Mt Beerwah

I have been heaps busy lately organising and playing frisbee. However last weekend I found time to climb Mt Beerwah with Tegan and Lara. It was awesome. It's a reasonably tough trip, but once you get past the first tricky part, it gets easier. The best part is halfway up under the cliffs. The ground is covered in a fine powder of rock - it feels like walking on the moon.

FINISHED AT LAST - FINALLY

I HAVE NOW ACTUALLY FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the result from my 3 day Supplementary Exam today and I passed! Which means I get to graduate in July.

Woo-Hoo! After 8 years it is done!

I am currently in Melbourne catching up with family and friends.

Tegan arrives on Thursday, we play in the qualifying tournament for World Ultimate Club Championships on the weekend and then she will hang out with me here until next Friday.

I have Finished!!!!!

Top 50 Songs - Take 2

A while back I posted my Top 50 Songs of all time.

I have since undergone some major soul searching and have produced a revised list.

I have noted the previous position of songs and there relative movement for people to study and consider. (The number in brackets after the artist name is how many songs that artist has in the Top 50)

Rank Song / Artist / Change / Previous

1 Imagine / John Lennon (8) / = / 1
2 Bad / U2 (9) / = / 2
3 Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad / U2 (9) / ▲1 / 4
4 Beautiful Day / U2 (9) / ▲1 / 5
5 Paranoid Android / Radiohead (6) / ▲1 / 6
6 One / U2 (9) / ▲5 / 11
7 God / John Lennon (8) / ▲5 / 12
8 Bohemian Rhapsody / Queen / = / 8
9 Last Goodbye / Jeff Buckley (2) / ▲4 / 13
10 October / U2 (9) / ▼3 / 7
11 Lose Yourself / Eminem (3) / ▼8 / 3
12 Hallelujah / Jeff Buckley (2) / ▲18 / 30
13 Strawberry Fields Forever / John Lennon / Beatles (8) / ▲1 / 14
14 Stairway To Heaven / Led Zeppelin / ▼5 / 9
15 Falling At Your Feet / U2 (9) / ▲1 / 16
16 You've Got To Hide Your Love Away / John Lennon / Beatles (8) / ▲5 / 21
17 Bitter Sweet Symphony / The Verve / ▼2 / 15
18 Working Class Hero / John Lennon (8) / ▲9 / 27
19 All I Want Is You / U2 (9) / ▲6 / 25
20 A Day In The Life / John Lennon / Beatles (8) / ▼2 / 18
21 Shady Lane / Pavement / ▲5 / 26
22 With Or Without You / U2 (9) / ▲1 / 23
23 Seven Nation Army / The White Stripes / ▲12 / 35
24 Tribute / Tenacious D / new /
25 Space Oddity / David Bowie / new /
26 Island Home / Christine Anu / ▲2 / 28
27 You And Me Song / The Wannadies / ▼5 / 22
28 Just / Radiohead (6) / new /
29 Kill You / Eminem (3) / = / 29
30 Every Time I Try / Spain / ▼13 / 17
31 Creep / Radiohead (6) / ▲2 / 33
32 Under The Bridge / Red Hot Chili Peppers / ▼1 / 31
33 Wish You Were Here / Pink Floyd / new /
34 Smells Like Teen Spirit / Nirvana / ▼15 / 19
35 Where The Streets Have No Name / U2 (9) / ▼3 / 32
36 Street Spirit (Fade Out) / Radiohead (6) / ▲5 / 41
37 Heroin / The Velvet Underground / ▲12 / 49
38 Kim / Eminem (3) / ▲4 / 42
39 Yesterday / The Beatles / ▼19 / 20
40 Exit Music (For A Film) / Radiohead (6) / ▼16 / 24
41 In My Life / John Lennon / Beatles (8) / ▼7 / 34
42 The Tracks Of My Tears / Smokey Robinson & The Miracles / ▼5 / 37
43 What A Wonderful World / Louis Armstrong / ▼33 / 10
44 Karma Police / Radiohead (6) / ▼5 / 39
45 Space Moth / Stereolab / new /
46 Song 2 / Blur / = / 46
47 Good Riddance / Green Day / = / 47
48 Today / Smashing Pumpkins / new /
49 Norwegian Wood / John Lennon / Beatles (8) / ▼13 / 36
50 Like A Rolling Stone / Bob Dylan / ▼5 / 45
X God Only Knows / Beach Boys / ▼>12 / 38
X Nowhere Man / John Lennon / Beatles / ▼>10 / 40
X Never Tear Us Apart / INXS / ▼>7 / 43
X Dirty Day (Bitter Kiss) / U2 / ▼>6 / 44
X Trouble / Coldplay / ▼>2 / 48
X Blister In The Sun / Violent Femmes / ▼>1 / 50

Finished At Last Again?

I have now finished my Supplementary Exam!

This was a 3 DAY EXAM from 9am to 6pm each day. I had to design a Regional Art Gallery. I feel like I did quite well and should get my results early next week. If I managed to pass then I get to graduate from Architecture in the middle of the year! Yeah!!

Now I am having a break up here in Brisbane for a week and then I head down to Melbourne on the 29th to play for Bootius Maximus in the Qualifying tournament for the World Ultimate Club Championships to be held in Perth later this year. After a week in Melbourne I then head up to Canberra for the first National Ultimate Frisbee League tournament of the year and then back to work in Brisbane.

Ghost House

This is a story I wrote back in Year 1 at school. Be warned - IT IS A GHOOOOST STORY!!!

Ghost House

One day in Daisy Street, there was an old house and in the house lived Dean, Cameron, Shaun, Hong Meng, Adam B and lucky last Andrew S. One day when Andrew S. was reading a book to Dean, Cameron, Shaun, Hong Meng, and Adam B. when they heard some spooky music and the door slammed and in the attic came a noise like this "OOOooooooooooooo," "It's a ghost," said Dean, "no, it's only an owl," said Cameron. "No, Deans right, it's a ghost really, I'm scared of them, let's get out of here". "No, here comes Frankenstein, what shall we do now?" "Freeze," "ok Dad," so they froze. "Trip him Cameron," "OK Dad, I'll trip him." POW, Frankenstein falls down. "You're a hero Cameron, yahoo, oh no, here comes Dracula. Cameron save us." "How can I?" "You're a hero," "ok" so Cameron jumped on his back and strangled him but Dracula bit him and the hero was a vampire and blood poured from his neck and the house was falling down. "Let's run for it" so Dean, Shaun, Hong Meng, Adam B and Andrew S. ran for it and the house was falling on James's house. James was the next door neighbour and his house was falling in and James was in the bathroom washing his babies. He had one baby and it was a girl and she cried because she heard the house falling down, so James and his baby ran but they were stuck and ghosts came in and vampires came in, so James's baby went down the drain and James went down the bath and the bath was on fire so they turned the water on and he went down the bath and all the monsters died and only Cameron was left and down on the beach was James and his baby and now his baby was 8 months old and she just turned 9 months old and back at James's house were rats and mice and Cameron. Suddenly, someone came in, it was Hulk Hogan and Mr. Chicken Schulz. Mr. Chicken Schulz said, "I'm scared" "cheer up chicken, where have you been?" Oh no, if he's gone, I go, I had better get out of here." "No you won't". "Who is it?" "It is I, the Monster of Terror and I have come for you." "Who's the Monster of Terror?" "Yes I am, the Monster of Terror." "Are you sure?" "Why don't you turn around chicken." "Oh yes you are, where did you take my friend?" "I didn't, now stop screaming at me OK then stop shouting at me ok Hulk Hogan". "Well that's cool Monster cool, Mr. T. will be just bowled over to meet you". "I'm not sure that I'm a monster, I'm a ghost but they call me the Monster of Terror, I've only got to cry".

Rueben Berg - Year 1

New Card Game - Boosh

Last year my little sister, Lara, and I invented a new card game called Boosh. It is loosly based in another card game called Golf. It is 'fun for the whole family'.

Boosh:

Cards: Normal deck plus 1 Joker
No. of Players: 2-4
Card Value: Number cards are worth their number, picture cards as indicated below:
Ace: 1
Jack: 11
Queen: 12
King: 13
Joker: Equal to value of highest card in hand

Aim:The aim of the game is to collect and exchange cards until you have what you believe to be the highest hand (or believe you can bluff the other players into believing you have the highest hand).

Deal:
4 cards per player, dealt one at a time in a clockwise direction. Then 1 card (called the cherry) is turned face up to start the ‘face up pile’ [B] in the centre of the table and is placed next to the deck [A] which is face down.

Start Of Play:
Players view their cards and then place them face down on the table in front of them in any order or arrangement. These cards are not to be looked at again unless they are being replaced, or at the end of the game.

The player to the left of the dealer starts first.

Play:
A player can choose to pick up either the top card in the face up pile [B] or the top card from the deck [A]. This card may then be used to replace one of their own cards or be discarded. Replacing involves selecting one of the four existing cards to be discarded and placing the new card face down in its place. The discarded card is placed face up on the face up pile [B]. Play then moves to the next player on the left.

Calling:
After a player has discarded, they may call “Boosh”. This means they believe they have the highest scoring hand (or believe they can bluff their opponents into believing they have the highest scoring hand). At this point the remaining players continue to select one card each in the normal manner of play (this card is referred to as the quack).

Note: If the deck is empty or there are not enough cards left for everyone to select, the Boosh call is void and the highest scoring hand can only receive 50 points and losing players receive 0 points.

Result:
Each player now turns over any two of their own cards – starting with the player who called Boosh. At this point the players who did not call Boosh have the opportunity to fold and leave the hand (their remaining cards are NOT to be exposed). If all players fold, then the Boosh Caller wins 50 points (they do not have to reveal their hand). Note: The Boosh Caller cannot fold.

If another player continues with the hand, all cards of those still playing are turned over. The value of the hand is added up to determine the highest scoring hand. If the Boosh Caller wins – they receive 100 points and the others still in the hand lose 25 points. If the Boosh Caller is not the highest they lose 50 points, the winner receives 50 points and all other players still in the hand lose 25 points (players who fold before the remaining two cards are turned over receive 0 points and their cards are not scored).

Restart:
Each players scores are added to their previous tally.
Cards are then shuffled and re-dealt with the new dealer being the player to the left of the previous dealer.

Overall Result:
The first player to call Boosh and be awarded points that takes them to or over 250 points wins. If a player does not call Boosh but is awarded points that take them to or over 250 points they are awarded the points but cannot win the game from that hand. Any player whose score goes to or below –250 points is out of the game.

Woof Alternative:

Players may choose to play using the Woof Rule.

The deal is as usual however the Cherry is not turned over straight away. All players look at the cards that have been dealt to them and if they believe they have the LOWEST scoring hand (or believe they can bluff their opponents into believing they have the LOWEST scoring hand) they may call Woof. Woof may be called by anyone and in no order – the first person to call Woof is deemed to be the Woof Caller. This must be done before their cards are placed face down on the table.

Once all players’ cards are placed face down on the table there may no longer be a Woof call and play continues as for standard Boosh.

The cherry is then turned over and all players have ONE opportunity to exchange one of their cards with a card from the face up or face down pile (as per usual Boosh rules). Play then moves directly to the Results stage, with the exception that players want to have the LOWEST scoring hand. In a Woof call the value of the Joker is equal to value of the lowest card in the players’ hand. The points for a Woof call are different from a Boosh call:

My Top 5 Simpsons Quotes

Here are My Top 5 Simpsons Quotes (in no particular order):

From "She of Little Faith":

Rev. Lovejoy introduces pizza mascot The Noid, who will deliver a special sermon on "deliciousness."

Lisa: That's it!
Homer: [whispering] Quiet, Lisa! Everyone in the store is looking at you.
Lisa: They should take a good look at themselves, and what their church has become. [the congregation gasps]
Lovejoy: Lisa, it's still the same basic message -- we've just dressed it up a little.
Lisa: Like the Whore of Babylon?
[the congregation gasps]
Lovejoy: That is a false analogy!
Lisa: No, it's not. It's apt. Apt!

From "Deep Space Homer":

NASA scientist: Maybe we should finally tell them the big secret - that all the chimps we sent into space came back super intelligent.
Chimp in suit on rollerskates: No. I don't think we'll be telling them that.

From "Lost Our Lisa":

The streets are simply too busy for Homer to see Lisa.

Homer: This is no good, I gotta get up higher! [walks over to a balloon salesman] Give me all of your balloons. [the salesman hands him a dozen or so balloons] I hope this works... [walks to guy in a cherry picker] These are for you if you let me use your cherry picker!
Guy: Well, I've already got some balloons, but.. they're not this nice. Deal!

From "Cape Feare":

One agent suggests a new identity for Homer.

Agent: Tell you what, sir. From now on, you'll be, uh, Homer Thompson at Terror Lake. Let's just practise a bit, hmm? When I say, "Hello, Mr. Thompson," you'll say, "Hi."
Homer: Check.
Agent: Hello, Mr. Thompson.
Homer: [stares blankly]
Agent: Remember now, your name is Homer Thompson.
Homer: I gotcha.
Agent: Hello, Mr. Thompson.
Homer: [stares blankly]
[A long time later]
Agent: [sighs in frustration] Now, when I say, "Hello, Mr. Thompson," and press down on your foot, you smile and nod.
Homer: No problem.
Agent: Hello, Mr. Thompson! [stomps on Homer's foot a few times]
Homer: [stares blankly]
Homer: [to other agent] I think he's talking to you.

From "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?":

Homer now attempts to write the review with Maggie and Santa's Little Helper (SLH).

Homer: I don't need Lisa to write a good review. [reads] The food at the Gilded Truffle really ... What's a good word? [Maggie makes a sucking sound] Sucks! That's great! And the bread was really ... [looks at SLH] Come on, help me out here!
SLH: Ruff!
Homer: Rough? I don't know, you've been pitching that all night.
SLH: Chewy?

All quotes from "The Simpsons Archive": http://www.snpp.com/

Feel free to nominate your own favourite quotes!

Pixie Juice

I have invented a new drink!

Pour 0.5 cm of Sweetened Condensed Milk into the bottom of a glass.

Add 2cm of Rasberry Cordial.

Stir.

Fill glass with Vanilla Coke (allow some room for the froth)

Enjoy!

(I take no responsiblty for the effects of this drink!)

Tegan and I

Just thought that I could add a picture here of Tegan and myself.

We've been going out now for nearly 3 months, but it feels like forever (in a good way)!

Ohhh, how sweet.

Finished At Last [Take 2]

Unfortunately I haven't quite "Finished at Last". I didn't quite pass my design subject (in fact I was "singularly disappointing").

However I have been given the opportunity to do a Supplementary Exam which will involve a 2-3 day design exam starting on January 17.

This is all good and I am currently trying to work out how to study for a Design Exam.

Imagine

Today is the 25th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon.
What a tragic loss, but what a tremendous talent and inspiration.

If only we could act as if this is the way the world really is - then it would be so:

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

My Favourite Film

On Sunday Night ABC showed "My Favourite Film", a show listing the top 10 films as voted for by Australia:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Amelie
3. Blade Runner
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Donnie Darko
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Princess Bride
9. Gone With The Wind
10. Fight Club

A very interesting list, don't know that I agree with them all. No Australian films either.

The full list is here: http://abc.net.au/myfavouritefilm/top100.htm

Some of my favourite films that were in the list:
10. Fight Club
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey
15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
16. American Beauty
17. Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
26. A Clockwork Orange
33. Lost in Translation
44. The Big Lebowski
80. Garden State
95. Mulholland Drive
97. High Fidelity
99. Being John Malkovich

And lucky last, one of my all time favourite films:
100. Dead Man

NO, NOT "DEAD MAN WALKING", "Dead Man" - the one with Johnny Depp.

What wasn't there?

The best film of all time: "Groundhog Day"

Also missing: "Heat" (De Niro and Pacino) , "Blood Simple" (Coen Brothers), "Adaptation" (Nicholas Cage) and "The Royal Tenenbaums" (Gene Hackman).

More on the best movies of all time to come...later.

Incomparable angst and joy

The wind whispers through the trees and the goats herd the lions.
Somewhere under starry sky the moon watches and hopes.
No one answers the questions that tick at the back of their mind.
Until the end the day will break, spreading incomparable angst and joy.

U2 - Vertigo Tour

I have tickets to U2!!!!!

On Monday I found out I could get early access to tickets to U2's Vertigo tour because I was a member of U2.com.

This meant I could buy 4 tickets the next day!!!! After 20 mins of trying to refresh the ticketmaster site (they were busy due to excess traffic) I managed to get 4 tickets to the Brisbane show. My oh my am I happy.

Now I just need to wait until Monday to get the tickets for the Melbourne show!

Foo Fighters

Monday night I went and saw the Foo Fighters play!

We had general admission tickets right up the front ('we' were myself and David plus some of his friends (Beth and Luke - who happens to work with one of the frisbee boys, Marco))

We got there early and manged to get a spot just 4 people from the front and just to the right of centre stage.

The first support act was pretty crazy - the bass player dislocated his knee during the third song! We saw him fall to the ground and then throw off his bass. Thought he was just screwing around but then a roadie came out and helped him to the side where he slumped beside a speaker. He then asked for his bass and kept playing, and singing!!! He was clearly in a lot of pain but kept on going. After they stopped playing he was helped into a wheelchair and was taken to hospital! He recieved thunderous applause for his efforts (which compensated for the quality of their music or lack thereof)

Kaiser Cheifs were the next support band who were quite good and energetic and have that "I predict a riot" song.

Anyway, finally Foo Fighters came on (after the drummer had teased us by throwing his drumstick above a screen which hid the band while they set up)

I couldn't belive that it was actually Dave Grohl right there in front of me!!!

The show was awesome. Very loud, very powerful and intense.

The crowd was a bit pushy at the start and I just slipped back a few meters to get more comfortable.

Best songs were "Everlong"; which started soft with just Dave on guitar and then went nuts, "Stacked Actors"; which went for 10 minutes including a middle section where Dave ran through the crowd to the back and had a play off with the guitarist over Heartbreaker by zepplin, and "Monkey Wrench" which was the last song, during which I started jumping up and down and somehow drifted further and further to the front and middle of the crowd and ended up just in front of Dave with what felt like hundreds of sweaty bodies pressed up against me. After the show I managed to snare one of several of Dave's guitar picks which were thrown into the crowd which I ended up giving to Dave. It took two showers to feel like I had removed all the other peoples sweat from my body. Uhhhhh.

I pushed the car out of the carpark just for fun (people let us in out of sympathy) and then went home after a delighful and eventful evening.

Six Feet Under

Just bought the Third and Forth Season of Six Feet Under on DVD.

This has to be one of the best TV shows ever. It is so emotionaly intense.

I hate the character of Lisa though, she is so infuriating!

She dies soon, which is good :-)

Finished At Last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I handed in my final Design assignement!

After 8 years it may all be over.

I have 1 last thing to hand in tomorrow which I hope to hand in now as well and then it is done!

I start work back at project services next week so I have this week off.

Will hangout with my friend from Melbourne, Thomas, and probably play some frisbee.

Also - U2 ARE COMING TO AUSTRALIA NEXT YEAR - what a relief!

Top 50 Songs

This is a list of my Top 50 Songs that I made about 6 months ago. It may still change a bit.

50. Blister In The Sun, Violent Femmes
49. Heroin, Velvet Underground
48. Trouble, Coldplay
47. Good Riddance, Greenday
46. Song 2, Blur
45. Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
44. Dirty Day (Bitter Kiss), U2
43. Never Tear Us Apart, INXS
42. Kim, Eminem
41. Street Spirit (Fade Out), Radiohead
40. Nowhere Man, John Lennon / Beatles
39. Karma Police, Radiohead
38. God Only Knows, Beach Boys
37. The Tracks Of My Tears, Smokey Robinson
36. Norwegian Wood, John Lennon / Beatles
35. Seven Nation Army, White Stripes
34. In My Life, John Lennon / Beatles
33. Creep, Radiohead
32. Where The Streets Have No Name, U2
31. Under The Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
30. Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley
29. Kill You, Eminem
28. Island Home, Christine Anu
27. Working Class Hero, John Lennon
26. Shady Lane, Pavement
25. All I Want Is You, U2
24. Exit Music (For A Film), Radiohead
23. With Or Without You, U2
22. You And Me Song, Wannadies
21. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, John Lennon / Beatles
20. Yesterday, Beatles
19. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
18. A Day In The Life, John Lennon / Beatles
17. Every Time I Try, Spain
16. Falling At Your Feet, U2
15. Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Verve
14. Strawberry Fields Forever, John Lennon / Beatles
13. Last Goodbye, Jeff Buckley
12. God, John Lennon
11. One, U2
10. What A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong
9. Stairway To Heaven, Led Zepplin
8. Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
7. October, U2
6. Paranoid Android, Radiohead
5. Beautiful Day, U2
4. Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad, U2
3. Lose Yourself, Eminem
2. Bad, U2
1. Imagine, John Lennon

Daisy, Daisy

Hello,

This is my first Post.

I'm supposed to be studying, so I should get back to it!