TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Saturday, January 1, 2005

11:50 AM
Posted by jodi rose

good morning, welcome to 2005.
let's hope the new year brings relief to all from whatever human drama and suffering is weighing on you.
hepzibah menuhdin says: freedom is choosing your burden.
indeed.
am very aware of the extraordinary level of privilege and choice I have in life - not financially right now, but in all other ways especially the freedom to follow my crazy dreams wherever they may lead.
general resolve to make the most of the choices I have, use that privilege wisely and with integrity, and not accept anyone else's values or ideals or view of life unthinkingly. To no longer walk in shoes that don't fit me. Physically or metaphorically. find my own way. (damn that sounds like a sportsgirl ad. oh well.)
You can't beat starting the new year with dancing.
I was determined to go to this free warehouse party www.freenye.com and it was fantastic. We only had instructions to meet at the Gladstone Hotel in Regent St, got there about 11 and people had just started streaming into the abandoned nightclub across the rd (ex blackmarket/hellfire and dayclub). It's totally burnt out and 'chat' as the boys say (disgusting) from the outside, but inside was a cornucopia of dance floors, dj's set up behind disused bars, minimal yet effective decorations, defunkt pokie machines (they became the smoking room) and people walking around with expressions of absolute glee. Everyone was really friendly, made way for each other to get past, stood aside, said please and thank you (unusual nightclub behaviour I find it's mostly all elbows) - Lisa said that's because they're hippies on drugs, but she's way too cynical - and it was a great cross section of people from those who did look hippyish, to funky twentysomethings, boys lookin' flash, lots of too cool for school 80's retro and asymmetrical hair, some freaky dudes with huge eyelash makeup and goth/punk style, even older people than us just having a good time, dancin. It was so much fun, like being the famous five (times a hundred) on an adventure in an old quarry or something. That thrill of the illicit, possible danger (the place was a firetrap and the floor felt a bit shaky) and camaraderie of sharing this crazy experience. The cops came early, but due to the organisers being very onto it and finding some charity loophole, agreed to let the party continue. they just had to keep people off the street - so herded anyone needing fresh air across the rd back into the pub, which was the chillout zone with beer - unlike the decrepit bar inside serving mangrove mountain organic spring water, coca cola and liquid herbal e (only $1)
It was like sydney in the old days, when people lived in squats in darlinghurst and crazy stuff was happening all over the city. When it was still a place where people lived, in the 80's, before it turned into the international cosmopolitan playground for the rich and beautiful. But that happens all over the world I guess, anyone been to Lithuania or Slovakia lately? The whole world is a playground for people with money and mobility, for everyone else it's the drama of survival and struggle.
Except for those few who can make it a nomadic pilgrimage or adventure story on their own terms, in their own way, creating subcultures and extended urban tribal families along the journey.
Things that excite me the most right now - getting the CD finished and out there. Creating networks and possibilities for new projects, ideas and collaborations with fantastic people all over the world, from Darlington to Hackney to Helsinki.