Huge Huge Huge Reductions! Never Pay Full Price Again!

Because I'm too lazy to type or write*.

*but not too lazy, it seems, to do 4 hours of video editing while being increasingly frustrated by Windows Live Movie Maker. Multiple crashes, one bad enough to restart my computer for me, and and file issues made this extremely frustrating. Enjoy.

Saturday.

Paying Off

I took a punt on a comic today due to the lure of a bargain.

Now, as I've mentioned before, certain types of comics get me down. Like way down. I hate bleak, nihilisitic topics, and tend to find both ultra-violence & cyberpunk grating and uninteresting.

So I was as surprised as you when I both purchased, then enjoying the living hell out of TransMetropolitan.

It's really, really good.

I had been avoiding it for ages, despite my liking of The Authority & NextWave & Fell & Planetary, due to the one Vertigo short I had read consisting of Spider Jerusalem running through a party shouting sound-bites at people.

The main book is like that too, but also much more awesome. It's funny, and it's rude (Mr Ellis seems to be tired of the word fuck, some uses new combinations, such as "whorehopper"), and clearly has a message. The futuristic city (which, as seemingly every future city needs to be, has every square metre plastered with shrieking ads, but at least the characters dislike it as much as I do) is far enough into the future to make what needs to be possible possible for the story. Need a gun that causes bowel release? They have a kit for that. (Yes. Yes, they do. And it's hilarious.) Need your sidekick to be an incontinent gecko-hunting two-headed cat who smokes? Done. It's a place where even the on-board AI on a food-dispenser is addicted to drugs.

So I highly recommend TransMet. Go read it. Especially you.

I also understand that the liking of this counter-culture book may have coincidently occurred on the day I have to buy new formal shoes, shave off my sideburns, and take out my eyebrow ring to go work for my first proper corporate job. Yeah.

Instant Gratification, Thy Name Is Kindle

Despite the literally 20 books-to-read I have at my bedside, I still look at bookstores. And I spotted this book right here "Allison Hewitt is Trapped: A Zombie Novel" by Madeline Roux. The back of the book explained that this was a book about a blog written by a graduate student that got trapped in the breakroom of the bookstore she worked in when the midden (zombies) struck the windmill (everything else).The various blog entries have comments from other survivors and it's that format that holds the whole thing together. But I get ahead of myself. I'm still in the bookstore. I look at the price: it's $29.95. That's too much to conscience considering I won't have a job in the week. So I use Google Goggles on my phone to search it, to be told it's not available to have on Kindle in Australia. Bugger. So I get home, have a quick search of torrent sites. No luck. I try Amazon again and suddenly I'm allowed to buy it in Kindle form. Go figure. $9.35. Sold.

Then I sat up until 2am reading it. It's that gripping. Having worked in a big chain bookstore, I could imagine that backroom with such detail that I suspected the author might have spent some time in Borders Bondi.

I can't spoil much, as like I said, the book ain't done. But something's bugging me. It's something I've noticed when other writers with have a character, in-story, decide to record what's happening, be it with a journal, or a blog, or a recording, or something: the writing style doesn't change. It should, really. A character commiting things to paper/computer will write differently from a fiction author painting a scene. The description might be toned down, word use might retreat to bare facts, instead or reporting word-for-word what someone said in quotations, it should be reported like "we discussed it, then moved on", etc. This book doesn't read like a blog:

it reads like a book. Because of this, I actually I find the initially-interesting blog format to be constraining. Would a character REALLY write down a hallucination-like dream in such detail in the middle of a life-or-death struggle? Oh no, our character is in danger and I'm really in the moment! Oh, wait. It's going to be okay, otherwise how would she blog it?

So yeah. Stuff like that keeps pulling me out of the story. But I like it, and will finish it.

also there is a cat named Sugar who keeps jumping up in front of the keyboard and blocking the keys with his tail and no matter how many times you sling a cat against a wall it never really stuns 'em does it

Meeting Cool People and Losing Street Cred

So you know how people can meet famous people and be cool about it and say things like "They were cool, you know, no big thing."?

I am not one of those people. I know this because i just met Ben Templesmith (@Templesmith on Twitter).

I was heading off to my lunch, looking forward to 30 minutes of wandering in circles with my headphones on, when Erin stops me.

"Hey, you know Ben Templesmith is signing stuff at King's Comics today, right?"

*beat*

"Nnnnnnnnooooo..."

"Oh, I assumed you would, you being a huge fan of Wormwood (Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse which I got Erin into last month), you'd know."

"I did not. I shall go now."

"Well, hurry. He's only there for another 30 minutes."

She was shortly talking to a Lucas-shaped cloud of dust. I knew it's usually about 18 minutes to get to King's. I took off so fast that I didn't realise my headphones were playing no music until I was halfway to King's.

I sent off a Tweet on the way:

On the way I passed some protesters or picketers or something. I dutifully took a photo of them and made it into a tiny planet, but did not slow down.

Made it to Kings, and saw him there at the table.

I don't go straight up to him, of course. No, instead I imitate the action of the young man attempting to ask out a girl/rob a bank, I made a full pass around the store, then bought the TPB of Fell (as well as the new Fables for Tanja), chatted with the clerk about how I'd "better buy this before he signs it, ha ha." Then I walked over. The person before me was talking, so I took a moment to leaf through the sketches and art he had for sale. I was fixing to buy one until it occurred to me that the "1600" written on the baggie might not be an in-a-hurry-way to write "$16.00" but might in fact be "$1600.00" and I was afraid to ask. I decided I would go with some colour prints that were clearly labelled "$20". Then it was my turn. I proffered my Fell book, and asked for a print. When he asked for my name, I told him it was Lucas. He brightened: "You're the guy from Twitter! You have purpose!" I would have like to have reacted well. However, being me, I freaked the fuck out. The rest of the time was spent chatting with the lovely lady next to him whose name I did not know (girlfriend? Iunno.) as she noticed I was Canadian and she was from Alaska. Ben pointed out that technically Canadians are Americans, as they are from the continent of North America. I jumped in saying he was technically correct, "the best kind of correct!". Then I left, feeling that I had overplayed my hand a little. I only realised when I was halfway back to work that I had not given him the $20 for the print. So Mr. Templesmith. Ben. I apologise for geeking out all over you. And I will mail you a shiny Australian $20 bill for the print. Sorry I couldn't be cool. You're just too awesome.

One of those guys

I hate to say it, but I have become one of those annoying people with a new laptop (the Alienware M11x with the i5, for those whom I haven't assaulted yet). I have all of its stats memorised and can rattle them off at the drop of a hat. I'm rediscovering things I haven't used in months or years become doggone it, they WORK now.

Things I like:

• The Alienware FX gimmick: the keyboard, running lights, logos and everything are all back lit. First day it was red, next day blue, and today it's gold. I know it's gimmicky, but it both looks and feels cool.
• Speaking of the keyboard, it's compact, but large enough for me to type without the button-mash typos I had with my eeePC or the too-light-touch typos I had with Tanja's Vaio.
• It's got bones. With 4 gigs of RAM, and 1 gig of dedicated graphics card memory, I can run Borderlands and the Just Cause 2 demo on the absolute highest setting and full resolution with a very fast frame rate. It's the closest Borderlands experience to playing it on the PS3.
• The system installed, can run, but actively rejected Command & Conquer Generals (due to stupidly low resolution on that 7-year old game). This is a good thing because it forces me to give other games a go.
• It runs Windows 7 Home Premium, which allowed me to effortlessly network between the Vista-running main PC and my lappy. This means that all the nearly-a-terabyte movies, TV shows and music are all shared to the laptop wirelessly. Combined with the HDMI-out (which makes my previous to-TV-VGA-Connection look like a pile of puke [/Moe]), this means I can put of the TV, in full resolution, anything I download without transferring anything.
• Battery life. Due to the multiple-settings mode (accessible by keyboard shortcut), I can have it running at full-power for about 2 hours without a cord, at mid-power for about 5, and at low power for who-knows how long.

The only cons I've found so far:

• Since the two mice we have in the mouse have the old serial connectors, I've been stuck with trackpad until I get a USB mouse. I eventually unplugged the wireless mouse receiver from the main compy and I'm using that, but it's a temporary solution.
• I tried installing Windows Virtual PC now that I have Windows 7, but it seems the Home Premium version that I have doesn't support it. I need either Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate and upgrades start at 200 bucks. Bugger. I may just have to weigh it and not use the one program I'd need it for.

Customer Dis-service.

So I left training today with a splitting headache (my third in three days), and stopped at Broadway for lunch before going home. Ate my food, then wandered into Kmart, thinking I'd see if they had any Nerf guns. They did not, and I walked past the DVD cabinet on the way out. I noticed thaey had the new-packaged Star Trek Voyager complete box set (I missed out on the limited-edition EzyDVD Borg Cube box). I couldn't see a price tag, so I went over to the counter. The girl there was busy attempting to sell a mobile phone package to someone, so I waited a bit, then decided, with head still ringing, to go home and check into it later.

So, later. I'm home, and I give Kmart a call. Here is that conversation:

"Hello, Kmart Broadway."
"Hi, could you put me through to DVDs, please?"
*hold music*
"Hello, Audio-Visual."
"Yes, hi. I was wondering the price on your Star Trek Voyager Complete Box se-"
"We don't have that."
"....yes, I think you do. I was in there earlier and saw it. It's in the cabinet."
"Oh, you mean the white one?" (note: the DVD box is greyish. Even if she meant the cabinet, the cabinet is black.)
"Ummm, what?"
"I'll just go see, please hold."
*hold music. Ohhhhh, hold me now... hold my heart.... stay with meeeee*
*phone starts ringing. Ringing. Ringing.*
"Just a minute, we're trying to force the cabinet open, won't be a sec."
*hold music. Ohhhhh, hold me now... hold my heart.... stay with meeeee*
"Okay. Got it. It's $250."
"Thank you."
*I hang up.*

If I'm making it sound quick or easy, I'm telling it wrong.

Geez, and people bite on Telstra for bad service.

At last.

It took a surf and turf and three beers at the AB Hotel to get up the courage, but it finally happened.

I bought a second-hand softcover trade of Watchmen.

With the film coming out and everyone reiterating how it's one of the greatest books of all time, I figure I need to have a better opinion than "I got it from the library and disliked it so much I skipped to the end, then returned it early."

So now I have it.

Hell of a Day

Today might have been one of the greatest days ever. Like for serious.

Wake up, don't have to be at work. Good start.

Have two cups of coffee and peanut butter of morpeth sourdough bread.

Head out with Tanja to Powerhouse Museum to see the Star Wars exhibit. Awesome. Got tons of pictures of the ship models.

Afterwards, walking in the 39.5-42 degree day to the Heritage Belgian Bier Cafe. Have a porterhouse steak, medium-rare, chips and salad with a Hoegaarden & a Kwak.

Head out from there, and go to Myer to look at outdoor furniture (we've been planing to use some of our wedding present money to get an outdoor lounge). Found one we like. It's $300 cheaper than usual. Buy it.

Meanwhile, I start explaining to Tanja how I've been thinking of trading in my PS2 and all my games for a discount towards a PS3. She inquires if I've done the research. I have, saying JB Hifi has the best deal because you get an HDMI cable with it. We go to JB Hifi. I show her.

"Well," says she, "you should probably get it now. You've got some good PS2 games, I'd hate to see you get rid of them."

So I bought a PS3. With Little Big Planet (it's so cute!) and GTA4 (when you hit something high speed, you fly out the windshield like in Tom & Jerry).

On the way home, walking back in a now-cool evening (lovely breeze) we bought a six-pack of Stella. Tanja made pasta and we watched the first bit of our new season of the Wire.

In the running for best day ever. Hell, it's in the top 3.

Ain't no "good parts" version.

I've been thinking about TV lately.

A comment has been leveled at me that I don't like shows that take "a long time to develop". To a point, this is true. Just off the top of my head, I can think of several shows where I attempted to get into them, and failed:

[-]Neon Genesis Evangelion: Craig lent me his big honking box set, and before Christmas, when Tanja was in the mountains visiting her Mom, I cracked the box and a beer and gave it a shot. I hated it. I found the storyline silly, the voice acting over-the-top, and it all seemed like the average Giant Mecha show, but with added wierd phychological undertones. After the first disc, I stopped watching.

[-]Heroes: I had heard big things about this series when it had started, but missed the pilot due to work. I did, however, catch the second episode, which I later learned was the direct continuation of the pilot. I was so confused (although, since it was a two-parter, it was partially my fault). I didn't know why Ali LArter was running away and looking worried/pensive/hungry into the camera, I kind of like Hiro, but then didn't know what he was about, apparently, this Mohinder guy is important and intelligent, but not very bright on a practical level, the chick's dad is acting sacary for no reason... I didn't finish the episode.

[-]Dead Like Me/Arrested Development: both things I got the first disc of from Bigpond movies and both comedies where I barely laughed. I thought Arrested Development had a bit of potential, but I found it tried too hard to be zany and wacky, and though David Cross is a funny, funny, man, I hated his character (no, not in an "I'm supposed to not-like-him" way, but in that "I-don't-want-him-onscreen-anymore" way). Dead Like Me seemed to be trying to be deep, but missing the point and just being depressing.

Now, that being said, there have also been shows I've watched that grabbed me, sucked me in and took a major break to get me out:

[-]Lost
[-]The Sopranos
[-]30 Rock
[-]The Wire
[-]Band of Brothers
[-]Family Guy
[-]and one for Tanja, Nip/Tuck

With all of these shows except 30 Rock, I was hooked in good and tightly because I started watching them on DVD. By watching three or four 1-hour episodes per evening, I really got a chance to follow the big story of the characters and their arcs. However, these DVD darlings had their break moments too (except the Wire, and Band of Brothers). For Lost and Sopranos, it was when I caught up with what they were showing on TV and started to watch one show per week. Suddenly, the characters were acting in unexplainable ways, everything seemed obtuse and confusing and I stopped caring. The Sopranos remedied this once I got the last season on DVD and could watch it together in one go. Lost still hasn't won me back. With Nip/Tuck, which originally got Tanja's attention due to the focus on hard topics and not shying away from having their characters do horrible things, the show/characters eventually got so horrible that we didn't give two fucks about what happened. We've had the last two episodes to go of Season 3 (in which a big reveal is meant to happen) for nearly two years now. We couldn't care less. I read the Wiki for the reveal and boy was it stupid. Family Guy, well, when you get Season 5 as a gift, watch 5 episodes and don't get one laugh? It's time to quit.

Recently, Craig has been twittering that he started watching Buffy and that it sucked. I felt for him, because yes, those early episodes can be a real slog. Then a lightbulb went off. How come I slogged through Stone Age Buffy and didn't give up? Why was I able to coach Tanja through the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation without one of us throwing tomatoes at the screen? How can I watch the first series of the Muppet Show, with celebrities I've never heard of, except in jokes on Pinky & the Brain (Ben Vereen, Ethyl Merman, Paul Williams, Connie Stevens, Avery Schreiber, etc)? What's the difference?

I've thought a little and I think the answer is that I came to all three of those shows on TV myself (Buffy, with one or two Season 1 eps, then the most of Season 2; Star Trek, through reruns when I was 10 or so, ditto the Muppet Show) and so had made the decision to like them before I watched them in order. That way I know it'll be good once I get through the bad stuff. Maybe I've just grown to expect more from shows that people tell me are great and then lend/encourage me to rent.

In any case, I currently have waiting for me on the living room shelf:

[-]Half of Frasier, season 10
[-]the last half of Season 3 Seinfeld (having watched the seasons in reverse order)
[-]Season 5 of the Wire (just ordered from Amazon)
[-]Season 2 of 30 Rock (which Tanja was unhappy to discover consisted entirely of episodes we'd already seen because I'd downloaded them)
[-]the tail-end last episode of Season 5, then Season 6 & 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space 9.
[-]Seasons 2 & 3 of the Muppet Show
[-]Season 1 of Heroes, which Tim lent to me.
[-]The rest of Craig's Neon Genesis box.

So I think I've got enough to watch for now.

Swing and a miss (reposted from The Lucas Letters)

"Dear all and sundry;

Ok, so there goes the whole "updating every week" idea. Three weeks missed out! Bad Lucas.

Anyway, as usual, work is work. I've been ATLing all this week and will do so until the 31st. Speaking of the 31st, people at work are organising to show up in costume on Halloween. Typical. As soon as I give up on the idea of forcing my friends to dress up in costumes, someone else picks up the ball and runs with it. And I get to be the "Oh, I used to do that all the time" guy. Oh well. I am planning a Halloween movie marathon at our place. Should be fun. Previous marathons were successes. I managed to cook without exploding from stress, and people showed up and everything. So, good.

Picked up some DVDs this morning on my way to work. I got Iron Man (which i saw in the theatres and loved to pieces), a combination pack of 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later (Zombie movies that I've rented seperately, but was waiting for a decently priced box set) and Pump Up The Volume (an 80s movie starring Christian Slater that escaped my radar until a year and a bit ago). So I have new things to watch. I nearly bought The Mist for the marathon, but I figure I'll rent it closer to day.

I also got the new Terry Pratchett book The Folklore of Discworld, which is not actually a novel in the series. It's all about the mythology and characters of the series as compared to actual folklore. I think more books should be written about books I like. It's like getting a reassurance that what you're reading is good. Same when a review raves about something you already knew about. It's very gratifying.

Wedding plans proceeding, no refusals yet, everyone so far has RSVPed. Looking good!

That's all for now.

-Lucas"

Recapping and mentioning t-shirts. A lot. (reposted from The Lucas Letters)

"Dear Family;

Well, Bill Bailey was very funny and extremely entertaining as always. Plus I got to learn that when it comes to music, the augmented fourth chord (or diminished fifth chord, depending on your worldview) in considered not fit to be played in a church or in hymns. It was classified as a dissonance, because the sound was supposed to awaken bad thoughts. All this means for us today is that it's used in every haunted-house movie because it's very sound provokes uncertainty. Cool. The show wasn't all about historical musical nerdery. There were jokes too. I bought a tour t-shirt, which was the first shirt of that sort that I've ever bought at a show.

Oh! Also at the show I had a wonderful moment. As you all know, I print t-shirts for people. Most of the time it's for people I know or work with. So imagine my surprise when, while waiting in line at the Bill Bailey show, I spot someone wearing one of the 10 shirts I made for a band called Xquabed a year or so ago. I even saw the little Ampersand on the sleeve. I wanted to go over and talk to the guy, but common sense (and Tanja) told me not to embarrass him. Oh well. It was still a thrill.

Speaking of shirts, I've just had a monster order put in by various work-people. I ordered 20 blanks online, and I'll need to print them as soon as they get here. One guy originally said he wanted 2 shirts. He then got on the phone to his brother and ordered shirts for his brother, his brother's wife, his brother's son, ending up with 8 shirts total. I felt like telling him "You know, guy, you can place more than one order. I'm not dying next week."

Poor Tanja's been feeling a bit sick lately, but my super-immune-system has been keeping me safe.

All for now!

-Lucas"

So I was in Marrickville Metro getting groceries today.

I decided to stop by Sanity to see how much they were selling the new Grates and Beck CDs. I couldn't find either in the rock/pop section, so I went to the counter and asked. The emo-looking guy looked up Beck first, first looking confused as to who Beck was. He went and got the single copy they had, which was in the back of the store and scanned it to check the price. $29.95. "That's a bit much" says I. "Well," says he, "with stuff like this we only get like 3 copies and it's not worth marking down. It's not like we'd sell a lot of this." Tamping down my anger, I asked after the new Grates CD. "Oh, we have tons of that one." spake the tool, walking up to a huge promotions rack, where the Grates CD was selling for 22.95. "We never have a problem selling that, so it's on special. Isn't that nice?" I paid for the Grates CD and left.

It took me a while to realise why it made me mad. I was High Fidelity'd! For asking for BECK! What the fuck is this world coming to?!?

Carnie Fight Near Miss

So there's this house that's on my way to work. For the last week it's had a pile-o-stuff in it's front yard, near the sidewalk. Several boxes of CDs, twice that of piled books, a TV, a VCR, a broken bookcase, and 5 or six garbage bags. It basically looks like they've laid things out for the council to pick up, but have left them for the usual Newtown Removalist Group, ie passerby to pick up if they want. I've had my eye on the CDs section of this pile for a while. I pass it at least 4 times a day (to and from the gym, and to and from work).  Today, on the way back from the gym, I made my move. I began sorting through the CDs, crouching down to look through the boxes. I've been looking for about 5 minutes, when I hear the door open. There stands a pissed-off looking woman. The following conversation ensues, with her tone angry and insulted and my tone confused and wary:

Her: "What do you think you're doing?"

Me: "Oh, I was just having a look. Was I-"

"You could have knocked on the door! You've got a nerve just pawing through!"

"Uh, ok. I just thought, I mean this stuff's been here for a week, and I-"

"Well, you could have knocked!"

"Uh, ok, sorry, I mean, if this stuff not for the taking, I'll go. I'll just leave it-"

"IT'S JUST RUDE!"

"...Well-"

"These things ARE for the taking, but you should have knocked on the door!"

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"Well?"

"I said I'm sorry."

*she goes back inside*

 

So I grabbed the CDs I had picked out and went home. At first I was embarrassed, but as I got closer to home, I got angrier. I mean, if these things were so bloody precious to her, maybe she shouldn't have left them outside, when it's rained several times in the past week.  So I submitted the issue to several people at work. Marty thought that due to it being on her "verge", then I probably should have, but he agreed she overreacted.  Fair enough, but geez.

 

Sincerely, Internet's...

Lucas Brown

Now completely legal (in the states he's not banned)!

 

So!

[-]Saw Iron Man. Loved it loved it. Missed the scene after the credits, though. And La Premiere is the only way to see it.

[-]New TV delivered! After a lamentable purchase of cheap coaxial cable, got a good one and can now get all channels (including HD and digital ones). Have so far watched Hot Fuzz, Stardust, Lord of the Rings and *sigh* The Devil Wears Prada.

[-]Played drums for the first time in weeks on Saturday. Wrist held up, but started to hurt once I stopped. Played D&D briefly as well. Don't feel I was very productive in either arena (35 minutes of drumming and killing one wolf in D&D in an hour and 45 minutes).

[-]Got a good book of comic strips called Roasted by Andy Riley, a former Black Books writer. Very good. Dooga, there's one guy who IS you.

[-]Got a Crumpler backpack today. It also has a removable laptop sleeve which fits my laptop. So one-the-go gaming. Now only if I can get a battery that lasts more than 20 minutes.

[-]Aiming to get 30 Rock Season 1 this week. I was going to pick it up today, but it was $50 at Hum, and I know I can get it at EzyDVD for 34.95. Patience.

We bought one of these yesterday.

It's a 32" Sony Bravia V series 1366×768 pixel resolution LCD TV.

It's got a bunch more things, but I don't know what they mean. They're delivering it this Saturday. S'pretty.

CD Rationing

So I go back to work tomorrow (as my lovely holidays are over) and take my money out Wednesday( as I have $20 to my name). I've spotted at the local record store that there are several offerings on offer that I would like to buy:

[-]the new one by the Breeders.
[-]the new one by The Saboteurs
[-]the new one by The Black Keys
[-]the new one by Nine Inch Nails (Ghosts I-IV)

(noticing a trend here? New things)

While the NIN one I can get as a download (either 9 songs for free or $5 for all four albums worth as oppoed to $29.95 for the set), the others I'd like. However, looking at them today brought up a relavent observation. Whenever I buy more than 2 CDs at a time, they get ripped onto iTunes, added to my iPod and I somehow miss hearing most of them. It's happened before. Sometimes I buy as many as 4 CDs in one go, or get like 40 mp3s, and I only listen to a few. I then think "oh, I got that one ages ago and never really listed to it." and then add it to a playlist of Must-Listens (example The Kooks, example Joydrop, example UNKLE until i forced myself). Then i don't listen to that playlist because it's hard work listening to 50 or 60 songs you've never heard before.

See my problem?

So I have a solution. I will buy the CDs (except the NIN one) one at a time, one per week. That will be the only thing I listen to for that week and I will thusly form An Opinion, good or bad. If this works, I might try it on old albums I've overlooked. Hmm. Food for thought.

Doov, doov, doov.

Well, it seems headphone karma is after me. While I was on my way to Ted's yesterday, casually thinking of looking for some behind-the-neck headphones so I can wear hats with a brim, and the right speaker craps out on me. It'll only work when I hold the cord a certain way. Bugger. So I stop in at a local hi-fi shop that sells them, and ask about the warranty I know comes with all Sennheiser headphones. He explains I need to take it back to JB and they'll usually send me a new pair. Cool. While I'm there, I notice they're selling behind-the-neck headphones in the same model, quality, and price point ($129) as the ones that just broke. On a impulse, I buy them, thinking that I'll try and find the receipt for the broken ones, but even if I don't, I'll still have good ones. I go to Ted's I practice, I come home. Leter that evening, Tanja and I can't find the reciept. So I can't return them, despite their crapping out 7 months into the 2-year contract.

So it's fate, see?

Mug!

Adrian has come back from Hawaii. And he has brought with him a wonderful thing.

It's a Tiki Mug. It's a monkey's head with a fez on it.

It's awesome.



Adrian said "It's two of your favourite things: monkeys, and fezes."

I corrected him: "FOUR things. Monkeys, Fezes, Tiki and booze!"

Ted and Adrian got to witness my truly-happy-dance.