Rantings of an Angry Polak

F*cken bee stings, having my credit card cancelled, the R1 blowing a regulator, driving six million kilometers... What the hell was going on?

Allow me to elaborate (read, rant) on the last two weeks, in no particular order because I subconsciously want to forget anything ever happened.

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Riding along on a fine Tuesday morning, taking a shortcut around Guildford Road lights on the 400 to dodge some of the early morning traffic, and I feel a wet sensation followed by a stabbing pain in my thigh. I had been hit by a bee at speed, so when I pulled over I swore so loud I think I woke the neighbourhood. I ripped the bastard off and thought "fuck it, I'll get some Stingose at work". The high impact sting made my leg go numb as I was riding along. Mind you, I already had a sore knee (on the opposite side) so now I was down to zero good legs.

The bee must have damn well emptied its reserves as the sting left a whopping bulb on my leg and a big red rash. I put heaps of Stingose on it but it was still itchy as fuck. It took over a week to go away and even today, its still a little itchy and there are a few little spots.

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It was mid-morning on a Wednesday when I got a call from an Indian woman claiming she was from the Commonwealth Bank. And she was. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be good. My credit card number had been compromised.

"Did you buy anything from iTunes last night?"
I was thinking "sif pay for music"
At which time I was then informed that AUD 1657 was spent a few minutes later on airline tickets from an Italian website. Awesome.

I was then told that the $0.99 on iTunes went through but was a "typical" test transaction for a bigger purchase, hence it sparked their security team to can the transaction for the mega bucks. Faaark. So now my card was canned. Inconvenience +++

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On a sunny Thursday I simply couldn't get my shit sorted. After promising to pick Robin up and drop him off to work (that is another story altogether), I woke about 15 minutes before I was to be at his house, 15 minutes away. Using the word "rushed" would be an understatement.

I jumped in the car and belted over to pick him up only to be about 5 minutes later overall.

Seeing as I was up the road from where I work by this stage, I popped in to get my laptop and chose to work from home as I wasn't even properly dressed. I was keen to get back home and catch up on some sleep, but it wasn't to be. Lots of running around, changing number plates for Robin.

I drove to his work to pick up keys, to get the numberplate, to drive to East Perth Licensing Centre, to wait 40 minutes it line, to hand over the plate, to be told that the changeover had to be authorised in writing, to which i slammed my que token on the desk and said loudly "FOURTY MINUTES", to which I called Robin and demanded he type up a letter, to which I picked it up and drove to the Welshpool Licensing Centre, where I waited only 5 minutes and the lady at the desk even cracked a funny.

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On Friday, Robin and I went down to his mum's house in Singleton for dinner and to pick up his car and after driving about six million kilometres over the previous few days, I was going to retire from driving on the weekend altogether. It was nice to catch up again.

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I found out that the R1 had shat a voltage regulator. Great. RRP from Yamaha was $399. SIF pay that much when aftermarket parts are available. Should have a nice new one in my hand in the next few days, at less than half the price.

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Well, it's not all bad. I had a really nice weekend, spent with mates and basically taking it easy, plus bumping into a few friends unexpectantly.

Robin is coming over in the next hour and we're going for a drive. Not sure where, but I'm looking forward to just chillaxin' somewhere.

*sigh*

Catching up with the Canadians

Well, after almost a year in Canadia, Vicary finally came back to the Land of Oz for a visit and a few pints. Bout fricken time too. And yes champ, the R1 is just fine.

Scott, Candice and I

Me and Scotty

It was great to catch up again, even though it was only for a short time. Hopefully our next meet will be in September at the Wedding!

12 Years in the Making

I finally saw them. The Smashing Pumpkins. On the Explanade in Perth. After 12 years, and missing them in Australia the last time they were here due to my TEE Calculus Exam. Dammit!


Ok, so there are only two original band members; Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain but serously, who cares? They still rocked my socks off for 75 minutes. I was so impressed.



Billy Corgan has a voice you love to hate. He screeches, he serenades. I was in awe to finally hear the man live. With thumping guitars, hammering drums, buzzing keyboard and angst-filled vocals, the songs of old and new came alive on stage for all to hear.

They played the Everlasting Gaze, Mayonaise (that's my song), Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans... even some stuff off the Glass and the Ghost Children release.



I had my Zero shirt on, I was there with Robin, we were rocking out with a great spot towards the front. I was so happy.

During the set, there were some fireworks on the other side of the river from a wedding, but the timing was awesome and it complimented the Pumpkins' show.

I left a little sad however, after all of that, I never got to hear my favourite Smashing Pumpkins song of all time, Zero. That's all they really needed to play. I still thought the performance was awesome and was worth the money.

Earlier in the night, Duran Duran had also played. For a bunch of old, well dressed British fags, they go alright!

Poisoned for Charity

I think everyone that helped out at the Dyno day suffered some form of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The forecast was for showers, but god damn did it piss down. By noon the sun was out and the weather was fine.

A HUGE thanks to all involved, those that were up early setting up, those that kicked on for the whole day, and of course those that put their bikes on the Dyno and handed over the money.

Some highlights:

TurboMITO:




RGV250:




RZ500:




And of course, the most fun was had when:



and the slow race:

MAD's First Event for 2008

I've joined PSB's MAD Committee this year to help out with events. The first event is tomorrow, the MAD Dyno Shootout!

MAD Dyno Shootout
When: Saturday 5th April from 9:00am

Where: Good Bikes Better - U12/ 25 Hanson St Maddington

How Much: $45 with proceeds going to MAD

Curveball

Sometimes life just throws you a curveball.

The R1 didn't start again today. As it didn't yesterday. Although it started yesterday afternoon.
Bad news is that it didn't start this afternoon. Boooooo!

So now what? Intermittent electrical problem? Ignition? Power Commander? Starter motor?
God dammit.

After rolling the bike down the driveway to start it yesterday, I went to fire it up and got diddly squat. A poofteenth of a spark and not even a churn. All the clocks had reset and the display dimmed down. FUCK! So then I have to roll the bastard back up the driveway and back into the yard, turn the 400 around and then take that to work. So by now, I'm puffed from pushing the 190kg around, my arms are sore and quite frustrated. Well, shit just happened. So off I go to work on the little cibby.

I had just made it to Guildford Road when I felt a ridiculous pain in my right thigh. I look down and there's one fat furry bastard of a bee lodged in my leg. I pulled over onto a side street, flicked the bee off to see that the sting was still in my pants. Off the glove came as I tried to scrape the sting off to no avail. Right, I'm pulling the bloody thing out as is. So I wrenched out the sting, and boy did it hurt. In fact, 36 hours later it still itches like buggery. Where's Robin with that Stingose?

Life sometimes likes to send you a friendly reminder that you're not always in control, no matter how "sussed" you think you have it.