The get-together at Fraser went well and everyone had a relaxing time :) The weather was a little rough at the start but it cleared up once we got there. I always love going to Kingfisher Bay, the trip there and back is half the fun and as soon as you step on the boat you get that resort-holiday feeling (I guess that's because it *is* a resort, heh). It was good :)

Meanwhile, after playing Twilight Zone at Virtuosity I've become addicted, so I've been hunting around to find one in good condition. I've always wanted one because it seemed like such a good game and playing it has confirmed that. There have been a couple for sale on eBay in the past month but they've been in poor condition, over priced or in other states (which means paying hundreds in transport costs to get it here). The usual problems are a worn playfield with the lamp insert edges/decals gouged, a drilled cabinet front where a security bar has been placed over the coin door, significant damage to the cabinet or backbox and a faded or scratched translite (the artwork that slides into the backbox). The other obvious concern is buying an item worth thousands of dollars that you haven't seen from someone on eBay who you don't even know.

However, this week I saw one on eBay, in good condition, with a starting price of $2900 (Buy It Now of $3699) and to my surprise it was being sold from this postcode region. I tried to contact the seller through eBay a few times without success. For some strange reason when I use an e-mail address on my domain with eBay it occasionally won't send the e-mail to the seller through their site. So a day before the auction ended I changed my e-mail address to my iiNet address and tried again this time making contact and finding out he was only a few km away from here! So I called, made a time and went round to check it out in person, then came back and placed a bid at the starting price. 24 hours later the machine was mine and no one else had placed a bid! \o/

So, I'm now the proud owner of a Twilight Zone! I'm going to have it delivered here, or pick it up, on Sunday or Monday afternoon :) You can be assured that photos will be posted on here once it's in my possession :D There are a few minor problems with it, like some small missing parts and a problem with the Clock (very common) and a possible problem with detection of the Powerball, both of which should be easy to fix. I can't wait :)

My birthday passed by relatively quietly although I got lots of interesting things to play with ;) I'm having a get-together and dinner tomorrow at Fraser Island for family/relatives and a couple of local friends. The weather is looking unsettled though, so it has potential to turn into a "stuck on a tropical island during a cyclone" story.

The trouble with having these kinds of events is that people get offended if you don't invite them, which is why I'm deliberately keeping it small and simple. With friends from school it's an "all or nothing" situation - you either invite everyone, or you invite no one. If you invite a few, it gets back to the others and they wonder why you didn't invite them, and then how do you select the ones you do and don't invite, anyway? Particularly now that there are very few friends from school living locally, it's not really worth inviting too many school friends since most won't be able to make it.

I'm trying to take these few weeks as being a time to relax, even though I know there's a huge amount of work to do. The next few weeks will be even worse. Managing the simultaneous projects is a challenge, in part due to the diversity of them. At least I'm working in a cool environment now that the air conditioning has finally been installed!

I fixed a few things on a Twilight Zone pinball machine this afternoon at the local game arcade Virtuosity. I was getting bored with putting money into a machine that was only half working, so I decided the best way to solve the problem was to take matters into my own hands. Now the game is nearly completely functional and is bordering on clean - I even managed to get on the high score list (which is amazing, because no one else has been able to get past the factory default of 550 million - shows what bad condition the machine was in... or maybe just how bad the players are).

I heard the news tonight that Matt and Katie are now engaged - congrats, it's about time :P No doubt I'll hear the full story tomorrow :)

Tired => Bed :) 'night.

chaos theory in action.

After much rain and wind the storm passed relatively quickly. I headed out of town Saturday evening for a friend's 21st, where in the process I got to catch up with some good old friends I haven't seen in far too long. It's nice to see that everyone's healthy (for the most part) and happy, and that they've all managed to avoid jail terms (though some by smaller margins than others of becoming jail birds!). There's always a story to be heard! As part of the fun we went to a crazy rock'n'roll-themed tenpin bowling thing. Having never played tenpin bowling before in my life, it was pretty entertaining to get a strike on my first ball and then go on to win the game by a single point :P I'll be nice and put it down to beginner's luck rather than to a lack of skill on their part ;)

It was all a lot of fun, but I headed back that night as I had a lot to get done today in time for Monday. The drive back was slightly monotonous with a lot of rain and sparse traffic, but I don't mind those conditions when there's good music or company to keep things interesting. At least with little traffic, there's little glare, which is a big advantage in rain.

Now that the weather has cleared there's a distinct atmosphere of humidity and heat that will hopefully recede within the next two days - alternatively, a small miracle presiding, the air con guy might finally arrive and install the unit that's been waiting for close to seven weeks. I suspect he'll concoct another story featuring some form of plague, locusts or flood, however.

It's just hit 4:00 AM and bed is looking like a good option. 'night!

A severe weather warning is current for this area with winds up to 130 km/h as a 990 hPa tropical low (which happens to be the same pressure as the cyclone over the other side of Australia at the moment) hits the shoreline here bringing a huge amount of rain and ocean swells above the highest annual tide with it. It's been raining here for the last 6 hours and is steadily increasing in density, as is the wind in violence, so it'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow morning when the tide peaks.

In other news (almost ironic in nature), it looks like I'll be doing the graphic design for 16 different kitesurfing boards over the next couple of months.

Almost overnight, reality TV has seemingly taken over Australian TV channels. It's reached saturation point. Every night there's at least one reality TV show, not counting the general lifestyle shows such as Getaway and Better Homes and Gardens.

For example, the current lineup includes...

American Idol, The Resort, The Hothouse, Paradise Hotel, Groundforce, Average Joe, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, What Not to Wear, What Not to Wear: Australia, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, My Restaurant Rules, Who Wants to Marry My Dad, Survivor: All-Stars, Popstars Live, Extreme Makeover, Renovation Rescue, Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, The Real Sex in the City, Backyard Blitz, Cops, The Simple Life and Celebrities Uncensored... and I'm sure I've forgotten some.

Let's not forget those still to come... Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: Australia, Big Brother 2004, Australian Idol and, no doubt, a host of other copycats.

There have also been countless shows which have come and gone... Joe Millionaire (though there's a sequel coming), The Bachelor (ditto), The Amazing Race (next year), numerous dating and wedding shows and who could forget such courtroom classics as Judge Judy?

Once television entertainment mirrors reality, is there any need for television entertainment? Are people as sick of this as I am?

I can understand having a few... but when every channel has its own version of each type of show (e.g. Popstars Live vs "Idol", Paradise Hotel vs The Resort, What Not to Wear vs Queer Eye for the Straight Guy vs Extreme Makeover), it all becomes repetitive and boring.