month

Yes, I'm still alive (and dancing)

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Ok, so I haven’t really been using this thing much and I know no one really reads it anyway, regardless I’m going to write a bit.

What have I been up to? Well, the run down is something like this:

  • Left Finland at the end of September
  • Loved Tallinn (Estonia) as soon as I arrived
  • Visited Riga (Latvia) with some kids I met in the hostel
  • Came back to Tallinn and started working in the same hostel
  • Visited London for 15 hours a month later on a stopover for Amsterdam
  • Complete inability to recall my time in Amsterdam apart from knowing it was fun
  • Visited Vilnius (Lithuania) to take a photo of the Frank Zappa statue
  • Bussed back to Tallinn for another few weeks
  • Went back to London for 5 nights to visit palmy and Dilly and some other buddies
  • Came back to Tallinn and kept working

Of course, there’s plenty more to it than that, but they’re the kind of stories where you really had to be there to appreciate them anyway, so bugger that.

One thing I should mention is how cool the hostel is. Well, I think so. Unfortunately the website doesn’t seem to display properly in Firefox but it’s fine in IE, Tallinn Backpackers.

I never want to leave Estonia! It’s scary. I really dig it here.

Another thing I dig is listening to music off the Internet because I’m too lazy to keep pulling out my iPod. I started out on BlogMusik but I prefer Radio Blog Club. Enjoy it.

Yo.

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34

Hi.

Miss me?

Didn’t think so.

I swapped the fucking Atom with dad’s old Nokia 7250i. I’m much happier. I may end up getting a Nokia N80 when they become available instead of the 6280. Woo.

I may also need to actually buy a digital camera. It depends whether or not I get the N80, methinks.

In other news, I’ve wisely decided to start going out with someone two months before I leave the country. Dumb idea, really, I know. Still, a little drama always keeps things interesting. Her name’s Emily.

In a budget-rescuing exercise, palmy and I have started buying goon en masse for our “drinking habit”. On Sunday night we had 136 standard drinks worth of cask wine lined up in our fridge for the low-low price of $56 between us. They’re a great resource for drinking games.

My manorexia is being ruined by all the food I’ve been eating lately. I’m going to have to resist. I don’t feel bad for eating food, I feel bad for eating too much because I know I don’t do enough exercise. After having put as much weight on as I did a few years ago then managing to lose it all and more I simply refuse to let it happen again. It’s hard when you have no self control when it comes to flavour. Meh.

We lost netball on the weekend, even though we won 3 of the 4 quarters (so we get bonus points). Typically, the quarter that I didn’t play in resulted in a score of 20-4 to the opposition. The advantage was too great for us to recover. I certainly enjoyed beating up the female goalkeeper from the other team who seemed to think it was my fault that I kept running into her whenever she deliberated stepped in front of my path to block me. She didn’t look too happy when I pushed her off me simply by raising my arm up and shifting all her body weight downwards so that she staggered and nearly fell to the floor. The other highlight was when she kept pushing into me while I just stood there and held her off until the umpire called her for contact and I got to shoot a goal. Apparently after the game she ran straight off the field and complained to the management that the umpire wasn’t picking up any of my “dirty” play.

I wasn’t dirty, I’m just good. ;) Silly bitch.

Time’s running out and I need to get myself a UK visa. Thursday. Always Thursday. The weeks are going so quickly now, it’s freaking me out.

I went to my cousin’s 21st at the Harbord Diggers Club on Saturday. Even my mum said it was boring. I had more fun driving there and back. I also blew $40 on the poker machines in there out of sheer boredom. Think about that for a second.

palmy rolled his ankle after netball a week ago, then completely stuffed it last Friday when he went out dancing after breaking up with his girlfriend. He didn’t get it looked at until Sunday and by then it had swollen up to about three times the size of his opposite foot, with brusing all around the toes and heel. The ligaments are swollen and sticking up, too. Fortunately he got a massage from a physio student at work to clear it up a bit but he’s going to need to do some more work to it.

Last night was the first night in about a week that I’ve gotten a proper sleep. I crashed at 12:30am and didn’t bother getting up til about 1pm. I’ve picked up a sore throat and cold in the meantime, so I’m working on getting rid of it through lethargy.

Damn, I have to catch up on my Naruto and Bleach episodes. Berserk, too. Good times ahead.

ARGH.

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11

Happy Mardi Gras. I smell like cask wine (since it was poured all over me about 7 times).

I lost my fucking phone tonight. Somehow. I wasn’t even that gone when it happened, I just didn’t notice. Yeah, sorry if anyone tried to SMS me, I think it’s still on the grass of Hyde Park since no one has fucking answered it whenever I ring it. Sounds like Optus is getting a phone call tomorrow.

Joel’s dad tried to kill Ross and I last week with glass. This week he’s been packing up to move out. FUCK WIN.

All the jobs I’ve applied for/had phone calls about haven’t gotten back to me at all.

I’m booking my flight to France to meet up with Benecke on Monday.

I’m getting a 2 year working holiday visa for the UK which only allows 12 months of actual work for ~$200.

I bought a 60 gig iPod and conformed along with headphones worth $300 (but cheaper – thanks eBay [what’s with the second letter capitals?]).

I’ve been eating a wee bit of garlic lately. Makes my breath stink but it makes my soul happy.

I’ve also picked up a nasty habit of being a near-chain smoker when I’m drinking. I know it’s bad for me but I enjoy it, so bring on the downfall.

The other bad habit that’s come to play is that I’m eating again when I’m drunk. I blame Andrew for not having any self control. I can do it solo but not when someone else wants food. Bah.

At least I’m occasionally brushing my teeth at night again these days. How exciting.

That’s all, folks.

P.S. sorry that I only seem to update in the early morning when I’m drunk. At least it makes me more honest. I’m proud I still come across as (reasonably) coherent and with (seemingly) accurate spelling and punctuation. Good times.

P.P.S. go nuts.

Talisyawn.

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14

Yeah I made a bad joke for my subject. Great. The joke is about this movie. I probably should have explained that first. The longest 73 minutes of my life. I even fell asleep halfway through it. I think that’s impressive. We’ll still keep the DVD.

tofu just told me he thinks furry porn is hot. For fuck’s sake. I’m glad he’s moving to Melbourne.

Christmas was alright. I got a video camera. Expensive, but bottom of the line for its type. Good enough for the amateur, annoying stuff that I want to record. I still think I’ll try and pick up a good digital camera in a few months. Particularly for when I’m travelling. I might get one in Japan.

I ate way too much food over the weekend and during the last day or so and the majority of it was (of course) junk. My diet’s been put on hold for the holiday season it seems. I’m still trying to resist but there’s just so much tasty stuff out there to eat at the moment. Mmm, piggy.

New year’s at the shack should be good. That is, of course, as long as people don’t soft out. It’s going to be a little weird anyway I think but I’ll make sure I enjoy myself and everyone else can either join in or get lost. That’s right. I’m playing hardball.

I’m disappointed that it looks like I’m going to need an iPod or equivalent before I go overseas next year. I’m not used to having a large assortment of music available that I actually want to listen to. I’m going to have to adjust.

Woot.

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13

I’m going to have to do a spot of Christmas shopping this week. God damn it. On top of that, my beard’s back and it’s a little itchy. Life is hard.

This week has been pretty fun. My Finnish-friendly Newtown tour guide abilities have shot through the roof and I even found a few shops myself that I didn’t know existed in the area. I guess that’ll help with the shopping. I’m sure we’ve magically watched about 300 hours of television and movies throughout the week. Somehow we managed to make it out on the town on Thursday and Saturday nights, too. I was expecting them both to be able to drink considerably more but at least rapid inebriation means you save money on alcohol.

Today I have to get my Amelie DVD back from a uni friend. I exchanged it for Fight Club, since I’d never watched it from start to finish properly before. It was only about 2 months ago, giving me just enough time to scrape in a viewing. She’s going to be near Broadway getting enrolled into a religious order. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? She gets to wear a scapula and probably learns a secret handshake. I think it may also entitle her to discounts at various retail outlets. Personally, I’d prefer a customer loyalty card but whatever.

Ross got back on Thursday night. I was going to pick him up from the airport but I was already drinking in Newtown when he landed. He got home via the miracle of public transport and seemed to survive, so I didn’t feel so bad. I made up for it last night when I walked home from the Cross (again) with tofu (again). That’s at least the third time I’ve achieved that. Each occurrence makes me feel just a little bit more like I’m a man. Eventually I’ll have the courage to do it without wearing a skirt and holding hands with tofu the whole way back for warmth.

Lately I’ve lost my appetite. There’s no particular reason for it that I can think of. I just have. This is good because I’m trying to spare some cash. I only ever feel slightly hungry but never enough to make me really want to chow down, so I’m getting by very easily on just one meal a day or so. These last few days that one meal has been somewhat dodgy and heavy-sitting in my stomach, so maybe that’s why I’m coping so well. I would give it all up for a good savoury crepe. I’ve been craving one for months but I never find myself in a food court at the right time in order to get one and we all know that the only places you can get crepes are from food courts in shopping centres.

The Istanbul on King kebab shop has me confused. They make quality kebabs but their falafels are poor. This totally destroys my otherwise consistently correct theory that you can gauge the calibre of a kebab shop based on the strength of their falafels. To fudge my results, I’m going to write that experience off as an outlier and assume it was just a bad batch and never buy a falafel from there again.

Flugabug.

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11

We have the flat back to ourselves now that Heli and Krista have gone down to Griffith for a few weeks. By the time their job is finished down there Ross will be back from Finland, so they’ll be able to go back to his place I assume. I’m still slowly working my way through the chocolate cake. I’ve already eaten too much chocolate for one day as I feel sickly. I think I’m addicted to the sensation of this sweet, sweet sorrow.

Today I’ve told myself I have to make the effort to go and find some kind of African-esque apparel for this “Out of Africa” theme 21st party on Saturday night. I really fucking hate finding costumes. I’m hoping I can find a pith helmet (yeah, right) and a yellow scarf or something so I can just wear that off-khaki yellow colour and look like an explorer. I might need a yellow scarf, too. Maybe I’ll just wear leopard print. I’m sure that’ll be a big hit. Hmm. Time to raid tofu’s underwear drawer.

Oh. I forgot. I’m meant to be working on this database for Electric Lady today, too. I also need to send out some emails that are about 4 weeks overdue. Maybe more than 4 weeks. Whoops. I’m over this whole idea of functioning. It’s too much work.

In what I think is a mature attempt at being pro-active, I arranged to work an extra shift at work each week as my hours had been slightly cut back and my funds have gradually decreased over the past couple of months. In a bid to stay in the black I decided to meet the problem early, rather than string it out until after Christmas and New Year and be flint. This little boy must be growing up! Either that or I was just happy to sell out. Whatever.

For those of you who were concerned: I shaved my neck. Yes, I know I left you all hanging for a while there but you have to admit that the anxiety build-up was well worth it, don’t you?

Oh yeah, you know it.

I thought I’d try making it look more square rather than following my jaw. Next time I’ll have a spirit level ready as it took way too long for my finnicky self to be satisfied/mildly confident that it was straight on both sides (not to mention the same thickness).

Fascinating, fascinating.

I’m quite proud I don’t have something hanging out of my nose in that picture. I forgot to check before I took it. Today is a good day.

I scribbled down the names of various artists on a sticky note at work last night. Musical artists, that is. I do that from time to time as I listen to the radio at work. Oh. The purpose? Why, to remind me to acquire their music of course! The hard part is walking downstairs to my bag to fetch the paper. It could be time to hire some help.

On Tuesday night the four of us present in the flat watched The Shining. It was about the fourth time I’ve seen it and I still can’t make sense out of half of it. Maybe it’ll take eight viewings. Better yet, someone explain it to me. Another question I have: how the hell can Shelly Duvall be so unattractive but at the same time appear kind of hot? I’m quite disturbed.

I can’t remember if I mentioned the handful of Queenslander 16 year old girls that randomly added me to MSN a few weeks ago. I use the terms “16 year old” and “girl” loosely. I’m beginning to suspect they’re multiple accounts belonging to the same person. That person being a rather strange man who wants to screenshot me showing my dick over a webcam.

Hmm.

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18

Your Birthdate: January 27

You are a spiritual soul – a person who tries to find meaning in everything.
You spend a good amount of time meditating, trying to figure out life.
Helping others is also important to you. You enjoy social activities with that goal.
You are very generous and giving. Yet you expect very little in return.Your strength: Getting along with anyone and everyone

Your weakness: Needing a good amount of downtime to recharge

Your power color: Cobalt blue

Your power symbol: Dove

Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I’d comment upon this but I don’t feel like being analytical.

Whack.

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Computers don’t like me. How ironic. I think this one that I’ve had for about 18 months has been burning up my video cards on purpose. Maybe it’s a sign to stop playing games. It seems to be working. Bah.

Well, I finished my final semester of uni (for my bachelor’s at least) on Friday. There was no fanfare or celebration. I simply went home and got ready for work. Huzzah! Now I just have one exam to go and that’ll be that.

Saturday was spent working, then dinner and a movie with Lloyd and Eri. We saw Wolf Creek. Creepy and scary at first, hammy horror movie at the end. It certainly sticks to the Australian tradition of dropping off towards the end. It’s still worth seeing, though. I’d say it’s one of the better Australian releases in a while.

Sunday meant a sweaty sleep in on the couch because I’m too lazy to put my other bedsheets on. I cleaned the downstairs floor of my apartment and tidied up my room and everything, I just couldn’t be stuffed making the bed. Whatever.

After bitching about my PC being crap for a few hours I caught up with the gang at the HHH for about 50 minutes, chowed down an overpriced steak sandwich and then hit the netball courts to play a full game, only to lose 31-19 after our opponents again relied solely on 2 point shots to get ahead. We must be the only team in the comp without a range shooter. If only we could do some trades and deals. We need a draft!

Today is Munday. That’s meant to stand for mundane and Monday. I just made it up. The rest of you may use it if you like. I’m doing the washing. Yep. Pretty exciting news today.

I believe I’m going to a Melbourne Cup party tomorrow. It should be fun. Scott will be out at Randwick to have a punt. Well, more like take a few quizzes and exams for that air traffic control gig. Still, I bet he swings by for a flutter.

Error!

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6

I got it wrong! We won netball 34-31! :D :D :D

That’s much more like it.

We had our Annual General Meeting for Winesoc today. We’ve got 2 new execs and some current members are staying on again next year. We’re still undecided on who will be treasurer for next year but at least we have 2 people contending for the position.

Tomorrow is the final presentation for my major project. If we do well we’ll have to do another one for Accenture. :/ I know it’d be cool and all, but fuck am I over it.

I bought sour cherry flavoured juice today. It tastes like a cherry Chupachup. I want to drink it all.

Does anyone have any ideas of what to do with my website? Nothing much on there has changed in a month or so and I’ll soon have more free time to play around/work on it. A few ideas would be most welcome, though. Anything is good! I can do whatever I want (because I’m a boy)!

Actually, I really need more friends on LiveJournal. Maybe I should get more active in the silly little communities. I’m getting bored of only getting frequent entry updates from communities that post pictures of things which only twisted people like myself would find entertaining.

Here’s a video of people eating spiders.

Gossip.

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4

Suicide Girls is owned by a right winger who treats women like shit.

I’ve never been all that in to Suicide Girls, so this makes me feel more justified.

On other fronts: my project is moving slowly. So am I. It’s going to be taking a huge dump on top of my face in the next few weeks and I’m sure I’ll be grinding away for hours on end at something fascinating, like required outputs from a test file parser.

I must also get to work on performing a financial analysis on a fictional business for my “management accounting concepts” course by this time next week. Hurrah for stimulation.

I wish I wasn’t so lazy, but then, if I wasn’t lazy I wouldn’t be me. Whether to take that as a positive or not is up to you.

Last Sunday I played my first game of actionball. It’s basically netball but with some additions from indoor soccer, namely the fact that you can bounce the ball off the fencing around the court and use the fencing behind the ring to shoot “off the backboard”, as it were. There’s only 5 a side, too, I believe.

It was quite fun. It’s very fast paced (for someone who is as unfit as I am) and fortunately I only had to play for half the game, in rotating quarters. We even won, which was nice. This whole week my leg and arse muscles have been killing me and I can barely lift my legs up to move. It’s that “good pain” that people talk about. I’ve felt it before, many times over the years, as each sporting season begins. It’s never good. Why do people persist with the lies? Tell me.

A nice man from RailCorp is coming to my flat today to put more hardware in the server that I “acquired” from their offices. This should be interesting. I think I’ll have to sweep the floors a bit and wipe up all the fucking milk drop stains that Scott likes to leave on the wooden kitchen floor.

Oh yeah, Benecke and Byrne dropped by on Saturday for a quiet one. We watched Tromeo and Juliet whilst downing a couple of KBs. The next day, Benecke didn’t have his phone on and had stayed at his girlfriend’s place overnight. His mum got quite worried when he hadn’t come home or called to say where he was and started a phone call spree that resulted in me telling the truth as I saw it occur the night before versus Byrne lying about what happened trying to cover for Benecke as he assumed his mum didn’t know he’d had a girlfriend for 3 months and had been sleeping there on numerous occasions.

In the end it was all sorted out and I get the impression Benecke lost his balls to his mother’s fury. I think his upcoming 12 month expedition to France will only become more welcome in his own eyes after that.

I’m visiting my old mate Harris this Thursday night. He’s said he’ll cook a steak for me. The offer of a home-cooked dinner from some guy I went to school with and haven’t seen in years is both welcoming and a little odd. I suppose I can’t really comment on anyone seeming odd, though. It just sounds funny to get a call from a guy you’ve almost lost contact with and he says “come over to my place on Thursday night and I’ll give you some hot steak”. Undoubtedly, I’ll be there.

Mum has declared that she is coming here this Saturday with dad to “spring clean” the apartment. While I welcome the offer of free and thorough house cleaning, it’s going to be a little bit weird that she’ll be cleaning out everything in the place that I’ve lived in for nearly a year now while I’m at work. Never mind. It’ll be shiny!

Lou returns on Tuesday morning. I’ll have to make sure I have a somewhat early night on Monday so that I’m able to wake up and get to the airport to pick her up at the ungodly hour of 7:50am. Now that her return is imminent, it feels like it’s taking forever. Admittedly, the last 4-and-a-bit months felt as though they have progressed quickly, so maybe it’s just time evening itself out.

Next Saturday is a big day on many calendars. Partly due to the majority of female parents who become up the duff during Christmas and New Year. About 4 people I can think of off the top of my head are having birthday parties and another guy is coming back to Australia after spending a year and a half abroad. Good old ringo. I think he’ll be in for a surprise when he sees the current state of the gaming scene. Nonetheless, things should get a bit more interesting now that he’s back.

Fark. My feet hurt, too.