Monday, June 29, 2009

postcards from around the world.


i've been anywhere but home this month. now my passport is emblazoned with sydney, frankfurt stamps. it's still hard to believe this sort of life i'm living, escaping from the humdrum doldrum of ns to put on a zhik wetsuit, go for a sail, feel like i'm improving and ending up doing better than i'd ever hoped to do at kiel.

another one of brett's pics from sydney:


haha somehow the zhik lycra top makes me look faster than in the ronstan top.

the opera house, again. lit up for the luminous festival, curated by brian eno.

my week long sydney stint was the best, great fun on the water sailing with more people, great fun off the water, seeing three performances and meeting people, staying over at scott's place. the save fbi concert was a bit strange, for reasons other than the music, and then the music itself wasn't really something to write home about in a postcard.

walked into the opera house one night and sneaked a peek at some of the events happening during the festival. jumped at the chance to see 'food court' the same night, partly so i could have a look at what the place is like from the inside, partly for the sense of adventure in seeing something i had no clue about, partly for the jazz trio. it was a rather hardcore, avant-garde (to me) piece of theatre, especially since i don't watch plays at all. the necks played something between drone and jazz, repeating the same motif over and over, gradually expanding on it and exploring it in great length and detail over the entire hour or so, providing the score to the visuals on stage.

the play was interesting too, but it was only after the event, when i stayed for the Q&A with the director and the necks and one of the actors, sarah, did i realise that sarah had a certain disability that affected her movement and speech. she had certainly displayed it during the play, but i had thought that she had simply been playing her role. she walked unsteadily, and talked in starts and stops, one or two words at a time, while her right hand tremored trying to make gestures. parkinson's? she's about 30 i would say. anyway that was really startling and i thought it was amazing. her disability wasn't written anywhere in the program sheet or pamphlets, so it was left to the audience to deduce sarah's condition themselves - i certainly would not have realised if i hadn't stayed for the Q&A.

13th june's a special day. i left new collage village feeling a bit guilty for leaving so quickly and not really saying a proper goodbye, but well, i was walking to coogee bay for a one night only experience with the band oceansize. pretty pumped. at first i was a bit concerned that because they were the supporting act for a sydney band 'cog' (which i can't stand), i was afraid they would be playing a short set of 20mins or so, which would be really disappointing. i needn't have worried - how can a manchester band travel so far just to play a few songs?

what a treat it is to see a band you've liked for 4 years or so, in the flesh, and on top of that they play almost all your favorite songs. the charm offensive. a homage to a shame. trail of fire. commemorative t-shirt. unfamiliar! such a great track, specially the last 1.5 minutes. the last wrongs! i left before cog came on, a very happy fanboy. it just amazes me how their songs can be so captivating, different to anything else i've heard.

in kiel i seemed to play more soccer than i have for the rest of 2009 so far. wonderful how it loosens up the muscles.

like what the print on one of my shirts says, kiel week was a real eye-opener, perhaps not as startling as it could have been had the wind been less kind on me. placed 26th out of 150 odd boats. as good as it was, i'd still call it a mixed result, because of the bfd in the last race. yet again. but what do you do when you're in the middle of the line, holding your lane, unable to see the pin, moving up the line together with the group of boats? i'm surprised brett didn't talk to me about it further. certain that these ocs's will come back to haunt me in the future, it's happened before haha. nice to have peter to talk about these things to.

still, my highlight was the 3rd race. executed my plan for the 1st beat perfectly, started in the middle with room to tack, tacked early and was one of the faster boats out to the right, where most of the fleet was going. patience, patience, patience, the right will come, the right will come in, it comes in! tacked, near the layline already, cross bows, went behind mr. goodison by 2 boatlengths - at which point i was going whoopee! sweet.

now to chase goody.

no wait, now to book in. give me a moment, goody.