WOW...

... just WOW!!!

This guy is hardcore...

I feel exhausted just watching him!

My 2007 Daily Photo Diary

I discovered a new group on Flickr where people are encouraged to keep a photo diary for a year.

There are several different types of "a photo a day" groups, but this one appealed to me because it wasn't just self portraits, nor did it have a list of specific images to be included. This one is just to document each day with an image and possibly a few words.

I half thought about putting it up here as well, but it all seemed like too much fiddling about.

Here is the first picture...



If you would like to follow the thread, you can find it here.

Freedom of Expression... Freedom of Living...

Originally uploaded by HORIZON.

I have a friend through the Flickr photo sharing site.

His screen name is HORIZON. He lives in Iran, has a gentle heart and takes the most beautiful photographs.

Today he uploaded this photo and a simple note was left in the tags (see below) explaining that access to the Flickr site (I assume this is not the only one) by internet users has been blocked by the Iranian Government.

I
am
blocked
filterred
banned
can't
access
you
this
is
via
tehran
miss
all
friends

This evening I pray to God to thank him for the freedom I have as an Australian and also to ask that this same freedom will come to those in countries ruled by fear.

Let there be freedom in their hearts and minds even if they aren't allowed to express it.

Sweaty men in feathery masks...

Yesterday I spent most of the day working at the Queensland Multicultural Festival.

Actually, working could be too strong a word because the only work I really did all day was a 20min walk behind a samba school, some capoeira dudes, latin dancers and some Bolivian guys in HUGE feathered head dress for the "Road to Rio" Parade (I was making sure the crowd didn't get in the way). The rest of the time was spent wandering around checking out different performances and hanging out in the volunteer tent in case they needed someone to do something.

Man it was HOT!!!! I mean the festival was great, but the weather was stinkin'. Cloudless skies meant that the sun's searing rays were only hindered by the dust raised by thousands of pairs of feet as they tramped around the parklands. Surprisingly enough, I managed to make it through the day without my skin burning to a crisp like it usually does.

After my shift finished I headed up to the amphetheatre to get a good seat for Lior's set. The band before were called The Bird and just I have to say that they were freakin' A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!

The whole place was pumping with the most sublime beats. If I wasn't so weary I would have been busting a move with the rest of the punters. Instead, I sat on the step and let my toes and head do the dancing for me.

Lior was pretty cool and worth the wait, but he changed guitars a little too often for my liking (pretty much every song). I found it really distracting, but otherwise his performance was great.

After a day of sensory overstimulation I was looked forward to getting home to try and get some sleep before Monday arrived, but before I headed towards the land of nod I went to do a quick check of emails and to see what had been happening in Flickrville during my absence.

To my horror, I discovered that the internet wasn't working!!!!!

Once I started to breath normally again and had gone through the rigmarol of off-ing and on-ing everything I possibly could, I remembered that weeks earlier I had received a letter from my provider asking for the new expiry date for the account I pay my bill from... The G-rated version of my next thought was "OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, THEY'VE CUT ME OFF!!!!".

The only thing to do was go to bed and try to sort it out in the morning.

After answering the multitude of voice prompts that stand between you and an actual person I proceeded to wait on hold for about 25mins.

Just when I thought I was about to go insane from the hideously cheery hold muzak, I finally I got through and proceded to try and explain the sad, sad story about no internet, letters and credit card expiry numbers in great detail without sounding like a total la-hooo-zer.

Halfway through my story the guy informs me that my internet has not been cut-off, but there had been a state-wide glitch that caused a temporary outage. PHEW!!!!!!!!!

You'll be pleased to know that I arrived home from work to find that my laptop was again full of electron goodness...