I should have just arrived home after two long nights on trains and a day exploring Sydney on my lonesome. Instead, I have not long arisen from the first night in my own bed for about two weeks. How did I manage that? Why, by catching the wrong train, of course ( Read more... )

Last night was indeed eerie. The strangest part is that I didn't talk myself into it. As much as I am not a fan of Albert Camus' book The Stranger, I find a certain connection with Meursault and his detached view of life. I often feel like events are happening externally around me, but since I'd often prefer to internalise them and be moved, ( Read more... )

It has just struck me that on the 65th anniversary of the Tangiwai disaster that killed my great-uncles and that my Grandpa somehow survived, I will be riding a long distance train myself. This time from Sydney to Brisbane rather than Wellington to Auckland. Nonetheless, while I'm not the superstitious type, it does feel a little eerie ( Read more... )

This month is just flying right past me. I refuse to believe that it is actually the 18th already. I suspect a number of my Worst Cards Ever will be late; I've posted about half, but the remainder I haven't even begun. Will try to churn out a bunch tonight/tomorrow ( Read more... )

In response to my last entry, augustine provided a quote by G. K. Chesterton, one of the better authors this planet has ever seen, and I think my response to it is best contained in its own entry.

"There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject."This is something to which I have a very strong gut response. This response is "like hell!" Not ( Read more... )

After the interlude of my previous entry and a week or so of inactivity, I’d now like to return to this series, focusing on the potential for serious and substantial rail transport revitalisation in New Zealand. My first two entries focused on the upper and lower North Island. This entry shall look at the South Island, with Christchurch and ( Read more... )

Welcome back to the 2008 Shit Boring Entry Series, addressing the urgent need to fundamentally rethink transport planning, with specific focus upon New Zealand. Yesterday's entry introduced the series and discussed the potential of rail transport in the upper North Island. Today's entry shall bring those considerations to the lower North Island, ( Read more... )

I imagine this series of entries is going to be of interest to just about nobody (oh yeah, nothing like that sort of introduction to hook people!). It has evolved out of a procrastination exercise over the last couple of weeks to stop me from going absolutely insane with university work. I think it's a bit of a shame that the topic of ( Read more... )

It's been far too bloody long since my last update, so here's a brief one about what's been happening lately. I currently have two rather lengthy updates half-finished, but I don't have the time to actually complete them and they'll probably be of interest to roughly three people on the face of the planet, so I'm not in a tremendous hurry to ( Read more... )

So, I find myself increasingly enjoying photography. It's funny, since I never really showed an interest in photography until last year, and didn't first use my camera until January. Since then, I have taken over 4,000 pictures without even trying. I just love using it, though I'm rather conscious that I know fuck-all about correct photographic ( Read more... )