Eviction, Over time and Hippies (positive emphas

As per usual I'll start out my journal by saying its been a long time and I haven't been updating my DA as much as I'd like to and that at some point in the future I'll find the time to do art the has meaning on top of function but I am starting to think that statements like that are almost nonsensical coming from me. A lot has happened since I last made a journal and I've decided that instead of telling everyone about the parts they missed out on I'll just direct them to paragraphs of a pre-written journal entry.

I'll start on Oct 6th since I don't quite remember why, but I wrote a journal all the way back then. At about that point I was shifting projects at work and learning that my house mates planned to move out into a friends house that he'd bought. I'd been growing rather tired of their druggo antics and it'd been wearing on me and the idea of having them move out, leaving me to choose new, cleaner people to live with was making me happy.

Work started to ramp up as things at home got confusing. My house mates delayed telling the landlord of their plans for weeks and so I couldn't look for replacements properly. In the meantime my personal project is suffering as the pressure builds at work, my old computer starts to fail and life gets in the way so I fork out $3,100 for a new beast of a machine.

Then, I come home that day, already a little drunk and find one of their guests has dug into my booze (I'm summarising, asides from being on court orders to not drink, having drink driving and assault charges against him I'd been given assurances he wouldn't drink in my home). So I yell and I point out the breach in trust etc. and I get evicted. No big deal, I wanted to be rid of them anyway. It turns out they had been trying to push my buttons for a while so that they could keep the place but have their alco mate move in, in my place but I was too 'clean' to evict.

So, I start making preparations to move and to find a place. I have a few options, from relatives to friends I can call upon in emergencies and I called upon favours here and there. Soon, while not having a lease or a guaranteed house share I found I would not be homeless at all and I even found a guy at work who was also looking who I liked. At some point my computer arrives but I'm doing around 14 hours a day so I just leave it at work unused thinking, when I have a new place and the pressure is off at work I'll restart all my projects. No big deal. At this point, many would be stressing but I'm mostly feeling good and cruising along. This is helped by the news that my grandmother, who I'm quite close to has won her battle with cancer.

The week before my deadline to move out I find out my Mother has cancer as well. So amidst the pressure of over time and not finding a house in time it all starts to get to me quicker then I thought it might. But I keep things organised and rolling as smoothly as possible and find a friend to help me move so my father can focus on my mother. I move into a relatives house for a weekend then in with the boss. Then I find out my Mothers cancer is early detection and is probably a positive thing and that my job is secure and that I was approved for the best unit I found near work.

By the time I move in, things are re-aligning themselves. My Mum is in good spirits and the surgery required is modest. But I'm doing 14 hour days now and weekends are 'optional'. I break through the last of the tough work with a few grand missing from my bank account thanks to moving expenses, furniture purchases and the like and holidays are rolling in fast. The last few weeks at work are the traditional post crunch most game developers would've experienced with a complete lack of pressure, a little bit of alcoholism and a fair few distractions.

This easy period at work rolls over fairly easily into a relaxed first week of holidays rewatching the series Oz, doing the Christmas thing and meeting a couple of interesting people. Then right on the mid-point a friend asks me if I'll accompany them to ConFest, a large, alternative culture festival, originally started with a focus on sharing, exploring and discussing cultural alternatives to the mainstream. I'd been told, I guess because of my philosophies and way of life a few times that I'd really enjoy it and so I say "sign me up".

Two days later she arrives in a rusty 1982 Ford Laser and we start our trip. One hour out of Melbourne, with a mere 6 hours on the road to go she pulls over cursing the temperature gauge. Steam is billowing from under the hood and after consultation with our friends (who know more about cars then us) we refill the radiator, wait a while and try again. 10 minutes down the road we ring the RACV road-side assistance and they come only to tell us the car is doomed in weather like this and possibly doomed irrespective. So we camp at a caravan park nearby and my friend gets her mother to come out and trade cars with us and attempt to get the older one home at night when its cool.

The next day we arrive after a very smooth, air conditioned trip and realise its probably 40 degrees (105 farenheit) ... a far cry from our southern weather. The location is more beautiful then I thought it would be but the weather is so oppressive that during the day I pretty much just catch up on my reading during the day and only mingle and talk at night after most of the workshops are over which at least gave me time to get used to the atmosphere (something I've been away from for around a decade).

To describe it, its nearly anything goes. People are truly accepting. Not in the sense that it doesn't matter what race or religion you are but it doesn't matter what personality you feel comfortable expressing. For example, we had a middle aged couple in the next camp site from a French colony who I think only brought a tent and half a set of clothes each. True nudists I guess you could say ... and this felt as normal and as pleasant as anything else around us. In fact, when I said I'd been away from this sort of thing for a decade, I guess I meant I'd been away from the tame, conservative spin off.

There wasn't much craziness though. If you're thinking of a place like this along these lines you're completely wrong. That is the beautiful thing about it. Its the complete opposite. It makes you realise how crazy and unnatural everyone is in the city. Not that I was traipsing around in my birthday suit. But I didn't feel uncomfortable or pushy walking up to a group of people in earnest conversation and introducing myself. I didn't feel like an outsider when I wanted to talk about morality or politics. I didn't feel like I should be caged in by bouncers and taxes just because I wanted to have a drink.

Overall it was one of the greatest experiences of my life and gave me a true taste of freedom even if I didn't lap it up as much as I should. And I can't entirely blame the weather for that. I can be a bit shy in social situations and it took me a little while to realise all the reasons I am do not exist in this place, or perhaps anywhere. For anyone outside Australia or even within who's unfamiliar with ConFest, look it up. Its quite an interesting concept for an event, especially the original principles the former Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns started it with.

So now, after getting my hippy on, packing up my tent, going to start the car only to find it won't, sitting next to the car for over an hour just waiting and asking people who walk by for jumper leads and finally wandering home I feel refreshed, happy and more appreciative of what I have and whats around me. But at the same time many of the burdens that have lifted off my shoulders with the freedom I've felt have revealed a few (hopefully final) flaws in the way I've done things so maybe there will be a change in my habits on here. Perhaps not. I'm still figuring things out.

A couple of interesting notes:
-As we drove out of ConFest along the dirt road to the highway, moving at 20km/p/h seemed racy and 100km/p/h seemed surreal. Keeping to a pace of under 4km/p/h for a week I think is something our minds are far more comfortable with.

-NYE was spectacular, but at a cost. As the fire twirling and drumming and count downs went on a massive electric storm, the likes of nothing I, nor the locals have ever seen before enveloped us with rain that hit as hard and heavy as hail. An older man fell into the river at the festival from an aneurysm and was found a couple of days later.

-On the way out, 3 wedge tail eagles, amongst the largest eagles in the world were sitting close to each other on the same branch of a tree looking down the road towards the ConFest site. I don't even think they are social animals and it was an amazing sight to see such majestic animals at all let alone right next to each other.