Quotes, Birthday Parties and Nuclear Dead-Shits

LIGHT TRAVELS FASTER THAN SOUND
THIS IS WHY SOME PEOPLE APPEAR BRIGHT
UNTIL YOU HEAR THEM SPEAK.

First you might think that funny, then maybe rather closer to the truth than you might like, but finally, off course, you know it’s just true. So your life goes on.

Ever hear of a American on-line journal called Mother Jones – it’s well worth a look folks.

Want to know what’s true? Really, horribly true? There’s a truly awful article in Mother Jones Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the current nuclear armed world. Between China, USA, Russia, France, Britain, Israel, Pakistan, India and [probably] North Korea, there are about 27,000 – that’s THOUSAND - active nuclear warheads. Enough to make you shit yourself if you really thought about it.

This is awful because so many countries that have these vile weapons are unstable – Pakistan, Israel, India and Russia in my opinion. The others are probably only marginally better because of their political ultra-right wing and One God religious extremists. Its enough to remind of my youthful anti-nuclear dedication and to seriously consider going back there.

After reading this article I’m giving thought to learning to fold an origami paper crane – the bird kind, not David Leavitt's Lost Language kind. Mind you that’s remarkable book in itself, which didn’t film so well because it got a bit to obscure.

On a brighter note and regular readers will know this column is not prone to nudity, though close to it sometimes. Here’s a dragon that caught my eye recently. It's real; there are other parts where I found this but not for now

I spend a weekend in Sydney recently at 40th birthday celebrations of two good friends recently. Laughed me tits off, I did. About so many things. Sometimes the health benefits of just getting away from routine and home can’t be under-estimated. I think most of the diverse crowd at the various activities from Friday night to Sunday lunchtime had lots of fun. There was an age range from early 20s to 86. Straights, Gays, Lesbians, Africans, Sri Lankans, Pilipinos, fair skinned red heads to ex-husband’s of drag queens to oka Aussie country boys. Imagine all that time together and no drama, no violence. Plenty of crude humour, lots of facial question marks, tons of learning; and all that wrapped up in a good time. And with good food and wine.

Soon I have to learn more about my Facebook site and how to use it better – and maybe even understand what it really does. So many others do, so belatedly I’ve decided some degree of “social networking” is for me. When I do I may even put a link to my Facebook page in here. We’ll see.

I’ll leave you with another lovely quote from someone or another -

“We’ll be friends until we are old and senile. Then we’ll be NEW friends”

August Footy and a break away.

I thought I’d start with a bit of beefcake today. I’ve no idea who he is, when or where this was taken. He’s not a train or a robot or anything to do with queer history. He’s not politics, community support or self reliance; he’s just so *#@^en HOT – to me!



What do you think?

Off to Thailand for a couple of weeks. Last time I was there I passed through Bangkok and hated it. It stank and was crowded and I’d never seen a gnarled beggar before. I was also going to the USA which was nice and “white”. A variation on a local theme you might say. I went to San Francisco and Seattle and several places in between. Met some great folks along the way too. It was a long time ago, 24 years ago in fact, and I’m reliably assured things have changed in Thailand.

As the overseas trip looms, it’s only about a month away now, I’m ready for it. A bit day to day tired and loosing interest in it all. This trip is about rest and time with three of my best friends. Do I want to do the sex bars? Nup, but I will – I’m told one has to take a look at these things, see what it’s all about. Know what I mean?

My footy team’s doing OK – reasonably well actually. For those of you in the know I’m a Collingwood supporter. A Black and White fan, Go the Magpies and all that. Have a look. I fancy our captain, Nick Maxwell, and afew of the others too. But we have this habit of always getting into the finals and always loosing.

Last Grand Final we won was in 1990 – long time ago huh? There’s lot of us Pies supporters where I work. Most are much more positive than me and most are much more supportive of our senior coach Mick Malthouse than I am. We’ve paid him a lot of money over a lot of years to not win, and sometimes when we really should’ve. I’m well known in the office for my mantra of three seasons now “Get rid of ‘im”. Still this time in 8 weeks (or less) and I guess we’ll know. And we’re stuck with him for another couple of years apparently too. St Kilda and (once again) Geelong are the looming threats this year. Watch out for the Bulldogs too, though maybe another year or two for them yet.
Here’s another little surprise – note the jumper, I want one.

The other comment of note at the moment is the struggle with tobacco. I did well for several weeks in May and June without any but over the last few weeks I’ve crumbled. It’s odd really because I can be such a stubborn and determined bastard most of the time, but this tobacco thing is just tough. And it’s been a part of my life for over 35 years! If you don’t smoke, don’t ever start! Trust me on this one if nothing else.