jamesobrien

Member since October 12, 2008

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Recent Activity

Summer Is Here
If you thought last weekend was a blip, weather-wise, in Sydney, think again.
As I wandered around the city late this afternoon everyone was wearing shorts, and there were quite a few men walking around shirtless.
Even last night, as I wandered home from a couple of drinks with Graeme, at about eight o’clock, the streets were [...]
Collected 3 days ago from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Best Swedish Christmas Song Ever?
Swedish class was a lot of fun tonight.
It’s two weeks since I’ve been due to holidays and just not feeling like it last week, but things still went okay.
I was anxious about the class due to the homework which was an exercise involving reflexive pronouns and reflexive verbs. My goodness, I didn’t know what they [...]
Collected Nov 17, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, jul, magnus carlsson, sweden
East Side Stories
It’s Wednesday, so of course I went to the pub.
However, I’ve also spent a fair bit of the day and night listening to the new CD by Peter Jöback, “East Side Stories”.
Wow. What an amazing CD.
A few years ago he did a CD of cover versions, but they were mostly jazz and show tune “standards”.
This [...]
Collected Nov 12, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Rainy Sunday
It rained again today in Sydney.
Rain is something we don’t cope with all that well, as it usually happens so infrequently.
But when it rains, it rains heavily.
So despite the stereotypes about Melbourne’s appalling weather, Sydney’s annual average rainfall is almost twice that of Melbourne. In Melbourne they have a lot of rain regularly – okay, [...]
Collected Oct 25, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, art, sydney
Simple Swedish
Thanks to Sandra in Sweden for locating this…

…it’s funny because it’s true.
Posted in journal Tagged: sweden
Collected Oct 12, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, sweden
On The Radio with James Valentine
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Collected Oct 2, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Paringa Dust Storm
With all of this interest in dust-storms today, and in particular, how bad it’s been in Broken Hill, I’m reminded of the only time I’ve ever been through a dust storm, while living in South Australia.
This photograph was taken from my front door while living in Paringa, on the outskirts of Renmark. At the [...]
Collected Sep 22, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, paringa, renmark
Manic Monday
You just know it’s not going to be a normal Monday when you walk in to your workplace and there are two blokes trying to beat and set a new record for the world’s longest handshake.
And you definitely know it’s not going to be a normal Monday when minutes later you see Hulk Hogan walk [...]
Collected Sep 21, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, handshake, world handshake record, world's longest handshake
Chumby Snores
Can’t sleep? Here’s a radio station that will help…

Posted in journal
Collected Sep 9, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Swedish Lesson
For the first half of tonight’s Swedish class I felt like a complete knob.
I missed class last week because “jag var sjuk och trott” (sick and tired) and haven’t really done much since, except listen to Swedish pop (which I do daily).
The only real preparation I had done was translate into English the lyrics for [...]
Collected Sep 8, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, sweden
80’s German Pop
I was watching televsion just a moment ago. Fox News, actually. And they played out to the commercial break with a track I’d almost forgotten.
It was called “Major Tom” by a German singer, Peter Schilling. Odd, since it was a favourite of mine when it was released about twenty five years ago.
So, [...]
Collected Sep 6, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, music
Four Songs from Frida in Swedish
After tonight’s Swedish class, I’ve been having a bit of a Swedish pop night on Youtube, so I thought I’d share with you three clips from Frida from ABBA’s solo career. Unless you’re a dedicated fan, you’ll probably have no idea about they exist…
1967 – Frida – En Ledig Dag. She won a national [...]
Collected Aug 25, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Longing for Lullabies
One of my favourite songs from Swedish performers from the last twelve months seems to have been given a broader release.
This was the original Swedish release..

Here’s an acoustic version from Swedish tv…

And this is the new worldwide video release…

It’s a great song and I hope it has a successful international release.
The producer responsible for the [...]
Collected Aug 11, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, sweden
Knitting Day
It was another long day at work.
Again, I woke at a stupidly absurd hour, though it was all for a good cause with our annual “Knit In”.
It’s really quite a wonderful event to be involved in, especially as the blankets made go towards people in absolute need.
Chatting to one of our “interns” who was quite [...]
Collected Aug 9, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
On The Radio
Posted in journal
Collected Jul 24, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Should I write or call your home, shout it out with a megaphone?
When you’ve been given a megaphone to look after for the night, do you have any idea how tempting it is to misuse it?
It all started at about 6.30 tonight as I was about to leave work. It had been a reasonably busy and exhausting day and I guess I was feeling a little playful.
And [...]
Collected Jul 17, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
My Homies
I’m the first to admit there was a slight sense of trepidation in our steps as we walked up the stairs of the venue of Cleveland Street offering Dance Classes.
Minutes earlier a colleague had told me she had gone to dance classes twenty years earlier, and often overcome with nervousness, never made it into the [...]
Collected Jun 29, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Vi skar dansar
Feeling a bit grumpy as it’s only Tuesday? Hopefully this will brighten your life a little…

Posted in journal Tagged: Funny, sweden, Video
Collected Jun 15, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, funny, sweden, video
Pure Joy
You’re feeling a bit grumpy about going back to work after a long weekend?
Here’s some pure joy…

Posted in journal
Collected Jun 8, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal
Loud Headphones
“Oh God, what have I been listening to?” was my response when I realised on the bus tonight the headphone plug on my phone was loose, and that I had been giving everyone else a taste of my musical collection.
It was then I realised I’d been on a Magnus Carlsson “fest”.
Magnus is a Swedish pop [...]
Collected Jun 5, 2009 from jamesobrien.id.au via blog import
tagged journal, magnus carlsson, sweden
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