Scooter for an art work

I’m back from my little trip :) My little scooter looked pretty lonely while I was away and I want him to feel important and loved again so I’ve put him up on Gumtree to try and swap him for an art work or a funky teapot.

Little Scooter

hopefully equals

The Mona Lisa

I’ll make my decision by the end of this super long weekend and hopefully have a funky artwork to share with you soon :)

So far I’ve had a half a dozen offers including an interesting painting of Lieyton Hewitt with “Tennis Pox”, some antique flower paintings, and a silver tea service set.

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My recent adventures

For the last few months I’ve been really really busy and haven’t had time to blog :( There are no signs of getting any free time in the near future but here is a quick update of what’s new in my world. Toe shoes (Vibram five fingers), an antique Soviet watch (Poljot, watch of the cosmonaut), I’m on a train (like Thomas the tank Engine), and my unbreakable phone broke (I’d done some mean things to the poor fellow) :( All of which is demonstrated by this photo.

There have been some other exciting events happening in my world lately. For instance, today my nephew Zander (2 ½ years old) pushed my niece / god daughter Zahli (18 months) into a pool. Zahli has only had one swimming lesson and clearly she wasn’t taking notes because she just lay face down. I jumped in and pulled her out but now I’m not sure if I’m a good uncle for saving her or a bad uncle for letting it happen in the first place. Either way, I’m pretty sure she has to save my life before we’re square.

When my unbreakable phone couldn’t take any more abuse I bought a new one with GPS. The novelty hadn’t worn off so I was using it to navigate me on a route I had used many times before. The phone came with a windscreen suction holder which I connected to the speedo on my scooter. While in tunnel part of the Eastern Distributor 4 hours after purchasing the phone it stopped sucking and I saw a sparkly object bouncing after me in my mirror :( It had the fortune of landing near the side of the tunnel and my phone still rang which was a nice twist. I was going away for a few days but Dee offered to help me with my little problem. After 3 phone calls and explaining the situation Dee organised for the Eastern Distributor Fairies to make a special trip to collect my lonely phone. It was returned to me with not a scratch on it, good ole Nokia’s. A day later while pocketing my phone I put a big scratch on the screen :(

A couple of weeks after my phone adventure my scooter was assaulted by a Volkswagen Transporter van :( It was a stationary accident but it wrote off my little union jack scooter. The gentleman in van was pleasant and he gave me alcohol mixes as compensation, later he gave me $1000 cash which was more useful.

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Kiva Micro Finance

Yesterday I had a very conversation with my doctor. She had just finished a masters in politics and I didn’t have anything wrong with me so we ended up talking about global issues. She introduced me to Kiva, a micro finance organisation which links people with too much money to people with not enough money.

Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

While studying on Gov Love (Centrelink calls it youth allowance) my income was in the top 10% in the world. That wage was enough for me to live comfortably. Currently I am working full time and I just invested $250 in a ukulele (plus a bit more on a case). If I can spend $250 on myself I think I can invest a little in a stranger by lending them a bit of cash to improve their lives.

You can see where I’ve chosen to invest my money here. Ideally I would like to target my loans towards education and health projects but there aren’t many options in those fields, I suppose everyone wants to support those fields. If you find something especially worthy of support please let me know so I can help out :)

FYI This is an F chord on a Ukulele :) but I still don’t have a mic :(

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Ukulele it is

The Ukulele had two votes to every one for the Banjo and Guitar (not including mine). Over 60 votes are recorded on the poll but 56 of them were computer generated to make me feel better about people actually caring what instrument I play :)

The search took the best part of the day but Allans Music sorted me out. When I entered there was a gentleman with his son playing the Ukuleles so I pressed him for advice and after 15 minutes I felt confident to start dealing with the sales persons. My new friend suggested paying at least $100 to get a good sound which he demonstrated by playing one of the $29 China jobs. I have no idea if I got a good deal but apparently it was end of year sales so my new toy, a KA-KC Kaia concert Hawaiian Koa Ukulele set me back $250 (reduced from $335). An electronic tuner set me back $10 but my card didn’t have enough money for a microphone, which is fine because I don’t think my playing is yet recording worthy :)

Ukulele

Cairns here I come!

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Experimenting with squatting

The toilet stalls at uni have anti squatting signs similar to this one.

At first I thought the idea of squatting on a toilet was silly but I don’t like blindly obeying signs and I like to try new things so…

And I’m glad I did, it is amazing! I have never felt so empty. After a little research I found out that squatting is the healthier option too. It minimises “fecal stagnation” (which just sounds awful) and reduces the risk of colon cancer, colitis, Crohn’s disease, contamination of the small intestine, diverticulosis, gynecological disorders, heart attacks, hemorrhoids, hiatus hernia and GERD, pregnancy and childbirth issues, prostate disorders, and sexual dysfunction!

Tips for new squatters; aim forward and make sure there is a toilet brush available.

Yet again, not obeying a sign has worked out well for me.

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