Christmas shopping for me is going to the wine cellar and picking wines for every adult in the family ( its what they want and expect ) and itunes cards for the neices and nephews. Easy.
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Seriously collecting for about 15 years or so. I spend a lot of time reading wine magazines, websites forums etc and know a lot of people in the industry. Its a big passion of mine. I probably spend a bit too much money on it though i have cut back the last few years due to space consideration and the simple fact i need to be drinking a lot of the stuff i bought when i first started collecting as most of that is either at its peak or past it. I use software called cellar tracker to keep track of what i have and whats in its drinking window and needs cracking. I also sell a bit at auction as i have quite a few highly sort after wines that are impossible to buy unless you are on the mailing list of the winery. So in some ways it pays for itself. I also sold a lot of my early purchases as they were very big ripe shiraz wines and my tastes had changed to lighter wines. Luckily that style was in vogue with American and Chinese buyers so i made really good money on wine i no longer really wanted to drink.
Yeah i am a bit obsessed by it. It means i am never without something to drink and its a bit of a hobby. I will probably go through the cellar and do a bit of a cleanout and send a pile to auction. There is stuff i really dont want to drink anymore worth good money and others past there used by date so may as well convert it to cash. Anyway off to that horrible chore called work.
Those pics kinda remind me of watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiefhvKX4w4&list=PL0X1J0EUp_GNneI0i8FrV3yiFwiGMvThlI spent a week a couple of months ago staying at a Buddhist retreat in the South West of Western Australia, which is situated on a famous walking track - the Bibbulmun Trail, a 1000km walking trail that goes from my hometown - Perth - down to the bottom of the state. I know people that have hiked the whole thing at once - and others do it in sections, or stages - but i've just gone on meandering hikes along various sections of it over the years - never with the intention of completing the whole trek, but it is a well maintained hiking trail through some beautiful Australian forest.
On my most recent trip, i hiked over 10km each day, after doing morning meditation classes.
The meditative headspace that i started the day with really set me up for amazing solitary walks through the forest - i went there to clear my head, and found it absolutely perfect for that purpose.
It's a beautiful part of the world, and i just love walking in nature, alone with my thoughts - it was really beautiful and gave me some good perspective on some things in life that i needed to work through.
Having the mental - and physical - space to do so, and lots of fresh air and natural beauty around me, felt so mentally and physically cleansing.
I love walking; be it in the city or the countryside - climbing mountains or trekking through forests.
Not really keen on playing sport or 'exercising' for its own sake; let alone going to a gym. i stay plenty fit and healthy enough walking and cycling where i need to get to, where applicable.
Anyway - pictures of walks! The yellow snake symbol in this picture marks the path of the Bibbulmun trail (the snake represents anj important part of indigenous Australian folklore, and guides you through the forest, making it easy to stay on the right path and not get lost. The trail ran straight past the retreat i stayed in, so i could choose to spend the day wandering in either direction and exploring.
So beautiful, especially in winter (i was there in July) - with less risk of bushfire (kinda scary in summer; it gets really hot and dry - a town not too far away got almost entirely incinerated last summer - only one or two houses left standing, i think - and a few people died) as well as a decreased chance of running into a snake (the two most common species are deadly-venomous), because they're hibernating.
These pics don't really do the trail justice, because much of this land is regenerated former cattle-grazing and pine plantation land, but it is being regenerated and full of wildlife and beautiful trees.
Other parts of the trail run through relatively untouched old-growth forests of ancient, enormous eucalyptus trees...but for a city kid like me, it was nice to wander about and see beautiful parrots, finches and all sorts of birds, as well as marsupials i don't see that often at home; kangaroos, possums and bandicoots.
Love a good walk. Speaking of which, i'm going to go for a stroll to buy some groceries.
Snakes will 95% run away from you well before you even see them. There are a couple of exceptions one being the Eastern Brown snake which i think is 2nd or 3rd most deadly snake in the world. They are aggressive bsstards. I have had more than s few run ins with them, been chased a few times which ended in shotgun blasts but generally leave them alone, lay canary net around where you saw the snake and when they come out they get there heads caught in the net and they cant get out. Then call a snake catcher to relocate them as they are protected.Those pics kinda remind me of watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiefhvKX4w4&list=PL0X1J0EUp_GNneI0i8FrV3yiFwiGMvThl
Once you're in it a bit there's scenery that's similar.
I'd need a shottie to walk around there, I hate snakes.(because I'm unfamiliar with them)
Those pics kinda remind me of watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiefhvKX4w4&list=PL0X1J0EUp_GNneI0i8FrV3yiFwiGMvThl
Once you're in it a bit there's scenery that's similar.
I'd need a shottie to walk around there, I hate snakes.(because I'm unfamiliar with them)
) - a sort of cult called the rajneesh movement that all wore orange robes and followed the teachings of an Indian mystic called Osho.
Yes i used to live with a sannyssin in Byron. Osho was indeed a very wise man in many ways. She actually lived in his compound in Puna in India for many years. Yep early mid 80's those cars came in. They busted a couple in WA. Australia's first ecstasy bust i believe. Then they simply brought their chemists over here. All of this was many years ago and i wont say any more. Lets just say they were very influential in MDMA. And yes they had a presence in Ibiza before it turned into club island.^ yeah, i have a friend that was a Sanyassin (sp?) - "orange person" - (not the northern irish loyalist cunts, dear UK readers
i don't know if they had a presence in the UK or Europe?
She had some of that first lot of mdma to hit Australia - in early 80s if i'm not mistaken.
Speaks very highly of those experiences
I don't want to say too much about the place i was staying because it is too much of a well kept secret:
Yes, the pigs are very much onto pickers in that area. But the way i approach the place is practically risk-free (but i'm not going to elaborate).
I really enjoy the hunt of picking, especially in those forests. And i've grown P. cubensis - but subs are so much stronger.
My god! I'm very experienced with shrooms, but i've honestly never tripped that hard on mushies before. I only had a small handful, and i was getting some very DMT-like CEVs...but only after i let my mind wander enough to start laughing - then when i closed my eyes, i was in elf-land.
Never experienced that before. Fucking wild!
Quite looking forward to picking subs in Victoria, they pack quite a punch! Fucking love tryptamines
Yep.
I lived with a Sannyassin in Freo, hehe
Pretty fascinating in the world of drug culture.
I think they had a large community base in Oregon or something, which i assume led to the tie-in with MDMA and that sort of counterculture/spirituality trip (possibly from the sort of community using it for therapy sessions in the late 70s?) which then led into rave culture (or more general trance dance culture over here in Australia, in what became the "bush doof" scene).
Amazing how a chemical can shape and influence generations' worth of music and culture - at least in the pre-internet days.
. What has really annoyed me is I have got a lot of blue 'drops' higher than my legendary gear that I have worked for 
