These are a few of my favourite things

Read it an weep....bitches!!

So, i thought i'd rap/freestyle with you for a bit and see where this goes

Why not, i might even let the truth slip out, it might not be a bad thing.

But first, let me tell you the story of how i got my latest (no one has said greatest tattoo?) 

Joanna and myself in St Kilda

Well it all happened when i was showing all my couch surfers Melbourne over Christmas, especially my favourite one Joanna, and then we (I)  partied like rock stars, i did anyways, especially in the Edinburgh gardens and then my mind went BANG!!

The bang wasn't someones car, it was my brain, the revelation was, I love Melbourne, it's given me everything i've ever wanted, it's who i am, i am it, it is me, and then Immigration said i had to stay another 3 weeks, after i said goodbye to Fitzroy, for what i thought would be the last time, only to find myself back there a few daze later talking to 'Mad' Cathy from Cork, who thinks i'm mad? Is she mad or what?

Pole dancing anyone? People make money at this, if you can believe it?

I say to Cathy

What am i going to do for the next 3 weeks? I've already been hanging out for 2 months.

Cathy says,

'Why don't you go to Rainbow Serpent?'

 My mind agrees, off i go and get a ticket, who else is going?
I was going to go volunteer in Brisbane, but no point adding to the madness and they had too many volunteers anyways.

Doesn't matter, i was now going to Rainbow once i got that ticket and i got it quick, i saw some couch surfers were getting the train, i met 2 people at the train station, we were off, 2 became 5 on the train, pretty soon we were in Beauford, the nearest town, which had been completely flooded a few days before drinking beer waiting for a bus to get us to the festival, the slab of beer finished, so we got another, we had no beer cooler, so the intelligent thing would be to drink them all before they get warm, this we did spectacularly!

Mob mentality, it's the only kind of mentality that works sometimes.

Red is for Cork, of course!! 
As Jay Z would say 'Cough up a lung, where i'm from Marcey son'

So, during this Rainbow festival, it almost came to me in a vision, to get a tattoo, at the tattoo convention, after all it was coming up and it would be the perfect opportunity!

Originally i wanted the following

'Made in Cork, citizen of the world'

But, the tattoo would be made in Melbourne, that was the thing.

Originally i wanted it made in Japan, but what does Japan mean to me...yet? It had to be Melbourne!!

So, with this in mind, i went to to the tattoo convention, i got there too early, so i went for coffee, and came back and got in.

I was lucky too, the council rocked up and asked all the standard health questions and wouldn't let any more people until they questioned all the artists, they also requested them all to have running hot water, which only cost an additional 40k, the profits from the whole festival were going to save old rain forest's, you have to love the councils, love them so much they just disappear!!

Saw this tattoo, apparently it from a movie called 'Where the wild things are' by Maurice Sendok, cool!!

The first artist i talked to Fred from 'Left hand path' tattoos, Fred understood my idea, he said they were still setting up, come back in 15 minutes, i walked around thinking 'Maybe i should talk to some other people', but no, no backing out, he got the idea, he was an invited artist, he must be good, i saw his portfolio, he was good, it was going ahead.

I go back, he still doesn't have all his equipment, come back in 45 minutes, i walk around taking in the sights, i buy some after care cream, for the tattoo i don't have...yet, a lot of the artists are married.

Would you like this face on your leg for ever and ever and ever?

I saw one tattoo for Seth Rogen, i say to the chick, 'Who would get that?', she says 'My husband got it', the husband then rolls up his leg and i see a smiling Canadian dude, ok, fair enough. Who was i to talk? But it was funny, maybe that was the point?

There were Japanese dudes giving tattoos, i though that would be cool, but i'm committed to Fred, i'm in, no backing out now boy.

I walk around and i come to a chick called Chelsea, at a photograph stall, i tell her about the tattoo idea i'm going to get, she says, why don't you get

'Materials from Cork Made in Melbourne'

As Chelsea said, 'Where you live makes you who you are'. And i'm definitely not Irish anymore, i crossed over, i no longer feel like an Irish guy living in Melbourne. I'm in, here, and here is Melbourne.

I am Melbourne.

And i said.

'That's a better idea, i'm getting it'

She says

'Come back and show me'

Off i go and i go back, 2 hours later, it's done, i go back and show Chelsea, we have a laugh and that's how my latest tattoo happened.

Wanna go to a Wranger party? But of course!! What was i supposed to say?

This gate is what i should have been looking for on Friday night, when i was lost!!

Parties, parties at the Rainbow Serpent, oh it was too much, it really was, it never stopped.

Ok, so, the one i went to with heard about was the 'Wranger party', since it was my first time there, i had no idea what to expect, but, there was a Wranger party and people turned up, all in Orange, i got 2 namils panted, i still have them painted, i got my toes painted by the pretty boy Ryan, but that's another story.

Other parties included a German Glitter party, a white T-Shirt party.
There were so many crazy costumes, i was hanging out with the crew from Ballarat and 2 zebras came in to the tent, on 2 legs. Apparently one of their mates got the costumes in China and they are getting more for next years Rainbow. Anything that would look outrageous in 'Normal' society, was totally acceptable there, if you were in casual clothes that festival, you would look sooo out of place.

Is it dream time yet? Yes, here's one Rainbow Serpent story

Other things i learnt, if you mix ginger ale with Goon (cheap cask wine), it's actually a good drink, i heard that from an Belgium guy and an Aussie, King Nicholas he called himself from Ballerat.

On Sunday i went on a beer run, missed the Glitter party, it was too hot and i needed to buy beer for the good citizens that gave me beer, i got a lift off of a young couple, i got the beer and vodka and got on the bus that i just missed and was back in the camp in no time at all. All you needed was a thought and people could pick up on it and give you what you were thinking about.

Lots of people brought supplies for freinds and friends they were going to meet, what a good idea!!

I got a t-shirt for $10 from Mr bucket, man that's normally in the Fitzroy market, a very cool guy. I met a guy that crochet's bikinis.....for women, it's the only habbit he has been doing longer than smoking, and he was good too!

There was an Irish flag near my tent, no one Irish was there, it was just a land mark for them, fair enough i suppose, it's as good reason as any?

The closing creamony, the Aboriginl people that talked, talked very impressively, they even did a kangaroo dance, which was good to see.

Sun is shining, well after all, it is Summer?

Photos are from a singing workshop i attended, well part of anyways.

I think Bob Marley summed it up here, with a song called 'Sun is Shining'

When the morning gathers the rainbow
Want you to know i'm a rainbow too
So, to the rescue here i am
Want you to know just if you can
Where i stand, know, know, know, know, know

I made some notes from the Rainbow Serpent festival, that i would like to share with some of ye, the enlightened ones and certainly the maybe-one-day-enlightened

So, among all the dance parties we had, included Saturday afternoon's dance party by the red bus, i didn't bring my camera, because i know i would have seen it for exactly what it is, an object and chucked it away.

Among the random things we/I/Everybody was doing, i was practicing my golf swing, some were interested, after we gave 100%, and then gave it some more, just to be sure we were there, i was asking people

'Were you there?'

some people just nodded and knew.

One chick was saying

'Where, where, what are you on about?'

Me:

'Argh, you weren't there, it was the 60's all over again, where were you?' It was crazy!1

My favourite chant

The first night i spent all night looking for a tree, the tree my tent was next too, there weren't many tree's near, how hard could it be

The conversation pretty much went like, 'I'm looking for a tree', 'Which tree?' people would ask, me, 'A tree that comes out of the ground.

The next morning when the sleepy sun could be bothered shining a bit of light on the subject, i found the tree, but then what?

When i was looking for the tree, life had a purpose, it was a journey of self discovery, i lost myself, i found myself, i found a lot of hope, i met lots of great people that wanted me to hang out and that's all i really needed.

When the festival was over (almost) on Tuesday, some chick was still dancing by herself, in another world on the dance floor, i heard, i  packed up and walked to the gate, the bus would be one hour, i decided to try and hitch a lift, i got a lift in 1 minute from a photographer, Durham, he was telling me all about Japan, they eat raw chicken there, no body would believe that, but i guess seeing is believing?

One more?

The rainbow in you is the rainbow in me

Well, well, i just got back from a festival, which festival? Rainbow Serpent, it was the bomb!

Now, i was packing up this morning, and i started chatting with a random guy passing, who filled me in on a few things.

Firstly, it's called Rainbow Serpent because you go up and down, you stick with it, from Friday until Tuesday, you learn lessons and you get the magic, this i now get, yesterday morning i was so burnt out i told someone

'I dont give a fuck if i stay or go'

Then i went to say hello to my awesome neighbours, in the Blue tent built by a guy from Ballerat called Navi (Ivan backwards) and the theme was to get back on the horse and get into the Monday Madness. How could i say no?

Some chick told me that Monday was the best day, hard to believe, but true, it was, it was, we were well rested and we totally got into it.

I would like to thank Immigration for requesting me to stay for another 3 weeks, before giving me another visa, you made the Rainbow happen, Air Asia for fucking up my booking and making the Rainbow happen, Cathy Duggan for giving me the idea for going to the festival, to all the people that were cool enough to be themselves, the kindness i was shown, that everyone was shown, Saturday for feeling like 4 days in 1, the chicks from America that gave me beers, beers, beers, sharing is caring, the care bares knew it and everyone on the weekend knew it too!!

To the person that found the bottle of Vodka that we dropped, i hope you enjoyed it, you probably deserved it, probably?

So the Ballarat crew was the main crew i hung out with, maybe they adopted me, they certainly made me feel very welcome, so too did the 2 Americano chicks and their crew, they were awesome too, one of them was the splitting image of my friend from Florida Jen Shockly, looked like her, talked like her, it was AMAZING!!

I will be getting another tattoo next week at the Melbourne Tattoo convention, my friend Cassie wants to go swimming next Sunday, it will be 37 degrees, i want to go swimming also,  but not if the tattoo happens, which it will.

I just love all the Ideas that came into my head, it was amazing, the people were amazing, we were one, i was everyone, everyone was me.

It's new hope for the future, i have now upped my standards, what are you going to do?

Today i have 6 minutes, but who's counting?

Right, yesterday i ran out of time, today, i have 6 minutes and you will get exactily what you paid for, this.

Right, so whats happening? Everything is ready for Rainbow Serpent, the old 'to do' list is working a treat, i got nearly everything ready, i'm all ready to lose my mind on the weekend with other 'like minded people'

The kind of people that live in Fitzroy, where i used to live and i'll be going back, do you hear that Fitzroy!!

I'm coming back, life at Daves is going well, Yaz thins morning told me she want to have a bit of a party tonight with us, that was after she wrote

'Kirin is crazy'

And why not, it could be my send off, of sorts.


 Dave has his head straight too, he's learning stuff, from me of all people and now he's comparing me to a Sage?

Too funny indeed, and now we have 1 minute and now i post this!

 END

Lets start the machine up again and see were we go, go, GO!!

They say......who ever they are, and they are right, in this instance? What instance you say? Whats he saying now?

Well they say, stupid is as stupid does, and i'm one of the dumbest, why? Because i just spent the best part of 30 WHOLE minutes, trying to get some streming radio going on a library computer, so that i could bang out a few 'choice' lines to you (the people that matter, you know who you are) and it's all been a big feckin waste of time.

And i've just taken the earphones out of my ears and now i have 13 minutes to write something that makes sence that might capture the mood from the last few days, or else what was the point and i have to transfer money to buy a tent

Why i bothered? God only knows?

 So whats been happening? Flash backs where are you now?

 ........and now we have 3 monutes left.
It took all that time to transfer money using Microsoft, IE, 2 Minutes, this is starting to feel like Fight Club, when all wanted was to do something good.

1 Minute, got to post this pile of crap or else you wont be able to read it.

Kierans waits, the world holds their breadth

Well well, what an exciting week it's been.

How, exciting? Well, i went to immigration to get my new visa, you've read this before, but a series of things clicked in my brain, again!

Brain of mine, what are you up to, is there a crafty plan? Coz i'm in, lets go for a ride and lets see where we end up!

I get a text message saying

'Isn't it about time we got the divorce done?'

 And i couldn't have agreed more, in fact after i type all these words, i will be doing just that, followed by gym and home time, another home, Dave's home to be correct, which will be my un official home, when I'm not couch surfing my self here in Melbourne

We kinda started partying a bit early, i did anyways, 4 bottles of Champagne and what a trip it was!
It was raining cats and dogs to begin with, Boo!

But the rain was warm, Yes!! Lets go out dancing in the rain, which was all a bit too much for Dave to take in, after being 3 weeks back in Ireland

Freezing cold in Ireland, come back to Oz, and dance with some Cork fella (ahem, me) in the rain, he was in need of adjusting himself, and it happened for him too

I took a 2 day leave of absence while Dave got acclimatized to life back in Australia, the house, housemates, going back to work.

So, i was going to go up to Brisbane, but the responses were basically, that there are too many people volunteering and all the couch surfers were full. No point adding to the problem, i will wait for the official response, after all i am registered to go and help.

But until then, i will keep myself busy filing the divorce (a little over due), as it turns out when it's all over i will be legal, again, until i will continue to consider myself 'Barely legal'.

Oh, oh and Rainbow serpant is on this weekend, which i got myself a ticket, but there could be flooding there too, but it's a festival and i got a ticket for the Roskilder festival too, plenty of water, it's a global phenomena, a growing one.

 That's the rant for today folks, it's all good, in the hood.

It's game on, and now we will go into extra time

While waiting in Immigration, Brisbane basically looked like this

A man goes in a door.... not just any door, i was expecting (if i could be called a man) a quick in and out procedure, go in and smile pay some money and then i'be out, with another 5 year visa for Australia.

But this wasn't to be, apprently, i'm much smarter than i think, for i had calculated the days, long before the hazy daze of Christmas set in and there's me thinking, 'Who would mind if i snuck out the back door and came in the front door.....', but enough about doors, this is nothing to do with doors.

Anyways, it would appear, by popular demand (20 million aussies) waunt me to stay another 3 weeks to fufill my Visa requirements, and where better to do it.

So, i will be here for basically 1 month, so now, plans have changed, 'The plan is everything and the plan is nothing', that plan worked for the D-Day invasion and it will work for me too.


Protesters demand the release of Myanmar democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, outisde of the UN in New York.

So now, since i've been taking in all these couch surfers, maybe some 'kind' folk will take me in, maybe it will give me an oppurtiounity to see 'things differnt', i saw enough to last me many lifetimes over Christmas, but that's another story (to quote Biggie Smalls)

So, the benifits of staying: 

I get to do Yoga everyday
I get to enjoy summer life and i dont mind the warm rain either
I get to go to the Gym every day (except the weekend, that's only for nerds)
I started doing indoor climbing in the gym and thats exciting, for me
I will do some couch surfing, here, Yeah!!
I get to say goodbye to most people again, Yeah!!

20 Million people want that, is this an excuse to crash any house party?
I get to hang out with my friends some more and say goodbye again

As long as i can stay away from TV and news papers, it will be a good....happy ending? Why not? Dont mind if i do! :)

Will i, wont i? That attitude just wont do!!

So after much humming and hawing (not yawning, strictly no yawning) i said good bye to Fitzroy, but the rest of my stuff on the street, filled up more of my neighbors bins with my unwanted rubbish, some can be recycled, some, happy new year to my neighbors that are cool with that, or even 'Put your hands up for...'

I digress, i was actually looking out the window, in my gym, i logged out and back into Failbook, and then i didn't want to cycle to Daves, to in the rain and i do have a lot of coins in my bag, not any ordinary bag of coins.

Let me explain, first I would like to thank Damo (you know who you are), I heard he was going to Japan, i bought him a Lonely Planet book in a garage sale for $3, then he told me he didn't need it, he was going to take notes, great i thought i'll get it back, a very god investment!!

I got it back today, and my little bag if coins i have been saving up for a rainy day bought us Coffee, a good investment and it's been bucketing down with rain, a rainy day, dont ever save!!!

Next step, i invested in a jug of beer with Fayez, who spent the last 2 months in a detention centre and pretty much confirms everything i already know about the detention centre, and immigration in fact.

Rule 1, if your dealing with an Aussie, you are fine, life is cool, welcome to the lucky country.

Rule 2, if your dealing with an immigrant, that's from a culture with a cast (system), your basically fucked

He was really fucked until the Aussie manager told him he shouldn't be there, he was embarrassed that he was put there and he was doing his best to get him out, 1 week later, he's out and that's all you need to know about immigration. Thank you Australia.


Moving on, i said goodbye to Kathy, as it turns out, she was the chick that kicked me out of Gypsy bar, Christmas eve, which would make Johana's (did i spell your name right?) from Germany comments

Johanna said, 'I think the person working must of known you really well, she said 'Kieran, get out, you cant come in like that', you cant and i did and if i cant do it, no one can do it.

Kathy knows me well, she's from Cork as well, so i dont have to add anything to that.

The bag of coins, the bag of coins, we are back to the bag of coins (secretly, i wish they were a bag of magic beans, but that's  another story)

I gave all the non gold coins to the the guys cleaning my clean house and now 2 gold coins will get me home, where Bendigo st, Burnley, home sweet home and then Malaysia, Japan and the other home in Ireland.

p.s.

 Still no pictures for you, pretty crap isn't it and now your scratching your head wondering if it's been worth reading down as far as here? I guess we will never know? Where is the visual entertainment you might think?

p.s.s
If you know, tell me!! :)

Been a long time, been a long time

It would appear i haven't posted anything in quite a while, quite a while for me and that's strange.

But now that i think about it, maybe i should do something, not that i have to do anything, lots of couch surfers have been knocking on my door, even my neighbors cat Ralphie has been making appearances, i've been in the here and now so much, it's blown me away.

No photos of this mystical/dog like cat are available to me right now, you'll just have to believe me when i tell you he is the best cat in the world, you wouldn't want a dog if you had a cat like him and htere's photos too, but not now.

I told his owner that Ralphie was a better neighbor than he was, and he seemed to agree with me on that point.

So, i've currently have 5 couch surfers, in my work mans cottage, not that i'm much of a working man, it never really suited me to start with, a man of leisure i am.

For the first time i dont have to go anywhere, it's coming to me, it's been cooked for me, someone is cleaning the dishes, would you like a little cup of tea? Someone asks? Of course i say, and i get one. Could life get any better i ask?

And then there's all the great people at my gym, virgin active, what more could you want, and if they mad me cups of tea, life would be peachy!

I'd be glad to be a virgin active member again, when i come back, if there's room at the inn? Today, i climbed the indoor wall for the second time, where is all this going. If i die on Mount Everest, i'm sure my last words wold be 'Damn you Virgin active, why couldn't i get old and boring like everybody else', but until then, it's game on for me, and for you and everybody

Hosting couch surfers? It's like having servants, and there are 5 guests in my house, and everyone is trying to serve me (not like john mcenroe)

Tomorrow, i'm having a garage sale, everything will go, go, go, a woman around the corner will let me store a few boxes in her shop.

What ever i dont sell will be going back on the street, where i found it all (well some)

Life is the road, and the road has provided for me.

Now, i'm leaving some of the best people i have ever met, but i'm already looking forward to coming back?

Exciting times!

p.s.
There is more to come, this is only the start, a new start

p.s.s
Sorry about the 'lack of pictures', i've been taking pictures with my mind and just maybe i'm painting my reverie, I'll give you this