badminton – yaiy!

by squido

today, i found myself awake at 06:00.

did so much maths this morning D: i’ve used up about 11 loose-leafs and i’m still only three-quarters of the way through… that mrs briggs…

i went to badminton at 15:02 8D at the north ryde “russell” club, as mum likes to call it [for those that can’t tell, she meant to say “RSL”]

badminton, despite what i had previously believed, is a very, VERY aggressive sport.

it also turns out to be very bad for previously-operated-on knees.

to emphasise my former point: the girls play like boys, the boys play like men, and the men play like monsters.

the women tend to be craftier, and sorer when they miss.

the rules are pretty whacky; this is what i learned so far:

1. play until 21. if the score is 20-20, play until 22, and so forth.

2. to start the game, someone says “kai shi/begin” and hits the shuttlecock randomly so that the head points to the starting team. if that hasn’t happened yet, you’re in practice mode. so pay attention.

3. the score is vital to determining to serves and from where. if your team [doubles] is on an even score, the player in the right half serves. to serve, stand as close to the net so that the moment of service is within the boundary line before the net, then proceed to hit upwards. the first serve must land in the vertically opposite portion of the opponents’ court – the boundaries are the entire width, the cropped length [minus the end and the bit closest to the net]. so pay attention.

4. during the game [after the serve], all of the court is in.

5. a loss is when the receiving team misses and it lands in their court, when they fail to hit the shuttlecock over the net, the shuttlecock fails to land in the court. also, a loss is when the serving team fails to serve correctly. when a loss occurs, possession changes and the score determines who serves and from where. so pay attention.

6. do not talk or ask questions when serving. pay attention.

7. when the serving team wins consecutive rounds, the person serving remains the same, but the two players on that side switch halves every consecutive serve. if you weren’t paying attention, follow the more-experienced player. if that’s you, look like you know what you’re doing even if you don’t.

8. hit as hard and far as you can. reflexes are very HANDY.

9. “hao qiu/good ball” is often said after a good serve/return.

10. bring a change of clothes if a shower is available. and a towel. and heaps of water.

yeah i just thought 10 would look better than 9. but you sweat A LOT. so do NOT wear jeans. [i didn’t wear jeans. i’m just saying.]

more maths to do…

toodle-doo!

Getting hooked on Taiwanese dramas D:

by bezzle

Today was sport, against Northmead and they were an ‘awesome team’, as agreed by all of us.  Even though they were a new team and not very experienced as a whole, they were still very nice and friendly to us, and enthusiastic and encouraging towards their teammates.  Just thought I’d mention it because everyone thought they were really nice, and not every team is like that.

Also, there was a redhead in their team.  She had ‘flame-red’ ringlets (Ringlets!  Ringlets!  Perfect round ones…) and pale (alabaster?) skin and her features were pretty too and yeah I just thought she looked beautiful.  ><

Which also got me thinking about this article I read in Sunday Life the attractiveness of males and females, and a conversation I overheard on the bus once.  Females spent equal amounts of time looking at previously-rated-attractive photos of males and females, whereas males only focussed on the female photos, and gay men on the male photos.

Females check each other out.  I’m not saying they all do, but yes, it’s not a weird or uncommon thing.  It’s one of the reasons why gossip magazines are so addictive.   I like looking at hot people, regardless of their gender.  I don’t think that’s a reflection on my sexual orientation.  But I never really hear guys talking about checking other guys out.

I’m just hypothesising here that this difference is a biological thing?  Along with environment, I guess, because we still don’t treat male and female sexuality equally.  Anyway, I’m saying that back in the cavepeople days, men were ‘spreading their wild oats’ while women tried to find the strongest, fertilest looking man, females probably had to check out the competition, whereas there was no need to do that as a man as males could just wander off to the next impregnable woman.

Or maybe it’s due to environment afterall…

DEFENCE! HANDS UP!

by bezzle

YAY WE WON OUR FIRST GAME TODAY~

playing against northmead – both of our teams won :D  our game seemed very short – i suppose 20 min is a short game.  we came into the school very shiftily though.  the bus stopped on the side of the school and we had to fence hop over.  and then halfway through walking chris and alex realise that it’s all muddy and squelchy and their pristine white bball shoes are all gross.  my throat is still dead.

after school, went to parra library meaning to do something important, but instead went and window shopped at westfield == in the end we went totally nuts in lincraft.  as carmen remarked: “if they had security cameras in here they’d see some crazy people.” 

THEY HAVE A WHOLE SHELF OF BUTTONS.  like thin jars of individual types of buttons.  several hundreds styles.  and the fabrics… THE FABRICS.  all three of us went crazy over all the different types and textures and stuff.  okay, maybe it’s only us who’re craft nerds.

managed to get a ride home with carmen, after remembering that i’d misplaced my bus pass and couldn’t get home.  it turns out the thing was in my blazer pocket.

tuned in to watch the plumpton babies thing.  they looked so…typical of people who appear on that show.  mum-ish?  anyway, i recognised baby!  and her son looks just like her O_O  i don’t watch today tonight usually because i think it’s a piece of trashy journalism.

that stuff above doesn’t really do our insanity justice.

 

something i was snacking on.  seriously?  disguising one fruit’s flavour as another?  it doesn’t even taste strawberry-y.

ok, another victor plug:

all brand and spanking new!  victor’s quote corner ~

[yeah he should get his own blog.  but this is a shameless plug to boost his tag count.]

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
 – Thomas A. Edison

a black comedy

by bezzle

this morning, i slept through my alarm (so what else is new?) and finally dragged myself up at 7:40, with bball training started at 8.  hence a lot of mental cursing, and rushed breakfast (thank goodness i ran out of that uncle toby’s stuff.  it doesn’t taste as good when you’re rushing).  made it on time.  phew.

had to watch a debate in period 3, so the guys’ bball teaching thing got cut short.  the debate was about streaming classes, alex, suraj, beryl and shaz against some very tall and buff looking stratfield girls.  our school lost.  has anyone ever noticed that debate adjudicators are always young women?  i’ve never seen an old man, or, even a male do the adjudicating.  hmmm.  i thought it was a close debate (although the stratfield girls’ arguments were a tad random) but i personally don’t like streaming classes.  maths class makes me miserable.  so i’m glad that i sit near funny and helpful people :)

commerce was amusing.  felt a bit dissatisfied with my own mark, but nothing there wasn’t anything i could do about it, so i just played mr squiggle with julia while everyone unsuccessfully scabbed marks.  it was very fun :D BUT BUT that chick was cute… [i mean the bird – oh wait that still means- the BABY CHICKEN.  geez.]

had physics again.  i’m still feeling ambivalent about it.  of course, finding out i got top in the class for the test i didn’t know much about and getting a block of chocolate from jowa definitely helps.  sydo joined our class yayayayayayay! 

remember when i mentioned the talkative dudes in our class?  yeah well today they were talking about farts and stuff (it varies from girls to other puerile topics xD) and they started talking about ‘sharting’.

yeahp.

if you don’t know what that means, i’m pretty sure you can guess.  anyhow, that word kept randomly popping up in my head for the whole of the lesson.  chris, i’m mentally scarred.  don’t talk so loudly ==’

a song i like:

AND HERE’S A SHAMELESS PLUG FOR VICTOR, WHO WANTS HIS TAG BOOSTED :D

alpha dog and omegalomaniac

by bezzle

it feels like ages since, i’ve posted, what a busy week!

bludge today, however english was erlack.  ag was down at the farm, and sydo, cloud and i looked for four leaf clovers.  and we got freaked out by everybody, sitting next to each other down on the farm, with their laptops on their laps, playing games, watching movies and listening to songs.  it was SO NERDY and SCARY the way everybody used them.  it’s the example of giving somebody something they never needed nor wanted and they never look back afterwards.  wouldn’t giving every schoolkid a copy of adobe cs4 and microsoft student been better?  thank you mr. PM for the laptop though.

went to get aforementioned laptops in period five, second half of a japanese double in which i was flooding-it and watching howl’s moving castle.  classmates scared us by saying that the bell had rung fifteen minutes ago, so matt, cloud, ben and i sprinted to the library, and when we were almost there the bell for period five rang!  was quite tedious, the process.

english everybody was bludging and the teacher couldn’t do anything about it.

yesterday-

the PE teacher :

“i know your parents are poor, but can’t they afford one staple?”

just because the guy hadn’t stapled his project together. 

history, watched all quiet on the western front.  it really angered me when the main guy, a german soldier, visits his dead friend’s mum and she asks him how he died and he says quickly and painlessly.  and she doesn’t believe him and abuses him for coming back while her son is dead, and makes him swear to not return (i.e. from the battlefront) if he is lying.  gosh.  can you imagine how that guy felt seeing his friend die?  having to kill other people?  the conditions he had to live in?  and having to face you?

wednesday:

there was this remembrance day assembly.  i don’t think our generation really grasps the point.  and why do they have to talk like that, going quiet then booming?  there is so little shade in the quad, oh no it’ll be worse next year.

sport we lost again, went to glenwood which is one of those suburbs where there are little trees and all the houses look new and the same.  and there was a playground at the oval, and sand!  the sky was so blue.  and a bench just perfectly positioned under the shade of a tree. 

i’m looking forward to the rest of the term; it’s the time to relax!  i’m glad that the longest holiday season is summer, and not anything else.  i want to go out and enjoy the sunshine, although maybe not literally…

and three certain people keep on looking at me funny.  stopping looking at me like i’m growing a toothbrush moustache.  the confused, you-are-nuts look.  especially when i’m not being nuts.

music i’m currently liking:

i realise that my posts are very disorderly.  oh well.  ‘variety’. 

yay, scotch fingers!  you know, i can never manage to crack them in half cleanly.

i went out to dinner last night and my friend told me that apparently there are to be no more year ten formals starting from next year, because senior years are now compulsory.  why does everything seem to happen to our grade?