seandc

So, here I am again, after a short break of... um... longer than I intended.

Haven't been up to much this last month out of the ordinary. The most noteworthy part of the week saw me finally living up to what people have thought for years - I took Wednesday off to get a wireless card and account for my computer - people have thought for years that I've had broadband, now I've found out that we can get it here without having to tear up all the wires in the house, I spent a few days thinking about it, then finally decided yes. I've got the card in and the various bits configured, but I haven't got the nod from the ISP yet, so I'll wait until their call before setting everything up.

"Well if I must, I must. Personally I'd rather be Meryl Streep, but then, wouldn't we all?" - The Real Ghostbusters

While the techie people were messing around with my machine, I killed time (since I was given a pick-up time of 3, and it was 9.40) at the movies and in Fremantle. I just had time to get in to the early screening of The Devil Wore Prada. I chose it just because I thought it would the least likely to be chockas with kids (it's school holidays here), but I enjoyed it - the reviews I've seen afterwards rave about Meryl Streep in this, and they're right. And yes, I did compare Runway to Just Shoot Me's Blush magazine - hey, the main characters even have similar (actress') birthdays!

Stepping out into the world again and suddenly realising that I'd left my sunglasses at home, I made my way to Fremantle (ah, the ease of having a direct bus route, and getting on the one after the one that was late). There's a bookstore on South Terrace I just can't seem to walk by without popping in - if I had any actual artistic talent I'd be doomed, this place has a large bay just of folio art books. Walked around a bit (I had thought of visiting the Army Museum, but I couldn't remember where it was), then found myself pointed down the arcade from High Street to the Post Office corner (I can't remember the name of it, or find the street directory).

I had thought just to browse in the windows at the model shop, but rounded the corner past the sweet shop, and saw a much sweeter sight. Comics. Shelves thereof. New comic shop, hooray! Called The Comic Box, I found out that they'd only opened three weeks ago. And much of what was on display were older comics, stuff that one can't find a lot of anymore. I managed not to go too nuts (just the right amount ;))...
( Cut for comic ramblings )

So, that was my new favourite store in Fremantle - I wandered a little bit more before working my way back to the circlebus, to get back to my computerstore pretty much on the dot of 3, to find the computer ready and waiting to go. Picked it up, did a big shop since I had to catch a cab anyway, and now all that's left is the waiting for the go-ahead to connect.

Friday of last week saw me taking my sweet time before going into the comic shop. I had a look in Empire, and almost got out without having to exercise my wallet... "Almost", I said. ;) I got to the DVD section, and what had just arrived that day (after being on back-order for five weeks I'm told) but the second season of Veronica Mars, which has been pushed from pillar to post, and then delayed for the football finals - yeah, I was done waiting for the show to start up again, I gave in after a minute and bought it. Long weekend viewing taken care of, marathon time!

Apart from that, the long weekend did give me a chance to see just how quickly the year's passing. I took a little walk to get a few supplies, which includes a short-cut through a small bush area (nice sense of being totally alone in there). In that patch at least, the first Christmas Trees are starting to flower - Mother Nature's beaten the City of Perth to start with the decorations this year!
( First decorations )

During this last week I got a packet of photos from Mum. A while back someone put an ad in the paper that they were going to visit the war cemeteries in France, and if anyone wanted him to visit a relative's grave to let him know. Mum wrote to him, and after being delayed in his trip, we got the photos he took of Great-Great-Uncle Maurice's grave in Doullens - some wide shots and some close-ups, with and without a little flag flying.

This weekend has seen a fire in the south-east of the city, smoke haze across these southern suburbs - luckily it was all blown away today, my eyes weren't looking forward to another day of burning. The late afternoon light was red enough to make it seem like the sun was shining through cordial - was less unsettling than the dirty yellow light before that though.( Red Sky )

So, that's most of the last month accounted for, apart from a couple of things I'll get to posting eventually.

Hmmm... what's today? Wednesday... Why do I ask? Because FedEx are so very fast, that's why. I ordered a batch of comics from MileHighComics.com in the United States last week. They were shipped on Friday, and arrived today! From ordering Tuesday night (my time) last week, to delivery only eight days later, that's good. Sometimes it's not so fast getting something from the Eastern States. The slightly higher cost for FedEx Priority was well worth it.

The comics in question? Something I've tried and failed to find here - they're just too old or popular to remain in our stores (finding pretty much anything from the 80s or earlier is a fluke - viz Giant Size X-Men #2 from 1975). The main parts of the order were the first Magik miniseries from 1983 (tied in to the New Mutants series - also got issues 13 to 18 of that), the X-Men/Teen Titans crossover of a year earlier, and an issue of Excalibur from about 8 years thereafter, just since it ties in to another story.

I also got an MP3 player today. Splurge? Looks like it, but not really. See, I'd been planning to buy a memory stick anyway, just a smallish one since they're so cheap these days so I can bring all the wackiness in pictures I find to my screensaver on my work computer. About a month ago I mentioned my local bookstore had had it's floorspace halved to make way for an "exciting new retailer" - that new retailer turns out to be a Tandy store, so they were actually right. I went in to have a look around, left to pay my phone bill and compare prices on memory sticks at the post office, and saw that post office only had a larger-memory one left that was more than I was willing to pay. So, I backtracked to the new Tandy, and instead of going straight for the counter, I had a look at the MP3 players. I asked a sales clerk if they also doubled as memory sticks, he said they did, so I got one, only $5 more than the memory stick of the same size - why not get something a bit more versatile? :)

I've just given it a quick try-out, not feeling brave enough to see how big the songs on the site they gave me a voucher for are (dialup, ouch).

So, an MP3 player. Wow. At this rate I might even get a mobile phone like normal people by the end of the year.
...
NOT!

Sorry to everyone I owe comments to, they're coming, just... not tonight. It's late, and I'm tired.