A amble through my thoughts at the moment
Preamble to my amble: some of my favourite posts of the past have been of the rambling kind. Sometimes these provide insights, sometimes these provide a comfy place to sit and put my feet up for a while and sometimes they provide me fodder for my somewhat vicarious nature. Of course, it goes without saying that anything I say in here is my opinion only and is not meant to be misconstrued as attacks or flames at anyone.
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I've been a bit disconcerted with the way some people react to others here. Maybe if we all learnt not to take things so personally, we'd all better off. I'm not trying to start another debate about who said what or how or whatever. We're all adults and should be able to disagree without feeling like we're being 'picked on' or 'flamed'.
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While on the topic of feeling disconcerted, I've been feeling the same with regards to an incident that occurred in Australia earlier this week. Organisers of one of the largest musical festivals in the world, the Big Day Out, put out a press release to discourage people from bringing and using the Australian flag for 'antisocial purposes'. For those of you who don't know, tomorrow is Australia Day and traditionally, the Sydney Big Day out is usually held on this day. Last year, in the wake of the Cronulla riots, a very small portion of festival goers were menacing others about their patriotism, and, in some cases, forcing people to kiss the flag. The organisers decided to put out this press release, but were unprepared for the backlash. Essentially, a particular media service took this to mean the organisers were trying to 'ban the flag', which was completely incorrect.
The backlash and followup has being going on all week. Finally, the organisers put out a second press release. It reads as follows:
Clarification on the Flag Issue
The Big Day Out would like to offer the following to clarify its position on "flag banning" at the Sydney show. Contrary to the reports in the media, it was never our intention to disrespect the symbolism of the Australian or any other flag. We are not banning the Australian flag but are simply discouraging its use for anti-social purposes at the Big Day Out.
We state unequivocally that flags will not be banned at any Australian Big Day Out show in the foreseeable future. In recent times, there has been an increased incidence of flags brandished aggressively and this has led to increased tension. Our only intention in discouraging this activity at the Big Day Out is to ensure that our patrons are not subjected to this aggressive behaviour.
With all this in mind and the aim to create a happy, peaceful MUSICAL event, organisers would like to request that fans please leave their flags at home. The Big Day Out is not an Australia Day event, but a music festival showcasing music artists from around the world and aspires to unify people through music.
Unfortunately the media reports yesterday were not quoted accurately and we must thank the participating media for wasting everybody's time including the Prime Minister John Howard, Premier Morris Iemma, NSW RSL President Don Rowe, Keysar Trad (a confidant of the Mufti Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly) and Burt Lane of the Australian National Flag Association...
I sure hope the media groups associated with spreading the misinformation are feeling chastised and sheepish, however, they probably are too busy looking for the next beat up to be even mildly concerned.
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My beautiful bride recently wrote of having a heard from 6 ex-boyfriends Link Some of the responses to this were very touching and humbled me incredibly. I'd just like to say two things in response; 1. Thank you very much and, 2. It is so easy to be the husband I am when I have such a wonderful, understanding, beautiful woman in my life as Toni. She truly is 'special'. Love you, babe.
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I've been feeling a bit slack about not gettting the JU Writers Club started up again after the Christmas break. I have been waiting for 'someone' (won't mention any names, will I San Chonino - oops, I did I say San Chonino... oops, I said it again 
). I've been working on a couple of short stories of late but to be honest, work and music commitments have taken priority for the moment. Things will get back to normal very shortly, JU WC friends, I assure you.
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Speaking of music, the band is getting back into the swing of things as well. We've had some incredible success with songs on an unsigned band website (for those of you who haven't heard us, go to www.jjjunearthed.com and then search bands for JC Ronikal - we have three songs you can listen to or download for free). As a result of doing so well on the hip hop charts, we've been approached by a number of different organisations and bands to do live shows and contribute to television shows. We are about to start rehearsing a new singer and also planning our next round of recording. It looks like 2007 is already shaping up to be a good year for us. I'll keep you posted.
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I recently made a big change in my life, completely stopping a habit I've had for the last 13 years or so. I don't want to say too much about it at the moment as it is still early days and I plan on writing something more comprehensive in the future about it. But I've actually been surprised at how easy it has been for me to make this change. To be honest, I've been thinking about doing this for some time now and I've always said to myself I wouldn't give myself a hard time if I tried and failed. But, and this might sound a little twee or obvious or like I'm stroking my own boat, I think the fact I believe in myself, have faith in what I can do and, of course, have the support of an understanding, gracious partner, has made a what-might-have-been difficult transition relatively painless and easy.
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I'm very much looking forward to my next tattoo. I've got a job that is about a third done and I am planning to have it finished this year. As if to aide me in this quest, I recently found out a tattoo studio has opened in my suburb. If I get time, I plan on going down there this weekend, introducing myself and checking out their work. All accounts are the artists are very, very good, but we'll wait and see. Still, it is cool there is a shop close by. I can see myself easily spending a bit of money there.
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Well, I certainly have ambled on and on. I had fun writing this. It is kind of like clearing out all the little bits and bobs one accumulates in a wallet or purse. I feel somehow lighter, with room for more cash LOL Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.