ok, i've got to note a little kind of 'gripey' observation here ... this afternoon i found myself in a department store - actually i didn't find myself there as such (part of me is still kinda searching, but i digress ...); rather i wandered in there in order to kill a bit of time before an appointment.
anyhow, i went to the men's clothing section. despite the fact that tmorrow is the first day or the 3rd month of winter here, numerous clothing racks had 'summer 06' signs on top of them. ok, i can deal with that (look out for xmas paraphernalia in the near future ... ).
i saw a t-shirt on one such rack, mostly yellow, with a kinda of simple retro-type design in black on the front. something about a truck or truck race or similar i think. it was kinda like a semi-amateur screenprint jobbie from the 1970s that u might expect to see at a skate park (in the 70s), or similar. plus it was extremeley thin material - almost like it was indeed from the 70s and had been worn & washed at least every fortnight since then.
somewhat automatically, i grabbed the price tag and angled it up towards my eyes:
$89.95 !

sorry folks, but in my humble opinion that's just getting a little bit silly now, with out even considering the high likelihood that it was made in china by people who may not earn that much in a month.
given this as some kinda of rough index, perhaps i can start to appreciate recent comments from economists & others who get excited about such things, that inflation rates in australia continue to grow in magnitude ...

anyhow, needless to say, i didn't buy the shirt.
~

ps - what a crap post!

i recently acquired copies of many albums from a friend, and have since been enjoying listening to, amongst others, the following:

brain eno - 'here come the warm jets'
pink floyd - 'obscured by clouds' & 'meddle'
the jimi hendrix experience - 'electric ladyland'
david bowie - 'low'
the rolling stones - 'beggars banquet'
salmonella dub - 'one drop east'
air - 'moon safari'

in some cases, these are albums i haven't heard for some time; in other cases, i am enjoying some in full for the first time.
good gear.

on another note i have finally 'got my finger out' and enabled comments to be posted by anyone, rather than only registered users. from a somewhat optimistic perspective (or am i just kidding myself? probably ...), i primairly attribute the lack of recent comments (and indeed the general lack of substantial numbers of comments) to this factor - i.e. that previously only registered users could post comments. one way in which you, the reader, and support my flimsy hypothesis (or hope) is to now go ahead & post comments ... don't fall over yourselves doing so, now. an alternative hypothesis is that the lack of comments might be related to the typically rather ordinary contents posted on this blog, and/or the relatively low frequency of posts. i'll consider testing those hypotheses (which indeed might be more challenging) at a later stage, if appropriate, after now testing the first, rather optimistic hypothesis.

~

it has been quite some time since i had a fortune cookie.
last night i had one near the end of a friend's dinner party, and i don't mind the 'old chinese proverb' which was written on the paper in side. it went something like this:
"a full bucket makes no noise,
an empty bucket makes no noise,
but a half-full bucket makes noise"
.
is the bucket half-full or half-empty?

~

vale, syd barrett
...

'shine on, u crazy diamond' !

~

a helpful tip for those about to embark upon a journey of mastering stir-fried vegetables & tofu, thai style -
a trap for new players:
when the recipe book says X tablespoons of vegetable stock,
it means vegetable stock dissolved in water (at a ratio of about 1 teaspoon to 1 cup),
NOT
X tablespoons of straight, dry vegetable stock powder!

i worked hard at that dish - fish sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, etc., etc.; and was eagerly anticipating savouring the 'PAAD PAK', but upon chewing my second mouthful i discovered the folly of my ways ...
SALTY!!!

couldn't finish it ... a tragedy ... i'll get it right next time, then it'll be 'AROY'!

~

don't u hate it when u consistently visit a blog more often that its lousy author bothers to add content to it!?!
~