So far, this year has been excellent!

Last night's Dresden Dolls concert was awesome. Sophie and I had a great time. Wonderful, powerful singing and stupendous drumming. Great vibe. Lots of fun.

I was also particularly impressed by the Bedroom Philosopher, who I hadn't heard before. I liked his larrikin lyrics, so I bought his CD. And Sophie really ( Read more... )

Next time I have a magnetic resonance image (MRI) made, remind me to ask for "no music, please".

People had warned me that the process was claustrophobic and noisy. So when the lovely MRI person asked if I wanted some music, I said "yes, please - some classical music would be lovely." Actually, I wasn't quite that coherent. As with most medical ( Read more... )

My Mum turned 90 on the weekend!  There were twenty kid, grand-kids, partners and god-kids.  It was a lot of fun.

She was in top form, moving around well (she broke her leg a month ago).

I hope that I'm that fit and switched on when I'm 50, much less 90.

One of my mates has had trouble with eczema all his life.  I'm starting to get a bit of an inkling of what he goes through ( Read more... )

Last night morsla , aeliel and a few others got together to talk about games. It was fun and seemed to work well.

The plan is to choose a new game every month, play it, and then get together to talk about it. Like a book club, but for games.

We talked about Osmos, which everyone except Chiara seemed to enjoy. The challenge was to get past "I liked it", "I didn' ( Read more... )

On Thursday night Sophie and I wandered into the Savage Club, where they were having their annual artist's dinner. I'm not a big fan of men-only institutions - I mean, really, what is the point? Besides, I got enough of that in my six years at all-male boarding schools.

One of the people at our table was a lovely jeweller, Ali Alexander. She ( Read more... )

A little ginger short-hair with beautiful markings, about seven months old.

She is exploring the house at the moment, and is quite adventurous.

Seems to be settling in well, but it is only day two.  Time will tell.

Any recommendations for scratching posts gratefully accepted.

If the lyric-fragment "blood makes noise" is running around in your head, it is probably because you are worried about going deaf.

In an immediate sense, this is an on-going concern because I constantly get blocked ears - ikky wax builds up which reduces my hearing.  Over Christmas, I used ear candles for the first time.  Jury is still out on how ( Read more... )

This morning, I woke up with the lyrics for "One is the loneliest number" running though my head.

What is that about?

My work life is simplifying itself.

Last month I finished working with the National Gallery of Victoria.  They offered me a new project, but I couldn't fit it in.  I've learnt my lesson about taking on commitments that I can't fulfill (at least for now).

Today I had my last meeting for the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre. I took ( Read more... )