VolaciousNet

Hello world!

It’s been a pseudo-busy week, pseudo in that I would have liked it to have been busier, with study and all that, but this year like every other year has had a less-than-productive stuvac. All I need is to pass… so here’s hoping!

Interesting to note is that I have *finally* ordered the new part for the washing machine. Since February, after we dropped the washing machine from the back of the truck whilst moving, the lid lock mechanism has been broken which means we can’t spin dry. So all year we have simply wrung the clothes out and gave the dryer some extra work. Of course, most of the time this meant we were too lazy to wash. After spending almost $40 at the Laundromat washing 8 loads of clothes to cover the last two months, I decided that I have finally reached the pinnacle of laziness and had to do something.

Have just finished off packing in order to fly off to Brisbane tomorrow. Had to unexpectedly organise accomodation as well, so it looks like this is going to turn into a mini-holiday instead of just my ex-gf’s 21st. Things to do and see in Brisvegas! Will have to take the camera.

‘later everybody!

Good evening my friends.

It seems my last post seems to have stirred up a few people. I’m just happy that I haven’t lost all of my roots heh heh

Anyway, more exciting has been the past few days than writing LJ posts about intellectually challenged drug smugglers. I guess one thing I had always been wanting to post about was a little get-together I went to last week run by the Gay Businessmen’s Association.

The function which is called “Fruits in Suits”, is not usually my cup of tea, primarily for the reason that I don’t believe that we should keep segregating ourselves and creating our own little “minority-only” societies. Integration, not segregation is my motto. However, Adam wanted to socialise and network, and I didn’t want to be left at home all by myself.

Well it was actually a bigger function than I had envisaged! Sure enough, everyone there was straight from work, still dressed in their corporate attire, with me being in relatively modest threads, owing to the fact that I work in engineering and am not expected to have any fashion sense in the first place. The crowd was aged in their mid-30′s to 40′s, about what I would expect for a networking function such as this. I had a good time walking around and introducing myself to complete strangers… I like that ability within myself to start a conversation with a complete random for no reason whatsoever. Overall I met quite a few financial planners, bankers, divsional managers, consultants etc. And one electrical engineer who I found out works up the road from me. I think I got away from the night after being handed 4 business cards and the same amount of arse squeezes. Nice to know I still have it!

---

Another little attempt at networking was made on the Sunday, when Foxtel held its big party at Randwick Racecourse. Adam was most excited… being staff, we had “VIP” access and he thought that it would all be a grand affair and he would meet lots of people in the media. Well.. it was sorta like that, but not quite! It was a “family” day, so it would have been great if you were a 5 year old! Foxtel certainly did throw a LOT of money at that party… it’s intimidating thinking about just how big it all is. I decided to leave the party early, as I was on shift frm 7pm-7am last night. Needless to say… I’m a little tired at the moment! I got home at 8am this morning tired to the point of being delerious, only to have the f***ing gardener start up the whipper-snipper right outside my window. I am going to put a brick on the windowsill next time and courteously knock it over if I hear that sod make any more noise.

---

In other news, these next few weeks are going to be absolute hell I’ve realised. Exams are in 14 days, if not less, and my level of preparation is not brilliant. Thankfully I’m not working these next few days, so it’s going to be nose to the grindstone. What doesn’t help is that Adam and I are going up to Brisbane this weekend to go to a quintuple 21st, which should be enjoyable, but really couldn’t be at a worse time. I’ve been keeping the stress at bay lately by indulging in a little retail therapy. Considering that it’s been over a year since i’ve bought new clothes, it’s little wonder that I hadn’t clued into the wonders of the store that is Cotton On. I’m hooked! heh heh heh

Well my pretties, I must get some sleep. I’ve been awake now for a little over 40 hours, and my body is starting to get cranky with me.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/amnesty-bid-to-save-australian-on-death-row/2005/10/22/1129775992321.html

This is the latest bullshit from the SMH.
Amnesty International are now getting in and trying to save yet another “poor misguided soul” from execution.

I say hang him!
First Schapelle with her “I don’t know how I didn’t notice 4kg of pot in my bag” or Michelle Leslie “I’m beautiful, please don’t kill me”, now this clown.

Here’s the first and foremost rule… If you go into a country that will execute you for taking in drugs, then don’t take in drugs!.
Why should they discriminate between executing their own people, and executing foreigners? Just because we’re “more enlightened”, or so we think? If they’re stupid enough to enter the lion’s den after reading the signs, then Darwin will ultimately catch up anyway. Speeding up the process shouldn’t matter.

I think we should take a leaf out of Singapore’s book. Instead of locking up crim just so they can get out and re-offend, let’s give them a good flogging instead. I guarantee people are more scared of getting their back sliced up with a cat-o-nine tails than 9 months in prison with free cable TV. Save some money on prsons, and get some good public entertainment whilst we’re at it.

That’s my rant for the day. There’s more proper posting to come, but I needed to vent.

Hello again world!

My updates have been few and far between. It’s not like the old days when I was building Volacious.net.au, and I would post often. Nor of those angsty early-gay days.

The good news that I have is that last Friday Adam and I celebrated our 18 months together. Now, usually this wouldn’t be a huge occaision as long-term relationship are celebrated yearly, but 18 months is Adam’s record, and considering he went all-out to buy me my ring at 3 months, I decided I had do something ncie for breaking his record.

Hence we went out, as planned to see Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury. It was the first time Adam had been to the Opera House, and the first opera he had seen! Now G&S isn’t your typical opera (being sung in english is wierd in itself!), but he seemed to enjoy it. Trial by Jury was absolutely hilarious, with Anthony Warlow playing a hilarious lead as the judge. We went then and had a few drinks at the Opera Bar afterwards. Overall, it was an extremely nice night and I think Adam enjoyed himself.

Saturday evening involved having my brother, his wife and my nephew over for dinner. This was quite a big thing for me… I have never had my brother and his wife over for dinner ever since I moved out of home 4 years ago, and he hasn’t even seen where I lived. But I cooked up a complete feast, with my new and improved Roast Lamb Recepie. Overall, I think he was very impressed. He did make a remark that I’m a very different person to the boy he knew 18 months ago when all the strife was happening with my parents. He’s not wrong….

---

Whilst at my place, my brother reminded me that I had agreed last year to do a performance this year at his church’s Carols in the Park. I don’t know why, but at the time I thought it was a good idea. Of course, I haven’t sung for months, if not almost over a year. Howver, my brother sat down at the Roland and we gave it a try… it was a little shaky but surprisingly ok! So I have a month to get my voice up and going again for a solo performance of Adam’s Holy City and maybe a duet or two. My poor neighbours… Holy City is certainly not a quiet song, and takes a fair bit of volume… muahahahahahaha

Anyway, I must go. I’m running on fumes at the moment and ready to crash spectacularly. Night, my pretties!

What a wonderful entity Wikipedia is.
I like to think of it as an enjoyable and informative source of procrastination… I can actually learn about things that interest me.
At the moment I’m meant to be completing my Wireless Engineering assignment, where I have to design a 10km multicellular GSM mobile phone system virtually from scratch.

So I decide to enter in “GSM” into Wikipedia, using that lovely Firefox shortcut, “wiki GSM”. I sumble across a whole wealth of information, even including details about the upcoming 4G cellular radio system, of which there is extremely little documentation for. In fact, it’s only just been started as a postgraduate research topic at USYD.

So why stop there??? Another thing that I wanted to look up was fusion power, a technology I sure do hope takes over very soon. It’s the geek in me that loves the mention of terawatt lasers and high-energy plasma, and it’s my firm belief that if we can somehow perfect fusion power, we can solve so many of the world’s current problems, including unlimited irrigation through desalinisation, pollution-less machinery and cars, virtually anything at all.

Then I decided to change tack. I decided to look up the Stonewall Riots and the evolution of gay rights around the world. It was very much an eye-opener to see just how lucky our generation is considering that 20 years ago it was a criminal act in most countries. What caught my interest though was an article about Alan Turing, a man I’ve heard about a lot in the course of my engineering studies.

Alan Turing was a famous computer scientist, believed by some to be the father of modern computer science. He became famous for cryptography and succeeded in breaking the Enigma Code used by the Nazis in the Second World War.

He was also a known homosexual, and considering it was illegal at the time, when he was “outed” he was convicted when found unrepentant. He was placed under hormone therapy designed to reduce his libido and make him less of a “sexual deviant”. He ended up taking his own life by taking a bit out of an apple laced with cyanide.

This brought me to a most interesting little allusion made in the side column… that the Apple Computer logo is a homage to Turing. The logo, depicted below, certainly alludes to the bite out of a rainbow apple…

What do you think.. urban myth or not?

Hello there all !!!

I’ve really become quite apathetic lately. My tolerance for stupidity and incompetence is at an all-time low, which for me is pretty damn low. I’ve given up on people who are emotionally needy, pushy or just plain rude. I guess I’m at a point where all I want are friends who can relax with me, chat about absolute crap and enjoy it. I’m getting to old these days for the dramas. Life is just way too fucking busy.

And wow what a time it’s going to be. The past two months have been hectic… I’ve started a new job that I enjoy, and what’s more it has a definate future. I’m studying two degrees and attempting to hold down an almost full-time job. The next few weeks are going to be hell… work is steady yet there are exams looming, and I’m not looking that steady in one or two of my subjects.

What I’ve been most happy with though is the fact that I’m still holding together, where in the past I would have burnt out by now or broken down spectacularly. I’m not doing brilliantly at uni, but I’m not doing that badly either. My justification is this…. my transcript is already a jumble of horrors, but now that I have that all-important first job… nobody’s going to ever look at it! So all I need to really do now is just pass the thing, get my two pieces of paper, and run like hell. I’ve been too long at this uni.

---

So the next 5-6 weeks are going to be hell on earth. In a week’s time it will be Adam and my 18 months. I’m making a big deal out of it as it is Adam’s “longevity” records which I’m about to break, and he went to all ends to celebrate when I broke 3 months, my previous long-term record. I made the mistake of letting my mother in on my plans, and over dinner the other night she naturally yet unwittingly spilled the beans to him. I’m taking him to see Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury with Anthony Warlowat the Sydney Opera House, a place he’s actually never been to before. So hopefully all will go well, yet I still have to think up another surprise or two for him on the night now that the main one is ruined!

---

One thing that has been keeping me sane though is my brand-new game Condor. It has to be the most realistic gliding sim I’ve ever seen, and I was even playing in a big multi-player race tonight with the boys and girls I’ll be flying with later this year at the U-25 Nationals. Well, I was until Adam unwittingly unplugged the power to the router, thus kiling the connection and booting me out of the game. He’s lucky I love him so much or there would be hell to pay!

Anyway, this is where I hope to be in a few years time… flying a Nimbus 4 through the mountains of Europe, representing Australia….

What exactly was going through my mind when I signed up to do a full-time job and a double degree concurrently???
Ye gods I must be crazy….

Hello world.

I’m at work tonight and the Tigers are minutes from taking out the NRL premiership… it’s definately Sydney’s week!

It’s getting longer and longer between my posts these days. Life, to say the least, has been more than just busy… it’s been completely out of control. But you know what… I kinda like it like that.

I mixture of day shifts and night shifts last week completely threw out my body clock, and whilst I’m enjoying the new job very much, it’s quite obvious that I’m going to be working my arse off in order to complete a double degree as well as full time job.

I must also apologise to a small amount for my last post.. I seem to have ruffled a few feathers! heh heh heh heh

The excitement for the week however came from the new computer that I picked up the other day. Needless to say, the new credit card already has a decent debt on it!

Here are the specs for you lovely computer-literate ppl out there…

Pentium D 280 (dual 2.8 GHz processors)

1GB dual-channel RAM

200GB HDD

17″ LCD monitor

nVidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB video

She’s running like a dream too! I had to build her myself, and named her Kronos. I’m intending on going to a new naming scheme, but haven’t had any decent ideas yet. Any suggestions??

We also have a new arrival in the house! Adam found him in the back of a nursery, and brought him home as a gift. His name is Warren the Waratah (brother to Wally the Waratah). I’m a big fan of the NSW flower, but the discovery of the extremely rare White Waratah made me absolutely beside myself! What’s better is that it’s already in flower!!!

Warren the Waratah ©2005 AS