sin.

heading out to the race course.

photo credit: chung pei ming

(i think. might have been serena.)

photo credit: shane hayes our sports physio.

hydrofoiling lasers!

this one by brett.

racing pictures by mr. john heng of ssc.

there

time flies and i'm back in sydney revising for next week's exams, with the first one in only 3 day's time. summer courses have started - a semester's work condensed into 8 weeks with a 2 week christmas break.

it's taken a while but i've fallen in love with the slow-burning high violet. on the first few listens it hardly grabbed attention as it didn't seem to have very much going for it, just another collection of dour rock songs with little spark, nothing spectacular. now it seems as if they've captured the essence of each song, with an ebb and flow that transports you from start to finish. the drum riffs especially strike me, simple yet sophisticated.

so it's a shame that i decided not to pick up the national tickets while they were still up for grabs. but of course. both january sydney shows are sold out.

some of the saddest lines i've come across there.

terrible love:

but i

won't follow you 

into the rabbit hole

i said i would but then i saw

your shiver bones

they didn't want

me to

i am however going to see the wonderful violin looping virtuoso owen pallett on 19 jan as part of the sydney festival. there's just the one song that i NEED to hear him play.

many lives ->49 mp (for superb audio quality)

many lives ->49 mp (interspersed with bach partita)

and some radiohead, just to brighten up your day, you know?

there there:

in pitch dark

i go walking in your landscape

broken branches

trip me as i speak

just cause you feel it

doesn't mean it's there

slow down to speed up

that's the big aim for the next 2 weeks. in my short time in the laser standard i seem to have accumulated quite a record of untimely and silly mistakes that i don't recall making even in my early optimist days. it will be a challenge in the smaller fleets but that's only good for me.

in perth we had a whale of a time in winds frequently upwards of 18 knots. had initial misgivings sailing the ol' lumbering free willie (pictured) but in the end i quite enjoyed myself. i made 5 of the 7 weekend races look exceptionally hard for reasons already mentioned above, after which i didn't think i was in the top 3. but when the sea breeze finally came in i took 2 bullets which felt good.

10,000 hours before anyone can become seriously good, according to malcolm gladwell. which paraphrases edison when he said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. by a very generous estimate, i can complete those hours in another 2 years, according to brett and i. hmm what's happening in 2 years time?

but for now... clean, clean racing. no mistakes.

keep it simple, stupid. keep it honest. 

(can't get any more honest than that.)

laura marling!

hope in the air

alas, i cannot swim (live)

elliott smith!

georgia, georgia

first timer

angel in the snow