rack off!

rack off!
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Definately an action packed weekend, big nights both Friday and Saturday, each followed by lots of eye and brain work Saturday and Sunday in s2art's Photoshop Workshops, which I thoroughly recommend to anyone interesting in doing more with their photographs, I got a lot out of it, although I expect I'll spend a lot more time working on my photos now :)

Cath's 40th was really good. We have a lot of good nights out, but this was one of the best parties I'd been to in a while, with a lot of people I hadn't seen in ages, and even some cheesy dancing :)

superstar dj

superstar dj
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Last night at Yak was a special occasion, with Hayley working her last shift. Hayley has worked at Yak for some time, since her father Mark took over the ownership of the place. Hayley is a pretty cool girl, and will be moving on to run her own place, so we'll probably pop down there once it's open :)

Today was also a good day, as it was the first day of s2art's Photoshop workshop. I wasn't sure how much I would get out of it on the first day, if it was going to be a lot of time covering the stuff I already new, but we went straight into some interesting work and pretty much the whole day I was learning new bits and pieces, and tomorrow looks promising too.
But tonight it's off to The European Bier Cafe for Cathy's 40th, so that should be a bit of fun.

bored

bored
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Here's some news for you: Late shift gets boring :)

So what are we supposed to do? well, one option is to spend our time on flickr and blogging, so I'm doing that, but it's not as much fun when you're sitting at work doing it.

This weekend is looking pretty busy, I'm spending Saturday and Sunday in a Photoshop Workshop, Learning a bit more about manipulating my images so they come out how I want them to. Saturday night is Cathy's birthday party at The European, so that should be a bit of fun, and next week I'm on holidays!
yay hooray for me! :)
I have no fixed plans, probably going to spend some time on the couch watching movies, and some time on the computer looking at photos, and I'm hoping to spend a lot of time out and about taking photos until my eyes bleed from accidentally hitting them with the viewfinder. Which I did last night for the second time in my life. It hurt less this time, maybe I'm getting used to it, becoming accustomed to ramming a piece of black rubber into my eye.
Ooh, I wonder if there's a club I can go to where people will do that for me, perhaps Georgie can help me out there...
And here I am blogging about boredom when Kate sends me an SMS saying that she is waiting for a Tram and that she's bored. Small world :)
(small and sometimes boring)
Not that YOU people are boring, but you aren't around at the moment, so I'm bored.
I'm the chairman of the bored.
(as per Iggy)
that's all
end transmission.

Late shift = Night Shot

Flinders Lane North
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Well, I'm on the late shift this week, so that means skulking around the city taking night shots. The only difference this time is that I'm so far gone on this photography thing that I'm brining the tripod in with me on the tram so I can still use the SLR :)

Movie Madness

clone wars?
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

It's been a real week of movie madness, with a viewing of Revenge of the Sith with Georgie on Thursday, and another viewing with Eleanor and Richard at Gold Class on Sunday, then on Monday I went to see a double feature at the Astor with Kathryn, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club. Kathryn hadn't seen either movie, and by the sounds of the audience, that was a pretty common theme. Kinda freaked me out a bit, because the concept of not having seen these movies is something that just never occurred to me :)
As for Star Wars, I guess everyone who was gagging to see it has seen it now so I can give a mini review.
I liked it a lot, but then again it's a Star Wars movie :)
There were a lot of really cool things in it, like the development of the spacecraft and other vehicles to start looking more like the stuff we've seen in episodes 4-6, so you see a progression of the technology. The CLone uniforms start to take on more of a Stormtrooper look too, which I liked. I felt that some of the dialogue could have been a bit better, but there are no complaints about the fight scenes or any of the big action sequences.
I would have liked to have seen more about Anakin turning to the dark side, as there was only a hint of his justifications, although the expression on his face when he pledged his allegiance to Sidious was very tormented. I would have prefered a little more divulgence, especially in the scene where Sidious nearly gets killed, I'd have liked to have seen more argument before Anakin just decides to attack in his defence.
But overall, a damn fine movie, even if they did chop off everyone's arms :)

Zoological Hijinks

Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Sunday was spent very pleasantly by going to the Royal Melbourne Zoo with Joe for a bit of a photo shoot. It was a lovely afternoon and we saw some very nice animals, but we spent so much time dawdling through the zoo, communing with seals and monkeys that we didn't get to see all of it, including missing the elephants out and about. So we'll have to go back again I guess :)

another YakBar friday :)

patronage
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Yet another friday at Yak, drinking the evening away :) The night started out with Kathryn, Joe and Daimo, and then later Bec and Julie joined us for a few more drinks. We even accidentally met Steph's boss Kristen, as she was there drinking with som friends of hers.
It's funny, because we often talk about not going there, about going out to some other bar, then we find that some other people are going to Yak for a few, so we 'pop in for on or two' and end up spending the rest of the evening there :) Technically we also went to The Purple Emerald last night, but that was literally only for one drink, so that doesn't count. :)

Tradition

tradition
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Today was Julia's birthday at work, and was the first time in years I've seen the return of an old tradition, the decorating of someone's desk on their birthday. The guys in her team had decided to revive it and did a pretty good job of making it obvious to everyone else that it was her birthday, without actually making it impossible to do her work :)

the lens in question

the lens in question
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

well, as requested, here is a shot of the lens I've been raving about. ok? :)

And Melbourne is better than anywhere else in the world, for many different reasons:
- I live here.
- my cool friends live here
- my slightly less cool friends want to live here
- I said so

:)

last light

Originally uploaded by Scootie.

I'm on early shift this week, so I've been trying to get some shooting done using the last of the light. Did I mention the love affair with my new Lens? this shot was taken hand-held, and is still crystal clear and sharp as a tack. man I love good optics on a cheap lens :)

Probably also a good time to talk about Melbourne, and how good it is. It's pretty good. :)

silliness

silliness
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Had lunch today with the Bulbous Berley and the Shocking Shazzie, which was a lot of fun, as they are both such giggling gerties, and full of good ideas about everything. In fact the best thing for all of us to do is to ensure that we follow their instructions at all times. Things go better that way, believe me ;)

Kate's Farewell

bar staff #1
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

This friday the drinks were proudly in honour of Kate (incandescent), who left her job at OUP for pastures greener. Drinks were at the very trendy little bar called ST Jerome's, but check out the ponytail on the guy to the left! I thought those days were over ;)

Living Loud

getting louder
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Loud shirt day at work today, so the photo is one of the ITS finalists, Donna and Leah. Donna's pretty cool and usually writes a lengthy email every week inviting people to Cake Friday, which are usually quite hilarious. Leah is also cool, and is also a Flickrite :)

Mother's Day

of course there's cake
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Well, it was Mother's day, so of course I went down to visit Mum :)
I also stopped off on the way there and on the way back to get some photos, and took a few family shots as well, with the winner being this very nice shot of my niece Courtney, waiting to help blow out the candles on the Mother's day cake. It was actually pretty good to see the family, cop a few jokes from dad, make some silly faces with Courtney, helping Cindy make a few jokes at Cam's expense, and helping Mum with the list of computer and AV problems she'd accrued since last time I was down there :)

See How They Run

peta is shocked
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

The reason I bought the new lens, apart from the fact that I wanted it, was that we were going to see Peta in her latest play, a performance of See How They Run by the Eltham Little Theatre. The play was extremely funny, but don't go and see it, because it's finished now :)
But we laughed and laughed and laughed. on account of it being very funny. Peta rocked, of course, as she usually does. :)

Jas Drinks

Originally uploaded by Scootie.

This friday was spent drinking. ;)
It was the last day for Jasmine, from Facilities, as she was heading off from the wide accountant-see (accountancy, monthy python, trust me it's funny). Drinks started at Yak then moved on to Lustre Loung, which has been the scene of many farewell drinks actually :)

Another super dooper piece of news from today was that I bought a new camera lens, which is very fast so it's really good for low-light work like this, and good for close ups and portraits. In fact i'm in love with it and it's hardly been off the camera since I bought it :)

Kate's Birthday - Part two

princess
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Just another gratuitous photo to show what a cool friend I am, since part of my present to Kate was a tiara, which I think is cool. :)

A Day In the Life Of

do you want to know more?
Originally uploaded by Scootie.

Today was a big day for Flickr, another DILO or Day In the Life Of, where Flickrites try to take a buttload of photos :)
It was also the day of the Glenferrie festival, and believe me, where there's a festival where little kids are handed guns by the army, or being draped with snakes, I'm there!