Ants

There are two things I want to talk about today.
One with a smile, one with an angry-Ziva-noise-face.
For those of you who don't know,
It looks a little like this:
>:Z


Let us start with that.
Some people need to learn
That whilst friends are supportive and helpful
They should not and cannot be relied on to be bitched at 24/7.
They are in fact human
They need sleep
And they have other friends who get really fucking pissed off
When their best friend has put so much of her energy into helping people
That she is forced to make the decision to recuperate instead of being out and about.
Spending time with those of us who don't cause grief all the time.
We all have problems at one stage or another.
We all need someone to talk to
And that is what friends are for.
Absolutely.
But for fucks sake
Sometimes you need to suck it up
And deal with it yourself.
That means no middle-of-the-night complaining
Whinging
Phone calls
Self-harm threats
Et cetera. 
Do not make your problem
Somebody else's.


If that is not understood
I WILL be smacking some skulls together.
Enough is enough.


Let us now move on to a re-count of last night.
Me.
Stace.
Mirko.
Emma.
My EF.
Some 15+ other cars.
Windy road up Mt Dandenong?
Yes please.
It was dark
And some of the corners were a bit hairy
One of them especially ended with me almost landing on the other side of the road
Going "holy shit, glad there was no one over there"
After that was a shocker of an overtaking job
I think it was a Nissan Tiida
And as I pulled into the right lane Mirko goes "FLOOR IT :L"
And I'm like
"I AM ALREADY :L"
Apparently going up a hill at 90 with 4 people in the car 
Means acceleration isn't at it's peak
Whoops.
We managed to lose both the person I was following
AND the person who was following me
So we kind of made it up as we went
And conveniently pulled up at Skyhigh
In a line of Fords waiting to get through the gate.
Win.
We ended up chilling with Troy and Paul
The latter of which knew Jimmy from ATC
So we stayed with them for ages before Mirko raced them back down the mountain
Us in my EF
Troy and Paul in Troy's arctic blue EL Fairmont
And we met Jimmy at Baysie Maccas.
After Maccas, and more Maccas, and more of Jimmy's mates
We toodled away..
Jimmy in a Prelude
Followed by Troy
Then me.
We come out onto Canterbury Road
Duck over to the U-Turn lane
And because I was last I got to see them both whip around
And after I'd also gone round I looked in the mirror
To see tyre smoke trailing behind us, from both Fairmonts
And it only took about 3 seconds before the smell of rubber was everywhere.
Someone made the comment of
"Ahh, I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning.."
And I was like "well, I really don't...."
So basically
We toodled home
And went to bed.


I'll go and check on the car,
Make sure he is all okay.
He didn't get hot
He didn't hit redline
He didn't whinge
So I'm sure all is fine.
The only thing that really happened was my fuel consumption went up
From 12.5 L/100km
To 15.8 L/100km
(which, in all honestly wasn't that bad given the driving we did)


So.
On the to-do list (eventually):
-new brakes
-better tyres
That should make cruising (read: thundering) around mountains more stable and safer.
-tinted windows
-that exhaust that Troy has on his EL
That should make me look cooler, and sound better.


However.
On the immediate to-do list?
-that aerial switch
That will mean the aerial is under my command.
-wiring up the Fairlane lights
That will again make me look cooler.


And thus
the
end.


x

Budging

Neglect

(noun)

 'to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight '

Yes,
It seems I've been neglecting my blog.
Multiple blogs, actually.
After my exam on Wednesday I'll update my photoblog,
And hopefully I'll have enough photos to fill in the gaps.
(Er, yes, I am aware that there has been a gap of 1 month +)

I've also been neglecting the reality that I need a new job.
Little by little our office tasks are being outsourced to an offshore office
And little by little our office staff are disappearing.
I haven't seen Emma , Annette or Lauren for over a week.

This is disappointing; 
Both in that I miss seeing them at work 
AND that I will soon be made redundant also
If this pattern continues. 


One thing I have not been neglecting
Would be my dearest Xandir.
At the turn of 190,000km on Tuesday last week
The little service spanner popped up on the dashboard.

By Thursday, and less than 50km later
He had new oil (with Syneco, of course) and a new oil filter
And yesterday he also got new spark plugs
Along with a new HT lead for cylinder 3, courtesy of Dad breaking the old one.
Inconveniently the coil pack is located in a stupid hard-to-reach place
But I did get an amusing picture of Dad almost diving into the engine bay to get to it.


Unfortunately, without a constant income I will not have money to fuel him
So this could become an issue.
Logical next step?
Seek..and hopefully


I
will
find.


x

Snow White

Mirror mirror

On the wall

Who's the fairest of them all?

My damn Fairmont, that's who.

I fucking love it.

Beware: if you don't want to hear me rambling about this car for an undefined number of lines

Leave now.

A white 1995 Ford EF Fairmont sedan.

185,000km.

$2999 from The Car Market in Footscray.

Registered until April 2011,

Roadworthy, and very clean.

A 157kW 4.0L inline-6.

4-speed automatic.

EL Sapphire alloys.

Automatic climate control.

Cruise control.

Remote central locking.

Velour interior.

Power windows and mirrors.

Drivers airbag.

ABS. (which I got to test out today, unintentionally...whoops)

I realise most of these things are not incredibly special.

But after being without a car for seven weeks,

It's pretty much an answered prayer.

I picked him up 11 days ago

And I've done some 1100km since then

Very comfortable kilometres, I might add.

I love finally having a car of my own again.

I love how clean it is.

I love how I've already learned how it will respond to certain situations.

I don't so much love buying petrol every week

But I do love that I can get better fuel economy out of a bigger and more powerful car

Than I did with the Skyline

Also, it's much more accommodating of five people.

And has louder speakers than the Skyline.

Sadly, I have no way (as yet) of listening to my iPod in the car

And I am confined to either the radio

Or badly broadcasted music from my phone's FM transmitter.

So that is certainly something to work on.

But for $3000, I cannot complain.

Everything works, which is nice.

It's clean (at the moment) and shiny, which is also nice.

It's fast, which is very nice.

In any case

I'm sure I'll be keeping him for awhile

And I'm sure we'll get along just fine.

Who's most likely to give you a car you didn't really want to begin with but ended up buying anyway?

Ford,

of

course.

x

Eclipse

How do you let something go?
Well, duh, it's easy.
You just let it go.
But what does that even mean?
Do I have to completely detach myself from the situation,
Not speak of it again,
Forget it happened,
Or pretend it never did?


Was it that important?
No.
Is it really anything new?
Not so much.
So what's the damn problem?
It goes like this.


For quite awhile now there has been just one thing missing,
Something I can obviously live without but would prefer not to.
At the start of the year I did actually have it, for a couple of months.
Since I've been without,
I've been looking for ways of bringing it back again.
This in turn has created a few problems,
Most notably the one wherein I latch onto anybody who will let me,
Very quickly,
And then get irrationally disappointed when it ends abruptly.
"There's a common theme here.."
Well, yeah,
I keep screwing it up.


Last night, thanks to Aidan + epiphany, I realised this:
I have the 'What', but not the 'Who'.
Huh?
Okay.
I know what it is I want, I just don't know exactly who I want it with.
Given my issues with finding the 'Who',
I've pretty much started applying my 'What' to whoever I can.
Along with this, obviously,
Comes the fact that the 'What' may only last a very short time.
It happened back in May,
I had exactly what I wanted for a whole weekend.
When alcohol is added, there is sometimes the option to have 'it' for up to a number of hours, which I think is what I was possibly aiming for in my intoxicated misadventure on Friday night.
Technically, I did, for a very very short time, get what I wanted.
Logically then, I don't want much, and it's pretty simple to placate me.
I was happy.
It was perfect.
For about twenty seconds.
Okay, so that was only one part of it.
I won't lie.. there was quite a period of time
(I wouldn't have a clue how long it really was)
In which I was perfectly happy, comfortable and content.
So, I suppose in a way
I did win.
Just not quite as much as I would have liked.
Also, in doing so, I neglected my original plan
(Which, by the way, was more for fun than to any goal)
So I lost the chance to amuse myself further with that also.
All in all, I took it for more than it was worth and ended up the loser.


It's happened all too many times,
And I'm finally realising why.
Yes, I'm bringing it upon myself.
No, it's not really intentional.
Yes, I can avoid it.
No, I probably won't end up doing so unless I stop drinking altogether.
(And no, I don't think I'll be doing that.)


"Forever's gonna start tonight."
No,
Forever already started.


I'm
just
missing
it.


x

Promise

I absolutely cannot get enough of this song.

Welcome back
Winter once again
And put on your warm fuzzy sweater
'Cause you'll feel much better when

The snowflakes fall
Gently to the ground
The temperature drops
And your shivers freeze all the rivers around
But I keep you warm

If speed's a pro
Inertia must be a con
'Cause the cold wind blows at precise rates
When I've got my ice skates on

If all the roads
Were paved with ice that wouldn't thaw or crack
I could skate from Maine to Nebraska
Then on to Alaska and back
'Cause you keep me warm

Peer over the edge
Can you see me?
Rivulets flow from your eyes
Paint runs from your mouth
Like a waterfall
And your lungs crystalize

I'll travel the sub-zero tundra
I'll brave glaciers and frozen lakes
And that's just the tip of the iceberg
I'll do whatever it takes
To change

Farewell powdery paradise
We'd rather skate on the thinnest ice
Fingers failed us before they froze
And frostbite bit down on all our toes

Snow drifts build up and enfold us
As we wait out this winter storm
So we snuggle close in the darkness
And keep each other so warm.

And this one is also pretty...good.

I don't need to fall at your feet
Just 'cause you cut me to the bone
And I won't miss the way that you kiss me
We were never carved in stone

If I don't listen to talk of the town
Maybe I can fool myself

I'll get over you 

I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
(King of wishful thinking)
Ooh I am the king of wishful thinking

I refuse to give into my blues
That's not how it's gonna be
And I deny the tears in my eyes
I don't want to let you see

Now that you have made a hole in my heart
And now I've got to fool myself

I'll get over you 

I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking

I'll get over you 

I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking ooh-ooh
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
(King of wishful thinking) yeah ooh

If I ever get a chance I'll get over you
(I know I will)

If I don't listen to the talk of the town
Maybe I can fool myself

I'll get over you 

I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you (I'm over you)
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
(King of wishful thinking)
I am the king of wishful thinking

I'll get over you 

I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
But I won't shed a tear for you
I'll be the king of wishful thinking
 

I'll get over you 

I know I will
I'll pretend my heart's still beating
'Cause I've got no more tears for you
I'm the king of wishful thinking
 

I'll get over you 

I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king 

of 

wishful 

thinking.

x

BehindTime

So, who has seen the ad for the new iPhone, with what they call FaceTime?
Everyone? Yeah, pretty much.
FaceTime is basically the iPhone's (well, Apple's) answer to video calling,
Which as it turns out is not a new thing.
I of course knew this, but it seems a great many people do not.

Apple's website says "People have been dreaming about video calls for decades",
Which is true,
But they have also been living the dream of video calls since 2003.
What? But how?
Well, through the magic of 3G UTMS networks. 
Three provided Australia with its first ever mobile video call on April the 15th, 2003*.
Since then, many Three phone's (including NEC's, LG's and Motorola's) have been capable of making video calls and even included dedicated Video Call buttons, meaning it was just as easy to make a video call as it was to make a normal voice call.

Let us backtrack to FaceTime, which is being heralded as a new and exciting feature of mobile phones.
I suppose in a way it is, as it can only be used between other iPhone 4's over Wi-Fi networks.
Yes, that's right, not over a 3G network, even though the technology has existed for years.
I don't know whether Apple has plans for this video calling capability to be expanded to use 3G networks or to work between other phones in the future, but I sure as hell hope they do.

I do plan to get a new iPhone 4, to replace my stupid N97 which I complain about constantly, but the idea that I will no longer be able to make video calls disappoints me.
I am yet to find out whether tethering for mobile modem use is an extra cost, but if it is I can assure you I will be just as annoyed.
I had the same reaction when in the iPhone 3GS they included things like voice dialling and a camera with autofocus. 
These simple phone features have been available for years, and it astounds me (and others, thankfully) that Apple are boasting about their 'fancy new features' when in reality they are, put simply, behind the times..


Yet somehow, they still manage
to
suck
us
in.


x


*sourced from http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/06/australias-first-mobile-video-call-april-15-2003/

Saddle

Dear World,

Fuck you.
You didn't win.
I'm doing it all on my own.
No tax money.
No repayments.
Certainly no loans.
I'm on my own two damn feet.


The three most important people
In my life
At the moment
Are toodling away
Effectively.
To different degrees.
But they'll never leave.


So once again,
Fuck you.
With something hard and sandpapery.


You didn't defeat me.
So get fucked.


K
THX
BAI.


x