Friday 8/8/14 - Not Much Happening This Week & This Week's Wristwatches (shocking sentence construction, Teeritz!)

- Friday 11:21pm AEST - 

Last weekend

We watched "Captain Phillips" on DVD for Lolly Night. You may recall that I saw this film at the cinemas a few months ago and had to put up with a twit a few seats away who talked pretty much all throughout the screening;

Fri 29/11/13 - Jerks Who Talk During Movies, Steampunk Magicians & This Week's Wristwatches

(Holy cow, did I say I saw it a few months ago. It was last November!)

 

So it was with a little trepidation that I sat down to watch this film again. I must say that it was a better film the second time around. Director Paul Greengrass has a great, documentary-style of filmmaking and the film seemed to move at a faster pace on this second viewing. 

I was still wearing the 1969 Omega Seamaster Chronometer, but I switched over to the AquaTerra later in the afternoon on Sunday to prepare for the next day of industry placement;

 Monday

       After last week's five-day stretch of industry placement, it was now down to two days a week until I finish the required 100 hours on the job. I discussed the hours with my supervisor and I should be complete by the end of this month. 

I spent the first part of the day leafing through old community newspapers to find any mention of this library. They are planning to put together a book which outlines the history of this particular branch. My supervisor told me that a work-experience kid has already performed this task in the past, but when they had a look at the results, they noticed a few omissions. So, it was a case of these newspapers having to be looked through again, this time with a fine-tooth comb. And that's where I came in. 

Spent the afternoon shelving books. I wanted to get my Dewey Decimal knowledge up to par, since it's been over a year since I studied this aspect of library work. Think I'll have to dig out the notes from that particular subject.

It was a chilly evening in Melbourne later on. Twining's to the rescue!

Have you ever been to Raffles Hotel in Singapore? My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Singapore back in 1996 and we went to The Writer's Bar at Raffles to have a 'Singapore Sling' cocktail, which, as legend has it, was first created here. 

The bartender approached and I said; "Two Singapore Slings, please."

I had a mental picture in my head of him skillfully preparing our drinks and cutting up some elaborate garnish to prop on the edge of the glasses.

My wife said; "Wouldn't it be funny if he brings the drinks over and then says 'That'll be forty dollars', please"?

It was 1996 and forty bucks for two cocktails was unheard of back in Australia. We watched as the bartender shuffled over to the far end of the bar and flipped the switch on a blender.

"Vvvvvvvvvvvvv!!!"

Five whole seconds must have ticked by. He then switched it off, grabbed two long-stemmed, fancy highball glasses, and poured the contents of the blender into them.

'Oh, you're friggin' kidding me', I thought to myself as he slowly cut up two pineapple wedges and slid them onto the edge of the glasses. 

He brought them over, placed them gently down on the coasters and said; "Thirty-eight dollars."

I suppose it makes sense to have an entire jug of this cocktail on standby for tourists who want to try a famous Singapore Sling, but it kind of took the magic away from the experience having sat there watching him 'make' the drinks. 

To make up for this lack-lustre event, I bought myself a mug from the gift shop, and every now and then, I make myself a tea in it and reminisce about the famous Singapore Sling that I had at The Writer's Bar at Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

And then I remember the sound of the blender and I start laughing.

Wednesday and Thursday

       Had classes in the afternoon on both days. I took a couple of pages of notes and was surprised to see the new student next to me sitting there with one sheet of A4 paper folded in quarters and no pen. He must have a phenomenal memory.

 

I wore the Sinn 103 St Sa chronograph. The usual car-park at school was full, so I had to park on the street at a meter...$4:80 for two hours. For that money, were they going to wash my car while it was there?;

Today

       Another day of placement done. I was itching to get home. We were going to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" (Dir: James Gunn, 2014) at 6:30. 

I must say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was non-stop. The humour was well done, the action was clever, and it made you care about the characters, which is the hardest part of an action film storyline. 

I'm really liking the body of work that Marvel Studios are racking up. Each film adds another layer to the cinematic Marvel universe and they cleverly throw in a scene after the end credits that ties in with the next story of whichever character they want to showcase next. If you recall "Iron Man" (Dir: John Favreau, 2008), after the end credits, there was a very quick scene where we see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and he mentions 'the Avengers Initiative'.

Marvel Studios are really taking time and care with these films. 

I picked up a couple of books too. I'm sure these haven't been in print for quite some time;

As it turns out, "Bullitt" was actually published under the title "Mute Witness" and the lead character is referred to as Lieutenant Clancy. Nobody by the name of Frank Bullitt in this story, and I doubt there's a car chase in this book involving a Ford Mustang Fastback either. Doesn't matter. I'm curious to see just how much this book's storyline differs from the movie.

Anyway, that's my uneventful week for you. Sometimes life moves slowly. And that's cool. 

My God, how'd it get so late?

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!