Another trip (more pleasant this time) and another fellow-passenger out of context.

I sat down on a train a couple of weeks ago, and flicked through the MX. I looked up and saw a familiar face in a nearby seat. Who is that? Oh.

So I went over and said “Hi Dad.”

Hadn’t seen him in a while, and I’d been under the impression that we wasn’t getting out very much at present, so it was a surprise to me to find him heading to the other side of town on an excursion. We had a little chat till he got off the train a few stops later, heading for a favourite secondhand bookshop.

A month or two back while heading home I ran into my mum on a train. Those sorts of pleasant surprises happen from time to time.

Marita was reminding me on Saturday of Dragon’s song Young Years (a discussion of various music lyrics that culminated in my car gaining the nickname Black Betty).

Secret meetings at the river’s bend
Simple days when I called you friend
Came a time, we went separate ways — Dragon, Young Years

As it happens last week I had a sudden rush of nostalgia while listening to the radio and they got onto a discussion of “things we miss from our childhood”.

I quite frankly never believed it back then when I was told those days were the best of my life. But since I’ve seen my kids growing up and enjoying their school years, I have been looking back much more fondly on my own time at school. If I had to put my finger on it, it might be the memory of the innocence and the lack of responsibility that I miss the most.

Some of the people I knew back then, I’ve kept in touch with. Others I’ve encountered from time to time on my travels. At least one, tragically, didn’t make it this far.

So I know more-or-less what Raoul M, Mark B, Merlin T, Justine H, Konrad K and Sam V are up to, even if I don’t have time to catch up with some of them very often. I’ve even heard of or from Olivia F (née D), Mark S, Josh H, Conrad L, Stuart/Lisa/Tracy M and Andrew V in the last few years. I know some of them lurk on my blog.

But what ever happened Andrew K, Daniel I, Stephen T, Michael W, David H, Craig B, Matthew S, Ingrid H, Gar S, Josh B, Leon M and all those others who are only a brief entry on the FriendsUnited web site (if that)?

What happened to all those Greek kids that used to be my neighbours? What happened to that other Matthew, the prick who used to pick on me? What about Darren D — did he end up on a farm like he thought, or is he the same guy of that name who is the fire brigade spokesman?

Okay, they’ve FU’d up the FU web site a bit. What’s with having to click through twice to get to the profiles? But some of the people I remember are in here. OMG, this says Undine S has two kids. And Andrew K’s profile shows he’s still the same joker he always was. Stephen P became a pilot just like he wanted. A few people show up in Google, too.

I suppose we’ve all gone off in different directions, scattered across the country and across the planet.

Let’s have that quote from Ben Elton’s Blast from the Past again:

Every golden generation, every fresh-faced group of friends, must statistically contain those who will fall prey to the sad clichés of life. The things they never thought would or could happen to them. Divorce, alcoholism, illness, failure. Those were things that happened to one’s parents’ generation. To adults who no longer had their whole lives before them. It comes as a shock when the truth dawns that every young person is just an older person waiting to happen, and it happens a lot sooner than anyone ever thinks.

Yikes, what a nostalgia overload. I hope I’m not heading to an early mid-life crisis or something.

In each generation, most kids show boundless enthusiasm for creative pursuits. Whether it be drawing, building things, play-acting, whatever.

When I was a kid, there was a lot of Lego building going on. My sister and I constructed whole cities. Sometimes we’d stick to the official designs of the sets, sometimes we’d go out on a limb with our own creations.

Later I moved onto computers, and writing. And at one stage, I was helping with some of my friends to make videos. Video cameras and editing equipment had reached the price point where high schools could afford them, and so over a number of years, we churned out a Blakes Seven tribute, a Doctor Who tribute called “The Battle for Mecros”, and a whole series inspired by The Professionals.

The tapes of all these still exist. I must talk to Raoul (who wrote and produced most of them) about putting the best of them onto YouTube or Google Video. I’m not going to pretend they’re Oscar-winners, but we had a lot of fun doing them, and they do serve as a permanent reminder of our teenage years.

My kids have seen the Doctor Who tribute. They really enjoyed it. They noted my contribution in the title graphics (which alas didn’t meet my expectations, and led me to do a much better later version in preparation for a re-edit that never happened) and my credited appearance hidden inside a Cyberman suit. They watched the blooper clips, which included numerous fluffed lines and footage of putting out a burning Dalek with a fire extinguisher.

Combined with the presence in our house of a digital camera (that shoots movie clips) and Windows Movie Maker, it has inspired a flurry of short film-making. Not just in my house, of course — Chris Anderson mentions the proliferation of free movie editors in The Long Tail book, which I’m reading at the moment. This and other advances in technology are leading more and more people from being just consumers, to also being producers of content.

In fact both kids are embarking on separate Doctor Who tributes, with Isaac and his friend Adrian having been in pre-production for some months now. I’m not sure what the state of the script is in, but I did note with some amusement that at one point Adrian was declaring just about anything that would involve more than a smidgeon of effort to film be deferred to post-production. If they continued down that route, there’d be not a lot actually filmed, and an awful lot of post-production work involved. They have started work on getting props and sets and so on ready, but it seems there’s a way to go before the main shoot commences.

Thankfully some other films have made it to completion. Between them Isaac and Jeremy have completed about 10 short films, varying from live action (the “Two Guys” series… guess who have the starring roles?) to animation (starring a Lego Jack Stone figure).

Anyway my point is that kids’ creative outlets move with the times. And it’s great to see their minds at work.

I seemed to spend most of Fathers Day doing dadly things.

Like putting oil in the car. And cleaning the windscreen.

And painting (well okay, it was just street numbers on the bins).

And climbing ladders (just to move the John Brack a few inches downwards).

And pulling the computer apart to put a new video capture card in.

The kids gave me some cards made at school, and some nicknacks: chocolates, a bottle holder, car cleaning stuff, that kind of thing.

Hope all the other dads also had a good day today.

Turned 36 today.

Biggest present: A big framed print of what is probably my favourite painting, Collins Street, 5pm (John Brack).

Other presents: Books to read, CDs and DVDs to listen to and watch, a really nice (and expensive) dinner at Il Solito Posto, a really nice (probably inexpensive) home-made dinner and birthday greetings by email, SMS and card.

And the family sitting in the back garden in the (occasional) sunshine drinking tea, eating cake, chatting and bouncing on the trampoline and pogo-stick. Another great birthday.

(Couple of extra points added 8:45am Monday)

Superb preparation help: Marita, cleaning and tidying yesterday. (The house certainly hasn’t looked better since I’ve moved in.)

Obligatory pre-party crises yesterday: Washing machine broke down, leaking from inlet pipe. Water throughout laundry. Plus work hassles; many phone calls.

Today’s isolated drizzle: thankfully hit before things started.

Party ice: $2.75 per pack from 7-11. Cool. But why does it have a “Best before” date?! (March 2008, if you’re wondering)

Friends who visited: About 30 including kids. Good to see them all.

House non-warming gifts received: bottle of champagne, a pot plant, one of the aforementioned cakes, and some very popular scones and other baked goods.

Music: from a playlist on my iPod via the stereo. Got through about 75 of the 88 tracks.

Bigger kids kept occupied by: climbing in and out of the “fire escape” window.

Smaller kids kept occupied by: being held while bouncing on the trampoline.

Number of house tours done by me: Oh, at least half-a-dozen.

Food left over: Half a cake, many nuts, bread for dipping, dips.

Drinks left over: a number of beers, not so many softdrinks.

Moment of too much enthusiasm in a public place: When told of Geelong’s win (which I tipped at the last minute, but Marita didn’t… so it’s still Marita, myself and Rae vying for the trophy, one point between each of us).

Irony: Having had no particular criteria for scheduling, I chose a day when I knew Tony and Rae would not be at the football. But they didn’t come due to illness. And this meant it was inadvertantly scheduled at the same time as a kiddie birthday which knocked out a whole bunch of one circle of friends.

Food bought and then completely forgotten: 3 varieties of cheese, stuffed peppers, and yet another cake.

Thank you to all who came. (Uhh no, I didn’t invite blog readers, nor did I invite every single person I know.)

PS. Uh oh, now I’ve found out at least one person didn’t get the email invitation.

I had a reasonably bad cold last week, and I’m still periodically coughing yeuchhy stuff up very noisily. At its worst, I worked from home, which was actually pretty good — I reckon I got more done at home than I would have done at work, thanks to the tranquility.

Thanks to a contact in the industry I got a quick look around a railway station booking office last week. Conspicuous above one of the internal doorways (facing away from the customer window) was a Jesus Christ. Obviously they need all the help they can get to keep the trains running on time. (But apparently Our Lord had not been pleased that morning, as my train was cancelled.)

I never got around to having a proper housewarming party last year, but have finally organised a “1st anniversary since buying” party for some good friends and relatives. No, I’m not inviting the blogging world at large, sorry. Yes, I am going to have to work very hard in the next fortnight to make the place presentable.

About an hour before the Cats vs Dogs game started, I changed my tip from Dogs to Cats. And boy am I glad I did… they turned out to win by one point. I ended up with 6 tips out of 8 (the Carlton/Essendon draw counts as a point for everybody). As of the end of round 16 I’m top of the tipping ladder by a point to Marita, followed by Rae, so at this rate the ugly trophy may be making a return visit to one of our houses this September.

To my surprise, no unbearable pangs for chocolate… yet.

Josh (aka the madman) was in the pub again on Friday night. Alas, I didn’t have time to join him for a quick drink.

I like the reflection of the station, opposite, in this picture.

Mighty handy, this phone camera.