Monday, March 6, 2006

The road to Hungry Head. I now have daily access to dial-up, although in some ways it's still fairly limited. This is partly due to my generally busy life at the moment, but also because connecting to the dial-up essentially requires me to be in the kitchen. And it's not terribly comfortable. As I'm sitting here to update this page, I'm feeling both relieved and sad that the weekend is over. I can say that it is one of the strangest weekends I've ever had in my life. First of all, I went down to Sydney on Friday. It was a car trip, so it was probably about eight or nine hours' drive. Usually I start climbing the walls after five hours, but I did surprisingly well. We were due to pick up my sister and a friend who had flown up from Melbourne, so there was a bit of a mad rush to get to the airport on time. Saturday was the night of the Mardi Gras, so as you can imagine, the city was incredibly busy. We had been due to go to a party beforehand, then watch the parade and then go to an after party...but things really didn't work out that way. We were so late getting into Sydney that we missed most of the parade (though still saw a reasonable amount of it) and we never ended up getting into any clubs due to the fact that everyone became split-up once we arrived on Oxford Street. Somehow the various taxis that were transporting people had gone in different directions and the crowd was such that it was impossible to find anyone. But having said all of the above, it was still a fun night. I'd never been to Mardi Gras before, but I really enjoyed it. It wasn't as stereotypically gay as I had been expecting. It was, in fact, more like a giant carnival with a general theme of tolerance. What I liked most, I think, was that there were millions of people there who were all friendly and tolerant of each other - the atmosphere is incredibly positive and there isn't any sense of exclusion. It actually made me quite emotional to see so much goodwill in one place. I think that aspect was what I enjoyed the most. The train ride home was also a great deal of fun. It's about two hours to the Central Coast and we were sitting with various people who we'd never met, but who we ended up having lots of fun with. If it weren't for the fact that one of my friends hurt her back when she fell down some stairs on the train (and simultaneously left her licence and keycard on the train), the night would have been a complete success. I still feel bad for her, so next time we go down I think I'm going to buy her a little present or something. In addition, one of our rear tyres exploded on the trip back to Brisbane. It was four in the morning and we were on the side of the road with a crying two-year-old, while we waited for assistance. In the end, we had to wait at a motel for four hours and then embark on the remaining five hours of the journey home. Phew. So I can safely say that I was feeling very exhausted today. But all in all, I had a good time and I'll have some fun memories. It was also wonderful to see my sister again. RaR: I am not yet certain if I'm going, but I'd like to try and get there this year. If I go, I am most likely to visit Washington D.C. and New York City. But it's really too early to say anything beyond that. CosmicSailor: Unfortunately looking for jobs is very tough anyway. I really hate it. I'm lucky to be starting a new job soon, but I really got that job partly because the first contact came through a friend. Sure, I had to actually get the job on my own merit...but I wouldn't even have had a look-in without that first contact. Often it does come down to who you know, rather than what you know. Alexus: Oh, really? Cool. I will have to remember that. ~_^ Kei-chan: If only I had the money to organize a sexy OB party! Oh well. You never know, one day it might happen, heheh. And thanks for the message. My grandmother is doing well now, she should make a strong recovery. Annie-kun: Well, the east coast is the most likely place at the moment. But it's still up in the air, because I have a lot of things that my money has to go toward this year. For example, I'm needing to buy a new car and to save up for a house full of new furniture when I move back to Melbourne. So it's something I may do if I can, but some other things have to be done first. Arcadia: Wow, I haven't heard from you in such a long time! I really hope you are doing well. I miss your RPGs...it was a lot of fun participating in one of them. And yes, you're probably right about those members! Who'd have thought it would ever really come in handy? Hehe. I have some comfort that my aunt died in her sleep without pain, but I definitely regret not spending more time with her. Chabichou: It can be very difficult on children when they don't understand, for sure. I think that one of the saddest things about my aunt is that she was still relatively young. And she was definitely one of the most influential members of the family, so it has hit some people very hard, particularly my grandmother. In terms of not crying, well...I don't always cry with things like that. Sometimes grief just makes me feel physically and emotionally exhausted, to the point where I become an emotionless shell for a little while. Everyone handles it differently I guess. indifference: The east coast is the number one contender at the moment, but it depends what is most viable as far as money goes. In terms of design, I am still quite happy with OtakuBoards. When compared to other anime forums, I believe it still stands up as a very strong design. And it has had the benefit of being updated by me now and then with small visual improvements. As a result, it's maintained a pretty fresh look over the last couple of years. theOtaku is different, partly because its implementation wasn't quite what it might have been. That's just the way things work out though. I mean, if you saw my finalized conceptual design for theOtaku's current version, you'd notice a number of differences - so the site was never entirely implemented as intended. But once again, changes often happen during production and these things cannot always be avoided. Unfortunately I suspect that if we'd used the development process that we use now (creation of a skeleton and so on), we wouldn't have had to make those compromises. But in any case, I don't believe that the design has aged well and I feel that the flawed implementation has had a negative impact on the overall design. This is something that isn't so noticeable if you haven't seen the conceptuals, though. But it does give me a desire to redesign the site once more, with a new process in mind. Thank you for the compliments though, I really am pleased that you are happy with the design work. ^_^ Aaryanna: Thanks for the hug. ~_^ The problem with going to the US is that there are so many places I want to see! To see everything I'm interested in, I would really need to be there for a couple of months. Unfortunately even going there for a short time will be tough to afford, given all the pressures on my income this year. That detail is pretty interesting although I don't think it relates to problems we've been having. I think I can safely tell you that any issues we've had on the server have had no relationship with any need to delete old accounts. We have the capacity, but we've had some technical/performance issues. I am not very qualified to go into more detail on that though, as it's something Adam or Justin could more accurately explain. Plus, I've had such little sleep that I would find it difficult to remember everything I've been told about it anyway. ^_^; Liam: Well we'll see. Maybe at some stage I can make a t-shirt especially for you, haha. I'm kind of amazed that I'm even still alive after this weekend though; going for so many days with so little sleep can't be good. I am amazed that I'm not feeling burnt out. And yes, Noosa is absolutely gorgeous. Parking wasn't too bad on the weekend and generally it wasn't too crowded, but I can imagine it getting packed at certain times of the year. It is, afterall, probably the most gorgeous place I've seen in this state. And in terms of natural beauty, it's possibly one of the most beautiful sights I've seen on the entire east coast so far...which is saying a great deal. The city cat is great, although I've not yet had much need to use it. Frankly, it's been more a touristy thing for me. Going on it at night (especially under the Storey Bridge) is quite nice. It's a great way to unwind. My grandmother's humor is a little black, yeah, although she hasn't had much of a sense of humor in the last few years. She is a funny person to be around, but this is mostly because she's become that stereotypical cranky old woman with a touch of senility, lol. But really, she still has moments where she is incredibly alert and lucid, for lack of a better word.

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