Jezza’s Blog

Shika & I visited Adelaide for a day last Thursday. We managed to get tickets with Tiger for $10, and were definitely up for some time away. It was the first time we had flown with Tiger, and it wasn’t fantastic. The worst part is the fact that they use the outside terminal at Melbourne Airport which doesn’t have any shops or anything to do while you are waiting, and then to board the plane you have to walk 500m on the tarmac. We arrived in at Adelaide Airport at about 7.30am and caught a bus into the city. I was amazed by the lack of traffic at that time of the morning, it looked like Melbourne on a Sunday morning. We had a quick bite to eat then took a stroll up North Terrace and the Prince Henry Gardens to the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens were really pretty, especially the rose gardens and the Amazon Water Lily pond.

We then headed back into the CBD and visited the historical Ayres House, where we were taken for a tour. Ayres House was owned by a 19th century South Australian premier and had many interesting things to see. After the tour, we walked down Rundle Mall to the Sky City casino. Basically the old Adelaide Train Station has just been filled with pokie machines to create the casino, which is very disappointing when you compare it to Crown. After the casio it was time to have lunch, so we went down to Gouger St where we ate at a pleasant Thai restaurant. Just off Gouger St is the Adelaide Central Market, which I was very impressed with. It is really clean and neat, no rubbish to be seen anywhere, and it has a great selection of fruit shops, delis and flower shops. By this stage, it was getting a bit warm in the city, so we decided to take the tram down to Glenelg for the afternoon. I’d been told about the historical trams down to Glenelg, but they have all been replaced by the new low floor trams we have in Melbourne. Glenelg was really pretty, it was quite warm when we got there in the afternoon, so we just had a nap under the trees on the foreshore. After walking along the shore and around Jetty Rd and grabbing some ice cream, it was time to head to the bus stop to travel back to the airport.

All in all, Adelaide was very nice for a day, but I imagine we would get bored pretty quickly if we stayed for any longer. Check out our photos.

Went to Muse with Dave last night at Rod Laver Arena. Was the third time I’ve seen them, and I probably should have stopped at two as this show was pretty similar to their show earlier in the year at Festival Hall. Check out the photos from my crappy old Pentax here.

Was in Byron Bay last August for the 2007 Splendour in the Grass music festival. Have been too slack to write anything, but am procrastinating today so thought I’d update my blog. Was heaps of fun, besides the lots of waiting in lies (to get into carpark, into the festival, for drink tickets, for toilets, for getting out of the car park…).

The weekend started with a flight up to the Gold Coast, where we were picked up by my cus Trev. Thanks to Jetstar, we needed to go tent shopping as they lost our tent on the flight. On a positive note, the weather was absolutely fantastic, it was even good enough to go for a bit of a dip at Surfers Paradise.

We made our way down to our camping ground in Brunswick Heads just north of Byron Bay. Really pretty place on the shores of the Brunswick River, and much more relaxing than it would have been staying on site at the festival.

Later that day, Jetstar informed us that they had found our tent, so we didn’t bother to open the new one we bought, thinking we’ll return it at the end of the weekend. Well, Jetstar didn’t deliver the tent to us until about 9.30pm so we had to put the tent up in the dark (which was reminiscent of the last time we were up for the festival, but that time we had just finished a 24 hour non-stop drive).

Next day we were off to the show. First up were the Editors.

Hadn’t heard any of their stuff before, but they were pretty good all the same.

Next up were Ash.

They were OK live but not fantastic, with there best performance being “Oh Yeah”.

We saw a few songs by Paul Kelly in the GW McLennan Theatre while we were waiting Sarah Blasko

Not really the biggest fan, but other people seemed to enjoy it.

Grabbed some seats to watch the first half of Sarah Blasko

She was really good, funky dance moves and all. Was hanging out to see “Don’t Dream it’s Over” but she didn’t play it in the handful of songs we saw (not sure if she plays this, since its not really her song).

Had to dash back to the Big Top to catch the Kaiser Chiefs.

Started off with lots of energy from frontman Ricky Wilson and peaked when he climbed up one of the tent poles. After about 2/3 of the way through they seemed to lose their way a bit but it was still an awesome performance.

Last show for the day was Lily Allen who I was really looking forward to, and she delivered a solid show.

More photos here.

I was cleaning out my bag and I cam across this gem, it was the menu from McDonalds when we were on holidays in India a couple of years ago.

I can’t work out which is my favorite, the McAloo Tikki, Chicken McGrill, Chicken Maharajah Mac, or wait for it, the Shahi Paneer McCurry Pan I love it.

Been a long time since posting, but just downloaded some photos off my memory card and thought I’d upload them. We went to the the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra play at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. Click on the photo to see more.

Thanks to y’all for comin down to our Birthday Party last weekend. Hope everyone had a good time, we certainly did (from what I can remember…).

Also, thanks to everyone that went to the effort to dress up, in particular the Toilet Guy, who was given the award for best costume.

Here’s some photos taken by Dave, and some from Murph are here.

I went to see Ben Folds & the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Arts Centre a few weeks ago. It was a strange performance, didn’t think too much of the orchestras arrangements, especially considering how well I thought some of his songs would go with orchestral accompaniment. I think the main problem was that classical musicians just don’t like rock music and don’t enjoy playing along, and if they don’t enjoy it, it doesn’t come out well. Most disappointing was the fact that Army (that song that has sax and trombones in the middle) wasn’t played with the orchestra. It would’ve sounded fantastic. Anyways, think the best song probably would have been Stevens Last Night In Town since it was originally written to be played with a big band.

Check out some more photos.

Went to the Corner Hotel two Fridays ago to see the Sleepy Jackson who were promoting their new album “Personality (One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird)”. Dave and I rocked up at about 9, went to the bar and got a drink to find out that their set didn’t start till 11:30pm! I must be getting old, but I was a bit pissed off ‘cos I wanted to catch the train home.

Anyways, when they finally got onto stage they were awesome. Luke Steel looked and acted as strange as ever, with a new hairstyle that looked like his old one just with the sides chainsawed off. They played a great mix of old and new songs, unlike so many other bands who are obsessed with their new stuff. It was defiantly one of the best concerts I’ve been to lately, so I defiantly recommend seeing them live if you get the chance. Check out some more photos.

Everyone remembers the classic game Lemmings where you had to gide those cute little creatures to their home without getting them crushed, falling to their death or blowing up.

Wish you could play it again, well you’re in luck. I stumbled upon an online verison that you can play in your browser!!!!

Check it out: Lemmings!™

Been way too distracted with stuff today, anyways, if you are bored, here’s some stuff to pass the time.

A poor guy dropped his iPod into the toilet on a plane a couple of weeks ago, and it led to more trouble than you would think. Anyway, here’s the good part, his side of the story.

The next two are some vidoes, the first is a video made by IBM, written and acted by staff, about how they sell mainframes. I’m not really sure what was the point of making this video, but you should watch it ‘cos its funny.

The seconde (& much longer) is from the guy in the UK version of “The Office”, doing some training videos for Microsoft. In usual Office style, it’s pretty hard to watch, but still helarious.

Finally, this last one is an article about entrance exams taken by people joining the Police force in Victoria, which is supposed to test if you are a psychopath. Some of the funniest questions include:

• I am seldom very troubled by constipation.
• My hands & feet are usually warm enough.
• I would like to be a nurse.
• Dirt frightens or disgusts me.
• I am against giving money to beggars.
• And 562 more!!!!!

Anyways, enough wasting time…