And let’s face it, Starbuck is cute too…

Just finished watching part two of the Battlestar Galactica mini-series which I taped last night. Not bad really, although you’d think that if you’d figured out FTL space flight, articial intelligence and spacecraft able to take direct hits with nuclear missiles then a little thing like cancer wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s nice to see a spaceship that doesn’t have the Captain sitting in a fancy chair in the middle of a gleaming bridge Star Trek style. The whole look, feel and terminology is that of a battleship or aircraft carrier – even a World War II battleship or aircraft carrier. All dark with flickering screens and a big chart table, great stuff. I’m looking forward to watching the actual series – for as long as Channel 10 deigns to show it in a regular, resonable timeslot that is.

The reason I had to tape it is that it was Katie’s birthday party last night. I was actually under the impression that the party was next Sunday for some reason – so it was just as well I phoned Katie yesterday afternoon to say I’d be going. As parties go it was OK – you know, keeping in mind that I don’t really like parties very much at the best of times, and the best of times party-wise generally involve me actually knowing people who are there, which I didn’t. But that was OK, I just found a dark corner and lurked – which is what I’m good at. A few people talked to me which was nice, a girl named Charlotte particularly who seemed slightly concerned that I didn’t seem to be having a good time. But she was nice about it, so that’s OK.

Also in attendance was Katie’s friend Claire – actually it was her party too, Katie and her having birthdays very close. Happily the mad crush I developed on her the last time we met didn’t re-manifest, even though she was still insanely cute, or at least short and hyperactive.

Hmmmm, there’s not really much more to say. I went, I lurked, I left. Oh, and I missed an opportunity to be cool and funny when a bunch of cool and funny people (including the aforementioned Claire) started doing rather poor impersonations of the insane Scotsman from Little Britain. I mean my impression of the insane Scotsman has received much praise and critical acclaim (well, Ryan and Justin said it was very good :), so I probably could have blown them all away. But their impressions were so far off the mark that I didn’t realise what they were doing until it was too late to join in. Oh well, c’est la vie.

Anyway I’ve got to go pack. Moving next weekend. Ugh.

PS: JJJ just played I Am by Airlock, and it is quite clearly the best song ever in the entire world. BEST SONG EVER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! (Songs always sound so much cooler in French πŸ™‚

Mother Puss Bucket!

Well it seems my Mortgage Broker – for reasons best know to his tiny little mortgage broker mind – decided not to send me the forms to fill out to apply for the Government’s First Home Buyer’s Grant. Which means I won’t be getting it until I track down said forms, fill them out myself, and wait for the slow rumbling bueracratic machine to process them, which usually takes a couple of weeks. Which would be fine except I was sort of counting on getting the grant and using it to pay the Settlement on my new flat – which is due next week.

So, anyone care to loan me $7,000 before Wednesday? >:-|

I Name Hamsters!

Cool! Helen and Rob did end up giving their hamster the name I suggested! This discovery leaves me with a sense of power and importance completely out of proportion with something as un-notable as supplying nonclamenture for a Syrian rodent πŸ™‚

(At least I think hamsters come from Syria, I should probably look it up).

By the way – this is brilliant πŸ™‚

Scum

Although I haven’t had time to work on it lately I still get occasional emails concerning Abandoned in Perth. Today I got one from someone calling themselves ‘Will’ who was presumably informing me of what he’d like to see on the site when he wrote “i wont a girl being raped’.

This clearly is not what he wants. What he wants is

  1. Psychotherapy
  2. A spelling lesson
  3. A good powerful kick in the f’ing head

I deleted his email, which is a shame because it had a return address which I could have signed up to a number of well known spam sites. Oh well.

Intermittant signals from just above the event horizon

Man, buying a house/moving is so exhausting. I’m so stressed out that I barely have energy to crawl home at night and fall into bed. And then I’m not sleeping well either, which only makes matters worse. I find myself being short tempered and snappish at work too, which isn’t good for my co-workers or clients alike. I’ll be so damn glad when it’s all over.

I have managed to grab a few minutes for myself here and there though. I made a stir fry for dinner on Saturday night – first time I’ve cooked (as opposed to thrown stuff from the freezer into the oven/microwave) in months. It was pretty good too, even if I did risk salmonella poisoning or something by defrosting the beef in the microwave for too long (strips of meat that are cooked at one end and raw at the other are probably bacteria themeparks). I’ve been constructing some scenery for my Lord of the Rings miniatures as well – having secured a supply of foamboard in the form of supermarket meat trays (you can’t get the stuff elsewhere for love nor money – not that I’ve tried love mind you). I started small with some stone fences, then decided I might as well go for broke and build a ruined N

The Perverse Nature of Reality

Amazing isn’t it? The day I tell people to watch John Safran’s Music Jamboree is the day SBS plays the last episode.

Or at least I presume it was the last episode – it finished with a sort of retrospective of the series rather than the usual “get a musical group in to perform their hit song on some obsure ethnic instrument” segment, which seems like the kind of thing you’d put in a final episode to me.

Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to wait for repeats of John Safran vs God instead (you’ve got to love the epsiode where he goes door knocking in Salt Lake City trying to convert people to aetheism with a copy of On the Origin of Species πŸ™‚

PS: Happy birthday Stephanie! I always remember your birthday about a week before Australia Day, then forget it until the day before Australia Day, by which point it’s probably passed. Good going me hey? πŸ™‚

Observations on Carniv

  1. Clea DuVall looks like Alisen Down crossed with Maura Tierny but with freckles
  2. Clancy Brown looks like William L. Petersen crossed with Brendan Fraser
  3. Come the next season if Sophie and Jonesy are dead, I’m going to be really annoyed.

PS: The smoke finally seems to have cleared. Well, pretty much anyway. The city no longer stinks of burning which can only be a good thing.

PPS: SBS are replaying John Safran’s Music Jamboree on Monday nights. Watch it people!

The Smoke Rolls On…

And so into our third day running of choking smokey haze. It’s worse today than it was on Wednesday, even though the fire is supposed to be under control. I’ve decided that ‘under control’ is a fire service euphemism for ‘not likely to burn anything important’. If I never smell smoke again in my entire life I shall die a happy man.

Apparently it’s the worst fire the state has seen in 45 years, and has burnt out over 25,000 hectares. Under my proposed sentencing scheme (outlined yesterday) this would mean the arsonist would spend at least 12,500 years in jail. I maintain that this is a perfectly reasonable and appropriate penalty.

I’ve just had a quick look around for webcams to show just how bad conditions are, but every one I can find seems to be stalled at about 5:00am. I suspect that this is a conspiracy by the Tourist Bureau to prevent foreigners from cancelling bookings when they see nothing but a wall of hazy brown.

I’ve got a dentist’s appointment today. How about that then?

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