Turkey and Anzac day

Just recently I've come back from Turkey (well not that recently as I've been slack in posting anything), was over there with a couple of friends (Matt, Fish & Lydia) to do a bit of sight seeing of Turkey (Istanbul in particular) and to pay our respects at the Anzac Day dawn service....

The Dichotomy of attendees...
I know that lots of people have described the rubbish and general yobbishness of the crowds that attended the services, however I'd like to point out a few things I noticed (and some that I heard of from other attendees). The Aus gov site points out that "Rubbish disposal is provided and visitors are encouraged to respect the nature of the Gallipoli environment and dispose of rubbish thoughtfully or, where possible, take their rubbish with them." however I for one saw not one single rubbish bin, though I did see what I thought were supplied rubbish bags for collection.

Things I saw:

• With all the crammed space (17,000+ in space for only 13,000), I did not here of one single complaint, everyone was good natured and helped out all the new people arriving through the night to find a bit of ground to camp out on, lending a hand when necessary.
  
• Complete silence and respect during the appropriate moments during the night and at the dawn service (very moving actually)
  
• A fair bit of rubbish left about (but also quite a fair few people cleaning up their own stuff)
  
• Someone blowing up a beach ball and throwing that around at the Lone Pine service
  
• Lots of people sitting/lying/falling asleep between the gravestones at Lone Pine (then again I fell asleep sitting up on the stand a couple of times)
  
• A veteran (looked WWII age) being one of the people sitting between the gravestones, and thoroughly enjoying the attention of two cute girls sitting next to him.
  
• Standing ovations for every single one of the veterans making their way to the reserved area
  
• A mexican wave going round the stands 7 or so times
  

So yeah, it was bizarre I got to see the full range or respect through to thoughtless inconsiderate-ness (is that even a word?). It also makes me wonder about what is needed for the Anzac day ceremonies? From all that I've read and heard about the young Aussies and Kiwis who gave their lives, they were known to be larakins and trouble makers, up for a bit of a laugh but ready to risk all when it came down to it.. Do we want to mourn and show our respect for these people by being sombre or celebrate the joy and laughter that was in their lives?

I don't know the answer, but I am reminded of the tradition with a lot of Scottish and Irish funerals, where you'll have the actual funeral which is very sombre and respectful, but then you'll have the wake, where you celebrate the persons life with a party and talk about and joke about what they did, you remember how they were when they were alive, not that they are no longer with us. Both elements are important, it is just a question of balance and when is the right moment to show either....

I'll let everyone else decide what they think is the most appropriate balance, for me, I am glad that I've been to the Anzac Cove dawn service, don't think I'll go there again for Anzac day though.

B

Google Maps, Local Expands To UK

Just reading about Google Maps for the UK!!! :-D How cool is that? 'specially as their directions and searching for things like:

• My local chippy
  
• Scotland Yard
  
• How to get to Scotland Yard (if you live on Buckingham Palace Road)
  

Or as I saw in some of the comments on Slashdot (where I heard about this):
"Type in: 'My Job'
And it goes to New Delhi...
Wow, those google people are so smart."

Cheers,
B

Secrets and privacy

What do you do when you have something burning you up inside, it could be anger it could be joy, and all you really want to do is shout it out from the rooftops to have everyone hear. But this thing is also someone else's secret and so you can't?

How do you let it out?

Silence
I've always prided myself that when a friend asks me a question I will answer as honestly and completely as I can, with only one exception to that rule. That I will not share someone else's secret unless explicitly told too, and even then it'll be a big judgement call. I think this is why (well one of the reasons) people trust me, you can tell me your fears and desires and they'll never pass my lips....

This rule has stood me in good stead for .. well all of my life... but sometimes there is a difference..

Difference
What if it is my secret as well? part of me wants to share what I feel with the world, I don't need to give the details or spill any secrets but I want to share what I feel. All strong emotion can be like that I believe... Both the one's that can make you so furious you can't even see straight and you just want to lash out and hurt whoever is causing that pain in you (even if it is actually yourself causing the pain), as well as the uplifting and joyful one's where you want tell everyone how happy you are, and that you want to share that happiness with them and bring a smile to their faces as well..

Breaking the silence
But what do you say? You need to deal with more than just the secret, something you think is good and wonderful to share, can be seen by the other as terrible and a violation of that trust.. You have your own needs to take into account, as well as theirs... Then of course there's ways and ways of sharing.. a private conversation in a lounge room is one thing, through to phone calls, email, blog posts. Each one expanding the audience and what 'control' you can have over who hears what you have to say... Do you want/care that complete strangers can read/hear about your intimate secrets?


As to whether I have something to share, and if it's joy, sorrow or anger? Well, you can guess as much as you want, I always have elements inside me that I only show to select few, or maybe this is just one of those random thoughts going through my head on the ethics of holding your own and others secrets. Either way I think it's worthy of a rambling post, food for thought?

B

Backpackers photo's

Well just recently I uploaded photos onto OneRoundPebble.Com photo's from when myself and Matt first met up with the infamous Birte, Celine & Eva.. So many drunken (and fun!) memories! :-) We first caught up with them when Margo (who we met up in Inverness), wandered over to London to catch up with her German friend (Eva), and as always happens whenever Margo's in town we went out on the town!



Anyways, not really going to say too much about that, just check out the pictures and enjoy (or just laugh at us!)





The girls: Birte, Celine, Margo & Eva





The boys: Matt, Me & Nick





Me being an idiot





Cool shot with matt in profile with Celine in the background



B

Cool Aussie band

Ok as the uninitiated may not yet know, I kind of like the comic strip Questionable Content, and for once this post is not actually about the comic itself...

Just wanted to point out that the writer made a reference to a cool little Aussie 'band' Architecture in Helsinki (not their actual website, just a review of their stuff)..

From Questionable Content
So lately I have been listening to this band called Architecture in Helsinki, specifically their album Fingers Crossed. They sound like a chest of children's toys got dumped onto a bunch of indie rock dudes and ladies, who proceeded to compose the most adorable music they could possibly think of. It is all dings and clicks and cutesy pop, and addictive like sugary cereal.

Well I think it's cool! 'cept that I realised I haven't actually got that cd here :-( I even went out and bought it back in Aus!!! Dang it! But anyways, cool funky music, listen to it sometime!

B

News-ish

Well it looks like the infamous London winter is over (it's like getting warm-ish out there!)... Everyone here seems excited and is thinking of doing outdoor activities and sitting in the beer gardens because this weekend it might make it to 19 degrees! ;-) Ah, gotta love that English ... hmmm... resilience?

But I do have to admit it is nice, today was the first day that I haven't worm my overcoat on the way into work, even brought in my sunglasses 'to encourage the sun' ;-)

Comments
Well Blogger introduced a new feature of 'popup' comments, the idea being that you just press the comments link on a post, and it'll show a new window with any and all comments... Funky idea, just a pity that they ucked up.. For starters it doesn't show the count of the comments anymore, and will only show that comment window when you choose to post a comment. So as soon as I've finished this post, I'm changing it back (luckily the original is still an option!)

Anzac Day
Well just like Fish & Lyds, myself and Matt have gone and booked in for the Gallipoli tour with Istanbul Life, hopefully it'll be a decent time (also trying to do a day or so free to wander round Istanbul!) :-D

Easter: Liverpool
Well as some know, and some don't I'm heading up to Liverpool for Easter weekend... Had an invite that was just too good to refuse ;-) So should be some fun! As it's close to Manchester/Southport, I think that I'll also try for a drop in with some of the relo's.. Might be an idea to give them a bit of a warning though...

And that's all I'm going to say for the moment, was writing a long-ish piece on my thoughts about passion and life's adventures last night, 'cept I kept on getting distracted... So that'll just have to wait until another day..

Lotsa hugs for everyone and keep grinning!
B

The powers of gaffa tape, amongst other things

I was just recently catching up on my favourite webcomic Questionable Content and there was a an episode that had me chuckling away, got to love the power of gaffa tape, just look at an earlier post I made on a possible use of gaffa tape. :-)

Random thought
Oh and I've decided on two randomish type things I want to do at some stage:

• Go into a bar, order an expensive scotch drink (or something really cheap and nasty) and say "Leave the bottle"
  
• Jump into a cab (preferably in New York) and shout "Follow that car!"
  

Life news
Well it's been a really fun couple of weeks recently, I've seen 2 soccer games (just can't seem to bring myself to call them football!), with Liverpool playing in both... The first Liverpool lost to Chelsea then the next they won against a German team who I can't remember the name of Actually I think that Liverpool is becoming my team ;-) I do have to say that it is very entertaining watching some of the fans get so worked up... It is full of tension. ;-)

Another random thought
I need to find a pub/venue somewhere nearish by that shows some AFL games, I do have a craving to watch a really good North Melbourne game. The walkabout would probably show it...

Back to news
Other than seeing a few soccer games, I've been having fun going out and enjoying the London nightlife (as per usual), and just this last Monday went and saw a very funny set of standups at The Comedy Store who were preparing to head to the Montreal Just for Laughs festival.. For the aussies here, that's on par (and in some ways bigger) than the Melbourne Comedy Festival. :-D Very very funny! Shall definitely have to go back there and check out some more stuff!

Reduced Shakespeare Theatre
Which reminds me, not that long ago went along to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company performing The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) in 97 minutes... It had me almost rolling on the floor, found it absolutely hilarious, though as always seems to happen. I thought the people around me were finding it as funny as I did (well they were laughing as well!), except when I get out of the theatre and asked what they thought and the response was something along the lines of "I couldn't stop laughing at you laughing!" ;-)

Ah well, there's worse ways to be seen than as someone who enjoys a laugh eh? ;-)


Ok, now it's getting late here, and I'm tired and could do with some sleep, so I'm off to the hay! Take care of yourselves, drop me a line occasionally (and I might eventually even respond!)
B

Ghost Dog and general thoughts

I woke up this morning, well ok, this afternoon (it'd been a fun night out with Jamie, Matt & Birte).. And doing the usual thing turned on my pc to check my email, and suddenly it popped into my head about how I wanted to see this Forest Whitaker movie again (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000): Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Isaach De Bankol - PopMatters Film Review). There was something about the movie which really stuck a cord within me, not sure exactly why, but just those moments of so peacefully moving through the streets and accepting all that is around him (though I don't work as a contract killer for the mafia) ;-)

Either way, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, me I'm going to see if I can find it next time I wander into a video store.. Would really like to see it again.

How am I?
Well onto other points, I'm suffering a bit from a flu at the moment :-( got the whole blocked nose and lots of phlegm (ARGH!!), but I'm taking some meds for it, so it should hopefully be sorted very very soon.. But the rest of my life is doing really well! :-D I met a girl last week who I quite fancy, who I am actively chasing... As to what is going to happen? Who knows? But I'm happy. :-)

But in the meantime I'm enjoying life here in London and gradually making a home and place for myself!

Ok, enough of a slightly esoterical post from me, it is time for me to go and do something with this day (it was actually blue skies earlier today, but now it's all clouded over).. Keep having fun, smiling and for those who want it, have a big hug from me! ;-)

B

London music

Who we went to see
Matt is a bit of a fan of a melbourne band paperadio, who have recently (as in about a year ago) relocated to London.

And wo and behold they were holding a cd launch (tonight in fact), at a little venue in London. So off we went to check out an Aussie band (in my case I'd never heard their stuff), and also a chance to see who else was playing.

The Sways
Were a very, very cool band! Loved their gig, so I bought a cd! Now I'm not going to attempt to describe their style, other than it's foot-tapping excellent stuff... In fact cddb (if you're a geek you'll recognise that), have them in as a genre of 'Unclassifiable'! If you get a chance have a listen to some of their stuff...

Only disappointment is that the cd is much softer than the live gig (also helped by a new drummer in the band, as in they didn't have a drummer previously).


Oh yeah, and Paperadio were excellent too! :-)
B

Free Arash and Mojtaba

Two guys who have been imprisoned by the Iranian authorities for sharing their views on their blogs.

A few good places to check out are:

• Amnesty International
  
• bloggers without borders
  
• Free Arash and Mojtaba Day
  

B

Andrea & Mark Brandwood / London Snow

Andrea & Mark
Well they're not even married yet, but they've created a lovely little blog for themselves:
Andrea & Mark Brandwood

Good friends who I hope'll keep enjoying life and having fun! :-)

Oh and yet again, congrats! (to see why: Congrats to Andrea & Mark)

London Snow
Guess what?!?! It snowed in London tonight!! It even stayed on the ground! :-) Absolutely fantastic!

Of course it brought the tube system to a halt (at least the northern line), amazing that, a train system what 40 metres underground is somehow unable to operate when a total of maybe 2mm of snow lands above it? Only in London.

Of course myself and Matt found the most logical solution to London's transport issues.. Find the nearest pub and have a few pints while the traffic cleared and the tube started running again. :-) Either way, I'm happy!

Keep having fun!
B

We're not insane...

We're not insane...

That's right it's Painter Smurf, Poet Smurf & Dreamy Smurf who tell me what to do!

Well usually, it's just that Painter Smurf isn't talking to me at the moment, something to do with a bottle of paint, a tooth brush and ... well... it's better I don't mention it.

Pictures of France (skiing)

Well a bit of a belated posting on the ski trip to france, not really much to say (recovering from part II of the Monopoly board pub crawl), so I'll just post some nice piccies:


A beautiful view of the resort we would be spending the next week in


Me and Fish with our snowboards


Me coming to the end of the green run :-)


Matt snowboarding along


Matt fell over, so I decided it'd be fun to bury him :-)

Apologies for the slow download speed on these photo's... But give it time and they'll appear (hopefully!)

Keep having fun whatever you're up to and say hello occasionally.

Yawn time for some more coffee!
B

Site tracking

RE_INVIGORATE

For a while there I was using a really cool site tracker for this blog, called Re_Invigorate, very cool I could even see where in the world people were visiting from, Hi to those who visited from Asia! Very cool to see when people who I don't even know decided to read some more of what I had written.

However now Re_Invigorate is down, and while the message says it'll be up again soon, it has said that for nearly 3 weeks now (a lifetime in computer ages). So now it is time to move on and implement something else... Pity, I really liked their reports... (I am such a geek!).. The question is what to use? Has anyone out there used anything that they'd like to recommend? Not that I expect much of a response...

Rotterdam
Oh, for those that were wondering, had a blast in Rotterdam!! :-D Very cool place! Fool of insane Dutch people! I shall put up the photo's to the usual spot soon.. ;-) (in a day or so)

Till next time, keep having fun and stay true to yourself
B

Zoo ditches gay penguin plan

A friend sent me an email about a german zoo's troubles with some penguins that seem to want to remain gay: Zoo ditches gay penguin plan - World - www.theage.com.au

From the article:
"A German zoo has abandoned a plan to break up homosexual penguin couples after protests from gay rights groups
...
Zoo keepers discovered that the homosexual couples had gathered rocks that they coveted like eggs and fooled their keepers for years into thinking they were boy-and-girl duos."

Well, I thought it was hilarious!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything, and this post ain't going to be very full either...

Just wanted to say a big Thank You! to all who wished me happy birth day! Being having an absolute blast of a time since getting back from Brussels, which I shall spend some time and update you all on. I'm off to Rotterdam for the weekend (me & matt are catching up with Margo!), so during the travel time I'll write down what I've been up to.

• Chillin out with Matt, Fish & Lyds
  
• Eva's birtday get together (on a school night! Argh! that was painful)
  
• Contract drinks followed by, Eva's going away (fun night!)
  
• Cake concert
  
• Attempted Monopoly board pub crawl (well we got half way round!)
  
• of course my b'day as well :-)
  

not bad for just over a week (how the hell did I survive work that week?!)

But I will leave you with one tidbit:
The other night on the tube, I saw some carrying a bathroom sink.

am I the only one who finds that bizzarre but amusing? ;-)

Keep smiling!
B

Favourite comics

Two of my favourite comics (Pearls before Swine & Get Fuzzy) put out some absolutely fantastic ones today:

• Pearls has a great piece on what is the real purpose of Social Services (got wrong in typical Pig fashion)
  
• Get Fuzzy has re-introduced one of my favourite characters (Chubby Huggs!)
  

Well... They brought a smile to my face :-D

Oh, I'm still here in Belgium, about to head out to try some of the local cuisine (ie: beer). So have fun everyone!! *waves*

B

Concussion, Girl Power & Ceasar Salads

Ok, here goes again... (I've tried this post before 'cept it lost it when I went to publish it, ARGH!!!)

Salad Cesar in Brussels
I am in Brussels now (for work no less) sitting in a very plush hotel (gotta love work trips!) kicking back after a few Hoegaarden's, and I thought I'd put up a small update of what I've been up to in the last week or so.

But before I get into that I just wanted to let people know, you have not had a Ceasar Salad, until you've had one in Belgium! (at least not if the one I had tonight is anything to go by), it was absolutely delicious, it had all the traditional ceasar ingredients, plus: chicken, capsicum, roasted walnuts, orange pieces (as in the fruit), cherry tomatoes & drizzled with honey. Yum!

Well now to see if I can remember some of what I wrote before dinner...

Snow boarding in France
We got to Tignes via Geneva on Sunday (16th Jan) a bit after midday I think it was, and the sky was blue and the slopes were white.. So it was with great excitement we grabbed our lift passes and organised our ski gear. As we were mostly beginner boarders we booked ourselves a group lesson for midday Monday..

Ok slight diversion here, I might just quickly explain who "We" are, there's: Matt, Paul & Lydia, Leigh (the token skier) and Jon (the experienced-ish boarder)

So Monday morning arrived and straight after breakfast we headed out to the Nursery slope, for some practise runs before our lesson (can't waste any of that snow time!), whereupon within the very first half hour of being out on the snow with a board, I decided now would be a good time to do my Superman impression ... chin first into the ice I landed (I think it'd had been a week since it'd really snowed), all I can say is OW!

But I wasn't going to let a wee bruised chin stop me, no sirree, so we all kept trucking along through the morning, through the lesson.

Well, almost...

I lasted until 15minutes before the end of the 2 hour lesson, and it hit me... I was ready to pass out and well... empty my stomach as well.. Yep for those smart cookies who guessed it, that knock on the chin gave me Mild Concussion, putting me out of action for about 2 days.

Not exactly what you would call a great start to the week eh? But even with that and all the other trials and tribulations we suffered:

• One mild concussion
  
• 3 bouts of gastro (needing a day of sleeping)
  
• One sprained wrist
  
• One stretched medial ligament (in the knee, requiring a knee brace for 3 weeks)
  
• Uncountable bruises, aches & pains
  
• A lovely 9 hour delay for our flight back (story for another time)
  

I think we all really enjoyed ourselves! :-) I know that I did, and I do intend to go snow boarding again (though next time I might wait till there's some powder on the ground before doing a Superman impression).

Oh, and big massive kudos to the fantastic effort of Lydia, being the one and only member of our little group to actually make it out each and every day! You go girl!

Oh and aparently on the Tuesday (I wasn't exactly with it so can't confirm), was when it started snowing, (it didn't stop, not at all, it was still going when we left) on one day there was 18 inches of snow, nice and soft to land in!

Have fun!
B

Meow & Polly, Stories & Sad news

Posted!
Yay! I got up a new post for Meow and Polly! :-) Well it makes me happy.

Not to sure about it, but I've got something up, when I said I would... Next will be the challenge of getting something up next week as I'll be off skiing, there should be some kind of net access over there. But I think I'll make next weeks post a wee bit shorter or at least not as many web links that I need to check! :-P

Old Stories
The other night I was glancing through all the various files that I'd dumped on my iPod (well the non-music stuff anyways), and I realised that I'd dumped up a whole bunch of stuff that I'd written up years and years ago, hell right back when I was in year 12. And even if I do say so myself some of it was actually pretty good.

This one in particular, I still find a nice read, though I think the ending needs work... And well nice isn't actually the right acronym to use. But read it for yourself and you can make up your own mind.

Oh and you might like my recipe for Argumentative Cakes (one of the possible pieces for my year 12 cat back in 1994)

I think that I'll try and post up some of the other stuff I found as I go on...

Sad news
Unfortunately my Mum's dog Kelly (the best little german sheppard/huskie around!) passed away. :-(
Aparently she is going to be buried at a farm in Northern Victoria, where eventually Cyprus trees will be planted, and so all those favoured pets and companions will once more be in the full circle that is life.
You were a great dog Kelly. Take a big hug with you.

B

Argumentative Cake

Arguments are one of the most enjoyable aspects of being human. We
talk and discuss amongst our friends, and add that extra spice
through serious arguments with all sorts of individuals.
Quite often we are unable to create arguments, or perhaps
those arguments we voice are uninteresting. For this explicit
purpose, I have created a simple recipe, which will enable you
to bake the most impressive argumentive cake, which you can
share amongst your associates.


Argumentive Cake.



2 cups issue (containing contention, and opposition).
3 arguments.
1/4 cup grammar.
1 cup sentence structure.
1 teaspoon of relevance.
1/2 cup punctuation.




Sift Issue, separating opposition and contention. Beat
opposition well until creamed, adding logic to help the
process.
Add arguments to support contention, mixing well, while
continually adding grammar, sentence structure and
punctuation, until mixture is doughy.
Take 'dough' out of bowl, place on board sprinkled with
grammar. Using rolling pin, roll out to a flat shape. Gently
spread opposition even over contention to a depth of 1/4 mm,
lightly sprinkling relevance over cream. Fold dough several
times and roll out again. Repeat process until all of
opposition is used or a good consistency is reached.
Test mixture, it should have a powerful taste of
contention, with just a hint of opposition, add remaining
ingredients to spice to your taste.
Place in one human receptacle in oven for 1 hour (at 180
Celsius) or until solid outer layer, with a luscious interior.
While cake is cooking, prepare icing.


Persuasive Icing:

1 teaspoon persuasion.
1/2 cup logic.
2 cups conviction.



Mix conviction an logic in small saucepan, and bring to
boil. Then gently add persuasion to mixture. Allow to simmer
for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, then turn heat off
leaving icing over stove to cool. It should still be luke
warm when the cake is ready to be iced. If not, reheat until
slightly runny, and warm enough for cake to absorb flavours,
then spread icing over cake. Your cake is ready, feel free to
add sprinkles of presentation in an attractive design.