World Wide Woozle episode #679

Hello, I'm back again. Hang on whilst I plug my computer into the gas mains because I'm not getting the sound I'm liking.**

But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself

I wrote this bit yesterday, August the 15th. Today is important to me for many reasons that I hadn't realised until this morning. Facebook told me so. Four years ago today I took possession of my current abode. It's small, but it's mine. Prior to living here I had become unexpectedly homeless and will forever be thankful to Bing, Todd and Suzy for putting a roof over my head for a few months. Six years ago today I went to my first coffee catchup with the Veterans' Motorcycle Club. Some of their members looked out for me for a while and I'm still friends with them. Good blokes who care. Twelve years ago on this date was my last day of employment as a teacher. I don't miss it too much but, for almost fifteen years I loved it. Thirty one years ago today was one of the highlights of my relatively unremarkable military career. I was part of the Catafalque Party at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier on VP Day. I remember meeting some WWII veterans that day in between our shifts in the Tomb. One of them cried because he couldn't believe the care we had taken with our uniforms and drill. Years later I would work at the War Memorial and spend hours and hours in the same place. After the last couple of weeks I needed some help regaining my perspective and these few milestones have helped me move towards that.

  
  

Mulligan's Flat - 15 August 2026

Frenzal Rhomb - There's Your Dad - https://youtu.be/L8WgW_ueiFs

Memories of a frozen time beyond

Long time readers and listeners will know of my admiration for the Canberra heavy metal band, Armoured Angel. In my opinion they are one of the greatest bands of that type that Australia has ever produced. Last week, via their FB page, I noted that a couple of demos from their unfinished 1996 album were being released on limited edition 7" record and CD. Well, they did it right and the package deal including those as well as a t-shirt and two patches arrived this week. Keeping in mind that the album was never completed and that these are early recordings from those sessions, I still like them. Well, one song I really like and one might take a bit more time to grow on me. It's interesting to ponder what these tracks might have become. Armoured Angel aren't on any of the official streaming services but you're welcome to come to my place to listen to almost everything they've ever released, as well as a stellar live bootleg. And of course there are unofficial tracks on YouTube, like this one...

Armoured Angel - Armoured Angel - https://youtu.be/A64Q8CPN6rw

Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams

In late 2024 I went to the Mojave Desert with my good mate DUG. Other than being spectacular, and some of the best few days of my life, I was introduced to riding in Jeeps. I'd never been in one and since DUG has two, I've been in both! I could never justify owning one here, especially at the moment when I drive about 30km a week, but they are such fun. So, a while ago I weakened and ordered one, sight unseen, online. It didn't take long to be delivered and I am very happy with it. My only complaint is that it isn't red or silver like DUG's but I guess I'll cope.

The Dresden Dolls - The Jeep Song - https://youtu.be/807hyrQiK5A

But the miles, they never seem to end

The Commonwealth Games are over. With all due respect to Glasgow who stepped in and ran a good event at short notice, the whole thing has become a bit ho-hum. The Comm Games used to be a big deal. Now it's a bit like a glorified training camp where one or two countries win almost everything because the majority of top ranked competitors aren't from the Commonwealth. We could fix it though. Firstly, one city generally isn't big enough or financially able to host a big event. How about we rotate it between countries? I mean, Australia wins a lot of medals so why don't we, as a country, host the whole thing. Our weather is good, we love sport, and taking the whole country into account we have the facilities. Perhaps we could invite former Commonwealth countries to compete in order to bolster the competition. Or, limit how many competitors from one country can be in a final. You don't get a single country getting gold, silver and bronze in the same event at the Olympics do you? How about we go back to treating the Commonwealth Games seriously or, or limit eligibility to emerging athletes, or find our way into stronger competition? Australia somehow manages to compete in Eurovision after all.

John Farnham - Playing to Win (The Acoustic Chapel Sessions) - https://youtu.be/5QOy7d-VWpY

I'm made of metal, my circuits gleam

Not counting my early dalliances with the original Fitbit devices, I've had a smartwatch since 2020. Initially I had a Garmin Instinct and more recently an Amazfit T-Rex 3. Both are fabulous devices that do more than I've ever needed. There's a dark side to them though. The first is relatively obvious and that is that you are always connected, regularly distracted, and never alone. How many times have you been out for coffee, at dinner, in a meeting, or having a conversation when either you or the other person has got a notification on their watch and decided to read and/or deal with it? It's become a constant in our lives and I think it sucks. I can deal with that though. It happened when mobile telephones came into our lives and the behaviours we have all learned aren't going anywhere. There is, however, a bigger problem and that is the potential obsession with the data that smartwatches collect. More than a year ago now, my psych and my dietitian asked me what kind of data was on my wrist. I enthusiastically told them about my resting heart rate, number of steps taken, kilometres ridden and walked, sleep patterns, and calories expended. Both of them advised me to turn these features off, or at least to hide them from being seen every time I looked at the time. You see, I was fixated on the data. Could I train harder and get my resting heart rate under 40bpm? Did I need another quick walk before bed to get my steps to whatever insane goal I had in mind? Had I burned enough calories that day so that everything I'd eaten was negated and I was in a deficit? Are you getting the picture? In the last few weeks I noticed that I was opening the app for my watch and checking all the data again, often, and too much. Funnily enough, what made me realise this was that the watch was digging into my ulnar styloid (the bump in your wrist on the same side as your little finger) and bruising it. Why was my wrist skinnier than usual? And yes, I know the answer to that question and it involves nutrition. Can I ditch the smartwatch altogether and regain some of my sanity as well as my focus? Maybe. For now I'm only wearing it when I go walking, or hopefully cycling, to track those activities. I have loved watches since I got my first Timex as a small child whilst living in Singapore (I still have it, and it works just fine if you wind it up). So I'll go back to wearing some of the cool watches that I have neglected for ages. At the moment I'm rocking a groovy green Casio F91W which Angus got for me in Japan a while ago. Apparently the watch, unlike me, is quite a fashion statement.

Queensrÿche - I Dream In Infrared · https://youtu.be/JJowBTSh90E

And now, I'll do my second set of exercises for the day and then head outside before it rains. 

Keep smiling you legends,

The Woozle

"Would Jesus build a border wall? Would Jesus drive a tank?
Would Jesus own an arsenal? Would Jesus run a bank?
Would Jesus feel safe in his skin if he came to your town?
Would you still believe in Jesus if you found out he was brown?"

Jordan Smart, Who would Jesus bomb?, 2023.

** thank you John Bird.