Making Friends With The Neighbours

My favourite things begin to meld into each other...

I had a day-dream recently. I was walking home along the river when an image, an event, filled my thoughts. It wasn ’t a memory, more like a hypothetical… I was in my wetsuit, board under my arm, running down to the water. I could see the waves, long and perfectly formed, and was excited to get out there. I hurried down the shore and just as I felt the wet sand sink beneath my feet and the water wash around my ankles… I tripped on my leggie . One minute, I was running and smiling and excited, the next I was face down with a mouth full of sand and humiliation. The legrope was twirled around my ankles, stringing them together, binding me. My board was caught under my arm, the pressure pressing back on both my board and my shoulder. Creased? I tried to shift my arm. My hair was plastered across my eyes, there was a dull ache in my lower back. The water washed under me, filling my face with sand, sucking at my body. I lay there, still. Ashamed. Numb. All the excitement vanished. I...

Featuring Jeff Raglus, Ben Waters, Gerry Wedd and Chris De Rosa. This is opening at the Nine Lives Gallery tomorrow night. If you're keen, you can RSVP on their Facebook page . I am so there!

I'm really stoked to have just collaborated with Joni Sternbach on a submission for the online art journal, Trickhouse . As you know, I am a massive fan of Joni's images, so to be invited to work with her was a real pleasure and something I'm quite proud of. Anyway, you can check out Joni's photos and my essay, 'Across The Water', here at Trickhouse .

This morning I was drowning. After my alarm woke me I had hit it off, rolled over and briefly fallen back asleep. According to my clock it was only for ten minutes, but in that small amount of time I was suddenly under water, under waves, held below, straining for air. Lost between sleeping, waking and surfing. Somewhere, I knew I was dreaming. But I was mixed and confused and refusing to let go of it all. Somewhere, I was calming myself; Just. Breathe. In. But my dreaming mind and body was under water and flailing. I never caught a wave, I never fell, but was simply under. The water was clear and white and fizzing around me. I was waiting for the pull of a leash on my leg, but it never came. I was waiting to hit the bottom to recoil and push towards the surface, but I never reached it. I was fighting against water that provided no resistance, no potential for power. In that irritating way of dreams, I was both doing and watching, drowning and observing, sinking and floating...

Isaac Fields rips on an old mal. Pic by Moonwalker, stolen from the Pacific Longboarder site. Last year he won a 'move of the day' prize at the Noosa Festival for, what the certificate termed, an 'old mal, "air drop, floater"'. He seriously loves riding these tricky boards, and does so with an enthusiasm that is reflected in his always broad smile. Sometimes I get to go surfing with him, and he is always having a great time, always stoked. (He also loves double-ups, Evans Head and food.)

I just found this clip about the Longboard Girls Crew by Juan Rayos , over on The Endless Bummer (who found it elsewhere) and it absolutely, 100% made my day! Carving the Mountains from Juan Rayos on Vimeo . I don't know much about these women, but I'm looking forward to spending some time on their website to find out more about them. So great!

Over the past few years, I have attended a lot of ‘surf art’ openings and exhibitions. A lot. Mostly they’re quite lovely and colourful and, well, surfy, but mostly I also walk away and don’t much think about them again. I don’t mean to say they’re not good, because they are and people are doing all sorts of awesome things using images of waves, boards, bodies, colours, clouds and the beach, but while they might make me smile or feel good,I suppose they never really teach me much, or make me ask questions. And that’s not a criticism so much as an observation, because making beautiful images, films and objects for their own sake is wonderful and I don’t necessarily want anyone to stop. But there are a growing number of surfy artists I have come to love, whose work is not ‘surf art’, but rather is ‘art about surfing’. The difference is that their work is more than textual, more than art for beauty’s sake, and engages in cultural questions and ugliness and critique. This ‘art about surf...

New issue is back from the printers and ready for you to enjoy! Independently written, proofed and published for the love of it, go here to get your hands on a copy. You know you want to.

My friend Laura sent me this song today. She first played it to me years ago, when we were both living in Sydney. It's by New York musician, Jeffrey Lewis, who writes some crazy stuff, but this song is really lovely. I think of it when I am blue or when things seem too much, and remember how lucky I am to have friends like Laura, who already know that I am going to be fine. Ignore the visuals - it's the lyrics that are the thing.

Word of my week (courtesy of Jen ) Defenestrate [ dee- fen - uh -streyt ] -Verb (used with object) to throw (a person or thing) out of a window ng) out of a window. Let's try it in some sentences; Stop speaking to me like that or I will defenestrate you. If this computer doesn't stop playing up, it's going to get defenestrated. I love the episode of The Office, where Tim defenestrates Gareth's stapler. It's so funny!

(The beginnings of this discussion were taken from an old post over at Kurungabaa ) I spend the bulk of my time on the coast surrounded by (or at least, with easy access to) the ocean, sand, sun, clouds, storms, tides, experiences and rhythms that make me feel at home. That make me feel like I belong. I can move with and through them in ways that make sense. As a child, in fact up until I was 19, I rarely left the coast, and when I did it was to go to other spaces that were defined by mountains, meadows, forests and wilderness. Eventually, I made my way to The City, a world that took me some time to find my feet in. But now I love it. When I visit cities I feel at home. I know how to walk in ways that get me around and move me along and allow me to negotiate the buildings, cars, people and general busyness. I know how to duck and weave and wend and wheel, avoid, obstruct and slip in-between. I have found ways to discover and understand cities by getting about on foot and ...

I was sent this link in an email the other day (thanks Ben!) I'm never sure whether to pop these things up, because I try not to support industry stuff too much, but the way this is put together is pretty cool. It's dynamic and interesting and really highlights the surfing over, well, you know. I mean there's still lots of bikinis etc and as you can imagine, there is a lot more I could say, but I kind of have something percolating, so I might wait and see if I get time to think it through properly. For now, see what you reckon... Leave A Message Trailer from Nike 6.0 on Vimeo .

Photo via inbyronbaytoday.com

A post dedicated to my sister, Linda Maree Olive. Notes: 1. At a party, this song is almost guaranteed to get people ripping on the dance floor. 2. This clip always makes me think of my sister, hence the dedication. 3. This is a pretty complete catalogue of my dance-move repertoire.

Lauren and I walked up the wooden stairs from the beach towards the shower. We'd just met in the surf - bonding over each others' boards and the common experience of being one of the only girls out on such a pretty day of surf. We'd started talking and quickly realised we had a lot of interests in common - I'd read some of her papers and had already blogged about one of her film projects called '31 days/31 ways' - so we thought we'd head in for a coffee and a good chat. How awesome is meeting someone new in the surf, by the way! Anyway, we walked up the stairs to the shower, chatting away excitedly about surfing, women, the ocean, uni, talking about how sometimes it can be hard being the only chick in the water, or one of only a few. We talked about how much we love surfing in this area, where there are a lot more women and girls than other places. We de-briefed on the crazy lineup that day and I told Lauren how I'd seen a guy shout at some learner ...

I haven’t been writing much lately. The thing is that every time I go to write, it feels like I am simply writing the same story over and over again. I feel like all that each tale achieves is to reveal what a slow learner I am and lets you all see more than you should. Are stories supposed to be that selfish? To be honest I’ve lost perspective on what I have and haven’t said, but this one has been sitting inside my chest for a couple of weeks now, so I suppose I might as well let it out… ***** A few weeks ago, I went for a surf. It was my first time on a board in over 2 months. Exciting. I decided to paddle out at my love, The Pass. Conditions were pretty wonderful - the sky was clear and blue, the water was warm, there were peelers galore and it wasn’t too busy. I wasn’t looking for much anyway. I intended to sit wide and get waves further along. I just wanted to catch some waves and spend some time in my body, not my thoughts. I wanted to feel all the things you feel when...