Monday, December 29, 2008

Pretty Pebbles

I collect all sorts of weird junk (just wait until I start posting some of my Video game figurines).
One of the things I like to collect are rocks. Not just average-looking chunks of gravel, mind you, but rocks that are pretty.

Like these:

I found the three blue stones at the Sunday market a few weeks ago, for about $3 each. I thought the smaller stones with the gold flecks were Lapis Lazuli but it turns out they are merely Sodalite, which is slightly different. However, the plain blue stone could in fact be Lapis Lazuli - it's hard to tell when you don't have a lot of experience with minerals!
The small purple stone is most likely Amethyst - it looks different in this photo because I haven't got the hang of setting up lighting yet, but it is the typical purple colour.

I have some other stones to show off, and I'll post pictures when I have them.

Icky Encounter

Remember back a few months ago, when I mentioned something about the White Tail spider not being as poisonous as people thought?
Well, it's now December, the weather has turned warm, and it's brought the spider population out of hiding. Spiders are cold-blooded, and only become active when they are warm enough, unlike we humans who carry our own heat internally.

Anyway, the other night I stepped out of my bedroom, looked up, and -
That's a White Tail spider, all right!

Now, I know that close-up picture is misleading (btw, the macro setting on my new camera works very well!) so I took another one to give you a better idea of scale:
This spider was about 2cm long (legspan), which is about the largest these spiders will get. Nothing too scary.

Except, once I'd taken the photos, I put the camera back in my room, stepped into the hallway again - and it was gone. It was almost as if I'd captured it inside the camera!

And then, I saw it scuttling along the floor... ick!
So I caught it in a jar, and put it outside.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

eXcemas

AAAA! The curse of eXcemas... is over for another year.

And, actually, it wasn't that bad.

I managed to get gifts for all the people who mattered, and what's more, the majority of them were bargains. Like the funky colour-changing lamp that looks like a plain white rectangle when it's off, but turns into a miniature disco-floor when you turn it on! That one was a gift for my sister and her man, and it was about 30% of the original price!

I also had to fetch some glassware from Target that my Ma and stepdad had suggested to me.
I had to go in three days before eXcemas, while Target were open until midnight. An unfortunate clash of schedules meant that I spent most of the week before eXcemas doing close shifts - and I was too sleepy and lazy to go during the day.
I made it to the store with about 10 minutes to spare, and went straight to the homewares section, frantically looking for the glasses they wanted. I found... something... that sorta looked like the one they named, and I took it to the counter. Luckily, it was really dead in the store that close to closing time, so I was pretty much in and out within minutes.
I got the box home, and opened it up to show it to my housemates - and OH NO! One of the glasses was busted!!!
So... the next day, I had to quickly pop back in to get them exchanged. This was reasonably early in the day, and I didn't have to wait too long that time either. We just grabbed another box and swapped over a glass, and I was ready to go!

The worst part of that procedure was, turned out I'd grabbed the wrong set of glasses. The one they wanted had a similar name, but was totally different! Oh well, they liked them anyway!

So... eXcemas itself rolled around.
At the stroke of midnight, my sister decided to give out her gifts to us immediately, because she couldn't be bothered with carting them all over to Ma's house the next day. I'd left all her gifts over at Ma's, so she unfortunately had to wait. Ha ha!

The next day, I woke up at about 9.30, and everyone else was awake. I went over to Ma's place, and everyone else was waiting for us to show up so we could get to the gift-unwrapping already!. Everyone was there, but... where was my sister?
She had just hopped into the shower! ARGH! We had to wait about 30 minutes before she was ready! It brought to mind the time Ma made us wait until we'd had breakfast before we could eat our eXcemas lollies - never mind the fact that we'd seldom had breakfast the rest of the damn year...!

Eventually, my sister came over, and PRESENTS!!! were shared out. I got to be Santa's helper again this year, probably because I'm one of the last with functional eyesight. Ha ha!
I forgot my elf's hat this year, so I had to make do with Ma's angel halo instead... and I really do NOT want to show off the photos.
Oh, all right then. There's one to the right. Click to make it bigger and more humiliating.

Everyone liked their presents.
We even managed to include some gifts sent to us from Dad this year, and they were well appreciated. I liked the box of wooden puzzles they sent to me, though one of them had me struggling for about ten minutes - and that was trying to pull the damn thing apart!

Oh, and I got revenge on my Ma for wrapping my Abbey Road keyring in eleven layers of paper! I bought her another keyring, and wrapped that up in as much wrapping paper I could find lying around. Every layer was properly wrapped - no newspaper filler! - and I even put labels and ribbon on some of the layers! It took about an hour to do it all up.
I gave the gag gift to her first (before the proper present, which was jewellery) and... well, let's just say by the end of it, everyone was anxious to see what the end result was!
I lost count of how many layers I'd used, and it turned out there were about 40.
She preferred the jewellery, though she spotted straight away that one of the earrings was missing a stone - this from a woman who has to wear glasses to read! She really knows her bling!

As for my haul, I mostly got what I'd asked for:
  • a memory card for the GameCube, because the 251 card I have is almost full to capacity, thanks to my sister's "Sims" space-hogging save file.
  • some sleeves for my DS games, which is strange since I keep my games in the original hard cases.
  • the usual puzzle books and games - real original, guys! Honestly, why is it that all of my friends and family think to get me these things every year?
  • a little music box thing that plays Hey Jude. :)
  • some CDs - a couple of Beatles discs, and the second part of the U2 Best Of that I needed.
  • two video game discs - Intellivision: Greatest Hits, and Atari: Anniversary Edition. Haven't tried them yet. Kinda don't want to tell Ma I already have a bazillion vintage games on MAME...
  • a big canvas print of the Beatles, which Ma found in a discount shop :P
  • some T-shirts that had prints of MarioKart, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Beatles and Alfred E. Neuman on them. The surprising part was that they were handmade, that is, Ma found the pictures on the Internet, and used some DIY T-Shirt transferring kit to make them! They are AWESOME and I will wear them until they fall to bits!
  • socks. No underwear, though.
Everyone had a wonderful time...
We had a barbecue for lunch, and people had a good time checking out their gifts and playing games. The weather held up very well, as it was warm, but not really hot this year.

Unfortunately, the fun was short-lived, because... I had to go to work.
Dammit, even though I'd tried to wangle my way out of working on eXcemas this year, I still got snookered in to doing an eight hour shift.
I managed to eat a bit of lunch, and then I had to run in and relieve the people who had opened the shop. Sigh - well, I guess I wasn't the only one put out this year.
And it was pretty bad when I got there - we'd run out of BBQ gas bottles, we'd run out of ice bags, and it had been really busy for most of the morning, so hardly any of the jobs had been done. GROAN

...Yet, the rest of the day was pretty quiet. We had a reasonably constant supply of customers, but nowhere near as many as we'd had over bEaster shudder. I guess people were a lot better organised that I gave them credit!
Ma told me she was going to bring me some dinner, but I asked her if she could bring an extra meal, as the other person I was closing with couldn't get to their family for eXcemas this year. She brought two plates, but it turned out that they had made plans for after work, and didn't need the dinner after all!
So, I thought, "What the hell am I gonna do with this food?"
But then, one of our regular customers, a taxi driver, came in complaining that they had been so busy ferrying drunk people about that they had missed their eXcemas dinner, and I said, "Well, it just so happens..."
So that was my good deed for the day. :) Aside from actually showing up to work, that was.

Anyway, I finished work at 10pm, and returned to Ma's place - only to discover that it was all over bar the shouting. Everyone was ready to tuck up into bed! BUGGER!!!
So, I just came home, and played on the Wii until 4am.

And then... I had to go to work again...
(but not before I got to see my Nanna. She came over to Ma's place for the day, and we all got to have another catch-up on things... well, I did as much catching up as you can do in about 50 minutes, because... um, I'd been on the Wii until 4am the night before.)

So... that was Christmas! I mean, eXcemas.
And though it wasn't perfect, it wasn't at all bad. I'd give it four stars ˜˜˜˜.
I hope yours was good as well! Merry Christmas!

PS. Sorry for the long post - considered breaking it up, but can't be bothered. Will post again after NYE!

The Family Gathers

...at my mother's house, in preparation for eXcemas... and also for my older sister's birthday. She's thirty... something. I forget the exact age at this point.

I would have included some lovely photos of the proceedings, including a funny video of the balloon fight we had in the living room - there's something about that room that is oddly conducive to such games! - but... the SD card in my camera chose that particular moment to die.
That is, the same SD card I got with my camera for my birthday, less than a month ago.
VERY unhappy, though it is the photos and footage I miss more than the card.

Never mind, we still had a lovely chocolate mud marble cake. It was yummy!

PS. This entry is post-dated, because I was having trouble getting Internet access at the time, due to many mechanical and logistic problems. Oops.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Making of Mii

Okay, we've had the Wii for about a week now, and I've discovered something interesting: Making realistic representations of your friends and family from memory is a LOT harder than I expected.

One of the features of the Wii is the ability to create miniature in-game versions of yourself and your friends, which are called Miis. These work a lot like the avatars used in chatrooms and web forums, such that you have a graphical representation of yourself instead of just a bunch of anonymous text.

Because the Miis are used extensively in some of the games, it is useful to create not just one for yourself, but as many recognisable Miis as you can think of. I've gone through the list of just about everyone I know, starting with all the people who are likely to come and visit us to play the Wii.

But, there is a problem. The interface for creating Miis has many different customisations for face shape, hairstyle, eye type and etc. but it never seems to have exactly the one you want. Getting a recognisable hair style is hard enough (would it have killed them to include a curly hair setting?) but when you get to subtle details like how the eyes are set on their face, or the actual eye colour... Gah!
The worst part is having your subject take a look at your handiwork... and go, "Oh come on! I look nothing like that!!!"

Anyway, I found a Flash program that lets you design a Mii on-line - though you can't actually use your created Mii with your Wii games. It's basically a demo version of the real thing. And I've used it to create an approximation of my actual Mii. The real one looks very much the same, except the eyebrows are fuzzier and my eyes are not solid black. I think that black eyed look is really ugly.

I have also acquired a copy of WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and have played through most of the challenges. The only two bad points of the game are:
a) the non-intuitiveness of the mini-games. "I have to do WHAT?"
b) the random sensitivity of the Wiimote. "I'm waving the thing at the screen, what more do you need?!? OH NO! Now I've LOST!"
Now I know why so many Wiimotes get damaged... >gleep<

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Being Thirty (Part Three)

I did mention that I had one more birthday celebration coming up, didn't I?

My friend-ish party was originally scheduled for last Friday, but I had to reschedule because a) I hadn't time to organise anything, and b) I was really too tired to do it after having worked several early shifts that week. I was knackered...

So, I postponed it until the 12th. Which meant I had ample time to tidy the house and prepare the food. Yeah, right. Have I ever been well organised?
Turns out, I have. I even managed to clean up the kitchen and living room, and prepare some foodstuffs including a lovely little plate of crudités. ie. those little sticks of carrots and celery and cheesy lumps and whatnot.

I only invited a handful of people over for the gathering - basically, the people I used to live with, a couple of friends from high school and one from the mural painting project. I told everyone to show up at around 5pm. Yeah, right.
I had to wait until 5.30 before I could even leave the house to collect one of my friends (who has no personal transport and lives two towns away), and en route the weather decided to break, and dumped a whole bunch o' rain on me - and it was this time that the windscreen wiper decided to stop working properly!
I had to pull over and fix the wipers three times between departure and returning home. GRRR!!! I made sure I fixed this problem before I returned my guest to his place!

But, once I'd come back with friend in tow, I learned two important facts:
1) one of my other friends had shown up in the meantime;
2) we now had a Nintendo Wii! (bought from a friend of a friend for $350!)

So, we ordered pizza, ate snacks, drank fizzy stuff, played a few rounds of Mario Kart: Double Dash for the hell of it, and then tried out some of the WiiSports. Bowling was a hit, as were Golf and a very dangerous game of Baseball (Slink, you really don't have to swing the Wiimote that hard).
While we were playing, two more of my friends showed up a little late, but they stuck around much longer than they expected 'cause we were having so much fun. They had to bring their two kids along as well, but they were both young and very easy to look after. One of them stayed asleep pretty much most of the time anyway - how hard is it to look after a sleeping bub?

And Ma even came over for some birthday cake - another sponge, but this one had flakey chocolate frosting... mmm! Cakey cake, but I'm glad I waited a week before I had another one, because three cakes in one week is seriously pushing your luck, birthday or not.

The only person who couldn't make it (caught that damn flu that's going around) sent me a birthday card with $30 worth of scratch lottery tickets inside. I won $16, which is slightly more than a 50% return (and kinda made me wish they had just given me the cash instead! :D )

We all had a lovely time.
I got to catch up with everybody I'd missed at the other parties, and we all had lots of food and fun, well into the night. Luckily I don't have to do an early shift on Saturday!

And, now that it's all over:
To all of my friends and family who helped
make my 30th Birthday so much damn fun,
I give you all my love and extra special thanks!
And to those who missed out on the action, I offer you...

A Slice Of The Action!
Enjoy!
And may I hope to see you all at my 31st,
whenever I get around to celebrating it...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

New Camera

An interesting development! I now have an actual digital camera! A worthy successor to Dinkycam! snicker

My folks got me a FujiFilm FinePix camera as a birthday gift, so now I'll be able to take photos that contain recognisable subjects! Hoo-freakin'-ray!

So, expect to see a lot more photos appearing on my bloggie...
PS. Nope, still aren't gonna see any nudie shots, btw...

Being Thirty (Part Two)

So, here's what happened when I actually turned thirty.

Well, the story continues from the Sunday before... when I overslept and nearly missed opening the shop on time. I managed to get there about five minutes before we were open for trade, and I quickly raced around getting everything sorted out in time! It brought back horrible memories of when I used to open up the shop in Traralgon every weekend... ooer. ugh.

I worked for about six hours, then I headed to the Sunday Market (first time I'd been in months!) and picked up a few CDs and Sega games. The guy who sold me the games recognised me from the last time I'd been there, and tried to get me to buy a few more games... but I haven't even tried out the last few games I've bought from him! Well, I've got the Sega stashed away somewhere...

When I came home, I was getting really sleepy, so I went to bed for a nap - and woke up at about 11.30 pm, almost in time for my age to click over!
After the clock ticked over to Midnight, my sister gave me her gifts, which were a kilogram of Jelly Belly beans (ooh, just typing that hurts my stomach) and a bunch of pretty coloured markers. Heh, maybe someday I'll actually get around to using those!

I stayed up most of the night, because I'd been asleep for so long already, so I spent most of that time just browsing on the Internet and working on my games. Then the others woke up and went about their business, and when they came back they asked me if I wanted to do anything special for the occasion.
I thought about it for a while... and while I was thinking, my eyelids started getting really really heavy...

So, I went back to bed.
Yep! THAT'S HOW I HONOURED MY 30th BIRTHDAY. TAKING A NAP.

...except that wasn't the end of it.
I kept getting interrupted by phonecalls and wellwishers, so eventually I just got up and joined civilisation again. Besides, Ma had dumped a handful of confetti all over my bed so it wasn't exactly the most comfortable place any more. :)

We had another cake at Ma's place. This time it was a cream-filled sponge, with multi-coloured sprinkles, and that went a lot quicker than the cheesecake from Saturday. I even managed to recycle the candle from the first cake!

Aaand... The birthday fun continues! Later this week I'll be having my friends over for a non-formal gathering at our place, which ought to be fun! I haven't had a get-together for a while, so I have a lot to catch up on!

Being Thirty (Part One)

Well, I finally made it to yet another milestone today.
And of course, I celebrated it appropriately... I FELL ASLEEP.

Okay, before I get too involved, here's what we did to honour my thirtieth.

Last Saturday, my sister came down from Melbourne so we could all go out to a restaurant for dinner. We went to Iimi's Café in Traralgon, a very nice café/restaurant place we've been to before. It was a small group, mainly the immediate family and a couple of other relatives.
Ma had asked me if I wanted my gifts that day, instead of on the actual birthday, and I said wait for the proper day... but she pulled out a big wrapped-up gift about the size of a big lunchbox when we got to the table! I unwrapped the paper, to find that inside was a big black box. Inside the box, I found another parcel... which contained another, slightly smaller box! Inside that box, was another smaller parcel -
Do you see where I'm going with this?
I went through six layers of paper and five boxes before I got to the "true" gift:

Very funny, Ma!
But the really funny part was I'd already bought myself one from the same shop the day before... I guess I'll have to pass that on to someone else for Christmas!

I took a bunch of photos with my little "happy-snap" camera - no, not Dinkycam, this one is a cheap film-based camera I bought a few years ago, before I even had a computer with a USB port... ah! the joys of having to wait to see if your photos even worked out properly.
The shots worked out reasonably well, but I don't have the scanner set up properly yet, so those pictures will have to wait for a while...

Once we'd enjoyed our meals including the one they'd forgotten to bring out we came home for some birthday cake - a lovely Mixed Berry cheesecake, yummm...! And that was merely the first cake I'd had this week!

Anyway - On to Part Two!

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Big Three-Oh(oh)

Yep.
Turnin' Thirty.
More to come when the pics are ready.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

I Saw A Turtle!

I went for one of my round-the-town walks yesterday, while the weather was still good. I really need to get some more exercise, so I've taken up a semi-regular stroll, just so I can get used to the idea of leaving the house.

I walked past the man-made lake by the high school, and I saw some ducks (no real surprise there)... but I saw something else which struck me as unusual. There was a greenish helmet-shape sitting about six feet from the edge of the lake. At first, I thought it was a piece of rubbish, or someone's hat, but I crept up for a closer look and...

Hey! I saw a turtle! =)

I'm happy to see real live creatures up close, but I didn't want to disturb turtle too much. So, I took a couple of pictures, and then crept away. Unfortunately, I took said pictures with Dinkycam and they really didn't work out at all:

That greyish smoosh in the middle of the greenish smudgy stuff is the turtle. I really really have to get a new camera! Once I took the (cough cough) "photos", I crept away, and watched the turtle as it plodded off back to the lake.

Okay, so I'm getting over excited over a damn animal. It's just that I seldom get to see non-domesticated animals so close to a built-up area. (There have been a few kangaroos sighted in the empty field between the CBD and where I live, but they have been there for a while.)
This makes me both happy, and a little sad, too. A lot of other people who would have seen this would have tried to disturb the animal somehow, by either trying to take it home, or injuring it somehow. The closeness of the high school to the lake also brings some nasty possibilities to mind... though I assume the turtle would have the sense to keep away from people at a set time (who knows?).

I also saw some birds with long black curved beaks by the lake. I think they are either a type of ibis, or a jabiru, but I gotta do some research. Damn, I wish we still had that bird book we used to have years ago, but I think my Dad took it with him to Queensland...
PS. Yep. They were definitely ibises.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

New News...

Hey folks!
Stuff has been happening since the last post. (But then it usually does.)

I got a haircut the other day. It cost me $10. o_O;
I feel happier knowing my head is not weighed down with useless hair. I like to keep it nice and short, so I don't have to worry about it being a mess all the time.
When my hair is short, it looks nice and straight, but, as soon as it starts to get a bit of length, it suddenly (overnight!) gets all curly and unruly... and that is about when I decide to get it trimmed back again.
Seriously, I hate my hair. At least, when it gets too long...

My Ma is laying down a new floor covering at her house.
It's a fake wood-panel effect, made of actual wood panels (but the manufactured, printed-on type). It's a huge difference from the worn out grey carpet they used to have!
The only problem is... we aren't allowed to wear shoes on it any more. groan
I respect their decision, but can see some problems with this logic:
  1. Floors are made for WALKING on. Not for LOOKING at.
  2. Not everyone has nice smelling feet.
  3. Hard, polished floors + slippery cotton socks = "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Still, I guess it would be nice to keep the floor looking good for as long as possible... and it does make the house look much better!

The third bit of news? Krissy has a new blog!
http://stayawhilehavesomecake.blogspot.com/
It's been added to the list at right. Check it out and say hello if you like!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Pikmin!

I recently found a copy of the Nintendo Gamecube title Pikmin.
It's excellent! It plays a lot like Lemmings, except you have slightly better control over the little helpers.
You take the role of an alien whose rocket ship has crashed on an unfamiliar planet. You encounter a number of small beings, the "Pikmin", who follow you and perform directed tasks (like destroying walls, building pathways, etc). You also use the Pikmin to collect the missing parts of your rocket ship, so that you can rebuild your ride and escape from the planet before your life support systems fail.
My only (minor) complaint is the camera control. Many times I've tried to navigate my player through the landscape, only to struggle with an unfortunate viewing angle because I keep forgetting to reposition the camera. I suspect this is because the game came out early in the console's lifetime, and the designers didn't have the familiarity with the controls to come up with something more comfortable.

I played it for about three hours last night, but realised that I couldn't save my progress because my memory card was too full! On the other hand, I'll be better equipped to do the first few stages now that I know where all the parts are hidden... ;)

Sleepy Limbo

...caught in the space between...

Right now I am in between two opening shifts at work. I seem to be getting a lot of opening shifts recently... and they are a lot harder than I thought they would be.
I'm still working under the limit of 30hrs a week (it's a regulatory thing - I guess if we worked any more hours it would cost our employers too much). But... I'm really NOT a morning person, and my sleeping pattern is totally mucked up because of this.

The past two open shifts have left me very tired. I have noticed that I become very strange when I am on the edge of sleep - I mean, stranger than normal. Yesterday about an hour before the end of my shift I started giggling, and I couldn't stop. It was really embarrassing. I had to pretend I had a bad cough, and kept covering up my mouth.

After work I went straight to bed. Then I got woken up about three times by phone calls (which hung up before I got to the phone)... which only made me even drowsier. It seems that if my sleep is interrupted by something it adds an extra hour to my slumber. Which is why I don't like sleeping during the day...

Also, I'm just starting to get achey in my joints, because I suspect I'm getting that damn virus thing that my Ma has right now.
I am not happy! I know that I'm going to get really sick because my lifestyle has been erratic of late (not just work related stuff, btw, but it hasn't helped). What's more, I have three days off this week, and I know that I'll probably spend most of those in bed. Out of force, not choice...

Must... get... sleep...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Mural News

The other piece of news I have is that Trish has finished the Train Mural that I've helped paint previously. I haven't been able to go visit her studio since this post (and that time I was beyond anything resembling helpfulness).
The commissioners of the murals have been complaining about the absence of finished work, so Trish has had to complete them on her own.
:( Sorry Trish.
If I'd had a reliable work schedule, I would have been able to sort something out, but... things are still crazy right now. (We're training up a couple of new people at the moment, though, so things should improve!)

Oh the up side, this means that we only have the Lions mural, and a couple of the single-panel works, to complete... and all of the old projects will finally be finished!
*insert premature applause & fanfare*

This will clear up a lot of space in the art studio. But most importantly, she can now accept tenders for new projects, for which she will actually get $income$!
NB. She did get paid for the previous ones, but only at the beginning... which, remember was a few years and several rounds of "Work for the Dole" ago. That funding is now long gone.

With any luck, I'll be able to organise a mass visit to her place, with some of the other volunteers that I'm in the process of tracking down. Hopefully, we'll be able to have a get together by Christmas - or for Christmas, if everything opens up sufficiently before then!

Dimboola - *****!

Well, the play was excellent! Though, not all went to plan...

I managed to get the night off (yay!) and I managed to organise three of my friends to accompany me (yay!!) and I even managed to find my way to the hall on time (YAAY!!!).

But... two of my friends didn't make it. Regrettably, their car got a flat tyre on the way. (Noooo!!!) Which meant that I'd lost out on the price of their tickets... Hey, it happens.

Still, we had an excellent time.
I got to meet Andrew's¹ family, whom I've heard about but never seen. They were nice, and his Mum had a lovely chat with my friend Trish² regarding the murals already installed in Moe.

My sister played the bridesmaid, in a very fetching green dress -_-; and some lovely cork platform heels (also in green). I thought they were an op-shop find, but it turns out they were brand new from Target - reduced to $4, I wonder why?!?

The presentation was interesting... as the play takes place at a wedding banquet, the audience played the role of party guests, which meant we were also provided a three-course meal along with the cast! (The meal I had wasn't quite as nice as I'd expected for the price of the ticket, but I did appreciate the caterers accomodating for my vegan friend - who was one of the two people who didn't show up, unfortunately!)

Of course, the actors were also drinking lots of (non-alcoholic) beer, and were playing their roles very convincingly! In fact, Krissy was doing some drunken dancing during one of the "meal" periods, and actually fell over! It was an accident, but it just made it more real...
In fact, I mentioned to Andrew's family that I'd seen her do that before - which did NOT go down well with Krys afterwards. ;P

It was a wonderful performance. I'm glad I went to see it, because everyone did such a smashing job. If you're going to see it, you will enjoy yourself!

NB:
At about this point, I'd be including some Dinkycam photos because I took the little bugger along with me. But, even though it worked perfectly on the night, something went horribly wrong when I tried to upload the pictures onto my PC and they all got deleted. Oh well, it's not as if they would have worked out anyway... sigh I think I'd better fork out for a proper digital camera someday.

___________
¹My sister's partner, btw.
²The same Trish who is the co-ordinator for the mural project I may have mentioned in passing. See my next post re: that topic.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Tomorrow, The Play

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
I'll be going to see my sister in the Moartz play Dimboola, and I'll be using the opportunity to catch up with my mural painting friends as well (assuming we all make it on time). I've been so busy with work of late, it will be good to get together with people and actually have some fun for a change!

Ah, things look like they're clearing up a bit now. Hopefully I get a few weeks of peace before the horror of eXcemas hits us all with its tinsel-trimmed poison! Oh, dear, I promised I wouldn't get all like this...

Sunday, October 26, 2008

House of Leaves

Another book that I'd been searching for (and found at the library) was House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski. I'd seen it mentioned somewhere, and I thought it would be exactly the kind of book I'd like.

I read through it a couple of nights ago, and all I can say is

Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Wow.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Wow.
Wow.¹
___________
¹You want a synopsis? Try this: it concerns a documentary film called The Navidson Record², a video archive of a series of bizarre events occurring within a suburban house. By bizarre, I mean that a new hallway appears where no such hallway could possibly exist (where, logically, a doorway would lead outside of the house). Even spookier, the new hallway is dark grey, featureless, and nightmarishly labyrinthine. Seriously, people get lost inside the house for days on end.

²I should also point out that said documentary may not even exist. The only reference to this film is contained within an essay written by a blind man³, and which was discovered by our narrator (Johnny) who found it in the man's apartment after he died. Johnny has presented the essay as he has found it, but, incidentally, there's
good reason to suspect he's not telling the true story.

³The essay also included plenty of visual artifactsº, such as photographs, sketches and supplementary materials. These are shown in the Appendices, however, a lot of the said items Do Not Exist. A lot of the interviews included never actually happened. A lot of the references included in the footnotes refer to nonexistent publications. In fact, a lot of the story Does Not Exist either, for reasons which become all too - no, wait, you can never really understand what's going on.


ºI haven't even covered the interesting typographical layout yet. The book abounds with plenty of footnotes and cross-references (and plenty of ramblings from our friendly narrator Johnny, who incidentally has some interesting tales of his own). Soon, the footnotes themselves threaten to overwhelm the main copy itself, and the layouts change dramatically over the course of the book. And then, once the characters start to investigate this dark hallway, the very fabric of the book changes -

ⁿThe way I feel after reading this book is the same way I felt after I watched this. Nonetheless, I liked House of Leaves very muchly.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Salmon of Doubt

But no, I haven't just been watching TV.

I finally managed to find a copy of The Salmon of Doubt, the posthumous collection of Douglas Adams' essays and articles published after his death in 2001. I've been scouring the bookshops for a copy, and gave up, when I realised, "Duh! That's what libraries are for!"

It's not the kind of book you read all at once, but rather a "pick it up and sample it every now and then" type. And, it's frickin' brilliant. He had a great sense of humour that really comes through in his writing, and it makes me miss him even more. (Is it even possible to miss someone you've never met?)

I'm afraid I'll just have to buy a copy now, assuming I actually find one for sale. I only get to keep this book for two weeks, after all!

The Man With No Name (apparently)

By the way, we've been watching the "new" episodes of Doctor Who of late, and hey, turns out I was already a fan and never even knew it!
One of those "Aha! It all makes sense now!" moments.

Seriously, though, it's about time someone started making television that was worth watching again. I was starting to lose focus now that Buffy and Angel wound themselves up.
And, what's even better, I have a lot of catching up to do...

PS. Thank you Russell!
PPS. Thank you Aron!

EDIT: I found out that David Tennant is leaving his post as The Doctor at the end of the next season (which will only be four episodes because he has other obligations during the year). Oh well...

Work...?

Uuuaahhh...

Just when I thought I was out of the frying pan...

Work has come back to annoy me again. We're really struggling with the thinly-spread staff at the moment. Long story short, I will be working a lot of hours after this Wednesday.

I hope we get some new staff soon, because I (and most of the others at work) really do NOT want to keep doing this.

Also, we have a house inspection this week. Must tidy, tidy, tidy...
It's probably way overdue. There were some pretty big dust-bunnies under my desk! Eyeww.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Sketches, Part 1

As most of my friends know, I have a collection of sketch-book type journals - about twelve of them, at last count. They're not diaries as you would think of them, ie. written prose about daily life (like, say, a blog), but they are still an historical record of my life. They're more of a scrapbook/collage/memento collection than anything else; if I see something that I like and think is worth keeping, I stick it in one of my books for future reference.
Or, rather, I used to. Sadly, I haven't been filling them out so much these days.
It seems that the energy that I used to put into maintaining them has now been sublimated into my Paid Occupation, which depresses me. Unfortunately, I only seem to be able to focus on one major element of my life at a time, and all else gets delegated to a lower rung. [sigh]

Anyway, I recently started scanning in some of my sketches for use with one of the Antix games (yes, they're coming), and I thought that today, I would share some of them with you.
These following sketches were drawn freehand with a black fineliner. I was experimenting with line and form here, coming up with figures that are more basic and geometric, yet are still recognisable and have unique character. I tried to produce some more figures in the same style later on, but I guess they were a "one time thing".



Clicking them makes them bigger, you know.
You can also check out the rest of the images in my Picasa album if you want.
EDIT: These links now actually work! I have no idea why they didn't before...

Comments are appreciated... ;)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Yep, I got it.
I actually went and bought it the day after my last posting about it... :)

IMHO:
It's a good game.
It took me about a week to complete.
It's a pretty good RPG, and the world of Sonic lends itself to the genre well. Sonic and his friends each have unique abilities, like Sonic's spin dash, Tails' flight, and Knuckles' wall-climbing skill, and these lend themselves to both the adventuring aspect (navigating obstacles in the field) and the battle scenes.

The landscapes have a cute hand-drawn look, and you use the stylus to control Sonic's movement in an intuitive manner (similar to Phantom Hourglass). There are plenty of familiar STH elements in the levels, like loops, springs, and those ubiquitous Gold Rings.
The scenes are inhabited by enemies and people, both of which can be avoided or confronted at will - no sudden random battles here, thank goodness!

As for the actual battle scenes, the attacks are customised depending to your character's abilities. Knuckles' attacks involve his fists, Tails' are robot-oriented, Amy's involve the use of her disturbingly-huge hammer, and so on. But there are special POW moves that require you to trace patterns on the touch-screen with the stylus, and these have a necessary degree of awkwardness. You ever played one of those Dance-Dance games, where you have to use your feet to match the falling arrows? Well, it's a little bit like that.
(incidentally, my worst nightmares are full of sliding arrows... ever... approaching... arrows...)

It's not all happy-happy, though.
The battle scenes are well rendered, but applying the special moves is a little tricky because you have to try and remember their effects (because you don't get reminded mid-battle). Also, supplying your party members with "armour" and power-ups is a little difficult, because you can only organise a maximum of four characters at a time. Too bad if you missed a character before an important battle, hey?

There are plenty of references to the original STH titles (look carefully around the ruins of Eggman's Metropolis level!), and most of the background tunes are reworked versions from the vintage games, which I thought was a nice gesture for friends of the older games. It's a case of "Spot the Reference"!

It's a reasonably good RPG, but I don't see it becoming the essential DS title that Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was for the GBA. I'd recommend this for the hard-core Sonic fan, but the hard-core RPG fan will probably find this over way too soon.

Incidentally, this game carries a PART ONE WARNING - sequel to follow...

Find out more about the game here. You can also find some desktop wallpapers and game hints here too.

Adventures in Dentistry

Well, I went for my latest dentist appointment today, and fortunately, I didn't have to have that troublesome tooth at the back removed - he just repaired the filling. Hooray!

The sad part is, I actually don't mind going to the dentist.
Not only because the people who work there are very nice, but also because I find all the procedures so damn fascinating. The injections, the needles, that strange blue laser-thingy...
Yes, I know. That is strange.

In fact, I was looking forward to my appointment today.
Not just because I had a gaping hole in my tooth, but because I didn't have to do anything but show up! It made a change from having to worry about what everyone else (eg. customers and staff) wanted from me. All I had to do was sit back and relax...
while he ripped huge holes into my mouth with a drill.

Yes, I know. Strange.

...work (end)

Yay!
I'm finished with work - for the time being!
I have two days off now!!!
PHEW!

(seriously, some of my regular customers were starting to look at me funny.)

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I done broke it!

Also, I discovered something else today that is a little disappointing.

Last year, my older sister gave me a new alarm clock for Christmas. Not an ordinary one that just tells time and bleeps when you want it to, but one with a unique "deactivation" setting.
On top of the clock mechanism is a small sphere attached to a propeller blade. When the alarm goes off, the blade spins around rapidly, and flies off around the room. In order to stop the clock from bleeping endlessly, you have to find the sphere and place it back on top of the clock. Easier said than done at five in the morning!
Below is a picture of a similar model. The one I have is slightly less durable (as I'll explain shortly). Not my picture, btw, I found this one here.



I used the clock to wake me up on Sunday for the shift I mentioned in the last post (though it turned out I didn't really need it anyway). I switched it off the regular way, but later, when I had a look at the pieces, I realised there were too many. Yes, I done broke the propeller, and now it doesn't work any more!
I was bemused when I received the clock (well, more than a little insulted, actually), but now that it is broken I am sad. So, I'm going to try and glue it back together, if for no other reason than to say, "Hey, I tried to fix it!"

...work, con't.

More work to come... mutter grumble...

Last weekend was, um, fiascotastic. Turns out I had to work a bit longer than expected, but it also meant that I got to leave work and go straight to sleep, instead of having to go home and then back.
I did an eight hour close on Saturday, and an eight hour open on Sunday... with ten minutes sleep under my belt. And I was getting really worried because I noticed myself making really stupid little mistakes, like not giving customers the right change (though luckily it only happened twice, and I picked it up both times).
I was waiting for a co-worker to show up to relieve me, but she got delayed at her other job... which meant that she was working a FULL day as opposed to my eight hours. So I make no complaints, even though I'm still working nearly a solid two weeks.

When I eventually got home on Sunday, I slept for eighteen hours.
I woke up just in time to make my next shift... o_o

In other important news: Hawthorn won! Family happy! PS. Must call Dad.

Also: Noticed that Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is now available... Want, but not just yet (will wait until next payday). Hopefully my next post will tell you all about it.
And I still can't find a copy of The World Ends With You anywhere around here, though I keep looking...

Friday, September 26, 2008

...work, garbage, holes in my teeth

Ugh. Busy couple of weeks coming up.

I have volunteered some time over at one of the other service stations for the next couple of weeks, which equals twenty-five hours over five days.
Okay in itself, except that I also have to fill in another sixteen hours over the weekends at my usual haunt. No weekends off. I get no days off until mid-October.
mutter grumble...

I bought myself another CD today, Garbage's self-titled album. I bought their Absolute Garbage compilation a few months ago, and so now I wanna get the back catalogue. (Well, I've run out of Beatles' albums to collect, so I gotta switch to something else.)

Also, I re-jiggered the colour scheme of the blog because my Ma thought it was all purpley, when it was supposed to be blue... not that it really mattered to anyone but me.

Oh, and the dentist found a hole in the wisdom tooth I mentioned in the last entry, but he couldn't do anything because his sterilising unit was out of action. He put in a temporary filling in the meantime, but it fell out three days later... and I won't be able to see him again until October sometime. mutter grumble...

That's all for now...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

More Dental Problems

Today, while standing behind the counter at work, I felt around my mouth with my tongue, and felt something like a seed or a piece of food stuck behind my wisdom tooth...

I picked it out, and found it was a bit of tooth enamel.
Oh, god, not again! I just had that one fixed up a couple of months ago!!!
This probably means I will have to get it extracted, because there really isn't that much of the tooth left! It's mostly plastic filling now...

(insert image of $$$ flying away)

The only problem is, if I do get it removed, there is the risk of the nerve being damaged, because the last X-ray I had showed it was sitting very close to the nerve (which is why I didn't have it extracted before).
So, either I pay to have this new hole filled, or pay to have the whole tooth removed - which has the additional risk of injuring half my face.
DAMMIT!!!
So much for my dental hygiene... I guess I brought this on myself... mutter grumble...

A Big Burning Hole In The Ground

While I was at work on Sunday, I thought, "Gee, the sky looks a bit hazy over that way today..."

Turns out, the big open-cut coal mine down the road was on fire. It's still burning, and will probably continue to do so for a couple of days. Coal fires are pretty hard to put out, especially if it's deep down. The CFA have their work cut out for them (again).

The good news is that no-one was injured, and it isn't likely to inhibit coal production, so no-one will run out of electricity just yet.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Random Facts: Apples

Here's a quick quiz:
How many different types of apple are there?

a. about 12
b. about 30
c. about 50
d. about 150
e. about 7,500

The answer (according to Wikipedia, at least) is... (spoiler - highlight to read)
[e. Yes, over seven thousand types of apple!]
And I've only tried about six of them.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Murals, Street View of

I wish I could show you photos of the "finally finished" murals that I've spent most of this blog rabbiting on about, but unfortunately, getting my Mural group together has been a logistics nightmare. How difficult can it be to organise three people?! Well, very difficult, apparently. (To T. and &., I'm sorry. I know you both are really busy too, but I'll try to get us all together again somehow.)

Anyway, I can't show you any new mural photos... or can I?

You may have heard all the hoopla about Google Maps' Street View application invading people's privacy, and all that whatnot, but thanks to this innovative program, I can show you exactly how the murals look!
Go to the Australian Street View site, and type in this address: 7 Christian Street, Boolarra, Victoria, Australia 3870. Or, try this link. Your PC needs to be reasonably high-powered in order to use this site; it just barely works on mine.
This now solves my earlier question of whether the Title/Stump Mural has been installed yet (it has). And you can clearly see where the Lest We Forget mural has wound up.
You can rotate the camera in any direction, and move along the road to get a better view of the murals. You can zoom in for a closer look of the murals if you like, though I personally think that you find better pictures right here!

Also, see if you can spot all of the murals that were installed on Rutherglen Road in Newborough, postcode 3825... There used to be more of them, but some have been removed (or have fallen off - whoops).

What's Up This Week?

Aside from seeing my nephew in a play (see last post), I've done this stuff, in no particular order:
  • I sent my Dad a Father's Day parcel, and hopefully he's got it by now... basically the same old stuff I usually send him, but it's usually well appreciated - at least I've never heard any complaints from him... :)
  • I worked 20 hours over the weekend due to a serious lack of staff... most unfortunate, but this only happens very rarely I keep telling myself.
  • I found a copy of Zork: Grand Inquisitor that just refuses to run. At all. mutter grumble...
  • I also purchased a DVD-ROM burner drawer for the computer. After a bit of fiddling around with the master/Slave settings I managed to get it working just fine! at least SOMETHING I bought is working...
  • I went and had more dental work done this week, to the tune of $250, entirely out of my pocket because I don't have private health cover yet. I have however paid up my Ambulance membership - I don't fancy paying over $1000 for an ambulance trip when it only costs me $60 to join.
One of the things I would like to do this week is attend my friend's 30th Birthday dinner, but, sadly, I can't thanks to my job. Oh well...
Happy 30th Birthday, Slink!
Hope you enjoy the new PS2 game, whatever you pick!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Old School (plays)

Earlier this week, my nephew featured in his primary school's play, called "Showtime At Sea".
It was everything you'd expect from a bunch of junior school age children, and more! The funniest part was a little number with a classroom dressed up as fairy penguins, complete with little tuxes and top hats (meanwhile I hope the wardrobe department managed to fix it so that their hats actually stayed on for the whole act)!

It made me think back to some of the beautifully tragic plays that I featured in back when I was around his age.
I remember one year that was particularly awful. All of the kids in Grades 5 and 6 were allowed to put on little plays in honour of Nutrition Week. We were given "carte blanche" to perform whatever we wanted, so long as it had to do with nutrition. The two classes each broke up into groups of six and set to work. It took us about two or three weeks to set it all up (scripts, costumes, props, etc.) and at the end, we performed them in front of the rest of the school.

Well.
Instead of about a dozen different plays, we made the school sit through the SAME two plays, over and over again. Why? Because everyone copied what the rest of the classroom was doing. We saw what they had, and thought, "Hey, why bother with original ideas when what they are doing sounds much better?"
I can only imagine how disappointed our teachers must have been (especially the person who came up with the whole idea in the first place). Needless to say, we didn't have to do anything like that the next year!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

New Title Image

Hey!
I felt like updating the title image to something a bit more interesting.
...
Well, that's it. Hope you like it!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

4'33"

4'33" - Composition by John Cage, 1952
Performed at the Barbican Centre by the BBC Symphony Orchestra

If you want to find out more about this piece of music, click here. I guarantee that this song will get stuck in your head for the rest of the day!

New Monitor

I acquired a "new second-hand" computer monitor from a friend a few months ago, and last night I decided to set it up and see if it works.
Yep, it does! Now I have a lovely 42cm screen with which I can look at stuff in 1024x768 pixels... and it is a weird experience seeing stuff in a familiar size, only bigger!

Naturally I took a Dinkycam photo to commemorate the occasion.


I also took a photo of Jiji the cat, who was inside for some reason.


Yes, I did turn on the lights! I was a bit worried that these wouldn't work at all, because the camera wasn't uploading photos properly the last time I used it. Eep.
My Ma has told me that I can borrow her older Digital Camera, in case I feel inclined to take better photos. That is, photos with recognisable subjects.

I've also been doing some games stuff, and I'll also be upgrading my website sooner rather than later (yes, you'll finally be able to see things on it rather than just "coming soon, visit my blog in meantime").

Monday, August 4, 2008

My News

Aside from all that confec./art/bookish stuff, I've been quite busy these couple of weeks. I haven't been able to go painting for a while (almost a month), due to illness, work, and other general commitments. I will try to sort something out this week, and hopefully I'll have some photos of a finished mural to show you by next post!

During this internet session, I've been checking out my friends' blogs. Cathy's hasn't changed since I last visited, and Loretta's has been untouched for over a month! (I know why, though - both of them have been busy chickens with their education, so I'm not mad at them. :D )
Katie's blog has been a revelation. She has a good mind and a great heart, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her comments about life and people. She does have a habit of filling her posts with those "fill in your answers and send em back" type quizzes, though - I think her essays are much better!
I have been unable to read Krys' blog as of yet - it requires a LiveJournal account, for reasons I have yet to fully learn... (hers is a bit more personal than, say, this blog.) I don't want to start up an account for something I'm not likely to use, so I'll just have a read while she's logged in next time (don't worry, she gave me permission to do that)!
If any of my other friends are reading this, and have a blog... why don't you send me the link?

Also, I watched Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds Live On Stage DVD last week, and I still can't get the songs out of my head! That album gave me nightmares as a kid, but now I want to find a copy for myself...

Shameless Chupa Chups Promotion!!!

Speaking of Chupa Chups (and I was, but the way this blog is arranged makes the chronology a bit confusing)...
The place where I work has a huge display of these things standing quietly in the corner. I say huge, because it can hold 1,000 of the lollipops at once (assuming my calculations are correct, I'll check this up).
I spent a little while restocking it last night. It doesn't get much custom, because the smaller one on the counter is more prominent, but it is definitely a sight to behold. Just seeing this column of confectionery does something odd to the senses.

Anyway, that was what prompted me to mention the whole Salvador Dalí thing (check next post), so I've decided to dedicate some space to the humble lollipops. You can check out the Flash site and the corporate website for more info if you like (I suggest checking out the FAQs page under the "Brands" tab along the top. Note FAQ number four!)

Random Chupa Chups facts
  • Chupa Chups come from Spain! Olé!
  • The name means "Lick a Chups". They were originally just called "Chups" but a radio jingle led children to believe that the "chup a" part of the song was actually part of the name... and it kind of stuck.
  • The Spanish pronunciation is "Choopa Choops". We pronounce it as "Chuppa Chupps".
  • They have been around for 50 years! Happy birthday!
  • The company also makes Melody Pops, which we were never allowed to have as kids because they were way too noisy... ;(
  • Did I mention that Salvador Dalí helped to design the logo? (It's changed a bit since then, of course, but the daisy outline was his idea, as was the placement of the logo bang smack on the top of the lolly.)
  • You can buy miniature Chupa Chups decorations for your mobile phones! They're not edible, but they look just like a miniature version of the real thing.
  • The average price of a single Chupa Chup in Australia is 47 cents. (At least that's how much we charge for them.)
  • At the place I work, we sell about 19 different flavours, including some special 3-in-1 flavours like Strawberry-Orange-Kiwi.
  • If you were to buy all of the Chups on that display I mentioned above, it would cost you $A470.
  • My favourite flavour? Lemon Lime, or "Lime Lemon" as it's described on the wrapper.

The Persistence of Memory, 2009

Good news (for me at least)!
In about 11 month's time, the National Gallery of Victoria will be hosting a Salvador Dalí exhibition!
Hooray! Bring on the melty clocks and burning giraffes!

If you don't know who Salvador Dalí is, you'll probably recognise at least one of his paintings. His work has a distinctive style all of its own. Not only were his subjects so eerie and cerebral, his technique was quite frankly amazing. At times he painted with a brush equipped with a single fibre.
The guy was a genius.
And yet, he was virtually disowned by many of his peers for his shameless self-promotion, and his catalogue has been tarnished by the inordinate number of fakes (apparently he signed a number of blank canvases and papers for cash, so that others could create "original" Dalí-s to order).
Oh, and apparently he also designed the logo for Chupa Chups.

There was a recent, smaller exposition of Dalí's sculptures and framed works at a Southbank gallery several years ago. I almost went to see it, but for a slight misunderstanding at the time... (not blaming anyone)
I will definitely be going to see this show, even if the one painting I really want to see might not be there...
Roll on 2009!

Things I've Lurnded

For the past few years, I have been writing notes in a small blue notebook, which I have called "Things I've Lurnded". Yes, the spelling is deliberate.
The first entry dates from early 2003... and, though that is a while ago, the book is NOT full. Let's just say that I have approached this project with the same fervour that I approach most of my projects, that is, not very fervent. At all! Still, some of the things I've "lurnded" have been quite funny on reflection.

Things I've Lurnded
  • You can't kiss your own elbows without risking serious and permanent injury.
  • You can freeze vomit. Don't ask.
  • That tomatoes are actually not too bad when eaten raw. I used to hate raw tomatoes, now I love them. Basically I'm fickle.
  • To finish what I start! Riiiiight. You can see I've really "lurnded" this one good.
  • Job interviews can be extraordinarily weird. I applied for a job at a new supermarket opening up in the area, and the second step of the application process was more like a theatrical audition than an interview! They made us get up in front of the rest and perform an "advertisement" for a given product, presumably to see how we would interact. I did really badly. Thank gawd.
  • Bananas still can't be taken seriously! One of the other bizarre job interview things was to tell everyone the kind of vegetable or animal that best described you... and this was the one I picked. Hmmm...
  • Never forget your childhood.
  • Accept your family for what it is.
  • Don't eat too many cookies!
  • Strength can be exploited as weakness. (and vice versa)
  • The best way to solve a tricky problem is to come back to it later.
  • What I lack in physical strength, I make up for with imagination.
  • Don't be afraid to SPEAK UP.
  • Everyone has the power to help one's self - even if that's only the power to ask for help.
  • Having pets is a huge responsibility. And one few people understand...
  • What "artisan" really means. I thought it meant something like an artist who worked in basic materials like clay or metal. Actually, I wasn't that far off.
  • I may in fact be totally normal. Well, let's not jump to conclusions just yet...!
  • Wisdom can come from foolishness.
  • People with high standards of other's usually don't come up to their own.
  • "Sarsaparilla" is NOT a spelling mistake! Turns out, I was always spelling it wrong, and I'll bet a lot of other people were too.
  • I am really bad at following through on things!

Will post more when I feel like it!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Traralgon Bus Crash

Click these links to read the Herald Sun articles about the big bus/truck accident that happened yesterday:

Two Critically Hurt in Bus, Truck Crash
Bus Crash Victims Off Critical List

This happened about three hours before I was due in for work, and apparently traffic was backed up so bad people had to take detours around the accident site for several hours. My co-worker was one of them.
Two people on the bus were critically injured, including one passenger who was sitting up the front and received most of the impact. The rest of the passengers included young parents and children, and many received significant injuries. However, there were no fatalities.
Very scary stuff.
I drive along that section of road whenever I'm heading out that way, and I can understand how it happened. There's a bit of a hill before the place the semi-trailer pulled out, and you can't always see what's coming until you're over the crest. I can only imagine how difficult it would have been for the bus to stop in time.
They're recently changed the speed limit in that area because it was a bit of a traffic black spot. I wonder if they will do anything else now?

EDIT:
Since I wrote this, there have been another THREE significant road accidents in the area! What is going on around here? The SES has had one heck of a busy fortnight, I can tell you!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

In Absentia

Yar, you probably noticed I was gone a while.
Or, maybe you didn't. Is anyone even reading these posts?

I usually use the Internet in the evening or late at night, but I seldom go online if I know I have to work the next day. It's way too tempting otherwise... I often end up staying on all night if I am not careful... uh, what's that light creeping from behind the curtains, by the way?
And... things have been slightly more busy at work than previous weeks.
We are spread thinly at work again this week... sigh... so I must make sure not to screw up and oversleep or anything, so it may be a little while before I post anything significant.
(Have I yet?)

Not only will I have to juggle two different sites this weekend, I also get to miss out on yet another family gathering. Woo hoo.

In other news, I've added links for PostSecret and the official Alanis Morissete site. Haven't seen her new disc yet, but I only just bought her Under Rug Swept album this month, so I've gotta catch up!
I am also trying to get Uru: Ages Beyond Myst to work properly on this computer... but I think the videocard is incompatible for some reason. It used to work fine, but the computer has been re-formatted since I was last playing on it, so... who knows what's going on?

I have been organising things to send to my friends OS and interstate... slowly. The hard part will be sending confectionery items to the US, since the FDA still insists I fill out a pile of digital paperwork for every. single. item. I send there, as if I was going to poison chocolate bars and cookies! I mean, really.

I haven't been doing much creative stuff lately. I have to catch up with my mural friends at some stage, because we still have a little bit left to do (and it's really only a little bit, honest)... so next time you visit, I may have new photos!
No progress on my games, at least, nothing significant. Gotta pick up the slack.

...Gimme some time...
...Stay tuned...