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. ...
You know how you get music that is so bad it’s good again? Wesley Willis is one of those people who has created such music. I heard one of his songs when I was watching “Supersize Me” and thought “I know him!” The guy is dead now unfortunately, but he did leave a treasure-trove of interesting ramblings. This website has the “Chicken Cow” mp3 that you can download of Wesley’s, as well as some other rather twisted, spaced out musak from other various “artists”. Here are some of the lyrics for “The Chicken Cow” ...
Well, this is sort of weird. I’ve actually got to the point where I have now booked my flights to both the consulate in Melbourne for my visa and for the actual trip to the US. The visa interview is on the 27th July and the day I fly out is the 30th July. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for all the stuff I want to get done, but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve organised transport of my guitar, amp, computer and extra clothes via air freight to the US but I still have to organise a place to live as well as a rental car. Most of this is handled by other people though, so it should be ok. ...
I’ve added all the (sort of) non-incriminating pics from my farewell to my webshots account, which you can find here. Yeah, I felt compelled to write comments for each photograph, and I really was running out of ideas.
Holy crap I had a great time at my farewell party last night! Thanks to all of you who came along (you know who you are!) One of my mates got some pics from the night so when I get access to them I’ll post some of them. My rollerskating party farewell was held at the St Clair recreation centre in Woodville - which turned out to be an awesome venue. Parking turned out to be a bit difficult because 500 or so nerds were also having a LAN party in another part of the building. Actually, calling them nerds is a bit tongue-in-cheek really because since I’m an engineer/programmer of sorts you could probably technically claim that I am a nerd as well. Ahh well. Put it this way though - I’d prefer to fall on my arse ten times more than I did at rollerskating last night than go to something like that. The whole LAN party thing just doesn’t appeal to me. ...