the.dude's blog post - 1st World Solutions and Xmas and End of Year Sum-up

Hi everybody

(this was hopefully gonna be posted well before xmas, and then immediately after xmas, and now its nye and i'm still trying to remember everything i wanted to say hopefully this will remind me to write my blogs more often lol if the time seems a bit disjointed its because of that).

Well I came up with a solution to last blogs problem. I've moved the computer to the bedroom. It's got pros and cons though. The bad news for me is I now need to turn off, or at least hibernate the computer, when I go to sleep. I can just about put up with the noise, but the computer glows blue quite brightly [1] and the extra light makes it harder for me to sleep. The good news is that previously, I'd get tired at the computer, and decide to go to bed. However the act of getting up and turning off the lights and going to the bedroom would wake me up again. Now I hit the power button, which I've reprogrammed into hibernate, I turn off two switches which turn off the 6 monitors, and the computer clicks and whirs long enough for me to get into bed and get comfy, and then the lights go out and it turns itself off. It's working reasonably well so far. I didn't think that would be an advantage but really it's surprisingly good for my sleep it seems. [2]


It also means I can now chat or cam almost whenever I like or watch cams whenever I like. And that's pretty good too I've got to say. I've been showing off a lot more now because i can. not always on here because a) NN didn't have a cams section until recently, b) non premiums can't access it on here, and c) partly on here I feel somewhat obligated to show my face and talk to people, and I'm not really wanting to show my face [3] to everyone yet. Not at the same time as my bits are in shot that's for sure. Sometimes I don't actually want to talk to people either, so if friends did come into the room then I'd want to chat with them, because they're my friends, even though actually I just felt like not talking. On some of the other sites there's just so many people with cams it's easy to feel more anonymous than here on NN. I don't think there's anyone on here who knows my whole official government name, but there's people on here who now know me, which means really I'm not anonymous on NN anymore. That's both a good and a bad thing. I like that I can blog on here for example and it's relatively still anonymous. I can bitch about work and life and it's unlikely that anyone from my day to day life will discover I've been writing about them. On the other hand, if something on here is annoying me, I feel less able to write about that now.


Anyway, moving the computer was good timing, because the house-guest chose to stay, as I wrote. So far we're still getting along fine. He is a web developer so spends lots of time in his room coding websites and trying to get invoices paid. he's not the best administration person which unfortunately meant I didn't get paid rent for ages, but now he's been paid and I've been paid so all is good again. I'm eating well. He likes a cooked meat meal for dinner each night, whilst I can't cook and for my health try to eat as much salad as I can, so we've come to an arrangement where basically I get most of the salad each night and he gets less, and then he gets most of the meat each night and I get less). This works well for me because while I like a little bit of meat, it's just better for me to eat less and anything i try to cook turns out barely edible, so having someone who can cook and make things tasty around is certainly good from my perspective.


speaking of which, I've been eating less for so long now that a few days ago I bought size 34 Levi's 501s[3], which won't mean a lot to most people, but to me it means I've gone down six Levi sizes since I noticed I had started to consider buying size 42 501s. It does not mean I have a 34 inch waist either. Mens Levi sizing doesn't match reality anymore (much to my disappointment). I still think I can afford to lose more weight. I think to fit back into the seemingly unrealistic 'healthy' weight range; I probably need to lose another 10-15kg. That would certainly reduce the chance of diabetes and the other health issues that follow along with being overweight. And it's not like I'm a huge guy at all. I have so many friends who are bigger than me. I've always found it odd that a lot of the people I'd consider naming if I had to come up with a list of hero's (perhaps people I'd look up to is a better choice of words) a lot of them are not skinny people. I have some friends back home who have always been big boys, and even with the size 40 jeans, I was smaller than they are (and am still smaller now). I work alongside someone who's just managed, after lots of exercise and eating rabbit food, to fit into size 40 jeans. So it's not like I feel huge, or am treated as huge when I'm out. what really made me notice I'd put on the weight was realising my next option was size 42 jeans, and my grandma commenting that I seemed fatter in the face than I had last time she remembered seeing me. For the last month or so though, everyone is saying that I look skinnier in the face now so when I add that to requiring smaller jeans, I'm kinda happy. I still feel more comfy in XXL t-shirts, but I did try on an XL jacket the other day and it wasn't too bad a fit. anyway, I've felt kind of happy about this news. i put a pic up of my jeans tag just to show off


trying to remember everything that's happened since the last blog is always difficult. i should learn to write this down more rapidly at the time so i don't forget.

I think I've been to Canberra twice? and Brisbane once. Brisbane had nice weather but a long trip. Canberra had short trips but always the middle seat coming back which i hate.


I've been to a work mate's wedding and wore a shirt with a collar! i even ironed it! i know! the horror lol i had to wear shoes but luckily i have pair of Jordan's with zoom air that look like/are dress leather shoes so nobody noticed. the groom was most pleased with my behaviour and could not complain. for some reason he had this strange idea that i might drink too much and act up, and had requested specifically to me that i did not do such a thing. in reality that's the furthest thing from my mind to do at someone elses wedding. i get drunk and messed up on my own time, not when someone else has an important event. but certainly as he works with me, he knows that i am capable of drinking a lot and acting up if i wanted to, so i guess he was just ensuring i didn't. anyway, i was well behaved really. i was a perfect gentleman the whole night. i did drink a bottle of frangelica (its only 20% - effectively harmless) just to ensure that my reputation in my other workmates (there was a table of us and partners) eyes wasn't sullied too much. It meant I was the only person at the wedding not drinking beer or wine, but even that had been prearranged with both the groom and the venue to ensure no body was upset by it. one of the other coworkers decided to drink at least one of everything that was on the table though, and so by the end of the night he was getting a bit messy.he didn't throw up but his wife said he was pretty seedy the next day. the groom didn't notice him, and he wasn't drunk enough to make a scene, but it was obvious he had had quite a few.


i worked at a conference for two days. i had the easiest job in the place i think. turn up at lunch time and man the admissions desk for four hours to help people who hadn't checked in yet. i think i served maybe 10 people over the two days. the organisers seemed thankful i had turned up to help but i don't really feel like i did any work. i don't think i'll describe the conference but it attracts a crowd that attracts the attention of the police and security services. they also can and do turn up as attendees (on the record and off the record) and speakers. so at the afterparty, after smoking a joint down an alleyway with an old friend who flew in from interstate for the conference, i went upstairs, got some free drinks on the tab and sat down next to a guy (in a heavy metal t-shirt of all things) who introduced himself to me as a policeman from QLD (there with his mates to officially attend the conference). interestingly in the limited discussion we had, we shared the same views. i'm glad he didn't venture into some other topics he might have chosen to discuss - i'm pretty sure we'd have disagreed on somethings. i don't really give a damn about the joint, and i haven't done anything that is arrest worthy in a long long time so i have nothing to fear from some random police office. however my inbuilt default reaction is still don't talk to police. it's hard to override that. it's probably just me but i found it funny that in a bar full of different types of attendees and people, i still managed to randomly pick the policeman to sit next to.


Xmas was good but quiet. i had orphan friends over and we ate food, drank alcohol and watched season 2 of the walking dead, and a film called "i sell the dead" (also about zombies). can you see a theme here? we've done ether zombie films or so bad they're good films for the last few years. we do an orphans Xmas every year because there's quite a few people i know from Perth who are all over this side of the country now, and our families are still the other side of the country, so we get together every year because we know that otherwise we'll be on our lonesomes, and Xmas is a time when (we feel) you shouldn't be alone. some years there's extras, some years it's just me and the same friends watching zombie films


I've recently booked my tickets back to WA for Grandma's 102nd birthday in Feb. I'll be gone about three weeks i think. trying to work out if i can still get to NN while on holiday. most of the time at Grandma's i'll be sitting around waiting for Grandma to wake up from her naps so should have plenty of time. at the moment getting wireless access is the problem. if any one wants to come see me in Narrogin let me know i'm sure i can find some time. i plan to spend a few days in Perth on either side of the birthday to catch up with some old friends (and their new kids), and hopefully will manage to catch up with some one i hope/want will become an old friend. i'm not looking forward to the heat, and the boredom that is Narrogin between visits to Grandma. and the boredom that Perth can be at times. but seeing my friends will be great. we always get together for at least one bbq and some of us have been friends since high school so its all very relaxed and good fun.



what else... I had a old filling collapse at the start of December, and now they want me to get a crown at the start of the new year. I can't afford that, but also i need to keep that tooth so not sure what will happen there.


oh the ex housemates cat came back (again) for xmas, and now hasn't left. can't remember if i wrote about the cat before or not, but he came back at xmas and has hung around since. he now has a litter tray and i'm feeding him twice a day so i guess i'm now owned by the cat. this isn't all bad. i'm now starting to realise the bad (that i have to worm him and pay for vet bills etc) but it's nice to have him back too. i've even cut him a new door in the fence so he can walk in and out from the alley way a lot easier. i'm sure i mentioned before that he can't jump properly or do most cat things properly. i've seen him now sitting with his head out the hole watching the alleyway just to see whats going on. as i type this, he's asleep on the couch.




another reason i should blog more often is that then there isn't a wall of text to read when i do update i expect i'll get some more "essay" comments lol


not sure what will happen for new years eve. it's going to be a hot one, and this morning i'm being quite tempted to stay home tonight. i'll see how i feel later today.


well i think that's everything. everything that comes to mind now anyway. i hope everyone out there in nn land has a safe and happy new years. lets hope 2012 is a better year for everyone




1 - Am i allowed to post pictures of my computer? do people want a link to a picture of my computer?

2 – It's possible the new sheets, pillows and doona are also helping. I bought a new body pillow to try and help me sleep on my side instead of my stomach, and because I sleep on my stomach, I bought a new memory foam pillow that the guy recommended. It's not like these are the most expensive pillow's either I have to say. They're definitely at the cheaper end of the scale. Still they seem to be contributing to a marked improvement in my sleeping. I still wake up multiple times a night. I still seem to sleep no more than 4 hours in a stretch. I still feel constantly like I need more sleep (until I drink my V (energy drink) and then I'm ok for a few hours. but I am feeling more rested when I do wake. I seem to fall asleep quicker. I don't recall laying there waiting to sleep as much.


3 - I'm also in the process of trying to grow my hair back from a #1 crew cut to 'longer'. I'm not sure exactly how long 'longer' is going to be yet, but probably long enough to tie back into a pony tail if I need to. I had a pony tail previously for years and years, and now I've had a crew cut (or not much longer) for nearly 8 years. I figure it's time for a change again. anyway, in between a crew cut and 'longer', my head and hair, imho, aren't as neat and tidy as I'd like, and therefore I feel there's even more reason to not want to show my face on cam if I don't need to. i'm in that 6 month boofy hair phase. it's neither short or long. it's just awkward.


4 - The only "jeans" I've worn for the last 10 years are 501s. It used to be because I could rely on their fit to be the same year after year. Now I've discovered that they've changed their sizing a bit, the next time I might look at another brand but generally I'm happy with 501s. Button fly 501s for that matter. Zips aren't acceptable. And always blue. I wear them until the holes start to appear, and then I get another pair. I've become a subscriber of rarely washing my jeans also. Unless they actually get dirty, I generally wear them a few days, then air a few days, then wear then air. If they do actually get dirty, then I wash (inside out and generally in salty water). The salt is to try and prevent the colour leaching out during the wash, and it helps prevent denim stains on my shoes (because it makes the colour stay). There's plenty of evidence out there now that there's no need to wash cotton - it just needs to be aired out. If it's dirty then sure, wash away, but I'm a computer tech who works in an office and avoids the dirt. I'm not hanging out in dirty dingy smoke filled night clubs. I don't work outdoors. I don't do much that would lead to me getting dirty. I'm really not the kind of guy that likes dirt. I don't particularly even like nature. I can render nature on my computer, and apart from the smells and sound, it's a lot cleaner when it's rendered. It's not as good for my vitamin D, but it's certainly cleaner. For a long time, I had some OCD habits regarding my cleanliness but I've managed to stop a lot of those or at least reduce their impact on my life. I no longer have two showers a day minimum. I no longer wash and condition my hair twice a day. I no longer wear things once and then wash them. I still only wear socks/underwear/t-shirts once but surely that's acceptable? I used to wash everything every single time I put it on. Even if it was for an hour or less, I'd then wash it again. This meant my clothes faded and wore out much quicker than they should, and my water bill was ridiculous. i've managed to break most of those now thank goodness.