Cate Ellink's Blog, page 30

Footy again

After my rant last game, I thought I better write something a little more positive, since NSW managed a win.

I thought some blokes had super games - Tyson Frizel again was outstanding. Lethal when he ran off Aaron Woods, but they seemed to not do that after a Frizel's try - which is weird. If something works, wouldn't you keep doing it?

Josh Jackson and Wade Graham had good games too. They ran hard, made ground and played fairly.

I thought Josh Dugan was doing well until he came off injured. James Tedesco was good - some good runs, solid at fullback. Josh Mansour was good, but he and Tedesco look so alike, I got a bit confused (dark beards, you know!).

The halves made a not bad job of unfamiliar positions.

But hey, those hotheads were still there. Please, please please get rid of them. They unsettle the whole team's ability to play. Once a hothead loses his mind, then it all seems to fall apart and a few others follow and footy gets forgotten for being a dick.

After Greg Inglis hit Dugan in a tackle, that side of the field became niggly and nasty. Jack Bird came on and settled that all down. He was fantastic. Good sportsmanship was shown a couple of times to Inglis and all the niggly nasty settled. More blokes like Jack Bird, please.

I don't think I want to start on the refereeing... but I think that helped the win, majorly!

I didn't see the tackle on Cooper Cronk right in the beginning of the game so I can only go on what the commentators said - pretty sure the TV coverage left the kicker once the ball did. Apparently Tyson Frizel tackled him hard. No idea if it was late or dirty or what, but I'm guessing just a hard hit. But I think it either hurt or rattled Cronk. He just wasn't on his game. Before his sin binning, he seemed to be racing up in defence as if to shut anything down before it got hairy. He's usually a superb reader of the play but to tackle a man without the ball is unexpected from him. I wonder how much of an impact that big tackle early in the game had.

Anyway, those are my musings. I hope a few hotheads are gone for 2017 and we start a culture where we play footy and use talent, not fury/brain snaps. And also show good sportsmanship - not walking away from a trophy presentation. If junior kids did that, we'd be all over them. What a poor example. There's no excuse for that.

Wildlife Wednesday - seagulls

Seagulls are everywhere down here but I still like taking photos of them! These ones made a good reflection in a shallow rock pool.

I have this strange fascination watching seagull groups for all the interaction and scolding that goes on. Have you ever sat and watched a group?

A few weeks back Dad and I had a picnic, We didn't have seagull food because we had hard rice crackers and cheese, so we weren't sharing but it didn't stop them coming close to try. As one bird came close, another would hunker down, neck lowered and head stretched out and start squawking at the bird who dared to come too close. Then another bird would squawk at the next one to move. I couldn't seem to work out the hierarchy because it seemed different birds did all the fussing. So it fascinates me, trying to understand the un-understandable :)

Have you got the key to seagull behaviour?

Phallic Friday - confronting norms

I read two articles this week, along with Emmanuelle's articles, that have made me look hard at myself, and question what I'm here for.

Emmanuelle's articles we looked at last week and a couple of new ones have been added this week, which you should read too. Her website is: www.emmanuelledemaupassant.com

The new articles were, firstly, this one about a naked swingers festival in the UK, you can find it here.

Maybe it's because it's winter here and I have minimum 3 layers of clothes on, but I was shivering while I read this. The opening line didn't help, which says, "It’s typical festival weather — wet, windy and freezing."

The article then goes on to describe a bacchanal-style festival, complete with naked bodies, freely available drugs, open-air sex, orgies, alcohol, wet undies contests, wet t-shirt contests, races to orgasm, games of cock dribbling and toss the knob.

I was cringing and shivering by the end of the article.

Then I read this more academic article, you can find it here, where Ruth Charnock, a lecturer in English at the University of Lincoln, speaks about her PhD research in Anais Nin. I was almost crying while I read this, my heart was breaking for this academic, who was being made feel a lesser being because of the choice of literature and author she was studying.

It was an article on a larger platform called the Dangerous Women Project. A project to highlight what it means to be a dangerous woman, and each article I've read has touched something deep inside me. It's been a tough week.

I started to think about my reactions, and in turn the societal expectations or 'norms'. I have a swirling jumble of thoughts in my head that aren't being expressed, so I'm going to blurt lots here and see where I go. Pretend we're having a D & M over coffee/tea :)

Humans don't like change, as a rule they like to maintain the way things are. Change requires effort and it causes instability, fear of the unknown, a loss of a safety net (however imaginary that may be). For change to occur, something dramatic has to happen so that people take notice and change slowly occurs. In the 1980s, particularly in Tasmania with the threat of damming the Franklin River and causing widespread damage to large tracts of unspoiled land, a huge movement with many larger-than-life characters brought about change in the environmental laws of the land. There was always an environmentally-aware segment of the community, but this needed a larger base for change to occur and an over-the-top campaign brought about the results they were after, and a stronger environmental movement (or maybe I was at an age when this seemed to be what occurred).

At present, we have Brexit (UK) and Trump (US), and at home an election so close to call because both major parties have lost a lot of voters' faith. There's been disquiet in the community for a while, but these huge events will most likely lead to change - because the over-the-top manner of the protests have demanding something be done.

Maybe sex needs something over-the-top to bring about the change needed to make it more acceptable in society. Maybe a naked swinging festival isn't an awful cliche of distorted party games, but an over-the-top display to ensure change happens. It's certainly confronting, something the media are likely to pick up on, and something that people will talk about.

I'm not only cold, but an introvert, so nothing about being naked in a crowd is comfortable for me. As for party games, even clothed, those require a lot more alcohol than is possible for my body to absorb! So to me, this is scary... but if it brings about awareness and change, good on them.

After having these thoughts and working my way through my reactions, I've realised that I'm not only cold, and an introvert, but I have become exceedingly passive. In my youth, I used to go on crusades to change things that annoyed me - but my crusades were in the manner of letter writing, voicing my opinion to an authority figure, or arguing with a parent. I was never overtly passionate, I never tied myself to trees, or bucked the system to bring about change.

These are the things I was passionate about while growing up - I wanted to be an altar boy but wasn't allowed, I wanted to play football but it wasn't allowed, I wanted Australia to work together to pick up litter and wrote to the PM suggesting it but I got no reply, same when I suggested a huge celebration for Australia Day rather than the non-event we had. I wanted a fair go for girls in sports so they could play the games boys played, I wanted women to be allowed to be priests and not just relegated to being nuns (you can see the Catholic upbringing here, hey?). I didn't get to do any of these things. I've always felt like I had great ideas but never benefited from them, or my fight.

But if I look at each of these points...most things have changed now. Girls can serve on the altar, girls can play football, there's Clean Up Australia Day, and huge Australia Day celebrations. Girls are still not paid the equivalent of men in sport, but the coverage women get now is a huge increase on what they used to get. Catholics still don't have female priests, but other religions have female ministers.

Changes have been happening. My ideas have come about. They haven't been something I can take advantage of, but they have happened. I'm sure many suffragettes never actually got the opportunity to vote - yet today I benefit from that.

I'm not saying I'm going to the next naked swingers festival, but I think I need to become more pro-active in the fight to have erotic literature recognised in the mainstream market, and in academic circles.

I'm going to put on my thinking cap to see how this could happen... I've always toyed with doing a PhD, maybe I need to become more active in that pursuit. Maybe I need to do some guest talks as an author of erotic fiction. Maybe write some articles for magazines or newspapers.

I'll have to think... but more importantly, I need to act, even in my tiny little way.

I've brought this discussion up before, or at least something similar, so it's plaguing me. I just need to do, instead of think. Or at least think faster about what I can do...and then get to action.
 
If you have any ideas for me, please let me know.

Wildlife Wednesday - frog

A while back I did a frog post with a photo of the frog that wasn't all that great for ID. I thought it was a striped marsh frog. I'm not sure that this image is great for ID either, but at least the frog isn't in a bucket of water and you can see the markings!

This is the website I found for my ID, and I think they still look alike - and the sound was perfect :)

Does it sound like I'm trying to bolster my confidence? You betcha :)

Phallic Friday - erotic authors' thoughts

One of the erotic authors asked a bunch of other erotic authors to answer some questions for her. 130 people responded, which I think is completely incredible.

But what's more incredible are the posts from this Q & A of authors. So far there have been 6, but there's another half dozen planned and I'm loving reading them.

So let me point you to the place to find these gems: it's the website of author, Emmanuelle de Maupassant, which you can find here.

But if you aren't inclined to go and read, let me pull out some of the things that have blown my mind.

Men Reading Erotica
Over 50 male readers also took a survey and the results (in the above link) were really interesting. Owning your sexuality was a theme that came through. As was finding themes that validate you/your choices/your sexuality. Some liked to read about things that they would never do in reality, or that are unable to be done legally, or that stretch the realms of sanity. Some readers found it enhanced their understanding of female sexuality and others found it more realistic than porn. It's a fascinating article if you're interested in who reads erotic fiction.

Men Writing Erotic Fiction
This one was a real eye-opener for me. The major thing I took from this article was that male authors suffer the same 'stigma' that female authors do. I thought that men would be less judgemental about males writing about sex, but apparently this isn't so. In a way I was glad that it wasn't a gender-specific issue, but in another way, I'm sad that sex is such a taboo subject that no one can write it easily.

There's a lot more in this post than what I took out of it...so go read :)

Writers of Erotic Fiction
This post gives an overall intro to who the sort of people are who write about sex. Their ages range from 20s to over 70s.

What inspired you to write
Many were inspired by their own experiences, while others couldn't find what they wanted to read.

Why do you write erotic fiction?
I was interested to see that many authors wanted to explore - their fantasies, real events, human nature, a particular act. Some authors particularly write erotic fiction to tap into emotions - fear, arousal, desire, lust. Others want to own their sexuality, have a place to write what's important, without fear.

Fantasy and Reality
I found this quite fascinating from the post - "Just over 40% of the writers surveyed stress that they draw significantly on their own real life  sexual experiences to inspire their writing. The majority mention doing so in addition to, rather than instead of, exploring imagined fantasies. Only a handful write primarily from a position of recalling their own sexual history, or drawing heavily on events witnessed/related to them."

And this - "The majority of authors note that, although their fantasies do, to some degree, inform their writing, storytelling tends to take over, adding embellishment and new direction."

I think these blog posts are a really interesting look into what happens behind a book. What thoughts people have as they write erotic fiction. It's certainly opened my eyes and made me think.

And separate to these articles, is one trying to see if you can pick the male/female authors. I'm eager to see if I got any of them correct because I found it incredibly difficult to pick!

A brilliant body of work from Emmanuelle. Thanks!!

Wildlife Wednesday - slippery dip

I'm stretching the Wildlife theme here, but this slippery dip is at my local zoo, which is surely included in wildlife!!

I think this is my favourite slippery dip ever and I wish I'd found it as a kid!

See where the people are heading...well, there's a bit of a bush track/climb up here to the top of the slippery dip. It's just a worn path in among the rocks and tree roots. It's probably an OHS nightmare, but it's real. Real bush, real climbing, really fun!

So you climb up this path, then you have two big boulders to climb up before you reach the top of the slide. Kids just seem to race up, but as an adult it's not so easy because your centre of gravity is a bit higher, so climbing rounded rocks isn't as simple as it used to be.

But you're there. At the top of the slide. It stretches away, with two dips to slow you down. You can't see the bottom from the top. It's thrilling.

Now, try to fit your fat hips onto the skinny slide. Yeah, never thought about that, did you? As a kid, I never even contemplated not fitting...but now...it's a real issue! But I do fit. Phew!

Then I'm off!

But it's slow.

How disappointing that when you're wider and heavier, there's that extra bit of friction to slow you down.

But man, it's so much fun! I race the kids back up to the top - I lose, but who cares! I'm on the slide again!

Do we really have to go home??????

A Footy Rant

I'm a frustrated NSW Blues supporter...and judging by the comments from some of the commentators on Channel 9, they might feel the same. I'm going to vent my frustration here,

NSW are, in general, NOT a professional outfit. They allow emotion to overrule their heads, and that seems to be when a lot of them think with their fists instead of their mind. They forget to play football and play for a fight. And that is the number 1 reason in my mind why they can't beat Qld. Qld are professional almost constantly - if someone blows up, it's done and finished in that moment. It doesn't continue for long minutes afterwards, or sometimes the whole game, as NSW players are often want to do.

This is last night's NSW team with my character assassination afterwards -

Matt Moylan - warming the spot for Josh Dugan. I think he will improve with age.

Blake Ferguson - a hot head who shouldn't be out there. Forgets to play footy when he gets riled. Can look for work, but often doesn't.

Michael Jennings - doesn't often pass the ball. Somehow with Parra, he does a lot better, so it must be some teamwork issue. I wouldn't put him in even though he's fast - he needs good offloads.

Dylan Walker - a real hothead and I think he has tickets on himself. He had to mark GI last night and rather than let actions do his talking, he made a big show of trying to contain a man who should have earned his respect. More often than not, he came off second best. He gave away multiple stupid ruck penalties in the first half, for no reason. He'd never be in my team.

Josh Mansour - worth another go. Does look for work usually but didn't as much last night.

James Maloney - he's a hothead, and also has major brain explosions when things don't go his way. Can be completely embarrassing, but can also show sense. I wonder how he'd go with a different bunch around him...but I'd be looking for someone else, really.

Adam Reynolds - he's in a similar category to Maloney. He can be solid, but he shows some really unprofessional traits too...but it could be the company. If there was a better halfback, I'd want him, but at the moment I think we have to work with this pair. I'd be seriously grooming a young halves pairing for the future.

Aaron Woods - is a hot-head but is also professional.

Robbie Farah - I have never had time for him as a player and he would not be in my team. A ballhog, a hothead, and a man who thinks he's a lot better player than he is.

James Tamou - I think he's grown into his role well.

Tyson Frizell - on debut he had a blinder. On TV they showed him run on to the stadium, then look around. A huge grin swept across his face. He looked excited, but focussed. And then he turned in the best game I've seen from a NSW forward in a long time. He's the type of player you want - his actions speak so much louder than he does.

Josh Jackson - I think he's a professional guy.

Paul Gallen - Another player I've not got a lot of time for. Uninspired ballhog. He just runs, head down into someone. Rarely offloads well. Can't even imagine how he inspires a team.

Greg Bird - Another one I despise. Hot head. Done enough off the field to warrant him gone, and has never done much on-field for me.

David Klemmer - He's a hot head but he can also be professional. I think he's developing well.

Andrew Fafita - Another to add to the despise basket. I think he's ignorant as well as a hothead. He too has doen so much to bring the game into disrepute off-field, it appalls me that he's there. And I can't see that he plays well enough for that to be the reason he's there.

Jack Bird - on debut last night off the bench. Bit hard to tell because he wasn't in a position as such, but he seemed to do okay.

So, there'd be a pretty huge clean out if I had a selector's guernsey on!

If NSW could show some of the professional football skills that they're paid to display, they'd have a chance of winning. As it is, they blow attacking chances because of brain explosions, frustration breaking down plays, or lack of teamwork. In defense, they give away penalties for far too little because they're trying to muscle in, or give a bit of a serve.

As a spectator and supporter, it's difficult to cheer for a team who let you down by stupidity. It's frustrating to watch a slick professional side, and know that your team could be like that, if only they used their brains.

And I know last night the commentators said it wasn't a coaching issue, but I don't think the coaching can be ignored either. Surely the coach has some influence over the players and the selectors? If he was as unhappy as me, he'd not still be in the job.

I think the whole team behind the Blues team needs to have a look at their professionalism. Fighting footy was fine in the 80s, that's how everyone played. But we've come a long way, we pay a lot more money, and we expect a lot more of our team. When will it deliver?

Wildlife Wednesday - battling nature

Where I live, there are lots of migratory seabirds who visit to nest. Usually during summer, a large strip of the beach/ river /dunes area may get fenced off so that people (and their dogs that are supposed to be controlled) leave the nest sites alone. They fence off quite a large area around the nests so that when the chicks hatch, there's an exclusion zone as it takes them some weeks to be able to fly.

During the nesting season, volunteers check the nests daily and monitor the sites. Over summer they had to build up the area around the nests to prevent flooding when the high tide and floodwaters threatened. It takes a lot of work - and is often rewarded by dogs or foxes eating the eggs/ chicks, people vandalising the nests, storms flooding the nest, etc etc. Although some years, chicks do successfully survive.


After 25 years of this sandbar not being washed out (it's at an old river mouth, so where once the river spilled into the ocean, now it's sanded up unless there's flood waters in the river), for the last 3 or 4 years, the old river mouth has opened three times (for up to eight months), which floods the area where the seabirds had been nesting, and effectively cuts our beach into two sections.

In the top photo, this is the sanded up area of the beach between the ocean and the river. It's maybe 60 m from the dunes on our side, to the dunes on the other side, and there's probably 40m between the ocean and the river at high tide.

In the second photo, I've done a panorama stitching 3 shots together, to show the opening of the heads (the old river mouth). On the left is 'our side' of the beach. The right is the area shown in the top photo - but where the river has broken out to the sea, washing away and flooding the old sandbar. In the background of the righthand side, that's the 'other side' of the beach, that is now inaccessible (unless you swim across).

It's quite spectacular when nature battles. I love watching the changes to the beach and the river due to this flooding - even if the dune erosion is quite dramatic.

Nature is always a battle. It's constantly changing, testing and challenging. Whether you're a bird trying to breed, a dune plant trying to grow, or a sand castle looking for permanency, the battle constantly rages. And Mother Nature rarely loses.

Do you have any great nature battles?

Sunday Story - Learning your craft

I'm a football tragic and rugby league is my game of choice. It's been like that since I was a kid...I watch all sports but league's my favourite. And if girls could have played when I was young, I would have been playing. As it is, I watch it and I love watching it live.
Last night I was at a game. Mr E and I go for the whole day and watch all three grades - the U20s, the state cup, and the NRL game. I love the U20s game for a lot of reasons - there's often hardly any crowd so I don't get annoyed by idiots. The players are enthusiastic, they try the strangest things that sometimes payoff spectacularly. They talk a lot, which often involves a lot of swearing which often shows their passion. It's often a bit unscripted with genius of one or a few often changing a game. 
Last night, in the first grade game a guy was making his debut in my favourite position. He's 18, so young to be up there playing first grade. But I was a bit biased, I thought another player should have been given the job, so I watched and was rather scathing in my assessment of debut guy.
After about 20 minutes, he was sucking in big breaths, looking for a break, and really struggling. He hadn't done a lot except kick, and I was making rather unpleasant assessments of his ability and questioning why he was there. But, in reflection, he stayed out there for 80 minutes. I should have noticed how deep he dug and what determination he showed to push through his pain and keep going.
I was critical that he wasn't doing anything except trying to tell everyone else what to do, and no one seemed to be listening. But, maybe he wasn't calling the shots, or maybe he was. As a spectator I shouldn't be making those judgements but I'm used to watching the guy who he replaced - and when he speaks, everyone jumps.
Yet that's what fourteen extra years playing footy gives you - you're an 'elder' and you've earned players' respect. I forgot about that in my character assassination.
Shame on me.
Learning takes time. Sometimes a long time. When someone is giving something their all, I should not be critical of their efforts. I should cheer for them, be pleased that they're given a chance and taking the opportunity with both hands. I should applaud when they push through the tough times and stay out there. I should admire their determination, their self confidence, their guts.
And if I look at myself, I'm guilty of this exact thing. I look at learner-me and I heap criticism on myself. I compare myself to much more experienced people and highlight all my faults. I need to stop doing that. I need to nurture myself, applaud my tenacity, grin when it gets tough and hang in there.
I need to remember this lesson. Debuting is just a start. A chance to learn. And even when you've been at it for a while, there's still the chance to learn, to improve.
And you thought I just watched the footy to perv! :) 

Phallic Friday - shocking sex scandals

Are you a fan of the Aussie TV drama, Rake? I love its relevance and irreverence. I find myself snorting, chuckling and guffawing. It's one of the best half hours on TV.

Tonight there was a classic line - and because it's been on and my memory is like that of a goldfish, this is not a direct quote - with Cleaver Greene saying people have sex, so why the hell is everyone so surprised that other people are doing it?

(I might have to rewatch to get that line right!)

But anyway, yes! This line is gold. Millions of magazines and newspapers are sold when there are details of juicy sex scandals...and why? It's sex. Most people have tried it. Why do they race to find out the illicit details of someone's sex life? Why are paparazzi paid a fortune for photographs and details of affairs?

Is it the betrayal that people love so much? Or is it that a secret has been revealed?

A large part of the latest Rake episode was focussed on magazines and photojournalists as Cleaver was defending a photojournalist. In a totally Cleaver way, he turned a stalking wanker (literally) into a truth-seeker and frontline hero. It was brilliant. Completely mocking our obsession with "celebrity scoops" in magazines and social media. Cynicism at its best :)

Or maybe I'm just cynical.

If you watched it, what was your take?