Damn You Blogger

You no good, 403-forbidden piece of shit.

Photoblogging

Not a damn thing to write about in boring Melbourne so its time to clear out the scrapbook. And torment my largely silent congregation with crappy trips from my past.
Sri Lanka's only golf course. Looks like shit, doesn't it? Like God got set loose with a copy of SimCity's terrain Editor. The Desert Classic isn't losing any sleep. Yes, that boat in the bottom left is for retrieving lost balls. And yes, it's a rowboat.

Bur Dubai is so classy yes? There's a Chinese prostitute who stands below that AC and I swear, every day she gives it an evil look when it drips on her top. Good business is all location, location.

Australia's not-so-Great Ocean Road. Oh, no question it's scenic and all that, and unquestionably one of the great driving roads. But utterly ruined by the police berks who stick speed cameras all over it while refusing to signpost where the hell you are. Still, it's not all that bad. The seaside town of Lorne had the best fish n chips I ever had. Ok, the only fish n chips I've ever had.
Yes, I'm positive that sign has prevented many deaths in Wadi Wuraiyyah. Health and Safety would have an aneurysm if they came to Dubai.

Enough already. Time to go watch paint dry. (Really.)

Australia

Random photography. Shiny No-Prize for anyone who can be bothered to guess where it is.

Just a few days before the Commonwealth games open and the city has almost completed its transformation. Public transport is all geared up and ready - in fact, most of the venues don't have any form of parking, so it's trams/trains or bust. On the roads, special lanes have been designated for team buses. Games tickets double as public transport tickets. Security forces out and about to prevent any mishaps. And for those pre-game jittery nerves, most local brothels are expecting record business.

Fascinating to think how Dubai would have handled this. Given how they handled Shopping festivals for the last ten years, I am inclined to think they would have fluffed it. The visa work alone probably would have led to the creation of some kind of 'Immigration & Naturalization City.' Of course, modern, first world Australia has two of those - Nauru and Woomera.

It's all a bit academic, really, given that Dubs seems unlikely to be hosting any sporting events in the near future, in light of recent events. Thank goodness anyway - I can't stand any kind of pro sports. Would rather wash my (filthy) truck in the height of summer dressed like Johnny Cash. And Germany 2006, that means you too.

Song of the moment - Julieta Venegas - Fe

Updates - Short Cuts

Presently in Australia enjoying the sweltering heat of late summer as it starts to cross fade into winter.

Watching American Idol; oddly, first time I've ever really sat down with it and y'know, it's not actually that bad. The live results seem a little crooked, mind, and human nature doesn't always agree with the judges, but it really comes as a surprise to find it compelling television.

Mind you, this isn't because I skipped over it somehow in my smorgasbord of regular watching. Cinema has always come first, but after a lackluster 04 and 05, it seemed time to check out what's playing on the small screen.
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And how far it has come:
- Nostalgia may paint old comedies as timeless, but surely no one has ever worked harder for chuckles than the cast of Arrested Development.
"I held distinctions in two fields simultaneously, as an analyst AND a therapist. I was, in fact, the world's first analrapist." - Dr. Tobias Funke, MD

- Rest in Peace, Star Trek. Battlestar Galactica has your measure. A scintillating mix of compelling drama, pressing issues and the triumphant return of the gritty, wheezy unreliable space ships of my youth. Oh, and some corking dialogue, too.
"Do you know how useless prayer is? Chanting, and singing, and mucking about with old half-remembered lines of bad poetry? And you know what it gets you? Exactly nothing." - Brother Cavill

- Just when it seems to be spinning its wheels, Season 2 of Lost comes back into the game. If you haven't seen an episode of it by now, for shame. Drop everything, go the videostore and roll up your sleeve for a injection of heroiny goodness.

- Guess it's too late now to hop on now, but for five years, The Shield has been perhaps the most intense - if sometimes unbelievable - drama on television. Watch the very first episode from '02 down to the last scene. And if that last heart-stopping moment doesn't hit you in the chest like a sledgehammer, perhaps you deserve to read KT press releases for five years as punishment.
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Still into travel, but time and money do not often permit. Perhaps a road trip to Sydney, before it gets too cold.

My old school, St.Mary's Catholic, has an alumni meeting the day I leave. It would figure. It also figures that my classmates who went were the oldest alumni in attendance. We always were the dead generation - and now we have become the scattered ones.

All the good women are married. Soon I will be too old to join the club. Searing thought: are moderate mental illnesses worth revealing to a potential wife? Heck, I haven't even told my parents I have OCD/bipolar. The question of whether I should continues to haunt me.

Thinking of leaving Dubai soon - depends if I want to take up employment in its nascent media. But long term plans are out. And after living there for nearly twenty six years, it feels dashed odd to want to leave. Perhaps one day, if i can gather my thoughts I will write a nice retrospective, warts and all. The scars are really only from the last ten years - before that, before all this sound of fake progress, it was far more idyllic. For now, consolidating my exit gains are primary concerns.

Addendum

After the last slightly alcohol fuelled post...here's a slightly amended version...gets to the point better...

Looking for single women in Dubai....non-prostitutes or previously working as such. Have money/car/watch but not interested in spending any on potentials so parsimony appreciated...preference given to tall, US/UK educated (ie no arabs, filipinos, indians, pakis, banglas, sri lankans, locals, jordanians, syrians, egyptians, kuwaitis, bahrainis, qataris, saudis - iranis ok because some of them are right fit innit) candidates with minimum five years xp in matrimonial/affairs, knowledge of MS Word/Excel and must be willing to shag afterwards despite enduring my three hour lectures about the appalling state of affairs of expatriates in the UAE.

kthnx