Ballina Season
It’s finally here. Ballina awaits.
I’m leaving Brisbane soon and expect to arrive at my destination later this afternoon.
As explained in Autumn Update, I am spending this weekend in beautiful Ballina, New South Wales, at the invitation of Velocet, whose voice may be familiar to some of you.
JLB Chats with Velocet + K-Ham (12-Jan-2018)
Velocet is also the man behind the audio of this video:
JLB1807 – We See What We Want to See (21-Jan-2018)
And then there are his mad photoshop skillz:
If you are available on Saturday morning Australia time (Friday night America time) then join us for a Special Member Skype Call (and maybe even a live stream).
All Full Members are invited, and anything we record will be made available for others to listen to shortly afterwards.
I will try to have everything set up by 10am EST Saturday morning Australia time, which is 8pm New York time on Friday night.
The reason why I prefer Saturday morning (Aus) over Sunday morning (Aus) is because Sunday will be the last day and I would prefer to leave it open.
It might also be worth checking this thread periodically. Velocet and I have not really made too many plans beyond ‘check in on Thursday and check out on Sunday’.
Perhaps we might crash the old Fakeologist Discord server after one too many ‘peppermint teas’.
Stay tuned!
Production notes: Post #13. Available to the public.
Well I returned from my sojourn in one piece. It was terrific to get to meet Velocet in person, and to enjoy the beautiful part of the world known as Ballina, and to spend a few days away from my usual routine.
We didn’t end up recording much material, and the skype call on the Saturday was fairly uneventful and entirely unrecorded, so I have nothing to share here.
In time I hope to write or record a reflection on the Ballina weekend, which reminded me of some things I thought I already knew, and opened my eyes further to some others things which I am better for knowing.
As I explained to Velocet over a quiet beer one night, the path I find myself on is a lonely path indeed. I’m sure many of you would feel as though you can relate.
One difference between myself and most people I know is that I have so little: both socially and otherwise.
On the social front, my immediate family live 1,000 miles away from me — and it was I who moved away from them, seven years ago. I have no long-term partner, VERY few friends, no career, my job generally entails working in an office by myself (think Idiocracy), and unless I push myself to do so, I rarely go out much these days.
On the ‘otherwise’ front, I don’t own much. I live in a sharehouse i.e. I have one room in a house filled with strangers. I don’t own a car. My wardrobe is bare. A long time ago I read about ‘minimalism’ and discovered that there is a word (trend) to describe what I had already been doing ever since I moved out of home.
The point being that I have much less connection to this world than the average person. Less social connection, less physical connection — less spiritual connection. In many ways I am like a ghost who floats among the living. And I never intended it to be this way. This is just how things panned out.
The relevance of all of this is that I now suspect my lack of connection to this realm has allowed me to see and accept some things which may be more difficult for those who remain connected to see and accept. Even for me, some of this stuff is painful, so I can imagine how it might be for those who still feel attached.
And ‘attached’ is merely another word for connected, in this context.
Once again, a gigantic thanks to Velocet for suggesting and then organising the Ballina weekend. A highlight of 2018.
As I type these words at my local cafe, what sing comes on the radio?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg
Great to hear the trip went well, mate. Always great to get away for a bit. I look forward to reading your reflection on the weekend – you touched on some interesting points above.
You missed out, bro. Next time we will have to make sure that you are given enough warning to ensure that you are there.
glad you got to take a load off and relax a while, JLB – here’s hoping you make it stateside one of these days!
I am very confident that I will find myself in Illinois at some point before my 33rd birthday…
Ha! I just listened to this before I read this 🙂
I think this is what is meant by “The path less taken”. I relate