As you may have assumed from the above, things are actually working out in my life. I have a steady job at a University, I am Volunteering with Princess Margaret Hospital as a research assistant, working with indigenous youth in literacy, and working with SIFE Curtin to produce their IT infrastructure. It makes for a very busy life, but it's extremely rewarding and it will make for amazing experience. A friend once promised me that everything would come together in my life and they were right.

University life has been going well and I am on track to get the grades I need to move on to post graduate studies. Though at times I feel overwhelmed, I couldn't do it all without the help of my best friend... she keeps me sane (well as sane as I get). Keep your eyes on this space, hopefully I'll get where I'm going eventually.

Family life is getting better and I'm looking towards having better relationships with my mother and brother, but like all things... it is going to take time. I'm willing to work on it and so are they and that is what counts.

So this is a post about all the good things in my life, not the bad, the tragic or complicated. I wouldn't be anywhere else but here right now.

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Turns out I was pretty lucky, the car stopped about one foot shy of falling down the nice big hole. I guess I should buy a lotto ticket? Initially it was considered that the car would be close to a write off, but Tom the mechanic came around and looked at her Monday. The good fortune continued, as it looks like I got away with some buckled rims and a broken sway bar! (though the steering may never be the same again).

The v12 plan may come sooner than I thought, let's see how the savings go!

Grades are out yet again, looks like I did fairly well for myself. I did fall short of my goal (4 HDs) but only by one unit, so I can live with that.

On the computer front it's pretty quite and I won't be doing the "book" any time soon (because it's fucking HARD to get hold of flexible oled displays in decent sizes) , but keep an eye out this holiday season for something a little different. I took the plunge and installed Lion GM on both the Maclet and the Macbook pro, and I'm really regretting doing it on my main computer. The damn thing is fucking terrible and not doing a clean install just makes it worse. I'll grin and bear it until we get updates that remove the bullshit, but I really don't have to like it.

University is going well at this point, I passed last semester with a lot more ease than I considered and this semester is going relatively well. Im doing my usual paranoid trick, where if I fail or come close to failing an assessment I freak the fuck out... (and I did actually fail something for the first time ever in my degree... very upset with myself). Im sure that'll motivate me As long as this keeps up for the next few years I'll be able to apply for honours and PHD without great trouble, though I'll have to really knuckle down and make sure I get 80+ % next year.

Finally as a short but awesome note; I'll be heading to Sydney in December to see the Australian Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet, and I'm pretty fucking excited to do that. Should be fucking amazing to sit there in the Sydney opera house and watch some simply amazing work, it's something I've wanted to do for about 10 years! I have some days to fill so if people have suggestions and ideas about where to go, what to see, I'm all for it! So feel free to drop me a line

Psychology of Learning

Assessment 1: 86% (worth 30%)
Assessment 2: 79% (worth 30%)
Pre exam mark: 48% (of a possible 60%)
Need: 2% (of a possible 40%)

Social Psychology

Assessment 1: 51% (worth 20%)
Assessment 2: 80% (worth 30%)
Pre exam mark: 34.35% (of a possible 50%)
Need: 15.65% (of a possible 50%)

Psychological Science

Assessment 1: 87% (worth 25%)
Assessment 2: 85.7% (worth 35%)
Pre exam mark: 51.87% (of a possible 60%)
Need: -1.87% (of a possible 40%)

Just have to plod along until the end of this year and then really nail down third year, and then I'll be off to medicine!! GEMSAT results are promising though I will take it again next year just to up my grade to an acceptable level in my own mind, as I want to KNOW I'm in for sure. I'll be doing my electives for the year over summer, probably first year business units, so that should allow me to prop and maintain my averages at 80-90%

Now for the rage; The staff at the School of Psychology have done their best to see that the issue with one of my units comes to a positive conclusion, however the same cannot be said for the central board. Previously I spoke of becoming ill and pulling out of my anthropology unit, well as it happens estudent fucked up and this never happened. So when I found out and went to pull out of the unit and it wouldn't let me as it was past the final cut off date. So I applied to have this altered under special circumstances and waited, because no one had a better idea of what to do. Student Central assured me the process would take a maximum of 14 days, that was 4 and a half weeks ago. Finally frustrated beyond belief I contacted the School of Psychology and was informed that I couldn't withdraw under that method and it had to be done as a Special Amendment to Enrolment; subsequently the board had deemed to contact the school of psych to tell them this, but not me.

Lets leap forward to 3 days after that conversation and I look in the mail to find a letter from Curtin; elated I open the email expecting an answer to this problem, positive or negative. It was neither as it happened, it was an email from the central board asking for more information (more letters from doctors detailing specific dates) under the Withdrawal Under Special Circumstances and not Special Amendment to Enrolment as it was meant to be. So now the school of psychology is fucking confused and I', just fucking furious because they are expecting the burden of proof for BOTH WUSC and SAE before they will withdraw me from the unit. So now I'm going to pay my guild fees and go ape shit, I've had enough.

Secondly the projects are still on hold until I pay some of these debts off, I have $3500 to go and it really shouldn't take all that long to pay off, but I still have to eat :p . At this rate it may very well be the end of this year before I'm in any position to do anything more, but rest assured that the new plans are well and truly worth the wait! My new job at the University of Western Australia is helping to pay that off, but I'm starting to look for a research assistant position on campus at Curtin if I can find one and I'll keeping my eye out. If anyone knows of Psychology research assistant positions that are about please let me know using my UWA or Curtin emails, it would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly it looks like a country is actually taking up the charter city proposal, I really hope it goes ahead because I'd love to be able to study what goes on there. Video will be below (if wordpress lets me do it)

The biggest reason I'm holding projects is because university has taken a minor tumble, the grades in one of my subjects have slipped and I've had to drop a unit in order to maintain sanity. It's not because I'm being lazy or drinking myself stupid, it's because I've been ill for the past 5 months. I've been losing weight or I have barely been able able to hold stable at about 60 kilos (I'm about 189cm tall, so you get the idea) and constantly tired/hungry and just not all there in the noggin' (cognitively or emotionally). I'm hoping to find out what is actually going on soon, but they can't seem to come to a solid conclusion. We keep teetering between hyperthyroidism and the big C again, but then they can't find a mass or lymph node that's swollen.

The friend from last year isn't speaking to me again, but at least time it's actually my fault and you get that. Sometimes it's just about saying the things you need to say, I didn't say everything, but I said enough to give her a general idea. In the end I'm not exactly worried about what happens there next, there are a few people I care about at uni and they know who they are; I adore them. It's been a good few couple of weeks when it comes to social outings with people from uni, colour me impressed considering the age differences. I was meant to go horse riding this weekend, but I think I need to give that one a miss in present circumstances :p

Interesting resolution to something a few years ago, those that have known me for some time will remember my old supra:
http://enigma-penguin.net/supra/2.JPG

I did love that car, it was my first car and it was pretty damn amazing. I had to sell that car due to an issue with family and a very large bill that my father stuck me with for my higher education. I never told many people about it and kept it to myself just how much I ended up paying. In the end it felt like my decisions had caused the situation, so I felt it wasn't anyone else's business. Cue me getting drunk and blabbing it out one night to my mother and a few months later she offers me a wonderful opportunity. If you can find one for $6000, I'll buy it for you. 6k for a supra is a pretty tall order, but I went looking and I actually found one very fast.

http://localhostr.com/file/ao4ZnDH/IMG_1118.JPG

- The paint work needs a touch up and the clear coat needs to be done
- The rear leather seats have split and cracked, but I'll buy custom covers for all the seats
- It's about about 170k on the clock, but it's been serviced every 5k

All in all I'm perfectly happy with it and I'll fix it up myself over the next year or so, but I can't help feeling that a lot of things have come right back to where they started in a lot of ways. It's not a bad thing, it's just interesting to take the adventure all over again.

I'm also finally getting the money issues sorted out and should have a resolution within the next couple of weeks, which means I can get back to doing more projects! For now though it's a lot of generosity from family keeping me afloat right now, especially with my health. I've had to reduce my stock and other income to zero at this point and basically liquidated the lot and that should keep me afloat until the help I've been waiting for arrives. I've been living off a large sum of money I saved from the mines (and other things) for some time now and now that it's run out I have to be far more careful with my money.

The friend I posted about previously has begun to speak to me again and although it still leaves me slightly confused in a few aspects, I'm simply happy to have my friend back. Right now I don't really know where we stand or where things are going, but I'm hoping she will let me know when she decides. When people don't talk for a long time, things can change and I don't want to press anything. I really really did miss her a lot in the past few months though...

Moreover I've decided on my tattoo that I promised myself for completing my first year; it's the Caduceus. It seemed fairly fitting considering, I'll just have to figure out how to work in the next one later! It's obviously going to have to be a little more elaborate than that and I might add some colour to it, but I want to leave it tasteful.

The best image I could find to show what Caduceus is:

I've also committed to my new years resolution and hopefully I'll have that sorted soon enough too! It's hard to admit you were wrong and it's hard to admit your own failings, this year I have to tackle one of my big mistakes of the last 10 years. I thought I would be hesitant about it and I guess I might be a little, but it's time.

New times bring change and change is good.
Matt.

My health has been going down-hill again and I can no longer eat more than a few mouthfuls without feeling so ill I violently throw up. This seems to be added to by the fact that the headaches and the nosebleeds are increasing in frequency. I'm not sure if the medication for either (steroids and nexium) is going to do the job for much longer and I don't want to go to hospital again. The plan is to see the specialists again and sort out what we can do this side of surgery, I hold high hopes they will have some new plans. Everything will work out in the end and hopefully this is all the tail end of a few years of hell.

In addition to this someone I considered a friend has been slowly but surely ignoring me for 3 weeks, walking away from my life without considering giving me some reason. I'd be happy with just hearing a reason and I would (and could) walk away too, I wouldn't even fight it (everyone has their reasons)... I just wanted to know. I consider myself a patient man, but after 3 weeks of asking for an answer I finally lost my patience. When I asked, I received the same cold attitude I've come to expect and it just tipped me over the edge. I don't consider it the wisest thing I've ever done and I don't even know if I was right, I simply got mad and for once I didn't keep my cool. I'm not going to justify what I did with any excuse, I did it because I was angry, frustrated and confused; but that didn't make it right. I've made my choice in relation to the friendship and in absence of a response, I'm probably better off just walking away too. I respect the little she did say and it's her right to not have to tell me what is going on in her life, I am not her keeper. I would however have considered it a kindness if she could just spare me the words "It was nice knowing you (or even not), but ..." . For the people trapped in the middle, I don't envy their position and they too will have to decide what they need to do.

All this is compounded by family issues that continue to mount and I have to sort some of this situation out, I can't let the issue hang for much longer. I know it's not my problem to solve, but the family I still have mean the world to me. It is not lost on me that the profession I want, has some correlation to the issues at hand and maybe I can use some connections to help them out. Until it ends I'll just have to keep playing referee until they decide what they want to do with the situation.

All of this somehow seems to be an appurtenance of my mood. Each thing on it's own I can deal with, all together I just blew my stack and I need some time out to chill. I hope everyone understands, but until this is solved again and the problems fixed I'm halting all current projects, I'll update on more soon.

Ps. to those involved, if I haven't already apologised for acting like a grumpy asshole today, I will.

A few of the highlights:

http://cultofmac.com/make-your-own-diy-macbook-tablet-for-just-50/61613#comments

http://gizmodo.com/5654737/turn-a-macbook-into-a-tablet-for-100

http://hackaday.com/2010/10/01/mac-tablet-keeps-the-look-of-the-donor-macbook/

http://lifehacker.com/5654478/turn-a-macbook-into-a-tablet-for-100

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/10/macbook_tablet_mod.html

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/04/hacked-macbook-reborn-as-a-tablet/

Some of these sites I read myself every day (in fact most of them) and I've been a little humbled by the number of hits the website received this past week. I'm sort of impressed my host didn't try to kick my teeth in, so thank you to ASO (A Small Orange) for coping with the load.

The Maclet (Macbook Tablet) is in regular use even today;

Though I need to buy another charger for the damn thing, it currently shares one with it's bigger brother (the macbook pro). I know some people are wanting me to create a maclet for them and I have been humbled by the offers, but part of the reason I did this project was to have the experience of building the maclet myself. I would hope that other people find the spirit of the project and attempt it themselves. I know it's a difficult project to undertake and there is risk involving an expensive piece of equipment, but I hope people do try it out.

Im always happy to answer any questions about the project and you can always find me here: http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/896998-project-macbook-tablet/

Peace out and thanks for the interest.