Dare to Dream - Olivia Newton-John and John Farnham - Sydney 2000 (Fri 15 Sep 2000)

Dare to Dream - Olivia Newton-John and John Farnham - Openning Ceremony / Sydney 2000 Olympics (Fri 15 Sep 2000)
Reading a book recently (more at some stage) and came across the phrase Dare to Dream as one of the chapter names.

In the Dare to Dream Chapter, there was a nice quote from a Dr. Zeuss book titled Oh, the Places You'll Go!. Here it is ..

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

The Dare to Dream phrase made me immediately think of these moments from the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Heard this song so many times while we were out Homebush during the Olympics. Brings back some great memories. Here are the lyrics (and a high quality recording here).

Dare to Dream Lyrics

I am my own believer
In my heart the reason
I will follow the light from within
I'm not afraid of weakness
I'm gonna taste the sweetness
Of the power not to give in
Oh I will see it through
I believe this is my moment of truth

Dare to dream
Dare to fly
Dare to be the ever chosen one to touch the sky
Dare to reach
Dare to rise
Find the strength to set my spirit free
Dare to dream

I will go the distance
Embrace resistance
I will lay my soul on the line
When the wait is over
And the hunger has spoken
If I give my all, I will shine
Oh I will see it through
I believe, this is my moment of truth

Dare to dream
Dare to fly
Dare to be the ever chosen one to touch the sky
Dare to reach
Dare to rise
Find the strength to set my spirit free
Dare to dream, Oh

And the heart will shine like the sun
A million voices together as one
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe

Dare to dream
Dare to fly
Dare to be the ever chosen one to touch the sky
Dare to reach
Dare to rise
Find the strength to set my spirit free

Dare to dream
Dare to fly
Dare to be the ever chosen one to touch the sky
Dare to reach
Dare to rise
Find the strength to set my spirit free
(Find the strength to set my spirit free)
Find the strength to do what I believe
(I believe)
Dare To dream
Dare To dream

On Beyond Yourself - Rohan Dennis / Cycling Central (Sun 05 Jul 2015)

Sunrise - never wanted to go back, but there I was waiting to build for a Moment way off into the future - and when it was done, it was exhilarating.. - Kurnell (Sun 05 Jul 2015)

Rohan Dennis on Beyond Yourself:

I went off harder than what I thought I should have and I came back harder than what I thought I could.

via Dennis smashes a Tour record to claim the yellow jersey by Cycling Central.

I was reminded this week about a race from my past (eljeiffel: Once Upon A Time). And I have been fortunate enough to have experienced this more than once. To achieve a dream, you have to go out and get it. You have to prepare for the known, More importantly you have to be prepared to face the unknown, but you can't prepare for that really - all you can hope for is that you are doing the right thing. When you have reached that Moment where it is within your grasp, you don't think about the dream, you just go out and do it. It?. What is it? I don't really know what "it" is. You can't define it before or after that Moment. It is defined within those unquantifiable moments that makes a dream come true. Rohan Dennis went out and did it last night and it just might be captured in his words above. Congrats Rohan.

Of course all of this makes no sense. That's what moments like this are meant to be .. that's what happens when you go Beyond Yourself

Solar Groove (Bass Solo) - John Myung / Dream Theater

Solar Goove (solo) - Dream Theatre - John Myung

Always wanted to learn to play the Bass Guitar. This video is inspiration to get started. Thanks Uwe for the link and inspiration

Solar Goove (solo) - Dream Theater - John Myung

You're on your own .. you know what you know .. YOU are the one who'll decide where to go. (Dr. Zeuss)

Dare to dream
Dare to fly
Dare to be the ever chosen one to touch the sky
Dare to reach
Dare to rise
Find the strength to set my spirit free
Find the strength to do what I believe

Fingal Beach / Fingal Bay (Sun 25 Aug 2002)

Reading a book today (more at some stage) and came across the phrase Dare to Dream as one of the chapter names.

In the Dare to Dream Chapter, there was a nice quote from a Dr. Zeuss book titled Oh, the Places You'll Go!. Here it is ..

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

Was in the previous post but I thought I would make it a separate post. Just seems really appropriate - who would have thought changing a Facebook Profile Photo would have been so hard to do. I am on my own now and I know what I know which will help me decide where to go.

If you can dream it, you can do it! (Thu 30 Jun 2011)

If you can dream it, you can do it Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
I often receive very nice emails, particularly around the anniversary of Jenny's passing. Lexie has allowed me to share my return email to her. It tells a nice story ..

From: Geoff Eldridge
To: Lexie

7:37am Fri 01 Jul 2011

Hi Lexie. Thanks for your kind message and thoughts. Jo and I really appreciate them and your friendship.

We had a nice day yesterday as we honored Jenny's memory and reflected on her Life.

Sounds like you are having a fantastic time and it was great to have had those moments at Niagara Falls to remember your Dad there and for his parting words to come to you strongly.

Jenny and Jo visited Niagara Falls in 1987 and Jo and I were only talking about this the other day. I can remember Jenny telling me about their visit the first night we went out way back on Fri 30 March 1989. She showed me photos that were rescued from a water logged film camera (it was drenched from their Maidens of the Mist Tour in and around the Falls.

Last week I have moved back to Kirrawee where I lived with Jenny. It has been hard in many ways, but it is something I need to do. The house is exactly the same as it was when I took her to the St George Private Hospital on Tue 16 Jun 2009 (*)).

Yesterday morning as I got up and prepared myself so that I could meet Jo and my Mother at the St George Private Hospital (so we could be at the place and time where she left us (*) - we do this each year), I found flip-book of sayings on the bookshelf. She turned it each day and would put a different saying up. The one she left it on and I take it as her parting message (because we did not have a chance to say our farewells):

"If you can Dream it, you can do it!"

I would like to think that Jo and I have done this since Jenny left us, afterall as we now know, it was her parting wish for us all..

Jenny and Joanne - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny and Joanne - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jo - Maiden of the Mist Tour - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jo - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
Jenny - Niagara Falls (Jul 1987)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
- Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)
.. - Jenny's Meditation Room / Kirrawee (Thu 30 Jun 2011)

I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)

I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)
Detail - I have a Dream - King Street / Newtown (Sat 25 Aug 2012)
Was focused on the cheese street art by Loyalty Royal/smc3 (*) when I took this photo. There is always something interesting on this piece of wall, which is part of the entrance to a shop. Will dig out the other one I have and put it here.

The lower photo is a crop of the original and it shows some of the detail as to what is else is happening in the scene.

Do. Live. BE come YOUR DREAM - Subway Light Cover / New York City (Fri 12 Aug 2011)

Do. Live. BE come YOUR DREAM - Subway Light Cover / New York City (Fri 12 Aug 2011)

What If? #4 - Story of Telling (Wed 10 Sep 2014)

Into the Dream - London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
The Story of Telling (*) writes on What If (*):

What if sharing my dream makes people believe the impossible is possible?

via What If? (*) by The Story of Telling (*).

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010) - American Suburb X - (Fri 17 Dec 2010)

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010) - American Suburb X - (Fri 17 Dec 2010)
I have a Google Alert for Trent Parke, an Australian Photographer who is a member of Magnum and in-public (who BTW have just celebrated their 10th birthday).

Trent Parke - Google Blog Search Result - My Google Reader - Fri 17 Dec 2010
Most days I will get one or two alerts come through on my Google Reader. Normally, they don't lead to anything interesting or something I don't already know about him. However, I received an alert that quickly drew my attention. It was titled:

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010).

As Andrew Bruce posted today on Trent's Facebook Wall:

easily the best piece of writing on Parke to date

Have to agree and it is definitely worth a read.

A bit of a ramble to follow. I have known of Geoff Dyer for sometime. At least since around the time of the publication of his book, the The Ongoing Moment (Guardian Review - 16 Oct 2005). A novel and rather modest approach to writing about photography - he claims that he does not even own a camera:

"I am not a photographer ... I don't even own a camera."

I enjoyed the book and appreciated his knowledge of photography. In particular I enjoyed his writing style and the metaphors he used to get his ideas across - you will see this in his article on Trent.

[on writing about the book, The Seventh Wave] The surface of the sea is a film separating two worlds, that of water and that of air. Though absolute the distinction is perpetually on the brink of dissolving, melting away. People fly through the water as if suspended in a turbulent sky, or float through great clouds of aquatic light. That’s what water is for Parke and Autio – liquid light. Forms dissolve, blur, swim into and out of focus. Quick and silver, the water is a flash-flood of mercury.

Phot from the The Seventh Wave - Narelle Autio and Trent Parke
On to Trent Parke. I have followed his progress since he was photographer with the Sydney Morning Herald back in the early 2000's. He had two photos in the first Sydney Looking Forward Exhibtion back in 2002. I wrote about one of the photos here. Indeed the post is one of the more popular pages residing in my little blog.

In 2003 I bought two copies of the two books he had published at that stage:

• Dream/Life


• The Seventh Wave

Both books appear to be long out of print, by the looks of the Amazon Used Books prices.

Looks like I have done alright with these purchases (they were about $50 each from the Stills Gallery). I could not help myself other than to buy two copies of each. They were just beautiful. I have a soft/weak spot for photography books. I can remember catching the train after work, upto Kings Cross and then walking into Paddington to the Stills Gallery. I took quite a few photos with my litte IXUS. Must drag them out of the archive to find out the exact date of purchase of the books. A job for another day.

I will close with a quote from Geoff Dyer's article on Trent:

Later works will continue but intensify the Dream/Life vision so that, at its most extreme, Sydney becomes a kind of ghost city, in the process of being annihilated by light. A passer-by will be transformed into an accidental super-hero: Solar-man, a bleached absence of pure radiance! (Part of the fascination of this picture is of the photographer-as-magician kind: how did he do that? The difference between magic and photography is that the spell remains unbroken even when the technical explanation - which, in any case, I cannot recall - is forthcoming. [GeoffE: maybe some discussion here will help: How is this done? (Trent Parke) at photo.net - 31 Mar 2004)]

White Man, 2001 - Circular Quay/Sydney (GeoffE: at guess!) - Trent Parke
An article by the Sydney Morning Herald's Tim Clayton giving some background to the working environment that Trent Parke evolved.

For a Moment, Forever .. To be an Aurora - eljeiffel (Wed 19 Aug 2015)

A Moment - Before, During and After - Racice / Czech Republic (Sat 29 Aug 2009)

For a Moment .. You think, you dream, you are inspired and you decide to go for the Team. You plan, you flex, you push, you pull, you metal, you shuffle, you kettle, you stand and paddle, and jump a few hurdles, and suddenly, you've made the Team, the first stage of a dream. You smile for a while, but you know it is only the first mile. You train, you strain, you pain, you drain, you gain, you laugh, you try, you cry, you learn, you create capacity and experiences, and build motion, connections and emotions for a Moment that seems so far off. You desire, you aspire, you perspire, time transpires and suddenly the Moment is there just in front of you, just there waiting for you to decide and respond as only you know how to. May you seize this Moment just ahead. It is just there .. waiting .. yes, just there. Where? It's there, just there, you know it. Grasp it with both hands. Fight for the inches, they are hard to find but they are there. And given an inch, take a mile, no mercy. What lies ahead is a mystery and shortly it will be history, to become your few threads in the rich tapestry that became before you. Be in and saviour this Moment, it is there waiting for you to move into and through, just like a door, to shape you and to become your memories with friends for a lifetime. Forever. As Jenny would say, "Don't Wonder 'What If?'". Go Australia!! Go the Auroras!!

Birds of Tokyo, "Lanterns": Stripped Down (Live)

The warrior of light is now waking from his dream.

The warrior of light is now waking from his dream.

He thinks:

‘I do not know how to deal with this light that is making me grow.’

The light, however, does not disappear.

The warrior thinks:

‘Changes must be made that I do not feel like making.’

The light remains. Then the eyes and heart of the warrior begin to grow accustomed to the light. It is no longer frightens him and he finally accepts his own Legend, even if this means running risks.

The warrior has been asleep for a long time. It is only natural that he should wake up very gradually.

From the Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho.

Making a few changes in my life and I am happy about that. Does seem a bit like the above.

Yin and Yang- Water - Coral Sea - Kingfisher Bay Resort / Fraser Island (w) (5:47pm Sun 28 Apr 2002)

On Dreams - Sarah Pabst (Tue 19 May 2015)

Adelaide to Sydney (Mon 23 Mar 2015)

Sarah Pabst on Dreams and Flying:

hoping that this night I’ll dream of flying.

via I'll dream of flying by Sarah Pabst.

Manual for Climbing Mountains

As we had hoped (see A Familiar Path - "A Walk to Remember" - 28 Nov 2009), Joanne, David and myself did the 22km Main Range Walk on 1 Jan 2010. I recently read the following in a Paulo Coelho Book. I liked the story (as it can be applied to all aspects of life, not just "mountains") and I thought it would be a nice way to remember this first walk without Jenny. I have annotated the words with some of my photos from the walk. Here it is .. Geoff Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m) - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Manual for Climbing Mountains by Paulo Coelho (Photos by Geoff):

1. Choose the mountain you want to climb: don’t pay attention to what other people say, such as “that one’s more beautiful” or “this one’s easier”. You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing.
Mount Kosciuszko - Fri 1 Jan 2010
2. Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off – beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them, flowers grow between you and your objective, what seemed so clear on the map is tough in real life. So try all the paths and all the tracks until eventually one day you’re standing in front of the top that you yearn to reach.
Jo crossing the Snowy River at Charlotte Pass - Fri 1 Jan 2010
3. Learn from someone who has already been up there: no matter how unique you feel, there is always someone who has had the same dream before you and ended up leaving marks that can make your journey easier; places to hang the rope, trails, broken branches to make the walking easier. The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don’t forget that the experience of others can help a lot.
Blue Lake - Fri 1 Jan 2010
4. When seen up close, dangers are controllable: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.
Rock Abstract - Fri 1 Jan 2010 "Green" - Fri 1 Jan 2010
5. The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course, you have to have an objective in mind – to reach the top. But as you are going up, more things can be seen, and it’s no bother to stop now and again and enjoy the panorama around you. At every meter conquered, you can see a little further, so use this to discover things that you still had not noticed.
"Bush Fires" - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Jo and David - Fri 1 Jan 2010 "Snow" - Fri 1 Jan 2010
6. Respect your body: you can only climb a mountain if you give your body the attention it deserves. You have all the time that life grants you, as long as you walk without demanding what can’t be granted. If you go too fast you will grow tired and give up half way there. If you go too slow, night will fall and you will be lost. Enjoy the scenery, take delight in the cool spring water and the fruit that nature generously offers you, but keep on walking.
Main Range Path - Keep on Walking - Fri 1 Jan 2010
7. Respect your soul: don’t keep repeating “I’m going to make it”. Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying “it’s harder than I thought”, because that will make you lose your inner strength.
Lake Albina - Fri 1 Jan 2010
8. Be prepared to climb one kilometer more: the way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. But since you were prepared to go beyond, this is not really a problem.
The final km ? - Fri 1 Jan 2010
9. Be happy when you reach the top: cry, clap your hands, shout to the four winds that you did it, let the wind – the wind is always blowing up there – purify your mind, refresh your tired and sweaty feet, open your eyes, clean the dust from your heart. It feels so good, what was just a dream before, a distant vision, is now part of your life, you did it!
Jo - Mount Kosciuszko Summit - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Geoff - Mount Kosciuszko Summit - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Jo and Geoff - Mount Kosciuszko Summit - Fri 1 Jan 2010
10. Make a promise: now that you have discovered a force that you were not even aware of, tell yourself that from now on you will use this force for the rest of your days. Preferably, also promise to discover another mountain, and set off on another adventure.
Mount Kosciuszko Summit - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Jenny - Mount Kosciuszko Summit - Nov 1994
11. Tell your story: yes, tell your story! Give your example. Tell everyone that it’s possible, and other people will then have the courage to face their own mountains.
Seamans Hut - Fri 1 Jan 2010 Our entry - Seamans Hut Diary - Fri 1 Jan 2010

Copyright by Paulo Coelho Welcome to Share with Friends – Free Texts for a Free Internet Jenny and Jo - Main Range Walk - 06 Jan 2002 "Keep on Walking" - Jo - Main Range Walk - Fri 1 Jan 2010