Today's my birthday. 24 April 1976 was "Day 1" for me, 30 years ago today. Given I'm moving into a whole new decade of life today, I thought it was a good time to sit back and reflect on the last decade of my life. Having said that, I feel I probably should state that;

a.) I don't really judge my life according to physically how old I am. A friend asked me today how I felt about being 30, and I said that I felt like I'd been much older than "30" for a long time now, and what was the definition of "being 30" anyway? So, this concept of "moving into a new decade" could be done any old time, it's just convenient to do today :)

b.) I have a really, REALLY bad memory when it comes to events in my life. That might come as a surprise to some people, because I have an uncanny knack of remembering many things others can't (phone numbers of people I once rang 5 years ago, things in album liner notes, in fact, mostly anything musical). I can't remember however large sections of my life. I remember a day here and there, and some distinct events, but really, nothing that vividly. It really doesn't surprise me that much anymore (such as last night), when someone (Pauly last night) says "Yeah, remember we went to that party and we met those people" and I have no recollection of it at all (and no, I wasn't drinking or partaking in any other substances)

So with that caveat out of the way (thus I might miss some good or bad stuff), here we go...

1996

As a bright eyed 19 year old, I moved out of the Monash Halls of Residence into share housing with 3 friends; Chidgey, Tilley and Morton (we were on a last name basis during this time). I'd had a pretty interesting and full on life to this point (but given we're not reviewing years 1986 - 1996 that will have to wait until another time). I broke up with a girlfriend (Louise) after 10 months or so, and started what was to be an on-again, off-again relationship with Jacqui. I started recording, and recorded my first song. Here's one from that year - my first "Untitled Song" (there would be 51 more untitled songs over the next 10 years, let alone the other 380 or so other ones that actually had names). I had a good year as I settled into finding out a bit more about me, pursuing music and songwriting a bit more with the aid of some tools. I really learnt about living with people, and different personalities to mine. We threw some great parties in that house. I learnt a lot about music from Tilley, and watched a lot of Red Dwarf and Prisoner.

1997

A year that would see me live in 3 locations in a 12 month period. I moved out of Box Hill into a house in Chadstone with my girlfried (Jacqui) and 2 friends; Stocky and MacGregor. One of MacGregor's high school friends moved into the garage for "a little while"; and thus I met Sean. Sean almost killed himself the 4th or 5th day after he moved in while we were cleaning the MASSIVE spa out the back. That house was awesome. I bought my 4th guitar, my pride and joy, my 1991 Gibson Les Paul Standard (probably the best thing I've ever bought). I threw a ripper of a 21st party, fancy dress, which Steph (at that time the partner of one of my friends) still holds against me to this day. I bought the Suzuki (which I'm still driving) - one of my few purchasing regrets (I feel I paid too much for it). We had a "guitar room" which housed something like 9 guitars. I played a lot this year, at this house in Chadstone, but more so when I moved out of there (after breaking up with Jacqui for the first of a few times) into Richmond with Cam (another friend of Sean / MacGregor) and Louise (my ex). The place didn't work out (I was there for a while - maybe 4 months?), but boy, did I write and record A LOT of music during that time. Cam was an amazing guitar player who really pushed me to improve my technique and playing. Living with an ex wasn't a good idea, especially when I got back together with Jacqui (for the first of a few times, again). I started my first business with a friend (Steph's partner actually), developing a web based education tool. I picked up some contracting jobs. I also spent a bunch of time drinking and playing pool. Some of the best times I had were walking down to the Terminus with Chidgey (living in East Melbourne at the time) to hustle some pool. I fucked myself up a few times - one scar from a particular drunken fall still shows on my hand (very faintly now). I met Pauly. I moved out at the end of the year and into another which I was sure wasn't going to end in tears - this time with some of "the crew" from Uni; Hairnet, Skogg and Tim. I got my first permanent job and started to learn some more about responsibility (but not too much).

1998

21 and on the way up. I lived with Hairnet, Skogg and Tim in Clayton until a place became available with Chidgey and Pauly in East Melbourne. It was only a few months, but they were some of the best months of my life. It was across the summer, and our house was somewhere fun to be. And we got it on tape :) It was hanging out with friends, playing cricket in the front yard, drinking plenty. There were plenty of people hanging around, we started to shoot a movie, I wrote and recorded a little, but was more focussed on the job and getting a handle on that. I flew for the first time this year (went to Sydney for a few weeks for work) and was shitscared - I hated flying. I had a relationship with a beautiful but dumb as doorbells girl - I didn't enjoy it much :) I met Dave. I moved back into the city with Chidgey and Paul. I said thanks and goodbye to the guys at Clayton, with a few pangs of hesitation, but it was the right time to settle, and I felt I could with Chidgey and Paul. Was a good plan - we stayed living together for another couple of years. I got back together twice more and with Jacqui and then we broke up for good this year. I took on more responsibility at work and liked it, a lot. I played a lot of cards, a lot of guitar in the new place and watched a lot of classic movies and Hong Kong action movies. The Prince Patrick was our local pub, and Video Busters in Smith Street saw a lot of us. Our lease came up and we moved to Collingwood, after much searching. We suffered through the gas crisis.

1999

Life in Collingwood was really settled with Chidgey and Paul. I lived there 12 months with the guys. Both Chidgey and Paul went through a couple of girlfriends while I happily remained solo for a while. I cranked out a bunch of songs and bought myself an 8 track (a big step up from the 4 track). I spent a lot of Friday nights with Sean down at the Tote, playing pool again. Wijojo was born. I was pretty senior at Wijojo (and only 23) and loving it. Steph propositioned me and I accepted her irrefutable offer. She was living in Albert Park at the time (in a tiny one bedroom flat). I'd go round and visit her on the weekends, and during the week for dinner. I'd make her really shit dinner at Collingwood (not intentionally, I was just a boy with no clues). When the lease was up at Collingwood, I made a big decision to move out on my own. I really wanted my own space for a little bit, so I rented a (pretty expensive but really great) 2 bedroom place in East Melbourne. I bought my 5150 amp. I read a lot. Life was good. I learnt a lot about myself, and did a lot of time thinking about the type of person I was and what I wanted to be. We lived through the Y2K hype.

2000

On a whim (seriously), I thought it was about time to buy a house. I did very little research and basically came up with the idea that buying somewhere close to work would be a good idea. After some looking (I think 2 weeks or so), in the middle of the year I bought Janet St, Blackburn. I remember distinctly a friend at work telling me I was crazy to take out a loan for $240K as a 24 year old. Second only to the Les Paul, Janet St has to be my best (and certainly luckiest) purchase. It was just before the "boom". Steph and I moved in together. I proposed, she said yes. It was all good. Everything was going really, really well, or so I thought. Little did I know that I was going to be in for a shock.

2001

2001 was a massive year, primarily for 2 reasons; I bought into Wijojo and Steph and I hit a rocky patch. First, Wijojo. In the middle of the year, the sole owner of Wijojo put a proposition to myself (currently the CTO) and Andrew (the GM). We could take Wijojo off his hands if we so desired - he had some personal reasons for selling. After some careful consideration (this came completely out of the blue), and discussion with Andrew, we took him up on the offer and became joint major shareholders. Wijojo at this time was probably about 25 people or so. We paid fortnightly and had to cover around $35K with each pay run. It was a huge responsibility - suddenly I was resposible for people's salaries; their mortgage payments; and these were not just people - they were my friends, the people I had worked with for years. Thus, I think something inside shifted me from 2nd gear to 5th with responsibility and a work focus. I was 25. It was incredible having this vehicle to do the things I really wanted to do with the business, but with it came a great stress. More on that later. Steph and I had some real problems this year. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say, it was some of the darkest and hardest parts of my life. I recall breaking down in tears on the top of Wijojo one night to Andrew, and we had to move the wedding back (it was planned for '01). It took (what seemed like an eternity) some time, but we worked through it. 2001 was a tiring year all round. I played music to escape some of the harsh reality, and wrote some of my favourite / best tracks during this time. The real blessing in my life in 2001 was Huckle. Steph convinced me, after our troubles had subsided that we should get a cat. I was not a huge fan of cats, but we went down to the RSPCA and took home Huckle (who they thought was probably about 5 years at the time). Huckle has been an incredible part of my life since then. He has helped me in so many ways (you probably don't get it unless you're a cat person).

2002

A much better year followed in 2002. After tinkering with 4 tracks, 8 tracks and digital recording for years, I joined a band at the start of the year, as an outlet. I was so consumed with Wijojo, I needed something non-work. It was a really special thing. I remember vividly Dave calling me, asking me to go to an audition for 2 guitarists with on that weekend. We had been jamming for a few months on various tunes and riffs. We went down to the rehearsal studios, met these really young guys (we both looked quite old) unpacked, and started to play. It was all going OK. Not great, just OK. The drummer, singer and bass player went to take a break, and Dave and I stayed. Dave said to me, "We need to come up with something now". We wrote this song (a very rough demo) on the spot. As a band we wrote another 8 or 9 songs, some really good stuff as well. We practiced every Sunday for months (almost a whole year). We played one live show, which went really well. The band then imploded, based on personalities (mainly friction between myself, Dave and the drummer). To give you an idea, we never came up with a name for the band in the 10 - 12 months we existed. The real highlight of the year though was on November 15th. Steph and I got married. It was spectacular - such a great day and night. I had no nerves whatsoever - it felt really right. And we had such a wonderful honeymoon in the daintree. I still hated flying.

2003

Another year of the massively good and massively bad. We'll start this time with the massively bad. After a couple of years of success, Wijojo underwent a series of unfortunate circumstances, which saw us downsize in a big way in a short amount of time. It was really hard, and the first time in a long time that I felt a real sense of defeat. I was involved with all the retrenchments - delivering news like that sucks a lot - I hope never to do it again. Hard decisions had to be made; we could keep going with a skeleton crew (5 to 8 people), or get out with no-one worse off than when they started. Thus, we started the process of a wind-down. That experience taught me an incredible amount; at times soul destroying. A stroke of luck though in that we were able to land an acquisition from another company; Hyro. As part of the aqcuisition I was required to stay with Hyro for 12 months during the transition. Thus began my 13 month career at Hyro (beginning July 2003 and finishing September 2004). So with the bad came the unpredicably awesome. I won JJJ's Hottest 100 at the start of the year, comprising a trip for 2 to the USA. I quickly worked through my hate of flying (with the prospect of a 16 hour flight ahead of me). The trip to the states was a great thing - it brought Steph and I closer together and taught us both a degree of tolerance, living out of each other's pockets 24 hours a day for 4 weeks. And it sparked a curiosity for travel in me that had lay dormant (or possibly ignored)

2004

Hyro filled my work life until September. And as a result I used my time at Hyro to really think about what I wanted to do next. It certainly wasn't Hyro. Whilst I had an "easy" job at Hyro - same salary, waaay less responsibility, it was slowly killing me (not physically, mentally). So I took on more responsibility for the same pay (woo hoo), only to find that didn't do the trick either. I needed to work somewhere that I believed in. So I set my sights on a company I'd spoken to back in 2003; SDM. We managed to find an opportunity together, and thus I've been there since September 13, 2004. Whilst at Hyro, I managed to avoid work for 6 weeks by having a European jaunt. We were planning to have kids, but the travel bug had bitten me hard from the year before, and I had to get it out of my system. It was one of the best decisions we made I think - going to Europe was wonderful. I kicked myself for not doing it earlier, but then realised that if we had've done it earlier, it would've been a different trip, and maybe not as good. In terms of music, I worked on what I think has been my best (and one of the most interesting) collaborative efforts - "War" with Greg van Bergen (GVB). An instrumental album that really painted a soundscape, it was a lot of fun and something I'm really proud of.

2005

2005 was about settling. We got another cat (Button) - a friend for Huckle to settle down with. We kicked the year off with Steph's 30th party - a great night (it had been a while since we'd had a big party - the last being the wedding in 2002). It was a 70's theme, and it came together really well. After that, I really got stuck into work with SDM. We kicked some serious goals at work. We fell pregnant in March and took our final overseas trip (for a little while at least) across to New Zealand for a week. You can read more about 2005 here. The highlight of 2005 was December 26th, when Aurora joined our lives. That was incredible

2006

And 2006, well, that's the here and now. No doubt you know what's going on if you've been reading the blog :) So what's in store for the next decade? That sounds like another blog entry... this one is far too long already... hope you've enjoyed it!