Happy New Year

Blogwise:

- Introspection is what pretentious wankers substitute for intelligence.

- Reminiscing is what pretentious wankers substitute for real emotions.

So there will be none of that here... until I feel like being a pretentious wanker again. Yeah, it won't be long. I know.

Looks like my banner is out of order for a while. Villagephotos is doing maintenance work or something. So for now, my blog will remain nameless.

Christmas was good. And NYE is looking OK. But I don't really have much to write.

I think I now know my limits as a karaoke singer. I will venture no further than songs that rarely leave the mid-range notes. That doesn't leave me with much variety. Here are some rather daggy songs that I think I can sing OK.

Can't take my eyes off you
Can't fight this feeling (unless it's late at night and my voice goes croaky)
Cold, cold heart (although it would be even better if I knew how to yodel)
Amazed (this is getting boring)
Karma chameleon (usually pisses other people off when I sing this)
Mr Tambourine man (see above)
All for you (no one knows this song)
Most Frank Sinatra songs (possibly the easiest songs to sing)
Arms wide open (I can't really do his voice though)
Wherever you will go (I don't know this song too well so I tend to make bits of it up)

Next are some songs that I can't really sing but I try to anyway.

Don't wanna miss a thing (come on, it's Steve Tyler)
Remedy (I can't sound anything like him)
Why Georgia (most of it is easy except the bits that aren't easy)
Harder to breathe (holy crap, this is impossible!)
Bubbletoes (I can reach the notes, actually, but I still sound like crap doing it)

Finally, here are some songs that I'd love to sing but either isn't available at any karaoke places or once were available but no longer are.

Kiss (I used to like singing this but they took it off)
Come fly with me
For once in my life (the song all the Australian Idol contestants had to be able to sing)
Moondance
Curbside prophet (never gonna happen)
Your body is a wonderland (here is one John Mayer song I can sing but no one has it!)

I'll leave it there. Hope you guys have had a great Christmas and New Years.

Peace, love and mung beans.

The sketch artist

If you haven't yet discovered Ryan Adams or you've just been dismissing him as a depressing alcoholic anti-social bastard, now is the time to reconsider. If you think he's just another one in the current wave of retro-styled rockers, well now is the time to reconsider (even though he's only 29, he's been around for 10 years!). Listen to some of his new stuff here. From his new album Rock N Roll to his two EPs (all three CDs released within a month of each other) Love is Hell Parts 1 & 2, he's let go of a lot of the pretensions that other rock musicians (including himself, earlier in his career) try to pass off as honesty and he's producing some of his best stuff ever.

"I guess I've finally come to the realization that I'm never going to be Bob Dylan,"

"I'm not going to be any of my idols, and whatever delusions I had of becoming that good are crap. I am just a decent sketch artist. My music can be fun, funny, and I enjoy playing it. So that's what I'm gonna do. I am now the plaque on the teeth of alt-country."

Ryan, you're much better than you give yourself credit for.

Something funny happened to me on the way to Grandma's house

Here's something:

Saturday morning, I got lost going to my friend's house. He lives about 10 minutes from me and I've known where he lives for about 10 years now.

Here's another thing:

In the afternoon, I lost my car in the Broadway shopping centre car park. It took me about 25 minutes to find it.

One final thing:

I forgot to bring my shoes to play basketball later that day. So I had to play with sandals.

Here's what I'm thinking:

I'm a moron.

I don't think I've always been a moron. But let's just say I'm not very happy with myself at the moment. My memory functions have been shot to pieces. I used to go to bookstores to find books. Then I'd remember their names and when I get to a computer, I look for a review of the book on Amazon.com. And then I come back to buy it. Nowadays, by the time I get to the computer, I've forgotten the name of the book already. OK, so I've gotten older but I'm far too young for this. When I told a friend about how I couldn't find my car in Broadway, he said 'maybe you have Parkinson's'. It took me much longer than it should have to realise that what he meant to say was Alzheimer's.

As Keanu once said, while pointing to his head, 'there's something wrong up here.' I don't know what it is. My motivation level is low. I'm even lazier than I've ever been. I do nothing but my weekly patterns. Work. Basketball. Drinking. Food. Then we start again. I have no passion for anything. I'm not depressed. But I'm far from content too.

I'd like to blame it on lack of sleep. But that might be too simplistic. Or maybe it's because I've been in the same job for far too long. But my favourite theory is that even after two years, I haven't gotten over my trip to Europe. That trip may have been both one of the best and worst things to happen to me. Best for obvious reasons. Worst for the reason that it gave me a glimpse of something which I can never have - that being the life of a bum that can eat, drink, sleep whenever and wherever I want. Move through days and weeks without the dread that tomorrow will be a working day. Wake up in the morning and go walking unshaven and do whatever I may be inclined to do at that time. All the freedom of a homeless bum, but with the financial security of knowing that I would never starve. And never have to sleep in open air unless it was by choice.

All I got was a glimpse. What I want is forever.

All I feel now is that I'm stalling. I've lived so long on potential alone. The potential of better and brighter tomorrows. And yet I'm doing nothing to fulfill them. I can tell myself that all my life so far has been set-up. And I clean the table with my next shot. But who am I trying to fool, really?

I don't know if this was what I was talking about at the start.

But I can't remember.

Maybe I've always been like this.

But I can't remember.

All I really want is to have the time of my life, every day of my life.

Is that really too much to ask?

Top 10 reasons why I'm cooler than you

I still use a Nokia 3210

I know all the words to T.U.R.T.L.E Power by Partners in Kryme

I go to karaoke on a Sunday afternoon

I have my own bathroom

I own Roxette's Look Sharp on vinyl

I don't have a cat

I eat banana with cheese

I know what the 'T' stands for in James T Kirk

I own both the Lion Force and the Vehicle Force Voltron toys

I have a blog