All the Plans

I want very badly to type out a blog post, but I have no clear topic. Sooo, I'll just bust out some random stuff, yes? Yes.

I'm currently on my last day of my three week holiday, and tomorrow I go back to work. It's been really tough, guys. Going to Japan, working for two weeks, and then having three weeks off. We can't all work as hard is me*. But yes, having time off is always good. But having too much time off whilst not really doing anything meaningful - well, it leads to a fair bit of boredom. Which is what I've encountered. Plus, There's a massive heatwave that's been buggering Brisbane lately, and its been really quite hot. And seeing as this house has no aircon, I have no way to adequately combat it. I've never been that much of a beach-goer, so that option is out. So, I resorted to watching a lot of DVD's. Mainly of sitcoms. I've recently started watching Parks and Recreation, after being told to ages ago by different people. I don't know why I didn't start earlier, the show is awesome. I actually bought all three seasons that were available on DVD a few days ago, and I've been smashing the episodes out ever since. Aziz Ansari's character is hilarious. He's got a fair few scenes that are funny as hell, but I think, of the episodes I've seen this far, these are my favourite:

And this link: DJ Roomba.



For some reason, the video plugin won't let me link the second clip as an embedded video, so that link was the next best thing...

"Soz lol."
- 12 year old girl.

The show in general is awesome. The character Ron Swanson is another goldmine of comedic greatness. Again, I don't know why I never got into the show earlier. It's right up there as one of my favourite shows at the moment.

I haven't just been watching sitcoms though. I did head out to a national park with a friend to take some photos of waterfalls. The park we went to was about 90 minutes South, so it was a decent way out, but the main issue, as we found out after the fact, was that it was close to two hours walk inside the park that you began to see any waterfalls. Two hours each way. So it came to top a bit over four hours walking time just to get from and back to the car. In less than ideal temperatures. My legs were hurting for about two days after that. I didn't even end up taking many pictures, and none of them really stood out for me. This is the only one I kind of liked:

That's after a bit of post processing, too. Still, I was a bit disappointed with my efforts, especially after how laborious the actual venture was. It wasn't a total bust, but still. Could have been better. Live and learn I guess.

My Christmas was pretty quiet, nothing really worth mentioning. Not in a bad way, just nothing that bears mentioning, really. My new Year's was a bit of a bust, though. I went down the coast with a friend to hang out with some of his friends (none of which I knew) and watch and take photos of the fireworks. I didn't know the whole  gameplan, so I dressed pretty casually, seeing that as far as I knew, we were just taking photos. But, turns out, we were staying at a hotel til the fireworks and then heading out after. So yeah. I was pretty under-dressed, and wasn't planning to go out afterwards. And seeing how I only knew one guy there... it really wasn't going to be that great. Also, we decided not to take out our cameras after all, seeing as there was the possibility of the crowds there being pretty rough - it just wasn't worth risking the gear. So there went that. And then, after the fireworks, all of the decent clubs has a $50 cover charge. F*ck that. There was no way I was paying that just to get into a bloody nightclub where I would only have had one drink anyway. None of us were. So we just kind of walked around. There were still some free places, but they blew anyway, so we just legged it. We were meant to all go to the beach the next day, but we all slept in til midday, then half the crew were over an hour late getting to the beach (it was literally a 20 minute bloody walk from their hotel.... God knows what happened), so that was a bust too. A whole day wasted. All in all, pretty average.

 Other than all that, there hasn't been too much going on. Just mentally preparing myself for the crapstorm that will hit when the students get back to school with their laptops. There will be an absolute (predicted, but it's a pretty safe bet) sh*t-ton of laptops that will need to be repaired in just the first few weeks. Not cool. But, me and the other IT guy start tomorrow; we have one week before the rest of the staff come back, and two weeks before the students show. So we have a bit of time to spool up and get stuff prepped for another school year, so it isn't all bad news. And honestly, I'm looking forward to getting back into it. I've been mostly sitting at home doing nothing of worth (and not getting paid either), so getting back to it will be a good change of pace.

I don't really believe in the whole 'New Year's Resolution's' thing, which is why I haven't done a New Year's type post. I don't buy into it. I don't begrudge anyone who does either, but I personally don't really care much when a new year rolls over. It doesn't really mean that much to me. I know, I'm a cynical bastard. Ladies love it**.

You guys probably know, but I'm not the biggest 'fashion aficionado' out there - I mainly scorn the whole scene and don't give a damn what or who's label I'm wearing as long as it's comfortable-  but, by some miraculous twist of fate, I have found a designer that I really legitimately like: The Imaginary Foundation. They've got some truly spectacular t-shirt designs that I just love. I ordered one a few days ago and ordered another four*** just before I started typing this post.  Their designs are very different from anything else I've been seeing around, and there's just something almost philosophical and introspective in their designs. They have a different mindset. Hell, this is directly from the 'About' section of their website:

"The Imaginary Foundation is a think tank from Switzerland that does experimental research on new ways of thinking and the power of the imagination.
[...] In his vision for the Imaginary Foundation, the Director knew that the human mind has more than one mode, that indeed it has an "ecology" of being. He knew that imagination, intuition, inspiration are basic to psyche... A philosophy of research began to form: imagination as fundamental to all learning; artistic making as a model of integrating vision, materials, structure, and imagery."

It is a bit odd, but then again, so am I. I love that they have this kind of mindset, and I love how it's reflected in their designs. Plus, I love space imagery - the universe, galaxies etc, and I love deeper thought processes, hidden meanings and challenging mindsets (just read my blog's banner) - these designs are perfect in my eyes. These are two of the five shirts that I ordered, and are my favourite desings:

Nostalgic Mood

"Change for a paradigm?"

 I dig. Needless to say, I'll be going to their site quite regularly in the future. I myself have found it very surprising how influenced and impressed I am by t-shirt designs such as these and the fact that I've gone out and bought them, when before, I've never given a damn about what logo or design I have on my shirt (as long as it's not some rube bullsh*t). Creative fashion may not be dead in my eyes after all. What do you guys think of their designs?  

So yeah. That's my last few weeks in a nutshell. It's been roughly a month since my last post, and I don't want to have those massive gaps between posts like I've been having over the course of my last few, so this bit of randomness is my way of bucking that trend.

Hope it wasn't completely boring.

Kind of a 'p.s.', but I've been on a Starsailor binge lately, and have been looping their albums for the last while. As such, this post title has no real relevance to the post content, it was just the song playing at the time I started typing, and it's probably my favourite of their tracks. Anyway, they were an awesome band, massively underrated in my book. James Walsh, the singer, is easily one of my favourite singers. From a technical standpoint, he has much more dynamism to his voice and is on paper the better singer, but there's just something about 'ole Liam Gallagher's voice that keeps him at the top of my list. But not to take a way from Starsailor - they are an awesome band and have some great songs, I would recommend checking them out if you're keen.


All the Plans
Starsailor
All the Plans, 2009

* Come at me bro
** HA 
*** 20% off everything until midnight tonight, shoot me