The Transvestite & Sheep Post……

OK, a proper post today, so lets start with yesterday. Driving was uneventful at best. Slow speed manouvres are still a bit of a pin, but other than that everything is going swimmingly . Got 4 weeks to my test so not really that long considering Im only having 1 lesson a week. After driving, we went to see Priscilla, which if Im perfectly honest, I wasnt really looking forward to. I thought the film was a 7/10, I dont like theatre, and I like musicals even less, but a promise is a promise so I had to go. However, I soon changed my tune when it started. It was a good laugh, faithful to the movie, had great sets and outfits, the musical numbers were (mostly) out straight out of the film so were at least memorable and the performances were great. I dont think even the most cold hearted people could have failed to love it – was thoroughly enjoyable! Thinking about going to see Spamalot now, but I think my brief venture into theatrical hijinks will end there.

Today, has been a pretty routine day. Up early for work, had another enjoyable day ACTUALLY getting stuff done and completing jobs that I started. So unlike all of my previous experiences in engineering. 

Oh, I promised a review of Black Sheep too, so here it goes. Its fairly good. Next….! The whole film has a similar feel to Peter Jacksons early films in the sense that its humourous, gory and preposterous…so all good then! My only criticism is that it bogs down in a few places, whereas Jacksons films were relentless non stop affairs. Saying that though, if youre a fan of B-movie schlock horror its worth watching. Id give it a 6.5 out of 10.  

 

Beccas gone to Knit Club tonight so got the place all to myself. So far Ive done crazy things like….eat food! Watch Primeval! Do the washing up! And shortly……..I will be……..having a shave……..and….a…..shower!!!! oooooooooooooooooo! In other news, have you heard australian magpies – theyre great – nowt like UK magpies – have a listen.  And you can check it out anywhere if you dont believe me – Becca thought I was mad when I told her I heard that noise come from a  magpie!

  

And finally…..thanks to the B3ta newsletter for this awesome find. A great website dedicated to Camp Records, purveyor of groovy 60’s gay pop records! My favourites include “Mixed Nuts” (check out the lyrics), “Im so wet”, “Leather Jacket Lovers” and “Florence of Arabia”. However for sheer jaw dropping excellence, feast your ears on “Homer, the happy little homo”. I kid you not! Quite a catchy tune too!

Last Day of “Nothing” + Decisions

So, todays been a pretty non-descript day, however its also been a lovely Sunday kind of Sunday. Went into Melbourne (and saw them setting stuff up for the Grand Prix in Albert Park) and had a walk up to a Fiat dealership (more on that later) but it was shut, so we went to the QV Market and had a walk about. Found plenty of places to get supplies from, which is definitely the way to go, as supermarket “fresh” produce is pretty poor. Got ourselves a couple of REALLY juicy peaches, a couple of smoked salmon bagels and a couple of smoothies – all for about the same price as a marks and sparks sandwhich meal. After that, we decided to call it a day as it was quite hot, and aching feet were taking their toll, so got the tram back to St Kilda. Had to get off early as it was the gay pride march up Fitzroy St (sounds like a euphemism!) and the road was closed off. We waited around a bit to see if it was going to start up, but seeing as I needed to fill in a load of forms and crap in before tomorrow, I came home after half an hour. Becca came back with me, then went back out to see the parade, which sounds like it was ok, but not great. So there you go, a pretty sedate day, but I figure, these are the kind of days Im going to miss – the “nothing” days. 

Anyway, back to the Fiat thing. We were going up to see what Becca had to do to get herself on the waiting list for a new Fiat 500. Wanted to treat herself to a new car and this one seems to tick all the right boxes. I was also going to have a look at the new(ish) Punto to see if it will suit me. Loks nice, but its stuff like legroom, and headroom that I wanted to check. The way I see it is that a Punto definitely ISNT the car that suits me, or that is ideal, but I gotta wait 3 years before I can do that. Once I pass my driving test, Im on “P” plates for 3 years which carries certain restrictions, one of which is not being able to drive/own a high powered car until 3 years have passed, and since a lot of the cars that I truly like fall into this category,  Ive just got to make do for 3 years. And since the Punto looks like one of the best cars in the “make do” category, I reckon Im going to get one of those, an ex-demo, or showroom model if I can. No point paying top whack for a car that I’ll probably be selling in 3 or 4 years time. 

Also came to another decision, on a slightly smaller, but more geeky scale. I reckon I WILL be buying a Macbook Air. Ive been mulling it over, on whether to take a punt on one, or get a Macbook Pro, as I want to treat myself to a new lappy, to get myself running Leopard, and to get myself a new toy! One thing that really surprised me is that all this time, I thought I was running with an 80GB hard drive in my Macbook, but as it turns out, its only 60GB! And Ive still got about 10GB spare (after running some nifty little apps for getting rid of junk such as foreign language support, sample files etc…) so the “restricted” 80GB hard drive in the Air is more than enough for me. As for the other spec limitations, none of them really fuss me – I dont do anything that taxes the cpu, I dont run Photoshop, I dont edit movies, I’ve never used Firewire, and I’ll be getting the external drive with it, as while I dont use it on my Macbook often, I do use it to rip music CD’s (which the wireless drive sharing thing cant do) and watch the occasional DVD. However, these are both once in a blue moon scenarios, and for that Im prepared to compromise, if it means Im getting something cutting edge, something small and light, something not so hot it burns my legs, and something up to date. Ive also found somewhere that will have them on the shelves in a fortnight, in St Kilda, and with a 6% discount, which effectively means, I’ll be getting the external drive for nowt, and STILL be cheaper than the rrp. And when you put it like that, its a bargain!

Oh and had some amusing videos sent to me on one of those round robin email things. Most of them were a cut above the usual internet gubbins so I thought Id share them with you. Theres this thing with THX for the eyes, this one with a very clever use of people and technology, and this one featuring the worlds best theme tune….LIVE! Hope you enjoy them, and dont forget to comment.  

What? Moisture? Falling from the Sky?

Yes, it actually rained today? Well, it drizzled more like. Didnt need an umbrella, or a coat for that matter seeing as it was 26 degrees to go with it. Its still the first rain we’ve seen since being back. As such, we didnt do much today. Stayed inside, played games, went on the net, listened to music, watched some downloaded UK TV. Found this website that really made me laugh today too, for “What the Hell?!?” reasons. That dude REALLY doesnt like horses!

Plan to go to place called Yarraville tomororw as its sounds nice. Not really bothered if it drizzles (as forecasted) as today was still pleasant despite the weather. Stay tuned for (hopefully) another thrilling update!

Allergies and Interviews

The post title says it all. I dont know what got into my nose yesterday but I started sneezing like a crazy fool in the evening, followed by itchy eyes and sinus pains. Something definitely doesnt agree with me anyway. I had an early night but slept really badly and woke up at various stages with face ache (no….not Becca!). Popped into St Kilda earlier and got me some alergy relief tablets which has eased whatever is effecting me, but Im still having ot stifle the urge to sneeze every now and again. Hopefully its just a passing thing and I’ll be ok in a bit. Either that or I will have itched my eyes out and wiped the nose from my face!

 Anyway, the BIG news is…..I have the Boeing interview on Monday! Got a phone call from the agency guy yesterday saying that Boeing had just received a huge order of something, I dunno…planes….and needed people to fill the 10 positions ASAP.  The agency guy said I was available for interview and could start whenever and said that I would be ideal so they offered me the interview for Monday, 1.30pm. They said if I get it, I could be working there in as little as a week! WOOO HOOOOO!!!! All Ive got to do now is not stuff the interview up, so I hope this allergy thing has piped down by then. Doing a bit of Boeing and interview homework here at the internet cafe now so I will have plenty of reading and practising over the weekend. 

As you may have guessed, we didnt go into Melbourne on account of my rotten-ness, and the heat. To be fair, its cooled down a bit in the past few hours. Only 30 or so now, so provided I feel a bit better tomorrow, we’ll go into Melbourne then. Internet is still down, but we’re expecting a service engineer around either today (unlikely seeing as there is only 90 mins left of “working” today) or Monday. Fingers crossed there are no more stuff ups after that!

 Anyway, Im off to carry on wiping my nose until its raw, so have fun and I’ll be sure to post again over the weekend.  I have good food updates but forgot to bring my camera with me to upload the photos.  Dope!

The “most stuff happened in least time ever” post!

First post of 2008 too. OK. I dont really know where to begin. New Year has come and gone, (with the dull tediousness that it always does) and we’ve flown half way around the planet again. Should be doing wonders for my airmiles. In one year we’ve gone to Vegas and back, out to Australia, back to England, and then back to Australia again. Great for airmiles, crap for bank balance! 

I would like to say that this is the return of my daily updates, but the internet is down at our apartment. We dont even have our original phone number anymore. Its very frustrating. the telecoms companies out here seem even worse than the UK. Well, I say ALL telecoms companies, but its really Telstra’s infrastructure and inept service engineers that seem to be mucking up. The guys at Netspace (my isp) have been really helpful, but is still not fixed as its down physical phone line connections, which are rented from Telstra or so Im told. The upshot if it is that Im checking all my emails, making posts and doing a bit of surfing each day either from my phone (expensive) or going to a net cafe and using my Mac there.  Cheap rates and its got air con.

 Ok, so I’ll draw a line under whats gone before and just start from today. Went for my aptitude test at Boeing (well, actually at an aptitude test company, but its for the Boeing job) and it went really well. Well, at least I think it did. It was a lot shorter, and easier than the behemoth I did for Toyota. Im just waiting to hear when the actual interview for the job will be now. It better be soon as I was told they wouldnt be interviewing after this week! 

Secondly, its bloody roasting hot here today. 42ºC! Its not unbearable, but I guess it would be if you were out in it all day. As it is, this net cafe is wonderfully air conditioned so its lovely. Probably off to get an ice cream or something after this, to cool down once we’re outside. Its a shock to the system after the -8ºC-ness of Birmingham over Christmas. Still…..its a nice shock!

Had some tasty tea last night – on passing the fishmongers/chippy we spied stuffed (with rice, prawns and chilli’s) squid so decided to by a couple. $10 each. Thats about £4 for the uninitiated – and god damn were they nice! The standard of food out here, and the quality is superb. Popped into the offy at the end of the street and asked if they had anything like Kronenbeg Blanc (I developed quite a taste for it over Xmas) but they didnt stock it. However, they put me onto a couple of imported Belgium white beers they do have in, and if they arent tastier than Blanc! Bloody lovely! And they go down a treat in this hot weather. 

On the games front, I came back from the UK with Assassins Creed, Conan, and Tomb Raider Anniversary (as well as some DS games I mentioned in previous posts), the last 2 of which I picked up in the sales. Ive only played Conan so far, and Im mightily impressed. Its basically, God of War on 360. Quick Time Events, mythical beasts, different weapon techniques and combos etc…. Its actually pretty impressive. For £20 that is. I dont think I would ever buy it full price but its well worth a punt at half price. Recommended! 

Had a look through the local rag here yesterday and found The Wombats and Maximo Park are out here in March. Cant wait – next time we go into town we’ll definitely be getting tickets. Speaking of which, it may be tomorrow. Dependent upon the weather really – I wasnt at all tempted today to go strolling through the city today, in this heat, and in a suit! the forecast is for this hot snap to run into tomorrow as-well so may give it a miss until it cools down. It will be a decidedly cold 24ºC on Saturday so might pop in then. 

Anyway, I’ll keep you all posted on whats happening here. It may not be everyday (until my net access is fixed) but it will be more often than its been. Can I just thank everyone at this stage, for your messages of sympathy and support. I dont know how I would have coped with the turbulent past few months if it werent for your kind words, helping me, and my family get through a terrible time. Thanks again. 

 And for those that arent aware, you can leave me a message for me at any time by clicking on the “Comments” icon at the bottom right of any post. You may be telling me Im gay for buying Conan, or that  I should shutup about it being so hot. Either way, Im not fussed – just comment!. And dont worry, its secure, spam protected and every one has to go through me before its displayed. So get commenting! 

Slow Going…

Everything is pretty much the same here as it was on the last blog post. Starting to pay off all of our debts now and get ourselves in the black, which is nice. Also, hopefully going to meet up with a few friends next week. The change of scenery and folks to confide in will be a welcome change. Neither of us are used to doing nothing for this amount of time, especially in somewhere as “thrilling” as Coseley. We’re also remembering why we left this god forsaken country in the first place. Putting the lights on at 4pm. Putting the heating on at 5pm. A weather forecast that just reads “rain” for as distant as it can predict. And it looks like Becca will be spending yet another Birthday with a cold. :o( 

 Also, it looks like I might be getting somewhere with a company who I bought a TV off in Oz, got told it wasnt available, offered a refund and then never got it. Egg have taken my case up and seem confident that I may be able to get something back. Should be a nice bonus to help me pay off some of my loans. 

I must say that Im not sure Facebook will be on my favourite links bit much longer. Dont get me wrong, its great for sharing photos and keeping in touch, but the amount of superfluous rubbish that  permeates every corner of its being is really starting to get me down. There seems to be no way to block out the white noise of “so-and-so has sent a funwall message to whats-is-face”, or “weirdo has installed the zombie application”. I really dont care. Those sliders dont seem to do a thing, or the tick and cross in the corner of each pointless wall post. I dont want to know. Send me a message. Send me a photo. DONT send me an invitation to be a ninja. I really dont want to start banning folks from seeing me, but its getting that way. Looks like it could be time to move on.