Looks like 2026 is well underway.

 Hi, the anti-Christ here.

I'm also the guy who started a little blogging community back in 2007. It attracted two other potential bloggers. They brought their own silly ideas with them. One of them brought this whole bloody JC thing and Catholicism. So, now I'm identified as an anti-Christ. Good job we're not in a Hindu country because I would probably be an anti-Trimurti.

It has been a slightly slow start to my practice this year, but I have racked up a few hours. I'm making sure to include some double bass practice. I'll probably work a bit on playing entirely around the fingerboard on my violin today. Obviously, I'll work on tone and long bows too. I have no real gigs on my calendar. Never mind. If the nice weather holds out a bit, I can open our front sliding door and play some living room concerts. My neighbour who suggested I should practise in a shed should enjoy that.

It's a sunny day in the Nui today. We haven't seen many of these lately. I should be working out on the section, but I won't today. With my bell condition some things can be a bit of a struggle like, for instance, lugging a double bass around.

I might go for a quiet little walk instead today. I can promise that I won't be popping into any churches. Hey, they'd probably spot that I'm an anti-Christ. I just had a thought. Maybe I should give names to Christians? Let's think of a few:

• Self-conceited-moron.
• I-don't-need-proof-of-what-I-believe-in.
• Bible-is all-fact.

Okay, I'll leave it there.

Ho pensato che ti sarebbe piaciuto leggere un po' di italiano per concludere. Vedi se riesci a capirlo senza usare un sito di traduzione. Non dovrebbe essere troppo difficile.

Ciao tutti.

Who is the anti-Christ?

Bother Benedict? Father Woodcock?

No, it appears that it is me.*

"I've been reading other bloggers bemoaning being 'saved' by baptism. It is interesting that they attach importance to it. They obviously recognise its power and the down pouring of grace that comes with it. Not to mention complete the wiping of sin. But they say they want to live in sin and even deny any such thing such thing as sin. EVIL." wrote Robert on his latest blog post.

The two guys I mentioned at the top of this post were two paedophiles who worked for the Catholic church as a Marist brother and a priest respectively. This makes it quite clear that the Catholic church is not a perfect institution. Not by any means. Lots of paedophiles have worked for the Catholic church. Over the years this church has done many cruel things, like burning women for being witches. Torture was quite a common activity over the years too - we've all heard of the Spanish Inquisition.

Hang on, isn't this church supposed to be about love and us being children of God?

The Bible prophesied an Anti-Messiah coming to oppose Jesus Christ. Would this Anti-Christ be something made by God, or would he/she/it be another kind of god? That's a very interesting question. Remember that God knows everything. Would he have thought, "Hey, I need a very bad guy who can shake up my children!"? Or are there just more gods out there?

Well, Robert seems to want to blame me (and possibly Peter) because I resent having been baptised when I was too young to have a say in the matter. 

I would have thought that, to be an anti-Christ (note the small 'a'), you'd have to believe that Jesus Christ is part of the 'one true and loving god'. A god who would NEVER want to create an Anti-Christ (note the capital 'A' there).

So, what is the difference between sin and evil?

EVIL:

Arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct.

SIN:

A transgression against divine law or a law of deities.

You see, sin needs gods to work. Evil is all about chosen conduct.

Well, I'd better move along. I need to do some practice and my grandsons are popping around this afternoon.

Remember to try and be a nice person, whatever that means. 

Ciao tutti.

* And possibly Peter.

The second.

 Today is the second of January. 

Robert will no doubt tell us the number of seconds in a day, there are a lot, and that today is the second day of 365 in 2016. Ah well, it gives him something to do besides going on about getting to church or playing violent video games.

I have a rehearsal today with Chris and Daryl. Chris has a couple of projects and has called on Daryl and I to play with him. I'll cover double bass and violin, and Daryl will cover clarinet and double bass. I'll do 15 minutes of double bass practice this morning, along with a longer session on violin.

I read Robert's post this morning and I read Peter's last night. Nothing to get too excited about there.

This year is not a Leap Year.

There are only 365 days. I thought for a moment that it might be, but it's not. I guess I wasted your time bringing that up. Sorry. Ah well, it's not enough to send me to Hell.

Though, if I were a Catholic, a mortal sin would get me there.

Like Peter and Robert, I was baptised a Catholic when I was a baby. That happens to an awful lot of people. These babies don't get a choice. However, common sense can save and release them in later life. I mean, it wasn't their choice.

That's it from me.

Ciao.

1/1/26

 

My mother always used to call this drink Pope's Phone Number.

Hey, what's that got to do with New Year's Day 2026?

Well, nothing really. I bet you won't believe that I was up at midnight last night. Well, I was! I had this sudden urge to use the bathroom.

As I headed to my room of choice necessity, I noticed the time on a clock - just before midnight. Firstly, I heard bells. Then I heard people letting off fireworks, "Bang, bang, bang." Shelley had woken up too, so we wished each other a happy new year. 

So, what does the new year hold? I'm not expecting any sudden change.

However, I do start my new practice diary. I'll use the same old pen. There will be a slow start to practice today because Shelley and I are looking after our elder grandson who turned 2 3/4 yesterday. He is presently heavily into Spiderman.

He even has a Spiderman outfit and, at times, forgets that violence is not good. His parents are now limiting his action TV watching time. On the positive side, he is developing very good language. He even said the 'F' word the other day. Dad confessed to having used that once or twice. Poor old dad.

Sorry, I'll get back to New Year's Day. What a great start it was to the year 2011! 

1/1/11

1/1/26 just doesn't have the same clout. I did read that some young motor racing driver became a 'Sir' in the New Year's Honours list. That seemed a bit strange to me. Ah well, it's not like it's 2011. He would have been a boy then.

It's raining in the Nui. It's probably also raining in Moera and Cuba Street. Peter will be planning his big move to the Thorn. It is probably raining there too.

I can't really think of anything else to write so I might get 15 minutes of bass practice done before I prepare to pick up 'the boy'.

Enjoy your day and indulge in a little bit of sin, if you like.

Ciao tutti. Buon Anno.

My latest post. Sorry, I can't think of a good title this morning.

 

Peter beat me to 'Toe Knee Hand Cock'. 

Hey, that's a hard title to upstage!

* * *

It's nearly 8am!

I'm up quite a lot through the night with my bell condition, so I often tend to sleep in until about 7am. I'm all showered and dressed now, and ready to post.

I read Bob's latest post and, besides the lecture on narcissism, I now know what Catholic churches are available through the holiday period. Peter posted yesterday, so his next post will be a little way off. 

I've done double bass practice for the last four days, getting my shit together for a rehearsal with two of my siblings on Friday. I'm using the Atomic Habits method, in that I'm only doing 15 minutes a day on the bass, but it is concentrated time. I also did plenty of violin practice yesterday. I'm working through my 30 piece violin repertoire; the one I play with a backing track. That's about 2 1/2 hours of continuous music. Easily enough to do a three hour gig, with a couple of short breaks.

Life has been pretty quiet for us who live in the Nui. My bell disease certainly slows things down a bit.

Tomorrow I get to spend the morning in hospital for my second fusion of a new drug they're trying. It evidently takes about 8 weeks to show results. Fun (and lots more trips to the bathroom to come). 

Shelley and I cut our large front lawn yesterday. Really what we were cutting were very tall yellow daisies. 

Well, I assume they are called daisies. At the moment they are everywhere in the Nui - many lawns are covered with them. From one point of view, it is a shame to cut them down, but we try to keep our property looking tidy. 

We attacked them with our two smallish weedeaters. When the batteries ran out, I finished the job with our lawn mower, sans catcher.

It is supposed to rain today so we thought we might go to Mass at St. Mary of the Angels. we'll probably take a ride over the hill and visit a supermarket.

I wonder why Robert decided to write a post about narcissism? (I don't think it needs a capital 'N')

"A self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's own needs, often at the expense of others."

Well, I guess we could all name someone like that. 

What do you call people who always are correct and never let you get a word in? Are they narcissists? Probably close. Some people believe in something and simply can't afford to be proven wrong about their belief. That is probably brought about by fear of the unknown or fear of discomfort and confusion.

Well, time to get that double bass practice done.

[bathroom visit - that special treat of a coffee was not a good idea]

On the double bass you spend quite a bit of time playing root notes and this is maybe something you need to avoid a bit when you are soloing. Here's a good idea - say the chord is Dm7, play Am7 instead. Whereas you would probably have played the Dm7 as a Dorian minor, use the natural minor (Aeolian mode) for Am7. It gives you the same notes but gets you away from starting on the root. Say you're playing G7, play the rising form of D melodic minor - D E F G A B C# D. C#? Yes, this #4 sound adds a lovely colour.

There you go.

Ciao tutti.

1/1/26

 I've decided that today is New Year's Day.

Happy New Year!

Why have I done this?

Well, why not? It's just a date.

These four dates represent the four
days I got rid of.

So, this year, 27/12/25 was New Year's Eve.

Am I really allowed to do this?

Well, Catholics are allowed to make stuff up all the time.

By biting an apple Eve effectively created sin. Original Sin.

Eve's the one on the right.
This is before clothes were invented.

God decided that all the rest of us should be born with Original Sin.

"Well hello sweety, I'm 
God the Son. He's talking 
about my daddy dear."

Because of God the Father's decision, the only way he, an all knowing god, could find to get out of it was to have his son crucified. Weird. He could have just snapped his fingers and said, "Original Sin is gone!"

Okay, moving right along.

I did quite a bit of practice yesterday, on both double bass and violin. I lost four days, so I didn't quite get to 365 hours for 2025. Never mind, I start my new practice diary today. I will endeavour to make 2026 a very good year for practice. Yesterday I started running through the 30 pieces in my repertoire. I got halfway through - up to number 15. Not too bad.

Pretty damn good, actually.

Peter wrote a new post on New Year's Eve. He titled it, "IT SMELLS LIKE CHRISTMAS."

The post contains five sentences.

FIVE SENTENCES!

There is one picture and,

as usual, a video tune.

An even shorter version of this very short post could have said, "I bought some flowers for my partner."

There was no post from Robert this morning. He was probably too busy welcoming the new year in by saying the Rosary. Maybe he decided to say it 26 times? I'm sure he wouldn't attempt to say it 2026 times.

Well, that's it for this New Year's Day. I hope you've all got New Year's Resolutions - they normally last for 2 1/2 weeks and contain things like:

• I'll go for a half hour walk every morning.
• I'll become fluent in Vietnamese.
• I'll only eat vegetables and fruit, definitely no ice cream.
• When I pee on the floor, I'll wipe it up.
• I'll listen to other people when they're talking.
• I'll proofread my blog posts.
• I'll practise my cello for 45 minutes every day.
• Goodbye tummy!
• I won't go on about having been in 3P in 1966.
• I won't quote Matthew or Luke in my blog posts.
• I'll practise my violin in my shed, as my neighbour requested.
• I won't keep going on about sin.
• I'll attempt to use the toilet less frequently.
• I'll keep my phone away from the bath.
• I'll try to enjoy Peter's posts.
• I won't put a music video on every post.

Buon anno.

December 27th. Get Rid of the Bottles Day.