Twelve Shades of Awesome

I Wanna Live Like Common People

2010-04-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, just a very quick update on life and stuff in general.

I got my job at Coles back, which means that I'm making money again and life is pretty with flowers and stuff! Yes, I adore money.

I'm still very lazy at University, though I somehow manage to get excellent marks despite this laziness (I really don't understand it). That said, I haven't receieved all my mid-semester marks back yet, so I might have fucked something up (probably).

I bought myself a Wacom Bamboo Fun graphics tablet which is really fucking awesome, I'm using it to learn how to draw (yeah, I know, buying an expensive item to learn how to draw before you can draw seems silly but I'm hoping that I will do the same thing as what happened when I bought my guitar and force myself to learn, as it would otherwise be a waste of money).

And I'm still single but as I continue to claim it really doesn't bother me in the slightest (which is true).

So I'm no longer depressed due to money, just feeling very neutral at the moment (may have something to do with the fact that I have work soon, and I'm tired).

I probably won't update this any time soon (heck it's been a month since my last update and I consider this "soon") so don't expect much =D.

Back. For now.

2010-03-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I haven't been posting on here at all and I'm making no promises to write anymore posts in the near future, because I know I won't.

This is just a post to fill you in with what's happening in my life at the moment.

I'm still studying psychology at JCU and I'm currently in my third year. I want to do my masters but that requires me to get grades which, to be honest, I'm not convinced I could get. I currently am, pretty much, unemployed, which is fairly crappy. I'm relying on the government to keep me alive and am not allowed to borrow money from my parents anymore. All in all, life is pretty crappy. I'm still single, but I don't care about that.

I hope, and know, that life will get better.

Tweetcloud

2010-01-10T07:04:00.001-08:00

A Note on Spine(less) Ideologies

2009-07-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

(Note: this is the infamous article on chiropractic that got Simon Singh sued. It was being reposted all over the web on July 29th by multiple blogs and online magazines...I'm just behind by one day)

Some practitioners claim it is a cure-all, but the research suggests chiropractic therapy has mixed results - and can even be lethal, says Simon Singh.

You might be surprised to know that the founder of chiropractic therapy, Daniel David Palmer, wrote that "99% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae". In the 1860s, Palmer began to develop his theory that the spine was involved in almost every illness because the spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body. Therefore any misalignment could cause a problem in distant parts of the body.

In fact, Palmer's first chiropractic intervention supposedly cured a man who had been profoundly deaf for 17 years. His second treatment was equally strange, because he claimed that he treated a patient with heart trouble by correcting a displaced vertebra.

You might think that modern chiropractors restrict themselves to treating back problems, but in fact some still possess quite wacky ideas. The fundamentalists argue that they can cure anything, including helping treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying - even though there is not a jot of evidence.

I can confidently label these assertions as utter nonsense because I have co-authored a book about alternative medicine with the world's first professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst. He learned chiropractic techniques himself and used them as a doctor. This is when he began to see the need for some critical evaluation. Among other projects, he examined the evidence from 70 trials exploring the benefits of chiropractic therapy in conditions unrelated to the back. He found no evidence to suggest that chiropractors could treat any such conditions.

But what about chiropractic in the context of treating back problems? Manipulating the spine can cure some problems, but results are mixed. To be fair, conventional approaches, such as physiotherapy, also struggle to treat back problems with any consistency. Nevertheless, conventional therapy is still preferable because of the serious dangers associated with chiropractic.

In 2001, a systematic review of five studies revealed that roughly half of all chiropractic patients experience temporary adverse effects, such as pain, numbness, stiffness, dizziness and headaches. These are relatively minor effects, but the frequency is very high, and this has to be weighed against the limited benefit offered by chiropractors.

More worryingly, the hallmark technique of the chiropractor, known as high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust, carries much more significant risks. This involves pushing joints beyond their natural range of motion by applying a short, sharp force. Although this is a safe procedure for most patients, others can suffer dislocations and fractures.

Worse still, manipulation of the neck can damage the vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain. So-called vertebral dissection can ultimately cut off the blood supply, which in turn can lead to a stroke and even death. Because there is usually a delay between the vertebral dissection and the blockage of blood to the brain, the link between chiropractic and strokes went unnoticed for many years. Recently, however, it has been possible to identify cases where spinal manipulation has certainly been the cause of vertebral dissection.

Laurie Mathiason was a 20-year-old Canadian waitress who visited a chiropractor 21 times between 1997 and 1998 to relieve her low-back pain. On her penultimate visit she complained of stiffness in her neck. That evening she began dropping plates at the restaurant, so she returned to the chiropractor. As the chiropractor manipulated her neck, Mathiason began to cry, her eyes started to roll, she foamed at the mouth and her body began to convulse. She was rushed to hospital, slipped into a coma and died three days later. At the inquest, the coroner declared: "Laurie died of a ruptured vertebral artery, which occurred in association with a chiropractic manipulation of the neck."

This case is not unique. In Canada alone there have been several other women who have died after receiving chiropractic therapy, and Edzard Ernst has identified about 700 cases of serious complications among the medical literature. This should be a major concern for health officials, particularly as under-reporting will mean that the actual number of cases is much higher.

If spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market.

Simon Singh is a science writer in London and the co-author, with Edzard Ernst, of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial. This is an edited version of an article published in The Guardian for which Singh is being personally sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association.

This was reposted from the blog Pharyngula

Me vs You (A Spiritual Experience)

2009-07-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

This blog entry concerns itself with the practice of religion in society and the negative effect religions have on society. Granted, religions have SOME positives, but upon weighing everything up, does the end really justify the means (and mean they are).

If you haven't gathered by now I am an atheist. This means that I don't believe in a God(s) or any religions as I believe the answers religions provide are far too simple and, in many cases, violent. And I don't believe in a God as, to me, it really makes no logical sense. But we'll discuss this in more detail further down the track.

This first blog concerns itself as to WHY people might choose a religion to practice rather than having no religion at all. Two concepts will be discussed, the biological lust for religion and the hand-me-down effect of religion.

When discussing the biological lust, for lack of a better term, of religion we have to understand a few things about humans.

Humans are, by way of nature, gregarious beings. This means that humans love to socialize with one another and generally on common grounds too. This is one of the exploitive ways a church may 'recruit' (and in future blogs I'll discuss the choice of this word) new members.

The church, be it Christian or Catholic or whatever, gives people the chance to meet each other once a week to socialize and converse about a given topic which, over time, becomes known as 'fact' to the group. Whilst this can be a good thing it also has a flip side, the church is a very selective and very exclusive group, ie. one must fulfill the stringent requirements to join the group. Examples of this could be that homosexuals are treated brutally in many churches with the devout quoting lines such as 'Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve'. That said, I have to give Christians and Catholics credit for not taking a stance against homosexualism then what Islam has...although many would like to. (For example the Reverand Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University, stated that "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals" as cited by Dawkins, R. 2006, p. 327)

Another view for the biological lust for religion can be seen in people's need for the answer to the universe. These are the people who accept no other solution to society and societies mysteries other than "Because god did it". This would have stemmed from the beginning of humanity as science had not discovered as many facets about life as what we had now. Hitchens has stated that people prefer "junk theories" rather than no theory at all eg. people prefer conspiracy theories rather than have no explanations at all. An example of how this may have occured is as follows: -

-The Sun is really bright - "Because God did it"

-The Sun heats the Earth - "Because God did it"

-The Sun revolves around the Earth- "Because God did it...and the Bible says it"

-Actually, on second thought, the Earth revolves around the Sun - "Because God did it...and the Bible is sometimes suppose to be taken metaphorically"

-The surface of the Sun consists of hydrogen (about 74% of its mass, or 92% of its volume), helium (about 24-25% of mass, 7% of volume), and trace quantities of other elements, including iron, nickel, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, magnesium, carbon, neon, calcium, and chromium - "Because..God..did it?"

(Last point taken from Wikipedia to illustrate how much better Science is than religion in providing facts about life)

Whilst we don't have all the answers right now it is more than presumptious to say that religion can explain all life with a "because God did it" response.

The second reason as to why people may follow religion can be viewed as a "hand-me-down" sort of process...although I much prefer to think of it in terms of a bad forward email or chain letter.

So religions are like a bad chain letter or email forward. You know, the kind where it starts of with someone telling us a story and then telling us to do something with the promise of harm for inaction and salvation for action. For example, an email forward might tell you a story about little Lucy Lionheart and how she was murdered one night at the strike of midnight...the email then tells you to forward the email to at least fifteen people and if you do then you will meet your true love the next day, but if you don't then little Lucy Lionheart will visit you at midnight and kill you. People send forwards on for the shear fact that they really really don't wanna be visited by a scary ghost and they really want to find a soulmate.

Lets put this logic to religion, shall we:

Opening story - Bible
Orders for action - Attend church and follow their practices
And finally, the promises - Adhere to the actions and you will go to heaven. Don't, and you will go to Hell

I think this shows, with a fair amount of conviction, that religions are much like a bad chain letter of forward and it may also explain how religions both started and are continued on in society.

Well that's the end of my first post on "Me vs. You". I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Please leave any questions or comments and I will get to them and keep an eye out for future posts.

(I understand that I may have upset some people, but I truly do not care at all)

It's Time to RANT Again

2009-06-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hello, yes I understand that it has been over a month since my last update but I had things to do. Anyway, on with the post.

Like any rational person, I was saddened to hear about the blatant murder of an innocent person. The person in question was Dr Tiller, and he was an abortionist doctor.

I was perusing through a comment page of a site I visit regularly (PZ Myer’s blog ‘Pharyngula’) which identified a forum discussing the death of Dr Tiller. I knew the forum was for conservatives (the page is called Free Conservatives.. no linkage, sorry) and I knew it would piss me off (which, by the way, is the reason I’m typing this).

I want to discuss something that is of much interest to me, and I hope I engage your frontal lobes. I wish to ask you a question; was Dr Tiller’s murder justifiable? What do I think? No; it is never ok to kill another person? (oh yeah, I’ll just mention now that I am anti-war…some people fail to understand the power of dialogue).

I hear some of you pipe up “But this abortionist is a murderer! He butchered babies! He deserved to die!” to which I reply, with much vigor, ‘Shut the hell up, you stupid morons!’. I’m glad I got that off my chest. Feels good man. But seriously, lets look at their vitriolic arguments and completely shut them down, that should make me feel good.

I’m going to first discuss why this isn’t murder, by looking at the legal requirements for murder. If, for whatever stupid reason, you believe that the law is wrong then I have something to say to you; Get the hell out of here! Honestly, it couldn’t be simpler. If you don’t like the laws then a) leave or b) hope that the law changes via bills etc. After discussing why it isn’t murder, I will finally discuss why fetuses aren’t people (and therefore its [and I can only emphasise strongly its label of being called an it] termination is perfectly legal and by no means immoral [whatever that is!]).

Ok, so, what exactly is murder? Murder, as defined by every jurisdiction, is “unlawful killing of another human being with intent” (from Wikipedia). Oh wow, look at that, I bolded the word ‘unlawful’ and ‘human being’, whatever might that mean?

So, what is an abortion? An “abortion of a fetus is legal in many countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.” (from Wikipedia) Further, the latest an abortion can be legally performed in Australia, is when the fetus is no more then 28 weeks (for state-by-state requirements for when abortions can be done, and under which circumstances, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Australia).

What is most telling, is that abortion in these cases cannot be considered murder as they are, in fact, legal. Further, even illegal abortions (that is, abortions that are not legal…durr) are not normally considered murder under most jurisdictions; “most jurisdictions legally distinguish killing a fetus or unborn child as a different crime, such as illegal abortion of a fetus or the unlawful killing of an unborn child.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder, under the subheading ‘Victim’).

So what can we discern from this? We can state, very confidently, that abortion is most definitely not murder (even when the abortions being carried out are illegal [the non-legal ones] do we not legally classify abortion as murder).

Now, lets discuss whether fetuses are human beings, just ‘for shits and giggles’ (I don’t have to, as I’ve already proven that abortion is not murder, but god-damn it I am going to follow this all the way through!).

When “the fully grown fetus is birthed from the woman's body and breathes independently as an infant for the first time…most modern cultures recognize the baby as a person entitled to the full protection of the law” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_being under ‘Life Cycle’). What does this mean? Put simply (and, apparently, without having to investigate too much) it means that fetuses aren’t humans. Oh yes, they might eventually become humans, but then you wouldn’t call sperm a human just because it might eventually become human, would you?

In conclusion, it is quite obvious to anyone with fully functioning frontal lobes, that abortion is not murder and fetuses are not humans. Really, it is that simple to understand, abortion isn’t murder because it isn’t murder, and fetuses aren’t humans because they aren’t humans! To anyone who still thinks that abortion is murder, or that fetuses are humans, kindly read this actual article again! I guess I should make this rather clear as well; I don’t care what your religion says on the matter. And to that point, I don’t care what any of the many thousand of religions have to say on the matter either. They are all as equally man-made as each other.

I’m going to say this just once (and I’ll make it bold to catch your attention) if you disagree with this article, then please say what was wrong with it and prove that I am wrong (this means research)…if you fail to do this then I don’t care about what you have to say on this topic, thank you. Also, if you agree with me, I do enjoy the odd “good work”, “well researched”, “couldn’t have said it better” etc etc.

Vanity, my friends, is a fickle foe.

tl;dr abortion is NOT murder, fetuses are NOT humans

Cheers

The Moo was Grooved!

2009-05-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hell yes it was!

The day I was looking forward to for I-don't-know-how-fucking-long had finally came and passed, but holy shit was it awesome!

For those who may not know what I'm talking about, on Saturday (May 2nd) Townsville held a concert called Groovin the Moo which had one of the best fucking lineups that I had ever witnessed....and this is Townsville!

Acts that were at the concert (and no, this isn't every act, just the ones I remembered/worth mentioning) included: Hilltop Hoods, The Living End, Little Birdy, The Grates, Children Collide, Mammal, The Drones, and the main (read: only) reason I was going, Okkervil River!

I'm really only gonna be talking about the two epic bands that I thought standed out the most (for me anyways, I'm absolutely positive that other people had different experiences). They are Children Collide and Okkervil River.

I had first heard of Children Collide whilst listening to Triple J in my car, the song Farewell Rocketship sounded so awesome that I decided to find more of their stuff online, and ended up downloading their whole album The Long Now. The set they played at Groovin the Moo was friggin awesome, from memory they played Farewell Rocketship, Social Currency, Cannibal, Across the Earth, Marie Marie Pt 2, and We Live in Fear (there was another one but I can't remember the name of it =O).
Songs to download by Children Collide: Farewell Rocketship, Social Currency, Cannibal, Across the Earth, Marie Marie Pt 2, and We Live in Fear

I remember exactly how I first found Okkervil River, in fact it was the major turning point in my music tastes. I had been watching Donnie Darko with my sister when the song Mad World covered by Gary Jules came on. I didn't know who wrote it so I waited for the end credits, found that Gary Jules made the song, and typed his name in Google. An article about The Top 10 Depressing Songs popped up and, after my infatuation with Mad World and how it made me feel, I decided to give one of the songs on the list a shot as well. The song I found was called It's Cool, We Can Still Be Friends by Bright Eyes.

After finding that song I quickly became obsessed with many of Bright Eye's other songs. One day I decided to see what would pop up under the You May Also Like section of Itunes when I typed in the search for the Itunes Music Store. Along side another excellent band (which some of you may know, The National) was Okkervil River and, feeling rather impulsive at the time, I had decided to purchase and download their album Black Sheep Boy Appendix.

Yes, I was hooked.

Back to the present time (well..sorta) after a long obsession with Okkervil River I finally had my chance to see them LIVE in Townsville! Their set was fucking MAGNIFICENT, with one concert goer later remarking that, although she had never heard of them before she would definitely purchase their album. Will Sheff (the lead singer of Okkervil River) played the crowd very nicely (although, admittedly not AS nicely as Mammal, but Okkervil River still wins =D). By the end of the set (which included The Latest Toughs, Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe, Unless it Kicks, For Real, Plus Ones, John Allyn Smith Sails, and A Girl in Port (as well as another one which I can't recall).
PURCHASE THE FOLLOWING ALBUMS BY OKKERVIL RIVER: Black Sheep Boy, The Stage Names, and Don't Fall in Love With Everybody You Meet

Granted, this wasn't much of a concert review, but fuck you. I leave you with a picture of Will Sheff from Okkervil River.

Decisions Decisions

2009-04-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I was contemplating what I would purchase with my KRudd stimulus payment - from considering purchasing a scooter, to buying a car, to buying recording equipment for music.

As it is, I have finally decided on what I will do. I called up my parents and asked them how much they would be willing to sell their car for, they told me "value x, where x is an incredibly small amount" so I weighed it all up and said "ok, I'll buy your car then"

AND SO THERE IT IS, I WILL SOON HAVE A CAR OF MY OWN!

Actually, I HAVE that car already, but I will actually own it. I'm also gonna purchase a new CD player for the car as the one that is in it already is rather crappy, which means that I will not be buying recording equipment for some time yet (though I am still very keen on buying some in the future..maybe even the near future!).

So tomorrow (well, today, but someone doesn't believe that a new day has started until it is 6 am in the morning) I will be putting the money into my parent's account and hopefully buying a new CD player as well! =D

Chat to you guys later!

What should I spend my KRudd money on?

2009-04-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hey people,
So I've received both of my KRudd stimulus payments (yeah, I'm one of those lucky buggers!) and I can't decide what to spend my mula on. I've been contemplating purchasing a motorized scooter for a long time now, but given my circumstances (such as living a fair distance from both work and uni) I'm starting to think that I should just get a car.

Now cars aren't cheap products, regardless of what you've been told, however I do have the possibility of purchasing my parents car for not-very-much which would leave me with some money to spend on other stuff (I really wanna get some recording stuff for my music). The thing is, I don't really wanna purchase my parents car, I want a car of my own, that was mine from the beginning. What this means is that I want a car that didn't come from my family to begin with, but rather some random (my first car belonged to my brother to begin with).

One of the draw backs for purchasing my parents car would be their CD player. It's crap. It always steals my CD's and is never keen on returning them. That said, I could use the left over money to purchase a new CD player (ohhhh, maybe an MP3 CD player!)

I'll post again when I finally decide what to do. Until then.

O RLY AN UPDATE?!

2009-03-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I've come to the realization that I went straight into this whole blogging thing without actually introducing myself. Heck, I didn't even buy you a drink!

Anyways, what can I say? Here's a list of the important things:
Name - Aaron
Age (as of time of post) - 20, though I'll be 21 this year...29th of June...put it in your calendar or something
Occupation - Slave of the Empire of Coles Supermarkets (I work in Dairy)/Psychology Student
Favourite colour - Green...also, for all you colour buffs, green is the most relaxing colour (FACT)
Religious beliefs - Agnostic Atheist...I'm basically an atheist but I don't have the gall to say that there absolutely is no God..it's just the most reasonable answer...if science can prove that God exists than sure, I'll know (notice I didn't say "believe") that God exists
Favourite mannerisms - Probably saying "cheers" to people (as an alternative to 'thank you')
Favourite beverage - COFFEE! =D
Favourite webcomic - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (www.smbc-comics.com) OR equally as awesome Questionable Content (www.questionablecontent.net)
Hotmail account - azz_from_oz@hotmail.com
Drinker? - No, not really...I'm not against it, I just don't drink that often
Smoker? - I almost became a smoker... --->this close<--- ...but I stopped
Do you Twitter? - Why yes, I do at times (www.twitter.com/azz_from_oz)
How about Facebook? - If I haven't added you already, or accepted your invite chances are that I don't want you to know it
Political stance - I'm currently a Liberal..I might change to Secular Party in the future...I just don't trust Labour
Play any instruments? - I can play guitar, some piano, some harmonica, some glockenspiel and I can sing
Neat-freak or slob? - Somewhere in the middle, I reckon (probably leaning closer to slob =P)
Ever been in love? - Nope, next question
Ever kissed in the rain? - Ok, enough of the stupid questions, I'm out

Anyways, I'll be using this blog to post things of interest (to me). The categories that I'll be using in these posts will be:
- Life Updates
- Book Reviews
- Rants

Thundercats GOOOOO!

Book Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker

2009-03-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

Now we all know the story of Dracula so this review is for those who haven't read the story yet.

The story begins with a young Jonathan Harker, a certified solicitor from Exeter, London, travelling to Transylvania to discuss the acquisition of property in London to a Count Dracula. As Harker finally reaches the Count's Castle following a very interesting trip (which sets the atmosphere of the book excellently) he is met by an elderly, tall and pale man who introduces himself as Count Dracula. The Count bekons Harker to "enter freely and of your own will".

Harker decides to enter, ignorant to the fact to what he got himself into, and how deeply Count Dracula would control his life.

I won't say much more of the story, lest I give out any spoilers, but I will say one thing.

Forget everything you think you may know about Dracula.

I found myself ohh-ing and ahh-ing at nearly every turn of the page. I was gripped from start to end.

The book was very well written, you felt like you truly were in the story. That said, I did have some qualms with, albeit, minor parts of the story.

At a few stages Stoker attempts to write in the style of a newspaper clipping. I don't know if it's because Dracula was written in 1897 and the styles of writting in newspapers were different, but it just didn't seem real. It was far too personal and not nearly objective enough to be a newspaper article. But, like I said, this may have been how it was done in 1897.

My next qualm also, most probably, stemmed from the period the novel was written in. It was far too religiously toned. Now, I understand that Christianity was the law of the land back then so my gripe is over cultural differences which can not and, in my opinion, should not be remedied. It gives us, the readers, an insight into the world of yester-year and allows a greater appreciation of what the world was like back then.

My final qualm was with the ending. It didn't fit with what it was suppose to be like (not just my expectations, but the 'laws' laid down in the novel) and was far too anti-climatic. But all gripes aside, this is a marvelous book and most definitely worth the reading.

There is a reason this book is touted as a classic, it truly is an epic read and, with the way mainstream reading (such as Twilight) is going these days I'd be surprised if they don't do a port from book-to-movie for Dracula (though hopefully a closer translation than the previous, popular one was).

4/5

Toga, toga, toga!

2009-02-23T01:11:00.000-08:00

So, last week my university held a Toga Night at the Uni Club for Orientation Week. Normally I don't drink much or go out at all but 'fuck it' I thought 'let's paint this town red!'

I was invited to a pre-drinking session at a college room of a person who was friends with a work mate of mine. 'Awesome, should be fun!' I thought. I wrong, so very very wrong! So, with the remainder of a bottle of absinthe, a bed sheet for my toga, and an 8 pack of beer in hand, I set off to the college (to which my housemate kindly drove me to).

Eventually, I found my way into the college room only to enter a room in which I only knew one person. Anxiousness quickly passed, however, once I started consuming some alcohol..lots and lots of alcohol!

By the end of the pre-toga-drinking party session in the college room I consumed roughly 5 shots of absinthe, 5 beers and two shots of rum and coke. I was maggoted !

For some reason I decided to leave Uni and go back home before actually attending the Toga Party so, apparently, I said to my mate "Hey man, can I borrow your phone I'm gonna get a lift back home?" to which he replied "Yeah, sure thing. Where's yours though?"..I don't know what happened next.

Enter fuzzy scene one: I recall asking Uni officials if they could drive me back home but they said they didn't drive that far so, instead, they showed me a path to get back home (I live about 10 mins drive away).

Fuzzy scene two: I'm running around like an idiot jumping over fences and just going absolutely everywhere! I'm going absolutely commando style around everywhere, hiding from street lights and doing God knows what!

Fuzzy scene three: I jump over another fence and find myself in someone's back yard. So what do I do? I open their back door! Once inside I drunkenly walk down a hall and open a door in which someone was in! I quickly spurt out a "Oh, I'm sorry" so which she replies "Oh, that's ok". What the fuck?! You don't know me, I walk into your house AND your room and you say it's ok?! I quietly close the door and open another door in which I received a welcoming "What the fuck?!" from some bloke. I quickly close the door again and open a third and final door in which there was a bed and nothing else. On the bed were some planks of wood so I took them off, laid on the bed and went to sleep!

The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and thinking "FUCK, I gotta get out of here!". I put the planks of wood back on the bed, open the door, got out the back door and jumped over the fence. I suddenly found myself lost

Walking around aimlessly I eventually found a roundabout that looked fairly important so I followed that down to some shops I recognized. The local supermarket that was there stated that it didn't open till 6:30 am so I quickly checked my phone to see what the time was except I didn't have my phone on me! At least I knew that the time was earlier than 6:30 though it couldn't have been much later than 6:00 due to how bright it was (and for those who were wondering, my mate told me later on that I left the party at 10:00 pm...but God knows how long I was walking around for!).

I walked back to the university which took me a good 30 mins, got some money out of the ATM there, called up a taxi from a payphone in the Uni and went back home. The first thing I did was check on my guinea pigs (their names are Hudson and Emery) then I took a shower. Inside the shower I took a look at the damage from the night before. I managed to not only leave horrible scrapes and cuts on my hands and stomach (from jumping fences) but when I checked my feet I noticed that I lost two toenails! I told my housemate who immediately Dettoled my toes and hands, called up my mum, and told her I was gonna stay with her for a few days.

I told mum I was staying over because I had a few days off work and Uni hadn't started yet, but to be honest I went to lay low. I didn't want anyone to recognize me for the night before.

I got back home a few days ago and had a good time hanging out with the family (I seldom ever see them) and I haven't had a drop of alcohol since then. But it's only a matter of time.