Dream Interpretation

I have recurring dreams of crashing planes. They're generally big jumbo jets, and I'm standing on the ground, watching it pass overhead. I realise it's too low and too slow, and then I watch it hit the ground in a big fireball a few hundred metres away. I have to dodge the debris that is thrown away from the crash, and I try to look out for the people near me. Kind of disturbing.

One dream interpretation site suggests this:

To dream that a plane crashes suggests that you have set overly high and unrealistic goals for yourself. Your goals may be too high and are impossible to realize. You are in danger of having it come crashing down. Alternatively, your lack of confidence, self-defeating attitude and self-doubt toward the goals you have set for yourself is represented by the crashing airplane; you do not believe in your ability to attain those goals. Loss of power and uncertainty in achieving your goals are also signified.

Fair enough. I guess the part about me dodging and looking out for others is simply my concern for what's going to happen after these goals come crashing down. But now, what does it mean when a pair of blue planes crash simultaneously? That's what I dreamed last night. :|

Australia Travel Plans

So far, travel plans for the upcoming Australia trip go something like this:

• Fly in to Sydney at 10am on Thursday, 20th December
• Spend Christmas with family in Muswellbrook
• Spend New Year's Eve in Sydney, and New Year's Day in Wollongong (tentative)
• Spend a few days in Hobart (tentative)
• Spend a few days to a week in Coffs Harbour
• Be in Sydney by the afternoon of Friday, 11th January
• Fly out of Sydney at 1.30pm on Sunday, 13th January

It's a busy little trip again. We'll see how much we can reasonably squeeze in. The main point is to show Emily around, and to spend a lot time with family, either in Muswellbrook, Tasmania, or Coffs Harbour.

Open Season

I just watched Open Season. It's a decent movie, on par with Ice Age or Madagascar. At one point, one of the animals is asked to sing "The Teddy Bear's Picnic". He knows the tune but doesn't know the words...

Once there was a magical elf who lived in a rainbow tree
He lived downstairs from a flatulent dwarf
Who was constantly having to pee
One day the elf could take no more
So he went and banged on the rude dwarf's door
And what do you know, they suddenly both were ma-rried.

Cheap Flights

I didn't get to tell the story of how Emily and I scored cheap flights to Australia. So here goes.

It wasn't a dark and stormy night. I think. Emily and I had been looking at flight prices, and to fly both of us from Edmonton/Vancouver to Sydney was going to cost $5400. Not cheap. We checked and checked, but there were no cheap flights. Then, all of a sudden, a bunch of "A" class tickets were released. $1750 to fly from Edmonton to Sydney! That was a saving of $1000! Crazy!

But not everything was right. Sure, the flight would take Emily from Edmonton to Vancouver, and then from Vancouver to Sydney. But, for some bizarre reason, booking the same flight from Vancouver to Sydney would cost me $2500!

We quickly booked Emily's flight, and then umm-ed and ahh-ed about how I could get to Australia for the same fare. We hit upon an idea: I would simply purchase an Edmonton to Sydney flight, and then board at Vancouver! I would save $750, and just "miss" my Edmonton connections! So we tried to book the same flight but, alas, they were sold out!

We were minutes too late. We were defeated. We went to play some games. Knocking out guards and stealing national secrets is a good way to vent some frustrations (more on that later).

Later that not-so-stormy night, I decided to check the Air Canada website again. Would the cheap fares be back? Yes! Someone had released their hold (literally) on a cheap fare! I quickly called Air Canada to ask a stupid question: "Can I board this flight at Vancouver?" Much umm-ing and ahh-ing followed, and the call centre operator doubted his computer: "How can it be so cheap?" I don't care! We had been undone before by umm-ing and ahh-ing! I hung up on the call centre operator and we booked my flight from Edmonton to Vancouver online.

And that is the story of how we got two tickets to Sydney from Edmonton via Vancouver for $3500. As it turns out, I now have to fly from Vancouver to Edmonton so that I can start my journey to Sydney via Vancouver...

Coincidentally, the total savings are $1750. We could bring another person for that!

P.S. This story is very badly written. I would claim that I wrote it badly on purpose, but to be honest, I just can't write well. :)

Spread The Net

I've been taking a bit of a break from blogging. I've been spending more time out kite flying or playing games. I'll post more about that later.

Right now, I want to link to Spread the Net. It's a UNICEF program to purchase bed nets for children in Africa, and so reduce the incidence of malaria. This is the kind of focused assistance project I like to see, and I'm happy that UNICEF is doing it.

Lost My Head

Or rather, lost my helmet. I had been leaving my bicycle helmet on my bicycle after riding it to work. Finally, it was stolen. Silly me. Of course, that means I had to go buy a new and better one from MEC. ;)

Bargain Shoppers

Yesterday I received a parcel from a special friend in Australia. It was a set of his and her Australian woollen feet warmers, some uniquely Australian stationery, and funny signs to hang over doorknobs at work. We'll have to get some doors at work now. :)

All the presents are awesome, but I have to show you this photo of the doorknobs, and it's for a very special reason. It is a common practice for people to remove price tags before giving them as gifts, but look closely and you can see instead her pride at finding such a bargain gift. Yes, that's right, she wrote "Bargin!" on the price sticker, and a smiley face. I love it.

I have to admit, I do enjoy bargain shopping. It's not a standard male trait, but I do. Take the 500gb external hard disk drive that I bought; I have no use for it right now, but it was $200 off! Final price was $135! I can't go past that!

And I take my hat off to Emily. She scored herself a high quality 1680x150 22" LCD screen, with 3 years back-to-store warranty and a DVI cable included, for $260. I still can't believe that. It would've been decent value at $350. Just awe inspiring. :)