Watering hole

Ah yes if there are 2 things I've learnt from living in Melbourne, Australia was that there will never be enough food joints, bars and pubs, the second was quaint sophistication doesn't need to be expensive. Though I no longer live in Melbourne I still check for new venues from one of the most authorative website about food and drinks in Melbourne, apparently it is easier to look for a good place to eat onine than physically hunting them down yourself, then again it's less fun.

Today I found what seem to be a place that I'd go later (after work) with some friends if I was in the city, the place is called Ume Nomiya as the name suggests it's not a place to go if you're looking for an "Australian experience", the words edamame and sake in one sentence alone caught my eye (though those two are pretty much a staple in any Japanese watering hole) however I can't give an honest review about it because I haven't been there yet but it's definitely on the top of my things-to-do list once I have a chance to visit Melbourne again

Those damn Sheep F***ers!

As I was reading some blog entries from The Age's website I found an article by Jack Marx on his interpretation of Waltzing Matilda, somehow I just couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes.

Like a sore thumb

In any story, whether it's in a movie, book or stage play, it is quite common to see characters with complex backgrounds whether it is the antagonist, protagonist or other major supporting characters, characters with a confilcted history that explains their reason for being so the audience may understand or even sympathize with the characters and their actions. To emphaisze my point, many people find Hanibal Lecter to be one of the most fictional evil characters to be created yet he is not hated in fact there are certain qualities in Lecter that some may find attractive.

To have a character that creates an air of pure annoyance, hatred and revulsion amongst the audience on the other hand might be a little more difficult to find, characters like Dolores Umbridge for instance, these characters I Sincerely believe deserve a special kind of award.

Same old, same old....

A small party goes on a quest to find and destroy items magical and malicious in nature to destroy evil that will soon engulf the land. In their epic quest this small band of unlikely heroes was aided by others including powerful wizards and elves in escaping creatures of the dark and battling the forces of evil, during their journey they also discover friendship, love, betrayal, sorrow and death.

Sorry to dissapoint but I'm not describing Lord of the Rings here (although I could well be), it's that new Harry Potter book everyone's been ranting and raving and lining up at ungodly hours about, I bought it at about 12 o'clock in the afternoon 2 days after the release date and by golly gosh there were still plenty of copies left.

Side note: I remembered a person comenting about the Harry Potter series that he wished he had a book this exciting when he was at school, the man was about the same age as I am. In retrospect mayhap I should have mentioned that we (our generation, and prior) had a better book (not saying this one is bad), published some time ago by another person also with a J.R in his name and I've been reading it since I was 15, plus it made a better movie too.

Chioces

There lay before me 3 choices that I have to make, I know it's only a matter of time before I can take them all but not at once as sacrifices must be made for each choice we make, one must take careful consideration into the choices they make as each choice defines the person.

There lay before me a story of a tragic prince, a series of humorous anecdotes by a strange and possible deranged indivudual and a tome describing the life a boy who is forced to make difficult decissions early in life .

Out for a flick

It's been a while (read: years) since I went to he cinemas on my own, usually I have a company or two. I fogot why sometimes it's better to go at it alone, you get your seats easier since you don't need to be near anyone else and if you hear a mobile ringing (or much worse, talking on his mobile) next to you have no reluctance in "accidentally" spilling your drink on the guy, not that there was any of the latter in yesterday's movie viewing experience.

I went to watch the new Harry Potter movie (the Order of Phoenix) not because I'm a huge Pott-head I'm just curious on how they plan on fitting a book that thick in less than 7 hours, the end result was once again disappointing, many plots were cut for the sake of time (not everyone can plant their rear end 7 or 12 hours non stop for a movie) and many major characters in the book had a much less distinguished role making it less of a movie and more like an extended trailer.

On a positive note it the whole movie gave a clear visualisation of major events in the book for those people lacking in the imagination department, like just about 70% of the audience in Indonesia.


As a side note, I wonder if it's in bad taste to be walking around tomorrow wearing a T-shirt with ****E DIES written in big bold letters in front of a bookshop....

Signed and sealed

Wow that was easier than I thought, I just submitted my resignation letter to the HR manager and told my unit manager that I won't be here for much longer, in that order. Not that I don't like working where I am right now but in fact it's quite enjoyable most of the time but I just don't see myself going anywhere working here. It does have it's perks though, it's conveniently close to where I live and VERY close to 2 malls and an "electronics mall", free net access, my own room (or office if you prefer) and some good people to work with and to top it all off a nice, relatively stable working environment basically a near perfect job (if you don't take the wage into consideration)......if you're 40 years old.

I'll be out of work by the end of next month and afetr a period of undeserved rest and relaxation (which I will use to finish some games) I'll be off to the land where the local hero is a lying, backstabbing S.O.B.

More than meets the eye?

I got into the office this morning and did my regular routine of checking the e-mail and opening several news sites, the news in the last few weeks have in fact been nothing short of eventful with terrorists in London, big football event in Asia, earthquake in Japan and so on and so forth. This morning one article caught my eye but for the wrong reasons, with a headline like “Transformer explosion rattles Manhattan” I couldn’t help but think some giant robot blew up in down town New York instead of some steam pipe burst causing an electrical malfunction.

The wordings in the article didn't help either, here' part of the news excrept:

"...causing a transformer to explode and sending thick plumes of steam and ash into the air near Grand Central Terminal"

""It felt like an earthquake. We saw hundreds and hundreds of people running down Third Avenue," she said. "They were screaming, they were crying.""

"...the blast left a crater "many dozens of feet wide," comparing it to the craters she saw after bombings during a stint in Iraq. She also said a "hissing noise" can be heard for blocks."

That ain't cool yo!

This actually came to me as a surprise, someone down in Sydney apparently have figured out a way to get rid of 'hoons' (Auspeak for 'rowdy teenagers') in a certain area by simply making the place 'uncool' by playing some old music and installing pink lights. I'm surprised no one has ever thought of this before since teenagers only hang out in "cool" places it only make sense. On the other hand if this method is implimented on a larger scale there are two things that might happen in the long term; one possibility is that the teenagers might start listening to the Rat Pack and Tom Jones regularly or that area might attract the 50+ crowds to hang around in the vicinity, unless of course they already do that.



*fixed on 18/07/2007 because I think faster than I type

Winzip error

I get up in the morning and got myself ready for work as usual then went about my business as usual (including being dropped off at a public area and walking accross the bridge to get to my office) followed by a 1 hour introductory presentation to the students I will be assisting throughout the year, which went pretty well if I may say so. Finishing early I retired to my office to check my e-mail, I picked up my keyboard to reply to a moderately important e-mail and realized one important detail, my zipper was undone, at that point I also realized that I haven't gone to the toilet once since I left home....

Heroes season 1 finale

The bad thing about living outside the US is you get to watch the good TV series later, the good thing is you don't have to endure mid season hiatus' which is becoming somewhat of a plague in American TV series lately. That's not the point of this post though, I just watched Heroes season one's finale and I thought it was somewhat anticlimactic when the big destined fight was a little more than fisticuffs, I'd actually like to see something in the scale of the Peter vs Sylar fight in episode where Hiro went to the future but I guess they have a good reason for that. I do like the cockroach showing up at the end though, the season began with talk of cockroaches and ends with a cockroach (the bit with Hiro arrived in past is season 2).

At the end of the episode I found myself wishing I had the same ability as Hiro for the sole purpose of jumping ahead in time to watch the next episode of Heroes.

Autobots Roll Out

I went to watch Transformers: The Movie yesterday suffice to say I wasn't impressed, it was good and I did somewhat enjoy it but.....well I'll let my alter ego do the talking.

POP!

Bubble wraps, what is it with bubble wraps that makes so special, so special that a lot of people are addicted to it? Like heroin it was used for something else but now many use it to satisfy their addiction to it to a point where specific products are made to increase the effects of the products' abuse, bubble wraps now faces the same dillema with this, specifically made to satisfy your inner need to feel, hear and experience the sensation of popping the bubbles in bubble wraps.

Melancholy of a toilet paper purchase

So there I was waiting in line to buy a pack of toilet paper (premium quality of course, I'm really particular on what goes on my ass), I picked the specific line because there were two people, count them, TWO people, in front of me and the lane was supposed to be the fast lane, it's a basket only line, no trolley's allowed, so I thought "this isn't going to take long", maybe its just me, maybe it's fate I don't know but this became the longest queue I had to stand in for a pack of toilet paper.

The first person wasn't much of a problem she was in and out pretty fast, the second person was a lady, she looked like trouble, by that I mean she had that "I'm gonna kill you" expression on her face, then I saw her shopping basket, there was a full size pillow on it, yes on the basket not in it. Once the first person was done with her business she the second lady than proceeded to empty her groceries on the counter. Beside the pillow she had packs of soap, shaving cream, a potato peeler, bags of fruit, stacks of chocolate bars and assorted candies, I think she created an entirely new dimension for her to put groceries in that basket. So I asked the lady of I can cut in line because I was only carrying one pack of toilet roll, true to her expression she said no, I thought it was fair enough, she got there first but I didn't think the "I'm going to kill you" expression was necessary when she said no.

When it was time for her to pay she pulled out a credit card, an ANZ Visa card as I recall, the cashier guy then proceed to swipe the card to the machine, which was on a different counter, I saw the guy swiping it several times and I thought "oh god this is going to be a while". The cashier guy then asked the lady if she had another card because her first one was obviously not working, she then produced another card which again didn't work. At this point I asked the cashier guy if he could put the lady's payment on hold while I pay for my pack of toilet roll, with cash. The guy told me to be patient so I looked at the cashiers to my left, which was not the fast lane and it seem to be going quite smoothly but it had trolleys, with more stuff in it, it discouraged me to switch lanes when I saw what the other guy next to me had in his trolley.

After some time the lady hasn't finished with her damn payment so I jumped lane and asked this other lady in front of me if I can cut in line explaining to her that I've only got a pack of toilet paper, kindly enough she let me pass, now the person who is now in front of me was just about to finish her shopping and I thought "finally I can go home with my toilet paper" I had my money in my hand ready to pay for the toilet paper, then the person in front of me produced a debit card from her purse, I felt like crying.

It took almost half an hour to buy a toilet paper in that grocery shop, I'm never going to buy anything from that store ever again.

Down time

What's a single guy to do after a moderately busy week on a Friday evening after work? I sit in a cafe drinking camomile tea while reading a recently bought copy of Fromm's "Fear of freedom".

"Gaza is lost"

Says one of the officials in Mahmoud Abbas' government with regards to the recent conflict in Palestine. My question is why would the Palestinian government care about some Australian guy called Garry being lost in a middle of a potential civil war? and why would Garry be in Palestine to begin with? He should have at least brought a map or ask around so he won't get lost.

250 POSTS!!!

I made it it's been almost 2 years since I started this blog and now I've reached a quarter of a mile stone, I've reached a quarter of a thousand posts, I only need 250 more to make it to 500 posts and 750 more posts to make it a grand and it all started with this measly test post, come to think of it I haven't done much with it since then.

May 25th.....

and here I am in the office......without a towel....crap I just hope I don't get into any sort of trouble

Crowded sandbox fight

Addendum to this post.

Kid E: My dad says I came from a flying spaceship that looks like an old jet plane!

Everyone else: huh?

I'm Psychic!

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!

NO YOU CAN'T!

FINE GO AHEAD IF YOU INSIST!