Dark Horse

Wowser. That was a long one that one. 

It only felt like 4 years ago that I graced your screens with my words. I'll be quite transparent that I wrote "greased your skins" in that last sentence. Maybe all those true crime documentaries, podcasts, books, and games have really taken a firm grasp in my little brain...

Those two years after the last post were a real doozy, weren't they? Holy smokes. Remember the toilet paper debacle? Remember that? I mean I was pretty safe with the tens of thousands of toilet paper rolls and hand sanitiser that the camp had going for it. Y'know there was a time when I thought about taking the toilet paper and selling it out the front of Wal-Mart in Bracebridge. But I'm glad I didn't in the end!

The hidden message in the last post that I'm sure you ALL read was: farts are funny. Which, upon reflection, they are. This is a hill that I will happily die on.

What's happened to dear old Cameron since then, I hear you ask! It seems like I'd not yet driven out to British Columbia during what was the rise of Covid in Ontario. We, my at the time girlfriend and I, took turns driving all the way out to Victoria, BC and then back again. We were gone for about 3 weeks and it was absolutely sensational. There were some hiccups along the way. Mostly car related but even those were sorted pretty swiftly. Highlights for me were all the breweries along the way. And Dinosaur Provincial Park was pretty cool too, I suppose. Sorry Hayley. You were right all along.

Here's all the pictures that I took along the way. One day, maybe, I'll make a photo album of them. Maybe not.

We returned to Ontario and then it was pretty much on for young and old in regards to Covid. Lockdowns, mask mandates, panic in regards to rising numbers. I'd like to speculate that I had one of the most comfortable Covid experiences in that I really did want for nothing. Maslow was definitely smiling down upon me. A key element that I live by is enjoying my environment by it being warm, dry, and quiet. I also drank a train load. More on this in a later paragraph.

Predictably, there was an element of cabin fever that set in and I'd truly like to apologise to all the folks that lived with me for my some time neuroticism. It wasn't a good time. The doom and gloom of Covid, the absolutely tragic sleep or lack thereof schedule, the drinking, and the general ennui of winter was not one that I'm keen to repeat in a hurry. 

Then weirdly... it all became better. Hayley, wonder woman extraordinaire, left for pastures greener. Literally. She flew back to New Zealand to do her thing and now lives in Melbourne with a wonderful boyfriend and the torture of the Common Myna in her front yard. This is not a euphemism.

We were told that there would be a summer camp occuring in 2021 which was exciting. It was something to look forward to. However the Ontario Government, Ontario Public Health, and all the other little government bodies decided that we still needed to mask up inside, and to remain away from each other. That made for an interesting summer camp.

I loved again and it was delightful. I don't really want to get too much in to that.

I did see a lot of Ottawa during 2021 and always enjoyed the drive out from Bracebridge to Ottawa each and every time. I dream about that trip often. The one trip I'm glad I couldn't make was when the truckers made their way out to Ottawa. Bleh, no thanks. That was closest to an historic event. Don't correct me on the use of "an historic" as opposed to "a historic". I'm a linguist, you know. Take another slurp of that prescriptivist Kool-Aid, why don't you?!

Now to the part that I've been somewhat guarding for the last 3 years. Maybe in poor taste but it was something that I needed total control over. During October 2021, my dad died. I had the somewhat good grace of an exceptional support system in Canada and, despite keeping it on the down low, did grieve pretty hard. It was turning in to winter in Ontario and that gave me a number of instances to remain in my accommodation and just be sad. Family dinners with Kristina and Marc, coupled with absolutely slaying we accomplished in the Katalyst Brewing quiz nights really pulled me through.

I was drinking pretty heavily. I'd like to apologise to, well, everyone. It wasn't a good time for me and I definitely understand if there's folks out there reading this who are content to not speak to me again. I completely understand it all.

With that being said, that time is over now and whilst I do appreciate altruism, I'd much rather prefer if you're reading this to just contact me on Facebook. No need for sorry, no need to feel bad for me. It's all water under the fridge!

However, it did spurn me on to consider my life? I'd been at Camp Muskoka for 10 years. And I didn't have a whole lot to show for it. I had considered 2019 to be last year there. But it wasn't quite the ending I'd hoped for. Then Covid. 2021 was also a bit meh. And it was after dad had gone that made think "Do I want to be 40 and still the person I am today?". After much consideration and a lot of good conversation with good, helpful people - thank you to Robb, Mark, Marc, Lindsay, Rein, Zee, et al - I decided to kick myself in the butt and head home to Australia. The goal was to apply to university. But I hadn't really ever considered what I wanted to do? I didn't want to be a teacher and studying history had probably slipped by me in terms of an area of interest.

That's when I came upon linguistics. It's a field of study that I've had to describe more often that I'd expected to but it's the study of language(s). I applied, got accepted, needed to do an aptitude test, did that, passed, submitted all my paperwork and then I started in July of last year. I'm more shocked, I think, than anyone else. I've always denied claims, appropriately I think, when people suggest that I'm smart. It's really just the glasses.

I will, ideally, graduate with a B.A in Linguistics in 2026. What will I do with it? Well that's something that I'll 100% need to consider but the idea is definitely focused on a return to Canada in the near future. What can I say? The land of the long white season beckons for me. 

I'm also going to put my hat in the ring for a Green Card. And will even consider leaving for the United Kingdom again. I think I'd look good in a thick blue cable knit jumper. Smoking a pipe. Talking about semantic bleaching and what not to any and all concerned.

There's no message this time. Just an update to people. I've been trying to become better at keeping in contact with a lot of you and I do apologise if I haven't been the best at it. It's still hard for me to believe that I'm back here. It feels a bit like a punishment but self imposed? This year is my community year where I hope to slowly engage with people and the community. We shall see.

One thing that I'm very pleased about is that I've decided to take a little bit better care of myself physically. I've taken off 23kg/50lb since returning to Australia. I don't drink anymore which I thought I'd miss a lot but it's been almost 12 months now and I really don't. I don't miss anything about it and that's very pleasing to me. I've also engaged in the services of a therapist and boy, oh boy, that lady has her work cut out for her alright, heh. But, as I have written on my mirror in the bathroom, it is all about progress, not perfection. That's something that I hold dear to my heart. Small improvements gathered up along the way make a more impressive feat than one large, indistinguishable improvement.

I would like to be a little more serious with my biking and then I'd also be keen on joining a gym at some stage. Once again, small steps for me.

I suppose this is no longer ocamnada? But I also can't be bothered changing it to austeron or something equally ludicrous.

 

 

I don't exactly remember how I came about this song but I find it very beautiful, very haunting, and wonderfully simple. I hope you enjoy it.

One Week

For that I recall with fond gusto saying "Oh, it'll be just one week before I post again" and, true to my personal character flaws, it was definitely not one week. I can't be trusted to determine when I'll write something here but I also don't particularly enjoy defining myself in regards to something like this. Really what I've said in so many words is don't tread on me? Ah, I don't know what this thing is about anymore.

And there have been so many one weeks since the last time I was here. And some of them have terrifying lows. Others have been dizzying highs while the rest of them have been creamy middles. A quick bit of mathematics says it's been 145 one weeks which equates to 1,016 days. I didn't anticipate it being like this and I'm sorry. To whom? Firstly and fore mostly me. This started as a little passion project for me in 2008 and I had reasonable updates for the first 3 or 4 years. Then it kind of just petered out when I returned to Australia. I didn't get bored of telling people about my life and the goings on but I did feel somewhat hypocritical of criticising people on twitter for their at the time 140 character ramblings. Plus there were some personal issues that I needed to iron out that occasionally plonk themselves in to my life. I think I'm dealing.

Really the other apologies go out to the people that read this. Mum, Georg, random Russian folks who happen to find this. It's really rather odd looking at the stats of people who come here but I really do thank you anyway. This is, more than anything, an outlet for me now and I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't care much for this. Heh, I wouldn't! 

The reason that I've started this up again is because I'm currently reading Pierre Trudeau's memoirs. He specifically apologises in the preface that the memoirs have a looseness to them on account of it essentially being an oral exercise. I'll pause for the laughter. But that really resonated with me as that's pretty accurate as to how I write. As I'm typing I will often verbalise the sentence to make it made sense to me. Accuracy in terms of punctuation and word count don't quite matter to me. If only I had gone to on to tertiary education, it might! 

So as to what I've occupied myself with in the last 145 weeks? Well that's a dilly of a pickle really. I've kept myself busy, travelled a fair bit and pretty much kept the nose to the grindstone. Vague? Yes, but you must remember that I can't recall all of what has happened. Lots of happy students from the Greater Toronto Area, mostly impressed summer camp kids and plenty of fresh air. I don't quite know what to say was the highlight. I did head out to BC for 2 weeks which was lovely! 5 days in Vancouver topped off with the sweet sweet cherry of Victoria. It was the most heavenly place on Earth that I've been to so far. You should go there one day.

And you should know that I am the proud owner of a Honda CRV. It's a 2001 model so it definitely has some kilometres on it. Poor little thing. Can't go around expecting it to last forever. It has some 316,000km on it but it is a little beast. It has no name yet as I definitely do not subscribe to the ludicrousness of naming things like that. I did want to name it Edmund after E. Honda

Right now it is a rainy day here in Muskoka and I'm quite bundled up nice and warm inside. It's days like these that make my happy that we don't have schools here right now. You read that right! No schools, no students, no campers. We had a fairly good run of work from July up until this week in September. Family camp seemed like it could be a colossal failure but ended up being absolutely fantastic! We made some good friends out of the families that came up and even had some campers register, hopefully, for next year. 

Even though there has been little work in comparison to a normal year, I find myself pretty happy with the routine I've got myself in to. Early morning shower, coffee from the French Press, slight depressive episode, and then try to read or, less often, write something. This here has been the most I've "written" for quite some time. I still have a diary that I've been meaning to write in but it was last written in pre-COVID days. Aaaaah, those halcyon days. Mere memories now. So as you might imagine, the next entry is gonna be a real doozy. 

For now I think I'll just get fat(ter) from good food, good friends, and good beer! There've been a number of new - to me - breweries that I've visited recently. And a couple that are new to this world. I can't highly enough recommend Katalyst Brewing Company and Couchiching Brewing Company! The latter of which I still can not figure out how to pronounce but know that I get really close after a couple of their delicious Black River Stouts. This is not a sponsored post, I'm just an appreciator of the barley life. Also please sponsor me Katalyst and Couchiching!

Unless I can think of a way to circumvent the travels numbers back to Australia, I think that I'll be staying in the Northern Hemisphere for this Christmas. Which is fine with me. All my Australian mates tout the merits of a warm summer but I know for one that they are bloody miserable. Especially so when you see your friends in the North celebrating with cozy fires, snow angels, warm cups of potentially spiked drinks. Ah, it's bliss. 

Nobody seems to realise that just because 2020 has been a little bit of a right off that things will not magically change when the clock strikes 00:00:01 for next year. There's still that wonderful American election to come up. It is nice to be living in Canada with Trudeau making a fairly hefty percentage of the right decisions in regards to Coronavirus. Meanwhile the other three places that I have lived for a bit - the United Kingdom, America, and Australia - all seem to be doing their best at imploding whilst placing the blame on the other political parties and their supporters. I also donated to the Liberal Party of Canada. Forget why but it felt right.

Now it seems to me that there's going to be a lot of commotion in the next couple of months and I truly hope that all my friends stay safe. I'm sure it's easier said than done with all the unpleasantness that goes in the world. I don't know how to ensure that they're all safe.

Yet life does go on and I do certainly hope to make this a slightly less irregular occurrence. I know that I say that all the time and I know that I say THAT all the time but y'know what? I don't really mind coming back to this as it's something that is quite entertaining to me to reread. Terrible that I'm actually laughing at my own jokes but that's what's going to happen!  

I think this is the first Barenaked Ladies song I heard way back in 1998. Those were the reasonable old day. Hope you enjoy and if you don't then I also really don't care that much! 

Long Time Gone

As evidence might suggest: I've been gone for quite some time. This blog fell into a bit of disuse but I'm hoping to rectify that in the New Year.

Part of me wonders what I should include in these scrawlings now. I'm in and out of Canada on the regular so the name doesn't really make sense, I'm not interesting enough to warrant telling the common folk what I did in my day-to-day, and I don't care to be labelled as a someone who painstakingly labours over their food so that they can garner the praise of the internet. 

Or maybe I am.

In fact, it seems that Canada might very well be my permanent residence soon enough. After almost ten years (with me actually having lived there for about seven of 'em) I've finally decided to make Canada the place I want to stay. It's a truly wonderful place that I've seen about 0.00003% of and I'm probably being generous with that figure. From the breathtaking geography of the west to the subdued simplicity of the Prairies, to the populous and diverse Ontario, the culturally rich Quebec and on to the Maritimes which I know nothing about and that excites me! One day I shall get my derrière to that beautiful part of the country.

But I suppose that's it. I always say that I've got all this time in the world but I don't. That's not a mention of the stark realisation of mortality but an 'Oh heck! There's so many places I'd like to go' kind of deal.

Ma che cozz’u fai?!

Which does lead me to suitable segue! I did do myself a bit of travelling this year. I left the idyllic lands of Canada in the springtime to fly to Italy for a wedding. It was the union of two very lovely people who I've had the pleasure of knowing for 10 years. I did learn from my mistakes about driving in Rome and driving in Italy generally. The long and short of it is - don't do it. Good grief. All the stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason! Every time a car drove I would do the stereotypical hand gesture as you can see to your left here. I'd like to address a scientific notion of Italians driving and the speed of light. If there's a chance of us ever achieving a speed faster than c then it will definitely be by the Italians.

The town, Conversano, was gorgeous! It's a very old, rustic part of the country that's main focus is Conversano Castle. In fact, that's where I stayed! Mother of mercy, it was wonderful. Tragically I did sleep a lot there as I wasn't feeling the best on account of the travel and also lack of eating. I did devour a plateful of cherries upon my arrival. That was perhaps the 3rd best thing I accomplished when I was in Italy.

I could bore you with details of the wedding but I won't. I'll summarise in 20 words or less. It was a divine experience to be involved with. Wedding was delish, people were great. Love was all around us. There we go! I think that's a bloody good summary.

Then some bad stuff happened and I missed a train that in turn made me miss a flight and I had to stay at the airport and get all sweaty and unhappy with TD bank. But on the bright side - THE BLOODY CHEESE WAS FANTASTIC. More about this and more in a later exposé! Hoo boy!

As a reward for my pain and suffering in Italy^†, I headed to the Netherlands. A place that I'd often talked about with fond gusto but had, in fact, never visited. All the woes and unpleasantness of Italy and me being lazy in terms of trying to speak Italian - I did converse reasonably well with an Italian gent in a car park. All I was asking was "Dov'è la Banca. per favore?" (where is the bank, please?) but don't let that detract from my polyglottism - was washed away within mere seconds of me touching down in the Netherlands. It truly was a country made for me! Cheese, beer, tulips, orange, canals, tall women, cheese, reclaimed land. It was all there! And I loved it. I will return as I feel like I was very focused on both avoiding and sneakily stealing a sniff of the coffee shops.

In between then and now there was also a summer camp which was pretty fun. I got to work in a role that I was pretty familiar with and that was enjoyable. There were new challenges and new capacities to fill this year as opposed to 2015 which was exceptionally pleasant. The folks I worked with intimately with were as good as good can be. I do hope to see a wonderous percentage of them return in 2018.

So, I suppose, that would bring you up to date to now. I've not done a real bunch more. I did sample some amazing ciders in Seattle, see the sea in San Fran, get asked by Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands impressionists to take a picture of them, and then celebrate Veteran's Day with an actual veteran. It's a very interesting ability of the brain to remember all the decent things that've happened to you. Even more peculiar that some people want to share those memories.

Well seeing as it's now 2 days until the New Year, I'd like to make a little resolution as it were. This year of 2017 was pretty lacklustre in terms of me adding to this. In fact, the only reason that I decided to do this post was so that the '2017' dropdown menu on the right wouldn't appear empty. The last 2 to 3 years have been pretty vacant as a whole and I really would like to remedy that. I don't want to treat this as a livejournal (some of you are too young) or a twitter (some of you are too ridiculous) but I would like to record a little bit more of my life. Online. Yeah, I see the stupidity in that but I don't think I've ever included anything scandalous in these posts.

Here's hoping that 2017 wraps up nicely for you and that 2018 has some wonderfully fresh and fantastic opportunities waiting for you. I may live to regret those words but only time will tell, I'm thinking.

Oh yeah, I forgot I add little videos at the end of the posts to reflect the title post! I'll admit that ELO is definitely not my favourite band. I don't think I could name 5 more songs of their repertoire but I do like this song. It has a distinctly George Harrison c.Wilbury feel to it and I'm okay with that. And I hope you are too! Enjoy!


† I barely suffered and Italy was good enough. I was just knackered! Thanks Italy. Thitaly.

Feel It All Around

I wouldn't expect anyone to still be checking this blog out. But the statistics tell me that there are still people who do. Nobody of note, mind you. It's usually misdirection from 'flowers toronto' 'these flowers in the dirt' (Paul McCartney album this blog is named after) or, surprisingly 'russian singles toronto'. I really can't complain about the last one.

As it has been so long since I updated, I needed to go back and checkout where I last left everyone. Seems I had just started a new job. Fantastic! Well as it goes I am still doing that job. It has the same tribulations as every job does. One thing I'm beginning to understand is that kids are pretty great. Not to say that I would like any of my own but other people's kids are often hilarious. It's very exciting to see kids desiring knowledge. It definitely takes a certain kind of person to deal with kids day in, day out. Thanks teachers. I never thought I'd say that but here we are.

Travel wise... well I've been fairly stagnant. I did travel to Ottawa in October. It was a blast but I wish I could have spent longer there. The only other times I've been to Ottawa were for passport reasons so it was nice to have a non-passport reason to go there. I suppose the other big travel I've undertaken this year was going back to Australia for Christmas. So far that little venture is going well. Cricket, beer, and flesh melting sun. I forgot what it was all about over here! (and people hating Muslims)

Overall I'm pretty happy. This year I will be turning 30. Bloody hell. I never thought I'd see the day. I feel the warm glow of the societal expectations searchlight being shone over me every day. I pointed it out before - it takes a certain of person to take care of a kid. It's just not for me at this current juncture in my life. Not that I'm picturing myself as some sort of transient, wanderlust struck person forever. No, that's not my ethos in life but rather a story for another day.

Something I'd like to start doing in the relatively near future is writing in a diary. I've probably spruiked that kind of ridiculous notion in years gone by but I'm actually a bit more serious about it this year. I'm rather envious of people who are able to catalogue their thoughts in a well organised way. Reading back on a lot of these posts gives me a headache. I've always accused myself of writing like I talk and I especially hate the way that I talk. In any case I'd best get on it while the year is still young!

Usually I wouldn't even mention celebrities passings on here but this is one that struck me a little deeper than others. I feel like it would be a waste of time to attempt a sentence of how amazingly talented David Bowie was. It seems like he has always been a presence in my life. Musically, theatrically, and even present in a video game that a 13 year old me did not quite grasp. Much like a candle the light has just been extinguished. Nothing in between. I think it's definitely a well intentioned spotlight on his music as we see many people posting 'RIP Bowie' on various social media. Perhaps this will spurn the lacklustre musical scene of this day and age. Or probably not.

Hopefully this year doesn't hold too many other surprises. I want to increase my travel, I want to be kinder to people, I'd like to increase my level of fitness, and I'd like to cook more. Being back home has given me some opportunities I might not have had back in Ontario. No slight on them but it's almost as if I feel like I have to cook here. It's great. I used to own a little book where I'd write recipes that I'd tried and enjoyed. I'd also cut the recipes out of the front page of The Times back in the UK. I must have had about 30 clippings. Sadly, I never got to making half of them. Wonder where that book went to.

This song might be familiar to a lot of you. It's the theme song from Portlandia. I'd say it's definitely a different direction from all the music that I've listened to recently. I'd never even heard of chillwave before I investigated this song. I'm not sure what 'it' is but the location of it is everywhere. So please enjoy this song!

Until next year!
(but hopefully not)

It's Late

Hah! Remember when I used to update this blog regularly? Oh, no? You either? Yeah, I don't.

But you know what? My life has been blessed to have been transformed. I say that because whatever it was that I had planned for myself has gone massive astray. Last time I updated this ridiculous thing I was in the kitchen and kind of hating my life. Since then I have strayed out to the wild outdoors. Did you know there's a bunch of trees out there that have different names? Every time I see a tree now, I reach for my book and describe that tree before it even had a chance to drop a leaf! Hooray!

So what else did I accomplish in those 612 days? The ones where I left you to act upon your own wreck and ruin? Well you know what? A lot. I left the kitchen of Camp Muskoka and it was possibly the best decision I have made. Not that I begrudge the kitchen at all but I just wanted to be out with the kids and the teachers. I wanted to be part of the Outdoor Education team. And, as quick as you like, I was part of that team!

But for only the briefest of times! I was then transported in to the delightful world of summer camp. I went from feeling very apprehensive around the kids to being quite comfortable. It was a very delightful experience. It was amazing to watch the less socially inclined kids blossom. The ones that already had a social presence were a blessing to watch. For two months I felt like I didn't have to work. I got to have fun for those 60ish days.

Now what I'm doing is more education based. A majority of the kids come from Toronto and we have to educate them about the outdoors. It's fascinating how much and how little the kids know about their outdoors. Everything I know about Ontario I've learnt on the job. It's great. I can not go to bed and not feel awesome about how much OR even how little the kids know. They are really great. Sure, there are hiccups with kids but that's what makes it all that much more interesting. I will not forget one line of this. I even keep a little log of the schools that come in. It's fantastic. Being able to impart knowledge on young minds is amazing.

Since the last update I haven't really done a whole lot. I did travel to Philadelphia. For 13 hours. That was great. The bus rides were longer than the actual time spent in the city but the occasion was pretty auspicious. I was pretty pleased with how that went. Must go back there one day and drink all the beer that I can.

Ah, yes. I also travelled to the UK. I had grand plans but ended up running out of money and had the weather against me. Flooding over there is pretty prevalent and caused a lot of my trains to be cancelled or unfortunately rescheduled to an inconvenient time. I had a blast though. I got to see my friends, people that I cared about and visit some old haunts. At the same time I reinforced why I did not live there any more. All in due time, I suppose. There's going to be an older version of me ruing some of the events of my life. Hooray.

That's about it, guys. I know that is a pretty underwhelming return but I hope that it is one that sparks my return. I figure that 2015 will have more updates. Just to let people know what I'm up to or where I am. It's hard being as transient as I am, ha!

In continuing the tradition I have of posting the music to go along with the title, here it is! It's Queen again. I have been in a very nostalgic mood for Queen recently. I look at my tattoo quite often and think about how big a part of my life this band has been. I've kept all good company.

Enjoy!

Their Hearts Were Full of Spring

It ain't half hot, mum! The temptation that spring is indeed around the corner is just unbearable. Supposedly we're due for more snow tonight and I'm torn between what I want. I love snow but I also love not snow! Aieee! Please help me, meteorologists!

Just to let everyone know that from now on I'm not going to apologise for the lapse in time. I'll update when I want to and not preform to a circus! I've had enough! You are all not the collective bosses of me. Except me actual boss. He currently is.

What has happened since last update? I've moved back to Canada for a bit. I enjoy the familiarity and also the snow. For a person who comes from a country with a ridiculous climate, I do find it incredibly laughable that I enjoy the snow. Still it is receding. The normal ground is showing and the bleak reality that is summer approaches. The leaves reappear, the ground turns a reminiscent hue covered with wood chips and the fauna decide to return to the air. There's nothing worse than mosquitos or black flies in Canada. Not one thing. Erk.

My plans so far are: stick it out where I am until September, slide along west to Alberta to meet up with a very old, very dear friend and then, if funds permit, to slide over to the United Kingdom as a somewhat of a 'farewell' tour (as much as one can have at what will almost be 28) with stops definitely in Manchester, London and any stockists of real ale! Hooray! I must point out that at this time everything concerning England is still somewhat in the planning stage. But sally forth I must!

Aside from all that, I must start up my photography again. There's only so many snowbanks you can photograph in an artistic way. Summer, please fill me with your aesthetic delights!

Until next time I'm updating this blog: please enjoy this song by The Four Freshmen. I don't actually own this song but I have enjoyed a cover by The Beach Boys (I was going to include a link to this but apparently Mike Love has been on the trawl and removed any trace of it! Curses!). Listen to them vocals, son!

Keep safe everyone!

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Seems like I did it again, eh? I'm becoming worse and worse at this with age. I'll blame that this time. I've done it with everything else so why not age? I'm back, I guess. I lied big time, didn't I? I said that I was going to be back sooner than this but I lead you all on. I have no recourse for this action. I am hoping that this picture of me looking like an A-class simpleton will help ease the pain and anguish I've caused!

However, as usual, I digress! I'm trying to pull the brain cells together to figure where I left you last in this cliff hanger of a blog. Hmmm. It seems that I promised to be back sooner than I was last time and that I was still in Australia.

So I guess the first thing I need to address is definitely my difference in geography. No longer do I reside in the Commonwealth of Australia. No, no. I have moved 17,262 kilometres to the East. I'm now in the United States. Yes, again. After the United States I am heading off to Canada. Yes, again! But this time I hope to at least adventure more. Pretty sure I've said that before too.  Maybe people could remind me this time?

I figure that's all I'll post for this time. I know it seems like I'm not relishing the idea of blog but I promise to take better care of this. My life was definitely more exciting. It kind of feels like the last rites are being read for this ol' thing.

Never fear for me! Have some Warren Zevon instead. This little track comes all the way from his 1976 album Warren Zevon. Linda Ronstadt also had a hit with this song but who cares. You can find it here on Amazon, there over at Google Play or even with iTunes if you're that way inclined. I ain't judging.

For now, adieu.