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Archived Posts

Morrissey — Years of Refusal

January 31st, 2009 by The Lost Boy

Oh my goodness. There aren't many things I get this excited about. I don't make a song and dance about it, but I'm a huge Morrissey fan. The new Morrissey album is slated for release in February. I enjoyed Morrissey's last album Ringleader of the Tormentors, although I don't think it was a patch on You Are the Quarry.

Years of Refusal will be Morrissey's ninth solo album. I have no idea what to expect from Mozzer with this one, but he has described it as being his best work. The critics have been equally positive about the album. Buy it in stores on February 9.

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Archived Posts

Our house in Dili

January 31st, 2009 by The Lost Boy

When I was away in December, one question that kept cropping up was what kind of accommodation I live in. People were surprised to hear that I don’t live in a treehouse, although living in a treehouse would be marvelous.

My house in Dili just a normal house. I say “my house”, but I don’t own it – I just stay there. The house is huge considering only two people live in it, which was unsettling at first but I’m slowly getting used to it. We live about five kilometers from the center of town, which means I can no longer walk everywhere, but I plan to invest in a bicycle this weekend, so all should be well.

I’m going to take you on a virtual tour of my house. I can’t promise it will be exciting, but it may be of interest to some people. This house costs $800 a month to rent, which is very expensive when you consider where I am.

My bedroom in Dili

First up, this is my bedroom. There are four bedrooms in this house. Nobody sleeps in two of them, although there's a new girl moving in soon. As you can see, I have a bed and also a window. I don’t need much else. I haven’t invested much time in tidying up since I’ve been back, but rest assured that I know where everything is.

Our kitchen in Dili

This is the kitchen. None of the stuff you see is mine, except for two packets of instant noodles and two packets of biscuits. This is actually rather a decent kitchen and we even have a microwave. I don’t plan on ever cooking anything in the kitchen, but it’s good to know that it’s there.

Our laundry room in Dili

Onto the laundry room where, as you may notice, I recently did some laundry. There’s also a large bag of dog food in the corner – more on that later.

The second bathroom in our Dili house

This is the second bathroom, which has a hot shower. I was never able to get used to cold showers, so I’m happy to have hot water as and when I need it. There is another bathroom that connects to the master bedroom.

Our dining room in Dili

This is what I call the dining room. It has a large table in the middle, perfect for dining, although I've only dined at the table once.

The living room in our Dili house

Here is the living room. On this particular day I took it over with my books, papers, computer, T-shirt and a plate of bananas. We have a TV and DVD player, as well as a guitar. The guitar has 12 strings, which blows my mind, but sometimes when nobody is home, I pretend I’m a rock star.

Our Dili front garden

Here’s the front garden. We even have a rose-apple tree. At least, I think they are rose apples. Whatever they are, they fall from the tree and crash onto the roof of the porch day and night. I was thinking about eating one, but haven’t got round to it yet.

Our porch in Dili

Outside we have a pretty little porch, which is where I go to smoke. From the porch, we have magnificent views of the garden.

Dogs in Dili -- and my feet

These are the dogs I live with, Jack and Winston. I don’t know which one is which, but they aren’t mine. I like playing with the dogs, but sometimes I forget that I’m allergic to them. The same thing happened when we had cats in Phuket. They’re just too cute not to poke and prod, and they're also very good at peeing in my room, eating anything smaller than a motorbike, covering the garden with rubbish, barking when I'm asleep and generally getting in the way.

A cute dog in Dili

Here’s Jack or Winston looking like a movie star. Bless.

Our back garden in Dili

We also have a garden round the back, which looks much the same as the front garden, although it has a strange seating area with several very old couches. Interestingly, there’s also an outdoor shower that still works, but looks as if it hasn’t been used for several years.

So that’s my house in Dili. If anyone would like to come and stay with me, I’m sure I could arrange for a tent to be set up in the garden. I might be moving out soon so you'd better get your skates on.

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Archived Posts

Making Squidoos

January 30th, 2009 by The Lost Boy

I’ve been experimenting with creating Squidoo lenses recently. The theory is that Squidoo lenses can help you build links and traffic for your blog or website. I’ve yet to see any positive results from the Squidoos I’ve created, but some people swear by these things so there must be something in it.

A Squidoo lens is basically a page you create filled with content and various modules, such as photographs, videos, guestbooks, text and so on. You write some content about whatever subject you feel like, throw it into your lens with a bunch of images and other bits and pieces, and then publish the lens for the world to see.

These lenses can help a blog or website because you’re free to link out as you please. What’s more, the links are all dofollow, which means they pass Page Rank. If you make a lens that becomes popular, you’ll get traffic from it.

I created a number of lenses about Phuket. They’re nothing groundbreaking and were designed to help build links. You can see them here:

Groundbreaking stuff, right? I also made one about acai “free trial offer” scams. Thus far, my lenses have received very little traffic. I’m hoping this will change over time with a bit of work. If anyone else has been using Squidoo, I’d be interested to hear if you’ve seen any positive effects as a result.

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Old-timers set to rock Bangkok

January 29th, 2009 by The Lost Boy

Bangkok has an interesting music scene. From one month to the next you never know which international act is going to be flying in. On February 1 it's the turn of Simply Red. I don't have a lot to say about Simply Red. I'm not much a fan, but played by panpipes, Simply Red's music makes for great company in an elevator.

As if that weren't enough, bloody Rod Steward is scheduled to play on March 4. How exciting is that?

Both of these monumental gigs will be at IMPACT Arena.

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Archived Posts

Denial

January 29th, 2009 by The Lost Boy

Fail

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