A Blog Darkly
Quiet week
Quiet week. My elite research skills won me kudos at work, which made me feel better after the major stuff ups last week.
Friday my friend Matt was back in town from London, where he's been since 2002, so we had a big night that ended with us playing the Lord of the Rings pinball really badly, and then him being refused entry to a bar for being too drunk (actually it was drugs more than alcohol, but we didn't press the point); and included seemingly endless streams of Irish tourists telling us how 'we didn't want to come overseas and just meet Irish people' (leading us to wonder what they were doing drinking in an Irish bar), and attempts to chat up the barmaid ("you're from Galway? That's such a beautiful town"). Which failed.
Saturday I played hacky with Matt and Damian and after starting off playing like a drunken baby giraffe I improved. Then off to a barbecue with some of Rhonda's friends, also back from overseas, where the cocktails were well-made and the conversation interesting. Which was enough for me. And now I'm sitting inside on a bright sunny day, allegedly studying but really internetting.
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Burn like fire in Cairo
I'm sitting in a cybercafe in-between sets at the Lambchop gig. I thought I'd arrive while the support band was playing, instead I got there before the first support band. It's going to be a late night. And I've got work tomorrow. I'm too old for this nonsense ;)
The night's been made more interesting by a major fire on Vivian St...right on the corner by Cuba. This is the heart of the red light district - the fire is across the road from a strip club and next door to a punk bar, which is itself next to the all-night bar that all the sex industry workers drink in. Huge crowd s standing round watching, though unfortunately no naked hookers or johns running from their rooms in fear. Looks like no-one in danger, either.
Last night was Rhonda's birthday barbecue. Paul and Kim and James came along and we got very drunk (well, I did, the others didn't now I think about it) and continued to develop our plans of buying a farm together - latest thinking is either buy heaps of wild pigs and just let them look after themselves (I"m not sure how we make money off that) or else force Paul to live on the farm and telecommute to work. It beats our original plan (taking turns to drive out there each night) anyway. A good night, all said and done. Drunkenness and my friends and the Ramones on the stereo, and lots of food ;)
Spent this morning visiting Michael in the hospital - it's not looking so good. He's lost 20kg and is on a drip-feed, poor bastard. He was bearing up OK for a while while I was there, but after about half an hour he just had to tell me to leave because he was in too much pain. Poor kid :(
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I can't think of a title, so there isn't one here.
The highlight of my day was the gym. I've been building up my time on the treadmill from 15 minutes to 30, and my speed's gone up from 10kph to 11.5. Which means I'm running close on 6km. And without too much effort. I'm pleased with myself, naturally. After a good few months when I didn't exercise properly and put on a lot of weight, I'm winning again. I'm down 3kg since I started this job (about 4 months ago) - slow progress, but real.
And I'm noticing the changes. After the gym I walked home up Bolton St, which is an insanely steep hill. I didn't even notice till I'd finished climbing it that I wasn't out of breath at all. And Rhonda tells me I'm looking slimmer Good results, then.
The newspaper coverage of the match yesterday was scathing. Fleming complained that petty people were making unhelpful comments. OK. Simple. Here's something constructive.
There's no point in picking Hamilton, though he bowled wicket to wicket with a fair bit of heart. He's 31 years old. We're building towards the World Cup in two years, why not pick someone who might still be around then, and give them some experience?
Paul Wiseman. He's taking wickets and bowling well. Vettori's our best bowler at the moment, so why not play two spinners? The medium pacers are just cannon fodder for the Aussie big hitters.
Hitting the ball along the ground is a good way to avoid being caught out.
Bowling line and length makes it harder for the batsmen to hit the ball. At the least, bowling one side of the wicket means it's easier to set a field.
Not running when you've hit the ball directly to a fielder, or when your partner has fallen over, is a good way of avoiding being run out.
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More gigs, only a little rain
It's been a busy week. Since the Shins I've been:
-dragged along to a comedy night at Orientation. (Probably shouldn't have bothered: Michelle A'Court and Radar were OK but nothing special, and I just really don't get Ben Hurley, or how he managed to win the Billy T award).
-strode of my own free will to Orientation for the third time, to see Dimmer and Tha Feelstyle. Both good acts, but they suffered from a lacklustre crowd (the hall was maybe a third full). Dimmer's sound possibly works better on album, it was all a bit one-paced, and while they made a pleasant noise, I never really got that excited by it. I was pretty tired, so maybe that was the reason, as much as them. Carter doesn't really have much stage presence either - he's too grumpy whenever the audience acts like a rock audience.
-wandered around the Cuba St Carnival on my own and in the company of other consenting adults. I saw Phoenix Foundation play one of their quiet sets (they're just getting better - '40 Years' or whatever it is called is great); SJD for a few songs, went home with Rhonda for a while, watched some cricket then back for the parade with the usual suspects as well as some of Rhonda's friends; and some dancing to Tu Faan Express. The boys looked happy to be up there playing, and the crowd certainly dug it. The parade was good, but standard complaints about not being able to see most of it and fearing being crushed to death apply.
Also ran into Adrienne and Kelvin which was a neat coincidence. Good to see them both out and about after his accident.
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