Category: the daily column

– Fun With Dick and Jane: not actually all that much fun as is promised. Hilarious in some bits, but Jim Carey is just so Jim Carey at times and you want him to sit down. 3 stars.

– Memoirs of a Geisha looks suitably fantastic. Never having read the book despite all promises to myself to, I wouldn’t know how close it is to the original, but it promises drama and high tension. Need someone and somewhere arty to go see it to get the atmosphere right.

– Australia, if you’re going to defeat every cricketing nation that comes before you, at least have the compassion to get it over and done with quickly. Don’t stretch it out and make like there’s some hope. Some of us can’t stand the tension.

– With nothing particularly exciting going on, there’s not much to blog about. Learning guitar, reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and 7 Habits of Highly whatever People simply because THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LEFT TO READ. And I am a book addict. Listening to my music library over again on the iPod after reloading it in Sydney (have just realised an audiobook is on the pod but have not started it. must hop-to.) And um yeah stuff. Missing y’all – what with Fay and Peter both out of country, suddenly people who call me outta the blue is down to like nil. Miss ya, Fay, if you ever get to read this. Peter man, hope Japan is all it was promised to be.

– edit: Another realisation! These long 3 years at uni, I totally neglected my CSSE guys & gals. They’re awesome people, the guys open and fun-loving, the girls cute and gorgeous with a stable attitude to life (can’t underrate how valuable that is to me) – these people, to be my future coworkers & collegues, and I what did I do? I spent most of my time hanging around a bunch of old high school friends, pretending to be part of that old-skool clique. the things I miss out on. lé sigh. [totally forgot how I was going to write this in my post-midnight epiphany, but it’s close enough anyway.]

We’d just developed an ettiqute for the direct connected phone (as opposed to operator connected) when along came a very useful little device most of us carry around called the Mobile Phone, or Cell(ular) phone. These devices are evolving as quick as computer technology – in many ways they are computer technology – but I’m still waiting for a set of gentleman’s (gentlepeople’s) rules to be established regarding their use.

Now, we all recognise how useful these things are. If you’re lost, you don’t even have to look for a payphone: you just pull the mobile out of your pocket, call someone with directions and find your way. You can take care of a hundred things while on the move, spending time far more efficiently – get a handsfree and see how much of a difference it makes. But people, what we seriously have to address is the primacy of the mobile phone these days. They’re everywhere. And their ringing demands instant attention. That’s what’s bugging me.

The only rule we have regarding mobile use is that it’s off, or at the very least silent, at the movies. A common courtesy. But on outings, dinners, parties, anything, it’s fair game. The caller doesn’t know what position the callee is in, usually, but he does know that he’s got an instant line to the callee, wherever he may be. In the case of a doctor or other emergency related personel, fair enough. That’s where it started really – pagers and the old brick-sized phones for those people and business people on the road e.g. plumbers. But I confront you with a potentially very common situation these days: you are at a restaurant or cafe, and you are chatting with a friend. Suddenly a call comes through, and because the mobile is ringing with this incessant tone that just demands attention, the callee will pick up. He starts talking – however brief – to the person on the other end of the line, at some distance away. Meanwhile, you, at first remove, right across the table, are now sitting there with nothing to do but look around and try not to look too awkward. (I like to think in computer terms, and in this case it’s like the caller has a higher priority and thus interrupts the current process. geeky, I know. won’t happen again.) If this hasn’t happened to you before, it’s only a matter of time, and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

Basically, what I’m grasping to say is that the mobile somehow has become an override for whatever is going on around you, and that is just in-your-face rude. It’s an emergency line to you – but how often do you really need it? I’ve really started reconsidering when I take my phone along and when I don’t, and when I should put it on silent and ignore all its rumblings, because I acknowledge it’s rude. There’s a parallel to people who talk on phones all day – e.g. my mum on occasion, who is easier to talk to some days by calling her up than trying to find her and talking to her while she’s on the phone with someone else.

Really do love ya, Mum.

In the end, I think the silence of the cinema needs to be extended to the approrpiate social arenas, such as parties (don’t plan another party at someone else’s. height of rudeness) or restaurants when out with friends. Hang up as soon as practicable if the call simply must be taken, but please, for the love of the person/people you are out and about with, don’t be sittin’ on the mobile and chattering away for minutes. It’s just not cricket.

2005 was a helluva year. Without having consulted my uni diary or the dke project archives, I can barely remember what happened in October let alone what happened in January, so I did the only thing one can do, and looked up those two sources. 2005, thus, in summary for myself from the top goes a little something like this:

• Set and broke my first ever New Year’s resolution – took almost 2 months doing so however, so I feel a little bit of pride at that at least.
• Worked some freelance, which was cool. Tax not cool.
• Did a short course in Car Maintenence. I now actually have an idea about what I’m talking about when in discussion about cars, and could service car myself.
• Jumped at the chance to go travelling – turned into the Big Trip 2005: USA & Japan and that rocked some major socks. This really has been a travelling year for me, and I’ve loved it.
• Applied for graduate work… and got it o.O So that’s wrapping me up for next year in Sydney.
• Fell in love with Lost. Great writing, brilliant suspense, and just awesome all over.
• Loved New York. Liked LA, kinda (that much sun and surf, how could I not). Found a friend on the other side of the world =) Oh and met relatives who I’d never met or even seen before and turned out to be were awesomely cool.
• Found Japan to live up to some expectations, and not so much others. Mixed feelings about Japan, but overall highly positive and would love to be back there.
• Got the iPod “serviced” twice, but still love it to iddylil’ bits.
• Went to my first AFL match!
• Got my first car!
• Turned 20 :( Sounds old.
• Went to Sydney for a friend’s wedding. First time I could say “Friend’s Wedding”.
• Supported the Swans to victory! Talk about picking the right time to get behind them.
• Went to a bunch of 21sts. Didn’t drink once. Something is not right about that.
• October went by largely unnoticed. November too, what with exams done. The Socceroos got through to the World Cup, and that was cool (I wasn’t bandwagoning or anything)
• “Won” NaNoWriMo for the first time with Dark Rising (working title). More on this at a later date. :tease:
• Fell in love with Firefly.
• Moved to Pushing the Sky, and my stuff to Sydney in preperation for 2006 =)

Thus endth the year 2005 for me. (Exciting summary? I know. I’m not going to do a big ol’ rambling peice on the year because there’s simply been too much, so there’s too much to say which would be of interest beyond a personal diary style.)

Hey everyone, hope you had a brilliant Christmas, however you chose to celebrate. I have my temporary access thing still going up here, but strangely am missing the computer far less than I do at home when it’s right there and connected.

One of the factors that I’ve found has been underestimated is the simple fact of the weather – I forgot how warm it gets up here, but also how perfect the evenings are. I really don’t know how to express it, and sorry for any offence I may cause, but the brilliance of the weather here means the attitudes to life are a whole lot different: brighter, freerer, more… outside. The weather is the core of it. I’ve talked more to neighbours in the last two days than I have in Melbourne in the last year. Kinda saddening.

I wish I had the kind of friends I have in Melbourne up here in Sydney; I can only imagine what kind of fun I would have, even day to day. It’s one of those bittersweet things – great friends, wrong place (in my opinion at least).

Anyway, enough about the weather. Been settling in and enjoying the idea of having a whole bleeding house to myself, or at least sharing it with a sharemate. I’m also not suffering from my regular day to day hayfever, which makes it worthwhile even without the money they’ll eventually be paying me =D

I will be back by Friday evening (30th), so we can get to some partyin’ up on NYE. My place!! (someone give me a call if they approve of the idea and we can get to organising).

Tell me that ain’t an impressive beauty. The chick, not the clock. Such a fine shape I ain’t ever seen…

No of course I meant the clock. (sigh, yes, I can hear your groans already). But yes, my friends, that above is eInk demonstrated. I mean, obviously it’d be a lot more impressive were it a video of the time ticking over, but you can see the principle demonstrated there and tell quite clearly: the future, it will be beautiful. I love the future.

Question: I have been awake until 4 am for the last 3 nights running because:

a) I’m turning into an insomniac or nocturnal.

b) I am BORED OUT OF MY SKULL LIKE SO BAD AND I THOUGHT 4AM WOULD BRING SOMETHING DIFFERENT

c) I’m watching anime and I’m addicted

d) I’m playing Civilization 4 and … wuup, there goes 4 hours. Save? Oops, it’s 6 hours gone now.

e) All of the Above.

First to answer correctly gets a chocolate bar.