Layla

This is just a thought that has been bugging me.

For my party on Saturday (yay, I'm 21) I shaved a Mohawk. Sense then I have been wavering as to whether I should keep it or not. Every time I express to someone a desire or thought of shaving it off, they tell me not to. Telling me to keep it and not to be soft. What is annoying me is that everyone who is telling me to keep it and not to shave it just because it's outlandish, would themselves never do anything even close to this crazy with their hair.

If they want to tell me to not worry about what people think of me, maybe they should first stop worrying about it themselves.

Small thing to be worrying about I know. ( I should be worrying about exams instead)

Me with the Mohawk.

(Again, the title has nothing to do with the blog, it's just the song that I was listen to when I started (and finished) the blog.)

Let's Take The Long Way Home

Well that worked out well. I felt like blogging, as it's years. I had nothing I really wanted to say, and when that happens I usually just use whatever song is playing as the title. This title worked quite well as I went home for the first time in almost 19 weeks yesterday.
It was good to see the place again. I has seen my family since then and I went away with my parents for a week in the holidays, so it's not that bad. I got to hang out with my brother a bit which was cool. I also went out to my grandparents farm and mowed their lawn. It was fun, because they have a very ruff farm lawn and a ride on lawnmower. I had a great time taring around the place, and my brother had to go around with the push mower and get the spots I couldn't (or missed). I also got to hang with my good mate Daryl, with I was really happy about.
Also, at the murder mystery night I refused to give my middle name. (oh, went to a murder mystery night tonight. It was good fun, well done and I picked the murderer straight off. Not by any clues, but just by gut feeling). I don't know why I didn't give it. There is no reason, I don't really care, there is nothing embarrassing about it, I just chose not to. The thing is now, that I have set up that I didn't want to give it, so now I will continue to not give it (at least to those people). That's no real inconvenience or anything, there's just not reason, and I feel it would be really odd to just tell them now, after I wormed so much getting out of telling them tonight.
This, I realise is a very, very small. . . I was going to say struggle, but it's not even worth that. It's really just a thought or consideration, but it was on my mind.

Beyond the Sea

The barefoot physicsist.

I thought that in these modern times the idea of being environmentally aware was fairly common, and even if we don't all actively participate in trying to single handed stop climate change, most people are conscious and sympathetic of the issue. But just the other day i was laughed at and mocked for suggesting a small environmentally minded activity.
It was in the physics lab. We had just spent half an hour waiting for the x-ray diffracting machine to take the readings and we were analysing the data. I will not bore you with the details but it involved graphs and finding the peaks. We had six peaks and needed these values, and upon finding that how to display these values the conversation went a little something just like this:
Other physics student 1: "So can we print this somehow?"
Me; "Or we could just copy them down, you know, save some paper..."
Other physics student 1: "why?"
Me (with puzzled look) : "to not waist paper, save some trees..."
Other physics students 1 & 2: *laughter*
There was six values! and we had already printed the graph of the spectrum (which we had to do twice each as 'other physics student 1' and some how messed the first one up). They then printed 3 copies, one for each of them, of a table that took up about a tenth of each sheet and continued to mock me for not wanting a copy. Other physics student 3 is my friend but was no help at all.
I really did not expect to be laughed at for that.

Stealing Time.

I was pondering today as I walked out of my lab, about a conversation I had with Daryl many moons ago.
One crisp morning as we loaded papers into our crates we discussed finding money and how if you find $20 you are then always up $20. This was the flip side of the thought that if you drop (and loose) a $20 note, no matter what you do, you will never make back that $20. From that day, you will always be $20 down1.
This was revisited in my mind as I walk from my lab 30 minutes before it was to end. My day was to be 10 to 4 of straight class. So, by walking out of the class half an hour early, I had effectively found 30 minutes. I was up 30 minutes for the day. That time was free as I had nothing to do in the lab and the lab was what I was going to be spending the time on.
Just a thought I had over my unplanned lunch break.



1. The process going, that you could work to earn the $20 back, but then if you hadn't lost the $20 note, you would have $40. It's not an overly profound or intellectual realization, but then again, Daryl and I were never the sharpest or deepest tools in the box.

100 thing you can now know about me!

Ok, one hundred things about me.

1. My full name is David Thomas Coulter, the Thomas after my fathers uncle. A very smart man, that I knew a an old man in his chair.


2. I was born on the 13th day in october way back in 1987 at around one in the morning.


3. I have two siblings. I am the little brother to Katherine and an older brother to Mark.


4. My fathers name is Geoffery O. Coulter.


5. My mothers name is Beverly M. (once Prosser) now Coulter.


6. I grew up in a town called Leongatha.


7. Before moving to melbourne I only lived in one house in Leongatha.


8. It was built and designed by my parents, on a double block at the end of Trease street. (trease street is actually a court, it was originally going to go all the was through, but it never did and now there is just a park)


9. I had an operation on my eye when I was 3 years old. I was ment to stop one eye from angling in, but it failed and from then on I had glasses.


10. My first pair of glasses lasted me 7 years. When I first got then they were very big and by the end, they were way to small for me. When I finally got a new pair, they got bent on the second day.


11. I attended Leongatha Primary School.


12. In grade 4 I was able to run 4 laps of the track around the school (about 800m per lap) in 15mins (class exercise time in the mornings). Not only was this more than the rest of my class, but I did it in blunstones.
    
13. In grade 5, we had earn and learn were, for two weeks our class turned into a make believe town. I was the real estate agent. This ment collecting rent. I had to colleges that were ment to help, but I did all the work while they had fun shopping and what not1. Then I almost failed because I had not bourt a house and car and stuff.


14. I had the same grade 6 teacher as my older sister, and two years later, so did my younger brother.


15. I won the school cross country in grade 6. I was very proud ( and by was I mean am)


16. I was also bell monetor in the last term of grade 6, which ment that I got to ring the bell to end my last day of primary school.


17. When I wasnine I started taekwondo. I trained two nights a week for about 6 years. Then down to one, and then whenever I could. I have not trained for about a year, but want to get back into it.


18. I took part in little athletics from the age of 7 to 15. In this time I never once was age group champion or won anything at my club (most improved, incouragement awards and such).


19. I did however compete at regional and state levels, which ment running at olympic park stadium in Melbourne.


20. I also did Auskick, which got in a little leauge game at (the former) Waverly stadium. Half time at a Hawthorm Collingwood game. I played for Hawthorn and we got the win.2
    
21. Also at Auskick, on one cold saturday morning I took a massive specky. That's right, properly up on someones back in a game. I think i surprised everyone, as I was never that good and I spent most of the time with my hands in my jumper.


22. For one summer i took part in Aushit, the cricket verson of Auskick. My proudest moments at which was hitting the stumps on the run at 90 degrees and winning a bat signed but the bushrangers of the time.


23. I later played cricket for the imperials cricket club in Leongatha. I have played 3 seasons. In the second of which I took more wickets than any of my team mate in both B and C grade, however as I spent half my time in each grade, I was only middle of the rankings for both.


24. With the bat I am imbarassing (although I am getting better). My top score in a game is 15, against a baller that was struggling to hit the pitch.


25. I played netball for Koonwarra for two years. We averaged 1 win per year.


26. I am now playing mixed indoor netball with friends I live with. We have been in too low of a grade and have been getting very arogent. It is great fun.


27. I first heard rain falling on the roof at the age of 6.


28. I was in the primary school choir.


29. I was in the Victorian State Children' s Choir for two years. We perfomed at the Melbourne Concert hall twice. I could have continued and potentially sung at the olympics, but i was too expencive (both money and time).3


30. I once did one and a half summersults on my trampoline and landed on the ground on my head. I got concussion and spent that afternoon asking my mum 3 questions. Why can I have jelly? (she had just made jelly) Where are we going? (to the hospital) Why are we going to the hopsital? (cause i fell of the trampion). Over and over and over again.


31. I have a scar above my right eye. I was running around the kitchen, slipped and my glasses cut me.
    
32. I have a second scar that joins on the end of the scar mentioned above. This was the result of hitting myself in the head with a steel pipe. That was a fun day.


33. I have an inch long scar on the back of my right leg. That is from getting a piece of wood stuck in my leg. Long story, but it invloves me driving 15 minutes into town, to be told to come back later by the doctors, the picking my brother my from school before it was taken out.


34. I have a birth mark on my leg. It is quite boring.


35. I started playing piano in grade 6. I never really practiced. I took lessions for at least 3 or 4 years, although it ended up being more theory. I got a 93 on my grade 5 theory exam.


36. I once left my glasses on the hood of the car. My mother then drove up to the shops and back without noticing. We got then back a few day later by putting a notice in the local paper. An old lady stopped some kids from smashing them, saw the note and returned them.


37. I am very scared of spiders. I am ok with this. I feel no need to overcome this fear, I am quite happy just avoiding spiders.


38. I ran for 40 minutes straight in grade 6 for the school's lap-a-thon. I was the only one in the school to do it (non stop), but came second in the lap totals by one lap.


39. I attended Leongatha Secondary college


40. I started playing the drums in year 7. I wanted to play the trumpet, but my parents thought that would be to hard for a first instrument (other than piano!) and as i was alway tapping on stuff (according to my mother) I took up persuccion.
    
41. My favourate band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I have 17 albums (including a box set), at least 10 of which are not burnt copies. I saw them play live in 2007 at the sydney myer music bowl.


42. I can solve a rubiz cube.


43. 17 is my favourate number, as in my mind it is the least connected number between 1 and 20. I think that 5 is by far the most arogent number. 4 however is very humble and modest.
    
44. In the middle of last year (2007) I was in a car crash. It was my fault and my car was written off. Not fun.


45. I got three days of after school detention for pushing my friend who's elbow then went through a window.
    
46. I did a paper run for 3 years. I could deliver up to 80 papers in around 15-20 minutes. I ended up with the largest run in town. I once did three runs in one morning.


47. I have been to a total of one other countries. It was New Zealand for a band tour in year 9.


48. I have read the lord of the rings. It took me 3 years to get though the 3 book.


49. My first car was a nissan pulsar. My second car was also a nissan pulsar, in fact it had the exact same engine. It died 5 months after getting on the road. I now have a nissan pintara.


50. Half way through, are you enjoying it? I enjoy solitaire. It is just about the second most used thing on my computer, behing itunes.


51. I also enjoy minesweeper. My best times are 5 sec for beginner, 32 for Intermediate and 100 for Expert. Not amazing, but I still kind of pround.


52. I am right handed. Not amazing, but true.


53. I have had three gold fish. The first was named batman, as he was black. The second never got named, but ended up being call spastic fish as it spent a lot of time floating upside down at the top of the tank and most of the time was not able to swim all the way to the bottom of the tank. My current fish is named sebastien. He is much more normal.


54. I rod the Great Ocean Road with the Great Victorian Bike Ride. It was just over 600kms in 10 days and I did the whole thing in board shorts (thus not short with a padded bum), this amazed many of my fellow riders.


55. I worked at IGA in leongatha for about 4 years. That includes my gap year when I worked full time as storeman, which is running the store room and helping the floor staff, with was just me and the spare girls from the registers duing the day.


56. Over summer (07-08) I worked as a lifegurad at two pools. The Korumburra and Mirboo North ourdoor pools. One was fun, the other sucked. You can guess which one.
    
57. While never being on stage, I have been involved in two musical production, Kiss Me Kate and Jesus Christ Superstar. I was in the band for both. Much fun.


58. I have contributed to atleast 5 CD. Two with the Victorian State Childrens Choir, two with school bands and one with the band "Caddy and the spontaniously computing fishes".


59. I currently study at Monash Uni. I am enroled in a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of science studying Physics, Maths and Psychology.
    
60. I have traveled on two roads with the Coulter name. The Coulter Highway in our nations capital and Coulters road in the small farming town 5 minutes from Leongatha where my dad grew up.


61. I once camped out in a teepee built around a very old and rusty ladder inside my house.


62. A game of indoor baseball at school resulted in me hyperextending my knee. I was on cruchers for a week, and got absolutly no sympathy from anyone at school!


63. I did however get very good at racing around the table tennis table at home.


64. One week before I started year 12 I had all four of my wisdom teath out.


65. Every year my parents went away with friends for a weekend around my mothers birthday. We, my siblings and I, stayed at my Grandparents house and got to hire a video each to ammuse us. One year I hired "Beverly Hills Cop". It wasn't till we left the store that I noticed it was rated M. I felt really bad (as I was young) and never ended up watching it.


66. To some people, I am known as Neighbour.


67. I once left my shoes in another country.


68. I am 6 feet tall.


69. My mother bought me a nice new pair of school pants at the start of year 9, and I did not wear them once.
    
70. I was Junoir Vice Caption of red house in year 10. Impressive yes?


71. For years 9-10 I was an SES cadet. We got to wear the overalls and use the resque equipment, and the absailing wall. Good fun.


72. My hair is a colour best described as brown.


73. The eyes I currently have are blue.


74. I am finding this more difficult than I expected


75. I have only ever owned two pairs of jeans. Both of which I got in 2006 and are still in use.


76. I went the skiing for the first time last friday. Cross counrty. Much enjoyed. (That is now a while ago)


77. I resently tallied all the messages in my phone. Since October (when i got it) there was 1556 messages. The medals went to Kyla (328), Robyn (205) and Izza (117). (note, i have sence past 3000)


78. I prefer cinnomon over iced dounuts.


79. All time favourate chocolate bar is cherry ripe. Second place is a tie between kit kats and aero.


80. At the top of the drinks list is cream sode (brown, red, yellow, blue, whatever).


81. In year nine I bleched my hair for the shave (or colour) for a cure.


82. In the year 2008 I shaved my head. GREAT FUN! To any that have never done it, I suggest you try.


83. I once broke a friends nose.


84. I do not drink milk


85. I do not eat Ice Cream. But Gelati I like.
    
86. My breakfast drink of choice is apple juice.


87. One foot is slightly bigger than the other. I used to notice at the shoe store, when using the foot-measuring-shoe-sizing thing, but now I have forgotten.


88. I love post-it notes. In fact, I enjoy most stationary a little to much.


89. My Choice chocolate, is white. I know it's not actually chocolate, but I don't care.


90. The only bike I have ever bought from a store, was a Colorado BushCruiser. Fantastic bike. Nothing flash, but it lasted ages and it took a fair hugh beating.



91. I have only had two phones. This just became a lie, I just got my third. ( I have been writing this blog for a long time)


92. I once hopped for a whole song on dance dance revolution. It hurt.


93. Many people want lots of shoes, I however, want lots of backpacks. I like them too much.


94. Super power of choice would be either flying, or invisability. Flying cause it would be fun, and invisibility cause I could be an idiot all the time, and no one would see me.


95. I prefer to drive with the window down. This however results in my locking the door with my arm (out the window), and every time I forget and try to open the locked door to get out.


96. About 99% of my school lunches where honey sandwiches. That is I had them everyday in primary school eccept for one canteen day a term and two days in grade 3 when I had cheese.


97. I will often find myself holding my phone, them remember that I was sending a text message (5-10 mins ago).


98. I very much like hats. If this is news to you, then we have never met.


99. This is the penultimate fact about me. I am male, or as a friend spent a day reminding me, I am: male, a man, of the mascline gender, NOT female, NOT a woman, a person with male parts....and so on.


100. I have completed a list of one hunderd things about me. This became a fact by write this fact, how fun is that!

Done. I have no doubt there are errors. 30 points for each error found. (maximun points possible is unknown)

An annoyed blog

I have just quite the deakin hall soccer team. This sucks. I was loving playing soccer, which I haven't done properly since grade five. And playing a team sport was great. However, it was not good for me. Two people had control of the team and their use of the power was enraging. I was listed in the squad for the second game, then sat on the bench the whole time with out getting a run. Their excuse was that they had a lot of players for not many positions and the player in my position was playing well. Annoying yes, but I could take it. It is just 6 on 6 soccer played between halls, but if they want to take it ultra serious, whatever. I got a run in the next game i was picked in the squad, but only in the second half because the players on the bench sitting right behind the two in control were bitching about the lack of fair rotation. After this I was feeling better. I was not happy about how I got on the field, but I got a run and I held my own. i actually thing that for a non-soccer player I did really well. I set up one goal and I had the opposition struggling. Then tonight hit. I turned up for the game and played from the start. The game was tight, no one scored in the first half. Then, about five/ten minutes in to the second half, I was pulled. Normally I could handle that no worries. I'm not the best player ever, but they didn't pull me for someone better. They didn't even pull me for a quality player, or someone in the squad. They put on one of there friends, an over weight middle aged man who smokes a lot!
That was it. I was made enough at not getting a run in my first game but I had made my peace. This was to much. If they're going to take it that serious then don't pull me, a very competitive player that had more run than anyone else out there for a man that only covered a tenth of the small field and only got 3 kicks, just because he is your friend.

I was fuming. I have not been that angry in ages. I know it's not that big of a deal, but I was feeling quite wronged. I was talking to people about it and someone suggested that I should quite. I didn't want to, as that would just mean that I miss out on playing soccer and it wouldn't hurt the people who had wronged me as they had lots of players. Then, as I climbed down, I realized that pulling out of the team was the right thing. I had sworn about this more than I had in total in the last year or two. And as they say, if your right hand causes you trouble, cut it off. I didn't need this. I play other team sport and I get plenty of exercise. I'm better off stepping back and removing the thing that is getting me all annoyed.

I may still end up playing more games. There is other people involved in running the team that I get along with, and many others that are unhappy with the way things are, so you never know.

On a more positive note, I saw Bliss n Eso on thursday. They played on campus with True Live, The Funkoars and the Winnie Coppers. It was good and I much enjoyed it. Plus a mate from home came up to the show as it was good seeing him. However, I have a line from one the bands in my head. "I can still breathe, I am still blessed". I think it was by the Winnie Coppers, but I listened to there whole CD and nothing! If anyone can help, that would be great.

Hang me up to dry.

And the results are in. I have recorded and total all the money I have spent over the last two weeks, and my gosh I spend a lot1. Now comes the challenge of reducing it. It also helps that I noted what the money was spent on, so I what areas I reduce my spending in. So that is fun.

Also, just because I know you are interested, I added another item to the doing things that scare me list on the weekend. I went to my mates 21st on sunday night. Doesn't so that scary does it. The only problem was that I met this mate through uni and thus I didn't know any of his other friends, or family, or anyone else at the party. It was terrifying at first, walking into a house I didn't know (and wasn't 100% sure that is was the right one at first), full of people I didn't know from a bar of soap2. But it turned out to be a lot of fun. I ended up talking to some really cool people and was one of the last to leave.

On the topic of doing things that scare me, I have recently found myself with the opportunity to do something that scares me more than most. It's something I have done before, but not for some time, and it's only recently that the idea of doing it again has become realistic. It's funny how when we are not exposed to the thing that makes us sweat, we forget just how much it really scares us. Just as, after awhile thinking of being at a great height doesn't seem so scary, until you find your self up there again. Then you remember that you were terrified last time you tried to walk the high wire. But you never know, hopefully I will at least be able to walk up to the edge...



Oh, and I realize that the title has nothing to do with the contents, but I couldn't think of a title the fitted the whole blog, and that was the song playing as I finished. Sorry about that, hope I didn't get your hopes up.

1. For more information, be me.

2. That really is an odd saying.

My Budgetary Aspirations (aka, A Chong Inspired Change)

I have decided to start two budget activities, both inspired by one Ben Chong.
The first thing I have decided to budget is money. Whilst conversing with my friend Ben Chong on the weekend, we found ourselves on the topic of my watch and it's lack of a light. This was because it was the cheapest watch I could find. That prompted the previously mentioned Ben to ask "what if that's how you chose everything you bought, except food?". Good question, and not a totally bad idea. This got me pondering about money and how much I spend. So, for the next two weeks I am going to note all the money I spend, and what it's on. Then in the weeks following, I shall try in a variety of ways, to reduce it. The plan so far is to set aside the money I save each week for something. I have a feeling that Ben's original ponder was on the topic of how we live in excess in this most luckiest of countries, so perhaps I give it away. Or I just us it to live, as money is not something i have heaps to spare, we'll see.
The second thing I am attempting to budget is time. Also an idea of that Chong kid, I am working on a time table so that I stop waisting so much time. I recently spent a week without my computer. This greatly reduced my time killing capabilities, and the week was very productive. So now that my computer is back, my goal is not to let it steal all my time again. My time table is still a work in progress and it has a degree of flexibility as I like when plans change. Also, I have been finding lately, that a lot of my days turn out nothing like I could have planned, and I enjoy this.
I have tried to achieve similar goal to both of these before, but I am feeling good about this, and I am hoping that my putting my aspirations out in this (somewhat) public space will help me stick to them.

P.S. Sorry Chong I only got to 5, now 6. I didn't really try that hard.

Questions

How do you make the choice that is God's will if you don't feel close to God?
How do you know if it's the right path to walk if you haven't heard from God is so long?
How do you get the closeness back?
How do I stop myself from thinking about the same thing over and over again?
How do I stop thinking so much of myself?
Is this all in my head and I'm just whinging about stuff everyone deals with?

Any suggestions are welcome but answers are not expected...
I was just pondering.

My Baldness.

I you have seen me in the last two weeks you would have noticed that I substantially less hair. This would be because I shaved my head as part of the worlds greatest shave. That is a great cause and a fantastic reason to bald, but it is not the real reason that I did it.

I chose to shave my head one day in January when I was bored. I was just sitting around thinking that my life was very safe and static in someways. So I decided to shave my head.

Another factor that contributed to my decision was the fact that the idea of shaving my head scared the pants off me1. Mainly because, as an insecure person, my hair was one of the few things about my appearance that i could control2. Now, I know you shouldn't worry about what other people think, especially about how you look, but I do. I think everyone does and anyone that says they don't at all is lying. I'm not saying that it is my greatest concern and it didn't have a huge affect on how I dressed or anything, but it was there. So the idea of doing something as drastic as shaving my hair off obviously got me sweating.

Now on the other side of the shave. I love it. Not only does it not look anywhere near as bad as I thought it would, I feel fantastic about the whole thing. I'm feeling less self-conscious than ever. I'm finding it very liberating. This is exactly why i do things that scare me. Hopefully there will be more blogs on doing things that scare me coming soon....

1 It obviously didn't actually remove my pants, that would have be awkward. Plus I was probably wearing board shorts.

2 that is, you can't control how your face looks and you can do a small amount do alter you body type. All you can really change is your cloths and hair.3

3 How much better for footnoting are these small numbers. There comes a point that *'s are not subtle at all.

A day in the life of my phone sock.

I woke at 9:30 when the phone on top of me started to vibrate (vvvvt vvvvt) and make other annoying noises.

I looked upon the sock draw with sadness, remembering the time i tried to go in there and all the regular foot socks picked on me and said i wasn't a real sock. I'll show them! When I finally get thongs monitory they'll more out of fashion than Aqua. However this plan has taken a hit with the liberals election loss as my friend, John Howard's phone sock has less power. Not to worry, it will happen.

The day looks to be picking up from there as I go to work protecting the phone. Nothing really exciting at first, the phone just gets thrown in this guys backpack. It's so boring in here and the phone barely talks at all. Lunch time, and he checks his phone. And again. And again. On, off, on, off, what's this guys issue? Is he that insecure that he need to check his phone every five seconds to see if he has a friend? Then it happens. VVVVVVT! My whole world shakes. I hate vibrate. He replies and this starts a string of 10 messages, and I'm starting to get a headache. Oh great, now he's playing a game and I just get tossed aside. Not to worry, I'm slowly resting the high scores on all the games while they sleep.

The day picked in the afternoon when basketball was on. I didn't get to play of cause, but the phone did get thrown on the ground so was at least keeping the phone out of the dirt.

It has been a long day. Then after protecting his phone from all that, his still puts me under the phone for the night. What the hell buddy, don't i deserve a rest at night?! The phone's just sitting there, what is going to happen to it? Anyway, that's my day. Over and out!

A night out.

I was out with friends in the city. Over all it was a good night and we all had a lot of fun. However there was a point that I looked at everything and couldn't help but think about how sad it was.

We were upstairs at a pub in the city and there was a band playing. To me there's just something sad about a cover band. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with playing some covers, but when your band's name is "Mimic", you don't seem to be aiming very high. A lot of the joy in playing music* is creating. It's expressing yourself in a really deep way that you can't with words or any other medium so, when the band is just copying what others have made, it's a bit sad that they are missing out on such a massive, and fantastic part of it.
Then there was the audience. We were clearly the youngest people there and our average age was 20. So often you hear people saying how sad it is to see drunken youth, but to me it's way more pathetic seeing thirty year old people getting smashed. Youth is the time that you test the boundary and explore the world, find yourself and your place in the world. If there's ever a time to drink to much it's then, not when your thirty. By then you're meant to be matured and responsible, I'm not saying no fun, but surely past thinking that it'll be a good idea to drinking so much that you spill your drink on everyone else on the dance floor and then fall over.
Then, as I looked over the band trying to hold on to their dreams playing to the adults trying to hold on to their youth, I noticed the saddest person in the pub. He was standing up the back alone. This fella** was clearly with a group but was not part of it as he was the only one not having a great time. All he could do was sit back and watch because*** he could not just let go and have a good time. He was to caught up in feeling superior to everyone by sitting back and judging them.

But before long we left there**** and we continued having a good night. I did see the people for that pub again. But I'm sure I will before long.



*this is of cause all just my opinion. But as this in my blog, tough luck, if you don't like it go write your own.

**I really like the word "fella". I want to use it more often.

*** this was just to have a third footnote.

****And by left I mean half the group left because one of us got thrown out for being a drunken mess and falling on people (while dancing. and not on the dance floor anymore). Then the other half left shortly after. I guess this one makes that last footnote even more pointless.

My Psalm

This is the psalm that i wrote on beach mission.

I am amazed, oh Lord, at how you love me,
even when I'm down and defeated.
When I'm beyond contempt and can't even love myself,
Your love for me never wavers.

I am amazed, oh Lord, at how you love me,
so much to place me here and now.
On your earth, with so much beauty,
where I can see your majesty in every glance.

I am amazed, oh Lord, at how you love me,
this broken, battered, shallow man.
Nothing special or amazing,
yet you hold me in your heart.

I am amazed, oh Lord, at how you love me,
enough to let me know your grace.
Not just with me at my trial,
but enought to take my place.

An after lunch blog.

That's right, I just had lunch. Yum.

Subheading One : Why Audioslave Rocks.
I reasently rediscovered* Audioslave. There are two main reasons why this band is good.
Reason one: Tom Morello. They guy is just plain fantastic. He's not quite as out there in Audioslave as he was/is in Rage but he still rocks harder than most by a fair margin. And when he has the same bass and drums behind him as in Rage, it just keeps getting better and better.

Reason two: Chris Cornell.
Man can this guy really wail. But more than that, his singing has such a free flow to it but it is never out of time or place. If you haven't heard him/them, I earge you to. Today! Go to where ever it is you get your music and get some. I suggest "Your time has come", "Be yourself", or "The worm" form "out of exile" (or the rest of the CD, it's all good) and "Cochise" from their self titled album.

Subheading Two: Some other thoughts
If to dumb something down is to make it simpler, then does that mean that it you dumb something up you make it more complex?
Is it horrible inappropriate to be walking round the pool you're life guarding singing "Drown me slowly"**?

That's about all I had flowting round my head during lunch.

*by "rediscovered" I mean, I hadn't heard them in a decent while and them they pop up in my ipod's shuffle and I thought, "that's right, Audioslave are awesome!"

** also an Audioslave song. Actually this is the song that pop up on shuffle. True story.

My Big Day Out.

Ah, what a day. The day really started at 11 as I walked through the gates. Straight away I made contact with my mate form uni and companion for the day. Big plus. Then the music started and we were off.

We started out wanting to check out the jjj unearthed winners but wondered into Miso instead. Mistake, they are spacey electric stuff that probably would have sounded great after a bucket load of LSD. When we found The Pryor Theory, they weren't much better. Less LSD but still not something you want to stand in a crowd for. So we moved on.

Passing by Die! Die! Die!, we found out way to British India. If you have a chance, check them out, they are good live. We rocked out for a few songs but both being science students we were allured by a band with a nerdy name*. The Eddy Current Suppression Ring, nerdy name with a punk sound and the simplest drum kit I've seen on stage. The music was good and the singer had a dancing style that look like a young Joe Croker gone punk.

We then found our way to the main stage for the first time to see Anti-flag. Angry boys that do a good job of being the cliche rebellious punk band. They had a Mohawk, wore black, played loud and screamed, but for some reason their American specific anthems didn't do much for us. We found more joy when we wondered into Brotha Black, an Aboriginal hip-hop artist. Pretty sweet.

We were pulled back to the main stage for Faker. Win. From the moment the sing ran onto, then around the stage, I knew it was going to be good. The music was great and the performance one of the best for the day. The singer was fantastic, he went for running around, to jumping for speaker to speaker, to rolling around on the ground, to climbing the scaffolding without missing a note.

We strayed from the main stage again for Gyroscope. Not a mistake but we didn't stay long. Back again to the main stage for the end of Midnight Juggernauts and then Regurgitator. Remember them, they had hits with polyester girl and !(the song formally know as the song formally know as !) and they spent some time in a bubble. They well worth the walk**. They passed through so many genres in the hour they almost got a speeding fine.

Just a few steps away on the other main stage was the Hoods. I was afraid they would play the same set as they did at pyramid, but i had nothing to worry about, they even had some new friends on stage. Low rider*** played with the Hood for about half the set and it good. One thing that made me sad was the crowds reaction to the Aboriginal welcome ceremony before the Hoods Played. They showed it no respect. Just a few steps back to the first main stage for Grinspoon who did play pretty much the same set as at pyramid, but whee it rocks that hard you just don't mind that much. Still no just ace, most sad.

Next came tea. Hot chips from Nandos and a look at the Nightwatchman. Tom Morello's song acoustic project. Rage-brilliant, Audioslave-rocks, this-not so much. Then the real fun started.

Back for the final time to the main stage. First up, Silverchair. Well the old Silverchair is pretty much gone but the new puts on a good show. Jones is still rocks and the inclusion of the greatest view and freak kept me happy. And then, the longest hour ever! What were the organisers thinking, "I know what will go well between Silverchair and Rage Against the Machine. Bjork". NO! Now I wouldn't normally mind a bit of Bjork, but not there. And when so many of the crowd and turned up to see Rage, not many where I was enjoyed Bjork.

Then it happened. And I don't mean a punch on, which did break out just next to me. Rage Against The Machine! Best Ever! It started with testify and kept going****. The whole thing was one giant high light. From Zack's rant against war and consumerism and props for getting rid of Howard to Tom's Guitar. I didn't think it would get much better than Freedom and Killing in the Name for an encore, but there was short patch, for most of Sleep Now in the Fire, that everyone around me was moshing perfectly in time. It was just beautiful, Dream Come True!

We strolled away for that 70 mins happy beyond description. Nothing was left, in the line up or us, but to jam on a train and go home. We scored seats and conversation with strangers started by my F.R.O.G band, win.

Well that was my Big Bay Out. Nothing that anyone really needed to know, I was just wanting to brag, and to keep the blog momentum going. *****



*plus we had seen them at pyramid rock.

**not that we walked far. I just didn't want to say fantastic again so soon.

*** Hip-hop band with singer, keys, bass, drums.

****for the full set list see the herald sun hit lift out on thursday Jan 24, or my post on Sean Bentler's facebook wall.

*****you may have noticed a lot of the end notes in this post. That is because I love them. The best end note are by Terry Pracket. They are mostly factual information about made up things that don't add anything to the story. I am going to try and use them more as they are fun. Thanks goes to B.C for reminding me of them.

The building yay.

This is about my new car.

I started out not excited about it at all. After all the time and effort it took just to get my last car on the road, only for it to have a minor brake down. Then after just 5-6 months it dies completely. Plus the whole process of finding and deciding to but this car felt very rushed. It was just about the first car we saw for sale after my previous car was condemned. I wanted to take my time and find an awesome car that I was ultra excited about. Then dad found this cat, that's right I didn't even really get to find it. I was a good deal and was in good condition. I had look around and could not find anything as good.

So we checked it out. It really was very clean and in fantastic condition. The owner's grandma had bought it new and had driven it up until about a year and a half ago. So, it was low on km's and had been well looked after. It fill all my reasonably criteria but I was still very unenthusiastic. So after a bit of thought and consultation with my mechanic friend, I decided to buy the car.

Still my enthusiasm for the whole deal did not rise. It took a good 2 weeks for the car to be ready, which did not phase me as I was rather indifferent and on beach mission. Then I got home and after a few days my car was ready. I had been working in Mirboo North, a half hour drive, so I had been borrowing my parents car or getting a lift. After that, the idea of having a car of my own again was sounding good.

So I got the car, but all the paperwork still stood in the way, squashing my excitement. it just reminded me of all the work we went through with my last car only for it to die. Luckily, the guy we bought the car off had done most of the form to change the rego, so all we had to do was fill in my details and take it down to vicroad. The insurance and RACV turned out to be just short phone calls. At it was all mine. The excitement levels were starting to pick up. I was really happy with the idea that I had a car, but not over the moon about the actual one I had.

Then two small acts started my enthusiasm in the upwards direction. I cleaned it. In the two and a half years I owned my other cars, I didn't clean them one. I washed it and vacuum cleaned the inside. Then i got some hub caps. And BAM, I start thinking, 'this car doesn't look half bad'. Then I started to drive it a bit.

After months of being stuck in family car with poor radios, to be in my own car with a decent Cd player and good rear speaker was awesome! I drove it to the city for a party. The party, horrible, but the drive was fantastic. From there the enthusiasm has continued to grow. I came out of work last night and was like 'dam my car looks cool'. Add to that the impending inclusion of my Cd player and front speakers I'm finally at the point of saying, 'Yay! I have a new car!'.

A tale of sand and trees.

This is something I came to realise one day as I wondered the isles of IGA. But I should warn anyone that actually reads the blog on my space. Look Away Now! Or this will just be a repeat.

The tale I'm sad to say is one of intense hatred. That's right, as it so happens, sand and trees are mortal enemies. There are some that would say that this is crazy, but with a little thought on the matter it is plan to see. There are also people, mostly the same people as before, that will tell you that putting thought into this topic is crazy, but i chose to ignore them and continue happily.

Sand, it appears, has hated trees for a long time and as it is very patient, has been working away at it's plan against trees for many years. Sand has very cleverly infiltrated it's self into our civilisation. How? Glass. It's everywhere. Window, doors, mirrors, tvs, glasses, all throughout our world there is glass. It was a brilliant plan, you don't even see it most of the time! Enter the next complexity of the plan. It's not just everywhere, it's always being looked through, so it must be clean. This is the inspired part, how do you clean glass? With paper! Everything else you clean with cloths or material, but glass you clean with paper. And where does paper come form? That's right, trees. So sand has found a way to kill millions of trees every year.

This leads to the question, why? What is the reason for this loathing? I have one theory. It is based in the realms of jealousy or revenge. Now, I don't know if it was a deliberate move by trees, but something happens when a lot of trees gather in the one place. It encourages rainfall, and rain is just water. Sand, as you all know, has a very intimate relationship with water. They spend a lot of time together at the beach, and with all that rubbing and washing up against each other, they couldn't help but become close. So, when sand saw that trees were congregating to create rainfall, it's no wonder it started disliking them. However I'm not exactly sure as to whether it is jealousy or revenge. Is the sand just jealous that the water is leaving the ocean (and it) to be with the trees. Or has the sand noticed that the rain is falling from a great height, and then being consumed by the trees, and thus seeking vengeance for all the water the trees have killed (kind of). Both are very valid reasons.

So now you understand the situation. But do not forget, this is an ongoing issue. If anyone can think of a way to help or solve this problem that doesn't involve taking trees to the beach and rubbing them in the sand and water to get them all better acquainted, please let me know.

The one with none before it.

You may have picked from the title that this is my first blog. Also that I have been watching to much friends. I have started this blog for a few reason.

Firstly, and mainly because my linguistic abilities are poor. This sounds like a bad reason to start a blog, but I am hoping that if I force myself to keep writing, then they will improve. It's not that I desperately need a better way with the words now. I have got by so far, and I'm a science student anyway, it's mainly numbers for me. However, I was thinking about the George Orwell novel nineteen eighty-four. That is where "Big Brother" came from, and in the story, Big Brother was thinning out the dictionary. The idea was that if the population didn't know the word, they could not formulate the idea. For example, if they didn't know any negative words like bad or poor, they could not complain, and if they didn't know the work "free" they can't realise that they are not. That got me thinking, if i had a better grasp of the language, would my thoughts be more elaborate or complex. What ideas and thoughts have passed me by because I was not able to form them in my mind. Would I be more able to grasp the feeling of awe at the night sky or the joy that a good song brings.
(Interesting side note for all you rage fans, 1984 was quoted in the song Testify. 'who controls the past, controls the future. who controls the present, controls the past')

My second reason is that the idea of writing something that people might actually read scares me to bits. And I try whenever I can to do thing that fill me with fear. Not only is it great fun, but i believe it helps you grow and become a better person.

Third reason, everyone else was doing it! And you know me, anything to fit in.... well not really.... I hope?

Anyway, that's the first one over, who knows what is to come.

End.