sick as a dog

I've got a cold. It sucks. Probably a result of a lack of sleep, damn you long weekend in Surfers and car accident. Anyway, enough whinging, and onto something which has been bugging me for a while - I never figured out where the expression "as sick as a dog" came from. One explanation I found was that it came from the fact that dogs tend to eat just about anything they find, and hence often get sick. Another reasoning for it, which wasn't quite as simple, is this:

There are several expressions of the form sick as a ..., that date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sick as a dog is actually the oldest of them, recorded from 1705; it is probably no more than an attempt to give force to a strongly worded statement of physical unhappiness. It was attached to a dog, I would guess, because dogs often seem to have been linked to things considered unpleasant or undesirable; down the years they have had an incredibly bad press, linguistically speaking (think of dog tired, dog in the manger, dog’s breakfast, go to the dogs, dog Latin — big dictionaries have long entries about all the ways that dog has been used in a negative sense).

At various times cats, rats and horses have been also dragged in to the expression, though an odd thing is that horses can’t vomit; one nineteenth-century writer did suggest that this version was used “when a person is exceedingly sick without vomiting”. The strangest member of the set was used by Jonathan Swift in 1731: “Poor Miss, she’s sick as a Cushion, she wants nothing but stuffing” (stop laughing at the back).

The modern sick as a parrot recorded from the 1970s — at one time much overused by British sportsmen as the opposite of over the moon — refers to a state of deep mental depression rather than physical illness; this perhaps comes from instances of parrots contracting psittacosis and passing it to their human owners.

I don't know about you, but the first one works for me fine... Hmm don't think I'll be able to do any catching up on sleep tonight, but I should probably at least try to minimise the amount I fall behind by...

bash corey

About bloody time someone did this, too.

---------------------------
Corey bashed at Kath and Kim shopping mall

Wed 30/01/08
By ACA staff

Teenage celebrity Corey Worthington has been caught on tape being bashed near a Narre Warren shopping mall.

Mobile phone footage, to be shown exclusively on A Current Affair and ninemsn at 6.30pm tonight, shows the 16-year-old in an altercation outside Fountain Gate Shopping Centre on Monday afternoon.

"There was a big group of boys, Corey's friends, and these other boys that hang out at Fountain Gate," a local teen who saw the brawl told ACA.

It is believed Corey and the two groups walked from the shopping centre across the road for the purpose of a fight.

Corey, allegedly one of the instigators of the fight which stems from a similar altercation last Friday, was then bashed by other boys at the scene.

"He knew he was gonna get it, but he just didn't want to be a wuss," a source said.

Fountain Gate Shopping Centre is the mall frequented by the characters in popular television series Kath & Kim.

car accident

It was on the highway about 10km south of the city, around 10:30pm on Sunday night, and I was on the way home. There was this car on fire stopped on the left shoulder of the highway. Anyway, I was in the middle lane (the highway is three lanes at this stage) and driving by, and there was this car in the left hand lane that was driving really slow (rubbernecking I reckon, curiousity getting the better of them) when suddenly they jumped into my lane in front of me. So, in a bid to get out of their way, I swerved, lost control and ended up doing a 180 degree spin, hitting the steel road barrier in the middle of the highway with the left hand side of my car. The instigator of this unfortunate incident didn't bother stopping, and because I was facing the wrong way, I didn't manage to get a glimpse of the number plate of the car.

It was pretty much just body damage to the front and back of the left of my car, and my wiper fluid had all leaked out, but thankfully that was all - it could have been a lot worse. Anyway, a couple of nice people pulled up to help redirect traffic and stop it momentarily so that I could my car up to the left shoulder. Got out to talk to the others who had stopped to help, and then this guy came running up to us saying that the car was full of fuel and it could explode at any minute and to get out of there now! So we drove down the highway a bit to be further away, and then I talked to two others for a bit who pulled over to help out (one happened to be an RACQ guy, and they were in a tow truck - he was the one who ran over first to see if I was ok and check the car). By this stage my heart was thumping like crazy and the adrenalin was pumping through me, and it got worse when they said that one of their friends was still over there near the flaming car. Thankfully, he eventually walked down and gave us a bit of a rundown on what had happened (emergency services had arrived, and there were four people in the car, with the driver suffering some minor burns). After noting that they were still letting cars past, we decided that there was no way the car would be on the edge of blowing up, and they must have it under control by now. I can't find the story on the news so I guess it didn't blow up in the end. I ended up driving home, so the car was ok. The brake lights stayed on for some reason, even when I turned the engine off and took out the key, so I had to pull out the light globes to stop the battery from running out when I got home. Took it to the mechanic this morning to have a look at it, but it should be ok.

My first car accident, and I'm a bit shaken but not stirred. To be honest, the first emotion I felt was anger at the idiot who cut me off, which got worse when they didn't stop. What an interesting end to the long weekend. Not looking forward to the costs of fixing the car though...

long weekend

Just a quick post - just because I can. Its been a long week - my first full week back at work, plus recovery from Big Day Out and The Police concert, not to mention all the tennis and cricket action on TV. I see I've been rewarded with a long weekend. I'll be staying at Surfers Paradise this weekend, but will probably be popping home every now and then - after all, I'm not that far away. So you probably won't hear from me until at least Tuesday. Until then - have a good long weekend all. Unless you don't live in Australia. In which case, have a good normal weekend.

the police

Continuing on with this musical theme, Alex and I decided that after Big Day Out, we still wanted more - so we went to The Police concert last night at Suncorp Stadium. So I headed up there after work, and I must say - I was not disappointed at all. It was the most I'd ever paid for a gig, but it was worth every cent. Since I had to drive up to Brisbane after work, we missed the first support act, but got there during the second support act - Fergie. Now, I don't know about you but this sounded like a really odd choice for a support act for a Police concert, especially considering the average age of the crowd... Anyway, I'm hardly a fan of hers but I must say she tried her heart out - she played rock covers and stuff like that which would be more appealing to that crowd.

Our seats were awesome. We were pretty much at the halfway line of the stadium, had a clear view of the stage and were pretty much in the middle. It was funny though, we had two seats right beside the aisle, and the seat directly opposite to us (about two metres away) cost $100 more. Sucks to be them.

Anyway, The Police totally blew me away. The sound was perfect, the lights and effects were amazing and the camera work on the screens (one on either side and three above the band) was top stuff. They had me singing, tapping, clapping and moving to every song. Not bad for three old guys. Stewart Copeland on the drums was incredible, I don't know how he can still do that. At the end of the set, they went off, came back for the encore and did three songs for the encore, and just when we thought it was over, Andy Summers stayed up there and eventually the other guys came back to do one final song. They've definitely still got it in 'em...

a big day out

Ok, so I'm falling behind in my blogging a little since I got back. Time for some catching up during my lunch break. Sunday saw me at the Big Day Out, and I had a ball. Well, not literally. Ok, allow me to rephrase that - I had a good time. Better? If not, too bad.

The main reason I decided to fork out the $125 this year was to see Rage Against the Machine now that they were back together and touring again. I didn't actually pay attention to who else was playing until a couple of days beforehand when I printed out the timetable and started choosing bands I wanted to see.

Anyway, got there at 11am and the weather was cloudy and overcast. It rained a bit at around 11:30ish but after that the weather managed to hold up for the rest of the day. For most of the day, I spent it drifting around catching parts of sets, and only hanging around for a whole set whenever there wasn't anything else at the same time that I wanted to check out. Rather than going into detail, the bands I saw over the course of the day were: Operator Please, British India, Anti-Flag, Josh Pyke, Gyroscope, Enter Shikari, Regurgitator, Hilltop Hoods, Grinspoon, Silverchair, Karnivool and Rage Against the Machine.

Positives from the day: I discovered two new bands that I really enjoyed - Enter Shikari and Karnivool. Enter Shikari in particular were awesome, I really don't know how to describe their music, but 'screamo-trance' wouldn't be too far off the mark. The set was just full of energy, and the crowd was just going crazy, with the odd person with a busted nose pushing past you to get out every now and then. Oh and of course the fact that I got to see RATM. Definitely a plus, after all it was the main reason I went. The boys gave it their all, especially Zach. The finish with Killing In The Name Of was incredible, the crowd was really into it.

Negatives from the day: When we got there, we got a little event guide booklet, which had heaps of stuff in there including the timetable and map for the day. Now, the timetable in the booklet slightly differed from the one I printed out earlier, as it showed The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello from RATM doing solo acoustic stuff) being on at 5:30pm whereas the one I printed showed it being on at 4:00pm. Of course I assume that the one in the booklet is correct and the one I printed is wrong (being a few days old). Anyway got to the stage at 5:30 and was disappointed to find that Billy Bragg was on stage - turns out my timetable was right? The other disappointment of the day was the quality of the sound when Rage Against the Machine were playing. Due to my drifting around, the spot I got was a bit far back and to the side of the stage a little bit. When they started, it was as if it was turned down really low. So we moved around a bit so that we were a bit further back but directly in front of the stage. The sound was a bit better, but not good enough - you could still hold a conversation at normal speaking tone. Oh well.

At the end of the day, it was still worth the money for 11 hours of entertainment, but I was only slightly disappointed with the sound level for RATM - they were still great.

Episode VI: Return of the Gold Coast

Written Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 8:41pm local time

Day 6: Last day in Melbourne, and I woke up to the sound of construction work outside (the hotel I was staying at happened to be under renovation) and found that for some reason the power was out in my room. Had a peek through the blinds and saw that other rooms still had lights on, so I had no idea why the power outage chose me to be its victim. Somehow managed to have a shower and pack all my stuff in the dark, and went to check out and get my $50 deposit back (and boy did I need it). Left my backpack containing my clothes with the hotel as the airport transfer coach was picking me up from around the corner from the hotel at 5pm, and I didn't really feel like lugging it around with me all day. Caught the tram to the tennis, and quickly grabbed a bite before heading to Margaret Court Arena to watch Daniela Hantuchova, who has been elevated to the status of my favourite current female tennis player now that Martina Hingis has retired. Heaps of green and gold in the crowd, as Chris Guccione was playing in the next match, and it was nice to see a Mexican wave - haven't seen one for a while since they banned them at the cricket. Watched the first set before I felt I was going to pass out from the heat - unlike Vodafone Arena (and Rod Laver Arena), there was no roof above MCA and I copped the full force of the sun. I actually have a really bad sunglasses tan now, where my whole face with the exception of the area around my eyes covered by my sunglasses is sunburnt. Anyway, from there I decided a walk in the shade was called for. So I went autograph hunting, and was more successful this time around. Jessica Moore, Patty Schnyder and Paul-Henri Mathieu all had proper autograph sessions, and the queues were in the shade, so that was great. Also managed to get autographs from James Blake and Lleyton Hewitt the old fashioned way - shoving my ball under their noses and hoping for the best (also taking advantage of the fact that I had longer arms than most small children muahaha). However, I missed out on Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova, which was a shame. Waited over an hour in the hot sun for the attempt at Maria, but as usual I got smothered by some crazy fans from behind. Grabbed some food and an ice cream, and by this stage I was feeling extremely fatigued and so, after a final stop at the merch shop and buying a couple more souvenirs, I made my way back to the tram stop. There I met some random Chilean dude who was about to make his way inside, and, knowing that a Chilean player was playing this evening in Vodafone Arena, and considering the fact that I hadn't actually made use of my Vodafone Arena pass for the day, I gave it to him. On Monday some other guy tried giving his ticket to me as he left, but I already had one, so I figured I would be nice and do the same thing. I was disappointed to miss out on some of the matches that afternoon/evening, but I am now even more disappointed that I didn't get to see the whole capsicum spray issue - I would have been to that match if it weren't for my flight. I've always wondered what it was like to cop capsicum spray in the face...

Daniela Hantuchova in action.

Anyway I went back to the hotel, played around on the laptop a bit in the foyer and then caught the minibus from around the corner. After five minutes of looping around it stopped and I found that I was to get off at Southern Cross Station, buy a ticket and get on a bus to take me to the airport. Now, if you remember, Southern Cross Station was a block away from the hotel. I could have walked there in less time. But I guess that other people probably have more luggage than I did (especially the female ones...) and wouldn't want to lug it with them for that one block of walking. Oh well. Anyway, $15 later I was on my way to the airport, during which I fell asleep. Got there, checked in using some computer thing, dropped off my baggage and went to buy two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash and their eftpos machine wasn't working. There was some random ATM not too far away but last time I checked I only had just over $20 in my account and wouldn't be able to afford the transaction fee associated with an ATM not belonging to my bank. So I had to pass on that. Bought two DVDs to watch while waiting for my flight and on the flight itself. Found a seat in front of gate 10 and waited. Finished a book passing the time. The plane we were going to be on was coming in from Hobart but was running late, so that delayed my flight by a bit. I got a window seat though, with a terrific view of the left wing (I love watching the wings on takeoff and landing) so that evened things out a bit - last time I got an aisle seat which just isn't the same. I actually don't remember takeoff at all, as I fell asleep during the bit where the flight attendants told you where the emergency exits were etc. Woke up as we started to descend, so at least I got to watch the plane land. When I got my baggage I went to the minibus waiting outside with a few disgruntled people already on board (I'm guessing they were there earlier and had to wait for the rest of us to get there on our delayed flight). we headed off and it took over an hour until I actually got home - we weaved around to drop people off along the way, and I happened to be the last stop. Got home and, of all things I could have done, turned on the TV and watched the tennis as I had dinner. Went on the net and tried to catch up with the happenings of the last week and then went to bed. Woke up around 1pm today, bummed around at home, unpacked my stuff, went to the gym, and here I am now. I still haven't completely unpacked, and I also need to get ready for my first day back at work tomorrow.

The sweet view from my window seat.

In conclusion, Melbourne was fun. Will do it again sometime, but next time I'd like to explore more of Victoria that isn't the city. Though, in saying that, I wouldn't mind going to the tennis again and getting more signatures on my ball.

Episode V: The Tennis Strikes Back

Written Monday, 14 January 2008, 9:45pm local time

Day 5: Home from the tennis, and my face is sunburnt with nice pale spots around my eyes from my sunnies. Anyway, let's start from the beginning, shall we? So, I woke up a little later than I wanted to (as per usual) - gates were open on 9:30am and I was hoping to get there earlyto maximise my day, but I left here around 10ish, walked a block to the tram stop, where a free tram was already sitting there waiting for me. Rode it to Melbourne Park, jumped off at the Vodafone Arena stop, managed to stroll up to the entry with the shortest queue, grabbed a quick bite to eat inside and had the seat which was closest to the entry gate, and sat down just as the match was starting. At this stage, I think I was starting to feel like everything was going to go my way. It was an epic 3 hour 10 minute women's singles match, with Jankovic beating Paszek 12-10 in the third and final set. Andy Roddick was the next match, but it looked like it was going to be a bit of a pushover, so I went to explore the rest of the Melbourne Park precinct to see what was happening, and to get some lunch.

Vodafone Arena.

Bought myself one of those jumbo sized tennis balls to get autographed, and then proceeded to attempt to find some cool people to sign it. There were several stars around on the practice courts - the only problem was getting their autographs. Some of the not-as-popular players weren't too much of a hassle, I got Lucie Safarova and Sania Mirza without a problem. However, I made an attempt at getting Rafael Nadal to sign the ball too, but it was impossible to penetrate the crowd - they even chased him all the way back to the players only area. Some people are just crazy, and its times like those you feel a bit sorry for all these big stars. In a two and a half hour period, I stood patiently in one spot on the fence, literally only a metre away from where Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roger Federer and then Andy Roddick were sitting. I could have reached out and touched their hair if I wanted to. But that would've just been way too weird. The problem was that, despite being so close to them, I couldn't manage to get an autograph out of any of them - once they were done with their practice and about to head off, they signed autographs, and at this point people just appeared behind me and would start yelling out and shoving their own things to get signed in the direction of the player. The worst bit was that they usually put their stuff over the top of my ball, and hence mine wouldn't get signed. Now, I don't blame the players here, as much as they love the fans they can't spend every waking hour slowly signing everything that everyone owns. The problem is that unless its a proper signing session, where people wait in a line and its a case of first case first served, its every man (or woman) for themselves and I always come off second best because I don't seem to be aggressive enough - shoving in front of people doesn't quite do it for me. And its not the first time it's happened to me either - I have vivid memories of trying to get autographs from some QLD state of origin players and not getting a single autograph, while another guy I knew from school pushed in and got heaps, even though he got there later than I did. Oh well, at least I caught a tennis ball that Roger Federer touched. That's good enough for me. Oh and Jim Courier walked past and I said hi.

That's how close I got to the Fed Express, he's giving me a dirty look...

Wouldn't be complete without an action shot of Federer.

Anyway, ended up catching the second half of Sharapova's match at Vodafone Arena, and then did some more walking around after that. Ended up watching a match in Margaret Court Arena, and then another match in an adjacent course - which featured Nicole Vaidisova, who I'm a fan of. Saw her lose at the Women's Hardcourts, so it was good to finally see her win. By then it was about 9ish and I was totally exhausted so I came home. My eyes are red, I'm so tired. Was planning on going to the Crown Casino tonight but decided against it, I'm sure its not that exciting.

My seat at Margaret Court Arena.

Nicole Vaidisova is so fast that she goes blurry.

Hmm its actually 1:53am now. Damn. Stupid movie channel. Oh and I heard on the news before, the first day attendance for the Australian Open was 55855, an all time high. I like to think that if it weren't for me, we wouldn't have reached that figure. Anyway, gotta check out by 11am tomorrow, plus would like to squeeze as much tennis in as I can. Better start packing too...

Episode IV: A New Old

Written Monday, 14 January 2008, 12:03am local time

Day 4: Wasn't that busy of a day today, I was quite tired. Raffy picked me up at around 11am, and we went to go check out his parents' new house - it was in a cool new estate and we went for a walk around the area, which would be ideal for going for a run. Anyway, we hung around there for a bit until we decided we were starving (as per usual I skipped breakfast - I should really get back into the habit of eating in the mornings, it can't be good for me skipping it all the time) and went into the city for lunch, went to a cheap buffet in the city, and cheap is good for me right now. After that I went to Federation Square yet again to hang around there for a bit. They had some Brazilian day thing there, with info stalls everywhere, as well as an awesome Capoeira display (that really cool martial arts dancing stuff that I love, and would love to learn if I was good enough) and some live Brazilian music. It was hot in the sun and I was already tired (I fell asleep in the car both times), and a headache was starting to kick in, so I went home for a lie down (by this stage it was 4pmish), and so I did so. Next thing I know a few hours have passed and I'm running late for dinner with Raffy and Milosh, another guy I went to school with. Had dinner, and then we headed to a bar where Raffy was holding a bit of a farewell gathering (he's flying off overseas tomorrow night). Met some more of his friends there, as well as a couple I had already met previously. There were four of us there that went to the same high school, which was cool, it was almost like a mini reunion. So we just bummed around there until it got late, and I went back to the room, and so here I am. Heading to day 1 of the Australian Open tomorrow, I can't wait.

Episode III: Revenge of the Movie Channel

Written Sunday, 13 January 2008, 2:43am local time

Day 3: Keeping this short, just got home and need to be up early tomorrow morning. See the effort I go to in a bid to blog while the memories are still fresh in my head. Didn't actually go to sleep until 4am or 5am, EdTV happened to be on TV on the Showtime Greats channel, so I ended up staying up to watch that - it is a great movie. Housekeeper came around at 9am this time, so I got up to let her do her thing. Watched a few episodes of the Simpsons until around 11ish when I figured I should really go do something. I ended up just wandering around the city again - today included seeing the State Library, Parliament House, taking a closer look around Federation Square, and taking the free city tram around a bit (I guess a bit like the free loop bus in Brisbane, but a tram and directed at tourists). After all this I went up Rialto Tower to once again get some more photos of Melbourne from above. My miniature city now consists of three towers. Yay.

The free tram.

A view from Rialto you can't get from Eureka.

Went to Raffy's place for dinner, which was an interesting journey. I caught a train there from Southern Cross Station, which is half a block away from where I'm staying. I had to get change for a $20 note to put into the ticket machine, and then I had to run to find the right platform on time - it was a big train station. Got on the train, which look quite similar to the new QR trains, except for the colour scheme. Did a bit of reading until my eyelids got heavy. All of a sudden I woke up to find that I was two stops past the station I was meant to get off at. So I got off and had to wait for the next train in the other direction. Decided I could do with a stroll to wake me up properly, so I walked the couple of kms to Raffy's house. Had dinner, and then we were off to his mate's place, whose band was doing a bit of a gig at his place. It was a good night, and I really liked it - am now tempted to get back into songwriting, I haven't written a song for several months now. After that we drove to the city and decided to check out the Melbourne city nightlife for an hour or two, before Raffy dropped me back at the hotel. He's coming to pick me up around 9am in the morning and I really need to get some sleep now.

Southern Cross Station.

The train interior, which looks vaguely familiar...

Episode II: Attack of "The Zone"

Written Saturday, 12 January 2008, 1:05am local time

Day 2: I'm really tired right now and this screen is just making my eyes water, so I'll keep this as short as I can. I managed to sleep in until almost midday today, though I'm quite sure that I still haven't managed to catch back up on enough sleep yet. Housekeeping lady woke me up at around 8:30ish, but when she saw I was still sleeping she told me she'd be back at 12:30. She was back at 11ish and let herself in this time, but I was still asleep. She kept apologising as she closed the door and said that she wouldn't disturb me again. Anyway, I eventually got my butt out of bed and after midday I decided to go for a random stroll in the city. Well, five minutes into it, Raffy called, and he was in the city. So we went to get me some lunch (the advantage of sleeping in was the fact that I avoided the costs associated with buying breakfast) and then we ventured around the city - essentially browsing through the many shops. A little later we went to go have a coffee with Ev, who works at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. So we caught a tram there to go see her. Short trip but it was my first tram experience. Not as exciting as I thought it would be. Still, that's another thing off my to-do list. So we had coffee with Ev, and Raffy had to duck off for work so Ev and I sat around for a little longer until she had to go back.

A tram! Not as exciting as I thought.

I caught a tram back to the city to do more exploring. In a bit to do something that didn't involve window shopping, I decided to go to Federation Square and see what the fuss was all about, as well as to check out the tourist information centre there and get a map of the city. I did just that, and also picked up a few information booklets which would come in handy for me over the next few days. I then sat out on some steps out on the square and just bummed around, as I was kinda tired and just wanted to chill out. Had a chat with one of the random locals, she was sitting on the steps reading Atonement, the movie for which I had seen less than a week ago. A street performer turned up in front of us and so I stayed to watch that, which was amusing. It would be fun to be a street performer, but I guess if you want to be like this guy you'd better be good at acting like a complete fool in front of mass crowds of strangers without getting embarrassed.

The view from Federation Square.

After that I decided to go over to Eureka Tower and visit the skydeck there. Rather than using my new map, I figured I'd just wing it there - I mean, how hard is it to find a building that tall? I actually made it there alright (though I think I kinda took a bit of a long way around to get there), there wasn't too much more to it than crossing the Yarra River. It cost $16.50 to get up there, but it turns out that you need to pay another $12 to use their famous "Zone", a glass cube that projects out three metres from the building - the point being that it has a glass floor so that you can look straight down underneath your feet to what lies 300m below. Plus you couldn't bring your own camera in there with you and would have to pay $15 to get photos that they take. There was a terrace beside it, it didn't have a glass floor or anything but it was fenced so you were exposed to the outside elements (the wind was simply whipping through there, so I had to go out there in short stints to take shots), and I was quite content with being able to take photos from there - the issue with taking photos from inside was the reflection and glare off the glass windows. Anyway, I took heaps of photos, and decided that I would wait until sunset - forgetting how late the sun sets over here. So I ended up hanging around there for four hours, as I figured I may as well wait until sunset, and by then I figured I may as well wait until it was darker and the city was lit up. I could kinda see the A-League match between Melbourne and Wellington going on at Telstra Dome, I could see the big screen but not well enough to see who was winning. The skydeck closed at 10pm, but my camera battery died on me at about 9:30pm, so I left, buying a couple of postcards and a little Eureka Tower figurine (to go with my Q1 one at home) in the gift shop on the way out. Decided to take a bit of a long way back, taking photos on my phone camera, and picked up some dinner on the way home.

Melbourne at sunset.

Melbourne by night.

So now I'm watching some tennis on TV while typing this out. My head is really starting to hurt, I should really head to bed now, its 2:17am... Don't know what I have planned for tomorrow yet. We'll see.

Episode I: The Humid Menace

Well I'm back. While I was in Melbourne I wrote a post for each day, but since I had no internet access I didn't post them up. But now that I do, I'm gonna start slowly posting them up one day at a time, and by staggering the posts a bit, I don't have to think about anything to blog about for the next few days. Until Sunday night anyway, after I hit the Big Day Out. Well, here we go...

[insert time warp effect here]

Written Friday, 11 January 2008, 2:34am local time

Day 1: Well, here I am in Melbourne. After about 3 hours sleep, the airport transfer bus arrived at my place at about 4:50am - 10 minutes earlier than they were supposed to. In my rush I managed to grab everything and leave without really causing a delay. Got to the airport, checked in, bought something to eat for breakfast (airport food is expensive) and waited a bit for the plane to arrive. I managed to get to the front of the queue and was first to board the plane, which was really cool - I was on a Jetstar flight, and Jetstar happen to be sponsors of the Gold Coast Titans, and the exterior of the plane was decorated accordingly. Managed to fall asleep for about an hour on the plane after a bit of reading.

How cool do the Titans decorations look?

Arrived with no problem, got picked up by Raffy at the airport and we drove through the city and to his place. I freaked out when I saw a tram on the road, sharing it with other cars - I hadn't noticed the tracks and lines above. I always assumed that all trams had their own dedicated sections of road but here they shared the road with the cars. The weather was extremely hot and humid, I think it hit a top of 41 degrees today, everything felt hot and sticky, and it appeared to overwhelm the air conditioning in Raffy's car. Anyway we spent most of the day with him showing me some random places, most places that he actually needed to go to - went to Monash Medical Centre and Monash University (had lunch at the campus cafeteria, and got a photo in front of the Engineering block... as you do), visited a couple of shopping centres (though spent a bit of time looking at digital SLR camera related stuff at Chadstone shopping centre), and pretty much anywhere else we could find air conditioning. In the evening, we went to St Kilda beach to have dinner with one of his friends and ended up bumming around on a jetty at the beach lazing around and chatting away. Saw penguins living around the rocks beside the jetty, which was cool. It was really weird, as it was so late time-wise, yet the sky was still light.

Engineering Building... Do I have issues?

At about 11:30pm we drove into the city, spent a while driving around for a car park, and after finally spotting one not too far away proceeded to check in at the hotel. Location is perfect, very very close to Southern Cross train station and the Crown Casino. The room itself isn't too bad for about $80 a night, it has a queen size and single bed, even though I'm the only one staying here (it was the only one available). TV with a few foxtel channels too. No kitchen though, not that its really a big deal. Ruins my plans to eat a lot of two minute noodles, though I could get the cup variety as there is a kettle. Importantly though, it has air conditioning.

My room - note the two beds.

Budgeting is going good. I can really only afford to spend up to roughly $80 a day, and today cost me less than $35 - all food and drink expenses. Tomorrow should be more than that, as I'll need to pay if I want to go up Eureka and Rialto Towers, which I do.

Anyway that's enough from me for now, I need to get some sleep. The plan for tomorrow is to explore the city. Can't wait.

to melbourne, to melbourne

I should really be in bed. I'm leaving home at 5am to head to the airport for what will be my first expedition into Victoria. Looking forward to it. I don't really have that much on my to-do list - check out some of the Australian Open tennis action, ride a tram (there's a free one going to the tennis hehe), catch up with Raffy and Ev, view the city from the Eureka Tower Skydeck and the Rialto Towers (even though both were built by Grocon...), and, er, umm... that's all I had planned really. I'm staying in the city, so I suppose there's stuff to do there too. Flying back on Tuesday evening, I have tennis tickets for Monday and Tuesday, so I guess from tomorrow until Monday will be full of surprises as I haven't really put thought into it yet. One thing's for sure - I can't really afford to do much shopping there, which is a shame as I heard that the shopping there was awesome. Lets just say that I thought I was getting paid before the trip, but in reality it is actually happening afterwards.

Hmm, I should really pack my stuff. Damn I need to learn to be organised... Don't know if I'll bother blogging while I'm down there, don't think anyone really reads this anyway. So I may just blog on about it when I get back. I am planning on bringing my laptop with me, but since I don't have wireless internet I may just type stuff up when (or if) I get bored, but not post it until I get back anyway. Have a good 6 days while I'm gone. Melbourne, look out - here I come!

raquets and bats

Spent all day yesterday at the Mondial Women's Hardcourts tennis tournament today. I'm a long time follower of televised tennis tournaments, but have never been to a match. So I got myself a day/night pass to catch the four singles quarter final matches and two doubles quarter finals matches. The stars on show included Nicole Vaidisova, Dinara Safina, Patty Schnyder and Shahar Peer, though the major drawcard of the tournament was Amelie Mauresmo. The weather was wet and dodgy, but the main court was under cover so play could progress as per usual (unlike Wimbledon, which seems to have rain delays left, right and centre). There was a decent crowd turn out as well (parking was a pain), possibly something to do with the fact that this is the last time that the tournament is to be held at Royal Pines Resort, as of next year it will be merged with the men's equivalent and played in the new State Tennis Centre in Tennyson.


Hmm, so what did I think of my first live tennis experience? Firstly, the crowd was more like that at a ballet or play or something rather than that of the cricket. Play was silent, all you could hear was the sounds of the players, and applause and the odd call from the crowd only ever came after a point was completed. People leaving waited for a break in play, and people coming back waited for a break before returning to their seats. All of the heads in the crowd were in sync, looking left, then right, then left again, following the ball. I took a lot of photos, most of them look the same though as all were taken from the same angle - from my seat. Would have loved to be able to move around and get different angles. Flash photography was not permitted for obvious reasons, as it distracted the players. Not that it was required at all, lighting was great, even in the overcast weather. My spot wasn't that bad, about 8 rows back and about a quarter of the way in, so one player would be straight ahead of me while the other was to my right.


The crowd appeared to mainly consist of people either in the 40-100 or 5-12 age bracket. I think some of the kids, dragged along by their parents, got a bit bored of it all, though they managed to keep quiet. They were provided with a little excitement though, with the winner of each match signing three tennis balls and hitting them up into the stands, one woman in the row in front of me got one. Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of the kids had those big oversized tennis balls, which were covered in autographs. I guess its harder for the players to say no to kids when they ask for a signature.

I had a good time. It was a long day though and I left after the fifth match (the Schnyder vs Mauresmo blockbuster) as it was late and rainy and I was exhausted. Definitely worth the $50 for the day. Got to see some good quality tennis played by some of the stars of the women's game, and I'm really looking forward to the two days of the Australian Open I'll be attending in ten days' time. Also, I've decided that being a ballboy would be fun. I think I'm a bit old for that (ballman just isn't as appealing unfortunately), so I guess when/if I have kids I'll have to live through them and train them up to be ballkids.

Keeping on the topic of sport (its been a while), I just wanted to raise an issue in cricket which got raised again yesterday - if you get out (ie you nick the ball to the keeper) and know you should be out, and the umpire calls not out, do you walk? Andrew Symonds should've been out at 30 and went on to make 162 not out, and Ricky Ponting also went on after edging the ball on 17. Some other cases have involved a catch which isn't really a catch - where the ball has hit the ground just before being caught but being awarded as a dismissal. We've seen Adam Gilchrist walk when he knows he's out and as a result being branded as man with true sportsmanship (but then again there was also the squash ball controversy, but we won't go there...), but the big question is, should you walk?

I'm a fence sitter on this one. In the argument for walking, its an honesty thing - you know you're out fair and square, so if you don't walk or don't tell the umpire that you don't think you caught the ball cleanly you're pretty much being a cheat, right? What kind of example are these top players giving to the younger fans?

On the other hand, in the argument against walking, there are times that you weren't really out and yet the umpire says out. Umpires aren't perfect, we all know that, its part of the game. Part of any game really. Anyway, surely if this luck can work against you, it should be okay for it to work in your favour too and always accept the official's decision as final? I do believe that one time Gilly walked when he actually clearly missed the ball. You get good and bad decisions, and they should even each other out in the long run. And why do it when no one else does it, that makes things a bit unfair, doesn't it?

Third option - bring in some technology to help the umpires make better decisions. Though that's a whole issue of its own. Ahh, controversy is what brings sport to life, brings some real drama into it...

bring on 2008

Well its now 2008. Yay. Another year gone by, and boy did it fly by quickly. Looking forward to it - so many things on my to-do list for the year. New Year Resolutions are funny things, for me the same ones tend to somehow reappear every year. Usually along the lines of getting fitter, being more organised, and a few other new things to try. If I was a smoker, quitting smoking would be in there somewhere too. Damn now I have to get used to writing the year in the date as 01/01/08 as opposed to 07, I bet that's gonna trip me up at work for the first few months.


New Years Eve was nothing special, the fireworks in Surfers Paradise were cancelled, and the weather was dodgy anyway so I didn't really find the urge to spend it outdoors. So just took part at a small gathering indoors, which I was quite content with. Its been a while since I've had a quietish New Year celebration.

Anyway, that's it from me for now - I only got home not too long ago and am damn exhausted, and staring at this computer screen is hardly helping... Happy New Year guys.