Dog house continued

Well after a bit of deliberation, I went back to the dog house. Together with a coffee (or five) and some decent music, I go the dust off about half of the surfaces. The garden blower worked a treat !!

Then I noticed that there was some surface rust on my machinery. Boy was I happy.... NOT !! What an idiot, I didn't cover everything and certainly didn't treat the surfaces to be unused for so long.

Anyway after some manual labour (yuck) I finally got them half decent ready for use.

All I need is to shake this lake of enthusiasm and I'm there. Maybe my absence has something to do with this.

Teenage Suicide

I recently saw a story on a 17 year old student, Hannah Modra on the ABC.

To say that it touched me would be an understatement. To hear about this wonderful girl suffering from depression and then to end it in such a way broke my heart.

To hear the family talk about the depression, the signs, everything that happened made my heart go out to them.

As easy as it is to say, we as parents etc must never let our own lives and what's going on in them to prevent us from seeing the mental anguish that our teenagers may be going through. Obviously, we also have to keep an eye out with other family members and friends.

I'd rather upset them by trying to discuss the situation and avoid that possible confrontation and face the alternative.

There are a pile of organisations to help. Please, if you suspect something, don't wait.

In the dog house ...

Well, it's that time of year, yup spring cleaning.

I'll be honest, cleaning is not my forte. I've tried to get other, more experienced people to do it for me but nope. I got the old "I've got my own to deal with let alone doing yours", you know. I would've thought that it gets easier with more experience ! Boy was I wrong! Nah just kidding.

Anyway, so there I am, opening up the roller doors into the dog house (AKA workshop). Not looking forward to seeing what I am about to see, a workshop with more dust on every surface that I've ever seen before!

So before I started, I thought about the last time I had been down there .... mmmm let me see.... last week, no, last month, noooo, it hasn't been that long has it, yup pretty close to 12 months ago ! That rabbit sensation came up again but at least this time, no one else was around to see it.

So after pottering around, doing a recce of the situation, I retreated back inside to decide on the best approach to this situation. I'll let you all know when I think of one, check back in October .... 2012.

Another example of easy pickings...

Well here's another example of a mature woman being caught and found guilty of having sex with an under age boy and getting a sentence that makes a mockery of the legal system.

When a male is convicted of the same offence, the book is pulled out, thrown and then the media come down like vultures, going for the pickings. But it appears that when a woman does the same thing, they get a slap on the wrist and asked to move on.

Boys and teenagers see that having an older woman is manly, cool etc and seen as acceptable, this is supported by society through the media supporting that view. The fact of the matter is that it is still illegal and therefore the same punishments metered out regardless of whether the victim is male or female.

Additionally, by having this "warped" view, what are we doing to the men of tomorrow ? What about the psychological damage being perpetrated on them ? Not only do these boys come away being scarred by the abuse, they (and others) are being told that it's ok, just go along with it, the law doesn't apply to you like it does females.

We constantly hear that girls mature faster than boys but yet when an adult takes their power as an adult and abuses a under age male, it's deemed to be less severe than if the victim was female. Go figure.

No pressure

Well I decided earlier this year to not continue doing my martial arts and go to the gym instead to try to lose some ballast.

Well I went back a couple of weeks ago after a 9 month break and yesterday, after watching me gracefully glide across the floor (NOT!) , my Sensei politely "told" me (in front of the class) that it would be a good time for me to go for my next grading at the end of the year.

There was a moment there that I must have looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car and once the shock had worn off I said .... Who ? Me ? Have you got the right person ? Are you wearing your glasses or what ?

Well I thought about saying it and it's the thought that counts isn't it ? mmm anyway, so I looked at him, smiled and decided to tell him what I thought about it and said "Yes Sensei".

Strange how you can think about things all you like but they sometimes never end up that way.

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Days to all those dads out there.

There are a pile of dads out there living a dream. Their wife loves them, their kids are there to spend the day with them etc.

My heart and thoughts go to all those dads that can't spend their fathers day with their kids. I'm lucky enough to be in the "well off" category but yet can't stop thinking about all those who, for whatever reason, want to be with their kids but can't.

So Happy Fathers Day.

Coffee and memory loss

Apparently, caffeine intake equal to five cups of coffee a day for humans protects mice against memory impairments and reduces Alzheimer's pathology in brains.

Whoa ! Time to go and have another Java !!

Have a look ...

Respect

For years I've tried to understand why women place so much emphasis on love. Being in love, telling them that you love them, you know, making sure that they are told every day and more often if you can.

Now like other men, I have always seen the words "I love you" as just that, words. Something that is said far too often and become over used and hence have less meaning as a result. I'm only now starting to understand that it's what women want (and sometimes need) to hear often. It's what makes them feel wanted, needed and of course loved.

Now us men are simple, feed us, give us some lovin' and give us a TV and we are happy, right ? NOT !

Many of us, our fathers, grandfathers etc have gone through life questioning little. Why do we go through life not wondering why the words "I love you" mean less than they do to a woman ? Maybe we just don't care, there are more important things to life like being the bread winner, trying to be a man when the goal posts keep on moving and so on.

I had no idea until I read a book that explained that Respect is generally more important to a man than love. In fact respect is the way a woman can show that they love them.

Nothing says more than I love you than, "I respect your opinion, I respect your decision, I respect you".

Sure many people think they show respect, but in fact don't in a mans eyes. For example, I had this same discussion with my wife and within a few days, there she was mocking my need for respect in front of friends ! To say I was insulted, well what an understatement.

Upon confronting her about this I was politely told that she only highlighted to my friends wife the importance of showing respect to her husband, well if you took the mocking tone and smile from her face at the time, maybe just maybe.

To have spent the time explaining the importance of respect to her only to have her do this in the same week was akin to me telling her that I didn't love her.

Another example would be hiding things from your man. Whilst there would be some things that might be Ok. Generally, in a loving respectful relationship I would have to say there wouldn't be too many. So hiding the fact the bills haven't been paid, the kids school reports, that one of the kids has broken a window, whilst not telling him about these things can be explained by all sorts of reasons, this is what he could be hearing.

The bills haven't been paid ... "You can't provide for us"
The kids school reports... "I can't trust you to remain level headed"
One of the kids has broken a window ... "Let me look after it (because you can't)"

It's no wonder that so many men suffer from depression and why so many commit suicide when the subtle messages being sent from our family and friends (mostly unintentional in their case) and society (well that may be another story) tell us we are not loved or indeed lovable.

Maybe it's time for us all to learn to speak others love languages.