Dear Alcohol (Day 175)
19/05/12 • 3 Comments

Dear alcohol, Just a quick note this morning, because I’m trying to coordinate a child, several dogs and a dodgy ankle towards leaving home in the next 15 minutes.  Fortunately they’re at the age where they can self-coordinate to a certain extent.  I think the kid is feeding the dogs and they’re brushing her hair – that’s the only explanation for what I’ve just seen. As for the ankle, it’s been doing okay but I’m playing soccer in the corporate games today which will test it out.  Obviously I didn’t have the ankle problem when I signed up, but my competitve juices always kick in when it comes to events and I find myself doing things that aren’t really in my best interest.  Like last year – I had a sore knee leading up to the Gold Coast half-mara but I decided to run the pain out.  I achieved that [...]

Dear Alcohol (Day 168)
13/05/12 • 7 Comments

Dear alcohol, The ice has been asking what’s going on.  The confusion seems to lie with being applied to an ankle, rather than inserted into a drink.  It’s puzzled and seems to melt more slowly as a result.  Although it could be because it’s winter I guess.  And my frustration is causing me to hallucinate.  “Exercise carefully”, the physio said.   “You had me at exercise” I replied.  Should’ve listened to the second word he said.  Now I’ve spent half the weekend stuck to the lounge chair, talking to the ice. Need to get up though, it’s Mothers Day.  Some Mum’s get taken out for lunch.   I’m taking mine to the rugby. It’s not as selfish as it sounds.  She loves rugby, and in particular the All Blacks, more than I do.  We’ve been to games together all over the world.  I can tell she’s jealous of my silver fern tatt [...]

Dear Alcohol (Day 161)
06/05/12 • 3 Comments

I’m so happy that I can’t stop crying I’m laughing through my tears             - Sting   Dear alcohol, One of the few benefits of interstate travel is that blissful period when all electronic devices must be switched off and you can read a real book without feeling guilty.  I’m not sure what it says about my job, however I started and finished ‘Hello Darkness’ by Sam De Brito over 3 days this week. Now this is not the kind of book you’d want to read while you’re feeling down, and I’m glad I read it without the level of depression you’d add to the conversation.  It was dark, depressing and far too relatable.  It’s about Ned, an alcoholic, drug-abusing, job-hating misogynist with a talent for self-abuse.  He can’t work out how his life, full of early promise, ended up this way. While I can’t say I’ve ever [...]

Dear Alcohol (Day 154)
29/04/12 • 4 Comments

I want a fresh girl, I wanna drink my drink I wanna get high, I can’t have everything I wanna be rich, never work at all And sleep all day, and I wanna see it all Oh I want, I want everything I want everything I can’t have             – Robin Thicke   Dear alcohol, What is it about wanting the things we can’t have? I went to the nutritionist last weekend and was given a list of foods to avoid.  Not just to achieve my goals mind you, but to help me avoid my other nemesis, Mr. Gout.  As I write this I’ve just finished a breakfast with at least 3 of those things.  No doubt Mr. Gout is warming up the car right now. I can’t ride or run because of my left Achilles (otherwise known as the stupid Achilles – the other one could take the pain, [...]

Dear Alcohol (Day 147)
22/04/12 • 4 Comments

It ain’t where we’re at; its how we made our way here -          Hilltop Hoods, I Love It   Dear Alcohol,   It hasn’t really been the best week, but I’m not really in the mood to talk about it.  So I’m going to tell you a story.   Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a small boy called Fa’atu.  He lived in a small village, on a small island in the middle of the ocean, with his Mum and Dad and younger brother Mu’chtu.   They had a hard life by our standards, but of course they didn’t know that.  The village was completely self-reliant and everybody had a job.  Fa’atu’s Mum (who enjoyed discipline) was a teacher, his Dad (who was a stern man) was a fisherman and Mu’chtu (who Fa’atu thought was stupid) had to feed the pet pig.  Fa’atu’s job was to [...]