Doing without

2011 has been an interesting year. A year of change. Dramatic change.

In years gone by I have experienced a tremendous amount of things. Some years go by totally uneventful, while other years have been full on busy and pass by within a blink of an eye. Some years have gone by with one or two major events, while others have gone by with a series of smaller yet continuous events.

Either way, we all go through this. It's life, as they say. However, life as we know it is built up of many small things. No one does just one thing, no one ever has or will. We have many aspects that make up ones life.

But what happens when you take a part of what makes your life away?

Whether it's by choice or by force. Whether you like it or not.

Why have I asked this?

Well, two main reasons. One thing is that Dizzy's last blog spoke about doing without something that is essentially a great part of our modern lives. The computer, and worse still, a computer connected to The Internet.

How many of us can turn off our computer, go away for 6 months and not touch a single PC in that time?

I know that once I have access to a computer I must have it so I can check my email, update my facebook. Tell dirty joke or update myself on other blogs I read. But while I don't have access to a computer, it's almost as if I don't even know what one is. I can live without it. And while I don't have it, there are other things that can be done.

Something similar happened recently. Just after returning from the States and right before leaving for Melbourne for the Easter Long Weekend + an extra day thrown in for ANZAC day. So, with 5 days off in total, I haven't been able to get my car fixed.

Big deal! Right?

Truth is, I could easily do without my car because I walk to my music school. It's a leisurely 10 minute walk. However, when the car broke down, I really really needed it that day and no matter what I did to try and get back on the road, it seemed nothing worked in my favour.

Basically, the alternator on my car died. I got a few friends who made fun of my little Italian car. Calling it unreliable and such. But the funny part is, the alternator is Japanese. And the rest of the car still works like the day I bought it.

The really bad part about the car's alternator dying wasn't that the battery was flat, overcharging, undercharging or anything. It was that my little modern car which I bought brand new a number of years ago comes with electronic power steering. This way, a pneumatic pump doesn't power the power steering but an electronic one that runs off the 12Volts DC (or more accurately, 14.4V DC). When the charging system fails, even if it's a voltage drop, the power steering will disable itself. This is fine while you're driving, but parking is a workout.

So, now that I'm back in town, while I want the car fixed ASAP. I've started to look at my alternative modes of transport. My bicycle.

I have a nice mountain bike. A bike I bought in 2006 from a friends recommendation in order to be able to tackle the terrain we were heading out into on our weekend rides. The bike is brilliant. But it is quite purposeful. It is a hardcore mountain bike, and even putting road tyres on it doesn't help the clumsy thing when I use it to commute rather than tear up my local dirt trails.

So, while I have no choice but to make do without my car for now, I've made my own mind up that if I have to go shopping, work, or see a friend who lives in the area. I will be riding my bike.

I have also decided that once I fix the car, I'll probably think about selling it to only replace it with either a really really old car that I'll use the money from selling my newish car on restoring it to mechanical A1 condition. The car I want to get is either a HR Holden.

OR

A Morris Minor.

The HR Holden is a classic 60's Australian family car. Running a straight 6, and usually a 3 on the tree transmission. They are smooth, quiet, economical for their time and parts are readily available.

The sad part is, I wanted to buy one many years ago when they were just another bomb, rust bucket old Aussie car. Now people have found the "cool" factor to them and their value is starting to rise rapidly.

The Morris Minor on the other hand is still an unwanted piece of crap. But a strongly built English car. Small, but very economical and also has many parts available, still.

Why am I going old? Especially so old?

Simplicity.

Pure and simple.

It took me 30 minutes to diagnose a dead alternator on my car, even with the engine lights warning me there was no charge. With these modern cars, it could mean something as simple as a shorted wire or a faulty switch. And replacing the expensive component like an Alternator being completely useless if the problem still remains.

On an old car, if the warning lights come on saying there's no charge, it means, there's no bloody charge.

But that doesn't take away the fact that I can mostly do without the car. I rely on my car a lot. I would rather rely on other modes of transport like busses and trains. But Sydney's public transport system is so bad that I prefer driving. That way I get there on time and in comfort. Carting all my gear to gigs is also easier in a car.

Doing without the car was terror last week. This week I've accepted that I don't have a car right now and that I have alternatives that work.

I can't promise much, once my car is fixed next week. I may well resort to my old ways. However, I'll still at least walk to work every day.

What have you given up or tried to do without that's important to you and your life?

So much to say, so little to talk about

A lot has been happening around the place lately. If anything, there hasn't been time to rest, or blog for that matter. However, I decided to update my small but significant readership (read: fans) with some updates of what's doin'.

Today I went to a friends son birthday party. His 1st one of his life. The strong little guy was born 3 months premature and my friend and his wife spent just about that period of time waiting for the little guy to reach a certain weight before being allowed to leave the hospital.

My friend sent me update photos every now and then. Images of the little mans hand wrapped around my friends finger nail. He was about as small as the palm of your hand. It was amazing how tiny he was and such a survivor, such a trooper.

In other news, the other day I got a call from a real estate agent who I saw about a place for my music school, and we negotiated a rental agreement. However, he went to the owners of the premises and came back to me with the original offer he gave me. In other words, they aren't interested in negotiating.

The thing is, I want to try and get it as cheap as possible. But at the same time, it's pretty reasonably priced to begin with. So I might try to offer another term on the lease of the place and see if they budge.

Better news; I have two more guitar students who have started lessons with me, and one of my existing students has just passed Stage 1 of his tuition. 6 more stages to go with his junior level, then 4 senior levels and he can get a Diploma in Music.

I was approached by a local council to put in an offer for an event that will promote the Fair they plan on holding in a local park, and wanted me out the front with a drum circle to promote peoples interest to the Fair, ask the on-lookers to participate and then head into the Fair to see what other people are showcasing.

I sent them a quote, offering my drum circle at a highly reduced price, in the vein that I will be heavily promoting the music school and making a tremendous amount of contacts.

They contacted me the following day saying YES! and then asked me if there was anything I needed to help with the drum circle. So I asked how many chairs they think I need to bring. They said they'll provide the chairs. I asked if I can set up a marque? They said one will be provided.

In fact the only thing I need to do is turn up, bring my drums, djembes and cajones and make sure I have a ton of business cards, pamphlets and a sign that says who I am so people are aware of Revolution Guitars.

A brilliant opportunity that I can't pass up. Hopefully the discount I offered help get the job, and even more hopeful that it pays off with clientele. Fingers crossed.

On the gig front, Craig and I have played a few more gigs, and we had a chat the other day about really starting to get paid for the gigs we play. That would be nice. The reception we're getting from the gigs we play has been good. So hopefully we can start organising some paid work there. Craig and I enjoy playing music together, so it would be great if we start getting some money for the hard work we've done to make this happen. I'm working on a MySpace page that has nothing on it at the moment. So bare with the sparcity of the site right now, but we will have some more videos and music up on it soon that I think you'll like.

Well, that's pretty much it. Nothing philosophical to say this time around. Nothing special, just life updates and happenings.

What do you want?

I'm not sure what will be written over the next few paragraphs, so bare with me.

There are things in life one likes and there are things in life one dislikes. It's often seen that in actual fact, we do things and have things we like, and perhaps there are some things in our life that we dislike. That sounds like I am repeating myself, but think about it.

Really think about it. You have stuff, do things, have friends, possessions, work, etc that we may enjoy, but there's always a part of it you don't. With more than enough self-help books out there, with people looking for the ultimate answer on how to put their life back on the straight, why is it that our lives are more complicated than ever?

There always seems to be a fix for something. Is it because there's always a problem?

Why is there always a problem? After all, we are in charge of our own lives. So why do we put ourselves into a position where we do things we dislike? We get into awkward situations that we don't want or like. But how does this happen when we are in control?

Is is society? Is it peer pressure? Is it just that things come and go unnoticed?

How do you find the situation you're in? Are you happy or content?

On the move

Retirement is something everyone wants. Who wants to work? No one. Why do we work? Money. We all need it in todays society. It's rare in built up areas to be able to head down the grocery shop and say "I'll clean the floors if you give me some eggs, carrots, potatoes and onions."

When I look at people who live off the grid or on the land, away from it all, there's a level of comfort that I can see. You can grow your own fruit and veg. You can have your own chickens for eggs and meat for the special occasions.

But what about the life of a vagabond? My wife and I like the idea of retiring and hitting the road for the rest of our lives. We like the idea of a motor home or something like that. Though I like VW Kombis. She likes the fully kitted out caravans that I wish not to tow.

What can you do with regards to food when it comes to a life on the road?

I thought long about this and only came up with one thing. Money.

The vehicle needs maintenance, fuel, servicing, unscheduled breakdowns, and there's no where really to grow anything you want of substantial significance that you could live off. You'll have to pay for food too.

Paying for it isn't so much the problem as much as more and more people these days talk about never retiring because their pension won't support them once they stop receiving a regular income from fulltime work. That is, if there is a pension when they retire, and by "they" I mean "me".

While you can live quite frugally, and I know I have had to in the past. I do believe it would be quite difficult at times.

Watching the River Cottage series, the main guy starts off living on the road, but that soon changes and the "cottage" turns in to a full blown farm/restaurant thing with a full production farm that comes with beef, milk, chicken, eggs, fruit and veg. Sure it cost more than a van, but this is where I can see obvious signs of self sufficiency. On the road, I just can't see that and I'm curious how it works.

How does life on the road differ to life on the land?

Possesive posessions

Over the last few years I have been thinking about all that I have accumulated. And when you start to think about how much junk you have, you start to realise that more than half of it is useless.

When I sat down to really think about it, I reckon 99% of what I own is a burden. One I could do without.

Why are we so insistent on having all these things? Why can't we just ignore the Jones' and make our own lives happier by leaving all that crap behind and making do with what we need instead of over indulging on what we want.

I'm not going to preach and then lie. I have a life that's filled with unnecessary crap. I have a couple of laptops, when I only need one. I have a desktop PC, when I don't even need one at all. I have a TV that's too big, a fridge that's too big and if I look around at everything else. There are only two or three important things for me. My wife, my house and my guitar.

Sure, you need a fridge. And entertainment is nice. But we don't really need them. They're just conveniences. Our stove is broken, but rather than buy a new one, we just use an old burner that does the job.

I write this post because we all live a life of excess. I do it, you do it. Why?

We work. Why? To pay for these things. What if you lived off the land, you land? You wouldn't need so much work. You could get by with a few dollars, and the rest of your time you work your land. You'd have to in order to survive.

And that's really my point. The responsibility for survival has changed. No longer do you have to grow your own food or hunt it. You just buy it. You don't have to build your own dwelling. You buy a house, or pay to have one made for you.

How can a meagre lifestyle be lived in a society so full it's exploding?

Do you become an outcast? Hop in your car and drive around in the sticks?

You would have to, because if you stopped working you won't be able to afford your mortgage, rent, bills, rates, land tax, etc.

Because of this, you would be stamped as a hobo, a tramp, a bum. Why?

Because society has a preconceived image of what the ideal life should be like?

My wife and I love the idea of retiring, selling everything we have, buying a mobile home of some description and living somewhere new each day.

How will this be possible? We gotta work hard to build up savings to be able to live off them comfortably when we're not building that savings fund. With our only hope being that it lasts until we die.

That's the dark side of it all. Either way to look at it, you need money. Whether it's a little or a lot. Even the motor home will need maintenance, fuel, parts, and so on. It's going to have to be paid for somehow.

And after all that's said and done, while I have harped on about this subject in a different guise once before.... you need some cash to free yourself from this current lifestyle.

One of my friends father retired and escaped the rat race to live in the country side. He bought a place and now lives off his savings. When they get low, he goes into town and cleans windows for shop owners. Does the odd weeding for people with large properties and gets by. I guess there's always a way to do things to get by. My wife and I recently sat down to enjoy a few episodes of The River Cottage. And it's inspirational to see how someone can drop it all and go follow their passion and to see if it can be done.

Most of the people I follow in other blogs have done just that. And I'm using their thankfulness to share their experiences as a learning tool to get me started on the right path. One day I'll be able to turn around and wonder not how I accumulated all this crap, but where did it all go? Hopefully to someone else who needs it more than me. And I can set myself free from the artificial umbilical cord society grafts to you from your first breath to your last.

Some wondering

It amazes me that two people can occupy the same room. One can be riding on a total high while the other is not enjoying themselves, making it a hassle and can't wait for it to all be over.

I had the displeasure of seeing this a while ago when at an event and I was enjoying through the other people who were enjoying also. Then I was distracted by a couple who were not enjoying themselves at all and I thought to myself, how can you not sit there enjoying yourself?

On the other end of the scale was a person near us who was having a great time. And again I was hit with another thought, life IS what you make it. Isn't it?

It truly amazed me that there were these people occupying the same room, at the same event, yet there was a person who didn't enjoy it.

Everyone is different, no doubt. But when you could see the angst and their eagerness to just stop everything and get out, you have to wonder what is going through their mind at the time?

Perception is a funny thing. It's part of what make us differ from one another. It's like a friend of mine that seems to be the one at every party who always has a conflict. It is natural due to the way they think, or is it because of habit?

Habit usually comes from comfort. You don't do things to yourself that you hate, even if it looks bad to others, you yourself enjoy it, so you keep doing it. Even if it's detrimental to you and your life.

I know people that are emotional wrecks, and they persist to be that way despite knowing that what they're doing isn't good. Or people that constantly do the same thing over and over again and wonder why things didn't work "Just like last time" no matter how hard they try. What about people who seem to always look at the negative side of things. I'm usually put in this basket but I'm quick to correct people that I am alternative, not negative because negative itself is perceived as something you disagree with, not exactly something bad.

Yes, we are a diverse bunch of living things. Sometimes I can appreciate it, other times I can't handle it or fathom how diverse we can be. Yes, even I have a line you can cross despite what my friends will say.

Though getting back to my original point, it disturbs me a little to see how a room of 100 people can all be having fun. Or a performer or stage can be on a high. The highest they can be without smoking something, yet there will be someone out there in the same room who will be hating every second of their existence. I guess it disturbs me because when I have gatherings, I want everyone to enjoy themselves and I make sure they do. So when I'm at someone else's gathering, I expect to see everyone happy. Otherwise you could just stay home and be miserable. But I guess it'll be a different type of misery as their perception at home will be different to say a party or a music venue. Maybe they don't want to experience that sort of downer and want a downer with a bit of upper. LOL.

After that experience I have tuned right into noticing who's having a great time and who's not. I find it sad that there are people that have every possible positive in their life, but are blinded by so much negativity that they can't actually see the positives.

At the end of the day no one is right or wrong, no one is perfect. Perhaps I just have to accept that people have good days and bad days, people like to comfort themselves with familiar things and if there's a familiarity with surrounding yourself with negativity, then I guess that's your choice to do that. Maybe that's your positive and I'm just seeing it as a negative. Maybe you get off on being down or hard on yourself.

Then I think to myself, people's behaviour is based on their experience, their influences and their up bringing. Maybe what they're like now is what they saw others like when they grew up. As humans we love copying things. And I think at varying degrees, we copy one another with our own twists, which is what makes us unique yet some how can relate to one another. If you grew up with negativity around you then you are more than likely to surround yourself with it as you get older. It's that familiar comfort thing again.

This can also explain why you get similar people based on their demography. Every country in the world has it. There's the slum, the rich part of town, the middle class. I don't think this is depicted by the price of the property in the area. I think it comes down to comfort. If you've been brought up with abusive parents then you have a highly likely chance of being the same. There are exceptions to this though. I know some parents who are really shit to their kids and I disagree with a lot of what they do or say around their kids. But that's their business. What I do see however is how the child in the family differs themselves from their parents, almost to say "I see them, I don't want to be like them."

The famous line from The Breakfast Club states that you are turning into your parents, you can't help it, it just happens. And while this is true in most part. I know there are exceptions. This child in particular is an exception, and I see two things with them. They will either try their best to escape the shell and become their own person, succeed and move on with their life, or they will struggle to achieve what they want due to such a strong influence of their parents parenting.

My point for all this brain vomit is to enjoy what you have. Don't concentrate on what you don't have. That's depressing me as I sit here dreaming about a Ferrari in the garage that isn't there. Enjoy what you have however little, for when you are nothing but dust, you have nothing but your soul to carry with you and show for yourself. Have heart, compassion and love for yourself and others around you.

Living things

I'm not really a hippy. Some of my friends think I am with the way I bang on about the environment and how to preserve it.

I am a hypocrite though. While I can eat a nice steak or a rack of ribs and have zero guilt. At the same time I can't put a lobster into a pot of boiling water. I usually get them to the front of back door of the house and let them out.

Last month my brother in law when to Thailand or something, and brought back a tennis racquet for me. But this wasn't an ordinary racquet. It was smaller than a full sized one. It was made of plastic, and it had a button on it that when you pushed it would send sparks out to kill innocent inserts.

While the idea is fun and novel. I wasn't sure I'd like to use it. It's one of these.

So, time did come to finally try it out when one of those really long winged ants flies into your house. The wife got me to try it out on the ant.

There were three loud pops. Really loud. The wings got blown off the ant. It crawled around, clearly dazed from the massive shock treatment it just received.

I regretted doing it, I apologised to the ant. I said I was really sorry. I regretted doing it, watching it helplessly crawl around in circles. Probably thinking "WTF happened just then?"

I promise to never use that contraption again.

Another one bites the dust

I might have used that title for another blog entry before, though I'm sure the subject itself was totally different.

This morning I met up with a Conveyancer that is part of my networking group I meet with. We all have one on one meetings with each other regularly in order to keep our relationships fresh. Well, today I met with our groups Conveyancer and what an interesting discussion was had. I discovered a few common interests such as our dislike for packaged food. And we also discussed actual business, which is what we're really there for.

However, some of the questions I ask people in our group usually lean more towards what you don't want from your business rather than what you're after. People know what they want, it's often than not they don't know what they don't want. The reason I ask them this is so I can avoid sending them a customer they will hate for the rest of their lives. I only want good clients in my business, so it's only fair they receive the same.

The discussion went on and eventually this person realised something. They didn't want to be doing their job. They just sort of fell into it by way of being handed some work and told to do it, then later in life they had kids, so they went and did what they knew best, the same job. Life went on hold. However, they soon realised that if anything, going back into the industry meant not having a life at all. So they opted out of it all and started to work from home... someone has to pay the bills.

It turns out, this whole time they have just been going with the flow and have ended up here. Questioning their career, their life and their situation.

The story was too familiar.

If anything, it's only motivated me more to keep pushing in the direction I am longing for, rather than just longing for the change to magically appear. It was also a breath of fresh air to meet someone who is going through a similar experience. The other thing that was funny was that we both had similar beliefs, assumptions and issues with the networking organisation we're both in.

I hope she ends up happy with everything she's working hard to achieve.