Recovering...

As flu goes that one hit hard. It's been years since I've had the flu and had forgotten just how bad it can make one feel. I battled through Thursday at work but realised I needed some time off, so today I was home. However, last night, I don't know what time it was, I woke up in a drenching sweat which meant that the fever I had for two days finally broke. What a relief!

Being single isn't too bad, but I came to realise that being ill as well and not having anyone around is a pretty lonely feeling. Oh well.

Saw a documentary today called 'Born into Brothels', which was about a group of kids in a seedy, poverty stricken neighbourhood of India being given cameras and told to explore their environment in photographs. One of the kids turned out to be quite talented.

Have been trying to watch Wes Anderson's 'The Life Aquatic' but just can't get into it. I didn't like his earlier films 'The Royal Tenenbaums' or 'Rushmore', so it looks I ain't a fan of his work.

Got an invite to a luncheon in the city in early September for the launch of the 'Abused Childs Trust' campaign. I got the invite because I was in the television commercial that will launch the campaign. A very good cause indeed - and I hope my scene wasn't cut!

No, it is the flu

It really hit this morning, about the time I got to work. I soldiered on through the day but by 5pm I think I was getting delerious. The drive home was made longer due to traffic congestion on the freeway and a burst watermain on Given Terrace.

Good quote

Drama is ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
Comedy is extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances.

- John Larroqette

Not the flu...

Looks like what I have is some type of throat infection. Doesn't seem to serious and have just been keeping up the aspirin and taking things quietly today. My enforced stay at home resulted in me thinking about all sorts of things, in particular, what have been the best days of my life so far...

I have two so far:

1). When I was in high school in Liverpool, my friends and I used to ride our bikes from school to the squash courts on Wednesdays. (Sport at my school was always on Wednesdays). I remember one day very clearly. There were four of us and we left the school (near the Holsworthy Army Base) at around 1:00pm and headed for Moorebank, the suburb of Liverpool we all lived in. The other two guys had instructions from their mothers to go to their own homes for lunch, but I had the freedom to go to Jason's place. Both of Jason's parents worked so no one was ever home. What we were "supposed" to do was go directly to squash from school...but we never did. We would hang around at his place and watch 'Young Ones' episodes, eat ice cream, play games on his Commodore 64, plan our little home movies. Eventually we would ride up to the squash courts and make up some excuse as to why we ere late. We never got into trouble. It was on one of those Wednesdays that I remember very well. The weather was perfect, we felt free to do our own thing... looking back I suppose it was the joy of being very young (about 14 I think) and just making up our own rules.

2). This particular day was my 2nd in England. I had arrived in late winter and went staight up to my relatives home in Shropshire, near the Welsh border, and pretty much just stayed indoors for the day. I was very tired and fell asleep at 7:30pm. I woke up at 7:30am. Twelve hours uninterupted sleep and I was ready to explore. My uncle gave me a map of the local area and, after breakfast, I set out with a thick jacket and my camera. I headed first to an old Norman church, which was built in the year 1082. It was there, while I stood before that little church, on my own, the temperature was about 1 degree, the sun was shining,the sky was clear, and I was beside myself with joy. For years I had wanted to go to Britain and meet my family there and find my heritage, and now here I was. Not only that, but a piece of real history was right before me. Like the experience when I was 14, it was that feeling of complete freedom to find my own path, to do my own thing. No matter which way I turned there was something to explore, to discover, and it was only just the beginning.

Vodka drink

I have figured out what UDL means...

"Un-Drinkable-Liquid".

Thank you.

Flu??

Not feeling 100% today, feels like a touch of the flu coming on. The day was pretty dull at work so that made the hours drag by when all I really wanted to do was go home and get into bed. As there wasn't much food in the house I had to go to Woolies for a few things. After dinner and an aspirin I was feeling better.

Received a phone call from an old friend today so will hopefully catch up on Sunday. It's going to be a cold night tonight so I'm already planning on how to construct the blankets on the the bed for maximum warmth.

Watched Big Brother as well, just five left. I've quite enjoyed this series, seemed more like real strategies were being played out this time. Has really become a routine, watching the show, as I don't really watch many (any?) shows routinely. Just been enjoying it on my own.

War of the Worlds

Saw it today with Veronica, and I thought it was awesome! Of course the special effects were brilliant, but what I found most incredible about it was the level of 'primal' fear it was able to create. Something about hiding from a huge malevolent force is a powerful feeling. The tripods looked exactly the way I had always imagined them. I used to have bad dreams as a kid about hiding in a city while some terrible creature slowly made its way around, eating up everyone it came across. (Not an actual nightmare though, I've never had one of those).

Perhaps my favourite scene was the one on the car ferry, when the tripods showed up and attacked, causing the ferry to capsize. Great cinematogrphy and editing. The scene where the mob dragged Cruise and kids out of their vehicle was also very well done; completely 'real' and uncompromising.

While certainly an improvement over the old 1950's film version, I think it would still be good to see the story made into a film the way the author intended, i.e. in Victorian England with the preacher, the foot soldier etc.

Wonder if I'll have that old dream again tonight??

Class in Australia

At work today a woman came in and had the most annoying faux-upper class Australian accent I have ever heard. She proceeded to inform me just how hard life as for these days for her, what with only two cars, a holiday home in the Snowy Mountains and twice yearly trip to either Venice or Geneva. She apparently was visiting Brisbane after an absense of some years and needed a map of the city.

I found one for her and in the course of the conversation she revealed that she lives in Sydney. I told her that I come from Sydney too. "Oh", she said, "where abouts?"

"From Liverpool", I replied. The look on her face, what a change. It was as if I had just said that I had the plague. I didn't offer to sell her any drugs or attempt to steal her hubcaps.

Does a class system really exist in this country?? Ah, who cares.

A call from head office

At work today, a truck hit, and snapped, the power line that runs from the building to the external illuminated sign. It's a pretty big sign and draws a lot of power. When the truck hit it the power unit automatically shut off so there was no danger of anyone getting electrocuted. I called head office and told them of the drama and one of them came over to inspect the damage.

The truck soon went on its way, an electrician was called and eveything settled down. And then, about two hours later, I get a call from someone at head office, the woman in charge of paying wages and other things, and she was asking me if the lights were on and if the computer was running.

Now...I'm certainly not the smartest guy in the world, but I think I would know if all power to the store had been cut off. This wasn't out of genuine concern mind you, this woman makes a point of treating everyone like idiots. I explained to her that everything was on and functioning normally.

Maybe she thought I was too stupid to figure out that if the lights suddenly go off then that probably means the power has been cut. Well, the lights weren't off and the computer was running. What did she expect me to say? "Oh, I've been standing here in the dark for the past two hours and I don't know what to do." Has she so little faith in me that she thinks I wouldn't figure out to call if all power was lost? Geez.

Cooking

There are only two things that I can actually cook, beef curries and caesar salads. I made both today. Well that's it for the cooking. Better go learn something new.

Geez

The place where I work...it's in the wrong location (on a main road where the traffic wizzes past at 60 or 70kph, totally oblivious) there is no, and I mean NO advertising done to promote it, and yet the owners expect me to perform financial miracles there.

They are relying solely on word-of-mouth to generate the mega-bucks they fully expect to come rolling in. But since those mega-bucks are nowhere to be seen, well, it must be my fault then. It's a good store with good products, yet without any form of advertsing it may as well be on the far side of the moon.

I really can't wait to get a new job. Ah, just another day in the western world.

Done

Finished the 3rd draft of my script "Nine Miles Beautiful" today and then emailed it off. Fingers crossed.

Noisy building

It never used to be like this. In the past few months just about all the residents of my apartment building have moved out (there are 8 units here) to be replaced by some of the noisiest neighbours ever.

Last night two girls from one of the downstairs units decided to have a loud conversation on their balcony...at 3:30am. Tonight, another downstairs unit is (at the time of writing) into the 11th hour of their party. It is now 10:54pm with no signs of it abatting. The other week, some other residents on the very bottom floor started a party at 4:15am on a Sunday morning. Is that really the most appropriate hour to begin such a thing?

Living in an apartment building, one must accept loud parties as a matter of course. But really, this is becoming rather unreasonable. The quietest room in my apartment is the bathroom, but I don't fancy curling up in the bathtub when the temperature is currently 6 degrees.

New blog

Just a quick note to let all know that I have a second blog about Anglo Saxon history called anglosaxonrealm.blogspot.com

Not a fancy site at all, just a (hopefully) growing collection of articles and info about the Anglo Saxons. (Whom I think are super-interesting!)

Just hanging around

Another day at work, another night at home. Doing stocktake is dull, as dull as two dull things nailed together. At least I recieve funny emails throughout the day! I'm gradually starting to learn more about blogs, it's a whole new world to me. Some of them that I have seen are incredible! Well illustrated, professional.

Gotta get a new job!

I like my job a lot, being a retail manager, but I can't help the feeling that the company is going nowhere - and I am going with it. The owners expect financial miracles but don't do any advertising. The shop is in the wrong spot but they won't move it. Don't get me wrong, they are really nice people but they don't want it anymore and it is up to me to make the store great so they can sell it. Well, what happens to me? Is my reward for working so hard losing my job?? Anyway, it's time I did something else.

After work I stopped off at Woolies, got some dinner, then at home I watched the extended version of 'Cinema Paradiso'. Wow! I was only familar with the old version, but this extended one reveals so many new details. Great to see Elena again!

Well this is it...

Having a weblog sounded great, but I wasn't sure if my life would be exciting enough to justify one. Anyway, I went ahead and created it and here it is.