Strange Phenonemon

Last night (or more correctly, this morning) at approximately 1:30 AM, I was awoken by a sensation like someone had grabbed my left foot. No one was in the room, so it was a weird sensation. Immediately, I felt the foot and it was very cold to touch. The right foot was warm. Weird. Of course, it does make me wonder what caused the sensation. If I find out that something happened in the world concerning one of my friends, it will be very strange. After all, was this a normal sensation that can be explained medically, or is it one of those things which is placed in the 'X-files' type folder. Even if something had occurred to one of my friends somewhere at that time, surely it would be a co-incidence. (Unless you are one of these people who doesn't believe in co-incidences!) In fact, I am documenting it here just in case something did happen. I hate it when I try to convince people afterwards of things I experienced. [For instances, the other day I was listening to Crowded House's WoodFace CD and thought something would happen to Paul Hester. A week later he is found dead in a Melbourne Park. Co-incidence, or something psychic? Who knows, but if I told you about it earlier, you might think I had some psychic ability.] Anyway, I told my mother (about the foot grabbing) who immediately thought maybe one of my friends had possibly died. Then she suggested it might have been the ghost of the guy next door who overdosed on illegal drugs. (Previous neighbours were drug users). What would he be doing in our house anyway? I never met the guy, and I am sure the guys ghost wouldn't be wandering around our abode at night. (My mother is a big believer in Ghosts and the Supernatural - see previous post concerning our haunted house!) Then she suggested it was something medical. (Being a skeptical sort of person, I was leaning towards this explaination myself). Only, what causes a sensation like that? My foot was cold to touch, yet I didn't experience any 'pins & needle' sensation that I would expect from a lack of blood flow to the area. (Any Doctors out there who have a clue what can cause a foot grabbing sensation?) My mother also started talking about an apparition she had experienced when in the house. A few months ago, she was awaken and swears a man was standing at the end of the bed in some sort of uniform. She described his top as blue. Today, she revealed to me his pants were brown. I don't know any uniforms where the tops are blue and the pants are brown. Sounds like two different uniforms to me. (And most likely badly co-ordinated at that!) Anyway, I usually put my mother's apparitions down to temporal lobe epilepsy [TLE] (which is the same thing which causes sensations of De Ja Vu). If I can ever find a scientific reason for events or phenomena, I tend to side towards that explanation. I know I had a hard time convincing one of my old flatmates about temporal lobe epilepsy, as she had a theory about what she thought causes De Ja Vu. It's funny, that in spite of all the scientific facts which prove that temporal lobe epilepsy exists, this flatmate used to refer to it as "Your Theory" (meaning My Theory). Her theory was that people suffered from De Ja Vu because they recognised things around them. (For example, you walk into a room you've never been in before, and see a porceline cat on the TV exactly like your Aunties. Then you get the sensation of De Ja Vu). She also didn't think this was a theory, she thought it was a fact because she couldn't see any other logical explanation for the phenomenon. When I pointed out to her that they could give a person a De Ja Vu sensation by zapping their frontal lobes and bringing on a TLE episode, she claimed it wasn't proof of "My Theory". Her reasoning was it didn't take into account "Her Theory". She then tried to use a circular arguement that if someone walked into a room and "recognised things" and it caused De Ja Vu, that it therefore disproves "My Theory". (Hope you all followed that). I then explained that if she substituted "Raining Cat's " into her arguement instead of "walked into the room and recognised things" she'd see how stupid her arguement was. In circular arguments like that, you can substitute anything into the "Causation" part of the proof and prove that anything can cause anything. Her thery was easy to disprove. If I was to walk into a room I've never been in before and recognise something, why don't I get a sensation of De Ja Vu. If the 'recognising things' was the cause of De Ja Vu, we'd get it every time we walked into that same situation. We don't, so there must be something else occurring which brings the sensation on. Also, you can get De Ja Vu in places you FREQUENT! (Yes, you can get De Ja Vu in your own home!) If it's just from recognising things, we'd be in a constant state of De Ja Vu. Why would it only occur sometimes, and not others? Obviously the 'recognising things' criteria is not enough of a theory as it falls apart in the most simplist of situations! Unfortunately, she remained unconvinced. Still to this day she believes that her "Theory" is a "Fact" (in spite of no scientific evidence or experiment to prove her argument). She also still believes that the experiments performed, which induce TLE and bring on the sensation of De Ja Vu, are not proof that TLE has anything to do with it. Like I've said before, "You can't argue with idiots, as idiots can't follow logic."

Todays Thoughts

Is it safer to be a Nietzsche type passive, or to push our boundaries into the unknown in the hope of self actualisation? Nietzsche would probably say that people developed their passive roles because they were safe. Was he incorrect. Was there always part of human society which was always pushing towards examination and improvement of ones lot? Is it not more in human nature to reject the passive role Nietzsche thought we had settled into? After all, a lot of people throughout human history have risen from the ranks of slaves and common stock to change the world. Is it not more true that attempts to box people into roles in society (example Fuedal times) , were just ways to try to preserve a status quo which benefitted those on the top rungs. If so, why hasn't the post-modern human progressed to the point that nobility (in particular Monarchy or lately hero worship) has been disolved altogether? Those places which have thrown Monarchy away, have replaced Nobility with heroes of different sorts. Sports Heroes, Movie Stars, Rock Stars, even Rich Entreuperneurs and politicians. What part of the human psyche needs to beleive that there is someone or something better than ourselves? Is this where religion comes into being? Has this need for "Nobility" / "Heroes" developed as a reflection of a higher hierarchy involving 'God/Gods' or because of a self realisation of our own falability. After all, some people feel that these 'Heroes' are replacing a God shaped void in our lives. Is it more true to believe that when we look at ourselves, we realise that we are imperfect and make mistakes. Due to this, our human nature yearns for improvement. When we reach the self realisation that we will never attain that goal, do when then seek for it in other people. We shape our need for God or our Heroes to provide the perfection we know we will never attain. After all, the Hebrew God came from the God called 'El'. El was the God of perfection. (Look it up if you don't believe me). Is this search for perfection and perfecting ourselves what really separates us from the animals on this planet? With the problems occurring on the planet in genetics, (I'm thinking genotoxins) will the perfection we hope for slowly move out of reach as we slowly destroy ourselves? I'll leave you to think about these things. I'll have a think myself. I can feel another book coming on! :-)

Hugo's Amazing Research

Today I came across something interesting (between a meeting this morning, designing a company logo and looking into factories to buy ... okay, I can't afford a factory ... hee hee). This is the site of research being done by Hugo Liu at MIT. Hugo's Research I was particualarly amazed by Metafor, which translates simple English into the skeleton of a program. Eventually, they are hoping to construct something which will be able to translate normal English into programs, circumventing a lot of the rigid structure needed in making programs. Looking into the things which Hugo has done, I am pretty amazed at his imagination. Of course, he is a PH.D student of Media, Art and Science (and not just science). Obviously his creative side mixed with his scientific side is being put to good use. Many people I know tend to be either one or the other. Either creative, or scientific. Maybe this is why Einstein said Imagination was more important than knowledge. After all, knowledge is only what we already know. Imagination leads us into fields we haven't yet explored, which increases our knowledge. Some of Hugo's tools (like MontyLingua) are freely available. I'm hoping the Metafor will become available freely one day. Then again, maybe I should write my own in the meantime. Reading what Hugo wishes to accomplish with Metafor is pretty interesting, and the possibilty of it eventually leading to computers which can just be programmed via standard English woudl be pretty cool. (Though I think the possibilty of computers understanding the nuances of implication within language would be a drawback. It's something which holds back language interpretation software. After all, the software wasn't there during previous conversations between the two conversers in order to understand every little piece of infered knowledge. The software can only use programmed logic to help it place some things within context, which won't be correct without the references infered within the conversation!) Gees, hope that made sense! lol It reminds me of the time Margaret Thatcher tested a piece of Japanese translation software. They (Japanese inventors) asked her to say something to be interpreted. She said, "To be, or not to be! That is the question." They ran the sentence through the Japanese software, and it replied, "It is, it isn't. What is it?" The reason for this was the Japanese verb 'desu' means "it is". There is no "to be" in Japanese. The closest you can come is "it is" or "it exists". So obviously when they punched "To be" into the software, it translated it to "desu" in Japanese. When it was translated back into English, the 'desu' translated into 'it is'. Of course, even without Metafor developing into something whcih can translate English 100% into programming code, it can come pretty close. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Easy Ways to Scare Ones Self.

Last week I mowed the front yard (as opposed to yesterday when I mowed the back one). When I did the mowing I wore a nice hat to keep the sun off my face. When I hung the hat up, I stuck it on the back of my bedroom door. The funny thing is, my trench coat hangs on the same hook. Together they make a fun silhouette during the night against the white door. (The hat being dark green, the trench coat being black). I've been meaning to move the hat and trench coat, as I keep waking in the night, and seeing the silhouette. The silhouette looks like someone is standing in the door way to my room! Arrrrgh! I keep waking several times and seeing the same thing, with the same thought going through my head. "Oh no! Someone in my room! ... Oh wait, it's just that friggin' hat and trench coat!" Do this a few times in the night, and you get up in the morning feeling like you've had a bit of a work out as the adrenaline gland has had to pump a sudden rush into me several times! This has been going on for the last week, and I keep telling myself that I'm going to move the friggin' hat and coat to somewhere that won't have that effect. Only, by the time I get up in the morning, I've forgotten, and the door is left open, so the hat and coat are out of site. Out of site, out of mind! Easy solution, I'm going to remember to move the hat and coat tonight before going to bed! I hope! :-) My mother on the other hand is terrified, because several prisoners have escaped from the detention centre down the road. The latest one is a double murderer (as well as rapist and other things). Have to lock-up the house extra tight tonight so she doesn't freak out. Something I thought inappropriate was an ad I saw tonight for a news program which is going to a cadaver farm in Perth. I would have thought Australia would have only been big enough for one, and it would be in the Eastern States. This cadaver farm is going to be shown at 6:30 PM tomorrow night. Something which is rather too early for my liking. For those of you who are unsure as to what a cadaver farm is, it's when they take dead bodies and bury them in the ground at different depths and in different conditions to see how fast they decompose. This is mainly done for forensics (such as CSI). It helps Doctor's and Police in their determinations of when a person died under specific conditions and stuff. People actually leave their bodies for this when they die. Personally, I think a time later in the evening might be more appropriate, as children are still watching TV at 6:30 PM, and seeing dead decomposing bodies buried in the ground is not my idea of family viewing. They could have played it later at night when only adults or more mature people would be watching. There is a part of me which is really interested in the type of person who leaves their body for this sort of testing too. I know some leave their bodies for other things, like crash tests and so forth. (Yes, they use dead bodies in crash tests as well). How does someone decide they want this to happen to their body after they are gone? I know for some of them the idea is very much a matter that they are no longer using the body, so it might as well go towards saving lives. Still, the thought of my dead carcase being buried in some weird location and allowed to rot is not my idea of how I'd like my body used. (As opposed to it just rotting in a cemetary somewhere!) I think these people are very admiral to allow their ex-bodies to be used this way. Still, I get a feeling that I couldn't do it, as I'd feel somehow they were disrespecting my body. Like I said though, it's a choice of two things - rotting in a cemetary or rotting in a cadaver farm and people benefiting from the scientific information they can get from it. The second is obviously a more logical choice, yet emotionally it is like a brick wall to me. Of course, having them use my body to drive a car into a wall doesn't offend me as much. Yet, still I don't think I could leave it to the cadaver farm. Strange. Why am I not as emotionally offended by the car sceanario as I am by the rotting in a cadaver farm? Maybe it's because I think the car one will be cleaner and I can still get a good burial for my body afterwards. Still, it might be a good thing for people to think about before they die. That way their body might be put to good use after they stopped using it (along with organ donation).

Too Damn Sick

Wow! I've been too damn sick lately. Mowed the back lawn today, and even though I wore a mask, my allergy to grass has wiped me out for the day. So little that I can do in this state. So exhausted. Might have to take a trip to see the Doctor again to see if I can get some sort of anti-histamines to block everything. Might get another blood test done. Yesterday I was pretty sick too. Might be the change in the weather. Rained all yesterday and thunderstorms last night. Still hot as hell though. In the high 30 degrees celcius range. Easter Monday today, so everything is shut. Stock market opens again tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing if everything keeps falling. Just need to wait till it turns and get a stack of Call Options written. Of course, it will depend on Wall St and that in US. If they keep falling, then ASX will keep falling. So, I'll wait till the US turns (and it looks like it will continue up), then will place the call option writes in place. Not sure if I should gamble a put option, as I'm sure this fall is only for a short while. A Put option might backfire. Anyway, lets not talk shop. Back to talking fun and games. Hmmm ... haven't won at all today. Played Shogun total war, but keep getting myself killed. Need a safer stategy. Admittedly, I wasn't fighting my own battles today, but letting the computer automatically do it. Might have to replay it and do it myself. Due to allergies playing up, I'm taking the night off. Might watch 'Myth Busters' (one of my favoourite shows. I sent in some 'Historical Myths' for them to check out. I think I wrote about them earlier. Will check on a day when I am not exhausted. (Yeah, I'm too exhausted to read my own blog! Blah!) Oh well. Looking forward to getting up tomorrow with some energy, and ready to check what the market is up to.

Scrabble Wabble

Spent some of yesterday and today playing Scrabble with the Mother and Brother Jeff. Liked the first game yesterday. For my second word, I hit two Triple Word Scores and also used all seven letters to score something stupid like 149 points. Added to my first turn score it brought me up to 165. Not bad for two turns. At the end I was well over 300. Beat both of them by more than both their scores added together. :-) Today, one of the games came pretty close. I only won by about 30 points. Still, I broke the 200 mark in every game, so was pleased with myself. Won all three games today. Spent the rest of the day playing Capitalism II and Shogun Total War. Capitalism II I managed to become dominant in all areas in less than 20 years. Spent big, borrowed big, made a big corporation. Funny thing is, I'd been trying that for a few days and wasn't able to do it till today. Did it by saturating one city with Computer goods till I was Retail leader (and Raw Materials leader - I'm always that anyway). Then, just built heaps of factories and farms! Easily done. Shogun, I played my favourite 'Hojo' again. Was doing good on the Expert level a few times, taking over Eastern Japan. Always managed to die in battle though without an heir! Darn. Two of the times it was my own fault though. My Daimyo's Cavalry got down to just him, and because I'd killed he enemy General, I didn't pull him out of battle. You would have thought I'd learnt the first time! :-) Silly me! Kept playing till eventually I got the break I needed. On about the fourth or fifth game, I finally got my resources going good, as well as having a big enough army to stop myself being taken over too easily. Lord Uesugi attacked me almost every game, and everytime I managed to take out Mutsu. Last game, I had strong enough armies to fight off both Takeda and Imagawa. Then it was onto Oda and Mori. The last remnant of Takeda was stil up the Western side of Japan. Then, it was just me and Shimada. I owned most of Japan by this stage, and all of the Eastern part of Japan was really built well, with improvements. (All land with 100% improvement, most with large castles to Citidels and plenty of Dojo's to recruit troups. Especially had famous Dojo's and Cavalry as well as the Temple Complex to make some great Warrior Monks). Feeling pretty ill after all the left overs I've been eating from Jeff's B'day party. I took one of my stomach tablets, but still, I am feeling quite ill. Hope I don't vomit blood or anything. (Common occurance with my stomach anyway. My own fault for eating some yummy chocolate!) My friend Melisa asked me to mention her! Um, yeah Melisa, what you want me to say? hee hee. She was asking about the people in Mexico today. The ones who get crucified to celebrate Easter. Like most people, she can't understand why they do such things. I was more worried about the pictures I saw of them. Reuters had some posted, and the people looked like they were wearing Klan uniforms, with the big pointy hoods and stuff. Some of those people get crucifed every year. I saw some guy getting interviewed one year who'd done it about ten times. I think it's crazy. Jesus already did that for the world, why do it to yourself. Guess it makes great conversation starter at parties. "Hey everyone, want to see the holes in my wrists from Easter!" "Oh no, I broke a nail! Now my hands come free!" "You're lucky, I broke two nails. Both in my hands. Landed flat on my face!" "Wow! That's bad luck. Who would have thought getting crucified would be so painful!" "I was going to get crucified, but didn't like the crowd I was hanging with last year!" "What do you mean this is the Penetance after party? I just came for the Klan meeting!" Hmmm, I'm sure someone will tell me off for making those jokes! Anyway, hope everyone has a wonderful easter. (Hoppy Easter!) :-) Don't eat too much chocolate. :-) Go forth and be nice to everyone!

Dead Tiger Snake View Two

Dead Tiger Snake (view Two) Here is a better view of the tiger snake. My brother Jeff took both of the pictures. This picture clearly shows the slice it received which killed it. It was probably out looking around for some nice rats or something from the nearby creek. We've had unusually hot weather for this time of year. It should be a lot colder and the snakes should already be heading underground to hibernate for the winter. Of course, I am going to see this as a good omen, with it being the year of the rooster and me being a snake. An evil neighbour chucking a snake on our front lawn as an attempt to drive us out (The other night someone chucked a Bundy Rum and Cola bottle at the house. A lot of lower class idiots in the neighbourhood, and some other very nice people. A mix of thugs and normal people I think.) Anyway, just waiting for the next snake or horses head on our door step! :-)

Dead Tiger Snake

Dead Tiger Snake Today was my brother Jeff's B'day party. When everyone arrived to celebrate, they discovered that some nice person had placed a dead Tiger Snake on our front gutter. We suspect from the slice marks on the Tiger Snake, that it had unfortunately been in the long grass in the park when the local council had mowed the other day. Then, some person has obviously picked it up and chucked in front of our house. We have such nice neighbours. :-)

Which Race Am I?

Hmmmm .... I scored 100% on two different races in the quiz, yet it decided I was Asian? Must be all that Anime I watch. Having both Asian and White in the family probably means I have leanings towards both cultures, but I assure you, I am definitely a Bodoh White Guy! You scored as asian. Yur Asian! asian 100% white 100% latino 17% black 0% Are you a different race than you think you are? created with QuizFarm.com

Once again, I put it down to flawed Quizes. As any idiot can create a quiz, I guess that explains the flaws. More scientific people might get it closer to reality.

Which religion am I?

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth. Buddhism 83% Christianity 79% Hinduism 63% Satanism 63% Paganism 58% Judaism 58% Islam 54% agnosticism 25% atheism 25% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

Okay, Someone explain this one to me? As most of my friends know, I am pretty much a practicing Christian (with two Theology Certificates and the option of becoming Ordained as a Pastor if I wish to start my own ministry). Now, admittedly, I always refered to myself as a Christian with Buddhist leanings (having been a Buddhist for a while in High School - till I started to have major problems with some of the beliefs). I blame my parents for all those trips to the "Sleeping Buddha Temple" in Penang. Let's face it, my parents are Athiests, so why were we always visiting the same Temple? Why didn't we get to visit the snake temple with all the snakes? That would have been cool. I think there is a possibility that the Quiz was more skewed towards Christian Fundamentalist Right-Wingedism (which leaves us Christian Left people out in the cold!) Not that I would consider myself Christian Liberal (which in many intances is just a person being apostate and using the title "Christian" as a way to label themselves). People in that situation should just be honest and call themselves "Confused" or something. I noticed Taoism didn't even get a mention in the quiz! How will my Taoist friend Corey do when he does the Quiz? Is it possible the developers of the Quiz didn't check to see the similarities between a lot of Jesus and Buddha's teachings? (Gee's, there have been plenty of books written on the subject). Well, I'll stop raving about Religion now. Time to start complaining about the STOOOPID Government again! yes, I know I've written many a time on the fact that Perth lacks Power and Water! The fact that the Government claimsit's a Privaledge and not something guaranteed! Yes, this has come about because ONCE AGAIN WE'VE BEEN LEFT WITHOUT ELECTRICITY FOR HOURS AND HOURS! Not once but a few times this week. WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR MY SPOILED FOOD YOU GOVERNMENT B@$T@RD$~!~!!!!!!! Yes, in Perth, people are supposed to conduct business with no electricity. In the modern world, where Computers are a Necessity, the stooopid Governments (both Federal and State) claim electricity is a privaledge. Well, I say this to them! THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FIRST WORLD NATION! YOU CAN'T DO BUSINESS WITHOUT IT! Electricity HAS become a necessity! If you think it is a privaledge, then get Western Power to cut the power in the CBD and the Rich FRIGGIN' areas first. Then see how long before you decide to fix the stooopid issue! If your Friggin' electricity was forever being switched off, you'd be up in friggin' arms! In Dante's inferno, he described Hell as having Burning Heat and Darkness! Guess where I was the other night! It was over 32 Friggin' degrees Celcius (hitting 43 here during the day!) and we had NO ELECTRICITY for friggin' lights or for Friggin' airconditioning/fans etc! It was Friggin' HOT and Friggin' Dark! No wonder I couldn't sleep, I'd been sent to Friggin' Hell by the Friggin' State Government! How would you like me to blind you and roast your nuts? As that's what you friggin' doing to us! Pull your Friggin' Fingers out and fix the problem! NOW! End of Rant!

Allergic Reaction to Normal Band Aids

Allergic reaction -See post below regarding the relevance of it. Significance of this, is the fact that my immune system seems to react to everything from food to things I touch. Doctors never seem to offer any relief by forms of anti-histamines either. They usually just tell me to avoid whatever I am allergic to and go on my merry way. Problem with that, is the list of allergies seems to always grow and grow, and I am not getting any better. Anyway, just to chuck the picture into context. This is from years ago when I had a possible cancer removed (but wasn't), and the Doctor put some stitches in. I wore a band aid over the stitches for one day, and had a nice allergic reaction to it. So I've stopped using band aids whenever possible.

Another Day Working on Assignments

Wow! Spent another full day on this stooopid assignment. Still going. It was due in at 9 PM. So I've missed the deadline. 10% loss of marks each day. Still, I am not very enthused over this assignment. Spent so many flaming hours on it, and still not close to completion. Have to mow the lawn for my mother tomorrow, as well as jump through some other hoops for people. Hopefully I'll get time to sit down and complete this thing. Learnt something new today. Apparently if you put duct tape (Gaffer tape as we musso's like to call it), over warts (or moles/skin tags etc), for one month, they eventually go away. (Actual method involves taking tape off once a week, cleaning the area and filing a little with emery boards). They haven't tested with other forms of tape. I wonder if it is because Duct tape is water proof, or it's something in the glue? More scientific tests should be performed. Might be easier to apply dut glue in a gel form than walk around with a body covered in duct tape. Actually, I did read one theory where they claim the immune system learns to attack the wart/mole etc. The duct tape aggrivates the immune system, which then attacks it. I migh tbe able to do it with normal bandaids, as I have allergic reactions to them. Refer to picture in post above.

Still going on Assignments!

Wow! Spent another full day on this stooopid assignment. Still going. It was due in at 9 PM. So I've missed the deadline. 10% loss of marks each day. Still, I am not very enthused over this assignment. Spent so many flaming hours on it, and still not close to completion. Have to mow the lawn for my mother tomorrow, as well as jump through some other hoops for people. Hopefully I'll get time to sit down and complete this thing. Learnt something new today. Apparently if you put duct tape (Gaffer tape as we musso's like to call it), over warts (or moles/skin tags etc), for one month, they eventually go away. (Actual method involves taking tape off once a week, cleaning the area and filing a little with emery boards). They haven't tested with other forms of tape. I wonder if it is because Duct tape is water proof, or it's something in the glue? More scientific tests should be performed. Might be easier to apply dut glue in a gel form than walk around with a body covered in duct tape. Actually, I did read one theory where they claim the immune system learns to attack the wart/mole etc. The duct tape aggrivates the immune system, which then attacks it. I migh tbe able to do it with normal bandaids, as I have allergic reactions to them. Refer to picture in post above.

Another Assignment Bites the Dust

With two assignments due tomorrow I've been hard at it hitting the books. Got the Java one off and was pretty happy with it. Included some things for extra marks and hope it impresses the markers. Of course, I've done that before, and confused them. Hoping for maximum marks. Spent the rest of my time working on the other Assignment due tomorrow. A lot of darn reading to do to get it finished. Still, have only got the head written for the C++ program - not even a skeleton of the Main program written. Still, have all of tomorrow to do it. Funny how, when you are trying to study, suddenly your attention is required by everyone. My mother is a big pest when I am studying. She came in and kept starting conversations over the most trivial of things. Then she came and asked me to mow the lawn on Tuesday. Even after I said, "Yes", she still wanted to have a conversation about it! (Like she was trying to convince me 'Yes' wasn't a good enough answer!) Then, my mother and brother Jeff decided to clean out the spare room, and have arguements about it. Was like they were deliberately trying to find things to stop me studying. The main problem, is it seems to always happen. Or maybe I am just more tolerant when I am not trying to study. Anyway, once they stopped cleaning the spare room, they decided they needed to talk to me again, and again and again! I am surprised I got any work done at all! My brother then tried another tactic of walking past me and yelling out, "WHY AREN'T YOU STUDYING?", to which I replied some things I can't repeat here! (Yes, it is possible to use the 'F' word twenty times in a sentence with only four words!) Well, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the first assignment off in time, but I did! It made me pretty happy. Now, I have to get stuck into the second one (which has taken most of the work so far). Also, I will include (for some people's amusement) Solution One for the Underpants Gnome problem (Yes, there is more than one solution): 1. Steal People's Underpants 2. ?????? 3. Profit Step 2 - When everyone's underpants have been stolen, ransom them back. Stores & factories will not be able to keep up with demand. Some people won't mind going freeball (aka commando). However, there will always be some people who can't buy a pair, and who will refuse to go commando. These are the ones who will pay for their underpants back! As another cost saving measure, don't spend any overhead on keeping track of who owns which pair. Just send them any old pair back. Pre-Condition: Ensure cost of stealing underpants and cost of return is less than the amount the underpants are being ransomed for. You will have the market on used underwear, so don't be too cheap, but also, don't demand too much. Too high a ransom demand will only lock some people out of the market! Ask for solution 2 sometime in the future. (Underpants Option Derivatives anyone? That's solution 3!) :-)

My Mother Turns Sixty!

Yesterday was my mother's 60th B'day. Was a good night out. Pictures later (after I down load them off my mother's camera!) We ate at Ramon's at Canning Vale. It's also the local Kendo training hall. I was quite impressed by Sensei Ramon's display of trophies, certificates and Japanese nick nacks! There was even a full Japanese suit of armour in the restaurant. I went over and had a good look at it. Also, plenty of swords, practice swords and other Kendo stuff. The guy obviously takes his Martial Arts very seriously. I should have gone up and spoken some Japanese to him, but he probably would have embarrased me with my lack of knowledge, and rather thick Aussie accent. My brother Jeff and I bought my mother two DVD's. A Bee Gee's one, and another Queen one (Greatest Video Hits Volume 2). My Neice turned four on Wednesday, so we also gave her a present and wished her a happy Birthday. Today was my Nephew Elijah's first B'day. He held it at a park across the road from my sisters house. My brother Jeff and I went out shopping early and got him a nice book and toys for the bath. Lot's of my sisters friends and all there kids there. I felt sort of strange, as a lot of her friends have heaps of kids. They're all about seven years younger than me, and I still don't have any kids. Oh well, always time to catch up once I find that special someone. (If I find them!) :-) My brother Jeffrey turns 35 on this Wednesday coming. We've decided to hold his actual party on the Friday. (Don't want to miss Battlestar Galactica!) :-) There are other family members who also have their B'day in March. (Like my father, but no one speaks to him!) Probably says something about when the people in my family like to have sex! :-) I guess it places it about June, which is mid winter in Aussie. Must be a way for them to keep warm! :-) There are a few B'day's coming up in April too. Talk about going broke in one month! Aye Karumba! In May, there is only my cousin Karen and Me having B'days. Easy on everyone's pockets (Especially mine, as I'm not buying a present for myself this year. When I was in Sydney, I was the only person buying presents for me. My family and I had an agreement that we wouldn't bother when I was there, as the cost of sending stuff would be too great. WHat we'd do, is buy ourselve s present. It also means we got exactly what we wanted!) :-) I have no idea what I want for my B'day. I was asked today, but haven't given it much thought. Still two months to go, so plenty of time. We were trying to get ideas out of my younger brother for his b'day. So far, all he seems to want is some better darts. (Good quality ones). I think he's tired of losing to me! :-) Oh well, back to the study! Have to get smarter, and get this University Degree over and done with! :D Study Study Study!

Drawing page

I know a lot of you have been to my drawing page. Just wanted some feedback concerning the art there. Which is your favourite picture? Why? As per usual, those who don't know, there are NUDE picture on this page. Do not go there if you are easily offended. http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~dsteven3/art/Drawing/Drawing.html (Just after some ideas as to what people like. Consider it some cheap market research!) :-) All constructive critisism appreciated! :-) Doumo doumo Xie Xie Terima Kasih Merci thanks :-)

Thursday

As I sit here listening to the Alman Brothers Band, I have a few things to contemplate. Today my stock broker finally got back to me. Unfortunately, today was too late to do the trade I wanted to do earlier in the week. I'm waiting for things to stop falling and hopefully will pick up a nice buy and write call when the market starts to lift. Keep my fingers crossed that I do it all at the correct time. My mother's B'day is tomorrow, and my brother and I still haven't gother a present. Originally my brother was going to take tomorrow off so that we could go shopping. My mother's B'day party is on at night, so was hoping to get it all sorted out before the party. Nope! My brother didn't bother to try to get the day off. Not sure what he was planning on doing, but looks like we're going shopping on Saturday for a belated present for her. (It's Okay, I explained it to her, and she was cool with us getting the present Saturday). It's not that we were deliberately trying to make the present belated. It's just that my brother didn't communicate what his plans were (or in other words, he changed the plan, didn't tell me, and now we're stuffed!) :-) On the other hand, it's his B'day on Wednesday. Guess what? My mother and I haven't got a present for him yet! My idea was to buy a gift voucher at the local DVD/Music store. My mother gave that suggestion to my sister! So now my mother and I need another idea (as we don't want to give the same present as my sister!) I think Wednesday morning I might be running around trying to find something for him. (Unless I do it tomorrow! in which case, I'd be able to get my mother's present too, if only they'd give me their share of the money in order to get the presents). Guess it's too hard for them to think that far ahead. The good thing is, neither has a present for each other, so I am exonerated by association! :-)

Wednesday

Yes, my blog titles are getting less creative! Dumb day. Got up early in case my stock broker phoned through. He didn't return my call! Blah! I got on the internet to see how the stocks were going, and the ASX site was down! Blah! Had a meeting at 10am, so went to that. Then did some shopping after it. Arrived home. Got a phone call and had meeting on the phone with someone. Still, my broker hadn't called and the ASX site wasn't up, so I had no idea what was happening in stock market land. Eventually, it became too late to call my stock broker. I didn't want to send the trade through, as I was still blind to what the market was up to. Got onto the Exchange site, and saw that if my trade had of gone through last night I would have made money today! Blah! Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. Is good practice I guess, and shows I can make a good trade (even if I didn't get the financial benefits of it!) Hope the broker doesn't call me early tomorrow. I don't want to do any trading till next week now. I want to wait till the dividends come out, so I can have those before trading any shares away. All in a days missed opportunity! Time for pizza and study I guess! I was going to procrastinate a bit, but I've had to put that off till I get some more time! :-)

Tuesday

Well, was running around trying to get the finance thing happening today. Didn't get to speak to my Stock Broker, as he wasn't in! Wwaaaaaaahhhhh! Will have to do the trade tomorrow morning. Probably means he'll phone me at 7 AM Perth time (which is 9 AM Sydney time). Hopefully the Options won't have moved too much. Trying to decide if I am going to increase my margin loan by another $20,000 ... which will bring it to $50,000. If I do try that ploy, it might catch me out if the stock drops too fast. Also depends which stock I do a buy and write on. I'm still sorting through everything trying to decide. Didn't get any study done like I had hoped. I better knuckle down and get into it. Two assignments due SOOOOON! Waaaaah! Then two projects! Waaaah! Not much else happened today. Too busy doing calculations on option calls to write about anything else from past of opinions. Hopefully will be alright by tomorrow and can get decision over with and stuck into studying!

Monday Bloody Monday!

Yes, it's a Monday. How do I know? First off, my ISP (Telstra) sent me a bill claiming I hadn't paid the last one! This p***ed me off no end, as I had bloody so paid it. After calling and waiting on the "Bill Enquiry" line for half and hour, I got to speak to someone. Yes, he confirmed I had paid my last bill, and told me to ignore what it said. Apparently my card wasn't processed until the "next working day", which was 2 days after the due date. Another thing occurred. Remember how I previously wrote about the University Library not reading what I requested. Instead of photocopying two pages for me and sending that through, they sent me the entire book! Well, today a second copy of the SAME book arrived!!!! WTF!!! Now I have to send back two copies of a book I didn't want in the first place! All of it getting charged to my Debit Card! F! F! F! F! More money down the drain! Going to have to do the big money transfer to keep my head above water this month. I was meaning to e-mail or phone my financial advisors and get some more money, as I want to "write a call option" this month, but need to set myself up before I do. Don't want to get a margin call on my loan if I have to sell my shares! I didn't get around to it as my mother dropped in for half the day. Of course, dividends come out this month, so I have some extra cash there for a short while. Enough to keep me fed before I start playing around in the "Options" bin of the stock exchange! To top it all off, my University Fees arrived. $80 to be paid immediately, and another $722 to add to my HECS debt! Ptttthhhh!!! I also got eaten by mosquitoes last night. I scratched so hard I am bleeding and pussing on my legs! Darn Mosquitoes! Somehow I didn't finish doing things till 2 AM last night, then had to get up early as the dogs were going beserk! The other day I wrote about the power going off for ten minutes. I spoke too soon that day, as it went off for four hours about ten minutes after I posted. What a crappy day. Time to eat I think! Time to study too! Beats being dead I guess! :-) [Always looking on the bright side!] :-)

Some of the life and times of .. me! :-) 

For Melisa's B'day today. Just another Bear for your collection of Teddy Bear's! :-) 

Bass Space 

The Haunted House

This evening, while watering our large backyard, my brother Jeffrey came to talk to me. He reminded me of some of our old homes. One of them, as he reminded me was supposedly haunted. Admittedly I never experienced any of these supernatural phenomenon. However, other members of the family have stories of seeing a 'boy' on the stairs, as well as other stories of doors suddenly opening and closing by themselves. The 'boy' that was seen climbing the stairs was apparently dressed very neatly in school uniform. The doors which 'opened' and 'closed' on there own, included the sliding doors in the dining room, which were on a side of the house without windows, so no wind could have been involved. I mentioned to Jeff that about a year before I left Sydney, the house had been up for sale ... again. We knew of it being up for sale numerous times. My brother Paul apparently drove past it before he left Sydney, and it was up for sale then, in 1985. My brother Jeff drove past it in 1994 and it was up for sale then. Why was this house up for sale all the time? It was in quite a prestigious area, Bonnett Bay. So would have been worth quite a bit of money. Yet, when we rented it, we got it for a real bargain. My brother Jeff believes it was always being put up for sale because of the 'ghost' who lived there. Were other people experiencing weird phenomenon like other members of my family were? Was it just a coincidence? My mother and brother Jeff are convinced of the house being haunted. After all, they had experienced the supernatural phenomenon. I take a lot to convince of paranormal happenings. After all, my bedroom was the closest to the stairs, and I never experienced anything. Surely if the ghost was always going upstairs, it was to hang out in my room with my grovey record collection (it was before CD's were invented). Why didn't I hear the ghost playing my records? Another house my brother reminded me of, was the one we had in Beacon Hill. This one was extra special. It was a WAAF's quaters at one stage. At another time it had been owned by the person who won the Opera House Lottery (a lottery run to pay for the building of the Sydney Opera House). He'd decided to build a second storey on it (and reports differ as to whether he built it up or down. All the power points in the lower house were near the roof, while the upstairs had it's power points where they should be. That suggests the story of him building the lower part second). The funny thing about the house,was that it was identicle on both stories. So there were two bathrooms, four toilets, two kitchens and six bedrooms. The great thing about the house was my brother Paul and I shared the lower house, while my parents, and my brother Jeff and sister Angella had the top storey. The spare bedroom was used as a music room, with the guitars/amps, drums, keyboards etc all stored in that room. The lower lounge room we used as a pool room. The lower kitchen was used as a store room and was also where we had the dishwasher. (That never seemed to get used). The place must be worth a fortune. It was a pity we had to move from it. The main problem was the lower part of the house was always in shadow and always getting moldy easily. I was forever cleaning the bathroom. Of course, with two toilets down stairs, it ment my brother Paul got one, and I got the other. Somehow, when my brother Paul had an allergic reaction to pork, he ended up in my toilet and somehow missed everything except the wall. Yes, something exciting for me to clean up when I got up in the morning! Yuck! My bedroom was great, as it was four metres by six metres. (Being an ex WAAF's quarters, it was used as a barracks type room. Wonder how many WAAF's used to be in that room!) That gave me plenty of time to myself. I coudl always hear Van Halen blasting from Paul's bedroom. We also had the computer (Vic 20) housed downstairs. I seemed to get the highscore on all the games, while my brother Paul was forever typing away writing some program. Probably why he ended up being a programmer. :-) Wonder if it also had a ghost? :-)

Which Party am I?

Grabbed this quiz from Suanie's site and did it. Pretty much sums me up I think. You scored as Democrat. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Green 100% Democrat 100% Anarchism 83% Socialist 75% Communism 50% Republican 17% Nazi 17% Fascism 17% What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

Random Meanderings for Today

You kno those days when you wake up, and you've slept funny. Well, today is one of those days for me. Yes, I've got some weird back/shoulder complaint today. I did my usual bench pressing, but felt pretty weak on the right hand side, so I stopped. Nothing worse than 50kg landing on your head! (Except maybe More than 50 kg landing on your head!) Since then it's been hard to study or write or anything, as this annoying shoulder thing keeps distracting me from what I want to do. Maybe I should take a nap and see how it feels when I get up! Darn! I hate it when this sort of thing happens. I've been trying to stretch the neck/shoulder out where the pain is, but nothing seems to help. I keep hearing the occassional "pop" or "crack" from the neck, but the pain remains. Where is my private massuer when I need one? Earlier today it actually rained (yes, rain in Perth!!! Who would have thunk it!) At one stage, there was a loud BANG from down the road and all the electricity went off for a few minutes. The BANG made the dogs bark a lot. My computer and everything else came back on Okay, so nothing seems to have been damaged. (Except whatever went BANG up the road). On another note - for those who remember what I wrote about the Dept. of Agriculture coming around looking European borers in pine trees and walking straight past two pines in our front yard. Apparently there is a local scam occurring where people come claiming to be the Dept of Agriculture. They then convince people to get their house sprayed for the European Borer. It's all being done by some guys pretending to be pest extermintors (though whether they are legit or not is something else). So, we are not sure whether the guy who came to our door was one of these scammers or an actual Dept. of Agriculture officer. Oh well, back to trying to study!

Found this on the web, and thought it was funny. 

Stooopid University

My University Library (in Armidale NSW) has a service where they will photocopy selected pages from books, provided you dont' infringe copyright laws. (ie must be for study purposes and must be less than 10% of the text etc). I sent in a request a few weeks ago to get two pages photocopied from the required text, as it's still about a week before my copy arrives at the bookstore. Today, instead of two photocopied pages, the entire text book arrived. That means I have to find the money to send it back to the University Library. (After photocopying the required pages of course ... actually, while it's here, I'll read the first three chapters too, so that I can do the assignment). I'll just try to look on this as a possitive (ie having the textbook for a week), rather than the negative(more money out the window when it shouldn't be!) I just wonder how much they charged my credit card to send the book to me!

The Reason Some People Just Shouldn't Drink.

Two Quick stories from past days. Story One - Day Release. Back when I used to play American Football, we had a guy on our team whom we nicknamed Day Release. The reason he got this nickname, was because he'd been known to miss or turn up late for matches. This occurred as he was usually in jail after being in drunken brawls. On one of the other guys bucks nights, he tried to start a fight with some of the team, for no other reason than the fact he'd been drinking. The rest of the team decided to just leave him and when the animal bus drove off, they made sure he wasn't on it. [Way to make friends and influence people!] Moral of the story - if alcohol makes you violent, then don't drink. It'll keep you out of jail and make you socially more acceptable. Story Two - When Alpha Males Fight. This occurred at Lola's in Sydney. We went up the pub. On one table was a group of people from work, and on the other was another group. I sat with one of the groups. Both groups had people I'd never seen before. One of the guys at the other table (whom I didn't know) suddenly started to make fun of a guy at our table (whom I also didn't know). These guys had never met before, but for some reason, the first guy needed to boost his ego by verbally assaulting the second guy. The second guy (unknown to us), happened to be a violent drunk. So, after some Alpha Male Verbal wrestling between the two, the second guy reached for a glass, smashed it against a wall and was going to glass the first guy! Yes, only a fool would get between these two guys ... um ... in stepped me! [Positive proof that you can have an IQ in the top 1% and still do stupid things!] Fortunately, I wasn't alone. The guy was there with a friend Helen, who also stepped in. Between the two of us, we talked him out of glassing the first guy. (Though, not having met the guy before, there was a part of me that wasn't sure if I was going to get glassed in the meantime). I will give credit to Helen for most of the work in calming him down (after all, she knew him and probably knew more of what to say. I was leaning heavily on my Drug Rehab counciling experience ... which wasn't much, I can tell you.) Helen convinced him to go home. A wise move. The people at the table with the first guy somehow missed the catalyst of the whole affair. They seemed to blame the second guy entirely for the incident. On top of that, some of them blamed ME! They claimed the second guy was my friend! Um! Say what?!!! I think the first words I ever spoke to that guy was, "I think you might want to put that down before you accidentally hurt someone!" Still, some stupid girl at work gave me an earful of how irresponsible I was to have this "friend", even though I kept explaining to her that I didn't know the guy! Obviously alcohol had made her Deaf (or stupider ... or both). Morale of the story: First Guy - If alcohol turns you into an arsehole, then don't drink. Second Guy - See First Story. Stupid Girl - I always thought you were stupid BEFORE you started drinking ... drinking made you worse! Guess it's the only way you can get laid though! Alcohol does have some benefits though - like prevention of heart disease - or improving my ability to speak Japanese ... okay, I made the second one up! Supplimentary Story One - Drunken Phone Calls. There is always some drunken idiot who decides that 4 AM is a good time to call Ex-Lovers/spouses etc. Twice we've received calls from my Ex-Father here at 2 AM and 4 AM respectively. Both times he was drunk and a complete arsehole (which means he is the same sober!) ;-) On another occassion he called during the day, but he was trying to call someone else. He denied any knowledge of his previous two calls. Supplimentary Story Two - Drunken Wife. I arrived home one day (back when I was married and shared a house with my brother Jeff and an old flatmate Paul). I went in the bedroom to get changed, and found my wife (Christine - see pictures below) sitting on the floor at the end of the bed. She was obviously drunk. She had the remote control in her hand and was trying to play a video. She couldn't understand why it wasn't working. I turned the telelvision on for her! Hey Presto! It works! I asked her how much she'd been drinking. She said she'd only had ONE. ONE??? I asked her if she knew how much ONE drink was. She'd apparently filled the glass half full with Vodka, and the other half with Coke. So a 250 ml glass ... half full ... that's 125 ml of Vodka. One normal drink is 30ml ... so she had the equivalent of 4.166 drinks in one go. (You can tell I used to mix the drinks before this event!) Yes, alcohol certainly can make you dumb! Actually, I can't remember if she used one of my BIG pint glasses (I don't like small glasses), so it may have been closer to 250 ml of Vodka ... which is 8 drinks. Supplimentary Story Three - Switzerland Actually, this is more of a nice memory. Some of us love our Long Island Ice Teas. For those that don't know them, they are equivalent to 5 drinks (having 5 white spirits in them) Very yummy. I had eight of these (equivalent to 5 x 8 = 40 normal drinks) over a 5 hour period. Being with some great friends, we were all nice and toasty and it was about 11:30 PM. It was cold, but we couldn't quite notice. Someone suggested we go up under the waterfall. Cool. So Dave, Kylie, Darryn and I decided to go. So we went through the village, through a kiddies playground, through the Graveyard (yes ... almost midnight wooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo), up the mountain to where the waterfall was. There was a rock staircase which goes up the mouontain and under the waterfall. Very slippery, very wet. So up we went. Unknown to us, the lights go off at midnight. So there we were, four toasty tourists under the waterfall at midnight and CLUNK! Off went the lights. Four toasty tourists under a waterfall, in pitch darkness at midnight. SO, in pitch darkness, back down the slippery staircase, through the grave yard (WooOOooOOoo ah who am I kidding!), down the slippery dip in the play ground. We were crossing a bridge back into town, hen Dave decided he wanted to touch the water in the stream. It comes straight off a glacier. So we all got down next to the stream and stuck our hands in the water. Hmmmm ... Cold! Moral of the story: You can drink with good friends, have a good time and come away with good memories. Long Island Iced Tea ... Yum!

Anyone for Million Dollar Service?

My friend Evan and I having Coffee and Iced Chocolate at Palazzo Versace! Very nice place, with very good service. Also, expensive, but if you're going to pay this much, you expect the service to be as good as it was (and it was!) If I was a multi-millionaire, this is the sort of place I'd like to stay all the time. As a starving artist, it's beyond my means at present! :-) Still, like to plug it because of the service. (And let's keep our fingers crossed that I'll some day be a multi-millionaire. Palazzo Versace is the pwn)

Palazzo Versace

Evan getting out of the Limo at Palazzo Versace! He's next to the Limo far in the distance - not the Chinese couple close up. (Yes, they were speaking Chinese.) Nice place with very expensive shops on the ground floor.

Some Drummer Jokes

Thought I would include a picture of the drummer from Spyke. Cool pic. Now, some Drummer jokes: (You knew they were coming one day!) [CAVEAT: None of these jokes reflect in any way any drummer I have ever worked with. Ha ha! Who am I kidding? Anyway, I have nothing to fear, they're drummers, they can't read!] --------------------------------------------------- A guy walks into a shop.

"You got one of them Marshall Hiwatt AC30 amplificator things and a Gibson StratoBlaster guitar with a Fried Rose tremulo?"

"You're a drummer, aren't you?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"This is a travel agency." --------------------------------------------------- What do you get if you cross a drummer with a gorilla?

A really dumb gorrilla! (Who still can't keep time!) --------------------------------------------------- Johnny says to his mom, "I want to be a drummer when I grow up!"

Johnny's Mom replies, "But Johnny, you can't do both." --------------------------------------------------- Q: What do drummers get on IQ tests?

A: Drool. --------------------------------------------------- Did you hear about the guitarist who was going to a gig and locked his keys in the car? It took him two hours to get the drummer out. --------------------------------------------------- A drummer, tired from ridicule decides to learn how to play some "real" musical instruments. He goes to a music store, walks up to the sales clerk and says, "I'll take that red trumpet over there and the accordian."

The store clerk looks at him funny and replies, "OK, you can have the fire extinguisher but the radiator's got to stay". --------------------------------------------------- Two reasons Drum Machines are better than Drummers: 1/ The Drum machine can stay in time and doesn't sleep with your Girl Friend. 2/ Drum machines you only punch the information in once. --------------------------------------------------- An anthropologist goes to study natives on an exotic tropical island. As the boat nears the island, he notices the constant sound of hundreds of flutes. As he gets off the boat, he asks the first native he sees how long before the flutes stop. The native looks about very nervous and replies "very bad when the flutes stop."

At the end of the day, the flutes are still going and is starting to get on his nerves. So, he asks another native when the flutes will stop. The native looks as if he's just been reminded of something very unpleasant. "Very bad when the flutes stop," he says, and runs away.

After days with no sleep, the anthropologist is finally fed up, grabs the nearest native, slams him up against a tree, and shouts "What happens when the flutes stop?!!"

"Drum solo." --------------------------------------------------- And once, at band camp ...

こんにちは

Just checking to see if Japanese Character come out in Blogger!

のりはのりでもかっこいいのりは?

ジェイムス・ボソド

Translation for non-Japanese. What sort of Glue is really coooool? James Bond. (Bondo being Japanese word for strong glue) Yes, my jokes are not as cool as KY's nor do they come with pictures yet. I'll have to get GIMP up and running again to do some. :-)

Let's Get Wet !!!!

Intreped explorers - left to right - BACK ROW A Japanese Gentleman, Me, Bella. FRONT ROW - Ketsu (River Guide), Japanese Lady, Noriko, Tonomi. Just before we went down the "yawn" Baron River.

Photo of Me in Club We Were Playing In! :-)

Do I look young here or WHAT! Taken at a club we were playing at. As you can tell, I wasn't too famous, otherwise I'd be getting mugged by fans after an autograph!

Christine and Cindy - again!

Another one of the Ex-Wife (right) and her Best friend Cindy (left). We shared a tent while camping! Guess it means I can say I slept with two women! w00t. Except, the operating word is Slept! (Not had sex or anything like that!) Now aren't you all disappointed! :-) Funny thing was Christine complained of the "lack of privacy" in the camp site. Anyone paying attention would have realised she ment "lack of seperation between the tents". One of the other girls thought Chris was complaining because she wanted to have sex. She and her husband kept raving on about "Having a Bonk!" so I nicknamed the girl's husband "Bonking Bob" after that! Poor Chris! She just wanted a bit of distance between the tents.

14,000 feet straight down? No sweat!

Laughing before the jump. 14,000 feet straight down - 60 second free fall. No sweat! I ws looking forward to the jump. It ended up being slightly disappointing, as I never got the "adrenalin rush" people have told me about. Maybe I had too much faith in my own indistructability. Or Maybe just faith that the guy strapped to my back didn't have a death wish, and would pull the chord! The Photographer (who also shot the Video for me) kept telling me I was crazy, leaping out of a perfectly good working aeroplane! He was a pretty funny guy! My flatmate at the time claimed she could tell I was "scared" - which I found hard to beleive (what was there to be scared about?). I think she was projecting her own fear onto what she was seeing. Do I look scared? One of my other previous flatmates saw the video, and said he was impressed because at no time did I look scared, and he claimed he was looking for it in my face and didn't see it.

Out of the Sun!

That hot sun is burning my nuts man! The beginning was my favourite part of the sky dive. You basically fall forward out of the plane, hang upside down a bit to get some speed up, then flatten out for the remainder of the dive. Just to the right of the sun, you can see the aeroplane (dark shape). The funny thing was, as I watched the plane zoom away, it reminded me of all those cartoons where someone does a sky dive. (Such as Disney's "Duck Tales" and such). It leads me to believe that the cartoonists who draw some of those stories have a bit of sky diving experience (or got Disney to foot the bill for "research" into what it looks like when you sky dive!) I can't wait to go for another sky dive - though I must admit, I got a bit bored with it on the way down. Not much you can do except DROP towards the earth.

Steal the Photographer's Shoes Day!

Steal the Photographer's Shoes Day above Cairns! Yes, you can see a lot of flabby skin on me flapping around. This is what it's like to accelerate at 9.8m/s. People ask me what it's like to do a sky dive. I tell them, get a fan, and blow it in your face, while lying face down. It's a lot like floating, except you don't feel like your floating. It's like you're not moving at all. Just a lot of wind in your face.

Thought for Today - March 4th

Ever wondered what would happen if Gay and Lesbians started to door knock like Jehovah Witnesses?

Younger Brother's Gift

Last weekend was my Younger Brother Pauls B'day party (as opposed to Youngest Brother, Jeff, whom I often mention). He demonstrated an ability I didn't know existed on the plant (but apparently does). He claimed he could tell whether the ear piece (on some headphones) was the left or right based on any Van Halen track. So we tested him. We gave him a random ear piece, which he then stuck in his ear without seeing it. We then played a Van Halen track and he told us whether it was the Left or Right side of the track. As a musician, I know most engineers mix the drum tracks as though they are sitting directly behind the drums - the hi hats will be more to the left, the bass drum and floor toms to the right etc etc. I think any sound engineer could possibly use this method, provided they know the tracks well enough, to tell whether they were listening to left or right side. My brothers method was this - the sound engineers stick Eddie's guitar tracks more to the right side of the music (as Eddie's guitar apparently comes through the right side more at concerts ... or so they say ... might be left for the audience! Who knows!) So, my younger brother Paul, was able to tell with 100% accuracy which ear piece it was based on that method. Admittedly, Van Halen is his favourite band. As an adendum to yesterdays "memories", I still have my useless Science Degree sitting behind me and don't know what to do with it. It was too big to stick into one of my folders. Too useless to use even as toilet paper. What to do, what to do! lol Maybe use it as a firestarter in winter with my Theology Certificates, Marketing Certificate and programming Certificates! Thet'll keep us warm! lol [Not to mention my Bachelor of Orientation Degree! Bwahahahaha! Wonder what that's worth! Bwahahahahah!] Oh, and here is a link (courtesy of my friend Mami - aka Sara from Japan) to a Live Cam at Hawaii's Duke Kahanamoku Statue. Of interest to me as I've been to Hawaii. I actually went looking for the sheet music for the song "Duke Kahanamoku" while I was there for a fellow musician. Couldn't find it!

More Memories

Wanted to update yesterday, but the stupid ISP wasn't working again! What am I paying for?!!!! Grrrrr! X-( Spent most of yesterday doing a big clean up and re-arrangement of some of my bookshelves. I also had a big 40 litre tub of unsorted paper to get sorted and stuck into their respective folders. Got it all sorted out and also opened up about six or seven Misc. Folders and sorted them too. Some of the contents brought back memories (thus the title for todays Blog). One of the exciting things I got to read through, was my old "Exit Interview" from my last place of Employment in Sydney. It contained a lot of critism of the company. Anyone worth their salt would have taken the critism constructively. As I pointed out in the interview, they would just think of some way to exonerate themselves from what was happening in the organisation, and it would continue in the same direction. Which is what actually happened in the interview. They made excuses for everything. (Not their fault, they're only management, what do they have to do with managing!) :-) Someone once told me that it had got slightly better after I left, but others have told me that it didn't. A lot of people have told me that morale dropped after I left. (Hard to get morale below zero ... but if any company can do it, they can!) :-) Reading that exit interview also made me realise a few things. I could have said a lot more. There were too many double standards in that company. There were also too many illegal things and standover tactics used to make people squeeze square pegs into round holes. If I had of wanted to, I could have gone through my diaries and really given them both barrels for everything which I'd seen happen. As it stands, they probably thought the little I wrote was like both barrels. I think it was the reason I am the only person I know who left that company who was told I could never work there again! [You usually need to get fired for that to happen!] Lot's of critism and I probably came across as "Hostile" to the company. (Actually, I wasn't hostile at all. It was all just objective critism of Management and HR ... but of course, as soon as you critisize either of those, you are considered 'Hostile'). While sorting through stuff, I also got to see a lot of old photo's, & travel maps and stuff. I miss not travelling. Of course, I have a nasty habit of always wanting to be anywhere other than where I am. I have a curiosity streak which wants to keep moving to see the next AFC. AFC was a term we used on our travels in Europe. AFC = Another Flaming Church ... where "Flaming" was quite often another word, and "Church" could also be Cathedral, Chappel, Capital, Castle, Colloseum, Circus, Catacomb, Coach (bus), Complex (like Piazza or shopping mall) etc etc. You could be standing underneath the Eiffle tower, and someone will say, "AFC" meansing "Another Flaming Construction set!" If you look hard enough, almost everything you see can start with a 'C' in some way. "Look, Michaelangelo's David!" "Pttthhhh, AFC!" (Another Flaming Carving!) In Austria we were staying in an AFC (Challet). The cynisism developed because most of Europe was trudging through Churches/Cathedrals of some sort. There was some differences, like the Catacombs of the Capacino Monks! (No, they don't sell coffee there, but I think they should! Voglio capacino adesso!) There was the Castle at Heidelburg! (Nicht mein Schloß!) The Coloseum of Rome! (Voglio sapere quanto e perche volgio per il giardino!) The Casle at Prague (No, I don't speak Czech!) Calaise at ... um ah ... Calaise! Darn! (Idiot Australien! Man, that French looks like English! Voltaire was right, English is just French spoken badly!) [Please, don't send things to get them translated, my French and Italian are very limited! My German insignificant and my Czech ... well, non-existant]. Some people asked me to translate somethings when we were in Europe. I must admit I'm not fluent in anything, though my English is coming along nicely thank you! :-) A lot of the time, I just plain got it wrong ... like in this example: We got to Switzerland, and nobody knew which toilets where which. So, someone came and got me. The signs were written in German (I knew that much, because it wasn't French or Italaian!) One said, "Damen" and the other said "Herr". If I was thinking clearly, I would have remembered Herr Flick from the 'Allo 'Allo TV Series. This wasn't my night (probably because my alcohol and caffine system was full of blood at this stage! Six hours later and eight Long Island Ice Teas, and my brain would be in functioning mode!) First of all, I told them I didn't have a clue! (Which was true) So, because some of the men were busting to go, I decided to take a stab at it. Knowing English is based on every other language on the face of the planet (well, German Gramma with French/Latin and some Greek words), I thought it wouldn't be too hard. Easy - Herr is like Her in English, and Damen is like The Men in English! Right? Coool! Everyone agreed! Just as we were about to raid the womens toilets a Switz national walked past and pointed out to us, that "Herr" is "Men" and "Damen" is "Ladies". Phheeew! Almost got everyone embarrased! It was then that I realised "Damen" is like "Dame" in English and "Herr" (as previously pointed out) I already knew! Now do you see why you never send anything to have it translated by me! Hee hee! It's a lot easier in France where everyone uses the same toilet! (And some old lady sits by the Urinal collecting money where she has a nice view of the men.) Lastly, another quick travel story. In the Czech Republic, I decided I needed to go to the toilet. So, rather than using a pay toilet (with aformentioned ubiquitous old ladies in them), I decided to use the Free One in Duncan Donuts! Only, to use it you need to be a customer! I was busting, but decided there was enough time to eat a donut (note: I don't like donuts) and have a quick hot chocolate (note: I don't drink coffee - makes me bleed). I walked up to the counter. The girl didn't say anything to me (unlike MacDonalds where they greet you and ask if you want Fries with that. Once I ordered two large fries and the MacDonalds guy asked if I wanted Fries with it! I said "Yes, there had better be!") I looked up at the Duncan Donuts board, and decided what I wanted (while doing a slight shuffle as I was busting). I looked at her and asked, "Do you speak English?" She gave me a REALLY DIRTY LOOK and said, "Yeah!" as though I had heaped the worst insult in the world on her! I apologised to her and ordered. Moral of the story: Next time I am in Europe, I am going to assume everyone speaks English until they reply with something in their own language which sounds like, "Hey! Where do you think you are?!!! In England or something? What sort of half arsed monkey brain are you assuming everyone in Europe speaks English?! This is NOT friggin' the UK!" Then I will be certain they don't speak English. (Of course, everyone in Paris spoke French at me, while I ordered in English! They understood perfectly well what I wanted, but refused to speak English to me! I didn't let on that I spoke a bit of French. Next time I am there though, I plan to use my French, just to help improve it!) Ciao, Mata Ne, Bai Bai, Bye, See ya, bis spater.

Mating Humbacks.

Not the greatest pictures of mating humpbacks in the world. (Those two dark shapes in the water are Humpback whales) Actually, they probably weren't mating, they were probably resting after having a good shag. Humpback whales come into the Great Australian Bight to mate, give birth and raise their calves. Actually, this photo might have been of a mother and calf now that I think about it. There was one mother and calf I saw that day, and a heap of other humpbacks who were either giving birth or mating or doing something. Which reminds me of a story. I once mentioned Sperm Whales in front of a singer from one of my bands. He got really indignant because I'd used the word SPERM. I explained that "Sperm Whale" is not a dirty word. I gave an example. The book "Moby Dick" was about a Sperm Whale. He then took offence that I'd used the word "DICK" claiming I was being disgusting and making things up. I tried to explain the differnet types of whales. Yes, I mentioned Humpbacks! Yes, apparently I was still being disgusting as I mentioned HUMP. He probably thought Blue Whales had to do with Blue Movies, and goodness knows what he thought an Orca was!!!! :-)

Pulling Faces

Me pulling funny faces at the pub. (Back when my hair was long enough to tie back in a pony tail!) I think I was trying to see if I could blow scotch and coke out my ears. :-) Interesting thing to note about my facial hair - there is blonde, brown, red and black hairs in it. Showing the great cultural diversity I am descended from. When I was a child, I was actually blonde. I started to get dark when I was thirteen. Now, I am going grey! Ha ha! :-)

The Three Amigo's.

My Three Amigo's from Sydney. From left to right, Steve, Rizaldy and Corey. Steve was my team leader back when I was a Network Engineer. Rizaldy was NOT a famous Brazilian soccer player (no matter how many people I tried to convince otherwise!). He was our contractor in the Networking Department. Corey was the Systems Architect ... which means he told jokes all day I think. Something like that. Corey is originally from Perth. Normally you could find us either in Lola's (aka Sweeneys) or the Zambezi Bar. (No link to the Zambezi Bar - they used to be attached to Wanderers on Kent, but the website appears to be gone). Corey and I have VIP membership at Sweeney's, where we deliberately chose card numbers 0110 and 0111, so that we could be "6" [Corey] and "7" [Me]. (Geeks will understand what that means!) Steve and Rizaldy also have VIP Membership there - just not binary ones as far as I know. We also won the Trivia Jackpot there ($1000) once. [All thanks to me, because I do a lot of teamwork! cough! cough! Um, yeah!] :-) Zambezi was nice too. I liked when we would be the last people there, and we'd be watching Cartoon Network on the big screen. Even though there wouldn't be any sound, if something like Neon Genisis Evangelion was on, Corey could give us a running commentary as to what was happening. Corey, Rizaldy and Myself have (I think we still have it) the record for drinking two and a half bottles of Ballantynes Scotch in one sitting while there. [Not including some free shooters they gave us ... probably for paying for their wages for the month!] We never could quite break the three barrier, but I was probably holding the guys back, as I'm not a big drinker. I was also nicknamed "Tail End Charlie" as I used to drink a bit slower than everyone else. [Corey was nicknamed "Point" as he usually drank a little faster than the rest of us].

Some Travellers in Sydney

A group of people who were drinking with us the week before I departed Sydney. I swapped e-mails with one of the guys and sent this picture to them. Can't remember any of their names! Baka Dabido! lol [Are you here? What's your friggin' name! I can't remember!] :-) They were from (Left to Right) Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong [Provided my memory is correct].

Patricia

My friend Patricia - before my departure from Sydney. Patricia was one of our Trivia team (mentioned above in the Three Amigo's blurb!) Actually, she might be the only member from the Trivia team to be successfully married off. :-) What's wrong with the rest of the trivia team? ... Oh right! We're all GEEKS! hee hee.

Kangaroo Damage - Side View.

Kangaroo Damage2. Side view of the car where the suicidal roo did it's fateful leap into the next world. The poor Radiator was punctured. Something about this car that attracts damage. One month after I bought it brand new, I arrived back from work (At 1 AM mind you), to find someone had jumped up and down on the roof, totally squashing it. That was $4000 worth of damage. Then a bus ran into the back of it, and drove off. (Never had that repaired). Then my flatmate at the time, hit a gate and dented the side. She then refused to pay to have it repaired (so that's never been repaired either). Then the bloody Kangaroo attacked us for no reason! Still, it runs very well, and I am pleased that mechanically I haven't had the sorts of problems I used to have with the old Corolla.

Some Old Photo's

Just Before Crossing the Nullabour Plains. Thought I'd add some old pictures to show how exciting this blog is. :-) This is a photo of me driving. Actually, it is just before the Nullabour plain (the tree's in the background are a dead giveaway! Obviously NOT on the plain, as it has NO trees!) :-)

Kangaroo Damage.

Kangaroo Damage. Yes, your car can also look like this, all you need is one suicidal Kangaroo, a road to drive along, a bit of a run up (3000km run up for my car - Sydney to Nullabour Plains!) and some speed. If the roo had not have expired after hitting my car, I probably would have made sure it did! I was actualyl doing 80km/hr in a 110km/hr zone. Imagine the damage if I was doing 110km/hr. This was $4500-$5000 worth of damage.