wafblog v3.0

The last few weekends have been CA free, which has meant that I’ve been able to go out without feeling guilty. Over the long weekend I went to the Edwards compound in the mountains for plex’s birthday. It was nice to get away from the city following my exam and also spend time with friends I haven’t hung out with for a while. We checked out the Three Sisters on Sunday and also had awesome pies. I felt like the whole weekend was about eating. I’m not sure how I managed to fit so much food in, but damn I need to start dieting! On the Sunday night it was just three of us so we decided to attempt Rock Band 2’s “Endless Setlist” challenge. This is all 84 songs in a row… no breaks. We were probably a little insane to even try, but did manage to get through 56 songs before we collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. Considering we hardly got any sleep the night before, I think this was a good effort. We have booked in another weekend for us to try and get through all 84 songs – I’m looking forward to being able to say that I completed the challenge (: I’m glad I spent the weekend with friends, catching up and chilling out. We get few opportunities to do that these days and I know I will look back on these times fondly.

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’m sick. I hate being sick. I feel like, my body has failed me or I failed it. Possibly the later. Fueled by idiocy and alcohol. Mainly the latter. Need to cut back on the alcohol. My hip pocket’s feeling it. As is my waist line, my body and at some level, my own sense of worth. I know I drink a lot when stressed. I drank a lot last year when going through applications for grad positions. On top of the relationship situation and thesis, I think I just needed the out. I had my drinking buddy and together, we drank each week (sometimes more than once) and stumbled around the city in a drunken state. It was fun. It still is. I guess I just need to stop using it as the out. Because it amplifies your emotions and right now, I’m stressing about a lot of things and a lot of people. I don’t think I can be what they need if I’m not at the top of my game. The out I’m looking for, shouldn’t be alcohol. It should just be time out. For me to be me.

Friday night was CNNN2. It was pretty good, except for the last bit. I will remember not to invite randoms next time. I enjoyed spending time with my friends outside of work. I think most of us are getting to that stage where we’re no longer just ‘work mates’ and we’re actually friends. Of course, you’re always going to be closer to some people than others, but that’s just the nature of friendship isn’t it? In any case, I like the way it’s going – because I’ve never really had that before and I hope that even if we don’t end up working together for the rest of our careers that we’ll still keep in touch and stay friends. It’s a comforting thought I guess.

Saturday was fun… went to dentist. Got another filling. Cost me lots of money :s Then met up with old workmates to grab lunch and see Fantastic Four 2: Rise Of the Silver Surfer. It was good to meet up, I haven’t seen them since I left in January, and I always enjoy catching up. Sometimes I think it always amazes me that life goes on. You go and do your own thing and everyone else does as well. It’s odd. Anyways, was rather impressed with Silver Surfer. I was under the (mistaken) impression that they had made Silver Surfer a bad guy… which, if you’ve read the comics, he is not! He is the herald for GALACTUS!!!!!!! Yeah ok. So only I’m excited about that. They kept to the comics, and the story didn’t turn out half bad. Although Jessica Alba’s makeover did. I think, like the other Marvel movies, the sequel is better than the original (=

Went to Manda’s for Korean BBQ dinner afters because her friend Ying was visiting. There were quite a few of us there. I always love going to Manda’s. There’s always more food than you can poke a stick at, and I leave feeling like I’ve eaten enough for the week. We watched a little bit of ‘Full Metal Jacket’ which I’d picked up on DVD for $10 from the cheapo CD store on Pitt. Apparently Kirsten’s never seen it! And was amazed that ‘Full Metal Panic’ fully ripped off half the scenes LOL. Didn’t get to finish it (had to turn it down cos it’s weird eating to gunshot sounds…). We watched ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ after dinner. I have never watched a ’spoof’ horror movie before. I was pleasantly surprised :D It wasn’t scary, and I laughed like I haven’t laughed in a long, long time. There was one part I had to look away (too much gore >.<) but besides that, awesome! I might have to re-adjust my thinking on scary movies. Of course, knowing me, I’ll go watch one and not be able to sleep for a week again. I also have to check out ‘Hot Fuzz’ now.

I’ve spent the last two days at home cos I’ve got the flu. I was happy yesterday though, because the games I ordered from Play-asia arrived. Only took them a week, I’m so impressed. Anyways, I got Dialhex and Boundish, both by bit generations and for my GBu. Travis intro’d me to Coloris last weekend, and told me that they have like a whole series of games, so had a look at their site and thought I might try a couple. Dialhex is a bit like hexic, and Boundish is like a warped sort of pong. Both very addictive, and means I will now pop my GBu into my handbag so I can play on the train. Went back to work today, but took it relatively easy. Think I should be able to finish my stuff on time. Just need to make sure I get lots of rest. So yeah. Gonna go rest.

This has not been a very good start to the year. I was coming home yesterday after the gym, and I don’t know what I did, but I snapped the frames of my glasses. So now the whole right arm has detached and obviously, I can’t wear them. This is rather annoying as I am quite attached to my glasses. Luckily, I had bought a new pair before I went to Europe, so I’m wearing them now. They weren’t meant for day-to-day wear though – I only intended to use them when dressing up. The lenses are thicker because they’re rimless frames, so the light refracts into the lens differently. Plus, the light reflects on the edges making them much more obvious to me. This pretty much means that my glasses are giving me a headache from wearing them for too long. I’ll be going to the optometrist tomorrow to see if they can be fixed (soldered) back together, but I kind of doubt it which means I’ll have to fork out like $300 for a new pair.

So, during my 10 days off I went to see the doctor because my eczema was unmanageable and I was having lots of trouble sleeping. He gave me prednisone, which I’d expected, and since taking it my skin seems to have calmed down a lot. I’m hoping that it’s broken the cycle and if I keep putting cream on it it’ll be ok. I’m going for a blood test on Sunday so hopefully that will shed some light onto what I’m allergic to so I can avoid it like crazy in the future. I’ve also cut a bunch of foods from my diet now, ones that are well-known allergens and I could have an intolerance too. It kind of sucks, but I suppose I don’t have much choice.

I’ve become somewhat addicted to this lemon-scented tea from Twinings. I drink it at work, and originally I was drinking like one a day. Then it became two a day… now it’s like three a day. It’s rather nice by itself, no need for sugar or milk so that’s cool. I’ve also taken to drinking camomile tea at night before bed. It is rather soothing and helps me to sleep so I’m quite impressed. Admittedly, it doesn’t taste that great, but tolerable enough.

Oh yes! In other news, I got tickets to the Big Day Out. Which is totally AWESOME. There’s no other word for it but AWESOME!!! After Homebake, I’m quite excited about seeing Eskimo Joe and The Butterfly Effect again. But the band I’m most stoked about seeing has got to be The Killers. Wooo. I’ve even listened to some of My Chemical Romance, but I don’t really like them on first listen. This time I’m going to remember a camera, and will definitely post up good photos afterwards :D

Started playing Tekken again, hoping I don’t get RSI this time. I’m getting better with Jin now, although he has this 10 hit combo which I don’t think anyone can pull off. It is kind of fun to customise your characters to play against the CPU. I did also try out Lemmings, but I think Mike enjoyed it more than I did. They are very very cute and hopefully I’ll get enough time to sit down and have a proper go at some of the more challenging levels. Must try to finish a game.

I was also looking on some of the PSP sites – seems they’ve released a custom firmware (3.02 OE-B) which allows you to loads PSX ISOs from the memory stick and play them on the PSP. So I can d/l the ISOs or buy some off the Sony site. I’m quite interested in investigating it, and M1ke e-mailed saying that he had got it working and it was pretty cool. To be honest, I’m not really sure what PSX games I’d want to play on the PSP considering the number of games I have at the moment that I haven’t played, but the possibility of having that entire library available to play – awesome.

We’ve also started playing Guild Wars again. Prophecies, not the expansion. Seems silly, but we never finished the game, and well – it did kind of get boring playing by myself all the time. The NPCs are complete idiots and never heal you properly so unless you’re heaps buff you’ll usually die. So yeah, playing about an hour a day is slow progress, but still fun. Not sure I could play for hours everyday anyways, but I do enjoy completing quests and getting items and things like that. Not sure what specialty I’ll make my necro yet. Most likely I’ll level the attributes for raising bone horrors and that sort of thing – I don’t like the curses much but maybe I haven’t got the good ones yet. I’ll be adding elementalist as my second profession so hopefully that’s a good combination. At the moment just waiting to get out of this ‘n00b’ part of the game.

Su’s back from Singapore, but only for a week. It was her birthday yesterday so we met up and did a few things. I’m amazed at how much we managed to fit into the day. I woke up at (what felt like) the crack of dawn to be at the Archery Range in Olympic Park by 9:15am. I haven’t done archery since I was in year 4 at camp. Needless to say, just getting the arrow to hit the target was considered a triumph. There’s so much to remember when preparing for your shot. You have to turn your elbow out, drop your shoulder, only use three fingers to pull the string back, close your right eye (if you’re left-handed) and then look through the sight guide to aim. After my first shot I remembered the turn my elbow out every time as I’m now sporting a very colourful bruise from the whiplash the string gave me. I forgot however to use only three fingers, and one of the instructors came up to me and was like “are you an accountant?” LOL. That was kind of creepy. But rather funny as well. The only other thing I kept forgetting was to close my right eye instead of my left. I missed quite a few shots because of that. One of the instructors seemed quite amused, because I’d line up my shot, and remember everything but still miss and then he’d be like “wrong eye”. LOL. Whoops. Oh wells. My dreams of being a modern day Robin Hood are now completely dashed.

After our huge lunch, four of us went bowling at Enfield. I’m really crap at bowling, although I enjoy it immensely. There’s something to be said for rolling a heavy ball down a lane to knock out a bunch of pins. It’s oddly therapeutic. I still can’t bowl correctly, and my arm hurts like hell today… but I’d go more often if I could actually afford it. Some of the animations on the screen were rather amusing as well. The best one was when you got a strike, and then they’d show the pins as dinosaurs and the bowling ball would come and squash them flat and green blood would gush out of the pin. Hum. I really wonder what that says about me. But it was very funny anyways.

I suppose it wouldn’t have been a proper day out without some LANning. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t find LANning as entertaining as I used to. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m sick of playing WC3, and I was never really into FPS. This time was pretty good as we played Need For Speed: Most Wanted. The main drawcard to playing the NFS games is that you can ‘drive’ cars that you would never normally drive in a manner that you would never normally do. There’s also the rockin’ soundtrack and the thrill of destroying the surrounding scenery. The NFS games have certainly become more pretty since the last time I played (NFS:UG) but I found it very hard to control the cars using a keyboard. It was however, quite fun to do donuts in the corner and run through the toll booths without affecting the speed my car was going at. I think this is more a reflection of the fact that I’ve been playing Burnout Legends of late but I now have the urge to install NFS:UG/UG2 and take them for a spin using the gamepad. I doubt I’ll actually have time for it though. Actually, they’re both also available for the GBA… now that’s something to think about. Will have to check that out this arvo at EB.

Nobody could decide where to go for dinner, so we ended up at Tony Roma’s. I was really disappointed with it. Last time I went was for Frankie’s 21st, and I remember it being a great place with good service and good food. This time, the service was appalling (thank-you FOB waiters) although the food was ok. I don’t think I’ll be going back there ever again as the price didn’t really justify the food we got either.

All in all, it was a fun (but expensive) day and it was good to see Su again. I’m glad we managed to fit in so many activities and everyone enjoyed themselves. I’m kind of waiting for a nice lazy weekend at home, but that won’t be happening till after New Year’s I don’t think.

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.