Welcome To The World

You Deserve A Good Home Lucy, A Life Worthwhile That's What We Say

2010-02-22T15:08:00.000+11:00

On Thursday Rob invited me to see Between The Wars in Richmond, was some awesome Aussie folk punk kinda stuff.

On Friday saw Lead Sketch Union. Was awesome. Great to hear the new songs live.

On Saturday saw the Melbourne Symphonic Orchestra.

And only spent about $40-$50 the entire time. Was good.

Still looking for a job that I can get to without a car. Goddamnit. All the jobs that I would be awesome at are in non-public transport locations.

There was one in the city I had a chance at, but 3 of us from our graduating class were going for it and it wasn't my turn to win I guess.

The trick is to try and stay positive. Kurt only juts got a job two weeks ago, so I shouldn't feel totally fucked yet.

Uni dinner/Kurt's late birthday drinks this friday, and then I'm supposed to be going to Soundwave after party to meet one of my orgcore friends who is in Australia for Soundwaves. I didn't think I could recognise her so I wasn't sure about it, but Rob said he's gonna be there and I should definitely go. So hopefully she can recognise me enough. I'll probably be the punkest motherfucker there (am expecting it to be mostly 18-20 year old hipster fuckheads).

Probably going to buy a ticket to the Gyroscope show at the Corner just because A Death In The Family are opening for them. I think I'm having withdrawals from not seeing them, and it's only been about a month and a half.

shows, shows and more shows. what's on the horizon? oh, more shows.

2010-01-25T15:42:00.000+11:00

Last sunday went to the Arthouse.

Saw Walter Schreifels. Didn't know any of teh songs, but had a good time. Walter is an awesome dude and heaps funny.

Also saw Black Is The Colour again, I don't even know anymore. I've never heard a single one of their recorded songs, but I know all their lyrics just from seeing them so often.

Donnie from Blueline Medic as well. Opened with Ribbons Patterns, one of his best songs that I definitely did not think he was gonna play. He didn't play Harry Baker, so I was a bit disappointed, but it's Donnie, so it doesn't even matter.

And A Death In The Family. Fucking killed it. I was so drunk I don't even remember what songs they played, I just remember singing my heart out.

Arrived at the Arty with $150. Entry was $10. When I left I had $5. So I was kinda pissed at myself last week for spending all my money.

Last week was kinda boring. One of my uni lectureres called me and said he was sending me a job ad. Called about it and going in for a chat on wednesday. There wasn't much information about the job, so hopefully it's cool.

Found out last night that earlier in the day Jamie and Darren played a free afternoon show at the Arty. Fucking kicking myself for missing that. I always find out about these things too late.

Eating rissoles for dinner for the last 6 nights in a row. I can't help it, you can get a pack of 8 rissoles for $5 and they've got herbs and carrot in them and everything.

Conation reunion on feb 6. Super excited for that. Revival tour with Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner and their mates in April. 2010 is turning out to be pretty sweet.

Now I just have to remember to keep an eye out for those sunday arvo Arthouse shows.

So much for slow-motion catastrophies, The world has turned on us again

2010-01-11T12:37:00.001+11:00

I first saw Conation in 2004, supporting Against Me! and the very next day I went out and bought their Troubled Waters and Fortresses EP.

They broke up in 2006 when Jamie moved to Melbourne, joined A Death In The Family and has since started Fear Like Us.

I only just recently got The Clouds Are Gathering EP, released a couple months ago, which they started working on before they broke up but recently finished putting it together. It has 4 songs, 3 of which are not unlike the ones on Troubled Waters and Fortresses (a good thing!), the last one is a cover of Redgum's I Was Only 19, which I saw them play live once and it fucking ruled.

They are doing a tour in February, and will probably be the last time they ever play together.

In other news

I finally got onto Centrelink, because not having any money is bullshit. But what they are expecting of me is bullshit. Apply for ten jobs a fortnight, I guess it's fair for them to expect something like that, even though realistically there would not be 5 jobss a week that I am interested in.
The real kicker is this: apparently I have to apply for several different kinds of work. Like, the dude said I can't just apply for 10 OHS jobs, he said they encourage you to apply for 2 different jobs of each type, as in: 2 OHS jobs, 2 admin jobs, 2 retail jobs, etc...

ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!

Why would I waste employers time by applying for jobs that 1. I am not qualified for or 2. Am not interested in? Obviously I am gonna apply for jobs that I spent he last 3 fucking years studying for. Centrelink wasn't this bad under the Howard government.

Speaking of Kevin Rudd fuckups. I love the way they have just been letting the Japanese conduct illegal whaling in Australian waters, when they could have stopped it at any time.
Now that the Japanese have attacked Australian and NZ citizens in Australian waters, while illegally whaling, the governments immediate response was "we are very concerned and are looking into the legal options"

What else... how about the internet filter which is just an excuse for the Labour Right to push their personal views on us. I will be giving the Greens a vote in the next election for the first time ever because they are the only party that could get the seats in the senate to block this shit.

Enough of that, though.

I found a really sweet job that I would love, I reckon I've got a very good chance of getting it, but applications don't close until end of January, can I deal with Centrelink for that long? I just don't know.

Anyway, this week I will be seriously starting my job searching (not today because it is 42 degrees).

Fake Problems are amazing. This one song Level With The Devil kicks my ass everytime.

.

Do You Remember How Scared We Were

2009-11-13T23:44:00.002+11:00

Pretty slow week.

Was going to apply for a job the other day, but then decided it was too much hassle to write a cover letter. Met up with Kurt in teh afternoon and he said he applied for the same job. He'll probably get it, now I'm thinking I should've gone for it.

Jess and Young Tom Harrison met us at the pub near Flinders St. Mark and Chan were waiting at the station not realising where anybody was, and Ash and Sandra were at the station somewhere bitching out and asking me and Jess to come meet them rather than them come across the road, even though we already had drinks.

We had Indian which was good. I never had Indian before. The guys on the org suggested a meal for me, and it was worth it. Would eat again.

We went to some bar and we're drinking, then they called last drinks at 9.45. Total bullshit.

Ash, Chan, Sandra and Kurt went home early. Me, Jess and Mark hung out for a while and Tom's friends came and met us. Jess went home, the rest of us went to another bar until we ran out of money.

We got kicked out at 1 and me and Mark just hung out at Federation Square until about 2.

Mark leaves on Sunday for his new job up in Gove, NT. he has to be up there for a whole year and I don't think he is totally sold on the idea. Once I get a bit of money I'll probably go up for a visit.

Totally lazy today. next week I'll probably get into looking for a job (although I said the same about this week). I need to do it, but I just can't be fucked.

Got 35/40 for my final report. Really fucking impressed. Once again I blew everyone away with my "doin it the day before it is due" style.

Passed my Cert4 in Workplace Training and Assessment today. Just need to get $500 and I am a fully qualified trainer and assessor.

It's been 36degrees pretty much everyday. Sucks.

I think that is all.

While You're Counting Sheep, I Count My Lucky Stars, You Were The Last Good Thing I Ever Saw

2009-11-04T00:03:00.001+11:00

Uni is completely over.

I officially have 1 month to find a job. Then my centrelink payments stop and I can't pay rent anymore.

Handed in my portfolio for Training and Assessment on Friday. Hopefully I hear about that soon, and hopefully I've done enough to get accredited, but whether I do or not has no bearing on my uni degree. It would limit my career opportunities though.

I have looked at jobs, but not really. I'm kind of in the "can't be fucked" state of mind right now, so I keep putting it off. I've seen a lot that say you need at least 5 years experience in industry, etc. bullshit. I'll just stay away from those. But right now I could care less. Wait til the end of the month when I start freaking out because I haven't applied for any jobs, then I'll be really fucked.

Weather is getting hot. Hot as in 'ice cubes are required'. I can always tell the humidity because normally my hair sticks up at the front. But these days it keeps drooping down over my forehead. Which is alright I guess. I think it gives me a bit of an edge, a bit less of a "i'm going bald" look.

Heard the new Chuck Ragan record. It's good. I'll probably like it more once I get the actual record and give it a few spins, but right now there are only a couple stand out songs. It'll be good though. I just have to wait until I get a job til I can afford it.

My brother's baby is due in January. I'll be an uncle. I'm not so excited. I mean, I don't care either way at this point. Little kids don't really appear on my radar as anything but annoyances. I live 800km away anyway.

Played a lot of Castlevania on DS recently. That's about it. Just trying to take it easy. Lots of drinks, not much sleep.

alright.

To Be Young, To Be Dumb, To Be Drunk As Hell and In Love...

2009-10-20T10:46:00.003+11:00

...To Be Sad, To Be No-one, Pretend You're Something More Than You Are, But You're Not.

Fake Problems It's Great To Be Alive is definitely my album of the year. But the dumb part is that I've had it for about 6 months but only recently played it.

My eyes still hurt from the last few days.

Stayed up all saturday night working on a construction safety management plan. Then all day saturday, then finally finished it at 3am monday morning.

Then I spent a bit over 2 hours opening survey returns from mail out survey i did. I got 65% response rate, which is impressive (average response to surveys is usually 22%). So I had to collate that data because monday afternoon i had to present my results.

At 6am that morning construction works started outside.

Last night was the first night of sleep I've had since Friday night. So it's been a rough weekend.

Yesterday was the last day of uni. We went for some drinks and played some pool. It was alright, but I think we all had it in the back of our minds that we won't be hanging out anymore.

Ash keeps saying that she already misses us.

I still have 3 things left:

Photoshop assignment (not important, I already have enough to pass)
Science Project final report (super important, this needs to be good or I could fail the course)
Training Portfolio (also pretty important, don't need it to pass but I need it to get training qualifications, and I need training qualifications)

Sandra was supposed to call me this morning to come in and help her out with her photoshop project, but she hasn't called. Either she decided not to do it, or she is caught up with trying to get her portfolio together.

.

It's These Simple Things That Keep A Smile On My Face

2009-09-22T20:25:00.003+10:00

On sunday I went to the folk punk section of the Poison City Weekender at The Arthouse.

It was awesome. The music was up in the beer garden, which I didn't even know was there.

From memory I think the players were:

Jen Buxton
Black Is The Colour
Darren Gibson
Wil Wagner
Fear Like Us

I only caught the last two songs of Jen's set. But she is good and I like her music, and she made a funny joke.

Black is the colour I believe is a 3-piece featuring the lead singer of Coue Method. He's a good singer, and I like this stuff better than Coue Method actually.

Darren Gibson was amazing as usual. He opened with A Friend of Mine and then played Cut Me In Half, which are the only 2 songs of his that I really know. So I figured I'd be a bit disappointed that I didn't know the rest of his songs, and then he played a Chuck Ragan cover! Awesome.
He also made some good jokes.

Wil Wagner I had never heard before. I don't know if I'd buy his music, but live he is amazing. Reminded me of 2000-era Against Me! when it was just Tom Gabel. In fact, he said that a few days earlier he had done a set of Against Me! covers.
He has a pretty unique sounding sort of voice and a lot of stop-playing-guitar-and-just-scream-to-the-crowd kind of stuff. It was cool.

And finally, Fear Like Us, which is what everyone had been waiting for. They only play 2 or 3 shows a year, maybe less.
They opened with She'll Be Right and played mostly album songs, which is cool, because I've been listening to it non-stop for the last 3 weeks.
They played Neo Deceptor Cons which is my favourite song of theirs. Streets of Mexico, Songs of Rattling Keys, Music and Movement, amongst others. I think they played a cover or two. And ended with a new song? maybe.
About halfway through the set Jamie Hay whipped out the banjo.

One of the best things I've ever seen. Maybe the best show I've been to since I first saw Conation and Against Me!

maybe better.

Just got back this arvo from Shepparton. What a piece of shit that place is.

We were there for manufacturing safety. Went up on Monday morn, came back today. It was pretty fucking boring, except that I love road trips.

Monday night we left the RSL after dinner, only to find out the pub at the motel was closed. So we went to BWS, and found out they were closed. We sat around the pokies for a moment thinking we were screwed when Tom Harrison said that there was a drive through bottle shop upt he road. So we walked up there and bought a bunch of stubbies and bundy red and a few cruisers for the girls and justs went and got fucked up in Ash and Chan's motel room.

At about 12.30 I think me and kurt started fighting over something and Ash said we should go. So we went back to our room and while I was in the toilet Kurt and Mark went down to Sandra and Jess' room to kill a spider for them. I followed them, not realising they had left the key in the room, so we were locked out of our room.
Shepparton on a Monday night is pretty much completely shut down. So it's nearly 1.30am and we figure we're fucked. I throw my safety boots at Kurt and go hunting for a motel person. Luckily I found a bartender, in the dark, cleaning some glasses near the pokies, so we got back in the room.

This morning I woke up with food poisoning from the shitty RSL dinner. It sucked, as we had to visit a recycling plant and the SPC Ardmona processing plant.

Don't go to Shepparton. Especially if you want to go drinking.

If It's Okay With You To Be Honest

2009-09-08T02:39:00.001+10:00

Shit night after a shitty day during a shitty month of what has turned out to be a pretty shitty year.

I just ordered a ticket for poison city weekender. I was gonna go get one from the corner box office, but they ran out of their ticket allocation or some shit, so i just ordered it from Poison City estore.
I think they are pretty lax about updating their website, so it could be they are out of tickets anyway. But if I do get one, I'll probably just go to the folk punk afternoon show. Not excited enough to hang around and see Kill Whitey and not really a big fan of Samiam.

Trip to Shep in 2 weeks. We finally got some accommodation on the cheap. I think maybe paying $40 each. I think we're just gonna be getting drunk though. I think I already said I'm looking forward to the bus trip most.

Got 37/40 for a presentation i did on concreting safety. Pretty awesome.

But science project isn't going great. I have enough info to do a lit review, but I need to get my survey questions out like, this week, otherwise October will roll around and I've got nothing.

Booze cruise coming up in about 20 days, so that should be fun.

And next week is Gloria's going away party, it'll be good to finally get a chance to have a drink. I've been so busy I find myself just wishing for a spare moment to sit back and have a few drinks, but all this work is not letting up.

I heard that next Monday I am supposed to be presenting a forklift safety presentation. And then on tuesday a presentation on OHS for lifeguards. Didn't even see those coming. I'm supposed to have someone doing it with me, so I'll see if I can lump the foot work on them and then try to take the reins a bit more on the day.

All The Words We've Shared, With Desperation

2009-09-01T00:26:00.000+10:00

Damnit I need $20 right now!

I've been planning on buying tickets to Poison City Weekender for the sunday arvo show (mostly folk punk). But suddenly Samiam were added to the lineup for that day. I don't really care, except that tickets will probably start selling faster.

I'm pretty broke (no money in bank account, credit card is maxed, wallet has no cash). So I've been waiting for my tax refund, which is going to be $870 thanks to that one month of work I did in February : ) anyway, I gave them the wrong bank account number so I have to wait for them to send me a cheque.

Poison City Weekend is on the 20th and I'm off on a bus trip with my OHS mates to Shep on the 21st, where we plan on getting fucked up between sporadic safety checks on some of the local manufacturing plants. Should be good. I love punk music, I love bus trips with friends (it's like a road trip, except in a bigger car with more people), and I love getting wasted in some dodgy hotel. Maybe even write something on the wall with a sharpie. And in case you were wondering, it's a private bus, i won't have to deal with all the bogans who usually piss you off on bus trips.

I bought Birdy a bunch of bird toys last week. She got scared and wouldn't go into her cage until I took them out.

What You Want Is Very Simple, Somehow So Complex To Get

2009-08-16T20:51:00.003+10:00

In summation:

The Lawrence Arms write great songs
I don't know if I have class tomorrow morning, but I do know I'm superbusy with about a dozen assignments
Underbelly 2 was fun, but not as good as Underbelly 1
Found a vet for the birdy's check up and nail trimming, don't have any way to get there
The org has a message board now. My productivity just decreased by 300%, procrastination increased by 500%
Saw Coraline in 3d this week, awesome
Assignment due tomorrow, I forgot about it, now the only time I have free is after 1am... it's gonna be a late night
When you're tired, headache and in a rush to get things done, it's easier to blog in bullet points

Work to be done:

Construction Site Safety Management Plan (100+ pages)
Presentation on OHS in Road Construction Crews
Presentation on OHS in Surf Lifesaving
Presentation on OHS for Concrete Workers
Presentation on OHS and Forklifts
Safe Work Practices project for The Reject Shop
A whole bunch of photoshop stuff

Don't Look Her In The Eye, She Ain't Sitting At This Table No More

2009-08-10T21:47:00.003+10:00

LaGrecia was a short-lived band fronted by Jason Shevchuk of None More Black and Kid Dynamite fame.

Everything Jason does is gold. He has a kickass voice, he's a strong songwriter and the music is always fun. LaGrecia was a band he formed in 2008 after giving up on his solo project On Guard.

The songs are slower and quieter than his previous bands, while not quite being acoustic. With LaGrecia it was all about the songwriting. But it's fun listening and super fun to play on guitar.

Anyway, the band broke up about a month before the album was released because Shevchuk and the girl playing the drums were dating and they broke up. Bang. End of band before the album even drops.

On the plus side, Shevchuk got None More Black back together and we might see a new album from them in the next two years sometime.

Well, I'm superbusy these days.

Assignments - I did three yesterday and have 2 more to do tonight. Then I have another one due in 2 - 3 weeks. In addition to this I have a number of presentations coming up including: surf lifesaving safety, safety in road construction crews and safety for concrete workers.
Sometime between all this I need to find time for my major project for The Reject Shop. I just did a project brief last night, because today was the deadline as far as uni requirements go. However, Violeta has been in Perth for a week or so, and I haven't been able to confirm the plan with her prior to submission. Basically, this means I've submitted a plan that has no backing from the person I am doing the project for. I hope to clear everything with her on Wednesday.

So tonight I have a mountain of work to do (due tomorrow) for uni and then tomorrow night I also have a ton of stuff to finish up (due Wednesday) for Violeta.

I wish I could just sit and watch a movie and have a drink.

We'll Not Be Victims There'll Be No Victims Of To Speak

2009-07-26T13:25:00.003+10:00

Last week was first week of the last semester of uni. Only 11 weeks to go until graduation.

Since my science project fell through, I had Leo set me up somewhere. It's a relief, but I'm kind of worried there's not enough work to be done, if this is true I could fail the entire subject.

The next three months are going to kill me. Already we can see lots of assignments are coming in, and much harder than ones we've done before.

The Saturday Night part of the Poison City Weekender has sold out. No more tickets. There is still tickets for Sunday Afternoon though. I'm not sure if I should get one.

Pros:

Fear Like Us
Darren Gibson
At the Arthouse

Cons:

I'm sick of going to shows by myself. It sucks.
A bunch of shitty bands that I don't care for are also playing.

So, I'm gonna have to think about it. I don't want to miss Fear Like Us, they don't play very often (with Jamie Hay being in other bands and all), and Darren Gibson kicked ass last time I saw him play, also, he is a good songwriter.
But if I wait too long, I could miss out on ticket for that as well, the shows not even til September, I'm blaming all this selling out on Samiam and Bodyjar.

Back to class tomorrow. First class with Gloria since 2007, it's going to be long and drawn out, and she's probably gonna give us really annoying fuckin assignments.

>: \

In other news. I downloaded this game called Audiosurf (which I played from 10.30pm until 5.30am). It's like, you're this little futuristic hover car sort of thing driving along a 3 lane highway and you have to hit the coloured traffic and avoid the grey traffic.

Sounds gay? Well it would be, except for one thing:
When you choose your music, the game analyses the tempo, pitch changes, instrumentation, etc and builds the track based off the song, then you drive on a track that keeps changing based on the changes in the song, and the speed changes with the tempo of the song.

But it doesn't end there, it's not just some stupid built-in crap background music, you choose your song from your own playlist of mp3s. Some songs are easy (Chuck Ragan's brand of folk punk, for example), while others just kick your ass with twists and turns and super speed, like Propagandhi or...

Streetlight Manifesto (yes, that was my segue from one topic to another), who are a great ska band with horns and everything. The dude was also in Catch 22 years ago, and also does Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution.
But the important thing is that they are a great ska band, and have some great songs. The downside is that they are lazy when it comes to putting out new music. But the last album was very cool.

And now I have to go buy some chicken so I can take chicken sandwiches to school tomorrow.

We've Come So Far And Only Just Begun, The Damage Wrought Runs Deep, Please Save The Humans

2009-07-13T23:11:00.003+10:00

I've been meaning to mention Thought Riot for a few weeks.

I first heard them on an A-F Records sampler I got in 2002. And they were awesome. It had two off their erlier songs 'Save The Humans' and 'Sign Of The Times', which I instantly loved.

But their second album was where they really kicked ass. Kelley (the chick on guitar) started doing some pretty cool screams (growls) at very appropriate moments that gave the songs a bit of extra fun. And the record was a lot more hardcore than their first.

The song writing was awesome too. Being on A-F Records, it had to be political punk of course, but their lyrics were smarter and more intelligent than Anti-Flag's slogan-based choruses.

They broke up in 2004 I think. And I believe maybe a couple members became teachers? I could be wrong. The worst part is that it is impossible to get their music on vinyl, so I have to settle for a handful of mp3s. Bah!

Anyway. Uni results today!

Professional Scientist: Credit
Environmental Auditing: Distinction
Occ Hygiene: Distinction
OHS Design and Strategy (aka 'The Airport Project'): High Distinction

So, yeah, I win. I win hard.

Now the bad news. My science project is still not confirmed. I need it to be ready to start on Monday, so I need it confirmed by friday. If they say no, I don't have enough time to organise something else. I'm feeling kinda screwed here.

I just have to hope for the best and hope that my recent run of luck continues.

It's been a pretty decent couple weeks. I really wish this would work out okay. If it does, then I'd feel like I can do anything!

What else?

My cousin Matt stayed here for a few days over the weekend. He's pretty adventurous, never been to Melbourne before but he was all over the place. I don't even know where he was half the time. He's only 17, so we couldn't go out for a drink or anything. I think he'll probably be back again when he can save up for another trip down, and when he's on a break from school.

I had a sweet, awesome, horrifying, terrible, crazy dream. You know the kind of dream that freaks you out, but when you wake up you want to go back in? Yeah, everyone knows it. Those are the fun kind.

I don't care to share it, but I think I will write it down. I'd like to work on a short story or maybe a comic when I can find time and I think I can use pieces of dreams I have. It can get pretty crazy up in my head sometimes.

Alright.

Tired, Hungover, Depressed

2009-07-05T13:06:00.004+10:00

Last night was Alicia's last party in Melbourne.

It was pretty good. I only had a six pack of bundy and coke, so I decided to take half a bottle of bundy with me (that's a half full bottle, not a bottle cut in half). This paid off because later on I was able to be drinking straight from the bottle and then chasing it with the premixed bundy and coke. I was also told that I was hardcore.
When we were waiting for the tram, I still had a few mouthfuls left in the bottle, so I told everyone if they take a hit from the bottle, I'll do it straight after them, and we finished off the bottle. So it was fun.

Met some pretty cool people. Which is good, cos I figured I'd probably only really know Ali, but I got along with everyone, which is unlike me. Polly, Leesa and Jess I knew from high school (they were in my brother's year) and Marina I met before. But everyone else was a new face, but good people. I also saw Crowden, for about a minute, he wasn't at the party but he was in the city when we were trying to get money from an ATM.

We went to Bang. Despite the shitty time me and Boyle had that time we went there. But it was alright. I guess it works if the people you're with are into dancing and you've drunk a six'er + half a bottle of bundy.

I left at about 4am I think, a few people from our group were leaving, but I couldn't find Ali, so I didn't get to say goodbye.

So, now I'm severely hungover, I'm tired and I feel down because now that Alicia is gone, my only other real friend I can hangout with is Alisha (my ex), and she doesn't really make time for me anymore. My uni friends are great, but we mostly just talk on facebook and send each other messages, etc, not really hanging out.

I feel like Randall at the end of Clerks 2 when they are in jail and he says something like:
I don't want to be making new friends at my age, I hate everyone, and everything seems stupid to me.

Saturdays Of Sun And War Are Just Fond Memories

2009-07-01T22:34:00.002+10:00

The Living End were my favourite band forever. I first heard them in... 1997, i think.

And really, they were the first band I got into, along with Grinspoon, that wasn't from my Dad's collection (not knocking that collection: The Police, Queen, Van Morrison, Petula Clark).

When I first heard All Torn Down it was instantly my favourite song ever. That intro guitar just kicks ass. And the whole first album is riddled with technically proficient guitar that still sounds rough and punk and fun, but also rockabilly.

Songs like West End Riot (today's title) are just so fun to play. And the songs from the earlier EP's It's For Your Own Good and Hellbound.

Roll On kicked my ass in 2000, and it sounds like AC/DC playing punk music. Just like the first album, it is perfect. As far as guitar goes, it's a lot more difficult to play. As far as listening, it's not so much fun as it is awesome. So it's still perfect, but a different kind of perfect.

When I was finishing year 12 they released Modern Artillery, and I have fond memories of driving to final exams with Alisha and blasting that album the entire time. The thing is, I really didn't appreciate it at the time, I just kept thinking that it wasn't as good as the older stuff. But those songs have a charm to them that maybe I'm only feeling because I get nostalgic about being 18 and just finished high school.
The music itself is very different: lots of upstrokes in the guitar lines, lots of reverb, lots of layering and the guitar solos really don't standout like they did previously. But the song writing is great and Chris really hits his stride as far as singing technique goes.

I won't comment on the newer albums. But suffice to say, while some newer songs are good, the albums as a whole don't hit me like a brickwall. But this often happens as bands mature and their sound changes.

Okay.

Science Project. Corey is working on hooking me up with Visy doing chemical management. It all sounds exciting, but my transport situation makes it difficult to get out there (I'm actually not sure whether it'll be at Laverton or Springvale). I'll have to take a train and then a bus.
So hopefully all goes well and by the end of the week I'll have something confirmed.

But it does suck that we need to work out this project ourselves. I mean, they do it under the guise of getting us ready for the workplace. But no employer is going to say to us, "Alright, go and find people who need work done". It's not quite the way business and employment work.

But I go along with it for the sake of graduation.

I put new strings on my guitars and they kick ass. I cleaned the fretboard on my electric guitar and it looks fantastic. And my acoustic guitar just sounds beautiful. I should change strings more often.

Alright.

London Calling, Yes I Was There Too, You Know What They Said? That Some Of It Was True!

2009-06-29T13:31:00.004+10:00

I can't believe I haven't talked about The Clash yet. They were once called 'the only band that matters' and still mean as much to a lot of people.

Their first two albums are great, but if you want perfection: you can't go past London Calling. If The Clash was the only band that mattered, then London Calling is the only album that matters. And it's not just for punk rockers either, it's got punk, rock, jazz, ska, reggae. It's just the best.

So, about halfway through my holiday. I have 3 weeks to go, which also means... 3 weeks to finish organising my science project for next semester. It seems like a long time, but given my recent inclination to spend days at a time sleeping, drinking or just lying on the floor until I realisse it's 1 in the morning ad going to bed... the time is gonna burn away fast.

I should be able to easily organise some occ hygiene project. But I'm worried that it won't be sufficient for the universities requirements. This project is worth 100% of our marks, so if I fail this, then I don't graduate this year.
I'd hate to organise this thing, and then turn up in the first week of semester and be told "Chris, this is pathetic, not good enough". Not only do I fail instantly, but I would still have a commitment to the organisation to follow through with the (unpaid) project.

This could go wrong in so many ways.

Onto other things, I've heard people having a whinge about Jacko's death getting so much media coverage, while old Joe Bloggs who just died in a car accident gets a single sentence on page 88 in the newspaper.

Listen up everyone:
Michael Jackson did have people all over the world who either loved him for his music, or loved him for whatever he achieved as a person, etc. It makes sense to provide large scale coverage of his death. Meanwhile, I'm sure the news of poor old Joe Bloggs death reached all of the people that mattered to Joe Bloggs and his family.

My Grandpa died last November. Everyone I grew up with was there, and people turned up that my dad hadn't seen since he was a kid. And that's what it comes down to, the people who really mattered knew about it.

This brings up something else I just thought of. I remember one person saying to my Grandma at the funeral, something like: they had been reading the newspaper and saw the notice for his funeral. Do people read the obituaries everyday, scanning for names they might know? That's kind of weird. I wonder if I'll ever be that person.

Actually this isn't something I wanted to think about.

Someone asked on punknews last week, "Who is your favourite blues singer? And Chuck Ragan doesn't count." And somebody replied "Jake and Elwood". Of course. I just had to go and download the Blues Brothers after that. What a great movie. And the song used in the opening scene, and the fact that it is in Chicago, reminds me of Brendan Kelly.
Did you know Paul Shaffer was part of the Blues Brothers, but he couldn't be in the movie. Paul Shaffer, as in the band leader on David Letterman and also a minor role in This Is Spinal Tap. That's kinda weird.

Anyway, now I'm just rambling on.

Alright.

RIP Samantha Jane Dorsett

2009-06-27T21:01:00.000+10:00

She co-founded Plan-It-X Records, the label responsible for the folk-punk and anarcho punk movement and also Against Me!'s early releases.

PIX Records have remained an extreme DIY label, always. And as much distaste I have for 'PIX kids' who seem to take everything to extremes, Chris and Sam always seemed cool.

It's important to keep in mind that, in independent culture, record labels play a huge part in music. Often you can tell what a punk band is all about just by what record labels they are associated with. Not just a faceless corporation that pushes money towards distributors, or sends 'talent scouts' looking for bands to pick-up and cash-in on. And PIX were the label that was releasing music on burned cd's and silk-screening their own album covers, whatever it took to get their friends music out.

A Void The Size Of Oceans, Stretches Out Between Us, I Guess Our Blood Is Supposed To Be A Bridge

2009-06-24T12:38:00.003+10:00

I've spoken about the Larry Arms before, but sometimes Chris sings the songs instead of Brendan, and it's almost like a different band.

Nebraska (the song of today's title) is not only the best 'Chris' song, but also one of the best songs I've ever heard. (This song is on the Cocktails and Dreams compilation album).

The big difference between Chris and Brendan is that Brendan has that orgcore, gravelly voice, while Chris has a smoother, relaxed voice, but it can still be very intense when he starts screaming.
Kind of like the difference between drinking beer and drinking rum* (replace with your favourite smooth-tasting spirit).

Anyway. I've been on holiday for about 2 weeks, maybe 2 and a half, I've lost track.

I know uni starts again on 20th July, but I've just lost track of all time and space around me.

Most days are spent lying on the ground with my mp3 player on random.

Today was hte first time I've showered in 2 weeks. And I've been wearing the same clothes for as long. I'll probably also shave this afternoon, after looking like a hobo the entire time.

Yesterday I left my apartment for the first time in ages, and ended up buying juice and milk, but not really any food aside from noodles.

I also applied for a job. Which is kind of a lose-lose situation. I'm not ready to start working again yet, but this opportunity wasn't going to come around again and I knew I'd regret it if I didn't at least try for it. But I'm not really sure if there is a position or not, just some inside information that they might be looking for someone soon.

That's about it for me.

Oh, fucking Thought Riot, I should talk about them next time. They kick ass.

Give It To Me Straight, Touch My Heart, I'll Sing Along Forever

2009-06-16T23:04:00.005+10:00

The Bouncing Souls are straight up the happiest band of all-time. Their songs usually revolve around: hanging out with mates, getting drunk, having fun or some other super-positive activities. And they always look like they're having the time of their life while they're playing.

Their last album was a bit of a miss, but this year they are releasing one song for download every month, and every three months they put out a 7" with the last three songs + 1 bonus song. At the end of the year it is a full album worth of material. The songs so far have been really cool.

But of course I'm going to mention what is, to me, their best album. I might have this opinion because the album was released about 3 weeks after I finished high school, I was spending every day hanging out with Alisha (which was awesome at the time), she loved the Bouncing Souls by the way, and when I think about this album it just brings up a million and one great memories. For this reason it will forever be burned into my top five albums of all time.

This album is 2003's Anchors Aweigh. The thing about it though, it wasn't typical Bouncing Souls. It wasn't the fun, poppy 'smiles-and-laughs' fest that the Souls normally deliver. The songs seem darker, lyrically and musically, and even the album cover was in black and dark shades of green/blue. However, it's not depressing, it still makes you feel awesome. And I think that's something only the Souls could pull off.

So, yah, it's been a long time since I posted here. Mainly because my last post felt like one of the greatest memories I'll ever have and I couldn't be fucked writing this anymore. But here I am anyway.

Airport project finished last week. We presented to about 15 people form Melbourne Airport, and chris was an embarrassment. But it felt like David, Sandra and myself kicked some ass. So in the end, I'm happy with the way things went down.

Our last exam was last week as well. As usual, we got drunk at the Royal Melbourne, and by 'we', I mean 'I'. Everyone else seemed much more sober. But I feel justified that I have plenty of reasons to drink.

I have spent too much money though. I was broke last week, after getting my money on Friday and paying off my debts I'm still very broke.

None More Black's This Is Satire is finally coming out on vinyl after 4 years. This album I haven't even listened to yet. I've just been waiting for the record to come. So for me it is just like having a brand new NMB album.

I also pre-ordered Against Me!'s The Original Cowboy. Which is the demo's of all the songs on The Eternal Cowboy, so I already know it kicks ass, the only real question will be how raw sounding the recording are.

And aside from all that, I'm now on holiday until late July. But I do need to get started on my Science Project. As far as I know, it should be as simple as some Occupational Hygiene monitoring or something. I'm sure Corey can hook me up with some work. So not worried about it.

Alright.

It Could Be A Sure Shot Or Just As Well A Fold

2009-05-20T00:50:00.004+10:00

I still can't stop thinking about seeing Chuck and Tom last week. That show will be forever burned into my mind.

The feeling when Chuck screamed those first few lines of Wayfarer... just incredible. Moments I will never forget.

I don't think I've ever been able to relate to the song We Did It All For Don as much as I do now. AND Tom actually played it that night too. Fucking blown away.

So, a quick run down of what I've been up to:

My parents came down on Friday
Hanging out with them on Saturday
Managed to miss meeting up with Alicia Ardern on Saturday night (it couldn't be helped, just really bad timing, but it still sucks)
I got a bird for my birthday

It's actually really hard having a pet. In Candelo you could just let pets wander around anywhere and do what they like. In the city you really have to put in effort to look after them. But it's such a beauty.

In other news. The airport project. Crashed and burned, and I'm not going down in a tail of flames.

I spent the last week working on my section of the report, as agreed at a group meeting several weeks ago. The report we have resembles nothing of what I wanted to produce, or David or Sandra, and we have Newnham to thank for it. Him and his stupid lit reviews and blocks of text... I'm sorry, did I say 'blocks of text'? I meant WALLS-OF-FUCKING-TEXT!!!

This report will be useless to any organisation, and I think we'll be lucky to get a pass out of it. I've also written up my feelings in journal form for Sandra to add to our group journal. And Newnham will NOT be editing it before we submit our final package. I'll make sure of this.

In the meantime, I'm going to have a 1 in the morning shower and then fall asleep while listening to Chuck Ragan.

To You Solidarity's A Four Letter Word

2009-05-15T13:11:00.003+10:00

I saw Chuck Ragan and Tom Gabel 2 nights ago, at the Corner Hotel in Richmond. Easily one of the best shows ever.

First Darren Gibson played some songs, and I actually knew a couple of them, so it was cool. Darren Gibson is the singer of a Melbourne band called Lead Sketch Union, who I've only seen once, but I must say he is MUCH better playing folk punk.

Then Chuck and Tom came out and played a song together, then flipped a coin and Chuck was playing first. A lot of the people (18 year olds) didn't seem to know the songs, but they would cheer everytime he started playing a Hot Water Music song. The place really got crazy when he played Wayfarer (amazing), The Boat (awesome) and finished with For Broken Ears (kickass).

The Tom came out and played probably about 15 songs. A few new ones, some great old ones and maybe one song from New Wave (in fact the song was New Wave). He played Armageddon and We Did It All For Don and Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35% which is all awesome. Although 35% didn't get much reaction from the 18 year olds, despite it being considered their best song by so many people.

Chuck came back on and they played some more songs together. Then they were going to play a two song encore, but I was too fucked and headed to the back to watch from there. But Chuck did play Bleeder, which was amazing.

Now, the bad part. Despite there being so many 18 year old girls, they were actually quite into it, with fists in the air and singing along. very much unlike what I have seen in the past (it was actually a bunch of the 18 year old guys standing there holding onto their crazy girlfriends who looked bored, bunch of fucking wusses).

But the problem here was not the lack off crowd participation by these girls, so much as how they did it. There was no solidarity at all. Which is just wrong for anything involving Tom Gabel (hence the title of today's post). When Tom started to play Those Anarcho Punx.. you could feel the whole atmosphere of the show change (and if you know anything about Against Me you know what I am talking about), and with the level of emotion coming from that song and how much it means to Against Me fans you tend to get carried away.

So, like I have done everytime I've seen Against Me, I put my arms around the people on either side of me and start screaming along til my throat feels like it's bleeding, but on one side the girl pushes me away, and on the other side the girl's boyfriend pushes me away. Of course I had to shove him in the ribs with an elbow because people like that SHOULDN'T BE AT A FOLK PUNK SHOW!!! To the second girl's credit, she was cool and she would just look at me and smile, but her boyfriend was an idiot.

I remember back when I was 19 - 21, for those few moments that you are watching the greatest band in the world, everyone in the room is your best friend. How could things change so much in just a few years? This proves that every younger step in our generation just gets more and more fucked up. How can you not be at a show like this and feel anything but love and respect for everyone you come into contact with?

No fucking solidarity I tell you.

I'm Sorry, Dave

2009-05-08T12:53:00.004+10:00

Alright, I'm taking a break from my usual 1-2 punch of music and life commentary because I have a big fat fucking bone to pick with films.

2001: A Space Odyssey

What a bullshit film. This is consistently on the list of best movies ever and is usually considered to be the greatest movie ever.

I watched it for the first time a few days ago and it was fucking horrible. Here are my problems with it:

No plot. The movie is basically divided into 4 parts (The Dawn of Man, TMA1, Jupiter Mission, and Cosmic Zoo). The Dawn of Man is kind of confusing, but seems as if it is preparing us for what is to come, maybe setting up overtones for the movie, however, it is not. The second part starts to go somewhere, a man arrives on a moon base, there is a dilemma in that he is too busy and will miss his kids birthday party, it definitely feels like it's setting up for some crisis point. Then the movie jumps forward two years, and seems completely unrelated again. This time we have a space ship crew on a mission to Jupiter and their on board computer HAL9000 tries to kill them all with Dave eventually deactivating it and becoming the lone survivor, this actually resembles a psychological sci-fi thriller and should have been the basis for the movie. The final part is the worst yet. Dave reaches Jupiter, some shit goes down with one of the black Monoliths that occur throughout the movie, lots of special effects come and he ends up in a Victorian-era bedroom, watching himself grow older until eventually he turns into a giant baby living in space watching the Earth. The plot of this movie is confusing and weird.
Musical Sequences. The film lasts for 2 and a half hours. About a third of this is just elaborate visual sequences backed by classical music (I don't know the name of the music used, but everybody knows it when they hear it). An example, the opening of the second part of the film is about 15 minutes of just watching a slow moving space shuttle docking into an orbiter while music plays. Total fucking shit.
Monoliths. The strange black monoliths that appear throughout the movie are never explained in any way to the viewer. Apparently they are tools being used by aliens to help man's evolution. The first time it appears is in the Dawn of Man part and after coming into contact with it, the apes learn how to fight and kill off their rival tribe. The second one appears on the moon (TMA1) in the second part and signals the beginning of man trying to make the jump from human intelligence to artificial intelligence (HAL9000). The next one appears after HAL9000 is stopped which demonstrates man's aborted attempt at evolving to the stage of AI, but this one acts as a Stargate that travels Dave to the Cosmic Zoo. The final one appears when Dave is an old man living in the Cosmic Zoo and catalysts his evolution from man to Starchild. None of this is explained in the movie, and I had to read through essays and essays of interpretations to discover this.
The Stargate. This is maybe a fifteen minute sequence showing Dave's arrival at Jupiter, discovering the Stargate and travelling through it. This journey through the Stargate is basically a montage of moving landscapes with inverted colours, apparently awesome special effects at the time, and occasionally showing a close up of Dave's eye blinking and changing colours with the landscape. Absolute wankery on the part of Kubrick.
The Starchild. When Dave evolves into a Starchild, as usual there is no explanation whatsoever. It is possibly the most confusing moment in the entire film. With other parts you can kind of guess what is going on, or at least make something up that seems somewhat plausible. But when you suddenly see an 86 year old Dave transform into giant baby that floats out into space and looks down on the Earth, all you can say is "What the fuck?"

I feel like I'm missing some crucial points here, but you get the idea. The entire film is confusing, weird and goes nowhere.

I should point out that Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke had actually intended to work on the project together. Kubrick made this film parallel to Clarke writing the novel, but somewhere their ideas missed each other. Apparently the book explains a lot of what is going on, makes a lot more sense and is way less confusing. I chalk this one up to Kubrick's usual sense of grandeur and wankery as a director.

I do not know how anyone could possibly say this is one of the greatest movies of all time, let alone the greatest movie of all time.

Before I finish up, I quickly will mention Kubrick's attempt at The Shining, just because it's always pissed me off.
The Shining is a fantastic book and there are two great movies based on it. One is a two-part miniseries that was produced by Stephen King in the 90's. It closely follows the book and it scared the shit out of me when I saw it.
The first adaption however, was done by Kubrick in the early 80's or late 70's. Starring Jack Nicholson. This movie is also fantastic, but it's not quite the Shining. Kubrick took a LOT of liberties, cutting out some of the best and scariest scenes, as well as adding his own that were never a part of the book. Not to mention replacing the croquet mallet with an axe. But the film itself is outstanding and Nicholson is amazing as Jack Torrence, but it never scared me like Stephen King's version did.

And I should mention that Kubrick's version of the Shining does have drawn out scenes, with silences or musical sequences. But they are cut down a lot from 2001, so I'm guessing he knew that he had fucked up with that movie because he really hit his stride with The Shining.

Teenagers Marching Into Shopping Malls, They're Armed To The Teeth

2009-05-03T17:51:00.004+10:00

Last year Tom Gabel released a solo EP, going back to a simpler folk punk kind of ideal, similar to early Against Me! I always thought it was kind of cheesy, apparently he used a drum machine for certain songs (anyone who has seen the DVD We're Never Going Home will scoff, you know what I'm talking about).

But then I bought it and actually gave the songs a listen and I'd say it's my favourite release of 2008. It's a shame that it doesn't have Graceful Concession, one of the best songs he's written in years, but aside from that it will kick your ass. Even the fake drums provide a decent background for the few songs they are used on. Matt Skiba and Chuck Ragan throw in some back up vocals on a song each and Chuck even plays his harmonica on one.

100 Years of War is, for me, the stand-out track. The fake drum beat is cool (although it could have easily been a real kit if he had bothered) and the guitar is catchy and just some classic Tom Gabel lyrics.

So, last night I spent too much on rum. I was supposed to be meeting my friend Alicia, who I haven't seen since high school, but she was so drunk we only saw each other for a little while before her friends had to take her home.

I can't say much for myself either. I nearly passed out on the tram, quickly got off and realised I was still in Fitzroy, walked until I got to the Carlton Gardens and then I got lost in the park and ran away from possums.

Ended up in bed all day today, so probably won't sleep tonight and will be falling asleep in class tomorrow.

Overall, the night didn't go as planned, and I'm not proud of myself for being an idiot, but a good night of drinking is still a good night of drinking.

helo.

2009-05-03T00:58:00.000+10:00

tonight didnt realu go how it was supposed to.

i am too druink, and my friend i was meeting was to drunk

and it took me an hour to find my way homrre.

i know that soon i wil sober up and feel like idiot, but for now, best night in ages.

i dont know if i shoiuld go to sleep or watch crap movies.

i usually ttalk about music, so:::

a deatyh in the fdmaily is aewsomeme.!!!!!!!!!!

You're More Beautiful Than You Were On The Day That We First Met, My Angel Of The Not Yet Buried Dead

2009-04-29T12:59:00.005+10:00

The Lawrence Arms are probably the greatest punk band to have existed. Just straight up punk rock, no folk, no pop, no hardcore. I've seen them three times and every time they've kicked ass.

The Corpses of Our Motivations from the album Apathy and Exhaustion is a great song, not their best, and not their best album, but still ten times better than almost anything any other band can do. But the song has a chorus line that always gets stuck in my head. Today's title is not that chorus line, but it is stuck in my head.

So, not much happening. Pretty good day yesterday until I got to the chemist and they didn't have Irish Moss (the supermarket didn't have it either), and from there things got worse. Alisha couldn't get my eee pc to work, and I thought it might have broke (no, it's quite alright). My cough seemed to get worse, Vitamin C costs $23 a bottle, and to top it all off my friend Ash got pulled over and had to pay on-the-spot $600 for driving an unregistered car. In her defence, she has moved a lot recently and lost track of the mail.

Today was ok I guess. Me and Sandra got roped into doing some survey at the uni cafe. WHich was kind of boring, and pointless.

My birthday in 2 weeks. Also, Tom Gabel and Chuck Ragan. Also, another safety presentation to do.

Speaking of presentations, me and Tom kicked some ass delivering an Eye Protection presentation yesterday. I may be biased, but I reckon ours was probably the best.

And today I am going to try and backup some computer stuff and then reformat this computer with my recently acquired Windows XP Professional SP3 Performance Edition. Yay. Word has it that it can almost boot as fast as Arch Linux. And juts to recap, the only reason I still have this windows computer is for burning movies.

And some girl was just flirting with me in the lift, which is always nice.

Can We Lie And Say We've Changed? I'd Call You Tonight But I'm All Mistakes

2009-04-26T15:30:00.003+10:00

The new A Death In The Family album Small Town Stories is amazing. It's kind of slower, a bit mid tempo, but it's too awesome to care about that. And the gatefold album cover is very cool, it has a really nice texture and beautiful artwork.

Particularly, you should listen to Erasing The Maps (i think it's on their myspace page) and Let's Lose (an older song that i believe was re-recorded for this album).

I have been sick for about a week and a half now. I think it's a throat infection or chest infection. It's definitely a nasty cough and sore throat, and it doesn't seem to be clearing up. But my usual stubborn-ness to go and see a doctor has kicked in, I think I'm gonna ride this one out, see where it goes.

I have a lot of work to do this weekend, I managed to fob off my lit reviews for Melbourne Airport, thanks to Dave making a great suggestion at last week's meeting that should reduce stress for everyone involved.

I just collected what information I actually have and sent it off. Later on I will write up my reports on a site visit to the Easter Treatment Plant and Lyndhurst (Taylors Rd) Landfill. Sometime between now and Tuesday I also need to find time to write up a 30 minute presentation on eye protection and merge it with Tom's so that it looks like a 1 hour presentation.

This is made difficult by the fact that tomorrow I will be at an OHS bbq for most of the day, and when I do return home will probably be too drunk to do any work.

In some other news, I've managed to get some of my older PC games to work on the windows partition of my eeepc.
The following games:

Heavy Metal FAKK2
Quake 2
Interstate 76 (still a bit of a problem though)
Jedi Academy
Need for Speed Porsche 2000
The Chzo Mythos (free from fullyramblomatic.com, made by a guy in Queensland)

There're some more, but those are the ones I've been playing around with the last few days when I've been feeling too fucked up to do anything productive.

We Call For Help But No One's Around, Shot Down, Bleeding Thoughts Never Make A Sound

2009-04-21T21:04:00.004+10:00

Yes sir, Chuck Ragan. The Boat was one of the demo's that appeared on his myspace shortly after Hot Water Music broke up. It was recorded as bootlegs from a lot of live shows, it was on both his live album Los Feliz and debut album Feast Or Famine, which also has Matt Skiba doing back up vocals. You can also see about a million videos of Chuck playing it on youtube, even one with Matt Skiba when they toured together.

Chuck rules, and The Boat is an awesome song, from before he got all bluegrass-y.

Today was a good day.

Did a presentation with Jess on Controlling Noise In Music Venues, which I was very happy with and super glad that I got it done, despite coughing up my lungs and dying the entire time.
Ash complimented me on how good it was. I know it wasn't that good, but it's nice to have a pretty girl tell you that you did well.
Kurt got me out of a meeting with dickhead about the Melbourne Airport project.
We had lunch with Ash, Sandra and Chan. Ash sniffed me, which I thought was weird, but then she was like 'are you wearing aftershave?' and i was like 'no' and she was like 'you smell good'.
Watched Kurt's presentation on Respiratory Protection, it was short, but I asked a few questions, had a good time.

That's all really, and even though I'm dying and having to do a lot of work right now on enviro stuff, it was a good day. Probably because of Ash. It's nice to get compliments, makes you feel good.

The World Is Burning As All Fall, To Sweet Defeat, It's So Complete

2009-04-20T22:33:00.003+10:00

Not much to say about Hot Water Music, seeing as everyone should already know they are awesome. I was listening to Wayfarer today, while in a van on the way back to the city, probably the best song off that record (Caution).

Had a 9AM start today at uni, heading down to a sewage treatment plant near Frankston somewhere.

Trip down was in a van packed mostly with my mates, so yeah, I had a pretty good time.

The sewage treatment plant was horrible. Kind of boring, and the horrible fucking smell of the place could make you sick, I had to breath through my mouth half the time.

But then we went to a landfill in... I think it was Lyndham, but I've never been that far south, so I don't remember.

But it was much more interesting, and afterwards we got to drive around the landfill in the van, which as established, I enjoy riding in a van with my mates.

Finished up around 2.30 I think, and drove back to the city. Switched seats with Ash so that her, Tom and Kurt could have a team meeting for their project at Crown, which is pretty weird, a meeting in a moving vehicle.

But I mostly just listened to music and then fell asleep for a little while. I was feeling pretty fucked at this point.

So, a fun day.

Oh Good God, Holy Shit, The Jokes On Us, Not On Them

2009-04-17T17:41:00.004+10:00

When Searching For A Former Clarity was released it seemed a bit off. Against Me! had seemingly become a totally different band, more resembling a rock band than a punk band. But the first time I spun the record I really did feel excited, and I genuinely loved it, a lot more than I can say about New Wave which I had low expectations of and it bored me after a few listens.

No sir, Searching is a fantastic record with some awesome songs, particularly today's title 'Holy Shit' which I especially recommend listening to the version on 2004's stolen demo tape, although the album version will still kick your ass.

It was my dad's birthday today. I called him just now. Even though we never really have much to talk about he always seems so excited to talk to me. So that made my day.

I also got in the mail:

Sin City vol.1 The Hard Goodbye
X-Men: X-Cutioners Song
Scrubs season 3 dvd, and
Tim Winton's Cloud Street

So today was pretty good on all fronts. I also got the newest episodes of The Office and burned them just now, so I've got plenty to watch.

The only downside is that I think I have a throat infection or something. It started hurting a few days ago, and I got a bit of a cough, but this morning it was really sore and my cough got a lot harsher. I take some vitamins and drink some milk, hopefully I'll be good by Monday.

Honey, We Came To Dance With The Girls With The Stars In Their Eyes

2009-04-10T15:02:00.005+10:00

The Gaslight Anthem are awesome. The 59 Sound is agreat album, I never really got into their first album, Sink Or Swim, when it came out but We Came To Dance is probably their best song. Also, on the Sink or Swim demo's 7". But I'm not here to plug all of their releases.

The other day I missed a meeting with my OHS design team, and one person (chris) decided to completely take over, make a bunch of 'crazy' demands and then email me that I need to have all this work done by next week. (I'm also on holiday at the moment)

Up until now, I had managed to defuse his massive fucking ego from running rampant with our group. I miss one meeting and everything goes to shit. One mistake, and I won't make it again.

So I was pissed all of yesterday, I just wanted to smash stuff and kick his ass.

But today I have been in contact with Dave, we went over the need to have the work done by next week and decided that whatever I already have done right now is good enough until holidays are over.

I also heard from Sandra today and she told me that chris had taken our work journal (that I had spent an hour and a half the night before proof-reading and re-writing) and gone to proof read it and re-write it, after her and Dave had told him to just submit it to our supervisor.

The guy acts like Joseph Stalin, tries to come off as doing what's in the best interest of everyone, but then fucks everyone over to further his own agenda.

Up until now we have been the perfect model of a capable team, I'm guessing there're going to be some fireworks from now on. And he's going to be taken down a notch or two.

But after hearing from Sandra I managed to laugh a bit, so I'm relaxed again.

My Little Brother Is Getting Into Trouble, He's So Overwhelmed By The World Sometimes

2009-04-07T23:08:00.004+10:00

I really love Dead To Me's most recent release, Little Brother. And the title track.

I first listened to Dead To Me a few years ago when they released Cuban Ballerina. But I just found it boring compared to, say... The Larry Arms or Against Me! But I recently bought Little Brother from Vinyl Collective on a whim and it kicked my ass. It sounds like The Ramones, if they were an orgcore band circa 2008. The lyrics, vocals and guitar really make the album. Although it's really a 12" EP, it's only got 5 songs.

It reminds me of my little brother.

Tomorrow morning I am taking part in a presentation on an OHS design project at Melbourne Airport. I need to present issues / problems that my design team has faced so far. It's just an interim report, the final isn't due for another six weeks.

But I also need to prepare this work journal to accompany the presentation. Not a big problem, it's already done I'm just proof reading it and re-writing a few parts, the real pain is consistency, considering that I'm not sure what kind of formatting we've been using as I haven't been keeping track of our minutes and emails.

I need to supervise my team more, because I've completely lost track of our document management system.

Well Maybe I'll Catch Fire

2009-04-01T23:48:00.003+11:00

Today was pretty good.

Met Tom, Jess and Kurt at Spencer St and walked down to the trade show where we met up with Chan, Ash and Sandra.

We were all using different passes to get in. My pass read that I was a consultant from Eva & Associates and the guys at the AES stand started asking me about Brian and Corey.

We really just walked around looking for Leo to prove that we attended (because he made a point that we should be there), we couldn't find him but one of the guys from Dubai said that he ran into Leo twice. Tom and myself took the opportunity to collect information on eye protection for an upcoming presentation we are doing in occ hygiene.

Everybody left and only Sandra, Jess and myself stayed. We looked around a bit longer, but me and Sandra had to leave for the airport at half 11.

So we met up with Newnham and David at the train station and Sandra drove us out to the airport for a meeting with Peter Morrison. Which went well, but wow, that guy can really talk. He'll go on and on if you don't stop him and he gets off topic a lot. We've had three meetings now, and I reckon we'll have two more, one to meet with designers and people involved with design, and one last one to present our final report and recommendations

Overall, a really fun day.

Dear Ron MacLean, I Wouldn't Bother With These Questions

2009-03-28T16:05:00.003+11:00

Dear Coach's Corner, from Propagandhi's new album Supporting Caste, is such an awesome song. It's songs like this that make you think Propagandhi are just the coolest band ever.

I have a massive literature review to do over the weekend, and I have no idea what I'm doing. What a waste of time, why do we need to do a lit review anyway? Why can't we just do a gap analysis and make safe design recommendations? Bullshit.

I could go to a party tonight, but I'm thinking I need to use the time doing this work. Otherwise we go out to Melbourne Airport and look like idiots because we only have done half the work.

I bought a load of stuff off ebay this week. Now I am relying on the stimulus package next week to pay off my credit card. I usually don't overspend, I guess knowing that the stimulus package is coming kind of made me stop caring.

I finally got a wireless modem/router. And I finally got my eee1000h setup on a wireless network, after trying with Arch and then Linux Mint Fluxbox RC1.
I got it working straight away with Cruncheee, so I'm sticking with it. It uses openbox, and I'd rather fluxbox, but it still beats gnome, KDE or XFCE.

Cause Even Here Tonight, I'm So Wound Up Inside

2009-03-24T21:49:00.002+11:00

I was up until 4.30 in the morning last night working on my crystalline silica presentation. Then up at 8.30 to try and get it finished before 12.

Which I didn't really do, but I managed to improvise and I think I stretched out my very thin material to about ten minutes, which is not bad at all.

Also, thankfully, I know plenty about crystalline silica, so when it came time for Terry to question me I knew all the answers.

Overall, it was a good day.

There is one thing that's pissing me off, but I'll leave that out.

There is a possibility of two parties on the weekend. I guess I'll see how it goes and where I end up.

And Alachua Still Sleeps Tonight

2009-03-20T13:54:00.005+11:00

It has been a rough week. I have been feeling lonely and kind of depressed. (READ: 'feeling sad' since I don't believe in the clinical diagnosis of 'depression', just a bunch of wusses who can't get themselves out of the rut they're in)

Been working on a design safety project at Melbourne Airport, which is finally starting to come to fruition, as long as we get some documentation from them, I'm reckoning that we can't really start working on this project, seriously, until we do a desktop audit of whatever they've got.

I found out yesterday that Chris Wollard's ex-fiance was killed. And that really kicked my ass. I don't cry very often (although I cried at my Grandpa's funeral), but this made me cry. Watching a video of Chris playing a song he wrote in his living room and he's trying to hold back the tears and can't understand a word he's singing. It really breaks your heart.

I need to do a presentation on Crystalline Silica and it's OES (Occupational Exposure Limit) in Australia vs the rest of the world. This will happen on Tuesday, so I'm gonna have to work it over the weekend, perhaps Monday afternoon permitting that I don't have any work to do on the Melbourne Airport project.

War Of The Roaches

2009-01-22T13:55:00.000+11:00

Yeah, UK Subs reference.

Now, to the story.

There has always been a kind of truce between me and the cockroach population. If I see one, it dies. But aside from that I leave them alone as long as they leave my kitchen, bedroom and bathroom alone.

The bathroom was easily taken care of, with tape over their hiding holes. The kitchen is a hard one because it meets the wall, and the roaches live inside the buildings walls, so this is where most killing happens (also, i have to sterilise the kitchen bench on a regular basis).

And I have never, ever seen one in the bedroom.

This morning I woke to the feeling of being tickeled, only to find a cockroach crawling across me. Disgusting. In my bed, and on my skin.

Straight away I was up, the sheets were thrown in the washing, the bed was tipped on it's side and surface spray covered the bedroom floor and underside of the bed.

The roaches have launched a pre-emptive strike and now it is full blown war. The bedroom is under quarantine (filled with surface spray), baits are going to soon be placed in strategic locations and all gaps and nooks will be filled with Selleys clear sealant come the weekend.

The bastards have bought it on themselves. I bet I know why they attacked me too: because it was 32 degrees in here last night and I was sweating like crazy, those fuckers will do anything for a bit of moisture, they need it more than they need food.

After laying the bed back down, I surface sprayed around the edges of the base, the spray has lemon and soy extract to help attract insects to it, I already found one lying dead next to the bed. Just the first of many casualties over the next week.

These fuckers chose the wrong guy to piss off.

Don't Sleep In The Subway, Darling

2009-01-19T20:42:00.001+11:00

Yeah, as you can see from the headline, I've been listening to Petula Clark.

Hot day, 35 degress, but not as bad as Tuesday when it was 42 degrees.

In other news, Australia Post dragged me into a dark alley and stabbed me several times before decapitating me. And by that I mean they informed me I had a parcel to collect but when I arrived they couldn't find it. That was last week sometime and I haven't heard from them yet.
To add to the disaster, they took down my contact details on the collection notice, so I have nothing to prove they even had a parcel for me in the first place.

And even worse, the package is Blueline Medic's last album on vinyl, which is a limited run, and Blueline Medic just broke up, so now I'm really fucked.

Sometime this week I have to make some calls because it is now getting very late and I need to do 20 days work placement before uni starts (March 2nd).

In even more fun news, cockroaches.

2009-01-08T13:21:00.000+11:00

Ahem.

I now have a blog on blogger.com, as well as my livejournal.

"Why?" you may ask. Well I know people that use livejournal and I know people that use blogger, seeing as there is no rule against having two blogs at the same time, I see no harm in it.

I'll try to 'simulcast' the blog by pasting the same contents between blogger and livejournal (yeah, like Triple J and Rage)

Also, blogger seems to somehow fit in with my gmail account. Does google own blogger.com?

It's gonna be a long cold day and I feel like some chicken burgers. My friend Alisha bought me a pack of Nando's sauce as a late christmas present, despite being told that she was not to get me anything.

Well, I repaid the favour by ordering a Vinyl Collective/Mitch Clem tote bag for $5, which after postage and $US - $AU conversion ended up costing $17, but I also got the Gaslight Anthem's Sink or Swim demo 7", so money spent is music heard, I guess.

Back to the point. Chicken burgers + nandos sauce = just as good as Nando's burgers. maybe not.