Ask Carroll

[Beerfan]

g

not meaning to be a dickhead Matty but I could take you somewhere and with exactly the same set-up as me I would catch twice as many fish as you.

But that's exactly what I mean. I'm not talking about being taken to a spot and having a hook baited, snapping a photo with a fish. It's the just being around someone who knows their shit and the small things you can absorb almost by osmosis that become stepping stones. A lifetimes experience is not yet available via paypal transaction.

The same would go for surfing. Where I grew up there were no adults who surfed, kids mostly moved away after year 10 and most of the surfing I saw was a static image in a magazine. Amazingly, a few of those kids ended up on the pro tour, so maybe it's not such a bad thing. I'm still in a rehab phase so I'm a long way from being able to consider this level of style adjustment but it's been very much on my mind as I learn to surf again. Mostly it all just goes out the window once I get a wave though. Gradually getting there.

I'll take you to a secret spot in the heart of stockland Shellharbour mate, you'll come home with just about any kind of fish/crustacean you want. Don't tell anyone about it though.

[lostman]

1. What's your take on this "race row" and will it really be the death of ASL if legal proceedings do occur?

2. Having seen you on TV and in the flesh once or twice...
Has anyone referred to you as "apeish"? And if so did you sue?

3. Do you agree that this Myers fellow seems abit of a knob?

[Natho]

Fishing doesn't have to be about killing stuff. We let at least 90% of the fish we catch go. Only ever keep what you need to eat and no more. If you don't like killing then let em all go. It's the fun of catching them.

[lostman]

^ = knob
I'm sure all those fish find it real fun! A real hoot!

[Nick Carroll]

I like that comment "how I look on a wave".

It's "how I look at the wave" spark.

To me your perspective on the wave is at the heart of everything you do on it.

[Nick Carroll]

1. What's your take on this "race row" and will it really be the death of ASL if legal proceedings do occur?

2. Having seen you on TV and in the flesh once or twice...
Has anyone referred to you as "apeish"? And if so did you sue?

3. Do you agree that this Myers fellow seems abit of a knob?

1. MM is a client of mine so I can't really give you a "take" on this at the moment.

2. People constantly slag off at me, for fcuk's sake it's part of being occasionally seen in public. "Neanderthal" is just one of the kinder expressions people have used. It has never occurred to me to sue anybody as a result. Then again it hasn't occurred to any ambulance chasing legal firm either.

3. Nathan's not a knob, though he may look like one given the situation, he's an intelligent bloke who's busy trying to raise a family and do a good job making movies for Taylor Steele. I don't think he had any idea of the pungent connotations of the "ape"-word within the context of Australian race relations.

[Lucky Al]

nick do you still smoke cones? if not was it hard for you to stop? any ill effects?

[Lucky Al]

by ill effects i mean withdrawal symptoms.

[Lucky Al]

nick what's the meanest thing you've ever done to someone? if you'd rather not say then give us the second or third-meanest.

[Lucky Al]

nick have you ever had a good surf with the eurythmics' "love is a stranger" stuck in your head?

[alakaboo]

Matticus there are old blokes fishing on the beach near you all winter. Go and say g'day, soak up some of their knowledge.

[Lucky Al]

nick how does raymond carver's poem "luck" make you feel?

[philw]

Lucky Al, will you please post that poem here please, I can't find it anywhere.

[Lucky Al]

I was nine years old.
I had been around liquor
all my life. My friends
drank too, but they could handle it.
We’d take cigarettes, beer,
a couple of girls
and go out to the fort.
We’d act silly.
Sometimes you’d pretend
to pass out so the girls
could examine you.
They’d put their hands
down your pants while
you lay there trying
not to laugh, or else
they would lean back,
close their eyes, and
let you feel them all over.
Once at a party my dad
came to the back porch
to take a leak.
We could hear voices
over the record player,
see people standing around
laughing and drinking.
When my dad finished
he zipped up, stared a while
at the starry sky - it was
always starry then
on summer nights -
and went back inside.
The girls had to go home.
I slept all night in the fort
with my best friend.
We kissed on the lips
and touched each other.
I saw the stars fade
toward morning.
I saw a woman sleeping
on our lawn.
I looked up her dress,
then I had a beer
and a cigarette.
Friends, I thought this
was living.
Indoors, someone
had put out a cigarette
in a jar of mustard.
I had a straight shot
from the bottle, then a
a drink of warm collins mix,
then another whisky.
And though I went from room
to room, no one was home.
What luck, I thought.
Years later,
I still wanted to give up
friends, love, starry skies,
for a house where no one
was home, no one coming back,
and all I could drink.

[lostman]

Strongly disagree about Mr Myers! For someone in his position to describe anyone of colour as "apeish" is not only naive but reeks of latent racism. His pathetic offerings since, ie his public letter, show him to be a complete asshole whose arrogance is astounding. Live by the sword , die by the sword. He deserves whatever comes his way.

Thoroughly enjoyed your book by the way! It must have been a very difficult experience but ultimately I imagine very rewarding.
Would you have written it if your brother had not had his problems with addiction?
I felt there was a whole lot missing about TC' rise to the top, he made it all seem too easy, that could make an interesting read.

[Nick Carroll]

nick do you still smoke cones? if not was it hard for you to stop? any ill effects?

Nah I pretty much stopped smoking cones in 1985. Had some withdrawal symptoms that I identified as related to the tobacco content. I would smoke dope every now and then after that but never in the same magnificent quantities.

Ive done many mean things over the years! One that really sticks out was when I was about eight. We had a neighbour nearby whose mum and dad were Dutch/Vietnamese, a daughter and a son. The son was my age and was afflicted with cerebral palsy and some kind of mental restriction too. I liked him and we hung out together a lot; I think maybe I was his only real friend. I used to look after him at school and make sure nobody bullied him. The daughter was a couple of years older than me and was clearly destined to be very good looking as she grew up. She wasnt too keen on hanging around with younger boys. Anyway one day we got into a disagreement about something and I recall this deep resentment build up in me, as the argument went on, it grew and grew. Finally I burst out, "Well you wouldn't know anyway, you're not really Australian!" She looked as if I'd slapped her. I was furious and humiliated by what I'd said. The parents hustled me out of the house. Much later she became a heroin addict but I am pretty sure the two things are only distantly connected if at all.

re the Eurythmics, I cant remember but I bet I have, I like the Eurythmics.

re Ray Carver's poem, it puts me strongly in contact with a sense of alone-ness. I know exactly what he means by wanting to come home to an empty house, though not so much hoping for the booze. I like his sly use of the word "friends" in this poem. It feels to me that he is getting at these twin human needs, you want to be by yourself and you also want to be gathered into the noise and mess of loved ones. You want to be alone and you want to be saved from being alone. It seems also to be very a poem of its time. I mean who drinks collins mix these days.

[Nick Carroll]

Strongly disagree about Mr Myers! For someone in his position to describe anyone of colour as "apeish" is not only naive but reeks of latent racism. His pathetic offerings since, ie his public letter, show him to be a complete asshole whose arrogance is astounding. Live by the sword , die by the sword. He deserves whatever comes his way.

Thoroughly enjoyed your book by the way! It must have been a very difficult experience but ultimately I imagine very rewarding.
Would you have written it if your brother had not had his problems with addiction?
I felt there was a whole lot missing about TC' rise to the top, he made it all seem too easy, that could make an interesting read.

Well lostman, I would suggest it is possible for people to look like assholes for brief periods in their lives when in fact they are not. Judge not lest ye be judged and all that.

Thanks for the comment on the book! It would have been a very different book if our lives had been different. As I try to explain in it, it seems to me that Tom the brilliant surfer and Tom the addict are intertwined - the same qualities drove both Toms to take shape. So maybe a world in which Tom was not an addict might have been a world in which Tom was, I dunno, a chippie or something, not a surf star at all.

Also as I try to explain in it, Tom's rise seemed almost pre-ordained, it wasnt so much a question of him having to overcome terrible obstacles as it was the obstacles being unable to stop it from happening. I would be cautious of the tendency to look for "heroes journey" type patterns in that book, we've all been heavily programmed to look for them thanks to countless movies, sport hero books, etcetc, but they're never real, they're just myth, and they always come undone.

[pirate_agenda]

tom's rise was well documented in his first autobiography from memory (read it 4 times back to back as an 11 year old)? no need to re hash it all.

still need to pick up the new one.