Mootpoint

So, he’s finally fleeing the scene of his past crimes. Which is about bloody time and all, but kinda sad in terms of the yet further reduction in TBALC membership in the city over the past few years. And he was the closest to actually fulfilling the three rules! Actually, come to think of it, there probably will be a period of several days after he’s quit his job where that will be the case… Excellent, it’s been a while since that happened…

In further TBALC related news, huge congrats to Ben (“the revolution will *not* be blogged” Allan) and Karen, an event which could also possibly also fit in the “about bloody time” category, but definitely fits into the “less surprising than Tim actually getting on that jet plane” category (says me, of all people).

And in the “surprise surprise” category, it’s taken me a while, but I’m finally at the point where I can wholly recommend Damien Rice’s new album 9. Well, it was new in November, but back then I couldn’t get into it. Now though… IMHO it’s not up there with O in terms of the quality of the entire album, but songs like 9 Crimes, Elephant, and Coconut Skins make up for that in spades. It’s interesting though, as the reviews I’ve been reading suggest that my initial reaction to the album was quite similar to many people’s – hard to get into, not as consistently good as O, all in all a bit disappointing after his first effort – and I’m wondering if any are now having an “everything’s forgiven” moment as well. Probably not, they probably went and got more albums to listen to between then and now.

Ick, too many quotation marks, time to go eat.

Another couple of weeks have slid past, a blur of lectures and readings and alcoholic evenings. Still haven’t quite got the MBA pegged as to levels of work (or, more appropriately, thought) that I need to put in, but currently all day pretty much everyday seems to be the go. Regardless, the weeks are beginning to get into a groove and it’s a good feeling to finally be finding my feet this year, and with the departure of Andrew Kell to parts northward, perhaps the drinking will be somewhat more muted in the future. Perhaps. I’m not counting on it though, as I can’t really blame Andrew for the majority of the recent evenings out.

Having recently discovered TED (I know Tim, I do inhabit a different internet to you – one in which everything happens months after it happens in yours , I’ve begun to watch the TED Talks that they put online each week, and I can safely say that these are quite possibly “The Best Thing In The World By Far” ™. In fact, they’re so good I’ve restricted myself to one inspirational speech a morning with breakfast, so as to draw them out and try to stop myself sitting down and watching every single frickin’ one end on end. Mmm, inspirational muesli.

It also means I actually stop and have breakfast, which is a good thing.

Hamish was in town last week. Really. We saw him. In fact, Dave has a more complete post regarding the whole experience, suffice to say, beer was drunk and Wendy, Hamish’s fiance, was introduced. She seems very cool, although Hamish wasn’t so impressed with the first Czech word she came up with to teach us. It Was good to see him, and a shame he has already headed back to Europe. Although, on that note, Pete has returned and Christchurch is more cynical and regularly abused because of it. Excellent.