GenesisDreams

Wedding Bells

Friends - General - Personal - Travel Before anyone gets too excited, no I am not getting married! My mother is though, to a fabulous bloke called Rodney, and I am flying back to Australia for the wedding. I fly in on the 25th of March, the Wedding is on the 31st of March, I am staying for Easter, and then flying back to the UK on the 11th of April. The 11th also happens to be my little brother Jeremy’s birthday, and thankfully my flight leaves late at night, so I will have time to celebrate it with him. I will email everyone in due course, as I know that as I so rarely update this blog now, that most of you guys out there will want to know that I am coming back and won’t find out from here. I am looking forward to coming back in March, it will be the first time I’ve been back close to summer for almost four years now. I am really looking forward to coming back. It is a short trip this time. My current visa is valid for the next five years, so I don’t need to faff about with anything to do with that. I have also got things in place at work so that I shouldn’t be bothered too much. I realise I haven’t let anyone know where I am living or really what I am doing at the moment here in the UK. It is a cold Saturday morning here right now, so I am going to take some time to go over it all. First some pictures! I am currently living in a beautiful old house that has been converted into flats. It is called: The Croft! I am currently driving a brand new (well new in September, with 56 plates) Black VW Golf GTI. It allows me to go far to fast for my own good, and I got my first ever speeding ticket in it in the first month of driving it. Here is a picture of me standing outside the Croft, on a wet, bleak Liverpool day, with My Golf! Here are some other random pictures that my friend Viki took when she Ben (ex-housemates) came to stay between Christmas and New Year. This is: My Bed, this is: My Coat Rack, this is My Desk, this is My Dinner Table, this is My Kitchen, and this is not my Guitar. Things have been absolutely manic around here like they have been for the past two years. I am really proud of where I’ve gotten to though. I’m head of department for thirteen people, I have generated turned things around and we are now a profit centre rather than a cost centre, I’ve created new business directly out of our work, and I’m also half way through doing my MSc, just a dissertation to go now! I send all you guys individual emails because I really do want to catch up properly and see how everyone is going. Take care!

Flights Home

Friends Hello all, As most of your know, I am coming back home for 4 weeks! Sorry I haven't updated this sooner to let everyone know, but things are pretty hectic here at the moment. Well that is always the case, but more so than usual. So I fly in on Wednesday and I am saying till September. See you all in a couple of days!

Meetings In London

Friends - Personal - Work It’s mid-morning and I am on the train from Nottingham to Liverpool. I had a big meeting with some of the General Dynamics guys in London yesterday. We were discussing the next phase of the project; what feedback they had from the first phase and what features they would like to see in the second. Everything went well; their feedback was positive and their requirements manageable in the timeframes required. It was a very productive meeting. So Nikkie was up last weekend, and because she has finished placement and is on Project week, she stayed a couple of extra days and came down to London with me yesterday. I of course had to work all day, but I jump at every chance I get to spend more time with her. I’m back at work today of course and it is going to be busy as usual. But as I’ve said before, I’m finding it really interesting, I am enjoying it, and I’m getting paid really well too. So enough of my recap of work. That’s all I seem to talk about recently. On to other things! Thanks to all of my friends who emailed me back with status updates on their lives! I wrote about fifteen different emails that day on the train and sent them out to all of you guys who I want to keep in touch with. It was great to hear back from all of you (well almost all of you, you slackers know who you are who didn’t write back, so get on it!! :), I really liked reading about everything new that’s been going on in your lives since we last caught up. Some of you I hadn’t talked to for at least a year! This blog is a very one-way form of communication. I write my entries but get very little in the way of comments. I know people read it; I’ve got stats that show when the site is viewed and where the viewers are. I recognise pretty much everyone who reads the site, who the readers are from Australia, who they are from the US, who they are from the UK, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got that Finnish reader sussed too :) Some of you check the site almost daily, some from week to week, while others sometimes go months without checking. I know you are all filled in on what’s going on in my life (or the small portion of it I have time to describe here), but I feel really left out when it comes to all of your lives. So I’ve done my best to remedy that. If you won’t add comments or (heaven forbid!) create blogs of your own then I am just going to have to pester you with emails until you respond!! Until then, take care everyone.

Another Long Week

Friends - Fun - Personal - University - Work Well it’s Friday again, and I’m on the train down to Nottingham. I have some time now to myself, to think, to reflect, and to write an entry for my blog! This week was very intensive. I did an all-nighter Sunday night, and another Tuesday night. I racked up more than 80 working hours this last week, so effectively did two weeks work in one. This whole last month I’ve been averaging 60 hours a week. It’s pay day today though, and I’ve got a rather large pay packet coming to me, so I’m happy. ^_^ The drinks are definitely on me tonight!! I’ve been doing some really excellent work recently, and because of it I’ve got another promotion. I’m now the design authority for the Enterprise Project Management system I am producing, which means a lot more authority and responsibility. Hopefully another pay rise too; I’m talking to the boss about that next week. So we are now examining the next phase of functionality. I’m writing documentation and getting everything ready for security auditing. We have to comply with BS779 because of the restricted and secret information that is being held on the system. We are entering an exciting stage of the project and I’m really looking forward to getting onto the next lot of functionality. But enough about work. According to Nikkie I am now officially the best boyfriend in the world. Because I’ve been so busy this last week I haven’t been able to call her as much as I would like. She has been really busy too, doing her neurology placement in a hospital in Boston. She’s been feeling a little sad that we have both been too busy to keep in better contract, so to cheer her up I got a dozen red roses delivered to the ward she was working on in the hospital . She said she got such a shock when they arrived, and has had a massive grin on her face ever since. I’ve had a massive grin of my face all day too knowing about the surprise she would get. I can’t wait to get to Nottingham and see her. In other news I talked to mum and Fragma last night for about an hour each. It’s the first time I talked to either of them on the phone since I got back from Australia! I know! How bad of a son/friend am I!! Mum had a lot of news to tell, and we chatted for ages. She told me that she had received a thing from the University of Queensland saying that I had been admitted to the Dean’s Honour Roll for my Bachelor of Business Management, which I thought was a scream. I hardly use my Engineering degree, let alone my Business one. I guess it’s good to put on my CV, but I still think of it as a bit of a joke considering the amount of work I put into it. Mum said she lost the lapel pin that came with it, but I told her not to worry. I’m never going to wear it. After speaking to mum I called Fragma at work. He works harder than I do the crazy man! Nikkie reckons it is all his fault that I am working this hard. She says he is a bad influence on me :). We chatted about all my friends back home, what they are up to, what new things that have been happening. We also chatted the normal bollocks that we do. It was great to talk to him again. I’ve got to stop being so slack and call my friends back home more. I think I’ve only called Ads and Wulfen once or twice each, and Fragma only a few more times than that. I left some really great friends behind in Aus and I really need to start making more of an effort to keep in touch. With that thought in mind I’m going to finish this blog entry here and spend my remaining battery power writing emails all of those friends of mine who have been slipping away recently. Expect an email soon guys!

Shopping and Reunions

Friends - Fun So Saturday Nikkie took me shopping in Nottingham. I really needed some new winter clothes. Since I hadn’t bought anything new for myself in ages I decided to spurge and spend a hell of a lot of money. I figure that I’m working full time now and I’m earning good money, so I shouldn’t look like a shabby student anymore. It is about time to scrub up and care about what I look like a little more. So Nikkie took think as a sign to go to all the posh shops! I bought jumpers from FCUK and shirts from Ted Baker. I’m generally clueless about labels and which some things are better than others, however after trying on some of the stuff in Ted Baker I understood why it was so expensive. This was really, really good quality stuff. I promptly spent £95 there without even thinking about it. So anyway I bought a whole new posh wardrobe and now fit the image of a well paid professional. I feel a whole lot better about myself too, I didn’t realise that good clothes made this much difference. Saturday night the old Church Avenue gang got back together for the first time since April. Bruce, Ben, Graeme, Nikkie, Viki and I all met up at the Pitcher and Piano and promptly slipped right back into where we left off 4 months ago. Everyone had stories to tell and we had a great time catching up. As I was now a big successful working man it fell to me to buy a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate our reunion with. We all got drunk and happy and I was struck with how much I had missed all of them. I’m heading back down to Notts next Friday, so we’ll all go out together again, and it will be just like old times.

Counting Down!

Friends - Fun - Travel Well I’m on the train down to Nottingham… again! Lately it seems like the only time I get to write entries is when I’m on the train. Train travel provides you with a kind of peaceful solitude that allows one time for reflection and contemplation. I’ve got a lot to reflect upon, and so much more to come that I need to contemplate. Three more sleeps to go before I am on my way home. It’s so exciting. I really can’t wait. I’ve finished work for the week. Got all my tasks done, and now I’m free! I’m going down to Nottingham to meet up with Nikkie, go out on the town, convince her to leave some shoes and handbags behind, and then we are going to pack up her car and drive up to Liverpool tomorrow. Things have gone so fast recently. Everything has come at once, and now I am rushed to finalise everything before I go away. I went to my cousins last night, had a few drinks and a nice dinner and talked about how jammy I am. I was also laden down with presents to bring back with me. Between all of Nikkie’s stuff and my cousin’s presents I barely have any room for anything of my own. I want to have lots of left over space too, because I plan on brining as much stuff as possible back over with me. I am coming home this trip, but I don’t know whether it is my home anymore. There is so little of me left there now, and there will be even less soon. I’ve started accumulating stuff, but it’s not in Brisbane, it’s in my flat in Liverpool. I’ve got furniture, plate sets and towel sets and bed linen. I’ve started painting the place, making it exactly how I (or rather we, as Nikkie has a big say in it) want it. It’s starting to feel like my very own place now; I’ve put my touch onto it. I’m becoming an adult, all grown up and responsible. I own bed linen! I mean come on! I’m earning a living, going on a business trip, organising my finances. It’s scary and yet exciting at the same time. Anyway enough rambling. This will probably be the last entry I post before I am over in Aus! Man I need to start getting organised. I haven’t even thought about packing yet!

I'm Alright

Friends - General I was shocked by the terror attacks that occured today in London. I was safe up in Liverpool away from all the danger. Thanks to everyone who texted/rang/emailed me to make sure I was alright. I really appreciate the thought.

Coming Home

Friends - Personal - Travel - Work I started this blog more than two years ago. Boy I’ve come a long, long way since then. So I’ve been really busy these last couple of weeks. That’s not unusual. A lot has been happening at work. That’s not unusual either. There are some big changes in the works though, which has led to something unusual. So, to cut to the chase, and to let those of you know whom I haven’t contacted already, I’m flying back to Australia on July the 12th. I’m coming home. Though I don’t really know whether it is my home anymore. I’m not coming back to stay, that’s for sure. I’ve got a three week trip booked, and it’s predominately a business trip, the emphasis behind it coming from work rather than my desire to come back for a visit. I had originally not planned on coming back for a visit until Christmas time, but things have been steamrolling ahead at work, and that’s necessitated my early return. To explain in more detail; I’ve been promoted! I’ve been given a great opportunity, a great new job focus, and when my boss offered it to me I jumped at it. I can’t quite do what is being asked of me yet, so I’ve got to do some training first. Guess what, the training I need to do can be done in Brisbane! And it’s a damn sight cheaper than doing it in London as well! So I’m flying home on the company dime, to do two weeks of intensive training on the company dime, all while earning the company dime as if I were working as usual, and at the end of it I fly back to the UK to a new, better, job earning even more of the company dime than before! As Nikkie says, I am a jammy bastard ^_^ Speaking of Nikkie, she is coming with me! She has one more week of placement and then she starts summer holidays. I’ve explained to her that I’ll be working most of the time when I’m back home, that for me this isn’t a holiday as such, it’s part of my job, but she wouldn’t be talked out of coming. Not that I wanted to talk her out of coming. I can’t wait to introduce her to my mum, and all my friends, and show her where I grew up. I’m so totally in love with this girl that I want her to know everything about me, to meet everyone that is important to me, to share in these experiences with me. She is so excited !! ^_^ Things are going really well for me here. I’m in a fantastic job, I have a great flat, I’m going out with the most beautiful girl. I’m fit and well and happy and loving it all. I don’t think my friend will recognise me when I get home. Partly because Nikkie has had me out running with her, and physically I am much trimmer and more toned than before, but also I think my personality is a great deal different to how it was two years ago. It’s hard to describe, but I think it has to do mostly with my outlook on life, or rather more importantly, my outlook on myself. Don’t worry, I wont get all philosophical here, I just think that some of my friend will be shocked at the change in me. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to be coming home. This time next week will be my last sleep in the UK before I leave. There is so much to do before then, so much to organise, to work out, to plan for. Right now I don’t care about any of that, I’m just too excited! !!!!!! Written while listening to Alex Lloyd - Coming Home

Early Morning

Friends - Fun - Work So I’ve been slack again at writing entries. Nikkie wrote a thesis guest entry last time. She is such a sweetie. I’m writing this on the train back up from Nottingham to Liverpool, early Monday morning. It’s been a full on last two weeks. Nikkie finished her exams last week, went to Amsterdam with Jade, and then stayed with me last weekend and all last week. At lot has happened, but I’ll just go over it briefly, because I’ve been awake since 5am, and I want to catch a quick nap on the train before I have to go to work. Last Saturday Nikkie, Graeme and I went to help out a Netball tournament that Lisa from work organised to support Breast Cancer research. We had to time matches, ring bells and announce things over the PA system. No very exciting, but it gave us all a lot of time to chat and catch up. Saturday night Ben came down and we all went into town. I had only been out in Liverpool once before with Ads, and that was a random Tuesday night, and Nikkie had never been, so we both looked forward to a big party night. This was Ben and Graeme’s territory, so we let them lead us from bar to bar, club to club, and we got progressively drunker as the night wore on. It was a fantastic night out, the music was great, the atmosphere was pumping, we all had a great time. We ended up getting the night bus back to my place, well it didn’t quite stop at my door, which meant that we needed to walk home a little way. Somewhere along the way we “lost” Ben. We were going to go looking for him, but instead just fell asleep. All of a sudden it was 10am the next morning and he still wasn’t there. Nikkie, crazy girl, put her on running gear and set out to look for him, fearing that he was in a gutter somewhere. She only got halfway down the street before discovering him, curled up asleep in the back of his car. We then went to back to bed and slept into 3pm. The rest of the week went really fast. Work was busy, really busy, and I often has to stay late. Nikkie was absolutely fantastic and cleaned my flat and sorted out all of my stuff, and make my place civilised. It wasn’t that I was particularly disorganised, I just hadn’t had the time to sort everything out. I’m really lucky to have found her, she is wonderful. Thursday night I played a 4 hour club game a cricket. Paul my boss was in Bulgaria, so he asked me to fill in his place. I haven’t played cricket since highschool, and my eye wasn’t in at all, but I played pretty well and had a great time. I didn’t have proper whites though, and so played in shorts. My knees were shredded by the end because I was making diving saves, and my legs killed me the next day from all the running around I did. Nikkie over the course of the week, while I was at work, did lots of physio work, lots of pottering, lots of walking on the beach, and spent lots of time watching the fourth season of 24! Over the course of the week she watched the first 20 episodes, catching up with me, and then together we watch the final four. WOW! What a fantastic series, it was absolutely awesome! Saturday we drove back down to Nottingham. Nikkie’s parents came up on Sunday, we all went out for lunch, and now, come Monday morning, I’m on the train, heading back to Liverpool, ready to start another week. I’m going to sleep now.

These little piggies went to Amsterdam

Friends - Fun - Guest Entry - Personal - Travel - University This is Nikkie. Michael asked me to do a guest entry so here goes... The physiotherapy course is so hectic that this is the first time in a year that we have been privileged enough to have been given a week off while all the other students are busy celebrating the arrival of an 18 week summer holiday. I grabbed the opportunity to whisk Jade, my best friend and housemate, off to Amsterdam for a wild night out to celebrate her 21st birthday. Before our adventure could commence, we had to endure painstaking revision and an exam which took place on the Wednesday morning (1st June) at 8.45am. Jade and I were both very nervous for the practical exam as you never have enough time to think and appear a fool if you don’t have the answers at the drop of a hat. The exam consists of a case scenario, 15 minutes thinking time and then joining the examiners to discuss all the relevant anatomy and clinical reasoning to arrive at an appropriate diagnosis. Next, you discuss a management plan and have to demonstrate 2 treatment techniques on a model. Finally, after what seems like forever, you document everything done with the patient, including treatment dosage, gained consent, safety tests, advice given and when you would next like to see them. Jade and I were given the same scenario of a patient with tension headaches so we came out of the exam intrigued as to what treatment we had each given. Luckily, we both appeared to administer the same treatment for similar reasons, so with that out of the way we left to get ready for our trip! I drove, for the first time, up to Liverpool. We arrived, after a relatively stress free journey to the city but as we approached Michael’s flat, things became slightly more traumatic. At this point it is fairly relevant to mention that Michael has lived in Liverpool for 5 weeks but still appears to walk around with his eyes closed, hence the reason he (and Graeme) will be blamed for getting us lost! We ended up travelling around a roundabout 5 times until they could meet us there and take us the right way! So, we eventually arrived at the flat, piled our belongings up the 3 flights of stairs and headed out for some lunch in a typical English café. The boys left shortly to return to work and us girls took the opportunity for some light shopping before our lift to the airport. Jade and I are both fanatical about fashion and the idea of retro and vintage clothing delights us! As a result, spotting 4 charity shops to rummage through determined the activities of the following few hours. At around 5pm, the boys had finished work for the day and we hopped in the car, laden with plastic bags full of vintage 1940’s purses, tops, scarves and the odd few bits including a wooden elephant names Widnes! So much for the light shopping trip! Graeme and Michael dropped Jade and I off at Liverpool’s John Lennon airport and I managed to shop as soon as we got there, buying a fantastic golden yellow leather handbag. We boarded the plane at 7pm and by 11pm were sat in a bar in Amsterdam. An exam at 8.45am in a British university, and barring in Amsterdam by 11pm - I love Europe! Staying in a cheap hostel in the red light district ensured we were surrounded by lots of young people. We quickly re-applied some lip-gloss and changed our shoes to heels and headed out. Passing the local chippy, we were unable to resist the classic Dutch chips and mayo. I got back into the swing of the language and was soon chatting to the chip-shop man only having slight difficulty understanding the Amsterdam dialect, which is very different to that I am used to. Once our appetites had been satisfied, we followed the crowds past some very sexy and virtually naked women in doorways to a bar for a beer. Soon after our arrival we began chatting to the barman who, much to our disgust, told us we were not in a ‘green’ café, although smoking in there was permitted. We rushed off to find somewhere selling pre-rolled joints, as neither of us were in any fit state to start rolling ourselves. On the recommendation of the guy behind the counter, whom I now realise we should never have trusted, we bought 4 joints for the equivalent of about £10. Back in the previous bar we lit up and began to chat to a bunch of Aussie men. It amazed me how many Australians there were in Amsterdam, most travelling Europe after uni. Mindless chit chat revealed that these particular guys were all living in London as teachers although one had flown in from Sydney that afternoon. They were a laugh and bought us a couple of drinks so we decided to stick with them for a while. By about 1am, we had broken off and un-surprisingly only two guys remained. We visited a few more bars, smoked and drunk a bit more while playing cards in a chilled bar. The lads knew where our hostel was, as they were in the same one, so we began our walk home. We were halfway there when Jade was cornered by one of the lads and had to apologise that he must have got the wrong idea from her. Realising that he was not going to get anywhere with her that night, he swiftly left. The other guy, however, was more persistent and we had to team up to get rid of him, which we eventually did by hiding in our dorm! Although I had shared a dorm with mates on camping trips ( I was in the scouts) and on school trips, nothing quite prepared me for this. It was a dorm of 20 beds and great fun. We sat up a while chatting crap due to our stoned and drunken state when we over heard a couple arguing over a guy having been in a peep show instead of meeting up with his girl! I’m sure this would have still amused me sober but we were both having serious difficulty in resisting laughter and continued to listen to the bickering trying to work out whether the guy’s story was genuine or he had in-fact been in a sex show as his lady was stating! By about 3am we got ready for bed and fell into light, interrupted sleep. We awoke at 8am with the sun streaming into the room and the dorm already half empty. After showering and attempting to make ourselves look remotely human we wandered downstairs for a full English breakfast, and a mug of incredibly strong tea. Our persistent friend from the previous night pulled up a chair questioning us about where and when we were leaving Amsterdam. Making quick excuses and ensuring we were sufficiently dosed up with caffeine we walked in the direction of the main shopping street – Kalver straat. I had been to Amsterdam previously with relatives living nearby so was slightly more orientated than the average tourist and we found Kalver straat fairly quickly. We shopped, had some lunch in the Vroom and Dressmann restaurant, a definite must for a cheap detoxifying meal, and shopped some more. After a few more trips to the cash-point and laden with bags, we returned to the red light district for some major vintage shopping. I got a pair of ankle height grey slouch boots which I had been on the hunt for ages. All in all, we spent over £200 of our student overdrafts on clothes and accessories, all very worthwhile! After all, you spend what money you actually have, and then the bank decides to give you more! No, I don’t always have such a lax attitude to money but do find it very hard to resist a bargain! By 5pm we were exhausted and grabbed our bags from the station lockers and returned to Schipol airport for a ‘maccy D’s’ (Mcdonalds) and to catch our flight home. We landed back in Liverpool at 10pm and were greeted by the boys who drove us back to Michael’s flat. Shattered from our adventure we went to bed and slept soundly. The following morning, Michael strolled into work at 10am and Jade left to rush back to Manchester to grab fresh clothes for a night out with some old friends in Newcastle! I, on the other hand, pottered around the flat with my eyes half closed all day trying to recover from abusing my body so much. The next few days have consisted of more pottering and trying to get Michael’s hole of a flat slightly more liveable! I have cleaned, washed, tidied and sorted but this is the first and last time I will do, so he will have to become domesticated from now on! We did a very ‘grown-up’ shop of cleaning products yesterday evening which Michael clearly needed some guidance on - he was shocked to discover that bathroom and kitchen cleaner were different! My work here is definitely challenging! On Saturday night we visited Liverpool’s night life which I definitely felt was something else! I felt like I was in Ibiza, obviously without the gorgeous weather, it was very surreal. We sat in a square outside surrounded by bars and a very concentrated amount of gorgeous people. The women were all slim, verging on the border of too slim, had all been bronzed, either by a bottle or some hard work on a sun bed, and were made up with very expensive looking clothing. Graeme, Ben and Michael, un-surprisingly, were in awe of them all, [Editor’s Note: I was more in awe of my fantastic girlfriend of course!- Wigs], as was I, but my eye was placed more on enjoying the surrounding fashion statements. I must state though, the women were some of the best I have ever seen, obviously not including celebs, models etc, only with the downside of the Liverpudlian accent! The men were incredibly well groomed and also in expensive clothing. The music was brilliant, Michael said that it was much like the dance music ‘back home’. Being out with the lads I had to keep up with the pace of drinking which, with a reputation of a lightweight I did quite well, going drink for drink with them. Overall, Liverpool was a great night out, expensive but great. Our trek home left much to be desired. We caught the night bus home after waiting for a taxi for over an hr. On the walk home from the bus stop we got separated losing Ben, our other scouser housemate who had come home for the summer, and fell asleep with him not having returned to the flat. We woke with a startle the next morning realising Ben was still not home. I dressed hurriedly, on a bad hangover, to jog around and try and find him. Michael eventually got him on his mobile at the same time as I came across him asleep in the back of his car! Safe, but still very very pissed he came up to the flat to sleep off the alcohol. I went for a 20minute run along the beach and came back when Michael and I decided to return to bed till 3pm. Another crazy but fantastic night out. To think that a year ago, I was still in Newark Hall, had only known Michael 6 months, was a fresher and living a very dependant life shows how much things can change. Life is fantastic but it has been hard to get to this point; I considered dropping the physiotherapy course during the harder times, Michael moved 3 hrs away from Nottingham just when we finally got together, I moved house and Graeme’s changed university course. The summer is only a month away, I have one more outpatients placement to get through and then I will be back in Liverpool living and working here for 6 weeks. Third year will be here sooner than later and then I’ll be a qualified physiotherapist and will have to become even slightly responsible! On second thoughts, I’ll delay that as long as I can, go travelling, live a little before pinning myself to a 9-5 job. The end of university is so close, yet so far. I’m only two thirds through it and things have changed so much since arriving in September as a fresher. Change is good. Hard but good.

Glorious Saturday Afternoon

Friends - Fun - Personal - Quotes It's amazing to think how much has happened this last year. Exactly one year and one day ago today was the Summer Party 2004 to mark the end of the University year and the official start to student summer (you can read all about what we got up to this time last year in this entry). Well now is Summer Party 2005, and the lot of us, older and wiser, went down early with a disposal BBQ, lots of meat and beer, and camped out on the downs in the glorious sun, and sat off listening to music and having a great time. Karl Kennedy from Neighbours was the "special mystery guest" and he was there with his band playing covers of oasis songs. It was a glorious afternoon. We didn't stay for the whole night (having learnt what a disappointment that was last year), but instead lazed around in the sun having a great time. It's still light out now as I am writing this, and it's wonderfully warm. So we were talking about how much we had all changed since last year and everyone (excluding me the old, responsible, working man) was amazed to think that this time next year they would be finished uni. The topic jumped back and forward between the past and the future. Where everyone thought they would be heading after Uni, where was the best place we travelled to last summer, what was everyone’s plans for this summer, when did we all meet each other originally. Maybe because I am such and old man, and am still looking at it from a semi-outsider perspective, but it was startling to me how much everyone had changed and grown up in the last year. We were playing spot the first years, and I couldn't fathom that everyone with me was a first year just a year ago. They seemed so different. We all grown and change constantly through life, but I think that one of the most pivotal periods is your life is that first year after highschool, when you leave the security of school and enter the real world. I feel lucky to have been privileged enough to be a part of that year for all of my friends here. They are such fantastic people, fantastic friends, and I've really missed them all these past couple of months when we've been apart. I've been lucky like that all through life now that I think about it. Other that a few rare instances I've always had fantastic friends who I get on well with and trust and respect. They have provided support, comfort, jokes and fun. I can just sit and hang out with them all day doing nothing much at all, I can travel to exotic places with them, I can rant and vent to them when I'm stressed, I can rant and rave to them when I'm in love. My friends have been there for me, with me, though so much. I miss you guys, wherever you are in the world. Friends in the US I've never met personally but whom I've told everything to. Friends back in Aus that I left behind. Friends here in my new home, who I don't get to see enough of. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. - Albert Camus Thanks again for The Fall Al. It really meant a lot to me. Written while lying on Nikkie's bed, while she studies for her final physio exam, listening to her sing along to U2's greatest hits. Nikkie is my closest confidant, a fantastic, thoughtful, caring, and wonderful friend. I love her more than the world. I am the luckiest.

Partyhouse - Reunited

Friends - Fun - Personal The partyhouse crew were fully reunited last night in what must be the first time in almost 4 months. We've all gone separately ways recently. Nikkie has moved out and is not living on the other side of Nottingham. Graeme is changing courses and having taken the rest of this term off, is living up in Liverpool. I've started full time work, so I'm up in Liverpool, and that just left Viki, Bruce and Ben in this big old house. There had been exams for the last couple of weeks and everyone was really stressed, but now they are all done (except for poor Nikkie who has one more next week). With the newfound freedom from stress we all converged again on the partyhouse to do what the party house crew are famous for, partying! ^_^ So Graeme and I left work early Friday afternoon and started the drive down to Nottingham. It was a sunny and hot 21 degrees (which is really good for England springtime) and we cruised down the motorway listening to radio one and chatting about how much we missed all being together. Graeme had previous been to the butcher, so we had 12 hamburgers, 12 sausages and 12 lamb kebabs. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm. After arriving into Nottingham we went to pick up some beer, and then the six of us sat off in the sun in the backyard, drinking and catching up. I took responsibility for cooking the food on the BBQ, having as my mates claim, an innate skill due to my Aussie heritage. Anyway along with all the copious amounts of meat I also cooked some of my patented beer onions, which went down a treat. Viki put her computer speakers out the window and we have some great summer trance pumping out over the garden. We all sat around, eating our food, drinking our beer and wine, and having a great time. It stayed light till almost 10pm, and when it eventually got dark we scavenged all the wood and cardboard we could find and made a fire in the middle of the backyard. We talked and drank and played with the fire and talked some more. Some people smoked a little too. I love these guys; they are a fantastic group of friends. The conversation never lagged, the jokes always kept coming, the funny stories were never lacking. We talked about the coming summer, and the previous one. We talked about plans, and goals and dreams. We gossiped of course, and talked about sex and guys and girls. Everyone got very drunk. I can’t remember the last time I was that drunk, and I can’t remember ever seeing Nikkie that drunk before either. She is a very cute drunk ^_^ At about 4am the sun was starting to come up again and the birds were chirping. We all took that as the signal to go to bed. I fell asleep with the with windows open, the cool morning breeze wafting into the room, and the beautiful girl that I love in my arms. I’ve never been happier. I get by with a little help from my friends, I get high with a little help from my friends, Going to try with a little help from my friends. Written while listening to The Beatles - With a Little Help From My Friends.

Another Week

Friends - Fun So it's Sunday night. I'm leaving to go back up to Liverpool tomorrow. It's been a great weekend. Star wars was great. Fantastic. Nikkie and I had the job of trying to secure 12 seats of the birthday party of 6 year olds that were due to show up. We managed nine, which I thought was pretty bloody good considering the cinema was absolutely packed and we are to fight hordes of people off. Anyway it's late and so I am not going to write much more. I've got another long week of work ahead of me. This is my life now, and I'm enjoying every second of it. Written while listening to all of Muse's Showbiz album, blaring out of Nikkie's PC.

May The Force Be With You

Friends - Fun - Movies - Work I came down to Nottingham from Liverpool last night. This last week of work has been exhausting. I've been running around doing so much stuff. It's really exciting, there has been so much going on and I've been in the tick of it. I've really enjoyed working hard again, I don't even think twice about working through lunch or late I'm that involved and interested in making sure everything comes out as it should. So I had a very fun reunion with Nikkie last night, then a nice long sleep in. I really needed it. Now we are both getting ready to drive down to Milton Keynes to visit my cousin. It's her little boy Jacob's birthday today and we are all going to see the new Star Wars movie. Then we are staying the night at my cousin's place with some other of their friends before coming back down to Notts. It's going to be a busy weekend, and I've got another hectic week of work after it, but you know what, this is what I want to be doing, and I couldn't be happier! Take care everyone!

Time On Trains

Friends - Fun - Personal - Work I am on the train yet again. I think this past month I’ve clocked up at least 30 hours travel time on trains. Another month of this and I’ll be pushing for a company car! This month I pushed for a new laptop, which is why I am now able to write blog entries while on the train! For some reason I failed to mention that when explaining why I needed one ^_^ I just left Liverpool and am currently heading down to Nottingham. The trip takes two and a half hours, so I’ll get down to Nottingham just as Nikkie finishes work. I haven’t seen Nikkie since I saw here off at Liverpool station last Sunday. I miss her really badly. Of course I’ve talked to her every night, and sent countless text messages, but it’s just not the same. I need to be around her, to touch her, to hug her, to smell her. I feel so alive when I’m with her, when she is there the world just seems that much brighter. It’s been hard this last week without her. I can’t wait until the train pulls into Nottingham. Nikkie is coming to pick me up, and I know that as soon as I step off the train and see her everything is going to be alright. She will fall into my arms, and I’ll hold her tightly, and all my worries will disappear. I’m getting broadband and a phone line installed at my flat next week. The plan I’m getting includes unlimited weekend and evening calls, so I can chat to Nikkie after work for as long as I want. I’m also going to get a webcam set up so that I can see her during the week. Hopefully these things will help keep the loneliness at bay when she is not around. So I have the entire weekend with Nikkie, which is fantastic, but not only that, I’ve organised to do a site visit in Wolverhampton on Monday, which means I can stay in Nottingham Sunday night, do the site visit Monday, return to Nottingham Monday night, then head back up to Liverpool Tuesday morning. Then that leaves only three nights before the next Friday when I get to see her again! It is only a two and a half hours to Nottingham, so if I’m having a particular hard week and I always head down after work, spend the night with her, then head back up early the following morning. It is going to be hard being apart from her most of the week, but, and I’m going to say it here because frankly I don’t care who knows, I’m completely, utterly, and madly in love with this girl, and so I know it will all work out in the end. Anyway, so I feel very professional sitting here in my business clothes, typing away on my laptop. It’s a far cry from the sloppy university student I was just a couple of months ago. At first I didn’t really think I would like this job, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve taken on so much responsibility and done such a variety of things that I now think I am really going to enjoy it. I’m scheduling jobs, managing projects, doing technical work, getting training, going to meetings, doing designs, making decisions. It’s all interesting work, some of it is really cool and exciting, in particular the military contract we are bidding for, which hopefully will get signed off early next week. I know I am going to learn a lot here, and I’m getting paid really well for it too! So you can’t argue with that! I am often asked why my long-term plans are, whether I am just doing this temporarily, or whether I am here for good. My answer to that question has changed dramatically over the last six months. I’ve got a great job, nice flat, good friends and a fantastic girlfriend. I get to party in London, one of the most lively and exciting cities in the world, at least once a month. I get to pop over to an entirely different country for a dirty weekend. I have my some of my family, my cousins, very close by, whom I know I can always rely on. Ok the weather here is crap, but you can’t have everything! I have talked to the rest of my family about this; I’ve talked to my close friends about it too. I don’t intend on moving back to Australia in the near future. To be even more specific, I want to live and work here for at least five years. Long enough to have saved up a very respectable amount (in pounds too!), but even more importantly, long enough for me to get my permanent residency and citizenship. I’ve lived in the U.K. for almost a year and a half now, and I know that I want to always be able to return if I desire. The hassles I’ve had to go through with getting working permits and visas is just too much, I want to be naturalised, have dual citizenship, British and Australian. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever come back home to the land down under, just that I want to be able to make either place my home. So I think I’ve written enough for one afternoon. I’ll post this tonight when I get to Nikkie’s. Sorry if I rambled a bit, I get quite reflective whenever I spend long periods of time on trains. I wrote this while listening to DJ Doboy Trancquility 17. It’s the only MP3 I have on my phone at the moment other than Pimsler Japanese lessons and I haven’t gotten around to downloading any songs onto my new laptop yet.

Working Hard For The Money

Friends - Fun - Travel - Work So as seems usual of late I have left it a good couple of weeks before writing a proper entry. Well I've been working hard, so nah nah nah! ^_^ On Tuesday last week I came up to Liverpool to do some work. I sat in on a very interesting meeting, learnt heaps of stuff, and in that one morning knew that I would enjoy my time at this job. Wednesday I took the day out to go shopping with Graeme, we were buying furniture for my new flat. Thursday John and I were off to London. We were doing some thermal imaging work for the Kings College Hospital, which would take all of Thursday and Friday. We stayed in a hotel just down from the hospital and went out for drinks and dinner on the company's expense account after a hard days work. The thermal camera was really cool; check out my self-portrait in the previous post. Friday night we helped pack up the house of one of the guys who is moving up to Liverpool for this big contract we are getting. Geoff is going to be the new IT Director, and after loading all his stuff into the van we went out for a few pints to recover. Saturday involved driving back up to Liverpool from London and unpacking the truck. Thankfully I convinced John that we should swing by Nottingham on the way up, so we did and picked up Nikkie and a bunch of my stuff. I hadn't seen Nikkie since the previous Monday, so it was very difficult to sit in the truck and keep my hands off her ^_^ So we helped move Geoff in on Saturday. He is living in the most fantastic place on the water here in Liverpool. His flat is on the top floor of the mansion that the captain of the Titanic once lived in. So very cool. My flat pales in comparison, but Nikkie thought it was great all the same, and we moved all my stuff in that day too. Saturday night we spent at my cousin’s catching up, drinking beer and wine and playing pictionary. My cousin and his wife are the undisputed king and queen of pictionary, they usually make it the whole way around the board before you even get out of the first quarter. However this night something must have been in the air because Nikkie and I actually mounted a serious challenge and one of the games came down to sudden death when we were both on the all-play square at the end of the board. Sunday we went to the Oxton Village fair, ate Cornish pasties and watched a Punch and Judy show. Then it was almost time for Nikkie to leave. She is still on placement at the Queens Medical Centre and so had to leave to go back to Nottingham to be ready for her 8.30 start Monday morning. I hated seeing her go. It was hard the previous week being away from her, but because I was so busy running up and down the country the time seemed to pass really quickly. Now she is gone however and I'm aching deep inside. It’s only Wednesday. I'm leaving Friday afternoon to go down to Nottingham for the weekend, but that is still two nights away! I've been keeping myself busy, not trying to be alone in my big flat at nights, but is has been hard. Went drinking with Geoff, Graeme and Paul the last couple of nights, so that has kept me occupied (and Nikkie amused when I ring he at midnight drunk out of my mind). Still I'll have to face my empty flat eventually, and all I can do is think about wanting to be down with Nikkie. Anyway I'll be down there this weekend, have Friday, Saturday and Sunday together. The boss said it doesn't matter if I don’t come in until mid-morning Monday, so I'll get the train up from Nottingham early in the morning. Things are good for me right now. Nikkie is fantastic, but that’s a given, I don’t think she knows how to not be fantastic and lovely and sexy and perfect. The job is interesting, the money is good, the social side of it up here in Liverpool is much better than I expected. All over everything has worked out far better than I had ever hoped to dream. The only down side is the Nikkie is in Nottingham and I am in Liverpool. But it is only another month and a half till her summer break, and then she is coming up here to live with me for the summer, get a job during the days but be with me when we both finish work. It’s going to be awesome, the sun, the sand (oh did I mention my flat is 5 minutes walk from the beach), money in my pocket and my beautiful girl by my side.

Here, There, Everywhere

Friends - Fun - Travel - Work So it’s been two weeks since I last wrote an entry. Here is a quick summary of what I’ve been up to. After my week at work up in Liverpool I got the train down to High Wycombe, about 30 minutes outside of London, where Nikkie’s parents live. Nikkie had gone down to stay with them while I was up in Liverpool working, and had decided to stay longer, so I went down there to stay with them. So I went down on the Friday afternoon and ended up staying till the following Thursday. It was a lot more fun that I expected. Nikkie’s parents are really nice and her little sister is as well. It felt very comfortable there, like I belonged and was accepted. We went into London on the Monday, went to the Portobello Road markets and the Covent Garden markets. Nikkie was very good and resisted buying shoes and handbags. It was a great day, the weather was beautiful, my girlfriend looked stunning, I couldn’t have been any happier. So the week went by incredibly quickly, I was having a load of fun, and then, suddenly, we were back up in Nottingham. Bruce and Ben and Viki were all back in the house. It was good to see them after so long. Easter holidays were drawing to a close and everyone had to get back to study. The next week Nikkie was on placement, and I had to do some work around the country. I needed to do some site surveys for a project we are working on, so on Wednesday I got the train down to London and did a survey out in Enfield, and then Wednesday night I crashed at Anna’s place. She made dinner and we sat around drinking wine in her apartment overlooking the Thames and discussing politics, sex and whether a bear could beat a giant squid in a fight. The next morning I got the train down to Southampton to do another site survey. Thankfully this one didn’t take as long (I was checking this site against the same criteria as the pervious one, so I knew what I was looking for and it went much quicker) and I ended up getting back to Nottingham at 6pm. Over those two days I had spent about 10 hours on trains going to different places, but it was interesting work, and it meant that I could stay in Nottingham for the week and not have to go back up to Liverpool, so that was a great bonus of course. Now its bank holiday weekend. I’ve got tomorrow off, but I do need to be up in Liverpool on Tuesday. I’ll probably be moving up there for good starting next weekend. It’s been a fantastic last couple of months. I managed to stay down here in Nottingham far longer than I first expected. Nikkie is now on placement so she is working every day at the hospital, so that means we can’t spend the days with each other anyway. That being the case my being away won’t be so bad. I won’t be able to see her every night, but we’ll manage. I seem to be saying this a lot recently, but I will write more regularly in the future. This last week I’ve been travelling around for half the time, and the week before I was at Nikkie’s parents. Sorry to everyone who has emailed me that I haven’t replied to yet. I will get to them all! Written while listening to Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter.

Robes and Room Service

Friends - Fun - Travel I've got to be in Liverpool on Monday. My working permit has come through and I've got a few things I need to sort out up there. I'm staying the whole week, and wont be back down to Nottingham until this weekend. It's going to be horrible, I know it. I've been with Nikkie everyday for the past month, and I want to continue seeing her everyday. This girl has got to me bad and I don't know how I'm going to manage to survive a whole week apart. Anyway rewind, I haven't told of our Brussels adventures yet. So we went and stayed with my cousin in Milton Keynes for a couple of days, then drove down to Nikkie's parents place and stayed there on Wednesday night, before getting up early Thursday morning, getting the train into London Waterloo, and jumping on the Eurostar! I’d been on it once before, but it was Nikkie’s first time, and she was very excited. The trip went smoothly and we arrived in Brussels at two in the afternoon. We got the metro from the train station to Rogier Place, and on reaching ground level, we were confront by our hotel. The Brussels 5 Star Sheraton Towers Hotel. Wow, I was intimidated just looking at it. We got there, checked in, and went up to our room, #24 on the 15th floor. Again, wow. This place was very, very swanky and cool. Here is a picture of me taken in the mirror in our room and here is one of the view out our window, with a very lovely Nikkie eloquently brushing her teeth in there as well. Anyway after jumping up and down a little on our king size double bed we ventured up to the top floor to check out the pool. I’m going to keep saying wow here, because it really was spectacular. We went for a swim, and a sauna, and another swim, and by then were hungry so went out strolling the streets of Brussels, found a nice restraint and had a fantastic dinner. Afterwards we went to the O-Bar, which was in the hotel, and hideously expensive, but very hip, and it had table service, and was open to late, and we only had to get the lift back to our room, so it was perfect for us. We talked and drank the night away before retiring for the night. We slept in the next day, but made sure to get up just in time for our buffet breakfast Mmm the Belgians know how to do breakfast in style, there is nothing like offering all you can eat waffles at 10am. We then ventured forth to check out Brussels during the day. And oh what a day it was; beautiful, sunny weather, 18 degrees, clear skies, little wind. Perfect. I don’t think you could have asked for a better day. So we went walking, seeing what sights Brussels has to offer. The main square, the cathedral, the royal palace, the central park, the little man pissing. Great stuff all round. By three in the afternoon we had exhausted the sights of Brussels so decided to return to the hotel. Up to the pool again for some more swimming, and this time, because the weather was so nice, we went out on the terrace and sunbathed until 6.30! In April! That’s how fabulous the weather was. So after swimming and lazing about for a while we decided we were far too comfortable to leave the hotel for dinner, so we ordered dinner from the bar at the pool, which they promptly delivered and placed on little tables besides our deck chairs next to the pool. Room service poolside, positively indulgent. Not having the right money to pay for it we just charged it to the room, the beginning of a slippery slope. Dinner was great though, and before we knew it the pool was closing and it was 10pm. We had spent the entire afternoon and evening in our swimsuits. After that we went back to our rooms, got changed and headed down to the O-Bar for some more drinks. Again we talked into the night, and cocktails, beer and nuts (though resisting temptation to charge all of our drinks to the room). Later that night, after having a nice hot bath we decided to order room service; chocolaty desserts to finish off the evening, The guy who delivered our food gave me a slightly bemused look when I answered the door in my robe and slippers, though as I was signing the credit slip (to again charge it to the room) I figured that he must get lots of the calls at 3am in the morning. The next day we slept in again, longer this time as breakfast on Saturday continued through till late and we didn’t have to check out till 12. Later that afternoon we caught the Eurostar back to London. Ok so if you are finding it hard to imagine this place, think along the lines of the Park Hyatt Tokyo from Lost In Translation. There was a gym, a pool, you could walk around in your robe and slippers, the bar didn’t have a live band, but it was very cool all the same. We are both poor students, hell I’m not even a student anymore, officially I’m still unemployed! For those three days though we lived the highlife and loved every minute of it. Now that I’m back now I’m dreading checking my credit card bill though and seeing everything I charged to the room ^_^ While we were away the Pope died. We had originally planned on going to Rome to get my out of the country. I’m really glad we chose Brussels now. Now the whole point of this trip wasn’t just to have an indulgent romantic getaway, it was to get my passport stamped with a visitors visa, which I managed to do, after a thorough interrogation by the immigration man about my plans and how I was to support myself. I had to show him my bank card and explain how I would get hold of money and everything. It was pretty scary actually, taking about 10 minutes talking to him before he actually stamped my passport. I have the stamp now, so that means I can stay legally in the country for another 6 months (though now my working permit has been approved and I submit for a working visa which will be valid for four years!). So Saturday night we stayed at Nikkie’s parents place again, before driving back up to Nottingham the next day. Nikkie’s little sister was on holidays, so we took her and her friend up to Notts to show them around and take them out. I never imagined it would be so easy to get a 15 year old into a bar!! Anyway so a whole heap of other stuff has been going on, but I’ve not got to get ready to head up to Liverpool. Don’t expect another entry from me till next weekend! Also Happy Birthday to my brother Jeremy, who turns 21 tomorrow!

Beautiful Brussels

Friends - Fun - Personal - Travel My student visa expires tomorrow. If I stay in the country past tomorrow I'll be living here illegally. I had two options, either apply to the consulate for a further leave to remain on a visitors visa, which would cost me £150, or leave the country and come back in during April and get a six months visitors visa for free on re-entry. I opted for the second option. Later tonight Nikkie and I are heading down to her parents place in North London, and then tomorrow we are heading off on the Eurostar from London, down through the channel tunnel, and then across to Brussels. We are staying two nights at the Five Star Sheraton Brussels Hotel before getting the Eurostar back to London on Saturday. I'll be out of the country, have a fantastic time, and come back in getting my visa for the same amount it would have cost me to apply directly to the consulate. I found the deal on lastminute.com, it's fantastically priced for what we get, including Eurostar tickets and two nights 5* accommodation at one of the best hotels in Brussels with breakfast included. The hotel looks amazing, with large rooms, comfy looking beds (^_^) and a heated indoor pool up on the 30th floor with a view over the Brussels skyline. It's right in the heart of the city too, within walking distance of all the major attractions. Brussels is a beautiful city. I've only been there once before, and then only for a couple of hours as I was making my way down from Bruges to Paris, but what I saw made me want to go back and spend more time there. There will be lots of premium Belgium beers to drink, as well as copious amounts of quality Belgium chocolate to consume. I'm really looking forward to the trip, I'm sure we are going to have an amazing time; positively indulgent! Some people may think it's a little strange for Nikkie and I to go on a romantic holiday, particularly to a different country and staying in an expensive hotel, when we haven't even officially been going out for three weeks. It's a big step, a serious thing to do, and for many people it may seem like we are going along incredibly quickly. But we know better. In our minds we've been together for three months rather than three weeks, and we both liked each other long before that. We've been almost inseparable these last three months and have become closer than I would have thought possible. We've lived with each other, we know everything about each other, and we were best friends before we became involved. There isn't a single day since we've been officially going out that I haven't seen her, spent some time with her. It's been very intense, very passionate, and so I don't think you can judge us based upon the time we've been "officially" going out. We're going to enjoy this time away, have a fantastic break, have lots of fun, and then keep going on as strongly as we have so far. Anyway I've got to start packing and getting ready! My next entry wont be for a couple of days, but when I get back I'll let everyone know how it was. Written while listening to Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want (Cheesy, I know! ^_^)

Abandoned, Alone, Happy!

Friends - General So one by one my friends are abandoning me. Graeme left to go back up to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. He is changing courses and so is repeating his second year. That being the case he didn't see much point in showing up to the rest of the lectured he had this term. Nikkie moved out more than a week ago now, and the last of her stuff is finally gone. The house seems really cold and empty without her. Bruce got the train up to Edinburgh on Friday. It’s Easter holidays and he is going home, first to Scotland, and then over to Dubai. He wont be back till the 17th of April, when he will be down "taking part" (or watching as I prefer to call it) in the London Marathon. Viki left on Saturday. She was getting the train all the way over to Cardiff, where she was going to spend the night (and celebrate Wales' Six Nations Grand Slam Victory!!) before heading home for a couple of weeks. Ben left on Saturday as well, up to Liverpool to party and sit off at home for a whole month before having to come back here for the start of next term. Ads leaves tomorrow. He is flying up to Edinburgh to meet up with Bruce for a bit and then travel around Scotland. He's been here for three and a half weeks now, and it has been great seeing him again and hanging out. I must admit I've been a bit of a poor host. I've been spending almost every free moment with Nikkie lately, and so Ads has had lots of days and nights sitting off with the rest of my housemates watching DVDs or reading books. Sorry about that mate. So that leaves me. Alone. Abandoned. In this big old house, all by myself. The good new is that Nikkie has another week of lectures before her Easter holidays start, and isn't planning on going home until April anyway (and she has invited me down then as well!) so that means that I probably wont be so alone in this big old house. In fact I doubt I'll be by myself very much at all for the next couple of weeks. We are going to make the most of this time together, while I'm down here, before I have to move away. We are going to have some quality time coming up, totally for each other, without having to worry about other friends, or work, or study, or anything else at all. I can't wait. Written while listening to Alex Lloyd - Amazing.

Alton Towers Adventure!

Friends - Fun - Guest Entry Yesterday Nikkie, Ads and I drove down to the theme park Alton Towers. We were meeting up with Jackie, Jo and Tom who were coming down from Liverpool. It's Jackie's birthday today, and so the Alton Towers trip was a sort of pre-birthday fun-filled excursion. --- ads override --- So Wigs is getting his Neighbours fix at the moment (despite declarations he is not hooked enough to watch the same episode twice a day, this is today's second viewing,) so the burden has fallen upon my heavy shoulders to summarise yesterdays adventures. And maybe add my 2 cents about eurobackpacking, life, the universe and blogs. Actually screw that, I hate blogs :D After 2 hours sleep (long story) I was awoken at half eight in the morning by Wigs (booming voice) for Operation Alton (dinner-out is a go). A bowl of cornflakes (Sainsbury special), a 50 minute burl down the motorway (M-1 through M-69, it seems), 20 minutes through the archetypically British, picturesque Alton countryside (complete with winding roads and blind corners), and a 5 minute walk from the Alton Towers carpark to the theme park proper (monorail inoperative) and here we were (where?). It'd be nice to say that going to Alton Towers embodied some sort of symbolic return to the UK for me, as going there had been one of the last things I had done before emigrating to Aus. Alas I couldn't actually remember anything about it, except there was lots of fun to be had. And fun there was. Oblivion. Nemesis. Submission. Rides appropriatelly named. A disconcerting indicator of the degree of intensity of a ride is given by the tightness of the harness on your crotch. And these rides were real crotchbusters. Which isn't a necessarily bad thing. Everybody has pondered what exactly would happen if your harness failed mid-ride. Most likely they'd be scraping you off the pavement. This is why I was expecting some sort of sympathy, concern and/or worry when the ride diagnostics said there was something wrong with my harness on Air, and the supervisor had to come and check it out. But no, instead Tom and Jo just point at me and burst out laughing. Thanks guys. More of the same after the second ride, when my ankle clips (yes, Air has harnesses to secure your legs) didn't unlock. Ride after ride, one by one we bugged out. Jackie on Enterprise, Jo - Ripsaw go #1; shortly followed by me on go #2, fighting rising bile as my stomach was palpitated by my intestines. Inertia is funny that way. Nikkie on the Tea Cup ride. The Tea Cup ride. After braving the Tower's top 5 adrenalin busters, the oldschool 'all round fun' Tea Cup ride may seem a peculiar choice for a black flag. But that is an opinion reserved for those who have not experienced the singular pleasure of 5 people, damp to dripping wet (see below), crammed into a giant teacup screaming, singing and spinning while tracing gracefull, high velocity spirographs in an area the size of a front yard. Ripsaw made me mildly nauseous. Mr Tea Cup ride OBLITERATED me; this thing is the destroyer of worlds. I wasn't alone. It is the most underrated ride there. I cannot overemphasize how bad. Fighter pilots do not experience g-forces quite like these. It was followed by unanimous agreement to grab a coffee and have a 10 minute sit down. Make that 30 minutes. Somewhere along the line Wigs and I stopped for a game of DDR, much to the digust of everyone else. And of course no theme park excursion is complete without the water rides - or namely, the conspiracies to get the unsuspecting soaked on said rides. And the conspiracies were abound. After the Wigs-Tom-Jackie (these three being the most mischievous) entente to drench the rest of us only resulted in their self-soaking (viz. Tom - 'My bottom is swimming!') on the rapids, we proceeded to the flumes. Better known elsewhere as the log ride, to those not in the know, it involves a bathtub sized conveyance (indeed, our particular vehicle at this venue was called a bathtub, nuff said) taking a narrowly winding water path with some sudden drops and accompanying splashes. These get progressively larger. The main 'fun' (and I use this term loosely) comes from seeing who gets drenched at each drop. It's sadistic, random, quite unfair and oh how we loved it. Here we were all mightily impressed by Wigs, who chivalrously offered Nickie a seat where he assured her she wouldn't get drenched. How sweet. Then he sat behind and used her as a water shield. Careful, oh intrepid readers: this man is devious. However, Tom and Jackie were the real show stealers. Jo and I, having escaped lightly on the rapids, were afraid the law of averages might catch up. But providence smiled. On us at least. Tom and Jackie had some dirty plan to avoid the water by hiding in the enclave at the front of the bathtub, yet making it fore-heavy to increase the splash for others (ie me, Jo). Make no mistake about it, log ride dynamics is apparently an intricate subject. In this case however, all it did was submerge the front of the tub on the drop and effectively dump buckets of water on them. There was one particularly memorable drop, done in the pitch black of an artificial cave - I braced for the drop, felt the impact, heard the splash. I was thinking 'that wasn't so bad' when Jackie let loose a gawdamighty loud splutter-cum-shriek. Music to my ears. When we got off that ride, Tom looked like he'd been under a shower for 20 seconds; Jackie like she'd jumped in a pool. She took it well, or better than I would've. Once again no sympathy. Not from this bunch. Come late afternoon, the crowds disperse; Tom and Wigs (the rest of us drained) to hop on Nemesis something like a billion times in a row, while I stay to talk fashion with the girls. I can say with confidence Gucci handbags are still in, by the by. So we finally make our leave from Alton Towers. Now when Wigs says 'we' drove, he more means Nikkie drove, he talked, and I slept. We did stop by a pub for some typically excellent British pub food. By now everyone's stomach is settled enough to eat - fish and chips, Yorkshire pudding, shepherds pie. There are some things about Britain I'd forgotten I'd missed.

Crash Into Me

Friends - Fun - Personal Well it's been a long weekend. I only just got home. Saturday I got the train down to London to meet up with Anna and Sarah, the two fun and crazy girls I travelled around most of Italy with last summer. Sarah is heading off in two weeks to the Middle East for six months to do some work for her firm. I hadn't seen her since Christmas so I wanted to take the opportunity to catch up with both her and Anna before she left. So I got the train down, had a lovely lunch with Sarah, and then went back to her apartment to find Anna just crawling out of bed after a heavy previous night. We sat around and had some coffee while I enjoyed their fantastic view out over the river Thames. It was good to see them both again, and we had a lot of catching up to do, but soon the afternoon ran out and I had to come back up to Nottingham. Anna and Sarah both wanted me to stay the night, come out clubbing with them to the Kross in Kings Cross, which was open to 6am that night, but I had to beg off. That night was Nikkie's physiotherapy ball and I had to get back! So after a long day in London I jumped on a train heading back home, and thankfully made it back in time. I think Nikkie would have been quite displeased if I had made her late for the ball ^_^ On Sunday Nikkie's parents were coming up to bring her some furniture and stuff for her new house. I had met Nikkie's parents a couple of times before; once while in Newark hall, and once when they came to our house. They are both really nice, but meeting them this time was a little different. I was no longer just the friend/housemate, I was now the boyfriend, the older boyfriend. I was a little worried to start with, but the day actually went really well. I helped Nikkie's dad put together Nikkie's chest of draws and desk, and then we all went to lunch together. Nikkie's mum quizzed us a little during lunch, because she really had no idea what had been going on (!!! I hope she never finds my blog ^_^) but it seemed cool in the end. Nikkie's sister had also come up, and it was nice to finally meet her as well. Nikkie talked to her mum on the phone later than night and said I made a good impression, so that made me feel good. My mum also rang that night, and I told her all about Nikkie and what had been going on. Mum was typical mum, asking all these awkward questions, and telling me to look after her. Of course I will mum! Come to think of it, Nikkie's mum said the same thing to me just before they all left. So come Monday morning, after spending a grand total of about four hours at my house all weekend, I got Nikkie to drop me into town on her way to Uni, and I came home. I'm tired, it was a busy weekend, but a really fun and enjoyable one. I hope all my weekends to come are going to be this good. Written while listening to Crash Into Me by Dave Mathews Band. P.S. Calvin - I'm an emo rocker too according to that quiz. Fragma - I appreciate all the comments, and "D" is the right option ^_^

This Is The Story Of A Girl

Friends - Fun - Personal - Work So this is the story of a girl. Or wait; maybe it’s another story entirely. They are all intermingled really. Or perhaps they are all independent, but just occurring concurrently. I’m too tired right now to actually figure it all out. I just thought it was about time that I told you all about it. Apart from my two random entries a couple of weeks ago, I’ve written nothing since my birthday, more than a month ago now. A lot has happened since then. I don’t even know where to start. Ah yes! There was mention of a girl. I guess that’s as good a place as any to begin. Nikkie and I have finally quit our (in hindsight rather stupid) efforts to resist each other and are now, to quote my good friend Calvin, ”brilliantly, disgustingly lovey-dovey”. I really like her, she really likes me. We have wasted so much time and have finally decided to waste no more. So no more of this random, drunken, fooling around bullshit; we are serious, committed and both hopelessly besotted. And I’m really happy, happier than I’ve been in a very long time. Nikkie makes me happy, she is caring, smart and funny; and of course it also helps that she is a stunning blonde half-Dutch goddess who is almost as tall as me! ^_^ Ah boy I can’t stop grinning lately. Nikkie is moving out of our share house this weekend into a smaller two bedroom house with one of her physiotherapy friends, Jade. This move had absolutely nothing to do with her and my relationship; she starts her final year after this summer, has her dissertation to finish and lots of lots of placements to go on, so she really needed to get out of the non-stop party place that is our house. At the time when she decided she was going to move out she and I weren’t even together properly and so it was a completely independent decision. It’s just a bonus now I think because it means we can have some semblance of a proper relationship separate from that whole living together thing. There are perks though that I’ll miss of course ^_^ It takes about 10 minutes to get from her new place to our place (officially named the PartyHouse). So commuting that distance won’t be a problem at all. It takes about two hours to drive to Liverpool from here, so commuting that will be a bit of a problem, which brings me to my next story. I’ve gone and got myself a nice shiny new job; or rather it has come and got me. I’ve been offered a job in Liverpool, with a great salary, company flat thrown in, and lots of interesting work. It’s a fantastic opportunity, all my working visa worries are being worked out, and everything made easy for me to move up there. It’s just not something I actively looked for (I was headhunted in effect, but it’s a long story as to how that came about). Liverpool has its benefits; my cousin John lives up there (lucky coincidence), I am familiar with the city, and I already know people who live there. It has also got a terrific nightlife (as long as you stay away from the chilli shots!). The only problem is that it’s two hours from Nottingham, which means two hours away from all my friends here, as well as the person who is constantly on my mind and making me so happy. So yeah that sucks pretty hard. I can’t start work properly until my working visa goes through though, and even though I’m doing the occasional day’s consultancy work on my student visa, that means I won’t be moving up to Liverpool until at least mid-April. So we are going to see what happens. I’m definitely taking this job, it would be foolish not to. I’m going to be moving to Liverpool at some point in the future. Two hours isn’t that much travelling time though, and I’ll have lots of weekends free, and Nikkie has her Uni holidays. At the moment we are still in the “disgustingly lovey-dovey” stage, but we’ve talked about it and are going to do the long distance thing if needed. That being said I’m going to London tomorrow for lunch and coming back tomorrow afternoon, and it is two hours each way there, so it’s doable, we’ll survive. In other news Ads is still here, in the UK, staying with me still actually. He is having a great time just bumming around and catching up on all the movies, TV shows and anime he has missed over the past three months. He will move on at some point, but right now it’s great to have him here, and if he has already stayed for two weeks, why not stay for another two I say! ^_^ I know I haven’t filled in a lot of the blanks here, and have more just updated the current status of my life rather than detailing how and why it came about that way. All those unwritten blog entries over the past month were suppose to cover that stuff. I didn’t write them though, and there is just too much to say right now, so be content with what you get. To all of my friends whose emails I have neglected to reply to recently please forgive me. I’ll get around to responding soon, and I’ll fill you guys in more on what’s going on. I’ll also endeavour to start writing blog entries more regularly again. It’s amazing how you can get so caught up in your life sometimes. It’s a funny thing life ^_^ Now I’m off to cuddle with my girl and be blissfully happy.

Unexplained Absence

Friends - Fun This is my first entry for almost three weeks. A lot has been happening recently and I just haven’t had the time or energy to write anything here. It’s strange because normally I find the time no matter what, but lately I’ve just skipped over writing something. I don’t think I’ll go back and fill in the blanks. There is just too much to tell. I’ve left it too long now, plus I have some really big, exciting news, so I thought it about time to write another entry. Ads has arrived! He showed up on my door at 8pm on Thursday night, just as we were getting ready to go out. If he had come half an hour later he would have been stuck sitting on our front porch till we got back after 12. It was a complete shock! I wasn’t expecting him, and well he wasn’t expecting to have to be there either. He had been told, only that day, that he was in Italy illegally and had to get out. So off to the airport he went, grabbed a ticket, and showed up at my door. So that’s really mad. We went out and got mightily pissed Thursday night and caught up on everything that’s been going on. It was great fun, just like good old times. Ads hasn’t really got a definite plan of what he is going to do next, but he’ll be crashing here for the meantime and we are going to have a lot of fun.

Trapped!

Friends - Quotes Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain I am currently imprisoned within my room. My housemates have exiled me here from downstairs, and I'm not allowed out until they have finished with their "preparations". I went out shopping today, and they thought I was going to be gone longer than I actually was. I don't know what they are doing exactly, but whatever it is, I am looking forward to it. So now, being trapped up here in my room, I've got an excuse to write about my weekend. Last Friday Nikkie gave me a lift down to my cousin's house in Milton Keynes. Nikkie was going home for the weekend, and her place is only about 40 minutes from my cousin's so it wasn't that much out of her way at all. My cousin Simone is exactly ten years older than me, and so we were going to have a combined birthday celebration over the weekend before our actual birthdays. We drank stupid amounts, ate a lot of cake, and had heaps of fun. Then on Monday I came home. Sorry for being so abrupt, but I've been granted my freedom! ^_^

New Hair

Friends - Personal After the comments made in this entry, I thought I would post some pictures of my new hair cut. They aren't very good pictures, having been taken in the gloom of Tantra last night by a less than sober photographer, but I don't think I look too bad. So here they are! Picture One has Graeme on the left not looking at the camera. Picture Two has Bruce on the left playing the fool. That's Nikkie on the right in both of them... My housemates found out, so it doesn't really matter if I divulge it here now, but after the events I talked about in my Consequences entry, Nikkie and I didn't manage to keep to our decision of not letting it happen again. In fact, when I commented in this entry that it was "A pretty uneventful weekend all round. Not too much in the way of distractions.", I kinda underplayed the fact that the reason I got not sleep at all on the Friday night before my Japanese exam was because Nikkie had just come back from being away on placement all week and so I was otherwise occupied :P Just to clarify now though, we are just friends. We are really close, and get on fantastically well, but nothing more is going to happen between us. We've talked about this over many a cup of coffee, and our decision has held out over the last two drunken weekends, so I am certain that the last time was indeed the last time, and that it won't happen again. I am not just writing this for the sake of my other housemates who will read this (even though we did try and keep the fact that it happened again (and again) a secret originally), I really mean it when I say it this time. We got it out of our systems now, so to speak, and so will go on being just really good friends. Written while listening to One More Time by Daft Punk. No pun intended ^_^

Care Package

Books - Friends - Music I’ve received a surprise in the mail! A care package sent by Calvin all the way from Australia. It contained a variety of goodies and I really appreciated getting it. I’ve already emailed my thanks to Calvin. He has always been a great friend over the years and I even though I know he is so often busy (and/or caught up in the neurotic world of being a writer :P) am really thankful that he still takes the time and makes the effort to keep in touch. Included in this care package was a carefully constructed mix CD, and as Calvin predicted, Casual Friday by Black Leotard Front has become me new favourite song. It’s such a hip, laid-back mix; I love it. The track listing that Calvin made to accompany the CD is fantastic too, in a serial killer sort of way. I can tell he went to a lot of effort, and I’ve currently got all three pages of track titles on my wall. The care package also included a copy of The Fall by Albert Camus. I think I appreciate the book most of all, reading it while listening to the mix CD did help to "sap my complacency", as was suggested. I’m really lucky to have friends like Calvin, and I hope he knows I an very thankful for his friendship. Written while listening to Calvin’s mix CD. Fantastic stuff.

The Party Is Over

Friends - Fun - Personal - University - Work University is over. It's time to retire that category I think. I doubt I'll be writing anything else University related any time soon. I've been lazing about the last week. Well partying about is more apt a description. I decided to take last week completely off, have a holiday, a break, a brief hiatus from the stresses of the real world. So I partied hard the first weekend after my exams, and went out almost every night last week. I hardly got any sleep, and feel great for doing it. We went out to Bar BZA, The Works, Dogma, and a bunch of other places. On Friday night we went out to Ocean. We went there almost every Friday night all of last term, but hadn't been yet so far this term. It was the same as I remembered, crap music, but a lot of fun. Viki had her camera and took a bunch of pics... and here they are! First Picture, Second Picture, Third Picture, Fourth Picture. So the party is over. I've got to settle down now. My task this week, and the following week, and the week after, and for as many weeks after that as needed to succeed, is to get a job. I need to start working if I want to remain in this country. I'm going to try my hardest to stay in Nottingham, I don't want to leave here, leave the friends I've made. This will make it more difficult to get a job, but I'm going to do my best. I want to stay here. I don't know what will happen, where things will lead, but I know I want it to happen here. Written while listening to Crazy Sunshine by The Pillows.

Post-Patriotism

Friends - Fun My Australia Day went off with a bang. Drank more cans of XXXX that I can count. I wanted to be patriotic and drink a good Australian beer, more importantly a Queensland, a Brisbane beer. Of course the XXXX you get here is brewed in Scotland, but still, it's good stuff. We drank a few beers at our place first, and Nick and Little Matt from the office came round. After way too much beer we decided it would be a good idea to whip out the Absinthe. Heh well it was a good idea for most of us, but Bruce didn't take too kindly to it, and there is evidence on our front porch to prove it! This morning when I got back, the shot glasses were stuck to the table, and the absinthe had melted through the covering on the top of the table. This is seriously strong stuff. Taxis arrived; we all bundled in, and headed off to Bar BZR. Still can't beat those £2.50 triples. We drank there until last orders. We had already bought queue-jump tickets for The Works at the Grove earlier that night, so we didn't mind leaving until late. When we got into the Works we realised that it was School Daze! Lots of fit freshers dressed up in school uniforms to celebrate the start of the new term. It was a great night, and they actually played some halfway decent music. Came home and got some fantastic garlic bread from the place up the street! It's great; you get a pizza base but covered with garlic, butter and spices. So yummy. Viki and I stayed up talking and eating that for a while, before I eventually crashed out. A great night overall, a good way to celebrate my nation’s national day. Also a big shout out to Nash, who turns 23 today! Happy birthday Nash!

It's A Bit Fuzzy

Friends - Fun - University Where do I start? I’m only just sobering up. I didn’t sleep Thursday night. I was procrastinating as usual, and hadn’t done any real study yet. I had two exams the next day, and they were my last exams ever. So I stayed up all night, did a little bit of study, and then set off to Uni for my 9am exam. The exam went well, thankfully the questions I had prepared for came up, so I am pretty sure I managed to pass. I couldn’t wait to get out of there though, and as soon as 11am cranked round, I got up and fled that exam room as fast as possible. I met up with Bruce and Ben, who also had 9am lectures and we went down to the Ark, the student union bar. Let the silliness begin! We got in there, grabbed a seat, grabbed a beer, and started to kick back. That morning’s exam was Ben’s last and Bruce didn’t have another one until Saturday. Nikkie and Viki soon came and joined us, both of them having no exams to do either. And so I drank beer and got progressively drunk. While I was getting drunk, I pulled out my text book and past exam papers for Computer Security. I had my final exam starting at 4:30pm that afternoon and I was planning on doing it completely drunk! I also had to do some form of study for it. I wasn’t really worried. I figured I could go in and do most of it with my eyes closed. For an advanced subject it was pretty straight forward. However I wanted to be sure I could answer it in my increasingly drunken state. My friends thought I was crazy, but I’ve been so damn responsible my entire university career I wanted for once, for this final time, to do something really stupid. So I drank my beer, and then drank another, and drank some more. I spent almost five hours in the Ark, and I lost track of how many pints I had. I think Ben, Bruce and I bought two rounds each, but I can’t be sure. When it approached 4:30 though I left the other’s and went to my exam, almost falling over on the way. I don’t know how I managed it, but for a full hour I went into overdrive. I was in a drunken state of power writing. My booklet was almost full by the time the exam was over. When the time was up, I stood up, managed not to topple over, and triumphantly left the building. I had done it. I was finished. I was free at least. We had made plans to go out that night, so I walked straight home after my exam. The fresh air did some good in sobering me up, and it gave me time to think about my situation. Things are never going to be the same again. It's like the end of high school all over again, except I'm older, wiser, and better able to appreciate it. For some reason I had the Gurge’s Black Bugs mp3 on my phone, so I listened to that the whole way home. It wasn’t really relevant to my feelings, but it was still great to listen to. There will be many turning points in my life. Events which will shape the person I am. This wasn’t one of them. Those sorts of events are random, interactions that are spontaneous, and can change your direction forever. This was just an ending; one I knew was coming for a long time, and one I should have prepared myself for better. Anyway I’m rambling now, so I’ll stop and get on with the rest of my story. Friday night we went out to Bar BZR, but not before drinking half a bottle of Absolut Vodka and some 70 proof Czech Absinthe which really didn’t agree with me. BZR had triples for £2.50, so while I was there I had even more vodka. At about 12pm we headed out to the Works, where they played fantastic music and I danced until closing time. Most of the night is a blur. Drinking for more than 12 hours straight took its toll, and I crashed out at some point after getting home, somehow, and woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and no recollection at all of the specifics of what happened the night before. All good fun! My sore head didn’t stop me going out again the following night though. We didn’t go clubbing, instead we went to this bar called Dogma and met up with Nikkie after she went to an Ice Hockey game. Lots more drinking occurred, again I don’t remember much, but I do know that I got a taxi home early with the girls, for which Bruce, Graeme and Ben gave me lots of stick for. I am tired now. Its 3am Sunday night and there is more drinking ahead of me tomorrow. We are doing the slab challenge tomorrow, so I need to be rested and prepared for it. I’ll report back on my progress when I sober up from it ^_^ Ah my liver is going to hate me after the end of this week. I’ll start being serious come February, but for the rest of January, I am partying hard! Written while listening to Black Bugs by Regurgitator.

Another Weekend Expires

Friends - University

Thanks Calvin for the title. Calvin's (relatively) new blog can be found here.

A pretty uneventful weekend all round. Not too much in the way of distractions. Though I was awake from Friday morning at 10am till Sunday morning at 3am. I'm kinda tired now. I just got up. The weekend isn't officially over yet, but it is for me. I've really got to start doing some work. I had my Japanese exam Saturday morning. Went to it having not slept at all the night before, having not done any work at all in the days before it, and think I did alright overall. It is the first time I've ever done absolutely no preparation for an exam, but this one I didn't even need to pass, I didn't need credit for it back home, and I couldn't find the energy at all to study, so I didn't. Thankfully the work I did during the semester paid off and I'm pretty sure I scraped through a decent mark.

So now I'm on to study Financial Management, the subject whose average mark last year was 46%. Joy!

Best Friends

Friends - Quotes "a good friend will come bail you out of jail but a true friend is the guy sitting beside you saying we really fucked up this time" ~My best friend Fragma (who shamelessly ripped it off someone else)

The Hacker Comes To Town

Friends - Travel - University On Tuesday I had my Digital Business Communication exam. I probably studied less for this exam than any other exam in my entire university career except for Introduction to Chemical Engineering back in first year. I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm. Things kept on distracting me; I let them keep on distracting me. I am pretty sure I passed, but I know I didn't do well. Usually for me passing isn't the issue, what I am generally unsure of is how well I did. Yeah well this time, that's not the case. Oh well, one bright spark was that during my exam, Jimmy the Hacker flew into Nottingham East Midlands Airport from Rome... Yes just Jimmy the Hacker, not Ads in sight. I haven't really carried on my reporting about Ads other than mentioning that we met up with them in Paris and Amsterdam in December. Well he and Jimmy have travelled all around the place since then, and though Jimmy has to be back in Australia next week to start work, Ads hasn't organised anything specific to do now that he has finished Uni. So he got his plane ticket extended, and is currently off on his own doing some more travelling. I think it's a fantastic idea and wish him all the best. He said he will pop by Nottingham at some point in his travels, so I'm looking forward to that (I hope I'm still here by then). Anyway Jimmy the Hacker showed up, toting a big bottle of Absinthe from Prague. I had just come from my DBC exam, and I had some DBC coursework due the next day. It was supposed to be a 3000 work report, and at that point I had written about 500 words. So we sat around and talked for a while, not getting blind drunk and hallucinating, and then at about 10pm I started working on finishing my report. Boring I know, but even in my current state of apathy I couldn't hand in just 500 words for this coursework. Jimmy stayed another night and then headed off this morning. I don't think I was very good company, I've just buried in my books, or on my computer doing work all the time he has been here (well some of the time). He is off to London now for a couple of days before heading home, so I hope he has more fun there than he did here. All my housemates are of course studying as well, so there was really no one here to entertain him or show him around at all. Poor effort on my part I must admit. Anyway so now I am back to procrastinating, writing this entry instead of doing so much needed work. I've got a Japanese written exam at 9am on Saturday morning and then three more exams next week. Ah the life of a Uni student ^_^

Going Nowhere, Going Somewhere

Friends - Music - Personal - Quotes - University 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where --' said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. '--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation. ~ Lewis Carroll, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Following on from my previous post; some things are going nowhere, because we have decided that is for the best, while other things are going somewhere, because I've finished University for good in less than two weeks, and then I have my whole world ahead of me. Also, inspired by Brendan's effort over on Digital Iris and looking for ways to procrastinate, I decided to make a quiz. So let me present Michael's Mystery Quiz!. Man I am so restless. I really can't get into the mood to study. I am in a Paul van Dyk mood at the moment, and I always listen to trance when I am attempting to study, so right now I'm listening to his We Are Alive.

Consequences

Friends - Fun - Personal This is the Internet. It's public and it's open. In the past I've tended to not to talk some aspects of my life here because they don’t concern just me and I don’t feel right talking specifics about other people without their consent. I censor myself a lot here; in particular I censor myself when it comes to girls and relationships. I don’t kiss and tell. It’s not me and never has been (ok well there have been exceptions when I’ve been really drunk, but that’s different!). I am going to talk about the following here though because, well, I feel like talking about it, and I know Nikkie won’t mind. I am not going to go into specifics; I still don’t kiss and tell. So Friday night, my housemate Nikkie came home from Leicester, where she is doing her current physiotherapy placement. I first specifically mentioned Nikkie back in April last year in this entry. Here is a picture of Nikkie from that post so you know who I am talking about. Nikkie and I have become very close over the past five or so months since we moved in together. She and I get on really well and I’ve found myself opening up to her completely. That’s a rare thing and I’m glad I found it here, I didn’t think I would be able to so quickly. Anyway so we have been getting closer and closer, and at the same time flirting with each other now and then, but nothing even really came of it. Until last night. Nikkie was desperate to go out on Friday after spending all week down in Leicester on placement, but nobody else wanted to go out because we all have exams on at the moment. I ended up being convinced though, and she and I went down to the Bag Of Nails, our local pub for a couple of drinks. We started by sitting next to each other on one of the leather couches there, and talked and talked. As the drinks started flowing we started creeping closer and closer to each other on the couch. The night progressed, it was getting pretty late, and we were getting pretty drunk. We were doing a bit of flirting, and then she suddenly kissed me. I was a little surprised, but at the same time sort of half expecting it, and I like her, so I kissed her back. After a little bit of making out we promptly went back home and, to avoid specifics, we spent the night together. My other housemates will probably read this, but that’s ok, because they found out anyway. Nikkie and I spent about ten minutes kissing at our front door without realising that our other housemate Viki was just inside around the corner watching TV. So that kind of gave the game away, plus the fact that my bed was empty all night and Nikkie’s door was firmly locked with the music blaring from inside… ^_^ So Saturday morning we woke up, made out some more while watching episode seven of the new season of The O.C. and then had a talk, went into town and sat in Starbucks and talked some more. Conclusions: Though we both had a great time, and really needed the release, what we had done was a mistake. Neither of us regretted it, but with the current situation, and future possibilities, we agreed that we shouldn’t let it happened again. We are housemates, we live with each other, we are good friends, we each have crap in our past we are running from, and for all I know I could be in a completely different part of the country in a month’s time. There are consequences to our actions, and though during the night we each said a number of times, "What are we doing? We shouldn't be doing this!", with the clarity of day the full reality of those consequences was made clear. So while my other housemates are currently giving us endless crap about it, Nikkie and I are still sharing cheeky grins about our night of passion, secure in the (rather mature) decision to make sure it is just a single night, and that’s all it will ever be. I suspect Graeme of putting out odds on when he expects us to shag next, but the way we figure it, whatever bets he takes will be on very long odds. Anyway it’s time to go to sleep, back in my own bed tonight. Written while listening to Paul van Dyk – For An Angel, on repeat.

Christmukkah

Friends - Fun - Television It's been a really full on past couple of weeks. We had Christmas in Milton Keynes with my cousin Simone. It was just like a real family Christmas, lots of great food, and great company. On boxing day we walked down to the pub while Ed and Toby tried to canoe, however ones they got to the Grand Union Canal it was frozen over, so that quickly put an end to that idea. I drank far too much and ate far too much, and overall had a fantastic time. We went up to Liverpool on the 30th to stay with my other cousin John. Again we ate to much and drank too much and had a fantastic time. New Year’s was rather laid back, but fun all the same. I called home and talked to Fragma, Wulfen, Rur and Nash which was great. I hadn't talked to some of those guys since leaving Australia so it was really good to have a long proper conversation with them. On the 2nd, Ed, Jeremy and I drove down to Nottingham from Liverpool, via North Wales (a very round about way I know, but they wanted to see castles!). Mum stayed up in Liverpool because the plan was for me to take Ed and Jezz out for the night in Notts and show them what a party town it was. So this was going to be the last time I saw mum before she went back to Australia. She cried, told me to look after myself, said she loved me, all that nice stuff. It was sad to go, I really loved seeing her again after so long, but I still needed to leave and more and more I am happy with that decision and my decision to stay. So we went down to Nottingham, where all of my housemates except Bruce had already gotten back from their holiday break. We ended up going out to Dogma and having a great night. I got very drunk, but my brothers, needed to get up early the next morning and drive back to Liverpool, only got a little tipsy. Overall it was a great night, a very interesting night. Ed and Jezz left the next day. No tears here of course, just some manly hugs. No I am trying to finish off coursework and start on my study and catch up on everything I put on hold for the holidays. One of the first things I did though was watch the new O.C! Episodes 5 and 6 had been released while I was away and wow what fantastic episodes they were. I am not going to spoil it for anyone back home, but there is another Christmukkah episode! Fun all around. I'll try to keep this updated over the next couple of weeks but it will be difficult with all the work I've got to do. I'll do my best though!

Surviving

Friends Jimmy is OK I read those words in the topic of our IRC channel and was filled with relief. On December 26th the Asian Tsunami Disaster hit. As of today, according to BBC News, "Just under 5,000 people are known to have died in Thailand, but 4,000 are still missing, half of them foreigners." My friend Jimmy (whom I talked about in this entry), finished Uni in the middle of November. He then set out with his girlfriend on an eight week trip around South East Asia, specifically Thailand. For a while I didn't know what happened to him. I called my friends back in Australia but they hadn't heard anything. They said they were going to contact his mother and find out if he was alright. I don't know the details, but Jimmy is OK according to IRC. Of course I always thought he would be. If he was at the scene he would have held back the wave with his impressive strength and then built bridges, mined trenches and saved children from collapsed buildings. That's just the type of guy he is. I only hope that the thousands out there who have friends or family missing receive similar news that their loved ones have survived and are safe.

London Calling

Friends - Fun - Travel So we finished up in Amsterdam. Four crazy days of fun. On Saturday we flew to London, lugged our bags through the underground, and ended up meeting up with mum again and crashing out in Paddington at the place of the son of a friend of a friend of mums. Or something like that. Slept. Woke up early Sunday morning. Went to The Church. Drank. Danced to crap music. Met a whole bunch of Aussies. Went home and slept. After recovering from that; Ed, Jeremy and I spent the next three days doing the full tourist trip of London. Sights seen include: Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, National Museum, etc. etc. etc. It was pretty full on, but great to do considering I have been living in the UK for almost a year but still hadn't done all the London touristy stuff. Ed and Jeremy loved it as well. On the Tuesday I ducked out of the Tower of London early to meet up with Sarah for lunch. It was good seeing her again and catching up on what she has been up to. I didn't meet up with anyone else while I was in London, we were so busy, but I glad I organised a little time out. So London is done, and we are now in Milton Keynes with my cousin Simone. We will be here for the next couple of days, over the Christmas period. I am really happy I'll be spending Christmas with my family. There is an uninterrupted line of Christmases for my bothers and mum and I. We have never been apart yet, and I didn't want to be the reason for this to stop. Next year I guess I'll just have to go back home for Christmas to keep the tradition alive. So Merry Christmas to everyone and if I don't get to write another entry before then, have a Happy New Year too!!

Amsterdam Again

Friends - Fun - Travel So I met up with my mum and brothers in Paris safe and sound. It was great to see them again. I also managed to catch up with Ads and Jimmy the Hacker! We are in Amsterdam now, all of us except for mum. It's a heap of fun, though the time here went so quickly. It's our last night already and tomorrow we are off flying to London. I am taking my brothers to The Church on Sunday though, so that should be fantastic. Anyway I am using the free internet in the Flying Pig Downtown hostel. The pot is thick in the air, this place is great. Peace out!

Family Reunited

Friends - Fun - Travel I haven't got long to talk. I am flying to Paris tomorrow where I'll meet up with my mother and brother's, whom I haven't seen since leaving Australia back in January this year. Then I am spending a couple of days with them, then going with my brothers to Amsterdam for a few days, then meeting back up with Mum is London for a few days, then spending Chirstmas in Milton Keynes with my cousin, then spending New Years in Liverpool with my other cousin, and then finally back here to Nottingham to do exams. So if I don't post for a while that's why. Now I am running stupidly late so I've got to go!

Insomnia

Friends - Music - University Insomnia I've had a crazy week. Monday night was Judge Jules, Tuesday night was utterly sleepless and totally enriching, Wednesday night was Christmas clubbing at The Works and tonight... well tonight I am going to see Faithless play live at the Nottingham Arena! All the while I am trying to finish off two very large course work reports (the Digital Business Communication one is approaching 35 pages now, while the Computer Security one is pushing 60!). That hasn’t stopped me though from enjoying my last week in Nottingham for this year. I’ve just had to cut back on a few non-essentials, such as sleep. I exhausted, but not tired at all! Faithless! I can’t wait! I know the gig is going to be fantastic. I’ve just got another couple of hours to kill before I meet up with my friends and we head off to a classic performance. Written while listening to even single Faithless album I've got.

Revelations

Friends - Personal - Quotes I am a kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy. - J. D. Salinger I didn't sleep at all last night. I am glad I didn't.

Happy Birthday Fragma!

Friends Ah the wonders of this blog system. I can turn back time and make it appear like I didn't write this one day late! Happy Birthday Fragma! You're now 23. Pretty boring age really. I'll be there in a couple more months. Not really looking forward to it. I hope you had a fantastic birthday. Spent lots of money on booze, and partied hard. It was good talking to you this afternoon (or 2am in the morning in your case). Hopefully it didn't cost as much as when I talked to you when I was in Munich and you were in Fiji (or where ever you were! ^_^). At least my phone didn't run out of credit this time. So anyway enjoy yourself mate and take care.

The Church

Friends - Fun - Travel I went to The Church in London yesterday. I went to drink, to party, to have a great time. I am a sinner and I needed to be purified with alcohol. Here's the full story. Saturday morning, bright an early, about 3pm, Bruce and I finally dragged ourselves out of bed, shoved some clothes into our backpacks and headed off to the train station. We were on our way to London! After arriving at St Pancras we made our way to Bruce's sister's place (near Russell square) where we dumped our stuff, and had a quick meal of pizza. We had plans to meet up with Anna and Sarah that night. Slight tangent here, I don't think I've talked about Anna and Sarah before... Well while I was in Italy I met these two fantastic British girls Anna and Sarah. They were travelling the same sort of route I was, but more importantly they could party the same sort of way I was, so we ended up travelling together for more than two weeks. For those of you who have seen my trip photos, they are the two blonde girls that feature in a lot of my Italy pictures. Anyway they had just finished Uni and were enjoying their last free summer before they both took up trainee solicitor jobs in London. We had a great time together and promised to keep in touch when we were back in the UK. So back to the story… So we headed out to Covent Garden, to this really nice place called Henry’s to meet up with Anna and Sarah and some of their friends. The drinks were expensive, but the place was cool, and this was London after all. We traded stories, caught up with what we’ve all been up to these last couple of months, and generally had a really good time. Bruce and I knew that we were going to The Church the next day so we didn’t end up getting totally blind drunk. Just a little drunk. After Henry’s closed (at 11pm, again English drinking hours SUCK!) were wandered around, was going to go to the Garden Club, but the line was massive and it cost £12 entry. Again London prices, but yeah, Bruce and I said our goodbyes, stumbled back to his sister’s place (after a number of wrong turns) and talked to his sister for a couple of hours before crashing. At 10am the next morning we were up and about! Why this ungodly hour? Well we only have a little while before we needed to be at Church. The whole original reason for coming down to London was to meet up with my friend Bull and go to The Church. It was Bull’s second last day in the country, he had come up to see me earlier this month (see this entry) and I wanted to return the favour and see him off. He will be back in Australia by Christmas, his travelling days over for the moment. So he met us outside the tub station at Kentish Town and we made our way to the place of worship. The Church is an institution. It’s something that you simply have to do. It involves drinking, and more drinking. You worship alcohol in the best way possible. You can only buy drinks in multiples of three. So you drink, and then drink some more, then drink even more. There was music, and alcohol, and woman seemed to flash their boobies at a lot. The place is dark, there is sawdust on the floor, you think it’s night time, but it’s not. There were Aussies everywhere, as well as lots of Kiwis and South Africans. We were pissed by midday, and literally falling down by 4pm came round and it was time to leave. If you go to The Church you go to get drunk, there is really not much point otherwise. Fragma, you would have loved it. Once we left the Church we found a nice quiet bar near Kings Cross station called Scream. We had some more drinks, had some food and then got ready to go home. So we got back on the tube and completely randomly bumped into these other guys who we had seen at the Church, so we went off to a pub called Punch and Judy in Covent Garden with them, had even more drinks, and then did finally have to push off. We said goodbye to Bull, it was great seeing him again, and I’ll be really sad to see him go. So far I’ve only seen Bull, Jacqui and Morgs from back home and I hate it when they all have to leave again. So we eventually made our way back to Bruce’s sister’s place, grabbed out stuff, and singing Waltzing Matilda at the top of our voices, stumbled back to where our train was leaving from. We eventually got home (back in Nottingham) around midnight and I promptly fell straight asleep. What a weekend.

Memories Unwind

Friends - Travel Bon Voyage Ads! When I got out of bed yesterday (*cough* gogo ni-ji made desu *cough* ) I logged on (who am I kidding, I am permanently logged on), checked my email, and found a surprise waiting for me. Ads had sent me an email 30 minutes before heading off to the train station to begin his Great Eurotrip Extravaganza! TM. I had talked with him before about it, traded emails containing travel tips and suggested itineraries. I just didn't realise the time has flown by so fast and that departure time had arrived. He should be in Spain about now, with plans to meet up with Morgs. So I just want to say good luck Ads! Have a safe trip and lots of fun along the way. Don't be afraid to screw up, take things as they come, and simply enjoy yourself. I am sure you are going to have a fantastic time. I'm looking forward to meeting up with you in Paris in December and catching up on the year that was back home that I completely missed out on. I can't wait to see you again mate. Take care. Written while listening to Perfect by The Smashing Pumpkins.

First Snow

Friends - Fun - General It's snowing in Nottingham! I was walking back from Uni this afternoon and it started to rain, then it stopped raining and started to snow! Eventually the snow was think on the tops of all the cars, and Nikkie, Viki and I had a big snow ball fight. I must admit that I was a snow ball virgin, but I held my own, and it was great fun. It was freezing cold, and we were running up and down the street like lunatics, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. We were acting like children, making heaps of noise, and people kept looking out of their windows at us, but still, it was fantastic. I want to do it again. I am not looking forward to the cold of this England winter and this early snow fall doesn't bode well for a mild season. However if I would like a white Christmas, I would like to walk through the streets of London in the snow, and I would like to have more snow ball fights! So I will bare with it ^_^ Listening to Shimmer by Fuel.

Oh No!

Friends - Metaposts My housemates have discovered this blog. The end is near!

Old Friends

Friends My friend Bull came to stay with me for a couple of days earlier this week. He is currently working at a Walkabout pub in Bromley Kent. Typical Aussie traveller type gig. He is heading back home in December though, so I wanted to catch up with him before he left. We got drunk, very drunk. I'll upload pictures soon.

Green And Gold And Guinness

Friends - Fun - Games - Travel - University Ireland - 77 Australia - 41 We didn't even put up a good fight. I am back in the Nottingham now. Will write more in the morning.

Homelands

Friends - Music - Personal I am current listening to the DJ Tiesto set from Homelands 2002 and it's fantastic, but that's not the reason for this entry. It's almost 5am, and I am not asleep. I have full day at Uni tomorrow, or rather today, it's my only really full day all week, yet I am not asleep. Instead I am talking to Jimmy, back in Australia. I haven't talked to him in months! It feels like forever. I don't want to go to sleep, because I am enjoying catching up so much. I also want to break my nocturnal cycle, go a full night without sleep, so I will feel so tired the following night I go to be early, and thus wake up early... but that's a different story. Jimmy is telling me about his girlfriend. I’ve never met her; at least I thought I’d never met her. Somehow though she knew me. Jimmy showed her my picture and she recognised me. Apparently I am the only redheaded guy who lived in Sandgate (I find that hard to believe) but anyway she remembers me coming into the Chinese shop where she worked and buying some food. She even remembered me being with my grandfather. The thing is, I remember that event, I remember getting the Chinese with Pa that time and I remember noticing that the girl who served us was really cute. So we had met, we just didn’t realise it. Anyway good on you Jimmy, I am really happy for your. We talked about other stuff too, about what I’ve been up to, and about our futures. It made me realise how much I missed talked to my friends back home. I’m sure I’ve said similar things before, but I have such good friends back in Australia, and it’s always great when I get a chance to talk to then. My friends over here are great too, but we just don’t have the same kind of history together. At the same time as I am talking to Jimmy on IRC, I am trading emails with Fragma while he is still at work. Now I really need to catch up with Fragma properly. I have so much to talk to him about email just can’t cope with it. Maybe I am just in this mood because I am listening to trance at 5am in the morning . I can’t get no sleep.

Tony At Tantra On Tuesday

Friends - Fun - Music - Television For the last four weeks running (I can't believe I've been back in Nottingham for four weeks!) I have been going down to this cocktail bar in town called Tantra on Tuesdays to listening to some great live music and drink half-price cocktails. It's sort of become a weekly routine and I really enjoy it. The music is provided by this really hip guy, who plays acoustic guitar and sings songs everyone knows the words to. Iris, With or Without You, Wonderwall, etc. etc. etc. It's open till 2am and as the end of the night nears, and we get progressively drunk off the cheap cocktails we tend to all start clapping and signing along. We have also taken to smoking cigars. All the boys in the house are really into The Sopranos. I just finished watched the end of season five myself. Graeme in particular likes to think of himself as Tony Soprano. So we sit around, talking, with this huge haze of cigar smoke billowing around above us. I don't usually smoke, I hate the taste in my mouth the following morning, yet last night I had three big meaty cigars and now my whole body reeks of the smoke. I also had a big deep conversation with Nikkie last night too. I am close to both of the girls, but the boys and I travelled with each other for a month straight, so there is a bond there on a completely different level to the girls. However last night Nikkie and I had a really good talk (a drunken chat as it was) and I think we became a lot closer. After getting a taxi back from Tantra we ended up sitting up another two hours after everyone had gone to bed talking some more as well. I've been so lucky making such good friends.

House Party

Friends - Fun - Personal I just got back from a house party at the girl's place down the road. I am drunk, very tired, and still have fresher's flu. What a great life this is. Listening to Gotta knock a little harder off the Cowboy Beboy - Knockin' on Heaven's Door soundtrack.

Play, Rewind, Record

Friends - Personal - University Whenever I think I have managed to get up to date with this blog, something comes up and I manage to get terribly behind. So here are the last couple of weeks in brief. I have moved into my new house! If anyone wants to send me anything, email me and I'll give you the address (as always care packages from home (filled with Vegemite and Tim-Tams and the like) are most appreciated ^_^). We have dubbed it the Party House and there are six of us living there. Myself, Bruce, Ben and Graeme (the three lads I travelled around Europe with for the first month), and Nikkie and Viki. It is a three story house, four if you count the basement, with a nice big kitchen and lounge room. It's about a twenty minute walk from Jubilee campus (where I do most of my subjects) and about forty minutes from University Park campus. There is a hopper bus that runs between the two campuses though, so I just take that when I am feeling lazy. I have been there two weeks now and I am absolutely loving share house living. It helps that I am really good friends with all my housemates (we were all in Newark Hall last year), but just generally I am having a fantastic time. I am not eating well, I am drinking far more than I should, and I spend more time in bed than out of it, but that's what being a student is all about, and I am trying to make the most of it while I can. This is my last semester of University. Lectures start today (I've got a break and am stuck in the library, so that's the reason I am writing this). My holidays are finally over. What a glorious summer it has been, but now it is time to get back to work. Not that I have that much work. With around eight contact hours a week the actual learning I do here is a bit of a joke. Still it gives me the free time to do all the drinking and lazing about I mentioned before. I don't really know yet how I feel about this finally being my last semester. I have done the whole graduation thing already. I have finished engineering, worn my silly gown, and gone through the whole ceremony. I wasn't that excited then, so the prospect of graduating from a second degree isn't really thrilling me either. The prospect of being completely free though is thrilling. I have always seen the end of University to be the moment in my life where I face the most possibilities. Even more so than the end of highschool, finishing Uni signifies an end of an era, and a point of origin for the rest of my grown up life. There are opportunities out there for me that I haven't even discovered yet, and a whole world of possibility for me to explore. I don't think there has been any other point in my life, nor do I think there will be any other point in my life, where I have so many choices. This is it, and I am going to make the most of it. I am not going to let this chance slip away, I am not going to take the easy option, the safe road. I choose adventure, I choose life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have already decided that I am going to stay in the U.K. next year. I am currently in the process of looking into working permits and visas and applying for jobs. I know my adventure starts here, I just don't know where it is going to take me yet. But enough rewinding, it's time to press play again. I haven't caught up completely, a lot of other stuff has happened these last two weeks, but some things are best simply summarised I think. We went out, had some drinks, danced a lot. Went shopping, bought food, went to the hardware store, bought stuff, went to Ikea, bought even more stuff (pillows, duvets and the like). Went to the Ark, to Tantra, to the Pit and Pendulum, to Bar BZR. I made lasagna, noodles, stir fry, toast, bacon sandwiches, scrambled eggs, spaghetti bolognese, corknflakes and weetabix. I registered for Uni, signed up for subjects, and (as of this morning) went to a lecture. No more fast forwarding though, it's time to play, and hopefully this blog will do a good job and record too.

Filling The Gaps

Friends - Fun - Guest Entry Continuing from where I left off in my last entry (becuase it is not as late as I thought it was)... I didn't spent all my time at my cousin's asleep though. My friend Jacqui came to visit me during the week. We had a great time and it was really good to catch up. I did my best to show her "traditional English countryside" and she cooked dinner for me, so it all worked out well! She wrote a wonderful description of her stay for her periodic mass emails, which I am going to reproduce here (I hope you don't mind Jacqui!):

I'm in Milton Keynes (England), staying with my friend Michael (from uni in Brisbane) at his cousins' place (they're away in Cornwall) in their gorgeous home - an old converted water mill - with bunny rabbits outside the door, a stream running past the back of the house, cows in the neighbouring fields and beautiful green, green scenery everywhere! Michael's surprise for me yesterday was to go kayaking - we climbed out the window of the house (first surprise!) 'cos that was the easiest access to the stream. Lifted the kayak down, jumped in, paddled across to the other side (like, 3 metres), jumped out, hauled the kayak up, carried it a few metres to the bank of the river, lowered the kayak down again and headed off downstream. (it sounds like a lot of work, but as we each nearly fell into the mud and water a couple of times, was actually quite funny). Down the river about a kilometre, I guess, then another muddy landing, then carried the kayak up a hill, before lowering it into... the Grand Union Canal: which, if you follow it far enough, ends up in London! The canal was great - colourful canalboats to look at, (no bunches of reeds to navigate!), people walking their dogs along the path beside the canal... and only one lock to get through! At the lock we jumped out, carried the kayak to the other side, and got back in again. We followed the canal up as far as a (nice, old English) pub, got out and had lunch and relaxed there for a while, before heading back the way we'd come. We were nearly back (rowing harder because we were going against the current this time) when we emerged from the leaves of an overhanging tree branch, to find a family of swans in front of us. Michael very wisely suggested we not go any closer, since Mother Swan was giving us some VERY suspicious looks! So we slowed down to swan-speed, and followed the family home - Dad in front, the three kids, and Mum bringing up the rear, glancing back at us frequently to make sure we got no closer! I wished I could have reached my camera, but it was tied up in a big bundle of my jacket and Michael's, keeping it out of the water which seeped into the bottom of the kayak. So you'll just have to imagine what a magic scene that was!

Jacqui had come up from London, and after staying a couple of days with me, headed off to Oxford. She is in France at the moment, and if you are reading this Jacqui, good luck on the rest of your trip! After Jacqui had left I did some more sleeping and watching DVDs until my cousin came home, where I did some sleeping and watching DVDs intermingled with going out with them. Which brings us up to The Elephant Vanishes. Yay! I am now almost up to date! I'll write all about my new place and my housemates and what we've been up to after the weekend.

Edinburgh Revisited

Friends - Fun - Travel I've moved into my new house! It's great! I will write more about it soon. First though I want to go back to Edinburgh, because if I don't do it now I never will. So, a couple of days after I got back into the UK, I got the train up to Edinburgh to meet up with Bruce and check out the tail end of the Fringe Festival. It's a long train trip up from Milton Keynes, about six hours in total, but I dozed on the train and the trip went rather quickly. Bruce met me at the train station and we walked down to his place, I dumped my backpack, and then we promptly went out for a beer. That set the tone for my stay in Edinburgh. Bruce showed me around the pubs and bars of the city and we got drunk... quite a lot. We also were being quite cultured at the same time. Surrounded by the Fringe it is hard not to, with performances of all types happening in all corners. We saw trapeze acts, an assortment of jugglers and acrobats, a number of theatre troops, singers, dancers and all sorts of other musicians, comedians, mimes, and the just plain bizarre... and this was all just down the Royal Mile. I stayed up in Edinburgh for about a week, and during that time managed to catch bunch of different shows; standup acts, dramatic performances, live music, and some that were a cross between them all. Some shows we had planned to go to, Bruce's parents had organised tickets, or we saw a performance in the street and decided go to the show afterwards. Another time I was sitting in a bar called "Under" something at about 1AM and this guy gave me a free ticket to see a two hour standup comedy set featuring four different comics. I was really pissed at this point, so everything seemed funny, but I think it would have been hilarious sober as well. Bruce couldn't direct us home that night (too drunk), so we ended up getting a taxi back to his place, cooking pizza in his oven and falling asleep on his floor. Good times. I met up with Morgs while in Edinburgh (I've talked about him here before). He was working as a driving for British Telecom, trying to save some money and enjoying Edinburgh and the festival at the same time. It was good to see him again and swap stories. When he first came to visit he was very much the seasoned traveller, while I was still a relative newcomer. After my summer trip though we had a lot more travelling stories to compare and advice to swap. He asked about everyone back home and I had to admit to him that I didn't really know much about what is happening with them. I updated him on Jimmy the Hacker (whom I only found out about via Ads) and gave him a brief overview, but couldn't do any more than that. We had a few drinks, caught up, and then he went home (he is living with four Polish guys in a 1 bedroom flat somewhere for £20 a week, or something like that). A few days later I went "home" too. Bruce was flying out to Dubai, the Festival was winding down, and after ten weeks of constantly being on the go, I just wanted to sleep. So I got the train back down to Milton Keynes (it took eight hours to get back!) and slumped asleep at my cousin's place. My cousin, her husband and her kids were all on holiday down in Cornwall, at the beach (what constitutes a beach in this country) so I had the house to myself. I made the most of it and spent almost three full days either in bed, or in front of the TV watching DVDs (my cousin had the most awesome DVD collection). It was bliss.

Contacts

Friends - Personal - Travel I have met so many fantastic people on this trip. The back of my journal is now filled with names and email addresses and phone numbers and contacts from people living all around the world. My name graces quite a few people's address books too. It is a funny thing, we slide through each other's lives, we talk, drink, and become friends sometimes over the space of just an afternoon, and yet there are so many people I feel close to that I've met on this trip. People who I want to keep in touch with, people who I want to come stay with me if they are ever in the area, or whom I want to go visit at some point. My mum told me she still keeps in touch with a lady who lives in Boston with whom she travelled Africa with thirty years ago. Those are the sort of contacts I am making. Life long bonds, forged in the fires of the travelling spirit. Some people I am sure I will never see again, but other's I hope remain close forever.

Interesting Times

Friends - Fun - Personal - Travel Wow. What a week I've had. I am in Florence, and have been for the last six days. I love it here, I love Italy in general, but tomorrow it is time to move on. I am getting an overnight train to Bern, then am going to spend the week in Interlaken (and will catch the Swiss National Day festival/parade/fireworks that take place on August 1st). But back to the week that was. Well it certainly has been eventful. Aside from the beautuful city itself, with the dominating Duomo and the wondeful Ponto Veccio, I've taken day trips to Pisa, wandered around under the Tuscan sun and drank far to much for my own good. In the last couple of days I have also been going to this club ("discoteque" here) called Space Electronic. Again, wow. I've got a whole lot of tales to tell, but some of them I really don't think belong on a public site like this. Lets just say that I am having an amazing time. I will probably not be commenting much in the next week or so. Internet access is expensive in Switzerland and I've got a lot to do. I plan to spend days in Bern, Geneva and Zurich while I am there. After that I am heading back up to Germany and will be spending some time in Munich. Access is cheap there so I'll report back in when I get there. I always want to live in interesting times. I miss my past, but I also can't believe how much I have been missing out on living in that past. To quote a previous entry of mine:

"I have communicated, interacted, drank, lost, kissed, fondled, jumped, watched, hid, hit, missed, wallowed, yelled, run, listened, played, bled, shuffled, kicked, washed, fucked, talked, driven, fallen, tickled, tripped, worried, screamed, nodded, waited, learnt, enjoyed, shrugged, slept, dealt, spewed, ate, laughed, thought, hugged, tasted, read, dreamt, wished and longed with a frequency and ferocity far outstripping anything before..."

Squared

Posted by Wigs at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)

So, So You Think You Can Tell

Friends - Fun - University A lot has been happening these last two weeks. I've finished my exams. I had four over the space of three days, three of those over the space of thirty-two hours, but I survived. I didn't do much study, I only need to pass, but I think I went well overall. Results come out on June 11th, so I'll report on my success (or failure) then. My exam preparation went a big askew for a little while there. Wednesday night (this is Wednesday last week), two hours after just finishing an exam, and having two exams the next day, I went and picked up my friend Morgs from the bus station. He had flown into London that afternoon from Budapest. We got a taxi back to Newark, then went down to the hall bar and proceeded to drink our way to closing time. It was great to see Morgs again. He is the first person from back home that I've seen since coming over here. He's been backpacking around South East Asia and Eastern Europe since graduating from UQ at the end of last year (he did Engineering with me). We swapped stories, talked about old times back home, what everyone was up to, and generally just had a really great reunion. Morgs had basically run out of money from all his travelling and now needed to find a job over the summer before heading off travelling again. He was going to stay in London while looking, but I said he could stay here with me for as long as he wanted. I managed to convince one of the cleaners to keep one of the unused rooms (some people have already moved out here) unlocked, so Morgs has a bed to sleep in, and I also got a spare catering card for him, so he gets free food too! ^_^ After we were kicked out of the bar we gathered some of the others and went back to my room for some more drinking. These rooms get cramped with that many people in them. In the end I kicked everyone out around two-ish because I really needed to do some study and then get some sleep before my 9am exam in the morning. Morgs and Bruce hit it off really well, and I could head both of them continue drinking in Bruce's room for the next couple of hours after that while I was trying to study. So Thursday came and went, I was hung over, tried, and woefully under prepared, but I think I did alright of my two exams that day. That signalled the end of exams for me! So of course we had to celebrate! Thursday night we went out to the Pitcher and Piano in the Lace Market, which is a bar housed in a converted gothic church. I didn't have my camera on me, but here is an image of it that I found on the net. The place was fantastic, it by far has the best atmosphere of any bar I've been to in my life. At night, with the lights on, coming through the stained glass windows, I was bathing in brilliance. The music was also really good too; this guy was spinning some very laid back mellow beats which suited my mood perfectly. He was so good that at the end of the night (when we were eventually kicked out because they were closing) I had to go up to him, shake his hand, and tell him what a great set I thought he had done. Morgs, Bruce and I were sharing pitchers of larger; Adam was drinking his cider, while the girls (Nikkie, Viki, and her sister Catherine) were drinking wine. We wandered through town a little bit afterwards before finally getting a taxi back home. Friday I showed Morgs around the place, we went to the co-op, the pub, the library, and back again. Morgs spent the afternoon writing up his CV and applying for different jobs. I slept. That night we stayed in, drank in the bar, and played poker. We have progressed on from five card draw to Texas Holdem. £5 buy-in, no limit, play on until one person is left with all the money. It's an exciting way to play. Either you walk away losing £5, or winning £30. After getting kicked out of the bar we went to the games room and continued playing there. I drank too much so I lost my money fairly quickly. Morgs cleaned up, and we were accused of being convict Aussies and organising it so he could come in and con everyone out of their case. Saturday was Summer Party. The biggest party of the year, 9000 people, held on the downs in the middle of main campus. We started drinking around midday, the gates not actually opening until 2pm. There was a main stage, a dance tent and an R&B tent. There were also these bouncy castle things, with gladiator, bouncy boxing, and bouncy bungee jumping. I fought against Morgs, got a got couple of knocks but gave my own back pretty well. Drinks were cheap, the weather was great, and the music was good. The dance tent played the best music I've heard since coming over here. No cheesy crap there, just solid beats and a great atmosphere. Everyone was there, and though we got separated at different times during the night we always found each other again. The only crap thing was the closing time. On the tickets it say "2pm till late", but late I had assumed at least 2-3am. No "late" meant 11pm. There was almost a riot when they stopped playing the music. A couple of guys half pulled down the big R&B tent. It was actually pretty hairy for a bit, with people pushing and shoving everywhere. I escorted the girls home (we had to walk from main campus back to Jubilee) and we finished up the night sitting in my room, with pizza we ordered in, drinking Morgs' Hungarian wine (out of a plastic bottle) and lots of beer. Sunday everyone took it easy. Sunday night we played some more poker, drank some more beer, but went to bed fairly early. On Monday Morgs got stuck back into applying for jobs, while I caught up on all the stuff I had neglected during the exam period (unfortunately that doesn't include writing in this blog). Monday night everyone went to the Works nightclub. It was Foam Party night, where they had supposedly the "biggest foam machine in the UK" pump foam out onto people on the main dance floor. We got there late so missed most of the foam, but there were a lot of people walking around in very wet cloths (the smart girls didn't wear white tops; the ones they didn't think ahead regretted it). With £1 vodka redbulls we proceeded to get very drunk, and because we were already wet, lots of half finished drinks were thrown. In the end we were just going up to the bar, asking for two pints of water, getting them, turning around and then throwing them all over someone. It was really crazy and I was expected to get thrown out any minute, but in the end the bar closed and the music stopped and we had to leave anyway. When we got back to Newark though it was raining, and Graeme got pushed into the moat. Bruce soon followed, with Ben, Viki, Zoe, and Cristina all going in as well. I took off my shoes and gave my phone and wallet to Simon because I was sure the guys would push me in too, but somehow I avoided it. The guys who went in smelt like crap, being covering in layers of duck shit. Zoe, who originally had a white miniskirt on, had a brown one when she finally pulled herself out of the moat. It's been pretty uneventful since then. I've been into town with Morgs, and (finally) visited Nottingham Castle, and a bunch of old pubs. We've played more poker, drank lots more, and generally had a good time. I'm going up north with Morgs for the weekend, and then I'll come back down for me last week here at Newark next week while Morgs will continue north up to Scotland. Summer is almost here and I'm itching to get away. Did you exchange, a walk on part in the war, with a lead role in a cage? Everyone should know what I'm listening to. It's my cousin's favourite song, and her husband can play a great rendition on his guitar. Of course you shouldn't know because of that, you should know because of the lyrics.

Anecdote Time

Friends Just another little anecdote here. I'm stressed with exam preparation right now, and writing entries where I actually express my feelings is hard! So here is a little story to fill the time in... Bruce, the Scot who lives next door to me, had £80 worth of food delivered to his window by Sainsbury’s (a big food shop). The store lets you order food online, and they will deliver it to you. We were having lunch and Bruce got a call on this phone, the food had arrived! We walk outside of the Atrium and we see this big Sainsbury’s truck parked in front of the hall. Bruce tells them to go round the back, and he goes inside, opens his window and the truck backs right up to it. We proceeded to unload the mountains of food out of the truck, through his window, and into his room. There was beer, chocolate, coke, more beer, some ham and bread and tinned stuff. We ate well that night! Perhaps I should stop being so superficial. I’ll try.

Friends

Friends - Friends - Television - University I just watch the last episode ever of Friends. Yes, I know, I do absolutely no work at all here at University ^_^ Bruce, Graeme, Ben, Nikkie, Viki and I sat, cramped, in Graeme's room, and watched final epsiode of the 10th series together. I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, but the ending was so happy, and yet so sad at the same time. I am really glad that things turned out the way they did. I had hoped it would end that way. Friends has been one of those shows that I grew up with, that I watched all through highschool. Like Seinfeld, it's something I will associate with my teenage years, and will miss now that it's gone. Yes it's just a TV show, but TV shows become a part of your life. I mentioned with the OC that I don't usually get emotionally involved with shows, but that doesn't mean they don't form part of your memories. Listening to Walk On by U2. It's the only song that will do right now.

Friends

Friends - Friends - Television - University I just watch the last episode ever of Friends. Yes, I know, I do absolutely no work at all here at University ^_^ Bruce, Graeme, Ben, Nikkie, Viki and I sat, cramped, in Graeme's room, and watched final epsiode of the 10th series together. I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, but the ending was so happy, and yet so sad at the same time. I am really glad that things turned out the way they did. I had hoped it would end that way. Friends has been one of those shows that I grew up with, that I watched all through highschool. Like Seinfeld, it's something I will associate with my teenage years, and will miss now that it's gone. Yes it's just a TV show, but TV shows become a part of your life. I mentioned with the OC that I don't usually get emotionally involved with shows, but that doesn't mean they don't form part of your memories. Listening to Walk On by U2. It's the only song that will do right now.

The OC

Friends - Fun - Japan - Music - Television Over the last couple of days I've watched the entire first season (all 27 episodes) of The O.C. with Bruce. It started out as a form of procrastination. I didn't want to do any study, so watching inane American dramas seemed like a good way to pass the time. By the end though I was completely hooked, we binge-watched the final 9 episodes in one night. I was wallowing in a sea of self-indulgence and I loved it. The show is cheesy, badly acted and has only average writing, but it's got great music, some really funny/interesting characters, and is filled with fit women ^_^ It's also really addicted, and I found myself getting completely drawn into the story (as clichéd as it is). I must admit that I was actually emotionally moved by the ending, it was so sad. I'm normally detached from everything I watch, but this got to me for some reason. Now I have to wait the whole summer until the next season starts. I want to see it now! Just some general comments on the show. Seth is such a cool geek, he gives geeks around the world a good name. Ryan looks like a young Russell Crow. Anna is really cool, she makes a comment calling Marissa's "Princess Mononoke", that's awesome! ^_^ Marissa is beauty personified. Summer is just insanely cute. Sandy is possibly the best father ever. I loath Teresa. The theme song is really catchy; singing it with Bruce at the beginning of each episode has become a ritual. We actually got in trouble for it last night, we were singing it so loud (and so badly out of tune) that one of the hall tutors came and knocked on Bruce's door and told us to be quiet. If you get a chance, watch this show. It's not classic television, but it will keep you entertained. Written while listening to the Ryan Adam's cover of Wonderwall and Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, on repeat, looping forever.

Pub Quiz

Friends - Fun - Games Last night we went down to the local pub, The Crown, for dinner and a couple of pints. While we were there we got caught up in the Sunday night pub quiz! Now the English pub quiz is a very competitive game, and some of the old blokes in the pub didn't take kindly to us yelling out the answers when we thought we knew them, or with the "comedy" answers we wrote on our answer sheet when we didn't know. We didn't win in the end, but that's ok, we had a great time, and it was a good start to the week. Currently listening to Mr. Blue Sky by ELO.

Memories Sugoi!

Friends - Fun - Travel While digging through some of my CDs looking for University work from last year I came across some photos I scanned in at Wulfen's place just before I left for the UK. There were from our Japan trip and they brought back memories galore. They were all taken the second or third night we were in Japan. Sugoi invited us all out to dinner with him and some of his friends. It was a massive night, and we drunk a stupid amount of beer. I scanned in the receipt we got from the restaurant but I can't find that picture, I don't know if I ever got it off Wulfen (if you are reading this mate, can you email it to me if you have it). We were quite drunk when these pictures were taken; the girls in particular were almost falling asleep (though they had only had about one drink each). Anyway so I decided to put the pictures up here. I realised that hadn't really talked about the Japan trip much at all here, despite telling everyone that kept asking me that it was "on its way". So anyway here is a little task of what we got up to in Japan. The following are pictures of myself with Namoi, Noriko and both Naomi and Noriko. And these are pictures of the gang minus Naomi and the gang minus Noriko. Enjoy ^_^ Written while listening to "Michael" by Franz Ferdinand (sorry Al, I like the song, but I don't think it's particularly fitting for me ^_^) Sorry I seem to be doing a lot of these picture heavy posts lately.

Sunny England

Friends - Fun - University Yesterday England graced me with some of the nicest weather yet. It was sunny, it was warm, and there was a cool breeze blowing, and it was the perfect weather for drunking some beers with your mates. We set ourselves up in the Newark Quad next to the bar, and made ourselves comfortable. We got bins of ice from the bar, a whole lot of beer from Graemes room, and sat down to enjoy the weather. Most of the regular Notts Crew were there: Bruce, Graeme, Viki and Ben, Simon and Nikkie. We drank lots of beer, played some cards, kicked the football around, lay in the sun, and just chilled. At about 6pm, after sitting in the sun for the past five hours, we decided to pick up our big cooler full of ice, water and beer, and walk it through the Atrium where everyone was eating dinner, our to the lake on the otherside to enjoy the last hour or so of sunshine. By this point we were all pretty drunk (in particular Bruce, Ben, Graeme and I were), so we threw Bruce into the lake. Later that night we went to this house party being held by Bruce's boss, Ross. We kicked around there for a little while before heading into town to a club called The Zone. I got home somehow. What a great day.

Strike That. Reverse It.

Friends - Fun - Games - Movies I went to see Kill Bill Vol. 2 yesterday afternoon. Wow. I think I like this volume even more than the first one. The snappy dialogue was there, the references to other moves, the fantastic action sequences, and the wonderful conclusion. It's a great film all round. I particularly liked the Bride's (wait we know her name now!) training session (ah so many references!), as well as the repeated mentions back to Hattori Hanzo, his swords, and the consequence (though never stated directly) of his breaking his blood oath not to make another sword. Like the first volume, this is a film that I am going to have to go seen many more times. I wish it was released as one completed film. In other news, I've started up a little poker tournament with some of the guys in the Hall. We sit up in the common room on B floor, drink beer (we were too lazy to get whiskey or cigars) and have some fun. It's a £5 buy in, 5p minimum bet. I wanted to play Texas Hold-em, but in the end we played standard five card stud. I ended up losing almost all of my £5 last night. Of course it's all part of my strategy to draw everyone in and keep them playing ^_^ (that's what I'd like to think at least). So little to do, so much time to do it in. Written while listening to Yours Truly, 2095 by ELO.

Flower of Scotland

Friends - Fun - Travel I made the trip up to Edinburgh on the weekend. That makes it five times in a row that I haven't spent a full weekend at 'home'. My new friend and next-door neighbour Bruce is from Edinburgh and he invited me to go up with him to watch the England vs. Scotland match of the Six Nations Rugby Championship which was to be played at Murrayfield stadium. The name Bruce is a lot like Fosters' Larger, both are supposed to be stereotypically Australian and yet, just as nobody in Australia actually drunks Fosters', nobody I knew (until now) was actually called Bruce. Despite being Scottish, Bruce is a great guy (Scotland lost the game, so I'm still in the 'pay Bruce out about Scotland' mindset). Bruce, Graeme, Ben and I got a train up to Edinburgh Friday afternoon. Graeme and Ben are two scousers who also live in Newark Hall (I'll get around to talking about all my new friends properly sometime soon).It was an easy five hour trip, during which we managed to watch almost a whole season of Friends on Bruce's notebook. The trip was also made easier when Graeme convinced some friends of his who were getting off at Newcastle to get the friend of theirs who was picking them up to bring a carton of beer with him. So when we rolled into Newcastle a quick exchange was made and as we pulled off we were a rolling in the beer. Ten minutes later we finally got a bottle opener and the drinking began. Suddenly we were in Edinburgh, and it was freezing, and I had to pay to use the toilet at the train station. 20p! Bruce said that when I go to London I'd see that it was pretty standard. We were staying at Bruce's house for the weekend, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the station. This place was huge, even for Australian standards. It had four floors and seven bathrooms! It was also completely empty. Bruce's parents were in Dubai (that's where his dad is currently working) and his brothers both live elsewhere. I don't think anyone realised before how minted (British slang there) Bruce's family is. Anyway the fridges were stocked, lots of beer and Irn-Bru (the Scottish soft drink that apparently outsells both coke and pepsi) and we all had beds to sleep in. You couldn't have asked for a better base camp. Bruce and Graeme went out for some deep friend food and returned to fish, chips and haggis. I didn't have any haggis, the normal stuff puts me off, deep fried... no thanks. We stayed up drinking and watching TV late into the night before deciding to get some sleep. The game didn't start until 5:30 the next night so we didn't have to be up particularly early. Cut to 1pm the next day. Bacon cooking, eggs cooking, a good fry-up breakfast. After we ate our fill we went down to this pub called The Standing Order, where we promptly ordered some pints of beer. This pub was packed, people lined four deep back from the bar, and it took about 20 minutes to get served, so when we did we bought three drinks each. On of Bruce's friends showed up, and as we were talking we suddenly heard bagpipes playing. Out of nowhere this troop of Scottish Bagpipers marched into the bar and started playing all the tradition bagpipe songs. Soon everyone was singing along. It was fantastic! I really wish I had brought my camera along because it was a sight to behold. I was ecstatic; bagpipes, kilts, Scottish accents and good beer, it doesn't really get much better. We had a few more pints (well more than a few) as well as some food, and suddenly it was 4pm. The game started in an hour and half and we were well on our way to being very very pissed. We decided that was enough for the pub. Edinburgh before an England vs Scotland rugby game is similar to Kyoto before a Gion festival. In Japan it's rare in normal circumstances to see people wearing Kimonos, however on the eve of the big Gion parade you see them everywhere. Likewise in Scotland it's rare in normal circumstances to see men wearing kilts, however on the eve of a big international rugby game you see them everywhere. The rugy brings out the patriotic Scotsman, in particular a battle against the English brings out the patriotic Scotsman, and on Saturday night, in the freezing cold, before a big game, the tartan abounds. Bruce didn't wear his, which is a good move, because we would have surely lifted it up for the world to see if he had. Murrayfield stadium, with the Scottish flag, the bagpipers, the atmosphere, the spectacle. Scotland lost, 35 to 13. At Bruce's place again, drinking the rest of the beer in his fridge. Ran out of that, so we moved onto the Scotch (this is Scotland after all). Eventually we worked up the energy to go out, so we walked up to the castle (a long and cold walk) and then down to this pub called The Three Sisters. We had way to much to drink here, but we did meet up with Bruce's brother, who is a policeman, and who had his jacket stolen at the pub. Lots of jokes were made. The pub closed up shop at 1am, so we moved onto this club called Faith that was just down the road. This place cost a whopping £7 to get in (that's almost $20!!!) but by that point we were all extremely inebriated, so we didn't really mind. The club was pretty cool, great music, real dance music, not like the Cheese they play in Nottingham, and the drinks were expensive. More drinking ensued. The club closed at 3am and so we began the long walk home. Arrived home. Went to Sleep. Good night. Next morning I get up while everyone else is still asleep and I go and have a look around the city. I go to all the famous places, the important places, take lots of pictures, get caught up in the history of it all. I'm tired now, so I'm not going to go into all the details but let’s just say it's a beautiful city, I loved being there, blah blah blah. Ok cool, so we did more stuff and later we went home. Sorry about being abrupt. Normally I leave these sorts of things if I haven't got time to finish them and then resume writing later on. But right now, I'm so close to the end, and I'm so late already for this thing I'm supposed to be at. So there it is. I've been humming the Scottish national anthem recently; I actually know the words now as well! Flower of Scotland O Flower of Scotland, When will we see your like again That fought and died for Your wee bit hill and glen. And stood against him, Proud Edward's army, And sent him homeward Tae think again. The hills are bare now, And autumn leaves lie thick and still O'er land that is lost now, Which those so dearly held That stood against him, Proud Edward's army And sent him homeward Tae think again. Those days are past now And in the past they must remain But we can still rise now And be the nation again! That stood against him Proud Edward's army And sent him homeward Tae think again. O Flower of Scotland, When will we see your like again That fought and died for Your wee bit hill and glen. And stood against him, Proud Edward's army, And sent him homeward Tae think again.

The Salutation Inn

Friends - Fun I went out to the The Salutation Inn tonight to have a few pints with wertperch and Ferenczy, two noders from Everything2. It was my first time meeting other noders in the flesh, and the after effects have caused me revert back to my old noding habits of copious linking (see first sentence). I had a good time overall; the Inn was cosy, the company was great and the beer was well... interesting. Thanks for inviting me out wertperch and introducing me to this fine city of yours (which I was informed is the murder capital of the UK!). I don't mind though, becuase at night it's "like wading through a sea of erect nipples". Cheers guys.

Littlewing's Adventure

Friends My good friend Littlewing returns from her three and a half week trip around Europe tomorrow. She's returning to a place I don't call home anymore, so I can't welcome her back personally, but I hope she reads this and knows that I'm thinking about her and that I wish her a safe trip home. I hope you've had a terrific time.

Happy Birthday To Me…

Friends It was my birthday yesterday. I am now an ancient twenty-two years old. I spent the weekend at my cousin’s place near a little town of Stony Stratford, which is just down from Milton Keynes. Stony Stratford is has been around since the fourteen hundreds, Milton Keynes is about twenty-five years old. Simone picked me up from the bus station Saturday morning after a quick one and a half hour bus ride down from Nottingham and then took me back to her place. She and her husband Toby live in an old converted mill called Stratford House. Here’s the view out of my bedroom window . It’s a fantastic place, out in the countryside with the river running past just out the back (and part of it still right underneath the house). It was a nice day outside so Toby and Simone took me on a twenty minute walk into Stony Stratford where had a drink at The Cock Hotel (that’s the carpark out the back by the way). The Cock Hotel is just up the road from The Bull Hotel. Now during the late 18th, early 19th, centuries, during the height of the greaty coaching era, Stony Stratford (which is in the north of Buckinghamshire and is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street) was an important stopping point for coaches travelling between London and Birmingham (at the time England's two largest cities). Those in the two regarded the travellers on these coaches as a great source of current news from different parts of the county. This news was imparted in the towns two main hotels, The Cock and The Bull. Stories would flow and change between the two until a rivalry would develop as to which could come up with the most exaggerated and fanciful takes. And thus you have the saying, 'A cock and bull story'. The UK is great. You just don’t get anything vaguely historic like that back home. So we had a few drinks, walked back to Stratford House, had dinner, and then went out on the town. First we went to which is home to a heap of clubs, pubs, shops, as well as a massive snowdown, which boasts two 175 metre slopes and a 135 metre nursery slope of real snow, all indoors. Simone said she would take me skiing next time I was over, but tonight we were headed for Revolutions which is a vodka bar. They have so many different types of vodka’s I couldn’t even begin to list them. I only managed to sample a few before we left, the drinks were good but the music was crap that night, so we decided to head on over to Sim and Toby’s regular hangout, The Slug and Lettuce. This place had better music, and a more laid back atmosphere, and after seeing that they had cheap After Eight’s (a shot of Kahlua, a shot of creme de menth and a shot of Bailey’s layered into a shot glass in that order), we decided to stay. The pool table was hideously expensive at one and a half pounds a game, so we gave up on that (which is good because I was losing all my games). We stayed there until final call (11pm, how crazy is that!), and then went back home. Sim had a close to fully stocked liquor cabinet so I raided that to make an almost-after eight (Kahlua, Bailey’s and Cointreau) then we listened to Morcheeba’s Big Calm while Toby played along with it on his guitar. All of a sudden it was 1am, our birthdays had arrived! I rang home, but only got the answering machine, Simone rang her parents, talked to them for a while, and I said hello to them too. We crashed out soon after that and I feel asleep to the peaceful sound of water flowing outside my window. The next morning I woke up around 11. I had had a great night sleep and was looking forward to a good birthday day. We exchanged presents, and then headed out to this little English pub to have “Sunday dinner”. Toby drove us in his Black Porsche 968 (like this one). It’s a great car, small, fast, but so unlike Fragma’s 180sx in the way in handles. I can’t remember the name of the pub where we had lunch; I almost banged my head entering it though. After lunch we went to have a look at a traditional English canal and section of locks before heading back home. That night we had champagne, roasted marshmallows on the fire, listened to music, watched Pulp Fiction, and talked about old times. It was fun. The next day I slept in again, before borrowing a heap of books from Sim (she is a huge Murakami fan) and then getting dropped down to the bus stop. I’ve been home for about four hours now and I’m just about to head down to the hall bar for a drink before going out tonight. It’s traffic light night at the Works. If you’re wearing red you’re taken, orange and your not looking but could be tempted, while if you’re wearing green your single and ready to go! Time to find a green shirt.

Pool and Pints

Friends We had a rather quiet night tonight, spending most of it in the hall bar drinking pints and playing pool. I'm heading off to my cousin Simone's place tomorrow. We share the same birthday, so I'm going to celebrate it with her. Speaking of birthdays, it is my brother Edward's birthday today. He is two years and two days older than me. Happy birthday Eddie! Anyway I need to get some sleep. I have to be up early tomorrow to catch my bus down to Simone's place.

Gummi Bears

Friends Ok, it's 3am in the morning and I'm pretty drunk again. We went out to a bar called Dogma tonight. It was pretty cool, though a bit expensive. Before that though we were sitting in the hall bar (where you can get 1.5 pound pints) and all of a sudden they started playing the Gummi Bear theme song. Gummi Bears! Bouncing here and there and everywhere! High adventure that's beyond compare! They are the Gummi Bears! Anyway I had already put away about five pints by that point so it totally blew my mind. I'm having lots of fun here! ^_^

Cheese

Friends Well I'm pretty drunk at the moment. Went out with some of the guys from my hall tonight. Went to the Mode, then the Works clubs. They are really huge compared to Aussie clubs. I got really drunk off double vodka's and redbull's for 1 quid each. Some of the girls from the hall were trying to explain to me what "Cheesy" music was. There was a whole room for "Cheese" at the Works. It was "School Daze" night there too, so everyone was in imitation school uniforms. I wore my while shirt and grey tie. Anyway I should go to bed. I've got class at 9am tomorrow morning. I'll finish off my tale of the first week sometime later when I'm not so drunk. I'm having so much fun! ^_^

Birthday Wishes

Friends I've finally got my computer hooked up to the net in my room, so expect to hear a lot more from me in the future... but not this weekend. I'm getting the train up to Manchester tonight and I'm going to be spending the weekend with my cousin. I will do my best to finish my "first week" tale when I get back. In the meantime I'd like to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nash and Littlewing.

Goodbye

Friends Ok big long sentimental goodbye and thankyou time. I'm leaving in a couple of hours, to go on an adventure that will probably be the most exciting time in my life. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm a little sad to go, to leave behind all the great friends I've made over the years. Even though I hope they will come and visit me, it's still going to be a big separation and I think I'm going to miss them terribly. I'm a little rushed right now, I've still got a fair bit of stuff I need to do, but I want to quickly mention a few of my closest friends. I've known all of these guys for at least five years, and in some cases for much longer. Alphabetically (becuase that's just the type of guy I am), first there is Ads. My Uni mate, forever battling against the injustices committed on the student body, stalwart and strong, tireless in his efforts to, if not improve things for everyone else, at least make it as hard for the Uni as possible. We share similar political and worldviews and he is always good to argue with. He is one of the Japan boys, and Ski Trip boys, and Coast Trip boys, in fact Ads has always been there, whenever we've had an adventure or gone on an expedition Ads is a part of it. All of the memories of great times that we've had, Ads has been involved. Ads and I also share a love of good books, and he keeps me up to date on good authors when I've gotten slack and neglected to follow up on their stuff. Thanks for everything mate. Calvin and I have spent a lot of time together over the recent months, and I'm glad we got that time, becuase there was a period just after high school where we didn't see each other very often. Calvin is creative and talented and quite different to most of my other friends. He does his own thing, lives in another world, and I'm glad he lets me into it on occasion. He's introduced me to all these different types of music, and I've introduced him to full depths of the wonderful world of anime. I'm going to miss our Monday night ritual and I'm thankful we made that happen while we could. Now that he has a new computer I hope he finally gets back online properly and stays in touch. Even when you get fabulously rich and famous and are living the highlife of an established author, I know he'll always stay true to his friends. Fragma is my oldest friend; I've known him since I was ten years old. We were best friends in primary school, we lived just up the road from each other and terrorised the neighbourhood on our bikes for a number of years. We somehow managed to maintain that strong friendship during high school even though we were at different schools and had moved away from each other. I spent an incredible amount of time at his place, sitting in his computer room for days playing games and listening to music and talking about everything. University came along, after a while Fragma moved over to the south side, and we saw each other less and less. Over the last six months though, since moving back up here, we've hung out with each other almost constantly, trying to make the most of all that lost time. I can't recall a time we've ever fought, or ever been angry at each other, or annoyed or pissed off. We've always gotten along, and it's the type of easy friendship that you know you'll always have. From now on we'll probably slip in and out of each other's lives, but I know we'll remain close friends throughout it all. I've already said goodbye to Littlewing. She left Saturday morning. Like Fragma, I've known her since I was ten, we lived in the same neighbourhood, went to the same primary school. Unlike Fragma though, we went to high school together and it was there that we became really close friends. Littlewing knows everything about me, and I trust her completely. We are very alike, often scarily so, and the consequence of this is that though we are very close, we also clash at times. I've said everything I wanted to say to Littlewing already, so I'll leave it there. She knows how much I value her friendship. Nash is another one of the Japan boys; in fact without him I have no idea how the trip would have gotten off the ground. We were close in high school, not so close the first couple of years of Uni, but now I consider him one of my best friends. We've had our fair share of ups and downs but we've gotten over it (thanks partly to hefty amounts of alcohol) and come out better for it. Nash is incredibly intelligent, and I admire that about him. He's also got a very dry sense of humour, which I really enjoy. The rest of us can be making jokes all day, but it's only take one little sarcastic comment from Nash to get us all in stiches. He's usually extremely calm and collected, but sometimes, not often, but sometimes, he cracks, and it's a sight to behold! I've only ever heard him swear once in all the time I've known him, and that was just before we were about to explode $50 worth of sparklers (ah our crazy teenage years!). Finish your PhD Nash, and I'll see you in Japan a couple of years from now. Ruro, we've had an interesting friendship. We were archenemies in the early days of high school, but eventually we became good friends. We give each other a lot more crap that anyone else I think, but despite that we somehow survive and get over it. I don't know exactly why it happens, but I do want to say that I respect you and value you as a friend. Thanks for organising a lot of stuff over the last couple of years when I pulled back a bit from all of that. Everyone did their fair share, but I know that you in particular helped to organise some of our biggest things (Ads' surprise party for one) and I really appreciated all the work you did. If you ever do get around to finalising your plans to go to Amsterdam make sure to drop me a line and we'll meet up. If you ever need someone to travel the world with you mate, I'm your man. Finally we have Wulfen. I consider you a better friend than a lot of high school friends. We may not have shared those five angsty teenage years together in the same school, but in same ways that's a good thing. We've hung out many times at your place, gone up the coast, or skiing, or to Japan together, and I've considered your a really close friend for a long time now. You're the most respectable of us all now, you've finished Uni completely (even though it was Griffith! ^_^), you've got yourself a fulltime job, you on track, headed the right way. You've always good for a laugh, and can take a surprising amount of crap from us all, but you never seem truly down about it, and you're always a happy constant. I'm really glad that we did get the chance to spend so much time together after high school; it certainly made these last four years a whole lot more fun. I'd like to thank all of my friends for all the good times we've had. You're a terrific bunch of guys and I don't think I could ask for a better group of friends. Then there is everyone else, my other school friends, my Uni friends, my Internet friends, my *we don't fit in any other category* friends. Sorry if I missed out naming anyone in particular. I'm a bit rushed for time at the moment, and so I had to do what I could. If I didn't mention you specifically please don't think that I'm not thinking of you. Cheers guys, for everything. I listened to a lot of songs while writing this, most notably Gomez's We Haven't Turned Around.

Fun and Study

Friends I just received an email from Noriko (the girl who doesn't want to grow up).

> hello! > how are you? > > i heard you will go to england for study from jared. > please have fun and study hard. > > o(^-^)o

Thanks Noriko, I'll do my best! Fortunately fun and study aren't mutually exclusive. Less than twelve hours to go. I had better get packing!

Moving, Just Keep Moving...

Friends - Games - Japan - Personal - Travel It's been a busy last couple of days.

• Firday, Fragma and I did some running around, I did some banking, paid my accommodation for the first semester, bought some stuff I needed from the shops, did last minute chores.
• Friday night, Wulfen, Ads, Ruro, Skett, Nash and I went over to Fragma's to watch some Initial D.
• Saturday, I spent boxing up the rest of my stuff. It's almost all boxed away by this point.
• Saturday night, (from left to right) Scuzzy, Ads, Nash, Apollo, Wulfen, Dublex, Jimbo, Ruro and Fragma took me out to dinner.
• Sunday morning, Fragma and I went to see Littlewing off at the airport. She is going on a tour around Europe for three weeks and so I had to say a final goodbye to her earlier than everyone else.
• Sunday lunch, relatives and close friends of the family came over. We drank some beer, watched the cricket, and I was given more advice than I knew what to do with.
• Sunday night, Fragma and I went over to Nash's to see his new PS2 steering wheel setup, then we went to Wulfen's to pick up a copy of X-COM Aftermath, and then went back to my place to play it for about five hours.
• Monday, I started the long process of burning cds of all the important stuff on my computer and I went through all my clothes and got rid of four big garbage bags full of stuff I would never wear again.
• Monday night, Calvin came over (for the last time, our Monday night routine has come to an end), and then (multitasking again) we went to Ads's place to drop of some stuff, then to Wulfen's to drop off some more stuff (I've been giving away a lot of stuff I can't keep) and then to Chermside to play some DDR, Dance Freaks and Initial D for the last time.

And now I'm here writing this. I was going to go to bed, but I wanted to get this all out now while I have the time. It's been a really good last couple of days. I spent a great deal of time with my friends and family, and it emphasised just how much they all mean to me. There are a lot of thankyou's that need to be said, but I'll leave them for tomorrow night (^_^). I really should get some sleep now. I've got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow, there are still so many things left to organise, and I haven't even thought about starting to pack my backpack! Written while listening to Moving by Supergrass.

I'm Going Back To The Start

Friends It’s been an interesting last couple of days. I’ve been multi-tasking recently. With such a short time to go before I’m off, I’ve had to make the most of my time as possible, which has meant that I don’t just hang out with friends, I get them to help me pack, or take some of my stuff, or go shopping with me. I haven’t had to time to just sit and spend some real quality time with most of my friends unfortunately, I spend time with them, but it’s normally while doing other stuff. Saturday I went shopping with Littlewing in the city. We had had an argument the night before, but I don’t think it affected our day to any great extent. I’ve always been good at putting on masks, so though we hadn’t actually resolved anything (we never do), we had fun, and it was relaxing, just like old times. Whatever they are. We had coffee, I bought some jeans, Littlewing got an mp3 player, I picked up my plane tickets, and then we parted. More than half a day gone, just like that. After saying goodbye to Littlewing I went to Colorado to meet up with Jacqui, who was in my Business Policy and Strategy group last semester. I had a lot of fun in Policy and Strategy, and one of the main reasons for that was that I was in a terrific group (it had to happen sometime in my four years of Uni). Anyway so Jacqui got off work and we went to have some coffee (she is trying to cut back, but I’m not yet ^^). We talked about going away and keeping in touch. Jacqui might actually be coming to the UK to live later in the year. I told her about GenesisDreams, so hopefully she will remember to check it ^_^. We talked for ages, and then suddenly she checked her phone and it had fourteen missed calls. It turns out she was supposed to be at a dinner for her brother who was just starting a new job (sorry for making her late mate). So we walked to the train station and said a hurried goodbye. For the last couple of weeks I had been telling everyone to keep Saturday night free, because it was the last Saturday I had the whole place to my self and I wanted to do *something* in the way a going away party. There was little actual organisation, I just said, “Come to my place.” and left it at that. Those who cared came, those who didn’t… didn’t. About half an hour after I got back from the city Littlewing came over bearing gifts (in the form of chips and drinks).We had a chat and then I left her to write a guest entry while I went downstairs to welcome rurouni, ads and nash, who had all just arrived. This first thing I did was give them a heap of stuff (I was giving out presents at my own going away party!), stuff that I wanted, but couldn’t keep, that I knew they would find useful. The rest of the guys eventually showed up, and we all jumped in the pool. We were listening to 80’s music, and getting progressively drunk, and things got a little crazy. Somehow all my pool furniture ended up in the pool, and then something else was thrown in. The downstairs floor of my house was covered in water and there were wet towels everywhere. I was great fun! After we graduated out of the pool, some pizza arrived (I have no idea where it came from) and then we moved away from the complete drunken craziness stage into a more mellow, contemplative time, where we sat around, talked about old times, and just hung out. Things had calmed down, or so I had thought. While I was off talking Gatsby, things got a little out of hand in my kitchen. I only discovered it well after the fact, and don’t worry Calvin, I thought it was pretty funny, no real damage done. Oh yes, I actually own two Mariah Carey CDs. They were presents from my Aunt, who sent them over from Cambodia and really missed the mark when it comes to my musical tastes. So the night ran down, people started heading off, or crashing for the night. I’ve missed out on a whole lot of what happened, but that’s good I think. Some things are better remembered in a happy haze, than in the harsh light of reality. I know some people thought they said some pretty messed up things, but overall I think it was a good night. Guys feel free to add your own comments (oh what you can remember) if you want. So the next day I awoke to find Calvin had skipped out on me, I guess he didn’t want to face my wrath, and so I got to cleaning up. I was planning on dropping into a BBQ that Jacqui was holding before I went out that afternoon, but plans changed and I didn’t have enough time to get down to her place and back again (sorry Jacqui). Now there is a week and a half before I go.

Ranma!

Friends - Japan Over the past two days Calvin and I watched the entire first season of Ranma ½. Ever since he first heard about it, Calvin's been obsessed with the idea of a "water-changing hermaphrodite" (his words). For those who don't know, Ramna is a martial artist who, after falling into the cursed spring of a drowned girl while training, turns into a girl whenever he is splashed with cold water. His father suffered a similar fate, except he turns into a giant panda when wet. Both can turn back to their normal forms when covered in hot water. The show is fairly old now, with the first season screening in 1989, but the animation quality is really good and the humour is still hilarious even after 15 years (and really, how can it possibly date ^_^). So Calvin came over Monday night, like he had been doing for the last couple of months, and after much messing around with codecs, we finally sat down for some Ranma goodness. We made it through 7 episodes before Calvin was overcome with fatigue (I couldn't work out whether it was from laughing, or some strange illness). So we crashed for the night, to resume our watching the next day. Once we had completed all of season one Calvin suggested we drive to Wulfen's place and pick up some more episodes, but by that point I was well and truly Ranma'ed out, so we called it a day. I don't know where the time has gone since then. I did a little more final packing, cleaned up some of the mess we had made over the last couple of days, and replied to a few (long) emails I had gotten. I've got an ever-growing list of things I'm yet to do, but hopefully I will start to reduce it over the next couple of days. I'm trying to get most of my goodbyes done over the next week or so, which will leave me with a week of relative calmness before I'm off. Of course I'll probably spend most of that time hanging out with my close friends instead of making sure I've packed anything, but I think I prefer it that way. Written while listening to Stray Radio.

Just Like Honey

Friends Happy New Year everyone! I'm a little late, but then it's been a very lazy last couple of days. I ended up going to Wulfen's party for the big night. It was comfortable, all my old friends were there, and I had a lot of fun. The following night a couple of the guys came over my place (Mum’s down in Tasmania on holidays until the 15th, so I’ve got the place practically myself for the next couple of weeks). Nash had gotten a copy of Lost in Translation, and so we watched that while drinking sake. I was the only one who had seen in before, and the other guys really enjoyed it. "Let's never come here again, cos it would never be as much fun." I’ve got a lot to do over the next couple of weeks, but right now I’m content to laze about a little more.

Newark Hall

Friends - University I've got my accommodation for the first semester next year finalised. I’ll be staying at Newark Hall, which is on the Jubilee Campus. It costs a fair bit, but looks pretty cosy, and for once I will only have a five-minute trip to class as opposed to an hour and a half one! I think I’ll have a lot of fun there ^_^. I probably will move out to a sharehouse somewhere halfway through the year, but for now the security of living on campus to start with is quite comforting. It’s one less thing to worry about, which is good, because one of my biggest aims this coming year is to minimise worry! And now for a random Lost In Translation quote, "The more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you." At the moment I’m listening to Mad World by Michael Andrews off the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Oh yeah, it's New Years Eve too; though I still don't know what I'm going to do tonight. I've been invited to a party at a beach house up the coast with some Uni friends, Wulfen is having a party over his place, Alex (whom I spent Boxing day chasing rainbows with) is going to Rainbow beach (coincidence) and asked if I wanted to come along (he headed up yesterday in fact), and then there is the mystery fourth option. I'm keeping all of my options open at the moment, and I'll see where the night takes me.

Happy Birthday Noriko!

Friends Noriko (who I'll tell everyone about when I finally get my promised "Japan Trip" page up) turns 28 today! She messaged me saying she didn't want Christmas to come this year, becuase it would mean that her birthday had also come. I personally don't think she has anything to worry about. When I first met Noriko, Sugoi asked me to guess how old she was, and I said 23! So Happy Birthday Noriko!

One Month To Go!

Friends - Personal - Travel - University On January 21st, 2004, at 8:30 PM I'll fly out from Brisbane International Airport, on my way to the UK. Ostensibly I'm going becuase I'm enrolled in University over there and I need to finish off my Business degree. Of course I could have just as easily stayed here to finish off my degree (in fact that would have been the easier option by far, the amount of paperwork I've been doing recently is crazy!). So why am I really going? ... Yes that's a very good question. ... To be completely honest I don't really know. I think I've had lots of reasons over the past two years or so I've been planning this. I can't remember what first triggered the idea, but ever since I got the urge to leave, I've never really looked back. Things came up from time to time that provide some reason to stay, and these reasons seem to by multiplying of late. I'm resolute though, deep down I know I've always been, that nothing short of my Mum dying would stop me going. But I still don't know why I want to go. There is the desire for change, and that's a big one for me, but that alone isn't it. I want to broaden my horizons, become well travelled and worldly, that's not it either. I want to be educated at a truly world-class university, but study is well down on my list of priorities for next year. I want to meet new people and at the same time part of me wants to escape from the people I already know. I'm going to miss terribly everyone I leave behind, but overall I think it will be good for me. As sappy as it sounds... I think I go to grow. Maybe that's a cop-out answer. In fact I'm pretty sure it is, however it's the only think I can come up with right now. Next time I'm totally in tune with my feelings and emotions I'll write an entry explaining them in full. Expect it sometime around 8282 AD. So I don't know why I'm going, but I don't really care right night. It was a long process and it's almost over. Well the leaving part is almost over, the living on exchange part has almost begun, and this next month is going to kill me with anticipation. I hope that in a years time, when I've got some perspective, and my exchange is almost over, I can look back, read over this, and laugh to myself about how in the dark I was. I hope I'll understand it then, and I doubly hope that the manner in which I gain that understanding over the next year is most enjoyable ^_^ This entry was written while listening to Art of Noise - Dreaming in Colour over and over again.

Dance Freaks

Friends - Games My arms are sore. I've discovered the fun that is Dance Freaks. It's a DDR'esq game where you use your hands to trigger IR sensors instead of dancing on pads. Tonight, after a tortuous run on DDR where I took on Max300 and MaxUnlimited in one game, I played some serious DF, and I had a great time. It involves a totally different set of movements to DDR, but the concept of keeping the beat and moving in time with it stays the same. The biggest problem though is that I'm too tall for the machine, which means whenever I need to do one of the low "steps" I must bend down. This means that I'm bobbing all over the place during a difficult song. It's great fun though, and I'll probably play it a lot more now in the future. I also gave Virtual Cop 3 a go, though I tried something different and played with the two guns. I put credits in for two players, and then played two handed. It was tricky to get used to (and I came to realise who bloody unrealistic it is when they do it in movies), but I almost got through the entire first level on my initial credits. I tended to favour my right hand, but a couple of times I did some awesome shots where two bad guys would appear on the screen and the same time, and I would shoot both straight away, one with my right hand, the other with my left. I must have looked pretty silly, but it was late, and only my friends were around so I didn't really care. It was a lot of fun. After that ads, nash, fragma, Wulfen and I went back to fragma's place to watch some southpark, snooker, nakednews and family guy (not necessarily in that order), we had a few drinks, coughed our lungs out (we are all sick at the moment) and generally spread our illnesses everywhere. Like most things tonight it was also a lot of fun! Now I'm home, I haven't even started writing the conference paper I talked about a couple of weeks ago (*gasp*) and I think I shall go to bed.

Drinks

Friends I went out with my friends for drinks tonight. We've been doing a lot more frequently of late. I'm happy, becuase it means I get to spend a lot of time with them, which I'm trying to make the most of now, becuase in a months time I'm not going to be able to anymore. I was going to write something long and insightful, however Channel 7 is replaying the first seasons of "24", at 11:30 PM every night. We are up to about 9am at the moment and it's as great as I remember, so I'm off to watch that!

Anonymous

Friends - Metaposts When I started writing this blog I told all my friends about it. Its raison d'etre was, originally, to provide everyone with a constant stream of updates on my life when I'm half a world away. All my friends and family could just check GenesisDreams, see what I've been up to, add some comments, and be on their way. Then the blog went down for a number of months, and becuase I wasn't updating anymore, nobody was checking the site. I've been back for a little more than a week now, but still nobody I know is reading my blog. The thing that is interesting is that I'm beginning to like it. I find that I am censoring myself less, knowing that my friends and family aren't reading this. But now they are; and that's probably a good thing. I never intended for this blog to be a journey of self-discovery or any of that pretentious crap. I'm not trying to produce great writing to influence people, I don't comment on world events or politics to any great extent, this is simply a blog about me, for people who know me to read. There are some things I wont talk about here because I don't want the world to know about it, there are some things I wont talk about here because I don't want specific people to know about it. That's just the way it is. As always I'll write what I feel like talking about, I'll write what I think other people would be interested to read, and baring any unforseen events like my FTP going down and not being able to update, I'll continue writing for some time yet.

Memento

Friends - Metaposts - Personal I've been trying to decide how I should go about filling in everything that happened during the past three months. I don't want to focus solely on the past, as a lot of rather important stuff has happened recently. So what I've decided is that I'll do it in stages, talk about what happening right now in my life, but interspace that (during the slow times) with tales of my recent history. For the last couple of days I've been feeling pretty shit. I had a really big fight with my good friend Littlewing while we were out in the valley Saturday night. I was drunk, I was tired, I hadn't slept properly since Thursday (having my last exam at 8am on Saturday morning) and overall I was really on edge. I had had a great day, it was good to finally get everything finished, but the night was a real downer. I feel bad too becuase we were supposed to be celebrating Calvin's 21st birthday, but the whole night was subverted by our disagreement. I'm not going to go into the specifics, but I left feeling very hurt and angry and somehow managed to get home very very late. Things are getting better now, but for a while I felt as bad as I've ever felt. I'm listening to the Gabriel Knight - Anthem Mix by Bart Klepka at the moment, it fits my mood perfectly.

Hybrid Rainbow

Friends - Japan - Music - University A couple of days ago I was asked to briefly explain my thesis topic on one of the forums I frequent. I don't think I've gone into detail about my project here yet, so here is the description I gave on the forum. To steal a passage from my thesis abstract: "The fundamental purpose of this project is to develop a system by which music similarity can be measured based solely on the content of the music itself. This system will analyse the inherent characteristics of musical pieces and use that to compare songs, independently of any metadata that may exist. It will allow a database of music to be quickly and efficiently scanned to identify similar tracks." Basically there is a whole lot of digital signals processing stuff involved in producing signatures for pieces of music which not only uniquely identify the piece but also relate specific characteristics of the musical structure (tempo, beat, rhythm, etc...) Once you have those signatures then it's a fairly simpler matter to calculate the similarities and difference between them and then you can do all sorts of cool stuff. Genre grouping, instrument matching, identifying covers of a particular track, taking a seed song and producing a full DJ set, etc... etc... etc... All the DSP stuff is done, and I've almost finished coding up the base framework which utilises the DPS stuff (I'm not going to go into detail about that; to put simply it involves calculating the Mel-Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients, which is really just the coefficients of the Fourier transform representation of the log-magnitude spectrum of a signal, and then using K-Means clustering to group certain spectral traits together.) Now I just need to develop the final application that I'm going to demo at the innovation expo at the end of the year. Oh yeah, and write my thesis ^_^ In other news, I'm going to see a performance of a play written by my friend Calivn next week. It's called "Vodka and Condoms" and I know it's going to be great (I've read the script). Calvin's been coming around a lot recently, which is great. I've been slowing introducing him to the myriad forms of anime; we watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on Monday, and I also showed him some Azumanga Diaoh. He is obsessed with Ranma, RANMA!, but wants to see more of Miyazaki's work after I took him to see Spirited Away earlier in the year. I'm going to play more Initial D tonight. Meeting up with Fragma and rurouni so we can throw away some more of our cash. Wednesday night is pretty deserted down at the arcade, so we shouldn't have a problem getting on the machines. I've run out of music to listen to in the car, so until I get around to burning off some new sets, I've gone back to my anime CDs. I've got FLCL Addict out now, and I think it will be my CD of choice tonight. I've got all The Pillow's albums, and most of them are great, but the tracks on this OST bring back memories of when I first saw the show, and the powerful feelings I associate with it. Can you feel that hybrid rainbow?

With or without you...

Friends I'm going to miss my friends. The last five days are among the most enjoyable I've had in a very long time. They didn't start out too well though. I got home from Uni Thursday afternoon, came online, and the topic of our IRC channel was: (Fragma) Lisa and I are no more. Lisa being Fragma's girlfriend for the past three and a half years. I gave him a call on his mobile, he was still at work, and he sounded ok. I invited him over to my place to crash for the night (he had been living with his girlfriend) and he said 'cool', and asked what the rest of the guys were doing. I said I would find out and that I would see him later that night. So I asked around on IRC, rang a few people and before long I had six of the guys who could pop round on short notice coming (Dublex, nash, adante, LittleWing, rurouni, Wulfen). Fragma showed up after work, most of the guys around seven-ish, and we sat around, talked, drank, and basically just hung out. LittleWing rang around 11 needing to be picked up from work, I was still sober, so I took Fragma's 180sx for a spin up the road to pick her up. When we got back I broke open what was left of my duty-free alcohol and the fun continued. All up it was just a really good night, the mood was light, we all enjoyed ourselves and I think Fragma really appreciated us all being there. Most of the guys left around 2am, but Fragma, LittleWing and I stayed up talking through till about 5 am. I had gotten pretty drunk for some reason (the other two were quite sober) so they proceeded to try and pry Japan stories out of me (some of what happens on camp, stays on camp!). I can't remember much of what I told them, I was pretty stuffed by that stage. Eventually though I crashed, I had an 8am lecture to go to Friday so I needed some sleep. I think the others crashed around the same time as well (LW had work Friday, though Fragma had a rostered day off). I woke up around 8, so much for going to that lecture, got out of bed feeling really seedy, had a shower, cleaned up a little, checked on the other guys, and got ready to go to Uni. Fragma said he had things to do that day, and he was ready to go, so he gave LW a lift home. He said he would be back that afternoon. I chucked my stuff in the car and headed off to Uni. I had missed my policy and strategy lecture, but I had a compulsory tut for it I needed to attend, and I also had to see my thesis coordinator (for the first time in about 8 weeks) to talk about the progress of my project. I really didn't feel like it, but I couldn't afford to ditch it. It was raining. Fuck. Anyway I got home in the afternoon, Fragma showed up, and he said that LW was going to call later that night and come around again. We were both feeling like crap, tired, rundown. We talked about Lisa for a bit (didn't actually do that much the night before) then killed a couple of hours playing multiplayer Civilization 3. LW called early, she didn't have to work late, so around 10 we went to pick her up (in my car this time). There were a lot of cars outside of where she worked that night, so we parked a little down the road. She came out and saw us, exclaimed "Oh you walked!" and then proceeded to power-walk down the hill towards my place (it's a fairly long walk). She was a good 15 meters down the hill away from us when Fragma and I just turned the other way and started walking (towards my car), LW thought were we just taking the long way around. Anyway she eventually saw the car, and we drove home. It was just the three of us that night, so we moved upstairs and got the heater out (it was really cold). After Thursday night I didn't really feel like getting drunk (I had way too much to drink the night before), but we opened a bottle of red wine and sat around for some more trips down memory lane (Fragma, LW and I all went to primary school together, I've known them since I was 8). Fragma and I raided my liquor cabinet and brought the interesting stuff upstairs, LW commented that she had never drunk tequila before, so we poured her a shot from an almost empty bottle I had. I got some salt, didn't have any lemon, but had a thing of lemon juice for her to use. She licked, shot, and slurped, and the look on her face was priceless. Tequila and red wine is a strange mix, but then LW proceeded to have a shot of vodka followed by a shot of bourbon in the space of about 5 minutes after the tequila shot. She seemed all right, for about 10 minutes, and then she went spastic. She doesn't drink very often and is a self confessed Cadbury. Fragma and I thought it was pretty funny. She didn't drink anything more after that. The conversation drifted over a lot of different things, we talked about where were we going, where we would like to be a year from now. Each of us are completely different, but extremely similar in some respects. I remember waking up on the carpet upstairs around 4am, the others had gone to bed, so I dragged myself downstairs for some sleep as well. Ah Saturday (hmm this is going to be a long entry). I had nothing planned, nothing to do, a free day. LW had to go into the city around midday so Fragma ended up dropping her to the station (though we tried our best to convince her to come to Chermside with us), then the two of us cruised down to the shops in his 180. We were starving, no one had done the shopping and my place was totally devoid of food. We wandered around the shops for a while, got some food, went to check if Calvin was working (he wasn't) and then finally went to the arcade to play some Initial D. Between us we managed to kill three hours, pumping about $60 into those two machines. Fragma drives a 180 (of course), I use the LanEvo. Having wasted far too much money we decided to go for a proper drive, so we headed out to Mt Glorious, but this time went further across to Mt Nebo as well. We paced a couple of bikes up the mountain, but on the downwards trip we got stuck behind this shitty Rav4, so it ended up taking us about five times as long to get down as it did to get up the mountain. All this driving got to us though, so on the way back home we decided to pop by rurouni's place and see if he was up for an Initial D marathon (rurouni had the CDs with the show on it). He was shoveling dirt when we arrived, so we supervised for a bit until he was finished, and then got organised. We spread the word, let everyone know what was happening, then headed back to my place. There was still no food at my place, so when everyone arrived we went down to the foreshore to get some fish and chips. It was the usual crowd; Fragma, Wulfen, nashdj, rurouni and myself, so when we got back to my place we sat around, talked, tried to defend our fish from my cat and then eventually put on the first episode of Initial D. It had been ages since I last watched any, and the first episode had all the energy that I remembered from the series. Everyone was restless though, so we headed back down to Chermisde to play some more Initial D! (a money sink if ever I saw one). I played a few more games, smacked rurouni down, got challenged to a race by this real loser, wanted to play some DDR but this annoying girls hogged the machine, and then realized that it was past 10 and we really needed to get home because LW would be calling soon, wanting to be picked up from work. I sped home (no drifting in the Commodore I'm afraid) and got back before LW rang. The other guys set themselves up for some more Initial D, I went and picked LW up and then we settled down and watched a good four hours of anime. Eventually the other guys got tired and went home (so much for a long marathon) so it was jus LW, Fragma and myself left again. We stayed up for another couple of hours, watched some AMVs I had on CD, plus the Evangelion RE:Death fandub, which was insanely amusing at 3 am in the morning when you are seriously in need of sleep. At some point we all crashed again, another day over. Sunday we all slept in. I got up around 11, had a shower, cleaned up a bit, had a chat to the others about our plans for the day. I had to go and pick my mother up from the airport at 1 and there was still absolutely no food in the house, so we decided to go to Toombul and have something to eat before I picked her up. Mmm hot cinnamon doughnuts, a terrific lunch. After picking mum up and dropping her home we all piled into Fragma's 180 again and went back up to Mt Glorious and Mt Nebo. LW had never been our driving, so we decided to show her what it is like. (For those reading this blog; lately it may seem like we go cruising all the time, but in reality I've gone more in these past two weeks than the twenty before them). LW got scared, I got scared at one point, Fragma almost lost control around one corner, in the end it was all fun though, and we had a much better run than the previous day. We were all very tired though, and both LW and I fell asleep on the way back. Fragma dropped me home, and I was alone. There was nobody about for the first time in days. Even though I was totally exhausted I didn't really want to be alone, so I jumped online and caught up on everything I had missed over the previous three days. LW came on and we talked into the night, but eventually sleep claimed both of us. Monday I slept. Monday night Calvin came over. We had organised the previous Thursday at Uni (before this story began) to get together for the screening of the last Buffy episode ever. He arrived late, just in time for the episode to start, but instead I taped Buffy and we watched the Soprano's. Once that was finished we got lots of popcorn (which I had hideously burnt accidentally) and settled down to watch the final episode uninterrupted. I'm not going to talk about the ending here, suffice to say that I'm sad it's all over. Afterwards I showed Calvin the first episodes of a whole different assortment of anime series (Haibane Renmei, SaiKano, Chobits, Azumanga Dioh). He isn't as immersed in anime as I am, but he really loved what I showed him. We talked about shit, bitching about our lives, lots of teen angst crap that is fun to dwell on at 3am in the morning, and finally went to bed. The next morning we woke up in time for lunch, which just happened to be chips and calamari (we both had a craving for it). We went for a walk along the foreshore, Calvin got a call from LW asking what's up, we bummed around a bit more, bugging the seagulls, and then finally went home. Decided to watch Battle Royale, which Calvin thought was really cool. Eventually Calvin went home, and I sat down to read the script for a play he wrote that is going to be performed at Uni next month. It was really good, very Calvin, and it actually made me reassess some of the stuff we had talked about over the past couple of days. After that I made some dinner (there was actually food at my place by this point) and then Fragma showed up. He watched to go over to his place to watch all of the Alien movies (he had gotten the boxset) and also needed some help moving some of his stuff around. I was just about to walk out the door with him then my stupid nagging sense of responsibility kicked in and I told him I couldn't. I had just killed a five-day block of my life hanging out (or recovering from it). I had neglected completely my studies (ahhh thesis!) and all the other commitments I had. So I said I couldn't go, and now I'm alone again. I'm currently listening to the mix CD that Calvin put together for me, and trying to get my head around the past couple of days. I'm really going to miss these guys. My standard week involves Uni, work, and sleep. I get to see some of my friends are Uni, others when we organise to do something for the weekend, or to meet up during a free hour in the week. We usually make time to all get together for a couple of hours at least once a week (inevitably it seems to watch some cheesy reality TV show) but often (particularly last semester) it was a struggle to get that to happen. I haven't felt like I did over the past couple of days since highschool, where you saw your friends everyday and knew everything that was happening to them. We all have vastly different lives now, we can't possibly keep in as close contact as we did back then, I accept and understand that. I'm happy with what we have at the moment; the last couple of days were just like a super concentrated dose of that. I wish I could put it in little bottles, so I could take a swig whenever I an missing my friends, because despite all the great fun I know I'm going to have 6 months from now, and all the new friends I'm sure to make, I really am going to miss everyone I leave behind. P.S. This is long, and I haven't had a chance to edit it, and it is probably a total rambling semi-comprehensible mess, but then that suits my life right now, so please bear with it everyone ^_^

Moving, just keep moving...

Friends Fragma came and picked me up Friday night. I hadn't seen him for months (even before I went away), so it was good to catch up. I brought along my premium duty-free alcohol, he bought some really cheap stuff, and we sat around drinking, watching anime, and swapping stories well into the night. Nothing much had changed in his world these past months so I did most of the talking. Sometime later that night (or the next morning) we crashed. I had forgotten how good it is just to hang out. On Saturday we met up with Mr G, picked up Nash, and went cruising out to Mt Glorious. Fragma had some boost problems with his 180sx, but G's seemed to be running fine. Both 180's made short work of the mountain road, with the only problem being caused by a big ditch across the driveway into the park at the top of the mountain, which scraped up the front of Fragma's car as it came in. The drive was refreshing, and it really drove home how different Japan is to Australia (excuse the pun). Fifteen minutes out from Mr G's place, over a small mountain, and we were driving through farmland. Along great stretches of grassland with cattle grazing, then up through hills covered with Aussie scrub. I think I am going to miss this place after all. Today was a day of getting organised. Cleaning up, finally putting away my backpack (which has been sitting on the floor of my room since I got back), and throwing away all the junk that accumulated while I was away. I'm tying up all the loose ends that resulted becuase of the trip, and I hopefully should have it all done before I go to bed tonight. I also should have a brief outline up of where I went while in Japan. It won't have pictures, it won't have big descriptions, but it will be something.

Home at last

Friends - Personal - Travel Well I made it. After a month on the road (on train as it were) I am now back on Australian soil. We flew out of Kansai airport Sunday night, and finally arrived at the Gold Coast around seven Monday morning. I've been talking pretty much non-stop ever since. My older brother was home when I got back, so I spent about two hours telling him tales and answering his questions. Then mum called home from work, and I spent another half an hour talking to her. Then I took a two-hour break and watched the last two episodes of 24 that my brother taped for me. Then mum came home from work early and I spent about three hours talking to her. Then LittleWing rang and we tried organising something for the night (I didn't have net access, Ads taking his modem back after about three years). Then I had dinner and talked to mum some more. Then LittleWing rang back and told me our dinner plans had fallen through, so I spent about three hours talking to her. Then I promptly fell asleep. So many stories to tell. I am definitely going to write up a full account of my journeys as soon as possible. I've really enjoyed talking to everyone since getting back about it, but there is just so much to tell and I am already beginning to forget things. I'm at Uni now, catching up on things, but later in the week I'll try to get something up, even if it is just a rough sketch outline of where we went and when. Anyway I'm still really tired. So I'm going to go home and make a start of reading all the mail I received while I was away.

One sleep to go!

Friends - Travel - University I had to get up before sunrise yesterday in order to get into Uni on time for my last exam. It was cold and it was wet and I was miserable. The test was easy though and it brought to a close my seventh University semester, so I'm happy. I spent the rest of the day walking around the city buying Australian "stuff", mostly for our friend Sugoi, so he can give it all away as presents. Today I started packing. I was going to start earlier, but well it didn't happen. Thankfully I am not missing anything too important. The flights confirmed, Sugoi rang us last night, everything is taken care off. Just a few last minute things to worry about now. I was going to write a whole lot more here, but my list of last few things to do today is actually quite long. Next time I write I'll probably be in Japan!

Lantastic

Friends - Travel - University - Work I contemplated blogging from work today. I had come up from the rec room after being soundly beaten at pool (boo) and I didn't really feel like getting stuck right back into documentation, so I pondered whether the IT guys would consider blogging as "work related internet usage". For some reason I doubted it. I just surfed pages on backpacking instead. I've got to work again tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that, but if it means I can eat tasty things in Japan then I'll gladly put up with it! My test went well yesterday. No surprise questions, nothing I absolutely couldn't answer, all is good in the world of relational database systems. Only one more really small (30%) exam left (for Business Research Methods) and I'll be free! Free for this semester at least, free to forget about my thesis for a while and go party in Japan. I haven't been to any of the lectures for this test since week 3 (it is a business subject after all) but if I do some study on the weekend I should be right. My 40% assignment mark should have been released today, but it's not up on the website yet. Not that I really expected anything better from the Uni. Meanwhile half my friends are at a LAN, and have been for the past three days. It's so very annoying becuase they are sitting on IRC and I'm sitting on IRC, and I'm trying to study, and they are playing games, or doing other "fun" things as the case may be. As I type it seems that Bull is about to head over to the LAN as well. Oh and Chris ate a yogo in 30 seconds, I think Wulfen's comment "the fatty" sums it up best. I probably shouldn't blog and read IRC at the same time, everything gets crossed over. We still haven't got anyplace booked to stay in Japan (other than Obama, where we are all staying with our friend Sugoi, and paying by means of walking the landlady's dog). Hopefully we get that all worked out soon, otherwise it's a capsule hotel for us! The closer we get, the more disorganised we seem.

And then there were five.

Friends - Travel Well Wulfen is now officially coming to Japan! The travel agent thought he was a terrorist, and wouldn't give him the details of our trip, but after a couple of quick phone calls all the privacy issues were cleared and he managed to get on the same flights as us. He even managed to get his package for $130 less than we did! Ah well I'm just glad he is coming. We are going to all get together tomorrow to actually organise some things for the trip because at the moment we haven't got much planned besides "Arrive in Japan" .... "Leave Japan". In the meantime though I need to get some serious study done. Benkyo! Benkyo! Benkyo!