Painting at the highrise

These twenty year old beige scales just stand out in our kitchen like the proverbials. Nothing wrong with them though. So I gave them a coat of silver paint and from a distance they look ok. It will do unitl somebody buys me a nice set of electronic scales.

Reminds me of a Greek workmate who painted his Commodore black with a brush and it really looked bad, especially as the paintwork faded. The police were always pulling him up but as he is in a permantly agitated state, they would quickly move on.

He has since replaced the car and luckily we exported him to another area in our workplace. Someone to the south of my workplace is suffering now

Dear Mr G Earth

Dear Mr Google Earth.

It was kind of you to replace the normal maps with maps showing fire hotspots in Victoria when our state was badly affected by bush fires.

However it did rather spoil Melbourne's images and now our bush fire season has well past, is it possible for you to put up some new images of Melbourne? We are not a small city and months without images is not fair.

Thank you.

Net Panic Over

While I was thinking I was to be throttled to 64kb per second when I reached 10gb of download for the month, I thought I better double check that there weren't any excess fees. I was sure there weren't, but just making sure.

I have heard nothing about this in any media and nor have I had a communication from Telstra, but I discovered my plan now has a limit of 12gb. It will be interesting to see what happens when the meter ticks over 10gb, which my meter is telling me is the limit.

Bad Brain

It took me time to work out this picture of the rear of our building. From the position it was taken the buildings to the right should not be there. They are actually to the left of where the picture was taken. Head scratching. It made much more sense when I realised it was just a reflection in the mirrored building on that side. Of course it is clear to me now and I am sure it was instantly to you. My brain just was not correctly interpreting what I was seeing.

Fridae.com news on Friday

Never thought I would hear anything like this from Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew:

If in fact it is true, and I have asked doctors this, that you are genetically born a homosexual - because that's the nature of the genetic random transmission of genes - you can't help it. So why should we criminalise it?'

And I am a little surprised about this one. Good on 'em. It is the third anniversary of the event. A crowd of one thousand is expected.

Sri Lankan gay group Equal Ground has declared May 20-27 to be its gay pride week with a mini film festival, community enhancement workshops, a theatre production and parties.

Although Sri Lanka has a similar provision to Section 377 in its Penal Code which criminalises gay sex as with several other former British colonies in Asia, local gay group Equal Ground has declared May 20-27 to be its gay pride week with a mini film festival, community enhancement workshops, a theatre production and parties.

Safe Distance

He was so sweet looking but there was also a naughtiness about him. His pic in underwear with a sticking out at the front really got me. Now can someone slap my face and tell me to stay out of chatrooms. Normally I would not reply but since he was in Sydney, I figured it would be safe. In case you think 'have a good one' was a brush off, he sent me another heart later.

Original Message
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(Me)Hiya. Thanks for the heart. Like your looks. Pity you are in Sydney and I am in Melbourne. Best wishes, Andrew.

Original Message
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(Him)Thanks hotstuff. Yeah there seem to be a lot of hot guys in Melbourne, definitely more than Sydney. Wish I lived down there instead, I'd be invited to all the orgies... lol just kidding. Have a good one. ;)

Watching Paint Dry

The Hirosaki blossoms seem torturously slow to appear this year. But we are making progress. There is a pink hue now.

Net Panic

I bet I am not the only one in panic at the moment. I have downloaded 9.687 gigs this month and my allowance is 10 gigs. I still have three days to go. How will I explain 'throttlaling' to R, which is what will happen if I go over. Just email and browsing for three days. I can do that. That must have been an awful lot of music I downloaded. Can't find it though.

I can cook

Even if I lived alone, I doubt I would cook much for myself. I am very lucky to have a partner who is a whiz in the kitchen and always presents food so well, most unlike moi.

But I can cook pizza on unleavened bread, but seldom do so as the pizza restaurant across the road does it so much better.

I cooked 'Blanche's Famous Fried Rice' last week. Yesterday I cooked Anzac biscuits, which turned out well. Today I am in the process of making pea and ham soup which will do for a dinner and a lunch along with home made bread from the bread maker. Also under way are samosas, which I freeze in bags of six and we will have them for lunch over the next few months with a hot mango chutney. Both the pea and ham and samosas are two day projects so usually only get made when I am on holidays.

I haven't made it for years, but used to make a couple of boiled fruit cakes a week to sell in a shop. I have a mind to make one of those too (just remembered, no glace cherries, damn).

The skin

It was a few years ago. I walked up to the bus stop in a quiet outer area. There was a girl waiting for the bus. She was late teens or early twenties, wearing a very low cut top and softly singing to herself. Her arms were also bare and she was without makeup. She did not stop her very pleasant singing as I arrived.

The last thing I want to be caught doing is staring at a teenage girl, but I could not help myself. Her skin was so white and almost translucent. But not so that you could see veins. Not on her face, arms or upper chest was there anything to mar her perfect skin. People like that are not usual. We almost all have scars, blemishes, spots etc to spoil us a little and the older you get, the more mars you have. Even harder for guys. Asian and Latin guys seem to better in this area, but of course dark skin can cover up. I love nice skin.

If you are a young person and reading this, look after you skin. Plenty of water, don't smoke, don't drink too much and definitely stay out of the cruel Australian sun.

Close

The RAAF flew over during yesterday's Anzac Day events. They were closer than they have ever been. I still get a kick out of seeing planes close by.

Nice family day.........I suppose

Ever done something when there was no real reason why it should not have been great, but it wasnt?

Today was beautiful, sunny but not hot and no wind. But I am sick of the sun.

Yesterday we had lunch in Swan Street in Richmond, and I am sorry R, but next time I will insist. All the eating places are on the southern side of the street. I had to sit with three quarters of my torso in the hot sun. Sun glaring into my eyes when I leant forward to eat.

Today, ditto. Even in sort of shade, gum trees are not the best shade around. Lysterfield Lake was packed to the gunnels. We normally go down near the dam wall, but it was full and most of the rest of it was full. Brother queued for a barbecue. We had to sit on the ground, so uncomfortable.

Mother moaned on and on about her medical problems. We walked to lake shore at a snails pace. I could have walked there and back and back again and still have beaten her.

Sis in law turned up, lovely as she is. Nephew, 20 working, niece 18 working, niece 14, might have come if it was somewhere else as she is bored with Lysterfield Lake. Instead went to Southlandish place on the train with girlfriends.

Sis in law arrived without family or friends in her people mover vehicle. We joked about it but sad.

Other brother, ex of sis in law invited heavily but decided to work.

Sis wanted to spend quality time with girlfriend, no doubt talking about scans.

No reason to get the boulle set out of the car, nor the kite, no wind anyway. Just lots of sun, in my eyes, beating down on me, constantly moving when I thought I had found sanctuary and then in my eyes on the drive home.

It is good to connect with family, but I cant say today was the best day we have had.

Scum in our town

I shan't honour him with the title 'bloke', so let us call him a dude. He, obviously not in control of his anger, and throws a chair at someone. The leg of the chair pierces the victims eye scoket and goes right through to the neck. That is one magnificent chair throw. And he has been honoured for his efforts with a community service order.

Physical harm of a stranger should result in a gaol term. Severe deliberate physical harm of a stranger should result in a long gaol term.

Very subjective, but the antagonist looked to be a very comfortable eastern suburbs person with a good barrister. The victim, western 'burbs, perhaps Middle Eastern.

You really need to be in court and witness the trial before calling it, but on the face of it, I would say it is an outrageously light sentence.

There is more.

(careful with this one as some of it is my interpretation and no one has been arrested). An older bloke was out walking his toy dog when they were attacked by two pit bull terriers. I can just picture the type who was supposedly in control of the two pit bulls. No attempt to apologize, instead whacked the toy dog owner over the head with am empty bourban bottle. Do you have a good mental picture now?

Your police force and your law courts protecting you. Not!!!

Happy Digger Day

Tomorrow Australia celebrates ANZAC Day. We remember those who died fighting for Australia in overseas wars. Rightly or wrongly, we are past judging those seventy years old plus and the reasons and motivations to participate in overseas battles. I reserve my rights on the Vietnam War although clearly it was a different time in a very different country to what Australia is now.

I think tonight I shall drift off to sleep romanticising that I am a war correspendent ensconced in a nice Saigon hotel. I have an endless supply of Scotch and locals are on tap for my choosing. If I get bored with the locals, I am sure there would be soldier or marine who would like to share my company and whisky.

I am clever though, I have good contacts from both sides, or should that be all three sides? After the defeat of Western powers I am so used to the country that I stay on after the end of the war and become a favoured person by the Vietnamese government.

I buy a villa and make lots of money and have no desire to return to Australia and the daily slog of work and materialism.

Is someone muttering Graham Greene yet?

But just a dream. I am an Australian in Australia and I love quite like my country. So diggers, tomorrow at some point I will get a little teary. I salute you.

Off to make the Anzac biscuits now, for tomorrow's family get together.

Music of me yoof #22

Drug references, nudity, implied sexual activity........hey it really has got something going for it.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood with Relax. Not the clip I recall though.

Videos

I recently had occasion to get out an old video tape. When I picked it up, it weighed almost twice the weight of present day ones. I thought it might have been a four hour tape because of its weight. It would have been recorded in the middle eighties and when I popped it in the old JVC (no-one will get that old Graham Kennedy reference) the vision was excellent. I was amazed as I expected that it would have deterioated over time. Maybe it was a really quality tape, but unlikely as I recall always shopping for blank tapes on price.

The Alf

I have had my own experiences at the Alfred Hospital. See here and here. I received first class treatment in our respected public hospital as a public patient.

Today a friend had to have a medical test and I offered to pick him afterwards as he may have still been affected by the anesthetic. It was in the Alfred's brand new elective surgery building, very smart indeed. He could not praise the staff enough and considered he received first class treatment too.

I wish I had checked out the parking situation first as there was an area to park for free when collecting patients. Instead I walked there and we caught a cab from the hospital to his home.

While I know some individuals have problems at times, if the Alfred is anything to go by, we receive very good treatment by our public hospitals. Well done the Alf.

A wonderous thing

Our brother friends found this on a nature strip waiting for hard rubbish removal. It is a bit cracked in the corner but works fine. The water is animated and you can hear the water falling and bird noises. Ok, it is as kitch as, and they have no intention of keeping it on display, but it gave us all a good laugh.

Then I saw a new one at South Melbourne Market yesterday for $145!!!

Dame M Tale #3 and the Big C

Dame M's abode was severely renovated in the seventies and has hardly been touched since. She did buy new floor tiles for the kitchen though.

To celebrate the end of the renovations in the seventies, she invited many friends around and by the end of the evening her 'soft under foot' lino in the kitchen was punctured with holes from stiletto heels. Some months later when she noticed how the dirt had built up in the holes, she had it replaced with what is there now.

The conversation arose because the chat was about high heels. There is a rather special ball happening in early May and our brother friends are going, not as Mexican peasant girls Chi Chi and Cha Cha as they have in the past, nor as Voula and Toula who were just poor refugee lasses who had to do unspeakable things with border guard soldiers to escape from war torn Iraq in absolute rags (very glittering and glam rags). Nope, this time they will be the Trout sisters, Coral and Rainbow.

They have managed to get together a table of ten and a limo for ten. While of course we were invited, R is off on important work business the next morning and I have to drive him to work at six a.m. and it is a good excuse for me to not go to the effort. We will be free to have a pre limo drink and photo session with them before they all depart Dame M's in the limo.

Dame M last night insisted we watch Channel 31 Community TV to see a gay tv program from Adelaide. I can't recall the name, but it wasn't too bad, rather upbeat fun, although I do feel the need to send them and email about something that will come to me later.

There was sad news last night too. Hairdresser person (see last entry in cast list) has breast cancer. She is going for, not as Dame M said an autopsy, but a biopsy this week. Funny, I did not think she was her usual self last night. She had told R and Dame M and I spoke to Dame M about it today. What a barstard of a thing.

PS Judge me not by how thick my makeup is in the pic. I am more inclined to have car grease and garden dirt under my nails.

New thing

I woke up this morning with this massive erection.

It just appeared outside my window and must have been erected yesterday.

Lucient will only be a little shorter than our building and I am somewhat concerned that I may have to dress when I walk around my bedroom and to and from my ensuite. It will probably be far enough away for the fine detail to be unviewable without binoculars........well I will see when it is up and running.

Late Blooms

Supposed to happen on the 22nd. It is late. Hirosaki has been wet and overcast for the last two days. I reckon two more days.

No water

While it fails to explain the drought, global warming, greenhouse effect, El Nino, I have a small theory why Melbourne is not getting rain.

Houses used to have large areas of open land around them, be it a garden or a lawn. New ones certainly don't now. Much of Melbourne's open land is now covered by these houses.

Many street gutters that were bluestone with porous borders were replaces by sealed concrete.

Where one house sat on a block of land, it may have now been turned into dual occupancy with another house built on the block. All draining into the strormwater.

Creeks have been concreted. There is no seepage to surrounding land.

Might it be that Melbourne has filled up a bit too much? Doesn't the sun evaporate land moisture and then send it back down as rain? Have we covered too much of it with concrete?

Multiply that by other cities in Australia and around the around the world and I could almost give some ammo to greenhouse effect deniers.