If I am a stranger

So goodbyes were said and people drank heartily, everybody looked good and felt good and my baby mohawk was well received.

D-day is approaching as it were, there isn't much time left for this sort of lark.

I'm on the horns of a dilemma however.

Publish and be damned, or publish and not be damned as it were.

I've promised alot of people access to my travel blog but I'm different things to different people and it's not just a case of being economical with the truth.

The truth may very well be that I don't know myself and that's part of what informs this trip, the chance to spend some quality time with myself free of responsibility and obligation.

So, I know I haven't overburdened this blog with much detail from my personal life, how I feel about life, work and love, etc., but that really can't continue can it?

If this is to be a worthwhile exercise in any sense then personal exploration is just as much part of the voyage. Or something.

Current Listenin'

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - If I am a stranger

It's time to tidy up...

T minus 1 week.

Second last day in work.

Putting all my stuff in boxes because we are supposedly moving office while I'm away although I'll probably come back just in time for the heavy lifting the way this place works.

Playing some music with Rob & Neil tonight, then it's SO MANY DRINKS on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday in order to fete le depart.

Then Wednesday and Prague.

And the world and beyond.

4 months off!

Say it with me!

4 months off!!!

Why Do Vampires Rock So Hard???

In short, I just went to see Underworld: Evolution.

It's a rather enjoyable, rip-roaring romp, probably on a par with the first one which is saying something. The plot has more strands than 5 action movies could cope with but it's not a cerebral challenge.

Just pay attention.

It's impossible not to.

It's Kate Beckinsale in a skintight catsuit for close on 2 hours.

Now that's a movie.

Hassle

... or "and you were doing so well!"

A day of moment! Much has happened and it is only 5:30pm...

I got my shots for Hep A, Typhoid, Polio and Tetanus, took the plunge as it were and it's probably €120 well spent in any case.

Then off to bank (an hour late thanks to excruciating wait in the Doc's surgery) to sign for the loan, all seems to have gone swimmingly in that direction at least and the repayments won't kick in until June hopefully.

Then, the first setback of the day!

Salary Admin, who had first, quite of their own volition, spoken of the exciting prospect of front loading my holiday money rang to say "forces" meant that this could not be accomplished. Then, proceeded to put the boot in further by noting that I wouldn't get paid for my last week of work because of problems with the fortnightly system and IT. So that means my last paycheque was yesterday. As Stimpy would say: "Oh Joy! Oh Rapture!"

Still, we all knew there were risks...

Second setback of the day!!!

There have been changes to the flights, just in terms of carriers and timings (in fact, the Las Vegas change is quite beneficial in some ways) but you gets to thinking is this going to be happening while I'm in the middle of Patagonia! I am definitely going to have ring up airline after airline to confirm what I've booked hasn't departed in another form already.

On a related tangent I saw some skiing for five seconds this morning on the TV from Ushuaia at the southern most point of Argentina, looked fantastic, will I make it that far???

So, holiday pay will not now kick in till late April / May and I have to endure the rather decrepid charms of USIT travel agents offices twice more before le depart.

Ok, I'm going to end this orgy of self pity right now and go and exchange money for my Dad who is 51 today.

Still to do:

- Cancel Car Insurance
- Credit Card Protection Plan
- Ear Piercing / New Runners / Assorted Textiles
- Duplicate everything fourfold
- Put together all contact details of various peeps into a nice, neat little package
& a shedload more besides!!!

Torch No.1

On this day in 1969, at 4pm, Jan Palach self immolated himself on the steps of the National Museum at Wencelas Square in Prague in protest at the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the crushing of the Prague Spring and the attempt to bring into being, "Socialism with a Human Face".

He died on the 19th of January as a result of the injuries he sustained.

I've read pretty much everything the net has to offer in relation to poems and memorials and not much does justice to the sheer weight of the event, he had wanted to shake the conscience of the nation and the reverberations eventually climaxed in 1989 and the Velvet Revolution.

I don't know if he what he did was right or wrong, selfish or selfless, but it was a powerful gesture and one that he described as an attempt: "to awaken a kernel of strength in the nation". Certainly it did that, groups like Charter 77 were instrumental in the critique and building of opposition to the Soviet backed bureaucracy over the next 20 years and they drew great inspiration from the sacrifice of Palach.

This is a painting entitled: "Happy Birthday Jan Palach" by a guy called Stuart Davis, it's the only piece that resonates with me that I've seen regarding the subject so far.

"I believe that revolution would represent the first step towards realising oppressed humanity's dreams and aspirations."
- Jan Palach (1948-1969)

I blog therefore I am

Picking up on a recent topic that came up tangentially from the SGR blog. Why blog?

Well, this is going to be a travel diary obviously but it's also an exposition of thoughts and yes even if nobody in fact reads it, you still compose for an audience.

When you write a song, a piece of music, an essay or a blog post, you are going up against something in your own estimation.

You are *officially* trying not to suck.

Billy Corgan had a good rule of thumb for weeding through material (it's entirely debatable according to where you stand on The Pumpkins as to whether he was successful or not), simply it was this.

More fun to play than to listen to.

If it was more fun to play than to listen to, throw it out, then start again.

Even if you were the last person on the planet, you still have your own measure of integrity to stand up to. This measure is of course, inspired and influenced by work you've loved and admired but that's what I believe drives people to create, write, draw, play and think.

I blog therefore I am.

Cogito ergo sum.

Going to shoot some pool later with Little Dave, then pinting.

Current Listenin'

Mogwai - Hunted by a Freak

Listmania / Still to do...

Right.

I'm getting my letter from work tomorrow, so the bank loan shall be sorted. Still have to get onto the credit card company to confirm and sort some details!

I still need my shots and time is getting on, also I may be harrassed into a dental appointment before I head.

Going shopping on Saturday for backpack, boots and accompanying gear... Should be fun, alright.

I need to pick up a decent teach yourself latin american spanish book aswell still, so I can hobble by in South America.

Air Alaska tickets, Travel Insurance, I'll leave the US Car Rental until closer to the time perhaps...

Oh yeah, cancel car insurance for 3 months, buy a new camera, sort out my rent tax back for last year...

Fecking hell, I'm looking forward to a holiday after all this.

But I was very, very drunk...

Yeah.

London.

Tube strike.

New Years.

Beer / wine / champagne.

Lack of sleep.

Suffering now.

Bed.