I’m gothed up and I’m hitting the town.

This morning I left the hospital after staying overnight; a requirement of the procedure I had received yesterday. It’s nothing serious, so I apologise if you weren’t informed previously and are now worried about my well-being.

Now that we have that out of the way, I can continue my little story. Many people are complaining about the state of the public health system in Queensland at the moment. While I would say I agree to a certain extent that it could be better, from my experiences it wasn’t too bad at all. There were some hiccups along the way, and I’ll get to those, but in the meantime I would simply like to say that I have a great respect and admiration for the people working in the public health system. Despite the seemingly lacklustre equipment and apparent poor state of some of the facilities, the fact remains that the staff are able to get the job done, and get the job done well. I’m very pleased with the treatment I received and the way things were handled, but that’s not to say that things were perfect.

I was due to have my operation starting early morning on Tuesday just gone. However, after arriving at the hospital at 7AM, going through all the pre-checks and donning my lovely hospital attire, I was told that I would have to go home because three anaethisatists and two doctors were off sick. It was Melbourne Cup day, though …

I’ll be honest, it was very annoying. I had plans and they were upset. It wasn’t really anyones fault (unless you’re cynical, which I can sometimes be), but it was still annoying.

My procedure was resheduled for 8AM Wednesday, and at around 11AM I actually went into the preparation theatre. It was at this point, while I was laying in bed, hooked up to the saline drip and wearing my ECG tags, that the fire alarm went off. For 15 minutes. I was informed that the procedure wouldn’t start until they were sure it was a false alarm, and it turned out that it was. But that didn’t stop the alarm, mounted in the roof not two metres from my head, from pounding electronic thumps through my already stressed mind.

After that though, I was given the anaesthetic and went to sleep pretty much immediately. I remember the doctor injecting it into my drip, and then a nurse infront pushed through the door, another started pushing my bed from behind me, and I don’t remember anything after that.

I woke up in the recovery room, and surprised myself by not being surprised. They had warned me that when I woke up I might think that I was still waiting to have the procedure and be very disorientated. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t. I woke up and I remember thinking that I was in hospital; I could see a nurse checking my vitals, and then I remembered that I’d had an operation. I fell in and out of sleep for the next few hours while we all waited for a bed to become available in a ward.

Eventually I was placed up on the fifth floor in a ladies ward because there weren’t any spaces in a mens ward. It didn’t really matter that much; in fact it was quite amusing as I was put next to the cutest (yes I just used that word in this context) old lady who so innocently peeled away her bandages “just to see what the doctor had done”.

Mum came to visit me and sat with me all afternoon while I continued to drift in and out of sleep. The painkillers they were giving me made me quite drowsy. Dad and my sister came to visit in the evening, shortly before Annie and Kate. Everyone stayed for a while, but it was a little crowded, so the girls all went to get food while I hung out with mum and dad for a bit. Then Kirsten came back, took herself and my parents home, so I was left to enjoy the company of Kate and Annie for the rest of visiting hours, until 8PM. Actually, they left at about quarter past eight when the nurse informed them to say their “final farewells” — busted! I’m glad everyone came to visit though. I would have been bored shitless otherwise.

After everyone left I had a choice of television (which I paid $10 for the privelidge of using), radio, mp3, book or laptop to keep me entertained. I ended up watching TV for a while, then listening to music, and then at about 10.30PM I went to sleep. I slept quite poorly because I only had one pillow, and the night lights kept me awake as well.

This morning was the most eventful part of the visit — after my surgeon came to check I was OK, I was told to have a shower and then the dressings on my wound would be replaced. I wasn’t too sure how to go about this because I knew the wound was a hole. You see, the operation required leaving an open wound in the small of my back. I knew roughly how large it was going to be, but after the operation, during sleep, and during the checking, it hadn’t pained me one bit. I made the mistake of removing the bandages, and then the packing (bandages placed inside the wound) and checking it out in the mirror in the shower.

Although I knew what to expect, the reality of it hit me at this point. I started feeling ill and I began hyperventilating. Thankfully I was able to ask one of the other patients outside to fetch me a nurse. I tried to control my breathing, and I tried to assure myself I was OK, but I believe I was in some kind of shock situation, and I lost control of rationality while waiting. It got so bad that I felt light-headed, and in turn ill. My arms and legs were trembling with pins and needles because I wasn’t breathing properly. The nurse finally came in, sat me down and calmed me down, while washing the area of the operation, which surprisingly did not hurt at all.

After she settled me down and washed me off, I tenderly dried myself and got back into bed for another nurse to redress my wound. She was cute as a button, softly-spoken and very nice, which helped a lot. Maybe they sent me a cute one on purpose after my little episode. Anyway, the most painful part of the redressing was not when she physically cleaned out the hole in my back, but when she had to remove some sticky residue from around it which was caught on my hair. Sigh.

So, I went home, and I’m alright now. The wound is a little painful when I sit the wrong way on it, but I have pain killers. Though they do make me a little drowsy.

Despite my thinking that some of the equipment looked a little old, that some of the facilities looked a little dilapidated, these are both gross overstatements. The staff at the hospital were lovely and helped me out as much as they could. I greatly appreciate everything they did for me, and I think, even though it’s highly impersonal, I will send a ‘thank-you’ card to the hospital addressed to all the staff. Though it’s probably the best I can do as I think I would’ve come into contact with no less than twenty or so people, not even a quarter of whom I can remember their names.

Thank-you, staff of the hospital. Thank-you very much for your time and care and helpful attitudes!

Hi everyone,

A headsup for some of you: there are a bunch of sweet gigs on over the coming months, and I’m inviting you to attend them with me.

First up is Birds of Tokyo, whom I don’t know much about, other than their frontman is the very same who leads the very entertaining and very awesome Karnivool. Although I haven’t seen either live, the latter’s full-length release, Themata, is a favourite in my collection. Anyway, check out The Birds’ MySpace for more on them. Date is September 5th, cost is $27.75., venue is The Arena.

Next up is heavy-metal favourites, and awkwardly-pronounced, Meshuggah. While I’m not particularly fanatic about their style of music, I can appreciate it in small doses. Let’s hope their performance on October 12th at The Arena isn’t too large a dose! (at a cost of $53.50 + booking fee)

Next up in the metal section (although arguably with less throat-destroying lyrical talent) we have Disturbed. I’ve listened to a lot of their stuff over and over and over, with their album 10,000 Fists taking a special place in my collection. They’re touring with old favourites P.O.D., the up-and-coming Behind Crimson Eyes, and Alterbridge. We can catch them at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on the 2nd of September at a cost of $89.65.

Changing genre completely, let’s think about Dukes of Windsor. They scored well with their hit The Others showing up in a remix on a recent Ministry of Sound album. You’ve heard it, and you liked it. Trust me. Anyway, they’re touring with the awesome Sneaky Sound System, and I reckon we’d be stupid not to miss their show at The Tivoli, on the August 16th, especially for a cost $53.50 (plus booking fee).

Keeping the electro/dance theme, though moving down in the popularity ranks, we’ve got a relatively unknown group by the name of Grafton Primary. They reached realtively huge popularity on TripleJ last year with the slightly nerdy but ultimately funny (and fun!) Relativity; and they’ve also created many awesome remixes of other popular artists, including remixing the tired and overplayed This Heart Attack by none other than Faker, which in my opinion is as good as the original, if not better. They’re supported by The E.L.F, who are busy doing lots of wierd things on their MySpace, and the first group I ever saw play live: Christopher Robin, whom are not the same you will find on MySpace. They’re a small two-piece electro pair who seem to occupy themselves more with drinking than playing music, but they’re oh so good at it! For a cost of $12 and a trip to the Valley, what more can you ask for? (at Rosie’s)

Second last on this by-no-means-ordered list, we have Canadian crackpots, haters of vowels and all-round funky dudes, MSTRKRFT. They’ve a few releases and a lot of remixes, and they’re all hella-sweet. Accompanied by Ajax and a few other DJs I’ve never heard of, we can catch them at The Arena on the 2nd of August for a cost of $35-$45 (plus booking fee).

Finally, we have two bands actually: PNAU and Operator Please; both huge on the Australian charts, with the former being a veteran of the dance scene and the latter barely out of highschool, you’ve no doubt heard tracks from both, with PNAU’s “Baby” featured on recent advertisements for milk, and Operator Please having many of their songs played on mainstream radio. We can indulge in their alternately funky and rocking sounds (quite a contrast) for only $44 (plus booking fee) at The Tivoli on the 7th of August.

So, if you’re interested in seeing any of these gigs with me, please let me know. Some of them have been on sale a while, and are due to sell out soon, so we need to get in quick! A comment, SMS, e-mail, phone call or face-to-face conversation are all good ways of engaging my attention.

If you want to find out more information about any of the gigs, you can check out the bands’ respective MySpace/websites, or you can visit the awesome Triple J gig guide, which helped me to compile this post.

It was fucking epic! Last night the gang and I went to The Met in the Valley to see one of my favourite artists, Muscles. It was every bit as awesome as I expected it to be; there wasn’t a moment that I didn’t enjoy!

Upon arrival, I grabbed myself a few bourbons and checked out the place. The Met was such an appropriate venue! Probably one of the best-themed clubs I’ve been in, they had so many different rooms and levels, it was an intricate maze of open-space dance floors and intimate, quiet areas for chilling. Couches and arm chairs could be found scattered almost randomly throughout the venue, and there were many bars, each with a different theme. The place has three or four levels, it’s immense!

The stage itself is modest, but the lighting setup is perfectly suited to the size of the space, and the stage is backed by a wall of widescreen LCDs, all linked together and displaying imagery to accompany the music.

The support act, The E.L.F warmed us up with some cute remixes of classic tunes, including Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys; but the best part was when he played “My People” — HOLY. FUCK. I absolutely fucking love this track, and to hear it played at The Met through the sound system there was simply epic.

After that, we warmed down a bit with a few more drinks and waited patiently for Muscles. He teased us a little by having his album symbol put up on the big screens while the interlude music went quiet — everyone started screaming and jumping, yet he wasn’t to show himself for another twenty minutes! Nevertheless, it caught most people off-guard when he did come out, which I think was his intention from the start.

Let me just say that if you haven’t heard anything by Muscles before, then I’d recommend checking out his MySpace. His songs seem to pop and fizzle and buzz with the energy and excitement of a childhood science experiment; if you let them, they completely envelop you in a sense of endless fun. It’s dance music with a twist. In an interview I read, Muscles said one of his influences is the techno-pop, energetic theme music he used to hear when playing his Super Nintendo as a child; games especially like Super Mario Bros whose musical accompanyments were designed to create an environment of surrealism. These kind of influences are evident in Muscles’ songs.

In addition, the lyrics to his songs are plain, obvious and easy to sing-along to: as opposed to the majority of dance tracks which are either too much techno, too much R&B, or too much of both, Muscles’ music and lyrics are not about head-banging or gang-banging, they’re about simple things like a love of ice-cream, having your friends over, and meeting people on public transport.

Listening to Muscles is a regular thing for me. I don’t get tired of the innocence and the energy in his songs. I did not stop jumping and throwing my fists into the air for the entire set. It was fucking awesome!

Netvibes at Wikipedia
C|Net review the big four


Remember the bad old days of early internet where the tech-savvy among us would create themselves a home page filled with links to their favourite sites? Well, over the last few years this concept has begun to gain some technical accreditation, and in doing so made itself available to the masses. I’m talking about services like iGoogle, and one I recently discovered, Netvibes.

While iGoogle comes with all the news and e-mail you could possibly ask for, it doesn’t have the same comprehensive database of information offered by the more aesthetically pleasing Netvibes service. Netvibes, I’ve so far found, is quite cool. It’s fully “Web 2.0″ and allows you to add pre-built or your own widgets to your home page, while also allowing full customisation in terms of tabbed content browsing, the ability to place items almost wherever you want, and to arrange them in whatever kind of order or categories you desire.

They boast 100,000+ pre-built widgets including monitoring of all major webmail services, news, personal sites, bidding, anything you can think of really. For any site that doesn’t already have its own widget, you can create your own using an RSS feed. I personally find the MySpace and eBay widgets quite useful; without having to go to either site in-full and login, I can just go to my netvibes private page and see everything I need to see.

That’s another interesting feature, supposedly designed for sharing and collaboration (and perhaps competition with the aforementioned MySpace et al); you have yourself a private page full of things you want to keep tabs on, but you also have a “my universe” page which is a publicly viewable version of your stuff. You can add friends, join groups and all that good stuff we’ve come to love from MySpace, Facebook and Beebo.

Whether or not the netvibes portal is going to serve me with any great useful purpose I’m yet to determine, but for now I can appreciate it as a cool toy, as I’m sure many other netizens will appreciate.

You can view my public page here. Happy vibes!

Hi all!

Hope you had a mad-as weekend. I know I did. The TripleJ Hottest 100 countdown was simply ecstatic this year, with some really great songs receiving their deserved position in the biggest music countdown of the year.

You can review the final 100 listing and re-listen to the event at the TripleJ website; I’m a little disappointed that Muscles, Midnight Juggernauts and PNAU didn’t receive more recognition, but there really isn’t a song in that list that I don’t like (except maybe that fucking Soko song …)

This year saw 53 of the top 100 songs from Australian artists, which I think is a fucking top effort. Good work Australia!

Today marks six months to the day that Carly and I had our first date.

To celebrate, on Saturday eve just passed, we had ourselves a casual dinner at Birches restaurant — located at Mt Mee, the scenery on the drive there was wonderful, the scenery there was wonderful; quaint, nostalgic though not too rustic — and the food was good to boot! We both had an excellent time; capping the evening off by watching Mulan, as part of our recent effort to relive childhood memories through classic Disney films. Not particularly romantic some might say, but what’s not romantic about snuggling up to each other and watching an all-time favourite movie that we both enjoy? After all, being romantic is about sharing each others company.

The day after, we were headed for the beach. Bribie Island surf side beach, to be exact. With my brother, Brett, his girlfriend Kate, Carly, and our mutual friend Annie and Jamie (and of course myself); in part it was because unfortunately Carly could not make it to next weekends friendly Christmas gathering, so we opted instead to have her open her from-friends prezzies a little early, likewise her gifts to Kate and Annie! Everyone was thoroughly delighted with their gifts, and we had ourselves a not-so-healthy deep fried fish & chip lunch to celebrate. Hey, that’s what we do in this country, alright?

After that, we headed down to the beach for a few hours, where we all mucked around kicking wahu balls, building sand walls to stop the inevitable tide, and running around madly acting like morons. It was great fun!

(I like how they automatically arranged themselves by height in this photo, haha)

Hi all,

Went out last night for Ash’s 23rd birthday celebrations, and I had a great time. Although many people couldn’t make it, due to prior commitments and in some cases sheer poofterism, Ash, Troy, Bruce and I still had a good time, with Bruces friends Tom and Josh, and Ashs’ friend Nas joining us later in the evening. First we hit up O’Malleys where Bruce and I had ourselves something to eat; the chicken burger I had was nice but I think they overdid the chilli sauce. I couldn’t taste anything but chilli. Bruce had a Guiness pie, though it looked more like soup than a pie, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

It’s here we also ran into the lead singer of Ponyloaf, who is a cool guy. If you recall, I saw them a few weeks ago at the Brisbane Powerhouse Museum, and they were just as awesome then as they had been when I first saw them support Midnight Juggernauts at the start of o-seven. On stage, he acts pretty fucked up. Jumping around, hitting himself in the head, falling over on purpose, that kind of thing. Brett reckoned he was on drugs, but apparently he just really gets into it all. Haha, sick.

We had to leave O’Malleys at 9 o’clock because Troy’s a fuckwit and wore shorts (grow a cell and evolve you phillistine), but we were able to hang out at the Pig’n'Whistle for the rest of the evening, having quite a few drinks and a good chat about which of us was gay, and which of us was gayer than that. Ah, drunksdedness. As a side note, the Pig’n'Whistle has a slogan along the lines of having a “genuine British pub” atmosphere, and perhaps it was coincedence, or perhaps they really do try hard with that, because all the bar staff had British accents. Haha.

Then Nas drove us all home as Troy and I sat in the back having hot gay man sex yelling at random passersby, simply ’cause we’re just that fucken tough.

It was a great night out and I hope Ash enjoyed himself, happy birthday mate!