.:: eleven ::.

ad·ven·ture (d-vnchr)
n.

1. An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.
2. An undertaking of a questionable nature, especially one involving intervention in another state's affairs.
2. An unusual or exciting experience: an adventure in dining.
3. Participation in hazardous or exciting experiences: the love of adventure.
4. A financial speculation or business venture.


v. ad·ven·tured, ad·ven·tur·ing, ad·ven·tures
v. tr.

1. To venture upon; undertake or try.
2. To expose to danger or risk; hazard.


v. intr.

1. To take a risk; dare.
2. To proceed despite risks.


[Middle English aventure, from Old French, from Latin adventrus, future participle of advenre, to arrive. See advent.]

[: ten :] --- gmail, token gestures, working onsite ---

i'VE just signed into Blogger and found the offer to beta test Gmail. I think that's pretty kool.
I've been starting at 6am at work this week. Things are generally pretty rough until about lunchtime (10am) after then, it's ok, and I get to come home at 2:30pm and get some of that all important *winter*(ok, I know it starts next month) sunshine.
I've started getting into my development a bit more recently, I've set up a mySQL server and have been playing with python.. php is next. The open source option really is a good option when the only alternatives are either [a]: forking out a large sum of cash I can't afford, or [b]: pirating software.

..This was never going to be a long post... i just wanted to drop by and say hi.


Today is, as far as I can tell, a month since I've given up cigarettes. Ok, I've had 3 cigarettes in that time, alcohol assisted, of course. yup... feeling great.
I did a week stint as the onsite tech for one of our customers in the city a few weeks ago. Loved it! It was actually more relaxing than I expected it to be, although I'm sure when things go wrong the stresses are in your face 110%. I've just been told that I have another 2 weeks coming up at the same place at the end of June. The only apprehension I feel is due to my ingrained wanting to do exactly what *I* want.


I must go to bed.


ciao.

\: nine point seven five .\ addendum of addendums





....Pure unadulterated laziness alone stopped me from reporting that I managed to meet Shag on Feb ummm... 22nd. There was an exhibition of his work at the Opera House, and he came over from California for the last couple of days of it. A damn nice, unassumming guy too.

... that's IT, no more for you tonight!

\: nine point five :/....of Tiki's and cabin fever






today I was on a bit of a mission... I've been by myself in the house for a couple of days (cobb's gone to his mums 50th birthday and mchunraha and Dali have gone down to Canberra for a week or so), perhaps it's a little bit of cabin fever, but it feels really good. I was up until 3am this morning watching 'the bourne identity'.... I really enjoyed it. Quite the excellent spy-thriller type movie.



I woke up about 8am, went for a walk to get some milk for that all important morning coffee. I like walking for a couple of reasons....

• it gets me out in the open air, I get a real zest for life when I'm actually out in it,
and
• it's the bare minimum excercise I can do without guilt and the sneaking suspicion that I'm not actually alive at all

~(:^D)

...Just to make the point clear, this is day 5 without any nicotine at all. Then good news is that making this point day after day is starting to become boring. That's a good thing right?

No cravings at all at the moment, although there aren't any smokers around, so I'm not sure what it will be like when I am, I'll find out soon enough I guess.

I spoke to my dad today, strangely he rang only a minute or two after I transferred his contact details from my phone to my Palm m125. I thought to myself: "If he calls now, I'm going to be scared out of my skin." Two minutes later, there he was. He's an amazing guy y'know. It's like every time I talk to him he's doing something different. He was always the same uptight person when I was growing up and living at home... always too busy, always aloof, always correct. Then, after my mum passed away he opened up a bit more I think.
He was always the manager, and I can see I've inherited his preoccupation with efficiency. ~(:^D)

I remember him telling me when he started looking after an autistic aboriginal boy, I really didn't know what to think, I almost didn't know who I was speaking to. The joke between us kids was that the boy wasn't really autistic at all, he just didn't want to speak to dad. hehe.

...So how do I feel when he tells me today that he is now teaching at Murrami school? I'm not sure. Apparently he's teaching a couple of different things, maths and english as I remember it. He's doing it a couple of days a week, but I really think that's amazing, that he, a man turning 60 soon, can turn around and dramatically surprise his children like that. Ten years ago, I really could not see him making one of these choices, let alone two (and how many more to go?)... I just wanted to say here, to make it clear to both you and to myself that I am really proud of him.


cheers dad!


I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I wasn't a very good farm kid. I was much more interested in reading our quite impressive array of encyclopaedias. One of those is a 'do it yourselfers' almanac kinda thing, with step-by-step instructions of how to do all sorts of things from building pergolas to toy boats to ...well, you get the jist I'm sure...and I remember seeing in it instructions on how to make your own Tiki head garden ornaments out of a wet sand mould and concrete.
The Tiki's (aPolynesian god) are (or have become?) a representation of the creative masculine force in us all, (note to self: is there a female version?) so it's fitting for anyone who suspects they have an artist sneaking around inside somewhere to let them out by producing (via a painting or drawing or sculpture or what-have-you) ..a Tiki.

...And today that is just what I have done. I have never concreted anything before, I have never purchased concrete mix. But today I did that and made a wet-sand mould (with the invaluable [depending on quality of the final work] assistance of a 2 Litre milk bottle) and made possibly the first of many Tiki's. I carved the date and my initials into the back of it, and pressed three coins, a New Zealand 10c, an Australian 10c and a Fijian 10c. So, theoretically, it's at least worth 30c. ~(:^D)

The notion of the Tiki also fits well into my appreciation of a good cocktail and a heady lashing of lounge music too.


The biggest problem for me right now is that I have to gather all the self control I can not to disturb the setting Tiki. It's like a cake in the oven... something inside me keeps running back to it and seeing how it's going. I have to leave it for like 4 DAYS the cure tho. Holy shit, how am I meant to manage that?
...again, more questions than answers.

While writing this, I have just watched and enjoyed 21 grams...another great movie.

...Till then, gentle reader,
.....I bid you adieu.

.: nine :....The empire strikes banksy


Just found this in todays Sydney Morning Herald.... excellent stuff

_____________________


'Museum fails to smell a rat
By Vikram Dodd in London
April 10, 2004


Doubtless it is a publicity stunt, but is it also art?

A graffiti artist called Banksy smuggled his latest work, a dead rat in a glass-fronted box, into the Natural History Museum in London, where it was exhibited on a wall for several hours.

Staff did not notice that the rat was out of place amid the museum's usual fare of dinosaur bones and artefacts from the animal kingdom.

The rat was stuffed and clad in scaled-down wraparound sunglasses, and had a rucksack on its back and a microphone in one paw. A miniature spraycan sat at its feet, while above it was sprayed in graffiti-style lettering "our time will come".

The piece, called Banksus Militus Ratus, was displayed with a text that said the common sewer rat had some remarkable new characteristics.

"Attributed to an increase in junk food waste, ambient radiation and hardcore urban rap music these creatures have evolved at an unprecedented rate." It quotes a bogus university professor as saying: "You can laugh now . . . but one day they may be in charge."

Banksy is believed to have disguised himself as a museum worker to glue the case to a wall.

Banksy is known for his graffiti art around London, and some of his works sell for thousands of pounds.

His manager, Steve Lazarides, said museum visitors liked the rat exhibit and one staff member had thought it was genuine.

Last year Banksy, real name Robert Banks, said not getting caught was part of the buzz.

"The art to it is not getting picked up for it, and that's the biggest buzz at the end of the day because you could stick all my shit in the Tate Modern and have an opening with Tony Blair and Kate Moss on Rollerblades handing out vol-au-vents and it wouldn't be as exciting."

The Guardian'

_____________________

...more after dinner [chicken fettucini]