Today is one of those rare nights where I’m up at 1am and still feeling quite awake.

The weeks go by real quickly but there doesn’t feel like there’s much achievement these days. At work I’m still getting the usual workload done, and trying to figure out Excel, VBA and all that programming stuff. Get a little lethargic by the time I reach home.

Just a little recap on what happened last week, woke up early on Thursday morning feeling excited. Had procured myself tickets to see the Socceroos (Australia’s soccer team) play against the Greek team (Euro 2004 champions, heh). This was my first live soccer match and I really wanted to feel the atmosphere of it all. Briefly describing it, the MCG (where it was held) was filled to the brim with a record 95,000 spectators. I think some of the seats had been allocated to fans for both teams as you had Greek and Australian fans behind each goal post to cheer on their teams. There were pre-game performances from a children’s choir and Anthony Callea (runner up to 2005′s Australian Idol). Heh, I could only get a slight glimpse of him from my 200mm lens.

It was a memorable night, even if the game wasn’t spectacular. Australia scored one fantastic goal and it was on the other end of the pitch. Heh, our seats were pretty close to the action, but rather one sided and you don’t see much until a team attacked whichever goal post we were sitting in front of. Even with the horde of people, the MCG was cold on a cloudless autumn night, due to the open stadium that it was. Heh, caught a glimpse of all the football stars, and they even imported Mike Riley (English Premiership referee) just for the match. One thing of note is that if you intend to concentrate solely on the game, you’d be better off watching at home (due to the reasons above like better view, better climate). The most important reason though is because you get distracted easily by whatever the spectators are doing. The Greek fans managed to procure flares into the stadium and one managed to get onto the pitch. Only when the police surrounded their little part of the stadium did they confine the flares to within their seats. Heh, even when there was a big sign saying there was a penalty for owning a flare, the flares just kept lighting up, with plumes of orange smoke ascending.

The last bit of entertainment was someone running onto the pitch. Heh, he got his 15 seconds of fame and a few policemen just chased after him. They finally managed to sit on him and the poor lad was handcuffed and brought off the field.

The game ended around 9pm and us spectators slowly shuffled out. The only other highlight for me was seeing the professional photographers with their gear. Most likely Canon DSLRS, the lenses were HUGE, and placed firmly on top of a monopod. Heh. I envy these people.

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Heh, and you wonder where are all the pictures of people kicking a ball. Have all those, but a little too lazy to post them up. Still haven’t found a way to improve this workflow for sharing images. On a side note, finally plonked down cash for a new tripod, today. Prior to this, I had always wondered what’s so fantastic about a piece of metal with 3 legs. Well, the one I got with my original Coolpix is rather short and flimsy. It’s light and easy to carry, but I don’t trust it to stay standing on a windy balcony (Vyanne’s one in particular) with my D70 on it. The tripod I got is a Manfrotto 190D with a RC141 head. Heh, not like those names mean much. It reaches up to about my chest, is less than 2.5kgs and is really sturdy. The additional plus is that you get precision positioning and a release plate that connects to the camera so you can quickly mount/dismount the camera on the tripod.

Went out with a friend to test out some shots. Left just before sunset and before long, the tripod was necessary for taking any shots at all. Was never very much into night photography before, only because I wasn’t a fan of carrying tripods around, and also because the one I had was quite flimsy. Took a few shots I quite liked, and long exposures make a totally black scene come out quite different to what your eyes can see. Heh, a learning experience definitely.

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Would yak about the new Apple Macbooks (the name is gay and doesn’t sound as charming as the iBook) which I have become enamoured with. They are really funky machines, and I can imagine myself at a cafe with one drinking coffees and doing web design/programming. Heh, wish I had extra cash to burn.