Witness Protection

I have not been compromised.

I read about people regretting not keeping their anonymity. I want to preserve mine. I want to post more grit and less fluff. Being more anonymous allows that.

This blog is not being killed, just retired. Put out to pasture.

mbrain is being reincarnated. But I'd still like those I trust to come and visit. To find out where (and who) he is now, email me and chances are I'll send you directions to my new joint.

Ciou peeps!

Feelin' Groovy

Holiday : "Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure"

Leisure time ? Yes!
Away from work ? Yes!
Rest or pleasure ? Yes and yes!

I guess I had a holiday! Away from work, like about a thousand kilometres! Leisure time was like lazing about the pool, or taking a ride on an attraction that "may result in unanticipated thrills" and have "unexpected movements". Rest would be like spending a day doing NOTHING or watching the cricket with my brother. Or doing a jigsaw puzzle. And as for pleasure... well, it was our wedding anniversary while we were away. :-P

And the two-ish weeks on holidays felt like longer than two-ish weeks at work. A good time was had by all. The weather held up (and no-one got sunburnt) and I spent less money than I thought I would. It's all good. Dreamworld is the same as it was two years ago, except for the new Mick Doohan ride. That wasn't too bad - and the older kids could ride too so we did that quite a bit. We even got up to the Sunshine Coast a couple of times. If you find yourself at Eumundi markets, I can highly recommend the German sausage with sauerkraut for lunch.

The worst thing about the holiday? I lost the golf tee off my thong! (see last post) Bah!

All in all, I'm feelin' groovy......

Better than Fonzie

This will be my last post for a few weeks. Regular readers will realise that I'm choofing off on holidays, and I'm soooo looking forward to it. And to put you all in the holiday mood like me, here's a picture of my groovy new thongs I got today. Screw your Havianas! These are a billion times cooler. Like Fonzie cool. Perhaps even cooler! I reckon they're way freakin' awesome! So if you're on the Gold Coast in the next two weeks and you see a dude strollin' around in a pair of these babies lookin' mighty relaxed - it's probably me! Ciou peeps!

My mugs

Souveniers are the nicknacks that we pick up on holidays to remind us of how much of a great time we had.

The best souvenier I have is a coffee mug I use at work. I picked it up at Dreamworld a couple of years ago. Reminds me of the great family holiday we had. What sticks in my mind is how relaxed I was, how it was just a time where we all just enjoyed being together, doing things or doing nothing. The kids watching Spongebob or me and Mrs watching American Chopper on pay TV. Going to the pool late at night in the rain. BBQ's every second day. My coffee mug reminds me of this almost daily. This is why I go to work and this is what I have to look forward to when I get home from work each day. Even if just a little bit.

Do you have any souveniers like this?

I'm planning to get a brand new mug next week. Maybe Australia Zoo will have one that takes my fancy. Does anyone know if there's a Ren and Stimpy marathon on Nickelodeon next week? Fingers crossed.

Internet poll

Here's a poll for all readers. Regular, non-regular or one-timers alike.......

Am I, mbrain, a "fucking spineless prick?"

Vote now!

Smile

I'm happy.
My car broke down, I have heaps of bills to pay and I can't get the right part for my espresso machine.
But I'm still happy. That's because next week I'm on holidays!

Queensland! Beaches, Fun Parks, Family, BBQ's, lazy every-days, Australia Day party

Woooot! 6 more sleeps!

I worry about things that I don't even realise. Right now, I think I'm worried about something, but I don't know what it is. Freak me! I just spent the Christmas week having a great time, feeling great, feeling calm and relaxed. Two days back at work and I can feel something building up again. My boss is on holidays, half my team are as well and nothing is going wrong. So why do I feel like shit? Is it all in anticipation? Freak freak fre-ak!

You know, I started this blog as an experiment. Could I find an "outlet" to vent, speak my mind(s) and otherwise diffuse anxiety? There is evidence that would indicate that it works. Whenever I'm feeling good, I don't have much to say. Or at least, I don't feel compelled to come and write something. No matter how meaningless the dribble is. The times that I'm feeling good are generally when I don't post as much. I think. I don't know if it's as effective as it could be however. I don't feel that it's as private as I once felt it was. Not that anyone I know reads it. My friend Sitemaster tells me so. I dunno, it's just what it feels like. Maybe I have even more to say now, like I've gone through a certain level in what I feel safe saying and now that I want to say even more, the risks are higher. And despite all that, keeping a 100% private journal will not work for me. In the past, I've done this and on reading it back it doesn't even make sense to me. So I know that keeping my blog public forces me to construct my words in a somewhat grounded way. Not that I can claim to think that everyone (aka anyone) can understand everything that I write (far from it in fact!) however there are semblances of normalcy that would not exist if I wrote just to and for myself. So to all the anonymous readers out there, thank you for unknowingly keeping my words meaningful.

So to wrap up, there is no wrap up. This blog journey of mine continues, and this post is poorly constructed. There is no beginning, middle and end. There is no purpose, no sub-plot, no twist. It is what it is and it is not what it is not. As so many before me have done the same - I will not read this post over before I hit "publish post". Except I will do the spellczech. ;-) Who knew that fre-ak isn't a word?

One man's blank is another man's blunk

I sometimes wonder if I see
feel
smell
hear
taste
everything the same as everyone else. Is every experience unique to me? Do we all experience everything different or exactly the same. Our frame of reference is always the same, limited to that of our own - so how can we ever know? Like the old adage, if a tree falls in the woods and no-one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If we were all there to hear it, would we hear the same sound? If I could "plug in" to your brain for a moment, would I see a red sky or would black be white? Would every song be an octave higher? Would water taste like wine?

Everything is relative, there are no absolutes.
There are no certainties, only probabilities.
Truths are fictions that serve the purpose of common beliefs.
There is no true free will, there are invisible boundaries (aka attractors).

It's a distortion. Henry, Look at me! Look! You can't see me or anyone as they are! I wanted Dostoyevsky!

Would people watch The MBrain Show?

I wonder if my life is as boring from the outside as it is from the inside. My day.....

"Sleep in" until almost 9:00. Breakfast is Cornflakes and coffee. I attempt to make a good micro froth and get some better results. I get a better swirl than normal and am somewhat impressed. I'll still be searching for a different wand/tip to get the speed up. Mrs has already made coffee but had a problem with her milk, so I make her another. It is of course, better.

All the kids are awake and have already eaten breakfast. Two of the kids in fact have already eaten two breakfasts each. Must have worked up an appetite the night before - they were all up until 9:30 after all.

Sit and chat with Mrs about what is planned for the day. We decide not to go to Homebush to the aquatic centre until the weekend, so instead Mrs plans a day at the movies with the girls and their cousins. This won't be until 2:30. Mrs asks if I plan on a bike ride (I went for a quick ride yesterday for 40 mins). I thought I would, but a longer one. After all, I need to get 4hrs exercise per week to pass my January resolution, so a long ride will help.

So, I strap on my Zen, my backpack with water reservoir, and leave at about 10:30. I plan to ride around the lake, about 45-50km. I set off and the wind is a little gusty. I figure I'll be into the teeth of it at the start and the end of the ride, but the middle section will be good.

As I'm riding, I'm just thinking about other stuff. Random stuff. Keep drinking, you don't want to get dehydrated. Good thing you put on sunscreen, the sun is strong. I mentally break up the ride into four sections. Home to Warrawong, Warrawong to Kembla Grange, Kembla Grange to Albion Park Rail, Albion Park Rail to home.

One hour fifty minutes later, I'm home. First time I've done this ride without a break. Not bad on a mountain bike for an amateur 34yr old. Well, I think so.

Have lunch (sandwiches and fruit) and read a few blogs. Mrs takes girls to the movies and I bum out in front of the TV. Remember that I need to pay the remainder for our holiday (only two weeks to go) so I call up the resort with Visa in hand. Done.

Mrs gets home and we all head out for dinner with the in laws. Eat out on their deck while kids watch Flushed Away inside.

Home again by 7:30, kids in bed (despite protests from #3, surprise surprise) and bum out in front of TV again. Mrs in bed by 9:00. I watch downloaded episode of October Road. It's not great, I might watch some more. Decide to go and check blogs. Not much happening out there. I guess everyone has more interesting things to do than I do. It's 10:50pm now. Back to work tomorrow, time for bed.

G'night peeps.

P.S. my knee is sore from the ride. Poor me.

Year New Happy

HurraH! HurraH! HurraH!

You mean that's it?

NYE 2007 Party

So tonight I'm gonna parrrrty like it's

Two

Thousaaand

and Seven