don't you just hate it when you encounter a slow, lazy afternoon, and you feel like hopping on your blog to tap out an update, and the power goes out?? well that's what happened last week. actually the power was only out on one of the phases to the building, so my computers were still on. but the outage did take out the local switch, so i had no network. i guess i could have typed out something and saved it to a file for later uploading, but that kinda defeats the purpose of blogging somewhat, so i played pinball and did a bit of reading instead :p

so... what was i going to say? went to japanime thursday night for the opening night (and queensland premiere of the) movie "spirited away". not overly impressed with the cinema itself (screen, seating etc) - i've been spoiled on the excesses of "senstadium" and "cinestadium" seating - but it was a full house and the atmosphere was positive. the movie started about 30 minutes late, and was perhaps a bit on the long side (i found myself checking my watch on more than one occasion), and some people commented afterwards that the ending seemed a bit rushed, coming too quickly. but overall i enjoyed the movie, though i'm still not entirely sure what to make of it as a whole. it was somewhat intriguing and interesting - probably not the sort of thing i'd automatically choose to see (especially at the price it was going for) but it's always good to watch movies in the company of others and be able to chat about it afterwards. the "after party" consisted of sushi and other tidbits of food, coupled with a few choices of alcoholic beverages.

didn't end up watching any other movies at japanime... was supposed to go to a concert at church on friday night, but that got cancelled somewhat last minute... and ended up staying back late after work anyway, so in the end i went home and veged out. while preparing to heat up my dinner i heard on the radio that they were giving away movie tickets, so on a whim i rang up the station to try my luck. the competition was called "battle of the suburbs" and i was pitted against another contestant in a best-of-seven questions quiz. in the end the score was tied 3-apiece as one question didn't get answered in time. so one of the announcers decided to give us both a half of the prize and not bother with a tiebreaker. and i still didn't quite know what it was that i'd won! but, picked up the tickets this morning and it turns out to a couple of free passes to a preview screening of "the rookie"... so that's what i'll be doing tonight :)

saturday was the word 25% off sale! rather handy for picking up a copy of sara groves' new album which i had been intending to buy anyway, along with some other items. then i did my tax return in the afternoon, and played more a bit more pinball at night - manged to break the 10 million mark... once.

sunday saw me getting wet on the way to the 96.5 festival of choirs, at the albert st uniting church in town. the special guests there was an a capella group called the idea of north, who performed two sets during the program. quite enjoyed listening to them sing, and using their voices to create a myriad of sounds. good fun (except for getting a little wet... :p)

and it's about time for lunch...