Dan Makovec’s blog

1 year!

November 20, 2002.

I touched down in Heathrow with fellow Worldfesters to begin what turned out to be a new life in London. November 21, I sat in an internet cafe in Bayswater (strangely named, since there is neither a bay nor any water there) and applied for a job that I knew I had no hope of getting. An hour after submitting my CV, I was phoned and summoned to an interview at Yahoo! HQ the next day. The rest is history.

This has been a great year from me. I’ve travelled throughout four countries, made a bunch of new friends, attended the wedding of two of my best friends, participated in the largest political demonstration in modern history, marshalled a huge parade through the heart of London, experimented with all sorts of mind bending substances, experienced new styles of music I’d never heard before, got into the swing of big city living, saved a (very) little money and met someone very special.

So what are my goals for the next year? See new parts of London, explore more of the world (beginning with Canada, the northwest US then Iceland), save money at at least double the rate I have this year (yes I have a foolproof plan for this), attend another of my best friend’s weddings and return to the southern hemisphere when the weather up here turns cold.. As for which part of the South I aim for, I haven’t decided yet. I do however want to be in a decent enough financial situation to invest in property by the beginning of 2005.

I wonder how the year will pan out?

Be careful in Singapore!

I just read this on Yahoo!’s UK news site - scarey. Any fellow travellers broken the law in Singapore?

Friday November 7, 04:50 AM

Policeman gets two years for oral sex

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean police sergeant has been jailed for two years for having oral sex in a country where prostitution is legal but oral sex is not, a newspaper reports. The Straits Times reported that the 27-year-old police coast guard sergeant landed in court after a 16-year-old reported to the police that she had performed oral sex on the man.

She was above the age of consent and agreed to perform the act, but oral sex is against the law in the city-state, the paper said.

“The act by itself is an offence. It is not a question of consent or no consent. Even between consenting people, it is an offence,” criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan told the paper.

The maximum punishment for the offence is life imprisonment.

No friends in the US? Cheap US goodies!

My boss is searching for a way to get a new Sony CLIE UX-50 cheaper than retail.

After trying Ebay, and encountering a scam on there, he discovered that the devices are much cheaper to buy in the US than over here, probably mainly due to taxes in this country. He found this site, which essentially lets you buy your items from anywhere in the US using their company’s credit card, have it shipped to them, then they re-package it and send it onto you as a “gift” in order to avoid import duty and taxes. Sound like a scam or what?

Travel

I was just thinking about friends, and where they are at the moment. It’s starting to look a bit like a global network!
The vast majority of my long-term friends are still in Adelaide, South Australia. But a growing number are popping up in all sorts of locations:

Bron and Adrian are currently in London, travelling around the UK (although, admittedly, sadly returning home soon)

Andrea is in transit to a new job in Buffalo, New York

Graz is in Adelaide but about to fly to Buffalo to join her

Dave’s in Seattle, as is Ben

Tim and Ange are in Chicago

Dana’s in Germany, having just finished touring the states

Daniel’s in Manchester

Brett’s heading to Rio

Dom’s off to South Africa

Brian’s going to Brisbane in January

Ingrid’s touring Brissy and Melbourne in February

On Brian’s side, one of his friends Blair is going to Hamilton NZ in December and maybe onto Sth Africa, and Darren is heading to Berlin.

Hmm, I sense another Worldfest coming up, with free accomodation all the way