The day before payday

Well here I am in my office. I've just finished a days work. In the morning I had my track safety course down in the Footscray rail yards. And I was standing with the rest of the class watching a 3000 hp diesel locomotive passing through the yard, when the driver opened his window and looked down at us. "Now be sure to write", he announced in his 18th century blacksmith accent. And continued on towards Geelong or Adelaide or wherever the hell he was going. Those trains are bloody big. It's not until you are standing right beside one that you realise it. And they can be quiet too. You really have to have your wits about you.

Reminds me of the times when I would scull down in the Port River. And it would be dusk, and late in the summer. Days were long but my strokes were longer. The oars would dip in the waters of glass. And the bow would pierce the calm. And it required such concentation and such effort that you would lose all sense of time and space and become one with your craft.

And then I would get a sense of something dark and foreboding, and as I turned over my left shoulder, I would see it, no more than 50 metres away. A grain tanker. Twenty stories of solid iron drifting silently up the channel. Right towards me.

Checking the oars, I made for the opposite bank, and almost falling out in panic, I laughed loudly to myself that I had come so close to disaster... again...


So I have about 2 dollars to my name and I have to walk home tonight as I don't have a fare for the tram. And I don't particularly want to mow anyones lawn (Melbourne joke). I think Nunchukka Superfly are playing tonite at the Espy, and I can't see them due to the fact that I am broke, but I believe they will be at the RobRoy on Saturday night, so I will go there instead. And it's just around the corner! But it's nice out,... a little cold, yet it's nice to know that tomorrow, I shant have any worries about money.

Plus we have an office puttputt and pizza nite tomorrow here at Groove Terminator laboratories. So I really have no reason to complain at all.

Faerie poem

To little faerie cold in bed,
Do not worry your pretty head,
I will chat when the clock strikes 8
And warm you up, when the hour is late

Assignment 2

For Joanne C, my life story in three paragraphs.
Enjoy!

15 years ago (1990)

I was 11, living in Whyalla, and doing Year 12 for the first time. My dad accelerated me through the school system, and made me study every night when I got home from school. I used school as an escape from all the shit that was going on at home, and used to do absolutely nothing except talk to my friends. I failed every single subject, and my dad was furious with me. This made him try even harder, and everytime I failed a test, I remember I would hide it in a cupboard or somewhere around the school, rather than bring it home where he would ask to see it. I remember one day, my dad was called into the school and was presented with the tests that the school co-ordinator had collected from various hidey holes. He was so embarrassed, and furious! I copped a real hiding that day.
I also remember being banned from study lessons for pinning up a picture of a naked woman on the wall after being dared by a friend. Aaah those were the days! Despite the fact that my home life was pretty miserable, the time that I spent at school were the happiest of my life. There were some great people at my school, and
I also remember the first girl I ever had eyes for, Joanne. She was in my Biology and German classes, and I would spend all lesson glancing in her direction, with my stomach tied in knots.
This was also the year that my parents separated, and I moved to Adelaide where I lived with my mum and returned to 'semi-normal schooling'.

10 years ago (1995)

I started Year 12 for the second time. I was distracted however, and left part-way through the first semester to work my first job in a department store selling sports shoes and equipment. It was fun to be earning some money, and I would spend it all on records and cds. In my spare time, I was riding my bike and rowing to keep fit, but I was also spending a lot of time drinking with friends at barbeques and going to the local pub. My friends were all about 5 years older than I was, and we would spend balmy Sunday afternoons watching the one day cricket and getting absolutely blind. We would listen to a lot of punk music and spent the whole time having a blast.

5 years ago (July 2000)

I had just returned from my first sojourn overseas where I went to Singapore, Sumatra and Malaysia. It was a field trip for my University studies, and I spent 10 days living with the natives in the forests of Indonesia. It was unreal, and it gave me a huge insight into how big the world was. I was looking for work to try to pay off the loan for the trip, and went for jobs as a real estate agent, and sales until I got a job as a dance instructor, teaching ballroom, latin and South American styles of dance. I had never danced before, and was given 6 months free training before I started.

2 years ago (July 2003)

I was going out with Rebecca, a girl that I had met through rowing. She was 17 and still at school, and I was 24, had graduated from Uni, was still living at home with Mum, and was looking for work in a very half-arsed way. I had no real direction, or motivation. My days involved getting up, watching Bert Newton, driving down to Chinatown for "$5 All you can eat", then waiting til Bec got home from school, and spending all my time with her. I was totally in love with her, and we blew each other away because we were both so different. But I guess in hindsight, there was no way it could have worked out. But we both gave it our best shot. I put on about 10 kilos during this time just enjoying myself and getting homely.

1 year ago (July 2004)

It was just before Bec went overseas. A very upsetting time. We were fighting continually about stupid things. Mainly she was upset with me because I didn't do anything , and she was working like a dog with her dad doing concreting to save for her trip. She would come home absolutely wrecked and I would be sitting around doing nothing but playing on the computer. She couldn't understand how I couldn't want to better myself, but I was happy just being with her. I couldn't understand why she was working so hard just to get angry with everything. After she left, I became a different person. I lost 15 kilos because I was so depressed and had no idea what to do. I had given everything to this girl, and now I was totally vacant.

Yesterday

Thursday. Rode my bike to work, and mapped away merrily for 8 hours, before riding home and watching England pound Austalia in the Ashes. (It's cricket)

Today

Friday. What? I thought it was Thursday. That explains why everyone in the office is in casuals. This morning I bought a present for Faerie, and will send it to her soon! I also sprang for a haircut. Beth, you did a great job, my dear. And I am now working late because I am on shift work now. While I should be out having fun.

Tomorrow

Saturday, my day of rest. I'll probably go somewhere that I haven't been before. Try a different restaurant (So many to choose from) and catch up with emails and stuff.



5 snacks I enjoy

2-minute Noodles, Vili's pasties, frozen yoghurt, Vietnamese cold meat rolls, cashews

5 songs I know the words to even w/out the music

Anything by the Ramones, the Beatles, or U2

5 games I like

chess, spider solitaire, scrabble, draughts, chinese checkers

5 albums that changed my life (Too hard, but anyway)

U2 - Rattle and Hum (They'd all be U2, but that's too easy), Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime, Hard-ons - Dateless Dudes Club, Sebadoh - Bakesale, Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

5 things I would buy w/one Thousand Dollars

A new pair of jeans or two, some poetry books, new cds/records, some gloves, and a lapdance(?)

My top 5 guilty pleasures

Turkish Delight, lengthy hot showers, thai/ vietnamese/ indian food, bangers and mash, shepherds pie

5 top musicians lately (who's in the cd player)

Screaming Believers (on the turntable), Sugar - Copper Blue, Hard-ons - This Terrible Place, PiL - Album, i:cube - Adore

Top 5 locations I would like to run away to

San Francisco, LA, The Kimberleys, Spain, Portugal

5 things I would never wear

The blame, a nappy, leather hotpants, a g-string, a horse

5 TV shows I like

Seinfeld, South Park, MASH, Barney Miller, Happy Days.

Assignment 1

Ok Faerie, my hotmail account is coming soon, i promise!

Trainspotting

This is how I spend my day,... looking at video images taken from trains.

Cool huh?

It's quite interesting actually. And a hell of a lot of work. But it's fun. I have to map all the signals and things that I come across. And then I get to go into the country side and check that everything is accurate. I've had my medical evaluation, and I need to do my track safety course, and then I will be free to go!

I now know what a whistleboard is. And a turnout. And I am becoming quite the trainspotter.

Someone should make a movie about me.

What is it?

As I was laying in my bed this morning listening to Triple J, (I haven't found RRR yet), they had this thing where they were getting schoolkids to ring up and tell them what crappy thing they were having for their lunch, and what they wish they were having. And JJJ would act as the mediator to find out someone that would like to swap with them. And karma would prevail, and the world would be a nicer place in which to live, and all that. And a girl rang up.

"And what do you have for lunch?"

"Strasbourg and Philly* sandwiches." replied the girl.

"Strasbourg, what's that some kind of cheese?"

"No, ummm,... I think it's some sort of meat."


Okay, I think I can be of some help here.

About 5 years ago, I worked in a delicatessen in a supermarket on the Gold Coast. I worked in slave conditions, and through my time there, learned about the world of smallgoods, not to mention poor food handling practices.

Now, in Queensland, Strasbourg is known as Devon or Luncheon. And in South Australia, which is my homeland, it is known as fritz. Which as far as I'm called is what it should be called.

Fritz.

Repeat it with me.

Fritz.

No point giving it a fancy name like Strasbourg, or devon or luncheon. Anyway, a luncheon is a fancy name for lunch. And while you can have fritz for lunch. I don't think it would be had at a luncheon.

On account that it is fritz. Snouts and entrails rolled into a convenient processed package.

And I would like to clarify a few more issues.

A yiros as it is known in SA, is known as a kebab in QLD (incorrect I feel, as a kebab must involve a skewer). In Vic, it is commonly known as a felafel which is acceptable, or a souvlaki.

If anyone can clarify these important issues, leave a comment.

And don't get me started on the size of a pint of beer!





*Philly - Known colloquially as Philadelphia dip, a type of cheese spread or dipping sauce or something.

Sarah Blasko

At Carly's insistence, I headed down to the Corner Hotel in Richmond to see Sarah Blasko. To be honest, it's not the sort of thing I would normally go to see (I was going to see The Sailors at Northcote RSL instead). But I know that Carly usually has good taste, so I thought why not. I'm always keen to try new things.

So I finally found a parking spot (I could have walked, but it was so freezing) and moseyed up to the door. The tickets were all sold out, and they had put a sign up on the wall. Apparently the next night as well.

As I was turning to leave towards a nice little Indian place I saw on the way there, a girl asked me if I needed a ticket. Two of her friends couldn't make it, so she gave me the ticket. It was so nice of her, that I gave her twenty dollars. All very legitimate of course. Just two people giving gifts. Move along, nothing to see here....

I made my way to the bar, and the pale ale was like $6.80, so I settled for a pot of Stella. It was undrinkable though, because the glasses hadn't been rinsed (as I have found in many pubs, and there was a film of detergent sudsing around on the surface of the beer). Tasty..

Lesson #1: Always buy bottled beer at the Corner.

I bought a Corona, and headed to the front of the stage.

78 Saab were playing, and I had heard of this band, but didn't know anything about them. I'm sorry Carly, I know that you like them, but I would have to put them up with Thirsty Merc and High Stakes as the worst bands I have ever seen. It's not that they were bad musicians or what ever, but they were just insipid. There weren't any catchy hooks or energy or anything (Kind of like this blog, ha!). Charlie the cowboy was funny though with his tambourine, and the keyboard that he never played, and I thought the singer reminded me of Paul Pfeiffer from the Wonder Years.

Lesson 2: Do not ever watch 78 Saab. Ever.

So anyway, Sarah Blasko came out, and she was pretty cute with all her spacemonkey dancing and Underground Lovers covers (rhymes). It was great the way all the members of the band swapped the instruments around, and the arrangements were all lush and dreamy. She writes some righteous tunes, and has that whole Bjork Tori Amos Portishead Frente! thing going. And I think she was a thousand times better than that annoying Missy Higgins. (I hope I haven't offended you too much faerie)

I was going to get you the mittens, but they had all sold out :( And I bet you already bought the Tshirt.

So I was worn out after that. I wanted to go to the Tote, but I didn't really feel up to it, so I found a Hungry Jacks! (There aren't many of them here in Melbourne, mainly KFC and red rooster) and curled up in my little bed.

Oh, and now that I have a job, I'm getting a new bed from this little futon place down the street. It's japanese style, and very nice and only $300, not including the mattress, but still!

Lunchtime at the top of the world

So I was sitting in the Courtyard cafe on Brunswick St on Saturday morning enjoying a big breakfast and coffee, and reflecting on the past couple of weeks when I noticed this print on the wall. I thought it summed things up about how I am feeling at the moment. Plus, it's a rather cool picture as well. I get vertigo just from looking at it.

Thumbs in the braces, and strut

Allow me to introduce myself,...

I am Adrian, your friendly neighborhood mapping analyst for Groove Terminator laboratories.

I didn't tell you yesterday about my planned interview for this morning. I didn't want to jinx myself. I applied yesterday, and within two hours, they had rung for an interview.

Note: this is a different company than the one I had been bitching about yestertag.

So, I moseyed in at 8.30 with my lucky polka dot tie, and was greeted at the door by David. He is a cool guy. We had instant repoire, and he took me upstairs past the concierge and through the security doors. The first thing he did was make a coffee. I also had one, and from the moment I arrived, I felt at home. We had a brief chat about my work history as a forest technician, a dance insructor and university days, before he announced:

"Well Adrian, I'm more than happy to give you this job right now"

To which I countered:

"Well, I'm more than happy for you to do that too."

And so it began.

"Now we have a project in Perth at the moment. Would you be happy for me to fly you out there tomorrow?"

Ummm, let me think about this for a sec. I think so, but it's a long flight. I'll have to rest my arms for a while. heeheeheehehehehehehhhheeeee (Yes, I managed to slip in my favourite line)

I don't think I will actually be assigned to that project just yet, as I have been given something else to do in the meantime, but it's still nice to be offered.
Now let me see... $20 an hour for a 40 hour week. That's got to be at least $100 a week, doesn't it??

And within 15 minutes of the interview, I had the job, just... We need someone, you obviously have what it takes, here's the job.

No second interview shit, no "What can you bring to this company?" Dude, you've got my resume right there. If I have to tell you that, someone's not paying attention.

Oh, and they have a regulation size fussball table (you know like foos ball).


Enable bouncing off the walls.

Enable dancing on the ceiling.

Enable the walk of sunshine.

All systems go at Groove Terminator labs.



And if I should happen to recieve a phone call from a certain other place, which I'm sure would go something like:

"Yeah, um... hi, we've got the lightbulb in from Germany, and we were wondering if you could come in and fit it for us, because we want to screw you like a pig in a barnyard"

"Sorry bums, find some other pigeon for your lowly paid monkey job, I've been snapped up like a tasty piece of butterfish. Up yours."

CLICK

And if you happen to live in country Victoria, and you are waiting at the boomgates for the train to pass, and you see some dude drive along the train-tracks in a modified Toyota Landcruiser with a camera in one hand and a GPS in the other, take the time to wind down your window and wave to me as I travel off on another adventure bringing your realworld environment to a more convenient electronic form.

Oh baby.

Now, I'm off to the local pub for a tasty meal.............

It all comes down to 3 things

Well for those of you who are interested, I kind of got the job.

So why aren't I doing backflips and bouncing off the walls?

Well to start with, it wasn't the job I applied for, but they needed someone to run errands and work the machine. Hey, it's a foot in the door of my chosen career, right?

I went in for my trial on Monday. I was meant to use this machine with pedals and hand controls and such, when it became apparent that something was amiss. One of the floating cross-hairs was not working. The culprit was a little lightglobe about the size of a fingernail. When it lights up, it is meant to project a dot through the eye piece of this whizzbang German contraption. And, well... it didn't.

So they apologised, saying how this just never happens, and that I should give them a call in a few days when they have the problem sorted out.

Days pass...

I give them a ring to find out what's going on, and they say they don't know, and they'll call me tomorrow.

So, it's tomorrow already, and no phone call.

This means three things:

(1) I still don't know if I have the job, but it is likely that I will be able to use the machine.

(2) Even if I get the job, I'm not sure I want it, considering that they have proven themselves to be totally unprofessional, and, pardon me, a bunch of cunts.

(3) I'm getting a little concerned, as I am already $500 over my credit card limit. The rent is due on Friday and I'm going to be about $100 short. Not to mention that little matter of car repayments which I am about a month behind. Oh, and then there's that little matter of food.... plus I really could use a haircut.

Two words

GAZOONGA ATTACK

No pets please

So one of my flatmates is moving out, and we need one to move in. Any takers?

End of an era

My Oma died on Wednesday night in her sleep.

She was 85.

I was shocked to hear of her death, but not surprised. I mean she was old, but she was very stubborn. I think she just gave up.

After ringing some of her friends to tell them the bad news, they told me that she had already phoned them days before to say goodbye.

"But Poek, where are you going?", "I thought she meant she was going on a trip..."
and
"She told me she only had a week to go."

She was physically incapacitated, but her mind was still sharp, and she couldn't stop thinking about things. She had a lot of time on her hands, and it drove her to despair.

The last time I spoke to my Oma, in February, we were talking about my father. She hadn't seen him since 1985. And she confessed how much she wanted to see him before she died. And I could see it in her eyes that it caused her a lot of heartache to know that her only son wouldn't acknowledge her. It affected her deeply.
I wanted to make that happen for her, but I haven't seen my dad for almost the same time, and I knew that there was nothing that I could do to change the situation.

She told me to write to her, and I never got around to it. And I feel a bit guilty.

When I rang my Grampa (on my mum's side), he didn't sound well, coughing and hacking into the mouthpiece.

I have since found out that he has gone into hospital with advanced asbestosis.

My mum says that he has just had the realization that things are going to get progressively worse, and last night, he had the feeling that he was drowning, and asked the doctor to give him a massive dose of sleeping pills. To get it over with.

I am just about to go and visit my Grampa, and I don't know if I'll see him again. I don't know what to do or how to act, and this is a lot to handle right about now.

Arrival

It's 11:18pm, local Adelaide time, and I have just completed my seven-and-something hour drive across the border.

My arse is numb. My brain is numb.

Well, a few things have happened over the past few days, so I guess I'll just start at the beginning:

I rang to see if I got the job.

"I'm afraid that we've decided to give the position to someone else..."

I winced.

"But..."

That sounded like a promising but.

"Big boss daddyman# was very impressed with your retail history, and there is a position available in the shopfront, of course, you won't use your brain very much# , and you will probably be paid fuck all# but at least you will have a foot in the company door, and you can be moved about when you gain experience."

# slight embellishment.

"So, how about you come in on Monday at about 1pm, and we spend a half a day to show you what the position entails?"

So I don't know if I have the job, or if they still need to decide. I just will go in there at said time, and we will see.

Well, that's a start I guess. And I do need $$$.

While I was on the phone, my mobile was buzzing away to tell me that my Aunt was trying to call.

I rang her back when I got off the phone with my prospective employer.

And as I gushed with unbridled enthusiasm about my newfound semi-employment, I could tell that something was not right.

See post above.