The Beautiful Game Played By The Not So Beautiful

The next Homeless World Cup football tournament is on in our own backyard, Melbourne, Australia. IT will be interesting to see if New Zealand's homeless are any good at football. Their European and South American counterparts will probably be more naturally gifted at the round ball code, so it will be interesting to see what the standard is like!

Social Class In New Zealand?

Back in 1999 when I was in my third and final year of my Bachelor Of Arts I studied Social Class in Christchurch. The topic of social class is interesting, especially when I find myself in Newtown. There is such a range of people living in this partly gentrified area. There are so many foreigners living in Newtown, while there are also medical professionals including doctors living in the same area. It is weird because there are heaps of professionals here, but heaps of beneficiaries too. It makes my part time work seem like a well paid gig!

It is basic economics with supply and demand coming to the fore with jobs. Some people with very little school education can earn big bucks as they are willing to do the physically demanding work. That is why annual income is only one indicator of social class. There are heaps of people involved in working class sports like boxing, softball and league who are well off because they do physical labour as opposed to some office workers with double degrees who are starting off in the work force earning less and into more sophisticated sports like golf, tennis and football.

It makes for an interesting social mix in Aotearoa!

Crazy Hostage Drama

When I heard this I started feeling sick, but strangely intrigued!

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — A woman who went missing in 1984 was found by police over the weekend and told investigators that she had been held by her father in a cellar, where she was repeatedly raped and gave birth to at least six children, police said Sunday.

Authorities said that the father may have told acquaintances and relatives that his daughter had joined a cult and disappeared.

Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters that the father, identified as Josef F., had been taken into custody. Police said Josef and his wife had been raising three of their daughter's children. The other three grew up in the cellar.

"We are being confronted with an unfathomable crime," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.

The case unfolded after a gravely ill teenager was taken around April 19 to a hospital in the town of Amstetten, where she was found unconscious in the building where her grandparents live, police said. Told that the sick 19-year-old's mother was missing, authorities publicly appealed for her to come forward.

Officers received a tip and picked up the mother near the hospital on Saturday, police said.

The mother, whom authorities identified as Elisabeth F., told officers that she had just been released after two decades of captivity at the hands of her father. She said that on Aug. 28, 1984 her father had sedated her, handcuffed her and locked her in a room in the cellar of the family's apartment building.

In an interview with AP Television News, Polzer said that Josef F. had given police a code to unlock a hidden door, revealing the area where Elisabeth and the children had been held.

It had "several" rooms, an uneven floor and a "very narrow" hallway, Polzer said, adding that the door was "very small," and that one had to bend one's head to get through.

"Everything is very, very narrow and the victim herself ... told us that this was being continually enlarged over the years," Polzer said.


Source: ap.google.com

Inappropriate?

Last night at farewell drinks for Jess Waren a conversation came up on the appropriateness of sleeping arrangements in christian flats. There are so many different scenarios that can arise when people come to stay from out of town. One guy commented that it was never okay for two guys to share a double bed. I commented on a Scripture Union Holiday Programme where we stayed at a crib in Kaka Point and the only beds for the guys were one double bed and a couch. I shared the double bed with Nigel Winder the camp director. We both slept the same way. There were rules like no spooning (obviously), we were in separate sleeping bags and if either of us fell asleep with an arm over the centre line we were woken up with a quick jab to the ribs!

What about guys and girls sharing rooms? What happens if a girl and guy are friends and you are in a foreign city and the host doesn't have a lounge, is it fine for them to share a room with one on a bed and the other a mattress? Family is fine, but what about three people coming to stay and there is only one spare double mattress, so two guys stay in lounge on mattress, while the boyfriend stays on a mattress in girl friend's room? I say no to this one.

One of my flatmates was suggesting it was fine, because it was because there would never be self control issues. The thing is that sometimes these accommodation issues arise and you can't always be a good witness.

Finally a mate of mine Andy Gordon talks about the time he was on tour as part of a touring Christian group in Fiji. It was hot and he had to share a double bed with another guy as part of an accommodation shortage. He awoke to find he was being spooned by a sweaty boxer short wearing male from his group who had definitely crossed the halfway line!

What do you think about sleeping arrangements?

The Street's Website Video

www.thestreet.org.nz
Here is some shameless promotion of The Street's new green policy. Watch Jimmy RT and Chris Opie get amongst it promoting the website. It is always great to promote new ideas and You Tube is the way of the future, so it is great that The Street are with the times. Far more than other churches I have gone to. It is a matter of catering towards your market, I guess. It is a different market to the Southland Presbyterian one!

I am finally helping with sports at The Street in an official capacity. It is still no where near All Souls of London, but what can you do? With Sports Camp approaching, I am helping Corks and Muzza with it this year. It was a marvellous weekend last year, apart from being robbed of the major trophy. Mind you I already organise touch, with the DCBC Superstars and Marist Skins football team, so it goes with the territory really!

It is all happening!

It has all been happening. The new Heathrow Terminal 5 has opened. I also got a ride in a Hummer with Jamieson and Nicko, from Lambton Quay to Courtenay Place on Friday night after going to the Ashes farewell party and watching the rugby at Arizona. A big vehicle stopped beside us and a nice looking lass asked us if we wanted a lift. We got our photos taken and now we are on the McKenna Bourbon site. We also got McKenna Bourbon vouchers. We have also entered in a competition for a private chartered flight with 15 mates to Auckland or Christchurch to live the highlife. It was funny though as we were going to the BBQ on Vivian Street (outreach in Red Light district). They wanted to drop us off where we wanted. Imagine getting dropped off outside Il Bordellos in a Hummer. People would've thought we were pimps!

Memories of Great Commentary

The 12th Man has provided hours of entertainment for me over the years. Here is a snippet of old and new. There is some colourful language!

Wheel of Fortune is disappointing!

The return of 1980s gameshow Wheel of Fortune is disappointing and I believe that the 1980s version of the game was better. It is hard to say if it was because I was younger, but I don't really rate it now for several reasons.

Firstly I prefer games with more skill than luck, but I reckon it is a game mainly of luck, with the wheel element and order of players so crucial. Give me Sale of the Century or even Cash Battle any day!

Secondly it is bizarre how each player only has one viewable tally of their points. Because you only get to bank points you earn in any round, if you solve the puzzle in the round then players need to have two scores displayed like they used to, your banked money and your current money amount. Instead viewers only know how many dollars each player has in that round, but there is no way of knowing the overall dollars and hence the winner. I am positive that players had two screens with their dollars on them in the 1980s, what a shambles!

Finally in the last round when the champ tries to solve a puzzle, bizarrely Jason Gunn gives them letters and then the champ gets to choose some. It makes it so easy to win prizes. I thought that it was only up to the champ, which letters they get. It made it easy tonight with only three letters missing from Cookie Monster. It is a joke!

What Happened to the Indian Cricket League?

The rebel Indian Cricket League is over for another year and it didn't receive much media attention in New Zealand. Chris Harris's Hyderabad team took the title in this boyhood fantasy cricket competition. The Indian Cricket League is a haven for washed up stars who are not affected by their international cricket ban. Adam Parore is the most crazy New Zealand player in this tournament.

These Indian leagues have been so popular within India. I wonder if they just love cricket or if there is actually some politics within India. They both seem like a surreal game for a few rich Indians to live out their boyhood dreams. They bought them in a bidding war style auction much like fantasy cricket games online, but this time it is real. There are also special events within the matches as the leading run scorer gets to wear an orange cap in the field and there is a prize for the longest six of the tournament.

It is all pretty crazy and the thought of such crazy cricket teams is surreal!

Trimethylaminuria (TMA)

I am so lucky I don't have Trimethylaminuria (TMA) coming out of my body. There was a lady on the tabloid trash documentary show on TV2 20/20. It destroyed her life, but she has recovered by changing her diet mainly. It is so unfortunate. She apparently had such a strong dead fish stench as a teacher, that she cleared an entire auditorium! It is unfortunate, but mildly amusing now that she has found a cure. She seems like a gal with a great personality, but couldn't get close to any guys as any potentially keen ones would get scared off by the stench. Dead fish ain't sexy!

Fish-odor syndrome: An inborn error of metabolism associated with an offensive body odor, the smell of rotting fish, due to the excessive excretion of trimethylaminuria (TMA) in urine, sweat, and breath. Persons with TMA may experience tachycardia (fast heart rate) and severe hypertension (high blood pressure) after eating cheese (which contains tyramine) and after using nasal sprays containing epinephrine. TMA is caused by a mutation (change) in the gene for an enzyme, flavin-containing monooxygenase-3 (FMO3) encoded by a gene on chromosome #1. The FMO3 enzyme metabolizes tyramine (which is in cheese). The syndrome is associated with various psychosocial reactions, including social isolation, clinical depression and attempted suicide.

It's All Natural Baby!

One of my female flatmates was telling of a work story at the hospital and about how one male patient got a boner when a male nurse was changing his bag locate around the groin region. My flatmate was so disgusted and was talking about how all the females in the ward were grossed out. My other female flatmate and me agreed, it is all natural baby and not necessarily related to anything sexual. The French friend of a flatmate of mine in London who used to being a Life Drawing Model agreed. It had never happened to him on the job, but he believed it was nothing to be ashamed of. He did complain of cramping up though having to hold poses for long periods of time!

In other less stimulating news, I purchased some new footy boots. I went to the Yellow Fever stockists Champ Sports in Cuba Street. There has been plenty of rainfall recently so their stocks of boots with sprigs were limited. I purchased some Nomis Spoilers down from $200 to $120. They are made out of funny material which gives them Wet Control. IT helps you to control the ball in the wet. Hopefully they can work miracles with my game! Division Eight is ugly at the best of times, let alone when I play! On those wet days it is definitely not The Beautiful Game!

Inspired By Gay Abandon

I am just watching the end of Dancing With The Stars, it hasn't been the same since the series with Tim Shadbolt. The sight of the incredibly cheesy Stefano dancing the night away with gay abandon and a smile the size of Africa made me wonder how a straight guy moves like that and how he gets away with constantly kissing Temepara without her boyfriends and former Warriors second rower Sione Faumauina giving him a knuckle sandwich. Then it hit me. He is batting for the other team. I heard this from a friend who's friend went to an after party he was at. I also dragged this up, pardon the pun from a discussion forum directly from Google, so I wasn't delving around on dubious websites.

I got this off a NZ Reality TV website, far safer than when the flatmates come home and find you on the Gay New Zealand website. I hope by writing this, my Google adsense advertisements don't give links to dubious sites as in the past!

Drag hostess Miss Ribena couldn’t believe her lecherous old eyes when she spied Stefano Olivieri from TV1's ‘Dancing With The Stars’ at Auckland gay nightclub Family. The handsome Aussie was bustled onto the stage, and the cheering crowd got to see a bit more of him than they would by watching the hit TV show!

The Young Ones and Some Magic Music Videos

Here is a collection of some of my favourite You Tube Videos.

The Young Ones is brilliant, while these music videos are so bad they are gold!

Watch David Bowie 2:27 minutes into the Dancing in the Streets video. Priceless!

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

I ask myself this question as I was seeking back to back tennis singles victories for the first time this season. We played our last match last week and this week was the start of us making up the matches that were rained off, but ironically alas tonight was also rained off too. We still have three matches to make up, but the same enthusiasm just isn't there like it was in summer!

It did provide me with a chance to help with the meals at Christianity Explored. No one buys and opens those five packets of nacho chips like I do. I start at the middle and pull apart. It is an artform!

SO for the first time in several days it is raining and a night in is on the cards in preparation for the week and weekend ahead.

Question: Is finding the right person of the opposite sex and getting married the epitome of success?

In some passing conversations have heard females talking about other females saying about how they are beautiful, smart and funny, yet adding that they are basically a failure for not being married.

People as they are making life goals or in their older years looking back at their life, always mention getting married and having a family.

Surely single people go to heaven too? What happens if God's will is for you to change the world as a single? Just a thought!

Would You Rather?

A friend of mine owns a book called "Would You Rather?". There are heaps of different scenarios and you say which you would rather do or have. It is a great way to stimulate discussion. Today I will mention a few.


1) Hug a random person or pee your pants in public?
2) Fight Mike Tyson or Talk like him?
3) Pee a marble or crap a bowling ball?
4) Be 3ft tall or 9ft tall?

My picks are
Hug a random person - peeing your pants is embarrassing and hugging a random person could be fun.
I would fight Mike Tyson and get it out of the way in one go. Talking like him would be a lifetime of torture.
Crapping is so much easier.
Probably 3 feet tall. The average population is probably 5ft something, so 9ft is huge and there are more dwarfes than giants.

The Wedding Crossroads

I have reached the wedding crossroads between my Dunners mates and Welly mates. Being only in Wellys for 15 months means that I have only got to know people briefly and hence I am usually invited to the ceremony only. That is cool, but makes it hard to know if it is in another town/city.

Last year three of my best mates got married among others, yet I didn't mind travelling all the way to Dunners for the festivities as I was invited to all of the wedding, as I was one of their best mates who stopped living in Dunners in mid 2006.
There have been more wedding in Dunners, but since I haven't really lived there in two years then I didn't get invited.

Weddings are expensive and full of romantic ideals for all women who attend, so it is no wonder I have reached that point where I probably won't be invited to many more in Dunners. It is still hard to know if it is worth travelling places for ceremony invites only. I guess it is a matter of waiting and seeing. It seems that ceremony/reception weddings have superseeded ceremony/reception/dance weddings which means that the outer circles of friends don't get a chance to be involved further by attending the dance.

It was funny at one of these weddings as me and two mates hired a hotel room for the weekend where the wedding reception was held. One of my two friends was only invited to the dance. Because we were staying miles out of town near the airport, he had to go and find dinner at the local BP (old pie) and kill time, before sitting outside the reception waiting for us to come out to entertain him! Very amusing for the memories. He slept in the bath tub in our hotel room! It was fun though!

Anyway, life is full of these issues, but I must say weddings are more enjoyable when you know all of the in jokes. I am the usher type 5th best friend scenario. I have been an usher 5 times, groomsman once and afternoon tea assistant once.

Men Prefer Some Meat on The Bones

I got the following from www.stuff.co.nz and at my current stage of life, I agree whole heartedly. It is more important to have someone you can do fun things like eat pizza with and not have to put up with a weight obssessed female long term. Maybe initially and in their younger days, guys prefer slim, models, but guys want to be able to go and have lollies at the movies with their woman. Of course it is true to extent and assuming she stays around a size 12.

From www.stuff.co.nz
Fellas, read no further. In the area of new information, this story is slim. There has been a survey and it tells you what you already know: when it comes to women, the vast majority of blokes prefer them well rounded.


It seems their ideal girlfriends are pneumatic, not flat-tyred. They would rather negotiate sweeping curves than sharp shoulders.

They like women buxom, bosomy and bountiful.

According to the figures, the jury is in: men will choose a Rubenesque size 14 over a stick- figure size 8 when it comes to their ideal woman.

Admittedly, the science could be seen as somewhat superficial.

It is based on an online survey – not the most accurate means of obtaining information – of 60,000 men conducted by laddish men's magazine FHM.

The mag found that when shown pictures of three bikini-clad models, four out of five men said they were more attracted to the size 12 and size 14 models than the model who was a slimmer size 8.

The majority of votes went to the size 12 woman, with 41 per cent saying that she had the body shape of their "ideal girlfriend".

Almost as many men voted for the Nigella Lawson-esque size 14 model.

"A piddling 20 per cent of readers selected our size eight model pictured as their ideal girl- physique," wrote FHM editor Ben Smithurst.

"Which proves one thing, ladies: crack a beer, hoe into a hamburger and we'll love you just as much." Or maybe even more.

Body image experts take a less superficial view of the so-called research, but admit that it carries some, well, weight.

Professor Marika Tiggemann from Flinders University in Adelaide said that the results supported academic research.

"We find women want to be thinner than what men find attractive," she said. "Men's idea of what is 'thin' is larger than that of women. Unfortunately, a lot of people think being thin demonstrates being in control or being disciplined, while being fat is a sign you're weak."

The editor of women's magazine Cleo, Nedahl Stelio, said that most women did not diet for men but for other women.

"And if the society and celebrity ideal is thin, that's what she's going to aspire to, just to get one up on other women."

However, such surveys were far more damaging to women than they were helpful, according to Julie Thomson, general manager of eating disorders and body image campaigners the Butterfly Foundation. "It objectifies women and it still is perpetuating this ideal that men do look at women externally only," she said.

"There is just far too much importance placed on size when you should be looking at a whole range of other aspects.

"Those sorts of surveys are an issue because they are centred around judging people based on what size they are and it is a really unhealthy way to judge or view people."

I also found a column about why Kiwi men are going for overseas women rather than Kiwi women. It makes for interesting reading!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/abouttown/2008/02/19/are-foreign-ladies-snatching-our-eligible-men/

The Limitations of Top Dog New Zealand Tennis Rankings

The tennis season is in its twilight and the thing I placed so much emphasis on is flawed as I looked through results recently. I guess it works as a rough guide, but there are ways that it is inaccurate and is by no means an accurate determinant of ability.

Firstly I won on Monday over a guy I was ranked far better than. My team won easily over another team, while there were others sides who took us to the cleaners. I am left fearing for the safety of the team we thrashed on Monday when they play the top sides.

Problems with the system.

There are people playing in the wrong grade or at the wrong number in teams. For example there are players who play at number four in top teams who just collect the ranking points against lesser players. On the other foot is my constant playing against better players than myself which takes a toll on your ranking (while you don't lose many points from losing to superior players it takes its toll on confidence and your ranking). I have ended up being ranked relatively low because I play either number one or two. On a personal note, I have the game to match the top guys, but lack the consistency of other players of a similar ranking who are slicers. Most people around my ranking a slicers and old guys. I actually play better against people ranked better who have more power and depth on the ball, allowing me to play my natural game.

Another problem is people being entered into the rankings at the wrong place. I noticed in Southland there are players of a relatively similar ability to me with a far better ranking. They also have few results recorded on Top Dog, so there is little chance of being adjusted through naturally losing points. This pushes down other peoples' rankings.

So I love the system, but think it is only a rough guide, rather than the Bible which it has become throughout the season! I have aims of being ranked inside the top 10 at Kilbirnie in both doubles and singles in a year and in the top 2500 next year. This will require serious singles work, but doubles is just around the corner.

Completely Random

I lifted this from www.stuff.co.nz because it is crazy how India is a haven for these people with such defects.

An apparently healthy baby girl with two faces has been born in northern India, media reports say.


The girl has been drawing crowds to the family's mud-and-brick house in a town 50km from New Delhi, Agence France Presse reported.

"She's fed through one mouth and sucks her thumb with the other. We use whichever mouth is free to feed her," her father, factory worker Vinod Kumar, told AFP.

Kumar admitted he was "a little scared" when he first saw his daughter, but she was a healthy baby who was eating and breathing normally, AFP said.

"Whatever God has given me is acceptable. What can we do about it?"

Some in the deeply conservative Hindu nation see the baby as a deity.

The baby is yet to be named.

Doctors said separating the two heads was not possible because the skulls were fused together, AFP said.

The girl's birth occurred just a few months after Indian docotors removed the extra limbs of two-year-old Lakshmi Tatma, who was born with four arms and legs.

In other random news,

I was approached by a guy today while walking home with eight shopping bags from New World. I was two blocks from home and he walked beside me as he told me his sob story of his car running out of petrol by the zoo and he needed to get to Paraparaumu. I was struggling with these bags and he wouldn't leave me alone. What should I have done? Assume he was telling the truth? Tell him where to go? It just leaves me thinking that it is hard when many of these people are scammers, but then again what happens if the odd person is in desperate need?

I was walking home from being dropped at church on Sunday. It was clearing up, but still about 15 degrees (warm by Invers standards) and it was 10am on a Sunday morning. I was walking along a main road, Adelaide Road in Wellington just south of the Basin Reserve. I was tired after my camp and my eye was caught by a slim blonde figure in a white and black bikini walking down the opposite footpath with two guys and a girl normally dressed (slightly boganish). Totally random!

At the movies tonight there was a preview for a movie about MIT which is a University in Boston. They got a group of top maths students and learned the probabilities and art of counting cards whilst playing blackjack, to win massive bucks. I have seen a documentary on this, so it will be interesting seeing how they try to continually be allowed in casinos despite being banned. Disguises are the best option. Anyway I will be keen to see it. Blackjack is the game with the best odds!

A Weekend of Splashingly Good Times

Conditions were worse than this for our game on Saturday.

This weekend has been crazy. It started on Friday with dinner with Bec, Brendon and Jamieson, before heading to camp at Silverstream. The concept of adult camps intrigues me, especially since I am the same age as people taking these camps. It leaves me with an unhealthy lack of respect for the rules. There seemed to be plenty of 18-23 year olds, females especially. I am starting to be stretching it to be involved with these peeps.

On Saturday a guy from camp (Olly) was coming back into town for football. We didn't know if it would be on, as the weather got worse, the closer we got to town. It was on and it resembled a paddling pool in the goals. What a challenge the conditions provided. Nothing was left dry, but despite this, it wasn't that cold.

We then headed back and had dinner, listened to a speaker, played games and had a quiz. It seemed like quite a young crowd, and I have noticed in the last few days, how little Bible knowledge I have and how I don't tend to find speakers and people as laugh out loud funny as most other Christians.

Today I came back from camp early and played in the Kilbirnie Club Champs. My tennis game was based on some wonderfully powerful shots. I have come to the conclusion that I can mix it with better ranked players with hard baseline shots, but they are more consistent, I made the top eight in singles and dipped out in doubles in the first round.

So now I am tired and will head to bed soon!

The Crazy Russian

They are a volatile nation, but this craziness is something that I often feel like doing on court, but could never bring myself to do. We all know a crazy Russian. A Chernishov!

I am going to camp this weekend. THe concept of an adult Christian Camp is crazy. It relies on co operation and team work, as no one can be made to do anything (unlike school camps). There will always be someone yelling "Just go to sleep", but it will be fun. There are always fun times in the boys dorms talking about "Girls on camp we like" and telling manly stories.

I have a crazy sports weekend ahead too. I will probably return to town and play football on Saturday. I also have the Kilbirnie Club tennis champs to play in on Sunday afternoon. Interclub has still not finished. It is weird though because with both Easter and a rained off match, I haven't played tennis since my time in Invers.

Finally I will leave you with this thought. Camps are usually full of fun from memory, but at the time when you get no sleep, the meals are a mixed bag and the speaker goes on forever. It is time to weather the storm and enjoy the ride. It is only for a weekend and it is a great way to make more mates on these camps. At least it won't be as tiring as Sports Camp!