Hobo Spit - the breakfast of champions

Just checked the stats, and 3 people came here after googling "Carly Hollier" and 2 after "Jaimi Chivers". What are you guys up to, and what do you want with my friends?

I'm making progress, really I am. You can't hear my tone of desperation via the internet. By the way, a hobo spat in my face today on the way to work. Thanks Dirty Beardy Hobo! You really made my morning! So just in case anyone decides to challenge me to "be violated by the bodily fluid of someone who hasn't showered in 2 weeks", I can already tick that one off.

I'm not sure whether to read the postcards as they come in, or get Ben to collect them and give them all to me on my birthday. He is always home first, so it is a viable plan. I think it would make a pretty rad birthday present. But would I be disappointed if there were some missing? No, wait. I'm allowed to know when one has come in, and who it is from. Just not what it says. That's a good plan. See what happens when I type-think? More effective than regular thinking.

Yo. S'up.

You thought I'd gone, didn't you? Yes you did. Well, in a way, I did. I went to North Island NZ for a couple of weeks with Hubby-yo. It was pretty freaking awesome. Who knew that Super Mario Land was there?

So I didn't do much thinking about challenges and turning 30 and all that crap while I was over there. It was more "check out that awesome bird" and "where can I get some more wine?" and "how many more spa baths can we get away with having?" That kind of thing.

I got my craft box out this week and started gluing stuff onto bits of cardboard. I like to pretend that it signals progress. I have the same thoughts every time I hit a wall: namely that I don't have the photographs I need. Some of them I need to get from my Mum. I have a feeling it won't translate so well over the phone, so that involves writing her a letter. And if I'm going to take the time to send her something in the post, I might as well send her some photos from our holiday, since she doesn't have access to the internet or email (I say 'access' but I really mean 'inclination'. If technology was the equivalent of, say, some freakish wild animal pavillion where those with the know-how can indulge in contemporary dance pieces with tigers, my Mum would still be outside the tent hoping a bunny rabbit might hop out and give her a flower. A weird analogy, but it's Friday. Gotta celebrate the end of the week somehow). Anyway that would involve getting pictures printed. Also, many of the photos I need for the immediate project are under a house in suburban North Sydney, probably rotting. That's another story. Either way, I'm finding my 'progress' somewhere between 'just slow enough that it's kind of annoying' and 'just fast enough that I can feel good about myself'. It's a fine line.

Anyway. LCD are about to release a record and are already doing shows, so I better get that one sorted out. Smashton is about to get married. Some of the people on my list I haven't even managed to track down yet. Some of the photos are lost. This postcard thing is sketchy at best. And it is a bit sad that I don't even have any photos of myself with some of these people. Like, how did I get through so much of my life without having my photo taken with Ronda and Kim? It's strange.

Sweet blog.

Man! I just added all these old music blogs that I used to read back in the day, and now I'm "following" them. That shit is SWEET. It's so great to return to this. Except, holy crap, I am already blogging about blogging. This is a bad sign, no? Not to mention irrelevant. Never mind.

And here they are.

I discovered an old friend has a new blog today. After I'd come away from his wordsmithery, my heart suitably warmed, I remembered how much better at this he is than I am. And also that he used to make me want to write, in the beginning. And he should probably go back onto the list of 29. So should a few other people. Sometimes a fleeting moment can make the difference. You don't need to be best friends with somebody to make an impression on their life.

Ok! So, after all these posts of pointless blathering, mostly for my own benefit and to warm up the ol' blog muscles, I've decided on a final 29. And even though I'll probably look at the list again in, oh, say 2 minutes time, and I'll probably want to change it, I'm not going to. This is it. This is The List as of Monday 8th March 2010 (with the briefest of explanations as to how they fit into the puzzle):

Kat Chisholm - one of my first flatmates when I moved to Sydney.
Mel Sim - my first roommate when I moved out of home.
Jaimi Chivers - met through work and bonded over music.
Ben Pask - met through work, sort of, and I ended up marrying him.
Jacob Sewell - met through uni and we started a band together.
Carla Bentley - met through work and bonded over vodka and cranberry.
Tracey Cumming - one of my best friends through school, and continues to be.
Mum & Dad - they conceived me, and all that.
Kim Thomas - boss of a company I worked for for 3 years.
Kim & Rondalyn - family friends, like younger sisters.
Heath Player - the Prince Charming to my Snow White circa 1989.
Kim Charpentier - spontaneous high school music friend.
Tim Freedman - pseudo boss, pseudo musical comrade.
Cassie Griffin - an old flatmate from the Newtown massive.
Ros Hanley - met through a friend, friend disappeared, we kept each other.
Sister Eileen Mary - my kindergarten teacher.
Jason Buckley - my high school music teacher.
Meredith Sproule - my high school english teacher.
Lucy Buttenshaw - my piano teacher.
Katie Grintell - my very first best friend.
Bernie Hayes - the first guy to ever give me a gig.
Emma Mackney - my best friend in high school.
Bart Denaro - met through friends and shared music.
Rebecca Ashton - one of the first people I met in the UK.
Carly Hollier - met through a friend and bonded over video games.
Craig New - possibly the nicest person I ever met in the music industry.
Heather Durnan - one of my best friends in primary school.
LCD Soundsystem/James Murphy - spent 3 weeks on a bus with them once.
Karen Bird - the lovely lady who I stole and embellished this idea from.

Now it's there, I can't change it. And I'm going to start sending postcards to these people. Starting Tuesday.

OK, you know what?

Here's the thing - finding 29 people who made a huge impact on your life is really HARD. I would say most people can come up with a solid 5 or 6, and could stretch it out to 10 or 15 if they think all the way back. But after that, it gets pretty fuzzy. It reminds me a bit of trying to organise our wedding invitation list. Where do you draw the line? And what constitutes an 'influence'? All of my friends have held some kind of sway on things, I would imagine, it just depends on how largely the resulting decisions reflect on my life as a whole. Maybe I won't even know how much influence they hold until the friendship has run its course. Am I cheating if I just use my friends? Well, no. Surely not. Because things would be different if it weren't for these people. It makes my head hurt, a little bit.

I could bulk it out with rock stars or other pseudo-celebrities that had an effect on me growing up, but realistically they are not going to respond. THAT feels more like cheating.

Work is busy right now, and I'm trying to organise some gigs for the band. I'm going on holiday in just less than 3 weeks - super exciting. We get back at Easter so I want to be prepared to go on this come April. I know that means getting my shit together, but sleeping is so much more appealing just now...

The Balm before the Yawn

We didn't get much sleep last night. Humid. Uncomfortable balminess. Then I had to come to work earlier than usual to get some exams going. Yawn. Being on my bike was good, though. It's surprisingly quieter riding at 7.30am than it is at 8.30am, and the sun is sitting at an angle just so, and the air is somehow fresher. So I appreicated that, at least. Then a bit later I ate a muffin.

Pretty riveting stuff, peeps!

Anyway, I've not moved on much on the Project. Been doing band stuff instead. Played a gig on Saturday which was a bit awesome, and had some photos taken last night. I need to start writing some more, and dig out some old stuff.

I digress. I contacted some people. On the internet. Some of them wrote back. Exciting! Some of them didn't. Hmm. I've changed direction on the postcards. I was making photo collages but now I just feel like that's a bit weird. I'm going back to my original idea - which was actually Karen's original idea - of using one photo, of the person and I together (wherever possible). Then jazz it up. I'm thinking crayons.

I should just knuckle down with it and bang a few out, and send them, rather than trying to create a grand gesture by sending them all at once. That will probably be my first downfall, right there. The trick is not to run out of time. And who knows when, or if, some of these postcards will even reach their destinations? Hmm.

I haven't even got to 29 yet. I'm just sitting on 26 and hoping to be inspired. Wondering where to draw the line.

This heat makes me tired.

Twenty-nine

I've been thinking about these 29 people for the last few days. The original idea started as my best friends, or past best friends - people that knew me the best. Then it began to get tricky. Now, however, the project has skewed. This is going to take a year of my life, and purposefully, wholeheartedly, change it. Maybe I should be thinking of people that have done that in the past. Give them a chance to do it again.

So I thought of certain school teachers. I thought of old boyfriends. I thought of employers. I thought of my old piano teacher. I even thought of bands I listened to.

I quickly decided this is to be a positive endeavour. So to reflect that, I don't want to waste it on people that have affected me negatively. Maybe that's a copout - if you're going to measure your life on change, surely you should recognise both? - but I feel like its just a waste of energy. Those people had their time in the sun. Besides, I wouldn't want to give any of them the satisfaction.

Needless to say, my list is looking pretty interesting. I'm not sure I'll track everyone down, and I'm not even convinced that even if I do, they will respond. But that's all part of the game, isn't it?