| Because trams are cool. Really, really cool! |
[9 January 2008|09:04 pm] |
Yes, this entry is really just to satisfy myself. Will anybody else look? Knowing the Internet, probably. Will anybody else actually be interested though? Highly doubtful. But hey, I went ghost tramway hunting and I thought I'd share my results because it was fun!
Yesterday, when I went tram photographing, I had a bit more of a mission than simply taking shots of whatever trams went by. In the second half of last year, some "upgrades" (I'm not convinced, especially on the matter of passenger shelters) were made to the tram stops on the route 55 through Royal Park. Firstly, the southbound Park Street stop was moved to a previously disused ground-level platform on the same side of the street as the northbound stop, I think in August or so. This violates standard Melbourne practice, where a tram stop is located on the side of an intersection reached first (i.e. prior to crossing), but conforms with the other three Royal Park stops beside roads, where the platforms for both directions of travel are on the same side. Secondly, in October/November, most of the Royal Park stops were converted to raised platforms; they were formerly essentially just slabs of concrete at ground-level, with a white line to mark where passengers should stay behind when a tram is approaching. Some of them had edging and this gave them pretensions of being a platform; this style remains at Park Street and the stop that I term "almost a ghost". The true ground-level stop, where the surface in which the track is embedded blurs into the surface of the stop remains at Abbotsford Road Interchange, which I will depict in a later entry (yes, there's more to come).
So in the wake of these changes, the tram line in the park is lined with the remnants of old stops. Accordingly, I figured that while these stops are still relatively apparent, I would go out and photographically record them for posterity before their traces become faint and indistinguishable. I did Park Street and Royal Park Railway Station/Poplar Road yesterday, and because today was another gorgeous day and not too hot, I went out and did the rest of the park. Ghost tramway hunting is rather fun really, and there were precious few people around on foot so I could conduct my nerdishness in relative privacy. I'd like to photograph some stuff in the CBD, but with the throngs of people there, I'm not sure I really want to. But anyway, on with the photos!
( Come on, let's go ghost hunting! )
Well, in any case, that was very entertaining and interesting for me. How about you? Later this week, I'll share some more of my photos - ones that actually have trams in them! |
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| Because trams are cool. Cool, I tell you! |
[8 January 2008|11:57 pm] |
I am a railfan. I am proud of it. I think it's a fantastic and very fulfilling hobby, and one that can be used for social benefit too.
But I still feel like a bit of a weirdo when I'm out taking photos.
Today was such a lovely day that I really couldn't help myself. I was catching up with a friend for bookshop browsing and dinner, so I left a bit early and spent some time in Royal Park photographing trams on route 55. Unfortunately, while I was there, no trains made an appearance on the Upfield line. Despite feeling a bit out of place, and wondering what people thought of a guy taking photos of seemingly unextraordinary tram-related things, I had a pretty good time and I'll have to head back to complete the park soon. Perhaps not straight away, as the next three days are forecast to be stiflingly hot. Maybe tomorrow morning, if it's cooler then. We'll see.
( For now, some of today's photos! )
I really, really love Melbourne's trams. They're fantastic, both from the perspective of an enthusiast and from someone who is prohibited from driving and thus finds them to provide a welcome and unparalleled sense of independence. I can't say I ever really want to live in a city without trams. |
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[21 August 2007|11:50 pm] |
Tuesdays and I are not best of friends. With the exclusion of my very first semester of university when I only had classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, Tuesdays have been one of my least favourite days of the week. This semester is particularly tiring, as I have three lectures and one tutorial over the space of 9:30am to 5:45pm, and this wouldn't necessarily be so bad if one of those weren't so dull and if the other two, although enjoyable, weren't so mentally taxing and done by lecturers who go through everything in excruciating detail. They know their stuff and I love the lecturers, but different days would be nice.
But today was totally worth it. It's not every day that a regular lecture becomes a public lecture and you get to listen to a Justice of Israel's Supreme Court. Not just any Justice either, but the first Christian Arab permanently appointed to such a position. That was a pretty bloody awesome lecture. I very nearly rolled over and went back to sleep when I awoke this morning, but I'm quite glad I managed to find enough motivation to get up instead.
I'm such a generork, I know. |
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[16 August 2007|11:33 pm] |
Highlights of Axver's day:
1. This morning, I bought a ticket to see Muse here in Melbourne on the 15th of November. Got a pretty good seat too. As much as I enjoy most of Muse's music, I don't like them (or the sack of shit that is Black Holes And Revelations) enough to be bothered with the whole "lining up for ages to get a good spot in General Admission" thing. Plus, since I'm going alone, a seat suits me better anyway.
2. Ate far too much food with Kate this afternoon. At least I do a fair bit of walking these days in comparison to past standards of laziness and inactivity.
3. Indulged in generorky fun this evening by going to a public lecture at university. It was given by Michael B. Oren (perhaps best known for his book on the Six Day War) on the topic of "Jews, Statehood and Power: Israel and the Challenges to Jewish Morality". One of the courses I'm doing this semester is the History Of The Arab-Israeli Conflict, so this tied in rather nicely, especially as this week's focus was on the differing Israeli and Palestinian narratives of the creation of the state of Israel. Oren, who has not just studied Israeli history but served in the IDF, provided a rather interesting perspective and was a very engaging speaker. I won't try to provide an analysis of what he said or provide arguments about its validity, as I'm dead tired and no good could come of it. However, I will mention one side matter that struke me: the way in which Oren used holy texts such as those regarding Moses. It was interesting for someone such as myself, who has grown up in two countries where such texts are used to advance religious, theological purposes. Oren, of Jewish background, used them for a cultural purpose, something I have a hard time relating to but that I enjoyed hearing. It was nice to hear someone quote a religious text without then proceeding to force it down my throat. I was also surprised that when he was discussing figures such as Moses, Joshua, and Nehemiah, he spoke of the "Bible", not of the "Tanakh". Perhaps to cater to his audience? I don't know.
If I can get my lazy arse into gear, I have a few politically flavoured entries to write. Or maybe I'll just talk music. I've been enjoying plenty of new stuff lately. |
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| Happy Pi Day! |
[22 July 2007|10:27 pm] |
So, it's Pi Day: 22/7, Pi as a fraction. I woke up, put on my Pi t-shirt, got the pies out of the freezer to defrost ... and then my plans went completely haywire, so I'm going to have a belated Pi Day during the week and I won't be making an attempt to break my record for reciting Pi. Honestly, I lack the motivation to break my record as it serves very little purpose and I've got plenty of other stuff to do and remember that has more significance to my life. It's kind of a shame, as memorising Pi was fun, but I'm just not sure trying to hit 500 digits is worth the time and effort.
Nonetheless, here's my Pi Day gift, a bit of a re-upload.
( Back when I really had nothing better to do. )
Have a good one, folks. |
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[8 January 2007|08:27 pm] |
Evidently, my birthday has come early this year. This is a bit strange; at this time of year, it's meant to be Kate's birthday (well, tomorrow), with mine just over a week away on the 17th. But now was the opportune time for my mother to purchase my birthday present and give it to me, so she did. I am now the very proud owner of a snazzy 320GB external hard drive. It is indeed drooltastic. I now no longer have to worry about space on my overburdened hard drive, or about it becoming temperamental and crashing on me and taking all my data with it as everything even faintly, remotely important shall be backed up on the external hard drive.
Accordingly, I am currently transferring my entire music collection to the new hard drive. However, I have encountered a slight dilemma of sorts. Within the folders for individual artists, I cannot decide whether I wish to categorise albums alphabetically or chronologically. To use U2 as an example:
Alphabetically:
Achtung Baby
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Boy
[Et cetera]
Chronologically:
1980 - Boy
1981 - October
1983 - War
[Et cetera]
I can't decide which is preferable, so I figured I'd seek the input of you good people, especially those of you who are generorky enough to also fuss over your music collection's organisation like this. So here's a poll! I haven't made one of these in a while.
Poll #902650
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllShould I sort albums alphabetically or chronologically? |
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[21 October 2006|01:42 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | generork, wikipedia | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | 'She Speeds' by Straitjacket Fits | ] |
Signs you have absolutely no life:
[...]
#172: On Friday night, you stay up past midnight working on Wikipedia. Writing articles about obscure localities and geographical features in New Zealand. And you don't feel like you wasted your time or could have been doing something better.
[...]
Yeah. That's me alright. Hooray for Wikipedia? |
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| Stuck for what to do on your Saturday night? |
[25 February 2006|08:29 pm] |
Saturday Night, Axver Style
How to enjoy your Saturday night in seven simple generorky steps
1. Wait for your flatmate to go out and do ... whatever normal people do on a Saturday night.
2. Get ice cream out of freezer and heap scoops into a decent sized bowl.
3. Drown ice cream in more chocolate sauce than is A). healthy or B). safe.
4. Take drowned ice cream into the lounge.
5. Sit on the coffee table, because it's directly in front of the television and the couches are not.
6. Put DVD about New Zealand trains in DVD player, and ensure the sound is coming through the stereo system's speakers (because your flatmate is cool and rigged up the DVD player to play through the stereo rather than relying on the television's puny little speakers).
7. Spend an hour grinning your face off watching Kiwi trains of the past and present. Ensure you excessively refer to individuals as the "coolest person ever" (i.e. the guy who discovered what is the sole remaining example of a particular type of railcar, or the guy who built his own narrow gauge railway, or just any old train driver who makes a comment that's remotely amusing or insightful).
I'm such a generork that it may inflict pain upon anyone nearby. |
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| And in the news today ... |
[16 September 2005|09:03 pm] |
OK, I normally keep my utter hatred of Harry Potter to myself (especially considering I'm outnumbered about Everyone to 2 on the friends list), but for goodness' bloody sakes, a movie preview is not deserving of being on the news, and definitely not deserving of being on one of those 15-second headline update segments they play during ad breaks! In fact, this doesn't just apply to movies I don't like: I don't care if the movie's LOTR, The Passion, or Why Axver's Right About Everything, a simple preview is not even remotely newsworthy. I don't care how insanely popular (re: over-hyped) a fandom is, there's just no excuse for giving something as mundane as a movie preview time on the news while racially-motivated rape and murder in Darfur and child starvation in Niger are thoroughly ignored. Now, if something important relating to the fandom has happened - actor died in mysterious circumstances, box office record was smashed, a street fight broke out between supporters of rival fandoms - then chuck it on the news. But quite frankly, I don't give a flying blue walrus about a preview, and even if you do, I am failing to see any justification for giving it headline or even newsworthy status, unless you're running an entertainment rag. I suppose it's just a ploy to gain viewers and boost ratings, which in my opinion is not what the news is about. I'll take my facts with a side of importance and a glass of relevancy, thanks.
In other, uh, news, 90km/h winds are predicted for tonight (for you Americans, that's not even 60mph). Now, while that seems rather pansytastic compared to some winds I experienced in Windington Wellington - and is, if I remember correctly, 30km/h short of gale force - it has become a source of concern for me. Why? Because after previous bad experiences, I have entirely no trust in the stability of the electrical network or in the ability of Energex to timely rectify any outage. Now, I don't know about you, but I am generorky enough to have a U2 setlist party to attend tomorrow, and anything that dares threaten my electrical and Internet connections is worthy of concern. You really do know you're a generork when you look forward to online setlist parties. Or when you make the icon I'm using with this entry. |
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