The retro game shop that I frequent extended their sale. This was what I walked out with..
Fiesta ST - One Year In
I've just hit one year in my Fiesta ST, I picked it up with 17km on the clock. I checked this morning and the odometer now reads just over 38000km, an average of 731km a week. My thoughts after one year of ownership.
It's a car where you can have your cake and eat it too. It's moderately quick (or should I say, quick enough most of the time), but because it's light and the engine is fairly small, also is quite economical. It drinks about 6L/100km compared to my old car which used 8L/100km in the same conditions. It can be driven sedately but get on the throttle and it perks right up. It needs a lot of throttle to get going fast, as it is a small engine, but it's rewarding. Blasting through the hills is a fantastic experience.
It's got a fair amount of fruit. Auto headlights, climate control, auto dimming rear vision mirror. Even cruise control.
Negatives? Cheap plastics. You can tell where they spent money (engine, seats, suspension setup) and where they scrimped (interior). There's also not much headroom in tuning. The car doesn't gain a lot from exhaust/intake upgrades like usual turbocharged cars. And the suspension is stiff, like really stiff. It's OK when blasting through the hills, but pottering up/down the freeway can be a bit tiresome.
Driving my old car whilst CB was recently away was like driving on a cloud. And that car is not known for it's lush ride (also a hot hatch). But compared to the back breaking stiffness of the Fiesta's shocks, it was lush. When due for a replacement, I'll be getting some aftermarket Konis which are reportedly make the ride a lot more compliant without sacrificing handling.
I have 4 years left to drive this car before I can get something new, and my opinion may change as I get closer to the time. But at the moment, I'm not sure what I'd replace it with (or if I would).
It's a car where you can have your cake and eat it too. It's moderately quick (or should I say, quick enough most of the time), but because it's light and the engine is fairly small, also is quite economical. It drinks about 6L/100km compared to my old car which used 8L/100km in the same conditions. It can be driven sedately but get on the throttle and it perks right up. It needs a lot of throttle to get going fast, as it is a small engine, but it's rewarding. Blasting through the hills is a fantastic experience.
It's got a fair amount of fruit. Auto headlights, climate control, auto dimming rear vision mirror. Even cruise control.
Negatives? Cheap plastics. You can tell where they spent money (engine, seats, suspension setup) and where they scrimped (interior). There's also not much headroom in tuning. The car doesn't gain a lot from exhaust/intake upgrades like usual turbocharged cars. And the suspension is stiff, like really stiff. It's OK when blasting through the hills, but pottering up/down the freeway can be a bit tiresome.
Driving my old car whilst CB was recently away was like driving on a cloud. And that car is not known for it's lush ride (also a hot hatch). But compared to the back breaking stiffness of the Fiesta's shocks, it was lush. When due for a replacement, I'll be getting some aftermarket Konis which are reportedly make the ride a lot more compliant without sacrificing handling.
I have 4 years left to drive this car before I can get something new, and my opinion may change as I get closer to the time. But at the moment, I'm not sure what I'd replace it with (or if I would).
No Sympathy
So I was in a traffic jam just then and as it turns out it appears a motorcyclist was injured. Ambos were there to scrape him off the road. It was a straight bit of road, but always congested. I'd put money on the rider filtering through traffic and coming up against a car changing lanes.
Instead of wondering if the person was OK, the first thought I had was it served him right. Am I a bad person for having no sympathy?
I felt bad after thinking about it but after coming across so many self entitled riders on the roads who filter when highways are at 100km/h, I don't know. They are called temporary Australians for a reason.
Hopefully the guy is OK and maybe this'll be a lesson of why filtering may be a bad idea, despite it being supposedly legal.
Instead of wondering if the person was OK, the first thought I had was it served him right. Am I a bad person for having no sympathy?
I felt bad after thinking about it but after coming across so many self entitled riders on the roads who filter when highways are at 100km/h, I don't know. They are called temporary Australians for a reason.
Hopefully the guy is OK and maybe this'll be a lesson of why filtering may be a bad idea, despite it being supposedly legal.
Perth Fucktard Drivers
Sometimes I wish I drove a piece of shit car so I wouldn't have to give in to fuckers who think they have right of way in the roads.
Video Game Memories
I've always played video games, and recently, I have bought a lot of games which I may have obtained illegitimately in the past. I'm fortunate enough now to have a large space dedicated to my video games, where I can have all my machines set up and ready to play with a flick of a few switches. I used to emulate the majority of the older systems but after going back to the actual hardware, I can say it definitely isn't the same.
There is still something about owning the original copy of a title, something that I never really experienced when I was copying the majority of my games as a "poor student". Even though I have flash cartridges for the cartridge based consoles and many of my CD/DVD based consoles have been modified to run on burned media, it's just not the same. It's not logical, the game experience is exactly the same. But for some reason, I want to collect the physical sgame instead of using my flash carts. As my video game collection now heads towards 700 games (more including dodgy copies), I started to think about my fondest memories. This post is my brain dump of these memories, preserved so that when I'm old and forgetful, I have these words to reflect and jog my memory on.
The Commodore 64 is a machine that I cut my teeth on. After playing with this computer, I knew I wanted to work with them as a job. It was my brothers machine and it had a ton of pirated titles. I remember playing titles such as Archon (which I still play to this day), Barbarian, Bruce Lee, Ghost and Goblins, International Karate, Street Rod, Spy Hunter and Test Drive. My sister and I used to play Bubble Bobble when she came over for dinner on Sundays and we'd play through all 100 levels. It's a computer that I'll never get rid of.
My first experience with the original Nintendo (NES) was in Singapore. My aunt had a console with a can't-remember-how-many-games-in one bootleg cartridge. The cart counted the 7 levels of Contra as 7 individual games. I can't remember all the titles on it, but I do remember Contra and Binary Land.
I got my own NES when I was maybe 10 or 11. I bought it off a school friend for $30 as he had a SNES. I saved my lunch money for I don't know how long and starved to get it (and I still have it, although I don't use it cos I now have a NTSC one which is better). It came with Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, Excite Bike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shadow Warriors (Ninja Gaiden) and had an extra controller and Zapper gun. I got really good at SMB and Ninja Gaiden as these titles were all I had for years, until I was at uni and had a job/car and managed to find Probotector (Contra for European countries). At $10 it was a good buy but I never got it working until only recently when I bought a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and scrubbed the pins clean.
My sister's boyfriend/fiance bought a Sega Megadrive. I have memories of playing through Sonic 1 (which I just completed with all 6 Chaos Emeralds), Alien Storm, Columns, Ghosts and Ghouls. During my uni years I bought my own with a MegaCD from eBay. I also have a load of games which were ex-rental from the local video shop before they closed.
At some point, my brother bought a SNES (which I now have but don't use). There were a ton of RPG's which have really increased in value over the years which were kept. He had a whole lot more but traded them for a PS1. I distinctly remember Terranigma, Lufia 2 and Secret of Evermore. I only recently got a Super Famicom (Japanese SNES) and have been buying a number of titles for it.
I can't remember how I got my first PS1 (probably from my first job), but I do remember buying second hand games from Cashies for it. I had a decent collection but sold it for some reason which I can't remember. I remember going to Hi-Tech world to buy a Dual Shock controller and Gran Turismo. I also remember another school friend Paul who had Gran Turismo, so we would meet up and race each other with our modified cars. I remember playing through, saving and modifying a R32 Skyline to it's maximum capability and decimating him. After that, we didn't play GT anymore, mainly playing Twisted Metal after that. I remember playing through FF VII (I didn't finish it till later in life). I also remember after meeting my uni mate Jared, being introduced to the import games which were never released here. I got my PS1 modded so I could play titles like Chrono Cross.
I can't remember exactly when I got my N64. But I bought Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and others. I remember playing Banjo Kazooie with CB until the early hours of the morning, eating cheese and tomato sandwiches as a mid morning snack. Goldeneye was a staple with high school friends, 4 player action on a 34cm TV. During uni years, I remember playing Perfect Dark with Jared and some other guys.
I remember Jared buying a PS2 and Jak and Daxter. It just came out and we bought it from KMart. I remember holding the PS2 box and walking about of KMart and the shopping centre, and all the kids we walked past were staring at what we had. After playing a few hours of Jak and Daxter, I bought my own PS2 and Jak and Daxter a few days later. Many great games on the PS2, but standouts for me were the GTA trilogy.
I bought an original XBOX and modded it for XBMC (oh and games of course). It was my media player right up until TV downloads on the internet moved to mpeg4 and the XBOX couldn't cope anymore.
During my uni years I remember coming across MAME and people building cabinets for them. At the time, arcade cabinets were stupidly expensive, and it was often cheaper to build your own. My Dad helped me build my first arcade cab. It definitely wasn't the best or prettiest work, but it did the job. I bought an IPAC controller and Happ arcade buttons from the US, when the exchange was 1 AUD = 45c USD. I ended up destroying the cab after I sourced some proper arcade cabinets and needed the room. I regret it somewhat now as I look back and think about it with rose tinted glasses. Dad was probably thinking I was doing it wrong and only stepping in so I didn't fail haha.
My first PS3 was a present to myself after starting my new (and still current) job. My 360 had died (as did everyone elses at the time) and was out of warranty and I didn't want to give my money back to Microsoft for an unreliable console. I've only just recently bought another 360 (a revised model which is supposedly more reliable). The PS3 only died recently after a lightning storm, which I got replacement value for from insurance to buy my PS4. I replaced my PS3 with a second hand unit. Plenty of great titles here. Bioshock series, Uncharted series, Fallout series, Skyrim. I still have a largish stack of PS3 games to play trough.
I don't recall exactly when I got my Gamecube, but it was after its heyday. I do remember Jared having a GC, with Super Monkey Ball and playing the Monkey Target mini game. It's where the "help me Gordo, I'm falling!" saying comes from as a uni friend was not able to master it. CB and I played Super Mario Sunshine and I recall her getting angry at the controls.
My Wii was a free hand me down. My Wii U i bought after KMart advertised a Skylanders pack and Wii U Basic for $180 odd. My niece and nephew got the Skylanders and I kept the Wii U. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze was a massive pain the rear.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.
There is still something about owning the original copy of a title, something that I never really experienced when I was copying the majority of my games as a "poor student". Even though I have flash cartridges for the cartridge based consoles and many of my CD/DVD based consoles have been modified to run on burned media, it's just not the same. It's not logical, the game experience is exactly the same. But for some reason, I want to collect the physical sgame instead of using my flash carts. As my video game collection now heads towards 700 games (more including dodgy copies), I started to think about my fondest memories. This post is my brain dump of these memories, preserved so that when I'm old and forgetful, I have these words to reflect and jog my memory on.
The Commodore 64 is a machine that I cut my teeth on. After playing with this computer, I knew I wanted to work with them as a job. It was my brothers machine and it had a ton of pirated titles. I remember playing titles such as Archon (which I still play to this day), Barbarian, Bruce Lee, Ghost and Goblins, International Karate, Street Rod, Spy Hunter and Test Drive. My sister and I used to play Bubble Bobble when she came over for dinner on Sundays and we'd play through all 100 levels. It's a computer that I'll never get rid of.
My first experience with the original Nintendo (NES) was in Singapore. My aunt had a console with a can't-remember-how-many-games-in one bootleg cartridge. The cart counted the 7 levels of Contra as 7 individual games. I can't remember all the titles on it, but I do remember Contra and Binary Land.
I got my own NES when I was maybe 10 or 11. I bought it off a school friend for $30 as he had a SNES. I saved my lunch money for I don't know how long and starved to get it (and I still have it, although I don't use it cos I now have a NTSC one which is better). It came with Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, Excite Bike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shadow Warriors (Ninja Gaiden) and had an extra controller and Zapper gun. I got really good at SMB and Ninja Gaiden as these titles were all I had for years, until I was at uni and had a job/car and managed to find Probotector (Contra for European countries). At $10 it was a good buy but I never got it working until only recently when I bought a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and scrubbed the pins clean.
My sister's boyfriend/fiance bought a Sega Megadrive. I have memories of playing through Sonic 1 (which I just completed with all 6 Chaos Emeralds), Alien Storm, Columns, Ghosts and Ghouls. During my uni years I bought my own with a MegaCD from eBay. I also have a load of games which were ex-rental from the local video shop before they closed.
At some point, my brother bought a SNES (which I now have but don't use). There were a ton of RPG's which have really increased in value over the years which were kept. He had a whole lot more but traded them for a PS1. I distinctly remember Terranigma, Lufia 2 and Secret of Evermore. I only recently got a Super Famicom (Japanese SNES) and have been buying a number of titles for it.
I can't remember how I got my first PS1 (probably from my first job), but I do remember buying second hand games from Cashies for it. I had a decent collection but sold it for some reason which I can't remember. I remember going to Hi-Tech world to buy a Dual Shock controller and Gran Turismo. I also remember another school friend Paul who had Gran Turismo, so we would meet up and race each other with our modified cars. I remember playing through, saving and modifying a R32 Skyline to it's maximum capability and decimating him. After that, we didn't play GT anymore, mainly playing Twisted Metal after that. I remember playing through FF VII (I didn't finish it till later in life). I also remember after meeting my uni mate Jared, being introduced to the import games which were never released here. I got my PS1 modded so I could play titles like Chrono Cross.
I can't remember exactly when I got my N64. But I bought Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and others. I remember playing Banjo Kazooie with CB until the early hours of the morning, eating cheese and tomato sandwiches as a mid morning snack. Goldeneye was a staple with high school friends, 4 player action on a 34cm TV. During uni years, I remember playing Perfect Dark with Jared and some other guys.
I remember Jared buying a PS2 and Jak and Daxter. It just came out and we bought it from KMart. I remember holding the PS2 box and walking about of KMart and the shopping centre, and all the kids we walked past were staring at what we had. After playing a few hours of Jak and Daxter, I bought my own PS2 and Jak and Daxter a few days later. Many great games on the PS2, but standouts for me were the GTA trilogy.
I bought an original XBOX and modded it for XBMC (oh and games of course). It was my media player right up until TV downloads on the internet moved to mpeg4 and the XBOX couldn't cope anymore.
During my uni years I remember coming across MAME and people building cabinets for them. At the time, arcade cabinets were stupidly expensive, and it was often cheaper to build your own. My Dad helped me build my first arcade cab. It definitely wasn't the best or prettiest work, but it did the job. I bought an IPAC controller and Happ arcade buttons from the US, when the exchange was 1 AUD = 45c USD. I ended up destroying the cab after I sourced some proper arcade cabinets and needed the room. I regret it somewhat now as I look back and think about it with rose tinted glasses. Dad was probably thinking I was doing it wrong and only stepping in so I didn't fail haha.
My first PS3 was a present to myself after starting my new (and still current) job. My 360 had died (as did everyone elses at the time) and was out of warranty and I didn't want to give my money back to Microsoft for an unreliable console. I've only just recently bought another 360 (a revised model which is supposedly more reliable). The PS3 only died recently after a lightning storm, which I got replacement value for from insurance to buy my PS4. I replaced my PS3 with a second hand unit. Plenty of great titles here. Bioshock series, Uncharted series, Fallout series, Skyrim. I still have a largish stack of PS3 games to play trough.
I don't recall exactly when I got my Gamecube, but it was after its heyday. I do remember Jared having a GC, with Super Monkey Ball and playing the Monkey Target mini game. It's where the "help me Gordo, I'm falling!" saying comes from as a uni friend was not able to master it. CB and I played Super Mario Sunshine and I recall her getting angry at the controls.
My Wii was a free hand me down. My Wii U i bought after KMart advertised a Skylanders pack and Wii U Basic for $180 odd. My niece and nephew got the Skylanders and I kept the Wii U. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze was a massive pain the rear.
That's about all I can think of at the moment.
Australia Post - Costs For Posting Letters
http://www.watoday.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-approves-sweeping-australia-post-changes-price-rises-20150303-13tju7.html
I lightheartedly said to a colleague that I can get stuff from HK/China on eBay for $1, shipped to me, including the price of the item itself.
I think it's time to start up a print/post service in China. Print/post for less than the cost of an Australian stamp.
Wow, a 30 cent (43%) increase in posting a letter, which then takes 2 extra days to arrive. WTF.Cabinet has approved a proposal by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to introduce a two-tiered pricing scheme for letter deliveries that is expected to see basic stamp prices increase to $1.The reforms will allow Australia Post to introduce a "regular" and "priority" letters service. Letters sent with a "regular" stamp will arrive an average of two days later than they do currently, with mail within metropolitan areas arriving a day later than the current timetable.
I lightheartedly said to a colleague that I can get stuff from HK/China on eBay for $1, shipped to me, including the price of the item itself.
I think it's time to start up a print/post service in China. Print/post for less than the cost of an Australian stamp.
Good Samaritan
Thanks to the masked chap on Leach Hwy with a sign telling drivers of the upcoming speed camera. It's a real well known spot for one though.
Oh the irony
Driving along the freeway this evening, the overhead signs were plastered with "DISTRACTED DRIVERS ARE DANGEROUS". Oh the irony.
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