Peter C. Hayward's Livejournal.

There is so much darned television around.

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:13:51 GMT

One of the best/worst things about being into TV shows instead of movies is that there's just so much stuff to watch. If you're into movies, your main focus is on the backlog - you have to dedicate a few weeks to watching through all of Hitchcock, a couple of months to watching through all the AFI lists. It takes time and effort, I'm not denying that.

TV, however, is much, much harder. You don't have time to dedicate to a backlog, it takes all of your spare time just to keep up on new shows coming out. Right now, for instance, I've just finished watching through:
-How I Met Your Mother (all 4 seasons)
-Lost (I'm halfway through season 5, but probably won't get a chance to watch it again for a couple of months)
-Goodnight, Sweetheart (seasons 1-3)

At the moment, my cousin and I are watching through, for the first time:
-Dexter (just got through the first disc of season 2)
-True Blood (only a few episodes in)

As well as that, I'm watching (by myself) for the first time:
-Flight of the Conchords (season 2)
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (just finished season 1, starting season 2)

There are also a couple of shows that I'm trying to watch through, but just haven't had time:
-The Librarians (season 2)
-Stupid, Stupid Man (season 1)
-Very Small Business (season 1)

My cousin (poxy_report, for those who don't know) has been watching through Chuck (though I'm not sure if it's for the first time.)

Before the end of the month, I want to have watched:
-Mad Men (season 1)
-House (season 5)
-Veronica Mars (season 3)

When I'm settled down in Melbourne, I plan to watch:
-The rest of Lost (live-blogging as I go)
-Heroes (seasons 1-3...again, for live-blogging purposes)
-Battlestar Galactica (once more, for live-blogging)
-Babylon 5
-The Wire
-Big Love
-Grey's Anatomy (seasons 2-4)

And just recently, I've heard news of about half a dozen new shows that have me interested:
-Flash Forward
-The Big Bang Theory
-Glee
-Vampire Diaries
-Parks and Recreation

Now, that's a lot of shows, but keep in mind...that's only current/recent shows that I'm particularly interested in. That's a tiny slice of what's out there. And also keep in mind that (except for the Aussie sitcoms) every show on that list represents at least 6 hours of time, most of them much much more. (a season of American TV can take you up to about 17 hours.)

So that's just me trying to keep up. I actually really want to watch through the Get Smart series, but I just don't have the time to invest in it.

It's simultaneously a curse and a blessing. On one hand, I've never, ever found myself saying "Man, there's nothing to watch," but on the other, I just don't have time to watch everything that I want to watch. I could quite happily dedicate about 10 hours per day just to watching TV if I had that time. But I just don't. (as it is, I'd guess I watch an average of about 3 hours of TV/day.)

(what's more, I'd bet that there's at least half a dozen shows that I've forgotten to include on any of the lists that almost certainly deserve to be there.)

Tell me. What TV are you watching at the moment?

The New Year is upon us, 'pparently.

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:47:39 GMT

Happy 2010, all! I've somehow gotten sick, so I'm not having an amazing new year so far, but this is going to be a good year. This is going to be my year!

I don't really make resolutions, I make plans. So, here are my 2010 plans:

-This month, January, my cousin poxy_report and I are filming a show for YouTube, called Reincarnation. I've no idea how long it's going to take, but when we're done, we're driving down to Melbourne, where...
-I'm going to spend 28 days homeless. Ideally, this will be the month of February, because then everything's nice and neat, but if filming takes longer than we expected, it'll just be 28 random days. (and whenever I refer back to it in the future, we'll just pretend that it was the month of February, for ease of discussion.) This is a pretty big one, and I'll do a post with more detail later on.
-After that, I'm going to find somewhere to live and somewhere to work in Melbourne. To begin with, I don't really mind where I live or where I work, but long-term I want a job in TV. I don't really mind where, just something TV-related; I know everything there is to know about Maps because I worked in a map store for 9 months. I've just spent 8 months working at the National Library Association, so I know more than I need to about libraries. Working in something TV-related would give me all kinds of knowledge that might actually relate to my life in some way, which would be nice.
-From March of this year onwards, I'm going to be doing a long-distance project with my cousin Gavin. More on that in March!

Anyway, so those are my 2010 plans.

What are yours?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the original reason I was updating: as is my custom, I'm going up from 6 words/subject to 7 words/subject. This will not affect anyone but me, but thought y'all might be interested!

2009 in review, by comments made.

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:46:22 GMT

New meme I'm stealing from theweaselking:

Most commented-upon post each month

January: A "photo of yourself" meme. - 74 comments.

Why: Because I told people not only to post pictures of themselves, but to tell cute people that they were cute. I know a lot of cute people, so there were comments by the bucketload!

Ah, the days when I had an active livejournal and dozens of commenters.

(by the way, if you've clicked through, comment on the cuter photos. It might make someone's day. "Oh, wow, people are still commenting on how cute I am?")

Runners-up: The Rape Checklist, my thoughts on't, Abstract question about sex and money.
February: I'm a bit rusty on maths - 19 comments.

Why: Because of a hilarious mathematical interchange between two of my commenters.

Runner-up: Inspired by the Gruen Transfer pilot - 18 comments

Why: Because I put up a poll with black and white answers, which people don't enjoy. (though I do!)
March: 38 Things To Do Before 21 - 14 comments

Why: Because it's a meme that a friend of mine made up, which was (not unfairly) described as "insipid".

Runner-up: Facebook Friends - the Nexus layout, analysed - 14 comments

Why: Well, mainly because we were organising a social gathering in the comments.
April: Another Day, another Canberra related update - 5 comments

Aaaand, this is where my journal died proper.
May: Peter prevents Repetitive Strain Injury, mouse-hand-style! - 17 comments

Why: Because we are geeks, and geek out in the comments about keyboards and touchpads and holy crap just reading over those comments makes me want the geeky geeky products discussed.

Runners-up: Goodbye The Zaniak, hello Peter Chayward, Facebook pranking with my cousin Gavin
June: So apparently denim trees aren't real. - 10 comments

Why: Because I ask for advice on how to prank. Everyone has opinions when it comes to pranking!

Runners-up: Such a Life #1 - Inner Bus Monologues #1: Cute Girl, Peter is politically unaware, nobody's shocked, I hope no one is offended
July: Kelly's Guide to Incest - Family Fun! - 15 comments

Why: Because it's...well, to quote my cousin poxy_report, "It's Wrong 2.0", a whole new level of wrong.

Runners-up: Some Tuesday feels like Monday questions, Peter goes off in the past,
August: August was deeeeaddd....
September: A post about offensive languages, bitch - 11 comments

Why: At first glance I assumed it was because of the awkward formatting, but reading over the comments, it's because people had insightful and interesting things to say. Go people!
October: October was also dead. This one got 5 - Transcript of conversation with a co-worker.
November: The Limitations of Twitter's 140 Characters - 23 comments

Why: Because it's a religious discussion, which people always find interesting, and also because I was so, so easy to argue against. I made some dumb, dumb points.
December: Peter muses on groups and labels - 9 comments

Why: Because it's about religion, and it was sort of train-of-thought, which generally inspires discussion.

This coming year, I'm likely going to be as busy as I was 2009, if not busier again. This LJ will probably never become the thriving community that it once was. I have no one but myself to blame for that, but I'm okay with it. I'm sacrificing this part of my life (which, don't get me wrong, I love) for others. Change happens. It's not that I'm not sad, but it's a sacrifice that I'm okay with.

A brief conversation with female me.

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:56:06 GMT

I'm home in Toowoomba for Christmas. Just had this exchange with my sister:

Elizabeth: Did you see what the toaster did to me?
Me: Did it give you a kiss?
Elizabeth: (showing me her thumb) No! It burned me!
Me: That's how toasters kiss.
Elizabeth: But...it burned me!
Me: Yeah...with love.
Elizabeth: Oh.
(pause)
Elizabeth: Love hurts.

New Years Resolution! (one week early)

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:45:24 GMT

I'm cleaning out pieces of paper*, trying to lighten my load before I go to Brisbane for a month of filming, and found a list of movies that katydidinoz said that I had to see.

*for that is what I choose to do with my Christmas Eve.

Partially so I have a record and can throw out the piece of paper, and partially for the fun of it, I'm making my New Years Resolution to watch the following films:

Million Dollar Baby
Mystic River
Gran Torino
Unforgiven
Changeling

This time next year (or one week and one year away, anyway) I resolve to have seen all of those films.

Let's make this interactive: comment with a list of your personal "must see" movies, and any that I haven't seen, I'll add to the list.

A new playlist and some to-do!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:17:40 GMT

Two things:

Firstly, all of the Dear Peter/Dear Gavin videos that myself, my cousin Gavin (poxy_report) and my sister Elizabeth (eldaisy) have been doing can me found in one handy playlist:

(if you're watching for the first time; don't worry, they get much shorter and much better after the first 2)

Secondly: A few weeks back, I posted a "to-do" list. I thought I'd update on what I have and haven't done from that, for my own sake as much as for yours.

(ideally) Finish the ImproACT editing that I've been doing. Not finished, but pretty close to. I'm probably going to polish this off before I leave town on Saturday.
Write four episodes of the YouTube sitcom I'm filming with Gavin next year. Fuuuuck. Haven't even had a chance to look at this. We're driving from Canberra up to Toowoomba (southern Queensland) - I plan to spend the entire car trip writing.
Pack all of my worldly possessions. About half done, and my family is down, so we'll be polishing the other half off tonight.
Finish a whole heap of stuff at work. 90% done - there have been complications, but I've been staying late most days, and I am confident I will be up to date on this before I finish.
~~Go shopping for pants and shoes with a friend o' mine.~~ I am wearing those pants and shoes as we speak! I still need shorts, but I don't think that'll happen before I leave, alas.
Update my livejournal every day. Yeah, that didn't happen.
~~Mail Gavin the editing software that I promised to mail him.~~ Mailed! He has been heartily using it to make videos, which you can find here.
Rewatch the last two episodes of Lost season 4. Not yet, but I should get a chance on Thursday or Friday this week.
~~Complete Secret Project AP.~~ Done! The nature of the project changed, but it was completed nonetheless!
~~Book a trailer to take my stuff from here to Melbourne.~~ Done!
~~Book storage space in Melbourne.~~ Done! (technically by Dad, but done nonetheless)
~~Have my "going away" party.~~ Done!
~~Organise a board game night.~~ Due to conflicting schedules, this was cancelled...though thinking about it, I might be able to organise it for this week some time. I'll make some calls tonight.
~~Meet up with a girl I went out with a few times to get some DVDs back.~~ Done! (she came to my party)
Disassemble all my furniture in preparation for Melbourne. Doing tonight!
Change my address on all 500 things that you need to change your address on when you move. Completely forgot about this. Will start tomorrow.
Book my Practical test for my motorbike licence. I've been trying to, but they don't seem to like answering their phone.
Actually pass my test for my motorbike licence. Dependent on the previous item.
~~Decide what to do with all my old clothes.~~ Donated to charity!
Either cancel or postpone all of my regular monthly payments that I won't be able to afford while I'm temporarily unemployed. Haven't found the time to do so yet.
~~Perform in 2 more impro shows, and go to all the relevant rehearsals.~~ Done!
Square any debts I have to my housemates. Will probably do this on the last day that I'm there.
~~Use up the last of the Canberra-related vouchers I've acquired during my time here.~~ Done! (if you replace "use up" with "lose".)

So that's where I am at the moment! What's your to-do list looking like?

Just remembered: a mixed blessing (/curse)

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:04:24 GMT

My subconscious, like me*, really enjoys callbacks. Whenever it gets the chance, it'll bring something up later.

*this is more than likely not a coincidence

So for example, last night, when theferrett told me that he wanted to travel to Australia "in a restaurant", several dream-hours later, when we entered a restaurant, we were informed that it was travelling, first class, to Australia.

So last night, several dream-hours after an attractive female friend of mine made joke about having a penis, I shouldn't have been surprised when she stripped off, and did in fact have a penis.

That's a mental image I won't be able to shake for a while.

That "whatcha up to, dawg?" meme.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:45:57 GMT

So it has been quite firmly established that I am terrible at updating every day. Here's a meme that's been going around.

You know how sometimes people on your friends list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

1. first name
Nathan.

2. age
I was born 22 years ago, but I amuse myself by getting people I meet to guess my age. They invariably guess between 25 and 28.

3. location
Right now, I live in Canberra. In a week and a half, I'll be in Toowoomba. A few weeks after that, Brisbane, until February, when I'm heading to Melbourne. (after a year or two there, I'm seriously considering London)

4. occupation
Today, Publishing Officer. Then unemployed until probably mid-March.

5. partner?
Single, but not unbearably so. I've got a few girls I casually see, in various states. (both states of seeing, and states of Australia.)

6. kids?
I want them, but Gavin has a number of objections*.

7. brothers/sisters
My sister eldaisy is 18, and has just tentatively dipped her toe into the exciting pool of video blogging.
My sister William is 13, and is up to so much stuff that it's hard to keep track of.

I like both of them very much, and am looking forward to spending time with them over Christmas.

8. pets
Nope. Unlikely to any time soon. Maybe if I ever buy a house I'll get a dog, but I'm happy enough without them.

9. list the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life
Right now?

1) Moving. I haven't done a lot of the actual physical packing yet, but in terms of saying goodbye and wrapping stuff up, that's what's on my mind most of all at the moment.
2) Impro. I'm hosting/partially directing two shows this weekend, in character, and appearing in a scene at the end as well. It's not stressing me out or anything, but I do spend a decent amount of time thinking about it. As well as that, I'm in a number of classes.
3) Editing. I got free classes for the year in return for doing some editing for the impro troupe down here. I am currently finishing off this editing. It's surprisingly time-consuming. Also, I'm responsible for filming the two shows that I'm not in this weekend, and organising the filming for the two that I am in.
4) Video-blogging. Gavin and I have been making videos back and forth, which is incredibly fun and rewarding, and my sister is just starting to get into it as well. Here's my latest one, featuring footage from my going-away party:
Dear Gavin - The Fuck Off Peter Party

5) Work. I am currently almost buried in paperwork. I actually didn't have a lunch break yesterday, so I'm forcing myself to have one today, and using it to write this meme. Since I'm finishing soon, I have to write procedures for the guy taking my job (almost done) and wrap everything up (not even close).

10. parents
Here's a recent photo, taken right before my sister's high school formal:

11. who are some of your closest friends?
My boss, katydidinoz, the couple who run the impro troupe down here, a guy called Duncan who I don't think I've mentioned before, a girl called Monique who intrigues and frustrates me, and a guy who left Brisbane Impro about the same time I got into it, and then moved down here at the same time as I did. We have dozens of friends in common, despite never having met before.

That's ignoring family members, of course, because my cousin Gavin is always going to be top of my list, and my sister is never far behind.

*Gavin's objections to us having kids:
1) He doesn't think I'm emotionally ready.
2) He thinks it's biologically impossible.
3) He says that technically, we're not a couple.
4) He says that even non-technically, we're not a couple.
5) He doesn't want kids yet
6) When he does want kids, he says that he "never, ever wants to have them with his cousin."
7) He says we're not yet financially ready for a child.

Top six films of the year.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:36:36 GMT

I just got home from seeing Where the Wild Things Are (amazing and I loved it. Average plot, great characters, and amazing amazing puppetry. The film captured what it feels like to be a child better than anything else that has ever been made. I can't even think of anything that comes close to coming close.) which is probably the last film I'll see in cinemas for the year. (unless I go while I'm in Toowoomba.)

So I thought I'd throw together a "Top 6 films of 2009" list. (it was originally going to be top 10, but I couldn't find 4 more films that were in the same league as these 6.)

Inglorious Basterds - Tarantino's newest, and in my mind, easily Tarantino's best. I saw this at a point where I was obsessed with structure and not wasting lines - this film blew me away. There is not a single line, not a single shot, not a single facial movement that is wasted in this film. It's the tightest script and film I've ever seen, and it's amazing.
(500) Days of Summer - anyone who knows me will know that I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and Zoey Deschenel. This film was not only a romantic comedy starring Zoey Deschenel, but it's got one of the greatest soundtracks that I've ever heard, and as well as being hilariously well-written, uses all sorts of directorial tricks that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Watchmen - I'm not a huge graphic novel fan, but I went to see this film because of all the buzz - namely, the completely contradictory buzz that I'd been hearing. Absolutely everything that one person hated in this film, the next person would claim "it's the only good thing about it." The soundtrack, the parts of the film that were changed, the parts of the film that weren't changed, the direction, the characters, the costumes...everyone had a love/hate relationship with specific parts of this film, and that intrigues me to this day. Personally, I loved it - I think every single part of this film worked. (except one, but that's not for now.)
Where the Wild Things Are - I know I just saw this then, but I'm confident in its placing on this list, and even in its position. As I said, the puppetry was what made it particularly pop for me, but the characters and the way that the essence of childhood was captured during this film were great as well. Would I let children see it? Probably, but I'm a terrible judge of what children should be allowed to see. There's nothing in this that would permanently scar them. It's honest, so if you want to shield your children from that, don't let them see it, but if you want them to realise that what they feel is shared with other people, then this is the movie for them.
Synecdoche, New York - Immediately after seeing this film, I hated it. I could see why reviewers were calling it self-indulgent wank...in fact, to my mind, that was letting the film off lightly. But three days later, when I was still unable to stop thinking about it, and started making dozens of connections that I hadn't made at the time, I realised that this may have been one of the greatest films I've ever seen. I still haven't seen it again, 6 months later - I suppose I'm a little scared to. (in fact, the only one of these films I've seen more than once is (500) Days of Summer, which I saw twice in one week.
Paranormal Activity - I have only recently gotten into horror films, and I've only seem an extremely limited selection, so perhaps this movie really does do nothing new, but it did something new to me. It effectively and deliberately controlled my state of tension in a way that I've never seen any other film do. As soon as the clock started to slow down, you could feel my heartrate increase. The second it faded out again, I would visibly relax. I was completely aware of it the whole time, but this movie played me like a fiddle, and I loved every minute of it.

Runners up: (in no particular order)
These were also great films, but didn't stay with me for days like the above films did. My top 6 were...if not life-altering, at least life-affecting films. The runners-up were solid enjoyable films, but I came out of them the exact same person that I was going in. I didn't learn anything from them.

Star Trek - solid film, thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw this twice, and the second time was completely unaffected by it. I enjoyed it, sure, but as soon as I left the theatre it was if I hadn't even bothered to see it a second time.
Up - I can see why everyone is raving about this film, but while I enjoyed every minute of it, Pixar set a new standard with me when they made WALL-E, and while Up was solid, it didn't even come close to that masterpiece.
District 9 - another film that I can't fault, but also didn't really leave me with anything. Extraordinarily well-made and I'd happily watch this again, even buy it on DVD, but it wasn't really mind-blowing.
The Boat That Rocked - these reviews feel so defensive: if a movie is on this runners-up list, it means that it was a really great film, but I feel more compelled to defend the fact that it didn't make my top 6 list than extol the qualities of the film in itself. This one was slightly formulaic, and the lack of decent female characters didn't help its case, but probably one of the most fun films I've seen in a long time.
Coraline - perhaps my new favourite stop-motion film, this is another one that I had no problems with at all - great acting, great stop-motion, great plot - but didn't leave me thinking as I walked out of the cinema.
Funny People - unlike almost everyone else who saw this, I didn't think this was too long. I thought it flowed naturally throughout, and this comes close to being the funniest film I saw all year. I particularly liked Apatow's wife's perfomance in this, and Adam Sandler's obsession with Rogan's penis. Like Pixar, however, I judge Apatow films on the standard of an earlier one he made, and while this was good, it's no Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
The Proposal - lord help me, I liked this film. The ending annoyed me a bit, but other than that, I would put this as my number two or three romantic comedy of the year. I love Ryan Reynolds, which helps a lot, and I don't much mind Sandra Bullock either. MightyGodKing suggested someone mash-up clips of Sandra Bullock's boss character in this film with her assistant character in Two Weeks Notice, which is a brilliant and hilarious idea, and I hope someone's working on it right now.
The Time Travellers Wife - I enjoyed this a lot, and thought everything in it was top notch...except the characters. Apparently it's completely different in the books, but in the film, the characters were nothing except for what the plot demanded of them. Take any other two characters and switch them out, you'd have the exact same movie. Also, the ending annoyed me - not, admittedly, at the time, but later when I was looking back at it.
Mary & Max - I never saw Harvey Crumpet, but apparently it's great. This was quite good too; they captured the era of my mum's youth perfectly at the beginning. She used to tell us about making "shrinkies". The plot twist (it was a plot twist to me; I'd avoided all publicity material) in the middle was great, and the ending was perfect. Another of those films I can't fault, it just didn't particularly wow me.

Never-rans: (movies that perhaps should have been in one of the two above lists, but I either never bothered to see them or they're not out yet this year)

The Informant! - I love love love Steven Sodenburg, so there's a good chance this film would have hit my personal movie g-spot, but it's only just come out, and I doubt I'll get a chance to before the year is up.
The Invention of Lying - I don't believe this is out yet. Might just sneak onto next year's list. I am a huge fan of Ricky Gervais (did Ghost Town come out this year? If it wasn't so late I'd look it up and add it to the runners-up list if it did) and one reviewer that I trust said "I hated it, but if you liked Ghost Town you'll probably enjoy it." I loved Ghost Town.
The Fantastic Mr Fox - George Clooney, Roald Dahl. Need I say more?
Zombieland - it's been getting rave reviews and sounds like it's exactly my type of film, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, and (again) probably won't get around to it this year.
Adventureland - theme in naming indie films this year or what, hey? I do quite want to see this, but I don't think it got a wide (if any) release in Australia. From the sound of it, it would have been right up my alley.
Capitalism: A Love Story - I honestly quite like Michael Moore, even if I agree with/believe very little of what he says, and I thought Sicko was his best since Bowling for Columbine. I would have liked to have seen this, but it came out at inconvenient hours at a time when I was very busy.

Noticeably missing:

The Hangover - yeah, I saw it, it was funny enough. No idea why this has become the hit it has, it wasn't amazing...
A Christmas Carol - this is already making a few critic's top 10 lists. I saw it, and it was well-constructed enough, but didn't really add anything to the Christmas Carol story. I went home and watched the Muppet's version, which also stays true to the story, but has the dual advantages of songs and muppets. I love A Muppet Christmas Carol.
Bruno - after being so disappointed by Borat, I didn't bother going to see it. Apparently it was the same but less funny and more gross, so I don't feel that I missed much. It was unlikely to make either of my lists.
Year One - normally I'd be first in line for an Apatow/Cera/Black combination, but the reviews for this were so abysmal I never bothered. Did anyone see this? Was it worth seeing?
Sunshine Cleaning - saw it, but almost wish I hadn't. So much potential, so little of it used. This genuinely feels like half a film - almost none of the plot threads even approach resolution, it's just a weird mish-mash of half-told stories.

Particularly honourable mention:

Wake In Fright - I went and saw this mainly because a girl I was interesting in recommended it, but god am I glad I did. Originally from 1971, this film was rereleased this year after a huge effort to put it back together, better than it was before. (remastered) An amazing Australian horror film, this is one of those films that left me thinking for days about masculinity and the very definition of horror film. If you ever get a chance, I definitely recommend checking this one out - I'll more than likely get it on DVD myself. Weird and wonderful.

So there are my lists. What am I missing? Also: what are your picks for top (and, if you swing that way, bottom) films of the year?

Peter muses on groups and labels.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:51:03 GMT

I've been reading almost nonstop lately about religion. I don't know what's inspired this fascination - perhaps it was the line in John Green's novel Looking For Alaska about the fact that whether or not you're religious, religion is important, so learn something about it. Perhaps it's just my periodic obsession with Mormonism resurfacing in a slightly different fashion. Perhaps it's fate or God or destiny. I don't know.

I've been reading atheism sites, Christian sites, fundamentalist Christian sites, Mormon sites, Jehovah's Witness sites, Catholic sites, ex-Mormon sites, ex-Jehovah's witness sites, Chick tracts, and - most recently - I've been reading my way through both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, over at The Skeptic's Annotated Bible. (reading any religious text by itself always bores me to tears - this is like reading the Bible with a commentary track. Fascinating stuff!)

(Actually, while I'm talking about reading the Bible - it's a weird, weird book. I have always thought that you could quote the Bible to champion any point of view that you liked - having read it, I can confirm that there's so much strange stuff in there that it's hard to read it WITHOUT moulding it to your point of view. I identify as polyamorous, and reading through Genesis, every few chapters I'm like "Ha! This guy was totally polyamorous, and God not only let it happen, he helped it happen and then rewarded it. Now Christians can't tell me it's not okay by their book, because it clearly clearly is." Of course, I've no doubt that there's a verse later that they can point to to condemn polyamory, but this God character seems a fickle creature.)

But it's got me thinking about labels and groupings. Let's take Christians, as an obvious example: I've been reading criticisms of the Left Behind series of books, which are about (one interpretation of) the events of the Book of Revelations coming true. A group of people who aren't spirited away to heaven, the people who are "left behind", but convert to Christianity and watch the destruction of the Earth by God, Jesus, and the anti-Christ.

Now, in these books, nothing matters except for converting people to Christianity. The Earth is being destroyed, heathens are being destroyed (apparently this is described in gory, gory, yet surprisingly dull detail) and so there's not a lot of point in building hospitals or healing the sick or doing anything except for converting people to Christianity so that they won't go to hell with everyone else.

Some of these reviews are describing these books as "not only completely inaccurate or a complete misreading of the Bible, but not even Christian."

At which point, I did a double-take.

These books aren't even Christian? How do you get there?

The main characters (and indeed, the morals of the book) aren't about being nice or being kind or anything that we would commonly identify with the softer side of Christianity. As a result, according to certain reviewers, the books are non-Christian.

But if you asked the writers of the books, or their millions upon millions of readers, Christianity is almost exclusively about converting people at all costs, so that they don't go to hell. All the other parts of the Bible pale in comparison to the important bit, Revelations.

And there's the problem I'm having with groups and labels. When you self-identify as part of a group, and the group is made entirely up of people who self-identify as being part of that group, with no external force to define it, who's to say who has it right?

Christianity is a thorny and controversial example, so I'll choose two much simpler ones: librarians and improvisers.

I work for a Library association at the moment, and all of our members are people who identify as librarians. (or library technicians, or library assistants, but let's just stick to librarians for the sake of not complicating things.) But self-identifying as a librarian isn't the only criteria for being a librarian - you also have to have completed a degree, and (preferably) be currently working as a librarian.

Even the simple definitions get a bit complicated.

So to be a Librarian, the criteria are simple:

You must have completed a Librarian degree
You must self-identify as a Librarian
(optional) You must be currently working or seeking work as a Librarian.

There. Done. No one can argue "You're not a real librarian", because there's an external criteria, the degree.

Compare to being an improviser.

I'm an improviser. I base this on the fact that I do impro classes and I've performed in impro shows, but ultimately, I call myself an improviser because I self-identify as one. I class an "impro" show as one in which the majority of the content is made up on the spot.

But when it comes down to it, that's my definition.

I know improvisers who have "bits", set scenes that they'll pull out if the show is going badly. Now, to my mind, that's not real impro. They're not making it up on the spot; maybe it was originally made up on the spot, but it's been refined and changed over time, and there's no way that you can reasonably call it an improvised scene any more.

If you do that sort of thing regularly, to my mind, you're not really improvising any more. You're calling your show an improv show, but (again, as far as I'm concerned) it's not. And so...is that person an improviser? I'd be less inclined to describe them as such.

Similarly, what about people who improvised once, many years ago? If you're not actively involved in any kind of improvisation community or activity, I don't really think that you can call yourself an improviser...but who am I to say that you can't? It's not an official course, there's no Degree of Improvisation like there is for librarians, it's not an official title. It's something that we call ourselves so that we can find other people who call themselves that.

Without any external criteria, labels and groups become a bit blurry around the edges. It's about what you call yourself, and there's really no other criteria than that.

Mormons consider themselves the only true Christians, because they're the only ones who use all three Bibles and do things correctly. Others consider them to hardly be classified as Christians at all, because they do strange things and think that God comes from space.

If you have a group of Purple Hammerers, who call themselves that so that they can recognise other people who call themselves Purple Hammerers, but no one can agree on exactly what being a Purple Hammerer entails, what does it mean to be a Purple Hammerer? When one Purple Hammerer tells another Purple Hammerer that he's not really a Purple Hammerer, should the other Purple Hammerers listen? Is it worth calling yourself a Purple Hammerer at all?

One review got quite testy about the fact that a news article quoted Left Behind, and laughed at the belief system that Christians have. "The Left Behind books don't reflect the opinions or beliefs of all Christians! What a ridiculous assumption!"

Why do people refer to themselves as Christians? It's at least partially because that's a label that will automatically tell you their belief system, their values. They are counting on the fact that you know what it means to be a Christian, because you've met other Christians and seen their values.

I can introduce myself as a Grey Clutch, and since you've met twenty other Grey Clutches, you know what I mean by that. But to make sure, you go online and look up what it is to be a Grey Clutch. By giving myself a label, I'm trying to make it easier for you to judge me.

When it comes to being an improviser, that's easy - at its simplest, I'm saying that I perform in improvised comedy shows. If you dig slightly deeper, I might be saying that I'm fast, intelligent and funny. (you'll rarely meet an improviser who is slower, dumber and less funny than average.)

When it comes to being a librarian, it's easier again. I'm saying that I've completed a library degree. Again, if you go a bit deeper, you'll probably discover that I at least like books (more likely I have a deep passion for them) and I'm intelligent and organised.

But that goes either way - if you're a reporter, and you interview three Grey Clutches and they all reveal that they hates black people and don't believe that they should be allowed to vote, you can reasonably assume that that's part of what it is to be a Grey Clutch. If a majority of Grey Clutches believe this, then by calling myself a Grey Clutch, I'm aligning myself with that belief.

So the question is - what does it mean to call yourself a Christian? Is it fair to expect people to judge you on your own terms when you insist on using a label? The purpose of using a label is to let people judge you based on the actions of others who use that label - how can you expect to disassociate yourself from the negative and keep the positive connotations of the label? If 99% of Grey Clutches are racists, and I introduce myself as a Grey Clutch, can I reasonably get annoyed when you assume that I'm a racist?

This wasn't intended to be a well-structured essay with a well-thought-out conclusion. In case it isn't obvious, this is a transcript of the thoughts that are going through my mind at the moment. Normally typing out my thoughts stops them from running through my mind, but this has had the opposite effect, my mind is buzzing faster than it was when I began.

Share your thoughts. I can't guarantee that I'll get a chance to reply to comments, but I'd really value other people's input on this. Religion, labels, groups, identity. It's fascinating stuff.

A quick update for the day.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:45:41 GMT

Man, I suck at this livejournal thing. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Here's a quick rundown of my day, because it's late, and I want to go to sleep soon.

Woke up at 7:15 to be at work at 8. Started the day with a bowl of the world's most delicious muesli. (I've been crazy about muesli for months now. I eat at least one bowl each day. It's so damned nice.) Did various uninteresting tasks at work until about noon, when we had a "A guy is leaving so let's have pizza to say goodbye" lunch, which was delicious.

During lunch, I played a game of chess against another workmate. This is the second game we've played - the first time, he was absolutely dominating until we hit what you could reasonably call end-game, at which point I picked up a bit (I'm quite good at end-game) and ended up winning.

Today? Either I was on fire or he was just brain-dead, because I kicked arse from start to finish. Ended up checkmating him before we even hit endgame, which I've only ever done once or twice before.

After lunch, work continued in that unique way that work does, until 4 o'clock when I met up with some friends to go shopping.

Down here, all of my friends (and I don't recall if I've talked about this before, so apologies if I have) are trendy, and my boots-and-fleece habit was starting to stick out a bit. So I put aside some money, and some friends have been taking me out and buying clothes with me, telling me what's trendy and what's not. We're starting simple - greys, blacks and whites only (and one blue shirt) - but the results have been phonomenal. I'm surprised at how good I look, and (correspondingly) how good I feel.

Today, we did pants (jeans) and shoes, but I accidentally left my shoes in their car. God damn I look good in jeans that actually fit. (that's the first thing I learned - wear clothes that actually fit. That alone makes all the difference in the world.)

I barely had time to go home and change before it was time to head off to the second (of two) weekly impro classes that I take. It was great - it's been a really good day overall, looking back - the teacher is extremely intelligent, and makes me look at a whole heap of things in a way that I've never looked at them before. Today we did stuff about doing less offers, simpler offers. It was interesting stuff.

After impro, I headed out to the pub to chat to some of the impro people, but left early because of the long day I've had. Back here at home I was just hanging out online for a bit (an ad on gmail led me to this page - become a celebrant for $795, which is surprisingly enticing.) and then I remembered to update this. I've spent less than 10 minutes on this update, which isn't really in the spirit of my "update every day" pledge, but I'm starting at 8am again tomorrow, and I really need to get to sleep.

Here is a poll!

View Poll: #1493921

Have a good night, LJ!

EDIT: Oh, that's right! I did another "Dear Gavin" video - I don't think it's quite as good as the last one, but I like it nonetheless. I do peanut butter face*!

*peanut butter face is where you smear peanut butter all over your face, probably for a video blog.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:16:58 GMT

Another conversation from work:

Me: I've got to do some mailing this afternoon.
Cubicle-mate: Really? That's interesting.
(pause)
Me: You're mocking me, aren't you?
Cubicle-mate: What? No! I'd never mock you. I'd never mock anyone. (whispering) Secretly, I mock all the time. I'm a mockingbird. You'd better not kill me!
(pause)
Cubicle-mate: I'm trying to remember...how do you kill a mockingbird?
Me: You mean like the book?
Cubicle-mate: Yeah, or the movie.
Me: It's not How to Kill a Mockingbird. It's just To Kill A Mockingbird.
Cubicle-mate: Oh, that's right.
Me: It's not a documentary. It's not a DIY video on how to kill mockingbirds.
Cubicle-mate: All right, all right. So if you're so smart, tell me why you can't kill a mockingbird.
Me: Because they're innocent.
(pause)
Lady across the way: I'm sorry, but I'm listening in, and trying not to laugh.
(pause)
Cubicle-mate: I can't remember, what was the name of the girl in that?
Me: Scout?
Cubicle-mate: That's right, Scout. It's such a beautiful book, and movie, with...
Me: Geoffrey something...
Cubicle-mate: Ha! It's Gregory! Gregory Peck, not Geoffrey! You got it wrong! I win!!

That most excellent end-of-year LJ meme.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:11 GMT

It is my favourite end-of-year meme!

Post the first sentence of the first post of each month.

January: Just then:

(That first sentence is so boring that I'm going to post the rest of the entry:)

Peter: Awww, you want to stay longer to be with your brother!
Elizabeth: No, I want to stay longer to be with my brother's housemate.
Peter: Pfft. You're just saying that because she flashes her underpants.
Elizabeth: Well maybe if you flashed your underpants a bit more...
(pause)
Elizabeth: Actually I can't imagine you flashing your underpants any more than you do already.

Just setting the tone for the year.

February: Well, I've got 19 minutes while some files copy and my rice cooks, so I thought I'd drop in and say hello to livejournal.

(February started with a heavy focus on my new website and projects, before I realised that I was spending a LOT of time and effort writing stuff that was mildly interesting, but not serving any real purpose in my life. I don't regret doing the projects, but I also don't at all regret stopping when I did. This particular project was called 28 Days, 28 Dollars and involved me eating very little food for a month.

March: Last night, around midnight, my housemate Cannibal Kate stepped on a piece of glass that she'd broken, cut her foot open, and we went down to the hospital to get stitches.

(Good times.)

April: I found this quote, by extempore, and quite liked it:

(the quote was about people assuming that because you're different to them, you need to be fixed. I still like it, but not quite as much - moving to Canberra has, above all else, humbled me.)

May: Shamus Young, here.

(another quote, which I shall repost:

When Blogging, we usually talk about stuff we’re doing or that we’ve done. Watching shows, movies, playing games, knitting stuff, writing fiction, going to work, attending school, whatever. The more stuff you do, the more stuff you have to write about. Except, after a certain point you’re doing so much stuff you don’t have time to write about any of it anymore.

(I have updated my LJ less this year than any year since I was in senior highschool. Partly because I've been busy, partly because my "audience" of people I want to regularly communicate with has moved over to Facebook, and partly because it's easier to have thoughts of 140 characters or less. I'm worried that this has caused me to start thinking more lazily and also have less of a record of my thoughts, which is why I'm updating every day this month, and hopefully more often in general.)

(oh, and this is my first one from Canberra.)

June: Well, unless I think of something else to do with it, I'm going to be using my Dreamwidth account (peterchayward) to post my sporadically-updating webcomic, Such a Life.

(Ha! "Sporadically-updating" indeed. I only ever made the two comics. I have scripts for literally dozens more, but (despite me seeing this coming and making the comic as simple as possible) never had the motivation to do the (incredibly tiny number of) drawings.)

July: For anyone who's interested, I've posted a handful of photos of my new room on Facebook, including a photo of my monster DVD collection.

(Those stacks fell over later that month. Nothing was damaged, amazingly.)

August: This last weekend, I participated in a local event called "24 Hours of Theatre".

(amazing event. I'm coming up for it if it's run again next year. I learned more about theatre in that 24 hours than I did in several years of doing local theatre in Toowoomba.)

September: I sent this email to my boss today:

(Ha! Comedy gold. Go and check it out.)

(I have the best boss ever.)

October: So here's where I am on a number of things at the moment:

(A post about why I don't update much any more, and the fact that I genuinely do miss LJ - a fact which is still true, and the reason I have been looking forward to this month!)

(also, the subject of that post is "You can't masturbate ALL the time", as a reference to the icon I used on both that entry and this one.)

November: In the past 48 hours, I have:

December: Hey!

(aaaand that brings us up to about half an hour ago. Now I am going to bed! I thoroughly recommend you participate in this meme, because it is, as our new Russian overlords tell us, "Good fun". Night all!)

Peter makes various lists, gets scared.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:36:03 GMT

Hey! So! I said I would update each day, and that is what I shall do.

I was at work for less than 2 hours today, when the slight neck pain that I'd been feeling turned into a headache, and was accompanied by fuzzy thinking. I asked the boss if I could head into the chiropractor, which she enthusiastically allowed, and when the chiro said that returning to a day of sitting at a desk was a terrible idea, I called in and said that I wasn't going to be in for the rest of the day.

Since I was already in the city, I hit the shops, picked up some lunch and (feeling guilty for having the day off work) finally went in to pick up the photos that I'd dropped off for work a few months ago. The machine had stuffed up while the photos were processing, so the film had actually been destroyed (which is why they hadn't been able to find them the last 2 times I'd gone in) and they reimbursed me (ie my work) one roll of film. So now my work has one roll of film, but no photos.

The film had been one we'd found in an old camera, so we hadn't lost anything vital, but I was super-curious as to what was on there. Looks like I'll never know. Anyone want to use that as the plot for a best-selling novel, please go ahead.

I went home, and (since my headache hadn't really gone away) fell asleep for a few hours, then recorded a video blog. My cousin and I have been playing with communicating by video blog lately, and his have been less than 4 minutes, while mine have all been around 10. Today, I decided to make one that was less than 4 minutes, and I think it's the best one that I've made by far:

I'd like to claim that it's purely because of the 4 minute thing, but it's a number of factors:

Watching over my others, I realised that I was never really trying to be funny. In this one, I tried (not - I hope - to an annoying degree) to actually put moments of humour into this one, instead of just making it one big info-dump.
I decided to go with fast and enthusiastic, because I think that's more watchable than languid and slow-paced. The 4-minute limit definitely helped with the speed, but putting deliberate enthusiasm in makes a lot of difference.
I cut a lot out. Again, the 4-minute limit influenced this one, but my problem has always, my entire life, been wanting to put everything I do in. This time, if it wasn't gold, it got cut. I could have included another 40-50 seconds and still been under 4 minutes, but anything even slightly uninteresting got left out, leaving just the best bits. Again, huge difference

So check it out, let me know what you think.

After filming and uploading that, I headed off to an evening of impro, which was wholly enjoyable. We spent the entire first half doing opening offers - nothing after the first line/movement, just the initial offer and then we were told to sit down. The guy running the lesson wrote them all down, and we analysed which ones inspired us as players, which ones interested us as audience members, and (most importantly/interestingly) which types of opening offers we never used.

Turns out that no one in this troupe opens with characters or environments, which took me by surprise. Fascinating little exercise.

I'm home now, and probably going to head off to sleep. I'm moving out of this house in two weeks time, so here's (for my benefit more than anything) a list of stuff I have to do before then, in no particular order:

(ideally) Finish the ImproACT editing that I've been doing.
Write four episodes of the YouTube sitcom I'm filming with Gavin next year
Pack all of my worldly possessions
Finish a whole heap of stuff at work (get journal claims up to date, write procedures for the guy who is taking my position)
Go shopping for pants and shoes with a friend o' mine
Update my livejournal every day
Mail Gavin the editing software that I promised to mail him (will probably do this tomorrow)
Rewatch the last two episodes of Lost season 4
Complete Secret Project AP (more on this when it's completed)
Book a trailer to take my stuff from here to Melbourne
Book storage space in Melbourne
Have my "going away" party (this Saturday night)
Organise a board game night
Meet up with a girl I went out with a few times to get some DVDs back
Disassemble all my furniture in preparation for Melbourne
Change my address on all 500 things that you need to change your address on when you move
Book my Practical test for my motorbike licence
Actually pass my test for my motorbike licence
Decide what to do with all my old clothes
Either cancel or postpone all of my regular monthly payments that I won't be able to afford while I'm temporarily unemployed (gym membership, Amnesty, Wilderness society, Red Cross)
Perform in 2 more impro shows, and go to all the relevant rehearsals
Square any debts I have to my housemates (bills and all that jazz)
Use up the last of the Canberra-related vouchers I've acquired during my time here

Holy crap that list is so much more intimidating than I expected it to be. That's more than a tiny bit scary/depressing. Rather than end on such an overwhelming note, I'm going to update in a few minutes with a meme. Stay tuned!

Also: watch that video and leave opinions! (either over at YouTube, or in the comments here!)

Why I like my workplace: Fights.

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:48:02 GMT

I just grabbed a drink of water, and on the way back from the kitchen, passed one of my workmates.

Her: Hello you.
Me: Hey Laura. I feel like having a fist fight, so I’m just going to provoke you until…-
(she punches me)
Me: Hey! No fair!
(I turn to her boss, who hasn’t been listening. She’s been, you know, working.)
Me: Judy! Laura punched me!
Judy: Do you have any witnesses?
Me: No…
Judy: Well, it won’t hold up in a court of law.
(Judy goes back to working. Laura sticks her tongue out at me.)
Me: Oh you'll get yours, Laura. You'll get yours…

In unrelated news, tomorrow is the start of December. In December, I'm aiming to update my LJ once every day. Any topics you particularly want to hear about, let me know now.

The IT guy at my work.

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:31:37 GMT

The IT guy at work sits a cubicle or two away. His cubicle-mate and my cubicle-mate are both away today, so I suppose he must be bored.

A few minutes ago:

IT guy: Hey Peter, a lot of continents start with A.
Me: Hmm?
IT guy: A lot of continents start with A, right?
Me: What? Yeah, I guess they do.
(pause)
Me: ...and?
IT guy: Oh, that was all.
Me: What?
IT guy: Yeah, I just noticed. A lot of continents start with A.
Me: The ones that start with A all end with A, too.
IT guy: All of them?
Me: Well, which one doesn't?
(pause)
IT guy: Yeah, I guess you're right.
(pause)
IT guy: Maybe there's something in that. The beginning is the same as the end...or maybe I'm just getting too philosophical here.

EDIT: Immediately after posting this, he asked me a couple of questions about filming, prefaced with "Hey Peter...this isn't another stupid question about A's."

The Limitations of Twitter's 140 Characters.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:50:27 GMT

The other night, I posted something a bit controversial on my twitter account. It’s no excuse, but the combination of a 140 character limitation, the fact that I posted it immediately before going to sleep, and the day I’d spent reading atheist websites meant that my message actually didn’t reflect what I wanted to say at all.

Several people called me on it, and I promised to write a blog-post that better conveyed my opinion. This is that blog-post.

The original tweet: “How do religious people feel about atheists succeeding as much as or more than them without God? Makes Christians look weak.”

I got a couple of replies: “Christian does not equal religious” and “Christianity is not about ‘success’” being the main thrust, which are both quite valid points, and what made me realise that I hadn’t even come close to expressing the thought that I was trying to express, which was this:

Quite often, when a religious person achieves some form of success – winning a race, building an empire, marrying their perfect woman – they’ll say something along the line of “I couldn’t have done this without God”, or thank God/Jesus for being responsible for their success. I’m just going to assume that they mean it – motivations for lying are a whole different argument.

So my intended question was “How do people who do this feel about other people achieving similar/identical success without holding God responsible?” If two people win two similar races, and one says “I’m here thanks to God,” and the other says “Actually, I’m an atheist and did this through hard work and a lot of training and God wasn’t really involved at all”, doesn’t it sort of make the first fellow look a bit weak? Obviously they both must have done a lot of hard work and training to get where they got, but while one takes responsibility for it, the other credits it to supernatural powers.

I’m not intending to poke fun or stir people up, I’m just curious to get the Christian(/general religious) opinion on this. I’m neither atheist nor Christian, but I find both points of view endlessly fascinating. (though not, I must confess, nearly as fascinating as I find Mormons. I could do nothing but read about Mormons for the rest of my life.)

If you’ve got thoughts, share them in the comments!

Things I’ve learned today: don’t try to compress complicated religious statements into 140 characters.

A tale of woe and laptop.

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:13:46 GMT

While I was on holiday in Brisbane, I bought one of those ultra-portable little laptops. A Dell netbook, it was $500 and it does everything that I want a tiny laptop to do.

On the way home from Brisbane to Canberra, it somehow got dropped, and now the screen is screwed.

I wasn't too worried at first, because it was only a few black areas, and I wasn't using it for anything other than typing. But over the weekend, despite not being used at all, the black areas have started to spread, and the screen is all but unusable.

My warranty doesn't cover accidental damage, and I spoke to Dell about getting a new screen - $165 for the bare components, and another $220 to have the new screen installed.

$385. To get a $500 computer fixed.

I have a spare monitor at home that I can just plug into it, but that sort of defeats the point of having an ultra-portable laptop.

Not sure what to do, honestly, other than just sigh, shrug my shoulders, and chalk this one up to experience.

Anyone want to buy a mostly-useless laptop?

Peter thinks about thinking and writing.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:42:28 GMT

I think I used to think a lot more, back when I regularly updated livejournal.

This December, I'm going to try to update every day.

The goings-on of Peter lately. (travel-blog)

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:44:53 GMT

In the past 48 hours, I have:

Walked from my house to a bus in the middle of Canberra. (5km)
Climbed 3 trees on the way.
Been stopped by the police once for doing so.
Caught one bus from Canberra to Melbourne. (665 km, $74)
- Had three or four bursts of about an hour's sleep. (I'm normally great at sleeping on buses, but this one was terrible...and I didn't get my beloved window seat.)
Walked from Southern Cross station into the middle of Melbourne. (1km)
Realised what time my bus left, and run from the middle of Melbourne back to Southern Cross Station. (600m)
Caught one taxi a ridiculously short distance. (400m, $4)
Caught one bus from Melbourne to Phillip Island (140km, $10.40)
- Had about two bursts of hour-long sleep
Had one much-needed shower
Watched two friends get married
Got one lift from Phillip's Island to Frankston station (104km)
Caught one train from Frankston to Southern Cross Station (60km, $2.80...though I did buy the wrong ticket.)
Jumped one turnstile while the guard's back was turned
Caught one bus from Southern Cross Station to Melbourne Airport (25km, $16)
Had three bursts of two hours of sleep on the airport floor
Expressed surprise at how many other people were sleeping on the airport floor
Caught one plane from Melbourne to Brisbane (1500km, $120)
Got one lift from Brisbane airport to the Big Green House (15km)
Reunited with one cousin
Gotten my hands on one new ultra-portable laptop ($499)
Got one lift from the Big Green House to Chermside shops (500m)
Had one Grill'd burger and one Zarraffa's iced coffee ($10)
Shouted my cousin the same ($10)
Got one lift from Chermside shops to Roma St (10km)
Caught one bus from Roma St station to Toowoomba (126km, my parents paid for the ticket)
- Had about 3 bursts of 20 minutes of sleep
Got one lift from the middle of Toowoomba to my parent's place (2km)
Reunited with two siblings and two parents

Tomorrow I'm driving with Dad back to the Big Green House, where I'll be staying for the next two weeks. My lovely new laptop means that I will (hopefully) manage to start updating my livejournal on a much more regular basis - currently my problem is that I'm never home, I'm always at work or out, and I can't write LJ updates from work. My laptop (nicknamed "Tom") will hopefully go with me everywhere, so that whenever I have a spare half-hour, I'll be able to do some writing. (whether LJ or other.)

The police story is pretty cool, maybe I'll tell it some time.

I've not been in Queensland since I left 6 months ago - if you're keen to meet up, drop me a line here, or attend a party that I'm holding. (see my Facebook for details.)

I'm going to go have some well-earned sleep now. In a bed, for the first time since Thursday night. I think I've travelled more in the past 48 hours than I ever have in a 48-hour block before in my life, except maybe that time I flew over to Perth. Too tired to do the math. Sleep well all!

As an Australian, I concurr. (/conquer)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:26:15 GMT

From dmmaus:

A fundamental difference between Australians and Americans, and one that will stand you in good stead in cross-cultural interchanges if you remember it:
Americans respect their government, but they do not trust it.
Australians trust their government, but they do not respect it.

I'm super, thanks for asking. +poll

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:14 GMT

View Poll: #1473496

I want to update, just haven't been home in a while, and when I am I'm treating it as down-time and not going near my computer. Been watching a bit of TV, not as much as I'd like to (that's something you don't hear very often) - just watched through the first season of How I Met Your Mother and Coupling. Really need to do some writing and video editing, I'm way behind on my self-appointed deadlines.

On the plus side, I'm feeling really good about myself and life. Being busy tends to do that to me - I feel productive and valued, and those are lovely things to feel.

Transcript of conversation with a co-worker.

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:52:21 GMT

Me: I was watching a historical documentary last night, and it said that there actually used to be businesses before the internet.
Her: What do you mean?
Me: Well, you know how we communicate with other businesses via email? Yeah, apparently they used to have businesses talking to each other before the internet even existed.
Her: You mean…still on computers?
Me: No no, that’s what I’m saying. Before computers even existed, businesses used to communicate with each other. I don’t know how it would work.
Her: Well yeah, by the telephone.
Me: Yeah, I didn’t really understand it myself. It was a weird concept though. Business before the internet. I mean, how would you send an email?
Her: You’d write a letter.
Me: No, but this was before even computers existed. How would you print out a letter?
Her: By typewriter…
Me: Yeah, I’m not so sure.
Her: Or you could just write it.
Me: Write every letter? That’s insane. I don’t really think it was-…
Her: I don’t understand.
Me: Yeah, I don’t think it was real. I think it must have been a hoax – like you know those people who believe the moon landing was faked? I think it was like that, they were pretending that businesses communicated before the internet.
Her: Peter, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Ah, the comedy of real life.

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:06:21 GMT

Just then, on MSN.

Brent: you santimonious prick!
Me: Do you mean sanctimonious?
Brent: duck
Brent: FUCK!

Ridiculous claims by Conserve a pedia.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:31:16 GMT

Reading through the "Obama is likely the first Muslim President" page is astounding. Their evidence:

Obama declared in prepared remarks, "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because I am one of them." Oh selective bolding, you can prove any point you like!
Obama used his Muslim middle name when sworn in as President.
Obama stated that the autobiography of Malcolm X, a Nation of Islam leader who became a Muslim, inspired him in his youth. God, if only he'd been inspired by Mein Kampf, then we'd know he was a Christian!
Obama's background, education, and outlook are Muslim, and fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.
Obama tries to downplay his Islamic background by claiming that his Kenyan Muslim father was a "confirmed atheist" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics, or non-religious

Oh my god...I just realised something...Obama can't be president!! Statistics prove it: less than 0.000001% of people have EVER been president! What are the odds that he is?

Statistics never lie, people!