The Word B

does anyone else find it odd, that most of the news telecasts these last 10 days have focused entirely on the olympics? the sports is great, and highlighting on the achievements of the athletes is great too, but there is other things happening in this world that need addressing. these problems are not going to go away by simply ignoring them. people are still starving in africa, people are still dying in iraq and afghanistan, people are still homeless and eating out of garbage cans in america, children are still locked up in prison in australia, yet how wonderful is it to discover china won a gold medal in ping pong. table tennis, excuse me. the olympic games to me seem like one big corporate marketing campaign, and a global smoke screen to turn the attention of the world away from the criminal atrocities that are continuing by the nation-state.
wasn't the original greek olympic games a time of peace, where all fighting and war was called to a halt during the time of competition? at least that was the story promoted in my history book in school. regardless it is still a good idea to stop fighting and to be able to re-evaluate what you are really fighting about. gold medals or oil?
don't get me wrong, i love sport. i love to compete and to watch sporting events, but to use it as a tool to create a global hoax and cover up for the sake of advertising and money is a very twisted and downright evil exercise. does anyone else see this point?
for me, the only team that holds any true interest during these olympic games is the soccer team from iraq. these few individuals are defying the odds. it is great. if anyone is deserving to win, it should be them. i for one, hope they do.

this afternoon we went looking at houses and apartments around our area. we live in sydney's nothern beaches. we currently rent an apartment or unit. we would like to buy a place of our own, but in looking at the the options on the market, you would seriously need about 600 thousand dollars just to get in the door to most places. and these are the shit boxes, that need serious attention or in a lot of cases to be torn down. i came away today feeling terribly discouraged and frustrated. the insane thing about it, is that people are willing to pay that amount and often times much more. where do they get this kind of money, and for the people who don't have it, how can they afford the payments on a loan of that much? i am failing to understand this. with the cost of living in a city like sydney so ridiculously high, how can one afford to live in a house or apartment at that price on top?

kill the critic.
may he rot in hell.
hang him. shoot him. nail him upon a cross.
kill the critic.
burn her at the stake.
drown her. strangle her to death.
kill the critic.
no one wants any of that advice.
kill the critic.
take the critic to the guillotine and off with their head.
kill the critic.
poison. electrocution. stabbing. murder.
the critic must die.

once again the australian prime minister is making headlines. this time over a flat out lie, he told nearly three years ago. a lie he has repeated and stuck by since. however, in his attempt at concealing the truth, the prime minister, has implied other government officials are lying, because he is telling the truth. this has pissed people off to the point where they are publicly denouncing john howard, and telling things the way they are. basically, the story is about refugee boat people coming to australia three years ago, and being denied entry into the country. at one point during the at sea encounter, between the boat people and the navy, according to the prime minister of australia, the boat people "through their children overboard" and into the sea. finally, this whole tall tale is coming around to bite him in the ass. really, who would believe such a story in the first place? certainly a lot of ignorant people, who view the 6 o'clock news as gospel did. however, anyone with any common sense, did and still do realize the whole story told by the prime minister is total bullshit. what family would risk traveling halfway around the world with their own precious family for weeks on end, seeking political asylum, risking death countless times, and at the very doorstep of their ultimate destination, chuck their own family members into the ocean (to try to kill them). the whole idea is preposterous. who would make up such a ridiculous story? the answer. john howard, prime minister of australia. a real hero ladies and gentlemen. this whole thing was caught on film, and seeing the images along with his version of the story, does not add up. so obviously someone is lying- the film or the prime minister. why lie in the first place? it was all a political scam to help in his reelection campaign three years ago, and now the lie has finally come round to bite back.
what happened with the refugees? well, they were quickly locked up in prisons either on various islands around australia, or locked up in prisons in the middle of the australian desert, men, women, and children. they were all put into prisons, where many of them still remain today.

well the olympics have just started and i am ready for them to be over. i am sick of the commercials. i think i watch more commercials on olympic television coverage, than i watch in actual sport. it is disgraceful.

i went for a surf this afternoon at Dee Why. really there is not much to comment about on the conditions. there was maybe a swell height of 1 foot, the water temperature about 16C, with a strong off shore wind. the best part was due to these conditions, there were only about 6 other people out in the water, spread up and down the beach. usually, i would not bother to put on a wet suit and paddle out when things are like this, but i was overdue for a surf, so went anyway. like i always am after getting into the ocean, i felt great straight away. this feeling lasted all of about 3 minutes, until the very first person i said "hello" to, attempted to stare me down before turning around to ignore me. i was shocked. it was not as if there were 38 people in the line up, jockeying for position, waiting to paddle on to a giant wave. i looked around me, there were only 4 other people in the water, the nearest about 200 meters away. this sort of attitude i find to be typical in Sydney. not only do people behave just as rude in the water, but in passing along the streets as well. rather than getting upset about this latest episode in the surf, and believe me i see it all the time, i just paddled to a different sand bar where i had small but consistent left-handers all to myself for the rest of the afternoon. in the end, i was stoked to be out there, goofing around on the small waves. i had a few decent rides, but ended up just laughing at myself more often because of the ridiculous things i tried to pull off. it was certainly a good reminder on how awesome it is to be alive.

do you ever see a person and think they look familiar? you look at them and are sure they are some one you know, although you know they are a total stranger. it makes you wonder if the person you are looking at could be the evil twin of the person you are thinking of. or maybe it is just a case of mistaken identity. it can also justify that age old cliche at the bar, "don't i know you from somewhere?" "are you sure we haven't met before?"

well this is my first entry in about a week. the first few days, i have no excuse. the last two days i do. i had spent monday at the hospital getting canulated and put throughout the CT scan. a CT or cat scat is the big machine where you slide back and forth through the circle. i have to drink this contrast die before hand that makes me wretch. the one die i drink is better than the other option which makes me vomit. this on top of starving myself for 12 hours prior. as i get pushed through the machine being laser x-rayed, i am injected with a clear iodine solution. it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside but not right. that was my monday morning. i was feeling sick the rest of the day.
monday after noon, i after coming home, i walked down to the shops and had blood drawn. this normally isn't such a big deal, but because i had been canulated in both arms in the morning, the first time they missed, by the time i had had blood drawn my arms were sore. it hurt to bend at the elbow, sore badly. so that was the later half of the day.
tuesday, i was back at the hospital (getting physically sick seeing the building) to see the oncologist, dr. bell. a great person. he has led the way in my treatment in cancer and as he told me yesterday, my recovery up to this point is outstanding. so all tests were clear! my blood markers are below detectable levels, which is the best indicator for testicular cancer. and the CT scan highlighted the scar tissue from my inflamed lymph node, but that is to be as expected. it is what it is. so now, instead of scans and tests like the day before being every 3 months, they will now be every 4 months. this is huge for me. it just puts a little distance between me and chemo. chemo is worse than cancer. cancer gets you sick, but the cure, chemo-therapy, that is what really fucks you up.
today, i was back there again, to see two post cancer counselors i have been visiting on a regular basis for the last 7 months. catching up, and bringing to a close some of my recovery process. once again, i felt sick looking at the hospital building. i have to turn my nose and whince, because of the sour taste that comes up in my mouth. however, i have returned home feeling slightly buzzed from a coffee and charged up for life, from the doctors report.

for my last birthday, i was given a 2 year subscription to adbusters magazine. it is a great read, and definitely a more intellectual read than your average news stand trash. always controversial, the magazine never fails to challenge a persons thinking. last week, via email, there was a challenge going out to its readers, to write a creative piece about life post-world economic crash, etc. so i happily went to work, and came up with this little number. I submitted it, and am waiting to hear a response from the editors...

AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

the world has gone apocalyptic
nobody can say they never expected it
for upright walking, opposable thumbed, large brained, rational thinking critters, we sure set a cracking pace
in only a few thousand years we've fucked up the planet and the whole human race
from inventing the wheel, writing, language, automobiles, airplanes, computers, and putting man on the moon
we've invented swords, catapults, AK-47's, tanks, anthrax, and weapons of mass destruction that go boom
we've clear cut the forests, polluted all waters, out fished the oceans, ripped a hole in the sky
all in the name of progress and a larger corporate capitalist piece of the pie
take a good look about you, at this mess created while you stood around quiet
so much for your SUV, and your safe suburban gated community after the global riot
back to hunting and gathering and caves for shelter. funny, we're all on the same level
blame it on every country, religion, and society if you want because in all man is the devil
we allowed the murder of billions, the end to art, music, love, poetry, and all its worth
humans, we're better off giving up and dying, allowing roaches to inherit the Earth
so now that the world has gone to shit
what did you ever do to stop it?

...for the anasazi beans he gave to us a few months back. well i finally got around to cooking them yesterday. they turned out to be great. you'd never guess, but i used them to make a pot of chilli. i think it turned out great. cherry, at first was saying "there is too many beans for me," as she conitnued to spoon the chilli into her mouth. by the end of the bowl, she was saying "this is really good."
anasazi beans originate from north america from the four corners region (that's Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado area). i guess they were mainly cultivated by the Anasazi tribe that was native to that region. These are the peoples who inhabited the cliff dwellings. The anasazi bean looked painted in a similar way to the pinto bean, yet the coloring was more of a yellow bean with almost a bright pinky splotching to them. they were about the same size as the pinto. i actually took a photo with a digital camera and will include it on this blog site, once i learn how to do that. they looked very cool, as they sat soaking in the bowl on the counter before i cooked them. they taste great.
as i type this i am listening to sun ra. it makes the whole thing more real.

now that the american democratic convention is over, what is your opinion of john kerry? we still have the republican convention to go. that may help you formulate your opinion of bush. what i think, is they are pretty much two sides of the same coin. both super rich people who are neck deep in affairs and hush hush deals with big business. consider all the money spent on these election campaigns. there is hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from both parties in order to get their candidate elected. in my opinion, this is too much, when we have people in this world starving, without proper shelter, and illiterate. i believe there should be a limit to the amount of money spent on election campaigns. the rest should be invested into the benefit of society, not the frivolous expenditures of campaigning. the american federal governement funds millions of tax payer dollars to both the republican and democratic parties for election campaign purposes. isn't that enough? what about federal funding for the greens party? or any other alternative party? they should have an equal platform to express their views and goals, rather than being quelched by the two major parties. i think the country and the world could benefit from a broad spectrum of ideas and possibilities, not just two. at this point, i still believe anybody is better than bush and his cronies. but ask yourself, isn't there an even better solution than a democrat or republican?