Was this the most dramatic day in the history of this planet? The Last Day of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black

 

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black:

I have always loved dinosaurs. Having watched brilliant videos such as Kurzgesagt in a Nutshell’s The Day the Dinosaurs Died really boosted my curiosity about the details of their extinction. 

This was the most dramatic day in the history of the Earth and Black helps explain why the asteroid was so deadly. It’s not like Earth hadn’t been hit by asteroids before.

So it was a great thrill to come across Riley Black’s account of their end. It’s a fun, informative book with enough detail to satisfy the general reader but they don’t make the mistake of going too deep into the science.

I particularly liked their approach to the details, starting at before impact and moving outwards, through the first hour, the first day and the first year after impact to finish at one hundred thousand years after the impact. The power of this collision is damn near incomprehensible and one can't help but imagine what would be left of us were a similar event to happen today. Spoiler alert: not much!

If you enjoy reading popular science books and the end of the dinosaurs attracts you, this is well worth a read. You can pick it up from your favourite online bookstore or ebook provider. *

* I don't currently intend to link books that I write about. If I start getting a few readers I might but for now we'll keep it clean :) 

Is it better to make a grand final and lose it, or just not make it at all?

As a Dragons fan, I'm experienced with fine seasons ending in crushing failure. I've had the dubious privilege of watching us lose the 1985, 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1999 grand finals. I saw all but the 92 defeat in person. This was when I really cared about rugby league to boot!

I also saw us lose the 1984 preliminary final, where we lost to a last minute try after Kevin Roberts gave Parramatta 2 dodgy penalties. In truth, this was more devastating than all the grand final defeats except 99. 85 was horrible but wasn't as raw as 84 was. 85 just made 84 worse as we had Steve Rogers then and might have handled Canterbury better than we ultimately did.

I have great memories of every grand final qualifier that we won and then subsequently lost the grand final. They're all among the highlights of my many years of going to the footy and being a committed supporter. Sure it would have been nice to pick up a premiership when my passion was higher (I would have slept just fine had the Chooks roasted us in 2010) but I got a lot of great moments out of those runner up seasons.

Making a grand final is a great achievement and it's exciting! You could win the premiership! Even when I knew we had fuck all chance of winning I was excited we were there. I was really nervous prior to 85, I just had this feeling we weren't going to play well. I felt pretty good in 99. We had the better team, after all. I kept right on feeling good until early in the 2nd half when it was obvious that we had come out badly. That was one of the worst in-game experiences ever because the whole half was a fucking train wreck. In 1985 we knew that the 6-0 halftime lead was probably going to be enough as Canterbury were dominating and had near flawless defence.

 We weren't favourites the other 3 times so I was more relaxed. I had some hope going into 93 because we had been playing so well and we were such a disciplined unit but I was always a bit concerned about the gulf in class. We copped some injuries on the day which didn't help but the opposition were definitely our biggest problem. 

For me, as bad as those losses were, they're still a memorable experience, which is part of the point of following a sports team. The semi final wins you get in the lead up also create great memories. You can't win it if you're not there! 

The last 12 seasons, where St George Illawarra have rarely threatened to make the semis, and haven't come within cooee of the top 4 by and large, have been a crashing bore as a supporter. Granted, I'm nowhere near the committed obsessive I once was, but surely even for the nutcases there's been very little to remember. I still watch and get into State of Origin and the semi-finals, so I haven't lost complete interest in the game and could certainly make more memories should the Dragons ever deign to be a competitive unit that challenges for premierships again.

What about you? Would you prefer to see your favourite sports team being a regular challenger for titles, even if they lose a fair bit? Or would you prefer to avoid the pain of defeat and just poke their heads up every so often to win a title and slump back into painless mediocrity? 

Roger Federer wins the 2017 Australian Open! A Retrospective.

The 2017 Australian Open was a memorable one for many reasons, Mirjana Lucic not only winning her first match at the Australian Open for 19 years, but then going to make the semi finals! 36 year old Venus Williams, battling an auto immune disease, made the final and matched up once again with her sister Serena, who *only* won her 23rd Slam and set a new record! Dennis Istomin and Mischa Zverev, after long, injury riddled, careers purely as journeymen, cut loose and took out Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray respectively. 

Rafael Nadal, after battling injuries in recent years and rarely being a threat in big tournaments, fighting his way through to the final. Any of these storylines would have provided excitement and magic in a Grand Slam. 

This Australian Open had all of the above only for those stories to be toppled by Roger Federer, who triumphed after a 6 month layoff due to injury by beating his nemesis Rafael Nadal in an instant classic!

Roger Federer has, over the years,  with the possible exception of Pat Rafter, become my favourite tennis player of all time. He's exceptionally exciting to watch, charismatic, well mannered and respectful of the game's history and traditions. It's been a great ride, barracking for the upperdog has been a rare experience for me in following individual sports and it's definitely has its pluses. I can count on regular victories, fine performances and not too many heartbreaks. Certainly it's been a lot more rewarding following Roger Federer than watching Greg Norman contend in over 20 majors whilst winning 2 and blowing more opportunities than I care to remember.

After winning Wimbledon in 2012, Roger followed up with a weak 2013 that seemingly signified the beginning of the end of his time at the top. Roger had other ideas, explaining that a sore back had hindered his play and hiring Stefan Edberg to implement a makeover on his game. Stefan persuaded Roger to change to a larger racquet and convinced him that net rushing remained a viable approach given the strength of Roger's attacking game.

The results were impressive, with an inaugural Davis Cup victory in 2014, along with some impressive Slam performances capped by 3 finals across 2014-15, all of them against Novak Djokovic, with the closest being the 2014 Wimbledon final where he held break point late in the 5th set. 2016, however, saw Roger injure his knee bathing his daughters in Melbourne and he never fully recovered, eventually shutting down his season after Wimbledon in order to get fully fit for 2017.

So, suitably regenerated,  he arrived here and as the #17 seed, was no longer protected by the high ranking he usually enjoyed as an elite player. His draw meant Thomas Berdych in the 3rd round, Kei Nishikori in the 4th, Andy Murray in the quarters, Stan Wawrinka in the semis and Novak Djokovic in the final! Not surprisingly, I didn't harbour any illusions about this fortnight, not bothering to watch his opening two rounds against qualifiers.

However, being a Federer fan meant turning up for his meeting with Berdych. I'm not sure what I was expecting but what I got was three sublime sets of tennis as Federer took Berdych apart in the best performance I had seen from him since he worked a similar spell on Andy Murray in their 2015 Wimbledon semi final. Berdych played quite well, not that it mattered. It crossed my mind that if he kept playing like this he might go deeper than I had anticipated as I didn't see anyway Nishikori could beat him on that form.

Two days later Nishikori played well and while Federer didn't play as well as he had against Berdych he had enough quality of play along with sufficient energy in the tank to take him out over five entertaining sets and advance to his inevitable quarter final meeting with Andy Murray. Only it wasn't inevitable and it wasn't Murray because the barely known journeyman Mischa Zverev had put together a serve volleying clinic par excellence to remove Murray from the equation and put him on a plane home!

I was starting to get excited here because I knew that Zverev's serve-volley game, as well as he was playing, matched up perfectly to Roger's versatility and shotmaking wizardry and that he would, in all likelihood, have a stress free path to the semi finals. And so it proved. I was also noting, with a certain sense of foreboding, the magnificent performance of his old rival Rafael Nadal in dispatching Alexander Zverev,  the younger and higher ranked brother of giant killer Mischa over five torrid sets.

So, the semi finals it was to be. There was a time when Stan Wawrinka was an opponent that a Federer fan looked forward to. There would be some great rallies, the odd wonderful backhand from Stan and absolutely no chance that Roger would lose. But while the head to head still strongly favoured Federer, Stan had creamed him in their last Slam meeting in the 2014 French Open while subsequently demonstrating his considerable skills on faster hard courts by winning the US Open last year with some wonderfully tough tennis. Any man who can take the best of Novak Djokovic and emerge triumphant is a man to be feared. The Stanimal would not be going gently into that dark night or any other.

This was another ripper of a match. Federer won a tight first set, looked good in the 2nd, Stan appeared hurt and responded in the way we've come to expect from him in recent years, hitting harder and stronger and capturing the next two sets. Federer had to dig deep and play some great tennis to bludgeon the match from Stan's grasp and advance to the Australian Open final! At this point I was more pumped than freshly made car tyres.

There was just one little thing taking the air out of those Roger powered sails. 24 hours later, the Roger slayer set about the entree to his main course by taking on Gregor Dimitrov. Gregor's known as being a  slightly inferior Roger clone, possessing a big serve, strong forehand and athletic movement to go with an elegant one handed backhand. He doesn't have the imagination and versatility of Roger but he's a strong player and he absolutely gave it to Rafa on this night! For the best part of 5 hours he hammered away at Nadal, pumping backhands up the line, nailing strong serves and blasting big forehands behind them. Ultimately one of the best performances of Gregor's career was not enough to slay this warrior with Rafa's ability to open up the court with his wicked swinging serve into the backhand being a key factor in his victory. I really wanted Dimitrov to win, not because he couldn't beat Roger but because I was in mortal fear of Rafa and his ability to control the game and win the big points.

So, with hope in my heart but doubt in my brain, I awaited the final of the 2017 Australian Open, the renewal of the greatest rivalry in the modern game at the highest level there is. The major problems for Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal over the years have been the damage that Rafa has done to his backhand, repeatedly forcing defensive shots which allowed Rafa to stay in the rally until he got the chance to counterpunch combined with Roger's awful record on break points against Nadal, both when trying to break serve and hold serve. In most of their matches the points tally was close and the sets lost were usually closely fought but the big points kept going to Nadal.

So I was in for a surprise when early on in the final, Roger Federer took hold of some backhands and absolutely cracked them back over the net, both cross court and down the line. The hope had been that Roger might be able to get to net regularly and assert himself up there but Nadal's depth rendered that a rare option. This was a duel that had to be won from the baseline. Empowered by his stinging backhand, Roger was able to get a break and serve out the first set! Hope was kindled.

The 2nd set quickly dashed those as Rafa grabbed the early break and carried it through. One set all. Given their history, my expectation was for Nadal to carry on and take the match. It certainly wasn't for Roger to spend half an hour treating Rafa like Dimitrov and absolutely smashing him six games to one in the third set! Once again, the backhand was stinging Nadal, getting Roger on top in the rallies and giving him the opportunity to strike winners. Two sets to one, all of a sudden, this was one very serious tennis match. Just one set. One set. One fucking set and I don't care about Roger Federer's future tennis success.

It wasn't to be the fourth set, however. As per the 2nd set, Roger's serve went down early and Nadal, playing with his usual dynamic brand of awe-inspiring skill and relentless intensity, was able to draw level and send this most unexpected of finals to a deciding set.

I hadn't experienced tension to this level in a tennis match since Pat Rafter went deep into the 5th set against Goran Ivanisevic in the 2001 Wimbledon final! Roger's first serve went missing in the opening game of the decider and Rafa broke for 1-0. Given Roger's inability to break back earlier, I wasn't feeling good. Fierce games for 2-0 and 3-1 didn't raise my optimism any. Roger was playing the better tennis, at 3-2 in favour of Nadal the winner count for the set was 14-6 in Roger's favour! But he wasn't winning the critical points, like always when playing Nadal. Someone wake me when the story changes.

In the sixth game, Roger created some more chances, which Nadal negated, only to miss some forehands and give the break back! The story had changed. WAKE UP! OMFG, it's 3-3 in the 5th! Which, 60 seconds and 4 dominating points later, was 4-3 Federer! Promptly followed by two more strong points and a double fault and all of a sudden, Roger Federer had triple break point to get a chance to serve for the title!!!  Nevertheless, A screaming crowd, an opponent on a roll and enormous pressure are not enough to cause Rafael Nadal to crumble, if you plan on winning a match against him, you are going to have it to bludgeon it off him. Three near perfect points later, it was deuce.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, at this point we must interrupt the dramatic re-telling of one of the all time great Grand Slam finals to bring you THE RALLY where Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played out the match in microcosm. Twenty six full blooded strokes of the highest pace, placement and power followed, with both men gaining the ascendancy and having it taken from them by their opponent's ability to to respond to great shots sent their way under pressure by shooting back a better one. Finally, stretched out on the forehand by a classic Nadal two-hander, Roger reached wide and drilled it down the line, over the high part of the net, for a blazing winner to bring up another break point.

Interestingly, Nadal sent just 2 shots to the Federer backhand in the duel, one of which ended up being crushed crosscourt and nearly finished the rally right there and then. Nadal was clearly unwilling to go all out against the Federer backhand, a virtually unprecedented occurrence on a big point between the two players. It is a measure of Nadal's mental strength, that despite losing a pivotal point like this, despite being challenged by his opponent's unexpectedly lethal backhand, he still saved the break point with a thunderous serve down the middle to the forehand.

So Roger needed to being up break point again, and with a series of ripping backhands opening up the court for another big forehand to force the error he did precisely that. Facing another pivotal break point Rafa  sensibly decided it was time to go back to his best serve,  firing a big serve wide to the Federer backhand. Roger ripped it crosscourt and Nadal had no chance of getting the return back into play! 5-3!!

If I ever imagined this moment, I would have anticipated that I would be screaming and yelling, reaching a level of ultimate excitement. And I did yell a "Come on!" but then I paused, surprised by the blurred vision I was experiencing. Clearly, I must have left an onion lying around the television somewhere. Perhaps Roger paused on the verge of the summit as well, for his service game started badly and he quickly found himself facing two break back points. Nobody beats Rafael Nadal without a fight. Ace succeeded by massive and brave inside-out forehand to level up was followed by another devastating first serve and it was match point. Which, naturally, was saved, despite a successful overrule to a double fault call. 

Another ace set up a 2nd match point! This time, a beautifully placed swinging serve down the middle drew a short reply which was despatched by a forehand whipped onto the line and, after a delay for a challenge, it was over! Roger Federer, the 18 time Grand Slam champion, was now the Australian Open champion after defeating his ultimate nemesis, Rafael Nadal!!!!!

I was completely stoked and remain so, writing this piece four days later. I just wasn't expecting it at all, I hadn't totally given up on another Federer Slam win due to his excellent play over the last 3 years but to get it here after 6 months off, with a torrid draw topped by facing Nadal in the final?? I never contemplated such a scenario!

All Hail Roger Federer! I never thought he could win a Slam in a manner that would top the 2009 French Open. But he just did!

* I wrote this in 2017 but, for some reason never posted it. I came back to it recently and realised that it is a good piece of writing with lots of energy and it thoroughly deserves to be published. So, to celebrate the current Australian Open and Roger's retirement, I have published it now. 

Reviving a Passion - The Went Report and its Beginnings

 

Reviving a Passion – The Went Report.

As a primary school student one of my obsessions was to be the first child to finish the work. I still recall the exasperated look on my teacher’s faces when they saw me coming out to show them my work, well before they were expecting someone to finish! Part of this was because I’d been told when I was younger that I was a slow worker and I was still burned about it. The other part of it, though, was that these were days when the concept of free time for children in school was not a laughable one. Being a reader, if my classroom had a decent class library, which some of them actually did – another rare event nowadays – I would read, but in Year 5 I cottoned onto a different activity.

I would ask the redoubtable Mr Wilson for a piece of art paper, skip back to my desk and create a mini newspaper sharing my thoughts about the most important thing in the world – rugby league! I was completely obsessed about the sport then, reading all the stories in the papers every day, harassing my brother David savagely if he failed to bring home Rugby league Week on a Thursday night, David got paid on Thursdays and being a young man who enjoyed a smoke and a drink he often had other plans but even drunk he learnt it just wasn’t worth not having it with him when he got in the door.

So, I would pour out my views about Rugby league and other assorted topics onto the page. But I needed a title for my work – even today, I feel the need to title things that I write. The editor of Rugby league Week was Geoff Prenter and he wrote a column every week called “The Prenter Report.” What better thing to imitate than the elite column in the most important magazine in the world? Voila, The Went Report was born!

So, I would fill the piece of art paper with my scribblings and when I was finished I would proudly take it back to Mr Wilson to show him. Being a league fan and a keen supporter of the Wests Magpies, he may well have enjoyed it but even if he didn’t, he was an experienced enough teacher to make it look like he did!

I assumed he showed it to the class on one occasion although it’s certainly not out of the question that, buoyed by the positive feedback he gave me and my seriously inflated sense of my own worth, that I took the opportunity to show it off to all of Year 5 boys. Sorry girls but at that stage of my life the opinions of the girls was absolutely inconsequential to me!

In response to my capture of writing glory, my future friend Andrew decided he needed to muscle in on the action and one day he created his own mini- newspaper! And the other boys flocked to read it! Scandalous behaviour. I was completely cut. Being an unrepentant know it all and completely unafraid to point out the lack of knowledge of other people about anything I happened to know and a few things that I didn’t, I wasn’t exactly the most popular boy in town.

However, after his successful raid, Andrew lost interest and I continued happily making my own Went Reports for the remainder of the year.

The Went Report went into hibernation until 1985, when my beloved St George Dragons embarked upon what would ultimately fall 2 points short of being the perfect season as they nearly triumphed in all 3 grades, a big deal to rugby league obsessives at the time. Unfortunately, those 2 points happened to be in the grand final against the evil enemy, the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, the local team for Picnic Point High School and thus followed by a majority of the kids! The fact we hadn’t lost to them all year didn’t exactly soothe this mortal blow to my ego!

Nevertheless, the thrill of having a successful sporting team to follow fired up my creative urges. My brother David would take Geoffrey and I to most of the games that year, with my oldest brother Peter normally in attendance as well. Sometimes, my father would come but fortunately not too often. He and I weren’t close and his attendance increased the odds of the adults drinking, which added unnecessary stress to the whole event for this budding teetotaller.

Attending all 3 grades was par for the course for us so writing reports about all 3 grades was a logical next step. That became page 1 of the Dragon Weekly, a magazine I created about St George. Page 2 was the Went Report, containing all my views about the team and the game, followed by pictures cut out from the papers, Rugby League week and Big League, carefully captioned by yours truly. I was such an obsessive in 1985 that I would write the new competition table every Sunday night, including for and against and put the page in my wallet! I had been planning an epic edition had St George won the grand final, but the disappointment was such that all I could manage was a game report and a Went Report column.

Interestingly, it was rare for me to show The Dragon Weekly to anyone. My brothers saw the occasional edition, but more in passing rather than me showing it to them. This was to become a theme in my writing. I wrote other magazines about varying topics during high school, but I didn’t show them to people either. Consequently, it never occurred to me or anyone around me that I might have had some potential for journalism.

I get great pleasure out of creating something that did not exist before I made it. I can’t draw, I can’t sew, I can’t make things, I can’t fix things, I can’t sculpt or paint. But I can write. I do it often enough, I just haven’t had the courage to share or the determination to commit to writing regularly for an audience. Reflecting on this past history, I wonder too how much I’ve wanted to have an audience. Still, I always have an audience in mind when I write. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be so meticulous with my word choices and in drafting, re-drafting, then carefully re-reading and editing.

Do I want to make money from writing?

No, not especially. I have a job. I even like it.

How big an audience would I like for my writing?

I wouldn’t complain if something went viral but I won’t consider my writing to be a failure if nothing I wrote ever did. Some regular readers would be excellent.

What will I write about? The short answer: Whatever I fucking want to.

The long answer: Whatever interests me so my family, politics and current affairs, education, history, sport, books, movies and TV shows are all likely to appear should I hook into writing regular blog posts. There’s no shortage of topics.

I would love to write over 100 blog pieces in one year. That would show that I was taking it seriously. But if I managed something every week that would be a vast improvement upon previous efforts!

I tell Cassie that she needs to be creative in her life. The same is true for me and writing has always been how I express creativity.

I just want to write regularly, have a record of what I wrote and to know that some of what I write is reaching an audience.

I want to write with intensity and passion. I want my love for life and my enjoyment of my interests to come through in my writings. I want to be brave when I write. Writing for the public is not for cowards. Cowardly writing is weak, dull and boring. It’s easy enough to be boring without virtually guaranteeing it through a reluctance to be honest. Readers deserve better. As a writer, you’re asking people to devote their time, which they can literally give to thousands of other options at that moment, to you. The least you can do is come to the keyboard with intensity!

 

Reviving a passion

The first hints that I had that writing was more to me than something I did to get good grades at school when I saw how much joy I gained from writing long love letters to Kathryn, my first girlfriend. In late1988, with Year 12 having ended, along with that relationship which I had allowed to flicker out, I spent many hours writing in my diary. It was a long piece about how I was and who I wanted to be. It's a piece of surprising maturity, I knew even then that a wife and family was going to be very important to me and that the type of person that I would share my life with mattered far more than her looks or accomplishments. I look back on it and realise I did not fail myself on that front, once I finally developed the nerve to play the game instead of spectate. My 18 year old self would have been very pleased to know that he would one day have a wife like Kristy and a daughter like Cassie.

What I remember most, though, is how I felt while I was writing it. It was empowering, I was burning with excitement and power, it was a creative flame erupting inside me. The joy of the moment was such that I found myself diverging from my thoughts to record that "I am writing brilliantly at the moment." A quarter century on, I look back at that night and realise just how truthful I was being. I *was* brilliant. Writing was seducing me that night, inviting me to be her lover, to seek her rewards, to take a journey with her. Writing was showing me what was possible and asking me to give myself over to her. She was asking me to commit to her with my heart and soul.

But we know about young men and commitment. Writing, like any true lover, expects much of you in return for stoking that flame inside you. She has her expectations. And her tests. I took the road more travelled by. I refused the temptation. I read obsessively but wrote only sporadically. The fire of that night faded to embers, periodically stoked by an email or a travelogue or a journal post, powerfully written but just a monologue. 

I failed the test. Writing has been a path that I refused to take even though it beckoned to me. I denied who I was and I have kept right on denying it. Not the first time in my life that happened! I would not accept who I was. I wouldn't accept that failure was part of the equation, that one could give everything to a passion and come up with very little to show for it. I never realised that it is the journey that matters, not the destination.

And so here I am, making restitution to my younger self at the keyboard. Can one resurrect a failed love affair? Is it too late to become the person you always wanted to be? 

Who am I now? I am a husband. I am a father. I am an educator. I am a learner. I am a reader. I am a chess player. I am a man trying to live a life that's closer to his dreams.

Along with those things, I am a writer. It's been a terribly private journey, with so much of my writing aimed at an audience of one. That is the thing I seek to change about my writing. I shall continue to write and I shall seek an audience for my writings. I have so much that I want to say and I am going to say it. There are stories I want to tell, there are ideas I want to explore, there are passions and beliefs I want to share. I want to think of this piece when my life ebbs away and know that I didn't pass up the opportunity a second time, that I took the time to pursue my lone creative passion!

I hope you will join me on this path and that my passion for writing will liven up your day from time to time. 

The unread books.

This post has quite the history. I commenced drafting it a year ago and it had quite a different tone from the final version. The post started with this paragraph, "www.goodreads.com have a yearly reading challenge where you set yourself a certain number of books and try to read that many over the course of a year. I don't find that particularly interesting as I read because I want to and don't need to set a goal to make myself read, any more than I need to set goals to breathe."

This arrogant and inaccurate paragraph was composed while I was clearly in denial about the radical shift in my reading habits. Yes, I still read with a voracious appetite, but firstly the Internet and secondly and more powerfully, the smartphone and tablet have combined to revolutionise my reading habits while I wasn't even noticing. I read copious numbers of short articles and longer articles and that time has been filched from my book reading allocation. It's January 28 and I've only completed 3 books in my Year of Books series. For me, 3 is not a satisfactory total and indicates that more time needs to set aside for book reading.

The primary purpose of this post is to list the books that I've had for a long time and failed to read for whatever reason but still want to read. Recent purchases do not count, most of these books have been on the reading list for a decade or more. as of the 28th January 2017, this is

The Unread Books List: 


Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I read the start of this and liked it but I didn't finish it, I think the pacing was an issue.

The Wizard Knight Gene Wolfe is a great writer, but his works are usually fairly demanding and the first 100 pages of this was no exception!

 Watchmen I have no idea why I haven't read this yet! I've read other great comics.

Master and Commander I wanted to find out if I would be interested in the whole series - I enjoyed the film! Again, it has been tried but not finished. If the next attempt fails, the book will be culled.

The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm: Winston Churchill is my all time favourite biographical subject and William Manchester wrote two compellingly readable volumes in an intended trilogy. Unfortunately old age got the better of him and he was struck down by a stroke which caused permanent damage to his memory, rendering him unfit to finish the book. He chose Paul Reid to finish the trilogy, which has been well reviewed, but I haven't yet started his contribution.

Pillar of Fire and At Canaan's Edge by Taylor Branch; Parting the Waters was a magisterial account of the civil rights movement and given it's one of my favourite all time books, it does the beg the question of why I haven't read the sequels. A question which I must confess that I have no reasonable answer to.

War and Peace and Anna Karenina by the incomparable Leo Tolstoy. I've read some of Tolstoy's short stories, loved them but his two masterpieces read I have not.

Charles Dickens is another great author whose works I've read comparatively little of. I'm adding David Copperfield to the list as I own the book, but I could add most of his novels.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Another unread classic.

The Red Badge of Courage by Steven Crane and Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman can safely be added to the unread classics list.

For some additional history books there's Norman Davies' Europe: A History. Simon Schama's Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution  can't be ignored and Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy, A history of The Russian Revolution is a critically acclaimed account of that dramatic period.

How about some biography with David McCullough's magisterial Truman or the concluding volumes of Edmund Morris's magnum opus about the most important President of the twentieth century, Theodore Roosevelt,  Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt?

Looking for some modern classics? Try Tim Winton's cloudstreet, Commac Mcarthy's The Road or Garbriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

There are some shared characteristics among the books listed here. They're nearly all long and they're generally densely written. They require some effort to read. I found making that effort easier in the pre-Internet age. Also, there were fewer entertainment options for me, there's only so long I can watch television before I get bored, that's not the case when surfing the Internet.

I don't anticipate that A Year of Books will be overrun by these titles but I aim to take four of them off the list this year, that's one every three months. That's an achievable target!

The wisdom of ages.

One of the areas that I have found most difficult over my life has been making a consistent effort at fulfilling whatever my goals at a particular period may be. I have been good for a spurt of effort, particularly at deadlines, but prone to dropping off tasks if they become too challenging or require too much work over a consistent period of time to be achieved.

This trait has caused me problems both personally and professionally as I regularly find myself behind whatever timetable I need to be following. This can be highly stressful and where possible, my favourite response to stress is to eliminate it!

During November last year it occurred to me that the fact my tutoring numbers hadn't reached the level I want was reflecting problems that were going to need more than just a few days work to rectify. I analysed how my business was meeting the expectations that I have of a tutoring business, its organisation, structure, administration, presentation and the overall quality of the service that I was providing.

While there were many good things about that service, it was obvious that the answer to the question "Are you doing the best you can do with this business?" was no. Tutoring's a competitive business and that answer reflected an approach where the pursuit of excellence hadn't been the number one priority. I had developed a business that was, in practice, aiming to be 'good enough'. Unfortunately, good enough isn't always good enough.

My characteristic response was to create a list detailing the tasks that needed to be completed in order to raise my business to a standard that I could be proud of.  I am a past master of creating detailed, well structured lists of tasks that need to be done so that I can achieve a series of personal goals. The lists just don't get completed. With around 50 items, most of them outlining lengthy tasks, this list was particularly long and seemed no more likely to be achieved than any of its predecessors.

Nevertheless, it was completed and I commenced work. While I hadn't formalised an order of priority in formulating the list, there was definitely one in my head. As per usual, the first few days were good, making a well structured list is empowering and generates a burst of enthusiasm in the same way the New Year gets us off to a strong start in terms of fulfilling personal goals.

Historically, a good day for me has been the precursor for a disaster as I get satisfied with myself, think that I'm doing well so I relax, do nothing productive the next day and drift back to the spiral of time wasting, feeling guilty about time wasting, doing less and less because of that guilt and eventually giving up on the project. This time I have been reviewing each night what I have achieved that day, asking myself what I seek to achieve the following day. If I'm stuck for inspiration, I look at the list, which gets added to as relevant items occur to me. It's approaching 70 items now.

Initially, I had to be very tough on myself, guarding against the idea that I was getting somewhere significant and constantly re-iterating that my performances today were what mattered, not yesterday and not tomorrow. I can live quite happily in visions of a future that will never be achieved!

As this has gone on I've noticed those thoughts coming readily to my head, and the process of reviewing the day's achievements and mentally planning for tomorrow occurring naturally, instead of needing to be forced. Similarly, I'm finding that leisure breaks are becoming just that, that there's an actual desire to get back to the main game. This is virtually unprecedented for me. Today I told Kristy I wouldn't be doing much today but I actually am because I have habituated the process.

THE list is by no means completed and I anticipate that there it will take me months to tick off the items currently on it but many items have been completed and completed to a standard that I am proud of.

What's struck me most about the change is that I am internalising the wisdom of Will Durant, summarising the approaches of Aristotle;

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." 

The wisdom of ages.

Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes

This moving and powerful memoir hits home hard. Jimmy Barnes tells the story of James Swan, the son of Scottish parents from Glasgow who emigrated to Adelaide under the ten pound Pom provisions. James Swan's future as a rock star is irrelevant to this story, whose power relies on the drama and tragedy that the boy experienced.

James Swan did it tough, my own family didn't mind a certain amount of dysfunctional behaviour, often fuelled by alcohol, but compared to the liquor-soaked Swan family and their equally alcohol fuelled community, we were the Brady Bunch. Jimmy Barnes tells this stark story with simplicity and grace, not trying to make excuses yet still showing love for his family and understanding of their experiences.

The first volume of two, I look forward to seeing how Jimmy's legacy impacted his career as a rock star and how he learned to overcome his inheritance and become a better man but I cannot imagine the sequel being able to match this raw, beautifully told story of his childhood.

The world without us by Alan Weisman

My first completed book of the year was a re-read of the great thought experiment by Alan Weisman, The World Without Us. The premise is simple, what would happen if humans all died today, in a way that did not involve any collateral damage to the Earth?

Weisman researched deeply and consulted many experts in engineering, biology, nuclear power and other fields to present a picture of what would come next. Fascinating and a brilliant head fake in the Randy Pausch tradition. Weisman's detailed account of a future without people serves to illuminate the impact we are having upon the planet right now as many of the consequences he outlines are consequences that we will have to face up to going forward. It's a book that supports conservation whilst barely mentioning the word.

Clear, concise, elegant, relatively short. A magnificent book and one of my favourite non fiction reads over the last decade.

A Year of books

I inhale words, there's not been a night of my adult life where I haven't read something before going to bed. Once, books held sole place in my nightly Festival of Reading. Those days are long gone, my trusty tablet has intruded into my bedroom and seized control of the reading agenda, just as the Internet bulldozed its way into my daily Reading Festivals and slashed the number of books I read over time. I still read books and by most people's standards, I read a lot of books. For the owner of a rather extensive library, however,  the number has dropped below acceptable levels and my ability to read for long periods of time without stopping has also diminished. Far worse than not being the man I used to be, I'm not the reader I used to be!

It's time, indeed it's beyond time to fight back. I am challenging myself to read more books. I don't know what my baseline is any more, so this year I will set a baseline by recording each book that I read and writing a short review about it.The world, after all, needs to know what my opinions about the things that I read are. Granted, the world isn't aware of this need, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

The ground rules: A book that has been read for the first time or substantially re-read shall be counted and reviewed. Reviews will be short. Picture books do not have to be counted but longer books that I read to Cassie do count. Reviews shall be posted here and on goodreads. This post will be updated periodically with the list of books read and links to the varying reviews.

The use of cliches and other writing shortcuts is permitted.

Went's Wonderful Web - Stumble Upon

One of the great blessings of the Internet is the sheer size and variety of great content that is out there.  This is also one of the problems, how do you find the great content, that you would be interested in, that you know is out there, waiting for you to visit it?

Stumble Upon is a website that aims to help solve this problem. You visit their homepage and you can log in using your Facebook profile or create a new profile specifically for Stumble Upon. After you've signed up, you'll be asked to add interests. You *MUST* do this if you want to get any benefit from the site. There are a lot of interests to choose from, so you might need half an hour or so to go through them all, but the process is worth the time.

Once you've added your interests, you're all set, you can return to the homepage and you'll find a collection of sites that you can go visit, personally tailored to your interests. You can also download an add-on for your browser, which was my preference. Whenever I'm bored online, I click the Stumble button in my browser and a new page will be presented to me. I have found many of my favourite sites using this button, if I particularly like/dislike a page, I can click a button to approve/disapprove of it. I don't do that particularly often, but your mileage may vary. If no one else has recommended the site, you get asked to fill out a little form describing the site - takes less than a minute if you choose to do it.

There are also apps for your phone but I prefer using the web browser as the sites look better. You have to be logged in to use the site so your stumbles are being recorded, they keep them on file in your history which you can check out on the main page. So if you're looking for perfect privacy online, this application isn't for you.

I've used StumbleUpon for years now and remain very pleased with it, it's found so many sites for me that were worth seeing and it's only a few seconds of my time if the site isn't worth seeing :). As the sites that you visit are tailored to your interests, a lot of them are going to appeal.

So, what are you waiting for? Give it a try! 

This post was originally made in May 2014, it got targeted by some stupid bots and got thousands of 'hits'. That actually annoys me because I prefer my stats to be relatively accurate, so I've delted the original post and am re-publishing it here. 

An update

Again, I'm not publicising this post, it's just a record for me and for those who are interested enough to click on it if they came here for something else.

I'm reasonably happy with my progress so far this year. I slashed the sugar intake once I got back from Canberra. I haven't gone quite as brutal as last time given that I do like the poisonous shit, but the reduction is significant. No chocolate or lollies or ice cream or biscuits at all so far, a handful of Cokes usually consumed at social events and 2 litres of orange juice purchased for home. Occasional drinking of cordial and ate about 4 Zooper Doopers in total.

I do intend to have sugar occasionally, but very much as a party food, eg, I will eat cake at dinners, and I will eat crap at morning teas at schools. I will have an Easter rabbit at Easter, but 1, not the usual half dozen! I have honey and jam at home and will use them sometimes.

I don't weigh myself much so I don't know if I've lost any weight, but there's been some small improvements in my back, which stiffens up and gets very sore after brief periods of walking and even when standing. The last few days it's lasted longer before bitching and hasn't bitched quite as hard. So that's a good sign. As the pain doesn't occur immediately, it's very likely caused by too much pressure applied by the weight. If I lose enough weight, it will probably disappear except for stiffness due to age.

I've done quite a bit to tidy and organise the house but that's very much a work in progress, the back room, the verandah, the shed and the back yard all require significant work. I've been devoting a lot of time to tutoring, improving the website, the advertising and the organisation of my resources. There's been considerable progress on that front and I'm just about ready to resume full advertising. There's still plenty to do regarding the organisation of my resources, but I'm not displeased with how it's going.

I've started regular posts on my Facebook group for my tutoring and I have hopes that it will eventually reach a relatively wide audience - something in the hundreds would be great. About 20 viewers so far but I've only just started. It will pick up more as we go along.

I've made no progress re improving my own Maths skills, the other tasks have been crowding it out and will continue to do so for at least another month is my expectation. Once the advertising and the resources for Tutoring are up to standard the amount of time I need to devote to those things will drop substantially, opening up time for regular Maths work. 

I'm not getting a lot of casual work, I will make some further efforts to get some as I'm hoping for 60-80 days this year and I've only had 2 to date. I'm finished with full time teaching, I'd seek work outside of education altogether rather than do that again.

I'm doing some exercise, not enough, but it is moving up the priority list and reducing weight will make exercise easier to do. Walking has been hurting too much so losing enough weight to repair the back is crucial. That would also let me play tennis again. 

I want to write more, including finishing my series of sports nostalgia posts here. I think that's a couple of months off, but once the Tutoring organisation campaign is finished, there will be time for that as well. I don't entertain any great ambitions to become a major author, but I'd like to be able to call myself a writer knowing that I am doing enough of it to justify the claim.

I don't have a shortage of things that I would like to write, so it's a matter of finding the time to fit it into the regular routines of my life.

Nothing especially dramatic to report here, but it's another post made and I like the idea of making it semi-public, adds a little spice to the activity, rather than just journalling it for myself. 

2016 Progress report

The goals I listed privately but I will make some reports publically, although this one will be a silent post and will not be mentioned elsewhere.

Health: Not much to speak of here. The new attempt on no sugar will commence upon return from Canberra.

Tutoring: There's so many jobs for the holidays I'm not sure I'll finish them. But I am 2-0 in terms of productive days and this is a good start.

Family Time: Good, read stories and played games with Cassie today. Spent some time with Kristy also once she returned from work.

Blog: Well, this is a post :)

Maths: Tutoring is currently outfighting it but that can't be allowed to continue indefinitely.

Reading: I've been reading Star Wars: force Awakens so far on my tablet. Other than that, not a lot of reading. Not a good start actually. 

Triumph of Justice by Daniel Petrocelli, a book review.

Triumph of Justice is a surprisingly readable account of O J Simpson's civil trial. Written by the lead counsel Daniel Petrocelli, the book details the development and prosecution of the civil case against Simpson. 

The evidence against Simpson was overwhelming and Petrocelli details how civil proceeedings work, how Simpson's depositions were used in order to impeach him in court and thus lead to his losing the civil case. 

Enjoyable, easy to read, and left no doubt in this particular mind regarding Simpson's guilt. It's not like there ever was much doubt in the first place! 

** I sometimes make reviews of books on goodreads, the reviews will invariably be pithy and offer little detail or rigorous analysis. I am re-posting them here so I have my own records of what I have reviewed and I may add some commentary here that doesn't fit the review.

My most memorable sporting experiences

Watching sport has played a huge role in my life. I was introduced to it as a boy, and it became one of my passions as a man. Over that period I've been lucky enough to have shared in many a great sporting experience and I enjoy reminiscing about them. I propose to write articles about my most memorable experiences and post them here. My sports viewing has been mainstream and most of my standout experiences are even more so. That's because, in the main,  they were shared experiences. My family and my friends will consistently have a high place in these remembrances.

I want to write down these memories to help keep them fresh as they recede further into the past. I'd like my daughter Cassie to be able to read them one day and to get a sense of the some of the passions that animated her father's leisure time. I hope they will cast some light for her about my family and friends as well, so that she knows them better. 

Some ground rules: The events had to stand out in some way in my memory, I have seen so many sporting events that I could write about hundreds of individual events. The primary focus is my experience of the event, how I followed the event, the people I followed it with, how it impacted me. There's no pretense at objectivity here. These are subjective experiences. While there are more wins than losses here, in many cases the losses stood out more and are thus recognised. I will conduct some research for the individual pieces. This may involve little more than a brief Google search, or it may involve finding video clips or newspaper articles and talking to some of the people that I experienced the event with. That will vary from time to time.

The experiences are organised chronologically in general, but in some cases multiple events spanning many years will be included in one or 2 pieces. It seems foolish to write a series of vignettes about every memory of Greg Norman losing a golf major. With some exceptions, they will be dealt with together. Ricky Ponting and David Boon will receive similar treatment.

As articles are written, I will add links to them here so that this introductory post will retain a summary of the whole. Having lacked the audience size to motivate me to keep blogging, it's with some trepidation that I have written this particular post, knowing that I may not choose to write all the posts that I have titles for. Still, there's always the delete button in that instance!

1. An obsession begins - the 1979 NSWRL grand final St George v Canterbury Bankstown

An obsession begins: St George v Canterbury Bankstown - the 1979 NSWRL grand final.

The Lead-up 

I was 8 years old during the 1979 football season, not turning 9 until October. This was the first season where I truly went hard core with my rugby league following. I was already keen before then, make no mistake, but in 1979 I became *obsessed*. Rugby league was beyond a doubt my favourite sport and was to remain in this exalted position until the Super League war hit, although the obsession had faded a little by then.

There were a number of reasons that rugby league was so strong for me that year. Firstly, having been near the bottom of the grade in Year 1 academically and still below average starting Year 2, by the start of Year 3 I had this reading thing licked and was now reading well above average for my age. A big part of the drive to read that I experienced was the absolute need I had to be able to read the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror, the Sun, The Sunday Telegraph, the Sun-Herald, Big League magazine and the Daddy of them all... Rugby League Week! These were brought home on a regular basis by my brothers David and Peter and I was rather impatient waiting around for my turn to read them. Of course I read them sports section first! I did make some complaints about not getting the Sydney Morning Herald to read as well but my brothers were not terribly enamoured of its mammoth broadsheet pages. They assured me that its sports coverage was 'shit' and thus largely assuaged me. Now that I was a good reader, I could read all the stories about rugby league as well as dive into some books of Rugby league history that someone had thoughtfully purchased for me! The love for learning facts all on my own that I honed on rugby league soon spread, and I have been a reading addict ever since.


Secondly, and possibly even more important, this was the year my brother David started taking my brother Geoffrey and I to the football on a regular basis. David, whose name is going to crop up on a regular basis through my adventures in watching sport, was all of 17 at the time, but he seemed so much *older*. He had a job, he was big, he had money (as my mother was a single parent, he was my primary source of spending money), he went out at nights. I looked up to him as it was, but this year I began to idolise him. We'd gone to games before 1979 I guess, but I recall none of them. I do remember David being upset when North Sydney ended our failed premiership defence in 1978, a long way out from the semi finals!

I also remember the first game of 1979! Kogarah Jubilee Oval, St George v defending premiers Manly Warringah, our new signings Brian Johnson, Graeme Wynn and Steve Morris all debuting for the club. A full house. I recall we were sitting on what became our traditional area on the hill opposite the grandstand, although many of our 1979 games were spent on the hill on the grandstand side. Being 17, David was a little influenced by the moronic element of St George supporters who congregated there. From 1980 onwards we were ensconced on the other side of the ground.

There was a great air of anticipation amongst the home crowd as we awaited our new team, under the watchful eyes of our coach, the Old Fox, Harry Bath, who was no doubt lighting up another cigarette as he contemplated the upcoming game. Would the defending premiers show us up early in the season? Or would the talk that this could be a premiership year be vindicated by a sterling display against the might of Manly, who had captured 4 premierships in the previous 7 seasons? Would it ever?!!

The defending premiers were swept away under a spectacular wave of ferocious red and white attack in a stunning 34-9 defeat! In a 3 point try era, this was quite the thrashing. Wynn, Johnson and Morris played major roles in sparking an attack that had seemed a little short of the mark in 1978. Combined with the strength up front of Captain Courageous Craig ' Fat Albert' Young and fellow International Rod 'Rocket' Reddy and the solidity of the experienced backs Tony Trudgett, Graham Quinn and Robert Finch, it was totally evident to this 8 year old that *no one* was going to stop the Mighty St George juggernaut on their path to this year's premiership, a fact which he proceeded to inform his somewhat less enthusiastic schoolmates of in no uncertain terms three or four hundred times that year.

Unfortunately for the know it all's classmates, he was in fact right on this occasion. St George did not lose a single game to a team that made the top 5 that year and the 5 losses they experienced seemed to be more due to a lack of focus and drive against lesser opponents than it was to being outplayed by a genuine rival.

So I entered the semi-finals with a high degree of confidence. Under the final 5 system, the minor premiers took a week off while the other 4 teams played. We met Parramatta, perennial bridesmaids of the era, in the major semi final. My trusty brother David took us to the SCG of course. This turned out to be a real dogfight. My major memory of the game is the tension as we were submitted to our toughest test of the season. Only some Steve Morris brilliance and stout defence enabled us to turn back the charging Eels, and by 15 points to 11 we advanced straight to the grand final.

Meanwhile, Canterbury Bankstown, perennial losers and September wannabes, who had been waiting a rather embarrassing  37 years since their last premiership with most of that time having been spent devoted to providing fodder for good teams like St George and Souths to pad their for and against records, were steadily waking up. After ending St George's immortal, unprecedented, unparalleled and unmatched 11 consecutive premiership winning year run in 1967, they'd made another grand final in 1974 and had followed up with some additional semi final appearances under the increasingly shrewd managerial guidance of Peter 'Bullfrog' Moore.

Coached by my future high school principal Ted Glossop and unhappy at the general belief that their appearance in the semi finals was simply to provide some entertainment for the fans before getting out of the way of the big teams, Canterbury Bankstown's time was coming.

 George Peponis, the Mortimer and Hughes families and a handful of other associated players including Peter Cassilles, whose mother was a beloved helper at my primary school,  proceeded to cut up Wests, Cronulla and Parramatta in some style, becoming the first team to make the grand final from 4th or 5th place since the final five was introduced whilst earning the moniker of 'The Entertainers for the adventurous nature of their play.

It turned out that we were to have more than our share of adventures getting to watch the grand final ourselves. Everything started fine. Sensing a premiership in the offing, David queued up for 2 nights in Phillip Street in order to guarantee that he would get good tickets for us. I was amazed by his sacrifice and effort at the time. After doing so myself later in life I realised a) it's not that hard to do nothing for a couple of days and b) it's even less hard should you be keeping yourself warm and entertained by copious consumption of various alcoholic beverages! Having somehow managed to keep his drinking money separate from his tickets money, David purchased the tickets, brought them home and we all awaited the outcome of the major semi-final. With that aforementioned piece of Slippery Morris magic, all was well and it was time to anticipate the game ahead!

Being a single parent with a fulltime job, a chronic illness and interests that stretched beyond the lives of her five children, my mother had no truck for the idea that her role in life was to be a handmaiden for her sons. We were all put to work around the house. One of my jobs, along with my recently turned 11 year old brother Geoffrey, was to put the paper goods into the incinerator and burn them. Burning things was one of the better jobs available around the house and we rarely suffered a shortage of enthusiasm for the task. We collected the piles of papers, old envelopes, cardboard boxes and dutifully burnt them and watched the smoke drift away into the atmosphere. We were good boys. We burnt everything, we didn't let the messy papers lie all over the house, unlike our lazy older brothers.

Some days later my brother David was fiddling around in the loungeroom.
"What are you looking for?" I asked helpfully.
"A white envelope with clear plastic on the front. Have you seen it?"
"No, sorry."
He looked around some more. He went in the kitchen. He looked on the benches. He went downstairs. I heard some noises. He came back upstairs. He looked in the loungeroom again.

"Shit!" said David
"What?"  I asked.
"They're fucking gone."
"What's fucking gone?" I replied.
The Went brothers were not big on social niceties.
"The fucking tickets." said David.
"What fucking tickets?" I answered.
"The fucking grand final tickets!"
I was shocked into silence. David, who'd had a little longer to process this impending nightmare, was jumping all too quickly to the proper conclusions.

"Have you seen the white envelope with the clear plastic on the front? It's important Lin!"
"No, I haven't seen it for days."

More shocked silence.

"OH FUUUUUCK!" yelled David. "You stupid fucks put them in the fucking incinerator!

Desperate dash to incinerator. Futile pulling on burnt boxes, hoping to see a flash of virgin white and the golden yellow of the tickets.
"Great work Lin. You've fucked us now. Well done." Sympathy in a crisis wasn't a big family trait.

Once the tears were dried I found myself horrified at the situation. Having told everyone at school that I would be going to the grand final, I now faced the prospect of having to tell them that I wasn't going! And I was going to miss us winning a premiership. Given it would be 31 years and the club as I knew it would be gone before we won another one, this may well have been an even bigger disaster than I envisaged at the time!

 David contacted the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) in the hope that they might replace the tickets for us. I sense my mother's counsel here as her ability to wheedle things out of bureaucrats was most impressive. Be that as it may, a reply came to our tale of woe. It didn't replace the tickets but it did authorise us to attend so long as we produced the letter! We were going to the grand final! Thank you Kevin Humphreys!

September 22, 1979. St George v Canterbury Bankstown, Sydney Cricket Ground.

My first grand final! The letter was safely in David's possession as we made our way into the SCG via train and bus. We had to re-tell the story several times during the day as the attendants were not used to being shown a letter instead of tickets! Our seats were in the Sheridan Stand (subsequently replaced by the Churchill stand) but we were there early as St George's Under 23 team had also made the grand final to play Parramatta. It was a feature of the era that the performance of one's lower grades received a measure of attention. In this case, given that Parramatta swept both lower grade grand finals, a measure of attention is all they're going to get!

As befitted our status as raging hot favourites, we burst out of the gates and put Canterbury to the sword. The teams were even enough early but once St George got into gear, Canterbury had no answers. Sparkling tries to that wonderful attacker Brian Johnson, the solid winger Mitch Brennan and  the redoubtable Rod 'Rocket' Reddy followed, all converted by the ever trustworthy goal kicking boot of second rower George Grant. By halftime it was 17-2! 3 converted tries! We were home! David certainly thought so as he headed off to the bar underneath the Sheridan stand to celebrate, leaving Geoffrey and I to talk to a nice old lady who was sitting near us. In David's defence, it was a different world then and leaving an 11 year old and an 8 year old to watch by themselves wasn't seen as outrageous behaviour. Certainly Geoffrey and I weren't bothered!

To be honest, I found the 2nd half to be rather boring, I wasn't concerned that we'd lose but we weren't thrashing them as I had expected. Meanwhile Canterbury chipped away at our lead with 2 unconverted tries to get back to 17-8.

David's reappearance to watch the last rites was greeted by Canterbury's 3rd try. Steve Gearin did convert this one and with just a handful of minutes to go, it was 17-13 and this game was on the line! Several rather nervy minutes followed. Canterbury didn't create any chances but I was still worrying when suddenly David grabbed me and started screaming "We've won, we've won, we've won!" I hadn't heard the siren.

Canterbury fans got to hear plenty from me though, as David, Geoffrey and I joined a large group of jubilant St George fans in exchanging pleasantries from the Sheridan stand with the Canterbury fans leaving via the Hill below. The Bulldogs raucous claims about needing 5 more minutes were treated with contempt then and ever since. None of us could see then that the next quarter century was going to see quite the reversal in the fortunes of the 2 clubs. But that pain was for the future. My initiation into the world of sports barracking had just received its first maximum payout. And I would most certainly be back for more of these apples!

There's a short highlights video of the major semi final and the grand final  here

Plus a more detailed highlights package from the grand final here

On Warne by Gideon Haigh - a book review

Being a cricket tragic and a book tragic means that one ends up reading a lot of cricket books. Gideon Haigh has been writing for 20 years now and the quality of his writing has steadily improved over that period. His initial books were well researched with functional but rarely memorable prose. Over time he developed a reputation as one of Australia's finest cricket writers. With On Warne, Gideon Haigh has produced a little masterpiece including some of the finest passages of cricket writing ever committed to page.

Shane Warne, the modern master of the most difficult art in cricket, leg spin, is a fascinating character. Rather than write a conventional biography of him, Haigh has chosen to write a series of reflections on his bowling and his life, aiming to give the reader a greater sense of the cricketer and the man. He succeeds brilliantly. The paperback edition is covered with laudatory quotes about the book so for someone who's read quite a bit of Haigh's work, the expectations were high. He exceeded them. Easily. He gave a great sense of how Warne worked as a bowler and how it felt to be facing him. His analysis of the crises of Warne's career was enlightening and he demonstrated empathy for Warne without allowing that to interfere with critical judgements when he felt they were needed. 

There's only 200 pages so it's a pretty quick read and a book that I honestly didn't want to end, such was the quality of the writing. Highly recommended for cricket fans and Gideon Haigh fans.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16309930-on-warne

Dear Kristy: This is what the people in your life think of you.

I initially wrote this as part of a speech to read out to Kristy on her 40th birthday, but the opportunity to have speeches didn't present itself at that wonderful evening! I felt that I wanted to surprise her with this post, so I've just kept it quietly here, waiting for the chance to spring it upon her. Well, she's collapsed on the bed asleep after another long day at work, so I think that this qualifies as a time when she will be surprised to see a post extolling her many virtues appear. Also, there's been too many horrible events lately and we need an antidote to all that pain and anguish.

Looking at the outpourings of compliments that have accompanied Gough Whitlam into his grave, it occurs to me that too often we wait until someone who is dear to us has gone before we express how we feel about them.

I don't want Kristy to have that experience, so I took the opportunity to contact many of her friends , family and colleagues and asked them to to share some of their thoughts about what makes Kristy special and what they appreciate about her.

The response was wonderful! Thanks to all who sent something! It's been a privilege and a pleasure to read these little missives, and to discover that other people see in Kristy the wonderful things that Cassie and I see in her.

I'm not going to identify the people that I am quoting although I think they will recognise themselves and I expect Kristy will usually know who has said what :)

I have edited people's comments lightly, one advantage of writing a blog post instead of giving a speech was that I could quote extensively whereas for the speech I had simply selected some representative quotes.

Kristy, here are some of the thoughts of the people in your life:

"When I first met dear Kristy, I thought she had no sense of humour and was unable to get on with the general public, but having seen beyond the facade I have seen Kristy the compassionate, the loyalist, the team player who never bad mouths others or lies and  actually possesses a very warped sense of humour. Seeing these qualities helps me forget my anger as she hangs up on me routinely! I salute you Kristy with your charms *and* your shortcomings."

"Kristy has a lovely heart, a little tough on the outside but soft on the inside, a true friend."

" Kristy, you have a big personality in a quiet way, I love your no bull approach. You're interesting, smart, great to talk to and all round great company!"

" I like the love you put into the food you cook." 

"Kristy, you are a kind and generous person with a big heart. You are a loyal and caring person to family and friends alike."

" You're there to help without even needing to be asked."

"Kristy's a great friend and I value her very much, she's always been fun to be around - being a fellow geek girl we've headed off for adventures, sci-fi conventions and yum-cha. She shows her care and love for others and how she values her friends and family through all the organising of things that she does, whether it's craft days, parties or Games Nights. I think she throws herself into everything she does - hardworking wife, mother, Mum, Aunty, friend and gardener." 

"You put so much love and generosity into the food that you cook for people. I love and appreciate your cooking"

"Kristy makes an awesome meatloaf."

"She's just a very thoughtful, caring, person."

"She's caring, creative, friendly and well, I just love it when she takes care of me and takes me to yum cha!"

"She's a very loving person who takes me to fun places!" 

"Kristy is a beautiful soul, she is extremely kind and often puts others ahead of herself, she's hardworking and does everything she can to support her family. A loving and supportive sister, she's always been there to help without being asked, she shows her generosity with her yummy 'care packages' that the whole family have loved!"

"Kristy's kind and a great mother, I am proud of the way she works hard to help with the life of her family. She has a good sense of humour and she's loyal, always was. She's very forgiving when things go wrong and I love her to bits!"

 "You are hard working and very determined, when you get an idea you won't give up until you achieve your goal. She always gives 100 percent to commitment, I couldn't be any prouder of her and I love her with all my heart. She deserves the best."

It wasn't all bouquets my love, your occasional willingness to call a spade a bloody shovel was noted, but your willingness to stand up for yourself and the true softness that lies beneath was noted too.

On the other hand, one of my friends felt that he missed a real opportunity when he didn't go after you! He never had a chance anyway, I'd have done anything to win your love! 

These are the words of those who know you best and love you for who you are, because who you are is so much. It is, indeed,  more than enough.

Kristy, the day you sent me that RSVP kiss was the dividing day in my life, separating my life into BK (Before Kristy) and AK (After Kristy). AK has been the most wonderful time of my life.

The moment I saw your profile, I knew that if you were who you said you were, then there was real potential there. I didn't know then, but do now, that you are remarkably free from artifice or pretense. What you see is what you get. Which is fairly true of me too, but even more so of you. I'd looked at thousands of profiles over the years on RSVP and dated many women from it. Yours was the first profile I ever sent to my closest friends, telling them this one looked really good. Sometimes you can just tell. 6 months later we were engaged and Cassie, unbeknown to us, was on the way.

 I feel privileged that I get to spend part of every day with you, I feel joy to know that of all the people in the world, it's my bed that you choose to share.  I know that someone there loves me for who I am and loves me unconditionally.

Kristy, I love how you make me laugh, I am thankful for how tolerant you are of my many foibles and flaws, I love seeing you express your love for Cassie and watching how excited she is when she's spending time with Mummy.

I appreciate you for keeping an ear open when I go into one of my rambling raves and just have to have an ear to bash! I bore you often, yet I find out later that you have invariably listened to my rants and thought about them too. I'm thankful for how you support me and believe in me, that can make all the difference.

You've got the most wonderful hands, very soft, smooth,  warm and I love them. We hold hands when we walk together and I feel a little thrill when I hear you at the door after your day's work.

I like it when you're in your creative moods and making things, I think you're at your best when you're doing things. You like to keep busy and you have certainly succeeded at that. Cassie loves spending time with you, and so do I!  I love how we like to be close to each other even when we're both doing our own thing. My computer will always be in the loungeroom because I want to be close to you, not hiding away from you.

I respect you for your willingness to discuss issues and to work on our relationship every day. Making our relationship work every day has been a big priority for both of us and is, I think, a big part of the reason why we are happy together. Living with you continues to be an experience that makes my life better and more enjoyable than it was before, you give me space to be myself and to relax and you rarely try to control or change me.

Nevertheless, you have changed me, I think I am more sensitive and understanding than I was when we started.  I am certainly more content in myself and confident in myself. That's what having the love of a good woman has done for me. You are, and always will be, my good woman and I love you very much.

Happy Birthday Kristy! 

Your loving husband,

Lindsay

Obesity and personal responsibility

This is a post in response to a Facebook discussion, a view was expressed that parents were completely responsible if their kids become obese and someone asked for the other side of that debate, so I'm providing it :). Whilst I have read on the issue, I haven't done any additional research for this, it's just a lengthy Facebook post :).

A century ago, obesity was extremely rare in Australia, as were the obesity related conditions. Obviously that's not the case now. It could be that the modern parent isn't concerned about their child's health or safety but given the incredibly close levels of supervision applied to the modern child as compared to a century ago, my view is that claiming parental negligence is the primary cause of the obesity epidemic isn't backed up by the overall ways in which parents raise their children. I think modern parents are generally more concerned over their kids, if anything, rather than less concerned, compared to a century ago.

What's changed from a century ago? The onslaught of sugar, fat and highly processed foods. A century ago it was common for people to grow quite a bit of their own food and the food they ate was lightly processed. Food was generally cooked domestically, from the raw materials that had been grown or purchased by the adult, usually a woman, who worked domestically and not outside the home. They ate some fat but not a lot of sugar. The current diet is one hundred and eighty degrees away from that. People were also far less sedentary and that's surely played a role in the obesity epidemic. Interestingly, the diseases we associate with obesity are also associated with thin people who consume lots of sugar, so the point might be a little moot.

This modern diet is awash in sugar, which is being consumed in quantities unprecedented in human history and is the biggest dietary change from a century ago. High fat diets have been followed previously that didn't have as many negative outcomes as high sugar (not saying that a high fat diet is a brilliant idea - just that it's not an unprecedented part of a human diet).

Not only is the diet awash in sugar but it's incredibly cheap PLUS it's sold to us using the full force of the modern advertising industry. Sugar and highly processed foods are the dominant food culture in this country. So parents trying to get their kids to eat lots of whole foods are pushing against that culture on every level.There are no protections against sugar consumption, either on a price level or on an advertising level. It's as damaging as tobacco but completely free to peddle its wares.

The breakfast cereals that most people consume are incredibly bad for us yet have a very wholesome image, that's the power of that advertising. The amount of sugar in those products has consistently gone up over the decades, and the range of products that sugar is added to has also considerably expanded. When you're buying processed foods, it's very hard to dodge it.

Juices, which contain just as much sugar as Coke, even more, also have a wholesome reputation. Our bodies treat the sugar in juice the same way they treat the sugar in Coke so it's not there on health grounds! The idea that eating vitamins in pills is all useful as opposed to eating them in whole foods isn't particularly supported by the evidence either, but look at how many of us do it! I mention these things to make the point that pushing back against the dominant eating culture of the country is damned hard. Of course it's not impossible, but you need a lot going in your favour.

A whole foods diet is expensive in terms of money and time. Low income parents or time poor parents are going to struggle on both grounds, and they do. Highly processed foods such as confectionery, soft drinks, potato chips, ice creams are the most heavily and regularly discounted items in a supermarket and are constantly in your face. Worse, they're also superbly located at levels that your little children can reach. Fast foods are also quite cheap and they are fairly fast, as the name says. The combination is enticing. They are also advertised heavily in children's television programs.

A factor that I think is important is that the kids themselves push very hard to be given these bad foods and it's a constant struggle, I know Cassie's had her victories that she's won through her bloody minded persistence on the matter. Cassie's a pretty and charming child, the combination means that she gets offered more than her fair share of treats by shopkeepers and other strangers - due to that dominant culture, these treats are, without exception, high sugar and often high fat to boot! Combine that with the advertising and you have a little girl who thinks that sugar is a really good thing and a lot of fun!

The strength of the dominant culture leads to some scary compromises, McDonalds in schools with their vouchers, the menus in our school canteens despite years of claims that we are changing the rules to make them healthy, the National Heart Foundation giving the tick to numerous high sugar foods. I'm sure the people responsible for those decisions weren't thrilled with them, but they're getting pushed very hard.

The argument that we can just blame the individual for their decisions is one that has many corollaries, and I'm going to use one from my field, education. I have worked in many disadvantaged schools, I have taught children who've come from very poor homes, and from broken homes where there was a lot of violence and not a lot of educational opportunity being offered. Nevertheless, some of those children did fine at school, some of them have overcome all of those difficulties and earnt university degrees and other qualifications. Since some kids can overcome those problems, does that mean that we do not need to give more money and resources to poorer schools? That it's just up to the individual kid and there's no need for any systemic approach to educational disadvantage? It's the same argument, and I think that argument is just as empty in education as it is in public health.

The identical argument was made with regard to anti smoking measures, was consistently made every time a new measure was raised, and continues to be made throughout the 3rd World where the smoking epidemic has reached new heights. But individual choice wasn't enough to dent smoking rates significantly, it took a systemic approach from all levels of government to do it. Advertising bans, hefty price increases, age based restrictions and restrictions of when and where smoking is permitted have all combined to push smoking rates down. Obesity rates can't be pushed down by relying on individual parents to restrict the intake of their kids, a systemic approach has to be taken.

I'm going to close with some personal anecdotes. This is a subject close to my heart. I am morbidly obese.  My parents weren't although my father was certainly overweight. My grandparents weren't obese nor were my great grandparents. My three older brothers are all morbidly obese. My older sister isn't, she had a fat period in her youth and has fought a very determined war to eat whole foods consistently ever since. I use the term war because that's the sort of intensity she's had to strive with to maintain her slim appearance. It's not surprising that she has not been able to quit smoking in that period, a war on two fronts becomes too much to fight.

 Like Cassie, I learnt young that sugar was a great thing, and I found it to be strongly addictive. As a growing boy I avoided putting on weight but once I hit my 20's that changed. The sugary foods have done most of the damage. Three years ago, I managed to go 11 months consuming almost no sugar in processed foods. I lost weight easily for the first time, without feeling hungry. Previous diets had taken weight off for a while, but ended in an orgy of bingeing.

The problem was when I left the house. I could keep sugar out of the house, but once you leave it's fucking everywhere. Shopping at Woolworths? chocolate, ice cream, biscuits, sauces, breads, et bloody cetera. Birthday dinner in the family? Here, have some cake! Morning tea at school? Here, have some biscuits, have some cake. Go to the pub for trivia? Here, have a soft drink (I don't drink alcohol). It's just a constant fight to keep buying the right foods whilst surrounded by the pressures to buy the fucking poison.

I finally cracked on the day of Cassie's 2nd birthday party - there was just too much sugary crap in the house and I ate some. Being addicted to the bloody shit, that was the end of that. Subsequent efforts haven't lasted long and I've put all the weight back on and then some. My latest blood test says I'm currently diabetes free but I can't keep avoiding the major consequences forever. Indeed, the arthritic pain in the knee and the back pain are surely related to the block of flats those areas are keeping up. I'm not unaware of the facts here. But knowing the number of the train bearing down on you and getting out of its way are two different things.

I don't think it's impossible to lose weight or avoid the heavily processed shit, my sister's done it, as have many other people. But it is very hard. And it's very hard because we, as a society, are awash with sugar and highly processed foods which are continually presented as good things. I think that to blame the parents for their kids being obese and, by inference, to blame the obese for being obese, is to ignore the reality of the food consuming system that we live in. It's cheap and easy easy to eat sugar and highly processed foods in our society, expensive and difficult not to do so. I don't think we should be surprised that most of us choose the quick and easy path, even when we know it leads to the Dark Side.

Help George Piggins attend the NRL grand final.

43 years ago, South Sydney played in the NSWRL grand final and won their 20th premiership in 64 seasons with a hard fought 16-10 victory over St George. One of the players in the winning team was George Piggins.

George Piggins, the saviour of the South Sydney rugby league football club after they were unceremoniously booted out following Super League.

George Piggins, who has not attended a game of rugby league since Souths were taken over by Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court. This Sunday, South Sydney play their first grand final for 43 years.George Piggins, former captain of the club, former coach, former CEO, does not propose to attend.

However, George Piggins, the man who should be at the game, has promised he will attend here. All we have to do is raise one hundred thousand dollars to be shared between The Sydney Children's hospitals at Randwick and Westmead.


I am not a Souths fan, I am not a VIP, I am not special (except to my daughter), I am simply a fan of rugby league. I just cannot get past the fact that South Sydney are only playing this weekend because of the passion and drive and courage of one man, George Piggins. The man who will not be going to that game unless we give him a little help.  The man has finally provided an opening that will allow him to reconcile with the game and the club that he loves so much and has given so much for.

I don't know the man, but I just cannot imagine him wanting some rich person to hand over a hundred grand the way I hand over 20 bucks for Oporto and say "Well, George, you're coming now." I don't think he wants to be invited by the NRL elite, they've tried many times. He's always said no. He won't listen to the big end of town.

He needs to be invited by us, the ordinary rugby league fan, not just the Souths fans whose club he saved, but by the ordinary men, women and children who have nurtured this game since that bell was first rung at Birchgrove Oval in 1908.

That's the invitation that George Piggins needs, the one given to him by us, the ordinary fans of this great game, in our great country.  

So, I am taking him up on his promise, I am sufficiently ordinary for the task at hand!
I have established a crowd funding website at Causevox  

You can invite him to our grand final simply by clicking  here and sending $10 to be shared between 2 great hospitals, The Sydney Children's Hospitals at Randwick and Westmead.

If we build it, he will come.