Past 2 Weeks in Point Form

I'm sure no one will mind if i do this in point form, since a lot of people tell me that i'm long-winded and they're too lazy to read the long posts. Haha...

But first, Dad, Damien was wearing my sunnies when i took that picture, that's why they look a lot like mine :) Sharp eyes though.

OK, blogger says that my last post was on March 4th, so since then, about 2 weeks has gone by, the following points are the highlights of the past 2 weeks in chronological order:

1 Aunty Casey and Uncle Fred came to visit me after attending Megan and JJ's wedding in Melbourne. Congratulations Meg!! They arrived on Friday afternoon at around 3.30pm. I was supposed to shoot another timelapse with Mike on Mt Cootha starting at 6pm. Then go for dinner with aunt and uncle. Mike and i had trouble finding the right bus to Mt Cootha (tourist attraction that overlooks the entire Brisbane city, the view is truly scenic). So instead of a timelapse, we just got footage... It started to rain anyway. The view on the day, from Mt Cootha... As you can see, it's a bit misty and it's no wonder it rained after awhile.

Then i went for dinner with uncle and aunty at Hog's Breath (the steak house that has rejected me and my friends for the past 3 times we've tried to eat there... always either closed or "we no longer serve meals because the kitchen is closed"). Finally got to eat there... Not as great as it is rumoured to be. The next day (Saturday), I took uncle and aunty sight-seeing... Aunty and uncle took a cab to my apartment to check it out and pass me 2 bags of stuff... then we walked to Urban Village to have brunch. We then left for the museum by bus. Some pics from the museum... Oh Char, i took the first 3 pictures solely for you... Pay attention to the leg band on the tarantula in the second pic... Haha After the museum, we took the CityCat (a boat-like public transport) to Toowong (near UQ), then walked, correction, hiked to a bus stop that would take us to Mt Cootha, we walked about 3.5 km to get to the bus stop. Below is a picture of the view from the CityCat... Just in time for the bus, we waited 10 mins til it came and arrived at Mt Cootha lookout. They loved the view and said the walk was worth it. We had coffee on the mountain top. Then we took a cab to the trainstation to get back to Brisbane city. We got back to the city by train and had another terrific dinner at Gilhooley's (an Irish bar that uncle Fred spotted from his hotel room window, we had a bit of trouble looking for it, but found it after a bit of walking). I had steak and beer, aunty had fish and beer, and uncle had lamb stew and 4 red wines. Haha... Live duo playing in the background. Then we parted ways, i went home and they went back to the hotel. What a tiring but great day. We took all kinds of transport in one day, except a plane. Haha...

2 I went for a job trial after FINALLY getting a call back from a manager whom i gave my resume weeks ago. She told me to go in for a trial and training session to see if, as she put it, "they could use me". It was an OK working environment, the trainer and part owner were friendly, the part owner Kevin actually gave me free beer and a free meal that was originally included as part of my "training". Haha... I didn't really like the hygiene of the place, and they were a bit disorganised in terms of where things were. But my job was simple--cashier and drinks (including coffee). The restaurant's name is Noodles Inc. and it's located at the KG Urban Village which is close by. Hours earlier, at Subway, i talked to the owner and offered to take in my resume the next day. He said he would be employing and gave me his number to call if i wanted to work the following week. The next day i submitted my resume and met with the owner again. Hopefully my meeting him and speaking with him both times has left a lasting and good impression... He told me he's received many resumes, but would give me a call the following Tuesday (which is 2 days away from now---today's Sunday). A few days after my training session at Noodles Inc., Melissa (the other owner) called me to ask me to go in for "final training" on Saturday night. I asked her what the pay was like and she told me AUD$11/hr. I told her i'd think about it and get back to her (mainly cos i was waiting on the Subway job which pays higher-- AUD$16.61/hr), which is the actual amount of pay a person of my age should be getting if i work. So obviously i'd prefer the Subway job, which im sure is much cleaner and a better work environment. We'll see... I hope the Subway owner calls me soon!!! Will keep you posted.

Oh yeah, on that same day, our Media Writing lecture was cut short when a girl blacked out in class after our guest lecturer, Carine, who talked about Characters, showed us a clip of the movie Chopper (starring Eric Bana). It was this particular scene where the main character gets stabbed by 2 of his mates in prison, he gets stabbed several times, i think about 7 or 8. He later takes off his shirt and presses his wounds, causing blood to squirt out and run down his abs. One of his prison mates starts to puke... So we're watching this scene, after Carine clearly warned everyone, telling us that if we had a problem with gruesome stuff, we could leave. Suddenly, in the middle of the scene, some guy in the row behind me says loudly, "excuse me, could you please stop that, I think she passed out". This girl seated 2 spots away from me, on the same row, is slumped in her seat, eyes half closed, body motionless. Oh my God... I pitied her, partly because everyone was just staring at her, not that she'd know, she was passed out. Later on, i was kind of pissed that we lost 1 hour of our lecture... Because after one of the students who had first aid experience failed to help her regain consciousness, Carine cancelled the lecture, saying she'd try to make it up and would discuss something with Michael, our lecturer. Dang! I really wanted to finish watching that snippet. Plus i don't think she'll be able to replace it. It was a good lecture too! Interesting and helpful!! Argh...

3 We've finally finished shooting our (Mike and I) part, the Brisbane part, of the short film we're doing, titled Departure (originally Transmission). We took 2 days... First day of shooting was Friday, at QUT's studio. It was great!!! I'm only a first year student and i've already used the studio! What a privilege. We worked with lighting (ours was a Redhead kit---3 lights: key, fill and back light), a genie crane, a white backdrop and green screen! One of our lights fell head first onto the floor cos Mike took away the sandbag... luckily we don't have to pay for the globe (what is referred to as a bulb) we broke!! We started shooting from 4pm (after my last class of the day) to 9.30pm. That was tiring. Marie (our actress) left after shooting was done and as usual and as we're supposed to, Mike and i had to clean and lock up. The uni actually let us shoot after hours. At about 9pm, when Mike mentioned the white sheets that we needed for the shoot the next day, he realised he forgot to check with Marie before they left the fruitstand where she works that afternoon. The problem was that Chewan was supposed to pass the sheets to whomever was at the fruitstand that day and Mike was supposed to check if it was there when he went to bring Marie over to the studio. But Mike forgot, and Chewan forgot to bring the sheets, which left us in a shitty situation. I called up Yuka, she told me Chewan forgot, we thought about how we could get the sheets, it would take 40 mins to get there and 40 mins to get back. I told her i'd call her back. After awhile, she called back to apologise and try to think up a solution, she told me Chung Kiat (our somewhat annoying KL friend) had bought a car that day and that Kannan, Alan and Amber have been out cruising with him since 5pm. So i call up Kannan and ask him to ask Chung Kiat a favor (go home get the sheets and send it to my place). Chung Kiat said no problem and about an hour later, around 10.30pm, while i was having dinner (prepared at about 6.30pm by Daniel, when he called in the middle of shooting and messed up our shot, to ask me if i wanted to eat what he was cooking, so he'd leave some food for me), Kannan showed up at the door (Holy music playing for dramatic effect) with the sheets. Hoorah!! And all was saved. Earlier that afternoon around lunchtime, i met up with Martha for a red dress we needed for Marie for the studio shoot that night and red nail polish. Martha delivered, which helped us out a great deal. So Friday was our first day and Saturday our second. Oh, here's a pic of my dinner that Daniel prepared! Delicious...
Can you say Best Flatmate Ever?? Haha... Oh, he always get beer, and always offers... haha... which is great. Boag's is the way to go!! This is heaven compared to the hell i was in when i was living with Shirley!

Here are some stills Mike took from the footage of our shoot in the studio. They look amazing. And there are no special effects added, just technical aspects which make them look they way they do... I'll spare you the terminology.












On Saturday, we were supposed to meet at Mike's apartment at 9am and start shooting by then, but i set the alarm clock for 7.30am, instead, i woke at 8am, seeing his text message saying, "the earlier you get here the better, and pls get me a large coffee and windex". I should've known i would not be able to make it in time. I bought Windex at IGA at KG Urban Village before waiting for the bus that would take me to the city at 8.50am... Bus was 5 mins late and i hadn't gotten coffee yet and didn't know which bus i could take that would shorten the time it would take me to walk to Mike's apartment from the city centre. I arrived in the city at about 9.05 am, asked the bus driver which bus would take me close to the Marriott Hotel that is opposite Mike's apartment building, and walked around the vicinity of bus stop 19 (that would supposedly take me closer to Mike's) looking for a coffee shop. I ended up getting 2 coffees at The Coffee Club at the corner of the street, but was very much delayed by the A-hole manager because he kept calling and talking to people in between making and serving me my coffee. Apparently, he was in a crisis, as someone called in sick and couldn't come, and he was trying to get someone to come in last minute to take his/her spot. I was particularly annoyed when the coffee was ready and all he had to do was put the covers on and let me get on with my day, he didn't, instead he snatched the phone from one of his employees to talk to whoever was on the line... Idiot... He did apologise, but i was running late... Time is precious. I got 2 coffees, one for me and one for Mike, walked over to the bus stop and waited... 2 minutes passed, 5 minutes passed, 7 minutes passed, still no bus... The bus was friggin late. And all the people waiting were annoyed, judging by the look on their faces. Finally the bus came, i had been waiting for about 10 minutes, just so it would save me time and walking... But when i got on the bus, the bus driver, a lady, told me i could not bring coffee onto the bus, in case it spilt on other passenggers or the bus seats... I tried to be as nice as possible and said please many times, but the biatch was insusceptible. Damn it!!! And i didn't want to throw the coffees out. So i walked to Mike's apartment, with my backpack on my back, my skateboard (we needed it for a dolly shot) in one hand and coffees in a take-away tray in the other. What a waste of time... I called Mike while i was walking, which was about 9.37am, to explain what had happened and that i'd be there soon... He told me that i should've thrown the coffees out... Oh well, too late now... Plus, now at least i'd be free of blame because it was his coffee that made me late... Haha.... I finished my coffee before i got there. I arrived an hour late, at about 9.58am... Everything had been set up, they transformed their living room into a bedroom for the bedroom scene (no, not that kind of bedroom scene, for those of you who're wondering)... mainly because we needed Marie to walk out onto the balcony and see the city...

We started shooting once we put the white sheets, which i had brought, on the bed. So, just to give you guys a picture of what it was like, we shot from 10am to about 3.30pm. Then Marie left, and once again it was Mike and I who were left to revert everything to the way it was. Damien had left for work before we finished shooting. But before tidying up, we watched the footage we from shooting that day (2 tapes in total), on Mike's tv. We both watched... He fell asleep, while i was busy scraping off the bright red nail polish on my fingernails with a razor blade. Why did i have nail polish you ask? Because Mike wanted to perfect the scene where Marie slits her wrists, so i had to stand in for her, because we didn't want to keep her any longer... Don't forget, she's not getting paid to do this, plus her boyfriend was here waiting for her. It was kind of funny when Mike and Damien explained what happened earlier that morning before i arrived late, when they met Nick, Marie's Aussie boyfriend... Apparently he came up to the apartment with Marie, Mike's guessing--to see what we wanted Marie to do and to meet them just so he knew what kind of people we were like, and he walked in to the living room with 3 lights (the light kit we got to take home from Friday's shoot cos everything would've been locked and we couldn't return the equipment, and it would be unsafe to leave it there) and a bed in the centre with 2 other guys in the room (Mike and Damien), and i hadn't arrived yet... It must've looked like a porn shoot. Haha... i laughed just thinking about it.

After watching the footage, i was tempted to go home, but figured i should help clean up. We did, and by the time we were done, it was about 7.30pm. And we were supposed to hang out with Marie to celebrate the end of shooting at around 9pm. So i said, i might as well stay and have dinner and hang around til then. Mike received an email from his film partner in the States, Bryan, saying he'd finally been able to rent out gear (camera, lights, etc) and would start shooting the next day. Now because of the time difference, when we saw the email, it would've been like 5.30am in the States, meaning that Bryan and Mike's brother, Doug, who plays the lead male role in the film would start shooting a few hours later... And Bryan asked for stills from that day (Saturday's) shoot so he could match the shots, since we were shooting in 2 different places and Marie and Doug would've never actually met in person, although they're supposed to be lovers in the movie. In panic, Mike started importing the day's footage onto his Mac where he could start editing and taking stills from the footage... So i stayed on and helped by deciding which stills Bryan would need, and we ran over the script once again to see if we forgot to shoot anything... Luckily we didn't. We had pizza while we worked... After everything was done, Mike headed out to party cos it was St. Patty's day, or rather, St. Patrick's day, and i left too... At the time, it was 11.35pm... And i had to walk all the way back to my bus stop from the apartment to catch the last bus, which at the time, i didn't know what time it'd come. I hate being out late at night, partially because it's dangerous and because you get drunk people EVERYWHERE!! Especially on St. Patty's Day! *Bleep*!! I was so tired... I wasn't even thinking while i was walking... normally my brain would still be working... but i slept so late the previous day, after coming back from the shoot, waiting on the sheets and taking a shower... and woke up so early that morning. I actually almost got run over by this asshole with a muffler (as all assholes usually have a muffler on their car), there were like 4 people in the car, i think they were arabs or of indigenous decent... The light was a green walking man, meaning cross the road for pedestrians, but the dumbasses drove past right in front of me. Luckily i wasn't too tired to realise this and take a step back. Later on after crossing the road, they stopped ahead in front a club... Hmm... No surprise there. Yeah, further along the street, i saw even more drunk people roaming the streets, club-hopping. A bunch of girls that i walked pass even started singing and one of them pointed at me while smiling... I smiled back... Yup, you go ahead and sing and be drunk, just leave me alone... So that's about it... That's what's been going on with me for the past 2 weeks... I woke up at 1.30 this afternoon, mainly cos i was so tired from shooting yesterday.

On another note, i am thoroughly disappointed in what Avril has become... Yes, i said "what". As in, What the hell happened to her? What made her decide to change her image? Her music? Did her marriage change her style of music? How devastating... Her track Girlfriend sounds like Hey, Mickey. God... Give me the old Avril back!!! After Daniel showed me the music video of Girlfriend on youtube, i was so shocked and slightly confused... He tried to comfort me by saying, "maybe this is the only track that is like this in her album". I seriously doubt that, but in some ways, i wish it were true. But, on the bright side, i actually haven't heard the whole album yet... And i'm certainly not going to buy it based on this first song that i've heard... Gees... I hope i'm wrong about this. I really loved her darker side...

And more random comments, Film History is actually not as bad as i thought. Or have i said this already? It's a lot more interesting than normal history... Haha... We get to watch old classics that changed film or influenced the way films are made today. But i seriously couldn't sit through the last silent film, The Battleship Potemkin (1925) for the 1 and a half hour that it was on. I dozed off a couple times, not proud of it, but i really tried to stay awake. I watched all the important parts, so that's all that matters. Haha... They're in black and white, and silent, what do you expect? You try it then!

That's all for now. Got to get back to my weekly readings. Thanks for reading and thanks for caring!