High 5 Friday!

"High 5 Friday" is a whole day, each and every week of the year, dedicated to unity, peace and belonging, symbolised and realised by the graceful act of the high 5. It brings people together regardless of race, orientation or creed and strengthens this global bond each and every one of us shares.

Did you know it is scientifically proven that a healthy well executed high 5 lowers stress levels, and releases endorphins, giving the "5er's" a mild euphoric buzz...?

On top of all these things, "High 5 Friday" is also a running joke between some mates from work. The High 5 Friday Committee was formed one thursday morning over a lengthy 3 way MSN conversation between Caleb (aka the brains), Toby (aka the face) and myself (aka the muscle). The joke became extra funny when we decided we were going to put posters all around the building presenting the special day. Funnier still when we "pitched" the "concept" to our boss (which we thought it best to do, to avoid the potential repercussions of being accused of wasting company time)... Especially funny when the boss in turn (against better judgment) took the idea to upper management... And hilarious when management actually believed we were serious and agreed it was a good team building thing, high 5-ing your colleagues, introducing yourself and all that...!

All of a sudden it was a go ahead, and "High 5 Friday as born! I was even given AN HOUR off regular work in order to design the posters using microsoft word and then put them up!

About 2 months in, still going strong.

Friday's now regularly involve lots of high 5ing, which is pretty awesome. But as a bit of an unexpected side note, through "High 5 Friday", I have actually met some new friends, united the globe a little more, and released some banked up endorphins.

So I invite you all to come together, shout out "up top", and high 5 everyone you can this and every "High 5 Friday"!

Honest Workin'

A few little jobs I have done lately for some friends. Not necessarily what I would call high paying jobs, but my mates from Malthus (a heavy metal band) who I originally met through work HAVE given me a band t-shirt... aaand the girls who work at Moriaan (my friends Sanne and Kaja) DID cook me an awesome meal...

At the end of the day all we need is clothes on our back and food in our belly, and the rest is a bonus! So being able to help out a bunch of friends also husslin', all the while being fed, styled and entertained, is what I consider a good days working.

Thoughts...

I have been pretty slack at updating. I have been busy as usual, just not really doing anything that much out of the ordinary, thus not really warranting a new post. I could write up the news that I have been busy having a great time spending quality time with friends, listening to or making new music, designing a little more again lately, and getting distracted with socialising more than is probably medically advised...

The one thing that has happened a bit more than usual lately is the amount of direct (phone and instant message) contact I have had with family back home.

Which is great!

...I just wish it wasn't so directly related to illness and hospitalisation.

Most of you know what I'm talking about, and I want to make it 'official' (as far as putting thoughts on the internet are) that my most positive thoughts for a speedy recovery and my well wishes are with you all.

Times like this really 'hit home'* the fact that I AM just about as far away from Australia as you can be... And being this far away makes me realise a little more that I need to reiterate the fact that I love you all** and that those few words are pretty important within the family, so make sure you all say them to each other when you feel even the slightest urge to.

*Is that a metaphor, or simile, or irony, or what? Wordy people, little help? Dad? Ryan..?
** Wow, what an emo*** post....!
*** emotional...

Support the underground, how bout a free CD?!

Same deal as below...

(yes foz, I know that is a sole line in a post about sage, b. dolan, cadence weapon and zucchini drive...)

When in Rome...

Ryan And Chiara got Married, in Rome, and I got to go. It was beautiful – all the love, the great company, and the amazing location!

Ben, Judith and I headed down on the Saturday, the wedding was on Sunday, and we came back on Monday… A whirlwind trip for sure, but we covered a lot of ground in those few days. The flights were in and out of Eindhoven, so there’s an hour and a half extra travel time… but the flights were cheapest from there, AND we flew with Ryan air, which was appropriate for the subject of the trip. I have a fairly average opinion of this airline (see Dublin story), but there were no dramas this time round.


We got in and made our way to our apartment in central Rome – about a 2 min stroll from the Pantheon, settled for a bit, then made our way out to meet some more friends for a late dinner (pizza and pasta – surprise!), and then headed across town to go to an alternative club that Alan (the other guy we were staying with) knew of through some of his friends living in Rome… It was pretty cool, a big outdoor setting with hundreds of punky, gothic and indy rock types. And cocktails. Lots of cocktails… We hung out and had a good ol’ time until about 3:30 or so when we thought we’d better be sensible and make our way back to the apartment... But how? In a taxi? No service at that time on that side of town… In a bus? No stops near where we were… hmm… Good time to start walking. Shit. About an hour and a half of walking later, and once we’d come to terms with our situation It actually turned out to be quite pleasant seeing the outskirts of Rome, and in hindsight, probably just the thing we needed to sober up enough to get moving and make our way to the wedding ceremony. The walk included getting an amazing view of the Colosseum at 5 in the morning unhindered by any other tourists, or any people at all, and a lot of beautiful streets without cars or people. Got some amazing photos.



So, after about 2 hours sleep we rose to get ready and make our way to the wedding ceremony. Against all odds, we made it with time to spare. Ryan and Chiara got married in a civil ceremony (non religious), which meant the whole thing was actually fairly low key, and was over within about 30 mins. The actual “marriage” part of this wedding was fairly plain compared to the rest of this weekend!



After the ceremony, we were all bundled up in to “hatchback sized teams” and driven out to the reception (via a Ben suggested, well needed espresso pit stop). We drove about an hour or so out of the city, into winery country, to (what I think was) a day-spa or sort of bed and breakfast retreat. The nearest town was called Orte’, and it was one of those amazing walled in cities up on top of a hill – I really wish I had some photos of it.

The reception was perfect, hassle free, delicious and relaxing. SO MUCH FOOD! I’m sure you have heard the stereotype of food an Italian wedding, and yep, its pretty much true. I had one of my “holy heck life don’t get no better” moments while looking over this huge valley as a train rolled by, while eating Italian handmade pasta with truffle sauce!

The bride and groom were in great spirits, stress free and just going with it, as were their families. The organisation must have been a huge stress beforehand, cause it all came together so easily and flawlessly on the day.
The day was nice and slow, and as the champagne and wine started to go down easier, the pace picked up, building to an epic climax on the dancefloor (or in this case, dancelawn). But again, the ‘official’ stuff was paled in comparison to the Ryan/Chiara twist on events. The bridal waltz was stock standard, but the dance with the parents was something else, with a nice smooth track all of a sudden (much to Ma and Pa’s confusion and amusement) breaking in to a techno beat! Well played on everyone’s part. And one of the big highlights was Ryan and Ben opening up a dance circle and ‘tearing up the floor, old-skool’! This is definitely one of those moments where you had to be there, but be assured, it was epic!

The only potential hiccup of the day’s was that after everyone had left there was still about 15 of us left, mostly the Canadian visitors, or the Amsterdam/Brussels connection, kind of stranded at the reception, and with the nearest train station being in Orte’, about 15 mins drive away. But the extended Italian family came through, dropping us in to the station, and this is where “The Team” was born!

“The Team” was definitely the biggest thing to hit Orte’ and the otherwise quiet and sleepy station and following train ride was rocked by a powerforce of veritable comedy genius and general awesomeness. Riding in a pitch black train carriage with all the window’s open and sharing beers and laughs with these new friends is certainly something I’m hoping I won’t forget in a hurry.
Back in Rome, and again with only a few hours of sleep ahead before the next deadline of getting to the airport in the mid morning, we retired, well exhausted but very happy. We made it home the next day to Amsterdam without any dramas, and although it was a rushed trip, it was well worth it. HUGE thankyou to Ryan, Chiara and their families for having us out to Italy for such and awesome holiday!

One year on, but I feel like the one that got away with something!

It’s been a little while since my last post, sorry mum and dad… *

It’s not like I haven’t wanted to keep you up to date. It isn’t because I have had nothing to report. It’s actually because I have been super busy ticking off (and adding more to) the list of things I set out to achieve as part of this little adventure!

Craig reminded me that it was (or is soon to be?) queens birthday weekend back in Oz, and that it has been a year since our place got robbed. That robbery could aptly be described as the straw that broke the camels back and convinced me I was due for a change of circumstances. I don’t remember just how much I mentioned it to you at the time (less sure about the rest of you reading here), but I was pretty pissed off with my job, and felt in a bit of a rut as far as friendships, relationships etc. Canberra all of a sudden felt a little bit claustrophobic.

Not wanting to sound too precious, all was rolling along fine I guess, but after 4 years in the one job, constantly fighting to justify my existence, with more and more friends moving out of Canberra, and with me and the rest of my circle going about our groundhog-day like routine, smaller and smaller things started getting me down.

You know I’m generally a happy guy, but I was noticing myself getting pissed off and/or a little depressed from time to time, and being pissed off and depressed is something that pisses me off and depresses me (!).

I had a few things that kept me happy and grounded. One was spending the best part of last year hanging out with/getting to know/and living with Craig. He is pretty much the only person I know (in the real, non internet message-board based world) with more or less the same left field musical tastes as me, with a shared interest in abstract and underground/alternative hip-hop. Another was spending countless hours emailing/joking/scheming and musically collaborating with Ryan and Ben from across the globe. We used the internet to form a band, discuss music, write and share lyrics and instrumentation and even coordinate a virtual recording weekend with hopes of putting together a demo/EP. A weekend was settled on where Ryan went to Ben’s in Amsterdam, recorded vocals over some MP3’s of my beats that I sent him, and they emailed them back to me to mix down into the original tracks…

Those vocal tracks were delivered to my inbox at pretty much the exact same time as my computer was dragged from my house through a pile of wreckage that included the 5 or so remaining CD's from my 200 or so strong collection of fairly specific and in parts very rare music, a few left over cables that were once connected to my computer, musical gear, Craig’s TV, stereo amp, Gravy’s (later recovered but pretty beat up) turntables, Chilco’s now scratched up records… and also through blood drips and broken glass.

Enter the camel and pile of straw. I spoke to Ryan via phone at about 1am Oz time, after I’d taken stock of what happened, and heard his voice for the first time in about a year since I was on the holiday where I met him. Our conversation basically involved me throwing my hands up and admitting defeat. I had had it with my circumstances and conceded to what I’m now happy to call a mid youth crisis. I decided I was going to try and move overseas. Since that day and that decision things have gotten better and better pretty much every day, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy!

One year on, still no EP, but definitely no less enthusiasm. Still a lot of distractions for all of us, but mostly good healthy music related distractions! The amount of talk between the 3 of us about music, the recording of vocals already done, the working, fine tuning, learning new software, understanding each other’s strengths and developing our sound, and the attendance of gigs, meeting musicians etc has kept things moving at their same slow and steady pace. But I’m pretty sure once we all get together and record in the same room at the same time (something that hasn’t happened yet), magic may just happen, and minds could quite possibly explode… That, or we will all have another of the “best days of our lives” hanging out doing what we enjoy doing.

More updates from across the continent soon (with Pics).

*Dad, you have asked a few times about my musical aspirations, and I have been meaning to fill you in (still am, just haven’t got to it yet), so hopefully this explains a bit more.

Doing it Big, Amsterdam Style!

Last week was pretty much one of THE BEST weeks of my life. Actually, not "pretty much", it WAS one of the best weeks of my life! This post is going to partly for keeping you all up to speed, partly to document some happy times, and partly to act as "a test of memory recall against the odds"... with alcohol playing the part of "the odds".

Saturday 26th April. Went down to Brussels with Ben and Judith to see Ryan's "Power Force". We trained to Den Haag, stopped in with Judith's family and had a nice quick lunch before borrowing their car and driving interstate. (international, but...you know, 2 hours should not count as international). The play was really good. I had already read it numerous times while typesetting, so already had preconceived notions of what each character should look, sound and act like. Even though Stacy did not quite come across right in my mind, Mick and Wayne both far surpassed what the script asked for. The night was padded out by some comedy routines in the form of a guitar trio, some spoken word , some improv sketches, and a lot of drinks. After the play we went to a end of show party and got to work on the next mornings hangovers.

Sunday 27th April. Slow start, then off to breakfast with Ryan, Chiara and Valentina. To the park for a bit of football between sunning, as it was an amazing day. Then back to Amsterdam via an hour or two in Antwerp (an awesome looking place that I'm keen to spend more time in soon), a car drop off in Den Haag and a train ride back to Centraal. Motty was there, waiting to meet me and start his huge week in Amsterdam. We went to Ben's to collect some giant bean bags, aka my new spare bed(s), move them across town on the trams (funny story in itself), and then we enjoyed a few quiet beers at my new local bar I'd been keen to visit for a while but had always been alone this side of town. Of course a few quiet beers still involved being asked very nicely by the barman to please leave and stop being charming to the lovely bar girl, as it is now 2 am.

Monday 28th April. Work shifts this week were 8am - 4:30pm. Not too bad really. With the sun staying up till 9:30pm these days, there is still plenty of daylight to enjoy after work, but a 4:30pm clock off still feels like an early finish. I am getting the hang of the job pretty quickly and had a pretty good few days there, which don't need to be elaborated on in this post. Monday night, met up with a few other new friends, Sanne and Kaja, for a few quiet beers and a catch up. Motty went to a gig a bit later in the eve and I headed home fairly early - about midnight.

Tuesday 29th April. Got woken up at 6am by Motty, who was just back from what sounded like an awesome gig. Being up at that time was fine though, as Gav called Motty from Oz, and I got to talk to him. Nice hearing another voice from back home. 8 hours of work pass. Tuesday eve aka Queens Night (the night before queens day, as opposed to the actual evening of queens day, which is known as queens-day-night.... right?!) started with us heading to a ex-squat house/venue that a rapper I like from Canada may or may not have been playing at... Turns out he wasn't there, but the gig/experience was still kinda cool, hanging out with Amsterdam's relatively unseen crusty punk crowd. After that show we joined in on a cycle into the city with a huge anarchic group of these punks, which was great chaotic fun, as there were not many other way's of cutting through the masses of people heading in all directions across the streets. We caught up with the full crew, including Ben, Judith, Dan, Shelle, Sheila (American, not Aussie), Kaja and her friend, and Dans brother Tom, who is also visiting Europe at the moment. After a few more drinks in the city wide street party we moved to Ben's for an impromptu dance party in his place. Home about hmm.... should we call it, umm... 3?

Wednesday 30th April. QUEENS DAY! Dragged our abused bodies out of bed in order to meet up with Motty's friend Leonie at 10am, as she offered to take us on a boat with her friends, an offer that you just don't pass up on queens day. Too right! Spent 2 or 3 hours cruising through the canals, and it was just the most amazing way to start this amazing day. The boat had about 15 of us on it, 2 kegs of beer, and a great old stereo (not that we needed it, there was music coming from everywhere, especially the thousands of other boats also running around the place. The city really goes absolutely crazy for this day, a mass of orange clothing, hats, wigs and whatever else, along with food, drinks, and 2nd hand "anything" lining LITERALLY every inch of sidewalk not filled with people. I hear the population of Amsterdam doubles over Queens Day, from 7 to about 14 million people? Crazy. Afternoon was easy going for us, up at Dan and Shelles before heading out into the streets for a few hours of walking around soaking up this awesome vibe, and dancing in the streets. Important to note that there was next to no hostility between anyone anywhere we went (bar one dickhead that threw a book that hit Judith. No big deal, and the book turned out to be quite funny, providing a lot more joy than it did pain). I really don't think a city wide drunken party of this scale could ever work in Australia (or many other places) without a lot more alcohol fueled violence. Evening ended after a few more hours dancing up a storm at a hip-hop club with Sanne and Kaja, with others coming and going around about the place. Got home at... hmm... shall we say 4am? This day was a constant smile, and really did reaffirm just how super happy I am to be here, even if it is away from family and friends.

Thursday 1st May. Woke slow, another public holiday, so we just chilled until heading over to Ben's place in the arvo, where we all got involved in a big casual cook up, as it was Dan, Shelle and Tom's last night in Amsterdam for a few weeks. Another chilled perfect day.

Friday 2nd May. Woke. Worked. Beers in the arvo with Leonie which turned in to her cooking us a traditional Dutch meal - Stamppot. It was Lekker! Then we dressed in our best formal wear (my old shirt and tie, and Motty in a suit jacket he found on queens day), as we were attending a gig that Sanne and Kaja were putting on (and I did the poster design for) - the Artsy Farty Patsy Party: Pretty Prom Night. Don't ask. I've found thats the easiest approach to understanding these crazy Europeans! It was a nice interesting gig, but we had to make tracks, as we were off to another gig at the Bimhuis (mentioned in a previous post about Pierre Bastien). This time it was an avant garde electronic dance party, featuring 2 warp records artists - Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke, and a local Glitch hop DJ - Cinaman. Awesome music, awesome venue, and awesome company (including Sheila, Judith, and her old/my new friend Neils, from Rotterdam). Got home well after dawn.... about hmm... 6ish?!

Saturday 3rd May. Treated ourselves to a nice sleep in, felt we deserved it. Woke up about 12... Made our way towards the city for brunch (I know... but lets call it that anyway), and then off to the Westerpark for a nice friendly game of 3 on 3 soccer. Physical exercise for the week - check! After an hour or so of that (and a controversial Canberra team win) we made our way to a terrace bar to soak up a few more rays and a few more beers, as our angry livers had at this point become addicted and needed weaning or something...?!? After some delicious Indonesian take away me and Motty headed up to club elf (11) - a nice place to take in sunset and a view of the city from one of the highest vantage points, 11 stories up. After this we strolled back in to town with Leonie, via the red light district - the very same district we all agreed that we dislike English "tourists" a lot more than we dislike English "people". Motty and I, knowing we had an early 5 am start to get him onto a plane back to London, decided we should move towards home, but just popped in to the local bar for one or two more quiet ones before bed...

Sunday 4th May. So......... haha.... With a good 45 minutes sleep under my belt, we rose and rode to Centraal, with AT LEAST a minute to spare before Motty's train made its way out to the airport, and I headed back to sleep for another 5 hours!

Holy heck....

In the words of Mr Andrew Mottram, CRIKEY! What an awesome week. I had such a great time hanging out with friends, both old, newish, and new, and actually, I'm kinda bummed that tonight has been quiet enough to finally catch up on writing this!

Having Motty here all week was so awesome, and once again helped shrug off any lingering feelings of homesickness. I was so glad that he got to share/contribute to all this enjoyment, as all my words really don't do the whole thing a lick of justice.

The TomTom Club

3 and a half months sure have flown by eh.?! Yep. Holidays sure are great! Unfortunately, though, there comes a time in every "intrepid young (and handsome) traveler"s life when he must own up to the guilt of a cruisy lifestyle of 10am wake ups, 3am (+/-) bed times, and no real obligations in between... besides bringing the beer to the next party... or showing up to the gig on time... etc...

Yes, alas, It was time to get a job.

But you WILL be pleased to know that I did my usual "not too much" in order to get this job.

I handed my CV to a friend that works there one week, I got a call for an interview the next, and went in for the interview that afternoon (my idea, as I was off to Paris the next morning). It went really well, and talked myself up more than ever before. Yeah, seriously, this intrepid young (and handsome) traveler talked himself up! It was weird and funny and I was impressed with myself all at once. My last interview was pretty average and typical, so I was quite chuffed with my performance this time round. Went something kinda like this (liberal use of 'wank' for effect):

What can you bring to the team?
Well... In my old job I played both the joker, and the voice of reason, sometimes both at once depending on the situation... So I think I could work a bit like a pendulum and help balance the workplace and find that happy medium...

How do you deal with upset clients?
Well, I'm glad you asked. I have never officially studied psychology or counseling techniques, but I feel I have a natural aptitude to read a situation and adjust my tact in order to push my point and achieve a result that suits my purpose, whilst still keeping the client on side...

And so on. Was pretty funny. Also, the interview was definitely not hindered any by the fact that I had already been for a night on the town with one of the interviewing supervisors.

So yeah, I got a call the next day and the job is mine!

At a week and a half of training in so far... so far so good.

Oh yeah, what I'm actually going to be doing is working as a "Customer Support Officer" for the UK team of TomTom - Europe's leading GPS device company. I will be answering calls from confused and/or angry UK citizens that are having trouble with their TomTom, and I will try troubleshoot a fix or organise a repair.

Should be pretty easy, and pretty fun, with plenty of young, cool and multicultural people working there. Everyone seems easygoing and all that. And I'll be working next to the Nordic team, so atleast while I'm stuck in an office for a bit more of my life, I will be constantly reminded that I'm stuck in an office... in Europe.

Paris

Last week was spent in France with my Gran, Mum and Aunty. They are visiting Europe, and it would have been just plain rude of me not to take full advantage of their hospitality and crash on the floor of their apartment for a few nights in the Montmartre area of Paris.

It could have just been just first taste of spring. It could have been some subconscious rekindling of old sights and sounds from my childhood. It could have been all the characters walking straight off the Amelie set (or back on to...). It could have been something else.

But there is something about this part of Paris that I just fell in love with.

I took about 200 photos over the 4 days I was down there, cause, well, a picture DOES tell a thousand words.... As my pictures often get to the point quicker and better than I do, Here are 11,000 words.

View out of one of the apartment windows.

View out of the bathroom. Actually out of the window above the bathtub/shower. Each morning I opened the window and took all this in whilst showering. Thats the Sacré Coeur in the middle there.

Typical view from the area we were in.

Totally sweet french graffiti.

We went to Giverny one day, to Monet's house. His gardens were pretty, um.... pretty.

Yep. Springtime is on its way....finally!

Went to the Moulin Rouge one eve, as it was about 10 mins walk from our place. Unfortunately, as you can see, the best tickets I could afford for this place left me with a fairly limited view of the dancers...

Metro. Lamarck Caulaincourt.

Gran and Mums on the Metro.

View from the Australian Ambassador to France's Apartment, top floor of the Australian Embassy. Yeah thats right. We ran in to an old family friend, who also happens to be the Ambassador's wife, and had been in Paris for only a matter of hours when we ran in to each other in the street... We organised to go in to her place for coffee a few days later. Highrollin'. I lived in the same building and had a similar view when I was 4. Oh yeah, thats the Eiffel Tower in the background there.

Wall.

For anyone that has a newer cannon digital camera, I recommend playing with the extra settings. Most of these were taken using the "foliage" option, and as a result, I have not needed to use photoshop like usual to get the colours looking so vibrant.

The Power Force

My "esteemed colleague", Mr Ryan Millar, has written his first award winning* play. It's also the first play he's written. Period. Not bad eh? I've read it. It's good. It's funny.

PUNCH YOUR LUNCH:
When you see an opportunity you’ve got to just grab it, and squeeze it, and hit the shit out of it until it cries. In that way you make it yours.
- Useful advice from unpublished self-help manuscript The Power Force, by Charles Bell

It’s the second day of her internship at MaxCap Publishing and Stacy Jean Gray couldn’t be more excited. However, when the boss shows up with a brand new set of leadership principles to put into force it threatens to ruin the office. Can Stacy draw on her day of experience and help save the office? If you said ‘yes’, you’ve either already read the play, seen it, or have a pretty good handle on how stories generally go.

Over the weekend on my stop in Brussels on my way back from Paris, (whole other post to follow...) I helped Ryan out, as good mates do, with the design and layout of the book, and design of some promo fliers and stickers. These items are the first "physical" fruits to come out of the 'actual and very much real' Maxcap Publishing wing of the Maxcap Media Empire.

Being that I am fortunate enough to currently be living in the northern hemisphere, I am happy to be able to attend and enjoy the play, and also enjoy seeing one of my buddy's passions come to fruition.

*Winner of the American Theatre Company’s One-Act Playwriting Competition 2007