Psycho-analysing Shaggy: Part One

My youngster JD enjoys watching "Scooby Doo" though the cliched concepts and familiar storyline patterns are beginning to annoy him a little, which is perhaps a sign that he is maturing in his thinking.

We were discussing the show tonight as I drove him to his Youth Group. I said, "If I were ever going to take up psychology and do a thesis, I could probably write one about Shaggy and his strange compulsion to continue in his career when he is so obviously frightened to death of ghosts and ghouls. Despite all of his experiences, he has not even begun to overcome his fears."

"What is it that draws him to these experiences? Is there some deep-seated need to prove himself macho and manly?"

"And while we're on the subject, I suspect that Scooby-Doo is not really a dog at all but a human being in a dog-suit, otherwise Shaggy would be making millions of dollars out of the world's first talking dog."

The idea gave both JD and Ana pause for thought, but it prompted me to consider other seriously flawed cartoon or comic characters. 

The first that came instantly to mind were Jughead, Archie and Betty from the Archie comics. 

Archie Comics

Archie
There must be something in Archie's upbringing that pushes him to pursue the selfish and spoilt Veronica, over the sweet and giving Betty. Was his own mother a selfish, manipulative woman which would have led to Archie being naturally drawn to a similar type personality, despite his aversion to his mother's shortcomings?

Deep down inside himself, Archie understands that while Veronica loves him as much as she can, she is a shallow girl who will never be able to give him the fulfilling love that he desperately craves and needs. Deep down he knows that Betty is the only one that can give him that love. So there must be some part of him that does not believe he deserves to be fully loved. Or perhaps the example his mother has set him, has him believing that a shallow and manipulative kind of love is the best that one should aim for.

Betty

Why does Betty chase a man with such obvious emotional deficiencies? Even if Archie chose her, he would always struggle with feelings of inadequacy and unfulfilment. Ultimately his need to be controlled would lead to an unhealthy relationship, with Archie pushing Betty to take on a more dominant role in their relationship, with which she would feel uncomfortable and eventually resentful.

This would lead to continual bickering in their marriage, with Betty pushed into acting in a forceful manner. While Archie would appear to resent her nagging, he would secretly feel a sense of relief and almost pleasure at the result.

Jughead 
Jughead on the other hand is a rebel without a cause or a clue. His obsessive need to be different, yet accepted by the cool group shows a strange need to still fit in. 

The shape of his hat: a crooked, broken crown, suggests that he sees himself as somehow flawed and of little value.

Jughead's obsessive compulsive need to always wear his hat suggests his feeling of vulnerability and his need to conceal his true self from others in case they realise he is weak or broken.

This in the long-term is surely going to lead to serious conflict as his need to express his own uniqueness, clashes with his own desire to find a niche in society. I predict that when Jughead grows up, he will either have to take up psychiatry himself and be his own therapist, or find himself on the receiving end of psychological care, possibly in a padded room.

Go to Part Two

Society Slip-Ups

I don't really understand why snoring should be regarding as something embarrassing that we should hide. It's not like somebody has a tentacle growing out of their head.

Have you noticed how many things in our 'enlightened' society are considered unseemly or humiliating and should be entirely concealed.

For many red-heads the accompanying freckles have often seen them being teased mercilessly by their peers. I never understood that. Even as a child, I remember thinking that freckles were lovely. Having a couple of facial moles, I always regarded them more as beauty spots, and thought that those with freckles were even more fortunate.

When I was young I remember wanting blue eyes, dimples and freckles. A freckled friend of mine at the same age was hoping fervently that if she could just get enough sun, the freckles would get larger and join together into an all-over tan. Alas, neither wishes came true for either of us.

Another no-no in society is cellulite. Some time in the early 1980s, this particular beauty blunder seemed to rear its head for the very first time. I'd never heard of it prior to then, and I imagine that some desperate women's magazine writer, anxious for a story and sick to death of the same boring old articles, created this before unheard of phenomena. Whereas these naturally occurring fatty deposits had always been accepted and never really noticed, almost overnight it became one of the most hated faux-pas in our society. As the years pass, the magazines seem to discover more and more for women to agonise over. Those women's magazine journalists have a lot to answer for!

This takes me back to my introductory statement – when it comes to perfection, I believe I am as close to perfection in this regard as it's possible to be. I refer of course, to my snoring ability. Yes, it's an exceptional talent of which I am quite proud.

For many years, I was made to feel embarrassed by the freight-train sounds that emanated from my mouth. So-called friends have hit me over the head with their pillows, turned me over, poked me, prodded me and gotten outright cranky with me. Having two sets of grandparents and one set of parents that snored, the chances were pretty high that I would inherit this ability.

I'm not quite sure when the turning point case – somewhere in my 30s I think – but now, if somebody comments on my snoring I simply smile and say "Thank you!" It almost always shuts them up.

If only we could all be that positive about the flaws that society so often wants to point out in us. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all simply say something like, "Why yes, I think I have a spectacular crop of cellulite developing there. Thank you for noticing!"

Re-hearse

Yesterday Ana and I drove into the petrol station, and I was taken aback by the vehicle in front of us.

Focussing on getting fuel into her vehicle, Ana hadn't really noticed it.

I watched intrigued as the owner finished fuelling the car and I realised it was a pre 1985 hearse!

"Well, I guess there's not much need to replace a hearse in a small town like ours and one would probably last for years," I thought.

"Where does one buy a hearse from? Would it be difficult to find parts?" I wondered. "If one replaces such a vehicle, would you call that a 're-hearsal'?"

According to one web-site, a new hearse can set you back around $135,000. But you can purchase a second-hand one (1982 Ford Falcon XE) from Ebay with the current bid sitting at just over $4,000. (The present owner claims he's had some supernatural experiences in the vehicle which may be an added attraction.)

But perhaps you can't afford the full sized variety - in which case you might like to purchase a die-cast one, some of which come complete with a miniature coffin:

• 1938 Cadillac Carved Maroon Hearse = $119
• 1924 Hawkeye Hearse = $49.99
• 1921 Ford Model T Hearse = $190
• 1963 Cadillac Hearse = $8
• 1966 Cadillac Hearse = $190

What an interesting concept for collecting: miniature hearses, though with prices regularly sitting at $190, it may turn into an expensive hobby.

But for the woman who has everything, how about some fabric covered in funky cartoon hearses, at just $25/m?

At one time in Sydney, you could join a tour group (Destiny Tours) in a hearse which visited ghostly and ghoulish places, including the scenes of famous murders. While the hearses are no longer used, they still provide the tour though using an unremarkable mini-bus.

It was while searching the net that I found several images of hearses in junkyards or left to rot in a vacant lot somewhere. How sad some of these vehicles looked. In their heyday, they could have taken thousands of people to their final resting places, and here they were, after their death, left abandoned and unloved. I thought it was kind of ironic.

I recall hearing a Christian speaker talk about the time her friends helped her to celebrate her 50th birthday. The event started with her friends turning up in a hearse to take her out! She thought it was hilarious, though I'm sure that there are many people who would not be impressed about the reminder of impending death!

Phwagh! What's That Pong?

I have a very sensitive nose and find most perfumes and scents rather annoying to my olfactory sense. It's taken me a long time to find a perfume that I like and can actually stand, but have since discovered that they've taken it off the market. Darn!

Some perfumes and smells give me an instant headache (such as eucalyptus) while other scents give me an itchy nose and make me sneeze. Weirdly though, the perfumes that annoy me the most, don't actually have a smell to me. My nose is only able to identify them as an irritant.

At home my flatmate and young JD have to be careful what they use or spray and vanilla seems to be one of the few scents that I can consistently handle.

Recently I purchased a scented sachet for my car that was supposed to smell like mint.

"How bad could it be?" I thought yesterday as I hung it over the rear-vision mirror. "I eat mints so it's unlikely to cause any problems is it?"

Boy, was I wrong! As soon as I began driving the car, I fervently wished I had not placed it in the vehicle. The sickly minty scent grew stronger and stronger until all I could smell was something that resembled rotting fake mint. It made me feel a little nauseaus. The more I breathed the scent in, the more it felt toxic to my lungs.

Before I'd even drive 1/2km I had to open the windows in my air-conditioned car. Part of me wanted to throw the wretched thing out into the street, but the law-abiding part of me would not let me litter.

"Perhaps it will get better in a little while," I placated myself.

It didn't, it continued to grow stronger and stronger. Finally I made it to my destination near JD's school where I picked him up.

Getting into the car he said with an appreciative sniff, "What a great smell! I love it! It smells so .... so minty."

"Yuck!" I replied. "It's disgusting."

"If you don't want it, can I have it for my room?" JD asked, ever on the lookout for something free.

"Sure," I said, "As long as I don't have to smell it in my room."

Today I was a little afraid of getting into my car in case the stench lingered. Fortunately I made it to my radio station with my sense of smell and my sanity intact. Ok, at least my sense of smell was.

I'm a Handicapped Handyperson

In the past few weeks, I've been getting back into some handyman chores around the house, which I had been neglecting for some months. With a recent increase in my energy levels (helped by some slightly better sleeping patterns and less stress), I've undertaken a few neglected items.

One of the latest chores became a family activity and we now boast a five shelf bookcase in which we have placed several hundred of our DVDs. It's tidied up our previously overflowing and frankly quite messy set-up, but we've actually been up to place them in some kind of order. I'm not anal enough to want to place them into alphabetical order, but at least we've broken them up into G & PG rated, oldies and everything else.

Today I put up two strong bird-perches on our back verandah so that our visiting feathered friends can have somewhere to sit, especially in the rainy weather. 


I even managed to clip the worst section of the front hedge which should more rightly have been called "the crazy and out-of-control green monster thing that may have eaten our postie."

My next chore is to make a four-line indoor clothes line for our laundry. We have only a small airer on which to place our clothes in wet weather. With three of us sharing a house, it has proven very inadequate, not to mention a nuisance in such a small space. I've worked out how to make it and have purchased the clothesline, the hooks and the dowel. Let's just hope my skills can match the design in my head.

I won't bore you with the remainder of my chores - there are several which I can't complete because I'm physically not able, but have a good mate who will help out with those, one of which is to remedy a major drainage issue.

That was my exciting events of the day, which included a visit to a major hardware store where for the first time I found an employee who actually gave a damn about what I wanted and went out of their way to find it for me ... amazing!

Photos from the Duck Ponds

JD and I recently went to the local duck ponds (as the locals call it.) It's a popular destination for families with many providing food for the various water-birds and turtles. Just by going along they also personally provide food for the hordes of hungry mosquitoes as well.

Having my camera with me in an attempt to get a good photograph of a jacaranda tree, JD suggested we see what birds and other wildlife were there. So here are our photos from our short excursion.

"Ok bud, I've got my taste-buds ready,
where's the food?"

"If you're taking orders, make mine egg and
lettuce on multi-grain, thanks."

My wife and I are partial to caviar.

"Feel like eel? Forget it buddy!"

"I'll just ask my mummy for something to eat
... if I can find her."

It's Almost What?

Every year the stores try to get more money out of us by promoting Christmas and Easter a couple of months early. In addition they remind us well ahead of time about Valentine's day, mother's day, father's day, Australia day and now Halloween.

Halloween is not an Australian tradition yet during the past decade it's been thrust upon us a little more each year until now there is a large collection of items available for sale at supermarkets in the weeks leading up to the end of October. 

I find it quite disheartening that we are so willing to jump on board and grab the traditions from another country that has no basis in our own history.

For most kids it must seem like a godsend - lollies, lollies and more lollies with a fun costume thrown in. For parents it must seem like hell - lollies, lollies and more lollies with a sugar-overloaded kid thrown in! 

If we are honest with ourselves and try to see the true motives behind it all, the main purpose of these holidays for supermarkets and stores is to do whatever they can to take more money from us. They really don't care that the majority of Australians are not interested in participating in Halloween. They're counting on the kids to make their parents lives insufferable until they relent.

I'm sure Aussie kids everywhere will do their bit!

Day Out in the Boyne Valley

Lake Awoonga from the
Boynedale Bush-camp

A group of us went out into the Boyne Valley on Saturday about an hour south of my home-town. It's made up of a cluster of small communities including Nagoorin, Ubobo, and Many Peaks. 

Our first stop on the way was the Boynedale Bush Camp which is a basic bush-camping facilities on the western side of lake Awoonga. We got there fairly early and enjoyed a little break there, taking in the quietness of the out-doors and chatting with some people who were camping there. They had taken their very pregnant cat with them on the trip who gave birth on the first day they were camped there. So we got to cuddle some week-old kittens who didn't even have their eyes open.

Jacaranda tree at
the campsite

Additionally, we spotted a red-backed fairy wren and managed to get a photo though not good enough to show here. Unfortunately he and his mate wouldn't hang around for any more photos. There were lots of pelicans in the water, which is now quite close to the banks of the area.

There was also a gorgeous jacaranda tree at the campsite - its huge canopy provided lots of shade for us to eat under, while the local honey-eaters zipped from flower to flower.

Looking up into the canopy
of the jacaranda tree

It's a shame that jacaranda trees blossom for such a short period of time; their stunning purple is such a vivid contrast against the green/grey colours of the countryside in this part of Australia.

There was plenty of bird-life at the Boynedale bush-camp especially blue-faced honeyeaters, little friarbirds and lots of Australian pelicans in the waters of Lake Awoonga.

These are just three of the more than 220 bird species that can be found at Lake Awoonga, or almost 30% of Australia's bird-species. It's an incredible place to go for bird-watchers with kites, eagles and other preying birds just some of the spectacular species.

Australian Pelican

As it happened, we had planned this outing months ago, but managed to pick a day for the official opening of the Boyne Valley Community Discovery Centre so we drove another fifteen or so minutes and attended that and had morning tea as well. 

Afterwards we went onto the pub at Many Peaks and had lunch there where we were joined in the out-door area by a few King Parrots and nabbed some nice photos.

Then it was off home. It was a fairly full day and I had an enormous sleep last night trying to regain my energy. But all in all - a lovely day out!

Levi McGrath Concert

What a fabulous concert we had last night - Levi McGrath sang and played his acoustic guitar and told stories both in words and in song of people he had met that had touched his life, specifically focussing on those he'd come into contact with in Africa.

Here are a couple of photos from the night:

Interview Today with Levi McGrath

In the last week I've had the pleasure of three interviews on my breakfast radio program including today's interview with the Christian artist Levi McGrath. Levi is currently on his Children of War Australia tour and will be playing a concert locally tonight as well.

Levi is a very down to earth kind of fellow with a real passion for children in need across the world. He talked about the work that he and his wife did with child soldiers in Uganda last year when they spent five months in Africa. We chatted about the privileges that we have here in Australia, even simple things like running water or the fact that we live in peace. I was really touched by his message and impressed with his incredible passion.

Tonight I'll be heading along to Levi's concert and taking young JD and his friends with me. It should be a good night!

-------------------------------

Link to Levi's Myspace page
Link to UTube Video

Arrgh!

I have decided that for the moment, I hate computers. At least until I get my new one up and running properly. I've had so many problems with getting my old programs going and having to reload stuff and then finding some of the reloading simply didn't work. Arrgh!

Fortunately I didn't lose any of my photos, though I had the majority backed up on memory stick just in case.

By the weekend I imagine that the computer will be a little easier to use, though it's new operating system is a little confusing. After six years with the old computer, it is hard to adapt to a new way of finding files etc.

I'm at the radio station at the moment and found myself with a few spare minutes to dash off today's blog entry. Earlier I mentioned that one of my spots each week is Radio Rewind where I share a portion of a radio program from yesteryear (when radio was king). Next week is part two of a monster show about the search for the abominable snowman.

I'm presently looking at what I will do on the week after that and have decided to do a comedy segment. So I am downloading Charlie McCarthie (a ventroliquist dummy presented by Edgar Bergen) who was very popular on the radio waves back on the 1940s or 50s. They were so popular, they had their very own radio program. Should be interesting - let's hope he's actually funny!

I'm Back .... With a New Computer Tower

It has been SO difficult to wait patiently for the delivery of my new computer tower. It was sent on 13 October and only arrived today (19 October). That's almost an entire week without my beloved computer and access to the internet. 

As you can see - I survived the crisis.

Now I have the joy of reloading all of my old programs and other fun tasks. I also have to catch up on creating my radio scripts which I have run out of! I normally write my simple scripts a month or two in advance, but as it so happened, the computer decided to fail just as I was running out! Therefore today's blog entry is going to have to be short and sweet as I still have to write up the scripts for the remainder of the week. Next weekend I'll try to get a few done in advance.

At the radio station I've been busy preparing for a new spot on a Sunday night which will incorporate quirky Christian songs. It will be the first of three "Eternal Sessions" commencing at 7.45pm and going through till 8.30pm. It will be called "Eternal Alternative." After that is "Eternal Rock" which runs from 8.30 to 9.30pm and finally "Eternal Metal" from 9.30pm to 10.30pm.

I've been going through each of the hundreds of CDs we have trying to find quirky songs for the spot. One of the things I discovered was how many truly tragic Christian songs there are - especially anything recorded prior to 1995, many of which scored high on the "Musical Dorkiness Scale." My ears seem to be coping with the tragic songs in our collection, though my mind may never truly be the same....

Bumper Bummers

I think that it was some time during the 60s or 70s that bumper stickers became very popular. These have covered a wide range of topics from environmental and social issues, to promotional items, and the ever favourite humorous stickers.

My first car was a 1975 pale yellow 120Y Datsun station wagon which lasted me 14 years, and had a reasonably impressive 200,000km on the clock. Prophetically calling it, “Puff the Tragic Wagon” when I first purchased it, the vehicle only ever displayed a few bumper or window stickers during the time I owned it, mostly proudly telling the world the various impressive, exotic locations we had visited together including Warwick and Mackay. Yes, you may well whistle in appreciation.

Then there was the sticker which read “All this and brains too” which at first I'd thought was exceptionally clever, but quickly lost its flavour and cured me of the desire to ever display stickers on my motor car again.

I've seen the once popular sticker on other cars “If you can read his you're too close” on a number of occasions over the years. Honestly, if they'd just make the text larger, than I wouldn't have to drive so close to read it.

I quite like the cartoon I've seen on some 4WD wheel covers sporting a menacing Yosemite Sam brandishing some pistols and shouting “Back Off” on it. It's simple and gets the point across without being rude, unlike the other visual pollution sticker I heard about recently which read something like “Unless you're a carbuncle, would you get off my bum!” which was rewritten here so as not to offend.

Recently I saw the sticker "Fishing comes first!" on a motor car. It gave me a bit of a start: if fishing is the only thing that driver is focussing on, then I'm not sure I want them on the roads with me!

Another popular sticker or sign is “Baby on Board” which tells me one of three possible things: 

• there is physically a baby on board, and the driver is under the misapprehension that this will discourage would-be accidents, or that other drivers will actually give a damn;
• there was a baby on board about 17 years ago, but nobody's bothered to remove the sticker and the baby is now the pimply teenager learning to drive; or
• there is physically a baby - a grown-up baby  seated behind the steering wheel who likes to spit the dummy and throw tantrums at every opportunity.

Hi! I'm a Celebrity

I have a very important question to ask you:

At what point does a person become a celebrity?

Does it require an appearance in a certain number of magazines? Television programs? Movies?

According to a woman I saw on a television infomercial recently, to become a celebrity, you simply have to appear on the cover of a little known magazine.

The fitness instructor had been the cover girl on a fitness magazine I'd never heard of and was called a "fitness celebrity."

According to that reasoning, every single person who has appeared in a newspaper, a catalogue, a school newsletter or on the cover of a long-lost game of "Family Feud" is entitled to the title of "celebrity."

In that case, you can call me a celebrity! When I was eighteen I appeared in the local newspaper with my friend at the local show as we raced around on the dodgem cars. So does that mean I can now I can call myself a "dodgem celebrity?"

In fact, since I have a regular newspaper column I think I'll call myself a "word celebrity."

Continuing on that theme, if a felon appears on wanted posters, does that make them a "criminal celebrity?"

How about you? What kind of celebrity are you?

Apologies - No Blog Entry

At the moment, I am making the funeral arrangements for my computer. It's still breathing, but barely and has been at the doctor's surgery for the past few days. The diagnosis is not good - the mother board has almost died.

While rescucitation is possible, the prognosis for the long-term is that it has a terminal illness which is not worth repairing as the computer is nearing six yeas of age. Therefore I am having the old computer put to sleep. Sob!

Meantime I may not have access to a computer so cannot guarantee when I can add my next blog entries.

I hope to catch up with you soon.

Interview on Radio Today

This morning I interviewed Carnsey who is one of three fellows that are taking part in "The 2000 Walk".  Dave, Carnsey & Sav are walking 2000km to raise funds for and awareness of the people who do not have have even a single bible verse translated into their own language. That is a total of 2,000 languages in the world today!

It's an enormous task, but achievable in the long-term if Bible translators can get the support needed to translate Bibles, have them printed and distributed to those in need.

Their website address where you can find out more information and to read their regular blog updates is: http://www.the2000walk.com/.

I hate to imagine the blisters on the feet of these men, not to mention the sore muscles and exhaustion. While to some degree one could physically prepare for such a challenge, what does it take mentally and emotionally to prepare and to keep motivated?

As a youngster I can remember doing a walkathon to raise funds for our school to build a pool. I was probably no more than 8 or 9 years old, and I can recall the absolute stubborness within me which refused to let me stop until I had completed my walk. I'd had two boils on my feet before I started the walk and about half-way along both boils busted, but despite the intense pain, I refused to give in. I was determined to prove to myself that I could do it.

I guess that level of stubborness would be an important trait for these three men to have on their journey, along with a good sense of humour.

Carnsey mentioned that they were setting up for camp one night as a storm hit. It was at that time they realised that someone had forgotten the tent pegs! 

It was a miserably wet trio that sat out the storm, but fortunately they were all able to laugh about it... later.