and then there's Blake (In stereo where available)

Aren't I just the cutest bearded baby you've ever seen!


I uploaded the rest of the good maniplations of myself here.

I love this program:
http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/

While at Grand Cinemas Joondalup last friday:

Have you been to the toilets here? It's like Pan's fucking Labyrinth.

Ignore the fact that I swear too much these days and instead focus on how I managed to get lost in the men's room. I'm happy to see new and innovative floor plans but I don't want to have to ask the faun for directions to the nearest urinal when I desperately need to pee.

Before leaving the house on Friday night I was drained of life. The greater part of my day involved reading academic journals which in my opinion is the digitised equivalent of somebody covering your face with a chloroform soaked rag. You violently struggle to stay awake but as you start losing consciousness it becomes obvious that this is a struggle you cannot win. Then you wake up in the back of a truck missing a kidney. I'm getting off topic here...

I took my tired eyes out to the cinema anyway. By the end of the movie my energy levels had risen so I joined Peter, Tracy, Daniel, Michelle, and Holly for a few rounds of Mario Kart on the Wii. Sometimes I wonder what it looks like from another person's point of view. Six adults in their mid to late twenties swearing plentifully at each other as we try to make our dinosaur, mushroom, chimp, turtle, princess, or plumber gain first place in a virtual go-kart race. We're the coolest kids on the block, that's for sure.


After that rollicking good time Peter and I headed out for a coffee. Disregarding the fact I didn't get home until 3am, it was a good idea. I can never remember what we talk about at the café but I'm sure it is both interesting and compelling to a modern audience. We admired the pattern in Peter's coffee but he assured me that it was probably more accidental than a deliberate design. I do wish there was a way to put a design in the crema of my long black. Until coffee scientists unlock that magic I will keep admiring everybody else's cups.

I've had one hell of a sweet tooth lately.


Suddenly, a large Trifle appears! It tries to blind me with sprinkles as I cut through its creamy outer layer with a spoon. There's not enough jelly in there but it still hits the spot. I should have put the spoon in the picture for scale.

I enjoy being lazy but dislike hitting the panic button when too much piles up.

It was foolish of me to guzzle two coffees at 10pm on Saturday night. Wakefulness ensued until Sunday morning (~ 5am). This coupled with mass amounts studying has left me feeling wrecked and grumpy. grumpy grumpy grumpy.

A vanilla slice is no substitute for a lemon tart. Why is it that I even pay money for the slice? I guess it's the custard cream squished between the pastry that is so enticing. The top layer of vanilla icing is something I could frankly do without, your sugary sweetness is not particularly welcome. If only more places were aware of my desire for lemon tarts. Sometimes my desire is not met due to my own doing. I'm the kind of moron who refuses to buy a lemon tart labelled as a citrus tart. It simply will not do, I shan't pay for it!

Stick that up your allegory and smoke it.

This journal entry is brought to you by Blake's fingers, Vitamins B and C, the IPA symbol ŋ, and my intention to write something meaningful one day.

For most of the weekend I was immobile in bed with a brave and noble bucket next to me to initiate emergency vomitus catching procedure should the situation arise. The brave bucket has been promoted to sergeant for its valued contribution to the cause.

The first night I was a bit dehydrated from fever which caused me to daze in and out of delirium. I remember telling myself I would not be able to rest unless I had a full basket of fruit. If I woke up and thought I had no fruit in this imaginary basket then I'd immediately start retching. You cannot argue with that kind of fever induced lunacy.

Like most people of modern times I watched a few movies whilst curled up under some blankets. To be precise it was four blankets, a bold statement of truly poorly I was. I might be alone in thinking this but I find that DVDs simply do not have the same healing qualities that the VHS tapes of yesteryear once did. The clean quality of a DVD feels too clinically perfect, unlike the bleeding colours and graininess of VHS which simply feels more ... soothing.

I'm sitting here with some lapsang souchong tea that is ever so slowly filling the room with its disgustingly smokey aroma. I love it.


Sometimes I don't care about being creepy. In my direct line of sight across the café was a cute, possibly sri lankan looking beauty. She was a wee bit too expressive during conversation with her friend and continuously played with her hair but I would not fault her for that. She had me mesmerised for a great deal of time. I guess she caught me looking across the room six or seven times which even I admit is a tad excessive. Shoot me.

The rest of the time was spent mesmerised by Makan's Chocolate Profita Roll Mountain! It was a chocolate behemoth that eventually got the best of poor old Makan who left 1/4 of it behind after stating, "I'm not as young as I used to be". I tried to get a picture of it but it's difficult to take a picture of a lump of chocolate without it looking like a decretive piece of excrement.

After an early finish of a Bahasa Indonesia class I went to the tav with Tam and Marie. I have never been the type to go to the university tavern at the end of the day but I can see how it must be easy to unwind there. Aside from the horrible music after 16:00 it is a comfy and strangely relaxing place filled with twenty-somethings with nothing better to do.


I am often witness to Peter ordering a chai tea at Leaf Tea Merchants. It looks lovely but the dairy content has always put me off. Only recently was I told that you can actually order a Soy Chai Tea. Fantastic! So today I sat down with a wonderfully warm cup of my own. It was wonderful. The full milk version is probably far superior but this soy milk version is all I need... or at least that's what I will pretend to believe.

I like walking through Planet Books but it is best done with my eyes closed. Sometimes I will see something and before long a cashier is swiping my bank card to suck the dwindling funds from its magnetic-striped teat.

Wednesday's lunchtime sun burnt the back of my neck. I was watching a young lady sing to the crowd on the grass area of Henderson Court while I ate lunch. I wish there was more information to supply but the music@curtin website is only useful if you want to know absolutely nothing. To be honest I didn't really listen to her performance of twangy rhythms anyway. I was too busy eating my six greasy springrolls from the bookmark café while listening to Sehee talk about lost care and what it is like to play the guitar with frozen fingers.

Before heading home today I briefly chatted with Judy. The high likelihood of her being able to visit me later in the year gives her two big ticks of approval. Apparently I should have spoken to her a month or so ago because I would have been able to pilfer her students when she decided not to teach them anymore. Dang, that would have been good.

I have been listening to Yndi Halda in the car. The symphonic post-rock sound puts a big smile on my face and helps me enjoy driving absolutely anywhere.

I've been doing the math on a loan and will probably go ahead with it next week. A part of my decision making process is to choose between VISA and MaterCard for international use. I prefer the look and general feeling of VISA. Not that I think there is anything wrong with MasterCard, it's just that... well it's just that MasterCard looks to me like a stereotypical Italian mobster who has no problem with cutting you so you remember his name. Maybe that's just how I see it though. Also their website timed out on me.

Is it hot or is it cold? I can't seem to make my mind up and neither can this annoying weather. I like a snap climate change but autumn refuses to give it to me. I don't like autumn. It should go, Summer - BAM - Winter. That's right, I'm bitching about the weather.

Earlier today I had a phone call from the Korean consulate to tell me they have my application and to ask me what my placement preferences are (even though they are listed on my application). Off the top of my head I said Incheon, Daegu, and Pusan. "Not Seoul?", she queries. I said that according to the website there are no available positions. What I really should have done is to find out if there are any *new* available positions available in Seoul. But I didn't -- I'm just not that quick.

"Interviews are in April and May. When can you come to Canberra?"

That was the cue for me to silently freak out while trying to quickly respond to the nice lady. Umm.. I... ah.. ummmm. She must have suddenly noticed that I live in Perth because she promptly added "oh it's quite far away, you can have a phone interview if you want". Cue Blake's sigh of relief. Now I can just freak out about doing an interview over the phone. That's much better.

I have been calling banks about graduate loans. ANZ is winning so far but I still have to call Westpac. Then there is the question of how much I want to borrow. It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

Today I'm sending my application for work in Korea. Yes it's the very same one I was supposed to send last year before the hiccup regarding my degree. It has been sitting next to me for a few days, completed, just waiting for me to send it to the consulate in Canberra. I wonder where my persistence to procrastinate comes from?

Hopefully the company will respond to me before June but I do expect they might just collect and sit on the applications until the cut-off date. I shouldn't worry about my chances of being accepted because it seems a sure thing. But it is impossible to sit back and not worry a little. If this application gets rejected I'll probably lose the plot and start madly hunting for alternative private schools to employ me. All my eggs are in this one basket.

Lately, everything rattling around in my mind before going to sleep is about preparing for August/September. I make lists in my head and think of everything I should be doing.
Sell:
» iMac
» iBook
» Wii
» anything else I don't need.

Get:
» university degree
» graduate loan
» macBook
» work contract
» travel related gear.

Start living.
It's not too much for a 5 month plan.


Toni, do that face again.
*screenshot*
cooooool
There is nothing quite like the awesomeness of video conversations with far off friends via iChat. Peter is only 30 kilometres away in another suburb but funky lil' Toni is 7,550 kilometres away in another country! Technology is great. Working technology is even better. I wholeheartedly approve of the quality (much better than Skype), not to mention the ease of use. I look forward to one day trying a 4-way conversation.

I can only hope this shameless iChat endorsement will by chance score me a free macBook from the nice Apple people.

..of all the images I could have chosen to recreate..

I woke this morning and told myself it would be a good idea to drive to Epic Espresso in West Perth. That would have been great if I could remember where it is located. Always check the address if you're uncertain.

How uneventful.

I also forgot about the French Film Festival opening last night. I've got to start using a notebook again in lieu of my memory.

Stevie Wonder's I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever) is an awesome song until he starts getting all religiousy. That always puts me off.
Yes, I like the song because of the movie adaptation of High Fidelity.
No I will probably never read the book.
You know I don't do fictional literature.