Golden Slipper

Tomorrow is one of the great days on the Australian racing calendar. It's Golden Slipper Day, the world's richest race for two-year-olds at Rosehill.
For the record I have tipped Murtajill, Sleek Chassis and Forensics.
The other feature is the BMW and I have tipped Desert War even though there is some doubt about him running a strong 2400m.
I'm looking forward to a good day out at the track, it will be a big one but it's one of those days you don't want to miss.

Two years.....

On this day in 2005 my life as I knew it changed forever.

Reign Over Me

We meet Charlie (Adam Sandler) as he glides through the streets of New York on a motorised scooter, seemingly without a care in the world.
Alan (Don Cheadle) has the perfect life. He's a successful dentist, has a wife and two daughters. Nothing, however, is how it seems.
Charlie and Alan were college room-mates but when they run into each other Charlie can't remember the guy he lived with for two years. He's always distracted and Alan makes it his job to discover why Charlie is not the man he remembers.
At the same time Alan is feeling smothered by his family, he feels he has lost his itentity and craves some air. He even hates the job that has given him security.
Charlie, as we learn, is living in heavy denial. He lost his family, and in some way his life, on 9/11.
I've already mentioned how much I like comedians who do drama. Sandler is amazing as the tortured Charlie. At times he's almost child-like in his approach to the world having tried so hard to suppress what he has been through.
In one particularly moving scene he says: `I don't like to remember'.
Reign Over Me is a story about grief, about loss, about friendship, and about healing. Both men are in need of healing, in different ways, and watching them use each other to claw their way back into life was profound.
This is truly a brilliant film. It's raw at times but also tender and you really feel for Charlie and what he is going through. Sandler is a revelation here. He pulls off the heavy scenes like a seasoned pro and Cheadle ably backs him up.
I had high expectations going in and Reign Over Me more than lived up to them. A very strong 9 out of 10.

Brothers & Sisters

Fast becoming one of my favourite TV shows, Brothers & Sisters

has become compulsory viewing on a Monday night.
I love a good drama and this one has all the elements of the type of show I can't resist. Kind of funny in parts but moreover it is believable drama. And very well cast.
Sally Field is always excellent and her matriarch Nora is a good role for her. Calista Flockhart, though still Ally McBeal is also very good as Kitty. The guys are all well cast and I quite like Matthew Rhys' character of Kevin.
So far this show has kept me hooked and I can't wait to get to the next one. I hope they keep up the quality because it's close to faultless at the moment.

Getting to know me: 2007 edition

My friend Tim sent me this on email, instead of emailing it out to heaps of people I post it here for those interested. You know the deal, I have omitted irrelevant questions.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6.30am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Hot Fuzz
4.What is your favourite TV show? One Tree Hill (current); Friends (all-time)
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Usually two pieces of toast and either juice or water.
6. Favourite cuisine? Can't go past a good roast.
7. What is your middle name? Denis.
8. What food do you dislike? Really hot curries.
9. What is your favourite CD at the moment? How To Save A Life by The Fray
10. What kind of car do you drive? Nissan Pulsar
11. Favourite sandwich? Lettuce, tomato, beetroot, mushroom and cheese.
12. What characteristic do you despise? Inconsistency.
13. Favourite item of clothing? My jeans.
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? California, already done it.
15. What colour is your bathroom? A caveman-like brownish tile.
16. Favourite brand of clothing? Don't have one.
17. Where would you retire to? Anywhere but Sydney.
18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 30th, the surprise party.
19. Favourite sport to watch? Come on, horse racing.
20. Furthest place you are sending this? Cyberspace.
23. Favourite saying? `How you doin'?' (not that I use it though)
24. When is your birthday? March 22
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning, just.
26. What is your shoe size? 11
27. Pets? No
29. What did you want to be when you were little? Bigger, now I want to be smaller.
31. What is your favourite candy? I don't eat candy but it used to be Turkish Delight.
32. What is your favourite flower? Has to be a rose.
33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 3, when Spiderman 3 is released.
34. What are you listening to now? What Goes Around..Comes Around by Justin Timberlake.
35. What was the last thing you ate? Some cruskits with vegemite.
36. Do you wish on stars? No
37. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Green or blue.
38. How is the weather right now? Overcast and a little cool.
39. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? A lady called Maryanne from Adelaide.
40. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yeah he's a good guy.
41. Favourite drink? Cranberry juice.
42. Favourite restaurant? Don't really have one.
43. Hair colour? Brown
44. Siblings? One sister.
45. Favourite day of the year? Can't pick just one.
46. What was your favourite toy as a child? My He-Man collection.
47. Summer or winter? Summer out of those two.
48. Hugs or kisses? I like hugs but kisses are good too.
49. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate.
51. When was the last time you cried? When I watched It's A Wonderful Life.
52. What is under your bed? Boxes.
53. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Steve, who I've known for about 16 years.
54. What did you do last night? Went to church
55. Favourite smell? After rain.
56. What are you afraid of? God
57. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? Don't eat popcorn.
58. How many keys on your key ring? Eight.
59. How many years at your current job? Six and a bit.
60. Favourite day of the week? Saturday
61. How many towns have you lived in? Four - Tamworth, Narromine, Dubbo, Sydney.

What's the rush?

It seems we are always in a hurry. Whether it's to get to work, to get something done or for something to happen. I know this because I am one of these people.
What I learned tonight was nothing new but it comes as a timely reminder having just recently thrown myself back into work at the same speed I was travelling before I came to a screeching halt late last year. Have I learned anything?
Tonight I visited a church* not too far from home. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, nor was I `church shopping', just a different take on church to what I am used to.
And it was different. Vibrant, emotive, somewhat unstructured, accessible and very much street level church.
The music was uplifting, a little Hillsong-esque but that's not a bad thing in my books as I really get into that style. I like to be moved by music and I was.
If I have a criticism it is that the sermon was a bit patchy. However, what it lacked in style it made up for in message. God brings you to certain places, puts you in certain situations for a reason, and I'm sure I went to this church tonight for a purpose.
A large part of the talk was devoted to prayer and the need to commit to praying daily. If you start small that's fine but build up gradually. You don't go from five minutes a day to an hour in one hit.
The secondary message, and the one that spoke to me, was that we need to slow down. Why do we rush everywhere. God is in control so let him be, don't be in a hurry to have something done yesterday. This is where I have erred.
Tonight was a good night. I enjoyed the new experience and the opportunity to share church with some friends I either haven't done this with in a while or before. Importantly, I left the church smiling.
(* This post should not be taken as a slight against my current church, I am merely recording my experience.)

Since when is prayer an intrusion?

I mentioned a few days ago about a guy who I had not been in contact with for a couple of years.
Well i decided to check in and see how he had been in the past week, to let him know I had been praying for him in his situation.
Basically I wanted him to know that he needn't be alone in the problem he was having, even if I guess I was in part a contributor to his issue.
Anyway, the reply I got took me by surprise.
It was: `I never asked you to pray for me. You are intruding my boundaries by doing that. Please don't pray for me again'.
So my question is, since when is prayer an intrusion? Was it wrong for me to pray for him? I didn't think so. Anyway he's decided to cut off all communication again, seemingly. I guess I'll get another text message out of the blue in a couple more years time.
I just hope he wants to help himself, because from where I stand he doesn't want others (me particularly) to help.

OTH season 4 kickoff

Well with the planned movie being canned for the night, Plan B turned out to be quite nice with the One Tree crew gathering for the first two episodes of season 4.

`The Same Deep Water As You' and `Things I Forgot At Birth' kicked off the fourth season of the best drama on the box (or in our case on DVD).

Cooper and Rachel have plunged into the river in the limo and Nathan has dived in to save them but becomes trapped in the car, so it seems.

Lucas and Haley (pictured) are powerless to help.

It was a powerful start to the new season with lives hanging in the balance, the possibility of up to four characters being pregnant (one is confirmed) and Dan faced with someone knowing he killed his brother.

It was great to get into some fresh episodes of One Tree Hill, despite the fact I wasn't feeling awesome, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday. It really was a great night, hopefully I can reschedule the movie with everyone else because I am really keen to see Reign Over Me.

Anyway, season 4 has certainly picked up where the third left off. If it continues to get better we are in for an awesome 21 episodes.

Brant's life story...so far

Congratulations to Brant on reaching 30. I've been reading his blog for a while and he seems like a top class man, it's just a shame he's on the other side of the world.
Otherwise I'm sure we'd be friends.
Hope it was a good one mate.
Here is Brant's story so far.

32

Today's the day, but I wish I had better news to report.
Had a bit of a setback and am not feeling brilliant. Not too bad, and certainly not anywhere near a few months ago, but the timing is disappointing.
I actually made it to work but went home after about an hour. The doctor is saying a cold or a virus is most likely and to rest, fluids, panadol etc.
The shame is I had a bit planned for tonight but I have had to can those plans.
My thinking is that I have pushed too much too soon and have not paid enough attention to caring for myself. I have tomorrow off and the weekend so hopefully I can bounce back.
Last night the bible study group played putt putt golf. Good fun. It was going to be bowling but there were no lanes available.
Hopefully day two of being 32 is better...

Hot Fuzz

From the team who made Shaun Of The Dead (which I haven't yet seen) is an action film spoof Hot Fuzz.
Promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the sleep town of Sanford for being too good a police officer, Nicholas Angel is baffled at the attitude of the townsfolk toward law and order.
He's partnered up with Danny Futterman, the son of the local inspector and, somewhat of a dimwit offsider. He's obsessed with action movies and longs for some `real' police work. It's doubtful, however, that he could handle it.
When a series of townsfolk die in mysterious circumstances, Angel makes it his mission to track down who did it even though the rest of the police just write the deaths off as accidents.
It seems a lot of accidents happen in Sanford.
This film is a spoof and it's worth keeping that in mind. I won't give away any more but to say it has a surprising last third or so.
As entertainment it rates fairly well and because of that I'm giving it a 7.5 out of 10.

How to save a life...

It's time I reflected on what has happened in the last few months. It has been quite a ride.
Towards the end of November I started to feel unwell and quite tired. As it turned out I was very run down and literally couldn't go on another day.
I took three weeks off work and when I returned I wasn't any better, in fact if anything I was worse. The meltdown, as I refer to it, caused a relapse of my illness.
For a couple of weeks I struggled a lot to go work and do anything else, I was lost my appetite and consequently lost weight. By Christmas Eve I ended up in hospital, fortunately only for the day. Christmas, as you can imagine wasn't overly fun - I didn't leave the house, didn't eat much and wasn't enjoying it.
I had another two weeks off work. By the time I went back I still wasn't feeling that great but battled on for three weeks before taking more time off. This time it was five weeks in total. Just before that I was suffering panic attacks and massive anxiety, brought on by both the meltdown and the relapse.
Life wasn't overly fun. In some way I was losing a bit of hope, and wasn't handling the pressure than my body was under. And that was just the body, the mind is another matter.
By this time the body had well and truly begun to heal. I wasn't losing weight and I could eat again so that battle was becoming easier. It took a massive toll though, I lost interest in my work and, to this time have only seen three films at the cinema for the year.
I needed to learn how to relax. I was far too wound up and I felt like I had dug myself into a hole I couldn't get out of. I wanted to quit my job and it didn't bother me that I would have nothing to move on to. (I didn't quit my job though, I was advised not to make any drastic changes while in such a predicament and it was good advice.)
Then there was the medication, which I won't go into in detail. Some things were tried and they didn't work. But eventually I started to feel better. After about three weeks off work I began to have energy again, I was interested in things again and I felt like myself, but perhaps a bit better.
I've now been back at work for two weeks and I generally feel pretty good. I've even been getting to work at my regular start time of 7.30am and that is something I thought impossible a few months ago.
It's great to be in this position now and the timing is good, being so close to birthday number 32. I have learned a lot in the last few months and hopefully some of you who know me have noticed, but I still have a way to go.
What I do have to acknowledge is the help of one person particularly, who I don't need to name, who never let me lose hope, who showed amazing patience and who always stuck by me. I am very fortunate.
There were times I thought `is this what it feels like to be dying?'. It is unfortunately possible that all this could happen again but it is now up to me, with the help of those around me hopefully, to ensure that I am better prepared for it, to not be freaked out and to manage difficult times.
In some ways I feel like my life has been saved, that I have been given another chance.
I'd be silly to pass up that opportunity.

Knights win!

When Andrew Johns is taken from the field on a stretcher after just four minutes in the first game of the season it's enough to make you look for another team to support for the year.
But as I was reaching for my Melbourne Storm flag I discover Newcastle has made a miraculous comeback from 24-8 down at half time to win 25-24, without Joey.
So there's still some hope but gee we still need Johns back on the field.
Hope it isn't too serious or the game's best player might have just played his last. Late note: it seems Joey may only miss next week's game so that it is a huge relief!

What goes around...

For some reason, one that I can't at this point work out, I really like the new Justin Timberlake song `What Goes Around...Comes Around'.
I thoroughly hated his last two singles and despite loving Rock Your Body from a couple of years ago it still surprises me that I like this one.
It does feature Scarlett Johansson in the film clip, which goes some eight minutes or so.
Still, the song is remarkably catchy.
Perhaps that's why I like it.

The O.C. & me part II

I ripped through the second season of The O.C., disturbingly fast, a short while back and my view of it hasn't changed much from the first year.
It didn't get better but it was about the same and addictive enough to keep someone with nothing better to do hooked.
The best thing about season 2 was again Seth (Adam Brody) and his strange relationship with Summer (Rachel Bilson). At the end of the first season he took off on a boat when Ryan (Ben McKenzie) returned home, figuring that he'd go back to being a nobody.
His wisecracking, insecure, sarcastic nature is what makes the show watchable and it would be very dull without him. The Spiderman rip-off (which is in the picture) was pretty great and it was clever how they set it up.
The odd thing about season 2 was the lesbian relationship Marissa got into. I don't know where they were coming from, perhaps it was supposed to show another side to her rebellion.
I have watched quite a bit of season 3 and will review it when finished.

Forgiven not forgotten

Yesterday I received a surprise text message from a guy I hadn't heard from in over two years.
Let's just say there was some unpleasantness, I didn't exactly handle a situation well and we had a falling out. That's putting it lightly.
I won't go into what happened but basically he didn't want to have anything to do with me. In a way I kind of understand. I was disappointed, both in myself for behaving badly and in him for not wanting to address the problem.
Anyway his correspondance on Friday came quite unexpected but welcome. He'd been wrestling with the issue for a while, much more than I had I admit though I have had distractions in the last couple of years, and decided God told him he needed to forgive me.
It's an amazing feeling when someone says (even if it is in a text message) that they forgive you. However it wasn't so amazing to read that he had `hatred in his heart' toward me. I really didn't think I could have that effect on anyone, nor have I tried to.
I was pleased that he had forgiven me and, perhaps hastily, suggested we should resume hanging out. He's not yet ready for that.
The shame is that we did get on pretty well and had several similar interests so I was/am keen to go back there.
I'm working on it but I have the feeling that it will be a slow process.

30 Seconds To Mars

I kind of stumbled upon this band a while back courtesy of the song The Kill (Bury Me) - I didn't know why I liked it but I liked it.
The band is 30 Seconds To Mars and is actually led by actor Jared Leto, who has been in some films I have seen but to be honest wasn't that great an actor. Or at least hadn't found `the part' yet.
However, his band is a different story. Having listened to the album `A Beautiful Lie' a couple of times on the train I've got to say it's really, really, good.
Not really my cup of tea normally as it is a bit on the heavy side at times but it's interesting and the music has drawn me into it. I was a little skeptical when I first listened but that faded fairly fast. After a couple of listens, the best songs are The Kill, From Yesterday, A Beautiful Lie and Was It A Dream? but overall it's a decent listen.
Not for everyone but it certainly surprised me.

Back online

I picked up my computer this afternoon and all works as it should.
It's been a long two weeks.
Welcome back....

I miss my computer

It's amazing how you get so used to convenience.
For over a week now I have been without my computer at home and man I miss it.
Just last weekend we had a blackout for about 40 minutes and had to sit in the dark, no TV, didn't even have a candle, until the power came back on.
I never use my computer for much other than blogging, a bit of net surfing and email, and the occasional piece of writing either for work or myself. But it's presence has certainly been taken for granted. I also miss the large number of songs on my iTunes, some of which I had downloaded as I didn't own the CD.
(eg. songs like Evermore's Running, Fall Out Boy's This Ain't A Scene..., etc)
Hopefully it will be repaired next week some time...

OTH season 3 wrap

Some television shows just keep getting better.
Last night the One Tree Hill crew finished off season 3 and we have been left wondering how can it possibly lift the bar again in season 4 after a year that can only be described as groundbreaking.
Featuring and highlighted by the episode With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept which saw a student bring a gun to school eventually causing two lives to be lost was both brave and moving as already mentioned a while ago.
The cliffhanger from season 3 sees a newly remarried Haley screaming for help as her husband Nathan dives into a creek to save his uncle Cooper and, probably unknowingly, bad girl Rachel after their car plunges into the water.
We see Nathan gasping for air inside the submerged car. Who survives and what will be the aftermath? And exactly who is pregnant?
It's been a cracking season. Bring on season 4!

Rocky Balboa

The sixth film in the Rocky series picks up many years after Rocky 5 and, it must be said, thank goodness for that.
Why would Sylvester Stallone revive a series that suffered a long and painful death in the 90s after winning an Oscar for Best Picture for the original 30 years ago?
I'd say the answer, apart from perhaps a lack of suitable roles for him, is because he realised how much the fifth film sucked and he wanted Rocky to have a fitting ending. On that score I'm glad he did revisit it.
The film picks up at least a decade after the last and Rocky is living a semi-meaningless existence following the death of his wife Adrian. He owns a restaurant and is somewhat of a celebrity in the neighbourhood, much to the dislike of his son.
After a computer simulation predicts Rocky would have beaten the present day champion in a fight the champ's manager coaxes Rocky out of retirement for an exhibition dream match, realising that their fighter is hugely unpopular despite being undefeated.
The film is a little slow to begin, there is a lot of context and filling in the holes from the long period of time between films. The best part of this film, for me, was the relationship between Rocky and his son. There was a great monologue by Rocky where he tells his son that he needn't live in his father's shadow and has the ability to forge his own life.
The ending, while I won't give it away, was very fitting. And you've got to love the Rocky theme. Not the greatest film of all time but if you're a fan of the early films this is a must-see.
A 7.5 out of 10.

Break in transmission

I've been out of action, computer wise, for a few days as my machine needed a repair.
So, as a result, my posting has been non-existant for a while and will be sporadic for the next week or so I'd say. Though, since I go back to work next week perhaps it won't be as irregular.
The thing about technology is that we take it for granted and you don't realise how convenient it is until something goes wrong.