My Life

Right now it's 3:52am, Sunday morning, and if you are wondering, no, I am not drunk. I finished work at midnight, Sunday morning, came home, and had so many thoughts swimming through my head. I did however do the usual facebooking for a little bit, but being a Sunday morning, most people are out, enjoying themselves. Once 1am rolled around, and still felt sleep was far away, I engaged the activity of watching a movie, The Other Guys. It was a good movie to watch, as I needed a laugh, and it provided me with plenty. However, still couldn't sleep, so I did a little bit of home work, mostly fine tuning and getting ready to print and hand everything in on Monday, then after half-an-hour or so, maybe more, I thought I'd force myself to sleep. Sadly, I laid in bed, eyes closed, brain wide open, thoughts buzzing around, unable to turn it off and sleep. With it raining outside, a run does not seem fit, so I am hoping, with this very personal blog, I can clear my mind, then fall asleep.

It is now 4:01am, and I will try and get everything off my mind. Usually I would send a facebook message to a very close friend, however, over the past couple days I have sent her messages and to send her another one close to the same subjects as the other, I feel like I am just annoying her with my "problems" So everyone who reads my blog, you are acting on behalf as my close friend (Although, I don't think you can replace her)

So where do I begin with all this? I think the most prevalent issue at hand is money based, and is the most worrying. You would think going 2 weeks without any potential income would be no biggie, as in the last 21 months (Since Feb 2009), I have spent 8 months unemployment with no real income (or 38%) Last year, if you have been reading, or know me, I lived in Melbourne for the year, so it was a big change, and I went to Melbourne with about $250 saved and a paycheck going in on Wednesday night, which included annual leave payout, oh and a job in telesales. This year, I left Melbourne, where I was stable, and moved back home. Seemed like the cheaper, better decision at the time, however, I moved back thinking I'd get a transfer right away to another Safeway store. I started my nightfill job in May.

In Melbourne, around this time of the year, I was making enough money to cover my living expenses, and had a little play money some weeks, I was living with people who I considered pretty much family, I was in a good job where I had a bunch of work friends (even a co-worker who I had a mo-off with), didn't work a Saturday night (actually I may have worked 3 Saturday nights during the year) and from them work friends I developed several close friendships. And, I'm not exactly sure, but I may have got a job as a Christmas Casual at CottonOn, or it may have been a couple weeks later. Anyway, the point is, this time last year, I was stable, secured, care-free and was having fun.

Fast-forward to now, and let's see. I am unsure on my hours at work because I am a casual, I never can have a social life thanks to work rostering me on Saturday nights (I think I had maybe 5-6 Saturday nights off since I've started work, which has been 6 months), I pretty much live in my car for 3 months before finding a room to rent, I can never go see my friends in Melbourne because either I have no time or no money. Work always, for some reason, gives me a lot of hours when I can't do it, mostly due to TAFE. However, once I finish TAFE and able to work as much as possible, I get next to nothing.

I feel like, if I had stayed in Melbourne, my entire life would be different. Some might say that this year has made me a stronger person due to the hardship I have faced. I say, what's the point facing hardship when it could of all been avoided if I didn't accept the offer from Wodonga TAFE and went to NMIT to study Building Design. If I did that, I would have still had a job which I could have tweaked the hours to suit my study, but still had a steady, stable income, I would of had a place to live, and I would of been around my Melbourne friends.

I look back on this year and I think to myself, what have I seriously accomplished this year? I mean sure, I've nearly finished my first year at TAFE but big whoop. I failed a couple assessments, and got marks well below what I wanted. TAFE I mucked around, didn't pay attention at times in class, was a smart arse to teachers and co-students, and pretty much acted like I did in high school. That attitude in high school is what set me up to what will be a very hard blog to write in the near future. Back to my original point, to be honest, I feel like I don't deserve to pass. If I get told by the teachers I will need to re-submit the year, I wouldn't be surprised, I'd be mad and annoyed, but not surprised. My designs were foolish, not well thought out, and weren't taken seriously at times.

Right now I am staring down the barrels to what can be a very bumpy road leading into Christmas. I don't have a rostered shift for the next fortnight, and on Wednesday, I will be getting paid like $150-$200. I have a massive phone bill to pay, so don't be surprised if you go to ring and you get told the number has been cut. I have rego to pay, and my car has been unregistered for a couple days, so I have the potential to be fined heavily for that. I got the usual loan to pay, and my weekly rent. On top of that, food, petrol and other household bills. All in all, $200 won't do much for a fortnight, maybe longer.

I have to sit and hope that my phone rings every afternoon, asking if I want to work that night. If not, it will not be a very merry Christmas at all. I know lots of people have it worst than me, big woop, so does that mean my feelings don't mean a thing? All my life I have given up, or quited, or something along those lines, and right now, I feel like quitting. I mean sure, I've made a couple friends this year, but apart from that, I feel like I've accomplished nothing this year. Right now I'm considering going to the op shop, buy raggy clothes and a hat, sit on the sidewalk, and hope people drop some spare change into it. I mean I've been a bum for 9 months, may as well make a living like one.

There is so much more I could divulge, and let out, but I am hoping what I have here is enough to allow me to sleep. With the time being 4:40am, I am looking to a Sunday pretty much wasted because of this insane bed time. Anyway, I am signing out now, hoping to catch some shut eye.


From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times

Project 001... The Bathroom

After getting drunk and throwing darts at a board, I finally landed on a topic to blog about first. I will be blogging about my very first project in my course, which was to design a bathroom.





The brief was fairly straightforward, design a bathroom to house a bath, shower and toilet, using the space of 2000mm by 4000mm. Before I go through the design, below is the floor plan and 4 elevations of the room.

At the time I thought this was great design, looking back, there is some alright features, but there is a lot to change. However, to run through the design, the shower is an open shower with a recessed base. The vanity is of basic design, and the basin in the corner is of a cylinder design. The toilet is your basic toilet, but where the main feature comes in is the bath, which connects to the C-Bus system.

I like to think I have revolutionised baths with my design, as the bath I design is so amazing, so brilliant, so, there isn't enough words in the entire universe to describe just how good of a bath it is. When you step into the bathroom for a bath, you select your mood on the keypad located just at the door. You might of had a hard day at work, so you want to "Relax" or perhaps you are bathing just before a party and want to get "Pumped" or maybe you are spending it with a special someone and want to be "Romantic". By selecting one of the three options, this determines your bath experience, so after you select an option, you head to the bath, for the rest of the blog, let's say you chose "Relax".

You turn the taps, but what, "What is that?" You asked yourself. You look at your clear base of your bath and noticed it has lit up in a calming and sensual blue light of orbs. The bottom of the bath contains hundreds of LED lights which light up the bottom and some of the side, and once water starts filling up, the bath is lit up. If you chose Pumped, the colours would be changing from Orange, Yellow and Green. If you chose Romantic, the water would be turning red, but not from a blood source, oh no, from the LEDs.

"But how does it actually work without shocking the person?" You question me. Quite easy my good lad, you see, the base of the bath has a very good seal. Yup, it's that simple, it's almost criminal.

Some things I would change however is, well, nearly everything. The bath could be in a better position being a dominant feature of the room, and the toilet best suited maybe in a full separate room. Window placement I did not think about, but looking at the design, the bath is positioned wrongly, as the head-base makes you look at the toilet wall, and not out the window.

There isn't too much else to say on the project, was fairly simple. I've designed three bathrooms and a couple en suite since this project, so things have improved. Anyway, that's it for Project 001, stay tuned for Project 002, Alterations and Additions

Updating Y'all

So it has been quite some time since I blogged last, and I know every single one of you have been checking on the hour for a new blog. Well, it's finally here.

The good news is, I have so much to blog about, some include the ending of my house hunting and my experience this time around, the conclusion of my first year and going through each project I completed, and one very personal blog where I go into my past and reveal I'm a big quitter. There might be a few smaller topics of discussion along the way, but I have plenty to catch you all up on, and the only question is, which topic?

I think the fairest way to do this is to do the Board. This method of deciding, anyone can do, here I will outline what you will need.

1x Bottle of Vodka (or basically any alcohol you like)
Representation of your choices (can be pictures, just words, whatever)
1x Board that can spin (dartboard is effective here)
1x Dart
1x Blindfold
1x Friend

Step 1. Get drunk
Step 2. Blindfold yourself, if you are drunk, get your friend to do it
Step 3. Get your friend (who is meant to be sober) to stick your choices on the spinning board.
Step 4. Get your friend to spin you around, just to make you feel sick.
Step 5. Throw the dart at the spinning board.

Whatever it hits, that is your new decision. This can decide all sorts of things, like your new car, new girlfriend (just make sure you still use the board method, don't be getting drunk in a bar and spinning around blindfolded and throwing a dart across the bar), or maybe even kid's name. Actually, this method can decide everything in life, so treat it with care, and use wisely.

If you want to spruce it up a bit, feel free to add water to the game, or perharps maybe a tiger, up to you, but the basics is what makes it.


From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life And Times