I made Tim watch the music video for my favourite (well, one of my favourites…) Interpol song, “Evil” on youtube, because of the freaky puppet. He then had to one-up me by showing me the video clip for Tool’s “Parabol/Parabola“. I just started watching it again on youtube now, and I stopped because it makes me feel like I’m looking in on a nightmare. It’s like someone is seeing this in their mind, their brain is conjuring up these freakish images, and I’m an unintended audience. It’s almost voyeuristic.

Anyway, there’s one particular part that reminds me of something out of one of my favourite books. The book is “Plague” (otherwise known as “Plague 99″, no longer in print, but you can probably find it on Amazon or Alibris if you’re curious, or just borrow mine if you know me) by Jean Ure. The part of the film clip that reminds me of the book is 3.24 minutes into the video, when the weird men rise up off the floor so that they are perpendicular to the ground, and start vomiting thick black goop onto the table in front of them in the shape of a circle. In “Plague”, the plague causes victims to spew stinking black vomit in the later stages, perhaps a couple of days before they die. The black vomit is probably caused by necrosis of the internal organs. For some reason, I like the fear that this concept instills in me, in the same way that I like being frightened in horror films – I think because it’s not real. I think this is also the reason for my fear of zombies. Logically I know that zombies don’t exist. In the world where my imagination rules (in my head), anything is possible.

Sometimes my feelings get in the way of what I really feel I needed to say. Thanks Modest Mouse. I so totally go off on a tangent sometimes. Lots of times. Always.

So anyway, tomorrow is Friday the 13th. Chris is coming up from faraway so that we may go be random in honour of this most emo of occasions. I do believe black is in order. Gentlemen, ready my steed, tomorrow we ride! (gallop gallop gallop).

Some things I have found in my travels:

I had so many expense claim tetris games to play today. It was awesome. I know I’ll have at least one tomorrow. I think end of month time brings with it thoughts of reimbursement to all the little salespeople, and visions of dollar signs dance in their heads. That’s fine with me. I love being productive and having things to do that I know the process for. I also like being able to make up processes, but sometimes it can be quite tedious. I suppose I’d never thought about it before, because I’ve never been involved in this side of things (I’ve always only worked for companies already well established in their ways) but creating processes is hard work. Especially when you haven’t been trained in that area.

I have to play with Visio tomorrow, to try and figure it out. I’m self-taught in almost every computer program that I use, so I definitely have faith in my abilities. I think that computers are designed so that you can learn how to do things yourself, unless you’re part of the baby boomer generation. Mum says, “How do I get into my email? is it this big ‘E’ for Email?” (pointing at the icon for IE). I guess she was right, technically, but it wasn’t her flawed logic that made it so.

A picture of Cal in his job interview stuff. Go Cal! I miss you heaps When the animals at the zoo have babies, I’m so coming to visit. I recommend you purchase some animal pheromones and use a spray bottle to get them all going. Then they should have babies by Spring. Wait…. that’ll happen anyway, right? Scrap that, I don’t want the animal rights activists after me. I got kind of annoyed at J & the Doctor for spreading outrageous propaganda about the plight of honey bees. Do some research GOSH! I’m glad that the beekeeper rang up and talked about how much he loved his bees. It was very heartwarming.

How funny is this headboard? Worst headboard ever! (said in comic-book store guy voice) What is the point? I’m going to put a few random images on here just so people can randomly look at random things, like the random mattresses in the carpark of someone’s complex. No, I didn’t write about you in my blog. I bet you think this song is about you!

Ok, a quick story about this image. I simply don’t get this comic at all. It’s not funny. It doesn’t make sense. And yet, I have it stuck up on the wall at work and it makes me laugh almost every day. I can’t explain it. It’s inexplicable.

I found something funny while reading a Serious Brisbane Guy’s recent linkings. In keeping with the harblz theme, these images were misappropriated from here.

I had to write a blog entry because of the awesome latin (above) on my Google Homepage at the moment. I have these little Latin phrases displayed, and they change every day. Sometimes it’s not a Latin phrase which is displayed, but a boring quote about something or other from someone like C.S. Lewis, or other known paedophiles. Okay, so it’s only him that I know is a paedophile. Most of the others I know hardly anything of at all.

Btw, everyone needs to check out the updated RSPCA World for Pets online store - if you look carefully, you might see someone you know on the cats page! It’s also a really convenient place to get presents for your animals and humans. Not that Napoleon needs any more presents, mind you. But it’s not about Napoleon, it’s about helping all the other animals. The animals! But it sort of is about Napoleon, because whether he needs more toys, bowls, kitty litter trays, or collars, he’s gettin’ ‘em. And he’ll damn well like it, too! Also, if you go to the About us page, you can check out some of the site content I’ve helped provide.

The little purple light on my wireless broadband is flashing, and it’s very distracting! I’m not connected to it at the moment, and it’s purple because the little wings aren’t out ready for flight.

Anyway. Here is proof that my Napoleon’s legs are too long. I still think he’s beautiful.

Also today, I got to play with Neo on the stairs:

And I got a 1GB mini-SD card for my phone, with an adaptor so that I can put it into the SD slot on my computer. I originally wanted a 2GB card, but the 1GB one was cheap cheap! And probably more space than I’m ever going to need anyway

This is Benyamin’s interpretation of Sin City:

Anyway, is it just me, or does it not feel like Christmas at all? I’ve done almost no Christms shopping this year. It could just be me, because I’ve been so preoccupied with work and everything going on there, and being stressed and feeling crap and everything, I’ve had no energy for Christmas spirit or cheer. What a sad state of affairs! Christmas time used to be my favourite time of year – no matter how many bad Christmases I’ve had, I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to Christmas.

Seems like this year, things have just gone way too far with the consumerism. It had to happen eventually. What’s with upside-down Christmas trees, for example? I’ve heard quite a few people talking about them, but I’ve never seen one in real life. If you’re wondering, this is what they look like:

And the whole reasoning behind them is so that you can fit more presents under the tree.

Firstly, putting your tree upside down is only going to add more available room for TALLER presents, not more presents. Secondly, could I be forgiven for thinking that the people who go in for this have missed the entire point? They’re going to spoil their kids by giving them an excuse to expect MORE this Christmas. Actually, seems these Christmas trees have been around for a while, in America (oh America! America, of all places!), and like the good little bitch of America, we’re running along behind them, desperately seeking to emulate their warped consumer-driven society. But all modern society is consumer-driven, Cass, that’s just the way things are!

I, for one, am not going to buy into the whole “upside-down Christmas tree” mentality this year, or any other year for that matter. And yes, I do realise that I am part of the consumerist society (I have no illusions about that). But for now I’m going to believe that I still have a few ounces of integrity.

I should be writing my resume. I’m amazingly good at procrastinating. If there was an award for procrastination… well, I don’t think I’d win it exactly, but I think I’d be in the top 100… something like that.

My new phone: Nokia 6288. It replaces my old phone, Nokia 7370. Some cool things about this phone: The screen is huge; I can do video calling because it can access the 3G network; it has a 2 megapixel camera with flash; it has a 512mb memory card… Once I’ve played with it a little more, I’ll be able to list all the awesome features.

Someone’s going to get me for direct linking! Mwahahahahaha. I’m so evil.

Yeah.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, Casbot blog has been down for a while. But it’s back up again, and hopefully will remain up FOREVER (said in a booming, ominous tone). I felt disenfranchised, and I was going into blogging withdrawal. It’s a very serious condition – symptoms include depression, a general feeling of uselessness, severe boredom, and an uncharacteristic desire to log off the internet after five minutes of pointless surfing. The only cure for me was to reinstate my site, and edit all the content that could possibly get me into hot water.

So, what you see here is not the original, but the censored version of the original. It did make me quite sad to have to cut out entire sections of blog entries, but I suppose that’s what happens when you integrate yourself into a bureaucratic society. I don’t think I’m cut out for a censored life.

Yesterday, Calum and I went to Currumbin Sanctuary, on the Gold Coast. As you can see in the following photos, we had a grand old time.

On Friday night, Christian had a dinner at his place and invited me, Lauren and Nathan over. The reason for the dinner was so that Lauren and Nathan could meet Neo. I, of course, have already met Neo many times. I have also been bitten by him many times (no hard feelings, Neo!). Christian cooked a delicious meal of chicken breast stuffed with spiced gouda and avocado, and wrapped in prosciutto, on a bed of cous cous and steamed vegetables. Yum! Then we had banana fritters and vanilla ice cream for dessert, which was a special treat considering banana prices at the moment.

Mum and dad are selling our house in Wooloweyah. You can view its entry on Realestate.com here. It’s quite sad that it’s being sold, especially as, if it were fixed up a bit, the price it could go for would be a lot higher. Mum has already asked me to help out with settlement once she finds a property she wants to buy up here, but there’ll be no need for me to help out if she’s going to borrow money in order to purchase it – the Bank will take care of settlement for properties it takes security over. We’ll be living here in this house for another year yet, or at least until the Wooloweyah house sells.

Today I announced to my team leader my intention to leave work. Or rather, my intention to seek alternative employment, while remaining at current job until I secure said employment. They need me, I need them. It’s a good situation while it lasts, but hopefully it won’t need to last too long.

This weekend I’m going to go through and write up answers to the selection criteria of a whole lot of Govt jobs. That’s what I’m hoping to get into – the Government. I feel like this is my opportunity to make a change, branch out, get out of banking & finance. I’m going to make the most of it. It’s scary, but in a positive way (if that makes sense, or is even possible in the real world and not just the imagined one in my head…)

We were helped out this evening by some of the people from another department. I said to them “Have you reevaluated your perception of the degree of difficulty of our jobs?” and they said, “We always knew you worked hard!”.

I put up the Christmas tree on the weekend. Napoleon enjoyed it for a little while, then quickly lost interest. Unlike Christian’s cat, Neo, who has made the Christmas tree his private retreat. Napoleon is more interested in chasing the baubles he batted off the bottom branches of the tree.

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 Click on the image to go to the Nintendo page for that particular game.

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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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: