This will hurt me...

As Australian Pied Cormorant lurking somewhere between Frederick Henry Bay and Storm Bay one Spring morning. Clifton Beach, September 2010. The pain from my tooth means that you get a meme. A meme All about Me! What time did you wake up this morning? 6:07 am. What do you like most about yourself? An acute sense of loyalty and duty. What do you like least about yourself? My low threshold for imbeciles. Can you sing? I think so. I like to sing. Can you dance? Whether one can or can’t dance is such a subjective concept. I’m better than Elaine Benes, worse than Mikhail Baryshnikov. Do you smoke? No I don’t. I tell people off for smoking at bus stops. Do you drink? Very rarely. Can you swim? Of course I can. I live on island. I would be stuck if I couldn’t swim! Year you were born? 1977, mere days before Star Wars opens in cinemas… Favourite colour? Blue. More specifically, the darker shades of blue. Even more specifically, I like Sapphire . Sleep with or without clothes? I sleep as nak...

Waiting at the bus stop for the final bus journey home. Campbell Street, Hobart. August 2010. Now for part three thousand and seven in our special feature... 71. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR? Choc mint. I like a nice banana made with real bananas too. 72. ARE YOU LAZY? Sometimes I think that I am, and then I see other people… 73. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE COLOURS? Blue, cobalt and navy. 74. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND? I can’t pick just one. One of The Byrds, Grant Lee Buffalo, The Rolling Stones, Belle & Sebastian, The Smiths, Wilco, Marah, Pavement, Led Zeppelin, or maybe Pulp. Or someone else. 75. HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE? I have two left, the top two. 76. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS? Not if they don’t want to. 77. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Tell ‘em Steve Dave. 78. LAST THING YOU ATE? Kim-chi Bo-kum-bop. 79. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? I believe that it was the Clinical Director of the Tasmanian Alcohol and Drug Services...

The last of the cruise ships in Hobart, April, 2010. Here is part two of the meme... 11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop? I'm not sure that I ever have. I've enough junk of my own, let alone picking up others'... 12. Where were you on September 11, 2001? I was in bed with my future wife. We spent a large part of that year in bed, come to think of it. I'm not sure I was all that aware of events until the next day. 13. What's your favourite tree? I am quite partial to the good old Araucaria heterophylla . 14. What's the most interesting biography you've read? If This is a Man and also The Truce by Primo Levi is an excellent two part auto biographical tale. 15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food? It's been a while. I like a nice special fried rice. If I can switch to Korean I love the Kimchi Fried Rice. 16. What's the best costume you've ever worn? Costume? I seem to draw attention every tim...

Straight lines are the order of the day today. Here are Hydro Tasmania building, old and new, presented to you in stunning black and white. In order to bail me out of having to think too hard about today’s post, I’ve embraced the meme and take up the challenge presented to me by Lizabee & Co ! It’s a well known fact that I simply reek of awesomeness. Like Old testament God, people quake and tremble in wonderment at my feet on a daily basis. At least, I think that’s why they quake and tremble at my feet. It could be something to do with Swine Flu. First though, a definition: Awesome Adjective Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement. So impressive or overwhelming as to inspire a strong feeling of admiration or fear. And now, the list! Seven things that make ME awesome Charm : like George Clooney on charisma steroids, I have charm oozing from every pore. Intelligence : in terms of intelligence, it’s best to think of me as HAL from 2001, only with higher self esteem and...

There's nothing finer than a shag in the shallows on a public beach! Here is a fine specimen hustling up some grub looking south from Howrah beach mere days ago. So yesterday you got LOVE, today you get HATE: 1. Most Hated Food: NUTS! Peanuts mainly. Not really a nut I know, but the list of things that can kill me is not a short one: peanuts, pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, macadamias, and they are just the ones I know about! Vile, detestable things! 2. Most Hated Person: I can't just pick one. I generally don't like people who think and carry themselves as if they are learned or broad-minded when in fact they are as - if not more - ignorant, narrow-minded or judgemental than those they look down upon. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of such people. 3. Most Hated Job: Any job where you find yourself getting lumped with work that should be done by those being paid twice as much as you (and they're off eating cake...) 4. Most Hated City: T...

So we’ve got some water and a rope again. This was taken this morning in Sullivan’s Cove, right in the heart of Hobart. Thanks to Willits’ finest, Elaine , I have one of these interweb tube meme things to relieve me of the need to be overly creative. This is a good time for one of these things actually, as I’ve been up since half-past-three in the morning (Ezra got back to sleep, I didn’t) and I’m not faring too well. All I have to do is reveal five details about myself, and I figure that I can probably manage that so I shall give it a go. 1) I fail to understand what is so special about the work of Vincent Van Gogh. In general, I think that the post-Impressionists were pretty rubbish when compared to the Impressionists. 2) I think that Gough Whitlam seems like a bit of a wanker, to be honest, and I can’t understand why so many people – with many of whom I share comparable political views – worship him. 3) I sometimes regret not throwing in “Napoleon” as a middle name for Henry. 4) I s...

A new meme crossed my path last week, and I have been compiling my answers until I had completed them to post them up here. You might have seen it already as it has been going around for a while now . The bibliographical theme is what has drawn my eye, and I was interested to see how I ‘stacked up’. So, it involves the top 106 (?) books marked ‘unread’ on LibraryThing.com . My understanding of it is that these books are collated from people tagging the books that they one day intend to read, but have not read. Therefore, we are talking the ‘most popular’ books that people intend to read one day. Anyway, the rules are basic: mark the books that you have read; note those that you have read more than once; record those you have started but could not finish; and note those that you either loved or hated. I have also decided to note those that I am unfamiliar with. I thought that by posting it up, I might be able to aid anyone in choosing future books to read, as well as give you all a guid...

Today's post is no doubt inspired by the challenge once put to Ernest Hemingway that he compose a story in only six words. (For the record Hemingway's response read: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) This is a little different, as I am tasked with a "memette" that requires the composition a six-word bio with an accompanying illustration. The idea is not simply to choose six adjectives, but to write a memoir in miniature. The good folk down at Fabulon have broken all of the rules and have tagged everyone who has visited their blog. I quite like their effort (of course) and could easily accept that as my own, but that would be perhaps be poor form (although perhaps true to form!). So, in the spirit of avoiding to think too much about these things, when it comes to summing up our life in six words, the first things that comes to mind: "Honestly, I really just don't care." Why not try one for yourself. Consider it cathartic.

Given that I have been surprised to learn that there are people from all over who seem to be reading this blog; I thought that I would accept an open meme that was presented at Miss Cellannia 's site some time ago. Of course, always short of ideas, I thought that I would rise to the challenge and today present to you "four sets of four things" about my home state – the artist formally known as Van Diemen's Land – Tasmania . As always, bias shall play no part in my representation of my home. A Tasmanian Devil, looking very annoyed Four things that you may have heard about Tasmania: 1. The Tasmanian Devil . Not to be confused with the Looney Tunes bloke . 2. Wilderness . Whether we're talking some of the world's biggest surf at Shipstern Bluff ; wombats trekking through the snow at Cradle Mountain ; the aptly named Hell's Gates on the West coast; world class bushwalking on the Overland Track ; or just getting lost in one of the most remote and inaccessibl...