Viral Infection. I'm laid low for the second day running with a fairly nasty viral infection. Explains a lot. Still it's given me a day off work and sleep it is, hopefully it'll be gone by Monday so I'll be in fighting shape for my showdown with the HR department. I fully expect that I'll either walk out of that meeting with my demands met or I'll walk out no longer a Government employee. Still there'll be enough money to made via media outlets...heh V is also for Vendetta . I dragged my sick arse across to the cinema last night to catch it - it only opened here yesterday. I don't do reviews anymore because all a review is is one person's opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. Informed opinion? Possibly. But it's just a matter of taste. One of my all time favourite albums, Booth & The Bad Angel got bad reviews when it was released, yet I think it's a masterpiece. Same with the U2 albums Zooropa and Pop . If I were to review any of those a

Returned from Melbourne on Monday. God what a dump. Always has been, always will be. Federation Square? over hyped, over priced and just useless. Bring back the photobooth that used to be on that site. See the image opposite? That's an actual sticker book on sale in Ballarat. It appears that in Victoria you have to be totally PC with everything you do, hence the Amazing Spider-Person. The Spectacular Spider-Person. Web Of Spider-Person. It doesn't have the same ring somehow. As I've always said, Victorian by birth, Victorian by name, Victorian by nature. I wonder what they call Black Goliath? African American Goliath? Or the Black Panther? Non-White Feline? The list can be endless. The insomnia has returned with a vengance, along with the semi-pernament nose-bleeding. I find myself lying in bed listening to the night-time world pass by, the hoons doing burn-outs and screaming around corners, the Bath Hotel spewing it's drunks out into the night air, the sounds as they

Ahhhh the new day has dawned and although it's dawned on my sore shoulders and back, it's off to Melbourne for the weekend. Can't wait to get out there on the open road, point the car in the right direction and just go. I think we both need the break in scenery and there's nothing wrong with living the hotel life for a few days. Does you good to be able to just get up and go without making the beds and the other crap that goes with it - that's why maids get minimum wage. To clean up after messy bastards like me. Leave today, back Monday afternoon. I've noticed that there's a general apathy when it comes to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games . I know they're happening and every so often we'll sit and watch them, but seriously, they're just dull. There's nothing there that excites me that much, having said that it was great to see Scott Martin win through and get a gold with his final throw in the discuss - and what a throw it was. Generally

I was fine when I woke up. I trotted off to a job interview and thought, "I'll go back to work early" and so I did. Then I got the dreaded email - I'm off to yet another region for another five weeks. My problem with this is that I know that there's a few long term positions coming up in a region that I'm familiar with and they're familiar with me. However when I requested to go to there I was shot down. I have to go to a region where I don't know anyone, I don't want to be there and from what I've been told is full of dickheads and idiots. Oh joy. The back started to spasm at that news. I got home feeling worse than I did when I left, so I'm taking the rest of the certificate's advice and staying home today and tomorrow. Then we're off to Melbourne, hopefully to relax a bit, then Tuesday the new region. I feel I'm being hamstrung here, but I have promised myself that if anyone gets into my preferred region and lands a long-ter

And so it was and still is. I woke up this morning still a bit stiff and sore, but another day of lying flat on my back playing Gameboy, watching DVDs and listening to my vast amounts of music has done the trick. The knot in my back has reduced itself to the size of a marble, the neck is sore but now it's mobile and I do feel both great and yet bored. I actually want to go back to work, be it with the Government or back to writing. I'm tempted to start writing again tonight but I'm going to hold off for the time being - perhaps tomorrow. I'll be going back to work but as my doctor insisted on giving me a week off I expect that I'll be sent home to stew. If so then I'll be editing, polishing and working like a demon on the Mooney book. In the meantime I've found some gems. Here's one for Chade who seems to enjoy songs about divorce and seperation - you won't find one much better than this effort from Jarvis Cocker and Lush: I've been so ha

The pain just got too much for me, so it was off to the doctors last night. End result? A week of work (last week of a contract too - that won't go down well) due to stress. Oh joy. Mind you I blame both work, my ex going ballistic and a few other factors, but that's life really. Now I have to sit here, unable to do a lot. I can't spend the time writing solidly because it starts to hurt after a while, so the reality is I'll be sitting around the place, getting some physio and either reading or watching DVDs a lot. That fills me with nothing but dread. I wanna write, I have a few ideas for articles on the boil, so I'll still be working as hard as I can, only I have to pace myself because I want to be right by Friday. Hopefully I can knock the tennis ball of muscle knots in my shoulder out by then and if I can at least turn my head to the right fully then I'll be good to go. Stress...bloody waste of time. I'll jot down some more as my arms allow it

I needed that. Seriously, I did. I left work Friday night in a bastard of a mood. The entire week had been one screw-up after another from Sunday night onwards when our plans went to shit. I've been sent to another office for another two weeks, this time in Elizabeth and, to be honest, it sucks. I hate my job, I hate where I am and I abhor the idiots who phone up who can't even spell their own names or remember when they were born. Oh sheer bloody joy. I negotiated my new leaving time of 4pm, as opposed to 5pm, and trust me, once that clock runs round to 4:15 I am outta there and sitting on the train totally switched off ten minutes later. Nothing against my co-workers, most of whom I admire and who's company I enjoy, but I just can't stand working in a place where some hatchet faced old bag watches over everything I do finding faults that aren't there. Add to that a psychopathic ex who thinks it's fine to keep me in the dark and just throw shit at me when she f

I love public holidays. I don't like how I get shafted by work (ending one contract on the Friday, starting the next one on the Tuesday meaning I don't get paid for today, although everyone else does) but hey - it does mean a four day week, so eight days of work and then we're off for a weekend in Melbourne. So why do I like public holidays? Seagulls. Actually I adore the day before a public holiday because that's when I see the human seagulls out in full effect buying cheap meats. Over at the local Woolies here in Norwood they always run the meat out on a public holiday at about 4:30pm - they close at 5pm, and they either have to dump the lot or take it home. And as everyone knows, you don't eat your own food if only because you know exactly what it is and no-one willingly eats guinea pig, rat or pigeon labeled as chicken. So out it all goes. When this happens the flocks come in - the flocks of seagulls. They'll hover around the sales guy who walks along wi

Recently I had a case of awareness. Not the worst thing in the world to do and this was a damn good case. I'd sat down, fired up the dependable lap-top and started to work on the Jim Mooney book (a book with still without a proper title). I'd just finished inserting an introduction from Stan Lee into the book, had reformatted, reviewed comments from the likes of Steve Gerber and Richard Howell and then began writing what I've learnt about Jims last days at Marvel Comics. Then it hit me. I stopped writing and looked up, my other half looked over and asked if everything was alright. But I was in a state of almost shock. "I'm writing a book." I said. "Yes, yes you are." "This is my second book, the first is coming out in a few months and I have another to write after this." "Yes, yes you do." My life is almost complete really. My goals as a child was to see a book that had my name attached to it as the author. Now that goal

Looking for a good book? Even more importantly - are you looking for a good children's book? Look no further - check out Banana Tales ! Created by the ultra-talented Mark McKenna, Banana Tales is a kids book that'll appeal to all ages. After all how much cooler does it get than a talking monkey who gets into all kinds of trouble? I'll answer that - for a kid it doesn't get any better. You've got Banana Tale himself, Tic-Tac the Zebra, Rinna the Rhino and EggBoo the Ostrich. Sporting a cast of many, Banana Tales is a must read book. The art is top notch - as you'd expect from a man who's worked with the best - and the stories are easily accessible. I could see this book getting into primary schools everywhere... As an added bonus, with every ten books ordered Mark will send you out a signed book with a sketch. I mean, come on!! What more do you need? You can order the books directly via this link: ORDERS You can contact Mark and Co directly from this

Was undertaken today. Try searching Adelaide for a scanner priced under $100. It's impossible. I left the house at 11:00am with one goal - buy a new scanner as the old faithful had finally died under the strain of scan after scan. That was all - a simple scanner. The following stores in the Adelaide CBD, Norwood, Magill or TTP no longer stock scanners, so you can cross them all off your list: Dick Smith Electronics Tandy Officeworks Myers David Jones Radio Rentals Both the IT Warehouse and Harvey Norman had scanners, but only top of the range, A4 scanners, cheapest being around the $280 mark. For that price I'd much rather an A3 scanner. I wanted a simple Canon scanner for around the $100 mark, or under. My previous scanner cost me $70 brand new, so I wasn't about to pay $250 for one now. What people do have are multi-functions. Those are the lovely little packages you see that have a scanner, printer, photocopier, fax and whistle all built in. I didn't want o