Umm ... bit of silence to follow - deliberate this time!

Thought: the use of social media is now the influence on ‘who’ you are, so maybe stop using it could be providential?

This is, or may be, the strongest indicator of ‘who’ you are these days - data mining?

But could I go until Xmas without Twitter, FB, etc. for that long? Actually, have a badge to earn in Ingress, so what say we restrict to 2/day & no hacking, etc. Then there is also uploading the Garmin data, so that will be another exception can but try, hey?

Hmm … why not make it interesting, and minimise all bad habits? Wonder if I could do 300 km per week? That would be 50 km per day, during the week, and then a 100 km ride on the weekend … tempting, very tempting … also possibly difficult :p

Still, something to aim for … maybe …

In other news, study has been hard … had a constitution essay due Friday, and Evidence & Equity due on Sunday night … then there was the McGregor & Mayweather* fight on Sunday, and the ‘effort’ to be involved, with K & F, took a lot out of me - ended up taking laptop to E&C, but was too noisy & no seats were available! So went outside, where it promptly started to rain! after the 3rd attempt, I just gave up …

So, settled in & drank beer - had started with two cans (each) of Mercury Hard, before consuming pint of Kilkenny & a jug of CD - bought two, but shared with F - at the pub … then went to commiserate with F - K had $$$ on Mayweather - by drinking two bottles and two pizzas between us …

Is it little wonder that I was feeling shabby & disinclined to do too much more work?

Seems that SBS Food is reshowing ‘Good eats’ - could this be a cross-promotion with La Vuelta - give you ideas for late night snacks?

* Slight sidenote - have a look at the tremendous amounts of money that they 'earned' - US$100 000 000+ for Mayweather!

Not so weak

Yet again …

Seems that the results for last semester were idiosyncratic:

• Wills: Credit;
• Jurisprudence: High Distinction; and,
• Constitution: Fail …

On the other hand, this could be a blessing in disguise - means I can take Austudy unopposed … was starting to wonder about getting a job, perish the thought :p

It is that time of the year again - Le Tour … already things have been mixed up:

• Valverde was out on the 1st day, after slipping in the rain;
• Sagan pushed Cavendish over in the sprint, so the organisers kicked him out;
• Due to the crash, Cavendish could not start the next morning; and,
• Porte fell over on a descent, did a 360 -  wiped out Dan Martin on the rebound and ended up fracturing his pelvis and clavicle.

Since then, Froome was caught short by Aru, who has moved into the yellow jersey.

Did a couple of rides - Lara with Coop and the OlE circuit. Which was a bit hard - BoM app said 31kph NNE winds, but trees were barely moving when I stuck my end outside, so I decided to set off. By the time I had rolled through Newcomb, the wind was up & steady - going up Leopold, I was very, very tempted just to turn left at the top of the hill … still, kept going :)

Oh, have also downloaded Ingress … again - amazing how much stays the same after all this time …

Other than that, not much news - been reading a lot, especially graphic novels, e.g. Crossed.

And away we go

So, here we are, again …

Much has happened; much remains the same … including my proclivity for misspellings?

Anyway, whether struggling too much with the question of where to start, maybe it is best just to start …

Memorable moments, or at least the ones that come to mind now, include:

• Went to do a GTC ride with Greg, but he was sick … so instead Bro J took over, and decided to do the Bellarine 100 route. Started with five (5) riders - I do wonder if there would have been that many had Greg led the ride! But anyway … went down rail trail, with a detour around the unsealed section, but by the time they crested Leopold, I realised that it was all too much for me - breath was short & knee(s) hurt. So pulled pin at Grubb Road crossing and came home, along the familiar downhill (?) course of the Portarlington Road … oh well, opportunity will arise again;
• With the knee playing up & getting further tests done, have been visiting Dr when I can. Had a lung function test done, which found that Ventolin was relieving my breathing (surprise, surprise), so had to go & discuss with Anna, who ended up putting me on to Seretide - noticeable difference! Have two (2) puffs, twice a day, and I do not think I have used the Ventolin since! Bad news was no endone, only codeine phosphate, which are not as useful, so have wrenched knee again;
• I do not think that many people realise, nor do I have much capacity to explain, but $$$ is getting ‘too tight to mention’ - AUSTUDY dropped out, very unexpectedly, so I was left with $90 to last me a month … had to call on the food assistance people again :( still, have full shelves again - now just need to start using it up;
• Been doing some gardening - but never enough! So must stay focused & complete the little jobs. Have pulled out a lot of weeds - which is a bit of a drama with sore knees, with the intention of mowing them up so as to use them in the garden. But then have not been mowing for a bit - to be fair, just as the ground dries out enough to mow, a shower comes through & I have to start all over again Of course, this is a very good time to do garden maintenance, as it is quite cold & a lot of the sap has slowed down, if not actually stopped. Mind you, some of those natives - especially some of the creepers, just keep on growing;
• Discovered that there are some albums on iTunes, put out by ‘Double J’, that seem worth getting - one is full of ’90’s hits & the other is full of punk classics. Of course, now that I have purchased them & am sitting here downloading the tracks, I am thinking to myself that there are going to be a lot which are questionable, to put it delicately. Bit like Double J really;
• Twitter has been fun of late - one of my followers has engaged in some little hearted flirting (at least, I hope that this was so), another has taken umbrage at my use of ‘disingenuous’ and my comments re ‘Filthy rich & homeless’ seem to have elicited some responses; and,
• Have discovered some of the other works by Warren Ellis (Trees, Injection), which then led to Garth Ennis, he of Preacher fame. There is one that I am looking at the moment (Crossed) and it is an odd story - perhaps only to be expected, however? The premise of social breakdown, due to flesh eating, and yet they do do so much more, ‘zombies’ who seem to be learning - I have only just started - is curiously engaging, so I am looking forward to further volumes. Indeed, there is a certain irony (?) in that I picked up the volume at the local library, so I wonder if they will be getting all the volumes in?

Having said all that, I am struggling day to day, with some days worse than others, but I keep on striving for that elusive goal ... which continues to be nebulous & undefined :p

Huh???

Seriously, who writes a racist rant & then blocks you when you call them on it, calling you a ‘troll’ … well, Rebecca Theodore, obviously … but, I mean, really? If this is a typical response from Americans, maybe Trump is the best thing for them? Yeah, right - joke … in both senses of the world …

Oh, and apparently there is support for her comments ... maybe there is something wrong with the world, after all ... where opposing opinions are suppressed vehemently & forcibly ...

Have wrenched knee, and am forced to lie up … which means that my scheme to end the month with another 3000 Kcal, 100 km and/or 5 hours of riding will come to nought … still, this month has been the best for the last 12 months, so can’t complain - well, not too loudly …

Did a ride with Bro J (and Greg, Innes, Rolf, Chris) on Sunday out to Werribee - about 110 km from home. Forgot to turn Garmin on when leaving coffee … also, front light fell off on the roll down over a bridge; dropped the chain on the freeway; and, had a wobble on road back into Lara, as uncertain if tyre was flat or road surface was shaky. Innes behaved himself, for the most part, and it turns out that Rolf has a carbon seat! Apparently it is quite comfortable, as it has some give in it, unlike the framework for ‘traditional’ seats, and it would be lighter too.

Despite an expected delivery date of 7 April, the BoG bags arrived on 28 March - efficient to the very end. Very neat looking bags - now, just have to get out there & use them, to ‘dirtify’ them, as they say.

Obviously there is more going on, but that will do for now ...

How long???

Let me see …

umm …

so …

GEB went home - thankfully! Good bloke, but I am not a good influence on him :( he was all keen to drink alcohol, but could not hold it - hence we (Kristie, Felix & I) had to carry him home, after a unified decision to go play pool, but then he wet his bed! Worse, he got cranky when I made him clean it up …

However, did get invited to Pivot to see a movie with Mrs Xmas, and ran into Simon with his brother - it was quite interesting to note that they are very similar …

Ordered a book from Coop bookshop, as they have taken over the RMIT supply, but despite promises to issue w/in 24 hours, there still was nothing by the end of the week :( extremely poor service - phone number did not work, they did not respond to emails, etc.

Run out of money again - found $50 in my pants on Saturday - cleaning up things - so called Felix & went to visit with some drinks … he whinged & whined, so accompanied him to Pussycats … end of the night, I was trying to save him some money by holding on to his money for minute. Instead, he throws a hissy fit & storms out … but does not tell me he is going & there was my last $20 mixed in with the money of his that I was holding, which got taken as well … but apparently it is all my fault …

16/12/16

Sitting here in Clk, already it has been 30 minutes, which is my usual wait time, and still no response - just how long should one wait? There is a bloke here who just said he waited two (2) hours the other day, and then gave up!
Oh this is just abysmal! I mean, seriously, WTF???
Went for a ride earlier, out on Ole's circuit up Princes Road, and then back in along Portalington Road - worked out to 40 km, so that maybe a better circuit to try? Saw Greg turning off Boundary Road, gave him a wave. Spent most of the ride on a higher ratio (50-18?), which made for an 'interesting' ride ... was glad I got out there & rode, however - in fact, initially I got up at 6, sprayed for thrips, came back in, and ended up crawling back into bed ... still dressed in my knicks & jersey!
Fuck this wait is so interminable, and the music irritating - although, to be fair, any music would be after this long ...
-----
Well, discussing all that took three (3) hours, aka 180 minutes!
Turns out that my application, which was received 18/09/16, had not been entered, so the CSR did it for me there & then ... whilst I was put on hold & had to wait ... anyway, promised that it would be done ASAP, but to allow 42 days to process the application! WTF?
Discussed that I was in severe hardship, etc & was forced to eat the last of veggies, including the kale - well, at least that got a laugh!
Anyway, promised to expedite things, which should change the wait time to six (6) weeks ...
-----
Interestingly, some money ($$$) arrived just before the end of 2016 ... a better ending to a horrible year?

26/11/16

Well, off & away again ... finally ... on Wednesday, I was so confused by the incipient violence, both overt & implicit, that I went to SLSC, had a few of the Balter XPAs, and decided that the additional expense of flying home early would balance out my feelings of being unsafe ...
Now, as I sit here flying back, I wonder if I have (perhaps) also confused the time for arrival - I have a sneaky thought that I may have said 1400, and the plane won't get in until 1500 - oops :( mind you, for some reason (see above), I thought it was departing at 1010, so made everyone get up & moving at 0830 ... they all stopped for coffee, then I managed to get them (finally) to leave ... used the remaining time to call PA, who is recovering from bi-lateral mastectomies, due to breast cancer, and is a bit confused; M has also been quite ill, and is taking some time to establish what the priorities in life are ...
Still not quite sure what is happening with study - do I push on, or take the semester off? Of course, if I do stop, what will I do instead? :p apart from the garden, the house, riding, etc.
Seriously, this keyboard can be quite frustrating! Hitting keys & getting no response is never a good thing - although, it could be that I have too gentle a touch? Perhaps in being designed for children, other considerations come to the forefront?
Not much other news ... R big toe is swollen up - bit like the 1st p/e in fact - and is quite painful :( Trying to discuss it with Mother was interesting - it is gout, and would not hear of anything different ... talk about closed ears! Apparently I am also severely overweight, and should be 80kg ... a number which I do not (necessarily) dispute, but it was such an arbitrary number, and one that she could not explain the justification for ... yet still she stuck to it, as if her saying it made it the number to aim for ... of course, she said 'ask your brother what he weighs', to which he 'declined' to answer - 'why, what do you weigh'? and then said that was what he weighed ... did I mention I am glad to be out of that environment?

I will die alone, you know ...