Homer: "Lisa, you and your stories: Bart is a vampire, beer kills brain cells. Now lets go back to that building....thingy, where our couchandTV...is"

Got up at 6:45. Made my lunch of good ol' silverside. Great. Decided later that it needs sauce.

Went for the staff meeting at 8:30, and Mogli came along too. But noone else did.

Spent the next half an hour or so looking for games to be played on Melbourne Cup day. Found some..... but they won't last that long, and we need to fill about 4 hours.

Had a meeting with a partner where I mentioned my pay review and working Monday afternoon. He said he'd get back to me. I was told at lunchtime not to expect anything.

My namesake+y, whose reception it was 2 weeks ago and who has already left came in to return a laptop (which she had why? i donno....), and brought in morning tea. So we had morning tea. Had the traditional Corica's apple strudel, and then this weird rum chocolate cake thingy, which was a bit strong on the rum side (or rum flavouring, as some said).

Went for a walk at lunchtime to West Perth cos needed to draw money for Russell Peters ticket. Withdrew all the money I had in my account ($50) bar $9.77. Then Mogli wanted to go down to West End to get a pie - but he didn't really like it.

Watched The Simpsons and Futurama, tho missed most of it cos I was watching The West Wing. Then I watched more Simpsons and more West Wing, before two more episodes of Futurama.

Did pretty much nothing, then slept about 10:30.

"Its all good, mate, its all good - well, except the fact that I got voted out. That bit completely sucks!" - Ricky Muscat, upon leaving Aus. Idol

Actually, he didn't really say that bit after the dash. But, damn, it woulda been good if someone would say that. I mean, seriously, since he can't sing very well, you'd think he'd come up with a better going out line. Oh well. If I cared, then I'd care. Its just one of those missed opportunities.

Oh....and belated congratulations to Bernard Fanning for winning both male artist and album of the year (the latter being the most coveted award) at the ARIAs yesterday. Eat that, Wolfmother! Hah! Nah....they're OK. But still, hah! Isn't it amazing that of the (apparently) 1,457 Australian albums released last year, I only own one (the one that won) and have most of another (which was a contender). I rock!
But at past ARIAs, I barely remember seeing Powderfinger. So this suggests to me that maybe the Australian music industry isn't so tone deaf as I previously thought.
And another thing - that Taasha Coates from The Audreys (which won best Blues and Roots album) looks and sounds almost exactly like whoever it is that sings on Flashdance by Deep Dish.....which I just found out is called Flashdance cos its a remix of one of the songs from the Flash Dance soundtrack - called He's the man, or something.

Got up at 9:30. I was pretty impressed with that. Actually, I was more impressed when I looked over at my clock without glasses and the time looked like 7:30. Oh well.

Watched more West Wing till about 12 while finishing my ironing - cept for the new shirt, which I ironed later. By the end of the day had watched up to the end of disc 2 - that's the first 8 episodes. There's some good points, but on the whole its mainly bad. And I'm disagreeing more and more with their policies and how they achieve results.

Did accounts stuff, including entering all the cheques to date and all but two of the other payment vouchers. The rest will have to wait until the other stuff which I won't get till Friday and won't be able to do until Saturday night even though it needs to be done by Sunday, cos of this great leaders meeting. Great.

Rang Accountants Super to check my income, which, although they couldn't tell this to me straight, was an extra $28. Which gives a net result of $15. Which is a return of about 5%, at most. Rang Mogli and told him about it. Then he ended up keeping me on the phone for 15 minutes cos he was alone in the boardroom for lunch, and was watching Oprah about people coming out of the closet in the workplace. He did convince me to talk to a more friendly partner about my financial situation, though. So he's not totally useless, I guess. Despite outward appearances.

Had my usual from Stoodent Cafe for lunch (some like honey bbq pork with fried rice, or something? I donno. But its nice. And only like $3), while watching the season 1 finale from Thank God You're Here. Its a classic, really. I'm not real impressed with the lineup for this week, like last week. I mean, I guess its good they're letting new people on, but they should be throwing in at least one tried and tested, just in case its a total mess. Though, Glen Robbins should be OK. I guess.

Left for Garbo just after 3:30. Went to the camera section in Myer. Was looking for a bit, then the store guy came over and I go "I want like a 6x zoom camera but.... (as in, I don't want to pay too much)" and he goes "there's an Olympus one for only $300" so I go "well, what about the exposure" and he's like "well 2 seconds is the standard though there's like 15 coming out next year (or something)". And, even better, they weren't getting that particular Olympus model in for another month, so I didn't have to feel guilty about not buying it.
Then I went to the clothing section and found a 42 greeny type shirt. I tried it on and it was fine, so got that straight away. Had a nice discussion with the seller guy about how my credit card wouldn't read (which it didn't). He said something about their equipment being antiquated (and I just had to use the dictionary to make sure that was the word I was thinking of. And in the meantime, I checked my Goodtree, which has earned 11 cents. Eat that, poverty!).
Got my VVL after that. Aaaahhhh....good stuff.

Raced a police car on the way back. Well, not really, but I was driving in front of it the whole time on the freeway. There there was this idiot who was going like 80 (or more) in a 60 zone parallel with the police but two lanes over. Then he gets to the 80 sign just near the Mill Point road entrance and slams on the brakes.....funny stuff.

Watched The Simpsons, then Futurama. Saw the last few minutes of Idol. Man is it stupid how they went on and on deciding between Chris and the Irish guy, then finally sent the Irish guy out (to make a bottom 3 out of 5!!! morons!), then the Irish guy stands there for two seconds and they send him back.

Watched SVU. It was another episode I've seen before - of course! They've only just finished season 7, or whichever it is. Although there must be plenty of episodes I haven't seen. Especially the earlier ones without Ice-T, and whoever else.

Slept about 10:30.

South-lands: PN. a locale of Perth. Spec. the shopping centre of said locale. Spec. the food court of said shopping centre.

See; fine cuisine, where its at, happening place, undiscovered treasure, THE best place to eat - no wait - make that the ONLY place to eat.

Got up with my alarm, which sounded very loud, at 9. Was planning to not leave so early, but left at 9:30, anyway. Which was probably a good thing.

Went for lunch with V to the usual spot (ie, Southlands), although we hadn't been for about a month. We both had the usual, since it had been a month (ie, chicken cats, although the large size). So all's right with the world, then.
He had to go for some meeting at 2, and I think he was probably late. Its amazing how fast time goes, etc.

Watched some more episodes of the West Wing, so am now up to episode 4 of season 2. Also did some ironing, although I have 3 extra pants and one extra shirt, so I'm not yet even halfway done.

Did some accounts, although I'm quite far behind with that, so although I took two hours there is still plenty lots more stuff to do. And then there will be quite a bit more to do before the meeting next Sunday.

Saw a preview for Lucky Number Slevin, which is finally being released in Perth this week. Although one small problem (and I say that very sarcastically) - the name is changed from Lucky Number Slevin (so called ironically, cos this Mr Slevin has an unlucky case of mistaken identity) to.......The Wrong Man. Ahem. Yet more bewildering decisions by the powers that be.

Watched Hidalgo. It was OK, but rather boring - I mean, its a horse race across a desert, so it was pretty much what I expected. I think it tried to be like Lawrence of Arabia, but I didn't think much of that film to begin with, and, obviously, this was considerably not as good. And Viggo Mortensen's accent - ewwww. Plus his character was almost exactly the same as from Lord of the Rings.

Slept just before 1.

Quad-rangle: N. a rangle with four sides. See; tri-rangle. What? Spelling mistake? Pah - I thought it was a good point....

Got up at 9:30. It felt a lot later. Especially temperature wise - 29 today! Yucks! I finally decided to exchange my heater (which I've mainly be using the fan mode for, anyway) with my considerably more inconveniently sized portable airconditioner thing.

Watched two more episodes of The West Wing. Which leaves just the finale to go from season 1. Then just two more seasons......ai.

Went shopping around 3. Didn't have to get any chicken or salami, cos I have that silverside - just hope it will last the week. Didn't really get nothing else exciting - I'm still only buying like 2 picnics per week, cos it just feels stoopid buying more when they're only singles. I really need to go to that FIA place, or whatever it is.

Went to 13's house about 4. Did some swimming, with that volleyball thing. Pretty cool.

Then there was dinner after that, with some more guests, inc. over hyperactive kiddies. I was having some more quaint dinner conversations with Ps Ian, including about the forthcoming Carols in the Quad, and how Carols in the Rangle has more of a ring to it, in my opinion. But, anyway......

Watched some more Foxtel and that, but, even if there was something good on, we couldn't watch it cos its all rated MA. Left about 10:30.

Slept about 11:30.

Homer: "Read your town charter, boy - if foodstuffs should touch the ground, said foodstuffs shall become the property of the village idiot.

Since I don't see him around - start shovelling!"

Got up at 7. However, I didn't get downstairs till like 7:40, so didn't have time to make lunch.

Got two chickens, what do 'the chicken dance' until you grab them by the neck, which makes them squawk and stuff. They were pretty cheap - I plan to give one to my mum for Christmas. Not sure about the other.
At lunchtime, we had a chicken race, cos another 4 people ordered one as well. One of them was singing the chicken dance a lot faster, so we all figured he would win. But he ended up going off course. So one of my chickens one, cos it ran into the other one which knocked it over but sent that one headed right for the line. Super.

Got a hot chocolate. It was alright, but way too hot. I burned my tongue. But that's OK, cos Mogli did too.

Got a roast beef roll for lunch. It was prepared in a hurry, so wasn't that good - there wasn't that much beef, and they skimped on the gravy too, so it was rather tasteless.

Waited round as long as possible, then went to the city for a meeting with the church auditor. Drove round for 15 minutes looking for a spot, then discovered that they'd changed the manual machines for ticketing. So I parked next to a machine, though it was quite far away from the corner. Got there about 5-10 minutes late, but the guy was late anyway.

Got home about 3:10. Changed and put some washing in, then went for a haircut. I said about 5 words and got pretty much what I wanted, so I'll keep saying those words, I think.

Watched two more episodes of the West Wing. Then I finally got through to my parents, so left for my grandparents' (old) house around 5:45.

There was a jam on Mounts Bay Road from before the Brewery up to the roundabout (for my purposes) and then onto the freeway. But as soon as I got a lane clear of the Mill Point exit, there were like hardly any cars at all, so got to Mt Nasura just after 6:30.

Went straight to visit grandma, cos my dad wanted to exchange a small bookcase for a small table, so she can store stuff under her TV. Didn't stay long.

Had silverside for dinner (and I took the leftovers for lunch next week). Then played some Uno and Scrabble. I also took some more of my grandad's cufflinks - although I've never worn cufflinks before, as well as the 'instructions' for the globe.
Watched a bit of Cold Mountain, but it was about 10:30 by then, so I left.

Slept around 12. Nice and warm...... grrr.

"Sting - that's another person I admire. I don't really listen to his music, but the fact that he's making it - I respect that" - Hansel, Zoolander

Got up about 6:54. I was rather tired, as expected. Had to shave as well.....ai. But still made my lunch. And wasn't as late as I thought I would be.

Me and Mogli were looking at our super in the morning, cos we just got the financial report, and it didn't look good - negative income, and that was excluding fees. Although, apparently, there was income credited after 30 June. Hmmm...

Was working on one client for pretty much the whole day. And at about 3:30 I discovered that the balance sheet they had given us doesn't balance.... so that was great.

Watched The Simpsons, then The Simpsons from yesterday, then Futurama, then Futurama from yesterday. Then I got a call from Mogli saying he wanted my resume, but my computer was being stupid, so it took a while to turn on, then a longer while to send. So I missed half of My Name is Earl. But the bit that I saw wasn't that good anyway. And the main song they played that I noticed was 'Are you gonna be my girl?' by Jet..... nuff said. Not that its really a bad song, but.... y'know....

Watched Thank God You're Here, which wasn't great. Jimeon won, which I thought was strange, since he was, for the most part, just umming and erring and thinking of funny stuff to say. I thought Peter Rowsthorne was the best by far. But, anyway.

And then - hooray! The Daily Show with Jon Stewart! Yay! Although the interview wasn't great. But..... hooray! And it was interesting that just before it started, SBS news had a story about how Madonna went on Oprah and was complaining that the press was victimising her and making it hard for other people wanting to adopt foreign babies. And then nearly the whole of The Daily Show (which is like two weeks old) was making fun of that whole thing. And then, later on, on an almost completely unrelated topic (though not completely) he mentioned Oprah's interview with Bono where she was wearing some poverty shirt and she said that she loved it so much that everyone in the audience got one, and Jon Stewart said something about how he'd much rather have a shirt than a car.....etc.

Slept a bit past 11.

Hmmm..... the spellchecker wanted to replace 'Zoolander' with 'colander'.

Hugh: "....and we both love the Rolling Stones"

Lisa: "Yes. Not for their music, but for their tireless efforts to preserve ancient monuments"

Got up a bit past 7. Made my lunch, but I was almost late then.

Took my Newton Clacker Thing into work. Met some guy coming into the building (who turned out to be coming to meet one of the partners, who was late) who commented that he remembered seeing one many many years ago. I said that the one I had was probably around then, based on its rather deplorable condition. Put it on the windowsill. Great.

Transferred some money from my ING account in preparation to buy T3, just so I can buy some shares and, like George, tell people that I'm 'in the market'. Although I'm still not absolutely sure I'll do it - my main problem is that I'm gonna have a large amount of money kinda locked away there.

Got a latte from Greg the coffee guy - with 1, but it wasn't enough. Somehow that extra half just makes it so much better.

Mogli found that Thank God You're Here season 1 is selling, but he didn't say where or how much. I checked it later, and its actually not released till next month. Don't know where or how much.

Went almost straight to 13's house after work, cept that I put a tape in for Thank God You're Here. I realised that I probably wouldn't get to tape The Sopranos, but since I'll be getting the full (part) season in about 2 months, its not such a big deal.

The pool was not exactly warm, but it was quite bearable once I started doing a bit of laps. But I got tired real quick, so then was just floating around. But then 13 decided to go in as well (I mean, it is his pool....), and he got this volleyball net thing, so we did a bit of that. It was pretty fun. Groovy.

Watched some movie that he had recorded - a Korean film called 'The Brotherhood of War'. It was OK, but got a bit long and repetitive. Plus I didn't care that his brother was gonna die. The battle scenes were quite good, though, but it was rather graphic. More so than Saving Private Ryan, although similar sort of stuff.

Got home about 11:30 and slept pretty much straight away.

Rev. Lovejoy: "Everyone is saying Gabbo this and Gabbo that. But noone is saying worship this, or Jericho that."

That's some line that V came up with while we were in the cinema waiting for The Departed to start. And he was repeating it for a while after, in typical V fashion. Don't ask me where it came from.... I think the line I said before was the 'this is not a cheque, monetary value .005 of a cent' line, to do with the 2 tickets for $20 voucher that came with my ticket, but he didn't get nothing with his.

Woke up at 6:38. Which was good, cos I didn't set my alarm the night before. Didn't have breakfast, cos my milk was off, and didn't make lunch, cos I didn't have no raw ingredients. Thus, I left the house just past 7 and got to work real early. Actually, the downstairs foyer was dark. I turned on the only switch, but some of the lights didn't come on and stayed off all day - fairly noticeably, I thought, though noone else seemed to. Think, I think. That the foyer was dark.

Had training what was led by Mogli. Then he was obsessing for the whole rest of the day about how badly he did, even though it wasn't THAT unbearable. Really. I mean, its training..... how can it not suck?

Went down to Mogli's dad's place to do their stuff. Got there about 10:15, even though I got Mogli to tell him 9:30. Partly cos training finished a little late, partly because certain partners insisted on talking about some stuff in a stop-start kinda way.

Finished there about 12:15. Thus I was back in time for lunch.

Went across to the little shop. I got a chicken schnitzel roll and a choc chip muffin. Mogli got a pie and chips, but the chips weren't ready. "Don't bother about it" I said, cos he was really hungry and they wouldn't be ready for three minutes. "Nah, its fine" he said. Then 5 seconds later he's like "these chips are taking so long, I want to eat now".....ai.

Spent nearly the whole afternoon helping him with some balancing journals for trusts and the whole 'distributions after year end' etc problem. Though we did much around quite a bit. I hit him on the inside of the arm where he'd apparently had some sort of injection or something ("I really should give up the heroin, eh"), which apparently hurt. So I had to let him hit my back as hard as he could, but I was laughing too hard to feel anything. Until the endorphins wore off.

Left at 5 so I could go shopping. The carpark at Coles in Subi was full (!!!) so I just went to Broadway. Bought a few uninspiring things, although I did get those new puff shapes.

Because I got new milk, and because it was hot, I finally used another sachet of my iced mocha (from, like, April or so). Tasted pretty darn good.

Watched two more episodes of The West Wing, as well as The Simpsons, Futurama, and most of the newer Simpsons episode (although, for the most part, it sucked....even the attempt at a Broadway number was just cruddy). Slept about 10:30.

Ranier Wolfcastle: "Aaaah, my eyes! The goggles do nothing!"

Got up about 10. Watched some more Foxtel, including more Simpsons, Full Frontal and There's Something about Mary. Then I had to wash my dishes and do a bit of weeding. Then I left 13's house, at about 2:30.

When I came straight from Burswood yesterday, I neglected to bring shoes, apart from the ones I had on (business shoes). So I was forced to drive back barefoot, which felt pretty weird. And it wasn't easy to control the force on the pedals - I'm guessing is due to the whole uneven pressure because of the arch thing. And the increased amount of touch sensations.

Updated some of my computer stuff, then did some ironing. During that, I watched two more episodes of the West Wing (only 2 more discs of season 1 left), and also The Sopranos which I almost forgot about.

Watched most of The Simpsons and Futurama. Then I watched SVU later.

I discovered that the old Shakspeare (sic) book that I got from my Grandma's house on Friday is a 19th century manuscript - maybe published around 1890. So, thats nice, isn't it?

Slept about 11.

Marge: "Homer, don't take this the wrong way, but I got a restraining order to prevent you from planning this wedding"

Homer: "Well, this seems to be in order. If you need me, I'll be at Moe's"

The reverse of the name card at the wedding dinner. Plus some fridge magnet thingy.

Got up before my alarm at about 8:45. Watched some TV and continued preparing the cheques and support for salaries.

Left for church at 10. Continued with the salary stuff, and some of the other accounting blah. Didn't finish till 11:15, so I was late. And, of cos, this was the one time when it was really crowded, due to the guest speaker from Creation Ministries, and all these Joy City church guests - which included them leading worship (actually, the entire worship team) and their pastor doing announcements. Seemed a little odd to me...

V was really slow in leaving. It seemed like he was just sticking around to stick around, but he ended up talking to some of the Joy City people, so I guess he had his reasons. I spent most of the time trying to get into the library to leave my old bible what I replaced with that ESV one.

We went to Taurus, but it was full, of cos. So, we just gave up and headed for Southlands. Then, suddenly, I suggested Nandos and V said he'd been thinking that, so we went there instead. And we both got the half chicken, cos a few times back we both got the quarter and it was way too small. But suddenly, this was a big half. Still managed to finish it, but it was a lot.
I finally managed to update him on my computer problems, but he didn't really know about how to fix my BIOS problem.
Called Mogli back, cos he'd left a message during church. We arranged to meet to try and get to the dinner as late as possible, plus he had to go to the city to pick his girlfriend, so we was gonna look for clothes. Anyway, I tried to end it as soon as possible without being too abrupt, cos I felt bad cos V was looking uncomfortable - and I've been to too many one on one outings where the other person talks on the phone the whole time to know how he was feeling.

Went back home to change for the wedding thing, and to check email and stuff. Then went to work, cos its a handy place to park, at 4:20. Mogli was just arriving at the same time. Went down to the city, feeling really silly cos we were like way too overdressed. I managed to get some pants from Myer, anyway. Just two for the moment. Was looking for a different-like coloured shirt, but couldn't find one.

Got to Burswood about 6:15. But, of cos, everyone was still having drinks, although they were beginning to move inside. I drank lots of water and ate my bread, cos the entree was all seafood. Had some pretty good coke, too. Well mixed pre-mix, or so I guessed.
Had chicken for mains - it was pretty tasty. Then was dessert, which was OK. It looked better than it tasted, I guess. The tart was the best bit, minus the strawberries, of cos. Then there was tea, which was really great. Really great tea. I so needed that.
Then there was dancing and that. Some of the work people were really.....skilled. It was amusing to watch, in any case. Us young people on our table had some good conversations and stuff about the music and that. Then we left at 9:30.

I went straight to 13's place. Watched some more Foxtel till about 1. Saw some of my favourite comedies in a row - Becker, Just Shoot Me, Frasier then Seinfeld, although I had the latter episode so I slept then. Also saw the end of an episode of The West Wing, which I haven't seen in the DVDs yet. Although I am only up to season 1 episode 12 or so.

BT Barlow: "Mayor Quimby, you're known for your lenient stance on crime. But suppose for a moment YOUR home was invaded...

....it was YOUR family with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there's too much blood on the knob...."
Mayor Quimby: "What is your...er...question?"
BT Barlow: "My question's about the budget, sir"

Got up about 9:30. Did a little bit of swimming, but it was mainly watching TV. Watched The Simpsons and a bit of other stuff. Then there was Paint Your Wagon, which I taped but forgot to watch later - I'm sure it wasn't as good as the Simpsons version, anyway.

Watched Shaolin Soccer on DVD. I've seen it before, but forgot quite how insane it was. I still think Kung Fu Hustle is better, though (noticed that 13 has Ray on DVD too....which made me wonder why he bothered watching it on Foxtel. Though, since there are no ads and stuff, maybe the quality is better?)

Went back home at about 4, cos I needed to get stuff for church tomorrow. Then I realised that its salary week, so had to prepare all that stuff, too. Was finished by 6:45, and was just about to drive back when I got a call from V - it was most unexpected, but I knew that he wanted. He tried to be casual about it, of cos. I think his parents were having a party, or something, so he wanted to get out of the house - and what better opportunity than to watch a certain Martin Scorscese film? Anyway, so he said he already had dinner plans, so we just agreed to meet at Carousel at 8:15, for an 8:30 start.

So I drove pretty much straight to KFC at High Road. Got there about 7:30, maybe a bit before. There was a long line at the drivethrough (as always) so I broke with tradition and went inside (cos I was in a hurry.... famous last words). Anyway, there was a long line and it took a long time. I probably could've gone through the drivethrough line about 5 times over. So I got back to 13's house at 7:50. And I'd finished by 8:05.
Then I was driving as fast as possible without being crazy about it (cos I wasn't exactly late), and V messaged me telling me to meet him at Carousel's KFC (and I crossed two lanes trying to read it). Anyway, so, of cos, he'd changed his mind at the last minute and was having dinner there. Isn't it ironic?

So he wasn't really done by 8:25, but said he'd had enough anyway. So we drove up to the cinema, and....well.....the movie was full. Yes. Full. Even though its been out for more than a week, I believe. Anyway, he'd checked Garbo times at the same time, and it was on there at 9. So I left my car at Carousel and he, pretty much, sped over there.
We got to Garbo at 8:50, maybe a bit later. I got my ticket for $15.30, and he got his for $11.50. Then we went in and it was like 1/5 full. We both agreed that Garbo cinemas really sucked. And it was like overly red, like Grandma's nursing home.

So the film was pretty good. It seemed that a lot of the people were shocked by the amount of violence, though V said later that he thought there'd be more. And compared to Goodfellas, it was rather tame. I suggested the reason is they were Irish gangsters, who prefer to inflict physical pain rather than just quietly whack people like Italian gangsters do. There were quite a lot of people getting shot in graphic ways at the end. Cos its a Hollywood film, they had to make sure the bad guy got his comeuppance, unlike in the Hong Kong version. It also felt a bit, not long but slow, cos to me the main idea (undercover cop and undercover mobster trying to sniff each other out) needed a greater sense of urgency. But the peripherals were dealt with well, and in that sense it was superior to the Hong Kong version.

So then V drove back to Carousel for me to get my car, and I went back to 13's house. Got there about 12:30, and watched some more Foxtel till 2.

Sideshow Bob: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! No truth handler you! I deride your truth handling abilities!"

The view from my grandma's house. I think it was a bit too dark at the time. And the optical zoom on my camera is too small - this is with 2x digital as well.

Got up around 7. I was rather tired.

Apparently, it was supposed to be loud shirt day today. I wore light blue, cos it was about the only one I had left, apart from black, and I wasn't gonna wear that cos it was supposed to be 32 degrees. Mogli wore this weird striped green thing. It was pretty loud.

Really hard to do like any work. I was standing around Mogli's desk for a lot of the time, although he was mainly asking me about his relatives and their possible tax position.

Stayed around for part of lunch, cos Mogli was still talking about his relatives and stuff, plus we were talking about the Sunday wedding dinner thing.

Went home and changed and went out to my Grandma's house to meet my parents. I told them to wait for lunch, so we went to Sizzler, at about 2:30. I got the full salad bar and also a Mega Cheeseburger. The burger tasted too much like MacDonalds, but it was pretty huge. However, the salads and stuff were actually really impressive - so I figured next time I'll just get salad bar. The deserts weren't great - though I was really full by that stage..... but the bread and butter pudding tasted too caramelly and the icecream, the soft serve stuff, was too....weak. My mum says its fake icecream, but this was like fake fake icecream.

Went to visit my Grandma after that. I was really impressed by the home - it didn't have that like hospital type smell. The colour of the carpet and a lot of the walls was red, though - it seemed strange.
She was quite alright. Then some other old lady (who looked and sounded like Paulie's mother - Cookie - now ex-mother - from The Sopranos) came over and kinda interrupted our family conversation. But then she started talking to my Grandma and they were still going when we left.... my parents said that was good.

Then went to the house and spent some tiring hours going through all this stuff. I got some kitchen stuff, but a lot of it was quite old, so I'm not sure how useful it will be. I also took the globe and the Newton clacker thing..... were these little metal balls on strings transfer energy in weird ways to each other.....its a great demonstration of practical physics (sigh), and a small, rather dirty rug.
Also took my Grandad's coin collection to try and get some values on some stuff. The most interesting thing is some weird coin, which my initial inquiries have led me to believe its a Merovingian (yes....the Matrix guy) Denier, of circa. 8th century France. But, of course, its probably just a casting of one. If that's even what it is. Although some of the Deniers that I saw have the t and the M, I didn't see any with the E. And none have a design that is similar enough to say its of the same general time/place.
there's also some special bank currency, like an old $5 note with serial number 10000000. And some commemorative coins of Australia's 150th and 175 anniversary. Plus heaps of pre-decimal currency (mainly pennies) from 1895 to about 1950.
I also took some books - a fieldwatcher's guide to birds, two volumes of Children's Shakespeare (presented to my Grandma in 1933 and 34) and an illustrated Shakespeare which appears to be even older.

Left about 8, and it was still really warm. Did half my washing and put away all the stuff and tried to find a decent coin valuation site (without success). Then I took the rest of my washing and various other things and went to 13's house, cos he was already in Singapore.

Watched a bit of Foxtel, but went to bed fairly early, cos I was really quite worn out. Though it was probably after 12.

Helicopter guy: "Nothing could possibli go wrong. Um, possiblY go wrong. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong"

Got up about 6:30. So I was able to make lunch and still get to the office by 7:30. And thus when I left to walk down to the city client at 7:45, the coffee guy was there.

Got a small latte with 1.5 - it was very bitter. I shall have to go back to getting the normal size again, even though I can never finish it.

It was rather warm today, even though I didn't wear my jacket.

Stayed down there till 12. Finally managed to pay some money. It felt very satisfying.

Walked down to the ANZ bank with Mogli and W&, cos Mogli wanted to put access to his savings account on his credit card - like mine, y'see? Anyway, it was pretty warm. I was looking for a brochure on asset financing, so I could ping them on some tax technicality of leases v loans v HPs v Chattel Mortgages, or something.... but couldn't find nothing.

Reviewed some more of Mogli's work. Took a long time, but hopefully there won't be people complaining to other people, or whatever. At least, not as much.

Left work at 5, cos it was really slow and stuff. Went to 13's house at 5:30. I got there about 5 minutes before him, so did some of his weeding. Damn.... this inability to do the whole home ownership thing really irritates me.
Swam for a bit, but it was a little bit too cold.

On the way to dinner picked up Nam, cos he had to pick up his car from Brian Gardner servicing - apparently its open till 10pm every night. I also looked at his house, which wasn't spectacular on the outside, and wasn't very big - but his interior decorating was quite good. Although he said he never uses his kitchen - I didn't ask why.

Went for dinner at Spencer Village. I hadn't been there for a while, and they've updated the numbering on the tables - its now in sections as well. Got some noodle thing with meat. It was alright - I shoulda gone with the 3 meat rice, though. The three of us drank 2 caraffes of $3 Soya bean. Plus we had some Malaysian sticky rice stuff to begin with - that was damn tasty.
Went back to 13's house and watched part of the rest of Ray. But it was about 11pm, so I went back home - although taking 13's key, cos he's going away for the weekend till Toosday and I'm supposed to guard the house.

Slept straight away, but that was about 11:30.

Amish guy: "Tis a fine barn, but sure tis no pool, English"

Homer: "Doeth!"

Got up at 7:04 - like the exact same time as yesterday. So made my lunch and was later than usual again.

Had morning tea for our audit pleb, who left today - although most of us are going to her pseudo-wedding dinner on Sunday. Had scones and those party snack things. Didn't eat that much, but was too full to eat lunch. Then she gave us all these little boxes of Duc'Dor, or whatever - it was pretty tasty. The partners all got bigger boxes.

Had to have most of our lunch hour outside the boardroom, cos there was some meeting. Mogli had some sort of vindaloo, or something; anyway, it stunk up the boardroom. So then, cos of the meeting, he went back there and sprayed copious amounts of air-freshener....I tested it for him and almost passed out.
So I just sat at Mogli's desk, although most of what he did was look at boring internet sites.

Watched The Simpsons, Futurama and Thank God You're Here. The latter was quite good - there were certainly some moments. I guess the winner probably deserved to win. I thought she was funny. Although I'm sure Mogli won't agree - did I mention that he's gay? I'm sure the girlfriend is just for show.....like other people I could mention.

Watched a little more West Wing. Slept about 10 - feeling a little tired.

Homer: "Mr Ploot? Homer Simpson here. When you sold me this house, you forgot to mention that it was built on an ancient Indian burial ground! No!

Well, that's not my recollection..... right. OK, then. Goodbye."

"He says he mentioned it 5 or 6 times."

Got up at about 7:04. Made lunch, so didn't get to work till about 8. Resolved to start at 8:30 - even though there was no morning training to disrupt my schedule, there was Webb Martin so I wouldn't finish till 6 so that's an extra half hour, anyway.

Mogli was AWOL from 10-12, but the time wasn't going that slowly.

Got a small mocha with 1. It wasn't very nice.

We received notice that another staff member (who shall remain nameless) is leaving. Not that we hadn't suspected, but it was so long in coming we figured it was passe already. Well. There you go. That's the way the cookie crumbles. That's just the way it is. That's life. etc.

Went to Webb Martin from 4-6. Had some crazy South African guy, who was making all these very deliberate, cynical jokes. That was interesting.....

Watched The Simpsons and Futurama, but then they had some stoopid Idol thing, so I watched some more West Wing. Then I had finished disc 3, so I watched Sin City. Jolly good show.

Went to bed pretty earlier, cos I was tired like. Groovy.

Lisa: "It's not our fault we have short attention spans, dad - we watch an appalling amount of TV"

Got up at about 10:30. Yeah. Pity about all that stuff I had to do....

Went to Koorong at 12, just after looking at a shelf what LH had but doesn't want. Not sure if I'll be able to fit it anywhere, though.
Got another version of the bible - an ESV, in a small metal carry version. I decided that I can't put up with the little thinline bonded leather thing anymore - since its cover has been unglued pretty much ever since I got it. And I've hardly ever even heard of the English Standard Version before, but I looked at some familiar passages and it didn't look too sacrilegious.
Also went to listen to a CD by Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer fame)...but there weren't any service people around, and I'd heard a few songs which I found unimpressive, so that can wait.

Watched another episode or two of The West Wing, while doing some more ironing. Its a good show, yes, but I don't know how many times I would want to go back and watch the seasons - especially since there isn't really a strong sense of continuing storylines.

Went to Garbo around 4. Went to Myers, mainly, cos I needed some fluid for my shaver cleaner. I also wanted a VVL, but only had $2.10, so I wanted to draw some money, but they wouldn't let me. Then I went to Sanity to buy the Kill Bill soundtrack, but they didn't have it.
I found an ANZ ATM on the way back to Gloria Jeans. Tried to use my card about 3 times and it didn't work, so I'm guessing it was made redundant when I transferred everything to my credit card. So I drew money using that.
Got my VVL. It was pretty OK. Then I went to Harmony, but they only had Vol. 2.

Watched some more West Wing, including some interviews with cast members. The last episode I saw of the day was like number 10, which was Christmas and also included a homeless guy who died. The bit at the end where a few people attended his state funeral (cos he was a Korea veteran) while there were some choir boys singing some Christmas carol..... it was some powerful stuff. Kinda incidental to the main White House thing......but, damn.

Saw the Australian Idol verdict. Bobby Flynn got voted out - hooray! I mean, they are all really bad, but he was really, really bad. At singing. Maybe his music skills was OK - maybe. I didn't think so, but other people seemed to.

Watched SVU after that. I'd seen it before. Slept about 10:30. To a point. Y'know.

Bart: "Lise, in this topsy-turvy world, who's to say what's right and what's wrong?"

Woke up about 8:15. I checked my clock, and it said that, so I tried to sleep some more. It didn't work. So I looked at my clock again about 8:30, and realised that I had forgotten to turn on the alarm last night (although I switched it to the right time and checked that it was loud enough). So I got up then....I figured I could watch TV anyway.

Which I did - I kept watching The West Wing. Watched about an episode and a half. Left the house at 10. I figured at 10:30 there would be people around of whom I could get a front door key. Or, at least, find some people to pay money to.

So, it turned out that there was access through the side door, anyway. And I thought the paving was supposed to be done in a week and a half - its barely a quarter done so far.

Went to lunch with 13, who was there by himself cos o is away overseas (and V's thesis is doo tomorrow, so he wasn't around, neither). He wanted to buy pool stuff first, though, so we went back to his house to get a sample. And the water looked nice enough....cept that it was full of leaves - which kept clogging the kreepy krawley thing.
Anyway, it turned out the pool needed 180kg of salt, 5L of chlorine and acid and stabiliser before it was even remotely swimmable - so when I swam two weeks ago, apparently that was some sort of death sentence.

Nam came over as well, and we all went to Bullcreek Hawker for lunch. Saw Ps there - actually, he was waiting in the car for someone else to buy takeaway. But he wandered over later. Had three meat rice, which was pretty tasty. Also got some fries from Jesters, which were pretty darn nice. Plus, its a large serving for $2.50. Better than the 'more chip' place in my opinion - though Mogli won't want me saying that.

Went back to 13's house and put the pool stuff in. It really didn't look very impressive. And the kreepy krawley was being unpleasant.

Finally went inside and ate some Krispy Kreme. I tried to ensure that next time I ordered some, that I'd get the sampler instead of just the plain stuff - I mean, seriously, who would prefer the plain? As Homer says "Great, plain cake donuts! Thanks for taking all the fancies, guys! Why can't I ever get here on time....."

Then I was helping 13 and Nam with their tax returns....doo in like 2 weeks, may I add? 13's estimate was almost halved, and Nam got a large refund..... and I guess most of it was legal. To a point.

Watched a bit of Foxtel after that. Saw some extreme house makeover show, which was just insane. I mean, it puts Backyard Blitz or Renovation Rescue to shame...... it was just ridiculously over the top. And there was way too much screaming when the people came back again.
Then there was Last Comic Standing, which is like Survivour/Big Brother/Idol for stand-up comedians. It wasn't bad....but it wasn't that funny. There was a tiny bit of stand-up at the end, and there was a pitch for a TV show which was kinda OK, and there was the odd giggly comment or prank.....

Tried to watch Australian Idol, but it really wasn't good. So I watched more West Wing instead.

Then I watched The Bourne Identity, cos it was on. And its pretty good. But the Bourne Supremacy is on next week, and that film sucked. Though I would mainly blame the horrible camerawork. Maybe it won't be so bad on TV....

Saw bits of 'The Most Inspirational Movies of All Time'. And I seriously don't know how they choose these films. I saw The Colour Purple and Dead Poets Society in the 50s..... The top 4 were Rocky, Schindler's List, To Kill a Mockingbird and Its a Wonderful Life. I donno.....

Slept about 12:30.

Krusty: "I hope you kids come out this weekend and really pack this place. I told them you would. Please don't make me a liar"

Got up about 8:30.

Went shopping at 9 or so. I was experiencing some irritation with my left contact lens, and while at the deli counter, I rubbed my eye and it came out. So I was trying to put it back in while ordering a chicken. I noticed the guy standing next to me was staring, not too subtly. Its like he still thinks monocles are a great scientific advancement, or something.
Once again, I forgot to buy stuff. Although I did get some Chicken Tonight (Honey Mustard? I donno....) and I bought my lovely discovery of frozen vegies (Heinz Golden Mix......yummy yummy!) so that now I have way too many.....but on Toosday Mogli was complementing W& on his wise choice of getting pies (like Four and Twenty) and bringing them in for lunch. So then I said, not necessarily pies, but buying something in bulk which can be changed (in a physics type sense) in a microwave, or with hot water, would be a nice change from my horrible rolls (by, say, Thursday, they are usually quite unusually hard). Anyway, I forgot. Too bad, eh?

Watched episode 1 of The West Wing. I was expecting it to be more introductory - like the president's first day in the White House, or something. But they introduced all the major players pretty well, I guess.

Then I remembered that I had to watch the tapes what I taped, so watched The Sopranos. It was a good episode, cos Paulie featured highly, and he's still my favourite mobster. And he was being his usual self-centered, crazy self.

Then I watched Thank God You're Here. Everyone did quite well, I thought - even Andrew G was OK.

Watched some more West Wing after that. Finished the first 4 episodes by the end of the day.

Did a little ironing while watching episode 4. Then The Simpsons was on so I started watching that, but my parents showed up at 6:10, when they said 6:30.

Went for dinner at Sicilian. It actually was quite nice - I had some sort of crumbed rissotto thing. Then we had cake, which tasted a little odd - I couldn't quite place it, but there was some orange in there somewhere. And I ordered a white vienna, but they gave me a vienna choc, whatever that was - I couldn't taste any coffee.

Started watching Gladiator, but it started at 9:30, and wouldn't have finished till, like, 1 or so, so I stopped watching at 10:30. Slept about 11.

Leonard Nemoy: "A solar eclipse - the cosmic ballet goes on!"

Some guy sitting next to him: "Does anybody wanna switch seats?"

Got up at 6:45. No time to eat breakfast, really.

The day went a little slowly, but it was OK.

Checked the website for that property - and it was listed again. As a normal for sale. For $3.1 million. So it obviously didn't sell at auction - even that haughty Audi car driver didn't buy it.... though that was Mogli's analysis based on a 5 second glance.

Went and got lunch from the local shop. Me and Mogli both got a roast beef roll - mine had more meat than his. Hooray!

Watched Unleashed. It was an interesting film - with a title like 'Unleashed', you'd expect there to be lots of mad fighting and stuff. Now, there was some made fighting - but not much. And it wasn't that mad. However, apart from that, it was a very good film - Morgan Freeman was perfect as always. And Jet Li showed some half decent acting playing the subdued 'little boy in man's body' type thingy.

Did a little bit more of accounts in the afternoon.

Watched The Simpsons, Futurama, The Simpsons and Everbody Hates Chris. There was nothing really of note.

Watched Crackerjack after that, cos the films on the other channels I had seen. I actually almost watched The Recruit, cos its quite good, especially Al Pacino and the whole 'twist' thing. But I watched Crackerjack - and it wasn't good. Not very funny. I almost turned it off half way through but decided that I had to see what would happen, even though it was very predictable. Which it was - but it was also just stupid. In a not funny kinda way. Ai.

Was very tired, so slept about 10:30.

Flanders: "Seems Maude and her mother were kidnapped in the Holy Land, and we got to go to Capital City to fill out some forms"

Homer: "Gee, Flanders, I'd love to help you but Marge was.....kidnapped in the....Holy Land...."

Got up at....um....7:41. And only cos I kicked the bookcase and made some CDs fall off.

Lucky Mogli had already said that we'd be going out for lunch, and that, anyway, I didn't have no rolls or meat left. Still, was pretty hungry.

The morning went really, really slowly. It was insane. For some reason, Thursday always goes the slowest for me.

Ended up going for lunch with Mogli, W& and some other work person. Went to Hungry Jacks. I had to try the satay, so had the satay chicken meal (regular size) with onion rings instead of fries. Mogli, just to be irritating, got the satay beef meal, large size. And the size of the burgers - mine was like half the size of his. And the satay wasn't that good. But the other three all got large sizes, and they were all like over full. Me, I was just right. Great.

Checked the building next door what was auctioned yesterday. Strangely, there was no 'for sale' sticker on the ad out the front. I figured it might be, like, sold, but not sold (as in a deposit only)....but, then, surely they'd put up an 'under offer' sticker, or something. The website ain't helpful neither, it still says its gonna be auctioned Wednesday at 2. I reckon it didn't get sold yesterday.

Afternoon still went slow, but it wasn't quite as bad.

Watched The Simpsons and Futurama. Then I watched My Name is Earl, which was quite good, again. Nothing really funny that I remember. And still quite predictable.

In the midst of it all I watched Sideways, which pleasantly surprised me. For the first half an hour or so it looked like it would be about just some cruddy stuff and that, but it actually turned out to have bits that were quite watchable. Except for that guy who was getting married - he was just an idiot and whenever he was on screen I was hoping he'd leave.

Watched the first segment of Ronnie Johns, but it sucked.

Slept about 11:30.

Homer: "You didn't thank me"

Marge: "You didn't do anything!"
Homer: "I like being thanked..."

It was threatening to rain this morning, and then it did. I was concerned for the people at the auction that was going on next door (at work).

Things went a lot smoother today than yesterday - managed to get three jobs off my desk (one after a 37 minute telephone conversation).

Got a coffee from the coffee guy. Got a cappuccino, and the small size (which I should've got before and should get more often) with only 1 sugar. It was too bitter - 1.5 is really the magic number.

There was more discussion at lunchtime about certain people quitting and going into business for themselves. It sounds interesting, but I have serious doubts about their realistic expectations. They keep saying 'calculated risks' - it don't sound very calculated to me.

Went and had a look at the building next door at the end of lunch. Its being auctioned by Coakley and Martin - number 54 Kings Park road. Turned out to by just a 2 storey house, and nothing flash. The auction was at 2pm, so, unfortunately, had to go back to work and miss it.

I reviewed one of Mogli's jobs. I found a few significant errors, though they were mainly due to him being unknowledgable rather than.....say.....stoopid. But then it went to the QC person and came back with lots more changes.....oh well. I'll pretend to care.

My Deadwood and Sin City finally arrived - I orded it on the 19th of July. Not gonna watch it for a while, neither, cos I've got these rented movies and the two from yesterday and now someone's got three seasons of The West Wing as well.

Watched The Simpsons and Futurama. Taped Thank God You're Here and just got back in time to tape The Sopranos.

Slept about 11.

Isaiah 6:
"I saw the LORD seated on His throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were angels, with 6 mighty wings - with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they flew. And they cried 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty - the whole Earth is filled with His glory'.
This passage came to me tonight, and I was thinking when I look at the world there doesn't really seem to be any of the Lord's glory in it, let alone it being full of it. And then I was comparing the day I had yesterday compared to today, and how much better today was, and I realised that God's invisible hand was moving in my circumstances - but such a thing is very easy to miss. And if it's true for me, surely its true for everyone on earth, and the earth as a whole. So I am forced to conclude that the whole Earth is indeed filled with His glory - its just that most of the time, our eyes cannot see it.
So it is in those times when we can see it that we need to remember. And that time for me would have to be worship. For bible study can become an intellectual pursuit, and during prayer it is easy to become distracted. Of course, worship can become just about the music, but it is far easier to focus with one's eyes shut but ones ears full (of the right things) - in my opinion.

Bart: "Stop it, right now"

Lisa: "Please don't do that again"

Got up about 6:30, so managed to eat breakfast and make lunch.

Mogli was finally back, and so was the stuff from Amazon, so got lots of stuff - The Matrix Revolutions, The Fifth Element, a silver tie and some cheap Oke-Leez. He didn't charge me for that stuff, neither. Isn't that nice?
I've never had sunglasses before (as in, proper ones).... they felt kinda weird. I thought that was strange cos I figured I would've been used to wearing frames on my face. Obviously not. It felt really weird the first time cos I was really freaked about scratching the glasses that I wasn't wearing. Yeah.

So it was a relief to finally be able to talk about all the meaningless stuff that had happened in like the past week. Not much on the work related front really - but that's the whole point now, isn't it? Anyway, so he was talking about quitting again. Cos of a certain partner.

Most of the rest of the day sucked, so that's enough about that. Left at 5, cos of that suckiness.

Watched The Simpsons, then a bit more of Six Feet Under, then Futurama, The Simpsons and Futurama.

I decided to try and write some more of my story, since it was like only 9. And, surprisingly, I actually managed to! Although it was only like 2 paragraphs.... but I saw some good things there. Still not much idea where I'm going with this, though.

Slept about 10:30.

One guy from Kabul: "Sometimes I think you WANT to fail!"

Got up around 7:30. It felt longer after my alarm than that.

Worked from 9-11, as per usual. Still not seeing the guy, so not getting any money.

Watched some more of Six Feet Under. Only 1 episode left now. I may considering getting the rest of season 1, but a bit later, I suppose. I can't get past the whole gay thing and the other weird relationships and that everyone is morally vacuous. Plus it seems it shows like this where they try and tell a complete story in one episode that everyone essentially has the same points of view, and, given enough time, they all agree, even though they fight violently at the start. And, in my experience, life just totally isn't like that. But, as I say, it has its moments. But it would be nice if the episode could be tailored to my needs - which would mean it would be, at most, 3/4 as long.

Watched Primary Colours at night. It was a well told film, but, like, say, Mississippi Burning, or something like that, it wasn't very pleasant to watch. I was really hoping, and pretty much convinced, that John Travolta really was a good guy. Then it gets to the end and, well..... I think the lesson is that power corrupts, cos everyone in the show was like that. And it also sends the message like how I feel when I go to vote :
you try and elect the person who's not quite as bad as the rest.

Slept about 10:30.

I'd like, now, to point your attention to ninemsn's TV Guide. At time of writing, on of the three shows highlighted on the introductory page is 'Waking the Dead' - the height of British crime drama. Why? Cos it won an Emmy. Well, that's fine..... except, I was under the impression Emmy's were the awards for..... US television. Um..... Is it so good that the USA decided to award it one as well? I mean, I've never heard of an Australian show winning an Emmy..... although its true that most Australian shows suck. But, then again, quite a few US shows do, too.

Marge: "These Swedish designers are so out there! A green table! Who'd have thought?"

Got up at 9. However, the office at 93 Collins road is in the process of being paved and thus access is limited. So I wrote cheques at home, with the intention of popping over later. Although, that never happened.

V told me yesterday he wouldn't be coming today cos of his thing. So I had Jesters for lunch.

As I was driving back home from buying the pies, I had to put my drink where my ipod went, and it was too short a journey to hook it up again so I listened to the radio, the next channel down (5) being JJJ. And, it was playing the same song as it was playing the last time I listened to JJJ, which was last (as in last last) Friday when I drove Mogli out to Garbo. Some terrible song by women with British accents.....some sort of rap/r&b/disco thing about 'that's the way the cookie crumbles'. This stuff happens to me all the time.....actually, it happened again later on.

I decided to take a break from Six Feet Under (after watching another episode or so while doing ironing), so I watched Infernal Affairs instead. And I didn't get very far into it when it seemed as if the plot was very similar to what I knew from the trailer for The Departed - and since V had said it was a Hollywood version of some Asian film, I started thinking, well...... And it was definitely it, cos I confirmed it with V later.
Also, it struck me that the last two Martin Scorsese films (this one and The Aviator) have both been adapted from previous films. I think he must be losing his touch, or something.

Started watching Super Size Me. But, although it was confirmed at the start that Americans are fat, it was pointed out again so many times that, to me at least, it was confirmed that they are also stoopid. I watched less than an hour (and it went for about 2 hours, inc ads) before turning it off cos it was just the same old stuff over and over - and he was only up to day 15! And they're showing interviews like with the guy who's father and uncle started Baskin Robbins, who ate 3 square meals of icecream, and he's surprised that they were all so unhealthy...... Then there's other people who are saying we should start slamming fat people in public, cos its just like smoking, apparently.

Slept about 11:30.

"You're through, Soup Nazi - no more soup for you! NEXT!" - Elaine, Seinfeld

Got up at 8:30.
Went shopping nearly straight away.....

Rented 5 movies - Unleashed, Sideways, Primary Colours, Infernal Affairs and half of the first season of Six Feet Under.

Watched almost to the end of Fight Club, while eating a choc chip muffin from Woolworths. It tasted pretty nicely.

Went for a CMC meeting at 12. As you'd expect, that was lots and lots of fun.

Finished watching Fight Club then started watching Six Feet Under. Got through 2 episodes. It has its moments, but its got Rachel Griffiths who's an Australian actress as a casual girlfriend to one of the sons - and she's pretty annoying. So is he, actually. The other son and the daughter and the mother are quite interesting, but there's too much sex and stuff. The best bit in the pilot was all these extremely macabre ads for funeral related products, and the best bit about the other episodes is that:

1. at the start of each episode, someone dies. So there is always someone dying in a new way
2. the outward expression of inward fantasying, such as dead people having conversations and a strange Broadway dance number in their kitchen.

Did some ironing.......but it really sucks. Only ironed like two things.

Did some accounts stuff, and then watched The Simpsons. Then, since I was waiting to go out, I watched a bit of Out of Practice on TV. Yeah, it wasn't very good.

Went out for Ange's 21st birthday dinner at Arirang in the city. Got a lift there, and we left really early, which was good, cos those one way streets and that - we went around the block a few times. I ended up sitting next to Ps Ian - it seems I just can't get away from him. Saw a sign there saying that a Arirang they had 'superfun tasty food'. I thought, if they're gonna combine super and fun, then they should've thrown tasty in there as well and made it 'superfuntasty'. Then I thought that if you take that second 't' out and make it 'superfuntasy' it looks a really cool word. But I donno what it could mean.....
Managed to write in her book, using one of the covers for the BBQ as like a guide, so it kinda looked sorta interesting. Yeah.....

Got home at 10:30 - I was surprised it was so late. Watched a little more Six Feet Under. Slept about 12.

Tour guide: "The Spruce Caboose - some said it was too big to stay on the tracks... they were right"

Got up about 7.

Not much happening at work. Had a hot chocolate in the morning, for a change. It was OK....

Left at 12:30.

Had some chicken for lunch. Great. Chicken.

Watched the end of Red Dragon, then started watching Fight Club.

Watched The Last Samurai on TV at night. Its quite an OK film, although the sentence that Tom Cruise says at the end is a bit stupid. And some other stuff....oh well.....

I have decided to get The Sopranos season 6 (part 1) from Amazon when (or just before) it is released in November. I was laughing at all the people who were complaining "a full season price for a half season"....well, a regular season is 13 episodes, and this 'half season' is 12...... plus you can get it for like US$38, which is almost half price anyway.
Am also pretty much deciding to buy The Wall (as in the movie) by Pink Floyd (et al) as well. Been putting it off too long. Amazon has it for like US$18, which isn't bad. Considerably cheaper than the Australian stores, anyway.
And the big news - Seinfeld season 7 is finally being released. Its coming out at the same time as The Sopranos, so that's why if you order them both together you save some money. Its the one with the soup nazi.....which everyone seems to think is like the best one. I really like Elaine's speech at the end, but apart from that.....I mean, its good, but threes plenty better.

Slept about 11:30 or so. Yeah. Sleep.

Marge: "Homer, we'd like to talk to you"

Homer: "But then I won't be watching TV! You can see the bind I'm in."

Finally woke up at a relatively normal time (7), so I had time to make lunch - but my rolls were mouldy. So, great.

Got another latte with 1.5 from the coffee guy - I said I'll have my usual and he didn't know what it was.
Went down to the city client again to pay some of their bills. Then it turned out that they couldn't afford it, anyway. Waited around about an hour for them to finish some invoice, but they didn't do it so I left just before 12.

Had to buy lunch again - got the roast beef roll this time. Was pretty chunky and tasty - I got the good girl, as Mogli would say - the daughter of Mr More Chip. At least, we assume that - its probably a racist thing.

Mogli wanted me to keep an eye on his desk this week, so I sent him an email about it cos there was a certain person who seemed to be 'borrowing' some stationery. I know he'll be pleased - he loves it when people take 'his' stuff.

Then the same person was making jokes about how they should pay me less. I tried very hard to pretend it was funny.

Watched The Simpsons, then I was watching the Sopranos from last night, so I missed half of Futurama. Then I watched the rest of the Sopranos. So interesting........yet so different. Its weird.

Then it was My Name is Earl. A quite good episode - though the ending was predictable. I still think that with better writing it could be so much better. Still, it hasn't become stale yet, which is a good sign.

I watched most of Red Dragon then. Good, but not great, yeah.

Then I watched most of Ronnie Johns. But it really wasn't good, so I stopped about half way through.

I saw that ANZ security ad again, and I know its supposed to be like a joke, or whatever, but there's two things that strike me as, perhaps ironic:

1. He takes the proper key to open the door after all the complicated security measures, but, even though its the right key, it doesn't open the door so


2. He just knocks on the door and asks to be let in, and the people inside open it - without really bothering to check who this guy actually is

I mean, frankly, it doesn't fill me with confidence that:

1. ANZ's systems work properly or


2. That they are really secure.

But maybe its just me......

I've decided that I want a canary, but I'm unsure how happy it will be, since it will have to be inside for most of the time, and I don't know about travel arrangements, etc. Sigh....
But anyway.....I found one on Wikipedia. Which makes me want one more.

Marge: "How could you let this happen?"

Homer: "How could you let this happen?"
Marge: "I wasn't here!"
Homer: "Oh. How convenient!"

Got up at 7:37. No time for nothing, then.

Got a latte with 1.5 from the coffee guy. It seems to work pretty well like that.

Had to buy lunch - got a chicken schnitzel roll and a choc chip muffin. They had to make the roll fresh cos there were none prepared. I have to say, despite the shame of admitting that Mogli is right about something, it is a lot better than the premade ones.

Spent like the whole day working on one superfund. Was left with a tiny reconciliation error at the end - shall have to find that tomorrow.

Got home just before the Simpsons. Watched that, then a bit of the Red Dragon extras. Then Futurama. Then I watched Thank God You're Here - it's such a great show. They had a Wiggle on (the blue one, apparently) who did the finger movement thing as a karate move. He actually managed to win - even though I thought he was the least funny. I think they were just so amazed at having a Wiggle on the show.

Did about two hours of accounts after that to finish off September - even though we're missing the BAS. Was so engrossed that I almost missed the start of The Sopranos, especially cos they've shifted it forward 15 minutes. Watched part of the first bit, but had more accounts to do so taped it as per normal. It so interesting how different it is - its almost a totally new focus. It definitely has potential, but from what I've heard it doesn't live up to it. We shall see......

Slept about 11:45.

Newsreader: "And now a new fad that's sweeping the nation - wasting food!"

Got up about 6:45. Didn't make lunch, or have breakfast, cos I wasn't feeling well, and I figured I wouldn't be hungry at lunch time. Besides, I forgot to buy cheese before....

Got to work slightly later than normal, so decided not to start till 8:30. Left to walk down to the city client at 8:15. It was a little warm, and extremely windy. Plus it sprinkled a tiny bit at the end.

Was there until about 4. Was pretty hungry by the end, actually. Have to go back again on Thursday.

Saw the new guy. He looked pretty old. Forgot his name, though.

Left at 5, due to not having a lunch break. Had some monte carlos and scotch fingers and cake that was for the new guy's morning tea. Not very good cake, incidentally.

Went down to Broadway which was Supa Valu then was Dewsons and now is IGA. Stil the same old stuff. Got tea and cheese and frozen vegies. Got home and realised I forgot to get pasta. Ai...

Watched the usual Simpsons, Futurama, Simpsons, Futurama.

Then I did some accounts and slept about 11 something.

Insurance guy: "I'm sorry - this policy only covers actual losses, not made up stuff"

Homer: "Well that's just grand!"

Got up about 9. Sweet.

Gee, I didn't do much today. Finished off the week 5 lectures from yesterday. And finished Silence of the Lambs while finishing my ironing. You'd think I'd feel more fulfilled than I do....

Got a parcel delivery today - and here was I thinking they get public holidays off. I can't imagine Neuman working on a public holiday.....or any other day, really.

Had to make coffee machine coffee, cos I ran out of tea yesterday. It was pretty nice, cos I let the really concentrated stuff just run, so it was more hotter, although weaker. But I think it worked better. Maybe. I'm officially gonna buy some vanilla syrup next time I'm at Gloria Jeans, though. Even though I know that its not gonna work proper.

Went out to 13's house cos he said it was hot enough to swim. And deep down I knew that it wasn't, but I can't resist that pool. So it was pretty freezing, and a bit dirty too, cos it hasn't been used for like 6+ months. But it was nice for a while.

Then some other people came over and we had BBQ food. Well, it was done on a BBQ but it wasn't really BBQ food.....There was also some none BBQ food. And some oreo cheesecake....
Spent a large portion of the night fending off 'old relative at weddings' like questions from Father War. And the rest of it talking a bit of nonsense to, apparently, Ps Ian. Hah....that sounds funny.

Then went to Ange's house, cos it was her 21st. Had some more cake - icecream cake. Such an amazing invention.....
And then some guy, who had taken too many panadol, decided to do a dancing demonstration. It took him about an hour to prepare, and he managed to con some other people, then it didn't last very long and wasn't really that impressive. Ai....
Ps Ian came over. He did some pastoring type stuff.

Then it was 11:30, so we left. Way too late for me.

"People will say we're in love" - Hannibal Lecter

Got up just after 9. Had to wait for the shower.

Left about 9:45, cos I didn't have many cheques to write. All these people had said they would come and collect money, and they didn't.

Sat next to some guy who was at cell last week - I didn't know that at the time, but he mentioned it after. Was actually sitting next to War first off, but then they all decided to move up the front, so the pattern was all like rearranged and stuff.

Went for lunch to the normal place. On the way over, V was saying that he was gonna have something different. So I said 'like the large size instead of the regular'.....and thats what he ended up having. I had ten pieces of the chicken roll - that was like totally different. I mean, whoa!

So I asked V about his Red Hot Chili Peppers, and apparently he got some special version with a bonus DVD. So I guess that kinda explains the extra track.
Then I told him about my computer problems, and he said its probably iTunes fault. Then he also said that Media Player sux (I mean, Microsoft, dur!) and its better to use CD Ex for ripping CDs. So I downloaded that. But I wasn't a full bottle on my computer's specs enough for him to be able to make a proper diagnosis as to what that problem is. So I checked the stuff.... hopefully next week will be more productive.

Started my ironing while watching Silence of the Lambs. I still find it nice and creepy. Which is nice.

Watched most of Australian Idol. Unfortunately, it is not good. So I went and got.......Hungry Jacks, for a change. Had tasty onion rings and vanilla thickshake. And the standard chicken burger. Great.

Watched Runaway Jury, cos I think its quite OK. The Rainmaker is probably better, but I can't really remember it, and I think I get it confused with like A Civil Action, Erin Brockovitch and that kind. Its a pity Runaway Jury is a little too black and white. And not really believable - if those bad lawyers were smart, they would've just killed off that John Cusack guy. Hmmm.

Slept about 12.