Tag: 1997

1997: Don’t Sell Yourself, I Say!

Rather buy into your more authentic self.

(updated: 10 June 2024)

In the first half of 1997 I was weightlifting and eating a lot of red meat. I gained about 10% in body weight at my peak.

Because turning 18 wasn’t just about driving and drinking. It was also about weight training, clubs and effortless attraction.

My brother Luke was also going to the gym.

My gear above is 26 Red. The rugby top above is Blanc Bleu. The red/brown shorts are also 26 Red. The white shoes are Air Max 96 and black trainers are Puma. Luke’s top is Ministry-of-Sound (MOS) from London.

Anyway, as part of a uni assignment, I put up a personal page about myself (pic 3 below) and that’s not me in the hammock.

[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

So in 1997, the notion of “selling myself” wasn’t really a thing. You buy into me, I decide if it’s worth it, we make it happen, and that’s it.

Anyway, nothing resulted from that page. But a couple of years earlier I put up a page on my high school site (above right) about myself and a few girls emailed me about it. I didn’t know who they were and didn’t reply. That was my first web page. For this next uni page, I think I wanted to avoid strangers contacting me because the idea of “selling myself” online wasn’t a thing. Who was the person behind the email?

So I had a taxi driver and Deakin University economics lecturer pal Jack Alan who was also weightlifting and was 10 years older. He was of Persian descent and arrived from Buffalo, New York. He had a PhD (or Masters) from New York University regarding stochastic methods in economics and he personally knew Peter from Monash, who Luke also knew, but not personally like Jack.

Initially, Jack drove my dad and I back from somewhere at night in late 1996 and we ended up inviting him into our house for further intellectual discussions. We played tennis a few times and Jack had another buddy of his come along to join us once for a game. We made a number of homemade videos of us cruising around listening to G-funk, sometimes in his red Mazda 121 and other times in my green/blue Nissan Bluebird.

pic | CC

(self-portrait (2024) insertions, car insertion)

Unfortunately the video tapes were thrown out after selling Washington Street in 2006.

[ ’06 ]

The camera I used to film was below, and like below, I did record another 21st party or two for friends at the time.

[ 1998 ]

The videos were kept in the wooden cabinet if anyone has a time machine! Perhaps some of those videos I took may be floating around somewhere. I think Jack had kept one for himself.

I worked as a busboy in that year at Carousel, (Albert Park) delivered pizzas and controlled the dancefloor lights at Silvers (now Jacksons). I also did mobile DJ’ing with a computer (see pic above) and general event promotions work like dropping flyers and passes. One was for the Whisky aGoGo Friday night at Silvers for the organiser Warren, and I brought Jack to that, and a couple of female friends I knew at the time also came to Silvers. That club was around the corner from Washington Street.

I spoke to Warren initially at Jac’s Bar (upstairs at Silvers) and he was a landscape gardener by day. The “Whisky” night had a few female dancers in hot pants dancing all night on podiums. There was also one guy dancing too.

Additionally, I was rehearing at home with guitarist and school friend Noah, and also upright bassist Lucy but we didn’t do any gigs together. I was also rehearsing at Revolver (when it was a music store) with Kon and Nik after responding to a street press advert and we did do a number of gigs together.

[ src | jamming at home 1997| eating out 2007]

[home recording ~2000]

I pushed off a lot of old school friends in order break my comfort zone at the time. Very difficult to do. I don’t know what happened to Jack, maybe he went to the Gold Coast. He was selling protein powders too at the time and was really bulking up. Fun times. We swung by a lot of clubs together. Once at Silvers, he saw some of his own students from uni and they went bananas.

One standout track we bumped was “This DJ” and we considered ourselves as Ticks [1:36: “So I hops in the van with my homie Tick”]

Warren G - This D.J. (Official Video)

1997 wasn’t all peaches and cream. I failed Accounting and repeated it again in summer. Failing a subject wasn’t something familiar to me. I also cut out alcohol consumption as the hangovers were bad and could knock me about over the next day. Also, I could never fall asleep drunk.. I would just lie awake with my head spinning. I do miss the beer goggles though!

Moreover, I came to the conclusion that drinking was just a way to spend one’s “happiness credits” that would accrue naturally over the week. So being “happy drunk” meant a loss of happiness someplace else during the week during sobriety. In 1997, I explained this to someone drinking at the bar at the Arcadia Hotel and they sort of agreed with me. Lucky I didn’t get kicked out!

[at the downstairs bar, 2022]

The theory explains a lot of why people crave the weekend so badly – just another theory, though.

Yet, at Club Med, Val d’Isere in 1992/93, another skier Matthieu said in a French accent regarding women that “You must attack!” He was around 15 at the time and had a girlfriend, so that was his tip on how to get one because he asked me if I had one and I said ‘no.’

But Club Med had “clubs” anyway for young people to meet one another easily no matter who they were and people met in ski lessons too. Yet what I think he meant was to be confident. Whatever the case, I still enjoyed briefly playing drums at the resort.

Incidentally, a couple of English girls came up and spoke to me after those shots, but we never ended up skiing together, so that was confident by them. I skied with a dude-ette in Zermatt about 20 years later (starting at 1:44,) who was also from England.

The name is Heart Carver

Initially, we chatted on the chairlift, pretty mundane stuff, but it took confidence for us to both get to that same point. We took the shots, even without MI6 or Eon Productions.

Speaking of Bond, at what point is confidence infectious enough that it leads to confiding information? On that note, modern interrogation techniques are now more about making a person feel comfortable and asking very pointed questions at different stages of elicitation rather than torture and asking “who sent you?” So offer chicken soup instead of the waterboard. Yet, it is to my understanding that one big risk of interrogations is wrong or altered transcriptions and interviewees should record interviews themselves with their own equipment as backup.

Bustamante has spoken about establishing baselines to determine when someone is out of sync and possibly lying. Happens at airports and wherever dangerous people need to be detected – but how can it detect monarch slaves with disparate personas? Also, who controls VICE? If bankrupt, why is it still running? Is it a loss-leader for controlling narrative? What gets excluded or altered?

Anyway, in Bali, 3 years after France I played with some other guys too at a hotel.

And also met a macaque driven by desire.

Yet, it’s about more than just music and confidence though, but goodwill.

The real job of a musician - Steve Jordan

So Matthieu was a great skier and good companion, and on our last day we went off-piste, I think even crossing into Italy, and then took a long bus ride home to make it piste-off.

“Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” – Billy Crystal

Speaking of forthcoming, on 25 Jan 1997, I went to the Big Day Out music festival. I rolled up alone and without a ticket in the evening. At the gate, someone was leaving and sold me their ticket for $5. Win. After entering, I said hello to an extended family member who I saw by chance (person I was filming at top in front of fireplace) but then kept walking to the main stage alone. People were all sitting down. Then a girl – complete stranger – walked up to me, paused for about 3 seconds and said: “Do you want to have sex with me?” I became the rock star.

She was attractive too – around my age. I had long hair at the time and still had a tan from schoolies week. But I hesitated. I think I said “I don’t know” and then she said “well do you?” and then I was silent and then she walked off permanently. The whole interaction was easily less than 20 seconds. I can’t fully recall the dialogue, but I told a school mate Cam about it a couple of days later.

So later that night, by chance I saw Marc at the main stage and checked out Soundgarden and started moshing which really wasn’t that enjoyable.

In August 1997 I started listening to Be Here Now by Oasis, and in March the following year I was fortunate enough to attend the one and only Oasis concert in Melbourne. But I preferred to stay tight lipped over it, because of the bad reviews as Liam was so wasted and Noel sang for most of the show.

[ Sydney ~2000 ]

At least Liam came out at the end: “Goo goo k’choo.”

Oasis were huge in the 90’s when music and media blended so well in a seamless experience and labels had larger sets of artists that they would develop and promote.

Oasis - All Around the World (Live at GMEX 1997) - Remastered 4k

 

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Incidentally, I spoke to a random chap in ’97 (maybe the next) at Silvers and he said that he would wait until closing time and walk around the room and keep asking females the same question “Do you want to go home with me?” (or something similar) until he got a yes. I think he spent much the night eye-flirting and trying to look tough and cool among is wing-men. Whatever it was, it worked for him and he said that people that hang around that long are all there for the same reason and would rather have something than nothing. I don’t think he was much older than me either. Each to their own – a spoonman.

Soundgarden - Spoonman (partial) | Big Day Out 1997

As a side note, I saw Mr Gil Dibner walk up and speak to a series of seemingly random females in quick succession at Eurekamp 2009 while in my close proximity. Was he asking the time? Lift back to TA? Investment ideas? Or was he asking them out? Or saying something about me? I hadn’t spoken to any of them.

Nevertheless, the bizarre thing about Marc was that we first met by chance at a beach hotel in Goa, India in the late 80s [below right, at left].

Note – this is not skateboard Mark.

I even went out on a rented yacht with his father after failing at windsurfing.

(1 2 3 4) 5

Around 5 years after India he ended up at Wesley College, lived close to my house and we became good friends. He was from New Zealand.

[ Marc at left from 2016 ]

So one day while at home, it all clicked that we had met before and I showed him my diary from India and it even had his name written down. Wild moment but I haven’t seen him in decades as of April, 2024 – like many of my other friends from growing up and these memoirs are a way of retuning myself with the past and upcycling consciousness for the future, whilst corporations monetise them on the sly.

Speaking of which, our school motto was “Dare to be wise” (Sapere aude) but how about “Dare to be different” in a world where fashion can easily become tyranny and what most people are trying to imitate is authenticity.

But this is what’s really in fashion right now: growing old… so can I upcycle out of it using marvellous profundity? Will that activate the etheric 12-strand DNA? How do I bring nourishment into the thousand-petaled lotus and stop the fountain-of-youth from crumbling away?

But that’s only for the yogis and believers in pseudoscience. I’ll take real science any day where if it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist.

Does growing old have to be about getting old or getting on? Can’t it be about having an indefinite shelf-life like honey and rather growing wise and kind? I’m already part of an unbroken chain back to the patriarchs/matriarchs, so perhaps I am part way there anyway.

Heroes are made, not born, one should hope!  Is life about “God versus the devil” or “God includes the devil?” Is enlightenment about having all questions being answered in a single moment?

Anyway, so a few days after BDO, I saw Silverchair at Festival Hall with Michael and found myself amongst masses of screaming girls. I think that gig was an overflow gig for the Palace show as a result of high demand and is unlisted. Otherwise I went to the one in December.

Silverchair - Live at The Palace Theatre in Melbourne - 1997

Daniel might know.

Anyway, it is worth noting in Victoria that: “It is an offence for a licensee or permittee to supply liquor to a person in a state of intoxication. It is also an offence to permit drunken or disorderly persons to be on the licensed premises, or on any other premises where we have authorised licensees to serve liquor.” source

And in that respect, in 1997 during uni Orientation Week, one night after leaving Prince Alfred Carlton adjacent to Melbourne Uni, I was told something like “come back to see us during the day” as I stepped through the door on the way out. I asked why and the bouncer just said to come back. And the exact same thing happened again in March 2019 for reasons unknown to me – I wasn’t even drinking alcohol then, but I didn’t ask the bouncer why.

In ’97, I wore a pair of blue, velvety Diesel pants (drum pic below) and red, suede Vans skate shoes a lot back then – so was it for a photo shoot? The demand really irked me after a good night out and I never went to the venue properly ever again, until 2019 for moment of déjà vu. I was phasing out drinking as well in early 1997, another reason I never returned except for a gig in October.

[pic 3 – Sydney, late 2000]

1 …

The band was named after the book The Celestine Prophecy from 1993 but I never got far into it. Some great quotes can be found here. We even had a song called Celestine.

Interestingly, there were a bunch of Sting CDs in the pile above and we covered one of his tracks in the gig.

The Police - When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around (Essen)

I also saw Sting play in November, 2000 with Manu Katche on drums.

I did read Siddhartha and saw the film at the Trak (underneath Silvers.) I also read CwG Book 1 and ended up reading most, if not all in the series.  I also liked the Osho website and could download his talks.

[src | src 2 ]

I also read a Sivananda book brought back from India for me that covered Kundalini much to my interest.

“If Kundalini is awakened before he attains purity by Asanas, Bandhas, Mudras and Pranayama, he will come across the temptations of the other planes, he will have no strength of will to resist these temptations and will have a hopeless downfall. It will be very difficult for him to climb up again to the original height which he climbed in the ladder of Yoga. Therefore the aspirant should try to purify himself first. If perfect purity is attained through Japa, Kirtan and constant selfless service, Kundalini will awaken by itself and move towards the Sahasrara at the crown of the head to meet Her Lord Siva, the trident-bearer of Mount Kailas, the store-house of wisdom, bliss and peace.” – src

[ 1 | 2 ]

Notice he implied people should strive for purity rather than to awaken Kundalini. Interestingly, I ended up handing many of my books to Toby, including that one, and we recorded music as well in 2003. Toby put me onto the incredible The Wisdom of Ramala which mentions purity 26 times.

Kundalini in 2024 has 40K subscribers (June, 2024) on Reddit and it doesn’t interest me at all, but there’s interesting stuff on Marginalia.

[ 12 Jan 2024]

I suspect Kundalini-Shakti is as important today as it has ever been because it is more intelligent that any AI because it knows the future due to its incredible presence. In 2001, there was an issue of What is Enlightenment? called Can Enlightenment Save the World?

[ src | 2| 3 | Jan 2024 ]

All great content, including White’s description of Homo Noeticus – the next stage in human evolution. Says White above: “Enlightenment is the only thing which can save the world. The only thing.” And that “Homo noeticus is the term I use to designate what I see as a higher form of humanity emerging on the planet now, characterized not by genetic changes but by noetic changes.” So researching these topics kicked into high gear for me in 2001, my last year at university that began in 1997. It was my unofficial degree I suppose, and how can you sell someone the future – it’s already been bought!?

Another channelled take on Kundalini alongside Datre (book) was St Germain from 1999 and I remember printing the whole amazing interview out and reading it in a park.

“The thing is that everybody is different, in terms of the clarity of that moving through the body. Some people do kundalini in a clear way, some people don’t, then it comes right up, causing the mind to shift – burns out the mind, in some people’s cases – but when it is balanced, it just is an addendum to your life, it just adds in. It doesn’t really awaken, it opens your capacity to function with your spirit through your body rather than through your mind and through your imagination. If you’ll notice, people who really stand in their knowing and have a truth mechanism in there, it’s because they experience it in some fashion in their body, not in their mind. So energy when it moves in the body is identified as Shakti, as kundalini, everyplace has a different name.” – src

I also found a Gene Kieffer interview in the same journal.

[src | 2]

Also, Maitreya (another channel) covers the topic here in the following snippet as related to sexual energy, and it actually dates back to 2003:

[ 1 | 2 ]

Incidentally, at the time I remember the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby becoming Sananda Maitreya – I wondered if he was channelling himself.

Interview Marktrock 2003 - Sananda Maitreya

(goto 1:35) And he says “a new spirit has become a part of my experience.”

So Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras date back almost two thousand years ago and address the same topic of preparing for, and enabling the dissolution of the microcosm. And today there is a lot of Kundalini information and people on Quora, although I prefer to avoid using that Sanskrit word for something that is so universal and undefinable – it also opens someone up to being labelled, condemned or even idolized . . . Shakti is at least more specific.

[ 8 Dec 2023 ]

For the doubters, just because someone doesn’t understand something or can’t access it (often due to fear or pain,) doesn’t mean it’s not true. Although one could say: “you don’t awaken your Kundalini, it awakens you, and until then, forget about it.” And interestingly, in 2022, an English translation of Abraham Abulafia’s Light of the Intellect from 1285 appeared on Patreon.

[8 Dec 2023 – links above]

For one person’s Samadhi may be another person’s Active Intellect, and the translator above is a Jewish Indian.

Anyway, from 1997 onward I walked passed PAs everyday for years, being at the end of Bouverie Street and on the way to the main Parkville campus. I saw groups of people – uni students – ejected from that premises at certain times to fill up the footpath outside. Perhaps selections are made via CCTV from a back office – that bizarre scenario is not to be ruled out. Like many others, I think I was ejected back in 1997 but can’t fully recall what happened. Maybe I wasn’t. Why do they even stay open during O-Week? You keep drinking, and when you’re spotted (apparently) inebriated, you’re thrown out, just as the the law states. But why are you asked to return the following day? Nice interior, though.

Continuing, as with PAs, I used to spend much time looking at the Arcadia hotel in my prior school years waiting for the tram ride home and readying myself for a tertiary education somewhere and a trip into the “real world.”

[Oct 2002 | Dec 2018]

But the past got pissed!

K-Ci & JoJo – You Bring Me Up (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg (1997)
– includes mashup

K-Ci & JoJo - You Bring Me Up (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg

So Come Up Aerial (Luxar + Soul 4 Real + K-Ci + JoJo + Daniel Johns) [2015 - 2021]

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

✓ 1 year ago

Brutish Affliction: Part 1 (Australia)

Some short anecdotes where I have been physically targeted by strangers – in all instances I have been by myself.

update: 2 March 2025

(April 2006)

1) Late 90’s: I was walking along Chapel street near Revolver in loose khaki pants and a singlet. The street was fairly busy but a group of guys in their car wound down the window and yelled “f__g__t” or some other homophobic abuse to my bemusement. I stuck up my finger and said “f___ you.” I drove off in my car but they followed me in their car. At a red light in High street, one of the guys jumped out of their car and I could see him approaching me (running lowly) in my passenger-side rear-view mirror. I sped off and managed to get away.

(I drove a ’96 silver Hyundai Excel for many years.)

2) Early 2000’s: At night in the Byron Bay beach carpark, I got out to play my Djembe drum and was charged-at by a guy standing about 25 meters away. I managed to get back in my car and drive away before he reached me.

3) Early 2000’s: I was swimming in a rough ocean in an empty Noosa National Park when a 40-50 year old man entered the water asking “Do you mind if I swim next to you?” By that stage I was already paddling to get out of the water. I made it to my sandals on the beach and turned around – he was walking after me. His vibes were extremely angry. Once I got out of his sight, I sprinted away.

Note the blurb of “Blood Sugar” (2022):

“When Ruby was a child growing up in Miami, she saw a boy from her school struggling against the ocean waves while his parents were preoccupied. Instead of helping him, Ruby dove under the water and held his ankle down until he drowned. She waited to feel guilty for it, but she never did.” – src

And who knows what happened to Harold Holt either?

4) Early 2000’s: Early Sunday morning in empty Brisbane streets, I was followed by two early-teen indigenous boys. I got around a few corners and ran. Later I turned around and they were around the same distance away. This happened a few times but they were closing in. I eventually found a taxi and got away.

5) Early 2000’s: I was at a Bboy night at a club in Collingwood. I was watching the dancers but also dancing in a way that distracted them and/or the audience too much – or else I just didn’t look right. As I was readying to leave, and at the door, I could see a bunch of the dancers and their crew gathering and sitting nearby watching me with glee. I walked out the door and sprinted to my car that was about 10 meters away. I started it, did a U-turn and drove off. In my rear-view mirror I could see all the guys outside looking around aimlessly. A school friend Dave later told me the main-dancer is known for causing trouble.

6) 2000s: I was walking in Surfers one night and a couple of teenage boys started following my friend and I. Once the other person left, they started jogging, maybe running toward me. I jumped on a nearby tri-cycle taxi and just said “go, go, go.”

7) 2010s: I was at a free-campsite near Port Douglas next to a highway. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard footsteps on the stones outside my vehicle. I turned on my cabin light and didn’t move. A minute or two later I stood up through the sun-roof with my torch and looked around the vehicle but didn’t see anyone. I then got into the driver’s seat and drove off. Earlier in the day an elderly man approached me who was waiting for his son and camping about 50 meters away – he was the only other camper. He was an elderly fellow originally from Poland and I had told him I was Jewish.

8) 2010s: I was camping on a family property near Port Douglas and as I was looking to leave, the gate was locked and the key was gone: the first time in many days of camping. Moments later someone from the property came in their car and had to leave as well. I followed them out, never to return.

9) 2010s: As I was swimming at “The Boulders” in Queensland, a group of guys struck up a conversation with me. They eventually left with my $100 leather thong-sandals in hand. A couple of guys from the group tailed me as I left – I think they didn’t want to get any blame if it came down to it.

10) 2020: An unhinged woman and her teen son (or friend) appeared aggressively out of nowhere at Big W South Yarra accusing me of stalking them. I walked up to the checkout (to have people standing around) and a big scene was then made by her, she was angry and hysterical. In hindsight, that could well have been an act.

[src]

Up at the counter, I asked the store manager for the police to be called as the son(?) had his hands in his tracksuit pockets, with one pocket pointing at me as if he was holding a knife within and ready to stab me. He was also giving me a deathly stare. I was escorted out by a security guard (Bruno?) who arrived at the scene after about 5 minutes waiting and into a taxi on Chapel Street.

I told Bruno:  “IF I was a stalker, which I’m NOT, why would I want to stalk her?” and we both sort of laughed it off, but he was still keen to speak to her soon about it. He also took a photo of my ID and I said “let me know if  you have a problem.”

Recalling now, I remember the son looking at me multiple times as I was walking up the street. I was slowly eating a schnitzel while putting pieces of beetroot in rubbish bins on the way to the shopping complex after leaving Schnitz.

So at some point they walked passed me and I saw their backs. I never saw the woman’s face though, only the son’s face from afar about 2 or 3 times with a mischievous grin. So when in the supermarket about 200-300 metres ahead inside the same complex, when I said “I have never seen you in my entire life” to her and the crowd of onlookers, it was true. I had never seen her face or front. I also wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I was more interested in the schnitzel.

Also, due to the stress of the situation I really didn’t recognise the pair at all. If the son(?) had started yelling instead, I may have recognised him although I wouldn’t have agreed that I was stalking them. He remained silent throughout and she whispered something in his ear at one point while we were up at the counter and they were standing about 6-7 metres away. She also said something like “why do you stalk vulnerable, single mums” (how ridiculous) and something else like “if you didn’t do it, why are you leaving.” In hindsight, I am of the view that they may well have wanted me to recognise them in the store in order to have me counter-accuse them of stalking myself to lead into an altercation or something else sinister.

At this point, I am of the view that they were stalking me for reasons yet known to me, although this was not done from the rear at first, but then from the front as they stayed ahead of me while stalling for time. If it would have registered that they were following me I would have jumped in a taxi as I was on foot to avoid the tram ride home. One never suspects a mother and son to do such a thing unless it were a crime family. The security guard said people do things like that in order to distract people in a store, while another party shoplifts items.

This happened in South Yarra and I’d be curious to see where she came in from that day. Also, the pair made their appearance to me in Big W – I was there to look at mobile phones as I had just bought one that day from JB Hi-Fi Prahran (1.3 km up the road) was on my way home, and wanted to check what they had.. did I miss out on something? If I didn’t walk into the store, what were her plans if I was supposedly stalking them? Why not just ask for mall security prior to that? But more disturbing, what would’ve happened if I walked into a side street as they followed me from the front within their world of make-believe and/or deception?

Wait… could it have been a hit job or some other type of targeting to give me a criminal record?

I only say this because after months of thinking about it, I may have possibly seen the pair pass ahead of me prior to entering Schnitz, and if so they were waiting for me to leave. I am not certain that this is the case, my memory is not clear, but it is possible. It was up around Oxford Street a block up the road.

I should have taken a photo of them in Big W, or would’ve the young fellow charged at me!? I asked to be escorted out because they were both so menacing. That was an act of self-defence. Also, how can you stalk someone on Chapel Street and be so certain about it as she was? Yet “stalking” can mean different things to different people.

Moreover, I was stalked, or rather hunted in Brisbane (see 3 above) also for reasons unknown to me. Maybe if I was an ice addict, I would’ve done something so idiotic as to stalk someone on Chapel Street on a busy day for no reason at all, but to satisfy some ‘stalking urge.’ Good thing I went into Big W and didn’t take the tram home as originally planned, they could’ve followed me back there too.

Interestingly, a week or two earlier I went out to my vehicle to leave in the morning, and the hazard lamps were blinking for some reason. I never switched them on in the night prior. Yet the battery wasn’t flat – they probably were switched on by someone a few hours earlier through the small air gap in the window. Weird… am I missing something? I never park with the window open at all.

Nefarious or not, I’ve heard some killers are afraid of karma so they do little things to their targets to be able to say to themselves later that their victims “could see it coming but ignored the warnings: they brought it upon themselves.” So these little intrusions are not about sowing fear, they’re about deflecting ultimate responsibility. Like a mosquito saying, “you heard my buzz, bad luck – your fault for this bite.”

11) 2020: I was walking along a footpath outside Flinders Street railway station and a man was standing there rolling a cigarette. As I was about to pass him he pushed his hands into me and he dropped his cigarette. He was angry about this and asked for money. I told him I have no money and just kept walking. He started yelling and I ignored him and kept walking. Then he started walking slowly after me. I started running – I suspected him to be an ice user at that point – there are many in Melbourne. (I was recently asked for money from a guy who ended up trying to follow me into a club after I said no.) As I was running, my yellow Austin Powers cap dropped and he must have picked it up. I turned the corner and slowed down. Some moments later I turned around and he was coming after me with a friend. At that point there were some train-station police officers I started talking to. He gave me my cap back and was told to go in the opposite direction. Perhaps I should have given him some money at that point – still not sure. Anyhow, I didn’t take any chances and then escaped along the Yarra River bike path. I don’t think the cigarette fell to the ground by accident – and you can’t tell an ice addict what to do. Maybe he (and his friends) thought I then owed him money for my cap.

12) 1997: Kicked in head when working as a busboy at a nightclub by guy dancing on a podium. It actually wasn’t a proper kick, more of a direct nudge. That night the mirror of my car was smashed outside.

13) 2019: I was on Great Keppel Island and spoke to some drunks guys (4 or 5) who took issue with me taking photos of some females in the surf (as I walked passed both groups) who they themselves were staring at as they drunk outside a pub near the beach. I had been taking ten’s of photos that day – it’s so picturesque. And I ended up almost getting into a serious altercation with one of them later that evening outside a supermarket in Yeppoon as I stumbled upon them again by chance, but managed to escape by yelling at the top of my lungs “Call the Police” so that the 3 hid behind some shelves back inside, maybe hoping I would attack them and it would be caught on film. I made my escape to my car and drove off – not from the police, but from the drunk group. I think all the guys got into a fight on the second ferry back from the island but thankfully I took the first ferry. More details include a police helicopter from earlier in the day.

src (1984) 2

14)

(updated 2 March 2025)

2021: A plastic bottle was thrown at me (it landed at my feet) while walking up Commercial Road, Prahran by a crazed man yelling “Asshole” to no-one in particular.  He then yelled something at me for crossing the road. I ran and he followed me. I went around the block and as I approached the Prahran Square car park entry to reach my car, he appeared and yelled again.

[ 1 Jun 2020 ]

I went into a supermarket and then moved across to the nearby Chapel Street JB Hi-Fi store and called the police from inside.

On the phone, after dialling 000 and providing my name, I asked to be escorted to my car, but the officer (Constable Ellis) couldn’t assist in person because I only heard the bottle and didn’t see the guy throw it, and he said I could re-attempt to reach my car and to call back if there was a further problem. They were also extremely busy. By chance, I took an alternate route into the car park about an hour or so later.

[ 1 Jun 2020 ]

At the ticket machine [ 1 above,] I stared up the walkway and I am pretty sure the crazed guy was waiting in the entry area of the car park (I didn’t want to get too close to properly check.) He was sitting in a chair [ 2 above ] staring intensely out a large window into the square [ 3 above ] – presumably waiting for me to enter to “greet” me. Where did that chair come from? It’s normally an empty space.

So I was located about 20 metres down the end of a moving walkway, and I fumbled to buy a carpark ticket because I was doing it almost lying down so that the person wouldn’t see me. I was also extremely worried and kept inserting too little money – it was about $8 and the woman behind me was starting to think I was a weirdo as she stepped back. That added embarrassment to the situation but it may have saved my life – who knows? Then, as I drove away, I ducked my head in case he saw me and also my registration number. Ellis had told me that that area was known to have problems. I’m almost certain he was on Ice, and if so, I don’t believe I overestimated the danger posed.

Yet in hindsight the story makes me think how easy it’d be to target someone by following them in a car and letting out a “crazy guy” to do all the work who was in fact only acting crazy and then ready to jump back in the car when ready. My 000 call should be on record, and footage of the incident could probably be retrieved from the car park and also JB.

“All warfare is based on deception.”

15): (published 13 Nov 2024)

2024: I am not sure if this was a glitch or an actual targeting.

On 11 Sep, after installing my SIM in a new 4G phone in the days prior, I found my phone wasn’t getting any service all of a sudden. I went to a nearby Telstra shop and found that I had no more charge left and a completely new phone number. The Telstra guy (also named Adrian) attempted to get the old number back, but couldn’t because it was locked out from us. This was a problem because not only would people be unable to reach me, but that number was needed for 2FA like with Youtube. Anyway, below is the recharge history of the SIM that failed.

The payments looked too frequent, I took the photo and later confirmed it didn’t match my Paypal records at all – so those weren’t my payments. At the shop, it was impossible to drill down into each payment for further details.

The other Adrian had difficulty believing the phone number shown on the screen wasn’t my own and part of the problem was that before entering the shop I deleted all my SMSes from my phone that would’ve helped convince him, yet I did take a screenshot of my Google 2FA number at the time.

It didn’t match my “new” number – obviously.

Adrian must’ve asked me about 4 times: “So that’s not your number?” “You’ve never had that number?” “Are you sure you’ve never seen that number?” “That number’s not familiar to you?”

We tried calling my number from his phone.. no luck.

So maybe the SIM was reassigned to another person’s account rather than some “reset number” function that was run against it and thus collected its own number and payment history from another person, whilst dropping mine.

[ the original SIM that was compromised ]

Anyway, after a few tense moments, I purchased a brand new SIM card and assigned my normal phone number back into it which had become part of the available pool.

Success. Adrian said that it was “extremely rare” for something like that to happen.

  • Was it an attack on me? State-level? AI Overlord?
  • Could this happen at Optus?
  • Is there a “reassign history,” “block number” or “change owner” function part of the backend?
  • Is Telstra compromised in some way, either by an employee or weak system security?
  • How would someone know an account was mine – could they search for my surname at Telstra or would they get my phone number from a website with 2FA first (like Youtube) and then search for it at Telstra?
  • Was someone expecting to grab my specific number that morning that I snagged back first? Was a spoofing attack being planned?
  • If someone tries to call/SMS me or vice versa, how do I know the phone is going to work?

I left feedback for Telstra in the days afterward using their automated feedback email but never received any follow-up for clarification, in fact in the subsequent weeks I received another identical one to fill out which I deleted.

I actually left a negative score (maybe it’d get some attention that way?) yet the other Adrian was actually really helpful. We solved the problem, but the problem should’ve never appeared in the first place. Adrian who was from China told me he named himself that, and it was a “wholesome name.” Thumbs up on that!

16): 2024: As embedded in 1992: Spellbound from take to mistake!, the Pierre video from Zermatt had to be reuploaded on 12 Nov 2024.

youtu.be/qw8WvrPidQU

The original version (which was slightly different) was originally uploaded around 15 June 2024 (youtube.com/VOuplIQ7g9) but was deleted at some point prior to 12 Nov 2024 unbeknownst to me.

  • Was this done by a hacker who got access to my account? State-level? AI Overlord?
  • Did the attacker also mess with my Telstra SIM at the same time? (#16)
  • Was the video deleted around 11 Sep? (#15)
  • Was it done through an “official channel” as part of an operating policy?
  • Shouldn’t have I got a message about it?
  • With my SIM card being compromised in #14 – was this vid deletion related to my entire YT channel being undesirable and hence my access to it with 2FA also being undesirable?
  • Have other videos been deleted unbeknownst to me?
  • There are 507 videos listed as of 13 Nov 2024. Can these numbers be trusted?

pics
www.carsguide.com.au/buy-a-car/all-new-and-used/all-states/all-locations/all-bodytypes/hyundai_excel/
pixabay.com/illustrations/cocaine-speed-amphetamine-pep-4051118/
✓ 6 months ago

RADYA – GLAM (2020)

A$AP Rocky, Iggy Pop and Tyler, The Creator in the New Gucci Tailoring Campaign


✓ 4 years ago

2013: Mashups

3 tracks reached 1000 downloads and then the account was nuked.

(last updated: 21 February 2025)

I started making mashups in Jerusalem using Sony Vegas on Windows in April 2013 as a byproduct of creating Heartcarve videos. I did this for a few years and made 100+.

These ones made 1000 downloads:

LSG (Keith Sweat) - Curious + 2Pac + Destiny's Child [Aianda 2014]
Aaron Hall - Don't Be Afraid + Heavy D + Keith Sweat + OutKast [Aianda: Sep '14]

[ * ]

Al B. Sure! ‎- Nite & Day + 2Pac, PM Dawn, NSync, Destiny's Child, Donell J, Left Eye [31-12-14]

I stopped making them in October 2015 for a few reasons. One was that the new speakers I bought gave a poor balance and hence the production value went down. Also, I started over-thinking them and started thinking about key-signatures and then listenability lowered. Also, many unique song combinations had been used-up by me. My SC account also got terminated and that didn’t help either.

People liked them a lot – yet few commented.

(pic 3 list: 31 Dec 2014)

For me they were a way of finding flow, focus and creativity and even led into film storyboarding a couple of years later.

Occasionally, I dream music – I’ll never hear anything better!

Many can be found below.

Playlist: mashups: '13 - '15
Playlist: mashups: '20 - '21

While tracks were being made in this apartment, disturbances of any kind were succinctly avoided!

On a few occasions, I played mashups to the street.

50 Cent - In Da Club vs Notorious BIG vs Kanye West vs KRS One [March, 2014]

Then in 2022, I started making mashups again the easy way using RaveDJ.

Playlist: mashups: '22 + '23 (RaveDJ)

I borrowed a friends guitar in 1997 and took lessons for a couple of months… perhaps I should go back to it?

*


✓ 5 years ago