February 2008 Archives

You know what I haven't done in a long time? I haven't had the time to find anywhere to go in the US when I get back. I would love to explore that great country of mine a little more, honestly. Both of us know that I've lived in a few different states and have been to about 30 in my lifetime. I think I just pass through most of them. I think that I should put in some more time and effort to look at my options. I do know that these are some of my options:

• Hawaii: I've always been too afraid to go because people tell me it will cost an arm and a leg! Heh heh.
• Alaska: I really, really want to go on an Alaska luxury cruise and who knows, I might someday.
• New York: I lived in and loved New York and I miss it a lot. People there are so, um, carefree!
• Florida: One of my favorite places to go for beaches because most of the beaches in Texas suck. :)
• Texas: San Antonio is great. I suggest people go and get some real Mexican food there.
• Grand Canyon: I haven't been but really want to go. I don't think I have to explain this. :)
• Las Vegas: I haven't been yet! Honestly I haven't but I'd like to go.

Yeah I know I've been to most of them already, but I want to go again. You have to remember this is like a 25 year span. Maybe when I go back I'll be able to visit TravelStoreUSA.com to get all set up to go. They have some really great resources and their experts will be more than happy to plan something out for me (or you). Definitely check them out. (And of those of you who want to come visit me in Melbourne too, hey, there's an option for you!)

Ah and Mexico. I want to go to Mexico too because I love Mexicans and I love Mexican food. And I miss Mexicans actually. Not somewhere touristy, but you know, the places in the middle of nowhere... the places where no hablan inglés.

And India, and Peru, and Canada again, and Sweden... I want to go everywhere!

I decided to take a few days away from my website and posting blogs because, well, I have been busy for one thing. I have had exams and essays due this week and it's been crazy but not as bad as I thought it would be. I have been really thinking about changing my website around which includes things like removing the webcam or moving it over to a "visuals" page because honestly, I don't know if people look at it and webcamming is like so 2000. I have a built-in webcam now but I hate not being able to point it anywhere else but my face. And what fun is having a webcam if it's constantly blaring in your face?

Speaking of essays, and I know this is a big jump, but I have been revising other people's like crazy lately. I don't mind. But it really wore me out to the point where I left class about 15-20 min early so no one would ask me to review theirs. I admit that I wrote a really good one but... yeah. Being unethical gets people in trouble. :) And probably gets THEM a better grade than me!

You know, over the past few months, I guess from December onwards, I have been comfortable being here. I mean, yeah, I do miss my family but I'm okay with being here now. I don't think about going home as much though the thought is still there. Gilbert's still not here, but I guess that's fine. I like being alone sometimes. :)

You know what I miss... having a bath. Um, yes, I do have showers so I do actually wash myself. But... I don't have a bathtub here and I really miss it. Sometimes I just want to sit down in a 'tub and blowdry my hair or use my laptop. Fun stuff. That sounds suicidal and it's really not. It's one of those common sense things I learned in kindergarten. That and to not stick forks in toasters and not to "monkey around powerlines". I've done my share of putting forks in toasters (while unplugged) and I do a lot of monkeying but I'm not sure if it's around powerlines or not.

I also miss my Filipino friends in the US. They want me to come back and that's sad because I can't right now. There seems to be quite a difference between them here and the US for some reason. Of course, my classmates, well they're just sweet. I wouldn't expect any less.

Okey, that's it for me. You have a fantabulous day and please remember to link to my website. I do need a little more attention so I can stop blogging garbage every other time. Sadly, I think I'll have to do the PPP thing for a bit longer.

Something tells me that you need a sign made just for you. You know, one that says how great you are compared to everybody else or well, okay, a more practical use would be if you owned a business and needed a sign made for advertising. Or heck, you could just make a reserved parking sign and carry it with you in the car and when you need one of those really good parking spaces, voila, you take out your sign and stick it up on the wall! OK, OK, that's also not the best thing to do either.

Yeah, we've figured out that sometimes my ideas aren't the best, but I have to admit that the parking sign does sound like fun. As for me, I need a huge "Clean up after yourself" sign for the kitchen.

The guys at BuildASign.com can have your Signs made in record time whether you need car magnets, real estate signs, parking signs, political or plywood signs. They let YOU be in control and design it. It takes less than five minutes which saves you time, hassle and money. You save money but not having to go to a designer. They guarantee that the signs will be up to your standards and if they're not, they'll be more than happy to help you out.

Have a visit and make your very own sign today.

This one's a bit shorter than my usual podcasts because it was done on a whim. I was going to make a weblog entry about it but thought it would be best put here. Enjoy, or don't. I don't really care.

I am supposed to be in class now but that didn't work out that way. I still have about an hour to travel so I'm definitely going to be late. Oops!
Anyway, everybody have a good day!

And now, I present to you idioPod 17. As usual, you can subscribe here if you'd like to.

Wow, I was going through a book today and what slipped out of it? 2 $100 bills! Awesome. How do I know they're not someone else's? Because it was American money. Such a shame it will be gone soon (to train tickets)

Today, I have been depressed for some reason. Even after finding some money I don't feel like myself. I don't know what the deal is, really. I think it started after I made the next episode of idioPod. I will post that soon... just not right now.

I also went back to an internet archive site where I found my old web designs. I have to admit that I really liked those designs more. Maybe back then in 1998-2001 I had a lot more time to make them, who knows. I have always liked a "professional" look but some people don't like that kind of thing. Sometimes I don't.

I also found an old friend who, well, told me to get the fuck bent after I was really, really mean to him. I found him by looking at the archives, then searched by his AIM name and voila! I found him at MySpace. I, um, began to send a message and eventually decided against it. Why? Because I'm a bit of a heartbreaker I guess. I am well-known for treating people like absolute garbage. I try not to anymore, but in several ways I take advantage of people and as Gilbert says, I am the best manipulator that he knows.

Tomorrow is an absolutely loaded day full of doing assignments. Uuuuhhhh... and yeah, that isn't fun. It never is. Especially when I haven't really started on it. I have a classmate coming over tomorrow morning, then a friend coming over later in the afternoon.

Being bummed out like this calls for desperate measures... not begging for money but here... here are some titties.

Hooray for Boobies! Damned wardrobe malfunctions!

Nothing is more lovely than having a dog with diarrhea. I think I spent most of my day cleaning up liquid dog shit out of the carpet. The smell still isn't gone. I am not really sure what happened but I am guessing it might have been the little bit of fried rice I gave him last night. The spoon on the stove fell into the floor and I said "This is one of the reasons why I need a dog." You know, to clean up messes in the kitchen. I think I'll just keep him on his canned and dry dog food diet... yeah.

Jesus I've been so lazy this weekend. I have two assignments due on Tuesday and an exam on Wednesday. Guess what I haven't done and guess what I haven't bothered to study for? Yes, you guessed it. Thankfully one of the assignments is a group project and all I have to do is just half-ass remember a few lines for a roleplay thing.

I am spending way too much time playing World of Warcraft. I might do a quick cancel of my account later this week to stop myself from being irresponsible. That and my money situation is not looking very good. So I figure that is an unneeded expense. I find myself going to it every few hours to do a quest or two and boy, is that a nerdy thing to do.

Oh and just because I'm talking about anything that comes to my head, one of the light bulbs popped right out of the thing that holds it in the light so it's so dark in my bedroom. I have to get an electrician to come in and change a lightbulb!!! I actually could do it myself if it was an American light bulb. These are sorta like you push them in then turn once. Ours you have to keep turning.

Ah yes, I made some ravioli today which I will have to say that I absolutely hate the ravioli in this country. Most of what I've had is pre-packaged or from a chain restaurant. But why does it taste like the cheese is sour, constantly? Same thing with lasagne it seems. I don't know what's going on. Anyway, the dog was outside playing with a snail when I was out there and I went to get a "refill". I came back and he was throwing that snail everywhere and I looked at it and he had crushed the stupid thing. If you only understood my fear of those things. I automatically lost my appetite. Oh it was disgusting.

Anyway, I probably should attempt to go to sleep soon but I seriously doubt I will. The dog's asleep on my lap I guess dreaming about sucking his mom's titties or something. He keeps making pacifier noises. That's sad. He has to miss his mother. I felt so bad taking him away but I guess it was going to happen in the long run regardless. Anyway, bye for now.

So yes, here again. I have kinda slowed down the blogging thing to a crawl (compared to the last few weeks) due to the fact that I feel like I've been a bit hard on my blog. So yeah, here I am. I have been making myself ill over the sorry state of my finances. I haven't been this broke in a long, long time. Hate it. And my hosting costs are most likely going to get unpaid. It is a sad, sad year when that happens. About 60% of that can be paid. Dreamhost, my hosting company, totally fucked up and overcharged customers about 7.5 million dollars so existing customers of theirs (which affects me) are dropping like sickly flies. Why I'm still with them, I'm not really sure. It didn't affect me anyway, but that is pretty bad. Since then, my referrals have been running far, far away. So I'm screwed. What would normally be about $150 by now is at almost $13. So mostly, PPP is going to be saving the day, at least a little bit.

So that's it about that.

Good news is that Gilbert came back. He told me within a few hours that he hated my dog so I told my friend that his co-worker could have it. I was depressed saying that because I like this dog as bad as he is. He has made some improvements, but I'm saying this under my breath because he pissed all in my bed last night and my sheets are currently in the washer. He could have had diarrhoea then it would have been really interesting and fun. Gilbert is incredibly mean to it and have to keep reminding him that animals have feelings too. I wonder sometimes if Asians realize that about animals. My friend Peter is the only one who has been nice to him. Gilbert won't even pet him. He barely even pet Andy.

Also, more good news is that I got some Kahlua. I especially like it in coffee. So maybe that will put some "OOMPH" into my day. Not like half-Kahlua and half-coffee. It's more like one of those little teaspoons of it. So it's not an attempt to get drunk. It's good and I guess a little bit every once in a while can't be bad.

So many assignments due this week and my clinical practice is coming up in a few weeks. So it will be a little slow on this end. Don't expect any miracles. :)

That's all for now. Enjoy your day.

One of the things I always wanted when I was a kid was an ant farm. I would actually go so far as to get some dirt, a jar, then go step on an ant bed, get the ants and watch them go crazy then dig tunnels. Then of course I'd do mean things like put bugs in it... yeah, I know, I was a destructive little child.

I'm afraid that I still want one. The guys at Vat19.com have plenty of gifts for kids and adults and one of them is the Blue Gel Ant Farm. I have to admit that it's pretty cool. I wasn't very sure about putting these poor ants in the blue gel but hey, it's OK. I think it's a nice little addition to any person's bedroom or even the desk! Oh, and hey, it doubles as a night-light!

If you want to see a video of it, here's one so you can judge for yourself:

You remember how I told you guys that I was getting fat? Well, I did the classy thing and went to Kmart to test out the bathroom scales. I weigh about 165 pounds now (75 kg). I came to this country weighing 150 pounds (or 68 kg). Wow. I put on most of that THIS YEAR... yes, you heard me in about 2 months.

A lot of the weight gain has been due to drinking alcohol a lot more since I've been here. Why do I drink a lot here, you may ask? Everybody does it here but they handle their booze a lot better than I do. I stopped drinking so much because I was tired of getting drunk in all the wrong places/times.

So that's that. And then since Gilbert has been gone in early December, I haven't had a reason to cook. So I've been going out to eat about 5 nights a week or about 10-15 times a week. (I don't eat breakfast, usually.) I like to blame my friend Peter for this because he's my eat-out buddy. Sometimes I wonder if he wants me to get fat...

This weight gain has caused me to really THINK about what to do about myself. Of course that's just thinking... have I done anything about it? No, I haven't!!! So what did I do? I went to buy a weight machine. I did find one for about 40% off the regular price (from $499 to $280) but it was what I call a "monster". It took up way too much room and I quickly realized that I don't have room for that. So I went for a weight bench like I had in the US for about $100.

I got it home, put it together and realized that I didn't even have room for that either! I have some room for it, but not enough to keep the "husband" happy. So when he gets back in a few days, all hell will break loose. I already hit the wall with it. Plus it seems to me like it's too small and designed for either kids or midgets.

And you know, it's not even like my arms and chest are what I need to be working on. It's this fat belly of mine! I refuse to get an abdominal strengthening machine though. I doubt they even work.

But you know what? I'm getting desperate. I don't want to be one of those kind of people who sit around the house on the couch, getting it all sweaty, dropping Cheetos crumbs everywhere while watching Oprah because I have gotten too fat. Sure, 15 pounds isn't much, but hey, this is the MOST I've ever weighed.

That is why in a day or two, I'm going to take a now picture and go from there. I'll take one with all the hair and stuff, so when I do look cute enough, I can shave it all off or something. Who knows. Eating food that's good for me is going to be hard though, I admit.

That's it for now. I'm going to head to bed in a few minutes. I need it.

I'll say it: Oh, Jesus F-ing Christ! Here, let me let you view the video first. I saw this on TV and for some sick reason I looked for it on YouTube:

Some of my readers, about two, are in Australia and if they've been around me, I will tell them horror stories of just how religious the US is. Sadly things do get this bad where I'm from. And it's people like this who get a no-brained dumbfuck elected not once, but twice.

With our elections coming up in about 9 more months, I'm so afraid that the people like this will go and vote. And who will they vote for? Republican. Because Republicans can't seem to separate church and state so we have all this mandatory prayer garbage and stuff. Some of it is actually OK, you know, like the not killing people because there's nothing better to do (which we do have a lot of in the US). The other stuff like not allowing civil unions on religious ground, who is it really going to hurt? No one. Except some right-winged conservatives who cry and sob when they see two guys or girls together.

Hey, honestly, I am all for believing in something. God, gods, goddesses, Allah, Buddha, anything, it's all good. But there comes a time when people need to wake up and realize that people have their own belief system. And hey, if it works, why change? That's one of the reasons I don't follow the Mormon cult, uh, I mean religion anymore.

But ooooh yes, this does exist. Especially in the south (which I know where she's from). People like this should be sat down in solitary confinement and made to watch some kind of acceptance videos. Really long, boring ones so that a Satanist can walk up and she'll be like "whatever".

She needs to put some of that energy to the treadmills too now I think about it. But I'm not going there. :)

Listening to this, I will be honest and I was getting a little depressed hearing how mean I am to myself and for what reason? Because I push myself harder than I really should. And why do I do this? Because I want to accomplish great things but I feel like I'm not able to most of the time. I have a lot of work to do.

I'm not really sure what brings these feelings up. I don't understand why I have all these people to answer to. The only thing I wanted is to be someone important and even when I do try, it's not good enough.

I am not crazy; I promise you that. I could do more though. I really can.

I thought about not posting this but I thought it's about time for me to be honest with me and show people what exactly I go through everyday. I know I won't ever go into why my self-esteem is so bad... there's not like a horror story about it but I know that it will get better before it gets works.

And now, I present to you idioPod 16. As usual, you can subscribe here if you'd like to.

PS: I am really OK. :)

You know, every once in a while I miss the city I used to live in... very briefly, but still there is absolutely no place like New York! There is always something new to do. The people there don't care about anything and hey, it's great! Living there is totally different from visiting though. Stress doesn't get to you when you have to live there - it might if you're originally from a backwoods town like I am! Heh heh.

Anyway, I know a few people who are planning a trip to NYC and have never been. One of the best ways to see the Big Apple is to take New York sightseeing tours. It will ultimately save you a lot of time and effort to get from one place to another though taking the subway has its added perks. I mean, where else would you be able to see all the artistic talent of the street/subway performers?! No where, I'll tell you. But make sure you visit them, and I'm sure you will on Family in New York's tours.

You can arrange either a 5 or 9 hour tour and even take a shorter evening tour if you're visiting for a short while. And best of all, they work around YOUR schedule, not theirs. They'll take you to breakfast (if you want to get up that early) and stuff. It's actually a good deal considering you won't have to do any of the driving and these people know where everything is! So if you're planning to go to New York City, I am hoping you will consider "The Family" as an option!

I know this has been a few days about me blogging about my sore leg. It sadly hasn't gotten any better. Who knew that a morning stretch could cause so much pain and suffering? Well okay I'm not in pain that much or suffering that much too. I'm fine!

My Valentine's Day was good. My friend took me out for Thai food and I ate a lot of satay chicken skewers so I was feeling like I was on top of the world. I also had the usual stuff I have and ate some green curry and sweet and sour chicken. I tell all my family how much I like their sweet and sour chicken. I don't like the Chinese version very much - I think because it's fried (usually). And I ate a fish cake which I didn't like (I am not very excited when it comes to most seafood), curry puff, spring roll and a beef satay skewer. You remember how I told you guys I need to eat better? This is why!

So yeah, walking into a restaurant and having to sit at a table with a candle, rose and chocolate candy sorta threw me off. You know, I had never done much for V-Day. Gilbert's still in Sydney for a while so he's missing out on everything I guess. I'm still a bit upset that he wasn't the one to bring me to Chinese New Year and stuff like that. But I've learned, you don't get in front of Chinese men and their money. (OK, a sick generalization which isn't always true, I know this.)

No class today. So I'm going to work on some stuff here at home today. School stuff, just after I make my need for World of Warcraft die down. :)

That's all that's going on - I hope everybody had a good Valentine's and if you didn't, don't sweat. It's fine.

My freaking leg is still killing me! I don't know how I hurt it this bad, it's actually getting worse. Maybe if I'd make a better effort to get off my rump and jog like I used to, this kind of thing wouldn't happen. Too many times I feel like I am getting frailer and frailer. Soon I'll have the physique of a 70 year old man. That and I think that I need to start taking my vitamins again, perhaps some sports supplements. I have put some thought into getting a home gym but you know how that goes: people buy the equipment and then don't touch the thing. The fear of looking like my dad will get too much for me a little too late.

In the USA I'd take vitamins daily and can't really say they've done any good. It's also funny now I mention that because when I was younger I had such a hard time GAINING weight. Now I'm gaining it way too fast.

Hey, didn't I make a New Year's Resolution to get healthier? This going out to eat fast food 5 days a week thing is getting a bit, um, fatty. I guess I need to do the before and after photos. Of course I'd wax all my body hair for the after shot like all the commercials do.

Oh and since I'm on a health kick, I think I'm allowed to tell you about Supplements.net which has an awesome selection of all the good stuff like vitamins, weight loss pills and joint support. Oh and muscle builders, which is what I need. Some of these deals are pretty good like one for Spawn is $89 off. That's more than half the regular price. So yeah, definitely time for me to get myself in gear and stop neglecting my needs!

Of course all starting tomorrow. I need to lay off the sugar, really. Did you know I ate a whole bag of Turkish Delights today?! Yeeeah, Ben's going to get fat... fatter soon.

Another morning waking up pre-6 am so I can leave before 7 to get where I need to go before 8. Again, I wish I could stay home and sleep today. I'll get to sleep late tomorrow so that will be OK. Somehow, I woke up and pulled my calf muscle so I'm going to walk like I have a cheese grater stuck up my ass sideways. I tend to do this once a week or two.

The dog is doing better. Not irritating me as much lately. He's like a peeing machine and still wants to pee everywhere, but at least he's going outside about 85% of the time. I feel bad having to leave him home several hours a day though but I brought him to the park yesterday where he was finding all the cigarette butts to chew on.

On that note, I never realized just how much Australians smoke until this trip. I really feel like they smoke a lot more than we do. They also fry their skin a lot under the sun I have noticed. When I went to the beach last weekend, I saw a guy, probably about 70 years old who was darker than an Indian. I could tell he's not Indian though. Don't people know better? I have to admit that his skin didn't look too bad, just overly tan. Skin cancer is absolutely horrible here but the people I think will get it have no regard to their health I think. I've done a good job to stay out of the sun or at least keep myself protected. Skin cancer has a nasty history in my family. I want to steer clear of that.

Jesus I don't want to go to this boring-ass class this morning. Tomorrow is even worse. I absolutely hate anatomy because it's so boring. Today is mental health which I don't think I've stayed a full day yet. Blah.

I guess I do need to get up and get dressed. As I said, no one will appreciate my nakedness today unless they're totally turned on by balding, fat, hairy white guys which I can't think of a single person who does except maybe the 18 or 19 year old asian or latino guy... but I am next to broke so that's not going to work!

Gilbert will be back next week for a while. Oh this is going to be horribly fun. I have to admit that I missed the guy. I miss him more because I want to give him a hard time about hitting 30. Of course I'm next so I shouldn't do that. Plus, it honestly doesn't matter to me since I like 'em a bit older than me. :)

Anyway, I'm out of here. You guys and girls have a great day. And don't forget to think of me at least once or twice today.

As a student in the medical field I find good training very hard to come by. So I am surprised when I come across a site that has a lot of information (you remember the last one, right? Not as near as scary, so don't worry) This one supports the paramedics by offering solutions for continued education. This would include courses to do CPR AED training, Firefighter Training, carbon monoxide training and lots of other stuff like that. Good stuff. They also provide training for blood-borne pathogens and AIDS training. The students who are in my class, some of them anyway, have expressed interest in doing this and I would really suggest it. This website is actually quite a good source of information for anyone who is wanting to further their education in the medical field or those who are already paramedics. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can contact these good people if you require any further information and you'll be one step closer in realizing your dream as a paramedic.

No one could ask for an easier way to get training so easily. The National Paramedic Institute can get you fully lined up and ready to go quicker than you can possibly imagine. So I would suggest you go and check them out. You'll be glad you did!

As far as I go, I think I'll stay a nurse thank you very much but still, you really, really, really have to respect the guys in the ambulance. And I'd be happy to do that line of work if I knew I could handle the stress. Yeah, like we don't have enough stress already. :) I know, that was a joke, everybody!

So yes, check 'em out.

Probably nothing new but boy am I tired. It's a few minutes past six and I am already awake. I have classes today and you know, there are days that I wake up and say to myself "I hate this". Which in plenty of ways I do. I feel this way every Tuesday. I usually don't have class from Fri until Mon so these "long weekends" suck. I always just piss away Mondays. I, sadly, was awake at around 5 am yesterday. I got up, did the things I needed to do and couldn't sleep again. So I stayed up... that and the whiny-ass dog wouldn't shut the hell up.

So, another school week starts. The next three promises to be the most stressful weeks I've had as far as school is concerned. It's like one assignment after another after another. Then it's exams galore.

Oh, speaking of sleeping, I had a dream about my parents and my old job and stuff. I dreamt that my parents were going out for the night so I was going to invite some guy over. That never happened. I woke up before it could happen. I also dreamt I went to a shopping center in a foreign country somewhere. It was with one of my Filipino classmates so she was there. As I struggle to find a point to all of this, I realize now that it's all random.

God I'm tired. Maybe just lazy. Most likely both. If I could, I'd be staying home today, no doubt about it. What would I be doing though? Probably nerding it up and playing World of Warcraft so learning something new is a better alternative. But... I am wondering... just how much I've learned in the two classes I have today. Nothing honestly. You'd think after 6 hours of that crap I would have at least absorbed something.

Anyway it's time for me to get my ass out of bed and into some clothes. I can't go to class naked. I wouldn't wish that torture on anybody. As I've said elsewhere, I am getting fat. No, really. I looked at myself in the mirror last night and I am putting on weight... BAD. Maybe I shouldn't walk around making farting noises when I see fat people.

Bye for now.

The start of Chinese New Year started on Feb 7th and it's the Year of the Rat. (And the same day was Gilbert's birthday... the big 3-0). I would go into it more, but that link I just put will tell you all about it. I think I'm lucky to have been immersed in other cultures like this, but anyway, today I went to Melbourne's Chinatown to see what exactly happens for the new year. Oh, the people. Tons and tons of people (a majority of them being Asian of course).

I did get to meet face to face with Lord Mayor John So so that was a little weird. It's weird seeing him on billboards, posters, TV ads and stuff. He's a good guy. People here seem to think so too since he's been elected twice into office. Gilbert says that he's just "funny" so everybody likes him. (And is that what I really call him... or just Mayor?)

So yeah, he was there and there were tons of people dressed up into their traditional clothes. Lots and lots of red and gold. I wore a really bright red shirt today but that's it. I tend to go into Chinatown sometimes (for steamed/fried dumplings that are cheap but good) and feel a bit out of place... today I was really out of place! But it's okay. I saw new things so it made it worth it.

Anyway, there were dragons everywhere, you know, like the ones in the parades. People usually think of those when they think of Chinese parades. It's good luck to touch them so I touched a dragon or two. They were trying to eat lettuce hanging from a string which apparently had money in it. We all know how Chinese people love money. Then of course the firecrackers. Firecrackers so loud that almost made me deaf!

I went to eat at that dumpling place I like and before I walked in I noticed there were some firecrackers (and lettuce) hanging above the door. When the dragon came by, they all exploded outside the door of the restaurant (which was very very loud) and at the end there's this huge bundle of fireworks that is even louder. It must have made some of those people wet their pants in the restaurant. I laughed about it when I heard it.

Good news is that I will have pictures. Bad news is that I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. (It's not my camera, it's my friends because mine doesn't work correctly.) I have to say that it was pretty exciting for me to see something that new. I never did the Chinese New Year thing like that before. So it was a great experience.

One of the things I have learned being away from my "hometown" is that this is a huge world. There is such a bigger world outside than eating at Chinese restaurants and going to the dry cleaners. It sounds mean, but no, I mean it. People are very interesting no matter where they're from or what they believe in. I think people should take some time to get to know all the great people of the world. But I'm not going to sit here and tell people what they should do because most people won't listen. :)

Well that was Chinese New Year for me. So to everybody: Kung Hei Fat Choi! Yeah and that was an observation made by a white guy, so no giggling. I mean it.

I'm about to get a start on my Sunday but thought I'd write a little bit of something here while I had a chance. I am making a few changes here and there to my website since I have a little bit of workspace now. I remember when a 1024x768 resolution was awesomely huge. It doesn't cut it anymore, I'll tell you that. So now I have to know what YOU are using. I noticed there is a lot of blank space and it drives me crazy. I really don't intend to fill it full of ads, so don't worry. So that's why I added the SiteCounter thing at the bottom of the main website pages. That's all I need it for. I don't care how many visitors I get, I just need to see if it's feasible for me to redesign with a bigger resolution or not. I'm sure it's safe, but just in case.

I also added some new pictures to the new gallery. If you want to take a look, that would be good. I guess, if you're into that kind of thing.

And also, this is a bit strange... apparently the machine I'm hosted on has a belly ache or something like that because some pages aren't loading. So if you're having some issues, try reloading the page.

For an update, I passed the 10 entry mark for the sponsored posts. However, my other weblog (which shall remain nameless) doesn't have enough posts. I think it needed 20 in 3 months and I did about 14. When I post some more there, I will transfer some of this money-grabbing goodness there. That means I have to post a bit more here. Sorry.

So yeah, I'm slowly working on updating the whole site. I can't today though because I'm heading to the city in a little bit. I have to go do more of the Chinese New Year thing. My friend seems to think that I don't know very much about the Chinese culture. So he thinks I should learn some. What a rice queeny thing to do! I still don't understand why I hate being associated with that... maybe because it's not true? I do admit that a lot of the people here I know are asian. But it's not because I prefer that kind of thing. As I've said before, people here can usually be quite douchy. They do things to me that piss me off. I guess I can't really talk because Ron pointed out in one of my comments that I'm well-known to do disappearing acts. I do that a lot, honestly. Especially when it comes to going to class. I sort of disappear at random times. I guess that would piss some people off. :) And make me carry a name like "Dandruff" because I'm so flaky.

So you have less than a week to buy me something, you better get on it! No, I'm just kidding really. But don't you think you should get your loved one something to show them that you really care? Some chocolate maybe? Or how about some flowers? Everybody loves getting flowers. You can get some fair trade gifts for valentines for your sweetheart whoever they may be. There is a huge assortment of gifts for you to choose from and unfortunately, one's not an iPod touch, but that's okay. As "sweet" as that would be... heh heh. Or you can "cheat" and just get one of the "Love Bundles". It keeps you from having to think too much and me, being the lazy person I am, am all for that!

Honestly, I never cared too much for Valentine's Day but it's growing on me. Brandi and I usually ended up buying things for each other for V-Day but since were at opposite corners of the world, that's not going to happen this year. Plus she has a boyfriend who better get her something or I'll fly back home and thump his ear, then fly back. OK, maybe not. I know he will.

Next Thursday's the date. I hope it's a good one for you.

idioPod 15 is a rushed to the market episode: New dog, what do division 1 nurses (RN equivalent in the US) REALLY do, school woes, new iMac, sad Powerbook, Macbook Air is a bad deal, my loud-ass neighbors, me putting on weight, and at the end is what AOL sounded like in my dial-up days.

An explanation about the AOL sounds: Do you remember the dial-up days (oh this is for the US people or anybody who used AOL Australia) when you'd get a busy tone and you'd call like a million times and finally get through? Then you'd hear that "Welcome" noise? Most of the time I would get 3 sounds at once: "Welcome. You've Got Mail. Goodbye." And that was it. It would totally piss me off! I know it probably wasn't nice to add their sounds to my podcast but hey, no one likes AOL anymore except the computer illiterate.

ANYWAY, have a listen to idioPod 15: Puppy Wuppy. This is what I call my dog most of the time. That and "weenie dog".

Oh and if you'd like to subscribe to the PODCAST feed only, well, just go here.

Hiya folks. How's it going? I meant to post something meaningful today but I'm not. I find it so amusing how the websites of my friends can be so much more entertaining than mine. (This is where I send people to Richie's site and Ron's site) I still feel like I am a bit reserved because I do get people in my real life asking why I posted this and why I posted that and why didn't I post this and why I didn't post that.

There comes a point where I run out of things to say. Since the demise of my relationship, I have kept relatively calm. I don't have much cash to go out and do things that I want to. That's really sad. I really should go out and do something. I admit that much. I have been trying to keep my expenses at a minimum and have a $0 budget for my entertainment, you know, besides World of Warcraft. That's honestly not even worth it.

I guess in a way I've always been nerdy like that. I'd rather sit in front of my computer and screw around with it, write new programs, make new webpages and such. I love mathematics and play with my graphing calculator a lot. No one is really impressed when I "find" things out. I don't blame them.

I guess it's better to be intelligent than a total goof-ball most of the time. So I'm thankful for that. People with no mental capacity sort of don't do it for me. It's hard to be on the same level as they are.

But anyway, that's up. With it being the start of Chinese New Year and all, I am going out to eat some Thai food. I think that I want some satay chicken. That's going to make me happy most likely.

Oh, and an update on the dog, he's doing a bit better but still has a few "accidents" but oh well. It's almost been one week since I got it. It's been a long week, yeah. :)

I will see some of you here in Australia soon so don't worry. I know I've locked myself up for way too long. I bought a new Dreamweaver so I'm all good to go.

Did you know that I wanted to be and still want to be a real estate agent? Did you know just how much I love to go house shopping with people and then try to sell the house? Do you KNOW how much commission I am missing out on?! Yeah, exactly. I could have easily done some real estate agent training and jumped into the game. But I didn't and well, I still could, honestly. A lot of people joke around and say that I could be a real estate nursing agent, you know, so just in case someone chokes to death while I'm selling, I could easily do something about it.

I find it interesting to find sites that have all the information you need to get your dreams accomplished. The resources are there, now it's just a matter of time to get up and do something about it? Why not make a change in your life and see just how much potential you have? I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Training in real estate these days can be painless, inexpensive and easy. And imagine the cash-flow. :) The Real Estate Training Center is going to be a crucial part in in the achievement of this goal. It is absolutely one of the best resources available to people the best agents get even better.

Enough about vaginas. And meat curtains. And meat curtain re-assignment surgery. Let's do something more fun now. Anything else than vagina talk. God, sometimes I wonder what the hell I am thinking. Oh yeah, that's right, Ben needs some serious money due to Dreamhost's fuck-up!

Three days of having a dog and I'm ready to kick him through the window. Every single day it's something else. Today he managed to wedge himself behind a bar fridge in my laundry room. He was screaming his head off. He bites toes like crazy. He pees on the carpet after he just finished peeing outside. He doesn't sleep at night and instead, bites my ears and lips while I'm sleeping. But you know something, he's still adorably cute. I can't help it. I did think that I would give him to someone who can take better care of him and that's still an option. I haven't really tried, I feel.

Today things have been increasingly pissing me off. I totally blew a fuse when I walked in, the dog had torn everything up that he possibly could in the laundry room (I have to keep him in there so he doesn't piss on the carpet). Then I open my silverware drawer and see ants. I am so sick and tired of the ants here. I don't know what the problem is, honestly. I see them everywhere. Apparently it's a problem here in the summer? I don't know.

I've been playing World of Warcraft again. Yeah, I know. How freaking nerdy of me. I get bored with it really fast as usual though.

And while all this goes on, I ask myself, "Should I be working on a podcast?" Nah. I honestly don't feel like people care so why should I care? :) I don't post it up on MySpace so most of my friends won't listen to it. They barely even come here to read anything. With DH's fuck-up, I might have to let my websites bite the dust. I do have about $136.50 left to pay now. Unfortunately, that's unnecessary costs but I know I'll go crazy without a site.

And how else would I post pictures like these:

And post them on Flickr, you say? Yeah right!

Well, not much to be said... OK there's a lot to be said but I sit in front of the computer and can't think of a single word to say.

Being an upcoming medical professional (if I'm not already), I come across some interesting things. The health field is one where learning is everything and I fully believe that it's important to learn as much as I possibly can. And today, I have come across a site for vaginal cosmetic surgery. My first reaction to this was "maybe I shouldn't post this" but I decided to afterwards when I noticed that there were some major differences from the before pictures to the after pictures. I didn't know that something like that was even possible, okay, maybe I did actually know it was possible but I didn't know there would be firms who devote their whole practice to it.

Right now I'm just reading to see what the causes are and such and self-educating. By the way, it's called labioplasty. And going back to the website that I linked before, I have to say that the website is extremely comprehensive and full of information. They are located in Atlanta, Georgia and have done operations on patients from 46 states and 25 countries. I can definitely see why women come from all over the world for this surgery.

On the site, there is a list of frequently asked questions that might educate you or your partner. Definitely take a look at the photos of the before and after, I was astounded what is possible with surgery! (Oh and if you have young kids around, you might want to be advised against doing this right this second.)

I hope that you, too, learned a lot from my post and if you didn't, that's a shame. You have to keep your mind open to just about anything.

I'd love to say that it's been quiet around here but it hasn't been. Saturday, I got my new puppy and of course, let me show you a picture of him before things get "not-so-cute". So here you are:

His name is Felix. And let me tell you, he is going to be very, very bad. He likes to sleep all day and stay up at night. So he wakes me up constantly all night. He doesn't sleep unless he's laying right next to me. It also keeps him from peeing all over the place.

His favorite things I have found is tearing stuff up, biting toes, biting fingers, peeing on the carpet and keeping me up all night. Last night, after having him for only 1 night before was... hmmm, maybe I should bring him to someone who can take better care of him. It's not that I can't really take care of him I guess, I just assume that training dogs takes no time at all. WRONG. Don't think that for a second. I thought about telling the Dachshund Club of Victoria that I need someone to take care of him but that would make me a bad parent. And it would also make me a quitter. If people can work, go to school and care for kids, why can't I take care of a dog?

At about 1 am, I was pretty damned depressed thinking about it. I guess these things take time and it's not like this is the first time I've had a dog. This is the first time I've been put in this position (you know, being in another country and owning a pet).

We all know that this is something I have been whining and crying for. I'm just shocked that I am not handling it a bit better. The peeing in the floor thing has to stop but he's getting better about it. At least he DOES go outside.

Something totally unrelated: my hosting company has totally fucked up once again and somehow my reward payments for 3 months went from $95 to -$1.15 overnight. It's at $2.18 now. So that leaves me about $115 to pay at the end of March. I am really starting to hate Dreamhost. First, they take away any decent amount of money I take away from my referrals (like the $87 off one) and replace it with something stupid like the most you can remove is like $50. So that pissed me off, I haven't had a single new sign-up in MONTHS. Then recently they overcharged their customers 7.5 million dollars, no, really $7,500,000. I somehow woke up one day with $272.00 of money in my account and was thinking, "hey, awesome." Then I learned what they did - so that went back to about $60 when they saw how bad they screwed up. I've been a customer since 1997 and I'm totally tired of their crap. Sad thing is that they have me hooked now. Damned people.

Oh, website changes, yeah that's right. I just took about 10 minutes and put in the code that shows you (on the first page) what posts are sponsored posts. They have a blue dollar sign ($). But I am warning you, sometimes I will put some generic cool stuff in there without getting paid, so yeah, promise me you'll take a look at it sometimes! :) (Oh, I also made this change on the sidebar if you're interested.)

Next person that comments, I'm going to make them a pie. Probably a weenie dog one. And throw in a pair of my profusely worn and unwashed underwear. Nothing better than undergarments and pie. I miss cherry pie. Add that to the list of food I want when I get back home. :)

EDIT: idioPod is delayed for a few more days. Sorry.

I thought I'd do something a little different today and do a primarily "visual" weblog entry. I'll tell a story of things I like in no particular order:

Orange Tic Tacs: I know they don't do anything for stinky breath, but I like them.

Weenie Dogs make me happy. Always.

Turkish Delight: My favorite candy in Australia. I eat way too many.

I miss good tacos and Taco Cabana. Mmmmm.

I like those dragons in parades. I don't know why but I do. And not because I am a rice queen, that's far from the truth!

Latino men in business suits make me very happy!

If you can sing well, be sweet and make chicken tinola, then my heart will melt. Being Filipino is just an option. (But I admit that they make it best.)

Probably my favorite insect. I don't know why but I love bees.

I take that back, I love dragonflies too.

One of my favorite places to be is the mountains but that's a a bit too close for comfort! (see more)