Final factoids...and now exams.
15. Despite family and friends commenting on the predictability of me falling in love with the first American I met, it was still absolutely staggering to me that someone this exciting and exotic should like me. Even the teachers at school seemed excited for us. In retrospect we must have been astonishingly nauseating to be around, which is presumably why people left us alone, but then that's just what teenagers in love want anyway. Our 'relationship' lasted 6 months before she moved back to Kansas. The weekly, then monthly, letter writing continued for several years. I still find her patience at a bunch of Tasmanians ceaselessly referring to the Wizard of Oz remarkable.
16. By the time grunge hit in early 1993 I had, by a total stoke of luck, been growing my hair for 3 years and playing guitar for 4, so I was instantaneously regarded as being somewhat cool. Though I never really liked Nirvana, Pearl Jam or anyone from what the media called the grunge 'scene', I adored Sonic Youth who I thought were far cooler, smarter and more authentic than these angry and hurt floppy-haired people I looked a bit like. But even my love for them paled in comparison to my love for local bands and the thrill of being able to jump onto the coattails of bands making 'noise' and reinventing my very limited idea of what a band and a song could be. UFO, Buzzbars, Crunchy, Sea Scouts, Your Arse; every week a new band who wanted to be a band more than wanted to learn how to play properly. As it should be.
17. In the role of roadie and masseur I toured with Sea Scouts as they supported Pavement at The Forum in Melbourne and the Metro in Sydney. An amazing trip. Besides regaling poor Steven Malkmus with my '50 American states in 30 seconds' trick and suggesting he should make it into a song (Why act like that Andy? WHY?) it was an unimaginable thrill to see my equal favourite band in the world up close, eat their rider and run around backstage at The Forum around statues and dusty passageways.
18. As soon as I could, I left Tasmania. Within days I was in the highlands of Guatemala and totally, totally out of my depth. What seemed like a cool thing to say at a party in Hobart ("I'm going to Guatemala! No really I am! I don't know ANY Spanish, I don't know ANYONE!") was actually terrifying in reality. I learned basic Spanish quickly, tagged along with Swedes, Germans and anyone who'd have me and in a week I was happy making my itinerary up on my own. An experience I'd highly recommend to anyone who wants self-confidence fast. A psychological bungee jump.
19. Months after that (after a brilliant two weeks with Jennifer in Kansas and Indiana) I was working at a seal sanctuary in the Shetland Islands, a similarly life-altering experience. Seeing baby seals bond with dogs and cats before discovering their true nature in water was endearingly fascinating, as was finding out that I was living with an actual punk rocker Pete Bevington, who played bass in The Users, used to run pirate radio stations in London and had the record collection to prove it. As cool as that was, playing soccer with teenagers, working early mornings in a fish factory and exploring shamanism took up more time. Pete gave me his entire reggae 7 inch collection a year later. It's still one of the greatest treasures I possess and the reason I got seriously into DJing for several years.
20. While working in Edinburgh, where I lived for 4 years, I met lots and lots of awesome people and saw lots of fantastic bands. Within a few days of finding a place and getting a job I went to a record store to put up a notice about starting a band. Before I could post a flier I saw one asking for band-members listing 10 of the same 12 favourite artists I included. The man behind the flier, Matthew Cheney and I formed Arctic Circle (who, like every band who continue after I leave get way better) and, with some other friends, started a cafe/venue/artspace called The Forest (which also improved markedly after I left).
21. While there I managed to get a role as an extra in a few feature films. This is something I got infatuated with for a while, just being on the outskirts of a feature film is an alternately boring and fascinating experience. Thankfully the film in which I appear auditioning for a porn film wearing only a pair of white underpants before flirting shamelessly with Jean-Philippe Écoffey while he plays with my tongue piercing is unlikely to ever gain DVD release and the two films where I'm credited as 'dancer in club' are actually quite good.
22. Iceland is an amazing place and totally worth the exorbitant price of everything there, but you have to be adventurous. Eat the rotten shark, visit the penis museum, talk to strangers, look into active volcanoes, go swimming naked and alone in thermal springs when it's 5 degrees, drink Brennivin, accept lifts from strangers, pay $200 for a 6 hour bus ride between towns. It's man vs nature and you're the star.
23. Ever since having my heart broken in 2005 I started crying in movies though never at sad bits, only ever from joy. I can't really explain it. At medal ceremonies, and especially when something really excellent and unexpected happens to children, like the end of the movie Hairspray (2007). Most recently this happened while watching footage of Anna Paquin accepting her Academy Award for The Piano (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXpr_VUhang) and at the trailer for the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are film. Can't work out what it all means.
24. Things I have been obsessed with and still am to a various degree include Bjork, Twin Peaks, Press Gang, the Pet Shop Boys and Harry Potter. Obsessions tend to be shorter the older I get though that Harry Potter one was really drawn out. Often I'll wear a fairly obscure badge or T-shirt in an effort to draw fellow-obsessors into conversation. So far my Press Gang-theme-song ringtone on my mobile hasn't worked, nor has my Twin Peaks 'This must be where pies go when they die' t-shirt but I made several pals from my wearing Bjork t-shirts and from looking a lot like one of my heroes, Tom Verlaine (see below). I used this as my Facebook profile picture for a few months. No one noticed it wasn't me.
25. I have still never tried marijuana, seen The Matrix or The Empire Strikes Back, listened to an album by The Who in it's entirety, used Twitter, read a book by Zadie Frost or Dan Brown or been to Paris, but then only a third of my life is behind me.
16. By the time grunge hit in early 1993 I had, by a total stoke of luck, been growing my hair for 3 years and playing guitar for 4, so I was instantaneously regarded as being somewhat cool. Though I never really liked Nirvana, Pearl Jam or anyone from what the media called the grunge 'scene', I adored Sonic Youth who I thought were far cooler, smarter and more authentic than these angry and hurt floppy-haired people I looked a bit like. But even my love for them paled in comparison to my love for local bands and the thrill of being able to jump onto the coattails of bands making 'noise' and reinventing my very limited idea of what a band and a song could be. UFO, Buzzbars, Crunchy, Sea Scouts, Your Arse; every week a new band who wanted to be a band more than wanted to learn how to play properly. As it should be.
17. In the role of roadie and masseur I toured with Sea Scouts as they supported Pavement at The Forum in Melbourne and the Metro in Sydney. An amazing trip. Besides regaling poor Steven Malkmus with my '50 American states in 30 seconds' trick and suggesting he should make it into a song (Why act like that Andy? WHY?) it was an unimaginable thrill to see my equal favourite band in the world up close, eat their rider and run around backstage at The Forum around statues and dusty passageways.
18. As soon as I could, I left Tasmania. Within days I was in the highlands of Guatemala and totally, totally out of my depth. What seemed like a cool thing to say at a party in Hobart ("I'm going to Guatemala! No really I am! I don't know ANY Spanish, I don't know ANYONE!") was actually terrifying in reality. I learned basic Spanish quickly, tagged along with Swedes, Germans and anyone who'd have me and in a week I was happy making my itinerary up on my own. An experience I'd highly recommend to anyone who wants self-confidence fast. A psychological bungee jump.
19. Months after that (after a brilliant two weeks with Jennifer in Kansas and Indiana) I was working at a seal sanctuary in the Shetland Islands, a similarly life-altering experience. Seeing baby seals bond with dogs and cats before discovering their true nature in water was endearingly fascinating, as was finding out that I was living with an actual punk rocker Pete Bevington, who played bass in The Users, used to run pirate radio stations in London and had the record collection to prove it. As cool as that was, playing soccer with teenagers, working early mornings in a fish factory and exploring shamanism took up more time. Pete gave me his entire reggae 7 inch collection a year later. It's still one of the greatest treasures I possess and the reason I got seriously into DJing for several years.
20. While working in Edinburgh, where I lived for 4 years, I met lots and lots of awesome people and saw lots of fantastic bands. Within a few days of finding a place and getting a job I went to a record store to put up a notice about starting a band. Before I could post a flier I saw one asking for band-members listing 10 of the same 12 favourite artists I included. The man behind the flier, Matthew Cheney and I formed Arctic Circle (who, like every band who continue after I leave get way better) and, with some other friends, started a cafe/venue/artspace called The Forest (which also improved markedly after I left).
21. While there I managed to get a role as an extra in a few feature films. This is something I got infatuated with for a while, just being on the outskirts of a feature film is an alternately boring and fascinating experience. Thankfully the film in which I appear auditioning for a porn film wearing only a pair of white underpants before flirting shamelessly with Jean-Philippe Écoffey while he plays with my tongue piercing is unlikely to ever gain DVD release and the two films where I'm credited as 'dancer in club' are actually quite good.
22. Iceland is an amazing place and totally worth the exorbitant price of everything there, but you have to be adventurous. Eat the rotten shark, visit the penis museum, talk to strangers, look into active volcanoes, go swimming naked and alone in thermal springs when it's 5 degrees, drink Brennivin, accept lifts from strangers, pay $200 for a 6 hour bus ride between towns. It's man vs nature and you're the star.
23. Ever since having my heart broken in 2005 I started crying in movies though never at sad bits, only ever from joy. I can't really explain it. At medal ceremonies, and especially when something really excellent and unexpected happens to children, like the end of the movie Hairspray (2007). Most recently this happened while watching footage of Anna Paquin accepting her Academy Award for The Piano (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXpr_VUhang) and at the trailer for the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are film. Can't work out what it all means.
24. Things I have been obsessed with and still am to a various degree include Bjork, Twin Peaks, Press Gang, the Pet Shop Boys and Harry Potter. Obsessions tend to be shorter the older I get though that Harry Potter one was really drawn out. Often I'll wear a fairly obscure badge or T-shirt in an effort to draw fellow-obsessors into conversation. So far my Press Gang-theme-song ringtone on my mobile hasn't worked, nor has my Twin Peaks 'This must be where pies go when they die' t-shirt but I made several pals from my wearing Bjork t-shirts and from looking a lot like one of my heroes, Tom Verlaine (see below). I used this as my Facebook profile picture for a few months. No one noticed it wasn't me.
25. I have still never tried marijuana, seen The Matrix or The Empire Strikes Back, listened to an album by The Who in it's entirety, used Twitter, read a book by Zadie Frost or Dan Brown or been to Paris, but then only a third of my life is behind me.