Ten Words

It's now the end of adulthood. I bought a Playstation.

Write a Diary?

It got suggested to me yesterday that I write a diary to push some of the stress out of my head and onto a page instead.

I've tried that shit off and on for years.

There really weren't any better times than when I was blogging every day and I miss it. I know I keep coming back for a few posts and then become elusive again but who knows? Maybe I'll be better at it again. I'm giving myself a limit on word numbers for a while, just to see how I go.

Here goes nothing, hey?

I'm kicking back watching The Dish. What a classic Australian film. It's all about the role that one of our telescopes played in the moon landing - one of my favourite films of all time really. Many moons ago on this blog I posted some photos of the dish that was in the movie. It is such a magnificent structure.

Back to the movie, though. Australians have grown to be so good at taking the piss out of themselves, even within a serious context. A bunch of guys playing cricket in the bowl of a telescope is so... us. That's our culture all over.

"You just bullshitted NASA!"

Music taste

What kind of music do you like?

I like anything.
All types.

Actually, no. A few things could have happened there. One possibility is that you've just been put on the spot about what you like and your head froze up. Another is that you don't want to offend a prospective new friend by saying their favourite music is shit. Who knows? That person you tell to listen to some real music when they confess their love for the Spice Girls could have been your best friend, but you'll never know because they've fucked off to spice up their life without you.

I love those sorts of conversations. I had one recently with a work friend who is thinking about having guitar lessons from me. He's had them before from someone in the past, and told me he lost interest and got bored. I told him my perspective is that especially for adult learning, you have to be able to justify your means toward a goal. And so I asked the question:

What's a song you really like?

I like lots of music. All types. Even classical.

Really? Woohoo! Let's learn a classical piece then!

Oh no, I wouldn't want to play classical.

And we're back to square one.

Old is the new Old

For fuck's sake. The bands I listened to as a teenager are releasing new albums. Some are bands I thought were long gone. Some are bands that have had a really good bash at longevity. Some are bands that have evolved into playing completely different music over time. But that's beside the point.

It only struck me yesterday, when I discovered that No Doubt is giving it all another go. The memories came flooding back of having friends wanting me to play Don't Speak for them while we rammed into a tiny boarding school dorm room. Those same days of bunches of teenagers screaming out Alanis - "Are you thinking of me, when you fuck her?". Oh and I can still picture clearly my mother's face when she decided that Matchbox Twenty were no good because you shouldn't sing about pushing people around, it's not nice.

All that isn't yesterday any more. Not by a long shot. It's a long time ago now. I've lost a good sixteen years bumming around and these guys are still out there making music and flogging it to the world.

I feel old.

Now listening:

I've been on a music binge lately. Actually, I think that every day should be filled with a background of music... So maybe, rather than call it bingeing, I've been returning to a more natural state of order.

Surround sound. What a great combination of words. I bought a nice little system for my laptop. Now the loungeroom of my brightly coloured little living space is now truly a home. 4:15am and I'm already out here grooving! Take that, motherfuckers!

So here's some of the top choices for the moment:



Foster the People - Call it What You Want. A classic pump-me-up song. There's a particular stretch of road I drive before work that I now associate with this song because I've played it so many times as an energy kick to get the day rolling.



The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines. This is from the latest album, with the hit Lonely Boy on it. In fact, the entire album is an absolute pearler. I'll be driving down a haul road, filthy and fucked off after a day in the pit, and bashing the hell out of the steering wheel to that fantastic rum beat in the last section.

Socks And Vibrators Don't Mix

When your ex packs all your stuff from the bedroom into bags and leaves them out front of what used to be your home, just check - before you throw it in storage for four months - that your jelly sleeve vibrator IS NOT NEXT TO A SOCK. The two may become one.

AusArt Monday

One of my favourite artists of all time, Brett Whiteley.

Safety Plus

An emergency stop button on a drilling machine...

Fuck off Summer!

Second day of the New Year, and summer decided to come around and make an apology for being late. It made up for itself with three bakingly hot forty-degree days, and then promptly up and fucked off again yesterday.

Every year I forget just how bad an open cut pit is when it's a hot day. It's like being in a desert. No shade. Surrounded by white rocks and plenty of dust. You're out in it in your mandatory long sleeved shirt and pants and your ridiculous metatarsal boots, sweating a river by eight thirty and wondering how you're going to last the rest of the twelve hours, let alone actually get anything done. Any water you have is hot by midmorning. You're glad for the rule about carrying gloves at all times because everything metal that you touch has become super heated.

I'm not much of a summer person at all. I'm a prolific sweater (sexy, I know) so especially at work my face ends up red raw just from wiping it constantly on my long sleeves. At least with winter you can pile more clothes on and still be able to do what you want (I bet I'll say different when I'm out in it, though). Days like those last three, woah. I felt like I wanted to die but didn't have the energy. Every movement was lethargic. Every movement was downright difficult.

Summer should either be three months off for the entire work force or six-hour days with a pool provided.

Sun Non-Sense

Some days you have to take your cues from Lawrence of Arabia...

Brand New Year, Happy New World

I'm back home after a lightning trip to bring in the New Year with IcePick and KelSuperStarSinger, surveying my surroundings and being happy with what I have.

Jonah is looking out the window. He plays a game with the three little dogs who border our flat. They like to hunt him from window to window and bark whenever they come across him. Jonah feels that he has the upper hand, because jump and carry on as much as the little tackers like to, they can't get past the fence or anywhere near him... and he knows it.

He'll lounge around on the sill and look down his nose at them for a while until they get bored. Then abruptly he'll disappear and reposition himself at another window. Fun and entertainment for all, except maybe the neighbours!

Brutus the oversize goldfish is wriggling away in his not-so-clean tank. It seems like he gives an extra happy wriggle whenever he sees me. The guy is a legend. He floats around giving a fuck off world I can't be bothered look until his light comes on late in the morning, and then it's all wriggle and happiness until about eleven at night when the light switches off again.

I have a guitar beside me on the lounge and plenty of friends to talk to. I have a job that is interesting and cool and pays well. I have goals to set and bridges to burn.

Life is good.