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Wow. I'm REALLY liking Cradle of Filth lately. REALLY liking them.
You can call me Faerie Corpse from now on.
If you want me, I'll be in my room writing poetry. Just don't turn the light on if you come in, the light unbalances my fragile existence. Etc etc. I'm sure you get the idea.
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Ah dammit! I just checked my statement. I DID get $100 out at Kitchener. Ah nuts. That means I spent about $130-150 at Pubfest. I knew $50 was way too cheap.
Dammit.
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Now, where was I?
Did I finish telling you about Pubfest? I don't know, and I can't hear you. Gimme a second and I'll go check my sent folder. Be back in a jiffy. You won't even know I'd left.
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Back now.
Ok, so Mike, Pete and I had just been taken away from shots at the bar. We them all piled on to the bus to go to Kitchener (I think). Wow. What a shithole. We stayed there for one drink. Ah dammit. I remember at ATM. I hope I didn't get money out. I thought I'd only spent about $50. I'd better go check my statement.
Anyway. That Pub sucked, and the barkeep looked like a mouse. We didn't stay long, and as a present for Pete I stole a XXXX sign for him. We all hopped on the next bus which was to take us back to Bellbird. The bus trip was so much fucking fun. We were all crazy, Peter especially. Man. Some awesome fucking photos there. I'll upload them for all of those that never saw them.
Bellbird was awesome. It was this part of the night where my memory starts to fail me. I remember buying drinks. I remember knocking my beer over. I remember grabbing Leanne's camera and taking photos of everyone under the guise of being a press photographer (I'm not sure anyone believed me). I remember buying a guy a drink because he posed for the photo. I don't remember anything else (except for the guy threatening me not to put his photo on the 'net that is). Looking through the photos afterward, it looks as if we were all having an awesome time. I don't know how long we stayed there, but as is expected, we did eventually go home. We patted the horse when we got back, but I don't know why. I remember putting on the Hybrid DVD, and getting funky. I also remember putting on some music and dancing like crazy... but I don't remember what it was. Actually, my calves are still a little sore from that. I remember having Tequila, lime and lemonade with Mike, and thinking that it was alright (probably the strongest sign that I was gawn). I remember having to sleep in Peter's shitty old bed because Alex and Ally were in mine. I remember blabbing on about the music I was listening to in bed to Leanne. And I remember waking up and not being able to sleep for hours because of all the sugar in my blood (or at least that's what I assume it was).
I slept in the next day. Breakfast was a rissole that had been cooked a few hours before.
Mike had to leave by about midday to go do some work for Renata, so he missed out on the photo viewing. That was an experience. Pete has already done the good thing and uploaded some to his myspace page (go check them out. He's in my top 12 friends list).
The remainder of us piled into Leanne's car to go home via Windarra Winery (I really like that place).
We couldn't really linger, as Leanne and I had a concert to go to (Jon hadn't yet bought a ticket). So we had a FnC lunch (Kath n Kim reference) in C-town, and headed down to Sydney. Smooth run, but the Cessnock exit is such a boring drive. We got to Sydney with only enough time to get a half hour nap in before we had to nick off to the concert.
I haven't even mentione what concert it is, have I? It was The Presidents of The United States of America, and it was fucken awesome. Unfortunately, there was a bit of confusion regarding the availability of tickets, so Jon didn't get to go (bummed). Leanne and I were to meet Ross and Tristan in there (Ross had just come back from NZ, and Tristan had picked him up from the airport). We missed a train, so Leanne and I were a little later than intended, but we missed nothing. The opening band were energetic but average. 20 (or even 30) years ago they would have been something interesting, but their music just came off as old hat. However, the Presidents were fucking super mega kickass, and we had a fucking great spot to see it all too. I've never seen a crowd sing as loudly and consistently as at that concert (well, one exception; Coldplay's "Yellow" at BDO 01). It was awesome. The crowd were just loving it, and what just made it that much better was that the band seemed to be loving it too! Yeah man. It was super kickass!
Exhausted we headed back home.
What a weekend!
Listening to: Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine (album) Goth power!
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Hi there. Quick update coz I'm bored (I'll see if I can type up the final half of my weekend update tonight, but my new HDD for my iriver arrived yesterday, so the installation of that is getting the priority...).
But anyway.
I just thought I'd point out a handy feature of blogger to all of you addicted to my blog.
Did you know that my posts are automatically linked with an RSS feed?
What does that mean? Well, it means you can easily subscribe to my blog and find out when I've updated it! Just use Firefox (or your favourite RSS feed subscribing application)!
So, in Firefox, click on the orange icon that appears in the address bar and it will open up a bookmark dialogue box. I recommend sticking the bookmark in the "Bookmarks toolbar folder" so that you can access it easily. When you click on the new bookmark, a slide menu will open up withg a list of my most recent posts, click on one of them to read it. How easy is that!?
Also, you may like to know that the PBF and spamusement websites also support this wonderful
feature!
Also, also, if you prefer IE, the new IE 7 will support RSS, and the new Yahoo! Mail Beta supports RSS feeds too. Mad fun. That is all.
Listening to: King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (the classic prog-rock album)
Yes, ladies and otherwise, last weekend was the annual Cessnock Pubfest. Wow. Bleary. Messy. Embarrassing. Above all, awesome. Really, really kickass. Pubfest is a funny thing really. I mean, why is it any different to any day at the pub? The beers are only $3.30 (I swear they used to be $2.50), which isn't really THAT cheap. The music is never THAT good. So the only thing that sets it apart from a normal day at the pub is the buses between the pubs. And guess what, there seems to only be two good pubs on the run anyway. So, why is pubfest so special? Because it's an excuse to get well pissed during the day. And that we did. Well and truly. There were parts of the day that I just don't remember (after having been told of them), so that's a good sign. And also as a positive, it looks as if I didn't do anything I regret (despite being blind) either. Tops!
But let's get down to the details (as this blog also serves the purpose of chronicling all my activities, I add the details for posterity, it's not as if you people don't know most of it already). I digress.
Sad to say that both Boggle and Ross were in positions where they couldn't make it up, so the group this year consisted of Jon, Brendan, Leanne and Mike S. As per usual, Alex and Ally came up too, but this year saw the addition of my younger brother, Pete. It was awesome to go out drinking with him (I don't think I had before; and certainly not to the level of binge that is the Pubfest). He was a fucken cack (i.e. a rather amusing fellow), and all my friends agreed. Man, we got some funny fucking photos. Digital SLRs rule. At one point I was running around saying that I was from the press and just taking photos of everyone in the pub. Hehe. Except one guy, about 5 minutes after I took a photo of someone at his table (or of him... I don't really know) came up to me and threatened me telling me that I better not put that picture on the internet. What the fuck? Does he realise now stupid that is? Does he think that the internet consists of 2 or 3 pages of pictures that people just look at? Would he think that his workmates would find it and laugh at him come Monday? Does he think it diminishes his chance of becoming a lawyer? As if at the job interview they quickly pop onto the net and look at those 3 pages of pictures to see if there's any of him drinking? I don't know what his fucken problem was. So I just said to him "what's the internet" and left when I could. I really fucken wish I knew what he looked like so that I could put his picture up, label him a dork, and even start up a myspace page for him. Fucken dag.
But, I was in such good spirits (or should that be beer-its?) that that didn't even begin to tarnish my mood. All in all it was awesome.
We started at Bellbird (which is one of the two good pubs on the route) at about 2pm, had a few beers (and some lamb and gravy rolls) and caught the bus to Wenty's on Vincent (the other good pub on the route) and had more beer and a game of pool. Pete convinced me to have a go on a pokie with him, and we put in $2 between us, and won $12! So I blew that on a bundy draught each. Pete and I spent most of the time out in the smoking bit just talking shit with Ally. We were collected by everyone else when the bus was about to arrive, but Mike, Pete and I managed to squeeze in 2 more shots (we grabbed a tequila, and the barkeep recommended a pancake, which is a frangelico shot with sugar and lemon). Was pretty good man. Not very manly, but good. We were about to get a more manly shot when someone came and grabbed us. Probably for the best.
Ok, Just got into work, so more later...
Listening to: Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (album)
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God dammit! I forgot to bring a book again!
And I'm all sweaty because I had to run for the train, too.
Stoopid Summer.
At least I've got Mario.
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I've been meaning to bring a book with me to help with the commuting, and I consistently forget. Dammit.
So it's been a while since I've posted, yeah? No real reason. I spent the weekend up at the Hunter (no PC or phone reception there). Sunday night was the Fat Freddy's Drop concert (which I'll come to in a moment). Monday night was spent at West Ryde (no 'net), and I plumb forgot last night.
So, depending on how bored I feel, and if I can really be bothered, I may or may not fill you in on the details.
Give me a moment to decide.
...
Consider yourselves lucky.
So I headed up to the Hunter with Pete on Friday night (Mum was already up there). I haven't been up there for a while, so it was good to see it again. It looks really good. Mum has had some gardners in and they've done a whole heap of work - including grading the driveway. Those of you heading up this weekend for Pubfest will be able to see it. Looks tops. Who is coming up anyway? I'll make some calls tonight.
Saturday actually involved the family going down to Sydney to see Alex's baseball game. The plan was that he and Ally would come up afterward. But Alex decided that he wanted to go to the after game party instead. And seeing that it wasn't Mum's birthday until Monday, Mum said it would be fine. So Mum, Peter and I headed back up and went straight to dinner at the Swill and Grill in Cessnock. Bit of a waste of a day really, considering I had to start heading down to Sydney by about Midday the next day. So, not the most eventful of weekends.
But, Sunday was the Fat Freddy's Drop concert. The original plan was to get some weed before hand, but the rainy weather dampened our enthusiasm (so to speak...). So we (Ross, Jon and I) just went for the usual steak dinner at the Coopers hotel (whose actual name I forget), and had a few beers, and then headed over to the Entertainment Quarter for a few more drinks until the doors to The Forum opened. I'd never been to a concert at The Forum before. I really like it (probably even more than The Metro/Century). The layout is fucking great, and it's still small enough to be intimate (as intimate as a 2000 capacity venue could be). Check it out if you can.
Wow, this post is getting big. The phone is slowing as I type now.
So there were 2 opening bands. One was just two (very attractive) girls on mics MCing to a DJ playing dub reggae. They were good though. But then the next group came on; The Resurrectors. A 9 piece Aussie reggae group (but with members from all over the world), complete with a wheelchair-bound guitarist (and the first fat solo I've heard in a reggae band). Holy shit they went off. So much so that I bought their CD. They were so energetic!
And, despite their energy and enthusiasm, Fat Freddy's Drop didn't disappoint. They were fucken awesome. Over 2 hours of awesome in fact! A really great show. The trombone player was a fucking legend. He was grooving the whole time. Actually grooving is too litte a word. He was FUNKING THE FUCK OUT the whole time. Legend. A really, really good show. We were all struttin our funk (Jon included), along with the entire audience. Fucking kickass. As an example of how awesome it was, I didn't find myself getting restless at all. Usually at concerts by about an hour into the main show, my mind starts wandering, and I can't concentrate on the show too much. I usually start to wish that it would end. Not with Freddy. Was groovin the whole time and lovin it. And the encore when they played Wandering Eye was the appropriate climax that all shows should have (but so often don't). Amazing. I didn't get home until 2am though, and had to work the next day. Crappo. Red Bull is my friend.
Did I tell you about Big Day Out tickets? About how I had to stay up to get them? About how I was worried that something went wrong? Well, it did. I don't have any Big Day Out tickets. And they're now sold out. The only way to get tickets is to put your name down on a ballot form, and they'll randomly draw 500-1000 names per week, and they'll be the lucky ones that are allowed to buy no more than 2 of the last 10,000 tickets. At an inflated price I might add. This whole situation has me so pissed off that I don't really want to type about it. If you ask me about it, I can give you a detailed (and probably offensive) account of it all.
Ben (from work) will probably stay over on Thursday night, as he's heading north on Friday, and wants to leave from the Northside so that he can avoid the city.
I'm also getting paid this week, but not too much, as I only worked 68 hours this fortnight (compared to the usual 80). Lame.
Would you look at that; it's time to change trains.
Later!
Listening to: Megadeth - Sweating Bullets
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Looks like BDO decided not to charge me for the tickets... So I don't know if I actually have tickets.
Fuck.
So here's a copy of the email I sent them (as it gives a better outline of what happened)
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Hi there!
Early this morning I purchased 3x tickets to the Sydney Big Day Out, and was a little concerned that I had not been charged for them (but as the website said that it could take some time, I thought I'd leave it in your hands).
However, a few moments ago, my brother asked if I could also purchase him a ticket to the Gold Coast Big Day Out, so I did so. Contrary to the previous time, my credit card was charged immediately.
Also, last night, after hitting the confirm button, I was taken to a page listing the Big Day Out shows (no confirmation), while when I purchased the Gold Coast one just then, I was directed to a confirmation page teling me that I had been succesfully charged. I checked my balance online, and indeed, I had been (but only for 1x ticket to the Gold Coast show).
So did you guys ever receive my order for 3x tickets to the Sydney Big Day Out at approx 00:25 this morning (13th Oct 2006)? (I sent a text message to my friend when I bought them telling him that he got a ticket, so I have an approximate time stamp on when I finished the order. I also MSN'ed two friends at that time).
I hope everything is alright (I've already missed out on tickets to the Tool sideshow)
Thank you for your time (I understand you a very busy right now),
Kindest regards,
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I don't want to hop on over to ticketmaster, as I don't want to not go through the BDO website after contacting them (and on the chance that it's just a delayed order).
So I'm going to just sit tight and hope for the best.
I might also add that only 1/2 an hour before I found out that they charged instantly, the BDO website sold out of tickets. The only way to get Sydney tickets at the moment is through Ticketmaster and Red Eye Records. Cross your fingers people.
As you may or may not know (what other possibilities are there?), Big Day Out tickets went on sale at www.bigdayout.com last night at midnight. So, of course, I stayed up late so I could get some. I'm pretty fekkin tired right now, but I'M GOING TO BIG DAY OUT! Yay! Bought tickets for Alex, Ross and I. Alex wanted me to get him a ticket for Gold Coast Big Day Out too, but I didn't have enough money on my credit card. I'll see what I can do for him today. They said on the website that it could take a few hours to get a confirmation email, and up to 21 days for payment to be confirmed, as it's all a manual process. But that still doesn't make me a little paranoid about it not going through...
I also met some lovely (albeit young) randoms in JB last night. One in particular that has just turned her back against religion. Props to her for thinking for herself. I probably could have guessed that she was one of the Born Again up until recently; she had that sickening level of enthusiasm that is so common with those types. Give me Agnosticism any day; spiritual apathy.
I also met up with Tu (I don't know how to spell her name...) for lunch. It was one of those odd "is it a date?" meetings. I hope to see her again, and that seemed to be reciprocated, so let's see what happens.
I'm heading up to the Hunter this weekend for Mum's birthday (and it looks as if Mum's present will still be in the post for it), and of course next weekend for Pubfest.
Oh, and Fat Freddys Drop is this Sunday, and The Presidents is the one after that. Fucken A man.
And that's it.
Listening to: Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (I might add that these guys also rock my hairy nutsack)
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Sitting at work, once again, with nothing to do. I hate this. Been waiting for Matt to import the Shorelink geodata for a while now, but he has to fix some stuff first. When he finally imports it, then I'll have something to do, but in the mean time; I'm bored.
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What a kickass weekend.
But I'll get to the kickassness in a moment. Barwick called me on Thursday night... drunk. He was keen to meet up, and said he'd call to hang out on Firday night, but never did.
I met up with Boggle on Friday for lunch, and he was still around after work, so I met up him and grabbed some food (pizza), and we started to head back to mine. We also decided that on the way to mine, we might as well stop off at Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, coz the beer is cheap.
We called Leanne, and she decided to meet us too, and Jon said he would too. So we all did. Brendan came after work too. Joy! The dancing Asian lady was there too! She goes off... I can't do her justice. She had kicks and twirls this time too. Awesome.
Ended up staying alot longer than we imagined we would. Boggle and Jon came back to ours, but headed back home shortly.
Saturday was the day of both Denise and Monique's birthdays. So that meant present shopping... ended up buying Denise a book and a (terrible) calendar. The book, I might add, was The Worst Mistakes in History and Who Made Them. It looked entertaining and interesting, and as it turns out, Denise left her job two weeks ago, so is keen for reading material. Exxxcellent. We (Ross, Jon, Leanne and I) ended up buying Monique a pair of sunglasses. She seemed very happy with them, and she was looking for a pair for herself anyway. I rule.
While I was with Ross getting presents, Leanne and Brendan were out finding bargains. We now have a fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster, and a rice cooker. I also bought a bottle opener. Nice.
It was decided that Leanne and I would go to Denise's party first, then head to Monique's afterward (everyone else went to Monique's only). Denise's was super kick-ass! Really good food, great company, and unlimited sangria! Woohoo! Yeah man, It fucken ruled. Leanne and I ended up staying a lot longer than we intended, and didn't get to Monique's until after 1am... woops. I think it was better to see Monique in a smaller group anyway, and it was indeed lovely to see her again. But she'd been sick all day, and headed home shortly after we arrived (I might add that Leanne and I didn't even arrive in time for last drinks). But the remainder of us headed to Jacksons on George for those obligatory early-morning drinks. The remainder of us was Leanne, Jon, Boggle, Mike S, Ross, (Leanne's friend) Catherine and I. surprisingly, Jacksons wasn't playing RnB in the Pool Bar, but rather, House music (muuuuch better). So that was good. But there was noone up there. No real problem. We had our obligatory drinks, and headed back. Mike was dricing, but Leanne and I caught a lift back with Catherine to West Ryde. While I only spent a brief amount of time with her, she seemed cool. I was greatful for the lift too.
Today we (Brendan, Leanne, Boggle, Jon and I) went to see Beerfest. Fucking funny shit man. REALLY fucking funny shit man. Anyone reading this HAS to go see it. It's really, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, funny. So, if I haven't convinced you to see it yet, I will say one more time; go see it.
And now I'm sitting in front of my computer typing this.
That is all.
Listening to: Pink Floyd - Animals (Album) Man. This album rules. Check it out.
For the first part of this week I was sent to Gordon to train bus drivers on how to mark up maps for editing for TC. Fun. The people were nice enough, and Belinda from work accompanied me anyway. The work was dull (even more than usual), but I finished early (but still got 7 hours pay), so that's not so bad. I was back at work as per usual yesterday, and finding more errors with the Shorelink stuff. Oh man I hope I haven't fucked anything up too bad. I don't really think I have, but I have the niggling feeling that I've wasted alot of time in doing it all. I'll find out soon enough.
Also, after having to go to Gordon early in the week, I've been getting up earlier, yet despite having time to burn, I've not yet made the early train. I've not been catching the later express that I've talked about, but not the earliest of options either (the one I've never caught).
Is it school holidays? There seems to be an inordinate amount of plain clothed children on the train as of late. Hehe. Sounds like a special task force.
Have I started to bore you yet? Just you wait.
I bought the SD adaptor for my DS last night (+ a 1GB card + a card reader for the PC) so soon I'll be able to play home brew software & games. Tops. Well, I have to flash the firmware first, and for that I need Mario 64 DS (US Version), as the tool I have to re-flash it needs that game to run. So last night I emailed some guy on ebay about sending it to Australia. NOW you know what boredom is!
Barwick called last night, and we're meant to be going out with him tonight. See what happens...
Listening to: Strapping Young Lad - City (album). It totally rocks my hairy anus.
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On Saturday we (that is, Brendan, Leanne and I) moved (or started to move) into our new house at West Ryde. I really like it (will like it even more when I get furniture in there). To make it just that much better, we got a puppy too. Although we had planned that before we even looked at houses.I'm really looking forward to starting a life there. Will be kickass.
Saturday was also Pete's birthday, so after we'd signed all we had, and had moved a fair whack of stuff in, I met up with Pete for his birthday lunch. We went to a place in Palm Beach (the name of which I forget), and I had a great seafood lunch. So tasty.
Saturday night I spent on a matress on the floor of my new house. Before that though we tried out Ryde Eastwod leagues club (the new local). Odd place. The dining area is kinda like Seaworld Nara resort circa 1994. TRhe pokie area is some strange amalgam of a Spanish villa, a western set, and a jack the ripper set... odd. And then we travelled down to the Sports Bar, and it's really nice. Like I would love to have a loungeroom that looked like it. So the strange became stranger. We'll probably sign up as members, coz the beer is $3.30 a schooner for members (including James Squires!). Tops.
Sunday we picked up the new puppy; Oz. A lovely little thing. A Miniature Schnauzer x Staffy. It adds a nice family feel to the home unit.
Sunday night was Godskitchen. Leanne and I bought our tickets last week, and on Friday night we succesfully talked Michael S into coming, so I was happy with that. It was good fun, but (don't tell Michael KP) I just wasn't in the mood for Trance when Eddie Halliwell came on, so I only watched about 30 minutes of him, and then headed up to the house level. Much better. I'm enjoying house more and more lately, and after Sunday night I'm thinking that I'm now going to visit house clubs more often (I'll try and bring Peter along too), as the trance just wasn't interesting for me on Sunday. I'll probably skip the drugs too, as they are getting less enjoyable now (and I odn't think it's me building up an immunity, as Leanne agreed that the pills on Sunday were weaker than the last time), and because of that, becoming less worth it. Maybe just speed from now on. Cheaper. More reliable.
Monday was really just a recovery day. Not much gained from it.
Today I was sent to do training over at Gordon, and I'll be there tomorrow too. I was worried about people having trouble with my Shorelink maps while I was away, but I talked to Matt (head GIS guy) today, and he said they were near finished, and had heard no problems from people doing them. Cool. He also said that he'll not import them until I'm back, so I have the oppurtunity to look over them before the changes are committed. Coolies.
So that's it I believe.
Not long until Pay day; can't wait. I should also be getting my $950 back from tax soon. I'l probably buy that 60GB HDD for my iriver this week. I think I'll put the camera off for a few weeks, so that I can live a little easier than I had to last week. Also, the camera that I wanted (the same model as the one that was stolen); the Canon A700, has been replaced bya 7.1MP version; the A710. Now, I was a bit wary when I heard this, as generally, the higher above 6MP the CCD, the crappier the image quality. But I've read a review o fthe camera, and looked at some sample images, and the camera looks great! So I think I'm going to get the A710 now. Unfortunately, it's about $120 more expensive. Fek.
I also wanted to get the microSD adapter for my DS (and the software needed to re-flash it) this week, but I'm not so sure I should... we'll see.
So yeah. I think that's it now.
Happy Birthday for yesterday, Helen (not that I didn't message you and tell you that yesterday).
Later!
Listening to: Machine Gun Fellatio - On Ice (album). Under-rated band, these guys. I'm so glad I saw them 10 or so times before they split up).
