Hi. It’s December already, and Christmas is next week. I feel I’ve been a bit lax here lately, and now have a few hours to kill at the Toyota workshop while Mami is in for her twice-yearly service. A few notable events since my last post are:
- I got my glasses fixed. The new lenses are much better.
- We got hailed on during a storm.
- I got to meet one of my heroes again.
The new lenses came about 2 weeks later and they were instantly better. It only took a short time to get used to them. Some things are still warped, but not enough to hurt my eyes and give me a headache. In the medium to long distance, I can see a lot clearer. Signs, number plates, anything else with words and numbers are a lot clearer 30-40 metres away then they ever were. So too my phone, when viewed from a few inches (It had to be an arm’s length away to see the text clearly). All in all, the new glasses and lens are great, even if they did cost me a total of $1300.
A few weeks ago I visited my GP for a check up, blood test and all. There was a storm coming that afternoon, but the weather radar showed it was over 50km away when we got to the doctor. It was a quick appointment, and we got outside to Mami being coated in leaves and twigs. The wind was strong and we went home. We detoured to the local farmer’s market to get some vegetables as we weren’t going to be in the area for another week at least. That was our big mistake, as it was around 3pm. After we left there and were heading home, we saw the motorway traffic was stopped. Waze showed it in red. We exited the highway, heading along the bypass road, over then crest and boom. Stopped traffic. Crawling along for 15 minutes, we got about 800m and then the rain started slow. We joked about it being fat rain, in Forrest Gump’s voice – we’d only watched it a week earlier – then the dink… dink… dink… WHACK! started.
We were stuck, traffic not moving. It was scary, Was this the end of my favourite car ever? The traffic started moving ever so slow and we were being battered by hail and debris. The slip lane opened up and we raced into it, turning into the Sunshine Coast Airport road and flying up there around 30km/h over the limit. The short term car park was in open air, the long term was half open, half-covered, and in a split second I turned right and headed for the Departures drop off. Best decision ever. All the spots were taken, but I somehow managed to get partially under an awning that covered the footpath, the other part of the car on the pedestrian crossing. I didn’t care, nobody was walking outside during this storm. The hail stopped dinging Mami’s panels, the rain got heavier, and ten minutes later it stopped.
Time to leave, we headed off, car in one piece, somehow there were no smashed windows. We dodged a lot of debris on the road and made it home. We hosed a ton of leaves and crap off the car, out of crevices and searched for dents. Ended up with three minor dents on the roof, and 4 on the bonnet. A huge relief, but I’ll need to get them dents repairs one day.
Now my third notable event. I got to meet my idol, the legendary Trey Spruance, at The Triffid in Brisbane. His band, Secret Chiefs 3, were in town and I’d booked my ticket back in August or September. Before the show I went into the bar/dining area of the venue, sat down, and right across from me he was there having dinner with his bandmates. I didn’t want to be the fanboy and ruin the bands meeting/dinner, and waited for the right time, sipping slowly on my zero alcohol beer (I was driving, okay!). He got up, then I got up. I walked to him. Hi Trey! Remember me? …. Cory?! Oh my lord, he remembered me! We chatted for 2-3 mins, but it seemed like 20. Still got the Disco Volante tattoo? Yes! I showed him. I saw you in Japan last year at Mr Bungle!
If you don’t know, and you most likely don’t, back in 1997 I got the Mr Bungle Disco Volante logo tattooed on my stomach. At a gig that year in Melbourne, I met him, and he autographed it. I got his autograph tattooed and showed him in 1998 when he came back to Australia. Also got Trevor Dunn and Bär’s autograph tattooed after that show.
Anyway, I got to meet my idol, when the doors opened I raced upstairs at sat at the mezzanine, overlooking the stage from just off-centre. I recorded the whole show and have it on YouTube. No zooming, no tilting, just set the camera down and record. Was a really good show. I haven’t listened to Secret Chiefs 3 as much as I used to, so it was good to get back into it. After the show ended, I raced back to the shopping centre I’d parked at. $35. If I was 8 minutes longer it’d have been $60.
Anyway, that’s the end to my 2025. I’m wondering what adventures I’ll get to experience in 2026. We need to plan our annual Japan trip, and work out places we want to see.
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