| |
[29 February 2008|11:49 pm] |
Wow, I must admit I'm a wee bit impressed. For the first time since March 2005, I made an entry on every single day of a calendar month. It's funny how posting habits change. I made at least one entry for every single day between 29 September 2003 and 12 April 2005 inclusive. At the complete opposite end of the scale, I made just three entries in all of September last year, and missed an entire month between 14 February and 14 March 2007. A lot has come and gone in that time. I started this blog way back in year 11 of high school, and now here I am, heading into my third year of university.
I suppose February was a fitting month during which to write daily. Neither this year nor last have been kind to me at the start, and I will be rather pleased to see March after this miserable month. My paternal grandfather passed away, I lost the friendship of two significant people in my life, and now just to top it all off, my family has had some more drama. One of my uncles is entering into a very poorly considered marriage, and the whole furore over this reached its peak last night when he threw a tantrum at a family gathering and remarked that his mother, my maternal grandmother, should die and burn in hell. To reiterate from yesterday, I will not stand for bullshit, and such repulsive disrespect sickens me. I have already distanced myself from the developing drama, and that was the final straw; I am cutting him out too. Nobody talks to my Nan like that. Nobody.
In happier news, today's cricket between Australia and Sri Lanka was sensational. Undeniably the best game of the series thus far, and what a shame that it was a dead rubber before the finals! It began as per the usual script - the Sri Lankans lost wickets steadily and staggered to a paltry 221, and the Australians began their innings in blistering form, clearly set to chase down the target in double quick time. And then the wheels fell off. Australia crumbled from 0/107, with Adam Gilchrist on course for the fastest limited overs century in Australian history, to 6/123 and Gilly gone for 83 off 50. The Sri Lankan bowlers just tore up the script and threw the shreds to the four winds. The Australian tail-enders tried desperately to hang on, and had 14 runs to get off the final 12 balls with just one wicket in hand. Then Jayawardene made an inspired choice in bringing in Jayasuriya to bowl, and with his first and only delivery of the game, he clean bowled Brett Lee and the game was over! Australia were dismissed for 208 and the Sri Lankans won by 13. It was such a fantastic game, and so tense at the end as Lee and Nathan Bracken fought desperately to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The game was even here in Melbourne at the MCG, so now I'm regretting not going! Well, in any case, bring on a close finals series between Australia and India in the coming week.
And so ends February. What a month. I'll take a quieter March if at all possible, thanks. |
|
|
| |
[18 January 2008|04:35 am] |
Here's a completely worthless, rushed post to celebrate the fact that with this post, I have successfully posted every day for an entire month: 19 December to 18 January. It's the first time I have done so since a period in March-April 2005; those of you who were on my friends list way back then will remember that from a date in late September 2003 to mid-April 2005, I posted on every single day. Well, I've found writing regularly again has been a very positive thing for me, so I'll try to do a calendar month next. I can't believe I've been irregularly posting for so long - a post used to be a significant part of my daily routine, and a very enjoyable one at that.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mark this entirely meaningless milestone. Just like I marked my 21st yesterday, even though it was really only just another day. But let's be honest; marking milestones is fun! Anybody want to spam me for old time's sake? We had such fun on LJ back the day - it seems like a good few people have moved on though. Ah well.
I better move on - time to go to the airport! See all of you on the 21st. |
|
|
| |
[4 December 2007|11:58 pm] |
Well, for the first time in my entire life, I'm proud of the government of the country in which I live. Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australian Prime Minister yesterday. His first action? Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
As I was born in 1987, I was far too young to remember the Labour government of David Lange (and in its dying year, Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore). In my youth, New Zealand was led by Jim Bolger and the Nationals, who in my youthful political awareness did not appeal to me, and I left New Zealand months before Jenny Shipley took over from Bulger (a woman who repulses me) and over two years before Helen Clark became PM for Labour. While I've been in Australia, the Prime Minister has always been John Howard. Words cannot express my delight to finally have a Prime Minister I actually like. It's going to be interesting to see how Rudd's wave of support lasts. Given the absolute disarray within the Liberal Party, I think it's safe to say we've got a two-term Labour government on our hands. Here's hoping this means more funding for education and public transport. Maybe that Inland Australia Railway will finally happen.
In other news, I've noticed my friends list has been rather silent on the matter of LiveJournal's ownership passing from Six Apart to SUP. Meanwhile, the drama on the two ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/newsinfo.gif) news posts (1 and 2) has been beyond hilarious. Watch out, everybody! Dodgy Russian politicians are coming to read your friends-locked entries and use your credit card to buy vodka and AK-47 Kalashnikovs. People, calm down. It's an online blogging service. You might want to consider putting the energy of your righteous indignation and wild paranoia towards a good cause. Or, you know, you could continue to whine incessantly and create all kinds of conspiracy theories about the Russian mafia, Vladimir Putin, and LJ while the genocide in Darfur goes on, Burma remains thoroughly repressed, and millions live in such poverty that they could not even imagine a website like LJ. Now, I'm not going to present myself as a paragon of virtue, someone whose priorities are perfectly straight, but for goodness' sakes, there are bigger things to worry about. I can't say I've noticed much in the way of tangible change since I began using LJ 4.5 years ago, and none of it negative. Ah well, I suppose all this drama provides me with a handy source of amusement. The news posts contain page after page of comedic gold! |
|
|
| |
[23 June 2007|11:58 pm] |
Well. Who would like some paid time for their LJ account?
One incredibly generous individual has, much to my surprise, purchased a permanent account for me, for which I thank them profusely. I would now like to spread the generosity to my friends list. I still have about 300 days of paid time left, which I can now give to the user of my choosing. Problem is, I have no idea who to give it to. So I'm throwing this one over to you. You don't have to ask for yourself; if you know someone who would really appreciate some paid time, perhaps because they're in a tight financial spot and can't afford to re-subscribe, or if they would like to try out a paid account before buying, then go ahead and submit their name. Or, of course, ask for yourself. Persuade me in any manner you like. I'll give the time to whoever I think deserves it most (keeping in mind that there is a difference between most deserving and most persuasive). Comments are screened.
I just don't want to see this time go to waste, so don't hesitate to ask for it. I wish I could give some to everyone who wants it, but unfortunately, I can only transfer it to one account. I will do the transfer in three days. |
|
|
| |
[14 April 2007|08:05 pm] |
So, an update on life and things is in order.
At the moment, I'm trying to decide whether to resubscribe to LJ. My paid account ran out yesterday and I'm not sure if it's worth forking over the money to get another year. I like having a paid account, but I don't use LJ like I used to. I keep meaning to update more, but I find myself overthinking things and deleting entries, or in the last couple of months, I've just been too busy. I'd have swiftly resubscribed if I still used the site like I did, but at the moment, I think my meagre monetary resources might be better spent elsewhere. Damn you, textbooks.
University's kept me busy all Easter break with assignments. My essays on the US Electoral College and the eighteenth century partitions of Poland have been pretty interesting, but nothing can make European Union policymaking interesting, not even the fact I was writing about the railways. I truly wish I hadn't done my EU course. It's so mindnumbingly dull, and it's too late to change. Blah. This essay is truly the worst I've ever written and I'm afraid of what mark I'm going to get.
University here is better than in Queensland, though. I'm definitely enjoying myself more and the library is superior. In fact, in general, I love living here. The city is so much more cultural and diverse - I found Queensland painfully monocultural. The climate is absolutely wonderful; it's nice to have days where the maximum temperature is actually below 20! We seriously didn't have a single day in Queensland last year that failed to hit 20. And, well, we all know how much I am in love with the trams. The Z3s in particular, which are the oldest ones apart from the various W class heritage trams. I'm going to have to make an entry dedicated to the trams one day soon.
The Cricket World Cup is consistently keeping me up late at night. Damn you, ICC, for holding it in the West Indies! The Black Caps have been going nicely, though that stumble against Sri Lanka was unpleasant. I'm hoping for a good victory over the South Africans tonight. Hey, if Bangladesh can beat them, why can't we? I'm still feeling confident that we will make the semi-finals, but I do not believe any Kiwi team will ever get beyond that stage. Maybe we'll creep into the final. But I doubt we will ever lift the Cup. This year's the year to do it though. It would be nice if, at the end of this year, we held the Cricket World Cup, the America's Cup, and the Rugby World Cup, and at the moment, we have a pretty solid cricket team, a good yacht and more than just half a chance of getting out hands back on the America's Cup, and probably the most dominant rugby side we've been able to field in a long time. The All Blacks are looking so good it's scary, and I cannot quite put into words my pleasure at seeing the Australian Super 14 teams wilt and die this season.
And that's about it for now. Have a good one, folks. |
|
|
| I guess this is going to be my token controversial entry for the month, or something of the sort. |
[10 April 2006|10:25 pm] |
Dear people,
Please observe basic LJ etiquette and common sense.
1. SPELL AND PUNCTUATE PROPERLY! I cannot emphasise this enough. If you think I don't read your entries, first ask yourself "do I spell and punctuate properly?" If the answer is no, then I am not reading your entries and likely won't start any time soon. Correct spelling and punctuation exist so that I don't have to put effort into deciphering what you are trying to articulate. Commonwealth English is particularly cool.
2. Posts with heaps of pictures (or, really, more than a couple) need lj-cuts. I hate scrolling past heaps of pictures, especially when they are of people I wouldn't know from a bar of soap and will never meet. As a rule, people who care about pictures click appropriately labelled lj-cuts, while those who don't just move down their friends page.
3. Write as much as you like in your entry, just stick to one entry! Excessive entries are not cool. I have learnt this from personal experience with making way too many entries a couple of years ago. Spread your entries apart by a decent amount of time. If you think of something you wanted to say just after you made an entry, there's this fantastic device called the EDIT FEATURE.
4. Warnings that your entry may be "emo" are entirely unnecessary on LivemoJournal.
5. I am sure I am not alone in thinking the ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) u2 community's Song Of The Day series is annoying as hell and should cease immediately.
6. NO-ONE FUCKING CARES THAT BONO CUT HIS HAIR.
Yes, I caught some illness in NZ and now I'm grouchy. However could you tell? |
|
|
| |
[6 April 2006|05:42 pm] |
I have been slack with updating my LiveJournal lately, haven't I? Well, that slackness is going to last a few more days at least! Tomorrow, I'm heading off to New Zealand, though only for a brief trip. By 'brief', I mean that I leave after breakfast on Friday and return in time for dinner on Sunday. It's definitely going to be a whirlwind trip, but I'm actually going to end up seeing more of my family than I've seen on most of my previous trips back home by virtue of the fact that I'm going over for my father's fiftieth birthday party. It's also going to be great to see home - I haven't been in New Zealand since April 2003. ANZAC Day was going to be the "I've been out of New Zealand for three full years" mark. As my flight is from the Gold Coast, not Brisbane, I'm heading back down that way to stay with family overnight so that it's easier to get to the airport.
One thing I'm not looking forward to is the lack of music! I'll miss the library of music I have on my computer. You can only take so many CDs. I rarely wish that I had an iPod or similar MP3 player, but now is one of those times!
Also, I just realised that I've accidentaly let my paid LJ account lapse. Well, that will teach me for not paying attention. I got the "paid account expiring" e-mails and kept thinking "oh, but I can do it tomorrow, it's not something I must do tonight!" Ooops. I guess I'll have to re-subscribe once I get home.
In any case, I better go, I have packing to complete and dinner to eat. Have a nice weekend, folks! |
|
|
| |
[30 March 2006|02:47 pm] |
I see a 'current location' box has suddenly appeared on the Update Journal screen above the the current music box. I don't recall it being there when I updated last night, but maybe I just overlooked it.
In any case, that's a random addition. And that's really the only purpose of my entry. I've been working on assignments today and I'm heading into uni in about an hour to discuss a plan of one essay with a tutor and see what I can find in the library for another assignment. I managed to write an introduction for the assignment I said I hadn't started last night, and as long as I don't overload myself by looking up too many different sources, I should be able to complete this pretty painlessly.
My main problem at the moment is that I'm too distracted by music. I didn't realise that I'm such a music addict, but apparently I am. I'm starting to wish that I'd put more effort into learning the guitar when I was younger.
Have a good one, everybody! |
|
|
exhausted
good
sick