Friends

Looking through my diary, some friends that I caught up with have been:
Bec, Cathy, Charlotte, Francine, Frank, Georgie, Gillian, Jackie, Jo & Kel, Julie, Kam, Karin, Linda, Lisa, Loraine, Maggie & Kevin, Matt & Sarah, Michelle, Murat, Nina & Guy, Ruth, Sharon, Steph, Terri, Tonia, Trudi,
There have been others too, but these were names that were in my diary. When I see the names, it always delights me that I know so many nice people.

Music

I always like to go and see some stirring music, though it doesn’t always deliver what I hoped for. Some shows from the year have been:

• Dan Sultan: what a hugely talented and likeable chap he is – I look forward to his next tour.
• Geoffrey Gurrumul: the previous time I saw him, I was blown away by his show. This time, though he was good, I found my mind wondering off – it just didn’t grab me as much.
• Rickie, Lee Jones: quirky but interesting.
• Vika and Linda: always a delight.
• Mavis Staples: stunning – there isn’t a better soul/gospel voice than hers.
• B B King: awful - then again, he wouldn’t know as he seems to have gone elsewhere already.
• Soweto Gospel Choir: love them – always a pleasure.
• Black Arm Band: I wish that they performed more often – love them.
• Archie Roach: showing his age but still delivering like no other.
• Kutcha Edwards: hit and miss – this year was a hit.
• Tiddas: a rare performance but still magical.
• Charles Jenkins: a rich voice and knows how to use it.
• Suzzanah Espie: lovely as ever.
• Joss Stone: she is great – I don’t know what she is planning to do with that talent, but it will be good to find out over time.

• In February, to celebrate my 50th, I finally got to experience New York – bloody marvellous – a great trip that contained so many highlights.
• In April (Easter), we went to experience San Francisco – another stunning place to visit – a very liveable city.

• I ended the year with a week at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast – a nice escape and some reasonable weather – happy to have missed the storms/heat that Melbourne experienced.

Work

An interesting year this one. I had three different bosses (Dave, Nic and Grazia). The year has seen some people come (Anne, Colette and Af) and some go (Deanne, Adam and shortly, Michelle). I had two opportunities that came along elsewhere, but neither worked out as they were temporary (secondments) rather than permanent moves – for secondments, they would need to backfill my role and that is tough at the moment. There is a sense that there will be a lot more movement around the area and things will change quite a bit - it will be interesting to watch how things develop.

Events/Shows

Some interesting things this year including:

• Dalia Lama: my third time of seeing him. I like him and how he delivers what he wishes to say.
• Father Bob: a local legend – a good man and entertaining too. I listen to him each week on a podcast of him and John Safran – very entertaining. I saw him live at a show where he (and others) talked about how they started in their line of work and how they help people – particularly the younger people.
• Heart of St Kilda: the annual show that raises funds to support the Sacred Heart charity that feeds and supports those who need it. The show is full of musical and comedic people who entertain for this fine cause.
• Flowerchildren: a local play put on that tells the story of the Mama’s and Papa’s. It was a fine case with Casey Donovan playing Mama Cass – great music too.
• Dutch Tilders: Dutch lost his battle with cancer this on 23rd April. Dutch was a local blues legend and I had run his website for the last five years. He has influenced many and is a loss to the blues community.
• QI: the live show with Stephen Fry and Alan Davies – bloody marvellous to see this in Melbourne – QI is my favourite show on TV.
• Alan Davies: Alan started a new stand-up tour whilst in Melbourne – very entertaining.
• RockWiz: their Christmas shows are always a delight and though this year’s wasn’t the best musically, it was a great one to be at.

Health

I had slowly been putting on weigh throughout the year – two holidays in the US didn’t help. In September, I decided to do something about it and spoke to work about changing my hours so that I could work for 10 hours a day thus allowing me to work a 4 day week and still do all my work. So with that agreed, I arranged to have every Tuesday off. I then booked myself into a Tuesday morning Pilates class to try and get this tired old body to move a bit. I then got my bike fixed so that I could go cycling. And that allowed me to have a day a week where I would be out and about and get some exercise. I also amended my diet a bit to cut out a bit of volume. So that all started on 20th September and by Christmas, I had managed to lose 2 stone (12kg) - so I was damn happy (and proud) of that and I can now fit some clothes that had got beyond me. Over Christmas, I haven’t been as careful or active as I had been, so some weight is back, but now I will get back into it and try and lose a bit more - now that I know that I can do it.

Projects

Over the last year, I have been doing a coffee project. It started after having been to a friends art show (in 2010) that made me think about what my view of art was and what worked for me and what didn’t. I thought about what sort of art could I do and came up with my coffee project – if you’re interested, you can see it here. For 2012, my new project is around faces and can be seen here.