This Side Of The Brooklyn Bridge

It was my birthday the other day. I'm almost 30! Can you believe that!! I sure as hell don't! Where does the time go? Life is certainly short. It may seem long sometimes, but I can assure you, it is over faster than you know it, in the grand scheme of things. I guess it's all a bit nuts, considering this blog started 6 years ago, when the other and I were about to turn 20.

I love kiwi fruit. I don't know when this started, but the stores now sell them with plastic knife/spoon contraptions to make them easier to eat. I have to say that I am absolutely loving them!! Except for the sticky fingers that is.

I know I used to rag on online content delivery systems such as Steam and the like before. I'm still a bit opposed to the idea that I've bought a licence to the game, and I don't actually 'own' it despite paying a significant sum of money to buy it. However, having played games such as Modern Warfare 2, and Starcraft 2, I am just happy about update patches, downloadable content and other goodies, which require an online system to work properly.

That's it for now folks. Joaquin out.

Before You're Aware It's November

Yes, the entire month of October pretty much passed without a post. I have been insanely busy, but it looks like it's all about to ease off so I figured it's time for some blogging!

Yeah yeah, I know all of you want to know what happened with the Joaquin Rate List (JRL) - available from here. The numbers for the next update grew to an epic size, so I'm going to have to get to that some time in November.

As mentioned, the other and I have been getting in to Starcraft 2 in epic proportions, and goddamn, that game is addictive. It should be rated a class A drug. Haha yes, I will be playing some more tonight!

Work is just...I don't know. I think I'm at a crossroads. I was at my last job for a year and a half before I got bored, and I'm coming up to a year and a half on this job, and I am questioning my intentions. I guess what they said about Gen Y is true, we do have short attention spans. I guess I've just become disillusioned with the whole bureaucratic process, as well as other factors. I left my last job because I worked long hours for no recognition and pretty mediocre pay. When I left, I went to a job that paid a fair bit more than what I was getting before. I got promoted while in my new job and I'm earning substantially more than I was before. Then it came to my attention that all my former colleagues had been promoted. Going from what previous pay scales were, they would be earning a fair bit more than I am now. BUT that is all dependent on whether the pay rises were unfrozen. During the GFC they justified not giving people pay rises cause the firm was in dire straits. The typical order of things also meant that it wouldn't be possible to be promoted for at least 3 years. If they are being paid more, it would be a kick in the ass I tell you! Considering that I'm doing a lot more now than I was before, and doing so within a short staffed team. However, if I got another promotion, I'd outearn them, so I guess it's time to see what's out there!

I feel like I'm turning into a robot just doing the usual 9-5 thing, and it's drudgery, nothing but drudgery. It all seems like the same thing to me. Haha I guess before I was bored at work but stimulated, but now I'm not bored but definitely not stimulated. Guess I can't catch a break!

The thing about the public service is that it doesn't make sense, and it doesn't reward the right people. People who joined up straight out of college, with no tertiary qualifications are earning the same, if not more than me! I have a double tertiary degree with honours and a post-graduate qualification! What the fuck? You have to be kidding me, right?! Where's the justice in anything? Why the fuck did I waste my time with study?? Then I was reading in the paper the other day that folks on oil rigs can earn up to $2,000 a day, and people in mines are getting $200,000. Life, you are an unfair and interesting beast.

Daylight savings is killing me. When school was around it didn't seem to bother me so much, cause I had days that started early and others that started late, so I was able to re-adjust my sleeping pattern eventually. But it's really killing me now, because I have no time to adjust. When I get back from work I just pass out and 2 hours later I feel awful, and then I can't sleep at night and then up early in the morning for work. Abolish it I say! It serves no purpose.

Post-grad uni is so frustrating. With the specific course that I'm doing, a lot of it is team based. I have done a stack of work, while the others have not done very much, which is incredibly bad. This is due to me sacrificing a lot of stuff to meet my obligations. But that's the nature of group work, and it's dangerous to have an entire qualification revolve around that sort of dynamic. If group work is on offer, it should be in uni where you can see people face to face all the time, or just allow people to pick their own groups, because I know who I can work well with! Ahh uni now is just a pain in the ass. I knew I'd hate it, but not this much. I did learn a fair bit though. Then there's the personal stuff too! I'm sure that will come out in the future, but I guess life enters its next phase from here.

This talk of group work makes me recall this task from when I was attending graduate induction at my last job. We were trying to build a massive tower using these weird contraptions, and we were all split up into sub groups to work independently. We had strict rules about how we could interact and so on. However, my group was working really poorly, and I didn't know how we could make it through considering we were about to be humiliated. Then out of nowhere we won. We totally destroyed everyone else by at least half a metre, in a structure that was about 6 metres tall! Lesson learned? Sit back, relax, and it'll get done regardless. Not a good lesson to learn at all.

Joaquin out. Till next time folks!

And The Pawns Can Be Powerful

Yes they can. And on and on they march...

It's always good to know both sides of the story.

Game theory is a very interesting concept. John Nash (for the idiots among you) - the guy who Russel Crowe portrayed in A Beautiful Mind was a proponent of Game Theory. I've written a few posts regarding my thoughts on the Prisoner's Dilemma, which I found to be a very interesting game. However, I do think that it is impossible to rationalise human behaviour and motivations that presuppose the incentives that are being offered. Wow, I had a point that I was trying to make, and it's totally just gone over my head now.

As mentioned, the other has now made me an avid Starcraft 2 fan. It's a really tough game for me, given that my knowledge of tactical matters only extends to games in the Total War series. That relates particularly to micromanagement within a battle. However, when you try to mix macromanagement within an instantaneous setting with micromanagement, I tend to get flummoxed. I just want to concentrate on the battle!! It's thinking like that which makes me awesome at Total War, but pretty mediocre at Starcraft 2. What I am not a fan of is build orders. People tend to memorise a standard or optimal set of buildings for EVERY match. I see this as boring and pointless, and does't allow creative or thoughtful tactics to flourish. This extends to Chess, where a lot of people (including all Grandmasters) have typically memorised most opening combinations, and set their play accordingly. This drags the tactical component out of everything, and just replaces it with a 'who can remember the most' mentality. I think Blizzard should set up some games where you start off with a random set of buildings and you have to get going from there.

It's incredibly addictive. The other and I played a 2v2 match the other night against two AI players. It was ridiculously intense, where it looked like we were going to get steamrolled early. However the other came up with some great on the fly tactics of taking the sneak attacks, while I sat back and played defence, just pumping out units. I covered the entire Southern end of the map and we just mopped up everything else on there and it was beautiful!

I've been getting back into Arrested Development lately. Goddamn, what an awesome show. I had forgotten how great it was!! Honestly, the best comedy ever created. If you ever belonged to a family, you have to watch it.

Anyway, that's it for today folks. Joaquin out.

All The Chances That I've Blown

I don't know why I have to keep beating my drum about this, as I'm sure I've blogged about this numerous times. In college (covering the ages of 17-18) here where me and the other live, you're required to sit something called the AST. It's basically a series of multiple choice questions, an essay (and one other component that I seem to have forgotten) that take up 2 and a bit days. You don't really get a chance to study for these, though you get to sit a mock exam a few months before. I didn't really know what to expect, the wikipedia page for the test states that it's an aptitute test, and not really a knowledge test. However, you are given a point ranking, so I'm not sure how that works - it has to be ranked based on knowledge. All questions are weighted the same, with no breakdown of aptitude, so english-preference students don't know if a high score relates to English or Maths and so on. Anyway, the test covers a whole range of things, from science, to maths, to english reasoning. There's several abstract questions in there, and it's sat in exam conditions (which is basically 600 students cramped into the College gym in excruciating silence. Anyway you tend to sit these exams in September and you don't find out your score till December (when you've actually graduated).

So after we've all received our certificates, we start comparing scores. People seemed to have scored about 160-190 (don't ask me how that works). I take a look at mine - 240 (or thereabouts). What the hell? How did I score so high? There were as many maths questions as there were English comprehension questions and general reasoning questions. As you might have guessed, maths is not my forte. This was against people who had aced through all their Super Advanced Maths and Physics classes, and had topped the school in terms of grades and their university admission index (uni entrance score). After some further checking, it became clear that only one person in the entire school beat me - the dux, who scored 260 (or thereabouts). What did this mean? I don't know. I just felt vindicated, cause I just wanted to grab that piece of paper and just smash it in everyone's faces. Beating everyone (almost), and by such a mammoth margin. It was a great moment - oh to see everyone's faces when they saw my score.

I wish there was a point to that story, but I guess it's a good allegory for my life.

Friendship - what the hell does that mean? I don't know. I am quite sure that the longest and most enduring friendship I've had is with the other (having first met in 1998 or so), which is fantastic. However, there was a massive gap of a few years somewhere in the middle, when the other was living and studying overseas, and I had no word from him. So when you average it all out, my longest friendships have been that long. I read an article a few weeks ago that you tend to change your close circle of friends every 7 years or so, with only 1-2 people generally surviving the cull. I don't know what's with that, but I guess people change. I remember my oldest friend from High School, who I was quite close to, and knew him all the way up to when I was infatuated with Les Femme Anomaly. Then he just stopped contacting me. True, I guess it's my fault for not really following through with my end of the friendship, but I remember reaching out to him on a few occasions and hearing nothing back. It's those ones that get to you, so painful that you can't even address it. I think my friendship with him and Les Femme Anomaly ended at the same time, and since it was uni and I was incredibly busy, I didn't really have the time to process it. But hey, it's just change, and it goes, like it goes - thank you Justin King. To the hidden recesses of my memories you have to go now (the old friends, not Justin King).

I am currently working on my taxes at the moment. When I did them last year, they were actually quite fun, but with work and post-grad uni on at the same time, it has become quite the arduous task. However, I must give credit to the Australian Tax Office for instigating it's electronic lodgement system, so you can do your return online.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but on request of the other I finished Freakonomics (albeit a borrowed copy). I was so impressed at the ideas and the level of thinking involved that I bought my own copy today, and also bought the sequel, Superfreakonomics, which I am just ambling to read!

That's it for now folks. Have a nice day! Joaquin out.

It's September Already?!

Wow, I have definitely been neglecting my blogging on here. However, I can blame the other for that - I have procured myself Starcraft 2 and Modern Warfare 2, and have just been multiplayering like there's no tomorrow. I really suck at SC2, but I am learning a lot more thanks to the other. I'm also working my way up the ladders in both games and looking forward to becoming adept, because they're both wonderful storylines, with some good depth.

Yes, I know I always say it, but I will update the Joaquin Rate List (JRL), as soon as I get a chance - since there's so many updates, I'll need to set aside some time to go through all the new names in detail. For those of you who don't know, the JRL is here.

The pin code for my voicemail at work here, and at my last job was 434926. I don't know why I chose that, since it's quite random, but for some reason, my fingers find it very easy to type out on a phone keypad. I also find it pretty easy to remember, and considering I have trouble with my memory, I find those set of numbers to be a godsend - too bad we can't choose numbers for other important things though!

I can't believe I was going to let a whole month slip by without blogging again. I remember the massive whole it has left in our archive when it's happened before. I at least try to put something in, just to mark time, even if there is nothing else going on. But it really is just work and post-grad study at the moment.

Anyway, it's late, and I need to be in bed so I'm well rested for work tomorrow. Two lots of 4 day weeks consecutively, I can get used to that!

Joaquin out. Have a nice day folks!

Another Day Around

And I got nothing to say!

Till next time folks!

This One's For The Fans

Yes, I know I would give specifics of my accident, but I will aim to do that soon! I also promised that I would update the Joaquin Rate List (JRL), but there has been no updates! I'll save that one for when I have nothing to say, and this is not one of those times.

Looking at dashboard after the sign-in, I have realised that I've picked up 2 followers. So hello to you folks!

So I finally received a reading of my HECS payments. For those not in the know, HECS is the higher education contribution scheme. Some idiot in the 80's got the idea that tertiary education should be on a 'user pays' loan like system. Prior to this, education was paid entirely by the Government. Therefore, you could either pay for your courses up-front or be riddled with a debt loan (before most of us even have jobs). I've written a post about this previously, so you can go back to read it. But anyway, I was reviewing my statement and I have about $20k to pay off! I guess that's better than could be expected, but then I reviewed it a bit more and found that interest accrues on the loan! Seriously, what the hell?! You can' t screw me over by denying me free education (which one would have thought would have been a fundamental right), but you have to make me pay more than I have to for it? Indexation on a loan that you first attained at the start of your university course is complete bullshit. Because there's going to be some time before you can actually pay it back, but by then you would have accrued the ENTIRE sum of the debt, so the indexation will hit you harder than it normally would. Talk about a flawed system. This stopped being about helping students a long time ago, it is just a profit making exercise, and the financial well being of our young people is at risk.

Last night was hell - I was studying till about 4am at my parent's house. I thought I was fine for an 11:30am wake up, and even woke up, but I kept snoozing my alarm. But then my dad walks into my room and asks me when I'm going to wake up. I look at my clock and see that it's 2:30pm! Shiteee! Haha, but that's ok, cause I was troubled by a dream I had (which I think happened between 11:30 and 2:30). In this dream I was back at my parents home and there was a function or dinner party on. I was upstairs and this girl who I've met once in my life (a friend of a friend) was there. She's very distinctive looking - red haired, pale skin. Anyway, I didn't find this girl attractive when I met her, but in my dream I was going nuts. So there we were with me flirting my ass off when all of a sudden she just attacks me and we're making out. Then things just keep progressing and clothes come off and she just goes "oh let's just have sex", and I don't know what the hell my brain was on, but somehow I thought this was a good idea. But just before that happened, I saw someone coming up the stairs, and I just grabbed my clothes and went to the bathroom. I saw the girl grab her clothes so we both didn't get busted. Then I woke up. What the hell was all that about???! The subconscious is a dangerous place to be.

I remember reading the Red Dwarf novel 'better than life'. In it, the main characters get trapped in a virtual reality game that taps into your subconscious and you get things that didn't even realise you wanted. In the novel you find out that it replaced a previous version of the game where you just wished for things and they appeared. Tapping into the subconscious made the game infinitely more addictive. What a world.

Joaquin out!

Sometimes Flats Are Involved

It's not just what you play, it's how you play it.

Simple chords, stunning sound.

I'm very proud of it! Sent it to the other.

I will try to get my recording facilities up to scratch in the mean time.

Joaquin out.

You know you've got it the wrong way around, right?

Yes, yes it has been far too long since I last posted. However, THE most legitimate excuse ever: full time work and full time study SUCKS! I literally have no time to do anything else anymore, and that is terrible. Hence it is 1am on Sunday morning, and I am blogging just to clear out some blog notes. Alas, it is late/early and I will have to fly through this, without giving due thought to everything I wanted to say.

Yes, I will talk more about my accident later, and I will put up the pictures and everything!

Haha, looking back on these blog notes, this is going to be a very sleazy and salacious post, so I apologise in advance - and you youngens, skip on through!

As mentioned in my last post, an annoying guy at work has this amazing girlfriend. She should be starting with us very very soon - I cannot wait!!!

Meetings or discussions on horseshoe arranged tables are terrible!! Of course the meeting is going to get boring, and you can see people opposite you. This killed me in a tax law tutorial when I was at university, as I posted about a girl who wore short short miniskirts and no stockings in summer, and used to sit low in the chair with her legs out, right opposite me. Then in a meeting the other week there was a girl in a miniskirt opposite me, and my mind wandered again, and ahh, sitting through a 90minute meeting with sex on your mind for the whole time is sheer brutality!!! Legs legs legs, gahh!

Then again, there was another meeting - on the bottom of my office there is a commercial cafe, where a LOT of waitresses work. The windows of this meeting room on the bottom floor are mostly frosted, when just a few unglazed bits, so your vision of the outside is pretty obscured. However, I looked up, and all I got was just a face full of cleavage for about 2 minutes! I could have died right there I tell you; this waitress did not move, she stood there, bent over in a low cut top and her breasts were just about to spill out of her top. Of course after the meeting I had to go out there and check her out - yessss, curvy, brunette, busty as hell, and exotic. All the boxes ticked there!

I don't know why, but I've been listening to a lot of Don Henley lately. The guy is a bloody great singer. But one song in particular, the boys of summer. Wow, what a song. It's a great melody, with great atmosphere, but I find it incredibly depressing because of the themes of moving on and shouldering responsibility. I guess this is tied in to my monster diatribe from my last post, but I'll let you read that and form your own conclusions.

Another thing from work - they handed out these flyers to 'lift our spirits' I guess, with statements about our corporate vision and so on. However, one of the pictures is of this ridiculously beautiful goddess - yes typical of me: eurasian, brunette, sophisticated and enter all my other cliches. She is just insanely flawless, and if I ever look at that flyer, I just stare for minutes on end, lost for speech, lost for thought. Needless to say, I have put that flyer next to my monitor, and I have not done a lot of work in the last week, haha!

The other day, I was back at home to see my parents. Since I'm car-less I needed a lift to go shopping and we went to our local shopping centre. So what did I see? 3 people I went to High School with - my morbidly obese year 10 English teacher, and two other guys I wasn't particularly fond of. The English teacher was still huge and in her gym clothes for some obscure reason, and the two idiots were wandering about aimlessly. I was very happy to be out of there and that I've made something of my life. I guess you can always rely on your brain. And stuff you English teacher, one of my degrees is in journalism - you LOSE! Haha, that'll show her to grade me poorly!

That's it for now folks. Joaquin out - God knows how long for...

The Investments That Failed To Return

I had a less than productive Friday, which was most likely due to all my work being with other parties! I can’t help it if I have no work to do due to other people having to get things back to me! But that’s all good, because I just tended to errands all day, as well as listened to music and typed up the first part of this blog! So you should be happy.

However, one issue I have come across is the lack of remote blog notes! I keep them on my PC at home. I only ever need to access them from outside when I want to add to them. For this purpose I just e-mail myself with my additional blog notes and add them to the master list when I get home. But in the event I want them so I can actually type them up from a remote location, then I am stuffed. It’s times like this that I’m glad there’s things like Dropbox, alas, we cannot access that system from work.


I was reading some news reviews of Toy Story 3 – apparently it is a very emotional story, which has resulted in many grown men crying. I haven’t seen the film; in fact, I haven’t even seen any of them in their entirety, but I know the general premise and know the ending of this last film. I will probably end up watching them all, because I’ve only heard good things. There’s a spoiler coming up so please skip the following until you get to the paragraph starting with “stay with me on this point for a bit”.

So basically, the film ends as the owner of the toys (Andy, who was a kid in the first film) turns 17 and goes off to college. He then bids the toys an emotional farewell as he hands them off to a neighbour. This is supposedly the point where the big men start blubbering. I don’t think there’s anything soft about this; I actually think it’s probably the appropriate response.

Stay with me on this point for a bit. I don’t think males (as boys) are ever really prepared for “manhood” or adulthood and all the implied cultural responsibilities that it entails. I don’t know what this is like for females, so I apologise, and just bear with me for a little while. I remember how fun it was just being lost in my world playing with toys and just having such a great time in general. But at one particular point, you are basically forced to give them up and start being more responsible. Growing up mentally isn’t natural at this point, it’s all forced. There’s no more innocence, and you’re left thrust out into a cold uncaring world, but forced to grin and take it on the chin cause ‘you’re a man’. That right there is a traumatic event in itself, so it comes as no surprise to me that all these grown men with families are crying about that part of the film. Their toys are a link to the past, a symbol of that youth and carefree innocence that they were forced to give up well before they were ready. I’m being wildly anecdotal here, but girls aren’t really women till they’re in their early twenties. The shadow of their youth always trails them closely. Boys on the other hand are forced to believe they want to be men right from the get go. It’s always a rush to lose your childhood and immaturity, and general sense of wonder and amazement with the world. Boys as young as 8 are being told to be a man and not cry and so on – obviously a different case to the females.

I’ve been told many a time that women mature faster than men. This could be true, but I guess you can’t blame us for always wanting to recapture our youth. Before you go off on your rant and start labelling me a hypocrite and what else, I’ll admit that I still have my teddy bear from when I was a child. I love it very much, and treat it well. I remember I was young, and my sister told me that we were having the house cleaned and to put my stuff away in the garage so it didn’t get trashed. That night I could not sleep, as my teddy bear (who I’ve slept with every night except when on school trips, or sleepovers), was in the bag in the garage. So I went to the garage and took my bear. After I got back from school the next day, all my stuff was gone, except for my bear; my sister had given it all away. I was relieved. I didn’t care that all my awesome expensive toys had gone and I’d never see them or play with them again. I had my teddy bear and I would be able to hold it and it could go everywhere with me (as long as I was in the house)! If I had lost my bear that day, I cannot even describe how devastated I’d be. I still have the attachment to my bear and I still sleep with it every night tucked under my arm, and walk around the house with it from time to time. I almost treat it like it were real – if I drop it, no big deal, but if someone takes it, or makes fun of its ragged appearance, then I get aggressive. I sometimes wonder what will happen to it after I’m dead. It’s made out of material that will last a long time. Will it just be disposed of and left in some tip or at the back of some storage cupboard somewhere? Will someone else love it care for it like I do? I guess we’ll see what happens.


Principles always need to be expanded and greatly clarified. I don’t know why this is, as it greatly implies that there is no room for common sense in interpretation. Corporate governance, shop guidelines and so on all have principles that can be distilled to about 5 or 6 lines. However that isn’t enough, people are stupid and pedantic so that everything needs to be drilled down to its core components and expanded greatly. If that’s the point, why bother trying to summarise it? It’s already contained in the explanation. That’s something I’ll never understand. Why can’t people just understand them from the outset? People wouldn’t just say them if they meant something different!


There’s a guy at work who I don’t like. He’s got this air of smugness about him cause he’s a year or two older than I am, and he’s been promoted to managerial level. Well the promotion didn’t make him smug, cause he was smug before that, I assure you! He just goes around like he’s the king of the world with his good looks, toned biceps and skinny jeans and so on and so forth. Anyway, he has a ridiculously hot girlfriend (of course), who also works in the same Department, but in a different area. I’ve seen her around with him before while out walking during lunch and stuff. I got to meet her at our Christmas party last year (I think I might have mentioned her in a post around then). She’s obscenely attractive. Amazing body, eurasian, just sex on legs I tell you. She got majorly drunk at this party and I had the hilarious intention of openly flirting with her in front of him. I pulled this off to great effect and all the physical signs were there. I just recently found out that she is going to be starting a job in our area in the next few weeks. Of course I am going to pull the same thing again! I don’t like him! She’s very attractive! Don’t worry, I’m nasty, not a total bastard, it’s not like I’d do anything with her. I just like to make him squirm. It’ll also be good to finally have some hotness in the workplace again!! I can’t tell you how badly the effect of having no hotness has had on my psyche. Utterly damaging I tell you.


So yes, I know that the Joaquin Rate List (JRL) is still in need of updating! I haven’t had the chance, and there has just been a bevy of insanely beautiful women who seem to have just sprung up overnight. Therefore, it will take some time to do, but don’t fret, I will get to it very soon.


Uni starts up again on Monday – for 18 weeks! That is not good! But at least it’s my last subject. It also means that I am now full time, and I can finally have my student card reflect that. Hello benefits and discounts!!! It’s about bloody time, that’s all I can tell you. The price of basic amenities these days is a fucking joke at full price. Public transport, car parking, movies, it all is seriously bullshit. I cannot wait to save some money on these items. However, I am not looking forward to this hard slog that I have to get through over the coming months. At least it’s all group work, and I have a very good team.


I am an avid watcher of an Australian gaming show called Good Game. While the quality has dipped as of late, they do have a fantastic segment called Pile of Shame. Basically they interview designers and developers about games they’ve never finished. I figured I might as well put in my 2 cents here. This just includes games that I am no longer playing on a regular basis.

Driver 2 – Yes I never finished it and I feel humiliated! And it wasn’t just cause I never bothered, I really effing tried! That last mission is sheer brutality! I couldn’t do it. Perfect driving is required in order to make it to the last checkpoint, because you need to get out of the car and run, and that last run is what kills me. Ahhh this one is a heartbreaker I tell you. WAY harder than the last mission on Driver 1- which the other watched me defeat with no troubles. Though, that Supafly mission with the sports car was pretty tough. I remember trashing that car several times.

Urban Chaos – Absolute SHIT game on the Playstation. I can’t believe I paid full price for this one. Horribly designed, poorly executed, it was just bloody awful. I didn’t get too far due to the silly game mechanics, especially on the driving.

I will continue this as I remember what games I’ve played!


I know I mentioned that I would go into the specifics of my car accident, but I want to post some pics up in the form of diagrams to help you understand, but I haven’t done that yet, so I’ll get around to that fairly shortly too.


Facebook, what an interesting thing really. I’m quite fussy about the friends I add. I typically only accept people who I’ve met in person and am fairly familiar with. So when I’m faced with requests to join the group for my High School reunion, and friend requests from school bullies and other downright nasty people, I definitely ignore them. Time may forgive you, but I won’t! I love how people try to pretend the past never happened and they want to be friends with everyone. Not for me. But on a slight tangent, de-friending someone is becoming an interesting concept for me. I remember my peak amount of friends was about 190-something (before you cringe, no I don’t measure my self worth in the number of friends I have on facebook). However, that number has dwindled to about 180-something now. Some have just left facebook, but others have de-friended me. How do I know? I was trying to search for people in my friend list and they disappeared, but when I searched for them, they came up and we still had mutual friends and all, but the friend request button came up. What the hell? What did I ever do to you? That’s complete bullshit if you ask me.

Facebook is just a way to stay in contact with people, it’s not asking you to make a full on commitment to me and prove your friendship in ways that will push you to the limit of your being! I hate this quote, but I’m going to have to use it – “champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends”. My year 10 formal date de-friended me for no reason! We ran into each other several times a few months ago, and then BAM! I cop this! Another more sinister one was Les Femme Anomaly. From someone I thought I might have loved to being totally ignored and thrown out with the trash, I thought I deserved better. What a bitch, especially after all I had done for her. But I guess it probably had something to do with me no longer being friends with M-Biatch. Incidentally, M-Biatch is now a married woman. Like what the hell?! Where does the time go? I guess we’re all getting old…despite being in our mid 20’s.

So as I mentioned previously, the other and I jammed along on one of his tracks, and the result was sheer brilliance. We were using some of his recording software and hardware, and it was pure awesome. There was even a dual guitar solo in there (featuring both of us simultaneously)! It came off perfectly, with the other showing is freakishly uncanny gift for improvising counterpoint lines over my guitar lines.


The (former) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was deposed the other day in a party room vote. This raised questions of the validity of the leadership process in a democratic country such as Australia. People were complaining that such a thing should not be able to happen to a leader, myself among their number. But I read an interesting article from a former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke (who was deposed in a similar fashion in the early 90’s) today. As he rightly pointed out, the people never choose the leader under our system. We only elect the officials who then agree to pick a leader. It’s still sad, but I guess it’s a fact of life in the world of politics.

I received a hilarious phone call the other day from Optus, who is a telecommunications service provider. I have my mobile phone with them, and previously had my internet and landline with them when I was in Sydney. They thanked me for my years of loyalty (I have just been too lazy to change carriers), and offered me a free netbook. I thought this was an awesome score, but figured there must be some sort of catch. Of course the guy said that it came with wireless internet that cost $30 a month which was automatically bundled with it, meaning that you couldn’t separate the two. So therefore, they were giving me something for “free” that I had to pay an ongoing cost for, for the rest of my life! One year? $360. No thank you! I already have the internet at home, and I have a wireless router, why the fuck would I spend more money on something like that? I told him I wasn’t interested and promptly hung up. Fuck you Optus, that is ridiculously misleading.

There is this girl I used to work in my area who is an absolute hoot to converse with over e-mail. She moved to another government department because she wanted to get involved with social policy. However, due to mismanagement on that end, she is being hilariously underutilised, and as a result she is reduced to sending us e-mail forwards, and other notable conversation points. This is good, because whenever I’m bored, I just send her an e-mail with a few words in it, and she’ll reply back with a huge essay, and some brilliant talking points to get into. We had a big discussion on positive body images for women, obesity, genetics, evolution and the internet the other day. It’s awesome, intellectually stimulating conversation.

Speaking of the Department, it’s a silly thing. The piece of legislation that we oversee contains a provision for the Minister to have unfettered discretion with their decision making. This is ridiculously pointless, as we are not allowed to consider political items in our briefs or recommendations, we only objective assess against the provisions of the Act. These recommendations are then promptly ignored when politics may look the Minister look bad, even if the decision is the ‘objectively correct’ one under the Act! What’s more, is that we’re not aware that the Minister has such inclinations on a subject matter until we receive the brief back all rejected, and the Minister’s Office rings up and abuses us for making such recommendations! What the hell? The Minister and their Office is so divorced from the daily grind of Government Departments that it is seriously a joke! We have no idea what they’re thinking, and they have no idea what we’re thinking. This has a major effect on the work we do, and leads to inefficiencies and much time being wasted.

That being said, NO piece of legislation should ever allow a Minister to have unfettered discretion in the decision making process. Such things are not conducive to the democratic process, or notions of fairness and objectivity.

Land and development planning via Government processes are silly. I don’t think the democratic process and medium-long term planning is compatible. Governments are typically only in for 3 years or so, so in the event they get voted out, planning projects get put on hold, revised, scrapped or go ahead with little to no support from the new Government. I think all planning should be done on a short term time frame, with a view to long term process in staggered stages.

Oh wow, that was a long post! Just over three thousand words! Is it the biggest post ever? I’m not sure, but it probably comes close. Very good, especially since I had a fair bit more to go, but I will get into that stuff tomorrow.

That’s it for now folks, have a nice day. Joaquin out.

So you think you can blog??

Not me!

Cause I tried to remember to blog this weekend, and I totally failed!

EPIC! Haha, I will continue this after the shame has worn off.

Good Time Music

Yes! Finally caught up with the other after far too long. Enter, the jam session! Worked on one idea of his which was scant previously, however we added some new dimensions to it, some drums, more guitars and bass and we have finished nearly 70% of the track! I even played bass! It was good times I tell you! Even a comical idea about playing two separate lead guitar parts (at the same time) paid off dividends, cause it's fantastic!

I've taken a day off just to re-set my sleeping times. Should all be good now. More posts to come shortly!

Joaquin out.

There are some dummies in this world & Karma? Go to hell!

Interesting lunch today. While eating on a couch in the shopping centre, there was some guy reading one of those "books for dummies" just further down. Upon closer inspection (read: snooping), I discovered he was reading "Blogging for Dummies". Seriously. What the hell?! Why is there a book on blogging?! Why was it so thick?! Here's my tips (and they're for free):

1. Join blogging service
2. Type
3. Click "post" or "publish"

Done. I just saved you some money there! What is there to learn that common sense can't dictate?!

Karma, why ist thou a harsh mistress? That beautiful girl from a little while back. Facebook, oh, mutual friends? OH GOD! That girl from my last work place. It just had to happen didn't it? Even nearly a year later, I am being kicked in the head (metaphorically, of course). Of course all the beautiful girls know each other!!! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Long weekend this weekend. I am going to relax and play some music, and hopefully meet up with the other.

That's it for now folks. Joaquin out!

Quicktime!

A quick blog before bed, cause I wanna read a bit more before I sleep. That and I have to be up damn early to travel for work.

The other showed me some awesome stuff that the new Propellerheads Record program can do and damn, it is amazing. REAL sampled drums. The way it should be thank you.

I want to post a more in-depth analysis of my accident, which I will get to soon, cause I'm still annoyed damn it! I need a car!

My goal for this year is to have more posts than the next highest year, which was 75 posts for last year. Since we're already at 60 something, I think we're well on our way.

Interesting lunch today. Ate at some decent cafe that I go to every now and then. There's a waitress there who is just ridiculously beautiful. But something puzzled me about her. She looks white. But she could be eurasian. There's just something about her eyes that gives off the exotic look. This drove me absolutely crazy. Of course I could not just ask her such a loaded question like that. Then it dawned on me. Can I just not accept the fact that the girl was beautiful and leave it at that? Why did I need to label her? To make her easy to categorise? To compare her with other women of the same type? Pretty sad really.

Wrote one hell of a riff today. Hell yeah! Joaquin out folks!

Only Got 31 Minutes To Save The World!

Well just until 30 Rock starts! Therefore, I must blog hard and I must blog fast! Therefore, apologies in advance for the myriad of typos that are no doubt going to appear in this blog fest.

Yes, I know this is late, but I have been busying myself with movies and games. For some odd reason I've been playing LOTS of Road Rash 3 on the Mega Drive emulator. Don't ask me why, but that game is DAMN fun. It's BLOODY hard, but fun, and after my millions of re-attempts, 2 hours can go by in a heartbeat. I've also been getting back into Assassin's Creed 2, after my self-imposed exile from the Xbox due to studies. Classes are over, so I'm just enjoying my time. I had an online exam, which was interesting, cause I'd never sat one before, but I have to say I loved the experience! Since it was open time (the exam was open for a week), I sat it at like midnight, and finished at 3am. These times are the best for me because that's when my mind is the sharpest, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I didn't rush, I didn't stress, it was wonderful. Haha, when marks are out tomorrow, I probably MIGHT not be singing the same tune.

The Joaquin Rate List (JRL) has grown out of control! Haha, there are SO many updates, that I just have to hold off so I can just add them, without the need to put in a concurrent blog entry. Oh well, next weekend is a long weekend, so I will get stuck into it then.

I had a classic moment the other day on the work intranet - they were offering a course for "resilience'. I mean what the hell? How can someone teach that?! Is it due to the high staff turnover? Haha I don't understand it, the work is easy and sometimes it can be fun, so I don't understand why people don't enjoy it and leave in high numbers.

Umm, going back over my blog notes, I have NO idea what the hell I was talking about anymore! Haha my extreme shorthand is only valid for 3-4 days tops, not 2-3 weeks! I have to really try to blog more often, but guitar comes first. I hadn't played in a while, but I forced myself it pick it up after buying some new strings (for cheap), and I am enjoying it. Came up with 2 new and decent riffs. I need to start a new movement with the other - the riff a day movement for 30 days. Basically the idea would be to come up with original, enjoyable and good riffs every day for 30 days. No more, no less. It would be an interesting experiment. I got the chance to catch up with the other for some electronic jamming, and it was bloody interesting to say the least! His setup is just ridiculous and I am absolutely loving it! More on those in another post, as there's a lot more work to come.

I read an interesting story at work the other day, it was about people's peeves with hotels. Having read through them, I have to add my agreement (and two cents worth)! Why are walls in hotels (even the high end ones) so paper thin?! You can hear EVERYTHING in the next room, and god help you if your neighbours in the block above or below you keep their bathroom door open, because you can hear them through the ventilation shafts! On top of that, there was a time when I was at a training camp for my previous job, and I traded rooms with some douchebags so I could stay with a friend. I thought I got a bum deal, but the next day they showed up to the workshops with bleary bloodshot eyes. They told me that their next door neighbours were having extremely loud sex, and the girl sounded like a seagull! HAHA, hilarious I gotta say. Why are the corridors so noisy?

Also, what is the deal with check in and check out times?! Hotels are law unto themselves. I will show up when I show up, and I will leave when I am good and ready! As long as it happens before midnight, I have not stayed an additional day! What sort of service is that? Getting up at 10am to check out, or to get there by 2pm is a pain in the ass. Another thing is bloody do not disturb signs! CLEANERS DO NOT READ THEM! THEY IGNORE THEM. THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO READ ENGLISH! Haha, every single time I've had one up, I've been ignored by a cleaner just bursting in and just cleaning. Seriously! What the fuck is the point? God help me if I'd been the sleazy type! One last thing is the breakfast times! They're like 6am-9am! What is the point in going on holiday if I have to get up fucking early to eat breakfast that I HAVE PAID FOR?! Silly silly silly.

Haha I am reminded of a funny story from several Fridays ago. I walked home from work, and I kinda got lost and had to come down a massive hill to get on to a footpath to get home. I have a regular gait for someone my height, but I can walk pretty quickly, and that's how I typically tend to walk. However, there were also 2 girls who were out for their exercises after work walking around the lake. I TRIED so hard to get ahead of them going down the hill, but they just found an extra gear and I landed like 4 metres or so behind them. So then I had to spend about 30 minutes right behind them since we were walking at the same speed and with the same gait and it was frustrating! I could understand they were getting quite uncomfortable - they probably thought I meant them harm cause I was walking so fast, but I didn't want to slow down (cause I wanted to watch the Simpsons), and I didn't want to run (as that would have freaked them out further). There was also only one route to take! Therefore I was pretty damned. At this point I was all sweaty in my coat, and my legs were going numb. However, I gained respite from my knowledge of physics and basic geometry. Going around a curve and they were on the outside, I took the inside, and even though we were walking at the same speed, I managed to get ahead of them, and I was happy! Yes, I beat them across the next major bridge and I was home free. Shame, cause they had nice asses, hahaha!

Anyhow, that's it for tonight folks. Have a good one. Joaquin out.

Yes!

I know! I said I'd blog on the weekend but I have not had a chance to as of yet!

It was uncharacteristically busy. So I do have a legitimate excuse!

Anyway, one for June. Many more to come.

Anything About You?

Yes, I am at home as I am to sit an exam tomorrow.

I am just studying it up and relaxing with some guitar and light reading.

All should be good. However, I did leave my blog notes at my actual home, so no updates till Saturday!

Sorry folks!

Electrical Changes Are Charging Up The Young

In case my last post was too cryptic for some of you morons out there, yes I did have a car accident. No, it was not my fault. I finally found out the extent of my injury. Turns out I actually dislocated my knee, which had set during the impact, and I had torn a few ligaments in it. It still doesn't feel right, and I am taking some anti-inflammatories. If it hasn't healed by Monday, I'm in need of some more scans. How wonderful! Especially since it was a really low speed collision, and the impact on my knee was very small; I've been hit harder before.

The car, ahh my wonderful car! It still runs, but the radiator has died, and a fair bit of the engine block is messed up. It will cost a considerable amount to fix it. Even though I only drove it on the weekends, it was heavily relied upon! This whole ordeal is just bullshit really.

On to more lighter events. Should condoms be free? The question was posed to me recently, and I didn't know what the answer should be! Is sex such a fundamental part of human development that it should be free? Like water from a tap etc? But companies need to make a profit, so how can this be remedied? State made condoms?? Hahaha, perish the thought! But the choice isn't there is it? Well as far as I'm aware. Condoms can be bought from stores and chemists, but you can't obtain free ones outside of university (at least so I've been told). So what are non uni going people supposed to do? Haha, it's not my problem or concern anyway. The whole condom buying thing just totally weirds me out, and hell I don't even know how to put one on! I remember in High School some of the physical education classes got to try out on test tubes, but my class wasn't one of them, and now that's probably the reason why so many of my former High School alumni are parents!

The trouble with typing up my blognotes a few weeks ago is that I write them in shorthand, so with no context, I have NO idea what the hell I meant to say!

I finally got the router going, so we have Xbox Live goodness, and my friend has the net on his comp, but it's not like it matters since I do the most downloading anyway! Already done 15 gig for this month! I'm impressed, haha! A lot more where that came from though! Never again will I attempt to bridge a hardwired Modem into a wireless router! Next time I'm getting a combined modem/router!

Ahh weirdly enough I just got hit with a dose of tiredness. I'm gonna leave it there for now folks, but never fear, plenty more blognotes to come.

Joaquin out.

Accidents Happen

And all you're left with are questions, and not much else.

What if I'd done things differently? Left a little later/earlier?

Now my confidence is shaken. My shroud of invincibility has been lifted.

My knee hurts but it's only my heart that's broken.

I'll never forget the noise and the instant realisation that this is REAL, and I wasn't imagining it.

I've never been in shock before, it was a bit of a rush.

As the shock wears off and the cold goes away, the extent of my injury will be apparent.

It was a nice car I had once...

Well hey, at least everyone else is fine.

Coronas And European Girls

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but in this city there seems to be a lot of people who are leaving their 1/4 full Corona bottles around! And not just near pubs and clubs, you see them in random places. Who leaves a Corona bottle lying around, especially when it's 1/4 full?? What if it's the same bottle everywhere I keep seeing?? Haha now that's a thought!

So it strikes again, go to a restaurant, and yes, there are attractive women. Legs till next week, amazing bodies and dresses, it made it rather difficult to eat! But I got the thought that they were much younger than me. Noo, before you all start dialling 911 or triple zero, they were definitely legal. But still a lot younger than I was. I'm almost a full decade above the age of legality here. You see it now and then when someone in their mid 20's dates someone in their late teens. I don't really think that sort of thing is for me. I guess this is where the harsh reality of age and life set in. Well them's the breaks I say!

As stated, I have a ridiculous amount of updates to get into the Joaquin Rate List (JRL), and I think that may take me some time. As I am trying to type this one out as fast as possible, I'll have to wait till next time to get those up. I just want to be home and away from here. It's so much more peaceful and the atmosphere is just so much more conducive to actually getting work done, when I'm left to my own devices.

I finally visited the other after moving and we had a cracking good time! He showed me the wonders of a program called FL studio (the latest iteration of Frooty Loops), and goddamn, what a powerhouse of a program! Makes Adobe Audition look like a bloody pre-school Audacity like program! We were working on a song (interestingly enough, a dance song) for like 2 hours, and it was just brilliant; sitting there nodding our heads to the beat, it was fantastic! The other is getting a Midi controller for more control over the action, and depending on how it pans out for him, I may also get one. We also got into some jams, which were fantastic and they have gone up into dropbox for fine tuning. The other also procured himself an Epiphone SG copy and it looks fantastic! Plays well too. So congrats to him!

So it finally happened! After 20 years of Telstra being absolutely crap, my phone line is up and running! I have ordered the internet and that too is listed as being up and running, so all I need is a modem router and I am GOOD to go! Hell yes, here comes 50 gig and downloads till I cry!! In terms of internet and phone provisioning, it still makes me ill to think how far behind the rest of the world Australia is in terms of service. We pay an exorbitant amount for internet that is not all that fast, nor does it allow enough data allowance. This is supposed to be a first world country, and we're getting stiffed. The problem relates to Telstra's ridiculous monopoly on all the service infrastructure, they've shut everyone out. And since they had a huge market position before it was privatised, they can just destroy everyone else. This isn't right. Under the constitution there is allowance for telephony devices to be TOTALLY governed by the Federal Government. Handing control over to a private company should not be allowed right? Cause there is an implied right that all Australians should be able to access it, therefore charges such as line rentals or service charges cannot be levied, because the tax system should pick that up under a PUBLIC right. I hope this National Broadband Network will come good some time soon!

Haha, at work the other day, I was so in the zone and just ploughing through work I just felt REALLY relaxed. In fact, so relaxed I coulda just peed my pants right there and then! Ahh work, what a funny place! We have these poorly produced videos to teach us about the dangers of I/T security etc. Anyhow in these videos these people keep stealing data from Government employees. Of course they're actors, but what's gold is that the I/T hackers are all these ridiculously attractive females. I'm sorry, but that's just not believable. No attractive female works in I/T as a programmer. Graphic designer yes, tech support perhaps. But programming? Nope, not true! Sorry, nope, never!

I got pwned by a guy with an umbrella the other day. When I used to live in Sydney, if it was relatively overcast in the morning, or if someone walking down the street from my window was carrying an umbrella, I would carry one too. I have not followed this now that I'm back here. I saw a guy in the morning carrying one while I was on my way to work. It was a sunny day so I thought he'd just have a burden. But lo and behold, come home time, it was POURING and I got drenched! Haha he showed me!

I think I posted that story about that girl whose job I took over when I first joined the public service. The one who obviously did not like me, but unfortunately had a fantastic ass. This made it even funnier when I discovered that her surname is just another name for prostitute (I shan't repeat it here or it'll be easy to ID her). I saw her again the other day and she totally gave me the biggest death stare ever, haha fantastic!

Since the colder weather has started, I have started wearing a light t-shirt underneath my shirts and suit jackets. I am a huge fan of this, as it keeps me incredibly warm, and the plasticy smell from the packaging that they're in totally gets me off! It's so nice, I love it!

Anyhow, that's it for now folks. I'll try to blog from home if I get my stuff in order and get my router etc. Have a nice day! Joaquin out.

Back In May I Forgot My Thoughts

Yes, I know I was meant to blog last week, but I never got around to it! Too much study to do, and I really could not be bothered. However, this is good for you because I now have a backlog of blog notes to get through.

Bloody Telstra! Epic fail! I'm meant to have my phone line and internet set up at my place already, but alas, they have failed me, so I still only have access to the internet on the weekends.

I don't know how it happened, but the Joaquin Rate List (JRL) is set to grow by a bloody substantial amount on my next update! I will hit that up at the next available opportunity. I want to get home quite soon, so I am just going to blog then get ready.

I will aim to get the other to blog ASAP. Further, I will try to get in a jam session with him. I've been getting a few more ideas in, and now that I've cut my nails, I am good to go with the guitar!

Do you ever get the feeling that people are laughing at you? After work I usually have to walk against the flow of general pedestrian traffic in order to get to my place. Therefore I am walking in an oncoming direction to most people. They all seem to look at me, laugh a bit then look away. What is up with that? Are they laughing at me? What's wrong with me? No doubt, this makes me extremely paranoid and self-conscious. I hope this isn't a sign of mental illness.

As mentioned above, I have been studying to get some assignments and such done. This opened up a new world of scary procrastination for me. I was doing EVERYTHING else except study. I used to be so motivated, and a lot of my work was done before the due date, but this time around, I am not loving it so much!

I don't know if I ever ragged on it before, but when I had Optus internet in Sydney, it really was quite a fantastic deal. Despite counting uploads AND downloads in my download limit, 20gig per month was definitely more than enough to get through. I only came close to limits because of my ridiculous downloading and streaming. But when you couple that with the fact I got free calls to all mobiles, landlines and so on, it was something I really enjoyed! I'll probably never see the likes of that any time soon. I was ringing like a man possessed!

I keep waking up with cuts on my fingers these days. Really small superficial ones, but how is it happening? Am I scratching myself in my sleep? Where did they come from? It can't be stress related, because I find that work is getting easier.

I have no idea why I keep going back to my Sydney days! If I'm always a grass is always greener on the other side person, I'll never be happy! But anyway, I remember that after my first year of work, we were forced to take extended leave over the Christmas break. This ended up being close to 3 weeks, whereas in the public service I only got 3 days off during this period. I had a bloody good time. Instead of going to the gym at 6:45 in the morning every day, I would get up at noon, casually eat breakfast then later work my way to the gym...where there would always be the same HOT MILF on the treadmill totally killing it and filling my head with various lustful thoughts, while she was watching Oprah and exercising. Then I would just play games and watch movies till about 3-4am and I bloody loved it. I will never get holidays like that ever again, where I am being paid to have a bloody fantastic time. By the time I get substantial leave (long service I suspect), I will probably be married with children and my life will be over!

I remember in college I had an acquaintance who liked some girl (this was quite common knowledge), but she kept dating losers. I asked him how he felt about it, and he said that he had this unrealistic expectation that whenever he met ANY girl he liked, he would picture their entire future together, of them being married and having children etc. At first I guess it could be written of as immature, but in reality, I honestly think that is every guy. Most girls don't realise that, and that's a shame, as we are typically characterised as unfeeling, unthoughtful brutes.

U.S. 80's/90's sitcoms had the best city settings. I remember Perfect Strangers and its wonderful introduction featuring many shots of Chicago. I also remember Driver 2, where I would spend countless hours driving around the city (in the 70's). What a great place to visit. Ditto for Full House and San Francisco (but Mythbusters also shows off the city in great detail). Speaking of Driver, I think that game made me a much better real life driver. It was one of the few games where a road car handled realistically, and not like Need For Speed Carbon, where a car can supposedly turn 90 degrees without braking, at well over 200km/h. Case in point? I tried to over take a guy when a one lane road split into two lanes, and then as I was next to him, I found that he had started to drift VERY far over both lanes, and almost sent me into a blood traffic island at 80km/h. If I had not been on the ball and had been watching him, which in turn enabled me to slam on the brakes and avoid him, I would have definitely had a pretty significant accident. Good ol' Driver!

Am I burnt out? I don't feel like I can work as hard as I used to anymore. Or am I just getting lazy?

The other day at work I forgot my headphones and had to suffer from lack of stimulation! I have a DVD of songs in my drive that I listen to occasionally when I need a pick up, or need to get into the zone to do some repetitive tasks.

There's a guy at work who has a ridiculously attractive girlfriend -who also happens to work there, but in a different area. I just mentioned this because he should be damned!!

I read on wikipedia the other day that in Wolfenstein 3D (that classic game), the bosses were drawn with 2D sprites, so that no matter what way you approached them, they would always see you! NO WONDER! They would always just start shooting at you and you'd always start on the back foot! It's not like current games where you can sometimes sneak up on bosses and take them out and make life easier for yourself! Those geniuses at ID software!

Haha, anyhow, that's it for this week folks. Have a nice day! Joaquin out.

Am I Living It Right?

What is it with bands reforming without their original core members? I read the other day that Hole had reformed, but I looked at the band lineup. It's only Courtney Love who is back! I'm sorry, but that is not Hole! When it's only one person (granted, that person may be the most well known), I don't think that can count as having a band reform. Especially in that situation, as Courtney Love had just had a moderately successful solo career. Ditto for Guns 'N Roses! It's just Axl Rose!!! At least Izzy is in it from time to time. Yes, I know that Slash is everyone's fave, but Izzy was really the genius of the group, and I loved his guitar lines.

A scary realisation struck me the other day. As I've mentioned in a post several months ago, this city is having a lot of construction work done (in order to accommodate our ridiculously unneeded expansion). As a result, the majority of suits and so on that you typically see (from being the capital city) from public servants has given way to the bright fluoro green tops of construction workers and other laborers. I've been on the road at a lot of odd times while visiting friends, like 4am etc. You see these people all around the road flying to get to work while they're barely awake. Anyhow they're all my age or younger, driving around in expensive cars with arm candy when you see them about town. What the fuck?? Seriously, what the fuck?? These are guys who probably haven't finished college, who have just started working and have earning capacity greater than mine! What sort of reward is this? I finished college, I went to university for 5 years! I have a bloody honours degree in law! Where's the fucking fairness in that?? That got me questioning, am I living it right? I'm not sure, you may have to ask John Mayer. Thanks for rewarding me for following the "set path".

I am still yet to get the internet at home, so I am back at my folks to study and to get my weekly blog out of the way! However, that is all to be set up soon and I should be re-connected within the next 2 weeks. This is good, considering I have probably THE biggest update to the Joaquin Rate List (JRL) in the blog's history! I didn't think it was possible, but these hotties just keep coming out of nowhere!

I was shopping the other day at some store and I ran into one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my life. Tall, brunette, curvy, she was just wowza. That got me thinking. What is it about large girls I like? No, not fat girls, not chubby girls. I'm just talking about girls who are structurally built large. Let's not get into a heightist discussion, as the other covered it very well in a post near the start of this blog's history. I'm about average height for a guy, with a regular build, so I guess most of the girls I would see out and about would be smaller than me. So when you have a girl who is taller and "larger" than you, it's just weird. It's probably some sort of complex! Haha, probably for my ego!

It also got me thinking that I talk about girls too much on this blog! I should return to some of the grand intellectual discussions that featured throughly in the early stages of this blog. Studying is a bitch. I don't know why I'm doing it again! If work wasn't paying for this, I would not have continued. Having my free time swallowed up to do something I don't particularly enjoy is not really a good motivating factor here.

The other raised some excellent points regarding the proposed internet censorship filter in Australia. I believe he was spot on. This USED to be an open minded country. However, that dark period where the conservative party ruled (with an iron fist) for over a decade has just totally fucked with people's heads. Now as a result, even the liberal party (not THE Liberal party) is not as progressive as people thought. It's just spouting horrible Orwellian rhetoric in order to appease to the population and keep their grip on power. What's worse is that the only people who seem to oppose these moves (as well as our current backwards policy on refugees) are not politicians! I won't go into a full on spiel about what's wrong with the system, as the other has already gone into sufficient detail.

The other day I noticed that there may be an undercurrent of young power hungry go getters at work. They're not in my division or anything, but they did look very young. Maybe I outrank them??

I walked to work the other day from my new place. This was pretty substantial, as it's a 40 minute walk at a fairly brisk pace. For some reason, I constantly had "Mother fucker on a motorcycle" pulsating in my head. This was odd, considering I've never actually heard the song in my life. As a result, I spent the 40 minutes with a firm grin on my face. It was a bloody long stretch, especially before work. Was it life changing? No, it was nothing like my "death trek" from the Eastern Suburbs to the North Shore of Sydney that I undertook just a few years ago, in order to save some money. Now that walk was brilliant!

I have been tired a lot as of late, so I have started sleeping earlier, and it's been good. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. In fact I got some good gameage and some movies in, around my studying.

Oh gosh, the other day at work I had to sit through this AWFUL presentation by some apparently famous and powerful fellow (who I don't remember the name of). The backbone of his presentation was a powerpoint talk. Failage x1000. I was FIGHTING the urge to just pass out from boredom and tiredness! Powerpoint is overused in the business (and academic) world. It adds nothing to your speech. I remember in first year uni (before I became jaded and cynical), one of my favourite lecturers said he was a complete hater of powerpoint (before I knew what it was), and not to use it, unless it adds something special to your speech. To date, I have not seen an example of PP adding something special to anyone's speech. Therefore, I agree with his thoughts! In fact I should do a powerpoint presentation on how shite these presentations are, just to revel in the irony! For a start, Visio is much better. However, I feel that these things are not needed if you're a good speaker and can engage well with an audience. What awesome famous speeches in history came accompanied with a bloody Powerpoint presentation? None! I'm sure the other will agree! Did Martin Luther King give his "I have a dream" speech with a projected image of some kid sleeping with a dream bubble over his head?? Did Henry V give his St. Crispin's Day Speech with with a projected image of the word "WIN OR DIE" in the background? I don't think so!

I had not played guitar in over a week, until last night, and I think I still have it! Chordal wise, maybe not so solo or technique wise. But I am taking some guitars with me to get back into it full steam! I have also been reviewing some guitarpro songs and now I am perplexed. What do you do when you've finished a song and you have a different version of the song which MAY have a superior melody in terms of chordal progression?? Ahh I'm stuck, cause it's one of the best songs I've composed!

Haha, I sent these blog notes on Wednesday from work. I feel like I'm in a time machine where I'm reviewing them now and trying to remember what I was talking about! Very trippy I gotta say!

The weather has been switching between warmth and bone chilling coldness. I don't know WHO the hell can stand that sort of weather? It's not natural, it has a bad effect on the body!! Some people are just nuts, especially those in less than warm clothing when it's cold! Teenage girls in short shorts outside won't be thinking they're so hot when they're hooked up to a breathing machine in the hospital with bloody pneumonia!

My life has become more complicated since moving back here. My problems were big before, but they did number lesser than the ones I currently encounter. I only hated work before, as well as not saving enough money. Now there's a myriad of things! I'm saving, but what am I saving for? Are these even things that I want? Just something to be considered I guess.

That's it for now folks! Till next week. Joaquin out. You've reached the end of the line!

Repercussionist

I have really been enjoying my time on the Xbox 360! Much like the other's PS3, the Xbox 360 runs on these "sign-in" profiles. This is incredibly handy, as you can save games and player info directly to the hard drive, as opposed to old school memory blocks and so on, that took up a finite amount of resources, for just ONE player. I particularly enjoy this, as I have my own profile on the other's PS3, and my housemate's Xbox, which means I can play my own games on them, at my own pace whenever. I don't have to worry about wiping over their games, and I can just carry on while autosave carries out my brilliant bidding in the background!

So while I've been newsless, I've discovered that Powderfinger are breaking up! Well I think they've had a good run, and they've made some spectacular music. I think the other is not happy, but I can live with this. Motor Ace breaking up was all too much to drive me to extreme cynicism!

I still don't have the internet at my new place, but this is something I hope to remedy quite shortly. I'll just have to wait on the connection and then I'll be set (and hopefully in faster connection speed).

Ahh I have a few more blog notes to get through, but I'm pressed for time as I'd like to go home and study now. Anyhow, I'll be back to blog in a week or so. See you then folks!

Joaquin out.

Leading Questions; Zero Answers

So back at uni for another week! At least it's only 4 days, as opposed to the 5 of the last time I was here. On top of that, I don't have to be at uni ever again after so I am waiting this out.

It's interesting, as it is an intensive class for criminal law. However, just like last time, people (despite being postgrads), are coming in to it with the undergrad mindset. It's not about technical knowledge of laws and rules, it's about operating with new principles to gain skills you didn't previously have. This does not stop smart asses from trying to stamp their authority all over the class with their supposed knowledge of things, but our teacher is a scary genius, and he will not hesitate to expose idiots for the morons that they are. This usually comes about in ritual abuse and humiliation in front of the entire class; a concept I am very down with! I don't understand the need to ask silly questions, questions that you KNOW are not relevant and are things that the teacher had just said NEVER to ask or act on!

Ah well, I can do it! It's just that the long days are getting to me, and I have to study at night again, so I will be tired tomorrow. But this time assessment is a lot more full on, in a shorter space of time. I'm prepped, my performance in the last class was stellar. I can do it again!

Today was good, I just got the strongest urge to blog while I was in class, so I just grabbed my pen and started scribbling on the back of my notes. It feels good to be inspired again!

One of the primary factors for this is the women! Goddamn, some new faces, and ones that I was very fond to see again. One girl was wearing a dancer's outfit, something you'd expect to see in a Lady Gaga clip. Bright fluro blue pants and a white low cut leotard top! What the hell? I didn't mind, cause she had a dancer's body and was sitting in front of me! However, it did get a tad grose when I was able to notice the bones in her back all moving around and just generally destroying the illusion of beauty that was going on there!

Then there's the other girl. Ahhh the other girl. I never thought I was a fan of the blondes (at least that I knew anyway), but damn, she came back with a vengeance. I remember in the negotiation assessment last fortnight, I delegated myself to go talk to her so I could get the 411. I didn't learn anything about her personal life, but I was able to convince her team to vote with us on a proposal that saw my team land the highest score of the day and trounce the opposition. Ahh it felt good! She is tall, blonde very pale, with amazing legs, and has a penchant for wearing little black dresses. This wouldn't have been a killer if she wasn't smart and well spoken, which she is. Me = sucker. However, then she said something in class that alluded to her being married! I don't know if this was a calculated ruse on her part in order to get out of class early, or not. Cause she and a friend both did it, but they don't wear rings on ANY hand. Isn't that odd? Anyway, it made me feel a bit angry, and I don't know why. I guess I was feeling what the other had stated before in a post from many years ago, regarding the best girls being taken early. I may have to get to the bottom of this before the week is over.

Another interesting fact is that all these people who I knew in university (when I was an undergrad) were also there! These are annoying people! Not people I liked or anything like that.

The general demographics of the class are interesting. We have a lot of jocks (the jockocracy) and a lot of stupid skanky bitches. Where did they come from? How did they get into law?? I renew my plight to have law schools conduct interviews to let people in! Ohhh but then again, we'd probably get more of their type in the door that way. Where did all these trendoids come from?

Ahh fuck, time running out, I have to type quicker to get back to my studies and learn stuff!

I don't know why some people don't take care of their cars. There's one girl I knew who kept getting into minor accidents with her car. So much so that I was paranoid about getting into it cause I was shitscared that it was going to fall apart while I was in the passenger seat! Then again I guess it is my issue since it's up to me whether I want to get into the car.

What is it with bad parents? There's some old bitch in our class who has a toddler (ahh the wonders of IVF). Anyway, I was eating lunch on the cafe porch, while she let her kid run around with no pants. That I'm ok with, it's just a toddler, there's nothing offensive about that. But then her kid starts screaming "Wee wee" and starts jumping around. Anyhow, the woman comes up, grabs the child and runs to the bathroom. Ok, so I am HOPING that the kid did not go on the balcony. But then after that she brings the kid back out, and does not put the pants back on OR a nappy. So of course, 5 mins later, the kid pulls the same thing again and the mother has to run and grab her. For fuck sake, what is with parents these days?? Jeez! I was trying to eat goddamn it!

I don't know about you, or whether I've mentioned this before, but I am a firm believer in bitchfacedness. You know what the fuck I'm on about. Girls who just have BITCHY faces. The skinny hooked noses, the sharp, glaring eyes, scowling lips etc. I know phrenology was dismissed as a pseudoscience a long time ago. BUT GIVE IT A TRY! Talk to a girl with a bitchface and you won't be disappointed. It will be bitchtown south central. This has to be one thing that can't be disputed!

Haha this has been a fun post. Till next time folks. Have a nice day! Joaquin out.

Your Dreams May Vary From Ours

Ahhh feeling so tired today! I don't know why that is. I'm sleeping well and long hours. I guess I'm just overtired! I'll be alright though, uni starts up again next week and I'll be enjoying the insanity that is Criminal Law. One of my fave subjects. I am aiming to do well and show up other people!

I'm still enjoying my place, I have set up my computer in my room now. It's odd having it where I sleep, but since my room is much bigger now, it's pretty interesting. All I need is to have the internet and I'll be set! We'll have to see what comes of that though, as it has been complicated! I will blog on that matter another time.

I will be back here next week for uni so I will post more then. What I find strange is my new complex! Everyone is rich and old! It's hilarious! They probably think my housemate and I are gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that. My only gripe is with the car parking space, which is ridiculously narrow! I'm a decent driver, but damn parking in there (and getting out) is a true test of my skills! Coping with barely centimetres from hitting the walls, or someone else's car, it's gold. But as my dad said, if you're going slow enough, you can get away with anything as long as you're going slow enough.

Speaking of my car, it's an interesting thing. It used to be a fantastic car, but after several years of no use whatsoever, it has crossed the threshold into old car. It's like an odd F1 car. The grip is very low at low speeds. It's noisy as hell! The guy who fixed the car last said there was a problem with the alternator, which now results in it sounding ridiculously loud, like inside a rally car. On top of that it is very difficult to see out of the windscreen, and when the car is stationary, the temperature gauge starts heating up! If I'm ever in a traffic jam, the car will just fry itself! Haha, wonderful!

Well I better get my stuff good to go for tonight! You'll be hearing from me soon. Joaquin out.

Weird Musings In A Capitalist Haven

I'm just weirded out over how comfortable my new bed is. I don't ever want to leave it in the morning (well the afternoon, since it's a break and I'm getting up past midday).

I've never had one so comfortable before! What a difference to your life it makes! I didn't like my old bed (the other's current bed) because it was so low to the ground, and I kept cutting my calves with the corners! It was brutal! But I did enjoy being in it.

The other brings up a good point. People who just buy into Apple products cause it's the "hip" thing, without really understanding the mechanics of anything, or shopping around for something that they might find easier to use, or more beneficial to their lifestyle, or cheaper and with more options! The other used the point of the iPad and I think it's quite apt. My housemate is of the same ilk, he'll buy it but only cause it's Apple. He doesn't really need one or anything like that. That's the problem, if people have the money, they'll spend it how they like.

Haha, the other's comments on my previous post were spot on. Those were some damn good days. We had the bottom of the house to ourselves and friends when needed. Or we would just be upstairs at one of the house so we wouldn't annoy the other's folks. Classic times! Playing cricket across 2 ends of the house - one game resulted in a smashed light fixture from T-Man's aggressive batting. Playing soccer on the grounds of the Lodge, waiting to be arrested by Security. Haha I even remember a week where we did not go to school, we just stayed up all night making Super Milo mixtures, and playing Syphon Filter. I remember the 2nd mission, in the park at night defusing chemical bombs. The other was phenomenal in guidance and in taking out those pesky bosses. Haha then there was the all night game sessions in the spare room, which I'm sure I've blogged about before and will not cover again.

I'd like to have those days back again please. The other was right, focusing too much on work, it's not good. You have to make time for others in order to enjoy your time with them!

Ahhh Final Fantasy, I'm glad the other is enjoying it. Square just know how to make bloody good games. This was in stark contrast to Uncharted (1 and 2). It was made by Naughty Dog! These are the same mofos who made Crash Bandicoot (fun but not really engrossing). I'm just amazed they were able to turn out such a fine piece of brilliance in Uncharted. FFs are an entirely wonderful experience. I remember putting in well over 100 hours for BOTH FF7 and FF8. Well worth it I say.

My housemate has an XBox 360, so I'm trying to get up in some of that gameage, as well as my original Xbox which I have setup. Ahh let's not forget the ridiculous amount of PC gaming I have to do too!

Easter, what an odd time. Shops closed yesterday. But today EXTREMELY busy. I really dislike the holiday atmosphere during these times. It's like people don't appreciate it - well that's odd reasoning coming from a Christian, and aimed at people who probably aren't religious. But it seems like capitalism strikes again. Sales all over the place, people spending money on things they don't really need.

Such is life I guess.

That's it for today folks!

Final that fantasy...

As a teenager there seemed to be so many rules. Rules that we created and rules that were created for us by our friends. So eager to box ourselves to some form of definition. I like 'rock' music and anything else is just crap. So damn close minded just so we can find unity in diversity. Everyone thinks that they are "individuals" but they are just like everyone else in their little niche. I remember those days and hell I'm glad I'm not that close minded, at least not anymore. I figured that most people grow out of this sort of behavior when they get older. Unfortunately there are people who in their older age never get over their insecurities and feel the need to still clutch this idea of who they are. Completely defined by someone elses definition. Like a horse with blinkers, they can only see one thing. Its a shame, because they are not willing to let themselves enjoy a whole lot of other stimuli that is oh so good! Its sad, but this is usually very true with most gamers. They are not willing to try out anything that might be slightly different.

Final Fantasy XIII is probably one of the most beautiful games that is out there at the moment. It is visually stunning and the story line doesn't disappoint. Its a massive game and who know how long it will take to finish it, but I'm going to enjoy it for every hour that I play it. There were a whole bunch of people who told me that I shouldn't play it because it is so "linear." These gamers are not willing to give the game a shot because it doesn't fit their idea of what a Final Fantasy game should be like. To be honest they have made a fantastic game that works perfectly and doesn't have to be exactly like its predecessors. Its better than several of the more recent releases. I'm not going to do a game review here, mainly because I can't wait to get back to the game at the moment. So if you can be a little bit open minded, give the game a go, you'll probably have more fun than is legal.

On another note, there are some idiots that work at Sony. Yesterday they released an update for the ps3 firmware. All it does is remove the other os option in the older ps3s. I have one of those, and it really annoyed me today. Not that I ever use the other os option, I have tried it once. I have it there in case I ever bother to use it for something. So they took it out, that's fine (though their rational is as bad as the Qualcomm's April Fools Joke ( http://mashable.com/2010/04/01/butterfly-attack-2/ ) (for some reason people think its really good, I think its a horrible effort and people must be bloody gullible). So this firmware removes the Other Os option but it doesn't revert space allocated for the system back to the ps3 through the update, this has to be done manually. What this meant for me was to format a partition on my external hard drive in Fat32, back up the PS3, format the entire hard drive, restore the files and then update the firmware. So I just had to do a whole lot of work to LOSE functionality of my ps3. This is just sad and pathetic. Next time Sony decide to release a new firmware, it better have something good in it. At the moment I'm feeling a lot of anger for my ps3. Its a good thing that I'm playing Final Fantasy XIII on it, otherwise I might have just defenestrated my ps3. Man at Sony, pull your finger out and do something worthwhile!

Are you afraid yet?

One thing I used to love about Australia was it's open mindedness. More and more, I think this is changing and the future freaks me out! At least the leaders of this country are more conservative than they need be. For example, we still don't have a 'R' ratings for games. So we can have 18+ movies, hell there are so many porn stores in this city, but we can't have 18+ games?? It really annoys me because of the number of times that a game has been refused classification and I just can't get my hands on it. Next is this ISP forced firewall that they want to enforce in Australia. Did I wake up in China somehow?? Sometime it feels like I am there judging by the people around me, but I'm still pretty sure that I'm not in China. That is one the one thing that freaks me out the most about this country. How can something like that be allowed to happen. We are hearing the fake sound of progress...

We are lead to believe that this is free democratic process and we actually have a say. But their propaganda is no different to a closed government. They are just smart enough to make you feel as though you are the ones that made the decision. Isn't that one of the first lessons people learn with their parents. If you really want to make something happen, make it so that they feel as though it was their idea in the first place. We are fed their cleverly guised propaganda in all forms of media that we consume on a regular basis. I consume enough of it, this is true; I'm not going to go back to the stoneage. But I am aware of what is happening around us. Its funny, we humans are all so power hungry, we like to get it in any way we can. We can't all possibly have the power - so lets call it power to the people - democracy - and then find a way to get what we want making them feel as though they wanted it. Kudos I say to them, truly genius. It saddens me.

And no, I don't have a better solution. Life everything else in this universe, everything ends. We will someday destroy this planet and that will be it. We are just working our way towards it. As they say in the Matrix, we are a disease, a cancer.

Fear is our greatest motivator. They have just found the perfect means of spreading the fear into everyones living room.

I'm afraid too... of oh so many damn things...

So Now It Has Come To This

So due to some unpleasantness with the folks I will be moving out. I'll be moving my heavy stuff tomorrow, and gradually moving the other items over time. I will probably need to spend one more week here in order to catch up on some study before I decide to finally hoof it. But it'll be grand! Well at least I'm hoping. Going there today after work I sort of felt a "leaser's remorse". The place was not as wonderful as it looked on first inspection. There doesn't seem to be a garbage chute (despite us being on the top floor of a 3 level place). The car space (and area) is bloody tiny! I don't know how I am going to drive my car around in there! It almost killed me in a friend's small car today, let alone a big sedan! It also took me 20 minutes to close the door which was a bitch, especially with 3 bloody keys!! However, the area is nice, and it's in a semi walking distance to work, and it comes with a gym so hopefully I can get fit again. I'll cope, I'll do what's needed to get on with it.

My other issue now seems to be my anal retentive housemate. He has been sick the last few days, and I am hoping that is the key reason he has been acting like a weirdo, but we'll see. He's worrying too much about things he can't control. As the other will attest to, once you've been on your own, you realise that there are just some things you cannot control and you learn to accept that.

The other has been working on improving himself, and has started learning code by himself. I would like to do the same thing. There are TONS of things I'd like to learn how to do in the near future. Preferably before I got married and time seems to drift away. I'd like to learn how to rollerblade! I remember one time the other and I were trying to get to the local shops from his old house. I was on a bike and the other was skitchin' on a pair of rollerblades. I don't remember why we were going, I think it was to hire some movies. However, there was a bump in the footpath and I actually got some air. This was fine for me, not for the other, who went flying, then landed straight on his unprotected knees. The force was enough to rip his pants open at the knee and he received a brutal cut across both knees.

Despite that, we were more than halfway there, and as a result we had to keep going to the shops in order to get bandages and antiseptic. Nasty as hell. But it showed what we were made of as a young age.

I could do with more sleep and less stress you know!

I have a feeling that my boss at work doesn't like me. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

I think I'm a grass is always greener person. I should have never left Sydney. Yes I know they were getting paid less and I was working way harder. However, I felt more professional, and outside of work I didn't really have to put up with any shit. I've become lazy. But I know if I never left I'd be thinking about how much money I earn now and whether I'd be happier here.

Damn, sucks to be me! Joaquin out.

I'm that guy

I quite a different person than I was a couple of years ago. Now if a stranger comes up to me all worried because his girlfriend was in a crash and needed some cash to get where she is, and he didn't have is wallet; I give them what I have on me. To his defense he did look like he was genuine, either way didn't really matter that much. I hope she's alright. So yes, now I am the guy who will help someone out when it is possible.

I've been thinking lately that Malaysia would be a perfect place to go and work. Guess what?? They don't give out working visas to foreigners very easily at all. What a shame, I think I would have really enjoyed working there. Hmm maybe I should hunt myself a Malaysian girl. No, I'm really someone who would do something like that. I am generally the soppy love story, and so I stay the hell away from love. Its more dangerous than drugs. I'm always attracted to women who are oh so wrong, so I'm going to wait for some day for one to come find me (will never happen you say? Well I'm quite happy on my own).

Man, its been a long day and my head isn't really working as well. I just got back from hour 2-3 hours ago, our server burnt up. Then for some reason I decided to park myself in a chair and then draw for the next 2 hours. Weird, but I'm drained. Time to watch some 24. Can't believe that its the last season of 24...

I just need an in

Sometimes I wonder if everyone in the world feels the same way. Do we all feel as though we haven't accomplished enough? Or that there is this mountain that we are always trying to climb. There is so much to see, so much to do. Is there anyone who is purely satisfied? I hope that someday this feeling will become less dominant, maybe something can take its place that makes it alright that all this other stuff is missing...

Some people say they are happy doing what they are doing. Is this because they are truly happy, or is that their excuse for not trying to achieve more? Do we all learn to settle in life? Sure, life is not that bad, it could be a whole lot worse. But on the same note, it could be so much better. I could be doing something that I would live to get up and do everyday. Everyday wouldn't be a struggle but a step closer to where I would like to be tomorrow? I hope someday that will be possible.

Someone said "sure, everyone wishes they were someone famous and had all the money in the world." I think they missed my point. I wasn't hoping for any of that. I just want to do something that I truly want to do. Not just get things for free, I want to make it happen. I just need an in...

About a year ago, there was a brief period where I considered moving to a Mac instead of a PC. Then I saw Windows 7 and didn't rethink that motion. From that point onwards, I've really started to dislike Apple as a company and the things they produce. My phone is still an iPhone though, but that will change when my contract runs out. What makes the iPhone awesome are the apps that people have developed for their platform and not the phone itself. The slow Wi-Fi is a real pain in the ass. Apple have become what Microsoft used to be in the 90s, except they are probably more shamelessly closed.

I read on another blog today that caught my attention. The ridiculously high price that Apple charge for their already outdated hardware just goes to show that they think their consumers are idiots. Which I guess they are. I'm sure the iPad will be a great success and they will sell a millions of them. But I think a lot of you will be wishing that you waited a while before you bought one, because I'm so sure that we are going to a lot of tablets come out that can all do a lot more than the iPad can...

I know how to do a lot of things on a computer, a lot of which a normal user would not be able to do. A lot of this is because of the "issues" that windows have had over the years. It got me digging into things that a typical Mac user would never try to mess with. And with every little bit, I learned a whole lot of other bits. This all adds up over the years. Sometimes, I'm glad that I've had so many issues in the past. They have taught me some really good lessons...