New Lyrics

2009-05-25T03:21:00.000+10:00

New Lyrics
Been a while since i blogged.... or written any lyrics.
I've written better, but i did write this at 3am while at work....
I'm also unsure on the title and am open to suggestions.

-----------------------------------
Give it!
By Brodie Pruha – 25/5/2009

[Verse 1]
I’m done, it’s over, I give up
I try and try but it’s never enough
I scribble and I write to vent my pain
But all this shit is drivin’ me insane
I aint’ selfish, I don’t give to receive
It’s not much to ask, spare some thought for me

[Pre-Chorus]
I’m not bitter, I’m just upset
What I want to know is…
Where the fuck is MY respect?

[Chorus]
Give it to me, give it to me,
I earned it!
Give it to me, give it to me,
I crave it!
Give it to me, give it to me
I deserve it!
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it!

[Verse 2]
It’s not all bout’ me, I’m not self involved
It’s not just our youth, we’re all out of control
Stood on, stepped over, enough is enough
I’m quickly running out of those who I trust
Nobody cares, I’ve tried too many times
Left wanting respect from those in my life

[Pre-Chorus]
I’m not bitter, I’m just upset
What I want to know is…
Where the fuck is MY respect?

[Chorus]
Give it to me, give it to me,
I earned it!
Give it to me, give it to me,
I crave it!
Give it to me, give it to me
I deserve it!
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it!
-----------------------------------

Government Hand Outs… Good or Bad?

2009-02-05T11:41:00.002+11:00

The recent announcement of the Rudd government’s plan to stimulate our economy has many of my friends bouncing off the walls with excitement and that’s fine. However I’m honestly very concerned where it will leave Australia (financially) in the future.

In summary the government’s plan to stimulate the economy is as follows:
Each person who earns less than $80,000 a year, pays tax and completed a tax return last year will receive $950 each to encourage spending.

While $950 would be extremely helpful, it will not help the economy.
To give out these hand outs the ALP is borrowing money…
These hand outs are going to shift us from a $20 billion surplus to a $200 billion deficit. Granted it’s a recession, but $200 BILLION in debt? That’s a lot of money! We’ll be trying to get out of that debt over the next few years screwing us even further.

Yes it is our money (as it’s taken from the taxes we’ve already paid) but taxes are already high enough. I don’t want to have to pay another $10-$20 a week (on top of what I’m already being taxed) in the future, which is exactly what will happen. Because the Liberal government sold so many Gov owned assets, it will fall back on us (the tax payer… every tax payer! Not just those who got the handouts, which personally I believe is very unfair) when it comes to getting out budget back into a surplus.

I personally don’t believe there’s a great deal we can do to fix our countries financial problems, well I don’t believe there’s a quick fix at least. It will just take some good ol’ time and patience.

To those saying the money would be better spent on funding for schools, hospitals, railways etc…
It won’t “stimulate” our economy. I agree 100% that money should be put into fixing our country’s infrastructure but it will not fix the current financial crisis at all.

Even though I’m the minority I really believe that these hand outs will hurt every Australian in the future. I won’t be turning up my nose at the money if this plan is passed by the government as money is always useful but I will be genuinely concerned about our financial future.

End rant.

Customer Service?More Like Customer Wankery!

2008-12-11T15:18:00.002+11:00

In theory technology should be making our life easier and for the most part I’ve personally found this to be true. But there’s one area I’m quickly discovering that is becoming increasingly more frustrating. Anyone care to take a stab at what it may be?

If you answered Customer Service (And I use the term ever so lightly, to have service one must be served, and I am yet to be served) you are correct, please follow me to the gift shop and choose your prize.

Those who know me or who have ever read any of my previous blogs would probably know I’m a bit of a guitar hero nut. I listen to podcasts, visit forums, I’ve even made a fake neck from cardboard to practice my finger placement on the fret board. So as you may imagine with the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour (Think Guitar Hero with Bass, Vocals and Drums as well) I was bouncing off the walls.

I was like an excited child on Christmas morning when I finally got the game but I may as well have been given coal as it would have worked just as well as the drum kit I received in the box. Unfortunately I was not the only one this happened to. Red Octane (the manufacturer of the game), have already acknowledge that they released the game knowing that a lot of the drum kits have a variety of issues (sensitivity, pads not working, cross talking…) and promptly released a statement and a fix on their website.

I bought the game knowing full well that I’m likely to have problems with the drum kit but I was quite confident that Red Octane’s solution would fix my problems. Out of the box my kit didn’t register hits and eventually one of the pads just stoped working. So I went over to Red Octane’s support site to get the appropriate tools to fix my kit.

This is where my both my problems and issues with customer service began.
Straight off the bat I was screwed. The apparent fix for my drums was a magical cable (USB-Midi for those who actually care) that Red Octane are supposed to send out at their own expense was not available for me to request in Australia, they were only posting them out to the US and Canada. I waited 2 or 3 more days and tried again but Australia still wasn’t listed on the warranty claims list for this particular cable. Eventually, to my delight they released the cable in Australia so I started to fill out my warranty request.

10 minutes later I almost put my fist through my monitor. After filling out all my details and selecting to send my request I was given an error message that read: “I’m Sorry But We Are Unable To Process Your Request At This Time”. That’s all it said, no reason why not even an error code, just the text taunting me like a school yard bully. So I waited maybe an hour or two and tried again… and again… and again.

3 days later I was still unable to request any help and was still getting the same error message. Feeling quite defeated I took screenshots of the error that kept coming up for future reference. I trawled through the site praying to find a contact number but the best I could come up with was an email address. I attached the screenshot to an email and sent it to Red Octane with all the relevant information. It’s now been a month and I’ve still heard nothing back. Not that their lack of response it surprises me mind you. Since then I went and purchased the cable (from Ebay. Thanks for nothing Red Octane you jerks!) and the kit is still broken and have since had to send the entire kit back for repairs/replacement.

I can’t help but think if I could have got in contact with an actual person they could have pointed me in the right direction to fix my kit and all this messing around could have been avoided (not that Red Octane care of course). I feel pretty bad for all the little kiddies and their parents who are going to have to go through all the same problems come Christmas time, what ever happened to QA and standards?

The tip of the iceberg today was when I was trying to contact my bank to extend the limit on my credit card (*shakes fists* curse you Christmas!). When I was connected I got the usual automated response of something along these lines: ”please press one to select this option, press two to select that option…”. This went on for about 5 minutes (Do Commonwealth bank charge you for those calls?) when I finally got the option to select to speak to an operator, you know, a real person it went pear shaped. Turns out I was a little ahead of myself. I was placed on hold for maybe another minute or so when an automated voice tells me “Sorry, but all the operators are currently taking calls and are very busy, please call back later” *beep beep beep*.

I WAS HUNG UP ON!
I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t placed in a queue the phone just disconnected. WTF?

Is it really too much to ask to speak to a human being these days or are people too fearful of getting flamed by an upset customer to answer a phone personally?

What Really Grinds My Gears!

2008-12-04T15:34:00.000+11:00

Wow… hello again fellow readers (if any remain) it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted a blog with actual content rather than lyrics so here goes.

What Really Grinds My Gears…

…are articles in the paper that I’d hardly rate as “news worthy”.
I can’t remember too many of the articles I’ve read previously (as it was hardly news in the first place) but the article that has triggered my urge to blog was a story about one of Collingwood’s most infamous cheer squad members Joffa.

For those who haven’t seen or heard anything about the article it refers to a photo Joffa uploaded to a Collingwood fan club forum of him standing by a brick wall holding a couple guns in a Chopper Read like pose. The article basically explains how inappropriate the photo is and has a big dig at Joffa.

Now although I can understand why people may be upset or offended by the photo (for both the content and the fact it was put on a fan forum) I can’t comprehend why the photo was featured in both Tuesday and Wednesday’s Herald Sun (It was a full page story in Wednesday’s paper one or two pages in).

Although the photo is inappropriate for the forum it’s just a photo of Joffa holding some guns… why is it such a big deal? The post in the forum it was found would have been locked (at least) then deleted by the moderators once either they found it themselves or when it was reported by another user.

By placing a full page article accompanied by the photo in the paper is just making the situation worse. The media has taken something that would have offended maybe a few hundred people on a forum and made it a national news article read by thousands (if not millions) of people. It’s the media who have caused the problem not Joffa (Media?...Cause problems?…Never!).

Clearly Joffa is ”not all there” and I find it fairly depressing how quickly people have condemned the poor guy. Am I the only person who thinks this? Everyone in the office I work at (including Collingwood supporters) have been talking about this photo and how appalling it is.

It’s not a big deal and it’s definitely not news worthy! Grow up people!

New Lyrics - Choose Your Poison

2008-10-21T12:03:00.002+11:00

It's been a while since I've blogged, and well I'd hardly call this a blog. Actually i wouldn't call it a blog at all I'm just posting some lyrics, so enjoy!
Feedback is always appreciated.

-------------------

Choose Your Poison
By Brodie Pruha

[Verse 1]
Constant reminders, life’s troubles
We all deal in our own way
Uphill battles, the daily grind
We all deal in different ways

But in the end we’re all the same
We all try to dull the pain

[Chorus]
Choose your poison
Pick your fate
Choose your poison
What’s your vice?
Go ahead destroy your life!

[Verse 2]
It doesn’t matter what we do
It’s tough to break our cultures view
We all have our own excuses
There are many reasons why

In the end we’re set in our ways
It’s how we live day to day

[Chorus]
Choose your poison
Pick your fate
Choose your poison
What’s your vice?
Go ahead destroy your life!

[Bridge/Outro]
Change is needed
We must Change
It’s not enough to live for the day

What Really Grinds My Gears...

2008-05-02T14:21:00.001+10:00

Is how the Australian government plans to fix both underage and binge drinking. For those who may have missed it new laws were introduced yesterday allowing the government to put a tax on certain types of alcohol (such as pre-mix drinks as apparently that’s what all our youths drink).

For example before this bright new law existed you were to buy a four pack of Wild Turkeys for $16. As of 7pm last night the price has jumped to $20 for the exact some four pack. For those who are really poor at math that’s a $1 per can increase!

I’m not entirely sure how this is going to stop the great binge drinking dilemma as the price of a bottle of Jim Beam is roughly between $28 and $35 (depending on where you shop) and a bottle of coke can be picked up for around $2. Now instead of the teenagers buying those pesky pre-mix drinks, they will probably start buying entire bottles of spirits which contain a lot more alcohol as it’s no longer that much more expensive. This of course will just lead to even more drunken teenagers running rampant on our streets.

An even worse development would probably be an increase of drug use amongst our teens as you can pick up a many different varieties drugs for minimal cost these days.

The other new law which is to be trialled in Melbourne, Yarra, Stonnington and Port Phillip is 2am pub lock outs. As of 2am Melbourne clubs will not be allowing entry to any patrons into the pubs or clubs.

“Patrons who are already inside a venue will be able to stay after 2am, but they can't leave, and then re-enter.”

So if your local doesn’t have a designated smoking area inside their venue you may be in trouble.

“A government task force has reportedly acted in response to calls from police to clamp down on gangs and young drunks moving from pub to pub and causing trouble.”

I would like to know what the response calls are going to be like now with “gangs” and “young drunks” starting trouble with the bouncers who can’t legally let them in. It will be mayhem especially during the initial few weeks of this “trial”.

Even though the 2am lock out law is only a trial according to many reports it’s safe to say that it will quite probably be put in place.

Good work Parliament.

I wanna be a Guitar Hero!

2007-10-23T11:16:00.001+10:00

I’ve always had a habit of getting drawn into fads such as Pokêmon, yo-yos, marbles, Yugio and DDR just to name a few. The latest “fad” (although I pray it isn’t a fad) I’ve fallen for is Guitar Hero. For those of you who have been living under a rock ignorant of the complete awesomeness that is this phenomenon, Guitar Hero is a game on the PS2 (now Xbox 360 and coming soon to Wii, PS3 and even the DS) that has you rocking out on a plastic guitar to a huge variety of rock music.

Rach and I got so hooked into the game shortly after playing it a friend’s house one night we went out and bought a PS2 just so we could play the game. From that point on there was no turning back, we spent countless hours together honing our skills working our way through the set list together.

Now 5 months since we first purchased the game I’m still hooked, it’s the only game since I completed Final Fantasy 7 many years ago that’s held my attention for this long. I’m so hooked into this game I’ve even rigged up a fake guitar neck made from cardboard so I can practice moving my fingers for doing “hammer-ons” and “pull-offs” in the game.

Before the taunting and teasing begins let me tell you I already know this is quite lame and instead spending so much time on Guitar Hero I should be practicing actual instruments or my singing. In my defence however I tend to only mess around with my cardboard guitar neck when I’m having lunch at work or reading through documents, you could almost say I’m multi-tasking… almost.

Guitar Hero is increasing in popularity as time goes on. People have gone to great lengths to customize their guitars, from different paint styles to rigging up foot pedals to activate the “starpower” in the game, there has even been a working Guitar Hero controller made entirely from Lego designed for the game.

There is now a web site called Scorehero (http://www.scorehero.com)dedicated to users registering their scores to rank the greatest players in the world. I have registered an account my username is "bpruha" if anyone wishes to search for me which I’ve only filled in one song. I have also registered a co-operative team for “Guitar Hero: Rocks The 80s Encore” consisting of Rachel and I to see how we rank as a team in the world of co-op Guitar Hero.

I now have 7 songs left to pass the game on expert, but even after that I still have a lot to do on the game. There are still bonus songs to complete as well as trying the daunting task of trying to “5 star” all the songs on expert for my Log Guitar.

Anyway enough nerdy rambling for me today.
Peace out!

Sweet home Alabama... uh i mean Ringwood

2007-10-22T11:32:00.000+10:00

Well it’s been quite some time since I’ve written to my fellow readers (if I had any readers to begin with) but I really haven’t felt too inspired to write blogs not to mention the fact I’ve been quite busy at work these days. Most of my energy is spent writing procedures and other work related projects so the last thing I generally want to do is write mindless nonsense as my brain is pretty fried when it gets to the end of the day.

Since my last blog there have been many changes. I have moved out with my beautiful girlfriend Rachel to a place in Ringwood, not too far from my old home. Things are going quite well between us so far, the change from living at home to moving in together wasn’t really a big difference as we were essentially living together at my place anyway. But it nice to have somewhere we can call our own.

When I say on our own I also mean our other house mate David, actually it’s his house and we are both very thankful that he has let us invade his territory. In my opinion it’s worked out pretty well for him too. On the nights Rach and I eat at home (which is most of the time) he gets meals cooked for him rather than living of Hungry Jacks or frozen pies. I’m not sure about he feels about us being there but the place also has a more homely feel to it since moving our belongings in. It’s quite a large three bedroom house and for one person to be living there it did seem quite empty.

Anyway that’s about it for now, we are having a house warming/Halloween party soon, those who need to know already know, those who don’t know probably aren’t invited.

This is generally the section of my blog where I say that I’m going to try harder to blog more often, but that’s probably unlikely. I’d like to blog more often so I’ll just leave it at that.

Anyway peeps keep rocking!

Movie Review: Transformers

2007-07-06T11:11:00.000+10:00

Since its initial release in Australia I have seen the Transformers movie twice and it wouldn’t surprise me if I ventured to the cinemas to see it at least one more time before it disappears from the big screen. Honestly I think this is one of the better TV/comic/cartoon series to cinema re-writes I’ve ever seen, the creators of the movie managed to piece so many things together and they did it well.

Many people have spoken out about the poor dialogue and acting in the film, however in my opinion it’s just kept the same type of dialogue and language used in the original cartoon which is one of the key reasons why Transformers was popular. I don’t think people should have expected academy award winning acting in a film largely based around transforming robots anyway it’s just common sense.

The big draw for this film is the outstanding special effects used, they really make the robots transformations quite believable. The scenes where the Transformers interacted with humans were very well done, you could almost believe that it was a real robot and not CGI being used.

My only issue with the film is the music used in the action scenes. The song choices were fine but the way it was all cut together was a little annoying. There are a couple of scenes in the movie where the music seems to cut out during inappropriate parts of a song. It seems that during the editing process they probably cut a lot out of the scenes and the music just doesn’t fit the scene anymore. This leads me to believe however that when it’s released on to DVD (which I’m already eagerly awaiting) there may be an extended edition released.

All in all Transformers is a must see film for all geeks and nerds alike. I give the film a 5 out of 5.

Blog Blog Blog

2007-05-25T13:30:00.000+10:00

Once again it has been quite some time since I last posted, I don’t know why really I actually enjoy writing blogs and reading the comments people leave, I just don’t seem to have the motivation to write lately (that goes for lyric writing too). As Brodie’s Law Of Patterns dictates it will be even longer until my next blog. But as we all know (well some of my friends from high school anyway) my law of patterns if often wrong, but it’s a good rule none the less!

-=In Brodie news=-

I still have glandular fever which is really starting to annoy me as I can’t go out much, can’t play soccer and I can’t drink. On top of that I have to work because I have no sick leave so I just feel like utter crap. It’s definitely getting better though, my glands have gone down quite a bit.

Moving along from me whinging about my sickness….

I was in Off Ya Tree last night when Rich (one of the staff members there) who collects tattoo magazines tells me that my Full Scale tattoo has been put into a magazine. I didn’t really believe him at first but sure enough he pulls out the magazine and shows me the photo. I was stoked, you can’t see my face or anything like that, it’s just a photo of my calf with the tattoo on it, but it was still quite cool. He even gave me the copy of the magazine which was nice. I would never have known about it if it wasn’t for someone who knew me and what my tatt looks like had read the magazine so I’m glad it was found. This event has further inspired me to hurry up and get my next two tattoos.

Here's a pic

Since getting sick I also vowed not to shave until I was well. I’ve kept my word and haven’t shaved for probably two months. I have quite a nice beard coming and was actually praised by somebody at a party for my facial hair which was a first, as facial hair and Brodie don’t mix. The really annoying part is my “moustache” which hasn’t grown much at all, and only connects with the rest of my beard on one side, on the other side hair doesn’t grow down at all, it’s funny and quite lame all at the same time. It took me at least 6 months to grow my goatee (my “chin pubes” as I like to call it) and I’ve been to afraid to see what I look like again by shaving it off. Most people don’t remember what I look like without it as I’ve had it for quite a few years now, so it will be a sad day when I shave the beard I have going although it will probably be for the best looks wise.

I’m hoping to make my return to soccer as soon as possible, not getting any exercise is making me feel quite grotesque.

I don’t really have much more to say, I did write another dream blog which can be found here at http://brodiesluciddreams.blogspot.com. So if you’re really bored that may entertain you for at least 2 minutes.

Where I Have Been

2007-04-09T13:11:00.000+10:00

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged so I’ll explain what has kept me away.

About 3 weeks ago now I developed a case of tonsillitis and on top of that some sort of sever throat infection that left me unable to swallow both foods and liquids. To fix this I ended up getting penicillin shots to my ass for a week and tried to swallow painkillers. My only source of “food” were icy poles that I could only swallow with a chaser of water after each bite, it was painful. During that week I lost 6kgs and quite a bit of money getting the shots at the doctors every day. The bastard doctor charged my $50 each morning I saw him for the shot when I was in the room for no longer than 5 minutes max, I even paid for the shots from the chemist myself so he wasn’t charging me for that either.

After going through that week of pain and utter boredom I returned to work feeling pretty good, that soon changed as the weekend approached. I started to get what I thought was a cold and ended up being sick for the entire weekend, Rachel was also sick on the weekend of her own birthday party but like a trooper she pulled through ok. On the Sunday night we went to bed once again I felt deathly. I kept having hot and cold flushes, at one point I would be sweating so much there was a patch of water on the bed then not too long after I would be so cold I would be shivering un-controllably. Needless to say something was wrong.

I stumbled out of bed on Monday morning feeling terrible still suffering from a terrible fever but I had to try and make myself go because I didn’t have a lot of sick leave left after having the week off work when I had my throat infection. So off I went in a daze to work, luckily for me there’s wasn’t a great deal to do for once so I went and hid out the back near the screw store I am supposed to be re-organising. During morning smoke-o I went into the office and sat at my desk on the computer when my boss came up and told me that he appreciates the effort I’ve put in to come to work but I look like shit and really should get some rest, I happily obliged.

I spent the entire week at home in bed again slowly going insane. I went to the doctors on Tuesday and he said I have tonsillitis, but this time I think he was wrong as I don’t have a sore throat. I’m fairly certain I may have glandular fever as when I went to the doctors when I had my throat infection they said I would have to wait for the tonsillitis to clear up then get blood tests, so chances are tomorrow I’ll be booking myself in at the quack to find out what’s wrong with me.

I’m quite angry at the outcome, I’ve missed the entire Easter weekend which should have been filled with nights of clubbing and excessive drinking. The minor outings I have had were fun and it was good to get out of my bedroom. I think I’ve lost more weight this week as the thought of eating makes me feel pretty I’ll.

On the up side the AIHL starts next week and I will be going to at leat one of the matches come hell or high water so I hope to see some of you there.

Ants in the pants!

2007-03-09T16:15:00.001+11:00

Ok seriously what the hell is up with ants? I can’t think of any more annoying creature on the planet than an ant. They never used to bother me up until a couple of months ago when they completely took over the house and my room out the back.

In the beginning when they invaded my room it was my fault as I did leave a few plates and scraps sitting on my desk but when I discovered the ants the dirty plates were promptly removed. This process happened a few times until my bedroom was completely overrun by the pests. I had my usual sulk then went about cleaning up but the ants just kept on coming. In the end I pulled my desk and bed out of the corners of my room and went postal on their thoraxes.

With my can of ant killer in one hand and an evil gleam in my eye I went to work and I eradicated every ant in sight, all that was left behind was their lifeless bodies lined up one by one. After the slaughter I vacuumed out my room and cleared away the ants, I thought my problem was over, but I was wrong, dead wrong.

The following evening I was in my room watching dvd’s and snacking on something which I don’t remember. When I had finished eating I put the bowel in my fridge as the ants can’t get to it there. However I had forgotten about my fork (which had been licked completely clean anyway) and a pack of gum the I had in my pocket. I left the now cleaned (thanks to my mighty tongue) fork and the sealed pack of gum on the desk and returned to my movie viewing.

Little over an hour later I turned back to my desk to grab the remote and to my horror the horrible little creatures were back and it wasn’t just one or two. I’m talking mass amounts of the things! Once again I had the pleasure of destroying the small army of insects but it felt pointless as they just kept coming back for more.

Usually when it comes to bugs and insects I’m not the biggest fan to begin with, but I can usually justify why the creature exists. I just think back to a scene in the movie Charlotte’s Web where Charlotte (the spider for those who don’t remember) explained how every creature serves its purpose. In that scene for instance Charlotte was trying to ease Wilburs (was that the pigs name?) fear of spiders by explaining that spiders catch and eat all the other bugs and insects so they don’t overrun the planet, well her explanation of spiders worked for Wilbur and also worked for me. I still hate spiders but I live blissfully ignorant in the fact that I believe that if it wasn’t for spiders there would be many more creepy crawlies driving me insane.

Anyway the point I am trying to make here is what the hell is an ant’s purpose here on our planet? Or at least why do they still exist in suburbia?

Toilet Break

2007-03-05T14:41:00.000+11:00

It’s not a conversation that comes up often between most people but it’s definitely a conversation I’ve had once or twice between different groups of people. What are your toilet habits? For instance do you scrunch or fold? When you finish a roll of toilet paper do you replace it so the paper hangs over the top of the roll or from beneath?

Personally I’m a scruncher when it comes to toilet paper, I simply don’t see the point in wasting any time or effort in carefully folding the paper into halves when you’re only going to wipe your self with it anyway. Scrunching takes little effort and achieves the same goal, so if you’re a folder I highly recommend the scrunching approach.

So what about replacing the roll when it’s finished?
If you’re someone who doesn’t replace the roll at all I don’t want to know you because it’s very frustrating to wander into the loo and discover that there is no toilet paper.

Clearly I couldn’t think of much else to write and realised that it’s been a while since I’ve written anything, if you don’t like it deal with it. nuff said.

My Valentines Day Message

2007-02-15T08:41:00.001+11:00

My Valentines Message Of Love (Yes it’s one day late)

roses are red,
violets are blue,
oi gehveh,
you're a big jew.'

Haha

I wish that I had read this yesterday when I was in such a crappy mood.

Nuff said…

You Tool!

2007-02-09T15:33:00.000+11:00

Warning this rant may not be what Tool fans want to hear, but it’s the truth.

Like 12,000 or so other Tool fans I was pumped to see one of my favourite bands perform at the Sidney Myer Music bowel after months of great anticipation, sadly the gig did not live up to my expectations. Some may say I expect too much, when in reality I’m quite easy to please. If I can go to a Spazzy’s gig (possibly the most boring and repetitive music of all time, but at least they have presence on stage.) and have an absolute blast, surely Tool would knock my socks off.

Sure the band was tight, musically they were awesome after all it was Tool, I wouldn’t really expect anything less as they are great musicians. If that’s all Tool can give me at their live shows I don’t know if I’d bother going to another, what’s the point? Even my friend Nikki arguably the biggest Tool fan I know was very disappointed with the show and for her to even suggest such blasphemy means something went wrong. A key factor was Maynard’s (the entire band for that matter) lack of crowd interaction, I can’t think back to any point in the show where he even tried connecting with the fans. “His stage show limited itself to flailing like some drunken goblin whilst silhouetted against the picture screens, and sometimes singing.” I can’t state it any better than what I read in Beat magazines review as it’s so very true.

My issue with the gig was their choices in songs. Going in to the show I was expecting some big intros, interludes etc… but they really managed to drag it all out for far too long. Many times I found myself glancing down into the pit to see thousands of fans looking bored and quite lifeless, really what were Tool thinking? They managed to drag out Wings For Marie (Parts 1 and 2) for far too long, it’s hardly the easiest song for a crowd to get into, especially when the most powerful and interesting section of the track doesn’t begin until 12 minutes or so into the song. I couldn’t believe they left out both Eulogy one of their most loved songs and even The Pot which is definitely a crowd favourite from their new album 10,000 Days. After only an hour and forty five minutes of a mostly lifeless, unenergetic performance Tool went into some group huddle and walked off the stage. I like many others expected more, but was left with nothing but disappointed, frustration and a hint of anger.

My highlight for the gig doesn’t involve Tool at all, it was some guy who climbed to the top of the shell like structure of the music bowl itself. At least it was interesting to watch him climb it then get wrestled down by police the second his feet were safely on the ground.

I can’t really end this blog/rant/review any better than Beat Magazines review of the same gig: ”Oh, and thank you, Maynard. It’s now clear how the band arrived at their name.” - Someone had to say it, props.

My Cheese Empire

2007-01-31T12:08:00.000+11:00

It’s been a topic of vast discussion over the last couple of weeks between my friends and I. During many social gatherings I managed to turn the conversation into raging debates about breast milk cheese (and knocking Tiffany up to get my milk). I was told recently by a friend that 55% of cheese was actually made from goat’s milk rather than cow’s milk which surprised me. After some research I also found out that there was a market for cheese made from rat’s milk, from this I started to think more and more about different variations of cheese and what other animals you could develop it from. After some deep thought about cheese (I really should find something more productive to do with my time) it hit me. What about breast milk cheese? Surely if people are will to drink or eat rat’s milk there has to be a market for women’s breast milk.

I decided to do some research on the topic seeing as surely I’m not the only person to have considered the idea, I’m not the only crazy person in the world. I searched Google for “Breast Milk Cheese” and found that although it’s been a topic of discussion on many forums, I only found on lady who has actually tried making it. Her name is Rani and the article can be found here: http://www.indrani.net/index.php?q=2006/03/breast_milk_cheese
In one single article my dreams to build a breast milk cheese empire were crushed, apparently it’s not possible to make cheese from breast milk.

When making cheese you’re supposed to bring it to a boil then add lemon juice to make it curdle. Sadly breast milk doesn’t curdle because the protein content is too low and the protein in breast milk is easy to digest as opposed to cow’s milk. This is why babies can’t drink cow’s milk.

With my spirits now crushed I am now researching other areas of breast milk products such as breast milk yogurt, butter, soup, milk shakes and pancakes. There are so many possibilities out there, any milk based product in theory.

I’m now looking for volunteers to donate breast milk so if anyone reading this is pregnant or knows someone who is pregnant who is willing to give their milk I would be very grateful. Also if there’s anyone willing to let me knock them up I wont object, otherwise we could just use a turkey baster if you don’t want the more personal approach. I’m sure the millions I make from my breast milk cheese products will cover the child support payments.

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

2007-01-22T15:52:00.000+11:00

Isn’t it funny how really small things can completely change how you feel and approach the rest of the day? Today for instance two relatively minor events made my day and I’m in an awesome mood because of it.

Today around 10am or so I was working away, already in a feral mood because I’m doing 2 peoples jobs instead of my own when one of the engineers down from Sydney comes up to me and starts talking to me about my work. He starts talking about the procedures I’ve spent countless hours on and I start thinking “great what’s he going to complain about now?” When out of nowhere he starts thanking me and praising me for doing such a great job, I was chuffed. He said how his boss back in Sydney was constantly giving him grief on how to build things and now all he has to do is show him the procedure and say “well that’s how they do it in Melbourne” and his boss can’t do anything about it. I had a complete mood swing from angry and frustrated to happy and excited about my day.

To top things off and make me just that tiny bit happier I had a little stroke of luck with my work's candy vending machine. While working out on the floor I started thinking about how long it had been since I had eaten a bag of peanut M&Ms (for those who don’t know me they are probably my favourite candy and I will rip you apart if you try to steal any from me) so I decided to treat myself to some. I walked up to the machine with my $2 in hand and continued my purchase. As the machine started to release the candy it dropped 2 bags instead of just one (you could imagine my delight!) and my jaw dropped as I cheered gleefully. My day was complete. I ended up giving the 2nd bag away as I am supposed to be on a health kick but the fact that so far today most things seem to be going my way *touches wood* really cheered me up.

True Story

Pyramid Rock Festival Journal

2007-01-15T15:56:00.000+11:00

This is my Pyramid Rock Festival Diary as promised. Just a quick note that the 1st half was written when I was very hung over on the morning of the 2nd day and the other half was written today about 2 weeks later. Enjoy

PYRAMID ROCK FESTIVAL DIARY
This blog shall begin with a brief warning. I’m writing this now at 5.15am with very little sleep and a serious need for a shower. As it’s only the 1st day/evening of the festival and I’m slightly drunk what I write may be a touch incoherent. To keep in the spirit of things however I don’t plan on editing what I write down at all. So sit back, relax and enjoy what I’m hoping will be an entertaining read.

I’ll start by back tracking to the early hours of Friday morning when we should have left for the festival.

29/12/06
6.45am
Jump out of bed bright eyed and bushy tailed (If you believe that you’re a fool) with my possibly fractured wrist still hurting. I worry briefly about my wrist briefly the concentrate on the task of packing ahead.

7.00am
Brodie Showers…
Mmm naked Brodie…

7.40am
I begin to pack the rest of my luggage. I cross check my insanely half-assed packing list and leave for Ben and Brons.

9.00am
I arrive at Ben and Brons, I catch Bron half naked and not even close to ready as usual. I wait for them to get ready and leave to pick Safety Dave up from work in Narre Warren.

9.40am
We arrive at the Mazda service centre to pick up Dave at work. He’s not even close to ready. Ben, Bron and I head over to HJ’s to get some grub and kill time. After eating we made a quick stop over at Fountain Gate shopping centre and my quest for shorts finally ends after I find a pair I like at Jay Jays. I only had to travel an hour plus to find some when I live next door to freaking Eastland!

12.30pm
We meet Dave back at the service centre and leave for Phillip Island and Pyramid Rock Festival slightly freaked out by a SMS from Leticia saying there’s a huge traffic jam.

2.30pm
Arrive with little troubles. *Notes To Self: Don’t stress about smuggling booze ever again. A Blind, one armed infant could have performed a better search on my car*

The search included: Opening my car boot, briefly rummaging through the blankets and just opening the lid of my esky. The shook Daves jacket, heard pills and all they asked was “pills hey?” We laughed and he placed the jacket back. He didn’t even open the jacket to take a look at the pills, they could have been anything. Copious amounts of alcohol could have been smuggled in very easily.

3.00pm
We set up camp. I can easily pitch a tent in my pants but I find it a touch my frustrating erecting a tent in very windy conditions.

4.30pm
After setting up and getting ourselves organised the drinking begins. The alcohol prices weren’t nearly as bad as I expected them to be. “Jager bombs” are only $8 which is fairly awesome. Bourbon and cokes were only $7 which are Switch prices. I’ve seen cheaper drinks around but they could have been a lot worse seeing as the crowd had nowhere else to go.

5.00pm
After 3 Jager bombs and 2 bourbons the effects of alcohol set in quickly as I haven’t eaten since 10am. The group of us hit the shops where Dave and I buy the most expensive (not to mention crappy) hacky sack on the planet for $12 at the hippy shop. At this shop they talk about some “legal” drug called RAGE which is similar to ecstasy. I’m momentarily interested until my instinct kicks in and I remember hippies are dirty dirty liars and it’s all a load of shit.

6.00pm – 1am
The drinking and festivities continue as I consume way too much alcohol. My wrist hurts much less than in the morning but it’s probably just because alcohol is numbing the pain. Safety Dave and I have a drunken D&M about a few things and continue to walk around the camp grounds. We meet some randoms at the stage area named Stacey and Katie (I think) from Ferntree Gully, we all sat down and chatted (and did cartwheels) for a good hour or so.

I met up with Leticia again and make more of a fool of myself which isn’t a rare occurrence really, but hey, I am who I am and I like me, so you should too!

I finally crash at around 1.30am or so and as I stumble in to my tent I notice that my bed has deflated. This didn’t really faze me much as I was both very drunk and very tired. After a few drunk phone calls to both my parents and possibly Brad (I don’t remember, I really must stop talking to my mother when I’m drunk because I talk way to much shit) I fall asleep.

30/12/06
4.45am
I wake up in a daze and my head feels about 3 sizes to small for my brain. I try going back to sleep but now the Jager Meister has worn off and the red bull has kicked in so I just tossed and turned on my ever so deflated mattress for about half an hour.

5.15am
THE QUEST FOR THE SHOWER BEGINS
Ever since arriving at the camp grounds it became very obvious that nobody, not even the event staff knew where the showers were. After walking around the camp site for a good 30 minutes and asking 5 different people where the showers were (who ALL said completely different things) I finally stumbled across the shower block much to my disgustingly dirty bodies delight.

After finding the shower block I then started the trek back to my tent to find my shower gear and fresh clothes. When returning to the shower block one person mentions to me in passing “I hope you like it cold”. I did not let the fear of a cold shower deter me.

The showers themselves were insanely crappy as expected. Picture 4 streams of water at a very cold temperature. I only bother to wet my hair and wash my face. I only quickly ducked under the water to rinse and wash the rest of my body.

6.45am
I return to our camping area and decide to start hand writing my PRF Diary/Journal (what ever you wish to call it). It’s now 8.45am and after discussing today’s plans with Bron I’m going to start preparing myself for Bushido who are on at 10am. Following Bushido are Behind Crimson Eyes (BCE) whose new album I recently purchased and much to my surprise I really liked it. It’s a huge step up from their EPs which I didn’t mind but there was definitely room for improvement. The final band I plan on seeing this morning is Something With Numbers who I remember seeing at P!ATD gig. They weren’t a terrible act so I figure I might as well see them again.

I then have a 4 hour break before the real festivities begin. I will either head into Cowes and see if I can scope out a shower for tomorrow morning or I will most probably pass out in my tent once all this red bull has worn off. I will then be seeing Faker, Lior, End Of Fashion, The Beautiful Girls (Who I’ve never heard of), Karnivool and finally Silverchair. All this starts at 5.20pm till around 12am when Dj Milo (who ever the smeg that is) sets up and my drinking will continue.

31/12/06
6.25am
Once again I wake up in a daze with my head feeling like it’s been kicked around a soccer field. I’ve managed to get roughly 2 hours sleep but once again the red bull has kicked into gear. Yesterdays festivities were highly entertaining. I only ended up seeing Bushido in the morning and skipping on BCE and Something With Numbers to meet up with Simon, Sara-may and Alison and head into Cowes with the full group (Ben, Bron, Dave, Simon, Alison, Sara-may and myself).

---I’m now writing the rest of this journal on the 15/01/06 2 weeks after returning home enjoy---

Events that happened on the 30/12/06
After much screwing around with tents and shuttle buses we eventually got to Cowes and headed straight down to the beach so the girls (and Dave) could soak their feet in the sea. Once we were finished with our feet at the beach (and we had enjoyed the…uh…view…) we cleaned ourselves off and headed down to the pub for some drinks.

At the pub we enjoyed many drinks and a very competitive pool game. It all began with just our group mucking around enjoying some friendly games of pool until another group of guys wanted to use the table. They must have witnessed me kicking Simon’s ass (Because as we all know, I am awesome) and they challenged us to a game of doubles for the rights to play on the table. Simon and I started slow but in the end we somehow managed to pull through and beat the suckers, however in the end nobody really cared as we were all just having fun. We ended up playing another couple of games against the other group and ended up having a great time.

We then moved on from the pub to find some food and after demolishing a crappy $9 pizza from PRF the night before I craved a real pizza. We sat, drank and ate some more for another hour or so before heading back to the festival. I was starting to get really pumped as it wasn’t long until Karnivool were on stage.

When we arrived back at the camp grounds we all headed straight over to the drinks tent for more alcoholic beverages before we organised ourselves for the Vool! We all wandered down to the stage to get prime positions for the acts of the evening. However I ended up loosing the entire group during my move towards the front of the crowd. I sat through 3 or 4 bands at the front just waiting for Karnivool wishing I hadn’t broken the seal, I can not remember a time in my life where I have ever needed to go to the toilet so badly. The worst moment was when I had to sit through The Beautiful Girls, not only did I really hate the music but I knew how close Karnivool were to coming on. I had 4 options leave the front to go the toilet and miss being in the prime position for Karnivool (this was never going to happen), Wet myself, find a bottle to piss in or just do my best to hold it. I ended up choosing to hold it in but wetting myself and finding a bottle were very seriously considered. In the end it was worth all the waiting and all the pain as Karnivool rocked. They played what seemed to me to be a very short set, but maybe it was all for the best as I probably would have wet myself. The second they finished I said goodbye to the guy standing next to me who I was talking to for a good 2 hours about random music stuff and trying to convince him to check out Mammal the next morning and I jumped out of the crowd.

The second I was I was ran like there was no tomorrow to the nearest toilet and had what can only be described as not only the best but probably the longest piss I have ever taken in my life.

After my toilet break I went and restocked on drinks then went to find my friends. I ended up running into Dave who was insanely hammered, I ended up walking him back to his tent and helping him to bed where he promptly passed out. I then returned back to the stage area where Silverchair had just started, I’m not even going to bother trying to describe how bad Silverchair were, but believe me they sucked. Seriously how can a band ignore so many of their classic songs and continue to play such crap? They didn’t play badly they just played crappy songs.

Midway through Silverchair’s set I stumbled upon the rest of our group. I explained to them what happened with Dave and we continue to party well into the night. When Silverchair had finished we went to get more drinks from the drinks tent and waited as Dj Milo set up. We didn’t hang around long to hear DJ Milo because well… he blew. I’ve decided I really don’t like dance music at all. I used to listen to it but these days I have no patience for it, it’s far too repetitive and soulless. Even in my drunken state I couldn’t even bring myself to dance to it, I just felt retarded and very out of place. I ended up just getting some food and walking around with Simon for a while before discovering who I now call zombie Ben.

Simon and I were walking to his camp site when we ran into zombie Ben. Zombie Ben is very quiet, he has a very deathly look about him and answers most questions with a series of simple, yet effective grunts. Zombie Ben then quickly disappeared into the night where we later learnt he somehow ended up at the beach. I ended up crashing at Simon, Alison and Sara-may’s camping area as I was far too lazy to make the long journey back to where my tent was.

Events that happened on the 31/12/06
Another morning another hangover, this quickly became the trend for all my mornings at PRF. I also went and had another cold shower as it actually left me feeling a lot more refreshed for the day to come. After my shower I crawled back into my tent and had a nap until roughly 9.00am, I needed to be awake and fresh for Mammal who were playing at 10am. When I 1st heard that Mammal were playing so early I was quite disappointed as they deserve a much bigger, much livelier audience. But the more I think about it the more I think they were suited to getting everyone up and moving. I can’t think of another band who could have handled it any better so mad props to Mammal. Just after Mammal they guy I was speaking to while I was waiting for Karnivool on Saturday night came over and thanked me for making him get up and check out Mammal, he thought they were killer.

I ended up heading back to my tent to catch some much needed Z’s as I knew (being New Years eve and all) it was going to be a big night. I woke up a few hours later just as Xavier Rudd was starting to play, I can appreciate his music but it’s nothing I really cared to listen to so I didn’t really bother going to check out his performance. I ended up in the “Annex” (the raver tent by night) seeing BCE with Simon, Alison and Dave. BCE were supposed to play the day before but due to some sort of screw up they didn’t make it in time. Not that I was complaining, I was quite happy that I ended up getting to see BCE after all. We also ran into Jordan and Susie who ended up hanging with us for a majority of the rest of the festival.

As the night progressed much alcohol was consumed and much partying occurred. The Living End brought in the New Year and they did an awesome job, although I don’t think our countdown actually happened at midnight. Regardless it was still an awesome show.

Throughout the night I battled off people trying to steal my glow sticks (I had 4 loops on each ear, 1 in each of my shoe laces, and my glow whistle which I can proudly say annoyed the hell out of everyone). I saw people on their hands and knees trying to take them from my shoes when I was in a big crowd of people, it was crazy.

I think this was my earliest New Years yet, I think I was in bed by around 3am but it was definitely one of the best New Years celebrations I’ve had.

Events that happened on the 01/01/07
I woke up around 8.30 feeling a little hung over and all I wanted to do was get off the island before the mayhem began. Sadly I did not get my wish, although I was packed and ready by around 9.15 Ben. Bron and Dave weren’t even close. So after waiting around and making a quick stop at the toilet preparing for a long trip we eventually got in our cars and started moving at around 10.30. I timed the entire journey off the island, it’s took us 3 hours to move 13km. After that 1st 13km traffic started to clear up and we were hassle free.

That was my Pyramid Rock Festival. Hassle free and insanely fun. I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Festival Highlights include:
- UHF Radios on the trip to and from Phillip Island.
- Seeing Karnivool, Bushido, The Living End and Mammal
- Evermore playing a snippet of “Everybody dance now” one of the songs we had been singing during the entire festival.
- Meeting countless randoms.
- Getting to know Ben, Bron, Dave, Alison and Simon a lot better.
- Cheap Jager bombs.
- Beating strangers at pool.
- Continuous singing of “Romeo” and “Turn it up” among other random songs.
- Finally meeting Leticia.
- My glow stick madness.
- Breakfast Wraps (Best thing for a hangover ever).
- All round fun atmosphere and awesome line up of bands.

Festival Lowlights include:
- Poor toilet system and lack of running water to wash your hands.
- Travelling 13km in 3 hours
That’s it really, I had an awesome time

Well if you took the time to read it all I thank you.
Peace out.

Did someone say Blog?

2007-01-11T16:06:00.000+11:00

So where did all the blogs go? Recently I have noticed the once friendly past time that was blogging is dying off which makes me a sad panda. I’ve found myself also blogging nowhere near as much as I did back in the day. As my friend Rhys would say in his funny little voice ”What Happened?.

Is it the weather? Is it because we are getting older (I surely hope not)? Or is it because we are running out of things to say? For me personally I just can’t find that need or want to blog like I used to. Most of the bloggers in the “Wood’o’spehere” (people from Norwood S.C who blog quite often) have slowed down. I used to depend on these peoples blogs to help me get through those slow days at work, no I have nothing.

Other than that I don’t have a great deal to say at the moment other than I hope you all had a festive Christmas and a happy New Years.

P.S Expect a huge post on my New Years shenanigans soon, it’s going to be a big one, that’s why it’s taking so long to post.

Peace Out!

Year In Review

2006-12-27T08:59:00.001+11:00

Well this year like most others I’ve had my ups and my downs but all in all when I look back at what has happened over the last 12 months it brings a smile to my face. Actually my life has dramatically changed since this time last year and for that I am thankful. It all started way back in January with the operation on my wrists which rendered me useless as a fitter for work so I ended up in an office position. From there I managed to impress my superiors with my magical MS Paint abilities (I look back at those drawings now and even I wonder how the hell I did some of it) and somehow managed to score an engineering job without even going to school.

I’d like to believe that as a worker I’ve become more aware of what my future holds and I’m actually excited about the fact I have a “career” now as opposed to last year where I could never imagine myself staying at TNA let alone be excited by the thought.

Financially speaking my situation hasn’t really improved over the year but that’s something I’ve already started working on fixing in the New Year. I’ve sold my kit and planned out a budget (a half-assed budget, but still a budget) to help manage my spending. Plus I’ll be getting some form of raise and a bonus in February so that will also greatly help even though we’ve been told not to expect too much.

Relationships this year have been a huge thing for me. I’ve met some fantastic people who have really helped me grow this year and I hope to continue these friendships for the rest of my life. I have a new outlook on most things now because of what these people have taught me. I’ve never been the quietest person in the world but I’ve hardly been the most confident person in the world either. My theory these days if you don’t like me for me, you can cram it. My motto in life is now “Life’s a gamble, let it ride” meaning that I’m just going to go for it every time. I’ve bonded more with a few old friends and strengthened those relationships to form a tight group of people who I know I can rely on.

My resolution for the New Year is to tone up and increase my overall fitness levels as I have slacked of a bit as of late. I was hoping to achieve this resolution this year but due to my many injuries it has been very difficult.

I’m excited to see how the New Year pans out, all I know is I’m going to give it all that I’ve got. I’m going back to school for one thing and that’s quite a daunting thought, but as I’ve previously blogged about I believe this time I’m ready. All I know 2007 is going to be one hell of a ride.

Rock On!

The Xmas Spirit?

2006-12-21T11:03:00.000+11:00

Before for I begin my anti-Christmas rant let me start by apologising to a few of my friends. During this holiday period (hehe I said period) I have been quite the scrooge, so for that I’m sorry, just because I don’t enjoy Christmas doesn’t mean I have to bring you down either. Now that the apologies are over let me begin.

Christmas for many is seen as a happy time of year, a time to be festive and to help you fellow man (or woman). One time during the year people are expected to be happy and show good will towards each other and of course to celebrate *trying not to laugh* our “lord and saviours” birth. For me Christmas doesn’t bring me happiness, all it generally brings me is anger and great frustration. The older (and some may say wiser) I get the clearer it becomes that Christmas has lost its touch and it really is very commercial. As cliché as that may sound, it’s very true.

This time of year people go crazy with their shopping, the shops are packed, there’s people and traffic everywhere. Granted people may enjoy buying gifts for others but I find it quite pointless and can’t understand why people rush around in the state of mind where they must get presents for others. The fact that some people expect presents because it’s Christmas is one of the things that really pisses me off the most, especially when the presents aren’t needed and people buy them because it’s expected at this time of year, to me it’s meaningless. In my mind I think it would truly be better if you just surprised people throughout the year with gifts that they need/want. Plus it would be a lot less straining on ones financial situation. You buy the odd gift here and there throughout the year spreading your financial flow rather than spend hundreds of dollars at one time.

Aside from me being angry at the commercial aspects of Christmas may I remind you that it is actually a religious holiday. I’m not a religious person, as a matter of fact I don’t really believe in any sort of higher power, therefore why should I celebrate Christmas? I’m not forced to celebrate any other religious holidays such as Hanukkah, so why should I celebrate Christmas if I don’t believe in Jesus (or god or anything even remotely religious etc…) as that is why we have Christmas, to celebrate the birth of Christ. I’m the same with Easter, I don’t detest Easter anywhere near as much as I do Christmas but I would rather not be forced to celebrate it. The fact that it’s forced upon people through things like advertising and shopping centres is what confuses me most. When was the last time you saw Hanukkah decorations in a store? Are we going to be forced to celebrate the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard? No! So why the birth of Jesus? I’d much rather celebrate the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard over the birthday of a person who may never have existed. I’m sure Scientologists believe just as strongly as Christians do about their religion.

Christmas means nothing to me therefore it being forced on me makes me extremely angry. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been as angry as I have been over the last week or two and it’s all because of Christmas. If you love Christmas that’s fine by me, have fun, be merry and show your good will but don’t expect everyone else to love it as much as you do.

Lets Talk About Sex Baby

2006-12-12T08:15:00.000+11:00

Is sex sexy?

It’s been a debated topic amongst myself and my friends for some time now with mixed results and many opinions. Now before I began this rant I should make it clear that I, much many others enjoy sex, it’s great. However I can not find the idea of people making f*ck sexy. I may find it arousing (yes it’s true, I am only male) but in no way do I find it sexy.

Consider what actually happens during sex, the amount of germs swapped between the 2 (or more) individuals, stop and think about what is actually happening. Regardless of whether the people in the act are madly in love (which has been a couple of peoples arguments during this “debate”) or just a one night stand with some random person, what actually happens during the act (scientifically speaking) is still the same.

Moving on from the biological side of the discussion how about some of the sounds made during sex. The sounds of peoples bodies meshing together is not always a pleasant thing. The sounds some people make may not always be found very attractive by others too.

I find it hard to imagine how anyone can find sex sexy, what are your thoughts on this matter?

Tits N Ass

2006-12-06T16:46:00.000+11:00

Since I started working at the company TNA roughly just over 3 years ago now, people have always asked me what the letters “TNA” actually stand for. As a joke most people around the company usually say the TNA stands for Tits‘N’Ass, obviously it doesn’t but it does make for interesting conversation.

I enquired out on the factory floor, desperately trying to find answers to what has been an unsolved question for as long as I can remember. Yet funnily enough, nobody on the floor knew, most of people basically replied with the good old “it stands for tits’n’ass”. I was gob smacked, even the employees who have been here for 10-15 years didn’t know the answer, and laughed when I told them that nobody knew.

The fact that no one had an answer for me only made me more determined to find out. I went on to TNA’s intranet hoping to find answers where I found my answer, finally the moment of truth had arrived. I was on the edge of my seat, glowing with happiness as I clicked the link…

I was dumbfounded. My answer was not what I expected it to be.
This is what it said:

“The origins of this term have been lost in time and our company is now simply known as TNA. There are persistent rumours that Elvis lurks within the darken corridors of TNA”

Not only is this a poor excuse for a joke! But it doesn’t answer my question! Mark my words fellow readers I will get to the bottom of this conspiracy.

Say Cheese!

2006-11-30T12:45:00.000+11:00

Cheese, eaten by many, loved by most, but have you every stoped and thought about how versatile it really is? For generations now people have been harvesting the power that is cheese. There are hundreds if not thousands even of different types of cheese produced around the world, but have you ever stoped and just appreciated the cheese?

It can be combined with all most any type of food making it just that little more exciting (not to mention fattening). From a simple pizza or slice of cheese on toast to the ever so delightful Crusted Chicken Quesadillas. The word cheese can even be used in great insults such like “dick cheese”.

The average Greek consumes 27.3kg of cheese per year, as fat and unhealthy as they may be they definitely know what’s good. As much a dislike the French you cannot ignore their contribution to cheeses in our society. So kudos do you damn Frenchies it seems you finally got something right!

Enough of my cheese rant… I’m going to go and lunch which just so happens to be topped with cheese.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

2006-11-10T13:03:00.000+11:00

Are people who seem to find it so hard to give you a simple wave or some form of acknowledgement if you give way to them while driving! It’s not too much to ask to ask for a person to raise at least their fingers like 6 inches from the steering wheel is it? It’s easy, it’s quick, it’s simple yet these days less and less people seem to be doing it.

Nothing pisses me off more than heading down a busy street with parked cars on both sides of the road and you do the right thing by pulling off to the side and letting the oncoming traffic through. I remember growing up watching my mum driving she would always signal thankyou and to the best of my recollection most people would usually do the same for her.

These days however it seems to be a completely different story. People who give “the wave” so to speak are few and far between, I find myself quite often getting snubbed by asshole drivers. It really frustrates me (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) when people don’t acknowledge your doing them a favour, regardless of how the favour may be.

School Of Hard Knocks

2006-11-09T15:29:00.000+11:00

Today I took my first steps in achieving higher education through work today as my boss and I went to visit Swinburne TAFE in Wantirna. I felt very nervous as we trekked through the school grounds, it brought back many memories of high school and my brief stay at RMIT. However as one of the teachers was showing us around and talking about what areas I would be studying my nerves slowly changed into excitement, which was a strange feeling, I never thought I would be excited at the prospect of studying again.

When I started my job here at TNA I had never intended to stay and I had planned on returning to study in the future but I never found anything that had taken my interest. I think the only reason why I had wanted to study in the first place was because it’s what all my friends were doing, which isn’t the reason why you should go to school. I now believe that’s why I never had any motivation when I was at RMIT, I didn’t really want to be there, it’s just what everyone else was doing. The few people I knew who went from high school straight into work were generally mocked among my friends because that wasn’t the “norm”.

I’ve learnt now that school isn’t the “be all and end all” of your life, school is not for everyone and there are many other directions in life you can go. Many of the people I know now who passed up on going to uni (or TAFE) are on the road to great success. Some are web designers, lighting technicians, apprentices, regional managers and even models. These people all earn decent wages and have great futures ahead of them yet none of them went on to pursue higher education.

I feel now that I am only ready to study because I know what “real work” (manual labour) is like and it’s simply not for me. Because I chose to wait it now feels right to return to school because it’s what I want to do, I’m not doing it because it’s expected by others or because it’s what everyone else is doing, the “norm” so to speak.

In summary, for those of you reading this who are either just finishing their studies at high school and are preparing to move on, or even those still in high school who will no doubt be feeling pressured into seeking higher education. Don’t stress because school is not your thing. Live a little, try joining the workforce and see where it leads you. Take your time, don’t rush and think carefully about the reason you want to seek an education. Don’t feel pressured by anyone and do what you believe is right for you

"I Can't Do My Wok"

2006-11-03T10:10:00.000+11:00

As the long weekend ever so slowly approaches I find myself at work trying not to fall asleep. Even the mystical force that is myspace can’t keep me going today. So now I sit here in front of my computer at work typing this blog trying to avoid doing Trigonometry! Trigonometry people! I finished high school long ago and thought I was done with Math, English, and Science, anything that involves a hint of brain power really.

Although trigonometry isn’t really the hardest thing in the world it’s something I really don’t want to have to deal with on a Friday before the four day weekend, my mind is seriously not able to concentrate on work today. This is now the third or fourth time in my three years working here that I’ve had to use math (other than adding, subtracting etc… your general everyday mathematics) to work out problems with a machine.

The fact that I’m stuck doing trig isn’t what’s making me angry, it’s the fact I’m not sure on which angles and lengths I’m suppose to be working out, and once again my boss is nowhere to be seen so I’m stuck.

The thought of going back to school part time has me a little excited, I’m very keen to actually put in the effort this time. I feel that my job now is the right career path for me to follow (other than becoming a rock star) and that fate may have played a part. The more I think about how I got this position the luckier I feel. Seriously three years ago when I first started this job every annual review they asked me if I thought I’d be here for the next few year and every time I literally laughed in their faces and told them I hope not.

These days it’s a completely different story, I’m having less sick days (I’ve actually been sick for 90% of them so far), working harder (even though you may not believe it with all my myspace exploration, but it’s true) and I’m actually caring about my work, it’s a 180° turn around to how I felt before. If I stick to it and study hard there is a great deal of potential for me to go places, whether it be in this company or elsewhere.

Anything Free Is Good... Except For Syphilis

2006-10-30T16:03:00.000+11:00

A wise man once said ”Anything free is good, except for syphilis” and he wasn’t far off the mark. This weekend I got my first ever tattoo and it turned out to be an awesome piece of work, best of all it was free.

I’ve been planning on getting tattoos for a good couple of years now but just never got around to it. I have had many tattoo designs that I’ve wanted to get from a drum kit on my biceps to an ace on my wrist (as in to have an ace up my sleeve) but have never been 100% sure about it, which is a valid reason to not have it done. On top of that I’ve never really had the cash spend on them either, it’s hard to justify spending between $150 to $600 on a picture that’s going to be on your arm forever when your still paying off the medical bills that helped fix that very same arm in the first place.

This time however the opportunity was too good to pass up, it seems my moment had finally arrived. As I have previously mentioned I had struggled to find a design that I know I would want forever and up until a few months ago I was still very uncertain, I had many ideas floating around in my head, but nothing was 100%. However it finally dawned on me, the perfect tattoo for me would have to be Full Scales symbol. A lot of people say that getting band tattoos is a bad idea, and I agree to a certain point. What if the band breaks up? What happens if they sell out? What happens if they start releasing music you don’t like? All of these points, these reasons for getting tattoos of bands are very valid extremely good points, but I have an answer for them all.

In this case the answer simple, the band has already broken up and they still mean the world to me. At their farewell gig I almost cried, which for me is a big deal because the last time I remember crying about anything was probably as far back as grade 6 or year 7 (don’t bother asking me or commenting about why, it’s a whole world of I don’t want to go there), this band managed to reach me somehow and for that I am forever grateful.

The other key reason for me getting this tattoo now is simply because it was free. Body Language has an apprentice working there and for him to gain experience he obviously needs to practice on people. I was a little bit concerned about letting an apprentice do my tatt to begin with but the more I thought about it the less I worried. The tattoo design itself is pretty simple, it’s all straight lines, the only thing that he could do wrong would be to screw up a line and it wouldn’t be straight. But after further discussion amongst those of my friends who know a lot about tatts they pointed out that if that did in fact happen it’s a simple fix, the tattoo artist (his name was James) would just have to make the line a little thicker, nobody would know the difference.

Leading up to the event I was very nervous, but as soon as he started my nerves quickly disappeared and I was very relaxed, well about as relaxed as you can be when you’re having needles inserted in and out of your body over and over again. To those who keep asking me about the pain, the best way for me to describe it is that it’s like having you leg hairs pulled out one by one, except at a very fast rate. It was painfull but it was easily bearable, the worst part for me in fact wasn’t the pain, it was lying in the same position for so long.

If you wish to view and photos they can be found here: Full Scale Tattoo

Bits and Pieces

2006-10-26T13:20:00.000+10:00

Well for the first time in a long while I feel a sense of accomplishment with my work. Don’t get me wrong I’m enjoying it a lot more since my promotion and the new set of responsibilities I’ve found myself taking on, but it was still lacking that all important “I’m doing something that matters” feel. Well yesterday it finally came when the first thing I’ve ever designed came into the factory.

It’s not the most technical thing in the world but for my first effort I was quite proud of what I produced. Simply all it does is lift these jaw sections that weigh roughly 50kg of the benches on the factory and on to the machines. The design itself was simple yet effective which in my opinion is how everything should be designed.

Now off the topic of work is anyone else pumped about the weekend?
I’m really looking forward to Friday night as I’m attending some metal trivia night as part of team OzProg I’m suppose to be the “nu-metal” expert, I’ve been reading up a little bit so I should do ok for myself.

On top of that I’m expecting switch to be going of the hook as there are quite a few people I know going. Sadly I can’t afford to drink but I still plan on acting like a fool and having a great time.

I may also be cutting my “emo” fringe off on Saturday morning, I’m still undecided on whether I should do it or not. It’s grown to be a part of me and I honestly don’t think it looks too terrible. In fact I never wear it straight down unless it’s as a joke so I don’t see the point in cutting it. Any suggestions?

No Room At The Inn

2006-10-18T10:25:00.000+10:00

Well it’s that time of the month again (I’m not talking about my aunt flow visiting either) and it seems this time I will be unable to escape what I’ve been avoiding for at least three years now. It’s been a heated topic of discussion between my parents and I in the past and quite probably in the future. What am I talking about you may be asking yourself? Or maybe you’re asking yourself why the hell am I still reading this? Regardless of what you’re asking yourself I’m talking about the ongoing issue of paying board.

Before I start my ranting I should make myself clear. A agree whole heartedly with my parents that I should be paying board, it’s just the simple matter of I don’t want to because there is much more useful things I can put my money towards. For example the $30 a week or whatever it may end up being could be put towards bills, savings, credit cards or my ever growing pile of medical expenses. As a matter of fact when I told my parents I was seriously pondering the idea of moving out they told me I should reconsider as it’s easier to save from home (granted that’s true) and even easier for me as I don’t have to worry about board.

Even though it’s only roughly $30 out of my pocket if I live at home compared to $55 a week plus groceries, added bills and food for myself if I choose to move out, and me being the stubborn person I am this just pushes me further out the door. I’d much rather spend the extra cash and get as far away from home as possibly in the end the pros (don’t have to deal with parents, living with people I actually enjoy spending time with, the experience even) will most likely outweigh the cons (less money, doing my own washing – which I’ve started doing now anyway, it’s a lot harder to save, actually have to worry about if there’s food in the cupboard) so it would be worth my while. I already provide most of my own food at home anyway and have been doing to for a while now since I decided my family eats too much unhealthy food.

The only thing stoping me from moving out right now is the debt I like to call my “unmanageable” debt repayments which simply is the debt I’m struggling to manage with paying off right now, if I were to move out it will be impossible. In the end I will make the decision based on my tax return as silly as that sounds. If I can get around $2000 back (sadly it’s unlikely, but if I’m meant to move out now, you know fate and all that kind of mumbo jumbo I will get the return I need) it will give me some breathing room and pay back a rather large chunk of my unmanageable debt.

The Boys Are Back In Town

2006-10-12T10:25:00.000+10:00

Well it’s taken almost four months but finally our band has been reunited. With Rhys (our guitarist) touring through Europe rocking out at all the metal festivals and Nick (our drummer) travelling around the globe with his wife-to-be Sarah the band was on hiatus. Now that they have both returned there is excitement in the air and musically everybody is going crazy. Rhys has been writing new riffs for us to hear, Nick has been going crazy on the drums and I’ve been working extra hard on my lyric writing and singing ability.

There is one change that is possibly for the better, yet still a little sad and that’s the replacement of our original bass player Pat who’s been with the band since the beginning (You were always entertaining dude, continue to rock out). Brought in to replace Pat is my friend Bert who is a very talented musician, and very experienced when it comes to bands. He’s the only one of us who has ever played a “real” gig and his old band was doing quite well for themselves having won a few battle of the bands and playing at Push Over in Luna Park, they were starting to make a name for themselves. On top of his experience comes his “spontaneous” personality which will hopefully perk up the rest of us on stage.

We have decided to move away from playing covers and move into writing our own music which personally is something I’m very happy about. While covers are fun and can be entertaining there is no sense of accomplishment after playing them where as if you’re playing a song written by your own band and others like it there’s a feeling of achievement, it’s quite nice to say the least. What we end up writing will be interesting as we all listen to different types of music and will clearly have very different ideas. Bert is all about the punk rock, Nick is a progressive metal fan, Rhys is all into his death metal (and sadly very bad rap music) and I’m more into the nu-metal genre, if we can successfully merge the ideas together hopefully it will be something special.

As always we are open for suggestions on our forever changing band name, so feel free to suggest a few. We have a first band practice this Saturday so wish us luck and hopefully one day we will be playing in a pub near you.

A Quick Brodie Update

2006-10-06T12:17:00.000+10:00

Hey all it’s this is just a quick Brodie update seeing as it’s been a while since my last blog. Life’s been tré busy and fairly eventful.

I’ve been skating a lot lately and I’m starting to show some improvement. I can now do a Stall 180 and a 180 Stall (there’s some skater lingo for you), and slowly and painfully getting my grinding skills together. However with skating comes pain and behind the pain are many bruises. About a week or so ago now I was trying some “tricks” down in the Eastland car park when I had a terrible stack. I was trying to grind a gutter and my feet slipped from under me and I landed on my right hand side using my forearm to break my fall. It didn’t tickle. My arm bruised immediately but wasn’t too bad. Since then I’ve managed to fall on the same part of my arm at least 5 times either while skating or playing soccer due to this my arm is now double the size of my opposite arm and the bruise covers most of my arm. I ended up being sent home from work on Monday and spent about 3 hours in Maroondah hospital getting x-rays. Luckily for me nothing was broken or chipped and it was just a case of severe bruising resulting in the doctor putting my arm in a sling and telluing me to chow down on some pain killers (“chow down” was not the doctors exact words).

Aside from another hospital visit and a new injury to add to Brodie’s list of “Gumpishness” I played in my two indoor soccer teams grand finals last week. The first final went well, it was my work team division 5 match, we won quite easily, 14-3. The match was a bit of a let down as it wasn’t much of a challenge for us, being a final you would expect a closer score line. I played fairly well and finally scored a few for the 1st time in weeks, I ended up getting player of the match as well which was a pleasant surprise. The next final I played was for my division 1 team, we entered the match as heavy underdogs. The team we were up against had only lost one or two matches for the entire season and was a clear by 12 or so points on the ladder followed by us. We started poorly conceding 2 goals in about 5 minutes but we managed to pull ourselves together. We played very well for the rest of the match, we managed a 2 goal comeback midway through the 2nd half, I managed to score again, I was stoked as it had been a while since I had scored with this team. The scores were tired at 2-2 until the final few minutes where they managed to slip one past Dean in goals to score the winning goal for the match. Overall however we played great, going into the match we were expecting a good pounding but we did ourselves proud.

Aside from sport there’s the usual drama that’s going on in my life, I managed to “lose” my mother for about 4 weeks until she rocked up home a few days ago. She seems pissed at me because I didn’t go and see her, but it was kind of hard when I didn’t know where she was and couldn’t get in contact with her. On top of that there are girl issues (isn’t there always), it’s a long story and probably best not blogged about for many reasons, but yeah I’ve been hella happy yet fairly down about the whole situation at the same time, it’s truly quite confusing.

Sorry about the lack of blogs but I have been stuck for stuff to write about lately, I’ll try and pick up my game.

Yarr!

2006-09-27T11:38:00.000+10:00

A hoi maties!
With talk like a pirate day long gone I’m already stewing with anticipation for next years talk like a pirate day event. To tide me over I have purchased a fantastic book dedicated to pirates aptly named “Pirateology”, not to be confused with Scientology of course, because that would just be lame.

This book has it all, descriptions of pirates, their weapons, it explains their obsession with treasures and various other random bits and pieces. On top of that (and really who could want more?) it’s got other little features like lengths of material that they used to make their flags, a guide to knotting and sections that you can peel back revealing other hidden pirate knowledge. The cover itself is also tré fancy, with a compass (it doesn’t actually work which sucks but the thought was there) attached to the outer layer of the cover with a fake leather binding. Very fancy stuff, the company in china that produced the book should be proud!

I can’t wait to get reading, I’ve already been busted twice at work going through it when I should be doing other stuff, like work for example. I should be a pirate expert in no time. Yarr!

Props to a flop

2006-09-18T11:40:00.000+10:00

Did anyone happen to watch Australian idol last night and see that chick singing “Themata” by Karnivool? Sadly I only managed to catch the last 10 seconds or so where she completely massacred the final note, it was gut wrenching to watch and hear. However although she completely boned the song I give her props for helping to spread the word of the mighty force that is Karnivool.

In the space of maybe an hour or so Karnivool’s myspace had a huge number of hits and comments, mostly angry fans bagging her out, but hey it’s all publicity right? It would have taken a lot of courage to sing a song that not too many viewers of a show like Aus Idol would know so for that she has my complete respect. On the other hand however I just want to beat her with a stick for possibly giving the impression that Karnivool may actually sound that bad when in reality Kenny’s vocal talents are mind blowing.

From what I read in the myspace comments even the house band struggled with the song, the house band is suppose to consist of Australia best session musicians. To me this just further expresses how talented the “vool” truly are.

I was upset at the comments from both Marcia Heinz and Mark Holden calling them an obscure band based on the fact that they don’t know about them. They are possibly one of Australia’s biggest Rock/Metal acts going around. The fact the judges don’t know who Karnivool are signals the fact that they really don’t know much about the Australian music industry, surely you would have an idea of up and coming young bands/performers.

In summary props to Reigan (the girl who sang the song) for helping to spread the word of Karnivool, but in all honesty you should have chosen a song more suited to your voice because it wasn’t sung very well.

Visit Karnivools myspace at: http://myspace.com/karnivool

***On another note I finally updated my dream journal so go check it out and let me know what you think, the more encouragement I receive for this experiment the more likely I am to continue it***
(http://brodiesluciddreams.blogspot.com)

Movie Review: DOA: Dead Or Alive

2006-09-12T09:34:00.000+10:00

As a gamer nerd I felt it was my duty to see this film, my brain ways saying “Don’t be a fool you know it’s going to blow” but my heart (and maybe my manhood) were telling me otherwise. I decided to follow my heart and go and see DOA: Dead Or Alive and although it was as lame and tacky I predicted, I did not leave the cinema disappointed.

After the first 10 minutes of the film or so where everyone in the cinema is “thinking why did I pay good money for this film?” I loosened up and decided just to enjoy a good laugh (and perve) at the films expense. I found it hard to tell if the movie was suppose to be making a mockery of itself and other similar fighting movies or trying to be serious, if it was intended to be a serious movie I feel sorry for both the director and the writer because it seems they have no clue.

The fight scenes were mostly terrible with very poor angles during the fights, however they managed to get great angles of the girls whenever possible. They didn’t even try to make it subtle, the just panned straight from one of the fighters asses up to their chest, held focus for a moment and moved on. While I’m not complaining about what the camera was focused on it did become rather annoying. Kudos to the film makers though for including a beach volleyball scene, between the female fighters it was great to see that they decided to include aspects of the DOA beach volleyball game even having Zack as the DJ.

I wouldn’t recommend seeing this film at the cinema unless you’re a big DOA fan but I would definitely rent a copy for viewing when it’s released to DVD as it is an entertaining film, just not the way the directors intended it to be. I give it a 5/10.

Crowd Control To Major Tom Edited

2006-09-07T16:03:00.000+10:00

Last night Brad and I went to see Karnivool, Seven and Antistatic play at Ruby’s and it was a blast. For a full review visit Brads blog at http://www.theshithaus.com/ as this blog is more of a rant about the crown and “moshing” etiquette. All I will say on the gig is that Antistatic have won themselves a new fan (being me) and you should all check them out, Seven had their best performance I have possibly ever seen by them, I think I enjoyed them more than Karnivool, and well Karnivool just plain rocked!

Now back to crowd etiquette…
I was hardly impressed with crowd last night and it led me to thinking if there was such a thing as “moshing” etiquette anymore? Granted Karnivool has some heavier sounding songs but it’s still not really the kind of stuff you would “head bang” to. I hoping it was just the fact that these were Ruby’s Lounge idiots and Friday at the Hi Fi bar goes a little bit better.

Back in the day when there used to be some form of etiquette, people used to respect the fact that you were at the front and you had spent the time there sitting around and waiting. These days it seems that has disappeared, 80% of the gigs I’ve been to recently there are a group of assholes who throughout the entire gig just push at you and try to get their way to the front regardless of whether there is room or not. It’s just not cool people, show some respect.

Another question I’ve asked myself is what do you do when there are girls in the pit? Brad and I were discussing it afterwards, do you try and take it easy on them and not push them too much or just ignore the fact they are female and treat them the same way (I know that sounds sexist, but that’s not how I mean it). I think based on the events of last night I’m going to base my decision on a girl by girl basis. At the beginning of the gig their was this hella sweet, nice young girl next to me all pumped and excited about the gig and was obviously in the front just so she could get a better view. Once Karnivool got started you could see that it was all a little too much for her, and eventually she had to move. On my other side about half way through Karnivool’s performance some other girl had managed to push her way to the front and get in between Brad and I (not in the fun way either *wink*), and she was a pushy little cow (***EDIT: Met this girl tonight at the Karnivool gig at Hi Fi, made the effort to come home and apologise to me, ended up driving her home, nice girl***). Being the person I am, I never intentionally hurt girls, in fact I don’t like hurting anyone really, but hurting, hitting, pushing etc a girl is a HUGE no. So what should I do?

What are your thoughts on the subject of crowd etiquette at a gig?

Bongo

2006-09-05T11:14:00.000+10:00

It’s the craze that’s sweeping the nation… well at least a craze that has kept myself and at least five or so other entertained in moments of complete randomness. What the hell am I talking about you ask? I’m talking about the service “Ask Bongo”.

BONGO is a mobile service where you text a question to “199 Bongo” and roughly 5 to 10 minutes later an answer to your question is given. From what I understand it was originally designed to help settle arguments in places like bars between mates such as “are zebras white with black stripes or white with black stripes” and general questions like that. But has since expanded into finding information on other people or about yourself, video games, movies, we have even asked where’s the best place to find free porn, basically any type of question you have simply ask Bongo.

How we came about using bongo was on the Saturday night just past we were at a friends place eating dinner when somehow we got into an argument about how to workout the square root of something, we were trying to figure out the actual equation on how to do it instead of the good old trusty calculator. Although we are all fairly intelligent people in a variety of different areas, math was hardly any of our strong points. So I did what I usually do when I have a maths problem to solve and that’s call one of my many friends who studied specialist maths and is actually good with that kind of stuff.

Thankyou to Robbie who answered our equation (what’s the square root of 1 million I think the question was. I know I know it’s an easy one, but like I said Math was not anyone’s cup of tea for who I was with) but he also used a calculator and couldn’t tell us how you would work it out manually. I heard about Bongo through another friend who has recently become addicted so we gave it a try. We messaged Bongo with our question and low and behold he had an answer for us.

We then started asking Bongo about ourselves, while the answers were fairly accurate it was obvious you’re not going to find out any big secrets about a person. I asked about myself and my reply was:

“Brodie Pruha tends to be always hanging around the ladies. He is always on his phone and will do anything to make a quick dollar. Loves dinning out”

For those who know me will probably agree that this is similar to who I am but could just be a lucky random guess. I kind of picture it like a horoscope. So I asked about myself again.

“Bongo has spoken of Brodie before, he tends to always try hard to pick up when out. He tends to always going out in the city. Loves Keeping Fit” – Note Bongos poor grammar.

Once again fairly general but pretty similar to how I act, I’d hardly say I go out of my way to try and pick up when I go out though. So far I’ve spent nearly $40 on the service on completely random crap like what Bongo thinks of my nose or to find out if Bert was a jerk all day. But it is very entertaining I recommend you try it at least once.

Check out Bongo at http://www.199bongo.com you wont be disappointed.

Children Children Children

2006-09-01T15:37:00.000+10:00

I just had a random thought. After spending many hours browsing through Myspaces I’ve noticed one thing. In the edit profile section it asks if you have kids.

These are the options:
-I don’t want kids
-Someday
-Undecided
-Love Kids, But not for me
-Proud Parent
-No answer

What happens if you’re a parent but you’re not proud of it? Your child may be some deadbeat loser who you’ve disowned, but you don’t want to lie about have children.
I want a new option. “Yes I have children, but it was a mistake” or something along those lines.

There's Always One

2006-09-01T13:14:00.000+10:00

Well once again I was at Croydon skate park last night working on my “skillz” with my mate Bert. All was going well for the 1st 10 minutes or so until some dude rocked up completely wasted (in Croydon? But it’s such a wonderful place! *sarcasm*) and looking to cause trouble. He immediately walks up to and introduces himself so I was thinking everything was cool until he wanted to ride Bert’s skateboard. Bert not knowing the guy really didn’t want to lend him the board, it also didn’t help that the dude looked dodgy as hell either.

After Bert denied him the board several times the guy still didn’t get the picture and wouldn’t quite hassling us, he kept getting in our way as we tried to skate. Eventually he started to get my upset that we wouldn’t let him use the board. His constant asking for the board then turned into threats against us. I wouldn’t have been so concerned being two on to one but there was a car load of his mates down in the car park, so we were a little worried. Obviously we wanted to avoid a fight altogether, but sometimes you can’t control that so Bert walked away and got on the phone to our mate Ben (big, tall scary looking, apparently really passive and useless in a fight, but we mainly wanted him for the intimidation factor) and asked him to come down.

After the phone call to Ben another guy came up to the skate park from the car, he also look quite wasted (I was liking the fact they were so smashed cause at least we would stand a chance if we had to fight). However this dude apart from being a complete dero was a pretty nice guy and also didn’t want any trouble. He came to try and get his mate back to the car. After the dude finally quit hounding Bert for the skate board he walked up to me and kept trying to pull at my beard. I carefully tried to push his hands away without trying to start anything. At this point Bert stood up holding his skateboard and the “nice guy” the turned telling Bert to “put the f**ing board down and stop trying to be intimidating”, at this point another one gets out from the car and I’m thinking we are royally screwed.

Once again both Bert and I said we really weren’t looking for any trouble. Bert put down his board and they finally gave up on us. Just as they started to walk off Ben finally arrived but the moment had passed, I felt kind of bad for wasting his time but it did get quite ugly for a moment.

The night before I rocked up to the skate park around 10pm for another skate and I met some random dude and his girlfriend they were nice enough so I introduced myself, we had a quick chat and I just kept on skating. I met Elyse and Bianca down there not long after who also came down for a skate. Eventually this dudes mates turned up, they were all nice enough people and we were all just there to skate and have a good time. There was one idiot though who, surprise, surprise was drunk and really wouldn’t leave us alone. He wasn’t threatening us or trying to start anything but just being a dick (kept hassling the girls, asking me stupid stuff). As we were leaving the guy starts yelling shit at us, I didn’t really hear what he was yelling but it wasn’t anything nice I’m quite sure of that. His mates told him to shut up and apologised so I knew everything was pretty cool and this guy was just being a dick.

This leads me to my point, why is there always one person who manages to ruin what should be a good time for everybody? 90% of the time there’s always one person who acts up in some way and really spoils the event. Why are people like this?

What Really Grinds My Gears...

2006-08-29T13:13:00.000+10:00

Are people with big egos! That’s right, I don’t care who you are or how special you may think you are, you’re not that awesome! Everywhere I go now there seems to be at least one ego driven wanker strutting about thinking they are better than everyone in the room.

Nightclubs are generally the place where you see these people walking around like their gods gift. When really most people (with a brain) just look at them and think “what a tosser”. The have the poxy ass walk and talk absolute crap it’s just mental… hey buddy take a good look at yourself, you’re a complete spastic and nobody likes you! What makes it even worse are the people who buy into their bullshit, they keep feeding the beast that is their ego, making it bigger and bigger.

Another place I’ve started to notice this happening is at sporting events. Last week playing division 5 soccer, not division 1, division 5! There was this guy lets call him “Yellow Socks” who thought he was the next Ronaldo. When in reality this guy had nothing going for him at all, he would try all this fancy footwork and when somebody got within 3 paces of him he would fumble the ball away. The dude thought he was so hot he would walk up to you (walk, not run, not even jog), stop and try a rainbow kick to get the ball around you, unsuccessfully every time! Dude if you read this… and god I wish there was a chance you actually would… you suck balls! Grow up and come play with the big boys you knob jockey!

Down the skate park there are a few big headed clowns too! These kids are between the ages of like 9 – 14 and they are swearing like sailors. Not cool kiddies not cool! I’m not one to judge people on their language but I don’t believe I curse that much and it was pointless swearing anyway. They were just trying to fit the word f**k in whenever possible. Granted these kids were better than me at skating, well actually they were on bikes but you don’t act up like you were born able to skate so well, you had to start somewhere. I’ve met some really cool cats at the skate park but some of the people down there I just want to bust a few caps in.

CONCLUSION:

IF YOUR EGO IS SO BIG THAT YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, GROW UP AND THINK AGAIN YOU GIANT ASSHOLE! IT’S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO RUIN THINGS FOR EVERYONE ELSE.

Brodies Addiction

2006-08-29T09:10:00.000+10:00

I have a problem…..
It’s a very real problem and it’s very shameful.

It seems I have become addicted to Myspace and I can’t really figure out why. I started using it as a way to kill time at work but now it seems I come to work so I can access Myspaces with a better connection. Whether it’s during work hours or during my breaks I’m continuously searching through Myspace seeing who I can find.

There are some interesting people out there and Myspaces is also handy to track down people from the past. Using their “Past and Current Students” section on the site, I’ve managed to track down classmates from the past and even started talking to some who were a few years above me when I was back in high school. I’ve also started tracking down other people I know from here and there such as people I see around at gigs, people I’ve dated in the past and many others.

What can I do?
Do they have and sort of patches for this problem?

Oh and if you would like to veiw myspace it can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/brodiepur

Is It That Time Of Year Already?

2006-08-23T14:34:00.000+10:00

It’s seems that this is the time of year for all the big bands to start their touring and its sending me broke. In the past month or so bands like Karnivool, Tool, Panic! At The Disco (P!ATD), Avenged Sevenfold, Megadeath, Killswitch Engage, Atreyu, 36 Crazyfists, Rise Against and many more bands that I would love to see have announced that they are touring Melbourne. Most of the tickets for these gigs range from $20 (Karnivool – awesome aussie band!) to $115 (Tool – Also awesome but so expensive because the promoters know that people will pay a lot of money to see them), the rest of the bands mentioned are around the $50 mark. So add all that together and you have a very costly month.

Sadly I can’t afford to go to all of these gigs so I’ve had to choose the ones I really would like to go to and think will be entertaining shows. So far I have tickets to Karnvivool (to both shows) and P!ATD (also to both shows) secured and have the cash saved for Tool because it’s one band you just don’t want to miss when they are out here. I missed Avenged Sevenfold which blows because they are a band I’m really starting to get into at the moment plus one of my favourite Melbourne bands (Mammal) was supporting them. With the rest of the gigs quickly approaching I’m aiming to buy one ticket to one show as each pay week comes along starting with Rise Against. This is fine in theory and a good way of being able to see the bands I love however I do run the risk of the gigs selling out, which is a very likely outcome.

Why are so many bands announcing tours around the same time of year? Surely the promoters would realise that with all these tickets being released at such close dates people can’t afford all these tickets at once. I know it’s not just me struggling with this problem, as I know several people who also want to go to a lot of the gigs mentioned above but can’t spare the cash because they have blown it on other tickets. We can’t be the only people around Australia with this problem, I don’t see any logic behind announcing and selling these tickets so close together.

Sk8r Boi

2006-08-22T13:04:00.000+10:00

Some of you may remember my last effort at “Extreme Sports” when I bought my skateboard however it was quite short lived because of my many wrist issues. Well I’ve hit the extreme circuit again and this time I’m going hard at it! My body is currently hurting like its never hurt before but I still feel great. This time round I’ve taken to inline skating as opposed to skateboarding (although I pull out the board every now and then) seeing as I’m already decent skater because of my Ice Hockey experience and skating weekly back in the day.

It all started on Sunday afternoon when instead of going to the ice hockey as planned I received a phone call from my mate Burt asking if I wanted to come down to the Yarra Glen skate park for the arvo because it was such a lovely day. Thrilled by the fact I haven’t skated in over three months I jumped at the opportunity for a skate. The Yarra Glen skate park was really well set out with an awesome grind bar which is a good size for beginners, my goal for next time I go down there is to be able to grind it.

We skated there for roughly an hour and a half until we received a phone call from Niki and TigR saying that they had just finished work and they wanted to skate too. So instead of making them drive all the way up to Yarra Glen (there wasn’t much day light left) we decided to meet them at the Croydon skate park because it has lights. By the time we arrived there were still people skating and the fact that most of us were either first time skate park goers or just simply can’t skate we waited until they disappeared. Croydon skate park was really we set out also, it has some nice smaller ramps to start yourself on. At Croydon for what ever reason I had a lot more confidence (maybe it was stupidity… we’ll never know), I was trying heaps of random stuff with out the fear of stacking. I fell over a few times which is expected, but I only had one really bad painful fall. I basically pulled some muscle in my neck after I face planted into the ground after coming down a really steep ramp, this ramp is now known as my Mount Everest, one day I shall conquer it. We skated until 10.30pm under the lights and we all had a ball, Niki got on and a skateboarded for the very first time and by the end of the night she was able to go down a ramp un-aided which isn’t the simplest thing to do for a beginner, so to be able to do that after just a few hours is a great achievement.

That wasn’t the end of the adventure though, Niki decided she must own a skateboard of her own that evening so we made a trip to the 24 hour Kmart in Burwood. I had a slight sense of de-ja vu as this is exactly what I did when I first wanted to skate. She bought an awesome looking board with a cute little picture of a teddy bear in a blender, she named her board ‘Victor”. By this time it was around 11.15, Burt, Niki and I all decided that we would have enough time to deflower her virgin board at Croydon before the lights get turned off, we got there and found ourselves with about 10 minutes left to skate before lights out.

My Monday evening was very similar, we all ended up back at Croydon skate park just after dark before going to maccas to get a free meal from our friend Amelia. After the maccas we all went back to the skate park where we set up some tunes and skated until late in the evening.

All this skating has left me very sore but it’s worth it, I have missed doing stuff like this and living a fairly active lifestyle. I feel like I’m a teenager again, hanging out at a skate park after dark (not that that’s what I used to do, it’s just how it feels) bumming around with mates, it’s a strange feeling, but a good one to say the least.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

2006-08-18T09:25:00.000+10:00

Is the quality of our indoor soccer matches these days, to be more specific the poor refereeing. I try not to bitch and moan about the referees decisions too often, during the game I may yell stuff out but I don’t sit there and stew on the decisions made after, its is after all only just a game. But after last nights Usual Suspects match I think I’ve finally cracked it with the inability of the refs to make any decisions.

Understandably they can’t get every call right or see everything that happens on the field (they are only human after all) but there’s a difference between that and nearly losing control of the entire game. Last night was one of the most appalling efforts to ref a match I have ever come across. Last night we played a team (La La Land) who we decimated 15–0 last time we played them, so understandably they decided to change their game plan. They decided to not use skill to try and beat us, they would just push us around (both during and behind play), act like wankers by threatening us and generally not show us any of the respect I believe we deserve.

In the first 5 minutes or so both Matt (got taken out from behind) and I (kicked in the knee) had to sub off for a brief period because these guys were not playing at the ball they were playing at us. This was just the beginning, Trav was basically levelled while they ball was up the other end of the field, I was threatened sever times, they were continuously attacking savagely from behind and simply just pushing us around. It was disgraceful! Although some of obvious attempts to hurt us were called, many weren’t and probably the thing that annoys me most is there was only one warning handed out. The ref basically lost control of the game because he neglected to make those tough decisions, he didn’t enforce any sort of authority.

We ended up winning the match based on our skills and perseverance (karma may also have come into play) so I’m happy about that. I don’t remember the score line and honestly I don’t really care, we beat them because we deserved it. I’m just glad match is over because it was such a poor game.

So all you soccer refs or any refs as a matter of fact who may stumble upon this blog (unlikely I know, but you never know) here’s my advice: Don’t be afraid to make the tough decisions, in the end it’s better than making no decision at all as you will just lose control of the game and perhaps more importantly the respect of the players.

Im The White Larry Bird

2006-08-16T23:30:00.000+10:00

I played basketball on Tuesday night and well to be honest I’m pretty disappointed with my “ability” and my “skills”. Usually when I play a sport I’d rate myself as fairly good at most of the things I do, but when it comes to basketball I think I’m a complete hack. I really don’t like sucking at sports I feel like a chump, so I don’t think basketball is my thing. The worst part of my game is easily my shooting, I would probably be ok if I could drive into the key but being mixed I wasn’t allowed to so this rendered me completely useless in my opinion.

On a positive note I really did really enjoy it and would be happy to play again if asked, practice makes perfect as they say. Going into the match I was a little worried on how my wrists would hold up, but I had them strapped and secured so they ended up being fine. The real test comes on Thursday when I goal keep for my work team, but if I can’t handle it I can easily swap with someone else.

That’s really all I have to say to be honest, I’m just writing this to kill time while I’m waiting for the person I’m talking to in messenger to respond.

My Dream Journey

2006-08-15T15:53:00.000+10:00

I’ve recently started researching the more adventurous side of dreaming, more specifically “Lucid Dreaming” so I have created this blog to help log my dreams and explain what it is exactly what I am doing.

http://brodiesluciddreams.blogspot.com/

Brodie's Movie Review: Stay Alive

2006-08-15T10:10:00.000+10:00

Last night I went and saw a movie called “Stay Alive” and before I went in I was quite sceptical about the story line and lack of any Hollywood stars (It was a B grade horror film). There we a handful of faces I recognised (from many other B grade films) but the only person who may have had any drawing power was Frankie Muniz from Malcolm in the Middle and even then it’s not because of his classy acting skills.

The move itself is about this countess who used to torture and kill people back in the 17th century. Apparently this countess was a real person (Elizabeth something), I have to look into that because it would be an interesting read. This countess manages to come back and kill people through a video game. The idea is, if you die in the game you die in real life. The nerd inside me is what drew me to seeing this flick and even though the storyline seems completely mental it was a very entertaining film. One of the highlights for me was some of the dialogue (the use of the word “Newb” was a stand out) and some of the T-shirts the cast wear, one guys was wearing a shirt saying “w00t”… gold!

The “in-game” footage was also entertaining and reminded me of my old gamer days. It’s inspired me to upgrade my PC and work on getting broadband at my house now that I have my fancy new job and pay rise. Another plus for the film was the use of silence in some of the suspenseful parts of the film. Generally for me the score is what really completes a movie 9 times out of 10. The use of silence was a good idea sadly they didn’t pull it off to well but I appreciated something different and had it worked it would have been great.

It’s worth a look when it comes out on to DVD and I’d probably even buy it if there were decent special features to seal the deal. Brodie’s movie rating: 7 hookers out of 10.

Mammal @ Bang

2006-08-14T15:49:00.000+10:00

This weekend I did something I haven’t done in a long while and that was to go to a gig essentially by myself. As usual I knew some people there, but I wouldn’t say I’m close friends with them or anything like that, but I just couldn’t wait any longer to see this band. In the end, the band was well worth the wait, and I may have pee’d a little with excitement.

For what seems like a lifetime now I’ve been searching for a band to replace Full Scale since they split up, but now it’s dawned on me that I never will. There are many local/Australian bands around that I still love (Karnivool and Seven especially) but nothing comes close to the power and emotion I felt when listening to Full Scales music. I have so much love and respect for this band and what they went through trying to make it “big” and getting completely screwed over by their record label. I just can’t explain what their music means to me, at their final show roughly 8 months back I even felt like crying, it was an emotional evening for many people. I’m actually considering getting a tattoo with their symbol and “respect” or something like that in the near future.

But back on topic, the band I went to see is called Mammal and they basically rocked my man-gina to the brink of eruption. The reason why I have been so excited about this band is because it has the lead singer from my favourite band in the world (Full Scale… duh!) fronting it. The man himself is Ezekiel Ox and both his stage presence and vocals are amazing, the man truly has it all. Not to forget about the rest of the band however their music is quite powerful, tight and hard hitting. I have no doubt that they will make it big in the Melbourne music scene. But as usual Zekes stage antics left the punters in awe. One of the many highlights was the stage dive of a set of amps stacked roughly 8 to 10 feet high into a group of about 10 or so males, it was truly awesome. I captured the footage on my phone and I’ll try and put it on the net at some point.

I also wanted to go to this gig because I wanted to see what Bang was like, in my honest opinion it blew. It’s held every Saturday at the Royal Melbourne Hotel and it’s ran by the same people who run Next every Thursday at the Colonial Hotel so I was expecting that it would be as good (if not better) than Next. I was very disappointed with my visit to Bang, although the venue was quite cool, I think it was an old dungeon or jail or something (correct me if I’m wrong) but that’s all it has going for it. The “metal” room was hella empty and there was another “room” (it was just a long hallway in between the two other rooms) which was also fairly boring with music that didn’t really interest me so I was very disappointed with Bang, maybe it’s just because I expected to much? In my opinion Next is the greatest place on the planet, for what ever reason it is I just love it there.

I strongly urge you to check out Mammal (http://www.myspace.com/mammaltheband) when you can they are worth every penny.

Things are comming up Brodie!(Sounds Disturbing Doesn't It?)

2006-08-11T14:14:00.000+10:00

Considering my situation and my current mood I had an awesome day yesterday. Basically the day before (Wednesday) I was told that my trial for new position was over and that I would be having my review on the Thursday. Going to bed on the Wednesday night I knew I was going to have either a horrible day or an just an ok day, the thought of having an awesome day never crossed my mind because I was still pretty down about my recent break-up.

I had my review in the morning because I had told them I wanted to get it out of the way so I wouldn’t stress about it, it turns out I had nothing to stress about at all. Overall the review was nothing but good news. My boss was very impressed with the way I handled most tasks, especially the first task he gave me. He basically said that he had set me up to fail, he wanted to see how I went about solving the problem in hand. He was impressed with the ideas I had and how I tried to fix it, he said I did better than he thought I would have done. So w00t go me!

Like most Thursdays I had soccer in the evening but I only ended up playing for my work team TNA, as usual I was awesome (not to gloat or be big headed or anything), I think I saved more shots with my legs than our goalie (who did do an awesome job anyway). We ended up winning 15-3 I think, I scored 5 or 6 goals and played out an entire game which is always painful. I didn’t play my other match because Bri and Tiff were taking me out to cheer me up.

While I really wanted to go out I had my doubts about where we were actually going, I’m ashamed to admit where I went to be honest but hey, it's too late now. We went to Daisies (*shudders*) and when we got there we all felt rather out of place. The place is shocking, it’s a total meat market, and my god, the guys in there are disgraceful. Like most guys I enjoy a good perve now and then (and it was a good perve) but you must show some restraint people and I don’t think the fellas at Daisies even know the meaning of the word. They would just stare, unashamed if they were busted, in fact they still just kept staring. Special mention to Bri and Tiff, while dancing on the podium I was watching all the guys around me, their dancing certainly caught their attention. And let’s not forget how they all “strut” about, I was laughing so much at how truly wanky they both walked and looked.

We all felt insanely old there, even I felt old and usually I wouldn’t give a stuff, but this time it was completely different. I ran into a friend who I’ve known since she was about 12, she still gets lifts to school with my mother in the mornings. This girl truly is a beautiful person though, looks wise she’s an A+++ (that’s right triple plus) but her personality shines. She’s probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. We could contribute this to both Pat and Robbie, as they were here peer support leaders back in high school. Pat do you remember Abbey? That’s who I’m talking about. That’s when I felt really old, we were in year 11 when they had just started year 7, its scary stuff. We decided to move on and head over to Balsamic and check out what it’s like down there on a Thursday evening. Overall balsamic was ok, music was better than Daisies, it was still pretty bad in my opinion but at least I knew the songs being played. Not a great deal went on here so we all retired home to bed after a couple of drinks.

I must say I’m in high spirits today for no good reason, it’s been about as uneventful as most Fridays at work. So I think I’m dealing with everything ok now, I’d like to especially thank Leigh, Bri and Tiff for helping me sort out my shit.

Movin' On Up

2006-08-11T12:29:00.000+10:00

Well it’s time to try and move on, it’s time to get motivated and start fresh. My plan is to throw myself into work and reaching my goal for this year which was getting fit and “toning” up for summer. I will make myself sexy and that way I can rub that in everybody’s faces (hopefully literally also). I will also try making time to concentrate on song writing and drumming again, I really should look into both singing classes and some form of song writing workshop, I think it would be very helpful.

I’ve also recently been thinking about writing a book, I’ve been told that I’m an entertaining writer so I thought I might give it a shot. Basically the idea of the book is a topic I’m becoming all too familiar with, break-ups. To be more specific about the subject, bad break-ups (I’ve dumped someone via SMS before and well that’s pretty terrible, but most of you know that story). I want to interview people and get there stories and write about the outcome, maybe get both sides of the story by contacting their ex. I’m not entirely sure on the format I would write it in but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

I’ll be going out more often now and I’ll certainly be looking for people to party with, if you’re interested let me know. I’m willing to try new places (I always have been) and do new things, I’m going to live by my new philosophy “Life’s a gamble – Let it ride!” and see how it goes, I’m not going to hold back.

MSN Spaces Is Completely Retarded!

2006-08-11T12:23:00.000+10:00

What Really Grinds My Gears...

As you can tell I’ve created a new blog at http://www.blogger.com/, I’m fed up with Myspaces and all the problems it has. This time the link to publish the blog doesn’t work at Myspaces, its retarded! I need to blog because it gives me something to do while at work and Myspaces was just becoming insanely frustrating.

I hope you all continue to enjoy my blogs. And if there are any new readers you can read my old blogs at http://spaces.msn.com/brodiepur/

New Lyrics

Government Hand Outs… Good or Bad?

Customer Service?More Like Customer Wankery!

What Really Grinds My Gears!

New Lyrics - Choose Your Poison

What Really Grinds My Gears...

I wanna be a Guitar Hero!

Sweet home Alabama... uh i mean Ringwood

Movie Review: Transformers

Blog Blog Blog

Where I Have Been

Ants in the pants!

Toilet Break

My Valentines Day Message

You Tool!

My Cheese Empire

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Pyramid Rock Festival Journal

Did someone say Blog?

Year In Review

The Xmas Spirit?

Lets Talk About Sex Baby

Tits N Ass

Say Cheese!

What Really Grinds My Gears...

School Of Hard Knocks

"I Can't Do My Wok"

Anything Free Is Good... Except For Syphilis

Bits and Pieces

No Room At The Inn

The Boys Are Back In Town

A Quick Brodie Update

Yarr!

Props to a flop

Movie Review: DOA: Dead Or Alive

Crowd Control To Major Tom *Edited*

Bongo

Children Children Children

There's Always One

What Really Grinds My Gears...

Brodies Addiction

Is It That Time Of Year Already?

Sk8r Boi

What Really Grinds My Gears...

Im The White Larry Bird

My Dream Journey

Brodie's Movie Review: Stay Alive

Mammal @ Bang

Things are comming up Brodie!(Sounds Disturbing Doesn't It?)

Movin' On Up

MSN Spaces Is Completely Retarded!

Crowd Control To Major Tom Edited