It's been a long time!

Oh hey peoples of the world....or the 2 people that ever read this. I'm still very much alive and well after these crazy few years I've had. It's been a fun ride but out of it I now have a cool little sidekick known as Elliott. He is a pretty rad kid and keeps me humoured, entertained and on my toes. I will be writing out a bit of a proper update over the next week and maybe kick this thing off again. More of a diary to look back upon for myself and if I get readers and ad clicks on the way, so be it. Peace out kidlets. Love and peace to you all. LeeMo

Death comes to us all in the end.

I’m a bit drunk and as my Auntie Carols better half, Uncle Barry sorely died of a second heart attack 2 days ago which leaves me feling quite sad I'm contemplating (thank fuck for spell checkers)the fragility of life and how those you love and those you knew, and occasionally those you hardly knew but wished you learned more of but didn’t realise it until they went on to the next world affect or affected you in your life, also what is the next world?
Heaven? Hell? stoke on trent?

Philosophers have studied it for centuries and got no closer, scientists say that parallel universes and multiverses exist! Maybe that’s where our ‘Soul’ goes on to. Heaven moves you into the next dimension for a whole new experience and growth of the spirit , hell is failing and coming back and back again like a video game, dying only to start the level over and over until you get it right! Maybe that explains Déjà vu! Cos we have already lived this life and souls and spirits don’t adhere to father times laws as our fragile and small minds do, therefore we relive and make mistakes over and over looking for the goal before we can choose the next path.

Love is a fickle thing too, you get attatched to people and comfortable, tell them everything about yourself and they throw it in your face in arguments, I’ve done it myself and I kick myself for being like that. You then have a bit of hate for each other but love each other all the same. Partners are wonderful when they aren’t around but within an hour of them being home it goes back to arguments and fights about past problems and misgivings, it grates on your soul.Some people put up with it forever, some people work it out, and many move on. I still miss hanging around with some of the people I have called my 'better half' none more so than Lindsay and I'm sorry I had to do what I had to do. It just wasn't working at the time.

Anyway rantings over, I'm going to leave this and post it in the morning and laugh at myself :)

I need a holiday (still) and a new brain!

Wassup y'all?

Things have been a bit hectic recently for me with all this Ekka work and extra college crap that I've not had much time to myself recently and I think I'm starting to hate people in general.

The Rum post below can be completely disregarded, The price hike didn't deter anyone from drinking the stuff and as a result Ekka went off with a few bangs and tens of people being kicked out due to stupid behaviour, we're not talking funny stupid we're talking pissing on heaters, stools, tables and in plant beds, climbing marquee's and generally being disgusting idiots with no manners or any idea how to act in public.

Those idiots aside its been a good one this year, pub full to capacity most evenings and many many of the country folk have been kind and generous with tips and manners and telling us what good jobs we've been doing so for that I thank them as its made the busiest fortnight ever enjoyable and made the staff work happily together for the first time in ever.

After work last night I popped up to the Stepp Inn to see VNV Nation, bloody good band live I tell thee, a mixture of Irish, English and Germans and man did they work the crowds well, great time had by all, included myself as I talked to a funny little goth lady and she talked back in a broad yorkshire accent everytime I saw her around the place which kinda cheered me up for a couple of hours before I had to Stepp Out (ooooh good one) into the freezing cold and wander off home, its amazing how a couple of coopers can hit you when you get into the fresh and you haven't eaten properly all day, I dont think I managed to get 100m without walking into some inanimate object and telling it to get fooked, I'm sure one of them laughed at my ineptitude to navigate a perfectly flat and straight footpath. The best part was walking down to my flat as its very steep and then I have to go back up some steps, it was like an obstacle course for my poor tired and alcohol fuelled little brain so I gave in and kinda sat on each step in turn and shuffled down them before coming face to face with a possum and shitting myself and then shushing myself for the outburst. Realising it was cold on the floor where I lay drooling I dragged myself up inside and woke up this morning wearing everything I had on except one shoe which I found outside.

Great night.

Me.

The Only benefit of Kevin Rudds RTD Policy.

You know thoses mornings when you just cannot for the life of you stop pressing snooze or saying to yourself '5 more minutes'? Well for me this morning was one of those and now I'm missing college, I'm only allowed 5 absences this term so thats 2 down already, so to counter balance my non-productive day I'm having a rant as such.

Ekka is just around the corner, busiest time of year for the pub I work in, this will be my 3rd! It's hard to beleive I've been here so long, I dont think I've spent more than 6 months at home since 2005, I haven't seen my sister for more than 4 hours since June 6th 2006 god I miss home and everyone. The Ekka or Royal Brisbane Exhibition as it is named in English, fucking Ekka, I'm as pedantic as my good friend Dave B when it comes to lazy talk and the good old Aussies have it nailed so well I dont seem to be offended anymore and that worries me, any Veg, the Ekka is much like the Great Yorkshire Show and the Stray Fair all rolled into one but imagine no Chavs and introduce Aussie Cowboys........Craziest bunch of people I've met in my life, as with all groups of society you get your good ones and your bad ones but there is a tried and tested method to tell who's going on your cut off list or being frogmarched outside by security, Those that drink Beer and those that drink Rum.

Your typical beer drinker will be jolly and fine most of the night with the occasional rant into the meaning of life and why the government are screwing everyone over, complain about the flies and the how dry the year has been and they will get slightly rowdy but not uncontrollably and maybe sing a song too.

Your typical rum drinkers however will do all of the above, leer at the barstaff complain about everything and then start fighting and ruin everyones night by just being rude, arrogant, disgusting arseholes.

I never thought I'd say this but the mistake Kevin Rudd made putting the tax on premixed RTD's (Ready To Drink, JD&Coke and stuff) up so high a Bundy rum and cola costs $9 instead of $5 is actually going to benefit all Ekka goers an staff that come in over the next 14 days as beer is still $5.50 a schooner or bottle so there will be less arseholes about the place, I hope.

I still think the whole tax on RTD's is bloody ridiulous, they've been finding kids just mixing a litre of Jack with a 1.25litre coke or just trying to get drugs instead because they are cheaper, its alo endangered bottleshop workers as we are being targetted for theft as the drinks are too expensive, our place has had shoplifters 5 times over the last 2 months from a good all round 3 a year.

Another round of applause for Kev.

I'm over babbling now! peace out brothas and sistas.

Oh and anyone who wants to donate $5000 so I can come home it would be muchly appreciated ;) or just click a few ads, I'll get there by 2010 I reckon.

Yay.

Why do Businessmen buy bars, attempt to run them and wonder where they fail?

Hi peoples.

It's been a while I know and I promised to update often I know, But I've had a strange and slightly stressful few months recently a laptop that got rained on and caught fire and a new Emily The Strange Epiphone SG guitar and 100w Kustom Amp to get to grips with.

I finished my first year of college in May so once I get my references and go to the Trade Recognition people I'm shall be a qualified Chef in the eyes of the Orstrayan government which is good, another year to go though on the business management and hospitality operations bullshit I've already done before in various places and I'll be able to aply stay here permanantly and open a decent bar hopefully, I wish that day was sooner rather than later though as I'm over the place I work in now.

The lovely new owners that took over the bar I work in are abunch of amateurs on the hospitality side of things. It's not just me that thinks so too, at least 90% of the staff and customers that know them agree. They have gave my manager and friend, Jeremy, notice that he would not be needed after the Brisbane Exhibition, which is a Great Yorkshire show type thing to those at home, AFTER he did all the planning for what is essentially the busiest 2 weeks in the Pubs life and after he nearly ending up in hospital for the bastards because of fumes from the workmen when they stained a room without ventilation and this is how they repay a hard working guy!

Jez has run the place on an evening since our old manageress left in november/dec they have just now got their heads out of their arses and actually started to care about the place and give us staff and equipment to work with although it has taken a complaint to Environmental health about the cold dish and glasswashers and the danger some of the building areas posed to people.

This is the icing on the cake though as far as their morally wrong and stupid idiotic work methods have been put in place. they have built 3 bars that are the shittest to work in EVER, they are either too high, wrongly built for service or have bad workmanship as taps dont work and tiles and stuff are coming off. They have taken staff discounts, bonuses, knock off drinks and incentives away but put prices up 4 times in 6 months 'Because of interest rates' and have also started to kill off the live music gigs, I've seen the GP and sales reports and its good too see them down since they destroyed the pub with their inept ability to treat people as humans and the ripping off the customers we used to have.

Anyone who wants to run a bar needs to treat staff well or they will rip you off left right and centre and not care about anything that happens to the place, its good having all these systems and easy ways to do paperwork but its no good knowing what to do back of house if you cant even fathom the actual face of the business itself.

Another warning I would like any would be bar owners or businessmen looking to open a venue, learn something about it first, whether that means jumping behind a bar for 6 months to get the feel or reading ALOT about it. Stop spoiling the fast dying art of Hospitality and Bartending with your greed and stupid ideas and start giving something back to the patrons and staff, you will make more money and your venue will also get a good reputation, higher prices do not mean more money, it means people spend less and seek cheaper watering holes.

Now lets move on, I'm getting annoyed! I met a guy I used to go to school with here whilst waiting for a taxi at 4am on fri or sat, crazy shit. I was soo drunk but it was good to see and hear homely peoples! More people shall be coming soon too, The lovely Janine will hopefully be catching up with me when shes in Brisbane and also I hear a rumour a Mr Matt whom I used to work at Gamestation will be here soon too for a week or so so hopefully they will alleviate some of my homesickness alongside the Mighty Boosh and the shop that sells twiglets and cherry coke....I'm the moooon!

On another note I'm quite happily healthy at the moment, although the social smoking is getting out of hand in the last few weeks (sorry mum). I lost between 20-25kg from christmas to May by cutting out beer Mon, Tues, Thurs and occasionally Sun, walking lots, eating more homecooked stuff now I'm chef boy and volunteering to do the harder jobs at work (they can get fucked now tho).

And thats that, lots missed out and a funny story saved for next time but I'll make up for it and this time I'll update at least monthly.

Love and miss all my friends and family! COME SEE ME!

Lee

PS. If you want to check out a cool bar in Brisbane check out the Lychee Lounge in West End. Just like I want my first place to be and it has a Yorkshire bartender, it rocks!