Thursday, March 24, 2011

How To Choose a Roof.

End of Term 2. Holidays.

Time certainly flies, and it does so at Mach 3, I presume, given that the post right below is already dated nearly 2 months ago. Well, some things just cannot be said out loud, such as the last line of the previous post: it’s almost exactly, uncannily, coincidentally, humorously close to 2 months. Scary.

Anyways, a quick update on the past 2 months then. As usual, nothing much that’s worth a mention, although it’s safe to say that term 2 is a term filled with, erm, social events. WEEKLY social events, to be precise. There were all sorts of gatherings, from society dinners to house gatherings. Kinda cool term.

It’s also a term filled with work though. Just like the end of term 1, a mad rush to complete 2 tests and a mega essay in a span of 1 week nicely replicated itself just before this holiday too. Who says history doesn’t repeat itself.

Anyways, once again, it’s the HOUSE-HUNTING season. Yep, time for the first-years to look for their own shelter, and for second-years, to decide on a roof made and maintained by strangers or the Uni. Just like, erm, I dunno, Pokémon season(?), you know the season is here when people starts asking you where you gonna land your behind next year. I’ve got mine already. How about you? :)

For those unfamiliar with house-hunting season (yeah, I’m talking to you, you guys who’s roof belong to your parents), I’ll just jingle you through the process. Before looking for a house, of course you have to have your heads counted, you know, confirm how many are going to live in. Well, there’s no tip for choosing the right housemate – it’s not like buying a car or choosing a hat, mind you – though it would be nice to live with someone you know.

Once that’s done, just crash into housing websites or the nearest housing agencies, tell them what you are (5 of us), what you want (a roof, some walls, preferably stones), where you want it (over there) . They’ll come back to you with some pictures and lots of words, but what you really want is to see the houses themselves. Go check it out, make friends with the current tenants, ask (quietly) which room is the best and which is junk, those sorts of things. Some top tippety-tip: count the bathrooms, so that you guys don’t end up collecting queue numbers to take a dump. Anything more than 4 heads and some hair, its best to opt for cribs with 2 bathrooms. Also scan the kitchen and roughly visualise it at peak hour, maximum capacity, everyone’s trying to roast duck, bake cake, squeeze orange and chop banana all at the same time. If your visual turns blue screen, it means that the kitchen might just be a smidge too small for all of you.

Other relatively-unimportantly important things to look out while searching for a cave is to spot the nearest bus stop: you wouldn’t want to take a cab to the bus stop every morning, it’s annoying. And also check if the bus goes directly to uni: if you have to transit, might as well take a cab.

If all’s well, then you’re good to sign the contract and start paying some cash!

Since housing is mentioned, I should update you that THE PENTAGON is doing well. I’ve been doing some spring cleaning in it, and the room now looks, erm, just like it always does.

Some news, and it’s not doing any good in Japan. The tsunami has left a really huge footprint behind, and I can only be thankful that my 2 Japanese friends are doing okay. There’s a donation drive around uni these days, and lets lend these volunteers our support for their continuous effort.

To end this, I was actually planning to do a product review for my next post. But then again, its a long-overdue plan, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 has been succeeded by the FZ45 recently; the Sony Ericsson C902 is about a year old now; and the iPod Shuffle is stolen, together with a bunch of other things. Got to figure out something else eventually.

So, a relatively short post for now. Til then, bing.