Or so I found out this morning when sleeping in combined with forgetting my Biology research material and having to run back and get it meant that I missed my bus. I had to call Grimwolf and ask him for a lift, which he agreed to give me in exchange for breakfast. Thankfully I'd also found $20 between my mattress while looking for my keys. I must have stashed it away for booze ages ago and forgot about it, so I was able to buy him and Marcus Sausage McMuffins.

My good luck actually continued when I stepped into school and heard from Mr Mackey that I'd got a Distinction in my Australian Chemistry paper.
"I WHAAAAT?" was my response. Not only do I suck balls at Chem, but I'd also gone into that test trying to actually get everything wrong. No sh*t. It only proves how much I do suck though. I failed at failing. Oh well, I might be able to get $20 out of my Mum for it. To cap it off, I also got an Excellence on my English research project. Not a bad day.

Lucky Man (The Verve)

Geography last period was also pretty funny, as we all bailed on an assesment and instead started learning a new skill, Understanding Feminist Perspectives. As if that wasn't enough to start the stupidity of an all boys school rolling, all the perspectives were cliched feminist ones AND we had a bunch of juniors sent into our cla$$. From then, Doc gave up teaching (and if Doc gives up, it's gotta be a big deal) and just showed us pics of his holiday trek at Abel Tasman National Park as we continued to make women jokes. A few examples:

"Why did the woman cross the road?
More importantly, what the f*ck was she doing outside the kitchen?"- Brent

"Why do women have smaller feet than men?
So they can stand closer to the stove when they do the cooking."- Head Boy.

The worst part? I actually reckon they're funny. It proves how bad an idea all boys schools are. Anyone who didn't/doesn't go to one and who wants to rub it in can expect to have their weaknesses mercilessly made fun of by me.

Smack My B*tch Up (Prodigy) I hate doing it, but it's perfect for the situation.

Anyway, since Mark leaked my photo, I thought I'd show you a few others. Not all with me, but all disturbing.

Prefects Challenge-Netball

Pop a t*tty for the boys!

Head Boy in Blue and big Ox in Pink

Group Photo. I'm in this one with short hair (why are all of these taken just after I've had my hair cut?)

Siggy's T*ts I had to include this one.

Smaller Group Just us boys. I'm pretty obvious in this one.

I declare a Photoshop challenge. Do whatever you can to the boys. Hell, do what you like to me. But with those pics, I honestly don't know how much room there is for Photoshopping since they're so epic already.

Quote Of The Blog: "My face is leaving in a minute. Be on it." Grand General James (Field Marshal of the Purple Army)'s pick up line. We were coming up with them in the study room. The greatest part is he's the only one of us with a girlfriend, although she is a mutt.

Shadow.

Why? Well, firstly because no one's been guessing them recently (Dee last blog excepted, and if he didn't know it he's obviously a liar). Secondly, pretty much everyone else has jumped on the bandwagon. It started with Dee doing it for every blog, now pretty much everyone's doing it so I've decided it's time to stop. Thirdly, I've been doing it for almost a year now and it's time for a change.

Before I start on the blog though, my post-Grand Final sport-induced depression has been lifted after yesterday's Bathurst race, where Craig Lowndes made it three in a row and more importantly, Ford made it three in a row. Woot for the Blue Oval b*tches! As most of you (as usual, Elmis probably excepted) don't know what I'm talking about, V8 Supercars are our big touring car racing competiton, Ford and Holden are the only two makes, and Bathurst is our Daytona. It's the racing event. And while my interest in cars and racing has dimmed since my early teens when I was a huge nut, every second Sunday of ever October I can be found in my chair for eight hours straight watching the racing event. If you've played any of the Race Driver videogames, you have to do a stint in V8s if I'm not mistaken so you may have some idea what I mean. I've been to Bathurst on race weekend three times, most recently in 2007 when Craig won his second Bathurst title and his first in a Ford. I still think being on pit straight and watching the presentation was one of the great moments of my life. Especially when I saw all my Holden-bogan mates (everyone except me, Sharky and Jess) looking all downcast.

Volvo Driving Soccer Mom (Everclear) It's got a mention of a car make (that too, one owned by Ford) in the title, and it also might make more sense for the rest of my blog.

Other than Bathurst, the past day or two have been the proverbial snowball. It started Friday night, when I found out that my step-dad was taking a seven-week job in Brisbane that he'd been mulling over for a while and which he left for today. Then I also found out that not only will he be away for almost this whole term, but Mum also has a job in Sydney, so she's taking my grandma and my little sister over with her in three weeks, and between then and the end of my exams, unless they can convince my grandpa to come stay and his health is OK, I'm gonna be alone. It wasn't exactly easy for them to trust me, especially since my record isn't exemplary when it comes to not having parties and razing the house while they're gone and that's only what they know. They don't know about the one I had earlier in the year and thank God they don't know what happened at Dad's. Anyway, I'm under a strict rule that I can't invite anyone over, and I just know the neighbours will be watching so no parties. I'll be sh*t busy studying for exams anyway. My step-dad also quit his job here, as the powers that be here basically have been treating him like sh*t (he got refused a promotion that was his and he's been stuck with way more on-call nights than anyone) and he can make almost as much doing short-term jobs in Oz, especially since there are a few places he frequents and he knows the people etc.

As for me, I'm moving out next year whatever happens, so frankly I don't know what it means to me. I've basically narrowed my university hunt to two. Even though I applied to four (University of Sydney, University of Queensland, University of NSW and Australian National University) I'm basically going to focus on getting into Sydney, with ANU as a backup because they got the least requirements, although I'm not gonna say no if one of the others is the only one to accept me. With Mum with a full time job, stepdad all over the place and Dad planning to move himself (he says he's sick of the rat race of working in Sydney and wants to move up to the North Coast somewhere) I'm just hoping I can abandon the sinking ship that is my family sooner and get on with my life.

Barracuda (Heart) I chose this because I recently heard that the Jesus Lady wanted to use it as her theme song (wouldn't this make more sense?). Plus, McCain's hurt himself further in my eyes by using My Hero at his rallies without permission. Dave got pissed, and rightly so. If it wasn't for the fact Obama is exactly the type of politican I hate (gutless and slimy) and he gives me the creeps, I'd tell my cousin to vote for him. As it stands, my advice (sleep in, or if you get dragged to the polls flip a coin between Ralph Nader or the Libertarians) stands.

As far as I'm concerned, the current economic crisis is further proof of how the US Government has failed us. Not just Americans, but the world. And not just Bush, but Papa Bush, Reagan and even Clinton are all partly to blame. Bascially, this Bush in particular got the one basic rule of tax cuts wrong. If you're gonna cut taxes, you cut taxes for the middle and lower classes because they will spend it and put it back in the government's coffers through whatever taxes. You don't cut taxes for rich people, cause they'll just stick it in Swiss banks. Obviously Bush wanted to please his rich buddies, but then agan, so did Reagan and his daddy. Clinton, on the other hand, had his tax priorities straight, but he wasn't helped by Alan Greenspan's refusal to control borrowing by interest rates.

And the craziest part of all, for me, has to be the f*cking sub-prime mortgages. Maybe I'm a noob, but I always thought the rule of mortgages was; you want to borrow X amount of money, fine, but first you gotta pay Y amount of deposit and then continue to pay back the mortgage with Z amount of interest. Lending mortgages without deposits to people with bad credit...it doesn't take a genius with a PhD in economics to figure out that that's going to the sh*ts. That's why I have very little sympathy for everyone who's mortgages foreclosed because of this crisis. They got themselves into this situation by their own stupidity and greed, so they shouldn't expect those people who had the sense to stay out of it to bail them out. And that's why if I was an American citizen (which I'm eternally grateful I'm not) I'd be insanely pissed about the bailout plan. Because in essence, it's hardworking taxpayer money going to bailout foolish homeowners and rich bankers. You can paint whatever pretty picture you want over it, that's how it is. So f*cking what if the economy crashes? Maybe it's time the world balance of power shifted. As it is we all know it's gonna happen soon, probably in most of our lifetimes, to Asia and particularly China and India.

Maybe it is my blood talking, but in the future (don't ask me for a timeframe) I actually think India will become even more powerful than China. How? Simple. India's economic boom has been based around technology, particularly IT industries. China's has been based on cheap labour. However, you can't keep paying people five cents a day and expect them to live and be happy. Eventually, as they see the rich Chinese get richer and tnd they get poorer, unrest will happen.

Oh well. My two cents. We've also got an election in NZ, but since I'll be gone about a month after it happens even if we have a change of government it doesn't bother me. As it stands we got a choice between a tired Government led by a creepy she-male, or an Opposition with a super-slick leader and with a far right hidden agenda. At least we have MMP. For the Americans who have had the two-party system drummed into them since they were in diapers, MMP is a system where if a party gets more than 5% of the party vote, they get MPs in Parliament. While it allows for a more even spread of ideologies and opinions in Parliament, it does occasionally mean the two big parties (Labour and National) have to offer carrots to the small parties so that they can form coalition governments with them. In turn, the small parties want their pet policies pushed through, or Cabinet posts. This hasn't turned out well for us this time, as our Foreign Minister's party got tangled up in a donation scandal. Winnie boy's an idiot anyway; his main policies can be summed up as "keep the slanty eyed ba$tards out, execute shoplifters and give the old people money." Basically redneck populism. I hate him. And he hails from Northland and went to my school. Not a great advert for Whangarei Boys High. I hate all boys schools too. They f*ck with your brain. I know my sexuality has nothing to do with my school, but I'll be surprised if it wasn'e exacerbated by having Matt Keay shove his sweaty balls in my face in the PE changing room in year 10. Long story.

Siva (Smashing Pumpkins) Shiva being one of the three main Hindu gods I felt it appropriate to use this song since I've been talking about India. It also leads into my next segment.

Also yesterday was a Hindu prayer day, which my mum observed. My stepdad has essentially converted to Hinduism (he was never very religious before anyway) so he took part also (he looked even stupider than Dad when he was wearing a loincloth) but I refused to take part in the rituals (although when we all gathered to pray I came too), which caused some agrument amongst me and Mum. It happens every time.
As you all know, I'm not religious. Basically I can't bring myself to believe something I haven't seen with my own two eyes and I can't prove to be true. I do make a point of observing some customs of Hinduism (I've never eaten beef even when I did eat meat, for example) and I always visit temples when I'm in India, but that's more because I'm proud of my Indian heritage and I want to uphold at least some traditions, even though I'm a fourth-generation immigrant. My great-great grandfather's ship was supposed to be sailing to Fiji to join all the other immigrant Indians there, but their captain wasn't much of a navigator and they wound up on Cape York, where they met the Aboriginals who kind of took them in because they were also blackfella. There was some intermixing, which is why I'm pretty sure I have some Aboriginal ancestors. Dad's never been able to prove it, buthe reckons it's also possible, especially because (even considering the fact it's known Indians and Aboriginals are very closely related) I look pretty Abo, as do my great-uncle and my uncle. My family in Oz is pretty small (just a couple of aunts and uncles) but around the world (particularly in India and the States) it's massive. Of course, most of them aren't from our side, but since my grandpa returned to India about 30 years ago he kind of became the family patriarch. Dad also did a lot of his schooling there, which is why he still has hints of an accent and he makes a sh*tload of malapropisms.

I Don't Care (Fall Out Boy) HP would love this choice, but when I heard it for the first time I was actually shocked. It's, dare I say it, a good song. IMO Fall Out Boy haven't done a good song since their first EP, which was pretty cool until Petey Boy took over lyrical duties and turned them into a whiny pop band. This song, however...it has all the bits about FOB that have always been good (Patrick has one of the coolest voices in music today, and his quivering delivery in the bridge is probably the best I've ever heard him, Joe has some good guitar work and Andy's drumming is solid as always) and Petey actually shows a sense of humour with the lyrics, something I never knew he posessed. I might actually buy the album when it comes out.

Anyway, that's my family history. Why am I telling you that? I don't know. I do know, however, that after this week I won't be blogging for a long time, because since we're gonna be moving Mum's cutting most of the subscriptions, starting with broadband and the second TV cable deal (she's keeping it for the LCD screen downstairs, but the old TV upstairs is losing it). So while I may check in on yor blogs at school from time to time, after Sunday I probably won't blog much (if at all). It's not really a bad thing though, as it'll keep me focused on my studies for these f*cking vital exams. I should return in December or at least the New Year once I move across the Tasman. By then I'll also have my new amp (if I can afford to pay my share, a Rivera Pubster 25, if not a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 401) and maybe even a band in the works, who knows? Anyway right now I'm just taking each day as it comes. Study, sleep, go back to school (Spring Break ended yesterday and we're back today), come home. No need to panic yet, exams are still more than a month away and I have some kind of revision programme settled. I'm gonna be fine.

Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots). I remember at the end of last year's exams me, Grimwolf and Arnold (when we were still mates) cruised around town in the Mondeo, me drinking tequila in the back and singing this song until Grimwolf let Arnold drive so he could drink. We were about to start on the weed when the cops pulled us over. Even though they knew we were drunk, they just breath-tested Arnold and when he was sober, they told us "we're guessing you're not 18, but since you have a sober driver and it's the end of exams we'll ignore it. Just don't do anything stupid." Two hours later, I arrived home, drunk and without pants. Thank God Mum was away.

Thought Of The Blog: "You + 11 year old girl + Penis touching = Win." Some Asian guy in the Pit at Ulitmate Guitar when I told them about my stalker. His advice to me when I said I only trust Asians on mathematical matters.

Shadow.

...The Fun Was Never Ending. Dee or Al will know this one for sure and even if they don't show up I'll probably give it away through the blog. I'm surprised that neither of you got Down (STP) though.

It seems that no one wanted to comment on the Furry Minority Hour. That's OK, it was just a stoner convo. I've been dealing with bigger issues the past day or two, as I finally unpacked the last of Sharky's stuff and junked the boxes. Basically it all piled up, so I had to decide what to do with everything. I kept most of his CDs (even the ones I already had) and decided my sister and her mates could take my copies. I decided to send the stuff that was a record of his life (e.g. his old football jerseys, his trophies etc) back to his dad cause I got no use for them. I did keep one of his old jerseys though (the QLD U14 reps jersey), cause it's about my size and I thought it may as well go to some use. It just shows how much of a titch I really am, especially since Sharky wasn't exactly a monster truck either (I think he was 5"10' and 75kg when he died). It was often a joke amongst his family, cause his dad is a monster truck. I'm not sure exactly how big (I think he's about 6"4' and easily over 100kg), but I know he got into college on a football scholarship and (according to Mr S himself, so I don't know how true) may have made the pros if he hadn't done his back in his junior year and had to focus on academics.

I then got onto all his other junk. There's too much here to list it all, but some of the more interesting stuff included his pearl handle bottle opener, the SuicideGirls playing cards (I got him those), his pick collection (Sharky collected about 100 different guitar picks, but he only ever used .71mm Jim Dunlops), his bear suit (well it was ours, but he kept it). One day we invested in a bear suit and thought it'd be funny to walk through Cairns with a bear suit on. We got a lot of wierd looks and a couple of cops asked us what we were doing.
"We're two guys wearing a bear suit. Not a crime, is it now?" We got away.

Since I'm into Sharky anecdotes, let me share with you one that happened before TJ wrote off his old GT coupe. We were driving out to Jess' place, and Sharky wanted the back seat to themselves so he let me drive. I actually saw Ricky's car (nerds should not drive old bogan Commodores. In fact, no one should ever drive a Holden cause they're the spawn of vehicle Satan) and he'd stuck an old cop car siren and lights on it so it'd look like an old sheriff's hot rod. With these two going at it like dogs in heat at the back (they weren't f*cking but looked like they would any minute, plus they were both in various states of nudity), I saw a chance for a set up. I texted him and asked him if he'd be keen on it. He agreed, so for effect I sped up a bit and then he hit the siren andstarted following me.
"Shadow are those the cops?"
"Yeah. Oh sh*T if they catch me I'm f*cked (I didn't have a licence, but city cops didn't care)."
"Pull over dude."
"Sure." I pulled over immediately and Joe and Ricky came around with cameras and took of them naked. Sharky said he was gonna kill them, but they got away. He told me to go after them, but I mysteriously forgot how to start a manual. The did end up deleting the photos in return for Sharky's copy of We Love Katamari though.

Oh well. Like I said, it's more than a year and I've pretty much figured out that the 5 steps of giref are bullsh*t. I was never in denial cause I knew it had to be done, I did and do feel anger at everyone, particularly the motherf*cker who killed him. I was a character witness at his trial, and while his lawyer felt like it was necessary to point out that both of us had done stupid stuff (Sharky had one disturbing the peace and one public drunkenness charge, I had the same plus a couple of drug charges, but no felonies, just stupid teenage boy stuff and neither of us had ever been penalised with more than a fine and in my case, community service) it didn't matter. He wasn't convicted of murder, but he got manslaughter and drink driving so he got 50 years with parole in 20. Mr S and Karen met him, but Jay and Alex didn't want to. I also got invited, but I said no f*cking way. I'd just as soon slit his throat before hear about how his mother beating him as a kid drove him to drive drunk. Newsflash buddy; my mum and dad both beat me as a kid. I drink a lot and do drugs, but I've never driven under the influence of anything and I never f*cking will.
So as you can see, I've never really moved past anger and depression. I have accepted it, but only on the surface. My psychologist tells me that on a deeper level, I haven't accepted it at all. I asked him how much I'd have to pay for that BS advice.

That was a deep blog. Time to chill out and I got just the things. All pretty short clips.

Pulp Sport- Urban Blocking Ignore the American Idiot and just LOL at the clip.

Pulp Sport- Asian Drivers If you can't LOL at this, you can't LOL at all. End of story.

If this can't make you smile, well then you're obviously a 13 year old Fall Out Boy fan.

Another legendary song to sing along to.

Thought Of The Blog: "I'm on a highway to hell, highway to hell." If you don't know where this comes from, please go cut off all your appendages with a rusty knife. Better yet, I'll do it.

Shadow.