Category: Mental Notes

MELBOURNE–There’s a lot of movement on this site at the moment as I build a whole new publishing system and backend with new gen tools. If you see  beta  anywhere it’s the new stuff, which as these things go – and my rate of additions – is throwing content everywhere. Feel free to look and play in these new areas.

MELBOURNE–Yep, I’m engaged.

MELBOURNE–Two and a bit weeks into night shiftin’ and I think I’ve got the daytime sleeping thing going on. Five hours after getting in at 6am, then a power nap around 4pm. Considering Burma, Thailand, Russia, PNG and a whole lot of earthquaking is going on, the time flies really. Hear the outcome as I read the news, on the hour, by selecting ‘Listen Now Online’ at Radio Australia from 2300 EST, 2100 HKT, 1300 GMT, 0900 US EDT, weekdays until Oct 11.

MELBOURNE–Remember graveyard and around-the-clock shifts we did for fun? I recall about seven years of a once-weekly radio show, completely freeform, very strange. Closing magazines with blathering reviews. Launching websites immersed in code. But I’m about to descend into a daily pattern of this for a month with no giggling allowed. Hear the outcome, on the hour, by selecting ‘Listen Now Online’ at Radio Australia from 2300 EST, 2100 HKT, 1300 GMT, 0900 US EDT, weekdays from Sept 16. Youch.

MELBOURNE–You thought your job was sh*t… A spate of suicides has prompted India to increase perks for soldiers deployed to a glacier in disputed Kashmir. About 120 soldiers killed themselves last year, most of them posted to the 6,300-metre high Siachen glacier. Government officials say allowances will be increased by 80 per cent in a bid to reduce stress levels in the soldiers who work in a region where temperatures often plummet to minus 50 degrees Celsius. India has about 5,000 troops on the freezing wasteland, and about 600 soldiers and officers have turned their guns on themselves since 2003. Besides the string of suicides, the army is also plagued by frequent murders of military personnel by men in their own command. [Radio Australia News 3/8/2007]

MELBOURNE–There was a holiday comedown, then a moving one, then it got cold. Sorry. As well as work I’m developing a new Mental Notes app. Then there’s feckin’ Facebook. But wait until you see the new MN. Beware the return of Surrealpolitik too as I get back to reporting.

MELBOURNE–Nice feckin’ bubbles. Just turned 35, still full o’ hot air.

MELBOURNE–Back in the home country. Having a nice fuzz’o lag from doing a 12+ hour hit of travelling back from Hong Kong and the ‘Japan airline Scotch pours’ of my select carrier. Will be backfilling all the dates of this holiday soon, but have noticed an archiving issue so more TK. Golly, my apartment’s huge after a month of Asia living!

HONG KONG–Ah, back in one of my numerous homes over the years, Lamma Island, staying thanks to a good mate at Chateau Darren, and looking after a pretty ill Sue. Tokyo really was the bomb and we’re both a bit schrapnel-grazed. We’re still a little too frazzled to hit my usual haunts, are but nonetheless well content. WABS: still considering Taiwan dates. More later.

TOKYO–What a blast. This will be short… though it’s my fifth trip here to Japan it still blows me away. Tonight Sue and I are staying directly above the Shibuya intersection that typifies this place. Many more stories soon. Will be in Hong Kong April 29 about 3pm.