Jar

This year I'm writing down a good thing(s) that happen to me each day, and putting it in a jar. The idea is on the last day, you can read all the cool things that happened! And already I'm feeling pretty good about how the year's gone. It's been good for sure, but being more aware of the good things is always helpful. As Kurt Vonnegut ('s uncle) said, regarding nice moments, 'I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."'

Look

Thought experiment: You go for a walk down the street, just for a wander. You look around as you walk, and get to the end of the street. You've seen everything, right? No. Turn around and walk back. See the other side of buildings, the reverse view. And why not now walk back up the street, looking down at the flowers, into the gutter, that cat on the fence and your own shadow in front of you. There.  Hey, but turn around and look up as you walk back home. Check out the tops of the buildings, the trees swaying in the wind, the hot air balloon floating through the sky, the clouds drifting, and the very colour of the sky. 
Bingo. You know this street. You've seen it all. Nope, you'll never see it all. But there is so much to keep you going

Movie reviews

I work at a cinema, and a huge perk is free movies. There are reciprocal deals with some cinemas in Melbourne, so I mooch around Palace, Nova and Imax - fun times.
I've made a new page of films I've seen (at the cinema), with simple reviews, and an 'out of 10' rating. I'll keep it up to date, but some of these are stretching far back in to the memory banks, and reviews could be a bit sketchy. Hope you enjoy

Some things

-I've started a new job. It's at (one of the best) French bakeries in Melbourne, 'A Treat of France'. I make coffee and dish out croissants, and I'm quite enjoying it. It'll allow me to save money and work towards traveling, which has been on hiatus. I'm also still working at the cinema, and going to see lots of films. My Top Five films so far this year are
1 - A Separation
2 - Shame
3 - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
4 - The Muppets
5 - Battleship (oh, this was supposed to be the The Avengers)
I'm a sucker for Big Budget Action Thrillers. And the first two are just absurdly good, with engrossing storylines and so well acted
-I've met some new people lately and it's been great. I've been feeling super comfortable and relaxed. Perhaps in the past it's made me nervous, but there's so much exciting potential with someone new. One particular new person has been making me feel quite giddy (more info to come)
-I'm helping to try make a baby. Sadly, things didn't work out with the couple I blogged about previously. We tried again, but they decided they were happy with how things were. I'm helping another couple now, and fingers crossed for them
-This post on Tumblr got quite a lot of attention, which was great because I think it's awesome

Give Blood

Last week, I gave blood. It's something I enjoy, and one of the best things you can do. Each donation can help or save three lives. One in three people in their lives will need blood or blood products, but only one in 30 donates! It's such an altruistic act, and is so helpful, only inconveniencing you slightly. Like, an hour of your time and a little scratch to save lives? Okay.
As a vegan, I feel good seeing my iron counts at good levels. I was once told 'you must eat a lot of red meat' - nope.
Please consider donating, it'll make you awesome(er) - New Zealand / Australia

Chained

I really love cycling. I've done it all my life. I love the feeling of cruising, making your own way from A to B, and that it's free and healthy. I've had a meaningful relationship with every bike I've had.
So I was pretty devastated when about a month ago, my bike was stolen. It was locked up while I watched a movie, during daylight. Mega lame. I was bike-less for a week, and had to rely on public transport (which I think is generally okay, but when you're used to cycling anywhere, anytime...). The wisdom is that you'll only ever have one bike stolen, so hopefully I (and you!) can learn from this. Buy a really good lock. Attach it to sturdy things. Read these tips.
I bought a second hand bike online, and I'm super happy with it. A Hallmark, by Kuwahara - it's a dream to ride. I call him Jerome. And just in time for winter, I found some mudguards in a tree on my street. Perfecto!

Loss

In the last week, my gran and aunty died. That's my dad's mum and sister. There are pretty much no words for these kinds of things, just that it's really sad. I've felt quite disconnected from my family, but have been sending out thoughts and love, and just thinking about the role these two women played in my life. It's been a weird series of thoughts - mainly focused on genetics, ancestors, and upbringings. Grief can take on all sorts of forms.

David Foster Wallace

Quite quickly, David Foster Wallace has become my favourite author. I'm part way through The Pale King, and it's great. I love his style, and the way he constructs a story.
The first of his I read was Infinite Jest when I was 20. It was okay, but after a month or so of my time, I couldn't believe the lack of conclusion, and don't think I 'got it', overall. Following a lengthy break, I read This is Water last year, and it was a really good insight in to the person, which is obviously a huge part of who the author is. I've since been reading my way through his works (check m' reading log). I think I could read an infinitely long essay on any topic he chose to write. What he wrote is amazing - it's so insightful and beautiful. It's taught me to view conclusions as a treat, rather than a necessity. And it captures what it means to be alive today.
So I'm pretty heartbroken that he took his own life a few years ago. It slipped past me at the time, and has bothered me the more I've read. Such a complex person, such a huge loss to the world. Read what he's written

Tell

If I'm being honest, I try and be a really honest person. Especially about how I feel about people. In the past, I think I've wasted time keeping my feelings to myself, especially with things like crushes. It's so much better to say how you feel and find out how they do, than to let it dwell inside you. I recently came up with the oxymoron: 'everyone just shut up and say how you feel'.
I also like telling people I love them. If someone means a lot to you, you should definitely let them know. You know the big cliches - 'I wish I'd told them how I felt' etc. It would be pretty bad if something like that happened. So if you love someone, let them know.
Beth and I tell each other often. She recently said "if we had a dollar for every time we said 'love'..." We'd be rich! And wouldn't die wondering

Swinging

One thing I really love is swinging on a swing. Like, at a playground. It's so endearing and frivolous, and also a great time to reflect on things. I enjoy watching the scene around me change as I sweep a parabola through the air.
As a kid, I wasn't a very good swinger. It took me ages to get the hang of it, and I was always pretty wussy about going too high. Even now, after years of experience, it takes a while for my insides to feel okay about flying up and down. And at 27, I wonder if there's an age when it's no longer acceptable to swing. While playgrounds are the domain of children, swinging is enjoyable (and light exercise!), and it feels too arbitrary to simply stop. You needn't let things slide into an unrecoverable childhood nostalgia. Stay young at heart, you're never too old to have fun!

Socks

My whole life, I've put my socks on a certain way. I simply pulled them on: toes in the opening, the rest follows naturally. If the sock were inside-out, I'd half turn it the right way out, then whack the balled up sock in my hand, like a poi. People have teased me for this. I see that it's not ideal, though it gets the job done.
My whole life, my dad has put his socks on a certain way. Starting with the sock inside-out, he makes a dent in the toes, and pulls it back over his foot, inverting it as it goes. He stands up; his socks are on.
Recently I changed methods. I adopted the Dad Method. Faced with an inside-out sock, I calmly slide it over my foot, and carry on with my day. No more whacking socks to make them comply. I put on my shoes and leave the house.
As I walk, I wonder if I'd ever been taught a certain method. I was always aware of how my father dressed his feet - had he always been like this? Or was there a point at which his method changed, presumably to that of my poppa. At 27, what did this change mean to me? I was acutely aware of it, though it was seemingly triggered by nothing.
At 27, my dad was a recent father of twins. He'd been married a few years. And he'd been working as a carpenter for close to 10. He was unquestionably a Man. How do I compare? With my life, I feel like a man, though definitely not a Man.
I sit down on the grass at the park, and take off my shoes and socks. I leave the socks, inside-out, on top of my shoes, ready for when I walk home.

2011

In the last couple of years, I've had reviews of my favourite musical releases. As I didn't work in radio for most of the year, I felt rather disconnected from what was happening musically, so decided to branch out my reviews (also inspired by these guys)

Gigs of the Year
4 - Parking Lot Experiments @ Workers - a great way to cap off my first week in Melbourne
3 - Wintercoats @ The Evelyn - far exceeded my very high expectations
2 - Caribou @ CALH - kinda 'lost my shit'
1 - Beach House @ Laneway - I was covered in shivers the whole time

Albums
5 - Memory Tapes - Player Piano
4 - PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
3 - Cults - Cults
2 - Tennis - Cape Dory
1 - John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

Songs
Glasser - Ring (Delorean remix)
Summer Camp - I Want You
Neon Indian - Polish Girl
Rhianna - Only Girl
Shocking and Stunning - Salvia Gravity
Atlas Sound - Te Amo

Best Books I read this year
Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven blew my mind. And I loved David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster

Favourite Films of the Year
Midnight in Paris was delightful. Source Code and Tyson were probably my fav dvds

Food items of the Year
Anything from La Panella (vegan bakery!), Log Cabin nachos, Gina's bagels, vegan licorice all sorts from Northcote IGA

Best Kebab
Abbott House of Falafel (aka 'King of Falafel'), Coburg. $5 of incredible

Girlfriend of the Year
Gina - Practically Perfect in Every Way

Suburb of the Year
A tie between the wonderful St Albans, Chch; and Northcote, Vic

Art Gallery Shows of the Year
Stabs @ Backwoods
Nior @ No Vacancy NGV
Eveline Tarunadjaja @ No Vacancy QV

Clothing of the Year
Probably a really nice fitting white polo I got from Tasman Traders. Also, cut-off shorts were the only way to short in '11

Most Aussie Thing
A drunk guy saying 'fair dinkum' regarding my review of Tyson

Event of the Year
Without doubt the earthquake. Changed most parts of my life, and was a very big motivator for the runner up: moving to Melbourne

Overall Trend
Learning that things will happen and people will do things that are totally outside your control, so you've just got deal with it the best you can

Ships

So, the rather wonderful Naomi and I broke up. She realised she still had feelings for an ex. I joked that it would be good if there were dials with which you could control how much you felt for someone. We both started off not looking for anything too serious, but it became really meaningful, really quickly. Oh, those dials! We'd also said in spite of what happens, we'd be great friends - which is how it's turned out. It got me thinking about friendships, relationships, all those 'ships'.
It feels really amazing that many of the most special people in my life are ex-girlfriends. Girls that I've dated, spent beautiful time with, and loved. I could tell them 'I love you', then and now. Maybe our time together can't help but flow in to our friendship. Perhaps breaking up isn't *that* bad if it leads to such good things. And how does love differ between 'girlfriend' and 'just friends'? I guess it's some kind of continuous spectrum. Before me lies a whole panel of dials, one for each person in my life. They spin of their own accord.

Preconceive

I'm doing a new series of pastings which are inspired by The Little Price - you can check it out at forever. I only recently read the book, but it was great, and articulated a few things I'd been thinking about. As you may recall, the narrator draws a picture of a boa constrictor, but the adults, lacking imagination, see only a hat. The grown-ups are very strange.
One time on the train, I heard a young girl exclaim, 'look! A graffiti!' I remember seeing two young children jumping with excitement as they watched a rubbish truck pick up bins. Oh what moments to see things for the first time! I know that as you grow, you learn, and everything you encounter shapes your life - it's an important part of development. But what if you could reclaim some of that wonder? Try and see things freshly without all the understanding your life has given you? Pick up a nearby object and study it, stripping away all preconceptions. Let it engage your senses, and imagine encountering it for the first time. You might just learn something.



(Also, I need your help for an upcoming project! If you could recommend a book to a stranger, what would it be? What's something that you've read that has made an impact? Something you'd really like people to experience. Comment below. Thanks)

The train

My local train station is Batman (check out some colouring I did there). It's on the Upfield line, and a trip to the city centre takes about 20 minutes. I really like catching the train, and think I live about the right distance - any more would be tiring, less would seem trivial. I find it all rather romantic. Here are some things I like:
*Coming out of the city loop at North Melbourne at night time. From under the ground, to a yard filled with hundreds of beautiful lights. Really magical
*Passing trains - they seem to come from nowhere with such fury, and then are gone in an instant
*As the train slows, watching fence posts blur, before becoming individually discernible. Also the way the train kicks back slightly when it stops, and the brakes kick in
*People watching and listening is great. People are beautiful and weird
*The Brunswick tram depot at night is a huge cavern of light
*Seeing people running for the train. It's such a desperate, hopeful moment
*General rhythms of the wheels over the tracks

Familial

I popped over to New Zealand for the first nine days of September. It was really nice being home. I went to Christchurch, Wellington, and Palmerston North, before retracing my steps. My mum had a hip operation, so I hung out with her and we watched the US Tennis Open. My twin sister, Kate, was down from Auckland, and it was out 27th birthday. I asked my dad what it meant to him to be a dad on father's day. I really wished I'd had more than 48hrs in Palmerston.
In Wellington, I stayed with Beth and we had dinner, went to a concert, walked about.
I stayed at my old flat in Christchurch. It was wonderfully familiar. I had a birthday get-together and saw my friends. I cycled around the cordoned off centre city: it was rather saddening. Alice, Eamonn and I set up a new blog of story readings - My Kafka Baggage.
Three of my four flights were delayed, and it really bothered me. I don't enjoy waiting at airports, but I tried to reconcile that with the magic of flight. Myself and hundreds of other people, all much heavier than air, travelling at hundreds of kilometres an hour through the sky.

Melbourne life

I've been in Melbourne for about six weeks now. It's good, I really like it here. I have a flat in Coburg, which is in the northern city of Moreland. There are many pigeons in the area (they could call it 'Coo-burg'), and sometimes I see them in a flock, moving in such complex ways. The birds here are very differnet to those I know - a wider range of species, and I borrowed some books to learn more. My house is within walking distance to lots of interesting things, and there are many different streets to walk down, so I can always walk a new route.
I have a job working at The Soup Place in Centre Place. We sell soup, and it's not a bad job for now, but I'm still looking for something better. It feels like there are so many alleys, buildings, and secrets to discover. I like walking around, and sometimes feel a child-like shiver: 'I'm in one of the best cities on earth.' It's a good motivation to explore, rather than stay at home.
It seems strange, but for the most part, I don't really feel like I'm in Australia. It is very similar to New Zealand, except that I'm still missing all of my favourite people I'm apart from. There are lots of good people here though, and lots of new experiences

Things I don't like

I can imagine that if you don't know me in real life, I might seem to be some kind of unshakeably happy/enthusiastic person, who is always glowing sunshine. Well, I am happy a lot of the time. And the main idea of this blog is nice stuff, so I don't tend to share things I don't like, or that get me down. But I'm a real person too, dammit! So just to even things up, here is a list of some things I don't like:

Walking through car parks
Burlesque culture
Horse racing
Rhys Darby
Seagulls
Steam punk
Roller derby
Cycling near unleashed dogs (unpredictable!)
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Motivation

Working at RDU was great: I got to speak on the radio, play my favourite music, and interview some awesome people. I kept a list of those people I interviewed. It includes some big names like Florence Welch, as well as local musicians I really admire, like David Kilgour from The Clean, and Grayson Gilmour.
About a year ago, I asked a girl out. I kind of knew her, and decided I'd take the chance. I saw her in a computer lab at uni, and had 'People I've interviewed.doc' open. I felt really nervous, and was close to not asking when I thought, 'you've talked to all these people, you can talk to her.'
She was flattered, but said no - she had a boyfriend. Oh well. My point is that in your life you no doubt have problems or challenges, but you've also had experiences. You can use the experiences to help with your challenges.

Weighting

The other day I was walking through a mall, and a guy selling gym memberships spoke to me. 'Gee, you're pretty slim mate. Do you work out, or just have a crazy metabolism?' I thought about it, and agreed it was probably the latter. The same day, I heard some school kids say 'wow, that guy's skinny'. I smiled.
I guess I am pretty skinny. Perhaps outrageously so. (You can have a perv at the time I was an underwear model. Or see me in lycra). And I've always been like this.
When I tell people I'm vegan, there's often a click; that explains it. But I had no weight change after switching. In fact, I've generally not changed weight since I was 13. It's sat in the 51-55kg range that whole time.
Most of the time, I have no idea how skinny I must appear. I have pretty high self esteem (and I'll say it now - I love my body. Love it. Wouldn't want to change a thing), and I sometimes feel like the opposite of this. Still, it can be hard being a skinny guy. It can be challenging to find clothes that fit. People assume you're weak. And there's a certain stigma that might be analogous to being very large - but being stick thin goes against most 'big, manly' stereotypes. Luckily for me, there are girls who like skinny guys. And in the indie/arts scene, there aren't many beefcakes.
I had a 23kg baggage allowance when I flew to Melbourne. It made me think about what I wanted to bring, and... how much does a jersey weigh? That kind of extended to me. 50-odd kg isn't much. How much does my hand weigh? How irreducible is my liver?