Happy New Year!

As our joint resolution we've decided to go on a Green Diet, beginning with ten days of cleansing. The idea is that by eating foods that are alkaline (instead of acidic) you lower your bodies ph, which should be around 7.3. The problem is that most western food is very acidic and your body has to struggle to keep your internal ph down, but by eating these alki foods your body gets more energy, less sleep, less sickness, and overall goodness. Here's a ph food chart if you're interested. An excess of acid can lead to all range of problems like fatigue, cancer, osteoporosis, cancer, obesity, and possibly viruses. Worth checking out.

Here's a shot from Amerika-mura (America Town) in Osaka. We were surprised by the relative lack of English writing and American people.

OSAKA

We Made it, and thank god for apple stores! Its, umm, well, overwhelming. Extremely overwhelming. Busy. Minimal English, very minimal. And we only have minimal Japanses.

いてきます！
エゴが　わかてますか

Christmas Time

This is an Update of our holidays. In Brisdane there are a lot of free museums and gallerys which is great!. Christmas eve was spent wondering around southbank and venturing into the GOMA. This first picture is taken from there. I is an installation in a small room. All the walls and ceiling is reflective. The floor is a walk was that you stand on that is surrounded by water. Suspended in the air are different colored neon lit balls. I felt lost in a neon ball universe.


The next image is of the walkway through South bank- very beautiful. When that evening we walked "Elf" out side by the water. They played the movie on a big screen for the Christmas festival. Afterwards Fireworks went off!!!!!!



Thats a picture of our 60mm gold tensil christmas tree. I decorated it myself!!!!!

Christmas day was walked back to South Bank. Matthew swam in the man made beach while I read a book. Then we ate a Chinese Restaurant in the Village. How exciting.

I think the weather sucks out the Christmas spirit here. Is around 80-85 degrees here. No one dresses in christmas colors and the city wasn't really decorated. You occasionally see a tree or some light, but nothing like I am used to.


Oh well - - Japan here we come!!!!

Brisbane

Well we made it to the big city, and it is sure great to be around people again. We just went to the Queensland Museum, Art Gallery, and GoMA today. Great stuff, they're doing a 5th annual Contemporary Pacific Show. My favorite was Ai Weiwei dropping a hung dynasty urn. Good stuff.

We're Chippers, not Sparkies

Ask and you shall recieve:

Dusty

Lots of sanding today. The Ausi hardwords are a real pain to work with, nice colors though. It's getting down to the wire and it feels a bit like finals at RISD trying to get this desk to a state where they can use it without damaging the surface. We're pushing through and ready to party in Brisi come Friday.

Life at the Zoo

Okay. So. Here are some photos of the friends we live with. Bushy the bushrat in a have-a-heart trap (Bushy was transported to Beaudesert), Lizzy the lizard (there's actually three Lizzys, they're nice and eat flies that try to get out the window), and Hunter the huntsman spider (as big as my palm, for reference). The dead bird is three of four we've found so far that fly into the windows of the main hall where we work, causing us to jump and them to snap their necks. And lastly, Speckles, the carpet python whom I almost stepped on while out for a bush walk (He was sleeping). Not poisonous, but still a biter, think infections, bad bad infections. I tossed a couple sticks at Speckles to see if he was dead, when I finally hit him, he opened his eyes, looked around, and slithered back into the bush. Interesting. When do we go to Japan?

Bush Rat

The French family left this morning. It will be more quiet but we will miss their company over the next weeks. When we were with Peter Adams he told us about a time in Korea when he took their pet cat and put it up in the attick to clear out all the rats. The next day when he went to get it out the cat was wide eyed, twitching, and was never quite the same since. We started hearing bush rats in the dish rack at night, and about three days ago I had a mental break. All I could say was "bush rat" and "leeches" over and over. Then I just started laughing, for an hour or more. We've only been off the mountain once. Hopefully we'll get hte desk supports up tonight.

Hand Sawn Half Laps

Some more photos, me in my new and improved canyon-bush hat. The hanging corks keep flies away from your face while you're working. Now if only I could find a way to keep the corks out of my face...


And one of the beautiful sunsets here.

I got into a very meditave state cutting half laps in 2x4s with a hand saw today and was at peace with myself. It was later shattered trying to sand said 2x4s, but it was nice while it lasted.

Walkabout?

I have to agree with Alison, I'm ready to move on. I know I said that once before in Tasi, but now I'm really ready. I don't know if it's Australia, these mountains, or the isolation they provide, but I want to be around people, a change of scenery, something more. I've been thinking about doing a solo day in the jungle. Just me, my thoughts, some paper and a pen. The flies might do me in, though. I keeping thinking about what I want to do back in the states. Digital media? Engineering? Drafting? Webdesign? Radio announcing? For a while I wanted to come back and just make money. I'm not so sure anymore. I've always wanted to do important work, now even more so. Alison and I go through lists of things we want to do before we're thirty and night before we go to sleep. It seemed manageble at first, but then we realized we'll be 24 by the time we get back, leaving us only six years! So much to do...


Here's a shot of me and our amazing 45 degree cut off jig. You may wonder why not just use a chop saw? So would I...


Had to throw this picture in from back in Launceston. We ran into a woman who rescued wounded animals; this is me with a baby wombat. Sooo cute.

Thinking . . .

Speaking of my home: Being here I have a lot of time to think. I really miss things that are familiar. I'm not sure where exactly my home is because I haven't had a place to go back to - Maybe Rhode Island. What ever it is I miss it. I miss my family and I especially miss my dad. With all the thinking and remembering, it seems all my childhood memories involve my dad in someway. It also seems to me that my childhood ended when he died (I was 12). I know this is personal but this is what I've been thinking about. It's just crazy that so much time can pass by but you still remember certain things like you're back in time. I don't know how much Philip Croney it thought of by others, but on this trip I think about him daily. None of my friends have met him; so let me tell you a little about him:

He was very thin, quiet and handsome. He made our computer desks with only hand tools. He had his own pest control business. He roller-skated with us; held me up by my feet, helped make homemade ice cream and mattie. He would surprise me a school and have lunch with me. He listened to the Lion King sound track and dance around the basement. He got on especially well with my sister Renita. He came to my school a few times to do presentations on Guyana, South America. . . . The list goes on.

See- doesn't he sound like an amazing father.

Now you all know a little about him and maybe his memory with last a bit longer.

A little frustrated and yes . . . even a little homesick.

We have hit the 2-month mark and we are working on our last month in Australia. I'm getting a little home sick. More so than before- or maybe I’m just sick of Australia. People here are nice, but they like to make fun of Americans and assume we are all wealthy spoiled brats that don't know how to wash dishes. (Don't get me wrong- not everyone is like this. but this is a common occurrence on our trip) I know they don't vocalize their thoughts like that but we can feel it. But the interesting thing is - Australia is striving to be just like the USA. They don't want to admit it, but they are. So I find it a little difficult to deal with. It would be very different if they were so different culturally, but they aren't. Wwoofing with the French family is a very good experience but I have noticed that everywhere we go we end up talking about politics. Everyone wants to talk politics and educate us on the way the US should be. I reminded Isabelle the other day- not all Americans agree with and support our leaders. But I do appreciate the US for what it is- my home. Like everywhere else it has good and bad. Our good is really good and our bad is really bad.

Oh well. I'm ready for Japan. I'm really for a change of people, environment, and culture.