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Year View| Summary| Highlights| September 2006 (Month View)
May ‘06 | Jun ‘06 | Jul ‘06 | Aug ‘06 | Sep ‘06 Oct ‘06 | Nov ‘06 | Dec ‘06 | Jan ‘07 |
01.09.2006 – Friday 1 September – Cam’s Dinner
- Night
- • I walked through a light drizzle to Bronwen’s parent’s place, for Cam’s birthday dinner.
02.09.2006 – Saturday 2 September – RiverFire, F-111’s, Cold Rock & Maz’s New Place
- Morning
- • I did some laundry washing, followed by gardening. The nasturtiums have grown remarkably with the recent rain, overrunning their beds, and needed trimming back.
- Night
- • Bronwen, Maz and I walked into the city and watched “RiverFire”—Brisbane’s annual fireworks extravaganza. The F-111’s dump and burn was, as usual, exciting—seeing an F-111 flying low overhead through cloud was quite spectacular. Waiting half an hour for a kebab wasn’t. I’d love to see one fly at 3,000 kilometres per hour. The F-111 that is, not the kebab. With a range of five and a half thousand kilometres, and the ability to cover that distance in less than two hours, they make my bike seem a little outdated.
After RiverFire, Maz, Bronwen, Loki and I had a nice Indian dinner at a place on Rosalie, before watching “Hoodwinked” at Maz’s.
03.09.2006 – Sunday 3 September – Montezuma’s
- Morning
- • I had a very lazy morning, looking into hire cars, airfares, and generally lazing about.
- Evening
- • Bronwen and I went grocery shopping, followed by dinner at Montezuma’s with Clint. The plan was to use the “buy one, get one free” voucher I’d got at the movies, but today, being Father’s Day, excluded its use. This was rather annoying, as the voucher was the only reason I’d gone and I did not find the food particularly good.
- Night
- • Clint, Bronwen and I went for a short ride across the Goodwill Bridge and back before bed.
04.09.2006 – Monday 4 September – Airfares
- Morning
- • Back to early shifts, back in the city. While getting up early is obviously bad, forgetting that I was on early shift and being surprised when my replacements turned up is not.
- Night
- • Citibank has its advantages, but sometimes I’m not sure what they are. To book flights using a normal bank, you would go to the airline website, book the flights, transfer the money, and sip your cold beverage. To book flights using Citibank, you go to the airline website, book the flights, ignore the little notice that says “DO NOT USE CITIBANK TO PAY FOR YOUR FLIGHTS”, transfer money from your Citibank savings account to your Citibank holding account, entering your special PIN to authorise this, add the airline as a payee, phone Citibank to authorise the payee, quote your arms length, mother’s maiden name, iris dilation, etc., to authorise yourself to the phone, and transfer the money, again authorising this with your special PIN. You then phone the airline, who informs you that the money you just paid will sit in a black hole for at least a week and may bounce back into your account, but that you should phone them back to chase it up if it doesn’t, pay the money again via your credit card, incurring the credit card fee you went to such trouble to avoid in the first place, and go to bed, $1260 poorer. Hopefully I get half of that back.
- Comment by Mum – Tuesday 5 September 2006, 9:43 PM
- Ohhh. Not good. Wonder why Citiband would be so stupid. However, this means that I get to see my son. Which is more than good. It is the best.
05.09.2006 – Tuesday 5 September – Getting Started in Shares
- • Sleepy.
- 6:30pm
- • Bronwen and I attended CommSec’s “Getting started in shares” workshop. Interestingly, all, or almost all, those there our age were from UQ. That’s been one good thing getting out of uni—I had formed a very bad opinion of engineering and IT students, and it’s been good to see that those in the real world do actually fit my original pre-uni impression. I do wonder what happens to the typical uni engineering/IT student though—I suppose they change, or end up stuck in dead-end jobs and are never seen again.
06.09.2006 – Wednesday 6 September – 48 Shades
- Evening
- • I rode into South Bank, meeting Bronwen. She and I tried out the “Movie Meal Deal” from South Bank Cinemas. It’s not a bad deal as far as cost goes—sixteen dollars for a movie and a meal—but the meal I had—pasta from Toscani’s—was so small that I could have eaten three of them. We then watched “48 Shades”, which I found to be disappointing. It’s remarkably real, and I could associate well with characters—and then it suddenly ends. It doesn’t have any substance, which is a real shame, as it’s otherwise a brilliant, well-shot, well-casted movie set in Brisbane.
07.09.2006 – Thursday 7 September – Blowing a Howling Gale
- • I woke up to find it blowing a howling gale, and all the windows blown open. I nearly froze closing them. The rest of the day followed suit. It nearly killed me having to go to work, followed by a near-death experience surviving the entire day without falling asleep, and only narrowly avoiding dying in my sleep while having a snooze waiting for Bronwen to get home. Then, I nearly died opening a sealed container containing fermented potato broth, and just about died when I discovered we don’t have any salad, ruining half my dinner plans.
08.09.2006 – Friday 8 September – Exercise, Dead or Alive
- • Today began early, due to the rotational tendencies of the earth—or vibrational string-like energy, depending on your perspective. I hastened to the train, having left myself just enough time to get there—but only if I rushed uncomfortably—as usual. Subway from the station, with mayonnaise. Got to work to find myriads of girls were blocking the foyer. This fantasy start to the day quickly degenerated when I found out the lift controller wasn’t, and the lifts were being manually controlled by security. This chaos was annoying, as being a secure building, there’s no other access, and being me, I require quick access to the milkshake place. The fire escapes are all one-way and alarmed.
- Afternoon
- • Maz and I drove to Officeworks, and then Harvey Norman at Indooroopilly, for Maz to buy a Bluetooth headset. I got a discount Hungry Jack’s dinner—two dollars forty, and Maz bought twelve dollars of premium jellybeans, after which we watched some crazy cartoons for a while back at Maz’s place.
- Evening
- • I’ve decided I need to make a concerted effort to exercise. I’ve never had a problem with my weight or fitness—and still don’t—but now that I’m working a “sedentary job”, I have to either “stop eating that crap”, as my boss would say, or exercise appropriately—and I quite like eating “that crap”. I figure a simple combination of muscular exercises before bed—or in the morning if I’m working late—combined with some form of daily—or as daily as I can manage—physical activity outside should do the trick. So, in keeping with my newly formulated exercise regime, I’m going to do a few exercise and ride to South Bank and see an action-packed movie. In other unrelated news, one of the girls I live with left to go kayaking in Uganda for a month today.
- Night
- • “DOA: Dead or Alive” was even worse than expected—a combination of realistic but extremely improbable action-fighting and close-up bikini shots—a highly enjoyable bargain at only $5.70 at South Bank Cinemas. Any movie where the girl, clad only in a towel, forces the detective who is arresting her to bring her her bra, on his gun, and then kicks his gun, and her bra, into the air, disables the several police with her towel, smoothly catches her bra—falling smoothly over her arms, landing on her breasts—and the detective’s gun as they fall, ending up dressed and aiming the detective’s own gun at his nether regions, can’t be all bad.
- 2am
- • I rode to Toowong, meeting Clint, and went for a wander around the suburb with him, stopping to ride the monorail before heading home, listening to some music, and heading to bed.
09.09.2006 – Saturday 9 September – Sleeping
- • I was woken by Bronwen returning home sometime around one o’clock, having gone to bed sometime between three and four this morning. We spent the afternoon discussing, before Bronwen returned to her parents—she has relatives visiting—and I went searching, in vain as it turned out, for a song I’d heard in a movie trailer.
- Comment by Maz – Tuesday 26 September 2006, 9:55 PM
- I'm looking for the song from the UQ ads that are on at the moment. I don't even know where to start looking for it.
- Comment by Ned – Wednesday 4 October 2006, 6:05 PM
- I haven’t seen a UQ ad yet—any good?
10.09.2006 – Sunday 10 September – Sing for Water
- • I’d planned to go to Joe’s, then the Gold Coast, then “Sing for Water”, and then see a movie—but when I woke up, it was raining. So, instead, I slept in, lazed about, dropped past Office Works, went and saw “Friends with Money” at the Regent with Bronwen—which is not a good movie—and cuddled in the cold and damp at “Sing for Water”. Ironically, the rain pretty much washed out the rain-encouraging event, with only a few hundred of the expected several thousand people turning up.
11.09.2006 – Monday 11 September – Work
- • I’m working twelve to eight thirty this week, which makes a nice change from getting up early, but means I don’t get home until nine o’clock
12.09.2006 – Tuesday 12 September – Riding
- Midday
- • I’ve been meaning to start riding to work, and having missed the train, today seemed like a good day to start. Riding through the city at midday is impossible, as it turns out. I had to walk most of the way through the city, which makes it quite a slow process.
- Night
- • Rode home from work. Bought cheap Tuesday pizza. Ate cheap Tuesday pizza. Tried exercising after eating cheap Tuesday pizza. Had a strong feeling exercising after eating cheap Tuesday pizza is not good. Massaged strong feeling and went to bed.
13.09.2006 – Wednesday 13 September – A Day
- • Not much to report. Another day. The sun rose and set, and so forth.
14.09.2006 – Thursday 14 September – Another Day
- • Today was another day. Fancy that.
15.09.2006 – Friday 15 September – Valley Fiesta
- Night
- • I showed Bronwen around work, before popping down to the Valley Fiesta, watching a few music acts, and having dinner at a Thai place.
16.09.2006 – Saturday 16 September – Work
- • I worked from 3 to 11.
17.09.2006 – Sunday 17 September – Valley Fiesta
- Afternoon
- • Bronwen and I watched a few more acts at the Valley Fiesta, some of which were quite good. Afterwards we wandered up to Bronwen’s parent’s place, and had dinner at an Indian Restaurant.
18.09.2006 – Monday 18 September – Work
- • WIC WUG, in the fishbowl, 7 to 3.
19.09.2006 – Tuesday 19 September – Pizza
- • I worked, before arguing with a pizza and eating Bronwen. Or the other way around, perhaps.
20.09.2006 – Wednesday 20 September – Work
- • Work.
21.09.2006 – Thursday 21 September – Work
- • Work.
22.09.2006 – Friday 22 September – Stradbroke
- • I rushed home from work, packed, and caught a train to Cleveland, meeting Bronwen on the way, and then a ferry across to Stradbroke Island, and a bus from one end of the island to the other, ending up at Bronwen’s parent’s block, where we spent the night.
23.09.2006 – Saturday 23 September – Stradbroke
- • Bronwen and I spent a very enjoyable, badly needed relaxation-only-day at Stradbroke, doing very little.
24.09.2006 – Sunday 24 September – Stradbroke
- • Bronwen and I spent another enjoyable and lazy day going for a ride and then wandering around the beaches of Stradbroke, before catching a bus, ferry, and train, home.
25.09.2006 – Monday 25 September – Running
- • I’m back at work, 7 to 3 in the Valley, and very tired. I got quite sleep deprived all last week, and had figured that a relaxing weekend at Stradbroke would fix that—but despite getting quite a lot of sleep, I’m still knackered.
- Night
- • As part of my new get fit campaign, I plan to do some form of exercise each weekday—so I’m starting going for a night run when I’m not working late. In keeping with my new plan, Bronwen and ran from here to South Bank and back, via the Goodwill Bridge. Well, we ran a little over half the way, in a few bursts, walking in between. Still, it was quite a good workout, and seems a good distance—I can’t currently run the whole distance, so will aim towards that, running a little further each time.
26.09.2006 – Tuesday 26 September – Very Sleepy
- • Getting up was hard—I’m very sleepy. Today didn’t help. I had to get home early, do some washing, banking, and a few other things that have to be done before I fly up north, and go to bed very early, or I may die. Instead, I got home to find that I needed to perform some emergency maintenance on a website I manage—several hours’ worth, as it turns out, so I spent all night doing that, not getting anything else done, and not getting an early night. I’ve developed a tick in my eyelid, which is probably the worst I’ve been since my days of Cola-fuelled all-nighters in the labs. In a way it’s a challenge; in a way it’s just tiring.
27.09.2006 – Wednesday 27 September – Cairns
- • Suffering from an extreme lack of sleep, I still managed to get up in time to get to work—running pretty much on autopilot, and then complete an entire day at work.
- Afternoon
- • I did some emergency maintenance on a website, and packed for Cooktown. Our flatmate who is currently in Africa’s boyfriend came over and borrowed her bike. I fed our other flatmate’s fish as she’s gone away for the night. I’m worried that the only thing keeping me awake—and alive—is a temporary sugar high.
- Night
- • Bronwen’s Dad dropped Bronwen and I to the airport, from where we caught a Jetstar Airbus A330 flight to Cairns, arriving twenty minutes late, at midnight. The flights cost $634 return for the both of us.
28.09.2006 – Thursday 28 September – Cooktown
- • Bronwen and I spent the night at Shan and Kylie’s, catching an early flight to Cooktown on an eight-seater Cessna Titan 404, at a cost of $220 for the both of us. Mum picked us up from the Cooktown aerodrome, and we spent the rest of the day alternating between talking to Mum, Sarah, and wandering around Cooktown—going for a walk up Grassy Hill in the evening.
29.09.2006 – Friday 29 September – Home Rule & The Wallaby Creek Festival
- Afternoon
- • After a relaxing morning in Cooktown, Bronwen and I drove out to Rossville and the Wallaby Creek Festival out at Home Rule, where we met Shan, Kylie and Ella again, along with Dad, Jade and Beau, and a stack of old Rossville acquaintances.
- Early Morning
- • Bronwen and I dumped our mattress between a few cars out the front of Joneses and slept in the gale-force wind, under the stars, with our sleeping bag tucked in around us to stop it blowing away. Despite the wind, we had a fantastic sleep, worn out from our trip up and the festival.
30.09.2006 – Saturday 30 September – Home Rule
- Morning
- • Bronwen and I were woken quite early when the sun hit us. Even after pulling our mattress right to the side of the car, we couldn’t go back to sleep, so got up. Bronwen even went for a swim at the “Blue Marker”—I refrained in case the sub-human temperature of the water killed a vital organ.
- Day
- • I had a pleasant day wandering around the festival, enjoying the music and atmosphere, and meeting old acquaintances.
- Night
- • Bronwen and I slept under the stars again.
May ‘06 | Jun ‘06 | Jul ‘06 | Aug ‘06 | Sep ‘06 Oct ‘06 | Nov ‘06 | Dec ‘06 | Jan ‘07 |