...a house that looked like this.

Please settle this debate between me and Trish!

I could only come up with like three....(Banksy was one of them). I'm not sure if that's more of a reflection of our times, or just my ignorance...

For most of my travels with Trish, I had developed an acute sensitivity to names like Zara, Mango and Topshop. These stores have racks on racks for Trish to browse, while seldom offering even a single seat for the waiting man.



So now, here is a small appreciation for the brand Zara which has consitently provided adequate seating at the front of the store (from Japan to Italy to Spain)....and sometimes even outlets for the guys. And a bit of a confession....the score between Trish and I at Zara is now 79-76 (Trish's way).....although I have scored 4 times at two different stores, while she has only scored once....a bit like catching the quidditch....

We're now starting our month long road trip from Spain to France. gotta get off!

Alright, so I think I've got my blog/facebook/flickr integration worked out...which is a bit late because I think we're heading into a week-long internet blackout. Maybe a little longer. Anyway...let's test this thing out.

Anyone know - what fish is this?

I also decided it was time to stop using a glorified practice amp as my main amp....it did the job...but it was like using diluted chinese soya sauce to eat sushi. ok. that's a strange illustration i know....but it's the best i could come up with.

All this time I had been using my Musicman Bongo (that's the bass) with the Roland Cube 60 (the amp). For the guys, that's like buying a Porsche but running them on some cheap generic tyres. Or like Kobe Bryant wearing Starbury's. And for the girls....it's like wearing your Jimmy Choo's with your Sportsgirl dress. Woooo...you understand me now.

So now the weakest part of the system is me.

Anyway....looks like Trish has approved of this purchase by christening it with it's own photo shoot!!!

3 - I had a three year old birthday party which was captured on video tape. I don't remember much....but I remember feeling like I was too small to be part of the games.

4 - I used to love Transformers. I owned Cup, Wheelie, Grimlock, Megaplex...and then some other ones from the new generation that I forgot their names. I lost Seaspray at the Westmead Tennis Courts. I don't know why I remember that.

5 - I hated my first experience ski-ing. I loved the "chalet" that we stayed in. Ken and I would run around and say "Heeelllloooo litttlee boo-boo" (like Yogi Bear) every time we bumped into each other. I hated ski-ing. At least...I cried alot. But I eventually conquered Flinders.

6 - I learnt to ride a bike and used to love riding around and around in circles in our backyard. It was huge back then. My sister and I played buses, and we used the brake as a ticket punch. I don't know if the brake handle was always broken or if we made it that way. One day we our bus route took us down our street which is pretty steep. My sister tried to stop with her bare feet. I smashed my face a little. I got stitches and remember sitting with her outside the Westmead Tennis Courts shoo-ing the flies away from my open wounds. My whole cheek was a scab. I'd press on it in class. I haven't owned a bike since.

7 - I had my first crush(es) in Kindergarten. I had different crushes like every year through primary school. They were all white girls in primary school.

8 - I always seemed to be in the composite class. The one where they put a couple of smart kids from a higher year into the class from a lower year. In hindsight....doesn't it sound like you'd do that for the dumb kids?

9 - When I was old enough to walk home, I'd detour by the Kingsdene shops and buy as many packs of Footy cards as I could. The ones that came with bubble gum. I got busted one day when mum found like 30 empty wrappers under my bed....with the bubble gum still in them since I couldn't eat it all.

10 - I moved to Beecroft School when in Year 4. I hated it. I got in trouble one day for booing in an assembly. A teacher told me very sternly "If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all". It was a good lesson. But I also had to pick up rubbish. Some other kid picked me up and pressed me against a wall one day and I cried and he got moved to another school. I didn't think he was that rough...but I wasn't really enjoying school.

11 - Do they have OC class in Year 5? Yeah...I got into that. I made friends with the less popular kids in my class. In Year 5 I learnt how to do a sidestep playing bullrush in the oval. That was maybe the start of learning to be co-ordinated. I also was pretty good at handball, after which I named my special move after Bart Simpson's skateboard spin in the Simpsons video game. I had Bart Simpson bedsheets which said "Cool Your Jets, Man" which I always though referred to not peeing in your bed.

12 - In Year 6, I started to be a group wanderer. I went started to be generally accepted by most social groups. I think it might have something to do with the time I made it onto some "Hot List" compiled by the power-broking girls in my class. I was so enamoured. By Year 6, I had trouble sitting on the floor and crossing my legs. I always sat under the blackboard against the wall.

13 - I became a class clown in Year 7. I sat next to Simon Bastian alot because we were from the same Primary School. This was perfect because he was tall and fairly laidback. And I was short and hyperactive. So I was like the perfect sidekick. Sort of like the sidekick dog in that Warner Bros cartoon. This is a period in my life I generally like to forget. I will neither confirm or deny the hi-jinx I got up to....but I will say that I was making trouble just to make the news long before Britney and Lindsay Lohan (but I didn't go as far as getting pregnant or having a lesbian affair).

14 - I had this strange streak of getting detentions on the last day of school. My favourite one was in French class.....I had drawn a pattern on the entire table top during the period, and got severely busted when the teacher saw it. He obviously didn't appreciate my pencil sketches, because my Art teacher always gave me at least an 8/10. There was this time I had a free period and I cleaned the artroom sinks which were covered in paint. I actually enjoyed doing it because I have this slight streak of OCD. I kept doing it until they were spotless silver again. Gerry helped me too. Ms McMillan gave us $2 each which was awesome.

15 - I also have this mild autistic streak. So I reckon. I like to mix up the letters of words. I used to play SNATCH and play it very competitively. At the peak of my powers, I won a game of SNATCH just by listening to the letter being called out and the words being said. (My favourite moment was when we hired cars in New Zealand and Ken asked me the number plate of the car I was driving in....at that moment I went in some kind of zone and pictured the car with the numbers on it. I got the last number wrong though.)

16 - I was a terrible friend in high school. I never had any bad intentions, but I was pretty socially malformed. Mostly I didn't know when to say stop. Or I just had no idea. I had no idea that when this girl would call me every night....that she liked me. HaHa. I just hated making excuses to leave the dinner table. Also - I egged on Timbo to ask Meech out during class. He did an awesome job telling the story of Timeo and Lee-et. Then he gave her a bunch of yellow flowers, because I had told him that's the colour flowers you get for the girl you were in love with. I thought red was the colour you get if you wanted to sleep with her. In some ways, I think that's the right approach anyway....but I think it took Timbo many years to get over that heartbreak. He said I just wanted Meech for myself. HaHahaha.

17 - In senior high, my life aspiration was to be the king of my domain. Or some kind of domain. I settled for being an Op of my own IRC channel called #bacteria. What a nerdy name. I looked forward to Friday nights under the alias "bluefly". Yeah, I don't understand either. I always looked forward to Friday nights when we'd get like 10 people in there...maybe even more! I remember rock would

18 - In Year 12, I spent most of my time organizing events for school because I loved it. Year 12 was all about being able to organize school dances with good music; awesome memorable assemblies and 3-on-3 comps. Year 12 was my first apprenticeship with photoshop and websites. I think God had a plan for all that time wasted in high school. To this day, I use photoshop and my knowledge of websites more than I do trigonometry or Shakespeare. By April in my HSC year, I got pulled aside by our Head Teacher who told me it was time to buck up and concentrate on my HSC. The rest of the year was very stressful and I began to grind my teeth.

19 - I didn't like uni. I still don't know how I made it through uni. I didn't actually know the secrets of enrolling into classes until....third year? I technically failed a subject in second year which meant I should've been kicked out of my course. I got 51 for the subject, but was on something like 32-50 before the the finals. I had my scholarship suspended, and lived that semester on $500. I lived incredibly cheap during uni. Every year of uni was difficult, except for my final semester where I finally started to understand something....anything!

20 - At 20, I picked up my dad's old Minolta film camera. I would go to uni so I could stop by the photo shop to put in some rolls of film. I started my eBay account. I bought two zoom lenses and a beautiful 135mm prime for that camera. For my 21st, I got my first Nikon. I decided to go with film because at the time, it was still cheaper than digital. I went to the States when I was 22 to present a paper at some Computer Science / IT conference in Florida. That was a strange experience. I bought my 50mm f1.8 in LA for $108US. It is still with us today.

I also travelled with Mario, Cynth and Trish in those years which would be my last overseas (to date) trip with film. Mario helped me carry the tripod alot. Those photos have alot of nostalgia.

By 23, I was comfortable with who God made me. I really wanted to have the voice of Brian McKnight though. I realised I was about to run out of plans - plans I had from about from the age of 16. But it's also exciting time because the first 23 years were more about me than anyone else....and it was a profound moment to know that I don't have to worry about me for the rest of my life.

At 24, I decided to stop making videos because it was too time consuming to live for 4 days a week, and edit my life on the other days. But I don't regret making any of the videos I did. I think my dream job is to be a creative director or producer. I have produced two CDs, a DVD and recorded a couple of songs. Some day I'm going to make a CD and make it really well.

At 25, I married the love of my life.

I am 26 now, and I have to remind myself, because I think I am 27.