The Merry Old Land of Eng II

So we've been in London now for 4 days and it hasn't snowed yet - and doesn't look like it is going to either. We haven't really been to any site-seeing places yet, all we have done is shopped.

That will be the case again today, as I was introduced to the wonder that is GAP. I bought a pair of jeans yesterday for £14.99, which is AUD$35.87!! They fit perfectly! So awesome!

We might get to do the more metropolitan site-seeing things today like Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square etc etc. I really want to get a start on my monopoly board. I've been keeping my eyes open for particular tube stations that will serve this purpose. However I want to make sure I don't take the easy route and use the underground for most of the board.

I think we are all pretty much over our jetlag. Stopping over for 16 hours in Hong Kong without accomodation was a mistake. Sleeping in the airport was a bitch. Our stopover on the way back is only 5 hours, so we won't have the same problem.

Whilst there we went into Hong Kong and did a little site-seeing. The whole city is lit up at night by the lights on the buildings! The city electricity bill would be astronomical! We went on the Peak Tram, an old tram that takes a steep route up to the top of a mountain so that you can see the entire city. Absolutely fantastic! When I get a little more time I'll put the photos up. I'll have to fix up my flickr account so that you guys can see them all.

Got drunk for the first time this trip last night at a hostel called the Generator, where our friend Alicia worked for a while. That was pretty cool. Had a traditional english farmhouse breakfast this morning for £3.79 which is perdy damn cheap. Have fun trying to match that at home!

Anyway, I should probably get off now, I'll blog to you guys a bit more at a later date.

The Merry Old Land of Eng..

So we (Maddy, James, Tsari and I) are finally in London and we are all tired as!

I'll post an in depth blog with photos soon. I'm a little tired to do it right now :P

Speak soon!

RIP Joe Frazzetto..

This blog is a bit out of character for me, as I intend it to be mature and sober.

Joe Frazzetto passed away in the early hours of this morning. He was my mentor and gave me my first real start doing artwork. More importantly than that, he was a terrific friend. Joe had been battling colon cancer for 3 years but unfortunately began losing his fight in the last day or so.

Joe was one of those rare friends that come along every once in a while in a lifetime; he had a massive heart, terrific sense of humour, and gave - as long as he got a little something in return ;) Joe was first and foremost a family man; he was respected as the 'godfather' of his family, and the consumate businessman to his peers. This man could sell ice to eskimos, sand to arabs etc. He was everyone's mate, but to me, he acted as a guide and a father-figure.

The last couple of years were turbulent for Joe, but he never let it show. He was always the first to make a joke and make everyone around him smile.

Hopefully they have a free internet cafe up there on your cloud Joe - you will be sorely missed my friend.

Your other kid, Nick :)



RIP Joe Frazzetto 15/12/2005

The Wheels of Time..

And so as the days become warmer I begin to hear the gears of the wheels of time grind as reality slows to a crawl. Only another three days until freedom; only another four days until escape.

That's what it says on paper anyway.

I'm expecting the next few days to last at least a week - they could extend as far as two. What is going to kill me is work; there is just simply not enough work to keep me motivated. At this stage I am rationing what I have, partly to appear like I am doing something, but mainly to keep me going. I theorise that if I work on it a bit here, and a bit there, that it will last until friday. I know what is going to happen though, I'll totally crack the shits with taking my time on the project and I'll just work my arse off and finish the entire thing in 15 minutes or so.

Outside of work is another matter. I have tomorrow night's basketball game, which is the first game of the season, that I am looking forward to. Then I have a 'break-up / going-away' party on friday night to look forward to. It is about here that I will hear the distinct whoosh of engines firing as time lurches forward.

I have a lot to do on saturday, namely going to lunch with Maddy's dad and sisters, and then dinner at my mums. In between those two family outings we have about 3 hours for last minute packing (which means all of my packing) and cleaning. This is when time begins to speed up to about just faster than normal.

After mums on saturday night, I'm dropping my car at dads, where it will stay for the duration of our trip away, he's then driving us back home where we're meeting Sar and Maz. Then we wait.

- CRUNK -

That's the sound of the time engines stalling as the night before our departure stretches on for eons.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it's gonna be a long couple of days :P

The Perils of Fence-Painting and their Associated Injuries..

Due to the nature of my job, and the fact that I had an injury this year that prevented me from playing sport, I haven't spent alot of time outside in the elements during the course of the year. So understandably I was excited to be outside to enjoy the 35 degree heat of early summer. I was outside to help Maddy's mum spruce up her house in order for her to sell it early in the new year; our job was to paint the front fence.

We started painting at about 1:30 - 2pm and after about 30 minutes of painting, I decided it was too hot for me to wear a shirt any longer - why not get a tan before I leave for London? 3 hours of painting later we had finally finished - and the fence looked great.

However, it wasn't the only thing that changed colour. My back was now a vibrant shade of pink, similar to the soft flesh found on the inside of a hotdog.

Pain? At this stage, it is only moderate, but I am expecting it to increase in intensity in the days to come. I just hope it is ok by the time I play basketball on wednesday night, and more importantly, when I have to sit on a plane for several hours on our way to Hong Kong on sunday.

What is great though, if I focus on the positive of the situation, is that my face didn't get burned! I had my back to the sun for most of the day, except for a brief stint laying on my back to try to even up my 'tan' on my ghostly white chest.

Today is extremely warm again, except there is a strong breeze (which is very warm) and it is becoming overcast. Despite this, on my way to the shop this morning for a snack, I was surprised to feel the familiar sting of sizzling flesh as the suns rays cooked the raw flesh of my back and shoulders THROUGH MY SHIRT.

It's going to be a looooooooong week..

Speaking of which, there are only 4 working days until I go on holidays, and only 6 days until I jet off. I'm starting to get more and more nervous as the time for packing draws near. Not to mention that the news of fires north of London near Luton airport made me anxious that flights may have to be delayed and/or cancelled, but after looking into it, I think I may have just been jumping to conclusions.

The Transport for London site has been updated, so now they have travel schedules on their Travel Planner for the Holiday Season. Thank God! That was another issue that was causing me grief. I've just been looking up the Monopoly Pub crawl. Should be interesting, I dunno if anyone else is going to be game to complete it with me, but we shall see. I at least want to attempt it. I also want to take various photos of all the places on the traditional monopoly board and make my own board. How cool would that be? Then I can frame it and put it up on the wall. Priceless!

Well, I should go, I've been writing this blog on and off for about 2 hours now, and I think I've run out of things to say. I'll go recharge my batteries and come back with more to say ;)

darkris out.

Apologies, notes and announcements..

First of all, sorry for that previous blog, I was in a weird mood on tuesday..

Secondly, there are now 11 days, 11 sleeps, and 6 working days until we fly out :-D

We lost basketball last night. Despite the loss there were some good signs. The end margin was only 3 points, and we had 4 players up against their 7, and we only had one player over 6ft (that was the new guy, Leigh). We only played 3 'quarters' too, due to error at the stadium our game was moved from court 2 to court 4, but nobody decided to tell us that, so we needed to piece the puzzle together. I played extremely poorly, putting up 8 or 9 shots and not hitting a shot. Ahh well, I don't think I'll have to play many more games. Not that I don't want to play, it's just that I don't think my body will be able to hold up to the strain of playing.

I would just like to say for the record, that The Killers, and their album Hot Fuss, ROCK! That is all.

Real or Fake? You decide..

Uhm.. yeah..

Aren't you a little groovy to be a Storm Trooper?

Hail to the King baby..

Just thought I'd share this with you. I'm not a huge fan of Elvis - never have been, never will be. So when those dancing Elvis's for cars were massively popular a couple of years ago, I was warning people that they would take over the world. Little did I know that they were, in fact, the relics of a long dead Empire that once ruled an entire galaxy, far, far away. I think that, in contrary to what we have been lead to believe, the downfall of the vastly powerful, supremely Evil Imperial system was the rise of the Elvis clones.

One may ponder which was the lesser of the two evils.

I foresee our own society being brought down by obese, gaudy, monotonous monstrosities - but not of the Elvis kind. I didn't mean this rant to be a snipe on society or anything, but I feel that we are eating ourselves into an early grave. Sure we have been an impressing species, but if we don't curb not only our eating habits, but our rampant ego, we will soon find ourselves suffering a massive coronary whilst we sit atop our squallad thrones of filth.

Isn't it strange how we can draw a comparison from the fate of an uber-celebrity to the fate of our own society. Maybe Elvis was a prophet after-all. Lol. I can see it now..

And now children, allow me to read from the Book of Elvis:

'Thou shall knock me down. Thou shall step in thine face. Thou shall slander thine name, all over the place. Thou shall do anything that thou shall to do, however, thou shall not step on thine blue suede shoes.'

Amen to that.

8 Working Days to go..

*sigh*

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

So.. it's official.. Pure Geek 47 % Nerd, 52% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure Geek. It's not that you're a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don't really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some interests that aren't quite mainstream. Perhaps it's anime, perhaps it's computers, perhaps it's bottlecaps, perhaps it's all of those and more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don't quite consider yourself "of that crowd." Instead, you consider yourself to be fairly normal. Which, you are. Congratulations! You're the one on the RIGHT! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

9 Working Days to go..

I spose I should start thinking about what to take, huh?

Good news is that Maddy got her passport on friday, talk about cutting it fine. We managed to get a covering for the backpack that I will be carrying, so as to protect the straps when they are on the conveyors at the airport. We also got some handy carry bags and travel towels that will take up about 10% of the space of a regular towel.

Now I just have to figure out what daypack I'm going to take seeing as though I'll be taking my notebook computer in it. Hmm, that requires some contemplation..

Micro$oft releases new keyboard

Micro$soft Corporation's answer to critics of it's Windows operating system..

In a bold move to silence critics of it's ever-present Windows operating system, Micro$oft have developed a specialist "keyboard" to be utilised when the system apparently "locks up". Corresponding with Micro$oft's Chief Development Office of Useless Interface Paraphernalia, Benjamin Ulshidt, via Micro$oft's own Netmeeting software, I was able to find out more information. Ulshidt says that the company was in need of a way to respond to claims that operating system was unstable. "Well, obviously these allegations of instability are unfounded. The operating system is simply more thorough than people like to be."

When asked why they would develop a specialist keyboard for the purpose of responding to public criticism, Ulshidt replied "why not? We had some spare cash in the office that we were using as padding in some of our office chairs so we decided to make the CADKB."

When asked why Micro$oft would bother developing an entirely new interface device as opposed to spending funds on fixing problems with their operating system, Ulshidt responded with a chuckle. "How can you fix something that isn't broken? Those reports of 'blue screens of death', so they have been dubbed, are baseless. I challenge one person to.."

[Editor's note: At this moment, the connection was severed and could not be restored. Apparently Ulshidt's computer experienced a malfunction from which it could not be restored, enabling him to use his own invention. It's got to be hard to spell irony with that keyboard.]

Hehe, how good is that keyboard pic? My hat goes off to the person that actually took the time to create it. To have cut apart a real keyboard and have the patience to fashion it into a realistic model takes real skill and dedication to the cause! I'm personally not a huge "anti-corporation" freak, I mean, I am sitting here typing this blog on a Windows XP machine, wearing Mooks glasses and Adidas sneakers whilst sipping from my can of Diet Coke. However, I do think that some of these corporations are ridiculous rich and should share the wealth with those less fortunate.

Thanks goes to Vusak for unearthing this image and forwarding it to me :) Thanks bud.

10 Working Days to go..

Yup. That's right. Only two full weeks of work til we go OS! :D

The Less-than-Grand Final

*sigh*

Last night was our second Grand Final appearance since joining the Coburg Basketball Association and our second this year. As with our second Grand Final appearance as this particular playing group in Sunbury, we lost. It was a disappointing way to end a very long season of various ups and downs.

The final deficit was about 10 points, but it didn't reflect the intensity with which most of took to the game. In fact, what killed us last night was the woeful reffing. It happened to affect us more than the opposition - The Brotherhood Knights - as our go-to man, Chief, was fouled off halfway through the second half. It is true that they had 3 players fouled off, but by that stage they had a commanding lead, and there was only a minute left in the game.

I think egos got in the way of a win, and poor subbing again let us down. Next season should be interesting though, with a new look team, and greater opportunity for individuals to improve.

For me, the bitter taste of defeat was probabaly worse than the others as it will probably be the last basketball Grand Final I play in, due to my decision to focus on football. I enjoyed playing with you guys and it has been great to be able to share so many good (and not-so good) memories with everyone. I would like to wish all the permenant members of the Raptors the very best of luck next season, and also like to wish Peter Curtis and Stuart Peters luck for next season as they embark on creating their own team that will play against the Raptors in the same competition. That will be one to watch.

It's been fun guys :)