Some weeks ago I had a discussion with Sandy about blogs, involving the "whats" and "whys" and "will I ever update this thing again?" sorts of questions. We talked about it for a while, and came to the conclusion that any blog worth talking about is one that had a clear purpose - a theme perhaps - and sticks to it.

So what's this then?

I think I had a clear purpose for this, once. It lasted for all of about a day: just write down what you learnt that day. It didn't have to be a detailed write-up (unless I wanted to), but just a note to say that the day wasn't wasted. Yup, lasted a day. And that was a year ago or so. But I've had this blog up for much longer than that, and a website for even longer, since around 1997 infact.

I originally started to tinker around with HTML because you could do cool things with it. Later on, I put it together as a place where I could link to things that I thought were useful or interesting - for personal use rather than to share it with anybody. After that, I'd mirror stuff locally, organised and functional, but again it was for my reference, although I didn't mind if anyone found any of it useful or funny. It was my little piece of the Internet, where I could have the things that I enjoyed. I've always been a hoarder. Then this "blog" thing kicked off, and I figured I needed one of them too. I never really had a purpose or goal to it, but I think I may have found it a place to vent or let off steam about things, or perhaps as some sort of diary. I sometimes cast my eye back over some older stuff and see it as a marker of where I've come from, where I'm going, and how far I've come (a long way it seems - thank goodness. Phew! I had a few issues!), but there's never really been any clear and concise purpose for it that's worth thinking about.

The more I think about it, this blog/website/whatever hasn't ever really been here for the consumption of other people. It's been something here for me, and I just don't mind if other people take a look. Does that make it a "vanity blog"? Probably, but I don't really care.

So what's this then?

I dunno yet. The lack of posts recently could be a number of things. Normally when I'm contemplating something over a period of time, I tend not to write or say anything about it because I'd rather not interrupt the train of thought. Afterwards, I tend to keep those thoughts to myself because, well, I'm done thinking that. So it's not a place for writing down my philosophy - that would take volumes of books. By the standards of my usual friends I've probably been quite "reclusive" lately, but I think I've been out doing more this year than I have for any number of years previous. Why do I really need to sit down and talk about things that I've done when I could be out doing them? So it's not a record of events either, where I can say what I did without attributing any meaning to it. A mix perhaps? Any worthwhile justification of any experience is worthless to share without putting its meaning into proper context, but I feel that this less intimate medium isn't sufficient for the task. I can't pin down any sort of purpose that I'd need this for.

I've had a few pokes and prods recently about putting something up here, but every time I think about it I wonder what's the point of it? Keeping a blog or a website is becoming less and less relevant to me. I've got other goals, different focuses. Life is about the journey, not getting there and writing about it. This just doesn't fit in - it's another piece of baggage that doesn't contribute meaningfully to the journey.

Unless I've really got something to say here, I reckon you'll find this blog left unattended more and more. So if you want to find out what's going on in my world then ask me. We can catch up for coffee or go for a ride or just chill out over a beer or two. I think we'd both get more out of that than me trying to entertainingly write about nothing.

Today was a good day.

I had a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.

I had a massive huge Harvey Beef fillet for lunch (medium rare, HUGE).

I bought a Kawasaki GPX250.

I sold my car.

In that order.

Steve sent out an email the other day about the Freeway Bike Hike, asking if anyone was interested in joining him and a few others. Although I said I'd regret the early morning start on Sunday, I threw my lot in with Steve, Elissa, Anne, Darrell, Jay, Daniel, Luke, David and some other guy from EY. Apparently the total turn out was a record 7011 strong.

30km is further than I've ridden in one hit in a long time. I used to ride the 40km track for the "Walk against want" back in high school, but the short rides into work (4.6km to be exact) doesn't come anywhere near close. I was glad that it was over, but I'd do it again in a second (or maybe after my legs have recovered - maybe Wednesday). The ride itself started at Belmont Park, then went through the Graham Farmer freeway tunnel, then north up the southbound side of the Mitchell freeway all the way to Joondalup.

Highlights included: losing track of the entire group 20 metres from the start (some guy apparently blocked them off by stopping and answering his mobile phone right at the gate); weaving through all the people in the tunnel (top speed 46.3km/h!); racing ahead with Daniel (yeah okay that might have been as much fun for the others); all the downhill bits; overtaking heaps and not being overtaken much at all; the final uphill climb near the end (yes I really did like that bit); and the finish. Daniel and I did it in about 70 minutes (lots of stopping and waiting) - slightly quicker than the category we were in (group C - 75 to 85 minutes), so we were happy about that.

We hung around Joondalup for about an hour, lounging around trying to work up the energy to catch the train back to Perth, spending the time downing bottle after bottle of Mizone (of the flavours we could stomach anyway). After arriving in town we dumped our bikes at my work and then headed into town for some lunch, then made the trek back home on bike. It was the final ride that did me in. I got home and collapsed in front of the fan until I could will myself to get a shower.

I'm so doing it again next year. And maybe ride back home from Joondalup too. If I'm masochistic enough.

I've been told by people who don't read this that I should blog about my haircut.

I got my hair cut 2 weeks ago.

There, happy now?

Nothing major, just trimmed about a foot off, so its nice and short when I tie it up. It's really good for riding, as it doesn't get stuck behind your backpack or stick to your back. And its manageable enough that I can wash it without fuss. I think I'll try to keep it around this length from now on.

Someone else got their hair cut recently: David from work shaved his head for the "Shave for a cure" cancer charity last Friday. I'm not entirely sure if really wanted to do it or not: he made the silly comment that if everyone in our team put in $10 each, he'd do it. We all reached for our wallets without thinking, and he made a sad face at us. Short hair looks good on him though, but I had to do a double-take this morning when he tapped on my shoulder - I barely recognised him! I'm told I'm not the only one...

heh you know what I did yesterday?

I caught the bus all the way home, saw my empty car port and was all like "dang. I drove into work this morning, didn't I?"

so I went back into town to pick it up

but I got to the bus stop and the bus was like 45 minutes away, so I decided "screw that, I'm walking"

got down the road and spied another bus stop down second ave for a different route, and the bus was only like 3 minutes away. caught that instead, so it all worked out.

its about a 45 minute walk if I walk all the way, so its all good

didn't work out so good for the other two girls that had the same idea. they didn't walk so fast, and just got to the corner as the bus was pulling away.

I guess they did some more walking