How You Remind Me by Nickelback (youtube)

How You Remind Me by Nickelback
Are we having fun yet? ..
And this is how you remind me


A song that reminds of a Friend who introduced me to Nickelback and this song when we were collaborating on an internet project (* - wow did we do all that) and we were having so much fun.

The other enduring memory of this song is the time of it's release - September 11, 2001. It (as well as Powderfinger Song which I will track down) will always remind of that day.

How You Remind Me Lyrics

Never made it as a wise man
I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
Tired of living like a blind man
I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling
And this is how you remind me

This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am

It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breaking

And I've been wrong, I've been down
Been to the bottom of every bottle
These five words in my head
Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no
Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no

It's not like you didn't know that
I said I love you and I swear I still do
And it must have been so bad?
Cause living with me must have damn near killed you

And this is how you remind me
Of what I really am
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am

It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breaking

And I've been wrong, I've been down
Been to the bottom of every bottle
These five words in my head
Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no
Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no

Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no
Yeah, yeah, yeah
No, no

Never made it as a wise man
I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
And this is how you remind me
This is how you remind me

This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am

It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breaking

And I've been wrong, I've been down
Been to the bottom of every bottle
These five words in my head
Scream, "Are we having fun yet?"

Yeah, yeah
Are we having fun yet?
Yeah, yeah
Are we having fun yet?
Yeah, yeah
Are we having fun yet?
Yeah, yeah
No, no

On Ideas - Breaking Smart (Fri 13 Nov 2015)

Untitled - Alexandria (Wed 14 May 2014)

Breaking Smart on Ideas:

Ideas that occur at the beginning or end of a project are usually worthless. Ideas that occur in the middle of a project are priceless

via How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change a Person? by Breaking Smart.

Too much time on my hands today. Catching up a little on some interesting posts over the last few weeks.

Travel, Distance and Perspective - Ribbonfarm / Breaking Smart (Sat 04 Feb 2017)

on the road - Cooperabung / Pacific Highway (Sat 14 Jan 2017)

ribbonfarm on Perspective:

One of the benefits of travel and distance is perspective.

via Life in the Time of Choleric by ribbonfarm.

The most Successful Art is almost on the Verge of Failure - Garry Winogrand (Aug 1976)

Olympic Welcome Home Parade #1 and #2- George St / Sydney (Mon 20 Aug 2012)
In Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand (*), Mason Resnick writes about some photographic advice given to him by Garry Winogrand (*):

[..] treat editing photographs as "an adventure in seeing" and to enjoy the whole process.

[..] tension between the form and content of a photograph makes it succeed.

[..] the most successful art is almost on the verge of failure.

I think all these points can be applied to all aspects of life. Photography gives photographers a great chance to experience life and to abstract what they observe and learn.

Particularly like the last point. I know from my own paddling experiences that our best efforts have verged on the edge of failure. You are in, then you are out. Things are breaking down and coming back together again - and so it goes all way the way through the set or race. My GPS has told me this time and time again in our training sessions. The sets that feel the worst are often better than the ones with that perfect feeling. Something I have known for a long time. It is hard to talk to others about this counter intuitiative observation of performance. This quote might come in handy.

Olympic Welcome Home Parade #3 - George St / Sydney (Mon 20 Aug 2012)

Forgotten Years - Midnight Oil (1990) (youtube)

Forgotten Years - Midnight Oil (1990) (youtube)

Who can remember, we've got to remember


Norm (a few weeks before he suddenly passed away), Jo, Margaret, Geoff and Jenny - Graduation - Masters Degree in Accounting - Town Hall / Sydney (May 1992)
Anzac Day here in Australia. Jo and I have just been for a long paddle in the rain under and around the Anzac Bridge.

Always think of this song on Anzac Day. I remember hearing this back in the early 1990's. Whenever I hear it now, I think of Jenny and Joanne's Father, Norm. I was always invited around to the Petterson Home for lunch on Anzac Day (I would have three Anzac Days with Norm before he passed away suddenly in June 1992) and there would always be Anzac Biscuits with a tea or coffee for afterwards. Joanne has made a batch for today, so the tradition continues.

Norm - Woranora (Wed 22 Dec 2010)

Random Recollection follows: Was lucky enough to hear Midnight Oil play this song live in April 1990. I was the only member of the audience ..

I played hockey for most of my life and back in the late 1980's and early 1990's we started playing on a synthetic surface, rather than the traditional grass. The only fields in Sydney at the time were at Homebush (the site and surrounding area would host the Sydney 2000 Olympics).

The only other sporting facility at Homebush at time was the State Sports Centre which had a number of sports halls for playing basketball and many other indoor sports.

After finishing a week night training session with my club, Sydney Uni, I could hear live music being played in one of the sports hall. It was early in the season and it was still warm. The doors to the Hall adjoining the hockey field was open, so I had a look.

At the far end of the Hall was a band playing - it was Midnight Oil rehearsing for an upcoming tour. I sat down, leant against the wall. They appeared to not notice me or did not care. As the lone audience member, I just sat back, thought how lucky I was, and watched and listened to Midnight Oil rehearse a number of songs.

This song, the Forgotten Years was one of them. It stood out to me and I liked it immediately (still do). It was the first time I had heard it and I remember telling Jenny about my good fortune and hearing all their big hits of the time (eg Beds are Burning). I told her about this song, which I had not heard before.

I don't know exactly when, but I know this song started to get some air play and I saw the above film clip which seems to give the song even more meaning.

Here are the lyrics ..


Forgotten Years Lyrics

Few of the sins of the father
Are visited upon the son
Hearts have been hard
Hands have been clenched into fists too long

Our sons need never be soldiers
Our daughters will never need guns
These are the years between
These are the years that were hard fought and won

Contracts torn at the edges
Old signatures stained with tears
Seasons of war and grace
These should not be forgotten years

Still it aches like tetanus
It reeks of politics
How many dreams remain?
This is a feeling too strong to contain

The hardest years, the darkest years
The roarin' years, the fallen years
These should not be forgotten years
The hardest years the wildest years
The desperate and divided years
Our shoreline was never invaded
Our country was never in flames
This is the calm we breathe
This is a feeling too strong to contain

Still it aches like tetanus
It reeks of politics
Signatures stained with tears
Who can remember, we've got to remember

The hardest years, the darkest years...
Forsaking aching breaking years
The time 'n' tested heartbreak years
These should not be forgotten years

The blinded years, the binded years
The desperate and divided years
These should not be forgotten years
Remember

As someone said ..

This is simply a song about remembering the sacrifice made by all soldiers during war.

Midday Blue - Hamelin Bay - South West / Western Australia (Thu 10 Oct 2008)

Midday Blue (Water) - Hamelin Bay - South West / Western Australia (Thu 10 Oct 2008)
Always take photos of water while I am travelling, no matter what time of the day. This was an incredibly isolated beach with not a person in sight.

For some reason I am drawn to this photo and I have it in my little folder of favourite photos on my PC (along with many others). Love the Blue (and white of the sand and small breaking wave lines) in this photo, along with the lone seagull on the sand in the lower left corner.

On the Verge of Success and Failure - Garry Winogrand / Mason Resnick / Trent Parke / Spencer Lum

Eros - Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain / Piccadilly Circus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)

Garry Winogrand on Art, Success and Failure:

the most successful art is almost on the verge of failure

via Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand by Mason Resnick.

A favourite quote, from the many I've collected here over the years. I like it because it is so true in Art and Photography, but also Paddling and Life.

I am reminded of it every now and then in my own life, through my photography and paddling experiences. And today was one of those days ...

The Sun rose over the City skyline as we did our Thursday morning high intensity session in two, six person outrigger canoes. We do short interval efforts (level 4, level 4+) over repeat efforts of 8, 4, 2 and 1 minute. It's at a pace and intensity that can be maintained for these short time periods which is a bit higher than our race pace intensity (level 3) which we maintain for much longer periods.

We are pushing ourselves at Level 4 and the rhythm in the canoe is often not quite as nice as it would be at level 3 or 2. Our effort and technique is on the edge, on "the verge of failure or breaking down".

As I reflect over a 10 year paddling career, I have found that the best Training Sessions and Races have been the ones where everything is just a little out of control and uncomfortable. It's like a being on a knife edge or the edge of a precipices. It's that boundary between the known and unknown, good and bad, success and failure, and courage and fear (thanks Kayleene). And ultimately, the fault line between our past and future (thanks for that one Chantel).

It can be stressful and can feel like a feisty prickly relationship. A disonnance. And often questions and self-doubts rise to the surface.

When you are on the edge, you are pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities and beyond. And, with that comes the risk that you push too far and fail, or you just find that easy comfort zone and also fail through a lost effort and opportunity.

Disappointment may come with the failure, but if you reflect and abstract a learning, then you are more experienced and capable for the next effort. And often, as Trent Parke succinctly notes:

mistakes and accidents usually lead to the best discoveries.

You are learning, broadening your experiences and creating the future opportunity for "successful art", if you keep caring and trying.

I love that feeling of "being on the edge of failure". Instead of fighting it, try to find it and some comfort in the uncomfort, and in the knowledge that this is, as Spencer Lum astutely notes:

where all the good stuff happens

As Jenny said, Give it a try, step outside of your comfort zone. You might be surprised where it can take you ...

Don't wonder 'What if?' - Jenny P

No Stopping - Luca Turrini (Thu 30 Nov 2017)

No Stopping - Fremantle (Mon 27 Nov 2017)

Luca Turrini on No Stopping:

This has never been about breaking records. It has always been about doing something we love and help other people. And, maybe, just maybe in doing that, achieving something incredible and that is what we did today. And I think sometimes we don't believe we can do amazing things. That is what this is all about.

via Outrun Cancer by Tenplay.

Hall Of Fame - The Script feat. Will.I.Am (YouTube)

Hall Of Fame (*) - The Script (*) feat. Will.I.Am (*) - [Youtube (*)]
Hall Of Fame (feat. Will.I.Am)

Yeah, You could be the greatest
You can be the best
You can be the king kong banging on your chest

You could beat the world
You could beat the war
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks
You can be a master
Don't wait for luck
Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

You could go the distance
You could run the mile
You could walk straight through hell with a smile

You could be the hero
You could get the gold
Breaking all the records that thought never could be broke

Do it for your people
Do it for your pride
How you ever gonna know if you never even try?

Do it for your country
Do it for your name
Cause there's gonna be a day

When you're standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

Be a champion, Be a champion, Be a champion, Be a champion

On the walls of the hall of fame

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions
Be truth seekers

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions

Standing in the hall of fame
And the world's gonna know your name
Cause you burn with the brightest flame
And the world's gonna know your name
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

(You can be a champion)
You could be the greatest
You can be the best
(You can be a champion)
You can be the king kong banging on your chest

(You can be a champion)
You could beat the world
You could beat the war
(You can be a champion)
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

(You can be a champion)
You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock
(You can be a champion)
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks

(You can be a champion)
You can be a master
Don't wait for luck
(You can be a champion)
Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame

Thanks Lisa - another great song (*). Remember it all starts with Belief (*) and all "the other stuff" (*) just looks after itself.

On Photography and Ambiguity - Streetshooter (Thu 29 Oct 2015)

Shroud of Erskine Creek - Water - Erskine Creek / Mount Gower / Lord Howe Island (Mon 22 Oct 2001)

Streetshooter on Photography and Ambiguity:

The thing is, to have all three elements of the self - find and realize your intent. The Eye, Heart and Mind work together to find the subject and realize the intent. The entire process from start to finish is ambiguous and should be allowed to remain that way.

via Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 28 … Street … Deciphering and Realizing Intent by Streetshooter.

Our group stopped here about half way up Mount Gower to rest and to refuel for the second and more difficult half of our ascent of Mount Gower. For some reason I made a photo of the water with the reflection of the over head canopy and shafts of light breaking through. It was just a photo of the water, I thought. When I saw this photo on my computer screen a few weeks later, I decided it would look better in Black and White and made the transformation. In doing so a beautiful women revealed herself out of the relections in the water. I hope you can see her. Not everyone can. For me I see photos and I see people in photos.

The words Ambiguity and Uncertainity are interesting words. Closely related but very different. I think I can understand and feel the difference. Hence I would like to substitute the word ambiguous above with uncertain. I'm not exactly sure as I feel the word ambiguity has quite a few shades of meaning in that it can be difficult thing or a good thing depending on the context of its application. Post inspired by a engaging discussion with Carla. Thanks Carla.

The Climb by Miley Cryus

The Climb by Miley Cryus
The Climb Lyrics ..

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

Sign Sign everywhere a sign - Wilson Street / Newtown (Thu 24 Feb 2011)

Sign Sign Everywhere a Sign - Wilson Street / Newtown (Thu 24 Feb 2011)
Just playing around with my new camera.

Reminded of the song Signs by Five Man Electrical Band.

Here are the lyrics:

V1
And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said you look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do
So I took off my hat I said imagine that, huh, me working for you
woah!

Chorus:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

V2
And the sign said anybody caught trespassing would be shot on sight
So I jumped on the fence and yelled at the house, Hey! what gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in
If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man you're some kinda sinner

Repeat Chorus:

Bridge:

Now, hey you Mister! can't you read, you got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no you can't eat, you ain't suppose to be here
Sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside Uh!

V3
And the sign said everybody welcome, come in, kneel down and pray
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all,
I didn't have a penny to pay, so I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign
I said thank you Lord for thinking about me, I'm alive and doing fine

Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus


© 1970, 2002 Five Man Electrical Band

Will embed the youtube video in a future post.

Things forbidden us by the quickness of the moment, and the social constraint against looking ..

On Street Photography - TR Smith (Online Photographer - Tue 10 May 2011) ..

the most interesting images would likely come from breaking commonplace social conventions, and going where people do not often go, looking where people do not often look. [..]

that consists of paying attention to things that we generally pass by without looking at closely.

Things forbidden us by the quickness of the moment, and the social constraint against looking.

Random Recollection: We sat quietly on some steps in front of a large hall in Central Brussels to rest our legs and to watch the crowd pass by.

It was easy to spot the lady in the pink dress holding a can of beer - Brussels being the home of beer to many.

She circled rather randomly in front of us and then sat beside us. Unknowing to her, I snapped the following sequence of photos, which to me seem to capture some of the sentiments from the above quote.

Street Photography #1 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)
Street Photography #2 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)

Street Photography #3 - Brussels / Belgium (Wed 09 Sep 2009)

On the Future of Design - Dan Saffer / Bernadette (Wed 19 Nov 2014)

Untitlted - Darlinghurst (Oct 2014)
Dan Saffer (*) writes on the Future of Design (*):

If we don’t design human values into the things we create, we’ll find ourselves in a world that is alien to us.

Adding:

the way all progress moves forward is by someone thinking differently, trying something that no one else has tried, breaking the established traditions and rules.

via (*) via The future of design: stay one step ahead of the algorithm (*) by Dan Saffer (*).

Along the same lines of thought for Dan's last point, Bernadette (*) writes:

What is the competition too scared to try?

Say and do that thing.

via The First Step To Building A Marketing Campaign (*) by The Story of Telling (*).

Doing - Iterations / Jeffery Saddoris (Sun 24 Jun 2018)

abstract - Greenfield Park / Sydney (Sun 10 Jun 2018)

Jeffery Saddoris on Doing:

We need to rethink the word perfect and replace it with purposeful or deliberate - purposeful practice - deliberate practice. Perfect suggests there are no mistakes and it is in the mistakes that provide the opportunity to learn. Practicing deliberately on the other hand means looking beyond simply going through the motions of a particular task or skill, and instead breaking it down into where and more importantly why we are not getting the results we want or expect.

In the same way watching is the flip side of doing, failure is the catalyst to practice. Failure shows us where the holes are - whether that is a hole in a swing, a hole in our game or a hole in our thinking. But it does not happen in a vacuum and it is not binary. Failure is the evidence of doing. And failure just like success is an opportunity for reflection in order to fine tune where to direct our next efforts. When we embrace the missteps we are given the opportunity to see what worked and what did not work in the doing and as a result we can build a more purposeful or deliberate practice moving forward.

via The catalyst to practice (listen to from here) by Jeffery Saddoris.

Is Comedy the New News? - Dan Ilic / Andrew P Street / Spectrum (Fri 07 Apr 2017)

Poster (Pauline Hanson) - The Monthly / Glebe (Fri 07 Apr 2017)

Dan Ilic on Comedy:

[Andrew P Street] is comedy the new news?

[ Dan Ilic ] Politics is often dense and obfuscates intent, so there's ... value in breaking down, in simple, clear language, what the hell is going on.

via How Donald Trump killed comedy - What happens to satire when the world of politics is a joke? by Andrew P Street.