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March 28, 2006
It's Official
I had a birthday yesterday. Over the past few days I enjoyed the following celebrations:
- A day at my parents' house in Black Rock consisting of a hit of tennis (6-3 to me), two swims at the beach and a barbecue with all my extended family.
- A night away at a B&B in Hepburn Springs (includes massage).
- An evening of pizza and beer with my friends. Then we ate (home-made) lemon tart and drank port.
- The Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony
- A new thermos for the football
- A Dees guernsey
- A (home-made) polo shirt
- An ingenious camping table that folds up into a little bag
- Some glossy and fantastic cook books entitled "Thai" and "Curries"
- The DVDs of the Murray Whelan series, featuring the hilarious David Wenham in the title role
- A new stylus for my turntable
- A book entitled "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization"
- A stripey jumper that I would never buy for myself but which looks tremendous - the best kind of clothing gift
- A copy of The Age Cheap Eats 2006
- "Cry, the Beloved Country"
- Two bottles of booze
- A new tea towel
- Membership (and an accompanying handbook) to Bio-Dynamics Tasmania
- A big bag containing coffee, chocolates, olive oil and a Buffy CD
- A box of very cool Pink Panther greeting cards
- A new handkerchief
Regular rants and vitriol will resume tomorrow once I've read the paper and turned my brain back on. (I have a week off so expect more action than usual).
Posted by Peter at 06:22 AM | Comments (65)
March 25, 2006
Bruce, Where Are You?
Most blindingly parochial piece of Commonwealth Games commentary yet: Tony Jones to Ambrose Ezenwa after Asafa Powell had reeled in his 6m lead in the the 4x100 heat and effortlessly crushed him by 2. "You held him off there, are you happy with that?" Even Ambrose had the good grace to look doubtful.Posted by Peter at 08:01 AM | Comments (4)
March 23, 2006
She WILL Be Sorry
From The Age:
The Vietnamese born man, only known as Mr T, was held in immigration three times between 1999 and 2003, at one stage for eight months, because authorities failed to check his fingerprints.
Senator Vanstone said the department had written to apologise to Mr T, but she felt that was not enough.
Yo' damn right it ain't enough!
I pity the fool who sends me to prison for a crime I didn't commit!
Posted by Peter at 03:26 PM | Comments (14)
March 08, 2006
A Rare Treat
Being a white, middle-class, heterosexual male, I rarely experience the dubious thrill of unprovoked vilification. Sure, I've dished out a bit of lip to the nuns and fundies outside the East Melbourne Day Procedure Clinic on the way to work, but really, their retorts are hollow.
Well, that all changed the other day when, strolling through the little complex on Bridge Road, I was called a poof. My verbal assailant, in a brilliant ploy to avoid detection, cunningly disguised the word in a cough, Slider-style. Admittedly, I was wearing white loafers*, a choice of shoe that could, at a stretch, be described as "poofy", particularly as they matched my white polo and the pinstripes of my checked pants. But sure as hell not by a guy dressed in graffiti-d gear from head to toe and accompanied by a little trucker-capped mate. It was as if their Mum had taken them into Myer and said "make my twin boys look trendy. Same clothes, but different colours, please".
The thing is, I could flick a condescending look over my shoulder and shake my head at their folly before trotting back to work with a story to tell (read: blog). Not so easy for the genuine poofs out there, who from the same experience would draw yet another piece of evidence that, when it comes to Australia, they're still pretty much up against it. So power to you, gay boys and girls. I'm not going to say I feel your pain, because how could I, really. But maybe now I get it a little more.
* Reports that I was actually on my way to purchase white leather cleaner for said loafers and a can of scotch-guard for my new suede wedges are utterly unfounded. And so what if I was? Homophobe.
Posted by Peter at 11:50 AM | Comments (21)