bananas on toast

To all those dudes who were saving up for an engagement ring, prom or something else involving women/flowers/anything not gaming related, it’s time to bust open the piggy bank ’cause Halo 2 is on it’s way baby!

I don’t care what you were saving for, how many pennies you have to fig up from under the porch, this game is gonna pwn and if you aren’t there when it comes out – I don’t envy you. Buy it. Learn it. Own your friends.

Feeling kind of emo. Don’t know why, but I guess it’ll be cool soon. Huge weekend with friends, paying for it now.

Every moment of pleasure is always purchased with an equal amount of pain.

I feel it getting closer, it’s just around the corner and it’s exciting me. I’m not talking about Halo 2 (although that is exciting too), but rather the Xbox/BBQ/Vodka Double Black night tonight at Mik’s house! That’s right baby, the night that bought so much pleasure only a week ago, will be making it’s presence felt again this evening.

I am gonna own some butts in Halo and watch as other beat me down in Outlaw golf, but all in all I just wanna relax, let off some steam and have some laughs with my friends. It’s times like this excitement I must quote one of my favorite movies, Human Traffic:

The weekend has landed. All that exists now is clubs, drugs, pubs and parties. I’ve got 48 hours off from the world, man. I’m gonna blow steam outa my head like a screaming kettle and talk codshit to strangers all night. I’m gonna lose the plot on the dance floor; the free radicals inside me are freaking man! Tonight I’m w00t Travolta, I’m Peter Popper – I’m going to Never Never Land with my chosen family man. We’re gonna get more spaced out than Neil Armstrong ever did. Anything could happen tonight ya know! This could be the best night of my life! I’ve 73 quid in my back burner, I’m gonna wax the lot, the Milky Bars are on. Yeah!

Just a few moments ago I had a question posed to me. Someone asked me what I think I will be in my next life. I believe in science and I’ve been taught not to believe in such nonsense, but it is a funny thing to think about. Well my answer was this, “I’ll probably be the liver of an alcoholic. It seems only fitting after the punishment I have given mine.”

Truer words have never been spoken, thanks Me, I love you!

As Mik’s car drives into the distance I freeze on the driveway for a moment and recollect the night. It was a fun night, I watched the 4 active members of Lik-Wid really have some fun and create some ideas, along with Ryan laying down some awesome tracks with his decks. At one stage, Ryan hit something so nice that myself, Mik and Dessy all jumped up in excitement and almost hollered out – it was just that good. Even now as I swallow the last mouthful of the beer I left with, I feel like I am kissing goodbye to a great night and forever storing an awesome memory.

The song the guys were working on was a song about losing friends who you thought you would never lose and about growing up from where you were in high school. I think back to the friends I (somewhat) had in high school and I miss those times, year 10 was the greatest year of my life and I doubt anything will ever tarnish those memories – swimming at the river with Sheeny, Jeremy and Steve will always be something I will remember.

I guess now I have moved onto my 4th major set of friends, but maybe these guys are the closest. I very much feel like the new guy who is always trying to find some way of fitting in, but I also feel like I know these guys so well. I feel like all of us have gravitated towards each other because of the similarities we have, and the lives we have shared, but I also think our similar passions drive us in the same direction. Every one of my friends now have some sort of creative streak and I just think that creative people often find each other more interesting.

Well the point of this post was to wrap up an awesome night with some writing. I really feel awesome right now, I feel like I am ready to take on tomorrow (with a hangover).

I arrived early for the meeting which meant I was also out early. It was a really good meeting and I feel very good about it, although I pretty much received the information I already knew. There is little to no help for any business startups within Australia, and literally none for anyone who isn’t receiving government benefits. It was suggested that I begin receiving the benefits, but I am not sure about it, I think I’d rather look for work and use that as a secondary option.

I think the most valid point about starting my business was made the other day by Mik. He said something to the effect of, “do you really want to live in Dubbo that long?” He is so right, I don’t want to live here that long at all. I want to leave now, so I can’t see that feeling any different in a years time, even if my business is starting to shape up. I think maybe I will continue to look for work and perhaps even consider finding work outside this area, most likely in the Sydney area.

One thing I can honestly say, I really felt the mojo. I received 13 emails (shame they weren’t commented here) in the small 2 hours gap since I made my last post and I also received wishes of luck from a few pals. All I can say is that I felt the love and thanks to everyone who was thinking of me.

Well in about 1 hour and 3 minutes I will be sitting with some business analysts and discussing the feasibility of a web design and print business in the Dubbo area. While I wouldn’t be marketing it only to Dubbo, this area is in desperate need of a web design studio and print costs are way overpriced and it would be an easy market to break.

I think I am pretty realistic in saying that I do have doubts about whether it will happen. Finding start up capital will not be easy and it’s already been said that if I am not receiving government assistance I will find it hard to locate any grants or government assistance. It’s silly in a way, their message seems clear; “unless you already have your hand out, we won’t help you” which makes little sense to me.

I am almost out the door to go locate the building it in because I have never been there before, so if you happen to read this, send some mojo my way and wish me luck. I’ll write an update when I get home about how things went.

I have been given the honor and privilege of working with the Lik-Wid (I won’t link it again, you know who they are) crew on their upcoming redesign of their site. For months they have struggled with hard coding their updates and I am glad to help them by installing a full customized version of Movabletype. The band has so much going on and without an easy way to post their news and events, it becomes almost impossible to keep their fans up to date.

Right now I am about 25% of the way through a design. Soon I will be designing a cleaner gallery, tidying their forums, and just giving the site an all-round makeover. The biggest changes coming are making the site XHTML and CSS compliant and fully cross-browser functional, but still keeping the awesome look that Liam gave the website so many months ago.

They guys are heavily into mixing their songs (yes, recording is beginning to wind down slowly) and Ryan is putting the icing on the cake with his wicked fast fingers (oooh, doesn’t that sound sexy?). While there isn’t a great deal of news, I will be doing my best on keeping the site up to date for them in the coming months and we are even looking at the possibility of me travelling on the road with them and taking care of photography, helping back stage and all around keeping their website up-to-date.

Well, the guys are probably at the studio right now drinking the beer I bought last night, so I think I will go join them. If there is anything that I have learned from these guys (apart from how expendable livers are) it’s that dreams really are attainable – never give up on your dreams kids and make it all happen!

I received an email late last night from someone who reads my weblog. They have never commented, but they tell me that they read it all the time and had a suggestion.

“every entry talks about updates to your site wyh don’t u try and talk about u sometimes and not just ur site i wanna hear about you!!!1″

Bad grammar and spelling aside, they are right. I talk about my site because it’s my biggest hobby, so that won’t change, but I haven’t written a Mitch update in a long time, so here goes.

I’ve been applying for a few jobs around Dubbo and Sydney, basically because I think the whole starving artist / struggling designer / living at home thing is getting a little old and it’s time for new things in my life. I’ve applied for one job in particular that looks really promising, so if you could spare a few thoughts for me and send some positive mojo my way, it would be really appreciated. In fact, all the mojo you can spare over the next few weeks would be good, it is time for a lot of changes in my life and it’s not going to come easily.

Cash is a little short lately and I really feel like a major drain on my family. That is another reason I’ve been looking for work, that and I’ve been having trouble getting hold of clients who will stay interested. I’ve considered starting a more formal front for my web design rather than just being a freelance designer, but unfortunately that sort of thing costs money and without a bit better setup it would be hard. I am going to speak to some business analysts on Monday to go through a few options before me, but in honesty I don’t expect much to come out of it.

I can’t speak highly enough of news aggregators. The whole idea of one refresh button to check all of my favorite weblogs and websites is just awesome. I actively monitor several websites and since installing Sage it has become a lot more simple. I strongly recommend that Firefox install this extension and use it to it’s full potential, and I even more strongly urge non-Firefox users to make a switch. Haven’t got a reason to switch? Here are some.

One of the only things that I hate about some news feeds is that they only display excerpts and last night I realized that mine only displayed these. I have gone back and completely reworked my news feeds and given people more options on what to choose as far as the specific news feeds and whether they want to get full entries or just the excerpts.

What is the perfect companion for your hot new Gmail account? Well, GmailFS of course! GmailFS allows you to mount your Gmail account under linux like you would mount any other drive. Store, delete and even execute files at your discretion. And for all you Windows kids, there has been a recent release of Gmail Drive shell extension for you to download. I think that anyone who has a Gmail account could find these two fun!

Today was election day. Howard vs. Laytham in a showdown that was probably selected and not elected, but none the less I vote because, like most others, I just don’t want the $20 fine. While I was walking to the ballot I had several flyers thrown at me, all of which I refused – I don’t believe that my vote really counts for one and I also hate the fact that so many trees are destroyed just so some people can fight over who gets to sell our country piece by piece to the Americans.

Tonight while driving I saw the same school, littered with flyers. The election was announced hours ago and Howard (G-Dubble-Yas lap dog) was elected again for the fourth consecutive period. I remember as the winner was announced they gave a figure earlier in the day. I cannot be certain on the amounts, but the announcer said something to the effect of “…Latham has promised $15 Million to the environment” and “Howard has announced $4 Million to the environment…”

It’s funny how they will make these promises, yet I bet thousands (maybe even hundreds of thousands or even millions) of trees are cut down just for their campaigns. The number of flyers, banners, posters, ballot papers, leaflets and other bullshit these people fob off to people is just stupid. Made even more ridiculous by the fact that, in my opinion, 80% of Australians probably don’t care who is in charge or are too uneducated to make a decent decision.

While watching “Linkin Park – Live in Texas” I got super inspired to make a theme based on my favorite band. A few hours later (and a few stolen graphics – I hope I don’t get in trouble) and the end result is published. I am pretty happy with it, it could be better, but I think I am just gonna fiddle with it for a few days until I get it to a stage I really like.

Hope the new theme is popular and I also hope that the themes aren’t getting out of hand (i.e. not too many). I may begin to cull a few out as I decide which I think are the best and most complete themes.

I’ve also gone back and reworked all the error pages so that they no longer display that ugly white thing. It all looks much nicer now and a lot more fluid with the theme system I am using.

Last night I spent a few hours with the Lik-Wid crew and listened to some of their newer recordings. If you thought they were good before, then you haven’t even spotted the tip of the iceberg. Their new recordings are simply mind blowing and their album (due next year) will simply be awesome, I would recommend that anyone buy a copy just to listen to the pure talent amongst these guys.

After the launch of Lik-Wid’s album, there is a possibility that I will do some touring with them, maintaining an up-to-date website at all times and generally taking a lot of photos, I really hope this eventuates, because it would be so awesome to get out with these guys.

Sitting last night they played the first track they have mixed and I looked across at Liam’s dad John. He was sitting there smiling like such a proud father and I felt goosebumps flow up my arm as I realized what I was witnessing – the birth of a great album and the rebirth of a great band. There is so much success waiting for these guys, be sure to check out their website and download some of their tracks.

Wow, I just had the best Sushi for lunch, I think I may just have rekindled my hardcore sushi lust. Sushi is one of those “feel good” foods that tastes great, is good for you and just enhanced my mood. I love it.

Oooh, shiny new chopsticks!

Writing has been a nightmare lately and I have the worst case of writers block. My story isn’t going too far and finding something interesting to write in my weblog about is like pulling teeth. With any luck I will just take a few hours out of my day later and just sit and do some thinking about the week just past and hopefully write something interesting.

Wow, I really had no time/energy to write after Friday night, and thus, I make this a belated wrap-up if the weekends events. Saturday ended up being rather boring, spending most of the day shopping. I did manage to buy some cool (read: cheap) shirts and spy on some hotties, so that almost saved it, but the entire mall sold almost nothing else bar girls clothing and furniture.

Sunday was an entirely different story. I have totally become that stereo type guy in the personals columns who “likes computers and water sports” and discovered a love for wakeboarding. Man, who would have known that strapping some fiberglass to your feet and skimming across some water could be so much fun?

Today, Monday, was all driving and quite boring. I went and saw Rob and Ryan after I got home and got some Noodles with them and just chilled out for a bit. My body is currently aching quite bad and so is my head, so I am gonna get some sleep.

Wow, quick rap up. I will try and do some more writing soon. :)

This morning I woke up to some of the loudest rain I have heard in years. Since our area is in the middle of a 2-year drought, it was weird to hear the rain pounding on my roof like that. A thunder clap went off so loud that our entire house shook and mum felt that she needed to ask me if I was okay. Was quite amusing, considering it was only bit of thunder.

We spent the whole day driving in the rain and being lost. Dad reassured is no less than 20 times that he was pretty sure he knew where he was going, but had to ask for directions more than twice as many times. This was a typical conversation.

“Yeah, okay, got ya, first right.”
“Third left, okay.”
“Through the round-about. Yep.”
“4th right. Okay.”

*drive 200m*

“Shit, we’re lost again.”

Maybe the roads were changing as we moved or something, but it was quite amusing that we had such difficulty. I decided to take the map and as soon as I actually worked out where I was we got here in less than five minutes.

The fishing has been canceled and I have no idea what we’re doing tomorrow now. I’d like to do a bit of wakeboarding or something, but the weather will probably have a few words to say about that. So I’ll probably spend quite a bit of time writing, photography and other stuff that I could have done at home, but at least the view is nice.

A friend bought me a prepaid Internet kit so perhaps I will get online and post this later tonight or tomorrow. I feel a bit rude spending time on my computer while I am here, but my weblog and writing are both very important to me. I don’t think anyone really knows how much either mean to me in all honesty.