Autumn starts tomorrow

WANKERS

"God Hates Fags!" So say the members of a cult (they think it's a Christian church) who have promised to picket the funerals of the folk who died in the Turkish airliner crash at Schiphol Amsterdam this week. I have waded through six sets of threads on 'Airliners.Net' about the accident and just came across the reference to this weird American cult. Westboro Baptist Church has an extremely chequered reputation from my very speedy net research, even having the cult's leader Fred Phelps and his daughter banned from Britain because they planned protesting outside a theatre performing a play about Matthew Shepard, the young gay teenager murdered in 1998 in a most horrific and brutal way. Why are they planning to disrupt and annoy the funerals? Because the gay-loving Dutch brought it upon themselves, presumably because their God isn't my forgiving and all loving God. My sympathy is extended to the families of the five Turks and four Americans who died in the crash. How miraculous that so many survived! I think Someone was on their side at that moment in time.




Mmm - FEELING BETTER NOW!

Hello! I just had to get that off my plate! Arseholes! Speaking of gays and society, it's fascinating to see how Sean Penn on Monday (our time) spoke well about gays and gay rights, including marriage, and the Kodak Theatre erupted in applause; yet Hollywood and the US in general still treads on eggshells whenever the issue comes up. I think NBC had the Beijing Olympics, and when Australian diver Matthew Mitcham was featured, never once did they show his partner in any shots or allude to his being gay or having a male partner, in fact they studiously avoided any reference to his being the first openly gay Olympian competing openly at an international meet. It was newsworthy everywhere except Main Street USA television. Strange! And enough said about mainstream Hollywood, it still has a long way to go.



OSCARS

Wasn't Hugh Jackman brilliant at the Oscars? Yes, he's an Aussie, yes, he appeared in that questionable film "Australia'; but wow, he certainly did a great job in front of one of the most challenging audiences you can come across - your peers. I didn't realise it was broadcast live from around noon on Channel 9, so next year I had better get ready for them during the day. Better still, record and fast forward during the bits that don't seem interesting to me. I couldn't believe that some conservative US TV critics objected to him using words referring to pubes and excrement. Good grief, someone get me the smelling salts! And to think Hugh's wife Debora-Lee Furness gets to wake up next to him every day? At the beginning on the Red Carpet she said as much to the interviewer, and she knew many in the audience just hated her something awful - envy is a terrible thing haha!


SECOND (2nd)

Yes, after 6th last week, quite a few 4ths, one 3rd, our trivia team finally made 2nd place last Tuesday! A whole $30 to spend at the bottle shop next door to the pub where we play. We actually had a lot of fun and many laughs, and above all met together to enjoy each others company. I met Rene at the pub because he was already in the City at GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) checking out the latest exhibition. It's something we look forward to each week.



CITIZENSHIP

Rene is going for his citizenship interview on April 21 at the Department of Immigration. He'll have a silly test - you know, 20 bleeding obvious questions about Australia from a list of several dozen possible questions - and following that he registers for the ceremony, has a personal interview, after May.


STATE ELECTION

We have an early state election called for March 21. The current state government is Labor and has been in office for around 11 years, and by all reckoning is overdue for replacement (same for Britain) but here the state opposition main party (the LNP's) look totally useless too! Our local member moved twice to destabilise his party by running for the leadership, and the neighbouring electorate's Opposition candidate is 18, barely out of school, and has a billionaire father who smacks of Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the way he uses his fortune to curry influence in conservative politics. A pox on all their houses is my initial reaction, but reality requires me to choose one way or another in a democracy where one is compelled by force of a fine to vote. Once I voted but spoilt my ballot paper (in a state election) but so far I think better the idiots we know than those we don't. My mind is up for swinging, I'll let you know if I does.


DINNERS and FRIENDS

Several lovely meals have been enjoyed with friends over the past few days and none better than last night with my god daughter and her Welsh partner. We dined at 'Hello India', a local Nundah restaurant worth crossing suburbs to reach (near to Nundah station for those wanting a reference). We ate there last week for the first time with close friends and it's just delicious, inexpensive and worth every effort to get there. Last week after 8:15 it was reasonably quiet on the Friday evening, but last night it was packed, even overflowing onto the footpath. The evening before we ventured across the park to friends for a drink after 5 and ended up staying for dinner where we enjoyed the very best grass fed steaks off the BBQ with a chili chocolate ice cream for dessert. Add to that wine, beer and chatter, all in all Rene and I had a wonderful evening, and the walk back home was of great benefit to our digestion.

CRUISING

We had my brother from Toowoomba (Mark) and his lovely wife Kathy visit last weekend, along with niece Emmy and her friend Chelsea. We saw the film Gran Torino directed by Clint Eastwood. Terrific film, enjoyed by all in our group. The cinema is in the cruise terminal at Portside, and while we were there a P&O ship was leaving, complete with streamers and loud horns sounding. Anyway, the upshot is that they are all going on a weekend cruise from Brisbane to Sydney in June (you fly home on the Monday morning). Mark's other daughter Katelyn and her fiance Dan are going too. This is called a sampler cruise, to see if you'd like cruising. The ship is the 78 000 ton Dawn Princess, and everything short of drinks is included for a ridiculously small price. Rene doesn't want to go, not even for two short nights. I'm looking for someone to go with me. I think I've found someone. My other brother (Stephen) and his wife (Adele) are thinking about it too, but already three cabins have been booked, hopefully a fourth will be too.

WORK

It is there, it is interesting, nothing more. I did attend a fascinating and useful seminar on refugees this week.

CRISIS

Woolworths in Australia yesterday posted a second half year profit of nearly A$1 b. It also announced that in the next six months it will create an extra 7000 jobs. Suzuki and Kia sold more cars in Australia during 2008 than ever before, and the prospect is for more of the same in '09. Every Australian is getting $900 to spend, spend, spend; plus 'shovel ready' government projects worth billions are to be up and away before April - all federally funded. No Australian bank is in difficulty, not one! Yes, the crisis is biting here, but less than elsewhere in the world. There's no Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortess (Belgium) and ING (Dutch) type of issue at all here in Australia, and that's purely because the regulations here are tough and sensible.

WHO IS THIS GUY?

Finally, my friend Kit sent me this picture during the week of his son Chris pointing to me during a farewell dinner before he (Chris) returned to the US to work. It was late, I was tired, I didn't have my glasses on; but heck, I look a lot like my father. He's been gone some 20 years now. Miss you still Dad!

I've met all seven of them, sometimes all at once!