Saturday, December 03, 2005
welcome to my world
and a wierd world it is. i'll start off with the usual kookiness. my over 35's soccer team is having a "pre-season drinks" get together. not content with only having an end-of-season get together, they like to get together before the season, just in case anyone has forgotten who the rest of the team are, or what a beer looks like.
i've spoken to the head organiser about 5 times about it, it was on for a particular day, then they postponed it for the following weekend as some people couldn't make it. so i rock up at the pub, about half an hour late i thought, and no-one is there. no worries, i probably got the time wrong. some people turn up that i thought might be involved, but no, they weren't, then a dude who also works for a real estate turns up, so i say g'day. he asks why i'm all spruced up. i said for the pre-season drinks. nah mate he sez, that's next weekend. i thought he was takin the piss but after another dude who also works for the real estate, and is on the team, turned up, i had to admit defeat. i wasn't an hour early, i was a week early.
oh well. this shit happens to me all the time. had a few drinks with the dudes, they told me some real-estate stories, i giggled a bit, then when they took off for their work chrissie party, i rang my sister who picked me up on the way home.
the rest of my day was really cool. one of those days that makes you happy to be alive.
i'm not working this weekend (probably meant to be doing some overtime on a project i'm working on, but it's not gonna happen, next weekend maybe) so i'm sleeping in. relaxed. think "pig in shit" and you're getting close.
my stupid phone goes off, a text message. no prizes for guessing who it is. it's me brother wishing me a happy birthday. i drag myself out of bed and proceed to waste my morning playing computer games. a bit later (i'm still a bit dopey) the phone rings, my aunt sez happy birthday and stuff, oh yeah, and tells me how they're putting in a bypass near the family farm up north, and yes, it's going thru the family farm, and the house that's been in the family for generations and my cousin has just spent a motza restoring. so that's less than pleasant.
back to normal dopeyness, phone goes off again. the kids and my ex and her fiance sing happy birthday to me. i was gonna ring my daughter and say happy birthday (we share a birthday) but i thought it was too early. they giggle and i'm slowly waking up.
what the hell, it's blowing westerly, the swell is meant to be up, maybe it's working. traditionally, even if i'm not surfing at all, i have to surf on xmas day. so i figure i could use the practice. i head out to the nearest surf spot, and it's blowing offshore, lots of lines coming in (lines of swell) but mostly shore dumping. but i see some of the older surfers hanging around off to the left a bit further out. a few minutes later, the sets come through, right where they are. (no point getting old if you don't get cunning) so i get my board and paddle out.
the only problem surfing when it's offshore, is when you screw up and are behind the wave as it breaks, you can't see where you're going due to the spray. i screw up heaps. but i get a couple of waves and i'm having fun.
oh yeah, and my good deed for the day. when i was getting ready to go surfing i had my board on the boot of my car, put some wax on, dumped the wax in the car and ran back to catch my board in mid-air as the swirling winds decide to pick my board and send it flying. (saving some dude who's behind his car helping the driver reverse it in from getting smashed).
as i head out for my surf, i notice that their van is parked on the wierdest angle. it's got wa number plates, a big NL sticker on it, plus stickers and stuff which generally indicate that their backpackers or maybe navy dudes (out of state plates). so wierd is ok.
when i get back to my car i notice their tail lights are on, headlights aren't on though, maybe it's brake lights. the beach isn't exactly packed, i think i know which ones they are (as i'm walking back to the car i see a really cute purple bikini with bits, didn't get any details from the two guys with her, cause i was looking at purple bits :-D ) so i wander back down the to the beach. they see me walking towards them and one of the dudes kinda figures i'm after them so he comes over and i tell him about the brake lights.
he's got a dutch/german accent (which figures, given the NL sticker) but his australian is pretty good. he says the stupid lights have been staying on for a day or so now, they only bought the car a week ago. but he traipses back to the car with me. i'm wondering why, if he knows the problem, but whatever. then i learn why they parked the car so funny, so they can push start it when the battery is flat hehehe.
oh well, he's got the door open, i'll stick my nose in and have a sticky beak. there's a little switch above the brake pedal, i fiddle with it, hmm, this should be for the brake lights i reckon, so i get him to push it in while i look at the lights, yep, that's it. now for the funny bit. there is a hole in the lever of the brake pedal, so the switch can go through it. i'm thinking, if you had some cardboard, you could cover the hole, and the switch would turn the lights off. so i tell him that, and he finds a little plastic grommet that fits in the hole. problem solved.
one happy dutch backpacker :-) (and his mate and his mates g/f too i spose, cause they don't have to push start it)
so i'm thinking, the purpose of having a hole and a plastic grommet, must be so that there is a way for the system to fuck up. i mean, if there was no hole in the lever, just metal, the stupid thing would work. i wonder what wierd little rooster came up with that.
anyway, after that i felt pretty good. made a friend and maybe they'll go home and send over more pretty dutch girls with purple bikinis :-) just doing my bit for the team ;-)
oh yeah, how cool is the crab nebula. i wonder what it would look like if you were inside it. (warp speed mr sulu...)
and looking up, gees, that's a lot more shit than i meant to write. oops....
and a wierd world it is. i'll start off with the usual kookiness. my over 35's soccer team is having a "pre-season drinks" get together. not content with only having an end-of-season get together, they like to get together before the season, just in case anyone has forgotten who the rest of the team are, or what a beer looks like.
i've spoken to the head organiser about 5 times about it, it was on for a particular day, then they postponed it for the following weekend as some people couldn't make it. so i rock up at the pub, about half an hour late i thought, and no-one is there. no worries, i probably got the time wrong. some people turn up that i thought might be involved, but no, they weren't, then a dude who also works for a real estate turns up, so i say g'day. he asks why i'm all spruced up. i said for the pre-season drinks. nah mate he sez, that's next weekend. i thought he was takin the piss but after another dude who also works for the real estate, and is on the team, turned up, i had to admit defeat. i wasn't an hour early, i was a week early.
oh well. this shit happens to me all the time. had a few drinks with the dudes, they told me some real-estate stories, i giggled a bit, then when they took off for their work chrissie party, i rang my sister who picked me up on the way home.
the rest of my day was really cool. one of those days that makes you happy to be alive.
i'm not working this weekend (probably meant to be doing some overtime on a project i'm working on, but it's not gonna happen, next weekend maybe) so i'm sleeping in. relaxed. think "pig in shit" and you're getting close.
my stupid phone goes off, a text message. no prizes for guessing who it is. it's me brother wishing me a happy birthday. i drag myself out of bed and proceed to waste my morning playing computer games. a bit later (i'm still a bit dopey) the phone rings, my aunt sez happy birthday and stuff, oh yeah, and tells me how they're putting in a bypass near the family farm up north, and yes, it's going thru the family farm, and the house that's been in the family for generations and my cousin has just spent a motza restoring. so that's less than pleasant.
back to normal dopeyness, phone goes off again. the kids and my ex and her fiance sing happy birthday to me. i was gonna ring my daughter and say happy birthday (we share a birthday) but i thought it was too early. they giggle and i'm slowly waking up.
what the hell, it's blowing westerly, the swell is meant to be up, maybe it's working. traditionally, even if i'm not surfing at all, i have to surf on xmas day. so i figure i could use the practice. i head out to the nearest surf spot, and it's blowing offshore, lots of lines coming in (lines of swell) but mostly shore dumping. but i see some of the older surfers hanging around off to the left a bit further out. a few minutes later, the sets come through, right where they are. (no point getting old if you don't get cunning) so i get my board and paddle out.
the only problem surfing when it's offshore, is when you screw up and are behind the wave as it breaks, you can't see where you're going due to the spray. i screw up heaps. but i get a couple of waves and i'm having fun.
oh yeah, and my good deed for the day. when i was getting ready to go surfing i had my board on the boot of my car, put some wax on, dumped the wax in the car and ran back to catch my board in mid-air as the swirling winds decide to pick my board and send it flying. (saving some dude who's behind his car helping the driver reverse it in from getting smashed).
as i head out for my surf, i notice that their van is parked on the wierdest angle. it's got wa number plates, a big NL sticker on it, plus stickers and stuff which generally indicate that their backpackers or maybe navy dudes (out of state plates). so wierd is ok.
when i get back to my car i notice their tail lights are on, headlights aren't on though, maybe it's brake lights. the beach isn't exactly packed, i think i know which ones they are (as i'm walking back to the car i see a really cute purple bikini with bits, didn't get any details from the two guys with her, cause i was looking at purple bits :-D ) so i wander back down the to the beach. they see me walking towards them and one of the dudes kinda figures i'm after them so he comes over and i tell him about the brake lights.
he's got a dutch/german accent (which figures, given the NL sticker) but his australian is pretty good. he says the stupid lights have been staying on for a day or so now, they only bought the car a week ago. but he traipses back to the car with me. i'm wondering why, if he knows the problem, but whatever. then i learn why they parked the car so funny, so they can push start it when the battery is flat hehehe.
oh well, he's got the door open, i'll stick my nose in and have a sticky beak. there's a little switch above the brake pedal, i fiddle with it, hmm, this should be for the brake lights i reckon, so i get him to push it in while i look at the lights, yep, that's it. now for the funny bit. there is a hole in the lever of the brake pedal, so the switch can go through it. i'm thinking, if you had some cardboard, you could cover the hole, and the switch would turn the lights off. so i tell him that, and he finds a little plastic grommet that fits in the hole. problem solved.
one happy dutch backpacker :-) (and his mate and his mates g/f too i spose, cause they don't have to push start it)
so i'm thinking, the purpose of having a hole and a plastic grommet, must be so that there is a way for the system to fuck up. i mean, if there was no hole in the lever, just metal, the stupid thing would work. i wonder what wierd little rooster came up with that.
anyway, after that i felt pretty good. made a friend and maybe they'll go home and send over more pretty dutch girls with purple bikinis :-) just doing my bit for the team ;-)
oh yeah, how cool is the crab nebula. i wonder what it would look like if you were inside it. (warp speed mr sulu...)
and looking up, gees, that's a lot more shit than i meant to write. oops....
