(*) Friday after Thursday before Saturday

Hiya. Just a quick newsy update this time. Hope you're keeping well, happy, safe, having a laugh and enjoying those you're with.

The car's going really well for me, handy little zippy thing. It's still a bit of a novelty for me, I'm embarrassed to admit still - I went for a drive for an hour late the other night - because I could! D'oh! hahahaa. Petrol costs $1.089/litre here at the moment - not good. Gees, I remember as a kid when it was 22c/l!!! Then when I was first driving, it was stuck on 49.9c/l for seemingly for ever! Those days are sure gone forever.

I went to see a free solicitor last Saturday. They run a free advisory service every Saturday morning, and it was good to hear from a legal perspective what my rights as a divorced dad with equal custody are, and how I have not been exercising them at all for the past 2 years. Well, that's gonna start changing from now on. M will not like it - she will jack-up about it for sure, but I'm totally within my rights to see more of the boys than I currently am, and without her ridiculous draconian restrictions. So, it's tread softly for a little while.

Scalp & eczema - again! I've had 2 whole weeks straight without any pain or itching or anything yucky  - that's been a first in a long, long time. But - for no apparent reason (probably a delayed reaction to the stress of seeing the solicitor etc), literally within 24 hours - bang. It came on suddenly, and it's all yuck again. Damn - I was really getting used to not having to take pain-killers to lay on my pillow at night so I can at least pretend to try and get some sleep! D'oh! I'll keep trying the Neutrogena T/Plus shampoo treatment - it's worked wonders upto this flare-up. Grizzle bugger &%$#@! It's just annoying, that's all.

One of the results of this emotional and physical disruption has been the disruption to my body-clock. I just haven't been able to sleep at night (my mind won't turn off!), and there's been a few morning's when I've watched the sunrise from my pillow - argh! It's a catch-22 - if I don't get enough sleep i get a little potty, which doesn't help me relax enough to fall asleep... argh! It's slowly getting better tho - fingers' crossed.

Tomorrow will be Thoon's First Birthday! One whole year of having a little goldfishie of my own to love and cuddle and... well OK, skip the cuddling bit... Thoon IV is going 100% well - fantastically well, in fact. He knows when I come into the room (dancing fool that he is), and knows right away what's going on when the lid opens at feeding time! Chomp!

We've had more good rain here recently, and even the dam is at 84% capacity - thank goodness! Unfortunately, a bottlebrush in our backyard blew down in a big windstorm about 2 weeks' ago. It was a lovely big bushy thing, about 5-feet tall, but now it's all cut up and gone. Oh well... now there's a whole new lot of tomato plants and some herbs (legal herbs, thank you! hahahaa!) to keep the water upto.

My housemate gave me a free pass to get into the Long Track Championships the other week - it's a dirt motorbike race-thing. i dunno - it doesn't 'do' anything for me. i just went to have a look-see, get a bit of mud splashed onto my face, smell the bbqs and hear the roar of the bikes. i only stayed for about half-an-hour... like I said, that whole scene doesn't do anything for me. But it was still fun to go and see it all the same - especially at the price! 'One of the perks of living with a journalist' my housemate laughed.

I did something I haven't done in over 2 years the other Sunday - I went to an informal church service. I still don't really know why I went, except maybe I guess to meet new people. But - nothing had changed (it was a different church and service than the one I used to go to), and I left after about half an hour. I could go on about it, but I think I'll just say - it was once again a reminder of the lifelessness and joylessness of churchianity.

Circus tomorrow - whoo hoo! I love the way they advertise 'family prices' - for the three three boys and myself - $61!!! Sheesh! At least it's a 2-hour show.

Check out this site: Weebl & Bob... what can I say? Enjoy some absurdity! Have a look at all of them!

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On This Day...
Born: Allan Tate (writer, 1899); Jodi Foster (actor, 1962).
Died: Joe Hill (political activist, 1915).
Useless Trivia:  a 7.76 meter (25+ ft) tall sunflower was grown in The Netherlands in 1986.
My Soundtrack: Jimi Hendrix Live @ Monterey, 1967; "A Hard Days' Night", The Screaming Blue Highland Jellymen of Yeoval Mens' Spittle Choir and Slightly Yoghurt Reservists (Inc.).

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Cyalayta
Mal (ie. Mallard the Quackers)   :o)

"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"Nuts"  (US General, Battle of the Bulge 1944, in reply to German surrender demand)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)