It seems longer and longer in between posts for me as life seems to be speeding up at such an incredible pace. While there feels like a thousand things I could write about at the moment, I though I would just break the ice in an easy and clean manner and share a few photos and a video of a recent trip to Melbourne to see Tool live in concert.  Thinking back to the night of the concert, it still seems like such a sureal concept that I was actually there, as if I had fallen down the rabbit hole into a world of light and sound like no other – if only the food stands had sold cakes with the words “Eat Me” on them so I may have been able to see just a little bit more.  They opened the show with Third Eye (much to my delight) and closed with one of my favourite, Stink Fist.  While they never played Parabol/Parabola, their live rendition of Lateralus with a small homage to Metallica even pleased my Chicken, whom has never really been much of a fan.   Even though the quality is far from good, we did manage to film them playing Vicarious.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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On the 16th of December, I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff Martin live for the second time, preforming alongside Terapai Richmond (dIG/The Whitlams) for their World’s Apart tour.  Playing at the Wrest Point Casino (Australia’s oldest casino), I invited my mum along to watch and listen as Jeff unraveled his musical magic to an enthralled audience.

Formally of The Tea Party, Jeff revealed that a new project he has been working on, Jeff Martin 777,  is scheduled to be released in late February, followed by a tour of Canada in March and another Australian tour in May of 2011.

For more information, visit his website – www.jeff-martin.net

Even though the quality isn’t the best, I was able to do a small amount of filming on my still camera.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

Related Posts

• February 5, 2010 -- R.I.P Elliot, May 16th 2005 – February 5th, 2006 (3)
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• February 18, 2011 -- Tool, Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, February 2011 (1)

If you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift that will not only amaze but that is educational as well, then visit Optics Planet and have a look at their range of telescopes.  They also sell microscopes, binoculars, sunglasses, watches, knives, camping gear and much more at amazing prices.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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The following is from a Live Journal blog post I made on the 19th September 2005, via the user name royalderwent.

We were lucky enough to borrow a video camera off my brother which he obtained from school. The reason for borrowing the camera was that I am still to own my own, however, I do hope to purchase one within the next few months.

We filmed both Saturday and Sunday during the day, just to get more of a feel for the site and we came up with some interesting results.

We started with general exterior filming of the original Willow Court Building then moved onto Ward C. Through one of the broken door windows, we were able to zoom in on a notice board that appeared to still have photographs of buildings attached, although we could not determine what the buildings were, or even if they were buildings from the site.

A Section Of The Willow Court Building – Note The Painted Figure On The Left

The next building we filmed we were unable to determine what it was ¹, but it is situated between Ward C and The Administration Building. We walked around until we came to a built in veranda section. We had visited this building a few days earlier when we were getting general photographs, but never thought to check the doors on that day. On Saturday, we checked the doors and found that they were unlocked. We ventured into our first building and I could feel a ball of excitement in my stomach. The first room was quite wide and about two and a half times as long. Near the door was an old hospital bed with metal springs. After further examination on the building, I came to the conclusion that this room could have been where patients slept, beds all lined up along the walls like a hospital ward.

Ward Bed

This particular room had three doors – the entrance, a door on the left had side leading to a communal bathroom, and a door at the very end leading into what seemed like a dinning area. I ventured into the bathroom. There were three toilets, two baths, two showers and a line of basins. Only the toilets had actual doors, the baths and showers had rails for curtains, possibly for easy access of the nursing staff. There was a door to the left leading into a laundry area, with another exterior door leading back to the closed in veranda section. After general filming of these sections, I moved towards a door with a glass window in the right hand side of the room. Dave (my partner) was still in the first room and had not followed me into the bathroom. As I started filming though the glass window of the door, when both Dave and I heard a crashing sound coming from further in the building. Unfortunately, my microphone was not working for the majority of the day. However, when reviewing the film of the moment, we caught a glimpse of something strange through the window. It appeared to be the figure of a male standing side on and as I started to pan the camera across, the figured looked as if it started to move to face me. At the time of filming, I did not see anything and for the entire time of filming, I was standing front on, ruling out my own reflection. After a few seconds of regular filming, I switched the camera to night shot, and the figure disappeared. It could be a possibility that what I saw was indeed a trick of the light that was coming though another window, however, I don’t think it could explain the colouring of the figure – what looked like brown hair, Caucasian face colouring and dark clothing. I need to review the section of film again when I am able to get access to the camera. Hopefully latter this week, I will be able to upload the footage to disk and take some screen shots and take a closer look. Once I do, I will post pictures to see what you think².

I continued back into the first room and went into what I believed may have been a dinning area, as there was a kitchen with a servery. The dinning room was strewn with broken chairs and old wooden cupboards, and evidence that possums had been in the building could be seen. I walked into the kitchen. Most of the cupboards appeared to have locks on them, maybe to stop patients from stealing the food. The ground was what seemed to be an old pill bottle. While filming it, we heard another bang. At the time, Dave was in the dinning room and the sound appeared to come from the first room – possibly the doors. Dave was freaked out, however, we went on. To the left of the dinning room was another door, leading to a corridor with several doors leading off. On the left had side were doors leading to sun room areas. On the right was a medicine room – still with labels on the cupboards – and several rooms that looked like holding cells. The room sizes of these were quite small and the doors in some cases had metal panels on the bottom with small windows up the top. In one room was an old bath where it was possible to have the patient sitting upright. The bath appeared to have had peddles like a modern day hospital beds, to raise and adjust the bath tub. Where the patient would sit was a large grove – quite possibly as a run off for any bowel actions. The other cells where empty or had broken chairs.

At the end of the corridor was another section that looked to be a living area. The ceilings were lower in this section, meaning that quite possibly this section was added at a latter date. On the right was a door that led to outside and on the right where a few single toilets.

There were no other incidents in this building and we started to make our way out.

The next building we filmed was a small, white weather board cottage, hidden from the road by overgrown bushes. I have heard several stories about this particular cottage, and none of them pleasant. This place really had a strange feel to it. The entire place was surrounded by a wire fence with barbwire on the top, and all doors and windows had been boarded up, with only one possible entrance that would still require the door to be jimmied open ³.

From there, we went around to the back of Ward C by jumping over a boom gate. One of the most interesting design features of Ward C were walls made from hollow concrete blocks, placed approximately one meter away from the original external walls. At either end were large, steel bar gates. This appeared to be an added security feature to prevent patients who had broken and climbed though windows escaping. Continuing around the back, we saw what would be the only way to one day access the building, buy cutting trough wire fencing that had been placed over large, broken windows. Further around were two high walled, outside exercise areas. Large, heavy steel bared gates prevented access. In one of these yards, a flock of sheep munched happily away at the over grown grass.

We finished of the day by doing a small amount of exterior filming of the Administration Building.

We returned on Sunday to try and re-shoot most of what we filmed the first day, as we didn’t have sound for the majority of filming, however, we also had the company of Dave’s sister and her best friend.

After a small amount of exterior filming of The Willow Court Building and Ward C once again, we ventured back into the eventful building we had filmed the previous day. I was first to enter the building, the others followed, and we closed the door. I went back into the bathroom once again while the other started to explore the dinning room. We had not been in there five minutes, when we heard a load crash of the doors in the first room. We slowly ventured out, and the door was still closed. We couldn’t see anyone else around the building. My first impression was it could have been a slight breeze. Freaked out, Dave’s sister opened the doors and went out side. Still with the camera on, I went to close the doors. In the play back, you can see my reflection in the glass of the door with Dave behind me. Yet there was another “object” that could be seen, not in the reflection of the door it’s self, but through the glass of another door beyond. We ruled out the possibility of it being the reflection on Dave’s sister’s friend, as when the camera pans across, you can see her reflection off further to the right had side.

The rest of the filming went without incident. Upon exiting the building, we decided to do a test with the doors, by seeing how hard you would have to slam them in order to have achieved the volume of sound we heard. The hinges were quite stiff and took quite a bit of force to slam them. When reviewing the film, we looked to see if the “object” was still there – and it was. We were quite confident that what we could see was actually an object or a wall marking in the laundry area and not something “paranormal”. However, it didn’t explain the banging of the door. As a control, I filmed the breeze in a near by tree and saw that there was no way, given the hinging of the doors, that a breeze of that strength could have slammed the doors as hard as they could – if at all.

From there, we tried to gain access to the Administration Building Via a bar section at the back where the windows had been smashed. The first day we had gone to the complex, Dave and I heard something inside crashing as we walked passed. We were able to get inside the bar section, but the door in there was bolted shut.

Our next building was the Nurses Cottage. We were able to access the right wing by jumping through a broken window. In its day, the interior would have been beautiful with pressed metal paneled ceilings and arched entrances. While there were no strange happenings, one thing that caught our attention were painted figures on the floor in one room – which in it’s self had been painted to resemble a sports court of some description. The reason they caught our attention is that on one of the boarded windows of the previous building we gained entrance to, the same figure had been painted.

Unable to go much further due to other internal doors being locked, we moved around to the back court yard. We found one window with a loose board over it that one day we hope to use to access the rest of the building.

After, we went across to the other side of the complex to a series of wards, built in the 1930’s. We found a window we could climb though, and found our selves in a communal bathroom. Drawn on the mirrors, once again were the same figures we had seen in the Nurses Cottage and the first building. Apart from numerous communal bathrooms with raised bath tubs and holding cells, the rest of the building felt like an old school house with rooms that looked like open class rooms. The cells, though, were the strangest and were quite disturbing. The rooms were small with heavy doors and huge window shutters that let in little light. One story I heard was that many of the patients would hide behind walls with scissors, waiting for staff members to walk by so they may slit their throats. As punishment, they were thrown naked into a freeze bath and from that, into one of the cells – still wet and naked.

It was in this building my tape ran out, however we continued to explore. The last room I walked into make me week at the knees.

There are still several wards in this section that we are still yet to explore.

That concluded our second day of filming.

I am hoping to get the film from the SLR developed and posted tomorrow. while I took many digital camera images, for some reason, the setting kept playing up and many of the photos were out of focus. However, here one of a billboard showing the proposed development plans.

Over the past few weeks I have heard several stories in relation to the Royal Derwent Site. Here are a few.

The small, white weather board cottage seems to have quite a few stories related to it. Two people – a man and a woman – apparently hung themselves inside many years ago. There has been rumors of a “man hating ghost” that throws men around the room. Related to this story is another, told to me by neslepaks &sup4;, via the following comments left to a promotional post in hobart_people.

on the ghost legends do you know about the cleaner who went into that old wooden building [surrounded by chicken wire now] and was found an hour later unconscious with blood all over the walls and said he had been thrown around by something he couldn’t see?

(re-reply)

oh ok, he’s shown himself to a friend and i [both female], we were opposite the door [the old one with all the smashed glass and everything, an arched shape], i have a photo of his face and possibly another one, which i thought could have been bollocks until i went back and looked again.

i’ve always had an urge to go in there, even though i don’t really like the idea of being knocked unconscious from being thrown around. the last time i was there i had a wave of sadness hit me as i walked away from that building, like it wanted me to stay, another friend [a male] had the the same thing happen, and he thought of going in there and sitting down for a while when he had that feeling. we nearly died on the highway that night too, haha. he also touched the side of the building and felt something that felt like a pulse, a female friend tried to see if she could feel it but couldn’t. that could have been because when my male friend was touching the building i could see the spirit looking out the window sometimes and when my female friend touched it i couldn’t or it could have something to do with the dislike of men.

before i’d heard about this spirit i’d wondered about why the house was surrounded by chicken wire when no other buildings were. i’ve heard it was just an adminstration type building in the 70s [or around then] when a friend’s father worked there and there wasn’t anything dodgy happening there. but it is the building mostly made of wood, as opposed to all the others i have seen that are mostly made of stone. – Permission to use comments was given.

Other stories involve gross neglect of patients, including rape claims. A search of the local libraries newspaper articles in the TALIS system, came up with 351 matches – many of the head lines suggesting malpractice and investigation requests. I hope to spend a day in the Tasmanian State Library this week to be able to read these articles.

I also came across two websites of interest – http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/individual/brm_mwr/20.html

- and I quote from this site:

Although Mark had a number of convictions over the years, he had never done anything serious enough to be sent to prison. His last and most serious conviction was on 18 August 1981 for stealing; we do not know the circumstances but he received a sentence of four months imprisonment, which was suspended on condition that he commit no offences of dishonesty for a period of 18 months. Previously he had been before courts on six occasions for traffic offences, three of them involving charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. He had one conviction for drinking in a hotel out of hours and on three occasions he was before courts on offences relating to cannabis. On 12 May 1977 a sentence of two months for possessing and using cannabis was suspended on condition that he remained at the Royal Derwent Hospital for two months or until discharged by a medical practitioner.

To be institutionalized for possession and use of cannabis these days would seem crazy in it’s self and for me, brings up the question that if this gentleman was not of indigenous decent, would he still have be institutionalized?

The second site – http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s197842.htm – provides a transcript of an interview with a former patient, Carla Paul, done by ABC’s 7.30 Report in 2000. To read, please click the above link.

Carla Paul went on to write a book, ‘From Darkness to Light’, which I am going to try and source.

I have been able to find a source in which to purchase another book that has been written on the history of the Royal Derwent in 1981, called “Troubled Asylum. The history of The Royal Derwent Hospital”, written by R. W. Gowlland. I hope to purchase this within the next few weeks.
I am going to try and fix the scan of the newspaper from the pervious entry, however, the size will make it too hard to read the actual text.

I will post photos from the SLR hopefully tomorrow, and when I can transfer the film to disk, I will post some screen shots of our “strange figure”.

¹ Ward B, ² Figure later deemed to be a combination of shadows and light reflections. ³ Frascatti,

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A few weeks ago, my beautiful Chicken asked me to marry him.  Knelling down amongst shimmering candles layed out in a heartagram on the bedroom floor, he took my hand and asked me to be his wife.  I, of course, said yes before he jumped back up, flames licking at his jeans – he had set himself on fire!  Next week we will be celebrating  our engagement with friends and family, and are planning our wedding next year at 11 past 11 on the 11th of the 11th, 2011.

We have already decided to do the wedding our way, in our style.  Gothic Victorian in shades of black and crimson.  It has not been easy finding inspiration for “Alternative” weddings.  Many sites that I find online almost seem comical, like something out of a bad horror film.  With so much to plan, 1 year seems like such a sort time…

With summer just around the corner, it is now time to plan our camping trip for early next year.  The last few years we have gone to Coles Bay, up the East Coast of Tasmania for a couple of days.  While I would still love to head up that way still, I am hoping we can maybe go for a week, maybe even staying a few nights in holiday lodges at Swansea or Bicheno. Some friends of Mum and Dad’s have connections to someone with a property at Mayfield, so we may even make it a bit of a family holiday before heading further up the cost.

There is litterally so much to look forward to at the moment, that it is rather overwhelming.  To often to I find I need to shake myself from my dreams to face the reality in front of me, but I am loving this feeling.  This feeling of future, happiness and love is what life is all about…

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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Several years ago, I started a paranormal investigation of an old, abandoned mental asylum in New Norfolk, Tasmania – Willow Court, also known as The Royal Derwent.  Once the largest mental asylum in the Southern Hemisphere, it was closed down ward by ward towards the end of the 90’s as new changes were made to the mental health system – but not all of the patients (or staff)  left.  I had heard countless stories about the site, even before it’s closure about blue nurses wondering the grounds, toilets flushing and chairs spinning in empty rooms, and even a male hating ghost with murderous tenancies.

It has been a while since my last visit to The Royal Derwent.  Time seems to be speeding up dramatically, leaving me less and less time to do the things I crave.  Many others have now taken up their own investigations based on my videos and research, and with much of what I have gathered being scattered over random blogs, YouTube, digital storage devices and mini disks, I thought it was about time I started compiling all my research into one place.

The following is from a Live Journal blog post I made on the 14 September 2005, via the user name royalderwent.  While the account and blog are still live, once I have archived it to here, I will be removing it from Live Journal.

After having to put it off for a while, today we finally went down to the Royal Derwent Site, just to get a feel for the layout and to get some general photos. I am still hoping to go back within the next week to finish the film. I’ll post pictures once I have them developed.

In general, the site didn’t feel as sad as the time we drove through about a year ago. We started by walking around the original barracks – build in 1830-1831 to house invalids. It is also know as the Willow Court building because of a willow Tree Lady Franklin planted in the court yard. All the doors and windows have now been boarded up, and painted to appear like real doors and windows, with depictions of early settlers appearing to walk through to painted openings. The original exterior has been painted to look like sandstone block work. Whether the render is original or not was hard to tell. The below is a picture, photographed by Rosalyn Chapman. It is uncertain when the photo was taken, as the paving has now been taken up and a road has been built in the foreground. The windows and doors in the below picture do not appear to be the same as painted. The photo was sourced from http://www.newnorfolk.org/~willow_court/

Built directly onto the side of the barracks is Ward C, or the actual mental hospital it’s self. It housed not only the insane, but the criminally insane. One thing that stood out to me was the windows. Each window was made up of multiple windows – approximately 15cm by 15cm. To me, this seemed like a deliberate attempt to keep people inside the building. We were able to walk through one door to a small entrance. There was one door directly ahead, one to the left and a small room to the right, with another door. All the doors and been bolted up. We couldn’t see any other visible means of getting in.

From the “urban legends” I have heard myself; this is the epicenter of the activity. Somewhere within Ward C are pits where many patients were left. One story I heard involved a group of men who had wondered in during the night. One man unfortunately fell into one of the pits. Unable to get him out, his friend went back to their home to get some rope. When they returned, their mate was paralyzed with fear after “seeing” things. What he saw, I do not know.

It has been proposed that the Barracks and Ward C will be one day turned into a museum.

The next building we examined was the Administration Building. As we were walking around, there was a section that appeared to be a bar/entertainment area. The windows were broken and as we walked closer to be able to look through them, we heard a sound like something falling heavily from further inside the building. We could not work out exactly what the sound was.

We continued to walk around the building. Outside the front was a billboard, advertising the proposed development.

As we walked around the side, we came across another entrance section to the building, with a stair case leading up to another bolted door. In this small courtyard section, there were another three doors that were unlocked, yet led no where. One contained an old hot water cylinder, another, and old wardrobe that we were unable to access. The third door was just an old storage area; however, we did find some old Newspapers, dating back to 1992. We salvaged the cover from one – dated Tuesday, April 7, 1992 – before the hospital was closed in the late 90’s. It’s actually kind of ironic how there is so much death on the front page.

Still continuing around, we came across a built in veranda section, and walked through to be able to look through a broken window, into a room with an old, spring based bed.

The next building was the “Ladies Cottage”. The majority of the building is encompassed with a detracting veranda. The font of the building has been graffited with “Do not enter or die.” Looking through the windows, it appeared that renovations have started.

Next to that was the Nurses Cottage where I observed to cats playfully chasing each other. The front, while over grown, was amazing, with verandas on both levels. Around the side, most of the windows had been smashed in, making it easy for future access. Around the back was a gate leading into a courtyard with high brick fences, topped with cast iron spikes. To me, this particular design feature appeared be for the purpose of keeping people out rather than in.

Through one of the upstairs windows, you could see what appeared to be a mirror and something – quite possibly the top of a stair rail – covered in a white sheet. Many of the original light fittings and a few shades remained.

As it was getting dark, we decided to have dinner at The Nosh Pit – a new restaurant that also provides budget accommodation on the site. The original building was named Alcharinga.

I would like to thank the anonymous comments from my last post, and would like to share them -

“There is a book, called Troubled Asylum. It’s badly written but so far as I know it’s the only history of the RDH. Before Ward 7, which was the locked ward up until about 5 years ago when it all closed down, there was C-ward. C-ward basically dealt with the criminally insane. People have lots of stories and psych nurses love to talk. If you want to get the inside goss though, you’re going to need to get ethical approval first and then go to mental health facilities like Tyenna (Milbrook Rise Complex), Mistral Place and the Royal Hobart Hospital, DPM. Put out a survey in the staff rooms of these places, e.g. did you work at the RDH? Do you have any stories to share? There’s lots of the old staff still in the system.

Oh wait. One of my colleagues who worked at Willow Court told me when the patients were faking seizures (pseudoseizures) the nurses used to pull their pubic hair to determine whether it was a real seizure or not. Works like a charm, apparently.“

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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After months of planning and making and fussing, I am proud to introduce to you my new website (and new business) Candy Bownes Hair Bows & Accessories.  I had been feeling lost for a while not having a little crafty project to keep me occupied.  As much as I love to scrape book, I have been rather slack in taking new photos of late – and even slacker in added them to our album.  But our scrap book is just that – ours.  I don’t do it for profit or to please anyone else other than myself and my chicken.  I needed something I could just put out there, for others to enjoy.

I have always been a bit of a big kid when it comes to my hair.  I always have to be changing it, whether it be a cut or colour, or wearing a funky accessory.  But being fussy, I never found it easy to find something unique – until I wondered into a new shop that had opened up down the road.  There, I found the cutest paid of hair bows – white ribbon covered in red blood splatters, with a small bloodied butchers cleaver in the center of each.  Ok, so they may not sound like the cutest bows in the world to everyone else, but to me, they were perfect – and I paid the price for that perfection.

Upon getting them home, I examined them closer, thinking that I could make these, I could make my own hairs bows – and so I did.  I came up with my business name, registered my domain and got my web hosting, and found a fantasitc e-Commerce Plugin for Wordpress.  While my site and business are still young, I hope to grow it into something that is more than just a hobby.

You can visit my new site, Candy Bownes Hair Bows & Accessories HERE – Please be sure to subscribe as well for updates on all my newest products.

You can also find us on Facebook and on Twitter

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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Filez Street Search is a Rapidshare Search engine, designed to help you search through a variety of  hosts  for  movies, games and apps to download.

Rapidshare is the largest file sharing site on the net and is one of the most popular sites online, even though many people have never heard of it. Filez Street Search makes it easy to search Rapidshare by browsing by categories, including eBooks, movies and games and programs especially for Mac.  So far, Filez Street Search have 5,243,523 live files indexed with more being added daily.  It is by far one of the most comprehensive file sharing search engines online and one you should definatly add to your bookmarks.

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Ever wondered who invented the slot machine and when?  Then visit Play Online Slots for Real Money.  There is also a variety of other interesting articles from increasing your chances at winning online to slot machine myths.   They also have listings for the best online slots around, including ratings and free bonuses.

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The other week my Chicken and I celebrated out 2 year anniversary.  To mark the occasion and our love for each other, we both had a Heartagram tattood on our ring fingers.  While the Heartagram is actually the logo for the Finnish band, H.I.M., it still holds meaning.  Seen as a modern day Ying Yang, it symbolised balance between love and hate / fear.  The Tattoos were done by Candice of Tassie Ink.

As for other general happenings, I am trying once again to quit smoking.  So far I am up to day 6 of no ciggarets and no nicotine replacement.  I have also been enjoying lounging around the house as I am dead smack in the middle of some annual leave.  It has been good to work on all sorts of little things I have been putting off for a while.  Not really looking forward to going back to work, but who does after a week and a half of relaxation?

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I have been meaning to play around with a few koi designs for some time, but when one of my work mates was saying how he wouldn’t mind getting one on his arm, I decided to kill some time by coming up with a very rough idea.  It doesn’t look like much as I was limited in my drawing materials at the time, but I don’t think it’s a bad start.  Because my mate is also a big Pokemon fan, I was thinking of working in a few Magikarp and / or Garados characteristics into it as well as defining the water.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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• May 23, 2010 -- Tribal Infinity Tattoo Design, Number 2 (10)

At the moment I am in the planning phase for my own, small craft based business.  Ever since I was a small child, I was not only good at creating things, but I was also very entrepreneurial.  I remember having family garage sales where I would go across the road to pick flowers, then try to sell them to everybody who walked in for 20 cents each.  When I was in primary school, I started making beaded jewelry to sell to my friends and by the time I was 13, I was selling my designs to local businesses.  As much as I enjoyed making each piece, it was time consuming and the profit didn’t really cover the cost or the love I gave each creation.

When it comes to setting up a small business, it is not just about the product it’s self, but the planning behind it.  Do you know how much it will cost to make your product?  What about the time spent making it?  And what about packaging and promotion?  How will people know it exists?  And then there is building an inventory, maintaining it and keeping records of sales… You can start to see how many people can easily get overwhelmed.

Here are a few tips that I am using myself while in my pre-planning phase:

1. Plan your Product: How much will is cost to make your product and how long will each item take to make?  What materials will you use and where will you get them from?  Depending on where you live, buying your materials locally may actually cost you more than you think.  Try searching online for wholesalers, or even browse through eBay – every cent you can save in production means more in your pocket later on.
2. Come up with a Price: We would all love to create something and sell it for a fortune, but unfortunately that isn’t always the way it works.  Take a look around at other products similar to yours and see what they are priced at.  Is it a price you would be willing to pay?  Do they sell a lot at that price and are they worth the price?  Not only that, you need to take into consideration how much it has cost you to make.  My personal rule of thumb is to take the production cost and multiply that by 300% before I make a firm pricing decision.  Keep in mind as well that if you are selling on your items to other businesses for resale, that they too will be putting their own price on your product, usually around 100%.
3. Product Packaging & Presentation: How you present your product can make a big impact on it’s success.  Packaging can either draw the potential customers attention, or make them cringe.  Try to come up with something that not only compliments your product and looks professional, but also does not cost you a fortune.  There are many sites online that provide cheap, or even FREE business card or postcard printing which you can utilise in your product presentation.  It also gives you the chance to add other details, such as a website where customers can view and order more goods.  Alternately, you could always print your own.
4. Marketing you Product: Getting people to know about your product is ofter the hardest part of a business, but thanks to the Internet, there are many options for you to get yourself known.  Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are are great examples.  Creating your own website is also a fantastic way of show casing your items and also allows customers to purchase goods from you, no matter where they are in the World.

These are only a few starting points to keep in mind while planning.  Over the next few weeks I will be posting a couple more articles that will be useful, from setting up a web page to traffic and promotion.  So if you are not already subscribed to my blog, be sure to do so.

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Another year, another Zombie March – and what a blood bath of brains and fun it was! This year saw even more zombies of all ages rise from their graves to make their way from Princess Park in Battery Point to the Brisbane Hotel in Hobart.  Once again dressed as a bloody bride, my Chicken (who this year was a prisoner) and I invited a few friends along for the thrill ride.  Meeting at the “Boat Park”, I think we ended up eating more of our home made fake blood than we wore as we watched zombies of all sizes start to take over the leaf strewn landscape. Even though I had dressed up (which I love to do), my main priority for myself this year was to film the event.  Constantly running to get ahead to the action was a lot harder than I anticipated, particularly in a wedding gown, but it was very much worth it for the footage I got – it also made the beer afterwards even more refreshing!

After links for this years Zombie March?  Here they are – and if you come across any others, please let me know so I can add them to the list.

The Mercury (online) – there are some pretty amusing comments to the article from “horrified” spectators, but there is also a fantastic collection of photos from the march.

FaceBook

The group for the Hobart Zombie March has stacks for photos uploaded in their photo album with participants being encouraged to add their own – Hobart Zombie March

You can also view my photos on FaceBook HERE, including the photo shopped stills I used in my video (also feel free to tag your self).

YouTube

Once again, YouTube user quebecfoxtrot (and friend of my Chicken) had uploaded an awesome clip of the march, which you can view HERE.

And of course, below is my video from this years March, featuring music from local band, Ending Atrophy.

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Himalayan Salt Lamps are crafted from salt crystals taken from the mountains themselves.  They generate  negative ions that cleanse the air, leaving you with a sensation similar to that experienced after a refreshing downpour of rain.  I have had mine for a few years now, and the subtle glow makes for wonderful mood lighting while just sitting back to relax.

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Winter feels like it has come early, with the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder.  But life remains as busy as ever, if not in reality but in my mind.  The days are spent working and the nights are spent snuggled up, trying to keep warm, wishing I could wrap myself in pure, rich Pashmina instead of my scrappy dressing gown and slippers.  The cold brings boredom to my actions yet my mind is as active as ever, and I hate how the two never seem to want to work together.  Yet despite the cold and the rain, I don’t completely hate winter.  Your coffee tastes and smells better, you appreciate even the smallest amount of sunshine, yet look forward to the sound of rain pattering on the roof.  And then to end the day curled up in bed with the one you love, all tangled together to make the most of each others body heat, makes it worth while braving the frosty chill of the morning so you can do it all again the next night.

I have still been playing around with a few ideas for a tribal infinity symbol tattoo design.  Most of what I put to paper just does not seem to work, but this one I have taken quite a liking to.  I sketched the first draft, then completed the design in Photoshop so everything was even and symmetrical.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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I have been neglecting my blog of late, especially when it comes to posting about life in general.  In the last few months I have been promoted at work, competed in my first BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) competition (with videos to be posted soon) and my Chicken & I have started planning on bringing a beautiful little star into our lives and the world.  There has just been so much happening around me that it has been hard to keep focused on just one thing at a time and my emotions have been spiraling erratically, usually leaving me drained and feeling as if I have less life in me than a decapitated zombie.  My main escape has been into the world of Second Life where I have been hopelessly addicted to building new environments and creating textures to sell on XStreet – the eBay of Second Life.

So I am still here and although I don’t always feel it, I am very much alive.  As for the photo of my Chicken with a topiary chicken, this was taken on the weekend while driving from Launceston back to Hobart along the Midland Highway.  Roughly half way around St Peters’ Pass, there are several of these green, leafy animals along the road side, from crocodiles to koalas.  I used to be so fascinated by them as a kid and couldn’t resist asking Adam to pull over so I could get a photo of him with a friend.

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Ever dreamed of being a photographer and having your images published along side those taken by some of the industries best? Then the LUMIX Life photography competition is for you.

Panasonic Australia have gathered together some of the nations top photographers to capture the essence of our beautiful country through the superior lens of their LUMIX cameras.  Their LUMIX Life ‘Pro Shooters’ will be traveling across the country from the busiest city to the most remote country sides to capture their vision of Australia.  Photographers include Ken Duncan, Peter Eastway, Bill Bachman, Leo Meier, Nick Rains, Frances Mocnik, Ted Grambeau, and Hugh Brown, with special celebrity guest photographer, Ray Martin.  Their images will be compiled into a book entitled, ‘Focus on Australia’, where you too can have your photograph published for the World to see.

To be a part of this amazing opportunity, use your LUMIX camera to capture the heart and soul of Australia.  It can be anything from flora to fauna, dramatic sweeping landscapes, or portraiture that depicts out Aussie way of life.  If your photograph is selected, it will be published in the book, ‘Focus on Australia’.  You will also receive your own copy of the book to proudly display at home, and have the chance to win one of three LUMIX GF1s, with the best three photographs being selected by Ken Duncan.

The competition runs from April 1 to June 30.  For more details on how to enter, visit LUMIX Life. Also be sure to check out Panasonic Australia on Facebook.

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We bloggers work hard.  Some of us blog for a living while others do it for fun, all of us spending hours typing out our thoughts into cyber-space, hoping that someone will read them, subscribe, then come back for more.  But unlike a published authors’ printed paper masterpiece, we don’t get paid in a traditional sense.  Instead, we rely on a variety of Internet programs to bring in the dollars.  You can use affiliate marketing programs, genereate revenue for your blog with ads, or you can get paid to do sponsor posts.  One of my personal favourite sites for this is Pay Per Post.

Pay Per Post allows you to make money by writing sponsored posts for your blog.  It is free to sign up and submit your blog to the directory and you get to choose which advertisers you write for.  Once your blog has been approved, you are contacted by the advertisers via the site with their offer that will include the topic, website link and the price they are willing to pay, which you can negotiate.  If you decide to accept the offer, all you need to do is write a post meeting the advertisers requirements, submit the URL, then sit back and wait to be paid.  You can also set your own price per post, from link costing to amount per word.  Once you have earned a minimum of $50, you are able to cash out either by PayPal or cheque.  Having a huge variety of advertisers on board, there are endless topics available to write about to either fit your niche blog, or to break that spell of writers block.

It can take a bit of time to get your first offer, particularly if your blog is only new.  But once you start bringing in some more traffic and boost your Google Ranking, you should receive at least one offer per week.  I have found that it is also best to log into the site every now and then to view your “Leads” as these will often convert to more paid offers.

Overall, I would give Pay Per Post 4 out of 5 Stars.

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If you enjoy a bit of online gambling, then you need to visit Best Online Casinos – Play Highest Paying Online Casino Games. Best Online Casinos have taken the hard work out of finding a good online gaming establishment.  Their site contains detailed reviews of over a dozen high quality and well trusted online casinos sites, inluding information on cash bonuses, rate of payouts and how many different games each site offers, along with their own personal rating.  So forget packing your bags and taking a road trip to Vegas.  Instead, you can snuggle up with Lady Luck in the comfort of your own home.

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I love Photoshop.  While I may not be a pro at designing the newest and coolest ad campaign, I do enjoy playing around with it, manipulating my photos and art to come up with something amazing.  But the first time I used Photoshop, I was overwhelmed by the possibilities.  Not knowing where to start, I would search the Internet for tutorials and Photography Forums so I could learn everything from scratch.  Below is a tutorial I have created showing you how to make your own brushes.  Brushes can be used from everything to drawing, textures and even creating a company logo.  By using these simple steps and some imagination, you will be creating your own custom brushes in no time.  I have also included a free brush set for you to download, enjoy!

1. Open a New Document at 72 dpi.  What ever size image you create will be the default size for the brush, but as with other brushes, you can scale this up or down when you are using it.

2. Draw or place the image you wish to use in your canvas.  For this tutorial, I will be creating a brush set using images of bones.  When creating brushes, it’s best to use black and white for your images so if you are using something that is in colour as I am, go to Image -> Adjustment -> Desaturate.  I have also gone into Image -> Adjustments -> Levels to get my image exactly as I want for my brush.

3. Once you are happy with your image, go to Edit -> Define Brush Preset. Type in the title for your new brush and click Save.

4. You can now use your new brush by clicking on the Brush Tool and selecting it from the drop down menu at the top.

5. If you are creating several brushes for a set, you can save them by going to the drop down menu in your Brush Tool, clicking the small arrow in the top right hand corner and selecting Save Brushes.

To download your FREE Bones Brush Set, CLICK HERE.

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, The Shadows of my Mind. To get your FREE MP3 download, "Deep Sleep Meditation", CLICK HERE

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