QUT : Year 1 Semester 2

Our mid-semester break was not until the tenth week. By the time we returned to Uni for classes, I just wanted to die already. I felt so lethargic and I just kept on skipping classes for no valid reasons at all. Also, curse those evening lectures. Bah. Despite that, time flew. Once again, I was left confused as to how I have managed to waste my time away. Had I been daydreaming in classes again. Had I been sleepwalking. Alas.

Class #1: Narratives in Creative Industries
The core subject for this semester and the last that I will see ever in this course since I have been exempted from the other two. I am not really a big fan of this subject. When am I ever for core subjects. I was confused in the first few lectures when they were telling us about simple and complex narratives. I did not even know what narratives is all about. Maybe I still do not.

The main lecturer was an old Irish Australian. Everybody loves him; I do not know why. He had applauses after every lecture, which was not a lot. Half of the time, it was another woman delivering lectures and another quarter is scattering guest lectures. So he was a funny guy, he jumps around when conducting his lectures and he speaks about controversial stuff that everyone loves. But I do not think he deserves applauses after every lecture. He was probably as funny as my other lecturer. I do not see that guy getting applauses. Sheesh. Besides, he has a tendency of either being late or not showing up at all. Some of our lectures were cancelled because he was off in another part of the world. That kind of ticked me off.

This lecturer has an assistant that is the unit coordinator for the subject. I still do not understand him following the lecturer around and apologising to us when the old man cannot turn up on time. The news was that he had to step up to the plate at the last minute because the previous unit coordinator bailed out at the last minute. So each week’s topic was a little out of control and we always get last minute emails about tomorrow’s postponed/cancelled class. The assignments did not really align with the ones mentioned in the outline as well. But I do not blame this guy. He is positioned at the last minute. I mean, I would definitely fuck things up too if a huge project is shoved into my arms just like that. Besides that, he is a flamboyant fellow I like to check out, carrying his big Country Road duffel bag with his pair of aviator shades on. He arranges his hair a little too often and walks around with a slight jig in his steps. He had me at hello, announcing himself the whipped boy and the bitch.

But God bless my tutor. She is such a lovely lady. I have her tutorial before the lecture on Mondays and truthfully, I have gotten more out of the subject from her than from the lectures. We watched shows and movies every week that has something to do with the week’s topic. We watched The Simpsons, The Family Guy, The General, Singing in the Rain, Fahrenheit 9/11, Doom and so on. I looked forward to the tutorials because I get to see shows and movies.

The assignments were a little unclear because we were free to do practically anything. Just because it is narratives. Of course I would freak a little since I do not know what narratives is. I tread the assignments cautiously. Fortunately, I have gotten decent grades so far. So I hope the final assignment, which was the largest portion of the percentage, did me well. The first assignment was to write an essay about our “first”. The second part for it was to dissect another tutorial mate’s essay according to stuff we learned in the lectures. People wrote about first heartbreaks, first encounter with death, first day of school. You know. I wrote about my first time smoking. Yeah. I rule. The second assignment was to dissect two narratives pieces. I have no idea what I did in this assignment but I scored well so alright. The third assignment, we were to create a narrative piece on an autobiographical or a biographical memory. We can choose whichever ways to present say memory: dance, art, story, music. Whatever. So I chose to do a collage instead of writing. Look, when in a course all you ever do is write, when there is a chance to do your assignment in another form, heck yeah. I unintentionally stayed up the entire night working on this assignment. Which was the first since I got here. The artwork was generally a good idea when I first came up with it. But halfway through putting it together, I found it rather ridiculous and diagnosed myself an official creep. Because I am. Oh gawd of course I am not telling you what I have done. But if ever I score a say, 6 for this subject, maybe I will consider putting up a picture of the artwork. Sure, it has something to do with my Eskimo friend.

 

Class #2: Creative Writing: The Short Story
Word had it that we would only be working on a short story for the entire semester. How fucking cool was that? But we had to submit twice so we might as well work on two stories.

The first assignment was the earliest assignment so far; submission in Week 5. Of course I freaked out. It would take me about two months to get used to a new semester. I have not got my head wrapped around the subject and already I have to get a story up? Yikes. So needless to say, I handed in crap.

I wrote – no, rewrote – a story I had a very long while back. It was about a bunch of manmade robots I named Artificials. Because it was supposed to be a novel, there were plenty of scenes to work on when the decision was made to cram everything into a 1500-word piece. At first I settled for a scene that would go deeper into a father and son relationship. I was about to expand the horizon when I realised just last semester I did such a plot for my Film and TV Scriptwriting class. Just like that, the idea was eliminated and I went for one with a lame futuristic fight.

It failed quite miserably. Everyone thought it was a bad idea, including me. My Eskimo friend warned me not to ever write a sci-fi story again to at least save the present people’s fantasy on a futuristic world. The rewriting process was tedious and every single day working on it, I could see myself stabbing it to death as if it were a baby. I could not wait for the day I submitted the story in to put the poor thing out of its misery.

The lecture for this subject was one of the two in the evening. 6pm. But I liked showing up. The lecturers were fun. The main lecturer hardly conducted lecturers but they were fun times when he did. However, I had a perpetual fear towards him. It may have something to do with his honorary title “Prof”. Like he was sort of out of reach or mean or something. But he turned out to be a funny guy so I guess it was all alright. But still he stayed out of reach with his QUT sweatshirt and jogs down the stairs to the front to conduct his lectures. He published two books – one a children’s book while another, a grown up’s – based on the same concept of a creepy wombat.

My tutor was hilarious. He reminded me a lot of Sean Astin. So there you have how he generally looks like. His jokes were almost the same and he had the tendency to run off with his words with spontaneous mumbles on the sudden desire to talk with a German accent. I doubt he was even remotely German. We had two-hour tutorials every week and I felt like I was attending some group therapy session in a room with light blue brick walls. We would sit in a circle and critique each other’s work/assignment to pieces. He would time us and go ‘ding’. At first he brought along a glass and a spoon to do that but he realised that did not really make him any less ridiculous than saying ‘ding’ so he forwent the idea in the next class. He was a very busy man so half of the time when I emailed him about something I kind of expected him not to reply.

But the tutorials helped a lot because you got everyone’s take on your story. Like, everyone. So by the end of the semester, you would probably have a good grasp on what everyone likes in a story. I just like the attention. Heh. No, the classes helped improved my story too. And helped me work on my second assignment more seriously.

I really took the second assignment seriously. It was yet another old plot bunny because God knows these days I can barely copulate any working ones. I wrote about Death Angels and I was so vague I practically scared everyone in my classroom. See, a creep. But I was proud of the idea. I tried not to rewrite it too often but took my group mates’ advices all the same. In the end, I handed in a happy and living assignment. Yes. I pray for a satisfying grade.

Anyway, here be links to both stories. Bad sci-fi story entitled Versus. And. Good morbid angel story entitled A Movie Script Ending. If you ever wonder what my writing style is, the latter would be it. Yes. It is nothing like what I write in here. This blog is just a cover up of something much much more darker than you can ever handle.

 

Class #3: Corporate Writing and Editing
Gawd, I hated this class so much. Mainly because it had everything to do with serious business writing. You know I am not for all these professional crap. Ugh. But alas, I have to learn something useful for my future. The world is cruel for creative writers.

The lecturer was the same I had for my Writing for Creative Industries subject last semester. He is still as funny and I would have attended all of his lectures if they were not at 6pm on Tuesdays. The tutor, however, I loathed her. (Just because ‘hate’ is a strong word). She reminded me a lot of a primary school or high school teacher. She was wrinkled yet her lessons showed us that she had been to places. I think. I just did not like the way she talks; it is threatening and I definitely know she hates those that do not show up in class. Seeing that I showed up for only half of her classes, of course I was not really pleased when she said, “of course you guys present are going to get the better end of the bargain than those who do not show up at all.” And there is something goodie-goodie about the students in my tutorial. Especially the group of girls sitting in the middle. They seemed smartass-esque and they looked at me funny when I actually utter more than two words in class. Because I did not even try bonding with anyone from this class. I tried to a Singaporean in the second tutorial but she did not show up most of the time so no more bonding. So yes, not my favourite tutorial class.

For the first good weeks for this subject, we delved so deep into grammar I almost suffocated myself not being able to find the surface again. I became sensitive of everything I read and saw. It was really, really annoying when I was going through my assignment for The Short Story. It hindered with my personal style because I was looking out for potential grammar mistakes. So maybe I do blame this subject for the spawning of a crappy story. (But fine, it was a bad plot to begin with anyway). But it was irritating those few weeks. Very irritating.

We had a mid-term test, which I totally fucked up. I wasted too much time and ended up not finishing half of the paper. First time for me because regardless of knowing the subject at hand or not, I would still spill crap on blank papers. Never not going through half of the questions. So I ended up at the bottom end of the grading curve when the goodies from my tutorial emerged at the top end. Everyone was a happy camper. I was sort of ashamed and my tutor always kept an eye on me. Which was freaky.

Two assignments dubbed Portfolio A and Portfolio B. I kind of poured my heart and soul into these assignments after the messed up test. And I came out quite well for Portfolio A. So maybe, there is still hope for me. Portfolio B, though. Hmm. Blame it on the end of the semester because I always get indifferent when things are about to end and the new page is dangling in front of me waiting to be flipped over. I just hope my half-heartedness is enough to walk me through.

Also, an examination. My only exam in this semester. How annoying.

Yes, it is a boring subject for me. But, I will not deny that it has informed me a lot about serious corporate writing. I know one day it will work wonders for me in the working world and I may look back on this semester and thank myself for choosing it over Feature Writing. Probably email my lecturer and thank him for his welfare in this subject. Maybe email my tutor as well. Or not. Till then, I am just glad I am (almost) through with this subject.

 

Class #4: Creative Non-Fiction: Life Writing
It did not really occurred to me that this is a Year 2 subject until much later and I found out fuck, this is going to be tough.

For this subject, we were truly working on one assignment. A big ass one. 70%. Holy shit. And for a 70% assignment, I can honestly tell you and I did not put in enough effort for such a huge allocation. This was a research-based assignment. I hate research. I had a brilliant idea to write a profile on a busker in the Queen Street Mall. I fantasised on how interesting he was going to be and how much adventures I would be getting myself into while digging up stuff about him for my assignment. Alas. There was not really much to talk about and I lost half of the enthusiasm before the final draft was due. I hogged four library books for almost two months, letting them gather dust in my messy room while I get my head together to limp through this. I procrastinated a lot for this assignment. I submitted a crappy draft for auditing and felt very ashamed when my group mates wrote better articles already. But I prevailed in my next draft. I guess. 70% is a heavy burden so I will not put too much hope into this.

The lecturer is the same for last semester’s Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction. And this is when I know I will never ever do well writing a non-fiction piece, regardless of it being creative or not. So yes. Lectures were still guest lectured and were still quite boring.

My tutor was helpful. Very helpful. I would never forget the first tutorial when she walked in with blood red lipstick and a Styrofoam cup of coffee. She seemed to know what she was doing and she provided so much information for us. I never had such an informative tutor before. She taught us things we would not get to learn from the lectures. Probably would not from other tutors as well. And I loved her for that. She was serious about her shit and she was not afraid to use it. She was a busy woman as well, running around publishing books and conducting classes in QUT and Griffith University. Or study in the latter, I would not know for sure. But yet, she still found time to look through my assignment and track-changed from head to toe. Wow. I liked her a lot. God bless her too.