Australia Day

Very interesting weekend indeed.

Friday was the tennis, as explained in a previous entry.

On Saturday we heard news of a relative's death. It was expected, he was 84 and stricken with cancer. At night the whole family went over to console the Wife and Son. It's sad... you don't know what to say except "My condolences". Not enough to ease the pain. I guess all you can do is send the good vibes and support them. I'd rather leave this topic and it's offshoots for later... death... life.

Sunday was a relaxing day, then I went to Roff's. All up a great night, lots of Man-Talk and philosophising... dinner, drinks, music and some LavaLamp action (yes, action = lava lamp was on). I earned the name of Socrates amidst the numerous discussions about the "Guys&Chicks can't ever be just true friends" debate. Quite a productive night.

And then...

We decided to go for a walk around 11pm-midnight. Off we went, with alcohol in the system, two dudes wandering the streets of East St Kilda talking some crap and enjoying the Invincibility Of Piss. Two blocks into our walk we decided to detour via the park and then proceeded to swing on the monkeybars and flying-fox... kids at heart! And I followed Roff up this hill made of cement and tyres where the playground slide began... In the middle of it there is a tree with little shelters on either side... Roff went left... Dan went right. And as I was all hippy and pissed I looked down and was surprised to see a homeless woman curled up in some winter clothes... in my half-shocked state I muttered a half-pissed "Hi!" and ran down the hill on my merry way. So as we came off the hill I told Roff and he said "That's sobering". Yes, definitely was. We unavoidably entered this conversation where we thought of things we could do for this woman... short-term: some cash, long term: some toll free numbers and some cash. Looking back I wouldn't have expected a long hour of deliberation on what we would do and in-depth analysis of the situation. We've all seen homeless people. I'm glad we didn't just ignore it, whether this was more for us or for the woman. I've thought about it and can honestly say it wasn't for mere self-satisfaction. So we got home after talking the whole way about this... I sat down, got a pen and thought even if she's already done this we should supply some toll free numbers for help centres... "Argyle St Housing Service" and "St Kilda Crisis Centre". Wrote down addresses and numbers... we put in $50 cash. Envelope, plastic bag for wetness protection. Back out we went, I don't know if we were realising fully what we were doing... it was quite automatic to our surprise. Aeon Automatic. lol. Yes. Umm... So as we approached the park I'm thinking "do we wake her up?" and "how do we not scare her? Will she be confrontational?"... We waited at the bottom of the hill, looking up to see if she was still there... I shouted a hello. After a second shout a man's voice from the other side of the tree atop the hill replied. I went up and said what we were doing and we were their to give him. He was all covered up in the cold and said he couldn't move from it so I obliged.. (btw, I wasn't sure if it was a woman I saw the first time so I just handed the bag over to him)... he said "did you see me?"... yup. And then I thought to mention I may have seen a woman there.. the man replied with "Yeah it was prolly Barb". Then I asked if he would have the urge to share it, go ahead and do it. We bid him adieu and walked off feeling good.. but it wasn't like it was over then. I'm still thinking about it... this could morph into something but I won't be going into discussion about what and how. So no one ask me. Spending millions on a war that isn't ours (let alone anyone elses!) while the homeless here are deprived of assistance. I dunno.

Back at the unit it was time to hit the sack after a big arse night of extremes. Won't forget that anytime soon.

And today Erica came over in the afternoon, we played some songs, tried a new one of hers called Holiday (tried to record it on the computer but this shitbox couldn't do it properly)... talked, went for a walk, watched the tennis. Talkin' bout the tennis, both remaining Aussie men were beaten on Australia Day! I could be working or studying overseas and will meet some dear friends I've gotten to know over the years... So Madam Roro make sure you have the red carpet ready for me girl! lol. It's amazing the kind of relationships you can grow and fuel from such a distance... requires a certain strength. But that is something that is quite easy when things go well and both people are learning and enjoying the experience... bla bla, overdanalysing is a curse. But that's why it has my name in it ;-) lol.

I've been forwarded to this awesome online game... do you ever feel powerless in doing something for your country? Well here you can do something with YOUR VERY OWN COUNTRY...!!! Just follow the link to create your own nation in your own taste and help it grow into a prosperous land!

http://www.nationstates.net

Have a good night... I need some water.



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