A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Tuesday Q and A and I am back to stealing questions from Sunday Stealing. This week I am stealing The Never Ending Meme, Part One.

1. Song that always makes you sad?
R.E.M.’s Try Not To Breathe.

2. Last thing you bought?
A wheelbarrow. Unassembled.

3. Last person you argued with?
Ezra. He’s a particularly argumentative chap.

4. Do you put butter before putting the peanut butter on?
I’d shoot myself in the head before putting peanut butter on.

5. One of your stuffed animals’ names as a kid?
I honestly can’t remember. This saddens me.

6. Did you ever at one time own a Barenaked Ladies CD?
Barenaked Ladies? They had a song in Shrek, didn’t they? If they did, that’s about all the Barenaked Ladies facts I have. If they didn’t, I know even less about the Barenaked Ladies than I thought. If you’re talking about bare-naked ladies, I might get interested…

7. Favourite day of the week?
Monday.

8. Favourite sundae topping?
Fresh raspberries.

9. Did you take piano lessons?
No I did not take piano lessons.

10. Most frequent song played?
According to Lastfm, the most frequently played track on my computer (and sound system) since August 2005 is… The Spencer Davis Group’s Gimme Some Lovin'.

11. T.V. show you secretly enjoy?
I don’t enjoy any in secret. If I like it, I like it. I am liking HBO’s 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the NHL Winter Classic at the moment.

12. Would you rather play basketball or hockey?
I’ve played basketball before and am not very good at either ice skating or field hockey.

13. Date someone older or younger?
Three months older.

14. One place you could travel right now?
Helsinki.

15. Do you use umbrellas?
I am of the opinion that men who use umbrellas are not in fact men.

16. Do you know all the words to the Canadian national anthem?
It starts with “Oh Canada”. That’s about all I know.

17. Favourite cheese?
A nice sharp cheddar is good.

18. The Smith’s or The Cure?
The Smiths. 100%

19. Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?
Brunettes. They have significantly more fun.

20. Best job you ever had?
Cripes. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a ‘best’ one. There are elements of different jobs that I have enjoyed more than others. I always enjoyed the teaching component of university. The challenge of explaining/ exploring complex ideas related to political theory to the uninitiated can be quite agreeable, if you see the results.

Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it...

I still have the robot on the job. Here you can see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery . And here is a poem: Soliloquy for One Dead Bruce Dawe Ah, no, Joe, you never knew the whole of it, the whistling which is only the wind in the chimney's smoking belly, the footsteps on the muddy path that are always somebody else's. I think of your limbs down there, softly becoming mineral, the life of grasses, and the old love of you thrusts the tears up into my eyes, with the family aware and looking everywhere else. Sometimes when summer is over the land, when the heat quickens the deaf timbers, and birds are thick in the plumbs again, my heart sickens, Joe, calling for the water of your voice and the gone agony of your nearness. I try hard to forget, saying: If God wills, it must be so, because of His goodness, because- but the grasshopper memory leaps in the long thicket, knowing no ease. Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it... I like Bruce Dawe. He just my be my favourite Austral...

There was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.

Here is a self portrait. I’m calling it Portrait of a lady in a dirty window . Shocking, isn’t it? However, it is apt! Samhain , Nos Galan Gaeaf , Hop-tu-Naa , All Saints , All Hallows , Hallowmas , Hallowe'en or HALLOWEEN . It’s Theme Thursday and we’re talking about the festivals traditionally held at the end of the harvest season. Huh? No wonder Australians have trouble with the concept of HALLOWEEN. For the record, in my thirty-two L O N G years on the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever seen ghosts ‘n goblins, trick ‘n treaters or Michael Myers stalking Tasmania’s streets at the end of October. [That said, I did once see a woman as pale as a ghost turning tricks that looked like Michael Myers in late November one time.] Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, sitcoms, and innumerable companies; it seems Australians are impervious to the [ahem] charms of a corporatized variant of a celebration of the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darke...

In dreams begin responsibilities.

A life at sea, that's for me, only I just don't have the BREAD. That's right, Theme Thursday yet again and I post a photo of a yacht dicking about in Bass Strait just off Wynyard. The problem is, I am yet again stuck at work, slogging away, because I knead need the dough . My understanding is that it is the dough that makes the BREAD. And it is the BREAD that buys the yacht. On my salary though, I will be lucky to have enough dough or BREAD for a half dozen dinner rolls. Happy Theme Thursday people, sorry for the rush.

This will hurt me...

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