Howdy friends, acquaintances and anyone else stopping by to check out my new ink.  For those of you who know me, I've had the last star added to my Southern Cross design just recently along with some more work on the compass rose I had done some time ago. I'm really enjoying the process.  The tattooist is Happy at a little shop called Mischief Moon, located in Surry Hills here in Sydney Australia.  Happy has a bloody excellent touch with the needle and is a down-to-earth good b...

My darling wife is such a beautiful, giving person but I'm not so sure I could do what she is about to do today.  You see, she put her name down for the 'World's Greatest Shave' charity, which means all her hair will be coming off today.  To see how much hair this is, click on the external link and check out her profile on the charity's site. She has been growing her hair since the early 90's.  She was single and had very short hair but couldn't figure out why boys wouldn't tal...

Check out the following song (I would embed it if I could but I'm still failing miserably). The music is, well, okay, but it is the words that are important. There is a message for all of us in this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KnGNOiFll4

<a href=" http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj108/dynamaso/NewTat2.jpg " target="_blank"> <img src=" http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj108/dynamaso/th_NewTat2.jpg"></a > For those interested, here is a couple of shots of my latest tattoo.   I had it done on Saturday and have to say I'm very pleased with this one.   I had a different design in mind when I went in but talking to my tattooist, I discovered to have the design sized correctly would mean...

These are three of the five stars I have got done so far for the Southern Cross. This is a very individual take on this Aussie iconic image. The big star on the top of my shoulder is the latest addition. It was a coverup job over my very first (and worst) tattoo. I'm very pleased with it, although it definitely needs some touching up. I'm getting the fourth star done this coming Saturday. This is going opposite the compass rose. Then the fifth will follow a few weeks on, going just ab...

Well, its after two in the morning on the first of the first 2008, at least it is here in Australia. The fireworks were fantastic and I had a great night, albeit quiet. I went with one of the boys in the band to a mates place. We sat around his pool, drank a few, played some poker and let off some fireworks of our own. Very tame, but fun none the less. Unfortunately, my darling wife was working an overnight shift and while I'm used to the odd hours she works, I missed her even more tonig...

Turkeys are poultry not paltry. But I digress. This is not a post about the delights of raising table birds but a message to all my friends and acquaintances here at JU. You are wonderful people who continue to delight, confound, inspire, befuddle, humour and challenge me. I am thankful to you all and more grateful than you could ever know to call you friends. Have a wondeful day.

I just realised today my third anniversary as a JoeUser had passed recently (on the 27th of September, to be exact). This means my relationship with this site has lasted longer than my first marriage and, in a lot of ways, has been the sort of relationship I would have liked my first marriage to be i.e. open, honest and communicative. (Before any rush to my defence, these comments are as much directed towards a younger me as towards my first wife). In the time I've been here I've seen ma...

Last weekend, my band did their first ‘tour’ (if travelling for 3 hours to do a single gig and then turning around and coming home can be called a tour). We travelled to the capital of Australia, Canberra, to do a show at a great little venue called Toast. It was exciting, fun and we had a great time on the road, for the most part. I had to do all the driving, which is something I won’t do again. This was due more to poor planning on my part than anything else but I’ve learnt my lesson. ...

I haven't been around JU much lately, as I explained sometime back, because I've been particularly busy in the real world. I realised today all I've posted in the last couple of months have been poems. I thought I'd redress this. So, for those interested, here is a quick update. I'm just about done packing to go away to Queensland for a week. This means going north to warmer weather (YES!) and to where my wife has been for the past few days. She left last Tuesday (a week ago) to go to...

For those of you interested, my band played our first show with our new rhythm section on Thursday. We had a great time and it was really cool seeing the twins on stage finally. Candice and Alana have really added to the band in a big way. We've been rehearsing really hard for the last 4 or so months, first teaching them how to play all the material then getting them comfortable enough to play it live. The sky is the limit now we've also found a new replacement vocalist too. Emily has a ...

Bloody hell, JU's wonkiness saw the first part of this posted before I was finished. Here is the rest of the intended post... Pumpkin is doing much better because of the meds. She is looking well and appears to have more energy, which is great. The vet said one of the medications will increase her appetitie, which has happened. She is not the sort of cat to get in your face, but she knows how to let us know shes hungry. We're not feeding her any extra as she could stand to lose a litt...

It is Sunday morning (just) and the first day back on normal time after setting our clocks back an hour. I stayed up late last night watching goofy horror movies on Showtime and listening to the wind absolutely howl outside. The last week has been pretty humid and warm here, Summer's last gasp, I think. Yesterday got up to 35 before a change moved in. Down came the rain and the wind picked up and it hasn't stopped blowing since. Our little apartment was fairly shaking from it last night....