I Am Very Busy and Important.

This is a picture of childhood home #2, and the last house we...

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:05:47 +1000

This is a picture of childhood home #2, and the last house we had before our family moved to Emerald and I ceased being an only child.
It used to be the homestead of a dairy farm before the suburb became developed in the early part of last century. We were the second family to own it, and Mum and Dad did a great job with renovating it.

I drove past it today and saw that the block had been sub-divided, and a house now stood in what used to be my gigantic backyard. I remember Mum’s herb and flower gardens there, my trampoline and cubby house, and playing with our two dogs. I remember Easter egg hunts under the hedges, talking to the neighbours over the fence, the old timber shed, being sent to sit on the “naughty step” outside the laundry under the house.

I felt sad, so I ate some KFC which made me feel worse. Oh life.

In other news, posts will be a bit sparse here for the next few weeks. Uni has gone back and I have a lot of writing for $$ to do, including putting together issue two of I Am Very Busy and Important: The Zine. I’m stoked that people I don’t know in cities I don’t live in bought enough copies for issue one to sell out.

So goes my glamorous life.

The old flour mill at Albion is (or was, not much has happened...

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:50:00 +1000

The old flour mill at Albion is (or was, not much has happened there since the GFC) set to be developed into offices, apartments and a shopping village. This is what happens to the post-industrial city fringe, old abandoned buildings with smatterings of graffiti become containers for yuppies and empty-nesters.

Sometimes I marvel at the versatility of these old monuments, at what a good retrofit can achieve.

Sometimes I wish they were allowed to crumble into the ground, given the luxury of a slow but dignified death.

The commuters scurry in and out of the nearby train station, not knowing and not caring about any of it.

Worst (hypothetical) mixtape ever.

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:34:00 +1000

(pic via comicallyvintage)

I had a dream the other night that Who The Hell let me post a mixtape entitled Bands My Boyfriends Have Been In. Now, aside from being a tacky idea that would make me look like a massive groupie sluzz, it would be a travesty against good taste and the art of crafting a cohesive mixtape.

Essentially, it would be a compilation of nu-metal bands from central Queensland, with one lonely jazz track from my current boyfriend’s band. While none of the bands are offensive on their own, it’d be the combination of uncool niche genres that would really get up people’s noses.

I got thinking about the whole boys in bands thing, and came to the conclusion that my youth and dabblings in the music industry are responsible for all of my heartbreaks. While all these boys were/are great guys (some of them less great than others), I didn’t date any of them for their music, or for the “cool” factor of them being in bands. Seriously, why would you? Young, male rock musicans are terrible to date. Their egos are often the largest part of their anatomy and there are always hotter chicks out there willing to stroke them. Ahem.

At the ripe old age of 21, I’ve stopped banging my head against brick walls and have lucked into a wonderful relationship with a handsome, caring, funny computer programmer who has a jones for jazz and funk music. While he does play guitar well, he also has a fulltime job and a mortgage.

There’s nothing sexier than responsibility.

‘sup, Brisbane city sunset?

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:12:18 +1000

‘sup, Brisbane city sunset?

Adult Emporium in Albion is a landmark. Located opposite the...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:39:46 +1000

Adult Emporium in Albion is a landmark. Located opposite the train station in a suburb that is a glorified industrial estate, it boasts entry via laneway, a never-ending sale and stock from Off Ya Tree for all your classy bong and piercing needs. I love how its logo looks like something from a post-war era Marvel superhero comic. “Adult Emporium, rescuing ordinary citizens from the tyranny of a stodgy vanilla sex life.”

Courtesy and decorum.

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:58:44 +1000

Last night, my friend Dan and I were talking about anti-social internet behaviour; namely trolling, flaming and straight-up bitching. Neither of us are angels when it comes to paying out our friends, but we were both astounded by the amount of people who say really dreadful things about other people, bands and organisations on what is a public forum. Sure, you can have your private accounts and locked down Facebooks, but if someone really wants to put you in your place, there is always caching and screenshots.

Dan likened the internet to a party, and I think he’s right. Just be sure that your venomous spray doesn’t happen as the party suddenly goes quiet.

I find history fascinating. Old books, clothes, houses, photos,...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:43:00 +1000

I find history fascinating. Old books, clothes, houses, photos, instruments, you name it - anything with a few stories attached. Born in 1870, Alfred Elliott was a Brisbane public servant with a passion for photography, and photographs he took between 1890 and 1921 are on show as Chosen View: Photographs From The Elliott Collection at the Museum of Brisbane.

The format of the exhibition is pretty nifty. The photos have been reproduced from their glass negatives onto similarly-sized pieces of perspex and displayed on a lightbox. When you find a photo that interests you (there are great shots of the CBD and inner suburbs), scan the barcode attached to the perspex. The image and detailed caption will then be displayed on the projector screen for 45 seconds.

5 out of 5. Would see again.

There are many great things about dating a cool, handsome nerd...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:31:26 +1000

There are many great things about dating a cool, handsome nerd who makes video games for a living. One of them is his nerdy friends and workmates.

One of his workmates and his fiancee have just built a castle in the middle of nowhere, so last night we trekked out to the castle-warming. It was actually quite tasteful inside, and the party guests were encouraged to keep themselves warm by setting the couple’s old furniture on fire outside. There was no moat and no torture room, but they did have cable internet and nice bathrooms. It would’ve been a tough decision to make, but I applaud them.

They’re getting married out there later on in the year - it’s a medieval costume wedding. Good on them!

If there was such a thing as ‘my kind of church’,...

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:40:06 +1000

If there was such a thing as ‘my kind of church’, this would be a choice hymn.

Today Albie completed a project he’s been working on for a...

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:22:18 +1000

Today Albie completed a project he’s been working on for a while now - to shred the collection of foam mattresses downstairs into little chunks. He spread the wreckage out by rolling around in the drifts of foam until it covered the ground as evenly as possible. He knows he’s been naughty, but he’s still pretty pleased with himself.

The roadworks on the Clem 7/Northern Busway/Airport Link have...

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:02:09 +1000

The roadworks on the Clem 7/Northern Busway/Airport Link have made a real mess out of Lutwyche Road in Windsor. On my walk home, I looked behind the soundwall near McDonalds and found this sweet little vacant lot which could easily pass for a park.

I suppose nobody can sell it off because of the hollow in the middle which would fill up pretty quickly during the summer wet season. If nothing else, I hope local kids find it and do their underage binge drinking somewhere scenic with good access to a McDonalds.

"We used to have bad arse Prime Ministers. Now we have useless wankers who lose their shit over a..."

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:02:39 +1000

“We used to have bad arse Prime Ministers. Now we have useless wankers who lose their shit over a mixed up meal on a flight and have a cry on national TV.”

- Big Will tells it.

platitudeproblem: Relevant political/prime-ministerial...

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:58:56 +1000

platitudeproblem:

Relevant political/prime-ministerial commentary, thanks to Lindsay and Sophie’s new band.

Happy female Prime Minister day! My housemate’s girlfriend Lindsay and I have formed a new band and written a song for our new leader. I present to you:

The Political Dykes - ‘Julia Gillard’

Today:

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:45:15 +1000

I went to my first day of therapy as an outpatient (30min drive to the other side of town), renewed my drivers licence, set up my bed, moved some more of my stuff out of storage (more driving) and read my book.

However, I did not play with the dog and now it’s too dark to do so. From now on, if my day doesn’t include some Albie-Soph time, it’s not a successful day. Internet, please keep me honest with this goal.

This is Albie, one of the eight residents (six human, one...

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:49:00 +1000

This is Albie, one of the eight residents (six human, one canine, one feline) of Somerset Street, my new home. He likes playing soccer, shredding foam mattresses, being patted and making new friends.

Benjamin, where the hell have you been?

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:30:20 +1000

Sorry for the extended silence, sports fans. I do realise it’s almost been two weeks since my thoughts have been recorded here thanks to a complicated system involving kinetic energy, binary code and brain cells.

I’ve been in hospital, and no, I don’t wish to talk about it.

So, what else is news? Well, my hometown got its first set of traffic lights. When we first moved to Emerald, I was a little girl who had spent her early childhood in the gentrified inner Brisbane suburbs. When my grandmother asked if there were traffic lights in my new town, I replied, “no, we just swear at each other.”

I remember when Main Roads put in the first set of roundabouts back in the late 90s. Farmers who obtained their drivers licence by purchasing a slab of beer for the young police man carrying out the examination found themselves stuck, circling the concrete traffic islands, unable to get off. Eventually they’d get the shits and drive over the top in their four-wheel-drives.

I don’t know whether this means Emerald’s a city now, but I do know that this occasion will join The Flood of ‘08, the McDonalds Restaurant Opening of 1996 and the Sex Shop Wars of the early 2000s in the pantheon of things that are a Big Deal that geriatrics will moan about.

Elvis in Allans

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:10:56 +1000

My guitars are in storage with the rest of my things and I’ve been missing them. I’ve mucked around with my boyfriend’s guitars, but he’s a jazz player who doesn’t use a pick - bashing out power chords on a gorgeous hollow-body just feels disrespectful.

So today, after a morning of blood tests, call centres and other horrid grown-up things, I swallowed my pride and visited Allans Music in the Queen Street Mall. It’s full of big-brand instruments and salespeople who can be counted upon to go for the hard sell without the appropriate knowledge to back it up.

Since I was already in a music store that wasn’t really my kind of place, I threw all pride out the window and played guilty pleasure guitars - el cheapo Squier Stratocasters and speedy-necked Ibanez shred machines. I was in the middle of a particularly cheesy pentatonic riff on the Strat when a man who had been pacing around the store stopped in front of me.

He was covered neck to wrist with tattoos of spiderwebs, skulls and pinups - the sort of designs binge-inkers my age pay top dollar for. This guy was old and grizzled enough to have earned them through years spent bouncing between shady practices and correctional institutes.

I stopped playing and smiled nervously. He smiled back.

“Music is just…” he ventured, shaking his head in irritation as I held the guitar against my chest. He took a deep breath and tried again.

“Love me Tender. Who sang that?”
Elvis.
“That’s right, and it was a movie too. He made three black and white films you know, King Creole, Jailhouse Rock and Love Me Tender.”

He disappeared down an aisle of ugly Epiphone Les Pauls and SGs, muttering to himself.
I strummed a chord and he reappeared.

“Love Me Tender, it was meant to be called something else. What was it?”
I don’t know. Tell me.
“The Reno Brothers!”
Really? Why did they change it?
“Well, it was Elvis and he was a singer more than an actor, wasn’t he?”
I nodded.
“Well, Love Me Tender was a big hit, a huge hit and that’s why they changed the movie’s name. They nearly didn’t make it.”
Yeah? Why?
“Well, all his fans, his character dies and all his fans were, they didn’t want his character to die. His mother cried when she watched the film for the first time.”

He grinned, clearly delighted to have found, in his mind, a fellow fan of the King. “You must have read up a bit on Elvis, hey?” It was a statement, not a question.

His carer put the acoustic guitar he’d been playing back on the rack and led my Elvis teacher out of the store.

"Zeitgeber: An environmental agent or event that provides the cue for setting or resetting a..."

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:44:00 +1000

“Zeitgeber: An environmental agent or event that provides the cue for setting or resetting a biological clock. To be synchronized with our environment, we need the input of Zeitgebers. The most important Zeitgeber in nature is light. Social factors, chemical factors and activity can also serve as Zeitgebers.”

- The Germans have the best words.

Picked up my copy of Fires of Waco’s new EP only to find...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:51:00 +1000

Picked up my copy of Fires of Waco’s new EP only to find the pictures I took at their Browning Street Studios gig used in the album artwork.

Would’ve been more stoked if I was credited, but they apologised to me for what seems to be a genuine oversight. No hard feelings etc.

A step down from just plain Googling your symptoms before...

Mon, 31 May 2010 13:24:26 +1000

A step down from just plain Googling your symptoms before consulting Dr. Wikipedia.