An Ode to my Old Shoes

To My Dear Old Shoes,
My Men's Nike Free 5.0s,
I don't remember what year I bought you in, maybe 2005, but I know you weren't used until 2008.
You helped me begin training for my first half-marathon, but were replaced by better runners early on.
But I chose you to come to Australia with me because you are light and not bulky.
You were with me ever step of the way.
We ran in every major city I visited: Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
You came to Tasmania with me and we did the hike down to Wine Glass Bay, where you got wet and turned into Cat-o-ninetails shoes. But you dried quickly and that's why you were my favourite shoes.
You've been to Byron Bay, Bay of Fires, the South and North Island of New Zealand, Kings Canyon, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kuta Tajuta (The Olgas), Darwin, Bali, and Tully! You've worked on a banana farm!
You also got to go to Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos with me. And back to Canada again.
At that point you were still in okay shape and got to come back with me. But then I started running again and you started to look your age. You helped me at the beginning of my training for my second half marathon but alas, once again you were replaced by younger, more supportive shoes. By then you had a hole in only one heel.
Then I started reading meters and things really went downhill.
You've read thousands of water meters too and helped to make me the best water meter reader in Adelaide.
You now have holes in both your heels. And your insoles are wearing thin. Your insoles also got chewed up by a dog when they were left out to dry. You have no more grip on your soles and last week I slipped on a fence and it left a nasty bruise. That's what has made me decide your time has come.
But your time to retire has come. 
You've had a long and full live.

Goodbye.

See the holes?

They kept my feet cool

Full of grass burr thingys

Worn insoles

Tired

No tread left

Summer

Summer's here. It was 30C/86F on Sunday and 36C/97F on Monday and Tuesday.

At last.

Spare Parts

This has been on the news a few times and I really wish it was coming to Adelaide.
What it is is 'spare parts,' i.e. prosthetic limbs, recycled into art.
"

Spare Parts


Tue 9 Nov - Sun 5 Dec 2010


Spare Parts is an exhibition that will bring together a diverse range of artists all using pre-loved prosthetic limbs as their canvas.


As an exhibition Spare Parts will create and promote about 40 individual pieces of art and parallel to this, a positive and open conversation about prosthetics.
All too often prosthetics are considered a taboo subject, and Spare Parts aims to celebrate both their beauty and purpose.
The diversity of artists is a very important component of the exhibition as is their interpretation of each limb. Those involved range from a world class graffiti artist, tattooists, a poet, painters, comic artists, to one of Australia’s most popular up and coming sculptors. Beyond the traditional scope of “what is art” Spare Parts will also include a fashion designer, a milliner, a jeweller and a cobbler.

"
At the moment it only appears to be in Brisbane at the Brisbane Powerhouse. sad face.
Anyways, this exhibition has inspired me to do some artwork, so I now have a few projects on the horizon ;)

Beach Saturday

Tomorrow will be my first 'Beach Saturday' of the summer... that's if the forecast is correct with it's 27C (80F) and sunny prediction.

[ I hope I'm not jinxing it with this blog post. ]

OMG

Today I saw a real, live, wild Koala bear.
It was drinking from a puddle in a parking lot... of a funeral home... in the middle of the suburbs.
I only noticed it because I saw some lady bending down taking pictures with her cellphone and that's when I saw what she was taking pictures of a koala bear.
Needless to say, it made my day.

Two Year Anniversary

Today marks the two year anniversary of my initial entry into Australia on a working holiday visa! (I'm on bridging visa now) Just thought I'd share that with the world. It was also two years and a day ago when Barak Obama was elected US Prez.

In other news Bell Canada finally caught up with me and are cutting off my free cell phone plan... two years and almost two months after I officially retired. My Mom had been using it since I left and she's going to have to start paying for a mobile now, bummer! But with that being said two extra years on the free plan ain't too shabby!

How Far?

Yesterday I worked for under 6 hours and read water meters for over 600 houses. I was moving pretty fast and sort of impressed with myself, so I finally did something I'd wanted to do for a while: map my route and see how far I'd actually walked...
Well.
Shit.
I was quite shocked to see I'd walked roughly 11.8 MILES aka over 19km!
No wonder my feet hurt after work.