Tolerance

How many times do I need to relearn that being tired stops me from being patient.

As we progress into week 3 of of the semester and the workload begins to build, work continues to expand and we all get busier at home. I am beginning to increase my tiredness and it alters my perspective of my surroundings. Sitting in class today with someone I respect did the noisy whiney thing that he has been doing for the last couple of years I finally snapped and was quite mean to him. While I am not proud of it I did feel a certain level of satisfaction at finally having said something. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been tired.

closure

Well I have finished my 350 metres of fencing. It was a real family effort with the four of us carrying, winding, straining and working for the last 2 weekends, but now it is done.

I am officially the worlds 3rd worst fencer, ( I have yet to teach my two children everything I know)


But the feeling of having finished is a great sense of satisfaction. Yes there were some difficulties along the way, one of the end assemblies decided that it wanted to life up out of the ground as we strained the wire. Probably because of the hill, and the sloppy ground. Thank goodness for the rain!

My 11yo daughter and I built one of the end assemblies together. It was the first time I think that we have been able to work as equals (neither of us knew what we were doing) and it was really nice. I was so please to rediscover that my daughter is a nice thoughtful insiteful person. These are things that I knew, but in the business of life miss from time to time. We talked about school, her friends where she was at, what she was doing and wanted to do. It was fabulous. I believe I will remember that day forever. At those moments there is nothing better than being a Dad.

Age filters

What happens when we age, why do we change? What part of ourselves do we lose, or is it more a case of we lose that which isn't essentially us.

Mental acuity is an important part of who we are, I know that when I get older the possible loss of being able to think and work out stuff for myself scares the living daylights out of me. I can't imagine being myself if I couldn't express myself as well as i do now.

I see old people struggling with concepts and ideas that they must have coped with when they were younger.

I see them react as if they no longer have filters to moderate their behavior.

So, have they lost or found themselves?

TALKING TO KIDS

I had to speak to a group of teenagers tonight, telling them stuff they didn't want or feel they need to hear. How do you get through to them? Well, I tried a range of things, unfortunately it was a pretty dry topic, but they had lots of questions and that was helpful. What they really wanted was to head off and do neat stuff, but instead they had to listen to a boring old fart like me.

They were really good and paid attention but I think I need to pay a little more attention to my presentations with young people.


I will need time to do this so
PLEASE PLEDGE TIME SO THAT I CAN DO THIS

New Old Age

It is an established fact that we are all getting older, and we are all very different from the old people that exist now. Sound ageist? Damned right, I am an individual the same as everyone else!

ha

But on a serious note, think of what our grandparents were doing when they were our age and compare that to what we do. I can see huge differences, my Parents were coming to terms with television, and now when you go into a nursing home (as I have to do from time to time) there are rows and rows of old people staring at the television, lost in thoughts drool dribbling down wrinkles in their faces.

Now what am I coming to terms with? Computer games, I am learning to play guitar hero with my son, and kingdom hearts 2 with my daughter, so when I am an infirm old fart in a nursing home will I be playing computer games? will the controls have developed to the point where I am connected like all those bodies in the Matrix movies? Will I live an eternal youth until I fade away and my hard drive stops?

I started thinking that this would be ironic and sad, now with a little reflection I am quite hopeful. I don't think that would be too bad, especially if it was interactive with others.

Bill Gates and his neophytes will save my future!

When I look at the way many of us live our lives I am often astounded at what I feel is the shallowness of people. But then I wonder about my own perspectives.

Recently went to a joint kids birthday party at a friends family members place. They are a very sporting family not so much in playing as in watching. They have great knowledge of various sporting teams and codes, andto listen to them is fascinating. But I can't help but think why is this all important . Who cares what footy team wins

I have 350m of fencing to do next weekend, and it is very daunting. Not wanting to be too naggish folks, but this little exercise will require more time so please make your pledge of any time you can spare.

It's tax time again, and bugger me dead if this wasn't the easiest lodgement yet. The online system worked very smoothly and I even had all my papers. Yahoo! Sorry, this blog is part of Google, not sure what exclamation to use.

On another note, have a look at the clever cartoon system below. I have had a little go with it and might play some more when I have some time.

Speaking of which. I have yet to recieve any donations. I am sure there are many of you who like me are 'FullOfIt' but also have too much time on your hands. Please donate, add your pledges (and yes I will take even single minutes) to the comments so that I can have more time which I will spend doing whatever I want!

Okay, so we have 24 hours in a day, and 7 days in a week. That makes 168 hours. If we work for 40 of those and sleep for 56. That should leave us with 72 hours per week to do what we want. That is a hell of a party. I could get nearly halfway across australia in that time. I could watch the entire Star Wars series 4 times and pause for toilet breaks.

However that isn't how it works.

So to help me and others like me out please donate any spare time you may have. We can't promise to spend it wisely. It may go on cheap alcohol, but if you aren't using it, I am sure I can put it to good use.

So please donate your few minutes of time through the comments

ta

Bloody Management

I had a long weekend just gone, with Choir concert Eeling and just having a good time. So when I had to go to work today it was a quite a shake up. Suddenly I am accountable for every minute of my time, in a way that makes every thing that has gone before seem silly.

I wonder some time about the way the pendulum swings with new management. I know you all have been through this too. We are encouraged to behave in a specific way doing our jobs to the best of our ability, taking advantage of our independance to best tailor the support for our communities. New management and budgets come in, and suddenly everything that we do is being watched and we often have to spend twice as much time writing up and justifying what we are doing as doing it.

Oh boy I just read my little whinge up there and it really shows how frustrated I am with all this. I better just buckle down and ge the job done I guess, it is what I get paid for. I do welcome your comments though, have you been through this cycle & how did you deal with it?

Being a Parent

I just had a bath. Very enjoyable, but I had lots of little red spots on my legs. ??? I thought to myself. Then it dawned on me. Bloody gorse and thistles.

It was curriculum day today after two weeks of school holidays and my son had decided he wanted to travel 300km's to go fishing. We cancelled that and went eeling on a neighbours property. Took the dog, the rods, and some scraps of meat, waded through the gorse and thistles both on our property and theirs then spent 2hrs lovely hours on the side of a river bank. We caught nothing. My sons casting skills have improved dramatically though. We had a nice time. Good Father and Son time.

We came home and had lunch, then went and picked up my daughter from from her sleepover with a friend. She was quite insistant that I share some time with her so we played one of her favourite PS2 games, "Kingdom Hearts" We had good fun.

It makes me think that it is important that I continue to spend time with them even as they age.

First bowling tournament

I took my son to his first bowling tournament. he did well and I am very proud of him. but there was this one couple, and I guess they would say that they bowl as a family. But the newborn baby was handed off to someone else to look after  and the ?10 year old was Sent off to the play room and wandered back from time  to time looking very bored.

 

All this while Mum & Dad Carried on. everyone Knew about every ball they threw down the lane yelling and Calling out.  I don't know what normal behaviour is at a tournament  but these 2 didn't impress me much!

 

the really sad thing is that this tournament is run by a coaching clinic to expose kids to tournament type events before they get out into a real tournament.

 

Vey Sad, as there people are is their late 30s at least!

 

they need to grow up. Not a good example

 

Will we go to another  tournament?  I think so, everyone else Seemed really nice. It was just a few silly people that seemed to spoil it for others.

 

 

a test

just checking the email blogging system

Lets try again

This is yet another attempt to regularly journal and document my life.

I guess the first thing to discuss is the weather. Why the weather? It is the place most conversations start, the beginning of the inane from which meaning grows.

It is cold, bloody cold. about 8 degrees during the day and much colder in the evening. I am finding it very difficult to get out and do the jobs around the place that need doing, because it is just too cold.

The gorse is growing, even in this cold temperatures, and I see the area that has been groomed growing and spreading. It is an amazing thing to see, it spreads and grows, wider, higher, greener and with a beautiful spread of golden flowers. Damn shame it is a noxious weed. Come Spring I will get out the poison and spray all this regrowth. A good thing and I will be exhausted and stinky, but I love waiting and watching the green slowly fade and the plants die giving opportunity for the native plants to grow. watch this space I will put up some photos as I go along.