JamesX

It’s hard to believe we’re already over 80% through the year. They just seem to go faster with each passing one. Of course, at work, the year rolls over in October so there’s a really hectic period approaching.

It’s not all about work though. Last night I headed off to Sophie’s place for drinks. There was no real occasion (which is what makes the best gatherings if you ask me), although it was meant to be a Barbie and Ken party but that was scrapped somewhere along the line. It’s probably a good thing because I never go to dress up parties but Ken isn’t perhaps all that difficult to dress up as. The night was a lot of fun and when the next door neighbour turned up uninvited, completely wasted, helped herself to drinks from the fridge, collapsed in the lounge and spilt beer everywhere, it was certainly an entertaining one! If only someone had a camera… oh wait, they did. :)

There’s been a lot happening these past few months and as I’m going through my post-uni phase, there’s a lot more to come. I suppose the scarier fact is that I’m probably about 25% through my life already. The old saying, “Life’s too short,” is starting to seem true.

When there’s snow and there’s sun it can mean only one thing - it’s Spring. Seeing as though the Perisher Trip was cancelled this year, I found myself with a week off work with nowhere to go. So we rallied up the troops and Richard, Dean, Brent, Jarrod and I took to the countryside for a week of, well, whatever really. You see one thing that Perisher has over Hotham is that it has snow at this time of year and, well, you kinda need the snow if you want to go skiing. That being said, there was still plenty of things to keep us occupied around the town. We even watched Rich try to rip the bumper off his Forrester towing a log up the hill.

I somehow managed to mention Geocaching to Dean in passing and it turns out he was more excited by it than I am so we spent the whole next day trekking around the parkland surrounding the town looking for caches. Maybe it wasn’t the thrill of the hunt, but more the thrill of the drive when we’re going rally style in the WRX. I’m pleased to say we found five in one day - a record! The guys were so keen, we even decided to hide our own cache up on the hill behind the house. It’s full of surprises so you should go find it one day if you’re in the area. :)

On the last night we ended up in the pub (I know, how typical) and it was there that I was introduced into Buck Hunter (at least I think that’s what it’s called). What a random game. I suppose it’s a very pub game. The whole object is to shoot at a specific animal on the screen while all these other ones run around. It’s kinda the modern Duck Hunt, only it’s more fun. I’m hoping Dean decides to get one in the office at work. That way he can practice up so that I don’t kick his arse so badly next time. ;)

That being said, it was a fun week. Except maybe the cops on the way home… but hey, that’s another story.

And so another week has passed us by and we find ourselves in another long weekend. It’s pretty much the last long weekend for a while, the only other one left is in November (I think). It’s weird how they all fall in the first half of the year really, but I’ve been trying to make the most of it by doing nothing. It’s a change from all the work I’ve been having to do lately which will hopefully come to an end very soon! Speaking of which, we’re down to only 12 days of uni remaining. Pretty exciting stuff and by my count, that’s only two assignments left to complete. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong in the results department - I’d be gutted if I failed one of them and had to repeat!!

For a bit of a recap, in other news this weekend, it was time to hit the town for Penelope’s 22nd birthday. It was a great night and we spent it at Borsch, Vodka and Tears drinking every kind of vodka you can possibly imagine. I’d never been there before, and believe me, when the drinks menu is like three times longer than the food menu, you’re going to have a good time. A group of us chipped in and got Pen a digital camera (the Canon Ixus 75 to be precise). It’s long overdue so it’s good to have her in the digital age - no more wasting money on prints!

My vodka detox consisted mainly of watching back-to-back episodes of 24 season 6 - of which I’m now 17 episodes into. I have to say (and Chris did warn me) that for something that got off to such a good start, it’s really slipped back to the typical 24 “let’s make everything that’s happening so totally unrealistic it’s not funny” routine. But I suppose it’s still entertaining, if not completely frustrating. Maybe the last 7 hours will change that, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve got some more uni work to do tomorrow so my relaxing weekend is going to come to an abrubt halt rather quickly. Ah well…

It’s been about a week in the making, but I think it’s pretty much ready to be unleashed upon the world. Ben Mulligan has finally decided to get a blog which makes his online self (Myspace + Facebook + Blog) complete. I helped him get it up and running on Wordpress, and after a crash course in cascading style sheets, Ben has taken it upon himself to style it up. I dare say that he’s done a pretty good job. You can find the flashy new thing at www.benmulligan.com - hard to remember, I know. Best add it to your favourites bookmarks before you forget!

Anyone who’s been reading the blog recently is probably getting sick of hearing the same old stuff. Unfortunately that’s because my life is almost on repeat at the moment. It goes something like work, uni, function, work, uni, work, work, function, uni, work, etc. But last night it was time for the monthly dinner (albeit a little late this month, because I had a silly function last week!). I never really talk about the dinners on here because they’re almost like an underground society. Those who aren’t invited don’t know they exist, and even those who are invited don’t find out where it is until the day before. But it works, and it’s been happening like that every month now for nearly two years.

The main reason behind the idea is catching up with everyone - most of which, were it not for dinner, wouldn’t have time to catch up at all. Everyone is just far too busy and if you can find the time to set aside a couple of hours every month, then it just becomes a whole lot easier to manage. After all, if you know in six months time that the night is on, you’re more likely to keep it free than if we planned them one at a time.

Last night was a pretty standard turn out. There were eight of us in the end, which probably represents about 60% of all those who are invited. Most who couldn’t make it had to work (I can really sympathise with that!), or attend work functions. Getting out of the house last night was the perfect change from doing these stupid uni assignments - the latest of which has me analysing artwork against the theme “Transformation - the process of change.” I mean really, give me a break! Luckily I have Pen to help me out who is surprisingly good at this sort of stuff. I never knew she knew so much about the history of Russia. I guess you learn something new every day…

It’s been an interesting week. I dare say not all that much of significance has happened but there’s been plenty to keep me busy. I can’t really think of any one thing to write about, but it scares me that it’s been so long since my last post that the inevitable blog anxiety sets in. After all, you have to keep the people stalkers happy!

Following up from last time, the curtain went back up today. I think I cut the knot tying by about half of what it was to take the curtain down, and it was a lot easier going up than down (surprisingly). I didn’t take the same precautions as far as ease of untying as the original knot tie-ers but I figured, it took 20 years for it to come down this time, so in 20 years time, they can just cut the damn thing off!

The rest of my work, I really can’t talk about. And the other stuff I’m working on out of work, I really can’t talk about. So that doesn’t leave me with much. But in other news, I caught up with Marc (and Liv, Soph and Jimmy) last night. It was the first time I’d actually had a chance to see his new place (by new I mean February - yes I am that busy) and I have to say I was quite impressed. It’s certainly a step up from the previous place (not that that was a challenge) and I’m sure I’ll be back there again soon. Although that wasn’t the real reason for my visit. Marc bought a car, as I found out on Monday, and I had to go see it. He still hasn’t got his licence so I’m still struggling with the logic, but perhaps it will be incentive to actually do something about that now.

The only other thing that happened this week that could be classed as vaguely interesting was my latest uni presentation. It went well, all 25 minutes of it, and it’s another thing off the seemingly long list to the end of the tertiary road. Only 37 days to go now - it’s becoming very exciting.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m starting to lose it, which means what I’ve written may not even make sense at all. Take it how you will…