A song me and J'ro wrote and performed about our good friend Chang Chang:

--------------------------------------

We know all about the Trinity
And what Jesus did for you and me
But you can't have Christianity
Without C H A N G.... C H A N G....

Chang Chang is the name it spells
Future 'Contact' personnel
Because of him, Switchfoot albums sell
Delirious, Tim Hughes as well....

C H A N G
He's ECU's Minority
C H A N G
He's Derek Burnside meets Bruce Lee

He speaks with his Chinese accent
So You never know what he really meant
He's our flavour of the Orient
Soul Survivor, his is the party tent

C H A N G
He's ECU's Minority
C H A N G
He's Andy Arscott meets Bruce Lee

Chang's a legend in his own time
His Facebook page has more friends than mine
And his room's a Louis Giglio shrine
He's the human equivalent of Shine, Jesus, Shine
- Fill this land with Chang Chang's glory

C H A N G
He's ECU's Minority
C H A N G
Steve Goodbody meets Bruce Lee

Steph Gaston's only half his race
But Chang-Chang's got a full Chinese face
He's probably an illegal immigrant
Who's deportation's imminent
He comes from Taunton, Somerset
But look like someone from Tibet
He finished his time at University
SO CHANG CHANG, WILL YOU MARRY ME ♥

(Bridge)
So I turn to Joeeeee
And he turns to me
And I ask him what rhymes with
C H A N G

CHANG BANG, CHANG SANG, CHANG CLANG, CHANG HANG
CHANG SLANG, CHANG GANG, CHANG PANG, CHANG SWANG
CHANG RANG, CHANG FANG, CHANG WANG, CHANG DANG
CHANG BRANG, CHANG PRANG, CHANG TANG CHANG CHANG

C H A N G
He's ECU's Minority
C H A N G
A Christ-like version of Bruce Lee
Fresher's week at ECU
Chang Chang was the first to speak to you
He's always been a reliable friend
A guy on whom we can all depend
C H A N G
Let me say with clarity
C H A N G
He's my kind of Christianity

- © Jonny Rose and Joseph 'Joee' Townsend, 2009

-------------------------------------------------


Special thanks to Tristan Lodge, James Gould, and of course, C H A N G.

Tags: chang chang
Current Mood: happy

That was quite possibly the best pun ever.

Yeah, catching up on my literature review on general problem solvers has not been to easy, after being ill put me back immensely. I started to get cracking on it again yesterday, but then there was snow, and I could not help but be distracted. Playing the snow did boundless good to my mentality though, and I honestly believe resetting your mind to a nice calm state is an important part of doing any piece of coursework regardless of the proximity of the deadline.

Within reason, of course. It takes some judgement.

Anyhoo, With the work due in tomorrow, I'm spending the entire afternoon on this thing. However, after forcing myself to understand the 'Neurosolver' (you probably don't want to know), my brain is tired and again in need of therapeutic distraction, hence I am taking 5 or 10 minutes to write in my LiveJournal.

I just hope the snow is still here tomorrow, and that it keeps snowing so it's not just residue of the snow from today and yesterday. I'll take the entirety of wednesday off, and if there is lovely fresh, play-in-able snow, it will be the best day off EVER.


I'm currently sat near books with titles that, though normal to your average biologist, just plain amuse me:

- 'The physiology of crustacea'
- 'Insect hormones'

Lulz.

Tags: general problem solvers, literature review, neurosolver, snow
Current Location: Upstairs in library.
Current Mood: tired

Hilarious consequences ensue.

Yes, I'm watching some Star Trek while I have 'being ill' disease.

I've been stuck in bed the past two days with some kind of cold/flu bug. I say 'cold/flu' because I never know when a flu is a flu. This is certainly not man-flu. If it's flu, it's genuine flu. But I'd rather be infected with what Picard and his friends have. It looks more fun.

Somehow Data has it, though. He can't feel love without his emotion chip, but he can contract biological infection. Maybe he has an influenza chip? Though I fail to see why anybody would make one.

Perhaps this would make an interested topic for my second dissertation.

Or not.

We've had a few house-hunters looking around today, and in light of this, Mark and I were discussing methods of putting them off looking around or renting the house. Not that we want to live in this house next year, because we'll all be gone, but just because it would be funny.

1. Answer the door wearing a Haz-Mat suit.

2. Leave chalk outlines of bodies all over the floor.

3. Spit on the floor, pee on the oven, etc.

4. On their approach to the house, be standing outside facing the house whilst holding a megaphone and pretend to be a hostage negotiator.

5. Pretend to be participating in a miniature Battle Royale, with announcements such as 'The following rooms have become danger rooms....'

I'll probably post more if I think of any.

Tags: house-hunting
Current Location: Room
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Fleetwood Mac - No Questions Asked

Okay, so we're in the pub and want to know how many calories are in a pint of Guinness. Luke texts the question to 118 118 and we get an INSTANT reply (though I forget what the answer was). I was not aware of their texting service or how fast it was, so I decided to feed them a few more random questions, and I got the following answers. No lies, these are all the genuine responses from the 118 Team. The ones not signed off as 'Thanks for texting the 118 Team' were NOT instant replies, so I imagine I got those repsonses from an operator as opposed to a search query. Anyhoo, the Qs and As:

Q: Is the Loch Ness Monster real?
A: Nobody knows if the Loch Next Monster is real. No scientific evidence has been recorded of the monster
existing. Thank you for texting the 118 Team.

Q: How can we resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine?
A: The United Nations is taking actions on that matter. Being a peace advocate is the least thing we can do. thx!

Q: What are you wearing?
A: We are wearing clothes as humans do. Clothes are worn for protection against the environment & for modesty & fashion. Thanks for texting the 118 Team
(Is modesty even fashionable these days)

Q: Why do no women ever love me?
A: Love will come in its own time, just like everything else. We are here for you. thx.

Q: Are we humans or are we dancers?
A: They said that the lyrics were inspired by a disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson. thx!
(That's interesting, but it did not answer my question.)

Q: How much will you charge me for this, and can I ask two questions at once?
A: You will be charged 60 pence. However, network charges will still apply. thx!
(They answered my second question by not answering it. Interesting.)


In retrospect, I should have asked that last question first.

Tags: 118, loch ness monster, love, q&a, united nations
Current Location: Room
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Guns N Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

I thought of something really cool earlier that I wanted to write in my LiveJournal, but now I have totally forgotten what it is. I think it was an idea for something. Whether that something was something practical or comical I do not remember. But it was cool, you can rest assured there.

Still, I had another cool idea yesterday - an idea for a Japanese society social. 'Budget Cosplay'. The idea is that everybody has to make a cosplay outfit, but they are only allowed to spend £5 on it. The committee members, who are also my friends, seemed to like the idea, and it seems as though it will go ahead sometime. Swish. However, this was not the awesome idea I wished to write about because I'm sure said idea I brainchilded (which my spell-checker assures me is not a word) is something I came up with today. I think it was at Helen's 'Tea for turning 22' party.

Said party was what it says on the tin, though there was cake too, not only tea. I had done a pretty sweet work-out earlier in the afternoon and felt reluctant to consume cake, but I did anyway. Just a wee slice and a mini cupcake. Good times. Oh, and the tea, of course. What really struck me at this party was the cleanliness of the house. It was THE cleanest student house ever, and no joke. Perhaps it was because it was a large house occupied by but four people. Still, in a student house, you'd expect some untidiness. There just was no mess anywhere whatsoever. The bathroom was especially clean. For the first time in my life, I felt REALLY bad about going to the toilet in somebody's bathroom. Even if the toilet had a very efficient flushing mechanism, I just didn't want to risk leaving even the smallest of stains.

Was that too much information? Get over it.

In other news, what looks a bit like cress has started to grow out of the soil in which Optimus Prime (my houseplant) is rooted in. It's probably not cress, it's some very very minuscule foliage and I know sod all about botany. Either way, I'm guessing some seeds of some other plant on an above shelf at the sale at which Optimus Prime was purchased fell into Optimus' pot, so I have quite possibly landed some free plant life. Sweet. Or, also because I know sod all about botany, it's some other bizarre plant phenomenon I'm unfamiliar with.

I'll close there. I'm about to head out to a pub and Arena avec housemates and others in light of Suzy coming to visit our house this weekend. I'm going with some Guinness in my belly as standard, and sporting my Space Invaders T-Shirt so I look especially cool on the club scene.

(I am not ashamed).

Tags: arena, biggest tag list ever, botany, cake, cleanliness, cosplay, forgetfulness, japan society, optimus prime, space invaders, tea
Current Location: Room of doom.
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Roxette - She's got the look

Gah.

Every now and then I have random spurts of being unable to sleep for about 2 hours after I get into bed. I'm currently going through one of those phases. Most days this week it has happened, and it's happening tonight, hence why I'm posting at about 1:30am when I have a nine O'clock lecture. I figured I may as well do something like post a journal entry.

I just didn't feel tired as I went to bed tonight. This is odd, as I have been freakin' tired throughout the rest of the week. This MSc lifestyle is getting busier and busier. I'm now working pretty much all day on coursework. That's not to say it's stressful, as I'm learning to deal with stress now, but it's still tiring. Despite my being busy, I had a pretty chillaxed evening tonight, which was awesome.

An MSN chat with James is now ensuing, so I may continue that before I try hitting the hay again. As for you, LiveJournal readers, goodnight for now.

Tags: insomnia
Current Location: Room

I've been meaning to buy a houseplant for ages. I hear that having one in the room can help you to chillax more. So I was on my way into campus for lectures, and 'lo and behold, Cornwall House was having a houseplant sale. I totally went for it and bought a 'cordyline kiwi' which I elected to name 'Optimus Prime', because naming things after Transformers is awesome. I have to say, I really do like having it here at my desk, and it does help me feel more chillaxed somehow. I would buy more, but a student budget won't really allow it. I'll slowly buy more over time.

One thing I particularly like about this plant is that it doesn't need too much Sunlight, as I seem to understand from some webpages I have read on this variety of plant. In fact it seems as though shade is good for it. This is fortunate as my room doesn't get too much sunlight what with it's only window being mere meters away from a house out the back (the very same house that blocks our house from being able to get Satellite TV), which blocks out sunlight somewhat. Seeing as I actually forgot to take sunlight into account upon purchasing Optimus Prime, I think I'm quite lucky.

In other news, Mark and myself had a good hour or so on Mario Kart. First we were up against some decent competition, and you could tell form the way everybody else was playing that they also sensed the competition. After that, it was just the two of use and this one other guy who Mark just started bullying. I was in first, Mark second, and Mark would just remain stationary until the guy appeared, at which point Mark would nuke him with a red shell. Hence the recent addition of 'being unnecessarily cruel on online Mario Kart' to the interests on my Facebook profile.

I have also just noticed that the 'chilled' mood is not available form LiveJournal's mood drop-down. So much for my rant a few posts back on LiveJournal having any mood imaginable in it's drop-down.

Tags: cordyline kiwi, mario kart, optimus prime, plant
Current Location: Room
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: MGS2 soundtrack.

You know, the idea of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier is becoming more and more appealing somehow. Maybe it's some kind of body-clock that kicks in when one A) Turns 21. B) Graduates. I woke up late(ish) today and noticed that, similar to other days in which I have woken up late, that I'm a lot more lethargic throughout the rest of the day. Seriously, when I have to get up early for a lecture or work, I'm a lot more awake and stimulated throughout the remainder of that day.

Though saying that, I did have a lecture today, 2 infact, but I slept through one and got too angry at some issue I was having with Java that I couldn't be bothered with the second. The latter was only Japanese, which is extra credit this year, so it's not so bad to miss it anymore. I just wasn't in the mood after spending an entire morning trying to get Javadoc working on my Linux partition... and then failing.

So yes, I spent the entire day pretty much indoors except for when I went to Iceland to buy some shopping. I noticed that a lot of the stuff they sell is 'Only £X'. It's always cheap in there, but they use the word only on their prices as if those prices are offer prices. I've yet to see something without the 'only' tag, which suggests that Iceland are psyching us into buying things for which we think the 'offer' will eventually expire, when it actually will not because it is not an offer. I suppose you might think I'm being paranoid, but I'm not, because I don't really care all that much. You can't worry about something if you don't care about it. That begs the question 'Why, Joee, have you then gone to such lengths to write about it'? The answer: I have a strange habit of over-elaborating on random observations. If you've read through this journal, you'll probably have noticed that by now.

After Iceland, I came home, did some work, ate, and then played Mario Kart for pretty much 4 or 5 solid hours. Yeah, crazy, but Mark and I found a number of ways to make the game all the more entertaining. First of all we spent hours making Miis of famous characters (Namely Mr. Bean, The Pringles guy, some Zelda characters, and others) and then playing as all of them online. Going online together as Batman and Robin was just awesome. We also decided to try going back to using the wheel, which is now a completely counter-intuitive experience which made us play like n00bs again, but we're picking it up. Using Wii-Mote and Nun-chuck, of course, we're completely badass.

I'm tired. Goodnight.

Tags: iceland, java, mario kart, old
Current Location: Roooooom
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Lemon Jelly - The Staunton Lick

I have an hour to kill until my tutorial.

I'm insanely bored.

So I'm posting in here when I don't really have anything interesting whatsoever to say.

Not only am I bored, but I feel ridiculously lazy today.

I thought I had more to do, but I don't.

Only calling the estate agents about the dishwasher which broke AGAIN, which I will do later.




Line breaks are awesome.

Tags: bored, dishwasher
Current Location: Harrison Building Yellow Room
Current Mood: bored