Adventures of Reverend Timothy

Queensland Art Museum and Science Centre

I wish I could show you how good the Art Museum was, but…

The Science Centre was pretty damn good too!

Seaworld, Gold Coast

Botanic Park Photoshoot

Elaine and I managed to find some time to go on a photo excursion with our friend Kevin. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a good photohunt, and I’m pleased with the results.

I’ve been a bit demotivated lately, when seeing my normal noisy pictures compared with the sharp, crisp pictures from Elaine’s new DSLR. Today has reignited my passion. I’ve gone for heavy effects with these shots - mainly to distract from the fact they’re not as sharp as they could be - and as I said, I’m pleased with how they turned out.

Another mass-update

Here’s a quick recap of where my weekends have been going over the past month…

Camping at Kuitpo Forest - It was quite cold in the evening, but it was a lot of fun. Armed with $30 bargain-basement tents, it was a great night of campfires, guitar solos, cards, and vodka. We brought our puppy Axis along too, and he was very well behaved!

Owen’s Dog - Owen brought Jackson around to our house to play with Axis. They got along great! Jackson is a gentle giant, and although Axis was a bit hyperactive, the two played and had a good time.

Cat’s 21st Birthday - Cat threw an awesome birthday bash upstairs at Enigma. Cheap drinks ($1 Tooheys!!) ensured a well-lubricated social event, with lots of dancing, partying, and impromptu karaoke.

Sea and Vines Festival - This was a bus tour throughout Adelaide’s famous McLaren Vale region, stopping off at four different wineries for the opportunity to taste all the different wines on offer.

On top of all that, there have been numerous rock climbing trips, long runs through the hills (training for a marathon), working, cleaning the house, and general partying.

My Birthday - Breakfasts, Protests, and Karaoke

OK, so my birthday was OVER A MONTH AGO on the 15th of March. I’ve been really busy. But what’s new? Haha.

The morning of the 15th started out with a family breakfast at McDonalds. Yes, I’ve seen ‘SuperSize Me’, but a Maccas breakfast is a guilty pleasure I indulge in on special occasions.

Later in the afternoon was the Scientology protest, where Elaine and I practiced our photo-journalistic skills. We were quite pleased with the results.

The following Wednesday, I went out clubbing at FlashDance (the old Timewarp ). It had been a while since I last went to Flashies, so it was good to get out there and cut a rug again!

Because I attended an engagement party on the night of my birthday (congratulations, Mary and Lee!), I threw a joint birthday party the week after with friend-and-colleague, Geralyn.

We booked a karaoke room at Buddha Bar, and from what I remember of the night, everyone had a great time. THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped us celebrate!!

Catch you all later!

Hangin’ with the Graffiti Research Lab

A few weeks back, while the Adelaide Fringe was still on, the Graffiti Research Lab crew were in town to spread some artistic love in Adelaide. For those not in the know, the Graffiti Research Lab (GRL) is an art group founded by James Powderly (pictured right) and Evan Roth in NYC. They are the group responsible for the LED Throwies, and who are “dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication.”

The night began with checking out the Norther Lights down North Tce. If you missed out on this, kick yourself now, and remember to see it next year (if it comes back!) Huge industrial projectors are set up in front of the buildings in North Tce, and slides are projected onto the building front which acts to colour them in. It was awesome to see bright multicoloured glowing buildings. The world needs more of them!

A little later in the evening, we met up with some friends and headed to the GRL Adelaide headquarters. We bummed around there for a while until they set up LASER Tag: a giant digital graffiti machine, where people can “tag” walls using a laser pointer. It was freakin’ awesome - until the cops showed up and told us to move along, haha. Thankfully, the whole thing was mounted on a bicycle, so everyone just moved to a new location and started all over again, haha.

After the LASER Tag expedition, we went to a quiet alley near the Cranker and played an awesome game, where a moving target is projected on a wall, and everybody throws socks filled with coloured chalk at the target. The end result is a multi-coloured polka-dot gigantic piece of art! Not only was it a lot of fun, but the end result looked fantastic.

We followed the GRL crowd around until about 4am (and this was on a work night too, haha. The next day was harsh), as they got up to random acts of public art, involving chalk, LEDs and magnets. It was a great night out.

I also used up an entire roll of Holga film experimenting with my Dad’s external flash. That’s another reason this post took so long, because I had to wait forever for the film to get developed over the Easter long weekend! I’m pretty damn happy with the results, too.

That’s it for now! Much more to blog about, so hopefully more updates to come soon. Most of my time has been poured into renovating the interior of my house, so hopefully should have some before-and-after shots of that soon too.

Peace Out!

The Reverend is Back

Holy shit. I’ve barely had time to breathe these last few weeks. We have so much work going on at my office right now that everyone has their foot to the floor. When I haven’t been pulling long hours for the office (and loving every second of it, I might add! ) I’ve been catching up with much-neglected friends.

I caught up with Penny and Ly at Isobar a few weeks back to catch Ly workin’ it in her new modelling/promotions job. You go girl! The night was great - loud music, party atmosphere, and I really regretted having to bail early. Looking forward to the next promo night!

Now, I can’t title a post “The Reverend is Back” without showing some proof. Last Sunday was a dress-up night at HQ, and yes, the Reverend made an appearance! It was fun for a while, but the club was sooo damn hot (Adelaide is in the middle of a record heat-wave, for those who didn’t know) that we didn’t stay too long.

I also bumped into long-time blogging friend Krystle at Maccas afterwards. Since she doesn’t post photos on her blog, didn’t recognise her and she approached me. I’m glad she did! It’s always awesome meeting other bloggers for the first time “in real life”.

Last Monday was the Adelaide Cup. Even though I’m not really into horse racing, Chouly and Mel twisted my arm and convinced me to join them. The fact it was in a catered, shady tent area with free food and alcohol helped. The day was a lot of fun and I’m glad I went, but again, it was just tooo hot.

Speaking of Chouls, we also went to the Norwood Food, Wine and Music Festival. Of course, there were no disappointments - the food, wine and company were all great. The music was a bit average, though. Haha.

Finally, I’ve been going through rolls of Holga film like there’s no tomorrow. I’m loving this camera. I’m still experimenting with Black & White, but hope to get my hands on some colour film soon.

That’s it for now, folks!

Oh yeah, I have another exciting story to tell about the guys from the Graffiti Research Lab (who were recently in town for the Art Festival), but that will get a post of its own once I get the photos developed. Byeee!

Super Mega Flashback Update

While Elaine’s away, I’ve spent a lot of time at home cleaning, and hence away from the computer. The only times I haven’t been cleaning is when I’ve been going out, which has been a lot, especially in the last couple of weeks.

I’ve been slack updating this site, I know, so here is a stack of pictures and stories from the last couple of months.

Back in January, the Shutzenfest (affectionately known as the Shitzenfaced) was a lot of fun. I’m not normally a big drinker, but the irresistable temptation to taste-test a myriad of different German beers (and by “taste”, I mean “taste by drinking a stein”) was too much to pass out up. My kitchen floor has never before been such a comfy place to nap.

A few weeks ago the Big Day Out passed through Adelaide, and what a big day it was! We cruised around checking out the local morning bands, not bad, but they weren’t anything to write home about. Then we checked out some midday main-stage acts, and again, they were decent but not mind-blowing.

Curtis and I tried to hit the boiler room to check out Dizzee Rascal, however the boiler room was “full”, and security stopped letting people in. The crowd outside was massive, and a riot ensued where people simply bashed their way past the security and rushed in - with Curtis and I caught up in the middle. It was pretty intense, especially since I hate mob scenes (moshing is OK, though ).

Up next were The Beards, formally known as the Dairy Brothers (but they now all have beards), and they were friggin’ hilarious. Every song was about beards, including the hits, “No beard, no good”, “My baby left me for a man without a beard”, and who could forget the touching, “If your dad doesn’t have a beard, then you’ve got two mums”.

After that, we decided it was high-time to get into the “D-barrier” and get on the front rail for Rage Against the Machine, even if it meant sitting through Silverchair. We did make it to the front, and I was kinda disappointed I couldn’t see the other stage properly because I’m a HUGE Bjork fan. I knew Rage would be worth it though, and I didn’t regret it one second. The lead singer’s onstage engergy is simply out of this world. One of the best live acts I’ve seen in a long time, even if I did get nearly crushed to death, hahaha. Wicked. Front rail rocks.

Last weekend was my workmate Chris’s birthday. It was Mexican themed, but unlike the last Mexican party I went to, there was no cactus. Heh. Instead, Chris’s girlfriend Lauren had made an incredibly addictive and intoxicating cheese dip for the Corn Chips, and I couldn’t stop eating it. Haha. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the copious amounts of tequila and margaritas.

The cops showed up at one point, because apparently the neighbors complained about the volume. I think in reality they were simply sick of hearing the out-of-tune trumpet recording of “Spanish Flea” for the hundredth time, hahaha.

On Sunday I had Dim Sum with Raelene and friends for Chinese New Year. Oh my God, I ate so much I thought my stomach was going to explode. Including all the different dishes (like chicken feet, beef tripe) I think I ate an entire chicken and cow. It was friggin’ awesome.

Walking back from Dim Sum, I chanced to catch the end of the Scientology Protest which has been threatening to rear its head for a while. Now, I am by NO MEANS a fan of Scientology, for a lot of reasons. I am also very pleased that people are starting to wake up to some of Scientology’s purported shady history and practices. However, I don’t believe that running around in silly masks demonstrates anything but cowardice. I mean, sure for the Anonymous guys running the anti-Scientology campaign online, they’re gonna get their asses sued to hell (if not kidnapped, haha) if they don’t take precautions. But protesting? Come on, there were a lot of people there, and they can’t sue us by face alone. The flyers were also very propaganda-styled, and if there’s one thing I hate, it’s using propaganda to fight propaganda. In my opinion, the best way to beat propaganda is with cold, hard, dot-pointed facts that present a convincing summary argument. But anyway, as I said, I’m glad people are starting to step up.

Oh yeah, while cleaning out the house, and moving old stuff to the shed, I found a massive Huntsman with Egg Sac. I’d never seen a huntsman’s egg sac before, and that thing is HUGE! Check out the pics below!

Finally, I’ve had a lot of time recently to persue my hobbies, and I’ve been playing with a new toy - my Holga. For those not familiar with this camera, it’s a cheap, crappy, plastic camera from Hong Kong. It even has a plastic lens. Light leaks in sometimes, colours kinda bleed or wash out, scratches sometimes end up on the negatives… but look at the beautiful black and white shot below (which hasn’t been photoshopped in any way). Isn’t it grand? The shot on the right was a test shot for me practicing my HDR technique, and it’s starting to come along well.

As for the week ahead? Elaine comes back, parties galore, Hostworks reunion dinner… Gonna be a big one. See y’all soon!

Long Distance

Elaine is in Malaysia for Chinese New Year. She’s been there since the beginning of the year, and doesn’t come back until late February. It’s been about a month now, and sometimes I find it really difficult.

Sometimes it’s fine, talking on the phone and on MSN, just like normal. Other days can be quite depressing, though.

Anyway, not long now! Only a few more weeks ’til my baby is back. To help pass the time, I surprised Elaine by recording her favourite song and sending it her thanks to the magic of youtube. It’s “Ice Kacang” by the Kopi Kat Klan, where I’ve arranged a guitar part based on their vocal harmonies.

Enjoy! Ice Kacang for Guitar

Christmas Wrap Up

I’ve been seriously neglecting this blog lately. I choose to blame Facebook, and more specifically, the Human Pets application. I’m totally addicted to it. I haven’t even sat down to do my usual “retrospective” for the year just gone!

In the meantime…

Christmas was good! It was a traditional family Christmas this year, including big dinners and family. It was Elaine’s first time experiencing a traditional Aussie Christmas, and as far as I know she enjoyed it. Who wouldn’t? Haha.

I spent the interim between Christmas and New Years with my good mate Dave who came down from Queensland. Elaine and I shacked up in his, er, shack, in Goolwa for the weekend. We played an awesome game of Diplomacy, fit in some surfing, and generally lazed around.

Curtis threw a Mexican party for New Years Eve, replete with Coronas, Tequilas, Mexican hats, piñatas and… cactus. Hahaha. It was a great party with lots of laughs.