Curve Magazine Pictorial

Curve magazine has some taste. Published by Newsdirect, they took some professional photos at the ninth annual Smales WA Fashion Design Awards that I spoke about in September. They had a two page spread in Issue VI, only $5.50, of some of the clothes on display.

And out of these pics they thought that one of Miky's designs was fabulous enough to put into print. Woohoo!!

Miky's is the white top with green studded pants. It looked spectacular on the catwalk too. I thought that it was fantastic. What ya reckon?

Yu-Jin Must Be Getting Used To Parents In Print

Not that Yu-Jin has seen my photo in the paper too much but he must be getting used to seeing his parents in the media. He's seen my pic on my blog and mum's newspaper spread. Imagine my surprise when he looked at the following part of an ad in the Spring 2004 Perth Homemakers' Sale:



"Is that you, daddy?"

Come on son. Are the ears that similar? I guess they are but he could be a little more observant than that.

Frugal Bastards I Have Known

I shall save his blushes by letting him remain nameless. Let's just call him Alex. **Not his real name (he has a surname as well).

Alex was a fitter who did an adult apprenticeship to become an electrician. He was one of the hardest working blokes you have ever seen. Pretty smart guy. We did our apprenticeships together in Mt Gambier and Alex's family lived in Portland, Victoria. About two hours drive away. On Saturdays he used to play tennis.

Now Alex was a frugal bastard. The doors on his Subaru needed some work so he filled them with concrete. He painted it with some bitumen-type material himself. Alex didn't pay for accommodation. I believe that he used to find a car park and sleep outside on some stretcher-like setting. Then he learnt that CSR Woodpanels owned some houses just outside the factory walls. He offered to stay at one of the houses as it would offer some extra security for the building. Mind you, he didn't stay in the house. No, he parked outside in the driveway and slept outside on his stretcher!!

It didn't end there. At work we had a shower, which he used, and a microwave. If his food couldn't be cooked in a microwave then it wouldn't get cooked at all. Was there no ending to this man's frugality? As he had nowhere to go after Tech finished he would stay after class until about 8pm and then go to his driveway. No wonder he was so smart. He did an extra four hours of learning each day.

One other instance comes to mind, not necessarily frugal by nature. Our boss wanted us to work on the Saturday and only told us late on Friday. Alex was due to play tennis and so wouldn't have been able to. He asked the boss if he could do a double-shift and go home at midnight. That's not too dumb and that's exactly what he did. Still got the whole weekend with his family, played tennis and got paid for working on Saturday. One clever bloke.

Oh yes. He did put tar on his roof in Portland instead of paying someone else to paint it properly. Not a brilliant move as it would have devalued it significantly. Now I hear that he is an operator on a production line earning 60-70K. What did I tell you about this bloke?

Saturday Was Full Of Interesting Happenings

Whilst shopping in the city with Yu-Jin he decided that he needed to go to the toilet - Now! The only place I could find was a pay-per-use toilet. Had to cop the 30 cents entrance fee. Damn it, if I had to pay for him then I was going to go also. It was slightly embarrasing when a man came in to use the urinal and Yu-Jin kept saying, "Look at that man. What's he doing?"

We visited the Perth City Library and I guess I don't take as much notice of kids' needs as I should. I wanted to borrow some books and a DVD for Yu-Jin and he wanted to read books and play games. The pace of life takes all the fun out of it.

Later on I went for a ride on my bike and put Yu-Jin in the carrier seat. He loves being ridden around. Stopped for a rest at the playground near home. Then this eight year old boy, Alexander, who lives across from the park came to join us. We had played together before. He had a pocket knife and was being a bit silly with it, as boys tend to do. Yu-Jin wanted to write some letters in the sand. Alexander wrote "fcuk" and I told him that it meant "French Connection United Kingdom" - a clothing company. He insisted that it was a rude word that his mum had told him and she is almost never wrong. Let's not forget the age of this boy.

Alexander, I guess he uses his full name as he is a Christian and they tend to do that sort of thing (makes his behaviour appear a little unusual), wanted to have honky nut wars. Honky nuts are the very large gumnuts all over the ground from the large gum trees. You throw them at each other. Yu-Jin is only four so Alexander was being a little bit rough for my liking. He hit Yu-Jin quite hard from close range on the hand and I told him off. Everything was ok. At one stage Yu-Jin was chasing him and I lobbed, not ditched (hard throw) a nut just in front of Alexander. It collected him clean on the nose and you should have seen the tears. I didn't mean to hurt him but it was nothing less than he deserved in actual fact.

I wasn't too happy with Alexander telling Yu-Jin to "Piss off" all the time. It was a little bit too early to be teaching him to swear I said. Mind you, my son did pick it up very quickly. It is very important to be able to swear properly. When some arsehole needs to be told off you don't want him to laugh at you because you can't swear properly.

Later on the swing we had one of those moments that you see on the home video shows. I was pushing Yu-Jin and he was furiously kicking his legs when he kicked me in the family jewels. If only someone had been taping it.

Superman II was on TV last night. Seeing as we watched the first movie two weeks ago we were looking forward to this. There was a scene in the White House and Yu-Jin turned to me and said, "Is that the baddies' house?" Well, the answer to that is yes and no, depending on how you feel about the Bush administration.

Another scene involved Superman standing inside a molecular chamber and being exposed to Krypton's red sun's rays and becoming mortal. His clothes changed to those of Clark Kent. Later he entered the chamber again and his clothes didn't change. Yu-Jin said "What happened to Superman?" Talk about observant plus. He noticed straight away that nothing had changed. I couldn't believe it. Over 95% of people would have been tricked by the switch - I know I was when I first saw it.

Do No Evil and Google Saved His Life

Google have a company motto - "Do no evil". When a search engine can be credited with saving somebody's life, see article, they must be doing a reasonable job of sticking to it.

The story in a nutshell. Aussie reporter in Iraq is kidnapped. Kidnappers, or maybe terrorists, extortionists, etc, charge him with working for the FBI, CIA or US government. He protests his innocence. Kidnappers do a google search on his name and see that he doesn't work for any government agency. They let him go.

Great story.

But what about our lovely Australian Government? Where did they stand on the issue of an Aussie getting kidnapped in Iraq?

Alexander Downer, the prissy Adelaide boy who is almost the complete kow-towing, dimwit, arse-kissing choir boy, says that he was taken from an area he was told not to go to (before we heard of Mr Martinkus's release this is). It's all his fault. Why should the government help him? Blah blah blah.

As soon as Mr Martinkus is released he spills the beans on how he was kidnapped. It happened right outside the hotel where international journalists are staying. Is that allowed Mr Downer?

Shame on Alexander Downer and the Australian government for their flagrant use of propaganda. I'm appalled. Here is a decent article of the incident.

Onya Google.

Bytheway. Google have another lifesaver. It is called the Google Desktop Search. It is brilliant, bloody brilliant. No need to use the search disfunction on Windows anymore. It indexes your emails in Outlook and all of the files on your computer. You can index your Instant Messages and HTTPS Websites but I disabled that at work. I would do the same at home. It makes searching a breeze and provides the details of the search much like a search engine results page. Almost magical.

And it is only in Beta stage.

Evo Bus Is Here

Many moons ago, a good friend of mine in Germany, Markus, informed me that an environmentally friendly bus was making its way to Perth. Markus works for Daimler Chrysler and they manufactured the bus.

Well, I can safely say that it has arrived. I saw one of these buses on Monday night as I was driving to visit my chiropractor. The buses have only been released in 12 cities, 10 of these are in Europe with the others being Shanghai and Perth. They are being tested for their efficiency and acceptance by the public. I hope that they are successful.

Here's an article about the arrival of the bus in Perth. It's rather a pity that the spelling and grammar are so poor in the write up. Bloody government department.

Painful Injury

If only Eddie Maguire could suffer this injury. Whilst training for Australia for the International Rules competition against the Irish, one of Essendon's star players picked up an injury.

Apparently he injured his media ligament. Here's the article. If only, Eddie.

Geek Week On Triple J

Adam and Wil were celebrating Geek Week on Triple J - and they have had some really interesting contenders in a competition. I listened to them on the Net this morning (am I a geek) and they had a Geek-off for a signed Scrabble scorecard from Andrew G and Adam Spencer. There were two main contenders and I would loved to have challenged them. One guy gave a recital of pi to 15 decimal places in morse code and the another guy proofread manuals and notified the publisher of errors, in different languages if necessary. He would go and find someone who spoke French or Korean and ask for their help. No wonder he was the prize geek.

Back in yr 10 Maths my teacher had an excerpt from Mad Magazine that defined people. It said that a nerd was only good if you wanted to know pi to 127 decimal places. I made it my goal in life to learn pi to 127 decimal places. This was used as an icebreaker when meeting people. Not too effectively but somewhat amusingly. Does that beat the geek who could recite pi to 15 decimal places in morse code? Anyway, somebody rang Triple J a short time later and said that the guy had made a mistake in his recital. Who is the bigger geek?

With regards to the manual proofreader - I read the Guinness Book of Records from front to back and catalogued six pages of mistakes and typos and sent it to them. I got my name in the acknowledgment section for my help!! And when I went to England I met the editor - Peter Matthews. I also visited the Guinness World of Records Museum and they offered me a job to stand in a booth with a microphone and let people ask me about any world record. They allowed me to have a look around the museum and afterwards asked me what I thought about the display. I proceeded to tell them all of the mistakes in the museum.

Pity I couldn't join the competition on Triple J. I guess by definition I am a nerd, not a geek. I did send the above information to the Triple J Guestbook. And the moderator allowed it to be posted.

There was another kid who sang a song about the Periodic Table and that was brilliant. That may just inspire me. I used to know the first 80 elements of the Periodic Table.

Miky Is In The Paper!!

Check out the article in the Canning Times Community Newspaper.

Been A Bit Busy Lately

Warning - The following blog contains, if I remember, discussion about medical procedures, blood and yuck.

Been quite busy of late. There is a huge pile of woodchips across the road where the council cut down three or four trees and then pulped them. I finally got around to ringing the council for permission to grab some woodchips as they would look great in my garden. The guy said to get them before everyone else does.

So that night we all went across the road and filled up the wheelbarrow. Mozzies started attacking us as it was dusk and that called for the repellent. That stuff works like magic. We ended up with seven barrow loads.

Next morning, bright and very early, I grabbed another eight loads. In total that's pretty much a tralier load. On Friday morning I went a bit sick and grabbed 15 loads. Took me an hour and eight minutes for you fans of statistics out there. My back is killing me now.

It reminded me of when I was young and we used to get underneath the sheep yards and collected sheep poo. The smell wasn't quite the same but it brought back some happy memories anyway.

That's why I haven't blogged lately.

Dentist Revisited

Had to get some more teeth worked on yesterday. Two more injections necessary to knock off the pain. Big job this time. The dentist left only the four corner pieces on one tooth and removed all of the internal part, which was a large filling, and then constructed a piece to fit into it. And then proceeded to drop it down my throat. Luckily I didn't swallow it as they take 10-15 mins to make each time.

Yu-Jin has some major work done too. His two teeth at the rear on top were both very badly decayed. He had an injection on each side this time. No injection two weeks ago. Man, his teeth look so much better. He was on my chest the whole time and behaved himself very well, although he cried pretty much throughout.

After he finshed, Yu-Jin lay down on the floor and went to sleep. I couldn't see him and wondered why it was so quiet. The dental assistant put a cushion underneath him.

Following my work I was due for a clean. I can't believe how much plaque was on my teeth. The dental hygienist got this large pick like instrument and really scraped my teeth and cleaned just under the gums. Bit of blood was evident and then she flossed my teeth also. More blood and more gunk. What a job. I hope she gets paid well. I know that I was paying well for it!

Now I have no more grey/black fillings in the bottom of my mouth. And no money left in my wallet!

My teeth feel great now. I promised to take Yu-Jin to McDonalds but he just wanted to go home and sleep as he didn't feel very well. After a few hours sleep, me included, we went to McDonalds. Straight afterwards we had tea - it was getting late and none of us had had lunch.

Zygodactyl

That got your attention, didn't it? Great word for the day. I rang my good friend, Grooks, last night and during the conversation he informed me that woodpeckers have tongues that go around their brains and end up behind their eyes.

So I did a Google search this morning. I found out that the tongue of a woodpecker is three times the size of it's beak and has to be stored somewhere. Other info gleaned said that the brain was hard up against the skull so as not to get damaged.

Then I came across that brilliant word, zygodactyl. For those of you who haven't done a Google search yet to discover its meaning, it means a bird with two toes pointing forwards and two toes pointing backwards. Great for wrapping around tree trunks and hanging on. Woodpeckers and parrots are the best known species to have this trait.

Kids Today Aren't Spoilt

"Back in my day son we didn't have..."
"When I was your age..."

You know how the saying goes. You feel that your kid has it much better than you did. To a certain degree that may be true but kids really are growing up in a different society than we did.

On Saturday we attended a fifth birthday party. It was Yu-Jin's best friend from kindy. They had hired a bouncy castle for the afternoon which wasn't a bad idea considering there was a total of 13 boys at the party. We didn't have one of those in my day but then again we had much more space to play. The party was well organised, not that we had much time to talk to the hosts, and the boys had a treasure hunt for gold coins of chocolate, bubbles to blow, balls to play with and a sandpit to muck around in. Food included party sausage rolls, frankfurts, popcorn, chocolate crackles and other delightful finger food.

Back in my day, mums would know how to cook anything. Today, if I had to make chocolate crackles it would mean firing up the computer and Googling for "chocolate crackles recipe". We don't have to know anything as the knowledge is at our fingertips.

As soon as the cameras came out the kids asked, "Can I see (the photo) it?" My how times have changed. No more waiting for the film to be developed.

We parents were talking about how good the kids of today have it. My father only played cricket with me a couple of times and football about the same. Today we spend more time doing sport with our kids because we feel the need to do something with them. We may take them to the playground more often than our fathers did but look at the situation back then - kids could roam the streets free of the worry of child predators and there were lots of other kids to play with. Nowadays your kids aren't safe to do that and so have little power to entertain themselves. It appears that we spend more time taking our kids to events - like Santa, the miniature trains, the playground, movies, etc - and we do, but because we have so little time to spend with them and want to make the most of it.

I don't think that kids of today are spoilt. We spent our time doing different activities with them so that they get the best out of life.

I bought a secondhand book about Aesop's Fables for Yu-Jin. There are close to 100 stories in the book and I find it to be great reading. My mum would have known all of those stories but I don't. And I don't want my kid to miss out on something that I took for granted.

Nick Souter Makes A Return

Nick Souter has resurfaced on the Net. And he is taking the piss out of me straight away. He was the man that told me to have some serious photos and some whacky ones on my site. I take his advice and he repays me in this manner?

Take a gander at his site.

nicksouterweekly

Electronic Voting

When are we going to have electronic voting in this country? Everyone knows that the Yanks bloody well need it - just have a look at the mess that Florida made of the last Presidential election. Could they do that again? Well, while George W's brother is the governor I guess that anything is possible.

One week after the Federal election they are still counting the votes in my local seat of Swan. The incumbent Labor bastard is 8 votes in front of the Liberal candidate on a two-party preferred basis. As I write this there is a report on the radio about several seats still being counted.

The report on the news on Saturday said that once the counting had been completed in Swan there would be a recount. What the hell for? What is so wrong with our system that once the votes have been counted, because it is close, the votes must be counted again? What is that going to prove? Has an election result ever been changed due to a recount? If so, how did the people counting it get it so wrong in the first place?

I imagine that the people counting stack the votes according to how they have been cast therefore the recount would be faster and there is the possibility of greater accuracy, as in this country we have a preferential voting system for the lower house. You have the option of voting for one candidate for the upper house or voting for all 40 candidates and numbering them from one to forty. It was nice to put all of the lunatics and Greens last. (I have split the Greens from the lunatics although there really is no factual basis for this. They are lunatics.)

Perhaps that is why the vote is difficult to get accurate. There are enough morons like me to make the counting so hard.

It's time create an electronic voting/counting system in Australia to save money and provide quicker, more accurate results. At least we don't have to worry about chads.

Time Is Money

If that is the case then I am just as rich as any other bastard. We all have the same time in the day. All 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.0996 seconds of it. For those of you that don't believe me that's the sidereal day.

I did learn something new from that article. The earth rotates 366 times a year, not 365. This is because it rotates on its axis in the same direction as it rotates the sun. So one day seems to be missing in fact. Curious that.

Frugal = Tight

I did an experiment with my car over a couple of weeks. I completely changed my driving habits to those of an elderly man. Whenever I saw that the traffic lights were red up ahead and nobody was behind me I would let the car coast as far as possible. Acceleration was not nearly as rapid but not slow enough to hold anybody up. Ultra fuel conservation was the goal.

Normally I get 450 km for 60 litres (when the low level light appears on the petrol tank indicator) but I reached 530 km before it came on. What an amazing difference! Once I filled up the whole tank it revealed a 7.6% saving.

Now, my tank holds 68 litres of fuel. Consider my amazement when I put 70 litres into it. That's tight. I could see that it was very low. Luckily I arrived at the petrol station less than 10 minutes before it closed or I may not have gotten the car home.

Nuts

It appears that Yu-Jin is allergic to nuts. He was so enthusiastic about getting me some cashews to eat the other night and I asked him if he wanted one. He had a half and immediately he felt sick. It came as a bit of a shock.

Last night he wanted a muesli bar. I gave him one that is almost entirely nuts. No complaints, no problems. Maybe he is just allergic to cashews. I'm not game to try him with peanuts.

Who Wants To Vote?

Australia is one of the few countries where it is compulsary to vote. No ifs, buts, or maybes. You are fined if you don't. While at the dentist's office on Saturday I heard a story about the assistant's friends who had been fined $50 and $100 as they had forgotten to vote, twice.

Just after the recent election a finding was released that stated 40% of people aged 18-25 wouldn't vote if they didn't have to. I find that to be a little disturbing.

Australia also has approximately 40% of the population who directly own shares. As a shareholder you need to vote for the Annual General Meeting. Of course, if you own shares in one of the blue chip companies your vote doesn't really matter as you own 250 shares and the large institutions own 37 million each. Your vote is rather miniscule and isn't going to change the decision either way.

If voter apathy enters the equation in the AGMs then businesses are the only one's who will have a vote. What about the EU? Doesn't the Fiat Company have more votes than some particular countries? It's starting already. People couldn't be bothered with voting and all governmental decisions will be made by businesses.

What Happened To Sportsmanship?

I remember how I played the game of cricket. If I was bowling and thought that the batsman was out LBW I would appeal. If not, while the rest of the team was appealing I would turn around and return to my mark. I expected the same from my combatants.

Take a look at the first Test between India and Australia in Bangalore. So much appealing going on and Virender Sehwag was fined 65% on his match fee for showing serious dissent.

Frankly, I don't blame the poor bastard.

He got a thick edge, almost thick enough to think that he was guiding the ball down to fine leg or attempting a french cut. How on earth the Australians thought to appeal is beyond me. Sickens me in fact.

When I was a youngster and still playing the game, ok, I was about 20, I copped a crook decision. I defended forwards to a ball and missed it. It wasn't like it was "the ball of the century" (read about it here) or anything but it had a similar pitch. Next thing I new the umpire was giving me out. Out for what? Bowled. But the ball went so wide there was no way that it could have hit the stumps. I didn't want to go. The square leg umpire told me on the way back to the pavillion, or shack as it was at Wandilo, told me that the wicket-keeper had reached forward, grabbed the ball, and broken the stumps. I should therefore have been not out. Can't for the life of me remember which way the stumps were pointing.

A little bit of protest entered the equeation and the captain of the other team invited me back to the crease. I took up that offer. But then the umpire insisted that I was out.

No one at North Gambier C-Grade could tell me what had happened. I consider that to be a stab in the back. Something happened and nobody could tell me. I never allowed Dave Whatshisface to umpire again whilst I was batting. So, I guess I understand how Sehwag felt. Even if it did look a bit Gatting-like in dismissal.

At least I didn't lose 65% of my match fee. Which was nothing by the way.

I've Found Something Worse...

...Than changing the oil filter on an EF Falcon. It's changing the oil filter on a bloody '86 Laser. What a bitch of a job.

I put the car up on some ramps, which turned out to be a very wise move, and then drained the oil. Locating the oil filter itself was a bit problematic as it was hidden behind the engine and underneath the air filter.

It was only possible to get one hand onto the filter and I couldn't turn it. Grabbed my oil filter clamp and the cabling for the alternator was in the way. Disconnected the alternator. There was some vacuum filter or something that had to be disconnected too. Oil filter clamp still couldn't get a grip as it was too limited for space. Couldn't even budge the oil filter with a towel wrapped around it and the oil filter clamp from underneath the car. By this stage I put my overalls on.

Yu-Jin was very helpful throughout the ordeal. He fetched my hammer and screwdriver and laughed at me ocassionally. I know when I was a kid having my dad talk to me about cars put me to sleep. Yu-Jin even put oil on the new filter and grabbed a plastic bottle for me to pour the new oil in with.

I ended up having to knock the screwdriver through the filter and turn it by hitting it with the hammer, on three ocassions before it was loose enough to undo by hand. Not too difficult to put it back on by hand.

Bloody glad that job was completed.

Disclaimer: This blog has had foul language edited to make it more suitable for the target audience. My apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. Stinkin' bloody cars.

Bathurst Time Again

It was that one time of the year - The Great Race. The Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama. I awoke early to get some things done before the race started at 8am. Excellent time to start on a Sunday morning. Sit back and relax for the next six and a half hours.

Some of that time was spent playing racing cars with Yu-Jin, hide and seek with the same kid, bit of sleep, hanging out of the washing and bringing in of the washing. That last bit nearly ruined my day. Kangaroos normally jump in a forward motion but while I was bringing the washing in one kangaroo entered the race track, got hit by Jim Richards, and started doing a few spins. Managed to catch it on the news on another station.

It was a good race until the last hour as Fords were leading for most of that time. Damn safety car was called out which allowed a Holden to lead, that of Greg Murphy, and he held on and drove beautifully to win, again.

It was bad enough that a Holden won but Murphy is a bloody Kiwi. Aaagh. Fords finished in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th. What a bugger.

Off To The Dentist

I took Yu-Jin with me yesterday when I visited the dentist. I couldn't remember if he had an appointment or not. Some major dental work was necessary on my teeth yesterday.

Yu-Jin had a couple of books and two Ninja Turtles to keep him busy but he had plenty of questions for the dentist, who was happy to answer them. Yu-Jin even helped clean up and was nearly offered a job. Wish he was like that at home.

Many of my teeth have developed cracks along the top and could split open in the fullness of time. This necessitated the grinding out of the teeth tops and plugging them with a constructed piece, not porcelain, but very strong. The dentist had a machine the make the inlay tooth which hammered away for about 10 minutes each time. They dropped one in my mouth, I had two done, and I was very lucky not to swallow it. The computer graphics that they designed it with were fabulous. Yu-Jin thought that it was very interesting on the computer where the teeth were designed. Initially they took photos of the teeth and then shaped the constructed piece to fit appropriately. Cool.

I had to have one injection for the bottom teeth but two for the top teeth. I felt like a had cerebral palsy for about the next three hours.

After an hour an a half Yu-Jin wanted to know when it was going to be his turn. About two minutes later was the answer. Baby teeth don't have roots like adult teeth so injections aren't necessary. It hurt a little bit but he soldiered on.

I may have paid by credit card but it still made the wallet a lot lighter!

We journeyed into the city and Yu-Jin had a haircut before we shared a milkshake.

Ah, yes. Had to vote yesterday. I wandered off to the Wilson Primary School and found it deserted. Stumbled onto the voting booth as I hadn't seen its whereabouts listed anywhere. Cast my protest vote against the Liberals, by putting them second (they have done a fabulous job with the economy) and the Labor Party first (first time in my life) as they had some great ideas.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the Liberals won the election as who is going to vote out a government looking after the economy but I was shocked at the size of the swing towards the government.

If Peter Costello, or Phillip Ruddock, were leading the Liberals I would have voted for them initially. Don't worry, Costello will be the Prime Minister in about 12 months time.

Election Day

It's time to vote people. I heard yesterday that there is a party called the HEMP Party - Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party. They obviously stand for the decriminalisation of marijuana. Not something I stand for.

I wonder who their sponsors are? My guess is McDonalds. They have been selling "hash" browns for a long time but there is no trace of hash in them. If the HEMP Party are elected then the hash browns may really have some substance.

Don't forget to vote!

You Know You're A Family When....

You have to walk through the gate sideways because you are carrying too many showbags.

Q. What's the difference between the West Coast Eagles and the West Coast Eagles showbag?

A. There's more substance in the showbag.

Yu-Jin's Hearing

Something quite noticeable and disturbing over the weekend. Yu-Jin's hearing was terrible. We would call him or talk next to him and he couldn't hear us. I got a bit upset because I thought that he wasn't paying attention. Then when he started asking, "What did you say daddy?" and "You'll have to say it louder" in such a pleasant manner we realised that he had a hearing problem.

Miky then tested him by talking to him from the other side of the room. I could hear quite clearly but he didn't notice. Of course this worried Miky enormously. She had cleaned his ears on Saturday and for the first time in his life he didn't complain about it hurting. In fact, he said, "You can keep cleaning my ears mummy. It doesn't hurt." She stopped immediately.

Miky couldn't get a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and so had to worry until Wednesday. The doctor said that he had a slight infection in the left ear and gave him some antibiotics. He wants to see Yu-Jin in a week and will make a decision if he requires a hearing test or not. Miky is going to do it anyway.

Nothing is more precious than the health of your kid.

Golf On The Weekend

I had a hit of golf on the long weekend (Queen's Birthday holiday - it's funny that Australians get a holiday for the Queen of England's birthday, celebrated at different times mind you, and the British do not) just passed. And I played with none other than the state manager of Toyota. Ok, his group was one short and so I joined them.

The four of us played very poorly, no-one broke 100, and the conditions were perfect. Considering that I parred the second hole I was very disappointed in my game. It was looking good. After having played a few years without losing a ball (alright, only a couple of games a year) I ended up losing three. What was funny though was on the ninth the manager knocked his ball somewhere near the pond and I found seven balls within two metres and his son found five balls within the same distance. And none of them was the ball that we were looking for. Also found some money on that hole. All HK20 cents of it.

I shot the best score on the front nine and the worst on the back nine to finish in second position. Couldn't believe that it took five and a half hours for a round. That's disgraceful and shows somewhat how badly we played.

How To Blow Over $120

...And still have a good time. Go to the Perth Royal Show. I met Miky and Yu-Jin there after work, it was cheaper for me after 6pm (I haven't completely lost it) and we had a great time. Miky and I bought a showbag each and three for Yu-Jin (one was the $2 Bertie Beetle along with Monster Trucks and Ninja Karate).

Yu-Jin had a go on the Clowns and scored five 2s. Picked up a nice little crocodile. We went on the Ferris Wheel which wasn't bad at night time. The monster truck, Stress Factor, was great, until it conked out about half way through it's demonstration of car crunching. Talk about loud - I've probably never heard anything so loud.

And the fireworks weren't half bad. Damn loud too but there were plenty of them. We didn't get home until nearly 10:30 so it shocked me when Yu-Jin was up around 6:30 in the morning.

I'd definitely recommend blowing some money at the Show.

Konglish Word For The Week

"Dole Digger" - one who looks for money from the government.

Kinda makes sense too, this one from Miky. I was dressed in ripped trousers, flannel shirt and a three day growth (if was a long weekend and I don't shave on the weekends). Miky said that I looked like a "dole digger" - opposite end of the scale from a gold digger I guess.

When Is A Hoon Not A Hoon?

We have anti-hoon laws now in Western Australia. What is a hoon I hear you ask? Here is a definition, somewhere on the page.

Basically an idiot doing idiot things. In the case of Western Australia, the anti-hoon laws mean that an idiot's car will be confiscated. The first ocassion that they are found to be hooning they lose the car for two days, next time is for up to three months and the third time is for good. Article outlining the details.

Back to my question, when is a hoon not a hoon? Some guy got caught doing 184 km/h in a 110km/h zone and didn't have his car confiscated. He was certainly hooning (travelling rapidly, not idiotly) along but wasn't classified as a hoon. I think the definition needs to be tidied up a little bit.

I Can Finally Tell You The Story

Miky is doing work experience at a place called Pallas. I had some news from about two months ago that I was sworn to secrecy about. If you checked out their Website you will notice that they make wedding dresses. Well, guess who got married yesterday - Shannon Noll.

Shannon's wife, Rochelle, came to Perth to be fitted for a wedding dress. Lunch was put on and there were photos and much excitement. Miky didn't get to make any part of the dress but it is exciting that she is that close to the pinnacle of Australian entertainment.

What Is With My Kid?

It wasn't too cold this morning but Yu-Jin kicked up a stink about me not turning on the heater. He loves to sit in front of it and cook himself. Dammit, he can put some clothes on and forget about it.

Finally he put some clothes on, but he only got to the short sleeved t-shirt and then became captivated by his cartoon and didn't put his jumper on. How can one person complain about the cold so much and not get rugged up when he has the opportunity?

At night time it is a different story. He takes his pants off and wears shorts instead. What is going on?

Beware Of The Dog Sign?

Wonder if the owner of three pit bull terriers had a "Beware of the Dog" sign. Don't go trespassing is about all I can say.