Monkey Forest

I swear, rainy days will be the death of me.
Well, atleast people with umbrellas anyway.
People who just simply don't watch what they are doing, or don't realise that there are, infact, sharp pointy bits around the edge of it and usually one big one in the middle.

Yesterday, after getting off the bus.. It was raining.. So, naturally everyone pulled their umbrellas out to shield them from the ever so evil falling water..
But, come umbrellas, be expected to have to duck and dodge everywhere you walk!

Unless you want to get stabbed in the eye, don't walk behind someone with one, don't walk beside them, don't walk in front of them.. Hell, totally avoid them!

It seems that anyone who uses an umbrella seems to be totally inept at holding it properly or being careful while using it, inconsideration for those around them..

I've discovered that I have to be as short as a typical 2y/o child, or I need to remember my awesome commando training to duck and dodge every single person around me with an umbrella..

Is it so hard to lift it a bit higher than usual or out of the way for the crowd of people walking towards you to get by..? Instead of having a whole conga line of people cursing and ducking trying to avoid you and your fear of water.. Or atleast lift it a little higher so we can all meet at some middle point and be happy..?

Now, it is not only those with their umbrellas up that are a danger while walking..

It is also people with those super long pointy evil ones.. Like what The Penguin has in Batman..


Walking along normally, they aren't so much of a problem.. But when it comes to stairs and escalators, watch out!

Oh too often I'll be walking up the escalators at Bondi Junction or Town Hall and some bright spark will be standing there, and decide they want to hold their umbrella horizontal.. It isn't the most pleasant thing walking up escalators or stairs, then suddenly be faced with a bright shiney metallic pointy thing right in your face!

It isn't too freakin hard to hold it upright next to your body now is it..?

So come on people!

Whenever using umbrellas, please think about it properly, it isn't the most trivial piece of equipment to use..


End Rant.

-Added-
Hey look, a news article from today! :
Umbrella Killer Gets Reduced Sentence

...Read The Rest Here!

Looking Back: Out and Free..

Well, It is late 2004..
I have just finished my HSC..
And now what..?

I look around me, I have a few of the boys around.. Couple of the girls.. One from school, and a couple from out of school.. They were about a year or two older than us..

There is really no structure to this one, It is just kind of randomly thrown together.. Maybe soon I'll elaborate on parts of the story, tie it all together some how..


These were the days when we were free.. We had all the time in the world.. Life was sweet, and simple..

A couple of us worked, no one had any idea what they wanted to do.. So we just cruised along in life..

We were all semi-nocturnal.. Our days started at lunchtime, and our nights ended in the early mornings.. All we'd do would be hanging out in the pool, running around with a video camera doing stupid stuff, sitting on the computer, freelancing life..

Living off our savings or parents donations, the money we earned in our small "retail" jobs, or from things we'd sell or stuff we'd find..

I didn't work back then, I was a complete bum.. I had a bunch of money in an account I had saved, and from a bank account my mum had for my sister and myself.. I got that money, $1700.. Mum had been saving it and halved it for us..

$1700 was alot of money back then, when I got given that after finishing school, I then had $1900.. I survived a long time on that.. Now I don't even survive a month!

It was me and Shane living at home, in my parents house.. He was with someone from school then.. I was still single, I had a one night thing with someone, but that was it for my love life.. I had no interest in anyone then either..

We would hang out with Shanes partner, and a couple of the boys from school.. Plus these other friends of Shanes he had met.. One of his ex's and 2 of her friends..

She had a car, one of the other boys Alex had a car.. We would drive around, be stupid.. We had this love for cKy.. A Band and a series of DVD's by Bam Margera and his boys.. Pre-Jackass days.. Their early days.. Taking upon this, I have to say we were influenced.. We wouldn't copy what they did, as they were "too extreme" for us.. What wusses we were haha..

One night, a long time ago, surfing through these particular forums we'd look at came across a couple of lists.. A "Scavenger Hunt" list.. They were about 100 items long each.. All with a bunch of things to do..

"Get Arrested", "Have a running race in a convenience store", "Antique someone", "Skitch a car", etc etc..

Being bored, having a video camera, alot of time on our hands, and the typical "invincible" attitude young teenage boys have, we decided to try out a few things and film them..

Alot of our time would be spent doing nothing, so why not put that time to use for the amusement of ourselves and other people on the internet?

One particular day I remember, I'm not sure if it was still during school, or after school.. I had asked a bunch of our friends from school if they would like to go out on an adventure to the city, to do as many of this list as we could..

So there we had a group of about 10-15 people all venturing out to the city.. A combined list of 250 things to do.. a pen.. a video camera.. a beautiful day.. and the eager'ness to go wild and do whatever we wanted..

We hit George St Woolworths, we had a running race..
We hit Virgin Music, and went wild to the music in headphones..
We hit Circular Quay McDonalds, and we smooshed ice cream on our faces..
We hit Circular Quay courtyard area, and we had soccer matches..
We played soccer through the crowds on George St., Random businessmen joining in, other people running onto the road to kick the ball back for us..
We played soccer in Hyde Park and hit someones noodles all over their head..
We filmed everything..

It was an awesome day..

Other nights were just random..

We'd jump into someones car.. head to someones place.. eat maccas, bum around, have drinks, just laugh.. I had a camera, I would photograph everything.. These were good days..

The only worry we would have was, that we didn't have any worries..

I didn't need a job badly, I had money..
I didn't need to buy a car straight up, I had my parents to use..
I didn't need to worry about anything..

I met my Campbelltown people.. I started dating one of them.. Life was good, life was simple.. Most nights just hung out with the boys doing random stuff, being out and about and active.. Most weekends would be spent down in Campbelltown doing whatever with whoever there..

Then, the money started disappearing..

The worries started..

Where did I want to lead my life?
What did I want to do?
All of a sudden I want my own car..
My parents were telling me I should look into my future..
I can't keep doing what I am doing forever..
I have to do something about it before it is too late..

Did I want to try for uni? No.. I made my decision a long time ago I didn't..

I didn't study for my HSC, I didn't care how I went..

I'll do Tafe.. And thats what I decided to do....

I found a course, I started that course in 2005.. Everything was sweet..

My parents paid for my Tafe.. I lived by building websites for clients.. Bringing in $400-$1000 each one.. That would hold me for a while..

They were good days.. A new group of friends, my Tafe friends..

Random nights still went on.. Being out late, waking up in the morning and going to Tafe.. Bludging and laughing with the people there.. Going home, laughing with my friends here, weekend comes along I'm in Campbelltown.. It was a nice routine, a good routine.. Life was sweet.. and simple..

...Read The Rest Here!

Radio Fireworks

What did that dream mean?
I haven't much to elaborate on that..
It left me stumped..
Confused and saddened..
But happy and excited at the same time..
I feel it's a subconcious thing that I wish to achieve, find, and do..
But at the same time, I don't know..
I don't know who it was..
Was it someone I actually knew, or just a random person as a placeholder for someone I know..
I enjoyed it though.

...Read The Rest Here!

Looking Back: The White Dog

Looking Back:
The White Dog

Years ago, a few years ago.. I forget how old I was.. I think I was maybe 12?

Between 1998 and 1999..

There was this family who used to live up the road from us..

There were 3 kids.. All around my sister and my age..

We used to hang out heaps and such, and then one day they moved to a small town called "Junee"..

It was a small typical country town..

You had your typical cliche bogans driving their typical cliche Holden and Ford V8 utes.. People walking around with beer cans, flanno, jeans, etc..

Feral cats everywhere, dirty streets, quiet, etc..

It was a hole basically..

We would go visit them randomly, about a 6 hour drive south..

Staring out the window, bored in the car, with good ol Aussie classics blasting out of the stereo.. With the random "Carpenters" song popping up every now and then.. Classic music, music of my childhood thanks to my father.. Some good ol' rock stuff would come on, some Queen, and such..

Good care free days..

One particular time I remember going there, it was a nice sunny summer day, wasn't too hot.. Summers have gotten hotter and hotter since, must be global warming or something..

It was myself, my mum, my sister and the 2 boys (the other was a girl, just a bit older than me, she was off elsewhere).. We were going for a walk, as the boys wanted to show us this tree they climbed and made a tree house in..

On the way this small white doggy appeared.. I forget its name, or its breed.. Small little white thing, I think it must have been part Jack Russell.. It was a good natured fun little dog..

The boys knew it, and knew of its owners.. It followed us.. We walked all around the town, most of the town was in walking distance of itself.. And back then I actually used my legs for other things.. Not just pedals in a car anymore like now!

I was an active kid back then, before I discovered the ease of having a drivers license..

We got to this tree, and climbed and just hung out.. All us being happy and joking like families do.. Think of the cliche "mother with her kids" type scene.. It was that.. Just a fun beautiful day..

We decided it was time to head home, and try to be home before dinner time.. So we got our stuff and started walking.. There was no footpath so we were walking on the edge of the road..

These were wide roads, could easily fit atleast 6 cars next to each other across the whole thing, big wide road.. We were fine.. We had seen maybe 3 cars driving on the way there.. I remember this.

I was a little further behind.. My mum ahead of us with my sister and the dog (no lead, it was running free, thats how it found us)..

I was with the older boy (my sisters age) and the other boy was walking in the middle of the group..

We had walked slightly slower and were trailing a little behind.. A car had drove past us, a black mini 4wd (Toyota Rav4).. It was going quickish.. Then all of a sudden.. It came to a halt..

From where we were, we were on the top of a slope.. We could only see the top of the car.. Nothing below the rear window level at this time.. Something wasn't right.. The car was just sitting there..

I couldn't see anyone else yet.. Then the car drove off.. It had been sitting there for a few seconds.. I could see the heads inside discussing something actively.. Then they drove off..

I hurried a little, and saw what looked to be the doggy.. The cute small little dog.. My mum running up to it, and the other 2 running to it..

We ran..

Then there it was, the cute little dog.. Slightly out of shape.. Blood coming out of its mouth and eyes..

I was shocked, I had never seen a dead anything at that point.. Especially just hit.. It looked so surreal..

Mum asked the boys if they knew where it had lived.. They knew.. She picked it up, and we headed there..

Upon arriving, I was still slightly shocked at the whole thing.. We knocked on the door, A man came out and looked at us.. He must have been confused as to why there was a random lady with a group of shock faced children staring back to him..

Mum held up the dog, and explained what had just happened..

The man sighed, as mum passed the dog to him.. He looked at it, shook his head a little.. Walked up to a garbage bin and just dumped him in it!

This added to the shock so much more,
"how could you just do that??" I said to myself..

He thanked us and went back inside.. We headed home..

That night, laying in bed, all I could see was the dog, I couldn't sleep.. When I did manage to sleep, I dreamt of that.. The next day, I asked the others if it were the same.. They agreed with me, and had the same..

It was depressing, an experience.. A terrible end to such a beautiful day..

It wasn't for years later (2005) that my own dog would pass away, Arthritis.. The poor dog was yelping in agony one night.. So my parents made the decision to take him to be put down, taken out of his misery..

I dearly miss him.. Still, I loved that dog so much.. Everyone did.. Beautiful well natured dog.. Almost person like.. Loved people.. Never attacked anyone, always happy and playful.. And had the strangest habits..

He also said "Hello" in the cutest growl way.. "Haroooooooo"..

RIP Sammy..

...Read The Rest Here!