January 2005

 20-Jan-2005 8:38a - Photo update

I have finished scanning every photo I have. Man that took a while. Now i'll sort them all out, and hopefully by the end of January I will have a photo section! :-)

I spent last weekend just hanging out as usual. Spent Sunday with Tim and walked around the city a bit - then had pizza at Julians place... mmm.. Pizza. Tim has just got entry into Uni - Hooray for Tim! :-)

Got myself a new digital camera because the other one had a small battery life. This one is much thinner than the old.. so easier to carry around. I think I might buy myself a mountain bike this weekend - its been a long time since I've been bike riding.

Its Bens birthday this weekend, and Matts farewell next weekend. I have next week off work and I cant wait!!!

Anyway, thats just a brief update because I've been lazy with my weblog.. thats all for now!

11-Jan-2005 5:01p - Easy Money

Its my mums birthday today. Happy Birthday Mum!

Last night I went to my first market research group discussion. It went for 2 hours and we were talking about Coke. Got a free feed, and some free drinks and then got paid $100 cash! Eaaaassy money!!

Tonight I have another one about telecommunications.. gotta love it!

Pete (the nazi) is finally putting on a BBQ. And we thought the day would never arrive :-)

Thats enough crap for today. Adios!

10-Jan-2005 4:59p - Tsunami Aid Interesting Note

Isnt it interesting how just over a year ago 30,000 people died in an earthquake in Iran. No westerners killed (or maybe 1?). No one remembers it - there was no big relief appeal or worldwide charity (small ones raising a few million dollars were done by the usual agencies).

This time around, tsunamis/earthquake. 150,000 people died (still counting). Westerners killed. $5,000,000,000 (5 BILLION dollars) donated and still counting!!!!

Interesting.

Isnt it also interesting that over half a million children die from preventable diseases every year in ethiopia alone. Thats over 3 times the size of the tsunami. EVERY YEAR. And also in ETHIOPIA ALONE! However no westerners are dying there either.

Interesting.

My advice: Sponsor a World Vision child before you donate to the tsunami appeal. Money is more urgently needed in places that the media does not cover, and where westerners are not dying.

10-Jan-2005 4:58p - The Story of the Eve of the New Year 2004/2005

Its been a while and I still havent written about New Years Eve! So its about time...

I went to Utopia Harbourside for NYE with Julian. It was a rave right next to the water at Wharf 3, right next to the harbour with spectacular bridge and fireworks views. There were probably around 5000 people there (although I have no idea if thats anything close to the actual figure).

And it went off!

It was a HUGE warehouse, split in 2 - one section for trance/hardhouse, and another section for hardcore (although there was some hardhouse there as well occasionally). It was a very big setup with great lighting and sound, lots of lasers etc.. and a great pumped up crowd. Outside next to the water was another small Breaks area - making 3 rooms all up.

Jules knew someone there (Jay?) and indulged in unhealthy activities, not to be named here. Remember ladies and gentlemen: Utopia Harbourside is a Drug and Alcohol free event (this disclaimer excludes all drugs and alcohol provided by the proprietors of the event, families, friends and business partners) :P. Anyone who knows me knows I was clean as usual.. which was partly to explain me running out of energy around 3am.

It was an awesome night, and fun was had by all! I had bought 400 glow bands (but only 200 had arrived by the night).. but I quickly realised there is a definite limit to the amount of glow ware I can wear at once! And some of it looked dodgy when I put it on, so I ended up putting about 10 glow bands on each arm, and a little ring chain off my jeans. Now that the other 200 glow bands have arrived, I have a LOT of glow stuff... with no idea how to get rid of it! :-)

But the most amazing thing of the night was the flashing alien tshirt I had bought. I have never been so popular IN MY LIFE!!! I would have had literally 100-150 people comment on how they loved the tshirt... and probably double that look at stare at it... and around 30 or more people ask me where I got it from!!!!!! I even had girls come up to me and say how hot I looked, and so many people wanting to talk to me. For a guy who avoids attention, it was a total ATTENTION MAGNET. Wow! All for a flashing gimmick! :-) Was quite interesting.. I will have to wear it again in future.. and when I gets too much, I can always turn off the flashing and slide back into Attention Deflector mode. Hooray! Its like push a button, and I am seen as a different person, and everyone reacts differently. Spin out.

Around 3am I wasnt feeling the best.. but I was to find out later that this was the start of the cold which I still have! Damn it! I must have picked it up from Luke the previous day who was coughing his guts up all day. Damn.

In other news, Tim came around on Sunday/Monday. He's a cool guy. Its official. :-). Enuff said.

4-Jan-2005 11:59p - Tsunami

Banda Aceh, before and after

Images provided by DigitalGlobe. Click here for high res before and after images.