Welcome to the discussion side of things. A place where those who don't want to email me to rant at whatever I've said can speak out.

Aha! I only just found this button!
   Sorry to hear about your colon, or semi-colon, or whatever state it's in at the moment. Get better soon!

Thanks Grant. I'm doing okay, and better for a day in bed I can tell you. It just means that my body is starting to age and can't deal with all the crap I keep putting it through. *sigh*

Russell, you're the same age as I am and... oh, well, I get your point. :-)

You have a colon??

Apparently so. It's bloody typical, you never realise you've got something until it starts causing trouble.

Some writer you are Russell. You shouldn't be using a colon, just a couple of short dashes. Although from what I read of your illness you've got short dashes covered...

Seriously, I tend to write a new will every time I get a cold, so you have my sympathy and shudders of horror.

Short dashes covered? Hell, I've got them coming out of my a-- oh, that's what you meant, I get it now.

I'm just hoping that Tang will get me through.

Hey Punk. Agree 100% with your comments in Thursday's blog - may whatever gods are out there look after Patrick and Jo.

Patrick I have worked with, though he doesn't remember me (I was only front of house manager, a nobody) and Jo I haven't met but certainly heard about.

Agreed totally about the Bali memorials. Rubbed me the wrong way too. Not because of the political implications (although I do largely agree with you in that regard), but because everywhere it seemed to be about Australia, Australia, Australia. Really, that bugs me. It's just the media trying to make mileage out of a tragic event. 1) Not only Australians died. 2) It's reductionist, I think, to define someone in terms of their nationality -- they were, before anything else, *people*.

It all felt really crass. I mean, this kind of thing shouldn't be in the public domain. Death and grief should be a private thing.

Edited by author 10-17-2003 04:14 AM
You do realise Russell that after the post about googling you can only go higher on the list for the number of times you mentioned the phrase :)

Is that how g**gle do it? kinda like beetlejuice beetlejuice beatlejohnlennon...

Nah. Google ranks by number of links to a particular site, not the number of times a phrase is mentioned. I think there's some weighting for where on the page it falls.

Hey Long Haired Public Service Boy!

When you do finally get off your ass and start brewing again remember to bring some of your produce to the Real City and I'll swap it for some actual real fine Australian Dollars. Particularly the cider (yum!)

The cricket idea kicks many arses.

Better than cricket, make it a croquet story, or lawn bowls, or bingo! Not that I think it would make for a better story or anything, just because the thought of Russell doing the appropriate research is funnier :)

Extreme cricket. Kinda like the cricketing equivalent of Rollerball. :-)

Just read Nigel's comments about the Bali memorials.

If it makes you feel any better, the way it was reported in the British press, only British people died.

Singapore airlines aircraft have full-on on-demand media servers, so I got to choose to listen to 'Fallen' by Evanescence. Great album, although I though it was a bit weak in the middle. Opening two tracks are killer, though. (Russell is currently listening to this album, according to his side column, which I suspect hasn't been updated in months ^_- )

Fallen is great... I kept hearing it in the car on the way to Ninja, where it sounded all happy and upbeat (Marcia's Corolla does strange things to music). I bought a copy, took it home, and went "my GOD this is dark". But good. My favorite description of Evanescence is "a 70s glam rock band that fell asleep and woke up in 2000 and is all angsty about the fact that they can't get home..."

Fallen definitely kicks off well. I bought it based on the strength of the track from Daredevil (the song was one of the best bits of that movie, alongside the cameos). And while I think it's a bit sketchy in places, it's possibly the best album I've heard this year. Better than all the hip-hop-shit around at the moment...

Goddamn it, behind the times again...... I'm listening to 'Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon', which you really need to listen to, especially if you only know him from "Werewolves Of London".

Also heard yesterday that elliott Smith committed suicide dutring the week, at the age of 34. Shit. If Andy Parsons goes we'll be out of decent songwriters.

Evanescence are a great little band who wee picked up by a major studio a year or two sooner than they were ready for. They've been overheated and overblown, and don't have the experience or developed talent to keep up just yet.
   They might improve with a second album, but I suspect the music press won't be paying attention.

Now I remember where I've seen them: on a Pepsi sticker, along with other monster talents like Shakira and Beyonce Knowles' little sister...... (puts Zevon on for another rotation)

Edited by author 10-28-2003 03:29 AM
While we're on music, I'd just like to mention Thea Gilmore.
She's angry, melodious, energetic, witty... She's "FolkPunk". There's a review of her latest album on my blog.

Lee, I'd recommend giving Evanescence a listen. I kinda of agree with Grant but I'd be interested in hearing a couple more albums out of them if they last. I generall think that the 3rd album a band/artist produces is a fair measure, especially for major label artists.

Zevon was a loss, and Elliott Smith. But there are still a few good songwriters out there: Paul Westerberg, Beth Orton... I'd also recommend you seek out Darren Hanlon, I think you'd like him.

Another recommendation: ani di franco. Especially OUT OF RANGE (1994-RBR006), NOT A PRETTY GIRL (1995-RBR007) and DILATE (1996-RBR008). ani is funny, sad, angry, witty - sometimes all at once. http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani

Edited by author 10-29-2003 06:18 AM
I recommend the Nolan's "Got to Pull Myself Together" just for a bit of balance with the indi-goth stuff.
 
http://www.magicrhythm.blogspot.com

Ah, I'm well aware of young Master hanlon: Punk's Not Dead is a fave, and the wonderful Falling Aeroplanes is very likely to be played at mine & Lyn's veddink. Sorry Lily, but Ani DiFranco bugs me, apart from a few songs where she lays the chip down off the shoulder and just sings. For those who haven't delved back into the mists of time as far back as old fart me, get some XTC into you. Andy parsons is one of the best songwriters of all time, IM humble O, and is still producing the goods after almost 30 years: Stupidly Happy was song of the year a couple of years back.

I know there are a huge range of good songwriters out there, it's just a shock when a bunch of your personal favourites all check out in short order. And Adam Ant's been chucked back into a nuthatch...... sigh......

Hey, while we're talking up good SONG writers, I'm gonna get a quick plug in for a fellow SF writer guy: just finished Chris Lawson's new collection "Written In Blood." If you haven't read it, you should. The stories are recent, which means you may have read them in other sources in memory, but Chris is just such a damn good writer that having them all displayed in one condensed package is a real treat. Personal fave: Faster, Stronger, Higher.

Boy can write, so he can.

I'd have thought Evanescence was balance with the indi goth stuff. I can see the advertisement now: "After a hard day's listening to Fugazi, Sisters of Mercy, The Replancements, Husker Du, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nina Hagen and The Smiths, I like nothing more than to chill out a little with Evanescence's new album, Fallen."
It'd be a hit.

And as for Ani Difranco, she's responsible for the most disappointing gig of my life. She suckered me in with the brilliant album Dilate and then her double live set Living in Clip, but live at the Fly By Night she giggled, laughed at her own jokes and played mostly new stuff for 65 minutes. I felt cheated in a big way.

I don't know who any of these people are except Adam Ant, and I didn't realise he *wasn't* dead. I'm still listening to David Bowie, T-Rex, The Beatles, early Elton, Russell Morris, The Who, Blood, Sweat and Tears, etc. ;-}

OK, so that's a bit of an exaggeration. I will admit that I've updated my musical tastes since then. I now also listen to Queen, U2, Hoodoo Gurus, early INXS, etc.

Nigel, you are the oldest 30 year old I have ever met :)

Says he currently listening to his Nina Simone album...... :))

My two bands of choice right this minute are Template and Tort. They're both indie bands from Melbourne who I met as well as listened to. Template are very 1970s stadium rock, which is hilarious when they're playing small pubs, while Tort were a Rage Against The Machine style outfit of dreadlocked 19 year olds who appeared to be playing in a wine bar. The Template CD cost me a measly $10, while Tort gave Sonia and I demo CDs for free!

I have to admit, in the midst of grinching on about popular music, that I have a guilty pleasue at the moment about Dido's song "White Flag". Not often I do get captured by something completely mainstream, well, never really, but there's something about this song that captures me. Dunno. I'll be back to belting out Dury's "Spasticus Autisticus" soon, I promise.....

Edited by author 11-10-2003 06:06 PM
See, spending the majority of my childhood approximately 150kms from the nearest music store, and entirely unable to pick up any radio or TV station except ABC, my musical tastes were rather strongly defined by the records and cassettes in my parents' collection. Although, I did pick up some stuff from the town kids -- Midnight Oil mostly, but also some INXS, Hoodoo Gurus, Gangajang (shudder), and U2.

Since then I haven't been greatly taken with contemporary music, particularly pop, ballads, rap, hip-hop, techno and heavy metal. I will admit to liking some grunge rock, like Stone Temple Pilots and Baby Animals, but that was probably just a hangover from Midnight Oil et al, and even most of that's a bit old now.

Oh crap. Hal Clement's dead. One of the nicest men I've ever met, just a genuinely pleasant guy with a real joy de vivre for what we do-- he just breathed the attitude that writing was a gift, and that if you couldn't get enjoyment out of it you were missing out. I'm really bummed by the news. Fucket: what is it with me and death recently? I'm killing off everyone I've ever liked or looked up to.

As I just said in my blog (http://lilithileane.blogspot.com/)
Tamsin Scrimshaw is an up-and-coming musician to watch out for. She's just got a demo CD out so far, but she's *good*.

And she's really, really nice, too.

Nigel, you had ABC! In the late 70's and early 80's I seem to recall there only being one music show on teevee, and that was *c*o*u*n*t*d*o*w*n* -- don't tell me you missed that! The Go Go's, The Church, Sunnyboys, INXS, Iggy Pop...

My mother is reading your blog?

Dude, she died in June. But I suppose it explains why the pictures on my walls have moved every time I wake up in the morning...

Oh well, Countdown. Yes. Forgot about that. But still, not having access to commercial radio and music stores was the main kicker anyway.

As to the issue with the banning of the two Green senators, I long ago resigned myself to the fact that our country was ruled by a bunch of monkeys. It will never change. It's a fundamental consequence of democracy, and I'm not quite ready to give that up yet. :-)

Well, someone keeps hitting my blog searching for Lee Battersby. What am I, your gatekeeper?

Hey, I like to let the little people do things for me. Makes them feel special, you know? :)

Don't try to escape the facts, Read. You had full access to Countdown in the 70s and 80s, and the only excuse you have is that like me you damned well didn't pay attention.
   But hey, childrens SFTV in the early 80s, man that rocked...

Being a child of the 60's, I went straight from Uptight, Happening 70/71, bypassed Countdown completely and onto Night Moves with some Old Grey Whistle Test on the way.

Ahhh, Countdown. So many happy memories for a boy my age. Mainly of Joan Jett and Suzi Quatro in all that leather...... excuse me while I have a cold shower......

Watson, you're making me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. ;->

Sorry, couldn't help it. Just seen the movie.

We know many people in this web of linked blogs.

I've know Anna (Monkey)about 8 years, Grant(Angriest)around 27 years, Simon(Null) about 10 years and Patrick (Number 6) around 6 years in real life, I've met John (Cheshire)quite a few times. Maybe I'll meet you in real life on day too Russel, I like your Blog cause you post reguarly.

Edited by author 11-06-2003 04:18 AM
Trying to figure out if we've met myself. (Kwylo that is.) The nickname isn't familiar...but I've known Anna, Simon et al for well, I've lost track but probably about a decade...Swancon seems to be the main link there. Only became acquainted with Patrick in the last year or so, and only introduced myself to Pamela on thursday (Although she thinks I look familiar so could have met before) I think I've possibly known Cheshire the longest. Unless I'm mixing him up with another Martian. Anyhoo I have to ride home so heading out before the light goes.

I think Leece and Rob are the linkages to most of the blogs I read with their involvement in SwanCon, Borderlands, JAFWA, etc. It was Patrick and Simon's blogs that encouraged me to start one of my own. Lily I've met a couple of times - at gaming and as part of a winning quiz night team (or did we come second? We got a good meal out of the Hyde Park Hotel out of it, anyway.)

Hey Nigel, you're contagious. Well, your taste in music is: found Ampology, the best of the Hoodoo Gurus for a discount yesterday, and I'm just beginning to think about hunting up a neckbrace for my mosh-lash...

I've known Kwylo since I was forced by our parents to share a bedroom with him when I was 4. :-)
   And when you throw *that* party, Russell, I'll drive down to Narrogin just to join in.

fuck. you telling me half my readership comes from Kelmscott/Huntingdale? I'll have to stop using all them big words.

I know everyone.

Really.

Up yours, Farr! You sit there in a 5000 seat toilet block like Narrogin and insult cultural centres like Huntingdale and Kelmscott? At least we have running water pal. Besides, now that I spend every evening in Lyn's loving embrace, I'm a Morley boy :)

On the other hand, keep hacking away at Kelmscott. My ex-sister-in-law lives there, and a greater oxygen thief you've never seen...

And moving to Morley has obviously improved Lee's vocabulary. Where else would he be subjected to such cool words as 'munted' :)

Munted has finally made it to Morley, huh? That word is so Narrogin 2001. And Narrogin's got running water -- hot and cold. So what if it's running down the walls, hot in summer and cold in winter.

Oh, poor baby. 50 whole entire days? Ha! I've just withdrawn a story after 10 months, and that was from a seriously major market: Realms of Fantasy. Or try Century, the only magazine named after its response times. Or Cemetery Dance, that regularly holds onto stories for years without feedback.

On the other hand, I still remain surprised when an editor doesn't see my name on the back flap of the envelope and just bin the whole thing without opening it, so what do i know?

Grant - You shared a room with me from the day you came home from the hospital.

I'd just like to say I am also a proud Gosnells resident, only a block away from Huntingdale.

Heya Kwylo,

Oh sure, the GOOD side of Gosnells, by which I means the side of the single street you live on :))

Actually, Gosnells has a much maligned reputation, and is in fact quite a nice area. It's those Thornlie-ites that bring the tone down......

The rapid change occuring in Gosnells over the last 2-3 years is quite remarkable. The population of the City of Gosnells has increased dramatically, as has the renvue of the City Council. All the 'old' Gosnells residetns write in the local paper about how their rate dollars are paying for lots of new pretty parks around the newer sections of Gosnells but the reality is all the income from the masses of housing developments is paying for the total upgrade of the old tired and worn out town centre. It will be interesting to see what it tooks like in 5 years. If a yuppie cafe opens that will be the measure of change.

Congrats on the first sale, BTW.

Yes, who's a clever boy then? He'll be calling himself a writer, tying his hair into a ponytail, and going on and on about the bloody Ningaloo reef until we want to beat him to death with one of his crap kids books next...

Edited by author 12-02-2003 11:11 PM
Russell, re: the Liberal party, I have no faith in *any* politicians, whether Liberal or Labour, or National, Democrat, Greens or One Nation for that matter. But at least we're not in the US, whose politicians lie as a matter of 'national security'. They're dodging round the issue of why Iraq was invaded at the moment. They're saying now that it wasn't about weapons of mass destruction at all, but about bringing freedom to the Iraqi people. I wonder if the families and friends of the 6000+ dead Iraqi civilians think it was worth it. Wait! From the looks of the news in the last week or two, I guess they *don't* think it was worth it.

We may as well be living in the USA. Our government is worse. In the USA the Republican Party are wankers, but our Liberal party are servants to wankers.

Nigel, I don't hold with the "But at least we're not ..." argument. Saying this is a cop out, a way to avoid having to actually do something to change the state we're presently in. There are a number of things people can do to hold their elected representatives responsible. Think about what it would take for you to have faith in your local member and work up from there.

Russell, I'm afraid I'm somewhat of a student of Machiavelli's "The Prince", so I'm rather cynical about politics in general. Kissing babies and assassinating your opponents -- IMO, that's all it really comes down to.

Mark Latham certainly seems to have learnt the "Kill your enemies, then your friends" and "keep your friends close but your enemies closer" lessons well :)

Politics is what little boys get into when they're too old for train sets.

So what are you doing to hold your elected representatives accountable, Russell?

Sadly not as much as I'd have liked to. My federal member is in town tomorrow and I'd have liked to take the time to hear her views on a bunch of things, like her advocating a permanent occupation force in Iraq and one vote, one value, but sadly this time around just won't have the time. Still, she comes to town every couple of years so I may catch her next time around. I did make sure to invite each of my representatives to the peace rallies I organised earlier this year, though.
Scheduling conflicts have kept me from going to an ALP functions this year but one is bound to come along that I can make.

Have you ever considered running for office yourself? You could be the Ralph Nader of Australian politics!

Your blog could be your autobiography!
Can you explain your desire to write the details of your life onto a webpage for the whole world to see?
Do you expect to become famous?

Hey Russell, I'd love to see your cricket story.

Love the black on black colour scheme of TO's new front page.
 
:)

Hi Elaine, I was experimenting with making things look interesting without resorting to fancy stuff that won't run on every computer.

Hi Kirsten,
1. Public Office: I've thought about running for public office a couple of times. At present it doesn't look like I'll be living in the same electorate for the next 4 years, which is a commitment I'd have to make in order to seriously explore the option. I couldn't be like my federal member, Judy Moylan, who doesn't even live in the electorate of Pearce that she represents.
And I've got a few other things happening right now that I'd rather devote the time to, things closer to my heart. As for the future, who knows? Ask me again when I'm 40.

Hi Kirsten,
2a. No, I don't expect to become famous. In my life I have done things that have attracted an amount of fame, but these have generally been things I've done because I wanted to do them, like publishing books. (As opposed to things I've done which have achieved a degree of infamy, where I was probably drunk at the time). I don't believe that I'll ever become a household name, nor that I'll achieve any fame through my blog.

Hi Kirsten,
2b. It appears I'm answering your questions in the opposite order.
Why do I write the details of my life for all to see? One reason is that I live almost 200 km away from most of my friends, and by blogging I let them know what I'm up to without necessarily emailing or phoning them. Some of my friends have blogs too, and I can keep up with them in a similar way.
I also blog because there are times when I have opinions to air, and my blog is a good forum for this. I also write/edit a fanzine where I can do this too.
And sometimes I blog for the hell of it.
Does the whole world check out my blog? My counter would indicate not, as I get maybe 15 hits per day.

Your responses make sense. It has always been curious to me that some people choose to have a presence on the net - whether they have webcams watching their every move, or they have a page like yours.

The reason for my asking is that you seem to reveal a lot of personal detail - your dissapointments and failures etc.

Given that it is possible for the world to see what you've written, don't you ever feel uncomfortably exposed?

Oh, Russell's used to exposing himself. At least in a blog he doesn't have to apologise to hotel staff the next morning :)

Thanks Lee. Merry Xmas everyone! Up in Perth right now, will update blogs etc when I get back to Narrogin. Have a great Xmas y'all!

I can't say I feel uncomfortably exposed, there have been posts that I've written and not posted or removed minutes after posting because I feel I've overstepped the boundary of what I should say. I think I do a reasonable job of self-censorship while retaining the truth of what I feel.

And, to be perfectly honest, if I was really depressed about something, blogging about anything would be the last thing on my mind.

If politics is just about kissing the babies, then think about that at the next election and vote in some better looking candidates, for the babies sakes, would you want to be kissed by Wilson Tuckey or Bronwyn Bishop or heaven forbid the man with scary eyebrows.

Fortunately, I'm not a baby, nor do I have one of my own, so I remain indifferent as to how politicians look. So long as they don't want to kiss me! ;>

Looking at our current crop of pollies, there aren't many I'd want to kiss me. I've been kissed by a number in the past - most startlingly by Bob Pearce at the end of my final Electorate Council meeting. It was startling because he was in the opposite faction.

I will be 31 on January 23rd, so NO you are not old.

Shutup you young whippersnappers. Why, you've never even seen the day...... (goes off grumbling to his 33 year old self about 'the kids today')

Nope, it's true. Rustle, you're old.

And will you actually _email_ your friends this year?? Or just climb over their gates the day after and inform them they missed the party???

Possibly, but I'm younger than you ;)

I might tell you about the party this year, I'd probably have to lose weight to squeeze over the top of those gates this year.

I feel it's my responsibility as someone still their twenties to point and shout "ha!!" at the lot of you...

You're not too big to put over my knee young man...

He's bigger'n you, anyways.

Congratulations! A B.A. in what?

I signed up for a 8 week course in accounting for non accountants today. Potentially a very boring course I think.

Nigel, I told you that if you peeked at me in the shower again I was going to call the police...

So, Eidolist readers, what are the chances of me landing Rob Stephenson as my agent now? :)

Would you want Rob as your agent?

Edited by author 01-18-2004 12:18 AM
For all his flaws, Rob does work hard. He'd be the sort of person I wouldn't mind representing my work, but not necessarily representing me, if you see the difference. I doubt I could actually work with him.

And Lee, having an online barny is almost a rite of passage on the eidolist. At the end of the day you're more likely to remember the barny than he is.

Ach, having an online barny is something I do on a regular basis. Resorting to outright insults is something I tend to save for real life :)

I wouldn't have Rob represent me, not after the stories I've heard about his behaviour recently, and the details I've heard of a deal he thrashed out for a pal recently. But then, I'm not certain I see the value of having an agent who views Australia as the be-all and end-all of the publishing world anyway. Rather one from overseas who views Oz as the little rock pool it really is.

The BA is in Communication and Cultural Studies. In first semester I get to take "Introduction to Screen Studies" which looks to me like sitting around watching teevee.

That is the course my 17-year-old cousin is doing this year. Did I mention you are old???

So you keep saying. What do you mean by this? Sure, I may have just cooked enough food for a week's lunches, but beside them in the freezer is a bottle and a half of vodka. And so what if I but bread based on its fibre content now? I ain't dead yet.

Don't be depressed because that's the degree Kylie's 17 year old cousin is doing. Be depressed because that's the BA I graduated in 1991, and all it got me was 10 years in the Public Service...

Intro to Screen Studies will be a breeze for you, Russell - it was insanely easy to do when I was 17 and knew nothing about film.
   It's a pity the School of Arts saw fit to cancel Sci-Fi and Cyberculture: it was a tremendous opportunity that they never quite got working properly. (Tess Williams and Helen Merrick got the closest, but it was still far off where the course should've been IMO.)

Oooo, I should tell my cousin that, Lee. Get him really excited about going to uni...

So is the whole thing external Russell? Or will you have to come back and turn up to lectures and corrupt the young uns at some point?

So far the whole thing's external, though depending on how things go I might see if there's room in the future to swing a semester or year on campus. Will take some doing I suspect, but 6 years is a long time.

I suspect most of my first 4 units will be a breeze, being: Life & the Universe; Intro to Screen Studies; Intro to Cultural Studies; and Writing for the Media. If I can't survive them then I'm in the wrong life.

Studying English per se is not particularly hard, Russ, and for someone with your heightened experience in the Arts industry shouldn't be anything but a doddle. Where you might struggle is in restraining your desire to choke the shit out of the academic ostriches who teach these things from a position 20 years behind what was incorrect at the time they learnt it. There can be a disadvantage to knowing more than your lecturers/tutors, and it'll be interesting indeed to see how little you can bend your own experience-hardened beliefs and still pass.

Thankfully Murdoch has a vague tendency to keep up to date with the academic cutting edge - at least in theatre. It's refreshing to know there's a campus out there for whom modern theatre doesn't end with Bertoldt Brecht. :-)

I just look forward to the day we get to read Russ' work from class. With any luck he'll have the same experience I had underneath Elizabeth Jolley, and find the only way he passes at all is to produce endless "pan across the heather with flute music" stories...

That's the Sylvia Plath as a serial killer luring children to grisly deaths on the Yorkshire Moors, right? Heck, there's probably a story in that. Or maybe this one: Sylvia Plath doesn't leave Ted, but stays in Yorkshire, only to have a fatal encounter in around 1969 with Peter Sutcliffe on a day trip to Bradford or Leeds.

So Kylie, you coming to my birthday or what?

Ummmmm.... Bits of it. The early bits. I had already agreed to go to something else that night. You need go give more warning!! Mind you, you are getting better, at least the warning wasn't negative this year.

I believe Lee is going to the same thing I am...

Maybe next year??

Sorry :(

Sheesh. I tell you on the 6th of January to keep the 31st free, 25 days notice. What do I need to do, book you a year ahead? Tell you what, get out your diary and mark the following dates: Saturday 5 February 2005; Saturday 4 February 2006 and Friday 2 June 2006 (my 33 1/3rd party).

Is that enough warning?

Is that Sarah and John's dinner? Lyn and I are going to that, but we always knew we'd have to miss out on the middle part of Rustypalooza this year. We'll be at the Dome for the 4pm start, and then very likely back at the BM and/or Moon for the last part of the evening.

Lyn's 35th is coming up in June, so there will be at least one more opportunity to point at someone and make age jokes :)

Okay, that coin episode is just plain weird! If you don't show me a story from that by the end of next month I'm going to knick it :)

One of Lyn's best friends recently pulled a round 50c piece out of her purse, something I thought they'd stopped manufacturing in like 1967 or something. Wouldn't give it to me no matter how I begged, the sod.

Not quite as weird as Russell's, but still amusing:
Arrived in Canberra March 1. Sunday March 2, went for a long exploratory walk and found a whole lot of old, brown but not rusted or damaged one and two cent coins lying neatly flat on the pavement in front of a house. Picked them up for my mum's coin collection - she has a penchant for 1&2 cent pieces (especially if they're mangled!). Also notice that the coins over in ACT have more variety than WA - if anyone wants the Tasmanian tiger 20c, centenary of Federation 20c or anything else, email me & I'll try and bring them to Swancon. Oh, and I updated my blog. I've been slack - figured Fables, writing, painting, and Tin Ducks were all more important. Maybe I should get a timetable, like Russell. (Maybe I should just steal Russell's?)

I am the Power Rangers Movie.... Noooooo!

Hey, I ended up being in Fight Club. I'm not a violent person. Honest.

Told you we're perfect for each other. We're both Fight Club! Wanna argue about it? Do ya?

The first time you come to dinner with us you have to fight.

The first rule of our Fight Club is bring wine.
The second rule is bring lots of it.
Love L&L

A kitten? Russell, you're turning into a middle-aged lesbian before our very eyes. You'll have your own self-publish book of poetry out next...

Edited by author 03-16-2004 09:29 AM
I'll pass on the middle age and the poetry thing. Lesbian? That's liking women right? I'll cop that one ;)
(ooops! this is actually Russell. Ah the joys of posting from someone else's computer...)

Ticonderoga Online is keen!!!

I know I should have said this before, but... *Damn* good job with the rejuvenation of Ticonderoga Online! I was so impressed. Of course, given that you're a competitor now, that means I'm gonna have to grind you into the dust! ;)

Lily and Marcia live in Canberra, I am sure they will be happy to keep you on a couch for a couple of days.

http://lilithileane.blogspot.com/

*hugs*
:-((((((((((

poor baby

Dude, it's just a kitten. Put it in the curry and find something else to nail to your neighbour's door at midnight...

your blog appears to have 50% disapeared.

Gah. Russell just sent me an email: my comment about the kitten hit harder than intended.

I'm sorry, Russ. It was meant as a joke, and not to be hurtful. I didn't mean to upset anybody with it.

Sympathies to you and Liz about the kitten.

If it were up to me, soldiers like the ones you reported on your blog would go to jail.

Edited by author 05-12-2004 02:07 AM
Nevetheless, it's not entirely unexpected (though no less reprehensible because of it). It seems to me that in general there's not enough morality and compassion in the world at the moment to fill a thimble. Morality's a tough one, I know. It requires people to think about what they believe is right and wrong (always a relative thing, which is why actual thought is required). Compassion should be a doozy, but it too seems to be in short supply. The world seems like a schoolyard at the moment, with everyone determined to make the other kid cry. As Douglas Adams wrote, "how great it would be to be nice to people for a change". But I don't have high hopes, I'm afraid.

I once saw rustle stomp the living daylights out of a spider with his shoe several times. If you feel so strongly about animal rights then how about practicing what you preach? :-)

If this new information is true, I'm very disappointed in you Russell. Spiders are beautiful creatures.
...cockroaches deserve to die filthy, horrible deaths, but spiders are beautiful creatures...

What can I say, arachnophobia is a recognised condition, however I believe felinephobia isn't. And I never went too far out of my way to kill a spider, and always did it as quickly and painlessly as I could.

Well, if the karmic wheel is spinning, those soldiers will come back as kittens, Rusty will come back as a spider, and I will come back as one of Helena Christiansen's g-strings.

Here's hoping...

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Hey wow! message board spam! Hmm, Philadelphia is a little far though...

I had no idea that messageboard spam even happened. Wow.

You can actually post to a QuickTopic message board via e-mail, rather than on the web. Hence, the spam. :)

Good luck for a volunteer free year. I don't think you'll make it though.
:-)

So are you and Valeskah going to come to Continuum next year? It's got Neil Gaiman and Poppy Z Brite.......

and it's in Melbourne!!

:-)

I've got to admit, I'm sorely tempted to go over for Poppy Z. Brite.

Jimmy Little rocks!

Well, not really, he's more of a subtle crooner but he's great, good listening choice.

I want Casablancacon/Russellcon!

It would seriously be good fun.
(Now I feel like watching <i<Casablanca</i>)

Don't malign that roadhouse! I've had some very good pies from there (admittedly _some_ years ago:-) )

Salright, the pies were probably some years old...

November 23rd: Doctor Who will turn 41.

Apart from that, nothing important... :-)

The CY O'Connor College of TAFE Student Diary for 2005 notes the 23rd November as the 42nd anniversary of Dr Who, among other things...

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