Mark O’Meara: the blog

My web page is still down and it’s really starting to annoy me. Yes, I am almost certainly the only person who reads it in any given week but it still annoys me.

Whenever I go to a site that is down or has some simple thing wrong with it (what’s with broken graphics?) I am more than happy to rush to judgement.

I am especially harsh about my own sites.

Lesson for the morning - the only thing worse than not being talked about is not being able to read about yourself.

In spite of not thinking that she would go so well Nicky got a promotion she applied for.

This is a Very Good Thing.

She is sitting next to me reading HQ magazine. It has an article about the Harry Potter film. The sorting hat on the official site put me in Slytherin. This sucks but it strikes me as wrong to be sorted again.

Lesson for the trip - other people’s magazines always look terribly exciting.

Last night I wrote the first draft of Ringo, you’re a star. It still needs quite a bit of work.

I polished up Pretty and White and am quite happy with it. I might even play it at the Yak Speakeasy tonight depending on what sort of day I have.

Lesson for this train trip - there are worse things to do on the train than write a blog on my Palm.

I am listening to Better Things by Dar Williams.

I don’t know if it’s the songwriting references that get me but I really like it. The slide guitar also sounds great.

I don’t mind being a crap guitarist most of the time but when I hear things like this I wish I could play them (or better still that I wrote them)

Lesson - tomorrow you’ll find better things

Chords progression C D Am F, Capo on first fret

Pretty and White

I turned on my colour TV
for a dose of reality
I saw what i want to see

they’re
skinny, pretty and white
they’re pretty and they’re skinny and white
everyday and every night
pretty, skinny and white

the also rans might be just fat
from somewhere else or maybe black
soon enough you’ll surely see
the winners aren’t like you and me

they’re
skinny, pretty and white
they’re pretty and they’re skinny and white
everyday and every night
pretty, skinny and white

I dreamed that it happened to me
I was on the colour TV
everything I wanted to be
sure I enough you could see

I was
skinny, pretty and white
I was skinny and pretty and white
everyday and every night
I was skinny and pretty and white

Lesson for the day - you really like all songs you’ve just written.

I saw a headline this morning “One Sheep is Just Like the Others”. I knew it, they all look the same. That’s why Dolly is probably just made up, they all look the same. How would you know? The plural and singular is the same for the damn things - sheep.

the article is about how they might destroy Dolly as part of foot and mouth precautions.

Lesson - There is not always safety in being just like everyone else.

I just found out we missed a Deborah Conway show yesterday afternoon. I had known about it but could not find mention of the Williamstown Festival any place.

I was tired and felt terrible so mistakenly decided that I just had the date wrong.

Damn Damn Damn.

Lesson of the Afternoon - Sometimes things really are on even when you can’t find mention of them on the internet.

Last night after a hard-ish day of messing about in the back yard (damn sleepers are heavy) i trundled down to Geelong to see the Bluehouse play. They were playing at a pub called the National Hotel which I have heard really good things about. It’s a bit like the Builders Arms or the Terminus in Abbotsford but with a band room.

There were not a lot of people there but it was a good show. It was actually the first Bluehouse show I had been to that was not too crowded or (much as I like them) too long. Also I got a seat, you just can’t underestimate the value of getting to sit down for a good show. And no bastard picked a fight with me. You can’t go past that either.

Last night I listened to Kasey Chambers in the car and this morning on the train I listened to EmmyLou Harris and read the words.

Lesson for the day - Country music is about loving too much

This afternoon Indiana and I went to what was ironically entitled the Fun Day at the dog obedience club. First we sat around for 2 hours, the we got rained on then we were judged as being awful.

On the bright side I had a couple of sausages, Indy has some bread and I am now in dry clothes.

Lesson for the day - a wet dog just will not stay (not matter how firmly you tell it)

Last night I had my first try at playing lead guitar in public. Needless to say I probably should have done some preparation for this over the last 30 years.

Alex (who runs the Open Slather night at the Yak) were alternating songs and playing lead on each others songs. Sarah and Lexey would be so proud as they taught me the very little lead stuff I know. Actually they would be proud I tried, the result was pretty awful.

Lesson for the day - Lead guitar is much harder than it looks