The Bliss of Forgiveness

Me = Idiot. That's no secret. And as an idiot I often do idiotic things (yes, shocking isn't it?). Although at times there are lulls in the level of my idiocy, it's always there - I won't fail to spoil a moment, ruin a night, hurt myself or hurt someone else (physically and emotionally), embarrass myself and friends with some social faux pas... and the list goes on.

Hurting someone really close to you is, I think, one of the most excruciating pains of all. That said I've never been shot or stabbed, but I imagine it would come close. It numbs me, incapacitates me so that I'm incapable of doing anything except feeling bad and wishing that they would hurry up and invent time machines already (singing the Cyndi Lauper song doesn't expedite the process I have discovered).

I think we all have moments in which we do something and then can't explain what the hell we were thinking at the time. I do at least. I hate these moments, because I like to think of myself as a rational and sensible person. While these don't happen very often, they really scare me. I fear the consequences of my actions could lead to, well, the things in my life that are of most importance to me being whisked away. But I think I've finally started to grow up enough that I will be able to stop another from happening from now on. I'll take my wits with me wherever I go and be prepared to handle any situation the best way possible, without going into super mega idiot mode.

I'm saying this because, quite obviously, one of those moments happened last night. Needless to say I got really down on myself afterwards, and started agonising over what might happen as a result. I love myself most of the time, but I could only say the opposite of that after the idiotic thing I did. I was pretty much certain that I was going to lose one of the most important people in my life, and it was killing me - the idea of not having them with me anymore was a concept that I didn't even want to think about having to try to adjust to. So, although we sat down and talked most of it through, I lost a lot of sleep thinking about what I'd done, and how in the world I'd managed to do it.

Thankfully, this person was understanding and has largely forgiven me for what I did. Man did it feel good to talk to them today and have things pretty much go back to normal! I was so relieved, and realised all the more how lucky I am and how good I have it at the moment. Although I'll have to put up with being physically abused again (:P), it's more than worth it. Trust me. I'd almost say that I'd do anything for this person, and I want them to know that.

- Idiot.

Decisions, Decisions

For those of you who don't know, I've been doing a lot of serious thinking about what I'm going to do next year. Commerce is boring me to death, I think I want to write, my parents say I should do a double degree and keep some Commerce, I've considered taking time off from uni to just work and gain some perpective, and I've become very confused lately.

Anyway, I found my Grade 6 journal, and this is the very first entry in it (I won't alter the spelling mistakes for accuracy's sake!)

Mr Crossett,

I've been writing lots of stories lately but I don't really want to share any of them with the grade. They're only short twenty-twenty five page stories though, but they're about our age group, our as in the grades'. Most of them are about school and things that happen to me. I must admitt my favourite stories are adventure ones. Last year I entered a story in one of the story writing compititions but I didn't get any reply, I guess it wasn't good enough. I really enjoy reading too, especially John Marsden books. I get lots of ideas from John Marsden and my other favourite author Franklin. W. Dixon, auther of the Hardy Boys books. Do you have a favourite author? Miss Hunter's a bit over the top with Emily Rodda and Enid Blighton.

Bye For Now

Dale

And this is what the Christmas card that my Year 12 English teacher Mrs. Turner gave me on the last day of school said:

Dear Dale,

You are a tremendously gifter writer and I truly hope you get to showcase your talents in the future. Wishing you luck on your coming exams would be doing you a great disservice, but I certainly wish you every success for whatever career path you choose to follow.
Thank you for being such a committed and conscientious student and for bringing such insight to every class.

All the best in 2006 and beyond.
From, Mrs. T.

These two things are part of what I'm going to base my decision on for what I do next year. I know people don't comment on here, but if ANY of you have any thoughts I'd like to hear them.

Thank you,

Confused.

Jobs & Loathing

The job hunt begins today! I will be earning money again, and my bank balance will stop plummeting down to hell because of my gym membership, phone credit, stupid excess internet fees and the like! That's assuming I get a job sometime soon. But.. I will won't I? Most of you would hire me as an employee wouldn't you? I mean, I'm loyal, trustworthy, friendly, responsible, punctual and caring aren't I? :P Well spread the good word about me to everyone. There's something in it for all of you too - the more money I have, the better presents I can buy for your birthday, the more drinks I can shout you when we're out somewhere, etc etc - so helping me is really helping yourself out! What are you waiting for??

* * * *

Having just eaten lunch, I underwent one of my usual struggles.. I encountered a rebellious food packet. Now I know that it sounds silly, but hear me out, you may well have experienced a similar ordeal. For many a-year now I've had the one mortal enemy, nemesis if you like, that has filled my life with frustration and pure hatred. This nemesis comes in many forms, shapes and sizes, but always manages to torment me at meal times: food packaging. On countless occasions I have been denied easy access to the delicious contents of stubborn plastic containers, casings or packets, and I have had enough! Too many times have menacing donut containers broken when I've had to pry them open with all my might to defeat their malicious resistance to me! Too many times have cereal packets torn improperly leading to half the cereal spilling on the floor or all over me! Too many times have stupid plastic outer cases broken when I've been struggling to fit the fiddly inner cases back inside them! To all the food packages out there... you have made a big mistake in pissing this perpetually hungry person off. Oh yes, you've made a big mistake in making an enemy of the likes of me, retched food packets. Mark my words! I shall get the better of you and make you understand the unparalleled frustration of such inconveniences!

Fruitless venting over.

Dale.

A Quickie.. or 8!

Another semi-serious post (they're the only ones I feel like doing at the moment :S), sorry to people who want entertainment!

First, I'm happy about something - I've started to build a bridge over a gaping crevace that had developed between me and this other person. We're talking again, and getting along again, and I couldn't be happier about it. If I'm stupid enough to let the crevace start to open up once more, for God's sake stop me JM!

Second, I've made a decision not to do something that I'd considered doing for a while. I realise that I can live with it for now, it's not that much of a burden (it's not a backwards step I promise). This decision has also eased my mind, and I should be a little less "serious posty" as a result! Yay for everyone!

Third, made a new friend, also happy about this as it means I'm kind of branching out into another part of the world. This person shall be referred to as Nicey of Nicetown.. because they're nice. :)

Fourth, my existing friends, I haven't forgotten about you, I've just been busy and want to see you all again really really soon to see what you've been up to. Maybe if you're at Famous tonight I might get a chance. Although I don't have a very loud voice so I might have to communicate through charades of interpretive dance... should be fun either way!

Fifth, thanks for being patient while I've gone all introspective.

Sixth, Rikishi is the coolest, and I hope I'm forgiven for calling you Rikishi. :)

Seventh, plan to get a haircut today. Also plan to get blonde tips in it. The mini-poll as to whether I should dye it darker resulted in a big fat no, so I figure I'll go the other way.

Eighth, until my next post (or until I see you next) goodbye!

Dale.

The Lies

I needed to do this post before I could do any others. I'll still try to do Famous as a big fancy all the bells and whistles type job, but my memory of it is not so fresh now (and wasn't so fresh on Sunday morning to be honest!).

I lie a lot. Mostly to my parents. And the majority of the time I feel bad about it. I can try to justify it by claiming that what I'm doing isn't really harmful or dangerous to me, but lying in itself is dangerous. It has the potential to ruin relationships because of feelings of mistrust and betrayal. People would wonder whether I've been honest with them about anything that I've ever said.

Unfortunately I also lie to my friends. Well, not so much lie as constantly hide the truth or omit/fabricate certain details. I hate that I do, but I just get scared sometimes that people won't understand.

I guess that's the main reason I do do it; fear. But fear of what I'm not exactly sure. Fear of rejection? Fear of disapproval? Fear of... loss? I guess those three are all factors that influence my lying ways. I don't want things to change too much, because I haven't changed.. I'm still me. The same person I always have been. And nothing I say should change how I am perceived as a person.

I'm not sure how this post is going to be interpretted, but I guess that's the point. I plan to stop lying soon - to myself and to everyone else - so I guess in time this will all make sense.

I'm sorry if I've lied to you, or hidden the truth from you, and I'm not going to make excuses. I did it because it was easier for me, and because I'm a big whuss sometimes.

So until I see you next, don't lie. It's very, very bad and unhealthy.

Dale.

Jotter Entry 9

Friday night/Saturday morning,

I saw them tonight! We talked, joked and got along well on the whole. The semi-betrayal wasn’t brought up, but I could tell that it was still lingering in both our minds. Ran into them, and some other people from school (Knox), before I went to see the Da Vinci Code movie. They were meeting some people at the Irish – I was tempted to go join them after the movie, but it was already pretty late (like 1.15). Coincidentally, as I walked past the Irish on my way to the car, I ran into people from my old school (Highvale), my friends from there in fact, who I still see every now and then. All I got to do with them was exchange pleasantries, before I had to run off and catch up with my movie friends who were parked near me, and who I hadn’t said goodbye to properly. They were Paul, Steve, Yiu Chung, Praveen, Mike and Simo. The other Knox friends at the Irish were Jamie, Luke, Jase and possibly Shane and Julz. Whilst the Highvale people at the Irish were Jonny, Jamie, Sean, Ian, Glenn, Luke, Aaron and Anthony. Names, names, names! Collectively they mean nothing to anyone but me. The movie was always going to struggle to beat the book in my opinion. There’s no way to effectively and efficiently cram 400 pages into 3 hours of cinema, when the 400 pages equates to at least 50 hours of imaginational viewing and contemplation. More on that and more about tonight tomorrow!

Didn’t end up writing any more about that night, or that situation, but things went back to normal, so it’s all good!

Stay tuned for “Famous”.

Dale.

Jotter Entry 6, 7 & 8

This has skipped ahead a lot from Jotter 3, but I will go back to what's inbetween, just not right now.

This sucks,

I just realised that I betrayed someone close to me, and told that person that I was responsible. I didn't do it intentionally, I was just trying to fix a situation. But by doing so I revealed something to someone else that caused the friction between them and my close friend. Something that basically only I knew. The thing is it's not like me to interfere or become involved in this type of situation. So this is kind of new and hence a little more difficult for me to cope with. I'm praying that I will be forgiven, because I love the person whom I upset. If they became too disappointed in me to maintain our relationship I'd be really hurt...

* * * *

This still sucks, but less so.

I'm still pondering the discussion last night, and still wondering about the ramifications. Haven't heard from them today, haven't tried to contact them either though, but I thought about it. As the forefront of my mind right now is my still unfinished accounting assignment - I'm not sure if I'm gonna get it done by tomorrow afternoon or not. I guess I'm temporarily replacing one worry with another (probably less important) one. Regardless, I'm going to work super-hard on it tomorrow. I don't want to be doing it tomorrow night, had enough of assignments (and probably uni as a whole) this semester. A break would be nice, like for a few months, but I don't know if I could motivate myself to come back to this. Oh well...

* * * *

Last time I wrote it was Monday night/Tuesday morning, now it's Thursday night/Friday morning. I finished the assignment (just) on Tuesday afternoon. Felt so awesome handing it in - no more assignments for a while! Woot! :) STILL haven't talked to the person whom I love - to some extent - which is saddening, but I haven't given up hope...

Last in this series (number 9) to come next time.

Dale.

A bit o' everything!

(Decided to put my "Looking Back..." on hold for now. Too much reminiscing can be dangerous!)

Now, you wouldn't tell from looking at me, but it's no secret to most people who know me that I LOVE food (remember the krispy kreme binge?). As we speak, I'm snacking on marshmellows and there are not one, but two pies cooking in the oven for my lunch! It's a bit crazy... but it's not like I'm that unhealthy, and I run a lot and stuff, so it kind of balances out I guess (don't argue with my logic!).

I wouldn't trade this metabolism for anything! Except for maybe a room full of lollies... :)

I highly doubt anyone is thinking, "why is Dale home from uni already when he's supposed to be there until 2.00?" but if you are you clearly pay more attention to my life than I give you credit for, and here's the answer to your question!
My statistics tute was in the computer lab again this week, and I was a bit hesitant to enter the room - based on my last experience with the evil, intimidating computers that harrassed me with their sinister beeping ('Quest for Cho') - but thankfully the computers behaved and I was able to not fully understand the work in peace.
Anyway, the tute finished half an hour early (at 11.30) and I decided I really didn't want to wait around until 1.00 for my only other lecture for the day, so I left! The one thing that made me a little reluctant to skip it though was the thought of leaving my friend Laura to endure the lecture alone. But I realised she might not have even been there so I got over it and came home. Hmm.. it's just about 1.00 now.. I wonder if she's sitting there all mopey, expectantly looking at the door waiting for me to walk through.. probably not. Well, I hope not...

Nooo, 10 minutes until my pies are ready and I have so much more to say still! I guess I could come back to this after devouring my lunch (and watching an episode of Will & Grace I haven't seen before!). Yeah, thats what I'll do!

Half an hour and two meat pies later...

Mmm, those were good pies.. *pats belly*

Now for two random things that have gotten my attention lately:

1. As I was walking toward the Matheson library at uni earlier this week I came across a bunch of contruction workers (they're always around trying to stop the Menzies building from falling over and crushing everything). Now, there was nothing out of the ordinary about most of them, but one of them sparked my interest. No.. I don't have a thing for construction workers if that's what you're thinking. He was standing there, hammer in one hand, and blue helium balloon in the other! I tried to think of a possible reason for why he'd be holding a balloon, but couldn't come up with any! None of his construction worker friends had any, and the balloon didn't seem to be serving any purpose, other than making his appearance somewhat comical. It was quite a funny sight, because he was acting as if it was a natural thing for a construction person to do - hold a blue helium balloon for no apparent reason!
2. As I was waiting to turn right at a set of traffic lights on the way back from uni today, I looked in my rear view mirror at the person in the car behind me, and he was doing something quite odd. He was alone in the car, wearing sunglasses, and... taking pictures of himself with a digital camera! Every few seconds he'd do a pose for the camera, then excitedly check to see what it looked like. He did this numerous times, and it too was pretty funny to watch! Thankfully he was too occupied by his camera to see me laughing at him!

A few more quick points... My story that I started and (not surprisingly) didn't follow through with, is getting the axe. I can't see myself enjoying writing it anymore, my head's in a different place. So all those people who were getting excited about being in it - I'm sorry but you'll have to wait a bit longer to taste second-hand fame. :P Nevertheless I have been inspired lately to write something else. As soon as I get my thoughts together I'll get it underway, and maybe send a few drafts to people for their thoughts!

I'm getting serious about finding a proper job now. I want financial independance! Since umpiring has finished I'm left without a source of income besides pocket money which doesn't amount to much at all. So my resumes will be everywhere soon.

Went to Intencity lately, and realised that my arcade gaming abilities are not what they used to be. I'm looking for people to go practice with so that next time I encounter a certain person in a similar arcade facility, I can show them once and for all who's boss!

Also went somewhere new lately. It was exciting, well exciting for the 5 minutes that I was there!

That's it, I'll let you leave my world for now. But please don't be afraid to come back and visit again soon!

Dale.

Jotter Entry 2 & 3

Morning. It’s 9:35am, and my face isn’t too bad, the redness has thankfully subsided. I’m wearing my PJ’s and dressing gown still, and just finished breakfast.

Today, I’m going to the zoo with Hayley. It’s our “one month anniversary”. Hopefully it’ll be fun and she’ll enjoy herself. Not surprisingly, I haven’t done any of the push-ups or sit-ups I’d planned. Might do them after this. We’ll see. Should I have a shower? I know I had one last night but I’m still sleepy, and my hair looks better after one. Hmm, I think I will. I’m contemplating getting Hayley something for today… but what? I’ll think of something. If not, hopefully I’ll be enough. See ya all again later. Gonna go get ready. I’m meeting her at Mitcham station at 10:30 and it’s 9:45 already. Bye.

* * * *

Morning again. Sorry I didn’t fill you in last night about yesterday. It was great! I mean, the animals got boring and my legs got tired after a while, but we got along so well again. Our favourite animals were the monkeys and bears. As I write this Mark, my younger bro, is trying to read over my shoulder. I think he thinks it’s a not to Hayley. Oh, I figured out what to give Hayley yesterday too. I folded her a love heart. It’s quite complicated, my last girlfriend taught me. Anyway, she loved it! And the number of hugs per 5 minutes went up.

We caught the train in and back. It’s a bit awkward with the wandering eyes of the other passengers though. You’d think there was a giant spotlight intensely focused on us or something! Basically we were only holding hands and laughing a lot.

Surprise, surprise: I’m gonna have a shower now. Haha. It seems like I’m a clean-freak or something huh? Well I’m not. I just happen to write in here most just before I’m due to shower. I’ll tell you about my dreams later… they’re quite interesting! Catch ya!

Jotter Entry 1

Last night as I went to bed I was looking around my room for things to read (haven't been to the library for ages and have read all of my own books too many times already) I came across an old jotter/notepad of mine. I rifled through it and found a whole lot of blog-worthy stories that I'd written about my experiences from a few years ago up until a few months ago. So for the next few days you'll be getting an exclusive, raw look into what I was thinking/doing/feeling as a 17 and 18 year old. Exciting hey? Here's the first one...

This is my pad/jotter, and I plan to one day fill every page. I am Dale, and 17 years old. Today is the 8th or 9th of December (2004), I'm not sure exactly. I do know it's a Saturday though. It's 10:15pm, I just checked my clock radio, but I think it's fast... or slow. I can never remember.
Today was different, but also boring. Though a feeling of 'I was helpful' struck me. I helped Grandma sort through a LOT of junk she had, took all day. I wanna help people. I discovered that last night as I was lying in bed.
I better take a shower now, I got quite hot and was exposed to a lot of peculiar smells today. Be back soon!

Back! It's 10:47 now. I got burnt today, my face is all red, thought it's usually like that after a shower. I'll see how it is in the morning.
I figured it out! At the pool yesterday, I felt strange, like tubby or something. The thing is I'm actually skinny, well a little skinnier than average. Anyway, I felt out of shape. It must be Hayley that did it to me. She's so fit with her running and soccer. I'll havta go for some more runs myself, and restart my exercise plan again. And stick to it more closely than last time!
Gonna sleep now. A million things are on my mind that I wanna write, but they'll havta wait.
Good night.

Gym, Kung Fu, & the Binge

On Friday night I made 3 choices. They progressively became worse as the night went on...

Choice Number 1: Go to the gym - Excellent choice!

Decided to go to the gym at 6pm after I got home from uni (third time this week!). I saw Jamie there, who criticised me once again for using the machines too much and not the free weights, but meh, I do what I like. And I like to frustrate Jamie. :)

Choice Number 2: Saw the movie DOA - Average choice.

Rushed home from the gym because I told Kiel I'd see a movie with him at 8.30 (and pick him up at 8.15!), which gave me about 20 minutes to shower, eat something, and get dressed. Somehow managed to do all three plus say goodbye to mum, dad and younger brother, and not crash the car on the way to his house.

The movie was basically attractive females fighting with or against each other in this martial arts tournament (including Holly Valance who acted/fought credibly). There was the semi-plot of the villainous tournament organiser having an ulterior motive of course. Overall, it was mildly entertaining, and when it finished I felt like I had became some sort of black belt in karate - having the urge to do roundhouse kicks and whatnot. I know Kung Fu!

Choice Number 3: Drive all the way out to Krispy Kreme and proceed to eat numerous donuts - Very very bad choice...

This was semi-planned in advance. I'd never been, plus Kiel had vouchers and the urge to stuff his face with round doughy food, so we made the journey out to Narre Warren. I was reluctant to go, especially since I'd been to the gym a mere 4 hours before... Yet any of the wiseness that inspired the gym visit had obviously deserted me by that stage. So I went with the intention of only eating one or two; a fair compromise I thought.

However this was not the case. We got an assortment... and I ended up eating FIVE whole krispy kreme donuts!! Yes! Five! I'm not known for binge-eating... didn't think myself capable of it (I'm a really skinny guy, surprised 5 even fit inside me!)... and I'm still reeling as to what in the name of doughy-goodness possessed me to do such a thing. I came to the conclusion that Krispy Kreme, like the evil Kung Fu tournament organiser, is actually evil. I swear I felt rounder after leaving the store.

So those are my 3 choices.. I hope you can learn something from them to prevent a late night voyage to an evil food franchise from arising during your next outing.

Oh and I felt so bad for binge-ing, that I went for two 20 minute runs, one on saturday and one today, so hopefully my roundness has subsided.

Dale.

The Metro Reloaded

The cleverly titled post is here! (Metro/Matrix - geddit? :P)

This no doubt going isn't going to be as big and flashy as I intended because it happened a whole week ago, but I'll give you a basic run-down of the things that I can remember.

The night was in honour of Karen's 19th birthday, and a bunch of us caught the train to Flinders Street from Glen Waverley station. (Ah what the hell, I'll drop names! Karen, Samantha, Paul, Jase, Chris and Luke.) We had to walk from Flinders Street to The Metro because the trains don't do the city loop at night apparently! Well at least on a Saturday night anyway. So we walked the few blocks to the place where we'd ultimately dance/drink the night away.

I said "ultimately" because there were complications getting in. Guy-girl ratios and whatnot were difficult to get around. But although it was an hour or so later than we planned, we managed to all get in. Thanks are owed to Jamie here, and his "suaveness & awesomeness" for managing to get the last four people in - 1 girl and 3 guys - although I think it came down more to luck. But we'll let him think what he wants. :)

If you remember from last time, I had a brush with fame (Boyd & Stingray from Neighbours), and guess what? It happened again! Literally! There were a bunch of Richmond football club players that I recognised milling about, drinking and socialising (they'd played their last match for the season that afternoon). Anyway, as I was waiting in line at the bar, I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turn to see that it was none other than Shane Tuck, prolific ball-winning midfielder for the Tigers, wanting to walk past me and get to his teammates standing on the other side!

"Thanks mate," he said curteously as I made way for him.

"No worries." I replied, happy to have helped him out.

Ok, so I know that's not what some people would call an extensive conversation, but it was enough to make my night (and I don't even barrack for the tigers!). I wonder who I'll see next time...

Anyway, drunken dancing ensued, some drinks were spilled on my jeans, and I copped an elbow to the face, but overall it was a good night! Oh, and naturally there was sms-ing involved, again to the disgust of my friends.

Paul and I ended up leaving at around 2.15 in an effort to catch the 2.30 nightrider bus home. We had to walk pretty quick (yes walk, not stumble! - i only had a few to drink). It also involved some frantic trying to remember exactly where they left from - I'd only had a quick look before I rushed out the door before leaving home. But we found the place ok in the end.

The bus driver was a little bit less... cautious than other bus drivers that I'd come across in my days of public transport, which made the journey a little more interesting (had to brace myself against the seat in front of me a few times!). The journey also consisted of me performing a good deed! As we got back to The Glen, the bus driver started saying something incomprehensible and gesticulating towards another passenger who had fallen asleep. This other passenger became known as Cello-man. "Why?" you ask? Because he was carrying a cello with him, of course! I wasn't aware that cellos were so ginormous, in its case it was literally almost as tall as me, and probably wider knowing how skinny I am!

Anywho, I interpreted the bus drivers mumblings and hand actions as "wake up that person in case he wants to get off", so I gave him a nudge, but he didn't stir. So I reluctantly shook his shoulder a little... it would be a bit strange to wake up with a stranger shaking your shoulder I'd imagine! But it worked and he awoke, although it took a little while for him to process where he was and what I was saying to him ("did you want to get off soon?"). It turns out that he did want to... and at the next stop!! He thanked me profusely, and I was almost tempted to ask for a performance as a reward. Haha, not really, I just said "No worries" (my favourite two words it seems) and smiled, happy that I'd done something good for the night.

So I ran home from my bus stop (still had energy, it was freezing, and I was only wearing a t-shirt), and collapsed on my bed, interesting thoughts of the night swirling around in my head.

And that's it! Besides seeing cello-man on the bus to uni the other day, and him not recognising me... although I probably wouldn't have recognised him if it weren't for the giant cello he was lugging around.

Finally, I did this post!

Casper out.

The Quest For Cho

Ok, I'm a LITTLE scared at the moment. I'm sitting in a computer lab at uni and all the computers that are out of order around me are constantly chiming, beeping, and making that windows welcome-to-your-computer sound. They have minds of their own!! Unexpected beeps from the left, strange chimes from the right, and unpredictable other noises from behind... Argh! They're still doing it!

But I'll put up with the torment because I haven't done a post at uni for quite some time. Lately I've been typing them all up in word when I have spare time and transferring them across, so this one should be less structured and more real... or something!

As I was making my bed this morning (yes mum, I actually made it today) the Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch" came on the radio ("You and me baby ain't nothin but mammals..."), and it got me thinking about other things that are crass and well, in your face - omg i swear a computer just made a noise that sounded exactly like first line of the super mario bro's theme song! - and Margaret Cho came to mind. She's an American comedian who's fairly well known - OMG another one just did it! - for the sometimes explicit content in her stand up shows. She's hilarious but not for everyone. Go and have a look at her dvds if you can find them, you haven't really got anything to lose!

Anyway, I thought of her because a friend of mine added her as a MySpace friend the other day, and so I decided to add her as well, hence 'The Quest For Cho'. It took about 3 days for her to accept my friend, so naturally I made it my goal to do everything in my power to make sure that it took less than 3 days for her to accept me. My determination and tireless efforts paid off, and she added me within 24 hours! Go-o-o-o-o Dale! This gave me a sense of satisfaction, as achieving most things do for me (even getting out of bed in the morning sometimes), and also it gave me something to lord over my friend who's been getting the better of me over the last week or so. Yay! :)

So The Quest For Cho came to an end, and I emerged victorious. Hoorah!

On a different note, I just got a funny message from my younger brother on my phone. He's going out somewhere tonight and he wants me to buy alcohol for him and his little buddies (they're 16/17 most of them), which of course I won't do as it is highly illegal... :) But the message goes like this:

"Hey i got the money dale. There's a special on at liquorland - we will go down there 2getha later. Make sure u r drivin 2nite. Thanx brudda"

It sounds so shifty, which amuses me to no end. He's even got the whole street-talk thing goin on - calling me brudda. Ah Mark, if only you knew how much entertainment you bring me. I guess he is good for something after all!

Later people

- your friendly, neighbourhood, law-abiding, quest for cho winning Dale.

oh, i saw cello-man on the bus (a character from the upcoming Metro Reloaded!)

peace! :)

Results Are In, Realisations Spurned

Today I found out the result of the mid semester test that I was a bit worried about! Ok, hold your breath... I got – drum roll please – 27 out of 40! It works out to be just under 70%. I’m happy I passed, and was probably lucky to get a mark that high for the lack of effort I put in. Looking at the questions I noticed I got every single one right from question 11 to question 30. Talk about getting on a roll (or being unbelievably lucky with the occasional blind guess!). It’s not quite up to my normal standards, but they’ve been slipping a lot lately, partly due to the realisation that I may very well be in the entirely wrong course, and partly because uni life is turning me into a lazy good-for-nothing slob.

This realisation has kind of awakened a part inside of me that’s started to evaluate exactly where I’m at, what I’ve done, and where I want to be. I didn’t plan for this post to take this direction, but who am I to argue with myself? The results of this figurative inner-examination of me produced the following semi-realisations:

1. I don’t give enough to the world! I haven’t performed enough altruistic acts like getting behind a cause, helping out those in need, or doing something to enhance the lives of others. Bit of a selfish bastard aren’t I? This made me think about maybe volunteering for the Salvation Army or joining some worthwhile clubs at uni that campaign for the things that I believe in. I need to play a more active role in my community.
   

2. I need a proper job! Uni isn’t stable enough for me, plus (becoming selfish again I know) I feel like I need more money because with it will come more independence. I’ve been feeling a bit restricted lately in some ways, and I want to break free of the shackles dammit! What kind of job? Well, I’m not sure. Thinking of taking a break from uni at the end of this semester, and seeing what exactly I can do.
   

3. People are the most important thing in life! It’s both scary and wonderful when someone new comes into your life and makes you feel like you weren’t living before. So I’m going to make more of an effort to get to know people and hopefully build a lot of strong relationships that will last until... I’ve aged gracefully and am being celebrated for my years of generousity and charitable acts.
   

In the short term though, lately someone has inspired me to make a temporary change. So I’m gonna change my hair. Not the most drastic thing I know, but hey, it’s a start! A physical representation of my changing mentality. Hey! That actually sounded kinda smart!

This post was good to get out of the way, because I think I’ve been subconsciously hung up on these thoughts for a while. Also, I felt like I was struggling to actually do a blog, like there was some protective glass keyboard-shaped barrier blocking my fingers. But not anymore! This new comer is gonna keep blogging and show the old-timers how it’s done!

Finally, I know I’m the only one that this post probably interests. The posts I mentioned last time are coming up next, and hopefully they’ll be a little less me-orientated, and more humourous-like.

Thanks for putting up with my emotional blab.

Dale.

Explanation

Hi,

I started blogging on myspace, but decided it wasn't quite what I was looking for. This seems to be a bit more... better? Oh geez, my english teacher would die if she read that. Anyway, I'll be blogging here now, and now you're all caught up with my previous posts!
Coming up I'm going to blog about my trip to Sorrento, the strangeness of nicknames, and last Saturday night's ordeal when I made a triumphant return to the Metro ('The Metro Reloaded'). Also, I know the pictures and stuff at the start of the posts screw up the layout a little bit but meh! I'll change them when I figure out how.

That's it for now I guess, so yeah! Hope I don't bore you too much in future!

Dale.

A Tribute to Dad

I’ve got a giant list of things to blog about that’s built up over the last few days but I thought that on a day like today I should do something nice. So this is it; a tribute to my dad on Father’s Day. (A thought... why isn’t there a “First Born Child’s Day”, or even better a “Dale’s Day”?)

Dad is, like any person really, difficult to accurately describe. What I can say though is that he has beliefs and he sticks to them unfailingly. He grew up with certain values and habits that became imbedded in him, and these are still obvious today. His politeness, courteousness and sense of morality are evident in most aspects of his everyday life. Naturally, he’s done his best to instil these values upon my brother and I, and most of them have stuck. From his insistence that we get all our chores and the like done, and keep our lives (and our rooms) in a neat and sensible fashion, to persistently encouraging that we as a family spend a lot of time together; he’s been there to watch over us, most of the time approvingly.

Some of my fondest memories as a young kid involve Dad, my younger brother and I jumping our back fence onto the primary school’s football oval and kicking the ball around on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. My brother and I used to be in awe of how far he could kick the ball and how fast he ran whenever he was chasing us (Dad used to play football & cricket through until his early thirties, and is still very fit today – he still goes jogging most weekends and manages to run impressive times for his age). I have even earlier memories of how he’d sit on my bed next to me at bedtime and read me stories in his smooth but still somewhat animated voice, and of me being upset if he didn’t read to me some nights.

More recently, he played a large and important role in teaching me to drive. He was meticulous, as I’d come to expect, but despite my occasional frustrations at the repeated and seemingly blatantly obvious advice, it worked and he taught me a lot of crucial things. His speech at my 18th birthday family celebration was really touching. His words were so kind and heartfelt. I could hear how proud he was of me in very sentence he spoke, and it touched me.

Today, we went to the football to see the kangaroos (the team we follow) play against the magpies. I’ve been going to the football with dad and my uncle and younger cousin for a long time. When I first started going, Grandpa was still with us. He and dad had a similar arrangement; they’d been going to the football together, and been loyal kangaroos members for decades. Unfortunately we lost, but it was still good to be there with him, on a day that he no doubt was thinking about his father too (he visited the cemetery to pay his respects yesterday).

Anyway, there’s so much more I could say but I think that this is enough. So Happy Father’s Day Dad. I love you, even though we don’t always see things eye to eye, I really do.

Dale.

Curiousity Killed the Dale

It's contemplative, self-exploratory post time!

I ain't gonna lie - there are parts of me that I wish I could change. One of them is my curiousity. The saying 'curiousity is a curse' rings true for me I feel. I just always seem to want to know details; generally about people and their pasts. I know that it's good to get to know a person by asking these sorts of questions, but sometimes I have a tendency to go too far. The problem is that I'm sometimes inclined to ask questions that are a little too personal, or delve into territory that is painful for someone to think back on, but if I don't ask these questions I get hung up. Often it leads to incorrect assumptions, and other times it leads to communication coming to a halt because I get stuck on a detail that I dont know, or am too afraid to ask. Why can't I just accept that people are the product of certain past experiences, which have moulded them into who they are today, and not have to know exactly what those experiences were? It's quite frustrating to tell you the truth. If anyone is looking for test-subjects for new anti-curiousity pills, I'll gladly step up to the plate! Hideous side-effects and all!

Another part of me that I wish I could change is my inability to verbalise my thoughts and emotions properly, but that's a whole other can of worms (yes, something else that I'm SURE youre looking forward to... :-P).

On a different note, I'm going to the sometimes scary orthodontist on Monday morning. His name is Doctor Kershon and he has an amusing, although sometimes unnerving, South African accent. I guess I owe him a lot - my teeth are all nice and straight and sometimes they sparkle and gleam - but I still have a slight fear of the technical instruments that he invades my mouth with. The buzzing one disturbs me the most. It's like a buffer, but for your teeth. *shudder*

Finally, I'm the happiest I have been for a long time. It's a really good feeling. So thank you, main source of my newfound happiness. :-)

Dale.