hold on

You might be (holding on, that is) for a while, as the muse is departing again. Crikey today has the story of some blogwars a few months ago that somehow I missed, even though I recall writing around that time that I had noticed a feeling of tiredness, for want of a better word, creeping in around the 'sphere as well as the never-ending left-right baiting. Turns out that some of the baiting got pretty willing, although Crikey's links to some of the threads (at Catallaxy and Club Troppo) are mainly, to my eyes, fairly mild and mostly on topic.

In comparison to when I got described as less than an insect. Obviously that still hurts, otherwise I would't have mentioned it (or put in on the header), although what it mainly does is make me wonder what people like that are like in real life.

All of this is parrtly why I now post less and also why I mainly confine my commenting to places where I feel more 'at home' - Armaniac's, tigtog's, the Balcony, chez Diogenes, JahTeh and, simply because it provides the best environment for spewing about the PM when I can't help myself, Road to Surfdom. With the exception of the last, for the reason stated, the others tend to be more varied in their choice of subject matter, there's no pseudo-intellectual posturing (and no Karl Popper at all, for which much thanks, bugger me that gets tedious) and the commenting and general to-and-fro is a bit more like real life. I can't imagine that some of those who get all het up at those other blogs carry on like that in the supermarket on Saturday. Or towards their friends and acquaintances at a bbq for that matter.

So that's where we stand on the current state of blogging. I still have a few of the car stories to do but I'll use the film camera to get some fresh shots of the models as the digital just doesn't seem to be up to getting close enough while maintaining focus. Of course the second-hand news does provide lots of material, but only if I remember by night-time what got me interested during the day. And, from now, mostly, if it's kind of interesting and different.

For those few poisnal friends who occasionally drop by, we are all travelling pretty well at Hacienda VVB. Also the next 6 weeks at work are going to be extremely interesting and busy and the team and I are looking forward to a product at the end of that and then, insh'allah, some real stuff to do that might make a difference (c).

Also, the 12 string has had a couple of public airings lately, once at a party and the other Friday at work for some Friday end-of-week drinkies. I really love playing and wanting to entertain people and so far the reception has been good, so I should look for some other opportunities. I'll never master guitar and in fact I can't do as much with the Maton as I could with the old Yammy, but as the Maton sounds so good it doesn't matter so much. It's not so much that people are easily entertained (amused, maybe?) but that it's the simple act of getting up and trying. And once I start I don't hold back, which I suspect comes across in the performance. It's one of those different worlds, and luckily for me I can go into it in some way.

Finally, Pryor at the Canberra Times, for my money one of, if not the, country's finest political cartoonist, absolutely nails the massive communal love-in at the Quadrant celebrations the other night (here, because I can't seem to upload the image directly, damnitall).