Wow!! Talk about an utter transformation!! It was like the past week didn't even exist!! And well it really messed up my points variance since they won by so much!! But yeah like an 180 degree turn around they played like the champions that they really are, brushing aside the past week as if it was nothing! It was like they must have travelled in the Tardis and appeared just before the start of the match, or they may have been taken aboard an ET ship and had their DNA changed!! Between this and last week it was like two different teams playing!! It just go to prove that you should always pick the Maggies!! Apparently everyone else in the office tip comp had learned the same lesson, all but 4 including all of the top 10 picked the Maggies also but all with lesser points variances so I probably dropped down a bit cos of that. But at least I have a perfect start to the round, and so might as well enjoy this start until this afternoon when it is likely to change owing to some matches that could go either way.....
The first match Carlton and Giants should be a no brainer, another point added as Carlton is expected to win. Of course the Giants surely can't go thru the whole season without a win! I mean has a team ever gone through the whole season without a win, at least in modern times? I don't think so. The Giants has to win SOMETIME in the near future. But on balance of probability theory it is unlikely that Carlton will be the victim of the Giant's first win.
The next game could be my first point loss, The Crows at home to Freo, it could go either way. Freo did have a good win even if it was only against Melbourne, but then the Crows are picking up too, and they are at home. The bookies place Adelaide as slight favorites while most of the tipsters in the paper are picking Freo, probably western bias though not as bad as for the Weavils!! Hmmmmm.... looks like I am going to have to get my coin out - Heads I pick Freo, tails I pick the Crows.
Next are Sydney at home to the Bombers.... hmmmmm that is a toughie too to pick. Perhaps Essendon but.... scratching my head.... that coin gonna be very well used!!
Then there is the Puddy Cats against the Suns, Ablett playing against his old team, or his father's old team, could be a source of inspiration here. The Suns could pull this one out of the hat. But on balance of probability theory and the higher skills and experience on paper of the Puddy Cats I will have to go with them but won't be surprised if the lead changes through the match with the Cats finally prevailing.
Last but not least, Bulldogs and the Power. The Bulldogs are playing better and are at home. I really think it could go either way. Slight lean towards the Port. Should I take out my coin again.... nah.... I think Port Adelaide will prevail.... its what I am tipping anyway....
We shall see how it all pans out.....
Friday 31 May 2013
Round 10 - A dramatic week indeed
Oh what a week it has been, the Goodes affair! My humble opinion of the whole thing - Get a life, build a bridge and get the f-ck over it!!!!
It goes without saying that if it was a white person involved the media would not have given it a 2nd glance, and if the person dared complain about it he'd be brushed aside and told to get over it. But because a colored person was involved, all he had to do was utter the magic word "racist" and the media and whole establishment bends over backwards to help the "victim" and vilify the "offender", to the point we were treated to the schoolyard-like spectacle of a 13yo girl being escorted from the ground in what was supposed to be an adult professional sporting event!!! This so reminds me of my school days, in those days we were all called names regardless of race even if the names were sometimes specific to the particular race or ethnic origin. But anyone complaining to the teacher would be reminded of the well used rhyme "sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt me" - a nice way of saying, Build a bridge and get the f-ck over it!!!! Back in my school days the Aborigines were called boongs, the Asians were called wogs, the Italians called dings, the Chinese called chings, and the English people were called poms. Now these days we are still allowed to call English people poms but we are not allowed to call those other races/ethnics mentioned here by their specific names!!
And then the fiasco gets worse. A president of a football club makes on radio what I thought was a hilarious joke stemming from the previous incidence, and I saw no racist intent to it, but once again someone uttered the magic word "racist" and the whole things gets blown out of the water to the point where this same successful club president is brought to tears and forced to confess of his "sins" in an inquisition-like setting!!!
Let's face it! Any situation can be interpreted as "racist" depending on the slant given. There was once a pub who introduced a dress code, you had to wear a collared shirt to get into the pub. So a white person turns up at the door wearing only a t-shirt. The bouncer refused him entry, he was pissed off, very angry, called the bouncer a c-nt, and then stormed off. But he soon cooled down, and he concluded to himself that it was fair enough, he should have known about the dress code, and he just moved on and got on with his life.
Not long after that incident, a black person came to the pub also wearing just a t-shirt, and the bouncer refused him entry, the clear sign at the door stating one must wear a collared shirt to get in. But the black person immediately used the magic word "racist", and when it became clear the magic word didn't work on the bouncer, the black guy stormed off.... and then he took time to think.... uhh lets see who will I complain to this time? Yesterday it was Indigenous Affairs, so let's go with the Ethnic Council this time! So he forwarded the complaint against the pub using the magic word "racist", the Council acted upon it.... and a while later the pub owner was brought forth to the Tribunal. Was asked to explain why he wouldn't let in the black guy, but was not allowed to mention about the white guy as a means of defence. And regardless of what he actually said, the Tribunal charged him with racism. The resultant media and public backlash forced him to close down the pub, and was condemned to a life of poverty which the black man lived it up on his 1000s of $'s of compensation payout. Yeah mentioning the magic word "racism" can often result in large positive increase in one's bank balance, you just have to have colored skin. The magic word doesn't work for white people, it only works for colored people.
This brings me to the final story in regards to this issue. A fire broke out at an apartment block, and in spite of the firemen's best efforts, the Pakistani family perished in the family, as did the Indian family, the Black African family, and the Aborigine family. Only the white family survived the fire. When this was mentioned in the media there was such an outcry and the EO Council got involved. The Fire Chief was soon brought before the EOC Tribunal and asked to explain why only the white family survived the fire. The Fire Chief gave a simple explanation - both parents of the white family were at work in their respective employments, and the two children were at school !!
I could get in trouble for writing these above lines if the wrong person reads it, afterall we are in Fascist Germany... nah can't be so, our political leader was never blessed by the Pope, doesn't have a funny moustache and is not Catholic (even if the potential leader from Sept this year IS a Catholic!!)... so it must be Communist Russia... nah as cold as it is, it is not nearly cold enough for it to be Russia.... so it has to be Communist China.... nah can't be so, our next door neighbor has two kids and both are girls.... so.... uhhh of course!!!! this is 21st century Australia!!!!
OK now having ranted and given my gut opinion, I am at pains to point out that I do see at least partly the other side of the coin. Words can often trigger painful memories or instances of suffering and torment. It is one of the first things we learnt through Scientology, but is also the basic tenets of Shrinks 101. And indeed determining the root causes of our problems through "word association" is a basic diagnosis technique used by both Scientologists and shrinks. And use of the word "ape" in regards to Aborigine people dates back to the not-so-distant past that it was accepted scientific opinion, owing to the theory of evolution, that Aborigines were "less evolved" than white people, hence closer to our alleged primate ancestors, therefore the term "ape" was soon adopted as a colloquial term describing Aborigines. It coincides with the time when such people were used and abused both in the names of Christianity and the politics of the day. Such memories being less than a generation ago are painful, and so I accept that the calling of "ape" to an Aborigine does trigger memories of abuse and torment in at least his collective consciousness. Ironically science has since discovered that every member of the human race has descended from a single chromosome, given the tag the "Eve gene" referring to the well know story of Adam and Eve. In fact most cultures have similar kind of creation stories involving divine beings. The idea that we come from lower animals are rarely seen if ever in any mythologies of any races or ethnic groups. The Buddhists and some others believes our souls were once in the bodies of critters, even plants, but that is on a soul/spiritual level, not a physical level. It is probably that we are the result of ET experiments, originally hybrids from ETs who visited this planet in the distant past - thus giving rise to "Adam and Eve" or similar stories worldwide. But this is recent developments, and it was less than a generation - or maybe two generations - ago that scientists believed that Aborigines and other colored people were "less evolved" than white people, and were treated accordingly by white people with the blessings of Christianity and the govt.
But for goodness sakes let's have a bit of balance here. If there was an Englishman playing in that same match and someone from the crowd shouted out to him "pommie-bastard", guaranteed that there would not nearly be the media hype surrounding such an incident!! It won't even make it to the papers except perhaps a small paragraph on a back page and that if the player dares to complain. And the offender would not have been escorted from the field, there would have been no security guards involved, probably just a polite "clip behind the ear" by his/her companion. There would have been nothing more to it. Ok so it is not very nice to call people names and certainly should not be encouraged but for goodness sakes, escorting an offender out of the ground in front of half of Australia and being detained for two hours just for a simple name call done in the heat of the moment?? That is a wee bit over the top. And above all, any rules that they choose to impose should be enforced equally between whites and coloreds. They say technically the laws and rules does apply to both sides, but reality is, it is rarely if ever used against those who abuses white people - English, Americans or even Australians!! And the rare number of cases that are applied to abuses of white people are almost never reported in the media, perhaps a couple of paragraphs about 10 pages back, NEVER on the front page!! And that is basically my beef. Sure in the not too distant past us whites has been guilty of gross abuses of the coloreds often in the name of Christianity, but we have now gone way too far the other way!!!! It is to the point where we can't even breathe on a colored person without fear that it could be misinterpreted as some kind of "racist" intent and we are the ones to get in the shits for!!!!
OK... enough about this.... just had to get it off my chest.........
Now to the football match tonight, the Maggies against the Lions at the Gabba. I did say I would pick the Maggies unless I have a good reason not to. The week's events could just be that good reason. It will affect the Maggies, it is just a matter of how much it will affect them. Will they still be able to win in spite of the effects, or will they fall apart completely and the Lions runs all over them. Well I don't know who to pick, but I will have to do so soon. A toss of the coin, and being a points variance game I will pick a small variance to minimise the damage in the 50% chance that my pick doesn't win. Hmmmmmm.......
I think I will go with the Maggies.... as if I tip against them and they bloody win I will never live it down in myself!!!! So although I have serious doubts based on this week's events, I am going to go with the Maggies. Afterall I should keep my promise - and I did promise that I would pick the Maggies each round! I guess I shall soon learn of the wisdom or lack thereof of my decision.......
It goes without saying that if it was a white person involved the media would not have given it a 2nd glance, and if the person dared complain about it he'd be brushed aside and told to get over it. But because a colored person was involved, all he had to do was utter the magic word "racist" and the media and whole establishment bends over backwards to help the "victim" and vilify the "offender", to the point we were treated to the schoolyard-like spectacle of a 13yo girl being escorted from the ground in what was supposed to be an adult professional sporting event!!! This so reminds me of my school days, in those days we were all called names regardless of race even if the names were sometimes specific to the particular race or ethnic origin. But anyone complaining to the teacher would be reminded of the well used rhyme "sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt me" - a nice way of saying, Build a bridge and get the f-ck over it!!!! Back in my school days the Aborigines were called boongs, the Asians were called wogs, the Italians called dings, the Chinese called chings, and the English people were called poms. Now these days we are still allowed to call English people poms but we are not allowed to call those other races/ethnics mentioned here by their specific names!!
And then the fiasco gets worse. A president of a football club makes on radio what I thought was a hilarious joke stemming from the previous incidence, and I saw no racist intent to it, but once again someone uttered the magic word "racist" and the whole things gets blown out of the water to the point where this same successful club president is brought to tears and forced to confess of his "sins" in an inquisition-like setting!!!
Let's face it! Any situation can be interpreted as "racist" depending on the slant given. There was once a pub who introduced a dress code, you had to wear a collared shirt to get into the pub. So a white person turns up at the door wearing only a t-shirt. The bouncer refused him entry, he was pissed off, very angry, called the bouncer a c-nt, and then stormed off. But he soon cooled down, and he concluded to himself that it was fair enough, he should have known about the dress code, and he just moved on and got on with his life.
Not long after that incident, a black person came to the pub also wearing just a t-shirt, and the bouncer refused him entry, the clear sign at the door stating one must wear a collared shirt to get in. But the black person immediately used the magic word "racist", and when it became clear the magic word didn't work on the bouncer, the black guy stormed off.... and then he took time to think.... uhh lets see who will I complain to this time? Yesterday it was Indigenous Affairs, so let's go with the Ethnic Council this time! So he forwarded the complaint against the pub using the magic word "racist", the Council acted upon it.... and a while later the pub owner was brought forth to the Tribunal. Was asked to explain why he wouldn't let in the black guy, but was not allowed to mention about the white guy as a means of defence. And regardless of what he actually said, the Tribunal charged him with racism. The resultant media and public backlash forced him to close down the pub, and was condemned to a life of poverty which the black man lived it up on his 1000s of $'s of compensation payout. Yeah mentioning the magic word "racism" can often result in large positive increase in one's bank balance, you just have to have colored skin. The magic word doesn't work for white people, it only works for colored people.
This brings me to the final story in regards to this issue. A fire broke out at an apartment block, and in spite of the firemen's best efforts, the Pakistani family perished in the family, as did the Indian family, the Black African family, and the Aborigine family. Only the white family survived the fire. When this was mentioned in the media there was such an outcry and the EO Council got involved. The Fire Chief was soon brought before the EOC Tribunal and asked to explain why only the white family survived the fire. The Fire Chief gave a simple explanation - both parents of the white family were at work in their respective employments, and the two children were at school !!
I could get in trouble for writing these above lines if the wrong person reads it, afterall we are in Fascist Germany... nah can't be so, our political leader was never blessed by the Pope, doesn't have a funny moustache and is not Catholic (even if the potential leader from Sept this year IS a Catholic!!)... so it must be Communist Russia... nah as cold as it is, it is not nearly cold enough for it to be Russia.... so it has to be Communist China.... nah can't be so, our next door neighbor has two kids and both are girls.... so.... uhhh of course!!!! this is 21st century Australia!!!!
OK now having ranted and given my gut opinion, I am at pains to point out that I do see at least partly the other side of the coin. Words can often trigger painful memories or instances of suffering and torment. It is one of the first things we learnt through Scientology, but is also the basic tenets of Shrinks 101. And indeed determining the root causes of our problems through "word association" is a basic diagnosis technique used by both Scientologists and shrinks. And use of the word "ape" in regards to Aborigine people dates back to the not-so-distant past that it was accepted scientific opinion, owing to the theory of evolution, that Aborigines were "less evolved" than white people, hence closer to our alleged primate ancestors, therefore the term "ape" was soon adopted as a colloquial term describing Aborigines. It coincides with the time when such people were used and abused both in the names of Christianity and the politics of the day. Such memories being less than a generation ago are painful, and so I accept that the calling of "ape" to an Aborigine does trigger memories of abuse and torment in at least his collective consciousness. Ironically science has since discovered that every member of the human race has descended from a single chromosome, given the tag the "Eve gene" referring to the well know story of Adam and Eve. In fact most cultures have similar kind of creation stories involving divine beings. The idea that we come from lower animals are rarely seen if ever in any mythologies of any races or ethnic groups. The Buddhists and some others believes our souls were once in the bodies of critters, even plants, but that is on a soul/spiritual level, not a physical level. It is probably that we are the result of ET experiments, originally hybrids from ETs who visited this planet in the distant past - thus giving rise to "Adam and Eve" or similar stories worldwide. But this is recent developments, and it was less than a generation - or maybe two generations - ago that scientists believed that Aborigines and other colored people were "less evolved" than white people, and were treated accordingly by white people with the blessings of Christianity and the govt.
But for goodness sakes let's have a bit of balance here. If there was an Englishman playing in that same match and someone from the crowd shouted out to him "pommie-bastard", guaranteed that there would not nearly be the media hype surrounding such an incident!! It won't even make it to the papers except perhaps a small paragraph on a back page and that if the player dares to complain. And the offender would not have been escorted from the field, there would have been no security guards involved, probably just a polite "clip behind the ear" by his/her companion. There would have been nothing more to it. Ok so it is not very nice to call people names and certainly should not be encouraged but for goodness sakes, escorting an offender out of the ground in front of half of Australia and being detained for two hours just for a simple name call done in the heat of the moment?? That is a wee bit over the top. And above all, any rules that they choose to impose should be enforced equally between whites and coloreds. They say technically the laws and rules does apply to both sides, but reality is, it is rarely if ever used against those who abuses white people - English, Americans or even Australians!! And the rare number of cases that are applied to abuses of white people are almost never reported in the media, perhaps a couple of paragraphs about 10 pages back, NEVER on the front page!! And that is basically my beef. Sure in the not too distant past us whites has been guilty of gross abuses of the coloreds often in the name of Christianity, but we have now gone way too far the other way!!!! It is to the point where we can't even breathe on a colored person without fear that it could be misinterpreted as some kind of "racist" intent and we are the ones to get in the shits for!!!!
OK... enough about this.... just had to get it off my chest.........
Now to the football match tonight, the Maggies against the Lions at the Gabba. I did say I would pick the Maggies unless I have a good reason not to. The week's events could just be that good reason. It will affect the Maggies, it is just a matter of how much it will affect them. Will they still be able to win in spite of the effects, or will they fall apart completely and the Lions runs all over them. Well I don't know who to pick, but I will have to do so soon. A toss of the coin, and being a points variance game I will pick a small variance to minimise the damage in the 50% chance that my pick doesn't win. Hmmmmmm.......
I think I will go with the Maggies.... as if I tip against them and they bloody win I will never live it down in myself!!!! So although I have serious doubts based on this week's events, I am going to go with the Maggies. Afterall I should keep my promise - and I did promise that I would pick the Maggies each round! I guess I shall soon learn of the wisdom or lack thereof of my decision.......
Wednesday 29 May 2013
Dark clouds on the horizon
Here my usual mid-week non-football musings and updates on how I am getting on with life without Sally.
Last weekend Sally's friend Sylvia came over for a 2nd visit and took away more of Sally's items. She informs me that she has managed to sell a few of her items on ebay making just over $100. The proceeds of the sales will eventually go to me, when all items are out and either placed on ebay or whatever else. I am surprised that they are selling cos it is mainly Sally's craft items, and when over the years we tried to sell on ebay we never got much, often not selling at all. So Sylvia must be doing something right!! However there are yet more visits by Sylvia, we almost finished cleaning out Sally's craft room but haven't even touched the garage yet. Sally is a bower bird, she collects stuff and stores them everywhere!!!! In the days after her death I managed to confine them to both the craft room and garage!!!!
Anyway I did say that I am beginning to deal with Sally's affairs beginning with the phone account. Well it seems there is progress. When I log into both my telstra account and Sally's old account I find both has been closed, however, I haven't been told of any new account. There MUST be a new account cos the cell phones still works, as does the tablets and my portable wi-fi device - it is what I use to get online at work during my breaks and quiet times without resorting to departmental resources that being my office computer, cos every so often they do audits of our computers to uncover any "unauthorised" uses, that is, accessing websites that has nothing to do with the job - even during breaks. So I have a Telstra account that I haven't been told about! Typical Telstra!! Well I won't jump to conclusions just yet as there might very well be mail from Telstra waiting for me at my South Perth box, it is where I have all bills and other financial affairs directed to. It is why I had the PO box, it was back in the days when I was single (or with Barbara) and we moved house every five minutes!! Having a PO box and having all important mail going there saves the bother of having to send change of address notices every five minutes!!! Of course in more recent times we have led more settled lives as Sally hated moving and she much preferred to have her roots firmly planted in one spot!!! But now Sally is gone, it is likely that I may return to my nomadic lifestyle!! LOL!! So anyway there might be Telstra mail in my PO box which I visit only once per week on a Friday. If there is no such mail in my box this Friday then I will get on the 24/7 chat facility on the Telstra website and bug them for answers to - where's the hairy heck is my new account!!!!!
Now just one more week of extreme austerity measures as I have next to no money left due to paying the last of Sally's bills stemming from her medical expenses. Payday is next Thursday. After that things will improve - the "Three Weeks" notwithstanding as I explained in the previous non-football blog!!!
This brings me to another subject. Our much esteemed (NOT!!!!!) state govt announced job cuts in the public sector - that means ME!!!!! Indeed 1500 jobs is set to be forced down a vortex into a parallel universe of Liberal/Conservative values never to return ever again. That may not sound much but there is less than 20000 of us, so at face value the odds of my job suffering this fate is approx 1 in 12, that is really not such long odds. At first they will offer voluntary redundancy to affected souls, however if not enough souls accepts the offer, the govt will resort to FORCED redundancies - a nice way of saying, being sacked, given the boot, shafted!!
However there are a number of factors in my favor. Firstly I work in a school, albeit known as the SCHOOL of Isolated and Distance Education, nevertheless, it is a school. Jobs at schools tends to be left alone, to be targeted only as a last resort, due to political sensitivities. Furthermore this is not the first time they pulled this stunt, indeed a few years ago they were fixin to privatise the Despatch/Warehouse area - that is where I work. In addition, we would be forced by law to go with the private company even if it means taking a pay cut of up to 15%. So we were freaking for a bit until the manager called us to a meeting assuring us that it will never happen to our area, it was indeed more cost effective to keep us public rather than privatising us!!! Hence we are still here. And this is why it is most likely that our jobs will be safe this time around, we perform an essential service that would be far too expensive if it was performed by a private company!!! It is cheaper to keep us on the govt purse strings!!
Furthermore if and when they start on forced redundancies, the first to go will be the contractors. These days most public employees are employed on a fix term contract basis which comes up for renewal each six months or 12 months. Very few are employed as permanent employees. I am one of the lucky ones, I am a permanent employee. So the first target will be the contractors, their contracts will simply not be renewed. My work mate who helps me with my job, he is on a contract, so he would be the one to go, not me. Then after the contractors, the redeployees will be next to go, that is, those permanent employees who have not been slotted into any positions due to their previous positions being abolished, they just turn up for work each day and help with odd jobs, etc. I had been a redeployee several times in the past but I have been in my current position for over 13 years now, the longest time that I have been in any position in the public service. But there are still many redeployees around, a few around my dept, so they would be next to go. Then and only then they will work on permanent employees in actual positions. But for the reasons stated above, it is very unlikely that I would lose my job.
However I am a Virgo and one of our traits is we like to plan for all eventualities regardless of how unlikely it is. Virgos are not gamblers!! We're not even good football tipsters! LOL!! We like things to be in order and to make plans. We Virgos like certainties in life!! And well as unlikely as it is, there is still nevertheless a chance that I will lose my job and be back on the dole - or Newstart as they call it these days. Once I lose my job that will be it for my working life, it will amount to an early retirement. Fact is no company will employ someone who is over 50 nomatter what any govt or politicians says, or what laws are passed. Getting a job when over 50 simply will never happen. But of course I am too young and too healthy to qualify for a pension, so I be on the lesser Newstart, and in order to keep the payments I would have to make substantial efforts to look for jobs. But it will be nothing more than going through the motions to satisfy Centerlink requirements for in reality I will never find a job at age 50 or above - I turn 50 this year, and the job cuts will occur over two years, so if I am going to lose my job it won't happen until well into next year - after all of the voluntary redundancies and etc has been processed.
But the good thing is I will get a healthy payout if I lose my job and I understand it is tax free. So with my accrued vacation time which I still have several months of in spite of having to take much time off for Sally, plus a redundancy package which is I think a fortnite's pay for every year of service - and I have been in service for 24 years - well it will amount to about a year's worth of salary. So I will have money to play with to allow me to move out of this house as there is no way I could pay the rent, it is more than the fortnitely Newstart allowance!!!! Of course I will never find cheap housing here due to the housing crisis, there is a 5 year waiting list for public housing. Mother is gone so I can't go stay with her!!!!! I will be left to fend for myself!!! However there will be nothing to keep me in this expensive city!!!! I will do what Barbara did - move to a cheaper city in a cheaper state - Hobart Tasmania!!!! There is no housing crisis there. Well there is a different type of housing crisis in Tasmania, the one favoring tenants. Landlords are complaining they can't find tenants and are losing money on their properties. Rent is dirt cheap there. I still have contact with Barbara and she is doing very well for herself on her pension - everything is cheaper, the rent, utility bills, the groceries. My boss at work is from Tasmania and he owns properties in Tasmania and he can't find tenants to save his life!!!! Most of those properties are empty!!!! So with my redundancy package I will get rid of my surplus items (all of Sally's items will be gone by then), move out of here, and head off to Tasmania. Air fares are cheaper these days especially one-way, and do what Barbara did - stay in a motel until she finds a rental, and it took her less than a week to find a place to rent. But mostly likely I won't fly anyway, I would just drive there, via the ferry, as I will still have my car!! Indeed I have a trailer with the raised sides, so will also be able to cart most of my items over as well - though will probably sell the large items such as the fridge and bed, and just get new ones when I move into a place in Tasmania. Also motels are much cheaper there than here in Perth. Rents are dirt cheap and landlords will be begging to have me to move in!!!! I will be in hog heaven!! Plus I get to see Barbara again, so at least I will know someone there. Barbara didn't know anyone in Tasmania when she moved there but she has quite a few friends these days. And so Tasmania will be where I will spend the rest of my days....... Only snag is the bloody weather, always bloody cold, rarely hot in summer though it does get hot on occasion. But a small price to pay for a far better lifestyle on what will be my very limited income.
So anyway I have all possibilities covered!!! But the most likely is that my job will be safe, and I will continue on as a govt employee on what is a pretty good wage. Storm clouds are indeed on the horizon but I should be spared the worse of it - my workload will just increase but it's not anything I can't handle, it is just part of life under a Liberal govt!!!!
Last weekend Sally's friend Sylvia came over for a 2nd visit and took away more of Sally's items. She informs me that she has managed to sell a few of her items on ebay making just over $100. The proceeds of the sales will eventually go to me, when all items are out and either placed on ebay or whatever else. I am surprised that they are selling cos it is mainly Sally's craft items, and when over the years we tried to sell on ebay we never got much, often not selling at all. So Sylvia must be doing something right!! However there are yet more visits by Sylvia, we almost finished cleaning out Sally's craft room but haven't even touched the garage yet. Sally is a bower bird, she collects stuff and stores them everywhere!!!! In the days after her death I managed to confine them to both the craft room and garage!!!!
Anyway I did say that I am beginning to deal with Sally's affairs beginning with the phone account. Well it seems there is progress. When I log into both my telstra account and Sally's old account I find both has been closed, however, I haven't been told of any new account. There MUST be a new account cos the cell phones still works, as does the tablets and my portable wi-fi device - it is what I use to get online at work during my breaks and quiet times without resorting to departmental resources that being my office computer, cos every so often they do audits of our computers to uncover any "unauthorised" uses, that is, accessing websites that has nothing to do with the job - even during breaks. So I have a Telstra account that I haven't been told about! Typical Telstra!! Well I won't jump to conclusions just yet as there might very well be mail from Telstra waiting for me at my South Perth box, it is where I have all bills and other financial affairs directed to. It is why I had the PO box, it was back in the days when I was single (or with Barbara) and we moved house every five minutes!! Having a PO box and having all important mail going there saves the bother of having to send change of address notices every five minutes!!! Of course in more recent times we have led more settled lives as Sally hated moving and she much preferred to have her roots firmly planted in one spot!!! But now Sally is gone, it is likely that I may return to my nomadic lifestyle!! LOL!! So anyway there might be Telstra mail in my PO box which I visit only once per week on a Friday. If there is no such mail in my box this Friday then I will get on the 24/7 chat facility on the Telstra website and bug them for answers to - where's the hairy heck is my new account!!!!!
Now just one more week of extreme austerity measures as I have next to no money left due to paying the last of Sally's bills stemming from her medical expenses. Payday is next Thursday. After that things will improve - the "Three Weeks" notwithstanding as I explained in the previous non-football blog!!!
This brings me to another subject. Our much esteemed (NOT!!!!!) state govt announced job cuts in the public sector - that means ME!!!!! Indeed 1500 jobs is set to be forced down a vortex into a parallel universe of Liberal/Conservative values never to return ever again. That may not sound much but there is less than 20000 of us, so at face value the odds of my job suffering this fate is approx 1 in 12, that is really not such long odds. At first they will offer voluntary redundancy to affected souls, however if not enough souls accepts the offer, the govt will resort to FORCED redundancies - a nice way of saying, being sacked, given the boot, shafted!!
However there are a number of factors in my favor. Firstly I work in a school, albeit known as the SCHOOL of Isolated and Distance Education, nevertheless, it is a school. Jobs at schools tends to be left alone, to be targeted only as a last resort, due to political sensitivities. Furthermore this is not the first time they pulled this stunt, indeed a few years ago they were fixin to privatise the Despatch/Warehouse area - that is where I work. In addition, we would be forced by law to go with the private company even if it means taking a pay cut of up to 15%. So we were freaking for a bit until the manager called us to a meeting assuring us that it will never happen to our area, it was indeed more cost effective to keep us public rather than privatising us!!! Hence we are still here. And this is why it is most likely that our jobs will be safe this time around, we perform an essential service that would be far too expensive if it was performed by a private company!!! It is cheaper to keep us on the govt purse strings!!
Furthermore if and when they start on forced redundancies, the first to go will be the contractors. These days most public employees are employed on a fix term contract basis which comes up for renewal each six months or 12 months. Very few are employed as permanent employees. I am one of the lucky ones, I am a permanent employee. So the first target will be the contractors, their contracts will simply not be renewed. My work mate who helps me with my job, he is on a contract, so he would be the one to go, not me. Then after the contractors, the redeployees will be next to go, that is, those permanent employees who have not been slotted into any positions due to their previous positions being abolished, they just turn up for work each day and help with odd jobs, etc. I had been a redeployee several times in the past but I have been in my current position for over 13 years now, the longest time that I have been in any position in the public service. But there are still many redeployees around, a few around my dept, so they would be next to go. Then and only then they will work on permanent employees in actual positions. But for the reasons stated above, it is very unlikely that I would lose my job.
However I am a Virgo and one of our traits is we like to plan for all eventualities regardless of how unlikely it is. Virgos are not gamblers!! We're not even good football tipsters! LOL!! We like things to be in order and to make plans. We Virgos like certainties in life!! And well as unlikely as it is, there is still nevertheless a chance that I will lose my job and be back on the dole - or Newstart as they call it these days. Once I lose my job that will be it for my working life, it will amount to an early retirement. Fact is no company will employ someone who is over 50 nomatter what any govt or politicians says, or what laws are passed. Getting a job when over 50 simply will never happen. But of course I am too young and too healthy to qualify for a pension, so I be on the lesser Newstart, and in order to keep the payments I would have to make substantial efforts to look for jobs. But it will be nothing more than going through the motions to satisfy Centerlink requirements for in reality I will never find a job at age 50 or above - I turn 50 this year, and the job cuts will occur over two years, so if I am going to lose my job it won't happen until well into next year - after all of the voluntary redundancies and etc has been processed.
But the good thing is I will get a healthy payout if I lose my job and I understand it is tax free. So with my accrued vacation time which I still have several months of in spite of having to take much time off for Sally, plus a redundancy package which is I think a fortnite's pay for every year of service - and I have been in service for 24 years - well it will amount to about a year's worth of salary. So I will have money to play with to allow me to move out of this house as there is no way I could pay the rent, it is more than the fortnitely Newstart allowance!!!! Of course I will never find cheap housing here due to the housing crisis, there is a 5 year waiting list for public housing. Mother is gone so I can't go stay with her!!!!! I will be left to fend for myself!!! However there will be nothing to keep me in this expensive city!!!! I will do what Barbara did - move to a cheaper city in a cheaper state - Hobart Tasmania!!!! There is no housing crisis there. Well there is a different type of housing crisis in Tasmania, the one favoring tenants. Landlords are complaining they can't find tenants and are losing money on their properties. Rent is dirt cheap there. I still have contact with Barbara and she is doing very well for herself on her pension - everything is cheaper, the rent, utility bills, the groceries. My boss at work is from Tasmania and he owns properties in Tasmania and he can't find tenants to save his life!!!! Most of those properties are empty!!!! So with my redundancy package I will get rid of my surplus items (all of Sally's items will be gone by then), move out of here, and head off to Tasmania. Air fares are cheaper these days especially one-way, and do what Barbara did - stay in a motel until she finds a rental, and it took her less than a week to find a place to rent. But mostly likely I won't fly anyway, I would just drive there, via the ferry, as I will still have my car!! Indeed I have a trailer with the raised sides, so will also be able to cart most of my items over as well - though will probably sell the large items such as the fridge and bed, and just get new ones when I move into a place in Tasmania. Also motels are much cheaper there than here in Perth. Rents are dirt cheap and landlords will be begging to have me to move in!!!! I will be in hog heaven!! Plus I get to see Barbara again, so at least I will know someone there. Barbara didn't know anyone in Tasmania when she moved there but she has quite a few friends these days. And so Tasmania will be where I will spend the rest of my days....... Only snag is the bloody weather, always bloody cold, rarely hot in summer though it does get hot on occasion. But a small price to pay for a far better lifestyle on what will be my very limited income.
So anyway I have all possibilities covered!!! But the most likely is that my job will be safe, and I will continue on as a govt employee on what is a pretty good wage. Storm clouds are indeed on the horizon but I should be spared the worse of it - my workload will just increase but it's not anything I can't handle, it is just part of life under a Liberal govt!!!!
Sunday 26 May 2013
Round 9 - A tough time for tipsters !!!!
Well what I thought would be a catastrophic round thanks to the Maggies loss and Adelaide getting up by a single point turned out to be not quite so drastic thanks to the other tipsters of the top 10 also not faring well. Quite surprisingly all but one also picked the Maggies!! Now they will probably hate them even more and won't pick them next time, but I will be picking them next time indeed every other time unless there are really good reasons not to. Also they all expected the Saints to win, and they all actually did pick North Melbourne! I thought there would be some who would have picked the Crows cos to me that was likely to be a close match that could have gone either way, and well in spite of the Kangaroos seemingly having the match in the bag the Crows had other ideas and ended up winning by a single point!! Anyway I ended up with a lousy 5 points, nearly everyone else scored 6 points. Ironically the person in first spot also managed only 5 points, so I still remain just two points from the top while everyone else in the top 10 edged a point closer, indeed there are now four others who share the same top score of 61 points with only the points variance deciding the positions. Two others on 60 points rounds out the positions above me. I dropped to only as far as 8th spot, I was expecting to drop further down, but thanks to my lesser points variance I am at the top of the group of three on 59 points. Of course since everyone else picked the Maggies they all suffered a similar fate in the points variance so in fact there has been virtually no change in the rankings, I still amazingly remains one of the few with the least variance, indeed only two others in the top 10 has a lesser variance but one other has only two points more.
So anyway when I thought I had killed any chance of ever getting back in the top six, I am it turns out only a single point outside, and my lesser variance would have kept me in the top six had I correctly picked one other team!! Hopefully Round 10 will be more kind to me!!!!!
So anyway when I thought I had killed any chance of ever getting back in the top six, I am it turns out only a single point outside, and my lesser variance would have kept me in the top six had I correctly picked one other team!! Hopefully Round 10 will be more kind to me!!!!!
Saturday 25 May 2013
Round 9 - Season hangs in the balance
My season that is..... with a loss of three points, effectively four points due to the massive blowout in the points variance due to Sydney's big win, it looks like I will be out of the top six this week, it is just a matter of how far out of the six I will be. Everyone else would have picked Sydney on Friday as they all hate Collingwood so it will be an immediate one point plus points variance gain on me.
The Puddy Cats won as expected, everyone in contention for the top six would have picked them, so no effective change in rankings there. The Weavils, well everyone would have picked them too, and now they are in the top 8 we are never going to hear the end of it. Now they will say the Weavils are going to win a premiership just cos they beat the Giants by 100 points. Perhaps the Tigers can give them a reality check next week. But anyway a Weavil win will also make no changes in our tipping rankings. And as for the Western Bulldogs, it was an unexpected win although there may have been a couple of more daring souls in the six who may have picked them, so a possible further drop for me there.
This leaves the last two matches for today which would have been a toss of the coin for each of them, therefore my correct tip in one of them may perhaps neutralized the loss in the other depending on who else have correctly tipped winners.
Now with three matches tomorrow only one of them potentially decides just how far out of the six I will drop out. Everyone will pick the Hawks against the Giants, and similarly a unanimous tip for Freo to beat the Demons so any upsets there is unlikely to result in any rank changes. Only the Kangaroos Crows match that will sort out the final rankings for this week. A correct tip there would ensure I don't drop quite as far down the ladder and still give me a reasonable chance of getting back into the six, an incorrect tip could very well end my season and ensure the 2nd consecutive year since mothers death of no prizes after I had won prizes each year prior to this. So hoping my tip will skippy across the line.......
Friday 24 May 2013
Round 9 - Must have been the Lunar Eclipse
Hmmmmm..... whatever happened to those Maggies..... it was as if they were a different team..... must have been abducted by aliens during the week who performed cloning experiments on them and released the clones back to earth so to be beaten by the Swans. Or it must have been the lunar eclipse, there is a lunar eclipse happening today......
But seriously the Maggies are a better team than that..... so I am still going to pick them next week against the Lions....
Trouble this, this result is likely to bump me out of the top six since no one else will have picked the Maggies since they all hate them. Also my points variance is out the window since they lost by such a high margin, that alone will see me out of the top six even if I somehow manage to score the same points as everyone else in the top 10. And the first three games are likely to be unanimous tips so any upsets there will likely to affect everyone else the same.
Firstly the Port and Puddy Cats match, everyone expects the Puddy Cats to prevail though perhaps not so one-sided, also the Puddy Cats will want to bounce back after losing to the Maggies, no teams like to lose to the Maggies!! Next are the Weavils and Giants, and well everyone is biased towards the Weavils so will probably all pick them, and well they are playing the bottom team so its hard to imagine anyone picking them Giants. And then the Saints and Western Bulldogs, and everyone will expect the Saints to prevail.
The last two matches are not so clear cut, so if I have any chance to redeem myself, I will need to pick correctly those two matches. Carlton and Brisbane, and well it is at home with the Lions and they are playing pretty well so a Blues win is certainly not assured. They be slight favorites but no real surprise if the Lions prevails. And then the hapless Bombers against the Tigers. With even more turmoil in the Bomber's camp this past week, it will either spur them on to play well and win the match, or it could have so utterly devastated them that they will fall into a heap. They have been faltering after a great start to the season, they almost let the Giants beat them, and has been basically downhill since then. So I would have to toss the coin to pick a winner there.
So will I be kissing the top 6 goodbye.... well I guess it will depend on the lunar eclipse..... ;)
But seriously the Maggies are a better team than that..... so I am still going to pick them next week against the Lions....
Trouble this, this result is likely to bump me out of the top six since no one else will have picked the Maggies since they all hate them. Also my points variance is out the window since they lost by such a high margin, that alone will see me out of the top six even if I somehow manage to score the same points as everyone else in the top 10. And the first three games are likely to be unanimous tips so any upsets there will likely to affect everyone else the same.
Firstly the Port and Puddy Cats match, everyone expects the Puddy Cats to prevail though perhaps not so one-sided, also the Puddy Cats will want to bounce back after losing to the Maggies, no teams like to lose to the Maggies!! Next are the Weavils and Giants, and well everyone is biased towards the Weavils so will probably all pick them, and well they are playing the bottom team so its hard to imagine anyone picking them Giants. And then the Saints and Western Bulldogs, and everyone will expect the Saints to prevail.
The last two matches are not so clear cut, so if I have any chance to redeem myself, I will need to pick correctly those two matches. Carlton and Brisbane, and well it is at home with the Lions and they are playing pretty well so a Blues win is certainly not assured. They be slight favorites but no real surprise if the Lions prevails. And then the hapless Bombers against the Tigers. With even more turmoil in the Bomber's camp this past week, it will either spur them on to play well and win the match, or it could have so utterly devastated them that they will fall into a heap. They have been faltering after a great start to the season, they almost let the Giants beat them, and has been basically downhill since then. So I would have to toss the coin to pick a winner there.
So will I be kissing the top 6 goodbye.... well I guess it will depend on the lunar eclipse..... ;)
Round 9
Round 9.... uhhhh yes tonight the Maggies and Sydney. The Maggies are going to win, that is just how it is, end of story !!!!
uhhhh.... well... I suppose I better elaborate a bit here.... The Maggies are a good team, they are a top team, Premiership material. They have proven what they were made out of last week when they had the jump on top-of-the-ladder team Geelong, now FORMER top-of-the-ladder team thanks to the Maggies, and well the Puddy Cats hit the front in the 2nd half and remained in front well into the final term. We all thought the Maggies were finished, they ran out of legs, and like other teams, would have simply thrown in the towel.... but not the Maggies, they kept on fighting, and they hit the front again in the dying minutes to take out the match ending the Puddy Cats winning streak. Now that is what Premiership teams are made out of. The Maggies are as under-rated as the Weavils are over-rated. Ok so the Maggies have a player or two out with injuries stemming from last week's match. Well name me a team who haven't got players out with injuries!! The Maggies have replacement players who are perfectly capable of slotting into the empty spots. That is what good teams have. We not like the Weavils who go running to mummy crying like little tykes that they are in the bottom half cos they had so many players out with injuries - oh poor little Weavils so hurt and all broken up (sarcasm!! hehe!!). No! The Weavils are in the bottom half not because of injuries but because they are hopeless, dimwits, and.... well since I keep these blogs family friendly I won't continue on with the other adjectives that I would otherwise normally use!!!! ;) They may just beat the Giants in a close match, but more on that tomorrow......
So once again.... the Maggies to win tonight !!!!!
Tomorrow's matches to be mused on tomorrow.......
uhhhh.... well... I suppose I better elaborate a bit here.... The Maggies are a good team, they are a top team, Premiership material. They have proven what they were made out of last week when they had the jump on top-of-the-ladder team Geelong, now FORMER top-of-the-ladder team thanks to the Maggies, and well the Puddy Cats hit the front in the 2nd half and remained in front well into the final term. We all thought the Maggies were finished, they ran out of legs, and like other teams, would have simply thrown in the towel.... but not the Maggies, they kept on fighting, and they hit the front again in the dying minutes to take out the match ending the Puddy Cats winning streak. Now that is what Premiership teams are made out of. The Maggies are as under-rated as the Weavils are over-rated. Ok so the Maggies have a player or two out with injuries stemming from last week's match. Well name me a team who haven't got players out with injuries!! The Maggies have replacement players who are perfectly capable of slotting into the empty spots. That is what good teams have. We not like the Weavils who go running to mummy crying like little tykes that they are in the bottom half cos they had so many players out with injuries - oh poor little Weavils so hurt and all broken up (sarcasm!! hehe!!). No! The Weavils are in the bottom half not because of injuries but because they are hopeless, dimwits, and.... well since I keep these blogs family friendly I won't continue on with the other adjectives that I would otherwise normally use!!!! ;) They may just beat the Giants in a close match, but more on that tomorrow......
So once again.... the Maggies to win tonight !!!!!
Tomorrow's matches to be mused on tomorrow.......
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Almost two months now......
The Full Moon this weekend will mark two months since Sally's departure from this plane of existence, it was during a Full Moon when she passed away, so I will always remember Full Moons as times when Sally left us. Since I always treated Full Moons as times of positive energies, I would see this as a sign that she had gone to a better place. For one's information I do not believe the heaven/hell mythology, I am more resonant with reincarnation theories. The heaven/hell mythology actually originated in ancient Egypt some 3000 years before Christianity was even thought of. But considering Sally has suffered so much in this lifetime, karma or the universal laws would have it that her next life will be better. However I am left to pick up the pieces, and the reality of it all is starting to hit me and hit me hard.
Incidentally, May 25th, Full Moon day this weekend, also happens to be the anniversary of my departure from here to America, for it was early on May 25 1998 when I boarded that plane for the first leg of the journey to America that would ultimately change my life forever!! Unbeknown to me at the time, that day in 1998 was New Moon day, arriving in America at the start of the 3rd lunar month. Such is the benefits of having a lunar calendar software on my computer!!
Like the rest of our lives, Sally's suffering has been in sync with the lunar cycles. As I said before she was first diagnosed with lymphodema, the start of our troubles, on Tisha B'Av 2011, the anniversary of the destruction of the Jewish Temples. Her subsequent hospital stay at Royal Perth Hospital proved ultimately fatal. She spent just a week there but she had caught the staph infection at RPH, this infection ultimately killed her, so RPH is at least indirectly responsible for her death. Nothing to do with bitterness or vengeance, it is just stating a fact. The universe will in time achieve a balance of things. She was discharged from RPH on the New Moon, the start of the lunar month of Elul, traditionally given by Jews as the month of trials and introspection, the astral sign being the virgin (Virgo) and we all know that Virgos tends to be self critical and we suffer a lot cos of this. Well that was the month from hell for us, as due to Sally's high maintenance around the clock care I had to take time off work and did not sleep more than two hours in total, every 30 minutes on a 24/7 basis Sally needed to visit the bathroom and needed my help to do so, day in day out, around the clock, every 30 minutes. On top of this, Sally had also caught the flu from RPH, it was a nasty strain which passed onto me, knocking me about for a full four weeks (I usually get over the flu within a week). But in spite of the flu I needed to attend to Sally's needs every 30 minutes around the clock. Silver Chains did come during the day but they were of little help, only spending an hour at a time.
Then right on Rosh HaShanah, the next New Moon, she had that fall which landed her back into hospital but this time she went to Charlie Gardiners, and so all subsequent hospital stays would be at Charlie Gardiners. That hospital was overall much better than RPH although Sally was always complaining about the catering service and for good reasons. The food was atrocious even by normal hospital food standards, and the catering staff were such dimwits that they didn't even know what gluten free food is! On one occasion they served her some WHEAT crackers and told her that they hoped it was gluten free!!! Now to say WHEAT is gluten free is akin to saying that a bowl of sugar is sucrose free, or vodka is alcohol free!! Wheat is the very nature of gluten, it is what makes wheat to be wheat - the gluten that forms the essential makeup of wheat!!! But it is what happens when the govt privatize services and introduce the law that the dept has to acquire three tenders where the cheapest quote automatically wins the contract regardless of any service or standards. It is a case of you get what you pay for. That is why privatization simply doesn't work, the service is always worse off because depts has to accept the cheapest quote even if the company is utterly useless and full of dimwits. So anyway in spite of the catering service where 9 times out of 10 I would be bringing Sally food from home or even from takeout joints!!.... her times at Charlie Gardiners has been better off.
Sally was destined to spend several more times at Charlie Gardiners, and each time her admission and discharges always coincided with the peak of the lunar cycles, either within a day of a New Moon or Full Moon. Her first stint at Charlie Gardiners was for six weeks, being admitted on Rosh HaShanah a New Moon holiday, and discharged on the Full Moon. Her subsequent hospital stays has been for two weeks at a time, and always admitted on either a New Moon or Full Moon and discharged at the next lunar peak. None of this was planned, her admission was always the result of either some accident or some issue arising from her staph infections. They were never able to cure her infections, her hospital stays were simply designed to manage the flare-ups of her infections. But it was always so "coincidental" that this happened at the peaks of the lunar cycles!!
Of course the notable exception was her final hospital admission, that did not occur at any peak of the lunar cycle, but her death five days later did occur on the Full Moon which also marked the start of Jewish Passover.
I am not sure what all this means but at the very least we were in sync with the energies of the universe therefore in the end it will all turn out well.
But right not I am just beginning to deal with Sally's affairs, her accounts, etc, and this is really having the effect of hitting home the reality of the situation - that Sally is truly gone and not coming back anytime soon!!! Having to deal with closing down her accounts or transferring them to my name, often involving having to produce the death certificate and submit to other legal requirements - each facet is a strong reminder, the reality that she is truly gone.
So I am doing this one at a time, beginning with perhaps the easiest affair - Sally's Telstra account. Easiest cos I don't have to produce the death certificate indeed there is virtually no legal requirements, just the completion of a relatively simple form. It is probably cos I am already an authorised signatory to her account, so I needed only to transfer it into my name, being already established with the company. Indeed last night I had emailed them the scanned copy of the form. But I won't count my chickens yet. Telstra being Telstra there is sure to be some snag somewhere along the line, nothing is ever simple with them. But so far I haven't heard from them in regards to any issues, so fingers crossed at this moment.
Next will be our bank account and that will be more difficult, having to track down JPs for a certified copy of the death certificate, and finding someone to witness my signature for the other legal forms - an utter pain in the arse. The search for a JP will begin soon after I get Telstra sorted out.
Then the austerity measures due to having to pay off the bills stemming from Sally's care, that will reach its peak this next fortnite. With the final payment of a bill I am left with next to nothing to live on for the next fortnite so it will be interesting how I will get through. But after this, bar any unexpected misfortunes, things will get better as there will be no more large bills. I won't exactly be swimming in cash as there are other things that needs to be attended to, the car will need to be serviced as due to the expenses involved with Sally's health issue the car had not been serviced for over two years, and there will probably be loads of crap that will need to be done with the car that the mechanic will bring up, some legitimate, some designed only to pad out his profit margins! Being a 2004 model the car is now 9 years old so it is getting on a bit. It still seem to run remarkably well in spite of the lack of servicing.
Nevertheless after this fortnite I should be living somewhat more comfortably, one of the advantages of being single, bar any unexpected misfortunes or the dreaded Three Weeks!! Just when things will get better financially the dreaded Three Weeks looms, this year it begins June 25 a little over a month away when I would be just starting to get back on my feet!! Calamities always occur during the Three Weeks which marks the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple. Sally's health problems which led to her death started during the Three Weeks, and as I mentioned before, the last thing she did before her death was to research her family tree and discovered that she is partly Jewish. So that leaves ME, and the Three Weeks have always been times of calamities for me long before I even met Sally, yet so far I find no physical evidence of Jewish blood, certainly not on Dad's side of the family. Mother's side could be different, as information on her side is very scant and I probably won't find any more on it unless I pay Ancestry.com for the privilege of accessing the necessary databases. Of course in Israel you are only accepted as a Jew if the blood is on mother's side, you are deemed as non Jewish even if you have Jewish blood only on the father's side. But at the very least I must be a Jewish incarnate, that is being a Jew in a recent past life!!!! Whatever the Three Weeks ALWAYS affects me, this even before I knew anything about Jewish traditions!! My story is well documented, the proof is there. Uh well no use letting it bother me too much, I just get on with life as best as I can, and take reasonable precautions - such as never doing my tax return during the Three Weeks. Perhaps fortunately this year the Three Weeks begins "early" on the Roman calendar, being June 25, so would end only two weeks into July, and it usually takes me that long for the necessary documentations to arrive allowing me to do my tax return, and I do it online so I get the refund only a week later. Anyway, other precautions includes, never making important purchases during this time, and will certainly not be getting my car serviced during this time!! These are part of Jewish traditions anyway, they don't make any important purchases during the Three Weeks, they don't even have weddings - probably a very good reason for that!! LOL!!
Whatever..... life goes on...... and an important footy match this Friday ;)
Incidentally, May 25th, Full Moon day this weekend, also happens to be the anniversary of my departure from here to America, for it was early on May 25 1998 when I boarded that plane for the first leg of the journey to America that would ultimately change my life forever!! Unbeknown to me at the time, that day in 1998 was New Moon day, arriving in America at the start of the 3rd lunar month. Such is the benefits of having a lunar calendar software on my computer!!
Like the rest of our lives, Sally's suffering has been in sync with the lunar cycles. As I said before she was first diagnosed with lymphodema, the start of our troubles, on Tisha B'Av 2011, the anniversary of the destruction of the Jewish Temples. Her subsequent hospital stay at Royal Perth Hospital proved ultimately fatal. She spent just a week there but she had caught the staph infection at RPH, this infection ultimately killed her, so RPH is at least indirectly responsible for her death. Nothing to do with bitterness or vengeance, it is just stating a fact. The universe will in time achieve a balance of things. She was discharged from RPH on the New Moon, the start of the lunar month of Elul, traditionally given by Jews as the month of trials and introspection, the astral sign being the virgin (Virgo) and we all know that Virgos tends to be self critical and we suffer a lot cos of this. Well that was the month from hell for us, as due to Sally's high maintenance around the clock care I had to take time off work and did not sleep more than two hours in total, every 30 minutes on a 24/7 basis Sally needed to visit the bathroom and needed my help to do so, day in day out, around the clock, every 30 minutes. On top of this, Sally had also caught the flu from RPH, it was a nasty strain which passed onto me, knocking me about for a full four weeks (I usually get over the flu within a week). But in spite of the flu I needed to attend to Sally's needs every 30 minutes around the clock. Silver Chains did come during the day but they were of little help, only spending an hour at a time.
Then right on Rosh HaShanah, the next New Moon, she had that fall which landed her back into hospital but this time she went to Charlie Gardiners, and so all subsequent hospital stays would be at Charlie Gardiners. That hospital was overall much better than RPH although Sally was always complaining about the catering service and for good reasons. The food was atrocious even by normal hospital food standards, and the catering staff were such dimwits that they didn't even know what gluten free food is! On one occasion they served her some WHEAT crackers and told her that they hoped it was gluten free!!! Now to say WHEAT is gluten free is akin to saying that a bowl of sugar is sucrose free, or vodka is alcohol free!! Wheat is the very nature of gluten, it is what makes wheat to be wheat - the gluten that forms the essential makeup of wheat!!! But it is what happens when the govt privatize services and introduce the law that the dept has to acquire three tenders where the cheapest quote automatically wins the contract regardless of any service or standards. It is a case of you get what you pay for. That is why privatization simply doesn't work, the service is always worse off because depts has to accept the cheapest quote even if the company is utterly useless and full of dimwits. So anyway in spite of the catering service where 9 times out of 10 I would be bringing Sally food from home or even from takeout joints!!.... her times at Charlie Gardiners has been better off.
Sally was destined to spend several more times at Charlie Gardiners, and each time her admission and discharges always coincided with the peak of the lunar cycles, either within a day of a New Moon or Full Moon. Her first stint at Charlie Gardiners was for six weeks, being admitted on Rosh HaShanah a New Moon holiday, and discharged on the Full Moon. Her subsequent hospital stays has been for two weeks at a time, and always admitted on either a New Moon or Full Moon and discharged at the next lunar peak. None of this was planned, her admission was always the result of either some accident or some issue arising from her staph infections. They were never able to cure her infections, her hospital stays were simply designed to manage the flare-ups of her infections. But it was always so "coincidental" that this happened at the peaks of the lunar cycles!!
Of course the notable exception was her final hospital admission, that did not occur at any peak of the lunar cycle, but her death five days later did occur on the Full Moon which also marked the start of Jewish Passover.
I am not sure what all this means but at the very least we were in sync with the energies of the universe therefore in the end it will all turn out well.
But right not I am just beginning to deal with Sally's affairs, her accounts, etc, and this is really having the effect of hitting home the reality of the situation - that Sally is truly gone and not coming back anytime soon!!! Having to deal with closing down her accounts or transferring them to my name, often involving having to produce the death certificate and submit to other legal requirements - each facet is a strong reminder, the reality that she is truly gone.
So I am doing this one at a time, beginning with perhaps the easiest affair - Sally's Telstra account. Easiest cos I don't have to produce the death certificate indeed there is virtually no legal requirements, just the completion of a relatively simple form. It is probably cos I am already an authorised signatory to her account, so I needed only to transfer it into my name, being already established with the company. Indeed last night I had emailed them the scanned copy of the form. But I won't count my chickens yet. Telstra being Telstra there is sure to be some snag somewhere along the line, nothing is ever simple with them. But so far I haven't heard from them in regards to any issues, so fingers crossed at this moment.
Next will be our bank account and that will be more difficult, having to track down JPs for a certified copy of the death certificate, and finding someone to witness my signature for the other legal forms - an utter pain in the arse. The search for a JP will begin soon after I get Telstra sorted out.
Then the austerity measures due to having to pay off the bills stemming from Sally's care, that will reach its peak this next fortnite. With the final payment of a bill I am left with next to nothing to live on for the next fortnite so it will be interesting how I will get through. But after this, bar any unexpected misfortunes, things will get better as there will be no more large bills. I won't exactly be swimming in cash as there are other things that needs to be attended to, the car will need to be serviced as due to the expenses involved with Sally's health issue the car had not been serviced for over two years, and there will probably be loads of crap that will need to be done with the car that the mechanic will bring up, some legitimate, some designed only to pad out his profit margins! Being a 2004 model the car is now 9 years old so it is getting on a bit. It still seem to run remarkably well in spite of the lack of servicing.
Nevertheless after this fortnite I should be living somewhat more comfortably, one of the advantages of being single, bar any unexpected misfortunes or the dreaded Three Weeks!! Just when things will get better financially the dreaded Three Weeks looms, this year it begins June 25 a little over a month away when I would be just starting to get back on my feet!! Calamities always occur during the Three Weeks which marks the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple. Sally's health problems which led to her death started during the Three Weeks, and as I mentioned before, the last thing she did before her death was to research her family tree and discovered that she is partly Jewish. So that leaves ME, and the Three Weeks have always been times of calamities for me long before I even met Sally, yet so far I find no physical evidence of Jewish blood, certainly not on Dad's side of the family. Mother's side could be different, as information on her side is very scant and I probably won't find any more on it unless I pay Ancestry.com for the privilege of accessing the necessary databases. Of course in Israel you are only accepted as a Jew if the blood is on mother's side, you are deemed as non Jewish even if you have Jewish blood only on the father's side. But at the very least I must be a Jewish incarnate, that is being a Jew in a recent past life!!!! Whatever the Three Weeks ALWAYS affects me, this even before I knew anything about Jewish traditions!! My story is well documented, the proof is there. Uh well no use letting it bother me too much, I just get on with life as best as I can, and take reasonable precautions - such as never doing my tax return during the Three Weeks. Perhaps fortunately this year the Three Weeks begins "early" on the Roman calendar, being June 25, so would end only two weeks into July, and it usually takes me that long for the necessary documentations to arrive allowing me to do my tax return, and I do it online so I get the refund only a week later. Anyway, other precautions includes, never making important purchases during this time, and will certainly not be getting my car serviced during this time!! These are part of Jewish traditions anyway, they don't make any important purchases during the Three Weeks, they don't even have weddings - probably a very good reason for that!! LOL!!
Whatever..... life goes on...... and an important footy match this Friday ;)
Sunday 19 May 2013
Round 8 - Lessons Learned
Oh what an interesting round it has been. Carlton ended up with a good win against Port, Richmond overcoming a much improved Demons, and the Crows scoring a good win over the Saints. The Demons have been improving lately and are perhaps worthy of serious consideration at least in regards to teams in the bottom half. As for the Bombers well that is another story altogether. They almost let the bloody Giants beat them, it was only that the Bombers kicked away in the final term that gotten them that match, and that is more to do with the Giant's inexperience rather than the Bomber's form. Ever since then they have been struggling, but even so we all thought they would overcome the Lions with at least a reasonable effort. All 100% of our office competition members have picked the Bombers so their loss alone made no difference whatsoever to our relative rankings. Nevertheless I think they will think twice about picking them next week against the Tigers, and I would have to say that my early tip will be the Tigers. Something meanwhile could happen to change my mind but I don't think so.
The Maggies on the other hand.... ooohhhh yes the Maggies!!!!! Trust the Maggies to end the puddy cats winning streak. I think we did that last year if my memory serves me correct. The Maggies have a bit of a history of spoiling teams' winning streak!! hehe!!! But yeah they have proved that they can beat teams in the top 4, indeed in the top 1 hehe!!! Furthermore what really proved the Maggies was the fact that in spite of the Puddy Cats kicking away in the 2nd half and staying in the lead for much of the final term, the Maggies still came back at them, and they ended up winning by that 6 points! So yes the Maggies are a top team, they are better than their current position on the ladder would indicate, that being 8th spot. Yeah I am proud of them. So lesson 1 is not to pick the Bombers, and lesson 2 is always pick the Maggies!!! Everyone else in our tipping comp except one all hates the Maggies so they never pick them, not unless they play the Giants or something and even then they be secretly hoping that the Maggies would get beaten!! Only one other comp member is a Maggie supporter but she is not in the top 10 or 11. So by picking the Maggies each week, and they will win more often than not.... I mean they ARE a top team and are coming good now.... so they will win more often than not, and so since no one else will pick them, it should ultimately help me up the rankings. Indeed in the years prior to mother's death it was a main reason why I did so well in the competition with always winning money, I would always pick the Maggies while no one else does so!! hehe!! haha!!! So lesson 2, not to hesitate in picking the Maggies. As of this round the Bombers are just a win above the Maggies on the ladder, so come next week when the Maggies beat Sydney and the Tigers beat the Bombers, both teams will be on level peggings with only the Bombers superior percentage keeping them above us.
Anyway I ended up with 7 points. Oh yes we do get awarded a point for drawn results. So all tipsters who tipped in the Sydney/Freo match all received a point regardless of who they picked. I guess this makes sense as there are no provisions in the electronic tipping system for picking draws. In submitting our tips, the tips are in regard of a win by one team over another, not any tied results. So I guess they figured it is fair to award us a point for matches with tied results regardless of who we picked.
In any case my 7 points was enough to get me back into the top 6, albeit in 6th spot. The person in top spot now has 56 points. The next four spots are occupied with persons all on 55 points with only the points variance separating them. The final spot is occupied by ME!!!! I am on 54 points, as is the person below me in 7th spot but I actually have a lower points variance. Usually the points variance has been my achilles heel but this time for some reason I managed to snag it that I do indeed have one of the lowest variance of the top 12, and I'd be in 2nd spot if I had scored one more point. Indeed below us two on 54 there are a further 5 comp members on 53 points, so I guess you could say it is a battle of the top 12.
Anyway next week is another week, and what they say about politics is also true about tipping competions - a week is a long time! Round 9 will indeed tell another story, just how different the story remains to be seen.
The Maggies on the other hand.... ooohhhh yes the Maggies!!!!! Trust the Maggies to end the puddy cats winning streak. I think we did that last year if my memory serves me correct. The Maggies have a bit of a history of spoiling teams' winning streak!! hehe!!! But yeah they have proved that they can beat teams in the top 4, indeed in the top 1 hehe!!! Furthermore what really proved the Maggies was the fact that in spite of the Puddy Cats kicking away in the 2nd half and staying in the lead for much of the final term, the Maggies still came back at them, and they ended up winning by that 6 points! So yes the Maggies are a top team, they are better than their current position on the ladder would indicate, that being 8th spot. Yeah I am proud of them. So lesson 1 is not to pick the Bombers, and lesson 2 is always pick the Maggies!!! Everyone else in our tipping comp except one all hates the Maggies so they never pick them, not unless they play the Giants or something and even then they be secretly hoping that the Maggies would get beaten!! Only one other comp member is a Maggie supporter but she is not in the top 10 or 11. So by picking the Maggies each week, and they will win more often than not.... I mean they ARE a top team and are coming good now.... so they will win more often than not, and so since no one else will pick them, it should ultimately help me up the rankings. Indeed in the years prior to mother's death it was a main reason why I did so well in the competition with always winning money, I would always pick the Maggies while no one else does so!! hehe!! haha!!! So lesson 2, not to hesitate in picking the Maggies. As of this round the Bombers are just a win above the Maggies on the ladder, so come next week when the Maggies beat Sydney and the Tigers beat the Bombers, both teams will be on level peggings with only the Bombers superior percentage keeping them above us.
Anyway I ended up with 7 points. Oh yes we do get awarded a point for drawn results. So all tipsters who tipped in the Sydney/Freo match all received a point regardless of who they picked. I guess this makes sense as there are no provisions in the electronic tipping system for picking draws. In submitting our tips, the tips are in regard of a win by one team over another, not any tied results. So I guess they figured it is fair to award us a point for matches with tied results regardless of who we picked.
In any case my 7 points was enough to get me back into the top 6, albeit in 6th spot. The person in top spot now has 56 points. The next four spots are occupied with persons all on 55 points with only the points variance separating them. The final spot is occupied by ME!!!! I am on 54 points, as is the person below me in 7th spot but I actually have a lower points variance. Usually the points variance has been my achilles heel but this time for some reason I managed to snag it that I do indeed have one of the lowest variance of the top 12, and I'd be in 2nd spot if I had scored one more point. Indeed below us two on 54 there are a further 5 comp members on 53 points, so I guess you could say it is a battle of the top 12.
Anyway next week is another week, and what they say about politics is also true about tipping competions - a week is a long time! Round 9 will indeed tell another story, just how different the story remains to be seen.
Saturday 18 May 2013
Round 8 - The rise of the Maggies !!!! hehe !!!!
Uhhhhh what happened to those Bombers!!! hmmmm.... things are looking grim.... things are looking very grim...... sheez they can't even beat the lions.... and I bloody lost my point!! Well part of being a tipster is you learn lessons, you learn from one's mistakes, and so I learn not to pick the Bombers.... grrrrrr..... hmmmm who are they playing next week.... uhhhh the tigers.... well if they can't beat any lions then I can hardly imagine them beating any tigers...... uuuhh well....
At least the Maggies won!!!! hehe!!! haha!!!!..... they were in the lead for most of the match, then the puddy cats hit top gear towards the end of the 3rd term and hit the front, and I thought that was it, the Maggies ran out of legs... or wings as I should say..... but no.... they still had a bit left in the tank, they hit the front and won by 6 points.... this proves at least the Maggies can beat the top teams when they put their mind to it, even the top of the ladder team.... hehe !!!!!!!
Anyway as for the other matches, the Hawks trotted over the line as expected. The Bulldogs put up a bit of a fight but in the end the Suns prevailed. And as for the Sydney and Freo match, a bloody draw!!!!!! Sydney were in front for most of the match only to end in a bloody draw!!!! arrrrgh!!!!
Uh well I got three points for the day.... certainly no thanks to those Bombers....arrrgh!!!.... so now sitting on a reasonable 4-2 result with three matches tomorrow, two of them that could go either way, meaning I could be unlucky enough to end up with 5-4. The only consolation is that none of the other top 10 or 11 tipsters would have picked the Lions, we all would have expected the Bombers to win, so no one would have gained on me due to that match. It will be down to four matches, two today and two tomorrow - obviously no one would have picked a draw, I am not sure of the rules but I think we all get an extra point regardless of who we picked in that match, I guess I will find out tomorrow when all results will be posted on the website. So it will be down to the other two "doubtful" matches today, as to how many would have picked the Suns and of course my Maggies though most people in my office hates the Maggies so probably would not have picked them!!!!! The Tigers would be an unanimous pick over the hapless Demons, therefore the other two matches tomorrow will ultimately decide my ranking. Carlton could very well beat the Power especially at Etihad, and it will be touch and go between the Crows and the Saints in spite of the Crows' home ground advantage. So whether I will remain in touch with the top 6 or even make it into the top 6 will truly be in the laps of the gods....... indeed my fortunes for this season it seems will rest on this round, or at least set the trend for a most likely ultimate result.
At least the Maggies won!!!! hehe!!! haha!!!!..... they were in the lead for most of the match, then the puddy cats hit top gear towards the end of the 3rd term and hit the front, and I thought that was it, the Maggies ran out of legs... or wings as I should say..... but no.... they still had a bit left in the tank, they hit the front and won by 6 points.... this proves at least the Maggies can beat the top teams when they put their mind to it, even the top of the ladder team.... hehe !!!!!!!
Anyway as for the other matches, the Hawks trotted over the line as expected. The Bulldogs put up a bit of a fight but in the end the Suns prevailed. And as for the Sydney and Freo match, a bloody draw!!!!!! Sydney were in front for most of the match only to end in a bloody draw!!!! arrrrgh!!!!
Uh well I got three points for the day.... certainly no thanks to those Bombers....arrrgh!!!.... so now sitting on a reasonable 4-2 result with three matches tomorrow, two of them that could go either way, meaning I could be unlucky enough to end up with 5-4. The only consolation is that none of the other top 10 or 11 tipsters would have picked the Lions, we all would have expected the Bombers to win, so no one would have gained on me due to that match. It will be down to four matches, two today and two tomorrow - obviously no one would have picked a draw, I am not sure of the rules but I think we all get an extra point regardless of who we picked in that match, I guess I will find out tomorrow when all results will be posted on the website. So it will be down to the other two "doubtful" matches today, as to how many would have picked the Suns and of course my Maggies though most people in my office hates the Maggies so probably would not have picked them!!!!! The Tigers would be an unanimous pick over the hapless Demons, therefore the other two matches tomorrow will ultimately decide my ranking. Carlton could very well beat the Power especially at Etihad, and it will be touch and go between the Crows and the Saints in spite of the Crows' home ground advantage. So whether I will remain in touch with the top 6 or even make it into the top 6 will truly be in the laps of the gods....... indeed my fortunes for this season it seems will rest on this round, or at least set the trend for a most likely ultimate result.
Friday 17 May 2013
Round 8 - OMG I'm getting too old for this !!!!
OMG!!! I am getting too old for such suspenseful matches like this!!! Those bloody Weavils I was ruing the fact that I picked them. It was a close match as I said it would be but the Kangaroos were in the lead for much of the match, it wasn't by much, and the Weavils did hit the lead a time or two but the Kangaroos seemed to have their measure and be able to keep their noses in front. Come the final term the Kangaroos remained in front, and as the term wore on, it seemed more and more like the Weavils were about to let me down! I was thinking.... Damn it!!!! I knew I should have picked the Kangaroos!!! I was getting those Piranhas ready for those Weavils, and they were getting so hungry in anticipation that they were jumping out of the water!! haha!! Then.... OMG!!!!.... right at virtually the last moment that dark guy with the dreadlocks, Naitanui, took a mark in front of goals and he ended up scoring that goal after the siren!! Talk about get out of jail for free card!!! It was more get saved from Piranhas for free card - I don't think they had such a card in Monopoly!! LOL!! The Weavils scored a two-point victory, a good start to my round on both counts. Not only I gotten that all important first up point for my tipping, I also gained a low points variance. I nominated 5 points, and the Weavils won by 2 points, giving me just 3 points added to my cumulative total.
Mind you those Weavils probably paid the umpires to give those free kicks in front of goals. The Weavils won two free kicks in front of goals in the last 2 mins. The first one from inside 50m they messed up big time, typical Weavils they can't perform under pressure!! A Kangaroo player took the mark in the last line of defence and as he cleared the kick I thought the Weavils were finished, they've blown their final chance, and those Piranhas were jumping out of the water in anticipation of a meal of Weavils!! But alas!! The umpires gave another free kick in front of goals, well it was a bit outside 50m but a last chance nonetheless. Naitanui took the mark, and well as they say, the rest is history!! Uh well it doesn't matter how the Weavils won, the important thing is I had gotten that all important first point from the first match! And a low points variance to add to my seeming good fortunes!!
Now for today's matches. Will I be able to keep my points intact?? Hmmmm...... First we have the Bombers against the Lions. The Bombers will be hurting from their loss last week ending their unbeaten run so will be wanting to make amends, and the unfortunate Lions seems destined to be more like sacrificial lambs in the Bombers' quest to redeem themselves. True enough there are no certainties in football but this can be judged as a near-certainty, it should be easily my 2nd point from two matches.
Next are Hawthorn against the Giants, and the odds are so short according to the bookies that anyone placing a $100 bet for a Hawks win will only gain a penny for their troubles! Even the odds for a 39+ points margin is very short, a $100 bet will only give a single dollar!! I think the Hawks have been virtually penciled in for an almost certain win. But as I say there are no such creatures as certainties in football nevertheless unless the Hawks are abducted by aliens or a black hole falls into the Hawks' nest and suck them into a parallel universe just before the match, this should be my 3rd point from three matches.
So armed with a near certain 3-0 result so far we come to the Suns at home to the hapless Bulldogs. This match represents my first real danger of having my perfect run coming to a shuddering halt. The Suns SHOULD win especially being at home but the Bulldogs are capable of causing a minor upset. I place it a 40% chance that I will be denied this 4th point. I however remain hopeful for a 4th point from 4 games.
This brings me to the next match. My heart is very heavy. I have very bad feelings. My beloved Maggies coming up against those Sirian star-kins - remember my riddle from the last round?? Those puddy Cats!! And I really hate to say this but I think those Sirians kins will prevail. I hope I am wrong but I really have to face reality as painful as it is. Should I submit to team loyalty or to the harsh reality of being in a cut throat competition..... hmmmmmm...... I could go with team loyalty and pick the Maggies, I mean they COULD win, they are capable of winning provided they play at their very best and Geelong makes a few mistakes along the way...... but I am in a tipping COMPETITION, this is not just fun and games, there is MOOLAH involved and you have to be in the top 6 for a share of the loot. I am only two spots outside the 6 the only reason being my slightly higher points variance, it is only the higher points variance that is keeping me out of the 6. Gaining just one extra point at the expense of those above me will see me back into the top 6..... so is it worth selling out my soul for this...... hmmmmmmmm....... very difficult decision...... so heart breaking...... I so want my Maggies to win.... I am so torn..... oooohhhhh............
Last but not least for today's portion of the round..... tonight's match in Sydney, the Swans against the Dockers. A tough one to pick, probably the toughest one to pick notwithstanding the sentiments of the Puddy Cats Maggies match!! On paper the Swans should get over the line but I reckon it could go either way with no near-certainties until well into the final term. A toss of the coin as to whom my tip should fall to there.
So with a 3-0 results being a near certainty up until late in the afternoon I am faced with three consecutive matches that could bring my perfect run to an end. Odds are that one or two of the matches will see me miss out on points. So just on probability theory I could be by the end of the evening be facing up to a 4-2 result, or perhaps a slightly more comfortable 5-1 result. Either way it's going to be touch and go.........
Mind you those Weavils probably paid the umpires to give those free kicks in front of goals. The Weavils won two free kicks in front of goals in the last 2 mins. The first one from inside 50m they messed up big time, typical Weavils they can't perform under pressure!! A Kangaroo player took the mark in the last line of defence and as he cleared the kick I thought the Weavils were finished, they've blown their final chance, and those Piranhas were jumping out of the water in anticipation of a meal of Weavils!! But alas!! The umpires gave another free kick in front of goals, well it was a bit outside 50m but a last chance nonetheless. Naitanui took the mark, and well as they say, the rest is history!! Uh well it doesn't matter how the Weavils won, the important thing is I had gotten that all important first point from the first match! And a low points variance to add to my seeming good fortunes!!
Now for today's matches. Will I be able to keep my points intact?? Hmmmm...... First we have the Bombers against the Lions. The Bombers will be hurting from their loss last week ending their unbeaten run so will be wanting to make amends, and the unfortunate Lions seems destined to be more like sacrificial lambs in the Bombers' quest to redeem themselves. True enough there are no certainties in football but this can be judged as a near-certainty, it should be easily my 2nd point from two matches.
Next are Hawthorn against the Giants, and the odds are so short according to the bookies that anyone placing a $100 bet for a Hawks win will only gain a penny for their troubles! Even the odds for a 39+ points margin is very short, a $100 bet will only give a single dollar!! I think the Hawks have been virtually penciled in for an almost certain win. But as I say there are no such creatures as certainties in football nevertheless unless the Hawks are abducted by aliens or a black hole falls into the Hawks' nest and suck them into a parallel universe just before the match, this should be my 3rd point from three matches.
So armed with a near certain 3-0 result so far we come to the Suns at home to the hapless Bulldogs. This match represents my first real danger of having my perfect run coming to a shuddering halt. The Suns SHOULD win especially being at home but the Bulldogs are capable of causing a minor upset. I place it a 40% chance that I will be denied this 4th point. I however remain hopeful for a 4th point from 4 games.
This brings me to the next match. My heart is very heavy. I have very bad feelings. My beloved Maggies coming up against those Sirian star-kins - remember my riddle from the last round?? Those puddy Cats!! And I really hate to say this but I think those Sirians kins will prevail. I hope I am wrong but I really have to face reality as painful as it is. Should I submit to team loyalty or to the harsh reality of being in a cut throat competition..... hmmmmmm...... I could go with team loyalty and pick the Maggies, I mean they COULD win, they are capable of winning provided they play at their very best and Geelong makes a few mistakes along the way...... but I am in a tipping COMPETITION, this is not just fun and games, there is MOOLAH involved and you have to be in the top 6 for a share of the loot. I am only two spots outside the 6 the only reason being my slightly higher points variance, it is only the higher points variance that is keeping me out of the 6. Gaining just one extra point at the expense of those above me will see me back into the top 6..... so is it worth selling out my soul for this...... hmmmmmmmm....... very difficult decision...... so heart breaking...... I so want my Maggies to win.... I am so torn..... oooohhhhh............
Last but not least for today's portion of the round..... tonight's match in Sydney, the Swans against the Dockers. A tough one to pick, probably the toughest one to pick notwithstanding the sentiments of the Puddy Cats Maggies match!! On paper the Swans should get over the line but I reckon it could go either way with no near-certainties until well into the final term. A toss of the coin as to whom my tip should fall to there.
So with a 3-0 results being a near certainty up until late in the afternoon I am faced with three consecutive matches that could bring my perfect run to an end. Odds are that one or two of the matches will see me miss out on points. So just on probability theory I could be by the end of the evening be facing up to a 4-2 result, or perhaps a slightly more comfortable 5-1 result. Either way it's going to be touch and go.........
Round 8 - The Weavils
Uhhh that time of week again, it does come around rather quickly..... the Friday night match, the Weavils against the Kangaroos. Oh those Weavils I never known a team to be so over rated. By the talk about them in the media here you'd think they're fixing to win a Premiership! If it was another topic they'd be certified for delusional thoughts! LOL! There are 31 tipsters in our local paper, some are famous people, celebs, even a couple of politicians. The politicians have the lowest points, they are such dimwits! The celebs fare somewhat better, then the sports writers, editors, commentators and other football personalities. And of the 31 tipsters, 29 of them picks the Weavils! Even the politicians picked them! 28 of them picks Geelong but that is another matter altogether, that which will be addressed in tomorrow's musings.
Having said all that, well I must grudgingly admit that if I was a betting man then I'd put my money on the Weavils. They do have players coming back in from injuries. Of course that dandee-lion Kerr is parachuted straight back into the team, everyone else have to spend a week or two in the WAFL in order to prove themselves. OK the Weavils does play better when Kerr is in the team, well they usually play a little better anyway. And it is at Pattersons, it has been raining on and off for two days but it has cleared up today, just a wee bit nippy. But is IS at Pattersons, and the Weavils being so egotistical they do thrive on crowd support and so usually play better.
So yeah on balance of probabilities I would have to tip the Weavils in a close match where the lead is likely to change a few times. Being the match where I need to nominate my points variance, well I nominated a very low value. The Weavils to win but not by much. But be warned, I have a tank full of piranhas who will be fed weavils for dinner if they let me down !!!!!!
Tomorrows matches..... well I will deal with them tomorrow.......
Having said all that, well I must grudgingly admit that if I was a betting man then I'd put my money on the Weavils. They do have players coming back in from injuries. Of course that dandee-lion Kerr is parachuted straight back into the team, everyone else have to spend a week or two in the WAFL in order to prove themselves. OK the Weavils does play better when Kerr is in the team, well they usually play a little better anyway. And it is at Pattersons, it has been raining on and off for two days but it has cleared up today, just a wee bit nippy. But is IS at Pattersons, and the Weavils being so egotistical they do thrive on crowd support and so usually play better.
So yeah on balance of probabilities I would have to tip the Weavils in a close match where the lead is likely to change a few times. Being the match where I need to nominate my points variance, well I nominated a very low value. The Weavils to win but not by much. But be warned, I have a tank full of piranhas who will be fed weavils for dinner if they let me down !!!!!!
Tomorrows matches..... well I will deal with them tomorrow.......
Thursday 16 May 2013
A slow and painful process
I barely survived mother's day last Sunday, the grief never goes away, time does not heal, it only allows for opportunities to discover additional ways of coping. We are going into the 3rd year since mother's death, so this was the 3rd mother's day without her. Visiting the mall has been painful as we see mother's day advertising all around, still at times giving a fleeting thought that I must find a card for mother, only to be jolted a moment later that there is no such need to do so!!!!! This time the pain and torment was made all the worse due to Sally's absence from this realm. At least in the past two years my focus was on attending to Sally's needs, medical and otherwise. Sally felt mother's loss too so at least we had something in common there. Sally lost her mother to heart disease when Sally was just 13 years of age, a very young age to lose one's mother. So she virtually adopted my mother as the mother she never had, her replacement mother. So it really affected Sally probably moreso than me when mother started to get sick and she realised it was a terminal illness. And well no need to repeat myself here, as I already said, Sally's health went downhill and it ultimately killed her. And so it was very lonely last Sunday, just me at home, did not go out anywhere nor spoke to anyone, just kept busy in the garden and other things, but the torment was never far from my consciousness.
Last Saturday however Sally's friend Sylvia did come over and made a big dent in dealing with Sally's items. In just about two hours she ended up loading her little stationwagon with quite a few boxes of Sally's item. Sylvia made it a project to help me out as much as possible given Sally's haunting words to her just a week from her death - asking her to make sure that I will be ok!! She would sort out Sally's item and sell what she can on ebay and elsewhere then give me the proceeds from the sales. But Sally is such a bower bird, there are still loads of her items still here, and Sylvia does plan on return trips until all of Sally's items are sorted. I think it is going to take a while.
However to get Sally's affairs sorted is going to be a long painful process. I at least found out from the bank what I need to do to have the account details changed, we did have a joint account. I have to get a certified copy of the death certificate which means trying to track down a JP, and then to complete an indemnity form. All this legal stuff is a pain in the arse. I have always held the view that the law exists only to benefit the ruling party - the govt. Any perceived benefits that we may gain from the law is designed only to further the govt agenda, either to make it more likely we would vote for the particular govt, or to maintain our capacity to pay taxes. That is why penalties for breaking the law related to financial issues, such as fraud and embezzlement are often more harsh than penalties relating to the threatening of personal well being such as assault, rape or even murder. Nevertheless the penalty for murder is still relatively high only because the person no longer has the capacity to pay taxes or otherwise be a benefit to the govt. And of course every step in our jumping through hoops to fulfil legal obligations all carries a fee, for example, there is a fee for getting certified copies signed by JPs, and the bank charges their fees for changing and altering details. At the very least the govt gets the GST from these fees, but in reality they ultimately gain a lot more than just the GST. These laws are so unnecessary and an unwanted inconvenience in our day to day lives. I am yet to track down a JP but then at the moment I have been rather busy with other matters.
I have made further progress with Sally's Telstra account. I called them two weeks ago and they promised to get back to me but has never done so. Therefore I tried a new tact, using their live chat service on the website, and it worked wonders!! It turned out I did have full authorisation over her account. I thought I should have!! Just a few weeks before her death Sally needed to deal with a matter involving her account which necessitated a visit to the Telstra shop, and since Sally was housebound and too sick to go out, she did managed to arrange for me to have full authorisation so that I can deal with the matter on her behalf. Anyway that made life much easier for me, and so was able to acquire her user name and password, so I could get in and pay the bills as she had elected for only electronic versions of the bills, no paper bills sent out. I still need to complete a form to have the details transferred to my name but it is far less onerous, I only just have to provide my necessary details. No need for death certificates nor any signatures from JPs!!
So the bank account and Telstra account are just two things. Everything else I haven't even touched yet, such as our internet account, car rego and ownership, and our store loyalty programs that is Flybuys and Woollies Reward cards - all are in Sally's name, either cos to secure pensioner discounts or because she was the one who organised them. I'll probably have to get a JP involved in the car rego/license affair, but hopefully the internet account will be as more simple as with our phone accounts, we use iiNet for our internet account. Our home phone ie landline account is actually through iiNet, we use Telstra only for our cell phone and our other mobile devices such as tablets. So once I am successful in getting iiNet details transferred to my name I will probably choose another package that cuts out the home phone, thus will be permanently disconnect ourselves from the landline, utilizing iiNet's wireless options for internet connection, it will cut out the line rental, and usually the only calls I get on the landline are those annoying sales calls and calls pleading for donations to whatever cause. My locality is still at least three years away with no firm dates for connection to the govt much talked about NBN plan so no chance of that happening in the near future, so it will have to be the wireless service. All of my family and friends are given my cell phone number, and so I usually don't answer the landline unless I know through the caller ID who it is (sales/solicitation calls are always marked "private" on our ID so I never answer them) or I am expecting a particular call at particular times. I know other people who have disconnected their landlines opting only to use the cell phone or wireless contacts, Sylvia being one such person. But first I have to get the iiNet account changed to my name, and I haven't yet made any inquiries I am just concentrating on the bank and Telstra, once I get those dealt with, then I tackle the car rego affair, then iiNet.
So that is the latest as I attempt to cope with life without Sally.... considering I am still not coping with life without mother !!!
Last Saturday however Sally's friend Sylvia did come over and made a big dent in dealing with Sally's items. In just about two hours she ended up loading her little stationwagon with quite a few boxes of Sally's item. Sylvia made it a project to help me out as much as possible given Sally's haunting words to her just a week from her death - asking her to make sure that I will be ok!! She would sort out Sally's item and sell what she can on ebay and elsewhere then give me the proceeds from the sales. But Sally is such a bower bird, there are still loads of her items still here, and Sylvia does plan on return trips until all of Sally's items are sorted. I think it is going to take a while.
However to get Sally's affairs sorted is going to be a long painful process. I at least found out from the bank what I need to do to have the account details changed, we did have a joint account. I have to get a certified copy of the death certificate which means trying to track down a JP, and then to complete an indemnity form. All this legal stuff is a pain in the arse. I have always held the view that the law exists only to benefit the ruling party - the govt. Any perceived benefits that we may gain from the law is designed only to further the govt agenda, either to make it more likely we would vote for the particular govt, or to maintain our capacity to pay taxes. That is why penalties for breaking the law related to financial issues, such as fraud and embezzlement are often more harsh than penalties relating to the threatening of personal well being such as assault, rape or even murder. Nevertheless the penalty for murder is still relatively high only because the person no longer has the capacity to pay taxes or otherwise be a benefit to the govt. And of course every step in our jumping through hoops to fulfil legal obligations all carries a fee, for example, there is a fee for getting certified copies signed by JPs, and the bank charges their fees for changing and altering details. At the very least the govt gets the GST from these fees, but in reality they ultimately gain a lot more than just the GST. These laws are so unnecessary and an unwanted inconvenience in our day to day lives. I am yet to track down a JP but then at the moment I have been rather busy with other matters.
I have made further progress with Sally's Telstra account. I called them two weeks ago and they promised to get back to me but has never done so. Therefore I tried a new tact, using their live chat service on the website, and it worked wonders!! It turned out I did have full authorisation over her account. I thought I should have!! Just a few weeks before her death Sally needed to deal with a matter involving her account which necessitated a visit to the Telstra shop, and since Sally was housebound and too sick to go out, she did managed to arrange for me to have full authorisation so that I can deal with the matter on her behalf. Anyway that made life much easier for me, and so was able to acquire her user name and password, so I could get in and pay the bills as she had elected for only electronic versions of the bills, no paper bills sent out. I still need to complete a form to have the details transferred to my name but it is far less onerous, I only just have to provide my necessary details. No need for death certificates nor any signatures from JPs!!
So the bank account and Telstra account are just two things. Everything else I haven't even touched yet, such as our internet account, car rego and ownership, and our store loyalty programs that is Flybuys and Woollies Reward cards - all are in Sally's name, either cos to secure pensioner discounts or because she was the one who organised them. I'll probably have to get a JP involved in the car rego/license affair, but hopefully the internet account will be as more simple as with our phone accounts, we use iiNet for our internet account. Our home phone ie landline account is actually through iiNet, we use Telstra only for our cell phone and our other mobile devices such as tablets. So once I am successful in getting iiNet details transferred to my name I will probably choose another package that cuts out the home phone, thus will be permanently disconnect ourselves from the landline, utilizing iiNet's wireless options for internet connection, it will cut out the line rental, and usually the only calls I get on the landline are those annoying sales calls and calls pleading for donations to whatever cause. My locality is still at least three years away with no firm dates for connection to the govt much talked about NBN plan so no chance of that happening in the near future, so it will have to be the wireless service. All of my family and friends are given my cell phone number, and so I usually don't answer the landline unless I know through the caller ID who it is (sales/solicitation calls are always marked "private" on our ID so I never answer them) or I am expecting a particular call at particular times. I know other people who have disconnected their landlines opting only to use the cell phone or wireless contacts, Sylvia being one such person. But first I have to get the iiNet account changed to my name, and I haven't yet made any inquiries I am just concentrating on the bank and Telstra, once I get those dealt with, then I tackle the car rego affair, then iiNet.
So that is the latest as I attempt to cope with life without Sally.... considering I am still not coping with life without mother !!!
Monday 13 May 2013
Round 7 - Well I did say......
Well I did say there are no certainty in football, or something to that effect.... An unexpected win by the Saints ensured I was denied that extra point and finished with a somewhat mediocre 6 points. However since most of the others in the office comp were in the same boat with those in the top 10 scoring between 5 and 7 points I still managed to hold onto my 8th spot with 47 points and still just two points from the top, indeed the top 3 are on 49 points, the next two on 48, and 6th spot occupied by someone with 47 points. There are six of us on 47 points, the two above me managing lower points variance than me. So it is indeed quite a tight competition for those of us in the top 10 or so, indeed the top 11 occupied by those with 47 or more points.
Now let us see what Round 8 will bring.....
Now let us see what Round 8 will bring.....
Sunday 12 May 2013
Round 7 - another 2 points
Well what I thought could be a danger game mostly likely to throw a massive spanner in the works turned out to be nothing more than a canter to the victor for my pick, the Suns winning by 10 goals. Adelaide massive victory over the hapless Demons help ensure a perfect day today, 2 points from two matches. Six points thus far - a 6-2 result up to now. With Carlton being a reasonably safe prospect for their match against the Saints tomorrow I should get my 7 points which hopefully will help me hold onto my 8th spot, still giving me a chance to break back into the money 6.
However there is no such creature as a "certainty" in football so I won't be resting totally easy until the end of the match, until I see Carlton with a higher points total than the Saints at the final siren!! Then 30 minutes later to check my standings, that is about how long it takes for the final results to filter through the system to the website.
However there is no such creature as a "certainty" in football so I won't be resting totally easy until the end of the match, until I see Carlton with a higher points total than the Saints at the final siren!! Then 30 minutes later to check my standings, that is about how long it takes for the final results to filter through the system to the website.
Saturday 11 May 2013
Mother......
I could not have said it better myself.... the pain, the torment, the tears.......
To both mothers... my mother, and Sally who is also a mother.....
To both mothers... my mother, and Sally who is also a mother.....
Round 7 - hanging in the balance
My mixed fortunes on Round 7......
Not a good start with Richmond leading for virtually the whole match for what turned out to be a good win against the Power. Perhaps Port Adelaide will suffer the same fate as Essendon, a top four team going on the slide downwards..... hmmmmm..... perhaps a changing of the guards is in the pipeline. Whatever i lost a point that I didn't really need to lose!!!!!
Well the Weavils did win, I did pick them, and I guess it was a reasonable win. Let's not forget that the Lions are not that crash hot, they are firmly rooted in the bottom half keeping company with the likes of the Giants and Demons!!
Both the Kangaroos and Hawks recorded wins as expected.
But my Maggies.... ooohhhhh my Maggies!!!.... boo!! hoo!!!... waaaahhhhhh!!!!..... what happened to my Maggies!!!! Were they abducted by aliens and replace by cloned androids that were programmed to lose!! Did they get lost in a parallel universe!!? Nah..... I suppose I must say that Freo were the better team on the day, they did play very well, and are genuine top 4 contenders. They're way better than the Weavils anyway!! The Weavils can consider themselves lucky if they managed to scrape into the top 8. But Freo, they were very impressive, they have beaten top teams, and are more genuine contenders even for the flag.
But it just mean a most uncomfortable 2-point loss in my tipping leaving me in a precarious position!! I needed at least 8 points for a chance to get back into the top 6. The best I can now hope for is 7 points, that may be enough for me to keep my 8th spot in the office tipping comp. Any less than 7 will probably see me slide even further down ensuring a 2nd consecutive year without prize money, the two years since mother's death that I didn't win any prize money. Up until then, while mother was still with us, I won prize money each year. On the year of mother's death I barely managed to win enough to cover the joining fee, but since then I had won zilch nyet zit nothing!!!!!
And well today's matches, the match that is likely to be the nail in my top-6 coffin is the Melbourne and Suns match. Although on paper the Suns is likely to win, indeed I did pick them, the Demons could very well put in that extra bit of effort. The Suns is still a young and relatively inexperienced team that is more likely to falter under unexpected circumstances. So I am rather worried about this match. Well nothing can be done, logic says to stick with the Suns, all I can do is just wait and see how it all pans out. Of course today being Mother's Day it would be ironic if the Demons did win, or an upset occurs with the Giants!!!
Adelaide should beat the Giants, and tomorrow Carlton should beat the Saints. So bar any upsets I should end up with at least 6 points, but I really need 7 to give myself a chance to at least hold 8th spot.
Not a good start with Richmond leading for virtually the whole match for what turned out to be a good win against the Power. Perhaps Port Adelaide will suffer the same fate as Essendon, a top four team going on the slide downwards..... hmmmmm..... perhaps a changing of the guards is in the pipeline. Whatever i lost a point that I didn't really need to lose!!!!!
Well the Weavils did win, I did pick them, and I guess it was a reasonable win. Let's not forget that the Lions are not that crash hot, they are firmly rooted in the bottom half keeping company with the likes of the Giants and Demons!!
Both the Kangaroos and Hawks recorded wins as expected.
But my Maggies.... ooohhhhh my Maggies!!!.... boo!! hoo!!!... waaaahhhhhh!!!!..... what happened to my Maggies!!!! Were they abducted by aliens and replace by cloned androids that were programmed to lose!! Did they get lost in a parallel universe!!? Nah..... I suppose I must say that Freo were the better team on the day, they did play very well, and are genuine top 4 contenders. They're way better than the Weavils anyway!! The Weavils can consider themselves lucky if they managed to scrape into the top 8. But Freo, they were very impressive, they have beaten top teams, and are more genuine contenders even for the flag.
But it just mean a most uncomfortable 2-point loss in my tipping leaving me in a precarious position!! I needed at least 8 points for a chance to get back into the top 6. The best I can now hope for is 7 points, that may be enough for me to keep my 8th spot in the office tipping comp. Any less than 7 will probably see me slide even further down ensuring a 2nd consecutive year without prize money, the two years since mother's death that I didn't win any prize money. Up until then, while mother was still with us, I won prize money each year. On the year of mother's death I barely managed to win enough to cover the joining fee, but since then I had won zilch nyet zit nothing!!!!!
And well today's matches, the match that is likely to be the nail in my top-6 coffin is the Melbourne and Suns match. Although on paper the Suns is likely to win, indeed I did pick them, the Demons could very well put in that extra bit of effort. The Suns is still a young and relatively inexperienced team that is more likely to falter under unexpected circumstances. So I am rather worried about this match. Well nothing can be done, logic says to stick with the Suns, all I can do is just wait and see how it all pans out. Of course today being Mother's Day it would be ironic if the Demons did win, or an upset occurs with the Giants!!!
Adelaide should beat the Giants, and tomorrow Carlton should beat the Saints. So bar any upsets I should end up with at least 6 points, but I really need 7 to give myself a chance to at least hold 8th spot.
Friday 10 May 2013
Round 7 Saturday - those Sirian star people!!
Hmmmmm..... it looks like Essendon have hit a bit of a snag. They were almost beaten by the bottom team last week and now last night they were quite soundly beaten by the puddy cats! Well someone had to lose and end it's winning streak and well Esssendon was it.
Now the explanation for my cryptic clue as to who I thought would win last night's match. The Sirians as in ETs from the Sirius star system. Background information. At different points in mankind's recorded history and indeed much of conventionally unrecorded history we have been visited by ETs from the various star systems in and around our galaxy. One such ET race being the Sirian's visit to what is now northern Africa which evidently led to the rise of the Egyptian empire, helping to build those pyramids and other structures.
Let me share an interesting story. A certain primitive tribe in northern Africa speak of a legend of such a visit by the Sirians and they refer to Sirius as a three star system. Problem is you can only see one star with the naked eye. It wasn't until much more powerful telescopes were built in the 20th century that they finally picked up on a 2nd star which became known as "Sirius B". And in more recent times using sophisticated techniques involving telescopes in space, gravitational analysis, etc that they picked up on a "possibility" of a 3rd star in the Sirius system, indeed it has not even been "officially" confirmed yet pending further analysis of the data but it seems very likely that the evidence points to a 3rd star. So how did this primitive tribe who wouldn't even know what to do with a telescope should they accidentally come across one, HOW did they KNOW that there were three stars in the Sirius system?? Perhaps just a very lucky guess? Or are there indeed some credence to their legends of visitations from "star people" from the Sirius system who of course would have first hand information on the configuration of their star system!!!!
Anyway, visits by ETs often led to the origin of religions as these ETs were often regarded as "gods" due to their superior technologies. It can be said that yesterday's miracles are today's reality. For example just half a century ago anyone seeing us flick a switch to see a room suddenly light up would ascribe us with divine powers, but it is long since been a mundane reality that due to the invention of the use of electricity and simple electrical circuits such a feat is possible! Who would have thought just 300 years ago that it was possible to control a vehicle made of metal and other heavy substances to safely fly through the air delivering passengers to distant destinations in safety?? Surely it required the power of the gods!!!! But it has long since been an everyday reality based on simple principles of physics that we have jet planes flying around the world, so routine and mundane we hardly give it 2nd thought.
So imagine mankind being confronted with the even greater technologies of ETs. Is it any wonder they were often ascribed with divine powers, and indeed this was how religions were created. The Sirians in Egyptian mythology were no exception, they were worshipped as gods. The Sirians are also known as "cat people" because Sirian ETs had cat-like features, their heads resembling that of cats, their bodies more like cats though they were upright creatures as we are. Indeed the pet puddy cats that we are so familiar with originated in Egypt as a result of hybrid experiments involving the Sirian visitors. And it is a known fact that Egyptians regarded puddy cats as sacred and were indeed worshipped by the Egyptians. To kill a puddy cat would incur an automatic death penalty!! It has jokingly been said in regards to cat owners today that one doesn't "own" a cat but the cat "owns" you!! Anyone who ever had a puddy cat as pets would know what I am talking about! And we had puddy cats as pets throughout my childhood!!
So by know our readers of this blog now know what I was meaning by my cryptic clues as to who I thought would win last night's match!! Indeed I was correct!! hehe!! The Sirians - "cat people" - Geelong CATS!!!!! Oh yes a very good start to my tipping results!! hehe!!
Now lets see how my "star seed" powers holds out for today's picks. haha!
Port Adelaide at home to the Tigers. I don't think those "puddy cats" will fare quite as well on this occasion. They will appear to be under the spell of a "Power" - the Port Power to prevail though not without a fight.
Brisbane Lions at home to the Weavils. OK the Weavils had a good win last week but if one peruses the biased western media you'd think they're a top four team who is fixin to win a Premiership!! Let's have a reality check here. Weavils are not even in the top 8, let alone top 4!! And there are various things in the world that we can safely say that it will never happen. Such as the Americans agreeing to gun control, Iran adopting Christianity as the state religion, North Korea signing a peace pact with the South, the Vatican agreeing to gay marriages, and the Weavils winning a Premiership!! No! The MAGGIES are going to win the Premiership!! Let's get things straight here!! hehe!! haha!!!.... but I must concede on this occasion the Weavils are likely to account for another team of "puddy cats", the Weavils should prevail in spite of the long trip to the land of the banana benders, but it will be a close game!! The Weavils are not THAT good!!
The Kangaroos should in the end quite easily account for the Bulldogs though not such a runaway victory. And the Hawks should overcome a determined Sydney Swans in a tightly fought contest.
This leaves one other match for the day. The MAGGIES!!!!! and their match against Fremantle at Pattersons. Who's gonna win? The Maggies of course!!! The Maggies are a good team, a top class team, a champion team!!.... ok so I am a bit biased!! haha!!!.... but they did play well last week for a good win against the Saints. OK the Saints are well down in the bottom half of the ladder while Freo are currently sitting in the top 8 just a spot above us just on percentage, however unlike the Weavils the Maggies have beaten top 8 teams. And well the Dockers will be in their more familiar surrounds of Pattersons, but we have been experiencing Melbourne-like weather in the past few days, wind, rain, storms, and colder temps. Although the weather is expected to clear today, the humidity and the temps will still be more akin to that of Melbourne especially being an evening match. But even without all these factors I am of the humble opinion that the mighty Maggies will win anyway!!! hehe! haha!!
With the round stretching to Monday, more on the last three matches later.
Now the explanation for my cryptic clue as to who I thought would win last night's match. The Sirians as in ETs from the Sirius star system. Background information. At different points in mankind's recorded history and indeed much of conventionally unrecorded history we have been visited by ETs from the various star systems in and around our galaxy. One such ET race being the Sirian's visit to what is now northern Africa which evidently led to the rise of the Egyptian empire, helping to build those pyramids and other structures.
Let me share an interesting story. A certain primitive tribe in northern Africa speak of a legend of such a visit by the Sirians and they refer to Sirius as a three star system. Problem is you can only see one star with the naked eye. It wasn't until much more powerful telescopes were built in the 20th century that they finally picked up on a 2nd star which became known as "Sirius B". And in more recent times using sophisticated techniques involving telescopes in space, gravitational analysis, etc that they picked up on a "possibility" of a 3rd star in the Sirius system, indeed it has not even been "officially" confirmed yet pending further analysis of the data but it seems very likely that the evidence points to a 3rd star. So how did this primitive tribe who wouldn't even know what to do with a telescope should they accidentally come across one, HOW did they KNOW that there were three stars in the Sirius system?? Perhaps just a very lucky guess? Or are there indeed some credence to their legends of visitations from "star people" from the Sirius system who of course would have first hand information on the configuration of their star system!!!!
Anyway, visits by ETs often led to the origin of religions as these ETs were often regarded as "gods" due to their superior technologies. It can be said that yesterday's miracles are today's reality. For example just half a century ago anyone seeing us flick a switch to see a room suddenly light up would ascribe us with divine powers, but it is long since been a mundane reality that due to the invention of the use of electricity and simple electrical circuits such a feat is possible! Who would have thought just 300 years ago that it was possible to control a vehicle made of metal and other heavy substances to safely fly through the air delivering passengers to distant destinations in safety?? Surely it required the power of the gods!!!! But it has long since been an everyday reality based on simple principles of physics that we have jet planes flying around the world, so routine and mundane we hardly give it 2nd thought.
So imagine mankind being confronted with the even greater technologies of ETs. Is it any wonder they were often ascribed with divine powers, and indeed this was how religions were created. The Sirians in Egyptian mythology were no exception, they were worshipped as gods. The Sirians are also known as "cat people" because Sirian ETs had cat-like features, their heads resembling that of cats, their bodies more like cats though they were upright creatures as we are. Indeed the pet puddy cats that we are so familiar with originated in Egypt as a result of hybrid experiments involving the Sirian visitors. And it is a known fact that Egyptians regarded puddy cats as sacred and were indeed worshipped by the Egyptians. To kill a puddy cat would incur an automatic death penalty!! It has jokingly been said in regards to cat owners today that one doesn't "own" a cat but the cat "owns" you!! Anyone who ever had a puddy cat as pets would know what I am talking about! And we had puddy cats as pets throughout my childhood!!
So by know our readers of this blog now know what I was meaning by my cryptic clues as to who I thought would win last night's match!! Indeed I was correct!! hehe!! The Sirians - "cat people" - Geelong CATS!!!!! Oh yes a very good start to my tipping results!! hehe!!
Now lets see how my "star seed" powers holds out for today's picks. haha!
Port Adelaide at home to the Tigers. I don't think those "puddy cats" will fare quite as well on this occasion. They will appear to be under the spell of a "Power" - the Port Power to prevail though not without a fight.
Brisbane Lions at home to the Weavils. OK the Weavils had a good win last week but if one peruses the biased western media you'd think they're a top four team who is fixin to win a Premiership!! Let's have a reality check here. Weavils are not even in the top 8, let alone top 4!! And there are various things in the world that we can safely say that it will never happen. Such as the Americans agreeing to gun control, Iran adopting Christianity as the state religion, North Korea signing a peace pact with the South, the Vatican agreeing to gay marriages, and the Weavils winning a Premiership!! No! The MAGGIES are going to win the Premiership!! Let's get things straight here!! hehe!! haha!!!.... but I must concede on this occasion the Weavils are likely to account for another team of "puddy cats", the Weavils should prevail in spite of the long trip to the land of the banana benders, but it will be a close game!! The Weavils are not THAT good!!
The Kangaroos should in the end quite easily account for the Bulldogs though not such a runaway victory. And the Hawks should overcome a determined Sydney Swans in a tightly fought contest.
This leaves one other match for the day. The MAGGIES!!!!! and their match against Fremantle at Pattersons. Who's gonna win? The Maggies of course!!! The Maggies are a good team, a top class team, a champion team!!.... ok so I am a bit biased!! haha!!!.... but they did play well last week for a good win against the Saints. OK the Saints are well down in the bottom half of the ladder while Freo are currently sitting in the top 8 just a spot above us just on percentage, however unlike the Weavils the Maggies have beaten top 8 teams. And well the Dockers will be in their more familiar surrounds of Pattersons, but we have been experiencing Melbourne-like weather in the past few days, wind, rain, storms, and colder temps. Although the weather is expected to clear today, the humidity and the temps will still be more akin to that of Melbourne especially being an evening match. But even without all these factors I am of the humble opinion that the mighty Maggies will win anyway!!! hehe! haha!!
With the round stretching to Monday, more on the last three matches later.
Round 7 - the clash of the unbeatens
Since I am a bit late with my musings since I went to the shops to spend my paycheck I shall concentrate just on tonight's match. We have two unbeaten team, so ONE of them has to lose.... well it could be a draw but it is more likely that the winning streak of one team will come to a shuddering halt!!
First the Bombers.... they didn't play particularly well last week, they almost got beaten by the Giants in what would have been the upset of the century, it was only their final term spurt that overwhelmed the Giants and basically smashing their way out of prison!! Is it a sign that they are getting too tired or a wee bit complacent, or could they really bounce back tonight and overcome the puddy cats!!
Geelong the puddy cats didn't have it all their way last week either, with Richmond being in with a chance early one, but the Cats did play better overall and put in a slightly more consistent effort.
So as the match is fixin to start.... who will it be? Who will be good enough on this night to maintain their unbeaten record?
I reckon it is too close to call, and am not prepared to say who I think will win - except I give this cryptic clue as to who I think will prevail. The Sirians will prevail, and I am not talking about the residents of a certain Middle Eastern country currently at war, but an unearthly source, the ET citizens of a star system some 8 light years from this solar system - the Sirius star system. I shall reveal all tomorrow when I give my musings for Saturday's matches.
First the Bombers.... they didn't play particularly well last week, they almost got beaten by the Giants in what would have been the upset of the century, it was only their final term spurt that overwhelmed the Giants and basically smashing their way out of prison!! Is it a sign that they are getting too tired or a wee bit complacent, or could they really bounce back tonight and overcome the puddy cats!!
Geelong the puddy cats didn't have it all their way last week either, with Richmond being in with a chance early one, but the Cats did play better overall and put in a slightly more consistent effort.
So as the match is fixin to start.... who will it be? Who will be good enough on this night to maintain their unbeaten record?
I reckon it is too close to call, and am not prepared to say who I think will win - except I give this cryptic clue as to who I think will prevail. The Sirians will prevail, and I am not talking about the residents of a certain Middle Eastern country currently at war, but an unearthly source, the ET citizens of a star system some 8 light years from this solar system - the Sirius star system. I shall reveal all tomorrow when I give my musings for Saturday's matches.
Thursday 9 May 2013
Solar Eclipse and more non-football news from the past week.
It's New Moon night tonight, and as it happens my moods tends to flow with the lunar cycles. All things being equal I am usually in the best moods near Full Moons and most depressed during New Moons. Well I did say "all things being equal" as I said before, Sally's death occurred near the peak of the Full Moon now six weeks ago. This New Moon is marked by a solar eclipse which will actually be visible from Australia. It is known as an Annular Eclipse as not all of the sun will be covered, during the totality there will be a "ring of fire" around the moon as only the middle portion of the sun will be covered, similar to the pix below....
...the path of totality will travel across the northern parts of Australia tomorrow morning, but most of the rest of Australia will be able to see at least a partial eclipse. More info here....
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/05/08/3750833.htm
...here in the west it begins just before sunrise, and due to trees and hills being in the way I probably won't be able to see it. But it will probably be darker than usual tomorrow morning. I leave for work at just first light when the sun still below the horizon begins to light up the sky. It may not be so light tomorrow as I head off to work.
It has actually been raining on and off the past couple of days. Indeed very stormy at times, lightning and high winds. There has been power outages but fortunately my house seemed to have dodged that bullet!! Probably be a little more rain tonight but no more high winds. However the winter chill has not set in, it is still relatively mild, certainly not the cold of winter. It will be sunny again over the weekend.
With Mother's Day being on Sunday I am reminded once again of my mother not being here. No more going to the shops for mothers day gifts, no more trips to mother's house to celebrate the day with a barbecue that Sunday afternoon. The torment never really goes away, it just stay somewhat underneath for most of the time, but significant times such as Mothers Day serves to bring it to the surface. Indeed Sally's health has gone downhill since the year of mother's death, and this is what ultimately took Sally away from this planet. Sally lost her own mother to heart disease when Sally was just at the tender age of 13, so she basically adopted my mother as her 2nd mother, they got on well together, and Sally looked forward to our visits to mother probably more than I did. It really affected Sally when mother was diagnosed with the disease, and things just went downhill for her after mother finally passed away. Sally's downhill run manifested as a sudden turn for the worse in her health during the Tisha B'Av period of 2011 just a few months after mother's death. Sally first noticed a leaking sore on her leg on Tzom Tammuz the first day of "the three weeks" in July, and as it happened as per "chance" her doctor's appt was on Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the Temples' destruction, and that was when she was diagnosed with lymphodema. The resultant hospital admission a couple of weeks later led to the staph infections, she rapidly became housebound, and after the 18 months of hell, the combined conditions finally led to her passing away. Sally did find out that she was indeed part-Jewish, it was one of the last things she did just prior to her death. The calamities of "the three weeks" happens only to Jews or at least partly Jewish.
The words of Sally's friend Sylvia haunts me, when just a week prior to her death Sally told Sylvia to make sure I am looked after. Considering I normally don't have anything much to do with Sylvia, it was a highly unusual statement. The only time I ever had anything to do with Sylvia was when she had computer problems, Sally always had me to go fix her computer!! The more I think about it, the conclusion seems inescapable, Sally EXPECTED to die in the near future. She had been too weak to get up from her chair so I could not clean her properly, the pain from her sores so intense that she wouldn't let me touch some of them with the changing of the bandages, and yet the Silver Chains nurse stopped coming to visit simply cos Sally wouldn't get up from her chair, and the nurse wouldn't change bandages while Sally was seated cos it involved lifting her legs. I guess it all starting to make sense now, but it simply did not occur to me at the time!! Perhaps I should have known better. But I always thought Sally would make it through and recover from all this. But in hindsight I guess she had simply become too weak and too vulnerable to infections, that which ultimately killed her.
So here to another night alone......
...the path of totality will travel across the northern parts of Australia tomorrow morning, but most of the rest of Australia will be able to see at least a partial eclipse. More info here....
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/05/08/3750833.htm
...here in the west it begins just before sunrise, and due to trees and hills being in the way I probably won't be able to see it. But it will probably be darker than usual tomorrow morning. I leave for work at just first light when the sun still below the horizon begins to light up the sky. It may not be so light tomorrow as I head off to work.
It has actually been raining on and off the past couple of days. Indeed very stormy at times, lightning and high winds. There has been power outages but fortunately my house seemed to have dodged that bullet!! Probably be a little more rain tonight but no more high winds. However the winter chill has not set in, it is still relatively mild, certainly not the cold of winter. It will be sunny again over the weekend.
With Mother's Day being on Sunday I am reminded once again of my mother not being here. No more going to the shops for mothers day gifts, no more trips to mother's house to celebrate the day with a barbecue that Sunday afternoon. The torment never really goes away, it just stay somewhat underneath for most of the time, but significant times such as Mothers Day serves to bring it to the surface. Indeed Sally's health has gone downhill since the year of mother's death, and this is what ultimately took Sally away from this planet. Sally lost her own mother to heart disease when Sally was just at the tender age of 13, so she basically adopted my mother as her 2nd mother, they got on well together, and Sally looked forward to our visits to mother probably more than I did. It really affected Sally when mother was diagnosed with the disease, and things just went downhill for her after mother finally passed away. Sally's downhill run manifested as a sudden turn for the worse in her health during the Tisha B'Av period of 2011 just a few months after mother's death. Sally first noticed a leaking sore on her leg on Tzom Tammuz the first day of "the three weeks" in July, and as it happened as per "chance" her doctor's appt was on Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the Temples' destruction, and that was when she was diagnosed with lymphodema. The resultant hospital admission a couple of weeks later led to the staph infections, she rapidly became housebound, and after the 18 months of hell, the combined conditions finally led to her passing away. Sally did find out that she was indeed part-Jewish, it was one of the last things she did just prior to her death. The calamities of "the three weeks" happens only to Jews or at least partly Jewish.
The words of Sally's friend Sylvia haunts me, when just a week prior to her death Sally told Sylvia to make sure I am looked after. Considering I normally don't have anything much to do with Sylvia, it was a highly unusual statement. The only time I ever had anything to do with Sylvia was when she had computer problems, Sally always had me to go fix her computer!! The more I think about it, the conclusion seems inescapable, Sally EXPECTED to die in the near future. She had been too weak to get up from her chair so I could not clean her properly, the pain from her sores so intense that she wouldn't let me touch some of them with the changing of the bandages, and yet the Silver Chains nurse stopped coming to visit simply cos Sally wouldn't get up from her chair, and the nurse wouldn't change bandages while Sally was seated cos it involved lifting her legs. I guess it all starting to make sense now, but it simply did not occur to me at the time!! Perhaps I should have known better. But I always thought Sally would make it through and recover from all this. But in hindsight I guess she had simply become too weak and too vulnerable to infections, that which ultimately killed her.
So here to another night alone......
Sunday 5 May 2013
Round 6 Final Results
All of today's results were as expected, all one sided affairs, results were never seriously in doubt since the first few minutes of the matches, even the Weavils! Ok the Weavils did play pretty well even when allowing for the fact that it was against the Bulldogs. Yeah I know I give them Weavils a hard time but that is cos they are Weavils and I love the idea of feeding them to piranhas especially when they let me down which was more often than not, either losing when I pick them, and bloody winning when I don't pick them!! Well today they did atone for themselves a bit, I wouldn't say all is forgiven, but it is a start. I will respect them just a wee bit more if they beat the Lions on their home turf next week!!
So I ended up with a 8-1 result this round but it was reasonably easy to pick and I really should have picked all 9, I should have known the Kangaroos would win. But in spite of my 8 points I have dropped out of the top 6, with over half of us picking all 9 teams and the worst of us picking 7 winners. I am now in 8th spot, not totally catastrophic being only 3 points from top spot, but those in the top 6 has between 42 and 44 points while I am sitting on 41 points. So being such a tight competition I will struggle to get back into the top 6. I will need a bit of luck, and though my luck this year has been better it could dessert me at the wrong time, such as next week when it will be much more difficult to pick winners, the two unbeaten teams Geelong and Essendon set for a Friday night meeting!!!
Anyway since I was in the mood for sharing bits of my football history I thought I'd share how we came to pick our teams to support, well mostly how I came to pick my teams. Starting with mother, the story she shared with me on how she chose to adopt Swan Districts as her team, it was actually a case of mistaken identity. Back in her farm days she was following the country league, and her team bore the colors black and red. I can't remember the name of the team but the colors were black and red, I assume it was a team local to where she lived. So when she moved to Perth and discovered the WAFL she decided to adopt the team whose colors are black and red. Only that she thought Swan Districts was that team!! So she had placed her emotions and energies into barracking for Swans, so when she finally realised her mistake and that Swans were indeed black and white, she was so emotionally attached to the Swans that she stuck with them.
As for me well at first I didn't like football, I thought it was such a pointless sport played by mobs of hooligans. I pretty well thought all sports were rather pointless, I really didn't like sports at all, and certainly not football!! However over the years mother's love for football grew on me, and I ended up enjoying the sport at least watching it on TV, and after a while mother took me to some WAFL matches which I did enjoy. I soon learned that all who watches football has a team to barrack for, and well in those days I was a bit of a mummy's boy so I adopted Swan District as my team just because it was mother's team. So all through my primary school years I was very much Swans Districts. This coincided with their years as cellar dwellers, in a word they were utterly hopeless, indeed so hopeless that they make Greater Western Sydney look like champions in comparison!! I was indeed the laughing stock at school and elsewhere cos of being a Swan's fan, but I was a laughing stock anyway cos of other issues so what's the difference!! Mother barracked for Swans therefore so did I.
In those days the VFL matches were shown on Sunday nights, I think one match was featured with hilights from other matches, and we all watched it. We liked the VFL better, they were more skillful, the games were better, and many WAFL players aspired to be drafted into the VFL. Furthermore many of us with favorite teams in the WAFL also had teams in the VFL. Well my choice was simple and logical, barrack for the team who were also black and white. Of course the Maggies!!! And they were doing better than Swans Districts, indeed Collingwood often played in the Finals. So I followed the Magpies more than I followed Swans. I soon learned that they were given the unflattering nick name the Colli-wobbles cos evidently they often make it into the Grand Final but never manage to win the Grand Final, indeed they haven't won since before I was born. People were telling Collingwood jokes, such as "What's the first thing Buck Rogers asked after he woke up in the 25th century?"... "Have Collingwood won a Premiership yet?".... Nevertheless I stuck up for my beloved Maggies, I so came to love them, they were MY team and that is all that mattered. It turned out that mother was an Essendon fan, on this occasion keeping true to her black and red tradition. Nevertheless on this occasion I didn't follow mother, I was a Maggie and nothing on earth was gonna to change it not even mother, I swore that my blood was black and white!! haha!! And after so long suffering the tribulations of being a Maggie supporter, our time of glory came in 1990, we finally won a Premiership!!! There were no more Colli-wobble jokes after that, well there were still some but they died natural deaths. The nastier jokes cropped up in their places, referring to the "working class" background of the suburb bearing the team's name, and the rather tainted reputations of the residents of this suburb!! Uh well such is the trials and tribulations of being a Maggie fan, it makes it all worth my while to me!!!!!
Anyway back to the WAFL.... was very much Swans Districts.... that was until my teen years, my years of rebellion, and I began to think, WHY should I be a Swan's fan just cos of mother?? It was about time I chose my own team in the WAFL. This coincided with the late 1970s, and my team of choice seemed to virtually fall on my lap. I was at a church camp, and it was during the weekend of the WAFL Grand Final, and someone had the radio on and so we were all listening to the Grand Final that Saturday afternoon of 1976. A certain team was playing very well, indeed they were winning!!! That team was the Perth Demons!! I found myself really rooting for the Demons and I really was so happy that they won the Grand Final. And so I was born a Demon supporter, and it turned out their colors are black and red. When I broke the news to mother, that was when she told me the story, that she would have been a Demon supporter but had mistakenly thought that Swans were black and red!!
Nevertheless as far as VFL goes I still remained very much Maggies supporter! My blood was still black and white, it just had a bit of red added to it on the local level!! LOL!! Then in the late 1980s when the VFL became the AFL, and the West Coast Eagles - the Weavils - were born, most of us in Western Australia who supported VFL teams began supporting the Weavils - except Maggies supporters!! We Maggies supporters are a special breed and only a very small number of us defected to the Weavils. Mother remained an Essendon supporter and she remained an Essendon supporter to her death. However it was mainly us Maggie supporters that remained true to our beloved team!! I am still a Demon fan on the WAFL level, but my heart is very much black and white in the AFL. I always have been a Maggie fan and I always will be a Maggie fan to my death!!
As for Debra, she became a South Fremantle Bulldogs fan mainly cos Colin's three children were all South's supporters and she got on well with them. Also many of her best friends were Bulldogs supporters, so the Bulldog spirit had stuck with her. I think she is a Kangaroo's fan in the AFL, not sure how she came to that one!!
Anyway Round 7 will be crucial to my chances of ever fighting my way back into the top 6. Trying to figure whether to play it safe or to go with my instincts in spite of the fact that my instincts had let me down at the crucial point this weekend!! I still would have been in the top 6 if I had picked North Melbourne. Uh well as it is said, hindsight is a good teacher but it doesn't come with a Tardis!!! So no use dwelling on this weekend just gone, I guess I shall see how I feel come Friday night, the most difficult of the matches to pick.
So I ended up with a 8-1 result this round but it was reasonably easy to pick and I really should have picked all 9, I should have known the Kangaroos would win. But in spite of my 8 points I have dropped out of the top 6, with over half of us picking all 9 teams and the worst of us picking 7 winners. I am now in 8th spot, not totally catastrophic being only 3 points from top spot, but those in the top 6 has between 42 and 44 points while I am sitting on 41 points. So being such a tight competition I will struggle to get back into the top 6. I will need a bit of luck, and though my luck this year has been better it could dessert me at the wrong time, such as next week when it will be much more difficult to pick winners, the two unbeaten teams Geelong and Essendon set for a Friday night meeting!!!
Anyway since I was in the mood for sharing bits of my football history I thought I'd share how we came to pick our teams to support, well mostly how I came to pick my teams. Starting with mother, the story she shared with me on how she chose to adopt Swan Districts as her team, it was actually a case of mistaken identity. Back in her farm days she was following the country league, and her team bore the colors black and red. I can't remember the name of the team but the colors were black and red, I assume it was a team local to where she lived. So when she moved to Perth and discovered the WAFL she decided to adopt the team whose colors are black and red. Only that she thought Swan Districts was that team!! So she had placed her emotions and energies into barracking for Swans, so when she finally realised her mistake and that Swans were indeed black and white, she was so emotionally attached to the Swans that she stuck with them.
As for me well at first I didn't like football, I thought it was such a pointless sport played by mobs of hooligans. I pretty well thought all sports were rather pointless, I really didn't like sports at all, and certainly not football!! However over the years mother's love for football grew on me, and I ended up enjoying the sport at least watching it on TV, and after a while mother took me to some WAFL matches which I did enjoy. I soon learned that all who watches football has a team to barrack for, and well in those days I was a bit of a mummy's boy so I adopted Swan District as my team just because it was mother's team. So all through my primary school years I was very much Swans Districts. This coincided with their years as cellar dwellers, in a word they were utterly hopeless, indeed so hopeless that they make Greater Western Sydney look like champions in comparison!! I was indeed the laughing stock at school and elsewhere cos of being a Swan's fan, but I was a laughing stock anyway cos of other issues so what's the difference!! Mother barracked for Swans therefore so did I.
In those days the VFL matches were shown on Sunday nights, I think one match was featured with hilights from other matches, and we all watched it. We liked the VFL better, they were more skillful, the games were better, and many WAFL players aspired to be drafted into the VFL. Furthermore many of us with favorite teams in the WAFL also had teams in the VFL. Well my choice was simple and logical, barrack for the team who were also black and white. Of course the Maggies!!! And they were doing better than Swans Districts, indeed Collingwood often played in the Finals. So I followed the Magpies more than I followed Swans. I soon learned that they were given the unflattering nick name the Colli-wobbles cos evidently they often make it into the Grand Final but never manage to win the Grand Final, indeed they haven't won since before I was born. People were telling Collingwood jokes, such as "What's the first thing Buck Rogers asked after he woke up in the 25th century?"... "Have Collingwood won a Premiership yet?".... Nevertheless I stuck up for my beloved Maggies, I so came to love them, they were MY team and that is all that mattered. It turned out that mother was an Essendon fan, on this occasion keeping true to her black and red tradition. Nevertheless on this occasion I didn't follow mother, I was a Maggie and nothing on earth was gonna to change it not even mother, I swore that my blood was black and white!! haha!! And after so long suffering the tribulations of being a Maggie supporter, our time of glory came in 1990, we finally won a Premiership!!! There were no more Colli-wobble jokes after that, well there were still some but they died natural deaths. The nastier jokes cropped up in their places, referring to the "working class" background of the suburb bearing the team's name, and the rather tainted reputations of the residents of this suburb!! Uh well such is the trials and tribulations of being a Maggie fan, it makes it all worth my while to me!!!!!
Anyway back to the WAFL.... was very much Swans Districts.... that was until my teen years, my years of rebellion, and I began to think, WHY should I be a Swan's fan just cos of mother?? It was about time I chose my own team in the WAFL. This coincided with the late 1970s, and my team of choice seemed to virtually fall on my lap. I was at a church camp, and it was during the weekend of the WAFL Grand Final, and someone had the radio on and so we were all listening to the Grand Final that Saturday afternoon of 1976. A certain team was playing very well, indeed they were winning!!! That team was the Perth Demons!! I found myself really rooting for the Demons and I really was so happy that they won the Grand Final. And so I was born a Demon supporter, and it turned out their colors are black and red. When I broke the news to mother, that was when she told me the story, that she would have been a Demon supporter but had mistakenly thought that Swans were black and red!!
Nevertheless as far as VFL goes I still remained very much Maggies supporter! My blood was still black and white, it just had a bit of red added to it on the local level!! LOL!! Then in the late 1980s when the VFL became the AFL, and the West Coast Eagles - the Weavils - were born, most of us in Western Australia who supported VFL teams began supporting the Weavils - except Maggies supporters!! We Maggies supporters are a special breed and only a very small number of us defected to the Weavils. Mother remained an Essendon supporter and she remained an Essendon supporter to her death. However it was mainly us Maggie supporters that remained true to our beloved team!! I am still a Demon fan on the WAFL level, but my heart is very much black and white in the AFL. I always have been a Maggie fan and I always will be a Maggie fan to my death!!
As for Debra, she became a South Fremantle Bulldogs fan mainly cos Colin's three children were all South's supporters and she got on well with them. Also many of her best friends were Bulldogs supporters, so the Bulldog spirit had stuck with her. I think she is a Kangaroo's fan in the AFL, not sure how she came to that one!!
Anyway Round 7 will be crucial to my chances of ever fighting my way back into the top 6. Trying to figure whether to play it safe or to go with my instincts in spite of the fact that my instincts had let me down at the crucial point this weekend!! I still would have been in the top 6 if I had picked North Melbourne. Uh well as it is said, hindsight is a good teacher but it doesn't come with a Tardis!!! So no use dwelling on this weekend just gone, I guess I shall see how I feel come Friday night, the most difficult of the matches to pick.
Saturday 4 May 2013
Round 6 Part 2 almost the upset of the year
Ohhhh those Bombers, they almost had the upset of the year upon them. Those Giants they were kicking away for a while and I was beginning to think that I should have picked them cos I thought the Bombers were in danger of the unthinkable becoming reality! I think that is why I shared my story on the Swan's victory over the top team Demons all those years ago. As mother used to say, paraphrasing using my terms, there is no such creature as a "certain victory". Prior to each match every team has a chance to win regardless of relative positions on the ladder, even in top versus bottom matches!! However the Bombers to their credit did hit their straps when it really mattered, in the final term, to score a reasonable win in the end.
My wonderful Maggies!!!!! What an awesome team. I knew I was doing the right thing in picking them, my faith in them was vindicated, they didn't let me down. It was pretty tight for a bit but in the end the Saints just couldn't match the talents of the black and whites even in spite of the significant team changes!!
North Melbourne went and spoiled my party. The Port Power ALMOST pulled off a win, I really did think they had a good chance, but at the end of the day they let the Kangaroos get too far ahead and left the final quarter run a wee bit too late, just 10 points being the difference between a perfect round thus far and a blemish to my round.
It looked as though for a while that Richmond was going to inflict my 2nd point loss, but most fortunately the Cats hit their straps in the 2nd half for a comfortable win in the end. The Crows were the other team that placed my tipping results in danger but once again the Hawks did enough to ensure a victory. The Suns were spirited but the Dockers were never really in danger.
So now with a 5-1 result so far the bookies have all three matches tomorrow at short odds. While the Swans and the Blues are expected to win in their respective matches, I am not so sure about those Weavils, I still think that they are over-rated. I did pick them and for two reasons, the match is at Patterson's, and they do have a number of significant players coming back in from injuries. However I do consider this the danger game, the match that could spoil my perfect Sunday round. All I can say is the Weavils had better win or I will send them hexes!! haha!! I should get two more points, hopefully all three.
With three matches tomorrow that most reckons to be almost certainties I share another story about upset wins, this time from the opposite viewpoint. After Perth Demon's successes in the late 1970s it was soon their turn to experience life in the cellar while Swan Districts amazingly rose to the top and winning premierships in the 1980s. South Fremantle Bulldogs were also enjoying success being 2nd only to the Swans. The Bulldogs are Debra's team. I think it was 1981 or so when Debra spent the year in Sydney courtesy of Andrew's job, and being the Rugby League capital of Australia, the coverage of Australian Rules were very limited. There was no internet, no emails, no websites, no Sydney Swans (lol), not even cell phones. Sydney media did give the VFL some scant attention but virtually none of the WAFL. So Debra depended on ME to post her by snail mail the football results from this side of the universe. Life was simpler back then, the matches were all played on Saturday afternoon, so full match reports were all in the Sunday paper, so I could cut them out and send them in the mail by the following Monday and I think it arrived by Wednesday.
Sooner or later the time came for Demons versus Bulldogs. Remember by then the Demons were in 8th spot in the 8-team competition while the Bulldogs were at least 2nd spot if not the top spot, it was a bit of a tussle between the Bulldogs and Swans. Whatever the Bulldogs were expected to win, but this time I did have the radio on, and I was shocked but delighted that the Demons were streaking way ahead of the Bulldogs, I think about 10 or more goals in front by half time. After the half time break the Bulldogs did fight back and almost did the same trick as the Bombers this afternoon!!! But it wasn't to be. The Demons managed to hold on for dear life managing to win by a couple of goals. But the margin didn't matter!! What did matter was the Demons DID WIN!!!!! And they beat the Bulldogs!!!! And I was so looking forward to rubbing it into my elder sister!!! I think I even wrote the letter in black and red ink to signify the team colors of the Demons!!! Oooooohhhh yes I had so much fun then!!!! Poor ole Debra really copped it a lot!!!! It was my moment of glory in an otherwise bleak season!!!! I was hoping they would beat East Fremantle the following week, that was Andrew's team, but it wasn't to be..... I was brought back to reality as I posted off a short and not-so-sweet letter the following week with tails between my legs.......
Anyway I get back into my Tardis and back to present time..... and I hope no upsets in the three matches tomorrow, and for the Weavils not to let me down otherwise I will feed them to the piranhas!! haha!!
My wonderful Maggies!!!!! What an awesome team. I knew I was doing the right thing in picking them, my faith in them was vindicated, they didn't let me down. It was pretty tight for a bit but in the end the Saints just couldn't match the talents of the black and whites even in spite of the significant team changes!!
North Melbourne went and spoiled my party. The Port Power ALMOST pulled off a win, I really did think they had a good chance, but at the end of the day they let the Kangaroos get too far ahead and left the final quarter run a wee bit too late, just 10 points being the difference between a perfect round thus far and a blemish to my round.
It looked as though for a while that Richmond was going to inflict my 2nd point loss, but most fortunately the Cats hit their straps in the 2nd half for a comfortable win in the end. The Crows were the other team that placed my tipping results in danger but once again the Hawks did enough to ensure a victory. The Suns were spirited but the Dockers were never really in danger.
So now with a 5-1 result so far the bookies have all three matches tomorrow at short odds. While the Swans and the Blues are expected to win in their respective matches, I am not so sure about those Weavils, I still think that they are over-rated. I did pick them and for two reasons, the match is at Patterson's, and they do have a number of significant players coming back in from injuries. However I do consider this the danger game, the match that could spoil my perfect Sunday round. All I can say is the Weavils had better win or I will send them hexes!! haha!! I should get two more points, hopefully all three.
With three matches tomorrow that most reckons to be almost certainties I share another story about upset wins, this time from the opposite viewpoint. After Perth Demon's successes in the late 1970s it was soon their turn to experience life in the cellar while Swan Districts amazingly rose to the top and winning premierships in the 1980s. South Fremantle Bulldogs were also enjoying success being 2nd only to the Swans. The Bulldogs are Debra's team. I think it was 1981 or so when Debra spent the year in Sydney courtesy of Andrew's job, and being the Rugby League capital of Australia, the coverage of Australian Rules were very limited. There was no internet, no emails, no websites, no Sydney Swans (lol), not even cell phones. Sydney media did give the VFL some scant attention but virtually none of the WAFL. So Debra depended on ME to post her by snail mail the football results from this side of the universe. Life was simpler back then, the matches were all played on Saturday afternoon, so full match reports were all in the Sunday paper, so I could cut them out and send them in the mail by the following Monday and I think it arrived by Wednesday.
Sooner or later the time came for Demons versus Bulldogs. Remember by then the Demons were in 8th spot in the 8-team competition while the Bulldogs were at least 2nd spot if not the top spot, it was a bit of a tussle between the Bulldogs and Swans. Whatever the Bulldogs were expected to win, but this time I did have the radio on, and I was shocked but delighted that the Demons were streaking way ahead of the Bulldogs, I think about 10 or more goals in front by half time. After the half time break the Bulldogs did fight back and almost did the same trick as the Bombers this afternoon!!! But it wasn't to be. The Demons managed to hold on for dear life managing to win by a couple of goals. But the margin didn't matter!! What did matter was the Demons DID WIN!!!!! And they beat the Bulldogs!!!! And I was so looking forward to rubbing it into my elder sister!!! I think I even wrote the letter in black and red ink to signify the team colors of the Demons!!! Oooooohhhh yes I had so much fun then!!!! Poor ole Debra really copped it a lot!!!! It was my moment of glory in an otherwise bleak season!!!! I was hoping they would beat East Fremantle the following week, that was Andrew's team, but it wasn't to be..... I was brought back to reality as I posted off a short and not-so-sweet letter the following week with tails between my legs.......
Anyway I get back into my Tardis and back to present time..... and I hope no upsets in the three matches tomorrow, and for the Weavils not to let me down otherwise I will feed them to the piranhas!! haha!!
Friday 3 May 2013
Round 6
It looks like 4 or 5 matches are listed as potentially one-sided with very short odds listed for the likely winner, but as mother would always say, "never say never"!! This is especially so when it comes to football!! I relate to a match back in the dim dark past before there was any AFL, in those days there were just the VFL and the WAFL with very fierce rivalry between the two, and no internet, no blogs, and no mobile devices nor even computers for keeping track of match progress, just the old fashioned radio!!!! And there were no Friday night matches nor Sunday matches, they were all played on Saturday afternoon, so it was our Saturday afternoon ritual to have the radio tuned in to the match of choice, with all four matches covered by each of four radio stations. Anyway in the WAFL I was a Demon supporter, that is Perth Demons, they had just won a premiership the previous year and were on target to win another one this particular year. We were going great guns winning nearly every week. Mother however was a Swan Districts supporter, and they were at the opposite end of the spectrum, cellar dwellers, the easy-beats of the competition. Playing against Swan District means an almost certain win to whoever was fortunate enough to play them that week!! So when it came to Demons verses Swans everyone expected the Demons to walk all over them in a canter, all they had to do was just turn up and play kick to kick!!! We were so certain that the Demons would win that I didn't even bother switching the radio on. Mother was out somewhere and I was home. When mother came back and started giving me a hard time for Swans beating the Demons I thought she was having me on!!!! That was until I switched on the radio and indeed it was so. The bottom team Swans had beaten the top team Demons!!!! That was the upset of the century!!! And mother didn't let me live it down for the rest of the bloody season!!!!! So yes upsets DO occur, and bottom teams DO beat top teams on occasion. The Giants COULD beat the Bombers tomorrow although with 99.99% of all other tipsters I have tipped the Bombers!!
Tonight's match I am very nervous about. Magpies against the Saints. The Maggies have made at least 5 changes to their team, thats about a quarter of the team. So I am not so sure if the Maggies will win although virtually every tipsters have tipped them. It will be I think much closer than expected, and being a points variance match I once again nominated a low points margin. If not for being a Maggie fan I'd probably pick the Saints, but I am a Maggies fan and they do have a fair chance of winning so I'd feel bad if the Maggies did win and I didn't pick them. So really only for this reason I pick the Maggies!!
First match tomorrow, top team versus bottom, I have picked the Bombers but just keep in mind the story I shared above ;) hehe
Kangaroos and Port Power, a hard one to pick in spite of Port's current winning form. However they haven't had things all their way, and the Kangaroos are probably due for a win. The bookies actually have the Kangaroos at shorter odds. One factor being that the match is in the frosty isle of Tasmania. However I lean towards the Port in spite of all these factors.
Adelaide Crows at home to the Hawks. I think a closer match than some will give credit for, the Hawks doing enough in the final term to secure a win.
Geelong takes on Richmond who will be desperate for a win to atone for last week's controversy when the match was in my opinion stolen from them. However the Cats are a different kettle of fish to the Dockers and should be carrying the higher score when it matters - at the final siren.
Last but not least for the Saturday matches - Fremantle makes the trek to the land of the banana benders to take on the Suns. A toss of the coin here. Freo has some team members out of action, and the Suns are coming off their biggest win last week. If I manage a perfect tipping record up until then, this match will potentially spoil the party. But since I have to tip someone, well the Dockers with fingers and everything else crossed.....
More tomorrow night after the matches......
Tonight's match I am very nervous about. Magpies against the Saints. The Maggies have made at least 5 changes to their team, thats about a quarter of the team. So I am not so sure if the Maggies will win although virtually every tipsters have tipped them. It will be I think much closer than expected, and being a points variance match I once again nominated a low points margin. If not for being a Maggie fan I'd probably pick the Saints, but I am a Maggies fan and they do have a fair chance of winning so I'd feel bad if the Maggies did win and I didn't pick them. So really only for this reason I pick the Maggies!!
First match tomorrow, top team versus bottom, I have picked the Bombers but just keep in mind the story I shared above ;) hehe
Kangaroos and Port Power, a hard one to pick in spite of Port's current winning form. However they haven't had things all their way, and the Kangaroos are probably due for a win. The bookies actually have the Kangaroos at shorter odds. One factor being that the match is in the frosty isle of Tasmania. However I lean towards the Port in spite of all these factors.
Adelaide Crows at home to the Hawks. I think a closer match than some will give credit for, the Hawks doing enough in the final term to secure a win.
Geelong takes on Richmond who will be desperate for a win to atone for last week's controversy when the match was in my opinion stolen from them. However the Cats are a different kettle of fish to the Dockers and should be carrying the higher score when it matters - at the final siren.
Last but not least for the Saturday matches - Fremantle makes the trek to the land of the banana benders to take on the Suns. A toss of the coin here. Freo has some team members out of action, and the Suns are coming off their biggest win last week. If I manage a perfect tipping record up until then, this match will potentially spoil the party. But since I have to tip someone, well the Dockers with fingers and everything else crossed.....
More tomorrow night after the matches......
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