Many Levels Of Conscience
You all know about your conscience, right? It's that part of the brain that talks to you when you have a decision to make when there is right and wrong or good and evil to choose from. It is quite often depicted in an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.
I think I have another level of conscience. It's a Frugal Bastard that sits on my other (?!) shoulder. Well, who knows where he sits.
Today, I'm walking to the Post Office, dressed in black, it's a warm day and I think to myself, "Gee, a bottle of sarsparilla would go down nicely." I'd say that was the devil conscience at work.
The angel conscience pops up and says, "But you've been so well disciplined with your weight and exercise lately that you've lost 3-4 kgs since December. Don't do it. It's just your body suffering withdrawl symptoms from junk food. Save your body."
"You know that it will really hit the spot. Anyway, you're walking which is good for you so you can afford to have a soft drink" was the devil conscience's response. That brought the appearance of the Frugal Bastard conscience who put an end to the debate. "Bugger the health aspects. What a waste of money. If you saved $2/wk at 5% compound interest for the next twenty years do you know how much money you would have?" he interrupted with abruptly.
Thankfully I didn't enter the bank just to start a new bank account, even though I couldn't do the calculation in my head, but FB conscience had an undeniable point. Whatever concerns about my health would be raised by having a bottle of soft drink paled into insignificance by the fact that my hip pocket would suffer irrepairable damage. I waited until I reached work and drank some water.
Gosh, fights between good, evil and FB. It's a bit crowded in my head.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Religion Is Starting To Get Interesting
Must say that I was a bit non-plussed about the furore surrounding Muslims getting upset about pictures of Mohammmed lampooned in cartoons. I guess if I was Muslim though I would be quite offended by them. Being an atheist I don't have to worry about my religion having the piss taken out of it.
A valid point was made by Tim Blair on Triple J last night when he asked why, after having been initially published in September, have Muslims taken so long to take offence to it? Granted, it is in poor taste and I can see that they have reason to be upset but not to the extent that it was been taken so far. Protest is one thing but destruction of property is another.
This morning on the radio I heard that an Iranian newspaper was showing that it had an editorial sense of humour. My words, not those of the news. They are running a competition for cartoons of the Jewish Holocaust. Christianity didn't rate a mention, apparently. I didn't think that Iranians were all that well known for their sense of humour. Gold coins will be awarded as prizes. Let's see what the Israelis can come up with as they have deeper pockets than the Iranians.
Austen Tayshus, world famous Aussie comedian, said years ago that if Jesus had been executed by electric chair then the Christians would be known as Electricians. I'm glad it isn't the case as I am an electrician. I don't see him having had his property destroyed by angry mobs. Get a grip people.
Race and religion can have a bit of fun poked at them, in my book, but vilification is not on. Are we talking about vilification or plain bad taste?
Must say that I was a bit non-plussed about the furore surrounding Muslims getting upset about pictures of Mohammmed lampooned in cartoons. I guess if I was Muslim though I would be quite offended by them. Being an atheist I don't have to worry about my religion having the piss taken out of it.
A valid point was made by Tim Blair on Triple J last night when he asked why, after having been initially published in September, have Muslims taken so long to take offence to it? Granted, it is in poor taste and I can see that they have reason to be upset but not to the extent that it was been taken so far. Protest is one thing but destruction of property is another.
This morning on the radio I heard that an Iranian newspaper was showing that it had an editorial sense of humour. My words, not those of the news. They are running a competition for cartoons of the Jewish Holocaust. Christianity didn't rate a mention, apparently. I didn't think that Iranians were all that well known for their sense of humour. Gold coins will be awarded as prizes. Let's see what the Israelis can come up with as they have deeper pockets than the Iranians.
Austen Tayshus, world famous Aussie comedian, said years ago that if Jesus had been executed by electric chair then the Christians would be known as Electricians. I'm glad it isn't the case as I am an electrician. I don't see him having had his property destroyed by angry mobs. Get a grip people.
Race and religion can have a bit of fun poked at them, in my book, but vilification is not on. Are we talking about vilification or plain bad taste?
The Mother Of All Spiders
Don't know whether it was a female or not but it scared me. On Friday night we went out for tea to Chi Restaurant in Vic Park to celebrate a pay rise for me. The steamed chicken and vegies was not flash but the pepper squid was lovely. It was a warm night and driving home I had my window down. A short time later I noticed a spider on my wing mirror and boy did I wind my window up quickly. It was a whacking great Huntsman spider and must have been at least 12cm across. All the way home it sat on the wing mirror and once we reached home it ran onto the car roof and back down the windscreen.
I have never seen one so big. It was a beautiful thing and I didn't feel like killing it. What concerns me is where it came from and just what did it eat? Either it lives on my car somewhere or it just happened to pay me a visit while in Vic Park. Man, it looked like it could eat birds for all I know.
Don't know whether it was a female or not but it scared me. On Friday night we went out for tea to Chi Restaurant in Vic Park to celebrate a pay rise for me. The steamed chicken and vegies was not flash but the pepper squid was lovely. It was a warm night and driving home I had my window down. A short time later I noticed a spider on my wing mirror and boy did I wind my window up quickly. It was a whacking great Huntsman spider and must have been at least 12cm across. All the way home it sat on the wing mirror and once we reached home it ran onto the car roof and back down the windscreen.
I have never seen one so big. It was a beautiful thing and I didn't feel like killing it. What concerns me is where it came from and just what did it eat? Either it lives on my car somewhere or it just happened to pay me a visit while in Vic Park. Man, it looked like it could eat birds for all I know.
Monday, February 06, 2006
The Weekend Golf Report
My normal playing partners, Shayne and Joe, weren’t available this weekend. And the weatherman had been predicting 34 degrees and a thunderstorm for Sunday. Early yesterday I checked the forecast and it was only going to be 31 and the thunderstorms would wait until Monday. Time to play golf!
Not having made a booking I was taking a risk by going to the nearest golf course, Collier Park, as it is a very popular course. And there were plenty of vehicles in the car park when I arrived just before quarter past seven. I parked close to the driveway with some trepidation as a wayward shot could hit my car in that position. As I was getting my bag out of the boot a ball lobbed over and bounced around in a tree about five metres from my car and landed right in front of a Merc. Couldn’t happen again I thought so no point in moving my car. Whoever hit it, it was a terrible shot.
The pro shop informed me that they were fully booked until much later in the day but that there were always groups of four where only three turned up. I could have played nine holes at 7:45 but he then looked at the first tee on the Pines and the Lukich party only had three. I raced off to the tee, no warmup possible, and joined Clarkie, Andy and Dimo. A few months back I had a hit with Clarkie and Andy. They’re a good bunch of blokes. Dimo mentioned that he had just joined Mt Lawley Golf Club and it was only $5000. I asked him if he was a stockbroker or a member of the Packer family.
Handicaps:
Clarkie – 11
Dimo – 9
Andy – 18
Hammy – 18 (unofficial, 10 years old)
Andy started off with a flashy par-birdie-par making a mockery of his handicap. I managed to smack my first tee shot down the middle which was a huge surprise. We were playing a stableford comp so scores were kept on handicap. I had a very good front nine and was leading with 19 points after a 44 off the stick.
A short break after the front nine did me in. On the par-5 10th I shanked my tee shot into a tree and it became lodged in the tree. Not something you see every day. I had to take a penalty drop for an unplayable shot. Ended up scoring a 10 and then followed it up with an 8 on the par-4 11th. I visited a total of three bunkers on those two holes. Talk about a good way to ruin your back nine and the whole round. Didn’t get into much trouble for the rest of the round and hit another 33 for the remaining seven holes. Happy with the entire round apart from the 10th and 11th holes. I had two birdie chances where I left one on the lip of the cup and on the 18th I hit a 25 footer to the hole a bit hard and it bounced out – made the par though.
Dimo is a nice golfer to watch. Lovely swing and he can cream a ball. Not bad at putting either. Clarkie was having a very off day and blew up a couple of holes. He’s very straight though. Andy is a very steady golfer who has little trouble getting to the green. Very consistent. I had a great time with these guys.
It was around 34 degrees when we finished just after 12 o’clock and I had had about 2 litres to drink by that time. I visited too many bunkers for my liking and didn’t get out of them too successfully. What a coincidence to bump into a couple of guys that I’ve played with before.
Plenty of the day left to play Trouble with Yu-Jin, do his reading homework from school and watch the rest of the movie-length episode of Prison Break.
My normal playing partners, Shayne and Joe, weren’t available this weekend. And the weatherman had been predicting 34 degrees and a thunderstorm for Sunday. Early yesterday I checked the forecast and it was only going to be 31 and the thunderstorms would wait until Monday. Time to play golf!
Not having made a booking I was taking a risk by going to the nearest golf course, Collier Park, as it is a very popular course. And there were plenty of vehicles in the car park when I arrived just before quarter past seven. I parked close to the driveway with some trepidation as a wayward shot could hit my car in that position. As I was getting my bag out of the boot a ball lobbed over and bounced around in a tree about five metres from my car and landed right in front of a Merc. Couldn’t happen again I thought so no point in moving my car. Whoever hit it, it was a terrible shot.
The pro shop informed me that they were fully booked until much later in the day but that there were always groups of four where only three turned up. I could have played nine holes at 7:45 but he then looked at the first tee on the Pines and the Lukich party only had three. I raced off to the tee, no warmup possible, and joined Clarkie, Andy and Dimo. A few months back I had a hit with Clarkie and Andy. They’re a good bunch of blokes. Dimo mentioned that he had just joined Mt Lawley Golf Club and it was only $5000. I asked him if he was a stockbroker or a member of the Packer family.
Handicaps:
Clarkie – 11
Dimo – 9
Andy – 18
Hammy – 18 (unofficial, 10 years old)
Andy started off with a flashy par-birdie-par making a mockery of his handicap. I managed to smack my first tee shot down the middle which was a huge surprise. We were playing a stableford comp so scores were kept on handicap. I had a very good front nine and was leading with 19 points after a 44 off the stick.
A short break after the front nine did me in. On the par-5 10th I shanked my tee shot into a tree and it became lodged in the tree. Not something you see every day. I had to take a penalty drop for an unplayable shot. Ended up scoring a 10 and then followed it up with an 8 on the par-4 11th. I visited a total of three bunkers on those two holes. Talk about a good way to ruin your back nine and the whole round. Didn’t get into much trouble for the rest of the round and hit another 33 for the remaining seven holes. Happy with the entire round apart from the 10th and 11th holes. I had two birdie chances where I left one on the lip of the cup and on the 18th I hit a 25 footer to the hole a bit hard and it bounced out – made the par though.
Dimo is a nice golfer to watch. Lovely swing and he can cream a ball. Not bad at putting either. Clarkie was having a very off day and blew up a couple of holes. He’s very straight though. Andy is a very steady golfer who has little trouble getting to the green. Very consistent. I had a great time with these guys.
It was around 34 degrees when we finished just after 12 o’clock and I had had about 2 litres to drink by that time. I visited too many bunkers for my liking and didn’t get out of them too successfully. What a coincidence to bump into a couple of guys that I’ve played with before.
Plenty of the day left to play Trouble with Yu-Jin, do his reading homework from school and watch the rest of the movie-length episode of Prison Break.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Sunday Arvo Is Pikelet Arvo
I got it into my head this arvo that Yu-Jin and I could make pikelets. Miky was busy working away and I was tired of playing Trouble and hide and seek. So we went online to find a recipe, I'm too lazy to look at the index in a cookbook, and found one for grated apple pikelets. Played a couple of games of Battleship while we were online.
Here's our modified recipe. Here's the original recipe.
Grated Apple Pikelets
2/3 cup of self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Fuji apple, grated
2/3 cup of milk
1 egg white
margarine
1 - Combine flour, bicarb, sugar and grated apple into bowl and mix well.
2 - Make well in the centre.
3 - Beat milk and egg white together and pour into well.
4 - Stir gently until smooth batter forms.
5 - Cook in hot frypan with margarine on the bottom at all times. Pikelets are ready to be turned over when small holes appear evenly throughout.
Good on their own or with honey, if you like. I'm no whiz in the kitchen. And I'd better not start proclaiming to be.
I got it into my head this arvo that Yu-Jin and I could make pikelets. Miky was busy working away and I was tired of playing Trouble and hide and seek. So we went online to find a recipe, I'm too lazy to look at the index in a cookbook, and found one for grated apple pikelets. Played a couple of games of Battleship while we were online.
Here's our modified recipe. Here's the original recipe.
Grated Apple Pikelets
2/3 cup of self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Fuji apple, grated
2/3 cup of milk
1 egg white
margarine
1 - Combine flour, bicarb, sugar and grated apple into bowl and mix well.
2 - Make well in the centre.
3 - Beat milk and egg white together and pour into well.
4 - Stir gently until smooth batter forms.
5 - Cook in hot frypan with margarine on the bottom at all times. Pikelets are ready to be turned over when small holes appear evenly throughout.
Good on their own or with honey, if you like. I'm no whiz in the kitchen. And I'd better not start proclaiming to be.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
The Art Of Wishful Thinking
I saw a sign in somebody's frontyard as I went for a walk on Friday morning. Didn't have enough time to grab the camera from home and take a photo as I had to get to work. Well, somebody has to keep the country running.
Yu-Jin didn't have a good day at school on Friday. He was involved in some fighting, even though he was told in no uncertain terms of Thursday not to, and he was severely punished for it. Didn't the sh1t hit the fan when we found out that he had also been in trouble during class for mucking around. It was time to take him for a walk so that we could have a talk, mano a mano.
Wanting to kill two birds with one stone I took the camera as I wanted to get a copy of a sign which seemed to indicate wishful thinking on behalf of the landowner.
Wishful thinking?
Much to my surprise the wish had been granted. The mulch was indeed where they wanted it. Got me thinking, what if I erected signs all over the place indicating my wishes and desires?
Clean up your bedroom please.
Empty the bins please.
Wash the car please.
Cup of tea here please.
Below ground swimming pool here please.
Not that I want a pool anyway. They cost too much to upkeep.
I saw a sign in somebody's frontyard as I went for a walk on Friday morning. Didn't have enough time to grab the camera from home and take a photo as I had to get to work. Well, somebody has to keep the country running.
Yu-Jin didn't have a good day at school on Friday. He was involved in some fighting, even though he was told in no uncertain terms of Thursday not to, and he was severely punished for it. Didn't the sh1t hit the fan when we found out that he had also been in trouble during class for mucking around. It was time to take him for a walk so that we could have a talk, mano a mano.
Wanting to kill two birds with one stone I took the camera as I wanted to get a copy of a sign which seemed to indicate wishful thinking on behalf of the landowner.
Wishful thinking?Much to my surprise the wish had been granted. The mulch was indeed where they wanted it. Got me thinking, what if I erected signs all over the place indicating my wishes and desires?
Clean up your bedroom please.
Empty the bins please.
Wash the car please.
Cup of tea here please.
Below ground swimming pool here please.
Not that I want a pool anyway. They cost too much to upkeep.
Whaleback Driving Range
Yu-Jin and I went to the driving range today. He is keen on golf and I paid money to hit a few balls. Luckily Anthony, whom I've played nine holes with before, leant him a club so that he could have a hit too. I wasn't sure if I would have a hit this weekend as my normal golfing partners are busy but I did need to keep up the practice and the driving range is the best way to do it. Luckily I took the camera and so he wasn't too bored. Yu-Jin was able to hit a few balls also. Most of the time he was wandering around with the camera and he took over 100 photos. Ladies backs and bums, other golfers, the chipping green, the driving range. Talk about snap-happy.
Maybe they should make a statue of me like that of Harry Vardon. Is that Hammy or Greg Norman at the tee?
Lining up for a crack. At the fence most likely.
Following our sixty balls we went to the chipping green and the bunker. Yu-Jin had a bit of fun with that, more so than the driving range, as he could hit the ball freely. Mike Keneally, one of the resident pros, was there so I had a quick chat with him to thank him for the lesson he gave me a while back. It has straightened my game out a bit and added length to my shots. And the confidence level has risen too.
We finished it off with some time on the putting green. It's really difficult for Yu-Jin to use a full-length club for putting but he had most fun when trying to get it into the hole and using the same ball until he had done so. On one practice hole he only took three shots from about 20 feet away. Other times he took about six shots from three feet away. He was pretty well buggered, which was understandable as it was close to 35 degrees, when we got home but had to have lunch and then go to taekwondo.
I might pop out for a game tomorrow.
Yu-Jin and I went to the driving range today. He is keen on golf and I paid money to hit a few balls. Luckily Anthony, whom I've played nine holes with before, leant him a club so that he could have a hit too. I wasn't sure if I would have a hit this weekend as my normal golfing partners are busy but I did need to keep up the practice and the driving range is the best way to do it. Luckily I took the camera and so he wasn't too bored. Yu-Jin was able to hit a few balls also. Most of the time he was wandering around with the camera and he took over 100 photos. Ladies backs and bums, other golfers, the chipping green, the driving range. Talk about snap-happy.
Maybe they should make a statue of me like that of Harry Vardon. Is that Hammy or Greg Norman at the tee?
Lining up for a crack. At the fence most likely.Following our sixty balls we went to the chipping green and the bunker. Yu-Jin had a bit of fun with that, more so than the driving range, as he could hit the ball freely. Mike Keneally, one of the resident pros, was there so I had a quick chat with him to thank him for the lesson he gave me a while back. It has straightened my game out a bit and added length to my shots. And the confidence level has risen too.
We finished it off with some time on the putting green. It's really difficult for Yu-Jin to use a full-length club for putting but he had most fun when trying to get it into the hole and using the same ball until he had done so. On one practice hole he only took three shots from about 20 feet away. Other times he took about six shots from three feet away. He was pretty well buggered, which was understandable as it was close to 35 degrees, when we got home but had to have lunch and then go to taekwondo.
I might pop out for a game tomorrow.
Which Superhero Are You?
Your results:
You are Hulk
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
I'm just not built like him. Ectomorph tending mesomorph. In my younger days. Now I'm just morphing.
Your results:
You are Hulk
| You are a wanderer with amazing strength.  |
I'm just not built like him. Ectomorph tending mesomorph. In my younger days. Now I'm just morphing.
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