Friday 7 November 2008

plodding along

the slow one now will later be fast



the site is taking a while to take shape

but please bear with me

my house is getting too heavy





now showing

at a cinema near you. this was a while back but there might be reruns somewhere. i wonder what's showing in the other seven.




good car to drive

after a war.
it's a late 1920s dodge, not a cadillac i know but was good after ww1 and ww111 maybe

i actually hired this car for a girl i know. it was for a formal do. went well of course but the car didn't do too good.

tim, the owner-driver was very gracious to go the extra mile for us so we turned off to the highway. unfortunately the strain on the belt fan at higher speeds of 80-100 kph was too much for a car that was designed for a top speed of abot 40-50 kph. a fin of the fan broke off and cut through the bonnett. and tim ended up paying 10 times more in repair cost to the fee i paid to hire the car.

what will you have?

whiskey, bourbon or brandy? not much choice but it's all i've got.




in case anyone's wondering, i keep the black and blue labels on a display shelf... at the bottleshop or liquor store. eyes only he he.
and for every jim and johnnie and jack and scot and whoever that you wish to come to your aid, be they red or white, or until they're black and blue,
remember wise old aristotle's exhortations:
to be virtuous one has to be non-extremist he he.

Wednesday 5 November 2008

play it again sam!

The last two lines of Sam Cooke's song 'a change is gonna come' goes:
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.

It has brother. The change is come!
Barack Obama take a bow. America take a bow.
I believe you have elected Obama and judged him at the ballot box, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character, by what you saw in him, by what he had to offer...
and that is no mean feat.
that is one big leap for mankind.
oh yes my faith is restored - reason will always prevail over prejudice.

Full credit to Obama for his gracious acknowledgement and acceptance of the burden of leading America to its next phase, hopefully to a brighter and better world.
Hopefully he will lead the American nation to achieve what Dr King implored so many years ago - to rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
And indeed:
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
Okay yes I include Mt Cotton in that

Credit also to Sen McCain for similar grace in conceding defeat and accepting the verdict of the American people.
If there's one thing that stands out to me about McCain during the campaign, it was when this woman supporter of McCain at a town hall rally said:
"I've heard that Sen. Obama is an Arab."
McCain respectfully cut the woman off and said:
"No, ma'am. He's a decent family man and citizen"
That says a lot about McCain and he can stand proud for standing up to the low tactics of his supporters.
I wish him well.

Sunday 2 November 2008

sunday mornin' come undone

on a sunday morning leisure drive i got sideswiped on the way here to my favorite net cafe. a little shaken is all but could've been worse. what happened was this bus pulled off the kerb, the driver obviuosly not checking his blindside, clipped the side of my car, took off a side mirror and left dents and gashes for good measure. he/she did not even notice what happened and simply drove off leaving me to ponder whatever's to ponder. thankfully i was not hurt, i wasn't even mildly annoyed. was just disappointed not to get the bus details for insurance claims.
so all you drivers out there beware. accidents lurk around the corner. many of them are due to no fault of one or all of those involved. keep driving safely and defensively and get home or to your destination in one piece.
on a sunday morning drive-around (maybe drive-alone? i should have walked then i can sing the correct line)
wishing out loud that i was stoned (wishing i had a load of stones? hey mr Kristofferson 'home' doesn't sound too bad here, but like dylan said everybody must, but especially that bus driver should, get stoned!)

Saturday 1 November 2008

Barracking for Mccain

bar·rack Australian To shout support for a player or team.

A few days out from the US presidential elections and thoughts are swirling around my head.
12 months ago during the nominations I felt that Americans were not quite ready for an African-American to be their president. That’s why I thought that the Democrats would be better off with Hillary Clinton as their candidate. I was in favor of Obama over Clinton because I believed that Clinton was too far right. Even if Obama was an unknown at the time, he showed a lot of promise, a fresh face and a fresh voice and a fresh message. Nearly a year on and obviously Obama was chosen as the Democratic party‘s standard bearer. Now if Obama was white he would win hands down over McCain. And to me that’s the unknown factor – the race card. The Bradley effect. Should Obama emerge as winner come 4th November, I will applaud America for it will have achieved great strides in its race relations sooner than I expected. If however by some dark twist of fate McCain is elected then that would be a sad day indeed. Sad because by now, in this day and age, I feel humans should be above racial prejudice.
So I urge America on. Go enfranchise yourselves. Go exercise your right to vote and exorcise the worst administration from the white house. America and the world will be so much better off. The worst that could happen is that Obama will turn out like Carter – a lot of promise but not much to show for it. Or he could turn out to match his rhetoric with great achievements as a pragmatic president. And we will be celebrating this point in time as a milestone in history.
Whatever the outcome, ultimately it is your collective prerogative America - down the road towards change or more of the same old same old. I will respect your choice of course whichever way. I will just be either enraptured or sad.