Title: Too tired for words, or "Devil's Velcro"

Pretty flowers. There were lots of them, and other types that were also pretty. These are at the top of Mt Wills and they hung about like drifts of snow under the snowgums.


The beast that dwelleth within my tent (they failed to mention this on the brochure).


Pati (my sister) and Dad (my Father) nearing the top of Bogong on the first day. Note the mountains in the background. Thems be the ones what we walked up.

The best (IMHO) mother in the world, at the top of the world.


The tent checks out the morning views, sans beast.

I have more such photos, many memories, and legs that look like they have been used as some sort of stick bashing / marchfly killing device (which, for the most part, they have).

What else to say?

Erm - bring on New Years eve!! I have earned a beer or two....

PS - the optional title "Devil's Velcro" refers to the burnt out Snowgums (and other gums) after the 2003 fires. They are curled and gnarled and look like ... well, Devil's Velcro, when the blanket hill after hill. It is really quite amazing seeing the aftermath. Quite surreal in parts.

Merry xMas kids!!!

UPDATE: Christmas carol for ya!

Well. Another year over. It always feels surreal, like getting to the end of a spool of tape and the loose end flapping around disjointedly. I reckon if I were ever to go mad, I would do so at Christmas time. It is just a leeeetle too surreal for abstract minded folk.

This year has been an interesting one for me. I was really wanting a go easy time. It was going to be 12 months of stability and consistency, and I was going to sit back and reap the emotional rewards. Instead, it has been an absolute rollercoaster. The best description of I feel now is to picture Jack Kerouac in his jalopy driving from one side of America to the other, helter skelter, and with bits of car flying off in all directions, til he finally arrives on the west coast and the car coughs and splutters, dies, and then rolls slowly into the destination driveway to never move again. Now, that is a little extreme. This jalopy will be totally fine after a bit of sleep, some home cookin and outdoory activities, but the mental image still works for me.

The lesson from all this is perhaps is not at all about the actual events and trials of the year, but more that you never bloody know what the next 12 months will bring and you are fooling yourself if you set out thinking you do.

Best wishes to all of you. May Christmas be a time of ridiculous amounts of sleep and year to come blow your socks off.

The day the way that night goes

This is another Warwick pic. This was north of Newcastle the morning after a bush doof. The sand dunes are part of a massive set of kerazy dunes that go on and on as far as you can see. The locals, suitably impressed and awed by the wonder of nature, tear around them on massive four-wheel drive dunes buggies.

This is also the morning after I first tasted, and subsequently drank to excess my now signature drink, tequila and orange. Or actually, it might be the morning after the morning after. It was a kerazy couple of days.

Just resting.

This is hard to capture, but it is the "on -point" to the field of sand dunes. You can see that there are big trees burried up to the hilt in sand as the sand creeps inland swallowing up forrests. So the top of the dune is about as high as the top of a tree. The steep bit that I am about to run down has you ploughing up to your calfs in sand towards the end. It was pretty cool.

PS - I guess my head is still down in these ones also! Except the bottom one, but it is very far away.

Also - I bought a tent last night. It is a nice light 2 man around 2.7kgs. It is a 2-3 seasons number, mainly due to the lightness of fabric and the fact that, while it can handle a bit of a gale, you wouldn't want to take it to extremes. It is really hard choosing tents, cause you also want one that you can take to the desert. If you get a full on 4 season tent it will be (a) heavy, (b) hot as hell in summer (generally), and (c) very expensive if not massively subject to (a) and (b).

Here she is in all her glory!!

Commander Keen and other immutable facts

There are some things that I just never stop loving. Chief among them, and right next to Obelix and Asterix, is Commander Keen. Or specifically, Commander Keen “Invasion of the Vorticons”: Episode 1 Marooned on Mars. There is not a screen shot that I do not know intimately. The enemies are not really that nasty, some of them can’t even kill you. You just jump on their heads and they lie there stunned for a while. Most of the game time is spent wandering around, lost, eating pizza and shooting things with a ray gun. Totally up my ally.

Yorps overhead!!!

Look out Garq!! You've just tasted some KEEN STEEL.

This Vortion Robot does not scare me!! Not one bit!! Takes more than a scanky Vorticon Robet to scare THE DEFENDER OF EARTH.

Of all Keen Episodes, the first is still my favorite. Although, I found out today that there was an Keen that was never completed called, The Universe is Toast. I think that could have been good.

The fan site is an absolute blast. You can download the music from the game, including the following great moments in computer music history. "A World of Wonderment", "Aliens Ate my Babysitter", "Be Sphereful with my Diamonds", "Jazz Me", "Make it Tighter", "To The Future", "Wednesday on The Beach", and perhaps my favorite, "Welcome to a Kick in the Pants in Good Old Hillville".

If you haven't been punished enough already, you can see more Keen-ly here.

Baby, looks like a dance epidemic to me.

Warwick has kindly sent through a nice swag of other Tangles moments. This is me discovering that I was covered in prickles after having a road side pee. There are others, but I will eek them out slowly.

An old photo for yaz

Hullo internet. I feel that I have been remiss in posting photos involving me. So, I am going to address that by posting an old photo of my self last time I was unemployed. This was taken by Warwick when we were on a Byron jaunt.

Last night I played 500 and chess and drank a reasonable (read un-reasonable) amount of beer and wine. I actually enjoyed the chess, which is unusual for me. Historically the most joy I have had around a chess board was busily marrying off the discarded pieces while my sis and Dad were playing. I lost twice, however I would like to blame the fact that, although I had complete grasp of strategy and rules throughout, I kept forgetting which colour I was.

I am currently listening to pop77 mix 15. My pants are being blown completely off. While this could be somewhat to do with lasts nights curry (hur hur), I think it is much more likely because it is an absolutely stellar stellar mix. Big thanks to the Doc for organizing the great pop77 exchange of 2005. Maybe we could become even more the obsessive fan boyz and girlz we are and try to find pop77 1 - 14???

The gauntlet has been layed down.


PS - yay

Wow. Done and done.

Just a quick note to say that I have just handed in my resignation letter. I feel ... like having a number of beers. It is a little hard to sit still on my chair and "work" with my head exploding with change, excitement, nervousness, etc. I will be working through my notice period, so I had better get used to the feeling.

My boss type person has been great about it, actually. Quite understanding, and has offered to help me in any way he can with finding new stuff. He is pretty well connected, so this is not to be sniffed at (despite the continuation of my head cold). In return, I will be very nice in the things that I say about him and the company internally (when Singapore descends from the heavens to get the gory details and partition blame) and externally when I am out and about in the industry skipping like a deranged school girl.

All the pretty circles

Gee. Look at all those pretty circles!

Just another day in loverly Sydney. As you would probably most be aware, things have not settled down much at the beaches. Pretty surreal.

Arghity-argh. I have been a bit sick this weekend. Some sort of head cold type deal.

After having dealt for a week without cards, it was rather fun to swan about card enabled again (credit card, etc, that is). I went Chrissy shopping for the fam. The situation had been made a bit dire after I ate my mother's christmas present during the week. I will have to try to survive another week without eating the damn replacement version otherwise it will be just silly. The head cold also made me a bit delirious, and the present for my sister is the sort of thing that people look at and go, "...my word ... they are so big!!! .. And a really interesting red colour... different...". Meanwhile, my present for my Dad has also raised some eyebrows. It is a book called "The Wisdom Paradox: How your mind can grow stronger as you brain grows older". Really - it does look interesting. But some friends have commented that it may be rude. Hmmm. It is not meant to be!!

The wee hours are meant for computers

Well - it has happened. I have become the sort of person that stays up until 2am installing alternative browsers (firefox), freeware antivirus programs, writing crap on a blog and carrying on as though the night time were meant for computers.




I do, however, have something of note to say. It is just a little thing that may interest some of you. Sigur Ros is on tour. Inneresting, no? They will be playing The Enmore in April. I am going to start growing some grass especially for the occaision. Kill the sacred calf, smoke the holy reefer.

That explains all Sigur Ros pics. Here are some more.





Whose in?

Is this gay enough for you?

They say that blue is a soothing colour. My fingers are itching to add some retina scorching red to the side bars again, but I will take pity on my gentle readers. Sleep tight, wee ones. Rest now. The bad colour man has gone away.

(or has he??)

Queue spooky music shower scene music: "da!! da!!"

More funny little sheep things

Eberhard Weber sure likes his funny trees and sheep type creatures. As I do too, I am not complaing. You may find this all fiendishly dull, but that is your perogative.

Word of the day (and how!)

Every so often, my friendly Dr Dictionary dishes up a treat. I am particularly fond of this one.


tmesis \TMEE-sis\, noun:

In grammar and rhetoric, the separation of the parts of a
compound word, now generally done for humorous effect; for
example, "what place soever" instead of "whatsoever place," or
"abso-bloody-lutely."

If on the first, how heinous e'er it be,
To win thy after-love I pardon thee.
--Shakespeare, Richard II

His income-tax return, he remarked, was the "most rigged-up
marole" he'd ever seen.
--Frederic Packard

In two words, im possible.
--Samuel Goldwyn
_________________________________________________________
Tmesis is from Greek tmesis, "a cutting," from temnein, "to
cut."

The difference between you and me, was always the difference between them and us (DK7 "The Difference" - good track)

Woooah! Crap. There goes another weekend. Time to check the damage.

Lost:
(a) Mobile phone

(b) Wallet

(c) Handbag

(d) Remaining dignity

Gained:
(a) Sore back from falling asleep on the couch

(b) Some crazy memories of a fun night at the "Awaken the Green Fairy" party at the NSW Gallery

(c) A weird portrait that was not very good and was subsequently lost cause it was in my bag

(d) The experience of drinking straight Absynth on the rocks (yum!!)

Hmmm. Yep – it was a proper “Tangles Style” weekend complete with the dramatic arrival home at 3pm Sunday afternoon. Ahhhh.


Update:

illegal-art is right up my ally.

Look Mum! No wires!!

Hiya folks. Well - Am I not the geeky bee’s glasses this evening? I am at home on a Friday night busily configuring my home interweb. It's wireless capabilities allow me to blog from the discomfort of my own living room. The wonders of modern technology never cease. I can also, once I figure out the bloody how, make VoIP calls through my ISP (this phrase would have serious offending 18th Century folk whom, I am sure, would have misconstrued it entirely) ((as it is, even I am a little baffled and put off)).

Anyway – I am busy letting limewire take over large sections of my computer and generally letting my hair down interweb wise. I am check back in again later…

In summary – here begineth an entirely new and different interweb phase of my life. I have my own account, and will piss and fart around on this damned thing into the wee wee hours if it so taketh my fancieth.

more pretty pictures

This is from DK7's "disarm" album

This is a bit hard to make out - but it is Eberhard Weber's album "silent feet". He is a bit like Phillip Glass Alvin Lucier and other minimalist electronic composers that are both fascinatingly talented and, on the whole, a little dull. I really like the piccy at the bottom with the strange sheep type animals, though. I just haven't been able to find a high res version yet. Maybe I could do that thing to it -what is it again? Rasterbation?

there is absolutely nothing wrong with obsession

Git some "soft pink truth" inta ya!

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but if TSPT were not called TSPT, I do not think I would be half as interested.

You can cop a fairly crappy SPT video here .

"Paul the Girl" is also interesting me at the mo - there is a free mp3 of her track "too drunk" here

Neither are that great - but, perhaps, interesting.

awwww... pretty album cover for heart cockle warming

artist: Susumu Yokota
album: Sakura

If you say I don't remember; the sky is grey the sun is bright

Well hello all my interweb buddies. Sorry about the amount of downtime, but I must admit that things have been hectic as ever at the Tangles Laboritory for Social Experement. Last Thursday I attended the IBM Christmas party (which essentaially flowed through the following sequence til Sunday afternoon)

* Me being the only person who looked like a Christmas pudding / candy cane

* Superman and Lois Lane doing acrobatic tricks from the roof of the Austraslian Stock Exchange (please remember that this is the IT industry that we are talking about)

* Drinking shots of green stuff, loads of beer and catching up with all of my IBM "buddies"

* Calling a friend to get the hell out of there and ending up at the Imperial in Erko at 4am

* Stratigically working from home on Friday

* Catching up on Friday work Saturday

* Being so chuffed that I had finished what I considered to be a stellar white paper in two hours that it was once again beer o'clock

* Catching up with friend "a" for beers and vids

* Recruiting another friend "b" and hitting a party in pado

* Party going off with a reasonable bang

* Landing in Gilligans and waiting for the dust to settle

* Bumping into Wendy at Gilligans and realising that I had completely squandered my oportunities to wish Dr Cok many happy returns on his birthday and setting about promptly rectifying the situation

* Sipping a reasonable red as the sun set on another Sunday

As you can see -> plans to quit have been temporarily placed on hold as I adopt a kind of take no prisoners attitude to my brain cells and generally succumb to idea the year is nearly over and that there will be plenty of time for sleeping Christmas day.

I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange, so I look like a walking mountain range*

I'ma getting dazed and confused by this whole December thing. It has me right off my whack. Last night I bailed on a Christmas party in order to get some much needed sleep, only to stay awake tossing and turning til the wee hours anyhow. This has me distrustful and wary. What is the point of being good and staying in, when you only stay up late? One may as well go out and get blotto. This is the dizzy and topsy-turvy feeling of December. Meanwhile, my hapless work mates ended up at the Cross (or at least one of them did) and the office is quite muted this morning.

Tonight I am double booked with two parties on. One is a “white” theme, so I am wearing a white zip up shirt, a white skirt with red stripes and a red ribbon around the waist and white slip-on shoes. However, I am thinking of going to the other party that has a distinct absence of a “white theme”. This may cause problems and strange looks.



*Now for some Bob Dylan.

I Shall Be Free, No. 10

I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you
I'm everybody's brother and son
I ain't different from anyone
It ain't no use a-talking to me
It's just the same as talking to you.

I was shadow-boxing earlier in the day
I figured I was ready for cassius clay
I said fee, fie, fo, fum, cassius clay, here I come
26, 27, 28, 29, I'm gonna make your face look just like mine
Five, four, three, two, one, cassius clay you'd better run
99, 100, 101, 102, your ma won't even recognize you
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, gonna knock him clean right out of his spleen.

Well, I don't know, but I've been told
The streets in heaven are lined with gold
I ask you how things could get much worse
If the russians happen to get up there first.
Wowee' pretty scary!

Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree
I want ev'rybody to be free
But if you think that I'll let barry goldwater
Move in next door and marry my daughter
You must think I'm crazy!
I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in cuba.

Well, I set my monkey on the log
And ordered him to do the dog
He wagged his tail and shook his head
And he went and did the cat instead
He's a weird monkey, very funky.

I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on
Waiting to play tennis in the noonday sun
I had my white shorts rolled up past my waist
And my wig-hat was falling in my face
But they wouldn't let me on the tennis court.

I gotta woman, she's so mean
She sticks my boots in the washing machine
Sticks me with buckshot when I'm nude
Puts bubblegum in my food
She's funny, wants my money, calls me honey.

Now I gotta friend who spends his life
Stabbing my picture with a bowie-knife
Dreams of strangling me with a scarf
When my name comes up he pretends to barf.
I've got a million friends!

Now they asked me to read a poem
At the sorority sister's home
I got knocked down and my head was swimmin'
I wound up with the dean of women
Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it.
Hope I don't blow it.

I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange
So I look like a walking mountain range
And I'm gonna ride into omaha on a horse
Out to the country club and the golf course.
Carry the new york times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds.

Now you're probably wondering by now
Just what this song is all about
What's probably got you baffled more
Is what this thing here is for.
It's nothing
It's something I learned over in england.