Saturday, February 28, 2009

Hung Over

There's nothing quite like sharing a hangover with somebody. It suddenly makes it far more okay to feel like shit if somebody else is feeling the same way. You identify with each other on a completely different level. A level where you share the overwhelming relief of cold water, the lack of motivation to accomplish anything, and the need for a really good hamburger.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Scraping the Barrel

I was wandering around the city yesterday and happened across one of the local art galleries. It's been bothering me ever since, and obviously enough to write about.

The gallery is a University student gallery. From that typically I would expect a less focused, more emotionally driven set of works, probably more focused on the dark aspects of life. There could be anything from installations featuring broken mirrors and fake blood to grotesque attempts at sculpture depicting the many deaths of the human heart. Cynical? Hell yes.

It was pretty disappointing. I found the space itself far more interesting than the contents. A converted carpark area inside a building! I could have so much fun with sound installations. The exhibits themselves lacked continuity and thought. They were lacking in even emotional depth.

But there was one that really got into my head. A series of photographs taken at night. The intent was "alternate light". Great idea. Piss-poor execution. There were about thirty photographs, half a dozen of them unmounted and tacked to the wall and the rest mounted. The unmounted were marked for sale at $15 each, and mounted for $70. The shots were shithouse! Seriously, if I took anything like that on my camera, I would delete it in disgust. There were no focal points, no interest in the composition. It was as if the photographer walked outside, pointed the lens somewhere in the direction of a lightsource, clicked once and printed the result. There was no thought in the process, and therefore no evocation of thought afterward. Okay, it did evoke a thought.

Does this person seriously believe they are an artist?

I believe myself to be an amateur. Maybe I need to stop learning and go back to Uni. Forget everything I've learned about using my eyes and brain. Then I'll get some gallery space.

Wonders of Technology

Technology amazes me constantly.

For example:

I am currently connected to the internet, on a laptop with no cables attached to it. No biggie, that sort of thing has been around for quite a while. Sure. But how cool is it that you can blog while you're taking a shit?!!

From frustration

Looking at the clock and it's 2:33am. I've tried twice to get to sleep and all I've had is muscle spasms, twisting and turning, a fearful compulsive let-this-go-and-I'll-die grip on my teddy bear, a persistent headache and a mother-fucking TRUCKLOAD of frustration. This has been going on for weeks, but is persistently getting worse.

To put it mildly I'm not enjoying life at the moment. It's not just the sleeping - I think that's more a side effect than a symptom anyway. So during my flipping, turning, headache soaked, bear hugging night I have decided to seek the little things that I enjoy and give them more importance in my thoughts. In fact, to blog about them. In doing that I hope to remind myself that it's not all crap out there. Just some bits are.

Today a train driver made me smile. I had swung out around a fence in order to get down onto the tracks and checkout something I'd seen down there. I'd checked it out and was back on the wrong side of the fence when the tracks started emanating their mechanical whistling, warning that something was travelling along them, and close. Beauty! I stopped thinking about getting back on the right side of the fence and moved closer to the edge where I could see in between each carriage and almost reach out and touch if I wanted to. Twenty-eight years old, happily watching an approaching train and with absolutely no regard for the fines you can get for being outside the fences. What did the driver do? He grinned right back, leaned out the window and waved at me. Sometimes humanity finds a way to make you grin right on back.

I had a sweet potato scallop from the local fish and chip shop, too. I have discovered that not only are they best deep fried goodness EVER invented, but that they are enhanced even more by adding freshly squeezed lemon. Mix that with the chicken salt already on it and some kind of taste explosion reaction occurs. It can only be good.

Not much else to report.

Maybe I can go to sleep now.

I hope.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentines Day was, for a while, a time where handwritten notes were passed were passed in secrecy between lovers. Then, in the tail end of the 1800s, some yank started mass producing cards. It's all been downhill since then.

There's the usual "Hallmark Holiday" crap and profiteering surrounding this day. Flowers, chocolates, cards, candle-lit dinners. Bullshit.

Really why do we say it's all bullshit though? The crap that comes with a Hallmark holiday lacks imagination. Is that the reason? The many that buy the mass-produced overpriced card and the box of heart shaped chocolates, are they ruining the idea of the day for the genuine? Is imagination, love and heartfelt sincerity that easily blown away by money?

Honestly, I would buy the earth for the girl I love if I could. Not ever with an intention of winning her over, never that. Possession is a horrible concept to me, and never should be exercised over anybody, in particular those you love. No, I would give the world to the girl I love simply because she means the world to me. How can that be printed on a card? I would never pay for somebody else's sentiment in order to assume it as my own.

So here's mine for the day. No card, no flowers, no chocolates. Just a hell of a lot of heart.

Babe, I love you right through to my fingertips.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The phone says it all.

I downloaded a game for my mobile phone. Some will snicker at this, but let me explain the reasoning:

I am often stuck for hours on end at work with nothing to do but sit and watch a hole as safety standby person. Nothing to read, nobody to speak to. I just have to sit and wait. I practise drumming, but can't maintain it for ten hours straight. I listen to music to keep awake. I make patterns in the dust around me. I clean the patterns away and make every surrounding surface spotless. Still bored. My phone is always there, so I thought I'd put something on it to keep myself stimulated.

The game I chose to download is a brain training game. It's supposed to stimulate certain areas of your brain as well as assess and rank your abilities. Cool.

So I tried the thing out this morning and failed abysmally at one of the exercises. It could be taken as a description of how well I'm doing in life at the moment...

"Oh dear... Your rank is Plankton."

Monday, February 2, 2009

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bored, Broke

Over to the world in general:

When you're bored and broke, what do you do with your time?

Insight would be much appreciated.