Didgeridoo

About how long does it take to master the didgeridoo and do significant numbers of musical white Australians give it a try?


It takes a very long time to master the didgeridoo- because to play it 'properly' you need to develop cyclic breathing, that is, being able to breathe in while you're blowing out. The lip vibrations needed are also very difficult. I think that most kids have tried blowing into a didgeridoo or even just a cardboard tube, to try and make the sounds, but most musical adults don't take it up, they stick to things like the saxophone or the guitar or the keyboard- most white people seem to prefer to be able to play a tune. And there aren't many opportunities for a white didgeridoo player to play it.

Most people who buy didgeridoos are tourists, to be honest. Or you buy it as a cultural item, rather than something to play.

Something else to think about- women can't play it (and it's frowned upon for anyone white to play it too). According to Aboriginal traditional Law, it is a man's instrument. That's not stopped girls from giving it a try, but it's very much frowned upon, so by the time they're adults, most of the women don't try or play, out of respect. I haven't tried playing a didgeridoo since I was about 9 years old, it just seems wrong to do it, and when I tried, I didn't know the rules.

Nicole Kidman apparently played one in the Australia movie- that's caused quite a lot of backlash.

Are There Big Spiders In The Street Or In Your House?

The first "Questions about Australia" entry!

This is one that so many people ask. They're terrified that they'll be bitten and killed.
The thing is... yes. There are spiders. We have the most poisonous spiders in the world, and there are quite a lot of them. However, most of them are outside, being poisonous to other insects. They don't usually enjoy being inside- there's not much for them to eat.
They do get inside though.

A few weeks back, my friend and I were at a party, and we were helping clean up afterwards. And we came across a red back spider- one of the most scary ones. They've got a black body and a red line/streak on their backs. They're not huge compared to other spiders, but I hear they're a *lot* bigger than American or English spiders. We had a great time trying to kill it! (sarcasm). One of the guys was trying to spray it while standing on a chair, and it was just flailing around rather than dying, and then it decided to drop from the ceiling and because it was night time we couldn't see it for a while. We eventually had to squish it because we sure couldn't kill it with the spray fast enough! That was however one of the only poisonous animals that my friend definitely saw.

Again a few weeks back, there was a nasty looking black spider running around in my dvd collection- cue me squealing and getting my friend to catch it for me.

A few years back, there was a really big huntsman spider (they're HUGE, look them up!) in our kitchen. I couldn't squish it because it was huge, I couldn't spray it because again, it was huge, and there was food around the place that Mum had prepared for that night. The only option we had was to catch it.
It was so big, I had to catch it in a sieve. One of those big ones.
It was pretty horrifying!

Basically in answer to your question- Yes, there are spiders. Yes, they come inside. Yes some are huge and some are poisonous. But with a bit of common sense you can avoid them or get rid of them, and if you're here on holiday you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

I'm Answering Questions About Australia

Ask me questions about Australia, and I'll try to answer them!

Sponsored Posts

I'd like to offer sponsored posts on this blog. They would help fund my friend and my first website's hosting! That website will be coming out in a few weeks- I won't tell you exactly what it is yet, but it's for positive minded intelligent people with an optimistic view on the world. It's a community project, and hopefully something that people will enjoy reading and commenting and posting on.

The sponsored posts will work like this: You donate however much money you would like to give. It can be as big or small amount as you'd like. Then you email me at Livinginthepast_minis@yahoo.com.au with your post text and any images. It can be an ad, a public message to us, information about immigration or Australia, a 'what's going on in my life' sort of post... anything you want as long as it's not obscene or illegal.

I'll then post it up here for all to see!

Cheap advertising, that also helps two young people get a start on their dreams!

A Catch Up

I know that people don't like scrolling down too far in blogs, so I thought that I'd summarise what is happening.
My best friend was in Australia for two years (I knew him for a year and a half). He had to leave because his visa expired. However he's built a life up here, he has friends, and he loves Adelaide, South Australia (though apparently that surprises some of you!). He loved it so much he stayed here for a year on a tourist visa, of course without a job, making himself broke.
Now, the only ways to come back is 1) to find him a job here that would be willing to sponsor him for a business visa. 2) A student visa- which costs a lot of money.
Which is where this blog comes in. This blog will hopefully get us a little bit of money, but it will also chronicle our attempts to get enough money for a student visa. The blog will also talk about Adelaide, friendship, Australia, the difficulties of immigration, etc.

Where we stand now: He left Australia on the 16th of December, and we're having a slight break for Christmas, before launching ourselves into making websites. And I'm trying to adjust myself to being by myself.

And someone serving me tea has only made me sad a few times.

Sigh

Not to sound melodramatic but right now I'm really not in the mood to talk about it.
... Strange isn't it, that I was all "Oh yeah I'll blog about this" but right now? I really just want to avoid talking about it, and live my life as if nothing were wrong for a little while, even though there really is, and the twinges of loneliness have started. It's worse of course since it's Christmas, and all my other friends are super busy as well.

On the plus side, the bed and mattress got sold! We used Gumtree, because, hey, it's free. Which is important right now. However he lowered the price a few days before he left in the hope that it'd sell faster... and then we forgot to put it back up again after he left and his stuff was sitting in my shed. So, it probably would have sold for a lot more. Oh well, there's hope for the desk yet! And maybe there'll be some sort of fantastic bidding war!

Sorry

Sorry for total lack of updates. Real Life, and helping my friend move out plus socialising as much as possible first, really took over.
The flight is tomorrow.

The Nature of Donations

My friend and I were having a chat the other night about making money. And he was saying that though yes, he'd love to have money, he feels a bit weird about donations. Why? I asked. Because I totally intend to stick by what we said and properly go for this. Because then there's too much pressure, he says. What if we don't make it, or we have to change what we spend the money on? Or he changes his mind? Like, he might decide to do a completely different PHD, or try desperately to get a job again, rather than a student visa. And so, donations and fundraising are too much pressure. I sort of get what he means- he wouldn't want to let any of you, or our friends down. He's certainly not a defeatist, he's not saying that he doesn't intend to try his hardest, but if hundreds of people donated a few dollars even, it'd be hugely embarrassing if things went wrong.

Which is why I'm slightly changing my strategy. Donations and fundraising will be for services and work already done, and fundraising will be for specific aspects of our projects. A slight change in attitude makes all the difference.

For example. You enjoy reading this blog, so you decide to donate $2. What we do with the money is then our business (though, I'm 99% sure his half'll go to trying to get the money for the PHD, or website development. Or maybe paying off his debt so that he can actually start making a profit).

You hear that we're making a new website that you like the sound of. You might want to donate a little bit of money to go towards our hosting fees. Therefore, paying for a service we will be providing.

I might be selling something, and you like it.

I might decide to run a sausage sizzle at uni, and I'd make sure it's specifically targetted to one aspect, such as "To pay for the hosting of our new website that is almost up". And then we'd get the majority of our money from advertisements. Maybe when it's *really* near to getting the right amount of money, fundraising for a certain aspect of coming back, like plane tickets, or a new bed, fridge and desk, might work. Or for shipping fees to bring his stuff back. And whatever the fundraiser is, it'll always be in exchange for something- a nice night out, food, whatever.

I'm pretty sure "I'ts going towards his PHD and coming back to Adelaide" will be in the backs of your minds, and we'll still be encouraging donations, and trying to raise a lot of money, but we're not being hugely specific with what the money is going to.

I can guarantee though that we would never blow it on beer and hookers. :P

I thought some honesty about this would be best. What do you think about the donation situation?

Car!

Well, yesterday, he sold his car. To the first couple to view it. Pretty amazingly fast! And it was for a good price, which is fantastic.
Unfortunately now, this means that he's feeling pretty stranded and isolated. And he still has a bed, desk, and fridge, to be sold.
Only a little over a week to go. *sigh*
Don't suppose anyone can offer him a job that'll sponsor him to stay?

Australia's Prosperity

Prosperity Chart.
ohhh yeah. :D Not entirely unsurprising! I knew we rocked! (as did my friend...)

What Would You Like to See?

What would you like to see me blog about, that fits with the theme of the blog? I'm up for requests! :D I'd like to make this blog interesting and useful.

Tah Dah!

Who says we can't do it?
This was our Project Wonderful account yesterday. Our very first cent! One step the right direction! (Not including the small amount of money I've made from figurines to put towards this)

I know many people who will probably laugh at our one cent. But, many people also laugh at the concept that people can make any money at all off websites. Several of my friends and family members, for example.

How Annoying!

How annoying! Blogger wasn't working for me for several days. Very very strange stuff.

But I'm back now, and have several post updates to make!

Helping Someone This Christmas

Obviously I do 'have' to say "oo! Help us! Help us!" in this post, but if you just get inspired by it, I hope whoever you do help is worthy!

I've been feeling a little disillusioned about Christmas lately. It's a very quiet day- my family only has six people in it, and one of them goes overseas every second year. This year is one of them. I need to do something different. Originally I was vaguely hoping that My Friend might be in the country, but he's of course having to go home, and probably would have gone home for Christmas anyway. Years back, I would have been upset if something 'different' happened at Christmas, like someone else randomly being there, ruining my routine. Now, the routine needs improving.
It'll be something I can do once My Friend leaves- I'll have plenty of time to make decorations, or plan to cook.

One thing that I've wanted to do, is to do something to do with a charity. Not on the actual day. This year, my charity is obviously my friend. He's not a starving orphan, but he is broke. :P

I found this site the other day.

Yes, the car is... magic?

So, does anyone want a car? Of course, you'd have to be in the Adelaide area. My friend is also selling a small fridge, a bed, and a desk. It's going to be really hard for him to sell it all within two weeks. I'm suggesting he says that the car is magic. :P Or that the fridge is haunted. Or Elvis used the desk.

The car is a...
Mitsubishi Magna TE Advance, 1997, 147,259 KM .

Project Wonderful

I'm filled with a sense of... something beginning. The first lot of project wonderful ads are up! And they're on this blog. I know this blog isn't Traffic Central, but it's a start. When my friend said that we *really* were going to have to do the websites, I did what he advised me to do many times before, and just jumped right in. We had many conversations about how so many people who want to be business people spend months fussing about business cards etc, rather than just *starting the business* and worrying about that sort of thing later- it really does put you off actually starting. Think about the projects you've put off before.

So, one of our newly discovered principles is to just jump in, and also, once we've decided on something in our individual lives, to take steps, from that day on, to aim towards that goal. Most people just wish for things, without doing it. I really do advise that you try this yourself, no matter what your goal is. You want more friends? Start asking about clubs or activities, or just talk to random people at parties. Want a better job? Start working on your resume, or start building up your experience. Want to help the world? Pick one thing you could do, and start doing it.

So, a few weeks back, I was like 'you're right. Websites. Gotcha' and started this blog the next day. My aim was to get to a point where I could feasibly start making money, within a month. And I got to that goal.

Now to wait for the ads to come, and to keep the content to a level that might be readable!

Aw, Ebay

My Jeeves and Wooster didn't sell for a second time. Which is very disappointing.
Would it be fantastic to have a bidding war over it, and end up with some sort of Ebay freak thing and get lots of money from it? Actually I'd be happy if it'd just sell. I'll have to have a think about the best time for me to repost it.

Also I'd like to remind you about the poll. :)

The Future

If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting.

A piece of advice that my friend has drummed into me (in the nicest way possible). What do you want, and how do you plan to go about getting it? Are you unhappy with how your life is now? Have you tried to change anything?

33

One of our money making ideas is creating websites. At the moment, this is the only one, but we've got another one coming soon.

I just went and wrote out all the website ideas I remembered we'd had... and a couple of extras, and there's thirty three. That's an awful lot!

I'm very excited about it, and I hope we get as many up and running as possible!