Season membership: to renew or not renew?

I have been a season ticket holder twice in my life - but coincedently both years when I signed up the Doggies had a shocker of a year off the field.

The first year I (and my brother) signed up was 2002, that year the Bulldogs were found to had been cheating the salary cap and were handed the wooden spoon.

This year I thought I would save some money and get a season ticket again with my brother and the Doggies have lost four of their stars and look like getting the wooden spoon again!

Sure, any team that had lost their halfback and their front row would struggle - but the Bulldogs have lost their spirit it seems with loss after loss after loss, all in large (and sometimes record) margins.

Everyone knows I love the Bulldogs - I wear a Bulldogs ring, mobile phone holder, two wristbands and Bulldogs socks most days (I even have another ring and a necklace lying somewhere in my room, along with numerous hats and shirts), but is it worth it?

Next year we have a mighty good chance with buying some semi-decent players (although - no real superstars to replace the higher echelon of players that we had previously).

Many Bulldogs fans are annoyed that we have signed this long deal at ANZ Stadium where we get smaller crowds than we used to get at Belmore Sports Ground without any percentage of the soul of Belmore.

Add that to the fact that we've been called "The Bulldogs" for some years now - a team devoid of a name, a location and it is hard to get inspired.

So, I have decided to join the football club proper and in three years time (the mandatory waiting period... it sounds like private health insurance doesn't it?) I will have an actual voting say on what happens and maybe we can get our club back to where it should be.

Until then, to renew or not renew?

Being positive

It's good to be positive through the bad times.

I have been unemployed for about three months now, although it seems a lot longer. Yeah it's tough, but you've gotta keep being positive about the future and the big picture.



[It's good to be positive - but maybe not as positive as this bloke!]

So today has been a strange day. I have gone from being positive (thanks to some berry V which always hits the spot) and doing an assignment with a disorganised (and I think not commited) assignment partner to being late to class (due to having to take extra time to finish off said assignment) to a job interview which I thought was good but I didn't say the magic words (great place, great job yada yada - I was just enthusiastic and smiling) to coming home and having my computer shit itself.

Aaah yes, my wonderful computer. This year alone it has killed off 19 years of songs I wrote, 1 musical, 1 short film, 12 years of web work, 10 years of fantasy football data and a whole lot of other stuff.

You may say "Make a backup" - I did.. but it was done about a year ago. And now that doesn't want to work either! Maybe one day it shall work - or I will have enough dosh to take it down to forensics.

But yes, back to being positive. Sure it may be the generous amounts of caffiene via two bottles of V, a can of Mother and a mocha, but it is good to be positive.

I'm not normally a bubbly type of person - I've been known to be dryer than the Simpson desert, but it is good to be positive and to smile.

I'm usually laidback enough for people to think "he doesn't give a shit" but sometimes that doesn't work and you need to make more effort.

So I say - you don't need to be like Travis from Big Brother - you don't need to be a pushover that just serves people (Lord knows I've been that to many people in the past...), but it is good to be positive.

Do positive things, take positive actions.

PS: I know you might think me "criticising" things like the Olympics as above may be negative. I tend to think of myself as a "media critic". So, I do need to be critical sometimes - as well all need to be - but it is good not be critical all the time in life itself. If life is getting bad, perhaps it is time to make positive steps to make it be good. I know one person who did that and she will reap the rewards in time.

The Olympics... boring or what?

So the Olympics are over... finally!

Two weeks of our lives we'll never get back.

Sure, a lot of people won medals and some of those people were Australian, but this must have been the most boring Olympics ever?

Here in Australia we had to endure the most vanilla, localised coverage ever with constant interruptions by advertisements in the middle of sports, most sports not shown at all and let's not forget the silly commentary.

The much maligned Yum Cha programme during the morning was meant to be something like The Panel meets The Olympics.

Instead of entertaining and informing most, it led for many to call for the removal of the show and to bring back Roy and HG - a much better alternative.



But most of all, this Olympics will be remembered as a somewhat deceptive Olympics.

The computer generated and pre-recorded "fireworks" during the Opening Ceremony misled our hearts and minds - what is real and what is not?



The Nikki Webster-to-be singing in the middle of a packed stadium - was not singing at all, it was another girl who was not fit to appear on the international stage and had to be replaced by a girl who didn't know she was lip synching.



And the whole "up yours" to everyone else boasting about what they invented: paper, the original typewriter, etc.

I can't remember the 2004 Opening Ceremony, but I can certainly remember the 2000 Opening Ceremony and it was a whole lot better than this one.

Sure, I might be speaking as a proud Aussie (or ranting as some may say) but sure, we had the tin roof and the Victa mower but at least we weren't scary about it.

The whole '08 Opening Ceremony was heavy handed about boasting they are the best. When Aussies boast we do so with humour and fun - the '08 Opening Ceremony wasn't so fun.



At least the Closing Ceremony was a lot more fun with Chinese pop bands and things weren't so heavy handed (although knowing pop bands I'm sure they were lip synching too).

The London part of the ceremony was quite enjoyable with the double decker bus and let's not forget Jimmy Page rocking it out.

In the end, with the lack of gold medals for the Aussies, hopefully the next Olympics in England will be a whole lot better than these ones.

With another channel having the coverage (Channel Nine) maybe they will be better presented as well - with better websites and more coverage overall (with more digital channels).

Sadness and the modern betrayal

Another year.. another new blog it seems!

It seems like I only start a new blog when something big happens... or if I have time..

So, here it goes again, life is travelling rather strangely with my best friend going away and another friend becoming a nuisance.

One best friend is leaving the big smoke and living their dream - that's great - I'm happy for them: they'll be up the highway, but it's sad that I know that I will see her a lot less.

The other friend becoming a nuisance, well he is one that likes to provoke people.

First he brings up sleeping with a crush (like that kind of bullshit is something that you bring up during dinner) and then he likes to put you down while you're feeling down.


[Top of the list on Facebook's Likeness quiz for "thing you would do for a friend" is Lay off friend's crush. Obviously this person didn't take the quiz!]

So my question is, is the act of mateship dead? When does it become okay for one friend to sleep with another friend's crush (without you knowing) and then bring it up later and it's all meant to be alright?


[Any guy near that girl will get a strapping... the girl too!]

Surely we've learned from that Troy movie, other than all Greek people having six packs, that if you sleep with a chick that someone has feelings for that's how wars get started.

Not that I'm thinking of a war or anything - but what kind of compensation do you get for that?

Sure they can say, "well she's all yours now" - but do you really want to go there after your friend has been there?