Monthly Archives: December 2005
Stuff I Did This Year
– Lived a first full year in Melbourne, having migrated from my native Canberra in November 2004.
– Endured one month at Melbourne Uni before melting down and dropping out to become a fulltime disumbrationist, weblog administrator and Neurocam operative, amongst other things.
– Gave away approximately 1180 hours of my life to various people I don’t know and couldn’t give a shit about in exchange for money.
– Kept two blogs, totalling some 56,800 words:
- one exclusively about Neurocam, from January to May (21,000 words);
- this one, initiated in March (35,800 words).
Amongst other things.
Filed under Life
Well, *shrugs*, I Got Out Of Mine
or
2005: Year of the Neurocam
The mysterious organisation known as Neurocam has been a significant force in my life this year. To what ultimate end, I’m still not entirely sure. And if I were, I sincerely doubt I’d be in any position to tell you.
But so much has happened, and I could hardly let the year’s end pass without giving it some full circle.
I applied to join Neurocam on the 19th of December last year, did my initial Perception Assessment on January 3rd, and became an Operative on January 14th.
I started my original Neuroblog on the 20th of January.
And the rest, as they say, etcetera.
There have been tears; there has been laughter (not a little of it evil).
Some day the whole sordid story will be told. But not today.
Some of the reportable highlights included:
- Assignment NCI-7061 (Bolte Bridge) in February.
- Assignment NTC-5781/01 (Chess) in April.
- Assignment MIA-0009/05 (Induction) in May.
- Burning The Magus in July.
- The (unofficial) Neurocouncil later that month.
- Meeting Mr Robert Henley in August.
Having finally read every bromidic accursed goddamn page.
(Although it was really just an excuse to use my sister’s temporarily-vacant house to host a dinner party, the burning of The Magus marked a pivotal point in my relationship with Neurocam.
John Fowles died four months later. Complete coincidence.)
Quite the experience. I’d tell you all about it, but then I’d have to trace your IP and kill you.
Oh, yeah – the virtual (and not-so-virtual) menagerie of freaks unique and wonderful individuals I’ve encountered via the Neurosphere probably warrant some mention as well.
I know I’ve been a bit aloof lately (things. have been. crazy.), but I cherish and treasure you all, you freaks. *wipes tear*
It’s been fun. One cannot complain.
Filed under Neurocam
I’m Looking For, Like, Three Paragraphs
Three clean, elegantly turned paragraphs, which will with effortless grace and flawless succinctity pull together the various threads of my zany year and tie them up in a perfect bow, sealed with a loving kiss to you, the dearly beloved – if, of late, tragically neglected – reader of this here, my blog.
Have you seen them?
I’ve seen the perfect bow. I had a vision of it last night, on Acland Street. It was so pretty.
I thought: “That was 2005.”
And you know, I smiled.
But I can’t find my three paragraphs.
Oh well.
We commenced back in late March with lots of angsty backstory and a minor manifesto.
It all seems quite charming to me now. I feel like a different person living in a different world these days. And it’s good.
But insofar as I can still see where that guy was coming from, I think he would have been pretty happy with how the year came out. And so am I.
I’ve been very frustrated and uncertain about a number of things lately, but I can see the way forward now, I believe.
So – a happy new year to you all!
I hope that you’re having a good one.
I’m just kicking back in the cupboard.
My neighbor Cameron came round with large quantities of cider. He is watching the festivities on television.
But I am not quite finished yet.
Filed under Uncategorised
What I Got For Christmas
(Amongst other things.)
Books
Cards & chocolate
A bird-headed staff from Marakesh
A poinsettia
A Swiss Army knife (no, I don’t know either – but it might come in handy, who can say)
Filed under Photos
Wedding (finally)
Welcome back. Things have been crazy.
So, my sister’s much-anticipated wedding finally happened on Saturday the 17th. The whole family came to town. It was pretty full on. The event was roundly deemed a success.
A substantial number of pictures were taken.
Friday
Hangin with the fam
Tooling the cake
Surveying the site
Emergency clothes shopping
Beers with the visiting Bentendo at Bar With No Name (favoured haunt of Neurocam renegades Iocus Severus and Nikolay Kamchatka)
Saturday
Everyone applauded after the ceremony, which I found slighly strange but maybe that’s just me
Lunch was a picnicky affair
Although some people weren’t down with that (which, y’know, is cool)
Sammy was quite intimidated by the whole thing initially
But he got over it
Despite persistent fears of rain, in the end it only spat slightly for a brief period during the speeches
Lawn games were played
It was all pretty good
Sunday
Post-nuptial brunchery at Retro on Brunswick Street
Beers with baby sis. We also went and saw Good Night, & Good Luck at the Kino Dendy, because I always do everything Lady J tells me to
Filed under Uncategorised
In Other News: Marty & Jess Split!!
In all the excitement I almost missed the real story of the day.
Filed under Current Affairs, Whack
Every Few Years JJJ Playlists Something I Like
Filed under Music
From: Trysting Fields Central Communications
To: Bentendo
Date: 13 December 2005 9:50:46 PM
Subject: Re: I have a new personal blog
On 13/12/2005, at 5:19 PM, Bentendo wrote:
>hey,
>
>hows it going,
Ah aight. I had all this cleaning I wanted to do and I’ve only done the kitchen so far. And it’s really bugging me.
Also what will I wear to the wedding? I’ve just got nothing at all to wear. It’s really bugging me also.
I’m okay. Destruction continues apace.
>so i’m doing this blog thing but i’m really not sure what to do,
>it seems really impersonal, like um i cant really explain, but
>i’m finding very hard to write anything particularly good on the
>thing.
>
>tips? help?
>
>i’m not after feedback or anything, just maybe something i dunno
Hmm.
Having a theme helps.
Also a bit of an audience to give you feedback.
I’ve found the best blogs (apart from ones that started from an absolutely shit hot idea to begin with) are the ones that have evolved their own style by trial and error over time. Just keep posting shit and see what sticks, kind of thing.
I started my old one in January entirely for the purposes of documenting my involvement in Neurocam, as was the style at the time. I just wrote about Neurocam to all the other Neurocam people. That was pretty straightforward. But eventually I got frustrated because other things kept creeping in that I wanted to write about. So eventually I started my other blog and just wrote what I wanted and was happy.
You get into a habit of thinking “oh, that would be a good thing to put in the blog” and soon enough ideas start occurring to you all the time. Many of those ideas will probably be crap, but there you go.
Filed under Weblogs
Library Punk Is Dead
He’s post-punk now, doncha know. And he’s moving to Melbourne!!! Smart.
More to the point, he now has a blog, which promises to develop into a prime source of quality rantage which will help keep us all amused as the twilight era of late stage western capitalism skids merrily towards its inevitable cataclysmic meltdown.
It’s good! I would definitely check it out if I were you.