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Friday, July 10th, 2009
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1:15 pm - It's time for another good idea / bad idea
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Good idea: Having a social drink with your roommate and friends.
Bad idea: Having lots of social drinks with your Irish roommate and friends on a Thursday night with an 8AM conference call the next morning.
The End.
(This is becoming a trend, I need to stop encouraging this sort of thing)
current mood: spluh
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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1:56 pm - Words
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I don't tend to post memes here, since I generally treat my LJ as more of a public narrative than an interactive experience. However, this one piqued my curiosity to see just how someone viewed me almost solely by the contents of my writing. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fahye and I met very briefly many months ago via LJ over "Obama won the election" drinks, and have managed to completely fail at seeing each other in person ever since. However, given she's a habitual writer and self-professed enthusiast of the fiddly bits of the English language, I took her up on her posted meme since I trusted she'd pick her words with some care:
Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" (or you can just ask for the meme, I won't mind) and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.
( My word(s)! )
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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1:48 pm - UberAmericana
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It's several days late to celebrate the 4th, but I only just discovered this video today. Given a) Canada Day was far more popular here, and b) fireworks are illegal, my 4th was pretty much a non-event; I actually felt more patriotic watching the pseudo-recruitment scenes of the US military getting its war on in Transformers 2. So it's nice to have this little collision of American culture as a mini commemoration: the national anthem played on a Louisville Slugger. It could really only be more American if he played in front of a waving American flag then exploded at the end.
current music: DRUM&BASSARENA - D&BA : The Risky presents...Camo & Krooked in the mix
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| Sunday, July 5th, 2009
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11:58 pm - Weekend parking
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Having spent all of Saturday glued to the couch on Fallout 3, I decided Sunday would have to be drastically different for the sake of not going back to work on Monday and feeling I was just there. However, sleeping in was still high on my priority list, so I decided a trip into the Ku-Ring-Gai national park just half an hour north would do the trick, since I'd looked at it so many times on Google Maps, but never actually gone. It would also give me an opportunity to scout the waterways it encompasses for possible future kayaking expeditions. Overall, the trip was a complete success, including several new boat launches found, a nice short trail hiked that mysteriously stopped some 50 feet from the best viewpoint, and re-inspiration to get off my ass once in a while and check stuff out.
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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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12:50 pm - Like a blowdryer on the snocone of my rational brain
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You know those girls from footage of Beatles or Elvis concerts who are screaming, crying, swooning, and generally going through an emotional 5 Mile Island in a very comical way?
Part of my brain does that every time I see footage of Joss Stone singing.
current music: Joss Stone - Jet Lag
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| Monday, June 29th, 2009
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4:00 pm - Take a walk with me
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| Saturday, June 27th, 2009
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2:09 pm - It's time for another Good Idea/Bad Idea
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Good idea: Getting up on time to make it into the office by 7AM Saturday morning to shut down hardware before the air conditioning goes offline and they fry themselves.
Bad idea: Getting drunk the night before at a birthday party in The Cross and going to bed only 4 hours before you're supposed to get up.
The End.
(EDIT: Decided this topic was worthy of making a userpic, since I will undoubtedly re-use it)
current mood: groggy
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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5:53 pm - Goddamn you, Sydney ticket prices!
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Monday, July 27th, at Horden Pavillion, Jane's Addiction will be playing with the original lineup. Perry Farrel and Dave Navarro on the same stage again. And yet.
The price? $90 a head.
What the hell is wrong with these people??
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| Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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3:45 pm - Legal nuances
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I have learned two things in the past couple days about Australian law / bureaucracy that I find more amusing than anything.
1) On my way to the airport when I went to Brisbane, I forgot to leave my pocketknife in my desk, and had someone leaving work at the same time hold on to it and put it on my desk the next day. He looked at me like I was asking him to smuggle a half ton of coke, but took it and hid it in his bag. Talking to him yesterday, he apparently asked a friend in the police about carrying knives, and confirmed it is technically illegal to carry a pocketknife of any size or kind here. It's considered a "concealed weapon", even my little 2" folder I bought at a gas station in CO. Coming from a state where pocketknives are about as common as belts, this is needless to say rather odd to me.
2) Now that my currently issued OR drivers license is more than 3 years old, I gave another try at obtaining an Australian drivers license. This was something like my 4th attempt, since I'd been denied by some subtle detail over and over by various disinterested government workers, but this time I had all my paperwork in order. I was set. Except when the lady behind the counter informed me that, as a non-resident, regardless of when my visa was issued, I have to have stayed in the country for at least 6 months consecutively before I can be eligible for a NSW drivers license.
Since I moved here, I have never been in the country for more than 3 months consecutively, let alone 6, and don't imagine that will change anytime soon.
On the plus side, I can apparently drive both a car and a motorcycle on my OR license in this country for as long as I have a valid visa, so all this time I thought I was surreptitiously driving on a flimsy excuse, I was actually completely legal. So, while I would've liked to have a local drivers license for the novelty, I'm happy to keep my legal presence here quite basic.
current mood: amused
current music: - Bleep Bloop: 8-player Extravaganza
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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7:51 pm - Bleh
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Work today has been one thing failing after another. Still here, and probably will be past 8 at least. I was really hoping to get some climbing in tonight, but I'm not sure I'm going to have the capacity for it tonight.
However, I must as an aside express how much I thoroughly love Hayling by FC/Kahuna, since it just came up on my playlist as I'm pounding away at the keyboard. I first heard it on Monkey Radio some years ago, and was happily surprised to hear it in Riding Giants with a quiet yet breathtaking sequence of the breaks at Mavericks. Simple lines and simple beats, but it suits me perfectly.
"Don't think about all those things you fear. Just be glad to be here."
current music: FC Kahuna - Hayling
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| Monday, June 15th, 2009
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10:50 pm - Single occupancy
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I've had the house to myself for the better part of two days now, and man had I forgotten how much I like living by myself. I love the peace and quiet without the TV blaring all evening, I love that I can invite people over without worrying what the roommate has going on, and that I don't have to retreat to my room if I feel like doing something only I like. The place feels huge with just me, too. A studio apartment is looking pretty good these days...
current music: Eddie Vedder - No More
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9:23 am - The Pacific Northwest Trail
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Apparently, a new national trail crossing the US from west to east has been given funding, called the Pacific Northwest Trail:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_pacific_northwest_trail.html
While I like the idea, I really think this is a misguided one, for two reasons. One, do we really need to be spending money on this now? We still have a major deficit to manage, and you don't max out your credit cards, then go buy new camping gear. And two, there is a lot of very boring land to cross from the west coast to the east. The PCT and AT are at least following mountainous wilderness areas; between ranges, there's a whole lot of flat filled with farms. Not really fun for hiking.
Also, you just know someone is bound to break an axle and die from dysentery on this thing.
current music: Kasabian - Club Foot
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| Sunday, June 14th, 2009
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10:36 am - International Lampoon's European Vacation
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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12:08 pm - Some things I've learned in 31 years
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- I actually know what I'm doing more often than I think. I just have to believe it.
- I will never grow tired of Kraft Mac n Cheese. Ever.
- Over time, the reward of "presents" is increasingly replaced with "presence".
- Good friends are self-selecting, and are never really lost, just subject to long absences.
- The more I can abuse my body, the less I can let alcohol abuse it as well. And I'm fine with that.
- However, if you have to cut beer completely out of your diet for non-medical reasons, you're doing something wrong.
- It is possible to have enough stuff. And it doesn't take much. It does however tend to be a process of elimination.
- Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day, but not for the reasons we were told.
- Work is important, but not the point, regardless of how much people with MBAs try to tell you otherwise.
- I have a lot I want to do, but there's still a lot to be said for doing nothing on a regular basis.
- This list is never complete.
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10:33 am - More true than I care to admit
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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4:57 pm - Sydney by water
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Finally got off my ass yesterday afternoon after teetering dangerously on the edge of being sucked into playing Assassin's Creed and took the kayak out again on the harbor. I've been gradually refining how I store and transport this massive thing on my own, and the transportation I've just about got down without the benefit of a roof rack, but the storage "system" still leaves everything to be desired. Nonetheless, strides are being made.
I ventured a little further into the back bays of the harbor this time, into Sugarloaf Bay, one of the few inlets of the harbor not lined with housing from waterline to treeline. Only about 3 miles of paddling from the boat ramp and you're in an area practically devoid of signs of civilization, apart from a few houses peeking over the trees and the weekend yachters scattered among the moorings. Kookaburras and cormorants called from the trees, and it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine this place before Captain Cook arrived, silent winding waterways wrapped in eucalyptus and gum tree forests. I took my time, letting the wind push me around the shallow mudflats at the back of the bay while I basked, then paddled back, hazarding a hasty crossing over the main boating channel and surfing some wake waves a little closer to shore than I'd intended. My return to the boat ramp was timed perfectly as the sun made itself scarce behind the trees and my feet began to go numb from sitting in the puddles of water from the scuppers.
Considering how comfortable I was with the distance, I'm definitely encouraged to stretch my explorations further inland and build my stamina for longer day trips and even overnight trips. Looking at the satellite overview on Google Maps, I just happen to be at the start of the most secluded reaches remaining of Sydney Harbor, so I can not only get my distance practice in, but enjoy some Australian wilderness in the process just 1k from my front door. From there, I only have to head a little ways north to Newport or Bobbin Head, and I have miles and miles of waterways in national park land to explore.
current music: Tiësto - Tiësto`s club life podcast 113
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| Friday, June 5th, 2009
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5:02 pm - The Wizard Will See You Now: Healthcare in the land of Oz
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Of the things Australia has really done right, alongside alcoholism and head trauma as a sport, their healthcare system is also really quite impressive. Striking a fine balance between the hopelessly state-controlled bureaucracy of the UK, where average wait time to be treated for cutting your leg off is about 8-10 months, and the pinnacle of organized crime in the US known as HMOs, Australian healthcare manages to, of all things, provide decent free care to all its citizens while offering a range of privatized options to those who can afford it. That's right, a working healthcare system. I actually went to the doctor today, and was told my visit would be free because I'd already paid for my last two visits, and it didn't seem necessary to charge me again.
And somehow, the universe did not implode from sheer improbability.
( Wild conjecture and half-assed theory as to how this is possible )
current music: Tank Riot - TR#72: Zombies!
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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11:49 am - Illin
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Now, I'm not the type of guy to declare he's dying when he gets sick, but I'm definitely feeling somewhat... cadaverously reanimated at the moment.
Just as well it's just a cold/flu/something or other, since soup is much more easily attainable right now than brains. But it's downstairs, so not by much.
current mood: immobile
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| Monday, May 25th, 2009
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7:24 pm - Um.... ok
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I've now been dismissed before even meeting in person by a 40-year-old woman on an internet dating site because she didn't like my hair.
It's official, Sydney is the worst singles city in the world.
current music: Jaydiohead - No Karma
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| Thursday, May 21st, 2009
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8:52 pm - Sydney CBD @ 2AM in a nutshell
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I really don't need to put this in any context, it speaks for itself.
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