Epworth returns

Right.....

I think owe an update here to tell you guys what came of my match so here goes.....

It was , in a word, eventful.....Oh very eventful....

For the first, I've had someone actually give me the licence to run with the ball.....The coach's specific instructions to me were to get the ball from my teammates and run at their defence....which for 25 glorious minutes i did with imperious impunity revelling at the chance to play against guys just that vital fraction slower than I....chances weren't aplenty but I did win a penalty which was then duly missed and had a shot hit the bar...

But after 25 minutes they planted 2 men and me and effectively stopped my teammates getting the ball to em and as such i dropped in to the midfield in my cutomary defensive role and thats when the fun started....

First up, went in for an aerial challenge with one of my opponents...on a highball....won the challenge and was running off withe ball when the calls to stop play and iturned around to find the guy clutching his face....I thought twas all just an act but he got stretchered off and eventually taken to hospital and at halftime we got new that I had fractured his cheekbone....

Honestly I have no idea how I managed that....but I did....and it only meant I was a marked man for the rest of the match....

And it all came to a boil in the 2nd half.....

Went in for a sliding tackle...won the ball clean...well clean enough for the referee but took out my opponents legs from under him in the process...which...you know...happens....its all in the game...

But he was rather incensced and got to his feet and just took a swing at me in retaliation...I was still on the ground and he just swung his boot at my and connected flush with my hip .... I could feel my femur jarring in the socket.....twas such an act of petulant retaliation and I wasnt about to take it sitting down and I jumped to my feet and was in his face....

Man...2 cm from his nose and I could just feel the heat and the tension.....I wasnt about to throw the punch....but I was just breathing into his face waiting for him to snap......And the next thing I knew my whole eam was rushing in....as was his.....And wolla!!..... a huge shoving match....

Haha....so much for a charity game....and to top it all off the guy didnt even get sent off..... the ref (who was provided by The Police) just came him a yellow and firm talkign to.....

I was mad but well...such is life eh....

In any case....well...we lost...3-0....to a team of far superior fitness and who've been training together everyweek for years...so no big disgrace there.....

but what a match.....Broke a guys cheekbone and started a fight.....

My kinna day.....

Epworth

For those of you don't know and even for those of you who do know .....

I train with and play for the Epworth Foundation Soccer Team here in Melbourne....

The Epworth Foundation is like an umbrealla organisation for about 4 different big hospitals plus a few nursing homes, surgical hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals and welfare organisations....Its like how SingHealth operates in Singapore (i think....) as an umbrella body....and i work for Epworth Eastern Hospital...one of the surgical hospitals that it encompasses

Well essentially they have a soccer team....which is pretty strong considering the size of the workforce they have at their disposal and that I have been fighting to get into.....

Well, this Sunday they play a charity match against the State Police of Victoria.......which is gonna be a huge occasion.....and I'm probably gonna be on the team.....barring any major muckups on my part.....

I've havent played in something of this manitude in quite a while....I don't think even outr National cricket games got this much publicity...

I'm rather surprised at just how high profile this thing actually is....what with a curatin raiser junior match, displays and a parade by the police force.....i think they even have the Commissioner of Police arriving in a helicopter or something...
And the trophies will be presented by the Deputy Premier...Holla Holla!

So its something exciting to look forward to...

I've attached the flyer for the event below...so blow it up and have a look.....

And wish me luck....gonna need it....The state Police team is pretty damn tough...

Tennis anyone?

Just another glimpse of our extra-curricular activities while on rural......making use of the excellent facilities at our accomodation.....



For those of you who are wondering about the little munchkin in the corner.......

Thats Trish....

and Yes......

She really is that small.....

But fiesty....oh indeedy....Fiesty!

Me no Ambo....

A night spent with the Ambulance services.....and getting called out to a fight between a white family and a bunch of indigenous punks.....



Hmmm.....I dont think i'm cut out to be a paramedic....the uniform just dosen't flatter my figure.....

It must be the luminescent horizontal stripes...DAMN!

Yes twas actually a medical placement...

Strangely enough....our 2 week country holiday wasnt just that...

We actually did stuff with a strangely medical inclination......

well barely.....

Practicing the art of implementing an effective nec brace without snapping our patient's spinal cord in the process....


Although, in the case of this particular patient that latter option seemed a very attractive proposition...
Its so comforting to see the future of the medical fraternity so hard at work at perfecting the skills to ensure the wellbeing of our future patients.....
Like....look at shasti....the picture of concentration....

Other skills learnt include the art of plastering up a broken arm....

Note to self:
The famous 'Strike!' shirt (as loved by Justin) + unforgivable use of army pants + distinctly attractive socks = Fashion Disaster

Excuse:
I'm in the country for christ's sake...Who cares?!?!...The Cows???


A new take on the standard obligatory Oreo photo with Eliza:

The Oreo 'Greek Statue" Remix

My usual fellow half of the cookie, Nesh has been replaced by Suran....but the Cream remains the same....Eliza at her plastered up best.....

Trish getting the whole concept of a plaster cast very wrong....



Sweetheart....Casts are meant to heal breaks......
Not cause them Goddamnit!!

Welcome to Bairnsdale....

And so i'm back....

After 2 weeks spent in the technological wilderness of rural Victoria.....

More specifically in a sleepy coastal town called Bairnsdale.... 350 km out of Melbourne....and seemingly even further from anything to do....

Bairnsdale is essentially a town full of retiring pensioners with money to splurge on elegant holiday homes along the coast and along the canal network that works way inland and makes up the Gippsland Lake system along which our own accomodation was built....

Speaking of which, the accomodaion was incredible.....twas a lil holiday resort which was right on the water...with our own personal jetty( not like we had anything to moor on it but thats not the point...)

Tis the view from our living room at 6 in the morning....



The waterway you see leads out to the lakes which we traversed on 2 occasions.....

One.....in a dignified ( read: rather boring) ferry cruise....

Tis jereme, carol and shasti enjoying the vibrant, dynamic view of 2 hours of vast, open water...

No...i'm not a fan of too much scenery watching...especially when the its such that it knocks me off to sleep, i wake up and scenery has yet to change...


Right after this photo was taken I was chided by the tour manager for being plugged in to my music when there was all this nature to enjoy...

What the heck was he going on about!!...How enjoyable can the droning flatulence of a his little ferry possibly be....gdness....these rural folk have seriously gone too deep into their keeping nature natural nonsense.....

Our second rather more exciting trip down he lakes....was when the above mentioned 3 and yours truly rented out kayaks and took on the waterways on our own....

Unfortunately, the fact that we ended up IN instead of On the freezing cold lakes on a number of occasions justified our decision to cameraless....and as such there is no photographic record of our clumsy adventures

I try to steal??

Spam……something we tend to delete without a seconfd look because that’s what we’ve learnt to do…because after all, by vitue of its name, its all junk innit….

Wrong….

I happened to have the good fortune of opening one of my spam mails the other day ( don’t worry amma I haven’t infected my computer and myself with viruses)…and uncovered this gem……

It isn’t much really…but the bad grammar coupled with the naïve confidence of amateur trickery and its ability to invoke curiosity….and most of all the raw simplicity of it all…..just made me laugh…..



regardless, I managed to resist the temptation to open the file “ranking.zip”…..