• Nothing particularly significant has happened in the past two or three weeks so what would be the motivation for people to change their votes? I mean to fix this situation people will need to change their votes. If there’s no major reason to change it that has come up then why the hell did the person vote that way three weeks ago? I can see no reason why I would be willing to change my vote based on the past two or three weeks. Sure, I can appreciate that some may but I seriously question their motives unless they were throwing their vote away the first time. That leads me to…
• One reason may be that it allows the people they put in invalid cards to vote properly this time. While thats all good and well, if these clowns are willing to throw their vote away do I even trust them to have a say now and why should people lose the seats they rightfully won because a few idiots have realised that the 5 to 10% seen in some electorates where no votes were cast could have made a huge difference.
• It won’t speed anything up. We’d have another few weeks to a month lead up and then another day to potentially a few more weeks yet again to wait. Sure, we might get a solid outcome straight up this time but its not addressing the fact this is a slow process. Patience is a virtue and we’ll probably have a result this week.

I could probably think of a few other reasons not to go back to the polls but I won’t bother. To me it’s far better we get a government together and at least see how things are in 12 months. If the situation is unstable they can call an early election. Fortunatly I don’t think we’ll be going back to the polls anyway so it shouldn’t be an issue, but I can’t see why people are even keen on the idea.

Sure, the policies may not have been the most interesting but as someone that works in IT it was somewhat interesting to see that broadband was finally getting the spotlight it deserved at a federal level and still may prove to be the factor that decides which party comes to power. Yes, the campaigns were negative but tbh, when is that not the case? If any election was boring I’d argue it was the 2007 election where the Labor party is largely considered to have won purely because the people wanted a change, not because they felt strongly for their policies or felt the Coalition had done a poor job.

And for all this uncertainty of who to vote with has also come the rise of what one day could be a very powerful party in that of the Greens. It’s clear they have gained a large number of votes as a result of this election and while it was known they would hold power in the Senate, what is now of interest is they are also going to play a major role in determining the swing of power in the House of Representatives. Not that I suspect they’ll go into government any any coming decade, but to take 11.5% of the vote is certainly a large win for the party and possibly a large loss for Labor since that seems to be where they are getting the numbers from.

Anyway with probably another week to go until we know anything I really do think this has been a rather interesting election and it’s not over yet. Not everyone will agree, but I’m really enjoying watching this one fold out. Also interesting to watch Wilkie take his seat (Denison I believe) on preferences after finishing third on primary votes. If that’s not intriguing I don’t know what is. Boobs perhaps.

As for the death, it’s kind of weird how that effects you. It wasn’t so much the fact I lost an Auntie (I have a few memories of her which I hold fond) that upset me but the realisation that not only did I not know her anywhere near as much as I would like, but going to Sydney and meeting the rellies was such a fantastic experience that upon arriving home it’s hard to deal with the fact that I don’t know any of the extended family. One relative joked when saying good bye that we’d all catch up again when either ‘someone dies or gets married’ which is actually a rather unfortunate truth. Anyway I might make an effort to get there in Jan, not only to see the family but friends in general. It’ll also be an opportunity to visit Sydney on my own time table, which I’ve never been able to do in the past.

Anyway, I guess my PMS is subsiding and I feel better about how things are currently on all accounts besides my best friend moving out but I knew this day was coming.

Besides that things are good. Waiting to see how all this iPhone stuff pans out after selling my 3GS in anticipation of the 4G only to hear APple dropped the ball. It’s entirely possible I’ll consider an Android device at this rate. As it is I’ll be buying off contract and I might continue doing that for the foreseeable future given it allows me to sell off and get new devices at a more frequent rate. Given I like new toys it’s something I’m going to consider.

Anyway finished the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign last night and as with Modern Warfare one I’ll say it was an ok but not especially good experience. The games just that much better when it is doing something different…be it stealth missions, vehicles or even the airport mission. When they go back to being a straight out shooter the game is as boring as shit. I’m sorry but I’ve described the series as being like playing Whack-A-Mole and I stand by it. Huge groups of enemies constantly rushing you just isn’t fun.

With that out of the way I’m moving onto Red Dead Redemption. Seems very good so far.

Alan Wake
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed 2
Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts
Batman Arkham Asylum
Battlefield Bad Company
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty 2
Crackdown
Devil May Cry 4
Fable II
Farcry Instincts/Predator
Forza 2
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero Greatest Hits
Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero Metallica
Guitar Hero World Tour
Halo [Xbox]
Halo 2 [Xbox]
Halo 3 Legendary Edition
Halo 3 ODST
Halo Wars
Kameo
Legendary
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Lips
Lost Planet
Lost Planet 2
Mass Effect
Perfect Dark Zero
Prey
Project Gotham Racing 4
Prototype
Red Dead Redemption
Resident Evil 5
Rockband
Scene It: Box Office Smash
Scene It: Lights. Camera. Action
Sega Superstar Tennis
The Beatles Rockband
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles
The Orange Box
Tomb Raider: Legend
Too Human
Viva Pinata
Xbox Live Unplugged Volume 1

I guess one of the issues is that in the game there is never more than about two different enemies you will come up against so combat really becomes pretty dull pretty quick. The other one is there is no sense of a team. Both Marines and Aliens are only effective hunters when in a pack (at least when the opposition is heavily armed). The game instead makes you solo most of it for each species and both the human and Alien feel like they have increased health to compensate for the lack of AI assistance.

Still, as a huge fan of Aliens it held my interest just long enough. I wouldn’t replay it but. Wait until it’s cheap.

Aliens vs Predator