waitingman: (Social Animal)
2023-04-11 09:12 pm

Cruising 'Round New Zealand

Now that I have a new keyboard with a working 'z' key, I can tell you all about the holiday Long-Suffering Partner & I had in March - we cruised to, around & back from New Zealand, on Royal Caribbean's Ovation Of The Seas... just a small boat!!



ExpandEnter Our Floating Condominium!! )
waitingman: (Orang-Utan)
2023-03-07 10:25 pm
Entry tags:

We're Having A Heatwave

It's 10.30pm... It's 25 degrees celsius/centigrade (77 degrees fahrenheit) & we're supposed to be one week into Autumn

Yesterday's temperature where I'm working reached 38 celsius (100.4 fahrenheit) right when I was out & about doing inspections & measures in places without air-conditioning & in one case, without a roof. Today was a bit milder - only 33 celsius (91.4f), but this night's a killer... I don't mind hot days (well, I do mind actually, but you can't do much about that when the local star ups its ante), but FFS the sun went down almost 3 hours ago - enough already!!

Poor Bella is suffering as well - she's shedding excess fur at a rate that could see her become a Sphinx Cat by morning...
waitingman: (Default)
2023-03-06 10:15 pm

Two Gigs In A Week!!

Proof that Gen X has still got it... even if we do move a bit slower the following day

Following on from the fantastic Del Amitri gig on Tuesday, Saturday night found us at the Manning Bar in Sydney University - a place I hadn't set foot in since the late 80s when I saw the criminally under-rated Shriekback there... The place seems to be bigger than I remember - which is not how memory usually works, but there you are...

So there we were, to see Electric Six - of Danger! High Voltage!' fame... & Gay Bar infamy... who were only an Electric Five on the night - their keyboard player absent due to "reasons" apparently - but I have to say he was barely missed, even on their (IMnotsoHO) best song, the keyboard-led Down At McDonaldz. It was so much fun to be at a 'pub rock' show after too many years without them, due to Covid & other 'reasons'. There was audience participation, a mosh pit & even some good old crowd surfing... though the consequences of us older generations crowd surfing are a little more fraught these days - we're heavier than we used to be & our hips break more easily when the crowd can't hold you up any more...

Smaller venue - better photos!





waitingman: (Default)
2023-03-05 09:21 am
Entry tags:

Vale - David Lindley

David who, you say??

David Lindley was a guitarist whose presence & playing on any number of songs by other artists, made the music just that much better. Imagine this song, which you'll all know, without his lap steel playing...



While he had his own bands & projects over the years, he'll always be one of those kind of anonymous 'session' players you've always heard, but never heard of...
waitingman: (Happy Droopy)
2023-03-01 03:49 pm

Del Amitri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw one of my favourite bands last night... on apparently their first visit to Sydney in 30 years or so - but I don't remember them coming here 30 years ago - I'd have gone!!

Del Amitri, with 3 original members present (not bad for a band that's been going nearly 40 years!!) sounded every bit as good as their albums & belied their slightly more weathered & 'experienced' appearance with playing & vocals that were just spot-on. About 4 songs in, singer/bass/guitarist Justin Currie welcomed us to the gig, announced that they were going to do a slower song, so we could go to the bar if we wanted, but after that it would just be "hit, after hit, after hit". And while that may be an exaggeration in terms of the international music charts, for us, it was absolutely true. The only complaint I could have about the show was that, at 90 minutes, it was too darned short!!

Phone photos from the gig - not the greatest quality, but good enough...






Ian bloody Harvey... great guitarist but TURN AROUND, DAMMIT!!



Somebody posted a song from the gig!!



Just to prove they've still got it... here's the original from 1989



I'm a happy boy...
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)
2023-02-27 09:35 pm

Greyhound Racing...

Okay... right at the start, let me say that I'm pretty much against racing animals for the benefit of the betting public - horses, dogs, frogs, crabs... whatever

The Australian greyhound racing industry & community came in for a bit of a well-deserved walloping a few years ago, when an enquiry sparked by a TV report found multiple cases of animal abuse, inhumane practices, drugs & unwarranted euthanising of dogs who either grew too old, too slow, or just weren't cut out to be race winners. Since then the industry has tried to clean up its act, introducing a raft of reforms, new regulations & creating the Greyhound Welfare Integrity Commission... though this 2022 article from the RSPCA regarding the myriad issues with racing dogs, suggests that not as much 'progress' has been made as you'd like...

So it was a bit of a moral dilemma when Long-Suffering Partner & I found ourselves at Wentworth Park in Sydney, for the weekly greyhound races... ostensibly for panning & tracking practice with our DSLRs - trying to get clear photos of dogs flashing past you at around 60km/h isn't easy - the night wasn't particularly well patronised by the viewing, or betting public, there were a lot of dogs 'scratched' from races for reasons unknown (hopefully because they'd been found unfit to participate & not then forced to run anyway...) & the overall atmosphere of the place was... well, there wasn't one. But the dogs looked healthy & a few of them were prancing excitedly as they were being led (on leashes) to the starting gates & we couldn't see any of the last placed dogs being taken away in unmarked vans, or across the road to the wholesale butchery (Not kidding - there's a big commercial meat supplier's office & warehouse almost directly opposite the track!!). And how is the industry to consider improving itself worthwhile if there's no money coming in. Not that we gave them much - $12 entry fee, then 2 cheap dinners & soft drinks & a $5 token bet where the money went straight to the TAB (Totalisator Agency Board - the betting agency conglomerate in Australia), rather than to the Greyhound Racing industry, though I'm sure they'll end up with some of it... barely enough for one serve of Puppy Chow

Anyway, here are some photos... you can see my panning technique improve race by race...


Fast Dogs 1 by Justin B. on 500px.com

'Worst' shot of the night, during the first race we were in position for... but I really like this one regardless


Fast Dogs 2 by Justin B. on 500px.com

Getting there - you can actually see some clear bits of dogs!!


Fast Dogs 3 by Justin B. on 500px.com

Best dog shot of the night - probably because they'd only just cleared the starting gate & hadn't reached top speed yet...


Best-tracked shot of the lot... & of course it has to be the 'electric rabbit' the dogs chase after. This was taken during its test run before the actual race... so again, probably not at full speed
waitingman: (Default)
2023-02-24 06:42 pm
Entry tags:

Friday Five Time

These questions were written by sabcatt.

1. What’s the last thing you got in the mail?
Dear god... I can't really remember the last real thing I got in the mail, other than the occasional anachronistic bill. Actually I can - it was a Christmas card from an old, anachronistic friend!!

2. What’s the last thing you sent in the mail?
I returned, with extreme prejudice, 2 faulty Foxtel boxes... which they later tried to charge me for not receiving. Say what you like about snail mail - nothing beats a tangible receipt, printed on real paper!!!

3. How many unread emails are in your inbox right now?
Probably about 40 in the account I rarely use these days, as it's so old ALL the spambots know its address. In my current accounts - maybe a couple - I check both at least twice a day...

4. What is your most recent text message about?
Trying to contact a client whose mobile phone was"not accepting inbound calls at this time". Convenient how people always go dark when they're supposed to pay me money

5. Do you have a favorite postage stamp design?
In the absence of any of my favourite guitar players appearing on stamps - Elton John will do quite nicely...
waitingman: (Scream)
2023-02-24 06:17 pm

Oh Hell No...

TikTok has discovered my local (literally local... about a kilometre's walk away... maybe not even that) inner-Sydney-Harbour beach... & while I don't go to the beach itself very often these days, it's always been nice to go on the headland bushwalk that goes past it, or drive on the roads near it without traffic hassles... basically enjoying the sleepy, tranquil atmosphere of the place

But no more - at least for now The bastards who have 'discovered it' describe it as a "hidden gem". Not now, it isn't - this treacherous article even describes how to get there by car, or on foot... Bastards!!

The good thing, I suppose, is that your average TikTokker's attention span is about as long as one of the videos, so I'm confident that by next Spring/Summer, they'll have found somewhere else to take their moving selfies
waitingman: (World Politics)
2023-02-12 08:45 pm

Grooming On An International Scale

The story so far... China has been rattling its sabres & claiming increasing amounts of Asia as its own, both by stealth & a kind of 'Well, it's ours now, what are you going to do about it?!" schoolyard bully posturing, angering not only its direct neighbours, but the established 'powers' like the USA &, to a much lesser power, Australia

Now - a former US diplomat (why is it always a 'former' diplomat... or politician, or general?? Surely it's safer, at a personal level at least, to say this sort of thing out loud when you have an army behind you - even if it is just a bunch of angry civil servants) has claimed that Australia is being set up as the Ukraine of South-East Asia, in that China will be allowed to invade us, in order for the USA to wage its own war against China by proxy, just as it's fighting Russia by supplying Ukraine with weapons & technology, but no actual troops

As far-fetched as that sounds, I suppose it's not beyond the limits of belief. The British were quite prepared to let Australia be invaded by the Japanese in WWII, having evacuated Singapore with barely a shot fired, thinking that invading a large landmass like ours would spread the Japanese too thin & weaken their overall strength... It's kind of like invading Russia - the place is too damned big to have any kind of meaningful & useful control over & large portions of the landscape are inhospitable, or downright uninhabitable. Ask the French & Germans... about Russia I mean, not Australia... yet. So it's a tried & true tactic to let your enemy advance past its realistic limits, much as Russia has found out in the battle with its own inadequate capacity to supply its troops in Ukraine

The only problem I see with this scenario is that our elected leader doesn't have a little fingernail's amount of the kind of charisma & inspirational qualities displayed constantly by Zelenskyy... We're doomed!
waitingman: (Default)
2023-02-10 10:09 pm
Entry tags:

Friday Five Time

These questions were written by [personal profile] sabcatt.

1. What's your favorite fruit or vegetable to look at?
I love the look of Durian, but it's... shall we say... an acquired taste!!

2. What's your favorite juice?
Orange & pineapple juices have had to be removed from my diet, due to their tendency to start a war in my digestive tract, so these days, it's a tie between mandarin juice & apple juice. Though I remain devoted to the juice of red grapes after suitable fermentation & barrel-aging...

3. What fruit tree would you like to have in your yard?
Mandarin &/or lemon... though I'm afraid I'd have to find an unfriendly method of keeping the local possums away - they killed the last lemon tree we had by eating not only the fruit (!?!?!?) but also the leaves, new twig shoots... some days I don't like possums very much

4. What vegetable name do you think makes the best nickname?
I can only think of slightly derogatory uses for them - you absolute turnip!!!...

5. What fruits and vegetables would your personal "fruit hat" contain?
Red & white grapes, lemons, mandarins, Fuji apples, all on a base of rockmelons & topped with an explosion of really tall spinach leaves
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)
2023-02-10 10:05 pm

Tonight's Storm...


Storm 9.2.23.2 by Justin B. on 500px.com


Love a storm at sunset... Not much rain in it though - just enough to keep everything humid!!


Storm 9.2.23.3 by Justin B. on 500px.com



Storm 9.2.23.1 by Justin B. on 500px.com
waitingman: (Scream)
2023-02-05 09:22 am
Entry tags:

Why I Just Can't Be Bothered Any More...

I really can't care any more - you're on your own, guys...







waitingman: (Scream)
2023-01-24 08:27 am

Google If You Want To...

I assembled a post last night about the current spate of 'Sovereign Citizen' nutjobs in Australia & a funeral in the USA that was attended by Marjorie Taylor-Greene & Donald Trump which turned into... no surprise... a kind of MAGA rally, with everyone competitively shoving their tongues up Trump's cloaca - metaphorically at least & if it was more than that, the report didn't say & I don't want to know

But I just couldn't be bothered to post it. I can't decide whether the world really is getting more stupid, or if the 24/7 media are so desperate for 'stories' that they'll give this kind of lowest-common-denominator idiocy the platform it so vehemently wants & under no circumstances actually deserves
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)
2023-01-22 04:14 pm
Entry tags:

Croc





My pick of the bunch of today's photo editing...
waitingman: (Default)
2023-01-21 02:47 pm
Entry tags:

A Saturday Friday Five

Haven't done one of these in a while...

1. Who would you like to be able to get into contact with?
There are a few people in my social orbit who are a bit like comets - they only turn up once in a quite long while, but generally, I don't think I have a hole in my life in the shape of anyone...

2. How do you make yourself go to sleep when you can’t seem to get to sleep?
I get up, I play some Solitaire or Sudoku on the computer, I read... & try again

3. What language(s) do you wish you could speak?
Mandarin, Spanish...

4. What is it about people that confused you the most?
Their determination to be offended by things they either don't agree with, or more often, don't understand. Their eagerness to abandon personal responsibility, critical thought & any kind of consideration for others.
Their willingness to swallow divisive rhetoric by the truckload

5. What major company do you despise the most?
Rupert Murdoch's Fox group of companies... ALL of them
waitingman: (Default)
2023-01-17 09:43 pm
Entry tags:

R.I.P. Renee Geyer

Not very well known outside of Australia, but one of our most respected singers of the last 50 years, Renée Geyer has died of cancer

A Diva in the true sense of the word... this may as well be her theme song...



I really don't like the way this year has started... Reboot please!!
waitingman: (WorkHouse)
2023-01-16 09:41 pm
Entry tags:

Nothing Personal, Just Business

I resigned from my job today... to take up another role in about 2 weeks time - same industry, same kind of work, more money

I've known the guy I'm going to work with for about 3-4 years & am reasonably confident he'll be an okay 'boss'... there's just this little part of me that is always suspicious of glittering, gold things - after all, I was made a quite substantial financial offer for my services by another company last year, only for it to all fall apart within 6-7 weeks & I was pretty close to becoming a bus driver before another company - the one I'm now leaving - stepped in with a good offer. Trouble in Paradise started in December, when they restructured my remuneration, lowering my base salary & introducing sales target incentive bonuses... something I don't like, don't trust or believe in & plain don't want. Just pay me what I'm worth & don't fuck me around, is that so much to ask?

Hopefully I won't have to worry about that with this new role... except I do worry... & I will
waitingman: (Default)
2023-01-12 09:54 pm
Entry tags:

This One Hurts... So Much

Farewell to the electric guitar genius Jeff Beck

The first of the top 3 guitar players in my life has gone... never suspected he'd be the first one to go, but bacterial meningitis doesn't play favourites

3 reasons why he was known as 'the guitarist's guitarist'...







And there's so much more... Thanks Jeff, for showing us that breaking the 'rules' could be a wonderful thing... & for so much wonderful music. Unforgettable & utterly irreplaceable
waitingman: (Evil Cat)
2023-01-11 10:23 pm

If there's a god...

... & if there's a heaven... & god lets this guy into it...

Then that god is either a blinkered, uncaring & unknowing idiot... or a rampant, unapologetic kiddy-fiddler. Because George Pell was without doubt one of those things... & possibly both

Either way, it's not a heaven I'd want to spend any time in, if that's the kind of company I'd have to keep
waitingman: (Scream)
2023-01-01 12:00 pm

Divergence

Someone I've known since 1988, worked with for about 3 years & played in a couple of music projects with was at the NYE gathering L-SP & I attended last night &... oh dear

We'd already found out she was an Anti-Vaxxer when our regular NYE hosts contacted me about NYE2021-2... To their credit, they didn't ostracise her, but wanted everyone to know so they could make their own decision - which turned out to be moot anyway when, oh the irony, our hosts caught Covid!!

Anyway, she was there last night & I asked what she'd been up to during the year. Turned out she's 'working' with a group called NO 5G who are "looking to cause trouble where trouble needs to be caused"... What her beliefs are about chemtrails, the Illuminati Lizard People, a flat &/or hollow Earth & 9/11 being an inside job remain unknown, as I tried to both change the subject & get someone else involved in the conversation so I could gracefully withdraw from it...

I really don't know where to start with people like this, so maybe the best option is actually to stop