Did I miss last call?

I'm still in love. It sucks. We broke up when she moved back to the US. I'm in Australia. We still speak regularly. I miss her a lot and wonder if she misses me. But I don't want to ask her because I feel like that time has passed.

Cool patch! Where did you find that?

I have a friend who is crazy mad about vampires. I bought her a copy of From Dusk Til Dawn for her birthday however many years ago. Neither of us knew anything more about it than vampires and George Clooney. We were not prepared for the ridiculously awesome and funny movie that ensued.

The Fall - The movie is sublime. I love how the little girl's imagination is so vividly expressed through the locations chosen. It is one of the most visually pleasing movies I've ever watched.

Midnight In Paris - I think I've mentioned this one before. And I think I was scolded for knowing so little of Woodey Allen's work. I regret to inform everyone I'm still working on that. I love the characters. They're all so... Bizarre.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - I love Wes Anderson. This is my favourite of his work. Everything is framed spectacularly, everything is very symmetrical, and I enjoy the way the aspect ratios change throughout the different periods portrayed.

It's definitely a step up from the CB125s we were using for the MSF equivalent here.

I haven't ridden for longer than about 45mins in one go yet. The riding position is quite aggressive, so I'm not sure how I'll go with longer rides. Hoping to get out for a bit tomorrow if the weather is ok.

Being able to park right outside where I work is definitely one of the bigger benefits to riding!

About six months ago I was thinking about getting my motorcycle permit. After kleinbl00 and goobster gave me some excellent advice (and I saved a shit-load of money) I now have the permit and a bike! A gorgeous Suzuki SV650S. So thanks a bunch, guys!

Not having to catch public transport to work and being able to park right at the front door of the cafe is making me so happy. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. I was hoping to go for a few nice rides this weekend, but the weather doesn't want me to go. Stupid Victorian spring...

Dude's got a killer voice. Thanks for posting this. I've got some listening for the weekend!

Carcassone is a really fun game. My friend owns a copy and we play all the time. I'm not very good at it...

I like The Great Museum Caper too. It's always fun pulling off a successful art heist.

I have a friend who has just recently gotten very into Backgammon. My grandfather tried to get me interested years and years ago to no avail. Actually a really fun game!

So does this stuff ever collide with itself? Cause any damage to satellites? That's a lot of debris out there. Having said that, I'm probably underestimating how much space there actually is for this stuff to fly around in.

Absolutely not going to smack you for it. It's a great album. And I agree that it's great the whole way through. I think it was actually the first album that I listened to from start to finish without stopping to do anything else except listen.

But then there was Hail to the Thief. For some reason, it just resonated with me. Whenever I put it on I get shivers. Every song stirs some emotion inside me. There There is also my favourite Radiohead song, so that gives the album bonus points.

But hey, that's just what I like.

How are you finding 1Q84? I really loved it. Particularly the first and second books. If you liked the first book, I think you're going to enjoy what's to come.

Thank you for such a comprehensive response. I really appreciate it!

Particularly points 4 and 5. Duly noted.

The money isn't an issue, really. I just wasn't expecting the cost to have risen so much so quickly. Right before I go on holiday. But I knew it wasn't going to be a cheap affair!

Good luck with the new job!

I have noticed that there are a shitload of Ninja 250s for sale. Cheap too...

My father used to ride a lot, so I'm guessing he knows a little about maintenance. Although he hasn't had a bike for close to thirty years.

Thanks for the advice!

People who get mugged and beaten by locals multiple times within two weeks sound like they're looking for trouble...

Thanks for wishing me luck. I can't wait! And you're right. I think it's only going to become more difficult to ride in the future!

I do love the look of naked bikes. Some of the older Honda CB's are pretty nice. My girlfriend's father has a gorgeous Thruxton 900 that I'd love to ride someday... The restrictions on learner riders in Australia are pretty heavy now though, so a lot of the bikes that I like the look of are out of the question until I've held a license for three years.

How are you finding the traffic in SE Asia? I was terrified riding around in Indonesia. I guess you get used to it pretty quickly though.

Well assuming I can get through the permit course (I've been told it's quite easy), I guess I'll be looking at second-hand bikes. What are the main things you'd want to look for when going for something second-hand?

If you were to recommend any bike to a beginner, what would you go with?

I though wooden ones would get funky too, but it's not a problem. We replace them every couple of weeks. Very occasionally one will slip out, but it's very obvious when that happens and it's easy to just ditch the milk and replace it.

I finally got around to looking up pricing for motorbike learner permits. The price has... gone up.

I've been thinking about this for months and months. Pricing skyrocketed on April 2nd. If I'd had my shit together, I could have saved $280. Now if I want to do this, it's going to set me back $585 just for the permit course. Plus a check ride ~3 months after that.

I guess I'm waiting until I get back from New Zealand to do any of that.

Also, does hubski do motorbikes? Any tips/recommendations for someone who doesn't really know a damn thing about bikes other than that I like riding them?

Toothpicks! Incredibly unorthodox... Incredibly effective.

Thank you! Getting consistent rosettas was one of my goals for this year. They could be a bit cleaner, but I'm really pleased with my progress.

I have the luxury of working in one of the best cafes where I'm from. Every morning I get to make myself multiple coffees on our sweet La Marzocco Linea PB espresso machine. The thing's a dream. So much nicer than our old Linea Classic.

We use Campos coffee. It's incredible. Every now and then we'll use some of the single origin beans for cold brew and pour-over, but office drones aren't really concerned with that sort of thing. They just want caffeine.

The trick to good milk on these machines is stretching the milk nice and slowly. We block two of the holes on our steam wands to restrict the steam flow, as well as allowing us better control of the milk direction during the folding process. This makes the whole process a cinch... I've only really been learning how to do this for three months and I'm improving all the time.

I'm pretty consistently getting rosettas to look like this:

How have I not heard of Caribou before now?

This song takes a while to get going, but damn... When it does.

Pretty cool, hey?

I think my favourite feature is being able to hide it. I have it set up to only be active when I hit CtrlAltSpace. It's so much faster than taskbar!

I also run Taskbar Eliminator. Auto-hide is great, but it annoys me if I accidentally mouse over and bring it up.

Have you tried Bayden slickrun? It's pretty neat. Can create your own shortcuts for applications and websites.

Not at all! It's a bit of a strange case I guess.

We met because she has coffee at the cafe where I work. We started talking after it came up that both of us had ex-partners from the States. Her's was quite a bit more serious than mine (four years and an engagement ring). But nine months ago they broke it off when neither of them was willing to leave everything to move abroad. Same situation on my part.

Two weeks ago out of nowhere her ex decided that he couldn't live without her and had sorted out plans to move here permanently so that they could be together. So all of a sudden she wasn't sure what she was doing or whether she still loved him... or whether she wanted to be with me. I said I'd make it easy for her and extricate myself from the situation. She still came to get coffee every day and I was absolutely miserable. She didn't fare much better. So we started talking about it and she said she'd made up her mind that she doesn't want to be with him. Problem solved!

As for duolingo, I love it! I just lack the necessary self-motivation to build it into a habit.

I un-broke up with my girlfriend. As a result, this week has been much better than the previous ones.

I spent all day at the cafe on the coffee machine today. The morning rush was crazy, but I held my own and feel much more confident slinging lattes.

The Spanish course I was going to take this year has been discontinued due to lack of interest I guess? That was kind of annoying. The only classes I can find are an hour away in Melbourne. Not really an option for me unfortunately.

Oh well... Two out of three aint bad!

My mother put me on to Marlon Williams. Love his voice. This one's NSFW. Great song though.

I bought a bespoke suit when I was studying in Indonesia. Foolishly I left it until the end of my trip and didn't leave enough time for alterations. I wore the suit for our final ceremony at the university in Malang and never put it on again. Having said that, it only cost $100. So lesson learned I guess!

Glad Alex was able to get the necessary alterations and is happy with it!

I heard it on one of Melbourne's independent radio stations RRR. It's the only station I can bear to listen to. Nothing else compares and I get to hear awesome tracks like this one all the time!