the ’sham

Vanessa and I have been chuckling about the idea of a ’sham time capsule for a while now. So why not do it?

Thus we hereby invite anyone to contribute in the following ways:

• suggestions for stuff to put into the capsule
• ideas of how to make the capsule
• where we should bury the capsule
• how long it should be buried for
• etc

We’re pretty keen on the idea that the capsule should be buried somewhere, under the real earth, in Petersham. We shall use picks and shovels and work up a sweat.

Fun, huh?!

Last night I went over to Vanessa’s house for dinner. She made sushi and grilled eggplants with a miso sauce. We talked about thinking, the way our minds process thoughts. And memory. It seems that, even though we are good friends, our brains are utterly different. Vanessa is able to play and replay memories of particular events in her mind, a bit like flipping through a pile of records and choosing one to listen to. I, on the other hand, only rarely rummage through past events, and when I do, it’s a struggle to dredge up the details. Perhaps, I speculated, that’s why I did the sham project (and the Kellerberrin one too) - to lay down a trail of breadcrumbs showing the changing of thoughts over time. Certainly, during these periods, I felt my memory-mind being exercised in a way which improved it - but it’s gotten slack again since. It’s about practice, as all these things seem to be.

Vanessa and I recorded the episode where I first met her - at Darren Hanlon’s backyard where Caxton and The Triangles were playing a gig, just one year ago.

You can listen in to this broadcast here.
And you can read the original posting here.

In a shower of serendipity, Heather showed up at the Big Brekkie this morning. I’ve been wanting to do a recording of the episode in which I met her and Tully outside Sweet Belem, and was hoping to meet up with Tully to do it. Heather’s moved to Canberra, so I didn’t have much hope for her coming along. Heather and her FIANCE’(!) Dave came over and we recorded the episode which features us playing frisbee in the park and turning cartwheels at the bowling club. I also go and visit Lucy from north Petersham in this one.

Listen in here [11mb, 24min, mp3]
Read the original here.

This morning a bunch of locals had breakfast down at the big brekkie. Lisa and I returned to my living room to record the jelly wrestling episode: the one where we finally worked up the courage to go see the jelly wrestling at the Oxford Tavern.

Listen in here [22 min, 10mb, mp3]
Read the original posting here.

This is fun. Today I wrangled Luciana the next door neighbour to come over and read with me. It’s the episode where we go for a walk to the video store, past Moz the hairdresser, and look in at dog grooming and scrapbooking. We meet Lucy for the first time, the lovely Chilean lady who lives next door to Lisa. Luciana makes interjections, and clarifications. She has a good memory!

Listen in here [19 minutes, 8mb, mp3].
Read the original posting here.

PS, if you feature in one of the blog entries from last year, and would like to read along with me in one of these podcasts, let me know! We’ll get together and make a recording.

Having just returned from a trip to Melbourne, I’m catching up on my recordings. The latest development (which emerged from reading aloud together with Lizzie during the trip) is that the recordings are a bit more interesting when they have a live audience. Lizzie was a good audience because she had never read the original stories before.

Today, sitting with Vanessa and Tim in my loungeroom, I recorded “The Lost Vignettes” which was posted last year on the 19th of April. Both V and T are familiar with the stories, so there is some reflection and chatting about the events and places depicted. We share the reading of comments contributed by blog readers - Vanessa does the female voices, and Tim does Alex Bruen, which is kind of fun.

In “The Lost Vignettes” we hear about Marie and Chris, punks, “tag” graffiti, the Palace Pantry, and we sit in the sun with Bruce watching the dogs in Petersham Park.

Listen in to the story here [15min, 15mb, mp3]
Read the original posting here.

Today I wanted to post up the article from when I first met Tully, one of the more significant neighbours I encountered a year ago in the sham. I’m in Melbourne at the moment, and I went to a park to record the episode, but the wind is too intrusive to post it up. Shame. But when I get back to Sydney, I’ll get together with Tully and we’ll record it together. It’ll be more fun that way anyhow!

Meantime, read the original article here.

A podcast of the article by Sunanda Creagh in the Sydney Morning Herald, with some comments following!

Listen in here.

Read the original posting here.

Here’s the podcast of a “short note on method”, one of my regular anxiety postings from a year ago!

Listen in here.

Read the original here.

This is the podcast from the borderwalk I did with the Cake Lady, the southern border of the Sham.

Listen in here. [14 min, 7mb, mp3 file].

Read the original post here.