happy birfdy mr kilbey

A very happy birthday to Mr Steven Kilbey, creator of one of my favourite bands and main protagonist to my musical education.

The Church create musical soundscapes – layers of floaty, jangly guitars, haunting bass and lyrics that hit home. Kilbeys voice is wonderfully smooth, and evokes images of dimly lit basement gigs where the crowd are wrapped in a velvet blanket of aural ecstacy.

Kilbey’s also involved with collaborations with lots and lots and lots of musos, and has a vast array of solo work too.

But Kilbey doesn’t just create a fantabulous muscal experience! No! He’s also an artist, a poet and a dreamer. The world could use more people like him.

happy birthday mr kilbey. I’m very glad you do what you do.

read Kilbey’s blog, The Time Being
see Kilbey’s artwork, Steve Kilbey Art
listen to Kilbey’s music, myspace or Karmit Hit Records

weekend

Friday night went to Miguel & Begonia’s for dinner & catchup – it’s been so long since I’ve seen them.  Had a good laugh, good food and a surprisingly good film – A Good Year. (tho a few too many ‘good’s in that sentence for my liking!)  Tho really, with Ridley Scott directing Russel Crowe it HAD to be interesting – and it was.  Quite an enjoyable film.

Was my brother Greg’s birthday on Sat so I sent him a happy birfdy message and he rang me – and we had the sort of good chat that we only get a few times year.  It was great to speak with Greg, we get along very well and I think we’re siimilar sorts of people, and to get all the news thats going on with him and the family.  They’ve now completed the move from The Gold Coast to Tamworth, and Greg says it’s nice to have some space around them again.  Definitely be better for the kids, they can go play in the 7 acre yard, even ride their trailbikes without bothering the neighbours.  It sounds like they’ve got a good setup there, good schools for the kids, good job for Greg, nice house & surrounds…  Good on them.

Sat was washing day, lots of laundry to do.

Sunday morning I took myself to the bookshop – since I haven’t been to an actual bookshop for so damn long!  Walked in, went straight to the 3 books I wanted, paid & walked out – the whole thing took about 5 mins!  But I was home in time to watch the Italian Grand Prix!

Interesting race, not only because it’s so fast a circuit, but also because Raikonnen crashed spectacularly in practice and his neck must have been hurting.  Alonso won, Hamilton 2nd and Raikonnen 3rd.  Massa retired very early on, Coulthard had a front wing mishap and crashed in to the tyres – and that was about it.

Went to physio again this morning, and it didn’t seem to work as well as it did on Friday.  My neck is v sore and I’ve been feeling vague and floaty all day.  My headache returned on the weekend, but nowehere near as strong as it was, so the physio is having some effect..  She also lent me a special pillow to try and relieve any added stress on my neck.  Can’t wait to use it.  I’ll stick with physio, but my neck hurts.. Having a lot of trouble concentrating today.  All I can think of is the pillow in the car…

v tired.

Happy Birfdy Ethan!

Forgot to send warm happy birfdy hugs to my nephew Ethan for 4 Sept!  Ah!  I hate forgetting birfdys – always get the guilt!
Happy birfdy Ethan – I hope you had a fun day and got loads of cool stuff! :)   And that you enjoy your new life in the country, and that your new school is good and you have nice teachers and you get to do loads of fun stuff on your bikes.. :)

Love you loads.

x

happy blogiversary!!

One year today. Lordy. I feel older just talking about it. :) And to celebrate – I’ve changed my layout again. I was finding the text size on the black a bit little, straining my eyes a bit, and I couldn’t boost it…. frustrating, cause I quite liked the black (it’s the repressed goth in me) but there you go.

Happy blogiversary to me, and happy birfdy to WordPress too – two years old today!

But back to me. :) Congratulations to me for keeping this going. I do enjoy doing it, though some days more than others, and I see myself continuing for some time yet.

Feels strange, though, knowing I’ve been blogging for a whole year.And what’s happened? Well…

• got my drivers licence again
• got a car
• my mum & stepdad visited me and we toured England, Scotland and Ireland together (I can confirm that I have now seen more of the UK than most Brits I know!)
• I’ve been to Paris, and I got to take my parents! My mum saw the Eiffel Tower and The Mona Lisa! And I got to take her!! :) (I even got her to try escargots, but don’t tell anyone – she’s keeping mum about the ‘incident’) :)
• I’ve been to Dublin
• I’ve been to Stockholm and eaten reindeer (v nice it was too!)
• I’ve been to Marrakech and got hassled in the Medina
• I’ve been to Salzburg and dosed myself on Mozart
• I’ve booked tickets for Berlin (still researching)
• I’ve seen the Victory at Portsmouth (whooHoo!)
• I’ve had 2 moles cut off my leg – and more to follow according to my dermatologist
• I’ve got a new roommate – first time I’ve lived with anyone for about 5 years.. all good so far
• I’ve been up in a glider for an amazing 14 mins
• I’ve shared my book collection – raved about some, disregarded others, but always read…
• I’ve fretted about politics, foreign relations, the state of UK cricket, the FAB Aussie cricket team, pay tv vs terrestrial, the joys of growing up in Oz and the joys of Formula 1 Racing
• I’ve had some truly wonderful meals, and tried lots of new things, most of the thanks for which go to my lovely friends :)
• I’ve enlightened you all with a touch of the poet on Kulcha Tursdy (which I think I’m going to have to revive – I really enjoyed finding culture to share.)
• I’ve shared some of the wonders of our universe with fantastic images from space.
• I’ve shared some world-class silliness, if I do say so myself

And I’ve loved (almost!) every minute of it!

Roll on year two!

happy birfdy to Nell!

very huge-est of happiest returns and wishes for you on this your birfdy – you old fart! :)  I can say that now we’re no longer the same age!

Love you dearly and miss you loads.  Wish I was there to have a drink & a good laugh with you.

Have a fantastic day, and know I’m thinking of you.

Happy Birthday Victoria!

A very very HAPPY BIRDY to my friend Victoria!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and indeed a fantastic year!  See you later for lunch, and shopping tomorrow. :)

Happy Birfdy Vic! :)

The good, the bad and the damn strange

Oh, forgot that on Sunday night I went to Miguel & Begonia’s for dinner. Lovely beef-y tomatoey thingy with lots of wine :) But they also gave me a birfdy gift – a PS2 game called GENJI, which I’ve been playing (well, trying to play) since and I have to say that it’s bloody hard! I’m enjoying it, but its difficult and frustrating and often sees me yelling at the console.

Woke up yesterday with a chesty cough, and felt dodgy all day. Purchased and dosed myself up on max strength cold & flu tablets last night, and this morning the scary cough is still there and my head hurts. Dammit! At least I can get this overwith before Salzburg this weekend. Hey! SALZBURG THIS WEEKEND! WhooHoo!!

Oh, and here’s some pictures for you, by request. The Orchid and the Chicken. (sounds like a kids board game!)