Meet my new dance teachers - Kadu Pires e Larissa Thayane.

Kadu and Larissa are joining the studio where I have dance lessons in a few weeks time and between you and me, I'm STOKED! Enjoy a video of one of their brilliant Samba de Gafieira (my favourite latin dance style) routines.

Regina is definitely better!

Ok, I'm officially in L.O.V.E. LOVE with Regina Spektor. First it was her film clip for Fidelity that got me, then it was listening to the awesome Jess rocking out Radio on the deck of the Nippon Maru, but it was Better that just grabbed me hook, line and sinker. Enjoy the beauty yourself. Song of the week is Better, by Regina Spektor.

Reconciliation Week in Australia

This weekend marks an important time of the year in Australia . On Saturday, the 26th of November, is National Sorry day, which marks the beginning of the 11th annual National Reconciliation Week.

Taken from www.eniar.org/news/marks.html

Some brief information about Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week.

“In 1997, 26th May, [the] Federal Parliament [of Australia ] tabled a report that has changed the view of Australians and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people of this nation.

The Bringing Them Home report detailed the abuse that was perpetrated on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities of the removal of children from their families.

The report also recommended that a “Sorry Day” be held each year to recognise the pain that Indigenous people have experienced in this nation. In 1998 over a half a million people responded by signing Sorry Books and taking part in ceremonies on Sorry Day. In May 1999, this people's movement launched a 'Journey of Healing'. Sorry Day events are held annually on May 26. (Taken from http://www.abc.net.au/message/blackarts/culture/s853725.htm on 25th May, 2007)

“National Reconciliation Week offers people across Australia the opportunity to focus on reconciliation, to hear about the culture and history of Australia’s Indigenous people, and to explore new and better ways of meeting challenges in our communities.” [Taken from http://www.reconciliation.org.au/i-cms.isp?page=97 on 25th May, 2007]

You click here to read the Bringing Them Home Report.

This year is especially significant, because it marks the 40th anniversary of a national referendum where the Australian people voted in an overwhelming majority to give more rights to the Indigenous people of Australia .

The Reconciliation Australia website is a good resource to start learning more about this issue. A brief summary from their site states:

“The year 2007 and specifically Sunday 27 May 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of Australia ’s most successful referendum and a defining event in our nation’s history.

The 1967 referendum saw more than 90% of eligible Australians vote YES to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the national census of the population and to give the Commonwealth Government power to make specific laws in respect of Indigenous people. This event is often referred to as the first stage of the reconciliation movement in Australia .” (Taken from http://www.reconciliation.org.au/i-cms.isp?page=345 on 25th May, 2007).

If you’re interested in learning more about these events, Wikipedia’s Sorry Day site can also be a good starting point.

I'm interested in finding out if they have anything like Sorry Day or Reconciliation Week in other countries. Please let me know.

Peace out, Adam.
Click to see/hide information about Reconciliation Week in Australia.

I'm so behind!

Ok, apparently everyone had this song stuck in their head months ago, but I'm only just catching up now. Enjoy the pleasures of Mika's Grace Kelly, a camp, fun, dance around the house, sing-out-loud anthem that you'll find difficult to get out of your head. It's brilliant!

KILLER ... bunnies? Huh?

What do you get when you cross Watership Down, Magic: the Gathering and Monty Python?

Killer Bunnies of course!

Waste hours of your life with the gleeful pleasure of using Rainbo to slaughter a pod of Lumbering Bunnies or Flurine Gas to get rid of a Gleeful bunny, but watch out for the Cybernetic Bunny and the Ebola Virus, because you'll never know if you'll end out sacrificing your own bunnies in your quest for the magical carrot.

Yes, I have no life ... but I still love it. Thanks Beth for introducing me to this insane card game.

International Day Against Homophobia.

The International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) was created to complement the Queer Pride events held around the world to celebrate pride in oneself and in their sexuality (sexual orientation) and gender identity, whatever they may be. IDAHO looks at this issue from another angle as it is held to highlight: "... that in reality it is homophobia that is shameful and must be deconstructed in its social logic and fought against openly." IDAHO is held annually on the 17th of May around the world. The 17th of May was chosen for IDAHO, as it commenorates the 17 May 1990, when the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders. (Taken from Wikipedia on 14th May, 2007.)

Taken from GCN.ie

So, what is Homophobia? For those who haven't seen this word before, Wikipedia describes Homophobia is the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. Sometimes homophobia has been used to cover the same kind of feelings/reactions towards people who have alternate gender identities (eg a person who's physical gender is one gender, say male and they feel that inside their actual, phychological gender is the opposite, in this case female. Such a person may or may not take hormones and have surgey to correct their external gender to match what they feel they are inside.) If you'd like to read more, one good place to start is the Homophobia page on Wikipedia, that has a variety of external links. It's pretty heavy going and a bit on the theoretical side, so I'll see if I can find some more information at a later date.

Sexualities and Gender Identities that are alternate to the "mainstream" are contentious issues internationally. There are a variety of viewpoints, theories and perspectives based on such things as science, religion, culture, morality, personal opinion, philosophy and psychology that fuel this contention (and I'm sure that the people who are reading this blog have a variety of opinions). These viewpoints range from the perspective that people should be free to express the gender that they feel they truly are inside and express who they love to the perspective that, for a variety of reasons, the only right sexuality and gender identity are heterosexuality and those people whose physical gender matches their internal gender identity (ie a man who feels inside that he is a man).

As I'm here to raise awareness of the International Day Against Homophobia, you may be able to guess which perspective is my own. I'm not going to try to relate in detail the viewpoint of people who don't agree with the perspective that people should be free to express alternate sexualities and gender identities, as I don't feel that I could truly and without bias represent those perspectives. I would love to hear people's thoughts and opinions on this topic though, so please either email me or post them here. If there are opinions posted here, I would ask people to be respectful of difference in the way they post their opinions and/or respond to what other people say.

Whether or not you'd like to post your thoughts, as the International Day Against Homophobia draws closer, I would ask people to explore their thoughts in regards to gender identity and sexuality. Where do your thoughts, values and opinions come from? Are they from family, friends, people you have met or your own personality or do they come from something broader such as politics, science, research, religion, moral codes, culture or the media? I'm sure that your thoughts on this issue will be related to a combination of two or more of these things.

If you're interested in discussing or debating this issue further, I would also ask you to explore why people think the way they do, where their thoughts, values and opinions come from. I would also like you to ask yourself what it means to love some one, what is important about the person you love, both to you and to those around you, and what is it that makes you a man or a woman or something else in between.

For any issue that is contentious, such as this one, its can be a great process to look inside yourself and think about what has brought you to believe what you believe and why others think differently. At the very least, you'll learn more about yourself in the process.

Anyway, bring on your thoughts. I'm happy to discuss anything with yall and to clarify any points in this post. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that most of the links in this post may have some bias, as wikipedia is user developed. If you have any other links, let me know.
Click to see/hide more.

UPDATE: To find out more about what happened with the International Day Against Homophobia around the world, Google News can be a good start.

PS - Another significance event celebrated on the 17th of May is the national day of Norway, their constitution day. The 17th of May was the day that the constitution of Norway was signed in 1814. Happy 17th of May to all Norwegians who are reading!

Egyptian Art!

Two of my friends from the Egyptian delegation on SWY gave me some Egyptian art on papyrus. My parents loved them so much that they decided to frame them and hang them in our home. I thought they looked pretty cool, so I thought I'd share.

Thanks heaps Noha and Haitham! Don't they look awesome?

Life over the past few months

Well, I’ve been a bit slack updating the old blog of lack, so, without further ado, here’s a brief summary of life in Briz-Vegas over the last couple of months.



After a week of lying on the couch with the “Ship-Sickness” (doctors refer to it as PTSDD – Post traumatic ship departure disorder), I decided to get back into things … Ok, maybe that was in some part related to the fact that it took me a week to watch Grey’s Anatomy season 2 on DVD. After that things have been quite busy. Here’s some highlights.

I moved into a new place with some old friends that I used to work with at a bar, Marika and Dan. The house we’re staying at is brilliant, but has recently been sold, so we’re on the look-out for a new place … Anyone got some spare floor space for three desperate souls?

Kim came to visit from Norway for 6 weeks and stayed with us in the brilliant house. It was great to see him, since it had been over 9 months since the last time we’d seen each other. We did a few road trips and headed up to Cairns, as Kim hadn’t been there before. I also got to do a few scuba dives while we were up there, and we were at a reef when a tsunami was supposed to hit Cairns. Some one once told me that being on the open water is actually one of the safest places to be during a tsunami and that, when the big tsunami hit SE Asia a few years back, a few divers were shocked to see what had happened during a dive when they returned to shore. Anyway, all good things had to come to an end, and Kim returned home to Norway to find a new job. Once I save some money, I’m going to go over there so that he can finally show me what Norway’s like, which will be great.

Kim and I at my current house.

Kim at the top of the tallest building on the Gold Coast, Q1.

I came back from SWY unemployed and not sure what to do work-wise. After over a month of searching for work in all kinds of areas, I landed a short-term contract with the Queensland State Government’s Office for Youth. I’ll be evaluating and managing 2 of their programs. Talk about being thrown in the deep-end. Will be a great learning experience … just have to get my head around how government works.

We celebrated the 7th birthday of Cassidy, the son of my good friend, Tracy with a bit of bowling and cake.

Cassidy and his Star Wars cake.

Tracy, diva of the bowling alley.

My old flat-mate, Hanna, had her 21st birthday. It was a masquerade theme and she looked glam, of course, as Hanna always does. Happy birthday again, Hansi!

Hanna and Kim all masked up.

Kim and my other old flatmate, Kali, at the party.

Demiana and her mum, Galinda.

The brilliant house had a new member for a while, a pedigree … something mutt that we called Fluffy, but who was really called Suki. We were ready to adopt Fluffy into our zoo of a house, but (un)fortunately its owner managed to track us down after a while … we went all out with the posters trying to find the owner. In our wild goose chase to find them, a scan of a chip in it’s body indicated that it had been previously living in Fiji of all places …

Aww, so, so cute!

Maybe we shouldn't have put this sign up ...

Not being sure what kind of work I’d be able to track down, I ended up starting to volunteer for Amnesty International. I’m currently working with their Queer Rights Network. This network is focused on raising awareness about issues impacting upon the human rights and safety of queer people around the world. It’s been an interesting experience so far, and we’re currently organising events for the International Day against Homophobia on the 17th of May and Brisbane’s GLBT Pride festival in June.

I've also had the chance to catch up with a few friends ... here's a gold photos of one of them ... Kat you are H. O. T. HOT!

Oh yeah, and reporting for SWY has taken a bit of time, but it’s all done finally. Yay!

So yeah, that’s me for the last couple of months. I’m hoping to update a bit more regularly with lots of random things (and actually catch up with all the emails I owe people – sorry for the delay!). Catchyas soon.
Click to see/hide more.

Wizard of Oz Anime English Intro

The last in my series of late night nostalgia, the other truly legendary cartoon from my childhood - The Wizard of Oz. It followed most of the Oz books and was awesome. Highly recommended to lovers of 80s cartoons.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold - full opening theme

Sigh, they don't make cartoons like they used to ... Cities of Gold rocks! I dreamed of having a Golden Condor of my own when I was young.

Come on join the nostalgia ride

Roxette. Best band ever or tragic reminder of the 90s? You decide. Click to join the joyride and prepare to be rocked like a baby!

I finally discovered the joys of Youtube!

I've been a youtube junkie for a while now, but I only just discovered how to share videos and put them on websites. So, here's some SWY fun to enjoy ...

There's nothing like the Macarina to bring people together. For SWYers, this will surely bring back a flood of memories. For others, this shows a small piece of life of SWY19 and the faces of all of the participants. So much fun!



And this video is all about the pre-boarding excitment ...

On the Move Again

After a week of "ship-sickness", I've realised that I can't avoid reality any longer and am in the process of moving closer to the centre of Brisbane, to friends, and to potential places of employment (once I actually find a job ...). I'll be moving in with my friends Marika and Dan from my bartending days to a suburb about 10mins north of the CBD. Kim will also be here soon, visiting for a month from Norway, and will stay with us.

Now, to find a job to support this lifestyle ... Any suggestions?

Back to Reality! (and news about SWY 20).

Hey all,

After 2 short months, and a birthday spent in debrief, I'm back in the land of the living, all set to figure out what to do next with my life ...

I hope to add some pictures and stories from the last few months to my blog. Well, as long as I can find time amongst the job search etc.

In short, I had the most amazing time. It has been challenging, exhausting, a hell of a lot of fun, inspiring and completely surreal. It has changed all participated, as we lived a lifetime in our 2 months together. I have met some of the most amazing people I've ever met, I learnt a lot about the world and myself and I have so many more questions than I thought possible. I'm very thankful for all of this.

I would highly recommend that you all apply for SWY 20, because Australia has been invited again and the Port of Call countries are India and Oman. Definitely think about it. Countries involved include Vanuatu, Spain, Costa Rica, India, Oman, Finland, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Bahrain, Tanzania, South Africa and Japan. Go to http://www.thesource.gov.au/swy for updates about the application process.

But in the meantime, please enjoy this completely innocent picture of me in a Mexican Charo suit (thanks for the lend, Eduardo!) during the Mexican Fiesta, with the beautiful Martine from Fiji.

Kia Ora from Kiwi Land!

Hello to all in the great, wide world that we on the Ship know nothing about. Well expect for the Death of Anna Nicole Smith and the Dumping of Kylie. You know, the important stuff.

I’m writing to you all today from Wellington, New Zealand. We made it into the city yesterday morning and are here until Wednesday. Apart from visiting local youth and organisations, the main purpose of our journey is to have free time! Free time is all about checking emails, touching base with family and friends and getting some much needed time to stretch our legs and explore somewhere completely different. I’m hoping to go sea kayaking today with a group of people, but we’ll see.



Life on the MS Nippon Maru has truly hit an all time high. With a people powered revolution to bring us all closer together, the last week or so on the ship has seen a real deepening of the sense of community spirit that we all share and people really opening up and sharing their thoughts, feelings and debates with all and sundry.

It’s hard to put into words etc etc etc. I think you all get the drift by now. However, where in the world do you have the opportunity to debate such hot topics as respecting religion vs free speech with men and women from 14 different countries, multiple relgions, different political beliefs and different levels of English. I’ve never felt the sense of community and openness that I’ve felt here (well, maybe except for in the Philippines). It’s truly inspiring.

It’s funny though. Going onto the boat, I, as well as most of the other Aussies, had this vision of having Multiple “Ship Moments”. By Ship Moments, we were thinking of moments of inspiration were we were able to have times of true clarity about ourselves, who we are and what we want to do with the rest of our lives. All of us now have more questions though. Questions about who we are, what we believe and where we fit in the world. These questions are good questions though. If we didn’t come back from a trip like this with questions, it would be a complete waste of the Japanese governments time and money.

So yeah, plenty of questions and confusions here. The Japanese Government have spent their money well!!!

We’ve only got about 16 days left of the program. Time has flown by so quickly – I can’t believe that it’s almost time to head home. It will be interesting to come back to reality after spending so long in this surreal other world. I’ve definitely been inspired to travel though – to have all of my new friends show me around their countries and to see how they really live. I can’t wait for the opportunity to see what we’ve all been talking about and to share some of that with you all.

Anyway, that’s more than enough from me. I’ve added some pictures for your viewing pleasure, that might add some more context. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update anything in Vanuatu, so, just in case, speak to you all when I’m back in Brisbane and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASS!!!

The Aussies after leaving Japan.

One of the Letter Groups (groups made up of participants from every country).

Ninjas and Samuris take over Sydney (me in the middle).

The Aussie Delegation after we finished our National Presentation.

A Mexican, an Egyptian and a Chilean look out over Bris-Vegas as we leave.

The Solomon Islands Delegation during their National Presentation.

An Aussie and a Chilean on the deck of the Nippon Maru as we left Sydney.

Hope you enjoyed. See you when I get back.

Click to see/hide an update about life on SWY19 when we reached New Zealand.