My band, currently called JC Ronikal & The Maniacs, has entered a local competition run by a national radio station, JJJFM, or TripleJ, as is known. The competition, called Unearthed, is one of the most unique in the world and has been running for quite a number of years now (over ten, at least). It is responsible for discovering some of the biggest bands in Australia in the last few years, bands like Silverchair and Grinspoon, for those who might know Aussie acts. This year is the first...

It was such a nice day. It was one of those glorious spring days when nothing is too much of a hassle, when the very air I breathed in was laced with the scents of things blooming after lying dormant during the cold months. It was a hell of a day for a funeral, though. Funerals should be on rain-laden days, when clouds act as blankets to the emotions of those gathered to see a friend off. Rain makes it easier for all to cry, the droplets mixing with loved ones tears and carrying them into...

“The balance we approve of in architecture, and which we anoint with the word ‘beautiful’, alludes to a state that, on a psychological level, we can describe as mental health or happiness.” Alain de Botton, ‘The Architecture of Happiness’ We first met you when we were in the first heady days of our beautiful partnership. We were giddy with the excitement of being together, seeking together and setting up a life together. You were just around the corner, waiting for us. It w...

I know my lovely wife Link has already written about the recent visit of my nephew and his best friend, but I thought I would share the experience from my point of view. My nephew Mitch and his best friend, Steve, are what I imagined to be fairly typical 14 year old boys. They are smart, funny, bright kids who have the world at their feet and don’t even know it. Both play representational hockey for the ACT (the Australian Capital Territory) and are keen musicians, among other things. M...

I've got a thing for tattoos. I was told years ago, before I got my first, that I would either hate the process and never have another or love the process and want more. I am of the latter group. The problem is, like a lot of things, tattoos aren't cheap and I don't have as many as I'd like. But slowly, I am getting more. For my birthday this year, my lovely wife bought me some time in the chair. I wrote a bit of a blog about the tattoist and how I'd be going back to him for my next...

The streets are duller and dirtier. The faces passing by less friendly and for some reason the weight of the world seems to be heavier on my shoulders. I can’t focus like I usually can. My mind wanders, wondering what you’re doing right now. I reign in these thoughts, trying to concentrate and get the day-to-day things done but I soon find I’m back to thinking of you. I’m distracted in a way only having you near can repair. I don’t take the same comfort I usually do from my routines. ...

She wore the saddest smile I’ve ever seen. I could feel the weight she was carrying just from glancing in her eyes. If ever there was a figure defined by tragedy, she was it. I wanted to simply hold her and let whatever sadness she was holding be shared with me. But she was a stranger on a train and I was a silly man for thinking I could be any comfort to her. I could have been totally wrong about her but I didn’t think so. I saw her the next day, and the next, sitting in much the sam...

I’ve been dreaming a lot lately, more so than I have in a long time. I’ve been dreaming all sorts of things too. Everything from success dreams, where I’m living a rich man’s life to disturbing, not exactly nightmares, which become luggage for my day and have me feeling somewhat out of sorts. I think I know why I am dreaming more than normal, although it is much too private to discuss here. But I do feel like I’m opening up something I’ve had closed for quite some time. One of the posi...

The new season of Big Brother has been going here now for a few weeks. In the past, my wife and I have taken some guilty pleasure in watching this show. For the most part, I understand that it is a complete farce and at best, road-crash television. But I won’t lie and say I don’t enjoy it either. There is something to be said about this sort of vicariousness and I think I’ve always been a bit of a voyeur, though not strictly in the sexual sense. Usually the first weeks of the show are ...

CATTLE & CANE I recall a schoolboy coming home through fields of cane to a house of tin and timber and in the sky a rain of falling cinders from time to time the waste memory-wastes I recall a boy in bigger pants like everyone just waiting for a chance his father's watch he left it in the showers from time to time the waste memory-wastes I recall a bigger brighter world a world of books and silent times in thought and then the railroad the railroad takes him home throu...

My wife is a hard woman to please. She is tough, smart as a whip, good looking and feisty. She is really aware of her own mind and because of this awareness, doesn’t really suffer fools. She will provide encouragement if she thinks it is deserved but will not hold back on calling anyone if deserved either. She is staggeringly adept at seeing and using a situation to get the best results for all. She quite literally is the most intelligent person I know. I pale compared to her. For ...

I was watching a great Japanese animated movie called Steamboy the other day and one of the main characters comes out with the following line, “Ignorance and self-interest breed enemies in our own minds.” I clapped and cheered this when I heard this. I think it sums up prettt much how a lot of people are thinking these days, unfortunately. Enemies, for the want of a better word, used to be invaders gathering at castle gates, Mongol hoards gathering on the southern border or those who s...

I was walking up the back stairs to my flat when I saw him. He walked over to the communal lines with a basket of wet clothing. I watched as he looked around the back yard then looked back at the clothes line. He bent down to his basket, picked up a piece of wet laundry and went about hanging it. But I could see his eyes. He was staring at my underwear. It was one of the problems sharing a communal clothes line; everything was on display for all to see. He bent down again to his basket...