rampaging turtle

2006-06-13T03:16:00.000-07:00

So my blog has been hit by some spam comments :< - I've deleted them anyway and will delete any further comments - as if they aren't just from some automated program and me commenting on them is pointless.

Anyway I haven't been doing that well on my goals. I blame the world cup for that. I've been watching that heaps and was stoked on the Australia vs Japan game. I've been trying to play lots of footbag too and will have another session tonight.

Can't really think of much else to write at the moment apart from I'm at work and bored as. I think I need a job where I'm challenged more.

Anyway. meh

2006-06-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

So I had a very brief session with Brian today but he didn't want to play so I gave up and went and did some work stuff instead.

I applied for an IT traineeship - which would be a nice job to get since I get a qualification at the end of it and I wouldn't mind working with computers. I feel pretty confident that I'll at least get an interview. I also looked into getting a job teaching english overseas - which would be fun. Maybe I'll do the IT traineeship and then go teach english overseas. I was thinking about going on an adventure - maybe trying to travel from the bottom of south america to the top of north america or something crazy like that.

I realised my getting up early and going running goal is going to be hard considering the soccer world cup is about to start. Still I think once that is over I'll do ok.

Bought a nudie today which was off :(. Wrote them a letter and complained. Yuck. I think it will be some time before I try another one.

2006-06-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so I pretty much failed at those goals today. I went to bed way to late. My sleeping pattern sucks actually. I need to really make an effort of going to bed at an early time so I can get up early. The problem I think is playing footbag late at night - I will endevour to play before work instead of after work. Speaking of which I did have a session last night which was fun although frustrating at times. I hit some nice stuff though and my game feels crisp. I may play again tonight but if so I'll aim to start playing before 8 pm. I also start writing in a new journal (like paper and pen) which is good. I really enjoy writing and I want to write more and learn more about becoming a better writer. I've been really trying to read a lot of quality books lately. Tonight I start Paradise Lost by Milton which should be a fun read. I've wanted to read that book for such a long time. I've always been interested in religion - especially the darker sides of religion - even though I'm not religious so I'm sure I will enjoy it.

So the important plan for tomorrow is to get up earlish. I think I can manage that. And once I get up I need to stay up - I can't go back to bed.

Oh of course tomorrow I'm applying for jobs. I should go through the paper tonight and prepare some stuff. I found a few jobs I was interested in.

Also there were two funny letters in the paper. One guy wrote in complaining about some amount of money (I didn't understand exactly what money) and suggested it go to the states 500 volunteer ambulances who he didn't think had had a pay rise in a while. I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not but usually volunteers don't get paid much. The other letter was a very long one from a lawyer complaining about a risk to the public in flying the state's worst rapist to his dad's funeral. It was quite convincing up to the point where she mentioned that the rapist was handcuffed and had two policemen with him on the plane. Sorry but I can't possibly believe that a man in that position offers any significant risk to society.

Anyway good to see that I've posted twice in two days :P I rock.

2006-06-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's like 6 months since I last posted here but I'm going to make an effort again. I have some goals and I'm going to do my best to stick to them no matter what. No doubt I will fail but I can get like an e for effort :P

1. Get a full time job, save up some money, move to somewhere with serious foot sack kickers.

2. Go running every morning

3. Get up before 7:30 am.

4. Post my progress at these goals in here more regularly.

5. Hit a beast.

Wish me luck :P

Jayzoo

2005-12-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

I think in my entire life I've learnt three really really important lessons that I always try and remember. You can extend these lessons way beyond the very specifics of those lessons and I guess I'll probably try and explain what they really mean but here they are.

1. Never play sport on an injury. This took me a long time to learn but it is so so important. The more general meaning of the lessons that can be extended is that when something really hurts you - give it some time to heal - don't keep pushing it because it will break. In a literal sense I think it's an important lesson depending on the nature of the injury and the circumstances. If it's a ligament or muscle related injury I'd say 99% of the time don't keep playing. The 1% is in those games that you remember for the rest of your lives where really it doesn't matter how you feel you get out there and you do it anyway. Bronze medal u16 nationals 1999 is definitely one of those times when I think if being injured in that game, playing on injured and winning (as we did) but never being able to walk again - it would have been worth it. I don't think I have any other sporting moments that are anywhere near as meaningful and I stand by my rule in all cases except that one - only at that kind of stage do I think you should consider not following the rule.

2. To be successful in life get really really good at one thing. If you get good at one thing that you've learnt how to get good at things. I look at footbag in particular and how much I've learnt from getting good at it and I can easily apply those same skills to any part of my life (and I do). I think what this really comes down to is concuring your mental side and seriously deciding to do something - when you want to do something you will - it's finding the drive and motivation that is the hard part. I always look to the goal I'm trying to achieve and if that goal is really important to me then I know I'll achieve what I set out to achieve. Discipline is the most important skill you can have in anything. If you have the discipline and you've made the decision to do what ever it is you will succeed. This lesson is such a good lesson in life. If you follow this advice you will really go far.

3. Never get in a relationship with somebody who has serious personal issues. This is about seeing beyond what you want and having an objective view of reality. If you date a crazy girl you will get fucked over. I know this - the only time I've seriously dated a crazy girl I was told this lesson and I thought it was probably true but I ignored it because I was blinded by what I was getting out of it (ie. going out with a hot sexy girl). Always keep an objective mind on things. Making the right decision is always better than making the decision you want to make (if those conflict).

These rules are important because the third one literally came up tonight. This girl from work who I have been completely in love with since the first day I met her came on to me tonight and I brushed her off because I quickly realised she had serious personal issues. She's a really really nice person and I love to get to know her heaps better as a friend and I think she does really fantastic things but it would be such a mistake to get involved with her. Maybe when she sorts out her issues but I can't see that happening. Wow she's soooooo hot though. Part of me really regrets not hooking up now because I'd say she would have easily been the most beautiful person I would have dated if I did but I definitely made the right decisions. She's genuinely beautiful - not "pretty" or "hot" but seriously incredibly stunning. She's also a little older than me and has serious issues. I think a really good lesson combined with this is to watch how well people can deal with alcohol. I have a problem with binge drinking and I know I have that problem so I'm really careful to keep control of it. I haven't had a serious alcohol induced vomit since very early 2003 although I have had 3 alcohol related vomit incidents (once from hang over, once from alcohol and then weed and once when I was super dehydrated and drunk some beer way to quickly) and I've only had one time on alcohol alone where I couldn't remember what happened during the night (and other time on alcohol and weed). Anyway the point is that by the age of 21 I've completely learnt to control my drinking behaviour. I have the maturity and the self control to do so. Girls who cannot do this are girls to look out for. Again looking at the girls tonight - of which three - including both my boss and the girl I was in love with - completely drunk too much and will be very embarressed if they remember what happened in the morning. It was fun though. I really love my job and all the people I work with are really fantastic people - in fact their partners are also fantastic people - I really feel very privilaged to get to work with them in such a great job. I can definitely imagine working there for a long time to come :).

So this has been a long and probably boring slightly drunken post. That's fine. Actually posts like this are good because I think I've expressed exactly how I feel right now and I think tomorrow if I read this - even though I'll remember the events I'll understand why I behaved how I did and it will be interesting seeing it from a non intoxicated state. Not that I think I would behave much differently - I definitely do have control of my self in these times. The big question will be if I will regret not trying to pick up k and if I'll do anything about that at the next opportunity which could be some time ago. I think her problem is that she is so amazingly beautiful that guys are a little intimidated. I would bet she could walk up to any guy and say "want to fuck" and they would - she's almost a godess - just has some serious problems to deal with first.

bonza.

2005-12-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

So got to meet up with Tibbs and JB on Saturday night - two guys I haven't seen very much at all since high school - so that was really cool. I had a great time and I'll be catching up with both of them again in a few days so that should be cool. Have been staying up too late a lot lately but have also started getting a lot better at finding time to make footbags etc. I'm looking forward to Christmas now - I pretty much have the summer sorted out until Nationals anyway so that's cool. Have all my lifts arranged too which is great.

Am spending a few days staying with my brother which is ok although I have things worked out fairly well.

Can't really say much more because I'm going to my work dinner in 40 minutes and I'm not ready to go at all :). Have to say I'm starting to get really sick of online forums - hence my lack on going online very often but the advantages of following what's going on and having connections are too great to just stop posting. Anyway I'll try and post sometime tomorrow with some more thoughts about stuff :)

2005-12-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

Had a good session today down at the markets. Was playing really well and also there was a good turnout until we got completely soaked due to torrential rain. It was incredible. Sold a footbag to a swiss guy too and told him to go to Footjam :). Met up with a lot of people also. Had fun playing poker last night and that went well although I lost. Going to a party tonight which should be a great chance to catch up with a lot of friends and be fun. Will endevour to pick up a cute girl :). Got some good falls info and also I won some coffee - it looks disgusting (instant ice coffee) but hey - winning is winning :). Maybe I'll give it to somebody as a christmas present or something :P - cheap me. Getting into bag making a lot more too which is going well. Thnigs are a little all over the place at the moment but my life is kind of under control. Am still soaked through so will go home now and have a long bath and make a bag maybe before getting some food and heading to the party :). Mowing lawn tomorrow and hopefully having another good kick :). Also lots of cleaning.

Adios.

2005-12-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Met a very cool guy yesterday while playing. He had a genuine wham-o hacky sack and we really seemed to be on the same wave length about footbag and stuff. He could do toe stalls and some other cool stuff and had seen some moves on the internet. His reactions to my stuff were awesome and I really have high hopes that he'll continue to play and be into it :)

Touch football went ok. I played alright but made a couple of silly errors. Two defensive errors that costs us scores but both were my slow reactions to other peoples mistakes. Still I expect better of myself. Also one fumble when I could have been straight through a hole. I did set up a really nice score though with a buddy down the field with simon and then a nice flick pass to him. Also my new shoes were good.

Made a bag last night too and will make another or at least start another tonight!!

Off to have a kick with James now - I'm going to play pretty seriously. I was going to busk today but the mall was full of buskers. Too busy tomorrow. My life is so chaotic. Really looking forward to some time off from everything.

2005-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

So today I bought some new touch shoes and also made a footbag. Lots more bags to come :). Plan for Aus champs is looking good. Work is going well.

Friday is going to be a bit of a dilema as I have 4 things going on: 1. Meeting up with Tommie (girl I had a bit of a thing with, never serious - may become serious - who knows. I'm unsure). 2. Work Christmas party in the evening. 3. Training for footbag with Glenn and Nick at church (omg I'm going to church!). 4. Poker with Simon and others.

I think probably I'll miss the christmas party - train in the morning, then meet up with Tommie then play poker. Should be fun :)

Am playing touch today and meeting simon in an hour. Haven't really played footbag today so think I'll go have a kick very soon. Not much else to say but I wrote this little essay I guess about the Sydney riots and my opinions that you might find interesting.

--------------

First this is basically what has happened:

A few weeks ago between 1 and 4 volunteer surf life savers were bashed at a beach. Probably only 1 but it has varied from different reports. As yet it is unclear why they were bashed. The people who bashed them have been arrested and charged with the assaults. The matter could have and would have been dealt adequately by the law.

However after the attack the media - especially talk back radio in Sydney - started running a story that the attacks were race based and made a big deal out of the fact that the two attackers were "middle eastern" or "Lebanese". I haven't heard any confirmation as to specific race of the attackers but it seems likely that this is the case. There is certainly no evidence as to the motives of the attacks and when you consider how many assaults occur in Australia it is of no surprise that eventually a Lebanese person will assault a white Australian with no racial motives.

In response to what became perceived by ignorant and stupid people as some kind of racial attack on "Aussies" a demonstration for "peace" was planned and took place at the beach where the attack occurred. At that demonstration large amounts of alcohol were consumed and white supremacist groups and at least one far right conservative political party manipulated the crowd into rioting and beating up people who "appeared of middle eastern descent". It's pretty clear that these attacks were based around a lot of ignorance as any body who was not typically "white" looking were beaten up. This is the riot you've probably seen on the news. It was mainly attended by youths from the area.

Various groups of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean groups responded to those riots with more violence and vandalism over the next couple of nights however it now appears things are calming down.

I believe there are a couple of important factors in the riots:

1. The Media:
I almost completely blame the media for these riots and attacks. It was the media that first turned the initial attacks into racial attacks and it was the media that talked up those attacks in the build up to the riots. It was then the media that blew the riot way out of proportion - giving the Middle Eastern and other non white groups a sense that they had been defeated so that they retaliated in a very macho manner to show that they wouldn't be intimidated etc. If commercial media - which is always trying to get people to watch and listen with dramatic and controversial stories - did not exist in Australia there is no way these riots would have ever happened. There would have been the attack on the beach arrests and the issue would be over.

2. Alcohol:
Australia likes drinking. A recent study shows that 1 in 6 people between the ages of 15 and 25 consumes at least 20 standard drinks in a single night at least once a month. There can be no doubt that the initial riot was caused in a great part by the amount of alcohol consumed before the violence started.

3. Anti Authoritarianism:
Australia is a country that was founded (or invaded) by criminals. Although most Australians are actually decedents of immigrants who came later, we have always (since the invasion) had a very strong anti-authoritarian view. When you look at the events that have shaped Australia culturally and our cultural icons there is a clear sense of this. The Eureka Stockade (google this) and bush rangers like Ned Kelly are a good example of this - as are many Australian movies - Malcom, Breaker Morant, Bliss, The Bank, The Castle etc.
I think this culture of anti-authoritarianism has definitely played a key part both in the initial riot and the retaliations. Although Australia is very multicultural - I think part of our identity is still definitely opposing authority. I also think it's very much part of our culture - and you can see this with events like Gallipoli (ww1) - to not be intimidated and to fight for your mates etc. Surely there was a strong aspect of this happening in all the riots.

4. Ignorance:
I think its safe to say that both sides of the riots are fairly ignorant and badly informed people - probably with low levels of education. Both sides perceive a threat and they are too simple minded to understand that people of same race aren't the same people. I think a fairly typical reaction to any perceived threat is to react against it. In this case because they are young and don't know any better, the response was violence. The suburbs where this has been happening are not wealthy suburbs and I think low levels of education are definitely a significant factor in the riots.

I know I often dis Australia's government but I want to make it clear that I love this country, I would rate our current government (which I despise) in my top 5 favourite governments - although I admit I don't have the same knowledge of other governments that I have of our governments (The other countries are NZ, Chile, Costa Rica and Rep of Ireland with a lot of honourable mentions in Europe and Canada). The racial tension that we're seeing at the moment in Sydney is not being seen anywhere else. I don't even think Sydney is the most multicultural city in Australia - I think Melbourne has a much larger population of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean people (as do all cities in Australia) and we aren't seeing any problems elsewhere. I put my blame almost completely towards the media who created this riot and are probably benefiting from it as well. I believe that ignorant people were manipulated by the media into thinking that their way of life was being threatened - which it isn't - and acted in a stupid manner because they were drunk and taken advantage of by people with archaic political views. I don't excuse or tolerate the racism - these people might be ignorant but I still hope they all get arrested and charged in the hope that they learn something. I'm just trying to give my analyse of what happened and why.

2005-12-13T00:05:00.000-08:00

Finished making a footbag today. Also did some blender drilling. Definitely getting more solid - moves like pixie blender and pixie ss blender were feeling good - also think I understand pdx blender now and can hit it without too much effort.

Went around to some churches with Glenn looking for somewhere to train. Found 2 very good spots. Actually found out that there is a third good church which is in the middle of the city, great space and free!! However we'd have to perform for the church people occasionally and Glenn is opposed to that so not likely :(. Going to make another bag tonight. Also really busy organising so much stuff for January - have so many different things going on. Had to turn down some big $$ because of commitment to Auschamps. Still really looking forward to it.

Got a message from Tommie and will call her or message her soon. Not much else happening. Need to call parents tonight too.

Peace.

2005-12-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Oh one more comment:

How fucking cool is the election in Chille. I so hope that Michelle Bachelet wins. South America is such a great example of the differences between right wing and left wing governments. The countries with strong left wing governments have clearly higher standards of living and way less problems than those with right wing governments. Include Central America and the Carribean in that too.

2005-12-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Watched some friends band play on saturday night - they were really good. I was impressed. Then went back and watched some weird movies at their place and didn't get home until 4am. I have the house to myself at the moment which is cool. Good chance to walk around nude :). Actually have hardly been home.

Yesterday I went to Glenns for some christmas party. Of course I'm opposed to christmas but I went anyway. We ended up going down to some park and playing cricket and soccer. I don't really like those situtations because I'm such a sporting and competitive person and I can't really help myself. Anyway cricket was a bit shitty - which I don't really want to go on too much with here for fear of who might read this but lets just say I was a bit of dick. Then we played soccer with against a bunch of other guys who were there. Our team was pretty weak but this was way more fun for me as we were all playing pretty seriously. I ended up scoring a very cool goal and ran around a lot. Have sore shins. A girl I played state touch footy with was there and I had a short chat to her. Turns out we're playing for the same club now - I've only played the one game but that's cool. We ended up losing 2-3 although it was pretty close. The girls on our team were good and we had two people who were fairly fit. I really enjoy soccer and I think footbag has improved my skills a lot. Don't tell anybody though - I hate talking about the link or lack of link between footbag and soccer as it is.

I guess the big thing going on right now is the riots in Sydney. I woke up this morning and was pretty horrified watching the news. Actually I was so angry and ashamed. I almost cried a couple of times looking at those fucking racists. I've always known Australia is a racist country but that kind of stuff was really surprising. At the time of watching I really felt a lot of hate towards the racists but now I guess I've cooled off enough to realise that they're just ignorant and uneducated people reacting to what they percieve as a threat. It's still horrible to see - especially all those australian flags being waved. I am glad to hear that the government is really coming down hard on them - it's such a bad thing for Australia I feel. I mean I understand why they're doing it, but I think in reality we aren't going to be able to change their opinions. Australia is a country built on racism and I think it will probably stay that way. Perhaps the only thing we can do is punish racists as severely as possible to scare people away from vocalising their racism. I don't like that idea - I guess there are no easy solutions. Significantly a lot of people are going to be arrested and that's great to see. I have to confess I felt an enourmas amount of pleasure seeing 4 or 5 police grab some girl and throw her onto the ground and arrest her using a large amount of force. - and pleasure at seeing the police making full use of their battons too. I know how hypocritical I am - and maybe racists too - because I usually oppose police force - a good example is the aboriginal riots last year. But I guess I've faced some racial oppression in my life and I really hate seeing people promote racist values. I think the most offensive thing somebody has said to me is along of the lines of "go back to where you come from". I was born here, my relitives have died fighting "for this country" - I have a fairly strong sense of pride for my country and nationalism (although I try and fight this :P) and seeing these white people on tv saying that shit really makes me angry. I know that obviously all white people aren't like that, but I feel how easy it is to generalise when you see a group of people all of the same race saying something so disgusting. It's fairly horrible to say the least and I'm sure it's going to go on for some time. I guess to take a realist perspective, it is going to blow over eventually and not much will change significantly from it. Hopefully lots of fuckheads get arrested.

Today I bought my new needles and thread and will set about making some new bags after I transfer some money.

Thats about it for today I think. Kind of dreading tonights news because I know what will be in it.

2005-12-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

So last post was on Thursday. That night I had a chicken slovaki for dinner and half way through it realised the cap in my tooth was gone :(. Now I have this fucking horrible speech impediment - it really saps my confidence and I feel so self conscious. It's very annoying. Also got a bad cold. Spent Friday lieing around and watching tv/footbag vids. Bumped into Johnny Hendrixs briefly while getting some food. He is going well and it's cool to see him again. I remember playing cricket with him in grade 7 - that was fun. Watched "The Ring" - japanese version of course - on tv as well. Very cool. I really love that movie. I love all japanese horror movies for that matter. The other time I watched the movie I was super stoned so it was nice to see it without intoxication. Also watched the Fugitive but only for the scene where the janitor from scrubs gets shot - playing a cop. You'd need to have seen the specific episode of scrubs to understand why this is cool :).

Went down to the markets today. Orginally the weather was shit and I almost went home. Alex, Glenn, Kelly, Helen and Ben were all there but left because of the rain. Then the sun came out and I ended up having heaps of fun - mainly playing with James and this new girl - Daina - shit I can't spell her name. It was lots of fun anyway. I was going hard a lot of the time and hitting some nice combos. Can hit over 5 pdx drifters consec on both sides now. Also footed a beast so many times - whirlygig>whirlygig>mullet so about the shittiest beast ever but hey - I just want to claim I've hit one :). I'm stoked that we had a girl to play with - she hit atw and alternating toes and came close to legover. I really hope she sticks with it - we'll see though. Not good to be too confident. Dom and Adam were also there but didn't kick much. Hopefully they'll play next time. Oh - I hit high plains>rip>rip>flurry into a tripless run :). also spinning pdx dlo and nuke dlo both very nicely. Finally figured out how to hit nukes in g-units. Looking forward to going out tonight too. Want to head off now in hope of getting the shops in time to get some needle and thread although it's 5 pm so I don't like my chances - saturday late night shopping? Don't think it happens in Hobart.

Oh if you're reading this blog, feel free to comment - I'm happy to hear your thoughts.

Peace.

2005-12-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Played touch footy yesterday. Was fun although my shoes sucked and I kept slipping over. Very solid in d but didn't do much in attack - maybe set up a try. Had potential all the time though. Fun anyway

Had dinner at Garry's restaurant - Venison and a really nice italian malt beer. Defintely a good restaurant and maybe I'll head back there sometime :) Went to the pool on liverpool and had a few games with Garry after he finished work and then some other guys I met the other night. Played ok but nothing amazing - a few good shots but very inconsistant.

Read "of mice and men" by John Stienbeck (I think that's right) - before bed which is a fucking awesome book. Wow - really simple yet such a profound statement about society I think. I really really enjoyed it. Goes to show that real genius is in being powerful and simple at the same time. I might re-read it again tonigh even? Or go find a book to buy and read right now. Also want to get in a quick kick before work.

Peace y'all

Jeremy

2005-12-06T22:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, two posts in the same day :) In saying that I realise that I need to change the time setting to austrlian time but it doesn't really worry me.

I just wanted to post that I had a kick at franklin sq which was fun. Drilled spinning, flip whirls, torques and blenders. Mobius on my strong side is getting semi ok. Figured out flip spinning a little better and both torques are improving. Also drilled spinning whirl for a while and that is improving. Need to remember to lift stalling foot earlier - I often hit the dex clean and have the bag bounce off my foot. I think I should drill pdx whirl on that side more with more focus on the catch. I found I can hit whirlwind a little easier :/

A few people were also having hack kicks in the park and one of them came up and had a chat to me so I gave her a freedom footbags flyer. Didn't really want to talk to the other people since it's probably a waste of time but happy for people to approach me :)

have to go to touch footy now :)

2005-12-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Exausted last night and had a good sleep.

I think I might be getting depressed again - I seem to do nothing useful and all the things I should be doing I don't do. I dunno - I just feel so completely unmotivated in my life at the moment apart from playing footbag - but even then I don't play nearly enough. I should just be playing all the time every second of every minute.

Anyway today I played chess with Duncan which was fun although the fact that he's blind really made things hard for him and I beat him pretty easy. I hate the fact that he's blind - just because I knew him before he was blind and he's such a cool guy and it seems so unfair that he's blind. Of course there is no justice in the world and no God and this is one of the proofs of it. It just sucks that such a cool guy can be blind. Saw L.B. in town today as well - pimping some sponsor child stuff or something. Now I'm off to eat and head to touch footy I guess. Should be fun and the weather looks ok. Maybe playing touch is a good idea - I'm not really sure. I need something new in my life maybe.

peace

2005-12-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

Ok so had a crazy night last night. Played some poker with Simon, Alex and Kester. It was great to catch up with Simon and Alex again and I love poker so much. We were only playing for $5 each so it was a small game but fun and I played really well to begin with - won almost all my bluffs and bluffed a great deal of the time. Also went for big wins a lot rather than small "milking" kind of bets. We were playing no limit hold 'em. I ended up getting too drunk though and lost $4 or similar - which is pretty insignificant. Actually was kind of glad I ended up losing money as Simon and Alex were complaining about being broke a lot. Also I want to play more poker for more money later so it's good to have a loss to begin with. I think Simon was talking about a $20 per person big tournament or something so that sounds like a chance to win some serious money!

After that I headed out to meet up with Brian and some other guys and accidentally left my wallet in a taxi but got it back with all the money!! Played some pool and played well despite losing. Somehow I've managed to figure out how to play the game so I'm not a complete n00b - I can make more shots than really easy ones. Would still like to get a lot better. Got to sleep very late and woke up at 2pm - went home and showered then went into the city and met Sam and Raff - played chess with Raff which was fun - gave him a bit of a lesson and had fun :). Now at work.

Playing touch football tomorrow probably with Simon which should be lots of fun. Can't wait to be stuipid and totally freestyle it up lots! Am going to have to play in my g-units but that will be ok. Didn't play any footbag today but will get back into it tomorrow. Not going to have any more late nights if I can help it though and going to stitch more!

2005-12-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

So immediatly after my last post I got a message from Brian asking for a kick :D. I think this is the first time the Hobart people have sort me out to play so I was pretty stoked and the weather was so awesome and had a lot of fun. I was hitting some nice long runs although fairly easier - got lots of props from some kids watching too. Hitting lots of drifters and torques and whirls and downtime stuff. Also managed to hit a really long genuine run - I find that I can link most of my downtimes to other downtimes now :)

Then some fucking cop came and told us we couldn't play there because we might kick somebody. Argh it made me so angry. I didn't talk back to her at all though - we just left. It's fucking ridiculous though - not only do I not kick people, if I go down the street and get a busking license and put out a hat I'm allowed to play but if I just play for fun I can't. It's fucking stupid. Argh I hate police. I'm sure she just wanted something to do too. I need a "fuck police" shirt or something. Actually I want to take things futher and make sure I can play in the mall when I want. I don't hurt anybody and I keep people interested.

So Brian and I went to Franklin Square and played chess on the big set. Actually we watched these n00bs playing first who didn't no how to castle and one side could have won in 3 moves but they didn't see it. Brian and I got a game in and I won - Brian didn't know much strategy I think as won with a very simple mate. Then we had to pack up and had a little kick and juggle. My juggling is improving and I drilled spinning whirl a little - flipside spinning is definitely improving. I just need to remember to start dexes earlier :) Got some chinese and went to work :)

Goal tonight is to finish off a footbag and get a good sleep. Read an awesome book last night - An Accidental Terrorist by Stephen Lang - new qld writer. The book is set in Eden (South East Coast of NSW) about a polerised community of environmentalists and people who work in the industry and I really identified with the story a lot. It ends up being a bit of a thriller with some undercover cops and an international terrorist but it's still a great read and I really enjoyed it. I guess the main characters lack of a father figure was something I could identify with as well - although obviously my life was never anything like his. Also I grew up in a town so similar in attitudes to this one - and even know lots of people like those in the book. Definitely recommended :)

2005-12-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Ok so I've tried blogs before and had various issues but I've learnt a bit and I'm going to try again. My life has been very crazy lately and I need a space to put my thoughts and stuff. It's public so people can comment if they like but I'll be careful not to be too open and end up pissing people off. I want to be honest so if there's something I feel like I want to say but can't I won't skip around it or be subtle - I'll just say that this is how it is.

Anyway I'm at an internet cafe so I won't post much right now. My name is Jeremy - I play footbag (hi Allan) and I live in Tasmania, Australia. I moved house yesterday after a very big fight with my brother - actually lots of fights and I now live with a doctor friend of the family. I don't know what I'm going to do in life or have any real goals in life apart from footbag. I find it hard to say how I feel about things and I often feel like I'm pushing friends away because I don't open up very well. Who knows. I guess I'll right more later. I don't want to spend my life sitting in front of screens typing stuff. Now that I've moved I only have internet access at cafes and at work so I'll try to make a post every day at work and maybe say what's going on in my head and significant details. I'm going to the park now - going to see if I can find somebody to play chess with or just have a chilled kick.

I think my favourite thing to do in the world at the moment is to have chilled light kicks where you don't try and hit hard moves or combos - just long runs totally in the zone with the music (headphones) - not even in short shorts. Sometimes guiltless or event tripless or fearless or sometimes not even tiltless - just playing how you feel - not playing to impress people or to get better or anything like that - playing for the moment. I guess I just think about everything all the time and when I'm playing in that state it's so relaxing and so good for me mentally I think. It makes me stronger. Will have a training session today too I guess. Drill blenders maybe? I don't know.

Peace out.

oh yeah - totally stoked that a good friend is coming to Australia. Will say who he is soon but maybe it's secret - I don't know. I don't want to post other peoples news anyway. I guess few people will read this so I'll post it anyway. Dylan Fry might be moving to Sydney - after doing some fruit picking and stuff. Very awesome! I'm so excited to play with him again! Rock