2008-08-29T06:27:29Z Roy Copyright 2008, Roy SPHPBLOG
2 x Icemat Siberia In-Ear Headset (one's for mom)
2 x Western Digital My Book Essential 320GB (one's for dad)
1 x Logitech Alto
1 x Power Adapter for Logitech Alto (no idea why it's sold separately)
1 x Akasa Integral P2 HDD Enclosure
1 x Logitech Cordless TrackMan Optical

That's about $700 USD. But it really isn't my fault - silly 25% VAT. Now let's hope everything's Windows Vista compatible.

Apart from shopping online, I haven't been very productive today. The UofO sent me an e-mail, telling me it's possible to study medicine and Japanese at the same time. Well, at least theoretically, because it's my own problem if my schedule doesn't work out. It's not their fault if I have more than one exam at the same time either. ...Okay? I might not be able to sign up for the course in the first place, since students who need the course as part of a degree are prioritized over, well, everyone else. And I can't take Japanese as part of my medical degree. Sadly. But I'll certainly try! Medicine and Japanese = Love. Just thought you should know.

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry070723-220429 2007-07-23T00:00:00Z 2007-07-23T00:00:00Z Edit: Can someone please revive my forums? ;_;

Yay! So I found out that I got into med school not too long ago! I just sent the university an e-mail, asking if it was possible to study Japanese as well - at the same time. They might give me a no, but it's worth a try. =D

So much has happened since the last time I blogged, which was back in April. I graduated from high school back in June, but the graduation ceremony was disappointing. They were still waiting for some of the exam results, and had to mail our high school diplomas to us a few days after. But I'm pretty happy with my diploma. I got a final score of more than 67.9 points, and I only needed 64.3 points for medicine at the University of Oslo - the hardest to get into in Norway. I guess you could compare it to one of those "Overkills" in Final Fantasy X. I'm sorry, NUCAS, I didn't mean to.

I'll be staying at Blindern Studenterhjem from August 15. Too bad classes start the day before. Which means I'll be staying at a hotel for two nights. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache, because there is so much I need to bring with me. It's almost like I'm moving. Wait... I am moving... I'm glad dad will be there to help! ^^ I will have access to the internet, so I'm definitely not leaving without a laptop. And I've been looking for external HDDs the past few days, and I think I'll settle for a 320GB Western Digital My Book Essential. And an HDD enclosure for my current desktop HDD. That'll be 120GB + 320GB + 120GB, which is, uh, well, a lot. And I need a docking station for my laptop. And a PCMCIA sound card. And speakers. And Microsoft Office 2007. My poor wallet! Besides, leaving Kristiansand will be so painful, it really is my hometown.

I watched Die Hard 4.0 not too long ago, and I personally think it's one of the better movies in the series. No spoilers (not big ones, anyway), but I really liked how they made hackers John McClane's main enemy. And the fact that his main companion is a hacker. Hey, even superheroes have limitations.

A friend made me somewhat obsessed with Ayumi Hamasaki's songs, which I've been for quite a few weeks now. I don't know if I hate, don't mind or love being obsessed. But if it's possible to love what one's obsessed with, and hate being obsessed at the same time, that's what I am. Ahh, who am I kidding, I love being obsessed. T_T

If it's not too late, I'll spare you my rants. For now, anyway.
Meeeed schoooool. <3

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry070721-232548 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z 2007-07-21T00:00:00Z
More importantly, Final Fantasy XII has been out for a while now, and all I have to say is that it really deserves the 40/40 score that Famitsu gave it. The only negative thing about the game is its loading times, but when you see what the PS2 is able to produce after all the loading, it doesn't really matter anymore. The graphics are actually better than Final Fantasy X, which I thought was impossible on the PS2. I have still not beaten the game, but the storyline looks excellent so far. The new battle system takes some time getting used to, and... and... this is not a game review, Roy. This is not a game review. If you have a PS2, and you're just moderately interested in RPGs, this game is a must.

As mentioned earlier, I've uploaded a few pictures of my physics excursion to Copenhagen. We visited the Tycho Brahe Planetarium, where we got to watch IMAX movies. They're shown on a 1000m² dome-shaped screen, which was big enough for me. We also went to the Experimentarium and another place filled with beer, beer, alcoho... errr... the Bilddagboken link is to the right if you want to know more! Moving on...

I'm, as you might already know, in my last year of so-called "pre-med", and I'm also at the end. This basically means that exams, exams and exams are dominating my life. I will have time to finish both Final Fantasy XII and Zelda: Twilight Princess soon, don't you worry! ^-^

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry070403-231157 2007-04-03T00:00:00Z 2007-04-03T00:00:00Z
If you're wondering about the title, yeah, I've been studying Japanese again. Only this time, I'm not going to give up until I, er, have gotten better at it. Luckily, a Japanese exchange student's helping me with that these days. Kanjis are evil. =o

I know I haven't blogged in ages, but Zel-school is taking up a lot of my time. I'll try to update Asphyxiating Dream one of these days, though. But Japanese lessons? Not anytime soon.

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry070209-200713 2007-02-09T00:00:00Z 2007-02-09T00:00:00Z
My laptop was supposed to arrive in the middle of August. I went to the store to buy a mouse for it, and found out that it was going to be delivered on August 24. Now they're saying September 19. Maybe I should let them know that I need it before leaving for uni next summer? As mentioned earlier, Monday was the first day of the last year of senior high school. They basically handed out our schedules, made us answer a few questions, and we were free to go home. The rest of the days were same as usual, except for Friday, when we had a fitness test in the first PE class after summer break. Sound the Evil Teacher Alarm! ...Again! xP

The only truly awesome thing about this week was what happened in psychology class on Thursday. We had to sit in a circle, and everyone could either give someone else a toy from this basket we passed around, or keep it. Then we had to tell that person why we gave it to him/her. Nobody kept it for themselves, but the really cool thing was that I got three zebras, which was more than anyone else! And I thought I didn't have any friends. x3 I hope the next psychology class will be like that! ^_^

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060827-002820 2006-08-26T00:00:00Z 2006-08-26T00:00:00Z
I arrived there at 5:30 pm on August 1. My parents and I were going to stay at Elite Plaza Hotel, so we caught a taxi right after arriving. Or... I had to do it, since my parents have serious Swedish-speaking problems. Upon arriving, I found the two people behind the reception desk to be conceited and stuck-up, and they never smiled. Not even once. Scary. I couldn't get the elevator to work, and it turned out the keycard had to be in the slot for exactly 2.5 seconds, then we had to remove it before pressing the button. They could at least have informed us about the 2.5 seconds. Or maybe they did, in some weird language I don't speak. x3 We didn't do much that day, because we were all pretty tired. Except for some window-shopping, and map-memorizing.

The rest of the days we visited Liseberg (Scandinavia's largest amusement park), the Universeum (public science center), took the Paddan (boat sightseeing thing), visited Göteborgs Universitet and went shopping. A lot. I somehow ended up with lots of Swedish dictionaries and grammar books. And I am not a nerd.

I guess the first thing we did after shopping a bit was visiting the university. I was looking for some brochures on the medicine program there, so I took the tram to Medicinaregatan, loosely translated into English as 'The Doctor Street'. Unfortunately, the place was closed, so no one was there. Except for some random professors passing by, giving us weird looks. I took a couple of pictures there (once again, follow the link called Bilddagboken to the right for the pictures), and left for the main building, which was about ten minutes away. We hopped the tram at the stop to get there, since it was a bit too far to walk. Or we were just lazy. We had acquired a Göteborg Pass earlier, though, so it was free. That place was closed as well, but I went in anyway, and after looking around for a bit, I found a door that was open. Inside were five people wearing headphones in front of computers. I wanted my brochures! =P They were all staring at me, so I had to explain that I had come all the way from Norway to find out a bit more about their medicine program. And guess what - they sent me to another place, which was a few minutes away. I got my brochures and the information I wanted, though! xP

The Universeum was an interesting place, where you could learn a lot about biology, chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, and astronomy. There were a lot of rare, exotic animals, but taking pictures of them was nearly impossible. The place with the rainforest-ish animals had a climate control system, and the climate they wanted to keep inside there was damp, and camera-destroying, mildly put. As for the fish, they moved too fast. Hey, I tried! =o The place was so crowded, though, I'm glad I went home before the European Athletics Championships held in Gothenburg this year. Or it would've been worse. And yet I wish I were there for the free concerts.

Liseberg wasn't really that fun at all. Why? The evil weather. You take two steps, it rains. You seek shelter from the rain, it stops. You walk back outside, it rains again. The weather hated me when I was there, so I'm so going back whenever I have the opportunity to.

I also went to some old medical museum and art museums. Some of the things were boring, since I hate museums in general, but a lot of the things there were really interesting. Combine that with boat and bus sightseeing tours, and you could say I learned a lot there. Especially since the guide just had to say everything in Swedish, English and German. Hearing how they would mess up at times made the whole thing more interesting. Like whenever they would refer to the "European Championships" as "European Masterships", because "Championship" is "Mästerskap" in Swedish, and "Meisterschaft" in German. Silly people. x3!

All in all, I've learned a lot about the city, got to brush up on my Swedish, and I've memorized the city map. I've learned that taking the tram is a good idea no matter where you want to go. The trams don't just have numbers, they're even color coded, which makes things easier, unless you're my mom. She actually went "What color is the blue one?" I think she was going to ask for its number... Another scary thing was when I was aboard the ship (M.S. Princess of Scandinavia). The captain was Danish, and went "(...) There will be hardly no rain." "Hardly no rain"? Okay. As long as he knows what he's doing. xP

My birthday, August 4, was a day full of shopping and shopping. I bought a new wireless router there, at 'PC Kungen', which means 'The PC King'. I found the store after asking around for the biggest computer store around. And that store was not big. It should be called 'The Mini Local PC Shoppe'. Yes, 'shoppe'. The router I bought was pretty much the only router they had... XD But yay, I'm finally 18! ^^

And since it's 04:52 am right now, I need some sleep, and I won't proofread. Not that I ever do that. Ahem. Good night! ^-^

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060808-035725 2006-08-08T00:00:00Z 2006-08-08T00:00:00Z
I spent most of my day trying to play j-pop and j-rock songs on the guitar today. Or guitars, to be more accurate. Going from acoustic to electric in a matter of seconds (and then back again, just because of a solo) can get tricky at times. But hey, Dai Nagao of Do As Infinity used to run around with both an acoustic and an electric at the same time, or his famous custom double neck guitar, which means that I can do it as well. I'll be working on Antique Cafe's Wagamama Koushinkyouku next. The only problem with that song is that there are two guitars. I guess I'll have to be creative. If two people can play it, then one person can play it as well, right? Duh. =P

And on a totally random side note (can't live without them), I love my new watch! ^^ It was expensive, but half an hour in the sun made the battery level indicator go from "Mid" to "Hi". To all nerds out there, it's a Casio GW-1400DE-1AVER. A truly amazing watch. =3

Have fun in the sun! I won't.

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060714-001715 2006-07-13T00:00:00Z 2006-07-13T00:00:00Z
When not working, I've been playing a lot of Neverwinter Nights with Nasnas-chan. Sadly, she'll be in Algeria until July 13, so I guess I'll be bored until I get to talk to her again. Everyone's gone on vacation, and there won't be any martial arts classes until August 8. But worry not, for I shall have fun at work in the meantime. x3

Finals? I had to sit for an oral chemistry exam, but it went well. Happy with my results this year, even if I didn't do my physics homework for more than a month. No one will ever know.
And I never did my math homework. Funny, with my math teacher going all "If you don't do your math homework, you'll have a hard time with the tests!" When he saw that I wanted to comment on that, he just went "But you don't count, Roy." Evil. =o

I can't wait till August, though, because I'm going to Göteborg with my parents for a few days. If I can run away from them, I'll have to visit someone!~ ^-^ And it looks like I'll be there on my birthday. Yay, I'll buy random Swedish cakes and celebrate. Or not. I'll also visit the university if I can, since I might study there when I get olde... umm... in about a year. I'll be 18 in August? Time sure flies; I feel like an 8-year-old! ^^"

I went to bed at 4:30 am yesterday, because I was fixing my computer. Then dad woke me up at 5 am this morning to tell me that he might call me if I'm needed at work. Then mom wakes me up at 5:45 am. That's 1 hour and 15 minutes of sleep - no calculus applied! In other words, I'm too tired to tell you all about the strange customers we get at work, or the really hot weather here the past few days. Whine, whine, complain, complain. At least it's summer break. ^-^

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060709-231106 2006-07-09T00:00:00Z 2006-07-09T00:00:00Z
I guess I could start off by telling you how my Kali Sikaran examination went. After two hours of dodging, disarming and countering knife and stick attacks (it gets tricky when you're cornered by three armed people, and two instructors are staring at you), some sparring, and switching between doing stuff from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 curricula (I should've known something was wrong), my main instructor didn't call out my name after all the Phase 1 candidates. It did make me nervous, until he told me that I was good enough for Phase 2, so he promoted me twice! Which has never happened before. I'm sure you already know that I'm Phase 2, though. *points to the right* =P

The XaosRO server is finally back up, and I've been trying to get someone an item. It's going to take me weeks. I guess it's my own fault for being a priest.

As for school, it's back to being evil as usual. Following an Easter break that was longer than a week, we had a PE test on the first day of school. Two days later, which was on Friday, we had a Norwegian exam. Next week is full of exams. I better start studying! Nyaaaa~!

"I'll blog again soon." ^^"

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060423-010347 2006-04-22T00:00:00Z 2006-04-22T00:00:00Z
I finally finished someone's letter the other day. It took me about a month, and it's still the shortest letter I've ever written. Not that I've written (m)any other letters, even though I wish I had more time to write them, since they're so much more personal than e-mails. Too bad I don't, and no one else will get letters from me. x3 I also got my mic to work for a few minutes, so I recorded a song. The one I sent it to actually wanted me to record a certain "G Chord Song", which I didn't. XP Not sending it to people though - I didn't record it for you! Unless you get me a new mic, since my old one's broken. =P

Other than that, I've been pretty busy with school lately. Tests, ISUs, lab reports, and calculator-stealing people. My friend decided to 'borrow' my calc the day before my chemistry test. So I found out that I had to evaluate logarithms mentally when I got home on Thursday. I never really liked calculating the pH of solutions anyway. XP

I have a Kali Sikaran examination on April 2nd. I couldn't go the last time (which was back in November), but I'll hopefully be able to next month. Wish me good luck! ^^

That's all, thanks for reading! ^-^

~Roy]]> http://www.asphyxiatingdream.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry060311-235021 2006-03-11T00:00:00Z 2006-03-11T00:00:00Z