We had to be at the airport at 6am the day we flew out, so we spent the night before in Sydney. We stayed near China Town.
Which is near Darling Harbour.
Which is a real tourist hot spot. Nice place though. Right in the middle of the city. Those buildings are the city centre, so you just walk over a little bridge and here you are, on the water.
We had a meal at a seafood restaurant that cost us about the same amount as all our meals combined for a week in Thailand.
Then Jem and I played in the toilets for a while.
I could have done with this survival pack on the plane. But of course we'd packed it in our check in luggage.
And then it was time to go home and have an early night because we had to be up at 5am.
But we didn't. We went to another bar and discussed plane crash strategy.
We decided we should have a common song to blow on our life jacket whistles if we crashed so we would all be able to meet somewhere. We first thought jingle bells was a good idea but then someone said deck the halls. But we decided all that fa la la la la - ing would be too taxing on our energy. So then we thought three blind mice was a good one because it was nice and easy. Jem was confused by then and we said that we'd all be 3 blind mice-ing our way towards each other and we'd hear this little lone jingle bells whistle tune and we'd all go - no, thats not one of our group.
Workaholic Hostess did a mini-review of 2009, which I just read and this inspired me to do the same, especially because on thinking about the topic last night I realised 2009 has definitely been the best year of my life so far. So I plan to now make this my bottom line benchmark from which to work.
I also realised 2003 was definitely my worst year ever, (though I do have some nasty ones to chose from for that title, like probably the whole 1987-89 period, but still 2003 was the worst) so in the balance the UK has been both best and worst place for me so far.
The mini-review:
Jan: Got to travel to Ireland (which I had not been to before) all expenses paid to take part in a semi-secret ninja/007 study related to Systema.
Feb: Went to Prague (also a new place for me) with Redhead Girl for Valentine's Day and confirmed that we really do travel well together, as we'd discovered with the trip to Ireland. Also discovered Prague in February is colder than a witch's tit in Antartica. I begin to work only part time but at higher rates so my slary remains almost the same.
Mar: Redhead Girl's Birthday which prompted our first online drunk-ish video where I have a weird falsetto voice and she's hiccuping. Also bought us tickets to go see South Africa later in the year. I also started new classes of Systema in this month at my own location.
Apr: I went to Italy where I settled a court case that had been ongoing for 5 years and won the not uncomfortable sum of 25,000 Euro, which allowed me to ensure I was now a zeroaire. Most people want to be millionaires, but being a zeroaire is a first step to this. Have no debts. At all. And don't plan on ever having any ever again. It's a good feeling.
May: Went to Toronto to do a seminar of Systema with Vladimir and Sergey along with a friend from London and my friends took me to such a classy strip bar that I was not saddened by the place. I still don't particularly find anything very alluring about strip bars and I've never entered one by personal choice, but it was nice to know at least some of them exist where the girls are obviously there by conscious choice and the environment is pretty much relatively clean in every sense of the word. At least no worse (and a whole lot better) than many other non-sex-industry related worksites anyway. I think it's around here that I get given a copy of Vadim Zeland's book Reality Transurfing and a lot of the sensations I had been developing over the last few years click quite nicely into place. I suggest everyone I know read this book.
Jun: New manager comes to the London office and begins restructuring. My Way of Systema site goes up. Basic and simple it may be but it's a start and training in London picks up a more regular crowd. Uldis begins to teach the classes instead of me which I prefer as he's far better than I am at Systema and I like being able to train more.
Jul: I'm told I am too expensive and my services will no longer be required after September, which comes as no surprise and is not unwelcome news as I have been planning to stop working for others anyway. I just want write my books and do hypnosis for people who need it for a while and it seems the Universe is beginning to line it all up for me nicely.
Aug: My Birthday which was well attended by my friends and Redhead Girl got us a trip to Greece, which was amazing as we got to do and see a lot of stuff, including the temple of Apollo and Athena at Delfi and the volcanic island of Santorini where we stayed an extra day due to a delay of the boat by the port authorities. Redhead Girl also got me the flights for this trip on the closest approach Mars has ever had with Earth, so apart possibly from someone in the space station I also get to be the closest to Mars than most human being on Earth will ever get, or indeed have ever gotten before in known human history. I almost feel home! She also got me a baloon trip which we still have to go on sometime in 2010.
Sep: Transfer to an off-site office to complete a claim for my employer that needs to be ready for legal processes in case the opposition contests it. My new rates for the year kick in and I am asked to work full time at the full rates, which makes my work at least worthwhile in money terms. I also find an IT guy that actually knows what he's doing so maybe I will get my site off the ground sometime next year. I also resolve some work-related payments due which again makes my future wish to stop working more achievable.
Oct: One year with Redhead Girl! And it's all been great too. Surprises all the people who know me for having been with one girl longer than a couple of weeks. Move to a cheaper flat with an even better view of the river. Finish my job in the construction industry! And working for others in general too, though some payments to me still need to be done and will not be completed until January 2010.
Nov: Holiday in South Africa with Redhead Girl. See lots of animals, including my family, which is new for her and she likes. Reconnect with my dad, which was nice. My brother going through the early stages of divorce, which is less nice, but probably best for him in the long run even though he doesn't realise this now.
Dec: Do a presentation at Pushkin House on Systema and then have a party on the 11th with a lot of the people from Systema training. Have another dinner party at my place, reconnect with my friend Robert from Karate-days, give and receive lots of presents. Stop paying my rent while I get some stuff sorted out at the new flat that the estate agents have just sat on for 2-3 months. All good. Tonight Redhead Girl and I are going to dinner at Gaucho and will enjoy the fireworks show from the river's edge there, rounding off the end of our best year yet and starting the next one in good form!
Happy 2010 to all of you and best of luck to all for an ever increasing amount of joy from here onwards.
Actually, after all the above I'm really looking forward to the New Year as it seems to bring with it great opportunities and big challenges. So, I wish us all a fantastic, exciting and positively eventful 2010 as we start the new decade tonight! Happy New Year! <3
Well we're back home and what can I say about Thailand. Only that if you've ever thought about going there, pack your bags and go now.
And all those people who tell you horror stories about the place, well I don't think they've ever been.
I never felt as if the cleaning ladies night steal things from my room, or that people would be trying to snatch my bag from me on the streets. I was never yelled at or assualted by a ladyboy or hassled by hawkers trying to sell me things. I never felt unsafe on the streets at night, I wasn't sick from eating the food, and I'd sucked down a large lime and kiwi fruit crushed ice drink before I remembered I wasn't supposed to eat the ice. And I never had anyone try to sell me dodgy water in a reused bottle. Even though there were a lot of tourists there it didn't seem overcrowded and I never met a local thai person who was anything but friendly and helpful and always had a smile on their face. I even got used to them calling me mum all the time. And they have a great sense of humour.
The food was fantastic. Thai people really love their chilli. Chilli in everything. I ate shrimp pad thai, green chicken curry, lots of spicy noodle dishes and a spicy prawn soup that took my breath away and had Daz running to the bar to get me a bottle of water.
We definitley needed longer there. 14 nights I'd suggest. So much to see and do. Before we went I always wondered why people said they'd been to Thailand three or four times. But now I do. I'm already thinking of going back there but higher up, to Chaing Mai.
Anyway, the time just raced by. I didn't look at a computer or a television while I was away. And 5 o clock just won't be the same now without an apple mohito in the lobby bar at happy hour.
We didn't have a rainy day while we were there. There was one 5 minute downpour one night while we were having dinner.
I wrote a journal while I was away so when I unpack I'll be able to tell you all a bit more about the place and show some photos.
Here are a couple from a tour we did of Phi Phi Island where they filmed The Beach. The water over there is unbelievable. Clear and clean and just the right temperature.
Have you ever eaten something so good it gave you a tongue-gasm?
Do you tend to prefer breakfasts that come with a syrup decanter or three?
Aren’t waffles a serious pain in the dumper to prepare?
And really, don't you think pancakes are more exciting as headwear for small to medium sized mammals*?
Right. Well, here’s what you’re gonna do…
Turn your oven on to 350° F (175° C), then go about getting all this stuff together: 5 cups bread cubes, 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon softened butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Next, mix the eggs, milk, salt, and vanilla all together. Works best if you do this in a large bowl or something similar. Milk and eggs need boundaries or they’ll just run roughshod right over you (figuratively speaking, of course).
Anyway, liberally slather the inside of an 8x8 baking dish with whatever edible lubricant you like – I recommend butter – and then evenly fill the bottom of the dish with bread cubes. Dump the egg/milk mixture all over it, pat the whole mess with butter in random spots, and then let it sit there for a few minutes while you mix the sugar and cinnamon together and whip up a can of frozen orange juice. Some people don’t like coffee, you know.
After you’ve sprinkled the cinna-sugar all over the top of your casserole, stick it in the oven for around 45 minutes. Might take longer. Might not. Just let it get nice and golden brown and try not to freak out when you look in the oven and see it has expanded to forty times its original size. That’s totally normal (and completely humane).
Finally, scoop a big ol’ wad out onto a plate, douche it with your favorite syrup, and push it in your pie-hole. Don’t just gulp it down like a starving Rottweiler, though. Let your tongue take a run at it a few times first; have its fun for a bit. It works hard everyday; helping you talk, picking your teeth, gesturing provocatively to persons of the opposite gender.
C'mon. Go make your tongue some funky French Toast Casserole. You know it’s the right thing to do.
*Yes, I know it’s a dorayaki, not a pancake, and that Oolong has gone on to bunny nirvana. I am also fairly certain they have plenty of syrup there.
The topic today is guitar – specifically the kind that plug in. Why? Because it's my birthday and that's what I want to blab about.
So anyway, here’s an easy lick that enables even intermediate level guitar players to readily throw some ripping scale runs into their improv playing. It goes through 24 notes just to ascend a single octave, so it’s a great way to add a bar of shred while relocating to a new position on the fretboard for the next part of your solo.
It also sounds pretty damn slick.
But what’s really nice about this riff is that it only uses the first and second strings and the exact same frets are used on both strings. That makes it easy to remember and easy to execute.
We’re in everyone’s favorite shredding key, E minor, which is spelled E, F#, G, A, B, C, D. Begin on the E note located at the fifth fret of the B string and then ascend the scale in six-note stairs.
I’ve tabbed it out in the example above as a legato riff, which really makes this lick haul ass. To play it this way, pick only the first note in each triplet, then hammer-on the next two notes. The result is a fast, fluid run of notes that also looks cool as you play it.
This pattern also makes a terrific alternate picking lick. Start with a down stroke and use an “outside” picking style by alternating up-down-up-down all the way through.
Once you’re comfortable with all four positions, start adding some spice by mixing them up all over the place. The results can be pretty cool. I uploaded a full sheet of tablature examples with this post to help get you started. Yay! FREE TABS!
currently won't be double posting here.
