Merry May

Last day of uni on the twenty-ninth, glad to have this semester (almost) done.

Work, work, work at the moment.

However, more interestingly, today is the last day of May, the last day of Autumn, and tomorrow the first day of Winter.

Fast run through of May, yeah?

Early May, Dad's birthday, lots of a very filling cake... Mmmm... Cake...

Moreover, Jesus Christ Superstar. Show was fantastic. So hot, it almost caught fire.

Middle of May, Tash's party, with a guest appearance from Jesus.

Also: JD's birthday; Pancake Parlour; Shopping in th

e city; Cancer (boo!); Crepes; Movie night.

Work every Wednesday (I have not been outside during daylight hours on a Wednesday this month).

In addition, I turned twenty. Fun things of note: Suit and associated items; items for my cuffs; subscription to a magazine I was planning to buy a subscription to next month; fan controller (see picture); enough money to fill my car up four times (or enough for two and a bit months); cards; hugs; and well wishes.

Plan for June: Work every Wednesday, and most Friday's. Study hard for exams, especially Math and Electrical Systems. Relax before another hectic semester. Visit friends all over Melbourne. Fiddle. Invent something. Increase my average sentence length...

Hope you've all had an awesome May 2009; now onto Winter!

Happy Blog Day

Whooo! Two years old now!

Let's go get shit-faced!

Any excuse will do!

I'm Old!

Or so everyone keeps telling me...

I woke up this morning and I did feel older, but I suppose I'm supposed to feel that every morning... Maybe it was the new shirt I wore... I donno...

So I called for the nurse to bring me my walking frame and I wandered out to the park to feed the ducks pieces of stale bread all day... Please remind me to buy more bread; I'll forget if someone doesn't remind me... Similar to phone calls – I would have called if I was reminded (if I managed how to figure out how to press the buttons in the first place).

What was I talking about? Oh that's right... I'm old...

I mean nineteen is the last of the teens; isn't that a scary thought... That means I'm almost dead!!! Quick, drink more alcohol to make sure the liver dies first!!! And doesn't nineteen just seem like the "forgotten age?" We see movies where the main character is a teenager and they're always eighteen... Never nineteen... How sad...

Also, I've decided it's a very bad idea to let Harry lick you: he eats poo... I see Afrika taking a crap and next moment the crap is gone with Harry standing over it, doing the whole "yay I've found something to eat" thing... No wonder Harry craps twice as much as Afrika...

Oh right... It's my birthday... You don't want to hear about dog crap...

Ok, seriously, there's not that much to tell about my birthday this year; I'm nineteen, it's a "forgotten age," remember? Of course you don't remember, you're almost as senile as I am!

And the post date and time is significant by the way...

Emo in a White Shirt

Happy Birthday Al...

Nice shirt...

Limited Information

Which pretty much sums up what photo's I can show you of Rosebud and our trip away.

Most of the pictures have been withheld, not because the actions depicted were illegal, just not required to tell a story...

So I was bartender, which was a lot of fun. Especially as Al paid for most of the alcohol... Cheers buddy... Amelia, Nick, Izzy and I went to the beach one day, which was a nice calming experience. Al and CVP stayed home to inspect the TV for subliminal messages, reports show that there several messages hidden, including a request from many for "MORE!!!"

Luke was our wonderful host, who ended up mowing the lawns himself. He didn't have to, but did it anyway... Sophie stayed a few days too, adding to our numbers, except in the mornings when she'd disappear for a few hours to check the surf. We had a water fight, and got pretty wet... We slept in, and stayed up late... We gave Al something of a male version of a make-over, with a new sleek black hair colour and a waxing of the back of his neck. Learnt some things about each other on "Truth or truth" night, cause no one could think of any dares (Though I've thought of several now that it's all over... I reckon watching Christiaan run up one of those hills would have been worth it).

Definitely a time worth remembering, plenty to take out of it...

And today we got our VCE results... Did almost exactly as I predicted, with two surprises:

One – English; I really kinda hate English, and sorta didn't try at all for it... So why the hell did I get a 39 for the subject???

Two – Electrotech; expected a little more from this one really, mainly because I know I'm better than the 43 I got. Though depending on the number of students that actually did Electrotech in the state, that 43 could still be the top grade (last year's top grade was 49, then 47, then 45, then 43).

Other subjects were really as expected, my 33 in Methods CAS got scaled up to a 40 and a 34 in Chemistry also went up to a 39.

Coupled with my subjects from last year, Biology and Geography, I pulled a solid 91.55 as my ENTER.

Which clearly fulfils my requirement of a 72.10 to get into Engineering at RMIT (it's the longest course name in the paper, if you want to know which Engineering).

Happy? Don't know... Hasn't sunk in yet... Maybe it never will... It is only four digits and a decimal place afterall... And if you don't get what you want this year, you do a year of something else and transfer... Doesn't count for anything really... Does it?

Milestones

So yesterday was a very special day! Did anyone pick it?

Yes, I went to the Dentist. Yes, I drove out to Donvale. Yes, I went to this "The Glen" place for the first time. Yes, I travelled into the city and back, simply to get a uniform for work next week. Yes, I was delayed by half an hour by Connex because of a signal fault or some shit like that. And yes, I spent my evening with Izzy.

None of this however celebrated my blog's first birthday...

It has evolved since it first appeared on the net, but still has the same blue "tic-tac" look to it (that's the name of the template). It's written about everything, from disasters to celebrations... And just like my blog has evolved, so have I in the last year (either it followed me or I followed it, haven't decided yet...).

Not only was yesterday its first birthday, but this post is its fiftieth... Which means that a new post has appeared every week or so... Never feels like it...

So over this time, there's been a whole heap of interesting searches from Google which have pointed people here. Three people have searched for my laptop with an interest in installing Ubuntu on it... I hope that goes well for them. One wants to know if Luke Hawley is an alcoholic (Shoulda sent me an e-mail). Two people have been interested in changing their screen resolutions on a favour of Linux I use. Someone was curious on "black tails, yellow tails" on YouTube, whatever that might be... Someone was searching for "Girls eighteenth birthday party ideas." Good for them, hope it was a blast! Heaps of people have been curious as to where that fucking burn button is in iTunes... And, quite bizarrely, someone is having trouble because their "chocolate music won't unmute..."

Congratulations to my blog for living its first year, congratulations to it again for its fiftieth post, and a very special, loud and vocal congratulations to every person that has visited it over this time, written a comment, or downloaded something from the box.

Oh, and a Nation voted today... La-dee-da...

How much is that Doggie in the window?

So I've finished my exams now. If you ask me how I did in any of them, I've forgotten already... I've decided that there are better things in life than a high ENTER score. I do, however, need a high score, in more ways than one, and NONE of them to get into university. Now that it's done completely, finally and forever, I need to know I made the right choices this year for myself. I'm looking forward to getting blind drunk at the next available opportunity to celebrate choices, hopefully the right ones...

Ryan's Party was last night. Heaps of fun! I only have to say that without any bug stuff, without any vinegar, without jumping up and down like an idiot last night, I received one mozzie bite. Only one. On my thumb... Reinforcing my "soft skin" theory again...

But I've got a soft spot for our new puppy. He's a Cardigan Welsh Corgi (the same type the Queen breeds) and his name is Harry (Pedigree name: Cambrian Make My Day). He's full of energy and is bouncing off everything already. I'm going to have to hide my new shoes if I don't want them to become destroyed. Afrika is sceptical about the new arrival, but he'll just have to get used to the new fella, even if he shows Afrika up a few times. I've got photos of young Harry in the box just here, and some photos of Ryan's party down the very bottom.

Another post titled Fame!

And so Fame is over...

Upon reflection over the many years, school productions aren't just about the audience, aren't just about a great show, they're about taking out all the great moments we have when we bump in or out, have dinner together, or run the show.

And as usual, Fame has outdone itself with plenty of memories I will treasure forever... Confetti, a broken car, and the customary decorous conversation (yeah... RIGHT!).

I could explain how the show went, but if you don't know already then you should have bought tickets.

I could enlighten you as to the details of bump in and the construction of the set, or you could just look at the pictures and their descriptions down the bottom.

I could even inform you of our wonderfully exquisite conversation that we often had as we dined in fine restaurants, though I might not want that kind of conversation left in writing for the whole world to see.

So instead, just remember the days of hard work and hours of lost sleep shared by the crew:

Stewart Bell; Director.

Luke Hawley; Stage Manager.

Brett Pullyblank; Assistant Stage Manager, Locker mover.




Nic Frame; Assistant Stage Manager, Pain in the ass...

James Lescohier; I dunno, what did I do??

Jonathan Davies; Stage Crew.

Laura Matthews; Stage Crew.




Zabrina Batterham; Stage Crew, Locker mover.




Liam Burns; Stage Crew.




James Lee; Stage Crew.




James Panther; Venue Manager + more.

John Panetta; Lighting Design/Operator.

Steve Monkhouse; Lighting Queue person.

Alastair Bryant; Would-be Stage Crew.

Don Wallice; Sound, Music Industry teacher.

Matthew Sanderson; Wireless microphones/sound.
Linh Nguyen; Sound Queue Person.




Dale Krummins; Sound.

Steven Bowler; Pianist.




Kristy Kendall and Lauren Perfect; Dance and Choreography.




Clarabelle; King Cow...


There are plenty I have missed, let's not forget them too.

Thanks to all the cast too, though our jobs are usually easier without you!

Eighteenth Party

Well, I had my Eighteenth birthday party last night. Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Really didn't have anything planned to write here, usually I have something already formed in my head.

My brother took 226 photo's of people, some of which aren't needed but it's nice to have them. Most of them are in the box down the bottom of the page. Quality on all has been drastically reduced because I didn't feel like waiting all week for them to upload. For an original sized (3072 x 2304, 100%) copy of a file just send me an email or leave me a comment.

The party started early because it could and I had fun playing a couple of games of pool before the rest of everybody arrived. Izzy had fun drinking lots and lots and was starting to get very tipsy before some people had finished arriving. Nick, Christiaan and Luke appeared to be going down a similar path too.

After spilling a few drinks and getting wet clothes (not always where we wanted to get wet) Mayston and Kinsey went and got the fireplace for use on the concrete outside which kept us warm while we had a chat away from the noise.

I've sorta run out of things to say really, it was a great night and I had a great time with all my friends and I hope we can do it again sometime. Here's a list of people that turned up (in no particular order):

• James
• Izzy
• Kongy (So sorry I forgot you, God I'm stupid)
• Ams
• Bryant
• Yas
• Hawley
• Jenny
• Christiaan
• Sophie
• Ryan
• Laura
• Monkhouse
• Bevo
• Kinsey
• Mayston
• Mayston's Girl (I don't know her name...)
• Rowey
• Stirling
• Flavel

Couple of people weren't feeling so good during the night, particularly Kongy and Izzy. Hope they're feeling better today. Hope everyone can remember most of their night, or find someone to remember it for them (Welcome to the reason I didn't drink as much as you were expecting me too, I wanted to be able to remember my own Eighteenth).

Heaps of cool presents I've been playing with today. Wearing my beanie to keep my head warm while outside, got the lava lamp bubbling next to me and the plasma lamp in my room. Going to watch season one of ALIAS this week and I'll have to look and installing iTunes again... Damn... :P

And I now have 72.4 standard drinks of alcohol sitting inside... I s'pose I'll have to drink it...

Sheep

Still in bed, trying to wake up. Writing a post should help right? Yes, that's a stuffed giraffe you see in the picture. Her name is Gerry. I suppose that means I've slept with a girl every night since my first Christmas. Sleeping with one of the human variety is, however, a different story. Hopefully that'll change soon.

Monday, I bought this laptop that I'm writing on now and on Tuesday I went out to the store again to actually pick it up. I spent all day Tuesday playing with it. It feels really powerful and works superbly at what I need it to do. By now I should have the files I need copied to it from my other computer but I bet I'll find I missed something later. It took me well and truly over 200 tools to customise and change Windows XP to the way I like it and with Vista I've only used four so far... No doubt that will change over time but it's a good sign that Microsoft might have done something right. It's only crashed twice, both times it was me acting stupid. I'm obviously enjoying the feel of my slick, new machine...

Wednesday I watched one and a half hours of Hamlet before getting bored and going to bed. Thursday I went to an Art gallery in the city to see the Australian Impressionists exhibition and I went on that new Ferris wheel in the city that you notice, specially at night time. Being not that fond of heights I was holding on pretty tightly... Favourite painting: Little Gossips, because it reminded me of people I know.

On Friday I spent the larger part of my day making my bed cos the sheets never seemed to look right. I even tried rolling them up but that didn't really work either, it looked like a slug though. Fun to look at! Went out to Prahran in the late afternoon to have an x-ray of my lower left leg. Running your finger up the bone and you'll find a interestingly sized hole where bone should be. Curious injury, caused when I was hit by a hockey ball. This was the first of the three successive hits. The two theories were that either the bone had shattered at that point and the little fragments eaten or carried away or that the bone had chipped the the fragment had moved somewhere else in the leg. Thankfully, it was neither. What appears to have happened is the thin layer of muscle on the top has formed a crater because of it being crushed in the hit which makes it feel like there is bone missing. But I always enjoy having x-rays, they're actually quite fun. I got to lead bib to protect... er... my more important bits and I had two brilliant spectators that made me laugh by sticking their tongues out at me at the same time! Also, my car leaks... Remind me to get that fixed...

Yesterday night I went out to the MCG to see the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand. Bought a new shirt, Alastair got one too. The match looked like it might be going all one way during the first five minutes when those Kiwi's scored a try without the Aussies even having touched the ball! At half time the score looked miserable for our team being 6-15 down. Amelia joined up with us during the second half when the level of game play started to increase. We cheered and shouted, only sometimes understanding why. New Zealand not scoring at all the second half and our excellent ability to score two converted tries put us in the lead for the final seven minutes of the match. It was an excellent game and the closeness and competitiveness of the two side is what really made it all worthwhile. Congratulations Australia on winning the Bledisloe Cup! And next time we go, we're taking giant inflatable sheep to bounce over the heads of the crowd!

All in all, a very memorable week, with plenty of times and places that I'll remember for the rest of my life. I have another event that I'm likely to remember tonight and I hope to see you there.

Finally, a mention to Matt Sanderson, who is able to make me burst out laughing at a fancy looking cafe next to the art gallery. I was already one of the youngest, most suspicious looking people there and you just added the touches to finish the picture. Thanks.

Cold!

Need a new post to keep you all informed...

Well done on finishing the term everyone, holidays for all!

Obviously, I've set a date and if you haven't got a invite by now... too bad! :P

You're all welcome to get well and truly pissed... and pass out... and wake up the next morning to the tune of me singing in the shower...

There'll be a bartender and a waitress (Al's sister, she'll be drunk before the rest of us) and they'll help you out with the throwing up thing... :P

Everyone is allowed to bring a CD with some music on it, but don't bring several CD's... I'll just chuck five at a time in the player and hit shuffle, so everything will be nice and random...

Send me an email if you haven't already to tell me if you're coming or not... Some people have already told me at school.

Having trouble writing this post at the moment.... someone is trying really hard to distract me.

(it's taken him all of 20 minutes to write all that and i think he's backspaced everything at least twice... i wonder why that could be????)

Showers are cold when you first hop in by the way, just so you know, personal experience... :P

Filling you in...

From me to you, entertainment of today!

If you read this blog then keep the 1st July free! Possible date of interest!

Just a quick one...

Been playing round with the site and what not...

All my pictures/movies/music will be down the bottom probably, for you all to access as you want, and my link to Flickr and some people's blogs have been removed. Also, one new blog, Jonathan Davies (the roof bitch for Inheritance :P).

Also, expect more things for the site soon, I'm eighteen now, which means I can do a lot more with the internet (No Alastair, that's disgusting!).

Talk to you all soon!

Happy Birthday!!!

I turned eighteen today! At noon if you want to be more precise, so I'm eighteen and six hours at the time of writing. Don't really know what to say other than that except "Yay for me!"

I've been writing eighteen a lot more than 18 (cept for when I'm in a rush) because it has a special feel to it... I donno, maybe I'm just crazy...

List of presents? Sure!
From Dad: Indiana Jones box set (It's not a laptop though, still annoyed about that)
From Grandma and Grandpa (Mum's side): One of those outdoor chairs that folds up with a stubby holder in it.
From Michelle (Sister): Shirt and shorts, plus a nifty looking Tiki necklace :P
Other relatives from the US: Phone calls and cards to make sure that I know that they haven't forgotten about me.
From Mum and Michael: Bledisloe Cup tickets in really good seats, a BBQ (cos I was about to throw the pan out the window), Poster, Advanced driving course (so I become a 'safer' driver) and some workspace hazard tools (witches hats and 'DO NOT CROSS' tape for the desk).
From Hawley: Roger Waters tickets, even if it was a couple of months ago, still awesome!
And from Izzy: Well, a CD a guess, but she keeps forgetting :P (anytime is fine by me) (or maybe I just haven't looked under my pillow yet :P) and also her love (soppy... :P)

If you haven't got me anything yet, don't feel bad, I haven't actually had a party yet to warrant the need to presents. But I have had heaps of Birthday messages on my phone, thanks to all!

The reason for no party? Everyone is flat out with study for exams and SAC's and such, including me! So it makes more sense to have one when things have calmed down... like perhaps at the start or end of the holidays (I'll try to avoid the middle, most people go away).

Should this party have some sort of theme or something? That's your decision, I'm happy to do whatever so if you guys want a pirate party or something suggest it to me and I'll see what others think.

Going for my license on the 31st May. It was the closest date they had to my b'day in February when i booked it. Suggestion to those who haven't booked it yet: book now if you want it close to the day!

Finally, leaving you with something I thought of today: Eighteen, same as Seventeen, only legal!