Hi, I'm Shaun

New Country, New Shoes, New Blog.

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:22:11 GMT

As you may (but most likely haven't) noticed, I've been pretty thin in terms of posting lately; this is due to a large combination of factors, principally my 'can't-be-assed'-ness.

Anyway, to get to the point, this is my last LJ entry; I'm still gonna check-in and throw the odd comment around, but I'm finished with the actual 'posting' part of the experience.

In true Star Warsian fashion though, the ending signals a new beginning; Since I'm moving to Japan and I anticipate a dramatic upswing in the number of posts along with a large quantity of bandwith-sucking photographs (that I frankly can never be bothered hiding behind cuts) I figured it'd be more considerate to shift to blogspot where I can be assured that all visitors are either specifically interested in reading what I've been up to, or random web-ites who are reading out of chronic boredom anyway. I kinda like the customisation options too.

So, if you happen to be curious about what I get up to across the sea update your bookmarks! (or like, make a new one!) Shaun now virtually lives at:

http://www.kanjiforbeginners.blogspot.com/

Totally feel free to leave comments of course, you can use your Google ID if you've got one, otherwise just put your name/screen-name in so I can tell who you are (after all, it's no good telling me about your awesome night of alcohol-fuelled recklessness if I can't tell the difference between you and some random Lutheran pastor from Munich).

Ok, time to go- it's been fun guys!

Shaun, signing out.

Merry Boxing Day!

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 04:58:55 GMT

Another giant gap between entries, 'cos really... what's to say? I'm alive, you're alive; whoop!

So I finished/graduated honours a while back, that was pretty huge at the time; but after I'd finished sleeping off the end of the acedemic year it seemed like old news (I don't care what anyone says, the hangover from uni is worse than anything that could be induced by Jack Daniels). The certificate still looks pretty though, and I'm still a sucker for taking a zillion photos of my friends while they're dressed in the silly-lookin' hats and gowns.

After graduation I pretty much entered 'relax' territory, a couple of jobs here and there but nothing that severely impacted on my sloth-esque sleeping/sitting schedule. I even managed to resurrect my social-life to a certain extent, which seems like something of a miracle considering how I did nothing but babble about whatever piece of animation I saw the night before for several consecutive months there. Oh wait... I'm STILL doing that, oh well... guess you're used to it by now. :P

In big-ish news (for me anyway) I'm finally invested in a plan to escape the confines of my childhood home, I'm feeling a little burnt out after three 'final years' at uni in a row, so I'm taking another 'gap year' and deferring the PhD until 2008. That means I have time to actually get a job that might provide more than 10 hours a week worth of paycheck... in a stunning coincidince I have two friends from primary school who are also looking to move out, which means that together we might be able to afford to live somewhere that is within the loose bounds of 'the city' and perhaps only has a small population of rats and cockroaches! I have grand plans to turn our rented domicile into a 'party palace' on a par with the Taj-Mahal of old! *manaical laugh*

I've had planty of time to catch up on my reading, DVD watching, music listening, game-playing and web-surfing lately (All the important things in life really) which is beyond nice, like 'deep-heat for the mind' or something, thank god because I really needed something to take the edge off Christmas, I swear my family gets more frenzied about this silly end of year shennanigan every time it rolls past; still, they bought me a nice chair to sit on while I type this in honour of the event, so too much complaining would be concieted. There was some yelling and assigning of blame at the family gathering (as usual) but noone actually got physically wounded and there was minimal proprty damage so I guess the day was pretty much a success. I mostly hung out with my cousins Bethany and Andy, drank goon and Smirnoff pre-mixes and bitched about the whole thing, which was actually kinda fun.

Today we're getting another dog (just temporarily mind you). Our neighbours are going away and leaving their labrador Charles in our care while they're off in New Zealand for a fortnight, which means an even harier more dog-dominated house. Wish me luck with producing bulk amounts of dog food and managing FOUR big dogs on a walk, here's hoping they don't gang up on me.

The world spins madly on,

Shaun.

All Your Quiz Are Belong To Us.

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:41:24 GMT

It's been ages since I've done a lame, random internet quiz... so here's one I thought was just random enough to warrant doing. Read, Steal and/or ignore at your discresion.

Your name?: Shaun S. Clamp

What were you doing five minutes before now?: Writing my Thesis... which is rapidly turning into a quasi-scientific argument about why 'The Lion King' sucks... which wasn't exactly what I was aiming for, but meh.

What's the deal with your userpic?: That's Chiyo from 'Azumanga Daioh', she rocks! And again, she's in my thesis. Which has taken over my life.

What Blood type do you have?: Umm... AB I think.

Post one random link from your favorites list: http://amvhell.com/

Name your most prominent flaw: Uhhh... caffine addiction?

What element/sign are you in the Chinese zodiac?: A Water-Dog (Wooo! taking 'Religions of China' at uni finally paid off) :P

When was the last time you washed your car?: At least 9 months ago. It's dirty.

If you went into the witness protection program and had to change your first name, what would you change it to?: Something cute, like 'Kiko' or 'Lucky' :P

Do you still have your highschool yearbooks?: Yup, although they're pretty dusty.

What was the last thing you set on fire?: A cat! :P Uhhh... I mean NEWSPAPER, yeah, I was lighting a fire, that's right. ;)

Make up a cool title for a movie: 'Snakes On a Plane' :P wait... 'Tokyo Cheerleader Zombies in Harlem' Yeah... that'd OWN!

Pirates or Ninjas?: Pirates! At least they can talk! :P

Who's your favourite poet?: I'm tempted to say 'Jewel'... but no. :P let's say William Blake.

When the zombie-apocalypse comes what weapon will you wield?: My sharp sense of humour? Or a baseball bat, since I at least know how to swing one.

Make up a new expletive: What? Ummm... 'Skizlif' does that sound dirty enough?

If your current country of residence was swallowed by the ocean, where would you emigrate to?: Britain probably since I have the right passport, but I'd like to check out Canada and Japan too.

What is your favourite colloquialism for 'toilet'?: 'The Porcelain God'

If your life was a sitcom/drama series, what would be the theme song?: Heh... Maybe "Can't Get There From Here" by R.E.M. Come to think of it, that'd make a cool title for the show... or my autobiography. :P

Is it 'cheating' to digitally modulate or quantize a singers voice to keep them on key?: Hell yes! If you can't sing without a computer, then you should get out of the studio! *glares at Paris* :P

Write 'Goodbye' in a language other than English: Sayanora!

Whoa... there goes 15 whole minutes. Peace and Love,

Shaun.

Nothin' but net.

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 16:25:20 GMT

Right, so I got all my painting done, layed all my floorboards, ran my wiring in the walls, assembled my furniture, put up a buncha shelving and moved into my 'new and improved' bedroom/workspace. All without any of the predicted hernias, concussions or stress-induced breakdowns that I was predicting. Woo! Me. You have no idea how cool it is to have an internet connection again... and to sleep in my own bed... and to be able to work on something that isn't my paleazoic-era laptop.

Anyway, I'm sitting here (Captain Kirk style) amoungst my faux-birch furniture feeling pretty much exhausted; still it was a nice opportunity to do all those things I always want to do but never actually get around to: like alphabetize my CDs and clear out all my old books. Again, going through all this stuff makes me feel OLD, I can't believe I own magazines that talk about 'Will CDs ever really be popular?' Yeesh... I guess the world really does move as fast as all those old dudes say.

Uni's still eating up most of my time, I had to give a presentation on my thesis the other day, and that went pretty well (but hey, I brought alcohol and I made people watch cartoons... what's not to like?) ;) My supervisor ran off to do some acedemic tour of Europe for the next three months, so I'm pretty much on my own from here on out, really I'm not that worried though; it's all trudge-work from here on out... although if anyone has any great references re: videographic gaming theory please shoot them my way I'm still kinda thin in that area. :P

Work aside, life's been pretty mundane; Kristy's B-day was rockin' (and very alcohol soaked) God... shots, shots, shots: one day we'll learn, honest! (probably the same day someone falls off a balcony, but still) ;) I went to the show with a couple of people from uni on Thursday, we walked and saw stuff, and mocked stuff, and grabbed as much free crap as we could, but overall it was pretty much a reminder of how the show hasn't changed in forever. For the first time I didn't even get ONE showbag, although I've gotta admit to be kinda hooked on the Masala tea they sell there, so if I seem tired it's probably just 'cause I've swapped off coffee for a while.

Still reading? God, WHY? I'm even kinda boring myself here. Still, boring is good I guess, and drama is overrated. I've decided that as long as I can drink coffee with my friends, watch a decent DVD every now and then and curl up with a good book at night life is pretty much A-grade. Woo! Now I'm an internet philosopher. Yay... let's be glad I'm not a emo-death-junkie-angst-monkey huh? You ever tried just reading random journals around here? Marylin Manson would cry.

In terms of TV I'm still keeping to my 'one new disc of animation every night' plan, since last entry I finished up 'Full Metal Panic!' (which is a Japanese thing kinda like 'Tom Clancy meets 90210 with giant robots') and 'Niea_7' (which is a Japanese thing kinda like... god I dunno, It has a girl who's roommate is an alien, a pyromaniac and a dope-smoking Indian dude). Anyway, my perspective of reality has been seriously skewed again. I love this stuff, but if I watch too much I get into a mindset where it's hard to look at it objectively, I'm gonna go and watch my way through 'Broken Saints' this week (which is American) so hopefully that'll clear my perspective. On an interesting sidenote all this animation has inspired me to (try and) start drawing again, which is something I haven't done in like, five years. I'm way rusty, but not quite as bad as I thought I would be (maybe about Rolf Harris level) :P If I get obsessive enough maybe I'll sap to deviantart. :P

Right, enough of my stream of conciousness ranting... congrats on reading this far (if you did). Now go do what you're meant to be doing! :P Really have a great day (even if it *is* September 11th... funny how that's almost creepier than Friday 13th huh?) Be good, smile, show some love, do your best and... stuff.

Leaving New York's Never Easy,

Shaun.

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:28:10 GMT

Phew... I just finished clearing out my room, which means that now I'm sitting in the strange minimimilist environment; seriously, it's just me, a white desk with a keyboard and monitor, a bed (which still has pretty 'You Are Gorgeous' bedsheets) and four white alls (oh, and a window, but it's dark out so it's a black space really). And yeah, I have a mug of coffee, 'cause y'know... I'm me. :P

Anyway, there's no real point to this, I just wanted to write an entry from my own personal Kafka-land. I swear the sound of the keys is echoing in here, but that's got to be my imagination right? Heh... I never imagined that a lack of CD's and DVD's could make me feel so... unprotected.

Anyway, tommorrow I rip up the carpet and go crazy with paint! Wooo! I mean: Uhhh... work.

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:00:42 GMT

Hi! Miss Me?

I haven't posted anything on here for ages... partially because off-line life has been keeping me pretty busy, but mostly because I guess I haven't had much to say, or at least nothing that I felt I had to 'share with the world' or whatever I'm ostensibly doing here. Pffftt, if you're even half interested in what I've been doing you probably already know right?

So mostly this is an 'I'm still alive!' entry, although the fact that it's late and I don't feel like working anymore has a pretty huge role to play too. One semester down, one to go... which means I've actually had to *start* my thesis, and now it's sucking my time like a ten-dollar whor... uh, vaccum cleaner. :P

Actually I'm not gonna bitch about uni, 'cause really it's still fun... I've made some friends who I'm comfortable enough to drink tequila with (which is just about all you need to make tertiary education worthwhile, really.) And 90% of my 'research' involes sitting down and watching 'animated entertainment' from around the globe, including all that anime that I love so much! (the other 10% is boring ol' book-learning, but that comes with the territory) In the past few weeks I blitzed my way through 'Galaxy Angel', 'Love Hina' and 'Azumanga Daioh' and they're ALL rockin'! check 'em out if you feel like a laughter filled countercultural buzz! :D

I also cannot overstate just how much I love being a postgrad. The perks are rockin'; a private computer suite and conference room, all you can use ultra-high-speed broadband, the ability to requistion funds for just about whatever you can justify as 'research expenses' (I got into AVCON free this year!) :P It's nice to finally feel like your ideas are taken seriously too; one of the lecturers from Asian studies asked me to look over his lecture on 'Contemporary media in Japan' because I'm obviously a 'niche expert' (oh yeah... I laughed), while the English department is talking about 'publication of papers' now... ohhh! I'm excited! :D

PLUS, I have my first acedemic junket coming up! The University of Queensland is gonna give me a 'travel scholarship' to go over and talk to some of the people in their department about a 'research position'- two days of talk, four days of sun, beachside cocktails and theme parks! Booyah!

Um... In other news, well I turned 24 a few weeks back, felt melancholy for a while as I thought about my youth sliding through the hourglass of history... then I went out with a buncha people, drank some beer and did some kareoke and felt MUCH better (although OWWWWWW! Why can neither I nor ANY of my friends sing? Big props to y'all for getting into it though!) :P My 'giant project' for this period (thesis aside) is renovating my room, I'm tearing out all my furniture that I've had for about 15 years now and redoing *everything* which meant me going down to Ikea and dropping about a $1000 on flatpack. (Do NOT tell me how much alcohol that equates to or I'll cry.) :P Anyway, I found out just how carthitic it is to chuck stuff out. Bring it!

Other stuff I want to do (call it 'Shaun's social wish list'... call me if ya wanna help out!) :)

1) Get out the unibar again and drink a whole lot of beer.
2) Go to the earliest available screening of 'Snakes On a Plane'... because I can already tell it's the greatest movie of my lifetime. Why isn't *everyone* excited?!
3) Do a pile of shots and watch DVD's... let's find a weekend!
4) Drink coffee. Uhhh... I guess I can do that by myself, but company is good too.

Right, and on that optimistic note I'll leave y'all (probably for another half a year... but hopefully not). Maybe next time I'll talk about something intellectual like books or greyscale movies... or not.

Peace, love and good times to all of you,

Shaun.

(Holds up sword) I HAVE the POWER!

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:20:53 GMT

So life is back to what I essentially consider 'normal'; uni has started up again, and I'm back to my standard (and fairly well loved) routine of reading, talking, writing, drinking (coffee) rinsing and repeating.

Anyway, for once I've got an entry here that isn't prompted by guilt and/or boredom- actually it's the result of uni-discussion. We've been talking a lot lately about 'the preservation/memorialisation of memories' and the various ways that people choose to 'solidify' their memories, from the obvious (like taking photos and writing journals) to the less elementary (like writing fiction or making films). Anyway, after reading a bunch about the practice I've gotten kinda hooked on all those strange internet sites that I probably would have mocked mercilesly a week ago... the ones where random people share mundane stories about their workdays and post pictures of their pets for the whole world to see, podcasting in particular now seems fascinating. Often the material conveyed is mundane, but it's obviously important to the producer... and in terms of 'emotional conveyance' it's kinda amazing.

Anyway, the whole thing kinda made me see the 'blogging' phenomina in a whole new light... maybe these things ARE important after all (no, this doesn't mean I'm gonna do daily updates from now on... don't worry) :P

In fact, uni's been pretty awesome in general lately; It gave me and excuse to hang out at Writer's Week down at the memorial gardens just about all week and soak up a dose of (much needed) sun as well as the knowledge; plenty of interesting speakers down there, and I picked up ANOTHER batch of books to check out (just as soon as I finish with the compulsory reading list *sigh*) Tutes have been cool, people are friendly, I actually *know* most of the people in my classes, and I got the supervisor I wanted! :D Yay! The only problem was my thesis on the development of adolescent narrative got vetoed for being 'too derivative' (whatever the hell *that* really means). But I'm not too bugged, because the faculty members I spoke too seemed pretty enthused about my 'back-up' idea of writing about 'narratology in animated productions' (plus hey... that's a total excuse to make watching all those 'Kim Possible' and 'Totally Spies!' *official*) ;)

In other news, I haven't been totally remiss with the Fringe/Festival... Colin Hay (and his funky dancing Peruvian wife) were awesome (thanks again Juanita!) :D O'ball was pretty cool (although it was Waaaaaaay long, someone stole my wedges, we had to watch a couple practically have sex in a flower bed, and I had to leave 2/3 of the way through Little Birdy's set to get home... they were awesome as always though!)

Apart from that, it's mostly been reading, movies, coffee, music and the occasional bout of work... all cool, but perhaps not entirely space-worthy.

Anyway, be good out there and don't forget to love one another (that's just what John Lennon would have wanted!) :P

Shaun.

P.S: 'Crash' totally deserved to win Best Picture... that movie RULES. ;)

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:31:39 GMT

Ever start to worry that you're becoming just Waaaaay too lazy?

God, it seems that I NEVER get on here anymore... last time someone asked me to explain my absence I told them sincerely that 'logging in is a pain', WTF? When did I become Shaun the Hutt? Not that I'm ever THAT excited about updating this thing, but god... how do I expect to write a thesis if I can't be assed filling in two fields huh?

Anyway, short version: I'm forcing myself to do this to prove a point. AGAIN.

Life's been 'quietly fun' anyway... it's been O'week down at uni, so in between prelim lectures and running around sorting out a pile of admin paperwork I've been grabbing what free (and mostly useless) stuff I can, sitting around enjoying the discount coffee again and catching up with all those people that you never see unless you're on campus.

Maybe it's the enthusiasm of all those bright-eyed first-years rubbing off on me, but I'm actually kinda excited about this year; I've got a good course, good lecturers and a good text list. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doin' and how much caffine I'm gonna need to do it. Booyah!

In other good news the thirs season of 'Scrubs' came out on DVD a few days early, So I've had a solid fix of GOOD TV in amoungst the free-to-air wasteland that seems to be prevailing indefinately. Is it wrong that I STILL wanna hug Elliot every time she does ANYTHING? *slaps self* BAD Shaun. It's not sexual I swear! :P That show has great music too... really, thank god I have good taste in TV, otherwise I'd have no taste in ANYTHING (no, not even shirts) :P

In 'near future' events it's O'ball on Saturday, so I get to see Little Birdy for the THIRD time (jeesh, I really like 'em and all, but my concert record is making me look kinda obsessive) ;)

Ok, it's midnight... time to sign off and do something useful... make myself a better person, help the world... or just go and play more Guild Wars... 'cause I can. :P

I'm only happy when it rains, and I only update when I'm sick.

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 08:33:40 GMT

*waves*

Heh... I just realised that if you don't check LJ for a few months, and then read a few pages of entries then the stream of verbage kinda seems to coalesce into something that vaguely resembles a Thomas Pynchon novella… hmmm, ‘group blogging as imaginary realism, and inadvertent genre conformity’… there’s a thesis title for someone out there. :P

Anyway, it’s kinda sad that it’s taken me getting sick to update this thing, nonetheless I guess it’s provided ONE positive to what would otherwise be an ENTIRELY unpleasant bought of food poisoning, so uh… yay? :P

In any case, you haven’t missed much but not being constantly informed about my life; here’s a 30 second rundown for anyone who hasn’t been around to hear me mood-swing in person:

-New Years was great… if you subscribe to Chinese astrology this is MY year, and it’s gonna be fantastic even if I have to take a whole pile of pills to make it so. ;)

-I FINALLY managed to escape the workplace I’ve been moaning about for the past eternity, actually Brian kinda pushed me by selling the place, but the point is I’m FREE at last, it’s been almost a month now and being unemployed still rocks hard. I never get tired of sleeping in and not wearing a tie. :D

-Lotsa cool social stuff, Glenelg was cool, Schutzenfest was cool, Oz day was cool,coffee is cool, movies are cool, alcohol is cool. Yay! Thanks to everyone who’s given me reason to get out of the house.

Other cool developments include the end of the break in US TV schedules, so I can continue downloading *decent* TV again to counteract the horribleness of what streams in through my own set. Also Disney decided to bring ‘Kim Possible’ back from the dead with a forth season, so a major “BooYah!” there (really, that kinda like announcing that Buffy season 8 is coming soon… be excited for me people!) ;)

Uhh… and now I feel kinda tired and kinda queasy again… and I wanna lie down and feel sorry for myself. For gods sake someone bring me an antacid! :P

In sickness and in health,

Sajan.

Graduation and shot-politics.

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:21:39 GMT

Wooooo! Another 'end of an era' day today; I put on my black 'cultist' robes and stupid hat and went down to uni to graduate (again). Again the giant-snake was a no-show, which was kinda a let down 'cause I really wanted to use my makeshift hair-spray flamethrower on *something* y'know? But the Hogwarts type atmosphere made up for it; if anything it was cooler than last year because I knew what to do this time round (plus they've actually installed air-conditioning in Elder Hall now, thank god so there was lots less sweat.) :D Anyway, chatting, coffee, lotsa photos and plenty of whining about next year ensured... yay! :D

Adding to the excitement, on the way back I stopped by the post-office and got a letter telling me that my English Honours application was approved... not anything that I didn't already 'unofficially' know, but it's nice to have the piece of paper... I love it when things go as planned! :D

Everyone's pretty much already heard about Juanita's place... it was an awesome night (mainly 'cause I feel like I hardly get to see you guys anymore... *sob*) :P I have to make ONE point though; after trolling the internet (briefly) most people seem to agree that '100 shots of beer in 100 minutes' is a fine achievement... the only thing is, they define a 'shot' as an fluid OUNCE of liquid (that's about 28.5 mls)on the night in question, we were using 60ml shot glasses, I did somewhere between 70 and 80 shots, while Kristy did somewhere between 30 and 40... that means I SMASHED the 'standard' amount, and Kristy probably came damn close. Not that I want to condone binge-drinking or any form of alcohol consumption, but that is MOTHERF*&KING HARDCORE S#^T and we deserve to worshipped as GODS!!

Uhhh... or not. Whatever.

Carols by Candlelight was cool too, if somewhat twee... I don't have much to add to what's been said: I had the most ridiculously overpriced and CRAP Nachos EVER (uhhh... Bolognaise is NOT an acceptable substitute for salsa... am I alone on this?) :P And the highlight for me was the nameless Port-river Dolphin that wanted to be a raindeer... mainly 'cause it was just strange.

Oh, and it turns out I'm gonna be unemployed soon... Brian has FINALLY announced his intention to retire, handing the business over to it's new operators in mid January; I'm not sure if they're be an opportunity for me to stay on yet, but I already told Brian that I'd leave too, if I don't get out now I can see myself stagnating in this cess-pit of mediocrity forever, and dammit I'm just too YOUNG to give up on life! :P Anyway... if anyone knows of a small independant chocolate/alcohol factory that's hiring people called Shaun, lemme know huh? :P

Right... so that's life, at least as I know it. I'm off to try and feel merry or something... *shakes snowglobe*... damn, guess I'll have to find ANOTHER way... ;)

Shaun.

Bad Shaunta.

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 03:50:57 GMT

Again I'm gonna plead 'busyness' as my principal reason for not getting much wordage on here; Christmas is a total time sucker... everyone busts out of uni, and suddenly there's this big 'social explosion' and you find yourself perpetually stuck away from home, at the mercy of every tect message that flies across the void. Perhaps I should buy myself a notebook computer, so I could use my fancy inbuilt cellular modem to write these on the bus, then again I think that might be a step into geekdom that even *I'm* not willing to take... and I still ocasionally get persuaded to play tabletop RPGs. :P

Anyway, this entry comes to you from my lunch break at work; Brian is actually away, having gone into hospital a few days ago for a double hernia operation... he still calls and rants down the phone periodically though, so his painkillers can't be working that well, or at least not well enough for ME. ;P Bless his little aging heart though, get well soon boss!

As I mentioned, it's been something of a social maelstrom lately, so I'll just highlight some of the cooler / unusual things I've been up to:

Archery: is fun! Also, it is quite hard; my personal claim to fame was that I wa the only attendee to actually permantly lose arrows (two in fact). It was kinda like a bushwalk with ocasional simulated violence against wildly assorted artificial animals (ducks and carribou included) Peter is scary-good... he's like Legolas, only with a cooler looking bow and more hair (keep it going man! The beard rules!)

Movies: lotsa them; the Original 'Swept Away' was a laugh riot, a laugh riot WITH sodomy! :P Uh... if you find that kinda thing funny, it's better than the version with Madonna though (although, isn't that true EVERY time she's invlved with something?) :P Although just about everyone I saw 'Shop Girl' with didn't like it, I was kinda a fan... it was nice, quiet and it kept my attention, meh; what more could you want from a romantic comedy? It was certainly better than the drivilling mass of 'Prime' which totally relied on one of those plots that are dependant on all the principal characters being moronic. 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' is my pick for best film of the holiday season (out of the one's I've seen anyway) It's like a modern pulp-detective story with a total overdose of black comedy, go see it, really... NOW. Val Kilmer needs the money. :P

Carols: almost make me like christmas again, I had lunch with my friend Ali, then went down to the state library to see her and my other friend Cassia sing for a few hours; those guys are good at what they do; they almost made me feel bad for negelecting to do anything remotely christmassy so far.

Parties: A few, although they seem to be dying down in intensity; I had to drive to David's 22nd, so I couldn't really drink; but that didn't stop a trio of drunk guys from picking me up and throwing my fully-clothed ass in the swimming pool... that woulda been fine, only my car keys fell out of my pocket and got caught in the pool filter... I had to get Alexis to drive me home to get a spare set of keys so I could drive my car back... on the way back the exhaust pipe detached from my car... I just paid $200 today for a new one. Other than that though... all good, alcoholic slussies are fantastic this time of year! (plus only 7% alcohol, so you can have lots!) :D

Coffee: Too many to count, more often than I should... keep calling me though people; you know there's no limit to how much I can chat while I'm drinkin' the stuff! :P

Right... so I could say more, about work and how annoying brats keep ringing up to ask about the King-Kong game, or about how my stalker sent me the creepiest christmas card ever, or how I love Veronica Mar, and can't wait for the season to finish up on TV so I can rant about it with everyone without spoiler-problems...

But, I gotta get back to work. :/ Many hugs and giggles anyway,

Shaun.

God loves a holiday.

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 09:28:14 GMT

Ok, so I'm back... in fact I've been back for a few days now. You know what's it's like though, holidays are exhausting experiences... ya need to take time off afterwards to recover. :P

Anyway, I had a fantastic week: we walked up Mount Remarkable, Played a buncha tennis and basketball (plus lotsa cards and board games) hung out at the pub, watched a heap of movies and TV, slept in, went down to beach, sat around barbeques drinking wine and stuff like that. 'twas awesome, really.

While the lack of GSM coverage in the Flinders ranges meant I was pleasantly incommunicado, it DID mean that I had this scary-huge pile of messages when I got back... most of them were work-related, again confirming my indispensibility. Unfortunately that didn't save me from having to pull some MAJOR hours when I got back... I hate backlogs, and I'm really NOT looking forward to the Christmas rush... extra hours = extra money, but it'd be nice to just be able to ENJOY Christmas for once ya know?

Right, so I'm back... consider me back in the loop and all that. Now, who wants to drink something? ;P

Shaun.

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:59:19 GMT

I'm lazy and I don't REALLY wanna update, 'cause I have so many other things to do... like pack, and listen to music, and pack, and play stupid web flash-games (right now it's 'Swan's Room' at http://mofuya.com/flash/swan_en.htm, and if anyone can figure out how to get out of the damn room you'll have at least a week worth of respect from me) oh yeah... and pack.

Anyway, I'm all finished up with uni now... no more essays, exams, posters, seminars, tutorials, lectures, thumbscrews or other forms of diabolicalness... lemme tell ya, it feels gooooooood! I kinda went on a 'mad social binge' as soon as I got out, saw a few movies (some better than others... ask me about 'The Bitter Tea of General Yen' sometime) ;) drank a buncha coffee, didn't drink much alcohol, played some basketball, helped out a few other people with assignments (which is actually kinda carthitic if they're not yours) applied for yet ANOTHER year of uni (Wooo! Honours! *cries*) :P And now I'm setting up for a week in the Flinders Ranges with a buncha people from uni (if I never update again, you can imagine my fate to be as Evil Dead / Cabin Fever as you like) :P

In other news, my boss is still being a dork... he yelled at me for not fixing his ordering error a few days ago, then apologised 10 minutes later because he 'wasn't being fair'... then the next day he noticed again and yelled again. I wanna buy him a new brain for christmas. My car is still soaking up money like a sponge... now it needs a total overhaul of the cooling system, 'cause the radiator is full of oxidisation, and the hose flanges are... *insert mechanical rant* anyway, I might need to sell a kidney; between this and my dad's birthday next week I'm mondo-broko.

Broadband still rules... I downloaded a pile of 'Samurai Pizza Cats' the other day- Ha! It's animation-perfection! :D

Ummm... yeah, so seeya all later! Hang in there everyone, it's almost 2006! :D

Much coffeelove,

Shaun.

The Dark Ages of Me.

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 06:00:20 GMT

I'm currently in the middle of my English take-home exam... actually it's kinda stupid to call it an 'exam' when we have 3 days to do it (and access to as much coffee as we can afford), but I'm still ticked-off (at least as ticked as my numb psyche can manage) 'cause I've *literally* been stitting at this desk for 3 days straight now, and I just wanna have a break, but I can't until I've finished this AND done another 4000 words worths of Anthropology by next monday. *random moaning*

So you can suffer with me, here are some question samples:

1. Relate ONE element (i.e., not all four) of Baudrillard’s concept of the simulacrum to any one text’s construction of the Middle Ages.

5. Some texts we have studied seem confused about what genre they belong to, or even stage conflict between genres that would seem to oppose each other. What relationship does this confusion have with any single text’s projection of “the medieval”?

7. What would you say about the claim that any given female character in an otherwise male-dominated text is the primary site of “the medieval” as projected by that text?

Blah blah bliddy-blah... I have to write on ELEVEN questions like that. There.is.not.enough.coffee.in.the.WORLD.

Why can't I live in a cheesy TV-drama where my biggest worry is finding out I'm my mother's brother? :P

I Lie in the Sound...

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 14:26:58 GMT

Ok... this is the lamest update ever, but since I'm online anyway and just a tiny bit drunk on crappy cask-wine, I figured I'd type some random crap anyway; you see, I've been sitting in this chair for about 6 hours now, sipping wine eating chocolate and assorted fruit (mainly to offset the chocolate guilt) and watching random episodes of One Tree Hill that I pulled off the internet, god it's major-melodrama but it GETS TO ME. I finished watching the season 2 premiere about 10 minutes ago and I only JUST stopped crying, 'cause dammit if all that crap about Hayley worrying about her and Nathan CD's, and then getting married wasn't just TOO beautiful, and dammit if Barry Corbin isn't as fantastic as ever, he gives the whole shoddy enterprise the lack the cred it needs.

Ok, drunk ramble over. Chill it peeps! ;)

Happy Halloween yo!

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:12:41 GMT

Yup... I'm still not dead. Although my LJ really is, I really WANT to blame it's deadness on me being so ridiculously busy/popular that I just can't squeeze updating into my life, but y’all know that’d be lying… actually the busy part isn’t, I feel like work and uni are having some sort of grisly tug of war over my heart, mind and soul… really they just fight over my time; which then gets spent insulting my boss at work and procrastinating at uni. Not exactly ‘Platoon’-level epicness there.

Anyway; instead of my usual missive about how I stayed up ‘til o’zillion in the morning writing some essay about whatever emmy-nominated HBO flop is finally on TV here four years after it was cancelled in the US, I’m gonna ‘help the community’ by snarking out some reviews of all the televisual material that I’ve watched/suffered through under the guise of ‘learning’ during the last 6 months… that seems kinda appropriate, since this crap has consumed my life, plus it’s Waaaaaaaaay more interesting than reading about whatever cool event or coffee/alcohol drinking session you were actually AT now, isn’t it?

Right, so without furthur ado… Shaun and Shaun… at the movies (and the TV):

The Animatrix: Remember the days when you could slap ‘Matrix’ on anything and confer instant mass appeal? Then they made those two sequels and while lots of money was raked in, the world woke up to the fact that the whole thing was a cash-cow just like the Star Wars prequels and the ‘cool’ disappeared. Oh well. ‘The Animatrix’ was produced in the space between the first and second film and received a limited theatrical release right before ‘Reloaded’ came out. The ‘project’ is actually a collection of 9 short animated films, and they’re certainly a mixed bag, some are absolutely stunning, while others look like cheap Yu-Gi-Oh! Knockoffs, some of the stories are haunting, others defy comprehension. It’s fascinating as an experiment, and if you like your animation as art then you’ll love it, but I wouldn’t say it’s ‘entertainment’ per-se. ***

Bratz: Oh. My. God. When I was in Blockbuster looking for ‘research material’ and I saw this movie, I couldn’t resist (there’s something about the promise of unadulterated badness that draws me, moth-like towards my own destruction) :P Well, I wasn’t disappointed… imagine the four most vapid people you ever knew, made into social heroes by the insane machinations of an equally vapid plot. Essentially it’s a touching story of four ‘popular-girls’ on a sacred mission to dodge their schoolwork, shop as much as possible and ‘save the prom’… it’s only 65 minutes long but I was clawing at my eyes after 20. Burn a copy today and guarantee your place in heaven. *

The Incredibles: I remember when this one came out in cinemas, I remember being put off by the annoying kiddie-level advertising campaign, the ridiculous quantity of tie-in merchandising and the fact that I figured it was Disney’s attempt to cash in on the Superhero craze that seemed so ubiquitous at the time, Actually I regret not getting out to see this one now, considering it’s both well-written and visually amazing; I can only imagine how impressive this would be on a cinema screen. Despite the fact that it manages to hit (or parody) just about every cliché of the genre, it’s a film with a lot of heart, and really I’ll applaud just about anything that manages to get me to actually sympathize with the ‘good guys’ these days. ****1/2

Kingdom of Heaven: Pleasantly surprising; while I have great respect for Ridley Scott’s earlier work (I don’t care what anyone says, ‘Bladerunner’ is GREAT dammit!) :P After ‘Gladiator’ I lost my faith… KoH is actually much the same in terms of intrinsic plot elements, but here everything is done better, both in terms of the acting, and the production itself. Historically it’s pretty divergent from the truth… but really that’s an excuse to throw in a buncha battle-scenes and a somewhat trite ‘religious tolerance is good’ theme to the film. Great visuals and good fun though. ***1/2

Lilo and Stitch: I think this is one of those Disney films that just didn’t saturate the public consciousness the way most of them do, maybe it’s because it doesn’t look like a ‘traditional’ Disney production, or maybe it’s because the story is such a patchwork of ideas, genres and themes. Personally I loved nearly everything about this one, the backgrounds are beautiful hand drawn matte, and the characters are shaded cells drawn in the same ‘inflated’ style that gives you the feeling that the whole production is one of those giant picture-heavy storybooks brought to life, huge props to the writers too, for having the guts to present some moral ambiguity, a ‘broken’ family AND realistically proportioned characters. The sci-fi elements seem kinda ‘tacked-on’ and the constant Elvis references are a shameless marketing device, but check this one out anyway. ****

The Lion King: You’ve all seen it, I know, and it’s a ‘classic’… but I gotta say, the more times I watch this film, the more I find things to criticize about it. From the irritating light/dark dichotomy (why the hell is Scar the only lion with a black mane? Aren’t he and Mufasa supposed to be brothers?) And the fantastically simple (and dubious) reasoning behind the politics of the Savanna, it’s hard to enjoy if you so much as scratch the veneer of cheeriness. Does anyone really think the songs are all that either? *1/2

Love Hina: The Japanese do animation (and storytelling) like no-one else; to be honest most ‘anime’ goes over my head, while I’d be the first person to say that mixing a high-school drama series with a show about giant killer robots is a recipe for success, I’ve yet to see an actualization of the idea that I’m happy with. ‘Love Hina’ however is a gem, there are no battle-robots, instead we get to follow the story of Kentaro, a 20 year old slacker who’s desperately been trying to pass the entry exam for the prestigious Tokyo University for the past 3 years. His grandma calls him over one weekend, and he ends up appointed as manager of an all-girls dormitory (as you do). It’s hard to describe the appeal of this show, it’s a mix of over-the-top comedy, less over-the-top drama and frantic action, and yet somehow it manages the hit the ‘feel’ of jumping through the hoops at university almost flawlessly (plus the theme song is funnier than a whole season of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’) :P ****1/2

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2004 series): Woah! This was more shocking than anything else; the turtles have gone seriously hardcore since I watched them as a kid, they have this ‘hard-edged angles’ visual style now that (along with their totally white eyes) makes them seem more ‘adult’, plus in the episode I saw Shredder actually got DECAPITATED. Yikes. It’s certainly not genius, but the boys in green are still more watchable than most of the Saturday morning dreck. ***

Heh… look at that, I’ve hardly scratched the surface, and look at all those words… I’d finish chronicling everything, but that would require a cut… and frankly I can’t be stuffed… besides this way I can do more next time! :D Betcha can’t wait. :P

Stay sane and Happy Halloween,

Sajun.

C'mon! It'll be Fuuuuuuunnnn...

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:33:10 GMT

Yo Yo!

Life continues... I am busy. Uni continues to simultaniously be a thorn in my side, a pain in my arse and a gun to my head. Even so, I do ocasionally manage to score some time off to uncork the increasingly volitile bottle of emotion that I've become, props and thanks to everyone who's helped me out there too! :D

Ok, so here's a plan for an event: Last light Juanita handily informed me that Royal Crown Revue were currently touring Australia, and in fact they're due to stop in at Adelaide next Thursday (that's the 13th) at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel.

Anyway... I'm excited and I wanna go... but I also want company (and maybe a buncha people to yell 'We Love You Jonathan!' with me. :P So if you've got a spare $42 and a night off, BE THERE! :D (tickets for this one are through Venuetix)

Ok... that ends the advertisement, and this entry; now back to my medieval essay-writing torture, cry for me people. :P

Shaun.

I am the Joy and the Laughter...

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 13:11:54 GMT

I'm gonna update 'on the fly' again, 'cause seeing everyone else's entries has me feeling major-stupid-guilty, so I'll slap down a few words so that the world (or just you) know what's happenin' in the never ending whirligig of fun that is 'Shaun's Life'. :P

Ummm, right... so I'm busy, like REALLY busy, uni is the single most sadistic social organisation on the planet; in theory I'm on 'break' as of now, but in order to ensure that we don't have actual FUN they seem to have taken sadistic pleasure in assigning a gargantuan pile of reading and assignments to be crunched through in my ‘time off’. Even worse my boss actually NOTICED the ‘break’ this year and decided that I should ‘catch up’ on the (digital) paperwork in the office too *sigh* I’m thinking about taking a lethal weapon (maybe a crossbow or flamethrower) to work… maybe I’d get some of that R.E.S.P.E.C.T. that they kept talking about back in the 60’s.

Ummm… so I haven’t been really very social lately, Kristy’s B-day was really cool (but then any occasion involving Mexican food gets full stars from me, even if it involves bioterrorism) :P It was a nice cushion to the ‘blow’ of leaving teenagehood behind though, right? ;D

On Thursday the social-mess of my calander actually came together surprisingly coherently (despite the fact that I was double, triple or maybe even quadrupled booked on that day seemingly) anyway it seemed like I met with or ran into just about every person I know… me, Juanita and Frank saw this pretty cool French film ‘The Beat My Heart Skipped’, which was kinda like ‘Rent’ meets ‘Shine’ if you can imagine that. There was lotsa coffee, some burritos and cool conversation anyway… if you weren’t there, you shoulda been! :P

On Friday I had movie night at Tim’s house which was kinda scary since everyone who rocked up was married… it was ok though, ‘cause me and Penny sat on the sidelines and snapped of wry slams at the expense of traditional family values, we watched this anime movie ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ which was pleasant enough, although totally twee, and then ‘Shark Tale’ which was totally twee, but pleasant enough. :P

Yesterday was my Cousin Erin’s 11th Birthday, so we did the ‘family’ thing and went down to that, I was kinda dreading it, but my Grandma didn’t show up, and Erin’s a cool kid, so it was a nice enough afternoon. I got her a pile of ‘Powerpuff Girls’ comic books (after buying a bunch of the DVD’s earlier and being told by my mother that she already had them *groan*) Anyway we sat down and laughed at them together… comic books rule! :P

Ya know what else rules? The Powerpuff Girls! :P Once again, serendipity has dumped another great TV show for me to plug… I’d never even seen an episode until those inadvertently bought DVD’s fell into my lap, and uhhh… now I’m kinda hooked. I know I totally missed the fad, but I totally GET it now at least… the stupid advertisers made this look like something that was aimed at kindergarteners when really it’s totally funny and smart… Mojo Jojo is the most hilarious monkey ever! Ummm… And I’m gonna shut up before I get put in a white room somewhere. :P
Yeah… so that’s my piece, hope you’re all good and chock full of sanity… I’m off to read more Umberto Eco… and stain his pages with my tears. :P

And once more the day is SAVED! Thanks to… UNI! Remember kids: you can’t get hurt if you can’t have FUN! ;)

Shaun.

sobs

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:13:49 GMT

Ok… so it’s been ages since I posted, and now I’m gonna break the silence with this quiz that’s been doin’ viral-type rounds recently. I suck. Anyway, life’s been good; just WAAAAAAY too busy for my liking (it’d be ok if ANY of it were social as opposed to draconian uni/work demands) *sigh* Ah well… I’ll put up something meaningful soon. Sanity permitting of course. :P

1) Quote from nearest book to you:
"…and after they had eaten all the bird carcasses and all the unclean animals they could find, there was a rumor in the village that somebody was beginning to dig up the dead…”

That’s from ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco, and it makes the book sound a LOT more interesting than it is. Trust me. :P

2) Quote from nearest CD insert:
Nearest? *gulp* ok…

“…Melissa Joan Hart would like to thank: My best friend James, my mother for her 22 years of support, my dad…”

That’s from the ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ soundtrack album… uhh… points for honesty? :P

3) Quote from nearest piece of paper written on by you:

God… “ ‘Darshan’: Auspicious sight – vision of/closeness to the divine (Heuristic device in social conception of religion?)”

That’s from a pile of my REALLY boring uni lecture notes, be glad I didn’t quote more. :P

4) Quote from nearest piece of paper that was written to you:

“Shaun – BITE ME! -David Fury”

Yeah, that my ‘signed script’ thing that I got from the Con, I still haven’t figured out where to put it or what to do with it.

5) Quote from something on your desk:

Umm… I dunno, I have an ‘I *heart

Screensavers for peace, puppies and your amusement

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 10:39:05 GMT

It’s been a slow day, I blew off work to chill at home and ended up feeling guilty about my recent lack of academic motivation, so I’ve spent the last 6 hours reading about and writing a critique of some guy who analyses the architecture of convents to make deductions about ‘the inherent nature of nuns’ *sigh* I wish I could at least PRETEND I was interested.

Anyway, this is a brief bout of procrastination expressed in literary form; lucky you, it’s like you’re ALL part of my boredom vicariously. :P The day hasn’t been all bad, I stumbled across this cover of ‘Nobody Does It Better’ by Aimee Mann which both makes me giggle (‘cause really I always thought Aimee was fairly antithetical to all things Bond-related) and is supremely pleasing to my ears, plus it finally kicked ‘Rocket Man’ out of my head, so I’m feeling mentally relieved.

Oh and hey, speaking of net-randomness I’m not usually one to plug random websites or good causes; but this one caught my attention; there’s an organization called ‘United Devices’ which has developed a program that puts your computers spare time to good use by allowing you to download a screensaver that helps to solve large scale scientific problems, so essentially while you’re not using your computer it sits and helps find cures for cancer, smallpox or whatever.

Anyway, I think it’s a fantastic and zero-cost contribution to global wellbeing (plus it looks really cool) :P check out www.ud.com to read up and participate.

Ok, that’s the end of the community-service announcement, my laziness… and this entry.

Nobody does it half as good as you,

Shaun.

(Not Quite) Dead Like Me.

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:45:06 GMT

Hello City!

I originally considered doing one of those net-quiz things for this entry (which is mostly to prove I’m still alive, considering actual ‘news’ has been pretty thin on the ground), but really the questions were either so depressingly familiar or completely absurd that I couldn’t bring myself to actually fill the whole thing out; I’m presuming that noone really cares what my middle name and starsign is, and how the hell am I supposed to figure out ‘What kind of tree I most feel like’ anyway? Pfft.

Soooo… it’s been a pretty quiet week; uni continues to putter on, although it’s been kinda banal lately, I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ when I first read it, but having to go to lectures and tutes devoted to said book really sucked any last remnants of fun out of it; you know it turns out that it’s not entirely based on proven historical fact? Gee, thanks. Glad I could pay a few thousand bucks worth of HECS to confirm what Google already told me in five minutes. Sheesh. Still, I might end up writing on it anyway considering that there’s plenty of source material and it looks like a total cakewalk, ah, the things we do for degrees. :P

Work likewise is almost unnaturally mundane, to use a pertinent analogy; I actually picked up a copy of the first season of ‘Dead Like Me’ at the beginning of the week, anyone who’s seen any episodes will tell you that’s it’s kinda got this ‘Clerks/Office Space in the afterlife’ vibe going on; that’s kinda how I feel walking into the office, it’s not so much hell as a kind of semi-irritating purgatory without a designated end-point. I can understand why people who work this kind of job for 20 years end up addicted to cocaine, Vicadine and/or Valium. I want out, but I’m still not sure where to; I keep seeing that Hudson’s coffee wants staff, but I also note that they want staff who are willing to start work at 6.30AM… Noooooo thanks. Plus me working in a coffee shop would be like hiring a vampire to run the blood bank, it’s tempting, but the application remains un-filled. :P

Speaking of TV, it’s kinda dead, in my case LITERALLY. That’s right, the decent TV in my house finally spluttered and died completely and I’m left all widowed. :P Sure, there’s still the little set in the kitchen, and I’ve still got my computer (which is pretty kickass for DVD’s) but I feel kinda Amish at the moment. I haven’t watched any live TV except for the news this week. What’s REALLY depressing is that I haven’t really missed anything I wanted to watch either. Accordingly I’ve been living off DVD’s; apart from ‘Dead Like Me’ (which is really pretty cool, check it out if you have Showtime or broadband) it’s given me a chance to finally watch those ‘Avengers’ DVD’s I’ve had since mid last year, also very cool! Who say’s old TV is crap? That show blows ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ and ‘Fraiser’ right out of the water! ;)

In not-me news, Tuesday was kinda depressing, I met up with Mel, who’s usually pretty chipper, but she’s having a rough time because her parents are splitting up out of the blue; I didn’t really ask for details but I get a feeling it’s down to her dad’s ‘extracurricular activities’. I made something of an attempt to be caring by buying her a chocolate milkshake and some cookies, but what can you really say when someone tells you something like that? I hope it all turns out at least kinda-ok anyway. :(

On Wednesday I had a day off so I visited my old high-school (’cause I’d been promising my dad I would since the start of the year). Actually it was kinda fun, I hung out in the staff room and said hi to all my old teachers and talked for a while; then I went and played some basketball with my friend Emily (who actually works as a PE teacher there now… damn her and her actual JOB) :P Sure, I got my ass kicked again, but there were a few great shots there and it wasn’t a TOTAL walkover so my pride is still mostly intact. Plus then this random year 8 challenged me to some one on one and I THRASHED him, so that made me feel better. :P After that I used the school’s high-speed internet to download a buncha stuff, too bad that my USB stick only had 128 megs of memory, but if felt good to get SOMETHING back anyway. :P

In the evening there was a double feature school play of ‘Being Lady McBeth’ and ‘Fool’s Gold’ which I hung around for; actually they were both pretty good, but my night went downhill when my crazy ex-girlfriend Rebecca who I hadn’t seen for 18 months showed up, I ran into her at the interval and said hi, and within FIVE MINUTES she managed to tell me I was ‘godless’ and ‘immoral’ for drinking my coffee out of an ‘environmentally destructive’ Styrofoam cup. I had this great image of pouring the boiling coffee on her head, but I stuck to a few comments about her last boyfriends and subtle reminders that she dropped out of uni THREE TIMES. Crazy bitch… why can you never find a time-machine when you REALLY want/need one? :P

Last night I went round to Ben’s place for his latest crazy-party-plan, this time it was ‘retro cartoon night’; we sat down and watched about 6 hours of G.I Joe, The Snorks, Dungeons and Dragons, Captain Planet, Samurai Pizza Cats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Care Bears… geez, too much crap for me to totally list (plus there was more than a little alcohol involved so I’ve already forgotten half of whatever there was. ‘Twas cool anyway, although half of those shows I thought were really great from my childhood will now be remembered as the god-awful pieces of animated drivel they were… He-Man still rocks though, as does G.I Joe oh… and Danger Mouse. Ok, I’ll shut-up with the geekdom now. :P

And now I’m just back from Cat’s farewell party down on Gouger street, ‘cause she’s running off to Ireland for a year! If you’re reading this, all the best Cat, drink lotsa Guinness and don’t forget to write every once in a while! :D That was cool to, even though I drove down and only got a ‘symbolic’ single beer, Gouger street is nice, everyone should try and get down there sometime! *wink, wink* :P

As a final note, I have this really annoying song stuck in my head… it’s ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John and I have NO IDEA where it came from, but I can’t seem to shake it no matter how many songs I play, anyone got any suggestions? If I catch myself mumbling “I’m not the man they think I am at all” one more time I think I’m gonna lose it. :P

Light up, as if you had a choice,

Sajun.

My Best Friend Tegan. :P

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:43:28 GMT

Why Heeeelllloooo!

You’ve caught me in a good mood today; actually it’s been a really cool week in general and the endorphins have been flowing pretty freely, so much so that even the rigmarole of annoyance at work and being kinda sick hasn’t managed to burst my happiness bubble. :)

First up, I’m finally sitting here in charge of a sleek, fast computer system. (no, I’m not gonna cave into geekdom and stat calling electronic equipment ‘sexy’) :P Tired as I was of long load-times and strange clicking noises I decided to shell out for a pile of new gear to go with my parentally-supplied hard-drive. So now there’s a gig of RAM and an Athlon 3200 powering this livejournal. Impressed? Well you SHOULD be! :P

As nice as it is to have a new black and silver box, what I’m REALLY happy about is the fact that the whole thing actually WORKS. I mean, sure I put together stuff like this at work all the time, but how often does anything involving computers run flawlessly?

Moving right along, uni is finally starting to pick up; I got transferred into the ‘alternate’ tute for anthropology, I’m not sure if it’s because the course coordinator really likes me, or really hates me, anyway it’s run by this really young guy from the psych department who gets really blasé with the course content (which personally I think is cool, since it means we can basically take the tute wherever we want to). It’s like a tiny Big Brother house really, there are only six other people plus me, but they’re all really ‘individual’, we have this chick who’s totally obsessed with alternative-fashion and wants to talk about ‘Frankie’ magazine every time, and this politics major who keeps bringing China’s human rights record (usually in the most bizarre conversational places)… it’s not really what I signed up for, but it’s kinda cool anyway.

Early in the week was kinda strange, I caught up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while; Jordan’s still doing his job at the library and obsessing about his upcoming thesis, which I can’t even comprehend. (How that guy can find state legislative process INTERESTING is beyond me) but he bought me coffee and acted jealous about my computer (even though his is probably still better… bastard) :P so we remain friends. It turns out that graduating AGAIN hasn’t stopped Karen from coming back as well, when is she gonna quit? Personally I think its just an excuse to be able to stay at Judo and get her hands on my body. :P

Thursday was particularly cool, after a long day of uni and mindless shopping I managed to get together with Pete, Juanita, Kristy and Caitlin for a night of high-stakes gambling and alcoholism down at the casino. Pete was right about the simulated horse racing, it’s strangely compelling. :P Playing the slot machines was kinda unproductive, after pushing many buttons many times for about an hour I came out about $5 ahead… I get paid more than that at work! :P Gotta admit that the little spinning wheels are kinda soothingly hypnotic though, even if ‘Mr. Cashman’ was annoying. ;) Juanita was our ‘big winner’ she had a whole pile of shiny gold coins at the end of the night, it was almost like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’… sorta. :P

The casino ended up getting all our money in the form of drinks purchases anyway, the new bar with the ‘drinks stock exchange’ wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, because all the drinks just sat at their minimum prices anyway… and the minimum prices weren’t THAT low. Maybe it’d be cool if the place was packed and if they listed all the drinks… but as it was the bartender couldn’t even make a proper ‘firefly’, still the Bicardi was nice, oh and we got to meet the ‘Simply Footy’ presenter who was there filming for their hundred-episode-anniversary show. We got cake (which I couldn’t eat, but hey, it’s the thought that counts) WOOO!!

And this weeks BIG story? Friday was dull at first, there was hanging around home and doing housework in the morning, then hanging around work and processing documents in the afternoon then I trotted on down to the mall to meet Kristy before going to our ‘big concert’ (the one that I forgot about until she reminded me earlier in the week) To be honest we were both tired and a bit ‘meh’ about the whole thing at 7, but seeing as we paid good money for tickets we dutifully began to trek down Hindley street towards Heaven (uh, that’s a nightclub for you non-Adelaidians) :P So we’re walking down the street with me eating my Burrito and Kristy snacking on her cookies when she stops and stares for a coupla seconds into the window of this BBQ restaurant that we passed, so we stopped and stared at these two chicks eating in there… “Is that Tegan and Sara?” she asks, so we walked past again… and again… and eventually decide to go inside and look closer (ummm… stalking? We weren’t STALKING!) :P

Inside the restaurant we’re staring at the menu and trying to be subtle, staring at the menu while really trying to check out the chicks, then Kristy starts INSISTING that I go over and ask them (knowing FULL WELL that I have no will of my own… BAD KRISTY!) :P So I kinda nervously wandered over and kinda half-whispered “I’m really sorry to bother you, but are you Tegan Quinn?” “Yeah!” said Tegan (thank GOD I picked the right sister) :P and I almost died right there… they were just finishing up so they walked out of the restaurant with us, and we walked and talked (really I don’t remember much of what we said, although I remember kinda babbling about how Hindley street was really very dangerous), it all seems kinda dream-esque now, I’m amazed we could form sentences really.

Anyway, Tegan was really nice and chatted heaps, Sara was more quiet (although I think she was cold) :P They stopped of at their hotel, we kept walking for about 30 seconds and then COMPLETELY SPAZZED OUT, there was yelling, screaming, high-fives, hugging and total babbling. Never have I felt so much like a 12 year old girl. :P

Oh… the actual concert was really cool too; we walked in the door and I kinda freaked ‘cause there were like 6 people I knew (but didn’t know were going) So hey, bonus catch-up at no extra charge, awesome!! Um… many cool songs were played, and Little Birdy were totally cool too (Kristy said they totally sounded like a ‘Buffy’ band, and I agree, the whole atmosphere was very ‘Bronzy’) :P

And today? Well after the sleeping was over I settled down to do some uni stuff, then I dropped by town with my dad and helped him do some random shopping (batteries, acrylic paint, shoes, trousers and a stopwatch… you can’t make a bomb out of that can you?) :P He was feeling way generous obviously ‘cause he bought me a Snow Patrol CD… which I’m now listening too and is very cool… love ya dad! :D Then I went to Tim’s house and watched ‘Saw’… which was totally disturbing and the main reason while I’m staying up and typing this instead of going to bed… I’m too scared of waking up chained to a drainpipe. ;P

Or maybe I just shouldn’t have had that 7th cup of coffee… *shrug* :P

Somewhere a Clock is Ticking,

Shaun.

'I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24? The way thing's are goin' I dunno...'

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 13:29:36 GMT

Aloha.

Usually I hate stupid life-metaphor platitudes. You know, the sort of ‘wisdom’ that’s typically spouted by intellectually non-gifted people who sit on park benches in movies, or by those ‘spiritual leaders’ who operate on ‘pay to pray’ type principles? I never really thought that life is like a box of chocolates, or a mountain range with peaks and valleys, or a hole that you had to fill with sugar and manure (actually, if ANYONE knows what that last metaphor is about please tell me, I’m kinda stumped myself). :P

Anyway, my POINT is, that infuriatingly enough life does sometimes appear to follow these stupid rules. Example: last week was almost unrelentingly CRAP, so crap that I was on the verge of changing all my courses, throwing a coupla people off very tall buildings and then drinking a huge amount in the hope that I’d wake up somewhere else with an exciting new life. Well, the drinking part of the list came true anyway.

Saturday rolled round though and things started falling into place; I got the electronic resources I needed to do my anthropology assignment, which actually turned out to be marginally fun ‘cause it was pretty freeform. Work rang and told me that they didn’t need me to come in, ‘cause Brian’s latest mini-crisis over some disgruntled customer resolved itself, then I cruised over to Peter’s place for some well-deserved alcoholic/zombie themed relaxation. :D

Right, so the cocktails were a little hit and miss: Fruit Tingle- Hit. Black Magic – Miss. Blue Martini – Hit. Burn – Miss. (Although who can blame me for NOT liking Vodka mixed with Tabasco sauce and pepper, really?) ;P Pool was played (um, well in a form anyway, I’m still not to sure about the whole ‘hit balls while they’re moving’ thing) :P Videos were watched (We sort of re-edited ‘Eurotrip’, ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘Saved!’ into some sort of ungodly cinematic monstrosity). Then we finally settled down to sleep watching the original ‘Dawn of the Dead’. I think Peter gets the line of the night for this meet with: “You must all witness the orgy of death!” Heee!

So I drove home at 3AM, tired but still kinda giggly; getting woken at 8AM by my DRUNKEN grandfather to wish me a happy birthday wasn’t a whole heap of fun, but I managed to at least get a couple more hours sleep before I got dragged out to start the day properly.

To be honest, I’m not that psyched about turning 23… to me that sounds totally ancient, like I should be living in a suburb and talking about getting that ‘big promotion’ in the marketing firm I’m supposed to work at or something. And where’s my hoverboard? Aren’t I supposed to have a hoverboard by now? :P My parents were nice enough to cushion the blow and reassure me that I didn’t need to start thinking about life-insurance. They gave me that new hard-drive that I wanted too… WOOOO! More space for digital chaff that I don’t really need and yet grow ‘attached’ to! Of course that means I’ve spent a good part of two days backing up all the stuff on my old drive onto DVD’s, which isn’t exactly rollicking fun, but meh… it’s really no different that being at work, only I guess this is something I can actually see the POINT of. :P

Unfortunately I couldn’t get out of working, so I spent a goodly point of the day cross-checking spreadsheets and phoning supply houses, Steve was nice enough to remember and he bought me some choc-coated coffee beans though, bless his little heart. :D I got out of work and went downtown to meet Juanita and Pete, we hung out in Borders, drank coffee and talked/complained/brainstormed for a while; very student-y. Then we drove up to Cha Chis and met everyone else, ate a bunch of Mexican food, spilled some Margarita and (thanks to Kristy) all posed for photos with Sombreros. ;D ‘twas also way cool… and thanks HEAPS to everyone who blew off CSI and the Big Brother eviction to be there, I love you all! :D

After that more sleep was scheduled, but I was pretty happy going back to uni today, class was fairly cool, and that German exchange student that Dave was slutting on last week actually turned out to be really nice, she lent me her reader today (before you start getting ‘Eurotrip’ ideas… she’s 30-something… and NO.) :P I had to go watch ‘A Knights Tale’ for English later in the day, which SUCKED as a movie… but then I can’t really complain about free movies can I? I still hope Heath Ledger dies in an unpleasant way though. Ponce. :P

And now I’m home again, sipping on soft-drink, writing this and watching the little percentage meter on my latest back-up. Life is good again, even though I feel too old to live. ;)

Yours in senility,

Sajun.

Please Don't Take My Picture.

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:19:52 GMT

Heeeelllo world!

I couldn’t stay away forever y’know? I know I’m slack with updates, but it’s not often I actually feel like I’m ‘abusing’ livejournal. Today I REALLY do.

‘cause today was the first day back at uni for semester 2, which means really I’m here to COMPLAIN. Usually I don’t mind uni that much, I mean, for me it’s like a bigger better less intense version of high school, with better food, the provision of alcohol, far less stringent dress requirements and fairly ambivilous ‘learning outcomes’. I like to also think it’s a fantastic excuse to stay fairly young and stupid at heart and put off the provision of any kind of meaningful employment that might get in the way of my social life.

But today was fairly monumentally crap. I showed up at my first lecture, only to walk straight into the gaze of ‘David the Deviant’, this absolutely lecherous, horrible old creep that I hadn’t seen in just over a year. Of course he recognised me and started to talk, so I got subjected to firstly a list of his supposed sexual conquests for the past whenever, then subsequently a run down of how ‘awesomely’ his new prescription medication for dealing with his various (and ostentatiously displayed) psychoses was performing. Overshare much? Turns out the guy is in my tutorial too, so no escape there. I walk in and he’s already got his arm draped around some poor (and totally uncomfortable) German exchange student, I’m feeling chivalrous, so I decide to distract him by saying hi and asking about last year, then of course he blathers about everything he learned in some course called ‘The Sexual Body’, Ugh, On the plus side, he did let go of the girl long enough for her to find another seat, but now of course everyone saw him talking to me and probably assumes we’re friends. *sigh* God I hate him.

Also, our lecturer rocked up late and without any of his IT resources, so we had to suffer through an hour of intermittent spluttering that was supposed to outline the course. I hope the web-resources are as good as he says, ‘cause if I have to rely on class for info then I’m pretty screwed (who can’t say that though?) :P He actually seems like a nice enough guy though, so I’m hoping he’ll be generous with the marking.

Then I tried to buy my reading material for the semester, usually giving the uni money is easy; today though the Copy Centre was flooded with people and totally understaffed, so after waiting 40 minutes in a line I found that nobody knew where the stuff I needed WAS. So my plan to start on the minor assignment for next Monday just went south of FUBAR. This was about when I gave up and decided to go get coffee.

And for the final act of my Greek tragedy, I just finish getting my coffee and sit down, when my friend Emma sneaks up behind me; she’s all happy and stuff, so I say hi, and get all prepped to start bitching about my hell-day when she suddenly announces that while she was in Townsville over the holidays she GOT ENGAGED.

This is too much. She’s been dating this guy what? Four months? After ditching her heaps nice boyfriend Damien she hooks up with this boring, vaguely irritating viticultralist called Richard and now she’s ENGAGED. Emma. Who just last month was all; ‘Oh, I totally couldn’t get married! I’m WAY too young, I don’t get how people can believe that they know enough to make a decision like that!’ F*^k.

I admit I was less than tactful in my response. While usually I would have at least managed “congratulations” and faked some interest in the new ring on her finger, today it was a short burst of incredulous laughter and “you’re kidding, right?” She then proceeded to give me this chirpy spiel about how she knows it’s soon, but she just ‘knows in her heart’ that he’s ‘the one’. By this stage I’m too tired to really care, so I just moped and drank my coffee and cried on the inside while she talked about wedding plans.

Then I went home, flopped in front of the computer and watched ‘Six Feet Under’ for a while, ‘cause that always makes me feel saner. Then I listened to a pile of angry and depressing songs, then I wrote this. Which I now realise sounds pretty angry and depressed itself. Sorry ‘bout that guys, next one’ll be more upbeat, promise. ;)

Ya know that Daniel Powter song ‘Bad Day’? Or that R.E.M. song ‘Bad Day’? yeah, well, I’m right there with ya guys. Bring on tomorrow.

Shaun.

Rip Ooooooffff... :P

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 14:16:41 GMT

Isn't it depressing when you tune into the 'friends' section on this site and realise it's ALL new content? In other words in means that EVERYONE has written new stuff and you haven't even had time to get on-line in the past zillion years. Ugh. Again, I'm gonna plead busy-ness and rant viciously about how my 'real life' prevents me from indulging in such frivolity. Meh... anyway, I have a HUGE download to do tonight, and I need to kill time, so here's a quiz I stole... original huh?

Starting Time: 10.40pm
* Birth Date: 31/7/1982.. that's pretty close btw. :P
* Name on Birth Certificate: Shaun Stewart Clamp
* Nicknames: Shawny, Leo, Sajun, Woody... heh, everyone has their own.
* School/College: Concordia for HS, now it's Adelaide uni
* Location: Adelaide.
* E-mail: pffttt... my 'public' one is leo4450@hotmail.com
* Hair: Brown, with blonde highlights.
* Height: 188cm... that's 6'2.
* Shoe Size: 11.

---------------HAVE YOU EVER---------

* Ever been so drunk you blacked out: Ummm... I prefer, 'fallen asleep', but yeah. :P
* Put a body part on fire for amusement: In Chemistry class, it was totally official though... long story.
* Been hurt emotionally: Oh yeah... but hasn't everyone?
* Kept a secret from everyone: Umm... everyone? Probably, but I can't think of it right now.
* Had an imaginary friend: No, not really. I do have conversations with fictional characters in my head sometimes though.
* Wanted to hook up with a friend: Totally! All my friends are SOOOO hot! ;)
* Cried during a Movie: Yeah, and not 'cause I was bleeding either. :P
* Had a crush on a teacher: At Nazi-school? I don't THINK so.
* Ever thought a cartoon character was hot: Sure... see my Avatar? That's Kim Possible, and she is Fiiiiinnneee. :P
* Had a New Kids on the Block tape: Um, no.
* Cut your hair: Yeah... there was this thing with bubblegum once at high-school... long story.
* Been sarcastic: I'm being sarcastic RIGHT NOW. Really.
* Had sex in a public place: Yeeeeesss... but that's all I'm sayin'
* Wanted to do something odd in a public place: Odd? Umm... probably. The sex probably counts anyway right?

-----------------FAVORITES-------------

* Shampoo: Ummm... 'Sun Silk' I love the pretty blue bottles.
* Colour: Blue, and Grey, and Green too... meh.
* Day/Night: Night
* Summer/Winter: Summer, 'cause then the night is LIVABLE. And I love parties on beaches and near pools.
* Food: Heh, I just like 'food', right now I'm going through a TexMex phase and scarfing Nachos, Burritos and Tortillas every chance I get.
* Fave Advert: Heh, remember those 'Image is Nothing, Thirst is everything' ads that Sprite ran a few years back? Pure genius!
* Fave Movie: Ohhhhh god, It's tough to choose just one, I really never get tired of 'American Beauty' though.
* Fave song: Again with the hardness... 'The Great Beyond' by R.E.M. maybe.
* Fave Subject: Heh... English. I STILL can't believe I get credit for reading books, watching movies and TV.
* Fave Drink: Hmmm... I love caramel milkshakes, scotch and diet cola (in no particular order). Oh and coffee (that's more of a 'need' than a 'like' though) ;P
* Car: I used to fantasise about owning a Corvette, now I don't really care, as long as it's practical.
* Odd thing you do: Heh, does talking count? I know it's often odd, but it DOES fill the silence nicely. :P

----------------RIGHT NOW------------

* Wearing: Um, a Beige R.E.M. shirt and my green cargos.
* Drinking: Coffee... what else?
* Thinking about: This quiz... coffee... DVD's... sex... coffee... Perpetual on-line community structure... sex... coffee...
* Listening to: Music... right now it's 'Camera One' by Josh Joplin.
* Watching: This screen
* Wishing you were doing: Hmm... something useful? I dunno, hanging backstage and interviewing Alanis Morrisette?

---------IN THE LAST 24 HRS--------

* Cried: Nope.
* Worn a skirt: Uhh... no.
* Met someone new: Yeah, there's a new guy filling in at work. He seems nice enough.
* Cleaned your room: 'rearranged' maybe.
* Done laundry: Yeah... well if 'loading a washing machine' counts.
* Driven a car: Yup.
* Kissed someone: No. Sad huh? :P
* Wanted to kiss someone: Um, kinda I guess... but it woulda been SOOOO inappropriate. :P
* Wished you kissed someone: Nah, I'm good.
* Got very repetative: Work IS repetition! So yeah.

---------DO YOU BELIEVE IN-------

* Yourself: Hmm... how Matrix-y... sure: I can do anything! :P
* Friends: Well they SEEM solid enough.
* Love: *insert deep philosophical statement* sometimes I guess, mostly: no.
* Love at first sight: Well, let's just say it hasn't happened to ME.
* Wearing underwear on your head: I believe that's possible. Also, I believe it's kinda strange.

-------------FRIENDS AND FUTURE--------

* Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend: Nooooo... send your application to... :P
* Like anyone: Sure, I like lotsa people. Probaly including you in fact.
* Who's the loudest: ME!!! Oh, apart from Me? Kristy probably (but only 'cause she's trying to compete) :P
* Who's the weirdest: Ohhhh... Amy. But in a really funky, cool, alternative kinda way, really! :D
* Who do you go to for advice: The internet. :P Nah, whoever I think would know.
* Who do you cry with: Whoever's around. Which usually means whoever I'm watching TV with. :P
* What's the best feeling in the world: Knowing you did what's right, bonus points if you made someone else happy.
* Worst Feeling: Pain? Geez... probably screwing up and letting someone else down.
* Time finished: 11.08pm.

1. What is your middle name? Stewart... just like it says up the top.
2. What color underwear are you wearing now? Uh! Intrusive much? Red.
3. What are you listening to right now? Ok, now it's 'No Myth' by Michael Penn.
4. What are the last 2 digits in ur phone number? 46. So?
5. What was the last thing you ate? A cookie. Now I'm hungry again...
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? *sigh* a yellow one... just like the one Willow broke in kindergarten... stupid much? :P
7. How is the weather right now? Cold but fine, humidity is up too.
8. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Cat.
9. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? I dunno, face, hair... it depends what angle I see them from. :P
10. Favorite type of Food? It changes pretty often, like I said right now it's TexMex.
11. Do you drink? Yeah... all sorts of things! Some of them aren't even alcoholic! :P
12. Do you smoke? Not unless I'm on fire *laughs loudly* Umm... I mean no.
13. Ever get so drunk you don't remember what you did? Ummm... maybe? I don't remember. ;P
14. Hair color? Brown with blonde highlights.
15. Eye Color? Blue-gray.
16. Do you wear contacts? Nope.
17. Single? Yup... I haven't got a date in the past 5 minutes either. :P
18. Favorite Month? Maybe Janurary, 'cause of holidays, and the year still seems shiney and new.
19. Last Movie you Watched? 'Sin City'... 'twas kickin'! :D
20. Last kiss? Heh... my dad actually, he STILL likes to kiss me goodbye... awww... :P
21. Are you too shy to ask someone out? Hmmm... I guess it depends on the person, sometimes.
22. Hugs or Kisses? Hugs. They're 'friendlier'
23. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate. Easy.
24. Favorite place? Somewhere busy, a coffee shop table outside maybe.
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman! Really, geez... I dunno. I'm taking suggestions. If I stay at uni much longer I'll probably end up working there though.
26. What books are you reading? 'The Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco, it's for uni.
27. Piercings? None.
28. Fav. Movie? Haven't we done this? Yes we have.
29. Fav. baseball Team? Um, I don't really pick Baseball favourites, I'll be 'patriotic' and say the Adelaide Giants though.
30. Fav. American Idol? Khrishna. Oh you mean the TV show? Never watched it.
31. Any Pets? Three dogs; Monty, Zoe and Kara, and I love them all.
32. AIM SN? Nup.
33. Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn? Butter! The more fat the better!
34. Dogs or cats? Dogs.
35. Favorite Flower? Uhh... an orchid of some sort? Those are pretty.
36. What do you do when you wake up in the A.M.? Go back to sleep, or get up shower, brush my teeth, get dressed... yeah, THAT's interesting.
37. Do you still talk to your best friends from intermediate school? Sure. Maybe not as much as I SHOULD, but we're still in touch.
38. What's on your desk? Junk. Pens, paper, books, my phone, CD's... you name it, it's there.
39. Rock Concert or symphony? Rock Concert.
40. Play or Opera? Play.
41. Have you ever fired a gun? Yup. On a firing range.
42. Do you like to travel by plane? Sure, it's a chance to sit and chill, and it's way faster than ground transport.
43. Right-handed or Left-handed? Right.
44. How many pillows do you sleep with? Just one.
45. Are you missing someone? Yeah, sure. I hope I get to see some of them again one day.