2011

A happy new year to all my regular readers and of course also those who only visit briefly as part of a broad sweep to find answers to universal questions usually of a sexual nature. 2010 was not a really marvelous year, dominated as it was for me with deaths of friends and family. I hope this is not a state of affairs I will have to get used to, at least, not at such level in the near future.

But of course I continue to be lucky, relatively comfortable and able to do a lot of the things I want to, other than fly unaided and stop war. Some things on the bright side: the long-term project of the Community: Building Modern Australia book finally came forth and there are more books and other publications in the offing, which feels good to me. Having Barry around is also a big plus, even if (news flash) his predilection for biting/mouthing is morphing subtly into a tendency to nip. In 2011 I expect to travel a bit this year – something I have mixed feelings about, but which I know will be worth it. I am not yet sure whether I will be flying unaided or stopping war like Julian Assange does.

The above was not the sum total of taking stock, by the way. I don’t have to take stock on my blog (or anywhere actually) if I don’t want to.

some things I remember

In the early 90s a woman I worked with told me that the man downstairs from her was having a sexual relationship with a soap star (who she named but I won't). This story was in part about how she could hear everything that was being said in the immediate vicinity of her home. So the soap star was at the house and the man told him about a friend who had no teeth, and the soap star said, 'Christ, how does the poor cunt eat?' We had a laugh about this story when she told it and she said the line many times over the next few days in imitation of the soap star's hoarse, coarse voice.

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For a few years I went out with a woman who was prone to chucking berkos at the drop of a hat. Once we were driving to Newcastle and I found that a cassette I had got off the front of a music magazine - you know, Select or Vox or something - was in the glovebox divested of its shrink wrap. I had no interest in the tape in question and would not have expected anyone else to have any interest in it, as it was just the usual major record company puff material that you would have expected on that kind of artefact; I would probably have never taken the shrinkwrap off it, myself. So I asked her if she had removed the plastic. She went ballistic at the accusation and the rant lasted well over an hour (while she continued to drive) - the worst I recall though I could probably think of others if I had to. I think this might have been the time she had to pull the car over to vomit, she was so angry at this accusation. A few weeks later she told me she had thought I had left the tape there for her as a present, and so she had taken the shrink wrap off. And I'm not kidding.

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Once I was walking along Lennox St, Newtown with a small amount of shopping including some Coco Pops. Two itinerants, man and woman, came up and insisted I give them some money, but I refused. The woman tried to grab my Coco Pops but could not wrest them from me. They moved on and I heard her say to him, 'I almost got his Coco Pops'.

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The song 'Reminiscing' by Little River Band (LRB) has been played on the radio over four million times. Not all the group wanted to record it at the time but later came to see it was actually a successful hit song.

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The Swedish Chef from the Muppets was in LRB, not many people realise this because in LRB he didn't wear his hat.