Sooooo today was our first day in our new building. Best river views ever. There was a slight problem in that our desks are on the Western side of the building, and it seems to get uncomfortably warm despite the airconditioning. Closing the blinds helps a little, but mainly with the glare. It’s still pretty warm. I’m hoping that I will get to move at some point in the near future, if I don’t leave beforehand.

The view from my desk, if I swivel around in my chair:

And some others:

When we first arrived this morning, we were greeted by breakfast in our food preparation area. They supplied us with bacon & egg muffins, cut up fruit, ham & cheese croissants, bagels with some crap on them, and tiny muffins. Plus bottles of orange or blackcurrant juice in the fridges. It was cool! The day slowly became less cool, after about the one millionth phone call and stupid email from stupid people. Plus people are being rude because things aren’t going their way, and there’s nothing that they can do about it because they have no control over what’s happening with us.

I’m looking forward to the first time we get to see a storm moving in from the big windows, that’s going to be awesome. Imagine if it hails, and they’re huge hailstones, like golf ball size, and they crack the windows. That would be ironic, because the company would have to call itself to lodge an insurance claim. It would be funny if they rejected the claim and said something like “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. Not that they were throwing stones, but just having your walls made of glass is asking for trouble. Expensive trouble.

Having a shower when you first get home from work is one of the best things about summer. The comparative fresh feeling that you get almost makes it worth having to suffer through the heat and humidity in the dirty city. ALMOST. I’d say that if you’re one of those people who think that it DOES make it worth it, you’re one of those people who say summer is their favourite season. Also another nice thing is having a shower and then going into an airconditioned room from the heat of the bathroom. Bestest.

On to something more fun and exciting: A list of my DS games :D Click on the image to go to the Nintendo page for that particular game.

Animal Crossing - Wild World

Animal Crossing – Wild World is cute. You get to have a house, plant flowers (I keep stealing the prettiest flowers from other people’s yards), buy clothes (I’m wearing a viking helmet and red glasses right now), write letters, do little jobs for other people, go fishing, collect shells and fruit and sell them in the store… You also get to furnish your house, and sometimes if you do things for other people, they’ll give you a present in the form of something to put in your house.

Big Brain Academy

Big Brain Academy tests how much your brain weighs based on your ability to solve various different puzzles in different levels of difficulty. I haven’t played this one much yet, it’s one of my newer games so I don’t have a score for every puzzle yet.

Mario Kart DS

I <3 this. It’s just like Mario Kart 64, except little and with a combination of tracks from all the previous Mario Kart games. I can’t wait to unlock more tracks.

Nintendogs - Daschund and Friends

My puppy is a Siberian Husky named Joue. I haven’t had a lot of time to teach her new tricks, but she knows how to sit and she was learning to roll over this afternoon. She met Lauren’s puppy Lola on the weekend, and Brian’s puppy Kemo, who is also a Siberian Husky.

New Super Mario Bros

I <3 Super Mario Bros too. It’s sort of like Super Mario Bros 3, with a game map and mini games etc. I wrote about this on a previous blog. Quit being so lazy, GOSH!

Brain Age

My brain age is pitiful, because I only ever get time to play this when I’m tired after a long day at work, or on the weekend after I’ve just woken up and my brain isn’t functioning yet. I like the fact that you get to unlock different brain training programs the more you use the game. I do best in memory and language games, and worst in calculations, surprise surprise.

Wario Ware - Touched

This game is awesome and weird. It’s all mini game where you have to use the stylus to do certain things. My favourite is the little halloween girl, because the boss level is where you are the earth floating through space, and you have to save a baby that looks like a foetus that’s floating through space. When it hits the earth, it gets smaller and smaller until finally you hear a splash and it drops into the ocean somewhere. It’s funny.

 

Tomorrow morning will be our department’s first day in the new building, Brisbane Square, on the corner of George and Adelaide Streets. The picture below is just some of the concept imagery from before the building was finished, but that’s pretty much what it looks like.

The awesome new logo design on this website is by Nathan. This weekend (Saturday afternoon), Christian did a photoshoot with Nathan and Lauren and some of their friends for My Bestest. Christian, being a super duper amazing fashion photographer, got some rad shots. You should go check out his gallery. A highlight for me was being able to purchase one of the My Bestest T-shirt packs – they’re not even on ebay yet! Score. That’s going to be chapter one in my new book: Making Nepotism Work For You.

So anyway, here is My Bestest new T-shirt:

 

Over the last few days I have come to realise something: I am as prepared for moving out and living independently as I was when I was 16. Less even, because at least back then I had made some sort of effort toward getting things together that I would need, eg. kitchen utensils and a lamp. Here are some things that I believe you must have to live successfully on your own:

1. Fridge - Very important. It’s not too bad that I don’t already have one. There is always one person with a fridge in a share house, and then there’s everyone else who just take advantage of the fridge being there. I was always part of everyone else.

2. Washing machine - Also very important. And very expensive. I would like a front loader, because they seem to be more energy efficient and water efficient etc. But it is irritating that you can’t open a front loader once it’s started the cycle. I always forget things that I need to wash, and then they have to wait until the next time I work up the resolve to do some washing.

3. Towels – This is including but not limited to bath towels, floor towels, hand towels and washers. I feel this needs no explanation. I have a grand total of three towels: 1 pink towel given to me as part of a set for my 18th birthday by one of mum’s friends; one purple towel given to me by mum for Christmas one year; and one Harry Potter towel given to me by Ruth for my birthday a couple of years ago. I would <3 to have lots of big, fluffy, soft towels in nice colours.

4. Culinary tools and serving ware – Including (but not limited to) cutlery, plates, bowls, cups, wine glasses, coffee mugs, cooking utensils (my favourite is the pasta spoon thingy that picks up spoonfuls of pasta and drains water off them. Yay). I used to have SOME decent things, but over time all my wine glasses broke, and all my crockery somehow became mismatched (I don’t think I have a full set of anything). Also, all my pots and pans somehow became mixed up with mum’s, and are now all in the cupboards and I no longer know what is mine and what is mum’s.

5. Furniture – Stuff like… lounges, dining room table and chairs, coffee tables, bookshelves… (I have a small bookshelf at the moment, but I have all these books packed away because it won’t hold all of them. I <3 my books.)

I’m bored of stuff I don’t have. Let’s list the stuff that I do have:

1. Bed – Very important. One of the most important, I think. It’s a nice bed, with a good mattress. It’s currently in mum’s room because it’s pretty big, and hers is the biggest room.

2. Entertainment – TV, DVD player (x2 - the new one plays divx, so I might leave the other one for mum), PS2

3. Work stuff – I have two laptops, a desk, a chair, a printer…

4. Your mum

Yeah it’s a pretty solid list. I guess one of the important things I need is a stereo. I haven’t had one for so long, because I’m living with other people, I always feel like at any moment they’re going to come and tell me to turn whatever I’m listening to down, so I can’t really enjoy it that much. However, if I were to live on my own, the only thing I’d have to be worried about is the neighbours. And who cares if something’s annoying someone that you don’t even know?

I probably would still care. I don’t want to be a bad neighbour.

Oh also, I have a cat to take with me too. That’s a pretty big thing. You’re never alone when you have a cat. Except when your cat wants to do it’s own thing and goes off somewhere.

 

My cat has spots AND stripes. Not only that, he’s also really soft and has long back legs, and no tail so that he looks like a rabbit. Here are some photos of when he was a baby:

     
  

 

I don’t feel like writing.

 

I’m currently waiting for the Indian food that I ordered to arrive. Noelle and I were going to go to the movies tonight to see The Wrong Man, but then Julia (who would have been Noelle’s ride home) couldn’t go because she had a family dinner on. Therefore, the effort of Noelle having to get home and get changed and ready and then come back into southbank and see the movie, then wait around for another two hours for Julia, would be just too much. Also, Noelle was tired, and I was busy at work. We’re getting paid for overtime at the moment, and I really want to take advantage of it. I love getting cabcharges too. Tomorrow is payday, so finally I get to reap the benefits of all the extra work that I’ve been putting in. I’ve also clocked up quite a bit of time for next pay, too :)

We’re going to see Borat on Thursday! woot!

Also, just fyi, Super Mario for Nintendo DS is really good. It’s just like Super Mario Bros. 3, with little maps and those sideshow games, and the graphics and controls are awesome. I am so in love with DS.

 

I don’t have time tonight to write a decent, proper post on Lauren & Nathan’s Engagement Party, but here are some photos:

   

 

Today is my dear darling cousin (and best friend!) Noelle’s 22nd birthday. Happy Birthday Noe! We celebrated tonight at Jorge on George, and will celebrate further on Friday night at Noelle’s place, where the theme will be “transit”. I’m still deliberating over what is in my wardrobe that might possibly suit that…

menoe.jpg

Me and Noe at Jorge on George this evening.

This week has been/will be a big week. I’m glad that I had last weekend to rest up and get some washing done. For a while there, I was going out almost every weekend (and then some!) and creating my own occasions where there were none. Now, it seems like it’s no longer my choice, that events are there and must be attended. Not that I don’t like going out, I think sometimes it wears me out. Sometimes I’d like to sit at home and watch a DVD, which is something that I think about doing but don’t really do that often anymore, but because I think about doing it then it feels like that’s all I ever think about doing and so when it comes time that there is the opportunity for me to do just that, I don’t want to because it’s so ordinary, or boring… and I should be spending my time doing something more productive or just a better use of my free time. I seem to stay up later and later, and don’t end up doing anything at all, but just sort of stuff around for a couple of hours. Then I realise the time and that there was no point me staying up late at all.

This weekend, I have Noelle’s party on Friday night, work on Saturday morning, helping set up Lauren & Nathan’s engagement party Saturday afternoon, Lauren & Nathan’s engagement party Saturday evening, and then I am not allowed to stay at home Saturday night because we have family up for Lauren & Nathan’s engagement party. This doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to relax… every thing that I do is time out from the other things that I’m not doing at that exact moment in time.

Christian and I went out for dinner last night to Hanaichi. It was good – we had Wagyu beef, and some sushi, and then a black sesame creme caramel with sesame ice cream for dessert. Then we went to see the Grudge 2. There were a couple of disturbing things, and I jumped a few times, but it wasn’t the most amazing horror film ever. Nothing was explained, nothing was resolved… in the end, there was really no point for the movie having existed at all, except to use that womans face to scare people some more. I don’t regret seeing it, because i like scary movies, but I think that it could have been a lot better. I’m hanging out for Borat!

Our team finished work early today. Christian picked me up at 3:00PM so that I could take all my personal belongings home. We also went out to WOW and got new Divx players ($55 cheap cheap!).

Anyway, I’m getting tired looking at Napoleon nap beside the computer, so I’m going to go to bed.

napnap1.jpg

Napoleon in his castle.

 

This post is inspired by my new DS Lite. (No, Nintendo are not paying me. They’re just stealing all my boredoms).

My interest in video games, however, was inspired by our Townsville cousins, The Towlers. Anna, Noelle, and Clare would come to visit us each Christmas, and one Christmas they received something that would shape our lives to come: a Super Nintendo (or SNES).

They also had two games: Spy vs Spy, and Super Mario Bros. 3. Spy vs Spy was a good time-waster – look in some filing cabinets, get blown up a couple of times; but Super Mario Bros. 3 was something else entirely. Any list of my favourite video games must start with the game that started it all:

smb3.jpg
Super Mario Bros. 3: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

I don’t know why I like this game so much. It’s a million times better than the other mario games. Nothing in the mario range has come close to being this good, even with the increase in quality of graphics and better controls, they still can’t compete. There were so many awesome things in this game: the map, the mini-games where you have to choose a box, or where you have to make the little spinning pictures line up… Or all the secret levels that you could get to if you only had either a raccoon or a tanooki suit… Check out the Wikipedia article. They know what I’m sayin’.

leafmario.gif Mario in his super-leaf Raccoon suit.
basic_mario_tanooki.gif Mario in his Tanooki suit.
kuribo_shoe_smb3x.png Mario in the kuribo shoe. This is my favourite level, just because of the shoe.

zeldaootbox.jpg
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Nintendo 64 (N64)

This game came with the N64 console when we bought it from some kid up the street, along with James Bond 007 (I think, though I can’t remember ever playing it), and Rosie somehow acquired Pokemon Stadium or something. Despite the fact that the Zelda series is pretty old, I had never heard about it before. It quickly became the number one game played on the N64 in our household, and Lauren, Rosie and I took turns in beating the bosses and playing missions. It was a team effort, but I was especially good at beating monsters and then collapsing in tears from the stress of it. I love this game. I think I had a secret, unacknowledged crush on Link for a while there. Or maybe I’m just making the connection between Link and Legolas. They do look pretty similar. Check out Wiki on this one too.

4344-1.gif Link and the cuckoos
6865-1.gif Link being all moody.
8704-1.jpg Link in Legolas mode

Zelda:Ocarina is an in-depth multi-layered puzzle/adventure/RPG. There are side quests that span across the entire game, through shifts in time and location.

Still TBC

 

My favourite objects acquired over the last few days:

DS Lite

Nintendo DS Lite
I have the white one. I got this on Friday, when Christian and I had lunch. I’ve been playing it off and on over the last few days. It’s pretty much the most awesome portable gaming system I’ve ever owned (that’s not saying much because I’ve only ever had one of those huge old-skool gameboys, plus a little mermaid handheld game, and one of those water games where you press the buttons and it sends a pump of water up and levitates the little ball); but if you concentrate on the fact that I’m older now, and more discerning in my choices of entertainment, and I’ve seen a lot more of the world, then it should mean more that I think it’s awesome now. I’m a nerd and this is a ridiculously long and drawn out paragraph.

DS Lite rocks. Go buy one.

Groggy Ice Crusher - Ikea

“Groggy” Ice Crusher
I bought this from Ikea, when Chris and I visited the new Logan store on Saturday. We also managed to have a minor accident in the car park. Bloody Swedish drivers. (I’m kidding, of course. I think they were actually Norwegian). Something good did come of the day though. Groggy is my new favourite kitchen thingamy. You put ice in the top bit, and then turn the handle, and it crushes it and it goes into the clear bottom bit. Then you can put it in a cup and have a sort of poor man (or woman)’s slushy. You can have whatever flavour you want (depending on what you have at home), plus the sound it makes as the blades crush the ice is really satisfying.

***

I didn’t end up going out last night. There were several reasons for this – none of which I’m going to bore you with now. I stayed in instead, and watched Happy Gilmore and spent some quality time with Napoleon. It was good to just do nothing, especially after the pretty full weekends I’ve had lately. I’m relaxing and recharging for next week, because there are quite a few things coming up, including Noelle’s 22nd Birthday (Wednesday 15th Nov), Noelle’s birthday party (Friday 17th Nov), and Lauren & Nathan’s engagement party (18th Nov). Then, the next week on Tuesday I have my second 8-week orthopedic review for my arm. It’s not that big a deal, it just seems like it because I used to go to the hospital twice a week for my arm, and now I haven’t been in two months.

I might go see if I can have a catnap, like Napoleon

 Napoleon catnap

 

This is just a quick one before Chris gets here (we’re going out tonight, feeling alright, gonna let our hair hang do-oown… Ew. Apologies everyone), I haven’t had the chance to post any pictures up here from Superstars since Mel gave me the CD on Friday, and I thought I would take the opportunity now before I get completely drunk and useless (it might be funnier that way, but I might do something I regret that would descimate what little dignity I actually have, and I wouldn’t be able to fix it until late tomorrow morning. I don’t want to take the chance of someone happening across this site when they’re actually looking for casbot grafiche or whatever that other site is that stole my URL and seeing me and saving pictures that I might upload and using them to blackmail me). Because I so care what random people think.

No, seriously I don’t. Do whatever you like. The real reason I’m not posting these later is because I’ll forget. Or I’ll be too busy playing my DS Lite. I’m in love with it. It’s sleek, smooth case; it’s clear, bright screen; it’s stylish stylus pen… Ok. I’m back. What was I talking about?

Oh yeah. Superstars photos. Here ya go!

 

 

 
 

 

I think that life might be easier for people who don’t believe in anything (agnostic? atheist?). They’ll never be disappointed by something they put their faith in. Being brought up Catholic serves only to create, for me, an underlying insidious feeling of guilt about whatever I’m doing.

Therefore, why shouldn’t I renounce my religion? Is there any reason I can’t simply exist, with my thoughts and feelings mine alone and not dictated by some higher power? So disbelief is the last vestige of the selfish, the wicked, the evil. Ben was telling me and Calum about how, in his faith, there is no devil or hell. When you die, if you’re not one of the chosen few, then you simply go back to where you first came from: ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I like that theory better than the whole fire and brimstone thing, but maybe that’s because I’ve acknowledged to myself that, if I still followed my faith, I would be a sinner, and probably would be spending several lifetimes in purgatory if not going straight to hell.

Anyway, I’m not sure what’s sparked the topic for this blog.

Anyway, I have to go and get ready because Willy and Chris will be over at 11:00am so we can go down to Ikea. Yesssssssssssssssssssssss.

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