The Con Man......

....and the Dupe








The cause of Association Football lost a lot of ground last night with Australia's 1-0 loss to Italy last night in the Round of 16 World cup clash. Not because Australia lost, Australian crowds are not that fickle. It was the manner of the loss that will do the damage.

Fabio Grosso is a coward and a cheat. Pure and simple. In the dying seconds of the game, he used his unquestioned skills as a footballer to beat Marcus Bresciano on the left and force Lucas Neill into an early slide, and then, instead of stepping to his right around Neill's prostrate form and shooting on goal, spoiled it by jagging left and using his questionable skills as an actor and acrobat to dive onto the ground. Referee Luis Medina Cantalejo, like a 12 year old at his first circus, was completely taken in and pointed to the penalty spot, effectively robbing the Socceroos of the game.

Watching the under 11's playing on the weekend, talking to a past player from Stirling and he said to me "It's such an honest game at this age"
Sadly, Fabio Grosso showed us how the game can be manipulated, and why Australia has been so reticent to embrace it.

My game is fair play. It's just not soccer.

Free Personality test

Have a computer tell you about yourself. Find god through MS Paint.

I did.

Dreams

Last night I had one of those dreams that stay with you through the day. I dreamt of a friend of mine that I haven't seen in a long time. We were in a seaside "shack" community, I was feeling lonely and she appeared and we explored and chatted.
Now I've been missing her all day, and I wonder what that means.

Mid-winters Day

The shortest day of the year

Not my favourite time of the year. While the days have been glorious here (it has only rained twice in the last month) this time of the year always has a slightly depressing effect on me. Coming off birthday celebrations, and with nary a long weekend in sight until September, it seems as though there is very little to look forward to. I say seems, because this is obviously untrue, but on the respective timeline scale, the excitement cupboard is a little bare.

I am feeling insignificant at the moment, which doesn't help my outlook. I strive to be even handed, to not over react to emotional stimuli, which I like to thik I achieve most of the time. Unfortunately, it also means that people are less wary of pissing you off, and when they do the prevailing attitude seems to be "oh well".

I have a recurring nightmare that I don't really exist. I wake up convinced that I am not real, and it scares the crap out of me. Days like yesterday don't help.

MIA

Actually missing in study, on a training course. I am really not a good student, I think it's down to impatience. Sitting in an over-warm room listening to people ask questions that I either know the answers to or don't care is a hard way to spend two weeks. I am learning, but I think I (and the company) would be better served doing it at my own pace.

Boo hoo

The answer to life, the universe and everything

The last long weekend, until the end of September, has finished. The Foundation Day weekend is a favourite of mine because it falls on or around my birthday! This year's was excellent. I started Friday night with Stormie and Woodie in the shed. Darts and cards and talking bullshit kept us occupied until the clocked ticked midnight and my birthday officially started. Then of course we had to celebrate, so it was nearly 2 by the time I crawled in to bed. Saturday was spent lazing around my house, my favourite past-time, with my favourite people, watching my favourite footy team (Go West Coast!) come back from 54 points down to snatch a 3 point victory from the Cats. Then down the road to Macedonia Park to watch a 9-1 cup match and sink a few more beers with Woodie. Home for dinner (HJ's, my choice),an hour and a half phone call from Face and Ang and a visit from me Mum. Just when I thought I'd had the perfect birthday, I decided I'd try to stick it out until midnight, flicked it over to rage and sat until 12:30 watching "The Sex Pistols" and "The Saints".

Sunday, back down to Macies to watch the 13's play, then off to Freo to catch up with the "crew" (sans Woodie, oddly). The photo (We're thinking of saving it for an album cover :-) shows Ned (Fatness, Mark),me , G (Stormie, Norm) and Snake (Jake, Greg). All with their respective spouses and children were there as well as Crystal and Woz and their boys. We'd booked in to an apartment, so all back to ours for pizza and wine. I fell asleep watching the Socceroos and Netherlands draw.

Up early this a.m. Fast Eddy's for breakfast (nice, but glad I didn;t see the kitchen or the toilet until after I'd eaten, spent some of my birthday money on a new harmonica then home for more lazing.

I love Foundation Day