We got that attitude! – 2nd April 2021

I am so happy and grateful for this to be the last day of school and now I can enjoy 4 weeks away from there. I’ve enjoyed teaching this year and I’m grateful to everyone I have worked with there.


A nice way to end the school year. Reading, drinking coffee, visiting Matt, collecting marijuana which made my car smell fabulous, reading some more, taking Cap to the vet, teaching Maeve, playing guitar and now I’m going inside to watch YouTube and read some Mo Yan and comics. Tired and happy.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #59 – 9th October 2020

The stupidest rock podcast on the internet as voted by everyone, everywhere.

Highly curated, carefully selected and specifically ordered* for your listening edification by world-renowned DJtenzenmen, who has over 500 years of experience in this business.

* ie totally random.

This week there’s music from The Scapegoat, White Blacula, Funkadelic, The Move, B Team, Hamster Theatre, PFM, P-Model, The Tempos, MFQ, Hot Snakes, Angelic Upstarts, Beatles, Volcano Suns, Born Against, Feed Me Jack, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Regurgitator, Satanique Samba Trio, Rosalina Mar and Wolves.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE STUPID!?

Find us on Twitter and Facebook too. Tell us if you like it, tell us if you don’t.
Listen right here or Mixcloud, Stitcher, Apple, Amazon…..all those cool places I guess.


Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that today will be a quiet day with no kids around. I will miss them though. Almost a month before we see them again!

No hammer from the judge – 10th December 2019

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? What questions do you ask?

The last time I felt overwhelmed was at CRPAO. My mind could only concentrate on the injustices I felt at the way I was treated. Obviously, the questions I asked myself were not productive.

The first question I need to ask is ‘is this situation in or out of my control?’ If the situation is not in my control then all I can control is my response. This is a difficult skill that I am currently trying to cultivate. It is easy to think about but difficult to execute.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for another school holiday today. Yesterday was tough and left me in a negative state of mind and this morning I woke up not feeling well. It’s a blessing to be able to spend another day just sitting and reading!

How do I spell relief? I spell it OW! – 8th October 2019

The first weekend of the holiday brings some mental relief.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
I would start a tour organisation business for bands to play shows throughout Asia. I would use my existing contacts to have pre-planned routes through the area. I don’t know any way to monetise this but it would certainly bring me great joy to travel and work within a musical environment.

20th Jun 2022 – I was more seriously preparing to do this more frequently starting with the World’s Dirtiest Sport tour that was planned for Feb 2020 but the Covid pandemic knocked all those plans out. Things are getting more back to normal now but some new regulations that have been implemented in certain countries would make things much more difficult than before. The whole situation kinda knocked the wind out of my sails too.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the opportunities ahead of me because they give me a chance to explore and develop myself. The hardships I have faced and sometimes not been able to deal with well have all helped me to grow and learn.

A Greek holiday in other people’s misery – 13th September 1994

Swing sweet sexy mistress
Come play concertos on my porch
as the night time glows dimly
into small hours, lay awake with me
dance your mysterious dances
cross white sheets, sticky in the heat
as roosters cackle the glory of the day
you are about to see through deep mists
sun breaking low, sky, a water colour
grey, orange, yellow, blue, engulfing stars
forgotten now in numbed and hazy glow
like playful seals, we jump in icy fresh waters
jump and dive, race and rest, submerged
let glory of nature rise from our toes
out through our fingers into the earth
parched and tortured, sunbeaten into submission
light trees stand and fight, dip and sway
in hot dusty breeze, the breath of god
all over this earth, our little island
inside our minds, our simple souls,
and touch these people in their simple lives,
made them worthy, made them whole
weary and tired, ignore the bustle
too simple, their lives, to even contemplate
a different, new improved way
sad we are with all our knowledge
blinding us from this, it’s just a holiday
it’s fun in the sun, week away from cloud
and sad you can see, the way I feel
taverna empty of locals
full of Krauts and Brits, getting drunk
emptying their pockets (as I have too)
and it’s just like home, where I am the local
and wouldn’t frequent these holes
here, set in ancient cities, cobbled streets
castles, cannonballs. The jewel of an empire
some thousand years before
now left to sell Pepsi and pizza in the ruins
of it all.

So here I sit on this double edged sword
in awe of the country and nature’s wonder
toads and lizards creeping up our wall
with old people struggling to live
by selling sun-hats to tourists
who breathe economy into lost cities
of generations ago, many before
here, paying my contribution in sun lotion
Agfa film and cocktails, endless.
Maybe tomorrow I will
contemplate the suicide of the world.

Breathless at the marvel of Acropolis stones
stood so long against the brunt of it all
now desperate to find a balance in the
modern world.

The new gods and goddesses hustling punters
for pocket money, for deck chairs on
the beach of fag butts and empty bottles of UV25
sweet green sea tempting sore feet
to tread through the barbed wire barricades.

Oh, soft clean waters consume us
Let us all fall into the sea, drag us under.

Take it all away.