wafblog v3.0

You know what’s awesome? I’ve now seen the Transformers movie TWICE, and it hasn’t even been released elsewhere in the world. How awesome is it that we got to see it a week earlier than everyone else? Considering movies are always released like 2-3 months late in Australia… I think this made up for it. Yes, it was that good, I saw it twice. So far, it’s definitely the movie of the year (we’ll see how I feel after HP – OoTP).

I’m not sure what I expected, I’ve been burned too many times by movies based on a comic/book/tv show. The trailer had looked pretty good, but that’s never clear indication (Spider-Man 3 anyone?). Needless to say, I was completely blown away. I think I was shell-shocked for like 5 minutes afterwards. From the beginning scenes with Blackout and Scorponok to the final fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron – the special effects were just amazing. And the storyline was actually decent with no major plotholes (I noticed one blooper on my second viewing… but eh!). To be honest, I hadn’t thought it would be as funny as they made it. There was a good sprinkling of humour with jokes and gags, almost poking fun at the idea of the Transformers without crossing the line into parody or spoof. Michael Bay did an excellent job of bringing these guys to life, and if you don’t expect the movie to be exactly like the cartoons and you’re not a fanboy with major issues then you’re gonna LOVE this movie. The amount of detail paid to seeing these robots transform from their vehicular form and back again is just staggering. You could literally see the little gears in Prime and the paint job that had been scratched off during his fight. To be honest, I love his new flames (= And just wait until you see Starscream’s manoeuvre in the sky against the other fighter jets. Possibly the BEST action sequence in the entire movie (although I may revise this statement on subsequent viewings), it was amazing to see him transform, shoot at a few jets, transform back, fly around.. transform.. shoot a few more. Absolutely breathtaking.

My main gripe was Frenzy. This character reminded me of ‘Jar Jar Binks’, and anyone would know – that is not a good thing! He didn’t seem very Decepticon-like and I think he was used as a plot device more than anything else. All of the others were cool. Sure, Bumblebee is no longer a VW, but hey… he looks hooooot as the Camaro. In the car chase scene with Barricade, I think it’s fairly obvious why they changed him and I’m glad now that they did. Quite frankly, Bumblebee is ‘da bomb’ :D I guess my only other gripe is that the Autobots seemed a lot smaller than the Decepticons, and the vehicles they chose were not as.. ‘cool’? I dunno – why do the Decepticons get to be tanks and fighter jets? And the Autobots get to be firetrucks? I just don’t understand.

So if you’re having reservations about seeing this movie – I will say that waiting for it to come out on DVD or whatever will not do it justice, unless you happen to have a projector and awesome stereo of some sort. I really doubt you could re-create the effects of a cinema though. And this is one movie that has to be seen in the cinema to fully appreciate it’s awesomeness. Now I’m off to find the soundtrack :D

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.

So, I went for my driving test yesterday and am happy to have passed! This means I can now drive on the road unaccompanied. I have been issuing everyone with a warning to stay off the roads now, and to avoid the area near where I live LOL. Still, after being on my L’s for 4 years it was nice to pass first time and I can now put up red P’s instead those crappy cardboard L plates. I doubt I’ll be doing much driving though – I have a bf who drives everywhere and I don’t tend to go out without him. And the only time I’d really have access to the car is on the weekends, but it’s still good to have the option I guess.

I don’t really remember what else I did last week. I had my work’s Christmas ‘picnic’ which due to the weather ended up being held in a pub. It was a nice pub, with pool tables in each room and lots of space to sit or stand. Definitely a good place for a party, so I’ll have to remember that for next time. Not sure that the hamper was worth $35, as we hardly ate half of what was in there – but it was better than having to bring our own food or cook anything. I met up with Mike for dinner afterwards, we ended up going to St. George Leagues Club, cos I joined ages ago but haven’t actually eaten there since joining. The food was ok, considering it was club food and we had a go on the pokies too. I only lost a $1! Considering my track record with pokies, this was pretty good. I must remember to play Wacky Walrus again next time :D

I spent Saturday having a much needed rest and practising my driving. On Sunday was Mike’s work picnic… which was rather boring. I kind of expected it to be as I didn’t really know anyone and there wasn’t much to do. Plus he ditched me to go play soccer so I was sitting by myself for an hour. Hum. Oh wells. After that we went to see Eragon. I’ve heard a lot about this book, penned by a 16 y.o. home-schooled boy, which is now set to become a trilogy (as all good fantasy novels are). I didn’t really have high expectations for it, I just knew that there were dragons in it and it looked pretty awesome. I wasn’t surprised then at the storyline or the outcome, nor the obvious set up for the next movie. The CGI dragons were pretty awesome though and it was definitely nice to see a fantasy movie that wasn’t part of a huge franchise with an already fanatic fanbase (a-la LOTR/Narnia). I’ve always wondered if they would make any of the Eddings books into movies, cos I’d love to see that, but this is probably as close as it gets without actually being D&D or something (which was awful from what I hear). So yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. John Malkovich always makes a good villain, I think it’s something to do with his voice – it’s so distinctive and he does the cold tone very well. If you’re a fantasy fan, I suggest you see it. If you’re not, I suggest you see it anyways :D Obviously, I’m biased because I love the fantasy genre in general, but I think the stories are universal and even if some of the dialogue is a bit dull you can forgive it when you see the dragon.

I am so tired. I’m literally just waiting for the Christmas break to get here so I can sleep and rest. Of course, I have bunches of housework to do, but still – I’ll be able to sleep in and that’s more than I can say for the last few weekends.

I think this birthday sort of just crept up on me, I wasn’t really prepared for it. Like, obviously I know when my birthday is but usually I’ll have it in my head and I’ll sort of ‘feel’ older I guess. This time I sort of turned around and there it was and now I’m 22 even though I don’t feel it. I wonder if you get to an age where it just goes past and doesn’t mean much anymore. Nevertheless, I did lots of birthday things. Went out to ‘lobster dinner’ with parents and Mike last Sunday week, which was yum… though we didn’t end up finishing everything. I met up with Manda for drinks on Thursday. We haven’t done that in a while and it’s nice to just sit and talk.

Oh yes, I saw ‘Casino Royale’ on Wednesday too, at a preview screening organised by my employment agency as a thankyou to the staff and clients. It was a well organised event, they had sandwiches beforehand and a small bag of snacks for everyone inside the cinema. I didn’t have very high expectations for the latest Bond movie. Probably because I remember Daniel Craig from his stint in “Tomb Raider” and honestly, it was pretty poor. Nevertheless, I was impressed. I’m glad they’ve decided to re-do the Bond franchise this way and make it slightly more realistic and more believable. Less reliance on gadgets is cool, although I did always enjoy those gadgets. And the cars…. but the Aston Martin in this one was awesome as always. The movie goes for 2.5 hours, but doesn’t drag at all. Plus, I enjoy watching poker games. There is one scene that was kind of brutal, but was done with enough comedy that I actually laughed despite the obvious pain of the character onscreen. I believe that was the desired effect (everyone else laughed…). So yes, I would recommend people go see it if they’re into the spy genre as I was pleasantly surprised and I’m sure others will be too.

As Mike was busy on thursday night, he planned a birthday outing for me for Friday. He wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, but I guess that’s half the fun. We went to City Tattersalls for a drink and a bite to eat after work. I haven’t been there before and there was this weird ‘the universe is acting oddly’ feeling because just the day before I had remarked to Manda that we should go to Tatts one day as I’d heard good things about it. Odd, I say. Very odd. Anyways, after that… we ended up going on a bit of a walkabout down George St. Mike had gotten tickets to the Whitlams concert (wooo!) at the Metro Theatre, but he didn’t actually know where it was. Suffice to say, we walked all the way down George St. and then had to walk back up (for me to discover we’d actually passed it the first time) LOL. It was a fun adventure anyways, although next time I’m just going to make him tell me what we’re doing :P The Whitlams were AWESOME. There were two guest bands (James Cooper and someone else…. the someone else was good, James Cooper wasn’t -_-) but I was just waiting for Tim to take the stage. It’s a shame they didn’t play Chunky Chunky Air Guitar as I think that’s a great song, but then I wasn’t really expecting them to. They played a few of their old songs, but mostly songs from their new album (which I didn’t even know had been released). I got a copy of the new album at the end and even had it autographed by Tim, along with my ticket. Yeay! Haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, so can’t compare it to their other stuff.

I hadn’t actually been to the Metro before, and never to an over 18’s gig either. I really enjoyed it, although my feet were numb from standing up the whole night – that’s the price you pay I guess. In any case, Mike did a great job of organising the night out and surprising me (:

So after the late late night on Friday, we went paintballing with the graduates from RailCorp. We had to get up early on Saturday morning to be at Rouse Hill by 9am, and I must say we were practically deaded by the time we got there. Seeing as we’d been before, Mike and I thought it’d be a good idea to upgrade our guns. A $20 upgrade allows for accuracy up to 40m with a 8 ball/sec rate of fire. I thought that was reasonable enough. However, if you pay $40 you get accuracy to 80m and a 25 ball/sec rate of fire (apparently). This basically means you can shoot from one end of the field to the other… Not fun if you’re on the other team. Somehow, the teams ended up really skewed and my team was the more inexperienced so we got hammered pretty hard the whole day. My war wounds include a shot to the knee, thigh, wrist, upper arm and three shots to the back of the head. Joy. They’re bruising really nice at the moment. I really can’t complain as I signed up to play. However, next time I’m only playing if everyone is an amateur and uses crappy guns. Somehow those $40 upgrade guns hurt like 10 times more. I think it’s the velocity of the paintball, coupled with the fact that most of the ones that hit me didn’t burst on impact (which hurts MORE). I thought that after going to the gym for so many weeks I’d be fairly fit to play as well. I was wrong. It turned out to be really really hot on Saturday and added to my sleep-deprived state I pretty much died after lunch. I must also remember not to buy so many paintballs next time as well. We had so many left over we had to donate them to everyone just to get rid of them. Somehow, I had more fun pouring the paintballs on the ground and stomping on them than I did shooting them. Bit of an expensive habit though I must say.

After the fun and games, we went out to dinner at Ribs and Rumps at Manly. Food was ok, although maybe a little expensive compared to other ribs places. Not sure, just didn’t feel very impressed with the meal in general I guess. I think maybe I expect a certain level of service that just doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Or I’m going to all the wrong restaurants!

On Sunday, Mike and I went to a birthday party for Mike’s cousin’s daughter who is turning 4. It was a small beach party up at Gosford, with mainly family in attendance. There’s a mild sort of panic that sets in when you have to meet family of your partner. I guess it’s this sort of pressure that you have to impress and you worry they won’t like you or whatever. But then there’s this sort of thought that really, you’re not dating them and you’ll probably only have to see them once or twice a year anyways so even if they don’t like you it’s not the end of the world. Luckily, they were all really nice and I enjoyed myself. I was too sore to really do anything but sit though. It was quite amazing to see the amount of energy a 4 year old has, as well as how loudly a 5 year old can scream. I suppose that’s something for me to remember when I get older. Heh.

All in all, a very busy week! I feel somewhat ’stretched’ at the moment. I haven’t had any time to myself for like a month and no real time to rest. I feel somewhat pressured to keep going out and meeting up with people. Not that I don’t enjoy it, I do. Partly I think it’s because a few of the recent outings have left a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, for various reasons, and people complain to me about stuff like I have any control over those situations. Moreover, I’m sick of people guilt tripping me. Even if they don’t realise they’re doing it. It’s bloody easy to do it to me and whilst I may get pissed off about it, I will still feel like I let someone down or I should have done more or whatever. I feel bad for the things I was directly responsible for, and I apologise for those. Everything else, you’re on your own. Don’t have unrealistic expectations and then be upset when they aren’t met. I know that I’m not doing a very good job at balancing at the moment and there’s a lot of conflicting pressures and I’m feeling a lot that I have to choose between people and/or responsibilities. Really, it just pulls me apart at the seams. We’ll see, hopefully the 10 day break over Christmas and New Year will go some way towards resolving this.

The following song lyrics are for Mike. He knows why (=

If a boy had a chance
A chance with someone like you
Are you gonna break his heart?
Let him cry for the moon?
Are you hiding somewhere behind those eyes?

I just freeze
Everytime you see through me
And it’s all over you
Electric blue

On my knees
Help me, baby
Tell me, what can I do?
Electric blue

Oh, I had a dream
For a moment I believed it was true
Oh, I’d have given anything
Just to be there with you
Are you hiding
Somewhere behind those eyes?

I just freeze
Everytime you see through me
And it’s all over you
Electric blue

In too deep
Standing here waiting
As I’m breaking into
Electric blue
I can see
Can see that it may be just a vision for you
Electric blue

On my knees
Help me, baby
Tell me what can I do?
Electric blue
Icehouse – Electric Blue

I went for a driving lesson yesterday. I was hoping to book to do the test in a couple of weeks, so I wanted to brush up on my skills before then. Unfortunately it seems like my local RTA is really popular or something because they don’t seem to have any free slots for the next 4 weeks. I’m going to have to have a look again when I get home but I don’t think any of the other ones close to me are free on Saturdays either. Otherwise I might have to take time off work to do it.

Didn’t do much else on the weekend besides some housework and uploading more photos from my trip. Hosuework is so boring, but at least I’ve got most of it out of the way. Should stop my mum from nagging me for a few weeks.

Oh yeah, I watched the first Indiana Jones movie as well. I remember when I was younger and I used to watch Indy on the TV I thought he was so cool. But watching it now, I don’t know. It wasn’t as good as I remembered it to be. And the sound quality in certain parts of the movie weren’t very good. Like, the music was really loud but the dialogue was too soft. So it was either go deaf or miss what was going on. This is somewhat annoying and rather like watching shows on TV, where the ads are twice as loud as the actual program. I really don’t understand why they do it either. Music is generally there to set an ‘atmosphere’ in a movie, or to enhance whatever’s going on onscreen. When it stands out in such a way that it detracts from that then I think it’s being used in a way that it shouldn’t be. I don’t think that this is the reason I was disappointed with Indy though. I think I just found some of the parts too ‘convenient’. Like, of course he was going to find this and of course said prop would be in just the right position for that to happen. Maybe I expect more out of my movies these days? Although, I highly doubt that. I tend to be one of those people that will like watching just about any movie. Except horror.

Wow. Comment moderation actually WORKS in Wordpress. So if your comment doesn’t automatically appear when you submit it, it’s cos I have to approve it. I think there is a way to make it appear automatically, but I’ve yet to work it out and I’m scared to do so in case I get lots of crap suddenly appearing. Anyways, keep commenting and I’ll make sure the right ones actually show up :P

I didn’t end up meeting Manda for drinks on Friday as she decided to stay home. Instead, I was invited to drinks with the first year RailCorp graduates. The undergraduate that replaced me at North Strathfield met one of the grads at a training session and he invited her, but she was too shy to go by herself LOL. Not one to turn down drinks or the chance to meet new people I went along anyways. I now know one more person in this building (his name is Moscow, which is rather unusual I think) and one of the other guys was an undergrad when I started as well. It was an enjoyable afternoon, although I felt a little out of place but it was good to test out my meagre social skills and meet more people my age working in this organisation.

Saw another movie on Saturday – “The Covenant”. Admittedly, I didn’t know anything about this movie. Mike said it was about vampires, which it isn’t. I didn’t bother to read anything about it before seeing it, as it seemed both Manda and Mike wanted to see it. Touted as being by the people who made ‘Underworld’ I figured it would be decent enough. Suffice to say, lucky it was the cheapo movie of the week. I would’ve felt really jipped if it wasn’t. The premise of the movie was decent enough, although probably more interesting to those who did ‘The Crucible’ in high school as I did (twice) but it’s not necessary to get into the story. I just found that it dragged on and on. Considering I thought it was ultra short when hearing it only went for 1.5 hours, it seemed to go on forever when we were sitting in the theatre. Too many of the scenes were just fluffy filling, and some scenes weren’t needed altogether. The best line was right at the beginning, and said by a boy that I reckon would do well as a grown-up Draco – “Harry Potter can kiss my ass!” hehe. I will have to find a decent picture of him. Ah. It was all downhill from there. So verdict? Don’t waste your time. Or your money.

We headed off to the James Squire Brewhouse for dinner after that. I was quite impressed with the food, although it was a little bit pricey. Considering it’s at King St. Wharf though, can’t expect too much. It was a shame that all the specialty beers had run out, but that couldn’t be helped I guess. Not sure if I would eat there again, but I’ve had my fill of steak now so that’s good :D Went to karaoke as well, which was amusing as always.

Hrm, currently waiting to see how much of my ‘junk’ Travis sold at Supernova… I need to pay off my credit card. Not sure what I’ll do with the stuff that didn’t sell – maybe wait till next year otherwise I’ll try to sell it on eBay I guess.

I’ve been debating on whether or not I should go to the Motorshow this year. The last time I went was two years ago, and it was really disappointing. But the ads I’ve seen for this year look promising and it seems like there’s a lot more concept cars as well. Plus there was that ad for the SAAB (I think, else it was Subaru) car where the doors and the windscreen lift up and that looked particularly awesome. But then, I’m not sure if it justifies the exorbitant entry fee and I’ll probably pick up a bunch of useless pamphlets/magazines/advertising that I don’t need either. Maybe I should just wait for the next motorcycle show to roll around and just go to that.