Songs I used to hate.

Years ago I used to like all sorts of music, ELO, Beatles, Rolling stones, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, ACDC, bands like that. Who did I hate? Pretty much everyone my sister liked. Abba topped the list and then closely followed by Duran Duran, then there was all the electronic based music of the 80's, the new romantics movement, Moving Pictures, as I said, anything my sister liked. Now that I'm older, it's ironic, I know all the words to all the Duran Duran songs, Abba songs, ABC songs, Spandau Ballet songs the list goes on. There was one song though that I did enjoy when Duran Duran released it, Girls on Film. Probably not the song, more the film clip and especially when at the time, channel 10 used to play video clips late at night and could show them uncut. My sister had a massive crush on Alex Smith from Moving Pictures (we used to call him big nose), in fact she called the pub they were playing at one night, I think it was the Corner hotel in Richmond and to her amazement, he took her call. She was so shocked, all she could say to him was "Hi, I'm one of your biggest fans" (I'm sure he'd never heard that before). I just remembered the Adam Ant phase as well, again, I know all the words and melodies of his "hits" too. There is also all that 70's Disco music, Bee Gees, Motown and all the rest. It is all latent memory stuff, it's been lying dormant waiting for a release. Does this mean it will be used against me when I'm older? If only I could sing.

Twenty things about Clokeeeey.

1. I learnt to swim at age 32.
2. I was born at 11:59 on the 5th but mum and dad decided to put 12:01 on the birth documentation so that I could have the whole of the 6th as my birthday.
3. I enjoy watching the NFL, even though I don’t fully understand the game and the tactics.
4. My uncle took me to my first VFL game, Collingwood v Fitzroy semi final in 1979.
5. Don’t tell anyone but up until I was 6 years old, I supported Carlton. I was coaxed across to Collingwood by my Uncle. My dad barracked for North Melbourne and my Grandfather was a Fitzroy man.
6. My dad used to work 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week (at his own business) so that we could have what he didn’t as a child. He was strict but fair.
7. My uncle was a big influence on my life as a youngster; we used to see him more than dad as uncle used to take Sundays off (same business with dad). Unfortunately, he died aged 33 in 1980, he is still missed.
8. My brother in law was renting a house from me (I was executor for my grandfather’s estate) and we had a handshake agreement on the rent. He didn’t pay for a while, a long while actually and the issue was resolved only when I handed the matter over to an estate agent. Then he never missed a beat (bastard).
9. I have a very trusting nature, see 9 above.
10. When I was 10, my mum whacked me with a wooden spoon (as was the custom of the day) and it broke as it struck my pointy elbow. I laughed after that.
11. I was born and raised a catholic but after years in the catholic education system, I made up my own mind and rejected it all. I consider myself an Atheist.
12. My kids are baptized. It will be up to them to continue to believe or not as they grow older.
13. Monty Python ruled my life in my teens. I didn’t need grog, drugs or tobacco, just give me the Ministry of silly walks.
14. I used to have a wog boy mo until I was 18. Dad never taught me to shave (he was never home).
15. I’m shocking at telling jokes but I can be spontaneously funny.
16. I’ve only ever had 3 speeding fines ever, in 22 years of driving. Until today when I received 2 for the same day, same street, one hour apart. FUCK*
17. I love the smell of Vera Wang on women. Takes me to a special place, my honey knows where.
18. I visited the Bronx in New York and survived. We went to a night market where they had everything from voodoo to kites. One of the guys I was with was adamant that he wanted a photo of the voodoo lady and he nearly ate his camera when the bodyguard said NO! F*CK OFF!!!
19. My favourite flower/plant is the “Bird Of Paradise” (Strelitzia reginae)
20. Finally, I was overseas when Collingwood won the flag in 1990. Just my luck! I was in Venice and I called home six times to get scores and get a feel for the game. The hotel phone bill was about $150, worth it!

* 21. I don’t normally swear, only when I’m really pissed off at myself.

Angels on a stage.

Tonight my daughter, performing as part of the National Youth Choir sang her little lungs out. There was much animation in the performance and all the angels sang with much gusto. As a parent, there is nothing more exhilarating than watching your child on a stage, especially one as important as the Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre, but it could have been at the local shopping centre singing carols, or at the high school performing in the school play. I’m sure all parents feel the same way. The last concert with the Vienna Boys brought a lump to my throat. There she was, sharing the stage with one of the world’s most famous choirs. It was awesome and brought a slight moistness to the eye.

My son has his life all mapped out. At the tender age of 7, he’s asking all the questions, getting advice and generally setting up his life in order to become an AFL footballer. He wants to follow in his father’s foot steps and play for, who else but the Pies. My mother asked him if he would like to help her make some meatballs the other night, which he did, then she asked him if he’d like to learn to cook, to which he replied that yes he would, but only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday as on the other nights he’ll be training or playing football. Mum said he was deadly serious. A year ago he wouldn’t even come to the footy, this year, something twigged and he wanted to come to every game, he cheered loudly and started to recognize players. It’s another little twang of pride when your kids voluntarily enjoy something that you do. Both are keen supporters and maybe, one day, my girl will be out on the ground singing the national anthem and my boy and I will be in the crowd roaring as the last words ring out.

* Bevis, your 20 things are coming, can’t promise when but it will be soon.

The Melbourne Cup post....

The first Tuesday of November has come and gone. What a lot of build up for the "Race that stops a nation", well most of the nation I guess, coz I missed it. In past years I would have planted myself in front of the tube and made sure I saw all the build up, the race and the post race gumph. This year was different, I found myself at a house with no TV. I was out in the garden, pottering around, putting up a fence and spraying weeds. By the time I looked at my watch, it was 3:20pm. Hmmm, I guess the race is over. I wonder who won? Care factor, very little. I used my mobile to get the results, "look at that, Makybe Diva won, good on her". That was it, no more thoughts about the cup. Really and truly, no horse was going to beat her, all the challengers were back in the UK or Dubai but they weren't here. Therefore, if she stood up, she would win and did so. Well Done to all concerned.
I just find horse racing in general to be a slightly less random form of Tattslotto, it only exists for the gamblers. Nothing else, that's the only reason they have it. If the gambling wasn't tied to the sport, would there still be horse racing. You'd like to think so, would it still have the huge prize money? Probably not.
The AFL has signed some sort of deal with Betfair and TAB Sportsbet to "control" gambling on AFL matches. Not sure how you can control betting other than to not allow betting. They say that players are not allowed to bet on matches as the players code prevents them from doing so. Yeah Right!
OK, so my fine slimy blog frog pal Bevis tagged me for "20 things about me". I'll start working on that, I don't think I know 20 things about me but I'll give it a go.

PS: Connan O'Brien did his own look-a-like session on his show tonight. As usual, people had to look like him. Here is a Stamp from Finland compared to Connan. Which is which?

International rules is like Ice Hockey.

I went to the Fights and a game of International Rules Football broke out.

I can't believe the level of violence in this game tonight, mainly the Australians are thumping the Irish but they have started to catch up (in the fights anyway).

Enjoy your weekend, especially if you are have a long one (Melbourne cup is a great time of year).

Walk-off Homer.

I learnt a new sporting term today. Walk-off Homer. Now this is not a major Simpsons character throwing a tantrum and storming off to his trailer. It's a term that is used in Baseball where a batter in the last innings of a game (bottom of the ninth or beyond) who hits a home run to win the game. These feats are fairly rare, it's hard enough to hit a home run in the normal course of the game, but to do it in the last inning to win the game is real hero stuff. This happened today in the second game of the World Series. After a Grand Slam homer in the 7th by Konerko (also a very rare feat), Scott Podsednik of the Chicago White Sox hit a home run to break the tie and win 7 to 6. The White Sox lead the series against the Astros 2-0 as they travel to Houston.
So if you haven't worked out what Walk-off homer means, it just means we can all go home now, the game is won. In AFL terms, this is the equivalent of the engine starter at country football games, where the cars are parked all round the oval and they all start leaving at a point in the game where it is obvious a team has the game won.
As an aside, I've noticed that the Astros all have beards, this is obviously a team superstition thing.

The Mystery has been solve-ed.

OK, we can all sleep easy now. I have finally figured out the name of the guy I was seeing in my premonition. The guys name is P. O'Brien, not Brian xxx. Now if only I can figure out why he's trying to contact me.....

Ok, get back on with your lives.

Separated at birth.

Sugar Ray Leonard



Tiger Woods.

There was probably some 20 years between their births but there is an uncanny likeness, no?

Any other good 'uns?

Am I having a premonition?

Am I having a premonition?

I have an image inside my head. It’s an image of a guy I either went to university with or I worked with somewhere over the last 18 years. Who is he? Why has his image appeared to me know? Is something going to happen to him?
I’m sort of worried that this is a sign that something will or has happened to this guy. I figure that he wouldn’t pop up if he wasn’t trying to tell me something. I’m not usually a medium but this is getting a little weird now.
What’s he look like? Well he’s tall, straight brown hair, glasses, a little chubby and it’s freaking me out.
The name Brian seems to be prominent by I still can’t place him.

Who are you?

Tagged, post 23, line 5

Tagged, post 23, line 5.

I’ve been away on a short break, the kids have been with my parents for a few days down the peninsula and I’ve enjoyed the company of my girlfriend and her daughter for about half a week. I’ve come back inspired & excited and my kids are back and they are rejuvenated and ready for the start of school on Monday (well that part may be debatable).

Sports talk:
I think there is another Grand Final on this week, the NRL or something? Not a great fan of the game, but I do like it when it’s close and hard. I liked watching the 2003 GF when Penrith won. The tackle by the number 13 on the wing with 10 minutes to go, memorable stuff. Anyway, hope the Tigers win. Only reason being that they used to be Magpies didn’t they, before the merge?

Ok, On to the real business of this post. I was tagged by ChickyBabe in this meme that’s doing the rounds. I guess if you have hundreds of posts it would be a nostalgic trip down bloggery lane to find your 23rd post. For me, it was a matter of turn back a page and going, oh yeah, I wrote that a couple of weeks ago. So here is that memorable 5th line of my 23rd post. Enjoy. It’s from I'm calling you out. I'm pretty sure this post also had the most comments ever (for my site).

‘I'm on about this "parent" I saw this morning who was working on silently and deliberately bringing about the early demise of her children.’

Pretty harsh words when taken out in isolation?

So now I should tag some others, you can chose to comply or not, I don’t care but at least have a look at your 23rd post. So, Tag goes to Melbourne Girl, Bowlsey, Weasel, Elaine and Rouguemaze.

The Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

Ummmm.... So I was wrong.

Now that I'm back, I've looked at my finals predictions and could I have possibly got it more wrong? Saints, Crows grand final? What was I thinking, this is exactly why I don't gamble.
We were driving back from Canberra on Friday and spotted quite a few Swans supporters making the trip the Hume. I thought they were on a hiding to nothing, I again thought they would provide West Coast with little more than opposition for a couple of quarters and then fall by the wayside. Again, wrong. I watched the game last night after getting home at 6pm and it was a great, absorbing battle of the defenses. Not the free flowing goal fest that sends crowds into raptures as the goal umps flags are waved. This grand final reminded me of the 2002 grand final, which I have an emotional link to as the Pies almost pinched the flag from a stronger opponent.
So should the Eagles feel ripped off? Barry Hall should not have been playing, how he could get off the striking charge is beyond me. Two players were suspended for very similar charges earlier this year (Gehrig and Didak) and he he was able to plead it down to a lesser charge which allowed him to play. He was the difference as he was able to kick a couple of goals out of eight, you can say he was the reason the Swans now have the flag.

The Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix is run tonight and if Fernando Alonso comes 1st, 2nd or 3rd he will become the new F1 World Champion. After many years of domination by Michael Shumacher, the baton will be passed over to a new young gun. He started driving for the Minardi outfit so there is a small piece of Australia in the new World Champion elect. A new champion os what the sport needed, but the rules changes have conspired to enforce this change. What it has shown is the Ferrari must have spent a ton of money on every race, preparing new cars and getting the best of equipment to every race. Now they have to make an engine last 2 races, the tyres can't be changed and qualifying is a complete shambles, does anyone actually understand it?

School holidays.

Well it's time my little ones look forward to every couple of months, The school holidays! This September we're of up north to follow the sun, and stop halfway up. The nations capital will be our home for the next week so there may be no time for posting as I'm not packing a laptop and don't plan to spend time in net cafes other than to sip strong lattes.
Enjoy the footy this weekend, I think the Saints and Crows will win and play off in a repeat of the 1997 Grand Final.
Have a good week.

When the English win the ashes...

I'm gonna sick pussy onto them.

It's official, the Ashes are lost.

Or to be more correct, the Poms have won them back. As soon as the two last batting bunnies go out, the poms will go in, say "by gum it's dark out 'ere" and walk off. Game over.

Final test starts.

The Oval is alive with the sound of leather on willow. In the first hour, it was all willow, soon after drinks it was all Warney. He's a magician and he's just about ready to rip the Poms a new one. I might be getting a little ahead of myself, but who give a toss.
3 for 115 at lunch after being none for 70. It was a great little fight back. The funny thing is listening to the commentary, especially from old Geoffrey Boycott. That Yorkshire accent is a beauty and he talks absolute crap from start to finish, but we sort of love 'im.
I've just noticed something on the cricket telecast, that new grandstand at one end of the ground has 2 empty levels, this can't be right can it? I thought this was sold out. C'mon you pommy's what's going on?

AFL this weekend sees the semi final round. My sons second team, the Cats, are playing in Steak 'n Kidney Friday night and I'm expecting a close game. Sydney was hard done by last week, most commentators called it robbery. I didn't see the end of the game as I expected Sydney to win.
The other game in crow town between two teams no one really gives a toss about, except for the ferals Adelatians that support those two teams. Whoever wins it will make the trip across to Perth the following week and get belted. Good luck boys.

The US open has started, well it's almost over. The c'mon kiddy is through to the quarter finals and hopefully will win tomorrow and get to play Roger again.

woo hoo - You beauty Warney, 4 for.

Anyway, the tennis doesn't excite me much unless the Aussie Open or Wimbeldon are on. The French open is soooo boring and the US open is on at the wrong time of the day for downunder viewing, therefore it not very exciting, but to each there own.

Have I mentioned that I like watching those World Poker tournaments on SBS, it's fascinating watching. I hate to gamble my self and would never spend more that $100 in my life time on any form of gambling (I think I'm up to about $70 now), but I just enjoy watching others bet and raise and fold and going all in. I wonder how many others are addicted to watching this stuff?
But, what I have noticed is the proliferation of poker kits being sold in games stores. Is this a worrying trend? I had heard that places like Toys 'r Us were selling these kits but through outrage they stopped selling them (I believe).

Ok, that's about it for now, next time I write, I'll hopefully report that the Ashes have been saved.

Good night Kiddies. Go Hewitt.