New55 Core Team

10X crop from a corner of a New55 negative? Very curious!

Because I write  this blog and am the voice of the project people have the impression that I am doing this alone, which would not be possible.  In addition to the work of Jack Willard, John Chervinsky and Des Fyler, we also have Ted McClelland and John Reuter of 20X24  engaged with the making and management of New55, and Tobias Feltus, located in Edinburgh.  I'm the instigator but not really the person doing much of it, or at least not all of it.  There are some well-known companies such as Ilford, who should be recognized, and Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc, which works in ultrasound and makes various products and donates space and time to New55. Other contributors are Keitaro Yoshioka at Mass Art,  Doc Kaps and Andre Bosman of The Impossible Project, and a bunch of others who have sent in clips, well wishes, good vibes and notes of encouragement.  Since one of these categories probably includes you, now is a good time to say "thanks" and let's keep going.

Bob Crowley

PS ....

I just had to add these two rooms to this post ....

.... pretty great, don't you think?

 found here via here

scenic sunday/sunday bridge: Southport Australia

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4kz6fmy0tzNbP8QVH5T0jNfYRfyHSOYx3Sren7d5Q9BZkT2yCdz6RvY-htCM7ffjW5ZkIbHoVR9ApYOcPg08M_4lXPByPBzW2DI-Ay99VabFdhS03Aqi_cBobi53N34JMprGDajizaTG/s1600-h/scenic+sunday.jpg">

http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

Running out of photos of bridges. This was taken when I went to Southport during one of my holidays. My sister Helen took us to a park. It was dusk, the lights were not very good.



http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/diary-bereaved-mother
Vote for my story, you may vote once a day. Voting finishes on Nov 15th.

SNOW IN NEW YORK !!!

My beautiful friend, who is spending two months in New York sent me this photo today ...
I'm so happy she gets to see snow on her first trip to New York !!!

HAPPY WEEKEND

HAPPY WEEKEND

XXX

sorry not sure where I found this pic

wild onion flower

Wild Onion, the smell is pungent. Some people use them in their salads. Grow wild everywhere.

I used to dig up the bulbs of this wild onion weed. It was very difficult to get rid off and the stalk break off easily. They grow and grow profusely.

Then two things happened, I started blogging, and and was attracted to wild flowers. I found these patches very pretty. I went to a farmers' market to take photos for my blog, and found that they sell the stems. They are delicious, assures the seller.

I never looked at the wild onion patch the same way again, and I don't dig them up.
I found myself sniffing in the intense aroma, or should I say, pungent odour, of onion weed (Allium triquetrum). the masses of white, bell-like flowers actually looked very pretty lining the roadside , the masses of white, bell-like flowers actually looked very pretty

It is known also as the three-cornered leek or angled onion, some describe the smell as leek or garlic-like.

The flowers are too little for me to take a macro flower. So a little bunch from a single stalk. Aren't they pretty?

Macro Flower Saturday
Macro Flower Saturday Macro Flower Saturday ">Macro Flower Saturday

http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html

Roller Derby Sociology: Part 5 (Communication On Internets)

I know I'm treading in scary waters right now.
In a sport full of women that don't like authority... here I am giving advice!

Clearly, I'm totally cuckoo. With good reason, though.

When I travel to coach leagues, interpersonal relations are often the type of stuff people really need the most help with. Sometimes they're aware of it. Sometimes they're not.

I love coaching roller derby strategy and technique. But if a league is imploding from the inside out over personal conflicts...

All the strategy in the world's not gonna fix that.

I'm actually at a point where I can watch a team play and usually be able to tell right away if they really like each other or not.

Your interpersonal relations will inevitably effect every other aspect of your team dynamics.

And don't get me wrong, you can get to a pretty competitive level on talent and hard work alone. But without chemistry, can you stay there? Can you really reach your team's full potential? 

Would you even want to anymore?

So Communication is pretty epically-imperatively-goddamn important. And when that's failed, it's Conflict Resolution time.

In this Blog I'll talk a little more about Expression, and the next one I'll get to Conflict Resolution.

I'm not ready to leave the topic of Expression behind yet, because last post was mainly about In-Person Communication. Which is important.

But so much of roller derby communication happens Online!

And somehow careless things said in internet world have the power to destroy all kinds of good things happening in... the real world... 

And for the two to be mutually beneficial and co-operative, online communication needs to be addressed.

Online Expression Advice:

1) Passion Posting

If you're pounding your keys loudly, re-reading and re-editing it to say exactly the right thing, if your blood is boiling... 

That's not an email you can send and feel good about later. 

Is it possible to be livid and reasonable at the same time? I would submit, for your consideration... No, it's not.

But it IS totally possible to ruin relationships with people in your league, alienate yourself and others, and cause all kinds of regrettable debate over one careless email. 

So.... a No Passion Posting policy could serve you well. Make frequent use of your "DRAFT" button, in these cases.

(I'm a little embarrassed at how long it took me to figure this out.)

2) Group vs Individual Communication

I've seen a lot of people hide behind the anonymity of the group to get the attention of an individual.

But is it positive or negative attention that you want? 

When you post a question/suggestion/thinly-veiled-passive-aggressive-complaint for one person to a whole group... or Facebook... the one may likely resent the fact that you did not have the spine to contact them directly. 

Or feel that you tried to humiliate them, publicly.

Being heard, and communicating, are two different things. 

When you communicate, everyone has a chance to win. When you're simply "heard," you can be kind of an exhausting person to deal with. 

This also happens when you have a positive response for one person, but always make the whole group have to see it. We all get a lot of our own emails, who wants to have to read someone else's too?

Try to recognize if what you have to say is for an individual, or really for a group, and communicate accordingly. 

3) Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs vs... A Diary

Some of your most intimate, passionate feelings... will pass and change tomorrow. But things that are put in print can leave an impression for a lifetime, if you're not careful. 

Consider dumping your more explosive feelings in an actual Journal or Diary before going straight to telling every person you know how you feel. 

Because you may have a more mature response 3 days from now than you do in the heat of the moment, where we're often taking no one else's feelings into consideration.

I would probably come off as the crabbiest bitch in the world if I didn't make a regular process of dumping negative/explosive/overwhelming feelings on paper, instead of people. 

I'm not saying it's wrong to use social media as a form of self expression. I'm obviously doing it right now! Just consider your level of passion at the time of writing. 

That's enough words for today. I know you're a busy person.  : D

Have a cooled-out-well-considered-expertly-communicated-inspiring awesome rad day today!

 

Parting gifts, till next we meet!

NICE SPACE

Loving the sofa !!!
via here

Skywatch Friday: Gas leak

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

The sun may be shining in New Zealand, but the day is bleak.
There is a gas leak in the Maui gas pipeline,
It is affecting many industries.
Supermarket shelves are getting empty.
Motel guests will have to have cold showers.
Burger King, which shut most of its 41 restaurants
Not very nice.



http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/diary-bereaved-mother
Vote for my story, you may vote once a day, voting finishes on November 15th.

Roller Derby Sociology: Part 4 (Communication In Derby 101)

I'd like to start by giving a fun I'm-only-human disclaimer:

When I first started in roller derby I was a young fire-cracker with no passion-management or self-control, whatsoever.

So I steam-rolled my way into some pretty harsh social situations, and learned a lot by communicating in every worst way possible.

But... I did deeply reflect on and learn from these encounters.

Each time.

And by reflect, I mean I cried a lot.

Still do sometimes. Nobody's perfect.

Over time I've made every attempt to learn lessons-to-come the easy way instead: 

Partly from considering the future potentialities of my planned actions, and partly from other people's mistakes and triumphs.

Every sports' (and non sports') success story (and epic fail) has been documented one way or another, and I've been gathering these stories through books, articles, and documentaries over the years.

So many lessons learned, I'm not even sure which source a lot of them came from at this point, except for the ones I've personally experienced.

So I'm gonna go ahead and share some of that with you, in hopes that you can glean some of what could easily be learned the hard way.... but... easily feels much better!

This blog post will be about Expression, and the next about Conflict Resolution. Most communication breakdowns seem to unravel from these two sources.

Expression Advice:

1) Consider Your Audience

Most people in roller derby do not like to be told what to do. So, try to avoid using demanding qualifying statements like "You should," or "We have to." 

I'm still working on this, being as bossy as I am. 

But I'm not trying to change who I am, as much as develop the greater aspects of leadership and diminish the lower potential that comes with this trait.

2) Consider Your Timing

One example:  

When your Head of PR is lacing up her skates, she's not likely to be as interested in talking about your latest and greatest idea as you are, just because she's there and accessible. 

She's probably more into the idea of just being a skater for a couple hours. 

Set up meetings with people when you want to talk about stuff that isn't immediately fun or related to what's happening right-now-this-minute, even if that's when you're excited.

If the timing isn't right for both people, then it's not right to communicate.

If you're unsure if the timing is right, ask. "Is this a good time to talk to you about _______?" And if it isn't, don't push it. Just try again at a better time.

3) Consider Your Impact

Passionate people often just blurt out whatever they're feeling because they feel it.

But... other people can feel you too. People you train with can often be very intuitively connected to you, whether you're aware of it or not.

For example, if you're always saying something mean about yourself, I feel sorry for you. 

I don't want to feel sorry for you, though! I want to feel good around my friends.

In fact, over time I may resent you for making me feel bad for you. I might even avoid you because you don't think about how what you say makes me feel. And that's kind of selfish.

Consider how it feels to be on the other end of what you have to say. About you, or someone else. Does it feel good or bad? 

We can work on this together. 

4) Consider Your Motivations

Do you have a reason for what you want to say to someone? Is it a positive reason? Or do you want to talk just to talk AT someone?

Because a discussion can be fun and interesting. 

But listening to someone go on and on (without including anyone else in their one-person-conversation), or say a lot of negative things can be really exhausting. 

And it's really hard to get heard, when you do have something to say, if you have a history of being exhausting to be around.

But, on the other side... if you are a considerate person in conversation... and know how to listen as well as share; you're interesting and feel good to be around. 

And then what you have to say is easier to hear. It's something I think about a lot.

5) Consider Your Potential

I'm finding that quantifying statements can be alienating to others, or limiting to personal potential.

For example, "I hate it when people _____________." Or "I always________________."

Can sometimes close doors to communication with other people by unwittingly putting a wedge between you with statements like that.

Your potential could be to be the kind of person who gets along with all kinds of people. Even people you have nothing in common with. 

But... you might not get to find out if the door is shut to some early on. Honesty is totally great, but sometimes less words is more... inclusive. (Note to self!)

OK, enough with the words, already! I hope some of this is helpful to you.

 Whether it is or not, have a tremendously-credibly-considerately-consistantly-amazing rad day today!

Parting Gifts:

ONE CLEVER TWELVE YEAR OLD

Let me introduce you to the works of my little friend Kenya ....
Kenya has just celebrated her 12th birthday and recently moved back to Australia after living in the USA for the past six years .... (to say she is happy to be back in Australia is probably a bit of an understatement) .... Kenya left Sydney when she was in Kindergarten, so it's lovely for her to be back, starting a new school, making new friends and exploring her home town through her much older (and very wise) eyes !!!

When I first visited Kenya and her lovely mum Georgina in their apartment (Georgina has the always inspiring BRYDIEBROWN blog) I fell in love with the little sculpture in the first pic (before I even knew Kenya had made it) ... isn't he just adorable, I've already put my order in for one !!!

Not to mention this divine paper mache donkey, which Georgina has very cleverly mounted on the wall .....

.... and this girl even makes jewelry,

each bead on this necklace is handmade from clay then baked hard and threaded on leather string ...

Oh, and she even has her own blog .....

The divine Miss Kenya  ...
One clever twelve year old indeed !!! 

watery wednesday: High Tide

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

It was high tide when I went to the Pt Chev beach. This is a boat ramp.



http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/diary-bereaved-mother
Vote for my story, you may vote once a day.to the Pt Chev beach.

CHALKBOARDS

Really, what's not to love about a room with a chalkboard !!!

 

 

Pics 1 via 2 via 3 via 4 via 5 via 

6,7,8 unknown(sorry)