gta

darcy sent this. it cracks me up.

travel

Choose a band/artist: TISM

Answer the following questions ONLY using titles of their songs

1. Are you male or female? the penis is mightier than the sword
2. Describe yourself: i shit me
3. How do some people feel about you? i might be a cunt but i'm not a fucking cunt
4. How do you feel about yourself? i wish i'd slept with more girls
5. Describe your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend: mein kampf fire
6. Describe your current (or not really existent) boyfriend/girlfriend: if you're ugly, forget it
7. Describe where you want to be: i go to werribee
8. Describe how you live: a hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer, but i drink to get pissed
9. What would you ask for if you had just one wish? defecate on my face
10. Share a few words of wisdom: describe the worst headjob i've had? fantastic!
11. Now say goodbye: kill americans

that last one is dedicated to sarah. they're all around you! go for it! :P

I've never seen a friend or family member off at the international airport before. Seeing sarah fly off to the other side of the world got me thinking about where I'd like to travel. I really don't know. New York would be the only place I'd travel to if I had to go to the US. But I felt I've lived American culture through TV my entire life. I have to go to Melbourne one day. It's not very far. It's the home of TISM ffs! I'd really like to get my picture taken near that sign in Springvale. What a fucking cultural icon!

England? Maybe. Scandanavia? I'm sure kristy will convince me that i should go there. New Zealand? I'd love to go snowboarding. Japan? Looks crazy!!! I can't imagine surviving in a non-English speaking country, but it can't be that hard.

The soccerroos finally made it into the world cup finals after 32 years of trying. It's a real shame Johnny Warren isn't still around to see this. It's such a huge achievement. The last time Australia was in the world cup they drew one game 0-0 and lost the rest. I'm sure they can do better next year in Germany. Ooohh Germany. I knew a guy at uni from Flensburg. It has the world's largest mail-order adult shop. Cool!

in other news... i finished uni on tuesday. hurrah! i rock. I'll be graduating on december 12th at 11am. I think I'll miss the lifestyle of university when I get a job. Uni is a total bludge cos you don't have to go to lectures, but it can be very stressful cos you end up putting off assignments till the last minute. But I'm looking forward to the money that a job pays. I'll be able to travel and buy shit I usually don't get cos I'm a scungy bastard.

I also sent a job application to this fuckin crazy place that makes pokie machine games. Crazy! What kinda job is that? Making pokie machine games?!?!? What the fuck!?!?! I want in!!! I wanna be in the business of taking money from stupid people!

I saw a clockwork orange yesterday and the day before. It wasn't as good as I was hoping. But I saw it twice, so it wasn't too bad. The violence in it isn't that shocking by today's standards. Most of the violence in it was against women, so I can see how some people might be put off. Also the famous aversion therapy scene wasn't as good as I hoped. I've seen so many parodies of it that I thought it would totally pwn. Oh well. I really loved the language in it. That was the best part.

Walk around my model!

I got a vrml copy of my model back from the lecturer. To view the model you need to get a vrml plugin for your browser. You can get one here. Then you can go here and walk around the model! Bitchin'! It'll take a while to load the textures though. Look at the Skyline in the carpark. Listen to the birds chirping in the tree. Look at the gaping holes in the ground. Look at the four walls of the sky. Oh yeah!

my kewl model

Had another shitty day which started with me trying to go from the front carriage of a train to the back carriage (cos Sarah was in the last carriage). I got off at Sunshine and tried to get into the last 3 carriages but the fricken door wouldn't open. Fuck off. I've done that before. So yeah I met Sarah and Kristy in the city. We went to their gay uni. I had lunch there. We then left their gay uni and I caught the bus to my gay uni. I went to the printery at my gay uni to collect and pay for 2 copies of my un-gay thesis. It cost a bit more than I thought. Oh well. I went to the gay ITEE office to hand in one copy of my thesis but found out they needed two of the fuckers. I whispered under my breath "that's gay". I wished I said that louder. I then realised I should've put all the code of my thesis on a CD to hand in with my printed thesis. But I really didn't see the point cos I already emailed that to paul bailes. Fuck off. I'm proud that I'm not doing things cos I don't see the point to them.

So after that ordeal I saw 2 groups for my modelling and visualization course do their big demo. They both sucked. I ended up talking to the two lecturers for the course. Definitely the highlight of the day. I was telling them how I downloaded this uber-cool modelling program called Maya and somehow the two lecturers said this:

"Maya sucks!"
"Yeah but you're so dumb you need to use two hands to jerk off"
"That's because I have such a big dick!" *motions jerking off with two hands*
"A guy who talks about his dick like that is seriously hung like a seahorse"
me: "I'm learning so much!"

So I got onto talking about how I wanted to export my model to VRML. The guy with the two-span-long-wang said I could email it to him and he could do it for me. Cool. I'll be able to host my model somewhere and anyone with a VRML plugin can walk around the model I did. I'll also be able to put it on my resume and apply to games companies. Maybe. Well that's a bit of a pipe dream.

Here's some pictures of my model. It's good eh? Yeah! Cept the lighting on the buildings are a bit rooted.

shittiest day ever!

so i got to uni at 8am this morning for my thesis presentation. i get on a computer and open up my thesis project in internet explorer. my thesis resides on a web server on my computer at home so you can access it anywhere. so anyway i try and run my thesis program from uni... and... it motherfuckin' doesn't work!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i start sweating, my heart races and i start to get angry at myself. i figured that my dad might be able to fix the problem, so i ring home, but he's not there. at 9am i go to paul bailes's office and explain my predicament. he gives me two cabcharge vouchers paid for by UQ. I go to the cab rank near the bus stop and get a taxi home. i converse about music, bands, gigs and the drunk weirdo he picked up at 4am. i get home, i fix the server problem in 15 minutes, i get back in the taxi and we speed off back to uni. the cab ride cost $81.50. i get back to the innovation expo centre. i find out that there is no power to any of the computers on my desk!!!! i meet kristy, sarah and darcy briefly. i find another computer and demo my thesis to my examiner for 30 minutes. i recline in a chair. exhausted. it's only midday.

drugs

Had a weird conversation with my dad over dinner tonight. We were watching the news on tv, and it was talking about the Bali 9 trial yada yada and how the australian government tipped off the authorities in Bali. Then my dad says: "Why can the federal police help catch drug smugglers in Bali yet do nothing about drug dealers on the streets in Sydney!!!" He was reffering to an ACA bit about drug dealers. So then my dad says to me:

"Craig, have you been offered to buy drugs from people? At parties?"
Me: "Geez not to buy no!"
"But have you been offered any drugs by anyone?"
"Sure I have!"
"And what do you say to those people?"
"Let me have some! hahahaha!!!"
"Hey stop kidding around"
"Who's kidding?"

At this point my dad is looking away and I'm looking at my mum and she's half laughing. Cos I've sorta admitted to my mum that I've smoked marijuana, and she couldn't care less, cos she's cool. At this point I feel I have to stand up for myself:

"Dad I don't think you know what drugs are"

I was thinking of other philosophical stuff to say. I should've said something like this, but I didn't:

"Dad, there's a lot of grey area in drugs. Like with alcohol (which is also a drug, duh) people can abuse them and enjoy them. Having smoked it a few times I didn't feel any addiction towards it. It was interesting when I smoked it, but I wish I wasn't drinking at the time. It didn't lead me on to harder drugs like heroin. I'd never do heroin or anything needle pointy like that. And I got drugs from people I trust. From people I've known for years. Yeah Dad I've done drugs, big fucking whoopee."

So I'm guessing my dad hasn't done anything as cool as doing drugs. Oh well. He saw the Beatles and Louis Armstrong at Festival Hall. I spose that's pretty cool. But geez my dad is so clueless about drugs.

puzzle

This paragraph is kind of unusual. To work out what's wrong with it, study it and think about it. It looks normal and you may think nothing at all is odd or unusual about it, but it is. I will not coach or hint to you as to what is not ordinary, you must work it out using logic and skill. Good luck!

Nearing the end of student life

I will graduate from University in less than three months time. Huzzah! Once I do Craig "BE (Software) Hons IIB" Curtis will have to find a job. Awww, I'm working on that.

It is research week at UQ this week, and I've been thinking about postgraduate stuff. I really don't want to do postgraduate work atm. I want to get a job and start earning some simolians. But I think I'd like to do postgraduate stuff one day in the future. However I probably wouldn't do any computerish stuff again. What else could I do? I don't know. In a way I'm jealous of people like my thesis supervisor. They've found something they love doing, and are exceptionally good at it. They've pursued it to the highest level, by getting a PhD and no longer having that awful title of Mr attached to their name, as Professor Bailes once reminded me. By the way, what's the difference between a Dr. and a Professor? Do they both do PhD's? I'd like to know.

In other news the Qld Wind and Brass will be making a recording for 4MBS very soon. I've never been part of a performance which was solely to be recorded. It'll feel like I'm recording a movie soundtrack! Well I'll pretend I am. Amongst others we'll be playing The Flying Dutchman by Wagner. That one kicks arse!!! Every Wagner song reminds me of Nazis. Fucking Nazis. That and the Luftwaffe. Which makes perfect sense cos Wagner knew Hitler personally.

Oh and Amy just to answer your comment about me not getting art: I've been a student of the musical arts for 11 years now. I do get that art. I don't get a lot of visual art though. I think it's a bit wanky. But tons of music is wanky as well. Fuck it, all art is wanky. Except TISM. hmmm. That's less wanky.

Trusted Computing

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ekka

Time for the monthly blog post. This Saturday I'll be going to QPAC Concert Hall to witness the final of the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition. It's a biannual competition, and I saw it last time. A 16 year old kid won and got about $10 000. It's dominated my Asians.

While I'm excited about that, I'm infinitely more excited about seeing NIN next Monday. I've been waiting 5 years to see them.That's a quarter of my life. Jesus, well that's what happens when you live in Australia. I'm a total sucker for cool light displays at gigs, and NIN have some of the best I've ever seen. I'm hoping for lotsa keyboard trashing and misc drunken behaviour.

Last night I went to the Ekka. There were lots of little things I remembered from the last time I went, which was a very long time ago. For example, some of the signs in the showbag pavilion; this little shower head display which compares the volume of water produced; the monkey race up the pole game in sideshow alley and just the general layout of the place. It was nice. Before the fireworks display I tried to imagine Don Bradman facing England on the RNA showgrounds oval. He made his test debut there. I also imagined what it would be like going to Livid. I always wanted to go to one, because: "It's like the Big Day Out, but it's a bloody lot closer!!!". However I've never liked the bands that play at Livid.

Also at the Ekka we managed to talk to Jabba, who used to be on channel-v before it got all crap. He was hanging around the Nova showbag stand. I managed to weave TISM into the conversation and found out he probably saw them, unmasked, at an airport. Other highlights were watching a guy chuck up near us, and Jabba hinting that he doesn't like a certain high-profile channel-v host. Hehe.

On the right I've added a bit of javascript which displays a random quote. I managed to find a quote my thesis supervisor made in a lecture from 1988. What a legend. Every few months he travels to Beijing. I've gotta ask him what he does there.

Also, I'm writing my thesis atm, and of course I have to use double line spacing. Which looks like this:

According to Sterling [2], controlling backtracking and good goal ordering are important concepts for designing efficient Prolog programs. He argues that goals should fail as early as possible. This reduces the number of recursive calls made, and leads to more “correct” Prolog programs.

Why the hell do you need to space out lines like that? This absurdity leads to another theory:

Theory #3

Academics use double line spacing to give the impression they have accomplished a lot more work than they have actually done.

Stupid smartarse uni people.

Topology

I saw Topology last Saturday at the Powerhouse. They also performed with this young girl, Kate Miller-Heidke. She's a slightly mainstream, though kinda peculiar solo singer. They sure did own. This is what they played:

• Some Michael Nyman piece
• Some Topology originals
• Kate Miller-Heidke songs backed by Topology
  
• Bjork songs with Topology and Kate
• Unravel
• Play Dead
  
• Tortured remixes:
• I can't get no satisfaction (with Kate)
• Staying Alive (with Kate)
  
• We Will Rock You
• Mamma Mia

Their covers of popular songs kick so much arse. Full of sharp, dissonant sounds and yelling from the band members. Hearing that Rolling Stones song sung by a girl was fkn hillarious. I hope they put that on a future recording.

During interval the saxophonist John Babbage was selling CDs. So I bought one of theirs and had a chat with him, complementing on how great the Michael Nyman pieces sound, and that they played at my school in 1999. Hurrah, I'm such a fan.

This Friday and Saturday they're doing a concert with Tyrone from that seminal Brissy band George. I might go. Dunno what they're playing though.

Oh and I finally share a birthday with a celebrity I half care about: Michael Nyman. I should try and listen to his stuff more.

sciency stuff

Last Thursday, an occultation occurred between the moon and Jupiter. Jupiter is that tiny little spec in the pictures below. I was expecting something cool to happen, but it was just a tiny white spec dissappearing behind the moon. Pfft, I'm stupid.





I just discovered google maps. You can fuckin look at satellite photos which cover the entire world. Holy crap. It's so detailed, you can see cars on the street. I've located my house, The University of Queensland, Lang Park, Statue of Liberty, where the World Trade Centre towers were, the landscape in Iceland used in the Bjork film clip for Joga, and Wimbledon. You can zoom in on everything except Antartica. I'm sure you can't look at certain bits though. Like Area 51, or anything Military-ish.

Well I must study for my last exam on Thursday. Hurrah!

e^procrastination + 3(exams) = n! (where n = me stressing out heaps)

I just started playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I played it the entire day and didn't study at all. Cool. I'm seeing Bailes tomorrow, got a test on Thursday, and I'm not feeling that great about it. All I need is 40% on it to pass the course. It's an interesting subject, but the maths is a bit too much for me.

Here's something interesting for TISM fans, penned by Damian Cowell. It details their trip to the Earthcore festival in Victoria. He talks about TISM walking unmasked through the crowds at the festival. No one notices them of course. Oh I hope they've still got the energy to do another tour here. They are so good.

Oh yeah, I went a bit over the top with javascript in my template. I made a NIN concert countdown, a Smoking Gun news feed on the side and a live picture telling you the current weather in Brisbane.

look at me, aren't I great?

I finally got the mark back for my Web Information Systems assignment. I seriously did weeks of work on that, and I ended up enjoying working on it. I got 28.5/30! It's worth 30% of the course overall, so that's a friggen lot. But then the tutor for the subject posted this on the newsgroup:

Hi all,

I forget to mention the highest marks.

For both INFS3202 and INFS7202, the highest mark is 28.5% (1 in each course).

I've never gotten the highest marks in any uni course before, so I'm very proud. But there's still a 52% exam for it, so that could screw me over.

If this blog allowed me to put javascript in my posts, I'd start a 'X days until NIN concert' counter.

I just figured I can put javascript in the template. Wacky do.

ye olde stories

So I came home today and found my grandma was gonna have dinner with us. She told us a couple of stories we had never heard. The first one was about her singing in a choir, and singing solo at a concert for Forgan Smith, the then premier of Queensland. Although the most amazing one was about living in Bethany when she was little. She told us she played with none other than (Sir) Joh Bjelke-Peterson, who was about her age. This prompted questions from my family such as: "So when did you realise he was corrupt?".

I started a new blog. I haven't done much work on it yet, but its' gonna be a political/issues themed blog. I hope I don't turn into a bleeding heart and bitch about every little problem in the world. The idea came to me when I was misplacing items at Coles and shouting aloud "fight the system! fuck the system!". Furthermore, in the line at the cinema, I was jumping up and down gesturing the people ahead of me to stop buying popcorn; buy your tickets and get the fuck outofmyway! Argh! I've been so pissed lately. I have to do something about it.

your death, and how to cope with it

today I played in the queen street mall. We sounded rather grandioso, although I fucked up one bit in Rhapsody in Blue.

So I saw this article about how death may not be such a career killer. It immediately made me think of Red Dwarf, where Rimmer dies, and is given a book called "your death and how to cope with it".

On Thursday it fuckin snowed in Brisbane. At least it looked like it. I was going home from uni on Thursday night, in the bus. Lots of crazy shit happenned! The bus crashed into a sign. I saw cars bogged in the snow/hale. I saw ice right down the middle of coronation drive. I saw sheets of white covering what used to be green grass. It was the coolest weather I have ever been amongst in my life. I wish that happenned more often. Oh god what if that happenned during State of Origin?! Fuck! All Thursday night I was just thinking: "What the fuck's going on?!?!?! Waaaaaaaaah?????"

ADDENDUM:
I've recently been thinking about some theories which I've hypothesised.

Theory #1

If the "eat fresh" fast food chain Subway is still around after 10 years, they will have turned into an unhealthy, McDonalds style, fast food joint. In the year 2015, Subway will have undergone McDonaldization. Thanks to Kristy, we discovered that Subway's "6 grams of fat or less in each Sub" is misleading, since that statement only applies to 6-inch subs! It's Subway-gate! It's a conspiracy! They're lying to us! In the year 2015, Subway will proudly announce that their Subs don't have any fat, but in reality they contain other bad shit. Consumer rights groups will sue Subway in 2016 because their siblings gotten fat from eating Subway everyday. Normal people will then criticise those groups and say "Nah shit Subway's bad for you! Duh!".

Theory #2

The Ministry of Sound is a prominent dance label/club. The thing that intrigues me is where they got their name. When I first heard their name, I immediately thought of Orwell's nineteen-eighty-four, since in that book, there are many ministries within Oceania's government. These are:

• Ministry of Peace (maintains peace in Oceania through continuous war)
  
• Ministry of Truth (deletes the past to confirm what the government of Oceania says is true)

As you can see, each ministry accomplishes its goal through that goal's exact opposite. So what if a Ministry of Sound existed in Oceania? Perhaps it might broadcast utterly shite music to Oceania's population? Wouldn't it destroy all of what is good in music in order to create music? If I can prove that the founders of The Ministry of Sound got that name from 1984, I'm a fucking genius.

!!!!!!!!!

from the ninhotline again:

An insider that works for Brisbane Entertainment Center has confirmed that NIN will be playing the venue on the 22nd of August. Yes, this year.

(Remember that this information is subject to change, as we're not strictly supposed to know about tour dates before they go up on nin.com!)

Nice one! Thanks Superjudge!

yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Einstein Factor

Just saw the Einstein Factor on the ABC. A guy's specialty subject was Bill Hicks, and he won! Good for him. So that means he'll be on the show again in a while. I impressed my family with how many questions I got right. Which is kinda weird cos previously I thought I didn't know what specialty subject I'd be good at. But I knew lots of stupid Bill Hicks facts. I also know a fair bit of TISM stuff I spose. But I doubt they'd ask questions like "What was the author of the book the feminist was reading while she chewed on Ron's knob?" or "True or false, did TISM do an interview in a restaurant where the interviewer was wearing a wet suit?"

Oh I want to be on a quiz show, but they're all down south. Damn.

NIИ

from the ninhotline:

Nine Inch Nails will be taking their With Teeth: 2005 Tour to the East Coast of Australia in late August.

According to a reliable source, venues are the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney and the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, with other cities to be confirmed.

Keep in mind that until a press release is sent out to the mainstream media, all details are subject to change.

Woo!! Jesus they'd better play Brisbane, or I'll be mighty cranky. I missed out on seeing them at the 2000 Big Day Out. Largely because I didn't even know them back then. If they come to Brisbane they'll probably play the Convention Centre. The last concert I saw their was utterly shite. Oh well. NIN have the craziest light show I've ever seen, on their DVD anyway. I'm very much looking forward to this.

So I was in the main refectory/cafeteria at my uni today. And I noticed 2 large posters on the wall. The red poster (which is the "club" colour of the uq union) said: "What compulsory student unionism does" and it listed many many positive facts about the uq union. With each fact having a smaller font size as it listed down the page, as if indicating "wow that's a lot of facts". However, the other poster was black (suggesting bad, negative, motherfuckin' evil) , and titled: "What voluntary student unionism does". It simply had one sentence that said something like: "VSU deprives students of important stuff, and it's bad!!! bad!!!!!!!" That's the general jist I got from it.

It just really bugged me that the 2nd poster didn't have any positive facts about VSU and the 1st didn't have any negative. Shouldn't you present the good and bad of each side? I realise I'm a hypocritical bastard, since I did those "free Schapelle Corby!!! rar!!!" posts. Oh well.

Jesus christ I'm sorry. I'm gonna make a non-political post one day, I swear.

fuck off union people

The Schapelle Corby saga is really ticking me off. I'm seriously getting angry just thinking about it. Corby gave a personal appeal the judges today, declaring her innocence. [1]

"I'd like to say to the prosecutors, I cannot admit to a crime I did not commit. To the judges - my life at the moment is in your hands but I'd prefer it if my life was in your hearts"

At times, the Judges "made asides to each other, smiled wryly and one read a book on philosophy" Jesus! What balls! I thought Indonesians valued politeness. After all, it was partly her politeness in court which provoked the prosecution to not demand the death penalty. [2]

I don't know why they didn't take fingerprints off the bag with the Marijuana in it. If it were found that no fingerprints of hers were on it, then thay would be rather strong evidence, wouldn't it?

The prosecution believes "The defendant's actions can ruin the image of Bali as a tourist destination" However if found guilty, this trial would do more damage to Bali than any drugs could.

I've decided to leave my "Schapelle's innocent" banner until she's out of jail and back in Australia. Which could take 40 years or so. Hmm, well this is my little protest for the day. As if Indonesian Judges are gonna read this. As if writing this is gonna help Schapelle. Pffft, I'm trying.

Well there's my completely one sided argument begging for Schapelle's freedom. I'd rather talk about this than student unionism. Fuck VSU, this is more important.

corby

I emailed Bailsey my thesis progress report today. Good to get that out of the way.

This Schapelle Corby thing is getting close to a final verdict. It's looking as if she'll receive a life sentence. Christ. That's fucked. In my opinion, the court in which the trial is being heard looks so pathetic. Semi-outdoors, phones going off all the time, that's shite! You can't have a fair trial in those conditions.

Russel Crowe has spoken publicly about it. He said this:

"The due process of Indonesian law we have to respect from an international relations point of view but from my individual point of view, looking at it, it's like it's bullshit, let's deal with it."

Take 'em on Russ! Fight those Indonesians! Foighting reeound the weeorld!!! Did he quit his band and join The John Butler Trio? Anyway, if Corby does get sentenced to life in jail, I'll be bitching about it on here.

tests! reports! exams! assignments!

I have an algorithms and data structures exam tomorrow. Reccurences, asymptotic time complexity, theta notation... that subject has it all! Actually, I learnt that the fastest a computer can multiply two numbers of n digits each is O(n log n log log n). Also, the fastest algorithm for the travelling salesman problem is O(n!). Wow! That's slow! Wow! I sound like Eliza!

Amidst all the chaos of University, I managed to begin reading "The Metamorphosis", by Franz Kafka. The opening sentence is:

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Fuckin insane.

I got my three Henry Rollins tickets today in the mail. I'm in row BB, which is the 5th row. Pretty good. Cog are also playing at the Zoo this Friday. I might go, I've already seen em twice though. meh.

Anyway, I must get back to work.

You've unreased the fooking foury!

I've caught a cold that my Dad has. Fucking great. Today I had a Computer Networks II test. I went alright. Though I felt there were too many C code questions. I wanted more on queing theory, which I've become rather good at.

After that I went into HMV and looked for stuff to get with my $30 HMV voucher. The following items took my fancy:

• Herbie Hancock live DVD - $15
• Atari Teenage Riot: The Future of War - $5
• G3 DVD, (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen) - $26

If you wanna hear Yngwie bitch like a little girl, download this: Yngwie was on a flight to Tokyo, and the waitress spilt water on him. You hear Yngwie saying "See you in Tokyo bitch!!! You've unreased the fooking foury!!!". Hillarious.

Bernard

Yesterday I had a mild brush with fame. Sorta. I walked past Bernard Hoey of Topology just as I got off the bus in the city. He was carrying his viola case and wearing a Tutti con Brio shirt. Their Perpetual Motion Machine cd is one of the best cds I've bought in a long while. It was recorded at QUT I do believe.

Yesterday I did some mild clothes shopping, looking for cool jackets in Myer and Target. Places where I can use Amy's gift card. Thanks again Amy. A pin stripe jacket took my fancy, but it looked too swish to wear everyday to uni. Meh.

I've applied for a few graduate positions lately. ANZ, Honeywell and Orica. Honeywell supply military equipment for the US, so I read. Jeebus. I'll apply for one down in Canberra, but I don't wanna move away from Brisbane for my first job. I'd be all scared and lonely.

I've been monitoring my mobile phone usage pedantically ever since I got it. I should be fine. I reckon I'll go through $30 every 2/3 months. I've used $3.37 over a week. And about 60c I accidentally used to record myself ordering Henry Rollins tickets. I left that on Rhodri's voicemail. I'm not used to mobiles yet. So a generous estimate: $3.37 x 4 weeks = $13.48 per month. $30 / $13.48 = 2.225 months of usage.

I also bought 3 Henry Rollins spoken word tickets. I'm so sly. I was about to order some crappy seats, but then I asked if he was doing another show. Annnnd he was, although it wasn't announced yet. They tickets were to go on sale tomorrow. So the nice Tivoli lady got me front row seats for the unannounced concert.

From the Tivoli ste:

No Support No Interval
Tuesday 24th May
& WEDNESDAY 25TH MAY
(New Date Released)
Doors: 7.00pm
Showtime: 8.00pm
Tickets: $45.65
All ages, Must be accompanied by a adult
Reserved Seating

Muhahaha. I rock.

I did so much stuff yesterday, but I've done fuck all today. Uggh. I feel sick.

2 degrees of separation

I met someone very interesting on the train home today. I was with these 2 girls who I knew from my music subject last year. I was showing them my phone and using the composer function, jamming along with their phone which played a nice polyphonic rhythm section. Suddenly, this fellow sitting across the aisle from me, starts talking to me. Our conversation went as thus:

stranger: "Are you a dj?"
me: "No I play a real instrument: Guitar"
*The train leaves Roma St. Station*
"Oh cool cool... hey don't give that up. Don't give up playing guitar, or playing music. God I knew some people. They were in uni, but they dropped out to play in a band. I used to play with them sometimes. It totally shocked their parents that they quit uni just to form a band. But ya know, they knew what they were doing, because, you see, they went on to become Powderfinger"

This guy immediately has my full attention. Fark. It seemed very orchestrated, the way he said how he knew Powderfinger. But I believed him. He seemed genuine. He seemed their age. It was weird that he said this to me near Roma St. I'm gonna write everything he said to me, before I forget it.

He started off saying he went to school with them. And he used to jam with the Powderfinger guys. He said that he doesn't see them very much now. I asked: "Do they play in America a lot nowadays?" "Oh well they still play at a place in Samford". He later said: "If you ever meet Powderfinger, just drop the name Luba. That was my nickname in school. My name's Stuart. But I'm sure they'll remember me"

He was going on a tangent about how he plays guitar now, with other people. I wanted to know more about Powderfinger. I asked him what the Powderfinger guys did at uni. He said:
"Oh ummm ummm *thinking thinking* I think Bernard was doing journalism. And someone was doing economics?" He didn't seem very sure. But I really did believe him. He mentioned a lot about Ian from Powderfinger. I just nodded, cos I only know of Bernard

I quizzed him about how he got to play with Powderfinger.

"Oh one time they played in this old, empty firehouse in *suburb I forget*. They were about 20 girls there listening to them intently. I figured they were their goupies. They asked me to play with them, because I had my guitar with me. So I did. I was shy ya know. I wish I had a 20 metre lead so I could play in the corner."

He later said that the songs that Powderfinger wrote for their first album were written in the 80's. Such a long time ago. I laughed. I asked him if he thought Powderfinger used a riff that was written by him in one of their songs.

"Oh no, I could never write songs. I could always provide a backing to something. I never wrote anything"

I was talking about how I saw Powderfinger at the Big Day Out. I was sinuating that "I didn't hate Powderfinger!". He said how he saw The Cure in the 80's, 1983? And some other notable bands.

I started talking about the problems I had when I was playing in bands in high school. Playing in a tiny room, it's always loud. You can't hear anyone talk.

"Yes yes. I know what you mean. And you need to find a good drummer. A lot of drummers a psycho"

I said that I played drums in an orchestra. He asked me if I wanted to play drums in some band of his. I said that I didn't have a drumkit, I just did orchestral percussion. Ah.

He got off at Wooloowin station. I shook his hand, and he reminded me to namecheck Luba to them. I assured him I would. And so that ended one interesting conversation. Wow. I'm 2 degrees from Powderfinger now. Quite amazing. The people you meet on a train.

Butterfly

After uni I trekked out to the backyard to find stuff to photograph. I saw a butterfly and stalked it for a while until it landed on the lemon tree. I got as close as I could to it and zoomed in about 8x. I photographed like mad and this was the best shot I got of it.



Oooh check out my uber stylish thumbnail!!!

Thankyou for reading my incredibly freaky lego post. I'm thinking of creating some more bizzare fiction like that. Maybe "The Complete and unabridged history of Legoland: Nazis out of the closet" Either that or do my thesis.

Legoland: Out of the Closet and On My Desk

A long time ago, there once lived a man. A man respected throughout all of legoland. His name was Dwayne. Like his pet fish, Isadora, he had a god awful name.



Despite being respected, he did have his fair share of misfortunes. For instance, he was forever cursed to have a gigantic lump on his head. Also, evolution treated Dwayne perculiarly. He had hands, although no fingers! Come to think of it, everyone in legoland had these abnormalities. In retrospect, the things that Dwayne needed to pick up fitted comfortably in his own hands. What a coincidence!

One day Dwayne was riding his chopper when he came across his old friend and fellow member of the legoland Nazi party, Leon.



Dwayne and Leon had a great time in the Nazi party. They primarily worked in the Ministry of Alterations. They exterminated black legoland people and, quote: "cleansed the white lego-race in the name of God and purified the soil of legoland with the blood of the facists".



"Hi comrade!" exclaimed Leon. Dwayne got out of his chopper, happy to see Leon. It's been a while since they last met. The last time they met was at a public hanging in which 3 legoland niggers died to the joy of thousands of white lego men. But before any discussions of recent nigger killings could take place, they heard a scream. A shout, a cry, of a fellow comrade. In pain oh the pain!



Leon and Dwayne were oblivious to the incident which happened approximately 30 cms from them. Although in lego terms, 30 cms would seem a lot, because, legoland only consisted of the area on Craig's desk. Leon and Dwayne rushed over to inspect the scene.



"Oh no! The Fuhrer! You killed the Fuhrer!" exclaimed Leon, with a smile on his face. "It wasn't me! It was you on the grassy knoll!" replied the mystery man, with the exact same smile on his face. "That's a lie! You tracherous swine!" screamed Leon, again, with that same smile on his face. The people of legoland could not express facial expressions. This perhaps caused much confusion among the population in legoland. One might theorise that this inability to communicate led to the racial scapegoating that was rife in legoland.

"Oh it's ooooon!!!" they mutually yelled.



Hmmm. What did they mutually agree on? Was it fighting? Or was it a gay threesome? The people of legoland got into these situations all the time. Unable to convey what they truly meant was a huge problem. Or was it?!?! Dwayne seemed to like the mystery assasinator going down on him, and Leon liked it when he was in positions of control. They all had huge smiles on their faces now!

Suddenly they sprung to their senses and started fighting! Rar! Although in no time, Dwayne put his gun to the assasinator's head.



With one decisive move of his finger...............? Actually how did the people of legoland use guns? How did they pull the trigger?!?!? One of life's many mysteries. Anywho, with the power of telekinesis, Dwayne pulled the trigger.



A flash ripped through legoland. As the bullet passed through the man's brain, it ripped his head clean off.



"Victory to the party! Oh glorious day for the white race!" exclaimed Dwayne, forgetting that their Fuhrer died a few minutes ago. What a twat. But with little time to celebrate, they noticed a rather large shadow eminating from behind them. What could that be? A nigger? No. Tis much worse. Dwayne and Leon turned around... their heads rose to take in what they saw.



Twas a beast of epic proportions!!!



Leon immediately recognized this as the work of the demigod Sarah. This leviathan was created around Christmas time. "It had never been a threat to legoland until now!!! Suddenly Leon and Dwayne sprung into action. They jumped up and landed on the monster's head.



They knew that the only way to destroy the monster was by shooting it through it's head. Though Dwayne suffered from a fear of heights. He peered down.



He started feeling quesy. Ugggh. His feet slipped! He fell and plummetted to his death!!!



He lay beside that huge scrachit Craig got for his birthday. Craig didn't win a cent on that. Fuck. Nevertheless, as Dwayne's corpse lay next to that giant, novelty scrachit, Leon yelled. "Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!! My fellow comrade! My fellow nigger hater!!! My gay partner I frequently had sex with!!!"



Leon contemplated his life at that moment, on top of the giant beast. Will he ever grow fingers? Will he ever learn to use his face as a means of communication? Will he stop wearing that stupid pirate hat and stop holding that silly flag? Won't he ever grow up?!?!?!

THE END?

Afterword:
Jesus, I had no intention of making the characters in this story gay Nazis. I am really fucked in the head. Neither have I ever written a sex scene before. I spose I was trying to explain why I never played with black lego men when I was young. I honestly cannot recall seeing black lego men, or women! I've never seen a lego women before in my life. Though I'm pretty sure they have em now. I don't think this racist world would exist anymore. Current lego sets consist of many races of lego people, including women.

In summary, this story is a period piece, which is set in the early 90's. A racist period in lego culture. This racism is fueled by the inability to communicate non-verbally with others. Factors which contribute to this include:

• Static facial expressions
• Limited arm and leg movement
• Only one axis of movement in head
  

Since most communication is non-verbal, this is why they fail to relate to black lego people, and thus create in their little lego-minds, a little lego-stereotype.

Since there are no women in the lego world of the early 90's, the lego men are forced into homosexuality. Lego men turn to homosexuality, also because of their constant smiles on their faces. They're happy. They're gay. However, of course, homosexuality is strictly forbidden in the Nazi party. Hence, all members of the Nazi parties are still stuck in the closet and refuse to admit to their gay tendencies.

This anger about how the Nazi party represses homosexual activity is probably what prompted the mystery person to assasinate the Fuhrer. Immediately afterwards, all three of them indulged in a threesome. Without the ruling of the Fuhrer, they were free to express their forbidden desires.

With the execution of the Fuhrer, one might predict how legoland would evolve into the next century. The assasination may well have started a revolution. Without the Fuhrer they were so much more free. However, their limited non-verbal communication would still be apparent. It would still encourage racist behaviour and another Fuhrer may well have risen to the ranks. Perhaps the giant monster brought together the entire population of legoland. Perhaps they rose up against the monster, and the demigod Sarah and won! Thus creating a feeling of togetherness within the community.

It is interesting to ponder these questions and predict how legoland morphed into what it is now: a land where everyone is equal, and racial prejudices do not exist.

So I hope that this story will be used in the classroom as a story to seriously study. It will be right up there with nineteen-eighty-four, and brave new world.*

* Joke

mobiles, Chopin, God, killing and Telstra

Next week I'm finally getting a phone, courtesy of Kristy :)

It's a bargain price of $20 + $3.50 for a few covers for it. I honestly have no idea how much I'm gonna use it, so pre-paid sounds like the best option. I'm eventually gonna get jealous of other people's phones that can take pictures, browse web sites, play Splinter Cell and articulate every note of Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto Op 26 in C major. Fuck. That's all I'm jealous of: polyphony.

Actually that brings me to an important issue. It always pisses me off when I hear Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu played on a mobile. That song seems to come on every mobile nowadays. I'd rather hear something more electro on phones. Kraftwek is just made for mobiles! Yeah!!! I'm gonna arrange Pocket Calculator on my phone when I get it. Playing the classics on mobile phones just doesn't do them any justice for me.

I'm glad Terri Schiavo is finally gonna die. I can't stand those pro-life Americans on TV much longer. I overheard this conversation on the news:

"This is supposed to be what Terri wants. If she wants to die, then so be it."
"It should not be what Terri wants, it's what God wants"

AGAHRGHAGRHGARH!!!! kill her kill her kill her

I was watching Brisbane Extra today, and they had a story on how the rust forming on a metal water tank formed a picture of a boy praying. They claimed it was an act of God. Then it occurred to me, if God drew that, I think he would've drawn it a lot clearer. He is God, afterall.

Also today I submitted my Telstra application, and finally finished my work experience report. I got a lot done, and I owe it all to resisting to play Spider Solitaire, and embracing the Party Shuffle mode on iTunes. Working on computers is filled with distractions. Frick. It's not fair.

isadora

i have a pet. it's name is rupunsel. it's a siamese poker playing fish. sometimes it goes on foxtel and competes in those texas hold em poker tournaments with such luminaries as ben affleck. although there isn't a fish category in the tournament, the directors of the aforementioned tournament do not mind having a fish at a fucking poker table

though they had to make arrangements

for instance, they needed to install an aquarium at the poker table, on a chair. now the chair needed to be approx. 1.2 metres from the ground. now the aquarium needed to hold at least 10 litres, for him to play poker in

they also needed to make special water proof cards, so they had to laminate an original deck, and also, translate the card symbols, ie: spade heart, and all of the numbers into fishy-speak

so yeah, he was playing along with ben affleck, though he couldn't talk to ben affleck because:

a) he's a fucking twat

b) he can't speak fishy-speak, and

c) he can't speak english, which is apparent if you see any movies of his

so yes, he was playing along, and he realised that on the river card, he had a straight flush! so he decided to bluff, and not bet much. ben affleck looked into the fishy's eyes. they were dead cold and as black as night. well actually they were black cos he was wearing a pair of sunnies. he looked fucking untouchable. like al pacino in scarface, first you get the sunnies, then you get the power

then you get, the fishies

he was also smoking his little fishy cigar, with bubbles trailing out of it, oh fuck man, he's was da bomb! so with his straight flush, he won the pot. and then he quit poker and then became a neo facist, niahlistic anarchist. he eventually became a member of the liberal party

but then he suddenly quit politics and retired at the ripe old fishy age of 2 weeks. he retired back to his old bowl at kristy's place. although kristy, thinking that he was a she called him some prissy girls name like isadora. he deeply resented that. he always wanted to be called something with a bit more dignity, like, donald, or craig. so he really hated his owner. she kept on feeding him

party pies

he hated these! hated hated!!! triple exclamation point!!! he got so sick of these, in fact he overate on these, and eventually contracted a disease called partypiesifuckinghatethemitus. although it's full scientific name is fuckwhycouldn'tkristyfeedmenormalfishfoodinsteadofthiscrapthatshethinksilikewellactuallyshelikessoshethinkseveryonelikesit

so eventually "isadora" *groan* died of that disease. he never believed in a fishy heaven, until the day that he died. that day changed everything. he went to the pearly gates of fishy heaven. he got to the gate, and he met this old looking fish, he asked him "so what was your name?" he says "well, it was isadora..." "isadora???" suddenly, the old geezer pulled down a lever, and the floor

underneath isadora gave way and he went flying down and down and down, into, fishy fucking hell

he hit the ground hard. *thump!!!* though it didn't really make that sound. after a while spent in fishy hell he realised that everyone here had gay names!!! look! there was coffee! oh and there was tv!!! wow!!! and over there was some prat named humphrey. though he realised that, humphrey wasn't his real name. he realised his actual name was damien

and so on and on he travelled through hell. meeting people/fish with gay names. he spent 6 years, 6 months and 6 days searching the bowels of hell. he eventually got a bit tired and decided to have a rest. then he started to think of all the plot holes in his life... hmmm.... how on earth can a fish talk? why is it speaking in english of all languages? and how can it survive in hell, or heaven, if

it needs water to survive in!!!! this was extremely puzzling to poor old isadora

he then realised that there was no purpose in thinking about such questions. these questions would only puzzle him further and eventually detatch him from reality. but why? he hated reality. he was cursed with such a bad name!!! oh! how he did loathe that.

he sought help from satan, who was, actually some annoying little kid fish called nemo. jesus christ. he asked satan "why do i continuously roam around your world and seek answers to the plot holes in my life?" satan replied "because this is a story, this is not reality. your whole life was never real isadora. it has been written by a person of high consciousness. a person by the name of, craig"

this abso-fucking-lutely stunned isadora. it made new connections in his little fishy brain. he thought "none of this is real! what about craig? is he real? is he??? how can i meet him?" isadora mused over this questions for months on end. finally he came to realise the way to meet almighty craig, was via msn. a mysterious digital force." he went to the local satanic library.

he immediately sought the section on microsoft. they were easy to find in the satanic library. reading about msn, made his eyes glow with anticipation. he can do it. he can cross over. not like in that crappy movie called, the mat reeks, or some gay name like. it would be better. so much better.

so after months of reading he decided now was the time. now or never. i shall connect to craig. and i shall meet my fate.

- Craig Curtis © 2005

ignored

I went to band tonight, and I had a bloody good time. It was our annual general meeting, where we delegate whose gonna look after what for this year. But afterwards we had a little party. And I was thinking, "hey I can update the crappy qwab website!". At the time I was thinking this, I was talking with a new person in the band, Rebecca. So as I'm thinking about this, Wayne, our band president walks near us. And I say to him:

Craig: Hey who runs the qwab website?
Wayne: Well I got some person to do a quick job of it, and I don't really like it.
Rebecca: Hey I could update it, because that is my proffession.
Wayne: *shouts out to the rest of the band* Hey Rebecca has offered to run the qwab website!!!
*Suddenly the shift of attention switches from me to Rebecca. Craig realises his bold attempt to do something good for the band has backfired! No! He must act now or forever be a prisoner of his failure to control social gatherings!*
Craig: Hey!!! I can do it too!!!!! *Look at me! Look at me! I've only done 3 years of university*

This event made me think back to year 7. Me and this other guy (who shall remain nameless, cos I fuckin hated the c**t) were in the same class, and we both did percussion in concert band. Now, when my year 7 class had our weekly classrrom music class, Mrs Brown was talking about drums, and some performance that was coming up. I start getting interested because, well, I play percussion! At the back of the room, was my year 7 teacher, (whom I also hated with a satanic passion) and suddenly he starts talking about Alistair (that prick I told you who should remain nameless). He starts saying stuff like "hey Alistair, he's right into that drum stuff. Yeah he does drums in concert band. ha haaa! Yes Alistair!" Meanwhile I'm thinking "I do drums as well! Mention me!! Look at me!!!!". And he just ignores me. Fucker. By the way, I was shitloads better at drums than Alistair. I didn't do conventional drumming practise like I was supposed to. I didn't learn from the "Best In Class" series. I played along with Metallica, learning fills and cool rhythms, even though I didn't have a drumkit. Alistair practised, but he wasn't that great. And for some reason he seems to be the only drummer in my class according to my year 7 teacher! Fuck! To quote Bill Hicks: "I hope he's cut in two by a train in front of his kids". Actually that's a bit much, but you get the idea.

That's the story of my life really, ignored. I really should speak up more, so this wouldn't happen. If I had my way, in qwab we'd play some Ennio Morricone songs and I'd play the cool electric guitar solo bits. But I don't think arrangements of those pieces exist for wind and brass bands.

I turn 21 in four minutes. Will things change tomorrow? Who knows, except me.

20 years and 364 days

I turn 21 tomorrow. If anyone tells me what it's like being 21, I'll say it's like being 20. That makes sense.

I was playing around with the camera today. I wanted to take a picture of my Polyphonic Spree setlist to show the world. If anyone can tell me what Gom-bem-berry people means, I'd love to know!



I also found an old bee picture I took on the camera, which you can see here. It's so good! I love the shadows in it, and the fact that there's a bee hovering mid air. I remember setting the camera on the table, so it wouldn't be blurry, and I saw this bee pollenating the flowers just beside me. I thought "Holy fuck take pictures take pictures!!!". And that was the best one. At the moment it's the best picture I've ever taken. But a lot of people like the dragonfly one better.

I got 2 letters in the mail today. I know one is from grandma Douglass, and the other one is from uncle john and auntie claire. I haven't opened them. I can wait. I really don't particularly care what I get. As you get older you care less and less about birthdays, christmas and easter. It's just another day. I don't share my birthday with anyone that great. Only Michael Atherton, who used to captain the English test side. If only I was born on the 22nd of March, I could share my bday with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. My Dad share's his bday with Chuck Norris. I'm jealous.

Turning 21 doesn't have the same impact as it did many decades ago. I just don't care. If only the legal driving age was 21, then I'd feel a bit better about it. I just thought of a poem Lisa Simpson writes when turning 8.

Meditations on turning 8:
I once had a cat named Snowball,
She died, She died.
Mum told me she was sleeping,
She lied! She lied!
Why oh why is my cat dead?
Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?

I'm not clever enough to write a poem that good.

MGF

Tonight I'm seeing Machine Gun Fellatio for the 2nd time. Wooo.

So today I was reading about Google; the most popular search engine in the universe, as well as the backbone of many other services including blogspot, ahem. I found out that the Google cookie expires in the year 2038. What the hell's with that? I'm not gonna be using this computer in 2038. Why should they keep my personal preferences until then? I'll be 54 in 2038AD, and I think Google would've morphed into another company, ie: MicroGoogleSoft perhaps. Jesus I can't believe someone has registered the www.microgooglesoft.com domain name. I just came up with that company name by myself. Fuck I'll probably be working for them in 2038. No! I wanna retire before 2038! Actually the dominant company of 2038 might be MicroStarGoogleBucksSoft. That's assuming computers and coffee are still huge commodities in the future. It would be funny, if in the future, computers aren't used at all. People suddenly realise they hate the Internet and Internet Explorer ever since Microsoft bought out Mozilla in 2020. I'm sure Bill Gates will be put on ice in 2038. Until they find a cure for the 'evil-businessman' virus he contracted when he was young.

So what was I talking about? MGF! I hope they put on a different show this time. I like to see bands do different stuff. I'd better get ready. So long!

Satch

I met one of the greatest guitarists in recent times today. Even though I'm not the greatest fan of him, I was still rather stoked about it. Along with about 200 other people at Allans Music, I met Joe Satriani.



I was thinking I should've brought along my guitar to have signed, but I've only heard one album by him. I didn't have any albums for him to sign, so I got one of Darcy's albums. An album I've never heard before in my life. hehe. My conversation with him went as thus:

Me: "Hi Joe!"
*shakes hand*
Joe: "Yeah, the Extremist!"
Me: "yyyyyyyeah" *quietly*
*shakes hand and poses for photo*
Me: "Thankyou very much!"

So he is the most famous person I've met. I really hadn't met anyone famous before him. I realise I could've met Moby after his concert if I waited on the street outside Festival Hall for a couple of hours. Christ, so I could've met another bald guy. What's with that? Moby is certainly a lot more famous than Satch, however Satch has a lot more talent. So I think that's more important.

Anyway, for Satch I was trying to think of something worthwhile to say to him, but I didn't wanna make a fool of myself. He seemed rather upbeat when I met him. Nice guy. I was thinking of bands/people I wish did an instore appearance. TISM for example. hehe. But I wish I could meet Yngwie Malmsteen. Holy crap. I'd definitely get him to sign my guitar.

My Timetable

Here's my timetable, for the benefit of my COMS4200 group.

Monday
COMS4200 Computer Networks II	Lecture	L	10:00am	11:50am		32	207	28/02 - 04/06
COMS4200 Computer Networks II	Tutorial	T1	12:00pm	12:50pm		01	E212	28/02 - 04/06
Tuesday
COMS4200 Computer Networks II	Practical	P1	3:00pm	3:50pm		78	121	28/02 - 04/06
Thursday
COMP4500 Advanced Algorithms & Data Structures	Lecture	L	10:00am	11:50am		78	224	28/02 - 04/06
INFS3202 Web Information Systems	Lecture	L	4:00pm	5:50pm		63	348	28/02 - 04/06
Friday
INFS3202 Web Information Systems	Practical	P7	8:00am	9:50am		78	116	28/02 - 04/06
COMP4500 Advanced Algorithms & Data Structures	Lecture	L	11:00am	11:50am		78	224	28/02 - 04/06

I also meet with my thesis supervisor 4-5 on Mondays.

more

So last night I went to Sarah's and watched Kill Bill. I was disappointed we didn't see The Good The Bad and the Ugly. I was looking forward to that, cos it's one of the greatest films ever and I haven't seen it. Last night consisted of lying on a couch and dealing with young, drunk, confident children pishing away their bladders every 10 minutes. I hate people younger than me drinking. Sorry. Looking at people like that makes me wanna go sober. Though being around a bunch of clean OP 1'ers makes me wanna mainline herroin into my eyeballs, to quote a phrase.

My back is hurting once again. Life just gets better and better doesn't it? I'm thinking of asking for a new chair (another one) for my bday. Although I bought a $90 one 6 months ago.

My 21st is coming up. Yipee fucking yay. I don't know what I'm gonna do for a party. I think Sarah will be in Canberra around my bday, so that'll delay an Easter weekend party at her house.

Last week I got out a book full of essays by George Orwell. He talks about working in a 2nd hand bookshop, and ending up hating the smell of old books. Amongst other things.

I clicked on this because....I thought there was chocolate insideI thought I would find WMD'sI wanted to see it drop down. Ooohhh it's so funky!!!Your blog wasn't interesting to read, and this seemed more fun

This post was:
Good
Ungood
Seminal (though I don't know what seminal means)
Bowel Loosening

Say something!!!
Some more interactive shite for you to play around with

To be or not to be; that is the issue

So I met with Bailsey yesterday. Someone else will be working on my thesis topic as well. Though we'll be working independently.

I just finished Death Sentence today. I particularly liked the bit where he arranges Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address for the 21st century. It sounds pathetic. This book has really opened my eyes, but I feel it's a mild paranoia, because I am picking apart everything I read now. I read the course profiles of my subjects, and I get so fucking pished. In my work experience report, I was trying to describe what Brisbane Water IT actually did, but I couldn't do it, without saying something like: "Brisbane Water IT implements IT solutions to the entire range of blah blah blah". I hate that phrase "IT solutions". FUck off! I see it everywhere.

sing-ing

I'm getting started on my thesis right now. I'm researching into how UQ deals with Credit Transfer. 50% of the subject is writing the thesis document. I really don't mind, cos I'm quite the aficionado of clever prose. I thought that I should cite 'Death Sentence' in my Thesis intro and say "This Thesis will refrain from the managerial newspeak discussed in this book".

I had my first singing class today. Meh, I'm not exactly inspired by it, but it'll have to do. I'm sure I can get at least a 5 in that subject. Yay me.

James's 21st is on Saturday, and I have no means of getting there, other than by my parents. That's really low.

Uni

So I started Uni again yesterday. Woooo. Computer Networks is taught by this German sounding guy called Marius. He's great. I also attended a lecture for one of the most obscure and unpopular subjects I've ever had. It's called 'High Integrity Software Development'. 6 other people were doing the subject. Tomorrow I've got music, so hopefully I'll decide if I wish to commit to 5 - 6 hours a week of that.

I got out 2 books yesterday.

• The Art of Computer Programming - Donald Knuth
• Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language - Don Watson

I remember researching Donald Knuth's algorithm for solving Mastermind a couple of years ago. The 2nd book is about language, and how it is misused in business/political situations. It talks about how stuff like this just doesn't make sense:

Over the coming twelve months we will be enhancing our product offering to bring you new features and access to innovative funds. You can be confident that our commitment is resolute, to make changes that investor's value - Insurance company newsletter

I read a lot of that crap during work experience. That's partly why I hated work.

First day of school

Well it's February 27th. I start Uni again tomorrow. It feels like the first day of school. I'm a bit sad but I know I have to go anyway. Here are some of my fears at the moment:

• This thesis will consume my life
• This thesis will suck out my soul and destroy me emotionally
• This thesis will make me wanna quit Uni and become a bum (ie: spiritual advisor ie: Steven (no that's too harsh))
  
• The music subject I'm doing will be hard and take up all of my spare time
• Not knowing whether to do COMS4200 or COMP4602
• Going to Uni 5 days a week for an hour at a time (Fucking timetable)
  

There.

Last night I saw Ross Noble stagger around a stage for 2 hours. He wasn't that great. I never thought he would be. There are a few lines I did like though. For instance, he's talking about how there'd be a bouncer guarding the pearly gates in heaven.

Bouncer - "Sorry mate, not in those shoes"
Someone - "But you let a guy in wearing sandles!"
Bouncer - "He's the boss's son"

He talked too much about the audience. Whenever someone walked in or out of the theatre, he'd crap on about them for the next 10 minutes. Argh! I'd rather someone have material to recite, instead of imrproving all the time. It was the first comedian I've seen live, and it's kinda coincidental that it happenned on the anniversary of Bill Hick's passing. 11 years ago he died. How bout that.