Sorry hon, I couldn't be bothered typing them all out so I stole them off your blog and modified the answers :)
1.) What did you do in 2009 that you've never done before?
Wrote "2009" at the end of all the dates
2.) Did you keep your New Year's resolutions?
Yes, completely. My resolution was to never again make resolutions.
3.) Did anyone close to you give birth?
My gorgeous fiancee
4.) Did anyone close to you die?
Yes. Rest well.
5.) What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
An Australian Visa - and a job.
6.) What did you do on vacation?
Vacation? What vacation?
7.) What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Becoming a father.
8.) What was your biggest failure?
Failing to land a job which had my name written all over it. Mind you, I suppose that was more the person offering the job's failure. They needed me, they just didn't realise it.
9.) Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing worth mentioning.
10.) What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Aston being born - a year ago today actually!
11.) What was the best thing you bought?
Brutal Legend. EPIC game.
12.) What day from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2nd Jan - I saw Jemma give birth and helped as much as any man can in that situation.
13.) Where did most of your money go?
The bank.
14.) What song will always remind you of 2009?
Savior - Rise Against
15.) Compared to this time last year, are you:
• Happier or sadder? both
• Thinner or fatter? same
• Richer or poorer? poorer
16.) How did you spend Christmas?
At home with Jemma and Aston, then out at my folks, then up to her folks.
17.) What do you wish you'd done more of?
Spent more time with Aston, but I have to work to pay the bills
18.) What do you wish you'd done less of?
Ate.
19.) What was your favorite month of 2009 and why?
January. Aston. Enough said.
20.) What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rise Against. Oh and Tchaikovsky.
21.) What concerts did you attend?
Oasis/Kasabian/The enemy
22.) What was the best book you read?
Too many to choose from, and I don't care that my answer is a cop out.
23.) What did you want and get?
I didn't want anything. Wanted all efforts to go on Aston
24.) What did you want and not get?
I didn't want anything
25.) What was your favorite movie of this year?
Taken
26.) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had a small gathering of close family and friends. Oh, I took most of April off too ;)
I was...umm...ahhh...30
27.) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Someone giving me a Visa.
28.) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
I don't follow fashion. I like comfortable, neat, smart clothing
29.) What kept you sane?
Sane? What? Aha hahahaha hahahahahaha. Erm....the meds do a good job....
30.) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jenn.
31.) What political issue stirred you the most?
Obama becoming President. I don't care that he's the first Black President, he doesn't deserve credit for his colour, nobody does. He deserves ultimate credit for the job he is doing and the changes he's made/problems he has overcome in such a short time in office. I hope he continues to make a difference.
32.) What was a much needed change?
Pass
33.) Who did you miss?
I don't miss many people. Jenn tops the list though.
34.) Who was the best new person you met/got closer to?
Jenn of course, and Elyse - you're both lovely.
35.) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Redundancy is getting closer. Don't just sit and hope something good will happen, cos it won't.
Out of the 11 of us who went, two have a fear of flying. Both mine. Husband and daughter. And for some reason they both watch air crash investigation religiously.
This was probably the longest day of my life. We were up at 5am one day and didn't get to bed until 2.30am the next day. The trouble with Australia is that its so big. It can be disheartening to realise that you've been flying for over four hours and that you're still flying over Australia. It was an 8 hour flight to Bankok from Sydney. Must give Thai Airways a rap though. Their service was very good. And I did eat the food despite Emjays warning. We had potato salad with shaved turkey, then chicken sliced in red curry with bamboo shoot, steamed thai hom mali rice and stir fried mixed vegetables. Then later we had stir fried prawn with black bean sauce, rice noodles and choy sum.
At Bankok airport we walked about 40 kilometres to get to the transfer point for Phuket. Then it was an hours flight to get there.
Stepping out of the airport it was pretty hot and humid. But easier for us I guess coming from a hot australian summer than people coming from Europe. Taxi drivers everywhere but we had a driver booked and he was waiting there for us and we were soon off on a 30 minute drive to Karon.
I think we broke every australian road rule within the first ten minutes. Speeding, no seat belts, driver talking on the mobile phone, overtaking on blind spots, driving on the wrong side of the road. The roads are mad there. Bikes and scooters everywhere. Not unusual to see three on a scooter and a lot of women have little bamboo chairs tied in front of them where a little kid sits.
We were glad to arrive and get booked in and into bed at last. Daz and I only had a couple of hours sleep before we had a phone call from home saying there'd been a huge storm and my car was hail damaged. They didn't know it was 4.30am. So I couldn't get back to sleep so we went for a walk around the streets of Karon Beach before breakfast.
Like I said, everyone rides scooters. You can buy petrol in old vodka cruiser bottles. Just by the roadside there are stalls with rows of cruiser bottles full of petrol. This is the workers car park where we stayed.
And there are dogs everywhere. And they all look well fed and most have collars. They're just allowed to roam. But they never bother you. I never had one take any notice of us. We had a look inside a school yard and there were about a dozen dogs just lazing around on the grass. I never saw them fighting either. Always on the beach as well. Even if you're sitting outside eating they don't come up to you. I know that as well as the elephant sanctuary and the gibbon sanctuary there is a dog sanctuary as well though.
Yeah, all those jolly wishes.
New Year's Eve, I worked from 7am until 3am today and I came back in again at 3pm this afternoon. Hopefully I'll be finished by 6am but I really hope you all enjoyed the fun and frolics that accompany a new year celebration. There's nothing better than watching others enjoy themselves especially as I woke up at 11am hangover free today. Sadly had a headache but not alcohol related.
My friend and his family live in Sydney near the Blue Mountains. At 1pm here we were chatting via msn and I wished them all happy New Year which felt odd at lunchtime!
Makes you think of your family and friends - whom you may or may not still be in contact with - at this time of year. Can be quite hard, especially when you've had recent losses.
To all my Vox friends and neighbours, I wish you a very happy, successful and prosperous - in love, life, finance and everything in between - 2010. I look forward to reading about all your exploits and occasional mischief (GOF, Snowy). May you all stay happy and healthy.
Pete
- Quit my job. I've sacrificed too much to a job which has not given me enough in return.
- Get healthier, both mentally and physically. This is probably the biggest sacrifice I have made to my job, and I'm not prepared for it to continue much longer.
- Make it overseas. Current plan is to leave in April for as long as my $20,000 (fingers crossed!) will last.
Drinking last night made me more depressed and put me in a bad mood.
I took ecstasy tonight and watched the fireworks at the space needle with Shu and friends. It is so strange to be out. Shu takes care of me though.
I have been staying with him. I do not want to say that he helps me, because I feel like nothing can, but being with him is better than being alone, I guess, I do not want to be alone. Thinking is making me crazy.
I bought some more ecstasy pills. Just in case I want them. I should stop though.
Swallow 01/01/10 04:14
I feel myself being swept up,
Weak,
I am carried against my will,
a wisp blown by the airs of lament,
falling down the stairs,
no progression,
Speak,
I scream,
into the floor,
sinking into harsh waters,
drifting farther than ever before
from the shore of hope,
Leak,
the ink of a heart
soaked in the poisonous sorrow.
Tomorrow,
I'm still caught in this world.
Tomorrow.
Xmas dinner we did a bit early with a bunch of people at our new place but the actual dinner on the 24th was done just with me and Redhead Girl and her good friend Ligia as she was alone that day.
Now one of the requirements for a good First Officer on my spaceship is that they are able to recruit more good crew members. I think after reviewing the following pictures you will agree that Redhead girl definitely qualifies for the job.
Yes dear readers. I think her devotion to shipboard life is excellent, as I am sure you can see and understand, so I think she definitely deserves the position. I have definitely found my First Officer. And it only took about 18 months from when I started this blog! Though I admit the search had been going on for a couple of decades before that!
And just in the nick of time for 2010!
Having found the most important crew member, my starship can't be far now surely. As for the zap gun...oh I have a feeling that will come about very soon too.
Stay tuned Earthlings...2010 is going to be a Great Martian Dawn!
|
In 1999, the doomsayers predicted the end of the world as we know it - in the form of computers all over the world crashing because of the so-called millennium bug. It never made sense to me, I mean if it were a problem, couldn't you just change the date ?
I spent the New Year's eve in Vietnam, away from civilization. The next day, nothing changed. Not even an incident. All that scare were for thing. But it wasn't all for nothing, the Y2K bug inspired quite a few things - among them, music, televisions, and books.
WHO'S AFRAID OF Y2K?
geometrid.co.uk ♥ myspace.com
There was a period when I tracked down all the projects that were related to Belle & Sebastian, including The Gentle Waves/Isobel Campbell and Looper. Looper was was basically B&S's Stuart David and his wife, Karn, who actually met via penpalism (as told by their song, Impossible Things).
They did garner a bit of fame through "Mondo '77", a really great catchy "binary"-video gamey song (it's been featured in Vanilla Sky, video games, and anti-drugs commercials). But unfortunately, their third (and final?) album, The Snare did not have any really catchy songs. The ruder and darker themed album was due to David's book The Peacock Manifesto (whos character also appears on the cover and songs of The Snare).
Anyway, in 1999, Looper released a double A-Side called Who's Afraid of Y2K? and Up A Tree Again, which I picked up, among other singles, at a Flaming Lips show (Looper was opening up for the band).
Both are excellent songs, although there were two remixes of "Up A Tree Again". I normally don't like remixes, but these were pretty different from the original album (which actually sounds pretty stale compared to these upbeat mixes). The "singles mix" of "Up a Tree Again" was interesting to say the least, focusing mostly on the "la-na-na-na" section and DJ-scratches, while the Chocolate Layers remix was pretty much only the "la-na-na-na" section.
Looking back, I suppose "Who's Afraid of Y2K?" song was a bit of novelty. Ironically enough, the song was awashed in electronic quirks and beats - all the things that Y2K would've destroyed supposedly.
Currently, Looper's on hiatus. I haven't heard much in terms of a new David novel or Looper release. Most of the recent releases were made free on their website, geometrid.co.uk.
BRAVE OLD WORLD
dccomics.com/vertigo
I thought the concept behind this William Messner-Loebs-written Vertigo mini-series was interesting enough: a group of computer hackers working on a solution to the Y2K bug at the end of 1999 - only to find themselves in 1900.
The series explored some interesting concept, like what would you do, if you had all this computer/understanding of technology, only to be trapped in a world that still operated via candlelight? The women in the comics had it worst, let's face it, women didn't exactly have freedom back then. And if you were doing something strange, you're a witch and killed, etc.
So what's the group to do to try and back to 2000? They had to build a computer, by "inventing" their own technology.
Like I said, a very interesting concept. It sort of got a bit boring towards the end (by the last issue, I didn't really care for the characters so much).
Vertigo comics has yet to collect this in a trade, I suppose after the Y2K fiasco, it probably wouldn't be worth reading. I mean, we all know as fantastic as going back in 1900 would be, it didn't happen - just like the Y2K didn't happen. Still, if you want to re-live what it was like, or what Messner-Loebs was thinking back in 1999.
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR Y10K
Chances are, I'll be dead, so I wouldn't care so much what would happen. Wikipedia thinks it's a problem, but I suspect by the year 10,000, that our computing technology would be so advance, it wouldn't amount to anything.
Until then, have a great New Year. Take care of each other. I'll see you in 2010.
12/31/2009 22:29:36 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
We had to be at the airport at 6am the day we flew out, so we spent the night before in Sydney. We stayed near China Town.
Which is near Darling Harbour.
Which is a real tourist hot spot. Nice place though. Right in the middle of the city. Those buildings are the city centre, so you just walk over a little bridge and here you are, on the water.
We had a meal at a seafood restaurant that cost us about the same amount as all our meals combined for a week in Thailand.
Then Jem and I played in the toilets for a while.
I could have done with this survival pack on the plane. But of course we'd packed it in our check in luggage.
And then it was time to go home and have an early night because we had to be up at 5am.
But we didn't. We went to another bar and discussed plane crash strategy.
We decided we should have a common song to blow on our life jacket whistles if we crashed so we would all be able to meet somewhere. We first thought jingle bells was a good idea but then someone said deck the halls. But we decided all that fa la la la la - ing would be too taxing on our energy. So then we thought three blind mice was a good one because it was nice and easy. Jem was confused by then and we said that we'd all be 3 blind mice-ing our way towards each other and we'd hear this little lone jingle bells whistle tune and we'd all go - no, thats not one of our group.
Baldy's over his stomach thing.
We're getting on the train now!
Here goes nothing. Hope I don't injure myself...
Seeyas!
HAPPY 2010!!!!!!!!!
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