Beachin’

I’d like to start by saying I love summer! Well, it’s only spring now, but its the same principle. The unparalleled heat that can only be truly appreciated at the beach, not stuck in an office all day long. So it was only about 33 degrees maximum, but coming out of a cold winter and a really mild previous summer, 33 degrees is rather warm!

<Insert Tuesday Beachin’>

Also note, part time work. It is the greatest thing to me since sliced bread. The freedom to do what you want when others are unavailable. To do things you wouldn’t normally do, because many things are cheaper, quieter, less crowded, more enjoyable, less stressful during the week. Way, more, fun!

As I said before 33 degrees is nothing to a sweltering, 40 degree Summer heat blaze Australia can dish out, but 33 degrees makes for an awesome beach day. Fish and Chips by the Ocean, swimming, sun-bathing, ice-cream and a good old-fashioned cruise with great company. So every now and then, take the day off Work. A Tuesday, or a Wednesday, and spend the whole day at home watching your favourite TV series, play some squash, hit the beach, catch up with friends, grab a coffee, check out the local shops, enjoy your days off!

So here we are, as I cruise to the beach in me old HQ, windows down, music blaring, sweaty backs (thanks to vinyl seats & lack of air-con), with some great company, loving every minute. And I think to myself, “Man I love mid-week beachin’!”

The Latest

Well, I appologise for not updating for a while been quite busy as is usually the case with everyone these days, plus I couldn’t really think of anything to tell, so I will simply tell you what’s been going on with me for the past few weeks.

I have been slowly building my music collection for year now, few albums here and there, couple of singles and it all starts to add up. And recently I’ve only just noticed how much I actually have when my iPod started to brink on full (30GB). I currently now have 26.41GB of Music, 4821 songs, for a grand total of 14.2 days STRAIGHT of music. It’s a ridiculous amount really, my iPods battery is already losing power everytime I recharge it as I have had it for a few years now, but there is no chance I have enough power to listen to all my Music on shuffle.

And yet I am always looking for something new to please my Ears with, always bored of my “old” Music. It drives me crazy you know. Having to have something fresh all the time.

Currently though I am satisfying my cravings with the Hamish and Andy podcast. Funny blokes these guys, and seeing as I have no working Radio in my car currently (need a radio extension cable) I don’t get to listen to their show.

Other things I have been watching recently are:

• Lost Season 5 Boxset
• Mentalist Season 1 Boxset

Due to coming down with a cold too, I spent most of yesterday watching TV, so I have finished both

I’m afraid thats all for now folks, more to follow shortly. Tune in again soon!

Seth

Veyron Swimming

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/244906/bugatti_veyron_hits_lake.html

Saw this today, and I couldn’t help but laugh! Especially when I found out it was his own fault! A guy with a Bugatti Veyron, threw his car into a Lake after he swerved to avoid a Pelican that startled him while he was driving whilst on his mobile! Serves him right.

Forza vs. Need for Speed

In other news ~ Racing Games
Another addiction of mine is racing games. And a few new ones have reared their head over the horizon. Forza 3 and Need For Speed: Shift.

I love need for speed, well the older ones anyway, hot pursuit 2, underground 1 and 2. They started to lose the plot from Most Wanted, Carbon and Pro Street?!? (Can anyone say fail much?!). So I was expecting Shift to be a pile of dung. They message is getting quite blurry these days too! Most Wanted and Carbon ~ hate the cops! Run them off the road! Destroy them! *brain cogs turn* “Oh no! That’s illegal! We don’t want to promote illegal racing!” <insert Pro Street> “We want to promote racing on the track, where it should be! And so the game flops </Pro Street grave> …along comes Undercover, another illegal street racing game. Are these guys confused or what? And then Shift, back on the track. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

Anyways, I digress. Forza 3 was set to be insane. I LOVE Forza 2, the realism, the customization, the tracks, the game, the cars, the insane realism!! So I was really stoked to hear about Forza 3.

<Enter category switch> I love Forza & NFS. I mean NFS has some good arcade racers, and Forza’s realism is next to none (on 2nd installment) using same race engine as Ferrari Formula 1. BUT! Having played demos of F3 & NFS:S they seem to have switched on me! Shift is well done, great graphics, handling and style, but Forza 3? Cartoony, childish and cluncky feeling, AUTO-BRAKING!! What is this?! (*side note: I know Shift also has brake assist, but its only an assist, its light braking, and I expect that from NFS, its an arcade racer, not Forza the be-all end-all racing simulation). F3 is going to breed a new generation of N00b racers! I mean c’mon! I was expecting so much more! Oh well, maybe I’ll hire it out, see if I am merely deceived by the demo…

Seth

Boss’s Pet

My Boss is going through draftees (people who draw house plans) like paper! It’s not her fault really, she’s just had a bad draw of interviews, with people who are too slow, and don’t really have a clue, and who after 2 days have produced nothing but carbon dioxide and a confused look.

Me however, not wanting to blow my own trumpet, manage to churn out work quite quickly, and she loves it! Today, I was given a 3 storey house to draw, from pretty much scratch, and managed to knock it out that same day! She was barely in the office all day, constantly going out on meetings and site visits etc. which left me in the corner tapping away, triple j blaring on the radio cranking this house design. When she got back at quarter to 5 in the evening she was quite impressed with what I’d done. Today was a good day for me!

Lost Odyssey

Particularly for the XBOX 360, there is a fair amount of decent looking Japanese RPG games coming out, or already out in Australia.

One I never got round to buying was Star Ocean 4. I bought the first one to see what that was like, not having played any of the previous versions when I saw it. It was quite frustrating with the lack of save points and the irritating battle interface. Still, I wouldn’t mind playing the 4th, but have never bought it.

Another game I came across the other day was called Magna Carta 2. It looks really good I must say. Having never heard of it before, I wasn’t expecting much (seeing as Square Enix is the be-all and end-all of JRPGs at the moment). The story line sounds really interesting with some great looking characters & graphics. I can’t wait to see how the interface is, cos from the videos/pics it looks to be really good! To my knowledge that game came out on the 22nd October, so that’s another one to add to the list.

Of course, the last game I am looking out for, but not out ’til next year is Final Fantasy XIII. I am an AVID final fantasy fan. I absolutely love their games! They are so well structured and the graphics get more and more mind-blowingly insane with every installment! I still love the older versions, FFVII being my favourite close second to FFIX & FFX in 3rd place. I have never managed to finish a Final Fantasy though! I nearly did in FFX & FFIX and am currently re-playing FFVII so I’ll see how long I keep it up for

However! With all this thinking of all these great new JRPGs I want to lighten my wallet with. 2 had gone unnoticed.

LOST ODYSSEY is again a fantastic game, made by one of the guys who used to work for Square-Enix (FF). I came so close to the end but dropped it, getting too caught up with “I want every acheivement!” Nowadays I can’t be bothered chasing these acheivements, there nice and sometimes I look up a few easy ones, but I’m quite contented to just play the game and enjoy it! So I have started up LO again, and surprised myself at just how close I was to the end.

Another game I completely forgot until I got LO out, is Eternal Sonata. It is quite childish I’ll admit, but I like the interface and battle sequence. Plus I think its a quaint idea, that is about Chopin (that famous dead composer). So maybe this will be added to the play list before I go on my JRPG buying spree!

Seth

C’mon Weekend

You know when its been a long day when you almost put Wheat Elevation instead of West Elevation (You know, Never Eat Shredded Wheat ~ North East South West?). Well, that was my Friday afternoon. I was trying to resist the urge to fall asleep at my desk at about 4pm as the boss had already left for the day, but instead I made a coffee and turned the radio up louder.

I also found myself Beat boxing and whistling along to the music when my boss popped out during the day on her site visits and meetings, getting 15-20 seconds in to it, suddenly stopping thinking HEY?! Why am I beat-boxing?!?

Well, finally the weekend is here, and I am looking forward to it. Nothing actually planned this weekend! Hopefully a weekend of catching up on reading, doing some drawing, and maybe some Computer Gaming

Seth
Signing out

PS. Here is my Work Place (I hope the text is readable):

Rage

I’m currently trying not to rage on my car at the moment. I mean, I absolutely love my car, its one of the best things I ever bought. Its a 1972 Holden HQ Kingswood complete with bench seats (6 people) auto column shift 173 cubic inch straight 6 cylinder engine and extractors. It has lowered king springs and new shockies to boot thanks to yours truly. But! The main problem is, its old. There is ALWAYS something to fix, because there is always something broken!

Currently, the RH Rear Taillight doesn’t work, but the brake light does (same bulb, different filament) so I replaced the bulb, but it didn’t solve the problem! So either its a wiring problem or the fitting is corroded, which it can’t be surely, cos then the brake light wouldn’t work either?! Another small problem is the indicators do not turn themselves off when I turn right, only when turning left. This never really bothered me, but because I was getting the bulb for my car, I decided to get a new flasher unit too. Replaced that, and STILL not fixed the problem.

The BIG Problem. Not what really ticks me off is the gas conversion (done by a bunch of cowboys!) has all sorts of problems, despite having taking the car back to them 4 times (I have since given up). The gas gauge doesn’t work properly, it drops from half full to empty constantly, leaving you to guess how much gas you have left. And it make a really annoying squeaking noise when you drive after the car has been in the sun for a while, which goes away if you rev it high enough, or eventually once the car is warmed up (15-20 minutes into your journey).

So this is why I want to rage on my car. But I wont. I love it. But until I get it fixed, I might just nick my brothers car

Seth

Quiet

My brother left at about 3am Tuesday morning for Sydney. Needless to say, the house is now really quiet without him! Its rather strange really but Im coping well. I have spoken to him once and he is very busy, and loving it which is great to hear.

I was painting til about 3pm on Saturday which was fun, but I would’ve loved to have gone to the beach though! Completely missed out on 35 degrees!

I apologize there is nothing else exciting to report
Seth

Swinging

Well I am more or less getting back into the swing of things now. Back at College and Work, even though I don’t want to go to College its good to be back into my regular schedule though.

My brother leaves tomorrow! Nooooooo! So I took the day of College to spend the day with him

I have started to write a short story called Parallel Exchanges (see Pages on the Right Hand of this Page) so I’ll keep you posted as I progress. Also, I am slowly, but surely working my way through the Cherub Book Series still: there are ten books and I am up to the sixth.

Not much else to say really apart from had the concert on Saturday, which went really well! The leaving dinner last night was good also, great place too!

Seth