I don't like horses

So it's Melbourne Cup day and everyone is getting excited... Well it seems like everyone is supposed to be getting excited. But I'm not...

I hate horses...

Like seriously, in our current world they're the most pointless animal that we "farm" and horse racing is a seriously pointless industry.

I can understand that horses USED to be important when they were the primary means of getting anything done on a farm (and thus helping us produce food). They also used to be one of the most important methods of transport which is pretty important. And when your military strength was significantly related to the strength of your cavalry wing horses were pretty important too...
And horse racing surely just grew as an offshoot of people trying to prove they had the "best" horses...

But now? What do we use them for? Seriously? They get ridden recreationally... by spoilt little kids and professionals the size of spoilt little kids...

We don't use them on farms, we don't use them for (non recreational) transport, they have been irrelevant militarily since the advent of massed gun powder and we don't even eat them... They're not even clever/funny/cute...

Most over hyped animal ever

I hate horses

Love, hugs and kisses
ANt

ps this has nothing to do with horses hating me

Stolen From Bookface Two: Return of the self plagariser...

So I decided to raid my old facebook notes for other bollocks to put into my blog (and preserve for eternity)... And I came across these "gems"

Velociraptors vs Batman

in depth analysis

Velociraptor

Pros

• They're DINOSAURS
• They're smart for dinosaurs
• They work in packs
• Feathers! So they're probably not cold blooded
• They're agile, fast and have that massive (for their size) killing claw

Cons

• They're WAY smaller than you think… Like the size of a Turkey
• They probably aren’t smarter than a cat (although Catwoman is one of Batman's most difficult adversaries... mainly because he's so busy trying to "get it on" with her)
  
• Feathers! So they look silly

Batman

Pros

• he’s batman and therefore not allowed to lose (LAME)
• he has plans for EVERYTHING, so that probably includes dinosaurs
• Velociraptors are pretty small… he could just drop kick them
• ”OMG! They can open doors!” so he’ll just booby trap the door

Cons

• he’s batman and therefore lame and the image of velociraptors eating him is cool
• there’s only one of him (and he is subject to the law of inverse ninja strength... He always gets the most screwed when working with Robin/Batgirl etc)
  
• he is “just a man”... Crazy Prepared isn't really a superpower anymore than "Logistics" is a superpower for Awesome X
  

So that tells me that vs a Velociraptor Batman would win… Vs a pack, batman would win…
However bring in a Utahraptor (a much much bigger raptor and it’s a different story… Over 2m tall and 7m long!) but even then I think batman would beat an individual dinosaur (of ANY kind)…

So now we’re up to Batman vs a pack of deinonychus (1.5-2m tall and 3m long)… They are the first dinosaur that blew my mind (even before J-Park) and I think a pack of them would possibly be a damn tough opponent for Batman… Victor would depend on the environment, how prepared batman is and just how many you have in the pack…

Discuss…

Next up....

It's a Monday with no league... what do real people do on a Monday?
I know! I'll write a facebook post...

So it's not that time of year and the hottest 100 of the year isn't rolling around. Instead Triple J are running a Hottest 100 of ALL TIME poll. They last did this 10 years ago or so. I do love my triple J and voting in the hottest 100 is an essential task to do each year (very rarely do I vote for a winner or even the top 10... I normally get a couple in the top 20 though... and got Muse- Knights of Cydonia through a couple of years ago). Anyway I've been nagging people to vote in this one or even just to think about it. What're your favorite songs of all time? That's a tough damn question.
For those not in the know about the process works... You don't pick 100 songs you don't pick 1... you choose 10 songs and the top 100 voted for songs win and are ranked and played in order. So you need to choose 10 songs which is a damn hard thing to do. So after much agonising and soul searching I've picked my top ten... and are listed as follows

1) The Living End Prisoner of Society
Kick Ass song... Kick Ass Band... When we're old and crusty telling our grandkids about what it was like back at the turn of the century this is the band we will be talking about... I have no doubt of that. There is a reason every year these guys make the hottest 100 for that year. This song made this band, it fucking rocks and 10 years after it came out we all still love it and know the words. It was MANDATORY listening at parties for at least 5 years after it came out and I have no doubt you could still whack it on a stereo at any time and NOONE will turn it off. Plus this song is amazing live....

Ranks 2-5 haven't bee assigned, but would include in no particular order

Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name
Yes... Rage... Rage are good... This is a very intense song. There's not many feelings like a whole crowd screaming "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"...

Frenzal Rhomb Ship of Beers
I was a mid-90s punk boy... Blink 182, NoFX, Strung Out, NUFAN... the whole Fat Wreck Chords scene. Frenzal held the Australian torch up pretty damn high. In a very public secret confession I'll admit I only just bought Meet the Family last year. And I knew the words to half the songs, probably dating back to when i was first listening to it circa year 8-9. The sorrow felt when those guys took "time off" was much more intense than I thought it would be (you don't miss something till it's gone... "we can't accidentally see frenzal anymore!"). Those who saw how overstimulated I was at their gig this year might have a clue as to why these guys kick so much ass...

Madness Baggy Trousers
Associated with the mid 90s punk thing comes a love of third wave ska... "But Madness are a second wave two tone band from the 80s!" chorus the pedantic ska music nerd crowd (if there is one). True... I would dearly love to put some Reel Big Fish on the list, but deciding on my favorite single song of theirs is nigh on impossible. Given that RBF owe their existence to Madness, RBF and Madness are the two best live shows I've EVER seen and I have a clear favorite Madness song I felt voting for this is a good compromise... I went ballistic when they played this song live... BLISS

The Action Design Eyes on Me
Who? Why waste a vote like that? Well two words TSUNAMI BOMB... Everyone who knows me should know the absolute thing I have for this band... So how does that connect to Action Design? Well unfortunately Triple J's list is exhaustive but doesn't have Tsunami Bomb songs on it (although the band is there strangely enough). So I voted for the next best thing, the follow up band. For the record I would've voted for 5150 (which is somewhat ironically the police code for an escaped lunatic) and possibly ...Not Forever or No Good Very Bad Day.

Ranks 6-10 (no order)
Midnight Oil The Dead Heart
The Oils are the best band to come from Australia ever... and definitely one of the most important. Go and listen to them now. And I don't care if he's a politician I still think he kicks ass. This is the song of theirs I like the most.

Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop
Partially a "fuck you" to all those kids out in their Rah-moan-ez shirts and don't even know the name of the song "Hey Ho Let's Go" comes from (it's Blitzkrieg Bop btw). But mainly I choose this for two reasons... One I love the song, Two I'm a punk boy (kinda... pop punk I guess) and these guys are the Moses of Pop Punk... Gotta pay your dues and this song deserves the votes...

Michael Jackson Beat It
He's the king of pop... Sure he's not playing with a full deck (i think his deck is just the 7 of Spades and a joker actually) but he sings and dances VERY well. To not put him in the top 100 artists of all time would be a travesty... I choose beat it for the same reason as the Oils... I like the song the most.

Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
Do I really have to explain this? Play this song anywhere and find me a group where at least one person doesn't sing along...

Joy Division Love Will Tear Us Apart
There's a reason this topped the list last time they did this... It's a good song... Listen to it and try and challenge me.

So that's my top ten... It was damn hard to pick too
other stuff that crossed my mind

Smells like teen spirit- Nirvana
You spin me right round- Dead or Alive
Blister in the Sun- Violent Femmes
- Daft Punk
Wonderwall- Oasis
Just a Girl- No Doubt (a karaoke classic!)
New York New York- (Best karaoke song EVER)
-Rise Against
-The Might Be Giants
Intergalactic- Beastie Boys
Fight for your right- Beastie Boys
Knights of Cydonia- Muse
Hazy Shade of Winter- I like the Bodyjar version
Black Betty- Once again I prefer Spiderbait’s version
Rock Lobster- B52s
Kung Fu Fighting-
-Crowded House
-Misfits (probably skulls)
Oh Fortuna Carmina Burana- Carl Orf
Night on Bare Mountain-

so yeah... comments/questions?

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

ps I think they should try a hottest 100 from all the songs that have been on a hottest 100 before... best of the best style... but that's just a slightly more selective hottest 100




Followed by death threats for Keanu Reeves...

So in his daily foray into the creepy underbelly of the interweb (ie he surfs 4chan) my brother found this picture and alerted me to it...
Three pictures, all with approximate dates... From right to left

Keanu Reeves last year, Keanu Reeves 14 years ago, and a portrait of an actor (who uses the name Paul Mounet) from 1875!... That's right 134 years ago!

Now obviously they're all the same person, which logically makes Keanu Reeves a minimum of 162 years old (given Paul Mounet was apparently born in 1847)... And if I know my "immortal beings" life stories (Ra's Al Ghul, Apocalypse and the Highlander characters) they just change their name/country of residence and resume their life every generation or so. This means we clearly can't tell how many "lives" Keanu has lived so far... I wonder who he was and what he did between 1922 and 1964? Something to do with fighting the Nazis I hope...

But obviously we now have one choice of action... Behead him with a sword and inherit his powers.

I needs to get me a sword of some form...

Love Hugs and Kisses


And last of all....

Discuss



So yeah extra stuff to think about from Bookface

Love, hugs and Kisses
ANt

So I've been thinking about death recently

and I've mad a list, in order of my favourite ones*

1. Well not my favourite... this is a countdown not a count up. But the blogger program can't handle a reverse numbering system (or it can I just don't know how to do it).
   Marvel Death (not the Horseman of the apocalypse, which would have therefore included Wolverine, Sabertooth and the rest of them but the anthropomorphic personification of death). And yes I know NOONE really dies in marvel comics. (except for Bucky and Uncle Ben... and even Bucky came back)
   
   
   She is kinda lame and fairly generic... Nothing really that notable about this one (other than her ability to make this a "top 5" list). I guess the fact that Thanos (one of the "big bads" of the Marvel universe) has a crush on her and his driving desire to kill EVERYONE in the universe to prove his love for her is her only original aspect...
2. (No not 2... but actually number 4)
   Family Guy Death
   Once again nothing to special about him... He has a few good jokes, a few more bad ones and like most Family Guy characters (excluding the obviously amazing Adam West... Noone messes with Adam We...).
3. DEATH (and yes he comes in at 3)
   He "TALKS LIKE THIS" and has made an appearance in every single Discworld book but one making him essentially the core character of the entire discworld series. With a few slight changes and adding a personality the fairly boring "death" of mythology etc he has become a quite unique and entertaining character.
   He sees his job as more of a public service than anything sinister (hence the constant desire to go on holidays it would seem) and isn't a bad guy at all. He's fairly amusing and whilst not getting killer "lines" (he's more of a straight man foil to the rest of discworld) he does get some awesome situations. Having to collect a tubeworm from the ocean is kinda amusing and Rincewinds death timing hourglass which curves back on itself and appears to operate in at least 4 dimensions is pretty cool.
   Adding in a host of sub-deaths and a white horse named Binky (because skeleton horses are a pain to wire back together and the flaming one set fire to the barn) and he was a tough character to knock back to third place... but you will see why.
   Incidentally I considered putting the Death of Rats on the list, but didn't need to because I already had 5... SQUEAK
4. No not 4... But actually Second
   She's perky, she's cute, she's popular to boot! She's the (relatively) new DC Comics Death. Created by Neil Gaiman (one of my many man crushes... he's so cool he's even engaged to Amanda Palmer!) she's the reason I even bothered writing this list. She debuted in the Sandman and was so popular she's even grabbed her own comics occasionally (Death: The High Cost of Living is what I just read to prompt this list).
   
   
   A perky inquisitive goth girl delighting in just experiencing life (Hey if you only got to live one day every century you'd be excited about eating a hotdog too I'm sure) you've really got to read something with her in it to understand why she's so cool... she just is. Probably good example of what good writing is. Read the Sandman or Death and nothing huge and gimmicky happens to draw you in, rather you just get to the end and go "shit that went fast... is that all?"
   She's also the best reason I've ever seen for someone to where an Ankh...
   
   
5. No not 5, but actually my favourite Death of all time...
   William Sadler's Saturn Award winning (for best supporting actor) Duke of Spook, Doc of Shock, Man with no Tan... Death from Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey...
   
   
   (FYI William Sadler was also in Red's Gang in Shawshank Redemption and Die Hard 2)
   
   
   I've never seen a Death start off with so much dignity (well they all try for dignity I guess) only to have it so systematically removed. From a sinister dark figure on the hill, to cross dressing to get into heaven, to whinging/boasting about pushing the cart and making the wigs whilst the Stations are assembling the good robot bill and teds. He plays the double bass (always a good thing in a band) and has some great moments...
   
   It's also prompted me to challenge death to either Twister or Battleships should I ever confront him/her/it (and best of 7? DAMN RIGHT!) rather than the traditional Chess.
   "You may be a king or a little street sweeper... but sooner or later you dance with the reaper"

So that's my list of favourite Deaths...

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

PS I found the stats function... Who searching for White Rabbit Dynamite anyway and how the hell did they find my blog with that search?

*clearly we're talking Anthropomorphic Death here...

Ninjas, Uni Games and Other Things...

Many things to talk about here... none of any consequence, but that's never stopped me before... Use the big bold print to work out which section is going on about what...

So I wussed out of getting my tongue pierced... AGAIN... This sucks, I really want to get it done but I guess I'm going to need someone to "hold my hand" for it. At least I was able to get the microdermals done. But yeah the fact most people don't want me to get my tongue done kinda psyches me out of it too... which sucks because I really want it done.
I went to Industrial Strength again (I don't think I'd ever go anywhere else now) and the main dude Rob did these ones... He's a really good piercer, but his "bedside manner" or whatever you want to call it sucks. He nearly pissed himself laughing watching me try and look at the back of my head with the two mirrors to check the placement. Basically he thinks everyone is and idiot and unless you're getting suspended I don't think he has any sympathy for you over piercing fear... But he knows his stuff, does everything quickly with the minimum of fuss and gets it right... He also explains all the aftercare and whatnot properly... yeah there is a difference in price between somewhere good like Industrial Strength and your shithouse Lord of the Jewels type place, but it's soooo worth it to go somewhere good... Rob also explained to me why you can't ever get your tongue done with anything but metal at first... you can't sterilise the plastic in an autoclave because it just melts... hence why you have to get the initial bar in metal and the smaller one can be plastic when it changes after 3-4 weeks.

In other news I got back from uni games in relatively one piece... We (Mac) came 7th, which i guess is fitting but we could've done better... all our games against the 5th-8th place getters were close and could've gone either way... A bit more luck (or less) and we could've been anywhere between 5th (or even 3rd!) to 8th... It's an interesting contrast the difference in the Uni scene in the last 7 years... Back at my first uni games in 2003 if you were an Eastern Uni and you lost two anyone outside of the Eastern Region it was an absolute disgrace... It appears everyone else has caught up now...
The whole two divisions thing kinda sucks too... I can see why the admin types want it, but the whole relegation thing sucks and I'm sure some of the pummelings dished out to the "social" teams by the serious ones don't look great, but some of the social teams were getting pummeled regardless. Plus everyone knows how much a uni team can change in strength in one year, sometimes by just adding/subtracting one player... Plus there's almost no contact between the div 1 teams and div 2, which kinda sucks too... How on Earth can the social teams develop without being able to see the game as it is supposed to be played? Hell most of the social teams didn't even seem to hang around to watch the finals...
As for my personal experience... well I kinda sucked... I played a handful of points each game at best, scored a couple of goals, but didn't throw one and when I was handling half the time I ended up getting cut out in favour of punting it long... Not to mention it was a 50-50 on whether I'd get completely owned speed wise and get scored on... It was kinda frustrating, I know I could've played better than I did and I kinda feel like I let the team down pretty badly... especially by the end. Oh well.
My body didn't quite fall apart as badly as it could've... I felt the tendinitis flare up, but it's not to bad... interestingly (well not really) it was the hurty bump in my left knee killing me and the tendinitis in my right... stupid body. I think we've come to the agreement that I don't like it and it doesn't like me... Watching all our talented n00bs was quite frustrating, they're all getting worried about their throws and remembering our plays and the like (I remember being like that) and don't quite accept that given time and practice that all comes together pretty easily... My issues are the opposite, skills wise I'm doing fine (yeah I don't huck, but I don't turn the disc that often) and I don't have any issues knowing the plays and where I should be IN THEORY... But my body just won't do it... I don't have the speed or the fitness to play at that level... which sucks... Skills will come, and there's always place for fit fast people... but not for slow unfit people (unless you're one of the best throws in Aus)... And yes I know I can go to the gym etc to get my fitness up... except for the fact that if I blitz the gym (which I have done before) my knees cave in completely and I can't play... So yeah I think I won't bother even trying for Nats next year (or anymore) and mixed nats is a write off too... EUGs next year will probably be my last "big" tournie I think... if I make the squad... stupid body/knees...

And now the important topic NINJAS... I was involved in yet another pirates vs ninjas debate and an interesting point was raised... Just how many ninjas are involved in this fight... The assumption of course for the pirates is you've got a ships crew involved (no doubt complete with rackishly charming captain, quietly competant 1st mate, drunk yet talented chef and naive but lucky cabin boy) but the number of ninjas involved is a key factor due to the *drum roll*

THE LAW OF INVERSE NINJA STRENGTH

Basically think of it this way... One Ninja = Unstopable, Two Ninjas= Tough, Horde of Ninjas= Dropping like flies... Check around and this law is always true... One ninja always kicks ass (see any of your stock standard Ninja movies), but the more ninjas there are the worse they are... up until you get an army of them and they suck balls (see the Ninja army in James Bond for the easiest example). Why do you think the Ninja Turtles could never beat Shredder One on One but always whooped the Foot Clan (obviously that scene with Raph in TMNT 1 was just for dramatic tension...). Or the Three ninjas kicking the ass of the horde of ninjas sent after them despite only being kids... Batman whooping the league of shadows but struggling with Raas Al Ghul... Electra vs The Hand... Kitty Pryde... Snakeeyes in GI Joe (he always kicks everyones ass except for Storm Shadow... also a loner... and that fight is 50-50... Because Storm Shadow wears white). Shintaro the Samuri always whoops the ninjas too, because there's always 3 of them... Hell even Jackie Chan fits into this...

Basically the more faceless ninjas you are up against the worse they will be to fight

Best reasoning I found for this was online... Basically in a fight there is a limited amount of ninja ability available... if you're the only ninja on your team you get it all and therefore kick ass... If there is an army of ninjas they all get a tiny little bit (basically the costume and that's it) and then get an ass whooping dished out to them.

Mathematically this means (apparently) Threat = 1/N (where N is the number of Ninjas)

Apparently this also applies to other groups... Vampires, Werewolves, Special Forces Commandos, Bad Ass Gangstas, Predators, Aliens, Flesh Eating Bugs, Demons, Jedi and any other "elite/scary" adversary you can think of...
Zombies are another group this law heavily applies too... When the zompocalypse is breaking out nothing seems to be able to stop those zombies and they eat 99% of the world. But after a couple of days suddenly a massive horde has developed and it's childs play to take them out/sneak past them/do whatever it is you have to do to save the day/escape/kill them all etc...

So clearly the number of ninjas involved in the fight with the pirates is going to be really important... 1 ninja = pirates in trouble, army of ninjas = ninjas eating cannon ball. I think we can write off ninjas in the fight if they outnumber the pirates, and write them off also as they move towards even numbers... 4 ninjas or less I think they're going to have a good chance, more than 10 I'd say no chance and 1 ninja and it's all over for the pirates...

The other important factor is what colour are the ninjas wearing? From my late 80s early 90s ninja movie watching I've sussed out the general heirachy... Red, Blue and Grey ninjas are hopeless, Black ninjas are definitely the baseline strength for ninjas (adhering closely to the inverse strength law) and the white ninja is superior in all ways (so superior he doesn't even need to wear a camoflage colour and can in fact wear bright unstainable (have you noticed this? the white ninja never even gets dirty) white and still be invisible. Other colours are harder to factor in... Camoflage pattern ninja costumes clearly kick ass... but I don't think they could ever take out a white ninja. Against a black ninja the law of inverse strength is clearly going to be the deciding factor. This puts camoflage (and most other colour choices) on par with a black ninja.

so White > Black (or "other" colours) > Red, Blue and Grey.

Oh and the more "tech" a ninja has the worse they are... kinda... Send ninjas in with "modern" weapons (guns/grenades/etc) and they're going to get whooped regardless of numbers or colours. But more futuristic tech and it becomes more related to the number of them... Hence Snakeeyes can use a gun and his funky ninja suit happily because he is always alone. But a group of ninjas with high tech suits and lasers will go down even faster than an army of traditional ninjas.

The only exception to this is Storm Shadow from GI Joe... Fighting Snakeeyes is always a 50-50 for him... Obviously the law of strength is in play (unless Storm Shadow is the only Cobra Ninja involved Snakeeyes will win). Storm Shadow has the advantage in his white suit and traditional weaponry, but Snake Eyes wins out with "hero" factor... That's why a fight between the two is always so close... They're so finely balanced...

So that's a lot of procrastination written up... I'll start my assignment tomorrow

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

Things and Stuff...

So we have a government again...

I could write a lot here, raving about politics is something I will do quite often with vigor (especially when I'm in opposition to whatever neo-con or religious right policy has been grabbing headlines) but noone here really wants to read a couple of hundred words of me ranting about stuff... Suffice to say out of the two options liberal vs labour I come down on the labour side... But I'm even a bit further left than they are... It is quite a surprise to me how many (semi) vocal liberal supporters I have as friends though... It can't even comprehend someone legitimately having that point of view... Oh well, everyone is different it seems...

And in other news, relating to the last post about AUGs coming in a big circle and going back to Perth and wearing red and stuff... The "token seppo" from mac this year is a dude named Taylor... Talk about around in circles, the first token seppo I ever played with was Arms... and his real name was Taylor... So clearly we all live in the matrix and I've just inhabited the frisbee (or uni frisbee) cell of the matrix for the whole ride and I've got back to the start...

I also saw that you can buy Daria on DVD for like $100+ (I assume it is all of them)... I'm definitely thinking about that. I started rewatching Duckman the other day and found out there are episodes of that I missed when I bought the dvd... so that gives me SOMETHING to do in my spare time.

I also went off to Industrial Strength in Newtown to talk about getting my tongue pierced before uni games. Turns out that's a no go... Industrial strength being what they are (ie vaguely competent and knowledgeable) said that it's two weeks for swelling to go down fully and control to return and then another few weeks before you should change the bar (not the "change in two weeks" you see reported). So that means no real healing before uni games, I'd still have the longer bar and most of the potential healing would be gone by the end of Uni games... So I'm going to hold off till I get back. I was also talking about other stuff I could get done that is less obvious and it turns out I could get a couple of microdermals behind my ear pretty easily.

Now (writing this for the second time because the damn thing didn't publish properly the first time) the first thing most (the vast majority of) people say when I mention that I want my tongue pierced is "WHY?"... so here is the answer... "Because I want to"

First up is the standard "what about when you get old?" thing that always gets brought up by people as an anti tattoo/piercing thing... Well two answers to that 1) most piercings can be taken out and will close themselves quick quickly (in the case of a tongue it's only a couple of hours)... obviously that doesn't work for tatts or dermal punches (not sure about stretches) but that's where 2) comes in... This answer came from Lex's bro I think but it goes basically "well when I'm old I'll be able to look back at them and say "shit I was cool/had some fun" when I was younger.

Next up is the "what about getting work?" etc... First of all this shits me to tears.
*engage rant*
I think it's a sad reflection on EVERYONE that people give such a fuck about what people look like and how they dress. Like seriously does it affect your work performance at all what you wear to work? Is there anyone in the history of the world who's said "well I was going to buy their product, it was the best for me, but then I found out that they were wearing JEANS! So I took my business elsewhere"... Like seriously what is everyone (ie the corporate worlds) problem? Are they so fucking narrow minded that people doing what they want is to be feared? I have more thoughts but it's hard to express angry anarchistic mutterings in type... What you look like has 0 impact on how good you work in 99% of jobs out there, it's what you think and know that counts... But the world is fucked up and narrow minded conservatives can't seem to get it into their head that piercings/tatts/casual clothes/hair colour/being fat have less affect on work performance (or any other form of performance) than being a narrow minded weaselly conservative fucktard does...
*end of rant*
But that's the main reason for me getting a tongue stud/microdermals... A tongue stud is pretty easy to conceal with a flat clear plastic stud and the microdermals are behind my ear, so not that visible (not to mention something people won't expect/notice at first).
I need something less visible and I'd never get my wang or nipples pierced... so that's why I chose tongue.

The other reason to get it done is it scares me something fierce. So that sounds a bit odd, but I've jumped out of planes (more than one), swum with (harmless) sharks, played with snakes and spiders, flash photographed bears and a host of other stupid shit and none of it has ever really scared me that much... But as a few of you will know I'm a bit of a narc when it comes to my teeth... The creepiest nightmare I have is of all of them breaking and falling out of my head. So a lip ring is a no-no (given they rub on your teeth and fuck them). A tongue stud has that potential if you're an idiot and do the wrong thing etc... but I think I'm safe there.
The real fear is because it's going to hurt... a LOT... None of my earrings hurt that much really (about the same as a blood test) and yeah my tattoo hurt whilst getting done, but that goes away the moment the needle is lifted off you... this one will hurt getting done... lots... and then it will swell and hurt for a few days... lots... I'm almost curious to see if I can take it. And doing something that scares you is supposed to be good for you...
I don't think the microdermals will hurt as much, but they're going to be pretty unique which is nice... not sure about if they can come out ever though... I assume so (if all else fails they could be cut out i'm sure).

So that's why I'm doing it

In other news I just listened to a song with the words "mindless minions" used... good phrase

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

Back to the Blog...

So I've been exceptionally nerdy recently... Besides the whole Scott Pilgrim fest and whatnot, a couple of weeks ago I went to see Neil Gaiman (of Sandman, Coraline, etc fame) at the Opera house. He was doing a live reading of a (decidedly average) short story of his accompanied by the fourplay string quartet. That was very cool... I need more books read aloud with a string quartet in the back ground...
The day after I then went to see Akira with a live music score played by the Gurge! That was awesome. The gurge did an AWESOME job... the music was bang on and not intrusive at the least... You'd forget you were listening to a live band... and they went NUTS during the fight scenes which also kicked ass. I'm not the biggest anime fan in the world (is there any anime in the world that doesn't leave you thinking "that was really fucking weird") but I'd watch more if there were live bands playing the music score...
And Last weekend I went back to the Opera house (the first two where there if I didn't mention it earlier) and saw Joss Whedon (Of Buffy, Firefly and Dr Horrible fame) just talking... It was kinda interesting, but clearly I'm not the tragic fanboy that most of the audience was. I did like the jokes Wil Anderson and Joss where making about the "Dick and Balls" comic they made up there... I think that would work surprisingly well as a webcomic... On the vein of that lame dinosaur clip art one. So not just dick jokes but rather the joke is in the inane banter with the extra kick coming from the fact it's two crudely (pun not intended) drawn dicks talking... This is the interweb and I'm sure there is a market for it.

On top of that I've bought/read a LOT of comics recently (and have a list of more to buy... added at the bottom if you really care). I've also finished the Scott Pilgrim game twice and Fallout 3 once (again).

This is all instead of doing my uni work... not that there is much of that yet... I'll start it tomorrow I promise. I've also not done the photo sorting from my trip or the scrapbooking I wanted to do... Oh well.

The other thing I've been doing since I got back is frisbee and training (pissweak) for frisbee... My favourite thing about this (which will be my last AUGs) is that we (mac uni) have gone the full circle and are back to playing in Red... Officially this time. To get the full story you'll need to jump into my time machine with me...
Back in the day (my first Uni Games, circa 2003) Mac Uni played in red... because we'd "ALWAYS" played in red. No other reason (although Liz Drummond does have a blue mace shirt with the same rear design as my first red one and a different front... pre dating red perhaps?). This was pre dating all this "frisbee shirt" crap when we just played in screen printed cotton tshirts (or spandex for the girls) and had the Goodies font on the back. Anyway some clown from the sports association turned up to watch frisbee being played by mac uni (for the first time probably) and said "why're you all in red?"
"we're ALWAYS in red"
"But Macquarie plays in Green and Gold"
"But we play in Red"
"The uni colours are Green and Gold"
"Oh... Did we mention these are the shirts we ALWAYS play in and they're red?"
Fast forward to 2004 and someone at the sports association decided that we needed to have a GREEN uniform so they gave the team some surplus soccer or hockey gear (one of the REAL sports)... We didn't look AWESOME, but we were finally the "correct" colours.
That started a pattern (for the years I had off... aka the "Matt Dowle" years) of Mac playing in red (because we ALWAYS play in red... See the ultra cool hayley drawn barbarian shirts) all the time except at Uni Games themselves. Then last year in a fit of brilliance (or we need to burn some money) Mac uni hired a VERY VERY VERY expensive consultant to "change/fix the corporate image". Apparently the lighthouse upset people because we're not near the beach... Part of this involved a change of colours from Green and Gold to Burgundy and Charcoal... Which meant new uniforms for all the sports teams (sucks to be in the hockey club that just bought new kits less than six months before this). This is why last year Mac took to the field in the Rory organised (praise be unto him) White and Charcoal numbers (that took a LOT of dicking around to get approved). So what is happening to Mac Uni this year? Well in my last AUGs mac uni is back to a Red shirt with black shorts... just were I started... what a nice complete circle.

The other thing I'm going to write here (for those who read it) I'm seriously thinking about getting a tongue piercing this Friday... Or Microdermals behind my ear... or both (dependant on cost and feasibility). Anyone have any thoughts?

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

PS. Comics I want to buy (presents for me if you want =P)

• Box Office Poison
• Too Cool to be Forgotten
• The Goon (maybe)
• Bone (maybe)
• Zombies vs Robots
• Mercy Sparx (maybe)
• Death the High Cost of Living
• Possessions (maybe)
• Lost Girls (maybe)
  

So yeah... I'm home

So I've been REALLY slack since I got back and haven't updated this at all...

But yeah, I got home safe and sound... a few hiccups with the flight home as mentioned... the cancelled Florence to Amsterdam flight was a pain in the hole, but I got stuck on a flight to Paris leaving "now, can you run" and then to Singapore and then home... Big bonus was the lack of stopover which meant I actually got home FASTER than initially planned. Minor hiccup at Singapore airport where the chick at the transfer desk wasn't super willing to recognise my transfer because she didn't know the weird ass airline that cancelled on me initially (yes madam transfer there ARE airlines you don't know... like dodgy italian one that was SUPPOSED to fly me to Amsterdam). So she called Qantas (who I was flying with) and they dragged their feet as it was the Air France quota I was on... so she called the Air France desk and he was all "I'm French" *Shrug* but eventually I got on...

So in summary I had a great time, met some cool people (thanks to all of them too) and did have a mental shut down when I got home...

But back to life now

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

Hayley is making me fat... Oh yeah and the girls won in Florence

So I said I'd be blogging up Florence in Bangkok... spoke to soon... am writing this in Paris instead and I'll explain why later.

After a long line and a short sprint I made it onto the last train from Rome to Florence and I met Max, Hayley and Nick at the station shortly after they watched the showcase game. We then headed off imediately to "the best Tiramasu in Florence" for dinner (good pizza), beers (good micro brewery beers) and dessert (the aforementioned tiramasu that was really fucking good).

Deciding to forego the early U23 games we met early early (like 8ish or so) the next day to go and see Dave... and it was AWESOME. We saw Dave really early before he got crowded so we got the full affect and even managed a sneaky photo. He really is very very impressive. We also got to see some other stuff... highlights being seeing/hearing a hurdy gurdy and a trumpet marine... The hurdy gurdy being the bastard lovechild of a violin, guitar, piano and angle grinder and the trumpet marine being a single stringed bass type thing that somehow sounds like a trumpet being played underwater... google them.

Oh and we also went to "the best granita place in Florence"... once again not lying...

A trip to Pisa where there is A TOWER THAT LEANS with Max and Nick followed that before a regroup with Hayley to go to the fields just in time to find out the U23 boys lost their quarter to Germany =(
We then got to see the girls win before we headed off to dinner at "the best restaurant in Florence" this time with Nat and Liz in tow. Again no lies... it was AWESOME... the pizza kicked ass and so did the hot tomato pasta. Amazing gratis lemon granita and credit card roulette (with me winning the pot) made that probably my best italian restaurant experience... Even with the waitress nearly in tears because she felt so bad hayley had to pay for everyone because that's the card she didn't pull out. Oh and the top shelf gelato across the bridge was pretty sweet too...

A bit of a sleep in and then we got our disc on the next day (amongst granita/gelato/tiramasu trips of course) and we especially got to see the girls win their semi. Then another trip to the restaurant followed and this time the waitress refused to play credit card roulette and instead went to get her boss to do it... very funny... she was pissing herself laughing at us as we left ("oh you crazy aussies" style) and then it was off to the mixed final and party... the party was at a pool... kinda cool... but had a slightly odd vibe for me.

Sleep in again and it was finals day... The girls won... it was an awesome game... I took a shirtload of pics on TG's camera so I don't have many but the game was really tight and very cool to watch and cheer them along with the boys. Seb's juice moose song and the blatant cheer stealing (not to mention the japanese hate/love backflip between womens and mens finals) were quite fun. All the girls played well and deserved their win over japan...
Mens final was ok too... but being less emmotionally invested meant I payed less attention... I did get to hear some sweet heckle calls on Canada though.
And obviously following the win there was a fairly big (if informal) party at one of the hostels... Max, Hayley and I first had to have yet another italian dinner though... this time with free wine. We saw the sign and were a tad curious... especially after we still saw reasonable prices on the mains... So we guessed it was just a free glass... but then got told it was UNLIMITED free wine... so we asked what the catch was... The owner made the wine himself...
But it was still pretty good, the red better than the white...
Off to the party (where for a change I was barefoot...) and party party party till it was home time when Max and I discovered we were locked out. This is where I saw the main difference in how Max and I deal with things... He threw grapes and rang doorbells till we got inside... I slept on the doorstep...
Breakfast and packing my bag today and then Max, Hayley, the Birthday boy Nick "I'm going to read my book on the pooper" Dousett and I went to the Florence leather market to get magic wallets (amongst other things) and then Nick and I went to the aeroporto... We met the HoS boys there for all our flights to Amsterdam, which was cancelled... much lining up and waiting and frustration followed with those fellows off to a hotel for flights tomorrow whilst I lucked in and had my Florence-Amsterdam-Bangkok-Sydney flight changed to a Florence-Paris-Singapore-Sydney flight that I THINK gets me home faster than I would've originally...

So I'm in Paris now writing this and next time I get net-side I will be home... Not sure how I feel about that. I'm tired of living out of a bag and would like a relax for a while. But I think I will also get antsy at home within a week or so to be going new places and to museums etc... oh well...
Also not looking to the long haul flights... I hate flying... not from fear just the fact I can't sleep and the aircon screws my sinuses... oh and the cliche of shitty airline food will only be stronger with the gastronomical delights I've had the last week or so...

Oh well

See you all soon

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

"Do you think they know we're arguing about ninja turtle and not artists?"

Ahhh Rome the gentle sound of the ambulence and police siren every two minutes...

Ok so it's been a while since the last post... I hopped onto a boat in Dubrovnik at like 11pm and got off it in Bari around 8... it wasn't as bad as people said it would be. The trick is to sleep on the floor rather than the chairs... I'm claiming credit for starting that trend in the section of the boat I was in. I was first to lie down on the floor and when I woke up nearly everyone was doing it... I was coughing up an absolute flem storm though (yeah I know you think I'm gross... but as I've said before I'm not really gross I'm Rock & Roll).

I then got a train from Bari (down south somewhere) to Rome... the train was actually pretty good... The italians may be chaotic and out of control but they do their trains well. It also wasn't packed in the slightest so I got to sleep easily.
Got into Rome and decided to stay two nights to fit in all the Rome touristy stuff. I decided to do it all in walking tour type things rather than faff about alone and try and do it... mainly because I didn't want to have to plan it out I just wanted someone to show me where it all was (yeah it's lazy but gimme a break). I did a night tour the first night that concentrated mainly on the fountains and stuff that looks good at night... It was pretty cool and I saw a lot of things and got told stuff I wouldn't have seen or found out if I was alone. Things like the bitchy "war by sculpture" that was conducted mainly by Benini (or whoever he was that sculpted most of Rome). The guide knew heaps and ironically there was a bogan aussie on the tour whinging about bogans... I also got told about another Bone church and saw what I thought was a magic shop I wanted to go back too.
The Yellow hostel I stayed at was a "party" hostel... which wasn't really my scene... I don't really appreciate the "lets get wasted" mentality of some travellers... especially when it affects your ability to see the sights etc that you're travelling for in the first place... Stupid seppos...
I also wore shoes for the first time since halfway through WUCCs because I put on my long pants the next day and went off to see the pope... or at least visit his house.

...He wasn't home...

But the Vatican tour I did was pretty interesting, although I do cringe everytime I meet a new "Aussie" travelling. Although listening to selfish people try and justify their selfishness is kinda amusing.
One part of the tour was going to "the best gelato shope in Rome" and yes it was AWESOME. I had a caramel and a lemon on (not together I got two)... The caramel rocked my socks... but it meant the lemon one tasted like the sourest of sour sours...
I saw some old buildings and the 10 angels bridge (hearing all about the passion of the christ along the way) and then in the line to the Vatican museum I bumped into Max and Nick and aranged to meet them for dinner.
So the vatican museum was pretty cool... but even I was gettting over italian rennanisance scultpure and (especially) painting by then. The sistine chapel was kinda cool though... I didn't realise it was lots of little pictures though. I think the irony of a little man shouting for everyone to be silent (not to mention the loudspeaker telling everyone) was a bit lost on most though. And talking noises... sistine chapel, best venue for a penis game EVER... Due to all the people I completely lost my tour group though so I headed off to St Pete's Bassilica by myself... Only to re find them there after I left it. That's the nicest church I've been in... which is would want to be given it's like god's house etc.... I then climbed the dome after a brief fight with the ticket man (why the fuck would I want 4 tickets you retard... I'm alone)...

I then returned to the hostel to find my new room reaking of BO... yuck...
Then I went to dinner with Nick and Max... finding out in Italy you apparently need a passport to access the internet to stop the terrorists or something. We booked our accom for Florence together there and then crossed town to a restaurant that the Lonely Planet recomended...

and they were right...

Dino and Tony's was a serious experience... I hadn't had awesomeness food experience until this restaurant... It felt a bit like eating at your friends parents' house... we felt like we should be carrying the dishes into the kitchen to help wash up against their protests of something... except the food was about the best I've ever had. Now (as you should know) Iàm not a "foodie" like a lot of my friends, but this place rocked my socks... We didn't even order... Dino (or perhaps Tony) just said "I sort you out" after we asked for antipasto...
This antipasto was so big and so good we started to think it was actually a main course too... then we got two pasta dishes each... A simple bologenese and an even simpler garlic, olive oil and basil number cooked better than I'd ever had before... followed by an "ice coffee" which was essentially frozen coffee shaved into flakes and covered with whipped cream... Coupled with the unique serving style (throw cutlery from a distance and slam plates onto the table) and a fight between dino and tony and it was amazing... A trip to a bar (after a post midnight dinner finish) and a watermellon on the walk home and you had a very full and very happy anthony.

The next day I did Justin's gore and violence tour of "badass" ancient rome sites... I saw the pantheon and the colleseum and circus maximus and other stuff like that... very cool, quite interesting and great to see all these legendary places I've been reading about for years... I also went back to the magic shop (which was an oddity, collectibles and antiques shop in reality) to get that statue I noticed of the devil for mum for her bday... only it cost 2000 euro... WOW... I guess her and I do have similar taste...

I then had a slight hiccup leaving town... 45 mins in a line getting pushed in on nearly blew my cool... especially as I nearly missed the last train to Florence because of stupid old people... I made it by 1-2 mins TOPS after sprinting in my pack. I really liked Rome and was happy I went to see ancient rome... but modern Rome and the people (and the rudeness) in it nearly ruined it for me...

Anyway that was Rome, I leave for home tomorrow and will try to blog up Florence on my stopover in Bangkok... but the summary goes Florence food is amazing, Dave is AWESOME and the girls won gold... YAY

Lòve, hùgs and Kisses
ANt

Croatia- "So where's your invitation?" "Same place as yours..."

So only one week left till I'm out of here...

Since I left Prague I've been in Croatia with TG. We started by flying from Prague to Split, where we spent a few hours looking at the palace before we jumped onto a boat to Vis Island. We got off the ferry to be greeted by people trying to flog accom off to us and we got a decent deal for a two bed flat with a nice view of Vis town.
Our first full day on Vis we intended to spend going to Blue Cave, but the trip didn't run due to numbers. So we hired a scooter instead and did a big lap of the island exploring the beaches. We ended up going to 5 lovely beaches and despite a minor toe injury and some slight sunburn it was an AWESOME day. And the sunburn really wasn't bad at all thanks to europe having and ozone layer.
The next day the blue caves trip was once again canceled so we hoped a early ferry back to split and then a bus to Dubrovnik... with a brief stop in Bosnia for some reason.

Dubrovnik is awesome. At first I got off the bus and I wasn't wowed at all but TG instantly started playing all the accom scalping Nannas against each other and we ended up with a bargain apartment in the old town. The Nanna then barged us onto a bus and checked us in. But as we hit the old town I understood why Dubrovnik is so popular... Words can't quite do it justice... you will need to see the pics. We went out with Max (the Byron kid we meet off the bus who stayed with us) and another English girl that night and started our night drinking free champagne at a jewelery opening/promo we somehow managed to crash (hence the cheeky where is your invite comment someone pulled on me) and then kicked on further... including a bizzare meeting with a group of very wealthy snobbish Russian girls who didn't want to associate with the inebriated Australians accosting them accusing them of being from Woolongong.

Next morning we went to "hole in the wall" beach/bar... which is the coolest swimming spot I've been to in a long time... My favourite spot in Dubrovnik by far (this is after a reasonable sleep in) and faffed around the rest of the day looking around the old town.
The next day we once again slept in a little and had a morning trip to hole in the wall (we have been going like 2-3 times a day) and then did the Dubrovnik tourist thing. Rector's palace and Maritime museum etc... and the really good one, the walk around the city's walls... Very scenic.
Today TG has hopped a plane to get to Florence on time for the U23s, I will hop a ferry overnight to Italy and spend a day or two in Rome before I skip up for the end of U23s and my flight home.

More general observations of Dubrovnik (and extended Adriatic Croatia) is that it really isn't sure what it is or wants to be... Is it a Coastal Resort? A Family holiday spot? Or a super expensive elite hang out... Or a backpacker town? There are aspects of all of it here...

In other news my sinuses have exploded since I've been in Dubrovnik... and I'm a little tired of living out of a bag... So home sounds kinda cool... but I'm sure within a week I'm going to want to be traveling again...

Love Hugs and Kisses
ANt

Sex, Communism, Torture and Death... My last few days in Prague

So I've apparently really become a barefoot hobo whilst in Prague... My cons have pretty well died a death and I was forced to buy a pair of thongs yesterday after spending most of WUCCs barefoot and I still spent a lot of today wandering barefoot.

Yesterday besides buying thongs Johnny and I made a trip out to kutna hora to see the Bone Church... After a couple of missed train, sleeping through station incidents we eventually got there and wow was it worth it... You need to see the pics to see why. More macabre bone piles... yay =)

Today I did a communism walking tour which was only ok... right up until the point we got to climb into a working nuclear bunker (my second for this trip... only this one is a commie one). It was really awesome, and a club/live music venue on the weekend... so very very cool... and I got to wear a gasmask! The "If you could thrive in communism you can thrive in capitalism" quote was a ripper though.

I then met TG and Tara and we went to the sex toy museum and one of the torture museums... both bringing on a "wow people did that to each other?" response in different ways. The sex museum was just funny and bizarre... Torture was a little more Eeewwww. It was much better than the Transylvanian one though.
We then ate awesome ice cream and I went off to see the Dali and Munch exhibition... Interesting... I like the Dali stuff and the munch stuff was nice, if not quite my scene.

A trip to the communism museum (found next to a casino and above a Maccas) provided a few more soviet propaganda laughs. Following this I got to pick up my freshly washed clothes (bliss) and headed out to drinks and dinner with TG and Tara at the comic bar (oh how I wish it was Wednesday for the Rockabilly night) and then a giant hunk of pig leg near their hotel. Spotting a shirt with a picture of Basil Faulty underscored with "Don't mention the war" and a mojitio at KFC (!!!! But I don't THINK it was alcoholic) finished my last night in Prague.

Oh and the Prague Public Transport videos are really funny.

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

The End of the World Frisball "Bunch of Friends" Competition

So day 3 of Worlds... Back to the afternoon shift and scoring, although this time I didn't get to do any scoring because of weather interruptions. To all the players and people at WUCCs I'm not saying anything new when I talk about "that rainy day" nor am I mentioning anything new when I say the buses to and from the fields were a bit shambles at times...

Anyway on day 3 I had an arvo shift at Slavia (so not Strahov where I was staying) and I decided to hop a slightly earlier bus over to Slavia so that I could watch Smurf from Adelaide play. Getting the bus at a non shift/game change time did mean that there was only 3 people on the bendy bus (including the driver) which may have been what prompted him to get off the bus (engine running) at an intersection to get a drink... I arrived (in one piece) to find Smurf looking fairly comfortable against Jeremy Codhand and I thought (in true dutiful australian fashion) "well I am outside... time for sunscreen"... not 35 seconds after I had rubbed in the last of my sunscreen (the tips of my ears as normal) than *BOOM* epic thunderstorm... Players eventually ran for cover to emerge later on the astroturf fields I was scoring to resume their games (all 3 throws of the Smurf game). As usual however kerfuffle reigns and whilst it was a simple return to play on Astroturf it was not so simple on the grass fields as "you can't resume play for an hour". Scoring at neglected whoop whoop (ie fields 27-28) and on astroturf we didn't get this message and allowed the next game, Mephisto from Canada vs Smiggetlydigglybigglyyodleyodle (Ikea) from Sweden to begin smack bang on time... The real difficulties began at 7-7 (one break each and a Callaghan) when the teams were told to get off the fields to let the other teams from the washed out games resume their play... Understandly the confusion, frustration and cold/wet/bedraggledness was palpable... So basically I did no scoring that day either...

In the evening we met Johnny and his random friend who I can't remember the name of (maybe WB does?) and we went off to club 11 to have a few drinks... I did catch another hedgehog though =)

So day 4 of the Woo Coo Cuck Cucks was a little confusing with longer shifts and shorter games (to fit in the afternoon games rained out) but I got to do an easy morning shift scoring Honey vs Tequila, China vs Russia and 'Card vs Jinx.
In true Honey form the girls decided to let the time cap go at 6-9 and score to make it 7-9 game to 11... and then win 11-10... ps Tequilla Boom Boom had the most annoying cheer of the tournament.
China vs Russia was only notable for the Russians inability to wear clothes and their shoddy spirit.
'Card vs Jinx was pretty cool though as it put Nadine and I "head to head" so to speak... Although I did get told off by the Germans for cheering =( I took some nice pics though.

That afternoon consisted of napping, a little eating, more napping and then off to trade night where I managed to offload ALL the shirts I wanted to trade... Including a misprinted fakulti and a hills jersey... Not to mention the fact that I'd been backpacking for months and while I hadn't worn them for a while leaving them all stuffed in a bag kinda meant that smelt a little bit terrible beyond belief... And they still traded... I am the trade MASTER... And as for the evenings activities all I'm going to say is "WB fail..." we all know why.

Next day was a wake up at 8, breakfast and back to bed afternoon shift... Off to the other fields I got to score a Kaboom game and the Greys... The north american call fest ultimate style shits me to tears and anyone who feels that ultimate can't be played in good spirit (or even competitively) without observers shit me. If Ultimate ends up going down that path in Australia (which I don't think it will) I think you will find me not playing anymore. Maybe we should kill the losers of the game gladiator style to make it as serious as some people take it... I play for the fun of it, but a lot of players seem to not actually enjoy the act of playing... just the act of winning...
We then had a rather "large" evening without intending it... but it was very funny... The Sport Ing bar and it's Chinese man enhanced dancefloor and more hedgehog catching ensured... and it was lots and lots of fun. Not to mention more burns from Lucie (such as "no pigeon" and "no hugging Australians".

By this stage I also hadn't worn shoes for days and my feet were looking very manky...

The finals and party finished off worlds. I won't go into the results but the finals showed me a few things...

1. I prefer watching games where I know the players
2. Call-fest ultimate sucks
3. Japanese teams are cool to watch

The party showed me a few things too

1. Lining up sucks
2. England/Ireland/Australia/America all could compete in the "obnoxious drunks" world champs
3. Prague on the river is pretty night and day
4. Getting your Shish on will put you back on track and always help you sleep the sleep of kings

As predicted the check out was a confusing affair with a massive amount of faffing... But the end result was I did get to see the castle finally (so I'm now getting my Prague on). The castle is nice (although not battlementy and castley... more old buildingy and palacey) with some awesome views. And we then went to "The (nightmare of RSA enthusiasts everywhere) Pub" to pour our own beers, have dinner and watch the World Cup Joke... I mean final... The best point of that evening was clearly WB's face when he ordered his "chips"... Priceless

So that's the end of frisbee... More on the rest of Prague later... but before I go, time for "the key is no" man story.

At Strahov hostel/dorms you have 12 buildings packed with rooms for students (during school time) and tourists (during non school tourist time). There is a main office with helpful staff and a front desk in each building staffed by an absolute moron.
With one key per room (of two people) you had to give your key in to reception whenever you left so as to not lock out your roomie if you separated from them.
One afternoon/evening I returned to the dorms to say "Hi, room 138 please"
"No"
"Uhhh yes... here is my card"
"The Key is no"
*right... Paul must have it... go get Paul*
"Paul, do you have the key?"
"No"
"Hmmm"
"Hi, we're from room 138, here are our cards"
"Key is no"
"Uhhh we don't have it... we gave it to you as we were told to"
"is no"
*right... lets hit up reception*
"Hey we're in block three"
*Wait for man to return from his walk away laugh and explain situation*
"I will call"
*call, talk in Czech*
"He will let you in"
*Decide to go to bed, as getting him to let us in twice might be to hard*

The next morning
*Bugger, left my pass in the room... better go get man to let me in*
"Hi can you let me in to room 138?"
"Here is key"
WTF!

The other ripper Key is no moments include Rosie and Tom having NO key and needing the lock to be changed and Tom and Nat simultaneously locking their keys in the room only to be saved by Captain Keys and his Overnothings... Words can't describe it... you must see the pictures.

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt

ps I'm a hedgehog FINDER not MOLESTER

"Key is no..." "No, key is YES... Man is NO"

So we're nearing the business end of things now...

I left Romania on a sleeper train that got into Budapest at 5am... which sucked... so I slept on the station concrete like a hobo... then I got a train to Prague.

I will leave reporting on the important frisbee things to others more qualified (like Simmo) and just talk abotu what I've been doing.
I walked from Prague station to Strahov... which is further than is seems especially as you can't travel as the bird flies. Even if you get the funny-peculiar. I also saw what seemed to be squatters having a jam session. I also had a TERRIBLE steak for dinner.
I woke up the next morning and DIDN'T have to check out and re check in (yay) and spent the day with Paul K (my roomie) and Nat "training" and then we had a vollie bbq... pretty cruisey.
The next day I wasn't really needed so I spent most of it playing cards (teaching slovaks cheat and flux) and then set up some tents... it was a long day because I got up so much earlier than normal.
The first day of games followed and I got to score 2 super close games (magon vs loquitos... 1 point in it until 13-13 and then it finished 17-15 to Magon and Fire of London vs Feldrenner... 2hrs plus long game and only 13-15).
The opening ceremony was also aclose game 16-17 to Canada... after the Czechs came bace from 5-12 down. They then had a xylaphone band and we played drinking uno. And I caught a hedgehog... it was awesome.
Today was a bit sucky... I woke at 615 to get a 630 bus (skipping breakfast) to be at the far fields to do "security"... only my relief didn't come ... ever... so I was on till 230 =(

Otherwise all is good... and I'm saving a rant about the "key is no" man... I'll wait till the end for that though...

Lové, hůgš ánd kíššěš
ANt

A few days ago

So it's been a long time since I last wrote anything... the lack of interweb and moderate amounts of frisball busy-ness has prevented me from doing so.
Anyway at last post I was in Brasov, Transylvania off to watch bears... and you may have noticed from the pics that I saw some... it was mega awesomeness... real bears... They may have been mooching garbage but they were right there on the other side of the street... VERY cool. We saw 8 in total and it was kick ass... I'd ended up going to dinner with a bunch of girls from the hostel and having to run (through the rain) to get back on time... I was 15 mins late and still the first there.
Now I may have inferred in previous posts that american backpackers tend to be ignorant, culturally insensitive, alcohol obsessed, point missing wastes of space and money... Well these girls weren't. They were a lovely group (all Mormans too) and the opposite of what I've previously inferred so I retract my previous assertation ALL American backpackers seem to suck... it's just most =P (Happy Laur?)

I sat up again after that (how can you sleep after bears?) and we decided a large keyboard that can be used with you big toe (and placed on the floor) would be dynamite for those computer/tv hybrid set ups. I then got up at 8am to see if I could go paragliding with some of the morman girls... but weather called it off =( so I went back to bed. I faffed around all morning and then went to Sighasora (Dracula's "birth" town). The town had some old interesting bits... they weren't that pretty though and the torture museum was nowhere near up to scratch. My 1pm train didn't get in till 2 too... which was my fault... when warned it would be late I said "nah, I'll be fine".
Comparing Sighasora to Brasov is a bit harsh (especially given brasov is "probably the best city in the world") but I could've written more torture info than the "muesum" (all one room of it) and the history museum was boring (here is a plow) but did have a nice view. The armament collection was ok but limited too. Sigh was also full of the tack I expected but didn't get in Brasov.

On the train there I was chatting to a Japanese lady who thought I was super traveller man... so much so she wanted a picture of us together in Brasov... so I obliged and am now in some lady's photo collection of her holiday to transylvania.
Glad I didn't spend the whole day (or a night) in Brasov but I did get an awesome wood fired pizza for dinner... which I ate like a filthy pig (or duck because of the limited chewing?). Ciuc (chook) the Romanian beer is ok too... but nothing compared to"Ursus"""THE KING OF BEER in romania"

General observations from Romania. Their food is bland. "Non stop" written outside a shop doesn't mean it is always open. Blinkers are a courtesy when changing lanes only and gutters are more like guidelines than actual barriers to your car.

So that's it from Romania...

Love, hugs and Kisses
ANt

Bear Pics

So I'm pre empting the blog post... But I saw freakin' BEARS in Brasov... it was awesome...

Admittedly they were just mooching rubbish on the outskirts of town, but still... BEARS

Diana Bolea (the most awesome of hostel chicks) let me take some of the pics she had already (because mine are crappy and stuck on my camera). So much love and thanks to her...

Love, Hugs and Vampire Kisses
ANt