Early Christmas Present

I gots Deb an early Christmas present. Early mostly because I couldn't really find a place to hide it in my tiny flat or my car for that matter.

I have to say, it hit the jackpot, I've never seen anyone so excited about a present. I present as evidence the following:

That's a roughly five to seven year old Mongoose BMX bike, which has had a rough life. I picked it up from Lower Templestowe the other night after buying it on Ebay that afternoon! I gave it to Deb today, which is why she is riding it in my bedroom - note oblique shot of my bathroom to the right :-)

I figured we could just use the frame, make a bit of a project out of it, but Deb had other ideas! She pumped the almost flat tyres, and miraculously they stayed up. They looked like they were buggered. The front wheel is visibly bent, and missing spokes, and someone has spray-painted the rim and the tire green. It also entirely lacks brakes, although there is the remains of the rear brake sitting around the back wheel. Deb wants to get foot pegs for the front and rear wheels, then learn to do tricks on it. And in her own words "seriously injure myself!"

And now... I want one :-)

The Summer of Music Rolls On

Ok, so, in addition to seeing Saul Williams the other day, I also have tickets to see Public Enemy and the Necks in early Jan. It also seems that everyone's favourite "sludge rock" band The Melvins will be at the Ding Dong lounge some time in January. And I drove past a poster today advertising Ani DiFranco at the Palias on January 30th.

It's going to be a Summer of International Music for me.

Hmmmmm... And I must have the most eclectic taste on the planet. Lets see... Saul Williams is "thinking man's Rap" for want of a better description. Public Enemy is old school rap, although not old-old school - that would be Kool Herc or Afrika Baambata. The Necks are improvisational jazz, the Melvins are, as mentioned, "Sludge Rock", whatever that means. And Ani DiFranco is a Lesbian folk musician. Top that for a bizarre mixture of musical tastes!

Fuji The Car's Last Day

One last shot of the back end of Fuji the Car:

I parked him outside my block of flats, on his last drive, which lasted all of five minutes. I left him outside so a dude with a tow truck could get him easily. When I got back later he was gone, towed to his final resting place.

Is it normal to be this sentimental about a car? I mean, he served me well for eight years, but it is just a car. Ah well.

Note the lack of number plates. Took them back to Vicroads a couple of weeks back, and got a refund on my rego, which was nice.

Ah well. It was about this time of year in 1999 that I was shopping for, and buying, Fuji the car. And he would be 20 years old in February of next year. Not bad given that cars are designed to last for about fifteen years. So if all goes to plan, I'll have Lenny the car for nine years!