1. Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

Zevenaar, the Netherlands, Latitude: 51°55'40.45"N 6° 3'48.94"E (to be annoyingly precise)

How did I get here? Ahem, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . . .
(where's everybody gone?)
Born in Singapore in 1963, baby Martin was an inquisitive little fellow. Let me tell you about the time he . . . . . .
Wha? Skip a bit? Well ok then, if I must . . . . . . .
. . . . . then I left the army and settled in Holland with my Dutch girlfriend (now ex-wife and mother of my two sons). That was in 1987, an interesting period, let me tell you about the time I . . . . . .
Wha? . . . . Skip? . . . . More?
Well ok, quick summary then:
Moving house, making plastic bottles on the night shift, getting married, learning to speak Dutch, moving house (again), driving, driving, driving, driving (I’ve been driving large goods vehicles all over Europe for the last 21 years), driving, becoming a father (twice), nearly killing myself on two wheels (or rather, off two wheels), getting divorced after 15 years, moving house, meeting Anja, falling headoverheels (who’d’ve thought it? We're talking poetry-writing, permanent-inane-grin-wearing stuff here), “The Gran” dying, Mum & Dad emigrating to Australia to join my Sister, moving house, discovering Moblog, slowly coming to terms that I should be doing more with my time here, and then thoroughly kicking the arse out of it by shooting off in eight different directions at once without a clue how to achieve what I'm trying to achieve but enjoying climbing up this incredibly steep learning-curve as I go.

2. Why do you Moblog? How do you use the site?

Why not? There's no law against it! I'm an adult, it's just a piece of harmless fun, I'm not doing any harm! Please don't take it away from me, please, I'll be a good boy!
*pulls self together*
I was looking for a blog-site for a while and stumbled upon MoblogUK. I’m away from home during the week, on the road in the truck, and thought it would be a good way of letting the “home front” know what I come up against while I’m away. Primarily directed at my partner, Anja, but also as a way of keeping in touch with my sons, Nick (now 16) & Mike (now 14), who I see every other weekend and my parents and sister in Western Australia.
Moblog for me has grown into a very important part of my life, I've met a lot of wonderful people, incredibly interesting and inspiring characters, from whom I've learned a great deal, and to whom I'll always be very grateful.

3. What's your least favourite subject to talk about? Why?

Quantum physics, string theory and the nature of time.

I forced myself to read Stephen J. Hawking's “The Universe In A Nutshell” cover to cover once. I read and re-read it line after line, paragraph after repeated paragraph, page after coffee stained page until I got to the end, closed the book and went “nope, sorry, haven’t a clue what you’re on about there Stevie-boy”.
So if you "ask me one on quantum physics" you'll totally shut me up (a tip, if you're stuck in a lift with me after a couple of pints).

4. What song means the most to you and why?

Stairway to Heaven, Led Zepp.
Maybe cliche, don't care.
As far as I'm concerned the greatest song ever written and ever performed. I could play it most of the way through at one stage, on the guitar, pretty competently. Fingers have gone a bit rusty these days. It makes the hairs on my forearms stand right up, still.

5. What's your most vivid memory from childhood?

The freedom, generally, we enjoyed. Going outside right after breakfast and staying out all day, rain, snow, whatever, we (my sister and I with the rest of the "gang") would walk for miles and miles, building, climbing, getting mucky, cold and wet. Then getting into a too-hot bath and your skin would ache because you were so chilled through to the bone.
Then tucking in to a plate of beanz-on-toast-with-an-egg-on-top like it was a banquette.

6. Are humans fundamentally good?

Sjeeez!
Well I am,
I hope,
fundamentally,
and virtually everybody I know is, so from my point of view, yes they are, mostly.
(With the odd exception of course, I mean Peter Sutcliffe was a bit of a twat.)

7. A picture or a thousand words?

Oh a picture, every time, perhaps accompanied by a few words, but “a thousand”? that’s rabbiting on a bit, IMO, he said, rabbiting on.
I'm rubbish with words, bit of a problem with dyxslecxia (see?) as a kid, still stumble a bit here and there, computers help, and predictive text.
I can knock up a half decent picture for you though.

8. What's wrong with the world today?

Not enough rabbits.

9. If you had ultimate control, how would you fix it?

Breed millions of those great big Dutch long-eared "Thumpers", they're so cute, how could you go out and start a war if you had a great big floppy pet rabbit outside you had to look after every day?

10. What is "the greatest thing you'll ever learn"?

Well I’ll not have learned it yet now would I?
But the greatest thing I've learned so far is that "Red Dwarf" is probably the best series ever to have been seen on tv,
and never to sign up for anything Nige dreams up on Moblog, it'll cost you hours and hours of your time, tons of soul-searching and significant hair loss. (he said, putting his name down for the next scheme).

X, Jxl

Posted by JokerXL

1. Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

I'm on a train going to the Sheffield Documentary Festival to talk on
the subject of Non-linear Narrative and do a Show'n'Tell of my work
in the area. I'm focusing on Osama Loves (www.osamaloves.com) which
is a participative journey narrative - think Dave Gorman meets A Long
Way Down with a bit of Pete McCarthy thrown in for good measure - and
Sexperience (www.sexperience.uk.com) which uses anecdote/first-hand
experience to provide sex education beyond the easy answers of self-
help manuals. Someone Twittered me this week to tell me that if you
Google "sex" at the moment Sexperience comes up #2 of 680,000,000
returns. I missed the train I was supposed to get because I was
having a meeting with Antony Gormley and I was in no hurry to leave
his studio - it's not every day I get to meet a true artist of his
calibre. Even took a sneaky pic for Moblog (http://moblog.net/view/861614/antony-gormley-and-my-pen).

2. Why do you moblog? How do you use the site?

Much though I love telling stories with words (www.arkangel.tv), I
love even more telling them through still pictures. My Moblog is
called Simple Pleasures because it strives to capture in images the
day-to-day things that for me make life worth living - and living
well. Sometimes I list the Simple Pleasures represented in the image
- most of the time I let the pictures do the talking.

3. What's your least favorite subject to talk about? Why?

Money and finance. It's so dull, I can't work up any enthusiasm for
it. My wife once asked me would I mind if our older son (only a
toddler at the time) turned out to be gay - I said as long as he
doesn't turn out to be an accountant I'm happy for him to be whatever
he wants to be.

4. Now that the worst is over, what's your favorite, and why?

Music. I love it. Can't sing or play but it's central to my life. I'm
into art of all kinds but music is special in the way it by-passes
the intellect and goes straight to the heart (and cahones, if you buy
the Carlos Santana line - which I do). As Walter Pater said: All art
aspires to the condition of music.

5. What's your most vivid memory from your childhood days? Paint us a
picture.

Sharing Saturday mornings with my best friend every weekend from
shortly after starting secondary school. The routine was up to town
(central London from the suburbs) for a long Space Invaders session
in some dodgy old arcade; Foyles and various other bookshops for
browsing and judicious purchases; Forbidden Planet for comics; a bit
of a wander; then back out to the burbs for a tennis or table tennis
session; rounding off the day nicely at a local cinema (there were a
good half dozen within walking distance - now all flats or gyms or
razed to the ground). Very happy, carefree days punctuated with
Simple Pleasures.

6. What is the best purpose to which media -- any form of communication
media, from clay tablets up through radio, magazines, books, movies,
television, et cetera -- has ever been put?

Love letters.

7. How important is the visual element to presenting a feature to the
world?
What if you were the only audience?

I'm a very visually oriented person, so hugely important, though not
always moving pictures - often a still image captures the essence
better. The technical 'quality' of the image is not critical - in the
same way Polaroids have a magical immediacy (as does Super 8) so can
mobile phone shots. That said, the cameras in phones are getting so
good I guess that aspect of moblogging is on its way out - shame in
as far as having a distinction between regular camera and phone
camera added a touch of the Polaroid-magic to the activity.

8. In your view, what's wrong with the world today?

People lose sight of the Simple Pleasures and what is truly of value.

9. If you had ultimate control, how would you fix it?

I would call in George Benson (in the absence of Nat King Cole) and
have him wander the Earth on a neverending tour singing Nature Boy to
each and every one of us:
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved in return"

10. Ask yourself -- and answer -- the question we most obviously left
out.

Q. What's the best track of all time?
A. Flamenco Sketches by Miles Davis (on Kind of Blue)

I'm going to have it at my funeral (on the way out - the way in track
is Acknowledgement by John Coltrane from A Love Supreme). I was
introduced to the record at college by Adam Barker, a former
Commissioning Editor at Channel 4, back then room-mate to David
Baddiel. So my first encounter with it was as a circle of black vinyl in a 500 year old room, 144 square inches of intense Miles with that far from square tie and cool blue suit beside the record player - a scene I can still picture vividly in my mind's eye. I love the track because it brings with it great tranquility.

Posted by arkangel

1. Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

I'm a 40-year-old writer, technological infrastructure expert and business consultant who lives in the pound of real estate closest to Atlanta's heart, in USA's Georgia. After a childhood in a small town (not counting two years spent on a US army base in Japan) and then a stint out in the woods, I escaped to the nearest city of two million people and stuck there. Now it's up to five million....

Back in the late '80s I attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, apparently in pursuit of an education instead of a degree. After five years the scholarships ran out and I found myself in the computer industry by default (I'd been studying chemistry and psychology. What the hell happened?)

Somewhere before the turn of the century, I remembered how much I enjoyed writing in school. I started a journal, took a dare to write a poem a day for a month, took another dare to write a short novel in a month. The novel was published--like, on paper and everything, and not by myself or a close friend--along with some nonfiction and a handful of short stories. Now I write whenever I can, and I'm a partner in a couple of intriguing projects, including a two-man publishing house. For money, however, I've worked for small print shops, software developers, multinational corporations, universities, and, lately, as a business manager and consultant for operations partially owned by a small investment bank.

Also, I'm coming up on my third wedding anniversary in March. She brought three kids to the family, but I've none of my own. It's a sadness, but one I can live with.

2. How do you use? Moblog? Tell us about your moblog history and habits.

For all that I'm undeniably a wordy bastard, I think in pictures, in shapes, in textures, in sounds, and in feelings. If I didn't talk to people every couple of days, if I were to go a week or two without reading, I'd probably forget words altogether and never miss them. A quick snapshot or two, either from my phone or a low-end automatic digital camera, properly framed, is worth a couple of pages of notes. Also, I write very slowly. (Typing is another thing entirely, but people snicker when you get out the folding keyboard that feeds my phone in public. Guess how I'm writing this now.)

When TextAmerica revealed that they thought they owned every shot I posted to their site, I quickly switched over to Moblog. The previous version of Moblog revealed your user number in your URLs in the address bar of your browser. I'm #306, so I've been with the site for a while.

I really like the social aspect of the site, where you find people who interest you or whose (quite literal) perspectives are fascinating and follow them through the situations they feel need documenting. I wish I had more time to spend in touch, to comment on what moves me or makes me smile. The little time I can pry free from work's grasp isn't enough.

3. Do you remember learning how to swim or ride a bike? Tell us about a childhood experience learning a new physical skill.

I just learned to swim just a few years ago. Learning to drive a car with a manual transmission happened last year. For as much of my childhood as I spent on a bike, I must have learned how to ride fairly early. Odds are one of the several (seven? eight?) concussions my bike conspired to give me knocked the relevant memories out of my head. Much of my bicycle-riding predates helmet laws.

I do remember when I was maybe six (this was in Japan), after the training wheels had been taken off, riding along a sidewalk next to a chainlink fence, trying to hold onto the fencing while I rolled along in order to not fall over, gradually discovering that the faster I went, the more like a cheese grater the fencing behaved.

I was never much of an athlete as far as competitive sports were concerned, but I enjoyed going fast. Being small for my age and getting picked on a lot made me a phenomenal sprinter, and if you didn't have a motor, you weren't catching me on my bike.

4. Which of your five senses is most acute or the least acute? How does this affect you?

Sometimes it bothers me how we try to distill the dozens, maybe hundreds, of senses we have into five, and trust me when I say I'm not resorting to the supernatural. We directly sense with our skin, in addition to touch/skin contact, changes in temperature. We have embedded organs in our skulls that detect changes in accelerating forces. As a side-effect of cranial construction, we can detect subtle changes in air pressure completely unrelated to sound. Specialized areas in our brains process information we receive into whole second-order senses in the same way that vision is a collective of red-green/blue-yellow/light-dark senses mapped to a pair of correllated two-dimensional arrays. Perceptions of quantity and quality and threat require a good deal less cranial hardware and processing, yet hardly rate a mention And empathy seems so much like magic, but modern science has isolated genes that cripple and enhance it.

As a student of humanity, I feel my most important senses are empathy, a quite physical, quite mechanical and visceral sense of humor, and a very related sense of consistency--a feeling of whether known facts and experiences and derived conclusions agree or disagree. No matter how the rest of my senses deteriorate with age, I won't consider myself ready to die until these senses fall silent.

5. What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

We've discussed the bicycle. After more than twenty years without riding one, I rode one a few weeks ago for ten miles. It's amazing how much I feel I've been missing by living someplace where cycling is downright dangerous.

I also used to build more with my hands. I used to draw and paint. I used to sing, too. But stringing words together has become, unexpectedly, far more powerful to me, like a flyspeck's weight on the end of an infinitely long lever. The feeling of traction I get from writing, the sense of gears meshing, is much more rewarding than in any other form of expression I used to employ.

I do miss the bike, though. And I miss building toys I could hold in my hands and make go vroom.

6. What little known fact about yourself would reveal something about your character that you think is important?

As a child I was intrigued that just about every culture had a tradition of practical magic, either medicine or sorcery or witchcraft or prayer for supernatural intercession or similar. I read voraciously about them all--everything I could find that had been translated into English, in any case. I was looking for commonalities. I was looking for a general truth I could distill into a way to have a larger impact on my own circumstances, a way to exert more control over my own life. I discovered the true life-changing sorcery was science.

My interest in science and its practical applications in terms of communication and psychology and technology are a direct outgrowth of that childhood need to establish my own territory, to expand it, and to defend it. Quite a lot of what makes me tick can be extrapolated from that fact.

7. What is your favourite form of fiction, and why? What is your favourite form on non-fiction?

I'm a fan of the speculative arts. I troll the bookstore ghettoes, reading blurbs and back covers, looking for clever twists on the world outside the window. I like peeping through the keyholes of the universe next door to see if there's anything in there worth stealing. I follow the works of favorite (historical and present, mainstream and marginalized) authors who have learned the trick of lending me their glasses. For reasons you can possibly deduce from what I've already said here, I like comics and graphic novels and movies that render these works more readily visible.

Unsurprisingly, I look for exactly the same stuff from my nonfiction. Cutting-edge science is, in every way, just as much fiction as anything else I love to read, possibly true this week, probably false next week, but perpetually valuable in terms of insight and process and perspective. I love how there's an underlying math that governs all the sciences, from cosmology to particle physics to sociology to economics to ecology to politics, and once you grasp that math you can understand all of it.

I feel like maybe I'm less than a tenth of the way there, but there's nothing like the feeling you can actually get there eventually, if you live long enough.

Consider the answer to this question to cover both reading and writing.

8. Where have you already travelled, and where would you like to go next?

I mentioned spending two years of early childhood in Japan. The sense of perspective that left me, that foreigner's grasp of what the locals think of as normal, did a significant amount of (eventually quite positive) damage to my development. I've always wanted more, but the opportunities to travel have been rare. My savings and investments, not that I ever had much, were all wiped out by, well, recent events of global significance.

I've been a large number of places I could get to by driving. That's good for numerous lessons in subtle, subtle differences. A three-week trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i was priceless. Islands fascinate me. The pressures Darwin noted governing speciation apply to cultures as well as finches. We won't have much longer to study that, given the speed of development of cheap global communication and travel.

I really want to spend a month with every culture on Earth before I get old enough to feel the hardships. When I'm done with that, I want to live and teach on the moon for a while. (That ought to be about right for the prospective timeline.) Then I want to retire to a tropical island.

9. What (or who) would you most like to photograph?

I think of the pictures I take as puzzle pieces. Individually they may or may not have their own merits, but aggregately they are little pins pegged into a huge map, conveying little clues toward the big picture--sometimes with their flaws as much as with their little successes.

I want to take little pictures of the rest of the big picture. I want to take pictures of things from angles that most people would miss. I want to take pictures of people while they're completely unaware and blithely unselfconscious and contrast those shots with ones where they know you're there and have a camera. Those contrasts reveal the most critical parts of people.

10. If you were a God and had a chance to issue as many as ten commandments to humanity, what would they be?

I don't think I'd have to go for as many as ten.

People aren't wallets. People aren't votes. People aren't toys or tools. People aren't livestock. People aren't game to hunt and kill and eat--or stuff and mount on the wall. People aren't mines to hollow out bucketfull by bucketfull or fields to plow and till and tend and harvest. People aren't forests to cut down and burn. People aren't fish to net. Every last person who has ever lived or will ever live is worth just as much as you. If you feel you're never going to grasp this fact, I ask you on behalf of everyone, as kindly as possible, to please leave.

For your own good, I recommend you review your definition of person to make sure it is sufficiently broad.

Also, speaking as your hypothetical God, I have to admit I never finished the place. If there's something you think needs fiixing, feel free to do it yourself. I left all the necessary tools around here someplace.

[*]

Posted by Laszlo Q. V. St-J. Xalieri

1. Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

This finds me luxuriating in retirement. I now have the time to be able to explore not only all sorts of new things but also to be able to go back and reinvestigate old places and ideas. In my artwork, the challenge is finding the right balance between stimulating novelty and comfortable familiarity. I'm most enjoying the paths not previously chosen that turn out to be indirect routes into well known, but hardly exhausted, territory.
When I stepped out of the house the other morning, I noticed that this lily was flowering again, late in the season, and stopped to photograph it. Afterwards, it occurred to me that I could use it as a "self-portrait" for this interview, not because I think of myself as blossoming, but because I love the feeling of getting another chance.
I live in Montreal. I came to Canada from the United States in 1966 to go to university and have never thought of leaving.

2. Why do you moblog?

I think it was Jack Kerouac who said that "An artist's job is to subjectify the objective and objectify the subjective." Photographing our day to day lives and sharing our images as Mobloggers helps us to do it.

3. Where do you go to my lovely, when you're alone in your head?

I don't know where I go, but I do know how I get there. I get there through physical activity, walking for example, or yoga, or even something like knitting. As a sculptor, the physical work, which I enjoy (usually), is a means to explore space kinesthetically. I like to work with my hands. I'm a tinkerer at heart, and I enjoy working on all the different aspects of my work, whether theoretical or practical. That's part of the explanation for my username, Factotum.

4. What is that one random item you have hoarded away that you can't bear to throw away for nostalgia purposes and what is the story behind it?

Hahaha. Caine, who posed these questions, knows that my collecting and hoarding borders on the pathological. I'd claim that there's nothing random; everything is saved for a reason :)

5. What would your biography be called, who would write it, and who would play you in the film?

Well, Michael Holroyd is my favourite biographer. I've had a really interesting life even if I'm not particularly interesting as an individual person, and I think he'd be able to capture that. Let me skip ahead to question 7 and recommend Holroyd's Basil Street Blues, a biography of his parents and family, as well as his biography of Lytton Strachey.

6. Who has been an inspiration to you? Why?

The earliest people who dug clay out a stream and made something out of it, or drew in the sand with a stick.

7. What is one of your favourite books, and why?

I think many Mobloggers would really enjoy Maira Kalman's The Principles of Uncertainty.

8. What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

Reading was a childhood obsession, and it has continued unabated. I still love kids lit and picture books! I seem to be reading a lot of non-fiction these days, especially history and "literary journalism".

9. What (or who) would you most like to photograph?

How about the cave paintings at Lascaux or Chauvet? Or, even better, some other unexplored cave.

10. What and where is your most favourite place?

I like being outdoors,even in the city, and prefer my landscapes on the slightly rugged and bleak side. I love Cape Cod in the winter, and I thoroughly enjoyed traipsing across the Yorkshire moors with Viv and Swamprose. My favourite indoor places are museums and library stacks.

Posted by factotum

Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

Almont, North Dakota. I was born in Southern California and lived there most of my life. The day the last surviving orange tree from one of the original groves was cut down for no good reason, I made the decision to leave. I loathe homogenization, and it happened in SoCal to the extreme. Rick had a job opportunity which could lead two ways - either Gillette, Wyoming or Hazen, North Dakota. Easy choice, I've always loved the Dakotas from visiting when I was young. Adding to the decision was the fact Rick had worked in Gillette, and did not like the place at all. Rick's job 'opportunity' didn't work out after the move, so we went from Hazen to Bismarck. In the end, Bismarck simply had more rules than we cared for, so I went online to Bismanonline.com, looked for rural properties, and we found Almont. Instant love, that. No conformity, no rules. A town full of eccentrics, all of whom like their privacy. Definitely home. Almont also nurtures my deep love of nature.

Why do you moblog?

To see, learn and share. I am astonished every day by the photos people take and the stories they tell. It's life, an abundance of it. Moblog and mobloggers at large have fueled my love of photography, something I never thought I'd be interested in or be good at.

What were you hoping not to be asked for interview52?

I don't know how to answer this, I wasn't worried about anything I might be asked.

What would your biography be called, who would write it, and who would play you in the film?

Nature Calls, I have no idea who'd write it, but as this is all fantasy*, I'd have Howard Hawks direct and I'd be played by Carol Burnett, because I've been told all my life I look like her. *I'd never do or allow such a thing in real life, I like my privacy.

Who has been an inspiration to you? Why?

Not a who. Things seen, natural and manmade. I've observed things all my life, and find wonder in the smallest of things, and my curiousity is easily sparked. Out of all things, nature inspires me the most. I end up fascinated by most anything, a pebble, leaves, bugs, whatever I see. Many of the people on moblog share certain fascinations, and luckily for me, share their knowledge. Viv, Euphro and Silar31 in particular happily provide wanted information on lichens, shrooms and bugs to name a few things. Photography has ended up being both a tool for exploration and inspiration. I chose a bee for my photo. I'm a bit known for my bee shots. I have been scared half to death of bees all my life, I'm deathly allergic to them. Once I had a camera, the desire to shoot them overcame that lifelong fear. I look at things differently now, it's as though I've been granted an extra set of eyes.

What book would you recommend to your fellow mobloggers to read and why?

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. It's a reminder, dominant though we might be, we are animals, and we should treat our planet and fellow animals better than we do. It's also a sound and good reminder we should not take ourselves so damn seriously, after all, we'll be extinct one of these days.

What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

My obsession was being still. Being invisible. It wasn't exactly a bad idea during my childhood to be still and quiet, but it suited me. I would climb trees, (a massive Weeping Willow was my favourite haunt) and stay for hours watching and listening everything going on at street level. I also loved paying attention to leaves, bark and the varieties of tree life as well. Never lost the obssession, it stays with me. It's part of me. One of the major delights of my life was discovering Rick enjoyed being still also. (That was a long time ago, roundabout 30 years or so.) Rick's better at it, so I'm still learning. One of these days, I'll master camo painting if Rick ever gets around to teaching me.

Where do you go to my lovely, when you're alone in your head?

That's a loaded question. Depends. At times I travel some damned dark roads in my head. Most of the time, I get lost outside, looking at everything around me, wondering, thinking, making mental notes about all I see and feel. There is always something to fire my curiousity, and learning ahead. I love that. I'm alone much of the time, and like it. Both Rick and myself require healthy amounts of time alone. When I'm immersed in artwork, I'm definitely alone in my head as well as alone physically. I don't explain that process to anyone.

If you had to draw a moblog family (and friend) tree, who would you be linked to, and how?

Oh boy. It would start with Bronxelf and Geodyne. They are the reason I'm here. It branches rather wildly from there. Gael, Paintist, Dhamaka, Viv, Silar31, MaggieD, SLG, YourHermione, Sprocket, Mandy, 540Air - their absolute kindness is amazing and they are wonderful people who cannot be painted in a few strokes. Nige, who I was in awe of, looking at his photos with wonder. Factotum, with her quiet love of the eccentric and the unique, she has impressed me from day one. Swamprose, with her not so quiet embrace of life and obvious love of it. Rick, of course, once I talked him into moblogging.

People whose lives and photos became an important part of my life, and I would miss them so if they weren't a part of it: Ojo Azure, Parabolichobo, Taniwha, Hildegard, Kostika, Minkey, Harimanjaro, JokerXL, Rare Aquatic Badger, Spiderbaby, OJ, Viktor, 095, Bfish, Alfie, Essitam, Euphro, Stella Finkelstein, Mouseninja, EvilMink269, EmmaB, Eroika, Suzi Shoes, Monkey Finger, Alicat9, Billion and SmaugFilledWindows & Looker who are fellow Dakotans and good friends.

That does not cover my friends list at all, and I don't mean to leave a single person out. This would go on for pages if I tackled each person. I end up making new friends all the time on moblog, and each person is important to me and brings wonderful things to my perspective and life. Each person adds to my knowledge and there is never a lack of new things to learn. The connection - friendship, community. Moblog is a world neighborhood, and it is a truly fine thing.

Posted by Caine

Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

It finds me in Broome, Western Australia. I was spent my early childhood at a place called Wynarka in South Australia. To get to Broome is pretty easy. Just head North for 3000 km, chuck a lefty and travel a further 1600km and when you hit the ocean, you should be in Broome. There have been a few detours along the way in Murray Bridge, Eucla, Halls Creek, Kununurra, Wyndham and Newman.


Why do you moblog?

To share and swap stories with others.


What were you hoping not to be asked for interview52?

What car do you drive?


Now answer it!

Well I don’t actual own a car, just a scooter, but I’m on the lookout for a V8 ute.


What would your biography be called, who would write it, and who would play you in the film?

Jiggers. I wouldn’t write it, so I don’t expect anyone else to. If it did go to film, someone like Bruce Spence would be a good fit.


Who has been an inspiration to you? Why?

No one in particular but collectively, the remote indigenous people in Western Australia. They live way below the poverty line, have serious health issues/go to way too many funerals, live in sub standard housing, but are always happy, make do with what they got and have strong belief in family and culture. Sort of changes ones priorities of what is important.


What book would you recommend to your fellow mobloggers to read and why?

Mayi: Some Bush Fruits of the West Kimberley. Its 56 A6 pages big, which is about my limit, has lots of pretty picture and some very useful knowledge on Bush Tucker plants.


What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

That would be killing ants. You grow out of it eventually.


Where do you go to my lovely, when you're alone in your head?

Some may say I am a few kangaroo short up there, but there really are enough voices in me head to keep me company at all times:)


If you had to draw a moblog family (and friend) tree, who would you be linked to, and how?

Alex Hayes, Jesson Trishus and Limitless are linked through AFLF projects. Swamprose, Viv, Geodyne, Factom, Boet, Mandy, Judo-Jules, Maggie D, Nige and Dhamaka are all connected spiritually.


Well that was fun. Hope you enjoy this read as much as I have enjoyed the previous posts
Jig along

Posted by Jig along

Where does this find you?

Retired, on my mac, in my house in N.Yorkshire with Benji at my feet
and Alan at his laptop. Wondering which of the many jobs that need
doing I should tackle today. I'm good at wondering.....



Tell us the story of how you got there.

To a mac - going back to teaching and ending up with responsibility
for I.T. (as the expert left and no-one else was willing to do the
job.) Bradford moved from BBC, to Nimbus to Mac - a foolish man tried
to move us all on (?) to Dell (I think) but a few stalwarts resisted.
I was one. Never looked back. Now apparently Bradford has gone Mac
again and the suite of imacs that was put in approx' 7 years ago
still look good and work well, new additions include a trolley of
white laptops - very nice. I think of it as my legacy, although the
support assistant - turned technician who I encouraged and set on the
way is my best legacy to my old school!

To Yorkshire - by following my husband of 41 years, Alan! We started
going out when I was sixteen in Manchester. I followed him to many
places, countless pubs, Maine Road.... (Eastlands soon hopefully);
Carlisle - loved it - state brewery and pubs - time warp; Stoke on
Trent, (I cried when I saw it - but we lived in Pipe Gate and Norton
in Hales so it turned out fine); Norwich - very special (Helen was
born there); Bristol - enjoyed that too and Beth was born there, then
23 years ago Alan was made Probate Registrar of Leeds and his
promotion journey ended and we moved here in November '85.



Why do you moblog?

That's on my sidebar. Helen and Beth were busy with their lives in
Leeds and forgetting about their Mum (aah!) so I started 'stalking'
them on moblog (Beth called me Stalker Mum) and I became intrigued by
some of the characters on moblog (particularly Bronxelf) and how
friendly Beth and Helen were becoming with all these people so I
decided to stop feeling voyeuristic and join in!



What were you hoping not to be asked for interview52?

Had forgotten about it - so no anticipation.



Now answer it!

Have no demons - unless its my weight and wouldn't answer anything I
didn't want to anyway!



What would your biography be called, who would write it, and who
would play you in the film?

Oh Jimbo - this is a bit high flown for me! Lets bring it down to
my level!

'Other people make me tick', Victoria Wood, Victoria Wood



Who has been an inspiration to you? Why?

My parents are the roots of me and therefore my inspiration. They
taught me through example, almost osmosis how to love, think, feel,
care, help, stand on my own feet, take responsibility. They never
gave me hoops to jump through or expected too much. They lived life
with a zest and gave their best to all they did and everyone around
them. My children have and do inspire me, as have and do my friends.
People who are not close to me, I might admire but they don't inspire
me. I'm a simple soul.



What book would you recommend to your fellow mobloggers to read and why?

Phew! My first love is children's stories, sometimes just for the
pure joy of the storytelling and for the releasing of the child in
the adult, but I'm going to plump for "Oranges are not the only
fruit" by Jeanette Winterson. A book I first saw as a television
drama, which I now own as a DVD, and one of the few books I have read
more than once. It is beautifully narrated; based in fact; has humour
and pathos; is rich with characters, and it informed and moved me.



What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

Don't think I'm the obsessive type! The nearest I get is problem
solving of all types! When I was young I loved those things where
you slid the plastic tiles around the square, and solitaire and
rubik's cube and those problem solving metal things that you take
apart and have to put together, jigsaws were ok - couldn't leave them
if they were out but too one dimensional - I liked to stretch my brain.

I did algebra for fun when I was at school, then I used to do the
Sunday Times brain teasers. At school, as a teacher, if there was
ever an organisational/timetable problem - I would solve it!
Suppose that is why I ended up in charge of the computers! A biggie
was my friend's house - she had had a very bad time and was
struggling to make ends meet and had been given some carpet which
she was quite pleased with, but it was odd shapes and she covered
bare bits with oddments. I measured and planned and cut and matched
and sewed and stuck to make a square, then she got some complimentary
plain carpet and we made a border for the square to make it fit the
room. A challenge on all levels and it is very hard to spot any
joins! Recently it was planning the work on the house and the
storage in the hall (drawing a plan on the computer etc) on a small
scale it's playing Scrabble and Sudoku.

OK Maybe I am obsessive when I get the bit between my teeth :)



Where do you go to my lovely, when you're alone in your head?

Oh FF!

Think it links back to the last question. I plan:- the house;
Beth's flat; possibilities for the future; possibilities for things
we might do as a couple; as a family; people I want to see and places
I want to go; how my friend Karen could use the teaching relaxation
skills I've just found out about..........and sometimes I look back
at the good things and put the bad ones away



If you had to draw a moblog family (and friend) tree, who would you
be linked to, and how?

Helen and Beth obviously. Through them and meetings in Leeds, DJD,
Steve and Jane Doe ( who came to visit me with her girls), Joe and
Suzi, Mr and Mrs FF, Crickson and Spiderbaby, Ninja Code Monkey, OJ
and her friends, Chris, Mr & Mrs Seaneeboy - sorry if I've forgotten
anyone. Through going to Newark to see Paintist - her and the Mr,
Maggie, Dhamaka and Geodyne - all of whom I have now seen several
times and seem to know quite well, and of course Strange Little Girl,
who I bonded with over a beer! Not forgetting Alfie and Uberspy oh
and Spike and friends! Hobo's visit to Leeds also brought Sir Findo
Gask (the man who never sits down and his wife SWMBO)

Cos' he came to see us in Norfolk and for all sorts of other
reasons Euphro. Bronxelf who came to Leeds on her England visit -
that was good. And of course my lovely friends from Canada Swamprose
and Factotum who came to stay with me for 4 wonderful days and whom I
followed to Leeds and then with Helen to Cambridge and Southend,
where I of course met 450Air and the family, and Sprocket.

Then there's Nige a very special moblog person whom I first met in
London, before the exhibition, along with Joker and Anya and Hotdog
was there too. Beth's exhibition brought Judo - Jule up to Leeds with
Alfie.

Then there are the people that I haven't met but would love to and
feel I know such a lot about from their blog - Caine in particular,
but Jigalong who treats us to such wonderful pics of Oz and
Lilitiger who took us round India, Mara and her shadows .... too many
to mention ..... then there's the one near home who always has an
intelligent comment and has never to my knowledge joined a meet yet -
I'm looking forward to that day Hildegard!

Posted by Viv

Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.

This finds me in Pembrokeshire, where I have lived with my family for just over 5 years, having moved out here from the lost city of Leicester, where I had been "passing through" for 25 years. Prior to that I spent my formative years in the wonderful county of Yorkshire, a place to which I would love to return.

Why do you moblog?

I was introduced to Moblog a couple and a half years ago by my friend The Tedster, who seemed to give up moblogging soon after I started. I continued because I enjoyed the comments my photos were receiving, and I also enjoyed the glimpses of other lives which moblog continually provides. One of the early "friends" I made on Moblog was Neutropenic Alex, and if anyone brought home to me the value of moblogging, he did!

What were you hoping not to be asked for interview52?

My age

Now answer it!

49 and a day

What is the most memorable thing you've ever had happen to you?

Children. Until I was 40 I was young, free and single. 9 years later I'm a broken old man with 4 children who can't afford a drink problem or a drug habit. Please give generously!

Who has been an inspiration to you? Why?

Tony Benn, a true Socialist, still.

What book would you recommend to your fellow mobloggers to read and why?

The Bible, and the complete works of Robert Burns.
Way back in the 90's, when I were a professional poet, I was booked to "do" a Burns Night. I tried to turn it down on the basis that I'm not Scottish, but the Braunstone Town Councillors were having none of it, so I went awa', and selected 6 Burns poems to perform. I did not even attempt a Scottish accent, so it's probably the only time the works of Robert Burns have been read in a Yorkshire Accent. There was a proper pipe band (all the way from Ashby-de-la-Zouche) and a lovely supper of Haggis wi'tatties and neeps, and the night was an unqualified success. At the end, as everything was being packed away, a very old lady came up and thanked me for "bringing Burns to life". She spoke very softly in a Scots accent. A year or so later I was talking to a friend called Clive Brett, who had been Mayor of Braunstone Town at the time of the concert. The old lady had been his mother, and had passed away not long after the concert. The only books she had ever owned in her long life had been the Bible and the collected works of Robert Burns.
Around that time also, something terrible and traumatic happened to me and a wonderful hospital Chaplain, Rev. Michael Forster, helped me through, and gave me a Bible.

What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?

My bike. I'm still riding it.

Where do you go to my lovely, when you're alone in your head?

You're not alone in your head very often when you have children, but, like Hari before me, I'm alone in my head when I cycle, which is one of the main reasons it is my sole form of transport.

If you had to draw a moblog family (and friend) tree, who would you be linked to, and how?

I've met a few mobloggers in the flesh; the Pandairos in Crewe, and a healthy dollop of the Yorkshire Chapter in Leeds, along with Sir Findo Gask and SWMBO, who'd travelled all the way from Stoke! (wherever that may be). There are other mobloggers I'd like to meet, and hopefully I shall do one day. Being out on a limb in Pembrokeshire, one can feel a bit cut off sometimes. It's funny, but I have a very real fear of meeting new groups of people - I go through agonising panic attacks whenever I have to sit on a committee or anything similar, but meeting mobloggers isn't quite so intimidating. I'm hopefully going to be in London for a Sustrans meeting sometime in October, so hopefully I'll get to meet some of the southern chapter then if time allows.
I think I'm linked by a bikechain to 540air, Harimanjaro, Nige, Taniwha, Filbert Fox & Baggieboy, Dookerdoo, Toddy, Dhamaka... keep the pedals spinning, guys'n'gals!

Posted by parabolichobo