Assertiveness > Politeness

This afternoon I had my neighbour, Nija, over to help her connect her mac to my wireless internet. It didn't take as long as expected, and the sun was shining so we decided to walk over to the pub for a beer (I had a diet coke). We were enjoying a chat and then my other neighbour, Sean, walked past.

I initially met Sean at the Oxford Hotel, he was working and he asked me if my name was Tim and if I lived at (my current address). I asked him how the fuck he knew and he said he lived next door to me and his housemate pointed me out to him as I walked past. It was kind of creepy

We finished our drinks and all walked back to our building together, then said our goodbyes.

Moments later he buzzed me and asked if he could hang out for a bit (for some retarded reason he and his housemate only have one security key). His housemate had gone walkabout and he couldn't get in touch with her.

I stupidly said yes. He came in with a shitload of beer and asked me if I'd like some. I replied, "no thanks, I'm not drinking".

"Why?"

"Several reasons"

And then the standard Australian response, "Are you sure you don't want some?"

We stood out on the balcony for a bit and made small talk while he smoked cigarettes and drank beer.

His phone bleeped and after checking it he informed me that his housemate was off somewhere scoring pot and would be an hour.

Sure he can hang out. "I guess it's only an hour", I thought.

I really wasn't in the mood to entertain so I kept whacking Simpsons episodes on, expecting his housemate to arrive home at any time. I wasn't making any conversation and just kept watching telly.

I was starving so I cooked myself dinner and didn't offer him any because I wanted him to get the fuck out of my house. I can't believe how annoying I was finding his presence. I really love living alone, and I really love my own company.

"A little longer, Tim, a little longer", I kept telling myself.

After his fourth visit to the bathroom and three longnecks of beer (plus the schooner at the pub) he came and sat down next to me, a little too close.

*sigh* "Here we go", I thought.

Then he tried to put the moves on me, stinking of beer and cigarettes. I put my hand up and said "no".

"Why?"

"I don't want to"

"Why?"

"I just don't want to"

"but I thought..." blah blah blah.

"No"

He sent a text message and guess what? His housemate replied almost instantly and had just arrived home.

He left, three hours after arriving. Now I'm in a shitty mood because he stole my fucking night. I didn't have anything planned but I'm sure I would have come up with something better than entertaining his sorry arse. I can't even watch Simpsons to cheer myself up because I've already been watching it for the past three hours.

Grumble, grumble.

>:(

oh, Academia.

I started back at school on Tuesday night. It was great to be back. There are three cool chicks in my class that I enjoyed studying with last term. This term I am completing the modules Introduction to Psychology and Counselling Skills 2.

I've really been looking forward to Introduction to Psychology, I've always had an interest in what makes people (and myself) tick. Although the lesson was supposed to introduce us to Psychology and giving us an idea of what we would be learning about, most of it went over my head and I couldn't really grasp what the teacher was trying to teach us. I put it down to the fact that he didn't have a lesson plan and was happy to go off on a tangent for 3 hours. It was pretty interesting, but I didn't feel like I learned anything. I was confident that after I read the course guide I'd have a better idea of what was going on.

I was wrong. I didn't have a clue how much biology would be involved in the basics. I finished about half of my reading last night and it took some serious concentration, particularly because my brain has been on holidays for a few months.

I've resigned myself to the fact that this year I am going to save lots of money, which means less partying, which will give me more time to study, which should take the pressure off when assessment dates draw nearer. It's win/win, right? Then why the fuck do I still struggle to sit down with a book?

My goals for yesterday were to clean the house, do my washing and do some study. Washing - done. House - clean. Study - I'll start in 5 minutes. Why the fuck must I procrastinate? I really need to do something about this. Time to google some study tips.

For the record I did do some study, and it wasn't all that painful.

My Left Foot

I woke up with a sore knee on Tuesday morning. I thought I'd "walk it off" and this worked pretty well but when I sat down at work my left foot was in quite a bit of discomfort. I thought it would sort itself out, but by Thursday morning I was in quite a bit of pain. I went to the doctor and got some x-rays (and pain-killers) and the results were "normal", meaning I hadn't fractured anything.

My foot felt much better yesterday, but it's still feeling a bit tender/tight at the moment.

On the upside, the x-rays are really cool. I'll have to scan them in when I get a chance. I booked in to see my podiatrist, so I'll just have to wait and see what Dr Duffin has to say.

Start spreading the news...

...I'm leaving in about 6 months (to New York, in case you didn't guess)!

I've wanted to visit NYC for years but my goal seemed unreachable for one reason or the other. Ending a relationship and having to get my life together took me a while. GFC completely fucked the exchange rate and made travelling to the US terribly expensive. Being made redundant screwed me over... blah blah blah.

Well, 2010 is the year! Yesterday I started looking at airfares and noticed that some of the cheaper fares had already been snapped up. I transferred some funds from my savings account yesterday afternoon, jumped online today and booked a return airfare to NYC.

How fucking exciting!

I'm also going to pop in to Toronto for a week to visit some friends, including Dennit who I had a great time with when he was in Sydney.

I'm also planning on visiting a friend in Miami, but plans are still sketchy.

Right now I need to concentrate on saving my arse off.

Good Vibrations

Greg, Spliffy and me

On Saturday I went to the Good Vibrations festival. It was the only festival I bought a ticket to this Summer. The main acts I wanted to see were Basement Jaxx, Friendly Fires and Salt'n'Pepa. At the last minute The Killers (who were supposed to be headlining) and Friendly Fires cancelled. I was a bit annoyed about Friendly Fires, but I saw them last year so I was sort of glad when they announced that one of the band members would be doing a DJ set instead.

The weather was pretty crappy, but that didn't dampen my spirits. Salt'n'Pepa were heaps of fun. The crowd were really into it. They started their set with some songs I was unfamiliar with, then played favourites Shoop, Whattaman, Let's Talk About Sex. and then Spindarella dropped some classic sing-a-longs like Shout, Celebrate, I Will Survive and the crowd were all really getting into it. Out of nowhere the oh-so-familiar Push it got dropped and the crowd completely went nuts. Fuck it was fun. Spliffy and I were bumping and grinding (quite poorly).

When they finished and the crowd had quietened down a bit they started talking about God. WTF? That's exactly what a bunch of drunk and drug fucked people want to hear about!

Friendly Fires DJ set was pretty average (and a little disappointing) compared to sets I've downloaded.

Basement Jaxx completely blew me away. Even though I've seen them heaps of times they still put on a great show with lots of surprises. Great costumes, dancing and lots of FUN :) The energy was electric, and dancing in the rain was special too. I can't really put it into words.

Sunday was a complete write-off and a timely reminder why I can't party while I'm at school.

ZOMFG!

I've been inspired by Buffalo Void's return to blogging to get my arse into gear and get my blog happening again. A culmination of my camera-phone breaking and general laziness has let blogging fall by the wayside.

The last 6ish months in a snapshot:

•Got made redundant from work

•I got a credit and a distinction from that teacher I didn't like.

•Got a new job just down the road about 2 weeks later (they pay me more and I work less - it was pretty fucking stressful though)

•Finished another two modules at school.

•I saw the Presets in concert again and they were amazing. I also saw Friendly Fires and they rocked too.

•Went down to Melbourne for my birthday and caught up with some mates.

•Had a killer birthday/housewarming party at my place.

•Went to see Britney Spears (and loved it - tragic, I know).

•Three weddings in three weeks. (Two in one weekend)

•Drank my own weight in beer, several times over.

•Had a super relaxing time at Tropical Fruits in Lismore over New Year's Eve/Day and enjoyed catching up with mates from all over Australia.

•Had an amazing yet fleeting time with a gorgeous man from Toronto who was visiting Sydney.

•Stacked on a few KGs

•Relaxed, relaxed, relaxed.

That pretty much brings you up to date. I'm on holidays from college at the moment and I was spending my spare time lazing around the house completely relaxing. I was enjoying it for a while, but then I realised I needed to get proactive.

I wrote down a whole bunch of goals for 2010, and things I need to do to achieve them. I've discovered the power of writing things down, so that is also another incentive to get my blog happening again.

I've decided another goal I want to achieve is to write at least one blog entry a week.

Here are some pictures from the last 6 months, because text heavy posts are so boring.

Bina, Leesa, me and Aaron at Leesa's Birthday shenanigans (also the day I was made redundant)

My birthday

Me and Jackie at the RearView's Xmas shindig.

Robin and me at Baddog: Love-in

Me and Dennit