Why Even Blogger?

To be honest not much has happened to me recently. Basically I spend my days either working or waiting for my night shift to start. Kind of a shame really, once you see my payslip. But all of this time not going on adventures has let my noggin mull on a couple of things.

I found myself considering the Bee Gees. The lead sing has an insanely high falsetto voice. What if he had a really deep, Barry White-like voice? It would inject huge doses of cool, especially to lines like "Oh you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a lady's man; no time to talk". Just slow it down a bit and BAM.

I've decided I want to go to Japan. I don't mean like fly in, two nights in Tokyo, fly out. I'm talking three, four months, maybe even longer than that. I want to come home fluent in Japanese and really sick of Sushi and Soy. Maybe I've watched Tokyo Drift a few times to many... It'll have to be a working holiday because, hell, I can't afford to stay in another country for months - I probably can't even afford the air fairs.

There are a few other things I've had on my mind but I'm pretty sure making them public to the Internet having public is a bad idea. You'll just have to ask me :-P.

Peace Out, Y'al

Express Your Expression of Interest

Would anyone be interested in coming with me to Ipswich/Brisbane on the weekend of the 11th and 12th of August (possibly/probably with a day or so either side for whatever) to see Round Four of Drift Australia?

I can guarantee a high level of awesome.

I'd Like to Reiterate...

Damn, if Kurt's wasn't an example of a good party then I don't know what is. Live music, comedy, drama, good food, good booze and great people - it was all there. I just wanted to give a big shout out to the people who really made my party going experience into an extremely good night.

Now only a handful of people would know this (Kurt, Kylie, Helen and Amy) but towards the end of the night I was violently ill. That's why my first thank you has to go to Kylie. She lay me down, got me a bucket, cleaned up all the vomit from in the lounge and basically made what was, for me, an extreme low point in the evening bearable.

Next up, Trent and Wayne. Man, I can't say it enough: You guys rock! You played some awesome songs and you played them well, you copped a lot of shit with a smile and just added something that very few parties get the chance to have. You worked great as a team - Trent you've got a talent for music, don't short change yourself, you could go places. And with Mr. Deep Voice rhythm guitarist to back you up in the interviews you would have a killer image.

The food! The food was fantastic - tasted great and was easy to eat plus there was heaps of it so a huge thank you to Helen for going to such great lengths for us. While we're at it thank you to Helen and Herb for letting Kurt have the party in the first place.

Kurt you bloody so-and-so. You really made the party with antics, speeches and songs to keep everyone entertained. I'll also remind everyone that if Kurt had never been born there would have been no party.

Then just about everyone else. Joe for getting me the Vodka. Laura for sitting with me at the start of the night. Pat and Trend our very own fire twirlers/pyromaniacs (did everyone see Pat light his hand on fire?). Amy for measuring my shots. Louis for giving us something to talk about, being in court and all. Pretty much everyone - remember without party goers there is no party.

So thanks everyone for a great night.

Happy birthday Kurt - Harden the fuck up.

Casino Royale

It was different. Much more subtle than other Bond films. The new image they've created for 007 is very good (except where he gets gay at the end) but the actor guy didn't really pull it off in my opinion. The leading lady on the other hand had an 'okay' character played by a very talented actor. The story was good, if a little difficult to follow although it seams to me as though it was engineered to take advantage in the recent growth in the popularity of Hold 'Em. I was disappointed to miss out on the usual 007 gadgets and they're usual supplier, the ubiquitous and wise cracking 'Q' (most recently played by John Cleese) although I see this as part of the aim of reducing the spectacle of the film - I had similar feelings when the Bondmobile failed to produce rockets, spiked tires or even remote control.

Overall it was an interesting new angle for the series to take but I wonder at how much they've sacrificed for the sake of it.

The Master of Kenjutsu

It has been a pretty good week so far. I've been working a fair bit and I have three shifts over Easter (ca-ching!) so future weeks will be made better and more CD-ful, I've added a number of things to my "Things to do when I'm rich and powerful" list and I have tomorrow off so I can do some Easter shopping and see Mel.

My manager Brian is a pretty good bloke. He's given me a lift home a couple times, he lets me have free food when I'm working and he even let me drive his car once which was one of the best experiences of my young life. Having said this Brian and I disagree on a few things, chiefly how much work I SHOULD be doing and we have a number of different automotive opinions. Arguing that manuals are better than automatics will usually bring KFC Cranbrook to a complete stop if Brian is working.

Now look, automatics are great, especially if you live in a city because it just makes cornering and stoplights a breeze and yes, automatics do have shorter shift times than manuals. However because of the way automatic transmission works you lose power from the engine to the wheels meaning less go-fast potential. This is fine in my Dad's car but in a high powered sports car (say Brian's for example) its just a waste. Automatics also require that you ride the brake for most of your commute which means your replacing brake pads and scrubbing wheels way more often than you have to. I won't even start arguing about the 'real driving experience' (although I will say you can't drift in automatics and that's no fun).

So I've pretty much given up trying to change Brian's mind about that but today when I tell this guy what kind of car I want to buy (suffice to say it has a 2.2L engine) he starts babbling wax lyrical about V8s and cubic inches. Sure in a straight line he'll kick my arse nine times out of ten but give me a bit of bendy road and we'll see who's the boss (manager?). Brian: Its on!

Kenjutsu is one of the 18 disciplines of ninjutsu (the art of being a ninja). Kenjutsu is about the use of swords and similar weapons in combat. The word itself is derived from the two letters 'ken', meaning blade, and 'jutsu', meaning technique.

Rory Contarino,
Soon to be D1GP Champion.