... In other news, vale Mike Seeger, who up & died a couple of months ago -- I only just found out. Those of you not adverse to old-timey music can catch his banjo stylings here. His services to all things old-time shall not be forgotten

Bugger this pen and ink rigmarole. Think it's about time I got myself a graphics program more sophisticated than MS Paint. And a computer capable of RUNNING anything more sophisticated than MS Paint. And maybe some talent, if they sell that at the Apple store. Not to mention some vim, vigour, zip, pizzazz, pep and up-and-at-'em. And some kind of preparation that'll take away my self-doubt, angst, tendency to procrastinate and (while we're at it) acne.

AND THEN I SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD.

Howdy. I've just (well, a fortnight ago) arrived back on my little island at the arse-end of the globe after three glorious months in the States. After having gone skydiving; kissed strangers; been lost in a sand storm; crossed over into Juarez, Mexico (which I later learned has a rather disturbingly high murder rate) for a very uncomfortable night's drinking and dancing; fired a handgun (Americans will probably fail to appreciate how exciting this is for folks from countries with tighter firearms regulations); gone to a high-end Vegas strip joint with a bunch of hypnotists; hiked almost 14 miles in Yosemite after having planned to go for a 'bit of a stroll', and returning nearly crippled and with the soles peeling off my cheap boots; accidentally starting a (small but impressive) bar fight in Nashville; quite seriously threatening to break someone's teeth (thank god I didn't need to follow through on that one. She would've pulverised me) in New Orleans; surviving several attempted conversions with my agnosticism intact; being granted mystical insights; and hanging out with weird and wonderful people from every imaginable walk of life -- well, after all that, coming back to little old Sydney was always going to be a bit anti-climactic. Still, guess I'd better make the best of it and turn out some fresh scribblings for y'all. Stay tuned.

My travel plans have hit a bit of a pothole -- seems my good-fer-nothing immune system had scheduled a nasty flu for this week without giving me prior notice. So I'll be hopping on a plane this weekend instead, still excited but also kinda snotty. Bet the poor sod in the seat next to mine is going to be thrilled. My trip might yet be cut short by a weird thyroid condition I've just had diagnosed. It's not at all serious, but if I'm unlucky I could wind up getting skinnier, crazier, bug-eyed and bald (until I get the right drugs, anyhow), in which event I imagine I'll look something like a myopic Gollum. 'Course, I'm not saying this mightn't be an improvement on my current appearance...

Thanks for all the travel suggestions! Sorry I didn't reply to them earlier... I'll go do that now. Just as soon as I crack open a nice, cold box of kleenex...

Evening my fine deviants, so it seems I'm hopping on a plane in -- good god! -- just under a week, incredibly ill-prepared, for three months in the beautiful US of A. I'm about as good at travel planning as I am at, y'know, posting artwork regularly or replying to messages, ie. woefully bad. So far, all's I got is a return ticket to San Francisco and the following list:

Things I Plan To Do:

- Try not to get eaten while riding Greyhounds (I'm told this only happens in Canada, though)
- Try not to get converted while riding Amtrak
- Blow, say, $10 in Vegas, reckless devil that I am (but think of the exchange rate!)
- Do a little extremely cautious urban exploration in NY
- Find the entrance to the hollow centre of the Earth. Or at least do some caving, failing that.
- Get some old-time clawhammer banjo lessons
- Go to a UFO convention
- Go to that cemetery in Hollywood that inspired Evelyn Waugh to write The Loved One
- Drink a thickshake in a kitschy '50s diner
- Sit in at a recording of Letterman (hopelessly daggy, I know, but I've been watching it for YEARS).
- Try not to get mugged (no mean feat when you're built like a strand of wet spaghetti, with a perennially perplexed expression and a tendency to wander)
- Catch a church service with some real gospel singing (again, trying not to get converted)
- Catch all the blues, jazz, folk, country and cajun music I can, trying all the while not give in to the urge to dance in that spasmodic, rhythmless kind of way only gawky young nerds can dance (that's going to be a tough urge to fight after a few beers, I tells ya).

As you can see, not much in the way of concrete plans there... So can any residents of that fine nation possibly suggest anything else I oughtta do? Tell me tell me tell me! At the moment I just wanna go everywhere and see everything, or at least as much as my feeble Australian dollars will allow.

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On a wholly unrelated topic, these two sites have been single-handedly keeping me entertained for the past month. Some of you might enjoy 'em, if you're the sort who always kinda secretly wished your radio was the most advanced piece of technology in your life (surely I'm not the only one...?)

Old Time radio shows (T Minus One, Sam Spade and Vincent Price's The Price of Fear are some of my favourites)

Also, some very fine public domain music.