Notepad Scribbles #20061220

Back on the injured list...again. After coming back from one injury, I get slapped with another. It's like hitting a string of red lights in succession - it makes me just want to use up my entire expletives vocabulary. So frustrating.

However, in some indirect way, it has been good. One of the few things which made it to my list was to not play video games as much and limit myself to only playing after the sun has set (thereby allowing me to better utilise the hours in the day). Although I get sad looks from my PS2 and can swear that it is beckoning to me in a little voice , I have abstained from it and not played for almost a week. I now know what Frodo and Gollum must have been going through. Ok, maybe not - but close...

This has definitely left me some time to do other things:

• Enjoying the cinemas:
• Casino Royale
• Definitely an interesting Bond with the set up of his character and good action. Personally, I liked the omission of Q, as it introduces a slightly more human side to Bond's abilities, rather than relying on gadgets. Love the intro sequence with the suits of the card as well as the construction site chase (awesome hops and agility). Gripe of the movie has to be the gratuitous pouty moments for Daniel Craig. And body shots. Bloody show-off.
• The Prestige
• Twisty plot and out-of-chronological-order scenes make for some thinking in this movie. Definitely adhere to the recommended, "Don't drink and watch". Due to an already slow mind being dragged down by some alcohol, my mind was still digesting the contents of the movie. Gripe of the movie had to be Scarlett Johansson for lacking conviction.

• Eating:
• Italian
• Cantina Uno
• Vini
• Mezzaluna
  
• Thai
• Thainatown
• Spice I am
• Japanese
• Sushi Samurai
  
• In search of that perfect steak
• Kellys - Thanks heaps!
  
• Hurricanes

• As an aside, I am pleased with the restaurant review sites out there. It is good to see other people's opinions - especially the average customers, and not the expert reviewers. I have to admit I am a big fan of online research, especially since some sales people are absolutely clueless. I am a big fan of sales assistants who acutally know something and give a damn about serving their customers. Biggest gripe is the new sydney.citysearch site which is running so slow now. The search criteria for restaurants is terrible and inconsistent between pages. I think it is trying too hard to do too much.
  

• Christmas shopping - No stock. Nothing good. People everywhere. Parking. Driving. Thank goodness I am all sorted there now!
  

• BBQs and catchups- with the summer days (occasionally) here, it has been good to have BBQs and getting myself a bit of a tan after being pasty white on my return from Singapore. Unfortunately, some of them where marked with hint of sadness as some of my friends have their farewells. However, all was good and it was great to see people I had not seen in years. One of the most relaxing had to be travelling past Camden to a relatively large block of land. It was so quiet and serene out there, it was such a stark contrast to the hustle and close proximity living I am familiar with. Sure, convenience is not the best, with owning a car being mandatory for almost any practical means (unless one believes in subsistence living). Makes me want to have a holiday home some place out of Sydney. Some day I will have my dream escapism....

• Getting motivated. If ever I needed inspiration, it would have to come from The Biggest Loser. Typically, I am not one to watch a lot of reality shows, but the transformation of some of these people is absolutely astounding. Watching the finale and seeing people lose more than 50% of their body weight is shocking. I was very happy for the winner who shed around 54% of his weight because he wanted to be there for his kids. That has to rate up there with regards to motivation.