A Lithuanian Kick in the Blogs

At least I hope I won't need this blog title tomorrow. Tonight Scotland play away to Lithuania in the second qualifying game of the European Championship. We got off to a great start with the hammering of the Faeroe Islands but as bad as they are and as good as we were tonight will be a tougher game. the lithuanians drew with Italy on the italians home soil after all. We really need maximum points from our opening games from possibly the weakest teams in our group. We have France and Italy to contend with later, the World cup finalists and we also have the Ukraine and Georgia. I don't know how much more difficult our group could have been. Only the top two in the group qualify for the final stages. As the day starts I am confident, mostly, that we will win the game. I think for the first time in a decade we can say that we have the player quality to win. Not since the 70's have we had a world class team and even in the 80's we had a strong team but the 90's have been dire. We don't yet have the great team we need but we're going inthe right direction. One bad result though could wreck all the progress. We're a small nation with a big heart that needs it's football team back with the big boys. I'm getting nervous now writing this. I might just double post today with how I'm feeling later this afternoon. Game coverage starts at 5pm Dublin time. Have a wiki and check the links if you are so inclined, join the party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Army

Posted by wellskelpt @ 4:00 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

Ah the Memories

I was reeading an article today on how a primary School head teacher is in court on 10 charges of assault. She physically abused a number of children over a period of time through various levels of violence and humiliation. These people are scum of the lowest order. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1308602006

I remembered a moment from my own time in primary school. I was a good boy. Never in trouble. There was one time when we had a temporary teacher that sticks in the mind. We always got free milk each day in a carton, which we drank through a straw. I remember throwing my finished carton in the bin but someone threw a half finished carton in at the same time. I forget the specifics of how it was spotted but the teacher picked out the half finished one and ordered me to finish it, since she said I threw it away. This particular carton had a straw so chewed tht you'd be hard pushed to suck air through it. I never chewed my straw, I never chew pencils or pen tops, it's one of the things that makes my skin crawl. It was clear that someone had been chewing lovingly on this straw, leaving saliva and so forth and now I was being ordered to put this in my mouth and drink. I remember the screaming and the shouting and the roaring from the teacher, her refusal to let it drop, my repeated denials and pleading and tears. I was five at the time. I was left with no option to drink. I'm almost gagging at the thought.

For these teachers it's not abut instilling discipline in rebellious children, it's not about keeping wayward kids in check, it's not about teaching respect of authority its simply an abuse of their position and a way to vent their frustrations of life onto defensless children. They are scum. I would happily seek equiviant retribution on these old bastards. Thankfully there are few of them.

It's amazing how memory is not just images but emotions too. One small memory triggered and a whole event comes flooding back. I think I'll go for lunch now and cool down.

Edited to remove some bad language. There's just no need for it.

Posted by wellskelpt @ 6:28 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Limbo shuffling, not dancing

I feel that I'm slightly in limbo at the moment. It think it might just be fatigue but I'm not sure. I'm also a little under the weather but the doctor told me this morning that there's no chest infection so just one of those cold/cough things that lingers around. My poor wee boy has the same thought the bugger gave it to me. It's not always nice to share. Anyhoo, I'll be starting a new job in October so at the moment I'm working my notice in my current role. I don't have any motivation but I'm trying to remain professional and keep on top of things. It's difficult though since I lost interest a while ago, before I even had a new job. I may talk more about this once I leave but right now would not be appropriate. I find also that I've no inclination for gaming either. I didn't have an opportunity last week but I got a short window on Saturday. I turned on the 360, saw there were a few friends on line but just couldn't face a game of Halo2 or even call of Duty2. I downloaded a couple of demos recently released, played them, had a game or two of Texas Holdem, then just switched it off. I haven't even been able to read anything either. Reading has always been something I loved doing. More so than gaming to some extent. I find reading a good novel takes me to another word far more than gaming. I can become immerssed in a book adn empathise with the characters far more than a good game. gaming remains remote. When I read a book it's like watching a film in my head. I have a good imagination so if the book is well written than I can relly lose myself in it and become eager to read at every opportunity. I recently finished Ken McCloud's Newtons Wake. I couldn't get into it. It wasn't bad but I just couldn't read more than little bits at a time. I have Dan Simmons Hyperian Omnibus sitting ready to go but I haven't been able to even open the cover. The latest instalment of Kevin Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns is out now too so I need to pick that up at some stage but I've a dozen or so books waiting on my shelf to read. My taste is mainly for Sci-Fi. I've tried crime and thrillers and they are fine but sci-fi does it for me. I want to be taken to another world, another time, another universe so i don't want ot read something set in the current world that could in fact be true and pausible (although good sci-fi needs an element of plausibility too). I have also been reading alot of ancient historical fiction set in Rome or Greece. I read the Iliad, though it's debatable as to whether this is fiction or based on fact, I have the Odessy to read. I also have some stuff by plato to read (stuff! ha, such respect for some of the finest literature known to man). I also read the Alexander trilogy by Valarie massimo Manfredi (sp?), that was a great story and based on an incredible true period in history. I am also know to read poetry, autobiography, Politics, travel writing and others so quite an eclectic mix. I miss reading. I miss gaming. I miss a lack of fuzziness in my brain. I need a fuzz free heid.

I haven't even writen anything in ages either, which is another story. Or at least it would be if I actually got around to it.

Posted by wellskelpt @ 7:23 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

6-0

Sorry but it has to be recognised.

We won 6-0 today. We haven't won like that in over 30 years. Let it be known. Shout it from the roof tops. We played the first half better than I can almost remember in my lifetime. I am completely stone cold sober yet feel that I must be pished to see a score like that. Woo and indeed hoo!

we're comin, we're comin, we're comin down the road. When you here the noise of the tartan army boys we'll be comin down the road........sing along with gusto

Posted by wellskelpt @ 4:50 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Day 6 and 7

I have come to realise that I'm not much of a diarist. More talented diarists may have been able to write more interestingly and eloquntly about my week as a single parentn. Perhaps they could have touched on the changes encountered, the greater need for rythmn and planning in each day and even spoken of the greater bonding between son and father. This would have led to the description of how Cameron seems more of a little person than a baby and that I can clearly see his personality. Unfortunately I wasn't that good. Friday was an interesting day for me since I was really under the weather but had to go to work. The day couldn't end quickly enough but when it did and the sun was shining I collected my child and went on our daily amble around parks in our area. He ate heartily on returning to the house and then pottered about on his play mat for an hour. I should probably have interacted with him a bit more at this stage, pointing out that the green thing in his hand was in fact a green "square" with the number "three" on it and it goes in that particular slot of the big thing which is  called a "house" and you retrieve the green thing through the other thing called "door". That sort of thing. I just left him too it since I was rather tired. Bad Daddy. Bad. I roused myself enough to bathe him, after all we needed a clean baby to greet Mum.

Mum returned from deepest darkest India safely although encountered a number of delays, not least at London Heathrow airpport. She was simply transferring from terminal to terminal but of course it is not a simple thing these days what with all the security checks. So what used to take 20 minutes took an hour and a half. She mentioned to me that there were a number of American tourists in the queue in front of her that grumbled constantly about the time it was taking and questioning the need for all the security etc etc but she was too tired to remind them of certain events that necessitated all this "inconvenience". How easily some people choose to forget when it's not convenient for them. Eventually I was able to collect my wife from Dublin airport and head home in the rain and heavy traffic. My wife didn't mind. At least she was not being constantly stared at by a thousand or so people in the street, every street, which was a nice change. Before meeting my wife, as I stood with the herd in the arrivals area, I bumped into some friends who were returning from Liberia for a short break at home so it was good to say hello and we will meet  next week for a catch up. So the family unit is together again and all is well with the world. My diary of the week is at an end and whether it has any worth is debatable. I remember having great intentions of keeping a diary of the time I was in Sudan but I didn't have the energy to write doen my thoughts each day so this is the one and only journal I have kept in my entire young, handsome life. Chalk it off to experience and try again. It can only get better.

Posted by wellskelpt @ 1:09 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments