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Year View| Summary| Highlights| November 2005 (Month View)

Jul ‘05 | Aug ‘05 | Sep ‘05 | Oct ‘05 | Nov ‘05 Dec ‘05 | Jan ‘06 | Feb ‘06 | Mar ‘06 |

01.11.2005 – Tuesday 1 November – Marking, Police & The Flu

• I headed into uni bright and early, planning to get the rest of this marking out of the way, and ended up finalising my complaint against CSSE3004 before bumping into some of my group members and talking to them for ages, not getting the marking complete until late in the afternoon.

Night

• I suddenly began to feel quite sick, so headed home. On the train, I felt awful—coming down with what seems to be a sudden, hopefully not galloping, Asiatic, avian, or Spanish, flu. Interestingly, the Spanish Flu is thought to have killed, in a matter of weeks, more people than World War 1 did over a matter of years. When I got home, I found I couldn’t actually walk up my street due to it having become a crime scene. This may have been interesting on another day, but I felt sick and wasn’t pleased having to walk all around the block just to get to the front door. Criminals should consider things like this before they attack people in the middle of roads.

Comment by Clint – Wednesday 2 November 2005, 3:17 AM

  Needs more milkshake.

Comment by Mum – Wednesday 2 November 2005, 8:11 PM

  Needs more shake

02.11.2005 – Wednesday 2 November – Sick

• I slept in until midday, which seems to have done my sick little self some good—I can even walk in straight lines again. Not wishing to trust my newly found ability to walk in a given direction to too much scrutiny, I got a lift to the train station with Joe, where I cleverly caught a train going the wrong way, and then caught the express into the city. Feeling weak, I decided food should be had, and having run out of chocolate, I went to Govinda’s. After eating, and still feeling rather weak, I caught a bus into uni, had a meeting with Soon, and went over my marking again, adjusting it slightly to better match expectations.
  As night came on, I again began to feel poorly, and, figuring that letting a common flu get the better of me would be embarrassing and inappropriate, I caught a bus to Indooroopilly, where I bought a Cold Rock Super Shake—just the thing to shake a pesky super flu. Unfortunately, despite tasting very nice, this clever self-therapy didn’t entirely work, as I still felt sick and my nose was still blocked. Now at a loss—my self-help techniques exhausted—I figured I would fall back onto the old wives’ tale about veggies being good for health, and buy a nice, healthy, salad sub from the cheaper Subway at Roma Street. This didn’t seem to help either, although everyone else there seemed healthy, so I went to sleep on the train, and ate piping hot Thai veggies for dinner to quell the angry troll-fired throat fires—they, like any sane person, try to avoid Asian greens.

Comment by Mum – Friday 4 November 2005, 7:03 PM

  Bad. Bad. I warned you to avoid dairy. Also, being an "old wife" i.e. me, the best thing for flu or colds or any flaming thing is cayenne pepper. And I mean overdose. It cannot do you harm and is even good if you explode with sweat and collapse sneezing etc. Put liberally in soups or veg or whatever. Ordinary supermarket cayenne will do . Is like a homeopathic dose of Vit C and Vit zeeee. Any mob reading this should try it. Double dare you.

03.11.2005 – Thursday 3 November – Not Remembering

• I may, or may not, have done anything productive today. According to some philosophers, if I can’t remember it, it either never happened, or it wasn’t me who did it—or more confusingly, it was a different me.

04.11.2005 – Friday 4 November – Studying

• I studied at uni with Clint, reading my PHIL1020 text, printing Maz’s PSYC1020 notes at POD, seeing Soon to get my tutor timesheet signed, and giving the lab key back to helpdesk.

05.11.2005 – Saturday 5 November – Great Expectations

Morning

• I had a relaxing sleep-in, did almost nothing, and headed into uni via an articulated bus (they’re doing track work again). I never actually arrived at uni, but the thought was there.

Night

• I watched “Great Expectations”; I didn’t have any, and it managed to exceed them, proving to be entirely unlike what I was expecting—yet interesting, although a bit light on realism or plot.

06.11.2005 – Sunday 6 November – Studying

Morning

• I had another pleasant sleep-in, followed by discussions about the origins of church pews, their pricing, the sexist way in which they’re moved, and so on.

Midday

• I had planned to go to uni early and study, but somehow this just didn’t happen. I blame Bronwen.

2:53pm

• Well, here I am at uni, having just done a minor update of my website and feeling guilty for procrastinating.

3:16pm

• Off to the Ville, through a light rain, for sustenance. I will then study hard.

4:09pm

• Back from the Ville, with twenty Milky Way bars (they were on special), two small punnets of strawberry yoghurt, a litre of pine coconut fruit drink, and a bag of “yellow”.

4:39pm

• My journal is up-to-date; Clint has rushed off to study, having slept in until three o’clock; Maz has rushed off to work, having just realised he’s late; and there’s only Ella left online—I think I can handle one person, and can now safely begin my study.

7pm

• The view from the balcony on level six of GPS is quite nice. It has been raining, so everything is shiny. There are lights reflecting off the lakes, the coloured lights of the city shining brightly and clearly in the distance, and little lights peeping through the trees everywhere. Unfortunately, my study isn’t going that well—I’m reading my philosophy, but still have no idea how I’m going to turn it into an essay.

8pm

• Scrap study. It doesn’t work. I’m going home.

1:15am

• The journey home was a little more interesting than normal—a city cat into the city, rather than the usual boring bus, then a dimly lit (not lit at all, really) luxury coach through roads I’m not used to, instead of the train. I should get to bed, but first, a little relaxing web browsing and a titch of sleep-inducing music while I check what time I need to get up for the train tomorrow and synchronise my phone with Outlook, so I’ve some chance of remembering when and what to do.

1:35am

• It looks like I won’t be getting much sleep—six and a half hours if I go to bed five minutes ago—so off to bed I am.

Comment by Mum – Wednesday 9 November 2005, 8:40 PM

  Gasp. A "bag of yellow". A bag of yellow? Holy mackerel, yellow what?

Comment by Ned – Thursday 10 November 2005, 10:04 AM

  They’re cheese chips a little bit like “Twisties”, except softer and cheaper.

07.11.2005 – Monday 7 November – Procrastinating

Morning

• I awoke after my six hours sleep, feeling as bad as could be expected, and headed into uni, arriving around 10 o’clock. Almost unbelievably, Maz and I managed to procrastinate away the entire day, getting almost nothing done. This was a remarkably stupid way to spend the day, given that we both have two exams we need to do a lot of study for fast approaching, and an essay we were supposed to be writing due on Wednesday. We made the terrible mistake of going back to Maz’s place and getting out-of-date, probably recalled and deadly poisonous apple flavoured Fanta, which made things go all woozy after half a bottle, and did not help my essaying efforts.

Afternoon

• Clint came down for a while, preparing for his COMP3502 exam, and helped us procrastinate more efficiently. We went up to the sixth level balcony in GPS, where Maz took some photos of moss, birds, and life in general, while I finished off my philosophy reading, and then walked up to the Holt room for his exam. Maz and I then popped down to the Ville for dinner, cleverly continuing to avoid study, and discussed women, cameras, and definitely not essays, before heading back to the labs where we met Lisa, who had just finished her exam.

08.11.2005 – Tuesday 8 November – The Mind is a Macintosh; The Brain is a Bulldozer

Morning

• I had meant to be at uni by ten o’clock, to work on my philosophy essay, but I slept in and missed the train twice, not getting into the city until half past ten. Once in the city, I decided that I should eat something real for a change, so made my way to Govinda’s, who were closed—apparently nothing worth eating opens until eleven o’clock. I figured I’d wait until they did open, rather than collapse on the bus to uni, but then decided that I’d collapse before eleven o’clock anyway, so I bought a milkshake to sustain me until Govinda’s opened. This proved to be a bad idea, as I wasn’t hungry when they finally did open and subsequently didn’t really enjoy my meal.

Afternoon

• I finally arrived at uni around midday, and spent the entire afternoon slowly writing my philosophy essay, alternating between procrastination, insanity, and actually writing. My writing also seems to be alternating between actual writing and insanity, something I’ll probably regret when marks are released.

9pm

• I had planned to stay until the last possible moment, but a few minutes before nine I decided to make a run for the bus and get some sleep, mostly because I had written the same sentence three or four times, and it was getting worse, but more amusing, every time, and I didn’t think the tutor would appreciate a farcical essay.

09.11.2005 – Wednesday 9 November – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

10am

• I arrived at uni, and wrote, rewrote, and cursed much essay all day, amidst great waves of panic and woe. Discovering that you’ve begged the question in a circular argument to infinity, while negating your previous arguments in their entirety, all in the concluding paragraph at roughly half the word limit, and with only a few hours until submission, is not a joyful experience—although perhaps one the philosopher I’m writing about was familiar with.

3pm

• I have just witnessed the last death throes of my stillborn “learn philosophy and get good marks—win, win all round” attempt, as it slipped through the essay submission slot, into the sadistic hands of the tutor. Looking on the bright side, I put $2.20 into the drink machine for a $2.20 bottle of pineapple juice, and got $2 change.

6pm

• I bussed to Indooroopilly, dropping Clint (who I met coming out of his “Philosophy of Economic Thought” exam) at his place on the way, and saw “Kiss Kiss, bang Bang” with Bronwen and some friends. It was quite an interesting movie, with a fast moving, farcically poor taste plot. I’m in two minds whether I liked it or not, but as both minds have been weakened beyond recognition by a concerted assault of philosophical thought, it really doesn’t matter.

10.11.2005 – Thursday 10 November – Not Swimming, Studying

Midday

• I was hoping to go to the Gold Coast with Clint today, and study down there, but it’s not looking good, as he’s not even awake yet—despite me calling him. Today isn’t going very well actually; I’ve been in here at uni since around nine o’clock, urgently needing to study for an exam tomorrow, and still haven’t done any study, although I did go to POD and print out everything I could think of that related to PHIL1020.

Afternoon

• I went to Indooroopilly with Clint and Scruff, who were questioned for twenty-five minutes by the police at their bus stop—apparently, they look like the criminal type. I ate my traditional “green goo” for lunch, followed by Cold Rock for whiter, brighter teeth and bones, and then headed back to uni where I had thought that I might perhaps consider study.

Evening

• I did indeed consider study. I considered study very hard. Having considered study for some time, I concluded that study would be a very good idea, and went home, stopping at Woolworth’s on the way to buy healthy study aids—tropical fruit juice and corn chips.

Night

• Once home, I realised that study was not only a good idea, but also something of a necessity. I thought about this for a while, ate two vegetarian hot dogs, tried going into denial, and eventually decided that the only way to get any kind of reasonable result in my exam tomorrow was to get to uni as early as possible, and study as much as possible before the actual exam. With this in mind, I did the unheard of, and went to bed before eleven o’clock.

11.11.2005 – Friday 11 November – Introduction to Psychology: Physiological & Cognitive Psychology Exam

5am

• Getting up at five o’clock is actually quite invigorating; I think I may do it again some day. The zombies on the early morning train don’t even make annoying noises like in the movies—or the afternoon.

7:04am

• Fancy being at uni at this time of the morning without having stayed all night, it’s unheard of. At this rate, I confidently suspect I’ll be able to start study by around eight o’clock.

8:18am

• Internet, go away—it is time to study and I must learn all of PSYC1020 before eleven o’clock.

8:48am

• Study phase one now complete. All notes read without thinking, as fast as accurately possible, and information hopefully suitably transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory and linked to high-speed stressful conditions similar to an exam, for easy recall during exam. I am now in standby awaiting the arrival of Maz.

10:30am

• Final study/panic phase now commencing—walk to exam room and sit outside somewhere quietly panicking and reading notes. Just before exam, try to think about something unrelated in an attempt to relax.

11:15am

• Maz and I attended our PSYC1020 exam. I have no idea how I went—seventy-two four-option multiple-choice questions, so I’m very unlikely to have failed, but probably fairly unlikely to have got good marks. I think multi-choice should be banned, as it doesn’t accurately test anything at all. On the plus side, multi-choice is less stressful.

• Interestingly, there was a girl in the exam with her breast exposed. I assume it was an accident, but a little odd nonetheless.

Afternoon

• Kieran, Maz and I had a long lunch at a café under the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, meeting Tim and Clint there.

Evening

• I studied PHIL1020 with Kieran and Maz for an hour or so in a study room at the engineering library, before moving up to level six of GPS until it got too dark to see, and then going down to the Ville for dinner before heading home. I am not in a very good position for this exam, as this is the first time I’ve even looked at the subject matter for this course, and it’s all logic and set theory rubbish.

Night

• I didn’t manage to leave uni until nine o’clock, getting home late. There was a spunkily dressed (or scantily clad—I like “-ily” words) girl zonked or otherwise incapacitated at the station, which is roughly equivalent to a neon “rape me” sign, so I felt uncomfortable leaving her there and didn’t actually get home until ridiculously late, meaning it was going on one o’clock by the time I actually got to bed.

Comment by Mum – Friday 11 November 2005, 8:38 PM

  Whilst the orbs slowly spin, and the world goes on.

12.11.2005 – Saturday 12 November – Introduction to Logic Exam

5:30am

• I woke up, after roughly five hours sleep, and, strangely enough, didn’t really feel like going to uni.

7:11am

• I arrived at uni, having decided to sleep on the train rather than study in the hope that I’d then be more alert at uni and able to study more efficiently.

9am

• Study in the labs isn’t working. Study without answers isn’t much good either, although I did find a somewhat satirical, but probably quite brutally realistic, site about the “Ladder Theory” of human relationships. I think I better head up to the social sciences library and see if I can find the text that actually contains correct answers in high use, and panic rather severely.

11am

• I only stayed in the library for quarter of an hour or so, having found the textbook in high use just as Maz messaged me to say he was coming in with his textbook, so I walked back down to the labs, where I am now, struggling to learn a course in a few hours.

2:30pm

• My PHIL1020 exam was rather uneventful. There were seven questions, all of which I attempted, although I’m not sure to what standard as I’m not confident enough with the subject matter to say whether I was correct or not. Still, just being able to attempt them all is probably a good sign—a few hours ago, I didn’t understand a thing from this course, and my study wasn’t really what anyone could call thorough, what with trips to Subway in the middle and innumerable unrelated conversations.

Evening

• Finishing what is, theoretically, my last ever exam was something of an anti-climax. I don’t feel euphoric, or in fact, anything other than tired. Everyone else had exams to study for, dinners to attend, and various other things to do, so I bussed into the city and went for a walk around South Bank via Cold Rock, watching what looked like a gathering storm, although it hadn’t broken by the time I left.

7:10pm

• I went and saw “Inside Deep Throat” at the Dendy. As far as documentaries go, it was poorly done and presented very little in the way of coherent information, but was actually interesting and had some good discussion on pornography versus censorship, and ironically, showed good evidence that pornography does widespread damage to society while arguing it doesn’t do any to individuals.

Comment by Mum – Sunday 13 November 2005, 9:43 PM

  Individuals all massed in a porridge together make up "society", so whatever damage is done to one of the individuals or several of the flamin things, bleeds into the porridge mass of "society" and....."a little leaven, infects the whole stupid mob" (my version of The Script)

13.11.2005 – Sunday 13 November – Relaxing

• I slept for most of the day, and spent the rest in my room relaxing. I don’t think I actually went outside at all.

14.11.2005 – Monday 14 November – Pigeons & Terrorists

• Today isn’t my day. I had to go to uni to finalise a few things, and had some shopping I had to do before flying to Sydney tomorrow, so I caught the train into the city, and the bus from there to uni—at least, that was the plan. Everyone was asked to get off the bus before it left the city, and the bus was checked. We were then allowed back onto the bus, but halfway along Coronation Drive, the bus pulled over and we were all again asked to leave. We stood around the bus for a few minutes, before being asked to stand at least one hundred metres from the bus. As the Regatta Ferry Stop was only a few hundred metres further, everyone walked up and caught a City Cat to uni. Apparently, all buses in Brisbane were ordered to stop and maintain a one hundred metre safe zone, due to bomb threats.
  Once at uni, I went and had a chat to people at ITS, before heading down to the labs where I attempted to print out an honours entry form, but the printer had an unknown error and the browser, in keeping with the terrorism theme of the day, came up with “This page has an unspecified potential security flaw. Would you like to continue?” After finally getting things printed and going to EPSA to find the honours course code for Centrelink, cleverly hidden on the front page where no one from ITEE could find it, I went up and managed to break through the tight security to Sky Net at the Ivory Tower, and see Mark. We chatted for ages about things, while watching pigeons flying in and out of the ceiling—something of a contrast for a place full of random wandering robots, attempting to become self-aware—before heading down to the labs to print and sign complaints, and chat to some of my students.
  I posted my complaint to the head of school, forwarded it to a few other people, and found out that all Brisbane transport had again been shut down, effectively preventing me from getting into the city to do my shopping. With no way of getting home, I went and joined Clint, Scruff, and a few others, at the Red Room, and watched them burn their fingers on light bulbs, sing loudly and very poorly, spill beer, and otherwise celebrate their suspected recent exam failure. This probably wasn’t the best idea, as I had several things that had to be done, which weren’t, but I blame the terrorists.

Comment by Mum – Sunday 20 November 2005, 9:37 PM

  Clint spill beer? Tch.

Comment by io – Monday 21 November 2005, 11:54 PM

  Clint dropped his can of beer twice one afternoon a year or two ago. We were playing BITS Soccer.

Comment by Damian – Tuesday 22 November 2005, 8:03 AM

  Well done! Congratulations on finishing your exams, and your studies. You rock, Ned!

Comment by Ned – Thursday 24 November 2005, 4:12 AM

  Thanks ;-)

15.11.2005 – Tuesday 15 November – Terrorism & Sydney

8am

• I got up, having had less than four hours sleep. Joe drove me to the shops, where I did the shopping I had been unable to do yesterday due to stupid bomb threats, and then onto the train station where I caught the train that would have taken me to the airport had not a hundred or so police swamped it at South Bank station. Someone had reported unattended baggage, and in their paranoid way, they evacuated the entire station and several hundred metres all around its perimeter, and filled it with several different types of police, bomb squad, strange federal agents, Queensland Rail agents, and various other exciting people. It was very ridiculous—there were so many various forms of police and security people that it was hard to walk between them; had a bomb gone off, there would have been more security personnel killed than there were passengers on the train. This also had the more serious side effect that I was, for the second time now, stuck at an evacuated train station on my way to the airport. Some demanding, and a $46 taxi fare to the airport (paid by Queensland Rail) later, I found myself at the airport, fortunately still before my flight departed.

12:56pm

• The doors on the Virgin 737-800 were closed, and we departed for Sydney, with me sitting in seat 17C. There are two wheelchairs, and one stroller onboard, which probably isn’t relevant to anything but there’s nothing else to do sitting here so I might as well notice that.

3:20pm

• I land in Sydney, where all the times are an hour wrong. It is quite cold. I am picked up by Bronwen, Brian and Judy, and driven to their place, where I eat dinner and head to bed.

16.11.2005 – Wednesday 16 November – Sydney, Bondi & Sculptures by the Sea

9:30am

• I walked around the city. My shoes hurt severely and are, I think, faulty, so I went barefoot; buying shoes fifteen minutes before catching a potentially bombed train not all the way to the airport is probably a bad idea, as is going barefoot around Sydney—but so is pain. It rained on and off, and was surprisingly cold and windy. The far lower humidity is quite noticeable. Funny people who walk barefoot through Sydney in the rain seem to be noticeable too. I walked through the botanical gardens, ate Chinese food, caught a bus to Bondi, walked through “Sculptures by the Sea”, and got lost walking back from Bondi, eventually catching a bus, as it got too late and dark. It was very cold and windy at Bondi, and I have blisters on my left foot, but it was quite a pleasant day, and some of the sculptures were quite good—as was the cake.

First

• Today marks Bronwen and my first anniversary.

17.11.2005 – Thursday 17 November – Relaxing in Sydney

• I had a quiet day relaxing at Brian and Judy’s while Bronwen attempted to teach the wonders of computing, without having to explain the wonders of computing. In the evening, her and I walked to the shops, had a yummy lunch, and cooked dinner.

18.11.2005 – Friday 18 November – Parramatta, Manly & Govinda’s

• I caught a bus to the city, train to Circular Quay, jet cat to Parramatta and back, ferry to Manly and back, walked to King’s Cross, and then caught a bus back to bed. The journey to Parramatta was quite interesting, I was surprised how small the river got, and there’s quite a bit of history lying around. Manly was also interesting, walking along sandy beaches and barnacled rock outcrops. The pleasant day was finished off by dinner at Govinda’s.

19.11.2005 – Saturday 19 November – Newcastle & A Birthday Doof

8:30am

• My alarm wakes me, and I head off to the city after some cuddling and a shower.

11:15am

• I catch the Newcastle train from Central, on my way to a rave party. The journey is quite scenic in spots, travelling through secluded mountainous bays and a few tunnels, one of which was quite long. It is a little expensive though, at seventeen dollars.

1:46pm

• I detrain at Broadmeadow and meet Dale, who gives me a short guided tour of Newcastle before going to his place and then onto Karuah where Ragnhild is working. Five litre V8s are good on hills.

4pm

• Dale goes to work, leaving me to wander around Karuah until Ragnhild leaves for the party. There is a scenic river, a park, and a handful of shops struggling to come to terms with the fact that what used to be the highway is now several miles away, bypassing the town.

4:30pm

• Four girls, who had been playing in a park where I was sitting, rode their bikes down a fenced circular path past me. One of them was unable to make the corner and hit the fence, landing sitting in the fence, as if posed—something she, in her shock, then did before collapsing onto the concrete while the other three laughed uncontrollably, unable to help. It had to be seen to be believed—she went from riding far too fast around a tight bend, to sitting demurely poised, stationary in a fence, in an instant; it’s a wonder nothing was broken at the speed she stopped.

Evening

• I hid from a sudden thunderstorm under a bridge, watching small boats fighting the storm, had chips for dinner, and then drove to the rave with Ragnhild. The party was held in quite an interesting place, on a large farm, owned by a professional inventor. It was the ideal place for it really, with a large circular hall filled with lights, lasers, and more smoke than air; and outside large gumtrees, icy-cold fresh air, open paddocks, a large swimming pool, and small river. Littered around the place were various unusual things—prototype perpetual motion machines, scarily powerful super-magnets, frictionless magnetic bearings and drive-trains, Australia’s best preserved Cobb & Co Coach, still with its original straw mailbag, a monster truck able to knock non-trivial trees right over, and a lot of people doing a lot of strange things in a lot of cars. The hot seat of a Cobb & Co Coach (or whatever it is called), is an awful lot smaller and higher than one might think—travelling fast in one of those things would be seriously scary.

Night

• I spent most of the night talking to Ragnhild and the blokes doing the front gate, wandering from the cold bar area to the fire at the front gate to the bonfire near the pool, keeping warm and avoiding the increasingly insane dance floor and car park. Surprisingly, many of the younger people flaked out around two o’clock, with a lot departing, leaving the older—and far more interesting—hardcore ravers to continue all night.

20.11.2005 – Sunday 20 November – Much Doof, Stolen Cars, Police & A Birthday

6am

• The sun is up. This is not particularly good. No one has slept, and no one is looking forward to its bright, hot rays, forcing daytime upon their pumping nighttime world. Ragnhild has just gone to bed, as she has to work in a few hours.

10am

• I had to be back in Sydney by a specific time, for a BBQ and birthday. I knew how long it took to get to Newcastle, and how long it took to get from there to Sydney. I knew how to get to Dale’s place in Newcastle, although only the one way, meaning I had to drive there that specific way or I’d be lost. Ragnhild had even lent me her car to drive there. What could possibly go wrong? Someone could steal someone’s car, as a joke. They could then decide that the police would take a very dim idea to car-theft as a joke, or their lack of licence and current off-their-guts-on-drugs state. This could result in their taking evasive action, followed by an ultimately unsuccessful police chase. The car’s owner could then discover that his wallet, and more importantly, cigarettes, are in his stolen car, and that the only possession of his still on his person is his credit-less mobile phone. He could also be the only person at the rave who happened to urgently need to be somewhere else. Obviously, the clever chap who stole the car would have a flat battery in his phone, so no one could actually find out what had happened, apart from his garbled text message saying something had gone wrong, and I would be the only coherent person around able to both focus on moving objects and move at normal human speeds. Clearly, something like this would only happen if Ragnhild’s car didn’t have enough fuel for the long detour involved in chasing up this stolen car; needless to say, it didn’t, and I arrived in Newcastle via a road other than the single one I knew, meaning I had to be very fortunate to find Dale’s.

4pm

• Fortunately, I’m a very fortunate sort of person, and found Dale’s place with the help of some maps ripped out of the front of a phone book, dumped Ragnhild’s car, got a taxi from there to the train station, and a train back to Sydney, arriving at the BBQ just as the last guests were leaving. Apparently thinking all this is fortunate is the sign of an optimist, which, I’m pessimistically sure, must be a bad thing. After an abortive attempt at going to town for dinner, I eat a few of the myriads of yummy leftovers, and retire to bed tired from my all-nighter last night.

21.11.2005 – Monday 21 November – Museums, Fireworks & Pasta

10am

• I wake up and eat breakfast, something I don’t do that often. I then headed leisurely into the city and spent the evening at the Powerhouse Museum, which was really quite interesting. I also found what I believe is the only Cold Rock in Sydney, and had a super shake.

5pm

• I explored a few of the older areas of Sydney, walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, twice, and then made my way down to the botanical gardens overlooking the finale of “Australian Idol” at the Opera House, and watched their fireworks, before walking to King’s Cross for a scrumptious pasta dinner.

22.11.2005 – Tuesday 22 November – Birds, Babies & Brisbane

• I went for a walk to Centennial Park and saw skateboarder signs, swans, geese, other birds, flowers, many babies, and various other things. I then went looking for a milkshake in King’s Cross (at Bronwen’s request, who would have thought?) but was unable to find anywhere that sold both milkshakes and nachos, eventually finding a place miles away which apparently didn’t have a suitable “atmosphere”, but which did sell good nachos and milkshakes—and good they were, nearly forty dollars good.

7pm

• Brian and Judy had driven us to the airport, where we are now sitting on the plane while the staff attempt to locate two missing passengers, eventually having to find, and presumably incinerate, their luggage.

7:10pm

• Doors are closed, and we’re off towards Brisbane, on another Virgin 737-800, sitting in seats 9A and B.

7:35pm

• We arrive in Brisbane, where the time is again back to its correct self, an hour before where it has been, and are whisked off to Bronwen’s place for dinner and much-needed sleep.

23.11.2005 – Wednesday 23 November – Washing & Pizza

• I caught a train out to Joe’s, collapsed into bed for a couple of hours, did a lot of washing which I cleverly put on the line just before a thunderstorm, watched some absolute garbage on TV, sorted out my email, drove and got pizza just a few minutes before the pizza place shut, and stayed up until nearly five o’clock—I blame the coke I got with my pizza, and the Bavarian chocolate cake, and my computer and the internet.

24.11.2005 – Thursday 24 November – Mysterious

• As far as I can tell, I left Joe’s around two o’clock, and didn’t get back until nearly midnight. Where I went, and what I did, remain a mystery—although I reserve the right to have a perfect alibi should the need arise.

25.11.2005 – Friday 25 November – House Hunting & Tit Bits

Afternoon

• I went house hunting, but they all got away. The agent never turned up to the first house, and due to miscommunications and a forgetful organiser, I had arranged to see the wrong houses, and by the time this had been corrected, I had no idea how to get to the right house, or enough time to find it without directions. Then, at the third house, I was accosted by someone who thought I was someone else, was very disturbed to find I wasn’t, and wouldn’t go away, making me feel rather awkward.

Night

• I had dinner at an excellent Asian vegetarian dessert place in the Valley, who made a very nice and creamy soupy thing. I don’t usually like Asian food places, as the only vegetarian things they make seem to consist almost entirely of nasty green weeds, but this place was fantastic—not only was it cheap and entirely vegetarian, but it was an ice cream dessert bar as well. After dinner, I went to the final “Tit Bits” for the year, which is a rather eccentric, somewhat disturbing semi-impromptu performance down at the powerhouse, or as they put it, “an adults only evening of vacuous variety, gaudy games and super silly segments”. It was, apart from disturbing, quite interesting, and had a brilliant professional acrobatics display.

26.11.2005 – Saturday 26 November – I Love you, you’re perfect, NOW CHANGE!

2pm

• I took Bronwen to “I love you, you’re perfect, NOW CHANGE!” at the Roundhouse. It was really, really good—I’d go as far as to say, great—an incredibly amusing, satirical look at generalised relationships, the irreconcilable differences between men and women, and the crazy ways with which we deal with those differences.

Night

• Dinner was had at “Tomato Brother’s”, followed by desert from the fabled Freestyle, resulting in a very over-eaten, but satisfied, me.

27.11.2005 – Sunday 27 November – Stormy, Creamy Times

• I had a relaxing day at Bronwen’s, weathering a large and rather exciting electric storm, buying Tim Tam ice cream, and eating too much.

28.11.2005 – Monday 28 November – Maz, Rain & RSS

• I went and visited Maz, collecting my hard drive and wishing him well for his trip to America, walked around the city in the rain for a bit, and then trained back to Joe’s.

Night

• Because everyone whinges, I made an RSS feed with complete journal entries, rather than just a tease. Having wasted time doing this, I then ran out of time to add a few things to another site, which isn’t very good, as I’m being paid to do it, and collapsed into bed.

Comment by DM – Wednesday 30 November 2005, 7:38 PM

  Yes, but where can I find it (the amazingly special RSS feed)?

Comment by Ned – Wednesday 30 November 2005, 9:41 PM

  Try the syndication page (available from the top menu)

29.11.2005 – Tuesday 29 November – Uni, Paperwork & Dinner

• I headed into uni to sort out paperwork. It seems I can still logon and use the internet at uni libraries. EPSA threw my honours application in the bin, literally, and told me to go see ITEE. ITEE told me I needed to complete an honours application… After sorting this out, I went and saw student services to find out why the online gown hire site says my credit card number is invalid, only to find out that they apparently never bothered actually implementing the part that allows you to submit orders online. It would be nice if they mentioned this some place. Such is the efficient bureaucracy at UQ.

Night

• Bronwen wanted to make me dinner, so I caught the slowest possible bus from uni to Indooroopilly, visiting most of the streets in West Brisbane on the way, and then the slowest possible bus from there to the city—so slow that the driver waived our tickets as an apology. There was some fantastic lightning off over the coast, which I watched for a while, and dinner was yummy. The only downside is my foot—for some reason it hurts quite considerably, and has been slowly getting worse all day.

30.11.2005 – Wednesday 30 November – Hot, Muggy, Shoes & Lethal Weapons

Morning

• I trained back to Joe’s, put some washing on, and got a lift with Tonya down to the shops to return my shoes. Uni results have been released. I’ve achieved two high distinctions (7) and two distinctions (6). I achieved the high distinctions in “Advanced Information Technology Project (CSSE3004)” and “Introduction to Logic (PHIL1020)”, as expected. The two distinctions were for my other two courses, “Introductory Philosophy (PHIL1000)” and “Introduction to Psychology: Physiological & Cognitive Psychology (PSYC1020)”, rather obviously. I’m not happy with this result for PHIL1000, but there’s very little I can do—the tutor didn’t like my writing style, and I wasn’t able to change it to match what he wanted given the time and the entirely fuzzy and subjective nature of the subject. PSYC1020 shifts the cut-off for a high distinction five percent higher than other courses, and has huge multi-choice exams, so I got what I was expecting for that. Given my almost complete lack of study or effort, I suppose I can’t really complain. That one can graduate with good results, without even trying, does say something about the degree though; I believe it should be a challenge to gain high marks, and an effort to actually pass, neither of which it was.

Evening

• I got a refund for my shoes, bought new shoes, hired out the first three “Lethal Weapon” movies and four other semi-random movies to make up seven for their special seven deal, and collapsed in front of a fan. It is very, very muggy.

Night

• I went and saw “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” at South Bank, something I probably shouldn’t have done, as I wasn’t really in the mood when I got there, but it seemed a good idea when I left here. It’s a bit too strange to really enjoy (marrying a corpse just isn’t romantic, no matter how you portray it), although the cinematic production and animation is nothing short of exquisite.

Comment by Mum – Thursday 1 December 2005, 10:05 PM

  Congratualions. Will be lovely to see you soon. Dad and Sarah and I all very happy for you.

Comment by Ned – Friday 2 December 2005, 2:41 AM

  Thanks ;-)

Comment by Tara (ratty) – Thursday 2 February 2006, 9:58 PM

  You are such an interesting character. I've commented before that I've seen you ALL THE TIME at uni and know who you are and occasionally read your journal. We are often on the same late bus to the city at night, and get off at the same stop (Quay St). Freaky, no? I'm not a stalker, but just interested in the coincidences. Was also interested to see how you put together your results from past years. Incredibly anal and yet impressive, because I am no less anal myself... mmm. I am rambling but you're interesting. Hmm.

Comment by Ned – Friday 3 February 2006, 7:24 AM

  Thanks, I think...

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