Personal

I thought Adelaide drivers were supposed to be bad! Things I’ve noticed: The indicator is just a novelty item and rarely gets used. If a person driving in an adjacent lane notices that their vehicle will fit in the gap between you and the car in front of you, then they’ll take that gap. Refer to (1). There is no such thing as a safe distance between cars. If you can count “1001, 1002” you’re too far away from the car in front of you. Refer to (2). Don’t expect anyone to safely let you in even if you have your indicator on. You’ll have to barge your way in. Refer to (2) Stop signs are red and octagon shaped. That’s about all people notice about them though. Then there are some other things I’ve noticed - like the number of crashes between my residence and work (a 5 minute drive). I’ve seen the result of three crashes so far, and the one this morning was a doozie. It looked like an SUV had rolled a couple of times and was lying on its side - and that was in a 45mph zone! ...

Especially if I want to spend a couple of days in Miami, I’ve been informed. Ok, so learning Spanish is probably not essential, but it would probably help to know a bit more than just “Yo quiero taco bell”. I met a guy today who works here, Omar, who is in a band called “Santos Renuentes”. If you go to their website you’ll see pics of the whole band. I’ve listened to a couple of their tracks and it really can be best described as Spanish alternative rock. There are a couple of links to their tracks on their website, and it sounds like really cool stuff. Apart from being the bass player of the band, Omar does the mixing too. That then got us to discussing all things Reason, Cubase, Logic and VST plugins. He is also involved in a trip-hop band (think music that sounds like Morcheeba). Actually, I just had a quick look at the Morcheeba site - they actually mention the Adelaide show that got cancelled just over a year ago. This is what they had to say: ...

It’s funny how some things just don’t happen sometimes. Even though there were lots of delays in getting to the US, there still isn’t a computer ready for me and I’ve had to use another computer whose owner is currently on holidays. Of course, this computer doesn’t have any of the tools I need to do my work, but oh well. I had lunch today with some American guys plus a couple of Aussie blokes at pizza place. The waitress we had was pretty darn friendly, and the service was so good I could see why the American guys always went there (no, this wasn’t a topless pizza place in case you were wondering). Everyone was ordering pizzas with toppings I haven’t really seen before, for example, pizzas with sausages on top (and I mean full sausages just laying on the pizza base. WTF?) One of my Aussie workmates tried ordering a ham and pineapple pizza but they didn’t have any pineapple. I went for my normal Margarita - except the waitress didn’t know what a Margarita pizza was. I told her tomatoes with basil on top. The American guys sitting with us looked at me a bit weirdly, although I must say that one guy there knew what I was on about. I got back a pizza that had ham and basil instead. The waitress said “that’s not what you ordered, is it?” I shook my head and she got me another one, this time with the correct toppings. I ate both of them anyway, and it only ended up costing me a few bucks (I had 2 large cokes as well). ...

I can’t actually believe that I’m in the US at the moment - it’s all sorta a bit weird still. I think I most enjoyed the flight from Adelaide to Melbourne - mainly because it was the shortest. The flight from Melbourne to LAX was just plain painful. For over 14 hours I was right at the back of the plane and a Mexican dude in front of me had his seat right back which cramped my legs up. I lost count of the number of times I had to get up and walk around. I tried getting sleep on this stretch but it was just plain impossible. I chatted a lot to some Australian guys next to me who were biologists heading to Oregon. There was also an Australian girl, a vegetarian who was planning on hiking through South America. Talking to them made the time pass a little faster. I got to watch “Starsky and Hutch” and “The Girl next door” on the inflight entertainment channels, as well as a couple of documentaries. Woo hoo! ...

Nuff said I think. Now, the back of the Express Post envelope says “If we do not deliver as promised, you will receive another C5 Express Post envelope free”. Wicked man, wicked. In all honesty, this sort of thing (having an express post not arrive the next day) hasn’t happened to many people at all - it’s certainly the first time it’s ever happened to me. That’s why I firmly believe that someone is using voodoo powers against me.

Do not believe Australia Post’s “Guaranteed next day delivery” service. It didn’t work for me when I most needed it. I was keeping track of the progress of the posting of my Visa and passport using the express post tracking number. The US consulate posted the Visa/passport package out a day later than expected. That’s ok - I planned for this and had delayed the outgoing flight by a day. Actually, that plan would have worked quite well if Australia Post could have delivered the package in time (or to the right place). I called up Australia Post five times throughout the day and they said varying things like “It’ll probably arrive at 5 or 6pm” to “It was scanned in this morning at 7:30am” to “It’s been delivered already”. I interpret this as “We don’t actually know where it is”. Actually, a lot of the times they asked “Have you checked your mail?” Well, yes I had. I couldn’t find it because it hadn’t been delivered yet. That’s why I called you. Then I started thinking “Maybe I put the wrong address on the express post envelope” and “Maybe I put my address on the wrong side”. Well, no, I’m pretty darn sure I put the right info down. I can remember checking once, checking again, and checking a third time to be sure. Anyway, the package had made it to my state and to the closest post office sorting facility to my workplace. I don’t know of any other addresses out that side of town either. ...

The reason I ask this question is that the news’ weather on the plane trip over predicted it to be rainy and 14, but it’s been sunny the whole day. I absolutely love this city, and I still reckon it rocks just as much as the Coldplay concert did here a year ago. So, the whole point of me being in Melbourne was to visit the consulate to apply for my Visa - and the darn thing has been approved! What a trial. Anyway, I should receive it tomorrow and then I can move on with the rest of the process. I can’t believe I’m leaving this Friday! My feet are absolutely killing me at the moment. I walked from the Spencer St station to the consulate which is located way, way down St Kilda road. I think that was about a 4km walk or something crazy like that. I heard some guys at work mentioning how long the walk was, and I was thinking of cheating and taking the tram, but not when it’s sunny in Melbourne! ...

Ok, so the countdown to Friday begins and I decided to take a break from cleaning up and getting everything packed by updating my blog. I couldn’t help but find what was happening across the road as being a little ironic. You know when you leave primary school or high school and then they build better buildings and generally improve the place, and you’re left thinking “hell, why didn’t they do that while I was there?” Well, I thought my current abode had a pretty good location. There’s a huge supermarket across the road, as well as a video store, chemist, doctor, dentist, chinese takeaway, Domino’s pizza, Chicken takeaway, newsagency, hairdresser and post office/hardware store. This is all a 2 minute walk away. Ooh, not forgetting there is a huge reserve out the back of my place - sort of like a backyard that is maintained by the local council. Well, not being greedy or anything, but I always wished that there was some 24-hour store or something across the road. My wish has come true! A 24-hour servo has recently been built - with hold on - a 24-hour Subway! That is great, but if only they could have built it a little sooner then I could have gotten more use from it. To all those who have to drive anywhere to have such luxuries, I express my deepest sympathies :-) ...

but if I’m anti-anything, it’s people abusing power. There are likely many examples that do not involve the US, but hey, I couldn’t let this one go by. This is a link to an unclassified document created by the US government in 1962. In it there are various suggestions on how the US Government could justify an invasion of Cuba - by setting up scenarios in where it seemed that Cuba was attacking the US. A snippet: ...

They’re the only thing I can watch time and time again, and thank God, they have saved my arse many a time when the only other things to watch on television are those God-awful afternoon soapies (Passions being the worst of a very bad bunch). So I went to see “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Supersize Me” on Friday night. F9/11 was absolutely awesome! The cinema it was being shown at was packed, the first time I’ve ever seen it that full, and I swear the whole room was getting hotter as people in the audience were getting more fired up (me DEFINITELY included). I think one of my favourite parts was when Michael Moore was asking members of Congress whether they’d like to enlist their sons/daughters into the defence forces. Ooh, that, and all the parts where George W. Bush was looking like an idiot. Some people would no doubt disagree with the viewpoint that Moore put across, probably saying that it was polarised to being anti-Bush, but I think that we’re in a better place now that doco was made. I was completely unaware of a lot of what was presented even though I thought I knew a bit about what was going on, and it’s made me go and research it on the Internet. As an aside to all this corruption talk, a while back I found a de-classified document which described plans from the early 60’s that the then American government had drawn up to make it appear that Cuba had attacked the US. It’s a pretty amazing read - I’ll put in a link when I find it again. ...