As you can see from the countdown timer which is now counting up, the hall's room balloting exercise is over. Managed to get the room I want and can continue staying with my fellow year twos. We all moved over to another block together. Those with higher points helped to "secure" areas for those with lower points.

It's actually a very tense affair as you really don't know who will pick what room and if the one you're eyeing will be picked by someone else. It nearly happened to us, but our ex block head managed to negotiate with the other guy who agreed to pick another room, leaving the area for us. In the end, our balloting was a success, thanks to his efforts.

After picking my room, I went to help out with the photo taking service for those who had forgotten to bring photos for the paperwork. It was quite an interesting experience. The SLR's flash sets off the other two studio lights, and the pictures are captured straight into the computer. Photoshop is used to crop the pictures and create two copies, which are then places onto a template with the guides used to help snap the layers in place. In this way, a piece of 4R photo paper is used to print 8 pictures.

Went to see my room after that. It was filthy, like someone hadn't lived there for a long time, or perhaps didn't bother to clean the place. Dust was everywhere and the cupboard shelves were a little grey. My cloth quickly turned black and I had to wash it a few times. I've only cleaned the table, shelves and bed so far. Still have to clean the cupboard, floor, fan and window blinds. Oh and 2 out of 3 power sockets aren't working. Will have to get a power strip too. At least the location is pretty nice, but the cleaner isn't as hardworking, so the toilets aren't as clean as in my previous block. Oh well.