Archive for November, 2006

Date: November 28th, 2006
Cate: Me
2 msgs

…no job love

Well I’ve been back for a little over a month now.

Good news is that I’ve been employed 2 days a week, working from home doing activist stuff. This makes me happy and will prove to be an interesting and challenging job.

The problem is, of course, that I’ve a massive debt, bills coming in everywhere two days a week just aint enough. To make matters worse I just got a call from another place I applied at telling me that I didn’t get the job. Boo to them – their loss or something but in the mean time I’m going hungry.

So does anyone out there have two days a week for me? I’m starting to think that a retain/bar job to fill the gap might not be such a bad thing.

Date: November 23rd, 2006
Cate: ICT, Sport
3 msgs

These exciting times that we live in

Today marks the beginning of two things I’ve eagerly anticipated for some time now.

Firstly, the Ashes are finally here. Bring on the flipper I say! It may also provide some inspiration for my, as yet unknown, as yet unpublished co-author here at Goonanism.

Secondly, this post is coming to you from a 100% Microsoft-free environment. I hope I’m not speaking to soon but I have Ubuntu (Linux) rocking it out on my computer and it is so far so good. I think I’ve even over come my media-related issues.

Date: November 20th, 2006
Cate: Comedy

The real reason for peer-2peer networks

Thanks to Terry for this one.

Date: November 15th, 2006
Cate: Me
5 msgs

27

It’s official. I’m in my late 20s.

Date: November 10th, 2006
Cate: Comedy
2 msgs

Demetri Martin

Has anyone else discovered this site. It makes me laugh so much.

Date: November 10th, 2006
Cate: Blogs, Politics

A new blog

I’ve been asked to contribute to the G20 Alternatives blog. Please go over and have a bit of a read.

Don’t forget that large contingents of people will be converging on Melbourne to protest the G20 meeting next weekend (18th and 19th Nov). There’s lots going on, not least of which is the Alternative G20 hosted by the Melbourne Social Forum on the Saturday.

Date: November 10th, 2006
Cate: Me, Motorbikes, Politics, Sport, Travel

8 things

So my household managed to exceed our 20 Gig a month download limit somehow. I realise I’m partly responsible but 20 Gig is quite ridiculous. This makes use of my computer frustrating. In addition I’m having ongoing difficulties trying to get a linux operating system happening on my computer – I’m close and will persist for a little longer.

A friend of mine is going away for 3 weeks and lending my his Motorbike. So excited – I haven’t been on a bike for many months.

The Electric Six’s Senor Smoke is the sound track to my life at the moment replacing Cold Cut’s Sound Mirrors. Both Albums didn’t strike me as particularly exciting when I first listened to them but I’m obsessed with both of them now.

I keep dreaming that I’m overseas and face increasingly difficult obstacles to getting to my plane home. When I was overseas I had to make it to London by a certain date in order to catch my plane to Bangkok and them home, it wasn’t particularly difficult but I did have to get from Morocco to Madrid so that I could catch a plane to London. In my dream I basically keep reliving this though my dreams only there is always something getting in the way. Someone can’t give me a lift, I get lost or something else. The dream is always completely different with different people in it but the theme doesn’t change. I’ve dreamt the same thing at least the last three nights. On two of those nights I woke up wondering which country I was in and it took me a few seconds to figure out I was in Australia. Can you imagine my disappointment.

My best friend is engaged. I’m going to be the best man. That makes me really happy for quite a few reasons.

I’m on the dole, the rock ‘n roll, working for Bracksy etc. For the first time in my life I’m receiving some sort of government benefit. You’ve got to fill out a job diary and apply for 10 jobs a fortnight but you only have to submit your diary once every 12 weeks. I hope I’m employed by then so I can’t help but feel that I’ll never fill it out. I’ll let you know when I’m employed again.

Last night I went to an A-League game – my first one. It was great and the mighty Melbourne Victory defeated Perth 1 – 0. There was 25000 people there. It felt like this whole new world that I was previously unaware of.

Is anyone else quite overwhelmed with joy at this news?

Date: November 3rd, 2006
Cate: Travel
2 msgs

It had to end sooner or later

We can fly like birds over this diseased planet but when will be land?

    Random Graffiti I saw in Bristol

Well I’m back and so ends the “travel blog” part of my trip.

Yep, it’s a little strange to be back and a little too easy just to settle back into my life, only to discover that I’m unemployed and probably should get around to doing something with my life. Naturally, I’ve lots of ideas about what to do with my life but I’m not going to write about them hear because we all know that many of them might not come to fruition.

So what I thought I’d do here is just write a couple of lists of things that relate to my travels, then move on to the next phase of this blog, never to speak of my travels again.

So first up has to be a list of the places I went to by city:
Singapore
Rome
Florence
Venice
Vienna
Prague
Krakow
Berlin
Dresden
Nuremberg
Berlin
Hamburg
Berlin
Amsterdam
London
Liverpool
York
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Belfast
Dublin
Kilkenny (day trip)
Bristol
Cardiff (day trip)
Poole
Milton Keynes
London
Cambridge (day trip)
Little Gidding
London
Paris
Lille
Bouge
Paris
Bayeax
Mont Saint Michel
Paris
Bordeaux
Barcelona
Valencia
Granada
Tanger
Chefchouen
Marakesh
Seville
Madrid
London
Bangkok
Pattaya
Bangkok
…and Melbourne

Highlights included:
Florence and Rome
Berlin
Edinburgh (the Fringe Festival was on)
Barcelona
Chefchouen

Naturally I took about 30 gig of music away with me but the following songs were on high rotation:
Edge of the World – Faith No More
I’m Lonely – The White Stripes
Back in Black – ACDC
Slam – Pendulum
You Fucked Up – Ween
Que Onda Guero – Beck
Man in the Garage – Cold Cut (in fact the entire Sound Mirrors album)
Dirty Harry – Gorillaz
Snap Shot – Roni Size

I also sat on trains for days on end which is highly conducive to getting a few books read so the following books were consumed during my travels:
Hard Times – Charles Dickens (Mum has been at me my whole life to read a Dickens – it was ok but I don’t think I’ll be reading dickens again
Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire – Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig
Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell (what can I say, I was in London)
Illywhacker – Peter Carey
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 – Hunter S Thompson
The Corporation – Joel Bakan
Animal Farm – George Orwell
An Ordinary Persons Guide to Empire – Arundhati Roy
A book about Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution that wasn’t particularly interesting but fill a few gaps in my knowledge of Che which was nice
On Democracy – Robert A. Dahl
Tell Me No Lies – Edited by John Pilger
High Fidelity – Nick Hornsby (left me feeling that John Cusack’s role in the film should have been played by Dilan Moran)
Notes from the Underground – Dostoevsky
The Odyssey – Homer (although I haven’t finished that one yet)

Normal progaming will now resume, although I might pop a few more photos up on the blog when I finally go through them all.

I will also probably update the look and feel of this blog shortly and, all going to plan, I’ll have another person writing on the blog soon enough… I just have to convince him it is a good idea.