Live From Nando's, It's the Live-Action Space Invaders Counselling Hour!

For those of you who were missing the T-Shirt of the week:

This is my Live Action Space Invaders shirt. It's one of the few shirts I feel weird about wearing around Tanja's parents.

So yes! Today. I write things down. Again.

(Click for bigger photos if my writing hurts your brain.)

(NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM)

Waiting in the cafe.

This blog entry was composed in the Moleskine™ App. However, this app is a bit flawed, in that it lets you export to email, Twitter, or Facebook, but not to Blog or Notepad. Also, none of the pictures or in-app markings export out, just the text, which is irritating. So it’s a beautiful app, just needs some tweaking. So I screenshotted it. See?

Chewie & Han

Oh, hello. Didn't see you there.

This is "Chewie & Han" by Chris Wahl. I saw it and immediately bought it due to it combining two beloved duos of characters from my mental development. Seems to be a theme with me.

Speaking of Calvin and Hobbes, I saw a tweet from Brian Lynch (@BrianLynch) that got me thinking:

I replied, of course, with a few witticisms that he dutifully did not reply to, such as "I am Spaceman Spiff's Smirking Revenge" and "'Calvin you look like you've been pounced!' 'You fell down some stairs.' 'I fell down some stairs.'"

I've since come up with more:

"The first rule of G.R.O.S.S. is you do not talk about G.R.O.S.S.. The second rule of G.R.O.S.S. is YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT G.R.O.S.S.! Third rules: two guys per treehouse."

"I know this, because Hobbes knows this."

"Yes, these bruises are from being Calvinball. No, I don't want to talk about it."

I then started thinking that I needed images to caption with these comments. So I started looking (I also found this lovely essay comparing Fight Club & Calvin & Hobbes. Check it out).

What started as me changing lines to suit the new setting in a humourous way quickly became me using images from the new setting to extoll the ideas of the original work.

In short, it went from funny and interesting to depressing and self-destructive. Rather like my experience watching/reading Fight Club.

When I saw Fight Club, I was 19. I was initially intrigued by it's punk aesthetic and rebellious nature and the absurdist way the Narrator cut himself off from society. Then the depressing part set in. "Let's burn it all down." the film decried "Everything you ever thought sucks, you're stupid for thinking it, and you'll never be anything!" Or at least that was how my 19-year-old self heard it. Watching it again (and reading the book) at 29, I was happily a bit more detached. I had read more, I had done more, I was in a very different place in my life. I had learned to appreciate things without assimilating their ideas (a tactic I now employ due to my not needing popular culture to tell me who I am and what I think).

So here are the pictures. Watch the progression! Get some popcorn!

And then the change happens.

So yes. Got depressing. I actually stopped myself before it got any further. And this has nothing to do with the fact that I got rejected on the most promising job interview I've had in a while after they strung me along for weeks and got ID and did reference checks and made out like I had the job. Nothing at all. I'm totally not disheartened by the job-seeking process, and not at all horribly worried about my and Tanja's financial state. In no way am I curtailing all happy impulses, saying that I should be serious and buckling down due to the impending badness. Nope. ....and if you believe that, I have a used Death Star to sell you.

Tiki Bar (fuzzy version)

I forget what day it is. I've also missed a bunch of days, so I'll stop marking the days from here on in.

The letters on this shirt are fuzzy, like felt.

I'm sick. It's Tanja's fault. She was sick last week and is now over it. Then I started sneezing on Saturday. Then my nose started running last night. Now I'm so congested that when I sneeze, it sounds like a sonic boom in my head (complete with Doppler effect).

A misprint in a work letter made me laugh. The various paragraphs outlining our ramp-down said things like "You will be paid out your entitlements" and "You will remain employed up until XX date." and things of that nature. It got to the bit where it expressed condolences for the situation and began with the phrase "You will share in our disappointment with the client's decision." I read it as "You WILL share in our disappointment with the client's decision."

(or else?)

Will I? Or will I just hear that sentence in my head all day as read by The Rock?

Godfather of Gaming

(technically). Monday, I couldn't be arsed posting, Tuesday, business dress, and now it's Wednesday. This was not going to be a shirt-post, but I couldn't get picture-blogging to work from my phone, so I'm posting from here.

This is one from the TeeFury Grab bag that arrived Monday. I was wearing my business-y clothes for most of today, but when I needed to relax once home, straight into it. It's called The Godfather of Gaming, and it's by Scott Robinson, the same guy who did my Walker This Way shirt.

And now the actual post I was trying to make earlier:

(click if you find my writing too tiny)

Democracy: Brought To You By Capitalism!

Day 23, in which I am hungover. Or, at least, I was. Then I had an omelette with chorizo, potato, spanish onion, capsicum and roast tomato & buttered Turkish toast. Now I feel more human.

Got this in my first TeeFury grab bag. I normally would not have picked so overtly political a shirt, considering that as a foreigner in Australia, I'm not allowed to have an opinion.

By the by, I've worked out all but one of the letters: D: Disney E: Dell M: McDonald's O: Target C: Coca Cola R: Toys 'R' Us A: ??????? C: Cineplex Odeon Y: Subway If anyone can work out the A, let me know.

Artoo's Premium Beer

Day 22, in which I tried a 3DS and decided that I loved it and that I didn't just want to buy a DSi XL second-hand from eBay.

That one's a TeeFury.

So I started watching The Last Airbender yesterday. Started is the operative word. I have not finished it. I'm not sure I intend to. It's terrible. The acting is hammy, Zuko's scar make-up looks a) too small and B) fake, the casting is way off (not the racial thing that caused waves when it came out, just that these don;t look like anything but modern kids), and the exposition just grinds out.

I think what bothered me most was the seriousness. Every line was delivered like a sentence of death. Now, while Avatar: The Last Airbender (the series) had big sweeping stories and epic battles and prophecy and such, the kids involved were just kids, and acted as such. More on that later.

So after literally 9 minutes (yes, literally, I just checked the timestamp), I turned it off and put on my Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes.

And was immediately struck by how silly and childish the first episode was.

I thought maybe it was just in comparison, but no. There's Aang sliding on a penguin, there's him with his tongue stuck to his staff, there's Sokka getting sneezes on by a Sky Bison (and reacting as any 16-year-old would). In any case, it's different in the later seasons, but a thread of humour still follows.

It was only when I was making dinner that I realised what it was: we need to see these characters happy in order to understand their pain later. It's the same reason we spend 45 minutes with Hobbits in the Shire before we take off to adventure: we need to know what's at stake. The journey Aang takes to become a fully-realised Avatar involves growing up, putting away childish and selfish inpulses and desires and accepting that in war there is real damage, and there are casualties, on both sides.

I'll forgive a few episodes of silly for that.

But the movie still sucks.

Dinosaurs! Rar!

Day 20 was yet another collared shirt and tie day, so no update but today on Day 21, oh-HO, do you get a shirt.

So the job at that bank where I needed to wear corporate attire? The starting time was pushed back this week. Then on Thursday they had a meeting and said that due to a lack of people to train us (?), the roles were being pushed back to maybe (!) late July. The people who started three weeks ago still have jobs, but those of you we randomly selected to start later? Yeah, no. So I'm in the market. Again.

So, my shirt. It's got dinosaurs. And they're fighting. I got this from a Grab Bag at TeeFury last year, so I didn't actually choose it. But I like. And if you don't, well, I don't see any dinosaurs fightin' on YER fuckin' shirt, now do I?

Mic Wars: Jedi Vs Sith

Day 19. There was no day 18 update due to a lack of t-shirt. I had to wear a collared shirt for an info session with a potential employer, but since I wore it with jeans, people kept referring to me as a cowboy. Nnrgh. Mic Wars, from TeeFury! Kind of hard to read it all. What I love about this shirt is all the detail. Even the medallion on the AT-AT says "Tougher than Blasters" which is a take on Run D.M.C.'s "Tougher Than Leather". More of a view.

It was a nice day today. So I tried to write a note to my boss. Didn't work so well. But it was totally worth a shot.

Also I have more interviews next week. Plot thickens, and that.

Rock N Roll Nerd

Day 17. Got this at the Tim Minchin show Tanja took me to last night. The show was amazing. I teared up a little during Rock N Roll Nerd (the bit about a guy writing songs that no one will ever hear), and full-on cried my eyes out during Not Perfect. Youtube it, it's phenomenal. I've already written about how one particular part of the song affects me. But last night, it destroyed me. I was just crushed. I've not cried like that in public, well, ever. I mostly blame Tanja and her propensity for crying at movies.

I had a long and in-depth post in my head about how I feel about my body-image, or whatever, and how I feel I play the clown too much because much of my self-worth is tied up in how people like me, but frankly, it's too depressing.

Today is my birthday. The people who work here got me a card and a present and my boss made me a cake. May also baked me two cakes. This is the first time a work-person, let alone many work people, did anything for my birthday. So I'm in a good mood.

Naughty Schoolboy.

Day 16 (though as it's 12:03am, it's kind of day 17, but that's another post I'm already composing in my head).

There was no actual t-shirt of the day. This morning when I needed to run out and buy cake I wore my Polar Beer shirt, and then because we were going out to dinner at the Belgian Beer Cafe before heading to the opera house for the Tim Minchin show, I thought I'd dress up a bit. But, you see, I still wanted to be cool. So I thought I'd imitate Max Scoville from Destructoid (he tweets here, check him out, we discussed whether or not you can eat Pokemon) in his business casual look:

I wore a nice tie, loosely knotted, with one of my Gap shirts, Levis, my oxblood Doc Martens and a suit jacket I bought at St Vincent De Paul.

Tanja had a.... specific reaction.

Which led to my ditching the tie and jacket.

Stupid fashion.

And yes, I do care what people think about how I look. I probably shouldn't, but I'd be lying if my shaving my head hadn't compounded my worry about looking un-noteworthy, or worse, negatively noteworthy. I am a bundle of insecurities. This should not be news to you.

ED-209: You Have Twenty Seconds To Comply

Day 15, which is totally being posted on a different day from Day 14. Totally.


Take that Ed Hardy. Though, I suppose Ed Hardy can walk down stairs. (Yeah, it's another TeeFury.)

It's the state election today, something I'm legally not allowed to have an opinion about. Meanwhile, back in the mother country, the government has fallen. Again. This'll make the 4th election in 7 years. The joys of minority government. The election did spark this exchange:

Me: "I'm not allowed to vote. I'm a convicted felon."

Rick: "Felons have to vote in Australia."

Me: "Okay, FINE, I'm a foreigner, you proud of yourself?"

On the health front, I am starting to dread my bed, knowing that about an hour after I get into it, I will be awake and in pain. Valerian root helps, but I know it's chock-full of diminishing returns.

Ludwig Von Beethoven: Metal Legend

Day 14. Posted late! Late!

So many people don't read this shirt. They just assume it's a random heavy metal band and don't realise it's CLASSICAL. YEAH. CLASSICAL.

So my new job has been postponed. Indefinitely. Or "until further notice", as the official statement goes. I'm doing other interviews, so everything is a little up in the air.

I also realised yesterday the difference between going to a bar on Karaoke night and going to a Karaoke place with rented rooms. That difference being, at the bar? You need to be able to sing. In the room, everyone's just hollering along and it all gets drowned out. In conclusion, I have no voice.

Pac-Man Kill Screen

Day 13. Unlucky for some.

This is my Pac-Man kill screen shirt (bought from Jinx, it's officially a Jace Hall Show shirt). You should all see King of Kong. Someone asked me if my shirt had a virus. I explained in too much detail. I do that.

All that stuff from the doc and the physio did not help. Still got headache last night. No fun. Also, bruised from the physio. I've taken headache tablets, some valerian root, and my migraine wafer (don't worry, I checked with the chemist, they're non-reactive). Hopefully I'll sleep through the night, as I have an interview tomorrow, and a team outing following that.

You Won't Know What Hit You In The Slightest

Day 12.

This'll be a shortish post as I've had both a doctor's visit (in which I was cross-examined and given what appeared to be a sobriety test) then a physio visit (in which I was beaten and turned to Silly Putty) all to try and stop the waking-up-with-searing-pain-in-my-head thing. Here's hoping. On an unrelated note, today was such a beautiful day that I drained my iPhone dead taking pictures of buildings, clouds, trees, and occasional people.

Today's shirt is a Scott Pilgrim shirt. Most people get that. But only a few realise that it's a reference to the album "Goo" by Sonic Youth. Those few who notice make me happy.

I Enjoy Drinking Beer.

Day 11, in which I scribble on a pad.

It's a (Ghost) Trap!

Day 10, thus beginning the first day of my last week in this job.

A TeeFury, bought ages ago in a joint order with Craig, but I didn't pick it up until yesterday.

This shirt caused a perfect moment. It was noticed by one of my team members, who said words to the effect of "Hey, cool. Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars. But what's he holding?"

I held my breath, then just as the realisation started to dawn, I blurted out:

"IT'S A TRAP!"

Oh how happy I was.

Serenity Saké

Day 9, in which I am a little worn out from practice and the beer that came with it.

...Not that that would stop me. I pledged, damnit!

Today's shirt is yet another Teefury (sensing a pattern?) by Ian Leino (sensing a pattern?). I saw this and not only bought it, but that day dug out my Firefly episodes and watched them again. And to think? I saw Serenity for the first time, having not seen the series, and hated it. HATED it.

I found that it dumped us too quickly into the world, that I couldn't follow the language (was actively bothered by it, in fact) and that all in all, the film wasn't worth finishing. I blame Ted for forcing the series upon me (and a good thing he did). After a few false starts (sensing a pattern?), I watched it all the way through and fell hard for Firefly (I nearly wrote "fell hard for Nathan Fillion... and his crew"). I convinced Tanja to sit through it (sensing a pattern?), and then watched Serenity again.

And hated it, but for different reasons.

I also loved it, let's get that straight. Basically, now that I loved the crew and the story that I'd gone through with them, I found the re-integration of tension that had long-since been worked out in the series was suddenly back, so we could have some tension in the early going. Simon and Mal are at odds again, Kaylee and Simon are back to will-they-or-won't-they, River's still bugnuts insane without any of her clarity from the later series... I understand why they did it, it just felt fake, like it hadn't been earned. The later story, making the Reavers into a front-line threat instead of a (sorry) phantom menace, Miranda, and River's awakening, all that won me over big-time.

So yeah. That was a thing that happened.

Here's hoping Nathan Fillion (who has one of these shirts, bless 'im) gets to buy the rights and make more Firefly. Also, the comics by Dark Horse are pretty awesome.