Wouldn't it be nice to live together in the kind of world where we belong?

Song: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys

March 12th

Thursday is typically my "I have lots of free time so I should go do stuff places" day. However, today was Andy's birthday and I decided instead that I would be very sneaky and make his cake while he was at class. I got Bethany to lick the bowl because I couldn't. It all worked out incredibly well, and I decorated it with Tim-Tams, also known as the greatest cookie ever which I will be eating like crazy after Easter.

The cake in all its glory:

From Andy's Birthday

Success! Well, I sort of burnt the cake a little. I swear I followed the directions, but it doesn't really matter now. I thought the whole house smelled like burnt cake but apparently Andy just thought it smelled like cake. Success!

I also stopped by the physics BBQ to grab some free sausages, which was fun. I tried some passion fruit flavored soda and had my sausage without a bun because they ran out. I ran into some people from class and some of the professors I had seen around labs and such. Not much was going on besides eating, so I just went back to my apartment to get ready for the chaos that ensued.

Erin and a bunch of others had already rented out the grill for Andy's birthday celebration and got food with the funds we chipped in. They were on the ball. They also made some cakes, which weren't burnt, but people still really liked my Tim-Tam cake. It was a novel idea. I was pretty proud of it.

I went over to try to help and ended up shucking/husking corn. I miss corn on the cob. It was delicious. We made a paper chain to put up and I helped with everything I could while we got ready.

Andy and the guys came over a bit later, and the evening's festivities kicked off.

They're fun people:

From Andy's Birthday

From Andy's Birthday

We had lots of great food: burgers, kangaroo burgers, corn, chips, etc. Bryce even made his homemade tortillas.

However, the resident director from the Village came to wish Andy a happy birthday and simultaneously tell us to try to visit their block party, which was in poor attendance because our party was, well, awesome. I thought we should just go, stop in, take some food, and then run, but a couple people were a bit miffed that she even asked. I thought it was a reasonable request. Anyway, this story could be longer, but as someone was getting upset over this request, the resident director just happened to be overhearing the rant, and immediately told us the party was to be over by 8pm.

This might have dampened the spirits of a different group of people, but we are not those people.

We wrapped up at Cam, Erin and Bernie's place with the cakes. They turned out great. Here's Andy blowing out his birthday candles:

From Andy's Birthday

Here's Lindsey trying to carefully cut around the "Andy" made of Tim-Tams:

From Andy's Birthday

After the party was officially broken up at 8, Tara and I decided to go to the toga party at the UBar (University Bar). Making the toga was ridiculous. We used the sheets that I have on my bed (which had been recently washed) and made the world's tackiest togas:

From Andy's Birthday

Funnily enough, nasty flowered beige patterns don't flatter my skin tone. We couldn't care less. When we got there, we danced with some Australian girls in our togas under the black light. It looked awesome, and unfortunately my camera didn't do it justice.

From Andy's Birthday

We ran into Jay and Mary and decided to head back to my apartment, where the continuation of the party from before was occurring. There was bobbing for apples, many toasts to Andy, and general debauchery. I had a blast. Oh, and we met some Australians searching for a lost friend of theirs. One of these Australians was asleep on my lawn. At the time, I was incredibly confused, but apparently this is a frequent thing for him. Luckily, he had a very loyal friend who accompanied him throughout the evening to make sure he got home safe. Eventually, everyone got to bed.

Oh, and the post title is because Tara wrote Andy a birthday song to the tune of "Wouldn't It Be Nice." It was really funny. Unfortunately, all I can remember is "Wouldn't it be nice if you weren't ginger/then we wouldn't have to hate your hair."

Reaching forward, not looking back...

Song: "Falling Without Knowing" by Tilly and the Wall

March 4th

Wednesdays are great. They are packed with physics, but I enjoy them. I had class at 10am and then a three hour break before lab at 2pm which I decided to fill with general errand running at Macquarie Centre. I got a few shirts at this store called SES (which I'm not sure if it's playing on socio-economic status or not, but everything in it is cheap and I love it). I also got a smaller bag for my stuff when I go out, which I seem to be doing more regularly now. I, of course, got necessary things like groceries too. It was a productive trip.

Lab was fun. Shaheen and I laughed the entire time while everything went wrong like it always does.

"We should be getting a straight line."
"haha, not even close. It's exponential."
"Well, if you draw the regression line just right..."

In short, we're still not sure if we're measuring Vrms or Vrms^2. We hope to find out next week, or at least alter the graph until we get something that looks right. Science!

After lab I went to the gym, and when I got back we were having our block party for our cluster of units in the Village. We're called the numbats. I caught the end of the party, but grabbed some food and helped clean up. Jawaan from next door was a bit tipsy and shared summaries of his favorite episodes of Roseanne with me. He calls me Becky Connor. I find this funny. After cleaning up, I went back to my apartment and cleaned up there from the block party cooking that I missed out on helping with.