Just a fleeting visit today. I'm off to Centrelink to do battle with the bureaucrats. Wish me luck.

I've just upgraded the template in the new Google blogger and, oh my goodness, it's SO EASY to make changes. html? What's that? Who needs it anyway?

The countdown begins.....

Football is coming.
Saints play their first pre-season comp match on Feb 24th.

From time to time customers want books that only seem to be available overseas. Books ordered from the UK take a maximum of 2 weeks to get here. Books from the US take a minimum of 6 weeks. Go figure.

Where's The Postman when you need him???

Best gigs

TOOL are in town. I'd really like to see them but I'm just a bit too old for that moshpit thing now. But it got me thinking about the best concerts/gigs I've been to over the years.

Page and Plant (it's one of my biggest regrets that I didn't get to see the original Zeppelin on their one and only Australian tour). When I heard the opening riff to Heartbreaker I thought "ok, I can die now". Just the best.
The Cure (saw them every time they came out here - first off in a dingy little pub in St Kilda right up to the full-blown stadium thing at Rod Laver Arena. Wherever they play, they can do no wrong in my eyes/ears)
Neil Young - he's been out here a few times. About time for another visit I think. Can't get enough.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - twice at the Big Day Out. Gotta love ol' Nick.
Pink Floyd (post Roger Waters version)- Awesome is the only word to describe that night.
Peter Gabriel - just love his stuff.
Nine Inch Nails - at the Big Day Out. I'd ripped the ligaments in my ankle so was holed up in the first aid tent. Couldn't see the band but the sound in there was fantastic; much better than out in the open.
The Tea Party - pompous individuals but, oh my, for a 3 piece they certainly pumped out a great sound. Just enough of a hint of Zep to suck me right in.
Mike Oldfield - played Tubular Bells right through. I remember him running around the stage as he jumped from one instrument to the next. Incredible talent.

And the worst show I ever saw? That honour goes to Black Sabbath I'm afraid. They were so out of it they could hardly play properly. Very disappointing.
Marilyn Manson was also pretty bad - he was trying so hard to be controversial but he just made me laugh. Tosser.

And the band I never saw but would dearly have loved to - Joy Division.

blue sky, anyone?

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Limit :: the sky's the


2. Voice :: box


3. Change :: is as good as a holiday


4. Expression :: phrase


5. Tailor :: made


6. Lemonade :: fizzy


7. Thought :: for the day


8. Phoebe :: almost what Georgia was called


9. Impression :: ism


10. Sister :: got two

courtesy of here

Some youtube videos for Shirl....

A certain bloke playing with his band.

Can you tell I'm not doing what I should be doing?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

They can pay me this much now.....

Your Life Is Worth...

$494,000

How Much Is Your Life Worth?

More time wasting

You Are 40% Sociopath

From time to time, you may be a bit troubled and a bit too charming for your own good.It's likely that you're not a sociopath... just quite smart and a bit out of the mainstream!

http://www.blogthings.com/areyouasociopathquiz/">Are You A Sociopath?

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody.And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

What's" Your Ideal Pet?

I went for a drive yesterday up to the Mt Dandenong lookout. Despite the drought, the gardens weren't too bad. The city looked very hazy though. More pics on flickr.

Friday fill in (on Saturday)

1. Today I want.... the shop to makes oodles of money
2. If only .... there was peace.
3. Once upon a time .... music was better.
4. Cold weather ... . in Michigan.
5. Dude! OMG ... . I saw Kevin Costner! (didn't really, but it's a nice thought)

Courtesy of http://www.fondofsnape.com/

What is the world coming to?

Apparently this t-shirt is a security threat.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/political-tshirt-leaves-man-stranded/2007/01/22/1169330830791.html

I've just been wandering through Baghdad Burning http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ and came across this horrific video footage. It's about US military use of MK77 in the attack on Fallujah, Iraq. MK77 is white phosphorous. It acts just like napalm. It burns the skin, melts it right off the bone. Men's skin, women's skin, children's skin. It's a chemical weapon of mass destruction.
It's US military footage, not some beat-up.

They've just hanged Saddam Hussein for ordering similar massacres.

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/video/fallujah_ING.wmv

Byron Bay

http://www.bluesfest.com.au/index.html

I'm going. Yeehah!!!

I was just over at fondofsnape.com and discovered that the reader can change the blog's skin. There's a choice of 9 different layouts that you can choose from. So, instead of Snape, I changed it to Robert "Percy" Plant. Very cool.

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Audition :: try out


2. Urgent :: now


3. Lunch :: three hours away


4. Adult :: me (sometimes)


5. Mug :: coffee


6. Awful :: yuk


7. Comics :: superman


8. Damage :: brain


9. Kicks :: get yours on route 66


10. Experience :: life

http://subliminal.lunanina.com

So I got home yesterday and sat for a while. Then someone poured me a champagne. I kind of perked up a bit after that!
Have to do it all over again today - boss's birthday. Drinks and music at the Tav and then off to dinner at the local Thai place.
Thankfully, it's a lot cooler today so I might be able to cope with all this social stuff a bit better.

I have so much work to do in this little old bookshop and I just haven't got the energy. This constant heat and humidity has just drained me. It's the humidity more than anything, it makes me so lethargic. And time is dragging too which makes it that much worse.
There's a bbq/party thing happening at home - it'll be underway by the time I get there - but all I want to do is go home and climb into bed. I don't want to be sociable. I want to lie on my bed with the fan blowing and watch some tennis. Anything else just seems totally beyond me at the moment.
I feel like such a sook.

Friday fill in (on Saturday)

Courtesy of http://www.fondofsnape.com

1. My ... means the world to me.
2. Books are ....
3. When I ..., it's because ....
4. If I want a snack, I usually reach for a ... .
5. The most recent movie I saw, ... made me .... I really ... it.

1. family
2. essential
3. laugh...I'm amused
4. bread and cheese
5. Mirrormask....confused...didn't understand it at all.

I woke up this morning and couldn't figure out what the strange noise was.

RAIN!!!!!!


Unfortunately, it didn't last. Now it's back up to 30C and muggy as hell. I am so sick of being sweaty!

Swiped this from http://www.fondofsnape.com

1. I enjoy ... more than anything else.
2. Blogging satisfies my need for ... .
3. When I look at a full moon, I feel ... .
4. I like to listen to music when I'm ... .
5. My favorite ... of 2006 was ... .

1. a good book
2. time wasting
3. a bit odd usually
4. awake
5. month....November when I bought my new car, camera and guitar.

I'm seriously considering doing some more study. The University of the Third Age (u3a) offers online courses, for over 50s, to do at your own pace. There are no degrees awarded or anything like that - it's purely for interest's sake. There are a couple of courses there that look interesting - Intro to Western Philosophy, Renaissance Italy, The Romans, Creative Writing (hahaha).
Since I quit teaching I think I'm missing the intellectual challenge.
I'm really only tossing up between the first two courses - I know a fair bit about the Romans already and I really think that creative writing (creative anything) is beyond me.

And now, I'm hearing on the news, the Tatong fire has disrupted the power grid and power failures have occured across more than half the state. In Melbourne, traffic lights are out all over the place, the trains can't operate and some suburbs are without power. (Still got power here, obviously.) Geelong, Bendigo (quite large cities) and their related areas are also without power.

It's like living in a disaster movie.

Once again it's too hot!

It's 40 degrees C out there - that's 106F. There are books galore waiting to be shelved but it's just too hot down there in the depths of the shop. It's ok up here at the desk with the fan blowing - only 30 C up here.

There are big clouds building up as I type but no rain is forecast in the immediate future - maybe later in the week. Possibly. Hopefully. Without significant rainfall soon, Melbourne has water reserves for 14 months only. Country areas have even less. This drought is mega-serious.

And the fires continue to burn and burn and burn.

Today is Mum's birthday - seventy something.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM.

(That's today, Monday the 15th. I really don't like how I can't have the proper date on this.)

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Episode :: One


2. Source :: code


3. Jerk :: off


4. Introduce :: yourself


5. Ralph :: crappy men's magazine


6. Stare :: eyes


7. Cast :: away


8. Scenario :: proposition


9. Flu :: cold


10. Mad :: as a hatter

http://subliminal.lunanina.com

I went to Holly's 21st birthday party last night. I think she had a great time. Unfortunately, my camera battery went flat half way through the night but I did get some snaps. I'll post those up on flickr shortly.



Some photos are up on flickr now.

http://www.woolworths.com.au/woolworths+ceo+pledges+support+for+drought+reflief.asp

Woolies (called Safeway in Victoria, but Woolworths everywhere else in Oz) is donating one day's profits to rural drought relief. Nice gesture.

3 million bucks a day, profit. Just one day of that would do me.

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Learn to play the guitar with my teeth. Get your resolution here.

Swiped this from Shirl who swiped it from someone else.

(I wouldn't mind learning to play with my fingers too!)

The view from Mum and Dad's across the Yarra Valley

The bottom picture was taken on Christmas Day. The weather was murky but the mountains across the valley are clearly visible. The top picture was taken yesterday. Same view. The mountains have disappeared due to smoke haze from the fires that are still burning out of control across the state.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!

TWENTY-ONE TODAY.

(Today is Tuesday the 9th, for those of you still stuck in yesterday.)

Found a new book to read.....

"People observe the colours of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours."

"The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak.

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Incomplete :: database


2. Bobby :: London cop


3. Chopstick :: Chinese food


4. Trauma :: road


5. Hesitate :: he who hesitates is lost


6. Leap :: look before you do this


7. Magnify :: ing glass


8. Yards :: hard


9. Alexander :: the Great


10. Fracture :: bones

http://subliminal.lunanina.com

It's raining. Yay!!!!

Now that it's a bit cooler people might come out to buy some books. It's been very quiet over the last few days.

I've put some Christmas Day photos up on flickr. The link on the right should take you there.

#1 niece Holly, on the right, turns 21 on Tuesday. It only seems like yesterday that she was a tiny toddler.

#2 niece Georgia, on the left, is still only 13, believe it or not.

It's too hot!

I was just looking at my photos on flickr and clicked on "more properties" next to the bit where it says what camera I used. Bloody hell! They even have the serial numbers of the camera, the type of lens, etc etc etc etc etc. How do they know all that? I'm not sure I like them being able to get that much information just from a photo of a rose!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Resolution :: broken already


2. Happy :: Birthday Shirl


3. Bubbly :: champagne


4. Kiss :: lips


5. Leather :: jacket


6. Fancy :: dress


7. Pages :: of a book


8. Stupid :: idiot


9. Apologize :: sorry


10. Secrets :: and lies

Currently reading....

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow.
Huge storyline - based around Mexican drug lords, New York Mafia and the cop trying to bust them all. I'm about half way through and the story has already covered 15 or 20 years. It's incorporated the Contras, the Mexico earthquake and all sorts of other real events into the story. If you're offended by the word fuck then don't read this book. It took me a while to get used to Winslow's style but now I really like the way he writes. Very realistic, this is not a book for the squeamish - it's a very violent world he's describing. The body count so far is enormous! It's not much bigger than lots of other books around but, gee, he packs a lot in. And it's not all just about killing. His character development is very good as well. None of them are particularly likeable though.
A good read.

Changes, changes, changes.

New computer, new desk, new chair on the way (I hope). Blogging via Google. IE7 (which, so far, isn't impressing me.)
New year.

Happy New Year to all.
Here I am in the new Google version of blogging. I haven't got time to see what's new yet. New pics on flickr if anyone's interested.