Landline (thus ADSL) is currently toast. No internet make Wizarth something something.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

It's like a demon came along and said "lets put together everything people say they like ... in ways they won't"

 Just got home from seeing TRON: Legacy. All in all, a good movie, if not the ground breaking introduction to a brand new world of fantasy that its predecessor was. As a late sequel to a classic, I was prepared for it to retcon several parts of the story, and blatantly disregard others. The good news is, it did not! It included what felt like (to my memory) faithful references to the original, and when they needed "cool hacking stuff" for in the real world, they used a real terminal and *NIX commands.

The only negative: See it in 2D, NOT 3D. The film was clearly shot in 2D, so the scenes that are pure CG look great, but the actors are BADLY merged into the 3D. All the bad things you hear about 3D films, I saw in this one. The actors seemed to lose color depth, for crying out loud! I even tried swapping glasses, and it didn't help. However, my wife (who I swapped glasses with) did not see any of these artifacts, but my daughter did. As she said "When they look funny, it's better without the glasses on".

Our robotic maid arrived a few weeks ago, and we've been loving having it. Each day at 10 she (my wife named her Ruby) leaves her charging station and wanders her way around the living-room, hallway and part of my office. The path-finding is pretty good, considering the obstructed and narrow ways that are available, especially from the living-room to the hallway. Today, being a weekend, I've got her set not to start her automated routine, since we tend to sleep in and won't have picked up the misc that has ended up on the floor the day before. However, Lilybet got up earlier then I, and started her off on the tiled sections of the house (bathroom, laundry, back hallway and kitchen), and is loving having the maid to do all the boring parts of going over and over the area.

I have come to the conclusion that: It does not matter how lightly you pack your carry on luggage, by the end of your journey it will weight exactly Too Much (metric).

I'm in the UK for crunch week for beta delivery.

For those who knew I was going, I'm back now. For those who didn't know, I've spent the last 2 weeks in Europe, first Denmark then the UK. Both weeks were for work, although I was able to slot in two days of tourist-ing while in the UK. My wife and daughter were unable to come, as the trip was being paid for by work.

I have had the worst luck when it comes to applying for my passport.

First off, I moved up to the city a little less then 2 years ago, so I haven't made many social contacts, since I work from home. So my first problem was finding a guarantor, someone who would say they have known me for more then a year. I asked one of my friends from Gippsland, but it turns out the person needs to have been on the electoral roll at their current address for more then a year, which they had not. Fortunately, Lilybet asked a friend who she knew through Flowers school, and they agreed. So then I go and get passport photographs taken at the pharmacy. They tell me I can take my glasses off, to which I reply that I wear them all the time, so the photo was taken with them on. I then need to get one of the photos (of the set of four) signed by the guarantor. I go to do this... and they are not home, and not answering their phone. Turns out they were at the doctors. So, I miss my appointment (since you need an appointment to hand in a form...).

OK, no problem, I still have time. I get hold of them over the next few days, get the photographs signed, make a new appointment for the next day at the post office two suburbs over (since the one for this suburb is backed up to next week). 9:30am appointment, to which I'm a few minutes late after Lilybet wanted to come, and had to run around and get ready. But that wasn't a problem.

What was a problem was the photographs. My glasses had reflected the flash, partly obscuring my eyes, and thus didn't meet the requirements. And I was supposed to show them my birth certificate, despite having all the information from the certificate copied onto the form. Fine. I had another set of photos taken ($15), which they apply their checklist to. Then I drive back over to the house of the guarantor, giving them a call on the phone, which they don't answer. After getting to their house, I knock on the door, and they answer, clearly having just woken up (again). In their partly awake state, they sign the new photographs, and I stop home, grab my birth certificate, then head back to the post office, two suburbs over.

Once there, they go through the form, checking it all off, looking at my various ID, check check, sign the form... wait a second. They consult with their manager, and it turns out that the guarantor has done two different signatures, one on the form and one on the photograph. Oh, and the form that asks "What name are they known as" followed by "What name are you on the electoral roll as". Turns out they are known by their maiden name, but are registered on the electoral roll by their husbands surname. OK, I can see why that's a problem. So, I head home, print out the form again (since it's filled out on a government website then downloaded as a PDF), and have them sign the form and photograph again, and to initial their names and have them write out a declaration explaining why the names are different. Of course, they'd had to go out, so I spent time waiting outside their house for them to get home. Oh, and I was out of black ink, so I had to buy a new ink tank for the printer.

Turn around, head back to the post office. Guess what this time? They called the passport office, and the names HAVE to match, despite what the questions actually ask. The declaration is not good enough. But if they cross the name out, and fill the same name in both places, putting their initials next to the changes, that will be ok. Fine. I turn around, walk out of the post office, walk over the news agents, buy a black pen, and *ahem* Have my friend come to where I am, from two suburbs over, and correct the form. Since having me make the correction would be illegal, as they were the one signing it. So I totally didn't just do it myself. Nope, not at all.

Fortunately, this was finally enough. So they check the form off, check with their manager, so forth, then enter the application into the computer. They tell me what it will cost, I say I want to pay the "Expedite" fee as well, so I'll get it in 3 days. In theory, without the fee, I should have gotten it in 10 working days. 10 working days from now, plus another day for the registered mail to get to me... would have it arrive Friday, with my flight out Monday morning. Yeah, I'm not risking that! So they had to cancel the computer entry, and re-enter it with the Expedite option ticked. Since this changed the form, they had to have their manager look it over again.

So, by 1pm, it was done. It was 1:15pm when I got home, so I say this took 3 hours to complete. And this on a work day!

That is all. 

Just been a while since I've felt the need to vent anything. Doesn't seem productive, even in terms of self satisfying.
Lately something that has been on my mind a lot is growing up. Not older, specifically, but up. My 30th birthday is next month, and this has made me notice things that I never did before. For example, we have furniture that will last me the rest of my life (barring something exceptional). I have a balding spot (it's not bald, but it's noticeable on security cameras!). It's also made me notice a lot of things I don't have, that I'd always put in the "They can come later" basket. I don't have a stable job with a reliable income. I don't have a sure home. I don't have satisfaction in my life.
I've moved from the age of "temporary, will replace later" to "this will last". And I don't like it. I'm an adult, and I can't pretend otherwise. And if this is it, well, this sucks.

The thing that really strikes me as dumb about this all is we (Australians) get R18+ rated games. How so? They rate them M15+. No, I don't mean games that get the gore cut then re-submitted. I mean that games which are rated R18+ everywhere else in the world are accepted as M15+ here.

...some research that we conducted (thanks to Julian Merlo and Matt Postle) that details comparative ratings for games in 2009 worldwide (showing that over half of the games that were rated as MA15+ here were given adult ratings by all five comparative jurisdictions overseas!)

Look at the rightmost column for BAD DECISION in that link. Each of those are games that were given a M15+ rating here, that are 18+ elsewhere.

/* Australian
 * Don't play most of those games anyway.
 * But stupidity in the name of The Children gets to me.
 * Since I'm a parent, and everyone blames the parents.
 * I don't want it either!
 * C style comments!
 */