Infinite State Automaton

It's a long post, I'm indexing it so you can skip the wall-of-text parts that completely don't interest you, and go to the wall-of-text parts that semi-interest you.

Today I am trying color coordination, although in future I will try indexing with letters and see which works better. Sorry if the colors are annoying for you. I haven't seen yet how it will clash violently with my blogs color scheme...

World of Warcraft
Other Blogs
Donut King
Friends
Theater
Closing Thoughts
Everything Else

Last night I stayed up crazy late and drank sake while I talked with Anna. Reading it back I miraculously avoided saying anything especially stupid through careful application of typing errors...that is...I think that is what was going on.

So, I made it to exalted with Argent Dawn yesterday (Warcraft stuff). I have a number of objectives for Mal; one of them is to get to exalted with Stormpike, another is to have enough honor/marks to get some of the pvp honor sets when he finally dings 70, and the last is to get exalted with Thorium Brotherhood for the crazy dark iron blacksmith plans. Another, way off in the distance plan is to get those windfury gauntlet drops from Ragnoras in Molten Core so the guild can someday go do AQ40...and that sweet windkissed one handed sword.

After Blackrock Depths today, I won't be playing as Mal except to update auctions or to tank instances, and instead focus on getting Taren up to outlands. Taren doesn't have any specific objective, because he is alchemy/herbalism and I haven't really looked at what factions are important to him. The goal is 'get more powerful so you can make better potions and transmute stuff!'. I have a whole bunch of arcane crystals that really want to be arcanite and nobody to transmute them.

It was a really good day for WoW yesterday. I went around and did the flame quests, but missed Blackrock Spire so will have to go back there later. In the early to late evening, Anna and I went through a big chunk of Stratholme together. I really enjoy playing with her, even if it is just farming motes it's an enjoyable, relaxing experience. The last time we went to Strat, I had brought along some very low level accomplices. I think we actually did better without them. We eventually pushed in to the Scarlet Bastion and had a number of very close, very hard fights, burning long cooldowns, munching down on all the pots and everything we could think of to get through. We finally got through to the Scarlet commander, but he had a number of cruel tricks up his sleeve (including aoe stuns) and so we died. When we re-entered the instance, there were respawns already, so, we decided to call it quits for the night.

Well, there is more on WoW, but I decided not to spam everything about what I do in the game so I will leave it at that for now.

I wanted to add links in my blog to show the other bloggers in our group - Chris-, GoodTodd, Paradox, and Crystal - but I can't seem to find how I added that first bunch. So, 'I broke it'. Maybe when I am more awake I will find it but in the mean time, this is a 'Sorry guys! I'm not trying to ignore you! I'm just stupid!' note.

I'm really hungry. Rusty (my brother) cooked lasagna last night. I'm going to go eat some.

Oh yes. It's good. The kitchen is a bombshell though, I will need to clean it up this morning.

I had the difficult conversation with my boss at Donut King on Friday. Basically, I am casual and legally can walk out the door with as little as an hours notice. However, even though the conditions that I work in are really poor and the pay is bad, I can't help but have feelings of loyalty to my boss and the other staff. Really, the store has been degrading since about October last year when our last casual quit and it was just Moni, Michelle and myself running the place. When Moni started working at the other store (We are at 'Citi' - spelling correct. The other store is 'castle plaza') as well as our own it should have been really obvious that it was unsustainable. What if Michelle got sick? What if Sky got sick? Someone would have to fill in for the other person and if they had unmitigatable circumstances that day (eg Sky had an exam), what then?

Fortunately for Monika this never happened, however then she went and did something really stupid. Instead of hiring more staff, she applied for an extra job - a fun one, actually, but still an irresponsible risk. So as well as working 6 am til 4 pm at Citi and Castle, she will now be working 7pm until 1 am at the Circus as an usher. She knew she would be a zombie and unable to do much of the daytime shifts, so she expected Michelle and I to do extra work during the week to cover for her. The sudden news that I was leaving on July 16 was of course a slight spanner in the works.

The responsible thing for her to do would have been to immediately look at a new baker, or to hire a manager to work at Castle so her workload would be reduced by half and she could do the bake herself, or for her to cancel the job at the Circus (which runs from June 1 to June 30) since it was something she was only doing to 'try something different'. She wants to sell the Donut King as soon as she can, apparently, but the shop isn't even on the market yet. Instead, her parents told her that they don't want her to sell the store and will instead come in and work for her. A good idea! Except for one minor detail - they are on holiday in Europe and don't return until the 18th.

I gave Monika three weeks and two days notice. It's plenty of time for her to find someone for me to train (it will take about a week) but I know why she is doing this. It is because she will be unable to find someone who will do what I do for her for the crap pay. I walked out on a former employer because of this exact situation. I wanted to help and volunteered to do extra to assist the business when things were tough, but when everything went back to normal everyone had the expectation that I would continue to work for free and the manager was surprised - even outraged - that I expected to be paid. This is a similar situation at my current work, although not quite so bad, the trend is obvious and I can see it. The work load continues to increase, the hours I work go up, and there is no extra compensation, and even attempting to negotiate causes a hissy fit and sulking from my boss. Her decision to get her parents to do the job is nothing more than a major cost saving option for her.

I am willing to train her father to do the bake, but I am not willing to throw away this awesome job that I won for her selfishness. I told her exactly what I was prepared to do. If she expects more, she will be disappointed. I took a tremendous risk in even asking for three weeks delay in starting my new job. I won't further jeapordise it by showing up as a zombie. So far she has agreed to me just doing the bake part (about two hours work) in the evenings, after I finish at Uni. So I will be a zombie baker, not a zombie scientist, which is safer as I don't need my brain to bake.

But I know how it will go. At some point she will say, "I expected you to also do xxxx!" and I will have to remain firm. I want to remain friends with her, but in my heart, I know that the 'friendship' will only exist so long as she is making money from me. The moment it's more economic to not have me there anymore, which will be when her father is trained up enough to do the baking, she will be perfectly happy to never see me again.

Probably it's better that way.

In more cheerful events, my friend Lance has organised the group of us gamers to go watch Transformers on the 14th of July. I have low expectations of it, however my younger brother - a major Transformers fan - said it was 'better than he expected' and rated it 8/10. I tend to enjoy movies even if they are bad - if I really like a movie I will go and see it twice or more with different circles of friends. I liked Pirates 3, although there were some parts where I felt a bit uncomfortable, like the treatment of Elizabeth and the Shanghai scenes. Also, note to future directors - if you are going to have a non-major character have an important plot development role, please make sure their accent is understandable. Yes, I am looking at you Calypso. WTF is she saying? Most of the time all I hear is unintelligible gibberish that the rest of the cast recoil in fear from.

Speaking of directing, I went for the next step of Schoolyard Justice yesterday, the mini film that Rodney and Lochey are working on for...ah...well, I don't actually know what it is for. I am told it is going to be part of a package that will be screened to students to help them deal with issues in school like bullying. But yesterday they also said that it will be going to different film festivals and they will put together an acting port folio for the cast. I've never seriously considered acting as a career before, mostly because I don't think I'm very good at it when compared with the other cast members in performances I have been in, but as a hobby it sure is a lot of fun. Everyone I have spoken to has always said 'You are better than you think you are' but so far I have mysteriously been unable to watch any of the recordings of our performances...my friends being tactful?

I only have a small role in this one, and the same with the other performances. I don't audition for parts because everyone except for me in this area wants the parts as a desperately needed step on their career. If they need someone, they call me, which is what happened for Lords and Ladies, As You Like it, Schoolyard Justice and will likely happen for Urban Gulf. I'm looking forward to Urban Gulf - it's a series of small sketches that make fun of everyday city life, such as signs on ATM's that say 'you may be photographed while using this machine'. In this one, a woman is withdrawing money from an atm and the camera will slowly pan out to show several cameramen taking photos of her like it is a model shoot. Well, that kind of humor really appeals to me so I want to join in.

In Schoolyard Justice, I only have a small role. Yesterday I wasn't needed, but I went along to meet the other cast and to read in for a cast member who couldn't be there. It was a good location - I wonder if I can find it on googleearth...well, first I need to download it. It's Montifiore Hill in Adelaide, the place most scenic city-esque shots are taken for tourist stuff, and a lot of weddings take part here. (The other place is the botanic gardens or Torrens river). You get a better shot of the city from Windy Point, but that is harder to get to, and the wedding limousines probably do not enjoy the twisted, wretched road up that daunting cliff face.

Today I am going to: Shower, clean kitchen, clean bedroom, do laundry, play WoW for a bit, possibly meet my mother this afternoon or evening (my family never plans anything. Friday night example: "Hi, can you meet your father at (location) in an hour and a half for dinner?" Maybe if they had called earlier, sure! But I wasn't going to ditch my evenings plans for a five minute meeting that they had just come up with. Plus it was a forty minute drive there and back each way. If it was a nice restaurant, maybe! But McDonalds? :/) and have a play with this REPAST system that I am supposed to be using at the new job. If I am really lucky, Wood will have responded to my e-mail and we can finally find out what his situation is. I really miss that plucky little gnome.

So, in case it's not obvious, Anna fixed my blog so it's not ugly.

I'm really tired today because of yesterdays crap hours, and I have an exam later today so I'll leave this pretty short.

My first task at my new job in the future is to find a way to get William's Lego Mindstorm scorpion to respond to his mobile phone blue tooth commands. The scorpion is very cool already. It moves forwards, and if something moves in front of it, it backs away all scared like. If the thing is really close, instead, it's tail goes forward and BAM! Dead. He also has a variety of smaller lego critters that have other roles, like picking up balls and announcing what color the ball is, and a tag team one that follow a path and interact together to move balls out of the way.

I'm not sure yet exactly what I am supposed to be doing, all I know is that it involves some system called REPATH and that I am supposed to be researching Java 3D and JoGL once my exam is done. Now, I already programmed in both of those before so I have a big head start. I also had a semi-complete ray tracer that I think I will kick start again.

Anna also took me shopping. Kind of. Since I will soon have enough money to not live out of tins, I was thinking of getting some furniture like a bed or a door. I live right across from Ikea - it's a sign from God! Here are Anna's suggestions...

(I'm fixing the HTML on these...will repost shortly)

TV Cabinet

Coffee Table

Side table

Corner sofa bed

White sofa

Armchair

Cushions

Lamp shade

Lamp base

Some kind of....throw rug....thing.... Maybe a scarf? I don't know.

Bookcase! I can trick girls into thinking I am smart by filling this up with books about, um...? Should I fill it with lots of traditional guy stuff, like books on tanks or cars, or go for the 'hawt in bed' angle with lots of books on Birds And Bees. I do have an "Art of Seduction for Dummies." Maybe I want to keep that one out of sight, though...

Shoe rack This one is really good idea. I wasn't sure at first, but looking at it more carefully, they look about the right size for junk mail, warhammer tanks, and even bottles of wine. I think I will get two.

Hat and coat rack is handy for those times when I am really drunk and forget where I put my jacket. I don't have any hats yet, but Rusty does, so it's sure to get some use. Plus, tank storage space.

Vases I'm a boy so I can't really put flowers in it, but I like the colors. I don't know how big they are. My grandparents have vases filled with different colored soils from around the world, but I don't know if it will really work with the vases having their own colors. I'm a big fan of clear vases filled with pretty rocks, though. Maybe I can put a fish in them or something.

Is this art? My favourite cityscape pictures are the ones at night that show the city lights. Sydney is probably my favourite. I got a brief glimpse of Osaka on my way to Ezhou, but there was heavy mist and I didn't get the full panorama that I had hoped for. Next time for sure. Actually, I'm a big fan of the Chicago pictures that you get in Subway's here.

Fruit bowl At least, that's what I think it is for. Maybe keys? I can probably put water in to it and have little floating candle things, too. Like the vases, I need to see how big it is before I can really think of what to do with it. Worst case scenario, it looks like a real fun thing to throw.

Wait, wait. If I turn it upside down, it would make a terrific piece of terrain for my Space Marines. I can put some stairs in to the side of it and POW instant bunker. Nothing's getting up that slope, and certainly not crazy Blood Angel Assault Marines. Yes I am looking at you, Rusty.

Rug This one is definately a rug, because it says 'rug'. So. It's a rug.

Table and chairs This was a really good suggestion because I don't have a proper table, or really any chairs. Most of the time I have to eat standing up. Of course since mostly I'm eating pizza or other junk food that's OK.

Deep plate I actually have many of these. No, wait. Rusty has many of these. Eventually when I move out on my own I will need to have bowls and stuff. I did actually have a set before moving here, but my flatmate had been taking my plates and bowls and letting her dogs eat out of them. You can wash them and use them afterwards I guess, but I didn't want to eat out of a dogs bowl so I left them for her. Maybe if they were my own pets my feeling would be different. I think it's ok if, say, my cat jumped up on the table and stole some food (because he would do it all the time. And not just meat, either. One time he made off with a potatoe. WTF?) while I wasn't looking, you can wash it and its fine. But I would come home after work and find my plate covered in dog drool and rotten meat filled with maggots. You can't clean that kind of image out of your mind. So, I left them all. I was a little uncomfortable about doing it. But the thing about the old place...much like getting away from Donut King...is that it was really important to me to get rid of all the links to the past. It was a bad time, and I want to burn it out. Keeping those plates will remind me of the terrible way I was treated and I don't want that in my life.

Maybe it's a stupid feeling, but it's my feeling, and I'll stand by it.

Coaster set I actually have some coasters already, blue University of South Australia ones that I got for helping out the marketting division last year. With two sets, I can have one nice set, and one set for throwing at people. Or maybe one set for normal times, and one set for special guests. My mum is one of those people who has super elite chinaware that only comes out once every three or four years. Probably there is a reason for it.

But coasters make excellent projectiles. They are like mini frisbees. It's one of my best memories of childhood, having coaster/teatowel wars. Of course Dad was the best at teatowel flicking. We wrote on the forum QQ nerf fathers, to no avail.

Dinner set Another really good suggestion. We have most of these things already - when I say 'we' I mean, Rusty owns it, so I have access to it. But when I am living on my own, I think my current inventory includes a few saucepans and......ah.....coffee cups. I used to have frying pans/toaster/kettle/etc but a decade of living with flatmates has meant anything of quality that I owned was used and destroyed very quickly.

Although the sandwhich frying machine was my own fault. I tried to wash it by putting it in the sink. Apparently delicate electronics and water aren't a good combination. Who knew? Ah, and that time when my grandmother nearly killed us all when she spilled water on the kettle through to the sink where I was washing the dishes. "This water feels funny," says I, as AC current was attempting to fry my brain. Good times.

Knife sharpener It's important to have sharp knives.

Of course, it's important to have knives also.

Bread knife. I actually like my breadknife at work better, but I don't know where I can find one like it. It's a massive, 15"/40cm long stainless steel TITANIUM PLATED thing that can cut through just about anything, and would happily factor in 'human flesh and bone' if I am not careful. I don't know why Monika splashed out for something so crazy sweet, but it's there, and if I can swipe it, I will. This knife, and Rusty's bread knife, always feature when I have zombie nightmares and have to duel wield kitchen knives. What, you don't have zombie nightmares?

Garlic press. I'm glad they clarified what it was because at first I thought it was for some entirely different thing. Of course this assumes I ever cook anything like garlic.

Hey, actually I DID make some mean surf and turf with garlic prawns ages ago. Unfortunately in the process I completely destroyed my frying pan. Maybe next time.

Dishwashing scrubs. I can't imagine what I could possibly use these for, but they sure are pretty colors. Maybe some kind of artistic wall hanging?

Timers. Insert poor taste homemade bomb joke of choice. Also, again, pretty colors. So shiny!

Paint tray. It's perfect! I don't have anywhere to put my paints. Thanks, Anna! (Edit: Oho, there is no sneaking things past this young woman. Yes. It its a spice rack.)

Tupperware containers (probably). It's important to have something to store all my flour, sugar, salt, and other stuff in to, so that some day when I go to open up my, say, oatmeal, it is not fine sticky grain swimming with weevils.

Plastic bag dispenser. For plastic bag dispensing.

12 Bottle Wine rack. What an excellent suggestion! I should try to fill it up as soon as possible. Then empty it. A lot.

It's a water jug!

Candlestick holder. I can't be sure, but it looks like the one from Cluedo. What are you trying to suggest, Anna?! I totally would use the revolver.

Mmm, delicious fire.

White bed set. Later we decided against white for the bedroom. White reflects light, and the last thing I want when trying to sleep in til late afternoon is a bedroom that glows. Well, that's not the real reason, but it will work for now.

A ke...a what? I always thought that this was a portable toilet for those desperate situations when you either a) were so terribly drunk you couldn't remember which was was down, and b) in the event of nuclear war so that you didn't have to stink up your room so much. I didn't know they made these still.

I am not sure why I would use it except for the "can't find the toilet" thing. Oh, and in the event of nuclear war. So, I will factor this under the 'almost never used, but when you need it, it's absolutely essential' category. Safety first!

This is the bed Anna eventually picked out for me. I really wanted the racing car one, but she didn't like the color of it, so, we went with this one instead.

Bedside cupboard. Remember, we decided not to go with white but I don't seem to have the link to the wood set anymore. I'm not sure what I would put in the bedside cupboard. Maybe booze. What do you think?

Wardrobe. Because you can never have too many places to hide.

Wardrobe(s). At the moment I am pretty set for wardrobes as I have two build into my room. However they are useless to me when it is time to move house.

I actually DID have two wardrobes when I moved here from West Lakes, but they were ugly, ugly things that had broken locks (kind of like WoW) so the doors would never stay closed. We went through all the effort of moving this wretched, spider ridden monstrosities here, only to leave them on the side of the road for people to come and take. The first one went in a few hours. The second one went a few days after. People will take just about anything if they think it is free. It was kind of strange sitting in my room watching people walk past, checking out the cupboards. One little girl even wanted to sit in it, but her parents didn't let her. Good idea! My underwear had been in that cupboard. It can't have been a happy place.

Chest of drawers. Ok, now we're talking. This is probably the item Anna picked out that I need most of all. At the moment to store my clothes (oh ho. As if I have them any place but the floor) I have the base of the two built in wardrobes. I can only stack my clothes up, or hang them from the clothes hangar. I have four tiny drawers for storing my socks, jocks, ladies underwear and suspicious items. There isn't any place to put bigger garments like jeans or shirts or so on. Something like this is perfect.

Shelf. I may not be a smart man, but I know a block of treated pine when I see it. I can't help but choke when I read it was 'designed' by Ikea. I could go to a hardware store and buy the same thing for cheaper, and in a variety of cuts and wood suiting my needs and budget. Permapine? Particle board? Of course since I am going for elite, I should find an expensive antique piece of furniture and buy it just so I can cut out one side of it, or perhaps one of those ten thousand year old redwoods.

Making fun of Ikea aside, a shelf is a really good idea. At West Lakes, I had one big long shelf that I was able to put about 50% of my entire army on. If I can get another bunch of shelves like this, I can probably have the whole bunch out, thus freeing up precious space in other places, and no doubt mightily impressing any ladies that happen to come over.

Quilt cover set. I'm not sure about the color, I am finally getting out of Donut King and having to wear pink, but I think the suggestion is a good one. At the moment I only have one quilt cover. If I wash it and forget to peg it up or it rains, I have to use a sheet for a quilt cover.

Laundry bag. Another really good suggestion. At the moment, all my dirty washing goes in a pile next to the washing machine. If I have a basket in my room, I can be even more lazy. Sweet!

Clothes hangars. My new job will have wearing swish button up shirts and suits on occasion while I compose the fine details on secret military projects. Should I go for the traditional red on that button, or a more aesthetically pleasing blue to match the tungsten and aquamarine finish? Decisions like these require the finest clothes, and the finest clothes require the finest of treatments. So I can't just leave them on the ground like everything else, I mean, folded up in my wardrobe. Yes.

(Edit: Fixed up all the links. Man, it took forever, but it sure was worth it. Thanks for taking the time to go shopping for me, Anna! It sure was a lot of fun!)

I probably would not get all of these since I don't plan to live here for much more than six months, but some of the items looked quite good (like the table and chairs) and what I don't take with me I can leave for my brother.

Sky,
How about this?
<3 Anna

So, that's what my blog looks like!

Well, green is my favourite colour but the icons are kind of ugly. Let's see if I can switch it around to be a bit more stylish...

(Later)

I'm still not satisfied but I see there is an option to directly hack the html that makes this page up. But I've already blown two hours tinkering around with this thing so I should put it down for now and come back later.

I think the tradition is that you would explain what the purpose of your blog is or something like that in the first post. Since I am the kind of person that will go along with tradition only so long as it makes sense or is convenient for me, I'll abide by it this time.

It was surprisingly hard to find a unique blogspot name. All of my preferred favourites, the deep and meaningful ones that people would get a shiver from just typing in the web address, were taken. You know, the kinds of words that when put together in the right way have a powerful ability to change a person, words that transcend mere language and become alive, inspiring. So, in the end I just started stringing together random words from songs or books that I had read until something finally went through. I forget what I finally picked, and it doesn't say from this screen how to access it. So, ah, I hope I got an e-mail or something when I created it so I can get back to this page some day.

Now, where was I?

Currently I am a baker for Donut King. I work from four am through til nine thirty most days Monday to Thursday, and on Fridays from three thirty am through til ten. Some times I also do an additional day shift which effectively has me working from four am until three pm. This is about to change. I had been applying for some IT jobs awhile ago, but everyone was replying with 'You don't have a degree or relevant experience.' A long time ago, I finished my diploma, and am currently studying for the degree. But I knew that, come degree graduation day, having even some small IT experience under my belt would be the difference between having to burn 6 months -> years of my life getting IT experience so I could get a 'real' job. So it was a very pleasant surprise to get a phone call on Thursday last week that was inviting me to a surprise interview the next day. I hadn't even applied for this job. So, I am very thankful to my friend William from fencing and University for recommending me. It's six month contract work, finishing up at around the same time I graduate, and also, at around the same time my lease will expire. All of the chains around my neck that are holding me back financially are slowly falling away. My crippling car debt, my computer payments, my mobile phone payments...at the start of this year it looked very frightening for me. I was living in a bad place, afraid even to leave my room to cook meals. But now I am living well, I have good friends, the things that were causing me so much stress and suffering are vanishing like...I don't want to say "It's a miracle" but it really does feel like it.

I've wanted to make a blog for awhile now, but I knew I would just rant about the things that were causing me stress in real life, and with the way this world is I knew they would get back to the people it referred to somehow, and so I didn't write. Now I have an uncertain future, but in a good way. At the start of 2008, I will be debt free for the first time since I left home in 1996. It will be the first time where I will get a paycheck and I don't have to immediately divide all of it up for bills and repayments, and call up the most urgent bill and ask for an extension so I can have enough money for food. For more than a decade I have had to live like this. So, to suddenly see this...I didn't realise just how much the pressure was until it was suddenly taken away.

So, I'm really happy.

Later I will write more about me, what I do, what I like, and the kinds of things I think about. I tend to write a great deal of text, and prune back on it when I write elsewhere, but since this is my blog I am just going to write big walls of text, like this one. I know its terribly inconsiderate, so in long posts, I'll provide a summary and possibly index. I choose not to reference my work at this time.