Mallard's Blog Diary: September 2004

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Warning!

Mallard may explode without warning

M
EXPLOSIVE

Thank you to Third Daughter for alerting me to this online silliness!!!

Magical Name Acronym Generator

M	Mystical
A	Accurate
L	Light
L	Lively
A	Awesome
R	Rich
D	Dainty

M	Misunderstood
A	Ambitious
L	Luxurious
J	Juicy
A	Adventurous
M	Magical

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

(*) My Blog Degree

The University of Blogging

Presents to
Mallard

An Honorary
Bachelor of
Self Portraiture

Majoring in
Attention Seeking

Signed
Dr. GoQuiz.com

Blogging Degree
From Go-Quiz.com

(Check out this fun page of quizzes)

(*) Stoopid spam

"Pac-Man is Back!"
Play Pac-Man right on your PC - gte your free copy on CD NOW!

Deleted, of course! I'd prefer SPACE INVADERS - naturally!

(*) Unconscious Mutterings

I say ... and you think ... ?

Diminishing:: youth
Fed up:: election hype
3:00 AM:: insomnia
Interfere:: paranoia
Often:: itch
Hay:: drought
Prediction:: a lucky guess
Homophobia:: scared of the unknown
Booty call:: what the what...?
Enunciate:: prop - er - ly

On This Day...
Born: Ed Sullivan (Tv guy, 1901); Peter Finch (Aussie actor, 1916).
Died: Harpo Marx (comedian, 1964); Miles Davis (jazz player, 1991); Herman Melville ('Moby Dick', 1891); WH Auden (poet, 1973).
Events: St Wenceslaus of Bohemia born!
My Soundtrack: Cold Chisel "East"

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)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)

Monday, September 27, 2004

(*) Monday Madness

Name THREE of your........

1. Pet Peeves: liars, gossip, tv ads that repeat endlessly tv ads that repeat endlessly tv ads that repeat endlessly
2. Favorite Sounds: the ocean, laughing children, wind in the trees
3. Desk Items: pen-holder, fishtank, red motorbike (a plastic toy...!)
4. Biggest Fears: dying alone, falling over backwards, staying the way I'm feeling now for much longer!
5. Biggest Challenges: befriending and trusting new friends, middle age, deteriorating health
6. Newest 'Toys': scanner, Beatles DVD, watering system
7. Most Used Words: and, if, d'oh!
8. Most Mispelled Words: resurrection, loopey, donlt
9. Favorite Disney Characters: Eeore, ...
10. Bookmarks on Your Homepage: Abebooks.com; footchair.blogspot.com; www.findagrave.org

On This Day...
Born: Avril Lavene (1984); Meat Loaf (1946)
Died: Rory Storme (and the Hurricanes) (1972); Gracie Fields (1979); Clara Bow (the "It" girl, 1965)
My Soundtrack: "Anthology 1" (Beatles); local radio

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)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)

Saturday, September 25, 2004

(*) 20 quick ones

Name 3 of your favorite.......
1. Colors - orange, purple, green
2. Pizza Toppings - bacon, cheese, brussel sprouts
3. Department Stores - Big W, Grace Bros, K-Mart
4. Flavors of Candy - orange, strawberry, lemonade
5. Scents of Candles - blueberry, lemon, citrus
6. Days of the Week - Saturday, Thursday, Friday
7. Vegetables - carrot, sweet potato, brussel sprout
8. Fruits - banana, orange, green grapes
9. Meals to cook - chicken & mushrooms, spaghetti bolognaise, sandwich surprise
10. Kitchen Gadgets - can opener, rubber can-lid opener, frypan
11. Olympic Sports - rowing, sailing, track.

1. What's "it" all about, anyway? - be happy and content with what you have.
2. What radical political ideas do you have, if any? - party politics are a joke.
3. Do you believe that you 'fit' the profile of your astrological star sign? - about 75%.
4. Will blogging survive 2005 or is it a fad? - hmmm, I'll let you know in 2006!
5. Do you Ebay? If so, what and how often? Is it a full-time job, part-time hobby, or just to clear the junk from your house? - never used Ebay.
6. True or False: When I vote, I am all for one party. - false.
7. Meat or veggie sauce on your spaghetti? - meat!
8. Would you ever be on a TV Reality Show? - no way!
9. What is one thing (or place) that you would like to do (or see) that you have not yet done (or seen?) - watch a sunSET over the ocean (preferably with someone I really care about).
10. Do you answer memes honestly? - what on earth is 'memes'?!?

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

(*) Mobile battery going well

That mobile battery is wonderful! I really HAD forgotten what it was like to have a battery that actually holds its' charge for such a long time! Whoo hoo!
(See my previous post about my battery here:
http://maljam.blogspot.com/2004/09/battery-arrives.html )
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The weather has been glorious this week. Spring has sprung with a vengeance! I was even inspired to plant a small flowering shrub in the driveway garden yesterday arvo, as well as check the driveway garden sprinkler system was working efficiently and effectively. All this sunshine (and a bit of rain along the way... a little rain, not much tho! It's still a drought out here, you know!) is making the backyard grass multiply in alarming proportions. The whipper snipper came into play yesterday evening - result: Snipper 1 ~ Grass 0. Maybe it's the warmer weather, but I even baked a chocolate cake yesterday as well! Gawd - what's happening to me?!? And the vacuuming, and the mopping - I even washed my curtains! Argh!

At least the eczema has settled down a bit today - thank gawd.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

On This Day...
Born: Mark Hamill (Star Wars) 1952; William Faulkner (author) 1887;
Fletcher Christian (Mutiny on the Bounty) 1764.
Died: John Bonham (Led Zeppelin's drummer) 1980.
Events: Chubby Checker's "The Twist" No. 1 in 1960.
My Soundtrack: local radio - the footy previews!

On This Day (yesterday...)...
Born: Gerry Marsden (Gerry & the Pacemakers) 1942; Jim Henson
(Muppets) 1936; Linda McCartney (Wings & the late Mrs Paul McC)
1942; F. Scott Fitzgerald (author) 1869; Garth Porter (Sherbet).
Died: Dr Seuss 1991 - a great loss!!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)

(*) Friday after Thursday before Saturday

I say ... and you think ... ?

Pointless:: telemarketing evangelism
Sadistic:: teenage girls in shorts
Bunny:: Souths
Betrayal:: churchianity
Oliver:: Fitz-...
Star Wars:: Wookie
Let it ride:: Rev it up, little boy and...
Ray of light:: Sunrise
Tight:: bank manager
Gadget:: sciccors

1. My toilet is the most used piece of furniture in my house.
2. The one electronic 'gadget' that I use most often is my puter mouse.
3. My favorite appliance, and the one I absolutely cannot live without is the fridge.
4. One thing that I thought I just HAD to have at one time, and I now barely ever use, is my hat with sleeves.
5. I find it easiest to keep in touch with family and friends via email.
6. I own more cd's (or other music media) than I do sox.
7. All my important addresses are stored in/on my address list on my desk.
8. If I had to live without TWO keys on my keyboard, I would choose 'End' & 'Print Screen'.
9. I probably own about 2 pieces of software that I haven't used in years.
10. There are a few food items that I try NEVER to run out of, and those would be milk.

(Thanx to Third Daughter for alerting me to these pieces of loopiness!)

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Thursday, September 23, 2004

(*) Thursday is before Friday and after Wednesday

I heard some sad news this week. An old lady who'd been a great friend and associate in my past has passed away. She was one of those people who just leave their positive mark on you. Fran was an elderly lady (in her 80's), but she always had the time to stop and listen and say hello to people. She was a great encourager, and she would always call you by your name. She had a great dimension of always wanting to keep moving forward on her lifes' journey, even though she had all the right to sit back and relax during her autumnal years. She'd lived a full and active life, but was always seeking to do what 'the Lord' wanted her to do, each single day. A special lady. Words don't cut it to describe the effect this lady had on not only me, but many many people I also knew over the years. Her funeral was held at the church I used to attend back in Sydney years' ago, and by all accounts it was packed. It was a combination of a sad and joyous occasion. Fran was well loved and will be greatly missed by many people, but those of us who knew her know that she lived for 'the life to come', and for those who think of such things are greatly comforted that she's having a wow of a time right now - where she always knew she was headed. Fran - thank you for your life of simple obedience, caring and kindness. I'll miss you. And I know I'm not alone in that thought either.

On a total change of tack... I got back my tax assessment notice today. You always swallow when you see the envelope. you don't really know what the taxmans' gonna pull on you sometimes, no matter how simple or well planned out you are with your tax calculations. Anyway - it came back exactly as I'd calculated - nil! Whew!

Again, let's change direction yet again... living with my housemate can be fun for most of the time (when she's not stressed about the clowns at her work, poor thing). We both have a 'zany' whacko sense of humour (as if you couldn't imagine), but in lots of ways we are chalk-and-cheese too. Like the DVD's we choose to watch. She's into Quinton Tarantino movies - she got herself 'Kill Bill' the other day. Good on her, it's just that I'm not into those kinda things. That's cool. In this place, we go from one extreme to the other. She's watching "Kill Bill", and what am I watching? "The Sound of Music"!!!! hahahahahaaaaa! Talk about the opposite ends of the spectrum! hahahahaa! But then, she taped "Mary Poppins" off the TV the other week, so - go figure! hahahaa!

The eczema is better today - go figure! (gees, I hate those Americanisms! Shutting up now!)

On This Day...
Births: Ray Charles (1932); Bruce Springsteen (1949); Mickey Rooney (1920); Jason Alexander (1959).
Events: Autumn Equinox - (ie. all the chickens become moose for a day).
My Soundtrack: "Strange Brew" - Cream; "33 1/3" - John Farnham.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

(*) News blog page

I've changed this blog a little bit (again! lol). Instead of posting the funny, bizarre and funny news stories I stumble across, from now on I'll be adding them to this blog here. I want this one here to be my 'main' blog (as such), and the other two (Foot'n'Chair and Silly News) can be like extra ones. Feel free to check them out anytime.
Silly News

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

(*) Eczema Awareness Week 2004

Eczema Awareness Week 2004 - Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 September 2004

The Eczema Association of Australasia Inc's (EAA) educational site offering you practical information about living with or caring for someone with eczema.

This website has been designed to assist:

* People who think they may have eczema
* People who have been formally diagnosed with eczema by a medical practitioner and wish to learn more about the skin disease and how to better manage and treat their symptoms
* Carers of toddlers/children or people with eczema
* Others who wish to improve their understanding of this often debilitating skin disease.

The site contains general information about eczema, its prevalence, symptoms and potential causes. It features pictures of eczema and real life stories from eczema sufferers, including Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and newly appointed Patron to the Eczema Association of Australasia, the Hon. Jackie Kelly MP, who suffered from eczema as a child.

This site also outlines further information and support available, ranging from eczema-related organisations and support groups world-wide, to a unique 'skin condition information service.' It also features information about treatments available from Australasian-based eczema product manufacturers.

By simply visiting this site, you've taken the first step towards becoming "eczema educated."

Thank you for your interest and best of luck on your journey towards better health.

The Eczema Association of Australasia

I've suffered from recurring eczema in my scalp for about 4 years' now. It's annoying - it comes and goes for no apparent reason, tho I personally think a combo of stress and diet has something to do with it for me. My scalp gets very sore, with itchy weeping sores. Over the years of suffering this (I never had eczema as a kid), parts of my hair have fallen out (just from constant scratching - more of a habit now than anything). But there's still plenty of hair up there, folks! The most annoying this is that there's no 'ready solution' to get rid of it - I've spent and wasted $$$ trying to find good ointments, creams, lotions and shampoos. The cream my GP prescribes lasts about 2 months, and seems to bring only a temporary relief during that time. It's not a contageous thing, but it's more embarrasing than anything - there are days when my scalp feels so sore that I won't go out in public without a hat!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Monday, September 20, 2004

(*) Another response

I wrote a long email to an old friend the other day, in response to the way I reacted to their not really appreciating the whole blog/email/chat thingy re. communicating your feelings that I've been using so much over the last period of time. He asked what happened between 'Ex' and I. Here's an extract from it. (Names and places have been changed to protect the flummerworten... lol)

" Please accept my most humble apologies for the generic emails of late - life's been a bit nutty about here recently (as if that's some kind of excuse). And yes, the language is changing viz. emails and blogging and chat etc etc, whether we like it or not. I've been communicating with people online for about five years now, and I'm just very comfortable with that form of interrelating. Well, that's just the way it is for me, right or wrong! I'm a Baby-Boomer/Baby-Buster mixing it up with Generation-Y! (I'm not writing to create art here, I'm just writing to put feelings down. If somebody reads and responds, that's nice. If not, that's nice too).

What happened to Ex and I? The easiest way to say it is that - I went mad, and she couldn't live with that, and decided to walk away rather than walk with me and help me through it. That's life - it's shitty, but that's the way things work out when you trust people to be there for you! She divorced me, I resigned from all ministry, I suffered through two nervous breakdowns, I was falsely accused and then wrongfully arrested in relation to child-related matters (since all cleared up), and to top it all off the local church decided gossip was a good means of disseminating versions of the truth. Needless to say, nowadays I loathe anything to do with Churchianity. If anyone tries to 'soothe me' with pat off-the-cuff Bible verses, the hairs on my neck rise. I don't go to a church anymore. Actually, a lot of people who were acting as my good friends when I was in full-time ministry both in and out of the church now totally ignore me. It's not like a paranoia thing either - over the period of three years I have been snubbed, had phone calls and messages not returned from people I expected a whole lot more from. But - people are just people, like it or lump it. So, I've been forced to walk away from a whole way of living (that I know realise was totally false and empty - the church-stuff, that is).

Ex and I didn't have a huge fight nor did things get really messy or bitter - nothing like that. At first we decided and agreed together (with a marriage counsellor) that we needed some time apart to sort through our issues. When I did approach her to keep working things through with her, she'd already made up her mind that she didn't want to, and that "our relationship is finished." Easy as that. I had no say in the matter. Ex's a good woman, but as stubborn as a mule when she gets it into her head - when she sets her mind one way, there's absolutely no way to alter that mindset. And, so it was. There was nothing I could do to make her change her mind or see things in any other light - her mind was already closed. Within 6 months of our separation, she was already seeing another bloke. And now she's marrying him.

The boys think he's a nice guy (he seems to be), and I think it's great that they're all happy together. Ex is very possessive of the boys - there's no legal hassles or custody issues - nothing like that at all between us. I can see the boys whenever I want - technically. Although in practise it's only when it suits her, which drives me absolutely nutty. The boys miss me terribly, but Exs' stubbornness does not allow me the right to see the boys at their place at any time! Something has to always be 'organised' at a certain time and place, just so the boys and I can just hang out together! The spontaneity that we have always loved as being a unique part of ourselves has now to be a planned event. It's not the best, but it's what is happening, and I'll take what I can get. Hopefully when she settles down from her wedding and stuff, things might settle down a bit as well. Her husband doesn't have an issue with me (as such) being the boys' father... except that Ex's protectiveness prohibits me from actually meeting him! Isn't that ridiculous? He's met and even had meals with my mum and my brother, but not with me! Crazy $#ite! Well, that's just life. (Not as we know it, Jim... not as we know it...).

I moved to the Central Coast in the middle of 2002, because I was getting frozen-out of too many friendships here. People walking on the other side of the street and whispering behind hands - that sort of thing. But when I'd ring and try to talk to these same people, they'd say there's nothing wrong, and let's catch up sometime. When I'd try to arrange a time and place to do that with them, they'd beg off with some excuse. Once - I understand. But over and over again? It got too chilly to live in the same town with self-righteous a$$holes like that - I was still trying to recover from my second breakdown. The lies and gossip that went around I can actually trace to one church elder, who flatly denies it, but I know it was him. ^%$#@. Anyway, the 'grand experiment' of living away from 'here' lasted 12 months. Basically - I missed the boys too much. It's always about the boys. If I was shitty father (which even Ex acknowledges I am not!), I'd just piss off and live in Greece! But it's about the boys - I love them too much. They are an indivisible part of my life, and being physically separated from them is one of the main reasons my mental and physical health is sliding downhill at an alarming rate.

I'm just talking here, OK? I'm not looking for answers, I'm just talking and seeking a listening ear. This has been a lot of the way I've been communicating with some very good friends over the last few years, is by writing - just talking, letting off some steam, thinking as I talk as I write - however it comes out. These people I've known well now understand and appreciate that, and can see thru the smoke enough to see what's just huff and what's really elemental with me. That's fine. blah blah blah.

I mean, what I miss most in all of this is not having anyone 'here' to just hang out with. Someone to just bounce ideas off with, to laugh with, to hang out with. That's one of the hardest parts. Just having someone physically around to listen, not give answers, but just 'be there' to listen. That's all I wanted. But after Ex divorced me (in December 2002), that really ripped out my confidence in trusting other people too closely again. So, in many regards, that's one of the reasons why I write 'generic emails', because it's a way of not getting too close to people! hahahaa! Does that make it a bit clearer? " (nb. Italics are mine!)

It's interesting reading that again after a day or two of having sent it. That final paragraph sums it up in a nice way for me, I think. I always dreamed of having someone to grow old with. But now I'm not sure I have the inner self confidence to be able to trust someone that closely again! That scares me, too, feeling like that.

On This Day...
Births: Romulus, founder of Rome
Deaths: Jim Croce (1973)
Soundtrack: The White Album (Beatles); local AM radio.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell )

(*) Darwin stubbie

Have I ever told you (all of you out there listening intently with baited breath awaiting patiently... pmsl!) about my "Darwin Stubbie"? 'What the %$#@ is a Darwin Stubby, Mallard, you quackers?!" I hear you reply. Good question. A Darwin Stubbie is a really BIG bottle of beer, brewed and bottled in the Northern Territory of Australia. It's like an Aussie icon, altho it's rarely seen in these southern climes. How big is 'big', again I hear you enquire? Well, it holds 2 litres of NT Draught beer (4.9% alc/vol), is about 30cm (1 foot) tall, and weighs about 4kgs! That's for just ONE bottle of beer! Around the top of the bottle is embossed a water buffalo's head, complete with horns. I'd only ever seen one once before, and that was on the top shelf of a bar in town here back in 1983! Before then, the Darwin Stubby was somewhat of an urban myth, an enigma, a teenagers' fantasy. Like the one that got away...

Luckily, when my (ex) parents-in-law took their campervan up to the Territory a few years' ago, they brought back a few prezzies for people. Like 3 small bottles of the red sands from around Ayers Rock for the boys, things like that. Much to my surprise, this tall gift box was handed to me - totally unexpected, believe me. I opened it, and couldn't believe my eyes - it was a Darwin Stubbie!

Let me explain - you don't actually possess a Darwin Stubbie so as to drink it. You just have it to show people that you have one... they really are 'top shelf' kind of bottled momentoes! ("I'll put this straight into the pool room...") No-one believes you when you tell them about it - people claim to have heard of them, but because they've never (or rarely) been sighted in these parts, people assume you're pulling their leg. Voila! Upon producing the said monster beer bottle, a momentary lapse of silence followed by an intake of breath. "Look at the size of that thing!?!", together joined with much laughter. It's a silly thing to have (mine actually is still unopened in it's gift-box - as my bedroom door-stop!!!), but it's fun to pull out every now and again to give people a laugh!

My housemate had never even heard of it - until I showed the thing to her about 6 months' ago. She's an avid beer drinker - I mean, she tries out all sorts of different beers from across the world - her world-wide beer bottle collection here is quite remarkable ("I didn't know that country even brewed beer!"). So, she laffed heaps at the sight of this thing.

What does it taste like, as a beer? Well - who knows! Probably tastes like mud, if my guess serves me right. The whole concept of the thing is just it's pure novelty! Or - so I thought. In Darwin - and I've heard this from many and totally independent sources - the locals drink these things like the rest of us mere mortals drink a normal beer! Argh! The men are real men in the Territory! Gees, it's not as though I'm a big beer drinker myself (I'm not, really), but it's a very cool Aussie icon to own, all the same.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

On this 'Thor's' day:
Births - Brian Epstein (Beatles' manager); Cass Elliott (Mumas & the Papas); Bill Medly (Righteous Bros).
Died - Gram Parsons 1973 (Byrds, Flying Burrito Bros).
Soundtrack - "Blonde on Blonde" Bob Dylan (1966).

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net

"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." (Robert Lowell)

(*) a nice call

I received a nice phone call from an old friend who lives in the Hunter Valley in NSW (west of Newcastle). We used to, ummm, date a bit back in the late 80's. But we've stayed good friends all these years all the same. She's happily married with three kids now. She read my previous post* and rang out of caring concern - wasn't that nice?! She rang at 8.30 on Saturday morning - amazingly I'd been awake for about 10 minutes already! lol. It was nice to hear a friendly voice on the phone. My emotions were still a bit mixed yesterday morning, so it was nice to have a friend call like that to see how I was doing.

They've been living in that nice part of NSW for a few years' now, and she told me they'll soon be moving into a brand new house! Wow! They're living in one of those old classic country homes - one with a veranda all the way around the outside, but unfortunately the owners have decided to sell up on them.

I've had two other very good friends move house in the last 2 weeks, one in south-western Sydney and the other in western Brisbane! At last report all seemed to have gone well for both families - clear weather, no rain - and they got the fridge on and the beet chilling pretty damn quickly, I'd say! lol.

I've been using this blog a whole damn lot lately, and that's OK with me. I've had one old friend say 'yuck' to the whole concept, but that's OK. (I think that person's response - someone I kinda look upto in a funny kinda way - caused me to respond with this** post) I'm comfortable with my blogging, so that's the main thing. I'm only sharing what's going on with me - and stoopid, bizarre and funny articles I find along the way - it's not as though I'm trying to write a novel or an autobiography or something! It's just a tool to let a bit of air out with. Unlike most people, I don't have very many close friends who are physically close by me (anymore), so I've found this to be a good way to 'talk' and even think as I talk sometimes. I still write emails to individuals, but sometimes it's just good to sit and write and keep the ol' brainbox ticking over, you know? I used to 'write' a lot a few years' ago. But, I know I've lost a lot of that in the past, say, 2 years. So, in one way, this is just another way of using a public forum to assist me get my writing 'back' again, in whatever shape or form that might later appear. Blah blah blah! I'd never even heard of 'blogging' before June (I think), but I've been writing long emails and sending them to many many people for about five years before now. So, doing this isn't like it's a brand new thing. I used to try and write a 'diary/journal' page with my homepage, but it was such a hassle to write and then edit and upload all the html code and stuff. This is just soooo much easier! Just write this (in particular) as an email while I'm offline, and just send it when I'm next online - too easy!

Well, I think I need to stop trying to justify myself anymore. That's crap, isn't it? I do this for me, and that's the only reason I need. Hoo-ray! pmsl! "Thus endeth the lesson."

*( http://maljam.blogspot.com/2004/09/ive-come-to-huge-decision_16.html )
**( http://maljam.blogspot.com/2004/09/my-blog-is-crap-i-know.html )

Sunday, September 19, 2004

(*) My blog is crap, I know

So, my blog is crap, that's alright - I already know! But - I don't care if it's crap or not. It's just a space to rant and let off some smoke, you know? It doesn't come out pretty, literate, spell-checked, or even well spoken or even neccesarily thought-through. It's not meant to be 'literature'. Tough $#it! It's my little space, and that's fine with me. It's a place where I'm comfortable to take my shoes and socks off and rub them relaxingly into the carpet. It's messy, but it's homey too.

It's like I said the other day... this is like standing in the corner of a really large paddock in the middle of nowhere and screaming your lungs out, because unless someone happens to just casually stroll by (which is highly unlikely), it's not gonna hurt, affect or offend anyone. So - there! I like that analogy.

Some blogs are awesome. Cleverly written, well thought out, planned and implemented. Informative, insightful, illuminating. That's wonderful - and I congratulate them. This blog is just a place to air out my washing. Sometimes the sox are dirty and smelly. Sometimes the shirts are freshly ironed and neatly hung away. Sometimes it's too wet to hang out the washing, or perhaps it's too hot to face the sunlight without a pith-helmet. That's fine. I'm comfortable with it. I don't do this to please others. It's for me. If someone doesn't like the way I write or the format or whatever (the vibe, Mabo, the constitution...), that's fine with me. Go for it. I know this will not last forever, nor will it be kept for posterity. One day I'll be dead and all these words will be quite meaningless, because they are grounded in who I am, and at this point in time I am alive and a part of this place in which we journey. In a way i wish they could be kept for my boys for the future, for when they are 40, and might be able to glean an insight into why their dad was the way he was. sad. Unhappy. miserable. lonely. but so deeply in love and committed to being their dad that it hurts him every single second to be apart from them. and every day I have to keep living in that pain, unable to do anything to change it. I know my boys love me, but they don't know (really) how much their dad loves them in the whole totality of his being. Of course I tell them - every single time I see them or talk to them on the phone. But the bigger picture is that as I'm seperate from their day-to-day reality, i am just an exttra part of their lives, rather than an integral factor of it with them. And that hurts - that's the awareness I carry about with me every single day. And there is not a single day that passes without me thinking of my boys - where they are, what they're doing, who they're with, how their feeling, what they're thinking... if there's a supposed god-shaped hole in my life, it's not 'god', it's being serarated from my own children.

Oooooh... this is turning into a 3.45am essay, isn't it?! pmsl!

Anyway, that's what this blog is about, in part. It's a place to stand and cry out - sometimes that cry is happy, or joyous, sometimes sad, sometimes pathetic, sometimes quite loopy and absurd - it's quite alright, because they are all aspects of the one me. A whole made of many parts. A montage - a collection of differeing images that are shaped into one interwoven image.

Rest easy. Have a good nights' rest. Sleep and awake refreshed, enthused and motivated to take on the new day and kick its' arse!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Cowboys one win away from Grand Final

Cowboys one win away from grand final
Saturday September 18, 10:53 PM

The North Queensland Cowboys have scored a historic 10-0 semi-final victory over the Brisbane Broncos to book a place in next weekend's National Rugby League preliminary final against the Sydney Roosters.

The Cowboys, who had never beaten the Broncos before the match, continued their fairytale finals run with an impressive display in Townsville.

The match ended Brisbane's season and the career of captain Gorden Tallis, who announced his retirement last month.

(Full story)

Saturday, September 18, 2004

(*) Stoopid Spam

Here's today's stoopid spam email:

Liquislim - Free 7 Day Diet Patch Sample
Start winning the battle against CELLULITE!
LiquiSlim™ is a completely transparent anti-cellulite slimming gel, in a LIQUID PATCH!

Another amazing magical pill that will solve all your problems. Email deleted and jumped up-and-down on, naturally!

Sweet, cute Macaulay Culkin...?!?

Macaulay Culkin Arrested on Drug Charges

OKLAHOMA CITY - Former child star Macaulay Culkin was arrested on drug charges Friday during a traffic stop, authorities said. The 24-year-old actor, best known for his role in the "Home Alone" movies, was taken into custody on complaints of possession of a controlled dangerous substance without a valid prescription and possession of marijuana, according to the Oklahoma County Sheriff's office.

Culkin, who lives in New York City, was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail and released after posting $4,000 bond, a jailer said.

Authorities confiscated about 17 grams of marijuana from a vehicle in which Culkin was a passenger. Officers also found 16 milligrams of prescription medications used to control anxiety and seizures, according to a police report.

Culkin was in a vehicle driven by a 22-year-old New York City man who was stopped for driving 70 mph in a 60-mph speed zone and for making an improper lane change. After receiving a verbal warning, the driver allowed police to search the vehicle.

Culkin told an officer there was $3,000 in a bag on the floor of the car. The officer opened it and found a clear baggie of what appeared to be marijuana, the report said.

A short time later, Culkin allegedly pulled another baggie out of his pocket that contained white pills and other medication. Additional marijuana was found rolled in a metal cigarette box, according to the report.

(*) Wedding Day

"Of all the love I have won or have lost
There is one love I should never have crossed;
She was a girl in a million, my friend,
I should have known she would win in the end.
I'm a loser,
And I've lost someone who's near to me..."
(John Lennon, 1964)

I was considering going to the wedding ceremony, and just sitting in the shadows in the backrow. not to see Michelle - not at all. But to see the boys walk down the aisle all dressed up to the nines! BUT - seeing Michelle getting married again like that would affect me in a way I'm not sure how I'd cope with... it would be like when I saw my father laying in his coffin. It wasn't a horrible experience (he simply looked as though he was asleep). I'm glad I did it, but in the long run, I wish I hadn't, because that's the last time I saw my dad, and that's a memory I can never get out of my head of him. So, I don't wanna have the visual image of her wedding day to play tricks on my brain either in the long run! Even tho I'm supporting and am trying to encourage them both (not that they ever acknowledge that!) I've been promised to see the photos of the boys all dressed up - but to be brutally honest, I'm not holding my breath. I've asked for and even taken photos myself of the boys over the past three years, but I have never ever seen copies of them ever. I've got copies of pics I got when we were first separated, but Michelle has never gone out of her way to make any photos of the boys available to me. There are no photos of me in their place (that I know of). She's done a great job of trying to erase my presence from out of the boys' life. I know she's convinced herself already that I no longer exist, because there's always a surprise in her voice when I ring to speak to the boys and she realises I am still here! Michelle's attitude towards me over the past three years has been one of masterful 'passive aggression', altho I doubt she'd ever accept that.

Sorry 'bout that! As someone said in the last day or so, if my emotions weren't running high at moments like this, then there'd be no blood running in my veins! (I paraphrase freely! lol).

"Of course your going to feel all of this, this week of all weeks. Its very natural and very normal. I would be worried if you DIDN'T feel all of the above.... this way we know there is still blood running through your veins man!"

I'm currently reading thru a book I borrowed from the library, about the legend of King Arthur. It's searching for the reality from legend and myth - it's very interesting. It's just one of those books (not too thick, beautifully illustrated with paintings from years' past) I'm reading a page or two every morning when I'm sitting at the table eating breakfast!

Another thing I'm casually reading lately is a bit about the American Civil War. I've been watching a DVD series about the Civil War by Ken Burns, and I've borrowed a few books with lots of pictures and info about the life and times of the soldiers who lived, fought, suffered and died during the whole horrid process. I remember having a picture book about the Civil War as a kid, and I guess it's left some kind of impression on my mind, because I'm still fascinated in the whole thing. Not in glorifying it - no way! It's just that I live in a country that's never really had a 'defining moment' like the US had in the 1860's. The closest thing we've ever had to a civil war was the Eureka Stockade, and even then the 'handful' of 'rebels' were disposed of quickly and ruthlessly. Aussies have spent their 200+ years trying to create 'defining moments' for themselves - convicts, the Bush, mateship, ANZAC, Australia II, Port Arthur etc etc etc. So, on that level, the whole concept of a nation of 30 million people in the 1860's tearing itself apart is very intriguing. It must have been a hellish experience for everyone - not just the actual soldiers. So many more died of disease than by bullet - most of them had never left home, and caught and died of diseases they'd never encountered before in their rural isolation, like measles and chicken pox etc!!! I'd never thought of it that way! It's been a real eye opener.

PS. I've tried to scan a pic of Josh that was in the local paper the other week, but I just couldn't get a good scan happening of it - bugger! hahaha.

On this day:
(*) Birthdays - Frankie Avalon, 1939; Greta Garbo, 1905.
(*) Died - Jimi Hendrix, 1970

Friday, September 17, 2004

(*) A new neighbour

A new neighbour is in the process of moving into the townhouse right next door, thankfully. It felt a bit strange having the place next door empty. She's just a young adult (prob. at Uni here), and her dad's been helpoing her move her stuff in. So, it'll be good to have a neighbour nearby again.

(*) Battery arrives

The battery I ordered for my mobile arrived this morning. That was soooo easy! There's a part of me that expected to be ripped off or something - I'm always wary of getting stuff online. But, even though I checked it all out before I ordered it, I still feel a bit... I dunno, wary? Call it paranoia and be done with it! Anyway, the battery was the right one, and is sitting here charging as we speak. That'll help, considering the old battery would run itself flat after just 2 1/2 - 3 days, and that was when it wasn't even in use! So, I might be able to use my mobile properly again, rather than it being stuck on my desk almost perpetually plugged into the charger! lol. All the same, I only use the thing as a glorified answering machine, or send sms text messages to a few friends and the boys - that's about it. It's what I need, so I'm happy about it. It's an older model (about 5 years' old now), so it doesn't have all the bells-and-whistles of the latest models - you know, it doesn't percolate it's own coffee for you or anything like that. But it does everything that I need a mobile to do, and that's just fine by me. Thoon!

(See the previous posts about my battery here and here.)

I'm feeling a bit better after making my big decision yesterday. It's still a hard road to travel ahead, but it's a bit of a clearer road than the one I had been travelling on recently. It didn't mean I managed to get much sleep last night tho...

I'm giving the "Hendrix Live at Monterey Festival 1967" CD another blast as I speak.

"Great performance... caught at the festival at which... (he) made (his) national breakthrough... Hendrix gives what may have been his greatest show ever: the versions of 'Wild Thing' and 'Like a Rolling Stone' are everything they should, and could, have been. A lot more than just a memory here."
(New Rolling Stone Record Guide, p.599)

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

Aussies beat Kiwis at cricket

Symonds leads Aussies into last four
Friday September 17, 02:29 AM

LONDON (AFP) - Andrew Symonds blasted a quickfire 71 not out as Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy here at The Oval.

The win puts Australia into Tueday's semi-finals of the only major competition in world cricket to have eluded them so far where they will play either old enemy England or Sri Lanka, who meet in Southampton on Friday.

Symonds hit four sixes and seven fours in a brutal display of hitting and Damien Martyn added 60 not out. The pair put on 100 for the fourth wicket to chase down the New Zealanders total of 198-9 with 12.4 overs to spare.

Symonds came in with Australia 99-3 and immediately took the game away from the underdogs bringing up his half-century from 40 balls whilst Martyn was slightly more circumspect reaching his fifty from 63 balls with eight boundaries.

But the foundations of the victory were laid by the Australian bowlers with Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz outstanding picking up 3-39 and 3-32 respectively...

(Read the whole article here.)

(*) Some blog changes

I've made some changes to this blog. First up - the quote at the top of the page is now randomised. Every time you log on to the page again you should get a new quote. So click on the refresh button. Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!Click!Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! See, wasn't that fun? You get a new quote every time. Keep on clicking! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!Click! Click!Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!Click!Click!Click!Click!Click! Click! Click! Click! And before you know it, you're eighty three and your life has passed by and you're kids have grown up and left school and had kids of their own. But keep on clicking. Click! Click! Click! Click!Click! Click!Click!Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! And before you know it you're a drivelling senile 150 year old fool sitting in the seat in a nursing home, staring out the window while the bombs rain down around you and the 5th World War draws to its terrible conclusion, and all life is wiped out on earth, and the old bag next to you just wants to talk about how Spam tasted so much better in the 3rd World War. But keep on clicking!

...who said the computer wasn't fun?

(Thanx to TimT for the idea!)

Thursday, September 16, 2004

(*) Did you see the moon tonight?

Did you get a chance to see the moon tonight, before it set? It looked magnificent - it's just a new moon, and I love it when it's at this time of its' month. It seriously looks like a huge ball - 3 dimensional ball just hanging in the sky! I mean, I guess my brain has been programmed over my life to only 'see' the moon as 2 dimensional, you know - flat. But, when it's like this, it's so plainly obvious that it's round - like a huge ball (which it is, of course!) Well, excuse me for stating the obvious! I just love the way the moon looks in the evening sky at the moment... it's like every Pink Floyd or Yes LP cover rolled into one! lol.

I went for a huge walk this evening, just as the sun was setting. I'd already made a monumental life decision (see the other post), and I guess I just needed to get some big gulps of fresh air to set the thinking straight in my brain... something like that, anyway! Watching the sky change colour around you is always a mind-altering matter to me - I adore being part of it! And then having the moon float away above you as well... whew! Lovely. I'm feeling happy-sad at the moment sitting here this evening, with no-one to share my thoughts with, my hopes, hurts, fears and busted dreams. No one to put their arm around my shoulder and just listen. No answers, just listen. It's a 'tad flattening' to say the least! pmsl!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

(***) I've come to a huge decision

Because I know that no-one really reads this thing, I know I can say stuff and get things off my chest from time to time, without hurting or offending anyone. It's like yelling at the top of your voice in the corner of a really large paddock in the middle of nowhere... someone might just happen to stroll by, but it's not highly likely!

I'm pulling out of Uni. I'm withdrawing. It's not that I can't do the work - it's not that at all. If anything, the work is quite OK (common sense to me, most of it, from my experience). No, I've decided to withdraw because i just can't go one doing it externally anymore. i feel too isolated, unsupported, alone - I feel like I'm doing this without any good reason. I can't explain... how can I say it? "My mind's not right." I just can't keep up the internal motivation to keep it up week after week, with no feedback, support or any encouragement at all. I hate being a number. It's just really got to me over the last few months, and I've reached point where either i keep going and totally fail, or withdraw now, and have another go a little bit down the track.

So, it's back to work I go. I have only had one full-time paid job since I was separated, and that's over 3 years' ago! I've struggled with depression, 2 nervous breakdowns, and adverse mental and physical health as I've been stuck at home trying to find the motivation to study. But - I just cannot find the internal strength to keep going this way. I've got to get some normality back into my life again. All I want is a brain-dead non-thinking job for 6+ months, just to start paying off my farking debts, and try to get my head straight again.

I know a lot of this has to do with my ex getting remarried this Saturday. Deep down (at what I call 'Level 7'), it's the ultimate rejection that is still slowly destroying me from the inside out. Not only has all of this over the past 3 years' affected my mental health, but it's really starting to affect my physical health as well. I just need to go and hassle the local supermarkets to be a storeman or night packer or something like that. If I don't get a job by April, I will literally be bust. I will seriously have to consider claiming bankruptcy, and I do not wanna have to do that! So, all I want is a simple job to keep me regular and my brain occupied for a while, to get me back in circulation with real people in the flesh again. I've spent to much time stuck at home over these last 2 years' especially.

Well, I could go on and on, but I think I've got the gist and vibe of what's been happening for me down, even if it's clumsily and crudely expressed - I don't really give a hoot! lol I should send this now, before I change my mind and delete it or something stoopid like that. Like I said, nobody's gonna read it anyway, so in the long run it's still my decision that I have to make on my own.

I could go on, but I think I'd start to get too negative and inward looking and have those hopeless feelings overwhelm me again - and I do not wanna go there again! So, I'll end this here, on the up note that at least the immediate pressure of having to try and finish a degree I don't think is all it's cracked up to be will be removed for the moment. Day by day - it's back to that again. No, this is a big step - this is one of those bleedin' life-change situations. I just feel so $#itty that I'm having to go thru all this stuff when I'm 40, for goodness sakes! Shouldn't you go thru all of this life-stuff when you're in your twenties and thirties? Well - I had - but that was when i thought my life was headed in a certain direction and planned to a certain degree with someone else. I never planned or even considered having to live alone ever again, so it's still rocking me in a pretty unsettling way. Just when I thought I was going OK, too, damn it!!!

Enough! Enough!

Cyalayta
Mal

Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Batman in Palace

A police officer, left, watches a protester dressed as Batman, right, who stands on a ledge at London's Buckingham Palace, Monday, Sept. 13, 2004, near the balcony where the royal family appears on ceremonial occasions. The protester was identified as Jason Hatch, 33, a member of the Fathers 4 Justice group which is campaigning for greater custody rights for divorced or separated fathers. (NB. A BLOODY GOOD thing to get behind, if you ask me!!! "Fighting for your right to see your kids!") No member of the royal family was at the palace Monday. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was at her Balmoral residence in Scotland. Seen at rear is a Buckingham Palace official. (AP Photo/PA)
Jason Hatch, wearing a Batman suit, was taken into custody after scaling Buckingham Palace in London. Two fathers' rights activists who penetrated Buckingham Palace in central London dressed in Batman and Robin costumes were released on police bail, police said. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
http://www.fathers-4-justice.org

(*) Stoopid spam

Here's today's stoopid spam email I received:

Last chance to register for "Outrageous Customer Service"
The Secrets of turning one-time customers into frequent big spending clients for life. Simple easy ways to make your customers say WOW!... Book your place now as these seminars will Fill Fast ~ Australia Wide Tour...

Deleted - of course!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

(*) Some extreme silliness HERE!

Ever heard of Weebl? No? You WILL! Wanna have a laff and smile at some new silliness, then check this place out! DO IT! Go on, you know you want to...
Click this link to go and see for yourself and have a good laff! (http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk)

(Thanx so much to Third Daughter for alerting me to this madness! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa!)

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

(*) Wedding's on this Saturday

Michelle & William's wedding is this Saturday morning. I'm feeling fine about it - I hope it really goes great for them and is an enjoyable memory for them - good on 'em. josh is the 'Best Man' (or, as a friend suggested, 'Best Boy'), and Seb and Alex will be walking down the aisle with their cousins as 'Flower Children' (not, not dressed as hippies with kaftans and beads...)! Won't that be a sight - very very cute and memorable for them. I hope Sebbie manages to behave himself - he's got an amazing absurd sense-of-humour just like his ol' man... I hope he manages to keep a 'straight face' thru the whole thing! I know his brothers (younger and elder) will be keeping a close eye on him! pmsl!

Random thought - I was sitting up late on Saturday night (about midnight), watching the end of a DVD. My housemate came shuffling up the driveway after spending the evening out with her hockey friends. Well, it was funny to listen and watch her trying to get in the door, walk down the hallway, and attempt to make some toast - for the first time since I've been here (over a year now), she was absolutely legless! It was really funny to watch her bump into walls and slur her words! Luckily she's a happy harmless drunk, not aggressive at all - just LOUD! The more-amazing factor is that - she was out the front door at 7am the next morning for work - with NO hangover! I dunno how she does it! She's a moderate drinker (nothing dramatic, tho), and she never seems to be any the worse for it the next day! I just dunno how she does it! It's very funny to watch, tho.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

(*) Another day

Ever have one of those days where you start off with the best intentions to start right, fresh and on-track, and by late-afternoon you realise you haven't even got near your target?!? Well, that was today. Oh well (deep sigh) - you win some, some get the better of you... that's OK. At least the washing's up-to-date, right?

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

Top Ten

Top Ten
A couple of years ago, one of our big chains of funeral directors compiled their Top Ten Funeral Tunes. They were:

Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler
My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
Simply The Best – Tina Turner
Angels – Robbie Williams
You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gerry and the Pacemakers
Candle In The Wind – Elton John
Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
Time To Say Goodbye – Sarah Brightman

From recent experience, I’d say that list hasn’t changed. It inspired me to compile Zinnia Cyclamen’s Top Ten Tunes That Are Completely Unsuitable For Almost All Funerals (Except Occasionally When Someone Has A Sense Of Humour Even Stranger Than Mine). Here's my first offer:

Burn Baby Burn – The Bee Gees
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – The Platters
Killing Me Softly – Roberta Flack
Staying Alive – The Bee Gees
Funeral Pyre – The Jam
Light My Fire – The Doors
Buried Alive – Billy Idol
Dawn Of The Dead – Murderdolls
Satin In A Coffin – Modest Mouse
Another One Bites The Dust – Queen

(Thanx and apologies to Real E Fun!)

Monday, September 13, 2004

(*) My weekend

This is just a quick post... I'll re-write this properly in a day or two... i just wanted to get the points down!
Josh and I didn't end up doing the Edgell Jog Fun Run - half-an-hour before the start - it was sleeting! It was blinkin' freezing! A good call! Instead, I took all three of my darling boys to the movies. We say Disney's latest animated caroon, "Home on the Range". Not one of their best, but still the boys enjoyed it, which is the main thing. After missing out on last weeks' Fathers Day, they gave me a prezzie - a 2005 diary! Great! I spent a little time filling it in already, adding birthdays etc.

Seeing and just being with my three wonderful sons is like a refreshing medicine for my soul - really! It heals me to be with them. I feel whole being together with them too - and they love being with me as well. being without a car is such a disadvantage - I really feel discriminated against because my my limited transport options at the moment. I can't just pick them up and go to the park or just hang out with them for half-an-hour whenever... everything has to be 'orchestrated', and it can be a right royal pain in the butt, to be honest. My boys and I enjoy spontenaity, and having to plan a simple get-together takes the shine off that in many ways. But - I never ever knock back the opportunity to be with them, whenever I can. Like I said, being with them is like a good medicine. I know they love it too - it's not just me! lol

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

(*) Find a grave

This isn't meant to be morbid, but this is an interesting site. Decent, tasteful and respectful. See the graves of thousands of famous people from around the world. Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials, add 'virtual flowers' and a note to a loved one's grave, etc.

I found good info and wonderful pics on famous people I'm interested in such as:
* TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
* John Lennon & George Harrison
* Robert Lowell
* Brian Jones
* Brian Epstein
* Tony Hancock
* Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan & Harry Secombe
* Douglas Adams
* Gene Vincent, among many others.

Maybe I have a morbid fascination - I don't think so, really! But this site is very tastefully done, so that's why I recommend it.
(Link: Find A Grave)

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

(*) Stoopid spam emails

Here's some of the stoopid spam emails I've recieved over the weekend - thankfully, no porn!

(*) Your Serenity Pill - Improve Your Outlook On Life Immediately - REAL Mood Management...
Deleted, of course!

(*) Citrus Pill - Drop 10 pounds every 12 days! - the power of citrus...
Deleted - obviously! Don't u love the way your whole life can be fixed by simply taking a magical pill?!? pmsl!

(*) Christian Dating - Christian? Single? Seeking?...
Bloody exploitation! pmsl! Deleted immediately!

Thankfully, my inbound spam has dropped right away in the last few months. I must have finally got the 'filters' working properly, after much trial-and-error!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Saturday, September 11, 2004

(*) Edgell Jog

Once a year, this town has an 8km community fun-run, the 'Edgell Jog' (Edgell, one of the main sponsors, has a large plant here in town). Josh and I jogged/walked it last year, and had a ball together. I've asked him a few times over the past few weeks if he wanted to go in it, but he never really said yes or no. Last night he decided he wanted to go in it with me, which is great! It's on tomorrow morning! I guess I'd kinda decided I wasn't going to go in it this year, so I wasn't really preparing myself to get ready for it. Let me put it this way - I'm the most unfit I've ever been in my whole life! Let's hope I don't have a heartie at the end of it! No, it's OK - it's a community fun-run, so people are encouraged to walk it if they want to... people push prams and all sorts of things! So, Josh and I'll be fine - it's a good test for his asthma too. He hasn't had any trouble with it for about 2 years' now, which is unreal! It's just a great opportunity for Josh and I to just hang-out together, which we both really enjoy doing. I can't believe a year has flown past already since the last one... $#it! lol

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

(*) Sept 11 - 3 years' on

3 years already... I'm sure everybody can recall clearly where they were when they heard/saw the 9/11 attack on New York for the first time. But, like everyone left behind who experience grief, life goes on... glad to see New York is rebuilding again... it's like loosing your parent... my dad died 7 1/2 years' ago, and although I know he's gone, I still miss him being around, but life goes on all the same. I hang onto the good and positive memories I have of him - and the funny and not so funny ones too! That's what life's all about, hey? The ups-and-downs of the journey... I guess it's how we manage to adapt to those changes that makes us the people we are and who we choose to become... oh shite, enough with the sermonising! pmsl!

(Pic source)

These farking terrorists are so clever - they end up blowing up themselves - and their own people! Isn't that what happened at the Aussie Embassy the other day?!? No Aussies were killed, just local nationals! Bloody twits! Actions like this only go to prove that these farking terrorists are so stoopid - like mental cases with a low cranial capacity for basic reality. How can anybody take these farkwits seriously?!? They only end up blowing up their own people! D'oh!

Textual reference... I borrowed a CD from the library yesterday, Sting's "...All this Time", which, I didn't realise until I got it home and read the sleeve notes, he recorded live with a band in Italy - on Sept. 11, 2001!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

(*) Layla

Layla - Derek and the Dominos... well, I lashed out and brought this 2nd-hand CD - it was on my wish-list, as it was! It was only $19.95, reduced from $25 - gotta love those markdowns! This is one of those 'classic' late 60's albums (RSO:1970), featuring Eric Clapton and Duane Allman's amazing guitar work. It's steeped in blues - an amazing vibe thruout. This was written and performed when Clapton was pining for the married woman of his best friend, George Harrison (Patti Harrison, his 'Layla'). It's sad, in a way - after this, Clapton disappeared into heroin for a few years. His closest friends thought he was a goner, but he managed to eventually get off it and make his comeback album "461 Ocean Boulevard" (RSO:1974).

"Derek and the Dominos... gave Eric Clapton the context in which to demonstrate his prowess without unnecessarily drawing attention to it. Clapton and Allman battle neck-to-neck (sometimes it's tough to figure out who is playing which guitar), and the sessions brought out the best in each player, with Clapton's rumbling leads segueing perfectly into Allman's lightning runs. The guitar call-and-response on 'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?' and the molten-metal exorcism of 'Layla' alone make this one of the premier guitar albums of all rock & roll..." (Milward, J. in New Rolling Stone Record Guide 1983 :136).

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

(*) Locusts

Yes, there's already brewings of yet another locust plague here in western NSW, thanks mainly in part to the 3rd-year of drought we're still in the grip of out here. There was a build-up of the buggers in Autumn, but altho they die-off in the winter, they still lay their eggs which await the warmer weather of early spring (ie. now). Farmers and residents are being asked to keep an eye out for hatchings so they can be caught and disposed of before they start on their trail of eating destruction. They have opened three locust Centres specifically dealing with the reduction of this pest, in Narrabri, Coonabarrabran and Gunnedah. I know people who live in big cities don't really give a toss about what happens out here, but farmers just don't need this, after a third-straight bad season, affected by lack of rain. Bad crops = higher prices for food, so city slickers eventually do pay the cost of it, whether they like to ignore us out here beyond the "Sandstone Curtain" or not! lol

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)
"The Lord survives the rainbow of His will." Robert Lowell

Friday, September 10, 2004

(*) Some poems

Here's some poems I've discovered along the way... all different, all unique - just like each and every one of us! (Ooooooooohhhhhhh! lol)

What we have not named
or beheld as a symbol
escapes our notice.

W.H. Auden

The Lord survives the rainbow of His will

Robert Lowell
'The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket'

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

T.S. Eliot
'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'

Self-Pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D.H. Lawrence

Van Gogh

All your best paintings, I have heard, were made
When you were mad. I know you sliced your ear
Off, went insane. Yet only that church in
The Louvre might possibly suggest you had
Something that most men call a mental flaw;
Yet even there's a woman with a thin

Bonnet and skirts raised from the dusty ground.
Detail you saw, and foolish men suggest
Such probing gazes are a sign of being
A little crazy, not quite balanced, found,
When tested, passionate, too much depressed,
Quickly in tears. This was your way of seeing.

There is a theory that the very heart
Of making means a flaw, neurosis, some
Sickness; yet others say it is release.
I only know that your wild, surging art
Took you to agony, but makes us come
Strangely to gentleness, a sense of peace.

Elizabeth Jennings

Rain

I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain

If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut

And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind

the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground

the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops

But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you

you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain

Hone Tuwhare

"Long Live the Weeds"
(Hopkins)

Long live the weeds that overwhelm
My narrow vegetable realm!
The bitter rock, the barren soil
That force the son of man to toil;
All things unholy, marred by curse,
The ugly of the universe.
The rough, the wicked and the wild
That keep the spirit undefiled.
With these I match my little wit
And earn the right to stand or sit,
Hope, love, crate, or drink and die:
These shape the creature that is I.

Theodore Roethke

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

>From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in it's belly until my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

Randell Jarrell

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

William Carlos Williams

Proletarian Portrait

A big young bareheaded woman
in an apron

Her hair slicked back standing
on the street

One stockinged foot toeing
the sidewalk

Her shoe in her hand. Looking
intently into it

She pulls out the paper insole
to find the nail

That has been hurting her.

William Carlos Williams

Houses

People who are afraid of themselves
multiply themselves into families
and so divide themselves
and so become less afraid.

People who might have to go out
into clanging strangers' laughter,
crowd under roofs, make compacts
to no more than smile at each other.

People who might meet their own faces
or surprise their own faces in doorways
build for themselves rooms without mirrors
and live between walls without echoes.

People who might meet other faces
and unknown voices around corners
build themselves rooms all mirrors
and live between walls all echoes.

People who are afraid to go naked
clothe themselves in families, houses,
but are still afraid of death
because death one day will undress them.

A.S.J. Tessimond

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) CD's I'd like to have

It's nice to dream... while I sit and doodle while I'm studying somedays, I make myself little notes about things to write in my blog as I go, just to jog my memory. One of those notes has kept expanding in the last few weeks, like a 'wish list' as to the CD's I'd like to get - eventually! They're not high on the priority list tho! As you go thru this list, you'll soon realise what kind of music I like and prefer to listen to... there's nothing later here than the early 80's!!! Ahh... humour me! I'm 40, and I'm getting old! pmsl!

By the way... this little list (which I've been doodling over for about a month, by the way!) is in no particular order - mixing it up, just for fun! Titles with a (*) I've already got on vinyl, but without a turntable to play them on, it's not much good to have it and not be able to listen to! D'oh! (Note: there are no 'Sherbet' albums on this list, and for good reason! I've got most of their stuff on vinyl - and that's enough! pmsl!)

Title	Artist	First Released
All Mod Cons*	The Jam	1978
Setting Sons*	The Jam	1980
Sound Affects*	The Jam	1981
Layla	Derek and the Dominoes (with Eric Clapton)	1970
Surrealistic Pillow	Jefferson Airplane	1967
Tapestry*	Carol King	1971
All Things Must Pass*	George Harrison	1970
Never Mind the Bollocks	Sex Pistols	1977
Ringo	Ringo Star	1973
Innervisions*	Stevie Wonder	1973
We're Only In It For the Money	Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention	1968
Aftermath	Rolling Stones	1966
Between the Buttons	Rolling Stones	1965
Who's Next*	The Who	1971
Quadrophenia*	The Who	1973
Music >From Big Pink	The Band	1968
English Settlement	XTC	1981
Drums and Wires*	XTC	1979
Electric Music for the Mind and Body	Country Joe and the Fish	1967
Willy and the Poor Boys (etc)	Creedence Clearwater Revival	1969
Deja Vu*	Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young	1970
Fairport Convention	Fairport Convention	1969
...and the list could be endless...! hahahaa!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) Thoon... and a car...?!?

Thoon... Thoon IV, my goldfishieee, has been with me now for 9 1/2 weeks. I've been keeping a goldfish as a simple pet since last November, so it's been about 10 months altogether. The first one died after a week, the second one topped itself on the first night by jumping out of the bowl (D'oh!). But by then I'd learnt by my mistakes, and Thoon III lasted for 6 months - he got the royal flush after not responding to fin rot treatment, poor little bloke. This guy is going great guns, no problems at all. It's amazing how different have different personalities - they do, you know?! Thoon III was a very sedate fish, happy to just hang out and do his laps in his tank. Thoon IV (this one) is a very active little blighter, who almost jumps up to get me when I open the lid to feed him, who likes to get my attention by blowing bubbles on the surface, and who dances to my music (as they all did!). I can't believe it's only been 9 1/2 weeks since this fishy came home - it seems a whole lot longer! I had to check my diary to make sure - it just didn't seem right to me. But, he seems to be such a happy little camper. The time just flies. His setup sits atop my bedroom table (I've got a nice sized room in this place - a good space, enough for an old dining-room table, anyway! lol), in a 7-litre tank complete with a filter and air pump - that keeps his tank nice and clean. I replace about 60% of the water about once a week, using a gravel cleaner, and totally change the water, pebbles and filter stuff about once every three or four weeks. I know it's been cooler over the last months (compared to when the others fishys were here), so maybe that's helped the water condition a bit better? We'll keep an eye on things as the weather starts to warm up again. And - it will - we had some high-30's last summer!

NRMA... those of you out of NSW, the NRMA is the "National Roads and Motorists' Assoc", like the RACV, RACQ, AAAC etc. Even tho I haven't had a car for over 2 years' now, I've still kept up my membership to this organization - for when the day comes when I do get another car! Luckily it only costs me $20/year at the moment (being sans-car). The funny story behind when I first joined this thing: somehow-or-other they transferred my grandma's name (also M K... ) and membership over to my membership when I first started driving at the age of 18. But, it says that I've been a member for 29 years... let's do the maths?! That means that I started driving when I was eleven, according to their records! PMSL The upside to that is I've got a 'Gold Card' membership, which entitles me to heaps of extra benefits - aint it funny?! My very first car was my nans' old car, which she gave to me (yes! I still can't believe that, even now!! She gave it to me!) when I first started driving. Altho, it wasn't exactly a road-warrior-beast... go the orange Datsun 120-Y!!! Hey, it was a good, reliable little car that I went everywhere in over the years' I had it! So, even after all these years, my nan is still keeping an eye out for me, even tho she passed away a few years' ago now. Aint that precious? :o)

Luckily, my housemate allows me to drive her ute when she's not using it. She walks to work from here (it's only about 3 or 4 blocks into the centre of town from here, anyway!), but I don't use it very often. The downside of it is - because it's a ute, i can't go and pick-up the boys with it - the three of them physically won't fit in it! Bummer! Altho, of course - boys being boys, they offer to ride in the back tray... It's good to have a drive every now and again - it's like riding a bike - you don't forget. But the first time I jumped into the car (after a few months of not having driven), I felt like a learner driver all over again, concentrating on speed, cornering, roundabouts, mirrors, etc etc! It was really quite funny! It's good that I've still got my full driver's license as well - just in case of an emergency.

My housemate and I have this running joke... in the town when I live, there's a major car racing venue here. The battle is always between Holden Vs Ford (have I given the game away as to where I come from, do you think...? pmsl!) She's driving a Ford ute at the moment, and I always playfully tease her about 'bloody Fords'!. She just comes straight back by saying, "And that from a bloke who's last car was a Mitsubishi... wagon!" pmsl!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Thursday, September 09, 2004

(*) A GREAT Beatles site

Check out this wonderful Beatles site here.

As you may already know, I'm a huge fan of The Beatles' music (much more than just a fan of 'them', you know?!?) This is a great site with loads of info and amazing pics (some that even I haven't seen before!) on each of their songs and the events in their career day-by-day. Check it out at your leisure.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

PS. I've been playing "Antholgy1" and "A Hard Day's Night" almost constantly since they arrived in my household the other day! lol

Rubber Chicken for the Soul

Good old clean funnies here!

Here's some samples from today - enjoy!

* BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE: In Lancashire England, Ian Lewis, 43, spent 30 years tracing his family tree back to the 17th century, traveling all over England and interviewing 2,000 relatives, before he learned that he had been adopted when he was a month old and that his real name was David Thornton. He said he would immediately start researching his new family history.

Something you REALLY don't want to happen to you...

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A Dutch driver was covered in hundreds of liters of manure when a tank burst on a lorry carrying fertilizer, police said on Tuesday.

"It was a nice night ... so he probably opened his window when he stopped at a traffic light, and then -- (it) happened," said Dana Kragten, spokeswoman for police in rural Drenthe province. "The tank had a small window which burst, probably due to pressure ... The man said he had no time to back away his car or close his window."

Police said the man, whose car was sprayed with an estimated 1,700 liters (370 gallons) of liquid manure, escaped injury though his car had to be towed away.

(*) I've had it

I was walking home from town on late Saturday arvo, when I saw what at first I thought was a drunk asleep on the footpath outside the radio station. Then as I got a bit closer, I realised it was an elderly chap who'd simply fallen over! I dropped my bags and ran the 50 feet to help him up. He was flat on his back, not in any pain, but simply unable to get upright on his own. There was no-one else around at this time of day, so I thought he might be hurt or something, cursing myself that I'd left my mobile at home. But he smiled tiredly up at me, and gratefully accepted my helping-hand up. After I eased him upright again, he steadied himself on his feet with his walking stick. Looking me straight in the eye over his flip clip-on sunnies, he said something that really stuck deeply in my mind.

"I've had it."

It wasn't simply that he was tired that day after a long walk. What he really meant was that the best part of his life was behind him, and he didn't see himself having much hope for the rest of his shortening life. His body had simply worn itself out. "I've had it." He didn't say it with sadness, just very matter-of-factly. He thanked me as he walked off slowly, as I made sure he was going to be alright. But I couldn't get that line out of my head.

"I've had it."

Will I reach that point in my life one day, when I realise that the best of my bodily-life is already behind me, when my body is failing me, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it? It echoed thru my mind for hours... hmmm...

No answers, of course.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) Random observations from the week that is

Hiya. How's your week going so far - positively, I hope. Here's some of the adventures I've been upto lately - at your leisure, of course! lol.

Saturday at the Aussie Rules... the local Aussie Rules footballers were having their Grand Final at a local park here, so I decided I'd go and have a look-see for a little while. As soon as I'd got there, I'd realised I'd never ever seen a game of Aussie Rules played in my life in the flesh (if u know what I mean... I'd seen it on TV, but never actually gone to see a game...). Anyway, the local Bushrangers had been undefeated all year, and were playing the Dubbo Demons in front of a small but very vocal crowd. After 2 minutes, the score was already 2-0 to the Bushrangers! By quarter-time, it was 52-11 to the 'Rangers! It looked like it was going to be a cricket score, and I'd seen enough...

The thing that amazed me (and this'll sound totally stoopid to all of you who are AFL born-and-bred, unlike me...), is the amount of sledging that goes on between the players! I expected a bit of verbal heckling and abuse from the crowd, but they were polite compared to the players on the field! That's something you never hear when you watch a game of AFL on the telly! It was really funny - it made me laugh. The other great thing about rural footy games is the fact that people can drive their cars right upto the fence, and sit in the relative comfort of their vehicles and watch the game from the sidelines. They blast their horns when their team scores, and I still find it a really precious rural quirky behaviour, after growing up as a 'city-boy'.

The other thing I noticed for the first time (and that was also because i was watching my very first game) was the fact that both goal umpires waved their flags at each other from both ends after a goal has been scored! Don't laugh - I never knew that! You don't see that on the telly either! D'oh!

I was keen to see more, to see by how many points the locals could pile on, but the sky quickly turned black from out of the west (the direction from which the storms come from), and before too long it was plainly obvious it was gonna pour all too soon. I decided at quarter time to head back towards town to avoid it - there was absolutely nowhere at all to get out of the weather at that ground.

I ended up in the relative peace and sanctity of the RSL Club, getting in the doors just as the wind changed to a freezing cold sou'wester and the first drops of rain splattered onto my glasses - good timing... I like it in there, especially at times like that when it's really really quiet - there were 10 people in the entire main bar! It feels like a really large lounge room when it's empty like that, with the footy on the large screen TV and sitting on nice comfy chairs to boot. That bars' now a no-smoking place, and it actually smells a whole lot better nowadays - noticeably so (I don't usually smoke at all - I might have the occasional social ciggie when I have a beer, that's about it). Somedays I end up down there (it's only 3 blocks from home) with my Uni books, and can sit undisturbed for hours in 'my corner' and study away. No one ever hassles me, and even if I don't end up buying some of the product, they don't seem to mind. Altho I usually feel guilty sitting there without buying a beer, or at least a lemon squash!

My corner... yes, most times I go to the RSL, there's one particular spot I always try to sit in. It's a little table off to the side around from the main front of the bar. You can still see everything - the clock, the large TV etc, but it's out of the way - no people stumbling past you spilling drinks etc! I must be getting old if I like going to the same spot in a Club all the time! lol There's a big picture of HMAS Bathurst right above my head, a corvette (a mine-sweeper) from WW2. At the other end of the room are three full-size snooker tables, and there's usually at least one table in use - by all sorts of different aged people. It's a nice quiet relaxed atmosphere, which I like nowadays for a club/pub. Altho there are plenty of noisy/party-on pubs in town if I feel like it!

I've already told you about our local 'Bogans' living in their Boganvillia. Well, walking home the other day, I did a classic double-take - I couldn't believe my eyes. As I looked up their driveway into their backyard, they have a - sheep! Yes, they have a sheep, which I guess they use to keep their grass down! Well, I guess it saves on the cost of having to buy a lawnmower - and it's a lazier way to do it, hey? Or, maybe they're onto something? I dunno - with the dog and the sheep, the backyard might have nice short grass, but at the cost of $#it everywhere!

I was sitting quietly studying away yesterday afternoon, when I heard this huge BANG! erupting from somewhere out my window down the rear driveway.

"What the hell was that?!" I said aloud, rushing out the backdoor and sticking my head over the back fence to see... I dunno what! Well, the handful of men working on a nearly-completed townhouse down the back were all standing about laughing - apparently one of the air-hoses they'd been using for their nail gun had come off with a loud BANG! It sure sounded worse than it actually was... I manages to get my heartbeat to a relatively-normal pace, and went back inside...

There's a lady who lives around about near here, and she's one of those people who just has to stop and talk to you in the street. I first saw Cathy as one of the many people who used to catch the bus into town when I used to live on the western side of town a few years' ago. My first impression is that she never stopped talking - she'd always be talking to anyone and everyone on the bus! Now I live right close to town, and somedays when I'm walking to or from town, I see Cathy walking towards me... she's one of those people who'll cross the street just to say hello, and won't let you go too easily! She'll keep you up-to-date with what her daughters are upto, or what's been happening at the local club, or... lol. She's really harmless, is our Cathy, but it's annoying when you are in a hurry or need to get home before the rain comes or something! It's not as though I even know her - she's just one of the local faces! It's funny when you see her on the street - she is 95% of the time stopped talking to someone! Ahh, the wonders of the local personalities...

And lastly... Father's Day this year turned out to be a non-event for me this year. I didn't get to see my boys, not even a card, not even a phone call. To say I was p-off is an understatement. but, with my ex's wedding only 2 weeks' away, the household is quite crazy at the moment, which I appreciate. I rang and spoke to Josh for like 40 minutes on the Monday night, and that was just brilliant. We still love to just hang out together, even if it's on the phone. Yes, I still think about and miss my three sons every single day. Not a single day goes past without me thinking of them, wondering where they are and what they're doing...

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Save these obese Columbian buzzards

Race to Save Fat Colombian Buzzards as Dump Closes

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A Colombian environmentalist is working to save buzzards at a garbage dump who got so fat gorging on trash they couldn't even fly.

A new, more sanitary garbage disposal center outside the Caribbean city of Santa Marta is burying waste within 15 minutes -- hardly giving the 7,000 hungry buzzards time for a light snack, Alex Rodriguez told daily El Tiempo. Many of the buzzards, a type of vulture, are so fat they are unable to fly to look for carrion, their natural food, he said.

Rodriguez has asked authorities to relocate the buzzards to a place where they can survive while they practice flying and remember their instinctive appetite for animal corpses.
"They've lost their fear of people and they jostle around with the human rubbish recyclers, with the machinery, in the strong wind, looking for food," he said, adding that his campaign had attracted 700 telephone calls of support.
(Story here)

Airplane toilet ice

Airplane's Toilet Ice Crashes Garden Party
Mon Sep 6, 9:50 PM ET

GRAZ, Austria - It was an inelegant intruder on a sunny afternoon: a chunk of ice from a jetliner toilet that broke free and slammed into an Austrian family's garden.

No one was injured when the ice tumbled from the sky Sunday afternoon in Graz, about 120 miles south of Vienna, authorities said. The fragment bore deep into the soil in the garden, where the unidentified family was enjoying a lazy summer afternoon. Police said the 6-inch ice ball almost certainly came from an airliner toilet, judging from its blue color and its odor. They did not elaborate.
------------------------------------------------
"That's a popsicle you do NOT wanna take a big lick of..."

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

(*) New CD's & DVD's

Yesterday I 'lashed out' and brought some CD's & DVD's I've had my eye on. What the hey - you only live to appreciate the finer things in life, right?!? lol. The CD's were all 2nd-hand, hence the great price I got for them.

CD/DVD	Title	Artist	Cost	Rating	1st Released
Double CD	Anthology 1	The Beatles	$29.00 / $21 US	+++++	1995
CD	A Hard Day's Night	The Beatles	$25.00 / $18.10 US	+++++	1964
CD	Lennon	John Lennon	$13.95 / $10.15 US	++++	1990
Double CD	Live Album	Crowded House	$19.95 / $14.50 US	+++++	1996
CD	Live at the Monterey Pop Festival 1967	Jimi Hendrix	$16.95 / $12.30 US	+++++	1992
CD	Pearl	Janis Joplin	$12.95 / $9.40 US	+++++	1971
DVD	The Beatles Down Under	The Beatles	$4.84 / $3.50 US	++	1964
CD	Harvest	Neil Young	$14.95 / $10.80 US	++++	1972
Double DVD	The Sound of Music	Movie	$12.87 (reduced from $34.42!) / $9.30 US	+++++	1965

Anthology 1 - The Beatles: 5/5 - I got this on cassette when it first came out, as I didn't have a CD player back in them old days! Alright, as you already know by now, I'm a mad Beatles' fan - I love the music, not just 'them'. So, this is a wonderful insight into the development of them as writers as players together as a tight little outfit. Fav songs on this CD: Free As a Bird, I'll Get You (where else can you hear all those kids clapping along?!? Wonderful!), I Saw Her Standing There (what a great live version), Can't Buy Me Love (original version with backing vocals & George's different guitar bits), I'll Be back (going from 3/4 time into 4/4 time is like when 'The Wizard of Oz' goes from black-and-white into colour!), and the 'No Reply' demo - such a totally different feel to the released one!

A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles: 5/5 - what can I say? This is the one! I literally rocked back and forth listening to my brother's copy this LP when it first came out in '64 when I was 1, and it's still my all-time-fav Beatles LP. I wore my brother's LP out (really!), and the replacement I brought about 15 years' ago is looking the worse for wear as well - luckily I was able to tape most of my records before my old turntable died about 6-ish years' ago. Altho those tapes aren't coping with the pace nowadays either! So, at long last - I have my own pristine copy of this on CD! Whoo hoo! Every song is a fav on this one - seriously! This is my childhood innocence captured in music - what else can I say?

Lennon - John Lennon: 4/5 - I first thought this was a bootleg, but it's a german release by Parolophone of his first 2 solo LP's, Live Peace in Toronto & John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Oh wow. I've got both of these on vinyl and cassette, but to have them on the one CD is brill. The Plastic Ono band LP is his best solo LP by a million miles - gutsy, passionate, raw and powerful. Lennon the way Lennon wanted to be. My favs on this CD are: Cold Turkey (the studio version - sparse and tough), Mother, I Found Out, Well Well Well (all three are sparse and prophetically powerful - his anguish in 'Mother' brings you to tears), and God ('The dream is over, what more can I say?' says it all on The Beatles' breakup).

Live Album - Crowded House: 5/5 - now I have only 1 more Crowdies' album to find, and that's the B-sides/outakes one (the name of which escapes me at the moment...). I love the Crowdies - they are the sound of pop music, the legatees of The Beatles with their musicality, harmonies, and sense of humour. "The best cold beer is Vic..." They are as good live as they are in the studio. This is a special edition that came with the "Recurring Dream" Best-Of CD, so it was a lucky find.

Live at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival - Jimi Hendrix: 5/5 - oh wow! OH WOW! I've got "Experience Hendrix", which is like a best-of compilation CD, but this is what made Hendrix great - his live work. This is the gig that made him famous in the US - the one where he first set fire to his guitar on stage (much to his bandmates' surprise!) This is powerful, ballsy, exciting - a truly great recording of an amazing gig. I hadn't heard this one before - altho I've seen the TV footage from the actual Monterey concert film etc - and this one is truly Hendrixs' better nights!

Pearl - Janis Joplin: 5/5 - Another WOW! Where has THIS album been all my life? Why haven't I had this one ever since 1971?!? What have I been missing out on?!? I've only got bits and pieces of Joplin's stuff scattered about, so it's just brill to have this for myself. Too bad she died just before it was finished (stoopid cow OD'd), but this is a finished album of her greatest performances with a great backing band. The whole feel/vibe is great - electric and alive, tough and scary even - and no-one will ever have a voice like this ever again! Amazing!

The Beatles Down Under (DVD) - The Beatles: 2/5 - it was cheap, so I grabbed it, and it's a dud! It's a really-badly recorded TV newsreel footage of their Australian Tour in June 1964 (the month before I was born, I might add! lol). But it's still good to have, especially in the light of that other Beatles in USA DVD I got the other month, which was filmed only like 4 months' before. Plus, it's my favourite Beatles' period - that whole 'Hard Day's Night' era. Call me a fan, but I would have been one of those weeping hysterical young teenagers if I'd been there - I admit it! pmsl!

Harvest - Neil Young: 4/5 - years' ago I got his 'Tonight's The Night' LP & later the CD version - and that is his masterpiece, truly scary, a nightmare of sound and angst. "Harvest" was recorded slightly before that one, and although it's a lot 'nicer' than 'Tonight's the Night', it's the one with all the 'hits' on it, but that's OK. It's got a nice vibe to it. I like Young's creaky croaky voice and delivery - I think it gives his songs an electric brittle edge.

The Sound of Music (DVD): 5/5 - oh, alright, call it an impulse buy (it was marked right down), but this is a classic. The plan is to sit down with the boys and watch it together - a family evening with a classic movie. I'm brave enough to admit that "Edelweiss" will make me weep hopelessly with joy whenever I hear it in this film - I think it's a near-perfect song.

Anyway, I think that's quite enough of my rantings and ravings about music and visuals for this week, don't you think? lol

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Monday, September 06, 2004

(*) My Weather Pixie

I tell you what... this "Weather Pixie" can tell me the regional weather anytime! Whoo hoo! (lol)

Hey, I'm still playing with this whole blog-thing! So, as if I really know what I'm doing here, you know...? Hahahaa!

PS. Upon checking this thing out again today (the next day), I see that while it does change - it's none too bleedin' accurate! I mean, today it said it was sunny, but it's been pouring rain all arvo! lol. Oh well - the drawing's still cute! lol

Cyalayta

Mal :o)

Bears Delay School Starting

Bears Could Delay Start of School Year
Fri Sep 3,10:29 AM ET

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Some 30 brown bears have been terrorizing a Transylvanian mountain village and could delay the start of the school year, local authorities said Thursday.

Villagers are afraid to let their children go outside, with the bold bears are making off with domestic animals in broad daylight, mayor Nicolae Codreanu told state radio from Poiana Marului, 106 miles north of Bucharest. Animal experts were seeking a solution before the start of the school year on September 15.

(*) What is a 'blog'?!?

Hiya. I hope you had a great weekend, and didn't get too wet - there was hail and rain and all sorts of yukkie stuff here, but I managed to keep out of it. Sheesh! I've been speaking to a few people lately. Someone recently asked me a fair question: "What in the blue blithering blazes is a 'blog'?!?" Well, until July I'd never ever heard of them either!

Blog [a.k.a. blogger -or- blogrolling -or- weblog -or- Web log -or- blogosphere]

A blog is basically an online electronic journal that is freely available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently.

I currently have 2 blogs going. One is my normal 'serious' diary-type one - http://malnews.cjb.net
The other one is an extremely silly one (but - of course!) -
http://footchair.blogspot.com
Both of these are a garnish/embellishment to my normal homepages -
http://maljam.cjb.net

I've met some interesting people out there who write up and share their lives. The most interesting one I've been communicating with recently is a lady in the UK who is a non-religious funeral celebrant! In other words - she conducts funerals! http://realefun.blogspot.com Very very interesting! It goes to show, it takes all types to keep this world spinning the way it does... lol

Cyalayta
Mal :o)

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Russian School Death Toll Rising

Updated news story here: Mourners Plan Funerals in Russia School Siege Town

(Beslan, North Ossetia) The Russian school in Beslan is located in North Ossetia near Chechnya, where the murdering separatists have been fighting for independence from Moscow for a decade. They fight by killing innocent women, children, and infants.

Casualty reports from Wednesday's terrorist attack on the school vary from 200 to over 250 dead with hundreds more hospitalized in "grave condition." The total dead and injured is expected to increase as debris is removed and buried bodies are discovered. Conflicting reports pepper the casualty numbers and the status of the pursuit for the terrorists.

A number of hostages, covered in blood, were carried away in stretchers to local hospitals or a makeshift field hospital set up several kilometres from the school. Several bodies covered in white sheets are lying on the ground near the field hospital. Desperate family members crowded around lists of the dead and injured posted on hospital walls.

The attack on the Beslan school have overtaken my emotions. I feel so, so sorry for the people who have had their lives demolished by cruel madmen. I feel the uncontrollable tears in their eyes, the emptiness in their hearts, and the deep unremitting pain in their souls. I feel the same way I did on September 11, 2001.

And I feel rage. The people responsible for these crimes against humanity need to be found and killed, preferably slowly and painfully, while they are hungry, while they are thirsty, and while their bodies, day after day, are frozen with fear. That's how the children died.

Another Finn Triumph

Post Crowded House Aussie popster Neil Finn teams up with his bro, Tim to create what will (I believe) be the best pop album of 2004, Everyone Is Here. After listening to the CD, I revel in its simple pop perfection. USA Today seems to agree:

Like a lot of underappreciated virtues, Neil and Tim Finn's expert pop craftsmanship and glowing harmonies are easy to take for granted. Alone and together, in and out of Split Enz and Crowded House, New Zealand's most famous songwriting siblings have consistently delivered some of the most memorable moments in troubadour pop. Their latest CD offers another trove of unassuming gems...

This album is all brilliant. There are songs on this just as good as Weather with You and most of them are songs that will hopefully become classics as well. This is one of the best albums I have heard all year - scratch that, in years. The Finn brothers are incredibly talented Kiwis and I am proud to be a kiwi! Listening to this album just makes me want to write.
A definitely sing-along album! BUY IT!

Everyone is Here, in fact, they've been here all along, waiting for such music to come back into fashion. And thanks to bands like Coldplay, Travis and company, it has. Never in the middle of the pack, the Finns have always lain just alongside of it, whether with the sometimes confusing Split Enz or occasionally sterile Crowded House. However, age seems to be inspiring the chaps. Perhaps the cracks began with Tim's excellent 2002 solo effort, Feeding the Gods, which leaked joy and exuberance all over the place. Some of that has obviously rubbed off on his sometime self-indulgent younger brother, for what is probably the Release of the Year, Everyone is Here.

These 12 songs crackle and pop, lighting up your ears with something I haven't heard from a Finn since Weather With You - immediately catchy melodies. They're bloody good songs and the arrangements really make them soar. Go the strings from Tony Visconti, the exuberant (there's that word again) drumming from Matt Chamberlain and the sweet and chunky guitars. Throw in some Enz-like piano flourishes and you have some great wallpaper for these songs which, lets face it, don't need much wallpaper. Damn, these guys can make young songwriters jealous! Highlights are the single, "Won't Give In", the immaculate collaboration on "Homesick", the adorable harmonies of "Disembodied Voices", the soaring "Nothing Wrong With You", the sweet paen of "All the Colours" and the classic radio friendly "Luckiest Man Alive". Gobble this album up and enjoy.

This album is one of the best I have heard in a long time. The Finn Brothers are amazing songwriters and offer a reminder that good pop music does not have to be the fluff that is usually played on the radio. Most of the songs are inspired by the recent passing of their mother and a tribute to their roots, with incredibly moving lyrics. "Edible Flowers" is like a darker version of a Crowded House song, while "Won't Give In" sticks in your head after the first listen. I have not taken in out of my CD player since I bought it.
(Reviews's source)

Career-wise, the Finn brothers have been a musical tour de force. From early days together in Tim's band Split Enz, to later days reunited in Neil's band Crowded House, and beyond to individual solo releases, there have been stellar moments both in songwriting and performance. Oddly enough, it wasn't until 1989 that the brothers actually entertained the idea of collaborating.

They started writing songs together for a project that never happened, and many of those songs wound up on Crowded House's releases Woodface and Together Alone. The next mutual side project was a hasty collaboration recorded in the space of four weeks and released in 1995 (in 1996 for the U.S.) as Finn. Though that release had some commercial aspects, it featured songs that largely explored exotic and tribal instrumental sounds (played mostly by the brothers) in moody ways.

Now, after a volley of multiple solo releases, the brothers have reunited for a project that is more deliberate and fully realized, reflecting more of a band sound. That's good news for fans of both Crowded House and Split Enz, because Everyone Is Here manages to further the brothers' musical legacy with twelve more good songs. Back are the delicate harmonies that seem to come naturally for this brother team, and a sense that the competition between them has inspired better music all around.

The CD leads with "Won't Give In", the most commercial track and obvious choice for single. This contemplative song about promises made, family ties, and returning to the fold could fit well into the Crowded House canon. Neil mans the guitars, Tim the piano and additional percussion, while Matt Chamberlain drums and Sebastian Steinberg plays bass.

"Nothing Wrong With You" is another sweet gem, a mid-tempo number that lauds one who is better than the treatment the world affords him/her and surrounds it with an infectious melody: "We've learned to take abuse / From devils we don't know / People who have lost all heart / Look for someone else to blame / You just keep on walking when they call you a dirty name". A trio of producers lend a hand with this track: Mitchell Froom (who produced this record along with a number of Crowded House albums) adds additional piano, Jon Brion adds some drum and percussion fills (Chamberlain and Pete Thomas handle drums), and Tony Visconti aids the brothers with the string arrangement.

The Matt Chamberlain beat and handclaps drive the energetic "Anything Can Happen". Here Jon Brion adds some additional guitar, and Davey Farragher helms the bass in a song that reflects an attitude of forging on, coming 'round, gathering up, and giving in.

While I first thought the love song "Luckiest Man Alive" was a bit saccharine on the lyrical end, it's a real grower musically. This out-and-out tribute to the woman he loves features a chorus of headline-type proclamations: "Man finds love in his life / He's the luckiest man alive / Someone true by his side / He's the luckiest man alive / She cut right through his foolish pride / He's the luckiest man alive".

Another contender for a single release would be "Homesick". Here you get a real sense of collaboration, yin and yang in the form of Tim and Neil harmonizing together as only they can. The yearning is captured in a thickly produced musical environment full of Tony Visconti-arranged strings, piano and organ from Froom and Brion, and pedal steel and lap steel from B.J. Cole and Neil Watson respectively.

Visconti lends some lovely mandolin touches (along with double bass and cello) to the delicious brotherly reminisce of "Disembodied Voices". Here Neil and Tim think back to talking after the lights are out from their bedrooms down the hall some 40 years ago in Te Awamutu, New Zealand.

"A Life Between Us" is a wonderful musical exploration of brotherhood, a study in friendship, watching over each other, yet retaining plenty of mystery through the years as their relationship evolves. There are some wonderful passages here, such as "We're staring at each other / Like the banks of a river / And we can't get any closer / But we form a life between us".

But it's not all deliberation and seriousness here. Witness the philosophical fun of the more upbeat "All God's Children", wherein heavy contemplation gets the tongue-in-cheekiness treatment as ultimately, love conquers all: "We're all God's children / And God is a woman but we still don't know who the father is".

"Edible Flowers" is a more somber piano and strings-driven ballad about mortality and the wish to survive "to see another birthday". This one's a bit heavy-handed lyrically for my tastes: yes, sure, we're all getting older and we shouldn't let the moment pass. Still, the Finn Brothers can create a beautiful song out of just about anything.

"All the Colours" is a short, tuneful reminisce about a particular goodbye and how it takes a while to gather up and carry on beyond it. "Part of Me Part of You" is another strong, equal vocal harmony song (think along the lines of "Chocolate Cake"), a paean to their roots in New Zealand as well as to their ongoing dream of a musical career.

The CD closes with the syncopated rhythms of "Gentle Hum", sounding like something off one of Neil's solo CDs. Neil plays the piano here (and takes the main vocals), accompanied by Jon Brion's percussion loops and the soft accordion of James Crabb. The song is about the vibrations that will make us all one, and the sentiments are reflective, optimistic, and well intentioned. It provides a sweet coda for what really is a superb collection of songs.

Like many a Crowded House release, this new Finn Brothers album gains resonance with repeated listens, revealing subtle charms and musical accents over time. Everyone Is Here is a fairly sedate affair, reflecting the maturity of songwriters who realize there's more to the craft than merely rocking out.

Froom's production is simple and effective (and aided by the contributions of Brion and Visconti), capturing the sense of a live band, even in the studio. Adam Kasper did a fine job of recording and Bob Clearmountain added his magic in the mixing room (joining Froom for the first time since Woodface).

While I still love certain songs from individual Neil and Tim solo efforts, this is a much more even collection overall than any of those, perhaps a direct result of the brothers pushing each other that extra bit to create better music. All told, these dozen songs are a cause for celebration for fans of Crowded House, Split Enz, and music in general - Everyone Is Here delivers the kind of Finn Brothers album that people have long been awaiting.
Gary Glauber

Saturday, September 04, 2004

One Man's Story from 9/11

One Person's World Trade Center Experience
by Mike Englund

On September 11, I was attending a NABE conference at the World Trade Center with roughly 300 other economists. About half of the conference participants, including myself, attended a breakfast meeting with the CEO of Morgan Stanley starting around 8:00 that morning, in the first floor conference room of the Marriott World Trade Center. The hotel was adjacent to both the North and South towers, in the southwest corner of the WTC complex. The parking lot below the hotel, which was previously called the Vista, was the site of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing...

Read the full story here...
One Person's World Trade Center Experience

Friday, September 03, 2004

(*) Really scary words

There are some words in the English language that sound just too scary! Like:

Trousers
Woggle
Throb
Yoghurt
Sard
Succour
Collostomy
Antidisestablishmentarianism
Quibble
Liberal/National Party

hey, it's all I could think off from the top of me' flat 'ead, awlrite?!?

Terror Alert Level

Current Terror Alert Level:

(*) New phone battery

I think I was saying that my mobile needs a new battery. That's cool. I managed to find the right one for a great price. At first I was anticipating like $50+, but it's only gonna cost me $35, and they'll deliver it right to my door. I'm awaiting the paperwork to arrive, then I can check it and order it for real. That'll be good... at the mo, my mobile has a battery-life of about 3 days! Not good, hey?! But, ti's fine for what i need it for at the moment, as it can sit on my desk close to the adapter whenever it gets low every few days! D'oh! But, having a new battery will be good... it's a bit hard whenever I have to go out or downtown... I have to plan ahead to make sure the things' charged fully so I can use it if I ever need to when I'm out! D'oh! Well, hopefully, that'll be one less thing to worry about.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) Local bogans

You know, I'd never heard of this bizarre Aussie expression for a certain 'type' of Aussies - the 'bogan' - until my housemate got me watching SBS's 'Pizza' - that made me pmsl! Actually it was my housemate who introduced me to other forms of cultural expansion thanx to Monday nights' on SBS TV, shows like "Crank Yankers", "Velvet Soup", "South Park", and of course "Pizza"! Actually, if you ever get to watch an episode of Crank Yankers, be warned - it's really really funny - but very very rude and 'off' in lots of ways! But - you'll never watch an episode of 'Sesame Street' or 'The Muppets' the same way ever again! They use muppet-type puppets posing as bogus phone callers on unsuspecting people - very very funny!

Anyway... just around the corner from us, when I walk into town and back, I pass what we have 'sweetly' called 'Boganville'... yes, it's populated with those interesting characters, including cars with hoods open on the front lawn, feral kids, flannies and black jeans, and lots of empty beer cans around the place. It's a charming local landmark - not! I made myself laff one night months' and months ago when my housemate and I were talking about something in that particular street, when I mentioned that place, which I called off-the-cuff 'Boganville'. Well, it's been our own running gag for months' now. Aint we absolutely horrible?!? Talk about social discriminationalists! (What they hey...?!? lol)

Actually, Boganville has seen an interesting collection of varied items decorating the footpath around itself over the last 6+ months, including old shopping trolleys, broken toys, broken bottles, a busted pram, and an ironing board - complete with cover. About a year ago when I was once walking past on my way into or back from town, I noticed the local uniformed public servants paying the household a visit... you just never know what goes on in there... but there's always music of some sort or another blaring out from the open busted front flyscreen door. The interesting trail of assorted visitors who seem to pop in and out are an interesting bunch of local individuals as well. Hmmm... it's like a bogan microculture right in my very own neighbourhood! Ooohhhh, aint I right royal bastard! pmsl It's the only boganville in the immediate area, but, mind you, there's a whole 'suburb' like that in another part of town. I guess this makes me sound like a farking snob or something. Well, maybe I am... maybe I am! lol.

It was right outside that place that I first laid eyes on a young black labrador dog carrying, in its' mouth - a large green toy stuffed frog! I thought I was seeing things at first, but it's been seen by others as well. The next time I saw the said creature it was casually sunning itself in the middle of the road, enjoying the slobbering company of the same toy felt frog in its mouth! cars had to slow down and deliberately move around it as it just lay in the middle of the road, seemingly totally oblivious to the world around it! A crazy local mutt! I haven't seen it about lately, but I have noticed it carrying various different things in its mouth as it's walked around the nearby streets!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net

"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) Vegetables

Vegetables for lunch? Are you kidding me? Yes - leftover vegetables warmed up via the nuke-o-matic. To make matters worse - they included brussel sprouts! And, perhaps, what is more worse - I actually seriously enjoyed the experience! "Somebody stop me!" Yes, I am one of the 0.142% of the current worlds' population who actually enjoy eating and the taste of brussel sprouts. Having said that, I'm quite sure that I have lost the respect of many of my readers. However, I cannot stand by and belittle my savoury appreciation of the humble sprout (or 'little cabbages', as Sebbie used to call 'em), without being honest and truthful in stating this fact. Heaven help me!
"Here I stand!"

PS. I await the ongoing results inside the bedclothes later this evening...

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Definitions of a 'bogan'

Dressed in a blue singlet and a flannie and stovepipe stretch acid wash jeans and a beanie and get you a funky mullet and go on Jerry Springer...

blackjeanus mulleticus maximus

First identified as a sub-species during the mid-70s, the Melbourne Bogan is thought to be a close relation of the Booner (found in Canberra's outer suburbs) the Westie (spread throughout Western Sydney), and the Bevan (Bribane).

It is believed the initial Melbourne population was introduced to purpose-built habitats such as Frankston and Dandenong. However, by the mid-80s, the species had multiplied to plague proportions, spreading through much of Footscray and further Western regions. While authorities considered a culling program, they need not have bothered, as the regional population began a rapid decline from the early '90s onwards. The situation has now reached a critical point, with Bogans rarely sighted in Melbourne, and those remaining clinging to the region's outskirts. In the year 2000, the species is now officially endangered.

Identifying a Bogan is not difficult. Males sport a distinctive hair growth called a "mullet" (short front and sides, long at back). Some scientists believe the growth is genetic, while others argue it is a product of nurture, as even extremely young males seem coerced by parents to adopt the growth. Other distinguishing male characteristics include a tight black denim covering on the hindlimbs and bright flannelette markings on the forepaws and belly. Males adopt a dominant status within the community, with a vague sense of rank defined by the ownership of aging Ford and Holden motor vehicles.

Female Bogans are entrusted with the raising of multiple offspring, a role they perform from a young age and often without the presence of the male. They may be similarly identified through distinctive denim markings, though the color is usually "stonewash". In warmer weather, females have been known to shed the lower layer of demin to just below the genital area, resulting in a "cut-off" effect. Both males and females have been known to cover their lower hind-limbs with furry pouches called "ug-boots." While the wild population of Bogans is dwindling, it is still possible to view them in their natural environment. The species has been known to congregate around regional "shopping malls", where family units often come to settle domestic issues using high-pitched wailing sounds.

After sunset, younger males and females meet in small dark enclaves known "Taverns" where they consume large amounts of a liquid called "Bourbon." There are numerous factors attributed to the decline of the local Bogan population. Scientists have identified the unpopularity of stadium rock as a contributing cause, while the development of adequate social infrastructure (ie. schools, medium density housing) may have fragmented the species. More controversial theories suggest many bogans may have removed their mullets, purchased "cargo pants" and attempted to integrate themselves in Melbourne's mainstream population, but these claims are yet to be substantiated.

At present there seems little hope of restoring the Bogan population to its previous levels. Recent attempts by the Federal Government have included the development of a new artificial habitat in outer Melbourne named "Sunbury", but it seems this area may be too close to civilised air travel to attract large numbers of the species. More successful has been an enclosed breeding program in Canberra called "Summernats", which takes place annually at the National Exhibition complex in Watson. The program has proven highly effective, combining motor vehicles and bourbon with rampant displays of female sexuality. Authorities recently introduced a V8 Supercar race with similar results, and have attracted Bogan elders AC/DC for a brief national visit early next year.

Bogan: A fascinating beast. The majority of the species are hideously repugnant and unintelligent, and yet they manage to breed in ever-increasing numbers and populate an area known as the outer west. It is quite common to find five or six offspring in each family group, often with a different father for each new baby.
Their habitat consists of a weatherboard or brick-veneer dwelling and is characterised by an early-model Holden or Ford in the driveway surrounded by a group of males discussing why the carby is stuffed and the results of last night's footy (a primitive gladiator-like spectator sport enjoyed by most bogans).
The female of the species, while smaller in stature, is far more loud and aggressive than the male. While the males tend to be very friendly and congregate with other males, the females spend most of their time in supermarkets and shopping malls, using a shrill high-pitched call to discipline their children and contact other females.
Males and females rarely interact socially except during breeding season, which is otherwise known as Friday night. During this time, females are allowed to enter the male-dominated area known as "the pub" and display their impressive coloured plumage to a prospective mate.
Herein lies an intersting phenomenon. Males will often fight over a particularly attractive female and she will mate with only one male, while some less attractive females have been known to have several partners simultaneously.

"An Australia who usually goes by the name of Gaz, Darryn, Bazza or something similar, with a keen eye for holdens, fords and pannel vans. They are usually found sporting a fannellette shirt, tight, black ripped jeans, moccissons or ugh boots and AC/DC merchandise. The drink VB and are fans of rock music which may be heard blasting out their car windows as they "cruise" around the neighbour hood late at night."

"Oi Shiela"
"Wadda ya want Baz?"
"Get us a packet of smokes and a nuva VB from the fridge luv."

In Tasmania, Australia there are 2 breeds of bogans, theres the typical male "aussie" style bogan: who wears "wife basher" shirts (singlet tops) with many torn holes, tight stone wash jeans or some other pants, usually either wearing one or tied around the waist or slung over there shoulder a flanelette (flannie) shirt or holden/ford tops, and a pair of old blundstone boots (blunnies) and usually drives and old Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon. And swear the faces off, usually every second word is f**k. And are commonly seen with a can of VB in there hand.
Then theres the 2nd type usually teens who are seen decked out in dada, wutang, fox racing, eminem plastic crap, and the baggy wutang, fubu, emineme brand etc jeans and usually topped off with a cap of some kind, thinking that they're so damn cool but they're not. The female version is jeans that are so tight like you would not believe, have their hair pulled back and slicked down with a whole tub of gel except for 2 front bits which are pulled out and are the same length as the rest of their hair (commonly called "bogan bits") and wear dada, wutang, fubu, fox racing etc, jumpers 10 times too big for them and wear whole stick of eye liner on each eye and way too much foundation and are seen pushing prams around followed by a colony of young children (all to differnt fathers).
( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bogan&f=1 )

(*) Don't forget to pay a visit to the sacred shrine of http://www.mullet.com

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
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"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

(*) My phone!

The funny things you find sometimes... this is the model of my mobile! Altho mine has a plain royal blue cover, not one with someone skiing all over it like this thing has!
The battery is now wearing out on mine - I've had it about, ohh, 5 years (c.1999?), so I guess that's pretty good. Believe it or not, I got it at Coles with a pre-paid a/c for only $50! Isn't that amazing! Nowdays I only use my mobile as a glorified answering machine and SMS-text thingy - it's far-far cheaper to use a land-line to make a call than on this thing. I'm still on a pre-paid plan, which is all I need, and if I do need to make a call, it's usually only a very short quick one anyway.

Deep Purple - 'Made in Japan'

Made In Japan
Deep Purple
Warner 2701
Released: April 1973
Chart Peak: #6
Weeks Charted: 52
Certified Platinum: 10/13/86

Deep Purple have had a rough time gaining and retaining the status of being Kings of the Heavy Metal Set, and with the release of their last album, Who Do We Think We Are?, many critics rejected the fawnish fivesome for (1) trying to step out of their league with electronic-cum-Yes gizmos and melodic lines or (2) staying within the confines of their initial blockbuster, Deep Purple In Rock. If you're expecting something new in terms of either approach or material from Made In Japan, you will be severely dissapointed, but if you're a diehard fan of the group and not too interested in any great diversivication from their old style, Made In Japan is an assured treat. For Made In Japan is Purple's definitive metal monster, a spark-filled execution of the typical Purple style.

Unlike Five Live Yardbirds or Humble Pie - Rocking the Fillmore, Deep Purple deems it unnecessary to play any new material on their live albums. The live versions of all the songs are played at a much quicker pace than they were in the studio. So when "Strange Kind of Woman" or "Lazy" comes over the radio, the average listener will be able to jump up and say, "How come they're playing those Deep Purple records so fast?" only to be astounded when the Osaka audience's applause appears at the end of the song. This album was originally intended to be released only in the United Kingdom, but when hundreds of thousands of copies of the import started selling in America at ten bucks a shot, Warners decided to get on the case and released it just a few months after Purple's last LP.

As far as the artistic side of Made In Japan, Deep Purple have always been ace performers, rarely using any gimmicks other than their own volatile stage personalities. While Purple refuses to take themselves too seriously, all of the solos on Made In Japan are technically superior to most instrumental melodramatics one hears from supposedly more serious bands. Deep Purple is a tried-and-true Seventies group that has proven itself time and again, a favorite of many a serious musician (for instance, the Strawbs' Dave Cousins). While we still have to wait for their next release to know if they are going to continue at even keel, the fact is Made In Japan is here, and it's everyting it should be and more, and Deep Purple can still cut the mustard in concert -- so be it.
- Jon Tiven, Rolling Stone, 5/24/73.

Bonus Reviews!

One of the world's premier rock groups offers up a double set consisting of live recordings done during their tour of Japan last summer. The set consists primarily of elongated versions of familiar tunes, which serves to give the listener an idea of how the band members handle themselves in concert. Highlights include Jon Lord's keyboard work, vocals of Ian Gillan, and Ritchie Blackmore's biting guitar. Many bands lack something in concert, but this set only accentuates the group's already strong reputation. Best cuts: "Highway Star," "Smoke On The Water," "Space Truckin'."
- Billboard, 1973.

Not only could they kick ass in the studio, they could stir up a hornet's nest on stage too. This double-album (one CD) set recorded in Japan includes most of their best material ("Highway Star," "Smoke on the Water") and pushes the metal envelope even further. Ritchie Blackmore is in peak form throughout. * * * *
- Tom Graves, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

"Smoke on the Water," "Space Truckin'" and "Highway Star" are highlights of Made in Japan, a molten live album that also features Ian Gillan's piercing, tortured screams on "Child in Time." * * * *
- Gary Graff, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Spot the difference

Can you spot the difference? Or - who is influencing whom?!?

scream

(*) My poor neighbours

You may have heard already the ongoing saga of the new townhouses built behind where I live. Let's just say they were built with a minimum of fuss! Anyway, this morning I noticed a large furniture removalist truck firmly wedged between the fence and the house at the start of their long driveway. Stoopid council and planners - the rest of the long driveway is fine, but there is a really narrow gap between the fence and an old house at the front of the block - and there is no way this removalist truck could get thru past that narrow gap up to the back of the block! It's bad craziness! So, these poor buggers had to manually cart (using trolleys, at least) all the furniture and boxes and stuff by hand about 200 feet up the back of the block! D'oh! Yet another stoopid planning decision made - why on earth did Council let that get thru? If anyone ever needs to get an ambulance or a fire engine up there, they've got buckley's chance! D'oh! Anyway, at least i got to meet 2 of my new neighbours, being a typical nosey parker and sticking my head over my back fence at lunchtime! At least we could all have a laff about it. The narrow entrance to the driveway isn't something anyone really thought about before, obviously! D'oh!

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Walter the Farting Dog

'Walter the Farting Dog' to make film debut

The cult children's book 'Walter the Farting Dog' could soon hit the big screen after it was optioned by New Line Cinema. The story, which has also been a hit with adults, tells of a flatulent canine who saves his adopted family from burglars with his powerful ability.

A sequel published this year, 'Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale', again topped the NYT's list, and a third book is in the planning stages.

In the first book, two children adopt Walter from the pound, but he faces being returned after their father has enough of the stench. Walter wins a reprieve when he overpowers two burglars with his special talent when they try to rob the house. In 'Yard sale', a clown tries to use Walter's gift to commit evil doings.

The books are written by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray and illustrated by Audrey Colman. No release date for the film has been given.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1125317.html

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

() Wednesday's entry - at last ()

Weekend walk... Saturday was such a perfect Spring day, sunshine, clear sky, lightest of breezes, so I went for a nice long walk to soak-up the rays. About 5 blocks from home I felt an old twinge in my knee remind me of an alleged weakness there - rubbish, I said, and pushed on, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. I walked past the showground where there were some pacers training. I unexpectedly heard a loud thud/crash, and saw this lone horse bolting along the racetrack... one of the 'trailers' (or whatever you call those things a trotter rider sits in...) had come undone big-time, and this poor guy was shaking the dust off himself... he was fine, but it looked pretty funny seeing this horse just galloping off all on its' own sans rider! Later I popped into the new Visitors Information Centre - it's only been open a few months, so I thought I'd have a sticky. Picked up a brochure on Kiama (home of Charmain Clift - its somewhere on my agenda to spend a weeks' holiday down there... the $$$ I'd been saving for that trip ended going elsewhere for a worthwhile family need - that's OK).

Footy... then I saw that there was some rugby league playing at Carrington Park, the big 'stadium' here. What continues to astound me about living in the country is, after having grown up in the 'big smoke' of Sydney, you can walk into the local footy ground and sit in the comfort of a cool grandstand - for free! I kept looking around for someone collecting money at or near the gate, but - no-one! What's even more bizarre - and I still think it's pretty funny - is that people can drive their cars into the ground, park around the outside or along the 'hill', and watch the game from the comfort of their own car! It's so bizarre! You just couldn't so that in Sydney! The sun was shining, and after a while I practically had to move into the shade because I thought I was going to get sunburnt sitting in the comfort of this wonderful grandstand (it's still a bit of a novelty for me - as a kid you had virtually no chance to sit in the grandstand at a Sydney league match, unless you either owned the team or got there the day before...). The locals were in fine voice, cheering on their team - the boguns reign in a place like that! Anyway, the local team was leading by 30 - 0 at half time, so I thought I'd keep moving! The fresh air was calling me - plus maybe my knee was starting to stiffen up as well... no no...

Being a true dag, I dropped past the library in the general direction of heading home... I picked up a DVD of one of my all-time favourite movies, "Lawrence of Arabia", with Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guiness etc (1962). Wow! This is spectacular enough to behold, but on this remastered director's cut DVD - WOW! There are scenes and cuts in this that literally take your breath away. And, if you thought you were thirsty before it started, make sure you take a big bottle of liquid refreshment with you! The first half is really my preferred bit, but to watch how Lawrence (brilliantly cast with O'Toole!) goes nuts in the 2nd half is amazing as well. The DVD had some bonus behind the scenes and the making of stuff, which was eye opening. It was like 130 degrees f when they were shooting in the desert... there's no extras doing those long-shots of camels riding on the horizon - it's really them! Plus, there's pictures and maps of where Lawrence actually lived and worked while in Arabia in 1916-1918. Like I said, when you see the pictures of the real Lawrence against Peter O'Toole - it's a brilliantly superb piece of casting! Those eyes!

I managed to pick up a CD of "The Kinks" (that British pop group from the '60's) at the library as well. I have an LP of theirs in my collection, but it's kinda useless when I don't have a turntable to play it on. Well, I like some of their stuff, but listening to this CD made me realise something... why could I never really get 'into' The Kinks? It's bloody ray Davies' voice - I hate the sound of his voice! I think it wrecks a whole range of really good and cleverly written material - damn! Some of their stuff is vintage 60's garage punk - I loove it! While some of it is ruined (in my opinion) by poor arrangements and pretty lacklustre recording, some of the writing is really clever (if you can get past his voice! lol)

Random thought - I'm listening to The Beatles "Anthology 2" at the moment - first drafts of Norwegian Wood and Tomorrow Never Knows (just one chord!) - very cool. I love that middle period of theirs - that Rubber Soul/Revolver time. Getting into the whole recording experience, and just mixing it all up - and pop music has been the benefactor after all these years! (I'll get off my soapbox now... <blush>...)

Crazy weather... we have a few days of good rain, the a few days of glorious sunshine... you'd never know it's officially the last week of winter now, would you? The wattle trees are blooming like crazy out here - I picked a huge bunch of it on the way home, and it now graces the kitchen bench - a beautiful yellow splash of colour in the place. Loverly! Then, the very next day - rain! Lots and lots of it! Like 27mm (nearly 1 inch) in 48 hours after a gloriously sunny day! Crazy weather. Of course we need the rain out here - it's pretty dry around here (but not as bad as it is out further west tho...). Altho our small postage-stamp backyard grass has decided that a bit of rain and a bit of sunshine is a signal for it to grow like it's a wrestler on steroids! In literally 5 days, it just took off. I had to attack it with the whipper snipper... I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see the view out of my bedroom window otherwise... lol. Why not a lawn mower for the grass? simply because - there's not enough of it for a mower! All you'd have to do is start the thing up, and voom - the yard is done! Regardless of that, I love having a patch of green here - it's nice to be able to walk around in and get the green stuff caught between your toes... grass, that is! My flowers I planted back in March have taken off after their long slow winter hibernation too - whoo hoo! I really like living here. I sure hope I don't have to move too soon, anyway. My housemate seems pretty settled, so that means I'm pretty safe here. I've got 2 friends moving to new homes, so i hope it's not my turn next! Argh!

Election... well the PM finally called this farking election for 9th October - at long last! I've had to listen to 3+ months' worth of political points' scoring already - I'm well and truly sick of it by now. And now it's worse that the election's actually happening! Argh! The funny thing is, it's being held on the same weekend as the Car races up here - talk about a big <cufuffle> out here (at least it'll keep the poor sods manning the Absentee booths busy!)... but the local results' a bit of a no-result - the local independent candidate has what's been called the 'safest seat in the country' with a 25% majority - it's a foregone conclusion out here! D'oh! So, all this party crap and arguing is totally wasted on 'most' of us out here in this electorate!

I never thought that I had a 'political opinion' for years and years. I grew up in a certain area where we always voted for one party, and I never thought or questioned that. It hasn't been until the last 5+ years' that I've started seriously considering the whole political process in this country - and I've quite surprised myself as to what I actually think about things 'political'! (Well, I'm not going to turn this blog into a political forum now - pmsl!) Well, alright - one comment I heard on the radio yesterday... when asked about her protesting against Australia's involvement in the War in Iraq, she said, "I spoke up, and look what happened!"

I've managed to finish and post 2 Uni assignments in 2 days this week - that must be some kinda record?!? I suddenly feel as though I'm back on top of my Uni work once again - it's been a horrendous 6 months, let me tell you (ahh, that's what happens when you go mad...!) So, it's refreshing to feel motivated and inspired to get back into big-time again.

Thoon IV the fishiee is going well - he keeps dancing happily in his little watery world. It's still nice waking up and laying with my head on my pillow watching him first thing in the morning, trying to get me out of bed to feed him! lol About 2 months' ago i got one of those gravel cleaners for his tank, and it's really helped keeping it cleaner. I do that once a week, and the water quality lasts a whole lot longer than it used it, which makes him happy, I'm sure of it. You have no idea how sometimes something as simple as watching a little goldfish can be such positive therapy for a tired, lonely, mad old man somedays.

I saw my nieces (well, ex-nieces-in-law?!? lol) downtown on Monday. I haven't seen them in about 3 years now, and it was a bit of a spinout to see them again. (They're about the same age as Josh and Seb). The funny thing that took me by surprise is - the haven't changed at all! They looked the same since the last time I saw them! isn't that weird?! I know my three have changed heaps over the last few years - even Josh (the eldest), and I thought the girls would have too. But, well, there you go!

Well... I knew I'd had a lot to blog blog bloggity on about, but there ya go! No wonder I didn't wanna do it late at night when I was too tired to even think straight... ahh, the joys of sleep! Now, if only I could stop missing capitalizing the letter 'i' and type an apostrophe instead of the letter 'l'! lol Ahh, the joys of being a 5-fingered typist, I guess - and old habits die hard for this old man, I guess. lol.

Cyalayta
Mal :o)
Message Board - http://malboard.cjb.net
Home - http://maljam.cjb.net
mal@maljam.cjb.net
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of the oncoming train." (Robert Lowell)

Woe! Shame, Manly, shame!!

Dragons up in amazing comeback
Monday August 30, 03:06 PM

A Mark Riddell conversion with only two minutes remaining has been enough to give the Dragons an incredible 36-34 win over Manly at Wollongong this afternoon.

Down 34-10 with 23 minutes remaining the Dragons scored five unanswered tries, including a double to Nathan Blacklock, to steal the win.

Blacklock's two tries came within five minutes of each other before Ben Hornby crossed and then Matt Cooper scored with 13 minutes remaining to make it 34-30.

The Eagles defence then seemed to settle but with three minutes remaining, Matthew Head threw a flat pass to prop Justin Poore who crashed over 15 metres in from touch.

Riddell slotted the pressure kick.

The Eagles had been on target for an unlikely victory after scoring four tries to one in the first half, but their defence fell to pieces after the break as the Dragons lifted in attack.

Manly captain Michael Monaghan said they should never have lost with the lead they had.

"Shattered is probably the right word. We were the better team and we didn't get the points and I guess we've got ourselves to blame for that," he said.

Dragons coach Nathan Brown was thrilled to have come away with the win.

"What it did show was there was plenty of character and plenty of spirit and fight which was pleasing, but it also showed we've got a few things to work on as well," he said.

The win means the Dragons will more than likely finish the season in fifth place as they have a bye next week.

Manly veteran Steve Menzies also became rugby league's leading try-scoring forward with his 147th career try.

In cold and wet conditions, the Eagles started poorly, messing up the kick off and being forced into two line drop-outs.

However they scored two quick tries and led 24-4 at half-time.

Monaghan was dominant in attack while Menzies also had a good first half.

The first try came thanks to a 40-20 kick from Monaghan. In the next set he put in a cross-field chip which found centre Paul Stephenson out wide.

Luke Williamson kicked the conversion to give them a 6-0 lead.

Stephenson then crossed over for his second try thanks to a Menzies cut-out pass which found him with enough space to drag two defenders over the line with him.

The Dragon posted their first points through Shaun Timmins in the 33rd minute.

Manly scored their fourth try of the half after the Dragons ran nearly the length of the field and looked like scoring on the siren.

Instead a loose ball metres from the Manly line was scooped up by Monaghan who found Brett Stewart outside him. Stewart then passed inside to Brett Donald who outpaced the Dragons defence to cross under the posts.

Dragons reserve Lincoln Withers scored first after the break and the conversion helped them back to 24-10.

However Manly crossed twice more to take the seemingly insurmountable 34-10 lead.

The Eagles will finish the season in 13th place regardless of next week's results.

They play the Storm at Brookvale next Sunday.

: Name: Mallard; Location: New South Wales, Australia

I'm a 42-yo Aussie divorced dad, & have a great sense of absurd humour ie. The Goons & Python! I love listening to and playing music as well, especially British '60's stuff like The Beatles. I enjoy listening - to the sounds around me (taking a moment to stop and 'listen' to the roses?!?) I love to read a good novel, biography, or Robert Lowell's poetry. One day I'll finally get to visit Hydra, Greece!

View my complete profile

Mallard's Blog Diary

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Monday, September 27, 2004

(*) Monday Madness

Saturday, September 25, 2004

(*) Mobile battery going well

Thursday, September 23, 2004

(*) Thursday is before Friday and after Wednesday

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Monday, September 20, 2004

(*) Another response

(*) Darwin stubbie

(*) a nice call

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Saturday, September 18, 2004

(*) Wedding Day

Friday, September 17, 2004

(*) Battery arrives

Thursday, September 16, 2004

(*) Did you see the moon tonight?

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

(*) Wedding's on this Saturday

(*) Another day

Monday, September 13, 2004

Saturday, September 11, 2004

(*) Edgell Jog

(*) Sept 11 - 3 years' on

(*) Layla

(*) Locusts

Friday, September 10, 2004

(*) Some poems

(*) CD's I'd like to have

(*) Thoon... and a car...?!?

Thursday, September 09, 2004

(*) Random observations from the week that is

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

(*) New CD's & DVD's

Monday, September 06, 2004

(*) What is a 'blog'?!?

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Saturday, September 04, 2004

Friday, September 03, 2004

(*) New phone battery

(*) Local bogans

(*) Vegetables

Definitions of a 'bogan'

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Spot the difference

(*) My poor neighbours

Walter the Farting Dog

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

(*) Wednesday's entry - at last (*)

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() Wednesday's entry - at last ()