Oh dear. I didn't manage to get up until midday today. Nothing in particular kept me in bed, but one moment my landlady was shouting that she was off to work, the next it was twelve.

Further fun ensued when the cable to my laptop decided to stop working: I got the laptop second hand and it's always looked a bit ropey - frayed-rope-y. Fortunately, a technical type at work fixed it for me, but how long it will last, I don't know. My supervisor called Dell, to ask them if they could send a replacement, but they said no because my laptop's identification number is invalid! So this calls for a mission to the distant electronics shop tomorrow.

Also, it transpires that Dark Earth, the band I was intending to see tomorrow, marching fracture or no, are playing in a place too far for me to walk to from the nearest station, and taxis aren't reliable enough for that to be an option, so bah. I was much looking forward to it, as I've got to know the three integral members a bit since I've been here, and I v. much like what I've heard of their music.

Further, before I knew they were playing, I'd been thinking about seeing Electric Six that evening, who are playing a very short distance away from the nearest station, but that's sold out now. So bah at that too. Gay bah at that, in fact.

The evening was better though: I spent six hours proving something about a statistical distribution that has quite possibly never been formally proven before!


Friday 16 July 2004

Alas. Last night, I had the excellent idea of moving my alarm so that I'd have to get out of bed to turn it off. So, this morning came, I got out of bed, switched it off . . . and promptly got back into bed again and slept for another two hours.

I then made the long trek to the electronics shop, only to be told that they didn't sell cables, and that Dell are weird and you have to buy them directly from them. ARGH.

But my luck turned. I caught the tram to work with seconds to spare; at work, I found I had an e-mail from Dark Earth's singer, Liam, offering me and lift to and from the station (I'd left a message in their guestbook explaining my fate); and I discovered that, after all the gigs and festivals and goodness in England I'm missing this summer, the festival I want to attend most - Bloodstock, one of extreme metal - is the weekend after I get back. w00t!

Pretty much as soon as I got home, I embarked on the hour-and-a-bit-long train journey to Cranbourne station. (It was cheap, though.) And verily, Liam took me to the venue. I'd never been anywhere quite like it before: it was a big warehouse-like place, mostly given over to ramps for skaters and with a kiosk selling refreshments. It was apparently a Community Church building, which made it a bit of a bizarre location for bands with blatant approvingly references to Satan in their lyrics, but I've no complaints. It was free to get in and the skaters made for satisfactory between-band entertainment.

Especially bearing in mind it was their first gig, Dark Earth were totally mint, and the other two bands - Invictus and The Rhythm Pigs - were v. good too. I then got to the station with one minute before the train left and I think they only run once an hour at that time of night. Sweet.

Also, the number of comments I've had on my boots in this country doubled today, for no reason I can fathom. A bloke on the train to Richmond station, a girl on the train to Cranbourne, a bloke at the gig, and a girl sitting outside the station afterwards all voiced their approval.