________  ________  ________
   2019-07-07                                   /        \/        \/    /   \
                                               /       __/         /_       _/
   Sit your ass  down son, let me  tell  you  /        _/         /         /
about my week because it's been a real one.   \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
                                                /        \/        \/    /   \
   In the  last FAX SEX file  I mentioned my   /        _/         /_       _/
uncle passed away suddenly, it was upsetting  /-        /        _/         /
but  over  the  last  week  it  has   become  \________/\________/\___/____/
genuinely  surreal. Let me  fill you in on a
few details first. He was found unresponsive in the bathroom and  an ambulance
was called, either  in  the ambulance  or  at the  hospital  they were able to
restart his heart but said he was unlikely to make it through the night and  a
couple hours  later  he passed  away.  Cause  of death  was cut  and  dried we
thought, he drank until his heart  or brain or whatever gave out and that  was
the end of that.

   Apparently not so.

   The hospital was reluctant to sign off on a heart attack as being the cause
of death so needed to do an autopsy.  Ok. Sure. So my family consented to that
and then they could claim the body and organize cremation.

   Again, not so.

   The autopsy was inconclusive so  the hospital  had to go further and sought
permission to remove the brain to check that and then some bruises appeared on
his  legs  and then  suddenly  the police  were at  my  80-whatever  year  old
grandmother's home  asking  questions about who  know's what. It's been a real
clusterfuck.

   So that's  been the bulk of  my  stress this week, there have been a couple
good bits, however.

   On Tuesday a team from work did one of our "not  mandatory but  very highly
suggested if  you  catch  our  meaning"  volunteer  days.  This  time we  were
volunteering  at  the  warehouse  of a  program that  takes  and redistributes
donated  gifts like toys and clothing to people in need on Christmas. The work
was really good, mindless unpacking,  sorting and  repacking  and was a really
interesting  look into the  way  those kind  of  programs  operate behind  the
scenes.

   It was a nice, wholesome way to spend a day and really derailed me from the
mental funk  caused by everything that had been going on. I'd gladly volunteer
my time there again.

   Then  on  Friday I had the privilege to  see Merzbow  play live,  an actual
dream come true,  and  he didn't disappoint.  He  was loud  and  visceral  and
confronting, it was an excellent show.

   The crowd was fascinating, almost an even split between between young artsy
types and  older artsy types, and we saw a few people we recognized, including
the  singer from Melbourne band Whitehorse which, if you've heard them, is  no
surprise  at all.  The venue was also quite amazing,  I hadn't been out  there
before. It's built in an old power substation so it's huge, like an industrial
cathedral, and sounded amazing.  I thought  Adelaide group Winter Witches  are
playing out there later in the year and  that would have been really  nice but
it looks like that's fallen through maybe, the listings have disappeared.

   A Melbourne artists named Cat Hope opened for him  and she was interesting,
though didn't really gel with me that much. During  her set, in comfy swirl of
alcohol, dissociatives, heat lamps and artificial  smoke I  scribbled down the
following:

      "We  all speak different languages,  music is a  way to translate our
   language into  a something others  will  find  easier to understand  but
   noise  is pure  language and can  be understood only through experience.
   You listen to a  noise  artist long enough and  you begin to  understand
   their language and become in tune with  it,  you  listen to  a new noise
   artist  and   you  are  reminded   that  noise  can  be  dissonant   and
   uncomfortable."



EOF