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I got up early this morning to do a bit of study. But before I did some study, I thought I'd just check my email. 15 minutes of my life gone. Then I checked the BLC forums. Another 15 minutes of my life gone. Then I heard the dog shaking his head, so had to clean his ears. Another 15 minutes of my life gone. Better write something in this blog. Another however many minutes gone. All of these things have successfully distracted me from my intended purpose, which is to get some study in before work. And now it is twenty to six, which means I have at best 20 minutes to devote to it, which is barely enough time to get warmed up, so I'm not even going to start. Distraction successful. I realised yesterday that I have barely a week to go before my exam, and I've done sweet fuck-all study. This is very much a pattern of mine, one that causes me no end of stress and anxiety. You'd think I'd've learnt by now. Thank god this is the last exam.

The dog is still shaking his head. He's had a string of ear infections this year, one of which resulted in an aural haematoma, so I'm a tad concerned about him at the moment. I hope it's just a case of some piece of crud being lodged in there rather than some festering, disgusting infection.

MaxBabe and I went to see "He's Just Not That Into You" last night. It was OK, but ultimately disappointing. The best bits were condensed into the five-minute preview (the one that convinced me to go see the movie), the rest was an hour and 55 minutes of introspective tedium. The ending was mostly predictable, and in fact somewhat counter to the premise of the movie. There were laughs to be had, but overall I left feeling that a promise had gone unfulfilled.

I finally got back in the saddle yesterday, and went for a ride with MaxMum and BestMate. They decided to climb up Mt Coot-Tha. I, being sane, decided to keep riding and went for a noodle along the riverside bikeway and Kangaroo Point. At Kangaroo Point, the council has wisely separated the bike paths from the people paths. They are designated for bicycles only - clearly identified by signs and painted pictures. Every once in a while, you encounter some fool walking along the bicycle path. Yesterday was such a day. I'd just been passed by Mr Pro Lycra. I tailed him for a bit, then slowed down as we came around a bend. Mr and Mrs Dickhead were walking along the bike path, taking up the entire path. I rang my bell to alert them (since Mr Pro Lycra, like so many 1337 riders, didn't have one). Pop quiz: If you are walking along a dedicated bicycle path, and hear a bell ringing behind you, do you:

a) Move over to the left, let the bikes through, then realise your error and go walk on the people path
b) Move over to the left, let the bikes through, then keep walking
c) Do nothing
d) Look behind you, see the bikes coming, and walk directly into the bikes' path, causing a near miss?

Guess what Mr and Mrs Dickhead chose. Go on, guess. If you chose option d, you're right. I screamed (from about 5 metres behind Mr Pro Lycra) at Mr and Mrs D to move to the left. They screamed at me that they were getting off the path for us (ie that we should be grateful). I can't remember quite what I yelled at them after that, something along the lines of they shouldn't be on the path anyway, they in turn yelled at me that we (the bicycles, on the bicycle-only path) should be more careful (presumably, "of moronic pedestrians who can't read and have a sense of entitlement to every bit of path they see" was the unspoken end to that sentence). I contemplated stopping and headbutting them both (thereby raising our collective IQs and also doing the cycling world a favour), but decided I like my helmet too much to crack it on some moron's skull, and also I just wanted to keep riding. I gave them the finger, let off a parting salvo of "It's a BIKE path!!!" and kept rolling.

I met MaxMum and BestMate for a bite to eat, then rode back to his place. Went home and flaked out for the rest of the day. Well, I tried to. MaxBabe decided she needed repeated lessons on how to copy and paste. This came almost every ten minutes or so and drove me fucking batty. In the end, I told her I was having a nap and went to lie down, just so she'd stop bugging me. Dear MaxBabe: For the love of all that's holy, read the books you bought, the ones that tell you how to use Windows and Office. I just can't keep telling you the same stuff over and over. It's making us want to kill each other!!!!

Anyway, I have now successfully wasted the entire hour I'd set aside for study. Way to go, Max.