W W R E D ???

Dale's peer reviewed psych test

2011-08-24T21:07:00.008+09:00

I was just subjected to a gruelling psychological analysis.

The answers are... Disturbing.

You can try this at home.

My answer

So what does it mean?

What is it all for??
How people see you-|-How you see yourself
-------------------------------------------

Your home life------|-Your career---------
-------------------------------------------
Your Sex life--------|-Your future---------

Ok, just to clarify, 'How I see myself' is a mystical spiral lollipop, and my career is symbolised by the rocket clock from Play School

Hasta Luego

For your viewing pleasure - MCMAP

2011-04-20T20:36:00.006+09:00

So, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, to those who don't know) is a totally awesome sport and I really enjoy watching it. While K-1 and Boxing tournaments have better striking, and pure grappling competitions will have better um... Grappling, what I really enjoy about MMA is that it is so unpredictable. I've seen guys who are significantly better fighters than their opponents lose.

Over the last couple of decades, MMA has really evolved as a sport, and at the highest levels, the fighters are world class athletes. Last year, UFC fighters Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Gabriel Gonzaga, Marcus Davis, and a former Marine, Brian Stann, along with UFC president Dana White visited the Marine Corps base, for a little taste of how the Marine Corps trains.

...

*spoiler alert*

Marines train hard.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Pretty rad, huh?

Smileys

2011-02-10T23:26:00.012+09:00

You know, smileys, emoticons, whatever, those little things in SMS' and online conversations that are supposed to tell people that you're smiling or laughing... Basically just adding another dimension of expression to a conversation.

Cool invention huh. Yeah, pretty cool...

Until they go wrong.

I use MSN messenger. I liked the old version better. Now I'm not saying this in a pretentious hipster douchetard way, it's more or less the same thing, and if it's any better than the old version I can't tell. It's probably more stable or something. The emoticons in the old version, however, didn't look like they were plotting to cut your face off in your sleep.

Oh, you thought I was exaggerating?

Look at it again.

"Don't turn your back on me."

This here is 'Sarcastic Smiley'. Sarcastic my ass. Sarcastically just slipped a roofie into your drink. I don't know whether or not it's the tilt of the eyebrow, or something else, but I don't feel safe around this smiley... Just... Get it away from me.

I don't know what the hell this is supposed to be... Angry... I suppose. But it just doesn't convey that emotion, y'know. The first time I saw this I thought "What the hell, this guy doesn't look angry..." And then I got to speculating.

Maybe he sleeps upside down, and is like, really happy at the moment.

Maybe someone drew a face on a slice of salami. They did it wrong.

Maybe he has heatstroke, and that's actually a pained grimace.

Either way, he needs help.

This is supposed to be 'vampire bat'. The animation is a vampire face morphing into a bat and flying away, but in this frame it looks like an egg.

This is the safest you'll feel for a while.

Insert bacon here -->

: ) haunts my dreams.

It is Jame Gumb. It is Alex Delarge. It is Legion. It is Hannibal, come to beat down your city's walls.

And I always forget... MSN is different now man... It has evil in it.

You'll be typing, and innocently put in :) and then BAM

You've invited it into your presence.

Surprise, Cindy.

I will enjoy watching you fail.

*heavy breathing*

It's everywhere.

I hope you listen to this warning. It's best that you learn from my mistakes, and don't repeat them.

Hasta Luego.

Navidad Salvadoreña

2010-12-26T11:25:00.002+09:00

A question I get asked a lot here is 'how do you celebrate Christmas in Australia?'

I don't rightly know!! See, we always celebrated it El Salvador style at our place.

1. Make lots of food.

2. Visit friends and hang out.

Except we do it on the 24th.

The Average Aussie family does more or less the same thing, except on the 25th, and with more beach-ness... Right?

8 PM on the 24th, and I was on track to having a pretty crappy Christmas. My Grandma was pretty ill, and she was in hospital (no dramas folks, she's much better now, I'd say she's at 80%), and I was on Cracked.com catching up on the stuff I hadn't read.

Anyway, I got lucky and ended up celebrating Christmas El Salvador style, doing the rounds with my Great Uncle Toño and his family. It was awesome fun; I met his in-laws who were great fun. I had an absolute blast there =D

It was a familiar experience, except I felt a little bit removed from it; they were very welcoming, but Christmas away from home sucks.

After that we headed to my cousin Carlos' place, where we let off a bunch of firecrackers at midnight. I've never blown sh*t up before, I don't really have a taste for it. Those firecrackers are LOUD!! And when you put them next to each other they act like cluster bombs, throwing little packages that spread noise, smoke and bits of shredded newspaper everywhere. I felt like I was playing worms or something.

Ahhhhh that's all I have to say about that.

Miss you guys, see you soon!!

And Merry Christmas!!

Mariachis and market stalls

2010-12-26T09:49:00.005+09:00

The Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe was on the 12th (yeah this is really long overdue), who is the Patron Saint of the Americas. I personally don't think anyone in Latin America should be Catholic (or anywhere else really, but especially here), but as an anthropological exercise it was ok, I guess. Maybe. Not that I know anything about anthropology.

The cathedral where people gather to venerate her was absolutely packed. I've been in mosh pits at metal concerts that weren't as packed as that. I didn't actually get in either; wasn't really feeling the Mariachi music anyway.

A few quiet days; just buying stuff etc.

On Thursday I went to Lake Coatepeque in/near Santa Ana, with my Grandma and her friends from some cooking club.

I suggest you google it. Now.

You're welcome.

I'll post the rest of the photos later.

Saturday the 18th I went to Puerto de la Libertad, with my Grandma, Tia Irma and another relative, Lili. Great food, great views, poor place. There were a bunch of kids dancing in the sand. I was informed that they were doing it for money, and people were throwing coins in the sand for them to go pick up. Personally, I found that very unsettling on a few levels, but I took a photo then wrapped some quarters in a napkin (so they wouldn't bury themselves in the sand because of inertia) and threw it to them (we were 3 stories above them).

I had a brief conversation with a guy who had to flee the country in the early 80's, and is now working in an international shipping company or something. He was kind enough to take a photo of me and my family before we left. Sadly, our conversation had to be cut short (cause we left...), I wanted to hear more.

We looked around other areas of Puerto de la Libertad and I made an unsavoury discovery about this tourist district...

Mariachis

are fucking

Everywhere.

Seriously, fuck Mariachis.

Have you ever been having a meal with someone and then suddenly a band starts playing at full volume 27 centimeters from your head? It is impossible to have a seated conversation in Puerto de la Libertad, as there will be a Mariachi band within strangling distance. That band will be playing El Peluquero Salvatrucha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPYye-zoFBY

Ok so that song is totally bitchin' and I never thought I would like a song that featured the accordion but hearing it 4 times in 3 minutes (bands playing simultaneously) will piss you off.

They're like locusts. They're like the locust. Or the flood.

One more gripe before I sign off

Markets.

The Freo Markets are great. You love them. Don't lie. Markets in El Salvador tend to have a bigger range and better prices but dammit the people who run them are RUDE!

I understand that they are trying to make a living in difficult conditions, so I'll excuse some of their behaviour completely. Namely, the annoying call of 'I'll give you a good price' or 'You look like you need...' etc etc. Even the yelling of their price at an annoyingly loud volume. Whatever, I can dig it.

There are three consistent and specific behaviours that really infuriate me though, and they are counterproductive too.

1. The face. Stay out of it. If I have to dodge you, because you are now in my way and you want to sell me something, you're too close. And those fish you've thrust in my eyes have questionable freshness. If I want fish, I'll look for you.

2. The wrists. KYFHO. I walked PAST your stall because it has nothing of interest for me. I'm not going to suddenly decide I need to buy a skirt just because you grabbed my wrist. It's always the girls who grab your wrist, and my mens intuition tells me that a lot of guys got punched in the mouth before a lesson was learned here. If your marketing style relies on a social taboo to avoid violence you're doing it wrong.

Number two goes especially for the kid who you pay to get on the microbus, this would be especially distressing to the elderly who might not be strong enough, or able to keep up with the bus long enough to remove themselves from the kid's grasp, and I know it happens cause it happened to my grandma.

As with Number 1, if I want transport, or womens clothes, I'll look for you.

3. The volume. TURN IT THE FUCK DOWN. Good news: I decided you have something I want. Now, I want to know how much it costs. But I can't hear you, because every stall (including yours) has the volume on some awful song cranked up TO THE MAX!! I have two theories.
a) People in markets can lipread amazingly well, except I usually have to repeat myself.
b) The volume is up as high as it goes to prevent people from haggling, except this is taking place in a Salvadoran market, and whoever thinks that might work should really know better.

Anyway, I hope that made you laugh.

Hasta Luego.

7/12/2010 - Homecoming tour part 3 - Waking up in El Salvador

2010-12-08T00:23:00.002+09:00

Not copied from my journal, at the time.

I'll only relate a few experiences, as there are things to do, places to be, people to meet etc...

Yesterday I went to a tourist district in Las Palmas; a tourist town North West of San Salvador, close to the Honduran border. That place is hilly as bru. The town itself is very high up, and I'm not sure if it was the pressure, or perhaps the fact that I was tired from a um... Stomach upset, but I didn't feel so great up there. It was also bloody cold... Bloody windy... The drive itself took about 2 hours, and there were more changes in altitude than I've ever experienced in my life...

Oh, and drivers here are Craaaaaaaazy yo!!

On the way there were the kinds of sights you just won't see in Western Australia. I can't say for the Eastern States because I haven't been there, but it's sure aroused my interest...

Winding roads through valleys and over hills, absolutely stunning views... But also farmers who are dirt poor, shanty towns and lone shacks. Abandoned houses in the hills, which may or may not have been shot to pieces. Oh, and rivers. Of course I've seen The Avon and Swan Rivers in WA... But four rivers in one day (including the River Lempo)?

Four?!?

Unheard of.

I bought a whole bunch of Souveneirs in Las Palmas =D

Hasta Luego

4/12/2010 - Homecoming tour part 2 - Homecoming

2010-12-08T00:05:00.002+09:00

(From my journal, at the time)

It's hard to figure out which direction you're facing when you're on a plane. LA to San Salvador was 4 hours, the sun rose over the Atlantic but I was facing the Pacific. We flew over Mexico; we might have flown over Honduras and Guatemala but I can't be sure. What I do know is that there were lots of fires in Mexico. Bonfires or something... I could see them from the plane, so they must have been pretty big; or maybe it was a trick of the light, with everything looking bright in comparison to the dark...

We flew over a city in a cove; the divisions between rich and poor could be seen, even at night, from a plane. Rich, coastline houses had large, bright lights. A little more inland and you have your people who are well off, with normal lights, I guess. The rest of the city was a fuzzy mass of lights; a perpetual brown out, I guess.

In this same city, as we nearly passed out of view, there was a very large explosion; about a seventh of the brown out area instantly lost power... The explosion must have been a power station, or substation or something. Tought times I guess... I hope they're ok.

From the sky, the low Salvadorean clouds hugged the terrain; like Icing on a cake, but more like a turbulent, whitewater river, flowing over rough rocks, and then frozen in time. A very striking image.

El Salvador is a hilly country; there are lots of hills. It looks like something out of smugglers run. It looks like parts of Farcry 2. It looks like Panau (wow I'm such a nerd). From what I saw from the sky, Salvadorean Beaches aint got shit on Australian beaches. Flying over the pacific, as we turned to land at the airport, I saw a lot of pollution. Not happy.

The first place my family took me to was to a church on a hill, overlooking some of the more dangerous parts of San Salvador; two out of the 14 districts. One hell of a view.

We made it home (Close to the base of the San Salvador Volcano. I want to climb it). I passed out for a few hours, and then my uncle took me to a shopping centre. It's maybe as big as Garden City, except with three or four floors, 8 times as many shops, and 8 times as many shoppers to fill them. Everything here is so compact.

Despite this, people don't seem to get in each other's way. There aren't as many of what I like to call 'Stupid walkers'; people who should be force fed walking lessons, or a bullet, because they don't know how to walk down a fucking sidewalk without getting in everyone's way.

None of them here.

Impressed.

1. It feels like I never left. I don't know how else to describe it. The sounds, the smells, there is an uncanny familiarity about all this, despite the differences, and the danger.

2. Gunsgunsguns. If I walk out the front door, turn right, then left then walk for 45 seconds there is a really good chance I'll see at least one guy holding a shotgun big enough to ride. There are lots of cops.

3. Compactness - but no bad walkers. For at least a month, bad walkers won't piss me off, and my health will thank me for it...

4. Razor wire. Bars. Every home is locked down tight. I've never seen anything like it.

Hasta Luego

3/12/2010 - Homecoming tour part 1 - Crossing the Pacific

2010-12-06T10:49:00.002+09:00

(From my Journal, at the time)

So here I am, sitting in LAX, the first the first two legs of my journey to El Salvador completed. If I could take a plane back right now I would. I´m sleep deprived, frustrated and a little lonely.

The people here are so unfriendly, and it´s obvious to me that the bottom line to everything here, is money. Got too many bags? Use this trolley for 4 dollars... Wanna sit down? You can share these four couches with the whole airport, or use our lounge, entry, 25 dollars.

Seriously, America?

Seriously?

Observations I've made today.

1. Flying sucks. Not moving for 12 hours on the Sydney to LAX (with the wonderful reward of having to be in LAX)... 'nuff said.

2. American customs are cocks.
'Do you understand English?'
'Ummm... Yeah.'
'WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU FILL THIS FIELD IN THIS FORM WITH 'TRANSIT TO EL SALVADOR'??!?'
'Because it asks for my US Residential Address, and I DON'T HAVE a US Residential Address.'

Fuck head.

3. Everyone in LAX Speaks spanish.

4. LA is a hole. Oh, sure, it looks real nice in the movies. I'd like to know how much it costs to filter out all the smog on film. Visibility there is at best, a kilometer. The air tastes like shit and cordite. You can't see the city from the plane, and as we were taking off I thought it was raining.

Gross.

Hasta Luego.

Urbandictionary is a piece of shit

2010-08-24T22:55:00.005+09:00

... Whoah is that the time!!

Last time I made a post I was talking 'bout right and wrong, but I won't be writing a post about Theology this semester. Cause it's boring.

So. Urbandictionary. Define your world. Always good for a laugh. I've been subscribing to their word of the day for time immemorial. Since April 4 2006. Damn :/ That's 1521 urbanwords...

Ok so I love urbandictionary. But like any open source um document, you get inane content.
For example...

HPOA
hot piece of ass.

yo, did you see that guy?! he sure is a HPOA.

dangggg gurl, she's a HPOA. i bet her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

Ok I'll pay that.

Ineption
Completely inept at understanding the film, Inception.

You don't understand Christopher Nolan's latest masterpiece? Talk about ineption.

A wise man once said - He who would pun would pick a pocket. This same guy ended up pulling musket shot out of his own ribcage on the Galapagos islands. You should listen to him.

Hit the slide
To quit one's job in truly stunning fashion.

Steven Slater was fed up of working for a--holes, so he hit the slide.

Oooh. News inspired. Edgy. Actually not so bad, except I had to look that up. It's only been two weeks and no one knows who the fuck Steven Slater is already. Douchebag.

Bragplaining

When you complain about something for the sole purpose of brining it up in conversation to brag about it.
Man, I'm only getting 10MB/s download speed. Normally I get at least 15.

Quit bragplaining. We all know you're just bitching to show off.

Ok if I ever hear anyone using this ever, I'm cutting their hands off.

Battery Bank
An extra bill of higher denomination set aside for emergency funds. usually stored under the battery of a cellular phone.

I was running low on cash and had to float on my battery bank until payday.

... This is actually a pretty good idea...

Book Google
When you need to figure out something, so you look it up in a book, like in the olden times, when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

Guy 1: Quick! What's the definiton of "callow?"

Guy 2: I don't know! My iPhone 4 doesn't get signal here!

Guy 3: Book google that shit!

This is pretty insipid, but totally plausible. I bet someone had already used this without being ironic, well before I saw it... It's still fuckin dumb though.

Run and tell that
Meaning to go spread the word. To let it be known. To go tell everyone quickly.

After Antoine Dodson, a young hero from Huntsville, AL, saved his sister from an attack he left a public message for the perp letting him know that this wasn't the end of the story, and that he would be caught.

Antoine- "You don't have to come and confess. We looking for you. We gon' find you, so you can run and tell that! Homeboy!"

Now that's more fucking like it!! (I'm not kidding). This is hysterical!!

Ok back to business.

Post Block Syndrome
Similar to writers block only in the context of social networking sites. Unable to come up with post worthy content.

After logging into facebook and staring at the screen unable to post, I realized I was suffering from post block syndrome.

I had spent all day waiting with baited breath for my urbanword of the day and I get that? I would have had a rage aneurysm but my theology unit has conditioned my brain to stupidity. Seriously. The other day I watched Kochie do some election coverage and it took me three full minutes before I remembered he needs a bullet.

OMJ
As known to the Jonas Brothers fans, it would be stood for 'Oh My Jonas!'

but if you put OMJJ or OMNJ, it would be like Oh My Joe Jonas or Oh My Nick Jonas.

"OMJ is Nick dating Miley again??"
"OMJ I sure hope not!"

... Rage Aneurysm.

...

Seriously, have you considered how much this person must just straight up... Not give a fuck to put that in front of another human being's eyeballs?
...

Alternatively, there are people out there who actually say this. Just think about that for a minute.

Suction Seat

The name given to the chair infront of your computer that you sit on to go on line. Once seated in it and going on line (facebook, aol, google, news, etc) it sucks you in to a much longer period of time than you planned.
I call my computer chair my SUCTION SEAT because although I only planned to be on line for 20 minutes, when I looked at the clock after finishing, I was on line for 2 1/2 hours!

Y'know I can totally relate to this. I wouldn't be surprised if this seat has a subtle imprint of my ass on it.

Half and Half and Half
A type of coffee so diluted by sugar, cream or milk that it no longer tastes like coffee, instead like milk and sugar, and has a beige or light brown color to it. The drink is typically concocted by those who want to appear as if they are drinking coffee but despise the taste.

Anne: Carrol is such a coffee poser, she'll only fill her mug with coffee halfway before she drowns it in milk and sugar.

Jill: Yeah, i hate the taste of her half and half and half.

... People wanting to appear as if they're drinking coffee is a thing now? Judging people on their coffee is a thing now??

I think I found a picture of the tortured soul who gave us this literary gem.

Hasta Luego

The ethics of capital punishment

2010-05-17T23:48:00.006+09:00

Capital punishment is something of a divisive issue. Up until 1995 in Australia, a clear majority of people unequivocally supported it, yet it was abolished in 1967.

The reason I don't support it is because some of the people who are executed have been innocent. It has happened, and it will happen again, if it continues.

However, some moral philosophies would actually find the practise morally permissible.

Allow me to clarify, with a hypothetical situation, a thought experiment, if you will.

Clearly, ethicists cannot be for a system which occasionally takes an innocent life, so let's eliminate cases where doubt is a factor. Let's move to hypothetical land, where I am tall, and there I'll describe a situation where a utilitarian ethicist (Utilitarian ethics is what best describes my default setting) might support capital punishment.

Let's say 'Marty' is a serial killer. Last week he walked into a dining establishment with a semiautomatic rifle and started shooting. He killed 35 people and wounded 21. The massacre was premeditated. When he was caught, he was judged fit to stand trial, and freely confessed, so he wasn't under duress. Even if he hadn't pleaded guilty there were more than enough witnesses and more than enough evidence to convict him with little trouble, which may have been the deciding factor in his confession.

'Marty' will always be a danger to society. He's intelligent enough to plan a massacre, and detached enough from humanity to not really care about human life or suffering. Release is not a possibility for him, and it will cost the state $100, 000 a year to keep him detained. That $100, 000 could be used for the care and rehabilitation of other prisoners, or it could be used in the healthcare system.

Basically, from a utilitarian perspective (Aiming at the greatest good for the greatest number of people), it would be far more efficient to give 'Marty' the death penalty. There is no hope for him.

With me so far?

So here we are in hypothetical land, where anything is possible, even the Dockers winning a Grand Final (Dockers, as a Freo boy, I love ya, but fucking win, will you?). We've described a situation where it is morally permissible to pass the death penalty. While it isn't morally obligatory, it would sure as hell be more efficient.

Basically, what has been proven is that in some (overly specific) circumstances, the death penalty is morally permissible.

Ok so now we're still in hypothetical land, when some hypothetical lawyers walk in. They say "We're not gonna touch this one with a 50ft pole. Sorry."

Why not?

The problem with the principle of capital punishment is that it places the responsibility of the accused person's death on the legal system. The judges, the lawyer, etc etc etc. Let's go to another part of hypothetical land, just over the hills of implausible, next to the lake of outlandish.

You and I are going on a trip on a big bus with 50 other people. We're all just hanging out and you go roast some marshmallows, meanwhile I decide to kill someone. There's a big scuffle, and at the end of it, I'm restrained, and the other 47 people all decide that I should die.

You get back with a twig with some toasted marshmallows impaled on it, and everyone fills you in. They say "He must be killed!! He's a danger to us all!! ... You do it."

It's giving the legal system responsibility without power.

It's unfair, and thus unethical. I don't think we can fault the legal system of hypothetical land for not wanting the blood of the guilty on their hands. And the first person to volunteer for the job... Should be under surveillance.

Now if we interpolate these two results (blood on your hands + some of it's innocent) and apply them to real life - I don't think we can fault the legal system of Australia for refusing to have blood on their hands.

Here's another question - Is imprisonment "At the Governor's pleasure" deterrent enough for greivous crimes?

Let's ask Martin Bryant, who has tried to commit suicide 6 times now.

EDIT - EAVB_HYJAMVZAFJ

Hasta Luego.

Humans = Guppies

2010-03-09T00:05:00.008+09:00

Disclaimer - This post aspires to be satirical, and this issue is beginning to concern me a lot. I just thought it pretty important to say that up front.

Apparently, one of the greatest challenges that our species faces over the next 50 years is an increase in population, a population explosion, so to speak.

The reference to the guppies comes from an experiment my ethics lecturer referred to, where some guppies were allowed to breed in a large fish tank with no population controls. After a while, the guppies reached a point where the time it took their population to double was very short, and soon the tank was too polluted to support anything.

The guppies died.

Paul Erlich predicted a similar population explosion for humans, he predicted it for the 90's, but apparently, due to the wonders of modern technology, this timebomb goes off around 2050, and then, we're in deeeeeeep shit.

So, in the spirit of inciting debate, I'd like to make a couple of proposals, which alone won't solve the problem, but together might just tip the scales in humanity's favour.

1. Kill all the fat people.
Ok the logic behind this is pretty solid if you ask me.

Fat people eat more food, so, eliminating people who eat more = more for the rest of us!! Just arbitrarily, while sitting here reading cracked and talking on MSN, I say draw the line at 25% Bodyfat for males, and 28% for females. Give everyone on the planet a month to work out like crazy. That leaves a very comfortable margin so all my friends and family and people I respect make it through, which is just fantastic.

2. Get China and India to fight. Literally.
Ok so this one isn't that fair; China made some hard decisions and got their population under control, but the truth is, they still have a sizable portion of the world's population. India however, are experiencing a population explosion, which will contribute to the Mad Max future we can all look forward to.

So here are the rules.

Kgo.

3. Condoms

Making contraception free for everyone would have obvious benefits. Ehh I might leave this one. I really don't want to get into a debate about contraception and abortion. Don't want a molotov cocktail being hurled through my bedroom window. But yeah.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ok so I thought what I wrote was pretty funny (which is why I wrote it, even though it is in bad taste, and I know it's horrible and I'm going to hell). I discussed this with some friends of mine, and Andy mentioned a far better solution to the ones above, and that is a food tax. Basically, food with a high calorie content is taxed a ridiculous amount. Worldwide. The revenue goes towards feeding and educating poor people, as part of a concentrated effort worldwide to improve the living conditions of those in poverty.

Why feed poor people?

Two different intellectuals both pondered long and hard over this problem; Ronald Sider the Christian Theologian and Peter Singer the Atheist Philosopher. They both came to the same conclusion; we need to feed and educate the poor.

The reasons for this are complicated, but long story short... Statistics show that the more educated people are, and the healthier they are, the less children they have. Here it is (sic), statistics don't lie. I heard this a lot in the lecture concerning this issue - It's moved from an issue of right and wrong to an issue of survival. Let's hope some smart people get on it.

Hasta Luego.

Advancing off the line - or - what I learned tonight

2010-02-18T22:53:00.005+09:00

Advancing off the line is a very important concept when it comes to striking; creating angles between your opponent's direction of movement and the direction they're sending their strikes is very important if you want to prevent them from using their most powerful strikes.

To simplify this idea a little more than it should be, without moving off the line, a fight/match/bout would simply become what happens when a force meets a heavy object (force is spent/object has to budge/Por que no los dos?).

Moving off the line can also lead to you getting your opponent's back
http://www.markstraining.com/2010/02/self-defence-tactics-taking-back.html
http://www.markstraining.com/2010/02/how-to-take-your-opponents-back.html
which is... It's good, that's all you need to know.

So. What I applied more effectively tonight was something I've been thinking about for a long time now. When I asked my instructor, he said it was a good way of looking at it, so I think it's safe to put it up. Not as some sort of wisdom, more of another way of expressing some common knowledge that martial artists have had probably since 27 seconds after punching was invented (but I'm a slow learner).

Basically, I imagine a circle. My opponent is the centre of this circle, and the radius of this circle is the reach in my arms/legs. To advance off the line, I simply pick a point on the circle, that isn't between my opponent and I, and I move to it. This also works great if you're already in range; it's a great way of staying where you can hit your opponent, but while also minimizing the ways that your opponent can attack you. It's especially handy if you intend to avoid a clinch type situation, which is another kettle of fish entirely.

Anyway, I'll let that percolate for a bit, and maybe (probably not) write some more later.

Thoughts?

Hasta Luego.

Shakedown

2010-02-09T10:33:00.003+09:00

So that was fun...

Oh hai blog, long time, no see... I have a story for you!

Sometime on earlier this week, Grace and Resh bought a car from some sketchy lookin' dude in Beechboro. It turns out that he decided it would be a fantastic idea to tamper with the odometer, so Resh, Nayeem and I went back there this morning to go and get the money back...

The adjective Nayeem used to describe this guy was 'dodgy', but when I saw him, I was actually surprised that Resh and Grace did business with him (Ok, not so much, the car was pretty nice, and a bargain at 5000). Let me paint a picture of him, using my words.

About 5'11", this guy was about 50lb overweight. He only had one eye; whatever his injury was, I couldn't figure it out just by looking at him. He had bleached his hair into dreadlocks, and made a topknot out of that (it was pretty gross). I'm surprised he demanded that we be there before 8 AM...

His house seemed like a nice place from the road; head up the driveway though, and you see that this guy has 5 cars, only one of which has plates. He has a funky little workshop in his carport... Long story short - shit everywhere.

Oh, and his cat must have weighed about 9kg.

That's pretty heavy for a cat.

Anyway, we rock up, head up and knock on the door. This guy (Mick) opens the door, sees us standing outside and just closes it again. He comes back out again with 4500 and just hands it over.

Awesome. He still owes us 500. After a short little argument, where he claims to have spent 500 on some mats (ie. China white :p), and demands that we wait until next thursday for him to pay the money back, Resh tells him "We're keeping the keys, you better have the money by Friday, or we're reporting you to the police."

All in all, a productive morning. Makes me feel like some sketchy, smalltime, underworld figure, even though our side of this hilarious little incident is all above board...

Hasta Luego.

Time traveller for a day

2009-12-09T12:12:00.004+09:00

Another dream

In this dream I was a time traveller who went back in time to write the best play that had ever been written (I don't remember how it went or else I'd be writing that down instead). The writing process was painful and laborious and didn't involve much writing at all. What it did involve was getting chased by sharks, parkour and burning a theater to the ground. The events in the dream sort of happened in a random order so I'll just relate some of the funnier/more action packed parts of the dream in this post.

1. Running free

I know for sure that this happens before I burn the theater to the ground, because I'm climbing to the top of the theater in this part. It's still under construction and there's lots of scaffolding and tins of paint etc everywhere, so there's plenty of stuff for a free runner to jump on etc. There's also lots of snipers inside the theater so I'm running around a lot and getting shot at a lot and you should have seen it, it was AWESOME, like a Mathew Reilly book except more plausible.

2. Burn it doooown!!

I've set the fire in the theater and there's lots of paratroopers running around and there's burning logs, chairs etc falling down... And I'm trying to escape the theater.

I enter a room and there's (young) Demi Moore and a bunch of paratrooper dudes standing around waiting to take me prisoner.

Through some subterfuge (card tricks) I manage to get Demi Moore's Glock 18 from her, I point it at them before jumping out the window.

Of course I didn't shoot Demi Moore.

3. Who's your spirit animal??

This part of the dream made the least sense but was easily the funniest.

I'm in a little dinghy in Antarctica, kept company only by my spirit animal; a wisecracking penguin.

I don't even know what a spirit animal is, I just know that this little guy was my guide, and he kept making me laugh even when bad stuff was happening to me.

So I'm in this little dinghy and he's guiding me and telling me what I need to do when I get stuck in some sort of snow drift floating in the water (I don't even know if that's possible). He continues to wise-crack and I'm saying something along the lines of help me, and he points out that even if he was real, he'd still be a penguin. Then he tells me to stop whining and dig in. So I do, while laughing like a crazy.

I'm still headed to an iceberg or something that I need to touch (it will give me inspiration for the play?? I don't remember why I had to do this...), and as I get closer the water starts to get choppier. I also spot a large brown shark heading towards me. It tries to bite my arm off, so I push against its snout, creating a little bit of distance. This happens two or three times until I touch the iceberg and start heading back to civilisation or whatever.

The shark keeps attacking me until it spots a seal which it follows. The seal, being a creative little bugger, heads towards me, and goes past me to distract the shark and bring attention to me thus removing attention from itself.

As it passes me I hammerpunch it on the top of the head, knocking it out and letting me get away.

Ice Cold.

In the last part of the dream I'm back in the future, collecting the manuscript for the play from a safety deposit box.

Hasta Luego.

A descent into madness

2009-11-14T17:07:00.016+09:00

The inspiration for this post - Dan O'Brien of Cracked.com

---> http://www.cracked.com/blog/i-watch-glenn-becks-comedy-tour-regret-it/ <--- I'd urge anyone who comes across this on facebook to go directly to my blog page at http://www.whatwouldrobertoeliasdo.blogspot.com/ Considering how hard I fail at computers it's probably gonna look horrible on Facebook. There's no guarantees that it will look good on the original website either though... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Longtime readings of my poorly structured ramblings may remember my post entitled "Reflections on Free will" which was essentially my position paper, minus 'academic erudition'. Well, like I said it does my head in. So I spent quite some time in every lecture doodling in my notebook. What follows is an incoherent transcript; a descent into madness.

The beginning of my love affair with Philosophy - A tap dancing turtle. It is compelled to tapdance. It is un-free.

Ok so that little box with the eye and the kite? It's my representation of Qualia. Qualia is essentially subjective experience - no one can experience the world quite the same way as you because their neurological pathways are built differently. Soon after this, my thoughts drifted to Mastodon.

This one's easy - It was my turn to 'lead discussion' in my tutorial session. I must have said something that wasn't very clever. What happened next was this - one of my classmates (who happens to have a big forehead and bad attitude) started making statements that made defending my position very difficult. I repaid him in kind when it was his turn :)

That's a lime. The lime below it is Sublime, get it? Hur hur hur.

'Potato frog' isn't just inane ramblings; In one of the lecture slides a guy is pulling up a potato tuber and it's shaped like a frog. It was a photoshop. I'm not convinced it was related to the topic under discussion (social justice, and John Locke's 'original position' theory).

'The Jeet Kun Do' political system refers to a constantly changing system which adapts according to the needs of it's people. I think it was another of John Locke's ideas...

And that circle says 'circular reasoning' in it. It's a philosophical term; a polite way of saying "Your argument is an ouroborus of bullshit."
"Why did god create the universe?"
"For the Lulz."

As good an explanation as I've ever heard.

One of the last topics we dealt with was emotion, and love...

If you've ever seen Top Gun, in the bit where Goose dies his jet gets caught in a slipstream or something, and his jet goes into a flatspin. That's kinda how I felt...

This slide speaks for itself. Topic - Emotions and love.

And yes, that is a Forrest Gump quote.

Hasta Luego.

Megadeth!!

2009-10-14T16:05:00.005+09:00

Alright, so last night I went and saw Megadeth and Slayer at Challenge Stadium =D

Megadeth, as per usual, were a solid set. Not as good as when they played at Metro City, but the acoustics in that place are better, and for some reason people just got crazier at Metro City.

Setlist was something like this.

Set the world Afire
Wake up Dead
Hangar 18
Skin O' My Teeth
Headcrusher
She-Wolf
Sweating Bullets
1,320'
Tornado of Souls
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars...the Punishment Due

Possibly in a different order though...

Slayer were pretty disappointing, they're the Dave Lombardo band, really.

Dave Lombardo was a goddamn demon drummer, he was fucking amazing, but other than that, I find them to be totally average, just messy, really. Their 'solos' especially just pissed me off, there is nothing cool about making a 'waaaaaaaah' sound that lasts 25 seconds with the distortion pedal, or with randomly messily hitting random notes (I'm stressing the random). That being said, they did play one song, about halfway through, at a normal pace, and with Kerry King and 'Other guy' busting out proper solos. That was pretty cool.

Hasta Luego.

Metric

2009-09-30T23:56:00.006+09:00

Metric @ Club Capitol, 28/11/2009

Ok so I was very disappointed with this one. The performance itself was fantastic, but I wasn't too thrilled with Metric playing songs that were almost exclusively from their latest album.

I hold the view that the setlist is what the setlist is; it's the band's prerogative to play what they want to play, and they have the right to have a good time up there too, y'know?

However, Metric came onstage at about five past ten, and were off stage at 11.08

During their second show in Australia.

That left plenty of time for a longer set list, for their old fans and their new fans.

So, here's the setlist. I've put some of my favourite songs of theirs, from their two previous albums (I don't have their first), in brackets, and I chose them carefully so that, had they played this setlist, they would still have been off stage by quarter to 12.

Twilight Galaxy
Satellite Mind
(Poster of a girl)
(Hustle Rose) (My personal favourite...)
Help I'm alive
Gimme Sympathy
(Succexy)
Gold Guns Girls
(IOU)
Monster Hospital
(Wet blanket)
Sick Muse
(Combat Baby)
(Live it out)
Dead Disco
Stadium Love

And it only now occurs to me that, had they done so, they would have played about half old stuff, half new stuff, We're asking for too much, I guess...

Anyway, rant over. The performance itself was pretty damn good, and Emily Haines is amazing.

Also, the opening act (Wolves) wasn't too bad at all (even though Kim thought they were boring). I think that if they replace the drummer they'd be good enough to play instrumental stuff, which is more or less the definition of good music. Change the lead singer as well, and you're cooking with gas!!

Hasta Luego.

Reflections on Free will

2009-09-13T21:36:00.009+09:00

- - > One of my units at Notre Dame is Philosophy.
- - - - - - - -> It does my head in.
- - - -> But I really enjoy it.
-> My position paper is on Free will.
- - - - - - -> If everything has a cause, then how can we be free?

First allow me to clarify some things.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Freedom

I guess the pertinent definition would be 2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc... As far as free will is concerned, anyway. If you're interested in a more 'philosophical' definition, go here.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/

How is this relevant to question number one?? Allow me to explain. You're sitting there, drinking your cup of Joe and thinking "Pshhhhh of COURSE I'm free." You lift the cup to your lips and take a sip... Wait!! You have no choice BUT to take a sip of that delicious coffee. Your actions are nothing but a product of your genetics and your environment.

You were born human, and your environment thus far (both the aspects you experience consciously and subconsciously) has dictated who you are. The way your parents' chromosomes synapsed, and how you tend to stand with your weight more on one leg (the left; incidentally, it places quite a bit more strain on the neck of your femur, and makes the right leg weaker, according to Wolff's law, also, you hadn't noticed, but I digress) have played a part in shaping who you are as a person, and as a human structure.

All that being the case, you had no choice but to take a sip.

"Fine, I won't then." You say. But now you're just trying to prove me wrong.

Go on, take a sip.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The basic premise behind this argument is very solid, as long as you're not referring to quantum physics. Seriously, don't even go there.

Roll a pair of die. Totally random outcome, right? Well, what if you could take into account windspeed, humidity, the coriolis effect of the Earth (And keep an eye on the flags for a drop in the wind... Sorry, just had a CoD4 flashback, of Pripyat...), everything that can affect the way the dice leave your hand, the way they bounce and where they stop. Then you'll know the results right?

(Yes you will)

Take a sip.

The thing is that your thoughts are events too. Neurons are transmitting electrical signals in your brain, and your brain is interpreting them. Your brain grew and the neurons connected as a result of your genetics and environment (I can't stress this point enough, it's central to what I'll be saying in my position paper, you see). As such, the way these neurons fire is a result of your genetics and environment, and as such, they are caused, and not necessarily by you.

That there is determinism in a nutshell.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now here I am with an interesting conundrum; I started writing this a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had time to do more because of my position paper, which I handed in about 24 hours ago, so do I just post that?? Naaaah, I'll finish this.

Anyway, here's my rebuttal of Determinism, given that I believe in free will.

Self awareness.

Allow me to explain a lil bit.

Basically it's like this; while the events that shape your life are going to shape the way you think and the way you behave, you also have the ability to evaluate yourself, and think "Hmmmm why do I do this..."

When you think about it, your awareness of yourself is like a lens; through it, you can see how you act and how that affects other people; how your environment shapes you and how you shape it. It doesn't actively change your environment, but it certainly changes the way you interpret it. While your environment shapes you, to a certain extent, you choose how it shapes you!!

Wheee that means we're free right??

Does it?

Doesn't your environment and genetic makeup also shape the way in which your mind is structured? And what about this self awareness thing? When are you gonna be all pensive and introspective? It's fair to assume that (dun dun dunnn...) your introspection was caused by an event or a conversation (which is a type of event).

It pushes the problem back one more step. Ever see those old pictures, where the world sits on top of four elephants on top of a giant turtle? Well, what if you found out that the giant turtle rested on top of... Another four (larger) elephants which are on top of an even bigger turtle.

Yeah, that's what I mean when I say "Pushes the problem back one more step."

Well, In my opinion, the answer to this is "Nope, this means we have free will."

You see, while our mind is a product of determinism, as is our self awareness and the ability to interpret our environment, it is still a tool under our dominion. The fact that external influences exert some control over this dominion, doesn't remove this dominion from us.

That there is my conclusion, minus the 'Academic Erudition.

"Yeah but, it's still caused by determinism."

Seriously, as far as I'm concerned, that's the equivalent of this...

Hasta Luego

The Martial Way

2009-06-24T00:04:00.006+09:00

Ok, after this post WWRED resumes normal service, as a dream diary and collection of random musings. I promise.

In reality, I should have waited 24 measly hours and posted this along with my previous post on sparring for the 'reach impaired,' but I didn't. Instead, I ended up waiting about a week and a half. That's efficiency for ya.

Basically, I'd just like to recommend this eBook to you all; it offers some good advice for those beginning in the Martial Arts.

It was written by Matthew Apsokardu, the author of Ikigai: Blogging the Martial Way, and also a student of Okinawa Kenpo Karate (Nakamura, Odo lineage), and Okinawa Kenpo Kobudo (Nakamura, Odo lineage) for 13 years. I thoroughly recommend it :D

And, in case both links didn't work (we all know my luck with computers), here they are again.

eBook - http://www.ikigaiway.com/wp-content/themes/Ikigai%20Way/students_dojo_survival_guide.pdf

Ikigai - http://www.ikigaiway.com/

Oh, and don't forget to check out the site, I read it regularly, it's quite good ^^

Hasta Luego.

Sparring for the little guy + update

2009-06-16T22:33:00.008+09:00

Ok, first the update...

My parents went and bought a puppy last Sunday... Her name's Chelsea and she's the cutest little Rotti you could ever meet!!

Here's a photo of her the day we got her :D

Now for the actual substance in this post.

First of all, I'd like to point out that I don't know jack. This is more a list of observations and advice that has been given to me, it is also an invitation to discuss; I just hope everyone I tag on Facebook contributes with something.

Second of all, I'd like to point out the difference between 'sparring' and 'self defense.' Sort of as a disclaimer.

Spar - Verb: To fight with an opponent in a short bout or practice session, as in boxing or the martial arts.

Self defense - Verb: the act of defending one's person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.

The difference is all in the intent. Sparring is for training, for conditioning, a learning tool (learning about yourself, cliche as it sounds, and also learning to fight, let's not beat around the buch here) or for fun. I can't think of any other applications off the top of my head, but it's also worth pointing out that all of these applications are not mutually exclusive.

Self defense, on the other hand, is about prevention of (your) injury, or (your) death. It's what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, and ends with your escape (the preferred option, trust me), or with someone beaten into submission (hopefully not you). The attitude is a different one, as is the level of control exercised, not to mention the lack of protective equipment, the techniques used ('shin-scrape, eye-gouge, groin-kick etc) a safe place to 'play' and those shoes you always wear to training, that are light enough to throw powerful and accurate kicks with (not I can, I'm just saying...).

People have gone through the differences, and they've done it better than I have; I just thought it wise to reiterate, it's a disclamer, if you will.

Anyway, down to business.

Sparring when you're a little guy

In my experience, one of the hardest things to do is to hit someone when they have a significant reach advantage over me.
Of course, there are ways of doing this; any experienced martial artist can do it relatively easily, provided they're not facing someone with equal or greater experience (I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying it's HARD!!)...

That being the said, if you're not an experienced Martial artist (I'm raising my hand here =), you have to start somewhere.

With that in mind, here's a list of the most common advice I get on this subject...

1. Use speed as your advantage - In other words, a bigger guy will not move as fast as I can move. I find this one in particular to be untrue, but that's only cause I'm slow. On the other hand, If I keep moving I find I get hit less. Verdict: I need to be faster.

2. Work the angles - In other words, try to attack a person from the 'dead' side (as opposed to the live side). Other systems might know these as the 'open' and 'closed' sides. If this isn't possible, try oblique angles, anything but attacking from a point directly in their path. This is definitely a good piece of advice, but in my experience only works in counter attack. Someone throws a punch, I try to parry it to the inside, I move in, hit a few times and move out. And generally wear a couple on my way out. It helps being able to read your opponent though, and to be fast, which again, I'm not. I'm also generally off balance when striking and moving at the same time, unless I'm moving directly forward. Verdict: I need a lot more practise

3. Aggression, AGGRESSION, AGGRESSION!! - In other words... You're SPARRING!! You're gonna get hit no matter what, so just hit your opponent!! Well, I get criticised for not being particularly aggressive quite a bit, but I'd have to say this one's the one I'm best at. That being said, I only really get like this when I'm a little bit frustrated and just don't care. I wear a few on my way into my opponent, and on my way out, and every single moment in between. That being said, this is also when I have the most fun. Verdict: I need to practise this less and more; I need to practise this on my own terms.

These are the three pieces of advice that I recall the most. I've been given more, I forgot (sorry). However, it's important to remember, these three 'attitudes' are not mutually exclusive, as a matter of fact, they pretty much don't work at all, unless they're combined (which is probably a part of my problem). An example of this is... Being faster than the other guy, but not working the angles. Basically all you'll do is move into the other guy's fist a little faster (it hurts your pride more than anything else...).

I have a long way to go, but the holes in my defense and offense will only be filled with one thing, and that's more experience. All I can hope is that I can integrate these concepts, so I can stay awake at night over something else!!

I leave you with this here videoclip, I like it a lot.

Hasta Luego.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

2009-06-13T00:20:00.003+09:00

This post is for me. Don't comment on it. You don't need to read it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was at about 4.45 that I decided to leave uni. I was in a lab, a catch up session where I had the opportunity to finish off any lab work that I hadn't done throughout the semester.

My mind wasn't in it though. I was distracted. It wasn't some sort of pre-cognition, my mind was on something else, but I won't say what, because in retrospect it just wasn't important.

I remember the playlist on my mp3 player. It was the Way of all Flesh (album) by Gojira, followed by Don't hate me, by Porcupine tree. I was walking down High St on the way to the bus stop next to the Fremantle markets when I got a call on my phone. It was my dad, but it went to voicemail because I didn't even feel my phone vibrate. It was on silent because I had been in a lab. The voicemail message sounded like it had started ringing in his pocket, so I disregarded it. I got to the bus stop, where I ran into my friend Gloria. We were talking about random stuff (she was on her way to a workshop in Coolbellup, where she tutors teenagers and tries to get them to reach their full academic potential) when I finally got a clear voicemail. It was my dad, and he was telling me that my lil Charlie had died. "This is not a joke." He repeated to me, a few times. I told Gloria. "If it's a joke, it's a fucking shit one." I said to her, a few times.

I got off at the bus stop closest to the high school near where I live, and walked to the bicycle path. There was a stationwagon in the middle of the bicycle path, about 300m from the entrance to it, which is when I knew it wasn't a joke. I kept walking, and I was starting to feel a little funny. There was a woman, walking her dog, I don't remember what sort, just that it was small. I asked her if she knew what was going on.

"I don't know, but I don't think that dog is feeling too well." She replied.

The people next to the station wagon saw me, and I waved and started running. I saw my little pup Charlie, lying in the back. He looked asleep, except his tongue was sticking out, and it was blue. When I touched him, he was still warm.

My dad and I got home. Then about a minute later my mum got home. We had left him in front of the front door, except on the inside. My parents went to the vet to talk to him, then they went to buy a shovel, which is why they took almost an hour to get back home.

I was left alone with him, trying to contact my brother. In that time, Charlie stopped being warm. When I realised he wasn't warm anymore, I'd have to say that was hands down, the most fucked up moment in my life.

My parents got home, and we dug his grave. It took about an hour and a half, because it had to be deep. He was a Dobermann, after all.

We lowered him into the ground at about 7.30. To be honest, I didn't look at the time. We wrapped him in his blankets, and used them to lower him down. We tried to cover him as best we could, but it came apart a little bit, and when we threw the sand back in the grave, it got into his shroud, I suppose you'd call it. Seeing that made me feel really bad.

I still had two assignments due in, over the next two days. I didn't even have a shower, I just finished the assignments. I suppose it helped, being forced to think of something else.

My brother finally got home at about 9. He couldn't stay long though. He has a more difficult course, and had harder assignments due. He left at about 9.30, after I showed him where we buried Charlie.

Like I said, I've been trying not to think about it. I've been doing an exceptionally good job, however, just like last time, I'm just a little bit drunk.

On the way home I had to catch the same bus, and walk the same path.

A few years ago, out of nowhere, I started having recurring nightmares about that path. It was the reason I started this blog, to be a dream journal, so I suppose it makes sense to put this here, as opposed to in my private journal. Because of these old, recurring nightmares, I can't help but feel like it should have been me. The very worst thing is, however, that when I think of him, I can only think of him when he was lying on the floor, and I was trying to call my brother, and when we were lowering him in the ground. All I can see is when the dirt got into his fur. When I see a photo of him I can almost feel his fur, but it's not alive, and it's not warm.

When I'm at home, I feel alone because he isn't there. I don't think I've slept more than 4 hours a night in the last two weeks, because I don't feel safe. And I always feel so disappointed when I walk to the front door, because I know he's not on the other side waiting for me.

I think back to how I reacted that afternoon. I buried my pup. I finished my assignments. The next morning I tried to sleep in, and then in the afternoon I still went to training.

The next day I went to my tutorial, then I went to the gym. Over the study week, I studied, and went to training. I went to the gym, and hung out with my friends. A lot of them, unless they're long time followers of this blog, or if they read this on facebook (most of them ignore notes, as far as I know), don't even know that the little pup I grew up with is no longer with us.

What I'm trying to say is this - I hope I can face my own death with this serenity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is more or less what I've been thinking about over the past two weeks, when my mind hasn't been in the moment. I've tried pretty hard to keep it in the moment.

I miss my pup, but there is nothing really left to say (or write).

Next time I post, I will have happy things to write about.

Hasta Luego.

Oblivion

2009-06-07T00:13:00.002+09:00

Well I've certainly had an eventful couple of weeks, unfortunately what I have to say is that it's been pretty crap.

This very small post relates to my puppy Charlie. Please don't talk to me about it. Some of you have already offered your condolences to me, and while I appreciate it, I feel better about myself working through my issues myself

I've re-written this section a lot, mainly because I don't know what to say. It probably belongs in a more private journal.

Fallen from grace cause I been away too long
Leaving you behind with my lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion

I miss him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There's a distinct possibility that my parents might be getting another pup sometime soon; they've suggested getting a Rottweiler. While Rotti's are really cute (especially when they're still in the pup phase of the lifecycle), I'd personally prefer another Dobermann. This isn't possible at the time (none for sale), but there are some Rhodesian Ridgeback pups for sale; I'd personally prefer one of those.

Whatever we get, I'd definitely like a big dog.

Life's just not the same without one.

Hasta Luego.

RIP

2009-05-27T20:51:00.003+09:00

RIP Charlie

12/12/2001 - 27/5/2009

My little Doberpup, I'll miss you.

To anyone who may or may not come across this, on Blogger or on Facebook.

I put this up here for me, not really for anyone else.

Please don't mention it to me in person, please don't comment on it. I'm trying not to think about it.

WWRED 23/5/2009 top Picks

2009-05-23T17:21:00.004+09:00

I've been quite busy recently, which has precluded me from blogging, but I have had stuff I've wanted to say. That being the case, I'll just drop a few links here and there and just briefly sum up the other stuff I would have said.

Ok, first things first. Trivium - Shogun tour.

One of the roughest concerts I've been to (front row was pretty brutal), and also a damn good set. I really liked the opening bands, but Black tide were better than Heaven shall burn in my humble opinion. They also played Everlong, the only foo fighters song I like, so that was something of a plus.

Setlist was something similar to this

Kirisute Gomen
Down from the Sky
Into the mouth of hell we march
Becoming the Dragon
Rain
Anthem (We are the fire)
Of Prometheus and the Crucifix
Throes of Perdition
Pull harder on the strings of your martyr (BOAT!! RUDDER!! STRANGE!! MOUNTAIN!!)

Also some more stuff from Ascendancy and Ember to inferno.

I'd say which songs, but I don't even have Ember to Inferno, and don't really listen to Ascendancy anymore.

Also, totally devastated that they didn't play Shogun, easily their best song.

And here's that classic boat rudder strange mountain clip =D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNLDLyeepVs

I bought Crack the Skye yesterday, I've heard it about four times already =D

It's not as good as Blood Mountian (seriously, Blood Mountain would have taken some serious hard work to top), and I'll definitely have to listen to it a few more times. It's content is quite nuts (for lack of a better word), and I'm going to have to take some time to interpret it, maybe read up on my Russian History, and probably post my findings here...

Here's a link to the lyrics to the 4th track - The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral

It's about 11 minutes long =D and also pretty straightforward (lyrically) in comparison to the other songs on the album.

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858763339/

And that is all for today...

Hasta Luego.

FUD

2009-04-17T09:30:00.004+09:00

FUD = Fucked Up Dream.

Sorry Alios, you get totally fucked over in this one.

Ok so we're hanging out somewhere in Perth, and we decide to catch the train to Freo. We realise that the train is about to leave, and we run for it, even though the next one is due in like, 4 minutes.

We catch the train (It's Alios, Emmos, David and I), and sit down and it starts moving. A pair of really nerdy (in the OMFG get the fuck away from me way) dudes sit next to Alios and Emmos and start drooling over them and making nerdy WoW innuendos to and about them, so they ask Dave and I to move to another carriage with them.

In the other carriage there's a mobile phone suspended from the overhead handrails, with a whole bunch of wires attached to the back.

Alia says "Oh, it's not a bomb, or else the wires would be inside the chassis bla bla bla."

She pulls it off the wire, and 2 or 3 seconds later she gets an SMS on the phone.

"The next one will be a real bomb you Zionist Pig."

Then another one appears. How this happens is unclear.

The wires are on the outside of the phone, so she pulls the phone off. It explodes, but only a little bit (basically it sprays a fine mist of stuff in Alia's eyes).

Alia says "I'm fine." So we continue just sitting down waiting to get where we're going and hanging out. Then she starts screaming.

"Aaaaah it's ACID aaaah!!" Or something to that effect (I don't recall), and we're all like "What do we do??"

Another phone appears, and this time I pull it off the wire it's suspended from, I look at it and see an 11 second timer. 'Lucky' for me, we're at a train station, and the doors are open. I throw the bomb across the station to an area that looked kinda quiet (it was an area next to the tracks, in a corner where there were no people) and I yell out "BOMB!!" as well. It explodes, killing 4 people (they literally stick their heads around the corner, to see this so called 'bomb'), then the riot police show up and start running for me.

I yell out how it wasn't my fault and how I found this bomb, and as they run at me they pull out their nightsticks and whatnot, so I run too.

Shenanigans ensue.

The Perth train station is next to the sea (it's not, in reality), so I run in that direction. I reach some cliffs next to the sea, then some stuff happens that I don't understand/can't make sense of.

Neither could you.

Then I'm in some type of sportscar, driving along the cliffs and I know I'm being chased.

I reach the base of a plateu on the edge of the cliffs and hit a button for an elevator, I ride the elevator to the top of the plateu, and the top of the plateu I reach is a truck arrester bed, about 3 km long. I start running across the arrester bed, and David's with me all of a sudden, and we're running. I turn to look over my shoulder, and we're being chased by Eric Ripper, the leader of the Labor Party in WA. he looks mean and disheveled.

We keep running down the arrester bed, and reach a road. We head along the coast of the road and reach (an alternate reality of) Fremantle. It basically didn't look like Freo, but we know it is, for some reason.

Shenanigans ensue, I'm starting to forget what happens in the dream for some reason, not to mention a lot of it was nonsensical anyway.

Anyway at this point I'm Adam Sandler, Dave is now John Lithgow and Eric Ripper is now Helen Hunt and I'm running around in Fremantle trying to hide and find a cure for Alia's Acid sprayed face. Events come to a head, and there's a ridiculous amount of police in Fremantle, so I run somewhere out of town (I presume), cause I'm in a forest, dressed in a monk's robe and it's been snowing for a few hours.

David (John Lithgow) walks right up to me (Adam Sandler) and says he has some information for me. I ask what.

He says "Do you know what love is Shelley? Sacrifice."

The focus shifts to a small, dried up maple leaf on a treetop somewhere, it falls off the tree and spirals down to the ground below... Landing on my shoe.

Then a whole bunch of riot cops (they look like the combine) come out of nowhere and beat the crap out of me.

When I come to, each of my wrists is tied up, and a Monk is holding the rope. Each monk is held in the same way by two riot cops, so two people are holding me, and each of those people is held by another two.

I don't know why.

I see an opportunity to run like hell, so I pull really hard and run like hell.

For some reason I need to eat some moss. The thought running through my head is something about the healing properties that moss has for monks like me, and I just got beat into unconsciousness by a whole bunch of riot cops.

So I eat some of this moss, run back into Fremantle, and hide on a rooftop, wondering where I can hide. I decide to hide at CBC Freo, which is now a Co-Ed school (not in reality). Cause I look like a monk, no one really challenges me. Then a teacher realises that there aren't any Christian Brothers at CBC anymore, and that they didn't wear cowl robe type thingo's when they were around.

The faculty calls Helen Hunt, and she brings the (American) army.

I run around and run amok, trying to keep from getting captured (sorry, no Krav, I'm Adam Sandler the Pacifist Monk) and I manage to steal a tank.

I drive around a lot, and end up somewhere pretty isolated but not too far (go figure).

On the way I run over a dog and I take it into a tent to try heal it.

I can't, so I call the RAC and try get them to fix the tank, and bring a vet for the dog.

They won't send a mechanic guy to come fix my tank, and when I tell them who I am (I give them the name of the guy who's gear I'm wearing, I changed out of monk clothes and into stuff that was in the tank at some point), they're all like "Oh, you're a field surgeon, just do it yourself!!" and hang up.

So I walk in the tent, and the dog is fine. But Alia's not (she's back). I sit there, just thinking "What the fuck do I do now."

Then I think to myself "Hey, I'm Pvt. James Francis Ryan! I'm a field surgeon!!" (Not rly Pte Ryan, it's the only name I could think of just now), I start working on Alia with a pair of scissors.

Somehow, magically, it mostly works, except I need some body parts (literally, body parts). Helen Hunt, formerly known as Eric Ripper shows up, and after punching her in the mouth I harvest her for body parts, using them on Alia.

Alia's now fine, she now looks like Helen Hunt (she also has an eye in her elbow), and she has the power to clear my name. So she does.

Now if anyone can figure that out for me, please do.

Hasta Luego

Just WHO the f**k do they think they are??

2009-04-05T18:27:00.003+09:00

Myth: The Who are the best live band on the planet.

Myth: BUSTED!!

Sorry, I just had to start off this post with that controversial statement.

But srsly, on a scale of 0 to Iron Maiden, they were about a 6.

That being said, they were very impressive; I especially liked the drumming, and the guitarist (Pete Townsend??) was quite skilled.

Aaaanyway I'm not going to lie, I don't know their music well enough to really have really appreciated their performance, however, the first time I even heard Trivium was at their concert back in '07, and they blew me away.

Same with the Darkness, which, as I recall, was my first concert ever, exactly 3 years ago...

Good times aye Benny?

But enough of that, What I really wanted to do was wish Ben a happy Birthday...

Merry freakin 21'st Bennos!! Sorry I can't be partying with you right now.

Hasta Luego

Gingerkids shouldn't play in the sun.

2009-03-11T21:41:00.006+09:00

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since I've posted, so I figure it's time I do a random update.

I do have quite a bit of news.

First and foremost.

Amanda Palmer and the Danger ensemble.

Fucking amazing.

David really went into it, how it helped focus him on what he really wants, at least as far as performing arts are concerned.

Basically, he was able to appreciate it more than me.

Except for Zoe Keating.

:o

Her performance is essentially the cello, except she also samples herself, and continues to play.
I'm not entirely sure I explained that properly, so let me try again.

While she's playing, she does something interesting, eg. plucking the strings instead of using the bow. At the same time she's sampling herself. Then as she plays another part of the song she also plays the sample. Numerous samples.

:o :o :o

And it sounds amazing. I was like, whoah.

Anyway, there was that, and the fact that I got to meet Amanda Palmer the day before, which was fantastic. She's really cool with her fans, even when it's a fanboy like myself.

Here's the photo.

I haven't yet uploaded the ones from the night of the concert yet, but they weren't particularly good anyway. I did, however, manage to film Zoe Keating and one of her songs, Amanda Palmer and Zoe Keating covering a Muse song (is this right Dave??), and best of all, Amanda Palmer, Zoe Keating and Lincoln the Violinist doing HALF JACK!!

Hot.

I dedicate the name of this post to Zoe Keating :p

Anyway, as for other news.

Uni is going well, I must say I really enjoy Biomedical Science, especially in comparison to Engineering. And not just because I've been taught/noticed things that are applicable in martial arts, as well as general working out. I might dedicate a post to this subject later. I'd have to say that the subject matter is intrinsically interesting, the lab sessions are more hands on, and the staff are just... Friendlier...

I don't really know too many people in Biomed at the moment, the reasons being that I'm a few years older than everyone else, the fact that I have a very different timetable to most people, and the fact that I usually dash off to training or the gym as soon as the day of learning is over.

Anyway, c'est la vie, c'est la vie.

I hope to be able to post in greater detail sometime soon, but I hope you all enjoyed reading about my day to day tribulations.

Hasta Luego.

Soundwave '09

2009-03-03T11:20:00.005+09:00

OK so I've been looking forward to this for a while; I couldn't wait to see Lacuna Coil again, Survive Lamb of God, and finally see In Flames.

I got my jeans signed by Lacuna Coil =D =D =D

I was gonna get them to sign me on the leg, but the security dude told me to get my leg off the table, but Cristina offered to sign my arse instead (as in Jeans) =D =D

Here's a photo, taken by some random guy, using my camera =D

I was wearing my old cheerleading shirt, cause I absolutely hate it, and I was hoping to destroy it. It didn't work.

Anyway, Setlists...

This happened last night, and I kinda had a long day, so it might be somewhat inaccurate <_< style="font-weight: bold;" size="3">

Lacuna Coil
Maybe I'm biased, but they were fucking amazing. Great chemistry between the band

Fragile
To The edge
Our Truth
Fragments
Spellbound
Heaven's a lie

Position: Front and centre, about 4 people back. It sucks being short.

DevilDriver
No freakin' idea; not a huge fan, but they did play these...

Clouds over California
Pain of Betrayal
End of the line

Position: EVERYWHERE!!

Lamb of God
Same as DevilDriver, but they did play...

Laid to Rest
Walk with me in Hell
Redneck (Big fuckin' circlepit)

And they didn't play beating on Death's door :'(

Position: EVERYWHERE!!

In Flames
Played mostly their newer stuff, which I wasn't too happy about. But still pretty damn good live. Like I said, just wish they'd played stuff from between '96 and '99... Also, I don't know much of their newer stuff, so I missed a few tracks...

Delight and Angers
the Hive
Only for the weak
The Mirror's truth (Big circle pit =D =D)
Take this life
Cloud Connected
Disconnected

Position: Starting from the back (see: photo), made my way about halfway to the front, ended up front and to the right of the stage, about 8 people back.

Trophy for Circle pit of the day goes to DevilDriver.

=D

Hasta Luego

Back to the start

2009-01-19T20:03:00.003+09:00

Taking a leaf out of Jen's book (read: Blog) and posting this up.
I have a pretty funny project in the works, could/would/should be ready sometime next week.
You'll love it!!

Things that calm me:

- Norah Jones
- Fatigue (induced, ie. exercise)
- Lacuna Coil - Aeon
- Puppies

Things that send my heart soaring:

- That bit in Blind faith, with that awesome drum fill, near the end, just before the second last verse
- Other technically awesome pieces of music (invariably it's metal, but not so much as blind faith)
- A metal gig, the proficiency of the band(s), the intensity of the crowd
- Endorphin rush
- When I feel I've made progress
- Hanging out with my friends, especially when I haven't seen them for a while

Things that make me smile:

- A good narrative
- Metal
- Thinking about my friends and family and how awesome they are
- Puppies
- Sharing a private joke with someone, knowing we're the only ones who would understand it.

Things that scare me:

- Pain, especially blunt force trauma
- Open water
- Man's capacity for cruelty and indifference
- Rejection/being misunderstood

Things that make me feel nostalgic:

- Looking at old photographs, or reading through my previous journals.
- Talking to someone I haven't seen in a long time
- Being somewhere that I've spent good times with people
- Gypsy kings

Hasta Luego

The 2 week rule

2009-01-10T18:56:00.005+09:00

My rule for the last few years, when it comes to making new years resolutions is simple; wait a week or two until I've evaluated what I want and how bad I want it, as well as my ability to accomplish that which I set for myself. I've had a startling degree of success with this method, as a matter of fact, I thoroughly recommend it.

In some ways I don't see the point in making new year's resolutions; a wise, wise person once said; if something's worth doing, it's worth doing now. There is no need to wait until the new year; however, I always take the opportunity to reassert what it is I want. And how hard I'm willing to work for it.

Presenting - My New Year's resolutions 2009

1. Build a better Kravist.
I find that I don't push myself as hard as I can a lot of the time; I should, even though it's hard. Also, I don't drill at home. I should. If I did, I would know the material as well as my friends, if I did, my reflexes would do all the work, instead of my mind. I will also have to improve my fitness, reflexes and physical conditioning. Another part of this (which I am looking forward to) involves cross training, hopefully in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Muay Thai. I will have my level 2 practitioner exam sometime this year, and I'm committed to performing better in that than I did in my Level 1 practitioner exam.

Don't think. Feel.

2. Succeed in my studies.
Up til now, my studies have only met with limited success; in part because of my lack of commitment, but also because the material was very difficult, not to mention un-inspiring. However, I'm no spring chicken anymore; uninspiring material or not, I had better do something soon, or my window of opportunity will close.

3. Improve my life.
Wow. Really?
I have a three step plan for this. It really is very simple.
Step 1. "Pull my finger out" and get my license. I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to driving; sure, it can be fun, it can also be convenient. But if I start driving, I immediately cut back on an hour and a half of physical activity in my working day. However, by doing this, I can get a new job, and do another sort of physical activity with the time I save, something which will improve my level of conditioning, something that will increase my strength, increase my resistance, or increase my um... Proficiency.

Steps 2 and 3 occur in rapid succession.
Step 2. Get a new job. I'm willing to take a 10% pay cut to 18 an hour to do this, or I could just go work at ALM with Paul. This works on the same principle as the first step in this resolution. If I do some work that is not as hard, I can use the surplus energy to push myself harder. Not to mention the fact that I hate my job, and dislike some of the people I'm forced to put up with.

Step 3. Take up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This is part of my decision to Cross train in other defense systems/martial arts; Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is one of the most popular (and considered one of the most effective) grappling arts, Krav Maga doesn't really cover much grappling at my level; the Krav Philosophy is DO NOT GO TO GROUND, however, knowing a chokehold or submission hold might come in handy one day, not to mention, when I watch guys doing this, it looks like a hell of a lot of fun.

Like I said, I'm looking forward to BJJ.

4. Use facebook less.
I use facebook too much.

In addition to this, I have a to do list, which I might update every once in a while... Maybe I can put a module or a column to the left or right of this blog, and cross them off when I'm done...

Hmmm...

Anyway, my current to do list.

1. Catch up with Olivia and Christian. This is pretty important to me, seeing as I'm very fond of them and I haven't seen them since 2007.

2. Sort out my passport details for the end of the year. This one's pretty obvious.

3. Assemble a massive Soundwave crew, including the usual concert set (Ben, David, Adam, Jen, Alz, Ree, Emmz, whoever else we know who is coming), some of the Krav lads (ie. Simon, I'll see who else comes), other random metal dudes and dude-ette's (Ian, Geoff, Theo, Ling). I know I've missed some people out, and I do apologise. Soundwave is gonna be madness; can't bloody wait.

4. Become familiar with the Who's music, so I can appreciate their sh** when I see them live. Arguably the best band live, apparently. I've been around, when it comes to live music, and I'm ready to put that to the test.

5. LACUNA COIL FRONT ROW!!

6. Get Jolly into some metal. That would be awesome.

7. Buy some more equipment. Some of my stuff is already getting worn out, and I'll probably need some other stuff to increase the amount of stuff I can do away from the Krav club, assuming I can find someone to train with...

8. Fix up the position of my patches on my training pants. I got my mum to sew them on. Bless her little heart, the IKMF patch is on the inside of my thigh. It looks terrible, but I don't want to say anything... And I can't sew... So this could take a while...

9. Find a Krav club in El Salvador/Guatemala and see how they kick it. No pun intended. The only reason I'm reluctant to go to El Salvador is the fact that I won't be able to train for about 2 months. However, I know there's a Krav club in Guatemala, and I know that the guy who's in charge of it has trained the guatemalan army. Even without this unique opportunity, I would still go. I can't wait to visit El Salvador.

10. (Last on the list cause I'm going in December) Go to El Salvador, have a blast and don't get shot, stabbed or kidnapped!!

And I've found the module, so I'm going to use it!!

As for the so called 'Primary Mandate' of the last 3 or 4 years? (last year it was the 'secondary mandate') Fuck it. It'll take care of itself or it won't.

Hasta Luego.

Feliz Ano Nuevo

2008-12-30T20:58:00.004+09:00

Happy New Year ladies and Gentlemen!

It's been a huge year; I've met a lot of awesome people and kicked back or cut loose with them, I've removed something from my head, to help make other's lives better, removed myself from something, in order to start something else, and I've also found something which may hep me find myself, and has now become very important to me.

Cause you all know me well you all know what I'm talking about =D

Anyway, here's my 2008 Best of.

These are completely arbirtrary, based on my opinions. The only requirement is that I first came across it this year.

Album of the Year: Trivium - Shogun

Song of the Year: Trivium - Shogun

Novel of the Year - Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Film of the Year - the Dark Knight

Game of the Year - Farcry 2

Textbook of the year - How to defend from Armed Assault - Imi (Sde Or) Lichtenfield and Eyal Yanilov

Sorry, had to put that one in there =D But I <3 it so much ^_^

Mmm...

I'll be honest. I hadn't thought this through before starting. So I'll leave the lighthearted shit behind and write from the heart instead.

I do this somewhat often (I'm not going to go back, but I'll take a guess... Leaving School, My birthday, New Years, Starting Uni...), but I will, again, take this opportunity to thank you all for being so awesome. You all mean a lot to me.

Also, I guess I'll post up a list of my regrets for this year, in descending order.

You all know me though, I might not make it to 10!!

1. I regret missing the opportunity to get to know a particular young lady better (Yes, carnally, I'm not going to lie. But also personally, and you know that's the truth).
2. I regret every time I was inconsiderate or insensetive with my friends and family. In my defense, it's just in my nature not to notice things. I still regret this, however.
3. I regret every opportunity I squandered, where a bit more commitment, pushing a little harder for a little longer would result in a better Roberto typing this now.
4. I regret every time I told myself I would do something but didn't because I lacked the discipline.
5. I regret every opportunity I had to do something good for someone, but didn't, because I couldn't be bothered. I am proud to say that this wasn't often.
6. I regret every opportunity I had to do something really really funny. Chances are only I would have found it amusing, but I regret it nonetheless.

(This one could probably be number 1... but...)

7. I REGRET NOT STARTING KRAV MAGA EARLIER... LIKE AT 16!!!

And it's like they say, you regret what you didn't do, or didn't say more than you regret the stuff you did...

Bring on the New Year! May it bring less regret for all of us!

Nos vemos en el ano Nuevo, compadres y carnales =D

Synapse

2008-12-06T19:48:00.009+09:00

- All senses clean

This post is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. It's something that's been said before, but for some reason I feel a calling, an itch, if you will, to say it again. In my own words this time. I don't know how well it will turn out. I can't guaruntee it won't sound pretentious, or preachy. But I'll give it due effort, because it's worth it, and because I hope not to forget it.

Ok, so I began thinking about this a few weeks ago. Y'all know my job, it's sh*thouse, it's boring and I have to work with some real douchebags. If they happen to move on, they're usually replaced by douchebags. But enough of that, the point I was getting at is this; I wasn't having a good time. I was bored to tears, uncomfortable, and hungry. Then this breeze hit me.

Have you ever been out for a walk, when a breeze hits you and you just can't help pausing for a moment to appreciate it? A breeze precisely like that.

So I go on my morning break. I usually bring a couple of apples to munch on for my morning break. And they were unusually tasty. By which I mean I didn't take the apples for granted. Be honest with yourself.When was the last time you thought to yourself "Gee, apples are fantastic!"

"Don't they taste great? I mean the way they taste. And the texture. And the way when you chew them they kind of crunch and the juice runs out in your mouth. Isn't it amazing?"
- Death of the Endless

To be honest with you, I wouldn't have had that thought run through my head if it hadn't been for Neil Gaiman's the High cost of living.

Hmmm... I seem to have lost the plot.

I'll wrap this up soon.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that day to day life, in general, isn't very exciting. I want you to think back to the last time you were at work and thought to yourself 'Shit, I can't wait for the weekend.' People can be so focussed on their boredom they miss out on all the perception their senses are busy doing.

It's perception that's taken for granted when conditions are favourable, and they're forgotten when it's not. If you don't ignore it, how precious life is will scare you. Then you're alive.

Swirling round with this familiar parable
Spinning, weaving round each new experience
Recognize this as a holy gift and
Celebrate this chance to be
Alive and breathing, the chance to be
Alive and breathing

Like I said, all this has been said before, and better. And I don't mean to say that perception alone will make you feel better when it's all gone to shit. It sure as hell isn't gonna make me smile if something bad happens. And these thoughts are gonna go through my head next time I get kicked in the balls. But I just hope that when I'm done writhing in pain, and someone helps me get up, that when I start breathing again, I'll appreciate the air in my lungs.

'It's like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory' ~ Bruce Lee

Hasta Luego

Once more, with feeling!!

2008-11-07T01:19:00.000+09:00

Sometime today, I will circumnavigate the sun for the 21st time...

Happy birthday... To me...

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all (regular readers of this blog, and people on Facebook who just may happen to stumble upon this) for being my friends; you are all very dear to me.

As for celebrations? Come to Capitol tonight. It's Karla's 20th. As for my getting older? Of that we do not speak.

I do this every year, at New Years and on my birthday.

Primary Mandate -> 93%
Secondary Mandate -> 39%
Tertiary Mandate -> 64%
Overall -> 65%

And yes, these are arbitrary scores wrought of thin air.

No regrets.

Now, this being a post about me, I'd like to dedicate this (eclectic) playlist to myself. May you listen to it and think fond thoughts of me. May it remind you of me and how awesome I am :p

Nah, in all seriousness. Here's some songs I liked a lot this year. And yeah, some have made repeat appearances in the last few years...

Lacuna Coil - 1.19, Senzafine
Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper, Deadnight Warrior
Dream Theatre - Blind Faith, Lines in the Sand, Trial of Tears
Iron Maiden - Aces high, Hallowed be thy name, The legacy
Regina Spektor - Better, On the Radio
Mastodon - Hearts alive, This Mortal Soil, Siberian Divide, Pendulous Skin
Norah Jones - Don't know why, Nightingale, Rosie's lullaby, Not too late
Tegan & Sara - I was married, Are you ten years ago, Nineteen

Fired up, and ready for another year, let's do it once more, with feeling!!

7 signs your son might be gay

2008-10-29T16:31:00.005+09:00

Baaaa hahahahahahahaha

Ok so my parents think I'm gay.

Again.

Ok so I wasn't originally gonna post this, I got about 1/8th the way through and decided I didn't have the writing talent to make it funny, but Adamo convinced me to continue with it.

So.

I found a rebuttal some guy made for some other guy's "7 signs" list. Hilarious. Actually, not really, just angry, insulted and logical. Now I'll just write about it how it applies to me.

1) Your boy has a strong feeling he is "different from other boys."
Hmmm... Well I am ethnic, so sometimes I do feel a bit different...

2) A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy.
No, this one doesn't apply to me at all.

3) A persistent preference to play female roles in make-believe play.
Well it is true that whenever I get the choice I tend to pick female characters in videogames.

4) A strong preference to spend time in the company of girls and participate in their games and other pastimes.

There was also the time me and Resh went for a run on south beach and it started raining so we stripped off to our underwear and put our clothes in the boot so as not to wet the inside of his mum's car.

Before my mum bought me a bag, I used to carry my shit to the gym in one of those Eco green bags. And pull my socks up if it was cold, cause I refuse to train in pants.

I don't have a girlfriend.

And the straw that broke the camel's back?

My halloween costume. I'm going as a policeman.

I have handcuffs... And I sewed the Highway patrol patch on myself...

I guess that makes me a raging homo... I'd better go find a dick to suck...

Hasta Luego.

Time for a nap...

2008-10-18T22:37:00.003+09:00

Well I figure it's time for an update, haven't updated since I had that funkified dream a couple of weeks ago...

To be honest I have nothing in particular to add; headed out last night, probably shouldn't have cause I felt not so good, and now I'm even worse.

Played a round of paintball this morning, which now leaves me feeling worse than I did on Thursday; ah well c'est la vie...

Ok so there's this, which I think is really funny... Some people will know what I'm talking about. Don't wanna go into it again, after all I'm probably the only person who finds it that funny...

Hmmmm...

Well there really is no point in posting this, but I wanna have something to show for tonight dammit!

>.<

Hasta Luego

the Krav Boat

2008-09-27T10:04:00.003+09:00

When you go to sleep and you're body isn't feeling so good you usually have weird dreams.

Yesterday I had waaaay too much to eat.

Happy Birthday Dave.

Anyway, because of that, I had one of the weirdest dreams ever... I just had to post, it was epically epic.

Ok, so the elements that were a part of it.

Y: The last man - Cause I was the last man
Krav Maga (surprise surprise)
Call of Duty 3 &4 - You'll see

Epic. Srsly.

Ok, the start is weird but boring. I'm in a building and I'm about to take a class but first i need to go to the toilet. Except for some reason the cubicles are really small and one would need but to look to see what's going on behind the little doors. So I sit down to take a dump but people keep walking in and looking in at me and singing songs and telling jokes etc and I can't relax and let it out.

<_<
>_>
<_<

One of the guys sang a really good song, and he sang it well. It's probably a real one I heard on the radio, wish I could remember the words...

Anyway, I can't remember things exactly, but then I go to class. In the class, there's no one I know, but I feel like I've known them for years. Fake dream people do that sometimes... After this, we're issued weapons and told "Take the hill! Take the hill!"

We're packed into the back of trucks and taken to some docks and we all clamber into boats, WWII style we're dumped on a beach, which has a hill attached to it, and it has a really big house, MG emplacements and mortars and the such on top, random rocks, craters and ruined vehicles as cover on the hill and a bit of a ridge that gives us cover where the boats land.

The boats land and we all pour out, and the people on the hill don't know we're there yet. We start running up that hill *enqueues*, and when the enemy spots us and starts firing, we're ordered to take cover and pop smoke as needed to advance. We have snipers and spotters etc dealing with the mortar teams and MG emplacements and all we really have to deal with is close combat. Like, hand to hand and close range gunfights.

Oh, by the way, I'm issued with an M1 Garand, an M 79, a knife and grenades. Everything you need.

I don't remember how I got up the hill, mostly I was at the back, probably, but what I do remember is that out of 40 or so people to disembark from the boats, only 4 others make it into the house, which is empty cause we've killed everyone in it.

Then we get a message "Hold the house!" We all set up places to defend from, and then some really random enemies start appearing.

Warning: Combat scenes to come.

No, not spawning, like paratroops etc. While we were supposed to be distracted in the west by some paratroops (which landed on our claymores), a bunch of helicopters landed in the east and disgorged sheep. Yes, sheep.

So we claymore the paratroopers, and I run to the other end of the house, and start shooting at the shepherds herding the sheep with the garand, then the flock of sheep comes out from under a cobblestone bridge, they're vicious little fuckers, I can tell by their red eyes (they're cartoon sheep), so I pull out the M 79 and fire a grenade into their centre mass, eliminating all but like, 5 sheep in the flock. The sheep are dazed, so I pick the remaining sheep off with the Garand, hop out the hole in the wall I'm shooting from and conveniently don't hurt myself from the 2 story drop. Then I enter the house again... The idea was to pick off stragglers...

Anyway, I'm back inside the house when we're told to hold for evac, and also told that there's one last wave of crack troops coming for the house. We take up firing positions around the house, and the crack troops start coming up the hill, and from the grass.

Line from Cod4: "They think we're a much larger force than we really are!!!"

We're basically picking off the paratroopers from our positions, they can't take us down cause they can't really fire on us, we're in cover and they can't just bomb the shit out of the house, apparently...

They pop smoke outside the house and start coming in through the holes in the walls. The others in my team are throwing flashbangs etc as we clear each room to an exit, we figure they won't see us slip out if outside's full of smoke. Their smoke. It just so happens that they've left a helicopter type thing, sort of like a pelican, or those dropships from Aliens, about 30 metres from the house, behind a thick cinder block wall. We all clamber in when we realize that we have no ammo for our rifles, just what we're carrying. Which isn't much. There's an ammo crate inside the house. I volunteer to go get it, but the crew I'm with is all liek "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!" unfortunately, I've already hopped out of the pelican and started running towards the house.

I'm firing my garand at the paratroops that are popping out of windows etc, and I sprint up the worst made steps ever (made of welded together blast doors and cables and other debris), only to confront an artillery gun, inside the house. I dive out of the line of fire, and some paratrooper chick tries to brain me with the butt of her gun. I roll out of the way, flick myself up into a standing position and kick her really hard, then I run into the next room and do a slide to the ammo crate.

It's heavy.

I start dragging it out, when i hear someone yell "He's in the house!!!" then all these paratroopers start pouring in. They're all female, they're all heavily armed, they're all pretty shooty. I'm making short work of them though, they come in through a door on the other side of a broken wall; it's a hallway and as they come in they don't know I have them enfiladed. I take out lots and lots and lots of women (ok, maybe 21 or so) before they realise I have them enfiladed really well. I sense a lull and start dragging the crate, when some fire rakes the wall against were I was sitting. They throw a grenade in the door, destroying the rest of that wall that protected and hid me, then they pour in, boots tramping against the wood. I pull out the M 79 and fire against a wall through another door, they're taking cover on either side of the door. The shell blows the outside wall out, killing two paratrooper chicks, and at the same time, a paratrooper chick the size of a wrestler (and dressed like one, by the way) comes in through the door I'm supposed to be exiting from and bellows a challenge.

I hit her with the butt of my rifle, and drag the crate out into the room with the mortar in it. I pop smoke in the room, load a shell in, put in a lot of propellant, put some propellant in the barrel and aim it for the wall, with a few paratroopers coming in and getting shot in the chest while disoriented. Then I set a timer on the shell to 17 seconds and set a firing timer to 90 seconds. I'm assuming this is designed so a lone person can fire a whole barrage of artillery shells alone...

Anyway, I pop smoke again several times outside, and the reason not many paratroopers have come in through the back door is cause my fireteam is covering the back door, magically without alerting the paratroopers to the presence of the Pelican. They make it to the Pelican under the cover of smoke, and the pelican starts taking off, while I provide covering fire, then run to the pelican and jump onto the back, nearly slipping off when a gloved hand grabs mine and stops me from falling. It's a woman. My whole fireteam is comprised of women.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Some other weird shit that doesn't even make sense happens

- - - - - - - - - - -

My Krav class and I are on a boat, which is paddling down a street. The main guys are there, as are the instructors, and also this guy who's the archetype of a Jew. Think of woody harrelson, and add an umbrella. Lulz. Anyway, we're taking him somewhere safe, but a nazi patrol boat catches up to us. They "borrow" woody, because they just want to "talk to him", they take him behind a ruined wall (it looks like a city that's had the shite bombed out of it by the way), and they start beating the crap outta him with his umbrella. We all get pretty pissed off, round the corner, and see that they're hitting the floor with his umbrella, while some guy rolls around on the floor, and Woody talks to the captain. There's a fire that just so happens to be there, so the shadows look like he's getting the crap kicked outta him, but obviously he's a spy.

We sneak back, try to look worried and wait til the nazi's leave. He's pretending he's just had the shit kicked out of him, so we beat him to death and dump him in the river. We're standing around discussing what to do, and some of the guys (me included) start practising our strikes and kicks against a wooden pole.

Next thing I know Matt's calling me asking what's up for today.

And that's my epic dream...

Hasta Luego.

Chimera

2008-09-20T20:18:00.004+09:00

So, a Chimera is the creature from Greek mythology; a creature which is essentially other creatures in a deadly fucking composite. It was slain by the hero Bellerophon while he was riding Pegasus yada yada yada not my favourite Greek myth.

I was listening to the Shape of Punk to come the other day, when I saw the subtitle of it's cover; A chimerical Bombination in 12 bursts.

Fair enough, says I, it's a pretty accurate description of the music. I'm not really musical enough to appreciate how different it is from most punk ("It's more interesting and Engaging" is about as far as I'd get), so here's what they say about it on Allmusic

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:om6tk6kxwkr0

Ok, so I've digressed pretty far from the point I was trying to make.

Chimera - Chimerical is now a term that is used to describe something that is a composite; a merging of many other things. The shape of punk to come is fucking brilliant. And also Chimerical. It is the intention of this post to be chimerical.

So.

1. A post-modern interpretation of Hell.
Ok, so I might have told you all about this one already, but I want this to be chimerical dammit!
Also, I should probably point out that my understanding of Post Modernism is sadly limited; as far as I can tell, part of it involves using things (as in - symbols, archetypes techniquest etc) for things other than what they were intended for.

Last sunday, a friend of my mum's son had his first holy communion; somehow, she convinced me to come along.

:\

It was pretty boring you see; sitting in church for a few hours.

Then we went back to my mum's friend's place. We had lunch there, which was pretty good, except for that one thing... I was the only person there between the age of 16 and. Uh. 40.

So I'm sitting there for a few hours listening to a bunch of people talk about the power of prayer. And faith. And their investment properties.

Then some ol' guy busts out the accordion. And I think to myself; if this moment were to last forever, it would be damnation.

- - -

Ever had an experience like that? Do share it, please.

2. You'll find me in da club
Ok, so last night was interesting. I learnt a little bit about myself...

I'm not going to go into the reasons, all I'll say is that last night, Ben, David, Eddie (Dave's brother) and I ended up at the Court.

The Court is a bar/club in Northies, a real nice place in my opinion, good venue, open air so it doesn't get too hot (one of my gripes about clubs; if you wanna get your dance on, it just gets too fucking hot. Like, 30 degrees and humid as fuck from all the sweat), good bar service etc. A good place.

It also happens to be a gay bar.

Basically, what I discovered last night is that I'm somewhat more homophobic than I thought. It wasn't hard to see that while I was in there I wasn't exactly comfortable (I prefer it 100x to Carnegies though...). Also, when that dude followed me around for a bit (the blonde 34 or so guy in the beige jacket) I freaked the fuck out.

There were also heaps of semi-andro hot chicks floating around the place.

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I'd go there again, if the opportunity were to arise. Just not this september.

Hmmm... This post won't be anywhere near as chimerical as I'd hoped.

C'est la vie.

3. 2 quizzes.

3.1 - Epic Music

List ten of your favourite bands: I don't know which bands are my 10 faves, so I'll use LastFM to decide for me.

1 Iron Maiden
2 Arch Enemy
3 Dream Theater
4 Children of Bodom
5 In Flames
6 Lacuna Coil
7 Megadeth
8 Opeth
9 Dark Tranquillity
10 Mastodon

Q: What was the first song you heard by #2 [Arch Enemy]?
Enemy within, way before I was metal. I didn't know what Shredding was but I loved it.

Q: What is your favourite album by #6 [Mastodon]?
Dunno if it'd be their Ep (1997 - Lacuna Coil) or 2001 - Unleashed Memories; They're both from when they had really different sound to them...

Q: What is your favourite lyric of #7 [Megadeth]?
Hmmmm... I might have to say the whole of Looking down the cross!!!

Q: What is your favourite song by #9 [DT]?
Hours passed in Exile, or White Noise/Black Silence

Q: Is there a song of #1 that makes you sad [Iron Maiden]?
No wai!

Oh. Yeah. Bring your daughter... ... To the Slaughter. That song is Sh*thouse!!! How the hell is it their only Number 1 single?!? It's fuckin' shithouse, they don't even play it live!!!

Q: What is your favourite song by #8 [Opeth]?
Hmmmm... The Drapery Falls.

Q: What is your favourite song by #10 [Mastodon]?
Hearts Alive =D =D =D

Q: What is your favourite album by #8 [Opeth]?
Blackwater park. It's fucking brilliant.

Q: How did you get into #5 [In Flames]?
I started on the Reroute to Remain album, which was pretty average by their standards, also a lot more conventional. I don't listen to it anymore, but it's definitely the album that got me into metal. Real metal.

Q: What is your favourite song by #4 [CoB]?
I'm really not sure. I love Downfall, that song is fucken' hot shit. I put it on when I feel like shit (cause it's about feeling like shit) but it always makes me feel better through it's pace and awesomeness. Also Deadnight Warrior, cause it's brutal.

And Follow the Reaper cause it's structured so well. "Death be not proud; though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, thou art not so..." *intro bit* - *verse* - *solo* - *verse* - *solo* - *verse* - *solo* -*end*

Q: Who is your favourite member of #1 [Iron Maiden]?
I see them as a whole package. Bruce is an awesome frontman, but every member is irreplaceable at this point imo.

Q: What does #9 remind you of [DT]?
Well their stuff is pretty dark, and introverted. But with melody. And brutality. It reminds me of awesome, when I'm sad and of sad when I'm awesome, something like that.

Q: Is there a song by #3 that makes you sad [Dream Theater]?
Not rly. All their songs remind me of hot!!! Their stuff is just so good to listen to; most of it's musical brilliance goes way over my head though...

Q: What is your favourite song by #1 [Iron Maiden]?
I'd have to say Hallowed be thy name; it's just so complete. And was incredible live.

Q: Which of the ten have influenced you the most?
I'd have to say Lacuna Coil. Got me through some hard times in High School. Also the band I've been listening to for the longest now. And also their attitude to work is so inspiring. Something along the lines of "Remember where you came from, remember how hard it was for you to get where you are, remember how you got where you are and who helped you on your way (in their case, their fans), and appreciate them."

Q: Which artist makes you the most happy?
This changes from time to time, at the moment, Dream Theater.

Q: Which artist have you liked the longest?
Lacuna Coil

Q: Are there any artists you will be listening to in 20 years?
I'd hope all of them.

I haven't really drifted away from any of the bands I've liked for a long time, except for A perfect Circle (and I'm drifting back... Thanks to tool...), Rage Against the Machine, and Deftones (with the exception of a song or three... Fuck off Deftones), so I really don't imagine myself not listening to these bands anymore. I'll just listen to other stuff more and periodically drift back every once in a while, and appreciate it all the more for the abstinance...

3.2 - Standard issue quiz

What is the full name written on your birth certificate?
I believe it's actually Roberto Elias Del Cid

Is your mum within a metre radius of you?
Nein

What is bothering you right now?
Multiple things. Tonight, I keep my counsel.

Who was the last person to play with your hair and when?
I don't remember. My hair is quite short...

I bet you're missing someone right now?
And you'd be right. Fucker.

If there was a large spider in the room, what would you say?
I'd just pick it up and put it outside. It's not filthy vermin like a roach or a fly so I don't need to hurt it...

Do you have anyone who you consider a brother or sister but they aren't?
Yeah, my cousins are that close to me...

It's Friday at noon, where are you usually?
Depends on the time. Either at home playing xBox, working out, or going out.

Who are the last three people to send you a text message?
Ben, Jolly, Grace

What brand of shampoo do you use?
Iunno

What time do you get up for work/ school in the morning?
5

What movie is in your DVD player?
I don't remember... I've been watching Firefly recently though

Last two numbers in your mobile phone number?
67

Do you have to sleep with something?
Air :p

What are your plans for today?
It's 9 PM. If someone calls me I'll head out.

When was the last time you were up all night?
Last night was close to it...

What's the best thing about winter?
I don't stand out in my Jeans and large boots.

When was the last time you saw the second person on your top?
David? Last night.

Which name is sexier: Xavier or Zane?
Xavier, I suppose...

Name one person who is the most like you?
I'm pretty unique in a lot of ways, I don't know and haven't met anyone quite like me to be honest. I guess Deano or Shaun would come close in a few ways. Despite being tall and ethnically opposite to me, and not metal, Shaun's as close as you can get, probably.

What are you doing this coming week?
Working, sorting out some paperwork, training...

Ever kissed your number 7 on MySpace?
Nah. He's a he.

Do you have a best friend to lean on?
Yeah. I avoid it though. I like to sort my own shit out, but sometimes I just can't I suppose...

Can you cry on their shoulder?
I can if I need to

What was the last thing you hid?
Hahaha I dunno how to put this...

Is your current hair color your natural hair color?
Yeah

What was the last song you sang out loud?
I don't remember... I've been saying the introduction to "Protest song '68" by Refused over and over again.

"To sing you must first open your mouth
You must have a pair of lungs
and a little knowledge of music
It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar
The essential thing is that I want to sing
Then this is a song, I'm singing."

A quote by H. Miller, whoever the hell that is. The rest of the song is just as... Intelligent. And powerful.

Do you have any sisters?
no.. not blood sisters anyway.

Who was the last person you fell asleep texting?
Uh. I finished sending the text then fell asleep?

Who was the last person you couldn't take your eyes off?
Well, I've seen a few young ladies out there that were pleasant to the eye, but honestly? Jo. My eyes don't stray too far. Lame much?

How many texts did you wake up to this morning?
2 or 3

Is your handwriting large, tiny, or pretty normal?
Ugli

Are you a morning person or a night person?
Both. I'm fired on all cylinders by 6 AM almost every day. And when I'm out I'm generally out til 6 AM...

Are you there for your friends?
If they need me. Sometimes I'm insensitive/inattentive/unobservant though, and I don't even realise someone needs me.

Just ask people. I'd be honoured to help.

Are you a forgiving person?
Yes and no. I can tolerate a LOT from certain people, whereas other people can take one wrong step and alienate me pretty permanently...

Whats the last thing you drank?
Water

Are you dating the last person you kissed?
no

What are you listening to right now?
In Flames

The highlight of your week?
The last drill on Thursday night =D =D =D

Who were the last people you ate with?
Family

Who is the last person you talked to on the phone?
Ben

Last guy you talked to on the phone?
Ben

Do you like your mom?
Yeah I love mami.

Who was the last person to text you?
Jolly

Name all the people you have texts from in your inbox:
Try my whole motherlovin' contact list.

Has anyone ever said you look like a celebrity?
No, I get "you look just like my mate in the Army/Navy/Police" lots though. Why can't they just say "You look just like my mate!"?

Have you ever had a drunken night in Mexico?
haha!!! i can see it happening.

What does your last sent message say?
Cbf'ed checking.

Hope y'all made it this far aye; much love.

Hasta Luego.

A joke of Leviathan proportions

2008-09-10T12:56:00.005+09:00

Ok, so you guys have probably already seen this a billion times.

But I just have to look at it and I start cracking up.

I fucking love it!!!

Mastodon - Leviathan (2004) - Blood and Thunder

Click it! Click it! Click it!

Hasta Luego

Join the Lego Revolution!!!

2008-09-07T16:57:00.003+09:00

You all know what I always say right? Dreams are a manifestation of your slightly-less-than-conscious concerns in an unconscious manner. Or something like that, ie, what you've been thinking of during the day will manifest itself in dreams.

So, I didn't mess around with any Lego last night, but I did read the whole of the V for Vendetta Graphic novel (fucking fantastic man, the movie was pretty tame in comparison... And I still think the movie is fucking phenomenal), not only that, but I usually practise KM movements, routines and standard releases when no one's looking, especially ones I kinda fucked up at training.

That being the case, the origins of this dream are really easy to spot, but that doesn't stop it from being a very very amusing dream. And yes, by amusing I do mean epic.

It starts off pretty random. I'm running around in candyland, with hills made of green icecream. Mint, I suppose...
There's people from the library lounge hanging out with me, and we're just rolling around throwing icecream at each other and stuff.
Then, we start practising standard releases for chokeholds and bear hugs (which I can't do very well).

Then all of a sudden, I'm in a big old building, sort of like a castle.

It's at least the size of Fremantle, for starters. It also has lots and lots of stairs now, it must be at least 30 stories tall, and I never see outside. All I know is that now I live there (yes, lots of people do), and it's just been taken over by Norsefire. I mean, a fascist government.

Let's call the government NorseFire, even though it really is a generic Fascist government, with the red armbands on the children, and riot cops of the helmet, truncheon and riot armour variety running around and generally getting up to fascist government mischief like beating people up and setting stores on fire.

I'm hanging out with a randomly generated by my mind hottie (I didn't recognise her, maybe she was a celebrity, but y'all can guess in general terms what she looked like), we're talking to some big guy who's recommending to us that we 'get the hell out of the lower levels cause there's a crackdown.' Sort of like a Curfew after 5, anyone found in the lower levels will be beaten to death in a pogrom, the problem is that people (including me) live there, and NorseFire's breaking down doors to find people, so no one's home is safe.

It's not a war. It's an eradication.

The guy offers us some weapons, they're completely useless. Basically, he gives us a couple of twigs. We move off, furtively, and two riot cops confront us. There's a pretty good fight scene which I win, it being my dream and all, then I have one of their truncheons.

Does anyone remember that advanced Lego? The little rods that were usually used with it? With the * cross section? Well, that's what the truncheons were, except about 4 cm in radius, and about the length of your arm. I tucked mine into the sleeve of my pullover (my green one), hottie carries hers in her arms (I think I'll name her um Evey, after Evey Hammond, but it's not like I was V or anything...) So Evey carries hers, and we get to a checkpoint which we need to cross to get upstairs and avoid getting beaten to death. The checkpoint was understaffed or something, cause I just wait a few seconds and then run past the guards with Evey in tow. They couldn't leave the checkpoint, so they just radioed ahead; a few turns here and there and I was free and clear.

Evey and I are walking around in the upper levels, looking for somewhere to sleep, when we're separated.

A bunch of kids, wearing brown shorts, white shirts, red hats, red armbands and carrying Laser Pistols run right by us. They arrest us, take her one way and me another. They lead me upstairs, and try to recruit me for slave labour; basically, I have to carry stuff for them; I have a truncheon stashed up my sleeve, however, and I tell them my arm is broken.

"We'll take you to the infirmary then." they tell me; the oldest one who's about seven years old pushes me with the barel of the laser luger, into a door which is a stairwell. He's taking me out of sight so he can shoot me, in other words. He leads me to a big steel door, and says "The infirmary is in here." He opens the door, and it's more like an elevator shaft; it's a pit, and he expects me to just hop into it, or else he'll shoot me.

I don't have the ability to move my left elbow, but nevertheless, I take his laser luger, and kick him in the ribs. He tumbles down two flights of stairs. Unfortunately, the others have heard the commotion, and they all bust down the door and start chasing me. I'm two flights down, so I just bolt.

Three flights don't have any doors, the fourth one does, but nevertheless, I keep running down the stairs and pick a big old door. I open it, and burst through, and there's a bunch of teenagers in there. They drop their books and pick up chairs and start to chase me, so I shoot them all with the laser luger, and look for somewhere to hide.

What I find is two shafts that extend all the way to the bowels of the castle, up to the roof. It's about 70cm wide, so I start climbing up it, by wedging my feet on one side and my back on the other. It's a slow climb, and I'll reach the roof in a couple of hours...

That's where it ends.

Hasta Luego.

Opeth!!!

2008-09-06T00:31:00.006+09:00

Heir Apparent

Master’s Apprentices

Baying of the Hounds

Serenity Painted Death

To rid the disease

The Lotus eater

Bleak

The night and the silent water

Deliverance

Demon of the fall

The Drapery Falls [Encore]

Well, Opeth was a fantastic freakin’ show. Exemplary, phenomenal. All that jazz. I’d rate it on par with the entire Black Crusade, and I was second row for the better part of that.

Mike Akefeldt was charismatic, and incredibly funny; his low depressed sounding growl voice when speaking was perfect for his bleak humour, and the setlist was awesome.

The crowd was also well behaved, but also fired up... I’m not sure I can really describe it; it’s like they were all so um... Entranced by the show, that they didn’t want anyone else to miss out, not even a bit. I’m a short little fella, and a lot of the time, the taller people let me through no worries. It was great.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot...

Ben, Ian, Jen and I got to meet Mike Akefeldt and the new guitarist.

Starstruck much? We didn’t even think to get autographs or photo’s, but Jen was clever enough to get a hug from Mike.

Good hustle Jen.

Anyway, I just thought I’d update a bit, what I’ve been up to since Opeth.

Nothing really, just the usual. But I’ve had a somewhat interesting night thus far.

A friend from work is having a birthday tonight; Dan, a good bloke, unfortunately, he decided to have it at Moondyne Joes. Not a particularly bad local, but really not my scene. So I turned up, and figured I’d at least make an appearance; like I said, he’s a good bloke, and I said I’d be there. Unfortunately, upon arrival I see that there are precisely 4 people I know there, including Dan.

I was planning to stay for at least an hour, unfortunately, two of the guys I know decided to head to Freo, and like I said, Moondyne’s aint my scene.

So I bailed as well. I figured it’d be good to get to know the guys outside of work, unfortunately, for some reason, they were kinda being nasty about Dan (at least, that’s the impression I got), not only that, but Dan stayed behind. Sooooo I bailed on them as well.

I heard that my cousin Dave was going to Benny’s (it’s where my cousins go to hang out before Metro’s these days (not a word)), so I figured I could go to Elizabeth’s bookshop, to kinda bail on them... Who the hell hangs out in a bookshop on a Friday night anyway???

I do.

So, I go to Benny’s after finding three books I liked (I didn’t buy them, I just kinda set them aside mentally), then when I headed to Benny’s I ran into a forty something year old guy who was keen on “teaching me”.

So, I’m sitting there, waiting for my cousin to show (he said he’d be there in 10, he took 15, which left me with this kinda... creepy... guy for 5 minutes or so), and he’s gave me some pointers.

- I like your style

- Loosen up, keep your hands and fingers off the bar

- Open your legs more, let your balls breathe

- Keep your crucifix on the INSIDE of your shirt

- “If you’re so uptight, whatchya gonna doo when some chick walks up to you, sez she likes your shoes and she wants to suck your knob? Nothin’, that’s what!”

Hahahahahaha.

Don’t get me wrong, I kinda liked this guy. I wouldn’t hang out with him, but compared to the older crowd that usually accosts me, this guy was a freakin’ golden god. But, cmon, seriously...

Aaaanyway, not that I was feelin’ it anyway, when my cousin turned up, I just kinda hung out for about a half hour, went to buy the books (including a total gem, a book on mythology, it covers greek and roman mythology, the Arthurian mythos in three parts, as well as English knights in mythology... I <3>

Reading mythology in Freo on a Friday night.

Cause that’s how I roll.

...

Remember that law of statistics; everything that can happen will happen given the necessary conditions and enough time.

Oh. One more thing.

http://www.explosm.net/comics/1387/

Loves it.

Hasta Luego.

Running up that hill

2008-08-28T22:11:00.003+09:00

Ok, I'll make this one short and sweet. It was kinda funny but I don't really know why...

Like one of those stories you (read: I) sometimes tell that only sounds good/funny/interesting in your (read: my) head.

Ok, so I'm doing basic training for the special forces. I don't know which ones, but I think they're American. And unfortunately, there's only one training exercise that I remember vividly. Each candidate has to fire a bullet at a flag that's at the top of a steep (I do mean Steeeeep) hill, then run up the hill (with no problems... See what I did tharr?) to the flag. That's it. However, the flag is maybe a kilometer and a half away from where we fire the bullet. Oh, and did I mention the hill was steep? It had a gradient of like, 60 degrees, even more in some places...

That's what? A mile?

So, not only do we need to pull off a Mark Wahlberg in Shooter quality shot, we need to run up a mile of hill.

So we get started.

There's like, 25 guys who all fire a bullet at the flag, they all hit the pole (which was the goal, did I mention that?). It's a Barret m821 m281 whatever. My turn comes up, but the thing is, it's bolted to a bench, a chest high bench. And as we all know, I'm a teeny weeny weeny fellow, at a staggering 5'7'' or whatever the hell I am. So when it's my turn to fire, the guy behind me lifts me up by the collar and I pop off a perfect shot. Then I'm off.

I hop over the bench and start running up that hill, but the soil is all loamy and not so easy to run up. I'm pumping hard with my legs, and after a few minutes I'm scrambling up the hill on all fours, using whatever I can get my hands on for purchase. So about 15 minutes later I'm about four fifths of the way up and that's when I start taking two steps forward, for every slide that's worth about three steps back.

Anyway, I decide to go diagonally up the hill, which is about when I catch up to three guys; the first guy to fire a shot (who happened to have no legs), and the two guys who left just before me; one of them is Simon from KM for some reason.

Anyway, I decide to help the amputated dude, but because I have my own problems, the best I can really do, is move up and then push him by his... Hindquarters (and other localised areas of his physiology) while bracing myself against the hill.

90% up the hill, then I hear a whistle. Five guys go barreling down the hill, and about a minute later the steepness of the hill begins to taper off, so I pick up amputated dude and run with him into the building that has the flag in it.

It has no actual roof, but is pretty comfortable; it's awash in a cool green light; the sun filtered through the trees. It has some lawn chairs, and a treadmill and a lot of nettles on the floor.

A speaker that we can't see blares out at us.

"Welcome to the next part of the exercise; for this part of the exercise you will defend yourself against the rest of the class. When night falls."

We all look around at each other.

There's me and the guy from KM, another random guy and the amputee.

Our thoughts - wWe have no advantages, given the fact that we're outnumbered 5:1 and have no cover.

It was only when I woke up that I realised that we had the high ground; we were at the top of the hill.

Anyway, that's it.

Hasta Luego.

My Negation

2008-08-24T11:58:00.002+09:00

I don’t quite recall how this dream begins, and the details began to fade as soon as I woke up, about 8 hours ago.

But I’ll do my best.

It occurs in some sort of world/universe akin to the one in Stephen King’s Dark tower saga; the world has moved on and everything is starting to decay, and I’m looking at some maps with my commanding officer or something, it was clear at the time, but it isn’t now.

I have to go somewhere on the map, a two story house with a car wreck in the backyard; my destination is the car wreck; however, the map I have is incomplete. In the 70 metres between the car wreck and the road, there’s a big gray area, and my commanding officer tells me that the danger in my mission lies right at this point. There is something there that will kill me.

I remember knowing that the whole journey and what happens afterwards is cohesive and sensible, from a narrative perspective, but all I remember now is definite feelings and images.

Walking down a long, straight, dusty road, in my usual gear and a bandanna, the sun pounding on my head neck and shoulders as the heat distorts the horizon.

Huddling beneath the wreck of an overturned car as a platoon of Doomsday Suicide Stormtroopers (they were all dressed in black, it was the end of the world, and they were all regimented n shit).

Huddling under a pile of wood in a shed as flames dance on the horizon, inexorably drawing near.

Emerging from said pile of wood, leaving the shed and seeing the cursed (please, pronounce it Curse-ed in your head when you read this) scorched earth.

Unfortunately, since I started writing this, there were a few things I had to go and do.

Soooo... There goes that dream. Too bad, cause when I woke up, I was all liek “Epic mayn... E-piiiiiic.”

Oh well. Might as well update while I’m at it.

Fuck all.

Done.

Ok, so that’s a lie.

I went bowling this evening, it was alright, but I’m definitely not a bowler. I ended up with a score of 42 in the first game, and 69 in the second. Not that that’s particularly interesting, what is really interesting is everything else. You see, I went bowling in Kelmscott.

Kelmscott.

Not a nice place, in my humble opinion.

Okay, here’s how it went down.

I stepped onto the train at Perth train station. So far so good.

Actually, I’d rather not exaggerate so as to create a more amusing story, chances are you won’t believe me anyway. Actually, you will. It’s not exactly like it’s impossible; also, remember that law of statistics; anything that can happen will happen, given enough time and the required conditions.

Ok, so I just let my hands type some shit up, back to the story.

I’m on the train, a few stations away from my stop when a member of the aboriginal family to my right pulls a chicken (an actual live chicken) from his jacket.

It smells, it’s cluckin’ and shedding feathers all over the joint when we arrive at Kelmscott Station (My station was the one after). Two security guards storm in, and start telling the guy to get off the train. Naturally, he argues the point.

“We don’t allow pets on the train,” the guard says, “That means, no birds, no dogs, no cats, no mice, no geese, and no chickens...” and the spiel continues. And the guy sitting next to me is all like, “I don’t see a problem man, the chicken isn’t doing anything man etc. etc. etc... If it was a chicken sandwich you wouldn’t mind.”

Rofl.

Anyway, the family eventually gets off of the train and goes god knows where.

And that’s my story.

Hasta Luego.

A bloody Summit

2008-08-11T12:44:00.003+09:00

Here it is, as promised some months ago; a synopsis of the last three songs off of Blood Mountain.

It's actually been sitting on my computer for a couple of months now, I wrote it, then I ordered a book about the archetype of the Hero from Dymocks. I wanted to read it first, but I still haven't got it, so if I feel so inclined, I might do a literary analysis of Blood Mountain, using a mythological perspective.

Damn my hands are cold.

This blog now directly feeds onto facebook, so longtime readers might notice a decline in how um... Personal the material is, but I'll still be putting dreams and nightmares up here.

One more thing before I get down to business...

A controlled explosion.

A schoolbus full of children is discovered to be carrying a bomb fused directly to the chassis. The bomb can only be removed with some serious work, and the effort of many people.

The bus is driven into an empty space, a quadrangle or perhaps an oval, and is then evacuated. Then it is covered in thermalite (or something), surrounded by sandbags, and covered in foam.

The bus detonates, killing no-one. The shrapnel is contained by the thermalite, sandbag and foam layers. The quadrangle (or perhaps the oval) is damaged, but not beyond repair, and the only thing that is completely destroyed is the bus.

Replace the bus with my dignity, and there's a summary of Friday afternoon.
Don't ask.
I liked that metaphor, and I just couldn't resist. Sorry.

Anyhoo... A bloody summit.

Blood Mountain – the phenomenal 2006 release by Mastodon.

I remember I didn’t used to like Mastodon. Don’t get me started on how I got into them, I don’t know. It probably had a little something to do with a song called Hearts Alive though.

Yeah, that probably had quite a bit to do with it.

*enqueues: Mastodon – Hearts Alive

For a while, I was listening to the whole album every day, sometimes twice. And in the end, I decided that my favourite songs were the last three... And Capillarian Crest.

The album is a concept album, and it’s about a man (Let’s call him Canis, he may or may not have the ability to change into wolf form, there were some clues...) who is instructed by a three headed god to steal a crystal skull and bring it to the peak of a mountain, affectionately known as Blood Mountain.

Shenanigans ensue.

Synopsis.

Canis is summoned (the Wolf is loose) to steal the crystal skull and bring it to the top of Blood Mountain.

Having stolen the Crystal Skull (Crystal Skull), and escapes the maze of the Sleeping Giant (Sleeping Giant) guarding it.

It isn’t easy; he has some real adventurous shit happen to him at the Capillarian Crest (Capillarian Crest).

He begins his climb, starting by speaking to a race of prescient Cyclops (Circle of Cysquatch).

Instrumental track (Bladecatcher).

He kills a few Birchmen (Colony of Birchmen) on the way up, having been warned of them by the Cyclops.

Further along his ascent, he’s attacked by dragons or something (hunters of the sky).

After evading them, he climbs a bit further and kills a shepherd (“just to see his face”). While doing this, he sustains massive head trauma that begins to drive him insane (Hand of stone).

This Mortal Soil

Floating in red again
A deepened soil
Nothing
Empty cup
Trade not known
Showing promise of a perfect land
No regrets for a fallen ground
The omen passed
Woman possessed
Reflecting on the duties held
Oceans morph to dust
Chasing the timeline
Bolts of light flash
Original storm god
The atmosphere that floats above the earth
Is corrupt for man
This we know
What has dwelt within the early dawn has gone away
That's okay
Dig
Climb
Ancient elm
Root
Ride the vine of father ground our carving
The atmosphere that floats above the earth is corrupt for man
This we know
Circle
Made of ash
Betray her presence
Huntress
Gentle breath
Listen to the poison rose

I’m not really sure what happens in this part of the story. My interpretation is that, having been through all that shit, he’s just sitting there, closer to the summit of Blood Mountain, and he looks down at the world (Blood Mountain is really tall, you see). He has massive head trauma, and he’s hallucinating, however, he’s also able to marvel at the beauty of the world beneath him, and see some of the damage that humanity has caused to the environment.

Siberian Divide

Ice god shakes the earth
Destruction of the path
Sinking deeper in the snow

Eating bark with blackened hands
Swollen fingers frozen jaw
Warm teeth wrapped around my wrist

Frostbite eating away to our limbs
Slit belly brontotherium
Climb towards vermillion snowbank fall
Station of the crosses prayer saves all

Chewing bone
Euphoria
Land of sky
Shining skull

Ice field blanket land
Hunted beyond the fray
No direction known
Running with the band
Provisions wearing thin
Avalanche sweeps the land

Starvation setting in
Spilling all that's left
Should've kept the fruits from virgin's vine
Three-horned face
Pillar of red
Evil lives atop my crooked spine

Rosebush current flow
Carmine river so
Solar storms erupt on the sun
Ice field blanket land

Snow queen
Hypothermia
Ice lips
Hallucination

Ice field blanket land
Hunted beyond the fray
No direction known
Running with the band
Provisions wearing thin
Avalanche sweeps the land

Landscape ebb 'n' flow
Think I felt the end of time
Skulls aglow as crystal shines
And starts to warm the empty climb

As far as lyrics are concerned, this song is my very favourite off the Blood Mountain album, for two distinct reasons.
1. I have the booklet with me, and I didn’t have to look up interpretations before making my own, like all the rest. That’s right; I read interpretations of the other songs before making mine, whereas for this one, I didn’t need to.
2. It has no closure.

Canis is sitting there, watching the world go by, and marvelling (or maybe he has since resumed climbing), when an avalanche shakes the mountain. This completely ruins his plans, not to mention, it practically dooms him to die on the mountain. He loses his supplies, and a shitload of thermal energy, denoted by E_T.
Ha-ha just jokes. No equations here folks.
He’s half insane, starving and freezing to death, staggering around the mountain top chewing bark off the trees, and even eating himself, but always carrying the Crystal Skull (and it’s at this point that I realise that Mastodon should have written the script for Indy 4. Which sucked. Fuck those aliens.). He falls down and breaks his back, and hallucinates some more...
A vision of a snow queen (a woman in white perhaps... That’s some old school symbolism for death, in lots of cultures, well before Christianity dubbed death “Grim ole’ reaper with a scythe and cloak and a skull face”) appears, and the Crystal Skull warms him up...
That leaves two possible conclusions for the Blood Mountain circle.
1. He dies.
2. He takes the crystal skull right to the top. And dies.

Pendulous Skin
Easily my favourite track off the album, apart from that one thing...
It’s an instrumental, and it’s pretty much chill music. The whole album is pretty full on. Top notch guitar work, exemplary drumming, very energetic in parts, especially that bit in Capillarian Crest. You know what I’m talking about.
This song also has excellent guitar work, but it’s done in such a way that it isn’t really too aggressive. It’s not in your face, it’s not rough. The only thing that really comes to mind is the guitar work at the end of ‘Sultans of Swing’ by Dire Straits. It’s fast, but it’s not aggressive. And Knopfler’s picking style is really unique; he gets a good sound... Anyway, I think the idea behind this song is to make it ambiguous, however, there really is only one thing that can happen when you’re starving to death on a mountain top with a skull fracture, right before an avalanche; Canis is dead. He tried to fulfil his duty, and died in the process.

The circle closes; he dies at peace.

Hasta Luego.

The Tartars are coming!!!

2008-08-06T12:00:00.001+09:00

This dream starts like any normal Wednesday evening for us; we go out somewhere, for some catch up on times, food and beer. Anyway, we’re just chillin’ there, when I decide I wanna go for a walk, a long one, however, I message you guys the whole time, you guys message back, we’re all very amused.

Then we all decide to go back to someone’s place, cause there’s gonna be a party, interesting things to do, people to meet etc. etc.

I don’t know who’s we go to, it seems to me like we’ve never been there before. We’re all having a good time, when some African friend of LJ’s (she isn’t real, as far as I know) decides she wants to play a song for us, with harmonicas.

She’s really good, I remember thinking ‘hey, this song is pretty cool,’ but for some reason I’m being a dick. I grab an elastic lanyard, and use it kind of like Indy uses a whip, I snap it towards her harmonica, and manage to grab it, and pull it into my hands. Hahaha how very amusing. She’s really hurt, and I feel bad, so I give it back, throw the elastic lanyard away, and giver her my undivided attention.

Pretty normal, right?

Well this is when the dream starts to get weird.

She’s playing the harmonica, really well, mind you, and she’s staring knives at me. I felt like I deserved it, and I’m also enjoying the song. Then the Iraqi army kicks the door down, they throw in a flashbang and start cuffing people and busting heads. Me? I mistake them for the Australian army, I get on my knees with my hands on the back of my head, and only realise that things aren’t what they’re supposed to be when my hearing returns and my eyes stop watering, some 25 minutes later. I’m in an Iraqi APC, and I’m not even cuffed. I’m with three soldiers, and LJ’s friend. She’s sitting between two soldiers, in some really dim light, I’m to the left of the APC, in what is essentially a La Z Boy, and then there’s the driver’s seat, with the driver in it...

The driver is actually really friendly; he’s all like, ‘Check out my gadgets yo!’

The ATV has more bells and whistles on the dash than Matt’s beamer.

Matt’s Beamer
- CD player/radio
- GPS thingo
- Radar detector

ATV
- Computer you can play doom 3 on
- TV
- CCTV screen showing the Point of view of the helicopter trailing us
- CCTV screen showing a camera on the front of the APC, which can be set to Infra Red vision, Ultraviolet (UV torch outside spectrum of human perception, UV camera, essentially, night vision), oh, and actual night vision, not the UV night vision, the one that uses phosphorous for light amplification. Oh, and let’s not forget that it can be set to ‘visible light’ lol.
- A bunch of fuckin’ buttons.

Anyway, I’m drooling all over this shit, and getting pretty chummy with the driver, so I start asking questions.

“So what’s going on man?”
“You have just experienced a crackdown against infidels and insurgents in the great empire of Baghdad.”
“We were in Australia dude, I don’t really care about what’s going on in Baghdad, wouldn’t know how to get there, and it’s not your jurisdiction...”

So he shows me some video of us getting captured, all the helicopters etc etc and we were definitely not in freo.

“Ok, ok. So I was mistaken. Um. So we were hanging with terrorists, yeah?”
“As you say.”
“And where are you taking us now? The airport?”

I figure it’s a fair question, given the fact that we’re not even cuffed.

“No, no my friend. We’re taking you to police station.”

Which is when I know that I’m in trouble.

“You have very good English.” I say to the driver.

I watch the screen that has the helicopter’s view, and I see the road signs; we actually are going to the airport, in a convoy with other vehicles just like ours. Except at the last moment, our driver turns sharply, and we go right past the exit. I jump at him, to try to swerve the vehicle into something; I try to take control, but the other two soldiers grab me and slam me against the inside of the APC, and I see red.

When I come to, I’m being manhandled across a large bitumen court, with lots of broken shipping containers around me. I’m half dazed, I must be, because Saddam Hussein is in a helicopter, and it’s taking off. He was hanged, right?

I’m led to another helicopter, which takes me to another APC cop car; not as comfortable as the one I was just in, not as gadgetry filled either. I’m cuffed to the roof, ie. The bracelets on my cuffs are fed through a handle, then I’m cuffed again. LJ’s friend is still there, but she isn’t cuffed.

The APC stops outside a police station, which resembles a McDonalds drive through.

This isn’t the weirdness of my dream making McDonalds look like a police station at this point, It’s just the thought going through my head. Remove the garish McDonalds colours, make the drive through a twin lane one, with a wide road, and put ordering booths on either side. Add guns and boom gates and you’ve got yourself a checkpoint. That’s where I was. We go through to a large parking area, and it’s chaos; there’s people moving about everywhere, and they’re all doing stuff. I’m hustled out of the APC with LJ’s friend, uncuffed and left to sit next to some bushes.

I apologise again for being a dick earlier, and she’s all like “Whatev’s man, go f*** yourself.”

Then some soldiers come up to her and hustle her away, and another two grab me while a third gets a knife and cuts me three times, like shark gills, except on the point between my wrist and my thumb.

I’m thinking, ‘what the actual fuck,’ when they bring out three leper type dudes, with suppurating wounds. Uh. Nah, that’s not the right word. The wounds were weeping white filthy shit, and one of the dudes has this huge open wound that’s literally squirting white filthy shit. I notice they have other prisoners, all of them with similar incisions in random spots on their bodies, and that the leper dudes are infecting the prisoners, which is when I snap.

Quietly.

I hold my hand flat against my body, and when a leper dude comes up to me, I push him away, quickly, violently, but also quietly. He falls over, then the dude with the squirting wound comes up to me and squirts at me, I duck under it though, and I elbow him in the throat. He crumples to the ground, and starts gagging, and the last leper guy comes for me, the soldiers haven’t noticed this scuffle yet. I kick him in the ribs, and he falls down too, so then I run.

That’s when the soldiers notice, and the first leper dude gets up to pursue me. And goddamn that guy is fast.

I run, I jump the boom gates, make a right and run through some gardens. The police station is next to a car wash, and there’s lots of APC’s there, I weave through them, and slide over the bonnet of an old school Chevrolet, then I run across a busy road. I look behind me, and there’s a whole gaggle of soldiers and lepers behind me, about 50m behind me actually. I keep running, ducking into alleys and hopping little fences when and where I can, and start making some ground.

I come across a Chinese restaurant, and think to myself “Goddamn I wish this was a kebab shop... There’d be Aussies in a Kebab shop, for sure!!!” I cross another busy road, I think I’ve lost them.

Then a bunch of dudes in suits come out of a big glass door. They usher me into a little red door (I’ve figured out they’re Aussies), and one of them leads me down a hall while the rest stand around outside just milling about making idle chit chat. The facade doesn’t last long though, and I’m still in earshot when I start hearing a low thumping sound.

“The door will hold for half an hour! We don’t have any time to lose!” the guy yells.

He’s probably got military training, given the fact that he works security at an Australian embassy (yeah, that’s where we are), but he has absolutely no self control.

You see those movies, where a guy is running from other guys, so he knocks stuff over behind him so they trip over? Well that’s what this guy is doing, in the embassy. He’s knocking over stacks of stuff, paper, whatever, and leaving a (literal) paper trail that the Iraqi’s can use to find where they’ve taken me. We run down a little hall, and there’s nothing to knock over, so he punches a little red light. It shatters, and makes a mess, then we’re in this big room full of computer consoles and people.

They all stand up and look at me, and a Ving Rhames lookin’ guy stares right at me, and points up some stairs. Then he takes the crazy little blonde headed guy aside and talks to him.

I go up the stairs, and Rachel Weisz (or someone who looks much like her) is sitting at a console. She gives me a beautiful megawatt smile before saying to me “What’s the time?”

“Uh. 11.37,” I say, “Uh. At night.”

She’s still giving me the smile, and I’m feeling kinda gooey inside, when she says “Well you have to go back out there in just over 5 hours.”

“Uh. Ok... Um... WHAT?!?”

“We have to hand everyone back to them at 4.42 in the morning. So make yourself comfortable cause you’re going back out there.”

“But I’m an Australian Citizen! They tried to infect me with some fucking leprosy shit! THEY’RE REALLY FUCKING WEIRD!!!” I yell.

And that’s where the dream ends.

What the actual f***.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I just wanted to take this opportunity to recommend an album called ‘Long Player’ by Hollie Smith.

I read a review saying it was pretty good, and I took a chance and bought it, and I haven’t been disappointed. It’s some soulful kinda stuff, I dunno what I’d call it (I wouldn’t call it ‘Soul’ cause I don’t know what ‘Soul’ is). The review I read said that she sounds like Amy Winehouse, if Amy Winehouse wasn’t an ugly junkie freak. It also said “Cause even Hardcore Metalheads need some chill music for their downtime.”

Then I was like ‘sold.’

Anyway, my verdict is go download it now. Or support the Australian/New Zealand music industry and actually buy it.

Hasta Luego.

Professor Satchafungilus

2008-07-09T13:50:00.004+09:00

Sounds like some kind of fungus.

Satriani was fucking loud man, I don't remember feeling like that in my head after a concert since, well, Iron Maiden? But that was because of dehydration... Probably.

It was freakin' awesome, but I can't really say he played any of my favourite songs, cause I only know about 10 of them, of which he played 2 or 3...

Anyway, didn't wanna flog a dead horse when talking about how amazing a guitarist he is...

Let me just say, he did a whole bunch of shit i didn't think possible (playing with one hand, it looked like, he'd pick the string and hold it down with one hand?!?...)

And only opened his eyes when he had something really hard to play.

Jeeeee zus.

Hasta Luego.

We're the Hate Crew!

2008-07-04T20:01:00.003+09:00

Children of Bodom was fucking hot shit.

Venue: Capitol

Position: Balcony above and to the right of the stage, good view, atmosphere not as good as in the mosh.

But still hot shit.

Children of Bodom Setlist

Needled 24/7

Sixpounder

Silent night, bodom night

Blooddrunk

Living Deadbeat

Follow the Reaper

In your Face

Hate me!

Banned from Heaven

Mask of Sanity

Deadnight Warrior

Mask of Sanity (reprise)

(One more from the new album)

Hate Crew Deathroll, they did the slow thing that they did for the stockholm knockout live album, with the crowd singing "We're the Hate Crew..." etc. So good, it gave me the shivers.

Downfall - My favourite CoB song, I love it!!! It tore my throat to pieces...

Anyway, they definitely played all of those, may have played one or two I forgot, and may have played a couple in a different order...

But...

Hot.

Hasta Luego

A quick opinion

2008-06-21T17:28:00.004+09:00

I'm not happy about this Varanus Island gas explosion.

In my humble opinion, it shows just how seriously the Howard government was taking the so called 'terrorist threat.'

I've basically been thinking, "In which ways is Australia vulnerable?"

As far as I know, there's no one building that you could destroy, on Australian soil that would cripple any industries. You could blow up the MCG on Grand Final day, killing a whole heap of people, but then you'd have a bunch of pissed off Aussies.

Which leaves Infrastructure as a target.

Remember those adverts all over TV? The fridge magnets? Be alert but not alarmed?

With the events at Varanus island, I see that this was all just scare tactics. I say this because all these adverts started coming on TV over three years ago, that's three years to prepare.
Had the government been prepared for this, they would have the gas back on within a few weeks, at the very most. They would have had spare parts, backup generators and backup supplies waiting in the wings for an event just like this.

They weren't serious though, so our state economy suffers for the next couple of months, and our gas is rationed as a result.

And taking down Gas supplies isn't exactly original, the Muslim extremist dude that gives an example of how extremists are recruited does it with a rocket launcher Boat in Syriana for fucks sake!!!

In other words, our ministers don't really believe in the terrorist threat, or George Clooney would do a better job. Your choice.

Feel free to burn me, it's just an opinion.

Hasta Luego.

Losing innocence

2008-06-19T21:19:00.004+09:00

Think of that bit, in the Silence of the Lambs, when that Trannie guy is standing there, showing his Mangina, I’m never gonna forget that, it’s like, tearing out your eyes.

Just Jokes. I’m serious now.

It’s a great moment in cinema, that scene. David could probably explain why better (should he agree with me, that is). It made me feel... Unclean, I felt ‘man, this guy is all fucked up,' and wondered precisely how the fuck he got there... And despite my facetious comment, it really was about the loss of innocence... Which is my interpretation of the song playing in the background.

Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses

You told me, I've seen it rise
but, it always falls
I've see him come,I've seen him go
He said, “All things pass into the night.”
And I said, “Oh no sir, I must say you’re wrong,
"I must disagree, oh no sir, I must say you’re wrong.

"Won’t you listen to me?”

You told me, I’ve seen it all before
I’ve been there, I’ve seen my hopes and dreams
A lying on the ground.
I’ve seen the sky just begin to fall
He said, “All things pass into the night.”
And I said, “Oh no sir, I must say you’re wrong,
"I must disagree, oh no sir, I must say you’re wrong.

"Won’t you listen to me?”

Goodbye horses, I’m flying over you
Goodbye horses, I’m flying over you
Goodbye horses, I’m flying over you
Goodbye horses, I’m flying, flying, flying over you

In some mythologies/belief systems, horses are representatives of the earthly senses. What binds us to the material plane of existence; that being the case, a possible reading for this song is transcendence. The persona has left his/her senses behind, and now sees reality from a whole new perspective. Having read the interpretations that I have, I’d surmise that the new version of reality involves the persona embracing their mortality.

All things pass into the night.

There are two ‘characters’ in this song; the persona, and who I’ll call the Protagonist. Feel free to correct me David.

The protagonist, having had a conversation with/shown the persona something, has challenged the perspective of the persona. The persona responds to this new perspective with denial.

The protagonist insists, just slightly, and the ease and speed with which they convince the persona that their life is fragile really fucks with the persona’s head; the loss of perspective affects the persona so profoundly that they lose touch with their senses. From a certain point of view they achieve transcendence, but from mine, they merely realise how shaky the ground they stand on is; how fragile and precious life is, how quickly it can end.

Then they have a nervous breakdown.

The use of this song is perfect for the Silence of the lambs; the chick down the well has lost her innocence, she definitely knows how fragile life is, and will appreciate it all the more. If she makes it out. The serial killer, known as Buffalo Bill at this point, lost his innocence a long time ago. His sense of right and wrong, and his sense of purpose too.

As far as cinematography is concerned, what’s more important is that the song sets the mood for the whole scene. It’s a very poignant song, and I can’t help but feel sorry for Buffalo Bill when I see it.
If I saw him on the street and knew he was making a girlskin suit, I’d probably stab him in the chest, but I’d feel sorry for him too, is what I’m saying...

Anyway, I hope you’ve all found that interesting.

Hasta Luego.

200th post!!!

2008-06-16T19:29:00.003+09:00

Whoo hooray for me, this has been going a while.

Just another sign that I'm getting older.

I would dedicate more time to this, but my mum needs the phone to call El Salvador...

First. Section 1... Shout outs... To you, my constant readers.

David - Started me in this game, and everything else that involves the internet. Thankyou kindly sir, you have helped me amuse myself, and have also amused me... But not like a clown...

Benny - One of the main sources of my musical tastes. Metal has been cathartic for me, and without it I would probably be an insufferable ass hole. You've saved my life nigga.

Adamo - A loyal friend who is well underrated, previously even by me, to my shame. Respect my man.

Sandra - A close and personal friend who would read this even when it was booooring and shitey. Keep on blogging!

Nayeem - Probably won't read this.

:P

Nah, seriously, a close mate who I can trust, and who always has my back. I got yours too homeboy.

We ride together. We die together.

Peace Niggaz

Yes. This part is tongue in cheek, but I also mean it, anyway, read on...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Section 2 - Updates

News. Not much. I'm back at work and it really blows. It's just so damn boring. That and three things haven't really worked out with me.

1. Ben knows about this one. I'm so disappointed, this ranks above Lacuna Coil not coming on my disappointment index. That's all I wanna say.

2. Speak of the Devil, Lacuna Coil aren't gonna play here in Perth, this Thursday. They cancelled the concert and I'm crying on the inside.

3. I can't start my Krav Maga training til July, which deprives me of 8 or 10 lessons. It is, however, a bargain price. I can't wait. I'm gonna do some prep, get fitter and stronger before I get trained...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Section 3 - Songs

There are three songs I'm listening to very often at the moment; well, five really, but because three of them close off a concept album, I'm gonna call them one song. Cause I can.

1. Dream Theater - Blind Faith

2-4. Mastodon - This Mortal Soil, Siberian Divide, Pendulous Skin

5. Q Lazzarus - Goodbye Horses

I'm gonna do a synopsis of what Goodbye Horses is about, then work my way up the list, in future posts. As well as explaining some of the events in my family in El Salvador, and also continuing my posts about dreams.

I hope to see you all here for post number 300! This is SPARTA!!!

Hasta Luego mis compadres muy queridos.

Just let me breathe

2008-06-14T17:06:00.002+09:00

I've been meaning to do this for a while, here we go.

I cheated - I started, but then I deleted my playlist and started again with a randomised list from "5 star ratings"

RULES:
1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question
3.) Use the song title as the answer
4.) NO CHEATING!!! What you get is what you get!

1) How am I feeling today?
the Grand Conjuration - Opeth

2) Where will I get married?
Symphony of Destruction - Megadeth

3) What is my best friend’s theme song?
Addicted to Chaos - Megadeth

4) What is/was high school like?
the Treason Wall - Dark Tranquillity

LoL cause it was a catholic school

5) What is the best thing about me?
Dead eyes see no future - Arch Enemy

O Rly?

6)How is today going to be?
Towards Dead End - Children of Bodom

Wow. That's pretty extreme...

7) What is in store for this weekend?
What we worked for - Against me!

Haha I guess so...

8) What song describes my parents?
Brave new world - Iron Maiden

...

9) How is my life going?
Lucky You - Deftones

Hahahahahaha can ya be any more ambiguous??
(Opposite meaning to it's title lol)

10) What song will they play at my funeral?
Number of the Beast (live) - Iron Maiden

Hahahaha they should play Hallowed be thy name instead.

11) How does the world see me?
Heaven can wait (life at Donnington) - Iron Maiden

12) What do my friends really think of me?
Friends - Led Zeppelin

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Seriously. What are the chances of that?

13) Do people secretly lust after me?
Hallowed be thy name (Live at Donnington) - Iron Maiden
Okay, so either people worship me, or my appeal is about the same as a hanged man...

14) How can I make myself happy?
Fields of Desolation (1999 version) - Arch Enemy
Haha somewhat true, depending on your reading of the song...

15) What should I do with my life?
White Flag - Dido
OMFG WTF IS THAT DOING THERE IT MUST BE TRUE *cries*

16) Will I ever have children?
Poison Was the Cure - Megadeth
...
320bpms

17) What is some good advice?
Prowler (live) - Iron Maiden
Uh. How about.
No.

18) What do I think my current theme song is?
the Trooper (Live) - Iron Maiden
Haha don't mind if I do...

19) What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Dirge for November - Opeth
Aw fuck that man.

20) What type of men/women do you like?
Dead Eternity - In Flames
See, this is the problem with being Metal. You never get songs about young fellatious brunettes in stiletto's

21) Will you get married?
the Poison Well - Dark Tranquillity
Okay, see that just hurt my feelings...

22) What should I do with my love life?
Damien - Iced Earth
...

25) What will your dying words be?
the Trooper (Live at Donnington) - Hahaha that fits in with the previous appearance by this song

26) How’s your day going so far?
Black Illusion - Ozzy Osbourne
Aw cmon, now that's just not true...

27) How’s your love life?
Sixpounder - Children of Bodom
LOAD THE SIXPOUNDERRRRRR!!! *shred*
But seriously. WTF.

I regret changing my playlist...

Hasta Luego

the Walkin' dude

2008-06-04T15:36:00.001+09:00

Pendulous Skin

2008-06-01T11:54:00.003+09:00

I’ve got quite a lot going on at the moment, as far as education etc is concerned, anyway. I really don’t think that what I write will be of particular interest, which is why I’ve divided this post into sections, as per usual. When I have more time, (ie. After exams) I’ll post some of the dreams that I’ve had, along with an interpretation (yeah, laugh if you want, when you read it, it’ll make sense...), y’all know how it is, I enjoy writing, and I have an interest in dreams, and when I’m working full time nothing of particular interest happens in my life. But I digress, time to get started.

Part 1 – Updates
Exams are nearly here, and all but one of my assignments has been completed. That’s all well and good, but as usual, I’m somewhat apprehensive about the coming exams. They have the potential to burn me hard, but I know that I can be more confident this time around; I’ve been a good boy, paying attention and all that jazz, which might explain why I’ve been hard to get hold of recently.

I went to a friend’s 21st last weekend, an ‘over the top bling’ themed party. I wanted to use an actual chain I have lying around, as my ‘bling’. However, I misplaced it, so I got some of that fake shit people actually wear.

It’s worse than it sounds.

Bonnie Tyler – Total eclipse of the heart

Anyway, I mention that for two reasons... One, because I caught a cold at the aforementioned (don’t you just love that word?) 21st, I’ve been pretty chilled all week as a result, I feel like a seedy sedentary slug...

Now... Was that assonance or alliteration?

Reason two. This h.

I also shaved my head again Friday morning. It was quite funny. I intended to give myself a number 2, but accidentally gave myself a number 1. I didn’t think “You need a mirror to do this shit man...” so by the time I realised I had the wrong clippy thing on my shaver, you guessed it.

Too late.

I also spent quite some time at the end of semester bash (turn around bright eyes...), it was good fun, I had bulk drinks (canefire rum and cola, $8 pints. Fucking phenomenal), and somehow found it within myself to attend a lecture.

Never again. (Like in the Drapery falls (Ben, you know what I’m talking about, the bit where Mike Ankefeldt is all liek “You turn your back and you walk away... Never again...”))
That’s how bad that idea was.

After that I went and hung out with some friends from Uni, we went bowling, I played one game, and just managed to get one hundred, I’m pretty crap. One thing I did manage to do that impressed me was...

Get a gutterball with the bumpers up (yeah, we were playing with bumpers. I was drunk, deal with it). On the same... Uh... Iteration, (round? Bowling turn? I dunno, you get two shots right, the first was a gutterball, and) with the second shot, I knocked all the pins down without using the bumpers. Resulting in a spare.

Pretty neat huh?

After hanging out some more, I made my way home with two of the fellas who were catching the same train (we were in whitfords), which normally wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the p I have to insert in this part of the story, to make it all make sense...

All will be revealed...

Part 2 – Is it something I said?
Well, h and p really aren’t anything special, just the number of fuckheads I’ve had to deal with in the space of a week.

And no, it wasn’t something I said, its cause every once in a while, some of us have the unfortunate luck of running into racist clowns.

I don’t really want to get into it, all I’ll say is that h was more drunk than p, p was a certifiable muppet, whereas h was just an uneducated fool. The pair of dunces were spineless (or intelligent); they only decided fuck with me once we were right in front of security, and also, I could have broken both in half.

Also, I don’t think that p was right in the head. That or he was incredibly stupid. He claimed to be a member of the following bikie gangs...

- Hell’s angels
- Coffin Cheaters
- Gypsy Jokers
- Apache’s

Which are um... Sworn enemies...

He also kept saying things like “Come to fuckin’ Australia (*some shit in Hungarian... Allegedly), and I’ll beat your fuckin’ head in.”

“Go live in Fuckin’ Fremantle (He heard me tell my mate I was going Freo way) (*), and I’ll fuckin’ run you over with my bike.”

“Come to WA (*), and I’ll fuckin’ cut ya.”

“Catch the trains in WA (*), and I’ll cut ya.”

“Go to Perth (*), I’ll find ya and I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.”

Feel free to disagree with me, but I consider myself to be pretty witty (sometimes, sometimes I’m very clearly... Not).

But all I could reply to each um... Riddle was: “I’ll uh... Take that under advisement.”

To which he finally replied: “You take that under advisement... And I’ll fuckin kill ya.”

*note - the symbols I intended to use were alpha and beta, but this blog isn't alpha and beta equipped, so I just used the h and p from webdings. It works for me...

Part 3 – Execute the mandate
Every once in a while, Capital punishment comes up as a conversation topic.

Heated debate ensues, and if you’re in the right (read – the wrong) company, some guy’s gonna talk loud, over everyone else, and talk about how THIS is how things should be done, THAT’s what they should do to people who do this etc. etc. etc.

Yeah, maybe the guy’s right, who knows. Bring back corporal punishment, beheadings and the lash. Why not. Appeal to the worst in people as opposed to the best. This, coming from the guy who thinks all hip hop ‘artists’ should be lined up and shot. And the cost of the bullet billed to their dealers.

Anyway, I always think it’s funny to tell them that capital punishment SHOULD be brought back, as reality television!

Fuck all that nancy boy shit, like lethal injection or gas chamber, extreme executions is the name of the game.

The executionee (hang on, I think the actual term is ‘condemned’... Which I nearly just spelled as ‘condomned’) should be strapped into a very large trebuchet, and launched several hundred meters in the air. A 21 gun salute should then attempt to score as many direct hits as possible, before the executionee ‘touches down’ in the end zone. The trebuchet will be weighted so as to launch them exactly, into an end zone which is like, 40 meters square, which will have pressure or laser sensors or something, so that when the executionee touches down, there’s fireworks n shit.

Anyway, that really has nothing to do with anything, I just want you all to imagine that.

I had a picture of a 21 gun salute, and me getting launched above them, while dressed as a terrorist and holding a toy ak... It's not working though...

Hasta Luego

Felix da houseplant

2008-04-23T11:09:00.004+09:00

This blog is so called because it's essentially random...

Ok, I'll do this in sections, like I did previously

Section one - Updates

Assignments and work sucks, as usual. I have a big one due in a week, haven't started because I didn't know I had it. I'll be right though, might be able to finish 50% of it today. Finish it well I mean...

Also had a few teething problems doing the others, but that's a story for another time, in person. Not for here.

Had a very very very interesting weekend, not for any normal reasons. My cousin turned 20, so we hung out on friday. Had to go home early cause I had to be up at 4.30 AM on saturday. Saturday night, had a 21st (Happy Birthday Vesna, who doesn't read this anyway...), all the way in Leederville. And I had to be awake from 4.30 AM on Saturday til 4.00 AM on Sunday.

Very messed up for me.

Also, my mum and bro will be back in just over a week!

Yay!!!

Section 2 - Warhorse

Played a round of Paintball on Sunday, I think I might have mentioned it a while ago. The rounds where I wasn't out in the first 20 seconds, I set the world afire. I won't get into it cause it'll bore you. Anyway, I have something far more interesting to write about...

Section 3 - Felix da houseplant

This is about a dream I had, there's no shitty techno, or a houseplant named felix, that's just the name that popped into my head on the way to uni.

I'm gonna keep it short til it gets to the really really really funny bit (if I could laugh in my sleep I would have been laughing the whole way through. Most of it doesn't sound funny, but it was, believe me...).

Ok, so I'm not me in this dream. Well, I am me, just in another body.

This guy gets in a fight and kills the shit outta some people (captive honor aint no honor yeah), and ends up in prison.

And joins some prison gangs and has some prison fights.

I suggest you don't read this bit, it's pretty fuckin' dirty.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So, this guy is in the fight in prison, when the guards come and break it up.

They do this three guards to a prisoner. Two grab the prisoner's arms, the third jams his thumb into the prisoner's butt hole.

Ew.

Anyway, the dude I am is all like "Dude, I'm gonna fart."

So the guard jams his thumb in deeper.

And the dude I am craps all over his hand.

AH hahahahahahhahahahahhaahhahahha!!!!!!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anyway, so the prison guards break up the fight, and toss us back in our cells.

And that's when we realise that the prison walls are made of three layers: Glad wrap, wallpaper, glad wrap (on the other side).

So we break out.

I don't remember a good portion of the dream. I just remember that all of a sudden I'm myself again, and I'm fighting again.

And some people from way back are with me (actually, just about everyone I know is there, fighting, but only three people are actually doing anything interesting. Me, Joel Turco and this dude from Primary school, we'll call him Maurice cause it's similar to his name. Never much cared for him).

You have to read this next bit. It is fuckin' funny as all hell

Ok, so it's a normal brawl, but then all of a sudden everyone starts singing. It's a musical number, and the tall blonde guy I'm fighting rips off his clothes to reveal he's been wearing a leotard underneath the whole time. He's the lead singer or whatever of this whole violent musical, and he's doing flips while singing.

At the same time a Walrus attacks me, and I'm kicking it in the face and dodging it and stuff. Then Joel Turco starts singing to me, something to the effect of "the only way to kill a walrus is to grab it's flippers."

(Except he says walrus in plural; the only way to kill walrus' is to grab their flippers, except in my dream, plural for walrus is walri. Is this for real in real life???)

Fucking walri

I try to do this, but it gets spooked and starts flying, then I switch to Joel's perspective. He's still singing about grabbing the walrus' flippers, when a little pig attacks him. It jumps him like an attack dog, but he breaks it's neck CoD 4 style. Then another one does the same, except he grabs it by the hooves and spins it around like a hammer throw guy, and throws it at the flying walrus, knocking it out of the air and giving me a chance to grapple with it.

...

Then Maurice needs help, he's buried up to his waist, and he starts singing, something to the effect of "the only way to win this battle is to seize destiny."

Switch to Joel's perspective.

"There it is!!!"

He's spotted a rainbow coloured frisbee, and it says "destiny" across it.

He runs after the frisbee, and I'm back to fighting blonde flippy singing leotardo, except he's flipping too fast, and making me look bad cause he's singing at the same time.

At the same time that Joel grabs the frisbee, I kick leotardo in the knee, then curb stomp him Gears of War style.

The song, and therefore the battle is over.

After this, I was hanging with Ice Cube (Str8 outta compton Ice Cube) in a Chinese restaurant,
and we were arguing about how to split the bill.

Then my alarm woke me.

Fucking Walri.

Hasta Luego.

Who are you and why are you reading my shirt?

2008-04-09T12:38:00.006+09:00

Ok, time for a short rant. A Shirt rant.

Stupid shirts.

You know, those ones that have something really dumb written across them, which is supposed to be funny... And sometimes isn't... Especially when hundreds of people wear the same fucking shirt and you see dozens of people with the same damn thing written across their chests?

Some examples of shirts I've found funny
Movie references
Music references
Animal related ones (eg. Armed Squirrel - Protect your nuts)
I saw one that said something along the lines of "If I wear a witty enough shirt, will someone love me one day?"

I used to think "Cheer up Emo Kid" was funny...

Til I started seeing it all the damn time.

There's also those alcohol references.

One doesn't spring to mind at the moment, but you know the ones I mean.

"I drink. Whooooeee how awesome for me."

Yeah. Good on ya mate.

Sexist ones.
One doesn't spring to mind.

Or those blurry ones that are basically saying "I'm usually drunk."

Or my personal favourite (to hate).
"Who are you and why are you reading my shirt?"

Here's some responses I'd like to use, but never seem to have the inclination for.

- - - - - - -
*blurry shirt wearing person walks by*
R - Hang on man, I wanna read your shirt.
BS - Hey man, I've got places to be/Fuck off Weirdo.
R - Shouldn't have worn such a stupid shirt then.
- - - - - - -
*sexist shirt*
R - *punches person in the face*
- - - - - - -
*Alcohol reference*
R - I also like to drink alcohol my friend
AR - What do I care?
R - Your shirt says you do. Maybe you should use a little taste before putting on clothes, dick.

- - - - - - -
*Who are you and why are you reading my shirt?*
R - My name is Roberto Aviles and I'm reading your shirt because it has a large font and is directly in my line of sight.
Who? - ... WTF?
R - You want to know who I am and why I'm reading your shirt, right? It says so on your shirt.
Who? - Yeah, as a joke.
R - It's not funny.
Who? - I didn't ask you for your opinion.
R - Your shirt's so shit, I figured I'd give it anyway.
Who? - You're an arse hole.
R - Yes. I'm an arse hole. Your shirt sucks.
- - - - - - -

I guess I know why my blood pressure was a bit high recently.

In blood news, I have a plasma donation on Sundae. Also, my blood pressure is back to normal.

It might have something to do with the fact that I've been off the booze for a month.

Or maybe it's just cause I was drunk when I was getting it checked in the first place.

Hasta Luego.

It's been a while...

2008-04-08T14:59:00.002+09:00

It's been a while... So this is gonna be long, and as amusing as I can make it...

Ok.

Section 1. News

My mum and bro have gone to El Salvador for a 6 week trip... None of us have been there since we left back in the april of '91... It'll be my turn later this year, I'll be going with my dad who has been back there once or twice...

I have given up drinking for a while, partly for health reasons, partly for money reasons... It's not so bad, til people drink awesome brews/your fave drinks. It's also difficult at parties, especially crap ones.

Uni has been treating me pretty well; I've had a few exemptions here and there, so I have a lot more time to do all my assignments, however, me being me, I'm not always using it all that productively...

I've run into people from way back... I've also met a whole bunch of new people who are pretty cool... I'll see if the more local ones out of the new people wanna hang out with us sometime... You'd all like them...

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Section 2. Randomness, Roberto Style

We all know that sometimes I write the most random stuff here, observations and the such... Somewhat humorous anecdotes, that kinda stuff... Sorry for the formulaic approach, but I really wanna get this done, and I have a lecture soon...

The lights... They're following me...

Over the past few months, I've become a morning person; Being a yardie means you have to get up early, and I recently decided that I'd like to keep the habit of being awake well before dawn, you have the whole day ahead of you that way, to do with what you will. There's not much you can really do without waking people up at the times I'm awake though, so I usually go for a walk/jog...

I live quite close to fremantle, close-ish to the beach. So when I look to the east, I can see clouds that extend far out onto the coast. Early one morning, I happened to be heading east for a while. I saw a pair of spotlights playing across the clouds out on the coast. I flipped the fuck out. When I told Ben and Dave about what I thought, I made it kinda humorous...

(R - Imitates opening riff to Aces High, D - Imitates sirens at the beginning of Bloood on your hands [*enqueues blood on your hands*] B - Laughs)...

The reason I freaked out is because I know if you want to hide something, you put it in plain sight... I seriously thought they were signals or something, put there for nefarious purposes. I knew it wasn't a lighthouse cause they shine light out to sea... I was quite perplexed for a few days...

Until I went to see where they were coming from... They're advertising for a new restaurant or something, chill the fuck out will ya?

:P

the Hunted

I was being hunted by a fox yesterday in the morning... I think so anyway...

I was just doing my thing in the early morning, when I noticed a shape moving off to my left. I literally jumped out of my skin, nearly shat my pants. Then the shape ran like hell in the opposite direction. When I had a look, it turned out to be a cute, furry, fluffy little fox. It was definitely more scared of me than I was of it, I offered it a hug, and a baseball I had found, but it kept a distance of 6 metres or more from me at all times... Unless I turned around, where it would all of a sudden be at my heels, until I turned... In the end, it just ran off into some bush, probably to watch me with it's freaky reflective eyes.

Don't you hate it when things sneak up on you in the dark? I know I do...

Part 3. I'm not original

Nayeem's post on what he would like to happen at his funeral, except from my perspective. His was a touching tribute to his aunt, mine's just plain ol' copying his idea cause I liked it. He has my condolences.

What I would want to happen at my funeral.

Venue: A local park in Freo, possibly the esplanade.

Music: Certain songs in particular, eg. Senzafine, December Flower, Hearts Alive, Hallowed be thy name. I'd want some stuff that I've had good times with, so there'd be some bad stuff in there as well (like that 'put your hands up for detroit' one...)

MC: As you all know, I'm not religious in the least, which i see as completely different as having no faith, or no spirituality; but we'll get into that some other time aye... I don't know anyone particularly young at this point, but if I don't have kids, I guess it would have to be a nephew or a niece, or something... I better be good to them when I meet them then... Damn...

Food: I really don't know about food. I'll ponder that later.

Drinks: A bit of everything. No, a lot of everything. But I'd definitely want everyone to pony up some shots and have at least one for me. Hard stuff (that I liked), Spiritus, or Jack Daniels...

The Body: I don't like the idea of being buried whole, underground, not really my scene, ya dig? After all of my useful tissues have been harvested and given to those who need them, I'd want to be burned like the pagans of old.

It's at this point that the funeral moves to the beach...

The way I imagine it, I'm in my favourite stuff; Black shirt, my Jeans, the Cross my mother gave me, My Lacuna Coil Belt buckle, my aviators and my boots. If I'm married (hopefully/likely), let my widow decide what to do with the ring. Then put me on a boat/pyre, throw on some torches and put on 'Set the world afire' by Megadeth. On the bit where Dave Mustaine goes "No survivors... Set the world aFiiiiiiiiiiirre!" them shots we ponied up earlier? Slam 'em down.

The barge is pushed, and the tide takes my burning pyre out to meet the sunset...

Wow. That was kinda morbid...

I kinda feel like a jackass, I'm probably gonna read this two years from now and think "What a dunce." However, at this point, I'd have to say 'that's a pretty cool way to go.'

Hasta Luego.

Crocodile Dundee

2008-03-03T13:47:00.002+09:00

I've been playing a lot of Turok lately. You kill dinosaurs with a knife, most of the time. It's pretty cool. I just wonder if I've been playing it too much...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This dream is all in spanish, cause I was at "home" for most of it. I've obviously translated the dream, lol.

I'm at home, just chillin', when I decide I want to go outside, with my rubber boat (no, I don't own one in reality), a broomstick and my boxer shorts. I say "Mum, I'm gonna go play in the backyard. I might be a while, see you later." to my mum, and she's all like - "Don't get sunburnt."

I step outside into my backyard, and jump in the river, with my boat, I climb in, and start the motor, and just putt around for a while.

No, there isn't a river in my backyard.

The water starts to get murky, as I travel down the river, and I get closer to the banks, in case I get attacked by anacondas, or something.

A crocodile comes out of the water, and tries to bite my head off, I duck under it, and roll it over the edge, and it takes the motor with it. My boat still floats, barely, but I'm forced to use the broomstick as a pole, like a gondolier. I move on back up the river, when the crocodile attacks again. It sinks the boat, and I'm swimming for my life. I manage to climb on top of a tree stump, and stand on it, I still have the broomstick, and I use it to whack the croc on the head when it tries for me again.

Hours pass. It starts to get dark.

The crocodile doesn't try to attack during the night, the next day however, it does. Every time it does, I thrust the stick at it, stabbing, like a spear.

Eventually, I realise that I'm going to die, the crocodile is going to eat me.

It attacks again, and I fend it off. Then I come to a decision.

'This crocodile is going to kill me, but not before I piss it the hell off."

I see the crocodile approaching, and I poke it in the head, lots of times, til it gets pissed off at me and attacks again. I jump off the log, and hang onto the suburban fence that was right behind me the whole time (I swear, I never noticed it before this point in the dream).

As I look over the other side, I see another river, crawling with crocodiles, and then some suburban houses on the other side of what was more of a moat than a river.

Better one croc than a whole lot of 'em, right?

I climb back on the stump before the croc can get me. Then I commence poking the crocodile in the head again. It attacks again, but this time, it goes straight up at me, and I kick it in the head, flipping it over. I break the broomstick in two, straddle the crocodile, and stick both broken ends in it's skull...

I don't remember how I got home after that, but I do remember that I had the crocodile with me. I got my brother to take photos of it, before heading to a shoemaking person dude, and getting him to make me a pair of boots out of it...

Hasta Luego

Concert Action

2008-02-07T19:47:00.000+09:00

I think I've told you guys that I don't have a lot of time for myself these days, so this is gonna be a short post...

Ok.

Big Day Out
Operator Please
For my money, the second best set I saw that day, I'd say Bjork, but I couldn't see a fucking thing, and could hear even less over everyone yelling "Fuck off Bjork."
The kid was the second best drummer I saw that day.

Faker
An adelaide Band. Boring music, amusing stage show. People said that the guy would go off on stage, but he was pretty tame...

Grinspoon
Pure shit. The bass player kept throwing the horns and I kept threatening to cut his hands off. I very much doubt he heard me...

Silverchair
Pretty bad. Daniel Johns is a fuckstick, and seems to wish he was Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix and all the metal guitarists there ever were. Shreds like he's on horse tranquilisers, as opposed to cocaine.

Bjork
Wish I could have seen Bjork

Rage Against the Machine
Pretty damn good. The crowd loved it, I loved it, and they played some of my faves. I sensed some cynicism from Zach though... I was front row, and a bit off to the right for the set, had a pretty good view.

Iron Maiden
Easily the best concert I've been to. The stage set up was awesome, the crowd was fired up, and the band was more energetic than any band half their age.

They rocked.

Lauren Harris (Steve Harris' daughter) opened for vanishing point, who opened for maiden.

She was gorgeous.

I don't quite remember the setlist, and they played one or two I don't know, but it was something like this.

Aces High
Run to the hills
Number of the Beast
the Trooper
2 minutes to midnight
Can I play with madness
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Wasted Years
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Hallowed be thy name

They played hallowed be thy name.

I can die happy.

Hasta Luego.

Troubled sleep

2008-01-27T18:53:00.000+09:00

"At least you aren't getting raped by alien things?"
- David

Yeah, Dave's absolutely right, I count my blessings. Besides, it totally wasn't a nightmare.

But no, that's not what this post is about. When it all boils down, this post is about this;

I don't get over things quickly.

Australia Day I got wrecked, and this morning I had a dream that has been bothering me.

It was essentially comprised of three scenes that kept going around and around in the dream, with slightly different permutations of the scenes on each occurrence.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Scene 1.
I'm standing outside a blue sedan with two "people we know," I'd rather not say who. There's some random guys in the back, and I want a spot in the car too, because in waking life, I'm interested in one of the two people we know.
The one of the people we know who I'm interested in says I can't have a spot, cause I'm not hard enough, so I open the door, stick my forearm in the door, and slam it shut, crushing my wrist.

Scene 2.
I'm being driven in the blue sedan, with the other of the two persons we know, and she's got a kit kat. I want the kit kat, but I can't get it, because I have a broken arm.
It's on a road which is close to my house, except not. I've visited this version of my road in dreams, more than once. Usually, I was returning from war, or a long journey, and this one time I was a shepherd.

Scene 3.
I'm driving a car, I don't remember if it was the blue sedan or not (it may have been, then not been, depending on the version I was watching), I've got the kit kat, and the other of the two persons we know is riding shotgun. My stomach feels sick.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This dream has really been bugging me all day. I know it doesn't mean anything; from my experience, dreams are made of hopes and fears, points of view and other dreams. Which is to say that it's about stuff that has been on my mind for a long time now, and nothing more.

The first scene probably expresses some feelings of inadequacy I have (and I don't doubt we all have them); perhaps it expresses a willingness to do go to extreme lengths to prove to myself (and others) that I am worthy.

The second? Who knows. My lack of control over the things that I want, perhaps?

And the third? Again, who knows. Maybe that's the part of the dream that's made of hope.

The scenes kept repeating themselves, except things happened in a slightly different way each time.

An example I remember, is in the first scene. I made a little speech about how I was totally willing to crush my wrist on one occasion. On another, I was convinced not to, but the one I remember the best was when I just did it.

I woke up with a sore wrist (given the fact that I was doing stupid shit til late, I don't doubt there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for that...).

And my stomach still feels sick.

Hasta Luego.

PS. Excuse the artsy fartsy variable text size. There were some things I wanted to emphasize (obviously), if I like the way it turns out, I'll try it again sometime.

Romper Stomper

2008-01-24T18:48:00.000+09:00

Apologies to Russel Crowe and whoever directed that movie...

This be another dream post, but I wouldn't classify this one as a nightmare. I was more an... Observer. Anyway, here we go.

It's night, and I'm walking down the cafe strip in a weird alternative version of Freo, I forget who with, or even if they existed. We're passing outside where the clink would be, and there's a phone booth. Which two bald guys are using as a tattoo studio; big baldy, and little baldy.

Big baldy is tattooing little baldy's back, and as I walk by, I make a smartass comment about how dodgy the whole setup is. Big baldy takes it in his stride, he makes a smartass comment about me being from a 3rd world country, and we both laugh our asses off. Little Baldy doesn't take it so well though.

I keep walking with the mystery people, when I hear quick steps behind me. It's little baldy, and he has a big fuckin' knife, and he wants to stick it in me. When he reaches me, I step into his guard, and kinda push him so he doesn't lose momentum, but loses direction and balance. When he drops, I brutalize him pretty hard, then take his knife and stick it in his skull. Big baldy steps out of the booth, after getting a big meat cleaver, and comes at me.

I climb him like a wall.
Kick off the wall (use his bent leg like a step), grab onto the top (put him in a one armed headlock with my left arm, hanging off his neck), haul yourself up (stab him in the neck and chest, repeatedly, until he drowns in his own blood, drops to his knees and I can let go).

A carload of skinheads have noticed this (or big baldy called them while I took down little baldy), but having seen me take down big baldy like that, they decide to try run me over instead. I manage to roll out of the way of the car three or four times, when I notice a pallet on it's side with a big steel rod through it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When clearing a frame, sometimes it helps to hit the blocked end really hard. You can hit it with a hammer, or you can do what I like to do, which involves standing on a crossbar section, and letting it fall to the ground. If you straighten your legs at just the right moment, the frame hits the ground at PHENOMENAL speed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The point is, I did that to the pallet, and timed it right, so it went through the car roof and right into the driver's brain, spraying gore through the car. The frames don't hit the ground THAT hard, but if it were to hit someone's head at top speed, I don't doubt I'd get sprayed.

The car loses control completely, and ploughs into the icecream store near gino's and the newport. I run into the store, reach into the car and start slitting skinhead throats while they're disoriented and recovering.

Which is when the shit hits the fan. Skinheads and crackheads start coming out of the woodwork, and I decide not to push my luck.

I flee, turning corners here and there and whatever. I run into some people we know, and they're kind enough to help me hide for a little while. Then I run some more. I've pretty much lost the skinheads, and make my way to a safehouse, In the park on the corner of the road behind the law courts, and the road from the podiatrist near CBC.

It's run by gypsies, and they do gypsy shit. Resh, Grace and a randomly-generated-by-my-mind blonde chick turn up, then we get told some important stuff I don't remember.

Fin.

Brutal.

This dream was pretty gory, I don't think I quite captured the level of gore with my language.

Anyway, that is all.

Take care all, Hasta Luego.

The New Year Hath Arrived

2008-01-06T17:38:00.000+09:00

Well, I just wanted to make my first post for the year.

I just wanted to say, I failed my prime directives last year (read: New Year's Resolutions), but I'm not particularly sad/cut/perturbed about it. It happened, I did my best, I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Whatever.

Hope y'all had a good year, hope we can do it all again this year, except bigger and better!

Hasta Luego

Yeah so I piked...

2007-12-27T08:01:00.000+09:00

I rarely see the need to justify myself. The way I see it, I do whatever I have to do, for my own reasons, and if someone doesn’t understand, it’s because they don’t know all the circumstances, and if they complain about it I don’t really care.

This is one of those occasions, but I know that you guys are probably somewhat cut, so I’ll justify myself anyway.

Yesterday I ‘piked’ Rhys’.

I’d already said I’d be somewhere else, but I thought that it was at another time, however, that wasn’t the reason I left.

The reason I left was because I hate being single. I’ve hated it since about year 10. That’s about 5 years of not liking being single, fellas. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I wake up every Monday morning and say to myself “You’d better not leave this week without a girlfriend, my main man.” That’d be what, 52 times this year? And we all know that if I’d gone with you guys to Rhys’, the chances of meeting someone new would have dropped to about... Zero, unless Resh brought the Iona girls with him or something.

Well, now you guys know most of the circumstances. The motivating factor, anyway. Hope y’all had a good time, I did.

No dice on that single thing though.

Hasta Luego.

Thinking of you...

2007-12-20T19:16:00.000+09:00

Well, work is nearly over for the year, and time could not be crawling forward at a slower pace. It's like, you do 20 minutes of work, and then look at your watch and it's only been two minutes. Woooo...

God it's gonna be bad tomorrow. The last day of work, then its's the Christmas Partay and even though I SAY I'm not gonna get wrecked, I probably still will.

We all know it.

Thinking of You -> A perfect Circle

A little out of character, but I needed to get it out there. I like this song, lots.

Anyway, some updates.

1) I am one cheeky fucker.

2) Twas good seeing some of you fellas on Friday, twas especially good seeing Aodh.

3) Type O Negative are awesome

4) Halo 3 kicks donkey.

5) Call of Duty 4 is even better than that.

6) I'm getting my practical driving assessment done on the 15th of Feb

7) I've bought a heap of albums that I haven't even listened to yet.

8) I think I'm gonna be broke a week from now.

9) 2 seasons of Chapelle show on my mp3 Player. Maaaaaad.

10) Hearts Alive by Mastodon is fucking phenomenal. I wonder about their newer stuff, cause I think about 90% of their stuff I have is rubbish.

11) I know I've posted these lyrics before, but god effing damn CoB are fucking awesome!!!

Children of Bodom - Downfall

The night of timeless fire is drawing near

I flee... Throughout the years of throe

Watching through a mirror, as I fall apart

I see a wreck, I'm burning

I see angels burning, falling down in ruins

Looking down I see me, I'm my own enemy

Burn!

Hoo ah!

Watching myself decaying, falling from high spirits

I flee... Throughout the ruins of me

Longing for finding my way out

Leaving myself, there's nothing left for me

The ruins are about to crumble down.

The flame is dying by shivery winds of jet black skies

It reflects hatred in my eyes

I see angels burning, falling down in ruins

Looking down I see my ashes scattered around my grave

Angels whispering fire, no longer I'm alive

Settled down I'm done with the trip to my kingdom come

Hasta Luego

Must post

2007-12-06T20:27:00.000+09:00

Well, I gotta be honest. I don't have a whole lot to post about, just that since I started working 6 days a week, my life got boring. The money is quite good on saturdays, but it leaves me with almost no energy for anything on saturday night, and with only sunday to rest, the tiredness is cumulative.

Well, I'm 20 now. We voted, and my second party won. I hope they don't fuck shit up. Fingers crossed ladies and gentlemen.

Hmmm... Lemme see... What else. I've been having lots of little weird experiences since I turned 20, the thing is that they're not exactly weird enough to blog about. Actually, I guess they're perfectly normal. Maybe it's me, or maybe the experiences were offbeat, but not quite weird.

Anyway, got heaps to look forward to.

Maiden, the new year, chrissie, Amon Amarth, dream theatre, Big Day Out. Assuming I get tickets to two of those shows anyway.

*sigh*

Would it sound weird to you all if I said that every night I hope I have a nightmare. A bad one. The ones I complain about. As a matter of fact, I hope for the worst one ever.

Just so I'd feel something.

And in the morning I'm glad it didn't come.

Now THAT's weird. Or more left of centre. Offbeat?

Hasta Luego

Disillusion

2007-11-13T19:07:00.000+09:00

Norah Jones - My Dear Country

'Twas Halloween and the ghosts were out
And everywhere they'd go they'd shout
And though I covered my eyes I know they'd go away

But fears the only thing I saw
And three days later was clear to all
That nothing is as scary as election day

But the day after is darker
And darker and darker it goes
Who knows, maybe the plans will change
Who knows, maybe he's not deranged

The news would know what they know but they
Know even less then what they say
And I don't know who I can trust with the country

Cause we believed in our candidate
Even more it's the one we hate
And needed someone I could shake on election day

But the day after is darker
And deeper and deeper it goes
Who knows, maybe it's all a dream
Who knows, if I wake up and scream

I love the things that you've given me
I cherish you my dear country
But sometimes I don't understand the way we play

I love the things that you've given me
And most of all that I am free
To have a song that I can sing on election day

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm writing this off the top of my head, without really thinking of what I should put down or why, as such, this post will most likely not use most of it's potential.

I didn't research this at all, and it will show.

And if you're gonna get hot under the collar, pretty please finish reading the post first.

Ok, this post will obviously be about the looming elections, and it will mostly be liberal bashing (I'm voting labor, but I'll make the reasons why clear soon...)

I need not remind you all about all the bullshit that John Howard has given the voting public since his first term as Prime Minister. I'll do it anyway though, the big ones anyway. He promised...
- No GST (oh it's lovely being taxed twice...)
- No Aussie soldiers in Iraq
- No changes to work laws

And that's off the top of my head. He's done (and not done) some other shit. He refuses to ratify kyoto, licks George Bush's anus, and has won several elections using scare campaigns. He's already won one claiming that labor are bad for interest rates. Or some shit.

A little on economic boom times.

Saying that we're in boom because of Johnny's smart economic management is like Big Brother claiming to have invented the airplaine in 1984. This boom is mostly fuelled by Western Austalia's rich mining resources. Little John boy didn't put the iron ore, or the liquified natural gas there, so he shouldn't take credit for that.

Not to mention that I just don't like him, or his advertising, like the Anti union shit. Unions help. Read a little about the industrial revolution. Unions help.

And what's with the advertising?!?

"70% of labor ministers are anti business unionists."

Has anyone stopped to think about that?

"70% of labor ministers are against the exchange of money for goods and services, and they're unionists. They're also against bartering..."

Yeah. Right.

Let's not even go into the last minute vote buying that the liberal partay has been doing. Tax cuts? Climate reform? The whole "sorry" issue?

What a load of toss.

Ok. Now Labor's turn. I'm voting for labor, but only because I think they're the only ones who are gonna be able to beat Liberal.

They haven't been in power for the past 11 years, so it's pretty hard to criticise them. But I can criticise how they've been running their campaign. Don't expect anything original here.

Kev seems like a really nice bloke. Almost too nice... Except for that strip club incident... Or maybe that was for show too...

As far as I can see, all Kev Kev seems to be doing is giving the people what they say they want, or copying the best of the liberal policies. Shutting his ministers up when they say something that the liberal party can grab onto, as opposed to sticking to his guns, backing his ministers up.

Who knows who you're voting for when you vote for Kev. However, he does seem more intelligent (and less full-of-shit) than John, I base this on the worm debate that I saw... Not that that means much...

He says he supports the aussie battler, but the policies keep getting watered down, or changed, so that the liberals can't criticise them. SO... Who the fuck are we voting for again?

Basically, I'm disillusioned, just like everyone else. I wish there was a party that mirrored my values.

- Take care of the environment
- Don't discriminate
- Take care of the poor
- Make Health, education, and the Law priorities
- Make this country a shining example of how to behave on the international stage
- Play metal really fucking loud.

They all CLAIM they do, but apart from the greens, none seem to give half a fuck about even two of the bullet points above. The greens care about two.

Adamo just told me about an idea he had. Make the election an event. Get smashed, turn up, vote laughing, and we're all good!

I get the feeling that we'd be better off doing that, than pondering for a particularly long period of time.

I'd vote greens but they'll never win.

Hasta Luego

Closer

2007-11-11T12:13:00.000+09:00

Gigantour was fucking awesome.

That's pretty much all I have to say about that, really.

It was awesome.

I know I said I wasn't fired up, and in truth I wasn't. But as soon as Lacuna Coil hit the stage, I went off. They played a criminally short set, and the club wasn't even full when they started. They only played stuff from their latest two albums, which was a bit of a disappointment, and I didn't get to meet the band despite trying pretty fucking hard, either.

Jesus Christ Cristina Scabbia is beautiful.

They didn't play senzafine. And it made me feel empty inside. I'm not kidding.

But they were still a lot better live than I had expected. In truth, every band that played were very good, even static X.

And I was surprised at how much people were jumping about to Lacuna Coil.

Devil Driver were pretty wild, as I thought they would be, and the lead vocals dude seemed like a real nice guy too.

Static X turned a weakness into a strength; repetitive, simple riffing will get people jumping.

Megadeth.

Megadeth were fucking insane. I only knew three songs (and David wanted to throw me into an oncoming train), unfortunately. And for most of the set I couldn't see shit, luckily enough, I had a clear view of A tout le monde. Dave Mustaine shreds like nothing else, and I'm glad that he's coming back next year (or so he said), so I can make up for my ignorant transgressions.

Oh, and they put Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden (for the non metal pplz) on the speakers while we were all waiting for Megadeth. The place went OFF.

I can only imagine what it'll be like when Iron Maiden come here.

Anyway, in closing, I know people will disagree with me, but I preferred Black Crusade.

Hasta Luego.

the kindness of strangers

2007-11-01T20:08:00.002+09:00

This totally removes all the Agape-ness from the action, but oh well (kairos joke anyone?)

Sunday night, I had a real weird dream (OK, the dream is totally true, when I had it might have been Monday night, but it's cooler if I say Sunday night. Eat me.)...

Ok, so I wake up right, and my house has been broken into. There is precisely fuck all that's valuable in the house, and I'm home alone. I walk around the house, looking for specific stuff, and all that's left is like, my flashlight...

Anyway, when I wake up, I decide to go get my L's. I have breakfast and all, and right before I go have a shower, I hear my pup barking like mad. The doggy next door had escaped, and was creeping around the front of my house. I locked my pup indoors, and went to see what the commotion was about. When I went out, the cute little guy was trembling on the ground, and peeing all over himself. He's not so little, only little compared to my pup. He's a freakin' pit bull or something, a cross.

Anyway, I recognised him, gave him a bit of a tickle, and dragged him over to the neighbour's. The gate was open, and so was the back door. With a pit bull terrier pissing itself on my foor, I seriously expected to find a corpse or something. So I took the pup into the backyard, and 'broke' into my neighbour's house. Which involved opening the back door. As I looked around inside, I found not a whole lot. Definitely no corpse. Which is when my neighbour rocked up.

I explained the situation, and he seemed glad that I'd checked on him and all.

He didn't seem at all perturbed that I had been walking around the inside of his house.

How weird huh?

Aaaanyway. I just wanted to share that with you all.

Not sure why.

Hasta Luego.

the Black Crusade

2007-10-31T19:50:00.000+09:00

Well, the Black Crusade was easily the best concert I've ever been to, seeing as Trivium was the previous best.

And Trivium were at Black Crusade.

Arch Enemy were fucking amazing, more aggressive, more energetic, and Angela Gossow even more beautiful in person, than on any DVD, which was still awesome, and I'm proud of myself surviving the whole set in the front two rows.

I swear, the set lasted about 70 Minutes (too damn short), but it felt like 35 seconds at the most.

Awesome.

I know they started with Blood on your hands, and finished with the solo from Fields of Desolation.

In between, in some order, they played

Dead eyes see no future
We will rise
Nemesis
My apocalypse
Revolution Begins
Burning Angel

I was sad when Fields of Desolation came on, because I knew it was over.

Fuck I loved it.

I don't think I have words for it aye.

Trivium, as usual, were also a solid set. They played Becoming the Dragon live, for the first time, and I lost my Circle-pit-ginity, as well as my band-shirt-ginity at Black Crusade.

Awesome.

And Machine Head?

The Acoustics at the place sucked (not a word David), and I'm not a big fan.
So when everyone left, I did too. Whoop de do.

Anyway, that's some news.

Here's a bit more.

I told Tess over MSN that I'm keen on her (some of you guys have known for a while), cause she said something about some guy she met she thinks she'll be with soon. I didn't want to have that conversation over MSN, I wanted to do it in person so she could see some sincerity.

Anyway, she said she sees me as a "real close friend" even though I barely know her.

Too fucking bad for me huh?

At least she was up front about it, and at least I don't have to worry about whether she reciprocates my feelings anymore. So all in all, this situation could be a lot worse.

I wish I'd have known, I wouldn't have piked on Friday night (as Ben knows, I hit Metro's with Tess).

Anyway, that's not all the news I have.

I got my L's on monday, and drove a forklift for the first time on Tuesday.

That's about it aye.

Hasta Luego.

Fire up, kids...

2007-10-21T13:23:00.000+09:00

Children of Bodom - Downfall

The night of timeless fire is drawing near

I flee... Throughout the years of throe

Watching through a mirror, as I fall apart

I see a wreck, I'm burning

I see angels burning, falling down in ruins

Looking down I see me, I'm my own enemy

Burn!

Hoo ah!

Watching myself decaying, falling from high spirits

I flee... Throughout the ruins of me

Longing for finding my way out

Leaving myself, there's nothing left for me

The ruins are about to crumble down.

The flame is dying by shivery winds of jet black skies

It reflects hatred in my eyes

I see angels burning, falling down in ruins

Looking down I see my ashes scattered around my grave

Angels whispering fire, no longer I'm alive

Settled down I'm done with the trip to my kingdom come

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Man, I fucking love metal. I'm not too good at this new fangled "express yourself" thing, so I couldn't even begin to tell you why. People I've been talking to recently (who are surprised that I'm metal) tend to ask me "Why, what's so good about it?"

I always say the same thing.

It's the speed.

It's the skill.

But most of all it's the aggression.

I'd probably be more of an arsehole without metal.

So, what's the point of this spiel???

THE BLACK CRUSADE!!!

Fire up kids! It's gonna be a killer concert!!!

I know Bodom aren't in Black Crusade, but the lyrics to Downfall are the only lyrics on my computer.

As long as it's metal.

Hasta Luego.

Zodiac

2007-09-27T19:48:00.000+09:00

Tuesday 25th September 2007

(published on Thursday, for logistical reasons)

I sometimes get my daily horoscope from Vodafone.
Today's read

"You will find it easy to express your thoughts in a creative manner today, Scorpio."

Fair enough, says I, time to blog.

But my mum needs to use the computer, so I decided to write this post on paper, and post it properly at the first available opportunity.
Who knows, I might not. After all, the thoughts I hae are random, and useless. Ones I'd rather keep to myself.

Anyway, here goes.

*disclaimer*
These are real. And incredibly random. They're usually triggered by the radio.

1. "Ironic" by Alanis Morrissete is not Ironic. Perhaps that's the Irony... But I don't think she's that clever, she must have realised that in retrospect...

2. A better title would have been "Unfortunate."

3. What's with that line in the Lizzie McGuire movie, where Lizzie McGuire calls Alanis Morrissete's lyrics dark and depressing? They're about being an empowered woman who likes giving blowjobs in cinemas!!!

4. Hilary Duff is hot.

5. I would go Hilary Duff.

6. I wish I had a nightstick. Or a crowbar. *whooshing sounds*. Got HL much? >_>

7. Shit! I'd rather be listening to Metal!

8. Lindsay Lohan is hot. (She's always on the news)

9. I wouldn't go Lindsay Lohan

10. Why do these radio stations promise no repeats every day?!? Every day, they have the same fucking playlist in a different order!!!

11. What am I doing this weekend?

12. I wish I had some brass knucks... But I need new threads more...

hahahaha

Yeah. Anyway.

I had a dream last night.

In it, Carrington St was 6 lanes wide, and it's well before dawn. My mum is dropping me off at work, as she does. Instead of dropping me off right in front of Hirewest, she drops me at Carrington, and says "Ride the rest of the way."

A bike materialises, and I hop on and start pedalling.

Pedalling fast too, in no time, it's like I'm travelling at mach 2, but I'm getting nowhere. Soon, I shoot past the street that Hirewest is on, so I ht the brakes hard and skid heaps, into the oncoming lanes. I hop a kerb, and end up in front of an oddly familiar shopping centre, which doesn't actually exist in real life. I hop off the bike, collect myself, hop back on and get moving, heading back to work. I arrive just before dawn.

Dream ends.

It wasn't very interesting, nor was it bad. Or good. It just was. It's merely padding for this post, which I feel was necessary given today's horoscope. There are other things I wanted to write, but funnily enough, my horoscope told me not to.

EDIT: IRON MAIDEN!!! THANKS AND SALUTATIONS BENNY!!!

Hasta Luego.

Vox Stellarum

2007-09-15T11:14:00.000+09:00

It's pretty hard to believe the amount of kickass tours that are coming to Perth in the next six months, isn't it?

I mean, it's only three of em (I currently know of), but that's more than I've heard of coming to Perth in one year.

And there's been some good shit that I've missed (when I look at it in retrospect).

the Black Crusade
Arch Enemy
Trivium
Machine Head
Special Guests

Gigantour
Megadeth
Lacuna Coil
Devildriver
Static X

Iron Maiden!!!

Other than that, what's new?

Not a whole lot.

I'm done with the whole "Saving for a car" thing, I've got enough now, I'm gonna keep saving for it, but not as intensely as before.

And work has been good. I've been on Frames for a couple of weeks now, which is good cause they're heavy and I don't have time in the week for a workout.

Also, my dreams/sleep have been blissfully peaceful, I'm glad of it too.

Uh...

I saw the Dreadful Guests play at the swan basement. "Who?" you say? A truckie from Hirewest is the bass player in the band (He's actually a guitarist, but they don't like his (shredding) style). His bass skills were pretty damn good, but the rest of the band was pretty poor, unfortunately.

Oh, and on my way out, I had a jagerbomb with my boss...

Hmmm...

Like I said, not a whole lot has changed, just that I'm trying to reform my drinking habits. You probably don't believe me...

Doing a job like mine, you have a lot of time to think. I usually come up with little narratives which I think would make good movies.

They tend to involve zombies.

That, or something reminds me of something stupid I did while I was on the moon (as in drunk). I'm not naive enough to say "Never again," but I will say "Hey, I'm gonna avoid that shit as much as possible."

You all may have noticed this recently.

But on the other hand...

Kahlua and Coke is awesome...
Bourbon and Coke is even better.

Hasta Luego

"Now that takes the fucked up cookie..."

2007-08-27T20:26:00.000+09:00

Disclaimer: Because my days are pretty samey these days, and because this doubles as a dream journal, all I really have to post about these days are my dreams... When something actually interesting happens, I'll put it here, of course.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ok, from the title, you'll have figured out I had a nightmare. Probably the most fucked up ever, too.

Ok. I'm lying in bed, when Winter and Reshy burst into my room.

"Come outside dude! Come outside! You have to see this!"

"Sure."

"Bring your maglite, it's dangerous."

They're also packing crowbars and knives, so I get lil miss switchblade, and my maglite before heading outside.

They lead me to my shed (wtf are they doing in my shed???), and open a trapdoor to some catacombs below.

Uh oh. Catacombs.

And we head down there and fuckin' get lost.

There's an old guy in a car down there, with his nagging wife, and he's evil.

We spend a while evading the old dude's attention, but he catches us. He's old, and evil, but not very dangerous. When he catches us, I bop him over the head with my maglite, but even though it's shining when I do so, it does nothing when it makes contact.

The batteries had disappeared.

No worries, I packed spares. Paul, Resh and I beat the old bloke to a bloody pulp.

Not the nicest shit we've done, but what could we do, he was evil.

Which is when the fucked up bit in my dream comes.

I mean, holy fuck I almost don't wanna write about this shit.

Ok, remember the "female ghost rapes Roberto" incident?

Like that, except a male ghost.

Mmhmm. Not the coolest shit I've ever had happen.

Ok, this whole time the ghost is talking to me, and then it kills me in the most fucked up way imaginable. As a matter of fact, it's so fucked up it might actually be funny.

Ok, so first I get injected with paralysis drugs.

Then it wraps belts across my chest so I can suffocate to death.

Then it dresses me up like a bumblebee.

Then it fills a pair of boxing gloves with superglue and puts them on my hands.

That way, when the drugs wear off, I can't do shit about the belts attached to my chest.

Yippee.

So in this dream, I get to die dressed up as a bumblebee with boxing gloves.

Not exactly how I imagined I'd go out, but hey, you gotta die of something.

And naturally, I woke up all numb.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now for life.

It's all good, or mostly good.

Annoying douche at work got fired on Friday. He turned up today, but the boss kicked him out after like, an hour and a half (he didn't notice him come in).

The new guy we got is pretty cool for an older bloke.

I've also started listening to this Norah Jones album I got my mum for mother's day. I quite like it.

<_<
>_>
<_<

And that about covers it since the weekend.

Hasta Luego.

Spidersapien

2007-08-20T18:46:00.000+09:00

Back to the dreaming huh?

I had a majorly weirdified dream last night. A nightmare of sorts... But not.

It would have been scary in real life, but was just plain weird to experience in a dream.

So I get to work one morning right, and the place is completely different.

Not only that, it seems I forgot a few things. Namely my pants, and steel toe cap boots. Instead I'm wearing underwear and walking barefoot. So I call my mum, and ask her to bring my stuff to me (I only realise I'm missing my pants and boots after I get there...).

I wait all day (and no one seems to mind that I'm being paid to sit around watching everyone else work... From the stadium seats (which are an addition from my dream)).

For some reason, it takes my mum all day to get to where I work, to drop off my pants and boots, by which time I'm already leaving... So I put on my pants and boots, and my mum disappears. The outside is totally different... The whole place has changed actually, and there's three kids playing with a bouncy ball at the top of the hill that is now there. It bounces down to where I am, and I pick it up. It's no longer a bouncy ball, but more of a bouncy... Wedge.

R - "How come you don't have a bouncy ball?"
Random Dream Character - "Cause we couldn't afford one."
R - "Hmm... A lot of that going round..."

I turn around and go back to work.

Which has magically changed around.

Normally, as I walk in (to the yard, it's outdoors), there's sheds to my right, some hoses n shit to my left, and the yard about 18 m ahead of me, which is full of scaffolding shit and not much else (apart from trucks and equipment).

Now, it's just one big fuckin' cesspool, in a stadium, with barbed wire fences everywhere. And this is where the dream starts to get fun.

Instead of all the dudes I work with, I have a bunch of hotties for company. All about my age.

No, not that kind of fun.

Because a race of super intelligent spiders is attacking us.

Ever see one of those movies?

"This Robot can learn. Every minute it fights you, it gains more information on how to defeat you."

One of those. There was a little voice over in my dream which explained how they were the product of toxic sludge, vampire juice and pure hatred. It also explained the learning thing.

Well, these spiders were just the same, and they were (fuckin' huge, and also) attacking all the pretty brunettes, who start running and jumping over fences and just trying to get away.

Me, I'm all like Mohammed Ali.

When he said "I aint got no Quarrel with the Viet Cong."

Except he said that for political reasons (I presume), and I was just about to piss in my pants.

So I start walking backwards slowly, just as some hearbreaker in a plaid skirt and brown leather boots runs past me screaming and deftly jumps a 7 ft fence.

They all make it to the stadium fine (as far as I can tell, the spiders were pretty fast, they could have taken 7 or 8 of them without me noticing), and then turn around to see me in the middle of the big fuckin' cess pool... Just standing there, looking at this big red spidersapien.

They think I'm trying to distract the spiders so they can get away.

"Oh, you're so braaaave!" they all yell out.

And I'm just thinking "I have about 7 seconds to live..."

The spider comes at me, and I step back and give it a kick right in the grill. I'm wearing steel capped boots, and it's only about 3 ft high, so it dies. A bunch of spiders come at me, and I step back. They all stop. None of them wants to be the next to die... Or something. Anyway, I manage to do a little crab shuffle, and jump the 7 ft fence as skilfully as the brunette chick. And I land on top of a half invisible spidersapien hiding in the mud on the other side (think Predator). It dies too. I run like hell to the huddled group of hotties, and find a double barrelled shotgun.

Weeee. Doom 2 much?

Naturally, I load the damn thing, then everything morphs again.

I'm in some pharoah's tomb or something, all alone (save for my boomstick), and the spidersapiens are coming at me. And that about covers it.

Anyway, other than that I'm all good. Been ill recently, work is ok, and all that jazz.

Hope to see you all soon.

Hasta Luego.

Impending Disaster

2007-08-11T16:24:00.000+09:00

So I open Windows Media Player and the first song title I see is "Impending Disaster", by Devildriver. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm gonna give it a listen soon cause I'll be seeing them live soon, along with Megadeth, Static X and this other band... Forgot what they're called...

Oh, that's right...

LACUNA COIL!!!

And before I see them, I'll be seeing Arch Enemy, Trivium, Machine Head, and possibly Shadows Fall at the Black Crusade.

I'm about ready to pop aye.

Anyway, howabout a bit of updateness...

Last time I posted was well over 2 weeks ago, when I posted about a dream...

Well, I haven't been remembering my dreaming a whole lot lately, I'm too bloody tired at the end of the day, I just fall asleep and then time goes by and then I wake up... Given my usual dreams, you won't find me complaining.

I've just been saving money up for a car (with a limited degree of success, given my impulsive spending and alcohol fuelled weekends), I'm about halfway there, but I still don't have a license or anything. There's nothing but time for that however.

Hmmmm...

Like I said, not a whole lot has happened. Work has been ok. Fuckwit got fired, just like I said he would, but his stupid mate hasn't been fired yet, and even though the guy who got fired was a total douche, at least he didn't try to start a fight with me.

It's ok though, cause the guy who's left is a spineless piece of trash; and he won't last long either.

Also...

I've now officially deferred from Uni.

Took a day off from work on Wednesday to go there and get my form signed...

The guy was a bit suspicious of me for a while, he recognised me from my name, as a guy who didn't do so well...

But the box I ticked on the form for "reason for taking leave" was 'financial' as opposed to 'overseas travel', 'family commitments', 'work commitments' etc.

Just remember; they may be there to educate you, but they also just your money.

Anyway, after that I hung out at the WASM barbecue; twas a considerable amount of fun, I would recommend it any wednesday of the week.

We got considerably tanked, I met some of the WASM boys (and girls; WASM is an equal opportunity... Educator after all), and then I had to go home, which is too bad, cause word is that the night only got better after that.

Anyway, that's pretty much my week.

This post has been real scatterbrained, cause I have some stuff to say, but not a whole lot to say about what I have to say... If that makes any sense.

I had better start posting more frequently.

Much love all, take care.

Hasta Luego

Invaders

2007-07-21T12:22:00.000+09:00

Here's a dream I had a couple of days ago...

It's pretty fuzzy, and weird even for me, but it also made me laugh quite a bit for some reason...

Also... Random updateness...

Ok, for some reason I'm hanging out at my primary school, when aliens invade earth. They're flying ships that resemble helicopters, like, black hawks or something, and they're all liek "Wassup earth peoplez, you're all our slaves now bitchezzz..."

Now, without any fighting, the people of earth know that the ships can't be destroyed by any human weapons whatsoever.

Then out of nowhere comes D-Fens (Go watch "Falling Down", you'll like it...), i.e. Michael Douglas, with a LAW, dressed in army shit. He fires the LAW at the ship and it crashes. Only a LAW fired by D-Fens can destroy the ships, luckily, there was only one of them.

So this ship crashes, and out pour the teletubbies. Bill Clinton walks up to them and they have a deep, meaningful discussion. Then he announces to the world...

"The aliens will leave earth if we give them a Nintendo 64 with Diddy Kong Racing."

The earth collectively says "Fuckin' oath man, that's a good deal!!!"

So we all get crackin', finding them an N64 and a copy of Diddy Kong Racing.

Then somehow I find out that when harnessed properly, an N64 with Diddy Kong Racing is a limitless source of power, which the aliens will use to fire an enormous turbolaser at Earth, to fry us all.

So, I let Bill know, and he tells some scientists and they confirm that shit... So they make a dud copy of the game, which will release a pulse that will fry the aliens instead...

Or something.

And the delivery boy will be the dude from Transformers, with Megan Fox.

What a fox.

So they rock up to the alien ship, and give the aliens the cartridge and box and that, and they jack it in, and turn to jelly... But one teletubby survives, and is hellbent on exacting revenge on foxy Megan Fox, and the dude from Transformers, who start running like hell.

So I jump on an ATV, and start chasing the teletubby, who is chasing Megan Fox and the Transformers guy.

A hectic chase and a half later (they had vehicles), Transformers guy and the foxy Megan Fox (yeah, I'm flogging a dead horse here, but... DAMN! What a fox!!!) are dead. So the Teletubby and I get into a fistfight...

On an ATV moving at 150 km h.

I kill it by grabbing it's neck, and throwing it off the bike, right onto an oncoming tree.

Messy.

Then the world is happy and we toast marshmallows. I'm serious, we do.

Ok, so that's my majorly fucked up dream.

Now for an update.

Work has been ok, apart from a total fuckwit I have to work with. He's probably gonna get fired soon, which is good.

I saw the hottest car the other day.
Hyundai Tiburon. Feast your eyes on this sexy beast...

Haven't been paid yet, which is a bummer, but I'm expecting a bumper pay cheque, which will make me a happy panda.

Also, the Goon sunset was a really good idea. Thanks for the heads up Dave.

Anyways, gotta roll.

Hasta Luego

the Terminator

2007-07-11T18:23:00.001+09:00

Ok, there's no easy way to say this.

I've been terminated from Uni. My final grades for this semester were fuckin' horrible, and to be honest, I'm completely disoriented. Liek, WTF disoriented. I only passed one out of five units, and I don't understand why.

I failed Graphics (my runaway best subject) and Maths (my second best subject), and scraped through machine dynamics (my third best subject).

This is totally suss, and here's a taste of why.

I was really good at graphics. I helped some mates out with their assignments, and did some of the assignments for them. They passed, I didn't.

Go figure.

I entered the maths exam with an average of 68% or so, give or take. I got a whopping 36% for my final grade, which means that I must have received something less than 20% for my exam.

What the fuck.

I was pretty crap at the other two.I'm not surprised I failed, but I was expecting a little more than 36% for Fluid Mechanics. It's a little bit fucked up that I must have done better in my Fluids exam than I did in my maths, given that I failed my mid semester exam for fluids.

Gawsh.

Ok. I failed. Game over.

So, what career paths are open to me?

1. Appeal my results/career status (from terminated to conditional)(I'm going to do this first), see if I can continue.
2. Something else involving tertiary education. Something that is inspiring this time. Maybe something involving literature? Something involving arts? Not cause I think it's easy, but because Greek philosophy/History is more interesting than the mohr's circle for a circular section of a carbon steel strut, under 80GPa of compression, and is also more likely to be able to be referenced to an Iron Maiden/Led Zeppelin song (Alexander the Great/Achilles last stand respectively).
3. Continue as a yardie, learn to be a truckie. I'm not dissing it, but no. I struggle as it is.
4. Become a personal trainer. I know of a place where you can get qualifications in 6 weeks. Problem is I'm not fit enough, but without an engineering degree to work for, there's plenty of time for that. Besides, imagine chillin' at a club, and some brunette hottie walks up to me, and is all like:
"What do you do?"
"I'm a personal trainer."
Yeeeeeeeeah.
5. Become a firefighter. Always wanted to help people/save lives. And carry people out of burning buildings. Besides, imagine chillin' at a club, and some brunette hottie walks up to me, and is all like:
"What do you do?"
"I'm a fireman."
Yeeeeeeeeah.
6. Join a street gang. The idea would be to become king of the streets, like Cyrus. Unite all the gangs (I'd avoid the "shot in the chest" part by eliminating the Rogues, or any bastard who talks like Luther), and run Perth city...
Can you count, suckers? The future belongs to you, if you can count. Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Caaaaaaaaan you dig it???

Inspitation eludes me, illustrious readership.

I am greatly displeased.

Hasta Luego

Kay Eff See

2007-07-04T21:51:00.000+09:00

I reckon it's time for me to find a new job, cause this one just aint cutting it.

The people I work with range between kinda lame, and pretty damn cool, but my main beef (my main two beef's) is management.

I don't particularly like the assistant managers (I don't really know them), but I definitely don't like the store manager. Not in the least.

It may just be a first impression, but I don't really see her as a manager who is overly concerned with the wellbeing of her staff, not compared with the greater good of KFC anyways.

An example of this, is how our kitchenhand (Scott, who's pretty cool, especially for a 15 year old) starts at 8, and usually doesn't get a break til 2.30 or 3.

Also, there's the thing that happened to me yesterday.

I had an induction thing to go to, which was mostly a waste of time, and I was rostered to work. No biggie, y'all know me, I'm not afraid of hard work. I just let my manager know that I'd have to leave at 2 PM.

2 PM swung around, and my manager decided that I should stay a little longer, to flip burgers when customers want them. Get this. She made a call, and told me that I should come back, cause some random would give me a ride, instead of going all the way to osborne park, and therefore I could stay longer.

I made a whole 3 burgers, and got to go home at 2.40 PM

It takes me 17 minutes or so to walk to work. So that gave me a whole 15 minutes at home, in which I was supposed to have a shower, get changed, feed my pup (I was lying about that when I mentioned it) make and eat lunch and that about covers it.

I half ran home, before I realised I wouldn't want to sweat if I didn't have time to shower. Luckily enough, my mum was home and I actually had 20 minutes in which to relax...

By which I mean change my clothes, actually grab a bite to eat (all I'd had all day was some weet bix and a fuck'n candy bar, I was just gonna change my clothes and turn the fuck around, when I got home), get a drink and leave. My mum drives kinda slow, so it takes a whole 4 minutes to drive there. Anyway, basically, I went to this thing coated in flour, and had a biblical headache by 7PM (all I did eat was a piece of bread after all).

I essentially got fucked on. No shower, no food, a waste of time, and having to hop into a stranger's car is not my idea of getting a problem sorted. Especially when the stranger arrives a half hour late, and constantly tailgates/drives 40 km over the limit...

Aaaanyway, rant over. It's a job, it's a living, I gotta make my bread somehow aai.

Also, I had a dream this morning. It was good and bad, at the same time. It was a lucid one, and I think I've found how to 'beat' them, so to speak.

I was lying in bed, when all of a sudden, my pillows, bed and sheets start wrapping me up and dragging me.

I said to myself "It's just a dream, and you can beat it. If you can move your arm, you've won."

What followed simultaneously felt like an eternity, and a few seconds, and it basically was a battle of wills. While i was fighting it, I basically had the worst "waking numbness" sensation I've ever had (... you don't want to know...), and felt incredibly sleepy. When I won it, I felt incredibly happy (hey, no more waking numbess, how would you feel?). So, hopefully, that spells the end of me writing about crappy dreams, and more space for good ones (like the last one).

Oh, and the whole dream journal thing? That was one of the original intentions of this blog. Dreams are kewl.

Dreams are stupid and pointless and they scare me.
- Rose Walker

Hasta Luego.

Running from the Gendarmes!

2007-06-30T16:03:00.000+09:00

Since the fellas went to Jurien Bay it's been pretty freakin' quiet around here, I must say. I did start my new job, which is easy as hell, it's just too bad that the pay really blows. At the moment I'm a burger maker at KFC, but they'll probably put me on the till sometime soon. If I don't find another job first that is...

Anyway, I had a(nother)really weird dream, but in a good way this time, which I hope is gonna be the norm for me from now on.

The fellas and I are just hangin' out, driving around (as we do), waiting for something to do, when we all get an email (how we checked it in a car, I don't know) inviting us to a party at some random address no one knows. So, after looking it up, we drove to a bottle o and bought some booze. Just enough to get us through the night, basically. We drive to this address, and it turns out to be a sports store.

"That can't be it, it's a sports store!!!"
"Look, the doors are open, no sports store is open at this hour!"
"Alright sweet, let's go in!"

So we went in, with a whole pile of randoms, who also got the email.

There's no one in there, so we look around. Then I break into a store room. There's 6 or 7 randoms in there.

"There's no party here, we got the email too, we've just been waiting in here."
"There's heaps of people out there now bro, there wasn't a party here before, but there is now!"
"Fuckin' oath!"

SO we all get some music cranking, and start having a good time. Then the cops show up, and everyone runs like hell. Ben and I are caught though (along with 10 or 15 others). The cops take our booze, and reprimand us, an opportunity presents itself, and Ben and I run like hell. We do a whole circle of the whole area, and end up back at the sports store. There's riot police and cavalry and stuff there (but no riot, not even close). There's hundreds of flying saucers in the air though, like the ones from Independence day (the city destroying ones), except a whole lot smaller (maybe 50m radius, as opposed to 50km radius). When Ben and I get there, the ships all fly off, and the cops all look at us. Which presents a golden opportunity for everyone else to bolt. So Ben and I bolt as well. Most of the rest of the dream involves Ben and me running like fuck, jumping over fences and walls, hiding behind cisterns, running from the police.

Aaanyway, after a long long time of running from the arms of the law, we come to a house, where some people are just hangin' out. The hostess is a real friendly hottie who has heaps of little flowers in her hair, and a nice garden.

As in "place where people grow flowers n herbs n shit."

Anyway, we go in there, and just hang out, and that's pretty much where it ends.

It was a fun dream.

Hasta Luego.

Out of the Shadows

2007-06-26T19:50:00.000+09:00

So, Matty being here has been a blast so far, and I've basically been living at Nayeems. I've also finally found a job. The pay blows, but that's ok. Tomorrow I find out if it's easy or hard or whatever. Wheee.

I'll be working at KFC near my place. Wheeeeee.

Anyway. This week takes me waaaaaaay back, to before we were over 18, and basically got together to fuck around doing silly shit till dawn.

_+88_____________________________ _
_+880____________________________ _
_++88____________________________ _
_++88____________________________ _
__+880_________________________++ _
__+888________________________+88 _
__++880______________________+88__
__++888_____+++88__________+++8__
__++8888__+++8880++88____+++88___
__+++8888+++8880++8888__++888____
___++888++8888+++888888++888_____
___++88++8888++8888888++888______
___++++++888888888888888888______
____++++++88888888888888888______
____++++++++000888888888888______
_____+++++++000088888888888______
______+++++++00088888888888______
_______+++++++088888888888_______
_______+++++++088888888888_______
________+++++++8888888888________
________+++++++0088888888________
________++++++0088888888_________
________+++++0008888888________

Yeah. You like that don't you?

Anyway. It's really good to see some of the fellas again, but I still haven't seen Joe, Chris and that for a real long time...

I'm sure it can be arranged.

I just wanted to say, it feels good to finally be out of exams, and uni. Feels really good.

Hasta Luego.

Reincarnation of me, Live again!!!

2007-06-20T19:20:00.000+09:00

the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, my current myspace song.

Don't really have a whole lot to say, apart from what I've been up to, the news and the weather.

That means that this will be a short post.

Friday: My last exam. A complete clusterfuck, the questions rained down like blows on my grey matter, and I know I failed. I needed like, 70% to pass anyway, wasn't worth my time sitting that exam, but oh well.

Right after that I headed straight to my cousin's 21st, which was good fuckin' fun, and funny too (21st birthday speeches, witnessing drunken tomfoolery... You know how it is)...

And between then and now, I've basically been chillin' tha f**k out you know?

Playing Splinter Cell, watching Star Wars and job hunting.

I've also become addicted to A Matter of life and Death (the latest Maiden album, home to my myspace song...). I'd heard the whole thing before, and thought "damn this is good..." but suddenly, I just got it, something clicked, and I can't stop listening to it! Especially the last four songs (The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, For the greater good of God, Lord of Light, the Legacy).

Hmmmm...

Bryn turned 19 today, but he canned the whole "come to the Newport and drink with me" event, which is too bad cause I was looking forward to it. Also, Matt visits from Queensland tomorrow, he'll be here a while, and hopefully my interview doesn't last much longer than 30 minutes, cause I wanna be here when he arrives.

Also, I received a call about a job application of mine. I'm going for the interview tomorrow, hopefully all turns out well for me. Please, cross your fingers when you read this.

Hasta Luego

If you want peace prepare for war

2007-06-15T15:15:00.000+09:00

Procrastination... Don’t you just love it? I just... Just got off of my Xbox, I was playing Medal of Honour: European Assault, and paying extra close attention.

Why?

Because I wanted to see how to reload an MP40 (the Nazi submachine gun... Don’t pretend you don’t know it...).

Now why would I go and do something like that? It has to do with my latest dream, which I mentioned earlier (I think).

I think I mentioned that it was better (as in less freaky deaky) then my usual nocturnal fare.

So why don’t I get started?

It starts on a snowy mountain. I’m on top of this mountain, just hanging out in a ski lodge or something. And somehow I know it’s not safe. There’s a dude with skis, and he’s skiing through the lodge, and that’s pretty much all I remember about that bit. That bit wasn’t particularly interesting anyway.

Next comes the bit I’ll call “Where Eagles Dare.”

<_<

A similar setting, except instead of being in a ski lodge on top of a mountain, I’m in a castle on top of a mountain, a Nazi castle. There’s lots of old Nazi dudes with monocles and stuff sitting around and discussing Nazi-ish things with each other, and I’m a spy or something... I still don’t know how they didn’t notice my ethnic features though... Who cares, it was a dream.

Anyway, like in the book (and song >_>), my comrades turn out to be turncoats, and soon the Nazi picnic know about me and get ready to capture me, but fear not, because that’s when the castle receives a smack in the mouth in the form of an allied shelling. I run around dodging Nazis, bullets and falling chunks of gargoyle sculptures, and start skiing down the mountain. It’s a lot of fun, and I poke some Nazi's with my ski poles on my way down the mountain (it was quite comical).

Which brings me to the last bit. I end up on a beach; I remember this bit quite vividly. Anyway, this beach is not the Normandy D-Day one; it’s a real nice one, with no tank obstacles or nothin’. Just Nazi’s, Lots of Nazi machine gun emplacements in the water and on Jetty’s. And I and lots of random people are trying to get into the water. We’re all in uniform and that, but I don’t think we’re soldiers, cause we don’t have guns. Oh, and the beach is ridiculously big. I can’t see to the left and right, but from the dunes to the water is more than the distance I walk from my bus stop to my place; over a kilometre. And over this kilometre, I run into lots of random uni people and quite a few people I don’t know. Including Jennifer Hawkins.

Hey, I ain’t complaining.

Anyway, first thing that happens as I run like hell down the beach (along some rocks... Think of the north mole, except on a beach), I keep running into people I know. I run into Scotty L and Rob Brownie on the way down, as well as some other people from Curtin.

There are lots of MG42 nests, and they have us enfiladed between rock piles, but I dash across to the next rock pile. It’s funny, cause even with all this, whenever I run into someone I know, they’re like “Hey, meet Jim.”
*shakes hand*
“How do you do?”
*ratatatatatatata*
“Well, toodloo!”
*runs*

Anyway. I also happen to meet Jennifer Hawkins like that, which was probably the highlight of the dream (the rest involved being shot at after all), before I make it down the beach. I’m close to the water, and a bunch of people swim out 60 metres or so in the water, but the Nazi nests shoot them. So now I have a mission: Clear the emplacements.

Unfortunately, we don’t have real guns.

The only one I can find (the dude who has it is only too happy to give it to me) looks like a security camera. It’s essentially a pistol with a security camera on top. I take the camera off and aim at some Nazi’s head, and pull the trigger. But it turns out that the security camera is the ammunition. So I slide it on, aim and pull the trigger, and this camera flies off and into the water. It’s a swimming camera bomb.

The Nazi I aim at just picks it up, turns it around (it moves quite slowly) and keeps shooting at us, and the damn thing comes right back at us. It’s pretty powerful too; it blows a huge hole in a whole pile of rocks.

So I move around some more, and run into Mickey Rourke. He’s dressed up like a ninja, but isn’t busy doing ninja shit. I’m like “Yo Mickey! You rocked in double team bro! Got a gun?”

So he hands me what I’ll call a ‘Bolt Gun’.

It looks like a box with a pistol grip.

Essentially an amalgamation of a crossbow and a slingshot. Pull the grip back, and let it go. A bolt fires out. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Mickey Rourke’s bolt gun is almost as useless as the swimming-camera-bomb gun. Actually, it’s fairer to say that it’s good if you know how to use it. And I managed to get off 25 shots or so in less than a minute. This thing doesn’t seem to run out of bolts either, but it can only fire 20m or so.

Anyway, I get this bolt gun, and find some cover. I spot a Nazi close by and start firing. These little bolts (12cm or so long) are mostly missing him, but I manage to get his legs and torso a little. When I finally take my time to aim and shit, I get one through his head. And then I kick him in the head.

What can I say, I don’t like Nazi’s.

The dream ends when I pick up his MP40 and some magazines for it. Then I realise “I don’t know how to use this thing.”

Weird to the max right?

Especially seeing as I haven’t been thinking about Bolt guns, snow, camera bombs, Mickey Rourke or Nazi’s recently.

<_<

>_>

<_<

Hasta Luego.

Don't trust fools.

2007-06-14T00:24:00.000+09:00

Before I forget - I had a real fucked up dream the other day, I'll post about it sometime soon. I wrote stuff down about it. It wasn't the usual for me, which is good. And by fucked up, I mean "Strangely amusing, intriguing and fun... But violent."

Anyway... I'm in the middle of exams, only have one lef to go, and it's a real tough one. I'm sitting here at Uni, chilling out after the exam, and the reason I stayed is cause I have no way of getting home anyway. My bro doesn't drive (He's nearly done getting his license), neither does my dad. And my mum's away til tomorrow afternoon. The exam tonight finished like, 6 minutes after the last bus pulled out of Curtin. Joke's on me.

Anyway, I have a story to tell, which is the reason I'm here. And the moral of the story: Don't trust idiots.

I feel kinda bad calling a friend of mine an idiot, but it's true.

Brett, Dean and I rocked up to Uni today at 11 or so, spent all day studying. Made some real progress, and decided to have a 'chill sesh' an hour before the exam. That involves finding a quiet spot somewhere on campus, and just sitting there relaxing. A half hour to the exam, and my friend the nigga fool calls. Let's call him JJ.

"I'm stuck at the train station, and the bus just left! Can you pick me up!!!"

Not his fault?

It takes 15 minutes to get to Uni from Oats St. You fail to plan, you plan to fail.

SO, me and Brett run like hell to Brett's car. He's fit. I made it to his car after he'd started it and put it in gear. And we drove to Oats st, making a few illegal turns on the way. We broke the law for that dude.

It was a hectic 40 minutes, lemme tell ya. It was like every light and dodgy car was armying against us. We barely made it into the room when reading time finished.

The real moral of the story: Be on time for your exams. Not 'on time' on time. Be early!!!

Anyways, I'm gonna sleep at uni tonight. Already have my corner picked out, it's gonna be funfunfun.

Gotta bounce.

Hasta Luego.