Five days of evening shifts is beginning to take a toll on me. I've been working every night from 4pm-closing, with the exception of Friday night when they let me off early, at 9pm. Dark circles, which long ago took up permanent residence under my eyes, are slowly creeping up around my eye sockets too. My back's slowly packing in, old injuries are becoming harder to ignore and new bits which I didn't think could hurt are beginning to. Who knew you could get sore elbows? And let's not even talk about knees and feet. Suffice to say that I think I should be sponsored by Herron Blue and V. Anyway my last shift for the week is tonight, and hopefully next week I'll get one more day off. If not, I'm going to ask Santa to postpone Christmas for a couple of weeks, so I have time to do my shopping, finally go to the bank, get a haircut and go to the physio. I'm only just realising that it's a week away.
-R
PS I'm feeling very vindicated. Triple J has been playing Weekend Without Makeup by the Long Blondes on high rotation. What'd I tell ya!?
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Why can't you?
Why do you do it to yourself?
Why do you feel the need to do it?
Why am I always tense when you're around, wondering whether you're going to make a complete fool of yourself and those around you?
Why can't I just relax and enjoy what is meant to be an enjoyable occassion?
Why do I feel a sense of responsibility for you?
Why do I always breathe a sigh of relief when you leave?
I can't do it anymore. I can't be your friend if it's going to be like this. I have my own shit to deal with here. I don't need yours. I don't need your problems to become my problems, just because you for whatever reason can't handle them on your own. I shouldn't be sitting here at one in the fucking morning with no sleep, stressing out over your latest display of appalling behaviour. It's bad enough that he doesn't try and stop you. If anything he encourages you with his laughter. But we shouldn't have to try and regulate your behaviour like a naughty child at a family 'do. You're a grown man, for fuck's sake, take some fucking responsibility for yourself! Don't you realise that while they're all laughing now, when you leave they all shake their heads? I can't even enjoy your company anymore. I spend the whole time worrying. Worrying that you're going to go too far and upset someone, worrying that you're going to offend everyone with your behaviour, worrying that you're going to throw up in my car on the way home, worrying worrying worrying. I shouldn't be worrying about you!
Why do I worry about you?
Why do you do it to yourself?
And why can't I tell this all to your face?
I'm a fucking useless bleeding heart, that's why.
God, I despise myself sometimes.
-R
Why do you feel the need to do it?
Why am I always tense when you're around, wondering whether you're going to make a complete fool of yourself and those around you?
Why can't I just relax and enjoy what is meant to be an enjoyable occassion?
Why do I feel a sense of responsibility for you?
Why do I always breathe a sigh of relief when you leave?
I can't do it anymore. I can't be your friend if it's going to be like this. I have my own shit to deal with here. I don't need yours. I don't need your problems to become my problems, just because you for whatever reason can't handle them on your own. I shouldn't be sitting here at one in the fucking morning with no sleep, stressing out over your latest display of appalling behaviour. It's bad enough that he doesn't try and stop you. If anything he encourages you with his laughter. But we shouldn't have to try and regulate your behaviour like a naughty child at a family 'do. You're a grown man, for fuck's sake, take some fucking responsibility for yourself! Don't you realise that while they're all laughing now, when you leave they all shake their heads? I can't even enjoy your company anymore. I spend the whole time worrying. Worrying that you're going to go too far and upset someone, worrying that you're going to offend everyone with your behaviour, worrying that you're going to throw up in my car on the way home, worrying worrying worrying. I shouldn't be worrying about you!
Why do I worry about you?
Why do you do it to yourself?
And why can't I tell this all to your face?
I'm a fucking useless bleeding heart, that's why.
God, I despise myself sometimes.
-R
Monday, December 04, 2006
Brendan just pointed out that I have Autofill in my title box, and how would that be useful at all? I never actually thought about that. It's pretty dumb. He's all excited about having a new myspace even though he only has the one friend (Tom...I think I deleted him...).
I find this often...throughout the day I think of good things to blog about, then when I actually go to do it, I can't think of anything to write...Brendan is trying to hijack the keyboard...he hits those keys so damn hard. They should sue. It would be a class action, he says. It would.
-R
I find this often...throughout the day I think of good things to blog about, then when I actually go to do it, I can't think of anything to write...Brendan is trying to hijack the keyboard...he hits those keys so damn hard. They should sue. It would be a class action, he says. It would.
-R
Monday, November 27, 2006
YEEEAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!
*does the happy dance* I got a guitar! Yay, so excited! I went and bought it today. A beautiful shiny lovely wonderful ebony Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I got it for a good price too...the guy in the shop accidentally put through the price for the Epi Les Paul Classic, which was $220 less than the Standard...he very kindly let me keep the discount though as it was his mistake. So even with the amp (a Roland Cube-15, I like the lead channel on it!) and the hard case, I managed to stay under my $1000 budget. I'm very happy. I've been playing it all evening and it's such a lovely instrument. And I can finally play Don't Dream It's Over...yay :D
I also got a strap for the guitar...when I saw Tim Finn in October I liked his swirly black red and white strap, so I emailed him not long ago asking where he got it...not expecting a reply but he told me where his roadie got it and I emailed them and it was waiting for me when I got home with the guitar today, so it was perfect timing. I've been playing bits all night...Electric is way different to acoustic. Going to have to start all over again! Now I know why power chords are so useful. Anyway here are some photos...the computer is being a bit shite and not letting me turn them. Bleh.
-R
I also got a strap for the guitar...when I saw Tim Finn in October I liked his swirly black red and white strap, so I emailed him not long ago asking where he got it...not expecting a reply but he told me where his roadie got it and I emailed them and it was waiting for me when I got home with the guitar today, so it was perfect timing. I've been playing bits all night...Electric is way different to acoustic. Going to have to start all over again! Now I know why power chords are so useful. Anyway here are some photos...the computer is being a bit shite and not letting me turn them. Bleh.
-R
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Time For A Change
I've realised it's actually easier for me to record a video with my webcam and upload it to YouTube than it is for me to record something with GarageBand and stream it...so voila. This is one of my favourite Split Enz songs (of COURSE it's an Enz song, I can hear you all saying with much rolling of eyes...). It also happens to be rather easy to play so I didn't have to practise it too hard (at all) to play it...sooner or later I'll get round to those more complex pieces, but for now, here ya go.
Friday, November 17, 2006
I hope you're not squeamish
Yeah, it's been one of those days...you know, one of those blood-soaked, flesh gouging days that you have every once in a while.
To elaborate: It was the middle of lunch rush today where we got a little slammed, and I was slicing lemons with the serrated knife to put into the drinks, and the tip of my left thumb got in the way and was duly sliced off. Luckily it wasn't *too* deep and it didn't completely come off, it's still attached on one side. Now I'm not generally a squeamish person, but seeing my own thumb peel open was not entirely pleasant...it didn't hurt or bleed for about 10 seconds, in which time I thought 'Oh my f'in god, this is going to be so painful' and 'shite, there's food to go out'. Stef said when I walked into the kitchen I was white as her...well, whites, and she didn't realise what was the matter until she saw blood pouring out of my thumb. Of course, it being the lunch rush, I didn't have time to do anything other than chuck a couple of bandaids on and hope they soaked up the blood while I hustled the food out....let me tell you, it's hard to act all cheery and happy when your thumb is throbbing like mine was throbbing. After about an hour when the rush died I ran across to the chemist to get it dressed properly and assessed...thankfully I don't need stitches. She put a little sticky strip across it that acts like a stitch (and it's actually stopped bleeding now which is nice) and I have to leave it on for a few weeks...a few weeks!? Argh. Still, if I have to slice one finger open, that's a pretty good choice, because I can still play guitar.
-R
To elaborate: It was the middle of lunch rush today where we got a little slammed, and I was slicing lemons with the serrated knife to put into the drinks, and the tip of my left thumb got in the way and was duly sliced off. Luckily it wasn't *too* deep and it didn't completely come off, it's still attached on one side. Now I'm not generally a squeamish person, but seeing my own thumb peel open was not entirely pleasant...it didn't hurt or bleed for about 10 seconds, in which time I thought 'Oh my f'in god, this is going to be so painful' and 'shite, there's food to go out'. Stef said when I walked into the kitchen I was white as her...well, whites, and she didn't realise what was the matter until she saw blood pouring out of my thumb. Of course, it being the lunch rush, I didn't have time to do anything other than chuck a couple of bandaids on and hope they soaked up the blood while I hustled the food out....let me tell you, it's hard to act all cheery and happy when your thumb is throbbing like mine was throbbing. After about an hour when the rush died I ran across to the chemist to get it dressed properly and assessed...thankfully I don't need stitches. She put a little sticky strip across it that acts like a stitch (and it's actually stopped bleeding now which is nice) and I have to leave it on for a few weeks...a few weeks!? Argh. Still, if I have to slice one finger open, that's a pretty good choice, because I can still play guitar.
-R
Monday, November 13, 2006
God, I still have no life, even though I've finished exams. I want to save up some money in my bank acount just in case I end up going travelling next year and also to buy my guitar, so as soon as I finished exams last week I went straight into what pretty much amounts to full time at my part time waitressing job for the summer. To give an idea of my roster - tuesday night, wednesday lunch, friday double, saturday double, sunday double (double being lunch and dinner - 10-3, 7-10 type stuff). 30+ hours. I only worked 24 this week because I only did friday night and the weekend doubles but my feet are still throbbing. I have to get used to it. Kind of jealous after reading Georgina's blog and the fun times she had at Ben's birthday, but o well...I'll be putting around $400 in my bank account each week so that's something. Also I've been offered my house sitting job from last year again. They have a swimming pool and a big plasma screen telly and they live even closer to my work than I do (which is really close, considering I live five minute's drive away - they're like five minutes walk away). So I'll probably look after their place for six weeks which is great.
Anyway I should probably go to bed...it's 3:50am and I'm still up. Just can't bring myself to stand up and walk upstairs to bed. I worked 10 hours today and my feet, knees and back are feeling it. Tomorrow's my day off...hurrah :)
-R
PS what is it with customers at work treating me like I'm an idiot? A lot of tables, when I serve their meals, before I can even open my mouth to ask if they would like parmesan cheese or pepper, butt in and say 'and we'd like some pepper' in that horrible condescending tone that I've come to associate with stuffy upper middle class boors with high opinions of themselves. I had someone order a takeaway coffee and they asked me to top it up with milk...my steaming jug was empty so I went to fill it up and they got all panicky and went 'oh I actually want HOT milk!' and I'm like '...do you think I've never made a coffee before?' honestly. I'm a little embarrassed to say that even though I really shouldn't've, I couldn't help gaping at the lady like she was a born fool as I steamed her milk, because I just couldn't believe anyone would be that stupid.
Anyway I should probably go to bed...it's 3:50am and I'm still up. Just can't bring myself to stand up and walk upstairs to bed. I worked 10 hours today and my feet, knees and back are feeling it. Tomorrow's my day off...hurrah :)
-R
PS what is it with customers at work treating me like I'm an idiot? A lot of tables, when I serve their meals, before I can even open my mouth to ask if they would like parmesan cheese or pepper, butt in and say 'and we'd like some pepper' in that horrible condescending tone that I've come to associate with stuffy upper middle class boors with high opinions of themselves. I had someone order a takeaway coffee and they asked me to top it up with milk...my steaming jug was empty so I went to fill it up and they got all panicky and went 'oh I actually want HOT milk!' and I'm like '...do you think I've never made a coffee before?' honestly. I'm a little embarrassed to say that even though I really shouldn't've, I couldn't help gaping at the lady like she was a born fool as I steamed her milk, because I just couldn't believe anyone would be that stupid.
Monday, November 06, 2006
I am so sad.
I'm sitting here by myself in my bedroom on a monday night, listening to Franz Ferdinand, surfing the net and drinking. Ohhhhhh my Gooood. That's so sad and dodgy.
Okay, I kind of sort of almost have a good excuse. I'm mixing a bottle of Gin and cranberry juice to take to the Melbourne Cup picnic tomorrow, and I'm going to take it in the cranberry juice bottle, so obviously I have to take some juice out before I can put any gin in. So I poured myself a glass and went 'what the hell. I'm not driving anywhere. May as well have a drink.' (an aside: The Arcade Fire is now playing. It's actually making a really lovely soundtrack to my solitary drinking/blogging mode.) I had coffee this morning too. I never drink coffee. It's been a strange day. Actually I had coffee last night at Brendan's (in an affogato) and I had a mocha...somethingorother (it was really an espresso that we made too early and took back, hot milk and chocolate in a tall glass) on saturday at work. It would be handy if I turned into a coffee drinker. It's a better wakeup than tea, I'll give it that.
Anyway I'm going to sit back and listen to more Arcade Fire now...I haven't listened to them for a while and forgot how awesome they are...yey :)
-R
Okay, I kind of sort of almost have a good excuse. I'm mixing a bottle of Gin and cranberry juice to take to the Melbourne Cup picnic tomorrow, and I'm going to take it in the cranberry juice bottle, so obviously I have to take some juice out before I can put any gin in. So I poured myself a glass and went 'what the hell. I'm not driving anywhere. May as well have a drink.' (an aside: The Arcade Fire is now playing. It's actually making a really lovely soundtrack to my solitary drinking/blogging mode.) I had coffee this morning too. I never drink coffee. It's been a strange day. Actually I had coffee last night at Brendan's (in an affogato) and I had a mocha...somethingorother (it was really an espresso that we made too early and took back, hot milk and chocolate in a tall glass) on saturday at work. It would be handy if I turned into a coffee drinker. It's a better wakeup than tea, I'll give it that.
Anyway I'm going to sit back and listen to more Arcade Fire now...I haven't listened to them for a while and forgot how awesome they are...yey :)
-R
Saturday, November 04, 2006
I'm going to pimp a band.
www.myspace.com/astrotheband
The band's name is Astro. The singer is a guy I chat to occasionally on the net and he alerted me to the existence of his band. They've entered Triple J's Unearthed competition, and I happen to think they're actually pretty fucking awesome. So go to their myspace, listen to their songs...if you like em, go to the triple j unearted site (www.triplej.net.au/unearthed) and register...it takes like two seconds...then go and rate their songs. Right now they're ranked 33 but it would be awesome if they got into the top 25, because the top 25 get a bit of radio airplay.
-R
The band's name is Astro. The singer is a guy I chat to occasionally on the net and he alerted me to the existence of his band. They've entered Triple J's Unearthed competition, and I happen to think they're actually pretty fucking awesome. So go to their myspace, listen to their songs...if you like em, go to the triple j unearted site (www.triplej.net.au/unearthed) and register...it takes like two seconds...then go and rate their songs. Right now they're ranked 33 but it would be awesome if they got into the top 25, because the top 25 get a bit of radio airplay.
-R
Sunday, October 29, 2006
I'm kind of glad I don't live in England. Neil Finn played a secret show in Bath a couple of nights ago, new band, new songs. I would've been pretty gutted if I lived in England and missed it. Apparently some bloke was heckling his singing, so they got him up to sing Better Be Home Soon, and Neil deliberately played all the wrong chords to sabotage him. Sounds a bit like what dad did at my mum's birthday, except he was actually trying to play the right ones.
So anyway...nothing interesting to say really. I downloaded this song (legally, off iTunes) by Mark Hart called Lullaby for Channing. It's one of those sublimely beautiful piano/strings songs that make you go all funny inside. I think I'll have to create an iTunes playlist with that name...'sublimely beautiful piano/strings songs that make you go all funny inside'. I know there's a couple in my iTunes that could go in that playlist. I was reading an article on how online sales effect charts these days. ARIA doesn't take data from the Brazin stores - Sanity, HMV and Virgin - which is just madness because they seem to be the biggest sellers. They have their own chart I think. And online sales have really changed buying habits...people rarely buy a whole album, they just buy the songs they like. Which is true, I've only bought one album off iTunes and the rest have been single songs. No point in paying for someone that you're not going to listen to (when you can just download whole albums off torrent sites...forget I said that).
Anyway I'm gonna go get ready for work...see ya round.
-R
So anyway...nothing interesting to say really. I downloaded this song (legally, off iTunes) by Mark Hart called Lullaby for Channing. It's one of those sublimely beautiful piano/strings songs that make you go all funny inside. I think I'll have to create an iTunes playlist with that name...'sublimely beautiful piano/strings songs that make you go all funny inside'. I know there's a couple in my iTunes that could go in that playlist. I was reading an article on how online sales effect charts these days. ARIA doesn't take data from the Brazin stores - Sanity, HMV and Virgin - which is just madness because they seem to be the biggest sellers. They have their own chart I think. And online sales have really changed buying habits...people rarely buy a whole album, they just buy the songs they like. Which is true, I've only bought one album off iTunes and the rest have been single songs. No point in paying for someone that you're not going to listen to (when you can just download whole albums off torrent sites...forget I said that).
Anyway I'm gonna go get ready for work...see ya round.
-R
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Everyday stupidity...
Last night I was hanging out in my sister's room, as I do sometimes when I'm quite bored and want a human being to annoy. She was rearranging some stuff in her school diary and had stashed in one of the pockets a cute little promo thing from the ANZ. It was a little blue rectangle that was actually a sachet of blue zinc sunscreen which she must've gotten at a sporting event. Anyway curiosity got the better of her and she snapped it open. I didn't want to just throw it away so we decided I'd painthe back of my hand with it. It was quite runny for zinc, I was expecting something thicker like what you get in those sticks, but we painted my hand nice and blue (did I mention that I was bored?). After about 30 seconds I decided I would wash it off before it got on anything. Went to the bathroom and turned on the tap, the water ran straight off as expected, so I grabbed the bar of soap to lather up. Only the soap didn't work and instead turned bright blue, whilst my hand didn't become any less blue. After a couple of minute struggling with the soap which was just coated in zinc by then, I started to worry. I mean it's all good and well to have a blue hand when you're staying at home studying, but I'm pretty sure my work wouldn't be so cool with it. So I raced off to my mum's room to the liquid soap and used about half the bottle, which got most of the zinc off but left my hand looking particularly corpse-like with a rather convincing blue tinge. By this time it was late and I jsut thought 'fuck it. Maybe if I go to sleep it won't be there in the morning.' So after cleaning up all the blue tracks I left everywhere, I went to bed feeling rather sheepish.
This morning. Woke up, looked at the hand. It's still blue. Wtf. Surely a good night's sleep should get rid of a stain like that! (Don't ask). I decided to take it one step further and properly scrub my hand with soap. My hand was bright red afterwards. Good sign. Until the red subsided to reveal my hand was still slightly blue. Not enough to look dead, but enough to look like I'd done something rather silly. So I gave it a real going over in the shower, figuring if I couldn't have normal skin I didn't really want skin at all, and thank christ it's back to normal. Lesson learnt - never wear coloured zinc. Whoever formulated the dye for that is an ass.
Imagine what would've happened if I'd put it on my face.
-R
This morning. Woke up, looked at the hand. It's still blue. Wtf. Surely a good night's sleep should get rid of a stain like that! (Don't ask). I decided to take it one step further and properly scrub my hand with soap. My hand was bright red afterwards. Good sign. Until the red subsided to reveal my hand was still slightly blue. Not enough to look dead, but enough to look like I'd done something rather silly. So I gave it a real going over in the shower, figuring if I couldn't have normal skin I didn't really want skin at all, and thank christ it's back to normal. Lesson learnt - never wear coloured zinc. Whoever formulated the dye for that is an ass.
Imagine what would've happened if I'd put it on my face.
-R
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Why don't you give it a whirl
I can now say I'm one of the card carrying (badge wearing) Frenz of the Enz (what's the singular for that? Fren?). I joined the fanclub last week and my first set of newsletters and assorted goodies arrived today (prompt responses all round. Thanks Peter). I'll show you tragic Brendan XD
Today was one of those can't really be bothered movin kinda days where you drag yourself through the day like honey. Getting stuff done seems more painful than usual and it would be so easy to go 'fuck it' and lie in the dark listening to CDs. Hot weather does that to me. Amazingly I still got what I wanted to do done - studying of course, went to Springvale and got a haircut, did my banking. Credit card arrived today - duh duh duhhhhhhhhhhh! They gave me an astonishingly high limit. I'll have to watch that. Already planning the first purchase - Tim Finn presales tomorrow. The girls had afternoon tea, Keith's homemade cupcakes (they take me back to my school years...ah the nostalgia). We're having a barbecue for dinner - Sushi (the dog) lying on the kitchen mat eyeing my mum like a hawk while she prepares the meat. I even found time to strum a few bars of guitar and draw some 'robin' designs (Brendan will know what I'm talking about!). Came up with a good one. Surprisingly productive. Ah shit, didn't touch my violin. Some other day!
Anyway I'm going...gonna go get dinner ready, then I'm going out. Trivia anyone?
Today was one of those can't really be bothered movin kinda days where you drag yourself through the day like honey. Getting stuff done seems more painful than usual and it would be so easy to go 'fuck it' and lie in the dark listening to CDs. Hot weather does that to me. Amazingly I still got what I wanted to do done - studying of course, went to Springvale and got a haircut, did my banking. Credit card arrived today - duh duh duhhhhhhhhhhh! They gave me an astonishingly high limit. I'll have to watch that. Already planning the first purchase - Tim Finn presales tomorrow. The girls had afternoon tea, Keith's homemade cupcakes (they take me back to my school years...ah the nostalgia). We're having a barbecue for dinner - Sushi (the dog) lying on the kitchen mat eyeing my mum like a hawk while she prepares the meat. I even found time to strum a few bars of guitar and draw some 'robin' designs (Brendan will know what I'm talking about!). Came up with a good one. Surprisingly productive. Ah shit, didn't touch my violin. Some other day!
Anyway I'm going...gonna go get dinner ready, then I'm going out. Trivia anyone?
Monday, October 23, 2006
I am in love
Brendan and I went looking at electric guitars today, just so I know what I'm saving up for. I've decided I'm going to get an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. It's amazing. It feels SO good to play and it sounds great and it's gorgeous and...*sigh*. I'm going to save for another month before buying it. I could actually get it now but I'd like to have some money left in my bank account after. I will probably get the little Roland 15-watt amp that I usd in the store...then I need a hard-case and maybe a footswitch for the amp to turn the distortion on and off. It all adds up doesn't it...Even Brendan likes the guitar...Dare I say that he might understand a bit of my geeking out? The guy in the shop called Brendan my 'friend' too. I don't think either of us know how to give off the relationship vibe while we're shopping...I mean you can't exactly hold hands while you're playing guitar.
Nice day to be out...we went to Shanghai Dumpling for lunch (yum) and went and got gelato...lucky with the parking, didn't get a ticket...all in all a very nice day. Looking forward to more days like this once exams are over.
(the title is a Crowded House B-side - I bought the B-sides CD off some dude in England and it arrived today. It's very very good.)
Nice day to be out...we went to Shanghai Dumpling for lunch (yum) and went and got gelato...lucky with the parking, didn't get a ticket...all in all a very nice day. Looking forward to more days like this once exams are over.
(the title is a Crowded House B-side - I bought the B-sides CD off some dude in England and it arrived today. It's very very good.)
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Once and Never again
In about 10 minutes I will truly be an adult. No more of this -teen business. It's so depressing. And I can't use that Long Blondes song as my life's anthem anymore...I've got to find a new one.
Turning 20 is such a pain in the ass.
-R
Turning 20 is such a pain in the ass.
-R
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Damn emos!
That's it. I'm going to have to change my hair. I've seen one too many people with a bright pink streak in their hair just like mine. OK so it was only one person, but she was like a tryhard emo my chemical romance wannabe sixteen year old too much heavy eye makeup looks like dangerfield threw up on her person. Our eyes met and I thought 'if that's the sort of person wearing my dye job, it's time for a change.' I'm not sure what I'll do yet...Whether I'll change colours or just go all black...but I'm pretty sure I'm going to change the style as well. I don't have much to play with anyway but I'll figure something out.
Oh and I wrote a song today. Like a whole song. With verses and a chorus and a bridge and a tune and a chord progression and everything. It sounds kind of...Jebediah-ish to be honest. I'm going to my 90s indie rock roots! It was inspired by this very incident...the words and tune popped into my head while I was in the city, and I made myself sing them over and over until I got home bacsue I was afraid that I would lose it. I'm going to record it for myself so I don't forget how it goes, but I won't post anything until I can get a full band sound going...going to buy that guitar in december.
-R
Oh and I wrote a song today. Like a whole song. With verses and a chorus and a bridge and a tune and a chord progression and everything. It sounds kind of...Jebediah-ish to be honest. I'm going to my 90s indie rock roots! It was inspired by this very incident...the words and tune popped into my head while I was in the city, and I made myself sing them over and over until I got home bacsue I was afraid that I would lose it. I'm going to record it for myself so I don't forget how it goes, but I won't post anything until I can get a full band sound going...going to buy that guitar in december.
-R
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The gig review
OK, gig review time before I forget too much.
I met up with some fellow fans before the gig (well it was technically an album launch, but gig is faster to type) that I knew off the 'net. I got to the designated place first, and the second person to turn up was the girl who had organised it. I recognised her, not only because she was carrying a 'True Colours' sign like she said she would be, but also because we used to go to school together! Small world eh. Neither of us could believe that someone else from Firbank would actually have good taste in music, and that we would both happen to belong to the forum, so it was great to catch up. A couple of others turned up and I had a drink before meeting my family out the front. Very different to what I'm used to when going to gigs - I'm used to standing for three hours outside freezing my ass off and getting thoroughly bored. But I showed up half an hour before the doors opened and my family was already there (which shocked me greatly as we're notoriously late) at the head of the queue. There was a fairly even mix of young and old, although at 19 I was definitely in the minority of really young people. Thanks to my family's astounding punctuality, I got a possie front and centre and was soon joined by the girls I'd met up with.
The support act was a girl whose name I think is Emily Ulman. She was nice, but didn't exactly set my world on fire, and her songs seemed to sound much the same, running into each other. Perhaps it was because it was only her and another guy on their acoustic guitars. She played a short half hour set, then there was the usual wait while the roadies set up. It was at this point we noticed the distinct lack of Tim's yellow star-shaped tambourine, which has been a fixture of his live shows for quite a few years. So I wrote a note asking where it was, folded it into a paper aeroplane (another Finn tradition) and Eloise placed it at Tim's mic stand (we were standing right against the stage, which was about hip height).
Before Tim came on, a druid came out to bless the stage and Tim and all and sundry. I can't remember exactly what she said, and at first people were laughing a bit, but by the end everyone was dead silent and hanging off her words. She talked about peace. I remember that much. It was actually a surprisingly spiritual experience, not something you would expect at a gig.
So onto the gig itself. They opened with Six Months In A Leaky Boat, which was a really nice surprise, because he hadn't played it in Sydney or Auckland, and really got the crowd going. At 54, Tim Finn still rocks pretty hard. He either played acoustic guitar or piano or he just sang, and he still dances like a maniac. He has a great rapport with the audience as well...I've read a lot of stuff on Tim that says that his moods are really obvious and he can change the whole mood of a room with what he's feeling. Last night he was jubilant and in a really playful mood. Being a launch, it was mostly songs off the new album, and I really enjoyed all of them. There was one called Resting that I particularly loved, and another one that I can't remember the name of, but had a really great beat to it and an almost-gospel feel. There were also some old gems, Enz songs like Poor Boy and So Long For Now (last song of the set of course). For the encore he played two Crowded House songs, How Will You Go and It's Only Natural. Just before the final song He noticed my note and picked it up. 'Tim, where is your tambourine? Oooh!' He dropped it on the stage and picked up his guitar, but instead of going into 'Still The Song' he started a jam about his daughter being a rock and roll girl who likes to play the tambourine. 'What's a word that rhymes with tambourine?'
'Tangerine!' yelled someone in the crowd.
'Something something something Tangerine...'
'She has melons like a Tangerine!' yelled the voice.
Tim laughed. 'Awesome!'. Then during Still The Song he ditched the guitar and grabbed his drummer's tambourine for a dance. I'm quite proud that my stupid note inspired a jam. Eloise grabbed it off the stage after so I'll stick it up on my wall.
We didn't hang around the stage door after...something to do with a) it being a fairly seedy area (the joke was to get to the door 'turn left at the prostitute and right at the crack addict') and b) not really knowing where it was anyway. However when we went back to the carpark Tim drove out in the standard white tarago (there was only Tim and the driver, but it must be law that if you're going to or from a gig, you must be in a tarago). Then when we got in the car, Gold FM was playing an interview with Neil Finn and then they played History Never Repeats by Split Enz. Which is hopefully untrue as I'll be seeing Tim on his tour in February.
-R
PS photos up at my flickr site...www.flickr.com/photos/worldofcheese. Because I was so close I got some pretty good shots.
I met up with some fellow fans before the gig (well it was technically an album launch, but gig is faster to type) that I knew off the 'net. I got to the designated place first, and the second person to turn up was the girl who had organised it. I recognised her, not only because she was carrying a 'True Colours' sign like she said she would be, but also because we used to go to school together! Small world eh. Neither of us could believe that someone else from Firbank would actually have good taste in music, and that we would both happen to belong to the forum, so it was great to catch up. A couple of others turned up and I had a drink before meeting my family out the front. Very different to what I'm used to when going to gigs - I'm used to standing for three hours outside freezing my ass off and getting thoroughly bored. But I showed up half an hour before the doors opened and my family was already there (which shocked me greatly as we're notoriously late) at the head of the queue. There was a fairly even mix of young and old, although at 19 I was definitely in the minority of really young people. Thanks to my family's astounding punctuality, I got a possie front and centre and was soon joined by the girls I'd met up with.
The support act was a girl whose name I think is Emily Ulman. She was nice, but didn't exactly set my world on fire, and her songs seemed to sound much the same, running into each other. Perhaps it was because it was only her and another guy on their acoustic guitars. She played a short half hour set, then there was the usual wait while the roadies set up. It was at this point we noticed the distinct lack of Tim's yellow star-shaped tambourine, which has been a fixture of his live shows for quite a few years. So I wrote a note asking where it was, folded it into a paper aeroplane (another Finn tradition) and Eloise placed it at Tim's mic stand (we were standing right against the stage, which was about hip height).
Before Tim came on, a druid came out to bless the stage and Tim and all and sundry. I can't remember exactly what she said, and at first people were laughing a bit, but by the end everyone was dead silent and hanging off her words. She talked about peace. I remember that much. It was actually a surprisingly spiritual experience, not something you would expect at a gig.
So onto the gig itself. They opened with Six Months In A Leaky Boat, which was a really nice surprise, because he hadn't played it in Sydney or Auckland, and really got the crowd going. At 54, Tim Finn still rocks pretty hard. He either played acoustic guitar or piano or he just sang, and he still dances like a maniac. He has a great rapport with the audience as well...I've read a lot of stuff on Tim that says that his moods are really obvious and he can change the whole mood of a room with what he's feeling. Last night he was jubilant and in a really playful mood. Being a launch, it was mostly songs off the new album, and I really enjoyed all of them. There was one called Resting that I particularly loved, and another one that I can't remember the name of, but had a really great beat to it and an almost-gospel feel. There were also some old gems, Enz songs like Poor Boy and So Long For Now (last song of the set of course). For the encore he played two Crowded House songs, How Will You Go and It's Only Natural. Just before the final song He noticed my note and picked it up. 'Tim, where is your tambourine? Oooh!' He dropped it on the stage and picked up his guitar, but instead of going into 'Still The Song' he started a jam about his daughter being a rock and roll girl who likes to play the tambourine. 'What's a word that rhymes with tambourine?'
'Tangerine!' yelled someone in the crowd.
'Something something something Tangerine...'
'She has melons like a Tangerine!' yelled the voice.
Tim laughed. 'Awesome!'. Then during Still The Song he ditched the guitar and grabbed his drummer's tambourine for a dance. I'm quite proud that my stupid note inspired a jam. Eloise grabbed it off the stage after so I'll stick it up on my wall.
We didn't hang around the stage door after...something to do with a) it being a fairly seedy area (the joke was to get to the door 'turn left at the prostitute and right at the crack addict') and b) not really knowing where it was anyway. However when we went back to the carpark Tim drove out in the standard white tarago (there was only Tim and the driver, but it must be law that if you're going to or from a gig, you must be in a tarago). Then when we got in the car, Gold FM was playing an interview with Neil Finn and then they played History Never Repeats by Split Enz. Which is hopefully untrue as I'll be seeing Tim on his tour in February.
-R
PS photos up at my flickr site...www.flickr.com/photos/worldofcheese. Because I was so close I got some pretty good shots.
Tim Finn live
Too tired to post a review now...I just spent ages posting photos and a lengthy review to one of the Enz forums....so here is a video that I took instead to make up for it. Suffice to say it was a brilliant gig and I loved the songs he played from hsis new album.
And before you ask, yes, that female voice you can hear doing the high harmony is me. I didn't realise that the mic on the camera would pick me up as the speakers were pretty loud, but I guess I was close enough (and I didn't realise you could hear me until someone pointed it out, because I'd viewed it in mute). At least I'm pretty much in tune...so I guess this is kinda a pseudo-recording thing. Awesome, killing two birds with one stone!
-R
And before you ask, yes, that female voice you can hear doing the high harmony is me. I didn't realise that the mic on the camera would pick me up as the speakers were pretty loud, but I guess I was close enough (and I didn't realise you could hear me until someone pointed it out, because I'd viewed it in mute). At least I'm pretty much in tune...so I guess this is kinda a pseudo-recording thing. Awesome, killing two birds with one stone!
-R
Monday, October 09, 2006
I got paid today. I like being paid. In fact I had to pay myself today as my boss went home early, so I was paranoid that I woud miscalculate my pay and get into trouble, but I think I got it right. I'm going to start up an account book again...I used to have one, which was detailed to the point of obsessiveness (as in I wrote down the smallest things, like 'bought a pen - $0.50'.) but was good because I knew exactly how much I had so I could see whether I could actually afford that CD or not. I let it slip though when I lost my job...couldn't handle seeing all my savings dwindle away again. I should start it up though...have to keep track of bills and PETROL now that I drive.
Driving is awesome.
I was thinking today at work while wiping glasses (good thinking activity, although most barwork is really) about the errands I have to run tomorrow...going to the bank, checking the mail, getting a pair of jeans taken up...then I realised I'm thinking like a grown up and freaked out a bit.
-R
Driving is awesome.
I was thinking today at work while wiping glasses (good thinking activity, although most barwork is really) about the errands I have to run tomorrow...going to the bank, checking the mail, getting a pair of jeans taken up...then I realised I'm thinking like a grown up and freaked out a bit.
-R
Sunday, October 08, 2006
It's ages since I've posted...I seem to go through phases of posting nearly every day, and then being lucky if I post once a week. I'm in a slump phase right now I think. It'll pick up though...I'm going to three gigs in three nights this coming week, so I will probably have a whole raft of long and terribly excited posts for those.
So anyway..,I think I need new feet. The last couple of nights at work have completely ground them to a pulp, especially with the longer shifts I've been doing...yesterday I worked 7.25 hours and tonight I worked 7 hours. I worked Thursday as well, and I'm working tomorrow night...it's all money isn't it. I'm learning more of the floor stuff and I can now handle my own tables which is tres good. And the funny thing is that even though we were really incredibly busy tonight (a booking of 24 plus our usual Saturday night business) I really enjoyed it. I had nice customers though...didn't have to look after the big table either. They were tightwads...the bill was $1,299 so they paid $1,300 cash. A $1 tip. or 0.00077% of the bill. Ha. Still...$25 in tips. We've definitley done better (on Thursday night we took home $54 each and that was after giving the kitchenhand 10% for a job well done) but we've also done worse. It's good...I just use my tips and I can save pretty much my entire wage.
So anyway...still haven't fully decided which guitar I will get. Well actually I'm probably as close to deciding as I will get for this stage (before I get to go to the shop and play and touch them). My dream guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (reissue or vintage, I don't mind!) but obviously I can't pony up the $5,499 required for it and that's before I even think about an amp (and there's no way to justify buying a $300 amp for a $5,499 guitar). But I found out a couple of days ago that Epiphone make Les Pauls (Epiphone are owned by Gibson...I've been doing my research), and they are far more affordable than the Gibson ($700 as opposed to $3,200 for the LP Standard). Kind of like how Fender owns Squier who make cheaper Strats and Teles, but in a higher price range. I've read a lot of good - no, amazing - reviews about the Epi LPs too. The other contenders are Korean or Mexican made Fender Stratocasters (which were rec'd to me but I know nothing about), and the Ibanez ARX100 (which I read a good and indepth review of)...all around the $700 mark I think. One month's pay.
Amp-wise I have had the Vox AD30VT rec'd to me...I found out that Neil Finn plays through a VOX AC30 and I obviously love his sound, so that sounds pretty good. I read someone's opinion that you should spend at least as much on your amp as your guitar....which is probably sound advice, but I would rather get the guitar sooner and start playing straightaway while saving up for an expensive amp, rather than having to wait ages to get everything together.
Can't wait to have an electric...I've been trying to teach myself Don't Dream It's Over on acoustic, and it is SO hard, because it's pretty much all barre chords. Although lately I've been finding it easier to play F major...it actually rings a bit! yay :) my goal is to play barre chords by the end of the year, so hopefully once exams finish and I can practice an hour a day as opposed to 10 or 15 minutes every few days, the rest will come more quickly.
Oh and Sarah Blasko's new album comes out the day after my birthday (October 21)...very excited :) I heard the first single today and it's really good.
So anyway, time for bed I think. I might be meeting my wife aka george for lunch tomorrow...yay :)
-R
So anyway..,I think I need new feet. The last couple of nights at work have completely ground them to a pulp, especially with the longer shifts I've been doing...yesterday I worked 7.25 hours and tonight I worked 7 hours. I worked Thursday as well, and I'm working tomorrow night...it's all money isn't it. I'm learning more of the floor stuff and I can now handle my own tables which is tres good. And the funny thing is that even though we were really incredibly busy tonight (a booking of 24 plus our usual Saturday night business) I really enjoyed it. I had nice customers though...didn't have to look after the big table either. They were tightwads...the bill was $1,299 so they paid $1,300 cash. A $1 tip. or 0.00077% of the bill. Ha. Still...$25 in tips. We've definitley done better (on Thursday night we took home $54 each and that was after giving the kitchenhand 10% for a job well done) but we've also done worse. It's good...I just use my tips and I can save pretty much my entire wage.
So anyway...still haven't fully decided which guitar I will get. Well actually I'm probably as close to deciding as I will get for this stage (before I get to go to the shop and play and touch them). My dream guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (reissue or vintage, I don't mind!) but obviously I can't pony up the $5,499 required for it and that's before I even think about an amp (and there's no way to justify buying a $300 amp for a $5,499 guitar). But I found out a couple of days ago that Epiphone make Les Pauls (Epiphone are owned by Gibson...I've been doing my research), and they are far more affordable than the Gibson ($700 as opposed to $3,200 for the LP Standard). Kind of like how Fender owns Squier who make cheaper Strats and Teles, but in a higher price range. I've read a lot of good - no, amazing - reviews about the Epi LPs too. The other contenders are Korean or Mexican made Fender Stratocasters (which were rec'd to me but I know nothing about), and the Ibanez ARX100 (which I read a good and indepth review of)...all around the $700 mark I think. One month's pay.
Amp-wise I have had the Vox AD30VT rec'd to me...I found out that Neil Finn plays through a VOX AC30 and I obviously love his sound, so that sounds pretty good. I read someone's opinion that you should spend at least as much on your amp as your guitar....which is probably sound advice, but I would rather get the guitar sooner and start playing straightaway while saving up for an expensive amp, rather than having to wait ages to get everything together.
Can't wait to have an electric...I've been trying to teach myself Don't Dream It's Over on acoustic, and it is SO hard, because it's pretty much all barre chords. Although lately I've been finding it easier to play F major...it actually rings a bit! yay :) my goal is to play barre chords by the end of the year, so hopefully once exams finish and I can practice an hour a day as opposed to 10 or 15 minutes every few days, the rest will come more quickly.
Oh and Sarah Blasko's new album comes out the day after my birthday (October 21)...very excited :) I heard the first single today and it's really good.
So anyway, time for bed I think. I might be meeting my wife aka george for lunch tomorrow...yay :)
-R
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
just another day in the office
I saw The Devil Wears Prada last night with some friends. It was actually pretty good, very enjoyable. Meryl Streep was really good. The clothes....my God...I can see how people get sucked into the fashion industry. They were fabulous. and I've decided that I'm going to grow out my hair....I haven't been a fan of long hair on myself since I was about 10...mainly because it's very straight so whenever I've had long hair it's been nerdy Asian girl long hair, not lovely wavy long hair. But in the movie Anne Hathaway has amazing long straight hair with layers and a fringe and everything...so I might try and do that.
Why must I blog when I have nothing interesting to say?
Oh yeah. My workmate didn't show up for work on Sunday, so I was by myself at the front of house. Usually my front duties don't extend past barwork and running food, but suddenly I had to do the whole waitressing thing as well. And we had a very very busy start. Eight tables. I ended up losing one because I just never got out to them. Luckily I was able to call someone in at 7, but that first hour was just horrendous. I was nearly in tears by the end of it, and I'm generally not a stressed out kind of person. Because when you're taking orders on 12, and 15's food is ready, and the phone rings, and a couple appear at the door looking for a table, you realise you are slightly fucked...Then you finish taking 12's order, you seat the couple on 9, take out 15's food, get the chef to answer the phone, and you're slightly under control until 5 (the big table) asks you for a bunch of drinks as you race past. Then you've go to go back to 3 who you've been neglecting and take their order, give 9 menus and water, give 12 and 3's order to the kitchen and do 5's drinks order, praying that you remembered it correctly, and of course not forgetting to write it down on their docket, and the phone rings again....you get the picture. Not cool at all.
-R
Why must I blog when I have nothing interesting to say?
Oh yeah. My workmate didn't show up for work on Sunday, so I was by myself at the front of house. Usually my front duties don't extend past barwork and running food, but suddenly I had to do the whole waitressing thing as well. And we had a very very busy start. Eight tables. I ended up losing one because I just never got out to them. Luckily I was able to call someone in at 7, but that first hour was just horrendous. I was nearly in tears by the end of it, and I'm generally not a stressed out kind of person. Because when you're taking orders on 12, and 15's food is ready, and the phone rings, and a couple appear at the door looking for a table, you realise you are slightly fucked...Then you finish taking 12's order, you seat the couple on 9, take out 15's food, get the chef to answer the phone, and you're slightly under control until 5 (the big table) asks you for a bunch of drinks as you race past. Then you've go to go back to 3 who you've been neglecting and take their order, give 9 menus and water, give 12 and 3's order to the kitchen and do 5's drinks order, praying that you remembered it correctly, and of course not forgetting to write it down on their docket, and the phone rings again....you get the picture. Not cool at all.
-R
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)