Davyd ([info]davyd) wrote,
@ 2008-05-04 22:54:00
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Current music:The Magnetic Blogsnots - I See You've Played Knifey-Spoony Before

choose your friends to fit your beliefs; not your beliefs to fit your friends
This post about my life is accompanied by pictures of seagulls and boats. There is no reason for this, I just want to seem artsy.

more boats on the river

As previously mentioned, we're currently in the process of finding somewhere new to live. After this weekend we've looked at nine properties for sale around Highgate and Mt Lawley. At least one of them seems like a place we could offer on. A number of them have potential, but you'd need to completely rennovate them first, we really don't have time. We're going to look at some more next weekend.

The idea of buying is a little daunting. It's affordable (as long as we're both employed), but it's certainly a lot of liability. I suppose it doesn't really reduce our flexibility any more than a fixed-term lease, we could always sell or rent the place out if our futures take us away from Perth (indeed Tom and Max did this). It seems like such an adult thing though, owning property, like being married.

the expensive bit of Crawley

Knowing that we have to leave has left me in a bit of a funk. This flat has really become our home in the last three and a half years. And it sounds silly, but there are things in the neighbourhood that we'll miss: like crazy postoffice guy and the kebab shop. For somewhere around a quarter of my life I've lived within 200m of the same supermarket (it's had 2 name changes and renovations during that time).

But there are some things to feel excited about, like being able to hang up all of the art that we've got tucked away (and indeed purchase additional, awesome art because we know we'll have somewhere to hang it) and possibly obtaining a balcony or courtyard. I think my problem is that where we live no longer feels like our space and that house hunting cannot be turned into a 24x7 exercise, so maybe things will seem happier once we have somewhere new.

food!

It's possibly related, but I've been feeling very bored lately. I have zero motivation to work on anything that involves computers or programming (feels too much like work). Actually, I'm feeling demotivated in general. I guess this is why people just come home and watch TV all night. I currently have no academic pursuits; I thought about picking one up, but I'm actually enjoying not having the stress. I think I just need to rediscover hobbies that don't require daylight or a partner (when Steph is studying). Friends always seem to be busy.

I finally got around to replacing the audio cables in the fit-PC I bought a while back, meaning that the sound now works. I originally bought this thinking it had a PC-card socket inside (it does not), and was going to turn it into a wireless AP/media box, but we'll probably get ADSL2 when we move which means we'll need a new modem anyway (so we'll probably get some integrated do-whatsit) and the thing has some pretty serious sound/video sync issues with multimedia. Thus I'm not actually sure what to do with it.

yacht on the Swan

Renovations for our half the floor at work start tomorrow, so Programming has been temporarily moved downstairs. Going open-plan again hasn't actually been too bad. The renovation is taking 8 weeks, so I'm not sure whether or not to actually unpack my box of stuff from upstairs. I did sit my penguins on a shelf and put up my poster of Richard Feynman though.

I've also heard that Cowie and I are speaking at GUADEC. Both Matt and I are meant to be going from FSI this year. Should be fun times. I just have to hope that house-related stuff doesn't throw a spanner in the works (especially after missing last year).

seagull in flight

Umm, what else. I went to IEAust to receive my certificate for joining since it's literally around the corner from work. I've also joined IEEE (although this seems to mostly be a way to sign up for conference spam). I wasted a large amount of time rewatching the Hornblower mini-series because boats are cool and people acting affronted are funny. Steph and I also finished watching Carnivale. The beginning was very shaky. It seemed like each writer was pushing his/her OTP during their episode, but it was actually quite awesome once it got going. Of course now I can't help but think that the Methodist church is creepy and sinister. Clearly they were expecting to be allowed to make more chapters in the future, because it leaves you hanging. Speaking of such things, we still haven't finished chapter 2 of Heroes.

Oh, and apparently it's ok for a politician to sexually harass one of their staff, "because there are worse people in Parliament". I like this reasoning, it's like a get out of jail free card (literally) for a whole bunch of crimes I might like to commit one day, because at least they're not as bad as beating someone half to death with an iron bar.

boats at sunset


(Post a new comment)

Nice boats and seagulls
(Anonymous)
2008-05-04 06:02 pm UTC (link)
Nice boats and seagulls. I understand how you feel, I've also been quite demotivated. Posted this yesterday, and felt much better immediately afterwards: http://jonathancarter.co.za/time-for-changes-2008-05

Hope things get better soon.

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(Anonymous)
2008-05-04 06:23 pm UTC (link)
Out of curiosity, why are you looking at buying rather than renting?

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[info]davyd
2008-05-04 11:38 pm UTC (link)
Because the rental market here at the moment is nuts. The rental on a 2 bedroom place like we looked at is $350/week now, that's almost the cost of the mortgage!

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[info]wintal
2008-05-05 05:09 am UTC (link)
Mmmmmm... now I just need to get my house on the rental market before it all goes to shit :P $350/week wouldn't cover the mortgage, but it's not far off ;)

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[info]davyd
2008-05-05 10:37 am UTC (link)
Even if the bottom falls out of the housing market because people can't afford their interest rates (which I'm pretty sure will only happen in the mortgage belts anyway), there is already a shortage of rentals; so with more people looking to rent I imagine prices will remain fairly steady.

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[info]thanners
2008-05-05 04:03 am UTC (link)
Hope you guys manage to get house things sorted without too much hassle.

I don't have much else to comment on the majority of the post, but just wanted to say that I liked the title of your post.

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[info]davyd
2008-05-05 10:40 am UTC (link)
Thanks. It was much longer, but it wouldn't fit within LJs title limit.

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(Anonymous)
2008-05-05 07:42 am UTC (link)
Those photos are making me miss Perth ... it's funny how I've been alternating wildly between feeling "OMG Melbourne awesomeness" and "nowhere will feel like home the way Perth does". My recent experience is that house hunting really _is_ stressful, I'm sure you'll be a lot happier once you've found a place you like. Plus, if you buy, it'll be your space forever (until you sell). (I win at stating the obvious today.)

Oh, I can also completely empathise with your comment "I have zero motivation to work on anything that involves computers or programming", having not-that-long-ago started working full time in a programming position. I think it's probably quite a healthy thing to have happen.

Cameron

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[info]Zanchey [typekey.com]
2008-05-06 01:08 pm UTC (link)
Hear hear, the last thing I want to do when I come home from full-time (IT) work is use the computer. This is part of the reason I want to be in a different field.

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[info]davyd
2008-05-06 01:10 pm UTC (link)
The problem will be when you have children. Suddenly dealing with their gastro bug will seem awfully like what you did all day.

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[info]themink17
2008-05-05 12:39 pm UTC (link)
I say unto the crowd - D&D.

How about Saturday Week - that gives lots of time before hand.

But wait - you are house hunting - which is normally a saturday thing - which means that you are not going to be available - bugger.

Umm - I'll have to think some more.

Regarding hobbies - I have recently been beating metal (ie coldforging thin sheets) - it isn;t very housemate/apartment friendly as it makes a fair bit of noise - but it's quite theraputic - and it's nothing to do with computers. I have also knit a lot of maille - again - nothing to do with computers, and maille is much less objectionable - I even watch movies while knitting

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[info]themink17
2008-05-05 12:41 pm UTC (link)
forgot to mention that my father and I have been doign some research on building a weekender - http://www.stevproj.com/PocketYachts.html - it's about 200 hours for a hobbiest (we are planning on 300) which is pretty good, even if we only sail once a year.

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[info]davyd
2008-05-05 02:14 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, we should arrange DnD for some point. I'm sure we'll get it sorted out eventually.

I love the image in my head of you sat in front of the telly in your rocking chair crocheting a chainmail scarf.

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