Cheap Therapy

Over dinner tonight, my Dad recounted

• In 1950 when he was at New Norcia he was having difficulties walking. He was sent to Moora to see Dr. Miles, who sent him to Shenton Park (then the site of the Infectious Disease Centre, I believe). They thought he had polio. Everyone was wearing masks (very scary). He said they were hoping that he didn’t have it because that would have meant that they would have had to send all 180 students home from New Norcia. Fortunately he didn’t have it, but they didn’t actually know what he had.
• When the Queen visited Australia in 1954, my Dad was working at Parliament house. As the Queen was coming to visit Perth (and Parliament house), all the staff were tested for polio before she arrived.
• Dad was in the RAAF and they were amongst the first to be immunised when the polio vaccine became available.

Rumour has it that WA SF Luminary Grant Stone (of The Faster Than Light Radio Show and Murdoch Library’s Science Fiction collection fame) has purchased the Arcane bookshop site (or possibly the store. The crystal piratical ball-o-gossip is cloudy on that one).
Interestingly I just found a two part interview with Grant on Mensa’s SF Special Interest Group site.

Seeing as nobody’s asked, here are >10 random things you may not know about me:

• I was once minorly involved in breast volume research (and less aesthetically pleasingly, leg ulcer research
• I think my friends are very cool, I frequently envy them from my side of the fence, and I love them very much (and how often do I tell them that? Way too infrequently! Really, that’s what the ‘Have fun’ at the end of the e-mail means)
• I’ve eaten mangoes naked in the sea
• If I was given a choice of career path, I’d like to be a photo-journalist, artist, musician or oenologist. Or just cook for people (but not as a chef
• I’d love to be a pilot (or an astronaut), but I frequently get motion sick in light planes, and am not really devoted enough to overcome this.
• Despite the motion sickness I’m a sucker for delta-v. Mmm… tight cornering and afterburners.
• I am obsessed with the manner or immediacy of my demise. Death that is, and how to postpone it for as long as possible. I fear being forgotten.
• I believe the universe is a wonderful place, and that science allows us to fully appreciate the beauty of how it all fits together from a quantum through to an inter-galactic level. We don’t spend enough time appreciating the blades of grass, the flowers, the sounds, the breeze, the stars. People are basically good, and the darkest of times are balanced by the most amazing acts of generosity, selflessness and compassion.
• I’m a Stephen King fan (just finished books V and VI of The Dark Tower) not because of schlock horror, but because of how he writes about life and people.
• Like the electric monk, I think we need to be able to believe two or more contradictory things at once. Rigorous logic may not always get you where you need to go.
• To paraphrase Terry Pratchett somewhat, as far as wine, women and song go, I need to sing more
• I’m a great believer in karma. Buddhism has a great deal of appeal to me, I’d love to know how to be able to let go of things (mainly from the piles of stuff in the study
• Saya berbicara sedikit Bahasa Indonesia et un petite peu de Francaise. But only to year 10 level or so.
• Puggle and his mum are the most important things in the world to me.
• I need to do more creative writing.
• I’m holding out on other things people may not know about me to use in future posts

See, there’s a reason it’s called Cheap Therapy.

Just finished my 3rd Multirider for the year. 120 public transport trips, plus associated exercise, environmental goodness and communing with podcasts. Yay!

Well, today I received spam from an e-mail address that I’ve only given to AVLA Lighting. AVLA deny all knowledge of it, so either they onsold the address and didn’t know/admit it or they’ve got a hole in their computer security or antivirus software.

The world is now down to one Ronnie. Ronnie Barker is dead, alas. But he made millions of people happy, including myself. Such wonderful wordplay.

Cadged from Lauredhel

Psychic music meme
Go to your iTunes/iPod/media player and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. No cheating now!

What do you think of me?
Fat Boy Slim, Weapon of Choice.
Sounds good so far

Will I have a happy life?
Tonight Harry’s Practice visits the home of Charlie “Bird” Parker - TISM.
Maybe not, but it will be surreal and involve a lot of drugs.

What do my friends really think of me?
Blueline Medic - Making the Nova Riche.
“You say that I have to get a real life…”

Do people secretly lust after me?
Barbara-Ann - The Beach Boys.
Hmm… Well, I used to know a Barbara many years ago.

How can I make myself happy?
DJ Trevor - TISM.
I guess I should go Wukka wukka?

What should I do with my life?
Where Shall I Turn - Sin - The K & D Sessions.
Some decisive advice there, obviously!

Why must life be so full of pain?
Under African Skies - Paul Simon.
It’s full of pain under African skies?

How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
The Eve of The War - Sakin & Friends - The War of the Worlds Ullabudulla remix.
Well, I think every night’s the eve of a war at the moment. How convenient At least until the Martians invade.

Will I ever have children?
I Just don’t Know What to Do With Myself - Nicky Holland - My Best Friends’ Wedding.
I don’t know what to do with myself so I have children?

Will I die happy?
This Time - INXS.
Reincarnation huh?

Can you give me some advice?
Missionary Man.
Time to uproot and move under African Skies? At least this wasn’t the answer for ‘how to improve my sex life’.

What do you think happiness is?
Careless (Angie Heart cover of Paul Kelly).
Deep.

What’s my favourite fetish?
Up Close and Sexual - Mixomatosis.
I should have checked the ‘More Random - Less insightful’ checkbox in iTunes. Or upgraded to 5

How will I be remembered?
Bomberclaad Joint - Knowtoryous.
Intriguing.