the goldfish memoirs

My Christmas Wish

2006-11-22T21:28:00.000+11:00

That people will understand why I won't be consuming a bird for Christmas lunch/dinner. Perhaps it has something to do with these reasons. Or perhaps its to do with my body's lack of defense against other animals diseases. I don't mind if other people do consume a bird this Christmas, and I won't treat them any differently for doing so - I just hope the same attitude can be expected in return. Acceptance and tolerance, thank you.

Energy efficiency = Mental deficiency?

2006-11-22T20:57:00.000+11:00

Interesting that given the state of our dams, the council have withdrawn their offers of free water-saving shower-heads. Instead now I have to have a "second fridge" which they can take away to get a green energy pack. WTF?!?!

Oh well, I guess after all this bitching I'll just go down the road and buy a water-saving showerhead and power-saving lightbulbs. But really - their logic astounds me. They made $20 million in profit from the scheme and stop because some people are keeping extra lightbulbs for later.... Isn't that a GOOD thing??

2006-06-26T17:00:00.000+10:00

Mt Stromlo Observatory - burnt remains of telescopes after the canberra fires.

2006-06-26T16:33:00.000+10:00

mossy tree in the rainforest, blue mountains

2006-06-26T16:25:00.000+10:00

mr haloumi himself

2006-06-26T16:21:00.000+10:00

mez'n'me

2006-06-26T16:12:00.000+10:00

mez'n'me at echo point, katoomba

2006-06-26T16:07:00.000+10:00

the three sisters, katoomba

2006-06-26T16:03:00.000+10:00

i was pleased with how this one came out.

its getting better all the time...

2006-06-16T22:59:00.000+10:00

today i am finally well again after a whole week of sickness and illness. i would have to say its definitely one of the worst weeks of my life in terms of unwellness factor. it all started on tuesday morning when i woke up at 3am in a panic to get to the kitchen sink....... nuff said. since then i hadn't been able to keep much food down all week, until yesterday (thursday) when i managed to have some toast and pizza. throughout the whole week i have been mentally completely out-of-it, sleeping half the days away and then crazily deciding to drive my car all different places at a whim while still feeling queezy. so now after a whole week off work (and missing a 4 week contract because of it), i'm psyched to get back in the saddle.

2006-06-16T22:08:00.000+10:00

A still from the iPod spoof video i made today. Click on the pic to view the video, it's only small (300kb). Sorry to the mac users, as i made it a windows media video file, and am too lazy to re-compress it as mpg.
I did all the 3d modelling and animation in it (it is only very short), however the soundtrack i gladly tip my hat to Venice's cover of "I can't make you love me", by Bonnie Raitt.
I made this little short vid, after hearing many stories from people who's iPods crashed on them and they lost their whole music collection. It's just a tongue-in-cheek humour. no offence intended ;)

2006-04-09T16:51:00.000+10:00

this is the room i created with the vase on the table, as seen in the image below.

2006-04-09T16:47:00.000+10:00

I created this vase in a 3D program, as well as the table it's sitting on and the window behind. I zoomed right in with a 135mm lens, which helped to create the small depth of field in this image. Nothing in this image is real.

life update

2006-03-31T10:55:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since I've written anything here so I thought it might be nice to update this little journal of mine with my current life tidbits.

work - I start work this monday at eBay as a designer, it sounds like an exciting position so I'm stoked.

music - jamming this saturday with Grant & Toby in preparation for auditioning some new potential band members. i can't wait to kick out the jams and blow out the cobwebs! ( there will be many! )

love - going strong, Meri is unreal. 1 year and 10 months of bliss. she's in canberra this weekend while i'm staying here to jam and work on music. I just got the full version of Reason so I'm looking forward to f-ing around with it on some tunes.

family - my brother and his fiance recently had their first baby boy named Louis, so that makes 3 little nephews for me to play with! Yay! Kai, Jake and Louis should be good friends when they are older.

so all is good, it finally seems like my life is getting on track with this new job, so hopefully Meri and I will soon be able to move into our own apartment and make it cool and retro. I love old light fittings, and furniture so there will be plenty of them!

2006-02-11T12:13:00.000+11:00

this hang-glider had a bionic leg. it's nice to see people with disabilities doing cool shit that a lot of able-bodied people would be too scared to do themselves.

2006-02-11T12:10:00.000+11:00

hang-glider, Stanwell Park.

2006-02-11T12:09:00.000+11:00

hang-glider, Stanwell Park.

2006-02-11T12:07:00.000+11:00

old NRMA car, Chevrolet.

2006-02-11T12:06:00.000+11:00

an old NRMA road-side assistance car.

2006-02-11T12:05:00.001+11:00

my two year old nephew, looking other-worldly. (in the process of scratching my blank cds).

2006-02-11T12:05:00.000+11:00

what can i say? FAT.

2006-02-11T12:02:00.000+11:00

at the Garie beach look-out, after bushwalking through the national park.

2006-02-11T11:57:00.000+11:00

fern, with fine spiders web laced through it.

2006-02-11T11:54:00.000+11:00

a small vine creeping up a charcoal-barked tree.

2006-02-11T11:53:00.000+11:00

me, bushwalking. national park. pic by Meri.

2006-02-11T11:49:00.000+11:00

mossy trunk, national park.

2006-02-11T11:48:00.000+11:00

moss, growing on a tree-trunk. national park.

2006-02-11T11:46:00.000+11:00

Meri, perched dangerously on a fallen tree, bridging a gap over the river. about 5m in the air. national park.

2006-02-11T11:38:00.000+11:00

some leaves, with a bug on top. national park.

2006-02-11T11:37:00.000+11:00

overlooking Garie Beach

2006-02-02T21:38:00.000+11:00

the postal service, brunswick st, melb.

2006-02-02T21:35:00.000+11:00

some street art, in melbourne.

2006-02-02T21:32:00.000+11:00

meri & me at Falls Festival, Lorne VIC

2006-01-29T21:27:00.000+11:00

its the end of the world as we know it... sunset, as seen from the hill at Goulborne NSW.

2006-01-29T21:21:00.000+11:00

my new shoes, i got 'em in melbourne.

2006-01-29T21:19:00.000+11:00

snoozing in the park, overlooking the beach at bundeena nsw.

2006-01-29T21:17:00.000+11:00

gritty textured rock

2006-01-29T21:14:00.000+11:00

a solitary wounded tree, in its last great act of defiance before being drowned at sea by the masses of menacing rocks that surround it... or something.

2006-01-29T21:10:00.000+11:00

meri, with a giant tree above her.

2006-01-29T21:06:00.001+11:00

cupid, with a wee bit of bird crap on his head for good luck.

2006-01-29T21:06:00.000+11:00

cupid, hanging out in the botanical gardens, Sydney

2006-01-29T21:02:00.000+11:00

i thought this lad was quite cute.

2006-01-29T21:01:00.000+11:00

lady with some sort of instrument.

2006-01-29T20:55:00.000+11:00

weathered building on the harbour.

2006-01-29T20:54:00.000+11:00

Camp Cove, near Watsons Bay - Sydney Harbour

2006-01-14T08:24:00.000+11:00

the chapel, as viewed from the nearby cemetary.

2006-01-14T08:22:00.000+11:00

more decay

2006-01-14T08:21:00.000+11:00

Looking through the front door of the chapel.

2006-01-14T08:20:00.000+11:00

the remains of the walls

2006-01-14T08:19:00.000+11:00

Chapel, in Tritone colour.

2006-01-14T08:18:00.000+11:00

and so castles made of sand...

2006-01-14T08:16:00.000+11:00

Near the chapel, a country scene.

2006-01-14T08:12:00.000+11:00

Old Chapel, Hume Hwy.

new zealand

2005-11-29T20:45:00.000+11:00

Meri has a tonne of photos from her trip to new zealand, check 'em out!

a working class man

2005-11-29T20:31:00.000+11:00

so it seems i'll be freelancing for the rest of the year. i am currently working at an advertising agency in Balmain, trying to get all Bigpond's online adverts released pronto. its interesting work as most of my job is to make amendments to well-known ads I've often seen around the place - the most noticable being Bigpond's music download ads for 99c downloads.

I may be starting a new job next week at a web-dev firm on monday which will keep me on till christmas. apparently just a tonne of simple static websites. I've also been getting calls from people who were referred from friends to get websites done, so i'm finding it hard to fit everything in... a welcome change to the last few weeks when i've had nothing to do since I left Rotapix. It should see me with a healthy bank account for the first time in about 2 years. The only thing i'm finding hard to adjust to is the 6:30am waking and having to travel in traffic for 2 and a half hours each day. Shit happens.

While I'm on the topic...

2005-11-07T16:15:00.000+11:00

Problem:
People all over the world are starving in 3rd world countries.

Possible Solution:
Stop raising livestock for food.

Reason:
150 million tonnes of grain is fed to livestock in the US every year. The US produces about 20 million tonnes of meat every year. This isn't a good investment of resources. It means that 130 million tonnes of grain is wasted on feeding livestock in the US alone. That amount is estimated to be able to give every person on this earth a cup of grain every day.

Problem:
Much of Australia is in drought.

Possible Solution:
Stop raising livestock for food.

Reason:
In Australia the livestock industry consumes roughly 6000 Gigalitres of water per year. In the US, it is estimated that it takes 14 Gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat - but it takes 441 Gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. More than half the total water used in the US is for livestock farming. Think of how those resources could be better used.

Problem:
Prices for fuel are going up.

Possible Solution:
Stop raising livestock for food.

Reason:
The amount of petroleum that is being wasted on farming livestock and the factories which later slaughter them is contributing to an accelerating demand for, and lack of oil resources. They use petroleum to farm grain, why then waste more of it on feeding it to animals which won't give you nearly as much meat in return?

In my opinion the logic behind the livestock industry is bent.

more info if you want it here.

P.S. I just got back from the supermarket where there is a butcher directly opposite. They are advertising that they will give you 10c per litre off your next fuel purchase.... Perhaps they feel guilty that they are in all probability one of the causes of the prices being high in the first place?

Bird Flu

2005-11-07T16:10:00.000+11:00

There's been a lot of media surrounding the supposed imminent pandemic of Bird Flu. I'm probably going to cop a lot of flack for this comment, but there wouldn't be this problem if we didn't eat them. I'm not going to bother explaining - read for yourself.

almost back

2005-11-06T16:54:00.000+11:00

So after about 40 days of travelling, Meri will be back on Tuesday. She's been all over the beautiful country that is New Zealand in a Van with her buds. I can't wait to see her again.

To mark the occasion, i thought i'd post two pics of the day before she left. we went to luna park and got up to mischief. good times.

2005-11-06T16:53:00.000+11:00

cheeky monkey

2005-11-06T16:52:00.000+11:00

happy chappy

2005-11-06T16:41:00.000+11:00

i'm digging Diffuse Glow for a bit of mystic vibe.

2005-11-06T16:35:00.000+11:00

i forgot to post this one.

i must be...

2005-11-04T18:12:00.000+11:00

... living in the Bronx.

I found out today that the Ute that was broken into the same night as mine, today was set on fire by some prick. Nobody saw them do it, but the cabin was set alight through the broken window. One of the guys from my Unit block had to put out the fire.

the owner of the ute is away on holiday. i pity what he has to come home to.

apparently the night that my car was broken into, 6 other cars were broken into in the area.

Funting Cucks

2005-11-01T12:33:00.000+11:00

so i awoke this morning to find that the driver-side window of my car had been smashed overnight and the following was taken:

- my stereo (cd player) front display

- a cd case full of numerous cds (mostly burnt copies but some not)

- a tape deck walkman

so i've since spent the morning talking to police as they came to fingerprint the car, which because it's been raining all night there were none (i had to put a towel over the window to stop the inside getting soaked). i called O'Brian Glass and they can't come till tomorrow and it will cost $370 to install a new window (i'm not insured for that). so now i've only just finished cleaning my car out of all the glass that was EVERYWHERE, it took me over an hour. i'm hungry as hell and pissed off.

here's hoping i get a job soon so i can afford all this mess.

P.S. it wasn't just my car that was hit, there was another ute in my street done, and apparently numerous others in the area.

perception of meaning

2005-10-31T13:19:00.000+11:00

the thought just occured to me that viewing the thumbnails of the photographs below does give you a different experience to viewing the full-size images. The most noticable things are:

- by viewing a smaller image, you can more easily observe the composition of the photograph, and distinguish between a poorly composed shot and a well composed shot.

- by viewing a smaller image you cannot take in the fine detail of the photograph, almost all intricate details like depth of field are lost.

i don't know whether in terms of the photographic art thumbnails are destructive, but they certainly alter the meaning of a photograph. much like how mass reproduction alters both the meaning and value of a piece of art.

if all a visitor experienced was the thumbnail and not the full-size image, they may have a completely different experience than the one intended by the artist/photographer.

thoughts?

2005-10-29T15:39:00.000+10:00

inside the front door

2005-10-29T15:30:00.000+10:00

in need of some repairs

2005-10-29T15:29:00.000+10:00

quite a different vibe to the dark sepia one below

2005-10-29T15:27:00.000+10:00

santa won't fit in there.

2005-10-29T15:26:00.000+10:00

home sweet home - oh, i crack myself up sometimes.

2005-10-29T15:24:00.000+10:00

gutters falling off

2005-10-29T15:23:00.000+10:00

decrepid roof

2005-10-29T15:21:00.000+10:00

condemned house in the national park

2005-10-29T15:19:00.000+10:00

apparently these premises are patrol by tary police.

2005-10-29T15:18:00.000+10:00

wide depth of field on the tracks

2005-10-29T15:16:00.000+10:00

tight depth of field on the tracks

2005-10-29T15:15:00.000+10:00

tram lines - again

2005-10-29T15:14:00.000+10:00

close-up of weird thing on the cliff-edge.

2005-10-29T15:12:00.000+10:00

tram lines, sutherland

2005-10-29T15:11:00.000+10:00

wide-angle view south of Stanwell

2005-10-29T15:10:00.000+10:00

highly saturated close up of reeds on the cliff-edge.

2005-10-29T15:08:00.000+10:00

looking over Stanwell, south towards Bulli

main street - epicure

2005-10-26T21:52:00.000+10:00

so apparently Epicure have a new album out called "main street". I'll have to go find it. In the meantime, you can listen to an interview on Triple J here.

awake is the new sleep... so Wake...Up.

2005-10-26T21:37:00.000+10:00

the new one from Ben Lee is growing on me, i've never bought an album of his before so didn't really know what to expect. he's quirky, full of optimism and life and not afraid to show it. he borders on cheesy at times but somehow keeps it quirky/edgy enough not to go way past it. he's an interesting songwriter - simple instrumentation, simple melodies but kind of cool. as you can tell i really don't know what to make of him, but i kind of dig it.

2005-10-22T10:44:00.000+10:00

carus close up

2005-10-22T10:35:00.000+10:00

carus on acoustic

2005-10-22T10:31:00.000+10:00

nice low-bow

2005-10-22T10:27:00.000+10:00

carus being a rock star on the dining table

2005-10-22T10:24:00.000+10:00

arco double bass

2005-10-22T10:21:00.000+10:00

andy laying down some grooves

2005-10-22T10:17:00.000+10:00

andy on double bass

2005-10-22T10:13:00.000+10:00

bedge on violin

2005-10-22T10:08:00.000+10:00

unplugged off stage in the audience

2005-10-22T10:06:00.000+10:00

unplugged off stage at the brass monkey

2005-10-22T10:04:00.000+10:00

look out ladies

2005-10-22T09:59:00.000+10:00

carus

2005-10-22T09:57:00.000+10:00

andy's bass

2005-10-22T09:56:00.000+10:00

the bassplayer from carus' band. andy

2005-10-22T09:55:00.000+10:00

look out for stuff from this guy. he could be big. he's only 20 but blew me away. rob sawyer.

geek discovery

2005-10-18T11:19:00.000+10:00

i just noticed that photoshop can generate valid XML output from it's "Save for web..." settings. i can't believe i never noticed that feature before. and here i was thinking that it's such a pain in the butt to have to output to tables and then try to recreate the whole page again with DIVs and CSS. I'm a dummy. Shoot me now. ;b