A pretty random post, but it has put a smile on my face and was fun to put together.
Heard this song on the radio on the way to training yesterday evening. It's a song you will often hear on the radio on a stormy afternoon or evening.
The storm clouds were looming as we got closer to Bank Street and it had started to lightly rain. The wind came up and the air became colder, and in combination with the songs haunting lyrics, driving beat of the bass and drums, and the memories it evoked, it made me tingle and I was covered in goose bumps.
The music and lyrics seem to capture the feelings and mental images that I carry with me, to be and feel Australian.
I guess that's all reasonably vague, but feelings for me are difficult to describe - much in the same way Dennis Denuto demonstrates so passionately, yet unconvincingly, in the classic Australian Movie The Castle:
It's the vibe of the thing, your Honour.
The vibe or the gist are terms I use a lot to cover for my inability to express my feelings or what I am thinking :-) Dennis is my hero. Here he is at his definitive best:
The Castle - in the Federal and High Courts (youtube)
Some random memories. The song goes back to 1982, which would have been my last year of full-time uni. I did see The Flowers (Iva Davies predecessor to Icehouse) at the University Union in the 2nd Term of 1980 and then a few weeks later back in Wagga Wagga for the University Holidays. Was excited to have some friends, from my school days in Wagga Wagga, to be the local supporting act. For some reason I asked Jenny whether we could have the song played at our Wedding Reception. She liked it and it was played during the night and as a filler as we said our farewells at the end of the evening. It was put on repeat as I we took a lot longer than we had planned.
Great Southern Land Lyrics
Standing at the limit of an endless ocean Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea City on a rainy day, down in the harbor Watching as the gray clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you This is not the way that I remember it here Anyone will tell you, it's a prisoner island Hidden in the summer for a million years
Great southern land Burned you black
So you look into the land and it will tell you a story Story 'bout a journey ended long ago If you listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains Maybe you can hear them talking like I do "They're gonna betray you, they're gonna forget you Are you gonna let them take you over that way"
Great southern land, great southern land You walk alone like a primitive man And they make it work with sticks and bones See their hungry eyes, it's a hungry home
I hear the sound of the stranger's voices I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes Great southern land, great southern land They burned you black, black against the ground
Standing at the limit of an endless ocean Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea City on a rainy day, down in the harbor Watching as the gray clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you This is not the way that I remember it here Anyone will tell you, it's a prisoner island Hidden in the summer for a million years
Great southern land, in the sleeping sun You walk alone with the ghost of time They then burned you black, black against the ground And they make it work with rocks and sand
I hear the sound of the stranger's voices I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes Great southern land, great southern land You walk alone, like a primitive man
You walk alone with the ghost of time And they burned you black Yeah, they burned you black Great southern land Great southern land Great southern land Great southern land
You might be able to guess why I picked this particular youtube clip of Great Southern Land. Two weeks to Nationals. Canberra here we come .. really looking forward to the racing with my team mates and catching up with all our friends from right across Australia.
Lake Burley Griffin Sunset - Black - Canberra (02 Aug 2002 *)
I did it alongside my work as an English language teacher. It took me about five years. I found it hard to talk about it, but I also didn't want to talk about it in case I never did it or I never completed it. I had a dailyquota of 1000 words and I just did that and, after a while, I couldn't have stopped even if I wanted to.
London Bridge - "Take 2" - You must be somewhere in London - London (Sun 28 Aug 2005)
Recently wrote about the above photo here (8 Dec 2010) and here (21 Dec 2010). I have always had some regrets about the full size version of the above photo. Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about these kind of post event regrets in his book The Minds Eye, specifically here (27 Sep 2010). Decided to crop the original photo (don't tell anyone though) and the above is the result - certainly a much stronger street photo. Certainly regret not capturing this on the day. In doing this, I am reminded a recent post on Shadow Photos (02 Jul 2010), specifically the photos of the Ingeborg Tyssen.
Finally, decided to look at all the photos that I took that day and found the photo below, which I had forgotten about. Seems an obvious photo to take and the above photo clearly shows the "Bull's Eye" effect - it is almost as if the horizontal and vertical lines of the wall slabs form a "crosshair" aim right through the heart of our little dragon - and btw the photo is uncropped.
London Bridge - "Bulls Eye" - You must be somewhere in London - London (Sun 28 Aug 2005)
This is a work in progress. It has been in my head for a long time now, but it has been hard to write. Hopefully, it will make sense. I expect to modify it a bit over the next few weeks, but at least it is a start.
A few months before Jenny died, I read Lance Armstrong's book entitled "Its not about the bike". Jenny had been given a copy by a long time friend, Mena, not long after the book was first published here in Australia (sometime around 2002/3 I am guessing). She read the book quickly and I know she got a lot from the pages. For some reason I did not read the book until early May 2009.
Geoff, Jenny, Mena, Steve and Joanne - Natation DB Titles - Kawana / Qld - Sat 25 Apr 2009 (picasa)
I bought my own copy so that I could read the book that meant so much to Jenny. I think I was motivated by the fact the Jenny was progressing to the final stages of her Cancer (at least that is reluctantly what I quietly started to think - she had just been diagnosed with multiple tumors in her liver on the 11 Mar 2009 - not a very promising situation). I thought I might find something in the pages to understand her and our situation.
I read the book, intermittently over a few weeks, at my local coffee shop before work and on the train to work. There was lots of the book that resonated with me, particularly his encounters with cancer. One part in particular struck a chord with me. It was about a half through, where he writes about what he felt during chemotherapy following neurosurgery to remove a beign brain tumor.
What is stronger, fear or hope? It's an interesting question, and perhaps even an important one. Initially, I was very fearful and without much hope, but as I sat there and absorbed the full extent of my illness, I refused to let the fear completely blot out my optimism. Something told me that fear should never fully rule the heart, and I decided not to be afraid.
I wanted to live, but whether I would or not was a mystery, and in the midst of confronting that fact, even at that moment, I was beginning to sense that to stare into the heart of such a fearful mystery wasn't a bad thing. To be afraid is a priceless education. Once you have been that scared, you know more about your frailty than most people, and I think that changes a man. I was brought low, and there was nothing to take refuge in but the philosophical: this disease would force me to ask more of myself as person than I ever had before, and to seek out a different ethic.
A couple of days earlier, I had received an e-mail from a military guy stationed in Asia. He was a fellow cancer patient, and he wanted to tell me something.
"You don't know it yet," he wrote, "but we're the lucky ones."
I'd said aloud, "This guy's a nut."
What on earth could he mean?
When I read this, I stored it away in my mind, eagerly awaiting Lance's own answer to this question - lucky .. What on earth could he mean?. It would come quietly on the last page of the book.
"You don't know it yet, but we're the lucky ones," my fellow cancer patient had written.
I will always carry the lesson of cancer with me, and feel that I'm a member of the cancer community. I believe I have an obligation to make something better out of my life than before, and to help my fellow human beings who are dealing with the disease. It's a community of shared experience. Anyone who has heard the words You have cancer and thought, "Oh, my God, I'm going to die," is a member of it. If you've ever belonged, you never leave.
Jenny had often indicated that she felt lucky (I think in both aspects - that of surviving an aggressive cancer and oddly enough, having had had cancer). She said this in the Australian Story Episode, "In the Pink":
'I don't understand how things work out, and why things work out the way they do. I feel like I've been lucky. I don't understand how cancer works, I don't know why I've been blessed the way I have been.'
'I feel I am so lucky and have a wonderful life. I have had some great opportunities through breast cancer to meet some very inspiring people. Geoff and Jo have been a constant source of support for me. Breast cancer has totally changed my life but for the best.'
Relay for Life 2007 - Jenny - Survivor Representative - Sylvania Waters - Sat 28 Apr 2007 (picasa)
The Rainbow Connection - Phil, John, Marj, Jenny, Liz, Noel - Phil passed away shortly after this photo was taken - he often spoke to Jenny about how luck seemed to play a big part in how things worked out, but sometimes you make you own luck - Rely for Life 2003 - Sylvania Waters - Sat 31 May 2003 - (picasa)
As Jenny's International Dragon Boating Career started, she came to the attention of the Media and in the first Newspaper Article she featured in, she was even compared to Lance Armstrong:
Don Iverson, Director of the Health and Productivity Research Center at the University of Wollongong, said that Ms Petterson could be compared to Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France after fighting testicular cancer.
'It's almost superhuman,' he said.
Cancer wont slow rowing champion - Sydney Sun Herald - 2 May 2004
She was a little embarrassed by the comparison, but Jo and I were very proud of Jenny and her achievements in her treatment, her sport and her life as breast cancer survivor.
Geoff, Jenny, Grace, Lynn, Betty, Thomas, Grant, Joanne and David - Relay for Life 2007 - Jenny - Survivor Representative - Sylvania Waters - Sat 28 Apr 2007 (picasa)
After Jenny's passing, I had an encounter in the Intensive Care Unit where Jenny left us. Joanne and I had gone back to thank the staff at the St George Hospital and to pickup some scans that had been lost in Jenny's move from the Level 1 to ICU. We spoke to the head ICU nurses (they were between shifts) and we knew both of them from Jenny's time in ICU (and I was well known to them as I had fainted in ICU on Jenny's second day in ICU after the neurosurgery). We talked a little and I mentioned that Jenny did consider herself lucky to have had cancer - as she said herself - it had changed her life for the better. One the nurses questioned this statement and she made me feel a little uneasy for saying what I had said. She could not believe anyone with cancer could consider themselves lucky. Maybe, she had seen too much of the cold harsh reality of cancer in that ICU. Maybe she was right. It did not seem too lucky now that Jenny was gone?
This conversation stuck in my mind for a long time, and I started to question many things. It was not until I came across the following blog post by Doug Miller that I found some peace. Here was a man who had recently been diagnosed with Cancer. He was articulate and in many ways his post offers so much more than Lance's writings on Cancer and Luck. This is probably the most moving piece of writing I have read in my life. I don't have cancer, but I have lived a shared life with it and it's consequences. I can truly emphasise. Here it is. My heart is with you Doug ..
Doug Miller - Colorado Trail San Juan Mountains - 1994 - A Single Path - (blog)
[..] a friend [..] pointed me to Lance Armstrong's book entitled "Its not about the bike" I picked up a copy and quickly read through it. I liked it.
It had a bit much detail focusing on cycling, but that was an aspect of the man that could obviously not be separated from the larger reality of his battle with cancer.
There were portions though that left my mind spinning. Armstrong's description of his diagnosis and the roller coaster of emotions that ensued was painfully raw and hit the mark with a clarity and similarity I could not deny. I myself am walking those darkened and fearful paths as I write these very words.
Out of all the pages a couple simple statements that he made resonated with me in a powerful way.
Armstrong tells of a letter that he received. It was from a man he had never met before. He himself had battled cancer. He wrote Armstrong to acknowledge his support and positive thoughts. As he finished the letter he made a strange statement that confused Armstrong. He wrote, "you probably do not understand this right now, but we are the lucky ones".
What? How is anyone with cancer lucky? It is devastating. It not only has the potential to steal your life, but also has the destructive potential to steal your Hope. Those words are haunting. Lucky? We are the lucky ones. This brotherhood of suffering is somehow lucky..........blessed?
It is diametrically opposed to any sort of sane thinking that those outside of this brotherhood would agree with. It actually is an almost dangerous statement. As if you say it as you are waking off a cliff without a safety net. A statement such as that redefines everything. Life. Death. And even Hope.
But as I walk this path, and simultaneously encounter life in all its beauty and harshness, I find myself agreeing. "We are the lucky ones". I am lucky. I say those words with a part of me screaming, "how dare you, how can you say that". But it is true. The perspective that cancer gives to life is unbelievable. It has the power to refine you. Your thoughts. Your direction. Your focus.
It is as if you look at life for the first time. Everything is different. Nothing is the same. Everything is turned on edge, revealing a freshness and an urgency that is not seen outside of cancer. If this clarity does exist in our normal lives, it is missed. Overshadowed by the busyness of life. By worthless and empty pursuits.
Another quote from Armstrong's book was this: "Cancer is not about dying, it is about living" What a statement.
Most would argue against it. But those that walk this path find it to be true. Life after diagnosis becomes "alive". It becomes real. It is as if you can grasp it with your own hands, breath it in, consume it.
Oh if I could have had this view earlier in life. I knew that it existed. I sensed it. I chased it. Through the mountains. Through relationships. In the woods and fields of my youth. It was a whisper in the words of poets. And a reflection on the horizon as the sun slipped out of view. But i did not catch it until cancer became my reference. My reality.
We who are members of this brotherhood and sisterhood of suffering are the lucky ones, because now we can truly live. And Love. And Hope. And I dare to say Dream. They are painful dreams, haunted with the shadows of uncertainty, but they are vivid dreams. Passionate dreams. Dreams that leave your heart aching, your soul longing. We are released from the fear of death. Our finite lives are bared.
We come face to face with our mortality and realize that life is looking back at us. Raw and uncertain. But ALIVE none the less. There were days before cancer that I despaired. At times despising my life. But now I am hungry to live. I long to live. Whether that time be long or short, I hold tight to life and all of its glorious agony.
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
In 2006, Jenny, Joanne (Jenny's younger identical twin) and myself (Jenny's husband) decided to do the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (HCC) with our paddling club, Pacific Dragons. By mid June 2006, there was enough interest to enter three mixed OC6's crews.
At the time we, along with a number of other PD's paddlers (see picasa), some who were also paddling the HCC, had also been selected to represent Australia at the 2006 Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Macau in late Sep 2006 (see picasa). It was great campaign and we even learnt how to paddle and race standing up.
On our return, via Singapore for a Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat Regatta for Jenny, we had about four weeks to prepare for the HCC. Our team comprised of 5 paddlers from the Macau Campaign (Mandy, Nicci, Jenny, Joanne and Geoff) and Paul who would do the majority of our steering. We were commonly referred to as the Macau Crew, but we decided to call ourselves Team Happy for our team entry application, as we were a happy bunch of paddlers. We were in it for fun and we did have a whole 13 hours of fun and finished strongly standing up.
A year later, I was asked 3 days before the 2007 HCC to fill a seat, in a Mixed OC6, that had become vacant due to a paddler injury. They were called the Red Devil's and had been training seriously for months. They wanted to have fun, but they also wanted to break the Mixed OC6 record, which they did. I was pleased to help out at such short notice and have fond memories of the crew and night (see picasa). Jenny and Joanne even came to the start line to wave us off (picasa). It was a nice surprise as I was not expecting them to come out because of a Breast Cancer Seminar they attended that day in the City.
Sadly, we lost Jenny on Tue 30 Jun 2009. Joanne and I have tried to live fulfilling lives, something that Jenny wanted for us. We have paddled in her memory and honour. She inspires and guides us from above. It is barely 12 months, and we already have some great memories.
In 2009, Joanne and I did not paddle the HCC. We had only just returned from Europe after the 2009 World Dragon Boat Championships. I was able help out at quite few training sessions towards the end, and Joanne and I went to the start line to wave the PD's Mixed OC12 crew off (picasa). Lisa has some great recollections of her experience (see Part: 1, 2 and 3).
In 2010, Jo and I will paddle the HCC.
Shortly after Jenny's passing, the 2009, Prague bound, Australian Dragon Boat Squad presented Jo and I with a gift in Jenny's memory. It was a Star, located in the southern sky, named In the Memory of Jenny Petterson in the Constellation of Vela. Vela is latin for Sail and the star was picked because of the Constellation's water themed name.
Jenny, believed the 2006 HCC was an experience that created life time memories, which it surly does, as anyone who has paddled the HCC will tell you. She fondly recalled (see more further below):
It was such a great experience under a sky filled with thousands of stars.
It is something that we will be able to look back on for the rest of our lives.
So when it came time to name our 2010 Mixed OC6 (Charlotte, Rachel, Jo, Alasdair, Graeme and Geoff) Team, I tried to think of a name that allowed us to remember Jenny and to inspire us. It had to be Team ?? following our 2006 tradition. It did not take long to come up with Team Vela which I think allows us recognise the past, present and future.
I hope this goes some way to explaining the name - Team Vela.
This post includes some photos and recollections from the 2006 HCC, as well as a couple of inspirational quotes.
We will remember Jenny as we paddle under a thousand stars. In particular, we will remember Jenny and the star named in Jenny's Memory in the Constellation of Vela as it shines down brightly upon us from the southern sky.
Go Team Vela! - the most fantastic team on the Hawkesbury!!!!
Regards .. Geoff
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
On our return from Macau a routine CT scan showed that I had an accumulation of fluid around my lung. I had it drained so I was able to take part in the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. This is an 111 kilometre race from Windsor to Brooklyn along the Hawkesbury River. All types of craft including kayaks, canoes, outrigger canoes and surf skis take part in the race. It was a fantastic experience. I was a member of a six person team who paddled an outrigger canoe. Geoff and Jo were also in the team. We set off at 6pm and paddled through the night arriving 13 hours later. It was such a great experience under a sky filled with thousands of stars.
Pacific Dragons Crews and Supporters - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Jenny and Joanne - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Windsor - Sat 28 Oct 2006 (picasa)
"A single step repeated hundreds and thousands of times would see us eventually arrive at the end. It did not take superhuman strength or a talent that most do not have. It took a steadfast commitment. Step by step, the miles added up and the challenges slipped by. Today just like those days on the trail, is another step. Tomorrow is yet another. I walk this journey in anticipation of the end, but I also know that there is much to learn in the process. It is the process, no matter what the hardship where great beauty and adventure can be found."
Sunrise - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Hawkesbury River - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Sunrise - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Hawkesbury River - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Respect your soul: don’t keep repeating "I’m going to make it". Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don’t keep saying "it’s harder than I thought", because that will make you lose your inner strength.
Team Happy - Geoff, Jenny, Mandy, Jo, Nicci and Paul - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Sarah and Gav - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Sun 29 Oct 2006 (picasa)
Gav wrote on Mon 30 Oct 2006 ..
PDs, There are some very inspirational people in this club. They won't jump out at you, and they won't tell you about it - but if you stop, look and listen you will see immense courage, inner strength, and team work mixed in with a joke and a smile.
3 PD OC6s + Claire on her ski, showed some true grit on the weekend by finishing the Hawkesbury, and in good time. Each paddler taking 40,000 strokes through the night (give or take a couple).
For a race so long, you can't start the race with the mind set and strength you need to finish it. It's impossible. You have to find it along the way. Brutal mind games that get played out as the kms tick over.
The paddlers have to dig deeper and deeper in themselves in order to keep going and enduring the pain and extreme fatigue.
In the darkness, they imagine the sweet sweet moment at the finish line where they realise their goal of conquering the distance, and finally allowing their bodies to stop.
Sometimes it feels like it is getting further away. But when it finally, actually, really happens - PADDLES OUT- the sense of achievement mixed with relief is overwhelming and pure ecstasy.
Tears, smiles and hugs all round.
After the Hawkesbury, your concept of distance and yourself changes forever. From then on, you are never again afraid of 'not being able to finish' a race. It is now just a question of how hard you can go.
Well done to the 'Amazing 18' !!! May we all be made of the same stuff.
There is only one way to find out.
Joanne and Jenny - Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2006 - Brooklyn - Oct 2006 (picasa)
On Wed 1 Nov 2006, Jenny wrote ..
Thank you all so much for the wonderful experience. It was unbelievable and seems like a bit of a dream now. It was truly an honour to be a part of Team Happy. It is something that we will be able to look back on for the rest of our lives.
We cannot thank you Gav, Sarah, Tamara and Luke (and for that matter, all of the other land crews) enough for all the support you gave us. You all made things so easy for us and looked after us soooo well. We could never have done it without you. From helping us on and off the boat, keeping us warm, feeding us, helping us change and massaging our weary bodies. You are the best!
Go Team Happy! - the most fantastic team on the Hawkesbury!!!!
Control what you can, not what you can’t! Be Smart. Work on something specific each day. Have a plan! Train with a purpose. Improvement is incremental. Small steps lead to big steps.
Pressure - Pressure is what you make it! Use the pressure to make you better, internalize it and use it as a positive influence.
Belief – Think you are the best and you are on your way. Confidence, believe in yourself, your preparation and your support system.
Routine – Great athletes doing the same thing, the same way, at the same time each day. Regularity. You can set a clock by the great ones.
Work - Every one works. The great ones work smarter. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses objectively. Minimize your weaknesses and optimize your strengths. Bring your weaknesses up to the level of your strengths.
Choices - It is always about choices. Make the choice to be the best. Life is constantly about choices.
Improvement - Michael Jordan, as good as he was, got better every year he played! He would pick one aspect of his game each off-season and set out to improve that aspect with relentless determination.
Perfection - The perfect game has yet to be played, in fact it will probably never be played. The perfect race has yet to be run. That does not mean we should not strive for perfection, it does mean that that we should strive for perfection but not be frustrated when we do not achieve perfection. Take chances, risk, try a new move in a game, take on a defender. Make things happen!
Mental Toughness - Physical preparation gives mental strength. Push yourself, do not give in. Go the extra step and the extra mile.
Effort - Performance may vary, but effort is a constant. You have control over your effort. Make it high energy, high level and purposeful. Consistent effort will level out the peaks and valleys in performance.
Goals - It is about goal achievement not goal setting. Anyone can set goals, but few can achieve goals! Dreams are private. Goals are public. Share them. Find people to support you to achieve your goals. Be specific both in setting your goals and the means to achievement. Constantly visualize yourself achieving your goals!
Focus - No rabbit ears! Program your inner voice to respond only to what you tell it. Only listen to your positive self-talk. Filter out the negatives.
Evaluation - Self-assessment is a constant for those who chose to be great. Be objective. Look at the positives and the negatives. It is an ongoing process. Evaluation and self-assessment are a series of stepping-stones necessary to climb the staircase of success.
Be yourself and true to yourself. You are great and will get better!
A copy of a blog post that I always come back to. Learnt a lot from this and all of Vern's writing.
Geoff an Jim Farintosh Canadian Senior Mixed/Open Coach and Sweep - Racice Prague - Fri 29 Aug 2009
Always take the time to say hello to Jim Farintosh from Toronto. First met him at Sydney 2007 when he coached and swept the Canadian Senior Open and Mixed Teams. Next said hello in Penang in Aug 2008 where he coached and swept the Toronto area "Mayfair Predators". Decided in Prague to finally get a photo with him after the Senior Open's 200m medal presentation. A top coach and a person who is obviously highly regarded by his peers.
One of my team mates from Prague 2009 had this on his Notebook. Before we got off the Bus at the race site for the 200m races, he played this to the Team. I enjoyed it and it seemed to do the trick. Somehow we squirmed into 3rd place in the final for a completely unexpected Bronze. Thanks Rick. Just a memory from Prague 2009.
Rick Lambe and Gary Quartermain - Senior Open 200m Final Presentation - Racice/Prague - Fri 29 Aug 2009
Inch By Inch Speech by Al Pacino
I don't know what to say really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today. Either we heal as a team or we are going to crumble. Inch by inch play by play till we're finished. We are in hell right now, gentlemen believe me and we can stay here and get the sh*t kicked out of us or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell. One inch, at a time.
Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old. I look around and I see these young faces and I think I mean I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make. I uh.... I pissed away all my money believe it or not. I chased off anyone who has ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.
You know when you get old in life things get taken from you. That's, that's part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is just a game of inches. So is football. Because in either game life or football the margin for error is so small. I mean one half step too late or to early you don't quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in ever break of the game every minute, every second.
On this team, we fight for that inch On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch. We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch. Cause we know when we add up all those inches that's going to make the f*ing difference between WINNING and LOSING between LIVING and DYING.
I'll tell you this in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face.
Now I can't make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him.
That's a team, gentlemen and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys. That's all it is. Now, whattaya gonna do?
Control what you can, not what you can’t! Be Smart. Work on something specific each day. Have a plan! Train with a purpose. Improvement is incremental. Small steps lead to big steps.
Pressure - Pressure is what you make it! Use the pressure to make you better, internalize it and use it as a positive influence.
Belief – Think you are the best and you are on your way. Confidence, believe in yourself, your preparation and your support system.
Routine – Great athletes doing the same thing, the same way, at the same time each day. Regularity. You can set a clock by the great ones.
Work - Every one works. The great ones work smarter. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses objectively. Minimize your weaknesses and optimize your strengths. Bring your weaknesses up to the level of your strengths.
Choices - It is always about choices. Make the choice to be the best. Life is constantly about choices.
Improvement - Michael Jordan, as good as he was, got better every year he played! He would pick one aspect of his game each off-season and set out to improve that aspect with relentless determination.
Perfection - The perfect game has yet to be played, in fact it will probably never be played. The perfect race has yet to be run. That does not mean we should not strive for perfection, it does mean that that we should strive for perfection but not be frustrated when we do not achieve perfection. Take chances, risk, try a new move in a game, take on a defender. Make things happen!
Mental Toughness - Physical preparation gives mental strength. Push yourself, do not give in. Go the extra step and the extra mile.
Effort - Performance may vary, but effort is a constant. You have control over your effort. Make it high energy, high level and purposeful. Consistent effort will level out the peaks and valleys in performance.
Goals - It is about goal achievement not goal setting. Anyone can set goals, but few can achieve goals! Dreams are private. Goals are public. Share them. Find people to support you to achieve your goals. Be specific both in setting your goals and the means to achievement. Constantly visualize yourself achieving your goals!
Focus - No rabbit ears! Program your inner voice to respond only to what you tell it. Only listen to your positive self-talk. Filter out the negatives.
Evaluation - Self-assessment is a constant for those who chose to be great. Be objective. Look at the positives and the negatives. It is an ongoing process. Evaluation and self-assessment are a series of stepping-stones necessary to climb the staircase of success.
Be yourself and true to yourself. You are great and will get better!
A copy of a blog post that I always come back to. Learnt a lot from this and all of Vern's writing.
Geoff an Jim Farintosh Canadian Senior Mixed/Open Coach and Sweep - Racice Prague - Fri 29 Aug 2009
Always take the time to say hello to Jim Farintosh from Toronto. First met him at Sydney 2007 when he coached and swept the Canadian Senior Open and Mixed Teams. Next said hello in Penang in Aug 2008 where he coached and swept the Toronto area "Mayfair Predators". Decided in Prague to finally get a photo with him after the Senior Open's 200m medal presentation. A top coach and a person who is obviously highly regarded by his peers.
To me, photography is a way to tell someone’s story through your very subjective and emotional view. I am not interested in the big issues, but in the small stories of people anyone would listen to. To these people that let me be a part of their lives for a moment that can be a miserable, difficult or also euphoric one, I have a responsibility.
"How we came to be on a dragon boat paddling down the Ord River in the Kimberleys, is a bit of a long story."
These were Michelle Hanton’s, now famous, words at the start of the Ord Marathon in the 2004 June Long Weekend Australian Story Episode, In the Pink. This episode told the Dragons Abreast Story in Australia and it covered all aspects of living life with breast cancer. It helped raise the awareness and benefits of Dragons Abreast Australia, and the number of new Dragons Abreast clubs and paddlers grew quickly across Australia. For the Ord Marathon Organisers, the Kununarra Dragon Boat Club, the show also exposed their great event to Australia and the World.
Joanne and Jo Stanton at the Start (Jo was the Marathon Registrar and also helped with the coordination of the Flowers for the Lily Lake Flowers on the Water Ceremony) - Sun 13 Jun 2010
Geoff, Lindsay Gassman and Joanne - Lindsay lead a great team that not only organised, but also paddled the Marathon - Lily Lake/Kununarra - Sun 13 Jun 2010
The Ord River Marathon is 55km Dragon Boat paddle down the Ord River from the Lake Arygle Dam Wall to the Lily Lake in Kununarra. The paddlers weave their way along the Ord River through one the oldest landscapes in the world. Anyone who has travelled the Ord will tell you about the beautiful dominant colours of the orange weathered gorges, the unique green vegetation and the blue sky that comes with the beginning of the "dry season".
Jenny's Paddle - Colours of the Ord: The Orange, Blues and Greens - Ord River - Sun 13 Jun 2010
For all who have paddled the Ord River Marathon, I am sure there "is a bit of a long story" and for many in the Dragons Abreast Community, the Ord River Marathon has become a kind of "pilgrimage" and a must do at some stage in their paddling career.
Fast forwarding six years to the 2010 June Long Weekend, Joanne and I would find ourselves undertaking the Ord River Marathon as part of the Penrith based Pendragons Dragons Abreast Team – "The Spirit of Friendship".
For Jenny, Joanne and myself the Ord River Marathon was something we always wanted to do. Jenny and I had travelled across the Kimberley’s in May 2001 (Jenny and Joanne had only just started dragon boat paddling) and we spent a few days in Kununarra, which included travelling down the Ord River, along the same course of the Ord River Marathon, on the "Triple J" Tour Boat (the main support boat for the Marathon, as we would find out this year).
Jenny on the Trip J Tour Boat - Ord River - 19 May 2001
So in 2004 when Jenny had co-featured in the Australian Story Episode with Michelle and various others, the Ord River was very familiar and the Ord Marathon was an event we set as a goal. Indeed for me, it was one of the reasons I started paddling.
In the Pink - Australian Story - Mon 14 Jun 2004
In the Pink - Australian Story - Mon 14 Jun 2004
Every time the opportunity presented itself to paddle the Ord River Marathon, we were always busy on some other paddling campaign and we would always say, hopefully next time. Unfortunately, Jenny passed away on the 30 June 2009.
When Joanne and I were invited by the Pendragons Dragons Abreast Team to paddle the Ord Marathon with them on Sunday of the June Long Weekend this year, we felt very privileged and a great sense of honour. Like many DA clubs, the Australian Story Episode was the catalyst for the creation of their club and the reason a number of their members started paddling.
The Spirit of Friendship - Morning Tea Break at end of the first leg - Ord River - Sun 13 Jun 2010
There were many special moments for all of us who paddled that day and we all felt a great sense of pride in completing the 4 legs of the Marathon in good time, having started at 7:30am and finishing around 4:30pm.
Morning Tea Break at the end of the First Leg - Ord River - Sun 13 Jun 2010
Joanne has used Jenny’s paddle since Jenny’s passing and for the 3rd and longest flatwater leg (15km) of the Marathon, each of the paddlers in our boat paddled with Jenny’s paddle for approximately 1 km – this seemed to help make this our strongest leg.
As we entered the Lily Lake all the Dragon Boats came together so that we would finish together. A few meters from the finish, in front of a large crowd, all six Dragon Boats rafted up and the two Dragons Abreast Crews spread some flowers across the Lily Lake, and Joanne and I scattered some of Jenny’s Ashes.
Jenny - Remembering Jenny - Ivanhoe Village Caravan Resort/Kununarra - Sun 13 Jun 2010
Congratulations to everyone who paddled their dream and added another memorable page to their life story. Also a huge thank you for everyone involved in running this great event and to the Pendragons Dragons Abreast 'Spirit of Friendship' Team for giving us the opportunity to paddle this event in Jenny’s Honour and Memory.
The Spirit of Friendship - Back (l-r) Geoff Eldridge, Louise Blockley, Debbie Roberts, Lynne Barrass, Barb Williams, Joy Mutimer, Jan Giles, John Caldwell, Jan Caldwell, Front (l-r) Joanne Peterson, Rita Redden, Gillian Brown, Sharon Mathieson, Julie Willis - Lily Lake/Kununarra - Sun 13 Jun 2010
Joanne and Geoff - Kununarra - Sun 13 Jun 2010
Jenny overlooking Kununarra - Lookout/Kununarra - 16 May 2001
With 100 metres left, there’s really no thinking, it’s just endurance and just focusing on the pain and trying to ignore the pain at the same time, which is a strange thing. You’ve got to focus on where the pain is and try to eliminate the feeling of fatigue and really just focus on maximizing each stroke, which is a difficult thing when everything’s on fire.
As far as the pain goes, you’ve got to keep pushing it or do I choose to relent and give in to my body’s reaction to working too hard?
The test of an endurance athlete is to push that limit and push that boundary and tell the body it’s got to sit tight a couple of minutes as you see how much you can do.
Any good endurance athlete will say that maintaining their form and their technique through those moments of pain and fatigue is probably the most key aspect to maintaining the speed. It’s really easy to break down the technique and not to be as snappy to return to the setup phase in the kayak stroke.
Adam van Koeverden, Oakville, Ontario, Toronto Star, 21 August 2008
Now, we know that in virtually every single type of sport, as soon as the event lasts between 3 and 5 minutes, the optimal pacing strategy is a fast start, then a slowing in the middle and an increase at the end, so that the two halves are close to even, but there is an "inverted U-shape" . This is why the first and final laps of mile and 1500m world records are significantly faster than the middle two laps.
When races are short, like a men's 400m or 800m run, or the men's 200m or 500m kayaking event, then it's different - the best strategy then is to go out hard and accept some kind of deterioration at the end of a race. Longer races, like men's 5000m and 10000m running events, the marathon, the Tour, all benefit from even pace, or even a slower start, with an 'endspurt' in the final kilometer. It's not co-incidence, for example, that in 24 of 25 World Records over 10,000m, the fastest kilometer has come at the very end of the race!
[..] for an event lasting 3 to 4 minutes, like the [..] K1 1000m kayak event, the optimal way to race is to hold reserve over the first half and then finish almost as fast as you begin. [..]
And we are not so different that each individual has an optimal pacing strategy. Yes, some are better at sustaining faster starts than others, some are better at kicking later in races. Much of this is psychological, I feel, but there are likely physiological reasons too. But these physiological differences are not so large that anyone can get away with vastly different strategies. For some reason, Germany have figured this out and are winning races that physiologically, they might otherwise have lost.
A Door (*), A Window (*) - Red and Blue - Paddington / London (Sat 17 Aug 2013)
Elvis Costello (*) talks about musical creation (*):
We were somewhat free from expectations (*) because we didn't tell anybody we were doing it, because we didn't know (*) we were doing it ourselves at first.''
via Pump it up: How hip-hop seduced Elvis Costello (*) by Nick Miller (*).
Back home now. A fantastic trip (*) with many great moments and experiences. Not a natural traveller, but this trip I seemed to handle it all better than I ever have and was fully engaged in the moment, not feeling homesick and not wanting myself to be somewhere else.
Hardly gave my work, paddling or situation in life (my usual preoccupations) a thought. A usual thought was to try and understand a place, event or thing, not to judge or to wish it to be something I am familiar with. It is there for a reason, and if I could just understand it a little, then I might learn something about it, life, or even myself.
I also thought how lucky I was to able to do this, to have these experiences and this outlook on life.
Took over 10,000 photos and have much to look at and ponder over the next few months, in particular, and no doubt, for the rest of my life.
Some photos have been taken so I can remember a place, a moment, or a transientary thing - to give it a life beyond its time.
Some have been taken because something caught my eye - a colour, a combination of colours, lines, shadows or maybe just the quality of the light.
Others I think have been captured for reasons beyond my comprehension, just as Elvis explains above. Most of these photos will never be seen by another person and in some ways this relieves me of any expectation or what others might think, as the above quote so nicely demonstrates.
So if you think some of the photos that appear here are a little beyond comprehension, maybe you should be thankful that you don't see some of the others that will never seen by anyone other than me.
Thanks Elvis and Nick, a great interview which allowed me to learn something about myself, which is what great writing and its sharing is about.
Untitled - George Street / Sydney (Sun 31 Apr 2013)
Larrisa Archer (*) on viewing Garry Wingorand's (*) current Exhibitiion (*) writes On Street Photography (*):
I'm wondering if even street photography (*) can be trusted to tell us anything beyond what is in the photographer's own heart at the moment--
I wonder if it is in fact the most deceptive of all genres, for the very reason that it posits a certain objectivity, not rehearsed and posed but candid and full of accidents, an imprint of a reality that is out there for anyone and everyone to witness together.
I wonder if, regardless of the literal elements of the scene, the tone an image takes on and expresses is due to the photographer's own moods, his own prejudices, enthusiasms, "abortive sorrows and short-winded elations."
And then I wonder if this is in fact any less reliable than the notion that the images can say something objectively true about their over-arching subject (for instance, America) when that subject is itself so complex, many-sided, and open to a seemingly endless range of interpretations.
via 'We Have Not Loved Life': Garry Winogrand at SFMOMA (*) by Larrisa Archer (*).
The following three quotes are about the past and future, and how we might relate them to each other (if that makes any sense). There is some good advice in all three quotes and I thought that I put them here for future reference, so that they will become part of my past :-). Here they are:
As you pursue your goals in life, that is to say your future, pursue your past. Let it be your guide. Insist on having a past and then you will have a future. Ken Burns - 2004 Commencement Yale Class Day Speech (as pdf)
With the past in mind I thought I would dig into archive.org and drag out something from my past (it might explain the where eljeiffel came from). Here it is:
Today is Indepedence Day in the USA which celebrates the 223rd birthday, being founded on 4 Jul 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This also represents a time of reflection for myself with elj.com (Eiffel Liberty).
It is two years ago since I registered elj.com. The name Eiffel Liberty was easy to come up with. It represented a vision and a hope for Eiffel that somehow it might be liberated from its miserable place in the language landscape (I thought how could such a great contribution, be so categorically and overwhelmingly dismissed by the programming community). Also, Emma Lazarus's words struck a chord with me, particularly
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Just as America provided opportunity for many from other lands, I thought Eiffel could provide the same kind of opportunities for the syntactically and semantically battered from the other language landscapes :-)
Also, the name Eiffel Liberty made what a I thought was a nice connection between two famous landmarks that Gustave Eiffel had contributed to, being the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty"Eiffel undertook the challenge of creating the steel structure because of the enormous challenge it afforded him".
The 4 Jul 1997 was to be the launch date for the Eiffel Liberty Journal. However, I came down with a very bad cold (too many late nights preparing for the initial launch) and I decided to publish the launch issue of the Eiffel Liberty Journal, not from my newly acquired elj.com but from my progsoc web pages (this would remain the case for another six months).
It was fun putting together the first issue as I received cooperation from all I contacted. These included:
Victor Putz who wrote a great article titled Toymakers and tools: Why one game developer is switching to Eiffel. Victor is a game programmer by night and a helicopter pilot/instructor by day. I remember Victor making a special trip (about 30 km each way) to send me the article because of flooding in his area which made his normal internet access impossible. BTW, I have found that Victor shares and articulates (much better than I ever could) my own vision for Eiffel.
Two years on, elj.com has changed from a random journal to a daily random news update covering the Eiffel and related worlds. In many ways elj.com is really just a log of the links and resources I have stumbled across and that I might learn from (or even get a laugh from).
Eiffel certainly enjoys a wider exposure than it did back in 1997. I hope elj.com has helped in a small way. It is hard tell what impact elj.com has had as there is little feedback. However, occasionally I do get a note saying that elj.com helped someone get started with Eiffel, which seems to make it all worthwhile. I guess elj.com could have been much more effective but there is only so much time.
For a number of reasons I renamed Eiffel Liberty to elj.com Extraordinarily Large Jumble in Feb 99 (some of the reasoning behind this was that elj.com was and still is, an Extraordinarily Large Jumble of seemingly random links and more significantly there was little or no Eiffel news). Fortunately, there now appears to be more Eiffel news than I can handle/report manually and I am making efforts to address this through a more automated Eiffel news feed at elj-daily.
elj.com has amassed an incredible amount of links, quotes and resources relating to Eiffel and related worlds. The time has come for elj.com to be able to extract the information from this mass. A keyword/search facility is on the way.
I believe that for [open source] projects to thrive, information needs to readily at hand. I hope the new elj.com that you will see over the coming weeks/months (depends on how much time I get to work on this) will reflect the ability to provide this information efficiently and effectively.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support that Jenny has given me over the last few years. She has had to cope (in more ways than one) with more than anyone should reasonably have to tolerate.
Funny to read this after all these years. Shows how strongly I felt about the Eiffel programming language and method (and still do, but not just as visible). I even chose to start this blog with some posts on Eiffel - not the language, but it's inspiration, the Eiffel Tower and it's creator, Gustave Eiffel.
I had better stop here as I think I might be getting a bit nostalgic. Anyway, hoping all of this might help me find the inspiration to get a future project off the ground.
