The Word B

the other day, when we came home from the funeral, i decided to give my friend erin a few hours of help, doing some labouring work for him. his is a landscape builder, currently building a huge raised garden and sandstone walls around a pool. the work is in progress and mid way through to completion. well i worked my ass off for 3 hours. afterwards, i felt great and committed to helping him out the following day for a full day of work. on day two i began at 7am and finished about 4:30pm. it was a long and exhausting day. by the end i was devastated and in bed by 7pm that night. i knew my body was going to pay the toll for the work, but i was pleased with myself and ability to be able to last a full day of hard labour. i used to do labouring work off and on for the last few years, but since i had cancer, have not been able to work that hard. so for me to cope with a day and a half of it and still be able to function the following day, was a remarkable milestone for me. i am a little bit proud of it. on the third day, i woke up sore, and went back to my regular job of lifeguarding at the beach and fullfilling my quest for the perfect tan. just kidding. the beach work is good, but we are coming into summer now, so it is definitely more busy.

it is late, and i am not sure where to begin. i just have this obligation to type. a pretty slow day at work on the beach. the day was over cast and a bit cool. over an 8 hour period, we had 20 people touch the sand and two go in the water. i was one of those two.
now it is late night and i must go to bed, in order to put on my sorrowful face in the morning. i am going to a funeral. not the happiest of times, funerals. it is a relative of cherry's who died the other day. the woman(whom i never met) was 92, or round about that. so she lived a pretty long life. i am going for moral support. i got the day off work, and am getting paid for it. if there is a bright side for me, that would be it.
when i go, i don't want people standing around all somber. i want music playing and people dancing and drinking, laughing, smoking, and making love. plus, i want to be cremated.

just a reminder to the conscious people of the world, and an open invitation to those who would like to become more aware. this friday novemeber 26th is international buy nothing day. this means, no food, no movie tickets, no frivolous shopping, gas for your car, or a bus ticket. just one day of the year, give the economy a break. i hope to see you all playing outdoors on the beach or at the park and enjoying this beautiful planet we all live on.

i sat down with every intention to write something intellectual, but by the time i turned on the computer, waited for it to boot up, then logged onto the internet, my creative mind froze up. now i am suffering from writers block. i guess i should be used to it. well, today i am home from work, as i have had the weekend schedule off. i am most grateful for not having to go to work, and am investing the time to home and friends.
today, a few days early to the official holiday in the u.s. we are celebrating thanksgiving. due to the occasion not being an official holiday here in australia, we have organized to enjoy the festivities today (saturday), rather than on thursday, when everyone will be hard at work. it is my favorite holiday ever. it is all the smells and food and good times, that make it so memorable. some people may argue that christmas has that too, but i find christmas to be full of jealousy, rage, madness, arguements, and irritability- basically, all the things that that particular holiday should not be about. so i make a bigger deal about the turkey celebrations, where people should just stuff themselves with food and act like glutons. afterwards, sit around and stuff yourself some more with dessert, twice. not forgetting to be nice and drunk throughout.
originally, we were planning on having the eating to take place outside in the back yard, but since the weather changed last night, a southerly has pushed in (fresh winds, and strong chance of rain) we are going to have to squish a table and eight people into our tiny little apartment. who cares? i don't it just means a more cozy and intimate setting. the food will be great nonetheless. cherry has organized everyone to bring a dish, therefore we aren't stuck cooking up everything. so that too will be exciting to see what peoples interpretations are of their specific dish. we have prepared the bird, the dressing, sweet potato (yams), a green bean dish, and baked a pumpkin pie. people will be arriving shortly, and the turkey is due out in about 2 hours 30 minutes. oh i am so excited. hope you all have just as wonderful turkey day as us.

this morning i awoke to a text message on my mobile phone. it said: it's a boy. jake david thomas tobin. born 23:39 15th Nov. 6lb 5oz. love kelcy and tooby.
my friend kelcy is now a mom. it is so wonderful. she is so happy. we dropped by the hospital after work this afternoon, to say hello and welcome the little fellow into the world. everyone is fine and healthy.

argh! what news of the white whale? i just recently finished moby dick. what a book! it was fabulous. i could not believe how much i loved that book, every page dripping with such exquisite description. for many years, i looked at that book on shelves in libraries, book stores, and people's collections, and always told myself "one day." i finally pulled my finger out and figured that "one day" had to be "right now." so i borrowed the book from a friend, and began to read. it was not a book i could sit and read in one go. it turned into a bed time book for me, sitting on my bed side table where i would read a chapter or three before turning out the lights and going to bed. at first my favorite character was queequeg. then as the story progressed it was captain ahab. however, in the last 4 chapters my preference was for the villain and subject of the book, the white whale, moby dick. since i finished the book a few weeks back, i have been wandering around, and at random, in my best pirate voice, saying: argh! what news of the white whale?

a few months ago i took this course. i met this guy in the course, who later contacted me to promote his new business of telephone/internet/communications marketing. i think his end goal in taking the course was to quickly and slyly obtain an instant client base, but i can't prove that. well, not originally when he contacted me, it was to "just catch up." the meeting after about 5 minutes turned into a recruitment opportunity for him. basically, trying to get me to sign on as a company employee to promote and push this "new" product onto friends and family. in a nutshell, i was to pay $500 into the company and then receive all the training and supplies to begin recruiting people on my own. it is a pyramid sales scheme. i was so turned off from the whole sales pitch, and after was left with a real disgusted feeling. i felt as if i was tricked into meeting the guy in the first place.
well this afternoon, i was coming home from the city on the ferry. i was having an enjoyable day, being my day off. my mobile phone rang. i answered, and it was this guy calling. i could barely hear him, because of a poor connection (go figure), but already my heckles were up. "i am calling to ask you, if you would like to become a customer of our product. i know you were not interested in becoming a client, when we last spoke, but i thought you would like to try out the product..." my reply was "no thank you." i ended up having to say no several times, when it dawned on me- in our original meeting, he told me he didn't care how many "no's" he got out of a person he was trying to sell to, eventually he would wear the person down until they said "yes." well i was not going to give into those tactics. after about the tenth time of refusing, i ended simply hanging up on him. maybe it was rude of me, but fuck him, i do not need to be bothered by that sort of shit. and now, i have come home to vent. my life is too precious to allow any extra time for hassles like that.
it makes me wonder, how many other people from that course has he pestered and pushed into buying into the communications product he is peddling. the irony of the whole thing, is his communication skills totally sucked! there was only output, with no room for input.
so with all this said, i will go back to having the rest of my day be wonderful.

you think you got it bad? have you seen or heard the news this last week? well if you have the luxury of reading this, then let me tell you. your life is easy. at least you don't live in fallujah, or what used to be fallujah. those poor people! the george bush brigade has killed scores of people, and most of them innocent children, either by gunfire, bombs, disease, dehydration, or disease. so if you have anything to complain about in your life, think of the fallujahians.
and just to bush bash a little bit more. why is it that a "democratic" country, such as america, is spending billions upon billions of dollars to bring democracy to a country on the other side of the world, that does not want democracy? while at the same time, america has cut back severely on the services provided to its own people, such as health care and education?
another question. why is america spending billions upon billions of dollars on bombs in iraq? don't you think that money would be better spent on hospitals, education, food, and clean water in iraq? don't you think the people would be just a bit more appreciative of that, rather than a grenade and AK-47 gunfire?

starting back to full time work, has put a damper on my blogging. i know i made the statement weeks ago and be true to the site, but time and energy certainly have affected my efforts. believe me i have every intention to keep you all up to date on a more regular basis. and i still intend to, but i am being forced to reconsider how i can achieve that.
as far as being back to working life, and a full time job; i can't imagine how i ever functioned, before i was sick with cancer, with full time work. i come home these days, and crash for a long time. my body has much more healing to do. everyday is such a challenge. as far as those people in this world who work more than 40 hours a week. first, i commend you on a job well done. that is not an easy thing to do. but i also have some advice. stop working so hard and so much. there is a whole world out there, waiting to be lived in it by you. so put down what you are doing a bit more often and enjoy the day. life is way too short. which brings me to the topic of change. we need to have a mandatory 4 day work week, while keeping the 8 hour day. how does that sound?

well... where do i begin? i am still walking around totally stunned. not as sick to the stomach and ill, like i was 4 years ago. at least i have had the past four years to be somewhat prepared for the outcome this time around. however, the first one was complete robbery. this time the guy was elected properly, and by a majority! americans, listen up. the rest of the world looks at you and thinks you are all idiots. i know a lot of you didn't vote for the guy, but most of you did. how could you? this does not help anyone. not even for those of you who believe deep down that it does. even with a tax break, you will be paying more at the pump for fuel, more for your childrens education, more for your own medical expenses, all to the point where any tax break you may (or may not) get will be irrelevant. the only consolation out of the whole situation is this: at least we know now, that after four more years, he is definitely OUT.

today is the big day in the usa.
are they going to vote in the good guy,
or will it be thieved away?
the polls have got it close
who will win is hard to say
the world sits back holding its breath
on this election day.

anyone but bush!