I know that my musical bones are aching to stretch themselves. A few weeks ago I went to my cousin Matt’s place in Oratia Valley, Auckland to celebrate our wives’ birthdays. His wife Catherine, and my wife Kate, share April 7th, just a ‘few’ years apart, and just so I don’t forget, it is also Tax Filing day in New Zealand !! Anyway, Matt is a gifted musician who is guitarist and singer in 3 bands (as well as a PhD in Biochemistry) but his main band is called   Leonard, and to celebrate and as a surprise (pleasant I hope) we sang a duet for my wife, a Beatles’ number, “I Saw Her Standing There” . Matt on his lead guitar, the guy on the bass, who looked for all the world like Elvis Costello, another mate also called Matt on the second lead, and the drummer who looked like the actor Colin Farrell. I felt like I was in a celebrity band ). Anyway we belted out this song, and apparently it sounded all right – too loud to tell probably, but it felt good, and I really envied the ‘boys’, well they’re in their early 30s, so old boys, but a lot younger than yours truly. I really wanted to hold one of those guitars and make the music while I sang the song. What a creative rush it must be. When you get up and sing and strum, something liberating happens – it’s good for the soul !!

 I’m not alone in this urge – there is a huge move to ukeleles and guitars as people rediscover the fun of making their own fun, instead of watching others entertain them. This weekend is New Zealand Music Month Guitar Record Challenge, and there will be somewhere around 2000 people with their guitars, singing a Kiwi classic by Jordan Luck, called “Why Does Love Do This To Me”. Check out this video, check out the Kiwi accents ), check out the Harmony. One player is a pro, one is a beginner, spot the difference, although this beginner is also a rising tennis star. Enjoy )

PS Next time I’ll be trying out this Guitar course – subscribe to my blog and see me make a very cheap music video ), and other stuff.

Auckland War Memorial Museum and Cenotaph

Anzac Day on April 25 th, is a national day of Remembrance in New Zealand and Australia, for the Dead of all wars that our countries have participated in. The word Anzac comes from Australia and New Zealand Army Corps and came into parlance after the Allied invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. Casualties were enormous on all sides, and the invasion ended in failure and withdrawal after 8 months. The tragic experience of our troops under Imperial command, was the beginning of the sense of Nationhood and separation from the Colonial mentality of  Great Britain, the King and Empire of the WW1 era.

When you travel around New Zealand and Australia, it seems every town has a memorial for the dead of both World Wars. The losses from WW1 especially were heavy. It is poignant to see the names, often of more than one from the same family, and to reflect on the price they paid.

My grandfathers were at the right age for WW1.  Thomas Edwin Olds was badly wounded at the Somme, but survived to a full life as The Reverend Thomas Olds, married to Daisy Calvert, with two daughters, Kathleen (my mother) and Margaret, and one son, David Leonard. John Thompson Kelly, an apothecary’s assistant in England before the war, served in ‘ The Forgotten Army of  Salonika’ , survived to marry Florence Emily Riddell, and emigrated to New Zealand to become a dairy farmer in the King Country of the North Island (so-called because of the Maori King movement of the 1850s). They had two sons, John Riddell (my father) and James Alexander and a daughter, Barbara.

This next generation were just at the right age for service in WW2. When once I asked my father, a farm boy, why he volunteered in 1942 at the age of 20 yrs, he said they were worried they’d miss the chance to travel, and the war would be over before they got there. In 1945, at age 23 yrs, I’m sure he felt differently. He had served as Artillery Gunner in the Pacific, landing on the Treasury Islands in the Solomon Group, and then later in Italy, witnessing the end of the war in Trieste, even caught a jeep ride with a Soviet major on a little excursion outside Trieste. Fortunately for me, he came home in one piece. His brother Alex served in the Royal New Zealand Navy as a signaller first on HMNZS Kaiwaka, a coastal minesweeper, then transferred to the Aircraft Carrier HMS Patroller, which was in commissioning trials in the North Irish sea. His majesty no longer needed him after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

My mother Kathleen saw her elder brother David go off to train as a fighter pilot in the US, he served in the Fleet Air Arm, saw action over the Normandy landings, came back to England as an instructor, married his beautiful Greek fiance and 3 weeks later was killed when his plane crashed into the sea on a student training flight. Sub-Lieutenant David Leonard Olds, Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve, died 21 August 1944, aged 23 years. Buried at St Bartholomews Churchyard Yeovilton in England.

 What motivates people on both sides of a conflict, to sacrifice their lives and liberty?  In WW1 it was Empire and Honour. In WW2 it was the threat of Naziism and Fascism. The Cold War was about Communism. The War on Terror is about religious extremism. The cost is not just the actual destruction of life and property, but the aftermath of families and communities destroyed, the absence of lives not lived, the agonies of lifelong physical and mental damage. 

Is war necessary for human civilisation to progress? I don’t believe so. To quote Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe in WW2, 34th president of the USA      “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” To quote Jimi Hendrix,  rockstar guitarist      “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” And finally Bhudda      “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” Jesus “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. “   Muhammad “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first”  

Peace, out  )

How do you feel ?

While the The Kaizen Way is normally associated with Big Business like Toyota or Canon and evolved from the postwar rebuild of Japan, it can be applied by anybody, to any process or product. It doesn’t mean revolutionary change, but more sustainable, gradual improvement in ‘baby step’ fashion, and it needs less time out of your day. By implementing simple small steps, you avoid  fear and stress, which tend to lead to procrastination, blocking success and the achievement of desired goals. The other benefit is that it implies that we can never attain complete perfection, that there is always room to improve, and reflects the dynamic nature of  time and tide, which waits for no-one )

For example, I noticed while reading another blog, that the author was replying to comments with a bracketed answer below the comment, thus avoiding a separate post. I would rather my blog sidebar just references the comments from visitors, without my answers. I can do this from my control panel. This saves space and streamlines the post. Perhaps an associated small improvement would be to notify the commenter by email when I answer the comment, which gives a good reason to revisit my site and look around again, perhaps subscribe if not already, and make my visitor feel more valued.

This thought process involves me looking at what’s around in a positive way, giving credit to fellow ‘netizens’ where it is due, and allowing me to have small successes on the way to a profitable online presence. I opted-in to this big name blogger, and on his confirmation page he had shrunk all the whitelist stuff to a small box with links, and then a video popped up which built more recognition in my mind – I noticed that it didn’t stream that well because my wireless broadband is a bit patchy, but it is an upgrade for the future. Then I thought how about a little audio file, which makes me more real to my visitor, would be an improvement …… and probably download more easily.

Anyway Dear Reader, I felt this was an important subject to enlarge on, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Tall Batting Order

This morning, I clicked on a couple of links from my inbox email.  They were from names I know, they weren’t any of the daily Launch Fever Offers. I was taken to a couple of sales page videos, I checked how long each video  would take to watch, because now I begrudge 10 minutes if I’m not in the mood. I looked at a couple of how-to videos and I started to feel anxious,  none of it seemed to make sense. I felt very out-of-my-depth and hopeless. I looked at a couple of other Masterclass blogs, so professional and promotional. Everyone in my inbox was trying to sell me something or give me something, so that they can sell me something later. I walked out of my garage office into the sunshine and cut some bunches of grapes from my pet vine, said hello to Tintin (the dog) and went inside to make a coffee.

New Zealand was playing India in the second day of the first cricket test ( a game that can last for 5 days FYI – if you are American). I watched a few overs on Sky TV and began to feel better. Successful batsmen bide their time, they wait for the right ball to hit, they accumulate runs over a period of time. They know there is always another ball to score from. I realised later on that I had actually suffered a panic attack – so much rides on the success of my online business that I am getting stressed about it.

This is about staying focussed on my game plan. I am in the Thornhill Masterclass for 36 weeks, to learn how to create my own product, and market it online. I will learn what I need to know when the time is right, when I’m ready, just as a batsman waits for the balls he can hit, and lets the rest go. There is no need to worry about the runs that others are getting on the board, because there will always be another game, another day.

I was relieved to see an email from John Thornhill to Masterclass students, letting us know that we need to be wary of getting side-tracked into other products or programmes, even though they could be very good, simply because of the overload factor. I need to keep writing to my blog, it is the one part of the internet that I can control, where I am creating content in the only way I know so far.  I let my little light shine, as the song goes. This week we are in the process of brainstorming topics from which we will choose the niche(s) we are most suited to. Now I feel better.

I am Sachin Tendulkar (the little Master) at the crease, Mike Filsaime is the bowler, no worries mate !

I have been a photography enthusiast from the days I had a Box Brownie at eleven (1961). I can remember processing rolls of film into negatives and developing my own prints in the Auckland Grammar photography club darkroom as a third-former. Strictly black and white. Rescuing old negatives from boxes in the family garage and bringing those images to life, and later, when I went to Massey University (1969) with Dad’s old Minolta 35 mm to have and to hold. In those days it was always black and white photos because colour film and developing was too expensive on a student budget. I had to learn how to use the light, because I didn’t have a flash or colour. I had to learn how the different settings for shutter speed and aperture affected my results depending on the available light, movement of the subject, how close or far away the subject and the depth of field involved in my composition. And all without batteries !  Now there was an advantage ) So I became that annoying guy who snaps his mates all the time, although years later they were grateful !

After university and finally earning decent, steady money I could take advantage of technology advances with cameras, even so at first I stuck with the old Minolta, but got a little box film 35mm camera with a flash so I could be an incognito impromptu photojourno. I didn’t graduate to a honking 35mm SLR (single lens reflex) with a honking telephoto until dashing through duty-free at Sydney airport  in 1975, I bought a Yashica, and nearly missed the plane!  The big lens didn’t focus that well, but fortunately  it was stolen in a burglary a few years later (by a real burglar !). With the insurance I was able to upgrade to a tophole Minolta 7000 and later when that fell in the Avon River with me ( accidentally !) I upgraded to the new Minolta 700si (1995) still got it – well, not the same one, as you guessed it, burgled in about 2000 and bought a low km second hand 700si ( I think my insurance company got sick of replacing me). I still have this great camera, but succumbed to the convenience and economy of digital cameras in about 2004. Have had a Nikon Coolpix 200 compact (lens trouble), Canon Powershot A550 compact(problems with battery compartment lid) , and one year ago a FujiFinepix S8000fd SLR (mode selection knob just broke off last week). The compact cameras have been great for the kids and as easy family snap machines, saved heaps on prints (look at them on computer) and they are great value for money until they break. To get quality SLR digital I think you have to spend good money, have plenty of spare batteries (preferably rechargeable) and 1gb plus memory cards to hold lots of rich shots.

I hope you’re still here after my trip down memory lane. Cameras are like cars, and pop songs, they evoke nostalgia bigtime. This is my longest post so far. I want to post a few photos but can’t find the widget in Wordpress. Upcoming photo posts will be more about tips and tricks, technical and artistic, and on to the challenges of protecting your pictorial heritage. So please feel free to opt-in for updates to my blog.

ciao JJ

PS I’d love to hear your photo stories.

My next musical phase was many years later, after graduating from University in 1973. Like most under-graduates I had managed to afford to buy a stereo turntable to play my LPs on, and had favourite artists to sing badly and drunkenly to. Some of my favourite tracks were the Guitar Anthems like ‘Stairway To heaven’ by Led Zeppelin , or ‘While my guitar gently weeps’ by George Harrison. Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix were the buzz. At one stage, between failed love affairs, I bought a classical guitar so I could learn to play and console myself, and perhaps attract the next lucky woman ) . This time I bought a book, practiced, got my fingertips hardened a bit, learned to strum and play a few chords, even worked on a picking style but it didn’t do anything for the fairer sex, so I dropped off again.  Strike 2  My little cousin David, now 6ft plus, used to muck about with the guitar and he went on to become an accomplished guitarist and singer, so I’ll take some credit for providing the spark ) I sold the guitar.

Fast forward to 1988. I got married without the help of any guitar. Sometime after the honeymoon, I bought another guitar (with a hard case) and this time I took some lessons from a real live teacher. But trundling over at night to a little room in a community hall, after a late night clinic, and sharing the tutor’s time with some young kids who were better at it, soon palled. And it wasn’t really in the budget to pay for private lessons, after nappies and car seats.  The hard case came in handy because I could put stuff on top. strike 3 I didn’t sell the guitar though.

Will I ever learn to play the guitar and express myself as an artist?  see verse 2.

If you’re any age and have a family and a mortgage, have put in consistent daily work for many years, then you know how the promise of  making consistent money off the internet is so attractive, especially when it can be so flexible and passive. With the publishing of this blog I hope I am on a stepping stone of the path to Rehab, where internet marketing success will give back money and time, and hopefully help others to find a path.

Leave your comments in the rehab-story collection box at the door )

Thankyou for looking in ) Honestly, why are you reading my blog? Great if you are – I’ve got a story and this gives me a voice. My family has heard it all, time to reach a wider audience. Are you interested in a relationship? Are you into the same stuff I am? Are you looking for ways to make money on the Internet? Looking for ways to get more enjoyment out of life? Are you into dog training, sailing, rugby and cricket, forex trading, options trading, stock trading, homeschooling, speed-reading, photography and photoshop, computers and the internet, communicating with your teenage daughters, online games for entertainment, music and movies, your first grandchild and marriage and relationships, animals and all their amazing ways, veterinarians and their interesting jobs, alzheimers and the onset of old age, baby-boomers and what they’re buying this year, tinnitus and diabetes, inguinal hernia non-surgical repair, health and fitness, vitamin supplements, learning to play the guitar, bicycles and camping, outdoor living and tents, cars and fuel economy, boats and how to tow them, houses and how to get a better one, diets and good food, cooking and fun with your spouse, sex and sensuality, harmony in the family and old friends and social networks, travel and clothing, money and how to make it, how to retire, how to be useful, passwords and how to remember them all, psychology and life enhancement, giving back to people, how to kill fleas and a host of other things, then you may just find me on Google. or try me at Facebook or Twitter . Have a great day

ciao jj