Black and Blue Man

Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 3)

Posted on 17 August 2014 by blackandblueman

Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Danny Williams (Scott Caan), ‘Hawaii Five-O’ (Slate)

Hawaii Five-O was very different from True Detective, indeed.

For one thing, it was fast. Not only did each episode’s story – or several stories – move at breakneck speed, but often everyone spokeveryrapidlywithoutpausingforbreath.

For another thing, it was loud with lots of roaring engines and gunfire and explosions and, most of the time, everyone YELLINGVERYRAPIDLY.

For yet another thing, it got very silly at times. Whereas True Detective could be accused of pretension, Hawaii Five-O could be accused of utter preposterousness – especially the ridiculous Season 2 episode ‘Ki’ilua’.

Finally, there was one thing that annoyed me a lot about Hawaii Five-O – the bickering bromance between Steve and Danno. For me, it became dumb and old and tiresome very quickly.

But despite the silliness and Steve and Danno crapping on and on, I ended up buying and watching all three seasons of Hawaii Five-O (although I almost didn’t finish watching the Season 2 episode ‘Lekio’ because its overdone dialogue got on my nerves).

Because despite its flaws, there was a lot to like about Hawaii Five-O.

For one thing, despite its silliness, it was never dull.

For another thing, Hawaii Five-O is one of the best-looking TV series I’ve ever seen. I’ve long known that Hawaii is a an attractive place, but the show’s production values make it look truly spectacular.

As well, although Steve and Danno got on my nerves from time to time, I liked all of the characters – especially Chin Ho, my favourite member of the Five-O team, and Kono, my second-favourite.

Also, despite the previously-mentioned silliness, at its best Hawaii Five-O was gripping, interesting and moving. Many episodes provided intriguing glimpses of Hawaiian history and society to foreigners like me; and some episodes like Season 3’s ‘Ho’opio’ were very powerful – not only was it very suspenseful and sad, but it contained an especially chilling performance of understated yet repulsive evil.

Finally, just as True Detective did before it, Hawaii Five-O helped me get through several more weeks of high-pressure work. Not only did most midnights or thereabouts become Hawaii Five-O time, but many lunchtimes (and especially after some high-pressure mornings) I also treated myself to another episode.

Why? Because Hawaii Five-O was good-looking escapism. For a couple of hours a day, watching it was like taking a refreshing quick break in Hawaii – especially during and after a couple of grueling 13-hour days I did in one week.

About two weeks ago when I finished watching Season 3, I was reluctant to see Hawaii Five-O go because it had become a welcome routine – but along with True Detective, I will always have fond memories of the daily respites it provided during those difficult weeks.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Action, Gratitude, Happiness, Having a Laugh | Leave a comment

Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 2)

Posted on 2 August 2014 by blackandblueman

Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), ‘True Detective’ (Grantland.com)

Part 1

As it turned out, True Detective was nowhere near as intense as I thought it may have been.

Also, a lot of it in terms of story was quite familiar, although I don’t say that from a smug position of superiority – it’s only because I’ve read a lot of fiction and non-fiction about serial killing.

And although I came to think by season’s end that True Detective was perhaps over-rated, that doesn’t mean I thought it sucked.

I liked True Detective a lot.

Over the seven nights I watched it, I found it very engrossing especially in terms of mood. True Detective was eerily captivating, and just right for late-night viewing – not too scary, but suitably menacing and mysterious.

Part of that menace came from the story itself, but I also enjoyed the part played by the countryside of Louisiana. Some of it was pretty, where it was mostly untouched; some of it was ugly, where it was scarred by humanity; and a lot of it was eerie – especially the remote regions that Rust or Marty or both often drove through, where the only signs of civilisation were often just the roads.

As well, I enjoyed how much of True Detective‘s eerieness took place in broad daylight. That’s a feature I’ve long enjoyed in movies and TV – it’s more unsettling to experience horror and terror in the daytime, like the final battle at the end of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the unsettling discovery in the clearing in The Blair Witch Project.

True, True Detective became somewhat disappointing during the final two episodes, and it ended with some serial-killer-story cliches – but despite that, I don’t regret watching it at all.

Especially as it helped me get through the difficult period at work.

From the first night I watched True Detective, it was very tempting to binge-watch it – partly for its own enjoyable sake, and partly to escape from the dreariness and relentlessness of my workload. Fortunately, though, discipline prevailed, and for most of the nights I watched it I rationed myself to only one episode per night.

But as my work days continued to grow longer and more oppressive, that routine of the nightly episode became both a welcome target and a welcome respite. Soon, I had the rigid mindset that no matter what, midnight was True Detective time – even if I still had deadlines to meet for the next morning, I was setting aside one hour to unwind with Rust and Marty and a light late-night supper. And that was that.

And it worked.

As an extra bonus, on the night I got up to the second-last episode I had met a major deadline that day, so I decided to celebrate by watching both it and the last episode one after the other – and even though they were somewhat disappointing as I mentioned earlier, it was still very rewarding to finish watching True Detective like that.

But now it was over, and more grueling work lay ahead (and it would get worse).

I knew that Hawaii Five-O was going to be very different to True Detective, but could it also become an hour or more of viewing to help get me through each workday?

So the next day or night, I put in the first DVD from the first season.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 1)

Posted on 27 July 2014 by blackandblueman

‘True Detective’ and ‘Hawaii Five-O’ (Facebook)

In my last post, I wrote about how half-meditating to Iron Butterfly’s 1968 psychedelic classic ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ has helped me get through a current period of grueling work.

Since then, unfortunately, work has gotten worse. The large-scale project I’ve become involved in suffers from a variety of problems.

The last week has been the worst so far. Not only did I work for 53.5 hours, but they were almost all high-pressure hours. And it wasn’t just me – throughout the week, during morning and afternoon teleconferences, I could hear the strain and tension in more and more of my colleagues’ voices.

Fortunately, I’ve continued to half-meditate to ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ when needed and it remains a big help.

As well, thanks to what I’ve learned through age and experience and living with depression, it’s been gratifying and reassuring to see how much I’ve changed for the better. Despite the demands of work I stay calm, make sure I get enough rest and break-time, and don’t let the situation overwhelm me. As I said to a colleague last night, if I had been working on this project 15 years ago I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

Also, that particular colleague has been of enormous help herself – not only for her work capabilities and skills, but also for being someone to talk to. In turn, as she has also found herself under great strain, she has appreciated me for being there to listen to her concerns and to help work things out.

Finally, extra relief has come from two more sources – both similar and yet quite different, but in their own ways welcome nonetheless.

I don’t watch free-to-air or cable TV, so I missed the series True Detective when it was first screened early this year. As well, I don’t watch illegal downloads, so I would have to wait until True Detective was released on DVD.

Months passed, and as I waited for True Detective‘s Australian DVD release I avoided reading about it online as much as possible. What I did read, though, continued to intrigue me and kept me looking forward to watching it.

Finally, about a month ago when my current work situation began, True Detective finally arrived on DVD. So, one Tuesday I headed down to the local store where I buy most of my DVDs.

I had planned to just get True Detective, but as always there were several tantalizing sales going on in-store, including a deal where you could buy two seasons of specially-marked TV-series on DVD and get a third season free.

One of the specially-marked series was the remake of Hawaii Five-O.

I had been aware of that series since it had begun in 2010, and from time to time since I had thought of watching it. The original series had been one of the first TV programs I knew of when I was a little kid in the early 1970s – although I hadn’t really watched it, of course, because I was too young to understand what was going on. As well, its classic theme music is one of the first pieces of theme music I remember hearing.

Years later at university from 1989-1991, the original series had been rerun late at night on local TV, and it had been fun to finally watch it as an adult.

And now, here was a money-saving opportunity to finally see what the remake was like.

I could have bought the first three seasons of Hawaii Five-O there and then, but I limited myself to just the first season in case it turned out to be a turkey.

(In case you’re wondering, the other two purchases I made in that 3-for-2 deal were the second season of Game Of Thrones – for the day when I finally get into that series – and the final season of Breaking Bad – which I’ve already watched twice via iTunes, but I decided to get it because I have the rest of that series on DVD and so now I have a complete set)

Although at long last I finally had True Detective, initially I decided to wait a little longer to start watching it, until the coming weekend.

Why?

One half-serious reason was that if I started watching it, I’d get hooked and want to binge-watch it instead of work.

Another serious reason was that I wanted to wait until either Friday night or Saturday, and watch it in a much more relaxed work-free zone so I could enjoy it more.

Another serious reason was that I like to watch TV episodes an hour or so before I go to bed to help me unwind, but I thought that True Detective might be too intense for that like Hannibal was (I liked Hannibal but it’s not relaxing late-night viewing).

(Which is also a reason why I have yet to really start watching Game Of Thrones – I have seen the first two episodes and liked them, but especially after hearing how more intense the series has gotten, it may also not be quite right for relaxing late-night viewing)

A day or so later though, after work continued to drive me nuts, I changed my mind.

So late Wednesday or Thursday night, after finally signing off from that day’s work, I put in the first DVD of True Detective.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Return to the Garden of Eden

Posted on 12 July 2014 by blackandblueman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.jpg

‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ (1968) by Iron Butterfly (Wikipedia)

Mid-morning, Tuesday 8 July 2014.

It was the second morning of the second week of grueling work.

I had only gotten up barely two hours before, but already I was feeling tired from poor sleep.

I wanted to go back to bed and have a short nap…or so I told myself.

I was concerned, though, that I would enjoy going back to bed too much, spend longer than intended there and regret it later, especially if it threw my working day out of whack.

But what to do?

Eventually, I decided to try an old practice that used to work for a while before I quit it.

Maybe it wouldn’t work again…but maybe it would.

What did I have to lose?

So I put on my headphones, found a certain track in iTunes, clicked the play button and closed my eyes.

Long-time readers of Black and Blue Man may recall my series ‘Before Black and Blue Man: The Turning Point’, in which I described my 2002 experience of doing a self-improvement course called The Turning Point.

One of several interesting things I learned during The Turning Point was how to do Transcendental Meditation – especially in my first session.

For about six months after completing The Turning Point, I continued to meditate until I felt that it wasn’t working anymore and stopped in mid-2003.

During the last few months of trying to meditate, one way I had tried to keep it going was to listen to the classic 17.05-minute Iron Butterfly song ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ during each session. There were several reasons why – I have always liked the song; it was almost the right length for a session (The Turning Point had recommended 20 minutes); and it blocked out noise from my apartment building.

And for a while, it had worked.

And now, in mid-2014, it was time to try it again.

Or partly try it again. I wouldn’t be fully meditating – for one thing, I didn’t have any mantra in mind – but for the next 17.05 minutes I planned to just sit there with my eyes shut and have only Iron Butterfly and my thoughts for company.

Crucially, though, I would be taking inspiration from Eckhart Tolle. As I have written previously, back in 2008 I didn’t finish reading his book The Power Of Now but what I did read and learn about the power of living in the moment had changed my life forever.

And so there I sat in eyes-closed darkness as ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ begun to thud gently through my headphones. I was prepared to do nothing more than experience each of the next 17.05 minutes as they passed one minute at a time in in whatever way they would…

…and I did.

Seconds after ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ came to an end, I reluctantly opened my eyes.

Even if I hadn’t fully meditated, I had enjoyed the calmness and serenity of just sitting there for 17.05 minutes in darkness to the sounds of classic 1968 psychedelic rock.

But although it was a shame to have to leave, what I had done worked.

I now felt much better.

And it would give a boost to the rest of my workday.

Two days later, my work situation was still grueling (and getting worse).

But I was dealing with it.

One thing that was helping me to deal with it was looking forward to another 17.05 minutes with Iron Butterfly, if I needed it.

And I did, so once again it was back to the darkness with ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’.

And once again, it worked.

17.05 minutes later, I once again opened my eyes to find myself feeling revived and alive.

I have one very vivid memory from that session. Early on during the first set of lyrics, I had a striking image of the inside of my head resembling a dark empty cavern, and red and white lights bouncing freely against the cavern’s ceiling.

I have no idea where that image came from or what inspired it, but I wasn’t there for the how or why.

I was there to simply experience it, and it was very pleasant.

By week’s end last night, I would lose 46 mostly strained hours to work.

And there are several more similar weeks – or worse – that lie ahead.

Part of me is not looking forward to it at all.

But another part is telling me not to dwell too much on it. Wait until the strain returns, that part tells me, and deal with it when it does.

And the good thing is, I now have an effective and enjoyable method for doing so.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Action, Gratitude, Happiness, Hope, Inspiration, Life Challenges, Life Strategies, Resilience, Resources | Leave a comment

Riding for life and a good cause

Posted on 14 June 2014 by blackandblueman

Ride For Life 2014, 12-31 August 2014 (Jay Hawkins)

Walking for life and a good cause

Regular readers of Black and Blue Man may recall my amazing encounter on 25 January 2014 when, during my Hornsby-Artarmon walk, I met the father-son team Jay and Luke Hawkins during their spectacular interstate walk from Victoria to Queensland’s Gold Coast (see above link).

Recently, Jay announced that in August he and his oldest son Jake will embark on another epic journey to keep spreading the word about R U OK?.

This time, as illustrated in Jay’s map above, they’ll be cycling from City Beach in Western Australia to Rye in Victoria.

That’s a distance of 3500 kilometres (almost 2175 miles).

And they are planning to do it in 17 days.

Jay and Jake are using the same fundraising site and Facebook page that they used for Walk For Life 2014.

Jay and Jake, all the very best with your preparations to 12 August, and stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Action, Gratitude, Hope, Inspiration, Life Challenges, Resilience, Travel | Leave a comment

Amazing Journey: Mike McIntyre’s ‘The Kindness Of Strangers: Penniless Across America’

Posted on 24 May 2014 by blackandblueman

'The Kindness Of Strangers: Penniless Across America' by Mike McIntrye (Amazon)

‘The Kindness Of Strangers: Penniless Across America’ by Mike McIntyre (Amazon)

In 1994, 37-year-old journalist Mike McIntyre had a good life in San Francisco – except for one major problem:

If I were told I was going to die today, I’d have to say I never took a gamble. I played life too close to the vest.

That awful feeling stemmed from another major, and life-long, problem:

I’ve been afraid my whole life.

I was born scared.

Driven to tears one day while thinking about this, McIntyre decided to take drastic action by resigning from his job and traveling across the United States by hitchhiking and walking – but with one very challenging condition:

I’ll go from the Pacific to the Atlantic without a penny. A cashless journey through the land of the almighty dollar. If I’m offered money, I’ll refuse it. If I see a coin in the road, I’ll step over it. I’ll accept only rides, food and a place to rest my head. Wait and see, it’ll work.

And so, on 6 September 1994, McIntyre set off from foot from San Francisco to Cape Fear, North Carolina. Why Cape Fear?

[It’s] a symbol for all the fears I know I’ll have to conquer if I’m to go the distance. If I make it to Cape Fear, it will be as a different man from the one who starts the journey.

The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America, first published in 1996 and revised in 2010 and 2014, is McIntyre’s wonderful account of what would turn out to be an amazing journey indeed.

In his straight-forward and highly-readable style, McIntyre recounts the many and varied experiences he had – and most of all, the many and varied people he met. A few weren’t kind at all – but to McIntyre’s astonishment and gratitude, many of the strangers he met were. Some of them were living happy and well, while some of them were not (and in several cases the stories of their lives are truly heartbreaking) – but whatever their reasons, they helped McIntyre in their own ways and transformed him indeed.

Compelling, engrossing, hilarious and moving, The Kindness of Strangers comes highly recommended from this reader.

As well, McIntyre’s book resonated with me in two ways.

One way relates to my long walks around Sydney. Although my walks are very different in concept I’ve found them rewarding for their own reasons – and although I usually keep to myself with a focus on endurance and sight-seeing, like McIntyre did I’ve also met remarkable people.

The second way relates to McIntyre’s life-long fear of everything. I’ve mentioned this above, but near the end of Chapter 20 he writes more, and powerfully, about this subject. I could quote a lot of it but I’ll restrict myself to the following two paragraphs:

(Following a painful experience McIntyre had after finishing college) My fear of physical pain was replaced by a fear of life in general. I was afraid of making the choices it takes to be happy. There were things I thought I might enjoy doing, but I’ll be damned if I could summon the courage to try them. My life had stalled before it ever started…

Years later I happened upon a quote by Franz Kafka: “From a certain point on there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.”

Like McIntyre, one of my biggest problems in life has been the fear of everything – which in turn led to other problems.

As well, back in late 1994 when McIntyre set off on his journey, I was halfway through not only my first post-university decade but also what is still the crappiest decade of my life thus far (including the truly wretched job I was just about to start).

Finally, as I’ve previously written about here, last year I had my feelings of mid-life crisis so I can also very much appreciate Kafka’s quote above.

Fortunately, like the action that McIntyre took, my long walks have helped to make my life better.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Inspiration, My Story, Reading, Something to Think About, Travel | 2 Comments

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 3)

Posted on 18 May 2014 by blackandblueman

Golf-cart transporter, halfway between Roseville and Chatswood, 25 January 2014 (Black and Blue Man)

Part 1
Part 2

I continued south-east from Roseville towards Chatswood.

About halfway to Chatswood, I saw something that made me laugh loud and take a chance on trying to photograph it.

And the result in all its rushed and unskilled glory is what you see above.

I’ve seen many car-transporter trucks in my life, but that was the first time I had ever seen a golf-cart transporter.

One day, it may also inspire a LEGO build.

I resumed my walk and not long after I began passing through Chatswood.

And as I did, I realised that I has achieved a milestone.

One Sunday way back in 2001 or 2002, I had walked from the Sydney CBD to Chatswood. I had been inspired to do so by a work colleague at the time who used to walk home from our Sydney CBD workplace to his then home in St. Leonards, which is a few suburbs before Chatswood. That Sunday, I decided to see if I could it myself – and after I did, I pushed on further to Chatswood.

Which meant that altogether I had now walked all the way from the Sydney CBD to Hornsby.

Today, could I complete that walk in one go?

Back in 2001 or 2002 it had taken me just over two hours to walk from the Sydney CBD to Chatswood, and a lot of that had been uphill.

Today, though, most of that walk would be downhill.

So until Chatswood, it looked like I would reach my goal.

Alas, as I left Chatswood and headed towards nearby Artarmon, two problems arose.

The first problem was my legs starting to ache again like they had during last weekend’s walk.

The second problem, though, was more worrying.

My inner thighs were beginning to chafe.

As I entered Artarmon, I debated about pressing on and to heck with the chafing…

…but the more I thought about it, the more I knew that even if I did make it all the way to the Sydney CBD, I would suffer greatly for it in the days to come.

So, with great disappointment, I decided to err on the side of caution and halt my walk in Artarmon.

Instead of continuing along the Pacific Highway, I made my way to Artarmon station and officially ended my walk there.

Hornsby-Artarmon (Google)

Not long after, I got a train back to the city where I had another nice dinner at Star Bar.

I hadn’t made it to dinner all the way by foot – but I had still accomplished a 16-kilometre walk.

As well, it had been unexpectedly pleasant.

My next walk would take place two weeks later.

It would complete a previous long walk, and also take me through my distant and recent past.

But that’s a story for another series.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Action, Gratitude, Happiness, Inspiration, Life Challenges, Life is Good, Life Strategies, My Story, Travel | Leave a comment

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 2)

Posted on 11 May 2014 by blackandblueman

Roseville Cinemas, Roseville NSW (www.rosevillecinemas.com.au)

Part 1

The first half-hour of my walk was uneventful as I followed the Pacific Highway south-east through Waitara and Wahroonga.

And then around 12:30pm in Wahroonga I had this amazing encounter.

After that, I kept on walking and pushed on further than my usual take-a-break-every-45-minutes because I didn’t find anywhere that looked inviting to rest.

Finally, I walked into Turramurra and discovered the cosy and inviting little park in the town centre.

I sat there for 20 minutes, drank some water and relaxed.

Hornsby-Turramurra (Google – my Pacific Highway route is in yellow)

At 1:30, I hit the road again.

From Turramurra I continued south-east into Pymble and then Gordon without incident.

This time, I did stop 45 minutes later. Shortly after a toilet-break at the Gordon Centre shopping centre, I discovered the cosy and inviting Heritage Square park nearby where I once again sat, drank some water and relaxed.

Hornsby-Gordon (Google)

At 2:30, I set off once more.

And it was during this part of my journey south-east into Killara and Lindfield that I was struck – and surprised – by this walk’s particular character.

In one way, today’s walk was similar to part of last weekend’s walk in that, like most of my journey along Victoria Road, I was following another major Sydney road that I’ve never heard anyone praise.

Indeed, in some places the Pacific Highway seemed to overdo its twisting and turning to the point of ugliness, and north of Gordon there was one long and depressing stretch of long-abandoned businesses.

As well, unlike my previous walks along the shores of Sydney Harbour, I had chosen the Pacific Highway more as a functional and practical route rather than a scenic one.

But overall, and increasingly as I continued south-east, I found myself coming back to one unexpected word to describe my journey: pleasant.

True, despite the Pacific Highway I was walking through Sydney’s picturesque Upper North Shore – but because I was walking along the Pacific Highway rather than driving along it, I wasn’t battling its notorious traffic and feeling angry and stressed out.

Instead, I was traveling at my own speed with the freedoms of (a) only having to worry about myself and (b) being able to appreciate more the leafy prettiness of the suburbs along the way.

And so I came to enjoy this walk even more.

As 3:15 approached so did downtown Roseville with its charming-looking independent cinema, one of the last left in Sydney.

Just before the town centre, though, I saw a park-bench that looked just as inviting so I stopped there instead.

Hornsby-Roseville (Google)

I was roughly halfway through my planned journey.

Would I complete the second half?

At 3:30, I hit the road again to find out.

TO BE CONTINUED

Posted in Action, Gratitude, Happiness, Inspiration, Life is Good, Life Strategies, Travel | Leave a comment

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 1)

Posted on 3 May 2014 by blackandblueman

Hornsby Water Clock, Florence Street Mall, Hornsby NSW (Wikipedia)

Saturday, 25 January 2014.

Once again I got up at 9am; made it to the local Subway by 10am; and boarded a northbound train from Town Hall station at around 11am.

Just before noon I got off the train and binned the litter from my Subway meal at Hornsby station, about 25 kilometres north-west of the Sydney CBD.

It was another glorious, if very hot, summer’s day.

I began walking south-east back towards the distant Sydney CBD.

Hornsby is the last major suburban centre in Sydney’s north, before the final few suburbs that lead to the countryside (the last of these suburbs is where I had an interesting experience back in late 2012).

Also, Hornsby has featured importantly several times throughout my life.

Hundreds of years ago back in my late-1970s childhood when I was briefly a gymnast, I participated in a major regional event one Saturday in Hornsby.

In the late 1980s, Hornsby was the last place where my paternal grandparents lived before my grandmother’s death in early 1989. After her funeral the wake was held at my grandparents’ Hornsby apartment.

In recent years, as the weekend of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade has become increasingly rowdier in my neighbourhood each year, I have stayed a couple of times in Hornsby to get some peace and quiet.

As well, because it’s about an hour or so by train from home and situated on one of Sydney’s major roads, Hornsby felt like another good starting-point for another long walk.

I headed south from the centre of Hornsby, and about 10 minutes later I came to the major road that would be my trail for almost all of my planned walk – the Pacific Highway.

The plan was to follow most of the Highway all the way back to where it starts in North Sydney, about 21 kilometres away. After North Sydney was a short walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Sydney CBD, where I planned to officially end my walk and once again have dinner at Star Bar.

I had been driven along the Highway many times and I had also walked stretches of it here and there, so it was familiar territory – but because the Highway notoriously twists and turns a lot, I was unsure how long it would take to walk.

Fortunately, the Highway runs close to most of the North Shore railway line, so if I had to cut my walk short for any reason a train-ride home wouldn’t be far away.

Could I make it all the way from Hornsby to the Sydney CBD by foot?

I began following the Pacific Highway south-east to find out.

TO BE CONTINUED

Posted in Action, Happiness, Hope, Inspiration, Life Challenges, Life Strategies, Travel | Leave a comment

Kindle: Year Three

Posted on 21 April 2014 by blackandblueman

Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3 (amazon.com)

Kindle
Kindle, again
Kindle: Year One
Kindle: Year Two

Three years ago today, I made one of my greatest life-changing purchases ever – my Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3.

And it’s still going strong, with 1831 titles and 686MB of free space left.

As I’ve previously written, my iPad is my main reading device but I still prefer the Kindle for bedtime reading and I always take it in my backpack as a backup device. During last year’s visit to New Zealand, the Kindle accompanied me across the Tasman Sea while the iPad stayed at home so I wouldn’t get murdered by overseas roaming charges.

A couple of things have changed, however.

The first thing is that up until early this year, daily I used to check sites like Kindle Nation Daily, Pixel of Ink and Book Basset for what free ebooks were promoted that day…but eventually it seemed more like a chore than good fun, so I stopped doing it. This is not a fault of the sites themselves, but just a change of habit.

The second thing is that most fortnights on payday, I used to load up with $50-100 worth of ebooks from Amazon. For a while now, though, I’ve only been buying a new ebook every few days. It’s not because of any financial hassles, but again just a change of habit.

Will my Kindle make it to a Year Four post? I hope so, but if it doesn’t I will most likely replace it with another one.

Until next time, stay well and take care 🙂

Posted in Bibliophilia, Gratitude, Happiness, Life is Good, Life Strategies, Reading | Leave a comment

Black and Blue Man

Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 3)

Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 2)

Rust and Marty and Steve and Danno (Part 1)

Return to the Garden of Eden

Riding for life and a good cause

Amazing Journey: Mike McIntyre’s ‘The Kindness Of Strangers: Penniless Across America’

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 3)

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 2)

Black and Blue Walking Man: Hornsby to Artarmon (Part 1)

Kindle: Year Three

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