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Where in the world?

So it has been some time since I last wrote here. The main reason for this is that I spent July 2007 to July 2008 living in Fiji. For various security reasons relating to my work I was not able to post anything here at the time. Since I am no longer there I am going to put together a series of backdated posts based on emails sent home and other sources.

Since leaving Fiji three and a half weeks ago I have been to:
* Auckland, New Zealand
* Canberra, Australia
* Perth, Australia
* London, United Kingdom
* Copenhagen, Denmark
* The Freetown of Cristiania
* Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I'm naturally kinda tired now! Off to Berlin tomorrow and then to the 2008 International Vegetarian Union congress on Sunday.

Sing. Sing a song...

Or at the very least listen to other people when they sing.

During the year and a bit I was in Canberra my music collection has doubled (possibly tripled), the number of times I have gone clubbing has increased by lots and I've seen heaps of live gigs. The east coast has done wonders for my music appreciation and experience. I went to folkies, saw heaps of local bands, saw artists that I have admired for a long time live and have spent large amounts of time discussing, sharing and enjoying music.

This gig
So the going out to a gig thing has really been happening. I took a road trip with Ben, Andy and Jocelyn to Sydney to see My Friend The Chocolate Cake in Sydney last December. And then I dragged another nine people with me to see them in Canberra in May. As always MFTCC were awesome, the fine Miss Kitten claiming that the Canberra gig was one of the best shows she's ever seen. And this was without Hope on violin and slight sound problems.

P has invited me along to hear him play in the National Capital Orchestra and also to hear other, orchestras play. I like classic stuff but I've not heard so much of it live before which was a great new experience. The 1812 overture with special effects by Questacon (think hydrogen balloons exploding) on the lawns of Government House was a special highlight.

Wandering through Civic one evening I saw that the Wilderness Society were hosting a fundraising gig with Dana Lyons performing. This resulted in much happiness and bouncing on my behalf. For those who don't know (and according to P I needed to explain this) Dana Lyons is the guy who did Cows With Guns. He also has done heaps of environmental/folk/comedy type of stuff which is by and large very, very good. I went along with P and Nem and even though it was small it still rates as an awesome gig. The group rendition of Monty Python's The Lumberjack Song at the end was a highlight.

A little pennywhistle and a mandolin
Pretty much since I met the Campbell House people I have received subliminal messages (and blatently obvious ones) that I should attend The National Folk Festival over the Easter weekend. Given I no longer attend organised religious events and going back to Perth for Swancon involved going to Perth I really had not alot else on that weekend.

Which was good because Folkies rocked!

Lots of tasty vegan foods, lots of cool market stores, neat buskers, dancing, about a dozen stages and friend made it a most excellent weekend. It was nice to attend a hippy event (it's been awhile) and wandering around with some tasty kofta balls waring a poncho with a cute boy whilst listening to various musics was most relaxing. Highlights include listening to Cam n Ry (who have some delightfully veg flavoured songs), The Cashews, Anne Kirkpatrick, Mal Webb (who was as funny as everyone told me), Jigzag (who weren't as good as everyone said IMHO but were still enjoyable), Dahahoo and Totally Gourdgeous (who play instruments made out of pumpkins). The Beatles sing-a-long was heaps of fun- think a tent full of people singing along to different Beatles tunes on a Sunday night...

There was some dancing, chatting with friends, talking to strangers, meeting new people, wandering through market stalls, eating, drinking, cuddling up with soy hot chocolates in the cool Canberra autumn evening. I could wear strange hippy clothes and noone cared, indeed I got many compliments and I bought more stuff including my much loved patchwork pants!

Let's Dance
So clubbing. How about that. Isn't that something you should do when you are 18 in order to get really drunk, smell like cigarettes and hook up with random people? Suffice to say clubbing isn't really my thing and never really has been. Until I moved to Canberra. I went to Toast mostly but especially the Cheese nights of "retro 80s" music were where you can sing and dance along to heaps of crazy 80s musics, meet friends, hang out on the hexagon blocks outside, curl up on the couches with a loved one and just have fun that made it for me.

Speaking of dance I also started pole dance lessons again which were a bit different to the ones I took in Perth but were still heaps of fun.

A disk for every season
The number of albums I own has increased. By alot. In part earning more to spend on albums, in part because people keep burning me copies of stuff, in part because I have discovered heaps of new stuff that I want to own. Also living with Phil ment that I had access to his vast, vast collection of old Rock, new Rock, jazz, reggae, blues and I'm sure there is stuff I've since forgotten, some of which I fell in love with and went out and bought for myself.

I now own all the MFTCC and BNL albums. I also have signed Scared Weird Little Guys and Dana Lyons :)

This year and a bit of musical discovery was unexpected, but I'm glad I have had it. It means my ipod has a vast great range of different things to hear.

Long time...

So long that I now discover that blogger has changed itself. Oh wells...

Same old moonbug, same old Canberra.

Oh wait! No! I've only been here for nine months (long enough to have a baby- but I didn't). I find I have been neglecting this poor blog as I have come to view Canberra as home now rather than just another place I am moving to. This is a good thing, Perth may be the place where I grew up but it certainly isn't home.

I went back to Perth for Christmas. Whilst it was good to see maybe one or two people and okay to see another few I have to say that I felt I wasted my time.

Now don't get me wrong, Perth is a pretty city and well worth a visit if you haven't been there (ideally in the Spring- nice weather, wildflowers, festivals etc) but it was the town I grew up in. It was the town where I've had fun. But it is also the town that is full of pain and bad memories. A place that in many ways haunts me with hurt and regret. Well I try not to regret anything but there is alot of stuff that has caused "yet another fucking oppertunity for growth" that happened in Perth.

It was nice to see my crazy loud family, lots of good fun over Christmas and nice to see Nevryn, Olly, the Penguins and a few others. But at new years eve, one of the most important days in my calendar, the place I wanted to be and the people I wanted to be with were at home. I spent AEDT midnight on the phone to Nemo and listening to the Canberra fireworks...

Over the past few months I have done alot of reflection about the people I interact with and my friendships. I had a wonderful albiet short romantic liason, have rediscovered and strengthened many previous bonds, actively assessed the type of people I wanted to associate with, assessed the way I am perceived and found some people who are very important and special in my life.

I have also looked at some of the ways I have been treated in the past and am aware not only that I cannot, will not, put myself in those spaces again. I am tired of being judged by gossip and lies. I am tired of helping and investing in people who will not do the same for me. I am tired of tryng to maintain friendships across the country with people who don't put in any effort of their own. I am tired of some old story from the past being spread around and people assuming that I am just the same and I haven't grown and changed. I am not stagnant and what is it with Perth people who do not understand this?!

So right now I am working to surround myself with people who are wonderful, caring and worthy to know. People who are quirky, friendly and who care and share about the same things as me. I want to be with people that will care for me and help me even when I am unable to help myself. And I want to be with people who I will care for and help if they need it.

I left Perth early and spent a few days in Sydney. It still is a loud, busy, rude city but it was nice to be somewhere different and alone to chill out for a bit before going back to work. Did a bit of shopping, saw some touristy things, hung out in the Park, saw some great photos at the museum and ate ice-cream with Ben who then drove me back to Canberra.

At work they asked if I went home for the break. My response?

"I went to Perth and loved it so much I left early and went to Sydney for a few days. And then I came home."

Because home is where you feel safe and loved. It's where the people who value you are. Where the people who love you and will protect you are. It's where the people who you love, care for, protect and value are.

And it has taken me 26 years to find this place...

So thank you to the Canberra crew, you know who you are, for helping me to find a place where I am welcomed and safe. Thank you for making this town feel like home.

The sunflowers are doing nicely. Happy 2007!

hmmm....

Poor neglected blog... I will find time to update you!

But in short, Dana Lyons, Dalyesford, Zombies, Clubbing, Sydney, Melbourne, Vegan Festivals, Garden, Sunflowers, Spring, Snow and Sun!

And Birthday stuff- Having a few events to celibrate another trip around Sol, drop me a line for details :)

Here comes the sun...

One thing that has struck me about the beauty of a Canberra winter is the glorious clear days. The sky is blue and clear, often dotted with hot air balloons in the morn and the rays of Sol peak over the horizion and dance across the sky during the day. But it isn't warm. Standing in the sun you still feel cold as the rays that hit you seem to have lost all their nourishing heat somewhere in the atmosphere before hitting your face. It's somewhat bizzarre if you aren't used to it and as a result my complaint for being cold is summarised as "the sun is broken."

Walking around the market on Saturday morning I noticed something was different- the sun in the sky felt warm on my face! They fixed Sol! I walked around my back garden on Sunday in my towel just to get more sunlight. Would have done it naked but didn't want to freak out housemates and neighbours. I've missed vitamin D.

There is a tree near the house on the corner. I think it is an apple or a cherry- I don't know my trees well enough to tell. Her naked branches are beinging to be covered in delightful pink and white blossoms. It's the first hint of spring. Nemo and other more permenent Canberrians have warned me that spring isn't here just yet- that there will be a cold snap or a storm, that spring is wet.

But, they fixed Sol and I am happy :)

Down by the sea...

Okay so the following weekend happened almost two months ago, I started this post and then had to abandon it so just assume you all read it six weeks ago. Bad moonbug for not updating more regularly...

I've spoken before about the geographical terminology used by Perth people such as "down south", "over east" etc I've caught myself using these in a reverse manner over the past few weeks (ie using the term "over west" meaning Western Australia). Not surprisingly there are terms that Canberra-folk use, the main one being "down the coast". The say that one is going "down the coast" means that one is spending some time on the New South Wales coast at one of the many seaside towns that exist between Wollongong to the Victorian border.

Last weekend Rob and I went down the coast.

I caught up with April after work on Friday and we caught the bus back to my place. Hung out a little with Phil one of my housemates before Rob called saying he was going to be later into town than expected so was piking on dinner plans. So we convinced Phil that having dinner with us was much better than mooching around the house all evening and wandered up to Kingland Vegetarian for Chinese mock-meaty goodness. They do vegan "drumsticks" which are a little bizarre but are fairly tasty and the food there is generally pleasant. After dinner Phil headed home and April and I decided to hangout at a coffee shop because we were wussy West Australians and it was far too cold to walk home just then. Rob joined us eventually and after dropping April home we crashed for the night.

I woke on Saturday early with the urge to clean things. I have learnt that doing anything noisy before 11am in my house is not a good idea on account of sleeping and hungover housemates (and in this case a houseguest) so I swept, cooked breakfast and called home. After some discussion Rob and I decided to head to the coast around lunchtime with no particular plans other than stop when we have a reason too- ain't inertia grand?

Once you leave the outskirts of Canberra city you are greeted by rural New South Wales. The vast expanses of paddock that, due to the drought, are light brown and grey in appearance with a few sparse trees is a vast contrast to the city which we were in less than a half hour before. Okay so maybe large country town is more accurate than city, but it is the capital after all.

Eventually the farmland gave way to shrubbery and then dense eucalyptus forest as we began to travel through the mountains. The vegetation is amazing and such a contrast to the farmland. It's dense, rich and a lovely shade of green. Whilst it was obviously an Australian forest- the ferns and eucalyptus gave that away- it was unlike any other forests I have seen in my own country before. As we crossed the mountains the vegetation changed again, it was thinner and eventually gave way to coastal plants as we came further to the coast.

We drove through Batemans Bay to Moyra Heads along the coast but decided to stay the night in Batemans. It's a funny little town, a touristy seaside village that has grown through popularity and now sprawls up and down the coast. After finding a place to stay we headed out to dinner at a nice little Italian cafe.

The following morning we went for a walk along the water before finding breakfast. It was a gorgeous morning, blue sky scattered with a few clouds and the sun. After wandering town a littler we had breakfast in the pancake cafe which overlooked the harbour spilling into the Pacific, utterly delightful watching the boats, humans and birds wander about their Sunday.

Drove back through the mountains, the forests, the river valleys, the rolling farmland, through Queanbeayan, Bungendore and other small towns til be got home. A most relaxing weekend with a good friend.

And yes Greg I promise to write more often.