</prosh>

Prosh week is over!

GO TEAM SPORK!

What a crazy crazy week. I'm sure everybody has a few regrets but I'm glad I steered clear of most of the lewdness and had a great deal of fun. Also I survived almost the whole week without seeing a single indecent organ, until the last hour or so at the scav hunt turn-in session where some guy felt it necessary to run through the north court in his b'day suit.

I've got no idea how Team SPORK went - but we basically lost every event through the week. The important thing is, we had heaps of fun and really bonded I think. Here are some of the things that I personally did:

• Wore purple beads, bracelets and hairclips for a day.


• Ate a sheet of A4 paper (yum!) (and got 800 points :D).


• Went to the op-shop to purchase silly purple clothes!


• Not me, but Tyson, Laura, Em and Jono L. went driving for 24 hours, up to Ballarat... well done guys, you're crazy!


• Helped with the hilarious Long Drive powerpoint presentation after they got back.


• Participated in the trivia night - yay we suck.
• 
  
• Sung "Wonderwall" solo in front of the entire pub on Wednesday night, and got the whole pub singing along with me (so, not really solo, but I was the one with the mic!) - The highlight of the week!!!


• Went on the scav hunt - we split up into 3 or 4 cars of people and went driving around for crazy items and photos. Highlights include going to McDonalds and dry-humping the statue of Ron. Same time next year buddy?


• Stayed up until 4AM doing photoshop images for the scav hunt, and sorting them into a powerpoint presentation which we finished off yesterday.


• Co-composed and co-performed our TEAM SPORK theme song ("The Grand Ol' Duke of Spork") with Jono L. and Heather.


• Missed just a single lecture all week!

So, all in all it was hella fun, thanks to everyone on team spork, and of course the lovely judges.


And while all that was going on, Wednesday night (wow I was busy that night), I had the TOPCODER programming competition which went remarkably well - I was in the top 750 so I qualified for the next round, which I'll be doing tonight. Woo.

Now, heres the thing that's been bothering me. I've been wearing a purple bandana all week (as has everyone else on the team). But now I've got a problem - even though I'm not wearing it, it FEELS LIKE I AM!!! Crazy, it reminds me of that thing when amputees can feel pain in their limbs which they don't have. That's called phantom pain, which is why the long-awaited Word of the Day for Saturday, August 20, 2005 is:

phandana
n.

1. An imaginary bandana which is perceived mentally by the wearer as being real, as a result of wearing an actual bandana for extended periods of time. Man, I've still got a phandana... this is weird.


2. The illusion of greatness that comes with wearing a bandana (whether it be a phandana or an actual one).


3. A bandana which has been nose-blown or shat-upon: "Hey Tyson, can I have my bandana back now?" "Oh sorry, now it's a phandana".

See you all next year!

Shall we try a normal blog for a change?

(Look out Mel, its gonna be a long one!)

Wow... that was pretty prosh! I started my day off with, well usual breakfast first, then trotted on down to uni for morning tea. At 10:00 AM I bore the brunt of our team's first challenge for Prosh Week, which was to eat an A4 sheet of paper. Mmm... mmm... did that ever hit the spot. Unfortunately I don't know how many points I won because the paper which told me... is undergoing digestion.

Still... it was better than our team's second challenge, which was to have sex with one or two members of the group within one hour. Which we also accomplished, in a very creative way.

Tomorrow some crazy individuals are going to drive for twenty-four hours straight. <-- :-$ I am not.

---

In unrelated news, I registered for a user account on TopCoder.com today, and here's a snippet from their TOS (yes, I do read TOSses!)

In addition, if you are a U.S. person (including U.S resident aliens)...

It seems someone knows something the rest of us do not!

Also, among the more interesting things I had to fill in on the form... Shirt Size! (This is because one of the prizes is shirts, but still...)

So... it seems as though tomorrow or the next day, I'll be participating in a TopCoder programming competition. You get one hour to code a short program as quickly as you can. Hmm... I just had a go at it and its quite hard :/ At least doing it in C++ was because they wanted you to use a "string" class which I've never used before! I'll brush up on my C# skillz and use that!

---

Now in even further unrelated news, I have some links for you.
A World of Warcraft World - A slightly humorous yet at the same time pretty frightening view of the future. An interesting read in any event.

And linked from that article:
Chinese online gamer gets life for murder.
OK I know murder isn't the funniest topic, but today we were totally cracking up reading this.
Get this: In China, two guys working together in a MMORPG looted a really awesome sword. Then, one of them (Qui) lent it to the other (Zhu). Zhu then sold the sword for US$870 actual money. Qui got so pissed that he went over to Zhu's house and killed him. Now that's taking online gaming a bit far!

Ironically, Qui had appealed for the law to help him, but the law was powerless because it has no jurisdiction over virtual items. Now I think if you read your TOS for most MMO games (as we've already ascertained, yes I do read TOSses ;)), you should find a clause that states explicitly that all game items and characters are the legal property of (if any) the company itself - not you! So you don't actually own the items. This is why the companies don't let/like you trading game items for real money.

"Bible Games" instead of "Grand Theft Auto".
Now I'm not a huge fan of GTA - and for once, it IS about the violence. I do morally object to such a level of violence and sexual content. But Bible Games? I have just one quote for you:

“I play a lot of Christian video games,” Tolin said. “They don’t have fights. You just have to follow Jesus and pick up little crosses for points.”

Err, good luck breaking into the mainstream, guys!

---

Now, as for our usual feature, the much-lauded Word of the Day, I think I'll start to wind it down. It's gone for two weeks now (this is the fortnight anniversary), which is much longer than I expected, and its been quite popular, but you're probably starting to get sick of it by now and it's becoming an effort to come up with them each day. I'll still do them occasionally, just not every single day.

WOTW: Prosh

Well... its PROSH WEEK at uni and I'm SCARED because it seems to be extraordinarily wild, but for some reason I am signed up to a team with all my good buddies and am going to participate in whatever events will let me keep my sanity, limbs, and liver/kidneys (u gotta watch out for that last one).

But despite all the talk about Prosh Week, I've got absolutely no idea what "prosh" means, and neither does the dictionary. Wikipedia gives a bit of a vague description. But I thought I'd better do the world a service and formally define the word.

Hence, the Word of the Week for Prosh Week, August 15-19, 2005 is:

prosh
adj.

1. Organised yet anarchous; in which formally defined events encourage behaviour which results in a loss of dignity without any significant reward: Err.. well that was pretty prosh. Where did my underwear end up?


2. Any thing which degenerates markedly down the ladder of social and moral standards as it moves from the western to eastern sides of a country: Man, those Eagles are prosh!


3. Requiring or pertaining to behaviour which is extremely and consistently spontramellic.

Thx for your help Mel!

GO TEAM SPORK!

WOTD: Pluralis

Todays word is a rare yet important one, which can be used to describe that small percentage of the population who just insists on being right. You know who you are ;)

By an amazing coincidence, its plural form is also a perfect example of itself. By an another amazing coincidence, it's already Sunday, but that hasn't stopped me from pretending it isn't in the past.

Hence, the Word of the Day for Saturday, August 13, 2005 is:

pluralis
n. pl. pluralithetses

1. A word which has an extremely unintuitive and nonsensical plural form: Octopus is a pluralis. The only people who actually know its correct plural form are either locked up in their ivory tower, or busy having arguments with people who just do what everyone else does and say "octopi".


2. A person who is extremely adamant that people must express words in correct latin plural form, or be shot: "You guys are such pluralises [sic]!" "No we aren't! And besides, the plural of pluralis is pluralithetses, ass!"


3. In computer science, the name given to a set of data which isn't an array, list, tuple, stack, queue, vector or collection, but which computer scientists still feel needs some advanced and mysterious name to describe it:

   Pluralis n = new Pluralis(k);

WOTD: Twodellyoodelly

Hmm, 'twodellyoodelly' wasn't actually meant to be a word, it was just supposed 2 be one of those "I missed a night so had 2 come up with 2 words..." blog titles, designed 2 catch you're attention, like those other 2 I had which had the number '2' in the title 2 times each. But since I only have one word thus far, it will help me get 2 2 nicely.

Before inaugurating that particular word, the Word of the Day for Thursday, August 11, 2005, was pulled up from the archives, and dates back to, oh more than one whole month ago...:

cardsnap
n.

1. An expert at card games, specifically. snap: The spontramellic cardsnap beat all the children at their own game.


2. A situation in which the magician's card wasn't actually the card you picked: "Is this your card!?" "Errr... cardsnap?"


3. When you have to buy a new deck.

Etymology: English: cardsharp + Matt: stupidity + Cards: snap.

Amusing etymological anecdote: That one actually came from a one-word-at-a-time-story where the other one-wordatant (Jeremy) used the word "cardsharp" and I misread it and began calling it "cardsnap."

So the fairly appropriate Word of the Day for today, Friday, August 12, 2005, is:

twodellyoodelly
n.

1. A flanderiffic word meaning 'two': The blog-poster was so far behind, he had to make twodellyoodelly posts in the one day.


2. When a vending machine accidentally deposits two items when the user only paid for a single one: Hey! I got a twodellyoodelly!


3. A two-sided kangaroo: Check out the twodellyoodelly at the zoodellyoodelly!

It won't make the dictionary like vrafrinkous will (hehe), but it's wordy enough.

Speaking of Flanders, let's have a good ol' fashioned Simpsons quote:

"Zounds, I did thee mightily smitily!
'Zounds' is a renaissance English word short for 'God's wounds' but the 'smitily' — that's pure Flanders!"
- Ned Flanders

WOTD: Spontramellic

Well, I thought I'd be done by now, and WOTD would be nothing but a silly few blogposts... but I'm quite surprised that it seems to have actually gained some popularity, and people seem to be using the word "vrafrinkous" in everyday speech (good lord! a neologism!)

So, please comment and tell me if you're going to kill me if I post one more WOTD ;) (As we decided today, and resolved in the previous blogpost comments, the world would be a much better place if more friends said they weren't going to kill each other. It's an in-joke.)

Well, without further ado, and by special request, the Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 10, 2005, is:

spontramellic
adj.

1. Relating or pertaining to excitement over spontaneously or randomly organised events, eg. camping, pubbing or driving: Eyy guys! Let's do something spontramellic!


2. Winning card games, esp. Go Fish!, effortlessly and repeatedly by random chance: "How is it that you are so spontramellic?" "Dunno... game is I win :D"


3. Involving more than thirty-seven starts and stops: Hmm... that was a very spontramellic park.

WOTD: Dispogee

Meh... I've been better. Since I'm not into posting schloogey emo rubbish on my blog, I'll just affiliate myself with the Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 9, 2005:

dispogee
n.

1. The lowest point (depex) reachable in one's emotional scale; quite soggy.


2. The closest (and yes, i mean touching) point in an orbit from the body being orbited: Holy fodge! That spaceship almost hit a dispogee! (Note: I can joke about this because it didn't).


3. The point which a once-successful computer game studio which churned out upwards of five games per year reaches when it takes eight years not to release one game: What ever happened to that company Apogee Software? Guess they hit a dispogee!

Compare: apogee, the word.

Religion can be fun!

Yes, it can!
You just need to find the right one. For instance, this week (read: tuteology) at uni, it is Bahá'í week. I got a sausage and a drink, and all it cost me was four Random Acts of Kindness¹ and a burnt mouth (one I have paid off, the other is still burning).

Nice friendly-looking religion there, but not "fun" in the strictest sense of the word. So our search continues. Now, tonight, I happened to stumble upon another religion, which is... well just check it out for yourself:
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.
Now we're talking!

Followers of this religion believe that the world was created by a giant clump of spaghetti and meatballs - originally the religion was conceived to protest against teaching of Christianity in schools (something which in all seriousness I agree with - children should be allowed to make up their own minds, whether or not there is a God). Now there are untold numbers of "believers" in His Noodlyness.

Oh, and He likes pirates ;)
Official Website

On a semi-related note, His Noodlyness hath instructed me that the word of the day for Moon Day, August 8, 2005 is:

fodge
v.

1. To cause untold distruction to your (typically right) index fingernail: Oh my FSM, Mel, you really fodged that!


2. To log off MSN really fast without properly saying goodbye or waiting for a response: What the FSM? I just got fodged four times in one night!

expl.

1. An extremely lame expletive, so lame that Tim will never visit here again: What the fodge? (Synonymous with "what the FSM?", see also: frak¹ & others)

In other news, with dictionary.com currently down, my blog is the ultimate vocabulary source on the web!

¹ Oh, and by the way, by an astonishing coincidence "frak" happens to be the cost of a sausage and drink from the Bahá'í club - Four Random Acts of Kindness... creepy!

2days 2words!

Sorry to all the linguistic fans out there! Yesterday I was at a vrafrinkous party! (Woo... GJ Mel!) But fear not! Two days have passed, and two words have thus come into existence!

RPG fans, and Andrew, will enjoy the word of the day for Saturday, August 6, 2005:

THHC0 (ðh-hə-kəʉ)
n.

1. To Hit Hotness Class Zero - For sexy roleplaying games¹, the chance to hit someone of average hotness. Compare: THAC0.


2. Tall Hot Hippy Chicks 0_0: Wow! Check out 'dem THHC0s!


3. An extremely hot taco: Dude! You just ordered a thhco!

(Thanks for this one Andrew ;))

Now at drama, our teachers seem to be unable to make up their minds about how much of Shakespeare they really want to cut out, so each week have been handing out new sheets to add to the script. Observing this, I believe that some of my drama friends may indeed be suffering from the word of the day for Sunday, August 7, 2005, which is:

addendophobia
n.

1. An abnormal fear of addendums or errata.


2. (colloq.) To be unwilling or unable to incorporate an addendum into its base work: OK. Now let me explain - replace the bottom of the old page 17 with the new page 17. Gerald², you don't have to partake in this exercise - I know you have addendophobia.


3. Third definition not available: please see attached addendum³.

After a few comments about this, I've decided to add an addendum:

1. That's a roleplaying game, as in Dungeons and Dragons, but which happens to be sexy, not one of those weird sexual nurse-dress-up-as things you hear about (and possibly participate in).


2. Gerald is a name made up for the purpose of example, and isn't some guy from drama!


3. Not this addendum - another one.

WOTD: Sequelitis

I've come to realise that I suffer from a chronic problem, which happens to be the word of the day for Friday, August 5, 2005, and can only be described as:

sequelitis
n.

1. A condition whereby the mind automatically and uncontrollably begins designing sequels for products which have only just been conceived and will likely never even be completed: “So, then in Zlarbog II (Fromhoob's Revenge), Zlarbog returns from the...”, “Err... dude, have you even finished designing Zlarbog I? I think you have... sequelitis!”


2. The tendency for the creators (or worse, the distributors who retained copyright to the franchise after a lengthy and brutal court settlement) of a film decide to cash in and sequel it up, which inevitably earns millions of dollars despite very awful filmage.


3. A rare condition which Zlarbog contracted in his second adventure, during his visit to the planet Morhoar, to capture the stolen....

WOTD: Tuteology

We've hit a milestone here: three of something without me giving up on the whole thing ;)
Thanks for the positive feedback I've been getting on this feature.
The word of the day for Thor's Day, August 4, 2005 is:

tuteology
n.

1. A week full of way too many tutorials, esp. those which are untimetabled and attended either for friends sake, or to avoid going at 4pm: I can't believe what a slorbish tuteology I've just had!


2. a. Needless repetition of the same tutorial at different times; redundancy.
   b. An instance of such repetition.
   (compare: tautology)


3. The study of tutorial allocation, particularly, of why tutorials are always marked 'full' and cannot be joined, despite the room being fairly empty when you actually get there: "Did you get into the tuteology class?" "No, it was full!"

from English: tute- + tautology
tuteological, adj.

WOTD: Slorbish

Continuing our long-running "Word of the Day" series, the word of the day for Wednesday, August 3, 2005 is:

slorbish
adj.
1. Knowledgeable but a little too weak to enforce the hand of education: That LogiComp tutor today was a bit slorbish.
2. Containing unfortunate or embarrasing errors, esp. in the field of education: That was a very slorbish thing for the lecturer to have put on the lecture slides, and then subsequently for the tutor to have taught as fact, only to slorbishly realise that in fact the slide was in error and retract the statement — a different tutor, mind.
3. Fiona-ish; possessing the qualities of a person who reminds you of someone who might suit the name Fiona: That girl's pretty slorbish. Hmm, no on second thoughts, more of a Felicity.

Disclaimer: We have done our best to ensure that the words, their definitions, and all related examples are correct in accordance with the English language. Any errors, omissions, or even, perchance, things completely made up are to be considered slorbish.

Word of the day x2

Hi, I haven't had much to blog about recently, so I thought, "why not give back something to the people?"

It's come to my attention that people's vocabulary just isn't what it used to be. Thus, readers of my blog will now be able to boost their word power padrolimally, each day. Use these words in your everyday speech to increase your social standing :D

Dictionary of Matt
Word of the Day
(Gee, wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up ;))

Since it actually started yesterday, we're a whole day behind, so need to have two.
Thus the word of the day for August 1, 2005 is:

floomple
adj.
1. Flowery, descriptive: Matt's blog is too floomple.
2. Prompting or requiring a response which is flowery or descriptive: Damn these floomple Computer Design tute questions!
3. Not wearing socks: Check out that floomple chick!

The second and altogether more current word of the day, for August 2, 2005 is:

vrafrinkous
adj.
1. Pertaining to a surplus of energy, often collected via social osmosis: I'm not feeling too vrafrinkous tonight.
2. Full of whatever Matt is usually full of: Matt, will you stop being so vrafrinkous!
3. Possessing the qualities of a merecat on speed.

Be back tomorrow (hopefully) for more escreptinous vocabulary!