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Axver

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[3 April 2008|11:09 pm]
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[Current Music |'The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows' by Pure Reason Revolution]

Well, April looks like it's going to be considerably busy and stressful. The fact I'm updating LJ rather than writing an essay surely isn't doing me any favours either. However, I feel motivated to update, while I can't say I feel terribly thrilled about rehashing arguments on the Holocaust in Romania in the quest for a mark, so update I shall.

March quite unexpectedly proved to be a rather good month. To tell the truth, it was probably my best month of the fourteen or so I've spent in Melbourne so far. When it started, I can't say I expected that. It was stinking hot, I was feeling fairly lonely, and Mum was not in the best of health at all. But it turns out the Internet is more than just a vehicle for porn and flamewars, and I can largely thank LJ and Interference for such a good March - my mother's all too short visit also significantly contributed. From Interference, the Maj. is not just in one of my courses at university but in the very same tutorial (what are the odds, seriously), while outside of uni I've caught up with Ali and TE/Melissa a few times and went to the National Gallery with them. It's been terribly good actually getting out and doing things, and a group of us are going to the premiere of U2 3D next week. I must admit I really don't care too much about U2 3D - it's a sort of ridiculous concept and only one song in the entire setlist really leaps out at me as worth hearing, but I'm not going to say no to passing the evening with a cool group of people and music I'm sure I'll enjoy despite my skepticism.

Meanwhile, in quite a chance encounter, [info]harmonybear/Kat and I bumped into each other over on [info]melbournemaniac. Would you believe there is another albino railfan roughly my age in Melbourne? No, I didn't either. But I'm not even joking. We've been out railfanning and tramfanning a fair bit the last few weeks. Most of it has just been around the central city, including one day when the routes 3, 64, and 67 tram lines were running via William Street to terminate at Dudley Street - I really wanted (and got!) photos of Z1s and As on a route normally run solely by Z3s and B2s. I've also ridden the Frankston - Stony Point line twice, once by myself and once with Kat; it's the only non-electrified train on the Melbourne commuter network. At the moment, it's operated by an A class diesel locomotive hauling either two or three of four MTH carriages, undoubtedly the most comfortable rolling stock of any suburban train. It's well worth the trip, especially as it's going to be replaced by Sprinter railcars rather soon. Kat and I are planning another trip later this month before the A+MTH are replaced, this time to photograph it between stations and also photograph the Long Island Steel train, which I frustratingly missed by a matter of minutes when we went down last weekend. Assuming I don't get too stressed over the next few days with essay madness, I'll post some of my pictures from my railfan adventures.

On another note, I'm considerably relieved with the very sudden departure of summer. Three weeks ago, Melbourne was melting in 40C weather. Today barely reached 16C. Looks like the coming few days are going to be rather pleasant and comfortable around 20-25C. Tomorrow evening, I hope it's fine as I plan to go out and do some more tramfanning, unfortunately without Kat as she'll be in Adelaide making me jealous by riding Adelaide trains. But it's the last weekday evening before the end of daylight saving and I don't yet have a photo of a 00 tram on the route 55. The 00 trams are return workings of peak hour trams that aren't rostered to actually run the 55 in the counter-peak direction; they are simply returning to Essendon Depot. Since they run in the evening and it will soon be too dark for my camera to produce worthwhile shots when the 00 runs, I'll go park myself somewhere in Royal Park, do readings, and photograph the parade of passing trams in the hope that at least one 00 comes my way when it's still nice and light. I do wonder if any counter-peak 00s run from Essendon Depot to West Coburg in the morning, but I'm never even remotely up that early to find out! I imagine they do, but I'll stick with catching the 00 in the evening for now. I don't think any of the Melburnians on my friends list or Interference would be terribly interested in joining me tomorrow, but if anybody is, let me know! I'm thinking about getting pizza.

And I think that's about it in news from Axverland. I've 3,500 words over two essays due in ten days, of which only 900 words are thus far written, and 4,000 words to do for the Royal Historical Society before the end of April. What fun. Have a good one, everybody.
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[15 March 2008|11:55 pm]
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[Current Music |'Les Iris' by Alcest]

Well, I had a very nice and very exhausting day today. This morning, I had a lovely morning tea/brunch with a group of other Melburnians with albinism. Then afterwards, [info]harmonybear and I went trainchasing in the city. This involved a considerable degree of walking in rather warm weather, and was thoroughly worth it. There is truly something delightful in not being a lone train nerd for a change! What a good day. My legs are killing me in a way I wasn't aware they could kill me, but it was for a good cause, so I'm not complaining! Absolutely need to do that again.

I would love to post some of my three hundred and seventy photos of trams and trains, but they are all on the Mac and for reasons I am not entirely able to determine, the Internet is refusing to work on it at the moment. I've started a thread over on Whirlpool, an Australian IT forum, so hopefully the issue will be resolved. If it looks like taking a while, I'll just burn them onto a CD and copy them onto the Windows. I've a shitload of photo posts I need to make.

On a completely unrelated topic, I hadn't played Alcest's Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde in a little while, but I've put it on this evening and it's blowing me away all over again. Truly the album of 2007, despite how astonishing Porcupine Tree's Fear Of A Blank Planet is. Neige is an absolute fucking genius. Shoegazer meets positive black metal with traces of post-rock? It shouldn't work, and yet it is one of the most stunningly beautiful things I have ever heard. If I were to do a list of greatest album openers of all time, Printemps Emeraude would certainly be on it, and Tir Nan Og would appear on the equivalent list for album closers.

No full albums from 2008 have seriously captured my imagination yet, though I am highly impressed by Agalloch's EP entitled The White. It may not have an individual track of as high quality as Kneel To The Cross from the Of Stone, Wind, And Pillor EP, but its often folkish and very desolate atmosphere is stunning. The run of Pantheist/Birch White/Sowilo Rune is of the most evocative in the band's history.

Now time to go collapse from exhaustion somewhere.
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[13 March 2008|01:23 am]
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[Current Mood | tired]
[Current Music |'Drown With Me' by Porcupine Tree]

OK, some quick notes, since I've neglected this. Mum and Alan have been visiting since Monday, and it has been really lovely to see them. Especially Mum. She looks a bit healthier than I expected, actually, except for her arm that's shockingly bruised - her dehydration meant that when a nurse tried to draw blood, it was hard to find a vein and Mum's arm got seriously messed up. We've had a few nice days, just doing stuff around the city. Today - well, yesterday now - we went to the Melbourne Zoo. My tram route goes past it, so I've seen it very frequently for the year and a bit that I've lived here, but never actually gone in! I hadn't been to a zoo in years, and I must say, the blue penguins, meerkats, red pandas, and elephants are made of all kinds of SuperWin. I took a disturbingly large amount of photos, and I'll share some of the best ones in the coming days. Though I was a bit bothered by how some of the animals appeared a little bored, or that they needed larger enclosures.

In completely unrelated and I suppose somewhat weird-sounding news, I had an interesting experience on Tuesday. I was waiting outside uni on Swanston Street for Mum and Alan, just photographing trams. Now, it's no secret that I'm an albino - but I have never actually met another human albino. I've owned an albino cat and encountered plenty of other albino animals, but not another person. So there I am, excitedly photographing a tram of the Z1 class because I didn't previously have any photos of Z1s in my collection, when what do I see but this albino woman walk right past me. I had to look twice and I just about said something! Now, I think it's pretty sweet to be an albino, but I'm sure not everyone feels the same way, and I just don't like to bother people or intrude in the first place, so I didn't say anything. But wow. For 21 years, in my own little slice of existence, I've been the only one. Now I'm not. It's one thing to know as a sheer matter of fact that you're not the only one, but quite another thing entirely to actually encounter somebody else and see that fact manifested before your very eyes. And then just to cap off my day, one of only three Z2 trams still in operation rocked up and I went back into photography mode.

And since it's now very late and I need to be up in some seven hours, I shall end here and disappear for sleep. I hope you're all well. My apologies for being considerably absent lately.
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Because trams are all kinds of awesome [27 February 2008|11:53 pm]
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[Current Mood | blank]
[Current Music |'Friends Are Evil' by Jesu]

I've posted some of my photos of trams recently, but it was really just a mishmash, whatever I photographed when I was out. So today, I thought I'd do a proper run-through of the tram fleet for the out-of-towners, using my admittedly very rudimentary and basic knowledge. I'm sure anybody with more of a clue can easily correct and enlighten me. This is, after all, just an exercise in generorkish fun, and trams cheer me up. I should also get around to posting some of my railway photos soon too. I haven't taken many, just around Royal Park and Spencer Street stations, but it'll be a change of pace at least.

So without further ado, here's more of my shitty photography with a veneer of being informative.

( W class. )

( Z class. That's the zed class, people. )

( A class. )

( B class. )

( C class. )

( D class. )

We also have five new trams coming, on loan from France until 2011 ahead of a government plan to procure more trams. Amusingly, some French leaves have delayed the introduction of these trams to service. I'm looking forward to seeing them around and photographing them. I hope they retain the yellow livery seen in The Age's article. It's much more attractive than the bland fog grey and white that Yarra Trams currently uses on most of the other trams.
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[14 January 2008|11:28 pm]
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[Current Music |'Missing Presumed Drowned' by Straitjacket Fits]

I was thinking of writing a serious entry today, but then I started to feel like shit and I'm simply not up to it. So instead, I would like to share some more photos. I went for a walk around Brunswick West this afternoon, and since having a digital camera is still a bit of a novelty for me (yes, I am aware of how behind the times I am), I took it with me and got some photographs. I still don't feel comfortable taking photos though, even when it's not of trams. A camera's always been something to get out for special events, so taking photos of mundane, ordinary things feels odd. I can't help but wonder what passing people think, and I'm always very careful to avoid getting anyone else in my shots. I'm sure almost everybody else is paying absolutely no attention to me. It's just not what I'm used to. Plus I don't like making overt displays of wealth, and I feel that things like digital cameras and iPods constitute that.

But I come from a family that didn't even have a CD player until 1998. DVD player? I had access to one belonging to other people 2003-06, but I did not get my own until 2007. I go to movie rental stores nowadays and I'm amazed by how much they're taken up by DVDs and how small - or sometimes even non-existent - the video section is. I walk in and can't shake the feeling that I want to rent a video!

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Here's some photos from my walk. My inner Melbourne suburb and trams and random stuff.

( Photos. )
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Because trams are cool. Cooler than you! [10 January 2008|11:49 pm]
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[Current Mood | geeky]
[Current Music |'Assassing' by Marillion]

Alright, three tram entries in three days, that's a bit excessive. But this is the last one. It's also probably a bit more interesting than yesterday's entry, which was wildly nerdy even by my standards, and has some non-tram related Melbourne shots. All of the photos were taken between 3pm and 4:30pm on 9 January 2008.

( Firstly, the non-tram Melbourne shots: hello, drought! )

( The only decent photo I took with a train as the main subject. )

( Trams in and around Royal Park. )

( My favourite photo from the day's outing. )

( I think to an outsider - or to a tram fan like myself - the pedestrian tram signs are pretty neat. )

( Random stuff in Royal Park, including a pathetic excuse for a hockey stadium and a weird lopsided 'archway'. )

( A final two trams. )

Well, I think this is the coolest entry I have ever made. I am sure everybody else begs to differ.
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Because trams are cool. Really, really cool! [9 January 2008|09:04 pm]
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[Current Music |'Regret' by Anathema]

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]
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[Current Music |'As Embers Dress The Sky' by Agalloch]

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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[30 October 2007|11:29 pm]
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[Current Music |'Borgens Vor' by Pure Reason Revolution]

Proof Melbourne is a far more sensible place to live than Brisbane:

- In Brisbane, I began putting ice in my drink roughly a month before the end of winter.
- In Melbourne, I've begun putting ice in my drink roughly a month before the end of spring.

It's funny how fast this year has flown by. The rugby season's already over. I can't believe we're now just 24.5 hours off November. I feel like I've barely even moved to Melbourne. Last weekend, I experienced my first shift to daylight savings in an entire decade. After living in Queensland for so long, the sun being up so late really throws me off. It was still light at 8pm today. It is good though, as I'm using less electricity on my lighting. Every cent I can save is important. I can't believe how expensive electricity is. I'm truly thankful that I don't have the added expense of petrol for a car. For once, my crappy vision proves useful! Melbourne's tram network helps a lot too, but I think I've praised it to the Heavens plenty of times on here before.

I don't really have much of substance to write tonight. Well, I do, but I don't really have the time as I need to stop procrastinating and do a bit more solid essay work before heading to bed. So how is everybody? I do read my friends page every day despite my completely craptastic comment frequency, but some of you need to post more! Yeah, I can't talk these days. I don't know how I once managed a post a day. Once upon a time, I had a hell of a lot to say and a fierce urge to say it immediately; now, I delete half of what I write. That's probably for the better, though.

I hope all of you are well. Have a good one!
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New Zealand Pictures, Part III: Queen Elizabeth Park and the Mungatooks [11 July 2007|09:47 pm]
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[Current Music |'Tombstone' by Crowded House]

Continuing on from yesterday's post, I'm proceeding up the Kapiti Coast to Queen Elizabeth Park, which is between Paekakariki and Raumati South. During World War II, it was home to a US Army and Marines camp, and is now the home of the Wellington Tramway Museum. The Museum operates a 2km line and runs preserved Wellington trams (the Wellington network closed in 1964), along with a couple from Brisbane and one from New York.

( Twelve Queen Elizabeth Park photos. )

Usually, if you want to go from Queen Elizabeth Park to Paraparaumu, you will just drive straight up State Highway 1 past Raumati. However, Grandad and I had already been up that way, so we decided to take the back way through a valley behind Raumati. Waterfall Road leaves State Highway 1 not far north of the Queen Elizabeth Park main entry, and I'd forgotten just how AWFUL that road is. It is effectively a single lane road and it feels like it does an almost never-ending succession of blind curves. I was terrified of another car coming around a corner in the opposite direction, but fortunately nobody did. It then leads onto the wider, nicer Valley Road which goes up to Paraparaumu. Leaving Valley Road is Maungakotukutuku Road, which leads into the Maungakotukutuku Valley, an area I know simply as "the Mungatooks". Yeah, even we think Maungakotukutuku ("Mownga-koh-took-oo-took-oo") is a pain in the arse to pronounce. My mother used to walk and run in the Mungatooks all the time, and in more rugged areas, my uncle did dirt bike racing.

( Four photos from the back way to Paraparaumu. )

Tomorrow: my hometown itself, Raumati Beach!
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[18 June 2007|08:07 pm]
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[Current Mood | somewhat on the stressed side]
[Current Music |'Epidemic' by Blackfield]

Well, I must say that it's a touch unnerving that today's shooting in central Melbourne of three people (one fatally) occurred on an intersection I travel through extremely frequently when Kate's in the country. When I'm riding the tram back home by myself, that intersection is a bit of a landmark. From where I board to there, the traffic's light enough that I can safely spread out a bit - perhaps sit my bag on the seat beside me or put my feet up. But when we're about to turn off Flinders Lane onto William Street, I know we're about to reach some of the line's busiest stops, so I make sure I'm not taking up any more room than I need to. The corner will still be a landmark in my mind, but now for all the wrong reasons. I think this is the first time any sort of major crime has ever occurred anywhere that I visit frequently. I can't help but feel a little creeped out by this turn of events.

In other news, in two days' time from this post, I will have finished my first semester of university in Melbourne. I have two exams to go, one tomorrow and one the next day. I must admit that I'm pretty screwed. I haven't studied enough, especially not for the second one, but I feel much of the study I have done is pretty useless stuff anyway. The exams are of the "here's ~10 topics; write essays on two of them" variety, so as long as I can come up with enough material, I can hopefully bluff my way through them successfully. I'll pull out all the usual tactics: name-drop famous writers and theorists a lot, do bullshit theoretical analyses, draw on random general knowledge buried in the deep recesses of my brain, and generally hope that I come across as if I know precisely what I am talking about, even though I'm really making it all up as I go. It works in debates!

Once I'm on holidays, I aim to do a lot of writing. It's not as if I have anything else to do. I have a lot of thoughts on political and theological topics storming inside my head at the moment, so hopefully that will translate into LiveJournal posts. Have a good one, folks.
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[6 June 2007|12:52 am]
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[Current Music |'Emerald Lies' by Marillion]

Whenever I go to university, I walk past the Royal Melbourne Hospital. I can't help but find ironic amusement that every time I go by, there's a throng of future lung cancer patients gathered outside the main entrance, smoking up a storm. Pisses me off too, as I cannot stand smoking, but the amusement keeps me from being too bothered.

But this post has a sombre twist, as the Royal Melbourne Hospital was the destination for some of the seriously injured in a level crossing accident that happened today in northwestern Victoria. This wasn't just the ordinary kind of level crossing accident either, where some moron thinks they can outrun the train and get cleaned up by the engine. Oh no. Some stupid fuck in a semi-trailer drove into the side of the second carriage! Unless the reason he drove into the side of the train was due to being incapacitated, such as by a heart attack, he is a leading contender for the title of "stupidest person in Australia" and, as he survived, I hope the law falls on him like a sack of bricks with a bunch of manslaughter charges. The death toll currently stands at 11 with 10 more missing, and the footage of the second carriage is absolutely terrible. It has a huge gash down one side, completely split open.

I just do not understand why people are so stupid when it comes to trains and level crossings. The train is bigger and more powerful than you and it can't exactly turn or stop suddenly, so why challenge it? You'll only come off as the loser. This goes for trams too. Every time I travel past uni and into the city, my tram runs through the middle of two roundabouts. It seems drivers are completely incapable of even noticing that a tram is coming and that it has right-of-way, or they just think they can beat it. I don't know what they think they're doing, because the tram's a hell of a lot bigger than they are. Kate's already been in a tram accident at one of the roundabouts, fortunately a rather minor one involving an idiotic taxi driver who failed to get out of the way, and I was nearly in a repeat of it last night. We may have actually grazed the car very lightly, as I was right up the front of the tram and when I looked out the window, the front of the car was not visible. But when the car reversed away, there was no visible damage and we got going again, though not before the tram driver leapt to his feet, gesticulated wildly, and called the driver of the car a "fucking moron".

So, in summary, people are stupid. Maybe there should be IQ tests to get a driver's licence.
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[15 May 2007|09:43 pm]
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[Current Music |'Next Exit' by Split Enz]

You know, it's very difficult to write when you have nearly no restrictions at all. I can't recall if I mentioned this on LJ last year, but in any case, I was invited to submit an article to UQ's Political Science journal. In other words, I can write pretty much whatever I like as long as it has some sort of connection to PolSci. It's a great opportunity, but the problem is that I simply cannot seem to find a topic or an argument that seems both 1. good enough for submission and 2. interesting and on my level. I don't want to really charge in over my head; I'm very conscious of the fact that I am, after all, merely a second year PolSci student without an extensive knowledge of theorists. So I don't want to tackle anything that's really completely beyond me and will require an inordinate investment of time. However, the ideas I do have seem pathetic, they strike me as straight out of high school or just an expression of some sort of frustration or dissatisfaction. Furthermore, they aren't particularly original! I don't even really know where to look for inspiration. Right now, I feel motivated but uninspired; determined to go somewhere but stalled in mediocrity.

And wow, I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I've written an update. I feel like I've only missed 2-3 days. Time flies at such a ridiculous pace. It's now the second last week of classes for the semester, then a week of swot-vac (that would be Study Without Teaching Vacation for those of you in countries without that term), then three weeks of exams during which I have two essays due in the first two weeks and two exams in the third week, and then a month of holidays. Sounds nice. I can't believe how lightly I get off with exams. Also, I've been doing pretty nicely with my assessment tasks thus far. I was nervous about how marking standards would differ between UQ and Melbourne, but I needn't have been. All four assessment items I've received back thus far have been H1, that is honours first class, 80-100%. I'm a bit nervous about how the exams will go though, as I feel they are for the two subjects whose potential exams would be the hardest and require the most study. Oh well, I've got plenty of time! Now let's see how I do on the procrastination front ...

On a lighter note, I really love little kids on trams. A few days ago, there was this adorable girl on my tram, she can't have been older than three. My tram route (the 55 for those who know the Melbourne network) is one of the few that has part of its route off the road network - it runs through Royal Park past the Melbourne Zoo, so it's popular with tourists. This part of the line is more like that of a train, and it evidently confused the girl. As soon as the tram turned off Flemington Road and began running through the park, she looked up at her Dad in confusion and asked "is this a twam or a twain?". But the cutest moment came when the tram reached the Zoo stop and her family went to hop off. With absolutely no prompting at all, she just looked up at the driver with this big smile and said in a loud, cheery voice, "thank you for the lovely ride!" I think the entire tram let out a collective "awwww!" at that one.
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[1 May 2007|04:08 pm]
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[Current Mood | good]
[Current Music |'And She Slowly Dies' by Wolverine]

Over the last week, I've certainly come to realise how much I love living in Melbourne. Right now, I'm happier here than I was in Brisbane, despite some of the conveniences I had there that I don't have here - especially that in Brisbane, university was a ten minute walk away, whereas here, I have to leave about 30-40 minutes beforehand to arrive on time to class. That factor aside, I am well and truly taken by the trams. I have never felt so independent in my life - I rarely even have to worry about how I'm meant to get somewhere. Plus, the interesting people and experiences I sometimes have on there tend to make commuting just that little bit more interesting.

( More reasons why Melbourne rocks. )
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[14 April 2007|08:05 pm]
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[Current Mood | good]
[Current Music |'Treason' by The Bats]

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.
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Axver's adventures in the real world III: More weird people on trams! [31 March 2007|11:22 pm]
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[Current Music |'Thine Hour Hast Come' by Horde]

I think I'm going to start compiling a list of all the strange and weird people I encounter on trams. I imagine it could grow to become rather amusing. Except for the first guy in this entry, whose presence made me feel uncomfortable, these weird people tend to make commuting to university or travelling to and from Kate's place a bit more interesting.

So, without any further ado, here's some more of the bizarre Melburnians (that's not a typo, folks) I've come across on the trams.

1. About a week ago now, I was riding home from Kate's place, listening to my iPod and trying not to miss the Domain Road Interchange as I don't know the area all too well. While travelling down Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, this dishevelled guy boarded the tram and looked rather homeless, but he headed down to the other end of the tram and I initially thought nothing more of him. For a while, I was a bit oblivious to what was occurring down the other end of the tram, but a few stops from Domain Road, the homeless guy came back up the front and started harassing an American passenger, evidently after bothering the people down the back. In what can only be described as being in the truest tradition of the American who verbally beats Basil Fawlty down to size on the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf Salad", this guy got up and very forcefully tried to make the homeless guy be quiet - or in his words, "sit down, shut up, or spend the night in jail" - before asking the driver to call the police, which he promptly did. The American passenger then went down the other end of the tram, threatening the homeless guy with a fist in the face if he followed. So for the next couple of minutes, I found myself sitting opposite the homeless guy while he rambled on, initially in the direction of the American and then seemingly at no-one. He initially tried to boast about his strength and that as a meatworker, he could win any fight, but this soon deteriorated into incomprehensible nonsense about "you'll go down to the meatworks, yeah, that's where you'll end up, that's where you'll find me". I was very happy when I bailed at Domain Road and left the homeless guy behind!

2. Sometime last week, I was riding through Royal Park when the driver just began singing a pleasant and upbeat tune to himself. It made a change from weird passengers who sing to themselves! Well, nice to have a driver in a cheerful mood, I suppose.

3. Last night, I was riding the tram pretty late, and as you would expect on a Friday night, there were drunk people about, including a group of three people near me - I think a brother and sister and one of their friends. They spent the entire time talking extremely loudly, completely oblivious to the fact most of the tram could hear what was obviously a private conversation. It began with the girl discussing how she'd tried cocaine a few times while in the USA and soon drifted to the sexual experiences of the three - how many people they'd had sex with, when they lost their virginity, whether the virgins they'd had sex with had cried, and so on. Certainly too much information, and not a conversation I could imagine having in public in hushed tones, let alone in very strong voice!

4. Tram driver last night, over the intercom: "Good news for St Kilda fans: they won! Poor Essendon." Yep, Aussie Rules results announced by the driver. Can you tell I live in Melbourne?
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Axver's adventures in the real world: Weird people on trams. [21 March 2007|09:47 pm]
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[Current Music |'The Genuine Pulse' by Borknagar]

I swear, I see the funniest people on the trams here in Melbourne. Not disturbing and disruptive ones like November's weird bongo dude, but amusing people who perhaps should reconsider what they do in public.

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself sitting next to this old Asian guy. He seemed perfectly normal for about half of the trip, and then he just suddenly started talking to himself. He'd talk for a minute, then go quiet for a while, talk some more, and so on. At first I thought he was talking on a hands-free phone, but unless microphones and headphones are invisible nowadays, he was not. The strangest part was that it sounded as if he were speaking some sort of tribal language from sub-Saharan Africa rather than an Asian language.

Then, only a few days later, I was riding to university and found myself sitting opposite this lady who, at first glance, seemed to just be one of those pleasant old ladies who smiles at everyone. And then she just started humming what sounded like an out-of-tune combination of the Australian and American national anthems and the wedding march.

But I think the teenage guy from a couple of days ago topped the lot. His appearance was that of some tough Asian gang member. He looked like he'd bash the crap out of anyone who looked sideways at him. So I was sitting opposite him, reading a book for university because I'd been lazy and hadn't read it the night before, when I heard what sounded like a little girl singing. I hadn't seen any children on the tram, so I looked up, and that was when I realised it was the Asian guy. And he just kept singing along to his iPod in this high pitched girly voice. Two stops down the line, he got up and departed the tram, still doing his best impression of a little girl. It was strange.

I love the trams. Who needs TV for entertainment?
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