Twenty Eleven

So as the year transitions over from 2010 to 2011, I have come to a realisation. Alcohol (in quantities larger than a couple of drinks) and myself do not mix together at all. As I say that, I can hear someone out there saying "no shit" as they have just read that statement. Unfortunately it has taken me some time to realise that something should be done about it, but I guess this can now be a New Years resolution.

I did some thinking while sobering up this morning about why I drink heavily in a social situation. When trying to think of the real reason, I guess I couldn't answer it. I do so because maybe something in the back of my head is telling me that it will be a fun night when I am drunk. Truth is though, of all the many times I have gotten really drunk, I can't recall any that I would define as more fun than if I wasn't drinking. If anything, I end up doing something really stupid and end up with a huge cloud of regret hanging over me the following day.

Now as much as I would like to give up alcohol completely, I do like my red wines and it's not something I'm willing to stop drinking. So that is where I will now draw the line. If the situation calls for it (dinner, etc), I will have a glass or two of wine, but I will not allow myself any other drinking outside of that.

So with that also out of the way, my next resolution is to get fit. About June last year, I managed to drop my weight down to 70kg from about 86kg. This was a much needed body change as I was just so out of shape. Unfortunately, I set my goal at 70kg and made it a plan to start back at the gym for weight lifting at that point. I have gained a few kilograms and have built up some more muscle, but I still think there is quite a bit of room for improvement.

So it seems like it is time again to reduce the weight lifting and get back into the cardio. I reckon once I get down to about 63kg, my body should have about the right definition that I am looking for and at that point I can get back into the weights. Despite the mild headache I have, I will have to get the ball rolling by starting tonight.

And last but not least, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you out there.

So this is a step in the right direction?

That's right.... I forgot to mention one thing in my last post. About one week prior to the TOCAU Annual Meet, I was stuck in traffic behind a van who was stopped behind a bus that was loading/unloading passengers. While waiting there, the van in front of me decided to try and overtake the bus, but to do this he had to reverse back firstly. Well, you can kind of picture where this is going. Anyways, my car received some light damage to the front and then came the annoying part of having to sort it all out.

After calling AAMI I found that I could drop it off the very next day for assessment so that it could be sent off for repair. Unfortunately, the Annual Meet was getting awfully close so I couldn't risk not getting it back on time. So I cleaned her up the best I could and went on to the meet the following week. On the Tuesday after I got back (14/06), I dropped her off and she is now in the body shop getting the work done. I should expect to get her back around the 22nd.

So for the last week at work, I've just been borrowing my sister's Mazda 3 to drive around in. I'm sure I said this before last time I had to borrow it due to an accident, but damn this car is sluggish. It goes to show how used you get to your own car. Anyways, my sister will be needing her car this weekend so I decided to hire out a Toyota Camry Hybrid and see how they go.

I picked it up earlier today and have given it a bit of a drive so far. First impression are that this car is just weird to drive. Not in the bad way, but in the way that everything just doesn't feel what you would normally be used to in a car. You press the 'POWER' button and the only sign to tell you the car actually is on is the 'Ready' light on the dash. There is no initial hum of an engine running or the sound of an engine starting... just silence.

Then comes the drive itself. Personally I didn't think it would be that noticeable, but the whole 'Hybrid Synergy Drive' thing isn't exactly as seamless as I was expecting. I personally think there is a little bit too much lag in having the petrol engine assist/take over the electric motor. So in moments where you need to accelerate more sharply, it initially feels a bit more sluggish than say a non-hybrid Camry, but because of the way it all ties in, it's hard to say whether it actually is more sluggish.

I'm guessing that it actually isn't, but it's only just the feel of it. As I said before, I think it's just that overall unnatural feeling that makes the driving experience a little odd. Once you are in motion though and travel over varying conditions, the transition between petrol and electric becomes pretty much unnoticeable and everything feels like a normal car. It is an odd feeling though just hearing the engine turn itself on and off, but I guess if you put a little music on, you wouldn't even tell.

Putting your foot down in this car is certainly something different. It sure has more go than your normal 2.4l Camry. Sure this defeats the purpose of having a hybrid, but it's good to know that there is power there when needed. It does take a short second or two to pick up though but when it does, it will keep on moving. About the only issue I would have with this though is the CV transmission. After driving with traditional gearboxes for quite some time, a CV just seems so wrong. When you put your foot down and have the revs build up, you get this massive urge to want to upshift. Instead, you keep on doing as you are doing and the car takes care of itself... despite it sounding like you are over-revving it.

Then there is the fun part of slowing to a stop. Having read about hybrids before, I am aware of how slow and gentle braking is what is usually best for it. All I can say is that a gentle application of the brakes is actually pretty strong for what I was expecting. It's not a bad thing at all... I was just surprised. As far as I'm aware, the regeneration component of it will be doing quite a bit of the braking when you lightly apply it, so this is quite a bit of stopping power this system can hold. If you need to brake in a real hurry though, you can push down further on the pedal, but it starts to feel a bit different when you do that.

When you brake really heavily, there is a clear distinction between the regeneration and the actual hydraulic braking system. When you push the pedal just that little too much, you can feel the point where the actual brake pads start doing their work. I wouldn't say any of these things are an issue. I'm just stating what differences are to be noticed after coming for driving a traditional car.

On the topic of braking, there is one thing that I find pretty cool in a way. When slowing down with light to moderate braking power, as you come towards a complete stop, if you don't have any music on etc, you get that electrical humming sound due to the regeneration system similar to when a train slows down. It's just something you don't expect to hear from a car. And then when you come to that stop, everything is just dead silent. It's just an odd feeling sitting there with cars around you and you feel like yours is off.

I did say some time ago that if the Aurion wasn't produced, I would opt for a Camry Hybrid over just a normal Camry. After driving the hybrid for a little bit so far, I don't think the hybrid would be a car that I could get used to just yet. Despite having less overall power, I think I would still be tempted to get a normal Camry rather than the hybrid.

That said... I'm thankful for the Aurion.

Twenty-three years out in this world

So just the other night, I met someone online and for some strange reason I thought about this blog of mine which I managed to just abandon and forget even existed. I decided to come back on here (via the public page that everyone else sees) and kind of shocked and amazed myself at the same time. At first I was shocked at how I had managed to write so much crap (as a figure of speech) on here, but then I was amazed because I just couldn't imagine how I managed to do that.

But it did get me thinking though about how I let myself down by giving up on it when it was a good way to store some memories and to help get things off my mind. Then I get the occasional comment from one of my loyal followers (Mitchell) or from other people who I talk to which goes to show that this page actually does get the occasional viewing.

Now let's see... my last blog entry was in September last year and well.... things have changed a little but nothing too out of the ordinary, or so it feels. Updating this on a regular basis would have been the best way to hold memories of all the occasions, but I can't travel back in time yet so I will have to try hard to remember what I can. So to sum up the last nine months without going into excessive detail (otherwise this will probably turn into a novel) I would say the following had occured:

• I continued doing more and more travelling for work like I always had been.
• I met a girl... looked like it was going somewhere but in the span of a few days, fell to pieces faster than a Jenga tower with monkeys playing.
• I did some more travelling for work.
• I met another girl. This one looking way more promising than the last. Only problem... she lived in Canberra and certain cercumstances made this difficult to keep together (the fault was on my behalf).
• I got Glandular Fever five or so weeks after meeting the first girl. I'm not jumping to any conclusions. That resulted in a good seven or so weeks of hell which I just wanted to end.
• I then had to drive back to Brisbane with Glandular Fever so I could finally get some rest and recover.
• Spent a month away from work recovering then went straight back into it full steam ahead.
• Then continued with some more travelling and work.
• Managed to write-off Sam (my red Aurion) and was heart-broken.
• Did some work in Adelaide... boy do I love that place.
• Got payed out with my insurance and picked up a new car while I was in Adelaide... a silver TRD Aurion 3500SL.
• Work conditions then changed and I got employed full time as a Field Service Engineer. This basically meant that all my fun interstate travel had come to an end, but in return I get more stable employment.
• Been pretty much doing your usual Monday to Friday 9-5 type of work and that's about all really.
• Just had the TOCAU (Toyota Owners Club Australia) Annual Meet in Sydney last weekend. Was quite a fun trip.
• And here I am now, sitting in the office waiting for things to finish so I thought I would get a start on this.

So that about sums it all up. There is probably a ton of little things that happened along the way, but if I can remember anything worth talking about... I'll post it here when I remember. In the meantime, hopefully this will be the return of my usual posting. I don't want this blog to just be another failure of mine.
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Did I say I love driving

Okay, so about the only thing on my mind at the moment (well there are other things and people on my mind, but that's another story of it's own) is my recent track day at Queensland Raceway. I was going to recap on it all last night but all that driving seemed to had taken all the energy out of me.

It was a fun day out. I really learn quite a lot about my car and just how well it can handle when taken on to a track. When on the track, you are able to push the limits of your car with a reduced risk of breaking it or injuring yourself.

For those out there that are aware of the sprint circuit at QR, my lap time that I obtained was 1:08.6. I personally was wishing I could do better than this, but I guess I can use the excuse that it was my first time there. This is quite a respectable number though given the fact this car is a large sized sedan and is quite a comfortable family car.

So basically that was my Saturday. I will leave a photo and a video of random clips to end this post:

Increase to 500 millijoules!

Okay okay. I get the point. I really am beyond lazy when it comes to updating this blog. I think I just kept pushing it further and further away until I stopped caring about it. Over the last few weeks, I've had something like four different people mention my blog. This kind of makes me feel bad knowing that firstly there are other people who actually read my blog and secondly, I am putting no effort into it anymore. So before it gets too late, I thought I would attempt to revive it again.

Since it is getting rather late and I should be getting to sleep soon because I have a big day tomorrow, this is here just to force me to get the ball rolling again. Tomorrow I will be heading out to QR (Queensland Raceway) to participate in my first sprint event. After spending so much time working on my Aurion (her name is Sam), I feel that she deserves to have a good run around a proper race track and it will be a fun learning experience for me as well.

With that said, I think I may leave this entry here for now and I will definitely be back soon for a well needed update.

Stuck in the moment

Start time: 12:31am

I don't think I have ever come across a time where I have sat in front of the screen trying so hard to just start writing a blog entry. I have been staring at this screen for ages (opened up at 8:44pm), walked around my room a few times, went for a run, had a green tea, came back here, and stared at the screen for even longer. I though since the month was coming to an end, I may as well add some contribution. It isn't usually a hard thing to do either. It's not that I don't have anything on my mind, it's quite the opposite actually... I have EVERYTHING on my mind. Or so it feels like that anyway.

It really does feel that my mind is clouded with many thoughts but if that were the case, a simple run like I had earlier would work wonders in defragmenting everything to make it easier to get out of my head. But my mind already feels that it's been cleared. It is that bad I think I will need to throw in the towel now. I really can't make any sense of it all.

Sorry to waste your time.

End time: 01:38am

Listening to: Ercola Vs. Keikki L - Deep At Night

Best to sleep on it

It is funny how a little bit of sleep can affect what you were once thinking of. For example, as the day comes towards an end, you may have so many things running through your mind that it may be difficult to make sense of it all. You may have a whole bunch of feeling that you want to express, or you may have some ideas that you just feel the need to let others know about. But you don't get around to doing so... and you end up going to sleep, telling yourself that you'll get back onto it the next day.

Then you get up after your few hours or so of sleep and then that thought you had before springs to mind again. This time though, it's not quite how you were thinking about it before. Those feelings that you were so eager to express are now thoughts that are best kept to yourself, or those ideas you had are probably not the best thing to be telling someone else. So I guess this shows how rationally you can see things depending on how well rested your mind is.

But then you also have to wonder; what if the thoughts you had prior to getting some sleep were more rational than when you thought about it again after getting some sleep?

Once upon a time...

Not so long ago, I would have considered myself to be fairly fit. I'm not talking about Iron Man fitness levels, but my fitness was definitely much better than average. My peak of my fitness would have been two years ago. I remember going to the gym four mornings (weight training only), and running five nights a week. When I did run, I'd easily be able to run non-stop for a distance between 12-16km at a pace averaging 10km/h. I may not have had the most sculpted body, but I sure felt good about the shape I was in.

Fast forward to today. Since that brief period of being fit, I had obtained a desk job and sat around on my ass a little more than usual. I started to get a little more stressed, I got tired realy easily, and I just stopped giving a damn. My gym mornings dropped to three days a week, and I just stopped running completely. Fast food started to become more convenient and late night snacks and sweet cravings became more frequent.

Now I've gained a little extra fat around the lower half of my body and damn it is making me really self conscious. For so long I've been wanting to get rid of all this excess baggage but getting up and putting it all into action has been easier said than done. Food can be so delicious, and cardio is my most hated form of exercise ever. Both of these add up to disaster.

I have finally managed to build up the motivation to finally start working on my fitness again, but damn this is not going to be easy. I can't run non-stop like I used to (and it's going to take a lot to get up to that stage again), and hunger cravings are through the roof. It's things like this that make me want to give up so easily. I guess what makes it even more hard is that I like to see results quick, and something like this will obviously take time, so day by day it looks to me like I'm achieving nothing. But I am determined to get some results this time. I can't give up on myself yet again.

[rant]
Speaking of all this fitness and whatnot, it sucks how there is so much food out there that tastes so great, but most of the time, the better it tastes, the more calories it carries with it. Not only that, you can usually manage to eat a lot before you get full. Why oh why does everything have to be this way? Where is the enjoyment in life if you can't enjoy the pleasures of eating without any side effects. I hate how that works. Sometimes I wish I had a really fast metabolism. Nothing annoys me more than those people who can just keep eating and eating and not even gain a single kilo. They have it so easy. On the other hand, I have a metabolism that is about average, but it also can slow down quite a bit which means that if I need to burn fat, I need to either eat barely anything or exercise really intensely. That's certainly no fun then. Sometimes life just sucks.
[/rant]

Even the smallest changes make a difference.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I am really lazy and don't really pay attention to this blog anymore. I don't really think it matters that much anymore to me since I have such a (really) small audience, but the whole purpose of this was for my own recollection. Of course updating this everyday would seem a bit pointless, but then if I leave it too long, I forget the events of the past and then they just fade away never to be thought of again.

So if you were to ask me what has been going on over the last 40 days or so, I wouldn't think much has happened. I did read a quote earlier in the week though from Calvin and Hobbes which is so true and makes me realise just how important all the little insignificant events can be. The quote was:

"Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon, everything is different."

If you think about it, as simple as that quote is, it is pretty true to real life. Changes can happen really slowly and you sometimes fail to notice the events which led to those changes.

Apart from that, just the usual for me really. Work, sleep, eat, then sleep again. I have been feeling quite good lately however, and this has been thanks to a lovely person that I have been chatting to recently. She knows who she is.

As well, I'm really looking forward to the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend. Why? Because I will be heading to Melbourne for the Toyota Owners Club Australia Annual Meet. The plan is to drive down on the evening on Thursday, then drive back up to Brisbane on the following Monday afternoon. That is going to be one wicked weekend.

It's all in your head

So I've been meaning to type this for ages but due to my obvious laziness, I have never had the patience to sit down and write this up. Last night however, I had a really vivid dream that was induced by massive sleep deprivation, and here I am now finally with the patience to write it up. The topic of choice? Dreams.

I'm not here to go though different theories on why we dream, rather just to talk about the dreaming process itself. Why we  dream is a completely separate discussion on it's own, and we as humans still don't know why we really do dream. Personally, I just think that we dream because our brain needs something to do while the rest of our body is recovering so that it is always processing something for 24 hours a day.

The way your brain creates a dream from scratch, or constructs a dream using similar events but still creating a new 'story' is one thing that will always amaze me. Sometimes you may have a boring dream that hardly makes sense and other times you may have a dream that flows like a well told story. It's those dreams that make you really wonder how your brain can be so creative yet if you were to try that while awake, you can not think of anything like it.

Another thing about dreams that also amazes me is how not only  your visual senses are aroused, but so are all your other senses. You can smell, hear, and  feel things just like you would in real life. You can hear people's voices exactly how you remember them, they act and behave exactly as they do, and this is for words you have never heard them say and actions you have never seen them do. Inside your head, you are able to visualise everything exactly like it would happen in real life.

On the outside, it seems quite amazing how all this can go on inside your head while you sleep, but if you look at it on a more detailed level, it is quite understandable how it happens. After all, your brain does process every sensory stimuli that it receives, so it would only make sense that if it could recreate this stimuli, it would feel exactly like real life. So when you think about it, everything that you see, hear, smell, and feel in real life are all just electrical impulses inside your head, and when you dream, it is the exact thing occurring, just a little less accurate in most cases.

When it is put into that perspective, you can then realise how some dreams can leave you wanting more the next day because you have experienced some of the best feelings but as realistic as they felt, they only lasted for a brief period and aren't embedded in your long term memory. It's just not fair that our body has the potential to do this, but we have no control over it. Sometimes the unanswered questions in life really do suck.

* I do realise that there is no flow to all this. I am pretty tired now since I left this till late, and I just want to get the damn thing out of the way.

You can't always expect everything to work out perfectly

My life is always in a whirlwind. I can never really think straight as a result of that, and sometimes can't even make sense of myself anymore. The last couple of weeks has been spent trying to get my mind back into order, but things just don't seem to be getting much better.

Time and time again I set myself up for disappointment, and by now you would think that I would be used to it. But this is not the case. I just can't help it even if I can see that things will not come to a positive ending. Is it because I am too kind? Is it because I just keep finding people who don't appreciate my assistance? Or is it because I am just too lost within my own mind that I can't see where I am going wrong?

It is in my nature to get fairly close to people. I enjoy listening to others and helping them out when needed. I do this without expecting anything in return except for some level of appreciation that lets me know that my words haven't fallen upon deaf ears and my actions haven't gone unnoticed. A little bit of appreciation goes a long way. Some times though, regardless of how much you try, you may reach a point where you need to just move on and accept that your efforts will just be wasted.

So as this post comes to an end, the best way to sum up what is on my mind right now is the following saying that my year 11/12 physics teacher had once told me.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".

I've also mentioned this saying in the past, but it is quite a true saying. Despite how much you try and provide positive suggestions, you can't always make them listen regardless of how important it may be.

Music memory

While I was working today listening to music play on the radio in the background, it got me thinking again. It is amazing how the mind works and how it makes memory associations. I'm sure I'm not the only one that this happens to so I will talk about it in a broader sense.

What I find amusing is how you can listen to a song many times again and again and not think too much about it, but then you can hear it again in a different scenario and it will forever be associated to whatever was happening at the time. This could be as simple as a sight that you had seen, a certain part of a movie, a person you had met, or a particular feeling you were experiencing at the time. So next time you will hear that song, you will be taken back in time and reminisce on an event, or feel exactly as you felt at the time you associated the song. The song will never be the same again.

Along that topic, I will recall a few songs and the associations I have for them. It is only a selection of the many, many associations I have made over time:

Lux - Northern Lights : The Citytrain TV commercials shown here in Queensland many years back. I wouldn't have found out this song name if it wasn't for Tamara. This is the song that I heard while working the other day which is what led me to typing this post.

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World : The movie 'Click' starring Adam Sandler

Gwen Stefani - Cool : As above

Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back : Funny story this one. Alex and I were checking out this girl at the bar with an open back dress. She had a well kept figure and well, she looked great from behind. Anyways, about 2 seconds after we looked at each other and agreed, this song started to play. That was a classic.

Youth Group - Forever Young : The 100% Pure New Zealand commercial.

Linkin Park - What I've Done : The move 'Transformers'.

Paramore - Decode : This song just reminds me of Amy whom I met at GE Money. She was really into Twilight and then I went to her MySpace after she updated her background song with this. Now every time I hear the first few seconds of guitar at the beginning, that's all I can think of.

Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) : This song reminds me of the end of a 'Futurama' episode titled 'The Luck of the Fryrish'. This song was a very good touch to the ending.

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round : Roller skating/blading at the Durack Rollerdrome and ice skating at Iceworld Acacia Ridge. There are many other old school tracks that bring back this memory, but this one stands out the most.

Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss : Driving late at night with Candice. Long story that one and probably best not not to go into detail.

Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight : The TV series 'Tru Calling'. Full Blown Rose did a remake of this song for the ending of the series and it was great. Now whenever I hear this song by Phil Collins, I think of Full Blown Rose, which then makes me think of Tru Calling.

Ian Van Dahl - Reason : My first Les Mills RPM session at Fitness First in 2004. That was some intense exercise.

Martijn Ten Velden - I Wish U Would : Having dinner at the Black Dog Cafe in Hervey Bay. This was the first night of the road trip to Cairns that Alex and I did at the beginning of 2006. This was playing in the background and I just had to find out what it was.

4 Strings - Take Me Away : The lifestyle show from channel 9 'Getaway'.

Darude - Feel The Beat : This brings back memories of waking up early to watch Video Hits and Rage on TV when I was younger. Come to think of it, maybe the video of this is what started my love of the Dodge Viper.

Destiny's Child - Jumpin', Jumpin' : As funny as it sounds, this was the very first song I downloaded on Napster (those were the days). I couldn't think of any song so I asked my sister what song she wanted. This was the song she chose.

That's about I can think of now off the top of my head. As I've said, there are many more but I would probably only recall them as I hear them in the future.

Home and away

This morning I arrived in Darwin after a short two day break back in Brisbane after working at Coffs Harbour. One thing that really stood out on my drive home from Coffs was the way that I usually respond to travelling. I really love to travel to different places but at the same time, part of me likes to stay at home and  I usually miss it every time I am away. So when I travel somewhere, I find that for the first few days or so I am really wanting to go back home and I don't really enjoy the place as much, but then I settle into my new surroundings so by the time that I am heading back home, I start to miss where I was staying.

My mind is always messing with me like that and it annoys me because I'm only usually out of town for about two weeks and it always makes the travelling just a little less enjoyable. But I wouldn't give up on the travelling for anything.

The laziness continues

I have been trying to force myself to make a post to this blog over the last couple of months but as per usual, I have never gotten around to it. This time though, I promised Mitchell that I will post again to it so Iguess it needs to be done now. I'll see if I can get you up to scratch with the happenings of the last two months. I also have a few posts that have been pending for a while in the back of my head so I may need to get around to those later as well.

One reason why I now regret not posting more frequently here is because of my bad memory. From what I can remember though, the last couple of month have been quite busy but mainly routine so it seems like I haven't gotten much done. Key highlights over this period though are:

- 21st Birthday parties three weekends in a row (Amanda, Clare, and Natalie). The first two ended up in a lot of Valley drunkeness, the third was a facny dress... I went as Austin Powers.
- Finally gtetting around to quitting GE Money after 11 months of employment. I had been waiting for that day.
- Starting (continuing) work with DOCOMO interTouch, formerly Maginet. I finally get a majority of my weekend back now which is a relief after working every weekend for 10 months
- Getting a set of Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE001's for my Aurion, LOL. Best tires ever for street use.

Come to think about it, there really hasn't been too much going on. My main chunk of my week is used up by work. Work is quite good though because I can finally work 9-5 (or there abouts) every weekday, and get my weekends off (nearly all anyway). It feels much better than working Friday through to Monday like I was at GE.

At the moment, I am currently working in Coffs Harbour at the moment at the Breakfree Aanuka Beach Resort. I have been here since the 23rd of February and should be out by the 6th of March. I'm guessing there has been a bit more going on lately, but I'm probably not going to remember it now, at least until I return home to Brisbane. Despite the fact that I'm working at the moment, I feel like I am kind of on holiday. Life is great.

... And welcome 2009

I thought it was about time that I finally make my first post for 2009. Actually, I was originally intending to make a post on the 1st of January, but you know how lazy I can be with this sometimes.

So as I expected, I entered 2009 in a drunken mess. This time however I was drunk on beer. Things were better this time around. I managed to hold myself together pretty well and not make (too much) a fool out of myself. As well, I even bailed on the night at the same time as everyone else which was a good achievement from me. The rest of my morning then consisted of sleep to wear off the tiredness. The 37 degree summer heat and humidity didn't help it either.

In the evening to wind down from the new year festivities, I caught up with Alex and watched Bolt in 3D. This was the second time I've watched a movie in digital 3D and I am still amazed at the clarity. Having animation in digital and 3D is unreal that if you haven't yet had the opportunity to watch a movie in this format, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. As well, over the next few nights I also watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories. So far it's looking good with my movie count for week one of 2009 sitting at three. I aim to beat 2008 which had a total of 75 movies over 52 weeks.

Apart from that, my first week of 2009 has been just about the same as every other week. There have been some subtle differences however. I feel a little more positive this year and can definitely feel a change coming along. It's only day nine of 365 however, so who knows what the next 356 days will have in store for me. I will make this year exciting.

My farewell to the year that was 2008

Just like every other year, 2008 seemed to have flown by pretty fast. If I was asked casually if I had achieved or completed much this year, my typical answer would be “I don’t really think so”. After many one-on-one meeting with my team leader at work, I have learnt that I never really notice the little things, and only pay attention to the big picture. So to help me keep a record of the year that has been 2008, I will see how much of it I can remember. It may be difficult to keep in a understandable order, but I’ll see how I go.

I started 2008 in a drunken mess (the effect of the New Years Eve party), and if that was any indication of how I was going to party this year, then it was fairly accurate. Any social occasion this year that involved alcohol usually ended up with me being the token drunk guy. Unfortunately actions and words cannot be taken back, so all I can do is look back over it all and laugh. On the plus side, I have become a beer drinker again. I used to like beer, then I hated it and after taking a break from it, I now like it again. It’s kind of good as well because I’m starting to dislike spirits now. Maybe I just need a break from it.

So speaking of drinking and partying, 2008 was the year of 21^st birthdays. Being born in 1987 meant that a lot of my friends were born in the same year. As a result, there were countless 21^st birthdays to attend this year. Now this is a good thing because it gives more than enough reason to party hard. The one thing about all of this that got difficult after a while was the fact that there were so many different gifts to buy and unfortunately, creativity slowly decreased over the year and presents got more and more simple. As well, most of these parties occurred on a Saturday night. For the majority of people who had already finished study at the end of last year, this wasn’t a problem. I on the other hand was still at TAFE which meant I could only work at the end of the week and on the weekend. Ever since March, I had worked every weekend which meant dreadful hangovers on most of my Sundays.

This then takes me onto the topic of work. Since I had quite Woolworths in September 2007, I had been working with Maginet in the meantime. Unfortunately, the job required a lot of travel and since 2008 was going to be a busier year at TAFE, I couldn’t afford the time off. So I looked elsewhere for a job that could fit in nicely with my education, and the GE Money call centre happened to be the place. I started training there in February which I then completed at the start of March. Ever since then, I have been working a cycle of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (afternoon/evening); with minimal variation in my shifts. One thing always remained the same though; I never got a weekend off. As a result of all that, I burnt out of the job fairly quick because those are the busiest days there, so I hope to move on to a new job in 2009 as I have graduated from TAFE.

On the topic of education, that was pretty much where the other half of my year disappeared to. Being a similar style to school, TAFE consisted of full ten hour days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Despite the fact that it meant that I was mostly unavailable at the same times each day, it actually felt good having a consistent schedule throughout the year. But after many long days, my course had come to an end in December and now the long road ahead awaits.

In keeping with my little tradition, I always aim to watch at least one new release movie every week. Since 2003, I have kept all my ticket stubs to enable me to keep track of what I have seen. 2008 was a busy year with movies, and this year I managed to watch a total of 71 new movies at the cinema with four of those being watched twice. This equals to 75 trips to the cinema over a 52 week year. Not too bad I say. Luckily I have a student discount, so all up I only spent about $487.50 on the movies alone, and probably another $300 on drinks and snacks. Still quite a bit now that I think about it. For record keeping, I have a list of the movies I’ve watched in 2008 located here.

So that was pretty much the construction of 2008... the events that occurred frequently enough to consume a majority of the year. Now onto some of the little events that happened in between that are worth noting. Not too many events come to mind so I had to go through my photos taken during the year to give a bit of a refresher. Some photos are included at the end of this post.

To start things off, the first major change I had for 2008 was that I started a course of Roaccutane. Prior to this, I had a persisting acne issue and after numerous topical and oral antibiotic treatments did not work, I was just about to give up. I finally got around to getting a dermatologist referral and then was prescribed the one medication that has been known to give great results. After only a month of treatment, results were starting to be seen and you could really see why many people call it a miracle drug. To reduce the side effects (dry skin being the worst), we had decided to continue with a moderate dose for a longer period. Twelve months later and my course of Roaccutane is just about to come to an end (only three days left). I could not be any more pleased with the outcome. My face is clearer, and I feel more confident when going out. I have felt pretty lethargic over the duration of the year and it is hard to determine whether this treatment was a cause or not. If it was, then at least 2009 can start of fresh and I might gain some energy back in the process.

I guess next up would be the opening of Krispy Kreme in Brisbane (Photo 1). This was good news as it meant that you no longer had to travel to Sydney or Melbourne (or find someone coming back from there) just o enjoy them. This also had its disadvantages though.

On the topic of consumables, there are two new things that I tried in 2008 that I am now addicted to, the first being EasyWay Tea. Now I’ve had bubble tea before and prior to this I would only buy from Tea Bar. Once I discovered EasyWay though, I was instantly addicted and have purchased quite a bit of it since. There is just something unique with the flavour. The other thing I am addicted to is Hanaichi. For the weeks that I had TAFE (which was nearly the whole year) we would go to Indooroopilly for lunch and Hanaichi would be the meal of choice. Now that TAFE is over though, I am having some serious withdrawal symptoms.

Next on the list would have to be my new Toyota Aurion (Photo 2). Originally back in 2007, I was seriously planning to get a Nissan 200SX S15. After a trip to the drags at Willowbank, my whole preference for cars changed quite a bit. As well, I realised that I should aim for something more practical and get a car with more usable space. Despite the fact that I like the aggressiveness of a Holden or Ford, I just wasn’t a fan of them as they are just too common on the road. After some searching around, I found the Toyota Aurion. It had the reliability of a Toyota (which I was already aware of with my Camry), yet it had quite a lot of power for a locally made car by them. I was immediately hooked, and after a little bit of waiting, my Dad found one for me and I have been attached to it since.

Speaking of Toyota, I also joined the Toyota Owners Club – Australia forum. This has allowed me to share my experiences together with others and seek advice as well. In addition to that, I had joined in on the weekly Thursday night meets for the Brisbane Toyota owners. It has been a great opportunity to meet new people and I have gained some new friends in the process.

Now as TAFE days grew longer and longer, my mind had a good tendency to wonder. The photos shown for number 3 give a perfect example of how much time was spent bumming around.

I guess next up on the list was the opening of Fitness First at Jindalee (Photo 4). I was looking forward to this not due to the fact that it would only take a third of the time to get there compared to Indooroopilly, but more due to the fact that there the equipment would be newer. Overall, I am fairly impressed with the gym and the mornings still remain fairly quiet which is just how I like it.

This now brings us to about mid-year... my birthday. My birthday always happens to fall on a day when something is going on. During my teens, this happened to be school. For the last few years (including this year), I happened to be working. This year, I not only had to go to TAFE, but then work as well. So much for a relaxing 21^st birthday. My team mates were very kind though and decorated my desk for me (Photo 5).

A few months or so down the track, some female driver (just setting the scene; not criticising) thought it would be fantastic to t-bone me at an intersection (Photo 6). Being such a new car, you could imagine just how annoyed I was. I had to go without my car for two whole weeks, which was so excruciating. In the end though, all was resolved and now I have my car back to enjoy more than ever.

A couple of months later, December kicked off with a smile; in quite an interesting way. Venus and Jupiter just happened to line up nicely with a crescent moon, and Photo 7 shows how it looked. Just looking up at the sky, one couldn’t help but smile back. It was certainly a cheerful way to start the month.

A couple of weeks later once I finished TAFE, I realised that I now had quite a bit of free time available to myself. After listening to Amy at work talk non-stop about the book ‘Twilight’, I thought I would once again try to give reading another go. Luckily for me, Twilight was written in first-person which I find much easier to read. I was hooked immediately and now am going to continue reading the entire series. I’m about half-way through all of it right now, but haven’t had too much opportunity to read much in the last week due to other commitments.

This then takes up to Christmas time which I believe was not really like Christmas used to be. It seems like the Christmas spirit is starting to fade away as each year goes on. It is kind of a disappointment actually. One thing that still hasn’t changed (and probably getting worse) is the shopping centres around that time. It is just way too impossible to go to a shopping centre over the November/December/January period. I guess maybe next time if I sorted my shopping earlier, this wouldn’t be a problem. Though, how many times have I told myself this?

Fast forward a week later and here I am now. Writing my last blog entry for 2008 and getting ready for yet another year. As per normal, 2009 is going to start off with me in a drunken mess but hey; what can you do?

Here are the photos that I was referring to earlier:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

If anyone out there has read through this, or even just skipped right to the end here, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and may 2009 be full of fun and experiences. My year had it's up's and its down's, and it's usually the down's that one remembers the most. I am hoping that 2009 is a happier year for myself and that it is full of many up's and barely and down's. But I guess a balance is required right? Anyways, if your 2008 didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, I hope 2009 brings you more enjoyment. I will see you again next year.

That was easy

So Westfield Chermside was open for its usual 33 hour Christmas shift (9am Tuesday 23rd till 6pm on Wednesday 24th), so I decided to take advantage of some last minute shopping. As you probably would have figured, I really hate shopping centres around this time of the year because it is always so busy that:

1) There is traffic everywhere,
2) It is near impossible to get a parking space, and
3) The centres are packed full of people and it is noisy.

I still had a few more presents to buy, so I thought I may as well leave it till now so I can cut a lot of the hassle. And that I did. It took me only 20 minutes to drive there (a usual trip takes about 30-35 minutes), I got a parking space right next to the entrance, and the centre was no more busy than a normal trading day outside of the holiday season. Plus all the noisy little kids were most likely in bed, so that cut down on a lot of noise. With Christmas Eve usually being a really busy day for shopping,  I'm quite happy that I've now got all my shopping done without the hassle.

Continuing on from my last post...

... I hate the Christmas period more now that the cinema's are now packed full of noisy teens.

/rant

I absolutely hate...

... shopping centres during the Christmas period. It's crowded, loud, and just plain annoying. And don't even get me started on the parking issue. That is all.

/rant

Crunch time

It has been a quiet five and a half weeks online here, so I guess it's about time to put up an update on things. As it is approaching the end of TAFE which finishes on the end of Wednesday the 10th of December, I have been quite busy to get thing up-to-date so that I will definitely be out of there on time. As a result, I have been quite tired lately and haven't really had much time to get anything else done. I have managed to fit in time though to keep up with all the new release movies though, so that has given me some time-out here and there.

So with only three days left of study, it is getting closer to the time in which I need to move on to a more career-oriented job. This part I am really excited about. As bad as this may sound, I'm more excited due to the fact that I will be leaving my current job. I'm not trying to say that the actual job itself is bad, in fact it is quite a good job. It's more of the encounters you have on a daily basis and the level of stress that comes with it that is the killer. I guess customer service is a field which you need to be prepared to work in, otherwise you will burn yourself out faster than you can recover. I am at that stage right now, and it's really wearing me down. Being mentally tired is such a different and more draining feeling than being physically tired.

As with any job though, you establish connections with other people and the time that you spend together at work can be quite enjoyable. It is this part of the job that makes it really hard to move to another. Of course you would still remain as friends, but you may not really end up seeing them as much as you do when at work. I guess in the end, you need to take the good with the bad and just put a positive perspective on it all.

First things first though; I need to start applying for other jobs. Until then, there is no celebration yet. I really hope that the Christmas period at work is better than I'm predicting. It doesn't take much guesswork to figure how busy a financial call centre would be during the busiest spending period of the year.

Movie time

To make it an even six movies in six days*, I went out tonight to watch Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. Not only was this my first movie that I have watched in a theatre that was in 3D (not counting the short 'movies' you see at places like Movie World in 3D) and it was certainly a different experience. At the beginning where most of the scenes were in everyday environments, the 3D effect seemed really odd, but this was due to the fact that the actors were shown normally, and the surroundings were in 3D giving the blue screen effect. As the later scenes came on and there was a lot of CGI involved, the actors appeared more fitting to the environment and the 3D effect was greatly enhanced.

Another first for me in relation to cinema is the use of digital projection. To acheive the 3D for this movie, they have chosen to project it digitally. There were two things in particular that stood out for me with this form of projection. Firstly, and the most obvious difference, was the fact that the images were absolutely clean. They were sharp, clear, flicker free and most of all, had no scratches. The second thing I really noticed was the lack of projector noise. I like to sit a couple of rows down from the back of the cinema and in this position, you can usually hear the clicking of the shutter in the traditional film projector. Now most people would either not notice this or find it annoying. I however find that this, together with the flicker and scratches you get from traditional film projection, adds to the cinematic experience. But with the advantages that digital cinema offers, I guess it would be something that you can get used to over time. It's just not quite the same though.

*The other movies watched were (in order): Burn After Reading, Babylon AD, Saw V, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and Brideshead Revisited.

Friday morning boredom

Well after (what felt like) a long two weeks, I now have my Aurion back. When it was first taken in, it was estimated to take exactly 14 days (completion on Wednesday 22nd). About a week in, they mentioned that they needed another couple of days and it would be completed which would take it to Friday the 24th. On Thursday however, I got a call to say that it was now ready and that I oculd pick it up. So that is pretty much it. I now have my car back and am really excited. You can hardly tell it was ever in an accident.

In other ramblings, I headed to the gym the other night, which was something quite different to the norm. Ever since I finished high school, I have always done my workout in the morning at the gym. After going the other night, I realised just how much better it is to make the extra effort to get up early in the morning. In the morning, not only is it quiet but nearly all the people there are focussed solely on their workout. In the evening however, there is a lot more socialising going on than actual exercising itself. I don't know, but when I go to the gym, I want to exercise, not socialise or get held up because people busy doing so are getting in my way.

Slightly uncomfortable

After driving my sister's car for the last ten days, I have come to realise just how self conscious I can be. Even though her car is a fairly new Mazda 3 in perfect condition, I still feel awkward when other people see me driving it. Even though I am pretty sure that no-one cares when they see me driving it, I just feel more comfortable when seen driving my own car. In my opinion, my Aurion looks hot and when people look at me when I'm with it, it makes me feel great.

This is such torture not having my Aurion. I had a call from AAMI last Wednesday and they confirmed that everything is going on track and it should be ready on the 22nd. It may only be four days away but I really can't wait till I get it back. It's amazing how a person can actually miss something like a car with such feeling. It's a strange relationship.

Man, I'm over this day already. I'm stuck here at work till 4pm and have absolutely nothing to do. If they were kind enough to provide forum access here at work I would be fine; but instead they choose to block them. The internet used to be fun... what happened?

Strange nights

Have you ever just gotten up in the morning and while lying in bed still worn down, you think to yourself "did that (stuff last night) really happen?". You ponder on it for a moment, only to realise you still have a stamp on your arm or have other remnants from the night before (edit: the smell of women's perfume all over yourself). "Well, I guess that night did happen"... Then you head back to sleep.

Such a pain

So where do I start? It seems like I have been so busy lately that I have had no time to sit down in front of my computer and add another post. Funny thing is; when I think back over the last few weeks or so, I can think of what I did to fill time. That's either a good or a bad thing. I'm leaning more towards it being a bad thing.

I guess my main reason for coming back here to do a little typing was to write about the little accident that I got into on Tuesday morning. To save from repeating myself, I have written up a complete post over at Toyota Owners Club Australia and you can read it all by going to the following link:

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17754

I am really annoyed that this had to happen to me, and what makes it even more annoying is the fact that for something that wasn't my fault at all, I am now stuck without my car for two weeks. On top of that, it will just never be the same ever again. But either way, I just want it repaired so I can get back to driving around in my own car. I don't know why it is so difficult for me to drive around in another car. I guess it partially comes down to the fact that I am bit of a show pony. I always like it when I have people turning their heads to check out my car. Heck, even I still stop and stare at my car whenever I get the chance. It is just that sexy... LOL.

This must be hell

I've said it before; yet here I am again. This time I am feeling about ten times worse.. and I am working a 9 to 5 shift. Why must I do this to myself?

It just never ends

So I pretty much had absolutely nothing to do this Saturday night. I really do seem to be lacking a social life at the moment. Come to think of it; did I ever really have one to start with? Anyways, instead of completely wasting my night away, I headed down to the cinema to watch Funny Games (IMDb). The best way to describe this movie was that it felt uncomfortable to sit and watch. Don't get me wrong though. The movie was filmed to make you feel a bit like that, and once you really see how everything is happening, it is actually a decent movie.

After that, I was just about to arrive home and somewhat didn't feel that it was quite the time to bail on the night. Since I was already in the car, I decided to keep on driving just to help clear my mind. That turned out to be an epic fail on my behalf. I really don't know what the hell is going on with me, but my mind is not taking the single life so easily anymore. What ever happened to the time when I couldn't really care less about being single? Relationships were never really a high priority when it came to my life as it stood, but now all of a sudden, it's like the priority has gone up. It is really starting to drive me insane.

Anyways, I sort of entered auto-pilot when I kept driving so for the first bit of the trip, I was having a D&M with my own mind. It didn't seem to be going anywhere; which is usually the case. Next thing, I'm driving through the Valley followed by the City. This probably wasn't the best place to be given how my mind was at the time. Afterwards, I headed to Milton Maccas to pick up a frozen raspberry and then I headed to Mt. Coot-tha to chill for a bit. It was surprisingly empty at the time, so I could stand back and think for a bit. After that, I just drove some more and now I'm here. That pretty much sums up that night then.

Now I'm home, and still have a mind that is in a mess. That drive served absolutely no purpose whatsoever except to waste fuel. I guess Mt. Nebo would have been the better option since that trip usually works wonders, but I wasn't up for eating though a large amount of fuel at the time.

Can't quite call it a sleep 'pattern'

Have you ever stayed up so late at night doing something, then sleeping for such a short period of time such that when you wake up, it feels like everything you did before going to sleep was all a dream? This happens to me quite a bit actually and it can go one of two ways. Sometimes I wish that it was really all a dream, or sometimes I feel quite good knowing that it wasn't. Usually the latter though ends up with me spending the entire day with the thought on my mind and is quite distracting, and doesn't seem too healthy for my mind. This is pretty much how my day was spent.

All this probably sounds weird but then again, I am a pretty weird person. My sleep patterns are so messed up that I can sleep at pretty much any time of the day and can start dreaming in a matter of minutes. I hear this isn't really a good thing, but I seem okay right? Except for the fact that I fall asleep really easily. On top of that, I have many occasions where I have a waking dream. It's kind of hard to explain. It's like I would be lying in bed on my side or stomach with my eyes open, and even though I can physically see my bed/pillow/room, I am still dreaming. It's like a merge between images which is like impossible to explain.

Boogie it down

So here I am at the Virgin Blue aircraft hangar. A good mate of mine who I haven't seen in ages has invited me along to the Virgin Blue 8th birthday party. 60's theme, free drinks, live bands, 4Play with Jimmy Z, 2000+ people. This is awesome.

Just like the weather

Without a doubt, I love rainy weather. It is even better if there is thunder and lightning. The one thing however that I absolutely hate about it is that it always seems to carry a gloomy feel to it all. It feels as if I am going absolutely nowhere.

LOL this and LMFAO that

In the midst of all my browsing and communicating, I came across a trend with the younger generations which has annoyed me a little for quite some time, but only really thought of recently. It all reminds me of something I heard while watching Californication. So to quote Hank Moody (David Duchovny):

"Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically into four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us; but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. You know people, they don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking they text. No punctuation, no grammar. LOL this and LMFAO that. It just seems to me that it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto language that resembles more what cave men used to speak rather than the King's English."

It may seem a little harsh and a bit of a generalisation, but I must admit that this is true to an extent. It just isn't the same when you try to talk to people and they end up communicating back fashion that resembles text messaging. On a phone, I could understand since you have limited space, but is typing on a keyboard really that difficult that you need to type SMS style? I type with four fingers and even then it isn't difficult. It really seems to be killing the English language.

Window of opportunity

Well I'm glad winter is now out of the way. I was starting to get fed up of all the cold mornings/evenings during that period. I used to really love winter, but the more and more I put up with summer (without an air conditioner) I started to love it more and more. As well, the winter period really messes with my head and no doubt this could be seen when taking a quick glance over my winter posts to this blog.

It may only be the start of a new season but now that winter is gone, it feels so much different. First and foremost, I'm able to clear my mind better and not dwell on any issues. There were many things that I have been dwelling on over the past few weeks and have been having difficulty letting go, but now I am rapidly loosing interest in it. I am now at the point that if something isn't proving worthwhile, I am just going to move on and leave it behind. There is only so much that I am going to wait for, and there is only so much effort that I am going to put in to make things work.