Delicious cheesy goodness

Was walking through Coles today doing our usual weekly grocery run, went down the Spreads aisle. You know what I miss? iSnack 2.0. I know it's still being sold under some new name, but damn I loved it before it was changed. iSnack 2.0. Even the thought of it sends me into hysterics. It's also about the only way I'd ever consider eating a cheese spread. I miss you, iSnack 2.0.

My headset microphone doesn't work on this laptop. Poop.

Had Chicken Tonight for dinner. The ingredients don't call for greens but I added in beans, broccoli and some mushrooms. Tasted pretty good.

Dad's 52nd was last night. We walked around Crown for ages trying to find a restaurant, since we were stupid and didn't book in advance. Ended up eating at a decent Japanese place in Southbank called Miyako. Between the three of us, we had a sashimi platter (good variety), one serving of salmon sushi, a seaweed salad, one bottle of Asahi, one serving of lamb (it was beautifuly cooked, nice and rare, an absolute treat. Loin of Lamb, it was called on the menu), sukiyaki for two (my dad, an avowed sukiyaki expert, thoroughly approved of their preparation, method, and taste), and one bowl of rice. All that came to a grand total of...$191.50. 20% discount because they're running a promotion until June 14th, so it came down to around $155, but it was still surprisingly expensive. Definitely one of the better dining out experiences I've had in a while, marred only by a group of four elderly diners who walked out in disgust after claiming that they had been cheated on their bill. Apparently, from what I could make out from one elderly gentleman's rambling, they had a voucher which they wanted to use for both couples, despite attempting to pay separately. The restaurant refused, stating that the voucher clearly applied only to one transaction. As they left, they insulted everything from the food to the staff to the prices. Nothing in my experience justified any of their criticism, and indeed I would say that they were the worst part of that restaurant.

I want to read Game of Thrones, but one of my friends says I should watch the TV series first. Any thoughts or opinions either way?

10/10/10

10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year past 2000. Pretty awesome, eh? And apparently in binary, it translates into the number 42, also known as the meaning of life :D
There's some shit going around Facebook about how it only comes once every 1000 years. Dumbfucks. More like once every 100 years. 10th of October, 2110, will also be 10/10/10.

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Anyway, it was Linh's birthday today, so a bunch of us rocked up to Napier hotel out in somewhere near the city. Pretty awesome, food was lovely (for a pub), drinks were alright, company was good :D Whittled away a few hours, didn't get to open up Jason's bottle of wine though :P

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On the train to the city, I saw one of the most gorgeous girls I have ever seen, and will likely ever see. Like, seriously, absolutely to die for. Probs never see her again, though, but meh. The knowledge that women like that actually exist gives hope :D

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I have bands for my braces. Eating and brushing teeth are now insanely difficult without removing them. Teeth ache, but it's not painful. D:

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Just finished the Sten series by Chris Bunch and Allan Cole. Excellent. If you're ever looking to branch into military sci-fi, this is a good place to start. Not out there enough to start doing your head in, but just different enough to be fresh.
I've been reading the Starfist series by David Sherman and Dan Cragg. Very nice military sci-fi, but there's only like 10 books or something in the series. :( Will start on the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett sometime soon.

I think you're...

I think you're really really awesome. Yes, you!



Learned a new word recently. "Epikicity". Pronounciation is still in the works, but look at it. Bask in it's epikicity. That's right. "Epikicity" is itself epikicitic. Did I just make a new word? :O

Finished reading the main Honor Harrington story arc, waiting on book 12 (should come out some time in June/July, apparently). Also waiting on book 4 in the A Desert Called Peace series, no time for completion yet. Military science fiction, yay!

Have been encouraged to branch out from that, though. So...A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, is at the very top of my 'to read' list. :) Thanks Janmay! Have also been meaning to have a look at Philip K. Dick, apparently he has awesome science fiction/fantasy/alternate history kind of stuff, definitely perks my interest.

On the music front, still going with the techno/hardstyle blend. MrChitotheHardStyler, on Youtube, has an AWESOME collection of his own stuff, and tracks from other artists. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/user/MrChitotheHardStyler

My mouse broke recently. I think the frayed wires were shortcircuting my laptop whenever I plugged it in. So went and played Runescape for a while, using touchpad. Stole my sister's mouse today (yesterday). It's a piece of rubbish. Logitech, and PINK. The cord is way too short, and it'll often move the mouse to the complete opposite side of the screen that I'm trying to move it, for no apparent reason at all. Oh well. Mouse is better than no mouse at all. And it's a little less responsive, as I found out to my shock when playing Modern Warfare 2 today.

On that note, Modern Warfare 2. Had five harriers today, but not a single chopper gunner. I think I'm starting to lose my touch. I did manage to get to 10-0 at one point, until some lightweight+marathon knifer spawned behind me and knifed me. Sigh. Need that one nuke. Maybe I ought to stop sniping...pretty fun though. Highrise, Terminal, are now my two favourite maps. Quarry isn't bad either. Karachi and Favela are still the two maps I utterly despise.

A Desert Called Peace

This is a military science-fiction novel by LTC Tom Kratman (ret.), and it's actually amazingly funny. Here's a few quotes...

"General speaking the rule had been: Republic equals republic. People's Republic equals dictatorship. Democratic Republic equals really oppressive dictatorship. People's Democratic Republic equals really oppressive and corrupt dictatorship, amounting to a family corporation, with genocidal tendencies."

"Crudely modified Volgan missiles. Even the unmodified versions were so inaccurate they had been known to miss entire countries before. The dictator, Saleh, would be more likely to hit the base around Mangesh if he hired a bunch of witch doctors from Uhuru and had them try to entice meteors down from space."

"When no attack materialized, they went back to their normal routine of shivering, freezing, and, if the Yezidi were to be believed, buggering [fucking] each other. In this belief Fahad and the Chaldeans seemed to concur.
They were still, so far as Cheatham could tell, buggering [fucking] each other when the frameworks for the Stollen began to go up.
Perhaps they had run out of lubrication-that, or they'd discovered that weapons oil was a poor substitute-when the layer of concrete was poured.
Supplies of less toxic lubricant must have come through, though, because they disappeared again when the Yezidi gangs began piling dirt atop the concrete. Still, so Cheatham and the Yezidis surmised, those supplies must have been limited. They were back again to watch as the dirt was covered with large chunks and slabs of rock."

"Everything you need to know about the Yezidi is explained by their conduct during and after the Oil War. We told them if they arose in rebellion, in other words if they helped us by drawing off some of the Sumeri troops, we would help them. They rebelled all right, but they waited until after we had stomped the crap out of the Sumeri army on our own. They only rebelled when it seemed perfectly safe to rise up in the vacuum we created, and after we didn't need their help any more. Then they whined when even the shot-and-bombed-to-shit rump of the Sumeri Haris al Watini was able to crush their chicken-shit asses. They will do nothing for themselves or for us. Trust me on this. Politically they're unreliable and militarily they're worthless."

"I've been in those mountains before. They practically defend themselves, at least as long as they're not being defended by Yezidis. Yezidis are a net minus to combat power."

""Arrest the motherfuckers as spies," Carrera commanded McNamara when told that a group of media types from the Global News Network had arrived in now-abandoned Mangesh. When told of a humanitarian medical group nosing around he had said, with equal vehemence, "Arrest them. Take them to the caves and inform them they will care for our wounded as well as any civilians. Make it clear that I am firing squad serious about that."
"Patricio," Jiminez cautioned, "do you really think it's wise to alienate the press?"
"Err...maybe not, Xavier," Carrera relented. "Though frankly I doubt it matters. The press is the enemy, as much as the Sumeris or perhaps more so. But...all right. We won't arrest them as spies."
"Instead....Sergeant Major, take the pressies and medicos into protective custody, confiscate their equipment and cell phones, and confine them to the field hospital cave where they'll help care for our wounded. Don't trust the bastards; strip search them. If any of them are women see if the good father can come up with some Chaldean women to do the strip search. And if they try to escape, shoot them as spies.""

Anyway, I just finished it today. It is a bloody fine book, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. :)