Your Opinion Is Wrong™

We have a bird now. His name is Nimbin. He actually belonged to my sister, but he'd gotten rather depressed since they'd moved (probably on account of being stuck in a cage in a small room that nobody ever walks into and has lousy natural light), so would we mind taking care of him?

After a polite way of saying "Bugger off, just move the stupid mutant parrot out into the back room where there's enough light and another damn bird to keep him company", we ended up with the bird. Just for a "few days". Of course, that means that for a few days we'll look after him, and after that, we'll also receive his stand. Sigh.

I also saw one of the most irritating things ever on the way home a few nights ago. A bumper sticker on the back of a ute that read "Australia: Love it or leave it". Glad that there are still people in this stupid country who are essentially closet nazis who only tolerate free speech if it's patriotic. Tellingly, said bumpersticker was on the back of a dark blue V8 (very possibly a transplanted V8) Kingswood ute.

I know I'm generalising unfairly, but I can see that person kicking up a stink when they get pulled over for driving a defective vehichle (which I'd be willing to bet that it was). Or speeding (which he was). Love it or leave it, right?

Went drum-hunting with Lucas and Catherine yesterday. We went into Sunbeam Factory Warehouse before we went into Allans (it was just next door, and they were tarring up the parking spots in front of Allans), since I'd parked in one of their spots, in front of which there were many, many signs implying many (many, many) courses of action that I'd rather not have happen to me should we park there (not being customers). My memory's a little hazy, but I think the threats went along these lines:

- "Your car will be locked to the ground with one of those things that got the better of Homer Simpson in that episode with the immigrant food vendor. You know the one we mean."

- "We will tow your car away. Since it'd have one of those clamps on it by this stage, we'll tow MOST of your car. The front axle will probably end up staying here...and if you're really unlucky, some of the gearbox. If your car has a CVT, let us know how much it'll cost to fix it."

- "We'll call the police. We're not sure what they'll do to you. They may fine you. They may just make you do work for no pay or bathroom break. They may even send you away for service in the French Foreign Legion for ten years. That's if we didn't already break your gearbox."

- "Jesus is watching you!"

We ended up parking there and going into the store to loiter. Lucas had the most fun I've seen anyone have in a store that sells kitchen appliances, and I mean anyone. The staff were shooting us curious glances constantly as we made our way around the store, from little penguin-shaped waffle-makers and turkey basters that looked like artificial inseminators to toasters and...more waffle makers.

When we finally made it into Allans (we're thinking of investing in one of those 20-dollar penguin thingies, but we'll think it over...it's just a lot to fork over, that's all) we spent about 10 minutes looking at guitars. We DID go to look at drums, but since Catherine and I were there, it's kinda hard to keep us away from them. We went upstairs to look at drums, which was kinda uneventful. Lucas kept getting looks from the staff (it's happening again! It must be the hat!), so he only ended up making noise with one of those midi-drum set things. But we've settled on a plan: Catherine is getting a digital delay pedal (!!!) and we're getting drums second hand. Unlike a guitar, a drum is (within reason) a drum. One rarely purchases a drum online, only to recieve it with two tuning heads that don't work, a temperemental volume knob and a bent fretboard.

Often, so I'm told, drums don't have any of these things to begin with. Pfft.

Cheapskates.