I hate winter. Not really passionately – there are still quite a few things about winter that I like: footy, sitting by a fire, pumpkin soup. But on the whole, winter’s a miserable time of year. And this year it seems to have hit decidedly early. We’re not even a week into June and it’s already depressing, it feels like we’ve had rubbish weather for the past month. Mainly because we have.

The thing about winter that kills me the most is the darkness. I leave home at 7:30 and it’s dark. I get home at 6 and it’s dark. You go outside for lunch and half the time it’s dark and cloudy. Weekdays in winter just kill you. You never drive anywhere without needing your headlights on (more applicable right at the moment because my car’s alternator just cracked it). The weekends are the only happy time during winter, because at least on weekends you get to see daylight. On weekends you don’t have to stand on cold train platforms waiting for late trains. The football is on – you get the fire going, and you don’t have to go anywhere. You can sit on the couch watching the footy and sipping a mug of pumpkin soup and the world is better again.

Someone’s always sick in winter. Nobody ever feels 100%, there’s always some underlying “just got over a cough”, or “barely slept last night it was so cold” or “got the beginnings of a nasty flu bug”. Trains are less happy in winter. The worst it gets in summer is that on a really hot day on a crowded train you cop a nasty dose of someone’s B.O – but even then it’s not so bad because half the time you’re giving as good as you get anyway at the end of the day. But nobody wants to talk in winter, they’re too busy looking at their own breath, or running to get out of the rain, or sitting there feeling miserable and cold.

Stupid winter. Can you tell that I’m a little bit over-tired at the moment?

I’m in a pretty funny place at the moment. Happenings in the wider world are making me really reconsider were life’s at right now, and the fact of the matter is I haven’t even really started to properly process exactly what it’s all likely to mean. It’s never easy when people shift away and take a different path, it’s hard not to feel neglected. Even though you know that it’s stupid. Even though you know that you’re not even remotely behind their decision. Even when it’s the best possible thing for the person.

My housemate is getting married. We’ve been really close for the past three or so years. Lived together for about two and a half of them. We were living together when they first got together. I remember how excited he was before their first date. I remember him agonising after they’d had their first fight. The day they got engaged I’d been in meetings all day at work and had about 4 missed calls, and got the message in the middle of a meeting, but still let out a quiet little “ripper” when I heard they’d got engaged.

But I’m left behind. In less than a month he’ll be married, and I’ll be moving back with mum and dad not long after until I sort something else out for living arrangements. That period of my life will be over. We’ve shared a time that won’t be coming back. And I’m still where I was. Sure things have changed but I’m still here. And I can start to see where my defence mechanisms have kicked in. Whereas in the past we’ll bag each other out every second comment, I’ve just kicked it up a gear. The comments are getting a little bit less playful and a little bit more hurtful. Not enough for him to say anything. Just enough to put in a bit of safety distance. Because I’m sick of being left behind.

I like making lists. My favourite part of David Letterman’s show is always the top 10. And there are a number of things that frustrate me about the way I do this site. So here we go – top 7 things wrong with TheGeoffRe(y)port.

1. It’s too preachy. This comment came from my sister, who is right. I don’t know how to discuss stuff without sounding like I’m more than just a little bit up myself
2. It tries to be everything. Smart bloggers blog with a purpose. They have a target audience in mind. TheGeoffRe(y)port completely alienates any readers by speaking about football and movies in the same blog as thoughts on 1 Samuel and wider philosophical “God Stuff”
3. The writing doesn’t have a proper flow. I use brackets and colons and hyphens and semi-colons with reckless abandon, and I don’t even have a standard for which I’ll use – I just tend to go with whatever I feel like at the time. It no doubt comes (among other things) from wanting to insert snide sarcastic remarks (do I do that?) into every second sentence. The most disturbing part is that half the time I actually talk like that.
4. It uses big words for no reason. Well not no reason exactly, no good reason. I’m sure that I only do this to make myself feel intelligent – and so that other people think the same. All part of being a 5.
5. It links to sites that are never up. This is just a thinly veiled dig at my father (try out the Yarra Valley Vineyard site)
6. It’s utterly self-absorbed. What kind of a self-indulgent post is this? What other blog would write such a self-referencing post. And what’s with that name? This boy’s obviously got issues.
7. Geoff talks about himself in the third person. And I don’t even do it consistently – how annoying!

So that’s what’s wrong with the blog.

The latest release of WordPress has just come out (2.0.3 – I’m on 2.0.2 at the moment) so hold tight and think happy thoughts. I might need them. What’s the worst that could happen?

Update – Much to my disappointment it was a very easy upgrade. These WordPress people know what they’re on about!

Everyone say hi to my mum, who has left a comment on my “Being Available” post. Isn’t she cute!

Given that we’re all decidedly undecided on predestination – all (4) except Rick (I’m assuming) have gone with Maybe while he’s decided that it’s definitely a Yes. For some insights into why he thinks that, look at just about any post of his for the past few months and you’ll see some pretty good arguments for predestination, although he hasn’t quite convinced me yet.

SO

The newest poll is wondering what people think of the weekly Richmond report. If you’re a funny person (you all know who you are) feel free to add in your own answer. Funniest answer wins my undying respect and the knowledge that you’ve made my day better.

Went to see The Living End’s last show in Melbourne last night. They are such a fun band. They really do understand exactly what their audience has come to see. So while we got a bit of their new stuff, most of the songs were the classics – I’ve never seen an audience quite as united as we were during “Prisoner of Soceity”. So much of The Living End’s stuff just reminds me of who I was growing up, I can’t listen to “we don’t need no-one like you, to tell us what to do” without thinking of being in year 9 and thinking that no-one understood you.

They pulled out all the usual tricks, mostly revolving around the double-bass – playing it upside down above his head, the lead singer standing on it, just generally going mental – and for a while you felt 15 again. Which sounds like an old person thing to say, but it was exactly the feeling. I haven’t had such a fun night in ages.  And they finished up with “West-End Riot”, which was the perfect finish. They might have been around a while, but they certainly know how to put on a show!