h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there

Just thought I'd drop in. Not particularly punk-y today - listening to Pink Floyd's Wish You WEre Here, foot on hot water bottle (sprained ankle ... ouch), playing with computer for a bit of light relief.

We share a love of old schlock movies. I'm rather fond of "The Giant Claw" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as well. I also remember seeing "Octoman" on TV once - Octoman had two operational legs / tentacles that he biffed people with (well, four I suppose, since he was walking around). Hilarious, but I've never seen it anywhere since.

Hope this finds you well, and the job isn't too icky. I gave up on working for other people about 7 years ago. Definitely better. No dumb supervisors or people trying to blame you for their mistakes.

See you around

Saintfrancesca

Thanks for dropping by. I'm always happy to meet a fellow fan of pank and of schlock!

Never seen "Octoman", I'm going to have to track that down now. I recently found "Warning From Space" on DVD at the record shop we frequent- they sell numerous old schlock flocks for about $5 each.

I like Pink Floyd all right (hence my fondness for Syd Barrett? Or perhaps *because* of it?), haven't listened to "Wish You Were Here" for a while but I do still own it.

Well I'd better head off to work, talk to you again soon.

Ah. The magic word. Syd.

A friend of mine changed his name to Barrett, in honour of Syd.

In a similar vein, I also like Robyn Hitchcock (saw him once in the Big Star basement. What a show!!) He is such a brilliant raconteur as well. Also, Martin Newell - one of those sort of naieve slightly bent English storyteller types.

Good luck finding Octoman. It's probably somewhere on E-bay if you get desperate.

Have a good day. I've just had to go out for supplies. Rest of day with hottie, new Clash CD (The Singles with I Fought the Law & Bankrobber) and a good book (not necessarily in that order, but you know...)

My ex. looked remarkably like Joe Strummer. Probably had something to do with it, when I consider the whole relationship. They both died too soon.

Seeya

Stfrancesca

Me again. Just saw your post on hey can i join...

I have seen most of those bands, especially Died Pretty. They were very fond of a friend of mine's band (Garden Path), so would do a gig with them whenever they were in Adelaide. Some funny stories there, I can tell you.

Missed the first Adelaide Birdman show at the Marryatville pub, tiny bar, huge sound but it was one of the only gigs recorded on film. Giles Barrow (Exploding White MIce) can be seen clearly up the front, grooving mightily. I probably had a headache & didn't go. Damm and blast.

Hey! Thought I replied to this, but with server problems the posting may have gone off into that great internet wormhole.

Anyway, I would have been with envy if you had said you made it to that Radio Birdman show! I am a wee bit envious that your friend's band gigged with the Died Pretty, but then again, it's all relative... my boyf's band has gigged with the Pink Lincolns, the U.S. Bombs and the New Bomb Turks. So I guess it's all relative to proximity and stuff.

Awesome to have a chance to chat to someone who has such awesome taste in music though!

Incidentally, it's funny that you and I have just discussed Syd and Robyn here, in light of a conversation I had earlier this week with an acquaintance who is a huge fan of Syd but "can't stand" Robyn. The influnce is indisputably obvious!! Cool that you like so much stuff that I do, I like having plenty of opportunity to geek out.

Would be pleased to provide you with complimentary CDs by both of my boyf's bands- one punk, one kinda power pop-ish stuff. Both very good, and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm biased or anything.

PS- that sucks about your ex. I hope it wasn't too hard on you. I've experienced a similar loss myself and it ain't nice.

Hi there Psychocandy

Good name!!

It's nice to find like minded people on the other side of the world. I'm just trying to send a friend of mine a Teenage Fanclub song I found on Download.com. It's taking ages, cos I can't be bothered getting broadband. This is about my level of technoheadism.

I'd love to hear your b/friend's band one of these days. There is some great music in the States - more people, more towns etc. so you get a lot of diversity outside the mainstream. Don't go out much these days, turning into a boring old ... I guess. My favourite thing to do is go to Womadelaide, the main Australian world music festival, held every second year in ... you guessed it ... Adelaide. I'm not a real world music nut, don't even have a single CD in my collection, but it's so diverse and the setting is so wonderful (among the old plane trees in Botanic Park in the city). You can just buy a ticket, meet up with some friends, or go by yourself as you'll always find someone you know, and sit on the grass with a cool drink and listen to stuff from Ireland, Africa, South America etc etc. One of the best acts I saw last year was a Mexican punk/hiphop band. They were brilliant.

One of the best mainstream American bands I ever saw was, surprisingly, Tom Petty. But of the independent musos, Johnathan Richman would have to be up there, closely followed by the Replacements and Jason and the Scorchers. American bands tend to be much slicker and tighter, less garagey I guess than Australian indie bands. There's a Frenzal Rhomb song on Download.com that's worth a listen. They don't take themselves too seriously, which I like. Irreverent.

Re. the Birdman gig at the Marryatville, the person I'm sending the song to at the moment left!!! because it was too loud!!! She's never forgiven herself (now she tells people it was because her husband wanted to go, but I know the truth). Her husband has a bit of a track record for that sort of thing. He was at the Isle of Wight festival where Jimi Hendrix played his last gig. He and his mates left just before Jimi played because "one of them had to go to work the next day". People still give him grief because of that.

Yes. It's tough when someone you've been close to dies suddenly. It's just gone a year since, and I'm still not completely over it. We weren't still together when it happened, I'd moved on and now have a Very Good Friend who's been a great support for me, but it still came as a huge shock.

Anyway, hope things are going well in the USA. Not too hot, I hope.

Seeya

St. F.

Most of the American music I enjoy, aside from the obvious punk, psychedelic and power pop stuff, is the more garagey sounding stuff. Oddly enough!

It's going to be unbearable here for the next week or so- although nothing compared to what I've heard summers are like in Australia. We're to have upper nineties to mid-hundreds by the weekend, and with high humidity to boot. Why all this humidity when we're in a terrible drought is beyond me.

Unfortunately, work has accumulated for me over the weekend and I have to keep this posting short. I'll try to get back for a proper reply later.

Well. The weather in the US is making the news here - cyclones and heatwaves. while we freeze away, you're cooking.

Hope it's not too bad. If it's too hot at night, an old Darwin trick is to sleep in damp sheets. At least you can get to sleep then.

Won't be on the net much for the next few days ( or anywhere else for that matter). I brought the new Harry Potter (well, it feeds the inner child, is my excuse ...) and every spare moment seems to find me in a comfy chair with a hot drink and THAT BOOK.

I looked up some of my friends on the net. The Screaming Believers. There's stacks of stuff (!!!!!). Mainly record shops selling old vinyl. There's an unpublished CD of theirs around, of which I have a very bad tape, but one of these days I'll nag someone into burning the CD for me. There's some really good tracks on it.

Anyway, back to the book.

Seeya

StF

Hey there!

Good idea there about the damp sheets. I'd never heard of that, but will remember it for sure! I'm not doing too badly this week, I'm off work because I quit my old job and start a new one next Monday. So I've been hanging around the apartment keeping cool with central aircon.

Chicago's located more toward the Midwest, along Lake Michigan, so we've not had the hurricanes of the South or the mega-heat of the Southwest. But we've been having southwesterly winds which have kept things pretty darn uncomfortable around here. How cold is it down there right now?

Today I've mostly been cleaning vomit off the cat (he threw up on himself, it isn't like *I* did it! ) and a bit of reading myself. I read the new Harry Potter last weekend, so when you're finished you can tell me what you thought of it, no worries! Hope you enjoy it!

Talk soon!

Aha. You know who the Prince is. Don't tell me. I've just got to the spell book.

Aren't animals charming sometimes. I have two cats and two dogs. I'd have more if I could, but that's about my limit for now. Fur balls being regurgitated in front of visitors is one of my least favourite cat tricks.

It's actually really nice here today. Began at about 7 am. with fog and a hard frost, about minus 5 degrees C. I can't remember how to convert to F, but it was darned cold. I can hear you drooling from here. Now it's about 15 degrees, sunny with a chilly breeze straight off the snow (I'm currently in Canberra, so the winters are - for Australia - REALLY COLD). If I was in Adelaide at the moment, a frost would really be something to talk about.

I have a Pitta constitution, so cold weather is what I like (Pitta - Ayurveda, traditional Indian .. the subcontinent .. herbalism. Fire type, so heat makes Pitta worse, cold improves it etc.) Australia is a really rotten place to be a Pitta. Sometimes I'd like to emigrate to Greenland.

Bye for now

StF Stay

Hey. Good luck with the new job. Hope they're all nice people and the work is what you like ...

Hey there! Have you finished the book yet?

I've just finished my first week at the new temp position, getting ready to head home in about 15 minutes or so. I am SOOOO tired, dunno why, I feel as if I haven't slept for days. Maybe I need some iron- I'm vegetarian so I sometimes get a bit anemic if I don't get my greens.

How's things with you?

Hi there

Finished the book. Well! I don't believe that Dumbledore is dead, but then again I keep hoping that Sirius revives himself somehow. The eternal optimist. It could well be my favourite book so far, apart from the first one.

Hope your energy levels have come up. It's hard to start a new job, even if it is temping. Very draining, especially if it's still darned hot.

I saw an interesting documentary the other night on Chicago blues. It seems to be a happening place. The blues festival sounds really good. Have you ever gone?

Anyway, hope the next week is kind to you

See you

St. F.

Hiya

I've never been to any of the Chicago Blues Festivals. They're usually held during the hottest time of year and draw enormous crowds. Too many people in too little space, and it gets on my nerves. But I've heard the Fests are really cool.

Glad you enjoyed the book. I was a bit surprised that Dumbledore was the one to die, too. I was still undecided about Snape. Now I'll be itching to find out what happens in the last book.

The new job is going all right. There's a bit more "physical" work than I've done for a long time, so it's been a bit of an adjustment. We're supposed to be fairly well dressed, and yet I need to wear reasonable shoes for traipsing around the offices on both floors. I need to get some clothes that are in between my dressier stuff and my t-shirts and jeans- my dressier clothes have me a bit "over dressed". Although I suppose it's better to err towards too nice than not nice enough. I've never workd in a "casual" office, it's always been either one extreme- professional dress, or the other- jeans and t-shirts.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend and that your week's off to a good start!

Gidday

Well, it's a good excuse to go out and buy some more clothes, I guess. It's a shame you can't put "work clothes" on as a tax deduction (well, you can't here anyway, unless it's a uniform). I tend to wear jeans etc. just so I can stay comfortable, but sometimes, if I'm taking classes, I have to have a nice suit or something. It feels strange "dressing up" now, but I guess it's basically so that people take me seriously. You need to put in a bit of effort, but it's good for the self-esteem as well.

At the moment, I'm not doing much work. I had to move states as my mother is not well, is very old, and really needs to have someone around. She had a nasty fall last year and was in hospital for 3 months. So, I have a houseful of stuff back home, and am camped here for as long as it takes. All my music is over there, and I'm stuck here with the computer and a few CD's. At the moment, I'm negotiating with a house-sitter. I don't feel able to leave as she is so frail, but won't consider going into a home ... Hmmm!!! However, have picked up a few Reflexology patients and a bit of editing, so it's not all being a carer.

It's strange how they put major music festivals on in the hottest part of the year. They put Womad on in February. It's the hottest month of the year, and in Adelaide it gets REALLY HOT. Fortunately, the Royal Adelaide Hospital is just over the fence, so it's not too far to go when you come down with heatstroke. My little trick for that is to get a half day ticket and turn up about 5-6 pm for the evening show, which goes on to about midnight. I went during the day one year to help a friend of mine with her trading stall, and ended up spending most of the time under the misters they had set up.

I'm not convinced Snape is an out and out baddie; I hope he's being a double agent and the thing with Dumbledore at the end was another type of hex, designed to put Voldemort off the scent. Have you checked out the Harry Potter spoiler thread on this site? Not many people seem to think that D. is really dead. Anyway we'll just have to hold our breath until the next book comes out.

Hope everything is going well with you.

Till next time

St. F.

I'm pretty sure we can claim "work clothes" as a deduction only if it's a uniform and only if you've spent over a certain dollar amount in a calendar year.

I hate buying new clothes, firstly because I'm most comfy in jeans, and secondly because it cuts into my CD funds.

Re: Harry Potter- I was hoping Snape would turn out all right, too. I still haven't given up completely. Hopefully we'll find out in a year or so!

Hope your week's been going OK. Mine's been all right- busy, but passing quickly. The weekend's upon us again already! I'm looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday!

My shift ends in about 30 minutes, and I'm having some difficulty staying awake this afternoon. I hope I don't doze off on the train too soundly, and miss my stop. I can sleep anywhere and through anything, and have a habit of dozing off while standing on the train. I've only missed my stop once, and by one stop, because at the next stop the train comes aboveground and they open the doors on the opposite side... so the door I was sleeping against opened.

Well, enjoy your weekend if I don't see you around before then.

Happy Monday!!

New clothes vs. CD's. Resentment city!! I'm using this time to stock up on new CD's ... well, it's only reasonable since my main collection is interstate. Otherwise, I'd go mad. I'm wondering whether to go and see Garbage. Are they any good?? They are coming soon, and I'm in need of some live music. I'd probably be the oldest person there, but who cares. Wear black so as not to be noticed and sit up the back with the opera glasses. Eccentric, but possible.

Sounds like you're a bit low on iron. Have you ever tried Tissue Salts to maximise your absorption of minerals. The one I'm thinking of is Ferrum phos. You chew about 3 - 4 daily for c. 3 - 6 months, and it really boosts your ability to absorb iron from non-haem sources like broccoli and spinach. I'm sure that I would have broken my leg when I fell and sprained my ankle recently if I hadn't been on the calcium absorption tissue salts. Speaking of which, I've been walking around like a ship with a list to starboard, so trotted off to the chiropractor. Now I'm walking properly, but boy do I ache. I feel like I've just done 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali. Hot showers and a rest, I think.

I'v just started reading a really interesting book, The Eternal Frontier - a natural history of North America by Tim Flannery. He wrote The Future Eaters, a natural history of Australia, New Zealand etc. Also fascinating stuff. I feel like re-reading all the H.P books again as well.

Anyway, hope the week is kind to you

St. Francesca.

Hey there! I kept meaning to reply from work, and then being interrupted. Seems that I can manage quickie replies to stuff, but I didn't want to respond with just a brief sentence here.

Anyway, it's Friday. The week's been hectic! I may take your suggestion and try tissue salts. Are they contraindicated with any medications? I wear a birth control patch and take asthma medicine orally and via inhaler. I don't want to mess up their absorption.

My stomach's been on the fritz since Sunday and I'm not sure why. Started with cramps, and upset stomach. It's been on and off upset all week, without cramps or fever but with some lightheadedness, overwhelimg sleepiness, and hot flashes. I hope I'm not coming down with anything.

Regarding Garbage... I personally don't care for them. They're not *bad*, per se, just not particularly interesting to me. But I hope you'll enjoy the show, if you wind up seeing them.

I wind up being amongst the oldest in a lot of gig crouds- pretty much any time my boyfriend's bands play, we're old enough to be half the audience's parents. Ah, f**k it! At least we're not crotchety old fogies!

Well, hope you'll enjoy your weekend, and please let me know what you thought of the book when you finish it. It sounds really interesting!

Off to work I go. Catch up with you later!

Greetings from freezing Canberra

It's been snowing!!! I love snow. Haven't seen it for years, so I went mad running around the backyard catching snowflakes on my tongue. What an overgrown kid!! The dogs liked it, but my little black fluffy cat got snowed on and came in looking really cute, but trying to shake off this strange cold stuff. Very funny. They've never seen snow before.

I've been busy, doing what I don't know. Taking mum to her appointments, going to see a few patients, food shopping, going to the chiro ... so it's nice to sit down in front of the computer for a bit of relaxation. I should be doing some proposals for classes I want to run for community groups (making herbal cosmetics, one I think I'll call "Blissful Foot Massage" and a workshop on "Herbs and You" or something like that). Waiting for some inspiration ... I think I'll write to Psychocandy instead.

The tissue salts are homoeopathic. Vibrational remedies (insert Twilight Zone music here). So they won't interact with any medications, however as your blood oxygenates you may find you don't need the puffers as much. It sometimes works like that, anyway. I got onto them years ago, long before I studied natural medicine. My fingernails were so thin and brittle, they would break off below the nailbed and get infected. The guy at the health food shop (I'd tried all the expensive cosmetics to no avail) suggested that I take Silica tissue salts for about 3 months. I thought it sounded really unlikely that anything like that would work, but I gave it a go and now I have the strongest fingernails in the universe, and a good head of hair (it's all connected), so they do work whether you "believe" in them or not. Don't get the combination 12 tissue salt remedy, for some reason best known to itself, it doesn't seem to work.

I'm having a "debate" with some Scandinavian who wrote a sceptical view of homoeopathy on this site. I think I'll give up. Heads and brick walls come to mind. I feel like daring him to go to a homoeopath for 12 months and then see what he thinks. Anyway, it's unscientific to dismiss something without testing it for yourself.

I'm not so sure about Garbage. I found some videos on the internet, and it's not really my type of music either, so perhaps I'll save myself $60. I'm feeling a bit smug, I managed to do an antique deal via phone and internet over 3 state borders. A friend of mine's father died recently. She's having an awful time with her sister (who was never there to help when dad was going down with dementia, never turned up at Christmas etc.), and I've been sending her advice on what to keep and what to sell, and how to deal with this impossible sister.

Her dad had a couple of sheds full of stuff, and I'd expressed an interest in 2 old Barossa German meatsafes (sort of wooden boxes on legs with netting sides, shelves etc.). Very rustic, the closest U.S. style would be Shaker furniture, worth lots of money done up properly. I used to work for an antique dealer, and so keep an eye out for interesting stuff whenever I can. My friend wrote to me, asked if I still wanted them. Yes Yes Yes. So today, another friend is picking them up and taking them to my place!! I've always wanted an old German meatsafe and now I have two. Nothing exceeds like excess. (Barossa Germans - they were a group of fundamentalist Lutherans who were being persecuted in Europe and came out to South Australia in the 1840's. They made a real name for themselves growing grapes and making wine. Their old wooden furniture is really collectable, and as I like good, plain work, right up my alley). They'll do nicely for my CD's, videos, DVD's, stereo etc.

The book is fascinating, if you're interested in ecological history. Tim Flannery wrote it while he was being a professor at Harvard.

Hope the tummy bug has packed up its suitcase and left home by now.

See ya

St. F.