important things to do

So of course I’m doing this instead. Props 2 roybear for enabling my procrastination (it’s lunchtime really).

ersonal Stuff ...

Full Name: John Patrick Joseph Egan. Joseph is my confirmation name
Name Backwards: Nage HpesoJ Kcirtap Nhoj
Were You Named After Anyone: Da’s Padraíc John Egan (pronounced Paw-rigcalled Paddy or Pat by most); his Da was Patrick John Egan
Does Your Name Mean Anything: John means “a gift from god” and Egan literally translates as “you and your ilk really should avoid alcohol. At all costs.”
Nicknames: Jawn (web), Dooley (uni), Goddamnsonofabitchbastard (Ma)
Date of Birth: 28 February 1964. Yup, 40 is racing up and I’m kewl with it.
Place of Birth: Manhattan, NYC, NY, USA
Nationality: American by birth, Oirish/EU by ethnicity, Canadian by choice and the grace of Gawd
Current Location: At the dining table in querrelle and my’s flat in lovely Drummoyne NSW (Inner West Sydney)
Sign: Pisces passions and Dragon fortitude. Lucky boy!
Religion: Holy Mary Mother of Gawd, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Ew kum, get it off me! Get it off me--where’s the shower? I’m sorry I broke the glass, I know you hate me now--why am I such a falure? Why aren’t I ever good enough? I can feel the black hard coal-like weight of sin squeezing and crushing my very heart! but non-practicing
Height: 167 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Shoe Size: 9
Hair Color: Reddish Brown
Eye Color: Hazel (change blue-grey-green)
Who Do You Look Like: Apparently Da, certainly my sister, but have also been told Jack Nicholson and Michael J Fox. Wot-evah
Innie or Outie: Innie

Do You Have ...

A Disease: A couple, but I’ll admit to psoraisis here.
A Pager: No
A Personal Phone Line: No
A Cell Phone: Yes
A Lava Lamp: No
A Pool or Hot Tub: Pool
A Car: 46.7cc’s of raw power baby!

Describe Your ...

Personality: Intense, protective, nurturing, sensitive, silly
Driving: good
Room: Mostly tidy
Closet: Organized, but not anally so
Bed: Queen . . . I think

Do You ...

Believe In Love At First Sight: Yup, though I wouldn’t count it as a common occurrence
Consider Yourself A Good Listener: What?
Consider Yourself A Good Friend: Yes
Save Your Emails: When necessary, but am not a horder
Like To Talk On The Phone: Oh yeah!
Like To Dance: yes, to SONGS, not 12 minute best-of-the-drug-fooked mixes.
Like To Drive: Nope, it’s strictly utilitarian

What Is/Are/Was ...

Right Next To You: A small fan, a can of Coke classic, and a job cover letter I need to revise
On Your Mouse Pad: Ew--who needs a mouse pad anymore? My iBook has a track pad, else I use a MS scroll wheel optical mouse.
Your Dream Car: One with a driver. But something akin to a Volkswagen Gold
Your Dream Shag: Springsteen’s still up there, so’s Daniel-Day Lewis. But no dating--that’d be querrelle
Your Dream Honeymoon Spot: Overwater bungalow Bora Bora
Your Bedtime: Late
The Single Most Important Question: How can we make the world a better place?
Your Bad Time of The Day: 06h00-09h30
Your Worst Fear(s): Burning, drowning, torture (see religion)
Theme Song(s): On the Road to Find Out, Cat Stevens
The Hardest Thing About Growing Up: Actually believing that feedback is good, but the answers lie within.
Your Scariest Moments: 3 come to mind (in no particular order. 11/9/01 trying to discern where all the family were and who we lost (family none, friends several); my PhD dissertation defence (3 years of life boiled down to 2 hours hit or miss); and realizing at 20 that having sex with hundreds of guys, wasn’t ‘a phase’ and that I could never marry a woman and keep any sense of integrity (thanks Making Love).
The Worst Feeling In The World: A disagreement that’s gone ballastic, when you really like or love the person
The Best Feeling In The World: The sense of love and security of waking up with your man, and his (or yours) hard-on is pressed against your (or his) bum.
The Nicest Thing A Person Has Ever Said To You: I admire you
A Place You Want To Go, But Haven’t: Rio
Something You Do In Your Spare Time: Saunas. Um, er men in saunas
A Skill Or Talent You Have: Finding clarity
The Thing You Want To Be Remembered For:Bringing people together
The Thing You’re Picked On Most About: Being arrogant. And I’m not, I’m confident.

What Is Your Favorite ...

Boy’s Name: Liam, Colm, Séan, Finnbar
Girl’s Name: Siobhan, Deirdre
Color(s): Dark green and dark purple
Number: 8
Vacation Spot: Cook Islands
Place To Shop: Apple Store
Things To Do At Night: Films, DVDs, compute, root
Day Of The Week: Thursday
Month of The Year: February.
Season: Summer
Holiday:Christmas
Sport: hockey and other ice sports (skating, curling)
School Subject: maths
Conversation Topic: hi and low-brow, politics, social theory, kok size, food, comedy, my new outfit.
Type(s) of music: Oirish folk, Celtic, pop, rock, some country, musique française
Song: Minuit chrétien/O Holy Night
Concert: Springsteen 1980 Nassau Coliseum NY’s Eve
Group: Rankins
Singer: Céline muthafukkas--back awf!
Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life
Soundtrack: Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Actress: Streep’s the best, but I’m loving Cate Blanchett
Flower: nope
T.V. Show: The Simpsons
Soft Drink: Coke
Alcohol: Nope
Food: Cheeseburgers
Places To Eat: Rooster’s Quarters Denman St Vancouver; McDo, Wendy’s
Shampoo: don’t use
Website: www.johnegan.net
Word: fookawf
Quote: “dismiss whatever insults your soul” Walt Whitman
Body Part On The Member of The Preferred Sex: I’m a face/kok man. Gotta wanna kiss the face; gotta have a big enuf, fun enuf kok. Too big or too small is too bad . .
Things To Wear: 501s
Things To Sleep In: Nothing
Piece Of Jewelry: Silver claddagh ring, heart towards me heart

Which Is Better ...

Coke or Pepsi: Coke
Vanilla or Chocolate: Vanilla
Day or Night: Day
Cold or Hot: Cold
Summer or Winter: Summer
The Way It Is Or The Way IT Was: The way it is. These are halcyon days
Shoes or Sandals: Shoes
Big or Little: Big
In A Car Air Conditioning or open windows: Air Conditioning
One Pillow,Two or Three: Two
Boxers/Briefs/Thongs or G-Strings: tightie whities
Colour or Black and White Photos: colour
M and M’s or Skittles: M&Ms
High or Drunk: Sober
Hugging or Kissing: Kissing

Do You ...

Wear Eye Shadow: No
Use Chapstick: yes
Give High Fives: Yes

Have You Ever ...

Flunked A Grade: No
Murdered Someone: Acquitted
Been On Stage: Yes
Cried: Yes

Vancouver ties for World's most liveable city*

Taken from the Vancouver Sun newspaper’s website:http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=baabf7f7-7ada-4ce6-a7f9-6c735afc8d03
Amy O’Brian, Vancouver Sun Monday, February 09, 2004


We’ve done it again.
Vancouver has been rated the best city to live in the entire world (along with Melbourne and Vienna ... but this is our moment). The news is no surprise to Mayor Larry Campbell nor to folks on the street, but it’s always nice to hear. “It’s a great city. We’ve been saying that all along,” Campbell said Sunday. “Overall, we are, I think, the best city in the world, no matter what you use as a measuring stick.”

The Economist Intelligence Unit -- the business branch of the Economist Group (an international business and world affairs analyst group) -- conducted the survey for the 2003 hardship rating, which examines living conditions for British expatriates in 130 cities around the world. The rating is determined by measuring 12 factors grouped into the categories of health and safety, culture and environment, and infrastructure. Vancouver tied with Melbourne in the 2002 survey, but Vienna is a newcomer to the top of the list.

According to the survey, the worst city for expats is Port Moresby -- the capital of Papua New Guinea -- while Karachi, Pakistan; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Lagos, Nigeria fill out the bottom of the list.

Canada fared well overall, with Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary making it into the top 16 on the list. Australia did even better, with Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne all in the top 10. No US city made the top 20

Top 20:
1; Vancouver, Melbourne & Vienna
4: Perth
5: Geneva
6: Montréal, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Copenhagen, Oslo & Zurich
13: Toronto, Helsinki & Stockholm
16: Calgary Dusseldorf & Frankfurt

*with Melbourne Australia (g’day roybear, mpa_melb et al) and Vienna Austria

some cinema shtuff

Recent films:

Love Actually. Noice actually. Lovers love, friends love, family love, courtly love, unrequited love, lusty love, betrayal and the Christmas #1. Good cast, some playing to type (Hugh Grant), others demonstrating they are in a league of their own, regardless of the part (Emma Thompson), nearly everyone doing a credible job. Entertaining. I laughed. I cried. Maybe a rental, but definately a good date flick. My rating: 3 stars (out of 4)

Lost in Translation. A repeat for me which says something from the get go. Jet lag and a wholly foreign culture + ennui = compelling yet low-key. This move would fail utterly without strong performances, and Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson carry the day. Kinda a film-tone poem, very sensual, you either get it or don’t. Sofia Coppola might attribute some of her directing and screenwriting skills to genetics (3rd generation filmmaker), but her voice is her own. 4 stars

Veronica Guerin. A great story hobbled by a so-so script. Almost gets into the personal relationships of this larger-than-life figure in recent Oirish history (Guerin was a journalist covering drug gangs in Dublin when they put a hit on her in broad daylight). Cate Blanchett does what she can--which is a fair bit. A rental, if the topic or cast appeal to you. 2 stars