I miss the cold weather?!?!

It's true. Today as I was listening to The Eye of the World (a fantasy series I know, but I'd thought I'd give it a try and see if I mind the genre) and it was describing the fall season; where you would have to put on a sweater to head out. Say 4 degrees. And as I was listening to it, it suddenly struck me that I missed that weather. The late fall, where the ground is cold and the morning frost takes awhile to dissipate. For the moment I pictured myself throwing on pants and a sweater, and walking the path near my house, taking a seat on the large rock in our backyard and feeling its cold slowly seep through. I'd sit and ponder the impending winter and review over the summer; look forward to the winter games whilst missing the summer ones.

It was a strange feeling. It lasted longer than I thought it would. I even turned off my book so that I could focus my entire mind on the memories and images. I could feel the cold. And then it was gone. I sighed, and knew that every time that weather comes around I like it at first, but after a few days I wish to be right where I am now, where it's 20+. So there that was.

Then, tonight back at my apartment, a couple of my roommates were talking about how they had never seen snow and the feeling came back again. My roommates are from Brazil, and India and where they lived it only got down to about 5 degrees at most. I copied some pictures and videos of me snowboarding to show them what it's like. They were impressed. I tried to imagine what it would be like not ever seeing snow; not ever feeling a winter that cold, and I was glad that I have. We are lucky to get 4 full seasons in Canada and to reach both temperature extremes I decided. That feeling passed again, and I moved on.

It was a fun flashback, but I'll have to wait until this October when I'm back home to feel it for real again.

Anyways, I'm off to sleep now. Hope all is well with all.

Signed,

Late Fall

My new camera, it's kickass...

Look at my new toy :)

It's a Kodak Z1012 camera. I got it because I was not happy with my other camera and I wanted something with more optical zoom. This one has 12X optical zoom, and its 10Mp! I took it out for a little shooting session this afternoon, and it's great! I love not having to get super close to get the shot I want. I cannot afford a dSLR right now, nor do I want to haul one along with me and several lenses when I start my adventures, so this is an excellent choice. It was only $250 Aus and came with a $25 bonus for accessories so a case for it, and a 2G SD card was $279. I bought this from Ted's, a camera specality store chain in Sydney.

So, you must be wondering, what does 12X zoom look like? Here I'll show ya.

The shot from my balcony.

Then zoomed in you can see the bird on the fountain.

This.

Becomes this.

A tree in the park, looking un-suspicious.

Reveals a little buddy hiding within it.

Takes great shots of flowers.

And as I was writing this post, some fireworks went off so I rushed to go and test out the fireworks mode. After a bit of tinkering I figured out how to use it and got these shots all the way from my balcony.

So yeah, I am quite looking forward to using this camera for my travelling pictures. And you can look forward to some awesome shots :)

Andrew *click Meades

Happy 19th Birthday Peter!!!

Peter,

it's your 19th birthday. From what I heard everyone wrote you a poem (because he likes to write them for us on our birthdays) so I thought I would too:

Pete's legality
Drunkenness a certainty
Stuff for poems next year :)


For the uninformed it's a Haiku. They are traditionally about nature or seasons, but this one isn't. Well, I guess you could say that this one is about the nature of Peter har harrr. Anyways, I did just want to wish you a happy birthday and we'll have to go and have a beer at the bar when I get back. Wow, that is going to be weird.

On a side note, I'm going to go and buy a camera tomorrow.

We'll talk soon

a N D R E W M E A D E s

Holy crap I am out of shape...

Seriously, I went for a 15 minute run today and couldn't believe how exhausted I was when I returned. It was pathetic. I do not think I have ever been this out of shape in my entire life. I guess I always had hockey at least once every couple weeks just as some form of exercise. But I have let myself go here, badly. I haven't really gained any weight, it is just that all the muscle that I had before I came here to Oz has transformed into fat. This is it though, too much eating poorly, too much fast food has led to this, but I am going to stop it. Right here, right now. I am going to put up a new link at the top called Exercise, and there I will list any exercise I get during the week. Hopefully this will encourage me to work out in some way so that I can add things to that list. And you, as a follower, if you see that my list is slacking and is in need of new entries please feel free to post your concerns.

Anyways, other than that, I am off to an IEP event tonight at World Bar in Kings Cross. One of the staff members is leaving so they are throwing her a part A. I shall be in attendance, but will be taking it easy as I have to work a full day tomorrow.

Also, I added a new widget called 43 Things. It is a to do list that you share with other people, and if you need encouragement on getting something done you can read the responses of others. I just stumbled upon it while looking for new books to listen to and thought I would try it out. I am considering beginning to listen to The Wheel of Time huge fantasy series. I will probably listen to the first book and see how it goes.

I believe that is all for now. You guys keep fighting the good fight and I'll keep being myself.

Ciao for now

Andyroo

Videos from the Zoo

Here is the playlist of videos I took from the zoo yesterday. I laughed at myself a few times, I am not going to lie. The last video is the best. I'm retarded sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way :) My guess is that it's due to my awesomeness. Mhmm.




Aside.
I need to learn how to cook. Really. I failed at making a sauce for noodles tonight. Refused to let the sauce simmer long enough because I was hungry, ended up too watery, tasted like crap. I also made too many noodles and peas but forced myself to eat it all. It is such a simple meal to make and yet I failed. Sigh. Next time I'll get it...I'm sure of this...


Andrew;Meades

A day at Taronga Zoo

Hey,

I finally got out to Taronga Zoo today with Damien. We walked around and took a bunch of pictures. You can find them here. I took some videos too which I will upload tomorrow as I am burnt out now and want to get some rest for work tomorrow :(



Talk to you in a bit

andrew sleep now

Been workin, saw Watchmen...

Hey all,

Just a quick post here to let you know I'm still alive and well. I've not been up to much other than working the last few days. I did go out Thursday night to an IEP event at Glendale Hotel, which has an awesome rooftop view of the harbour. It's view was partially blocked by a cruise ship though which sucked, but what can you do. The event was fun, we just chilled up there, met new people while having a few drinks and some food.

But guess what. At the event, I experienced another confirmation that the world is a small place. Mark, one of the people I met there, is Canadian as well. I asked him what part of Canada and he said he was from Toronto. 'Oh I'm from Toronto too, whereabouts?' And he said he lived in Markham... 'Uhh me too, wow.' Turns out he lives just off of Fincham. For everyone not from Markham, he lives about a minute away from where I do. Back home. And we meet here in Oz. What are the chances? Crazy.

Just as an aside, they apparently have changed the figures from the ride "It's a small world" to Disney characters and not generic ethnic ones. Now you know...


Damien and I were supposed to go to do wine tasting and a tour of Hunter Valley on Monday, but that has been cancelled so we are going to head to the Zoo instead. I'll post some pictures from that for ya's soon enough.

I went and saw the movie Watchmen tonight at George St. Cinemas. It was a movie. I was excited about seeing it since it's the same guy who did 300 and I liked 300. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I had read some of the comics it was based on, because otherwise it just comes off as a strange movie.

Anyways, I'm tired and heading to bed. My brain is long burnt out for the day.

Peace
Eh.

Birthday dinner and my snorkelling beach trip

Hey hey hey

Here are some pictures of the steak and cake I ate for my birthday. It was good. So good I took pictures to remember it. I actually ate the mushrooms on the steak too albeit I've never been a fungi fan.



I have been longing for a beach day for awhile and was excited that when I woke up it was sunny. The forecast called for afternoon showers (its being fulfilled as I type) so I hustled my ass to Coogee. I had to choose between going surfing, or trying snorkelling, and I choose the ladder. I used Mike's snorkel but needed a mask, and being Sunday it was hard to find a shop with one open, so I grabbed the first pair of swimming goggles I could find. They were blue. I didn't think at the time that would matter, and for 10 bucks I just grabbed them so I could spend as much time at the beach before it started raining.

The goggles worked fine, clear and everything. I saw lots of fish; some really thin that looked like sticks, others striped, and others camouflaged to look like the ocean floor. It was just every time I took the goggles off did I realize that everything I was seeing had a blue bias to it. Worked well for today, but I think I'll take em back for a clear pair. I wished my camera would work underwater because there were lots of pictures I wanted to take. I'm seriously going to look into getting a better one before I start travelling. Nothing too expensive, just an update from the 5 year old one I have now. That way I won't have to sacrifice the picture I want to take, for a picture I am able to take.


Check out the facebook album of interesting things I saw while I transversed the rocks below the cliff-face. Meow. Oh yeah and these videos. Don't be scared of the one where I am right on the edge of the cliff Mum, I swear it wasn't as dangerous as it looks...*shifty eyes*

Actually, I'll just embed it. If you want to see the annotations I put on video 7 use this link instead.



Annnnndrew

Happy 22nd birthday to me!!!

Hey,

I would just like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and the gifts I have received. Seriously, thank you. Albeit that I denied that it really mattered that it was my birthday today, it made me happy to know that you all care. Made today easier :)

I am not going lie, it is a strange feeling; to be here having to look for people to celebrate with on your birthday. My close friends are either travelling or are working, so tonight I will head out by my lonesome. Stop, before you start to feel sorry though. I might be heading out by my lonesome, but I will not be lonely. I am looking at tonight as a challenge of sorts; a test to see how easily I can now meet others. I have come a long way from the anxious traveller who left 3 and a half months ago. A long way indeed. I have grown, learnt more and more about myself; gained some answers to the existential questions about who I am and what I want from life. Answers that I left in search for. And tonight I will be celebrating, not only the beginning of my 22 year, but also, to the continuation of becoming the person I want to be.


Hmm, that got a little deep there hehe. I am hungry now, so I will go and grab a birthday steak, and then needless to say, head out and party!!!

Cheers,

Andrew, the birthday boy, Meades ;)

Opera House tour and Random picz

Hey hey hey. Just got back from my tour of the Opera house. It was informative and quite an interesting building to say the least. Check out the pictures! We were not allowed to take pictures of the 2 main theaters but I tried to do it anyways hehe. It took 16 years and 107 million to finish the building; it was estimated at 3 years and 7 million FYI, so they were just a tad off the estimate. It's well worth it now, but while it was being built the government fired the architect in a way and he never came back to Oz to see his finished building. It would be worthwhile to go and see a performance there one day. Thank you Jeff for the chance to check out this one of a kind building :) Maybe I'll take you to a concert there one day.

But yeah, afterwards I felt in the picture taking mood so I took some random ones as I was walking home. Here are some of my favourites:

Yay! I finally got a rollover image to work!!!

I went on a picture spree of stickers I saw on poles. Yup.

I like this one for some reason.

The fadedness of the graffiti adds to the picture me thinks.

But anyways here are the two different albums.

Opera House Tour
The walk home from the opera house tour - Random + graffiti pics

You've been a great audience,

ANDREW M

Check out Thru-You

I found this on reddit today and thought it was interesting enough to share with you. A guy remixed youtube videos to make some awesome tracks. Check out these vids and if you like then head to his site. Also, I GOT MY PACKAGE!!! I'll wait until my birthday to open everything though :)


Damn that is funky. I love it.



The talk box makes a very cool sound.

I found some videos from the Blue Mountains I forgot to upload so I will do that tomorrow. Peace for now.

The wall of death, and a golden orb

Just some videos I had forgotten to post.

The first is of the wall of death Mike and I saw while at the Anberlin show at UNSW. We have VIP access so I was able to film from up on the balcony. It would have been fun to join in though :)




The second is of a HUGE spider I almost walked into after the show was over and we were touring the university. I did not consider the fact that bigger spiders here in Australia means much bigger webs. This one spanned the meter and a half walkway! Anyway, it gave me quite a jolt and I am glad that I took this video to remind me of that. You can find out more info in the Youtube description and here.

Here is a picture I took of him for a bit better perspective.

Well, enjoy for now. I am off to bed early so I can have an early start to my day tomorrow :)

N.Drew

Recovering from a wild night...

Mardi Gras was crazy. I have never seen a parade that big, or that many people on and about the streets after. I invited some friends to my apartment which is right in front of where the parade passes. We had some drinks and partied, then headed down to a friends flat on the first floor to get a better view. The ledge right in front we were not allowed to go on as it is not a real balcony, at least that is what the building manager and the police kept telling us. We didn't care though, they were just being overly cautious. We kept sneaking out until they gave up on telling us to get off hehe.

Here are some of the pictures I took that turned out.

Here is a link to a playlist of the videos I took. I put them in order for ya :)

It was an experience I am glad that I had and one that I will remember for awhile.

A.Meades

Botanical Garden Photos

Hey here is the link to check out the pictures I took of the botanical gardens in Sydney. I left intending on going for a jog and ended up taking pictures for 2 hours. I just flicked on macro mode on my camera and went to town. My camera is fairly old now so the pictures are not the best but I made due. I wonder what it would be like to own a real camera with a proper macro lens, but that is a story for another day.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284427&id=120809150&l=68d04

As for my meeting it went well. We ended up talking for 3 hours before I had to go. I impressed her enough I was offered a job by her but am still not really sure what it is exactly. She recommended some books for me to read, and we meet again this Friday. I will get and post some more details for you then.

eh aitch emm

Meeting...

I am just off to work right now, I will post an update when I get back. I am alive and well though.