was quite windy. After sitting for a while and feeling cold, I wandered around the hotel until I figured out I was supposed to go upstairs as that’s where the stage was. I bumped into Chris (Riley) and he told me where Dan and his wife Claire were. We ate some great potato chips with some spicy powder. It was delicious. I hung out with Claire most of the night, but of course chatted to the other boys in the band.

They put on a great show, as usual, and because I felt like dancing, I danced. They said that Claire and I were probably the only people dancing, but we said we saw a lot of other people dancing as well. I think we probably danced the maddest and closest to the stage though? Oh, it sounds like me indeed. Claire was lovely enough to walk me to the bus stop. On the way out, she realised she didn’t have her ID with her so she talked to the bouncer at the door. He just kept staring at me and smiling, and while Claire was trying to explain that she’d be back, but I was leaving, the bouncer said, “Oh she’s going…? She is so beautiful.”

What a compliment, I laughed a little inside. /hehe

While we were at the bus stop we bumped into Robbie (dubbed “scientist of sound” for The Griswolds) and he kindly offered to give me a lift to the station so I wouldn’t be stuck waiting for a bus. I got home alright, and before midnight, which I silently cheered about. Getting home earlier than 1am is a good thing for me.

I’ll be seeing The Griswolds again on Saturday because it’s the Homebake festival – and yep, I ended up forking out the money to go. It cost $110.10 but it was well worth it because there are at least six bands I want to see. I’ve never been to a festival before (aside from the Newtown festival, but I wasn’t really watching the music all day – just checking out the stalls) so this should be interesting (and a load of fun). /bounce