Lazy Saturdays

Well today was relaxing in many ways – slept in, aimlessly browsed the interwebs for a while, generally chilled out. The weekend’s weather’s been fantastic so far – cool and sunny, plenty of birds out, and the kid next door is getting quite good with his saxophone, which gives the day a slightly blues-ish feel. Washing is done, kitchen cleaned, and my room is tidied and neat again, theres a floor under all that lot, dont y’know!?

Tomorrow will be my day off – i’m going to go for a wander around the city, take photos, act like a tourist, and maybe try and capture some of the hurried, out-of-breath essence the CBD holds for me. I’ve got a few ideas lined up in my head, so hopefully they pan out in the way i think they could.
I’m going to go drop in on my friend Luke at work, he’s working at an outdoors/camping/adventure store – right up my alley. I’m hoping to pick up a new leatherman, but that all depends on my funding which is a little tight at the moment. I seemed to have managed my money better this fortnight, but I did spend $200 that i could have gotten away without spending, so I’m probably a bit behind.
I’ve been introduced to Bouldering by Luke also, last weekend was my first, and we’re planning to go again on monday evening. I love the simplicity of it, there is no harnessing, no belays, just a wall and a crashmat. I do enjoy rock climbing, but I find bouldering is as much a mental test of my skills as a physical one. Not to say that I wasnt in large amounts of pain for several days afterwards – I was, but it felt like I might just have achieved something.

Sitting in the backyard at the moment, its an odd feeling of satisfaction. I have a clean house, and more than ever at the moment, a clear mind. Its a fairly quiet afternoon – the neighbours are chattering over the fence, but not intrusively. A QANTAS 747 just crawled overhead, clamouring its way through the lightening afternoon sky. I love living under this flightpath – some may think I’m mad, but I love planes and all to do with them. Airports excite me, even if I’m not the one going anywhere, they signal fresh beginnings to me, and every time a plane rumbles overhead, I wonder where it’s off to, and what sorts of people are onboard. I hope that in less than 7 months, one of those people will be me, I plan on doing my best to make it happen this time around.

I’ll be dissapointed to leave Sydney I think, the lazier side of me feels right at home here some days – where I can walk to a train and be in the city in thirty minutes, for $3, where I can download my TV instead of watching every crappy ad that comes onto telly. From all this though, I don’t think I can live here much longer with all these un-met challenges for myself. I’ve gotta get overseas, theres some amazing places in Australia, but I cant wait to stand on top of one of the rocky mountains, or visit the deserts of Utah, the rich and busy streets of new york. I found that as miserable as my life had been at points in Jindabyne, its all that matters to me when I come back and say “I did it anyway”. I think this season, another year wiser, with people I know, and some more smarts when it comes to meeting those I don’t, I’ll do a better job.

Another thing I’ve been amused with recently is that I’ve started watching the news again, and a few times the comment has been made along the lines of “All the news is biased”. Coming from Digg readers, this is very humerous to me – I believe that very few people actually have the insight and skill to ’select’ the information on these collaborative news websites and cut out the bias. I know i’m not one of them – i much prefer to watch what is given me, read what is printed, hear what is broadcasted and take my own opinions away from it.
I am at least good enough to know and decide by myself what are the facts in a news story. I’ve been persistently berated by people for commenting on a current event, that I’m being fed lies. The funny side is – what these people spout as the ‘truth’ or the ‘unbiased story’ is generally just as biased in the opposite direction.

On a much sadder note, I was only this afternoon told that a well known man, the father of one of my schoolmates committed suicide early last week. It makes me sad to think that a man of such stature in the community I grew up in had nowhere else to turn to, and those of you who know who this is I speak of, please, reach out to his family and offer what support you can in this awful time.
I wonder sometimes what drives people to the edge of desperation, but I think thats not something for me to ask nor answer. The best I can offer is the simple truth that no person should ever have to take their own life in such a manner.

Continuing my hollow promises for now – can it really be this easy? No, but thats the beauty of such a promise – its never going to make a difference either way.

I’ll end with this – Its not supposed to be literal, but its one of my very favourite bits of poetry, slightly edited for clarity.

Light many lamps and gather round his bed.
Lend him your eyes, warm blood, and will to live.
But death replied: ‘I choose him.’ So he went,
And there was silence in the summer night;
Silence and safety; and the veils of sleep.
Then, far away, the thudding of the guns.
– Sigfried Sassoon

Thoughts and sensations.

Well here we are again, in the last moments of summer, preparing myself for another winter to come. The weather is starting to turn now, with colder mornings, and a sun that finds every opportunity to blind me as I drive to work.
I’ve found it difficult to find a lot of momentum and motivation when it comes to this blog – it might be a case of general laziness, but I like to think my life is varied enough without having to tell everyone about it, but it seems not, so I’m going to make hollow promises again, and say that I’ll update this more, and take photos more, and so on.

I need to buy myself a new tripod – my last one was left to Charlie D’Amico in the rain-frenzied packup of the last gig I worked with him on – it wasnt an expensive one at all, and It’s no loss, but it does put a pinch on my photography when I have to cut through the caffeine shakes for a few moments to frame a long exposure.
I’m experimenting more with my photos recently – trying to go outside my usual haunts of long exposure and nature shots – playing more with time lapse and the likes now – i have a new ‘rig’ I’ve been reccomended to try – a rubber band and a shirt button to hold the shutter release down, keeping the camera in ‘continuous shooting’ mode.. should prove interesting at least – I might be able to put some action sequences together, which would be an interesting way to waste a few hours.

Work is interesting and varied at the moment – I find myself increasingly bored on weekends when theres no-one around the house. I need to spend more time at home, but the time and cost can be prohibitive, especially close to the end of a pay cycle.
I’m bludging internet off McDonalds in the QVB/George St Mall Food Court at the moment, while eating especially good sushi… mmm…
I’ve got a new love for sushi, especially the really good ones – I must admit I’m still pretty uncultured when it comes to it though – I tend to go for the chicken and ‘cooked’ sorts, however recently I’m forcing myself to eat more of the true sushi variants. Todays offering was a decent salmon roll, good stuff indeed. That said, the chicken and rice was a bit salty which i usually like, but it was an odd combination on flavours. (A reflection on this – this is most likely to do with my very boring way of soaking everything in soy sauce!)

I’m writing all this babble courtesy of my new laptop battery – bought with an arm and a leg at the apple store last night. Its amazingly good not to have to panic about taking my laptop places, and its actually a little like getting a new one altogether – finally I can use it for what it was intended! I’m also driving again now, the RTA having seen fit to give me my licence back – there may be some method to their madness, it means they can screw more fines out of me, but i’ve actually found that my time without has made me a far more careful driver.

Well, Back to work for me now – I’ll try and keep my hollow promises – even if it doesnt turn out.
- Pip

New Years Celebrations.

New Computers, sunsets and fishies!

My favourite pictures

These are generally all desktop wallpaper quality, very few are mine.

The Happy ending. And all that was in between…

Well, its been quite some time since I posted last, mainly because i’m horribly lazy, especially with things like this!

I’m back home now, i finished on the 21st of September, just in time to watch a large amount of snow dissapear with the rain! All in all, my impressions of the season were this

• Its just snow, you’ll get over it soon – YEAH RIGHT! No, I had several mornings at skitube when the snow was just an hour old where it still looked just as awesome and magical as the first time, soft powder crunching underfoot as the paths were cleared, glittering overhang, poised just out of reach, beautiful and oh-so-deadly.

• I’d make friends, but not that many.. Seriously, i think i know about half the staff by name, and half of those again close enough to call a friend, I’ve met such an amazing variety of people down there this year, from australia and from overseas, of various ethnicities, backgrounds and futures.

• I’ll be a pro skier by time i come home… uh.. not quite.. I’ve gotten much better, thanks to some amazing days on the hill, and some expert training by Jordan (the legend!

•I’ll be back next year! Well, this one is mostly true, i’m really hoping to go back next year, Theres murmurs that i may be moving to sydney in november, which might mean that once i’ve gone through the trouble of finding a house once, it might not be worth bailing again four months later to go back to the snow… but if i can work it out, i will!

I’d like to take a moment to say a big thanks and a big hello to a few people who might be reading this, firstly, Greg Isele, for being an awesome manager, and giving damn good advice (i’ve still go the flak jacket on, and the helmet over my head), Bill Moxon for being omnipresent, as well as another good giver of advice, and wisdom. Perhaps the biggest shout should go to Darren (Krusty) Teasdale, my supervisor at Skitube, such an awesome bloke, an fair and (mostly) firm boss, and a good all round mate. Others who deserve a mention are Gary Hodge, Danny Johnston, Gary “Clarkie” Clarke, Patrick Sullivan, Greg Duncan, Ken McRorie, Dick Pendergast, Owen Amos, Pete Bottom, Ray Nicholls, Ruan “Roo” Buys, Steve Mansfield, Chris Walsh, Peter Pratt and Brian Gallard. These guys made the time there both entertaining and worthwhile, with a whole lot of interesting stories and tales thrown in to pass the time on the long half-hour schedule days.

Another big shout goes to everyone I worked with, you guys were the bomb. some of you i got along with so well, some i had to work at, but all of you were great people. So, in no particular order again, thanks go to Monty, Danielle, Lewis, Matt, Scotty, Ryland, Ryan, Kerrie, Kelly, Dan, Cam and Krusty, you were all awesome, and all so much fun to work with!

The place I lived in was weird, and quirky, but damn, it suited the people that lived there so well.. I love you guys, you were the bomb, and I’d live with any of you in a minute, anywhere. Alicia, Shannon, Jordan, Carl, Dom, Dan, Tom, Matt and Leah, you’re all awesome, and I hope I seeya all again soon. Our house was never the cleanest, but you always knew where to look for stuff, kinda ordered chaos. Some awesome memories have been created in that place, smoke alarms and drunk people stumbling home at god-awful hours of the night, all that sorta stuff

To wind this up, it was an awesome season, and its been an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Biting the Bullet

Hello again, from jindabyne, and the realm of colds, crappy internet, nasty hangovers, and some damn good skiing. Work is going well, the routine is in place, and i’m getting the hang of it. The skiing has been going fairly well, and after a short lesson with jordan, my roommate, i’ve corrected my technique somewhat, which has made skiing a lot more fun for me.
I’ve been relatively busy taking photos, a few of which i’ll upload here.
Once i get photoshop running again, i’ve got a panorama all ready to stitch together, so i’ll get around to that soon. I seem to have deleted something important, because it craps itself whenever i load it, and takes much of the computer with it. My car’s been doing well, the carbie needs a clean, or the fuel pump is crapping bricks on steep hills, one or the other.
My PSP should be arriving in a week or two, and my laptop needs a new battery, so theres another hundred or so bucks gone. My shoulder has also healed fully, which is great, but my cold has been happily haunting me for the last three weeks, which means that every time i go skiing, as soon as i get on the chairlift i start coughing like a double-pack a day smoker with asthma. At least i can hear out of one ear now.
Enough Waffling on and on with some photos.
I took most of these at Lake Eucumbene, where I used to go with mum and dad on fishing trips when dad was teaching classes at Eucumbene lodge. The others were taken either at the skitube terminal on Perisher valley, or at the top of Mount Back Perisher.

Snow caves and Bullocks Flat goes white!

Well Well!
Snow seems to be well on its way! (ok, ok, i’ll level with you here. I’m writing this post nearly 2 weeks after it happened, but i dont want to appear stingy, and i promised i’d put text with the pictures, so cut me a little) So, long story short, we had snow in bullocks flat, about 2 inches, which was very nice, but a complete bastard to shovel, because it was fairly wet, and maybe 2 centimeters in jindabyne. Luke and Megan also graced us with their wonderful presence, hopefully they can make it down again, and we had one of the most fun days i’ve had since i got here, building jumps, playing in true powder snow, making a snow shelter, which was supposed to be a cave but ended up as a ditch, as well as eating 2 min noodles cooked on my camp stove, which did an awesome job (just slower than average…)
Well, i have more interesting things in my next post, so go and read that!
Cheers
Pip

Holidays, traffic infringements and torn muscles.

Well, I’ve come back from a 3 day weekend back to Gerringong, which was a lot of fun, caught up with a lot of people, met a few new people, a good night out. Sunday was Mum’s work farewell party, after 10 years of dedicated service with Australia Post. Sunday night, caught up with Luke, had a few beers, then after a good night of sleep headed back down to Jindabyne. Outside Cooma, got RBT’d, no worries, but got hit with a $185 fine for a single missing P plate, and a demerit point as well!
And today, to make matters worse, I tore/overstretched my rotator cuff in my right shoulder, so there goes my skiing for the next week at least!
But! I got Employee of the Month this month, which is awesome, so hopefully if I behave and stop knocking myself around, I might pull it off two months running!
More pics etc to come soon, once I can be arsed to haul my camera out of my bag and upload them.
Regards
Pip

Blue Cow Opening

Perisher Blue’s opened Blue Cow today, confident that it would stand up to the test, so heres some photos from it: