dirtycamel's Journal

Thorpedos and such
In case anyone hasn't been following the news, or doesn't live in sports-mad Australia, "swimming great" Ian Thorpe has quit swimming. The ABC news story is here. Good on him. But more to the point, I noticed some corker quotes in the above news story:

On a possible return to swimming in the future: "I won't rule it out, I never rule anything out, but it's just not going to happen."

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.

And on his priorities: "Those important things I don't rank or order in a list, but swimming falls somewhere short. It's not up the top of that list..."

Lucky he didn't make a list, eh?

Current Mood: amused

rant
I can't help it. I have to have a rant. Read this story. Well done to Steven Ciobo there. Drug users should pay for their hospital treatments? What is the rationale for that?

A) That they're stupid for taking a risk? So do we make drunk drivers who have a crash pay for their medical bills? What about people who break a bone falling from a ladder that they weren't using properly? Electric shocks from stupidity?

B) That we shouldn't pay for addicts problems? What about alcoholics who have liver problems? Smokers with lung cancer?

I wonder if Ciobo wonders why he's not a minister...

Current Mood: angry
Current Music: fluorescent hum

classic
Check out this story.

It's been a while since I've updated and I'm not going to fill everyone in on what I've been doing. That'd take too long and it'd be boring.

Yesterday was Australia Day and the stupid shopping centre that I work in, ever consumed with greed, decided to open normal hours - 10am to 6pm. The greedy bastards. I'm pretty sure the general manager and other high-ranking figures in the DFO world did not work yesterday. *grumble*

On a plus though, we had talisen and emmaco over last night for a barby. Turned out well if I do say so myself. Ammy (the kitten) behaved herself and was rewarded with some juicy steak. It was the first time we've really entertained since we moved here and I think it went ok. Had Boag's St George beer for the first time and thought it was pretty good - quite fruity, almost like a white-wine sort of taste.

And now I'm updating my journal at 7:15am since I had to get up early to take minorearth to work and can't bring myself to go back to bed. If I do I might not get up again for work!

Current Mood: tired

It's that time of year to wish

emmaco a happy birthday. Hope you had a good one!

about time
well i think it's about time i wrote in here again.

so much has happened but you can follow it in my gorgeous wife

minorearth's journal, as well as

talisen and

epeeaus - great name by the way.

looking forward to heading back to start a new life in Brissy. excited and a bit scared. lots of new things to experience. at the moment stressing about packing and visas and all sorts of things. i can't help but stress anyway (much to

minorearth's chagrin). most stuff is done now though, just got to pack (boxes being delivered tomorrow). counting down the days now.

Current Mood: excited

what a day
what a beautiful day today! the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the birds are singing. if only that wind would stop blowing. for those in brisbane, it's like one of those beautiful winter's days. here, it's a fantastic spring day.

we did a lot of walking. went to a continental market in st enoch square, bought a shedload of stuff - olives, cheese, sausage, cider, sweets... the list goes on.

i hope the rest of the spring/summer is like this (or warmer - more than 15 degrees would be nice!)

dc

Current Mood: happy

life is fragile
How do you come to terms with the sudden death of a friend? It's just impossible to comprehend. Without warning, one day you are talking away happily, the next they are gone. It makes no sense. I know it's a cliche, but it really does make you realise how precious each moment is.

Current Mood: shocked

stupidity
well i have to say that i'm the stupidest person i've ever met. i was playing around with backing my thesis files up and irretrievably erased all of them. every single one. all 78 pages of my thesis. and all this at a time when, due to havoc with the network, the complete daily backup of the system has been off for 2 weeks. thankfully i have a hard copy of my current version, so i'm spending the next x hours comparing the 2-week-ago version with a print-out. joy

feel really stupid now

Current Mood: infuriated

goings on
first, what do you think about the pic... is it me?

i feel like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders. i believe i have finished my research part of my phd. now all that's left to do is various forms of writing! wow that feels good.

the weather today is beautiful! how could anyone not want to go out in this. almost reminds me of brisbane. just finished speaking to various family members, which is always nice. everything seems to be going fine over there except dad's dog is continuously digging her way out of the yard.

spent the weekend with

minorearth which i alway thoroughly enjoy! we found a flat we really like, but there's the problem of timing, with us not wanting to move for another couple of months.

anyway, guess i should update this thing more.

ps

talisen am i getting age of empires soon?

Current Mood: chipper

telly and things
just been watching this show called Get a New Life. it's about families who decide to pack up and move to australia. although i think most of the people on those shows are idiots for packing up and moving a whole family without doing the proper research(today's show wasn't too bad, but sometimes those people are complete morons!), it is interesting to hear an outsider's view of queensland, where they were today. they were focussing on montville, mooloolaba and coolum.

talisen if you're heading up to montville check out a restaurant called Papagenos and tell the owners you saw them on the bbc, just for a laugh!

finished my research today, or just about anyway. now i'm onto writing a paper and then the big ole thesis!

went out on the weekend because the weather was so glorious. sunny (if a little windy) weather makes glasgow almost bearable!

Current Mood: okay

a sad weekend
on thursday i recieved some quite saddening phone calls
( a tribute to my nana )

Current Mood: sad

ho hum
well i've managed to finish a rough draft of a thesis chapter. feels a little bit good, but i know that there's a long way to go. so onwards to the next chapter, then the next, then...

went out on friday night to a friend's place and played board games. almost as fun as the old D&D evenings, but slightly less involved. played some games i've never heard of... citadels and settlers of catan. good fun.

spent my weekend with

minorearth which is always a pleasure. mostly just wandered around town/stayed in the flat enjoying each others company. ah life :)

have decided to try for a post-doc here at least until my esteemed fiancee finishes her course, but probably longer. the pay's better than any other job i'd get and i like the work. it's quite stress-free.

oops longer post than expected. get back to work

Current Mood: happy

slack bastard
just realised that it's been a month or so since i last updated. where did april go? i hope i don't get this all through writing up, 'cause i'll never finish if that's the case.

so what have i been up to? well

minorearth and i went down to newcastle (the uk one...) to visit her parents for easter, and to tell them that we're engaged. that went off without a hitch (excuse the pun) so that was good.

apart from that i have been, in this order, working working working. got to try to finish that phd thing some time before september.

was sick the other week and spent a couple of days at home watching dvds with

minorearth. we saw Ned Kelly, Young Adam and Love Actually. i wouldn't rate any of them amongst the best films i've seen, but most were watchable. young adam got quite boring toward the end.

found a news article that may interest some out there (stole it from

urbankat actually)

back to work

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: the voices in my head... muahahahahaha

minorearth and I arrived back in glasgow on Monday night, safe and sound. Back at work, almost into the swing of things. It's nice when things work, I'm sure I've noted before. Just came out of a meeting which lasted more than an hour in which my last 2 research topics were discussed and i should only have a tiny bit more research left, then writing writing writing. In that order.

It was good being in oz for a nice holiday, and to see

talisen and others. Hopefully we will see them all again real soon.

In other news I'm still addicted to computer games and, much to my chagrin, coffee. Woe is me. I hate addiction :(

Current Mood: accomplished

milestones
this week will be a week of milestones. today,

minorearth and i have been going out for 6 months. it's been 6 of the best months of my life and i'd like the world to know how happy i am.

also this week,

minorearth will have many milestones, including (but not limited to) first time overseas, first time in a plane, first time in australia, first time meeting any of my relatives and i'm sure many others.

but first i have to give a research talk and do lots of work.

only 2 more sleeps!!!!

Current Mood: excited

so bloody tired
argh so tired! and sitting in front of the computer trying to write a talk all day doesn't help very much either...

and it's freezing cold (for glasgow anyway)

not long now till we'll be enjoying the sun and sand. i cannot wait!

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: tap-tap-tap of the keyboard

we rock!
well it's been a big fencing week since i last posted. first we had the student individual championships, which we were hosting. lots of running around and stress later we actually got to fence. did pretty poorly in foil (25/35) but c'est la vie.

then yesterday we had a big day - the busa shield last 16 knockout. we were fencing against leeds uni, away! it took 4 hours to get there, we fenced for 2.5 hours then another 4 hours back. but we kicked there arses!!! the score was something like 97-133. oh yeah! and i thought i fenced reasonably well as well.

lecturers and research staff are on strike today so i'm at home. have been intending on doing work but have been procrastinating something shocking. i've cleaned my room for the first time in about 3 months, burned a cd of photos for a mate which i've been intending on doing since november, fixed the gas/electricity bills and written in lj. :P

oh yeah and the boiler is back boiling again. yay for warmth!!

better work.

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: everclear - santa monica

letting agents
well at the moment i'm cold. i was cold last night because there was no heating in the flat. the boiler decides to cut out whenever it feels like it, usually just after i've gone to sleep and it gets coooooold in my room. just called the letting agents for the second time to get it fixed and they said they'd send out a tradesman ("engineer") this afternoon. which of course means that i have to stay home from uni, putting me back a day in my work. i wonder what would happen if they were letting to someone who had a job and couldn't just stay home?

anyway i have a day off and no work at home.

such is life.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: the boiler sounding very unwell

in other news
it's a lovely sunny (but still chilly) day here in glasgow. we've been pretty lucky this month as far as sunny days goes. as my office is south-facing and double-glazed, after a short amount of sunlight (even clouded over) it feels like early spring in brisbane! maybe not like it is there at the moment (41 degrees predicted this weekend. awesome!) but comfortable nonetheless.

our fencing team has drawn an away match against leeds uni next week for the last 16 of the busa shield comp. that means that we have to travel god-knows-how-many hours there and back for a couple of hours fencing. great. we'd better win after all that! it should be a good match since they are first runners-up in their division and we won ours no worries.

and the shock news of the week: two of my oldest friends who were going out, one of whom was my first high-school mate, have split up. i think they started going out about the beginning of 1999. i'm sorry to hear about it. keep smiling both of you (don't think they read this but anyway maybe

talisen can pass it on).

Current Mood: contemplative

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