Corporate Adventuring

I have returned to my old haunts, I have laid down my roots once again, wide and shallow. I have found that the new roots no longer match the imprints of the old.

Tearing new ground asunder I am plunging forth into the corporate world. I am taking a two pronged approach.

My initial forays in both directions have come with some success.

I am trail blazing directly into the maelstrom of middle and large corporate worlds, struggling to find companies that are struggling with big unwieldy operations and need someone to measure them up and tame them.

I have found examples of organizations where I can triumph over adversity and succeed through elegant design, they have yet to request the services of a hero to vanquish their ills, but when they call, I will be ready!

The second prong, I'm also creeping up behind it, learning and researching the esoteric arts that the finance and corporate world calls financial analysis. There are many hurdles and trials to overcome and push through. I have encountered the first major hurdle! A series of riddles so intricate and complex they would turn the mind of lesser men inside out! There were many other brave souls beside me, attempting to take the same route, many had fallen to the wayside or been driven mad and despondent by the conundrum ahead.

Never the less I pressed on. Thinking, reasoning and imagining. So tricky and arduous was the riddle that six hours did it take me to find the answer.

Next I wait to find the next hurdle on the back ways.

At the same time I am commissioning trumpeters to perk the ears and criers to call my name from the rooftops so the the monsters and evils of corporate inefficiency and wasted cost hear my name and cower, afraid that I may find them.

Interesting stuff

My last post was entitled nothing interesting is happening...

Interesting things are now happening... mostly possible new bits of work, new flatmates, residency for Kana seems about to come through, I played guitar and sang which was recorded and may appear in an upcoming commercial and most interesting of all, my house was burgled. For the third time in a year.

Things are reasonably interesting, however for some reason I am not particularly satisfied. I wonder why. Is it too much to ask that things be interesting and good?

In relation to the possible appearance in a tv add... my playing was severely upstaged by people who can actually play well, and know the song well.... :(

Current feeling : Bitter

I'm not doing anything interesting

No, really, I'm not. It's hard to believe but it is the truth.

The most exciting thing I'm doing is expressing interest in various items on sale at Kathmando.

Why do I need a lightweight jacket that is rain and wind proof and breathes... I don' know!

Why do I want fleece jackets?

Why do three thermals for the price of one excite me?

Why do hiking boots made out of material that are still supposedly waterproof interest me?

Is it because its getting stupidly cold, wet and windy...

probably.

Is it because if i want to go outside and do anything several layers of elemental protection are required...

quite likely.

Is it just a little bit sad.....

maybe :'(

Work

Work. Recently work is becoming more full on than usual. More important time critical things seem to be coming across my table more and more frequently and a few seem precariously close to going wrong.

What I say, how I say it and who I say it to seem to be becoming much more important.

And then there is the actual work that needs doing.

Where is the sunshine, the booze and the bikinis. I think something was misrepresented somewhere.

I have no excuse

Well, I believe I have an excuse, lack of a muse. New Zealand has not been inspiring me to write, however heartfelt pleas of written word from my fans and loved ones have moved me to tap the keyboard once again.

Over the last (almost) year numerous interesting things have occurred, you will be getting the cliff notes:

Events:
I was a best man at a wedding (awesome)
Melbourne Australia was visited for Jewish New Year and my dads birthday
Japan was visited, Yokohama, Tokyo and Kyoto
Tokyo: Amazing cheap booze and kareko
Kyoto: Amazing temples, sites, culture
Yokohama: Friends/family - dodgy taihition dancing
My granddad's health worsened significantly
Melbourne was visited again
My granddad got a bit better
My granddad got a bit worse
My granddad got a bit better
My mum came and visited and saw the bay of islands and surrounding attractions with me and my missus (North Island of New Zealand, very pretty and scenic)
Overall my granddad isn't so well but stable
2 weeks were spent traveling around with friends around the South Island of New Zealand, the impressively scenic part of the country.
White water rafting
Alpine rail travel
Pants wetting terror in a suspended rope obstacle course
Many cars driven
Glaciers walked
Insane roads driven
Amazing scenes
Pretty walks
Kayaking

Work - continuing
Guitar - continuing
Mr2 - continuing
House - leaking

A cousin who I haven't seen in 10+ years had a near miss with me on the south island. To make up, he is going to come to visit next month.

I think that sums up most of the significant events of the last year, feel free to bug me to expand on items :p

Oh, one more thing, I got a year older...

The silver lining

I was expecting that New Zealand would be wetter than north east Australia, I was not expecting this.

The amount of downpour here is phenominal! Barely a day, let alone a week has gone by without multiple downpours of some description. Dreary, wet, soggy and occasionally bleak are all apt descriptions of the climate, colour and feel of this place, especially this winter.

The contrast is astounding, especially considering the last place I was living in had undergone 5 years of drought and the time I spent there I could have counted the amount of downpours on my hand. The days that were overcast on two hands...

Looking up at all of these grey clouds spitting down at me, a sliver of light shone through and damn near bowled me over.

The thing about this sliver of light was the amount of colour in it. A rainbow did stand before me.

The amount of rainbows I have seen in this country is staggering. Often on my way to work after/during a light downpour there will be multiple rainbows, I believe one morning I saw 5 different rainbows.

No wonder there are so many Astin Martins around this place, people keep on stumbling over pots of gold.

Sigmund Stardust rides again!

I have recently acquired a new guitar!

An ESP LTD EC-50 (read awesome electric guitar). The rocking out has begun! Photos will follow, as soon as I get my camera back.

Badly rendered rock songs will also follow.

Wonderwall by Oasis, Back in Black by ACDC, Throw your arms around me by Hunters and Collecters, Barracuda by Heart.... the list goes on.


Also, I created a drink a while back. I think its awesome, you should try it.

The filthy martini.

Make a martini, insert more olives than martini.

There you have it, a filthy martini!

Eat olives, replenish olives, eat more olives.

When martini tastes like olive, consume the martini.

Start again.


Possibly only for people who are stark raving mad for olives....

:)

i also noted the other day that i exist in comic form, i'm going to assume next to me, is a filthy martini

comic me

Hauntings

As a change from the usual I tagged along with a group bound for a place called 'spookers' somewhere outside Auckland. This place is a mansion in the country-side that only opens up after dark.

To give you an idea of what to expect a 3 meter tall skeleton grimacing and glaring eriely out at the night sky from the second story balcony with a dark cackling emenated from it greeted us as we approached.

This place is essentially set up as a haunted house experience. There are mutliple sets... the main one being the house. Each room is set up to remind you of a different kind of horror movie or nightmare experience. Mutilated babies, strange medical experiments, homicidal soliders. Everyone running around looking disfigured and dead often with some kind of dangerous implement and acting creepy and "spooky". The costumes were amazing. The set designs were very cool. The popping out, hiding, random loud sounds that ring out in the night, not to mention the people that you cant see screaming in terror really make the experience thorough.

A maze inside another part of the hosue was painted with almost comic book designs of villans and ghosts and demons in 3D fluro paint, when combined with 3D glasses really popped out at you!

Possibly the most scary setting is a cornfield out in the dark, where mutilated people with chain saws await you.

A definate must for people who like to be scared, or for people who like wierd creepy stuff.

teh awesome.

P.S: Freddy Kruger made an appearance

P.P.S: undead scrubbers asking you to impregnate them is possibly the scariest thing imaginable, ever

P.P.P.S: very cool

Within the Standard Deviation

In the last six months there have been quite a lot of changes in my life such as a new job, new country, new colleagues and new friends.

Everything has been going well. Not always as well as I would have hoped, and in some cases better than I hoped.

However it does feel a lot like everything is happening around a life determining mean. It’s all sitting around some unseen average marker. Although things are sometimes up or down from the average, they don’t seem to be deviations so high or low to truly stand out.

Either way, I noticed I hadn’t been updating much in the last few months…

Some of the smaller changes in my life:

Work: On Monday I have a new boss, they finally hired a replacement to the last one. In general things are going well. I’m going to have to learn C++ to write many a complex mathematical program, plus lots of semi interesting in context projects.

Home: I have a new one, I moved over Christmas, Kana and I have a house to ourselves in a somewhat fancy part of town, a walk from a nice beach with a nice view.

Visa: Kana got herself a better visa and lots of stress and pressure evaporated. Another one soon to be applied for.

Car: Still Awesome, soon to be starting driving lessons for Kana. Possibly will be getting a second one at some point in the future.

Computer Gaming: On the decline again

Food: Lots and find new and interesting places to get it from

Muscles: Lots, of the Seafood kind generally around $2.00 a kilogram here for live ones in shells. Good on a BBQ.

BBQs: Lots and often, spreading the mythos of Australia where ever I go. Must get one of my own.

Friends: More and new, some came and visited. Much fun and booze was had.

Birthdays: Oh so many both near and far!

Holidays: Busy periods of moving house, friends visiting, birthdays and traveling to hot springs and geysers.

Booze: Lots, most New Zealand beers, some of which are pretty damned nice, NZ Pinot Noirs and for Kana the same, except for the beers, and aromatic white wines and sav blancs.

Flatmates: Possibly looking at getting one, haven’t decided much about it all yet.

Travel: A little around Auckland, a couple hours north and a couple hours south. Soon to hit the sun and sand in queensland again. Planning of visiting the land of the rising sun soon, as well as the south island (of New Zealand) and to go home (Melbourne) for a bit too.

Creators of Dungeons and Dragons and driver for the current wealth and popularity of the fantasy genre: -1

Small things that may amuse: For about a month or 2 I was getting up every morning at .5:30 am and driving Kana to work, she started at 7:00am (damn hospitality), I no longer have to do that due to the improved proximity to the city, the nicer area and improved and more accessible public transport around our new house. Except on weekends where the buses and trains don’t start early enough, which is how I could possibly be awake enough to have done all my web surfing and write this BEFORE BREAKFAST!!!!!!

P.S.: For those of you who may not be aware, during my university years the morning and myself came to an agreement. We did not like each other you see. The very presence of one would upset the other, and so did we agree to part ways and never inflict our presence on the other. Through this agreement both parties were happy. This agreement remained unbroken for many a year, with the occasional reprieve being given for still being up and about after nights of drinking and revelry, where it is not truly the morning, but really the end of the night before. It does seem that I and mornings have either mellowed or have grown used to each other and no longer do we abhor each other. Instead we have come to an occasional co-existence. Although through testing the boundaries recently anything more frequent than occasional is most unpleasant for all.

Commemoration

Gary Gygax has recently died. He has failed his final save against death. He fought the Tarasque and lost. Many other epitaphs might be appropriate.

It is a sad day when you consider all that he did with his life and how all of us have been affected in some way by what he did.

I along side many people played Dungeons and Dragons and various other roleplaying games. I wasn’t around and playing for Basic Dungeons and Dragons, First and Second edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons are just recounts of stories from gamers who have been playing longer than me. I enjoyed it all anyway.

If you aren’t sure what Gary Gygax has done or how he might have affected your life, have a gander over at websnark, Eric Burns said it better than I can, or check order of the stick by Rich Burlew .

It is amazing how widespread role-playing is today. When I was a wee little thing role playing games were something I had heard of, they were strange, played by strange people in strange places, and quite possibly caused people to do strange things, often with implications that these things were done in gloom and darkness possibly with occult implications.

As i grew and found role-playing games late in my adolescent years, I found the truth of this (except for the occult implications). The people that played these games were delightfully strange, as were the games themselves. Now days when I play these games there is less darkness and gloom, my tired old eyes cant see the numbers on the dice anymore and as for gloom, I prefer to game in open well ventilated rooms.

In honor of Gary, I will now commute to an open, bright and well ventilated room and roll lots of different kinds of dice and imagine that a hero walks the land and that chance is in his favor.