Monthly Archives: February 2015

02.24.15
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Thoughts: New Plymouth and Childhood Memories

I’ve had the opportunity to visit New Plymouth on business and its occurred to me that I haven’t been here for a very long time. Over 20 years if memory serves.

Whilst I grew up in Palmerston North, both my parents were born and raised here. I remember being bundled into the Kingswood every available holiday (it seemed) and driving up with the family. 

Mum grew up on a dairy farm which was used as a military installation during WWII. It’s been sold off over the decades and is now home to some of the newest houses in the region. The Old Communications Bunker remains. Good construction is hard to remove, apparently. 



Between all my meetings I managed to do drive-bys of the places I have recollections of:

Mums parents house in Gilbert St.



Dads house in Govett Ave.



There was little or no change to Gilbert St, but Govett is unrecognisable. Apart from the driveway and the building positioning. A conifer I remember spending hours playing in is now a stump. I’m a bit miffed.



Pukekura Park is still beautiful.



The thing that strikes me the most is how much smaller everything is in reality. Through a child’s eyes I recall much larger homes, longer driveways, bigger sandhills and parks.

I also have little recollection of the city itself. Except for one memory where at the age of 8 I was captured by a large guard and accused of shoplifting. (I hadn’t been, and I was let go by the manager after proving my case). Wow, that one came back strong. Surprising.

I wonder if my parents really only spent time with the parents, aunts and uncles in their homes rather than drag us around in the hope of entertaining us. Interesting.

The Baptist Church where my grandfather died and was sent off, as well as my other grandparents is unchanged. I spent a lot of time there.

The model train club. Still there. Still fond memories.



It’s been great coming here. Good for work and good for the soul. There is a sense of belonging and history. But no, I’m quite sure I couldn’t live here.

02.21.15
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Thoughts: Ghosts

I had an interesting and fun conversation with my kids today. They’re 12 and 9 for the record.

We were discussing ghosts.

Whether they were real.
Why they’d haunt houses.
What the purpose of them sticking around this plane of existence.
What types of ghosts there were.

This got me thinking. Out loud of course.

I’d quite like to be a ghost. And haunt my kids. I informed them that I’d like to come back as a poltergeist. And move things around.

They worked out that my OCD would be problematic for my haunting. That they’d leave their houses, and come back to find I’d moved everything back to their correct places, and tidied everything up.

Sigh.

^sd

02.18.15
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Thoughts: Family and Stuff

Tomorrow my Aunt is farewelled. Cancer took her before the Alzheimer’s made life excruciating for all those close.

I’m not attending her funeral in Palmerston North. I couldn’t afford to.

My family is gathering and I’m not a part of it.

Yes, I could have found a way to get there. Fares were offered.

But I feel detached from Family at the moment.

They collectively weren’t there for me when I admitted vulnerability. They haven’t asked me how I’m doing. In six months.

They originally offered thoughts, prayers and encouraging bible verses. Six months ago. Bible verses. THAT is helpful. Dicks.

I’m a bit cynical.

My Aunt died on Sunday. No one told me. I found out by being observant on Facebook.

I feel isolated. And I feel the need to have to look after my own interests because really you can’t rely on anyone, can you?

A dark post for me, yes. But it’s how I feel. I’m just a bit fucked off with everything right now.

02.15.15
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Thoughts: an interesting musical exercise

Over on another network, a week ago I was challenged to post a song each day for seven days.

There were no specifics attached to the songs, for example: songs that inspire, songs that challenge, songs that move etc.

Given I tend to overthink most things, I kind of focused on bands or artists that influenced, as well as new discoveries.

Here’s the list:

Day 1: Toto – Rosanna – where musicianship began for me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM

Day 2: Aerosmith – Hangman Jury. http://youtu.be/xA4Ze__jAwk

Day 3 (early as I’m on the road in the morning): Extreme – King of the Ladies. An influential hair-band who still rocks awesomely today. With Nuno. Who doesn’t appear to age, and shreds so great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvp-KBXPLo0

Day 4: Mark King is the bassist who influenced me the most in my formative years. Him, and Level 42. Here he is doing a German TV show performance of Mr Pink. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EyrkiYpslI

Day 5: Thought I’d change it up. Most people think I have the emotional depth of a puddle on a Summer’s Day, A Fine Frenzy was introduced to me a few years back and this song managed to get through my defences and get under my skin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDEEzS7OV2k

Day 6: As a long-time Duran Duran fan I had to post one of theirs. I chose Girl Panic from ‘All You Need Is Now’. Old School Duran sensibilities and DNA makes for a very strong album. This clip is super clever too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSMbOuNBV0s

Day 6b: because it’s important to include NIN. I discovered Nine Inch Nails about five years ago. I’ve seen Trent live twice. Absolutely love the angst and performance. There are other tracks I’d like to post but this will suffice : http://youtu.be/xwhBRJStz7w

Day 7: I was introduced to Jeff Buckley about 4 years ago. Couldn’t believe I’d not come across him before. It was then I started actively filling in the gaps of my musical awareness. 7 days simply isn’t enough time to highlight artists I love. http://youtu.be/u-qJDaS8Zlo

Through this its occurred to me that it’s hardly representative of my musical tastes. Seven days simply isn’t enough time.

It would be fun to do ‘seven days, seven artists that you think no one knows about’, or ‘seven artists I’ve discovered in recent years’.

It’s been good though. Having a wee think about artists and which tune to reference.

^sd

02.03.15
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Thoughts: Dreams and the Interpretation thereof

Last night I had a dream. And it’s not the first time that this one has entered my consciousness – and the fact that I was able to recall it in fullness afterwards means I probably have to pay attention to it, yes?

I’m interested in my mind and things like dreams, and I believe everything interconnects in a way not yet fully understood.

I’m also interested in the interpretation of dreams.

I’ll write mine here. Feel free to comment!

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In my dream I am riding a pushbike in an Industrial area. It’s dusk. No people are around. Suddenly I get a puncture in a tyre. (note: the first time I had this dream it was in one tyre, last night it was in both).

My ‘fix-the-tyre’ guy is a long way away, so I pick up the bike, put it over my shoulder and start to walk.

I follow a track. There are fences and stiles to get across. People come up behind me and push past as I’m not following the track at their pace. Some look at me with pity on their faces. Others laugh. All leave me. Carrying my bike.

Next, several classrooms of children are on the track. They’re walking towards me and all pass me by. My kids are there. They walk and talk with me for a while but then have to catch up with their teacher.

I eventually get to my tyre guy, who fixes the punctures…

and I waken.

Any ideas?