... like the hiding sun

This has been a pretty eventful week already! Incredibly enough, I got back my passport, which had spent the last couple of weeks in the care of the Norwegian Consulate, about 6 weeks earlier than I'd expected. I did get a multi entry Schengen visa, but it's valid only till the end of the year. So much for plans of an all out Europe trip, the only two remaining breaks this year, I'll already be spending in Norway due to various courses :-<. But I do have my two shiny stickers, and my passport still has space for at least a couple of more of them! But that would probably be pushing my luck :P.And then of course came the news that we'll be boarding the ship from Freo itself! The reasons? I'll probably be well advised to keep those to myself, but unforeseen circumstances have delayed the Trident by almost a week :(. At least that would mean we'll get a little bit of time on the steam up to the North West Shelf before we start sweating it out on the back deck :|.

And finally yesterday the fifth Potter movie premiered in Australia! We easily got tickets for the evening show and surprise surprise, there were tons of empty seats. But hey, it's Perth, I was impressed to find more than half the seats occupied in the largest of the four halls they have in the multiplex :P. So, the movie... well, I must say I liked it a whole lot better than the book :D. The best thing about it was the fact that so much of the dark and pointless meandering that the book indulges in has disappeared! It does take liberties with the plot at times, but see, I never liked the plot that much anyway :). Danny Radcliffe still has trouble acting, but he's getting better, Emma Watson more than makes up for it though and much of the rest of the cast was quite fabulous. I totally loved Imelda Staunton as the despicable Dolores Umbridge!

But I must say I was a little disappointed with the lame way in which Sirius dies (Gary Oldman was another smart bit of casting though). And lines like "... you might not like Dumbledore, but you've gotto admit, he's got style!"?!!! I mean seriously!

Currently: shaking head in disbelief
Listening to: Chicane - Autumn tactics

Tall tale

Ever get the feeling that there's a moment in time that stares you in the eye as it passes you by? Even waves a coupe of times. And for any given number of reasons you are acutely aware of its passage. But for all practical purposes, it's utterly insignificant. This is commonly referred to as getting caught up in trivialities. And it often happens when you are bored and restless :|.

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Apparently last weekend the thunderstorms that hit Perth did more than just confine me indoors. They ripped up a whole bunch of trees in King's Park. Had I known this earlier, I would probably have not ventured out this Sunday afternoon for a trip to Freo, under similarly dark and menacing skies. When I got there it was raining, but hey, I had my umbrella! :D I whisked it out and unfolded it in a flash, all in a smooth fluid motion as I stepped out of the train station.

To say that it was a mistake would be an understatement. In fact that last statement was itself an understatement /:). The raindrops were flying pretty much parallel to the pavement. I had my umbrella firmly into the wind, and that was straight ahead. The only reason I didn't bang into anyone else was because no one else was stupid enough to venture out :|. I think I've mentioned that my umbrella's a metre across, trouble is, under the circumstances, that still left another 3 quarters out to get soaked. To make matters worse, one of the spokes of the umbrella finally succumbed to the persistent wind! Thankfully, before matters got worse I was under cover.

By the time I'd warmed up with a couple of mugs of hot coffee though, the rain was history, so I set out to fulfill the purpose of this trip. Walking down the south side of the docks, I was clicking away when this old man (the one in the pic) came up and offered me his binoculars for a closer look. I don't think the opportunity will ever present itself again, so I made the most of it. I told him I worked on that rather strange looking ship :D.He was suitably impressed, and I was going YAEEEEIII in my head :P. Okay, it's Perth, it's a weekend, sources of entertainment are severely limited. And you being in a city when your ship docks there is not exactly a regular occurrence. Anyway, all I'd intended was to take a few pictures and relish the fact that at the end of this I was going to walk away. Just walk away, not back to the ship, not back on shift, away. The jolly old man, who turned out to be quite a character, was just a bonus :).
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Anyway, I was eventually back in Perth before another spate of heavy showers could catch me, and proceeded to spend the rest of the evening watching Nadal get beaten by Federer. Again :(. And then Raikkonen win for Ferrari. Again :). Too bad about Massa stalling his engine though, the way he carved his way back up to 5th, who knows what he could have done had he started from 4th :-<. Oh well, that was the last GP I'll get to see for a bit. The only channel that airs F1 in Oz is Ten, and we don't get it on the boat :(. But I did get to see the last four, so I'm not complaining... too much.

Currently: beyond bored :-<
Listening to: Norah Jones - Lonestar

Staccato

My most valued possession currently is my tiny double folding umbrella :D. Totally love that thing! When folded it comes to only slightly over 6 inches, but opens out to over a metre across! However, such foldability (?) comes at a price. Turns out its propensity to flip inside out is extremely high, and with the kind of winds that accompany the rain in these parts, that kinda translates to rather acrobatic attempts at keeping the umbrella aimed at the wind at all times. Or just folding it up and getting drenched in the rain anyway... Thankfully, things have remained within the realm of slightly soggy clothing, no drenching yet.Finally went and watched Ocean's Thirteen last night. And no, it's not better that Eleven! Okay, it's better than Twelve, I'll give it that, but then anything would have been better than Twelve /:). It did have genuinely funny bits though, and the plot was somewhat there, so to speak. But what really saddened me was that Baxter (Don Cheadle) had lost most of his accent!!

Noticed a rather strange thing on the way back, an ATM machine had lights flashing and a very loud alarm blaring but no one seemed to be concerned! At 10 in the night there weren't really a lot of people around, but the ones that were seemed completely nonplussed! There was even an empty police car parked nearby. I wonder if I'd just missed an attempted robbery... or a successful one.

Currently: bored :-<
Listening to: Evanescence - Imaginary

Anonymity

Isn't it a good thing? Really, how would it feel to be entirely free from the consequences of your actions? Merely by virtue of the fact that those consequences would never be able to trace their way back to you. Even if it were for just an instant.

I'm not the one who broke you
I'm not the one you should fear
We got to move you darlin'
I thought I lost you somewhere
But you were never really ever there at all

And I want to get free
Talk to me
I can feel you falling
And I wanted to be
All you need
Somehow here is gone

But it's a vicious cycle. Although a nice little room with padded and soundproof walls might provide an alternative.

Currently: stumped
Listening to: Goo Goo Dolls - Here is gone

Blackout

This is what weekends should really be like. Well, sometimes :). Zero phone use, zero internet access. Tons of movies, and catching up on sleep from like a zillion weeks :D. And of course it was pelting raindrops the size of baseballs, so I figured I'll just stay in and watch the windowpanes take it!Friday was Transformers day! Umm, if you don't know what Transformers are, you'll probably not really like this movie. Unless you're the kind that goes totally wow at fantastic CGI robots and machines and stuff. And cool cars :P. But if you do know the Transformers, you might end up hating this :|. But seeing that I wasn't really looking for anything but a visual extravaganza, what with it being a Friday night and all, I totally loved it :D. Especially the bit when Bumblebee transforms from a beat-up '75 Camaro to the totally sleek '08 concept Camaro :D. Shia LaBeouf is fun. The transformation sequences are totally cool, though hardcore fans might think otherwise, what with the traditional transformation sounds replaced with static. But it's the detail to the transformations that I thought was really awesome! As were the fight/chase sequences. But really, that's all there was to it. Oh well, I suppose you can't have everything. And it was just too bad the Pontiac Solstice (Jazz) had to get ripped up :-<.

Over the weekend I also managed to finally see The Pursuit of Happyness. Must say Will Smith's come a fair way since Wild Wild West /:). Have been avoiding it on in-flight entertainment for a few months now to be able to catch it on a somewhat bigger screen :).

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Woke up late this morning. Was up till almost 2 watching Magny-Cours. Was well rewarded with a Ferrari 1-2, though I'd have preferred Massa on the top spot. But anyway, managed to surprise myself by still being on time.... But surprised myself even more by actually remembering what I dreamt of last night. Or this morning actually, felt like I woke straight out of the dream into my 8:45 room with the sun straining to burst in through the thick curtains.

Currently: trapped
Listening to: Linkin Park - By myself