Isn't It Gruesome That We Celebrate Why

Created a really awesome song in my head when I dreamt last night.  Of course I forgot the meldoy and the lyrics as soon as I woke up.  Today's subject is all I can remember from it.  But in the dream I do recall that I was being chased by a really HUGE bee.  Like the size of my fist!  It was seriously intense.

I don't know a goddamn thing, do I?  Slow it down, check things out then go forward!

I'm not listening to a lot of English songs at the moment, but when I do, I'm listening to a healthy amount of Haim and Creed.  Strangely, a very good combination. 

In today's rant, I must say a big 'fuck you' to Apple and iTunes!  I recently procured my sister-in law's $50 iTunes voucher, and was glad to get a few songs that are very hard to find.  Ok, let's not rag on the fact that most songs on there are like $2.20AUD!  What the fuck?!  Why are people paying 99 cents in the US, especially when the Australian dollar is higher?  Don't talk about production and shipping etc. because we are dealing with virtual audio!  There's no physical copy of this shit!  I can go to JB hi-fi and pay an extra $2 and get my own PHYSICAL copy of the CD, and I can rip that shit to my computer in 320kpbs MP3 audio.  Not some silly M4a format.  Anyway, I asked my sister in law what songs she wanted, considering she gave me the voucher.  So I decided to select the option to gift her some stuff on the program, but bang - went from my credit card as opposed to the iTunes voucher that I had already redeemed.  What the hell?!  There was no warning whatsoever that it was coming out of my credit card, as opposed to the gift voucher.  Doesn't matter anyway, it was just one song, so I'll live.  Still, would have been nice to know that you can't gift a song from a gift voucher purchase on iTunes.  Would have made more sense to just buy the song for me then give it to her.  Nice workaround!

But I did buy some pretty nifty games.  Got Infinity Blade, which I've never played before and it was absolutely awesome.  Quick hack and slash action game with RPG elements.  Probably the best game I've played on iOS.  Love the art direction, music, gameplay, it's all fantastic.  Chugs a bit on the iPhone 4, but not enough to get in the way of enjoyin the fun.  Epic!  Loving it, I'll have to get Infinity Blade 2 after I've gone through all the endings and actually defeated the hidden bosses (I have died at the hands of the God King and beaten him, but I still need to join him).  Need to save up to buy the infinity blade in the game!

So the Government here is looking to implement some of the recommendations in the Gonski Report.  Not bad, but here's the problem - the Government is going to fund higher education by pulling funds from tertiary institutions.  Oh for the sake of fuck, why is this occurring?  Tertiary institutions are already running on little funding!  They're struggling, and this is going to impact students most of all, as the price of education will go up in order to stay competitive and viable.  It's a pretty bullshit thing to occur, considering most Australians who went to university in the 70's and part of the 80's were able to do so for free.  Then it's the same bastards (the ones who reaped the rewards of such a system) who started charging uni students on 'pseudo-loans' for their higher education contribution scheme.  Whoever implemented that should be killed and then left to rot outside so that their bones can be hanged.  We are supposed to rely on education and the innovation of our youth when they're stuck in debt and likely to give up on education?  Not going to happen!  The Labor Government needs to be voted out.  And when I say voted out, I mean utterly annihilated at the elections.  Let the Liberals take over and govern us into the ground with their backwards and outdated views.  Then, and only then may someone worthy rise up from the Labor ranks and take over again.  Pretty fucked up when you consider how much funding goes into private and religious schools in this country.  They already charge huge fees to the parents, so why can't government funding to these places be reduced?  It's a failing system.

It's this silly thing about the older generation making it harder for the youth to gain any benefit from life.  Most people my age can't afford a house because prices are so exorbitantly high.  This is due to the older generation buying loads of investment properties and then negatively gearing them for tax purposes.  Market demand pushes housing prices through the roof, and rental returns get stretched as a result.  End result - we are all renting, and paying too much for it, without the hope of ever being able to purchase a home.  I think that people should only be allowed to purchase homes that they live in.  Investment properties are a joke, and the concept just serves notions of greed.  Housing everyone is more important than someone's property portfolio.

Totally torqued my back the other day at the gym.  I can lift pretty substantial weights now, but the result is that my hands get massively chewed up by the equipment.  I've got callouses and blisters all of my hands, and it's not great to touch, but I can still play guitar (thankfully).  So I bought gloves to help me with that, but on Thursday I forgot to take my gloves to the gym, so at the risk of damaging my hands I decided to do some lighter weights.  Then on Saturday when I did another weights session, I took my gloves and lifted my regular weights, and damn!  Ouchhhh!  Totally wrenched the top bit of my neck (where it joins the rest of the spine), as well as my lower back, just above my hips.  My weekend was a bit painful, but it's starting to dissipate now.

Got in some guitar over the weekend, but not as much as I hoped.  So I'm going to try to spend this week working on original material and get some new ideas down.

As I'm sure I've ranted on about before, it really sucks that in this day and age, most people can't afford to buy cars or own homes without entering into a ridiculous, exploitative loans by banks.  It's not a nice system.  Things really need to change.

Looking to travel again at some point in the future.  But the question is where??

Only an hour and a bit until I'm out of here, and I can't wait!

Well this has been a pretty damn good blog, if I do say so myself!

Let's keep it there for now.

Joaquin out.

Setting Feelings To Default

Just so I don't need to feel anything.  Like machines, just unfeeling, autonomous beings without a care in the world.

Just a stupidly busy night last night and I'm very tired.  Well, at least it's Friday, right?  I just need to get through the day and relax this weekend.  Maybe I'll get a movie in.

But there'll definitely be guitar!  Some original stuff, thank you very much.

Did I have anything intellectual to blog about today?  Maybe, but I can't seem to recall.

Got a lot more things to add to the download list!

Will I ever watch them all?  Who knows?
Ok, just under an hour until I'm out of here.

What I don't like about social media, especially on twitter and tumblr is the concept of mutual following.  If you follow a shitload of people, your dashboard is going to be clogged with incredibly boring stuff, and you'll spend literally hours on things like twitter and tumblr just trying to catch up.  That's not how I want to spend my time!  So if I don't follow back, it's not because I dislike you, it's because I don't have the time!  I also don't feel the need to update such things with a million posts.

Ergh, I am feeling mega sick at the moment, and I need to get through these 45 minutes before I can get out of here.  Probably to be biblically sick at home.  Well at least I'll be at home?  Hahaha!

Do you ever get riddled with the feeling that you're so amazed to be alive?  It's kind of like the realisation of Wes Bentley's character in American Beauty when he sees the plastic bag in the wind.  I know it's become a cliche, and to a certain extent, even a meme now, but I had one of those feelings earlier.  Maybe things can be alright.

Who knows?  I guess all that's left is to wait and die and see, or not see.

Joaquin out.

No Life In Dreams

Have a lot of travel to do next month.  I'm actually looking forward to it for a change.  It'll be good to get out of here, even if just for a little while.  It'll be sort of like going on holidays again, I guess, in some sort of bastardised way.

Got some good guitaring in last night, and even just sitting at the comp noodling around, I came up with some new chord combinations that I'm very happy with.

So, in line with blogging about more intellectual stuff, how about this time we tackle American politics?  America has been so caught up in the idea of fighting terrorism, that it has been completely blindsided by developments in North Korea, which is absolutely hilarious when you consider that they are close allies with South Korea, and have a significant military presence in the region.  How did this happen?  How does a military superpower like America suddenly get caught out by North Korean threats of military action?  It's because they were wilfully blind to the threat.  With all this trumped up 'war on terror' they have convinced the public that a bunch of poor, uneducated idiots in caves are a vital threat to their nation and way of life.  Yet, a rogue State like North Korea, which has nuclear capabilities, as well as one of the world's largest standing armed forces, has been allowed to develop nefarious technology unchecked for decades.  Granted, most of the saber rattling at the moment is probably all just talk with no intention of carrying through, but since the US has absolutely no idea what could happen, I am just utterly amazed.  That's the thing - the oil companies and military suppliers/contractors and all the other global multinationals that can profit from war and destruction have too much power in the political system.  If you can sway the politicians to do something in exchange for money, the public can easily be convinced that something is real when it is not, or that something is fake when it is very, very real.  The threat from terrorism is negligible.  The threat from a State backed war machine is infinitely more worrying.  But if you turn around and start chasing red herrings to placate an angry public (post 9-11), then you're bound to be caught out by the real deal sooner or later.

And so the King falls, and society crumbles, as did Rome. 

What really irks me about the media is that it seems to portray the concept that injustice and unfairness can only happen to Westerners.  Absolutely not true.  If you understood the things that go on in the third world, on a daily basis to the point that they are regarded as common place, then you would be utterly shocked.  But you don't care, because these people are not worth anything to you.  They are expendable because they are different from you.  Well let me tell you what, they're the same.  They have the same fears, hopes and dreams.  It is just because they are not in your face all the time that you find it so easily to discount them.  But as these populations increase faster than the developed world, you will see giant waves of immigration and what not as people fight for resources and land.  We're on the tipping point here, where the industrialised world will be overtaken by the third world (most likely from the inside), and there will be reparations for the exploitation of former colonial behaviour.  Just wait and see.  The world is going to become an interesting place over the next 50 years.  Well more so over the next 200-300 years, but I'm not going to be around for that, unfortunately.

Well that brings up another question: if medical science suddenly developed a pill that would greatly expand your life, would you take it?  Well I guess that depends, if you could live to 175, would that mean your body and mind would still degenerate?  Even if you stopped ageing for a certain point and then just dropped dead at 175, I don't think I would take it.  Humans are meant to die.  It's better for the environment, it's better for your fellow humans.  There is no hell but immortality.  Even Heaven sounds terrifying.  There is respite in nothingness.  Or even darkness with consciousness.  Nobody wants to see the light.

Wish the weekend would hurry up and get here so I can devote more time to guitar.  I should learn a bit more about chord theory (i.e. what the Roman numerals mean) in terms of tonics and formulae and what not.

Thinking about getting a new motorbike, but I'll probably just wait for a while.  Don't really have the time to ride anymore.

Looks like we also have to buy a new car because our Holden Viva is so crap.  Well I've blogged about it before, so I don't need to go on about the design and safety flaws of it. 

My phone contract has also lapsed, so I will probably get a new phone - the Samsung Galaxy S4 looks pretty good.  I'm a little sick of Apple and their crappery, and being stuck with the iTunes interface to operate my phone and music.  It will also be nice to operate on the 4G network.  Looks like I'll have to make a carrier switch though.

Ahh money money money.  Always about the money.  Nobody can really save for anything.

But then again, do you even need any of this crap we supposedly have to have?  I can get by with my iPhone until it dies.  Our car has been fixed, so we can drive that until it dies.

This has been another slack day at work.  There's no work to do.  Why am I even here?  Should I even be complaining about this??

Oh man, have just over 2 hours to go until I'm done with the day, and on top of that, I'll have my flu shot shortly.  This will inevitably lead to pain and discomfort tomorrow, but I won't be able to stay home.  Should make the next couple of days interesting, especially since it's Friday tomorrow.

What is the deal?  How do I deal? 

Ok, just had my flu shot, and my left arm is already going dead, not good.  At least the nurse was stupidly hot.  I saw her and just went :O  She was that attractive! 

Still no plan for games tonight, I'll save that for Friday.  Will get all up in some youtube though!  Got into a bit of it last night, but not as much as I wanted to.  Despite getting my butt into gear relatively early, I still went to bed at relatively the same time as the nights I gamed.  What the hell is up with that??  Too much time wasting in the evenings.  I'll rein it in tonight, and then on Friday I can let loose again.

Ok, just 45 minutes to go until I'm out of here, so I might as well just leave it there.

It's been a monster post, it's good to have a return to form!

Hope you've enjoyed it, too.

Take care of yourselves.

Joaquin out.

No People, Some People, All People

Just don't get it. 

Had a great morning.  Totally decimated some muscle bound 'roid freak on the treadmill.  He had no idea what he was up against when he was trying to match my speed, then he gave up, started huffing and puffing and then actually came off the treadmill.  Utterly hilarious.  I kept running even after my normal end time, just to send the message home that I was much fitter than he was.

Good guitaring last night, but have realised that my nails have started to grow again, so I'll cut them this weekend and then start with the original stuff I have in the other's and my dropbox.  Until then, I'll just keep practising my basic and advanced skills.

Also, note to self - no more games on weekday nights!  I just play too much.  That being said, I've developed alarming proficiency at Counter Strike Global Offensive and Chivalry Medieval Warfare.  To the point where I can consistently win matches of Arms Race and Free For All with full servers.  Not bad at all, considering I have not been proficient at any game since Tekken 3 back in high school.

Feeling pretty tired today, though I don't know why.  I slept earlier than usual yesterday, but I think I can sleep earlier tonight.  With no more games, I can watch youtube and stop after a few episodes of something good. 

Glad daylight savings is over.  I'm sure I've ranted on here before about how much I hate the concept of daylight savings, so I won't get into it again.  Needless to say, I love it when you turn the clock back an hour and get to sleep in!  I'm feeling much better already.  Just feels a bit more natural, you know?  It takes ages to get used to daylight savings - in fact it's probably 6 months!  Then you have to get used to having daylight savings end!  Probably a reason why people are generally unhappy!

Arghh, just spent ages writing a 7,000 word discussion paper for work!  I feel like I'm back at uni.  Not good.  Not good at all.  I've gotta get out of here.

Let's call it a day, I'm going to work on my latest tumblr update.

I've also decided to go back and tag all my previous posts - yes, all of them.  I wonder if blogger has a tag search function that searches across blogs, and not just within them, otherwise it will just be pointless.  Maybe I can raise our hit profile - that would be pretty epic!  I'll look into it and I'll get started on the tagging when I do the next blog intro-retrospective - perhaps next year.

I've really gotta start blogging about more intellectual stuff!  I should resume the blognotes, damn it!  They were a freaking good idea.

Only 2 hours to go, hurry up and get here, cob!

Joaquin out.

Speeding Through Time, Pulled Over For A Fine

Oh man!  Feeling pretty sick with indigestion at the moment.  I had a big lunch yesterday with Saru, and I'm just not used to eating so much in the day.  I have a light breakfast and lunch, and eat well for dinner.  But big lunches really throw off my digestive system.  Hopefully I'll feel better after tonight.

Saru is good, it's always nice to catch up with an old friend.  It was just like the good ol' days of university!  Before life just sort of went by the wayside.  But that's all pretty much my fault anyway.

A lot of people see me as easy going.  I don't know why that is.  I'd have to say that people who think that of me don't really know me that well.  That, or maybe I present a different side of myself to everyone else.  That side of which I'm not actually anything like.

I wanna go home!

Just a smidgeon over 2 hours until I can actually do that.  Counting it down anxiously, as I'm definitely feeling more ill after lunch. 

I don't know what I am, do you?  Do any of us? 

Now I'm stuck staring off into space.  When did I become so easily distracted?  This isn't me at all.
Hmmm, looks like I'm going to be busy for the rest of the week.  Good thing and a bad thing. 

Not so good when my brain is fried and I'm utterly tired, and not feeling well, ahhh!  Get me out of here.
Ok ok ok, only 14 minutes to go.  I feel like my guts are about to explode all over the place.  Not good!
Have a brilliant plan up my sleeve, but unknown if it will work.

What I don't like at the moment is people who you used to know, and had quite close relationships with don't accept friend requests on facebook!  Why?!  It makes no sense.  People are such a waste of time, I tell you!

Anyhow, Joaquin out.

Do Birds Envy Us?

Because we have arms, when they only have wings?  And to think, we envy them for their flight.  Are birds even capable of envy? 

Things keep getting put off, but I'll get back to it from this weekend onwards.

Didn't guitar as much as I wanted to over the weekend, but I did get a bit in, which is always good.  Really need to get back to making my own original content.  Have come up with an incredibly weird, but very melodic picking pattern using unusual chord voicings.  I'm quite fond of it, if only I could learn how to play the pattern properly!  But I'll get there.  The key to getting good at anything is practice and repetition.

What I did get into a hell of a lot of was Chivalry Medieval Warfare!  Damn that's a great game.  You might think that it's slow because it's first person sword based combat, yet it's incredibly intense.  Much more so than any FPS I've played (maybe with the exception of the Pripyat Ukraine mission in the original Modern Warfare game). 

Meeting up with Saru for lunch today, it's been years since I've seen her!  Almost 8 or so!  A very long time.  Should be good.  I don't remember what I referred to her in this blog as earlier, so I might need to edit this post later on.

I feel bad for Noel Gallagher.  I thought his solo album was some of his best work, but the public didn't seem to like it, and as a result, he no longer makes music.  How sad.

What of my own life?  What of it?  Am I any happier now?  There's not really any time for loneliness or anything like that.  But there is something bugging me at the back of my mind.  I'm sure we all know what it is. 

Sheeeit, it has been a crazy busy day for once.  Hence the lack of blogness here.

I'll make up for it later on.

Hopefully something more to blog about then.

Joaquin out!