I just saw this on the awesome site that is Kelly Oxford (check her out, she fucking hilarious)

Anyhoo, she had this pic on there

And said,

…stare at the red dot on her nose for 30 seconds.
Look at the ceiling and blink really quickly

So I did

And I, like her, was all, WHAT THE FUCK?!?

What is this fuckery with my eyes

And how the fuck?

So yeah, consider me confused and ready for a drink

Otherwise known as Tuesday

Here’s a random montage of some  pics from 2011 – I let the computer pick which ones to use

And yes, there are a lot missing – just like the hard drive they’re on. Fuck

Apologies in advance to friends, old and new, if you don’t see your pic here. Blame the drunk chick operating the computer technology gizmo thingies

They’re all in skewiff order, and looking at them makes me smile

And makes me want to take a nap

The Chicago Blizzard of 2011, Queensland Tour, Victoria Tour, Chicago show, Mum & Dad’s visit, New York, Japan, New Zealand, Melbourne, Granites, solo WA & Northern Territory shows, Las Vegas, Sugarland concert, Sydney tour, Bahamas, Perth with the kids, Christmas…

Some a blurry, some are not. But all of them remind me of what an amazing year it’s been.

JENNY TALIA 2011 in pictures from jenny talia on Vimeo.

OK, so I’m a little confused here

Maybe some of you can help me out

We currently have more unemployed Australians than we’ve had in over a decade (1 million+ people)

A global economic slowdown has seen Australian’s homes decreasing in value at an accelerated rate

Australians are worried over the newly introduced carbon tax and what it means for them

And they’re  also having to deal with constantly rising household costs that their wages never seem to adjust to

The government has just announced plan to slash billions of dollars in public spending

And I seem to recall that not too long ago, our Prime Minister’s popularity hit a record low approval rating of minus 45%

So can someone tell me how, today, in Australia

Politicians received a MASSIVE – no seriously, FUCKING MASSIVE, pay rise?!?

The fuck?

Julia Gillard will now earn more than the UK Prime Minister and the President of the United States

With a $90,000 pay increase that sees her now taking home almost $470,000 a year

Yep

Even the lowest polly on the totem pole will see his pay packet fatten up with an additional $40,000 per year

And while I realise that this raise was at the suggestion of an independent body, and not at the politicians request

Is there no one with any brains in charge of this shit?

Is this really the right economy to give ANY of those wankers a pay rise?

Can’t they see that people are battling, worried about how to pay their bills

Worried about these new taxes, their jobs, paying their mortgages?

It just screams unfair

And shows just how out of touch and fucking ridiculous the politicians in this country are

It’s like a slap in the face to the people they are supposed to be helping. Isn’t government supposed to work FOR the PEOPLE?

Cause sure as shit, there’s no ‘people’ I know that would approve this bullshit

How about this Christmas, these newly cashed up pollies head down to their local Salvation Army

And donate their recent windfall to the Australians who REALLY need it

That’d be a good place to start

Our week in Japan for MateRock went so fast, and was full-on times a bazillion. I didn’t get time to blog on the trip, because I was lazy and drunk a lot so I’m going to break it down over a few blogs, before I forget everything…

read day one (part 1) here

read day one (part 2) here

read day two (part 1) here

read day two (part 2) here

After paddling gorillas and mountaintop lunches

Our day was still going strong

But we were a bit knackered and gladly accepted offers to carry our guitars

It was sound check time!

For part of the year, this location is covered in snow and skiers

At this time of year, it made the perfect location for an outdoor music festival

I’ve played in a lot of places over the years

But none, matched the beauty and scenery of this stage’s backdrop

Not even Narrogin *cough*

Luckily all signs were in English too

Making it all a little less confusing for us Kalgoorlie kids

Did you know that Japan has mosquitos?

Me either

But now….NOW… I know

We weren’t at soundcheck long

We got off easy

Between the local crew’s efficiency

And the Kiwi and Aussie crew’s making sure we had everything we needed

It was a short & sweet end to the day

Just seeing the stage, and the fabbo location

Got me all excited for the gig the next day

See? This is my excited face

Not to be confused with my, holy-shit-I-am-being-eaten-alive-by-killer-mossies-that-don’t-speak-Australian face

But wait, there’s more…but not right now, ’cause my flight’s about to board (wait, didn’t I use that BS excuse already?)