A break from GTA.

Last night, I went over to Anj's for cevapi rolls and playstation.

I *suck* at ESPN NHL 2K5. It is ridiculous how much I suck at it. And there are two pages of controller instructions which include offence/defence/penalty shots/ brawls... I just didn't bother looking at any of them. Sometimes it's best to just press all the buttons and hope that something good happens. Unfortunately, that theory doesn't necessarily apply to hockey. And not knowing the rules doesn't help either. Really though, it has been a helluva long time since I played or even watched hockey... What's 'icing'?

I know... I may as well renounce my Canadian citizenship now.

After what seemed like HOURS, the game finally ended and the Habs (me) lost to the Lightning 1-2. And that was with Anj passing me the puck and trying to leave an open goal.

So then we played Fight Night 2004. This game is great. And it's a bit hilarious when you pit a heavyweight against a featherweight. It's not fair, but it's funny.

Then Carol came home from work and we went to the Marquis of Lorne for pots and shots and pinball. (It's been a long time since I mentioned a pub in my blog.)

I'm very tired today. I was a bit frazzled this morning and took a bit of time getting myself together for work. Then halfway to the tram stop, I realised I hadn't done my hair. I very nearly decided to just keep going but then caved and turned back... and a damn good idea that was to turn back. Crikey!

HEY!

tsaiWare... have you got a link for Grand Theft Auto: Knitblogs on your blog?!?!?!

Returning to the scene of the crime...

Today at lunch, a revisited some of the places that Carol and I went to on my birthday. What I wanted to do was go back to Strike Bowling and see if the concrete etching that Carol made was still there.

Alas, what I discovered was that the etching has been covered up by paving tiles. Looks like Carol had scratched 'SISTER JUDY X' into the concrete basecourse.

*tsai*

Do video games incite violence?

I just thought I'd clarify a few things in case people are starting to think that I'm turning into a gang-bangin', gun-totin' (not picnic-totin') psychopath.

I know GTA is quite violent and sometimes I find myself a bit *too* entertained when I'm standing on a rooftop with my rifle or when I'm running over gang members in my car. But, it hasn't made me want to do these things in real life.

I will admit that when I first started playing GTA, whenever I saw graffiti, I would want to spray paint my tag over it (not that I have a tag). Or if I saw an ambulance or police car parked on the side of the road, it would briefly cross my mind to jump in and complete a vigilante mission.

But I *never* did.

Never.

I used to talk about these things with T because she was playing GTA as well and would think the same things. As far as I know, T hasn't turned into a homicidal maniac either.

As far as I know...

GTA Progress Report #2

Having discovered that I longer had to date Denise, I left Ganton and made my way to Red County to see if I could get rid of Catalina once and for all by beating her in the street race. I read through all my cheats and walkthroughs and found a way to get rid of the other three cars in the race. I invoked the 'Flying Cars' cheat before the race started and just as we took off, the other cars magically flew off the cliff and into oblivion.

Of course, I tried to drive slowly so that I too didn't fly off any cliffs. But I did. Just once. So I had to start again and eventually after six and a half minutes of excruciatingly painful slow driving (as well as deactivating the cheat), I made it to the finish line and won a deed to a rundown garage in a new county.

Before I could get to the garage, I had to help The Truth destroy his marijuana plantation and then shoot down a police helicopter. After that, The Truth and I went and recruited some fellas to work in my garage. Having set up shop, I decided to do a bit of exploring around San Fierro. I bought a few properties and also discovered that I'd opened up a new clothing store called ZIP. Naturally, I bought an entire new wardrobe.

And now I'm stuck again. My next two tasks are a little bit tricky. One involves shooting down dive-bombing model airplanes. I'm not sure if I need to pass this to continue so I might leave it for now. The other task I haven't even looked at yet but I've read that it's tricky because not only is it timed, but you have to return a car without hitting anything! I can't even turn my car around without hitting anything.

Tonight, I think I'm taking a break from GTA and going over to Anj's so we can play NHL 2K5. Very good!

Now to find the cheats.... hehehehe... *grin*

GTA Progress Report #1

So it was back to the game last night...

I thought that I hadn't reached 100% with dating Denise but I read this morning that when you get the pimp suit, that means you've reached 100%. Had I known that on Monday when she gave me the suit, I wouldn't have wasted all that time last night taking her to the disco! And I wouldn't have cared when I accidentally shot her while we were out doing a drive-by.

Hint: Do not shoot out the passenger side when you're on a date. I only just figured out how I could shoot *and* drive at the same time and I assumed that I would just shoot around her. I guess not.

Anyway, now that I've 'finished' dating Denise, I've got nothing else to do but try and beat nasty Catalina in the street race.

That makes me about as happy as LL after a haircut. (http://formwork.blogspot.com/2005/10/haircut.html)

Catalina

She just looks nasty, don't she?

In case you were wondering...

This is Carl Johnson. He is the main character from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Viva Carl Johnson!!!

I have recently re-acquainted myself with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Jane bought this game for me last Christmas and I used to play it *a lot* earlier this year when I was working at the Glasshouse full time and needed a release for my anger. I used to get home from work at around 4am and turn on my PS2 and shoot people for fun.

Hey, at least I'm not doing it in real life!

On Friday, after five and a half months of sitting on the shelf, I decided to give GTA another go. There were two reasons why I stopped playing GTA back in April. One reason was that I had finished my temporary 3-month stint at the pub. The second reason was that I reached a stage where I couldn't pass a mission and the game was getting extremely frustrating.

Well, I managed to pass that mission and have now progressed further in the game... only to be stuck again. There is a really annoying character, Catalina, who is a psycho latina. I know, I know, it's a bit of a stereotype (think any character Rosie Perez has played) but I didn't write the game, I just play it. It took me several attempts to commit 4 robberies with her, now I have to beat her in a street race... Only we aren't driving on the street but along dirt roads. In sports cars. And I keep flipping my vehicle.

So I've temporarily abandoned that effort until I improve my driving skills. Now I'm back to courting my girlfriend, Denise. I saved Denise from a burning crackhouse many missions ago. Of course, I'm the one that set the house on fire by tossing molotov cocktails through the windows. Denise is demanding but not as much as Catalina. Denise likes to eat and do drive-by shootings. She bought me a pimp suit. It's very ugly.

I'm a bit cranky that I've lost *all* the gang territories that I spent so much time overtaking. Stupid double-crossing friends. Now my neighbourhood is crawling with Ballas (the rival gang). They're even in my street!

Anyway, I'm now going to keep you updated on my GTA progress. It's probably best that I didn't have a blog back when I started playing because there would be a whole lotta more cussing on this and I might have to add a supervisory warning to my blog.

And yes, I play with cheats. I'd still be on the first mission if I didn't have cheats.

So I went on another ride yesterday...

And this time I stuck to the roads. Small steps... :)

When I think back to when I used to ride all the time in Winnipeg, I don't ever remember being worried about getting a puncture, having someone open their car door on me, getting my pant leg caught in the chain, having to get home before dark because I don't have any lights apart from my reflectors, having my quick release parts stolen when I lock my bike up for 10 minutes, etc.

Now it's just stress, stress, stress... there's nothing relaxing about riding a bike!

One thing that does make me happy about having a bike is that on my ride, I noticed a lot of smashed glass, more specifically, car window glass. There are a lot of people breaking into cars in my area so I'm glad I don't have one of those!

Alternatively, it could be my bogan upstairs neighbours bouncing their freakin' football on peoples' cars.

White Rydge

I used to go on a lot of bike rides in Winnipeg. With no helmet, no lights and definitely no fluorescent orange safety vest. These days, it seems you can't do anything without a fluorescent orange safety vest on. I own two of them, actually.

Anyway, one day I decided to ride to White Rydge. I think that's how you spell it. Anyway, I just got onto Chevrier Boulevard and kept riding, knowing that White Rydge was out there somewhere.

As I rode along, I saw a semi-trailer coming towards me so I did the 'pull your horn' motion at the driver. Now there's no real reason why I did this but the semi-trailer driver obliged and pulled his horn. As did the semi-trailer driver coming up behind me. Nearly scared the bejeezus out of me.

In retrospect, I don't think the driver behind me was pulling his horn because I asked him to. I think he did it because I was riding in the middle of the road and was about to be sandwiched by two horn-tooting, 18-wheelers.

I never rode to White Rydge again. I just stuck to our side of the highway after that.

The Slurpee

Another not-so-fond memory that I have of bike rides was when a bunch of us decided to go to 7-Eleven to get some slurpees. I don't know why, but Jane was doubling me and I was riding on the handlebars (I think we may have been on my glorious purple banana seat bike as mentioned in a previous blog).

On the way back, I was still on the handlebars, only this time, I was carrying two slurpees, one for me and one for Jane. Somehow, we managed to miss the first turn into Sandra Bay (most likely something to do with me obstructing Jane's vision) so we had to take the next turn, also into Sandra Bay. Unfortunately, when you go this way, there is a major cycling hazard in the middle of the road in the form of a sewer manhole that sticks out of the ground several centimeters.

Naturally, Jane made a bee-line for said hazard and subsequently, Judy made a beeline for the concrete. I may have saved the Slurpees tho.

To this day, I don't know why I was being doubled and who else was with us. In fact, I don't remember much from before that accident. But, in case you're wondering how we got home after the crash...

Well... I got right back on those handlebars, of course.

My bicycle adventures...

Last week, I went for a bit of a bike ride. Having not ridden a bike in many, many years (apart from when I picked up my bike and rode it home), I thought I would take things on the cautious and very illegal side and ride on as many footpaths as possible. I also decided I would ride around residential areas and, of all places, the local brewery.

I even managed to get a little bit lost. Getting lost isn't as embarrassing as the way I freaked out every time I saw a car coming. But I didn't fall off. Grazing my knees falling off a bike is not a sensation I would like to remind myself of.

Riding in traffic freaks me out, just quietly. And in Melbourne, you have the added concern of getting your tires caught in the tram tracks as well. Now, I'm not sure if my big knobbly tires can get caught in the tracks, but I'm certainly not going to test it.

I remember once in Winnipeg, Corrie and I were riding home from school and we had to cross McGilvarry Boulevard and, of course, we were crossing at the train tracks. We were on our 10-speeds and next thing I knew, Corrie was wiped out on the road because her tire got caught in the train tracks and the cars they were a-comin'!!! So I had to jump off my bike in the median strip and drag Corrie and her bike off the road to safety.

Corrie suffered a mild concussion but I don't think it was as bad as the scolding she got for 'borrowing' her mom's new Expo '88 t-shirt that morning and completely wrecking it when she took her tumble.

Bozo.

That's all.

Australia bans Canadian bird imports

"Australia will immediately impose a ban the import of birds from Canada until there is an adequate explanation about how pigeons that tested positive for avian flu antibodies reached Australia.

Federal agriculture minister Peter McGauran will ask officials at the Canadian embassy about the consignment of pigeons which arrived in Australian with full veterinary documentation from Canadian authorities that said they were disease-free.

Three of the 102 birds tested positive to avian influenza antibodies and for Newcastle Disease antibodies.

The infected birds will be destroyed and the rest may be returned to Canada."

(The Age, 21st October 2005)

Why is Australia importing pigeons anyway??? It's not like there's a shortage. Yeesh.

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays...

Big Birthday shout-outs to Anj, Jess and Olivia, all of whom were born on this fine day 20-odd years ago.

Hip hip chin chin!!!

This is my Bozo.

The Bozo posted earlier was just an example Bozo.

I like to type Bozo.

Bozo.

My apartment...

This is one wall of my house. I was just trying to take a photo of my bike but decided I would show you a few things, like my inflatable punching bag, half of my CD library, my decks, and where I just throw all my stuff when I walk in the door (on top of turntable no. 2).

Please note that the aquamarine/teal/crayon-I-never-liked-using and yellow colour scheme was not my doing. My landlady painted the place to her liking. Give me plain ole off-white/mother of pearl any day!

Thanks, Chester...

Knowing full well that I have a fear of clowns, this is one of the gifts I received from Chester.

Before going to bed last night, I made sure that Bozo was as far away from my head as possible. I also laid down some obstacles between him and my bedroom so I could hear him coming... if he dared.

Today, Bozo is sitting on my desk at work, where he shall remain. Too many witnesses here.

Congratulations!!!

To Grace and Kenn on the birth of Allyson (October 10th).

Yay!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...

I wanna see Vegas pictures!!!

J2, where are you?!?!?!

>:o)

Birthday Present

As worn by Mooselet.

This is an LED Torch headset which is to assist in my DJing.

Wilson (of course) felt left out...

So I let him have a go too.

Thanks, Julie!

Question...

Why are the Montreal Canadiens called the 'Habs'?

Blah...

Ok... really starting to feel seedy now.

I must be sobering up.

If I think back and count how many drinks I had, I reckon that's about right.

Two more years and my birthday will land on a weekend. Yay.

It's 8:41am...

Do you know where your sister is?

Jane... have you finally gone to the doctor to see what's going on with your hives?

I hope so.

I need some Deep Heat...

I don't know if it was the pinnies or the bowling but my wrist is OWS.

Crikey!

It started innocently enough.

Here I was planning on a low-key birthday celebration (i.e. doing nothing). Then on the weekend, Carol said that she was going to take me out so I figured dinner and a couple of drinks, maybe a game or two of pinnies and Bob's your uncle.

This is what actually transpired:

We met up after I finished work and proceeded to Rue Bebelons on Little Lonsdale Street. There, after a little bit of guesswork and math, we worked out that it was exactly my birth time in Winnipeg. So we had a couple of drinks and a shot to celebrate.

From there we moved on to 7-Eleven where Carol purchased a disposable camera to capture the evening. Stupid me forgot my digital camera but in hindsight, I think that was for the better.

After 7-Eleven came The Lounge on Swanston, where we temporarily quashed our urge to play pinball by indulging in a few games of some bizarre circus-themed pinball machine. We also had more drinks, a couple of shots of something that wasn't quite Chartreuse but just as deadly (thanks, Suzanne), and the world's largest serving of chicken parmigiana.

By this stage, we had decided bowling would be fun so off we traipsed to Strike Bowling at QV, taking the scenic route through the food court and up to Russell Street, only to discover that we went in the wrong direction. We eventually found Strike, had a bit of a wander around, decided it just wasn't going to happen there and felt a drink was in order. We also left a historical etching in this general area.

Next stop, Troika Bar on Little Lonsdale Street. Once we worked out how to get inside, we had a beer and shot.

Crown Casino was our next destination, more specifically, Kingpin Bowling, seeing as Strike was such a flop. There we were delighted to discover that Tuesday nights are Tight-Arse Tuesdays so it was 2 games for the price of 1. We ended up playing 4 games and my wrist is paying for it today. More alcohol was consumed here as well. I won't say exactly how much but by this point, someone should have been practicing their Responsible Serving of Alcohol.

Then we hunted for more pinball machines but the ones at Galactic Circus and Barcode are very boring.

Finally, we went for one last drink at The Melbourne Supper Club on Spring Street. This was also our major rehydration point where we re-acquainted ourselves with water. After a glass of some Hungarian dessert wine, we called it a night. Note that this is the only venue where we didn't have a shot. Apart from 7-Eleven.

Pretty good effort for a couple of 32 year olds on a school night, eh? And... I made it to work on time too!

Thanks, Carol!!! *loves*

Happy Anniversary, Mum & Dad!

Hurrah!

My parents don't read my blog either but if Jane's gonna wish them Happy Anniversary here, so am I!!! I refuse to be the bad daughter!

At least I got my phone call in before Jane... but not before Joyce! *shakes fist*

Show us your blizzard!

Come on, Denis... Let's see some pics of the Winnipeg snowstorm!

Look closely at this receipt...

Will my warranty still be applicable?

Earn more sessions by sleeving...

a.k.a. Nine more hours and she'll be mine!!!

Well, I did it. I bought a bike, helmet and lock. The sales assistant is putting it together today and I will be picking it up this afternoon.

Now, I didn't get ANY of the bikes I mentioned yesterday but instead I purchased the Giant Boulder '06. There are a few subtle differences between the Boulder and the Upload. Basically the frame is lighter (nothing like it's namesake!) and you can adjust the suspension (huh?) and the gears are slightly different (if only I remembered how to change gears). Oh, and mine is the silver one, not the blue one. Silver and orange go faster... but not as fast as red.

Maybe I should have just searched garage sales for a banana seat... or found the local Chinese school and got a hand-me-down.

*tsai*

I had the best banana seat back in Winnipeg. It was purple and had extra wide handlebars which were just made for doubling. I think my bike was a hand-me-down from either Charlotte or Patty.

If bike money grew on trees...

I'd be riding this Avanti Atomic Disc 06 home tonight.

She's beautiful.

The one I intend on buying tonight...

This is the Giant Upland SE 2006, complete with front suspension.

This is the one that got away...

This is the Gary Fisher Advance 2005 in all it's brilliant orange glory.

Adventures in Bicycle Land

For the past 10 months, possibly even the past year, I have been going on and on about buying a bike.

Well, I think I've finally decided on which bike I'm going to get, and I've got the money in my pocket and am ready to get it tonight!

So, after work today I will be heading up to CBD Cycles to get me a mountain bike! YAY!!!

Fingers crossed that the one I want will be in stock. I could call ahead but that's not my style. And I already called the other bike shop (Melbourne Bike Shop) to see if they had the bike that I really wanted and they were out of stock.

Anyway, I'm very excited and restless.

There is a slight problem... CBD Cycles doesn't appear to sell helmets. I'm going to have to walk my bike home.

How lame.

Florida: Famous for Jeb Bush and Chads

Welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State...but please, avoid any unnecessary confrontations with the locals.

They just might shoot you.

A new, shoot-first-ask-questions-later law goes into effect Monday, allowing gun-toting Floridians to shoot anyone they feel "threatens" them, including Canadian, for whom Florida is the number one tourist destination in the world.

The controversial law has prompted an print and online advertisement campaign to warn visitors to Florida state -- both domestic visitors from other U.S. states and internationla visitors from the U.K. and Canada -- about the new law, which says that any individual who feels their personal safety is threatened, or that their possessions are at risk, are legally authorized to use deadly force.

And not just at home.

The law applies anywhere, anytime.

(From Global National, Monday, October 03, 2005)

The Glasshouse vs. The Park

On Sunday, I tried to go to karaoke because every now and then, I think it would be nice to catch up with friends I've made while working at the pub.

Alas, on my journey to the Glasshouse, I was sidetracked and veered off the beaten path to stop in at The Park Hotel to visit Carol, Brooke and Olivia.

The Park is my 3rd home away from home, seeing as The Glasshouse is my 2nd. However, if I can squeeze in another visit per week at The Park, it will become my 2nd.

Anyway, after a few drinks and a few rounds of Doubles Pinball (complete with ankle-kicking), it was midnight and I didn't make it to the Glasshouse at all. Oh well, it's probably best I not be there *every* night it's open.

Maybe I should spend less time in pubs...

Nah...

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Another Libran... My goodness.

I have nothing to say.

So I'll just post random comments on other peoples' blogs.