It's that time of the year.

The weather is getting hot.
People are driving like bloody idiots.
Town is getting crowded with kids on school holidays.
It's mental.
But I'm still excited.
Even though I'm completely skint and have no money for presents (and that's what skint means Jaan), it's still gonna be great fun.

Yes, I'm a bit overdue for an update, so I'll try and remember everything that's been going on.

First, Muffin ran away. :( We had kept him inside for a few weeks after we moved, and then I decided to let him out since he was getting really antsy and it wasn't nice to see him so bored inside. He seemed to be doing quite fine for an hour or so, and then he was just gone. It's all been a bit sad really. However, Alice and I have decided that instead of getting presents for each other this year, we'll just save our money and go to the shelter and get a new kitten. So that's something to look forward to. And if Muffin decides to come back, well, he'll just have to get along with his new housemate.

Health is still going awesomely. I had a clinic a couple weeks ago (the first one since my admission earlier this year) and my lung function is back up to the best it's been in the last couple of years. So I'm pretty much the healthiest since before I went overseas, so I'm really happy about that. Although my sinuses are starting to play up again, so I'm gonna have to go and get them checked out. I can't remember if I said last time that I'm doing yoga now, but I am. It's great fun. So that.

The album is coming along really nicely (well, so I'm told since I haven't heard any of it since that first weekend). So far vocals, guitars, drums, piano and bass have been recorded. There are still the strings, backing vocals and random sounds to be done, but if the rehearsals are anything to go by, this album is gonna be fricken sweet. Due to the recording, there hasn't been many gigs to talk about. We did one at the Gov with the drummer and bass player which was SO much fun. Those guys are just amazing. Hopefully we'll do more with them in the future. Next year looks like it's going to be quite full on with music, so I'm just trying to take it as easy as possible when I'm not needed. But we have one more gig for the year, so if you're looking for something to do between Christmas and New Years, head on down to the Wheatsheaf Hotel on Friday the 28th to see Cookie Baker play with Brillig. Gonna be lotsa fun.

That's about it I think. Seen a few gigs, most notably the John Woods Band at the Gov. Those guys really are gonna go far me thinks. It's awesome. And they're playing at the Big Day Out, so that's just amazing. And even more so that I'm actually going now. :D

Rating: 8

What I'm listening to: Wallis Bird - Spoons. I can't get enough of these kids at the moment. They are a group from Ireland and they are bloody outstanding!!!!

Sorry...

I know how long it's been, and quite a few things have gone on, but since I'm not in the best mood, this isn't going to contain all the little bits and pieces that have gone on.

So the recording is going REALLY well. The drums have been recorded, and it's amazing how much they lift the songs up and give them an awesome flow. I'm probably biased, but I really think this is going to be an awesome album when it's finished. There are still a few things that need to be done - strings, bass and random noises/backing vocals. I'll still keep everyone up to date when it looks like it will be out and available.

We moved house! The mould in The Fortress was the last straw, and since the landlord wouldn't fix it, we thought it wasn't worth risking health just to be in a cheap house in an awesome area. So we looked for a few weeks before we found this house, and we're very happy with it. It's got floorboards throughout, ducted AC and heating (which needs to be fixed as it's not working), 3 bedrooms, HUGE backyard and it's all very neat and tidy. We're very happy to be in a nice, proper home where we can entertain people now. Although we are paying pretty much double what we were paying before. Oh well...

The other main piece of news is that Muffin has gone awol. I decided let him out of the house after a few weeks of being indoors as he was getting VERY antsy. Things seemed to be quite fine - he was going around the yard, going into the neighbours houses, and then popping back home. But when I went to get him inside in the evening, I couldn't find him. That was Friday night - it's now Tuesday. Part of me is really trying to remain positive and thinking that he's either partying it up with the other cats in the area (it's cat city around our house), he's curled up on some old woman's lap since the weather has been so shit all weekend, or he's wandered back to our old house. But the other part of me just can't help but think something's happened to him. So, while I really don't like asking for things like this, I was wondering if you could all do what you do so well, and say a prayer, send some good vibes, or just think positive thoughts that he will be found safe and sound.

Healthwise things have been going really nicely. I'm still really clear in my lungs, and even though I haven't done alot of exercise lately since my ipod has broken, I'm feeling really good. I've also started yoga, so maybe that has something else to do with it.

Anyway, that's about it. Hope everyone's well.

Recording, dinners and gigs.

Another two weeks, another update. The first thing I want to mention is that we have started recording Cookie Baker's debut album, which has already been an amazing experience. We were locked in the studio for a whole weekend, which let us get 8 of the 10 tracks down (acoustic guitars and vocals only). But already, the songs are sounding awesome and it's only going to get better. The other musicians are still to record their parts (strings, percussion, bass, backing vocals, random noises) and if all goes to plan, the cd should be out by the end of the year. I still have one song to record with Holly, and since it's going to be a bitch to get down correctly, we're setting aside a whole day for the one song. Hopefully it all goes well, and we won't have to worry about that one any more.

Last week a friend from school was back in Adelaide after being overseas for the last 3 years, so a whole bunch of us from school caught up with dinner and a few bevy's. It was so awsomely strange to see so many people from school in the same place, 7 years after we had all graduated and all doing pretty much what we love to do. We had engineers, actors, singers, musicians, and architects. Who would have thought back in school we would all be where we are today? It was a great night, and hopefully it won't be that long before we all catch up again (but most probably will be).

Since the big Festival Centre gig happened, not a whole lot of music has been going on for me (apart from the studio weekend). I'm still working 6 days a week, but it's so nice to have my nights back again, so I can spend some quality time with Alice (which usually involves us eating dinner while watching Heroes). But it's been great. And I think it's much needed as the last week or so I've noticed that my lungs are starting to be a little more gunked up, so I'm tossing up whether to go to the clinic to see how bad they are. I figured if things don't really improve in the next couple of weeks, I'll try and go in to get a tune-up, so that it (hopefully) won't take me so long to recover and get back to my best. We'll see anyways...

We have a gig tonight at the Prince Albert Hotel (on Wright St) which is going to be fantastic! The owners have sold the pub, so I'm not sure what's going to become of it, but in the past it's been host to some friggen awesome gigs. One of them being Ekoostika, the monthly acoustic night which was started by musos Cookie Baker, LeighStarDust and Tom Barnes. The first Thursday of every month this night would happen, and basically anyone who could strum an acoustic guitar and belt out a few notes would be welcome to play, and it happened to be the starting point of the brilliant Mr. John Woods. So to celebrate the end of an era with the pub changing hands, all 3 of the acts who started up Ekoostika are going to be playing tonight. It's sure gonna be lovely!

Well, I think that about brings you all up to speed. I may see you tonight, I may not.

Rating: 7.2

What I'm listening to: Rodrigo y Gabriela

Spring is here!

As much as I love the warmer weather, I am a bit worried about how bad this summer is going to be. We need more water badly! But since it doesn't look like we're going to get it, I guess there's nothing more to do but sit back, enjoy not having to have the heater on 24/7, and being able to dry our clothes on the line rather than go to the laundromat!

First, I just wanted to say a huge thanks to all those who made it to Cookie's Piano Bar gig on Sunday. It was a perfect day! The weather was absolutely stunning, the crowd was completely packed and so enthusiastic, and without a doubt the most enjoyable gig I've had the pleasure to play.

As soon as we finished playing, we popped over to Elder Park to catch the rest of The Audrey's gig as part of the ABC's 75th Anniversary, and they were outstanding as always. I wish I could have stayed a bit longer and sat on the grass listening to them, but we had to pack all the gear away. Had a little scare on the way home when Eliza-Jane decided to stop running halfway down King William St, but luckily it was just a bit of dirt on the points, so after not too long she was back and running sweetly. That night we went to FADBar to have some birthday drinks for Holly, which was a brilliant night. A few people got messy, but all in all there was lots of laughs and funky dance moves.

Since there have been no rehearsals this week, I have made the most of enjoying nights at home with Alice. It feels like forever since we have hung out, so it's been fantastic to have some home cooked meals and watch some Foxtel.

This weekend we go into the studio to start recording Cookie's debut album, which I'm really looking forward to. It's gonna have some sweet arse tunes, as well as some bloody talented people working on it. All guitars and vocals are going to be done this weekend, and the rest of the musicians will pop in over the next two months to record their parts. If all goes to plan, it should be out at the end of this year.

I had a little bit of a health scare last weekend when I felt my throat getting a bit raw and had quite a bad headache that lasted a while, but this past week of rest seems to have done it's trick, and I feel absolutely fine again. Not sure when I'll get time to get to clinic, but I should do that soon.

Not much else to tell. I'll let you all know how the recording went when we get back from the studio next week.

Rating: 7.9

Busy busy busy

Ah, I suck. So sorry it's taken me so long (AGAIN!) to write another entry. It goes from having nothing to tell, to then being so busy I just don't have time to write anything. So here it goes...

First thing to mention was Alice had an exhibition at Gray St on August 12th, which was fantastic! I had the job of serving drinks, which is quite easy to do at an exhibition, as everyone just comes and picks up a cup and starts guzzling. There were so many people there, and Alice being the talented lass she is, was able to sell quite a few things. And some good news - her site will be up and running in September, so when that happens, you can all go there and have a squizz at some of her stuff!

The next thing to say is that while Alice and I were saving to head overseas next year, we had the opportunity to take all that money and spend it on something else. We did... Her name is Eliza-Jane and she is a beauty!!! She's a 1962 Holden EJ wagon, and we love her dearly. I'll put up some pics when we get some taken. We are oh so slack.

On the music side of things, this is where I've been most busy - we have been rehearsing pretty much every night with some of the other musicians that are going to be on the recording, which have been going awesomely. We have had a couple of gigs in the past couple weeks, one supporting the lovely Abbie Cardwell at the Grace Emily, which was a barrel of fun, and then one last week with BenSolo and 200 Motels, again another great show. Although there was a little kerfuffle with the licensing and they (the Grace Emily) were only allowed to have 100 people inside, when they are normally licensed to have 190. This resulted in a line-up appearing outside, and some dear friends and family weren't able to get in. A bit annoyed at that, but nevermind.

So all this rehearsing is also leading to our last gig for a few months while we take some time off to record Cookie's debut album. For all those who aren't doing anything too important on Sunday (it is Father's Day...), PLEASE come on down to the Festival Centre Piano Bar at 2pm. It's free, licensed, and it's being recorded, so make sure you bring your lovely cheery voices! On stage will be me on guitar, Holly on piano and guitar, Andrew on melodica and piano, Fluer on vibraphone, violin and snare, and Mairead on backing vocals. It's gonna be awesome! Click here for more details http://www.afct.org.au/?cat=3355&id=181552.

So my health is still going along quite strongly. Given that this flu season has been particularly nasty, I'm quite thankful I've had a relatively uneventful few months. Because I've been working 6 days a week, I haven't had time to go swimming in AGES, however I am walking to work and back, which is a fair dose of exercise. I haven't had a clinic for a while either, so I don't actually know how 'healthy' I am, but I feel alright still. I think I'll make an appointment sometime soon...

I think that's about it. Again, those of you who are in Adelaide, it would be awesome if you could make it on Sunday. I haven't seen alot of you in forever, so I'm hoping it will be a bit of a chance to catch up with some old friends.

Rating: 8.2

What I'm listening to: not much apart from Cookie Baker.

Tis been a while...

hasn't it? Yeah, once again I've been terribly slack, but them's the breaks.

So what's been going on? Lemme have a think... Alice (and Lucy) had their birthday a couple weeks ago, which is something I've been looking forward to for quite a while. I had planned a secret trip to the Barossa (which sadly got spoiled at the last minute by someone at work blabbing it to Alice when she picked me up) but not to worry - it was such a great weekend! We went to a lovely 2 story, 3 bedroom cottage in Tanunda, complete with a spa and open fire. Mmm...

We didn't do a whole lot during the time we were there. We went to a few of the op-shops in the surrounding areas, and while I didn't find anything, Alice was her usual self and managed to find quite a few little gems. We did plan to do a spot of wine tasting, but to be honest, we were all too happy to go back to the cottage and do lots of nothing. So that's what we did. Had a few more spas, sat in front of the fire, watched some movies, and fell asleep. It was just what we needed.

When we arrived back home we were in house mode and felt we needed to clean up the house. It now looks quite respectable. :)

Apart from that, the only other thing I've been upto (apart from working all hours of the day) is quite a bit of music stuff with Holly. The big gig in September is steadily approaching, so we are getting ready to start rehearsals with the other musicians. Something which I'm both a little nervous but also looking forward to since it's something I haven't ever really done before. We had a gig a couple weeks ago supporting Old Man River at the Grace which was one of the best gigs I've had the pleasure of playing at!

It was a Sunday night, so the crowd was very chilled. It was a paid gig, so the people who were there wanted to watch music. And the entire crowd was silent during the performances. I haven't ever played to people that are just listening intently. It was amazing! Unfortunately due to Alice's early start the next morning, and the Grace's tendancy to accumulate quite a lot of smoke, we didn't get to stay to watch Old Man River. But I heard he was awesome.

So the rest of this week is going to be spent playing music, both getting the old material down-pat with the other musicians, as well as learning new stuff that Holly has created. :)

Alice had an exhibition at Zu Design on Friday night which went really well. She's really starting to become established here. And for those Radelaidians, her workshop, Gray St, is having an open day and then exhibition on Sunday the 12th from 6-8pm, so if you can, definitely head along! Just message me if you want more details.

Health wise, you'll be very glad to hear that things are still going swimmingly! Funnily enough, the swimming has kinda stopped for the moment as I've been working 10-6 7 days a week, which doesn't leave any time to do it. However, I have been walking to work everyday, which is a respectable half an hour walk, and that has definitely had a hand in keeping me as well as I am. I can't believe that in the midst of winter, and considering how sick I was, I've managed to keep this well for this long. I'm really hoping that things will continue on this road for a good few months still. But for now, I'm feeling great and just enjoying being able to do what I want.

I think that's about it for now. Cheers for your eyes.

Rating: 9

What I'm listening to: The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High


P.S. I can NOT believe they're putting that abominably bad show The Wedge back on tv... It's a travesty!!

Friends leaving and quiz nights.

Another couple of weeks, another post.

Not a whole lot has been going on. It's still winter, it's still cold, it's still wet, and I still complain like a little biatch. Although last weekend I actually ventured out into the cold and had a bit of a social life.

Friday night we went to a quiz night that was raising money for CFSA. Quiz nights are always fun, even if it's just an excuse to eat lots of yummy food and drinks lots of alcohol. We had a great table with lots of different friends from all circles. However, the questions just didn't suit us. Not that we are dumb, but they were all science and maths questions.

Long story short, we won the wooden spoon prize. What's even more depressing (or awesome, I can't tell yet) is that we weren't trying to get that prize - we actually tried our hardest throughout the whole night to answer as many questions correctly as we could. Great.

Saturday night we went out for drinks with Pete and Truds, since they are being total twunts and moving back to London. How lame. It was good to catch up with everyone again, but being out in a smoky pub just made me more and more excited about November when the non-smoking laws will be put into place. To be able to go out somewhere and breathe without feeling like I'm sucking on an exhaust pipe will be amazing. Just like it was in Canada...

They (Pete & Truds) left this morning a little after 9, so it was a bit melancholy to think that we won't be seeing them again for at least 2 years by the time we get our poor arses over there. Meh, such is life.

Since I've been working lots of shifts, I haven't really had the time to go swimming, however I have been walking to work and back, which is a decent half an hour effort each way. At least I'm doing something. And I still feel aweosme in my chest. Althogh I really should get my arse into gear and get to the clinic to have my flu vax. Before I know it, spring will be here. Although that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing... Unless I caught the flu in the meantime. That wouldn't be cool.

Holly has a gig this Sunday night at the Grace supporting Old Man River, which I think I'll be participating on a few songs, so if you aren't doing anything, come on down and see some fine music.

Rating: 8.3

What I'm listening to: East 17 - The Platinum Collection


Oh, and on one last note - that ultra awesome ultra slim phone I had, well, the very feature that I bought it for (the slimness) has been the cause of it's demise. It fell out of my pocket into the toilet. AFTER I had used it. Yeah...

Still going strong

Yeah, I know - I said I was going to try to be more vigilant with this, but meh, what ya gonna do? I'll try and do my regular recap of what's been going on, no doubt missing some vital pieces of information. Anyhoo...

So my first weekend out of hospital was spent seeing The Audreys at The Gov. Fricken awesome. These guys really are something, and they're only getting bigger and better. They showcased a couple new tunes, which down really well. I can't wait for the new cd.

The weekend after was The Vasco Era (again at The Gov). Alice, Pete and I arrived a couple hours earlier to get some dinner, which was delish, before wandering inside and grabbing ourselves a nice booth near the stage. I think I'm turning into an old man - no more do I want to go into the crowd and be pushed around and get all sweaty and having disgusting sweaty people rub up against me. It's just not fun anymore... I'd rather sit in a nice comfortable couch, with a drink, a table to put it on, and a nice vantage point to watch an awesome band play. For a more detailed picture of the night, check out my friend Suzi's awesome review here.

After the gig we went back to the Battery Kids bassist's house for a bit of a shindig. There was lots of dancing, strobe lights, people on acid and freezing temperatures. Quite a night really. Didn't get to bed until around 4:30am, which was interesting as Alice and I had to be at a breakfast at 10 the next morning. Ah well... such is life when you want to be cool.

That's about the end of the fun and exciting things that have been going on. Last Friday I received some bad news - a cf friend of mine had passed away. She had been in hospital during the whole of my admission, and things didn't look too good then. In fact, she had been in for around 4 weeks before I went in, so all up she would have been in there for at least 2 months. She had told me that up until the end of last year, her lung function was in the 80% region, and in the space of 6 months, that had gone down to around 20%, so much so that she was told she would need a transplant. She was to fly to Melbourne to meet the transplant team, but told she was too sick to fly. Luckily, the transplant team were actually in Adelaide for some meeting or something, so they were able to see her and get her on the list anyway. But obviously too much damage had already been done... A day or two after I was discharged, I got word that she had been moved into the ICU. I had sporadic reports that she was doing well, until I got the last message on Friday.

Usually with cf, things don't happen suddenly (well, not that I've experienced or seen personally anyway). The state she was in when I saw her in hospital, I would have expected her to last maybe 6 months. So the fact that passed away in that short space of time that I was out of hospital was shock enough, letalone the fact that she was healthier than me at the end of last year. But apparantly it can happen, more likely to girls than boys. I guess I've just been lucky enough so far to have not experienced it.

Her funeral was on Friday just gone, which is never a fun thing to go to. But it does give you some closure, which was definitely needed as I think everyone was still in disbelief due to the suddenness of the whole thing. There were heaps of people, ranging from family, friends, cf people, and hospital staff from both the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Children's Hospital.

Alice is doing well, although still busy as anything. She is still doing 6am starts, which doesn't give her much energy past 5pm. She is managing to get quite a bit of jewellery done still, which is a VERY good thing, both for her mind as well as her clients.

One last thing which I think you'll all be very happy to hear - I've started swimming again. It's so good to finally be doing something again, and hopefully this will keep me good for the rest of winter. I'm hoping it will also get my fitness up so I don't die in the snow. My lungs are still feeling quite strong and clear, and I'm not coughing up much at all. I'm very happy about that. :)

That's it I'm pretty sure... hopefully everyone's doing well.

Rating: 8.3

What I'm listening to: Sia - Lady Croissant

Hospital, gorgeous hospital

G'day everyone! Well, it's been a while hasn't it?? As you all know, I had to go into hospital for a routine tune-up, but it ended up being longer than originally planned. I was all good and well to get out after two weeks, but on the last day, I awoke to my throat burning and feeling bone dry. Hospital isn't the healthiest place to be, so I guess my luck ran out and I caught some bug of someone. But karma was good to me - I gave it to one of the nurses who was looking after me. :)

So that throat bug thing resulted in me having to stay in for another week and a half. By the end of the admission I was well and truly ready to come home. So why don't I do home IV's I hear you ask? Well, I used do them at home, but now when I get sick, it's debilitates me much more than it used to. Here's what I mean - a few years ago, being sick meant my lung function would drop around 10%, and I would feel a bit out of breath. I'd get my drip put in, take all the antibiotics home, and within a few days I would be feeling tip-top again, but would have to run the full 10 day course of antibiotics. However, when I get sick now, I'm usually at the stage where I wake up out of breath, and I can't really do a helluva lot. Having a shower will put me in a coughing fit. So the last thing I'm going to be able to do is cook for myself, clean, let alone administrating the drugs 3 times a day. Basically, I just don't get the rest I now need when I get an infection.

The hospital on the other hand not only let's me have a good rest from everything, but it is so detached from society that it's actually an effort to try and keep updated on the goings-on of the outside world, which is just what I need to let my body shutdown and then recuperate back to good health. That's why I choose to risk catching more bugs while staying in hospital rather than do home IV's.

This admission was exceptionally good as well for a few reasons. There were another 4 cf friends that were in, which always makes time pass alot quicker. Reminiscing about old memories in the kids hospital and the camps were a regular occurrence. I also had an awesome registrar (ward doctor) who not only knew what she was doing, but actually cared for her patients. Even when her time in Ward S2 had come to an end, she would still pop back in to check up on us to see how we were doing. It was a good change from the regular idiots that have no clue what to do with you.

So my life the past month has been staying up till 4am watching Foxtel, sleeping in till lunch (no point getting up any earlier - not alot to do. In fact, when you DO get up before 11, the nurses ask what you're doing up), getting all my meals delivered to my door, having friends pop in to keep me company, all the while not paying a cent and having fun with other cf's and nurses. Not the most exciting life, but just what I needed. However by the 3rd week, I had had enough and was ready to go back home to my lovely Alice, Muffin and queen size bed (quite a combo eh??). The poor girl (Alice) has been an absolute treasure during this last admission... She's started a new job which requires her to be up at 5am, she's still working at her other job, doing as much jewellery stuff as she can, and she still managed to come in regularly to keep me company and listen to me whinge. Just awesome. :)

At the end of my second week, I had my lung function, but it wasn't that great at all - 53%, which is actually 3% less than my last one I had at clinic, when I was feeling crap. Not the best... but I imagine I would have gone down quite a few more percent from that first lung function to when I was in hospital. But since then, I haven't had another one, so I don't actually know how 'healthy' I am. I feel great though. My lungs have pretty much cleared up, and I've got alot more energy than I had before. The challenge now is to make sure I do all I can to stay this healthy. Physio can only do so much... so this week I'm going to get myself a pass to the local pool to do some laps. It's the easiest way I've found to get your fitness up from nothing, without damaging anything. Plus it's fun, not to mention how good it is for the lungs.

Enough health talk. How friggen cold is it??? Don't get me wrong, I'm loving it (to a certain extent) but since it started to get really cold when I was in hospital, I didn't get to adjust to it, so when I finally got out, I was dumbstruck just how cold it's getting at night. Even during the day for that matter! The other morning when Alice left for work at quart to 6 she found the front window of the car completely covered in ice. Awesome...

Also, the other piece of exciting news to hit the Fortress, I signed us up for Foxtel on Friday!! That's another good thing about hospital - they have a few Foxtel channels on the tv, so it makes lying in bed all day that little bit more entertaining. So now during those cold winter nights I'll have something to do while Alice is at the studio making her lovely pieces of jewellery. Which, by the way, she'll hopefully be getting her brand spankin new website up soon, so keep on the watch for that!

Things with Cookie Baker are a bit quiet at the moment since she's getting her bag of musical ingredients together for her up and coming cd. I will be making an appearance on a few tracks, so that should be something to look forward to. :)

I think that's about it... Thanks to everyone who sent me messages and stuff. It put a smile on my face.

Rating: 8.5

What I've been listening to: Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals

Hospital admission

Hey all

Just a quick one today - I'm getting admitted into hospital for a routine two week stay, during which I'll be pumped full of drugs that will hopefully get me feeling a bit better than I have been the last few weeks. When I was at clinic last time, my sputum showed that the bugs that are residing in my lungs are sensitive to just about every type of drug, which is great compared to the time before where they were resistant to quite a few. So I'm hoping that they'll (drugs) work really well and I'll be feeling my best in no time.

Since the hospital doesn't have internet, which I'm well pissed about, I won't be coming on here much. If I get the strength I may wander down to Rundle St to have a coffee at Cafe Buongiorno and get some free net action there. We'll see...

So yes, that's about all from me. Due to not feeling that crash hot, I haven't really been doing a whole lot since last time. Holly and I went up the hill last night to record a few more tracks for the demos we are doing at the moment, which are sounding aweosme. I can't wait till we get to record the actual album. Should be sa-weet!

Oh, I got a new phone as well. It's super slim. I like it. Alot.
Message or ring me on it so I get a nice little tingle of pleasure (from the vibrate settings of course...).

So yes - hospital for two weeks, drugs in my system, feeling good, back to my normal self. Sound like a good plan? Me thinks so...

Rating: 5.4

What I'm listening to: The Vasco Era - Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside (Stil! - it's awesome though)

Jaan is terrible at writing blogs...

Yeah, it's taken me forever again to write down my stuff. I suck. But deal with it. :)

One main reason is that I'm really not feeling that great, and as slack as it seems, the last thing I've felt like doing is try and think about what's been going on and writing about it. Even though I've been on the computer quite alot... so that doesn't make a whole lick 'o sense, but ah well.

I had a clinic last week where I was expecting to get admitted, but my lung function was actually a bit better than what I thought it would be (55%) so they told me to stay out and try another 2 week course of Cipro (oral antibiotic). But over a week on, and it hasn't really done anything, so I'm thinking that when I go back to clinic I'll have to be admitted. That's alright though - I haven't been in for around 7 months, and it's the time of year where I would normally go in, so it's not like it's unexpected.

Anyhoo, enough gloomy health talk. So what has been going on I hear you all ask? Well, I've done a couple more gigs with the lovely Cookie Baker, which has been loads of fun (as always). We played at the Grace Emily on the 24th of April, with another awesome band who are relatively new on the scene called Nadjeska. Like I said, they are awesome. There were heaps of people there, and it was great to see so many friends, some whom I hadn't seen in a long time. We then played at the Festival Centre Markets on Sunday just gone, and at Flinders Uni yesterday, as part of a youth music festival thing there. The Flinders Uni gig was great, except for the fact that I broke a string during the first song, so I had to borrow Lord Stompy's 'manly' guitar for the rest. We also tried a new song that we had only begun working on a few days ago, and that seemed to go down quite well, which is always pleasing.

I mentioned in my last post that Alice and I had another job going on throughout the holidays, where we would go out to schools and play games with the kids. The second week was just as much fun, but just as exhausting as well, which I think is another factor in my not feeling so great. I'm glad it's over for now, as I don't think I could have handled another day running around after kids, but come next holidays, it'll be awesome to be able to do that again.

You may remember me talking about crazy (allbeit beautiful) German friend (Janka) that has been living in Adelaide the past few months. Well, the time had come for her to ditch us for smelly London, so we all (Pete, Truds, Becky, Alice, Ben and Holly) thought it would be a great idea to head on up to Coriole winery for a bbq lunch. The weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the wine was ever so soothing. We didn't end up leaving until 9pm, and it was a bit sad to know that would be the last time for a while where we would all be able to hang out like that. She left a few days later, but she reassures us she'll be back around November, so she better stay true to her word, or there'll be hell to pay...

From 04.25 anzac d...

From 04.25 anzac d...

From 04.25 anzac d...

Another little thing worthy of mention was a couple weeks ago, when we had around 3 days straight of wonderful rain, we found out that our house isn't quite as waterproof as houses should be. We noticed a couple of drips the first night of the downpour, but by the next day, that had turned into streams of water running down the walls, in both ours and Lucy's room, as well as drips coming down from the roof in our room. Awse. The drips landed on the bed, so we thought enough was enough, and moved our bedroom into the loungeroom. Since then, someone has come out and cleaned our gutters and downpipes, so should it rain like that again, the water should hold out a little longer, but we have decided that we'll just stay in the loungeroom. That room doesn't leak, it's big, and our old bedroom still smells mouldy (apparantly - due to my keen sense of smell, I have to rely on Alice's). So I need to try and get hold of the landlord to replace the carpets. Fun times.

I think that's all there is to tell... actually, there's something that I've forgot, but I guess it couldn't have been too important, so whatevs.

Oh, I now have a new photo site, so there is a link to the right. There's quite alot of pics there from the Yorke's drought relief gig, as well as a few more from the Coriole lunch, so have a looksee.

Rating: 5.7

What I'm listening to: The Vasco Era - Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside (VERY great cd)

Crikey...

blue me
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

It’s been so long since I've posted. I'm sorry for all those who have been losing sleep wondering what I've been up to, but for a change I've actually been really busy. But I’ll start from the start (isn’t that where you usually do so?)so that you can all get up to speed with the saga of what is known as Jaan's life.

The first thing worthy of note is that Alice and I went to see Dylan Moran on Friday the 30th of March. I had bought tickets as a surprise to Al, but due to my slackness in forgetting to hide them (and to her annoying habit of ALWAYS having to look at everything she finds) she found the envelope that housed them and ruined the surprise. Ah well. At least now I could get excited about it with her. Anyhoo, so we went along and it was hilarious!! I hadn’t actually seen any of his stand up stuff before, only his work on Black Books, which I LOVE, so I assumed it would be good anyway. I won’t go on trying to quote all his jokes, as no doubtly they’ll come across lame and completely un-funny. But needless to say that I haven’t laughed so long out loud in quite a while.

The next night was the final night of the Adelaide Fringe, so a whole bunch of us went to the Garden (of Unearthly Delights) to celebrate the first annual Fringe (normally it’s run every two years). Just as I had expected, there were lots of familiar faces, and it was great to catch up with everyone again. Alice had a wedding but came afterwards, all dolled up, and looking quite luffly! Didn’t have a too late night as I had to open up the shop the next day, but I made sure to enjoy it so that I had no regrets.

The Sunday afterwards I had a friend arriving from London who has been travelling around NZ and now Australia. She’s an awesome photographer who goes by the name Alexandra Bone and there’s a link to her photos on my page. Go check her out! So anyhoo, I picked her up and came back to our place for a bit of a bbq to get her settled in. bbq’s are always good… it was great having her here as I could show her around Adelaide, and learn to appreciate the city for what it really is. We made it to a few pubs, the beach, walked around the city, and on her last day we made sure to make it up to Coriole Winery for a bit of brunch. I then took her to the airport where she’s started making her way up the west coast of Oz for another couple of months. Lucky duck…

That night I went to Alex and Monica’s wedding reception (they’re the couple that got married at the end of last year in a surprise ceremony at their house). It was a really fun night, with a few close friends, lots of great food, and of course some good alkeehole. I don’t see them a helluva lot, so it was good to have a few hours to spend with them.

Then I think Easter came… this year was quite bland for me. I didn’t really get up to much in the way of celebrating Easter, and I worked quite a bit as well. I still took time to remember what it meant to me however, so it wasn’t a total waste. ☺

I’ve still been doing quite a lot of music stuffs with Holly, and last weekend a few of us packed a couple of cars and went over to Yorke Peninsula to do a gig as part of a drought relief thing that was going on. How’s this for a country gig – it was on the Warooka footy oval, on the back of a semi trailer! Can’t get much more outbacky than that. Was soo much fun! There were a few other bands playing – mostly pub rock cover bands – but I think everyone who went had a really good time.

Things had been going so great until the ride home… we just passed Port Wakefield (about an hour and half out of Adelaide) when I noticed that the engine had started making a clicking noise. I pulled over to have a look, and then realised that the car had decided to start running on 3 cylinders instead of 4. Great. We called the RAA and a guy came out and had a look, but didn’t really offer much help and said that we could try and make it (slowly) back to Adelaide. We decided to do that, and made the journey at 50kmh. It took a couple of hours to make it back home, but we were just so relieved that we actually got the car back in one piece. I've taken it to the mechanic, but we are still waiting to hear what the diagnosis is…

All last week Alice and I have been doing another job that involves us going out to schools to play some games with the kids that are there being looked after (it’s holidays at the moment). The game we took to them this week was called Belly Bumpers. Basically it’s a huge blow up tire thing that goes around their waist and they try to bump each other out of a designated area. Pretty fun! Although I forgot just how much energy kids have, and by Friday I was completely exhausted. We have it for one more week next week, and then it’s back to normal work for us.

Holly and I also went to 3D Radio on Thursday to do a bit of a sing-song and chit-chat. I have only been on radio once, so it was quite exciting to go back and do some stuff for them. We did a couple of songs and a bit of an interview (well, Holly did most of the talking). I’ll try and get a copy of it up on here soon…

And finally, what better way to spend a lovely autumn Saturday than to attend a wedding? Well, what about playing a few songs at a wedding?? That’s right – Holly and I were asked to play a few tunes at the wedding of Dana and Christian (not my sister) and it was absolutely lovely. We did a few covers during the actual ceremony, and then afterwards we made it outside to play a proper acoustic set under the veranda, with no amplification whatsoever. And as a little surprise, guess who we saw at the wedding?? All you Aussie BB fans, you might remember a little Adelaidian named Jo Ashton. Yeah, she was there. I love how small Adelaide is. We didn't get to say hi to her, but then again maybe she didn't want to say hi to us. Either way, it was loads of fun, and not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

As far as my health goes, I have been feeling a little under the weather, so last week I went to the hospital to get some Cipro (oral antibiotics). Since taking them, I've noticed a little bit of a change, but not a whole lot. I’m guessing that’s also due to me doing so much running around last week, when I really should be taking it a bit easy to get as healthy as possible. But we’ll see how this week goes. Maybe they’ll really kick in then.

Phew! I think that’s about all… I’ll try not to leave it quite so long next time. Holly and I are playing this Tuesday night at the Grace Emily, so if you are looking for something to do Anzac Day Eve, then do come along. It’s sure to be a great night! We’re also using it as a bit of a going away drinks for Janka, my German friend who has been here the last few months. She’s going back to the UK next week, so we’ll all miss her a bit. ☺

And just before I leave, I thought I would end with some awesome news I woke to this morning – a great cf friend of mine, Ben Sloan (some of you may know him) was on his way to Melbourne this morning to get his lung transplant. We’re all hoping for a speedy recovery!

Rating: 6.2

What I’ve been listening to: Sia – Lady Croissant

Thursday night and the weekend

Those of you who missed coming out to the Exeter on Thursday night sure missed out on a great night. Not trying to blow my own trumpet, but it really was a fun time. The crowd was a perfect mix of friends and drunk randoms. But not too drunk that they were heckling or too obnoxious. It was just aweosme.

And the inclusion of ol Mr. Les Paul went down quite well too... I wasn't too sure before playing whether it was a good choice or not to have him there, but it worked out nicely. I now have to save up to buy an amp... Anyone selling anything cheap?

After the gig we went to the Garden for a bit of a wind down drink and hot chips. But we all hit a wall and went home not long after that. However, that was around 3 in the AM.

Not been doing a whole lot else since... worked Saturday night, which was the first time in quite a while (I've switched to opens). It was nice to work with Dana again though (my sis). It makes the evening a bit more bareable serving mingers all night. We watched O Brother... Good times.

Today I opened and then scooted around to a few different places that sell car stereos to try and find a replacement for the one that got stolen out of our car the other week. But no luck... the cheapest one at Strathfield was around $120. As if. We want cheapey's... I guess I'll have to keep searching. Also, at work this morning I had the lovely sounds of KCUR (a Kansas community radio station) coming out of my lappy at work, along with a webcam. The reason for this is I have a friend over there who hosts a radio show, and being the great friend he is, he's always able to give a shout out to Alice and myself, so that all the world can hear. It always leaves a smile on my face... What can I say - I'm a media whore!

Chest is feeling alright... still a bit tight. Haven't improved a whole lot since I last wrote. A bit annoying, but I'm still hoping that the drugs will kick in more and I'll start to feel better for it. I've also changed the order of my inhaled meds, so maybe that's why it's taking a bit longer than normal to get things feeling good again. We'll see...

Not much planned for this week. Have to get working on a few covers Holly and I are doing for a wedding in April. Hopefully we don't butcher them too badly...

Rating: 6.3

What I'm listening to: Cookie Baker - Live @ Radio Adelaide

Clinic

So I had clinic on Tuesday... and just like I predicted in my last blog, my pft's (lung function) was down a bit... 55% to be exact. It was 63% last time, about 2 months ago. But it's all good... I had prepared for this. If it had been under 55%, I would have started to worry a lil. But I managed to get some more meds (the ones I had been out of since last week) and I can already feel them starting to do their magic. I have another clinic in a month, so we'll see how things are then.

I have another gig tonight with Holly at the Exeter, so that should be fun. I'm guessing there's gonna be a whole heap of drunk Fringe-ites there, so any friends are more than welcome to come along so I can see a familiar face. If not, nuts to you. :)

And what's with this weather? it's hot again! I had to crank the AC today...

I have a new headband.

Rating: 6.5

What I'm listening to: Skip James

CD launches, the Garden and Womad

crowd
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Cripes, it's been a while. And heaps has been happening. I hate it when this happens... I don't write as often as I should, as I get slack and can't be bothered going it, but the longer I leave it, the more I have to write, so it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Ah well. :) Here we go.

So 2 Saturday's ago I went to a friends cd launch, LeighStarDust, at the Jade Monkey (she is a totally awesome musician and is in my top friends so you should check her out). She had a band with her on the night (she usually plays solo) and it totally rocked the place down. It was awesome!! The cd we all went to buy had unfortunately been delayed, so we all had to write down our addresses and I was assured the other night that they will be on their way soon.

Last week the Fringe Festival opened. I had to work that night, but was able to leave a tad early to get to the festivities and have a big ol party with Alice and co. The Garden was absolutely packed, but there were so many people that we knew it didn't matter too much. I got to see some friends from school I hadn't seen in years, so that was good. Although knowing so many people there did have a drawback - it took around an hour to actually get out of there to get home, as we kept seeing friends we had to say 'Hi' to. Ah well, if that's the only thing to complain about, things are pretty good.

The on the weekend Womadelaide was on, which for those who don't know, is a world wide music organisation that puts on concerts all around the world, including here for a weekend in Adelaide. It's amazing, and it's the only one in Australia, and the biggest one in the southern hemisphere. There were bands from remote tribes in Africa, from Spain, from Ireland, but the standout for me would have to be Huun-Huur Tu from Tuva/Russia. They do what is called throat singing, and it really is something you have to see to believe. They are able to sing in up to 3 different voices at the same time, doing different melodies and harmonies. It's incredible. And to see them at 11pm on the final night in the Botanic Gardens with eerie shadows being cast by the trees, well, yeah, I can't accurately how spiritual it felt. Just awesome.

Last night we had Alice's brothers and sister over for a lovely bbq dinner cooked by yours truly, and it went down quite well, even if I do say so myself. We went to the Garden afterwards, but we were quite tired so we didn't stay too long.

Now onto my health... Things aren't bad by any means, but they aren't going tip top just at the moment. I ran out of Ventolin a few days ago, so the other inhaled meds I'm taking aren't working as well as they should be, hence my lungs are a bit clogged up. Also, since I'm not doing much exercise, that certainly isn't helping. I think I have clinic next week, so let's hope that goes well enough to keep me out for another 2 months.

I think that's it... I have quite a few more pics on my flickr site, so have a looksee.

Rating: 6.2

What I'm listening to: Robert Johnson

It's my birthday!!

my present from alice
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Ahhhhh, the soothing sounds of an air conditioner. How sweet it is!! I sit here on my bed, on my birthday, watching Blue Heelers, 33 degrees outside and very happy that I decided last night to go out and buy an air con. Yes, it is a bit of money, but I couldn’t stand one more night of not being able to sleep properly. It sucks. But now it’s all good! ☺

Lots has been going on, so let’s see if I can recall all of it. I’ll start from Saturday the 10th.

I may have mentioned, I may have not, but I’ve started playing guitar with my friend Holly, who goes by the stage name Cookie Baker. Very nice stuff indeed. So for the last month or so, we’ve been doing some stuff together, including some gigs. On Saturday the 10th we were supporting an Adelaide girl called Emily Smart at Jive. It was an awesome gig! There were heaps of people, and even though they weren’t there for us, that made it quite a bit easier to play and have fun. We didn’t have a too big night because we needed to be at the Festival Centre at 10:30am the next morning for another gig.

On Sundays the Festival Centre has markets going all day, which those of you who live here should definitely check out. Really good things to buy, and all locally produced. So we played on the stage there for a couple of hours, and again, it was really great. Totally different though to the previous night. There were heaps of kids running around, and due to the high pitch of Holly’s voice, all the little girls were instantly drawn to her. There was a girl who was mentally disabled who walked up to the stage just to put her hands on the foldback speakers to feel the vibrations. It was amazing.

The following Wednesday we were supporting a Canadian girl called Ann Vriend at the Grace Emily. Again, the gig was so much fun (can you see a trend here?) and Ann was totally awesome. We had a bit of a drink afterwards with her and hung out till about 2.

The next night there was a gig on at The Archer, which was again going to be completely different to the last few we’d done. There were going to be quite a few different acts on, but luckily they were all pretty much friends of ours, so it was just like one big giant party. I had to work, so I actually missed a few of them playing, but got there around 10 to see Luke Ashby play, who I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Really good stuff. It was a really short set, only about 6 songs, but for the first time I played the whole set on guitar, even playing a song that we had never done before. Was pretty fun!

On the weekend we had a wedding at McLaren Vale. Would normally be great, except that it was 40 degrees for both Saturday and Sunday. Ugh. It was a couple degrees cooler up there, but not a whole lot. The wedding itself was really nice, short, sweet, and in the gardens of a winery, so perfect setting. The reception was at the same place, so everyone just hung around, drank heaps, ate heaps, and had a merry old time. We decided around 11pm to go to Port Willunga, but we had to go to Coriole first to get the rest of our stuff. The other car went down and we said we’d meet them there. Can you believe that we drove around for 45 mins trying to find Port Willy?? I couldn’t believe it. It was nowhere to be found. Even the locals couldn’t tell us how to get there. So we got all pissed off and decided to drive back to Adelaide. It was still sooo warm – around 30 degrees at 1 in the morning – so we went to bed feeling quite unfulfilled. Never mind.

And now today I woke up to the lovely Alice brandishing a HUGE present wrapped up for me. I had no idea what it was, but I unwrapped it to see a friggen fantastic painting of us, done by her friend Tahlia. Seriously, it is so good. I’ve taken a pic and added it to my flickr site so have a looksee.

Going out to dinner tonight with mum, Dana and Alice to Rose Garden, which is a Thai restaurant. The best one in Adelaide! And then on Thurs night Holly and I are playing again at the Gilbert St Hotel, so if you’re not doing anything come along. It’s sure to be a great night.

Lungs are still going quite strong. No real change since last time, which I'm definitely not complaining about. I have a clinic in another couple of weeks so here’s hoping that all goes smoothly.

Rating: 7.1

What I’m listening to: Cookie Baker (for obvious reasons)

Exhibitions, concerts, surgeries and Germans

group
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Wow, so much has gone on. Where do I begin?

I'll start with Janka. When I was in London, I caught up with a cf girl from Germany (Janka). I had been in contact with her through a cf forum and we thought it would be kinda dandy to meet up in London. We did, and I kept telling her that she had to come back to Oz (she was here a couple years ago) but to make sure to see more of Adelaide, which she pretty much skipped last time.

So, over a year later, she tells me she's coming back and coming straight to Adelaide. Pretty nifty. So I picked her up from the airport last Wednesday, and brought her back to the Fortress. Just today she found out that she's moving into a house in St Peters, so that's pretty cool. But I'm not too sure what her full-term plans are. I guess if she likes it here she'll stay till the end of her 3 month visa, but if she gets bored, nothing's to stop her from going east or somewhere else. But for the moment she's planning to stay, so for those who haven't already met her, you will no doubt soon. She also has a blog, and it's on my links section, so have a squizz. She's cool.

Alice had a few exhibitions last week also. There were two on Thursday night, but I only went to one of them, at Urban Cow, which was fantastic! There were heaps of people there, and some brilliant art from Adelaide's finest up and coming jewellers. After the opening we all went down to the Exeter to have a drink or 3. There was quite a few of us, and it was a great night out. My friend Ben who's been living in Montreal the past 2 years was in town, so it was kinda a celebratory drink before he headed back on Saturday.

Then on Friday Alice had another exhibition at Fad. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go because of the Big Day Out. Wasn't too bad, but it was so hot, and there were so many school kids running around. Good for people watching though.

I left the BDO in the afternoon to meet up with Brian Ritchie (bass player of the Violent Femmes) to get an early dinner. We went with John Sparrow (another member of the band) to a friggen awesome Argetinian steak place in Gouger St. Brian was nice enough to treat me to the nicest steak I have ever had in my life. I will have to try to save up the pennies to eat there again. Sooo good!!

After dinner, I went back to the BDO to see the end of Muse, the start of TOOL and then wander over to see the Femmes. Muse were pretty good. But because we weren't in the mosh, the sound wasn't that great, so TOOL sounded quite washed out and weak. Quite annoying really... but the Femems totally rocked the place down (as always).

Saturday Pete rang me to ask if I'd seen the news. Remember that Qantas flight that exploded after take off? Well, not quite. But an engine did catch fire, and it had to dump a whole lot of fuel over the ocean before attempting to land back in Sydney. Anyhoo, Pete rang to see if I'd heard about it, because that was the flight Ben was on. We joked how he was probably asleep and didn't even know what happened. How right we were... after the numerous emails we sent to him asking if he was still alive, he replied back with how he didn't even know what had happened, since he fell asleep, and was finding out on google in the airport. Quite funny.

That night another friend Becky was having a housewarming party thingy at her new pad, and it was bling themed. We did our best to bling it up (by donning bling necklaces) and went alot. It's a totally awesome house, but we were all completely buggered, so Alice, Janka and I left only after a couple of hours and went to bed.

Now onto poor Muffin... Last week, we noticed that he had a little scab on his back. Our neighbour John told us that he had seen a white cat and Muffin have a little 'disagreement'. Knowing Muffin, he was prob sleeping on John's verandah, minding his own business, and whitey came along and took a chunk out of his back. Stupid thing... Anyhoo, we didn't think much of it and left it to heal on it's own.

After a few days it had festered into this absis thing, so we thought he better get looked at. The vet took a look, squeezed a pint of puss out of it - much to the displeasure of Muffin - and said it needed to be operated on. Ugh... so much money. But being the good parents we are, we got him knocked out, cut up, and stitched back up like a damaged hand bag.

It doesn't end there - after a few days of him acting like a good little boy, I saw him on Monday morning licking frantically at his wound. By the time I got up to see what was going on, I saw him eating out the last of his stitches like it was his final meal on Earth. So now he had his wound all opened up and bloodied. Charming. I took him back to the vet who said he needed to be put under again to have it cleaned out and stitched back up. More money.

This time however they were kind enough to give me a cone to put on his head. Poor thing... he's not a happy chappy. But I keep telling him it's for his own good, so he's just gonna have to like it or lump it. The world can be a cruel place sometimes... especially when you have us as parents. :)

Lungs are going alright - not getting any worse, and not getting much better. But their above average, which means that I'm at a stable 'good'. I still need to up the exercise, but I've been walking a little bit every day, so I'll take that. Need to do more though...

I've put some new pics up, so have a looksee. They're fun.

This Saturday night I'm playing a few songs again with Cookie Baker at Emily Smart's cd launch at Jive. So if you aren't doing anything, come on down. It will be a great night. And then on the Sunday morning, we are playing at the Festival Centre markets thing, on the outdoors stage. The weather so far looks like it'll be a pearler, so forget your hangovers from Saturday night shenanigans and come down for some delicious tunes. :)

Rating: 7.4

What I'm listening to: Brian Ritchie - Taimu

Victor Harbour, sunshine and gigs!

So I've been away yet again. First it was Yorkes, then it was Yorkes again, and then this week we went to Victor Harbour. After having to drive to Yorkes twice in a week, the hour drive to Victor was nothing! So much so that I even went back to Adelaide to pick up fishing rods (and Holly). But the rods were the priority... ;)

I got up there Sunday afternoon, and we had a lovely fondue dinner with Peter, Trudy, Maestro and Stickers. Good times. Then on Monday Dan and Magda came down for a night. We all had fun walking around the town and going to op shops. I found a lovely beanie which I can't wait for winter to crank it out. Alice (as usual) found an array of stuff that she'll prob never use... but it's fun nevertheless.

On the Tuesday morning we got up around 6am to go down to the jetty to do a spot of fishing. It was fantatsic! You would literally throw your line in and the fish would be biting at it straight away. Only problem was since they were so small, you wouldn't actually be able to hook them. They just had a great free feed. Bastards... Then that night I went fishing again, but didn't even get a nibble. There was a seal that was swimming around and eating all the fish. But that's alright - he made up for me not catching anything, and I was quite content to just stand there and watch him (I decided he was a boy).

Wednesday we went for a walk around Granite Island, which brough back lots of memories from the cf camps I went on when I was little... ahh, good times. Then we came back home and went to Peter's for a lovely webber bbq as Ben was back from Montreal for a couple of weeks. We went for a walk to the oval nearby and saw the comet that everyone has been raving about. Pretty neat.

Then tonight Holly (aka Cookie Baker) had a gig at the Gilbert St Hotel, and as a little something extra, I played 6 songs with her on guitar. Twas awesome fun!! I think this may be a semi regular thing, so I'll keep all you up to date on how that goes, and if it continues, you'll just have to come and see me rockin' out!

I think that's about it at the moment. Back to work this weekend. I need some money, so that'll be good. And it's always a little easier going back after having some time off. Health isn't the best right now - but that's because I ran out of some meds last week, and being as slack as I am, I didn't do too much physio when we were at Victor. But I've loaded up on drugs now, and I'm back home, so there's no more excuses!

Right - it's 2.13am and I'm knackered. Time for bed. I'm not cut out for this rock 'n' roll lifestyle...

Rating: 6.2

What I'm listening to: Cookie Baker

Clinic and rain!

Ahhh, how cool is it?? FINALLY, water is falling from the heavens. It's been long enough! For those who didn't know, we've been in a bit of a drought the last few months. This winter it didn't rain at all, and since we are the driest state in Australia, that was bad news when summer came around. Poor farmers... but even us city folk! We've had major water restrictions, and while it hasn't troubled me too much, the poor garden and lawn has been suffering. But Thursday things began to change...

It was REALLY humid, and felt like tropical weather. There were a few drops Thursday night, which felt really weird to have rain falling on you after so long without it. Then Friday the skies really opened up. It pretty much rained all day, and really heavy rain as well. I went scooting to run some errands, and man was that fun!! Splashing through puddles like a kid. Although it was quite slippery so I did take a bit of care... ;)

And again today - raining all day. The lawn and herb garden are sure soaking it up! Even Muffin is getting into the spirit splashing around in the puddles. So that's been quite fun to have all this water around after seeing nothing but bone-dry pastures on the news every night. Although, now there is extensive flooding up north of the state, so I guess no one can really win...

So I had clinic last Tuesday as well. It'd been about 2 months since my last visit, so I was kinda interested to see how I was fairing. My throat had a bit of a niggle the week before, but for once it didn't eventuate into anything else, so come Tuesday I was feeling tip-top. And another first - there were actually some cf friends in the clinic with me, so I wasn't totally bored. Beck and Kenny. Kenny lives in the sticks and I don't think I've actually seen him in person for about 2 years. But I talk to him online all the time, so we've still kept in touch. Beck I see out quite often, so nothing special there ;) But yes, after clinic we went for a celebratory drink at the Ex and then went our separate ways. But back to clinic...

As I said, I was feeling quite good, so I would have been surprised if my PFT's were down. I went in, did the test, and back the results came - 62%. Not better than last time, but more importantly, it wasn't worse. And it's still only about 10% from my best, so I'm really happy with that. The doc told me to come back in another 2 months, so we'll see where I am then. However as I'm writing this, my throat is starting to flare up again. And I've been getting quite a bit more productive over the last few days. I think the humidity has something to do with it. It always makes me cough alot.

Tomorrow after work I'm going down to Victor Harbour to Alice's Grandad's house he has there at Encounter Bay. I think it's going to be the last of the little trips away for a while, so I'll be sure to make the most of the next few days doing nothing but relaxing. :)

That's it. Thanks.

Rating: 6.5

What I'm listening to: Cookie Baker (I'll tell you why later...)

NYE and other stuff

mmm...
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

Happy new year one and all! I trust you all had a good one, whatever it was you got up to. Whether it was quiet, busy, big, small, late or early. For us, it was just awesome.

A few of us (me, Al, Orr, Val, Holly, Scooter and John) went up to Holly's parent's farm near Warooka, in Yorke Peninsula, which is a few hours drive out of Adelaide. We left Sunday morning around 9am and got to Buckley's (the farm) around lunch time. It wasn't long before we unpacked our things and made the drive to Berri Bay for a swim. It was a bit cool, and since the water is quite cold, it took a while before we were psyched enough to go in. But we spent some hours walking around the rocks and fishing for crabs. Fun times!

That night we were treated to an awesome bbq by Holly's dad Rev and we all stuffed ourselves silly. However, because of the drive, the lack of sleep the night before, and the beach and sun, we were all completely knackered and all went to bed around 12:30am. Quite pathetic really. The next day was really hot so we made sure to get to Berri Bay as quickly as possible. This day was much nicer than the previous, and there were alot more people at the beach too. Lots of swimming and lying around was done by all. We were even treated to a few dolphins catching some waves in, so that was fun. However, the end of the day was ruined by a shark sighting, so we couldn't do much more swimming. How boring...

We went to Marion Bay that evening for pizzas. Very nice indeed. Although there was quite a mix up with out orders, which resulted in me and Orr having a small and a large pizza each, but we managed to fit most of it in. :)

That night we were up till all hours of the morning drinking, talking and playing cards. Was great fun. We left the next morning back for Adelaide.

Last week wasn't really spent doing anything noteworthy. Back at work, and just trying not to kill myself of the customers there. Hehe.

Then on Saturday afternoon Al and I had to drive back up to Yorke's for Scooter and John's wedding on Sunday. We got there around 9pm and had another great night at Buckley's drinking, eating, more talking and playing cards. Sunday we all had a shower (not at the same time), got into some of our finest threads, and drove down to Scooter's parents place for the wedding. Holly and I started things off with a little sing-song and then the ceremony was underway. It was awesome - only about 15 minutes, but it was all you needed. It wasn't long after that everyone started having a few bevvies before the reception.

I love bush weddings. There's not the uncomfortable formality that you can have at other weddings, and everyone is just so accomodating! Not to mention the amount of beer and and food there is to be had. Hehe. So the reception was fantastic. Sooo much food (delicious food I might add) and there was a band as well. It was annoying when we had to leave around 10pm so we could get back to Adelaide at a reasonable hour, since Alice had a meeting at 10am the next morning, and all the other guys that went with us had work. So we had to leave just when the party was getting started... but nevermind.

The drive wasn't too bad at all, since there wasn't much traffic, and we got back around 1am. All in all, a bloody brilliant weekend!

Health wise things are a bit crappier... I ran out of some meds a few days ago, and I think I may have a little niggle in my throat. I'm hoping that I can keep on top of it and it doesn't develop into something more serious. But apart from that, things seem to be going alright. I have clinic next Tuesday, so we'll see how things are going there.

This year looks to be an exciting one. I have a few friends that are coming over to Adelaide from overseas, and I'm well excited to show them around here and see what we can get up to. I'm also excited about the possibility of getting a new job... don't get me wrong - Alpha has been awesome to me over the last 8 years, and I don't want to abandon that, but I need a bit more money this year if both Al and I are to go overseas in 08. So not really sure where I'll go with that, but we'll see. Other than that, not alot else may happen. Working, saving money, working, saving more money. But I'm ok with that.

I think I've written enough now. I've put quite a few piccies up from the two trips to yorkes, so if you can be bothered, check em out. :)

Rating: 6.5

What I'm listening to: No Doubt - The Singles