WauloK’s BangRocks Blog

Stupid mail2blog. I need a new plugin. Will paste what I emailed this morning…

Yesterday I dropped Sienna home and drove out to Caths place. We took her car into the city and net up with a bunch of people from the goth forum at Pancakes on Charlotte st.
It was nice catching up with everyone although I didnt know most of them and didnt have time to find out all names.
Cath got the crappy house wine which didnt taste good until the end and I got a kahlua coffee. She had the mexicana pancakes and I had crepe escape which was ham cheese and tomato. We put our orders in and everyone got theirs but I and another had to go hunt ours down. They brought mine out cold and said it came out but nobody claimed it. Sigh. Another guy got garlic bread which was cold. He took it back but I said they would just nuke it, which they did seem to do.
Cath ordered some drinks and got a menu so while we had a quick 30 second look at it the waitress ran off. Cath had to yell at her to get her back.
So yeah. The service was crap.
Still it was nice to see everyone.
One of the ladies said to Cath that she looked at my photo on the forum and could not see ‘us’ as a couple but when we sat together we looked like we had been together for years.
We paid for our food and left and headed home but there was a traffic jam so I turned back towards the city and looped around to another exit. I needed to find a toilet quickly and could not wait in traffic. It wasnt due to the food. That didnt hit me until about 11pm. Erk!
We watched the Simpsons movie, listened to some Bill Hicks and went to bed.

We left around 9.40am yesterday morning and drove to Aussie World. We arrived about 11.15am and got our tickets.
We went on some merry go round rides. We tried the ferris wheel but it was too tame for Sienna.
When it was nearly 12pm we had lunch. I had a works burger with chips and a chocolate milkshake. Sienna had a chicken and cheese sandwich.
We went on a whizzing spinning ride and Sienna loved it. It didnt bother me apart from just having had lunch so it was a bit mixed up and unsettled. We went on a big spinning swing which rose something like 20 feet in the air. Sienna loved it. She really is a daredevil. We went on the whizzing ride again then Sienna went on a few more merry go round rides and we jumped in the car.
We drove up to near Noosa Heads and stopped at the first petrol station to fill up. We only just made it on the last fumes.
Next I looked on the map for the place we were to stay at. It was on the opposite side of the roundabout from the petrol station. We booked into our room and Sienna went to sleep for a couple of hours.
When she awoke we went out to find food. We popped into CJ’s on the River.
I had Surf and Turf. They actually gave me a bowl with about 10 prawns in garlic and cream sauce. Yum.
Sienna had chicken nuggets and chips. They have her pencils and paper to draw with while we waited for food. Unfortunately for us the keyboard player had one song left to sing and left shortly after we arrived.
We finished up and headed back to our room and had a spa bath. Very nice. We watched a show on crocodiler on Animal Planet and went to bed.
This morning we got up and headed out to find breakfast. We stopped at the first place we found open which was the same place we were at last night. I had bacon and eggs and a mocha coffee while Sienna nibbled at some raisin toast.
We left and drove to the Big Pineapple. Sienna loved it and lest talking about going up into the pineapple which we did. We also rode on a mini train and stopped to feed the animals. They had goats, sheep, a donkey, dingoes, pigs, llamas, kangaroos and a deer. Sienna hand fed many animals and even a wallaby. We caught the train back up and waited for the next train. Sienna played with some other kids then we jumped on the train and had some macadamia nuts. When the train got back we ordered a fruit salad parfait. It had macadamia ice cream.
We left there and drove to a medieval castle. Sienna had fun walking around the castle and looking at all the medieval things and won a chocolate for finding easter eggs pictures.
We left the castle and looked for a replica of the endeavor ship but only found a small boat which surely was not it so headed north again. While driving I noticed Sienna had fallen asleep in the car so came back to our room. Sienna has been asleep ever since.
At the moment on tv is The Princess Bride so Im watching it until she awakens.

This Christmas Sienna has met with more of my (and her) cousins than ever before.
We visited my parents and cousins.
We stayed overnight with my cousins and she had fantastic fun blowing bubbles and watching the dogs try to catch and eat the bubbles. After about four hours of that the dogs were foaming at the mouth from the bubbles mixture and you would think they had rabies haha!
She played their pianos a lot and loved that too. Maybe daddy will have to get her piano lessons one day!
I also caught up with my next door neighbour from my childhood. He’s a doctor whose family is from Sri Lanka. We used to get into so much trouble.
We also went shopping in Port Macquarie and bought Sienna some new clothes and shoes as well as other clothes for me.
Sienna got a scooter and kite from me and we took the kite out for a spin.

Today we did some shopping. We got a nice pair of joggers for Sienna and some socks.
Next we went to Target and bought some new pyjamas. There was a four piece set - one short and one long pants and two tops - with a discount 30% off!
I got a couple of good shirts too.
We had a real nice Christmas. Sienna got a Minnie Mouse watch, a couple of balls, a kite, a scooter, some clothes, a princess bag and suitcase and wand and tiara.
I got two pairs of pyjamas, a book and other stuff.
Tomorrow we might visit some relatives Sienna has not met yet. It will benice for her to see some of her cousins.

I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic, wonderful New Year!
You deserve all the best and a much improved year with all the wonderful times you can handle and then some!

So here I am in Bundaberg waiting for lunch to be delivered. I went to the rsl club but it was full of customers and looked like cheap quality food. This hotel does not seem to be much faster but then I do order my steak Well Done. Ah here it is! Turns out they lost the order. . But what me worry?
I finished all work by 10.30am and my plane isn’t until 5pm

I will re-edit this tonight when I get home. In the meantime, try to read it. I will have to patch my mail script to delete the weird characters from this mobile.

Friday night I picked up Sienna from her mum’s in a hire car I had been driving down the Gold Coast for work. She wanted to know if I had crashed my car and needed to get a new one lol! Too clever that girl is. I sound like Yoda.

Saturday morning we took the car back to Hertz rentals and took the train back home. When we passed the station before mine we saw a carnival. Sienna wanted to go to the ‘birthday party’ so we drove there and went in. She went on many rides including a kids bumper boat, kid sized ferris wheel, jumbo slide, car ride etc. We grabbed an ice cream and watched the Islander dances them got a bag with giant bubble wand and solution which we spent the evening playing with.

It was a hot hot hot day! I need air conditioning in my car or a new one.
Sunday we took a bit easier and rested and cleaned up the house. I took Sienna back home and headed off to poker.

Poker went quite well and I beat my personal best by coming 4th .. Only just, too! Another guy went out at the same time but since I was first to bet it meant I came 4th instead of 3rd. Maybe I should not have let the host talk me into betting heh. Ah well it was still great fun. Back again thursday.

Today I am flying to Bundaberg. I am currently at the airport waiting for my flight. I checked in on the computer myself to save standing in line. See you this afternoon when I get back!

Had a great weekend Chris and Jo came up with their lil girl Caitlyn and
stayed a couple of nights
Yesterday we took the girls to the park and Sienna had a play with the kids
there, going up and down the slides and on the swings, etc.
We had lunch there as well but Sienna was too excited to eat much. She had
fun helping some boys feed a cockatoo some flowers they found nearby in the
park garden (oops).

We checked out the animals there too and a swan tried to bite Sienna’s
foot. I don’t think it really hurt her but she got a surprise and was
crying. Daddy made it all better tho
When one started chasing down Joey we left quickly.

Last night Chris & Jo wanted a game of Ten Pin Bowling so I took them to my
bowling centre. I won’t mention who won the games but enough to say it
wasn’t me nor Chris.

We watched Green Wing last night and I don’t think Chris nor Jo will be
watching it again hehehe. Too weird. But there were some funny things
going on they got a laugh at. Such as a doctor boiling up a plunger full of
coffee and funnelling it down a tube for his coffee enema.

The visitors headed back off again today. I think they were staying at a

friend’s place overnight and going back down south tomorrow.. or something

A few days ago on Foxtel they had a Star Wars marathon so I’ve taped
Episodes 1 - 6 and going to watch them all one at a time, in order.

Since I’m not one of those sad geeks that have watched Star Wars daily
since the 70s, it’s relatively fresh to me and I hope watching it in
this order will let me get the full story from go to woah

40 mins left on Episode 1. Don’t think I’ll see the end tonight, though.
I should be off doing my exercises and maybe some meditation.

Just heard on the radio Peter Brock died in a car crash in Western Australia!
What is going on?

I’ve had a few days to try out the phone and I must say it’s a lot better than I expected! I wasn’t 100% sure it would be the best choice but it has grown on me and now I love it! I just have to get used to entering text via T9 again. I use the phone to listen to the radio on the way to work and back. The only gripe is that the synchronization software for Windows won’t work via the usb cable but fortunately it works fine with bluetooth which is how I prefer to connect the devices.

Mum and dad arrived a couple of days ago. I picked up Sienna wednesday
night and had Lube Mobile mobile mechanics arrive to look at my car. I was
concerned after running low on oil and it hasn’t had a service since 80,000
kms. It’s now up to 126,000 kms. Way overdue! It was going to be a basic
service but as it’s been so long I had to go for a deluxe type service
which, with parts became $511 instead of $174. Whew! The guy arrived at
8am and didn’t finish until around lunch time. Apparently it should also
get a new cam belt but that’s about another $500 again, so I skipped it for
now.

Mum and dad arrived about 11am. That afternoon we went to the shopping
centre. Mum got some clothes and we had lunch then got some groceries.
Sienna was asleep on my lap while dad went to Coles. We came home and she
woke up so I gave her some Panadol to fix her temperature. After that she
got her second wind and was much happier.

Yesterday we went to Queen’s Park and had morning tea which turned out to
be enough to cover us all over lunch. I had scones with jam and cream and a
ice chocolate drink. Sienna had a couple of sips of that and her lemonade
spider but has not been very hungry the last few days .. except to eat
poppy’s Arnott’s Pizza Shapes. We went down to the swings and slides etc
while nonna and poppy finished their devonshire teas. Next we went to the
small wildlife park there and saw the kangaroos, emus, ducks and
birds.

We came back home to rest. Due the warm, strong winds a fire had started
near the motorway but we turned off before that anyway. Sienna fell asleep
in the car on the way home and I put her in bed. I’ve put up my blow up
airbed for Sienna and I to sleep on. It has a motorised air pump and
depending on how you set it up can be a single bed, queen sized bed, couch,
reclining couch or bed-couch. I’ve had it set up as a queen bed but got
Sienna’s mattress off her bed as the airbed can get cold during the night
so tonight might make it a double high single bed and put her mattress on
the floor instead of on the airbed.

Last night we went to the local rissole (RSL Club). Sienna played with some
kids in the playroom on the slide while we ordered. I picked up my
membership card which they should have posted out two months ago.
I got tempura fish and chips so I could share with Sienna. Mum had prawn
cutlets and dad had pork with veges and gravy. Mum also had some caramel
cheesecake for dessert. Mum and dad loved the place and we might even go
back tonight cos dad’s cousin and wife are coming to visit. They have a
caravan and will park it in my driveway and hook up the juice to the house
power. They were coming yesterday but got stuck in traffic due to a car
crash near the airport roundabout.

Today we are going to see my mum’s brother and his family for lunch. Should
be great catching up with my cousin and her kids. I saw the kids years ago
but not since so Sienna should have some fun running around with them. When
we get back dad’s cousin should be here. His GPS didn’t have my home on it
since the area I live in is only very new.

Can someone explain to me what the hell Green Wing is and why I felt
compelled to watch a whole episode of it? THEN tell me why I set my Foxtel
IQ box to tape it weekly.

It’s totally fuct up!

There’s some doctor whom all the staff are in love with .. guys and girls.
But he’s in a coma so one girl marries him then jerks him off and
artificially inseminates herself with his juice. First she has to work out
how to reduce the acid level of her ‘vertical smile’ or what she also calls
her ‘panty coin slot’. Next she lies on her desk in her office with two
legs in the air, squirting his juice up her skirt into herself while
singing ’swim little fishies into my dam’!!

That’s just one story going on at the time. The rest are just as
bizarre!

I think it’s because the show is just so damn surreal. I couldn’t stop
watching it!

Some other guy had sex with his mother and apparently so did many
others.

Is it ‘Scrubs’ to the infinite level?

Why is there not much work being done with voice synthesis? It was all the
rage for a while and now you don’t hear much at all. Even my Commodore 64
could talk without samples. Anyone remember SAM, the Software Automated
Mouth?

They are already making movies with computer-generated actors but we seem
to be stuck with the idea we still need real voice actors. Is it because we
will only pay to hear high paid famous people or maybe the voice synthesis
cannot give us that realistic emotion we need in the dialogue.

Surely someone is working on bringing us emotional sounding computer
synthesised speech?

This should be the next generation of computer interaction. No doubt it
will need some kind of markup language to set which emotion. Or perhaps
CSS? Cascading Style Speech Oh please let me be the first to coin the
phrase!!

If the Microsoft Text to Speech application were upgraded with emotional
characteristics, I could get rid of the blue screen and just have it scream
"OH, DAMN!! NOT AGAIN!!". Pebcak errors could be replaced with "You EEDIOT!
Are you trying to kill me, man??". Although a good Windows sound theme
could already do that with a nice WAV sample.

The day when movies are totally created by computers including both
graphics and sound cannot be too far ahead. They’d require a server farm
for voice synthesis to go with the server farm of graphics generation they
already have.

I look forward to the day this dream becomes a reality. Now all we need is
ScriptWriter 4000…

…. like an attack from a thousand mosquitoes and leeches!

I went to the Red Cross building today at lunch and donated some blood. =
They really liked the look of my big veins so want to sign me up for =
regular blood plasma and platelets donations. If they knew my blood type =
for sure they would have been tempted to do the platelets extraction =
anyway.

They have 7" widescreen LCD TVs for you to watch, but being in the daytime =
all that was on were soaps and Oprah. I told the nurse I could feel my IQ =
dropping!!!

With platelets they hook you up to a machine which drains out blood, spins =
it to extract the platelets and pumps the leftover red blood cells back =
into you. Takes about an hour.

My haemoglobin level is about halfway between extremes so they were happy =
about that too.

Now I can find out my blood type. I’ve never known. Those sorts of things =
can haunt you for life!! The ‘not knowing’!

They told me to eat up and drink lots (but not beer unless I wanted a big =
headspin lol!) to recharge the system I guess. So I went down to my usual =
coffee place and got a mini bagel with egg, ham, cheese, tomato relish and =
my usual large mocha coffee.

Last week I caught up with a friend who started working temp reception work =
at a company I support. It was good catching up after about 11 years. It’s =
amazing to see tge difference in someone you knew as an 8 year old so long =
ago!

Tonight I pick up Sienna since tomorrow is ‘Ekka day’ (Brisbane show day) =
which is a public holiday up here. The local shopping centre has an Ekka =
day on and has face painting, clowns, petting zoo, etc on. Should be a good =
day out.