archivage

Returned [|] [2008 11 10 09:38:46]

Okay, so now that I've updated my layout somewhat. It's all CSS and percentages, I think. If it doesn't work for you, try another browser. I generally use SeaMonkey, or Firefox 3 under linux/kubuntu, so I have a biased perspective.

I need to move again. That sucks. This time I am moving in with a friend of mine, hopefully to start his rental records since he wants to move out of home. It will be a new experience. :)

What else? I want to buy a house, but I need to find somewhere stable to live while I worked out those details. Not something I want to rush into.

I'm also still sick, must be almost 2 weeks now. I think a combo of cold and hayfever.

Also seems my job will shuffle a little starting next year. I may also get a pay upgrade, schweet eh?

[ stunned ]

Blood drained [|] [2008 09 22 10:51:18]

So I went to the doctor this morning and it seems I do have a build up uric acid, therefore gout. He kept telling me to lower my intake of alcohol, drink more water, do more exercise, eat less fat...and if you ever knew me, I already do these things.

The fact I got gout because I was exercising... also it seems my medication is making me faint, so I need to lower the dosage, and I've been missing out my gym and taekidokai classes, this does not make me happy. :(

He said to rest, so here I am at home again. I'm glad I've got heaps of sick days and a stable work environment. I may even get more pay with this salary shuffle thing. Also, seems there will be some structural changes at my work which will alter my position slightly. Possibly be less responsible and more reactive to more people.

I've been watching lots of StarGate: Atlantis. I'm up to season 2, in which I needed to buy a $35 DVD player to watch, because my usual one is too sensitive. I've noticed less features on the cheaper one.

I also finally managed to watch Season 3 of (the new) Dr Who... here comes the drums...

[ here comes the drums... ]

Blood [|] [2008 09 18 11:05:51]

So two weeks ago, I was in taekidokai class and we did some freesparring and I must have kicked someone and managed to hurt my toe. It hurt a little bit over the evening, but I slept well. In the morning, nothing, all good again.

I played D&D 4 on Saturday and went to WW for Father's Day. Came back Monday, went to work Tuesday and gym'd in the evening.

Wednesday morning, I wake up with a screaming pain in my toe. It drove me crazy. Not crazy enough to stay at home, so I limped around work for the rest of the week. I think it got worse. I'm stubborn like that because I expect it to heal in a day or so. It didn't. So I managed to get a doctor's appointment Sunday morning, and he thinks I have gout. Hilarious. And no, I don't binge drink or really drink alcohol much ever. I often think saying 'I don't recall the last time I drank alcohol' is a good answer, though. I suspect the doctor thought I was a typical male between 18-40. :P Anyway, he issued me some medication (indomethacin) and get a blood test, which I finally managed to get yesterday. My body got a bit faint and I needed to recover. I feel HEAPS better now.

I'm also suffering hayfever. Great.

[ recovering, slowly. ]

Sleep [|] [2008 08 22 14:05:46]

For some reason I've been fighting sleep more recently. I mean, sure, there's occasions when due to food reasons, or excitement, I find it hard to sleep, stay asleep and feel rested in the morning.

Last night was considerable disturbed. I think it must have been due to going to taekido class again and my body was all rev'd up. I mean, we went to bed like 9pm or so. But I couldn't get to sleep and instead I got up around 10pm and watched an episode of DrWho Season 3.

However, this particular episode had a 'to be continued' and it was very exciting, so I had to the watch the next one. Almost midnight I get back to bed and sleep okay. I planned to wake up early, so we could run about doing stuff, including eating breakfast and going red. I managed to do all that in sufficient time, but I was not naturally awake. Instead I actually had an energy drink. It has been some time since I've done this, because I kept getting headaches drinking CocoCola. I suspect now it's Coke that is the problem, not the caffeine.

Anyway, my point was I now have 2 cans of Lemon V. Yes, yet again a lemon flavoured energy drink has arisen. I recall drinking consistently Lift Plus. I wonder how long this one will last...

[ buzzed ]

Why so serious? [|] [2008 07 27 18:55:08]

Hehe, yes, I finally saw Batman: Dark Knight. It was great. Had excellent comic references, great story. More than I expected. And The Joker worked.
See it.

I've also now watched Season 1 of Lost. I just have more questions. Fortunately I do not have to wait for Season 2, unlike Heroes. Or Season 4 of BSG.

But am I doing anything? I'm just filling in time. Occupying myself.
Surviving. Content. Okay, sure, I bought myself a car, slowly paying that off. On the other hand, I discovered again that my working conditions are awesome. I still know it.

I've had this cold thing all week, and Rina had Monday off with me. That was a good idea. Going to work for the rest of the week was not. But I was busy. Week 1 of Semester 2. But now I might take another off... relax more...

[ pressured ]

Now with skillz [|] [2008 07 01 16:01:57]

Remember how I passed my linux test the other week? Well it seems I also got a 2 (out of 2) for my assignment. Thus means I have passed. I am fully competent to administrate RedHat now. Apparantly. Or I may have had the skill base before, but now they have been Nationally accredited. Schweet! Not a waste of time/money.

Now I need to do something else for professional development. On the other hand, I would prefer to do some basics in saxaphone. But unfortunately I've only found a group session on Thursday early afternoons. So unless I take leave to get to my 45 minute class, I will yet have that want unfulfilled. Is that typical of life, really?

I saw Kung Fu Panda. It was awesome. See it. For some reason, I've also managed to get organized and buy tickets hours before a showing. This has helped since a lot of sessions seem to sell out at Dendy.

[ meh ]

competent [|] [2008 06 25 11:00:56]

There, I finally managed to get my new hosting to do authentication properly so I can actually post here.

I've been doing a few things lately that seem to work eventually. Solving issues. I guess it's my job and my way of thinking. Make a solution. Some people do not react well when the solution is not what they want, but still solves it regardless. I gather I just do not have a lot of emotion into my solutions.

Also, I managed to be 'competent' in my final linux training test. I will be happy once I know I also passed my assignment. Now I no longer need to goto class on Wednesday nights. It was a good course. I recommend it to anyone who has dabbled a little in linux and want to learn a solid base, or anyone who wants to confirm their skills, like I did.

I figured out that my new car, still unamed, has 2 trips... that does not make much sense. I can measure the distance the car goes from once I press the button. It can save two of such measurements.

Firefox 3 stable came out, hooray!

[ productive? ]

Shifting [|] [2008 06 15 09:33:45]

Seems my hosting service lost a bit less than 2 weeks of data. Meh. Perhaps if we have more bandwidth, I would allow Google to trawl the entire site. I will at least form some sort of automated backup, so next time we may only lose a few days.

Finally I have bought my own car. A 2002 Honda Civic. It's nice and shiny. 5 speed manual, remote central-locking. Power windows even. Older than I wanted, but more luxuries and it's been kept in excellent condition. I assume I will make it worse in the years to come. I drove the old 1993 Ford Laser back to my parents house in WaggaWagga and returned it, thank you.

I've seen Prince Caspian and the new Indy movie, both were not great movies. Prince Caspian had too much fighting and the Indy movie was clearly a campy fan tribute. Well, mostly. I think I'm over action in movies. Maybe I prefer sci-fi type stuff? Ironman was great.

I now have my 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons box core set.

And so things move on... slowly shifting... it's a good feeling.

[ a little sick ]

Tuesday [|] [2008 05 14 10:56:35]

Tuesday's tend to have something on. This time nothing happened. I went to the gym, as usual. Which felt great. If only I could focus on going more often. Twice a week seems weak, and it's worse when I have a schedule to keep. Taekidokai is the same. If I felt I could go more often, I would. It's such an emotional struggle to do things, I can see how some people find it harder to deal with when things break. Perhaps I am used to things breaking? I still get quite miffed when it does happen.

After gym, I got the DVD Next starring Nicholas Cage. I like him as a actor, he's yet to fail me. I think it would be useful to see into the future for 2 minutes, even if just looking changes it. The ending was unexpected, kinda.

I also ate more of this pasta/vegies meal I cooked. I made heaps of it. I'm still finding it hard to cook for one and then pack it away for lunch and stuff.

Then I continued to read Darksong I find it an excellent book, although it's dragging on a little for me. I don't have amazing patience for books, and I will never read Lord of the Rings, or other continuous series that are not light and funny.

Then I slept well. Good day.

[ rested ]

A day [|] [2008 04 22 20:03:31]

I've spent a day just relaxing. Well, due to having a stuffed headcold, I decided being at work wouldn't help. I knew I was getting sick late last week, expecting to be dead over the weekend. Clearly I made it onto the other side of the weekend.

In this day I watched two movies, Beowulf and Balls of Fury. Both of them were mediocre. Beowulf had an interesting style that made it seem like everything was generated with a computer. It had some sort of weird overlay on everything, but the actors were still recognizable.

Balls of Fury, by the title, was a comedy. Kinda funny, what I expected. The ping pong matches looked impressive, but obviously not real.

Perfect movies that did not expect me to engage with my full attention, slipping into a half-sleep all day. Except for the phone interruptions.

I've also been reading DarkSong. The characters' thoughts fill half the book, with events somehow weaved into the story. Still better than I anticipated, well, perhaps not since this is the sequel.

[ recovering ]

Being leet [|] [2008 04 11 18:28:22]

I mean, being |33+. I had my first linux test. I had 120 minutes to do 10 tasks. After 15 minutes, I looked carefully over the test and realized I had the 10 tasks. This must be wrong. I went through the tasks again and checked all the things I did. Nope, everything seemed right in my mind. It was open book. I accessed man pages and Redhad Academy documentation. Another 15 minutes past and I could not think how to check any further. Everyone else seemed to be working on the tasks. Then I left. Either I have to resit this task, or I am |33+.

Speaking of such things, specs of Icheb; Asus P5K SE, Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2666Mhz, 2 x 2Gb DDR2-SDRAM, GeForce 8600 GT, Samsung 500Gb HDD, LG L1953H 19" monitor. All under 1k.

Now I have realized my spending potential and today I have been approved for a 10k personal loan, in which I will use together with my savings, to by myself a new car. Well, a newer car. My 1993 Ford Lazer is good. It will be hard to give it up. On Wednesday I will acquire my 10k debt and this time seriously look for a car.

[ Friday winddown... ]

Trauma Day [|] [2008 04 04 09:56:43]

Last night I finally used my Dendy card. I saw the movie The Spiderwick Chronicles with my daughter, eventhough she with dubious. I think she's not aware of movies as much as I am. Perhaps I'm just in the habit. Or she does not watch much ad-filled TV besides ABC kids.

And the movie was good. I hope there's more.

Anyway, back to my 'trauma'. Slept badly. Daylight savings means it's dark, or maybe it's the weather. Eitherway, dark. Woke up late. Had a brilliant plan of drying clothes, getting fuel, shop for food, before 8am.

Guess what? I dried the clothes fine, got ready in normal time, not early, then tried to start the car. Seems the parking lights were switched on all night. So I managed to learn how to move my landlords' car so I could jump my car. After that things were manageable, if something like an hour forward. So IF daylight savings had occured last weekend, I'd be on time. Actually, no, probably still late since I had an early plan which completely backfired. Joy.

[ survived ]

Easter! [|] [2008 03 23 07:25:04]

So I finally got around to doing my fitness assessment at my gym. I failed. My score feel just below 'poor'. Who knows what that means, I could be dead. But the important part is I have a program to follow and will be reassessed in several weeks, see if I improve. I suspect the walking I was doing while waiting for the test may have caused an issue.
Maybe I was nervous, too?

Anyway, also had my car in for a service and it seems it has a radiator leak, lovely.

I've now finished BSG season 3... *sigh* Now I want season 4 already. I feel foolish for watching a series that has not finished and has 'to be continued' for something that has not come out in an easy to watch DVD box set.

Today is chocolate day. I survived lent. Well, I failed that 2 times more than I expected, but I tried. Definitely adjusted my diet well.

[ sleepy and relaxed ]

Gosh! [|] [2008 03 08 12:26:30]

Wow, have not posted in ages. Not much in lj either. It's been a hectic few weeks, I've been sick, others have been sick, grading happened, I have some minor injuries, I joined the local gym and that was hassle.

Oh, I got a new computer. His name is Icheb. It amazed me that I recall this detail from a long time ago when I said as I was watching Voyager (on VHS no less!) that I would name my next computer that. And I have. It plays C&C3 quite well. It should last awhile, and ideally play StarCraft 2 alright. I still might upgrade the GPU and I definitely need a new case. It was cheap.

This morning I went to the gym and jogged lots and did some light weights. I've yet to make an appointment for assessment. I am a bit nervous about it. I've never really quantified my fitness level before and I know it's not as good as it used to be. But it will be a good step forward to getting my red belt.

Also, I've been on 'lent'. I've forgone red meat (which is fairly easy) and trying to avoid high fat foods and processed sugars. I've been eating lots of fruit and vegetables and avoiding chocolate (also fairly easy), but today Meetup is at All Things Chocolate, so this will be an exception. Chocolate day cometh.

[ tired ]

Year Begins [|] [2008 02 05 11:17:00]

So yes, the year has seriously begun. I've managed to do a few more taekido lessons, and gradually enjoying it again. But in order to grade, I need more fitness, which is supposed to come from doing some gym time unfortunately the one I was going to closed and I am waiting for a group deal.

My daughter is now into her 2nd day of her new school, which only opened this year. It's all nice and shiny. She complained to me that she cannot call her teachers by her first name. Typically, she has already made a friend. She called it her talent this morning.

What else? I've gotten into cooking more. I made pancakes this morning, they were barely okay. I made some Anzac biscuits the other week, they were good. My aim is to make chicken cookies and generally cook more.

I enroled into a linux administration short course. I hope to learn things. I was surprised how popular linux stuff is in education, at the CIT level. It means there is more linux is mainstream businesses.

I've decided I need a new computer sooner than I expected.

[ trying to stabilize ]

Indeed [|] [2008 01 14 11:38:43]

Finally, I have finished watching all of SG-1! I got myself season 10 and failed to get the complete series boxset, much to my creditcard's happiness. Now onto Season 2 of BattleStar Galatica...

I was going to write some specific things in my blog recently, typically all the thoughts have gone but they'll come back eventually. I've reformated my computer, hoping to improve XP's performance and failing. I thought I had broken the last install. I am mistaken. Oh well, at least I have one big partition instead of a few small ones. Thank you Seema for your HDD space for backups! :D

New Year's Day I spend playing card games and Wii. Felt kinda uneventful. I could of possibly been quite tired. Oh, speaking of tired I went to WaggaWagga and back again yesterday. I believe this is the first time I've done this by myself. Although Caterina helped entertain me on the way back. Thankfully, my father fixed my speakers by helping me buy new ones and installing them. I also played Supreme Commander on Nic's computer, 'cause it does not work on mine. It's just not as good as Total Annihilation. It had nice interface stuff, but removed a whole bunch of units, which was TA's appeal. It sure looks pretty. Thus proving again graphics does NOT make the game.

[ travelled ]

Holiday Chill [|] [2007 12 26 17:30:08]

So it seems summer has been taking a break here in Canberra, 'cause it was quite the chilly Christmas day. It was all very overcast and cool. We went randomally looking for Christmas lights on the eve, and found quite a number just in Gungahlin (we did not look any further) but by far the best display was the moon in full light! Yeah!

Today we went and saw the movie The Golden Compass which is based on the novel 'Northern Lights', why they did not call it that only some legal people in the US would know/care.

Also, for some random reason, I saw Saw 3. Surprisingly, it was better than the 2nd one, which now feels like a filler in the overarching storyline. Now I know there's also a forth movie and it makes me wonder where that goes. Who knows. I suspect the writers start with the end and work out how it ends up that way.

Christmas Day was awesome, spent with just me immediate family and Patrick. Strangely quiet, not even Caterina was here, as she is off with her cousins, aunts, various other relatives and her mum this time.

Additionally, in case you think I don't blog enough, I have this usually ranting livejournal that replaces my flesh and blood section from here. Also, I can blog using IM.

[ food coma'd ]

Frakkin' Great [|] [2007 12 04 14:29:24]

So today I've finally finished watching Season 1 of BattleStar Galactica. The new series. I saw the first mini-movie thing and decided, yes, it was on my list of things to watch. It's a lot more interesting than I suspected. No one told me it involved lots of intrigue and sex. And they have a plan. Seems Season 4 is coming out shortly, I've got awhile to catch up.

I took two days off from work, this being my second. I managed to play games until 1pm yesterday then got around to doing some cleaning, but otherwise did nothing productive of note. Today I've gone into town and discovered all the things I could not get for Christmas for others, plus all the people I want to get things for Christmas. Hooray. I have already gotten some presents, but my list grows. But do people want presents? Sure they do. However, some people feel obliged to give presents if someone gets them one. It's okay. You do not have to. Enjoy the gift. Giving is awesome. I like how I have money to buy lots of people stuff I want to get them. I could do other things with my money, but for some reason giving tops the list. Is that spirit?

[ relax, m'kay ]

plague [|] [2007 11 14 20:10:42]

Ever wondered what would happen if a zombie plague happened? Well, Rina and I have been playing Stubbs the Zombie and we get to find out first hand, being the one whom brings the plague. It's not a very serious game, it's very fun though. You get to herd zombies and eat lots of brains. Rina has been sick so she's been spending lots of time at home with her parents, so far it's been Monday and Wednesday with me and Tuesday with Mel.

I don't mind taking sick leave for her, because I have heaps. It's feels wasted if I don't use it. My normal annual leave seems wasted as well, until I think of some good reason to use more than 2 days in a row.

Today we watched Night at the Museum. It was amazingly better than I expected. Had quite the cast and very interesting ideas and funny stuff going on. Recommended.

[ hot and bothered ]

daylight [|] [2007 10 29 10:00:38]

Finally, daylight savings has reinserted itself and now I feel like I'm waking up at the right time. I was amazed how easily I changed my car clock, eventhough it was the last device I had to change. Surprisingly, I'm kinda feeling okay with the time shift and the wicked storm that went on all evening, woke me up at 2am with lots of noise, so I wandered around making sure nothing had broken. Could be stuff outside.

Mel has returned from her trip to Japan. But you've been reading her blog, so you know already. But what you did not know is that Rina had been essentially in my full time care, with occasional breaks thanks to Drew. Strangely, after a few days of this change of lifestyle, I barely noticed. I wonder if my friends noticed my withdrawal from most social events? I mean, they knew why I was not going, but was I actually missed?

I had a two hour taekido lesson and Rina was not pleased to be waiting around for me, but she did have a good time with her friend who came along for the first half. Extreme 2 hour lesson.

Right after had Mel left, I attended a flashmob.
Bizarre that it's been 2 weeks already.

[ rephazed ]

moovie-paloza [|] [2007 10 08 15:02:38]

Yes, I have not blogged here in ages. Nor anywhere really. But I have watched a bunch of movies lately. Also Gavin and Narayan had birthdays.

Stardust is the one that most sticks in my mind, it was brilliant. Excellent story, wonderful characters and fabulous display. Well worth seeing.

Lady Chatterley was a French film. This contained romance and quite a bit of explicit nudity. It was rather time consuming, or I was tired. Nonetheless, it was a good film.

Hairspray was an American film. I'm sure it would be better if I experienced any of this American culture, but I felt it had some generic 60s-type ideas. Some were blantant, which made it quite funny in a 'that's quite an old fashioned idea'. But still, it was a great musical. Colourful and vibrant. Soundtrack is awesome.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising was horrific. I bet if I had read the book, it might make more sense, or make me dislike the movie more. It was very nice in display, special effects and the magic was alright, but that did not save the movie. Acting was alright. I think the plot overall disappointed me greatly because it felt like a lot of story was missing.

[ deskless ]

not dead yet [|] [2007 09 07 10:13:36]

Well, it seems I'm not dead yet. Suffering, maybe. Meh. I've been surviving for over 28 years, I'll be 28 for a long time to come.
I've realized I have many sick days and lots of paid leave. I've been suffering from hayfever/cold all week, so now I'm taking today off. I have been briefly looking over allergy sites to see how I can combat my sulphur allergy. Randomally, I came across what's known as 'Oral Allergy Syndrome' which may explain why I dislike fresh fruits/vegetables. I can eat these with some process, like cooked or canned without issues. So it probably relates to my hayfever. Lovely. At least I now know what it's called.

Let's hope I'm not being a hypochondriac.

I've been watching Babylon 5. It's awesome. I feel accomplished when I've watched an entire series of something. I know logically that watching heaps of fiction is not really a high quality accomplishment. I think getting blackbelt is higher. Getting a better job is. Owning my house is. I wonder what other objectives I should consider obtaining.

[ sick and tired again ]

Dead [|] [2007 08 24 13:23:48]

Geh, I think I'm starting to notice my lack of resistance against onion powder. I had some Red Rooster last night and it disrupted my sleep something horrible. I feel dead today. Which is great because tomorrow is OpenDay AND there's still lots of moving to be done due to carpet replacement at work.

I wanted to have a very relaxing evening, but that's been taken away from me too. Tuesday was good. I cleaned and just watched Babylon 5. It's been getting very exciting, as you'd expect. Now up to the 2nd DVD of Season 4.

And at lunch time, for some strange reason, the owner of the cafe I goto decided to give me a free lunch today. I am not entirely sure why. Repeat customer, likes me, or just being nice. But I am not optimistic, so I expect it's more poisoning me, or protecting the other staff from my personality.

I hope you're reading my livejournal entries.

[ now fed ]

More XP [|] [2007 08 01 11:09:37]

Sheesh, as if life wasn't trying to test me enough. Yesterday I noticed my car was performing badly but I managed to drive to the service station without an issue and noticed I had a flat tyre. I pumped it up and things were good. Then in the evening, I noticed reversing was also bothersome and yet again, my tyre was flat. Great. So fortunately my DA helped me pick up Rina from her Afters care and I changed the tyre. It was kinda tricky to begin with, and failing to summon appropriate help, I eventually read the manual twice and figured it all out. I used my brains and gained XP, yay!

Then Rina and I went and saw The Simpsons Movie (aka Spider-Pig movie). It was not as good as the first time. Fortunately, eventhough we were a little late to the 6:30 session, the service girl at Hoyts kindly pointed out to me that the movie had not started yet, it's the cinemaxx theatre and the 7:15pm showing was probably sold out. Score!
We got acceptable seats and Rina seemed to like it ok.

A/C is broken here, it's way too hot.

[ hawt ]

Don't let them win [|] [2007 07 20 10:19:36]

Hey now, hey now... yes, just some random song on my work playlist.
Recently I acquired by impulsive buying, the (new) Transformers movie and Shrek the Third soundtracks. I think my expectations based on the movies were low enough to think these CDs I bought were just okay. Strangely, some Aussie band named Mute Math had rights for the classic Transformers theme song and they did not do very well. Or at least compared to the animated movie. Which I need to buy. There's also a 20th anniversary edition. :)

Shrek the Third was okay, but lacked a dark song like the other two did, including a Nick Cave song. It was much better. Oh well.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out tomorrow. I will be attending a group invasion at Kmart, around 8:30am. I remember this last time, where I got a copy for my sister and read the first chapter before handing it over to her. She was working. It was amusing.
This time I will have my own copy and intend to read as much as I can before 2pm, then I'm off to play Werewolf The Forsaken.

[ squee? ]

Rollout! [|] [2007 07 11 11:55:29]

I've seen Transformers twice now. It actually has decent rewatchability. That's not a word. Unfortunately, Caterina did not like it. I neglected to mention to her it was the live-action version, and not as kewl as the Transformers: The Movie. The first one, which is awesome and is cartoon. Also Leonard Nimoy. Which she actually likes. And I also aquired the 4th box set of classic Transformers, which is funny for being 80s.

I finally also went back to taekido, I think it's been over 4 months since my last lesson. I feel very sore, but glad of it.

On Sunday I saw Bridge to Terabithia. It was a very lovely film and made me very sad. Had lots of father things and young loves stuff. I almost cried, I think.

Rina is on school holidays and she's going to Amaroo holiday care this time, instead of Cook (not enough interested/unorganised) or Scullin, like she did last time. It's good because it's closer to where we live.

[ alrighty ]

Alarmed, not alert. [|] [2007 07 05 09:48:40]

Seems the local energy company does not like me, or my bad luck with such things is just following me. The Patcave was given a letter a few days ago telling us the power would be disconnected, so I gave Pat all the details and he sorted that out. The next day, the power was disconnected. It was done in the morning, it seems, not too early, 'cause that would mean people would be at home. The alarm system has a battery. Once Seema arrived at home, the motion sensors went off, and the neighbourhood was alerted. Meanwhile, Rina and I were at Subway.

After some frustrating calls, they were going to send someone out to reconnect the power. Maybe not until midnight. Oh good. In the meantime, the security system is happily going off whenever someone moves. In hindsight, I should have found the battery and disconnected it immediately, and just waited in the dark. Instead we went for a bit of shopping, got another torch. Had dinner. Wandered around in the video store. Eventually I had Mel pickup Rina so she could sleep in a warm, powered house.

Seema and I went back to see if the power had been turned back on. Fortunately, it had. The security system was still happily flashing lights and making noises when we walked inside. We got the power on and then set to disconnecting the battery. Silence at last!

Did I mention it was freezing and wet all during this time? So today I am not going to work, to recover.

[ gosh, damn! ]

back in business [|] [2007 06 27 09:52:27]

I think my father still has this CD, but I now I do as well, it was the Dick Tracy soundtrack by Madonna. I still like, it's very nostalgic. I got it cheap. As well as some other stuff, like Batman Begins DVD. I think it's kinda weird to see a good movie, fairly recently, so many copies there. Not sure why. I also got The Incredibles for my GameCube. It's kinda hard. Which means Caterina will not play it. Quite disappointing.

I had a bit of stressful Sunday evening. On Saturday my car required a jump start, but this happens occasionally. Then Sunday evening as I was on my way to return a video, Zoom, the car decided ignition was no longer a good idea. I foolishly decided to stop and wait for a while before trying again, and then go home. The car did not like this and I became a traffic hazard. Fortunately someone stopped and helped me move the car off the road. Drew rescued Caterina and I, I played for the first time Guitar Hero. I can see why people like it so much. Then the next day I had a good walk from the nearest mechanic and back again, and the car seems happy again. I am considering a new car soon. Put myself in debt again.

[ meh ]

Moofies again [|] [2007 06 20 14:09:13]

So last night there was a 'Significant weather warning' and I was dubious on going to the Dendy cinemas to see Orchestra Seats. But it turned out to be very wet and cold, not so much windy. It was strangely calm. Unlike myself. I mean, I had a good time. I just did not feel very comfortable. I wonder if this feeling is drifting from someone else. Of course I say this thinking that I could feel that way too. Meh.

And also, I plan to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer next Tuesday. THEN I would like to see the new Transformers movie. It was suggested that I bring a tissue box, because I insist I will cry because it will ruin anything classic about Transformers. I must maintain a belief that while this movie contains themes of 'Transformers', including the names, it is an entirely other universe.

I ate lots of food yesterday. I think I still binge too much.

flesh & blood; my livejournal contains this mostly.

[ sated of food ]

hollardais [|] [2007 06 10 17:15:54]

Ahh, back in WaggaWagga for the Queen's birthday. It's also was my mother's birthday last week, the 4th, and my father's on Friday, 8th.
We had cake. It's been an extremely lazy holiday, it's great. Oh, except today that I bought this travel exercise pack thing, so I can strengthen my hands. I don't have an incredible grip. According to my mum, I 'need something for my tummy too.' Yes, unfit. Strangely, I still weigh the same.

Rina has been enjoying herself, but sometimes gets sooky. Like not getting ice-cream when she wants it. She wanted it after we went to the local zoo. It's very small, but a nice walk. Prior to that we had this huge dinner at Golden Seasons, which also included dessert.

I've been looking for a bike stand. No, not for just standing the bike. A device that raises both back wheels and has an adjustable resistance. Thus to convert my own bike into an exercise bike. I'm not really interested in riding around in the freezing cold, but I need some cardio exercise.

Meh, heaps of flesh there.

[ full ]

Yarrr! [|] [2007 06 07 13:28:39]

Shiver me timbers! Me birthday post was post 100 on this blog! Whoa. Dude. I got lots of dnd minis and other random stuff. Mmmm, minis. Can never have enough. Much like dice. I got more dice. I named one Shooter McGavin.

I also saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It was very good. The bit after the credits was not as exciting as I wanted, I guess it was kinda romantic instead. A happy ending, kinda.

My parents have their birthdays around this time, 4th for my mum, 8th for my dad. I will be in WaggaWagga for Friday 8th. I already bought him a present, a white Nintendo DS Lite with the Brain Train game. It's very nifty with basic voice and writing recognition, dual screens and touch screen. Fits nicely in ones' hand.
Even Rina likes it a lot for doing maths.

Today at work I went on a treasure hunt. The search for the most coveted laptop ports. I found one, hiding in the corner of our library.

Flesh: I've been feeling better ever since I installed my bedside sound system, so I now get woken up by TripleJ. I wonder why it has helped me wake up.

[ fooded ]

burfdai [|] [2007 05 28 10:07:41]

Argh! I feel decrepit at a ripe old age of 28. I decreed on my bday dinner that I will be 28 next year, too. Since my mind is going even more so now, it will be easier for me to recall how old I am. Until I'm maybe 40, then I'll stick with that for awhile.

I managed to be 7 minutes late to my bday dinner. I am starting to see that I am overly generous with people, only because I rarely think what I am doing is that important. I can be late often. And frequently am.

However, Sunday, I did not plan to be late. For some reason after my dinner, and hanging out at Gus', then throwing money away at the casino, we went home and discussed at length if Count Von Strahd could beat an Eldritch Giant. The conclusion is THE D&D vampire, of Castle Ravenloft, would never fight such a thing in an arena battle, because he would lose and not able to escape. After that, however, I was buzzed. So I went online and downloaded patches for Dawn of War: Dark Crusade and played that until 4am. I slept through my alarm of Saw soundtrack music and woke up very tired at 8:45am. My plan was to have breakfast with my family at 8:30, easily pick up Tim from his house after that and arrive at the Jungle of Solitude at 10am. Instead this was delayed until 11:30. Fortunately, the McDoyle game was timed well and finished at around 6pm. Amazingly.

blood: if only I could have a slice of sweetness, which I had last birthday. At least I have memories. If only I could record them and retrieve them easily.

[ olding ]

Shift [|] [2007 05 21 11:06:08]

It's quite clear I am need of a shift of life style. I need to eat less fatty foods, do exercise. So I did some exercise on Sunday, by walking up to Telstra tower via the botanic gardens. That was good. I felt the burn. My leg muscles are still burning now.

Life should be exciting soon. Hey weird, I rarely feel excited. My birthday is soon, with celebratory activities attached to that.

I just watched the trailer for StarCraft 2, that looks awesome. Clearly I now definitely have an objective for my new computer: it must play this game. It's like last time when I wanted a new computer. It needed to play Warcraft 3. Oh, and on Saturday I went to the computer fair and bought a wireless PCI card, a USB2.0 PCI card and a 2Gb USB key for $29!

Blood; It ever burns, you'd think I recover. I have a vast array of friends, yet it's not enough. Almost, but not quite. Perhaps I'm chasing something that does not exist. Ho hum.

[ good ]

Pay for your sins [|] [2007 05 18 12:00:44]

I paid for my sins the other day. Gaving and I usually eat at Degree. it's the best place. Great good, delicious service, but sometimes it gets crowded. Sometimes I want a change. So we went to the place next door. They couldn't make me a fish burger. The food took ages. The service was cute, though. I sound so shallow when I say that. Or maybe I think I do? Or maybe I think I should? But I don't really.

So my point was, I paid dearly for my disloyalty. Of course, I'll be loyal for awhile and then deviate at some future point. Break my comfort zone, or whatever.

Yeah, my comfort zone is getting kinda comfy. I need to start trying to achieve an objective again. I think I must be a boring person now. Except I keep getting busy with stuff to do, like my birthday celebrations coming up in a week. If you have not got an invitation yet, abuse me somehow. There's lot of ways.

Flesh: I damn unfit now. My clothes aren't fitting as well anymore. Eek! I need exercise/less fatty food! Input greater than output!

[ boo ]

Storm damage [|] [2007 05 08 16:34:21]

Right, several printers have been taken away, because they were damaged in the storm some weeks ago. They were still working, but we have to replace them. This would be fine if the other larger printer was working fine. Typically, it is not. In fact, so not working that I've tried everything and then complained to the printer company. Hassles.

Now hassle free (I hope) is all things seem to be fine with my old place. Just got to cope with the last bills. And cleaning bills. Oh, but I do get my bond back. That should easily cover all those.

I saw SpiderMan 3. While it does break things from the comic/cartoon, it was a good movie. Very pretty. You can read more stuff at Gaving's blog. (Warning, spoilers!). Then I had food and cocktails at Montezuma's, the Tequila Frog was good. Aztec Sacrifice was ok. Maybe the frog was good because I had that last, therefore has less sensitivity.

Flesh: My fitness drags down every day, I feel. Occasionally I notice when I do something physical, while I have the speed and strength, my endurance is dead. I mean, more dead than usual. Except I've been sleeping well.

[ meh ]

Love is the answer [|] [2007 04 20 16:42:13]

This morning I went to the lifeline bookfair. I've never been before. It's quite exciting if you're a bookworm. I'm not really one, but I can see how it's exciting, since the books are so cheap! And there's lots of old ones there. I even managed to get a Pokemon video for $1.

I've been neglecting my Friday night games lately, all due to my stress of moving. Which means I am reluctant to do more driving than necessary. I've taken two days off and managed to move some stuff in this time. It's weird when I look at the gaps in my house now. The weekend will be a moving bonanza! It will be odd to live in a share house again. Although my plan is this is only until I manage to buy myself a house (or some sort of arrangement). It's a very nice house, though, that I am moving into to. It's also in Ngunnawal. Which puts me deeper into Northside of Canberra. This is where I want to live, so Rina can goto a brand new school, in Harrison. It will be exciting to see a new school. Places that my daughter spends a lot of time in is very interesting to me. Almost parental curiosity. Or is it protective related?

Technote: I coded a brief version of my blog, so it shows a limited set of characters of the blog entry, this was so I could have a set of characters for the blog space, instead of just 3 entries. I decided people are happy to scroll a little bit, so I will extend the number of blog entries shown at some point.

[ tired ]

infrastucture [|] [2007 03 28 13:34:45]

It amuses me when I hear about others IT places and the varying amounts of infrastructure things they have working, or not. My friend Gaving has the fortune to acquire a job here at ANU, in a similiar job, except they lack basic features like roaming profiles and DHCP. It must make it an absolutely nightmare. Whereas some places have perfectly good roaming profiles and Windows domains, but not DHCP. Or no separate networks for laptops. I think software deployment is one of our weak points. I was about to say 'and printers' but I think they are unruly all across the globe.

Did I mention I got sold out of my house? Causes me loads of stress. I'm hoping to move into share accommodation early April, thus solving my short term issues. Then I can concentrate on finally buying a house of some sort. There was this very nice duplex house in Gungahlin, but it was up for auction and I am a long way from being organised.

Flesh; I have seemed to have gotten over my cold/flu thing and am feeling energetic again, and I enjoyed a night out dancing for my cousin's 21st bday. Much to her embarrassment!

[ lunchED ]

happiness is back in style [|] [2007 03 19 19:42:05]

I hope I never, I hope I never have to see you again. - Tim and Neil Finn, I hope I never. I understand the song very much. Pity I cannot escape. Not yet at least. I trapped alone, by own soul. Very typical of me, really.

So, my home has been sold and finding a new home is being extremely difficult, because it requires lots of organisation in which I lack. It's like a test that I expect to fail. I blame the weather, a storm at my work and the sudden cold and wet shift of Canberra atmosphere has added to my need to do anything but continue the drudgery of everyday. I'm not enjoying things as much as I used to. I feel heavy, in all manner of ways.

I know I will escape this rut sooner or later. I just need patience. I've been getting lots of sleep lately, and that's a good sign since I have not been sleeping well for a week or so, which I akin to being sick. Therefore I must be getting better.

I played two lots of games this Canberra long weekend, one run by Xopher, the other by Thanqol. I quite enjoy games I play in. I feel my DM'ing of late kinda sucks. I think I've lost my mojo for DM'ing and taekido, so I've been doing it less. Lots less.

Heaps of blood there, so no more.

[ I was swallowing my pain ]

By the Power of Greyskull [|] [2007 03 12 10:12:20]

I think I've been seeing more movies since I gave up TV. I think I should stop doing that so much. I need to wait for Spiderman3 and other such things. Anyway, I saw Hot Fuzz yesterday and it was awesome. If you liked Sean of the Dead, which I own, and Spaced, and other assorted British shows, see this movie.

I also saw GhostRider the other day and Perfume. Both were good, for what they were. What else? I got the soundtrack to Saw, very pleased with that. I ran another Gnome Water Runs game, except we started new chars and essentially I started them on the other side of the desert.

Oh, I had an annoying open house for the house that I currently call 'home' because I live here, except the landlord wants to sell it and I doubt it will happen anytime soon. Conversely, I went looking at houses myself (but with Shy) and found this nice one, that apparently isn't so good because it's on the corner of a roundabout, which I didn't think was an issue. So I want that house. But I doubt I will get it. Buying a house seems a big deal to me, in terms of growing up, I think.

Flesh; I hunger but my body is all sick. I think I've been sick all week, I am guessing due to the humidity in my building, or just the weird shifts in weather. Hates it.

[ sniffles ]

Storm [|] [2007 03 01 14:02:42]

I'm sure there's heaps of blogs out there, of people from the ACT, or Canberra, talking about the storms. I'm joining the crowd. Yesterday, ANU campus was closed. Today I wandered into work, and discovered extensive water damage to the top floor of my building. I wandered around a bit in the building next door, Ian Ross, and it had worse damage. None of the Faculty office staff were there. I was slightly hoping some machines had been damage, so they could be replaced now. I was disappointed. Lots of papers had gotten soaked, though. My backups seemed to be working fine, too.

Recently, my landlord has decided to sell their place again. I now have a letter to vacate. My ideal situation now is to buy a house in Gungahlin. A great shift in lifestyle. I will have less money to play about with, but I will no longer be under any tyranny of real estate agents, or landlords. I will be responsible for the whole thing. I think it's a good thing not to throw my money away on rent, but instead invest in something. Even if I end up selling it and buying elsewhere, at some point, I will still have gotten out of the rent cycle.

Flesh; Since I've been not watching TV, I tend to go to bed earlier, thus get more sleep. Yay. Or maybe I've just been feeling rested since Shy has been also sleeping more. Damn empathy.

[ rested, finally ]

Lent [|] [2007 02 21 10:36:19]

So I realized I missed out on pancake Tuesday. I think there's fish day at some point, too. This relates to lent. Not that I have absolutely any religious connection to it.

Essentially I do it to see my life different by giving up, or doing something, I would otherwise not do. Testing my willpower. This year, I've decided to give up TV/DVDs/movies/video/computer games. So I woke up this morning and I cleaned my house some. I wonder how much time I waste with these things. Guess I'll be doing more reading and ideally more preparation for my gaming.

I saw GhostRider last night. It was pretty and the story was okay. Definitely seemed like a single episode of a comic, so if there's more, it might be okay. I saw another trailer of Spider-man 3, should be great. Hopefully not screening within 4 weeks!

Flesh: My daughter has been sick, and I've also felt a bit dodgy, so I skipped taekido on Monday, but I went to swing dancing on Tuesday night. It's much easier on the body. Plus I get to dance with grrls. ;}

[ zoned ]

Year One [|] [2007 02 08 15:48:07]

So, Caterina started year 1 on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I didn't recall the exact day. So we went to school on Monday, but that's only for new students and year 6. Oh well, another day off.

Days off would be better if I had something to amuse me. I don't have any seasons of shows to watch anymore. I need Season 10 of SG-1. Or more of the IT Crowd. Or Grey's Anatomy.

I'm off to Pirate Cove on the weekend. Finally. I meant to go there several times already, so now I have to put in the effort to go and help move. Or I'm a jerk, so I tell myself.

Got minor annoying issues at work, 0-week is next week, so I get to practice my sales techniques on getting people to join the CSSA. That's fun. Kinda reminds me of my character in the WTF game I got started in on Saturday. It was awesome. The ST is incredible, Narayan, he's so organised. It borders on scary. We're playing Chicago. Strangely it seems to gather hits on the rpgmeetup.com site. That's awesome. :D

Oh oh, I got the speakers for my W300i. They rock!

Flesh; The heat at night has been keeping me up. I got this fan for my loungeroom that takes the edge off. I had some pasta salad with shitaki mushrooms, which I've decided I still don't like.

[ unfood ]

Murder [|] [2007 01 31 16:42:45]

I think I'm dying of some flu thing. Oh wait, I think I'm recovering. I have this Bezerk soundtrack, it's very kewl.

I took some leave to stick around with Rina while she has her last week of holidays. How many jobs out there only run during school days? Besides teachers? And actually get paid for their holidays? Not many I think.

She's here playing Wii Tennis. My brother is also here. I saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. It was good. In Spanish. Sad and quite violent, really. Not for your children. At Dendy's.

There was something profound I was going to blog about, now it's gone into the ether.

Flesh; At ANU, I've been frequently having lunch at Degree. I really like a particular waitress there. Shy and I were approached by the owner for suggestions for the menu. I think we go there more than I think. We must be frequent and friendly? The food is great, btw.

[ hot ]

Amazing [|] [2007 01 15 12:12:55]

On Saturday, my daughter returned from her holidays. It was very strange to have her back again, or perhaps I was noticing how strange my life was without her there often? Either way, she got her cut and she seems older to me. She's in year 1, this year! One day I will accept I am getting older.

I cooked a random curry inspired by this crazy Jamaican woman, with this crazy French chef. But in the end, it turned out great. Perhaps a little too much chilly powder. My attempt at chocolate sauce failed miserably. That'll need some practice. I didn't get a spice rack, but Shy did.

Oh, my weekend was also filled with lots of meetup people. I suspect the next few weekends will be similar, with CanCon, DM'ies and various other games going on.

Flesh; Yesterday while at the Xmas/New Years game run by emmajean, I must have eaten serious amounts of onion, because my stomach hated me the entire game and well into the evening.

[ Actually okay for the moment ]

Returneth to Work [|] [2007 01 08 16:11:14]

And yes, I managed to stay out of my office until I was due back today.
I did, however, come onto campus a few times for food related activities. I do like food. But I don't cook. Or I'm just too lazy to bother. I am sure I have the ability, but it's low grade. Thus, I was given myself a challenge of showing people I can cook. I might get into the habit of cooking once in awhile then. So while stepping up to the challenge, I will also improve the quality of my diet.

I'll need a spice rack of some sort, so I can use those more. A get into the habit of buying fresh ingredients that I won't let rot. 'Ingredient' is a synonym for element, claims dictionary.com. So I will use element instead from now one. So, elements of my recipe were... etc.

I think I generally coped with starting work for another year.

Flesh; I made some new years resolutions, which I tend to never remember, but I had them written down, so maybe I will remember this year. One is getting fit enough to pass my 2nd kyu grading and grade to red belt this year. This requires the most change of lazy habits. Like doing more exercise.

[ relaxed ]

New Beginnings [|] [2007 01 01 21:21:12]

Or something like that. Welcome to 2007. Ironically, it's a Monday, it's the 1st of January, and my home phone is dead. Therefore, I went to work and became familiar again with my office. It's kinda familiar, since I've been away from it for something like 8 days, which is a record for me, I think. I -could- have stayed away longer if I had some sort of internet access from home. Oh well.

My holidays consistened of lots of driving, and paniking around Sydney, NYE fireworks under the harbour bridge. I spent a lot of time playing the Nintendo Wii my father has bought, and lots of time with my relatives that are in Kempsey. I haven't been there in many years. I doubt I will go back in a few more. It was good. Except the lack of mobile phone access. We wrote some weird song about the 12 days of Christmas. Hopefully my Uncle George will transcribe it to an e-mail at some point.

Hopefully I won't be back at work until next week.

Flesh: Did I mention I went to bed at 2am this morning? After travelling via train from NYE, then driving from Harris Park to Canberra. (Hint: Use the toll way!) I probably need sleep. Goodnight.

[ oh so tired ]

end of days [|] [2006 12 20 17:07:36]

Hoorar! Today is my last day of work for 2006. Unlike normal, I won't be staying here until noon on the very last day. Instead, I'm taking lots of leave and not returning until the 8th Jan. I have, however, been working hard finally getting an upgrade of our scheduling system deployed. Relief.

I saw The Prestige last night. And not alone, even. With Shy and Narayan. WAY too much social going-ons for my poor heart.

And now I will go. Probably post another entry sometime in my holidays.

[ gone ]

holidays [|] [2006 12 11 11:56:04]

I think we should celebrate more holiday reasons and have more festivals. Or at least I'm aware of. I'm so over Christmas and Easter. Perhaps I just don't revolve in circles that do these things. Oh well.

Anyway, I finally went Christmas shopping and got stuck in JB HiFi, because it's awesome. I did manage to get some presents, though.
Amazingly, I have nothing planned over the weekend. All my games have shorted out for the year. Which makes me a little sad, but that's ok.

I don't think anyone ever does usability tests on toilet paper dispensers.

I went up the 'Stairs of Doom' at Mt Taylor, then had second lunch, for Shy's birthday. There was also a dress up party the Saturday before.

Flesh: It's stupidly hot. I think I ate some bad tofu, and thus had crazy dreams and kept waking up.

[ wish I were dead ]

menu [|] [2006 11 30 11:48:55]

If all of sudden you noticed this huge unordered list break this page, use another browser. :P I've been playing with pure CSS menus and now I've deployed it here. This means I can have lots of links without using up space that will break my layout, yay! That's right, no javascript!

I finally conceeded and got myself a new mobile phone, Sony Ericson W300i with Pre-Paid Optus. Unfortunately, I couldn't get Shadow Black. Meh. Besides, it has a very nice speaker so I don't have to wear earplugs to listen to my mp3s. I also like how fast the camera takes pictures. I don't like not being able to use mp3s for tones when SMS's arrive. :P

Weirdly, I have been gaming every Friday night for a few weeks now, and it's been intersting with new players and change of DMs. Tomorrow night is the first session with my friend Daniel. I find it strange how easily I related to geek/nerds, regardless of age. Perhaps the older ones not so much?

Flesh; I think my fitness is okay, but will need work for red belt (2nd kyu). I often forget I broke my right arm. I had a pasta sandwich this morning, it was good.

[ push up ]

Wiimania [|] [2006 11 21 11:02:32]

So I hear, by reading Slashdot, that the Wii launch went really well. See xkcd for a laugh.
I'm still set to get one, just not until next year, when the first price drop occurs. So perhaps next Christmas. Meh.

I barely use my GameCube, so I won't be so worried. Except Rina and I have been playing Mario Kart: Double Dash quite a lot lately. She's getting good. I think she's managed to get over her fear of failure and just keep trying. Perhaps it's the lack of competition against anyone else.

I wonder what is considered interesting on a blog? I think it includes very personal things. That's not the point of my blog. It's for my own memory. I had a fun time at squash yesterday. I went back to taekido class, and I'm very sore. I think I'm -still- sick, so perhaps it's time to see a doctor for myself. Grading over the weekend was awesome to watch. Mel and Drew graded. He surpassed me. He used to be lazy, now he's hardcore.

Flesh; I have lost my motivation, is why. I have these personal setbacks, and training loses it's focus in my life. But I've learnt to be patient. Ideally, I'll grade again in a year, get 2nd kyu.

[ low ]

Cough [|] [2006 11 13 09:01:43]

Luna Jim is currently on T.V. About every 40 or so seconds, Caterina coughs. Poor little one. I'll call her doctors today and hope we can see them today, if not tomorrow. She had a bit of a fever, but now she's all coughs. I find it annoying, imagine how she feels. :(

She did however have a great time with her friend Ella over the weekend. Unfortunately missing out on a birthday party. It's been all dark and rainy today.

I had training all last week. I didn't find it awfully helpful, unless we actually run the central server. Perhaps it will me coordinate with the server admins, though. Apparantly someone had chicken pox there, too. I've had it twice, so I should be fine. Others may not be so lucky.

Flesh; I wish onion wasn't the base vegetable of choice. Evil sulphur.

[ On Hold ]

End [|] [2006 11 06 15:55:47]

So I've now watched Season 9 of SG-1. It didn't finish nicely. I gather they knew they had an entire other season to develop when they finished this one. Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD yet. In fact, I don't think it's even being screened in .au yet.

Today I have been enduring a training course in ManageSoft. This is day one. I'm waiting to see if we actually do anything. We started up this VMware player and got to click some things, hopefully we'll DO something in the next hour or something. Or tomorrow. I'm here all week. I hope it's not a complete waste of time. Seems they're going to deploy more than one central server. The trainer keeps saying 48. I hope it's not like that. Maybe 20. But we don't have our own, why would we want one? Maybe in the future. Probably not. Leech of someone else. Perhaps the college itself will have one. That'll be fine.

We went to FunDay yesterday. It was fun. I got to lead the 12+ group about. Glad I didn't have to stay in one activity. I got soaked in the water fight, that was ok.

Blood; Pulse is weak. Distracted. Hungry. I guess this is how I'll feel for some time.

[ sleepy ]

sand [|] [2006 10 31 14:49:02]

I was talking to jinx, talking about my life, and how it feels like sand. It flows by quite fast, sometimes there is a lot of some part, sometimes there is very little. But eventually, it runs out. So are the days of my life.

I really want some of that sand back, but I know I never will. I can only hope that more of that kind of sand goes through my hands and I appreciate it as it flows through them, and not become bitter as it dispurses back into the sphere of time. Pity I am a chrono-linear creature.

In other news, I went to Supanova. Much travelling with nerds, on trains and cars and walking. I still loath Sydney. I've decided I should see more of these comic/sci-fi convention things, at least one in each major city. Oh, I saw Summer Glau. And other people.

Many hugs were about and I went totally snarky by the end of it.

[ And yet they come. ]

coup [|] [2006 10 25 15:39:59]

This afternoon teh CSSA had a coup. Well, kinda. We were plotting and then the previous Pres and VP were walking nearby, I yelled out to them, and we transferred executive power. Now we shall buy a new BBQ. YAY!
Luke was also declaring changing the name to Pirate Ninja Hackers Society. But I consider that just an alias, while keeping our real name in case we want to look professional.

I think i'm off to Supanova this weekend. I hope the amount of time we (Shy, Gavin, Mark, Emma, Bela.. and anyone else I know is around) spend there is enough. Like, do the things we want without feeling exhausted/bored.

What else? I've been doing swing dancing. It's fun. Been doing a little more taekido, also good. Way off from grading. I know some of my kata moves, but not the order. Oh well, I need 54 lessons and have about 20 or so.

Blood; I had this moment when my glibness utterly and completely failed me. Not entirely what I wanted. Felt like one of the most stupidest moments in my life.
I just couldn't speak. Like a deer caught in head-lights.

[ stunned ]

Heat is on [|] [2006 10 18 15:33:49]

And the airconditioning is off. Or rather broken. This is bad in a building with heaps of computers and people, and relatively little ventilation. It's absolutely smouldering.

To compound matters, seems there's issues with Windows related to our print server upgrade. Lovely. This means Windows won't print on our new printers. What the...? But prints on the old ones. Hopefully have this resolved today.

I went dancing again last night, it doesn't last very long. Does this mean I'm having a lot of fun? Must be. Taekido class on Monday was the same. I was doing a lot of 2-step sparring, and it was excellent. Except I still don't know my kata.

I discovered today that I vaguely recall how to make paper cranes, after using instructions, my second attempt looked pretty good. It would look better if I had actual square paper, though.

[ damn it's hot ]

Hallow are the Ori [|] [2006 10 13 21:10:56]

Or something that was said in the first few episodes of Season 9 of StarGate: SG-1. Yes, I now have season 9. Hooray! Only one more season to go and yet another series notch on my belt.

StarTrek: Voyager, StarTrek: DS9, Firefly, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and now I'm one season left (well, technically I need to watch season 9, but I have it) to add StarGate: SG-1.

Should I go for Angel, or Atlantis, or maybe Enterprise next? If you have suggestions, e-mail me. No, don't e-mail; 'go on ebay and bid for a life' because I won't. I like my life, such as it is. I mean, 'life'. Don't talk to me about life. Maybe I should read more?

Or be more socialable? I think I'm doing well on that. Not perfect. I'm still in WaggaWagga now, but I'm leaving tomorrow morning, off to meetup at 2pm, then most likely a party at the uberhouse. Not sure what I'm up to Sunday. Maybe taekido if I'm feeling up to it.

Flesh; I have new running shoes. I've managed to use them for running maybe once. I intend to do more running, and they are also for playing squash. I'm too lazy.

[ relaxed ]

What happened? [|] [2006 10 10 17:58:18]

Well, I didn't get notified that my domain name had been reinstated.

Seems the registration for my domain name lapsed and was paid a few days later, but then there was some utterly ridiculous problem with putting my domain back.

Now let's go over that.

I made some lame entries in http://eolh2005.blogspot.com/ and http://eolh2006.livejournal.com/ , but they have themes. I might even post again on those places.

Rina turned 6. Mel is moving house on Saturday (I have no doubt you've already read that). I'm off tomorrow morning to WaggaWagga for a few days, Rina is already there. It's school holidays.

I'm off tonight to try a 6 week beginner course in Swing Dancing, 'cause Shy's housemate teaches it and we saw some demonstration, so we'd thought we try it. I wouldn't mind trying some latin dancing, too.

Blood; It burns, it's dull, it bleeds. The flow has been a slow agony. I don't think I'll ever learn how to stop it.

[ Burnt ]

life [|] [2006 07 25 11:56:45]

Seems my current vehicle is slowly dying. Well, actually, it's been pretty damn tops for a long time, just the battery decided that it really was time to give it up and I replaced it. I'm going to replace the terminals later today, with the help of engineering type friends.

But I have been considering that maybe I should finally buy my own car. Get a loan from somewhere, and own my very own car. Also upgrade my computer decently. Like new mainboard, at least 2Gb RAM, new graphics card and CPU. Maybe if I actually have USB2 my camera will upload really fast and my machine won't slow down when viewing several hundred photos. I'll have to think of a new naming scheme. I'm thinking Planet of the Apes. Because I'm a damn dirty human, compared to the potential computer. And potential car, with central locking and mp3 player maybe. But more debt. Ho hum. Maybe experience for when I buy a house or something. Need to save/pay debts back faster.

Blood? I went to black belt training again, and I feel a little more confident in my rolling now. Like, I'm not killing my back. I managed to get bruised in the arm, though. Odd. One day my shoulders will be strong.

[ I'm going to be incomplete ]

kubuntu [|] [2006 07 20 14:54:10]

So at work here (So's revenge...) we have 100 brand new workstations, Dells, with 2Gb RAM. Now running Kubuntu quite nicely. Logging in is so fast comparatively. It's sweet. And they have duel layer DVD writers. Standard! With Air!

I wish I had more air, like time spent while not touching the ground when I'm doing taekido. Must learn to fly. Jumping back kick through boards for shodan grading. Our Instructors are awesome. I still find it hard to think of them as just human.

This morning, at 6:30am, I foolishly had my mobile phone still on and my best friend Bela called up in a panic. Actually, he called, I didn't answer, I got up and noticed the missed call and called back. Seems he was more awake in the morning than usual. He's ok now. If only he'd post about his game on our lovely rpgmeetup website.

Before being woken up, probably why I remember, I had this dream where I was part of a team of hackers (or maybe just d20 modern adventurers?), we were on this big starship, which was like a ocean liner, but for space. Like in the Fifth Element. Anyway, so I was in this group (maybe I was the hacker/techie?) and we met our employee, some mysterious big-seated guy, and he gave us these little dagger tokens as identification. We also discovered there was a rival team out to do the same task. I discovered that the tokens were actually controls for something, like keys. Just as we were arriving on the planet where this mission was, Elan from Order of the Stick was wearing this pac-man helmet and native american headdress, and we all laughed, he said it was serious survival gear.

This is my head. I'm protecting you from myself.

[ still so many things I want to say ]

zombie [|] [2006 07 19 11:20:37]

At WaggaWagga, I ran my d20 modern module, which had zombies. I thought it was funny/strange that although only one player had the same character, the dynamics were exactly the same. I -tried- to soften it, but it ended up the same. Also still not completed. I'll never make the next one. I need practice making 3 hour modules. I'm far too used to a continuous game that has no time limit. Although, I ran an hour game once, where the party had to get into this cave complex, fetch a relic and get out again, and at the end of the hour, the cave would start crashing down. Managed to knock a player down, it was quite good really.

I had a great strawberry and passionfruit smoothie this morning.

Oh, I now feel like my taekido position went up a notch, because people treat me like an assistant, yet I don't feel like I'm doing anything different. Someone even told me I was lucky for my position. I guess it paid off when I first thought about the idea of being an instructor. Oh, I even took my first senior class on Sunday, regretably missing out on a shodan grading.

Also, I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest last night. It was pretty good. I think I liked the first one better, but this is still passable. Do see it. The bit at the end of the credits it not worth waiting for.

[ don't let me be misunderstood ]

James Returns [|] [2006 07 13 11:40:04]

Don't get me started on how much I hated Superman Returns. See the first movie, then this one, and then tell me what was the point? I wanted new stuff, but it was all same ole, -slightly- different. Big whoop.

I'm now in Wagga Wagga, and there is this photo of me when I was about 16, I look very young. Beardless. Thick curly hair. Watch. Aww, that watch finally died a few weeks ago. Been stuck to my computer screen at home for... several years.
I think I look a lot angerier than I used to, when I was 16. I'm wearing blue jeans, too. I'm much bulkier now. Stronger, faster, older. :P And wizen.

I came to Wagga Wagga to pickup my daughter. She went Sunday with her Nanna and we'll leave Friday evening, so she can be whisked to Oberon to visit her Oma. Schools holidays. Strange.

I went to the first assistant training session for taekidokai in Canberra. It started at 6:30am, except I didn't find out this information until that time. Fortunately I didn't miss much. In fact, since I've been assisting for Hanshi for the last year, it was nothing new. I thought there was an abundance of assistants, but it seems they need more. I feel strange being further up the top of the heirarchy. Probably take it for granted. I'll try not to from now on.

[ tIrEd ]

sleepless in Canberra [|] [2006 07 07 09:51:53]

A typical theme of my whinging blogging is my constant lack of sleep. While I do get sleep, I find I rarely get quality sleep. Or maybe I'm getting too much and being lathargic? Even Caterina slept in today. Maybe it's just today? It's quite foggy out there still.

Speaking of my wonderful daughter, she'll be off with Nanna for a week, returning Friday with me, then off with Oma for another week. Welcome to school holidays. Her last day of term today. She seems very content about school.

Last night I played D&D and us trio of 8th level fighters slaughtered an entire merc camp. And that was Alex's 2nd session, now I need to plan details of my psi-game. I'm tempted to run it continually, because we're starting at 7th level and have various ideas I'd like to run though. Also allow various players taste the psionic goodness.

ALSO, I made a CSS layout version of my page, here but it's not quite working perfectly. Close. Then I made another using percentages.

[ goodbye my lover ]

yawn [|] [2006 06 30 15:26:16]

I've been bored. Something is missing. There's this dullness to life. Lack of shine. Where'd it go? Maybe once I get my body in gear for taekido, I'll feel better.

What's exciting anyway? Tell me ideas! There's a link up the top right corner that says james and you can find details on how to contact me.

I've tried getting really drunk a few times, so don't suggest that. And I'm staying drug free. Maybe a balloon ride? Holiday somewhere?

Gaming is slowly wearing off again, too. Maybe I'm in a mood? Where nothing is good enough and I don't even know what the answer is. Does anyone?

The other night I went to that community meeting about school closures, this is the first time I've seen a politian in public. I've heard they lie (sorry, skirt about the truth and misdirect) and how much they don't care. Now I know that is exactly how they are. How do we end up with these people in power, anyway?

[ FridayAfternoon-itis ]

seven days [|] [2006 06 27 16:52:51]

I've forgotten I was going to blog more often, but it seems weekly is my usual deal. It's a very well known fact I forget things. Especially things I do not do frequently. I imagine I've forgotten how to ride a bike. I have my bike in my house, but it has flat tyres.

My taekidokai training has also been quite flat, I'm just not revved up as much as I used to be. I broke my arm, got back into it, hurt myself again, then I relaxed... and now I've relaxed too much. My life reconfigured itself and now I have to get back into that routine. Otherwise I won't be an instructor, or get my black belt, anytime soon.

Work is as work does. Passed my performance review. Status quo.

There is some sort of community meeting going on about the ACT school closures. I will go to that. My daughter goes to Cook Primary School and it's on the list to be shutdown. Not really impressed.

Flesh? Some people want more of me, some people tell me I need to give more to others, some say I should let go of things I want to do, some say I should dedicate myself to other things. Why am I listening? I'm very confused. When do people ask me what I want?

PS: Do not watch 'King Auther'.

[ busily ]

about a girl [|] [2006 06 20 15:12:09]

Did I even mention how amazingly amazed about my daughter I am? Did that make sense? Anywhoo, she reads and talks. It's still a strange thing to me, because I've spent years watching this creature grow. And now she has a social life. She talks to me like anyone else does, she's not learning to talk anymore. She goes to school. I got myself attached to the P&C. We fight to keep our school open. The principle knows my name. Lots of people know Caterina. It's all quite freaky, guess I'll get used to it.

I had a performance review today. I wonder if I'll ever do my job unacceptably? Depends on the job, I suppose. I think I'd resign before lowering my performance. I would like to get paid more, but keep doing the same job I'm doing now. Reality, feh.

I've been feeling pretty good lately. I think the colder weather means I sleep better. I can control how hot I am. Perhaps I sleep/feel better in cooler climate? Oh, I decided not to buy the house I am living in. There are complications.

Blood? I've been seeing a lot of my other relatives lately, because my cousin Debbie also lives (nearby) Canberra and thus we all get together for dinners and such.

[ s'okay ]

blog habit [|] [2006 06 19 13:45:17]

I haven't got a very good blog habit. Sometimes I blog frequently, then I don't for a week, or so. Or maybe I've been bloggin weekly and haven't notied? Do people read this? You could send me a brief e-maul abusing me about it. I'll read it, I promise. (unless the spam filter gets it)

I had a typical weekend of being busy and hanging about with my gf a lot (not so typical), because I arrived a month early for a game. Much to the surprise of Gavin. So I gave him a driving lesson. Was it really a lesson? I rather think it's more 'hey Gavin, wanna drive around a bit?' and I don't feel like I'm teaching him anything. He seems to have gotten it pretty down packed.

I went to the National Gallery of Australia. I always get it mixed with other galleries and museums around Canberra, so this was the first time I've been there. It seemed like an opposite TARDIS. Big outside, small inside. No, it's just my sense of distance. Too much space for my liking.

I had lunch with people, and the lounge/dining room was huge, I felt. Or just a good use of space, I have no idea.

Flesh? I've been so lazy with taekido, I'm feeling unfit even more. I mean, I feel good after a lesson, but sore the next day. I only had that feeling when I started. I'm starting again?

[ good ]

birthday [|] [2006 06 12 11:14:17]

Queen's birthday holiday today, a nice relaxing public holiday. Many birthdays passed, family ones. My parental units are still in town, I'll meet them for lunch in about an hour. Rina's been having a good time. She needs another 20 tickets.

We saw the movie Cars yesterday. It was crowded. I'm not used to, because of this, going to movies on weekend evenings.
It was an excellent movie. Very funny and clever. Watch the credits and there's a little bit at the end. I was very dubious about it, since it was about cars and I'm not a revhead. Fortunately, it's also a kids' movie, so I saw it anyway. Caterina plans to see it twice.

Blood? I had this disturbing dream last nice, old soup. Woke me up, I was wondering if new poison has affected me. Or maybe it was the combination of cereal and eggs with soy sauce. Or any other random food I had.

[ lazy ]

passed [|] [2006 06 06 15:35:07]

Due to various complications, seems I am unable to buy the house I live in. A little disappointed, but overall relieved since it was such an undertaking for my meagre budget. My instincts were correct, in the end. Usually what happens. I never listen the first time. Might wait another year, then looking around the market, see if anything looks viable for me.

How do people cope paying rent for such a long time? Or is that how the government makes the economy work that way? In order to gain assets, you require to make loads of money first, OR inherit it.

If you like X-men 1 and 2, the movies, and you don't know anything else about X-men, do see the 3rd movie. It was great with that perspective. Otherwise, you'll pay it out a lot.

30 people was a good effort. Next year, I will try for at least 50. Bekee had a good suggestion of telling people to bring guests. Thus doubling the potential number.

Flesh? I feel SOO much better, getting over this cold/flu thing. I took 2 sick days off last week. I went to taekido last night and I felt great. Pity my wrist has not quite healed to my satisfaction yet. 3 months, definitely.

[ sleep is good ]

fixx [|] [2006 05 25 17:01:47]

Sometimes I just get withdrawals from stuff. From my favourite people, from games, from the internet, from sleep, from taekido. I mean, I can resist the need, but I feel it. I adapt afterawhile of not having something. But it feels all good again when I get it. Like a fix. (Not that I'd really know, Mr. StraightEdge). I'm going to have an overload of such things over the weekend. Quite the opposite of last weekend. It was kinda slow and empty. I think I should have an appropriate heart attack. That'd make me laugh. Eventually.

I'd be annoyed using up my sick days. A majority of them are for Caterina, rightfully so. Whenever I change jobs, this will be high on my requirements. No family sick leave, no me. I wonder if I'll have an AWA to deal with. I hear the reforms are slapping a lot of employers back in the face, when they tried to fire people for no reason. I like my Enterprise Agreement. I would be hard pressed... other people would be offering me a lot, not to work in a large uni/gov place, with such things well established.

I found a nice little program called HTMLKit, so I can have users with a HTML editor that isn't DreamWeaver, because that's overkill. I design things. I create functions. They just enter content. Been pondering some sort of CMS, I kinda like wiki myself.

End of my day, time to go.

Blood? I do not know my blood type. I hate having blood taken, it puts my body into shock. I haven't fainted, yet.

[ phat and tired ]

and his warts [|] [2006 05 16 16:51:02]

There's this funny song, well, in fact most songs on 'Monty Python Sings' are quite funny, some gross, others just random. All in all, a good purchase how many ever years ago that was. But the important part is, I've ripped it legally and I listen to it not from the original CD. And it's an old CD, you can tell because it's heavier than the average ones. Prolly cost more to produce than nowadays. And I heard some group wants artist levy on blank CDs, because when I burn my own pictures to my blank CD, I'm ripping music, aren't I? :P Shift media, indeed.

What else? My birthday is soon. See my wishlist, or possibly ask me. I've decided to dash my hopes of grading, because I'm still sore, better safe than reinjuring myself. But I intend to keep up my training, and push it more once I get closer to grading. Mel is doing that now.

I had yet another good chat with Shy today. She's going to make me a birthday cake, completely custom made white chocolate with mint. Because that style does not exist, or at least not where I've seen. Yay.

Woo, this is a kinda happier post than most, weird. I need to think about other training things I could do. I feel that I need to do more network and security fiddling, because I don't get to do any here at work. Maybe a gateway machine at home, with broadband? I like the sound of just wireless broadband. I don't need eccessive speed/limit.

Flesh? I taste fire now and again, I have to coax it out, whereas I used to burn continually. It was bad, and great.

[ bird of prey, gently passing by, lightning high ]

path's unclear [|] [2006 05 12 12:01:07]

Where do I go.. from here? That's from the Buffy musical episode, Once More, With Feeling. It's when all these truths have been revealed, like Buffy was in heaven and was pulled back by her friends. Thus making life for her now, just hell.

Anyway, what was I going to say? I'm hopefully going to sort out my house woes, the Maralith Arms campaign stuff is going along well, with wiki, mailing list... now if only we'd start a whole session. My last interium labyrinth game was a little dismal, with 2.5 players turning up. Made the encounter a lot less exciting due to scale. See? I didn't want to kill them, and I didn't. I -could- have, based on the lack of players and kept my original design of those large shocker bats. Mmmm. Might keep it for later.

Heh, it's noon already. Off to lunch with Shy today. She's been sick.

[ 16 out of 20 ]

carry on [|] [2006 05 05 16:59:33]

For some reason, I had the beginning of this post in my head awhile ago, but now it's gone. I have my Friday night game on this evening, -should- be the final one of this type, to transission into a multi-DM campaign. We even have notes. I feel kinda organised. Then I'll get to play. I aim to make some chars with prestige classes. I want my own eldritch knight, dammit. And maybe an arcane archer. I've never seen them in action. In fact, I've rarely seen any prestige classes ever in action. Any? Not sure. Oh, I got a level in assassin once. Didn't last.

I'm feeling overall better. I wonder why? It's like this weight has been lifted. Might be the lack of watching TV until midnight? I'm probably getting more sleep. Amazing! More sleep does wonders. It's true!

Oh, I've ordered myself a game and Rina a game. I hope she likes it. She liked the last JumpStart one I got her. Now she's in kindergarten and I love how she reads. She's actually made progress. It's incredible to see. She did well in her report and her PIPS. The last two night she ate raveolli. Oh, except when I put garlic flakes on it. Sheesh.

End of the week. It's been a long week, since the last 3 have had only 3 days, except I think this week went quite well. Again, must be this sleep I've been getting.

Mel's sick, hope she recovers over the weekend. Y'all probably read her blog anyway. :P

[ less tired, OMG! ]

gaming monkey [|] [2006 05 01 12:20:53]

Friday night game didn't go far, ended up in the very last room, and then we were all too tired. I am considering shifting my weekly game to Thursday. Hopefully this will mean people will have less excuse for not showing up. :P

My monthly game occured on Saturday, and that actually went quite well. Please note that Pelor does not smite snuffling bears. Not evil, not undead. Why would you attack it? Use Detect Evil before attacking. This is why Paladins have it.
And they -finally- got the gauntlets of Nighthawk. The wight monk didn't work as good as I wanted. Next temple?

On Sunday, I helped jinx move to her new house with various people to a house in Aranda. Good, then I no longer have to drive to Watson to run games. Unless I am stalking Gaving.
We had lunch at Wests Rugby Club. It was very good.

Taekido yesterday was very good. I am so very sore and tired, though. I suspect I won't be able to grade next time, unless my arm is quite healed by then. I will try. Otherwise I'll get nowhere, huh?

I'm still watching lots of Buffy. It's hard to resist watching episodes until midnight each day. :P

[ can't get you outta my head ]

Gamblor [|] [2006 04 26 13:08:52]

I just recharged my mobile phone with another $30 of credit and read there's some sort of competition going on, and it included a spiffy new flippy phone. So I gambled. I don't gamble very often. I essentially thought, hell, I can throw away 30 cents or however much it is to send an SMS. I just recharged!

Now to see if I've won. No? I could be lucky and thus have a new mobile phone and I will be happy. Optus is good. If only they could give me some sort of budget broadband+landline deal. They have a big deal, but I don't use it. Good for families, I'd imagine.

I figure that living well is for families, too. I have this sorta gap. I can't convince anyone to live with me, because my house is kinda small and it doesn't really reap many benefits for someone coming from a group house where their expenses are low. Mine are high. I am trying to buy the house I am in, so I can stop throwing away rent. It's also a good investment house, because of it's location and size. Works well for 2 people with some sort of income. I mostly like living by myself, though.

It's such a toss up between not worrying and being stuck in the rental cycle, or actually taking this opportunity to get out of it. I'm almost 27 and I have no decent assets to my name. Perhaps I have an okay credit rating now?

Again, this is a gamble because the payments may be overwhelming for the amount that I need. I don't really like the living standard I have now, just needs a little bit higher. Then I'd have this huge debt, but I'm no longer throwing away rent. Let's see what my bank thinks.

[ not that friggin' tired ]

he couldn't quite explain it [|] [2006 04 24 11:41:31]

Always just gone there. Mmm MMm MMM Mmm. Ahhh, such a lovely old song. I don't think.. who were they? Crash Test Dummies had much more popular songs. Or not in .au at least.

I'm exhausted. I've been 'partying' haard for the last few days. I didn't think it would be tiring. Gamed 'til 1am Friday, gamed from 9am 'til 10pm Saturday, stuffed myself with Buffage for like 5 hours Sunday. 3 this morning. I'm an addict. Fortunately, I can get my fix until the absolute last episode! Then I'll need something else. I'm pondering a new game, maybe Dungeon Seige. Since I played the demo over Easter and it was good. Kinda like Diablo 2 and NWNs.

Oh, and then Sunday I had a great taekido lesson and now I'm uber sore. THEN I 'dated' my gf afterwards with pork hoofs, noodles and watched Saw. Home about midnight. SOOO glad I took today off. I never plan it, though. I will probably be bored until Wednesday. I have my weekly game, plus preparation for Suchansuch Inn campaign on Thursday, and my monthly game on Saturday. Sans 2 players. How annoying. Maybe 3! Maybe I should cram heaps of players in the hope of getting a moderate 4 constantly. :P

Plan for picnic tomorrow. Sounds kinda typical for me for ANZAC day. War doesn't mean much to me. I wonder if it will ever? Perhaps working for defense would be ok. Doubt they're hire me, though. I'm too slack? Perhaps I should look. We talked about jobs last night. That was good. I don't get to see her much. We're busy people.

[ am I always tired and/or bored? ]

Sunny [|] [2006 04 20 09:36:32]

Am I one of the few people who dislike too much sun? I mean, the sun is ok, but is vast amounts of blistering heat, it's not. My head got burnt and it's all pink and tender. :( I like a bit of sun. I prefer it to be overcast all the time, though. Well, I say that because it never happens. It can be overcast for a few hours and I really like that. Then it will either get really sun, or get all rainy. I don't dislike rain, I just really hate it when I have to walk innit for too long, or drive at night innit. All bad.

Oohh, a weather post. I just felt like posting. Maybe if I post more, I'll write something interesting.

The printers here at work are dying. We got new ones for staff, they are good. It's already Thursday (payday) and I have to prepare a neat 4 hour session for Saturday, which I have been thinking about. I've been lacking sleep. Oh, I watched the last bit of Season 5 of Buffy. That was awesome. I'm really liking Willow more and more.

[ tired-ed ]

shop, eat, sleep [|] [2006 04 15 14:04:27]

Those essentially things. Done today, with lots of winter clothes for Rina, Nanna and her go crazy. So many new pink and purples things. I managed to find a pair of pants for myself. Seems the white cammo pants don't suit the rest of my clothes. But they look kewl. Instead I got something plain.

It's kinda weird having broadband not at work. It starts off exciting, then gets boring. I don't know how Drew does it. The Internet becomes boring for me quickly, like most stuff does I guess. My parents finally replaced the showerhead in my old bathroom. It's great. And they've shuffled the dining room and loungeroom about. They have so much space. It will be nice when I can live in a slightly bigger house again. Although having a small house is very cosy.

Wagga Wagga seems about the same when I was last here. Today, Saturday, was extremely busy downtown. Market place has been painted red. VideoEzy has shifted and shrunk. Bela lives (well, his brother and Reece) sorta nearby. Just opposite my high school. Urk, what a horrid place. Glad to never go back there. I hope Rina will like high school.

Time for sleep, then some gaming later, then chocolate day tomorrow. Hooray for holidays.

[ dozey ]

I'm so hollow [|] [2006 04 10 11:56:32]

I feel that way sometimes. When I'm not doing anything and feeling miserable. Can't be blisteringly eager and happy all the time. Like this weekend, where I went to the Cook Primary School Fete and ran the chocolate wheel. Yes, I made kids and adults alike gamble over prizes, including chocolate. I thought the best prize was a $100 gift voucher from the local grocer. Now that's an awesome prize to win for 50 cents. At the very end of my casino manager stint, we got a chocolate mudcake from the CheeseCake shop in Belconnen. I didn't get a single ticket for myself. I gave some away for eager kids who were selling for me. It was crazy excitement. I got burnt. Wear hats.

I've been watching heaps of Buffy. Easter holidays are soon. I have a 3 day working week. I wonder if I'll play DnD over the weekend, no doubt I will.

I've been slack at taekido, because I've been feeling sick and my arm still isn't back to normal. But it's getting better. I do bits of arm weights frequently. But I need to work on my cardio fitness. Hopefully I'll get my bike back, and maybe even do some jogging sometime. I want to grade. Become 3rd kyu, red tip. :)

Also, I do not structure my posts. It's all flow from my brain. Why should I do anything else? This is my blog, so there.

[ time for lunch ]

where are you now? [|] [2006 04 02 12:06:23]

Gotta ask yourself the question, where are you now? Lyrics by James Blunt, from the song Wisemen. I bought the album for my sweet girl who wanted a song from it, but my mp3 collection isn't new. But it gets there, slowly.

Where am I? At home, all by myself, listening to said song, washing and cleaning. Also made an audit of my DVD/video collection, just so I have a record. Been watching lots of Buffy, because Shy has the entire collection. And she just let me borrow the whole lot, thanks! I only asked for Season Four Part 2. People surprise me. I hope she had a -great- time at that outing the other day. Friday night. I played DnD. I feel a bit weary of doing stuff, kinda stagnant. I very very often just feel like I'm waiting. Then I rush around, feeling good. Then I wait. Rinse. Repeat.

Am I the only one feels like that?

[ jump back and forth ]

stunned [|] [2006 03 30 11:34:52]

Did I mention some eager green belt managed to stun my right arm on Sunday? Well, it seems I haven't completely recovered from my brokeness and I'm sure the padding helped a lot. Now I'm just sore and stiff, but lacking any ability to lift things. There's no innuendo there, shush.

I watched Unleashed last night, late, because Rina and I were doing some maths, some reading and music picking. We need a new CD that we can both listen to. But I felt she was just picking every song I randomally played. Seems my mp3 collection is bigger than I thought. Now I'm tired and I hate daylight savings and the way the Commonwealth game screwed it all up, also. What a pointless endevour, and I'm sure it cost millions of dollars in IT time to deal with the change in time.

Oh, Let Li didn't say much in the movie. It was all trying to be unemotional. He fights good.

[ crickey tired ]

up in the air [|] [2006 03 23 11:00:55]

Don't you hate it when there's lots of things unresolved? My car was unhappy last night and I managed not to blow up a petrol station. There were sparks. My Friday night game split idea, I fear, may not work at all.

My weekend free was generally okay, with Debbie's birthday party, lots of time with my gf, taekido, watched the movie Zathura and the swift house appraisals, which prompted me to clean up and I felt I did very well. Perhaps my house isn't as unclean as I thought. Mess? There's still stuff to be sorted. Caterina tidied her room with amazing efficiency before she left for the weekend.

I saw the movie Sin City the other night on DVD, and it was pretty good. It may have been great, but either I wasn't in the mood, or I'm not an uber fan of noir type comic things. So it was kinda kewl. Good quotes. Also, it's emmajeans birthday on the 3rd of April, so y'all know.

I had a butter chicken soup this morning, now I feel bloated. I often feel bloated. Maybe I need to thin down my food consumption?

[ bloated ]

bloat [|] [2006 03 17 16:45:07]

Seems I am still having a horrible time trying to get a consistent gaming group going. Bela, I think you've had a very lucky time for last 2 years. Potentially, I could have up to 12 players, but this evening I have had only 3 confirmations and 6 declines. That's half that are not coming.

Perhaps my game sucks? No one wants to turn up to my game, they've repriortised. And this game was only meant as a filler until someone else was prepared to run a game. I can barely put in any plot or structure due to the uncertainly of sessions, and now it seems numbers are even harder to maintain. Wow, hear my whine. I can be a bitter man.

Perhaps weekly is too much? I could cut it down to fortnightly, and goto taekido instead. Maybe even spend time with my gf, who works late on Friday. I barely have much time to do things for myself, I envy those who can run about playing whenever they want.

It's the Canberra Day long weekend, and my daughter is off visting her grandparents. Thus I have loads of time. Does anyone want it?

[ whingy ]

Xtreme [|] [2006 03 14 15:29:25]

Because everyone has to have a post that's xtreme. I've been fairly busy and thus not writing anything in my blog. It's been an entire week already. I went to taekido Sunday and Monday, all good. I think I'm finally getting back into the groove.

I played a big DnD game Friday night and had a good Meetup on Saturday afternoon. We played DnD Cluedo and Citadels. I think if you want to see me talk more, read the fine boards found at http://www.rpgmeetup.com/.

I had a good relaxing Saturday morning, and a kinda lazy Sunday morning, but otherwise felt stressy as I have been for several weeks now. I think this weekend might be good.

Oh, except I'm having a real estate agent evaluate my house, which means I will do some cleaning. It's a good idea anyway. My landlord seems like a really nice person. She also likes Strictly Rentals. I recommend them also.

I think, although I'm surrounded by people, I often feel lonely.

[ yawrns ]

whoa [|] [2006 03 07 11:42:37]

In the immortal word of Keanu Reeves, 'Whoa'. I haven't blogged for several days, or maybe even more than a week. What the hell is going on?

It's Tuesday, and over the weekend I attend both Junior and Senior gradings. Rina graded for the first time, I attended the Junior grading for the first time. It takes a LOT longer than Senior grading, because there was SO many kids. It's crazy. I applaud the Instructors for managing the whole crowd. I never meant to be rude. Mel and I were shushed in Senior grading, hehe. Rina is small and young but she managed okay for the most part. She even asked me if I was the most proud of her. Naturally, I am. It's quite an effort for a 5 and a half year old.

Senior grading sucked because I wasn't. Watching is okay with the higher grades, mostly. There was blood.

Also played Chris' monthly game Saturday evening, still not managed to get back to civilsations, got attacked by a red dragon and a cloud giant. I thought we were tough. Dragons are bigger than us.

Oh, I got a call from my real estate agent telling me that the landlord is considering selling the property. They asked me if I might be interested in buying it. I think I am, I would like to stop throwing money away at rent. I wonder if my parents would help me sort this out? I think so. Owning my own home, how novel.

[ good ]

plagued [|] [2006 02 28 10:44:03]

And I've been sick for the last week, having half days' off and generally feel pretty drained. Then on Friday I played a game of Call of Cthulhu run by Stephen Hurst (but we call him Steve) and that was awesome. Then next day, I ran my monthly game and painfully have lost my pile of notes and characters sheets. This does not happen often. Regardless, I had 2 new players anyway, so we all made new characters. I think it went well, as the wizards' cat saved the party.

For those who keep asking about my arm, it's not broken anymore, I'm out of my cast finally but it's still quite sore and I need to develop the muscles again. Therefore, I am unable to grade for taekido, as my doctor said my arm won't be completely repaired for -another- 2 months. Great.

What else? I actually had quite a restful weekend, with Sunday spent cleaning and relaxing, after an evening with my gf, in which we even managed to catch most of the Canberra Show fireworks. I must mention she made a lovely pork mince salad.

[ I need rest ]

Mystery [|] [2006 02 24 16:46:09]

I have a DVD of Mysteryness, courtsey of Drew. What is on it? No one knows. How to use it? By using the magic of my new DVD-combo drive. How I will survive the resulting vortex of mystery? No one knows. Except Space Goat.

Oh yeah, I've been like sick all week. Still am, been fighting it out and losing, so I had Monday afternoon off, and then Wednesday afternoon. Caterina lost her hat, I bought her a new one this morning and a library bag. Last night I went to the first P&C meeting and casually became Afters liason, because I'd be happy to chat with the people at Afters about everything.

So, Friday evening I have probably my interim game, and tomorrow I have my monthly game, which I will play, dammit. Knowing my luck, no one will actually turn up. Oh weel, gives me more time to prepare for games, I guess. And cleaning time. And gf time, always good.

[ need more rest, slowing healing ]

finally part 2 [|] [2006 02 20 11:50:57]

Oh, I have my cast off. I have horrible, horrible freedom. It feels really odd, yet I'm slowing getting used to it. I still open/unlock doors with my left hand. The rotting flesh is slowly being replaced by new flesh as I scrub it every day.
The sinews and muscles are very stiff.

I had a huge game on Friday night, with like 10 players, I think. Crazy. Not surprisingly, it took a long time to get organised and we're still stuck in the same room. Which is fine by me. Bela mentioned it might be worth splitting the group and running the 'secret session' game.

I finally managed to spend alone time (Katie interrupted brief) with my gf, and watched the movie 20-30-40 which was excellent, it was a romantic comedy.

The CSSA is being all active again, with yet another BBQ tomorrow to use up the supplies left from last weeks' effort. We'll need to buy more drinks again. Nikhil is quite organised and helpful. I say organised, as in rushing around a lot but still successful.

I have a sore throat and flu-like symptoms, I almost did not go into work, but I thought I would since it's the 1st day of classes. I'm tempted to leave about lunch time.

[ sickly ]

restore normality [|] [2006 02 16 09:23:15]

OOo, I almost said 'so'. And now I did. Anyway, seems things have settled down and normality seems to have been restored. Although hectic days are ahead, I had a great time cohersing people to join CSSA this afternoon, briefly. Last year I spent a -lot- more time doing that. Still have the BBQ that's on Thursday (2006-02-16), hopefully that will go as well as previous ones, or even better!

I had lunch, too. And got caught up doing work and not posting this until now. :P

[ normal? ]

3 is bad, m'kay [|] [2006 02 13 15:44:27]

So... oh well, must submit to my 'so-so'ness.

First, I am very emotionally bothered lately. I'm not sure if I should stand my ground, or just let go.

Second, my cars' electrical system seems to be leaking, as in the battery dies overnight, twice now. I now have a charger and jumpers, so I can cope until I get it fixed. :(

Third, as I expected, work hassles. Seemed to have pettered out for now. Garfield hates Mondays.

Then my mood shifts to 'oh well, then everything else will be milded in comparasion' and I can cope with it.

What else? I watched 21grams, it was pretty good. Might be trying a new location for my Friday game and I have a clicker.

[ bothered and tired ]

finally part 1 [|] [2006 02 07 13:38:02]

Right, so it seems my GP has been overseas and I won't be able to see him until next Thursday (2006-02-16). I was resolved to wear this cast until the 2nd, a week more than he offered, because I'm young and will heal fast apparantly. But now I'm getting frustrated.

This also extends to the fact there is very little chance I will feel up to grading, because this will be a hard grading and I won't be at full form for several weeks. Grading is early March, like the 5th. Rina might grade, though.

On better news, Caterina went to her first day of Kindergarten. She seemed a lot less excited than Treb and Mel did, as both Rina and I have been going to orientation sessions, so it all seems just fine to her. I sorta recall my first day, I cried and it was all strange. I got over it pretty quickly, though.

Primary school was the best. High school was horrific. Escaping that was bliss. TAFE was good, too. Work is a LOT better. I now get -paid- to help others do their work on computers, rather than me wasting my time not doing my own work.

[ I'm alright ]

extra long weekend [|] [2006 01 31 15:02:33]

Let's not start with 'So', but I almost did. It's still there in essence. I had an extra long weekend, by augmenting The Australia (Invasion) day public holiday with a day of annual leave. Since barely anyone was around at work, that was good. But I did turn up at Friday afternoon just to make sure all was well, since our DNS server died on Wednesday. Now it seems ok.

I spent a lot of time with the fam. Shopped lots, ate lots of food out, went to the live Dorothy and friends shop at Commonwealth park, that was awesome. Rina danced. Makes me wonder if she'd like to go to more things like that. I just don't know when they're on. Clearly their advertisement is weak and only parents who go looking for these things find them.

And CanCon, not as fantastic as it used to be. I'm getting bored with it. I got to hang with Miss E in dribs and drabs over the holidays, since she's a teacher and only went back yesterday, or sometime soon. She's very absorbing in weird ways. Why do I adore that so much?

And after flailing at CanCon, Alex ran an awesome zombie mash game. Alex rocks. Hella more detail than I would have done. I am sad that I had to withdraw from his game, but I had too many games and we only started his. I do so like encouraging people to try DMing, even once, so you appreciate how difficult it is, and how fun it is, so you can spread your positive activity with others, and thus the cycle continues. Players become DMs, who gather more players.

Sunday evening was intense. 6 months already, I barely notice time slip away. Let's us see how things span out over the next 6 months, will I get there? It will always be worth it.

And taekido last night was good, Hanshi seemed a bit sick when he arrived, I hope he's ok. I can't imagine taekidokai without him. I seem to be coping more easily with class, I'm not very sore at all this time.

[ tell me why my heart makes a fool of me ]

About me [|] [2006 01 25 16:30:02]

So, if you click on 'james' on the top right corner, you'll get more information about me. I updated it yesterday with questions and answers I asked others about me. I liked mel's answer to the first one, and gavin's in the 2nd one. My gf suggests I write more 'blood and flesh' in my blogs; more about my thoughts, mind, heart and body.

So, let me try that. Most of these are thoughts, reviews of events. Things that may not recall, the motivation for my blogging, really. The questions I asked were interesting. To see what other people think of me. How much do I care? Sometimes lots, sometimes zero. I think one of my lifelong aims is to be an awesome father. This will take a lifetime, or a very very long time, 'cause it doesn't really stop until I'm dead, then I can only try through haunting.

Martial arts master is right, since I will try various martial arts and try to master them. This will take a long time. I also have various other goals to achieve in life, which may or may not take a long time.

Since I went to taekido on Monday, my body is awfully sore. It's been 2 weeks. I haven't felt sore for very long after class in sometime. I don't like it. I worry about my ability to grade next time, which is early March. On the otherhand, if I fail, I only gain the knowledge that I am not ready yet, while being exhausted.

Emotionally, from the heart, I still feel fairly paralyzed. Sometimes it leaks out. I can project my emotions just fine, but the extreme ones are harder to control. I don't want to let go.

I think I'll let go of this rambling now.

[ bothered ]

weekend plus [|] [2006 01 23 14:25:14]

This weekend was awesome. Friday night we -finally- ended part 2 (yes, there will be part 3 at some point) of Bela's uber-campaign he's been running for almost 2 years (?). I can't believe my char survived the first part, and I died TWICE in the 2nd part. Sheesh. Too wild, and too arrogant. My egoist was awesomely powerfully, yet I didn't play him effectively enough at times and got reamed to death by a wyvern. In this last installment, I ended up as a paladin who sliced evil in half good, the reaver.

Then Saturday was spent gaming 6 hours worth at Pancake Parlour, playing the New Years Game (run by emmajeans) where we played angsty teenagers who were invited to a Chinese New Years all-ages party, with much hijinx and mystical mayhem involing hopping vampires and evil chickens not letting the Year of the Dog come.

And then the evening was a kewl stint at Treb's 21st bash. It was good to see Rhona (Treb's mum) again. She's awesome. She even did a speech. And I met Margus.

Then Sunday was uber-lazy, I even slept in until 8:20am. Which is incredible for me. Watched Sharkboy and Lavagirl with Rina, went shopping and almost got locked inside Toys'R'Us playing some education Poohbear game. And then evening was spent with my gf, watching 2046, which has high profile asian talent, such as Ziyi Zhang.

[ hating summer ]

nightmare [|] [2006 01 16 11:23:15]

So, last night I had this weird nightmare, which turned into a better dream after I woke up and went to sleep again.

Rina also woke up at the same time, and slept in my bed after that.

The nightmare part involved this weird colonial family, who lived in a zepplin (or some kind of giant airship). It was a typical wooden house otherwise. Oh, except all the toilets installed in every room, and some rooms had 2 or 3. Yes, on an airship. The more disturbing part was the food, because they mostly ate eggs and baby chicks. Which was very gross. They mostly fried them into strips.

Bob is back today. He's been gone for like 7 weeks. My arm is still broken, for anyone keeps asking me every day. It's broken. I wake up every day, and it's still broken. Yes, it's healing, but it's still sore.

I'm going to taekido this evening, but I didn't go yesterday. Instead, I had Gavin display his awesome driving skillz and we practiced going backwards 23 times. 77 to go.

On Saturday, we had the 1st RPGmeetup for the year. Emma was awesome, by being all agenda like and we played the Dictionary game. 'ovine' is a headless cow, dammit.

[ So hard for a good soul to survive ]

blantant post [|] [2006 01 11 11:05:57]

So... do I always begin with 'So'? I think I do. Anyway, for Christmas I scored a new quilt, a broken ulna, SG-1 series 6, various other things, and an 512Mb X2 mp3 player from my gf. I think you're amazing. I got her a funky necklace and a towel. She needs to know where her towel is at.

I've decided not to attend black belt training on the basis that my arm is broken, so I can only watch and that will only frustrate me even further. I can't hold a bokken, let alone roll (badly). I just don't want to know.

However, I did go Monday night and that was mostly good. I can still kick just fine. My 2-step sparring seems a bit odd, because I don't want to use my right arm much.

I will get my haircut Thursday night, because she wants to cut my hair and I've been waiting. Then I want to dye it blonde again. Then I was thinking darker. Might also change shampoo. Pantene Pro just seems to make my hair too oily at the moment. Perhaps the colour and shortness will make a difference too.

And how's that for a not-very-exciting blog post?

[ The way love can set you free ]

I'm green [|] [2006 01 09 15:56:04]

With envy for all those people with unbroken ulnas. I had a review check on my break at the doctors today and I now have a green fibreglass cast. Which means it's waterproof and lighter. I fully intend to goto taekido class this evening and see how that goes. I want to watch blackbelt training, because it's different and I can go at the moment, until there are more higher belts. But for the time being, there are mostly blue belts. Maybe it's harder to get to Northside for the long class?

I can wait to grade. I've been waiting. Hopefully I'll be all good to go once March comes along.

Did I mention that I really get annoyed when people muck up my pool of laptops? Here at work, people borrow these nice laptops for various reasons, and they decide to install whatever the hell they like, and not clean it up after use. Why are they so abusive? Do they scribble on library books? Scratch rented DVDs? No respect for others' property.

I wonder if anything interesting will happen this week? I've recently watched the 'Back to the Future' triology, which I borrowed from my fathers' vast DVD library. It was good to watch the classic. I find it funny that Chrispen Glover and Billy Zane were in those movies. Well, Chrispen wanted too much for the 2nd one. Tsk.

[ still green but lighter and waterproof ]

gaming monkey [|] [2006 01 06 14:49:01]

So, I managed to play 2 DnD games over the xmas holidays, mixed with a few games of Hero's Quest (modified by me), lots of hours spent playing Chaos Overlords. Tonight, I will run my 'Interim Labyrinth' game, which I may have to do some preparation for. I may get Gavin to help me clean up some, also. Then tommorrow, I have Chris' game, then my daughter will return home in the afternoon.

She's been gone from here since Monday. It's very weird not having her in the ACT. However, it's just as strange when I'm not here, when she is. I wonder if I'm a good father, or parent. I've always considered that a lot of people should not have children. There should be a test. And limits. Same with computing, and the Internet. There should be mandatory courses before getting any of these. But people would complain about their lack of basic 'freedoms'. All that freedom to break and mess up heaps of crap.

Quite boring here at work at the moment. Oh, and I left my mobile at home, on charge. I wonder if I got any calls.

[ sh-shake it sh-shake it, feels good ]

Pokemon is evil? [|] [2006 01 03 16:32:48]

So, I had this great idea of making a Dungeon & Dragons style horoscope and I went looking in google for anything the same or similiar, and I kept finding links to some obscure Christian websites claiming that Pokemon leads to evil. Same with Dungeon & Dragons, same with Harry Potter.

Does it really lead to evil? Has society (Western, and others to lesser extent) become more violent and immoral than when it used to be with it's strict conformity and lack of progress?

I have no idea, myself. For each their own. Anyway, Pokemon is no longer being produced by Wizards of the Coast. The popularity has died. Fad is over. I used to be into that. Ran the first official Australian Pokemon TCG Tournament. How proud am I? :)

I wonder if people think I'm evil? Do I appear to be violent and immoral? I play these fantasy games a lot. Interesting to think about, really.

Today is the first day back at work. ANU offices are open. People are here. Very few undergraduates, though. Seems that VSU got through (not surprised) and there is no GSF for new students as of semester 2. I wonder what will be affected here at ANU. Hopefully I'll remember to record it here.

It's good to be back at work, for the most part. I'll be getting a new cast on Monday. Waterproof.

[ could use more holidays, maybe ]

usher in a new year [|] [2006 01 01 10:41:27]

So, it's 2006. Or at least by the calender system I am used to. Had a bit of celebration, with DVD watching, food and friends. Geeked it up with the roll of a d20, scoring 11 for 2006. So if last year was 10, this year will be slightly better. :) I know it will already be better, because I'll not have a broken ulna anymore and get rid of this accursed full cast I now have. It's heavier than the other one. I may get another cast later, hopefully cheaply.

I'm off for lunch at jinx's house, she's in a mood to celebrate for some reason, and very tired and hung over. Meh. Rina will like it, too.

For my new years' resolution, I aim to do some weights training (with Bela, who crushes bread with his bare hands!), so this will hopefully make taekido easier and make me look buff. Although I never think being buff gets the girls, since I've never been before and yet I've had lengthy relationships. Maybe apperance isn't everything. I consider myself more of a charming geek, but some disagree. I'm a hybrid. Or is it my soul? My confidence? Or my insanity? Or purely Fate.

It's hot and windy outside, Summer bites. But I still like my new doona.

[ happily new year'd ]

hometown [|] [2005 12 29 07:39:17]

So, I'm currently in WaggaWagga, my nose aggitated by the different weather as per usual. Here, at one of my father's computer with broadband. Broadband is good if you have the time to use it. Same with payTV. I usually don't, with Caterina, DnD, my gf, and taekido to absorb my time. But this is holiday time. And the spacebar sticks.

These holidays were pretty awesome. Did the whole big family thing, which I have not done in some time. I watched Knightrider and StarGate SG-1 season 6. Play M:TG and HeroQuest. I will play Dungeons and Dragons today.

Does it matter if I go off in tangents within posts? Too bad. I'd like to say; if I ever knew you. Spent time with you, and I loved you and wanted you, it's still there. I get distracted. That's how I survive with your loss. It can be resurrected, but it's difficult. Sometimes these sparks will resurface on their own and I get reminded.

Maybe I'll work on more emotional blog entries sometime. There's a glimpse.

[ awake and holiday'd ]

yeouch part 2 [|] [2005 12 24 10:53:24]

So, after going to work for 2 days, this including typing (like now) and driving about Canberra, I went to the hospital and waited something like 5 hours to get x-rays to discover my ulna is broken. Quite cleanly. Now I have a half cast, and it's very annoying. I need to go back and get a real cast and keep that for 6 weeks! 6 weeks! I better be able to grade, I can't stand not grading after last time.

I'm currently in 'Big Bad Blayney'. This p