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

feel the burn

Sun, 18 May 2008 02:13:42 GMT

I tried out Wii Fit a few days ago. It certainly grabbed my interest. I would love to go out and buy it myself but I don't think I should. It doesn't make much sense since I'll probably only get to use it for three months.

They finally stand still for a photo and Tracy blinks. Stupid Miis.
That would be me, the thin one on the left, followed by Peter and Tracy.
Have I ever shown my Mii on here? I love how accurate he is.

The Wii board on carpet seems to not weigh you correctly - It picks me up about 5kg lighter than I actually am. Even with the slightly inaccurate reading it still kindly decided with all of its wisdom to put me in the 'Ideal' B.M.I. area and it also gave me a fitness age of 26. I haven't tried many of the training exercises but the hula-hoop and skiing games are good fun. The jogging wrecks me.

deviation from the norm

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:51:56 GMT

This picture has been hanging in my house for as long as I can remember. I took it down to scan and found out this is only a photocopy of the original, not only that but it was folded to fit in the frame. I think the original was taken in the 1930's or 40's.

The guy was my grandfather, his name was Adam.
1) I want the outfit (sans pipes since I don't know how to play).
2) I want to hunt down the same picture of of my father which I have been told may still exist somewhere back in Scotland.
3) I want to take the same picture of myself one day.

That's the plan and I'm sticking to it. I have no idea what has come over me but it feels like a good idea at the moment.

Why do I get up so early on Fridays?

oh academia

Thu, 15 May 2008 04:53:24 GMT

I called the Korean Embassy in Canberra to get some pertinent information regarding that which is my possible future employment. Stupid me expected them to answer the phone using English. It took a few seconds for my brain to work out it had to spray a mouthful of Korean words at the telephone. I sat there hoping that the person listening would understand my 7 month stale spoken Korean. Luckily she did.

That was last week.

Today they called back to interview me. I'm extremely happy with how it went. Listening to myself answer this guy's questions I suddenly realised I actually have a set of skills that qualify me for real work. wow.

Final decisions are made in mid-June. I'm freaking out with all of this waiting.

Uni life is busy at the moment. Of course it's only busy because I am hecticly finishing things that could have been done three months ago. I never learnt from past mistakes. It's eating away at a lot of my time, which would usually be good, if the work wasn't so boring.

I haven't bought Chris a birthday present yet. I'm a bad friend sometimes but you knew that already. Maybe an IOU for one cool gift will suffice? I hope you have a great birthday nonetheless!

I'm thinking of seeing !!! at The Bakery later this month.

Buy me lunch.

I demand you do it too

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:24:47 GMT

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/

wide eyes

Tue, 06 May 2008 09:17:31 GMT

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.

blargiff

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:58:57 GMT

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.

corporal bucket and the half blood prince

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:34:07 GMT

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.

no frame of time

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:37:00 GMT

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.

general this

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:13:48 GMT

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.

autumn, you bitch

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:47:44 GMT

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.

give them what they want

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:08:27 GMT

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.

one of those

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:32:25 GMT

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Accommodation	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Religious	\|\|	10%
Hedonism	\|\|\|\|	16%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Narcissism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Self absorbed	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Conflict seeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%

Romantic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	76%
Wealth	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Sexuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Peter pan complex	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Physical security	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%
Physical Fitness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	57%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Indie	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	68%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com

you can smell the vanity

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:48:53 GMT

Happy 1st Birthday Mr. Beard

..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.

we did too

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:32:58 GMT

Sunday night I went to Green & co.
or if you go by the vandalised sign, Green & cock.
It's a café in Leederville that gets some points for trying to be different but fails in just about every other aspect. The concrete floor, bright lights, unclear serving rules, staff, and table layout are all wrong. Not to mention they serve coffee in glasses which takes away all the love and comfort that you get with a cup or mug. Don't know what I'm talking about? Try drinking a coffee from a drinking glass, I bet you'll burn your hand on it. The couches are a nice touch and the music wasn't bad. That's not enough though.

A quick walk down the road and we were at Luna to watch Be Kind Rewind. Surprisingly I wasn't too pleased with it. Not too pleased at all.

Before the movie started I was flicking through the advertised Luna Double Features and noticed they are playing Grindhouse on my birthday. They are bad movies but they are fun movies too. It may be something good to attend.

After the movie Peter and I headed to The Moon for a late night bite to eat. The service was so bad that we got up and left. We noticed a couple come in and sit down after us. They were treated like VIP's. The guy changed the brightness of the outside lights which made us think he owns the restaurant. Before long they were being served coffee and we were still waiting for water to be put on our table. It was agonising to watch these people getting pampered while we (and other customers) were still waiting to be served.

I've been trying to have a successful apheresis appointment since December but it never seems to happen. The first cancellation was when I had laryngitis, the second was last week when they had somehow booked me too soon since my previous whole blood donation, and the third is today because I woke up yesterday morning with a cold. Will I ever give my precious plasma? It seems doubtful.

wildlife

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:32:35 GMT

Kangaroos are forever bounding across the Tamala Park section of Connolly Dr and to see one or two lying dead on the side of the road is not rare. It makes me wonder how people can merrily speed up and down that road as if it would be impossible for them to have a head on collision with these animals. On Saturday I had two confrontations with them. The first was when Peter was driving. He hit the breaks to narrowly avoid one hastily making its way across the road. The headlights shone on the roo crossing the road about a metre in front of us. I think that woke us both up a bit. Later it happened again while I was driving home. It is certainly a good test of reaction time and the breaks on the car. Sometimes you see them from a distance, sometimes you don't. After collecting my heart from the windscreen I continued down Connolly Dr with great caution. I have never hit a Kangaroo and can't quite imagine what it would be like. Hopefully it will never happen.

A little bit of self indulgence goes a long way. Reading through my archive from this time last year I noticed that I had more to say. The subject matter was never terribly exciting but at least I spoke about it. Some random moment of the day would somehow spawn a small paragraph of text. The part of me that could waffle like that seems to be missing this year. Looking back has inspired me to try and energise the blogger spirit that has seemingly wilted inside of me. *Please note the tactical use of the word 'try'.

» Friday is my beards first birthday. I'll have to write about that.
» I finished making a new business card for my brother.
» I am still enjoying watching Top Model.
» Lost has been surprisingly good this season.
» I bought a new DS game to fry my brain before bed.
» I want a burger from flipside now.

wednesday night: múm

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:58:22 GMT

"We are the musical band múm . . .
I hope you are used to the heat because we are not"

Those poor young Icelanders, the 30º+ temperatures inside the venue were causing them to melt on stage. My fandom for múm has never been something you could call grand. Honestly I wish I could say I knew each and every song they played but that was not the case. This live show - the last in their Australian tour - has certainly lifted my interest though.

Their songs were about little things like the birds and the bunnies. They told us one song was about plants.

"You have so many plants growing here! In Iceland we have three. Not three types, just three plants"

How could I not love them when they say things like that? I don't think there was any possible way I was walking out of the Rosemount Hotel without wanting to be more of a fan than before. When they briefly played a cover of I Was Made for Loving You by Kiss, well let's just say I made some noise and clapped with a big ridiculous grin on my face.

The encore song started as a fun use of instruments and slowly turned into a feast of noise. I wished I had taken earplugs with me for that one song. It was easy to endure but there is probably a significant amount of hearing loss from that song, not that I'm complaining. The noise was strangely fantastic. Smoke filled the stage, lights covered everything in various colours, and the band was playing as if their mission was to see somebody's head pop.

I had a good view of three band members at the front of the stage and one of them grabbed most of my attention. Hildur Guðnadóttir is an angel on stage, the sort of Icelandic musician you'd be happy to take home to mother. She had my gaze for most of the show while she played the Cello, Violin, and other instruments which included a kazoo.

Before múm came on we heard from a local band called Radarmaker. They sounded good and I will search for their CD (if they have one) tomorrow.

I have babbled enough. Time for bed.

Oh, but just quickly:
I rarely have a drink, tonight I had two. Two pints is the number that will make me speak foolishly with a Scottish accent for the rest of the night.

Voice Post:

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:20:31 GMT

saturday breakfast [playing your game pt.2]

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:25:46 GMT

Yesterday I craved pikelets.
So this morning I created them using my two hands and just a sprinkle of magic.

Bippity Boppity Boo

uh-uh

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:26:43 GMT

Lazy Sunday.
Another Monday.

Most of yesterday I was dabbling with the idea of having a week long blackout. No music. No movies. No internet. One week without to see what else I would do with my time. It was my intention to start today, that is until I woke up humming along to a Smokey Robinson & The Miracles song that I was previously singing in a dream. Suddenly it seemed much more difficult to justify intentionally starving myself of so much of what makes up who I am, especially the music. I scrapped the plan.

Ended up having a long lunch with Sehee today. Conversations were about music we like and the way people are. We both talk too much but are also equally happy to listen, which explains the three hours in the restaurant. The aging monosyllabic waitress kept giving me looks that seemed to be asking, how long are you going to sit in my fucking restaurant?. I had a Bacon + Chicken Burger, it wasn't great. Neither was the coffee but that was to be expected.

yuh-huh

you made me

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:41:12 GMT

I was told it has been too long since my last public post. So I will make amends here with a list:

Good
» Great blood donation. A trainee (I was her second patient) poked me with the needle like a pro. There was no bruising or scarring. And as a bonus it was Pizza night at the Red Cross.
» Bacon+Egg+Tomato+HPsauce sandwiches for breakfast.
» Nice text messages first thing in the morning.
» Good quality iChat video conversations.
» Not paying for parking.

Not so good
» The sudden temperature increase this week.
» Long walks in the heat because I refuse to pay for parking.
» Bad quality iChat video conversations.
» Buying new trousers and later finding the front pockets aren't big enough for my wallet.
» Cutting the inside of my mouth with salt & vinegar crisps and having a sore mouth all week.

I'm parched.

the times, they are

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:46:00 GMT

Doing what we do best. A late night drive for coffee and a change of ambience.
Photo of me driving stolen from Peter ^#.

We have been going out for coffee for almost three years now. It's funny how our situations back then just fell into place for us to discover we both enjoyed sitting at a cafe and conversing about what is on our mind. Now here we are, still enjoying ourselves and driving even further than before for our enjoyment.

We had just sat down at The Moon on Saturday when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. For a moment I freaked out (-1 manliness) but then I noticed that it was Tiffy. Running into somebody I know is a notable event because it rarely happens to me. Due to this rareness there is no schema in my mind for the brief hi/bye style of conversation. I think I talk to much in that situation and unintentionally keep the person around for much longer than they anticipated. Whoops.

Today I said good bye to Toni by organising a farewell lunch for us. We ate at The Lucky Shag. My BLT was fine, nothing amazing, and thus I deem it to be overpriced.

I'm always complaining about people leaving (mostly complaining to myself) but only because I am not leaving too. It's a little baffling to think that if I didn't screw up my degree then I would have been booked on that same flight as Toni. Oh well, there's no rush. Good things come to those that wait . . etc.

I am sunburnt.

am I not the top of anything?

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:14:43 GMT

Here I go once again publicly admitting another foul in my life. I watched an episode of America's Next Top Model ^[#]. The mind-fuck is still to come - I liked it. This is worrisome regardless of whether the feeling is fleeting or not. I blame everyone I know on livejournal for this, yes I blame you!
Secretly, whilst huddled on the couch, I started browsing youtube for Top Model 'best of' clips. It didn't take long before I delved further into the World Wide Web and came across elysesewell. She is a former contestant of ANTM who appears to be the shit as far as blogging models (or model bloggers?) are concerned.
What has become of me? Why can't I look away? You are probably thinking that I'm attracted to the girls but you're 95% wrong! This has very little to do with levels of attraction - they're models - a vast percentage of them will never wander anywhere near my fanatical sarong fantasies. What grabbed my attention was how the girls picked for this show have egos made from industrial vats of piss and vinegar. The bitchiness is what I thrive on, and I have inevitably lost points of my humanity because of this. Oh reality television, you have taken another unsuspecting victim. Please may you have the decency to release me from your digitally broadcasted claws.

In news more meaningful to the life of Blake: Toni is leaving me the country next week to teach children in the land of the morning calm. The plan is to join her sometime later this year but we (you, me, and Curtin University of Technology) all know what I'm like with linearly formatted plans. My future is written in pencil and the eraser on the end has been worn down to a near unusable not-quite-twenty-six-year-old protuberance.

Ever wondered what time of the day I am?
Wonder no longer!

think it write it list it

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:38:10 GMT

» Three incorrect PIN tries will render your bank card useless.
» Driving and listening to somebody over speakerphone is something I simply cannot do safely. I'm never going to combine the two again.
» Mindarie Quay at night with take-away coffee was a good unplanned change from the usual.
» Not spending money is going well aside from buying lunch and coffee every other day this week and last week. I must not buy the Tori Amos boxset (A Piano) no matter how cheap it apparently is now.
» I figure I have ~50 years to learn a musical instrument.
» I don't think there is any denying the fact that I have bloggers block whenever I post a list.

people are surprised I went

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:07:17 GMT

» Battles
» UNKLE [live]
» Björk

It has to be said that it's doubtful I would have attended the Big Day Out if it weren't for Björk. Her show was spectacular, the sun even helped out by setting while she was on stage. She started with soft songs and at one stage she warned us of more soft songs to come, jokingly calling us 'rock-heads'. I guess it's understandable considering her show was being followed by Rage Against The Machine (who I had no interest in seeing). As the sun went down she started playing her louder songs until finally blowing us away with Declare Independence which was accompanied by an amazing light show that burst out into the night sky. The little Icelandic princess performed so well but she was almost upstaged by the technology her band used to create the music. There was a large display to the left of the stage that would occasionally show an instrument that looks . . . otherworldly. I would describe it as an electronic pond that you place certain stones on to gain a particular sound. Apparently it is called a reacTable. [YT video of how it works]

The day was a lot of fun even though we didn't arrive until the afternoon. The crowd wasn't too bad overall. Also the weather was being very nice to us by cooling down very quickly after our arrival. We only bothered to watch two other bands. Both times it was interesting to see how many people knew the music. Battles and UNKLE aren't exactly the most well known of bands but there were a few fans scattered around singing or air-drumming along to the songs. They were equally entertaining for me which isn't quite right because I am much more of an UNKLE fan. There are a few extenuating factors that lowered the effect of UNKLE's performance (such as the stage they were on). Battles also seemed to have more energy and fun on stage.

Before heading to the show we needed to eat a good meal that would fill us. Lebanese was perfect for this. It's kind of rare that I eat there (Levant Cuisine on Barrack St) but every time I do the meal is a treat for the taste buds.

Good food. Good Tunes. Not a bad Sunday at all.

not that I deny things

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:39:41 GMT

The time has come where I can now admit that I drink soy milk. Years of ridiculing soy based products was all for naught because in the end I just wanted to eat a bowl of cereal. My stubbornness won't let me vocally say that it's nice. Small steps. The soy milk is also what I use for my banana smoothies which I have now perfected by adding a dash of orange juice.

Paying four hundred dollars for a car service was a bit like getting kicked in the crotch. They assure me that future services will be at least half as painful as per usual.

It has been a long time since I have gone on a Sunday coffee run with Peter. Tonight we tried Exomod in Mt Lawley. I've always turned my nose at it because of the name. As it turns out it is actually quite nice inside with hardwood flooring, wanky art on the walls, and young twenty-somethings serving behind the counter. They have our interest but they need to work on improving that cup of coffee. I wonder how late they stay open?