MOOMINS M.C.

Taking the tram to physio is an interesting exercise in people watching.
The tram arrives and like some mechanised whale, swallows up the half asleep commuters until it cannot swallow any more of the CBD bound folk.
Later on it throws them up like some meal that did not agree with it.
It really is amazing how many of these people choose to shut themselves off from the world by inserting little ear buds and replacing the real world sounds with whatever they have downloaded into their mp3 players.
On one occasion I noted that pretty much all the people around me had turned zombie and plugged into a binary soundscape.
What really bothers me is the volume some of these people listen to their music.
Not only are they doing irreparable damage to their hearing, but they are also enforcing their usually crap taste in music upon unsuspecting victims like me.
It is not uncommon for me to be able to hear their audio broadcasts from distances of 5-7 metres, and that's on a tram packed with people to absorb the sound and also all the noise and clatter emanating from the tram itself.
If you are going to purchase and use a personal audio device then it should remain exactly that!
Personal!
I don't want to hear your shite commercial music because you can't deal with the sounds of reality.
Maybe their hollow heads act as a resonator, not unlike the body of a guitar and increase the volume?
None of these people ever bop to the music either.
It's quite normal to see people nodding their heads or drumming on steering wheels as they listen to music in their cars, but these audio terrorists on the tram don't even budge!
Not a toe tapped.
Not a finger drumming on a railing.

Nothing........

It's almost as if they're not even enjoying the tunes they're playing, which kind of defeats the purpose of listening to music in the first place.
When was the last time they made eye contact with a fellow traveller, shared a smile or god forbid had a conversation?
I partly blame Apple and their iPod for successfully flooding the world with these little hearing destruction devices.
Their successful mass marketing has resulted in millions of people around the world actively choosing to disassociate themselves from their fellow human beings.
It's almost uncool not to be wired for sound these days.
I'm very tempted to take my little travel speakers, which actually pump out a decent volume and enforce my impeccable musical taste on these people.
After all, if I am forced to put up with their musical choices then they can cop some of their own medicine in return.
Freaks.

Ahhhh, I feel a lot better after that rant.


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Motorsport.
Isn't it a fantastic thing?!
The more politically correct amongst us will argue that it's a waste of resources and an unnecessary contributor to global emissions.
I however quite enjoy the spectacle of racing vehicles being driven in anger, especially when at the hands of serious wheelers who possess all 'the right stuff'.
A week ago I drove out into the country just out of Melbourne to get a badly needed dose of motorsport.
It was a hillclimb event where the competitors raced up a short bitumen track one by one.
My penchant for things motorsport wasn't the only reason for making the trip out to the rolling hills and paddocks on a cold wintery day.
It was also an opportunity to practice walking on uneven ground, up, down and along hills and to have a crack at some motorsport photography.
Gotta admit, it was much more difficult and tiring than I expected, but none the less a worthwhile thing to do.
It really put my physical limitations into perspective and gave me a better idea of just how much more work is needed to get myself back to a state I would consider to be acceptable.

The photography aspect of the venture was also harder than I expected, mainly from the point of view that I was constantly adjusting my settings to compensate for the sun coming in and out of cloud cover.
I also had a bit of trouble trying to get the right vantage points and choosing the appropriate lens for the position.
I did however have a chat with an experienced and now retired motorsport photographer.
He was kind enough to let me ask a heap of questions about the industry and photography in general.
I submitted some of the photos onto my DeviantArt account.
There was a stack more shots, but I chose those ones for the cars.
I then edited them in black and white as the age of the vehicles and the lack of sponsorship meant I could present them in a way that would not be too different from how they would have looked back in their days.
There were a few much younger cars there, but as the meet was organised by the MG Car Club of Victoria the majority were older style vehicles.
Naturally the competitors, officials and volunteers were also of the older variety.
Never have I seen so many tweed jackets, Sherlock Holmes style hats, grey hair, golf caps, corduroy pants and argyle socks.
Even the odd tartan patterned thermos flask!
Whilst it's not my favoured form of motorpsort it is good to see some of these historic cars being still used to race.
Can't wait to get to a real proper rally!!!


The hillclimb did take its toll on me and I just couldn't get myself to physio on Monday.
Partly because I was knackered and didn't get much sleep and also because I found it difficult to motivate myself to get out of my warm bed to jump through physio hoops.
The rest of the week was relatively packed out with work, physio, correspondence with doctors, lawyers, the Traffic Accident Commission, trivia night ( we bummed out, but still won beer ), a visit to the Melbourne Animation Festival and a fund raising screening of the movie Serenity.
That last one was interesting.
It was one of 52 screenings around the world this weekend just gone, the primary reason being to raise money for Equality Now.
My primary reason for going was that I got hooked on the TV series and when I tried to hire the movie, I found it was not available at my local store, so I figured seeing it on the big screen would be better.
There were short films shown including an interview with the creator Joss Whedon, some fan movies and parodies and of course being a science fiction movie, complementary geeks and nerds dressed up as characters, wearing Star Trek badges, computer game t-shirts, etc.
It was entertaining watching geeks bidding for signed posters and other memorabilia at the auction, making geeky jokes, having a 'best dressed character competition', singing the theme song to the Movie / TV series.
Sci-Fi geeks are funny!


This coming week my work hours are going up to 3 x 6 hour days and therefore the physio down to 2 days per week.
I will also be contacting my lawyer and discussing legal matters in order to be prepared for the upcoming forward progression in my compensation case.
Another psychologist will have to be organised too, as the last one was of no real help to me.
It kind of sucks as I am getting a bit tired of having to go through the process of explaining what happened, how it affected me, blah blah blah....., but I'm not going to give up just yet.
It'll need to take quite a few more useless head shrinkers to put me off.


Some more photos, feel free to click for a larger image :)













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I FINALLY managed to wade through the backlog of RAW photos that have been languishing on my laptop like some neglected puppies in the pound.
There are many advantages to digital photography such as: no film costs, no processing costs, the ability to take a jag load of photos, the ability to edit the said photos to within an inch of their little binary lives.
It's the last one that can turn into a real nightmare, as I've found out.
I try not to over edit my shots, mainly some colour and contrast correction, resizing, maybe a little cropping, but even that still takes up time.
Firstly editing in the RAW editor, then in Photoshop, every photo takes an 'x' amount of time.
Multiply 'x' by the number of shot 'y' and you end up with hours and hours of manically tapping away at the keyboard.
This is where the ability to hand over your film to a qualified professional and say 'Make it happen, I'll be back tomorrow' becomes rather appealing.
Unless of course, you're into doing your own processing and printing.
Anyway, I now have some shots to upload, but first some updates.


The new pain in outside of my lower right leg seems to be slowly increasing.
I have a feeling that as the muscles build up due to increased mobility, they start to foul on the great big chunk of metal plate, thus the pain....

Another new pain has developed on the inside of my left knee.
Once again I think it's the built up muscle that's now catching on the sharp end of one of the distal bolts going through the knee.

The pain in the arse is still exactly that.
It seems that no matter how much I try to build up and stretch the hamstring it just persists on irritating the B'jesus out of me.
Standing and lying flat are the only positions that appear to free of that particular pain.

With the onset of the colder weather I have noticed a strange phenomenon occurring.
My right foot is decidedly colder than the left one!
I'm suspecting that it's from reduced circulation to that part of my body.
I guess that when I sustained the damage to the lower leg and consequently lost a pound of flesh or two, my vascular system had been screwed up / rerouted / reduced. ( I consider the pound of flesh to be payment for keeping the leg )
I tried to run the other day.
The tram was about a block away and I tried to race the 30m or so in order not to miss it.
I managed to get about 2 steps and nearly died.
The brain is just a wee tad ahead of the body I methinks.

Still getting back pain, usually at its worst when I'm at work.
I try to keep an eye on it and stretch or rest or go for a walk, but like the afore mentioned neglected puppies, it just keeps following me around.

Physio is as dull as ever.
Every time I walk in there and a find the same old people, doing the same old exercises, accompanied by the same old grunts, sighs and yelps of pain.
It is really is tedious.
Necessary, but tedious...

The hunt for a shrink is on again due to the last one not really gelling with me.
Might have better luck with shrink number 2 on the list.

I got word from my lawyer that she will be pushing to have my status changed to medically stable in order to begin the common law claim.
I still have some outstanding assessment appointments to attend with the psychologist, orthopaedic surgeon and another one that escapes me right now, but she believes there's enough evidence now to make some moves on the settlement.
Either way, it's pretty much out of my hands and I see no point in dwelling on it.

Enough of that.


I went on the hunt for cameras this last week.
First stop was the shop where I bought my current camera and they tried to sell me a brand new medium format film range finder camera for $2500, discounted from $4000 as they haven't been able to sell it for the last 3-4 years.
Not my thing as the view finder in those is tiny and focusing becomes an issue.
I went to another store and they weren't able to help me as they didn't have the kind of camera I wanted, but they did tell me about another shop that might.
On Friday, I was wandering around the city after physio, shooting things and trying to remember what the hell that shop was called and where it was.
As I passed an alleyway I turned around and went to take a photo of it.
At the same time, another photographer did exactly the same thing and there was this funny little moment where we looked at each other and realised we both had similar tastes in subject matter.
Fortunately for me, he knew exactly where that shop was and so I toddled off to shop number 3.
The people there were extremely helpful and I came to the conclusion that the camera for me is the Hasselblad.
3 reasons: they are the best, they are durable and the only camera in that format that's still in production, so getting parts should be relatively easy.
Now it's a case of finding the right camera kit at the right price.
I should be able to pick up a 2nd hand unit for pretty much the amount of money I was planning on spending.
Goody goody gum drops!!!!


On the way home I ran into Rob and we headed off to Max Brenner Chocolate Bar for a bit of a catch up.
We were quite a sight, both hobbling along with limps in our right legs, a lot like synchronised cripple walking if there is such a sport.
Man, the drinking chocolate was just divine and came in HugMugs, little tear drop shaped vessels that fit perfectly in cupped hands on a chilled winter's day.
Rob seems to be going ok, back at work for some time, back on the motorbike and entertaining 3 young magpies that seem to visit his house all the time.
I think it's due to the mince he and his partner keep feeding them.


All in all, a very serendipitous day.
Alright, time for some photos, feel free to click for larger view :)


Some shots from Gemma's short film shoot

I FINALLY managed to wade through the backlog of RAW photos that have been languishing on my laptop like some neglected puppies in the pound.
There are many advantages to digital photography such as: no film costs, no processing costs, the ability to take a jag load of photos, the ability to edit the said photos to within an inch of their little binary lives.
It's the last one that can turn into a real nightmare, as I've found out.
I try not to over edit my shots, mainly some colour and contrast correction, resizing, maybe a little cropping, but even that still takes up time.
Firstly editing in the RAW editor, then in Photoshop, every photo takes an 'x' amount of time.
Multiply 'x' by the number of shot 'y' and you end up with hours and hours of manically tapping away at the keyboard.
This is where the ability to hand over your film to a qualified professional and say 'Make it happen, I'll be back tomorrow' becomes rather appealing.
Unless of course, you're into doing your own processing and printing.
Anyway, I now have some shots to upload, but before I do some updates.


The new pain in outside of my lower right leg seems to be slowly increasing.
I have a feeling that as the muscles build up due to increased mobility, they start to foul on the great big chunk of metal plate, thus the pain....

Another new pain has developed on the inside of my left knee.
Once again I think it's the built up muscle that's now catching on the sharp end of one of the distal bolts going through the knee.

The pain in the arse is still exactly that.
It seems that no matter how much I try to build up and stretch the hamstring it just persists on irritating the B'jesus out of me.
Standing and lying flat are the only positions that appear to free of that particular pain.

With the onset of the colder weather I have noticed a strange phenomenon occurring.
My right foot is decidedly colder than the left one!
I'm suspecting that it's from reduced circulation to that part of my body.
I guess that when I sustained the damage to the lower leg and consequently lost a pound of flesh or two, my vascular system had been screwed up / rerouted / reduced. ( I consider the pound of flesh to be payment for keeping the leg )
I tried to run the other day.
The tram was about a block away and I tried to race the 30m or so in order not to miss it.
I managed to get about 2 steps and nearly died.
The brain is just a wee tad ahead of the body I methinks.

Still getting back pain, usually at its worst when I'm at work.
I try to keep an eye on it and stretch or rest or go for a walk, but like the afore mentioned neglected puppies, it just keeps following me around.

Physio is as dull as ever.
Every time I walk in there and a find the same old people, doing the same old exercises, accompanied by the same old grunts, sighs and yelps of pain.
It is really is tedious.
Necessary, but tedious...

I got word from my lawyer that she will be pushing to have my status changed to medically stable in order to begin the common law claim.
I still have some outstanding assessment appointments to attend with the psychologist, orthopaedic surgeon and another one that escapes me right now, but she believes there's enough evidence now to make some moves on the settlement.
Either way, it's pretty much out of my hands and I see no point in dwelling on it.

Enough of that.


I went on the hunt for cameras this last week.
First stop was the shop where I bought my current camera and they tried to sell me a brand new medium format film range finder camera for $2500, discounted from $4000 as they haven't been able to sell it for the last 3-4 years.
Not my thing as the view finder in those is tiny and focusing becomes an issue.
I went to another store and they weren't able to help me as they didn't have the kind of camera I wanted, but they did tell me about another shop that might.
On Friday, I was wandering around the city after physio, shooting things and trying to remember what the hell that shop was called and where it was.
As I passed an alleyway I turned around and went to take a photo of it.
At the same time, another photographer did exactly the same thing and there was this funny little moment where we looked at each other and realised we both had similar tastes in subject matter.
Fortunately for me, he knew exactly where that shop was and so I toddles off to shop number 3.
The people there were extremely helpful and I came to the conclusion that the camera for me is the Hasselblad.
3 reasons: they are the best, they are durable and the only camera in that format that's still in production, so getting parts should be relatively easy.
Now it's a case of finding the right camera kit at the right price.
I should be able to pick up a 2nd hand unit for pretty much the amount of money I was planning on spending.
Goody goody gum drops!!!!


Alright, time for some photos:

Damn it, I'm running out of time!!
I don't know whether some sort of tear has occurred in the space time continuum or if I'm experiencing some of those lost time phenomena that seem to ail many a fruit loop in the Nevada desert, but it just seems to be getting away form me.
Anyway, I whine too much.


I ran into my mate ( who was committed ) on Friday, purely by accident after a visit to the cobblers.
I'd left a pair of hiking boots with them to be resoled and was disappointed to find they'd put flat soles on them, even after I told them the boots were used for bushwalking.
So the boots stay for another week or two and hopefully get a more appropriate sole.
I digress though.
My mate was out on day leave and looked really well.
It sounded as if the realisation / acceptance of the incidents that led to the hospitalisation had been dealt with to a fair extent and the possibility of discharge is looking good.
A relocation to Canberra is on the cards as the work possibilities are better and also a return to tertiary study.
Here's hoping it all turns out well.


I also went to Gemma's film shoot on Friday and did a little stills photography, as well as getting an insight into how a proper shoots ticks along.
She managed to get an amazing crew together.
All seemed incredibly professional ( form a layman's point of view ) and were also very welcoming and friendly to a hack like me.
I spoke with her tonight and apparently it all went very well, apart from one of the transport vehicles breaking down.
They even had 130 feet of film left, which I'm told is highly unusual.
I will post some shots when I finish editing.
All in all it was a really good experience.


That night I caught up with Brenton, who'd returned form his month long trip to Europe.
After some cold and bubbly amber beverages from 'a place that sells good beer' we headed onto The Tote to watch a couple of my mates at their E.P launch.
The Great Apes were as entertaining as ever, with one even ditching his white kaftan to play guitar in nothing but his white boxer shorts!
My mate Duds even got so much into character that he started jumping around like a crazed ape, undignified but rather entertaining.
I'm sure Gorilla Bananas will have a few things to say about humans aping apes.


Bec's cocktail party / housewarming was a good night.
She was looking a picture in her dress and snow white coloured stohl and mixed some pretty mean alcoholic beverage to boot.
Many a cocktail flowed out of the mixer and into the guests' gullets.
I was a tad surprised that I didn't get as blottoed as I expected, but that's not a bad thing really.
Photos will follow, once again when I finish editing.


I'm hoping to speak with my manager about work problems tomorrow.
I've been having some issues with other people having issues.
Normally I wouldn't give a rat's arse, but when it starts to affect me adversely I get a wee pissed off!
We'll see what gives on Tuesday.


Good news!!!!!
Nothing to do with medical stuff, as I'm actually finding that the more mobile I become, the more pain I seem to accrue in my right leg and hip.
Go figure!!
I think that the metal might have something to do with it.
Anyway, Bec had sent me a link to a competition run by Tourism Victoria.
They were asking for written, video and photo submissions about people's experiences in Melbourne.
The deadline was June 7th and I found myself madly tapping away at the laptop keyboard with furious urgency at about 11:40 at night.
I made it on time with just minutes to spare and promptly forgot all about it.
That was until I received an email announcing that I had won the best photo category!!!!
Big up meself!!
It's not just the glory that is mine, there's also a $2000 cash prize.
My plan was to buy a medium format film camera in the latter half of the year and it looks as thought that plan is well and truly on track now.
I spoke at some length with a photographer at Bec's soiree and managed to pick his brain about which brand and model of camera to look for.
He also pointed out that I should include a good quality scanner in the budget.
SOOOOO, here for your viewing pleasure is the winning entry :)


Will hopefully post outstanding photos soon!!


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Yes I know I've been a slacker in regards to posting, but for some strange reason this week has been rather busy and the time to edit the photos, let alone write an entry, has made itself scarcer than I expected.
I tried to write an entry last night, but the damned internet connection was being rather capricious.
Long and short of it is that the weekend jaunt to Tassie was everything I expected and more.
From the ever unfaltering hospitality offered by Lumpy and Rache, to the open armed welcome of long unseen friends, it almost made me question my decision to live in the vast flatness of Melbourne.
Many of my Taswegian mates will probably be wondering why I didn't get in touch, but the reality is that it was an extremely short trip, flew in Friday night, Saturday we drove to Snug to pick up Waldo's camper trailer, from there straight to Pelham and the next day to the airport for an afternoon flight out.


Waldo's rally car was looking rather special and sounded exactly like a good Subaru should.
To quote a mate "sounds like two Ducatis fighting" accompanied with the sweet crescendo of turbocharger followed by the pent up release of excess pressure from the blow off valve. The only thing I didn't hear was the anti lag as the car was stationary. ( for those not in the know, anti lag sounds like a South Central gang gun fight )
The oldest of his two daughters will be turning 13 soon and is dead keen to start doing motorkhanas as soon as she can.
On the way back form snug we came across a rather unfortunate incident, although I don't think anyone was seriously hurt.
After coming back to Lumpy's we packed all our stuff and headed countryside.
( Do click on the photos for full size, they're well worth it! )



The property where the bonfire night was to be held was as beautiful and serene as I remember it.
The oaks we'd planted for Sam a decade ago had turned an autumnal colour, but were going strong.
There were many more people there than I'd ever remembered in past times.
I'm guessing there were somewhere in the order of 20 -30 cars there.
The bonfire itself was a little larger than previous ones and was sporting three life sized, fire cracker stuffed effigies tied to the stake: the local member of parliament, state premier Paul Lennon and prime minister John Howard.
After scoffing down some barbecued wallaby and venison sausages for dinner we proceeded to the paddock for the lighting of the wood pile.
The fire needed a little helping hand to get going, more of the helping hand than previous ones.
40 litres of petrol and 40 litres of diesel in fact.
About 3 attempts were made to start it and then on the 4th one it erupted in a spectacular mountain of flame.
When everyone had consumed enough alcohol, the firecrackers were brought out.
I popped in to the house to see the collection and was promptly handed a bottle of some wild scotch and told 'Hurry up, we gotta drink this and get the crackers out there'.

The fireworks show went for well over an hour and was punctuated by the occasional blast from an antique Indonesian ship's cannon, which someone had brought especially for the occasion.
After one of the firings I heard someone say 'Let's do it again, this time we'll put more powder in.'
And sure enough sometime later there was another earth moving boom.
Someone had even made their own firework mortar out of plywood and 3 telephone directories!
There were kids running around, proudly displaying boxes of firecrackers they'd found and parents telling them how well they'd done and how they'll set them off soon, before returning to their drinks and conversations.
Amazingly no children were hurt or exploded during the course of the night.
The rest of the night was spent enjoying the fire, with sporadic fireworks and much guitar playing and singing.
At one point there were myself and another chap playing two different songs on guitars, each accompanied by other singers, whilst a third singer was singing a third completely different tune.
All my sister could think of was trying to organise us so that we sing one tune at a time and then move onto another number, fat chance!!!
This is after she'd spilt wine all over herself in a moment of pure slapstick comedy genius.
Holding the plastic glass of vino by her teeth, she was trying to put her gloves on when a firecracker was ignited in close proximity.
Her head tilted skywards as the cracker raced through the night sky, and the wine immediately flowed out of the glass and in her mouth, hair and nose.
Eventually everyone disappeared and the fog had set in.
Yes, it was bloody cold, but just above freezing as the low clouds and fog had prevented a total frost, but it wasn't far off it.