Say Something...

...And if you know the rest of that line you're clearly living in the past like me. Who needs Timbaland when you have the majesty of Hall & Oates?

Hmm let's try and start that again...

Hello one and all, and welcome back to Say Something for another calendar year. I'd have something prepared for the coming financial year but a hundred accountant jokes really leaves little to the imagination. It's great to be back after the break but a week at work really makes you forget you had been on holiday at all and on Thursday I was telling myself I needed a holiday. The coffee shop down the street is still closed for the next week or so which is bizzare given that no one is capable of living without one during the workday so I had to grab one at the Coffee HQ at Flinders. I tried the large version which costs $4.20 and is big enough to drown yourself in. They do make a fine gallon of caffeine though, I'll give them that much.

Over the new year's I flew up to Brisbane for a couple of days with a friend from high school. When he asked me about a month and a half before, I wasn't really doing anything and being away for a while was a really good idea, so I happily agreed. I usually cop a bit of flak for having anything to do with him in general because he can get on people's nerves somewhat. Those who know how I'm on about are free to ask me in person then keep their mouths shut if they so wish. These days my general inclination is to just downright lie and say I'm with someone else. At this point you're probably wondering why I'm typing all of this, especially when anyone can read and report it but I figured this is a great chance to see if it will indeed get back to him.

The real purpose of this post today is to just show you lots of silly photos from the trip. Explaining and describing everything would take too long and could be lengthy enough to fill several Year 9 standard B+ grade essays riddled with a combination of British English, American English and whatever it is Canadians speak, eh? Instead you have the leisure of experiencing my joy in photo form. If a photo tells a thousand words, this would merely result in me handing in extra essays before being marked down for writing over twelve pages double sided.


The scene up in 'sunny' Brisbane was really set when we got off the plane. Light drizzle greeted us as we set off onto the tarmac and at first I found it real odd when everyone there was in yellow raincoats and not the thongs and cheap Hawaiian shirts I was expecting. Clearly I've been watching the wrong shows. Getting to the city was surprisingly quick, as Brisbane is a fairly small town but is also a real treat to visit. It's kinda busy but not that busy, it resembles parts of Melbourne well enough with its gridded streets but has a bit of Sydney with its greater integration with the riverfront.



'We would like to welcome you on board Virgin Blue and hope you enjoy your flight. My name is (insert name here) and I'd like to introduce you to your ridiculously good looking cabin crew today...'

Having inspected the crew myself while boarding I was really in no position to argue. It may be a statement of fact but there's really no need to rub it in our faces, and even if they could they would do so by wearing a very thick glove to prevent us fuglies from contaminating their flawless qualities.

I'm not sure why, but I never seem to get tired of flying. I've done it tens of times (count them, TENS!!) before but looking out the window flying above the clouds always does it for me, fluffy innocent looking clouds raining death and destruction upon the flooded.... no, don't go there!

Waiting in my super economised seat I had the suspicion I was on the cheaparse flight from hell when Maroon 5 started blaring away on the PA system. Knowing that I couldn't switch on my iPod due to the off chance that Hall & Oates could be partially responsible for the demise of us and the other 200 cheapskates on board I decided to grunt my way through the audible torture much like how the prisoners at Abu Graib have to sit through a playlist made of Metallica, Sesame Street and James Blunt. The last one is made up, but I had you for a second there, didn't I?

Incidentally Blunt was next on the cabin PA. To the emergency hatch we go!



Here I am on a ferry. This may seem somewhat unremarkable to most, and may even come across as arrogant. What is this guy thinking, as if catching public transport is worth bragging about?! Stuff this, I'm off to watch Two And A Half Men! Well that's where you're wrong my friend, as it may surprise and shock you when I tell you I was on a decent public transport system.

That's right, just soak that statement in for a second.

Coming from a place like Melbourne where us plebs are taken for granted, going to a place like Brisbane where things actually run on time is quite nice. They even had dedicated bus lanes and tunnels so that no idiot drivers can possibly get in the way with their talkback radio show fuelled aggression. It really felt like we were 2nd class citizens, a nice change from the 4th class cattle we're used to back home. Come on, it's not even a premium kind of beef.




Evoking my college humour avatar, I ran into what appeared to be the roots of something real sinister. Having encountered an ANL House back on St Kilda Road, I thought it was just an isolated incident of an unfortunately named company. How wrong was I. From this evidence it seems clear that this is not just a case of an ANL company in an ANL building. No, this suggests there is an ANL empire, an ANL multinational running (or rather walking rather awkwardly) company spanning the seven seas! How very sinister and uncomfortable. Or it could be a society of really pedantic unlikable people. I'm sure they'd be too happy being amongst their own kind to even notice.



At some point during proceedings we went sightseeing (or at least tried when it wasn't pelting down) along the river, alighting and boarding as we saw fit. Eventually we got off at the end of the line at the University of Queensland where it was like a deserted town except there were no town drunk cadavers or abandoned whore houses to visit. Anywho, along the way we the saw the poster above. Now if you're not that familiar with this proud 'publication' you should probably refer to this. Otherwise, all I have to say is that even Queenslanders have heard of it. Why haven't you? Argh, if only I had been allowed to do gestures...



Upon returning to Melbourne I only had the night to rest before setting off on the road again, this time with the family down the Mornington Peninsula for some sun and air conditioned accommodation. As long as you're inside, you're more than free to enjoy the bay views and sun, that's how I see it. We were off to some spot named Cape Schank where I had eventually come to refer to it as Cape Schnaky-Schnaky-Schnakiieee after that annoying ringtone. I had a pretty good idea of where we were going and which general direction we'd be heading but nothing really prepares you when you wake up from a 15 minute back seat passenger power nap to discover you're suddenly in Frankston.

I found this odd looking sign at the resort at the entry to some function room. I keep staring at it and none of it makes any sense. Fanning could be some sort of person, but unless I'm mistaken there can only be one Bowie and he wouldn't be likely to accept an invitation to perform with Bernard Fanning in some coastal resort down in Victoria. Something tells me that if I bothered doing some research and checking my facts that would be some sort of mechanical services room, but I choose to think I could open that door and enter a fantasy world where David Bowie and Bernard Fanning can sing beautiful duets together... Ziggy Stardust wishes you well. If only I had audio input here... I do a mean Bowie singing the chorus to Wish You Well (I like to think it's a good impression).


Well that's all the photos I can upload for now. Hopefully that was more exciting than your idiot uncle talking you through his holiday pics taken on his trip to the SPC factory. Speaking of which, I must ask Keyur how that went. He says he didn't go there willingly but I'm not so sure...