confabulation

2009-05-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

been away from here

blog-hibernating ??

"if you follow every dream
you might
get
lost"

great to see u again!

~

2008-10-29T03:42:00.001-07:00

i was just looking through some posts on here from jan/feb 2007; i enjoyed doing that, and i'm glad that i posted those thoughts/notes there in the first place, and also that i came back to re-visit them.

i found a few gems there; not only the following one which i was specifically searching for in order to re-post here now:

"as long as my wife, our kids and myself are healthy
and together,
that is the most important factor
and everything else is secondary!"

i believe one should constantly keep such things in mind

~

2008-10-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

"i can sit
i can wait
i can fast"

- siddhartha [in herman hesse's book of the same name]

~

2008-10-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

"leaves, they fall
but you know
you're never
gonna sweep 'em all"
- tim rogers

"sweeping is so satisfying"
- achaan chah

~

2008-09-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

"just let go
do not try to become anything
do not make yourself into anything
grasp at nothing
resist nothing

move gracefully through the world not caught in evaluating each event,
watch with equanimity

peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering"

- achaan chah: excerpts from 'a still forest pool'

i sometimes tell myself that if i can become the fella who doesn't give a shit about most stuff, particulary he who doesn't give a shit about what others may or may not think about him; then i would be a long way to being satsified and at peace.
but, try occasionally as i might, i haven't been able to become that fella at this stage. still, here's to hoping that one day ....

so that's one of my aims in life: to not give a shit about most things ... except the wellbeing of family & friends

thanx to my mate andy for helping put me back in touch with some of the stuff cited above

~

2008-08-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

riverrun (it's a joyce-ian thing)

greetings from dublin
it would be stating the obvious to say it's been a while!
where to begin?
so much to say and yet ...

well

still kickin
"each time i find myself
flat on my face
i just pick myself up
and bet back
in the race!"

kickin a hole in the sky?

who says this needs to be coherent?

is this better than nothing?
u b the judge
ub40

i gotta get this goin again
been 7-8months
almost enuogh time for a human baby to be coceived, to gestate and develop and be born ...
almost

had a great idea
well, an idea
to post pics of dogshits on dublin pavements
plenty of material there i can tell u!

but surely we can do better than that

anyhow my daughter wants her mummy's handbag

slainte

~

2008-01-25T01:24:00.000-08:00

ok, hi ...

i know, i know - i've been neglecting this blog! sorry - but i've been busy setting up our new life here in ireland over the past 3.5 weeks ... and that takes mucho time & effort!

well - one other thing actually: i've actually started another bloggy to keep family and friends up to date with our happenings & pics from here ... do want to see it???

if u do, here r some clues as to how u can find it:
- u take the web address of this blog
- remove the word that is the title of this blog, and susbstitute that with another word which is:
- the name of the city i am now living in, but with one difference:
- remove 1 letter in that city name - this being the letter which starts the name of the main river that runs thru the city i am now living in
- one in place of that one letter, substitute the first letter of my [blogger] name ...
- and that's it

so there u go - is the above too difficult? c'mon - just google the river name ... ;-D

see u over there maybe?

~

2008-01-05T02:14:00.001-08:00

i'm back ...

well back 'here' on confabulous ... and in dublin!! ;-D

today is saturday - we arrived here on monday morning after some long flights, a night & a day in singapore, then a tedious transit & few hours in london heathrow airport

it's been a busy time and a big past few days in the cold - sometimes freeezing - dublin weather .... but the good news is that yesterday we found a lovely house to rent and we should move in there within the week!

i start work here in a coupleof weeks and there are numerous things to do & organise in that time, including the lease, a car, a school for our son, a bank account, oscial security & visa stuff, etc, etc..... but now our ireland adventure is well underway at last and it's going well!

talk to u soon

~

2007-12-13T02:08:00.000-08:00

16 sleeps til departure for dublin via singapore & london
madness
hectic
"crazy busy!"
birthday parties (wife & son), xmas-related business & stuff
6-day visit, and help, from my parents
finished oil outside walls of our house
car issues - more than we could have imagined - but at least one appears sold (deposit down) at reasonable price, & panel-beating finished on the other one
also we've hired a car while the 2nd one gets done
we constructed a garden shed
did some paving
cleaned windows & screens
found tenants for our house, unless they change their mind at last minute!
need to sort out contract with them & the real estate agent
sorted some stuff with our bank here & trying to set up an account with an irish bank before departing
house & carpet cleaning & insect fumigation booked for xmas eve
we'll move into an apartment 2 days before that, for our last week in australia (for a while)
trying to tie up numerous loose ends with leave benefits etc. (complicated), and ongoing projects etc., at work
xmas shopping
our daughter bit sick with a head-cold & maybe teething again
our son's last day at kindy yesterday, on his 5th birthday; and a party at home before that
car gearbox & coolant hose & air vent plug issues - annoying!!
blaaaaahhh.......
but we're getting there; the end is almost in sight ... we think
still quite a lot to do before departure however!
more packing, and moving/storgae of furniture
and some drainage gutters to install & more paving in back yard
need to cancel various utilities etc...

now do u understand while i haven't posted for a while?!? ;-D

oh yeah, and 7830 songs on my ipod, and more to come!

cheers!

~

2007-11-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

a BIG bon-voyage party at our place last saturday night
lots of empty bottles to clean up on sunday ;-D
5580 songs on my ipod & counting ...
tying up numerous loose ends at work
hoping i would qualify for some long-service leave (and $$$) but seems that won't happen unfortunately
looking for tenants for our house during our absence
trying to sell 2 cars - got one painted, serviced & fixed last week; was about to do the same with the other car but then i reversed it into our baby-sitter's car didn't i!?!? bummer ... it is insured, but with an excess; and more work & running around involved in getting that all done!
constructing a garden shed, paving, chopping down trees in our yard
packing ... not much of that done yet!
treating the outside walls of our house with oil.
my wife's & son's birthdays, and an anniversary, coming up.
family & friends & functions
trying to find a time to visit my grandfather before leaving
yes, it's all happening!
33 days to go .... and now i've got to go & see a panel beater .... :-P

~

2007-11-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

i now have >4500 songs on my ipod!

and am lovin it ;-D

~

2007-11-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

ok

ok ...

it's all getting a bit crazy now, with 46 days to go until we are due to depart for dublin. all sorts of stuff going on. trying to arrange & do things; various things every day. and also trying to maintain some semblance of a 'regular' life at thie same time ... with varying degrees of success of different days.

just a random snapshot of some of the stuff we are doing and/or attempting to do:

get things fixed on car(s) as we prepare to sell one (or maybe both?) of them
laying pavers & a garden shed in our back yard
making arrangments to rent out our house (HOPEFULLY to someone we know??!?)
getting our piano moved to friends' house
transferring our CD collection to new ipod - >300 albums done so far (i do this at work)
packing up some stuff, throwing out or giving away other stuff
entertaining & playing with & seeing to our 2 young kids, including a 1-year-old girl who has got more teeth coming through
buying airline tickets, booking hotels & apartments in singapore & dublin
looking into pros & cons of travel insurance and/or health insurance while in ireland
stripping (pressure-washing) dirt & weathering off external walls of our timber (red cedar) house, then treating it with oil (using paint-brushes)
trying to fit in some work-related work in there somewhere
looking into how to deal with superannuation (pension) and long-service leave accumulations/benefits/entitlements
arranging to have excess baggage & stuff flown to dublin, and when (and where) to send it & working out exactly what to send
beginning to get up to speed with what my new work/project in dublin will involve
looking into possible suburbs to live in dublin & schools for our son
arranging (and trying to agree on details for) our going-away party
seeing, visitng and/or hosting visits from various friends/family before leaving
getting dental work done before leaving
did i mention the kids? and finishing up various work things on my current job?

anyhow, there are other things, but the above list gives u a little insight into what's going on with me lately & right now!

it is all quite nuts, but we are sure it will ultiamtely be worth it ;-D

~

2007-11-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

well i got myself a 80GB ipod last friday and promptly began having fun with it! i've transferred about 45 albums or so to date, and will continue to do at least a few a day for a while yet. it is fantastic to have all that music right there at the opress of a button. i even listened to it while doing the dishes yesterday afternoon! ;-D

yes and in other news i went out to a bar on saturday night for an annual celebration & gathering to mark the birthday (on the same day) of two friends. i drank toooo much, and had a tremendous hangover yesterday!!! all those beers are one thing, but then to throw in a couple of vodaks, a gin & a shot of whiskey late in the night .... yes well we all know when sober that that isn't smart, but to u think i even stopped to think about that at 2:15am sunday morning?!?! nooooooo .... i was in pain yesterday - one of those once-or-twice-a-year kinda hangovers. it's not clever or funny. why did i do it to myself?? my wife, understandably, got annoyed & went out shopping in the middle of the day, leaving me with both kids. at one point there i was lying on the living room floor with a large ice-pack on my forehead while my 1-year-old daughter climbed over me and my son kept showing me space ships & light sabers he had made .... a hangover like that is never fun, and it certainly doesn't mix well with child-minding!

i managed to have an afternoon nap while the kids did, and felt a little better - at least over the worst of it - after that. somehow i managed to surprise even myself and play a bit of soccer with friends late in the afternoon, although i didn't break any speed records and there was plenty of water being consumed. needless to say, i slept well last night ..... ;-D

~

2007-10-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

hi, i 've been slack with posting here lately - been very busy with preparing for the mve to dublin (less than 2 months to go!) plus work & kids & life & all that jazz ....

anyhow, i'm about to buy myself an ipod; been thinking of it for a while, and am now about to do it so that i can transfer our whole cd collection to it & take that to dublin (without dragging well over 100 cds to the other side of the world). it's kinda exciting - once it's all set up & converted & transferred, i look forward to having all that music right there on that little thing ;-D

~

2007-10-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

red sails in the sunset
midnight oil's 5th full album, released 23 years ago.
got a new cd copy the other day for $10; good deal!

during my high school years i had a taped cassette copy.
in my view it's a stronger album than i had recalled.
a bit eclectic in places, but i now view that as a good thing.
and of course 10-1 (their previous album, probably my favourite of theirs) had some eclectic moments too.

wikipedia put this album in the "new wave" genre ... i neither agree nor disagree.
in addition to rock, there's elements/moments of e.g. electronica, bluegrass & other similar 'folksy'? acoustic guitar work, longer atmospheric / sparse narrative pieces, surf guitar, a few mid-song tangential turns, plenty of political & social commentary of course vocalised by the man who is now the australian parliament's shadow environment sopkesperson, bizarre synth sound effects, and a few bits that probably are best described as just plain quirky.

a few more listens and this one could possibly draw level with 10-1 in my view;
and after all, this is the first full oils album i became acquainted with.

"but ears can't hear
what eyes don't see
and u can't see me!"

~

2007-10-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

kids are often quite amazing!

a few weeks ago, while we were on holiday (camping on an island), it's after sunset & before dinner, and my son says he needs to do a poo. i walk him to the toilet and hang around outside the door while he does his thing (which invariably takes quite a while).

so he's sitting there on the toilet with pants off & legs spread wide, when he starts talking about god and what his friend told him about god. he asks me what i think about it all - about god's possible existence & relationship between god & 'the spirit'. i give a fairly agnostic-type or balanced answer, saying some beleive & some don't, etc. ... my son DEMANDS a committed answer one way or the oher! "yes or no dad?!?!"

~

2007-10-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

2 weeks today since we left that wonderful island and sadly it seems like even longer ago ... let me tell u it is every bit as good as it looks, and then some!

so now we look forward & begin to plan & do the nuts & bolts & logsitics of moving the 4 of us to dublin, ireland in less than 3 months from now!!! that's right ... hard to believe, but true ... and exciting yet freaky (and sometimes a bit sad) all at the same time! but i am sure it will be a great adventure for a couple of years & highly worthwhile; that's why we're doin it!! the countdown is on, and the list has begun ... stay tuned for more!

teenage riot
learn to fly
malibu
bittersweet
if it makes u happy
resolve

huh? ;-D

~

2007-10-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

i'm back! we left the island a week ago (unfortunately, in many ways).
great time, of course.
beautiful & tranquil ..... more later .....

~

2007-09-06T19:12:00.001-07:00

hi - i've been quite here lately and very busy.
i'm about to go on a holiday with my family; my first proper holiday this year.
we're goin to a beautiful coral cay (island) on the southern end of the great barrier reef.
no resort there - just a few toilets - yes, it's a camping trip! the island is a marine national park. no buildings (other than toilets), no shops, no roads, no running water (we gotta take our own water!), nothing ... just nature:

i've been there about 10 times since i was 17. my son has been 3 times already, but we didn't go last year as my daughter was born at this time of year.
the island is remote & there is a lot of organisation, packing &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; travel involved; but it is well worth it!

tomorrow (saturday) we drive north for over 500km (about 35o miles or so) with a car full of gear, 2 adults & 2 kids to the place where we catch the boat to the island. we stay overnight in some motel or other. next morning we go to a marina where we load all our gear onto the large boat (barge) which leaves about noon on sunday and takes about 5 hours to get to the island, if the weather is good (longer if windy or big waves - i hope not!). we arrive late afternoon & unload all our gear, find a place to camp & then put up our tent - this part is the hard-work bit!

then we wake up the next morning & spend the next 15 days or so swimming, snorkelling, fishing, walking, lying in hammocks, reading books, playing guitar, eating, drinking, talking, philosophising, chilling, etc., etc. ...... do u think i'm excited?

so u won't be hearing from me until the final days of this month (provided i arrive back safe & sound). have fun ... and i'll try to do some relaxing for all of us ;-D

~

2007-08-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

hi, i want to post something now but don't have much time (just for a change!) so i'm going to quote a poem (the title of which is the name of the music festival i went to a few weeks back; also there was a movie of the same name made 30-40 years ago):

Splendour in the Grass

What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.

-- William Wordsworth

what do u think?

~

PS - just a little note for the trainspotters out there: about 15 years i was really into an album by a band called single gun theory. in a prelude to one of thier songs they sampled (from the movie, i think) someone reading the 4th to 8th lines above; it captured my curiosity back then. a couple of years later the proprietors of a cafe on an island in southern thailand also too a liking to this album, but that's another story ... ;-D

2007-08-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

i want a new avatar / profile pic, and for a while i'm gonna use this one - taken at a friend's b'day party late last year - of my son made up to be a power-ranger:

after all, he does look a bit like me - less all the red stuff anyhow - but he is perhaps better looking! oh and i don't have brown eyes either (my wife does) ...

and on a separate topic altogether: as a general rule i am not a big fan of many personalised car plates ... except when i see the occasional one which i like, such as this one which i saw the other day on my way to work:

have a good one everybody! 8^D

~

PS - i can't get this fu#$en thing to save the above pic as my new profile pic! and i don't have time for more tiral & error now so for now the MRI scan of my head pic remains ....

2007-08-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

i have still been listening to that kings of leon song [fans] 2-3 times a day, plus today i've listened to all 4 four songs on the sarah blasko myspace page a couple of times .... and yes, for the trainspotters out there, i did listen to air's debut album again yesterday (hence to quote that was my last post). oh yeah - also the other day i heard a few new-ish velevet revolver songs on their myspace site. well, isn't that all very rivetting!? i can just tell ur week has taken on a new direction as a consequence of reading what i've been listening to ...

in other news i had a little yoga-nidra (spelling? i'll probably explain later ... or google/wiki it ...) session last night with my wife & her step-mother and very much enjoyed it (and recall some very good dreams from last night which were probably relatied in part to the yoga-nidra)

~

2007-08-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

kelly, watch the stars!!! >8^D

~

2007-08-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

hi, my daughter's b'day party went well, although i had too much red wine & have a bit if a headache today!

lately at work i have been listening to (amongst many other things) the kings of leon song 'fans' and the sarah blasko song 'explain'; check them out on their myspace sites:

http://www.myspace.com/kingsofleon
http://www.myspace.com/sarahblasko

~

2007-08-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

on sunday (19th august) it is my beautiful daughter Zara's first birthday!

~

2007-08-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

before the darkness, there was zodiac mindwarp.

they loved tv and they loved t-rex.

click HERE to learn more! ;-D

~

2007-08-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

i'm a bit burnt out
been workin for 7 months without a real holiday
need a break
i've got a good island holiday coming up in 3.5 weeks
but am trying to get some things done before then
and am finding it challenging.
brain-dead
writer's block
can't look at stuff thru fresh eyes.
lacking a bit on sleep too
the daily grind
the mind-numbing routine
hard to get motivated about it all
yyyyyaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn ....
zzzzzz

~

2007-08-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

"would u settle for a mobile home,
a good record store
and a public phone?
if we can't get it together ... "

- timothy rogers

~

2007-08-09T22:18:00.001-07:00

this morning on wikipedia i came across the following quote from slash (lead guitarist of velvet revolver & formerly g'n'r, of course) which i think is kind of excellent for a few reasons:

"My big awakening happened when I was fourteen. I'd been trying to get into this older girl's pants for a while, and she finally let me come over to her house. We hung out, smoked some pot and listened to Aerosmith's Rocks. It hit me like a fucking ton of bricks. I sat there listening to it over and over, and totally blew off this girl. I remember riding my bike back to my grandma's house knowing that my life had changed. Now I identified with something."

~

2007-08-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

well this must go down as one of my least productive work weeks on record; and i'm fine with that! post-splendour festival, and i've had two sick days. ;-D

isn't the internet just the ultimate procrastination facilitator?! blogspot, livejournal, u-toob, my$pace, etc., etc. ....u name it, i've been all over it this week; and lovin it!

yeah, i'm hooked right now! but better the devil u know ... yes, and i've had a little too much coffee this morning, and am hungry too. maybe i need some ridalin ...

~

2007-08-08T21:44:00.001-07:00

yeah i had a fantastic time at the splendour festival!

bands/acts i particularly enjoyed include:
the beautiful girls
the cat empire
sarah blasko
powderfinger
hoodoo gurus
spiderbait

i also got to see some of the following, all of which were fine (without being stand-outs in my mind):
ash
grinspoon
kaiser chiefs
bloc party
arctic monkeys

unfortunately i didn't get to see all the acts i would have liked to. these include:
the herd
blue king brown
paul kelly
the panics
airbourne
expatriate
midnight juggernauts
hilltop hoods

i just realised that the latter list is longer than the first list - bummer!! there were some programming clashes with multiple stages operating; plus it took us quite a while to get into the festival on each of the two days (and some of my friends weren't in a hurry to get there earlier). ahh well, i had a ball nonetheless … and am only just now recovering in full ;-D

~

2007-08-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

the splendour:

'splendour in the grass, glory in the flower ...'

the splendour, the music, the festival, the friends, the freaks, the euphoria, the love, the moment, the connections, conversations, the intensity, the laughs, the dancing, the happy hoots & hollers, the cheers, the drinks, more music, the celebration, the fiesta, and then more of all of the above ... 8^D

we don't want it to end ... but ...

~

2007-08-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

i'm off to the splendour music festival in byron bay for several days!!! (see last post and splendourinthegrass.com) i'm excited! have fun & catch u all when i'm back! ;-D

~

2007-07-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

firstly, a recent & exciting development in my life over the past 10 days is that now i am going to the 'splendour in the grass' music festival in byron bay next weekend!!! ;-D i am very happy about this, as many of my friends have been going for several years (and are going again) and i have never been (due mainly to fatherly/hunsabndly duties & the like). also it is in a very lovely part of the world, about 2-2.5 hours drive south of where i live. actually, having thought about - and i kinda can't believe this myself in a way - i don't think i've ever been to any substantial music festival at all! certainly not a large, 2-day event such as this. i'm very excited - it's a rare treat for me nowadays ... and i'm looking forward to hearing/seeing a large number of the bands playing there, as well as soaking up the whole vibe.

yes - men at work. i don't have any of their albums; in fact there are only 3 studio albums by them! but i've always liked most of their singles & i've been getting into them a bit on u-toob recently. quite a few of their songs have a signifcant reggae element to them - e.g. "it's a mistake" has an upbeat reggae beat, as does "down under".

but what's even more interesting, upon closer inspection, are some of their lyrics; quite a few of the singles at least (most written or co-written by colin hay) explore topics around mental health and/or disturbances in that. "overkill" (a brilliant pop song incidentally) discusses insomnia, probably resulting from obsessive-compulsive thought patterns. "who can it be now" deals with paranoia. "be good johnny" is perhaps a 1980s take on chuck berry's less sophisticated, guitar-playing protagonist (johnny b. goode), and the 1980s johnny probably has what some would now diagnose as (the often over-used) attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder. "dr heckyll & mr jive" seems to cover biploar disorder and/or what some call multiple personality disorder. even in "down under" the narrator seems paranoid when he says that a strange lady made him nervous (although perhaps that's a consequence of smoking pot if he indeed was "in a fried-out kombi on a hippy trail, head full of zombie"). other titles on the "cargo" albuim such as "blue for you" (and "high wire") point to depression (and maybe mania).

am i reading too much into these lyrics? probably not. either way, these lyrics & topics are more interesting than those in your average, top-40 pop song!

~

2007-07-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

it was 1983; i was being driven by my father to a mid-week, night-time, pre-season soccer game. the radio was on (as it almost always is with my father). this song came on

i don't have time right now to work out a fancy tv-linky thing, so click HERE to check out the song & clip on u-toob

overkill

~

2007-07-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

i picked up a 2nd-hand copy of the following album this morning on my way to work.

listening to this one takes me back exactly 20 years, to a high school camp where we were rehearsing our school musical ('fiddler on the roof' - i played the drunkard innkeeper!). specifically, i can distinctly remember lying on the lower bed of a double-bunk bed in the dormitory & listening to a taped cassette copy of this on my walkman ...

funny how the mind operates 8^D

~

2007-07-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

hi,

i've been quiet for a while. had a good - but brief - break with my family the weekend before last. but ... otherwise ... it's business as usual ... the daily grind, the numbing routine of it all ... i'm a bit over it; need a holiday, and i know i've got one coming in 8 week's time, but it's been 6 months since my last real time off and i'm a bit over this working routine bullsh!t.

it's not even really the work itself that annoys me right now - just the mundane same-ness of it all; the get-up-have-breakfast-shower-shave-dress-prepare-drive routine in the morning ... then a similar kind of routine in the afternoon/evening ... phah! :-P

there's more to life than this

whatever ... i can't complain really ... i've got it good, all things considered. one thing i should bear in mind is that i've only got about 100 working days left in this present routine; then there are significant changes planned to happen! come next january i should be establishing a different routine, in dublin .... ;-D

~

2007-07-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

this pic is taken (thru a windscreen) in the small-ish regional city where i spent 12 years of my life, from age 5 to 17 (my school years).

we lived (and my parents still live) and i went to school & grew up near the base of that mountain in the pic. looking at it & nearby hills now always triggers a lot of memories from my childhood - mostly good memories. those hills are always there, and were a backdrop to a lot of my life; and they remain that for my family.

i'll be back there again this weekend, to celebrate my dad's birthday & catch up with family & some school friends. no doubt more memories will be triggered too ;-D

~

2007-06-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

for some reason i just though of the interesting pic on the cover of the 1999 debut album from basement jaxx.
here is a section of it:

some songs/sounds on the album are ok in my opinion - but i don't like all of them. somehow i like the cover however ...

~

2007-06-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

mr sandman, bring me a dream ...

it seems that dan was right, and also my original impression on seeing what i later thought was a hearse was accurate - it probably was just a black holden "sandman", the iconic australian "shaggin' wagon" from the 1970s.

this is based on the following pics which do show that the sandman's back hatch was high, with it's bottom above the top of the tail-lights. maybe the lower panel/flap (with "sandman" on it) also folds down, like on a ute? also, i guess that a hearse would be more likely to have long windows along the upper side panels.

anyhow, i am not a petrol-head, but here's a little bit of australian motoring history via some classic sandman pics:

~

2007-06-21T23:00:00.001-07:00

quite a few of my friends enjoy playing a bit of poker, usually against each other & for money. unlike them, i've never really played poker prior to the past year, and i am still getting my head around the various hands and more importantly, which hands beat other hands. so i usually just go along to poker nights at friends' houses mostly for the social outing, to have a few drinks & catch up with mates, maybe play just a little bit (& usually lose), or deal (the cards, that is).

~

2007-06-18T22:30:00.001-07:00

i've been taking a few pics on my mobile phone camera when driving to work in the mornings - don't worry, i've generally been doing this SAFELY, usually when stopped at lights, etc.

the other day i saw a black car driving quite quickly up ahead of me. at first i was wondering was it a legendary "holden sandman" station wagon from the 1970s? one of those vehicles with the curious nick-name of the "shaggin' wagon"!

i caught up with it at a t-junction, and took the pic below.

i actually now think it is probably a ex-hearse .... that's right, a vehicle that used to carry coffins - coffins with bodies in them - around, to & from funerals, graveyards, crematoria, etc. what do u think?

the driver was wearing what looked like an interesting funky little hat, and after it turned left onto the next street it took at at considerable speed up the hill & into the distance ... late for an appointment?

~

2007-06-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

driving to work, early winter.

looking towards brisbane cbd from the hill at paddington/bardon on which sits the governor of queensland's house, as i roll down fernberg road in neutral.

i'll miss days & weather like this ...

~

2007-05-31T22:35:00.000-07:00

sleaze rock, it may be? ... but i ain't ashamed to admit it: i've been listening to velvet revolver's debut album 'contraband' over the last few days.

u know, the band formed a few years ago by the lead guitarist (slash), bassist & drummer formerly from guns 'n roses as well as the singer from stone temple pilots & a guitarist from wasted youth. (incidentally the drummer previously played with the cult too.)

i like the debut albums of both the gunners and s.t.p., and i'd got a copy of 'contraband' last year from a friend along with a lot of other stuff. i'd only listened to it once or twice before this week. not that i didn't like it then, but i didn't feel compelled to listen again before now.

then on monday night i watched a show about alice cooper. that was interesting enough in itself, but that's another story ... anyhow slash was interviewed (evidently he is quite a cooper fan) and seeing him prompted me to listen to 'contraband' again this week. i'm enjoying it

it's a big machine

~

2007-05-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

for reasons not fully clear to me, my son is also getting quite adept - for a 4.5 year old - at drawing crabs. here are a few he drew last week:

he also made a pretty good little crab out of play-dough ;-D

fascinating ...

~

2007-05-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

as u know it was mothers' day a couple of sundays ago. my son had paitned his mum a picture at kindy and was very, very excited to give it to her. in the days prior to mothers' day he described it to me several times, always in a secretive whisper and always suffixed by "but don't tell mum, ok?!"

when the day came, he couldn't wait to give it to her, when she opened it he proudly described the scene he had painted:

it's superman fighting a robot. and the robot is holding a sword with blood on it!

precisely what every mum needs

~

2007-05-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

"well life on the farm's kinda laidback ...."

and my son loved the ride in the back of the 4wd ute/pick-up! ;-D

sorry i haven't been posting here very frequently in recent times ... there's a lot going on, but i am gonna try to post a little more often in the near future ...

~

2007-05-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

"The most important thing to remember about drunks is that drunks are far more intelligent than non-drunks. They spend a lot of time talking in pubs, unlike workaholics who concentrate on their careers and ambitions, who never develop their higher spiritual values, who never explore the insides of their head like a drunk does." - Shane MacGowan

having cited this quote (which i found on wikipedia), i'll add that i didn't consume one alcoholic beverage on the saturday just past; and that is quite a novel saturday experience for me! it was fine however ;-D

~

2007-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

it was a big morning at the botanic gardens ... ;-D

~

2007-04-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

hi,
just a quick post to let u know that it's my birthday today! mayday ...

needless to say, i'm not goin to work today! ;-D

~

2007-04-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

hi, thanx again to those of u who posted further thoughts/advice/encouragement re. our possible move to dublin. i'll come back to this topic again in more detail (it is of course a major possibility, topic or "thing" in our lives right now), but for now let me just say that it is gradually looking more & more likely to happen! ... but probably not until about end of this year .... ?

anyhow, i bought a new tie last friday! it looks like this:

i don't wear ties very often - well, maybe once every month or two or so ... and i don't think i've bought a new one for about two and a half years. the main inspiration to buy this one was so that i could wear it to the wedding of a very good friend of my wife & i, which happened last saturday. there were so many different ties to choose from, some of them too expesnive in my opinion; but i'm happy with my choice ... what do u think?

the wedding was great - alot of fun: good friends, venue, food & music (live jazz band), great craic! and of course, no shortage of beverages .... and, predicatbly, i did over-indulge a little - but luckily not quite too much! perhaps in hindsight i could have survived without the last 6-7 drinks or so; but gee i thought i really needed them at the time! i'll blame those last few drinks on all those silly sentimental hugs & raspberry kisses on the cheek i was dishing out at the ned there ... ;-D

2007-04-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

hi, thanx to all those of u who posted enthgusiastic comments & recommendations in response to my last post - i appreciate all these!

there is a lost of thinking going on here in fergal's head ... some nay things to weigh up ..... but overall i must say that the possible move to dublin is looking pretty good for a few reasons, and if i had to put odds on it at present i'd say there's a greater than 50% chance that we'll go! ;-D

there are still a number of details to figure out, particularly money & time - two titles of songs off the "dark side of the moon" album, by the way; and always pretty important commodities to consdier it seems (for better or worse).

like i said - one thing is for sure: i need a change, i need a change, i need a change .... and this opportunity just seems to be the one to go for. it would also be a BIG challenege in numerous ways - but i think this potential move seems to be right at this point in our lives - as right as it'll ever be, perhaps!

and anyhow - although there seem to be other POSSIBLE options floating around, none of them presently are certain, and none of them would be quite as 'big & exciting' (nor challenging) as the dublin thing, but more variations of the current theme.

if given a choice we'd rather not do it til about jnuary 2008 - but we'll soon see what our options are re. timing.

i'm sure it'd ultimately be a great experience for our kids - i just hope it (and then the likely return to australia 2-3 years later) wouldn't be too much of a stressful upheaval in addition to that (?).

any further thoughts, anyone?

~

2007-04-13T17:05:00.000-07:00

hi

it seems i am being offered a job in dublin, ireland!

so we may move there ... ? for 2 years or so ... ?

i don't know - it's a big upheaval, as much for the kids as anyone .... and the weather there is often bleak ...

but on the other hand it's kinda exciting - a new challenge, for sure!!! and it's clear that i do need a change in one way or the other ...

we'll see; but we're certainly giving it some serious thought right now. what would u do?

~

2007-04-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

hi.
i had a good, relaxing break over the easter long weekend - hope u all did too. (in australia good friday & easter monday are public holidays.)

we were gonna go to the beach again for the long weekend, staying in friends' beach-house ... but in recent times we've been busy, been there & been visiting elsewhere; and that recent camping/raining/sickness experience (see 2 posts back - which was capped off by a bout of head-lice by the way!) lead us to decide to stay home, which i was more than happy to do.
when else do i get a chance to hang out at home for 4 days? hardly ever!

i finished reading that excellent novel (by haruki murakami) i recently mentioned, did some work around the yard, visited a landscaping supplies place & got some ideas for home, drank some beer, gin & tonic & red wine, played soccer, watched cartoons with my son & played with he & my daughter, talked & watched some movies with my wife.

today i don't feel so bad about being back at work - that's gotta be a good sign! i've got something quite big to finish this week, and a couple of interesting possible future opportunities to think about .....

~

2007-04-04T19:53:00.001-07:00

hi, my follow-on story from my last post will have to wait til later; i've got another experience to share with u now which relates to easter.

11 years ago i was working in sydney in the travel industry, and i got a free ticket to l.a. from an airline. having previously been to the u.s. & mexico and having heard good things about guatemala, i decided to go there. plus my visit coincided with easter & i heard this was highly celebrated in guatemala, in towns like antigua.

i had a 14-hour flight then a 12-hour transit in l.a. i decided not to get a hotel room but take a trip to venice beach (bad option). late that night i caught a 6-hour flight to guatemala city, arrived early morning & took a 1-hour minibus drive to the colonial town of antigua. i found the small, family-run hotel where i'd pre-booked a room. needless to say i was tired & jet-lagged! plus antigua is in the mountains so the altitude also contributed to my fatigue. i slept most of that day, woke up late afternoon and took a walk around the cobbled streets where lots of locals were busy making amazing, detailed "carpet murals" using coloured sawdust. here's an example from a pic i pinched off flickr:

there was a lot of activity & excitement in the air. i walked around town then got some dinner and went back to bed, still tired. next morning, good friday, i woke before dawn and went out onto the streets to catch the first of the town's amazing big easter ("semana santa" / holy week) parades. huge processions of people, brass bands, lots of people dressed in purple robes, some carrying huge floats depicting stations of the cross, complete with statues of an african-looking jesus! incredible stuff.

and what's more, all the carpet murals got completely trampled and ruined! but this was always how it was planned to be, and the people who make them know that will be the case. then the next day/night they make more (sometimes stayuing up all night to do so), all for the next parade to trample those! it's a lot like those tibetan buddhist monks who make those amazing, intricate coloured sand mandalas then destroy them, as a metaphor for life. this making of murals and parades trampling them went on for several days in antigua. i've never experienced anything quite like it, before or since.

i spent a little over two weeks in guatemala (took me nearly a week to get my sleep patterns in synch), visiting a big mountain lake, climbing a dormant volcano, catching old crowded buses, going to markets and mayan villages; but those are other stories ...

anyhow, that's my little easter story for now. for me personally, it's as much a celebration of a change in season & opportuntiy for more time with my family, as anything. have a good one! ;-D

2007-04-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

I’ve been away for a few days.
We went camping, at a nice coastal tent park about 2-5 hours’ drive south of Brisbane. Been there several times, including last year with the family of school friend of mine, and they came with us again this time. Our elder sons are the same age and they play together. Had a good time for a couple of days – except …..

After our first night we awoke to find out that my friend had been up with vomiting & diarrhoea. He was out of action for most of the day, feeling nauseous & weak, and more vomiting. Poor guy. The next day he was ok apart from some stomach cramps. I spent the whole two days hoping none of our family would catch it. But we then had a nice day without anybody being sick. That night my wife got up a couple of times to go to the toilet. When we awoke in the morning - you guessed it – she was not well! She’d had diarrhoea and then vomited in then morning, and felt nauseous and without energy. Oh no! And this was the day we had to pack up and go home, with our two kids. I knew then that it would be a long journey to make it home.

My friend & his family left earlier than us (which I was not happy about - long story, which I may or may not go into later [depending on whether or not u want to hear me bitch about my friend’s wife!]), and it started to rain soon after that. Basically for the next 1.5 hours it rained on & off, we were in & out of the tent, then sitting outside or in the car, while I packed up the stuff and the tent. Oh yes, and my poor wife vomited once more! Plus our son said he was feeling unwell. I took down half of our 2-room tent while my wife rested in the other half. Then my wife sat with our daughter in a chair under a tree while I took down the rest of the tent as a little more rain started. I knew we’d have to take the tent out again at home to dry, so I just quickly folded it and bundled & squeezed it & the final things into the back of the car and closed & locked the hatch before anything fell out! The kids were in the crowded car and my wife made on final trip to the toilet before leaving. I went to start the car for the drive home, thinking a big part of the hard work out of the way; then I turned the key and NOTHING: the car battery was dead!! FUC#!!! - that’s all we needed!

Fortunately another camper had jumper leads and we were able to start our car off his battery. So then we just had to drive home for about 2.5 hours, hoping nobody else got diarrhoea or had to vomit on the way and that we didn’t need to stop the engine along the way without risking the car not starting again. Luckily our daughter slept, and my son and wife rested without needing to throw up as we drove mostly in the rain.

After an hour or more of driving we were on a busy road at the Gold Coast when my son said he felt like he wanted to throw up! I pulled over onto a patch of grass, but he couldn’t throw up. We went a little further before stopping at a service station so our daughter could be fed. I took my son for a walk & to get some food. After a half-hour stop we got back on the highway. There was more rain but fortunately nobody needed to be sick or get out of the car again, and we and the car eventually made it home ok and in one piece. What an odyssey!

My wife went to bed and I stayed up with the kids and got some of the car unpacked. Late in the afternoon, our son felt ill again & soon had a large vomit followed by some diarrhoea, and then some more vomiting after a bath. He went to bed early but continued to fell bad and occasionally vomit, or dry-reach (his stomach being virtually empty) throughout the night. Fortunately he seems to be ok today, as does my wife – not 100% of course but no more vomiting. I have been thinking it’s inevitable that I get it … but not yet – hope it stays that way; likewise for our daughter!

Phew … what a day! We had a great time prior to that, and fortunately we got through it & home ok in the end. I tell ya – these things make u appreciate home!

~

2007-03-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

"Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams."

- that's from a quirky (actually, trippy) but interesting novel i am reading at the moment called "hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world" by japanese author haruki murakami. if u come across the novel "dance dance dance" by this author, i highly recommend it!

the above quote also reminds me of the opening lines of bob marley's redemption song, "emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds"

i think i've got a bit of mental slavery going on lately, predominantly self-imposed! i gotta remove the shackles .... ;-D

~

2007-03-23T04:11:00.001-07:00

OK:
confession time
i gotta come clean with u all
no point trying to hide it, no point tryin to live a lie any longer
time for me to spill the beans.

i’m back on the stuff!
after more than a year of having very little of it
not complete cold turkey – but close to it!
probably only about 20 times i did it last year
which is not many at all, relatively speaking.

but it all starred again for me a couple of months ago
“just a few times, for a few days” i told myself – yeah, right!
i should have known; since then, up until now, it’s been a 2-a-day habit.
sometimes more: last wednesday i’d had four by early afternoon (although that’s exceptional circumstances!). i look forward to it – i can barely keep myself from it. can’t wait to consume it, get it into my bloodstream. and if for some reason i go without, i miss it; crave it. i almost don’t quite fell right without it, although luckily it’s not quite at the stage of withdrawal symptoms yet – but i’m afraid it’s not far from that stage!

now i wonder how i got buy with so little of it for so long. i admire myself for having done so – but I wonder, and kinda doubt, if I could do that again?
at least i guess i should be thankful that i can still limit it to 2 per day, for the most part.
but surely my intake may increase before long?

the other worrying thing is this: no i’m taking it straight, without mixing it with anything. i used to wonder how people could do this – used to think it was hardcore. but now it’s my intake of choice; it almost seems silly to dilute it. and when I’m done with my second for the day, it’s always a let-down. seriously.

fuc#! what am I gonna do about this? i’d really welcome your suggestions, your support on this issue. don’t hold it against me or judge me, please; just offer your recommendations and support. i’m surely in the grip of this stuff right now – i think firstly i need to manage it, maybe try to cut it down to one per day; then hopefully cut it back further from there. but cold turkey? i just don’t think i can bring myself to do that now. i just don’t seem to have the required discipline …

the brown stuff – it’s seriously habit-forming! do yourself a favour; don’t get hooked

~

2007-03-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

steer clear of lex luthor & kryptonite! ;-D

2007-03-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

fergal can experience less dissatisfaction and stress if he can worry less about what other people might think of him, and further suppress his ego

surely i can work on this, as well as more constant mindfulness & equanimity ;-D

~

2007-03-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

i often feel down on mondays ... but really, i've barely got anything to complain about! in the great scheme of things ...

anyhow, i was driving to work a couple of weeks ago. it was a relatively bleak morning, by brisbane standards; rainy, and the first touch of autumn-like lack of heat in the morning atmosphere. i was coming to my office from an early meeting at a different place, and came to a set of traffic lights which usually take a while to get through.

the message on a sticker on the back of the otherwise-ordinary car in front of me prompted me to take this picture with my phone:

i'm not talking about the "rip curl" sticker but the one above it, which read:

INNER PEACE

WORLD PEACE

now, i think that this message is one worth bearing in mind .... do u?

2007-03-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

hi, i'm back from a brief trip away to tropical central queesnland (where it was very HOT & humid!). had a great time catching up with family & a few school friends, drank too much one night, and visited the coast a couple of times. i'm quite bummed to be back at work today, and am very busy for thge rest of this week with many things ... but will aim to post again soon with more news from the fergal perspective

~

2007-03-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

hiya

yeah, a particular period of my life was focused predominantly on traveling & experiencing new places & things. that isn't an active focus (which i act upon) right now in my life, except for brief work trips; but it probably will become a focus again sometime in the future.

there have been a lot of highlights but overall it is hard to beat the six-month trip i was doin 10 years ago through indonesia, thailand, laos & vietnam. i did that before moving back to brisbane, after 4.5 years of living/traveling in other places, and then gradually starting to 'settle down' a bit.

i'm not trying to make anybody jealous here, and in focusing on travel i sacrificed numerous other things - mostly material things - in the process. i don't regret that! i guess i've spent a total of about three years of my life traveling/living abroard, outside of australia. i've been fortunate enough (or in some cases, crazy enough) to travel in 18 different countries so far. seven of those countries i have visited more than once.

but the last non-work, international travel i did was over 5 years ago! that was with my wife, before i started my current job & before we had kids.

now, i wonder which is the first country to which we'll one day take our kids? for financial reasons it'll probably be somewhere in the asia-pacific region (which is relatively cheaper to get to and to travel/live in). any suggestions? ;-D

~

2007-03-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

hi, seems that quote in my last post struck a chord with many of the people who commented - and that's nice because i recall that it struck a chord with me the moment i first read it (and that iS why i noted it in my journal at the time).

that is a great, informative (bot not over-the-top) book that the quote came from; check it out if/when u get a chance. that particular quote nicely sums up some key things about buddhism - although that's just good perspective/philosophy i think, we don't necessarily have to tie it to buddhism. there are other good quotes too which i'll plan to post here sometime.

i think i could benefit from more consistently losing self-consciousness & being immersed in the present moment & action.

and one more 10-year-anniversary-type observation: the past weekend was the anniversary that my two friends & i first crossed the mekhong river from thailand on the west bank & entered laos on the eastern side. this is a beautiful, serene country which really touched my heart. i took the above picture in luang phabaang, the peaceful former royal capital of laos. we spent a month there (pretty much the maximum visa length at the time) and i went back with my wife (then girlfriend) a couple of years later.

more reflections on laos later ...

~

2007-03-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

from my journal, from a little over 10 years ago, when i was in northern thailand - about to go to laos & vietnam - traveling with a couple of friends:

(it's a quite from a book called "what the buddha taught")

"real life is the present moment - not the memories of the past, which is dead & gone, nor the dreams of the future which is not yet born. one who lives in the present moment lives the real life, and he is happiest.

" all great work - artistic, poetic, intellectual or spiritual - is produced at those moments when its creators are lost conmpletely in their actions, when they forget themselves altogether, and are free from self-consciousness."

good book, i recommend it sometime - by walpola rahula

welcome to new visitors -u'll have noteced their was no passport control at the gate.

sit back, relax & enjoy your trip. ;-D

~

2007-02-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

the last day of summer here today (officially)
i remember the first day of this summer: we went to the beach and my young daughter had her feet dipped in the ocean for the first time.

i'm not sad to see summer end, or nearly end ... it's been kinda mild by brisbane standards; but i reckon there's one more hot speel left in this one before it finishes. maybe an indian summer?

anyhow, roll on autumn - my favourite months of the year, season-wise (in brisbane), are approaching! the sunlight starts to shine down at a more mellow angle, and without the same blistering intensity ;-D

oh yeah - i flew to a different city last weekend for a quick,24-hour visit to see my new nephew! that's right - my younger sister (my only sibling) had her first baby a couple of weeks ago. all are doing well, and i'm very happy for them. we're all going back to see them next weekend for a 5-night stay; i'll need to call in sick at work on friday & monday! ;-D

~

2007-02-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

sometime over the next 3-5 years i think i'm going to change gears in life ... i'll take on a less intense job, perhaps part-time, and appreciate things like the clouds a lot more frequently. i'll wander along beaches, picking up bottle-caps that have drifted across on the pacific ocean from new caledonia. i'll get to cook more often & more dishes, and paint with vivid colours. i'll learn to play piano and/or the saxophone, and do some fishing from time to time. i'll sketch portraits & caricatures with charcoal, and grow cherry tomatoes and papaya. i won't evaluate most things and will be more mindful & aware. although these events won't advance my career or be considered sound from an economic perspective, they will benefit our family

please - remind me to do such things in due course, in case i lose sight of these goals ;-D

~

2007-02-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

"So you think that you're a failure, do you? Well, you probably are. What's wrong with that? In the first place, if you've any sense at all you must have learned by now that we pay just as dearly for our triumphs as we do for our defeats. Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success."

"Embrace failure! Seek it out. Learn to love it. That may be the only way any of us will ever be free."

- tom robbins, in 'even cowgirls get the blues'

~

2007-02-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

this is our beautiful little baby daughter, who is HALF A YEAR OLD TODAY! wow - six months already ... ;-D

and the following pic is primarily for Awaiting: it's part of the Auckland CBD, taken from my hotel room. that tower in the top left is the sky tower which has become the characteristic 'signature' for the auckland skyline (just like the space needle thing for seattle, centrepoint tower for sydney, etc.):

~

2007-02-17T02:07:00.000-08:00

Once, at Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, a seedy-looking Egyptian with sunglasses & a moustache offered to take me to the top of one of the great pyramids at night;
And smoke hashish, and watch the sound & light show on the sphinx.
He said he was one of the security guards there, no problem.
I didn’t take him up on his interesting & unique offer. Wonder what would have happened if I did?

~

2007-02-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

had a good, and busy, trip to auckland, new zealand ... although i was there for no more than 48 hours this time! i enjoy going over there - been there numerous times now and am getting more & more familiar with the place with each visit. it's an interesting city which, although similar to some australian capital cities in some respects, also has it's own unique vibe. it's home to the largest polynesian population in the world and has a steadily-increasing asian population too. there is lots of water surrounding the city - harbours, beaches, inlets, rivers; and a lot of large volcanic mounds / hills around the place too. anyhow, further description is beyond me right now - it was a good change of scene for a few days and i look forward to going again (probably later this year), but it is also fine to be back.

more later

~

2007-02-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

i was mostly fairly down, and quite numb, for a few days there; and being a little hungover & behind on sleep on thursday didn't help at all. but by yesterday (friday), after a good night's sleep, i was ok again. it happens. i think i'm back in the race again - even if it is a race to nowhere, or without end?

anyhow ... 10 years ago i was mid-way into a 6-month trip through south-east asia (indonesia, thailand, laos, vietnam), and one of my best mates & his girlfriend had just flown in from australia to meet me in northern thailand. we travelled together for the next 3 months. that's another story, or collection of stories, altogether; but i was just reading back over my journal from that time & fondly recalling the happy & free state of mind i was in then. part of me would love to be back there, mentally & physically; but on the other hand i've got numerous things now that i didn't have then, and that i was at that time looking forward to having someday. you know the scenario: the grass is always greener ... well, let me just say i'm so glad i got to do that stuff at that time of my life. so many people don't, or they choose not to or don't even have the werewithall to conceive of it in the first place!

speaking of travelling, i'm going to auckland, new zealand, for work on monday - it's just a quick trip: 2 nights. but it'll be a good change of scene & routine for a couple of days. talk to u when i'm back! ;-D

~

2007-02-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

notes to self:

just let go
do not try to become anything
do not make yourself into anything
grasp at nothing
resist nothing
move gracefully through the world not caught in evaluating each event
watch with equanimity
learn to see the underlying sameness of all things
peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering
empty and free
tranquility and pure awareness

i previously took these & other excerpts from a book called 'a still forest pool'. i first came across this brilliant book 9 years ago, as a result of a meeting with a fellow traveler on a royal brunei airlines flight between bandar sari baghwan & bangkok.

i've gradually lost touch with some of the above suggestions and the perspective they represent; i think it would be very good, and beneficial, to consistently appreciate & adopt this perspective

~

2007-02-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

i had a pretty good weekend. and i thought i had pretty quickly gotten over the disappointment of missing out on that job offer. but maybe not so fast ... ?
i don't know. yesterday i had a pretty big dose of the old monday-itis. and it seems to have partly carried over into today.

i'm feeling quite flat, pretty apathetic & unmotivated. i've got numerous things to do, mostly annoying little time-consuming tasks, but i can't seem to complete any of them right now. none of them seem significant or urgent enough to expend much energy upon. but they won't go away either. pretty much everything feels like a chore.

i'll get over it, i suppose. it'll pass (i hope!). whatever. here's one latest thought that's keeping me going in some way: 3 more years in this job, then i'll flick it, and send my wife back to work full-time (which she'll be happy to do by then); and i'll just not work (or at least not work full-time) for at least 6-12 months. it'll be overdue by then. i'll be a house-husband for a while. then i'll eventually do something else, probably on a different career path.

alright - i like the sound of that ... ;-D

~

2007-02-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

u know how a few psots back i said i needed to consistently remind myslef that so long as my wife, our kids & i were together & healthy, that was all that ultiamtely mattered? well yes .... i need to continue to keep that in mind, to keep that as the priority. that mantra puts things in perspective, and helps u/me to deal with, cope with, certain things; such as missing out on that job offer i was hoping for. i got the call late morning. i was quite positive, thinking my chances were at least 50%. in the end, however, they followed the quite predictable path of recruiting someone from overseas, somebody with experience in an area very close to that of the husband of a key member of the selection committee, who could help advance the work of that husband, and indeed, his wife. the person who got the offer does have more expeicne than me in ONE (not other) key aspects of the job; however my opinion is that other experience of mine was probably better ... was it a political appointment? who would ultimately admit that anyhow? it's ok - it's disappointment too -no doubt about that ... but thus far i'm dealin with it quite well, despite some disappointment & a bit of sadness, i'm already (already was befoire hearing the decision) throwing around other ideas; other alternatives. not everything about this job would have been perfect & i had a few reservations. i think a BIg attraction was the guaranteed 5-year contract; which i don't have and haven't had in a decade this career. oh well - i know i'm pretty secure in what i'm ~doing for the next 3 years, at least ...

c'est la vie! ;-D

~

2007-01-31T03:09:00.000-08:00

hi
i had a good long weekend at the beach.
but otherwise
i've been rather pre-occupied lately.

see, i 've applied for this job; and now i've been short-listed along with 2 other people. and i really want this job - well, i want it PLUS after 5 years i really want a change from my current job and particularly the (mostly) uninspiring people i work with. and this is the first real job application & interview i've had to do for over 5 years. and i've been quite nervous about it all, and thinking about it lots.

anyhow, today i had an informal meeting with the woman who would be my boss if i got the job. she seemed pretty good. then this afternoon i had to give a talk, a seminar, for 45 minutes to a group of 20 or more people. powerpoint slides, then questions, the whole hting. i was understandably nervous about that, and i wanted to get it just right, and put a lot of time & effort into preparing for it, including practice run-throughs. anyhow, i think it went quite well, and i am glad that is over!

next, tomorrow morning i've got an interview, with a selection committee of six people! somehow i'm a little less nervous about that, right now at least. there's less preparation i can do for that at this stage as far as i can see. i've just got to turn up with the right attitude & a clear head & be mindful of what they're looking for, and sell myself and the ways i meet their criteria; and hopefully the rest should follow.

i want this job. i need a change! plus of course it'd naturally be good for my ego if it were offered to me, and deflating if it weren't! i don't know. i oscillate between confidence on the one hand versus nervousness & trepidation on the other. i know i fit the bill well and could do the job well - i just need to hope the selection committee sees that and don't prefer one of the other two candidates. i need to highlight my expertise & skills one more time, then leave it up to others to make their decision.

i don't know when i'll find out ... probably within the week. here's hoping i get it ... !

~

2007-01-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

january 26 is known & celebrated as 'australia day'. this is the anniversary of the 'first fleet' of nine ships which arrived in australia in 1788, carrying the people, officials & convicts who comprised the first (recorded) european inhabitants of australia. they came ashore in a bay in what is now the greater sydney area, and claimed the colony of new south wales for the british monarchy.

many indigenous inhabitants had been living in australia for approximately 30,000 - 40,000 years or so. many of them got killed, raped, and/or seriously fuc#ed over in the coming years & decades and in some cases, right up to the present day.

anyhow, a full one-quarter of the current australian flag is the union jack, the flag of the united kingdom of great britain & northern ireland. this is now pretty much just a historical relic or artefact; a hangover. it reflects only one aspect of australia's cultural heritage. in recent times it has been used by some to incite not only fervent patriotism but in some cases, racism. in my opinion the austrlian flag, and nation, would/will seriously benefit from some changing, some updating; enhancement. other nations have done this, and moved forward with it - just look at south africa less than twenty years ago, when they finally dumped the racist apartheid government & policies, dumped the afrikaaner flag with them, and adopted their excellent new falg. here's a few options/improvements i'm proposing for the current australian flag:

here half of the australian aboriginal flag, and it's central yellow sun, shares the top corner with the union jack:

here we've got the famous southern cross flag used at the eureka stockade (a seminal moment in autralian histroy over 150 years ago), plus the sun from the australian aboriginal flag, in the top corner:

my favourite - here the australian aboriginal flag is central, and also it's red stripe together with the navy blue strip below it are key (british) colours in the current australian flag. the green strip at the top represents not only the irish heritage - irish settlers & convicts played crucial roles in initially establishing, then developing the colonies which later became states of australia, and now about 1 in 3 australians have some irish ancestry - but it also is the green which togehter with gold (as in the central sun) are our national colours which are worn by our sporting teams. and of course the southern cross (a constellation in southern hemisphere skies) is retained on the flag:

i am very happy, and often proud to be australian ... but we haven't reached some state of perfection; we haven't got it all right by any stretch of the imagination. some (rednecks) would suggest that the above content may be deemed un-australian. in my opinion this view is neither constructive, democratic, nor forward-thinking.

anyhow, i'm going to the beach for the australia day long weekend! i look forward to body-surfing, relaxing, and family time there ... ;-D

~

2007-01-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

after a quite mild summer so far, that old hot & humid brisbane summer weather is making a comeback! u get out of the shower in the morning, and you basically start sweating even before you've finished drying yourself. walk outside from an air-conditioned building, and it feels like you just dove into a big pool of tom yum goong - a hot & sour thai soup. or at least, you're floating in the steamy vapour just above the simmering soup. get into your car after it's been parked outside, and it feels like you're stepping into a kiln in which you could bake small pottery items. and you could fry an egg on the roof (over-hard, please).

we've probably got at least a month and a half of this ahead of us, maybe more, before things hopefully settle down again and the weather starts approaching autumnal. everyone always says, "wait until february comes!" ... well, the february weather is here now. every brisbane maximum temp for the next week is forecast to be at least 30 degrees celsius (i think that's about 82 farenheit?). that temperature isn't so bad if it were dry heat (we are quite used to temperatures up to 40 celsius or 104 farenheit), but that combined with a high HUMIDITY (e.g. 70-80%) is what really gets you - hence the hot & sour soup phenomenon!

oh well, we've survived this numerous times before ... i just hope it's no worse than past summers; plus i hope we get a lot of showers of rain to boot, to ease the drought, keep all the plants green, and cool us off just a bit. but no hail or nasty electricity storms please! ;-D

~

2007-01-17T22:19:00.000-08:00

this is a place on the great barrier reef to which i've been numerous times (and would like to be right now of course), and to which we will hopefully return again in september ...

and now, my first youtube thing on here: a clip of a song i like, from an australian band called the church - great song, but only so-so video:

..>

~

2007-01-14T20:13:00.000-08:00

alright, today is my first working monday for the year and i am looking down the barrel of my first full working week in a month ... and IT SUCKS! well, actually it doesn't feel quite as bad as it sounds right now - i think i dealt with quite a lot of the associated frustration late last week.

anyhow, usually i really am not big on making definitive new years' resolutions, and i'm not going to change that now (and in any case, this year is already 2 weeks old!). but while thinking in recent times about a number of things - including thinking a lot about some possible alternative future career options - i have developed the thought that when all else fails or it's all getting too much, i should to remind myself of the following:

"as long as my wife, our kids and myself are healthy and together, that is the most important factor and everything else is secondary!"

... or something to that effect anyhow. it may sound very simplistic or obvious or whatever; but in my experience it is often all too easy to lose sight of such a perspective. i'd like to, and indeed i do, extend that to the rest of my family, and close friends ... but at its most simple or focussed my 'mantra' would/will be as stated above.

of course, i'll probably lose sight of it before long (please remind me if it seems i am or have!); and no doubt many other things will come to pi$$ me off and/or stress me out ... but i hope to i can continue to keep the above in mind (and preferablyt forefront in my mind).

and on a not-unrelated note: i should stop thinking too far ahead into the future, trying to devise career-related plans for years into the future, and consistently make efforts to live more completely in the here & now of the present moment.

let's see how i go with this ...

~

2007-01-14T04:03:00.000-08:00

i'm hungry!

i cooked a pretty good thai lunch today ... but no there's none of that left!

what shall i have instead? ;-D

~

2007-01-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

ok
i'm goin to be honest with u all:

today i have been mostly sad and indeed, quite depressed.
there are two principal reasons for this, and they are not totally unrelated to each other.
firstly, today i said goodbye to my cousin who returns to london on saturday after a month's holiday visiting family & friends back here in australia. i have loved hanging out with him over the past month, yet it seems likely that we won't see each other for at least another 1.5 years as he is largely committed with his job in london for that period. he has been away from australia for 4 years (this being his 2nd brief visit home in that time), and prior to this visit i hadn't sween him for 2.5 years.
sure, it can be a small world nowadays at times; but sometimes the thought of the sheer distance between here & the other side of the world can seem overwhelming. i always think of that phrase "tyranny of distance" from the split enz song. anyhow, it is what it is, and i'm sure the time until our next meeting will probably (seem to) pass quickly enough - but for me it was very sad to say goodbye to him today. reminds me of a line or two from a jack kerouac novel actually (will note that below if i remember).
and so: bon voyage dan - there's always a cold beer waiting here in the fridge for u mate!

the second key reason for my blue day is that my three-week holidays are now over. today was my first day back at work for the new year. I DIDN'T GO! haha ... couldn't be bothered really; fuck 'em! ... and there are only minimal chances of my absence today having any serious repercussions. i did check & answer a few work emails from home, and in reality i wouldn't have been doing much more than that today if i had gone in to work. i suppose i should be thankful at least for having this luxury of being able to get away with a no-show.
but nevertheless, in my experience it pretty much always SUCKS to return to work from any kind of break. plus, this being my 6th year in this current job, i am currently feeling quite disillusioned & over it, and indeed i am looking around here & there for possible alternatives (albeit there are not too many). anyhow - i'll survive this, as i have done numerous times in the past. the simple fact remains however: i am not happy that my holidays are over!

so that's it - these are the two main reasons for my being somewhat depressed today. there are a few others, but these are the two key ones. i'll be honest - there have even been a few quite tears shed today; it's only natural to be sad about these things.
but don't worry - i think (and hope) that i'm on my way over it already! ;-D

above i mentioned a jack kerouac quote. this is from "on the road" and i first read it over 12 years ago while in thailand:
"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people & they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."

oh well then - here's to leaning forward!

~

2007-01-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

let's rewind a bit - quite a lot actually. i'm going to take u thru a bit of fergal's 'journal' (maybe for want of a better term) from mid-1998!

in my last post of 2006 i mentioned a number of things which i'd like to explore a little further. one thing i mentioned was pot/weed/cannabis/[insert your preferred word for it here]. i used to smoke quite a bit of it; sometimes a lot. from memory, in mid-1998 i think i probably was typically having at least one little smoke a day on weekdays (in the evening) and a few a day on weekends. it probably shows when you browse through my journals from those times. this is not to say that i now regret any of that! albeit i also am glad to nowadays be only an occasional consumer of the wacky-tobacky ;-D

anyhow, let's take a look at my entry from july 11 1998, which actually is probably one of the relatively more coherent entries from that period:

"now never knows nothing
do you read?
do we communicate? do we under-
stand each other?
what's that?
what?
that?
what?
nothing
this? what? oh, yes ...
what to write? to write what?
what would you like to read? oh
yes; I can write that, alright
I will. How's this? Is this it?
It is.
A word and this, are both comprehend.
A meaning is attached to the concept
encoded in the letters, the wordform
The form arises from waveforms,
like patterns of ink stained onto
paper, there whilst the paper is
and here now; always written
right here - this is here forever
while you read it, comprehend it,
encode it, consolidate it,
reexperience and know.
I'd like to communicate with you,
and you with me; can you?
that's fine "

well ... yes, kind of interesting (maybe) ... i suppose i don't need to say much else on this topic right now (?).

let me add a scanned copy of the first part of this journal entry. the script at the start is thai script ... but that's another story! ;-D
(i didn't include the thai stuff in the above excerpt)

~

2007-01-06T03:20:00.000-08:00

i'm back from the beach *

happy 2550!

'may all beings b happy'

- that's what the buddha said [allegedly] anyhow

so let's try to follow that, pursue that ... and that's not only the vino rosso talkin'!

* back with a new font colour ... and, despite no change on this front; as far as the backkground colour goes, it a case of "back in black [i hit the sack]!"

~

2006-12-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

hey all,
hope you're havin fun

i'm gonna be offline for the next 10 days or so - goin on a beach holiday north of brisbane, and will be busy swimming, body-surfing, building sandacastles, chasin seagulls, relaxin, eatin, drinkin, havin siestas, and more & more of the same ... ;-D

so i hope to catch u in 2007 or should i say, 2550 ... that's right - i'm a buddhist [predominantly] and, according to theravada buddhism at least, next year is 2550! so i hope u all have a peaceful, mindful & happy 2550

anyhow, thanx for stopping by here; and in 2550 i hope to explore & describe, for anyone who may b interested, numerous topics & reflections ... including, from a personal perspective, how/why i:
- am seriously considering one or another type of career change, or going off on one or another unique tangent with my career
- appreciate buddhist philosophy
- would love to go to mozambique
- stopped smoking (quite a lot of) pot, several years ago
- make curry pastes and chicken satay with peanut sauce
- would sometimes like another kid, but at other times wouldn't
- have two, mostly distinct, groups/circles of friends
- enjoy playing & watching certain sports
- prefer body-surfing over surfing with a surfboard
- appreciate a broad spectrum of musics, from miles davis to KISS to the church to luzon
- am interested in sharing this stuff
- ~

so there u go - hope to catch u back here soon. cheers to those who have visited here to date especially those who have left comments, including: lee, dan, andy, keshi & awaiting ;-D

i'll leave it at that for now, and will just finally add a little sneak preview of some of what my family & i will be doing between now & when i am back online:

~

2006-12-24T02:02:00.000-08:00

apart from numerous xmases in australia, i have also spent other xmases in:
- denver, colorado
- israel (by the sea of gallilee)
- thailand
- laos
- flying xmas afternoon/evening from brisbane to bangkok

but that last xmas abroard was 7 years ago now. one of my best mates will be in bangkok right now, but i am happy to be here now in brisbane with family ;-D

have a good one everybody!

~

2006-12-22T04:25:00.000-08:00

ok - this post is maybe gonna be a mish-mash, or stream of consciousness, of sorts.
december is always a crazy month in our family. there is my wife's birthday, our son's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and then of course xmas and all the crazy shit & hype that comes with that. we're always ready for a real holiday once xmas is done with ... and luckily, we get that agin this year.
this year, throw in a 8-day visit from my wifes step-mum from colorado; then near the end of that, my wife's half-sister and her husband arrive in australia for an indefinite period of time, and stay with us for a coupla days ... meanwhile i'm still workin & trying hard to finish off various things before xmas; then my cousin (whom i haven't seen for 2.5 years) comes home on holiday from london, my ageing grandfather comes to town too; our young daugther seems to be teething, my mother-in-law & her husband (my wife's step-dad) stay with us last night then go home and a couple of hours later, my parents arrive here to stay for a week or so; a good mate of mine is back in brisbane from melbourne for a few days and as of tomorrow, another cousin of mine will be too ...... well, u get the picture! this is of course over & above all the 'regular' friends etc who want to 'catch up' or whatever before xmas ...
one of my very best mates, who is single and child-less, left today for 3 weeks in thailand & cambodia, and i'm pretty jealous in many ways! but then again, if given a choice, i'd stick with my life.
anyhow, it's a crazy time of year, as always. the real holiday, for me, kinda begins on boxing day (the day after xmas), or actually maybe after xmas lunch, when the pressure is off, the presents are opened, the food eaten and some drinks drunk ... then people either take an afternoon siesta, or have a few more drinks; or both!

we have a couple of parties/barbeques before xmas day, one of which we are hsoting for family, and i'm catering/cooking. but now that my parents- that is, baby-sitters! - are here, i need to take a few hours off first for my own mental health; and i don't mean shppoing, 'cos i've done more than enough of that lately!! some i'm gonna try to catch the 'borat' movie tomorrow - i have liked him & his tv show for a long time, and i need a break, and escape, and some serious laughs - which i am quite sure that movie can deliver!

finally - i am thinking of the song 'fairytale of new york' (a kind of twisted xmas carol) by the pogues & kirsty maccoll ...

~

2006-12-20T05:34:00.000-08:00

today was my last day of work for this year and now i've actually got THREE WEEKS OFF WORK! yessssssss! i love it - it'll probably take me a coupla days to get the last bits of work-shit outta my head but that's all fine cos i don't need to deal with any more of that for the next 21 days at least!

fuc#en excellent! ;-D

~

2006-12-18T22:05:00.000-08:00

ok viewers:
quiz time!

from which source comes the following quote?

“darkness falls across the land
the midnight hour is close at hand
creatures crawl in the search of blood
to terrorise your neighbourhood.
and whosoever shall be found
without the soul for getting down
must stand and face the hounds of hell
and rot inside a corpse’s shell!

“the foulest stench is in the air
the funk of 40,000 years
and grisley ghouls from every tomb
are closing in to seal your doom.
and though you fight to stay alive
your body starts to shiver
for no more mortal can resist the evil of the ______ !”
[cue evil laughter]

let's see who gets this one. btw the last bit of the quote is not noted as that would provide a big hint.

~

2006-12-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

i came across this travel agency on the second floor in a side street somewhere between syntagma square & the plaka district of athens. the guy whom i dealt with was a rather suave middle-aged, silver-haired greek guy called giorgos. he wore a dark floral shirt and spoke fluent english, with a slight but consistent american accent. he was competent at his job and gave me a good price for a one-way plane ticket; although he asked more than once why i didn’t want a return ticket. with the benefit of hindsight, i suppose that was a more understandable question than i thought it to be at the time.

after almost six months on a greek island, i was more than ready and very keen to get to my destination, which i’d decided upon over & above turkey or a ski season in austria. i’d also seriously considered going by boat to this destination, but that would have been a long, slow journey and i wasn’t that patient by that stage.

there was a small radio / cassette player on the window sill by giorgos' desk, and it was tuned in to an athenian radio station. as giorgos booked my seat and took my details, guns n’ roses’ “welcome to the jungle” came on. as it turned out, this event was quite prophetic.

giorgos completed the reservation, i paid my money and got my one-way ticket. the next afternoon i flew to cairo with egyptair

~

2006-12-11T03:13:00.000-08:00

just for the record (no pun intended):

my fave album track on the guns 'n' roses debut album, 'appetite for destruction', is 'i think about you'

and what is my fave track on the KISS 'double platinum' compilation (double) album? i'll have to get back to u on that one ... ;-D

oh yeah - and on another musical note (again, no pun intended), this morning - for the first time in a long time - i put my taped copy of miles davis' 'kind of blue' and 'round midnight' into my car stereo on the way to work. always a great move - should have done it sooner!

~

2006-12-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

firstly, a warm welcome back to australia (literally & metaphorically) for dan - gald u got to enjoy a few drinks with my mate in singapore en_route, and look forard to doing so with u (in brisbane) very soon ...

secondly, a big shout-out to lee & keshi. strangely, out a few vinos i feel like dancing around not only to 'appetite for destruction' & KISS (double platinum compilation album) but also to neil young's 'cinnamon girl' & even - dare i say it? - a song by the title of 'rock dj' !!! ;-D

~

2006-12-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

i have always thought that there is something very amusing about a dog with its head out a moving car window (or out the top/side of a moving ute), the wind in it's face, tongue hanging out, and head enthusiastically bent forward towards the oncoming world. in such circumstances they always seem to look so free, invigorated & eager to explore what's around them ... maybe we should do the same? ;-D

~

2006-12-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

i've spoken - actually, written - about this before: favourite albums & all that jazz.
last night i watched the reuslts of the 'my favourite album' poll conducted by the abc (national, non-commercial media network in australia).

there are some surprises, for myself & others, not only in the top 10 but across the whole top 100 announced. for example myself & others (including some of the show's comperes) were quite suprised to see radiohead's "ok computer" & jeff buckley's "grace" come in at numbers 3 & 2 respectively.
i was probably also a little surprised that the most popular album polled as highly as it did - but in this case it was a pleasant surprise as this album (which I have talked abouit before on this blog) is in my own personal top 5.
for the record (no pun intended!) only this and one other album from my own top 10 made the top 10 of the abc poll. the latter album, which polled at number 10, is "the joshua tree" by u2. this album was my favourtie album at the time i finished high school, and it still makes my top 10, probably at_about_number 8 or so.
the album which is in my top 5 and which was voted the most popular album by this abc poll, is "dark side of the moon" by pink floyd. 'the lunatic is on the grass ... '!

i'll talk more about such topics later. there were a couple that made this top 10 which would be in my top 20 or 25. one surprise for me was the fact that one of my top 3 albums, "sticky fingers" by the rolling stones, came in at only number 95 in this poll. actually i'm surprised there wasn't a rolling stones record in the top 10, especially when there are_four_albums by the beatles in the top 20. in fact no album by the rolling stones polled higher than number 95! this is a big suprise - particularly given that numerous other albums from the stones' "peak" era made the cut. bizarre!

~

2006-11-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

lee & keshi were talking in the comments to my last post about george harrison and the fact he is their favourite beatle - me too!

this is kind of interesting (to me, if not to you): i am thinking of three bands which i like (to varying degrees), each comprising (in their 'typical' structures, at least) four male musicians, these being a drummer, a bass guitarist and two guitarists (in some cases 1 rhythm & 1 lead).
these bands, in chronological order (of debut/appearance are):
- the beatles
- KISS
- the church

each of these has a kind of 'core duo' which many would say is the dominant/driving force or presence of the particular band - for the beatles it's lennon & mccartney, for KISS it's paul stanley & gene simmos, and for the church it's steve kilbey & marty willson-piper. in each case the duo comprises a bassist & a guitarist, as well as one being the lead singer (or perhaps lead voclas being usually shared between the two).

well, my point is that in each band, my favourite member is the guitarist who is_NOT_in the 'core duo' of the respective band, i.e.:
- george harrison in the beatles
- ace frehley in KISS
- peter koppes in the church

curious. im my opinion each of these favourites of mine is relatively more enigmatic & interesting than the two in the core duo. and they each bring new & unique dimensions to their respective bands, i think.

so there u go. 'well, blow my down with a feather!' i hear u all say as u read this. ;-D
actually it's maybe interesting to note that each of those 3 bands changed drummers quite early in thier careers - well, except KISS who lost peter criss (the cat) after about 6-7 albums.
this drummer turnover reminds me of spinal tap who kept losing drummers, allegedly due to 'bizarre gardening accidents'. actually in the case of spinal tap i guess my favourite would be thier bassist - derek small i _THINK_his name was [?] and he too was not in the core duo of spinal tap!

~

2006-11-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

hola
just a quick post for now i think.

firstly - the beatles: i've often steered a littel clear of them in the past, probably largely because they were so surrounded by all that ubiquitous beatlemania hype and i reacted to that by giving most of thier musci a wide berth (with a few exceptions that i'll discuss at another time).
but now, having heard most of their latter albums - some for the first time in full this year - i acknowledge they made some good music. i can't fully appreciate the context or the times in which thos music was created & thus the degree to which they were pioneers in one way or another. but i also think they came up with some fairly mediocre music too; and of course they could afford to do so & get away with it. i'll talk more later about such matters, but will for now add that i think that a key strength of their 'sgt peppers' album is the wide spectrum & variety of moods & musical 'personalities' which it incorporates.

on another note, in response to keshi's query: for some reason i didn't really (allow myself to) get into guns n' roses while all my high school friends were getting into their debut album 'appetite for destruction' in a big way. i did however like the acoustic songs on the 'lies' e.p. which came next. and, at some point over the last decade or so, i have come to love the gunners' debut album and i now regard it as quite a classic (at least in that genre of rock). in some ways they were the KISS equivalent of the late '80s / early '90s. unfortunately i don't think they ever did better than their debut album, and went steadily downhill from there. too many lines of coke & hookers, perhaps? although 'the spaghetti incident' did have some good cover versions on it. and yes, i hesitate to admit that i occasionally find myself listening to those power ballads from the 'use your illusion' era, 'don't cry' & 'november rain'! holy sh!t i really have let out a confession there haven't i!?

oh yeah - i heard on the radio this afternoon that g n' r must be refroming for a tour or something; because apparently (& unfortunately) axl has cut the eagles of death metal 9whom i don't mind at all) as the gunners' support act for the tour.

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2006-11-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

ok
here's the deal:
until further notice, this blog is going to be dedicated to music; with lee, keshi & myself (and maybe a few other [semi-]regular readers) in mind!!! so be it ...

this evening, since getting home from work, i have listened to the beatles albums 'let it be' & 'seargent peppers lonely hearts club band'. then the songs 'last nite' by the stroke & 'resolve' by the foo fighters, then the 'dynastsy' album [once again] by KISS, which was followed by the albums 'deliverance' by you am i [prompted by an instant messenger conversation with dan] and 'what was left' by clare bowditch & the feeding set.

i highly recommend all of the above songs & albums. and i was happy to see clare bowditch win the best female artist award at the aria awards a few weeks ago!

and - incidentally - i've made a very nice satay marinade [for chicken & tofu] tonight, for consumption by myself & my friends tomorrow!

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2006-11-22T02:15:00.000-08:00

i have experienced this before, but not for some time ...
for some obscure reason, soon after getting out of bed this morning, i had a strong urge to .....
play the KISS album 'dynasty'!
so i did

ahh KISS - sooo cheeesey they're good! they were actually pioneers in a number of ways, and they did come up with some good rock riffs amongst all the make-up, outfits, 'cock-rock' & hype.

i started with my two favourite tracks on the album, 'magic touch' ("she's got the magic touch / and you're walkin around in a dream") followed by 'hard times' in which ace frehley tells his story of growing up in new york ("we'd go to shccol / and then we'd cut out / go to the park / and space our heads out / we called it fun / but there was some doubt / hangin out down in the city").

then, while eating breakfast & washing up i played the whole album, including the hit singles 'i was made for lovin you' and 'sure know something', the cover version of the rolling stones' '2000 man', and other tracks such as 'x-ray eyes'.

although maybe not their best - i can't really comment cos i haven't heard all their 1970s albums in full - this was a real breakthrough album for KISS and maybe their most commercially successful album (in australia at least). it was the album of theirs which first captured my attention (as a kid!).

anyhow - my advice to u all today is that if u wake up and suddenly feel like playing a certain song or album, then just give it a spin! don't fight the feeling, regardless of how cheesey or tacky it might be.

oh and incidentally - while at work i listened to 'dig your own hole' by the chemical brothers and later, yes, that 'ziggy stardust' one again (with headphones - my work colleagues probably wouldn't have appreciated these good albums!) .

i wonder what i'll fell like hearing tomorrow?

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2006-11-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

i ain't really tryin to get too heavy on u all with the following. and if i were trying to get all heavy, i personally don't think that quoting somebody else's words would necessarily be the best way to do so.
i don't think that the following is really a conscious reaction to any one specific event that i've experienced recently; and i certainly hope it isn't in any way prescient!

but the other night i thought of the following jimi hendrix lyrics which i first heard about a dozen years ago, and which somehow resonate with me at present as i think about a big decision or 2 that i may make over the next year or so:

"Cos I've got my own world to live through and, uh-huh,
And I ain't gonna copy you!
...
I've got my own life to live,
I'm the one that's gonna die when it's time for me to die;
So let me live my life the way I want to."

these are from the song 'if 6 was 9' (which as a title is in itself kind of interesting) off the hendrix album 'axis: bold as love'

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2006-11-18T16:16:00.000-08:00

this blog seems to be doing funny things, as if it's trying to evade the time-space continuum ... or is it just me, &/or my laptop?
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