Hi world, please meet Waffle. She's quite cute.

hjlkjh

Not going to add much more to the last post other than the following...

Us at Zen House in Adelaide. Good eats..







Some punks hanging out on the street...



Chris getting a fine just after he found his wallet. Never thought I'd find someone so happy to be able to get a fine.



To add to this, here's a video from the 'Rosies incident' from the Snake Run tour at the end of last year. The whole venue was evacuated and its just some video of the crowd outside the front of the venue.. there's no sound because my camera's just not that good:

Ill Brigade Shows

Currently I am tired as all fuck, so not sure how this'll come out...
Thursday night's show was great. Rort, Lookin In, Iron Mind and Ill Brigade played. It was a matter of quality over quantity when it came to the people who came out. Every band had a good response. It was a great vibe and left me feeling siked. I moshed and it was fun.
After the show, I finialised the details with Ill Brigade as I was going in the van with them to Adelaide. Definitely legit awesome dudes.

I probably had 4 hours sleep before I got ready and hopped into the van with IB. They had a 7 seater van and there was just 5 of us. Shit was chill!
No real crazy van stories other than Chris getting a fine for speeding... and some random stopping to give his two cents on the whole scenario.

Good to get to Adelaide. Its not much, but there's awesome people. Line up was Chocolate Chip, Crater Face, Infection, Lookin In and then IB. Cookie were pretty awesome, but being that exhausted, I wasn't too much in the mood for a face-melting. I moshed for pretty much the whole set of Lookin In. This was fun, hardest I've moshed since breaking my leg.
Afterwards, hung out with a big bunch of people. Didn't get to bed until about 3am-ish. The IB guys left pretty early. I flew home with Qantas! later on... keen to have done that, I was exhausted.

Fuck, I thought I could do a semi-good job at typing this right now, but fuck it. I'm going to bed... will add other shit later.

Better days..

Rough week last week! I've come through fine. Friends and my new band are a big part of that. There's something about jamming songs in a prac room that can let you forget your troubles.
We have a bass player now! His name's Lachie, from the country, now living in Melbourne. Dude seems super chill. I was pretty sketch this prac, but hopefully we're jamming again this weekend, so I can keep at it. Getting better at writing lyrics on the spot. The content is pretty simple. Not tackling any major issues, just shit I think about.
Went to a show out at Sommerville. Was fair horrible. Went because my friends were there. Glad I went in the end.

Dave is an idiot and a loser, why is he so lame....I mean errr.

I wrote some stuff for my penpal. I like the idea of having a penpal from the otherside of the world. He's from Texas... it was fun doing stuff for him and know he'll be opening up my letter on the otherside of the world and will hopefully brighten his day. I know when I get cool mail it gets me stoked.

Pretty sure I've figured out what I'm doing for Dave and I's 3 year anniversary. Can't mention anything more about it as he's advised he'll be reading this later.

At the moment these things are making me happy...
- My Dad will be fine
- I love my boyfriend and still get lovey dovey feelings when I look at him
- My new band, makes me feel proactive and like I'm actually contributing to the scene
- The friends I am hanging out with more often these days
- Having a housemate, even if he isn't here very often!
- My penpal

Didn't think it'd hit me this hard.....

So, I didn't get to sleep until late last night. Couldn't sleep. May have had something to do with the persistent crying, but whatever right?
Didn't go to work today, was kinda a mess. Watched Skins all day... after watching the whole thing, I don't know how good it was for my overall mood.
Had pancakes for dinner, this was excellent for my mood. I love that I can have pancakes for dinner and no one call tell me its stupid or unhealthy. Yay for being a kid living outta home.
I think its time for some 360.

More bad luck, my appeal for my train fine was declined... I am now having to pay TWO fines. FUCK IT.

My Dad's been transferred to a ward... they're monitoring him closely apparently.

Dad's had a major operation

On the way to work this morning my sister sends me a TXT to say, "Say a prayer for Dad today". She's referring to the fact that's he's having another very major heart operation. Needless to say, my Dad was in my thoughts all day. In fact, when something like this happens, my automatic response is for those thoughts to go to very bad places. Its my way of dealing with things - worst case scenario.
Another sister sent me a TXT later this afternoon to say he's had the operation and that they're going to keep him sedated for 48hours. That's a really long time and a pretty scary thought. On top of that, the same sister sends me a text soon after to let me know that his heart is beating irregularly. Once again, those thoughts go to dark places.
He'll be fine, but its times like these not to take things for granted and life is precious.

First Band Prac Yesterday

I am excited. Had the first proper band practice of the new band I'm in. We met up at Midian around 2pm-ish and jammed some tunes. It was pretty easy considering Pete (Bill Shankly drummer) had written and recorded some tracks like mid last year. He put them onto tape and gave them to us, so we all knew what we were going to be doing. James (Jaws, Diamond Sea etc) is on drums - which rules. I know he's an awesome drummer. This reminds me, I need to burn him a copy of the first Body Count album. He's curious to hear that horrendous drum solo. Bec ended up coming for the last hour. That was unexpected. I know she's really busy with school, so I don't know whether she'll be in the band for a long time. She doesn't get time to practice bass.
So, we jammed out 4 songs or 5 I think? Including a Black Flag cover (Wasted). That was really fun. My old band never got to do a cover, we were too lazy. It was easier just to write a new song instead.
Before practice I actually wrote some lyrics to one of the pre-recorded songs. Its kinda funny, to me anyway, I was trying to find the remote for the tape player so I could go back and fort easily... so I got super frustrated trying to find the damn thing (still haven't found it) so I started writing a song about losing my mind. Remote was inspiration. Still can't find the fucker, this makes things awkward. I basically have to sit with a chair infront of the stereo... it just looks weird.
Also before practice, Dave and I got rid of some stuff as Cashies. I felt like a junkie just standing in line at that place. Needless to say, I got $10 for my old TV and Dave got $70 for his guitar and case. We didn't care though, the stuff was taking up too much room in an already small unit.
For lunch we went to Trippy Taco. For those who aren't familiar with Trippy Taco, they do vegetarian Mexican, with a vegan option for pretty much everything. So, I had one of their amazing hot chocolates and a couple breakfast tacos (Scrambled tofu, salsa, avocado, squeezed lime and delicious flavours). Any one who comes to Melbourne needs to check this place out.
After Lunch we went to this Lost and Found store which had overpriced second hand stuff. Although, it did inspire me to buy one of those chunky 90's cameras... you know? The ones that actually develop FILM! I love my digital camera, but I miss that excitement of picking up developed film. I also want to buy a tape/Walkman. I have too many awesome tapes I don't listen to enough.

Me, full and satisfied at Trippy Taco


Dave (left), entrance to Trippy Taco (right)


After Practice I went to MK and Glenn's place. We made like the best pizzas in history. I am currently eating the left overs for breakfast. We also played Mario Kart on Wii. Needless to say, I had a fucking blast!

Its a long weekend this weekend. I love that its Sunday, and I know that I still have another whole day off after this one. Can't beat that feeling when you haven't had a day off in a while.

Things are calming down

Well, the benefit show has come and gone... now I am a lot less busy and as a result fairly bored.
This Saturday I have my first proper band practice with a new band. I'm pretty excited, but also nervous. I don't know what I want to do with my vocals for this band as its going to be fairly poppy. First practice might be horrendous, who knows? Tonight I'm going to finish up writing some lyrics for the remaining songs that Pete's recorded. We still need a bass player... so if you're good and shit and like LA 80's punk..
Been watching the American version of the Office. I'm coming into this pretty late, but fuck its so good. Stoked on housemate having seasons 2 and 3 on DVD.
Made some awesome spag bol last night using this tinned mince stuff. Not sure where it was bought from, but its perfect for spaghetti. Add some garlic, italian herbs, salt n pepper, pinch of sugar and some tomato sauce... yum! I have been told that putting sugar in tomato sauce takes away the acidity from it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong... I swear it works though.

Lookin In are going to Adelaide next weekend and I'm keen as pie to go. Someone needs to give me a spot in their car. Keen to catch up with Adelaide crew, esp Moose, Lewis, Mara and Dougie. Good people.

I'm at work at the moment and its quiet as all hell, its great. I had a whole floor of a building to myself for almost 2 hours.

$$$

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty awesome day! Not much went wrong.... and when the PA took a while to get to the venue, it worked out for the better anyway! I wish I had photos of the set up, but we had sooooo much amazing vegan baked goods and savoury treats.
Highlights include:
- Yells' white chocolate truffles (Achocalypse)
- McNab's Choc peanut butter cheesecake ala East Brunswick Club
- Boobies cupcakes, they ruled!
- Jaki's pizza
Everything LOOKED awesome, even if I didn't get a chance to eat it all.

The raffle was pretty successful too. So much stuff was donated, I wanted to win! Dave won 4th prize, I think? We got some CD's and heaps of awesome stickers.

Bands were organised and even though it was a mixed bill, everyone got a crowd. A Death In The Family were definitely my highlight. People in America should definitely go see them in the US with Gaslight Anthem in the coming months.

Clean up at the end was hectic, but whatever!

People kept thanking me for organising it, but all I did was notice an opportunity for everyone to come together and help out. We all worked pretty damn hard. Now, I look forward to a few weeks of not calling bands/venues/security companies etc etc etc

My next thing..... not a benefit this time, but I need to put on a show with Bodyjar headlining. Its selfish, I just really wanna see them play an all ages DIY show as opposed to the Espy, uck.

In the words of Insted:
"You and me - We'll make the difference.
What they will say is...
"Just another unity song".
The more, the better.
To us they are wrong"

PS.
Here's Waffle this morning, she was hanging around my legs while I was sitting on the computer.....