-sigh-
thought my freecell winning streak of 102 games was pretty good, but a friend just told me she's currently on 104. bitch. she's thrown down the gauntlet - or at least, that's how i'm interpreting it, so now i have a goal in my life - what a weird feeling...
11:52:00 PM

 
I smell Windex (tm). It's reminding me of a friend - I'm not sure why.
11:07:00 PM

 
There's no way this matlab script is going to finish - it's going to run out of memory any second now...
11:06:00 PM

 
Also just found out I'm not owed any money. Damn.
11:05:00 PM

 
Hmmm... after getting stung on weekend, this gave me a little shiver. I imagine it's a tropical species, but will check distribution anyway... -phew-
10:54:00 PM

 
Well. Am drinking a can of "great lemon taste Lift 5% lemon juice" from the bluddy Coke Co. Can't recall last time I actually had soft drink - possibly would've had a gin and lemonade if I ran out of tonic at some point last year. Definitely haven't had a can of "pop" in at least four years. Weird drinking from a can and getting notbeer.
10:49:00 PM

 
Oh! Just remembered I brought lunch today! Yay! Food!
12:26:00 AM

 
Also, got challenged by scrabblers to Trivial Pursuit - are they just setting me up for a vengeful fall? I really haven't played much at all, maybe 5 or 6 games in my life, on a variety of versions (I recall the kids version was heavy on the Disney questions), and have really only been reading the news for the last year or two, so any current affairish thing from before that I will be woefully ignorant of. Not to mention my neglected sport education. And what are the other topics? Anyway, the sciencey section will be the only part I have any confidence in. Oh well, if I'm thrashed, it'll serve me right for gloating over scrabble :)
7:54:00 PM

 
Blogging. So infectious. heh.

Also, I've been meaning to start my day earlier. So big thanks go out to sidewalk repairmen, their 06:30 starts, and all of their unsoundproofed powertools.

Just rereading last couple of posts. Midweek not-so-upper may be due to sadness of L leaving! -ah- makes sense...
7:44:00 PM

 
OK. So why don't I do work when I should?
A friend just pointed out I don't have a work ethic. This is true. Said friend and I recently had a discussion in which I pithily stated my entire ethical code as "try not to hurt anyone". Ooh, hang on, but my not working is actually a form of harm to my future self, and is thus covered by my code (and I'm sure I was cognizant of this fact when I formulated said code). Which I suppose means I should try to work (and even while my surface conciousness acknowledges this, a sublayer began to rationalize that the future is so unpredictable, do I really know that harm will be done?). Anyway, today, instead of work, I retested my EQ at about 120 (I think it was only scaled up to 150 or so), which should supposedly predict reasonable success in life type stuff, however I didn't pay for the full score breakdown, and suspect it's the motivational component of my EQ which is seriously bringing my score down, and I suspect it's this factor which is most important in going anywhere in life. But I knew that already, and have thought about it at length. Rehash rehash rehash. Did I have no interesting new thoughts today?

What else? Any other self-obsessed items for me to ponder? Reading about happiness (where was it? NY Times? the Telegraph?) made me wonder - have I been happier in the past? I generally regard myself as pretty bluddy happy. This past weekend I was quite, in fact, probably ludicrously, happy. But I seem to recall that a couple of years ago, after a good weekend, I would float on happiness through the rest of the week - at least through the midweek blues which I find many of my buddies experience and blamed weekend MDMA for, even though I suspected weekend sleep-deprivation to be a major factor... In any case, today (midweek) I find myself feeling quite normally happy rather than basking in the warm rosy glow of a good weekend.

What a waste of space this post has been.
12:44:00 AM

 
-sigh-
Weekend definitely over. Didn't go out last night. But got to cook for what seems like the first time in a while (yummy noodle, snowpea, tofu, carrot, onion, teriyaki stirfry). Watched some boring tv. Resolve not to do so in future. Read some more Wodehouse.

L leaves us today :(
Hope we took care of her ok - she didn't seem *entirely* comfortable making herself at home... and I came in to work earlyish this morning, and woke her up as I was leaving for a goodbye - I don't think she was fully awake (sorry L). It may well be a couple of years before we see each other again.
7:55:00 PM

 
argh - just lost post of up to the minute activity! (ie. stuff I did last night) - dammit! just noticed a little edit I wanted to do in a previous post, and stupidly did it, ignoring the fact that i'd written a whole chunk of stuff already...

So Monday (after coming in to work, then morning tea, blog, gym, lunch, arvo tea, blog) went home, and went to beach with houseguest L. Sun still well up (~17:45). Was lovely! Not as chilly as I'd feared, although sea breeze in as expected, and water choppy. Water was a really nice temperature. Swell was a bit of a contrast to usual swim out and float peacefully - more of a dive out under waves, and float up and down on swell (still peacefully). Tiny bit of wimpy bodysurfing as I had sunnies on and didn't really want to get dumped and lose them. But then out pretty quick as we were supposed to be home by 18:30 to get ready to go out to dinner. Wind not even chilly when we got out, although the sand grains whipping against our ankles stung a little.

Into town, drinks at classic old bar/cafe, kind of an institution amongst our group (and probably many others). Then on to a Vietnamese restaurant to meet friends (G and B amongst others). Ate STACKS. Sooooo Fulll..... Then back to B's place to hang for a bit.

Such a lovely weekend - so relaxed, so much just hanging out with friends. Must do it MORE!
1:54:00 AM

 
ooh - just had a slight fear-frisson - I came back to my building, and it was starting to rain, so I thought I should move my bike from it's usual unsheltered spot to somewhere undercover. But my bike wasn't there! I thought carefully - had I left it around the other side of the building as I very occasionally do? No! I got a lift into work today! My bike's at home! -phew-.
1:22:00 AM

 
hmmm... am finding the thread of blogging here slightly annoying, with reverse date organization. Probably just due to my disjointed accounting of weekend...
12:51:00 AM

 
On Sunday, we had a late, leisurely wakeup to a 10:30 phone call with invite to the beach. Some brekky (bowl of muesli plus toast), then friends around, and we head for the beach - we selected what we thought would be one of the least crowded beaches around, but considering this was the Sunday of a long weekend, were not optimistic about our chances. But we arrived, and managed to find parking nearby, and it wasn't too crowded. Wind was still offshore. Sun. Sand. Blue sky. Straight in for a swim. Floated on my back in the sun, with my sunnies on for a while. Swam out further. Got stung by a jellyfish on my chest and arm. Floated a bit more. Swam some more. Then went and lay on the beach and read my book (of P.G. Wodehouse short stories). Very relaxing. Discussed our plans for the day. Work? Unlikely. The pub? Mmmmm... Okay.

So at the pub, it was full, but not too crowded. I managed to score a table in the beergarden as some other people left. We shared a plate of tapas - olives, chorizo, prawns, polenta, baked ricotta, and arancini in the dappled shade of the green maples, and savoured some refreshing lager. Then over a plate of nachos with more beer we mellowed and watched the crowds swirl around us. Toward late afternoon, the place started getting more and more crowded, and C, L and I decided to refresh ourselves at home before heading out for our evening rendezvous.

We were supposed to meet ravertype friends for birthday drinks (another Oz day birthday boy) at a particular pub (which often plays drum'n'bass or house) at 7pm. Housemate (C) slept till 19:30. But as we (me and housemate C and houseguest L) were finally ready to head out the door, we got a call from mutual friend of said birthday boy (and soon after by girlfriend of said boy), telling us our plans were scuppered by a punk band playing at the intended premises. Thus (although personally, I have nothing against punk) the venue changed and we decided we had time to drop in on other friends at another pub before the first group got their act together. DJ's playing some relatively unobtrusive funky house, $5 pints (including Toohey's Old), friends including B, a good friend from ages ago whom has only recently moved here from several hours south, so I was quite happy. The crowd seemed reasonably friendly, including one complete stranger who came up beside me at the bar (while I was ordering my second Toohey's Old), tousled my hair a bit, played with it a bit longer than i was entirely comfortable with, grinned at me quite manicly, and put his bright yellow bucket hat on my head. It may have been a dare, from the appearance of a couple of his grinning friends on the other side of the bar. Fortunately my hair was productless and in a quite natural state, quite easily returning to it's original form. Unfortunately, I didn't think to try and keep the hat, which i thought quite funky. In the nick of time, I received my pint and made my escape back to my friends, fortunately based out in the beer garden, some distance from the bar and any weird albeit friendly strangers.

In any case, got to have a nice catchup with B and her boyfriend who seemed very nice, but seemed to stare at me a bit more than I thought was normal - possibly being a little paranoid, but was a little worried it was because he somehow knew B used to have a thing for me...

After my second pint though, L had to go meet other friend in town, and I went with C to the other pub, which *also* had a nice beer garden (going to have to hang out at these places more this summer), and the dj was actually outside up on a step under a huge date palm, and was playing some funkier dancier music (than at other pub). And got to catch up with that crew for an hour or so. Got the official flyer for a (mini)rave one of the girls was helping organize. Discussed the unavailability of acid. Which had also been a topic of conversation the previous (slide) night with other friends. Unfortunately, this pub closed about 22:30 (early, as it was a Sunday and it was a public holiday the next day). So said our goodbyes, and somehow, acid came up again, and a friend (not involved in original conversation) said she could probably source some - *ah* serendipity. Anyway, C and me went back to the first pub, but our friends had left :( But then we bumped into a couple of C's friends and hung out with them.

So, anyway, I had a rather enjoyable evening...
12:37:00 AM

 
*ah* a long weekend. Being in on the (officially holiday) Monday doesn't seem so bad. Especially since I don't seem to be expecting to do any work. So, a big blog ahead...

So on Saturday (Oztraylya Day), I got up quite early ("early" considering I was up semi-late playing scrabble the night before), and by 10:30 am had managed to do the grocery shopping, and also get a birthday present for a friend who shares his birthday with Oz Day. We shall refer to this friend as G. Felt virtuously productive. Then I went to the gym - missed the cardio session and just lifted a bit (am gradually getting back into it after a bit of a hiatus and change-of-focus onto more cardiolikestuff - must make sure I don't swing too far from the cardio side). Cycled home, and a friend now based in London (whom we shall refer to as L) had arrived and was hanging out with my housemate (whom I really should have introduced before now, and whom we shall nominate as C). L is staying in our living room for a few days. So (after I had a shower) L and I had a big catch up while we got ready to go to G's place for an Oz day BBBQ (birthday bbq). Eventually the wine, sausages, strawberries marinating in balsamic and basil, and beer were packed and I drove us all up to G's new place.

We got there at about 3pm, and the house was suspiciously quiet, I was quite worried I'd read the email entirely wrong. But just as we'd rung the doorbell, G comes roaring up the driveway in his car, after a last minute food trip. He couldn't actually remember what time he'd written on his email, so I decided to believe I'd been right, and got over it (I just checked the email, and I *was* right, -phew-). It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky, bright sunshine, maybe 30ish degrees, and we sat out on the back verandah with icy cold beers and talked for more than an hour. A couple of other people arrived, and we moved Bob (the BBQ) around to find the ideal backyard spot, and constructed a dry-fuel edifice within it's depths.

It was such a lovely afternoon, and it was great to have L there to remind us of everything she misses about Oz, and how much we take for granted. The sun and warmth and garden and sky, doing stuff with your hands out in the garden, space, beers on the verandah - she was even going on about how much she appreciated feeling a fly crawl over her foot... Housemate C was really hungry, and tried to get me to cook for her - heh, right - she ended up cooking for me. We chopped onions and a salad. Toasted some bread rolls. Got out the tomato sauce. A few more people I haven't seen in much too long, as well as a couple of new faces arrived, and I got to have some great hugs, catchup chats, and initial foray introduction chats. We sat in a big circle on the lawn in the backyard and ate and drank and talked and tried to juggle lemons. We admired the mandarin, and orange and lemon trees and the huge and very healthy looking fig tree. We discussed politics and travel. We swang on the swings.

For dessert, N, G's ex, had made a pavlova (how Aussie!), which we had with whipped cream and fruit, and the balsamic strawberries with basil, which combined quite sublimely.

About 20:20, my housemate (for some unknown reason) thought she wanted to catch the fireworks, so we (after a little cajoling) trooped out to the road and went up the hill and saw a string of fireworks across the city skyline. And then they stopped. Really, we caught like maybe 30 seconds of them. Heh. So then back to the house. I helped string up a white bedsheet on the Hills Hoist, and set up a slide projector for G and R (one of G's and now also one of my best friends). G showed some recent amazing landscapes from New Zealand - hugely striking mountains and lakes. And R showed us some wildlife from South America (many bugs, but also frogs, toads, lizards and a very funky sloth).

Meanwhile, a couple more people arrived, including another Londoner whom I hung out with a little last time I was there, and who seemed pretty happy to see me, which was really nice. So I caught up a bit, but then it was somehow 22:00 already, and I knew I was also supposed to make a showing at another Oz day evening, so I corralled the herd (C&L), and we made our sad goodbyes, and headed over to C1's place.

More drinking (I was counting mine very carefully), and somehow I was hungry again, and totally went for the crackers and brie, cheddar, and havarti. Yum. And - surprise! - ANOTHER now-Londoner (whom I also got to hang with in London last year) was staying with C1. More catching up to do :) But a long afternoon in the sun, with lots of eating and drinking, and we were ready for bed by midnightish...
11:31:00 PM

 
[*Warning! Overenthusiastic geekness ahead*] YES! All that procrastination at work playing online scrabble pays off! Last night, a couple of smart-alec lawyers casually challenged me to a friendly game, obviously expecting their superior verbal and linguistic skills would give them the advantage over a lowly engineer. Woo-hoo! Thrashed them soundly. Our first game I beat them by more than 100 and 150 pts respectively (with only one seven letterer ('siezing', on my second go), and I sooo almost managed to finish the game with another seven letterer ('ragouts'), but the board was full and there was nowhere to put it :(. Our second game I eased up on them, feeling rather guilty and unsportsman-like, and only won by 20 or so :-) I hope they still talk to me. Or at least challenge me to a rematch.
9:44:00 PM

 
So last night a friend showed me his vinyl collection. Generally of a scary 80's oeuvre, as well as unseemly amounts of Elvis *shudder* (although I recently saw a friend-of-a-friend's Elvis-cover-band, and they were really quite good, the (female) lead singer had a great voice, and their spin on the Elvis songs was quite funky). In any case, apart from the inevitable Cure, Duran Duran, Prince, Bowie, etc. (many of them surprisingly recognisable despite my having been quite oblivious to music during the 80's), he also had the seminal track by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "White lines (don't do it)", as well as Indeep's "Last night a DJ saved my life" - absolutely classic beaty dance music antecedent sounds. I was suitably impressed.
6:22:00 PM