Posts
shared canon
a song that recalls
fine company and single malt
warmth on a cold night
cathartic soundtrack
a friend's well-travelled album
deeply personal
stories and songs shared
are maps to find future roads
adding to canon
not mere possessions
far more than discs or downloads
music shapes our lives
autumn in sydney
audio thrill
photo: abandoned hallway
photo: wind squalled water
hard to hold steady
wind squalls over the water
wharf moves underfoot
sun heating my back
office fluorescents escaped
strange afternoon light
photo taken 2006.12.05, haiku written 2006.12.07
I was walking home (on an early mark) when I realised I didn't feel like going home. The sky was blue, the air was cool (windy and a bit cold, actually). We'd only been in Sydney a couple of months. L wouldn't be home for a while. I hadn't really had a proper wander around the end of Pyrmont. So, off I went.
Every now and then you have to let your feet take you where they will, for no reason other than they want to. Take a camera :)
photo: rain at 30 floors
autumn clouds roll in
thirty floors above the street
rain taps my window
written 2008.04.23
I do miss the view from my old desk in the City :)
conference call
rock climbing
trusting my body
(which i haven't done in years)
i climb the rock wall
irrational fear
drowning out logical thoughts
i jump off the ledge
i hear people cheer
while i let go of the bar
leap of faith is done
2008.4.17
On Wednesday night I went rock climbing for the first time ever. Fun, scary, highly recommended :)
Part of the first night experience was doing the Leap Of Faith (my friends kindly built it up into a big thing ;)). It's where you climb up to a ledge, then leap off to a trapeze, then let go and a descender brings you down.
I have to admit, I just wasn't prepared for how scared I was when I stood up on the ledge. I expected to be nervous, not hind-brain scared. But I eventually managed to stop shaking, keep chalk on my hands without sweating it off, and make myself jump off.
So anyway, now I just keep thinking about the next climb :)
another meeting
meeting
raw sugar tastes better
how a soy hot choc becomes a soy cappucino
with her winning smile
she chats up the barista
his sangfroid muddled
No I don't drink soy hot chocolates, it was someone else's order. The cafe had a spare soy hot chocolate the other day (cancelled order) and gave it to me as a freebie. EEEUGH!! Tasted like chocolate in blended up pasta. I have no idea how people drink it. Apparently the only thing you should get done with soy is chai!
today
the cool seems settled
the air has winter's first touch
i close my jacket
Walking to the coffee shop this afternoon, the street felt cool on a level deeper than a cool breeze can create. It feels like the day you know summer is done, but winter isn't here yet. But of course being Sydney I don't really know for sure - I've spent most of my life in Brisbane so I don't truly know how to read the weather here.
So the cool hit my face and I had a flood of memories, I guess we'd always visited Sydney in cooler months. Suddenly I have the thought this is what I remember, this is the Sydney I knew before I moved here.
Six months and it still seems vaguely unreal, still a bit unsettled. But then life in Brisbane wasn't so very different... maybe it's my life that's a bit unsettled, not the place I'm living in. Or maybe I just miss my family, who are gathered on the farm this easter, cooking up a storm, watching the latest James Bond movie and no doubt having a drink or two.
Maybe I'm just feeling the distance more because I have a slight touch of 'flu (I'm hoping it doesn't get worse). Being sick always makes things seem less fun.
I go to the cafe where they know us well enough to remind Leah if she forgets sugar in my coffee. I grab a paper on the way back.
Buying the paper seems odd now - there's always the hint of work. I see papers with online offers and wonder which of the guys did the update. I'm on a project or it probably would have been me. But that minor thought passes and it's just the Sunday paper again - a TV Guide wrapped in newsprint.
So now we have coffee, Leah is curled up on the couch reading the paper and I'm about to dive into a DOM scripting book that's well overdue for proper attention. To top it off, we have another whole day off tomorrow.
So, I wrote a haiku and this post. I took the photos a while back, doing the same walk, and remembered to post them now.
So that's today so far ;)
Labels: concrete cafe, haiku, poetry
twitter haiku
Molly put out a challenge to Twitter in haiku for 24 hours. I didn't keep it going for the entire 24 hours, but I did write a few haiku. These were all Twittered in the past 36 hours or so.
returning from lunch
email vies for attention
yet i twitter first
twenty-four hours long
creative jam from molly
can we keep this up?
apple glitz and glam
reality check required
for iphone mania
squealing macbook pros
malarkey's third degree burns
never buy gen one!
change freeze is lifted
launch storm blows in at gale force
servers slowing down
my experience:
macs crash like any other
i get evil ones
i must admit it
osx is better, but
not enough to switch
twitter 404
not the funniest ever
but still amusing
aircon up so high
the cold seeps in through my shoes
meeting in "the fridge"
* The Mac-related posts were a response to people telling me to buy a Mac, unprovoked as far as I can remember! The OSX comment, in context, referred to it being better than previous versions of MacOS.
sydney at midnight
water echos thuds
of exploding firework shells
night becoming day
fire erupts from bridge
then more from city buildings
crowds look on in awe
shivers up my spine
as the very city roars
one million cheers
At midnight last night we were sitting on bollards on a wharf, right on the water at Pyrmont. We had a view of the bridge, the city and one of the barge launch points (we were close to where I took this photo). There was a real buzz through the crowd - plenty of room for everyone, no stress.
Darling Harbour jumped the gun, then there was a countdown and the main event kicked off. The noise was amazing, if you've ever heard black powder canons being fired that's what it was like.
When the cheer went up I thought I was hearing things... but, I shit you not, you could hear the cheering from the CBD. It echoed between the skyscrapers and around the harbour. One million people come to Sydney for new year's eve and it sounded like they all cheered when the fireworks started.
It was a hell of a show.
Happy new year, all.
remember: you must validate your metcard before each trip
melbourne thoughts
Heavy wheels trundle
Sparks flashing blue overhead
Melbourne tram bells clang
Sleek café hustle
The façade crumbles above
The Brunswick Street row
Sudden rain outside
Cold air rushes in the door
Jackets go back on
Through the rain I see
Umbrellas and golden leaves
Across the river
sydney haiku(-ish)
Reposted from poetry 2005:
cabs honk in seconds
suits clutch burnout cigarettes
nobody pausesbuy food at midnight
coffee ready in seconds
this pace has upsidesbridge looms impressive
opera house like postcards
fast ferries plow pastcold air on my face
emergency sirens wail
i am in sydney2005.08.26
I realise my take on haiku isn't really true to the concept. I adhere to the structure, but put too many ideas into each one. Most of the time, I should write three haiku for every one I write down. Basically take each line and expand on the one thought it came from.
I also realise - with some surprise - that although it will probably take decades for me to start writing good haiku, that thought doesn't bother me.