Glad to be Alive

Kangaeroo is easy to be critical and cynical, less so to be thankful.

Today, he is taking a moment to be thankful for life.

Kangaeroo loves life, even though he has largely made a mess of his own until recent years.

Life interrupted this week, preventing any significant entry here, but not stopping time on the bike.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • Having Faith And Hoping For The Best

    Our new home is a delight and the neighbors seem nice, though it’s hard to meet many of them as we’re still in a state of emergency, but I am having growing concerns about our company operator. Our president clearly has no idea of what she’s doing and the reason for taking us on remains an utter mystery to me, but they are paying our wages as promised and I have got plenty of time to keep me distracted. Our dinosaur follows me everywhere now in our single-story home, unlike the two-story place we used to live in, where she was scared to fly downstairs. She will not leave me…

  • Green Godzilla

    On what was something of a strange weekend, perhaps the weirdest moment came when I got to come face-to-face with a green, as in made of plants, Godzilla. There’re plenty of Godzilla statues and effigies all over Tokyo, as I’ve reported before, and the rest of Japan, some life-sized, others tiny and plenty in-between and loving devoted to Japan’s most adored monster. In western Tokyo, where I live, the most famous example is probably the Godzilla statue outside the TOHO CO., LTD. studios near Seijogakuen-mae, which is a bit of a trip for me further out in the boonies. So, I was surprised to learn that there is actually a…

  • |

    Me and Robbie McGhie

    (Sung to the tune of Me & Bobby McGee) Buggered at the Jolimont Road end, playing the Blues again Back when having tats meant you were mean Robbie pulled a durry out, though it was still during the game Sucked a tinny filled with Tiger dreams Balmely hooned and swiped a dirty big coathanger Got ‘em playin’ soft while the Tiges smashed the Blues, yeah Cheer squad at the Punt Road end was showing form was fine Grog Squad singing every chant it knew Freedom’s just another word for beatin’ up the Blues Beatin’ don’t mean nothin’ without a flag like ’73, no no And winnin’ under Tommy was easy…

  • Climbing

    Kangaeroo loves cycling. He cycles a lot. And I mean a lot. The line between a moderately good rider and a strong rider can largely be drawn at climbing; specifically, how fast a cyclist can make it up the hills. The best cyclists are all good hill climbers. The key to strong climbing is having a good power to weight ratio, which basically means weighing little but still having lots of power. Look at most pro cyclists and they all look like skeletons with disproportionately huge legs. Unfortunately, the only thing disproportionally huge about Kanageroo is his belly. He has practised hard at becoming a better climber, but the results…

  • Sweat Is Simply Fat Having A Cry

    Cycling has been one of my later life joys, and even though one of my original goals of weight control through riding bikes has failed spectacularly, it has brought me immense pleasure, with rides like this week’s explaining why. I was limited by life circumstances in how much I could get on the bike this week, but when I could it was magnificent, and the weather the past couple of days has matched that. I’ve been able to witness spectacular skies as the sun rose and set, as well as ride off all the cobwebs of a week spent largely desk bound with duties. Working from home has been excruciatingly…

  • Plugged and Unplugged

    Project Plants was temporarily unplugged because of overloading just as I’d been able to plug in again on another aspect. Mrs. Kangaeroo gave a frantic phone call as I headed off on an afternoon ride to say that the humidity pods containing the Aussie plant seeds were emanating an awful smell. I asked her to unplug the pods and headed off on my ride again. We’ll get some extension cords out today and give the pods a try again. It seems that I overloaded the power outlet. At least, I hope that’s what it was. Project Plants is on hold until we can work out what happened anyway. Ironically, the…