Some of my favourite moments in this election campaign have happened in just the last few days.
Andrew Zobel to Julia Gillard on Q&A on Monday night:
Best JG moment for me – unscripted and real!
And from Rooty Hill RSL tonight – a question from one of the undecided voters:
If there’s no action on climate change by 2011, can we have Kevin Rudd & Malcolm Turnbull back?
It’s been a fairly popular topic on Twitter today, and been giving me quite a few laughs having grown up in the 90s. Here are some of my favourite selections:
So it’s quite clear that I’m beginning to suck a lot at this blogging thing. Twitter is definitely where to check in with me.
Holidays were tops. The time in Qld with family was great – Christmas was busy, but nice to see all the family, and especially my beautiful grandparents. And it was just nice to be away from the house with nothing to do! Scooter riding was also done – to my surprise, Debbie was also up for it. We spent a couple of hours one afternoon riding little 50cc Honda scooters up and down The Espanade in Hervey Bay. But apparently I’m still not allowed to get one here in Sydney.
Once we arrived back home just before new years, I still had a week and a half worth of holidays left. It was really nice to just hang out at home, see friends, do a bunch of handyman type things around the place. It was a nice week. But very quickly, it was all over and this week was back to work.
I had one of the worst night’s sleep in months on Sunday night – I had a lot of anxiety about being back at work. The past 6 months have not been at all kind to me at work. It hasn’t been a horrible place to be or anything – but in amongst all the tech stuff I do, my job is basically just a sales role, and not having made my sales target for 6 months in a row meant that it was really tough to go back.
But I was reminded of little wins I had toward the end of 2009, and also just how good I do have it… and in the end, just how much fun I do have being a nerd and doing all this IP and networking stuff. And so I ended up hitting up Monday morning with a pretty positive attitude. In the end, if it turns out that this job isn’t for me anymore, then I look around and find something else to do – no biggie!
Don’t know why I lost a night of sleep over it. :)
Christmas ‘09 up here in Hervey Bay has been and gone.
We drove up here on the 23rd and 24th – long drive, but it wasn’t too bad. We were on the F3 by about 7:15 and heading north. We made it to Old Bar to visit Debbie’s grandma by about 10:15 and had some morning tea with her, and then it was time to keep driving. I was really happy with the time we were making… until we hit Kempsey. About 2km out of Kempsey, the traffic just stopped. And for about half an hour, we crawled into and then through Kempsey. Very annoying. But after that, there weren’t really any other hiccups. We got into Tweed Heads at about 6:30 and checked into the City Lights motel. Nice place, and the right price. After unloading and sitting down for a minute, it was off to the South Tweed bowlo for some dinner. It was a pretty decent place, and the meal was fine. It had a nice view looking over the river that Tweed Heads sits on.
We started the final leg about 8am the next morning, and a few minutes up the road as we hit Qld, it was 7am… so we were already ahead! Thankfully, getting along the freeways through the Gold Coast and Brisbane was smooth. As we neared the exit for Eumundi and Noosa, I felt a little nostalgic, and enjoyed remembering times in the late 80s / early 90s when we had holidays in Noosa. And so I exited for Eumundi for a little reviver break, and to hopefully find some coffee. And happily, there were quite a few cafes, and one serving some nicely made Toby’s Estate coffee. And then the drive continued, finally arriving in Hervey Bay at about 11:45. Very nice drive. Christmas Eve arvo and evening was just a bit of unpacking, saying hi to Hervey Bay and its beach across the road from our appartment, and a little napping too.
Then Christmas Day was up and off to visit Hervey Bay Baptist in the morning, before coming home, having some presents, and then heading out to lunch with everyone (Mum & Dad, Jenny & Ryan, and my grandparents). After a very big lunch, a nap was definitely in order… and I think I was still incredibly tired from the driving. So I slept for two hours. And then it was off to Dundowran Beach, where my Aunt & Uncle live, which is a suburb to the west of the main bits of Hervey Bay. We had dinner there with all the family who are up here for Christmas, and most of the extended family who live here in Qld. It was a nice evening seeing cousins who I haven’t seen in many months and catching up with them.
And now it’s boxing day… and the morning was spent with a visit to a coffee shop down the road, and the rest of the time has basically been on the couch watching the boxing day test, and playing card games with people. Just what I needed… and it’s helping me to slowly get over the tiredness that has been plaguing me for the last few weeks.
Every year, I still am amazed at how crazy December gets.
Work is crazy town at the moment. Just so busy. There’s only a few days of the month left really – I’m on leave from next Wednesday, and all the account managers are taking the week between Christmas and new year off too. So if we want to close anything off in December, the window is rapidly closing. That means a heck of a lot of meetings, and 25 different things happening at once.
I did get a chance to catch up with my boss early this morning. And what I thought would be a hard meeting (because I’m really down on my sales numbers… have been the whole fin year to date) actually went pretty well. She was positive about a lot of stuff, and thankfully seems to understand that everything about my job is going well… it’s just the actual numbers that are lacking.
There’s a big batch of butter chicken on simmering away at the moment – that’s for supper on Sunday night after we play a simulation game (Basti Life) at church. That should be tops fun. Tomorrow night we’re having a bundle of fun people over for dinner as we farewell a couple of friends who are heading off to Nepal for a year… I have to cook a beef teriyaki (or something like that) for that. And then the craziness of Saturday kicks in: Christmas lunch with Debbie’s family, and then off to Lane Cove for Christmas with my Dad’s side of the family and dinner there.
But after that, there’s thankfully only two work days before Debbie and I hop in the car and head up to Tweed Heads, and then rock into Hervey Bay on Christmas Eve for a week or so there. I definitely can’t wait for that break :)
I really never thought the day would come when I’d get to see Cold Chisel live. I only discovered their music in the early 2000s, so I missed their Ringside reunion show around that time.
For me, they are really up there as one of my all time favourite bands – even though the majority of their music was written well before I was even born.
I’d bought my tickets to the V8s in Homebush way back in May – there was no way that B2, Steve, my Dad and I were going to miss one of the best street race events. We knew there was some kind of concert entertainment that was yet to be announced, but we didn’t think much of it – we were going for the racing! Well, that was until September rolled around, and it was announced that Cold Chisel was reforming to play on the Saturday night! My Christmases and birthdays really had all come at once.
And tonight has been nothing short of epic. Grinspoon opened the night, and played a good set, even if they were a little bit drunk. The Living End came on and played a set of brilliance and were just so very tight – not that you’d expect anything else from them.
Finally the time had arrived for Cold Chisel to take the stage. They walked on and smashed some Standing On The Outside with such perfection that it was like this was the 15th stop on just another tour. It was pretty much everything I assumed to expect from Chisel! They played for a solid two hours, going through the likes of Bow River, My Baby, When The War Is Over, Forever and Flame Trees – all the stuff you’d expect them to bring out really. Surprisingly, Khe Sanh was in the middle of the set – but that didn’t stop the incredible singalong that was sure to happen. It was cool to see the boys all looking at each other every now and then with a bit of a wry smile that said, ‘wow, I’d forgotten how awesome this was!’
They did a couple of encores, but eventually finished up coming back on stage and playing Breakfast At Sweethearts and then closing the night with Last Wave Of Summer.
Some people do have lists of bands that that absolutely must see before they die, and such lists usually contain those bands who’ve broken up and are usually going to be nearly impossible to see. I don’t have such a list – but if I did, Cold Chisel would’ve been at the top of it. And I can very, very happily cross them off tonight.
Although, if they do reform again, I’ll be right there in front of the stage to see it all again without any hesitation.
I’ve always known To Write Love On Her Arms existed as an organisation, or movement. I just saw some people wearing the funky shirts, but I hadn’t really paid attention to what exactly they were on about. Recently I’ve paid attention… and I love what they do.
To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
I love that it’s so much more than an organisation throwing money at a situation – it’s showing people caught up in depression or self-harm that they are loved; that their life is worth fighting for; that they do matter! And that’s worth so much more than all the money in the world.
You should definitely read the story about how TWLOHA started. It’s an incredible story.
Today was a bit of an awareness day for the TWLOHA movement. It was encouraged to write the word ‘love’ on your arm, and spread the word about what these guys are on about. I did it – and for the times when I didn’t have to be all professional and meet customers and such, I rolled up my sleeve so it was visible.
But money is needed and important in this world. Those shirts that you see a lot of “cool” band people wearing, (notably, the dudes from Switchfoot) and that have become a bit of a fashion statement, are actually what they first made and sold to pay for their friends’ drug rehab treatment (read the story). And today they’re still the major portion of support they receive.
And more than that, wearing the shirt is a great way to keep spreading the message of To Write Love On Her Arms.
Debbie & I, Grant & Cathy, and Sam & Kate headed into the city yesterday evening for some all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ meat. Trying to get to the city by 6pm was going to be a challenge, so we moved our booking to the next session at 8pm.
We ended up making it into the city only a bit after 6, so we had some time to kill. And a wander around the city was a great way to do that!
It’s been a while between posts!
It’s been great to have a week like the one that’s nearly over – I’ve actually been enjoying being at work, and even though it’s still a struggle to get to target this year, I’m back in that place of enjoying my job. I’ve missed that feeling a lot.
I wonder if the end of last week might’ve actually helped me have a good week – as strange as it sounds. Thursday was Debbie’s grandpa’s funeral, but it was just such an awesome day where his life was celebrated. And it was just some very good times hanging out with family. And then I had Friday off as well, which was handy to just get some things done around the house that had been waiting to be done for quite a while.
We enjoyed hosting our first big family BBQ on Saturday. It was perfect weather for it too… warm, but with a breeze. Cos as the sun disappears over our house at about 3pm, the side of our house where the outdoor setting is becomes nice and cool on a warm day.
Looking forward to heading to Churrasco in the city tomorrow night – all you can eat meat for $35. Love it.
I always look forward to this weekend of the year – a whole weekend of solid V8 Supercar television is very awesome.
I grew up watching the touring cars (which then became the V8 Supercars in the mid 90s) with Dad, and heading out to Amaroo Park, or Eastern Creek, or Oran Park to watch different rounds of the championship. And then I’ve just kept into it each year. And watching Bathurst has always been a great fun Sunday, usually hanging out with Steve & B2 in the recent years, having a BBQ and eating copious amounts of chips and lollies.
There’s just something pretty special about such a traditional race. All the drivers have such excitement and enthusiasm about this race, and talk a lot about how special that is, and I guess that excitement gets passed onto fans and makes it special. On top of that, having such a unique circuit (none like it in Australia), and then having such a long race which requires such strategy makes it a very special Sunday in October.
The increased media coverage and sponsorship has meant that the TV coverage is so long and indepth now… which makes the people who love watching it on TV rather than heading up to the mountain (ie: me) very happy indeed.
And my new TV, and 7HD will make tomorrow better again :)
If Cold Chisel were reuniting to play a gig, and Living End, The Presets, Grinspoon and Sneaky Sound System were supporting, I would be calling up B2, and we would be there without any hesitation. Anything and everything would be cancelled in order for me to be there.
And if the V8 Supercars were going to be doing a street race around the wonderful Homebush preceinct, I would also be calling up B2 and making sure nothing got in the way of us spending 12 hours a day for 3 days lapping it all up.
Luckily for me, both events do exist. Even better, both are one and the same event… and I already have my 3 day ticket! And it’s my birthday weekend to boot!
The V8 tickets went on sale a few months ago, and we were quick to get ourselves a 3 day grandstand ticket. We knew there’d be other entertainment on during the weekend, but going by previous V8 races like this, we didn’t expect it to be all that awesome.
And then last night, I happened to be cruising through the TV channels just after 6:30pm, and stopped when I came across Matt White interviewing Cold Chisel. As the interview went on, I suddenly realised what was occuring and almost couldn’t believe it. And to top that off with Living End and The Presets is going to be just amazing.
As a side note, someone commented on Twitter that the V8 event at Homebush was such a bogan event. And I quipped back with something like, “perhaps, but it’s still awesome and I can’t wait! And Cold Chisel are going to be playing there!” And then I realised that Cold Chisel playing at a V8 Supercar race possibly makes it the most bogan Saturday in Sydney. Ever.
Sam and I both definitely enjoy the good taste of things – we both love very good tasting coffee and red wine, and recently, he’s begun to teach me of the great tastes that beer can bring too. With all that, there was a bunch of places in the Sydney CBD that we wanted to go to. So we thought we’d come upon the best idea ever when we thought of doing it all in one night.
Thus, the Heart Attack Tour.
I’ll let you read my tweets from the night to see how it went down and the places we went to. Suffice to say, it was amazing. But not perfect – we missed out on Sydney’s best coffee, and the chocolate venue at the end may need to be changed for next time.
Wifey and I headed up to Katoomba last night to have dinner, and to see Playjerise play @ The Clarendon. Amazing venue, and a brilliant show. The idea of Katoomba to see a gig on a weeknight didn’t seem so bad when I booked the tickets a few weeks back. But in hindsight, it wasn’t the greatest of ideas. Still, the show more than made up for today’s tiredness.
Playjerise playing with a mini string orchestra supporting was just perfect. It worked amazingly well. It all could’ve been mixed a bit better, but that could’ve just been the venue. The arrangements were brilliantly written, and they all just generally looked like they were loving it.
The evening in photo form. Apologies for the glary-ness of some of the photos – an iPhone isn’t the greatest of low-light cameras.
Micky (my Mini Cooper S) spent the latter half of last week at the Mini Garage being fixed. He’d had an engine glitch that was just recurring every few days – the glitch would happen, and the car’s computer system would then cut the power to the engine to a very, very minimal level. It took the mechanics a couple of days to find the error, and then they thought they might have it ready last Friday. But they had to keep it over the weekend. Eventually on Tuesday arvo I got it back, all shiny and washed, and with the engine running a lot happier than it was before.
Other than not having my car for the first couple of days, this week has been pretty good.
Last Saturday night was great fun, having adventures into the city to watch GNW being filmed with Kate, Sam and Lachie. We got there early enough to enjoy some Hannah’s Pies in Ultimo, and then it only seemed to be a short wait in the line until we were inside. Afterwards, we made it over to St Ives’ Max Brenner for some dessert.
Work this week has also been pretty good. Felt a bit frustrated last week after getting a grilling from my manager. But I guess it was warranted – the sales are fairly low, and the sales opportunities were pretty non-existent. But it motivated me to really step up this week and start leading the account managers to get moving on doing their job a bit better. There’s so many chances out there to have conversations with customers about data networks and such… they just need to do it. In the end, the week went really well… felt like I made a lot of progress.
Looking forward to doing a lot of nothing tonight. Might have a chance to chance to catch up on the V8s from earlier today, but otherwise, just sitting and watching a movie with Debbie will be tops too.
And what a glorious weekend it was.
Friday evening, Sam took Debbie & I out to the lower north shore. We eventually found a parking spot in Neutral Bay, and walked up Military Rd to a Japanese restaurant. Unfortunately, no booking meant we were sitting outside, but at least we were able to snuggle up under an outdoor gas heater. We pondered over the menu for quite a while (Sam and I ordered some overpriced, and not all that special, Japanese beer), but eventually decided on some soft-shell crab to share as an entree, and then a chicken udon dish each. The soft-shell crab was amongst the best I’ve ever tasted, and the chicken udon dishes backed it up amazingly. The taste was so brilliant, and it wasn’t all that pricey either.
From there, we went for a drive down to Cremorne Pt, and began walking along the reserve out toward the point. Just when you thought you couldn’t go any further, and the view of the city in all its night glory wasn’t amazing enough, we snuck through a gap in the rock, down some stairs, and then out of nowhere appears a ladder that just drops off the cliff… seemingly onto nothingness. We clambered down, hopped across some rocks, and then out onto a small wooden boardwalk that heads out to a small beacon just off the point. A gate/fence and a big warning sign stop you reaching the actual light beacon – but standing on this boardwalk was just incredible. You are far enough out from the land to just be able to look west to the Harbour Bridge and feel like you’re just standing on the water.
Saturday morning was an adventure out to Fox Studios to their farmers’ markets. I guess they’re not really farmers’ markets… more boutique food markets. Cos there was some really tasty pasta and meat and other foods, but all from small independant suppliers. And all for a small fortune. It would be so easy to spend a couple of hundred dollars there in a couple of hours. We walked away with some pasta and creamy truffle sauce, some gourmet sausages, and had some lunch there too. We then headed to Paddington for some more “traditional” markets… but with not as much food to eat. But it was still fun wandering around looking at all the amazing talents of some people.
But then it was home to prepare for the event we’d been waiting for – the progressive dinner. It was entree/drinks at one couple’s house, dinner at another, and then finish with dessert at the third couple’s. Friend Deby and I thought it was a brilliant idea when we came up with it, and it proved to be just as awesome as we’d imagined…
We started at Cathy & Grant’s place with a grilled beef salad, and some fruit punch cocktails. And then it was quickly over to our place for dinner. Debbie did an awesome pumpkin & spinach salad with pine nuts, and I cooked up some if the sausages I’d bought earlier in the day and some honey soy chicken pieces too. By this stage, a couple of really nice bottles of wines had been cracked open and were being enjoyed. At about 830, it was time to head round to James & Deby’s place for some dessert. We started with some chocolate fondue, and James shared some very nice dessert wine that they’d bought up in the Hunter on their honeymoon. And then we finished off the evening with some homemade sticky date puddings.
As you can imagine, we nearly rolled home, but it was such a brilliant night that we’re already planning for round two in November… when it’s warm enough to have BBQs outside.
I’m too scared to weigh myself yet though.
Well, oops. It’s been a week since my last blog.
Work is starting to settle into a bit more of a rhythm now that we’ve left the beginning of the fin year behind. That’s something I’m quite happy about. My new sales targets are through the roof… but you get that sometimes.
I enjoyed a pretty awesome weekend just gone – I got to spend time fixing our roof with Dad, watching the V8s, going to one of the most intense AFL games I’ve ever seen, reading the paper and having a coffee, watching more V8s, and then finished off the weekend with dinner for my sister’s birthday down in Narellan at a pretty tops modern/Italian restaurant.
On AFL… I’m beginning to worry myself. I’ve become heavily into it. Debbie quizzed me at the top of the AFL season about whether or not I was going to become a member next year. I was quick to say no – I’d enjoyed going to games every now and then when other season members weren’t able to go, but I was happy with leaving it at that. Since Oscar has spent most of this year demanding Jenny’s time, she hasn’t been able to make use of her AFL membership… and a few people have gone to a few games, but on the whole, I’ve been to quite a few this year. And have found myself seriously considering becoming a member myself next year. I don’t think I’ve ever been into any sport as much as I’m into AFL now.
My how getting married and moving has changed me… :)
It’s been a while between updates.
This weekend has been pretty tops so far. Yesterday was a fun day up in the Blue Mountains again. Sam and his family were up there for the weekend, and so Debbie and I headed up to visit them for a Saturday lunch. After lunch, we drove down to Wentworth Falls and went for a pretty awesome bushwalk down to coffee, and then back. Any bushwalk that involves coffee is pretty tops in my book.
And this morning was meant to be mowing the lawns. But it didn’t quite go that smoothly. I realised I needed petrol, so went and got some and left it to the side til I ran out. And then found the mower wasn’t running smoothly. A crack in the airhose would cause that – so off to the shops to buy some gaff tape. And then after about 10 minutes, it ran out of petrol finally, but after refilling, it took a good 15 minutes to start again!
After I finally got started properly and going along nicely, Debbie comes out to tell me that the Howies were coming round soon and that I needed to have a shower.
So now it’s only half done. That’s a job for later :)
Now, it’s off to lunch at Deb & Jenny’s aunty’s place.
Debbie and I went and saw Transformers 2 last night. I’ll kick this off by saying that there’s no spoilers in here, don’t worry.
In preparation, we watched Transformers 1 about a week ago. It’s a movie I very much loved when I saw it at the movies, but it was also one I then didn’t watch over and over when it came out on DVD. So watching it a couple of weeks ago was possibly only the third time I’ve ever watched it. And I just sat there in amazement at just how incredible it was. I think I adored it more than when I saw it at the movies.
So watching the second one last night had a lot to live up to… And you can’t really define whether or not it’s better or worse – it’s just a second movie. But in its own right, it definitely lives up to the first one. As I left, the only word I could think to describe it was ‘epic’: it was very long, but I never got bored; there was so much action, way more than #1; and the plot was very, very intense.
And I really hope that it ends here – two movies, both incredibly awesome, without being copies, with a brilliant ending to the second. No need to take it to a third movie. I think we’re all satisfied and have had our fill.
For me, these two movies will stand long and proud as some of my favourite of all time.