Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Jonathan O'Donnell's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, April 29th, 2012
10:58 am	My Mum liked this salad I mean she really liked it. So I thought that I would write it down here, so I wouldn't forget. You'll find it behind this  ( Cut up cauliflower. ) Ingredients About a quarter of a cauliflower (or maybe less), broken up into bite-sized florets. About 100 grams of green beans, cut up into individual beanettes. 1/2 a red onion, diced. As many kalamata olives as you think you can get away with, pitted and halved or sliced. Parsley leaves or baby spinach leaves, shredded. How many? Enough to add colour to an otherwise white dish - up to half a cup, maybe. 50 - 100 grams Danish feta, crumbled. Method Cut up everything except the cauliflower and beans and place in serving bowl. Steam cauliflower for 4 minutes. Add beans and continue to steam for another 3 minutes. Rinse cauliflower and beans under cold water and drain well. Really well. Add cauliflower and beans to salad and toss. The remaining heat in the steamed veges will cream the feta a bit. Mmm. Serve with a honey and mustard dressing. Serves two, three if nobody wants seconds. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
5:46 pm	Want to do game design in Germany? RMIT is offering two PhD scholarships in game design, for Aussies or Kiwis to go to Germany. Aus$30,000 pa for three years plus relocation and optional German language course. Deadline is still tight, but doable if you apply straight away: Tuesday, 10 April 2012. Full details at: http://www.geelab.rmit.edu.au/display/GeeWebEN/Positions As always with PhD's - this comes with my general health warning that PhDs can destroy your soul. If you are still interested, but don't want to click on the link, here is the blurb: RMIT University's Games & Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab) is offering two 3-year full-time PhD stipends, to highly motivated Australians or New Zealanders. At the GEElab, an international research team is investigating how game design thinking can affect and alter architecture & urbanism, mobility, popular media & storytelling, engagement as well as other sciences, cf. www.geelab.rmit.edu.au. The GEElab operates sites at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia, as well as in Stuttgart, Germany, there as GEElab Europe, and is based in RMIT's School of Media and Communication. Both PhD stipends contain an uplift for EU loading and run at AUS$30,000 tax-exempt p.a. each, over the course of three years. With these stipends come one-off relocation allowances as well as funding for an optional German language course if the successful applicants are not proficient in German. In addition, the GEElab will sponsor project cost as well as conference travel given circumstances. It is intended that the successful candidates will commence as soon as possible in Melbourne, and relocate to Germany in May or June of 2012. 3-Year PhD Stipend: Game Design for Future Cities This stipend supports a doctoral student and is linked to the question how game design methods as well as playfulness can, methodologically and practically, serve as design principles and design results for the city and for citizens of the future, tackling fields such as urban well-being and liveability, citizen engagement as well as sustainability. The successful applicant will be required to spend most of her/his stipend's time on extended field research in the Stuttgart–Karlsruhe high tech industry region in the southwest of Germany, as well as in other RMIT GEElab sites, if necessary. 3-Year PhD Stipend: Game Design for Popular Entertainment This stipend supports a doctoral student who will explore, in an applied fashion, under which conditions established forms of popular culture (e.g. sports, music, fashion), or media (e.g. TV, movies, textbooks, museums) can become interactive, enhanced, and potentially co-created entertainment experiences that have been inspired by games, and what social and cultural implications, novel uses and contexts these scenarios render. The successful applicant will be required to spend most of her/his stipend's time on extended field research in the Stuttgart–Karlsruhe high tech industry region in the southwest of Germany, as well as in other RMIT GEElab sites, if necessary. Please find detailed information about these stipends - including selection criteria and application procedure - at www.geelab.rmit.edu.au/display/GeeWebEN/Positions. Applications for both stipends have been extended to Tuesday, 10 April 2012. Interviews for both stipends will take place in April of 2012 (after Easter) in Melbourne. Please direct all enquiries regarding these opportunities by Email to GEElab director Dr Steffen P Walz: steffen.walz@rmit.edu.au. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 9th, 2012
10:32 am	So far, this year has been excellent! Last night's Dresden Dolls concert was awesome. Sophie and I had a great time. Wonderful, powerful singing and stupendous drumming. Great vibe. Lots of fun.  I was also particularly impressed by the Bedroom Philosopher, who I hadn't heard before. I liked his larrikin lyrics, so I bought his CD. And Sophie really liked the Jane Austen Argument, so I think we'll be hearing some more of them, too. Was good to see nuwishas_tail with bub in pouch, too. (Comment on this)
Friday, November 18th, 2011
8:32 am	Quiet, please Next time I have a magnetic resonance image (MRI) made, remind me to ask for "no music, please". People had warned me that the process was claustrophobic and noisy. So when the lovely MRI person asked if I wanted some music, I said "yes, please - some classical music would be lovely." Actually, I wasn't quite that coherent. As with most medical procedures, I was confused and intent on trying to please the authority figure, but that was the sense of the exchange. Unfortunately, it turns out that you don't get to listen to classical music in an MRI machine. You get to hear the occasional loud bit - just enough to remind you that somewhere back there, beyond the thrum, thrum, thrum of the machine, there is some lovely 3MBS music playing. That you can't hear. Because the machine is very loud. I'm a pretty low-energy kind of guy. When I try to meditate, I usually go to sleep. It turns out that in a tight space, even with loud rhythmic noise, I can still drift off into a somewhat trance-like state. This morning I got that drifting, stretchy-body feeling, where it feels like your head is about three metres from your feet and that you are made of plasticine. Generally, this is an indication that I'm mostly asleep. Then I would hear a bit of classical music. And try to follow it. And fail. Also, MRIs are hot.  Didn't know that. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 26th, 2011
10:06 am	Getting old My Mum turned 90 on the weekend!  There were twenty kid, grand-kids, partners and god-kids.  It was a lot of fun. She was in top form, moving around well (she broke her leg a month ago). I hope that I'm that fit and switched on when I'm 50, much less 90. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 26th, 2011
9:02 pm	Sunburnt without the sun One of my mates has had trouble with eczema all his life.  I'm starting to get a bit of an inkling of what he goes through. Turns out I'm allergic to something that I was taking for a cold. I'm probably allergic to the type of penicillin I was taking. This has made me very red and itchy, like I am sunburnt all over. It is a bit of a bugger.  Still, it isn't as bad as eczema. Current Mood: sick (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
7:15 pm	Talking about games Last night morsla , aeliel and a few others got together to talk about games. It was fun and seemed to work well. The plan is to choose a new game every month, play it, and then get together to talk about it. Like a book club, but for games. We talked about Osmos, which everyone except Chiara seemed to enjoy. The challenge was to get past "I liked it", "I didn't like it" discussions, and I was interested to see how that came about.  Frankly, I was so nervous that I didn't really take much notice of anything, but it seemed to me that we really used Osmos as a jumping off point for talking about the wider topic of games. We talked generally about games that were more or less like Osmos, and why. We discussed features of the game that we found interesting, and how they were reflected in other games. We talked about what we found frustrating, and what we loved. All in all, it was a good beginning. I enjoyed it, anyway. Next month, Oasis (or Defense of the Oasis on the iPad). (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
3:21 pm	Lord Coconut On Thursday night Sophie and I wandered into the Savage Club, where they were having their annual artist's dinner. I'm not a big fan of men-only institutions - I mean, really, what is the point? Besides, I got enough of that in my six years at all-male boarding schools. One of the people at our table was a lovely jeweller, Ali Alexander. She mentioned that she had some of her stuff at a men's jewellery store called Lord Coconut, and that she didn't really think that she should tell me about it. And then Sophie fell and sprained her ankle, so we limped off home. Yesterday in my lunch hour, I toddled off to try to find Lord Coconut (warning: automatic sound). It is up on the 4th floor of Carlow House, 289 Flinders Lane, near Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Carlow House was new to me, but it looks like a place worth exploring. Lord Coconut is a beautiful little shop and the owner, Mark Boldiston, seemed like a very nice bloke. He said that it had only been open a week or so, which made me feel a bit special. I wish I'd taken some pictures now, so that I could show you what it looked like. The decor is fabulous and the place has great light. I picked up a lovely pair of tube cuff links by David Parker, which I will wear to a vintage party tonight. I was also tempted by his tie fighter cuff links, but resisted could not afford. He also had a great Cthulhu print, which I also manfully "resisted" and some great little steampunk fob pendants with cog inserts by Deeana Michela. Imagine a little pendant with the insides of a tiny watch on display. Very cute! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
9:29 am	We haz noo cat! A little ginger short-hair with beautiful markings, about seven months old. She is exploring the house at the moment, and is quite adventurous. Seems to be settling in well, but it is only day two.  Time will tell. Any recommendations for scratching posts gratefully accepted. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 7th, 2011
6:40 pm	Blood makes noise If the lyric-fragment "blood makes noise" is running around in your head, it is probably because you are worried about going deaf.  In an immediate sense, this is an on-going concern because I constantly get blocked ears - ikky wax builds up which reduces my hearing.  Over Christmas, I used ear candles for the first time.  Jury is still out on how useful they are, but they seemed to work. Taking the long term view, it signals a concern about growing old.  Old and deaf.  Old and crotchety. Old and fretful, forgetful, forgettable. Not mortality, although that lurks back there somewhere, too, I guess. Of course, for the 99.99% of you that don't have 'blood makes noise' running around in your head, this isn't a worry. In other news, Misfits is great! And the background text in the Cowboy Bebop opening can be found at the Jazz Messengers, if you ever need it (under miscellaneous). (Comment on this)
Monday, December 20th, 2010
11:30 am	The loneliest number This morning, I woke up with the lyrics for "One is the loneliest number" running though my head. What is that about? (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
7:20 pm	Life is getting simpler My work life is simplifying itself. Last month I finished working with the National Gallery of Victoria.  They offered me a new project, but I couldn't fit it in.  I've learnt my lesson about taking on commitments that I can't fulfill (at least for now). Today I had my last meeting for the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre. I took chocolates!  I still have a paper to write for them next year, but apart from that, my work here is done. My work is done for Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, too. We had our end of days party yesterday, and a lovely time was had by all. Today we had a farewell teleconference, which was lovely, in its own weird way.  Somethings just are different when they aren't face to face.  The fact that the Australian office is being painted, so we weren't in the same place didn't help. Now I just have some work for Margaret Jackson to finish and hand off to morsla for formatting. That should get done tomorrow or Friday at the latest. And then I just have to finish the work for the Emerging Social Media Research Group at RMIT. With just five working days (and a few early mornings) 'til Christmas, I think that I'll be carrying a fair proportion of that project with me into my new working regime.  Which is a bugger, to say the least. (Comment on this)
Friday, December 10th, 2010
9:58 am	I don't work for the NGV any more As of next year, I'll be working four days a week helping people get research funding.  So if you are looking for funding, give me a call. The other day a week will be spent researching privacy. This will put an end to the craziness of trying to get stuff finished for multiple projects with competing deadlines. It has been particularly bad over the last three months because I took on one too many projects.  Now I'm facing the real possibility of carrying old work with me into my new job, which I really don't want to do. On the other hand, it means that I have to turn down projects that I want to do, like helping the National Gallery of Victoria on their education, multimedia and social media projects. That really hurts because I love working for them.  Overall, they have a very clear focus.  Display art.  Can't get simpler than that. If you love art, that is a really great mission statement to be working to. Also, I'll miss their Christmas parties.  They host great Christmas parties - huge bacchanalian feasts in the Great Hall.  Tonight's will be a garden party, I think. I won't be going.  I could have but... I know it bothers me because I woke up with these lines running through my head. "But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself" Ricky Nelson, Garden Party, 1972 (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
9:27 am	I haz noo job Desktop Originally uploaded by Jonathan O'Donnell I have accepted the position as Research Development Advisor at RMIT. I will be working with the College of Design and Social Context (that is, not Business and not Science & Engineering). It will be four days per week, which will leave me time to work on the simple privacy research with Margaret, if we can get some funding.  I start on Tuesday 11 January 2011, so we have time to work out what to do with my current projects, morsla. In the end, I decided that I needed the structure more than I needed the variety of multiple, overlapping research projects even if I was driving them myself. ( Research admin stuff... )But I'm still worried that I am going to get bored. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 8th, 2010
10:41 am	I have a crown Gold crown Originally uploaded by Jonathan O'Donnell Not as snazzy as this one, but a golden crown, none the less. I paid a king's ransom for it, too. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
11:40 am	The devil is in the detail Once upon a time, there were two sisters, The Serpent and The Swan. One did fashion and the other made monsters. Together, they added lovely little touches to their clothes. Double-headed wolves and horse hoof toggles. Interesting. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
3:47 pm	A few of my... Blue skies. Smiling at me. Nothing but blue skies. Do I see. (Comment on this)
10:40 am	Steampunk jewellery in Melbourne? My friend, Kitty, is wondering, "does anyone know of a good place to buy steampunk jewelry in melbourne?" Any pointers gratefully appreciated. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 25th, 2010
9:25 am	Favourite things Riding through parkland on lovely Spring days. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
3:17 pm	Real live pirate map The International Maritime Bureau maintains a 'Live Piracy Map for 2010'.  As they say, "This map shows all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre during 2010." Past years also available for pirate historians (and Pastafarians, I guess). Sometimes my work at Nautilus throws up the strangest things. I think that this falls under the 'ugly but interesting' category. (Comment on this)