Preparing for a brighter future

2008-07-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just an update.

Went to the police and real estate. Turns out his parents manage his affairs and deal with the real estate. The police had a chat with him. His mum brought him over to apologize to me. He denies throwing Worf over the fence (mummy says he wouldn't do such a thing). Feel sorry for his mother who really had to work hard to keep him in line. Apology couldn't have been less sincere if it had been Howard saying sorry to the Stolen generation. He even wrote a sorry note but screwed it up instead of giving it to me. Slammed door in his face when he started to gloat. However he did promise to leave me alone and so far this is the case.

Moving may be a problem. There are no places of less rent than where I am. One squalid little unit at equal price. Anywhere remotely livable starts at another $40.00/week more. So it goes

2008-07-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

No News Is Good News

As a blogger I have been pretty dismal with the regularity of my posts. While there has been a lot happening I am currently not really in the mood to update everyone on everything at the moment.

Sadly I have only one thing that I feel the need to report at the moment.

Mr Worf is no longer with us. On Tuesday night he was mauled by the neighbor's dogs. The injuries were: a broken pelvis, a deep puncture at the base of his tail, several smaller bite injuries and severe bruising to his one remaining hind leg. The blood tests given by the vet revealed that he had diabetes and serious kidney problems. After several days at the veterinary clinic he showed signs of going downhill. Even his breathing became difficult and at the end every breath ended in a faint moan (the dodgy kidneys meant that a strong pain killer was not advisable). On Sunday afternoon at ten past five he was put to sleep. He was fifteen and a half years old and I loved him very much. He is now buried at my parent's property at black river.

My gratitude goes out to the staff of Green Cross vets Aitkenvale for doing all that they could for him and for putting fresh flowers on the table for his last moments.

Hopefully I will pull my finger out and gove a more complete update sometime soon.

The next bit is more unpleasant and I don't actually recommend that anybody read it (yet still I feel the need to write it down). That goes especially for you Polly.

As for how the dogs next door got hold of him I have two theories. They are locked in their yard at all times and Worf was not stupid enough to go through the fence. In fact I have never seen him enter that yard even when there were no dogs (he has grown quite timid in his old age). However he would often go to the toilet near the fence and they may have grabbed him through the bars. This seems unlikely but it is a possibility.

The second theory is more unpleasant. The tenant of the flat above me is very strange, at first I thought that he must have spent most of his time drunk or stoned (this may still be the case allong with the following). Now I am leaning towards severe mental ilness and an urgent need to be institutionalised. After he moved in upstairs he started accusing me of stinking up his flat. (This is the same flat that was once occupied by Ernie the Ogre. A person so foul that towards the end of his tenancy urine would drip down through the ceiling from his bedroom [do not pity him for his incontinence, he was a font of malice]. A person who just chucked his befouled mattress off the balcony and left it when he moved out. His flat required two days to be rendered habitable by a crew of professional cleaners. However, unless they ripped up the floorboards and decontaminated the space below then his foulness must still remain. I have noticed that tenants rarely stay long in that flat.) Just after Worf was attacked a letter was stuck to the door of my flat. I will not transcribe what it said but will say that it could not have been written by a sane person. In it's ramblings it included the foulest and most abusive language I have ever encountered (and I once worked in a place where everyone referred to each other using the C word) and explicit threats of violence both to myself and to Worf (I am also aparrently responsible for him not being able to find a woman). So I feel that there is a good chance that he may have grabbed Worf and thrown him over the fence to the dogs.

As for the letter, it is so alarming in it's content that Mon says that I should take it to the police and the real estate agent. I am tending towards agreement.

2008-01-03T16:55:00.001-08:00

So much for blogging regularly.

It's not like a lot hasn't been happening either. I'm going to try and keep it in some sort of order but no promises.

Congratulations to Dave and Fiona on the birth of their son. I was talking to Jimbo on skype when he got the news.

The Zoo. As stated earlier I worked like a very busy person. Managed to correct all of the senior (year seven only) and general fiction entries in between checking things in and out. The only easy ones (just need the first three letters of the Author's last name) left are the junior and red dot (intermediate between junior and general) fiction. All of the non-fiction needs the actual book in hand to do the corrections (curse you Melville Dewey).
It wasn't all fun and games. I got drafted into the annual older mammals vs keepers cricket game. It is once again confirmed that I can't bat, bowl or catch. There was some serious play with some (possibly vengeful) body line bowling done by both sides. Also it was hot as a hot Downsville day and I got sunburned. Keepers fielded first and won by a lot. I was sent in early in the keepers' innings to use up some of the fast bowlers but didn't last long, hit a few balls but scored no runs, copped balls to the elbow and the arse.
In the end I think the keepers were happier about the end of the zoo year than the animals.

Visitors. Shortly before Xmas a friend of mine who had been living in Taiwan moved back to Oz bringing with him his lovely wife. Briefly staying in Downsville to visit his parents we managed to catch up with each other and went for a swim at paradise lagoon (water a lot greener than on my previous visit). We had been through primary and high school together and lots of reminiscing occurred. Some troublesome memories resurfaced more clearly than they had been for a very long time (surfacing like some bloated primordial amphibian in the swamp of my mind and sinking back down to hide under it's log again). Strangely enough a side effect of such deep memories resurfacing was that they seemed to dislodge a lot of other unrelated memories which rose up and sank over the next few days. After xmas we caught up briefly just before they went down to Brisvegas to live.
Also visiting this sweaty armpit of a town was the Simonster we visited the new Riverway development and went and saw the non 3D version of Beowulf at the movies (pretty good). Had some very good coffee, food and conversation at the Lucabean (Si had a lamb tart which I will definitely order next time I am there). Caught up with him again after xmas where he joined in a lan games session at Big Waa's place.

Neebo. Went down to Neebo for xmas again this (2007) year. First stopping in Mackay for the 21'st of Mon's oldest niece. Fun party but bloody hot and no breezes. Christmas was good with some great thunderstorms (thunder following lightening instantaneously and so loud you couldn't even hear yourself scream "FUCK!"). Scored amongst other things a voucher for the best bookshop in town, a George Foreman G2 grill and a really cool electric razor. Among the highlights was playing Texas holdem while consuming a bottle of scotch (a little improved my playing ability but it was hard to keep the right balance and in the end a lot improved my enjoyment of the game). Also there were many many crows around but they didn't caw at all, just looked at you and hopped or flew away if you approached (briefly entertained the thought if giving this post the pretentious title "Summer of the Silent Crows").

New Year. Very quiet, didn't even stay up for midnight. Also NYE was Mon's birthday. Although this year I managed to keep my foot out of my mouth over xmas I failed dismally on Mon's birthday. Even managing orally insert my foot while my head was up my arse. I'm very sorry Mon, I love you very much.

Keith. Yesterday I received a call from Polly telling of the death of a friend of ours. I don't really want to talk about it but I must thank Polly for her follow up calls, making sure that I was all right. Goodbye Keith, I don't know what else to say without sounding trite.

There's probably other stuff I could add (like Morgan's $2000 dog) but this'll do for the moment.

2007-12-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

Got my blue card back (O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!) and have been working like a bastard. It is good to be back at the zoo.

One of the aides accidentally did an open ended batch process without previewing it. 11000 (Eleven Bloody Thousand) entries had their call number and location changed. Last backup was a week ago. It has been decided to change them as they are borrowed and returned (its not like we aren't busy just checking things in and stuff this time of year [11000!! That's about six or seven years worth of entries {fortunately it is quicker and easier to edit an entry than to make one from scratch}]).

Also the database we use was updated to a new version at the start of the year. The company providing it was immediately bought by another which decided to scrap that database, harvest it for features and fuse it with a new dbase they planned to make. This means we have had to put up with a buggy alpha version of some discontinued software while waiting for the new product (the dodgy batch processing features included). One of the main problems is a memory leak which slowly ties up all of the available ram (when the computer starts to bog down you can call up the running processes and watch as the available ram dwindles to nothing and the computer locks up). So it goes.

Despite this it's all good.

2007-11-19T23:23:00.000-08:00

As I type this my father is in hospital having a large gall stone removed from his bile duct. Yesterday he had emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder. Serious symptoms only manifested on Saturday night. He thought it was his heart but the pain didn't go away. Mon knew exactly what it was and how serious, accurately predicting even the surgery. Her diagnosis was about a day ahead of that of the doctors.
It will be a trial getting him to stay in bed and do nothing. Unfortunately this also means that the 40th anniversary party for him and mum this Saturday has been cancelled.

Went to Paradise Lagoon at Big Crystal Creek far a picnic and swim on Saturday. Paradise is the right name for it. Wonderfully clear water which was not too cold and a day that wasn't too hot. As we were leaving a light rain started. The next day heavier showers gave some much needed relief to this dry old town. According to Mon, it was probably the consumption of loads of greasy chicken wings at the picnic which triggered dad's attack.

2007-11-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

Another in a probably doomed effort to continue regular blogger entries.

Just read "Signal To Noise" and "A signal Shattered" by Eric S. Nylund . I thought they were pretty good.

Just listened to "Life On Air" written and read by David Attenborough (I hope nobody needs links to know who he is). A brilliant and entertaining autobiography by one of the most interesting people in the history of broadcasting.

Occasional listening:
Shonen Knife who are surprisingly easy to listen to even when singing in Japanese. With fantastic lyrics like "Sheep in the sky, Like a butterfly" who can resist them. Which reminds me, I should get some Tortoise brand pot cleaners, the best pot cleaners in the world.
Paul Kelly is good for a melancholy mood (too much and sometimes a shot of Shonen Knife is needed).

Watched:
Hot Fuzz - Better even, I feel, than Shaun of the Dead.
Stranger Than Fiction - Watch it with an open mind. I am even considering buying a copy.
The new Flash Gordon television series - Don't get your hopes up (couldn't even be bothered finding a link).

2007-11-15T01:33:00.000-08:00

K9 And Company V2.0

Elizabeth Sladen is back. Her brief resurrection in Doctor Who has led to The Sarah Jane Adventures. A show primarily directed at young teens it is well dodgy but improves noticeably as the stories progress (I have seen eps. 0-6 so far and they are now verging on just plain dodgy). Apart from the pilot it is in the format of two half hour episodes per storyline. Also (apart from a brief appearance in the pilot ) there is, so far, an absence of annoying robotic dogs.
Recommended only for die hard fans of Lizzie.

2007-11-15T00:45:00.000-08:00

I have had to put the grille back on the fan on my computer desk. I took it off to clean it and decided that the airflow was better without it. Unfortunately my idjit (not idgit) cat keeps jumping on the desk and sticking his head or tail into it. It's gotta hurt (hypothesis confirmed by experimental test on finger), but he just stands there and takes it until I yank him out of the way.

The little bugger is also going through one of those "you call this food?" phases. Even fresh mackerel and barramundi (my thanks to the Blue Marlin Fish Bar [conveniently close, delicious and they use lamb fat in the deep fryers]) get left, along with minced portions of animals domestic, foreign or mysterious. Also anything that's not put on his plate right then and there is no longer classed as food. As nothing is edible he is hungry all of the time and subtly hints that he should be fed by interposing himself between me and the monitor (or as earlier mentioned, sticking bits of himself into the desk fan).

2007-11-06T03:57:00.000-08:00

I foolishly let my blue card lapse at the end of last term and it will take till the end of this term to reprocess. Since I don't need it for paid work I am barred from the zoo for the rest of the year. This kinda sucks. Otherwise not much has been happening.

2007-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

It has been a considerable period since my last post. The main reason is that I have had another ISP go belly up on me. Unfortunately I have been too broke until now to reconnect with someone else. The reason for Rawnet's collapse seems to be a combination of a certain level of dodginess on their part and a huge amount of malicious effort on the part of our beloved Telstra Pigpond.

As for what has been happening to me in the long break. Well you'll have to come and visit me to find out. For those who cannot be bothered to do so here's the main points.

Went to Mt Isa for the 40'Th of one of Mon's sisters. It got down to three degrees during the day and barely above eleven. Otherwise, fun was had by all (The giant bonfire helped).

The Nazi zookeeper retired after his long service was up. The deputy zookeeper who was doing his job did extremely well did not get his position (because of this we will probably lose him at the end of the year). Instead it went to Dolores Umbridge. Well not really, unfortunately the lack of magical powers and an inclination towards torturing the animals takes away the only potentially interesting things about her. Instead the staff had assigned her the nickname because of her pettiness and love of bureaucracy. When she gets an answer she doesn't like from a staff member, she keeps on asking until they give up and she gets one she does like.

Polly visited. YAY

Other stuff happened too but I cannot recall anything at the moment.

2007-01-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

Well hasn't the last six months just flown by.

For anyone who has tried to find out about my life in the last six months I tender my apologies. I am a lazy bastard prone to procrastination. Stuff has been happening and I will try to remember but there are no guarantees on accuracy or completeness. Here goes, in no particular order.

Polly visited. Yay. we spent some time together (not enough) visited a writers festival (the guy who wrote "He died with a felafel in his hand" was there). Went to Frank's with Mon and Morgan. So there is now someone other than myself to vouch for her existence.
By the way Polly the book arrived safe and sound thank you.

Some bastard stole my kafir lime tree and all of my spare pots but surprisingly none of the fertilizers and gardening tools lying nearby.

Went to Nebo for christmas and stayed with one of Mon,s sisters. The town was almost completely deserted as just about everyone had left over the christmas break. We were the only inhabitants in our street. Beat the heat by sitting in an inflatable pool in the shade and drinking lots o' booze (white russians for me).

I now need a machine to help me breathe at night. Apparently stopping breathing every couple of minutes is considered bad. On the plus side it has dramaticaly reduced my snoring , I get more sleep (the tests showed that I woke up about 40+ times an hour) and I can make believe that I'm Darth Vader. On the minus side it is not very comfortable, it hisses when i move and break the seal, I will need to buy a generator for when we go camping and worst of all, it is hard to snuggle up to Mon while wearing it.

Worf's leg still hasn't grown back. After more than a year I am beginning to give up hope that it will. However he now gets fresh fish offcuts from the Blue Marlin across the road so he is somewhat compensated.

I turned 38 on sunday and was rewarded with an excelent barbeque breakfast prepared by Mon. Yay Mon!

I culled my massive book collection by more than half and gave the books to lifeline. This was hard but I really have no room in this flat for all of my crap.

Back to the Zoo next week. Fortunately the evil boss zookeeper has gone on long service to write up and publish his research and hopefully never to return. Using the zoo as a laboratory to test his personal theories may seem unethical to some people (me for a start). But you do have to take into account that he has a name (which I will not give but will say has "cock" in it) is one that could easily be twisted into insulting terms by small animals. I'm sure his behavior as head zookeeper was just his unconscious revenge for a tortured childhood. (In support of my theorey, the zookeeper who most supported his reign of terror also has an unfortunate name, the most obvious derivative of which is "cockhead")

Tonight I'll be heading over to Big Waa's house to play Battlefield2 on his network.

Tomorrow (invasion day) there's a free Paul Kelly concert and then an overnight trip to the Island.

I'm prety sure that there is more than this but my memory is poor. So I'll' expand on this if I recall more and can be bothered typing it out.

2006-07-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

I Aten't Dead

Hello to those who can still be bothered checking this blog for updates. Four months is a fairly long time not to update so I'll just add things as I recall them and no promises of chronological order. I have not been checking other peoples blogs either as they make me miss everyone too much.

Ernie the ogre upstairs is gone. He gave his notice to the real estate and then changed his mind a week later. Seizing thier chance they refused to accept his retraction despite his whining about having nowhere to go. Just about everything concerning him I have gotten second hand since he would actually flee at the sight of me (probably a guilty conscience and expectation of my justifiable wrath {or he actually thinks I am evil and is terrified of me}). Just before he handed in notice I did go upstairs and yell at him through his door (Entirely justified and if you want to know what he does, ask the Simonster as I complained to him quite a lot when he was up here). It came back to me from the neighbors that I had been threatening him and had run off with my tail between my legs when he produced his baseball bat. When he was flat hunting he would apparently show the people in the other flats the card an estate agent had given him - which had her picture on it - and tell them she was his girlfriend. There was some debate over whether or not to inform her of what he was doing but it was decided to wait until she had found him somewhere to live. Otherwise we might have been stuck with him even longer. It took a team of profesional cleaners a whole day to render the flat inhabitable after he left. He also left three trailer loads of crap in the backyard and the carports. The worst being a rotting urine soaked matress which almost made me sick to chuck into the trailer. Happily I have not seen him since he moved out. So ends that saga.

Mental health issues. I have finally gotten back into the system. Firstly there came a case manager. A nice enough guy, but inexperienced and unfortunately a bit too christian for my tastes (and with a tendency to give out photocopies of inspirational messages). He was good for philosophical debates though and I usually felt better after seeing him. He has since been transferred kicking and screaming to another section. I have briefly been introduced to his replacement though there has yet to be a propper session. This will occurr after my third meeting with the Witch Doctor (psychiatrist).
The WD. A is a friendly fellow but when he gets going he's pretty intense and I left the first session with him a shaking wreck. Kept asking things like whether I had dabbled in the occult (really ) and was verry interested to learn that I used to play roleplaying games. When he learned about voices etc. he fixated on it and kept on about them controling me despite my saying that they weren't a problem and what really bothered me was the crippling anxiety and depression. Eventually he gave me some samples of a drug called Seroquel (quetiapine) and told me to come back in a few weeks. I have deliberately tried to remain as ignorant as possible about this drug in order not to anticipate it's affects (both positive and negative). According to my GP it is only schedualed for Schizophrenics and on the waiting list for Bipolars for all others it is about $85 per month or thereabouts. No problem now as in the next (verry brief) session he called up the relevant authorities and I am now oficially classified as Psychotic [MAD GRIN] which means only $4.75. See him again in a couple of weeks.
The Drugs. I'm still on all the other things I was taking but now am on 400mg of the new stuff before I go to bed. It definitely helps with sleep and if I'm up and about I can feel it kick in, generally 20 mins to half an hour after taking it (hits like a sack full of sand. After that I have to go to bed or fall over. During the day I tend to be a bit zombieriffic. Voices etc. now rarely there, I find myself missing them and often feel guilty about locking them away or killing them or whatever this drug is doing. My mood has improved drastically though what little motivation I had before has been somewhat blunted. Nothing seems to matter so much any more (I an not using that as an excuse for not having blogged though). Still get anxious and depressed but not so much now.

Family. My mum went for a tandem skydive for her 60'th birthday. All went well and she loved it.
A week or so ago my dad wend for a shorter dive through the roof of the extension he was building onto his shed (the next day I had been schedualed to help him put everything together but he couldn't wait). Landing on a concrete slab from about 2 1/2 metres is not as much fun as landing on sand from a couple of thousand metres (admittedly with a parachute {not that a parachute would have been of much use if dad had had one too}). He has a broken leg, cracked rib and multiple contusions and scrapes. The project is how on standby until he heals up.

Mon. Because of the posibility of saying the wrong thing or leaving something important out I will say nothing except. I love you Mon. Also she now has two chooks and a duck as well as her Shitzu and Maltese doggies.

Easter. Went to the anual Burdiken river camp. Over the years this has grown into a small villiage of family and friends of the family. These days the spot is claimed a couple of weeks before easter to prevent anyone else getting it and as many tents etc as possible set up well before thier owners arrive by those who get there first to discourage intruders. The area gets mowed and this year there was even a hot water system powered by the fireplace. Before the majority of people arrived there was only about a dozen people (including my father who had been there a couple of weeks already). It was at this time that some fuckwit (who was camped with some other group a few hundred metres away) decided it would be fun to use our campsite as a motorcycle obstacle course endangering (and annoying) all therein. During one of his passes my (65 YO) father steppd out to remonstrate with him causing the biker to swerve and hit a small tree. Infuriated he (the biker) took off his helmet and hurled it at the ground (causing it to split) and started menacing dad. Sensibly my father removed a steel pole from an awning and wacked him in the head with it. Surprised and intimidated (though aparrently not badly hurt) he retreated rapidly. He returned with some friends (the bad guys)and threatened dad with the police. In response one if the good guys called the Charters Towers police and asked them to come to the campsite cos trouble was a'brewin. Having had thier bluff called the bikers retreated. After a while when the police hadn't turned up they were called again. It seems that they couldn't find the turn off. It was later found that the bad guys had gone straight to the turn off and removed all signage. The main agressor cleared out as it eventuated that he was on a good behavior bond and any trouble would probably have landed him back in jail.
The rest of the camp was great, although the burdiken was too flooded to swim in it was a nice spot to spend a week. There was a wedding and as many yabbies as you could possibly want to eat. Mon bought a trailer and a palatial tent so we lived exceptionally well during our stay.

The Zoo. Only turned up a couple of times in the second term but am planning to go a lot more in the coming term, though I should probably ease back into it slowly.

Auctions [Probably Boring so skip this bit if you want]. My lovely 19" monitor died so I decided to go to an auction that had computer gear and see if there was a suitable replacement. Most of the computer gear was ex army stuff stacked on pallets and I found a couple with suitable looking monitors on them and decided to go for one pallet and if I didn't get it then try for the other. Somehow things didn't go as planned. As most of the pallets just contained crap, nobody was bidding on them. When it came to one of the ones I had my eye on I bid once and ended up with a total of five pallets of monitors, printers, servers and UPS's. Fortunately Mon had recently moved house and the new place had a huge shed.
After several weeks of testing I have reduced the 50+ monitors to about 30 that actoually work well. These are mostly 17" but there were also 2X19" and 2X21" (the best of which, a Dell Trinitron, became my replacement monitor). There was also a huge (huuuge, really I'm not kidding, it just about needed two people to carry it) NEC multisync which failed to work, so Mr Logic down the road offered to check it out. It was discovered to have a blown fuse. Not finding anything else obviously wrong the fuse was replaced. When it was plugged in I hit the on switch, there was a loud bang and I instantly turned it off. Mr Logic peered inside and said "I don't remember all of those bits of plastic being on the bottom". Apon closer examination a large component on the mains part of the board had been blown to pieces. The remaining 21" and two 19"s (and a few17"s if he can be persuaded) are destined for Major Waa's new house ( which has bundles of network cables coming out in just about every room) for use in LAN games saving some people from having to bring thier own on game nights.
The servers (two Sun 3000 spark servers with no hard drives and a spark storage array) may have been functional but nobody had any use for them so they are becoming art projects because the cases (on wheels and with lockable doors) and many of the components look prety cool (the mainboards look like a jetsons cityscape). A web search revealed they may have cost anywhere between US$45,00 & US$90,000 new.
The UPS's are as yet untested but if they work I might use as back up power for my house in case of blackout. Two of them have 25 12v lead acid batteries (altogether about 100kg/UPS) and one has 15 of the same batteries and a sticker saying it is capable of 3KVA output (also very heavy).
The six dot matrix printers were junked without checking. Of the nine laser printers one small HP could be persuaded to print.
There was sundry other stuff like old 10 base (slow) ethernet switches (mainly optical), a couple of old computers (1Ghz P3 ipexes minus hard drives otherwise functional), three neolithic palm pilots, a bunch of computer speakers, about 30 CD drives (just readers not burners), lots of power and network cables, mice, etc & etc.
There have been several trips to the dump so far and probably more in the future. I have been barred from bringing any more stuff to Mon's shed and even the attending of auctions is now frowned apon [though since then my auction mania has gained me two mountain bikes (which have been stripped to make one that is actually rideable), a large quantity of plastic tent pegs (for next year's easter camp), a couple of medium sized pressurizable storage boxes (they even came with a bike pump), some unidentifiable test equipment (whim, no other bidders and they looked interesting {anyone know what a DC Null volt meter is, or a radio set simulator? - OK so they are identified, I just don't know what they do}) and a lawn locker (just a lawn locker, nothing worthy of comment about it)].

I'm pretty sure that there has been lots of other stuff happening but I can't recall at the moment what it is. So this is it for the time being. Hopefully I won't be so long next time.

2006-02-20T22:46:00.000-08:00

It's my blog, I can whine if I want to. .
.

Had a terrible weekend. Failling meds are making life unpleasantly interesting.

Just in case things weren't already interesting enough, Ernie (visualise Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist with a smaller mouth, scraggley hair, a baggy grey track suit and less charm and inteligence) in the flat above has escalated his campaign against me (you really don't want to know what his latest trick is). To date he has; been continually rude to Mon; watered my mail (also expected parcels have failed to arrive, has he been stealing them?) ; setting the sprinkler under my washing so frequently that now I do all my washing at Mon's place; putting the sprinkler under Mon's engine bay when she visits; stomping past my flat at all hours peering inside; causing the appearence of dead urine scented patches of grass along the side of my flat; really bad music really loud possibly with the speakers face down on the floor as you can bearly hear the music outside (there has even been hammond organ music while he has been out, is he taking tips from Feathers McGraw?); A campaign of lies and false rumours about everyone who has ever lived there at the same time as him (admittedly this caused me to wonder what he told other people about me but I decided to credit them with inteligence greater than that of George Doubleya and didn't let it worry me), no longer a problem since we havn't been on speaking terms since he abused Mon; Stomping around his flat at all hours of the night like a mobile earthquake knocking over furniture (mind you, that could just be because he is a huge clumsy fuckwit); other petty stuff.

Went to the real estate to file a complaint, unfortunately no other coplaints exist. People tolerate him and then leave. They said go to the police. The cops reccon that while it is pushing the envelope what he is doing is not actually criminal. Aparently unless he actually assaults me or threatens me to my face or causes property damage he can get away with it. They said it was the agent's responsibility and suggested I move out. Went back to real estate, they suggested getting others in block to complain if they have problems.

After the real estate agent I went to the zoo. Fortunately it was just on the start of the morning break and only the IT guy was in the library. He asks me how I am and like a big sook I burst into tears. Wonderful eh. However the day at the zoo took my mind off things and things started looking up.

After I got home I went for a walk to the river and fed the turtles ducks and eels half a loaf of bread. There were masses of them it was pretty cool, so many that sometimes they were pushed right out of the water by those below.

At about six I finally went and introduced myself to the people in the flat next door, admittedly they have been there a few months already and apart from the occasional hello I had never spoken to them. Nice people, aparently whenever Ernie talks to them I get a mention. It would seem that I am evil incarnate and it is only a matter of time before he takes to me with a baseball bat (he even showed them the bat). He also claimed to have a gun but this is a s hard to believe as his many other stotries. Fortunately they could see that he was full of shit so I was not sent fleeing, pursued by pitchfork and torch wielding locals. They have been having trouble with him too. He aparrently sits on his steps naked and sexually harasses the women. He also verbally abused a guest of the people in flat 4 and when they responded in kind he called the police. Of course he waited until the guest had left to do this. Fortunately the police saw that he was "Wrong in the head" and let things go. Potential allies there then.

The girl upstairs has only just moved in so has yet to suffer from his attentions apart from the naked on the steps episodes (surely there's laws aginst that kind of thing).

At one stage While they were inside getting more drinks Ernie came walking down the street towards home. I decided to have a word and placed myself in his projected path. He immediately lumbered to the other side of thestreet and kept heading up the road, did a u turn in the distance came back and snuck through the carport and rushed upstairs. I should point out at this stage that I have never threatened him or even spoken to him with a raised voice. Also refrained from any revenge schemes whatsoever, apart from my current campaign to get him evicted which could more accurately be classed as self defence.

Stayed talking to the neighbors and drinking rum until after 9:00 then went home to watch media watch feeling much better.

Today I wasn't feeling too bad and headed off to the zoo. Within a couple of hours I was curled up in a corner shaking and had to be driven home by the library aide. Yay me. Made an appointment yesterday to see my doctor. She is great and understanding and caring etc (and bulk bills) and I followed her from her previous practice. She did a great deal to help me get my pension and has also seen me at my worst and can therefore understand my condition better than another doctor might. Unfortunately her greatness is no secret so she is booked solid for the next fortnight. So it goes

This afternoon I shall be putting up an Ernie proof fence to protect the side of my flat from his depredations. Hopefully sometime soon my troubles with that sick, sad, stupid, scrofulous sack of shit will be over.

2006-02-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

Q:How do I explain what's been going on without sounding whiney? .

A:I don't. Let's just say that depression sucks and I still havn't seen my doctor about possible changes in medication.

Un the up side

I spent Oz day long weekend on the island and it rained a lot so the creeks were flowing. Which meant that it was possible to spend all day staying cool in the water with minimal risk of jellyfish stings. The threat of a tropical low nececitated a triphome with Mon to batton down in case of a cyclone or sever storm (neither of which happened). The trips back and forth in the ferry allowed us to watch the suffering of some people grow progressively more queazy as the voyages progressed. In my spiteful way I was able to garner some enjoyment from thier discomfort and the thought that Downsville Oz day celebtations might be ruined by a day of unrelenting torrential rain.

Turned 37 with the aquisition of some nice loot. And cake.

Rolingstone creek is also nice for fighting the heat.

Worf showed next door's kitten who was the boss when it came inside and started eating his food. Good for his self esteem, maybe I shouldn't have rescued it.

Went back to the zoo and worked like a bastard for the first couple of weeks getting things organised. The librarian was off sick when the newest little animals came in to borrow and since there was just me there despite my lack of qualifications I gave thier first library lessons. It felt surprisingly good.

So far I have only made one of the animals cry this year ("Borrowing doesn't start until next week" "But I need ....." "I havn't even entered all of the student details yet" "But but but, whine,try for sympathy angle " "You can borrow on monday" "But, boo hoo"etc).

Had a discussion with the librarian about how being shouty at the beginning of the year would hopefully lead to the need for less shouting as the year progressed. I admit to being somewhat sceptical (Now if you don't mind, I have some other bits of shouting I've got to do).

I still find it amazing (though thanks to Seneca not so annoying) that the animals can be looking at you and appear totally attentive but not take in a single thing that you are saying to them.

Wierd Qld state school system means we lost a keeper on day 8 despite the next day gaining more animals than we had lost over the previous 8 days. Internal politics meant that the better keeper who had more seniority but who spoke her mind was the one who left. And of course this meant new class lists from the reshuffle meaning redoing some of the work I had done.

Valentines day: Red clothing day at the zoo. Evening picnic at the strand with Mon and Morgan and bacon and egg pie. Morgan had earlier pointed out that we were going to be eating within sight of the place Mon and I first met in person (the fishing pier, easter sunday 2003).

Other stuff happened but at the moment I cannot recall what.

2006-01-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

Lying eternally in a cradle of splendor ...

-From the Brazilian national anthem

That's how this book I just read started. "Cradle Of Splendor" written by a Texan called Patricia Anthony six years prior to the invasion of Iraq. I would say it's the best book that I have read for a while except that just before it was Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal" (Diskworld's take on coorporate ethics).

For those of you who are amazed that I have blogged so soon after my last effort I offer this explaination. Meh.

Been feeling pretty crappy rhe last couple of weeks, crying and getting angry or sulky or suicidaly depressed for no readilly explainable reason. Hope it doesn't mean that I'm due for another change of medication as this particular one has been most effective and kinder than most when it comes to side effects. The withdrawal effects of efexor are a killer (not so much lethal as just making you wish they were) as I have found out when I have neglected to renew my script for a week or so. Also in my experience it takes several tries to find one that actually does a half way decent job. So I hope there is no change needed.
I realise that some people see the reliance on medicines for mental health as a weakness. It's all right for them to reffer to the meds as a crutch but if they lost a leg I'm sure they'd use one (a crutch that is). It's this kind of thinking (differentiating between mental and physical wellbeing) which leads to people either ignoring mental health issues or in the cases where they cannot be ignored locking the sick away. Admittedly unless you have had a mental illness or have been close to someone who has, then it is hard to understand. Whereas it takes no real effort to extrapolate from your worst bout of sickness (even if it is only a mild flu) to any number of diseases. Or from a stubbed toe to having your leg blown off by a landmine.
This lack of empathy is even worse in those who have power, as it is neccesary to gave a certain level of sociopathy to climb to the top over the (metaphorical) bodies of others
(P= fs where P is power {political or business or financial or some other form} s is sociopathy {or in extreme cases psychopathy} f of course being som mathematical or sociological formula or function {or something}). Indeed the "Let them eat cake" (not that MA actually said it, although her fate should indeed be shared by many modern politicians {not that she was actually a politician either} ) attitude of so many politicians leaves me constantly astonished at the stupidity of the populace in reelecting them time after time. Take Phillip the Rediculous as an example. The man responsible for inflicting the "Pacific Solution" on people fleeing persecution. I once saw him on the idiot box talking about depression and how he didn't believe that it was a real disease (in this case reffering to detainees but implicitly all of the clinically depressed) and nor did the rest of Australia (or words to that effect since I was so enraged and disgusted that I didn't take notes). The attitude that people with mental ilness are "bunging it on" or should "pull thier socks up" or just "get over it" or maybe even "cheer up" is not uncommon. Admittedly the profile of MI has been raised a lot in recent times, especially with prominent figures revealling thier suffering (sadly in some cases by attempting suicide).

I've gotten to the point where I can't remember what my orriginal point was so another rant peters out without getting anywhere. Sorry about this. Here's some quotes stolen from the web which may or may not have little or no bearing on what I was talking about.

Intellectual dishonesty in religion only increases the number of smart
and angry atheists. This is not especially a good thing. -- Louann Miller


"Natural laws have no pity."

I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.
- Jane Wagner

I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top. - Frank Moore Colby

ABROAD, adj. At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
- Ambrose Bierce : The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary

The idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker?... Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking "for our sakes was the world created."
- Julian the Apostate

Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.
-H.L. Mencken

And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps.
- H.L. Mencken

"We have been fortunate enough to live to a time when virtue, though it
does not triumph, is nevertheless not always tormented by attack dogs."
--Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Gulag Archipelago.

Nympholepsy: Definition: Original meaning: frenzied emotions resulting from being captured by nymphs or, for weaker souls, simply seeing them; current meaning: emotional anxiety brought on by attempts to attain the unattainable.

"The biggest liar in the world is 'they say'"
--Douglas Malloch

"Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach."
--Ted Koppel

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless
means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral." - Freire / OXFAM

"Blessed are they who learn from their mistakes, for they shall make,
if not necessarily fewer of them, different and more interesting ones."
--Dorothy J. Heydt

"Even when violence is not the answer it certainly puts
the question in a way that is difficult to ignore."
-  Simon Carr

Stockbroker (John Cleese): Well, speaking as member of the Stock Exchange I would suck their brains out with a straw, sell the widows and orphans and go into South American Zinc.
- Monty Python: "Sex and Violence"

That's enough quotes for now.

For those who perservered this far and are wondering about the results of my heart check up. I have an "Occasional ectopic atrial beat" which is apparently nothing to be worried about.

2006-01-09T03:20:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW POST (YEAR,WHATEVER) .

Well, christmas shopping turned out to be less traumatic than I feared. Just as the rude, aisle blocking, trolley ramming, que ignoring, loud, obnoxious, etc, crowds were about to make me lose the plot Mon takes me aside and buys me a chocolate thick shake and a giant melting moment biscuit.

Was the first time in years that both sisters and thier husbands and offspring were going to be in Downsville for the occasion but Mon and I were going to Nebo for christmas. Everybody understood etc, what a shame I couldn't be there with the whole family for the first time in ages. Then we decided not to go to Nebo and stay home instead. That was when I got the brilliant (misguided) idea to keep it secret from everybody else and then surprise them with our presence (and presents). Well long story short, I won't be doing something like that again any time soon. A substantial part of a successful christmas seems to be preparation.

And now it has passed. New year was nice, Mon's birthday was on new years eve. Small party with fire engines roaring past just before (or was it after, things got a little blurred towards the end) midnight as some enlightened soul thought that starting a bushfire for the new year was a good idea (no it wasn't me, not even so much as a candle in a bucket [ask the Simonster or Jimbo to explain if you're curious, don't know me and happen to know the two mentioned above {that's probably just you emmajeans, though it's likely that I'm overanticipating any actual curiosity}]).

Foolishly exposed myself to the addictive (I can give it up any time I want, really) evil known as ebay in my search for gift ideas. Got some nice presents for people. Got some duds. Got some shit I didn't need, including a razor sharp axe (for a decorative item it really is ridiculously sharp) which I inteligently (what the hell was I thinking) mounted above the phone. No prizes for guessing what happened there, fortunately the wound was small and the bleeding easily staunched (now it has been turned around so the blade is not right above the reciever).

Had a great storm last night, lots of thunder and lightening and pouring rain. First decent shower that we've had for ages. More fuel for Downsvilles justifiably feared humidity (perhaps not quite so fearsome as just plain uncomfortable, insidious and annoying [why didn't I head down to Canberra with everybody else?]). Waiting for the promised follow up rain but it's looking less and less likely.

G.P. tomorrow to see if this irregular heartbeat of mine is worth looking into.

2005-12-15T16:18:00.000-08:00

Nearly 2006 already?

First of all I'd like to say some things about my previous post. I wouldn't actually wish an agonising death on anyone (even little Johny, as far as it goes with him a peaceful {but soon} death would be fine). Too much suffering already in the world to wish for more.

Went to M'tisa (but it's a dry heat) with Mon cos her youngest brother had eloped a month or so previosly and was finally holding a reception. Also some christenings in a catholic church where I fortunately didn't spontaneously combust or have to hold my head to keep it from spinning (maybe Renee was wrong when she called me an antichrist). As one of the few adults willing ro play with them when other grown ups were around I accumulated many small children throwing themselves at me while at the same time telling me to leave them alone (time to read between the lines and tickle them mercilessly). Was almost killed in the pool when Eskymo (makes kids with ADD look like they're on soma) made a running jump on me from behind without warning (I can still feel exactly where his feet hit my head) slamming my chin into my chest and rendering me groggy for a while and with a painful neck and headache (thankfully he is a small and skinny child so my spine is still intact). His follow up attack was forestalled by the simple expedient of holding him underwater until he decided to leave me alone (cruel but fair {I have a blue card so nothing I do can be child abuse}).

Christmas shopping YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY, no, wait, Ohgodohgodohgod will it ever end.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH.

Worf still has only three legs. It's taking ages to grow back, maybe time to start experimenting with lizard DNA. Or cybernetics. Will have to look into expanding my laboratory facilities over the zoo break.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that teacher aides, I mean assistant zookeepers share the same union as liquor traders?

2005-11-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Maybe this blog should be called "See You Next Month"

Well I have allowed my slackness to delay updates to the blog again. So here goes the condensed version.

Firstly, Worf is doing fine. The first few days after the op he loathed me and would cower from me which I guess was fair enough. Despite the loss of a limb he is now much heavier than the skeletal wretch he was when he reappeared. He is a bit sooky but that just means he is more sociable (especially when he needs to scratch his left {hind-legless} side). His leaping abilities have gone from "what the hell are you doing up there, no, don't knock that off you bloody cat". To laughably pathetic, falling short, going sideways or clinging on for dear life. Mon accuses me of spoiling him just because I cater to his every need and put things out to help him climb rather than making him have to leap to places he wants to get to.

In other news I am getting two paid days work per week at the zoo until the end of the year. Which helps ameliorate the financial dificulties Worf's op caused.

Went along to anti-IR rally and will be joining the relevant union for my job tomorrow. Having experienced and heard about some less than ethically upstanding (possibly even sociopathic) employers, I am of the opinion that we should cater for the lowest common denominator which the new laws don't. In addition to this, it seems that advocating strikes and civil disobedience, which is part of the plan for the anti-IR campaign, falls well within the bounds of the proposed anti-subversion laws (bit of a coincidence eh). FURTHER POLITICAL RANTING DELETED AND WILL BE EXPANDED APON ONLY IF REQUESTED OR TO REPLY TO COMMENTS (unless of courseI get worked up about things and need to vent) DUE TO A WISH NOT TO ALIENATE MY FRIENDS AND/OR SOUND LIKE A PRAT OR A CRAZY PERSON (possibly a bit too late for that {in which case Fuck you Howard I hope you get head cancer and die in agony and madness and the sooner the better})

Otherwise everything continues much as it usually does.

2005-10-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well I have been extremely slack with my blogging so now I have a fairly massive catchup to do.

Firstly at the start of the QLD school hollidays Mon (girlfriend), Moe (her son) and I went to Maggie Island for a few days. Weather was as perfect as it gets in Downsville, water was clear and only a couple of degrees too cool for perfection. The fish were biting so much that more time was spent hauling them in than dangling the line in the water (only slight exageration). Sleeping on a verandah covered by a mosquito net was bliss. Though the first night I was awakened to a scream from Mon as she kicked a possum off her leg onto me, only slight scratches on my foot as a result of this though.

The only thing really marred the trip was that my cat Worf - those of you who don't know him may be familliar with his offspring: Printy and Manson - had gone missing a few days before we left. As it is in the nature of cats to occasionaly dissapeat I was only moderately worried. This worry however increased every day of the three weeks that he was missing. He eventually turned up nineteen days almost to the minute after I had last seen him.

He came in limping and so thin that it was aparrent that he probably had not eaten for the entire time he hade been away. His leg was also giving him a lot of trouble and he had very little strength. The next morning I took him to the vets and had an anxious day at the zoo. Mind you I was also so happy that He was back that I didn't even terrrorize the children at all. Mostly spent my time covering new Tintin books.

On returning to the vet I was told that he had torn all of the ligaments in the knee of his left hind leg and the femur had slid down behind the lower leg. The injury dated from when he had first vannished and even now I have no idea what happened or where he was.

The options were reconstructive surgery whigh had a very good chance of failure or amputation at the hip. Now a normal person when confronted with the not particularly graphic descriopins given by the vet would have coped fine. Unfortunately I am the sort of person who when conversations turn to gruesome injuries (you know the sort of one-upmanship that happens in those) slopes off to put his head between hi knees ant tries not to be sick. Standing there talking to the (young and quite pretty) vet I start to feel myself going into shock, eventually I pull up a chair and sag into it. To cut a long story short I end up on the floor shaking and clammy trying not to faint or throw up. Vet then brings in Worf to comfort me when it should have been me comforting him.

Eventually decide on the amputation as it seems the least traumatic option. Then it's two weeks of intensive spoiling to get him into a fit enough condition to survive the operation. First couple of days we're inseperable. Every time I get up to do something he follows be despite the obvious pain it causes him. After that he pretty much stayed in one spot except when eating or drinking.

The operation was yesterday. All went smoothly. He was groggy and antisocial when Mon and I picked him up. With the additional humiliation of having to wear one of those cone things on his head and having his entire rear left side shaved. The scar is surprisingly small. On returning home he immediately shakes off his wooziness and showing amazing adaptation sprints outside. Whereapon he sprints up the stairs of the flat above and leaps for the little gap a few feet from the stairs where he likes to hide sometimes. This is where his plan and indeed himself falls down. One leg and anesthesia throw off his aim and distance so he hits the wall and falls two metres to the ground on his side. Surprisingly enough this traumatised him less than it did me.

How he has set himself up in a cranny under a coffee table in my bedroom punnishing me for the betrayal of taking him to the vet and getting his leg chopped off. Only ate for the first time a few minutes ago.

Other stuff has hppened in this time period as well. In no particular order these were: Pushed my luck with Mon and Moe by pretending to back the Tigers in the Finals (like I could give a toss about sport). Got a computer virus which savaged my system and required a complete reinstall of XP. Pushed my luck again by using Mon's shitzu Chester as a hand towel after eating Mulberies from her tree (the top of his head is now purple). Abandoned worf for an evening to see Serenity (It was great). Probably other stuff too but I can't seem to recall anything worth mentioning at the moment.

2005-10-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Took the 3 variable funny test David linked to and here's the results.

the Cutting Edge
(57% dark, 42% spontaneous, 5% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK

Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top.

(Seems somewhat accurate to me but feel free to comment)

Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi

(Hmmm)

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 65% on darkness
You scored higher than 40% on spontaneity
You scored higher than 0% on vulgarity

2005-09-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

Although there were no scones there were many photo's (>900) and that was only the digital ones. Film comes later.

Been quiet so far this week. Worf came in last night very wet. I suspect Ernie from upstairs may have hosed him. He's a strange person, also prone to placing the sprinkler under the clothesline after I hang out my washing and also in front of the mailbox in just the right place so it sprays into the mail slot. Also enjoys cornering me and rubishing the other tenants in my block of flats and the neighbors. Have also heard he rubishes me and the girlfriend (aparently she is mean to him). Good to see that he plays no favorites.

Worf aparently none the worse for his drenching but he is a flea bag at the moment.

My piracy plan has been a bit of a let down, afrer the early spree I've managed bugger all. Oh well. Having broadband is still good. Big hard drive also = good. Had a bit of a nasty time though when I coppied old to new and it was working then info started to disappear and old drive decided to give up the ghost. However, a few reboots later everything magically reappeared. Maybe I should start keeping backups . . . Nah. Just keep the sedatives handy for when things go pear shaped.

2005-09-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

Calvin is my hero

2005-09-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

Well here I am in sunny NQ. It's 10 pm and I'm sweating. Just about at the end of a second week of avoiding the shaping of young minds, due to a dose of flu. Though the good news is that the holidays start at the end of next week so I can feel less guilty about not going. Instead I shall be slobbing around over at Maggie Island.

Another friendly(?) fire casualty of our Glorious Leader's policies, it looks like the receptionist is having a break down and might not be back. That brings the total to two this year who may never work again because of our beloved Fuhrer. Fortunately he is no longer advocating the burning of books and instead is ignoring the library completely (to the extent of making anouncements about the library without consulting or even telling us, we find out when people ask us about things like costumes or new reading scheme clasificatins etc) since taking the teacher reference room (with it's fridge, kettle and photocopier), the home readers room, our budget, the petty cash and even payments for lost or damaged books. This means we have even had to secretly fundraise to get new chairs though furniture is normally B&G budget.

Usually the secret funds go on books but the need is desperate as I found a few weeks ago when the back of one snapped off when I leaned (my admittedly not inconsiderable weight) on it while sitting down. Amusing for the watchers and fortunately there were none of the little angels around to hear my immediate reaction. I was surprised at my flexibility as my feet and head were touching the floor while I was draped backwards over the seat (memo to self:don't hook feet around chair legs when you sit down). Then again if the feet hadn't been held in place by the chair my legs probably would have shot up and lifted the trapezoid table I was trying to seat myself at possibly catapulting it onto my head in an amusing Wile-e-coyote like series of events. Damn, if only there was a video camera available. A F.H.V. prize could have gotten us more funding.

I now have broadband (as opposed to nothing at all) woohoo. Though as the ISP's website is down I have been unable to organise email except through yahoo. Downloaded so much stuff (a dozen songs, a movie and a Walace & Gromit video clip) I've had to buy a new hard drive (old one was only 19gig and nearly full anyway). 120 gig, it should have come with an eye patch (arrrr me hearties).

Parents are back from an epic 7wk european holiday so shall be going over there on sunday to see how things went and presumably look at photos. Mon will be making scones so it'll all be good.