I had already recieved my christmas present: a return flight to Brisbane, so not much was under the tree for me. I did get this neat gel neck cooler thing — you put it in water for about 2 minutes, and it soaks up and becomes pretty solid, then you chuck it in the fridge, then you velcro it around your neck — so beautifully cold!

Today’s weather was forecast to be 38°C. Neil’s new thermometer reports 38.8°C o_O;

We went swimming at Streets Beach again today — a huge turnout for Christmas Day. Lots of beautiful women. I got a little depressed about how I didn’t have a girl to share the day with. After talking with Mum a little, I guess I lack confidence to approach the ladies.

Mum also said that she thought I’d changed; “like you’ve lost a part of yourself – I used to be able to talk to anyone”. That touched a nerve and I didn’t know what to think about myself anymore.

I don’t think I used to talk to HEAPS of people, but I guess I don’t say much anymore.

I hate making judgement calls on people.

I’ll usually only pipe up when I have something to add to a conversation, like a fact or something funny.

I really like to talk about things I know about, like computers, the internet, christianity, creative commons and copyright.

I don’t start conversations. Maybe that’s the problem. I guess I feel I don’t have anything relevent to say that will be interesting. And that’s probably a lie; I’m an interesting person. I am, right? I don’t know. If chicks find out I’m a hard-core geek, I tend to get judged and stereotyped. I don’t look like a stereotype geek, but I certainly can behave like one.

Mum said I needed to boost my confidence. She said I could look at losing some weight and I should do the things I enjoy to make me feel better about myself. I don’t care too much if I have a beergut. And I do do the things I enjoy.

I work. I love to get on a computer and punch out a website. I love to help others with their computer problems. I love to do the things I do well, and I love learning to do them better. Reading about my industry online. Attending conferences. Stuff like that.

How do I boost my confidence in something I suck at? Getting rejected hurts. I feel like I have so much to offer to some special lady. But putting myself on the line only to get burnt really hurts. I work my courage to go over and say hi, and I put effort into it over a few weeks, and then I figure out that she’s probably not interested in me. That’s a bum deal.

But I guess it’s life. The only way to build my confidence up is to take the chance and try talking to a girl.

After some initial oversights (Didn’t have any USB keyboards), I got it up and going with my existing CRT monitor, mouse and keyboard. First things I learnt: Home and End go to the top and bottom of your document, not the start and end of the current line. Just to clarify:

But I should get used to all that. I guess I wish I had a real Mac keyboard, but I did find DoubleCommand, which I have yet to try, but looks promising.

I did however, try Quicksilver! I really like this tool — it lets you do things you might do quite often all from the keyboard, things like start applications, upload files. If I was going to replace my Windows box with the Mac as my desktop machine, I’m sure Quicksilver would definetely become handy It’s like a command prompt on de-obfuscation pills!

The main reason we have the Mac is for testing websites in Safari and IE5Mac. Safari is quite good, but as many of my web designing and developing friends out there will likely know, the bane of our existances is Internet Explorer, and IE5Mac triplely so. So I stand to learn a lot about the inadequacies of crappy browsers… as if IE6Win wasn’t enough…

Webfroot is looking smart in Safari — the one-liner doesn’t render correctly, but hey, can’t win them all. Haven’t tried looking at inner.geek yet… will do that tomorrow.

Getting to know the ins and outs of a highly polished, well thought out operating system is an exciting prospect. I’ve tried several KDE and Gnome installations over the years, and they don’t have squat on MacOSX.

If I wasn’t saving to go to WE05, I’d be all like saving hard core for a Mac… I have been dreaming of a Mactop to call my own for a while now…

Can anyone out there recommend good freeware apps a Windows Poweruser “switching” to OSX should look at?

• GodCast.org — Creative Commons licenced podcasts with christian content, especially The Living Word and Rev Tim’s Podcast
• Flickr — Finding cool photos that get your creative juices flowing has never been so easy, and never so fun!
• Picasa — Makes performing simple photo improvements fast and easy… if only it would integrate with Flickr…
• Walking around Wellington — especially to places I’ve never walked, such as the Interisland Ferry Terminal. I’m doing the 10,000 step program, so reaching 10,000 steps before I go to bed is a real motivator… and taking the new camera makes it fun too … walking to the ferry terminal that day got me up above 20,000 steps for the first time!
• Getting Things Done — or more specifically the methodology outlined in the book Getting Things Done (slashdot review)… being organised and completing tasks is a motivator!

I long to fall in love, and when I do, the hopeless romantic in me hopes it’s something like Garden State… It’s probably the warm fuzzy feeling in my chest talking, but I hope I fall in love with someone who’s as equally crazy, if not more crazy than I am.

And ladies, I’m leaving my mind open, so if you’re reading this and you’re interested in the Brettmeister, and you’re not as crazy as Sam, it’s cool, come see me anyway! I may be crazy, but I’m not insane! Well, at least not clinically…

Overall, I thought the movie was awesome. If you see any movie this holiday season, see The Incredibles (when it finally opens in NZ), and then see Garden State.

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On a side note, shout outs to Virgil, who I bumped to on the street — hope to see you again soon sometime matey

The thing I guess that cuts me up the most is that I have never had a period where Mel didn’t come over to our house for more than a week. When Mel and I broke up, she kept coming over and seeing Chris – as friends. Now that friendship has blossomed. I’m happy for them, and don’t want them to break up because of me – they’re going out because they feel that way for each other, I have no input into that. But it doesn’t change the fact that I still hurt.

They are both great people who are responsible adults who will make the right decisions. I’m just gonna keep out of the whole situation. I don’t want to be hurt any more.

(make sure you read the disclaimer before getting angry at me)

Also, I went to (probabaly) largest $2 store in New Zealand. Store doesn’t describe it well enough – more like warehouse – literally! This place has so much crazy crap for sale it’s insane! Sorry Chris, no plastic bullet guns – I looked and looked

Also, Christchurch has cycle lanes. Basically at major intersections there is a brown lane which takes cyclists up to the front of the traffic, and then spreads out into a box where the cyclists can set up in front of traffic waiting behind them at their line, so when the traffic lights go, the traffic has to wait till the cyclists are out sf the way before going!

Another thing is the awesome bus interchange airport. They have a arrival board saying how many minutes away the next 6 buses are, and when they arrive, which gate you should go to to get into it, along with an announcer (who must be human, cos he mumbles his announcements – get an automated one chch!). The waiting lounge is comfortable, and extremly user friendly. Not to mention Chch’s circular bus is FREE!

If you’re in Christchurch, you must stop by the arts centre. They have this awesome fudge cottage which sells fudge and all-sorts of yummy sugar-based products. Mmm… Also, tons of stalls with arts and crafts, and there was even someone there with a refridgerated window in the back of his truck selling CHEESE! MMMMM!

Well, Christchurch is a pretty awesome place. Probably my 2nd most favorite place in New Zealand. Wellington being first

Ferry ride from Wgtn was a lot of fun, quite rough in places. Train ride was set to be a lot of fun but crap weather prevented beautiful views to be seen, thus major boredom ensued. Got into Chch about 7:20pm.

Not sure whats in store for me this weekend, but if I have my way, fun shall ensue! w00t

So, don’t miss me while I’m gone. SMS me if you reallly need to get a hold of me: +64(21)0355193. Cheers

Saturday I slept in and then Chris and Mark gave me a present. It was Lazy Sunday 3, which is what I wanted for my birthday (cheers guys!). But even better was the card they gave me – Mark, it seemed, had spent two days making a birthday card featuring a fake letter sent to Strong Bad asking him to send me an email saying Happy Birthday – LMAO! Excellent, guys!

Later that night a few of my friends (Mark L, Jaron, Ben and Steph) came over and we played xbox for a little while, then got Hells and watched Jackass The Movie. That is one classic movie… if you’ve never seen a Jackass, and are not squeemish, you will be after the end of this movie.

Anyway, the birthday was overall the best birthday I’ve ever had, and caps off the fact that this is the best era i’ve had in my life (new job, girlfriend, overall happy to be alive motif). I don’t things could get worse but we’ll see

20th Dec:
Said goodbye to Mel at the airport – she was flying to Christchurch. Caught the train to Paraparamu, Dad picked me up and we went to Otaki.

25th:
Xmas Day – saw my cousins at my grandparents place – was cool. Dinner was late because my cousins were late, and Dad got completely trashed from drinking and not eating.

29th December:
Dad and I drove to Napier. Went to the cricket with Stuart, my brother. Was pretty neat. Dad stays the night, leaves the next day.

New Years Eve:
Mum and I went up town for a drink. Bumped into Wayne, an aquantance of mine from my NCMT days. Fireworks, was a very good night!

2nd:
Caught up with Guru Bob at his place. Beer and burgers (thanks Linda!) and a GeneRally tourney. Bought GTA3 for PC from Bob for Stuart’s Birthday.

4th:
Saw Harry Potter with my Brother – was pretty cool.

5th: Stuart and I get a ride to Palmerston North with my Mum, meet up with Dad, we buy clothes, and drive on to Otaki.

7th: Dad, Stuart and I drive to Wellington, go to Te Papa for an hour or so, lunch, my house, I discover Chris has bought a giant TV and DVD 5.1 surround sound system for his room, and Mark has bought an Xbox. Wow. Dad and Stuart depart back to Otaki. 7pm I get picked up by Mel’s flatmate Andrew (thanks Andy!) and we go to the airport to pick up Mel, we go to her place have dinner with her flatmates.