**** BLOG MOVING ***

Hey everyone,

I have joined forces with the reality TV site Throng who will be hosting my blog while the next series is airing. Hopefully there will be daily posting. So this blog will be temporarily out of order, so head to

http://www.throng.com.au/blog/jeremy

EAT MY WORDS

I should completely prepare myself to eat my words.

I remember when I first met the 8 Geeks last year, sitting in a large room with all my luggage, all of us spread out so we could not talk to each other. I thought to myself, 'man they look Geeky! I am going to have nothing in common with these guys' I turned out to be completely wrong, and they are all now some of my best and closest friends.

So I am preparing for any of my harsh comments made in my last post to come and bite me on the butt. I think I was hardest on Stuart. It would not surprise me in the slightest if he ends up being one of the nice ones, trying to make a noticible effort with everyone - just like Pete last year! And Xenogene, the eldest last year came 4th and he had no trouble fitting in. He never got nominated! Only time will tell...

Tomorrow I will give my opinions on the Beauty's (did I spell Beauty's correct? I never know.)

The Geeks

The number of times that the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' got thrown around while we were filming Beauty and the Geek was too many to count. We were going to invent a drinking game - whenever someone says 'don't judge a book by its cover', take a drink. But we though we would be in too much danger of intoxication.

Anyway... I thought that I would give my first impressions of each of the Geeks from Beauty and the Geek Season 2. But without knowing them personally, I could be completely wrong. So in reality, I am judging these guys by their cover, which is precisely what I learnt NOT to do last season. But alas...

Daniel
His bio on the official webpage http://au.tv.yahoo.com/beauty-and-the-geek-australia/geeks/ reads a bit like mine. He did not know he was a geek and his friends/family told him to apply. Seeing footage from the TV commercial, he may get a bit of action from one of the girls. (I think it was him) So he may not be as geeky as some of the others. I expect he may go far in the show, win some challenges and survive an elimination quiz or two - if he gets the right partner.

David
The youngest of the Geeks at only 19, he appears to be on the more Geeky side when looking at the video. Youth and inexperience may not see him last long on the show, but I would bet money that he provides some great highlights. I think you will either love or hate David, but just remember what you see on TV will be exagerated quite a lot.

George
I think that he looks a lot like me! Being from the country, I think that George will go on an amazing journey of discovery and provide numerous funny moments on the show. I reckon he will last a while, because people do not see him as a threat. I think he will be underestimated, maybe even win the whole show.

Marlon
I think he may surprise a few people and may not be as quiet as people may expect. There are a couple of other South Australian Geeks so that may work well for him. I really have no clue how long he will last. But he may fly under the radar for a while.

Michael
Housemate of last year's contestant Toby Latcham, you would hope that he brings the comedy to the show. If people in the house find out about his famous friend they may start to target him. He may last a long time with all the inside information that Toby would likely have given him. The photo on the official website with Jesse is really cuddly and nice, so he may go on a great journey throughout the show.

Stuart
There is something about Stuart that makes me a bit uneasy. I will not make too many comments ubout him until I see the first episode. With his bio saying he is a pop culture junky, he may do well in the challenges and elimination quiz. But he may face the elimination room a number of times and leave the mansion early. Being the eldest of the geeks, he may find it hard to fit in.


Thomas
Wow. Probably the most wacky of the lot - but in a good way. He will be fun to watch. Although he may rub people the wrong way, I think that he means well. He will likely have a lot of aha moments on the show, but I cannot see him winning.

Tim
Hmm...he may be one to watch out for. Like with Stuart, there is something about Tim which makes me think he could win. So again, I will reserve judgement about him. If he makes the makeover stage (which all USA series and the AUS series had) he could prove to be a diamond in the rough. He may be very strategical and play the game.


Apologies if the Geeks are reading this. I personally know that what you see on the official page may not be the real you. Or even what you see on TV. These are first impressions which are probably wrong, but fun to make anyway. My first impressions of the season 1 geeks were wrong, so hopefully we can all catch up for a drink one day get to know each other. :)

Beauty and the Geek Australia: Season 2 Promo - Channel Seven 2010

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK RETURNS !

OK, I have to admit that way back last year when I originally started this blog, the only reason I started was that I wanted to blog about the second series of Beauty and the Geek. So now that it is starting next Thursday on Channel 7, I finally get the chance!!! So apologies to everyone who was actually following the blog for not posting in four months, but I expect I will be a lot more frequent from now on.

So what can you expect from my blogging from now on?

My thoughts on the contestants
Who I think will win
What I really think is happening behind the scenes
Who may be in an alliance with whom
My thoughts on the challenges

I will also be happy to answer any questions that people may have. I will even try to get in contact with the contestants (via season 1 Toby whose housemate is season 2 Michael) and ask a few questions.

For now, I thought that I would post the commercials that I shot with the new Beauty's. I will provide my first impressions in my next entry.

New blog

Hey guys,
I'm moving over here so I don't taint Jeremy's blog with my cynicism and negative attitude. Apparently I won't be writing about Beauty and the Geek, but check it out anyway. Nice stuff on economics and evolution.
HAVE MORE FUN! NEVER STOP DANCING!
Paul

A balanced world

I went to the gym on Tuesday for the first time in a while on Tuesday. I also played a long game of chess last night and lost so I woke up this morning sore, tired and annoyed for losing the chess game. I almost stayed home from work. I got dressed and put on my work shoes only to find that they are falling apart and the right side of the heel no longer provides support. I went to ride my bike to work but found that my front tyre was flat. So I caught the bus to work instead. So I arrived at work thinking that today was going to be a crap day. I decided to try and perk myself up and planned on drinking a cup of coffee and drinking a V energy drink. I went to the drink machine, put in the money and when I went to collect my can, I found 4 V cans instead!!! So for each of my 1. feeling sore, tired and annoyed 2. broken shoe and 3. flat tyre, the world balanced out and gave me 3 free cans of V.

Sometimes life gives you lemons. I say throw them back and steal some oranges instead. Or maybe a pizza.

Back Online - Ironman Rundown

First off thanks Paul for doing some blog posts while I was off.

So I did the ironman!!! I had a few goals, but I was not sure at what level of fitness I was so that I could complete the goals. In order they were:

1. Finish
2. Beat last years time of 14 hours 5 mins
3. Beat 14 hours
4. Beat 13.5 hours
5. Beat 13 hours
6. Finish without stopping/walking (within reason)
*. Beat Tony Abbott

This year I focussed a lot of my training on swimming, because that was a horrible leg last year. Last year I did like 1 hour 26 mins for the 3.8 km and it was really tough. This year I got halfway through the first lap (of 2) and felt really good. I looked at my watch and I was at 18 mins and was completely shocked! I felt good and I was on a fast time. I thoguht I felt good because I was swimming slow. The good feeling lasted for a while so I even tried swimming faster. I ended up with a time of 1 hour 18 min. So for me I finished about 400 metres ahead of last year so I was super happy. The only problem was that my wetsuit rubbed badly against me neck. So bad in fact that it scabbed up and a girl at work joked that it looked like I tried to hang myself.

Transition from swim to bike was long as I had to get out of my wet suit, put on clothes, go to the bathroom, eat food etc. If only I had stopped for longer and applied the sunscreen better. 7 hours on a bike + sun = not happy Jan.

The 3 lap bike leg of 180.2 km started well, fast on the way out (1 hour 1 min) and a bit slower on the way back into the wind (1 hour 5). It is quite hilly at either end of the out and back loop with a long stretch of flat in between. I found it best to sing 100 bottles of beer on the wall to get rid of the boredom and keep a steady rhythm going. I had to stop to go to the bathroom once and also to stretch my legs which were getting sore. But stretching helped. After on stretch, just as I was gaining speed Tony Abbott flew past me! NOOOOOO!!!!!! I tried to stay with him but heading back into the wind I could not do it. So after the next section of 1 hour 5 on the way out I blew out to 1 hour 20 back into the wind. The next lap I again got a good rhythm going (1 hour 10) but my chain came off and kept stuffing up. Every three pedals of so it would skip a gear. On the way back on the final lap the pedal pedal pedal clunk got really annoying. I just wanted to throw my bike in a heap and run back. It was like Chinese water torture. But I got home on the bike in 7 hours 10 min, a full 34 mins faster than last year.

Transition from bike to run was a lot quicker this year because I stayed in my triathlon gear for both the bike and run so I just had to change my shoes. As I came in off the bike I saw Abbott leavin. He stopped for TV/radio interviews halfway through the race!

So my run mission was to hunt him down. And I felt great off the bike and into my natural habitat - long distance running! I passed Abbott within 2 km and never looked back. [in the end I beat him by about an hour so I still would have beaten him if he did not stop for interviews]. I passed 260 people in the marathon run and I felt awesome! Last year I walked a long stretch of it, I got cramps and swore I would never race again. This year I went off at a good pace, power walked up the couple of small hills on the course and through the water stations. My strategy worked! I did 4 hours and 22 min as opposed to 4 hours 54 last year. I felt awesome the whole time and I finished in......

12 hours 50 min 29 secs !!!

So I accomplished all of my goals, as I only stopped/walked within reasons.

So that was that. Looking forward to trying for the magical 12 hours next year.

Man that was a long post. :)

Thunderbird

Skip ahead to 2:38

IRONMAN

Sorry everyone for not posting this week - have been realy busy. Thanks to Paul for taking over :)

I am off again. Going up to Port Macquarie to compete in my second Ironman. 3.8 km swim, 180.2 km bike and 42.2 km run. If you want to follow my progress head to the website http://www.ironmanoz.com/ironmanoz/race-day-coverage.htm throughout the day on Sunday to see where I am at. It will take me about 13-14 hours so check anytime between 7 am and 9 pm

On a different note, on Saturday I will be firing the starters gun for the 5 km fun run as the 'celebrity starter'. lol

See you on the flip side.

Jeremy

Nice Bird

Bye-bye Tweety 1990-2010

My pet bird died today. Tweety was a rainbow lorikeet that my uncle gave us on Easter 1990 after we had played with him a few times at their house. We came home late at night from either my cousins’ place or the Easter Mass and found his cage at our door step. I was four and my sister was three, and we named him Tweety after the cartoon character.




Tweety had an emerald green coat, a fire-y red collar, and a green and yellow bum. He had a blue head and chest, an orange beak and bright red/orange eyes that would light up whenever he was excited. He was very affectionate and fiercely protective – he would rank us in order of preference and bark and nip if anyone tried to get between him and his favourite. He liked me the most when we were growing up, and then my sister when we became older. He liked to play with hair and would nest on the top of your head. He used to scratch and tug at the locks with his feet and rub your hair with his bum. He liked to sing and dance on his perch, bobbing his head and playing a call-and-response game with you. The enthusiastic whistles he would sing are etched in everyone’s memories. He liked to have his neck scratched and to lick and nibble your hands – he used to purr and make a ‘shush’ noise whenever you would play with him like this. And sometimes he would cock his head back and forth then dribble a bit of milky liquid on your hand.

Even though he never learned to talk, Tweety was very good at copying noises – he learned to bark from listening to the neighbour’s dog Snowy and to chirp like the sparrows outside. And when we would make burping noises he would copy us, whenever we sneezed he would sneeze back at us, and when we would make kissing noises and he would make them back to us and we would know that it was love because he would do them without us prompting him. Sometimes we would be in the other room and we would hear him laughing, which made us laugh, which made him laugh even more. In later years he would beep in response to the car alarm being set because he knew that we were home. Whenever we got home and he heard the front gate open, he would call out excitedly. When we woke up in the mornings, he would get angry and impatient if we didn’t come to say ‘hello’ to him. Some mornings I would wake up and hear Tweety calling for me, as if he knew that I had just woken up. At night he would listen to our footsteps and purr so we would stick our hands under his cover.

Tweety liked to sleep underneath his newspaper lining and he liked to play inside boxes. At one point, we were looking after my cousin's bird as well, and he would make delicate little strips of newspaper like a shredder, and for a little while Tweety would tear his newspaper into inch-wide strips. Around about the time when we were living in our Regents Park flat in 1993, he crawled inside an old pair of pants that we were using as a rug and scratched around, singing and dancing and playing. When my sister would sleep in on weekends and my mum told me to wake her up, I would bring Tweety into her room and let him climb onto her face and play with her hair. I remember when I would pull a blanket or doona over my head and Tweety would have lots of fun scrambling around. I remember when he used to climb up the inside of my shirt and nuzzle against my chest. I remember the first time my dad took him out of his cage to play with us properly – we were watching cartoons on a Saturday morning, drinking microwaved Milo and eating Nutella sandwiches. We were so surprised that he was allowed out and my sister was a little bit scared of him. She started crying when he climbed onto her mug and started drinking her Milo and my folks had to make her a new one. Tweety ate honey and bread, which he used to dunk in his water and suck the juice out of. We also used to give him fruit and vegetables and blades of grass, but he loved to eat whatever we were having so we had to give him rice and noodles and chips, and anything else we were eating while he was out of his cage – orange juice, Milo, corn, milk and cereal (which made his poo a bit funny), ice cream, and even chicken until I decided that cannibalism was a poor lifestyle choice. I remember that we would have to let the chips cool before we fed them to him because we were concerned that he would burn his mouth, even though his tongue was built for sucking up sweet liquids. And I remember when my cousin told me that the syrup from orchids was edible, and when he would lick the syrup from my mum’s pot plants. I remember when he would be afraid of bottle brushes and other flowers that the rainbow lorikeets in Regents Park next to the library would eat because he didn’t recognise what they were and he was afraid of them.

Tweety always loved to play with water, and it was always so endearing when he did. He would make these gurgling sounds whenever he heard water, and he would splash/flick his water when he wanted a bath. When he was having a bath, he would make a noise that told you he was having the most fun ever, and he would flap his wings and jump in because he absolutely loved it. There were days when he would ask for a bath and you would have to refuse because he had just had a bath or it was too cold. And then when he was done he would shake himself and sprinkle you with water, then he would ask you to scratch his neck and he would rub up against your finger and close his eyes and open his beak. And sometimes when he would finish bathing he would escape from the laundry and find you, or crawl under the washing machine and scratch around on the tiles.

We were never able to take a photo of Tweety that captured his true essence because he would always try to attack the camera if he saw one. He never liked to pose - if my parents tried to take his photo with us, he would hide behind us or in our clothes. If he was doing something funny and we left him alone to get a camera, he would become unhappy because we weren't with him or he would get irritated because he thought we weren't paying enough attention to him. When my sister started to get into photography and tried to take a picture of him, he would rush up to her and tickle her neck so she couldn't get a good angle.

I remember when we were little and he chased us into a room and we didn’t want him to play with us (probably because we had food that we didn’t want to share with him) and I closed the sliding door behind me and his head was trapped and he kept calling out to us to play with him. I remember another time when I tried to prove that my swiss army knife was blunt by running it along his neck, and then when Pam told me off, I ran it along my hand and I bled. I always worry that I hurt him and that I cut him, even though there was no blood and parrots are supposed to have tough skin and he still loved me. I remember when he got older and a bubble appeared in his neck and we weren’t sure what it was and I was really worried but nothing happened and he was still the same old Tweety. I remember when we would get excited because he would give us one of his black and gold and green feathers from his tail or even one of the little gold and green feathers from his bum after scratching himself with his beak.

I remember that he would sometimes get nervous if there was a noise outside and he would chirp and there was nothing you could do to calm him down. And when he was nervous and he would climb on your finger, and you weren’t sure what he was doing so you were afraid he would bite. When you would leave the room and he would cry because he was lonely and he wanted you to come back. I remember how he used to fluff himself up when he was happy, and make himself small and shiver when he was sad. How sometimes he would tuck his head under his wing so it looked like he had no head.

I remember when we gave him a little plastic ball to play with and he would kick it around and play soccer. I remember when we would let him out of the cage and he would nibble on my eyebrows and glasses. I remember when we were little and we thought that all birds ate bird seed, but then when we put some in his cage, he would hardly touch them and he would just scatter the sunflower seeds across the room. Because he didn't like sunflower seeds, that was the reason that we decided to plant sunflowers in our front yard this one time. They were so tall, and I remember standing on a chair to look at them, and gazing at the blue sky and watching the floaties dance across my eyes.

Tweety used to be able to figure out how to open his cage door by himself, and my father always had to work on newer and more difficult ways to keep his door closed. There were a number of times when me and my sister would get home from school and we would find Tweety sitting at the front door waiting for us to arrive and play with him.

I remember when we used to keep him outside of our house in about 1993 and someone stole him and tried to sell him at Lidcombe station and my cousin saw him and stayed with him and got him back for us. I love the extra years that we got to spend with him because he was so lovable and one of a kind that my cousins recognised him and saved him for us. I shudder to wonder what kind of life he would have lived without us – as happy-go-lucky as he is, the sentimental side of me can only believe that he would have only been happy with us. I know that our lives would not have been the same without him. Even though I think we could have treated him better, I can’t help but think that he loved us so much that any other life would not have been worthy of him.

I remember that we tried to give him a full life by picking him up and lobbing him to make sure that he knew how to fly, but he would never fly as much as he tried his best. And then when we were convinced that he had forgotten how to fly, we decided that it would be nice if he could play outside in the lawn and clover but then he flew across the road to Nancy’s place and was sitting on the roof and we were trying to convince him to come down and then he eventually flew down to me. And then how happy we were because we got to spend those extra years with him and because he was so delighted that everyone was paying him so much attention...

I remember that when my nephew Cooper was born we bought him a puppet rainbow lorikeet to make sure that he would get to know Tweety as well as we had and because we were convinced that Tweety would show him as much love as he had shown us. And when Cooper did get to see him, how happy the two of them were because we thought that Tweety would get to relive his “Wonder Years”, so to speak.

I remember that my cousin once told me that parrots could live for 50 years and that we had a friend for life in Tweety. I remember reading once that dogs could recognise their owner’s scent and that if you went on holidays you could send them a tissue that you had rubbed on yourself as a kind of postcard. Given how much Tweety liked to play in our clothes, we tried to see if this would work on him, but he disliked tissues more than he liked our smell and he tore it to shreds. This made it difficult to wipe up after him when he pooed on the couch or the floor or on us. He would also playfully fight with pens and combs, holding one end down with his foot, biting the other with his beak and jumping up and down. For some reason he liked to play on the scales even if his weight didn’t register – if you tapped on it or ran your nail along the uneven surface, he would run over and jump on the scale, running his beak along the top to copy the noise you had just made. Then he would get really over-stimulated and make his happiest noises, but be a bit bitey as well. He would hop about and attack feet – he really didn’t like thongs at all.

It was at times like these that my mum would take charge – she was also the only one that he properly obeyed, because she was the only one who wasn’t afraid of him and was happy to boss him around. My mum used to get really cranky at Tweety for chewing on the furniture and window sills. But whenever they were alone, Tweety was always happy to play with her and she always loved him.

As we got older, we started to spend less time with him because of the time pressures put on us. We studied hard which meant that we didn’t spend as much time with Tweety as we should have because of the over-riding school and uni priorities. I remember that I would watch cartoons with him when I got home, but it seemed like he didn't enjoy it anymore. At some point I decided that we were obliged to play with him and I would always try to make sure that he regularly got out of his cage. After I moved to Canberra, I tried to let him out at least once during the weekends when I came back to visit. My concern is that, as good as the times we had with him were, we didn’t honour our obligation to entertain him. I worry that he deserved better. I worry because my emotions were not sufficient to get this post in on time.

I guess that we had been expecting it to happen for a while now, but I'm still surprised at how much it has affected me. He had been with us for so long that we knew that it would eventually have to end - we just weren't sure when it would happen. I suppose I thought that when it did happen, I would be able to deal with it, knowing that it was his time and that he had given us everything he could. I suppose I always imagined that there would always be something of him that we could remember him by, but now I'm worried that we didn't treat him well enough and that we need to treat him properly now.

The only solace that I have is that a couple of weeks ago, I got to play with him, and despite his old age and weary body, he still managed to surprise me with his enthusiastic playfulness. He rolled on his back and grabbed the pen and fought with it like the vigour and stakes were just the same as 20 years ago. Apparently he would roll on his back and play with the cork in his cage like a naive and enthusiastic child. Furthermore, he hung around until my sister returned from overseas, because his heart was in it. As sentimental and unlikely as it sounds, he was as endearing and heartfelt as his story deserves to be. He made it through the “however number of months required for my sister to return to the country”. He loved us enough to wait until everyone he loved was near him. The last time I saw Tweety on Sunday afternoon, he didn't make a noise and I was afraid to put my hand in the cage, but when I scratched his newspaper, he closed his eyes like it reminded him of the times that we had together. I’ll tidy this post up when the scotch wears off, but Tweety deserves everything he has coming to him. We love him beyond comprehension. He represents 20 bloody years of our life and he represents every bloody bit of it.

Beauty and the Geek Guest Judge

Two of my friends are part of a church group for high school kids. Tonight they had a Beauty and the Geek theme where the lesson was that God loves everyone equally and you should not judge a book by its cover. God loves Beauty's, Geeks, Emo's white people, Asian people and everyone alike. I thought that the message was put across very well.

I was asked to go along and be the celebrity guest judge. I was told there was a running joke around about how every time there is a 'celebrity' judge it is always this one particular youth leader dressed up as someone. So people were shocked to see me there.

The whole night was VERY well organized. I have been to events which have good intentions, but the participants don't get into the swing of it and the games don't seem to work. Well tonight there were about 10 group leaders and 57 kids and they all dressed as either a Beauty or a Geek. For the Geeks there were braces, star trek outfits, me in my anatomy suit (yes! I finally got to wear it somewhere), glasses, pokemon cards, shirts tucked in, 'kick me' signs and a guitar t-shirt that you could actually play. For the Beauty's there were sun glasses, dresses and beauty pageant sashes.

The games were really great too! There was a quiz to determine which Disney Beauty you are, put the periodic table back together game, use newspaper and toilet paper to create an evening gown before a fashion parade (I was a guest judge), best dressed of the night (again I was a judge), and put the body part labels correctly on the person.

It was a totally awesome night and all the kids had a great time. I was a bit embarrassed because they showed the montage used on the morning show after Emma and me won. Plus I had to sign autographs, girls got excited after poking me because they got to touch a celebrity, and two girls asked for my phone number.

Random stuff

A bit of a random post today. Still feeling a bit sick - taking some 'natural' medicine to see how it goes.

I played chess last night and had a good win. Yay! So now I am on 2.5/6 with three games to go against the lower rated people in the tournament. I would be happy with 5.5/9 when my original goal was 6/9. My brother had an awesome win as well, so he is on 3.5/6. But he has some tougher opponents in the last three rounds so hopefully I finish ahead of him ;)

Also, go Samantha Stosur in the tennis! She is through to the quarter finals of the Indian Wells tournament and should break into the top 10 world rankings afterwards. She is also through to the double semi final of the same tournament.

Weekend Plans

This weekend I am heading to Sydney. Saturday I am going to my Aunt and Uncle's 25th wedding anniversary. It should be great fun to catch up with the relatives, many I would not have seen since winning the show. I am going to have to leave the party early because I am then heading over to Kim's 21st birthday. It should also be heaps of fun to catch up with some of the gang again. I know that Paul, Nathan, Corin, Xenogene and Emma will be there as well so that will be awesome! I will probably catch them after dinner for bowling and then hit the bars/clubs.

Sunday I think will be a bit of a rest day. If Emma is not doing anything, I might see if she wants to take me shopping. She promised me in the mansion that she would help me pick out some better clothes and improve my fashion sense. She wants to put me in skinny jeans, but I am not too sure about that...

On Monday, I am also going to visit the high school where Emma's mum is the principle. No doubt she told her student about the show, so I think they will be excited to see us. Should be interesting :)

So I am really looking forward to a great weekend. Send me a message if you are in Sydney and want to know where we will be heading. But being away means that I probably wont get time for any good blog entries.

Survivor

I have not been feeling 100% the last couple of days, so have not really thought much about blogging. So this entry is going to be short: Man I love Survivor!!

Blindfold Chess

The Amber blindfold/rapid chess tournament has just started featuring a number of the top chess players in the world. Although not a proper rated event, the players still want to do well. I am going for the wonder kid Magnus Carlsen, although got off to a horrible start (0/2) he got back on track with (2/2) in the second round.

Blindfold chess is really hard. The players get a blank board, and they use the mouse to click the sqaures where the pieces move to and from. The opponent then sees which piece moved from one square to the next. So you really have to remember on which squares all of the pieces are. I once played both of my brothers where I was blindfolded and they were not. While I lost to my brother who plays chess regularly, I am happy to boast that I actually beat my other brother. :)

Some grandmaster chess players also play simultaneous blondfold chess. So the grandmaster (who is blindfolded) plays like 5 players who can see the board. I have seen grandmasters play 3 people (who are better than me) and beat all 3 players! Now that is awesome!

More TV Series

Paul came over today and we exchanged TV shows. I gave him back the IT crowd that he lent me, and I also gave him a B&G series and a Survivor series. He lent me B&G 5 which I am really excited about because I have not seen any of this series at all, and it starts off as Beauty vs Geek. Paul also lent me Peep Show and The Mighty Boosh. We watched an episode of The Mighty Boosh at our Gold Coast reunion. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen!! So I am not sure whether I will end up watching the full series or not - but as I have always said, I will try anything once. I will give a review of the show when I watch it. Speaking of the Gold Coast, I never finished telling all of the stories of what happened. I will make sure I do that this week.

Fete

So I went to a fete today at my old primary school. I had a few people pointing and whispering "its the guy from Beauty and the Geek". Its really weird but you actually get used to it.

Anyways...I have been to this fete the last few years. They always have a great book stall. I have also found out that if you go at the end of the day, you can buy a plastic bag a fill it up with as many books as you can for $1. This year I bought a couple of Stephen King books, a cook book, a fantasy novel and a few of the Tomorrow When The War Began series. I was actually talking to a friend about this series just last night - coincidence?!?. So I will have a bit of reading to do. Funny thing is though...I have not read my books from last year :)

US Beauty and the Geek Season 4

I have now started watching the 4th series of US Beauty and the Geek. However, I have seen most of this series before already. One thing that is different this time is there is a twist - there is one couple made up of a female Geek and a male Beauty. It was very shocking to the contestants and the mixed up couple quickly became a target for elimination.

There has been a lot of comments on bulletin boards for the Australian series of Beauty and the Geek that we should do a completely switched up season. It is an interesting idea. I think that a lot more females will watch the show (for the hot guys) but I don't think there will be as much sympathy for the Geeky girls. I think that a lot of the viewers for the Beauty and the Geek show love to see the male Geeks grow as people and how awkward it is for them in social situations. I don't whether this would translate for female geeks very well or not. However, I still would love to see it happen, even if the rest of Australia may not appreciate it :)

Well, I think that it would be a really interesting concept to try anyway - but maybe after a few seasons of the Aus version of the show if the ratings start to drop.

Michelle on So You Think You Can Dance

Did anybody check out So You Think You Can Dance tonight? Nacho Pop (a choreographer) is doing a tour with all of the eliminated contestants with McDonald sponsoring it. McDonald's set him a challenge each week. This week he had to teach the Gold Coast Meter Maids how to dance. I swear I saw Beauty and the Geek 3rd place winner Michelle on centre screen. Go Michy!! You will have to teach me some moves next time we catch up ;)

When Don and Izzy got eliminated tonight, they thanked the crew for all of their hard work. I would like to thank everyone who worked on Beauty and the Geek from the sound guys ("Can you hear me sound guys - the lighting guys reckon they are better looking than you. Lets take them out." Sorry - in joke), the lighting guys, camera crew, producers, makeup ladies (Go Kristy!) and everyone. Unless you have been on a reality TV show you don't get to see all the behind the scenes stuff. There is a lot more to it than you realize. The Geeks/Beauties are all actually still friends with some of the crew which is great.

ANU Masters Round 5

OK - so tonight I had to play the current (i.e. crowned two days ago) ACT Chess champion in the ANU Masters tournament. His name is Andrey Bliznyuk. I have never beaten him in a rated game (I have beaten him before in a lightning game). The last time we played I turned a clear win into a draw into a loss. So I was hoping to do better tonight.

I was black so I was at a disadvantage from the start. My opening was pretty ordinary, but I sacrificed a pawn for a good attack down the queenside where he had castled. I was winning at one point but after a few inaccurate moves I had the opportunity to swap off into an endgame which may have been slightly better for me. But I thought I was still winning and played what I thought was a good move. However, Andrey played a few really good tactics that I did not even consider and a few moves later my position was lost.

So I did not win, but I actually really enjoyed the game. So far in this tournament I am on a dismall 1.5/5.0 but I have found this tournament really fun. I am hoping to win my next 4 games, which is a good possibility because all of my opponents are rated below me.

Hiking Treadmill

Here is a new gadget for any fitness Geeks out there. Check out this link:
http://www.popsci.com.au/gadgets/article/2010-02/gym-gadgets-make-exercise-fun
Basically what you do is you map out a path in Google maps, upload it to the treadmill and then the treadmill adjusts its incline to match the incline of the map. So if you want to try climbing Mount Everest in the comfort of your own home, this try this out. But maybe Mount Everest is too steep - the treadmill has a maximum of 40 degree incline. Doesn't matter. Its still pretty cool. But honestly, I don't like treadmills. I prefer to get out into the real world and exercise.

ACT Chess Championships

The 2010 ACT Chess Championships concluded today. I would like to congratulate Andrey Bliznyuk for winning the title ahead of Junta Ikeda in second place and a four way tie for third. Junta led going in to the last round by 1/2 a point from Andrey, but Junta suffered his only loss of the tournament and was thus overtaken by Andrey who had a last round win.

The event was held over two weekends, and I decided not to play so that I could spend more time training for my ironman triathlon (more on that later). I am still playing in the ANU Masters tournament every Wednesday night, and it is just my luck that this Wednesday I have to play the newly crowned ACT Champion himself - Andrey.

The IT Crowd

I would like to thank Geek Paul for introducing me to an awesome TV show. It is call THE IT CROWD (and according to the behind the scene footage, 'IT' is pronounced 'it' as in 'today it was raining' and not 'I.T' as in Information Technology.

Anyways...the show is mainly about two IT Geeks and their totally computer illiterate female boss and the stupid situations they find themselves in. A lot of it revolves around their ignorance for the real world. I have not laughed so hard at a TV show in a long time, nor have I ever cringed so much at how all of the characters just don't understand things.

Some people love the guy called Moss. I think that all three of the main characters are totally awesome - I could not choose a favourite. I would highly recommend watching this show. I really makes you wonder what the IT guys are like where you work...

Beauty and the Geek Drinking Game

After being on the first Australian series of Beauty and the Geek, the term 'never judge a book by its cover' got thrown around many a time. So much so, that one of the Geeks decided to invent a drinking game. The rules are simple: Every time someone on the show says 'never judge a book by its cover' you have to drink. Or maybe it should be more of a penalty game - whenever YOU say 'never judge a book by its cover', YOU have to drink. I think that next time me and the others get together for a B&G reunion we will have to watch our series and play the
game. Or maybe when the next AUS series comes back later this year (can't wait!!)

But I have to say, after being with the 8 girls on the show, I completely agree with the saying. You may watch the show and think it is all fake, but honestly, we all became really close friends and the words 'Beauty' and 'Geek' got thrown out completely. To quote Michelle 'yous aren't geeks'. Luv ya Michy :) And to quote someone else 'there are no Beauty's and Geeks - there are just people'

Well anyway...back to the drinking game. So I am 3/4 of the way through watching the 3rd US series of Beauty and the Geek and I have to say, I am already pretty drunk right now! (only kidding) ;)

** Disclaimer: Always drink responsibly and only if you are over the legal age.

Made Up Words

Geeks are usually really passionate/obsessive and in one main area and are usually really good at doing that one particular thing. Me - I was the chess geek and I was always really good at mathematics at school. On the other hand, I am not the most knowledgeable person when it come to words/grammar/spelling. Apart from my problem with the distinction between unco and uncoordinated back in year 7, I think that I have gotten better.

I still do have fun though making up words or saying stupid things just to be funny. We have started a list of fake words that have either been used accidentally, or that we think should be real words. So far in the list we have:

Equivalates
Derivatize
Symbology
Horizontality
Balanceability
Growed
Grammartationally
Technob
Anti-Intelligent

Feel free to add any words you think should be on the list :)

ANU Masters Chess Tournament

I am currently playing in the ANU Masters chess tournament in Canberra which is a 10 player FIDE rated (using international ratings) round robin event. I thought from the start that there were four players which I would have a good chance of beating, one player that I would probably lose to and the remaining four I would probably get a draw with. That was the plan anyway. I also decided that I would also play more aggressive/exciting chess because often my games are quite boring. After the first four games, according to my plan, I should have had one win and three draws. But things don’t always go to plan. I have had one win, one draw and two losses. I think that my style of playing has not been the best, but I have enjoyed every single one of my games. And I know for a fact that some tournaments you go well, and others you don’t. That’s simply chess, and this one isn’t going that well. My younger brother Michael is also playing in the tournament and my number one goal in the tournament was to beat him. Have a guess where my one win in the tournament has come from! 

Bad Blogger

So I have realized that I am a bad blogger. I started off doing one post a day, and now it seems to be about 1 post a week. It is not like I don't have stuff to write about, it is more that I am busy and by the time I remember that I had not blogged for the day, I am tired and its time for bed.

I don't like this, so I am going to make sure I post every day. And if I don't? Well I usually buy Subway (mmm....Subway) once a week at work. So if I fail to post every day for that week - then no Subway.

Gold Coast Day 2

So I thought that I should get back to what happened at the Gold Coast. Today was the Friday, and we spent most of the day just hanging around the house or the pool waiting for more people to arrive. Tom, one of the sound guys from the show came which was awesome (We made good friends with lots of the production crew) and later on Corin. We also played some guitar hero and watched a number of episodes of the show and laughed at each other some more. Some people found certain episodes hard to watch. Episode 5 for me anyway...

That night Michelle, Hadassah (as well as her sister and cousin) came over for dinner. Hadassah did most of the cooking of the spaghetti. We then all got in a maxi cab and went out clubbing. Michelle knew all of the best clubbing places at Surfers Paradise. She also knew all of the bouncers so she got us into clubs for free as well as free drinks! Good work Michy :) At one place they had a modelling contest with swimwear, evening wear etc. It was quite interesting to see the different types of girls who enter these contests but I wont get into that. Michelle was one of the judges and I agreed with all of the girls who got through to the next round.

Being in a group of 10 people from the show did give us a lot of attention. We were stopped continuously on the street for photos and everyone was in love with Xenogen! There were people talking to him in a club at one point with more people lined up behind waiting for their turn. I did not mind that he got all the attention. I do like to hide away sometimes - its almost like a game to see if I can get away from it :) But we all had a great time dancing and chatting and just hanging out.

So that was the first night clubbing! Heaps of fun, quite a few tipsy people and laugher and stupidity. A word of advice: kebabs at 2am before a long cab ride home does not go well even if you have sobered up completely. Your stomach will not like it. I know from experience.

USA Beauty and the Geek

I have just started watching the first US series of Beauty and the Geek. I can see that a lot of our challenges were taken from this series, including the massage challenge and the rocket challenge. I have to say that I am both impressed and disappointed in this series.

Good Points
More filming of the cast just hanging around doing their own thing
Hidden cameras for filming those scenes when people think the cameras aren't watching
There are 3 questions each for the elimination instead of 2, and the elimination process does not drag on
Richard is hilarious

The challenges are better i.e. they get to go out and do better things

More prize money ;)

Bad Points
Everything almost seems a little to unpolished from the way the cast are standing, the the way the host behaves. Even the girls aren't dressed up enough.
Richard is annoying
Brad is too good looking

Overall, I think that if you combines the extra behind the scenes footage of the cast getting to know each other etc from the US version with the polished nature of the AUS series is would be perfect!

Gold Coast Day 1

So I have finally gotten around to tell you about the Gold Coast holiday.

Originally the plan was for me to fly from Canberra-Syndey at 7:30 and then Sydney-Gold Coast and 9:10 and meet Xen, Paul and Alan at the Gold Coast airport (they arrived about 30 min before me) and then we share a cab to Nathan's place. Due to Virgin not having enough staff on, my flight was delayed 1 hour. I arrived at about 9:15 and so I missed my connection flight by like 5 mins. Then had to wait 2 hours for the next flight (lucky they gave me $12 worth of meal vouchers for lunch). We touched down at Gold Coast airport and had to wait about 15 mins before we were allowed off the plane due to traffic on the run way. By now the others had left so I caught a shuttle bus to Nathans house. It was a long morning!

Nathans house is right near a hotel and we got free use of the pool :) So when I finally arrived, we all had a relaxing afternoon by the pool, which was more like an inland beach (salt water pool with sand surroundings). So at that stage it was Nathan, Xen, Alan, Paul, Kim and I and we lazed around chatting while we waited for Hadassah and Toby.

Nathans house is really huge and awesome!! Pool, putting green, TV room! Really cool, except for the weird artwork ;) And everyone uses Golf Buggies to get around the suburban area!

That afternoon we went and bought groceries for the week and had a barbecue dinner. It was more of a relaxing day because everyone was tired from the trip up. But it was so great to see everyone again - just like we were back in the house. There were no hard feelings about anything, but everyone kept on paying each other about such as 'it's your fault I did not get to do the billy cart challenge' and 'Jeremy can buy dinner because he is rich' 'that challenge was awesome, but wait I was not there. I wonder why that was'. It was hillarious, and all in good humour. At least I think it was?!?

Rubik's Cube

Yay!!! I think that I have managed to memorize how to solve a Rubik's cube. Alan helped me with the first stages when he was here in Canberra. Then I solved part of it myself using trial and error and then I went on the net and memorized sequences to finish it off. For the record, I used the method on this web site: http://www.learn2cube.com/beginners/intro.php

I was using another web site which was really good, but by the time it got to the 7th and final step you had to pay for it. Hello no!

For any Geeks out there, solving the Rubik's cube is a must for your resume.

If anyone wants to challenge me to do anything else, please feel free :)

Jeremy

Logie Awards

Hey everyone,

You should all vote for Beauty and the Geek for a Logie Award for best reality TV show. Lets take down Master Chef!! Anyways..the link is here: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-logie-awards/
It would be cool if Emma and I got to go to the awards ceremony itself. Even more cooler if the whole cast got to go!

Melbourne Part 2 - Clubbing

So we went out both Friday and Saturday night when we were in Melbourne. The Thursday night was OK, but I think I was in a crappy mood and did not enjoy the places we went or the music as much as I could have. I think I was tired after playing such a tough tennis match with Corin earlier that day. Well, thats my excuse.

On Saturday we started off at a bar that my friend Mel works at. It was good to see her again - I don't see her as often as I would like after she moved to Melbourne. Corin came out to the bar too before we decided to hit the nightclubs. Caught up with Nathan for the first time since the finale which was awesome! It was great for them both to meet my Canberra friends too. Mainly for the fact I wanted my Canberra friends to see how awesome Corin and Nathan are and for them to meet TV stars. (I don't count as a TV star for them because they have always known me).

We ended up at one club where there was dancing actually ON the bar. Also a hens night where the girls were wearing cowgirl hats. There was a bet to see if someone could get one of their hats. Priya disappeared and brought back a hat. 'A hot guy will buy me a drink if I can borrow a hat'. Very sly Priya. The hens night girls also had challenges throughout the night. One challenge was to get a guys underwear. So one of the Geeks volunteered and made one girls night - I have been asked not to reveal who. But there are photos on the net if you search hard enough ;)

We then headed off to another club which had really great music. There was karaoke but it was closing just as we got there. Plus Corin was getting free drinks all night (I think) and did not tell the rest of us. :(

As we were walking to our final club, I said to Corin 'So where are we going?' A passing by drag queen said 'Back to your place honey'. A new new experience which kinda weirded me out.

After Corin got a kebab, we all went back home - it was now 5:30 am. The longest night I have ever been clubbing. It may have been a bad idea because I party lost my voice, was kinda hung over, really tired, and I had a flight back to Canberra were I had to do a bit more filming for the Guinness World Record show. Smart one dumbo! - Geeks have their blond moments too.

Melbourne Part 1 - Tennis Tennis Tennis

So I thought that I would break down the Melbourne trip into two parts. First the tennis and then the clubbing. It may take me a couple of weeks but I will eventually catch up to the present (February).

We bought the cheap tickets for the first two days of the Aus Open tennis. Rod Laver on the Wednesday night and then a day pass on the Thursday. We thought the day pass would be good because the top players would still be playing on the outside courts during the first week (because there are too many good players left for them all to play on the main courts).

We were Super lucky with the Rod Laver ticket!!! Number 5 (I think) in the world Elena Dementieve vs former number one Justine Henin. I think the first game alone took 15 mins!! Epic. Two long sets later of sheer brilliance by Henin and she was through 7-6 7-5 from memory. She ended up the tournament runner up to Serena Williams so it was an awesome second round match to go to. I think that she and Federer have similar styles - not sheer power but a perfect one handed backhand and good precision.

The next match was Tomic vs Cilic which went to 5 sets. Bad for the Aussie who lost, but I think Cilic made the semis in the end. So for Tomic to take him to 5 sets shows that the 17 year old may be one to watch in the future. I think it finished around 2pm and we did not get home until 3. We tried to change seats halfway through the match once all the corporate people left but the stupid grounds people moved us back - even though like 10 rows in from of us were all empty!

Day 2 was more relaxed. We got to see some good names including Haas, Gonzales, Lubicic, Kuznetzova, Azerenka up close. We then stayed and watched the big screen for Hewitt and Dellacqua (sorry about spelling mistakes).

Corin was here the second day and while we watched the big screen we had a whole bunch of people come over and say how much they loved Beauty and the Geek. My friends who were down for the tennis with me had never seen the 'famous celebrity treatment' that we sometimes get so they thought it was hillarious!! They all see me for the Jeremy that I always have been so they were a bit shocked at my 'celebrity' status. However, my friends keep me very well grounded which I am extremely grateful for.

Next day and Corin picked me up on his Scooter for the tennis rematch of the century. BTW - scooters are awesome, easy parking, cheap and low petrol costs. I may need to get me one. So the tennis was on clay - my least favourite surface. I thought Corin would have the advantage. It was just as close as last time in terms of rallies etc but I managed to pull through 6-4 6-7 6-2 6-3 from memory. (Correct me if I am wrong Corin). So I am now the official Wimbledon and French Open 'Geek' champion (grass and clay). So now we just need the two hard court matches for the Aus and US open titls. Maybe I could do what Federer could not - win all four titles at the same time. But I am sure Corin may have a say in it ;)

So that is all the tennis updates. Let me know if you want any more details in the comments section. Up next will be all the clubbing gos

Sorry :( plus a taste of whats to come

I have to say a big sorry for not posting anything in a while. I think there may be a few of you waiting for me to post because the hit count increased by 120 since last time :) After being away in Melbourne and the Gold Coast I guess I got a little sidetracked and by the time I would get around to blogging, it would be late at night and I wanted to go to bed. Anyway...enough of my excuses.

So I will just be a little mean and give you temptations of what happened while I was away. I will give a full account throughout the week.

Melbourne consisted of the best 2nd round Australian open tennis match imaginable, one of the Geeks going out clubbing wearing underwear but returning home without them, scooter rides, an episode with a drag queen and the Geek v Geek tennis rematch of the century.

The gold coast consisted of blue bottle stings, surfing, 7 Geeks and 3 Beauty's living in the one house again, one Geek at the ocean swimming well after midnight and not returning home the next day, a beauty contest in a nightclub, the 'loosen up when you dance' comment of the century and a lot more.

I guess you can say we had some fun ;)

PS I would love to know who is reading this blog and if anyone has any suggestions, or would like to contribute. So please post a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Awesome Website and Goodbye!

So today I stumbled across the best web sites ever! They literally had me in stitches laughing, my face was bright red and I even started crying! Not Joke. I strongly recommend you check out http://failblog.org/ and http://epicwinftw.com/ The first one is all about stupid things people do which are known as 'epic fails'. If you find the lady in the clown mask dancing to 'all the single ladies' let me know :) It was the best. The second site is the opposite - totally awesome stuff that people have done which are known as 'epic wins'. Some people must have warped minds to come up with this stuff.

On another note, this will be my last blog until Sunday. I am heading down with friends to the Aus Open tennis. I am a huge tennis fan but I have never been to a live match before. I have heard that it is completely different to what you see on the TV - they hit the ball a lot faster than you realize. So Wed/Thursday we have both day and night tickets to the tennis. Friday and Saturday are going to be shopping and having my tennis rematch with Corin. Friday/Sat night is clubbing (hopefully with Jenna, Nathan and Corin) before heading back home on Sunday. Catch you then :)

Big Bang Theory

Ok, so I can't be certain, but the Big Bang Theory could well be in my top three favourite TV shows (Survivor is definitely number one, and Beauty and the Geek has to be up there as well by default).

For those of you who have not seen it, it is on WIN and it is about four major Geek guys and a hot Beauty who lives across the hall (sound familiar?). It shows the contrast between their lives and all the awkward moments that Geeks face from relationships to dealing with people in general. What I think I like most about it is the humour. I don't think that it is necessarily that funny, but all the jokes are science, computing or geeky in some manner. I guess that it makes me laugh more simply for the fact that I understand the jokes, when a lot of people wouldn't. What's even more fnuny is when Sheldon goes rambling on and on about some Physics theory of his which is supposed to confuse viewers. But I always seem to understand it :) I even try and pick holes in his arguments. I think the rest of my family also love the show too because they sit there and say - hey look! Its Jeremy! I don't think that I am as Geeky as these guys, but maybe I am still a Geek in some kind of denial. I understand their jokes and I was on a TV show called Beauty and the Geek after all.

I highly recommend you watch it - simply to cringe at how awkward the characters are. But just remember - some of us are really like that

Rubiks Cube

Ok - so who knows how to solve a Rubiks cube? I could do it when I was younger, well only if you count peeling of the stickers and re-arranging them :) Now I am a bit older, I would love to learn how to solve it the proper way. I am sure there are a number of sites on the internet that teach you how but I am going to start at www.rubiks.com and also the wikipedia entry.

From memory, Alan had one in the house and he knew how to solve it. But I never got a chance to learn :( I love mathematical puzzles and I have heard that there is a mathematical solution! So I think I will have to go searching around my house to see if I still own a Rubiks cube and get cracking. If you are reading this Alan, could you bring your cube to QLD and you can teach me how.

Segways!!!

So I got a wii fit for Christmas and have been playing everyday this week. It is actually pretty fun keeping track of your achievements. It also tells you your 'wii fit' age where if you do poorly on your balance test it tells you your body is older than your true age. (my over 50 dad was very happy today to hear he was 31)

Anyways....in one of the balance games you have to ride a Segway!!! When the Geeks first got to ride them in the B&G mansion it was awesome! We seriously considered stuffing up the filming just so we could ride them again. They are not that hard to steer, but they keep banging into the curb if you don't stop them properly. Just ask Nathan! (bless you by the way - just an inside joke). And if you are really good at it, it is almost like you are skiing (Corin) or moon walking (Toby).

So if by any chance in the universe someone from the Segway company is reading this blog, I would be more than happy to take one of the Segways off your hands and promote it around everywhere I go. Seriously!!!

If you have not tried one of these devices, go and find someone who has one.

Did I Break The World Record?

Due to a confidentially agreement I signed before I tried, I cannot say whether I broke the record or not. The show will go to air some time after Easter, so you will have to wait until then :)

World Record Attempt

So tomorrow I am attempting to complete one of my New Years Resolutions - break a Guinness World Record. If anyone is in Sydney then head on over to Warringah Mall (food court) at 1:30 and see how I go.

The record that I am attempting is to make five balloon animals blindfolded in less than 64 seconds. The balloons are a poodle, sword, snail, caterpilla and flower. Since I am blindfolded, I need an assisstant to pass me the next balloon. It is going to be Emma!

If you can't make it, it is (hopefully) going to be on the TV show Australia Smashes Guinness World Records.

Not sure whether I will be able to post whether I was successful or not (in case their is a confidentially agreement). But we will see tomorrow.

Nathans Marathon Part 2

So Nathan ended up completing the marathon in less than 5 hours which was a totally awesome effort for someone with no training! From what I remember him telling me, he walked parts of it but ran most of the way.

The thing about long distance running (from my experiences) is that it does not necessarily matter how fast you train, even whether you are walking or running - it is more about the distances you train. Can you ever remember the last time you were on your feet walking or running for 5 hours straight?!?

I myself found out what it feels like the hard way, but it was really funny when Nathan did. He told me that being on his feet for that long made his legs feel like jelly. After going to bed after the race, he forgot that he had not recovered. So when he tried to get out of bed, his legs completely gave way and he fell out of bed :)

No matter - completing a marathon is a totally awesome achievement and I want to say a big congrats to Nate.

Marathon

I have completed two marathons in my life - I did the Canberra Marathon in 2008 in a tick under 3 hours 30 minutes after hurting my knee and running/limping the last 7 km, and I ran/walked a marathon at the end of my Ironman triathlon in 2009 in just under 5 hours.

I reckon everyone should run a marathon at least once in their lives - it should be on every persons 'To Do' list I have convinced two of my best friends, Patrick and Julian, to do the Canberra marathon in April this year. I have printed off a training program for them and they are totally freaked out. I don't think that I would have survived my marathons without training. I hope they can keep up with the training and finish the marathon.

But who needs training?!? A week after I got out of the B&G mansion I get a call from Geek Nathan saying he needs my help to run a marathon. Now I assumed he meant like a 10 km fun run or something and was just calling it a marathon, but he said "No, that it is a proper 42.2 km marathon!" So I said to him, "OK, I can help you train. When is the marathon?" He says "Tomorrow". I laughed and asked him "How much training have you done?" and he says "Oh, I have run twice this week". Well I told him how hard it was and that he was in for pain.

I will leave the second part of this story for tomorrows post :)

Lil Knickers

So I thought that I would post a link to the business website of Hadassah and her family. The site is called 'Lil Knickers' where they sell georgeous baby clothes. I have had a look at the site and I have to say, I absolutely love the packaging of the clothes. It is very professional and cute too :) So if you are looking for baby clothes, I would recommend having a look at http://www.lilknickers.com.au/default.asp

B&G Wars

So here is a video that Alan shot of Hadassah and Toby having a Jedi fight! It would have been good to see a pretent death scene or loss of limbs. So maye the B&G Wars saga will have to continue... Cue music: da, da da da da da, da da da da da, da da da da da

If the video does not work, you can see it on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=377aRJWIhvs

Geek Rap Song

So during the first episode of Beauty and the Geek the guys all had to write and perform a rap song in a club. You only got to see 2 lines of my song, so I thought that I would share it all with you. I got through it all OK, except for three lines in the 3rd verse. I will put the words I really sang on the day in circle brackets and the definition of the rap terms in square brackets. The good thing was that no-one realized that I stuffed up because I kept on singing and I still mananged to make most of it rhyme!

If any of the other Geeks are reading this, feel free to post your rap in the comments section.



My tag is Jeremy
And yeah I roll from the A.C.T
When I wanna impress
My crew what they do is they call be Big Jezz
So what if I'm an engineer
Come on ladies there's nothing to fear
Cuz I make the Benjamin [money]
If you aint down then call up your friends

You may have seen me around
Cuz one of my tallents is I'm a Clown
And you may think I look funny
With my hair and my shoes you're right on the money
I have a big red nose
But can you imagine my fire hose
I do tie the balloon
Do you want to see me bust out a babboon?

{I then make a babboon balloon animal on stage}

My beauty in this game
I'll tell you something she's off the chain
Hell yeah Emma's my fizzle [friend] (Oh shit I forgot my line)
And ooh la la she's sexy for shizzle [sure] (I guess I'll have to make it up)
I do get a bit tizzy [frustrated] (Oh yeah, Emma's so hot)
When I wanna get busy (Something that I guess I'm not)
But unlucky for me I miss out on the fun (Oh yeah, Emma's so fine)
I wish I had bigger guns (I really want to make her mine)

No chess aint just a gmae
I guess its my ticket to fame
When I make the moves
My brain really gets into the groove
Four hours a game no I don't get bored
Checkmate at the end is a tasty reward
Queen Rook Bishop Knight King
Pawn...no its not what you think

{Breakdance as the music finishes}

Young Canberra Citizen of the Year

Thanks to Paul for highlighting this one :) The first non-me contributor to this blog.

Do you know a youth who has greatly contributed to the ACT community? Then consider nominating them for the Young Canberra Citizen of the Year. Check out their website at http://www.youthawards.edetails.com.au/index.html or join the facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberra-Australia/Young-Canberra-Citizen-of-the-Year-Awards/208050989746

Now the award is not just for being the best citizen, there are a number of categories that you can nominate people in. These include personal achievement, group award, youth arts, individual community service, young entrepreneur and young environmentalist.

With global warming on its way, I hope that there are many nominations for the young environmentalist award!

Australian Chess Championships

The 2010 Australian Chess Championships is underway with a number of Canberra players taking part. So I would like to say a HUGE congratulations to Junta Ikeda for winning the Australian Lightning Championships today!

Geek Web Site

I have to admit one think - I may have come out of the B&G mansion even more of a Geek! All the guys got on so well in the house, I think we learnt more from each other in the Gentlemens Club including Hacky Sack/Crochet (Pete) and Comics (Nathan).

At one stage someone brought up a web site: www.thinkgeek.com I was looking for an awesome t-shirt to buy to show that I am a geek and be proud of it. You definitely know you are a geek when you understand the jokes. One that made me laugh simply stated that "Schrodingers Cat Is Dead". The other, which I will let you try and understand yourself is the following:

"There are only 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary and those that don't."

New Watch

I am doing the Port Macquarie Ironman in March this year. This will be my second ironman, which for the record is a 3.8 km swim, 180.2 km bike and 42.2 km marathon run. I got in trouble for comparing the pain of the ironman to the pain of child birth. More for the fact that during the ironman I was in so much pain that I swore I would never do another one. But you soon forget the pain, and here I am, one year later. (like having a second child).

Anyway... so I started my serious training today, but my watch band broke :( So now I have to go out and buy myself a new gadget - a cool awesome watch :) I want it to be a heart rate monitor and a GPS to record how fast I travel per km and have split timing and be waterproof (so I can wear it for the whole race)... It feels like Christmas all over again! So I will have to update you later on what watch I choose and all the cool gadget features it has.

Interesting Facts about Beauty and the Geek Eliminations

There were always lots of conspiracy theories by me and the other contestants during the show. Here are some of the cool eliminations statistics.

Contestants in elimination order, including their state, their age and which room they lived in the mansion

Room A
Alan 19 WA
Kate SA

Room B
Nathan 20 VIC
Kim NSW

Room C
Paul 24 ACT
Elise Sa

Room C
Toby 21 QLD
Jenna VIC

Room D
Xenogen 30 NSW
Hadassah QLD

Room D
Peter 28 WA
Michelle QLD

Room E
Corin 28 VIC
Lisa SA

Room E
Jeremy 24 ACT
Emma NSW

So here are the interesting facts. We started off with people of all ages, living in five different rooms, and coming from six states/territories.

1. The first four guys eliminated were the four youngest. (The next three guys were the three oldest).
2. We started off with guys from five states/territories, and after the first three eliminations, the five remaining guys were still from five separate states/territories - one guy per state/territory.
3. The first two eliminations got rid of the two couples who did not share a room with another couple. The next two elimations got rid of two couples who shared a room. The next two elimations also got rid of two couples who shared a room. So the eliminations process went from room to room.
4. The reamining three teams had all of the six states/territories still represented by one person each.

Coincidence..........Yes it was as a matter of fact. The was also the curse of the 'top of the stairs' place during the nominations. But that changed when Xenogen/Hadassah were spared in episode 6.

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years Everyone!!

The night started at 6:30 with a call saying one of my friends was sick and could not come out :( So a different friend picked me up and five of us went to Hogs Breath for dinner. Before going in, I ran into one of my other friends, Monty. The meal I had for dinner was awesome! Ribs + steak + salad + curly fries. Cant remember what the meal name was though.

Anyway, after dinner we went outside just in time for the 9pm family fireworks. The fireworks were alright, nothing special, but I ran into Monty again. Caught up with some other friends and we went to the Pancake Parlour for dessert. I cant remember having been there any time recently, but it was not too bad. We played a little chess on the big board (I won) and on the little board (I won again).

Went outside and ran into Monty again. (Canberra is one small place). Then I got mobbed by a bunch of girls who wanted a photo. My friends who had never seen this behaviour before were like (do you know them) and I just laughed.

So my friend had to work, so we went over to his motel at about 11:30 to bring in the New Years. Champagne was drunk, and we went outside for the fireworks. They were alright, but again, nothing too special.

So now here we are in 2010. What are everyones New Years resolutions? Here are 4 of my top 5.

1. Complete the triple triathlon in November solo

2. Complete the Port Macquarie Ironman in less than 14 hours

3. Plan my overseas trip

4. Break a Guiness World Record

I hope that 2010 is great to everyone :)

Jeremy