Robot Magician

Over the weekend I became a bit of a recluse. I went to my usual weekend stomping ground, the apartment at the coast, closed the curtains and basically closed myself off from the outside world. Why? I'm not really too sure, and I don't know if I liked doing it.

I got down there on the Friday night, and this time I can be certain as to what I had for dinner, it was a Cappricciosa pizza from La Bella, the pizza place staffed by authentic Italians. They are some good looking men in that store. Friendly too, although they're English is heavily accented I think that just adds to the attraction. Nice pizzas too. So Friday night I gorged on pizza, drank too much, read the new Famous magazine and passed out. Good times.

Saturday I woke fairly early and fixed myself some breakfast. I had a look outside, then retreated back into my den. I watched some rage, a fair bit of the top 50, then a bit of Axle and Video Hits, then played a bit of GTA. Next thing I know it's late afternoon and I'm feeling a bit sleepy. I nap, wake up, watch Jaws and The Bill. I decide that I probably haven't eaten enough today and think about heading down to the Golden Arches. A shower is in order as different parts of me had their own peculiar smells. I sit around a bit more, watch some Rock Quiz and think about heading out some more. I was really not looking forward to it. It's not that I was having such a great time by myself, it's just that I wasn't interested in having to interact with anyone at all. Very anti-social. Anyways, I finally racked up the nerve and headed down to get a Happy Meal. The stuffed toy tiger I got with it is totally cool. I really like the little guy. He was what definately made the trip worthwhile.

The rest of the night progressed without incident. The Kaiser Chiefs were guest programmers on rage and they selected a few neat tunes. I think that just about every guest programmer I have watched have chosen Jane's Addictions Been Caught Stealing. It's a great song, a great clip, but I swear it's on every time I'm watching rage at 1 in the morning. So rage was interspersed with GTA and that's about it. At around 2 SBS changed to it's world weather forecast. I noticed that there was going to be a maximum of 0 degrees in London. The other channels only had infomercials. It sucked. It became obvious to myself that I was only staying awake out of boredom and things would be better if I just headed to bed. Which is what I did.

I woke on Sunday with a new resolve. I wasn't going to be a shut-in. I was going to get out there and do some normal stuff. I went for a swim which was great. The surf was pumping and it got me going. I went to the supermarket and bought a paper and 2 litres of chocolate milk. I went to the bakery and bought a very nice pastie and also a not so nice pineapple tart. I went back to the apartment. While having breakfast I watched Axle try to hit on Pamela Anderson. Then I did played some more GTA. Then I found it was late in the afternoon again. I felt like a hamburger so I walked up the beach to Burleigh and visited the Big Chief. I ate my burger on the beach and watched the people going about their business. Talking, laughing, playing. One couple I saw were a bit older, walking along the beach, both of them with their own individual ipods. I thought that was a little sad. I hope I don't become like that. The way things are going though.......

That was about it. I don't think that I'm going to go down the coast this weekend. Or, if I do go, I won't go alone. I don't think that it's a good thing for me to do. Rollercoasters.

On the upside I made this totally rad block construction with a prep boy today. It was awesome. It was a thing of beautiful symmetry, mind blowing balancing and great height. The things you can build with a 4 year old!

Odourless Glue Isn't Always Odourless

This week I have again been battling with a tradesman, and finally I got him to do what I wanted. Thank goodness.

Back in mid-December it was decided that we'd rip up the carpet in the two offices at the centre and put down some new stuff. The old carpet had had a pretty good run, lasting about ten years. Apparently it lasted so long because it was a heavy duty nylon and also because it had been glued straight onto the cement. It was decided that we'd try and get something similar so that it'd last the same amount of time.

I rang a few places and got some dudes out to get a quote, but because it was fairly close to Christmas a few places had shut down for the holidays. That's okay though because Frank could come out measure us up and give us a price. We were also looking at getting some new blinds installed, so he did the figures for those too. So Frank came out, did his thing, spoke about his grandkids and their centre, showed us a few different patterns, and went off in his van. The next day the quote came back and the price for the carpet seemed pretty reasonable, but the quote for the blinds seemed a little exorbitant. He also put a bit of pressure on me to try and get it done before Christmas, I didn't appreciate this so told him that we needed to get some other quotes. I don't appreciate the hard word, especially when it's dressed up as something else.

Anyways, time passes. Christmas, New Years, everywhere starts re-opening for business. I get a few more quotes done, but none of them are really any good. Then, out of the blue, Frank rings back and says that he's been going through his paperwork and came across our job sheet. He wonders whether we still want any work done. I ask him what price for the carpet, because I ended up just getting the blinds cleaned. He gives me the reasonable price, and I ask him when he can get it done. He says next week. I say okay, let's do it.

I ring them up on the Friday to find out when they can do it, they tell me Monday lunch time. This is cool, I can handle that, all I have to do is empty out those two rooms. It'll take about an hour and a half to do the job, and then the furniture can go back in so that it's not blocking the foyer. Monday lunch time is great because there's not a whole lot of traffic at that time. This is going to work out great.

The two carpet layers arrive and rip up the old carpet in the space of two minutes, then bring in the new stuff. I'm having a bite to eat outside when the Director comes and grabs me and tells me there is something wrong with the new carpet. It's orange. For those of you not in the know, the centre's colour scheme is a blue and creamy yellow. Orange doesn't really fit into the scheme at all. Especially not the orangey brown puke coloured mess they've brought in. I can't envisage that carpet fitting in anywhere. Anyways, I tell them it's the wrong type, call the office, tell them it's the wrong one. They tell me that I must be wrong as colour 48 is what is written over all the paperwork, so that must have been what we were after. I say no, why would we do that? So, back and forth it goes a little bit, until finally he says that he'll come out and see us.

He comes out, apparently we want colour 47 or something. He still talks about his grandkids. Says that they'll be back out to lay the new stuff when they can. So we wait. We leave most of the furniture in the foyer because some of it is too heavy to be moving too often. 3 days pass, and finally today it happened. Thank goodness. Unfortunately the furniture can't go back onto it for 24 hours though.

Something fun I got to do today though was invent some children. I did a little bit of mystery shopping with the other local centres to find out prices and things like that. I had a boy who was 18 months, his name was Russell. I also had a little girl in pre-school. I didn't have to name her in the end, but I think that I was going to go for Matilda. I don't mind that one.

Flutter By

On a Monday I take a couple of kids up to swimming training at the school. It brings back a few memories, all the kids whining not wanting to be there, having trouble getting your bathing cap on, the big pole with a tennis ball on the end of it held by the coach, real nostalgic. I got to talking to the old lady on the door and it turns out that I actually used to swim in one of her squads, and that the old man with the big pole with a tennis ball on the end of it is actually the same old man with a big pole with a tennis ball on the end of it as when I was there all those years ago. He was old back then, so I guess he must be really old. Like 80 or something. Anyways I was asking a few questions, and it turns out that there's a squad for older people, so I decided that I'd get myself into gear and back into the pool.

Unfortunately I couldn't get down there on Monday as I had to go to the museum, but when Tuesday swung around I was ready. There was really only one thing stopping me, I didn't have any togs that were suitable. I do have some old Kurrawa togs, but the elastic is gone in them and the bum part is all stretched and sagging from the old days in the surfboats, making them totally inappropriate for swimming at a school in. This meant that I had to go down to the local Amart All Sports to pick up a new pair of DTs. This was actually pretty intimidating.

I got down there, and was having a bit of a look around. I needed to pick up a pair of goggles, a pair of fins and a bathing cap as well, so I picked up those first. At around this time one of the sales assistants approached me to ask if I needed any help, I said that I did in fact need some help as I wasn't able to find the togs. The sales assistant was very helpful and she helped me find the DTs. She helped me find the right size and the right colour. It was all a little strange, especially when she asked if I wanted to try them on. I dunno, it's been a little while, but talking with people who I don't know about that region is kind of strange. And I'm not sure if I was freaking out or something, but I could swear she kept looking down that way. It was kinda weird. Anyways, I ended up with a nice pair of blue togs. They've got this electric green piping on them, and the girl swears that the green will make me swim faster. Even faster than an all red pair.

So I took the whole she-bang home, tried it all on, gave my brother a fright, then headed over to the pool. Thankfully I was the only older person swimming, so they gave me a program and I got to it.

Swimming is no-where near as easy as it used to be. I don't think that I even float anymore. And then to have 14 and 15 year old kids in the lane next to you blazing up and down at twice your speed is a little disheartening. I accept it though, and I will persevere. I hope. I'll be back down there tomorrow afternoon, and a few days next week. Sometime after that I hope to ready for swimming with the squad in the morning. If I can keep up.

So Many Beautiful Women

The rest of my weekend turned out really well. I had a great time. Although my stomach never quite made a full recovery, it was greatly improved from the sorry state I found it in Saturday morning. Thank-you greasy burger and post-mix Coke - courtesy of Hungry Jacks. I can't believe how much better it made me feel. It made me feel so good I went down the coast. This turned out to be a terrific decision.

I managed to get somebody to ride shotgun this time around, and Tim came along. We got down there, had a swim and enjoyed the sun and the salt. It was lovely. The weather was absolutely perfect for the beach. The water was a little dangerous, but I like it that way. It gets the blood pumping a little bit. There were some spots where the bottom just disappeared, and there were a few surging waves that had the power to knock you off your feet. Once the lifesavers packed up for the day though, it was time for us to retire as well.

We went back up to the apartment and hung out for a bit. Had a few beers, got a bit hungry and decided to hit the surfclub for some dinner. This we did. Scored some $5 Asahis which was pretty sweet. They even gave us some styrofoam stubbie coolers so that they wouldn't get too hot. We managed to swing a seat at the window overlooking the beach. Because it was dark you couldn't see anything to start off with. As we waited for our meals though we did get to see some action. There was a few kids sneaking out for cigarettes, there were some other kids with beers in a bag, then there was something that we couldn't figure out straight away. Way out on the horizon there was a glowing yellow light that had appeared. Neither of us had noticed it before, but we certainly had now. We weren't sure what it was. Was it a sailboat out at sea? A tanker, perhaps? As we were watching it it looked as though it was getting larger and brighter, but it was happening at such a slow rate we couldn't be certain. Eventually through the cloud of $5 Asahis and a lovely bistro meal we were able to determine what it was. The moon. It was amazingly bright, and brilliantly yellow. Not quite full, but very impressive. It was our dessert. There was also an attractive blond girl behind me with a pink top on. She was also beautiful. And a waitress. And a girl off to my right.

After dinner we decided to head to the pub across the road, the Miami Tavern, also home to the Shark Bar. Tim remembered this place from a trip many years ago, he remembered it as being pretty dodgy, a bit of a dive. Your typical suburban pub. So in we went. And, boy oh boy, did we choose the right night to be there. It was the semi-final of the search for Miss Miami. So, yeah. That's what we did for the rest of the night. Drank too much. Too many Jaegerbombs. Lost too many games of pool. Spoke a bit of random shit to random people. Spoke to Justin the divorcee. He warned me off one lady who was stunning. Apparently she was a man eater. I wouldn't have minded. Eventually it got to be closing time and Tim and I stumbled off into the night. More drink-fuelled madness transpired. As we were starting to wind down Tim decided it was time to raid the nearby 7Eleven. I stayed in. It turns out the 7Eleven raided Tim.

Next day we slept in late, enjoying the air-conditioning in the bedrooms. When we did rise we hit the beach pretty quickly to clear our heads. If anything it was an even more perfect day than the one before. There were certainly plenty of people at the beach. Not surprisingly many of them were beautiful women. The water was great though, maybe a little more powerful than the day before, but a bit cleaner as well. The clarity in the water was amazing. It was the middle of the day though so we didn't linger in the water too long, as that would not have been sun smart.

We decided to get some food and thought that we'd head up to Burliegh Heads where there was a lot more to choose from. We decided to walk along the beach, this was a good decision. It was ridiculous. Once at Burliegh we decided that we'd have a nice meal at a restaurant that is on the beach there. We went to be seated and there was this judgmental dickhead there who suggested that perhaps we didn't really want to eat there. Wanker. We stayed though and were served by a lovely girl who made up for the initial rudeness. It was a very lazy sort of a lunch. We both had some fish. A little wine. Felt the breeze on our skin. Watched the people frolicking in the water and baking in the sun. It was great. We were there for quite a while, and it was really very nice. We walked back to the apartment, saw somebody have a near death experience. We kicked him when he was down too. He shouldn't have been there in the first place. I think that I fell in love at least 50 times that day.

After lunch we rested for a while and that was about it for the trip. Sunday night we walked up to Burliegh again for some fish tacos. There was some sort of hippie convention happening with people banging drums and dancing around and twirling fire and lounging around and stuff. We had our fish tacos which were delicious. Enjoyed the ambience. Apparently I'd gotten a bit sunburned that day though and looked a little messed up. A bit deranged. Oh well. After tacos we got some gelati. The ice-cream girl was exceptionally beautiful and really a very lovely person as well.

As you can see there was something playing on my mind for most of the weekend. I don't know if it is because of the company, or if it's just one of those hormonal surges that happen occasionally, but it was a great weekend.

Staring At The Cracks

I'm sitting here and feeling a little bit sorry for myself. Earlier I was feeling very sorry for myself. There was a boy who was throwing a tantrum down on the bike path, and although he was probably 40 metres away, he had one of those voices that just carries. Very shrill. He was being extremely unreasonable. I was tempted to call something out my window, but I didn't want to give him nightmares, and I didn't want to give my body any chances to throw up. So I lay there. That kid screamed and screamed. I think that his Dad left him after a while. I would have to. Teach the kid a lesson.

I certainly taught myself a lesson last night. I don't think I learned anything though. Actually, I can't even remember what the lesson was about. Perhaps it was a lesson on how not to get fucked up. There's got to be better ways than this.

So, yeah. Last night I went and saw a friend's band at the Zoo. I haven't been to any of their shows before. I kinda like the guy, I think that he's an alright dude, and I didn't want to spoil that vision of him by hearing his band. He's moving down to Melbourne though, so this was my last chance to see him play. I really shouldn't have.

I guess the best sort of description is that it sounded like a late 90's pop rock band. This wouldn't have been so bad if it was the late 90's, but unfortunately for the boys in Elephant Mojo the tastes of today have changed from what they were. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. Maybe I'm being a bit of a snob. I just didn't dig it though.

That was the gig, it wasn't great. I did manage to get kind of drunk though. Just drunk enough to get me excited about getting even more drunk afterwards. I'm pretty sure I was even sucking on some cancer sticks. Gross huh?

Afterwards I went to a couple of bars with a couple of other people. I spoke to a girl for a while, she was upset because the stamp she had on her wrist had rubbed off onto her dress. It was in a kind of unfortunate position, right over her breast. Right on her nipple. She asked me to look at it, but I couldn't do that. I wouldn't have been able to speak to her after that. I would have been thinking about her breasts too much. And what they taste like. And what they feel like when they are hanging down onto your face, into your mouth. Oooh. Err.......

Back on track, I guess I had fun. From the way I feel I guess I had lots of fun. I ventured back into the Depot again. I probably shouldn't have. I wasn't making a whole lot of sense by this point, and I should have gone home. I think that it was getting pretty late. After 3 for sure. Somewhere along the line I changed from beer to vodka, trying to avoid a hangover or something. That certainly didn't work.

Enough about the past. I'm going down to the Gold Coast today. I reckon it'll be beautiful down there. Perfect weather. I can't wait. I'm even going to go down with some other people! I guess I won't be able to get as naked as I normally do. Or maybe I will be able to get as naked and the other people will just have to deal with it! Yeah!

Coldwater Gatling

One thing that I have noticed since I've started writing in this blog is that I don't think that I'm as much of a jerk off that I used to. Not that I was a jerk off (though I may have been), but I don't think that I'm as much of a waste of space that I used to. Somewhere along this ride I've picked up a bit of an ego. Not a huge one, but enough. It's not that I think that I'm better than people now, it's more that I think that I'm okay now. I don't always make the wrong decision. I'm not just an aimless loose cannon. I can do things properly, and I can stick to things for a while. It's kind of weird.

A downside of this is that I'm not as self deprecating as I used to be. Well, that's not quite true, but people don't seem to pick up on the sarcasm anymore. They seem to believe me. Ha! Jokes on them! Still, I've got to watch myself a bit. I find myself occasionally saying things, being a bit too big for my britches, and people taking it as fact. I don't really want to come off as a pompous wanker, but perhaps that's what I'm becoming. I wonder if the 16 year old Robb would the person that I am today. I wonder if they would get along. It sounds like a great premise for a movie, maybe even a Disney one.

Perhaps it was the result of too many hormones running around in my teenage body, causing all sorts of chemical upheaval. Perhaps it was a lack of direction, maybe even just sheer bloody mindedness, but when I was younger I wasn't as content as I am now. I was upset with something - my parents, the world, myself. I used to hate the choices that I made, I used to not make decisions until one was made for me, but now I feel as though I can make them for myself. You know, I now know what I want when I want for lunch, little things like that. I guess the longest journey starts with a step. I wonder when it began.

So yeah, I used to do some pretty crazy stuff. Stuff that was definately irrational and not constructive in anyway. I still do some of it occasionally, but I'm not as confused as I used to be, and I'm pretty happy with that. To have a sense of self is fairly important I think, and to not be as judgmental of myself is okay too. Perhaps sometimes I'm a little too easy going, but this is something that can be worked on.

I guess I just need a plan now.

Take Me For A Walk

So yeah, I still can't figure out what I had for dinner the other night. I know, I know. This isn't funny, and I really need to get over it, so I'm going to. I'm just going to agree with myself that I didn't actually have anything. This may actually be true as I can't remember anything, and I can't be absolultely sure that I had something in the bag. I know that I did have a pretty nasty headache in the morning, indicative of not having had a proper meal before drinking. I didn't wash up any extra plates, only the one I had my toast on in the morning. This is my story now and I'm sticking to it. I feel so glad to have finally moved on from this.

Not too much else going on. I watched a cool show on tv last night, it was called Push, Nevada. I quite liked it. It involved an IRS inspector who got caught up in a little town called Push. There were lots of things going on in Push. The government was involved. The tattooist mixed peyote in with the ink in his gun. The main character, the tax inspector, received a huge gothic script tatt across his shoulder blades. It said, "Death & Taxes." It was a pretty rad show.

Today at work a little girl in grade one lost her tooth. It wasn't the first tooth that she has lost, it was the second. She did have to help this one out though, and there was a fair bit of blood. It was the front top tooth, it left a pretty big hole. She kept showing it to me and I was continually grossed out by it.

That's about it.

I Still Can't Remember What I Had For Dinner On Friday

Valentine's Day. A great day. Share the love. Spread the word.

I once delivered flowers on Valentine's Day. It was really alot of fun. You got to go out there, make people feel special. Give them something so that they feel loved. Put a smile on their faces. Today was nothing like that.

I've got a feeling that because the majority of people at my work are single that today was actually a bit of a downer. At least in comparison to other Valentine's Days I've had. I mean, there were no flowers delivered to the centre. No chocolates. No-one came in with hickies on their necks from a morning of passion. It was very disappointing. It also seemed like the responsibility was very much up to the males. When asked whether they had done something nice for their partner, the answer was almost every time a negative. This is very disappointing.

I believe Valentine's Day is pretty evil. It alienates alot of people. It puts pressure on alot of different groups. It sometimes feels as though it is just another opportunity for people to cash in. A little bit dodgy. Now, don't get me wrong, I believe that celebrating a relationship with a special someone is a wonderful thing. It's certainly something that should be shouted about, but I don't think that it should only happen on one day a year.

I've never proclaimed to be the world's greatest boyfriend. I was far from it. I did some horrible things. I did do some things right though. Or at least I think that I did. Perhaps I'm looking at the past with rose-coloured glasses on. Still, I think that we had some fun.

My favourite Valentine's day gift I remember was one that I received. It was a great big box full of jelly beans. I quite like jelly beans, and when confronted with so many I kind of lost the plot for a little while. I only ate jelly beans for as long as they lasted. I think it was about 3 days. I felt quite ill at the end of that adventure. A bit worn out. It was a good ride though, nothing beats a good sugar high, although the crushing lows are pretty rough.

That's about it. This is a bit of a nothing sort of post again, but the fact that I still can't remember what I had for dinner on Friday is really disturbing me. I've been thinking about it off and on all day. I remember that I was going to get a kebab after I left the supermarket, but I'd already bought something so didn't get one. Damn.... It'll come to me eventually.

Phenomenology

I managed to not speak a word to another person for almost 36 hours on the weekend. I was that much of a hermit. It's always interesting to spend all that time by yourself. To see what sorts of ideas you come up with. Different thoughts that you have. The different things that you do. This time around I was extremely lazy. Extremely. It was actually kind of gross. The things you do, huh?

I managed to get down there about 8:30 or so on Friday night. I can't really remember what I had for dinner. I don't know if I actually ate. Hmmm. I know that I went to the shops because I bought some milk, some bread and a copy of New Weekly. Hmmm. What did I have for dinner that night?

Darn. This isn't cool. I really can't remember. I know that I had a half bottle of wine and some beers. I can't remember what else I bought at the shops.

Hmmm.... I must have eaten something. This sucks.... I had some minties... Crap....

Anyways, I was pretty tired after the drive down, and I had a few drinks, and I watched some of the Grammy's. It was going pretty well. I even recieved a phone call from someone who was near and dear to me. Or is. Who knows? I do. She still is. Anyways, Brooke rang and I spoke to her. I think that there may have been some tears. I may have said that I still love her (which is true). I may also have said that I wouldn't be upset if she got a new boyfriend (this is also true). I definately called her bitch a few times.

Not in a bad way of course. It was all in good fun. If only I could remember what I had for dinner. Hmmm....

So yeah, next day I went for a swim to clear my head. It was pretty overcast but there was still a few people around. The water was nice. After that I headed up to Southport and had some brunch with Nigel. That was nice. I had an omelette. It was nice.

For the rest of the day I didn't do a whole lot. I played some games. Read a magazine. Listened to some music. Watched a movie. Very multimedia. Ha! The sun went down, I drank some beers. Bought a pizza. Ate the pizza. Started to feel a little unwell and went to bed.

Sunday arrived, and with it so did a feeling of general unwell-ness and some unpleasant weather. As for feeling unwell- I don't think that it was the beer because I didn't have too many. I'm not sure what it was. With regards to the weather- I'm sure a meteorologist could tell you. I still managed to get down for a swim, I got out when the lightening started to strike though.

I watched the cricket. Did some other stuff. Watched a bit of Josie and the Pussycats. Not much else.

So yeah, that's it really. Not very exciting. Still, it's good to be alone sometimes. Some of the things I thought about weren't very pleasant though, and I wonder why I would think of them. These are things that I don't really have to do, nor should I do, but still things that I think that I would like to experience at some stage. Hmmm.... what did I have for dinner on Friday night?

Judge Fudge

Ever have those days where everything goes really well up until a certain point, and then for no known reason everything just sort of falls apart. A day where in the morning you can do no wrong, but then in the afternoon doing a thing like stacking the dishwasher becomes as hard a task as climbing Mt Everest? Well, things have kind of gone like that for me today.

This morning was great. Everything went according to plan. I did everything I had to do, and I did it easily. I was walking around with a spring in my step, whistling some unknown tune, saying g'day to people. It really was a good morning. It's a shame that things have buggered up a bit this afternoon. I should have been at the coast by now.

The only thing that I'm really happy about achieving this afternoon is the construction of a model praying mantis. It's awesome. It stands at about 6 feet long, and probably about the same height. It's sort of skeleton model, and it's wicked. I started at the wrong end of it (the head), but I ended up triumphing over the insect. I am all that is man.

I should have been at the coast by now.

Never Cry Shit Wolf

I've been having a few issues in different relationships this week. Thankfully, I have an answer to these issues, and it's even a fairly easy one to follow through on! How awesome is that? And, therefore, how awesome am I?

Basically the problems that I've been having haven't been major ones. In fact they might not even exist for the other person. They certainly exist in my head and I don't like it. I try to pretend that I don't care, and that it doesn't worry or affect me, but it must, otherwise I wouldn't think about it so often. I try to tell myself that I'm above their catty bullshit, but I don't know if I am. One of the places that I'm having these thoughts is at work. Who'd have thought that there'd be drama there?

So yeah, it's nothing big, and it mightn't even exist, but I'm kind of over one person's near constant air of superiority. To start off with, I don't even understand how anybody could think that they are better than I am, but apparently they do. Secondly, I thought you should always try and treat people the way that you would like to be treated. I don't think anybody likes to have messages passed through somebody else when you're in the same room anyway. I don't think that anyone likes snide remarks made about them. I don't think that anybody enjoys disdainful looks. I don't think anybody like feeling like they never quite make the grade. It's really not very nice. It certainly doesn't promote healthy relationships in the workplace.

One of the most frustrating things about this relationship though, is that occasionally, every now and again, you'll get a little bit of sunshine through the grey clouds. You'll be given a small glimpse through their window. And that makes you wonder if you really are just imagining all that other rubbish. It is just a brief respite though. A bit of a breather. Things quickly return to the way that they were.

So, yeah, this is something that doesn't worry me, but it is something that I think about. I know that not everbody in this world will like me. I certainly don't like everybody, so I can't expect that of other people. Still, I don't think that a cold demeanour is helpful when you are working towards the same goal. You can at least pretend.

In other news, Grand Theft Auto is proving to be a bit of a time stealer. The new headphones I picked up don't seem to handle bass all that well. I think I might buy myself a Valentine's Day gift of a new pair. Nice ones.

I'm going to head down the coast this weekend. I'm going alone, but am keen to have some company if anybody wants to come on down. It should be a nice weekend. Have a swim. Have some food. Have a few beers. Whatever.

Charles' Woodlands

10am on a Saturday night and I am home. I've been out, I've had a wonderful time and now it is time to retire for the evening. And you know what? It feels great. Who needs 5:30 kick outs? Who needs too many un-needed drinks? Who needs random girls giving you attitude? Who needs Jaegerbombs? Not I. Do you know why? Because I am an evolved man. Ha ha ha. Not really. Truth be told, I ate some dodgy mince today and I really need to be home. Ha ha ha.

So yeah, tonight was a barrel load of fun. Good people, good food, good times. I had the King Snapper and it was tremendous. Really fresh, and moist with a fantastic set of vegetables and herbs complementing it's flavours. It really was very nice.

I am now home, and have opened a bottle of wine. We'll see how things go. If there are lots of spelling and grammatical errors in this update on my life then we all know what is to blame. Unfortunately the wine came straight from the carton so the first glass isn't very cold. I had to give it a couple of ice cubes. Hopefully the bottle will chill quickly.

Ah, what's happened today? Lots.

I was hoping that today was to be one of those days were not a whole lot happens, a day down the coast where I go for a swim in the morning and then I just hang out for the rest of the day then have some dinner and wine with the oldies. That was not to be the case.

I let a painter into the centre at 7 this morning. He was a very pleasant man and took a lot of personal pride in his work. Next week he will be out at Blackall.

I watched Degrassi: The Next Generation again today and it made me well up with tears again. That show turns me into such a bitch. I was hoping to watch a show in the afternoon that I've caught the past few weeks which I like, but unfortunately I missed it.

At 1 o'clock I let the painter back in to the child care centre so that he could complete his work. He thought that it would take about an hour, so I headed down to JB HiFi at Capalaba to kill some time. There was some weird dude subaking in the car park. He'd sectioned off a space for himself and laid out a towel which he was laying down on. Fucking Bayside people are as weird as Coasties.

So yeah, I'm down at JB HiFi because I've destroyed the headphones to my iPod and I needed to pick up a new pair. JB, You've done it again. I've never been able to go into that store and buy just one thing. This time I picked up the headphones, a cord so that I'll be able to play the iPeezee down the coast through the stereo, GTA: San Andreas, the Queens of the Stone Age DVD and finally as an impulse buy, the Ministry of Sound Annual for 2006. JB, You've done it again. Biatch.

I really like Lady Sovereign.

That's about all I've got to tell really. Not a whole lot and it's not really all that interesting. But then again, that's life.

I'm going to wake up early tomorrow and head down the coast so that I can go for a swim and chill out and stuff. I'm going to take down the surfboard. Suck it!

Weird

A bit of double posting goodness today because I had this really weird dream last night and I thought I'd share it in the hope of gaining some insight.

So basically this dream happened pretty late in the night/early in the morning. It would have been about 4 or so I think because I'd just gone to the toilet and it wasn't light yet but it was starting to get that way.

The dream was set in Rockhampton, but not the Rockhampton you and I know. If anything it kind of looked a bit like Cooktown with the tree covered mountains and things like that, only the trees were more traditional bush, so perhaps Mt Tambourine is a better example. Anyways, I was driving around showing it off to the new pre-school teacher at work who, bizarrely enough, shares the same name as Josh's mum, Alison MacKenzie. So yeah, I was showing her around this place called Rockhampton, and it was kind of foggy and things and I pointed out to her the two bridges that were spanning this huge chasm. The two bridges were the Story Bridge and also London Tower Bridge. They were next to eachother, but a little bit indistinct because of the fog. We decided to have some fish and chips in the park overlooking the bridges.

Next thing you know we've got the fish and chips and are sitting down at a table and chairs to eat them. I open up the butcher's paper, and for a moment it's all I can see. Next thing WHAMMO
and I'm pushed onto my back with my arms pinned above my head. I look up at what's holding me down, and it's a monstrous sulpher crested cockatoo, except it's albino but without the pinkeyes. It was massive, and it looked down at me, then it proceeded to eat the few chips that I had managed to grab before it flattened me. Alison was kind of laughing at me, but this was a massive bird.

Anyways, that's about it. If you have any insights, hit up the comments!

Wherever I Live

I used to think that I got along pretty well with the lady at the bakery. I assumed that I'd be one of her favourites, I don't know why but let's put it down to cockiness. I always ask her how she is going, we have a bit of a chat and it's good times. I knew that the lady who used to work there in the afternoons liked me because sometimes she would sling me some free stuff late in the day, but she's gone now so that's like saying I used to be someone worth knowing. This lady in the morning though, I often try to have the correct change, she's always cheerful, I don't know, I thought that we had something special. Today, though, I found out that I'm not special to her at all.

Just about every day when I go to the bakery I order the same thing. It'll be a chicken and salad sandwich and one of those Lipton Green Teas. It really is a nice lunch, so nice that I have it almost every day. If they don't have either of those two things though, it's no big deal, I'll just get something else. And sometimes I just feel like something else. Like a cottage pie. Like a cheese and bacon roll with a chelsea bun. Like a foccacia. But that's only maybe once a month. Every other day that I get something from there I get a chicken and salad sandwich and Lipton Green Tea. The lady behind the counter has even had a go at me before for being boring.

You can imagine my surprise today then when one of her other regular customers entered just before me. He's the local lawn mower and he's got an offsider. The offsider is a young fella like me and he seemed like an alright bloke. Apparently his favourite thing on display is the chicken and salad sandwich as well. Now, when I walked in I noticed that they didn't have any chicken and salad sandwiches left, so I'd already started sizing up what I was going to get. All of a sudden though, the lady behind the counter calls out, "Oh don't worry, I've saved one for you!" and she pulls out one of my sandwiches, only she wasn't talking to me, she was talking to the Lawnmower man! I couldn't believe it! She's never saved a sandwich for me before and I'm in there just about every single day! Oh well.

It turned out okay though because the offsider, for the first time ever apparently, didn't want the chicken and salad sandwich. He wanted to try out the ham and salad. I jumped on that chicken sandwich like you would not believe in case he changed his mind.