Should have done this a long time ago

Okay, so an update by me has been long overdue, I had all these wonderful plans and photos prepared of my trip to the zoo and my niece's Baptism, but obviously none of that came to fruition and now too much time has passed.

At the moment I'm here in Queensland with Xy where I'm spending 6 weeks and 3 have almost passed already. I've been lucky enough to meet lots of people I know from online gaming and to go to a family wedding, and photos will ofcourse be posted when I get back to Adelaide (at least, that's the plan).

For now, though, I just wanted to let everyone know I was still okay and to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a nice Christmas :)

A little less slack

Ok so I promised some pictures from my trip but have not secured permission from my friend JP to post his pictures so shall refrain from doing so at this stage but might update later if I get the nod, Enjoy!

My niece Emily:

Sister, Lars and Emily:

Emily, Myself and Lars:

OMG Slack!

First and foremost, yes I have been very slack in updating the blog recently, secondly it isn't because I have had nothing to update about but rather because I am slack.

A while back now JP and Sarah came up to see sunny Brisbane and surrounds from NSW and were treated to one of our finest week long torrential down pours that just always seem to follow visitors that are seeking our sunny climbs.
It was awesome fun with one of my friends bringing around his Xbox360 and with a house full of gamers (at least 6) we had a great couple of days, I even managed to get out at one point and show them around the city and eat some delicious foods with them, twas good fun! :D.
I personally can't wait till they come back up again as they were great fun to have around (and considerate guests!)

Just this last weekend I decided to go and visit my sister and her new born bub (the second one now) he is my first and likely only nephew from my side of the family so for anyone counting that is one niece and one nephew, the likelihood for both being very spoiled by me in the future is likely high :p.
They are doing well despite the two children running my sister ragged and slowly driving her insane but I am pretty sure this is normal so I am not as worried as I would normally be.

The kids are adorable and I spent quite a lot of time colouring in with the niece and generally being silly and making faces for them and trying to communicate as best as possible with a three year old and a 7 week new born.
(p.s in my previous blog post I got my nieces age wrong by about a year!, yes I am a terrible uncle :/)
Anywho, they are great and I enjoyed my time there immensely.

This afternoon I am headed out to a long time friends place for his 29th birthday party.
Brett always throws awesome party's with much food and waaaarn and scotch available as well as always having an interesting tale or twenty to relate.
Today I have been let in on something he will be trying at the party to entertain us all, he will be "acquiring" a little liquid nitrogen from his university to bring home in the hopes of making some home made ice cream!
I can only imagine the crazy shenanigans that could take place should something go wrong in this process with people having body parts frozen and shattered 'ala' Terminator 2 styles.

Lets hope this evening doesn't boil down into a mass emergency room visit hmm?

I shall update with some piccy's of past doings and possibly some emergency room pics should something exciting happen tonight :D.

A Day in the Life

I swear these things can only happen to me...

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was putting on my eyeshadow and dropped the eyeshadow wand. I watched it fall towards the sink, and plummet to its doom as it continued to fall, all the way down the drain. How it managed to fall so perfectly, so that it fell through the drain hole without even bouncing off the basin is beyond me.

Needless to say I am now short one eyeshadow wand...

Across the Great Divide

Well about the only really interesting thing that has happened to me of late is that my housemate and I went to the Across the Great Divide concert a couple of weeks ago to see silverchair and Powderfinger perform. And what else can I say but that it was FANTASTIC!! I'm so glad we decided to go and managed to get tickets to the second show!

A workmate of his and his wife were kind enough to drive us there on the Thursday night and in true concert tradition we went to The Gov beforehand for a quick bite to eat and a couple of rounds of drinks. The housemate and I had General Admission tickets and we managed to get around 20 metres back from the stage to see silverchair. I have only seen silverchair live once before at WaveAid and to be honest at that time I didn't think it was a great gig, but this time they went above and beyond my expectations. Daniel was fantastic with the crowd and they performed so well, I was really impressed.

A bunch of people in front of us then left the area to get drinks or whatever after their set so we managed to get further ahead for the Powderfinger set and I'm not sure how far from the stage we were then - somewhere between 5 and 10 metres I think, with a perfect view.

They also didn't disappoint with a fantastic set and the band seemed to have a great time too. The crowd was also great with no pushing or nastiness, with everyone just enjoying the show and letting everyone else enjoy it too. At the end the two bands came on stage together and performed "Substitute", a cover of the song by The Who and it was a great end to a great night.

The concert finished at around 11:15pm and we got a cab easily and headed home, stopping off to buy more drinks on the way, because ofcourse after such a great gig you can't just go home and go straight to bed. We put on some CDs and stayed up until around 2am, which made work the next day a little difficult but was a great wind-down for a great night.

Did I mention it was great? I can't stress this enough!

Aside from that one night the rest of the last few weeks has just been the usual stuff - working, studying, seeing family, not much else. Will hopefully have more to write about again soon.

Moving on and moving out

So much has happened in recent times I am not really sure what to include in the Blog. I guess I'll include the big things for now and flesh things out another time.

Ivan and I have cancelled our holiday to Japan and NYC. On the one hand I am bummed because it was my dream trip and also we lost a fair bit of money not thinking of not going before we'd paid for everything. On the other hand it is good we're not going for many reasons. I think I will keep my time off work though and am looking at going to Queensland for a few weeks instead, to not only visit my family and go to my cousin's wedding but also to go and see Glen for a bit. It gives me something to still look forward to over Christmas, even if it is closer to home.

Ivan on a whim last Thursday morning woke up and decided to fly to Okinawa for a few days to meet a girl. Things went really well for him and he is really happy at the moment, for which I am glad. I'm actually looking forward to meeting her as she sounds really nice.

Also at around that time I moved out and now have a new housemate. This being the second week and I am feeling more at home than I did last week. It's a pretty cool arrangement and my housemate is pretty easy to live with so I really can't complain.

Work has been extremely busy of late and for a time there it was stressing me out greatly due to everything else going on in my life but things are starting to return to normal in that regard too.

Normal - an interesting choice of word. Nothing actually feels "normal" anymore but rather, it is back into a routine I suppose you could say, and that is probably a good thing.

As a closing, I have [foolishly] signed up for Bootcamp with the gym which starts at the end of this month. It'll be very hard I'm sure but it'll be good to focus on something healthy. I am drinking far too many beers of late...

What I've learned

Wearing a flowing skirt on a windy day is a very bad idea.

Wow, post 351!

Yep, I'm at home from work today doing some study and after a big sleep-in. I had a big night on Friday night and unfortunately it seems the rest of the weekend flew past as a result. There was a [very small] Neverwinter Nights gathering at The Griffins Head on Friday night and I felt like going out drinking, so after convincing a couple of friends to come along I made a big night of it. Most people left pretty early but then a few of us went to The Austral (too loud) and then onto the Exeter (which is a dive) before stumbling into a cab and me crashing elsewhere and not getting home until 11am the next day. Ugh. Was a great night, but I felt so craptastic on Saturday. Could have been worse though - I could have lost my purse *chuckles at the inside joke*

I was supposed to go to the gym but there was no way that was gonna happen, so instead I went to see Susanna like I promised Maria I would, had lunch at their place and then came home at around 5 and was asleep by 8pm. Ugh.

Sunday I had to do some study as I have 4 assignments due this week so I got two done and am hoping to get the other two done during the weeknights, which shouldn't be a problem.

This weekend should be a much quieter one, at least at this stage. On Sunday afternoon I have Natasha's engagement party which I'll be going to solo and because of that I'm not quite sure whether I'll enjoy myself or not (considering her whole family will be there and Natasha doesn't even know what's happened between Ivan and I beyond an SMS) but I'm sure I'll cope.

In other news a date has been set for my moving out with it being in early September, so I'll have to start packing some things into boxes and getting myself organised. I don't think I have a great deal of gear here but I think I might be underestimating things too. But the big problem will be the incessant badgering from my parents about how I should just be moving back home until the new year. I told Mum today I'm moving thinking she'd be the easy parent to tell as she understands my independence but she surprised me by saying the things I expected Dad to say. Oh well, a few more weeks of that to go I suppose, but it wasn't unexpected.

Anyway, back to the studies I suppose...

Ok, time to tell

Obviously something's been going on for a while now and I never wanted to really put it down in the Blog. At first it seemed too painful, then it seemed like too much closure, but now I believe I am ready to say that Ivan and I have decided to go our separate ways. Yes, I am fine now. The first few weeks would have been a bad time to ask me how I was (me once bursting into tears one day at work when being asked that very thing). Even now when I think about certain things I can get teary, but overall I know it's what's best for both of us. We just want different things out of life I suppose, and it's better that we're both honest about that now rather than later. Anyway, it was very amicable, and so the trip overseas is still going ahead (thank goodness, it being all paid for and so forth). I was going to wait until after the holiday to move out but I think I will do so in a few weeks time now.

Now, onto happier events. Last Friday night I went to The Elephant Walk with Michelle and a friend I haven't seen for over 10 years I think, Nicola, and her sister Tracy. It was awesome!! Didn't help the new healthy thing too much, it being a dessert bar and all but we all got high on sugar and then laughed and laughed and laughed! I had such a nice time :D

Anyway, it's life as usual otherwise. Work, study, see the family, go to the gym, rinse and repeat. But at least I've now written in my blog something that I've been putting off.

An uplate update

Well TAFE has started again and with assignments due soon I thought I might take some time out from homework to do a quick update. The workouts are going well still, which is good. I've only missed one day so far, due to me falling arse over tit after twisting my ankle last Wednesday night and landing on my knees. The knee I have previously dislocated caught the brunt of it but thank goodness there was only some mild tenderness and a big graze, and no dislocating. Phew! The graze is all that hurts now, so all is well. I wish there was a more graceful way of falling though, I am sure it wasn't a good look.

Work has been crazy busy due to it being the time we raise thousands of invoices for the state, and tomorrow I should finish things off so I'm glad that it's behind me for another year.

My niece Susanna is doing well, she's healthy and getting bigger. Saw the family on the weekend for Dad's birthday and it was nigh impossible to pry her out of Dad's arms. I suppose, being the birthday boy, we had to let him hold her for a while.

Hmm let's see, what else... Have seen a few movies lately, such as Transformers, Knocked Up and The Simpson's Movie. I recommend them ALL.

Anyway, I'll leave you with this little piece of YouTube...

Click me!

Family Visits

Hi there *waves*

Well recently my sister, brother in law and niece traveled a couple hundred kilometres to come see me and do some other things which was pretty cool since I havn't seen any of them in close to nine months now.
I used to live with them up in Bundaberg (most boring town ever if your not into rum and fighting) before moving down to Brisbane, our ancestral home (well in recent history anyway :p).

Sis is getting pretty big with her second child now and I imagine it won't be long now untill I get the news of a healthy boy or girl since they do not like to find out the sex before the child is born at which time I will be an uncle x 2 WOOO! \o/.

Emily, my niece is a little cutey and very entertaining and chatty, despite not remembering me due to still being so very young she was talking my ear off about anything and everything.
It was with great difficulty that I tried to keep up with her nebulous conversations which incoporated a great deal of words I couldn't understand but for a todler of a year and a half she has a remarkable grasp of the english language and can generally get her point across in a very cute fassion.

I managed to snap a shot of her when she stole dads "Dudes", which is what she calls his sunglasses, likely because of my sister calling him dude whenever he wears them, some in joke there for sure.
I am sure everyone is going to enjoy this :D.

Blackle

Hey there sports fans.

I know for a fact that Mel is a massive supporter of many good causes for saving our natural environment through many forms including the saving of electricity so as to reduce our greenhouse emissions, extend out our natural fossil fuel resources and such so I would like to take this opportunity to introduce those readers of this blog whom do not already know about Google's new search engine, "Blackle".

For those worried about energy consumption and all its downsides ... When your screen is white, whether it be an empty word page, or the Google page, your computer consumes 74 watts, and when its black it consumes only 59 watts.
Mark Ontkush wrote an article about the energy saving that would be achieved if Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of page views, according to his calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved.

In a response to this article Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but with a lower energy consumption, check it out.

http://www.blackle.com

I am now personally using the new Blackle engine and will do so into the future since I spend a great deal of time on this energy hungry beast every single day.
Be friendly to the planet that supports your life and the lives of your children and in turn perhaps even lower your electricity bill some as a reward for your dedication.

Cheers
Xy

Testing testing 1,2,3

All right, I have been keeping myself entertained with a few stand out from the crowd vids i've seen recently and thought it would be good to serve a dual purpose in testing out embedding code and entertaining you the reader by sharing a very cool one here.

Picture yourselves and co-workers for those of you whom read this blog while at work in a similar situation and have a little giggle.
It's relatively work safe and would be better with sound if at all possible, Enjoy.

No more late nights

After letting my weight balloon out and my self esteem deflate, after constantly feeling like somebody twice my age, I decided late last week to join a gym near work, and for 3 mornings now I have been getting up at 5:30am so that I can get to the gym before work and leave enough time to get ready in the morning and still make it to work on time.

So far I am really enjoying it, and I hope the motivation stays with me. I've been leaving the workout feeling really refreshed and haven't been getting tired until bedtime. It's a strange feeling though to leave the house while it's still dark and to see the city in the morning before other people have woken up. It's very surreal. The staff are very friendly which can also seem a little too much first thing in the morning. I'm not a morning person so when someone is overly bubbly or chatty I don't really respond well, hehe. The early mornings also mean that I can no longer stay up until midnight playing Lord Of The Rings Online so naturally, I am having withdrawls.

I am also, ofcourse, trying to watch what I eat. So then it's typical that today I have a major craving for some Fruchocs. Bah.

Anyway aside from that we had my sister's birthday on the weekend so went to their place for lunch on Sunday where I proceeded to hold Susanna for as many hours as possible. I swear she's grown in the week since I saw her last. Other than that it has just been work as usual, nothing exciting at all really.

And now, a funny quote I overheard in the office:
"If you were a piece of work I was halfway through working on, where would you hide?"

A beginning and an end

Truth is I've been in no mood to write. Those that know me will know why, those who are passing by here will have no idea. In time no doubt I'll write about recent events, but things are just too raw at the moment to do so.

However, there is some good news, and that is that on 2 July 2007, my niece entered this world. I am ofcourse biased, but I think she's beautiful. See for yourself. (Thanks for the piccies, Michelle).

Downtime needed

I just can't seem to get into the habit of updating weekly so again I am just gonna do a general update of the last 2 and a bit weeks in no specific format. Things have just been so busy lately! As the end of June approaches we head into our busiest time of the year at work so I've been doing extra hours again in an effort to catch up but I just feel like I'm not getting anywhere quickly.

Aside from work, things are busy at home, too. Ivan and I finished our Japanese for Fun and Travel course but have decided to sign up for Japanese 1, which runs for 30 weeks! We went to our first class last week and it looks like a big and lively class so it will no doubt be enjoyable! We've also been going to the Pancake Kitchen every Tuesday night for the J Club, which is a Japanese language/social club with most people from Uni SA but a couple of ringins (like us) and has been fun for the last few weeks.

On top of that it was Grandma's 81st birthday a couple of weekends ago and with Mother's Day last weekend we've been seeing my family a bit. Also, as a followup to my last update I got in touch with an old high school/Uni friend and we went out for lunch and a catchup. It was really great actually, and I'll endeavour to keep in touch with her in the future. With emails being so easy there's no excuse really.

In other news I have my own new gaming addiction I must confess to. Darren gave me the buddy key he got with his Lord of the Rings Online game which meant I had a 10 day trial. Well, after day 1 I was addicted and on the second day of my 10 days Ivan had bought both of us the game so, although time to play it has been limited, it's very addictive once I start and several hours can easily pass.

Anyway, had better get back to work now :(

Wow, just wow ...

I just took yet another walk down to my local Aust post branch to look in on a package Mel and her Duckman sent me over four weeks ago now through normal post and FINALY it was there waiting for me.
Strangely enough though it would seem it was there all along...

Yes it had been sitting there since the 19th of april apparently but despite going down there twice, citing my name, the names of the senders and where it was from somehow it was over looked both times.

The first notice I recieved in the mail sending me down for the third time today to finally get it apparently was the third written up before it was in only a few days to be returned to the senders.
I know it all seems incredible but it is all true *shakes head in bafflement*.

The lady today was very helpful and apologetic though and it was the first time she had served me so I think in future I know who I will be waiting in line for to serve me since the other two ladies there must be blind or incompetant or both :-/.

It has been some time since I updated last and now i have that particular rant off my chest I shall explain why.

Final Fantasy 12

To those who are fans of the series or fairly serious gamers that short line alone will probably have you nodding your heads in understanding but for the uneducated I shall explain a little.

So far I have sunk aproximately eighty five hours into this game and still havn't been everywhere, talked to everyone worth talking to or seen and fought all the extra sidequesty things there are yet to do in this spawling sandbox fantasy soap opera of sorts.

These games although decidedly foreign in design (the final fantasy series) being produced in japan have an amazing depth of play that only few western role playing computer games can hope to rival. (A few off the top of my head would be the Fallout series, Planescape Torment and the Baldurs Gate series).

If you have ever been umming and arring about getting into these console master pieces (as opposed to the PC master pieces I also listed) 12 is possibly not the game I would suggest as entry level as it is quite complex and doesn't have the best storyline out of the series I have played, I suggest starting with 10 for a story you will develop a connection with the characters in.

Despite this though its the gameplay in 12 that takes the cake, free flowing, non random battles with customisable party AI to allow you to tweak every fine deatil of how your party members react to many different types of enemies right from start to finish of the battle is what makes this game amazing.

I am still working my way through to the tougher rare and hidden away monsters at this time and loving every second of it as the challenge rating gets sooo much harder.
It's been well worth the time I have put into it so far though I do look forward to talking to estranged friends once more when its claws finally pry loose from my flesh *waves to people who thought he had died*, sorry for being so distant lately, I love you all :D.

Format be damned

Yes yes, I realise I haven't done a weekly update in the correct format again. This time my excuse is it's been 3 weeks and so it would simply be too difficult. Also I didn't know what to say after Xy's last spooky post. Needless to say, I am concerned for my co-author's mental state. Just kidding, ofcourse Xy *giggles*.

Well as you can see by the time of my posting this, my sleeping patterns are very much out of whack. And who can we blame? Big Brother. The Up Late show is a hoot. I don't know what it is about Mike Goldman but he cracks me up and so I've been watching it, which means waking up with the alarm clock and cursing myself for staying up so late. In fact, I should be watching it right now, but after working on an assignment until around 11pm I got caught up checking my MySpace and then searching for people I knew in a past life (i.e. from school) and thus, I figured I should update my Blog finally, too. Seeing as how updating my Blog takes priority over watching Big Brother Up Late, which takes priority over sleeping, you can see I'm very poor at prioritising.

So anywho, I haven't been up to exciting things at all, I regret to inform you. We went out to Eric's a couple of weekends ago for dinner and some DVDs, it was Ivan's birthday last Friday so I had the day off work and showed him around a couple of Japanese stores in the city, but aside from that it's been business as usual. In other words, work, Japanese studies, reading, and TV shows. Yes, my life can be summarised into four broad categories it seems.

Now, a tangent.

It's strange, but for some reason lately I've been thinking a lot about the past. Like, one of my TAFE lecturers was talking about customers who may be lonely and so go into extended conversations with staff members and I remembered back in the day of working at Bi-Lo, there was this guy around 55, 60 years old who used to come down from the country every weekend and do his shopping with us and come through my checkout. But one day, he gave me a letter and a gift (I can't remember what it was, postcards from his town I think) and I got a little freaked. In hindsight the guy was probably just lonely, but at the time it troubled me. Anyway, I hadn't thought about him in years but that one TAFE lecture brought that old memory flooding back.

When we were at Eric's, when he'd finished fast forwarding The Big Lebowski, we flicked over to Rage who were playing a '20 years of Rage' special, and the 1997 songs really jogged my memory. I think, looking back, that time between the end of year 12 and the end of my first year of Uni was probably the most fun year of my life. Anyway, got to thinking about friends I don't speak to anymore and how I'd like to get back in touch with them, that kind of thing. Funny how the memory works...

Well, on that note I should stop putting off going to sleep I guess and perhaps go do it. Or catch the end of BB Up Late, either or.

Two spooky weeks ...

What happened to Xy this week?

Well to be accurate this is about what has been going on, on and off for the last two weeks now.
I noticed one night the week before last that while I was listening to music through my headphones I was hearing voices intermittently.

At first I thought it was just part of the music tracks and didn't really think anything of it but after a bit decided to go back and listen to the tracks again and noticed there was no talking in them whatsoever.
The voices when I did hear them were muffled so I couldn't really work out what was being said but endeavoured to try and listen a bit more attentively and see if anything would stand out.

So I have spent about a week and a half now listening hard when I start to hear something abnormal "fuzz and crackle" for lack of a better term from my headphones (turning off my music hurriedly to listen to it better).

So far this is what I have managed to make out (as best as I can reckon):

*A young mans voice*
"I need you ....(missing words), I have to get ... to you."
I don't know if he is saying a name or if there is a pause and the second part sounds something like "my heart" but I can't tell for sure.
This one has repeated several times now over the last week and a half and I have had to try and piece it together from different parts of it being heard and re heard.
It is most definitely the same young mans voice every time.

*A woman's sobbing voice*
"Why did they *several garbled words* take it (away?)"
I have struggled with making this one out and have a few theories floating around about what she says but cant definitively say what she says in the middle.
I "believe" she is talking about her baby, maybe something to do with an indication of stillbirth :/.
It's really sad sounding with sobs and such through it that make her voice even harder to understand but if I hear it again I will try to find out if why I think she is so sad is correct.

*An older mans voice in a threatening tone*
"... last time ... will get to do that! *section garbled*"
This voice is very hard to make out and garbles a lot, I actually spent most of my time trying to work out what this one said and replay it in my mind from the two occurrences in which I heard it.
It could be a name or just linking words but the garbled second section I cannot make out at all just yet, maybe I will hear him again soon and get another try? :)
(P.S this is by far the most aggressive and scary voice I have heard yet)

Unfortunately these are the most legible and complete phrases I have heard so far but will continue to listen as long as they continue to talk and try to piece it together to write here and maybe make sense of it all.

Aside from all of that spookiness I managed to get my hands on Final Fantasy 12 for two glorious days and gave it a solid thrashing in which time and space seemed to disappear before having to take it back to video store :/.
I now pine for it's tender caresses as I wait to have a budget that will allow for the purchase of this wonderful artifact to add it to my collection in the series.

I can foresee with it's semi MMORPG approach to game play and looting system many many more hours being wasted as I farm for the best loot in the game in preparation for more battles with impossibly strong, godlike creatures.
(And the cycle continues *chuckles*).

Amusing/Obscure Conversations:

My roommate and I were out driving to do some food shopping and I looked around not the first time since moving to this part of Brisbane and realised I had no idea where the hell it is in relationship to the areas I have lived before that I am now at.
I have been here for a few months now and since the bus stop to the CBD is only several metres up the road passed the next house and the train station only a couple of blocks away so I have barely explored this region at all.

I said as much to him at which he laughed and decided to take me for a tour so that I could get my bearings, it was pretty embarrassing to be quite so lost in the city of my birth and where I have lived the majority of my life but finally after about 25 minutes I got my bearings on how to at least get to somewhere fairly nearby that I recognise without having to rely on someone else or public transport in the future.

Colourful moods:

Well spooked out would definitely have to find a place in here over the last two weeks what with spectral voices talking to me (although some people seem to like using this evidence to say that I have finally cracked).
I can't say it's a normal thing for me to hear voices and I am "pretty sure" it's not all in my own head so in this case it leads to some perhaps worrisome alternatives.

I shall be using my night light and hiding under my safety blanky for a bit as yet I think *whimpers*.

Hobbies and Interests Pursued:

Gaming! Yay!
Haha likely this section should just be a cut and paste affair for me with the names of games cycled as I get to them because seriously, it's the thing I love to do in all the world the best.

I know I should be spending more time writing but I really haven't felt like doing so recently for one reason or another.

Oh yes, I was also asked to do some online research for my roommates mum into some very interesting artwork that she recently uncovered in a change of residence piled away under a bunch of old junk so I have been keeping my eyes peeled for any and all information regarding it.
I mention this but have been asked not to hand out details about the artist because she would prefer to keep everything private for now until we have compiled the info we deem necessary to look into making a sale of it.
Tis a shame really or I would perhaps recruit the aid of those who read this site for finding info for me and make my job a whole lot easier :D.

Look before you leap:

Make sure you really want to spend a couple of weeks doing online research for other people before volunteering your services *sighs* ~_~.

Breaking my own rules

Rather than do a weekly update under the relevant headings like I normally would, I figured that seeing as it's Tuesday and I'm 2 days behind schedule already, and seeing as very little actually happened last week so half of the headings would be empty, that I'd break the [still new] tradition and just do a general blurb (presented thusly).

I hope everyone had a nice Easter and enjoyed the long weekend! I sure did, with it being somewhat difficult to drag my arse back into the office today, let me tell you. Might have had something to do with eatting lots of chocolate *shrug*.

About the only thing I did that might be worth mentioning was going to the travel agent on Saturday to book our flights for our overseas trip. I'm so excited! We go to Japan first and we'll be there for Christmas, then we head to New York (where we'll be for New Year's Eve), Manchester in England and then skiing in France for a couple of days, 2 days in Paris and then heading home. While in England we're also thinking of heading over to Scotland for a couple of days and down to London but we'd probably do those trips by train so we didn't have to book any of that stuff in just yet. It's VERY exciting!

Aside from that the weekend was really quiet, just got together with the family and did a lot of reading, watching of television and movies, and ofcourse, a bit of gaming.

Random occurrences

I was going to do a post about this but Ivan's thread at Extra-Bit computers summed the situation up perfectly I think *laughs*

Oops, I'm late too

Sorry for being a day late in posting this, but truth be told I just couldn't be bothered yesterday!

What happened to Mel this week?
Hmm, nothing overly exciting this week I'm afraid. I worked from Monday to Friday, had TAFE, studied my Japanese lessons two nights of the week... same old stuff really. I started a new subject at TAFE that deals with ethics in the public sector. The lecturer gave us a non-confessional general ethics quiz at the start of the class and based on my answers, I don't think I'm a very ethical person at all!

The weekend was also pretty quiet, but nicely so. As you saw from my photo, I got my hair done on Friday after work and I love it! I was somewhat nervous when she started cutting off my hair as there was so much on the floor, but in the end I am very happy with the result.

On Saturday, Katherine, our Japanese tutor, took Ivan and I to the Himeji Gardens on South Terrace which I didn't even know we had (see a couple of photos at the bottom of this post). They were really beautiful and we had such nice weather, it was a nice afternoon. We followed that up with a visit to the Central Markets for lunch and to look at some Asian grocery stores and pick up some Japanese food to try. That was about it for the weekend, with Sunday being spent doing the usual kind of housework and lounging around.

Amusing/Obscure Conversations
The hairdresser I went to on Friday, bless her, was a lovely lady and did a fantastic job, but trying to speak to her when the place was still busy and there were many hairdriers going was an exercise in patience. For example, I can't remember exactly what I asked, but by her response it was clear she hadn't heard a word I'd said, as her answer "Yeah, forever and a day" didn't match at all the question I'd asked. I wonder if the conversation she thought we were having was more interesting?

Colourful Moods
Um, nothing of note really. Mostly I'm excited about the holiday, panicked about how I'm going to save the money, pleased with work but frustrated at some fellow employees. It's been a standard week in that regard really.

Hobbies and Interests Pursued
We are getting close to booking our overseas trip, hopefully to be finalised next weekend. We spent a night or two going through a rough itinerary, only to discover that most of the Canadian tours we wanted to go on will be closed for winter, so we're not going to Canada after all. Instead, we are thinking of extending our New York stay and spending some time in France skiing. Me on skis... a funny thought indeed. I also discovered I am not saving anywhere near enough money so am now on an extremely tight budget to try and at least get closer. We shall see.

Look before you leap
I couldn't help but burst someone's bubble at work last Monday when they came into a meeting overjoyed at the fact they'd found a file we'd been looking for for months. Unfortunately, we'd located that file the week before and put it on the shelf, and had even reported this fact in the Minutes, so bursting that person's bubble was quite enjoyable I must say. The moral of the story - deep down, I'm an evil bitch.

And now, as promised, some photos from the gardens.

8 Days make a week?

Hey Kids!, sorry for the late update but it's rude to upstage/overrun a lady when she is looking so fantastic so I decided to leave it another day :).

What happened to Xy this week?

Oh god I feel boring right now looking at that question.
The short story that everyone who looked on without knowing the inner details would be, not a whole bunch.
But to those few who knew the real story there are a whole set of undercurrents in the realms of imagination that have been delved through the written word this week that have opened realms of opportunity and imagination seldom seen as we go along with our existences.

In other words, I spent a great deal of time lost in books this week and looked around blinking myopically with raging headaches from the poor lighting conditions I was in and wondering just where the week had gone to?

That's another subject right there, I possibly should be wearing my glasses or something while reading or perhaps find another comfy locale to do so since I spent at least half of the week with eye popping, head wrenching migraines for my troubles.
I don't recommend it, it's not fun at all :/.

Amusing/Obscure Conversations:

Well I have tried to be a good boy this week and almost pulled it off but slipped into my old ways at the end being silly and saying things I probably shouldn't to certain people but I realised right at the end of the week that I really didn't care anymore and that I personally have a great deal more fun with my life when i don't try to censor what I say ... to a certain degree of course :D.
Although it is great in theory to always speak the truth and not hold ones self back, one should also look at the consequences of simply letting ones mouth run away with them.

A simple and illustrative crystallisation of this point would be a knuckle sandwitch in the mouth after telling a mate his girlfriend is hot, thankfully, no this didn't happen this week but I have said some things to some people they wouldn't want repeated here (and I wont repeat because they read this page too *covers his ass*) that just after having said it I immediately cringe and think "oooh perhaps that could have done with some censoring in my head first Xy".

Hmmm i believe this possibly also covers look before you leap for this week but I feel it is an important lesson that many people would do well to take on board when deciding to let their rights to express themselves roam free.

Colourful moods:

Pain, a whole lot of head pounding pain!
As a result of this I have either been distant, stroppy, irritated or downright belligerent this week so I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to those of you who felt I may have been for lack of better words "A pigheaded ass!" this week and I hope that I can rectify the situation and be a little more pleasant to be around soon.

In the course of censoring myself for most of the week as well I felt quite sad that i wasn't sharing things with my closest friends that usually bring me joy so lets hope I can find some kind of middle ground between being a thoughtless ass and a buttoned down, clammed up introvert *chuckles*.

Hobbies and Interests Pursued:

Lots and lots of reading!
Over the course of this last week I have read several books written by Terry Pratchett, the discworld series as a matter of fact which up until this point I had avoided because I thought it would just be silly drivel.
To my great surprise though it hasn't just been one long attempt at a series of terrible gags followed in the background by a late show'esque *badoomtish* to let you know something funny was meant to have just happened and for the audience to clap now.

There are in fact some amazing stories in amongst it all and some thought provoking ideas about our universe in general whether what we see and hear is the total of our existences and thankfully for once that doesn't have anything to do with religion when exploring existentialism.

Somehow he manages to mesh all that together with some great story elements and even some pretty scary stuff that keeps you on the edge of your seat with a cast of very lovable characters filled through with enough character flaws that if they were cheese they would be of the porous European variety.
It's their frailties that make them so engaging and as heroes, their willingness to put their best foot in the other direction and then quickly followed by a series of other rapid steps whenever the opportunity to face danger presents itself that makes them quite so enjoyable to follow.

Look before you leap:

Please read above to points 2 and 3 for info on this section :).

Riddle Answers:

Well with the great lack of success of the riddle post I have decided to call it a day and enjoy them to myself in future :).
If anyone is interested at all they can PM me for the answers and I shall send them their way.

Haircut

I look heaps tired in this photo but the point of showing it is to show off my new haircut and colour. Hoorah!

Riddle me this?

Ever since I was a young lad I have always been fascinated by a well worded riddle that within the question held the answer no matter how much it seemed impossible to solve at the time of reading.

I recently came across such a store of them although many were either far to easy to solve or almost nonsensical due to our modern language having changed usage so much since they were written.

And so I have taken and re-written some of them so as to modernise them somewhat to twist your brains into knots and keep you awake at night (much as some of them did for me before I would allow myself to read the answer) and perhaps give you all something to do while wasting some time :).

The riddles are in a short verse form and followed by dashes indicating the number of letters in the answer.
I encourage you to please leave comments if you think you have the right answers.
If you have an answer that seems to make sense but doesn't match the number of letters post it anyway as it could be another interpretation for the riddle.

Each Riddle has a coresponding number so just type the number of the riddle and then the one word answer :).

I am planning on posting the answers in my next weekly update but that may change if people want more time to try and work them out.

So without further preamble...

1: A thoughtful gift,
Yet it has no beginning or end,
And in the middle, nothing

_ _ _ _

2: A strange earthen house,
Faces many seasons of rain
And yet those who stay there,
Never do complain.

_ _ _ _

3: All around the house,
With his Lady he dances.
Still he always works,
And never romances.

_ _ _ _ _

4: Barrels, baskets, chests and cans;
What do you fill with empty hands?

_ _ _ _ _

5: Most everyone offers this thing.
But not many will take it when it
is offered by someone else.

_ _ _ _ _ _

6: He grows short when he gets old.
He goes out then it gets cold.
His orange eye blinks.
The burning tears flow.
But what his sorrow is,
None may ever know.

_ _ _ _ _ _

7: It glides without wings,
Falls without fear,
But should it be held in warm hands,
Soon shall it disappear.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

8: A journey whose path depends,
upon an other's vision
of where it ends.

_ _ _ _ _

9: Sometimes too much for one.
Two it is meant for.
But it no longer can exist,
When the two become more.

_ _ _ _ _ _

10: It has never been before.
It is not now.
Fools forever wait for it.

_ _ _ _ _ _

11: A name known gives power,
Magic to control.
But what is broken,
by naming it?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

12: Many languages of men
can be mastered.
But what English word
is always pronounced wrong?

_ _ _ _ _

13: This one runs on forever,
But never moves at all.
He has not lungs, nor throat, nor breath
Still gives a mighty roaring call.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

14: Easy to see,
when allowed to plume,
It is hard to see,
Whilst in a room.

_ _ _ _ _

15: Today it is here to trip you up,
And it will torture you tomorrow.
Yet it is there also to ease your pain,
When you become lost in grief and sorrow.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

16: Identical they are on either side of
a ridge that smells.
They can never see
each other directly.

_ _ _ _

17: Both up and down they can go,
but never ever move.

_ _ _ _ _ _

18: You can see it in winter
but never in summer.
And even though it is as light
as a feather, the mightiest man
can't hold it for long.

_ _ _ _ _ _

A super cool week!

What happened to Mel this week?
This has been an awesome but busy week! On Monday I had a Mammal Club meeting after work which was quite good. They're planning their Easter camping trip up at Boolcoomatta which sounds like it will be a lot of fun. It isn't really camping either, but rather swish with dormitory accomodation so on the one hand I am keen to go, but on the other, I don't fancy driving 6-7 hours by myself, and am really looking forward to Easter so I can relax at home a bit.

On Tuesday I started this new diet, where I have these shakes as meal replacements for breakfast and lunch. I tell you, it's been a challenge. On the first day especially, I was really hungry. But the worst part has been the headaches due to giving up coffee. Seriously, it's been one big headache for several days, despite taking codeine for it. Damn delicious coffee...

On Wednesday Ivan and I went to see the tutor we now have for Japanese. It was really good actually. Up until seeing her I was considering doing another WEA course, at the next level up than the one we're doing now, but I don't think I'll need to anymore as this tutor is really good. Was a brain drain though, but I've finally started to learn how to read and write in Hiragana.

Thursday night was our regular WEA Japanese course night which as always was a lot of fun. There are some guys in the class who are absolutely hilarious. For some reason, when learning adjectives we had a picture of a bank on our sheet of paper with a sign that read "Tomato Bank", and this amused them (and Ivan) no end.

On Friday I had an interview for the job I'm currently relieving in, which is a step above my usual job and something I've been wanting to get into full-time for a while. I hate interviews and get very nervous, but this one went quite well. My boss told me quietly that I'd done really well and got the job, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone at work yet until the paperwork is officially signed (which is fine, no one I work with knows about this Blog). But I am ecstatic!! The extra money will definitely be handy with saving for this holiday, and also I was quite bored with my old job, so yeah, very happy indeed! Alex popped over on Friday night so had some pizzas and chatted about the holiday plans and generally hung out which was cool.

Saturday I finished off an assignment and then Ivan and I headed to Mum and Dad's for dinner. My cousin, his wife and their child from QLD were down (they flew my Grandma home) so we caught up with them but didn't have a big night. And today I just recently came home from Michelle's place which was really nice, love catching up with her and seeing her kids grow up :) Always feels like old times when we can just sit and shoot the breeze.

Amusing/Obscure conversations
Difficult to come up with much this week because although I've had a lot of contact with people, it's been "business as usual". But I suppose I could mention that during the dinner with my family on Saturday I was thinking, as my brother-in-law was saying something, how he means well but really should just shush sometimes. It involved him asking my cousin and his wife if they fed their child sultanas, which they do. He then told them about this study that's looking at a possible link between sultanas and autism, which would have been enough, but he went on to say that a lot of times autism doesn't present itself until the child is in school or those kinds of social settings. It makes me giggle now that I think of it, and he meant well, but perhaps my sister should have given him a polite kick under the table.

Colourful moods
Well the last couple of days have been filled with much happiness and relief due to the promotion, and generally it has been a really great week, so no real bouts of sadness or anything. And it's not a mood as such, but these diet shakes I've been having have really highlighted how much I enjoy a nice meal.

Hobbies and interests pursued
Whoops, I wrote it all in the first part of this post! Must get used to this format as I can't be stuffed editing all that now. But yeah, as I said previously, started seeing a Japanese tutor this week, discussed our overseas holiday a bit more (and my leave from work is approved, HOOOOO!!!!), got a job promotion so my career goals are coming to fruition and um... yeah, think that's it!

Look before you leap
From the feedback I received after the interview, I apparently bombed big time on one of the questions, where they asked what I'd look for in team members. In my head, I was thinking "Huh? But the team is already there, I wouldn't have a choice!" so I rattled off some bullshit which was apparently wrong. Note to self: if ever asked this question in the future, discuss traits such as loyalty, punctuality, communication, etc.

Keep reading for Xy's weekly update below

A slow week

What happened this to Xy this week?

Well as the title would suggest it has been a fairly slow week for me.
I spent Monday and Tuesday out and about running from place to place dropping off a trees worth of paper in resumes in the hopes of snagging a pre-easter sales position for some extra monies and since then have only received one call back so i can only assume many other people had the same idea as me.

I then spent Wednesday finding out all about some Australia Post night shift mail centre jobs (ugh, night shift *shudders*) which apparently are paying some pretty sweet shift loading and require no previous experience.
For some reason though to get a casual position, which I would really like to get so as not to go barmy from permanent night shift five or six days a week, requires sending away for forms to be sent out to you to fill out and then send back.
The strange part is that you can directly apply for the full time positions online which seems silly and unnecessary to me but from the looks of it I think Aust Post has some deal with government employment to send long term unemployed into the casual roles so they get first dibs.

Amusing/Obscure Conversations:

You know, apart from my job seeking this week I have hardly had any contact at all with anyone I know for various reasons so there isn't all that much to report here.

I will have to send a big shout out thank you to Mel though for taking nearly 2 hours out of her Friday night to help me log into blogger again.
For some reason though things all seemed to be correct I just couldn't log in, so we went right back to basics and re did everything from word go and with only a slight glitch with the password that kept us scratching our collective heads for about 20 minutes we finally got it all working and my co-author access set back up.

So a golf clap from me for you Mel *chuckles*.

The kids over in merry old England have just recently gotten married and I haven't heard hide nor hair from them in a couple days now which leads me to believe they are enjoying their honeymoon together.

I can't wait for the pics of the wedding, I will seek permission to post a few here from them when they next resurface and see how we go ^_^.

Colourful moods:

*Shrugs* Kind of a neutral one this week, not many highs or lows with no one around to interact with.
I have spent a deal of my time keeping distracted with many silly videos and things people have been linking online recently and an epic 300 movie photo-chop thread over at the Gen[M]ay forums that has been keeping me giggling for days now :D.

A small taste of the funny:
(Seems this new blogger doesn't like direct embeds of material so I will put links instead).

http://x014.uploaderx.net/x/heman.jpg
http://x013.uploaderx.net/x/1174681534.jpg
http://x014.uploaderx.net/x/1174457306.jpg
http://x014.uploaderx.net/x/300_23.gif
http://x014.uploaderx.net/x/lmao.gif

Hobbies and Interests Pursued:

Well as per usual like clockwork if you know me "at all" you will know I have been watching my American TV shows (mainly Battlestar Galactica this week) and gaming, which brings me to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
I am a massive fan of the game series Fallout (1, 2 and tactics) which were isometric view post apocalyptic games brought out in the late 90's.
And so when I first started playing stalker and saw many references back to these games in it in both playing style despite it being a first person shooter and items and some storyline plots I was swept away by its emersive game play.

I haven't as yet had a great amount of time to really get stuck into it yet but I do plan on doing so in my spare time and when I can find a time my roommate isn't playing his uber machine (my poor PC has no hope of running it :'( ).
It can be scary at times and something I really enjoy about it is that if you go all Gun ho and charge a guy with a shotgun your probably going to die very quickly, in fact it is very very easy to die in this game and therefore promotes a bit of use of the old grey matter that seems to be very absent in many modern game styles.

Look before you leap:

I have a small but important lesson to hand out to those who on occasion use public transport.
If you are using a train line you have never used before make sure to at least make a cursory study of the connecting time table to other lines or you may just find yourself wasting precious monies on a cab ride home when you become stranded :/.

I can't really afford to be doing that again any time soon so I guess I have literally learned a look before you leap lesson this week.

I have another update comming very shortly with some fun time wasting content so stay tuned space cadets!

A week in the life of Xy

Posted by Mel, because Xy can't log in right now

What happened to Xy this week?

This week I have been following with great interest a couple of my friends, JP and Sarah and their crazy shenanigans as they go about their business leading up to their marriage in a mere five days now, yes FIVE DAYS!, half a world away in Essex, merry old England.

They are kind of like my idols at the moment, despite having to do all the planning for this wedding, book all the halls and reception parties, plan all the seating at both events and write up the guest lists (especially when one of them has only met most of the people going for the first time these last two weeks and has none of his own family there at all!) there has been minimal grumblings about the event and a great deal of enthusiasm about the wedding in general.

None of those usual pre-wedding jitters one might expect to see.

So I am really happy for the both of them that they have found the one they can genuinely say “This is my soulmate” about with conviction ^_^.

Myself, I have just been enjoying a weeks break at home after leaving my last temp job before heading on out to grind that vicious cycle of finding more gainful employment … Aiya… not looking forward to it but we all need the monies hehe!

Amusing/Obscure Conversations:

Ugh, Does everyone in the world “except” Australians like fosters?
I was talking to the kids over in England just the other day and they said that some of the favorite beers getting around over there is that pig swill most of us wont even consider drinking.

Surprisingly though an American friend also said he quite likes xxxx beer distilled in my hometown of Brisbane Australia.

Considering most people talking about it at the time were listing off Awesome German, Canadian and Belgian beers at the time I dunno, I guess I just felt a little pride in our backwater nation … who knows, maybe he was just humouring me? (Note I didn’t list any Aussie ones but a New Zealander beer did get a mention in there from Radlers.

Colourful moods:

Well this week has been an absolute rollercoaster ride of emotions for me.

There is some personal issues that have been going on that involve some other people close to me that has been getting me down a bit that I don’t feel I have the right to talk about here.
I have also had some Migraines which have been so bad that they have actually been making me feel physically ill.

On the other hand though with my friends’ marriage coming up and some very cool things from my past that I found recently and will talk about soon I have been feeling absolutely elated at times so I have been going from the very depths of low feelings to the heights of joy all week long one after another.

So right now just relaxing on a slow Sunday for me is ideal to get over my mental exhaustion.

Hobbies and Interests Pursued:

Well I recently decided to start working on learning some HTML and PHP webpage coding and was working on the basics but this last week with all its goings on really unavoidably distracted me something fierce.

I did manage to get some writing done though so I am happy about that.

I have been working on a graphic novel Idea with JP recently since apparently he is a decent drawer of Manga so the story ideas and web hosting/coding issues is something I have been looking into if we ever felt it was decent enough to host online for our friends to read and enjoy.

Not only this though I recently found a website that all Gamers from around 1985 onwards (I have been gaming for the last 18 years first on consoles then PC’s… omg that’s way over half my life now) would absolutely love called “Abandonia”.

This gem of a website has a slew of old games that we all used to love available for download and updated for Xp and other modern OS’s (I run a Dosbox to run them) as freeware so go have a look here. http://www.abandonia.com/index2.php

So in my spare time I have been lost in such games as The original Wing Commander, Stronghold, Battletech, the Crescent Hawks Inception, Planets Edge (freaken awesome game!) and Master of Magic!

It’s like re-visiting my misspent youth! :D

Look before you leap:

My roommate asked me if I could this week wait for a friend of his to come around and grab something he had borrowed and was unable to return to the guy and since I was here anyway I said “Sure!”

Anyhow it was a few hours before he turned up with his girlfriend. It was a hot day and I wasn’t wearing a shirt and sitting in front of the fan since I wilt pretty easily in the heat (great for a Queenslander I know *chuckles*) when they turned up.

I was kind of scruffy after a few days of no shaving since I was home all week too.

He comes rushing in and explaining he has to run because his train back is coming in like 2 minutes which I knew was a bit of a fib since I live close enough to the tracks to hear their frequency but that’s ok I didn’t say anything cause we don’t know each other very well and he obviously doesn’t want to hang around with me J.

What I thought was funny and rude at the same time though was that I am in my own house, doing this guy a favour and his girlfriend gives me this really dirty look like “Where a fucking shirt and take shave!” … in … my … own … house!

I was so close to saying, “Hey your no spring chicken yourself sweetheart” but thought better of it just to keep the peace between my mates friends and stuff.

Keep reading for Mel's weekly update below

A week in the life of Mel

Preamble
This being the first entry of its kind for me, I didn't plan for it well at all, thus it's pretty dull, and for that I'm sorry. In the future I'll have to make sure I write things down during the week to help me remember them for when it comes time for this weekly update.

What happened this week
What a loaded question! Well the week started with a public holiday which involved me working on an assignment most of the day. When I finally finished it, thinking it was due on Friday, I realised I got the dates mixed up and I actually had a whole other week I could have done it in. For various reasons the week involved a lack of sleep and so I was off work Tuesday also with a headache and very tired. So, the rest of the week was the usual - work, study, little else. I did some overtime yesterday, so haven't had much of a weekend, but we did go out to dinner last night and had a bit of a walk down Jetty Road which was nice. Today the Formula 1 race was on in Melbourne so I've had my butt seated on the couch pretty much all day up until now. Nothing exciting as you can see, but a full week. I also gained a slight MySpace addiction and can't seem to stop updating my page in any way I can.

Amusing/Obscure conversations
Pat: Has anyone seen the DeLoia file?
Sandra: I did see it somewhere...
Me: *chuckles* Well that's helpful.
Pat: Oh yes, I can stop looking now!
All: *laughter*
[About 10 minutes later]
Pat: I err... found that file on my desk.

Colourful moods
A myriad of moods, from sadness, sleepiness, worry, frustration, forgetfulness and happiness.

Hobbies and interests pursued
This week I continued my Japanese studies, got to watch the Formula 1 race, signed up to Footy Tipping at Mum's work, and am considering doing a creative writing course at WEA next year. Also continuing to save my arse off for this overseas holiday, as I really want to make it happen.

Look before you leap
Ideally, I'd be writing about silly things other people have done or said in this section but last night I did something which made me say "Gee, I'm annoyed with myself". We went out to Hog's Breath for dinner which is a bit of a treat due to trying to be on a strict savings plan, but I sweetened the suggestion of going by announcing I had a voucher which entitled us to 25% off the total bill. Which would have been fantastic, had I remembered to use it. We were a few streets away from being home, in fact, when I remembered.

Some fun stuff

You might notice a new "How well do you know me?" quiz in the sidebar which I thought would be something fun to add to the site. I have made some questions tricky so I really don't expect anyone to get them all right but a bit of fun nonetheless. Also, Ivan being the first one who did it, actually spotted a question I had incorrectly marked, so his correct score would be 160 if I had proof-read it properly.

Also, for a bit of a laugh, there's this.

Anywho, I'm off to do some overtime at work. Bye!

EDIT: Oops, I stuffed up another answer, Michelle should have 160 also. Sorry!

Reincarnation

My mood with regards to keeping this blog updated have ebbed lately and due to laziness at first I didn't update this blog. Then with 2007 starting things have gotten very busy and then it was more a matter of not having the time to do so. But I am still here, and am eager to get this blog up and running again!

In an effort to do so, myself and Xy (my co-author) will endeavour to do weekly rundowns of what's gone on, post interesting anecdotes, that kind of thing. As well as the weekly updates we will ofcourse attempt to not just limit it to that but to also write whenever either of us feels like it about whatever. These ideas will be a work in progress so any feedback is welcomed.

So, now that I've updated anybody left who is actually reading this, I'll just say there are a few reasons for my being so busy lately. First of all, I've been acting in a higher paid role for the last 6 or so weeks. It's a position that's been advertised, and I've applied for it, so during my time acting I wanted to show them how dedictaed I was and have done a lot of extra hours to get the work flowing smoothly. There's been a bit of a backlog to work through but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and have been enjoying the opportunity heaps. Hopefully they'll have interviews soon and I get some good news in that regard.

Also this year I started going to TAFE to do a Certificate IV in Government. It's something to assist in my career development and I do a couple of classes a week. I'm enjoying it heaps at the moment, but ofcourse assignments and study eat into my spare time.

And in addition to that, Ivan and I (Ivan moreso) have taken an interest in learning Japanese and have enrolled in an adult basic language course that we go to one night a week. That's been heaps of fun too, and has been an interesting language to learn.

Anyway, I do hope there are at least a few people who still pop by here from time to time, and will continue to do so, as I'm excited about getting this place buzzing again. Y'all come back now, y'hear?