Quick thoughts on a Monday

Growing a beard

It was born out of laziness. A couple of days without shaving led to a few more, and next thing I know I've got a beard. I'm starting to get used to it, and think I might keep it around for a while. Making it work could be tough. By my count, there aren't a whole lot of cool guys rocking the beard, other than perhaps:

Jesus


Eddie Vedder


Jason Lee


Still, I'm going to give it a go. It's kind of a project, and since I have a bit more time on my hands these days, I'm big on projects. This one seems ideal since I don't really have to do anything. Plus I'll be ready to go come Movember 2007.

School Holidays

I'm sure for many people - like my friend Wheelie - this is a wonderful time of the year. For me it is a very frustrating two weeks. Walking around town is difficult because of all the little kiddies everywhere - I have to watch where I'm walking, and I don't like watching where I'm walking. Then there are the teenagers, who spend their days loitering in the mall. We used to call it "hanging out" in my day. Now they congregate in large groups in the most inconvenient places - like the entrances to popular shops. Sometimes if they are particularly pale in complexion with horribly dyed hair, they'll sit on the ground outside these shops. What the hell is up with that? In my day I never gathered up a bunch of friends, and said "Hey let's go into town and sit on the ground outside Borders". I don't understand people sometimes.

Training

Training for my first ever City to Bay is progressing well. Except there's been an unexpected hurdle. Unfortunately, the Gourmet Glaze outlet downstairs has come up with a great two donuts and a coffee for $4 offer, and it's a constant struggle to keep on walking as I pass it every day. It's amazing that it takes more will power for me to pass on the donuts than it does to spend an hour in the gym - I don't understand myself sometimes.

Poker


Tomorrow night I'm going to give the poker tournament another shot, and put a special emphasis on not making any dumb decisions. Hopefully it works out better for me than it did last week. Ando and I are going to the tournament together - kind of a western suburbs Worm and Mike D type thing. Not sure if Ando is bringing Carme this time, who I suppose would be Mike D's wet blanket girlfriend in this scenario, except she's the opposite, plus she plays poker (and better than the two of us if last week is any indication). I think I'll just try and relax, play my game, and realise that at the very worst I'm getting a nice beef schnitzel out of the night.