Annual Trip To Surfers.

Spose I may as well post something about the weekend vacation. Not a lot to mention really... Most importantly I relaxed the hell my arse off those three days, so much that I'm still out of it.

We all met up at Indro shops before 9AM, had to get an early start because for some reason the backpackers we went to shut it's offices at 11AM. Talk about slack... A quick, uneventful drive brought us to the address. Pete's GPS stated we had arrived as stopped in front of an abandoned lot, it was fenced up and ready to be demolished, yet the sign in the yard clearly read 'Cheers Backpackers.' We had read a few reviews online the week before about our hotel to be, few were...pleasant. I tried to defend the place over the week saying that the people who had stayed there probably weren't used to backpacker hostels. My heart sank though as I scanned the remains of the building we had stopped in front of.

Fortunately the place we were staying happened to be next door, it wasn't the Ritz, but it would certainly do for us. Half an hour passed as we struggled through the check in process, we persevered nevertheless troopers that we are. After a quick scan of the rooms and bathroom facilities we did what any person is obligated to do at the coast, go to the beach. It wasn't the best weather for it, but the waves ended up being semi decent as we attempted getting out as far as we could. The currents and giant waves however seemed concerned about us traveling to far from the shore as they beat us with full force. Eventually my body gave up and I struggled to the shore only to discover that they don't allow smoking at the beach anymore. I can understand restaurants, closed in rooms, public transport, I'm even beginning to be all right with train platforms...but why in the hell shouldn't you be able to smoke at the beach?? It rarely gets more open than that, except for standing in a field. Really pushing it now government...

Back to the room for a nap, perhaps get back some of my energy. Certainly needed it for our next venture, the casino buffet. We seem to never get enough of that place, stuffing our faces, stomachs fit to burst! It's also a perfectly good excuse for me to get some gambling in, I'm a sucker for them pokies. Everyone else went back to the backpackers as I sat firmly staring at the screen on my pokies machine. Seemed I was having a lucky streak that night, no one else had faith I could come out of there with a profit, few are optimistic about such things except other gamblers. However I managed to get out of there $100 richer! I was able to show off my money with a smug look later on, being smug is one of my favourite hobbies.

Of course one of the main reasons we went to the coast was to try out Zorbing. After trying it I'm able to explain exactly how it works, not much to it really. We got there and had a look at prices and regulations. Yazz and I got put together as a duo, due to our...*cough* ampleness. The others were in two sets of three. We watch as the first trio hopped in a truck and drove up the hill, towed behind them a large ball. Once said passengers and ball were at the top, someone started filling it with water. After that the indignity of taking a run up and dive through a tiny sphincter into the ball itself. Once in you get on your knees and wait to push off. Once rolling it's up to you from there. If you can get up on your feet and run it's supposedly ideal, mostly we fell over and crushed each other. Once Yazz and I were up top we voiced our concern about the smallness of the hole and not so smallness of us. The guy up there assured us that they have gotten far larger people inside before, we would be no problem.

I wouldn't say 'no problem' it was tight fit, a bit of wiggling and elbow grease and we were both in. We avoided the Winnie The Pooh situation we both had feared. I only recall the world spinning around me and ecstatic giggling before we stopped at the bottom of the hill. I'm not the bravest guy around, but I would in no way describe that as an extreme sport. There was extreme embarrassment though as we got out of the ball at the end, which involved sticking your legs out the hole and sliding. Of course I fell on my back and had trouble getting up for a moment. There was no reason to spend another $25 trying it again, so we left. The rest of the day quickly seemed to turn into a repeat of the day before. I had no desire to head back to the beach again, seeing as I was still knackered from my last trip to the beach.

Instead I napped for an hour and headed out to Cavill Avenue to see if I could get a tattoo done. With all the money I had left over, plus my casino cash I thought I'd be able to get something done. Once inside the studio I spoke of my ideas to the resident artist and he gave me a quote, my jaw dropped a little as it would cost double of what I had on me. I couldn't think of any smaller tattoos to get so I left a little disappointed. So I called the others to see what they were up to, sitting around the backpackers... I reaallly didn't want to sit around there all afternoon till dinner, so I had a look around for something I or we could do. Mini golf was the savior once again and we had a few putts for an hour or so before going back to Cavill and Hog's Breath Cafe.

Everyone seemed in a mood to party, sounded good, we walked back he way we came till we found a decent pub that also had pokies, therefore everyone happy since I can't drink. Though it was only about half an hour till much to my ire everyone decided to head back to the room again. I was a bit peeved that we cut the night short, but after a bit of time by myself at the pinball machine in the backpackers lobby and a conversation with an ex-prison mate turned bouncer I was in a good mood again. So I joined most of them in the room and we messed about until they kicked me out around 11.

We woke up early the next day and packed our things. After checking out we went to an all you can eat breakfast beside the beach. I'm not a breakfast person, so I wasn't able to get much in me before we got back in the cars. We made a stop at Harbour Town , a clothing mega complex. Got to get a good bit of sitting done and had an awful slushie type drink. Yazz and Pete got matching hats, the others bought some clothing or something. We bid each other adieu and went back to Brisbane. After dropping Leah and Robin home, Pete and I did a bit of shopping of our own at JB Hi-Fi. Got a new DVD player and ten or so things to watch on it, oh and dropped in my assignment on time.

So pretty much it was a great weekend, couldn't have asked for more. As I said I've been out of it since we got back, got to get back into work mode as I have 2 and a half tapes to transcribe and one essay that really needs writing up. It's only a bit less than a month before lectures and tutorials are over, which then means it is exam week. Soon after that Pete, Leah, Robin and I are going to head down to Melbourne for another weekend of fun, plus Spamalot! Well that's all I can really recall that's worth mentioning, probably skipped a lot. Meh, it's all lodged in the brain anyway, nothing to worry about. Until next time...

Andy Scott

Work Before Play.

Tomorrow we're heading to the Gold Coast for a weekend of shenanigans. That includes gorging at buffets, mass gambling at the casino, a bit of shopping, the Zorbing I mentioned previously and possibly some tattooing. I'm basing the entire possibility of tattooing on my assured major victory at the casino, if it then proves not to be as assured as I've made myself believe then...no tattoo for Andy...

I've been thinking about whether to get a completely new one or to improve/add on to the ones I already have. Obviously my back still 'needs' a bit of work to make it look like I imagine it to be in my mind. But I also have aspirations of covering the areas surrounding my other two tattoos on my upper arms. On top of that I've had ideas for new ones, including an orgy of music related imagery. Amongst those are the four symbols from Led Zeppelin, the CFH symbol of Pantera, majesty symbol of Dream Theater, the famous silhouette of Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson and the obligatory 80s Ozzy logo. I may just leave those for the moment, well may have to leave all of them for the moment. What I'll probably do is make some collage of all symbols I find and say 'put that on my chest!'

Been a bit busy lately, especially today. The other blog is going super great! I'm sticking to two posts a day, almost the polar opposite if what I achieve on this this site. Since I'm away for the weekend I wrote up 8 posts today, two for today and the rest are for the time I'm away. A few more weeks and I'll have reached the 100 post mark, almost half of what I've posted here in 4 years in a matter of two and a half months...whoa!

Uni is still going strong. After the holiday I have three essays, one more practical, a practical report of the six (read as two) I've completed this semester and four final exams that will be announced soon enough. It doesn't feel like a lot of work and once I've completed it all I'm going to feel pretty damn good. I think I might be a bit too hard on myself in regards to results, I got an assignment back yesterday with a result of 10.5/15. Instead of congratulating myself for doing the work, I couldn't stop thinking why is it so low! I keep forgetting that the main purpose of this semester is to actually complete a semester, if I get good results on the way then that is a great bonus. I have to complete an assignment over the weekend, which should prove interesting. Fortunately it's not an essay or anything like that. I simply have to write data into tables, already have the data so it's just a matter of writing it up before Monday. Will all the fun get in the way? For sure, which is why I'm going to do it whilst we're driving there.

Other than that I've been doing some transcribing today, which I wasn't able to finish. Tuesday Dad, I swear! I have a new MP3 player, it's good to not have to look at a cracked screen and have earphones that play music out of both sides! DVD player finally gave up, as did my watch. Great that everything has to break down when I have enough money to replace them, but using it for a weekend of blissful fun. It's not going to make me feel guilty though! I abso-bloody-lutely cannot wait for tomorrow. I haven't exactly been the picture of a hard worker for the past few months, but that doesn't mean I don't deserve a break. So I'm out of here.

Oh yeah, if you live in Brisbane try a pizza from Pizza Capers, I almost drowned in my own saliva.

Andy Scott

All Is Well...

...In a sense. My new study schedule has been holding up well. With the help of Mother I've been able to keep uni going. A few hours of study each day, assignments going in. Three of my four subjects are being undertaken without hassle. It was around this time last semester that I just gave up, so it's sensible to predict that I may actually make through without mental scarring this time. As I said three of four subjects are fine. My fourth subject, Doing Archaeology has suffered due to a brain spasm or two.

That subject primarily involves practicals, each practical lasts about two weeks and then a report is due worth about 10%. It is different to other subjects because if you miss one class you're pretty much screwed. I missed three, so there you go. Two weeks ago when I had this renewed interest I made my way back to the practical class. I sat with a group and analyzed rock specimen to determine whether they were man made or simply rocks. I felt pretty good with myself. Last week I returned to the class to find the room full of different people, took a look at my schedule, it was the right time and the right room for my prac. My prac teacher was there and I questioned him as to whether we were having class that week. He nodded and told me that I was signed up for the class an hour earlier.

It seems that the day when I went to class and did the first half of the practical I somehow managed to go an hour early. I pondered on this for a few hours trying to determine how I could do something like that. A simple mistake that has cost me yet another 10% of my results. So far I've missed a possible 20%, so I can make up the other 80% if nothing further goes awry.

I've really taken a liking to Anthropology, more so than Archaeology, which is fascinating, I just can't see myself doing it forever. I guess I like the concept of studying the culture of a particular group of people, not something broad an entire nation, but one small group who have their own diverse culture. I've shown in the past that I have no issues with spending extended time away from my culture and immersing myself into another. Too early to say at this point, I just want to finish this semester first.

The gang will be going down to the Gold Coast in two weeks. I think every one of us has been looking to get away for a vacation. There'll be the obvious trip to the casino and buffet. Beaching, possibly in inappropriate swim wear. And the cherry on top will be our attempt at Zorbing. It involves getting into a large ball and being pushed down a hill. Should help take my mind off things.

Well, I...don't have anything else to say. Spending most my time over at my other site, almost reached fifty songs there...spiffy. Soo..bye.

Andy Scott