wafblog v3.0

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, getting back into the swing of things at work and piling up the activities on the weekend.

Last Saturday was the Big day Out! It’s been 3 years since I last went to the Big Day Out. Last time was fun, but not overly amazing. However, this year’s lineup was so good, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see those bands live. And I’m really glad I did! We planned out our day from 11:30am to 11:30 pm so it was pretty hectic, but we managed to fit it all in and them some. It was incredibly hot (I swear it was 40 deg C) and I don’t think I’ve never drank so much water in my life!

In order, we saw the following:

• Sugar Army
• Silent Disco (not a band)
• Kasabian
• Passion Pit
• The Decemberists
• Dizzee Rascal
• dj Sam La More
• Calvin Harris
• Muse
• Groove Armada

So the silent disco isn’t a band, it’s where you put on headphones that tune into different channels and they have several DJs who play on those channels. The music is only played through the headphones, so when you walk in you see hundreds of people wearing them, shouting out these songs. But seeing as they may be listening to different songs, it really just sounds like a rabble of people shouting. Very amusing!

Kasabian were surprisingly good, although the crowd became increasingly rough. This was also during the middle of the day when it was hottest. Kudos to the BDO organisers for making sure that we were well watered (both cups and spray!) A girl right behind me actually fainted from the heat, which was pretty scary. But as we were right at the front, they got her out quickly and easily which was a relief.

Couldn’t see Passion Pit as we got there a little late, but we did hear them, and managed to get a good view of The Decemberists on the stage next door. Both were really good and I really enjoyed seeing the lesser known bands. Possibly the most surprising act of the day for me was Dizzee Rascal. I cannot believe there were so many people who turned out to see him! Considering I hadn’t heard of him (although I had heard some of his songs without knowing it), I was quite impressed although I think it would’ve been good if he had played later in the day. I like to think of his music as “techno rap” and it’s very suited to clubbing, so it’s kind of weird to dance to during the day.

Muse, on the other hand, were totally awesome. I really liked ‘Absolution’ and ‘Showbiz’, but I didn’t really listen to them properly again until ‘The Resistance’ came out. I’ve become quite obsessed with them in the past few months, listening to their albums over and over. My fave album is definitely ‘Blackholes and Revelations’, but I’m developing a soft spot for “The Resistance” and all its unusual songs. So yeah, Muse are great performers – they’re real showmen, and compared to other acts just had this real “pro” vibe to them. Unfortunately, we didn’t get into the front moshpit in the “D” section, but we did get right up the front of the fence, in front of the screen. So we could see Muse in the distance as well as the screen really well. I do this thing when I go to concerts where I have one song that I’m dying to hear, and if the band plays it then I can go home happy. For Muse, I had five songs: Uprising, Supermassive Blackhole, Plug In Baby, Undisclosed Desires & Knights of Cydonia. They played all five and ended on my fave – Knights of Cydonia. I don’t think I could have asked for any more than that! I was so pumped afterwards, it was totally crazy. Also, kudos to them for performing with Nick Chester (?), lead singer of Jet, and doing a cover of AC/DC’s “Back In Black”!!

On a completely different note, the weekend before this, I went to the finals of the Medibank International tennis tournament. Got to see Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva, followed by Marcus Baghdatis vs. Richard Gasquet. I’ve never been to a live tennis match before, and the mens was definitely much more exciting than the womens – the sheer power that they can serve the ball and the way they cover the court is just amazing. We were in the second row from the front and even managed to get on tv (albeit very briefly!) during the women’s match! I think what impressed me the most though, was that during the mens match, I did actually turn my head left and right to follow the ball LOL. It was quite amusing watching the people on the other side of the court doing the same – it just made it feel just that little bit more real.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted. Busy season hit like a tonne of bricks and now that it’s over, somehow I’m still busy? Yeah, go figure.

Hum, September was a total wash for me. My parents went on a month’s holiday to tour the Silk Road in China. This meant every week was filled with some sort of party/event/lack-of-sleep activity. I hosted Band Comp ’07, which was actually lots of fun. It’s amazing what we can achieve in just three days, and I’m sure if we (I) had more time, we could really achieve something great. To be honest though, I was pretty happy with the Animania performance. It took me a long time to wrap my head around some of parts, but I felt confident, and for possibly the first time in my life – I actually enjoyed performing. That was actually a pretty exhilarating experience.

I also hosted a LAN, which was pretty darn awesome. Not that we played as much as I would’ve liked – but it was fun to chill out, hang out and have some fun. I really don’t use my PS2 as much as I would like to (hum, recurring theme much?) and it’s kind of a waste of money if that’s the case huh?

Also had my first ‘away job’ in September. I had a client in Melbourne, so went down for the week to do our work. That was pretty fun! We stayed in these serviced apartments – I was quite surprised that they had one person living in this huuuuge apartment. I also managed to meet up with Frankie twice. I haven’t seen her since she moved there for work, and it was definitely great to catch up. It’s odd how much and how little people change over time. I rather like Melbourne, it’s quaint and ‘cultured’ and doesn’t seem to have the same rushed feeling that you sometimes get in Sydney.

Following that was what I like to call “Convention Season”. In span of a month, I went to like, three conventions? Animania, as usual, was lots of fun, ultra-tiring but ultimately rewarding. I decided to stay on one more year – it’d be nice to see how the new venue goes and next year is going to be huge, so I’m all for helping out. Also went to Supanova this year, because it’s the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really any Star Wars stuff – at least, no real commemorative collectables, so that was pretty disappointing. I did score a few things which made me happy, and have subsequently acquired a Force FX Lightsaber (Darth Vader’s, of course!). Still, I’m sure I shouldn’t have spent so much money :P Mike also talked me to into going to the Atomic Live convention, which is like a gaming/computer convention. It was actually rather disappointing, as they focused solely on PC games and computer hardware. And as much as gaming is huge for PCs, I think not having much on consoles really limited the show and what it could have been. Nevertheless, I scored a bunch of freebies (so awesome!) and that’s the point of these things isn’t it?

The Linkin Park concert was in October, and that was totally awesome. I’ll be posting photos up on my gallery sometime soon, although I’m thinking of making all the galleries private so I can post more personal pictures there. LP was definitely the best concert I’ve been to – they really connect with the crowd and seem to just love performing. It was quite amusing though, the Sydney crowd was really tame which was surprising given the videos I’ve seen of their shows overseas. I reckon everyone was too busy trying to video the show with their mobile phones to bother with moshing.

Other than that, I haven’t been up to much else. I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by – it’s nearly the end of November already. I’ve been in my job for nearly a year now, though it feels like I just started yesterday. I’m looking to start CA next year, which will be a real test of discipline for me.  Currently it feels like a lot of people are re-assessing their jobs and their lives. Seems like they’re not happy with where they are and they’re looking for something different. From all the sutff I’ve read in the paper, this is indicative of our generation – we want everything but we expect a lot in return. If we’re not happy with our employer, we’ll walk. I wonder if our work force will become more and more mobile – more likely to switch in and out of jobs. Personally, I think I’d find it difficult to change jobs every 2 years – but by the same token, I don’t want to be doing the same thing for the rest of my life either. I just wonder how long is an appropriate time to stay.

I recently acquired a copy of the game “Chessmaster 10th Edition”, which I’ve installed on my computer and have given a test run. It seems like a decent enough game, and I’m hoping it will improve my chess skills. I learnt how to play chess in Year 6, and played on a semi-regular basis for that year. Since then, I’ve only played occasional friendly matches, usually online. I’ve found that I’m not particularly good at chess. This is probably due to my sole tactic of “eat as many pieces as you can before yours all die”. It’s not really a tactic so much as poor playing technique. That thing the experts always talk about where you have to envision the game several steps ahead – I can’t do that. I don’t know why. I can see where the threats to my pieces are, and sometimes I can see what the best move for the opponent will be, but I’m not one to actually be able to see a strategy and go for it (or block it, if it’s my opponent’s). Suffice to say, Mike kicked my arse when we played on Saturday. This was ok, because Manda and Travis came over soon after and Travis kicked my arse playing Mario Kart on the Cube. Maybe I should stick to single-player games on my PSP.

I’ve been using an electric toothbrush at night for the past week or so, on advice from my dentist. It’s been a bit of an adjustment. It sure does clean your teeth better than a regular toothbrush, but the whole “makes your head slightly dizzy from the buzzing” and now the “my tongue feels funny” is a bit off-putting. Plus, there’s no actual brushing involved now. You switch it on, you put it on your tooth/gum and you hold it -_- then you move on to the next tooth. I’ll probably keep using it as my dentist has sufficiently scared me into believing that I must look after my gums or all my teeth will fall out in the next 30 years. Joy.

Manda got this 2 for 1 deal for tickets to see a “Russian Fire and Fury” concert at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday night. Unfortunately she can’t go so I’m dragging Mike along (His comment was “It won’t be like Macbeth, right?” LOL). I’m really looking forward to it, as the opening piece is “Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky (sp?). Not sure which version they will play, as there’s quite a few in existence - but it probably won’t be the one made famous in Disney’s Fantasia. However, I think the ticket price alone is worth seeing this piece played in real life. The other pieces include two by Shostakovich and one by Rimsky-Korsakov. I remember playing a piece by Rimsky-Korsakov once, it was extremely hard. Too many double-stops and lots of string crossing, but so distinctly Russian. All in all, I’m quite excited about it, as I haven’t been to the Opera House for a few years now.