Wishing Bernard well

It seems Rachel and I are perfecting the art of catching famous musos in their 'private lives'. After our Ben Folds experience in Melbourne (where we saw him walking along the sidewalk with his mates after a gig, before getting into a shit-box car and driving away) we recently witnessed none other than Bernard Fanning live and in the raw!

We were at The Coffee Club at Paddington for 'brunch' (we got up late and missed breakfast?) when the incident happened. We sat inside, and, from about 5 metres away, I spied this guy who 'looked a lot like' Bernard Fanning. He was sitting with two other girls (ahem... women!) and another guy (who may or may not have been from Powderfinger). While we couldn't see his face front-on, the longer we sat there and the more I looked at him, the more sure I was that it was Bernard. Further, the people he was sitting with were all pretty good looking ('cause BF wouldn't be seen with ugly people, of course!).

After we'd finished and paid we went out the exit closest to their table, and walked in such a path where I'd be able to see his face front-on. Of course, that confirmed for me that it was him... unmistakable. I was so excited! Bernard Fanning right THERE! Sipping a flat white.... THERE!!

Folds - tick
Fanning - tick

I wonder who's next???

So.... yeah.

Ok, time for another "Joe Hate's" post....

I'm at uni right now on the internet trying to sign up to a new home internet connection. However, I'm being distracted by this guy who works in the Computer Help Desk adjacent to the computer labs. In fact, I'm just about ready to stab him in the eyeball...

Reason's why I feel this way include:

1. He has the little window between his office and the computer labs right open, so everyone can hear all that he is saying. He was on the phone before chatting to a mate about mobile phone plans for about 20 minutes. The rudeness!

2. He's one of these people who say "so yeah" at the end of every sentence. Yes, EVERY SENTENCE. He's also someone who says "it's all good" waaaaayyyy too frequently.

3. He has the cricket on his little tv on his desk, and he feels he needs to share the score with EVERYONE who goes up to the desk..... "Yeah, I've just got the cricket on here, and England have just lost another wicket. So yeah. It's all good [chuckle, chuckle]". Meanwhile, I'm sitting here without a tv and without the score.... BAH!

4. He also says words like bro and aye too much. He also laughs at the end of most sentences... as if everything you say is the funniest thing he's ever heard. GRRR!!!

5. Dunno, I'm out of reasons. He just shits me.

It's all good, bro, aye. So yeah...

Kevin "good to be with you, Kerry" Rudd

I don't normally blog about politics, but with everything in the media currently, I feel compelled to say my 2.2c (GST inclusive).

I was pissed off on Friday when I found out Kevin Rudd had challenged for the leadership of federal Labor. I suppose this was because I'm already resigned to the fact that the chances of Labor taking government in the election next year are slim, as at least 16 additional seats will have to be won on top of their 2004 election wins. This is a pretty tall order, and a pretty big head-start for the Coalition. So my thinking was, that if anyone was going to lose the upcoming election, it should be the Bomber - Kim Beazley. With IR and climate change issues hitting a chord with the community, and Kim doing an "ok" job, a win of 10-12 seats would be a great result for Labor, but 16 is an up-hill battle.

I really like Kevin Rudd, and have a lot of respect for him. Myself and a number of other Young Labor people were involved in a project last year called Labor Community Action (LCA). Kevin invited about 25 YL people over to his house one Sunday afternoon and broached this idea of creating a community action group which got out into the community and helped out with things like Meals on Wheels, after-school Literacy Centres for school students, and retirement home visits. While the program was semi-successful, it was this desire Kevin had to make a real difference to real people in the community which is so commendable, and is what sets him apart from other politicans.

I just hope that taking on the leadership now doesn't stuff up Rudd's career. You'd suspect that even if Rudd-Gillard lost the 2007 election, they'd still stay on as leaders for an election in 2010. I suppose the good thing is that Rudd won the caucus vote by such a big margin. If he'd only won by a vote or two, it may have made things awkward for him now and down the track.

Vote 1 for the round-faced, Mandarin-speaking, nerdy-looking, four-eyed ex-diplomat.

And the winner is... Wooloowin State School!

The latest news to come to hand is that I'll be teaching at Wooloowin State School in 2007! Woohoo!!!!!

For those who don't know, Wooloowin State School is a relatively small school for inner-Brisbane, with only with just over 200 students. It seems a very nice school, with a nice mix of old-style 1920s architecture, with modern and contemporary facilities and classrooms. In typical "old school" (ahem...) style, all the buildings are built in a U-shape around a central courtyard and oval. The actual buildings and classrooms are really nice, with wooden staircases, big teaching spaces, and quite cool and 'breezy'.

The principal who offered me the job is only there acting until the end of the year, and the existing principal is coming back after taking a year off... wait for it... in the Army Reserves!! Yep, it's 2006, and there still exists people who double as a principal of a primary school and a Lieutenant Colonel! Be good, kids!!!!! :)

At the minute, it seems as though I'll have a year 3 class, so I've already been familiarising myself with the corresponding syllabus documents. I think I like the idea of having year 3s. Year 1 or 2s I wouldn't have liked in my first year, but I'm quite happy about 3s. Eight year olds are starting to become "people", and they're still easy to motivate and excite ("Right boys and girls, this morning we are doing our 3 times-tables"... "YAY, Mr Perkins!" they cry).

Anyway, I'm attending the staff meeting later this week to get to meet the teachers and try to get into the swing of things.

While I was somewhat expecting an offering at Thargominda, Murgon, Birdsville or Morven, I'm stoked that I get to hang around in Brissy for at least next year, and at least get my feet on the ground.