Dream street

I've been living in Weymouth now for almost 2 years now (shucks has it been that long?), and I've only now just realized how much I like it here. I mean, yeah, I like living with my family right, that goes without saying. But I meant that I like it in terms of "where". In terms of geographical location, I find this current address quite ideal. More specifically, I'm a big fan on the road we are on.

- It's very very close to the bus stop. Seeing that I have no car, I commute quite a lot using public transport, and there is a bus stop right by our street. It takes less than a minute to walk from our drive way to the bus stop. Awesome aye.

- It's not on the main road. This way, we don't get cars driving past all day, so there's a sense of peace when you get home, as opposed to just being in another part of this busy life.

- While it's not on the main road, it's not too far back in winding back roads that no one has heard of, so it's still pretty easy to direct people to my place when they want to come over (probably to pick me up for church).

- It's quite close to a spot me and Amy like to go. Slightly secluded-ish, it was where we went a lot when we first started dating, and it's very romantic to back there every now and again. It's my backup plan to get her to love me again when she gets sick of me in the future. Shhhh.

- It's close to a park/field. Not that I'm exactly the sporty "lets go and have some kicks with rugby ball" kinda guy, there have been a few occasions where the whole family has gone down there for some fresh air away from the internet and MySky. Good times.

- The area we are in isn't the dodge part of Weymouth, so walking around after dark (to go to the dairy, etc) doesn't feel dangerous. I go for walks sometimes, and it feels good knowing that I probably won't get jumped. Probably.

- Which reminds me: there is a dairy not too far away.

Sure, a lot of people may live in streets with many similar features, so it's probably not as amazing as I'm trying to make it out be, but that doesn't mean I'm not thankful that my street is the street I live in right. It could very well have been a loud street with heaps of dodgy neighbors who have dangerous dogs, with no parks or dairies nearby.

But it's not.

I call them rats. Funny guy aye.

Since right now I'm using a laptop, I thought I'd mention somthing that has always bugged me:

I hate using a laptop mouse. It's a fake mouse. It's basically an allocated square under keyboard that you sit there rubbing the whole time. I can't get used to it, and I never will. It's weird that I'm sitting here using a computer, but in order to do anything on it, I must stroke the computer with one finger, while jabbing a button with another finger. It just feels ultra unnatural.

There's less control, and it's also more difficult to scroll up and down. People say they like using laptops because it allows them to access the internet and blah blah wherever they want; whether they're in bed or on a couch or wherever, it's a plus that they can use a computer. Except I don't see it as a postive, because wherever I am, I still hate stroking things. I'd rather sit in an uncomfortable chair and use the computer like a normal person, using a normal mouse.





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Stealth Santa

It's that time of year again, and like my family does every year, we have kept the tradition of Secret Santa alive. One person per person!

Pfft, you probably just do that so you guys could all save money right. Cheapskates.

You got that right.

Last year, I unintentionally revealed (in the stupidest manner possible) that I had Laura to someone else, and even though Laura herself didn't find out it was me until I gave her the present (hopefully), it still ruined the effect. I didn't like that even ONE person knew.

So this year, it's back to being the king of stealth. I'm the guy who clocked Metal Gear Solid 3 in one day right. I can stealth anything. This year, *insert-name-of-the-person-I-have* won't know what hit them, and neither will anyone else.

Lay of the land... for now.

Over on my Amy's blog, she recently did a post of things she liked and didn't like right now; everything from music to TV to people etc. After reading it again, I thought it would be a relatively easy post, so I thought I'd do one of my own. She inspires me yet again. :D

Also, if you're interested, here's the link to her original post: Things that I like and dont like right now...

Here is mine!
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MUSIC

Likes:



- Willie Nelson and Norah Jones do an amazing cover of the old classic "Baby It's Cold Outside". I kinda thought it would be creepy to listen to (he's seventy-something, she's thirty-something), as it's a bit of a love song, but the maturity in Norah Jones' voice and the general downplaying of any seriousness by both of them makes this a very good listen.

- "Monster" by Kanye West. Featuring Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj, this sees all three emcees at the top of their game. A definate mustlisten for any hip-hop fan; if you can overlook a little french in your songs that is.

- Any and all Relient K. I don't really know why, but I'm back on the Relient K buzz that I havn't been on in years. I just really love all their songs. Simple pop-punk with lyrics that are quite clever but also meaningful right.

Dislikes:

- I cannot STAND that "Like A G6" song. It doesn't even sound like music to me. I dunno. I try to be tolerant of most music, and I even like a lot of music that isn't too critically acclaimed (sup Creed), but that song just really really gets on my nerves.

- I hate "Like A G6".
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TV

Likes:



- Ronan Keating as a judge on The X-Factor. He seems like a really cool guy. I agree with him the most, for sure, and he never says vague things that no one can understand, just to sound all musical. Plus, his accent doesn't sound as unintelligent as the others'. Yes, I realize all the other judges have the same accent. It's Australian. *shudder*

Dislikes:

- Natalie Imbruglia as a judge on The X-Factor. Has no one ever taught her the important skill of NOT interrupting people every time they say something she doesn't agree with?

- All the new reality tv shows. Watching them turns me into a nasty person, and it slowly kills my inner child. There's only so many times I can hear "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win" before I want to do something that involves the remote, throwing, and the TV screen being smashed.



- The fact that Lost is no more. No more Lost!!! Watching my Season 1 dvd through again just makes me miss it even more.
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MOVIES

Likes:

(moves that I'm high on now, not an all-time fave list)

- District 9. It's on Sky right now, and rewatching it reminds me how awesome it was the first time I watched it.



- In Bruges. Only saw it this year, and I thought it was simply brilliant. One of my favourite movies of all time, for sure.

- I Love You, Man. This is just a very funny movie, through and through. "Laters on the menjay" sums it all up I think.

- Harry Potter Part 7 Part 1. I could see why a lot of people wouldn't have liked it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's very rare that a film stays so faithful to a book while also making it seem flow seemlessly as if it were always written as a film. More character driven than anything.

Dislikes:

- I don't really know. Tim Burton and Michael Bay aren't anywhere in sight, and in general movies coming out these days aren't too terrible right.

Few thoughts 13

I have given Twitter a try and I have given up on it. No one follows mine, and I'm not really interested in what celebrities have to say anyway. Plus most of the people that I follow on Twitter repost their tweets as their FB statuses.

Tweet? Is that the right terminology for Twitter posting?
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After having a conversation with a friend about vlogs (video blogs), I wondered if I'd ever want to do a video blog type thing myself, whether it would on YouTube or on my own site. Talking into a camera about things seems quite easy right. However, I quickly came to conclusion that I'd rather not. My humour translates better (well, to people who find me funny) via writing, so I'll stick to that right.

Plus with the camera so close to my face, people will see all the imperfections in my skin and stuff right. Haha nah just kidding, I don't care about that kinda stuff... pfft...
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"I do have a goal in this lifetime to be the greatest artist of all time, but that's very difficult being that I can't dance or sing."

- Kanye West

He's doing a great job of overcoming those difficulties isn't he. He's got autotune for whenever he needs to "sing" right. (Yes, I think Autotune is cool when Yeezy does it.) As for dancing, well, after a while, people stop caring if you can dance or not. Look at Chris Martin.
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'Bet On It' is a kickass song. Watching Zac Efron run across a golf course knees bent and punching the air while singing it just makes it that much more kickass.
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Springboks lost! To Scotland! Fricken Scotland!

And now they're facing England this weekend. England. The team that beat the Wallabies, and are far better than Scotland. That long as injury list don't help; key guys like Smit, Du Preez, Fourie, Burger, Habana, Pieterson, and Brussow being absent definately doesn't help.

Still, we can win! Come on boys. You can do it this weekend.

The show goes on

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a historic occasion. This post is a special post in many ways (well, that's not true, it's only special in one way), but really, it contains absolutely nothing new. It celebrates the past, but it encourages me to work towards the future. Mind you, this occasion is nothing all that mindblowing, nor is it of any real particular importance. However, in my head (Jasuuunn Daruuulo), it is worth mentioning.

This is a milestone. A checkpoint. I'm saving the game, so to speak, before I move onto the next level and probably die.


Well, out with it already Jesse. Your riddles and beating around the bush gets old really quick. Pray tell, what are you talking about? Englighten please. Before I kick your ass.



This is my 100th blog post!!





^ What he said.

My first century baby. Yussss.

Well, to be honest, it hasn't been that long right. Really, aside from a few posts from last year, I've only been blogging since June this year. That's right. I'm getting nostalgic from memories from JUNE 2010. Not even half a year! Well, kind of half a year. Perrrty much half a year right. But still, a hundred posts is quite cool to me, since I like to think that most of my posts require at least SOME form of thought process. At the very least, this post proves that on approximately 100 different occasions this year, I was actually concentrating on something.

So, to celebrate said occasion, I'm just gonna post some links to some of my "old" posts that you might have missed or whatever. There is no obligation to go through them all or anything, but I do like the fact this is a "greatest hits" type post, so I'm just going to town with it.

Also, check this out!



Google knows I exist finally, and predicted that I was looking for my blog! :D Yaaaay.

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First post:
- Blog

First post back after a year-long hiatus:
- From me, for me.

Reviews:
- Film Review - Twilight
- Film Review - Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
- Film Review - The Other Guys
- Album Review: Norah Jones - "The Fall"

Ramblings concerning God:
- Living for God
- Living for God 2
- Living for God 3
- Deep rambling off the top of my dome. "Just botsing it", some would say.
- Warning: Post is long and you might disagree with it
- Amazing if you think about it. Think about it.
- How we are meant to live
- Even IF he existed...

Why I like wrestling. And why haters don't know what they are talking about:
- In defence of FAKE wrestling.

The 'Few thoughts' posts:
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve

:D

Its been two years today baby!

Two years since I asked the only girl I've ever loved to be with me.
Two years since she had a brain explosion and for some reason actually decided to say yes.
Two years of just sitting there and thinking, "Seriously, I still don't know what I've done to deserve her."
Two years of being with the most beautiful girl in the world, inside and out.

And according to her, there's still more to come.

Gutz for her.













Happy two year anniversary my Amy.

Also, if you read this before you get home, please remember to buy some milk because I'm randomly wanting to eat weetbix every time I'm at your place now right.

I love you!

xox

Few thoughts 12

I watched the Kiwis Kangaroos game live. It was the 3rd most exciting finish to an international rugby match I've seen this year. Yes, I got out of my seat when Benji threw that pass to Kenny-Dowall, and yes I blocked my eyes as Nightingale threw one back in, and yes I yelled at Benji to pass it to Hohia, and yes I jumped up when Fien scored the try. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
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Amy was complaining the other day that a movie she was looking forward to wasn't coming out for aaages.

I said welcome to my life. I waited over a year for 'Inception', waiting for little bits of news, screen shots, rumours, the works. Now it's 'The Dark Knight Rises'. Sigh.
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Watching TV these days just makes me sad. I don't have THAT SHOW that I follow hardout. It used to be Lost, and now, asides from movies and sports, there's absolutely nothing to watch.

I. Miss. Lost. So bad.
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My social networking site of choice used to be MySpace, but then Bebo gained more popularity. And then Bebo was eclipsed by Facebook. Will Facebook be eclipsed by another one, or will this be the end as far as the evolution of social networking goes? My gut says Facebook is the last of it's kind, at least at this scale.

Hopefully it is the last one. I don't like changing social networking sites. I hate that 2-3 month period where I'm the only person on the new website and no one else has joined yet. Don't wanna go through that again.
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I'm in two minds about my "Few thoughts" posts. Sometimes, I feel as though each thought could be elaborated on and made into its own individual post. But then other days I feel lazy and just post a bunch of short thoughts and put them under "Few thoughts". This is one of those days.

To clear things up

Just in case anyone was wondering, I am actually a Coldplay fan.

I say this because I mentioned in my last post that I think The Beatles are better than them, and in another one about a month ago I said that Radiohead were better than them too. Well, I still stand by those statements, but that don't change the fact that I love me some Coldplay. They were the first real rock band (yes, they are rock) I probably got into. There are certain feelings and memories attached to their older stuff that will always make those songs awesome to me, including liking Yellow even more than before now that it's me and Amy's song.

But at the same time, I really enjoy their newer stuff too. 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' was a great album in my opinion, and it's interesting to see where they go next from here. They may not be the music gods that the British media sees them as, but they are still one of the best new bands to come out of the noughties, no doubt about that.

Fave Coldplay jam right now:

Oh dear....

"I honestly think Coldplay are on the same level as The Beatles. In 30 years, when Coldplay are old men, people will look back and say, 'These guys were more talented than The Beatles.'"

- Kanye West.

LOLOLOLOLOL

All around the world baby

Pageviews by Countries:

New Zealand
144

United States
20

Australia
13

South Korea
5

Denmark
4

United Kingdom
4

Netherlands
3

Switzerland
2

Sweden
2

Slovenia
2

Thanks to the stats page on my profile, I can see where my pageviews came from this week. What surprises me is that I have more views in Netherlands than Switzerland. I'm pretty sure the random views from other countries can be attributed to just people stumbling across it while pressing the 'Next Blog' button heaps.

As an excercise, I decided to sit there and keep pressing 'Next Blog' until I came across mine. After 5 minutes of not seeing my blog, I gave up. Turns out the excercise was a lot more boring than it sounded.

Just a rant about rugby

For those of you who don't know, here's a fact about me that a few people don't like:

I don't like the All Blacks.

I've never really known exactly why. I mean, I know why I don't support them, but it's more than just "not going for them". I actively dislike them. It's an emotional thing that I can't tie logic to. Some people reckon it's because they are the "best team in the world", and it's easy to root for the underdog and just dislike the team on top.

But I don't think so.

My favourite football team is Manchester United. Sure, they aren't on top of the Barclay's ladder this year (yet), but over the past 10 years, they have been one of, if not the best, clubs in the premiere league. Also, my favourite NRL teams are Storm and Roosters: Storm are known as being one of the best clubs in recent years too. Roosters of course went all the way to the final this year. So my anti All Blacksness can't be attributed to them being the "best team", because I pretty much happen to go for the best team in other sports.

I do have a hunch though

I think it's because I just dislike All Blacks fans. Or to be more precise, I hate how All Blacks fans act when supporting All Blacks. You see, All Blacks fans are different from other fans. It's not that they are more fanatic, or more passionate, no. I think the main reason that I dislike the AB's is because so many of their fans are such... what's the word for it...

Dicks.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

You see, to an All Black fan, if the All Blacks win a test match, it's just them being themselves. It's a normal result, after a normal day at work. But if they lose, it's not because the other team is better, no.

No no no no.

It's because the almighty All Blacks just had a bad day at work. If only they had played like they USUALLY do. Then they would have won. The other team at their absolute best wouldn't have stood a chance against the All Blacks if they'd just done they usually do. No matter how good any other team gets, they could only ever win if the All Blacks hand the victory over to them on a nice silver platter.

Bollocks.

There's a difference between having high standards and just being a douche. Every time I see a Richie McCaw interview, or a Dan Carter one, they seem like the nicest guys. Humble guys, who are good at rugby, and know that if they stick to their game, they have a good chance of beating anyone. They aren't pricks about it. So why are the fans like that? Why do I always here things like:

"The Wallabies got lucky" instead of "The Wallabies played better in that test."

"Springboks have a 10 that can ONLY kick" instead of "Well, that's pretty much all Grant Fox did."

"All Blacks lost because they shot themselves in the foot" instead of "Good on France for capitilizing on their opponent's mistake."

Like, seriously, get over yourselves and give me a call when you guys win a world cup again okay.

Thank you.

Too late to change maybe?

I'm considering a name change to this blog. I dunno if "Ok Laptop" is gonna last.

That is all.

Sounds of RocknRolla

One thing I hate about a lot of films is that they sometimes use too much commercial music for their soundtrack, instead of composing music specifically for the film. However, with Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, the songs used for the soundtrack are perfect. I've been listening to them on YouTube for days now, and this is the first movie soundtrack I've ever seriously considered purchasing.

Oh and by the way Joel, I think you'd appreciate this post especially, seeing as you have a newfound fondness of The Clash, The Doors and The Who. That's kind of the vibe this compilation has. Kind of.

Here are some of the highlights off the soundtrack:
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Bankrobber by The Clash



I can't believe I didn't know this song before watching this film. Pretty much my favourite song right now.

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I'm A Man by Black Strobe



I love this riff. No one writes rock songs like this anymore.

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The Gun by Lou Reed



It's Lou Reed. Expect awesomeness. Slow but great song.

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Rock & Roll Queen by The Subways



Well I already knew this one, but it's still a great tune.

Contentment

When I started this blog, I didn't really know what would happen with it. I knew I would write a few stuff here and there, some thoughts, maybe even some reviews, and that I would hound my close friends into reading it all the time; but then, what after that?

How long was I going to do it? For the rest of my life?

Lately, I've been wondering if I should stop blogging. I've been contemplating it for a few weeks actually. After only a few months, the buzz has kind of died, and people still don't really read it, except for the faithful few (who must be annoyed that I've taken to Facebook messaging them every update). Maybe it's just pointless, and since so few people read it, no one would really notice right. I could just write stuff on the "Notes" section on Facebook; what's the difference? That sounds like it makes sense.

However, one person would be very sad if this all stopped: Me.

After contemplating it, I've realized that I actually enjoy writing for Ok Laptop; not because hundreds of people read it, but because I've just always liked writing. I have tonnes of posts with no comments on it, but when I remember back, I recall that writing them was fun anyway. Writing, whether it's for entertainment or education (lol education), makes me happy. Something about just putting words down onto paper (or a computer moniter) makes me happy. And blogging is especially fun. As much as I enjoy essays, there is nothing like writing something and knowing no one is going to mark it. I look forward to blogging when I'm away from a computer.

It's like having a journal for me. My father has always had a journal, and every year he buys a new one. He loves writing down everything that has happened to him, and other thoughts, every day. If I inherited anything from him (well, my mum would have you believe that I've inherited a lot from him), it's the desire to just write down my thoughts. My dad has his journal, and now I've got mine too. It just so happens that others can read mine if they wish.

The readership of Ok Laptop has grown, has shrunk, and has changed since I started it. Not by much you see; No, not by much at all. But what has remained the same is that I still like writing out my thoughts. If I ever have stop enjoying it, no matter how many people are reading it, I will stop. But I am enjoying it, no matter how many people don't read it, so I won't stop.

*clicks Publish Post*

Even IF he existed...

You know, the funny things about atheists is that a lot of them (or the least the ones that I talk to) don't actually understand basic theology. Which is fair enough I suppose. Because I myself don't fully understand things they're experts on. That's all good.

But one thing that I find hard to overlook is when they say that EVEN IF a God exists (thanks for humoring me I suppose), and do they come face to face with Him one day, they will simply tell God that the scientific evidence always pointed towards His non-existence, so they had no choice but to not believe in Him. They will calmly explain to God that because of the lack of evidence, they had every right to doubt. Not to mention they'd tell Him off for being such a meanie. Hmmm...

James 2:19 - "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

I don't know about you guys, but if powerful fallen angels tremble in fear at the mere thought of this guy we refer to as 'God'... Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that anyone meeting God face to face won't be showing Him a slideshow presentation that justifies their unbelief; they'd be too busy crying after having fallen flat on their face.

I'm gonna be honest. When I see Him, I'm gonna be dropping my nuts. Hasn't anyone else noticed that the first words most angels utter is "Fear not!"

"The Show Goes On" - Lupe Fiasco

Yes.

Finally.

For over a year, Lupe Fiasco has been at war with his record label, who wouldn't release the album he'd finished and given to them a long time ago. But now, things are finally sorted with Atlantic, and his long-delayed album "Lasers" finally has a release date: March 8, 2011.

That's still a while away sure, but at least it's a secure date right, instead of the constant "The album will be out soon!" crap we got for months. But, to ease the pain til then, we have the first official single:



Modest Mouse being sampled by my favourite rapper currently making records? Yes please.

(If this is the first single, then what was "Shining Down" supposed to be? Ditto for "I'm Beamin'".)