It's coming to an end

All good things do.

Went clubbing, went to Singapore, had a party, had Amanda and Samantha over from Miri and had a dentist inform me that I needed my wisdom teeth out.

DAMMIT.

I know that I should, lest 6...was it 7?...years of braces go to waste. Despite having 2 teeth removed from each jaw, my genetically small jaw still doesn't have enough space for the 2 new additions.

My teeth are being shoved around in my mouth like eggs in a basket. God forbid the teeth on my bottom jaw take on the dilapidated graveyard facade again. (Imagine tombstones placed haphazardly in a crooked line )

However, I'm still praying for the best - hoping that my retainers will hold out and keep my teeth in a straight line, at least. My bottom left canine tooth has already rotated almost 45 degrees in just a few DAYS.

Will wait until the end of the year to see...from experience, I know the roots of my teeth are roughly an inch long, EXCLUDING the tooth itself.

And that was just the premolar. Also, my wisdom tooth has to be cut into pieces and taken out separately due to its position...my gums will be cut and stitched back together.

After effects include swollen face, bleeding, possible fever, inability to open mouth wide, inability to close mouth properly, (wtf am I supposed to walk around with my mouth slightly open like a mouth breather?)...and PAIN.

...

Okay forget it.

Anyway, I PASSED Games Studio 1! With credit!

MIRACLE? YES, MIRACLE!

*dances around naked*

So here are my marks for Semester 1, Digital Art at RMIT:

Games Studio 1: 60 - Credit

Maths and Physics for Artists: 74 - Distinction

Imaging 1: 77 - Distinction

Introduction to Programming: 88 - High Distinction

Did slightly better than expected, but less than what I hoped for.

Also got a new team for Games Studio 2. Tim - who invited me to join got 49/50 for the final part of the group assignment for GS1...wtf?

???

My group got 29.5/50 and we got LUCKY. (I wonder if they docked the 5% in the end, as they said they would. If they did then we got 34.5/50 which is actually surprisingly good for a game that couldn't be finished.)

Anyway what happened with my group is a long story. Don't get me wrong, I like my group mates as friends but they were IMPOSSIBLE to work with as team mates.

Here are just some of the many problems I encountered:

- Arriving more than 2 hours after agreed meeting time, which THEY forced upon me (and I was the only one who arrived on time)

- Free-loading

- Inability to comprehend simple instructions and requests

- Not using the dozen or so maps that Tata and I fixed...I don't even know whether ANY part of the assignment reflected our work

- Putting our group assignment last in their list of priorities (didn't care, had part-time job, other assignments, time management problems blah)

- Program crashed 1982371831 times but this is probably the toolset's fault

- Arguing for the sake of arguing and wasting precious time (the night before the due date)

- Different standards (floating trees are NOT okay and they are NOT 'magical,' they just look like you didn't check the y-plane to see if they were on the ground - which you didn't)

- Lack of communication

I admit that I should have stepped up tried to make it better, but some of the things were really out of my hands. Imagine Tata and I spent x hours trying to fix Fandi's HUGE and illogical maps (75 degree incline on a walking path, anyone?) and the programmers conveniently 'forgot' to use them instead of the old EMPTY maps.

It's like watching our work being thrown out with the trash.

(And watching trash get put on a pedestal.)

And of course, they had more than a week to script but they chose the last possible day to start on it, and by the time we see the scripted game areas and realised that the wrong maps were used...it was too late to change them.

OKAY. I swore I'd stop talking about it already. But after graduating foundation with a high distinction average, this is a horrible blow to my work ethics and standards.

How did some of these people even manage to get into the course with their standard of work? HUH?

It's not my fucking fault that they can't cope with the HUUUUUGE *sarcasm* amount of work in first year.

Seriously. The amount and difficulty of the assignments is like 25% of what I went through in foundation year.

Mega PUI!

I hate group work.

Okay. -end of rant-

This holiday I also learned that:

1. Some people are best kept at a distance

.

2. Appreciate your childhood friends. Seeing them after so long, I realised that I really love them and that they care about me too.

3. I play DotA better with iTunes off.

4. Red hair dye fades bloody fast. (Faster than the time it takes to actually dye it)

5. People change - and always trust your feelings. If something a person tells you does not feel right, it probably isn't.

6. Even the most mild-mannered and jittery dogs can be territorial to the point of homicidal tendencies. (Sigh)

7. My webcam makes me 50% prettier than I really am. (All the more reason to camp at the pc)

8. I only tend to blog when I'm bored and want to feel sleepy, fast.

Mission accomplished. Good night.

Oh, and I love you baby!