You've probably heard by now that the poor old Crocodile Hunter is no more. A Swedish guy I've been hanging out with saw him in person on the streets of Cairns at about 8am. By 11am he was dead. It was totally out of the blue and of course everyone is completely shocked. It really makes you reflect on life. I mean, if the Crocodile Hunter can go, it could be any one of us next.

In the last capers I mentioned I was all keen to get out and do some touristy things around Cairns. Well luckily I haven't booked anything yet as I may have to rethink my "Swimming with the Stingrays" adventure tour.

Apart from the touristy things, which I haven't really done yet, I've been working on my business. I have broadband back now so it's all systems go. I even have my own business card in an attempt to impress the chicks. So far it's 0 from 5 but I haven't been totally discouraged. The real one has my phone number on it but I thought it best not to have it online. You never know what sleazy weirdos are lurking around on the internet.



I've also been going to the gym everyday. Knowing that I have the willpower of a spatula I thought it best to get a personal trainer. I see him every Friday. He's a young lad (about 20) and he's up with his fitness lingo. "That's it buddy, bust it out", "Give us another 5 reps", "Feel it burning, yeah, learn to love the pain". It's like working out with Lleyton Hewitt.

Every Tuesday I study Japanese. I'm learning a lot. They also have a language exchange where you help a Japanese person with their English and they help you with your Japanese. I learn a lot more in language exchange.

So far I've learnt Shumi wa nan desu ka?
"What are your hobbies?" and Himanatara osake o nomimasen ka? "Would you like a drink?"

Who knows maybe I'll find some use for these phrases.

At my Japanese school they also have Japanese people studying English. I start in 2 weeks time as a tutor. They want me for 3 hours every weekday starting at 2pm. I'm not sure how I'll go getting up that early.

The rest of my time is spent playing online poker. I know it's not good for me and I swore I'd never gamble again. But I'm actually getting quite good at it, with some consistant wins. Who knows maybe some day soon I'll break even. Here's some proof that it's going OK. My nickname of course is Chickenhouse.

My only problem at the moment is one that my old housemate Bal struggled with for several years. "Should I buy myself a Plasma screen TV?" Things are going OK financially but I could wait a bit longer until they are better. On the other hand they have all these interest free deals and I really want one. If I buy a house in a few months time it would be good to already have the essentials to go in it. I'll have to check with Bal and see what he decided. I think he went with a projector in the end.