Reload - (This post written the day after reload.)
================================================================
Well.
Reload.
What can one really say about Reload that has not already been echoed across a dozen live journals and blogs, devaluing the interest currency of your article to next to nothing.
"I went. I played games. Run spot run."
No. Somehow, that seems insufficient.
Once again I played the role of the useless admin. I sat in my corner. I sold a couple of drinks. I helped a bit with pack up. That was it. I'm sure sooner or later someone's gonna realise other than going hormonal on the forums from time to time, I'm not doing that much, and will as such move to vote me off the island.
To say that this was one of the more interesting reloads would be an understatement. I'm not going to go into why. You can already read that in black and white on a dozen other Reload reports, including no doubts a between the lines reference on the official site and I'm fairly sure Doc had a tasty repertoire on the subject planned. I am not covering this because I consider myself somehow above such things, but because I'm sure others can do it better. Oh yes, to slim down possible things I'm talking about... look for the words "booze", "idiot", "drunk women are easy" and "fuckingpsychopathpleasestepoverthelinesowecanmobyoulikesomekindacrazyzergruchorsimilairgeekyreferencethat'srightIsaidgeekisn'tthatappropriateallthingsconsideredyoufuckingloser?!?"
So, other than fake admining, what did I do? None of the calculus I should of and a whole SHITLOAD of warcraft 3 Tower Defence. And when I say a shitload, I'm not talking some constipated squirrel, I'm talking elephants and wheelbarrows.
Highly recommended. Warcraft 3 TD I mean, not the elephants manure.
================================================================
Like an onion
================================================================
Actually... You know what, step back a second...
================================================================
Reload cont.
================================================================
Two thoughts spring to mind.
One, fight club. "How much can a man know about himself if he's never been in a real fight?". I was tempted to step outside solely for this reason... If he takes the first swing I believe it's self defence. He's drunk, which suggests that he won't feel pain, but also that his co-ordination and speed will be shot to hell.
Secondly - Be careful during pack up. Never EVER do what I did and foolishly lay a table down only to run your hand along it length wise in the process. You will end up with a splinter in your hand. Or in this case in my pinky. And replace splinter with "small oak tree". Now admittedly, I've never endured childbirth or the rigor's of say, being pierced by a small sword, but... Proportionality speaking, I think this was roughly the same ball park. To give you an idea, the splinter was a little over a centimetre. It broke in half so I could only remove half without needle, tweezers and aid. Of the remaining 7mm or so, only about half could actually be seen, the rest was in too deep. This has resulted in a rather dainty "pinkys out" typing style.... Not that different from my usual, but still feels odd.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled update...
================================================================
Like an onion
================================================================
Or, to take a line from Shrek "How about like a parfey(however the hell you spell it.)? Everybody loves parfeys... You ever hear someone say 'Hell no, I don't want no parfey...'"
I'm slowly peeling back the layers of my self... Finding out what's underneath. After some pain and some cash, my teeth are now fixed up for the meantime, and I'm now udedrgoing the bleeching thing. It's working out well. I'm only 5 treatments (of 20) in and there's a visible difference. The gym thing isn't going quite as well... About 4 days ago now I managed to find an hour and a half reprise from my rigorous no gym regime, but it has not cascaded into the regular gym visits I was hoping for.
Peeling back the dead weight layers of my psyche is prooving, however, to be a far more arduous task. So far, if anything, I've possibly slid backwards from where I want to be.. Though realisitically I think it's the same old me, I'm just more aware of it now... But with 20% of a units marks lost to me already and another 15% at risk of a similar fate if I don't miraculously learn calculus today. At university, full fee paying level, this is a VERY bad thing. I take small solace in the fact that some others are in a similar position with the maths assignment... Don't worry though Moondoggie, I won't mention you by name. This does raise the question of how many people are in that boat and could some kind of dark alliance be formed by which we all helped each other complete the assignment. It's an option I'll look into but time is short.
================================================================
Crash different
================================================================
As most of you are probably aware by now I went and did that stupid thing I do sometimes. I bought a thing. The thing in question is a laptop. A Mac laptop.
I don't know exactly what came over me. I think I was distracted by it's candy floss coated OS, the claims of unix stability. The shiny and surprisingly useful dancing windows. After having it for probably a month/month and a half now, there's a few things I've learnt:
-It can have some weird, funky ass compatibility issues when it comes to networking. This was highlighted by the fact that I could not copy from Doc's machine. It simply refused to transfer data. There was no problem with Braindead's boxen though which raises the question of whether it was some kinda funky ass trouble involving the switch we were connected to because even DC was running appallingly... Or if it was indeed some kind of dark dark evil Mac issue.
-There is unix underneath. And with a few augmentations, it can become quite a powerful OS. However, it is still for the most part an OS designed for simplicity, to protect those poor poor users from the big bad complexities of the world. File browsing, for example, is purely graphical. There is no address bar at the top of the window. Now while it has been argued I should use nothing but command prompt, and I have to admit with OSX's nifty true transparency it's a tempting option, with my memory and tendency to misplace shift keys, it's a bad idea. I will investigate and see if there's a work around... I'll keep you posted. My impression however is that the underlying unix caters more or less for the hardcore amongst us who want a fully supported OS, the Gui caters to those who just want something simple and friendly which works and is stable... Which leaves the mid to advanced user a little in the lurch.
-Hardware can still fail. Things can still crash. After having the laptop for two weeks, went to use it in a lecture Monday morning and boom. Dead hard drive. No warning. Laptop was subsequently gone for a week. All data lost. This has taught me a valuable and long overdue lesson on the importance of back ups, but it wasn't a fun way to learn. I'm now running weekly backups to CD and will shortly instigate a "Whenever I finish something important" backup to network policy. Once I get my Linux box up and running at least.
-Despite the advertising, it probably still won't get you laid. Though I have to admit to having a girl giving the box a good looking over when I picked it up. *shrug*
================================================================
Oh yeah... And one last thing...
================================================================
I'm no longer single. I'm also now fully qualified in Swedish Body Massage. The two events happened in sort of that order...
The girl in question is a complete technophobe called Tina. She's 18 (19 later this year) and comes from Narrogin. She currently works full time. She is incredibly easy going and quite cool. Even if her taste in music is about 10 years older than either of us. Oh yes, and she's stunning.
The fact that she's a technophobe isn't bothering me nearly as much as it used to. I'm seeing computers less as a way of life and more as a tool these days. Not Holistic, just a useful accessory. I'm still trying to give her a basic competency in all things electronic, if only to make her progress through this modern world easier, but I have no intent to change her, bend her to the dark side of gaming. Though I do need to find a guinea pig for operation: Progressive Gamer, a mid term strategy developed during my Emily days for attempting to indocturinate(I can feel the English language cry out in pain as I butcher it...) a non-computer literate type into the world of gaming.
There are quite a few very odd coincidences involved in our relationship... To the point where it's almost a "Was this supposed to be...?" Sort of thing. For instance, we live about 15 minutes from each other in Bentley. If that. We met at dancing lessons which are held half way between Bentley and Armadale, about a 25-30 minute drive. It gets weirder.
We're both Gemini's.
So I hear you ask?
Her birthday is June 20. Mine is June 21st.
The Perth pub my uncle owns... Is located at the end of the street she lives on. Both our eyes have a tendency towards green.
There are some others, like we both like to take our own pillows when we travel... But I can feel your eye rolls already.
Oh, probably the most important similarity though is that we both agree our relationship is dysfunctional and that we can be sickening to be around.
Oh, and the massage thing.
At this stage I'll be doing at home massages. $40 a pop for full body (Not timed, though within reason.) plus a $10 call out or $25 for just a back massage (Plus call out.). Business cards are being printed as we speak. If you want to know if I'm any good I still have a log book which needs filling so I could potentially be talked into a free demo massage. Otherwise, talk to Antoine or Katy. Both were kind enough to be my victims for examinations. Mad props to both of them for getting me out of last minute binds too.
So, hopefully I'll be making a little cash on the side very shortly. I intend to expand into aromatherapy, but that stuff ain't cheap. Like $40 a bottle, so I might charge extra for it when I do start doing it... Can be some good stuff from the looks though. Oh, and for the swim wear sensitive amongst you, Swedish Body Massage can be good for breaking down cellulite as well as knots.
Alright folks.
Time for me to rock on out.
Peace.
================================================================
Addendum
================================================================
I've just finished watching Butterfly Effect.
It is... A trip.
It is one of the darkest movies I've seen in awhile.
If you can survive the first hour or so though, it does start a slow upwards climb.
If you're going to see it, I recommend staying for the end. It might take some effort depending on your outlook but the end will try and heal the wound the start of the movie leaves across your psyche. If I stopped half way, and I was tempted, I'd tell everyone to avoid it. After sitting through till the end, it is a good movie... Made me very introverted... Reflective... What if? But the end is... Well, I won't spoil it but it's a nice way to end. And if your memories anything like mine hopefully you'll forget/repress everything before the last hour or so...
How many roads must a man walk down?
42.
--Stu the hippie
"Kiss my Thistle"
"Life's too short not to be Scottish"
-A couple of bumper stickers I saw on the way down.
posted by Unknown at 4/23/2004 10:34:00 PM [edit]
