I've always had trouble with ADSL & the ability to send a message to the blog of more than a couple of lines. Now it accepts everything, completely out of the blue!
The orange lines under the dates are back as well! I have no idea why they disappeared in the first place & I have an equal lack of idea why it has returned.
I have no complaints, so long as it all continues to operate this smoothly. However, I'm not quite as confident as the grammer in the above paragraph!
Had a flick through a charming little book by the name “F***”. Sounds slightly wrong & well… it is. It covers the elaborate history of the word “Fuck”.
I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in this blog before! I’m a bad-mouthed lad aren’t I?
Like most, I was under the impression that “fuck” was a relatively new word that only came to being in the 20th century. How wrong I was!
The origins go right back to the 16th Century! However, I think it’s used a bit more liberally these days, but surprisingly enough, it was used mainly by the various military forces before becoming mainstream. Since Australia hasn’t had it’s own military for more than a couple of hundred years, it must be the Yanks we have to blame!
A couple of films reviews follow, so if you haven’t seen “Signs” or “Birthday Girl” you may not wish to read any further.
I was looking forward to Signs, due to the crop circle element. I’ve always been interested by the myriad of designs that appear in fields across the world overnight. I know most are done by some very clever groups of people with bits of string, wooden boards & some really good math & design skills. I also know that these groups confess to not makings other circles because they deem some of the designs to be far beyond their late night abilities. Where do those circles come from? The question is raised, but rarely answered. There are some great web sites covering the circles which are always up to date & do make you wonder.
Anyway, back to the film. From the outset, it looked just a little dodgy & maintained that dodgyness up until the end when the whole religious beliefs are brought to light.
Quite simply, Signs is a “god will lead the way” film. I have no problem with the religious thoughts of other individuals. Even though I don’t believe in God & the bible, I still respect those that do. Since absolutely no-one has definitive proof of whether this whole “life” thing is a really big chemical reaction or the play thing of a higher power with some really weird ideas, how can a final judgement be made.
Whatever the case, I don’t appreciate being subject to one man’s thoughts being portrayed in cinemax & paying good money for the privilege!
I saw the trailer for Birthday Girl a few months back & unlike Signs, wasn’t overly enthusiastic about seeing it.
Let me now say, that Birthday Girl is a great film! It’s not overly complex but there are a couple of twists that do surprise & make the plot really satisfying.
Nicole Kidman playing a Russian is very convincing. Even though I don’t know any Russians per se, she had me fooled. Nicole may be a famous film star that has had some ups & downs over the past few years, but her acting abilities are as strong as ever.
The rest of the cast are also solid, from the lead character, John & his porn fetish to the interested female co-worker who just can’t get noticed by John & suspects nothing about his life outside work.
I’m waiting to see “The Sum of all Fears” soon, then there will be some odd films hitting the screen such as “Goldmember”, “Eight Legged Freaks” & “Triple X”.
After the last post, maybe I’m wrong. Disgraced footballer, Wayne Carey, has been signed with the Adelaide Crows, after vowing a few months ago, that he would never play football again.
Adelaide is already the murder capital of the world (lucky to be here really). Now it looks as though we’re trying to get a few more moral offences added to the title.
Wayne screwed around for four months with his best mate’s wife, who also happened to play on the same team. His actions saw him resign from his club & look for other employment options.
Now, he’s as happy as Larry, with a salary per year that I will never get close to in my lifetime. The Adelaide Crows are happy since they’ve managed to get hold of a player they would never have otherwise obtained through the draft system & the whole shag everyone else’s woman comment fades into the background as Carey gets treated as a hero.
In the words of Roy Slaven – “Lock up your daughters!”.
Last Thursday saw two 16 year old guys wrap their Nissan Sylvia around a tree a few minutes away from our house. So far, the only view of the deaths have been that they were aspiring Australian football players & it was a massive tragedy for the game.
I try hard to not be shallow, but I can’t help but think that the loss to football is rather insignificant to the loss being suffered by their parents. Unfortunately, both are being treated as heroes, when realistically, they were a couple of kids belting around in a high performance car at significant speed. I’ve seen the tree they hit & viewed the photos of the car after impact. To create the sort of damage inflicted, they would have hit the tree at probably double the speed limit of 60kph, if not more.
Both came from my old high school & the 150-200 students gathered around the tree, the morning following the crash, demonstrates the effect of the loss to the wider community.
I just wish that such an event would be better used to educate younger drivers that it doesn’t matter who they are or what they do, no-one is impervious to paying for their actions.
Here we go.... the Friday Five. (& only a couple of days late!)
1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I'm an accountant. I've been doing it for around six years for a number of companies, so I suppose it's what I've chosen to do!
2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
The other 128 hours that I'm not working revolve primarily around music, so that's the field I would be in & hopefully will be one day soon.
3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
Unfortunately, the parents were probably an influence. My sister had already gone down the music path & was pretty reckless in doing so. I, on the other hand, was the responsible one, getting into a solid profession... to my own detriment!
4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
Never had to, but I would always choose having a family over a career. I just need someone to make a family with!
5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
Well, teachers get it pretty good because they're always on holidays & never work a full eight hour day. I've never seen a council worker do anything, so that may be the easiest & most boring job in the world. The hardest would be a surgeon because there are rarely second chances in that profession!
Well, tomorrow I get back to work. Just starting to get into the holiday mood too!
Haven't really done a whole lot while on holidays, but that's the was it's supposed to be, isn't it? Today has been a bit of a non-event. A very quiet day that tops off a good Saturday night & an even better Friday night!
I caught up with a heap of people I used to work with at FACO. It's not very often you return & party in the old offices that you couldn't wait to get away from. I ended up drinking shots of various mixtures in the boardroom. All good fun.
My first week of holidays in two years & the club lasts nearly three whole days without me!
Had the call from the boss at about 4:30pm to go in & sign a few cheques. I'm fairly annoyed, because it took me about twenty minutes to become a signatory & the boss has had around four months.
Maybe that's what happens when you play golf everyday!
Finally, I have my amp back! First, it was supposed to be Friday last week even though I was too busy to pick it up, it would have been nice for the repairer to contact me & let me know what was going on. I called on Monday to see if I could pick it up & after a poorly made up excuse, was told Wednesday!
Even under warranty, it still cost me $70 for new pre-amp tubes, which I'm not too fussed about. I just want to know how it takes a repairer eight days to find a bung tube!
I didn't perform my Friday Five duties last week & I felt guilty. This week, there is no Friday Five due to a bit of moving over at smattering. Therefore, I've decided to do an older five, from my birthday which occured on a friday this year.
1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well?
I'm a pisces baby & I follow it to the letter.
2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received?
I am one of these people that hates birthdays. That's also part of being a pisces - not very good at receiving gifts! However, I have received some crap in the past. I think it's mainly because I never want anything, so people have no idea what I'd like.
3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?
The best birthday present was unexpected. I received flowers at work a couple of years ago. They were anonymous & I was quite embarrased once word got around the office. They ended up being from a friend that I used to work with. It was a very special present & I love her for it. Thanks Carls!
4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far?
I try to not celebrate birthdays & I don't think I've done anymore than dinner with friends.
5. What are your plans for this weekend?
Well, this coming weekend should be a good one. Catching up with a bunch of FACO guys on the Friday night for lots of drinking & gambling. Movies at my sister's place with a bunch of people on Saturday night. Hopefully, I can catch up with a friend on the Sunday that I haven't seen for a while. All is good!
I just posted a whole heap of gear over ADSL including updating the template code. Amazing!
I'm yet to get my computer back into a fully operative state, but I've actually been able to make more changes to the site with the PC down than I would with it fully functional.
Anyway, I've finally updated some photos. I'm going to shrink a few when I can since some can't be shown in full due to the frames.
There are some voices that are so annoying you just have to leave.
Woman from “Office National” turned up to update their stationery catalogue on a computer at the club. She has one of those voices that seem to penetrate the fibres of the soul and twists them into painful shapes.
I had to leave the room…. I just had to leave……Aaaarrrrrhhhhh!
Took my amp to be repaired. Found the address to take it to. Found that no business resides at that address. Eventually found the little sign next to the front door of the private home!
There’s always something awkward about walking up someone’s driveway who you don’t know. Thankfully I found the sign before the neighbors called the cops about a strange loiterer.
The repairer has a shop the size of your average bathroom filled with various amp components. At first sight it all seemed incredibly dodgy, but the band posters littering the ceiling with words of thanks provided confidence that he knows what he’s doing & works on the equipment for most of Adelaide’s bands.
Should have the amp back in my possession by Friday, just in time for my week of holidays. Good stuff!
As I’ve said before, Windows XP finally died & after contemplating the various forms of abuse warranted to the global shambles known as Microsoft, I installed Windows 98 & it runs as solid as a rock.
I then had the idea of breaking up the 20 gig hard drive & installing XP on a partition to have both worlds available. Only one crash during the setup of XP which was a bit of a concern, but now both exist & seem to be working fine.
All is good!
Now I can spend some time reinstalling everything I’ve lost, plus I’ve left a few gig to install Linux. Basically, I’m a sucker for punishment & won’t be happy until I’ve completely buggered my system!
I’m in a bit of a cleaning mood at work. A couple of trays sit at the back of my desk & as the week goes on, looks more & more like it should be the pile of paper to be sent for shredding. However, since it all remains important gear, shredding will not occur & it all requires some sort of filing to take place. If I was still at FACO, I could have someone else do it for me, but that’s a luxury that no longer exists!
It’s also a feeble attempt to get everything sorted before moving into the office that’s been awaiting my occupation since August 2000. When this move will take place is another matter entirely.
After being fairly ticked off with the boss, I went in & made a couple of demands. Demand 1 – Holidays. Demand 2 – Office. The holidays are fine but the office may take little more convincing. When he finally gets back, from yet more golf, on Thursday I’ll have a better idea of what’s going on. Until then I’ll keep progressing with the cleaning & doing a bit of hoping.
If nothing happens, It’ll just look like I’m a really tidy person! We all know that’s just no the case.
I think I’m going through a bit of a psychic phase for the past couple of weeks. Now I’ll be the first to say that all these tarot & palm reading, big earring, scarf wearing gypsies are nuts & are quite happy ripping off the unaware. Just every now & then, too many consequential things occur that makes me wonder about fate, etc.
Firstly, in moving all my crap into my new built-in robe, I stumbled across a set of ESP cards put out by Time Life magazine. I’ve tested myself before & had a couple of sessions where I eerily got a number of the cards right, but this time the first five cards I picked correctly & was then disturbed by something that then threw me from this weird run. I still ended up with more than ten of the cards right! Does that prove anything? Didn’t think so!
Secondly, I found one of my old high school yearbooks and did a bit of reminiscing. There are some people that pop up occasionally & others which I know I’ll never see again. In the last couple of weeks two have popped up out nowhere just as I’ve been thinking of them. One of them I drove past on my way home from work & I caught them from the corner of my eye, the other had their name on the paper as the contact to a job advert from the same agency that found me my current job.
It’s all a bit bizarre & I’m wondering where all this paranormal gear is leading.
The last post is pretty heavy stuff, but since this whole journal is written on the spur of the moment, I am reluctant to change the thoughts as they were written.
I’m feeling a bit better about the world today, after finally getting the boss off my back & sorting out his errors while he plays golf everyday.
Thankfully, I’m taking a weeks holiday next week. My first holiday in the two years I’ve been with the club!
Okay, I’m sitting at my desk at work, simply trying to think things through which isn’t easy.
The weekend was good. After a couple of weeks with my bedroom being shifted around in it’s entirety, all without my involvement, I was starting to feel a bit better about the whole ordeal.
I’ve already had one run in with my mother over my room, in which she had no hesitation on calling me a “miserable bastard” & that I make her home look like a “hovel”. I was pretty cut at the time, but just thought “fuck it”. I admit that ever since, I’ve looked at her differently. My room doesn’t feel like my space anymore & my mother doesn’t feel like someone I want to associate with. I definitely can’t talk to her openly anymore which is a shame.
I remember a few comments from a friend where her father called her a bitch & that a good decade later they still don’t communicate like father & daughter. I forever wondered how two people who should be so close could ever drift apart. I have this horrible feeling that this maybe the case between me & my mother.
Last night tipped me over the edge. I’m someone that never gets verbally or physically aggressive in a conflict. I get caught for things to say which will make a difference to someone else’s way of thinking. This effect actually has a name – “the spirit of the stairs”. It simply means that you always come up with the best things to say after you’ve had some time alone to analyse the situation.
My mother walked into my room to say goodnight while I sat on my bed playing the guitar. I have one cable going from the guitar to the amp & one power cord from the amp to the wall. From the unavoidable tangle that cords get in, she had a go about how I’m now using the corner of the room as my new dumping ground.
I’m generally a bit anal when it comes to being tidy. I’ll notice when things are spread around & it won’t take long before I’ll get off my ass & clean things up. However, when everything is spotless & a cord lies in a spot that is necessary for my to actually play the guitar, I don’t consider the room to be a mess.
The general feeling I have is that I am a guest in the place I am supposed to call home. It’s pretty scary to think that way.
I should have said that a post is coming, whenever I get everything up & running properly again. It may be as early as tonight, but I can't promise anything!
No weekend post I'm afraid! The whole Windows XP thing is now completely rooted!
I've been putting up with XP since December last year, constantly forgiving the random shutdowns, reboots, hangs, etc. Now it has gone too far & It's corrupted the registry & setup files & the repair function on the original XP erazed everything I had.... again!
So back to Windows 98 I go, in the hope of a bit of stability.
Well, August has begun & it is the month that the girl I fell for in high school ties the knot in the very Clubhouse where I work. Congratulations to young Michelle & I wish her all the best.
We never actually got together as boyfriend/girlfriend, but I loved her just the same. When high school came to an end & everyone went their separate ways, I didn’t see Michelle for about seven years. Our paths have crossed a number of times over the ten years since high school, with nearly all of them through pure coincidence. Having her reception at the Golf Club is the final big coincidence & will probably be a bit of closure to this non-existent affair. It feels odd, but not as bad as I thought. For some reason, the thought of her walking down the aisle troubled me, but I’m happy for her now as I imagine she is happy being in love.
I’ve been trying to take a couple of decent photos of myself. Let me just say this is a struggle.
I think my main problem is that I don’t really have a proper smile. When I say I don’t have a smile, I do, but it just never comes out on film & I end up looking like some freak that should be kept behind closed doors away from the fabric of our society.
I imagine it’s the same effect as when you hear yourself on tape or over the radio. Basically you never sound like you think you do & maybe that is transferred to the way we think we look! I sure hope that’s the explanation or I am one ugly mother.
Did the big drive out to Salisbury to have the guys look at my amp.
My original assessment was correct…. It’s buggered.
Valve amps normally always have a fault when new, or so I’m told. Now all I need to do is get it fixed.
While out at “Music Corner”, I picked up a new guitar stand (one which doesn’t fuck up the lacquer on the neck), a set of new grubb screws for the strat which are getting rusty & a copy of Fender’s Frontline 2002!
Frontline is Fender’s annual catalogue that is sent out in bulk to all Fender distributors world wide & is supposed to be given out free. Finding a store that actually does give them out is another story. I’ve heard that quite a few places hoard them & I recently discovered that “Derringers”, where my strat was obtained as well as other bits & pieces, do the same. A month or so ago, I asked for a copy & was told bluntly that they don’t copies available. What a load of crap. The guy made a half-arsed attempt to look through a few cupboards before telling me they didn’t have any. However, one of those cupboards was chock full of Frontline goodness!
Let me just say that the extra hour of driving to get to ““Music Corner” is worth it, just to get some decent service.
Real estate agents shit me sometimes! I’ve registered with Toop & Toop to find houses that match a specific set of requirements. Having a service where potential properties are emailed to you is a great idea.
The problem is that every house that I’ve been informed of comes with an “A” rating, (which is supposed to mean my requirements are matched exactly), but they are overpriced by nearly double.
I know that real estate guys try to get the top price and push hard to stretch a buyer’s worth, but seriously, I want a little 2-3 bedroom place & not a mansion with a heated pool & tennis court!
Real estate agents shit me sometimes! I’ve registered with Toop & Toop to find houses that match a specific set of requirements. Having a service where potential properties are emailed to you is a great idea.
The problem is that every house that I’ve been informed of comes with an “A” rating, (which is supposed to mean my requirements are matched exactly), but they are overpriced by nearly double.
I know that real estate guys try to get the top price and push hard to stretch a buyer’s worth, but seriously, I want a little 2-3 bedroom place & not a mansion with a heated pool & tennis court!
Some people don’t take this decision lightly & would be livid that it not be done.
This week’s five delves deep into ancestral heritage. Something I know very little about & don’t really have that much interest for.
I know that it should be important to understand the background of your family tree, but if I go back as far as my grandparents, the tree gets a bit mangled & no one knows exactly where each other came from. There is even a bit of conjecture as to whether the parents of certain relations are actually their real parents!
I imagine that my roots go back to Ireland, Scotland or England but I’ll probably never know for sure!
Speaking of films, “Eight Legged Freaks” is soon to open & even being a complete spider-phobe, I’m looking forward to it.
The trailer was shown before “Dirty Deeds” and caught up with me a couple of nights later.
Rarely do I have nightmares & this is the closest I’ve come for some time. I dreamt that I was having a couple of sandwiches for lunch & after the first half, I’ve looked down before eating & I’ve noticed that the visible grains in the wholemeal bread just happen to be those little black spiders that curl up & hide in tight spots.
I don’t think it was too long before I woke up but the thought that I’d eaten a bunch of these little buggers was a bit off putting!
I don’t know the distribution of new Australian film “Dirty Deeds” for the rest of the world, but if it comes by your way, definitely check it out.
Australian made films normally fall under the category of “crap” & watching the Channel 9 logo pop up during the opening credits was not a good sign. However, the subsequent two hours of celluloid were brilliant. Not brilliant in a film that will be looked upon as an all time favorite but as an in the moment, cleverly designed & put together film.
Bryan Brown has played the gangster type of character before & John Goodman is just always a good actor, no matter the role. The violence level is fairly high with lots of shooting & blood, but even though these guys take matters into their own hands & rub out anyone causing them grief, they still don’t enjoy it & have a degree of conscience.
The young Aussie actress plays a mistress by the name of Margaret looks amazingly similar to Christina Applegate until she opens her mouth & spills the non-American accent.
The quality of this flick shows that Australian producers are finally learning the art of film-making & having Fox Studios in Sydney (currently filming the new Matrix films as well as other notable Hollywood box office hits) assists this learning process once dominated by overseas.
Saw the nine miners get plucked from their predicament. CNN had a great link to a station in Pittsburgh which gave live streams. Although blurry, as real media usually is, the pictures of the yellow rescue cage emerging from the depths is still incredible.
I’m sure the moviemakers in Hollywood have already toyed with the idea of bringing such an amazing story to the big screen. If they do Nicholas Cage will definitely get a gig. The resemblance between Cage and survivor “Harry B. Mayhugh” is beyond uncanny!
Monday has come & gone, so I missed out on being on radio. Oh well, I probably wouldn’t of worked out since I was flat out anyway. On their web site, they have a stream of the show, so I’ll check that out when I can. There may be other good bloggers to listen to!
When my Fender amp started spluttering I wasn’t overly worried. Both Dad & myself thought it sounded like a bad connection on the circuit board. Since it’s still under warranty, there’s absolutely no point in opening the casing & fixing it even if the problem would be simple to fix.
However, after browsing the Fender Australia website & finding the Adelaide amp repair place, I gave them a call on the weekend. The guy on the other end wasn’t impressed that I disturbed his Saturday by ringing his business number, but helped me out anyway. The catch with the warrantee on the amp is that in order to have the repairer look inside, they must first have an authorisation number directly from fender. Although inconvenient, that sounded fair. In order to obtain this authorisation number, I was told to contact the store where the amp was purchased and provide them the details of the amp such as the model & serial number. Easy!
One quick phone call later & it should all be solved? Not likely. For the original store to get in contact with Fender to obtain an authorisation number, the dealer must be satisfied there is a legitimate problem with the amp. The only way they can do this? Inspect & check the amp in their store!
When I originally bought the amp, it was an unexpected purchase. It was the only other Fender dealer in Adelaide, so on the prospect that they might have some interesting gear, I went for a drive to the other side of town. Now this place is about 1.5 hours from home, so it’s not exactly convenient, but if that’s what it takes to get repairs done under warranty, then so be it.
Looks like my amp is going to get to see a fair amount of scenery over the next week or so. I just hope this is the only problem I gets for a while.
Did I mention that in order to get the amp to these places, I have to take it during the week during working hours? How many places do you know that get a three hour lunch break to do this sort of mission?
The half decent temperatures of the weekend have faded into some of the chilliest mornings on offer. The sun still shines but the air is completely still. On my way to work, the cars in our area are blowing steam due to the cold but when they move away, the steam just hangs, suspended until blown away by the movement of another vehicle.
