What makes this leg the one to be admired? The smoother the skin the more similarly inspired From a foot to a thigh I’m always wondering why For perfection, there are always two required
When struggling for time and inspiration, a limerick rescues.
What’s uncomfortable early becomes comfortable later. What’s comfortable early becomes uncomfortable later.
unknown, seen on a Quora post about Principle of Life
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to meet the nice immigration officer yesterday. He was very helpful and made the task as smooth as possible.
Tensions rose as the visitor appeared The worst could happen as I had feared Anxious times as decisions neared Until finally the air had been cleared
The happy officer seemed satisfied That on the forms I hadn’t lied All true, the information supplied Hopefully, my visa won’t be denied
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for the nice immigration officer that came to visit this morning. I remember him from last time. I think he knows my case is just routine and is very kind and understanding. He was only here for ten minutes.
Yesterday was my semi-regular write-off day. The low cycle of my possible bipolarity. I woke up in the night and couldn’t get back to sleep.. Not filled with any particularly anxious thoughts but just general brain wheels spinning.
When my alarm went off, I couldn’t get up and decided to stay home – sending a message to Champ and the students that I wouldn’t have a class but would set them work to do. This was semi-successful. 2/9 did well but 1/6 not so. An indication of maturity perhaps. It’s been a lesson for all of us.
And as I was dozing through most of yesterday, a call came at about 6 pm that the immigration officer would come at 10 am this morning, therefore meaning that I wouldn’t be able to come to school today until after they had been. Unfortunate timing but all good (so long as I still get paid).
So this morning he came and all was well – the same officer as last time – a soft friendly guy who seemed content just to be doing his job and being on his way. So, almost there with this new visa application, I felt some relief and scoffed some linguine, picked up a coffee and came to school.
The visa process is an annual ritual nightmare and it was getting me down. I’m starting to contemplate being in Australia again and considering what the future might hold. Yesterday I felt so uninspired and like giving up everything, but today I feel like I’m not done yet.
We found the gold, inspired by dreams Furious labour generated the means No stone unturned, nothing it seems – Left resting on laurels waiting
On the other side of the rainbow where Further riches found to those who dare Turn off your taps from which to share – Numbers ever bigger accumulating
Now standing alone on an empty shore The sun is setting, there’s nothing more Was it all worth the fighting for? – To watch accounts ever-inflating
For all your atoms the gods reclaim There’s no longer a use for your name The prince and the pauper – all the same – The imbalance of our own creating
I am so happy and grateful for the crispy peanut brittle I bought yesterday and ate today. It reminded me of my mum who used to love getting it when her teeth were still good. I hope my teeth can hang in there!
After wearing a neck support, which has been helping, I woke up today worse than ever. Actually, I woke up fine, but then twisted wrong and now struggle to look to the left. But in good news, my lower back is feeling a bit better now.
Yesterday was an odd one as we ran around with my visa application. I had to cancel one of my classes cos I was still stuck at Immigration, and then I discovered that my 90-day check-in wasn’t renewed with my latest visa, which I had assumed it would be, so I got fined for not doing it in time. That pissed me off so I cancelled my other class for the day and came home and happily dozed while listening to music instead. It was sweet bliss!
We’re off to the office Where the witches never smile What should take 5 minutes Is sure to take a while It’s a dreaded moment Waiting for confirmation This time can be no mistakes On my visa application …… Luckily it was quiet today No one in the queue And even the witches were happy With nothing much to do In and out like a flash I get to stay another sixty days I hope it’s this easy next time So I can enjoy my stays
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful today as it’s Amy’s birthday and we will have a nice lunch together at Le Meridian. She will also help at immigration to apply for my new visa. I am so happy to have her in my life.
Amy’s birthday today. 42 years old. Still a young ‘un.
I didn’t feel so fantastic this morning – slight sore throat and headache but I still did some morning exercise and talked myself out of feeling worse.
I’m happy that on Monday to Thursday, I have 2/9 each morning as they are mostly good students and we can have fun together. And sure enough, by the end of the class, I was in a calm enough mood to deal with Amy’s crankiness as we prepared things for my visa application and my house registration document. Ironic that we are getting around to getting this as I’ve got it in my head that we will go back to Australia in the future.
Well, we got that all sorted easily enough and headed off to Le Meridian for a lovely lunch with lots of bread and it was a struggle to eat so much!
Anyway, the rest of the day was fine. Greeted by Tangmo as I came home, played a bit, pulled some weeds and then Amy and I did some Just Dance as she wants to do some more exercise. It was fun, and I even beat her. I think we’ll both sleep well tonight.
All in all, a good day. Got to prepare myself for my busy teaching day tomorrow and try to orgnaise what else we will do in classes for the rest of the week.
What am I? The hip-priest? Unappreciated? I have feelings too, though I often hide them well Words cut deep until your appetite is sated Where do we go from here, only time will tell Just a little confirmation, inquiry on my state Will go a long way to making me feel okay Let’s make it good again before it’s too late And regret all the things we forgot to say
In Your Head
There’s a coward in the room Hiding out of sight Stuck alone with you Through the day and night A shadow of a being Testing all your ideas Teasing and twisting Pushing the buttons of your fears Naggin’ at your noggin You listen to each spell Mixing up your emotions You can no longer tell The differences of what’s right And wrong at all If you keep listening to that devil You will surely fall
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that despite all the negative things that happened during the day with my immigration visa application – I was still able to go back to school and have a fun class with new students.
Running around, filling in forms Photocopying passports and paper Wasting time and wasting petrol On this stupid annual caper “You’ve done it wrong, take it back” Take it to another station Always use blue ink, never black For those lovely folks at immigration “Thanks for coming, we’ll take your money But go away and do it right” Said one thing and meant another “Now get the hell out of my sight” Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full Please let me stay in your land It’s enough to make you want to leave This isn’t what I’d planned It’s like you don’t want us here Unless we pay through the nose Your useless corrupt system’s Designed just to keep us on our toes I’m trying to make it along here A house with pets, a job and a wife But maybe it’s time to reconsider Where I spend the rest of my life
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful to meet my students again and to meet some of the new classes. It was a lot of fun and I felt relaxed and enjoyed the day very much despite other stresses going on.
Too much to dream last night – Electric Prunes. Cannot remember dream now but I do know I didn’t sleep long enough. Woke up knowing I need to try a bit harder today (in my thinking) – be positive, stay positive – say positive.
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that I forgot my passport and that I had to go to immigration this morning. It meant some extra running around but also meant I got to try a new coffee shop which has great coffee. It was delicious.
To-do list
More blog posts – need to do at least 1! ½
Compliments and kindness ½
Listen!…….speak.
Awards ½
Somewhat have achieved these things. I noticed that in the last few days, I get annoyed at the way George presents himself sometimes. The things he says are usually good advice but I hear it with a hint of arrogance and belief that he feels he is right. I’m cautious about this feeling because it is coming from me and not from him. I want to understand this feeling more and I won’t make any judgment on the person.
I feel like George is always setting a great test for me (not on purpose, of course) – it makes me consider my thoughts, feelings and actions. For that, I am grateful.
Because of this though, it can be tiring to be around him.
I am so happy and grateful that I can communicate enough with non-English speakers. I will try to learn more and more.
Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.
Marcus Aurelius
To-do list
More about emotional control ½
20-minute meditations ✅
Sort out passport/visa change ✅
Sort out return visa exemption ✅
Give Maisarah letter ✅
Improved positive emotions today, helped by having to go to Immigration in the morning to get my visa transferred to my new passport – ie. not sitting around in school.
Gave Maisarah my gratitude letter and spent an hour or so talking with her. She’s a good person.
I felt much calmer today and though I thought about Kimi often it was happy memories of him laughing and joking.
This evening I sat for over 2 hours at the neighbour’s funeral as the monk made everyone laugh with his words, sometimes making fun of me. It was an interesting approach to often sombre occasions. Even though I couldn’t understand his words I could feel the happiness throughout those gathered and I could also see or at least understand the positive effects of community.
“How much more time, energy, and pure brainpower would you have available if you drastically cut your media consumption? How much more rested and present would you feel if you were no longer excited and outraged by every scandal, breaking story, and potential crisis (many of which never come to pass anyway)?”
Excerpt From “The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday
This is something I’ve been conscious of for about ten years, since first reading an article about how ‘the news’ is not good for us. In my lifetime the news and its delivery have changed considerably. Someone who read newspapers or watched BBC 2 news analysis shows was deemed to be knowledgeable and worldly.
These days news is everywhere and very little of it is actually news. A couple of decades ago Jello Biafra urged us to ‘become the media’ and technology has now allowed us that opportunity but we, as humans, have subverted this idea to push along our personal agendas.
So, I turned off the news, anywhere it could be found. If there’s something I really need to know I will find out about it. 99.9% of everything else has no real consequence in my life. That gives me a lot of free time to appreciate all the good things in life. It brings me closer to those I should be loving.
Another fantastic slow news day!
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for the sunrise each morning. With the temple as a pointer on the mountain, I can see how ancient man used this to measure time.
Our intentional, effortful activities have a powerful effect on how happy we are over and above the effects of our set points and the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Sonya Lyubomirsky
To-do list
Finish gratitude letter for Maesara. ✅
Get some solid info from George about lesson plans. ½
Immigration, book shop, relax. ✅
More Coursera, transfer notes to book. ✅
Clean up cartoon drawing. ✅
Today was another easy day and I felt very happy with everything. I actually got a lot more done than I expected. I feel like things are coming together very well in my life. I feel fresher, livelier, motivated and committed.
I talked with George after work – a stimulating and positive conversation as usual. He thinks TLC will ask me to join CRPAO lesson planning before this semester ends which will be fine for me.
George has his way of dealing with ‘troublesome’ people at work that I really admire and something I could definitely learn and improve on in myself. It revolves around listening and thinking a lot more before speaking. My outspoken opinion on things seems to get me into trouble so I need to step back and think about the outcomes more.
Tomorrow I’ve had to suddenly rearrange my day so that I can renew my work permit. I dealt with this change of plan quite easily and shouldn’t cause any issues. Tonight I will savour my trip to Japan when I first met Limited Express (has gone?)
bad news is that daighila got pulled by immigration in melbourne and sent straight back home to malaysia. we’ve had no contact with them so don’t know the details for sure but basically their tour isn’t happening, except to say that we’ll try and still have the shows with local bands and all proceeds being sent to the band to help with their expenses. we’ve tried to pull down everything online about the tour as we’re certain immigration will be persuing the issue.
ok – for sydney this means sunday afternoon at dirty shirlows is cancelled. we’re still planning to go ahead with thursday may 8th at 34 murray street with an amalgamation of the line ups. please come and check it out and donate as much as you can. the band have probably lost in the region of $6,000 and having to quit their jobs to come here they will be desperately short of money (plus not being allowed back here for 5 years).
23rd May 2021 – I always warned bands about the best way to get through immigration in Australia due to it’s draconian rules about earning money and tax avoidance – doing things legally involves copious amounts of paperwork and a fee that would never be recovered for the types of artists I worked with. So, never fly into Perth or Adelaide and never arrive in the evening – always try to arrive as early as possible – that’s when it’s the busiest as most airports don’t allow flights to land until 6am usually. If you can, arrange a sound engineer with a story that the band is here to record at their studio (essentially indicating that they are employing the services of Australians). Never tell them the correct name of your band as smart officials will net search for show listings. Have a person ready at the airport with exactly the same story as the band. In the case of Daighila, they flew into Melbourne arriving in the evening and it seems that they were actually pulled up with a couple of other people on their flight and those people were entering illegally to work and it was just bad luck that the four guys in Daighila were assumed to be with them. I was in Sydney at the time – I hadn’t organised the tour but just the Sydney shows. We couldn’t talk with the band and on that evening we had no idea what was happening with them. They were flown back to Kuala Lumpur the next morning, now jobless and thousands of dollars out of pocket. The story made national radio, for which I was interviewed outside the benefit show at Louies. We managed to raise $370 for them that night. I am still close friends with 3 of the guys in the band and try to see them whenever I visit Kuala Lumpur.
13th June 2021 – While looking around for other things I came across this article (written by Nick from the band McClane, who I actually listened to today, just by chance, though wondering why I had sold all the copies I had of their demo and never keeping one for myself) which includes a message from Daighila originally posted on MySpace and some lively discussion in the comments section. It is amazing to see how upbeat and positive the band where despite the shitty situation. Taken from the Canberra based Riot Act page:
However, thanks to our friends in the Immigration department, the band was detained in Melbourne and interrogated for 6 hours about their work intentions in Australia. The following is a message from the band that was posted on their myspace.
“Dear friends…yes, we were sent back home from Melbourne by the Australian Immigration after being separated and interrogated for 6 hours and after being detained in their detention centre for another 24 hours. They ‘assumed’ that we came to find jobs and become illegal workers. Despite the lack of proof to convict us and the fact that we’ve already booked a ticket back from Brisbane, they insisted that we allegedly came to find jobs like the other groups of Malaysians who were detained prior before we arrived. They also say they believe we came here to work because we carry small amounts of cash in our wallets. But we explained it was a safety precaution and we had a bank account with sufficient money in it. We even presented our bank card. We also presented proofs that we have stable lives in Malaysia. But it was all ignored. Alas, they cancelled our visas with the reason that we couldn’t convince who they called the ‘decision maker’ (whoever that was…) that we were actual tourists and we could support ourselves during our stay in Australia. As a last resort we gave them our friend Juzzy’s number who organized our tour. They called and told him that we explained he was going to find us jobs and they then told us that Juzzy explained he’s going to find us jobs! Clearly they tried to provoke us to admit that we came to Australia to find work. We demanded a phone call but they said, “You can only call Malaysian Embassy, but nobody would probably answer because it’s already late.” We still demanded that call and they say we can call after the interrogation but unfortunately, we were never given the chance to call. It was absurd and even the staff of the detention centre couldn’t believe what just happened to us. But they say things like this always occur….even Kris Dayanti was sent back without a reason once…hahaha. We took our chances, rolled the dice and got a little unfortunate, I guess.
Although we didn’t make the tour, but we did make new friends at the detention centre. If any of our new Malaysian friends in the detention centre is reading this, never give up!! To my Israelian roommate, thank you for watching over us. You never did give us your name. =(
We would like to show our deepest appreciation and gratitude to Juzzy, Shaun, Alex, Lena, Yeap, Lawrence and all our Australian friends who’s helped, waited, tried calling us, tried to let us out and everything…..we all did our best. And not forgetting our Malaysian friends who supported us, sent us, and picked us up at the airport. We really appreciate everything.
After all that had happened, whether it’s a case of discrimination, racism, or tyranny, we still believe in global DIY connection and friendship because no ones to blame but the discriminating system we are forced to submit to. Yet, we will never give up. ”
Thankfully no one was imprisoned, however a lot of people organising the shows around the country and Diaghila themselves were left out of pocket due to the shows not continuing. A benefit show will be conducted next weekend, more details soon.
++++++++++++++++++++
some good news if you want to party tho:
Name: Iceland Warehouse Party Time and PlaceStart Time: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:00pm End Time: Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 6:00am
Location: Iceland Squat Street: 2-8 Weston Street City/Town: Balmain, Australia
The Iceland warehouse squat in Balmain is notorious for it’s great parties! Sadly it’s all gonna end as the site will soon be re-developed. So the squatters are going out with a bang with an all-weekend festival of fun this weekend. There’ll be DJs, bands and lots of live performances.
Come down earlier and have a drink and a dance if you wanna, or rock up late after you’ve finished your fun elsewhere.
shaun/tenzenmen ++ i’ll either be at these events or wishing i was there ++
1994ever 