The Banal Chew

Grammar is War

Good Times

 It's that time of year,
when the world falls in love,
every song you hear seems to say...

it's Mardi Gras season!

We have lots planned.  I can't decide if I want to splurge on a ticket to sit in the Members' Viewing Area and watch the parade.  I've only ever been in it...never watched.  But I'm thinking it's time to get some good photos to post.

As for parties, there's House of Blackstar this Friday, Underbear next week, Mardi Gras Party and Toybox next weekend. 

Then sleep.  A whole lot of it.

After hunkering down in quiet ol' Tucson for three-quarters of a year, I'm ready for some fun.

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ps -- I have received a couple of questions about the wolfberry (Goji) puree I included in the smoothie recipe in my last post.  You can find the brand I use by clicking here, but there are many types of Goji products on the market.  Yes, it's a bit pricey, but you only use a little.  I get about 30 servings out of the bottle I use.

Ouch

 After two months of slothdom and some pretty radical dietary indiscretion over the holidays, I am now, officially, back in the gym.  And pardon my language, but it bloody well hurts.  Thankfully, the pain is outweighed by the good feeling of having returned to something that I enjoy and that is also simply the right thing for this middle-aged man to do.  I need to keep up my health.  I sure won't have the cash to afford a lot of expensive healthcare when I'm in my golden years.  Not at this rate.

By the way, I think I just invented the best post-workout or morning tea smoothie ever.

Sandy's Banana-Berry Superfood Smoothie

Banana
Low-fat berry yoghurt
Wolfberry (Goji) puree
Vanilla protein powder
Apple-pear juice

It's pretty yummmy.  Your body will hug you.

Spacedawgs Wanted

If I had a few dozen million dollars, I don't think I'd go to space.  Not after reading this article, an "oral history" of the first space tourism encounters.  These "private astronauts" make it all seem so banal...so much so, in fact, that all you can think about is a craving for beer and pizza and where to find your lip balm when you forget to zip the pocket of your spacesuit.

At the Space Adventures website, there is information about rocketing to the moon and watching the "earthrise".  Or for less than $200K, you can simply ride on a space-shuttle in suborbital flight, departing from your choice of "spaceports" at either Dubai or Singapore.  Wild stuff. 

But imagine how crude it will seem in around 100 years or so, when people are drinking ET-tinis and playing shuffleboard aboard the Queen Cassiopeia, as they orbit whatever celestial body we decide to pollute next.

Nah, no thanks.  I just prefer to pay off debt.

Sunshine

...finally!

It has been raining in Sydney for nearly two weeks.  I don't mean once every other day.  All this while Victoria, our neighboring state, was burning.  While we were kicking aside one abandoned broken umbrella after another on our way down the city sidewalks, people's homes were succumbing to fireballs and disappearing faster than it takes to toast bread.  It's a crisis of unimaginable consequence. 

Lord, I do need a laugh.  This gave me a good one today.

Roger enjoyed the sun, too.  He's a bit tired of being toweled off after every journey to the sidewalk and dog park. 

Roger takes a break

And speaking of critters, did I mention Homer has a hen?  Why not jump on over and show him and Henny-Penny some love?

Isn't he handsome...

... that man o' mine?

Check him out in this new advocacy campaign by Reconciliation Australia.

Redfern

As part of my walk to Redfern Station today, where I caught a train to Newtown to have brekky with Jason (Kevin's partner), I passed through the newly refurbished and re-landscaped Redfern Oval and Park.  At first glance, you might wonder about the $20 million pricetag for the improvements, but in order to fully appreciate the enormity of cost, you'd need to see what it was like before. 

Previously, the Oval had sloped grounds surrounding the playing field, which meant the perimeter was an approximately 12' embankment.  Walking around the Oval meant walking next to the embankment's retaining wall, well past its prime, overgrown with weeds, full of garbage and blocking any possible view of the city and Redfern Park.  It was ugly.  Full of history and significance, but ugly as sin.  No one wanted to use it, and hardly anyone did.  Even the South Sydney Rabbitohs stopped using the Oval, once home to the historic rugby team.

Redfern Oval, before the renovation
(photo by John Ellery, used with permission)

The renovations are now complete.  While some have criticized the city for spending so much money to re-do the Oval and Park, and yes, there are some issues (eg, limited seating capacity), I have to think it was for the better.  The giant walls have been torn down; it is open and welcoming, providing easy access from all surrounding areas, and it offers excellent visibility of the surrounding neighborhoods and green space.  The Rabbitohs even played a game there recently. They lost, but at least they were back in their old ("new") digs.

Redfern Oval, February 2009
(photo by Toby Forage, licensed to share via Creative Commons)

When they upgraded the Oval, they also completely refurbished adjacent Redfern Park.  New benches and water fountains ("bubblers", as they call them here) were put in.  In addition, new public art was commissioned and installed, as was some pretty funky playground equipment. 

As part of the Redfern Improvement Plan, a number of housing commission sites (or "Projects" to us in the U.S.) have been closed down.  A few have even been razed, in preparation for a massive project to build new units that will provide mixed generational and mixed socio-economic housing.  With the failing economy here (and everywhere), these plans have been put to a halt. 

The empty lots sit vacant now.  Everytime I walk by the site, I wonder about all the people and families, many of them Aboriginal, who were displaced from the old housing when it was closed last year.  Reportedly, many of them will be brought back, once the new buildings are completed.  But with the project stalled, no one knows when that will be. 

Where did all the people go?  What are they doing now?  Are their current living conditions any better than the old, damp, coackroach-ridden homes they once had?  Somehow I doubt it, but I do hope so.  I've often thought it would make an interesting documentary.

You Again?

My return to Sydney this time felt like nothing new or unusual.  I guess I come and go so much now that everyone's used to it.  I'm ready to stay put for a while...well, until June anyway.  But at least it won't be just me heading to the U.S. 

Even the critters appeared simply to say, "Oh, hey. You again?" 

Regardless, it is good to see them, and everyone.  I'm nothing without my friends and family.

Bonnee

Kiwi

Roger

The L & M Words

I'm lucky, I know.

I have a partner who tells me he loves me. 
I have a son who tells me he loves me. 
I have family who tell me they love me.
I have friends who tell me they love me. 

And I like that. 

Someday, Mark and I will be able to marry and have it recognized at a federal level, both in the U.S. and Australia.  Fortunately, I could move to Australia as Mark's partner, which is something the U.S. doesn't allow.  It is infuriating that international, opposite-sex couples can marry and have that union recognized for immigration in the U.S.  It is a right denied to Mark and me...and to many other same-sex couples.

It is unfair.  Simply unfair.

I'm glad times are changing, but there's still much work to be done.

Please go here to illustrate your support for Freedom to Marry week...at whatever level.