If you don't know, just keep quiet.

Sometimes you just want to say to people, "Just keep quiet!".
While watching the apology at work (yes we have a TV and yes we were watching it) some dude walks by the TV, looks up and shakes his head.
Then he walks by again and says "All this just coz 10 kiddies got taken away".
I said "What do you mean?".
He says "What a waste of time just for 10 kids"
I said "I think you'll find there were a few more than just 10"
He says "Nah!"
I said "You'd better check your facts before you open your trap"
He walks off. Sun burnt neck in tow.

Reserrection poll.

Question:

Should Capeman be resurrected?
To vote Yes, Comment Yes.
To vote No, Comment on someone else's blog.

:-)

MeMe for Bevis 20 things about me.

1. My brother and I argue about who is taller. If there is a difference, it’s about 1 cm. I measure up at about 185cm, he is about the same. His hair is higher and he has a more oblong head, giving him the appearance of extra height, but it’s just an illusion.


2. I’ve never smoked a cigarette or touched any form of drugs. I did roll my grandfather a rolly(sp) using his silver rolling machine, tally ho and capstan tabacco (I was about 12). I feel sorry for anyone hooked on anything they can't give up. I see so many young people smoking and doing drugs, thinking they are invincible and it's just a bit of fun. I never could understand that. I fear for my children, but hopefully they will have all the information I can give them to allow them to choose a healthy life over the alternatives.
   


3. As a child, I can remember getting into trouble only once per year. Things that seemed major at the time, are so insignificant now, I wouldn’t call it trouble. The most memorable was when, in grade 5, the boys used to touch the leaves of a particular tree at the top of the school yard which would deposit small spikes or cactus like needles on our hands, then we’d walk up to the girls and touch their checks. The needles would transfer over to them and given a prickly experience, apparently it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. We got into trouble and the teacher lined us up (about 6 of us) and asked the girls to go to the tree and bring back prickles for our punishment. They did this and punished us good. The best thing though was that the girl I had a little crush on picked me to punish. I think that was a sign. More on Libby later.


4. In grade 6 (1976) I went to watch a football game at my local VFA ground in Preston. Sitting in the grandstand, my friends and I were enjoying the game when a couple of bully types (13 year olds) came over to ask if they could borrow my pen. I think I said no, get your own, which was followed by a fist to my nose. I didn’t retaliate, I was quite puny in those days, but they didn’t return.


5. I enrolled in a double degree in Accounting and Computer Science, with the intention of becoming an Accountant with some knowledge of these new fandangled computer contraption thingys. I soon figured out that Accountancy was not going to be the way for me and concentrated on the Computers. Especially, after failing Contract law two semesters in a row, I was under threat of losing my place at uni which I sorted out by dropping the Accounting degree, and by the way, the student union did absolutely nothing to help me. They couldn’t give a toss.


6. I love most comedy programs. Top of the heap is Fawlty Towers. I can pretty much recite scripts from most of the shows. Seinfeld is next, which I initially poo pooed as a crap American sitcom but It was my wife’s influence at the time (she was very anti-American). I love The Office, David Brent and Gareth, what a team. Everybody loves Raymond is another favourite, it’s rumoured to be loosely based on my brother and I (so says my sister and sister in law) but I can’t figure out which one of us is Ray and which one is Robert. The Simpsons is another massive favourite, every episode is great and Homer is my hero.


7. I met my girl friend via the bits and bytes of the net. We’ve been together for almost 2 years and we are very much in love.
   


8. I have a tendency to change my mobile phones every couple of years. Since my first analogue phone, I’ve had about 7 phones. 4 Nokias, 2 Ericssons and currently have an O2 Xphone. Only had it for 1 year, due for replacement next year. I am very much the technology junkie, it is my only real vice.
   


9. I’ve previously posted about the cars I’ve owned, but I really like my current car. The Blue XR6 Turbo, it’s quick and manoeuvrable. I have it leased for a couple more years but then I will have to hand it back and revert to a larger capacity carrier type vehicle. Hopefully something with a turbo though.


10. I make a mean lasagne, pretty much from scratch and can have it served up in 2 hours. I can even make the pasta if I feel like it, but why do that when you can buy fresh egg pasta sheets. My daughter loves it, but she ranks it 2% behind my mums version. She uses more cheese I think.


11. Going back to grade 5, I was asked to play kiss chasey buy Libby (girl I had crush on). She wanted to chase me!!! If caught, you were taken to the “kissing tree” where you had to kiss in front of the assembled crowd. My sister was a year below me and I know she was always hanging around the “kissing tree” and would have sprung me. Also, Libby had what young kids these days call a posse. Her gang (the Kelly gang) was also going to be part of the chase group and therefore I stood no chance of escape. So I declined the offer and I have regretted that decision ever since. Libby then asked Mitchell and he said yes, bastard.
    


12. Other than the punch in the face I mentioned above, I’ve only ever struck two people in anger, and in self defence. Both these happened when I was under 14 years of age. The first kid tried to push me around, he was sort of a bully type and I managed to thrust my arms out and he went backwards and ended up on his arse. He never messed with me again. The second guy was not really a bully but was just trying to pick a fight with me. He also ended up on his arse and never bothered me again. On another occasion I was with some friends and a younger kid (we were year 10 he was year 8) was bugging me about my nickname from primary school (tell you that later) and it pissed me off but my mates stepped in a grabbed him by the neck and told him to push off. Never came near me again.


13. My primary school nickname was “banana”. Reason being, my surname sounds a little like yellow. What is yellow? A banana.


14. When I started work at my current company, they called me mr red, or they called me mr blue. Is there a link between primary school and the workplace? Probably.


15. Favourite movies: Terminator 2, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1 & 2, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Seven Samurai, Godfather 1, 2 & 3, Goodfellas, 2001: A space Odyssey, Saturday Night Fever, All the Indiana Jones movies, Star Wars episode 4, Blues Brothers, all the Monty Python movies. There are more but I’m getting tired now and I need to finish up soon.


16. I used to play indoor cricket and was very competitive at it. I captained the team and almost got into a fight when I bowled a bouncer at this whinging bastard. It was the most aggressive I’d every played and nearly ended in tears (for him). We won a couple of leagues and came 2nd a couple of other times. I wish I had the time to return to the green carpet but I don’t think so.


17. My favourite colour is blue and number is 7.


18. I have other blogs in the blogosphere which explains why I don’t post much. I’m not a writer nor a frustrated writer looking for outlets etc, I’m not an actor trying to branch out into writing or vice versa. Therefore I find it very difficult to just churn out stuff.


19. I’m a widowed father of two wonderful children. Life has moved on, see point 7 above. They are 10 and 7, one is very artistic, and the other is very mathematical and accurate. They are the major focus of my life and until I have to let them go, they will always be my babies.


20. This will be my final post as Capeman. It’s been good fun, but I can’t continue writing under this banner any more. Thanks for all the comments, as I said before, I have another presence and he’ll be around for a while longer. Chances are I’ll merge the two together, create a new blog and return to some sort of anonymity. My biggest mistake was telling workmates about this, it’s hard to write your mind knowing who is reading. So farewell. I won’t be tagging on anyone. Thanks for tagging me Bevis, hope you enjoyed the snapshot.

Viva Ferrari!!!!!

Six months in a leaky boat...

When I bought this tent of mine, I asked "Is it waterproof?", the answer came back "Yes". Mistake number 1, I believed them.

When trying to assemble the tent in the rain, don't rush. Read the friggin instructions, no matter how show or useless they look coz invariably there are many clues in the text that will allow you to figure it out and get your tent up (I had assembled it in the backyard once after purchase and had no problems). Mistake number 2, didn't RTFM.

At the site, we couldn't figure out which telescopic poles we needed (6 or 9 segments?), used the wrong ones, the rain started and stupidly I said "This is only a passing shower". Mistake number 3, it rained for nearly 2 full days solid.

Finally got the tent up, with the fly cover and moved all our stuff in. Refer to mistake number 1. The tent was not waterproof, it was more sieve like. Mistake number 4, when the forecast is for rain, bring a tarp, we didn't.

2 nights in a leaky tent is more than enough for me. Thanks for the experience, the kids are not scarred at all (counseling starts soon) :-)

It was fun. Never lost our sense of humour.

Tail-end* and tapering* are going into the family lexicon to represent the weekend.


*both in reference to the rain ending but never did.

Gabe Kaplan, alive and punting.

I was watching the latest craze in American and also coming this way. Televised Texas hold'em poker, I only caught the last 45 seconds of the tournament and unfortunately I missed seeing one of my favourite TV teachers was playing and had reached the final two. Mr Kotter has thrown in his chalk and leather patched beige jacket and white mans afro, for a short crop, and weak excuse for a beard.
So, how did he do? Well, to get to the final two is a great achievement, unfortunately he couldn't get past the champion (don't ask, I didn't take much notice of him). For his trouble, Gabe picked up over $220,000 US. Not a bad 2nd prize. I think the winner picked up a cool $500,000.















Well done Gabe, The sweathogs would be proud.

A Little Bit of Live Aid.

My sister sent me an email tonight noting that she feels so old. She was watching the broadcast of the live aid concert from 1985 and reminiscing about those days. I flicked over and caught a little bit of the special, just in time to see Freddie Mercury out front of Queen singing Radio ga-ga. A small tear welled up in my eye as I realized that some of these artists are no longer with us. A lot more are washed up and a fair few are still "rocking". Elton looked ridiculous in whatever hair he had on. Tina Turner had her trademark fright wig on and Mick Jagger looked skinny and all lips as per normal (nothing changed there).
I saw a glimpse of Bob Geldof and he looked so young, what I still can't figure out is how can one man, by virtue of his one and only hit song "I don't like Mondays" make such a long lasting impact? I know he organized and continues to make an impact, but his off sider in the live aid thing, Midge Ure, has pretty much turned invisible. Where is his Knighthood? He's alive and well. Did you know he was originally part of Thin Lizzy?
Remember when Albums were those big black things with actual grooves and you needed a huge system to play the damn thing. You had to clean the needle as it gathered dust, ahhh those were the days.
Sorry, just stepped back in time for a while. Back now.
Have a good week.

Can I help you?

True Story....

I was driving home from a play in the park with the kids and driving up a residential street I saw a woman standing in the middle of the road, talking to the driver of a car going in the opposite direction. The car pulled away and the woman staggered back into the middle of the road, I tried my best to avoid her but she jumped almost in front of me. I slammed on the brakes as she was desperately waving me down. I thought, What's going on, does she need help, questions raced through my mind. I wound down my window and she came up. She opened her mouth and whatever she was eating hadn't gone down yet, so in her excitement, some of the food particles flew out and onto my car. What was so important that she was waving down cars in the middle of a busy road?

"Have you got a smoke mate?"

Moi? A smoke? Lady, I'm the last person in the world that would have one.
So that was the emergency, as I sped away so no more food would be spat at my car, I could see her waving down more cars.

Kill me before I get that desperate.