Back from Canberra

We all missed Marcus when he was away for 5 days on a school trip, even Michael. I thought this was very sweet: Marcus is heavily into sport, Michael has no interest in sport but is intimately familiar with the TV schedule. At breakfast Michael had something exciting to tell Marcus but he had to wait for someone else to finish talking. Then he blurted out "Marcus - tonight is the Third Ashes Test Day 2 - DOUBLE EPISODES!!!!"

Presentation Night

I am off to the mainland for the first time this year, to attend a football/music mashup called Presentation Night. It consists of one beloved footballer (and music fanatic), one national music legend (and footy tragic), compered by a man with impeccable cred in both discplines, Francis Leach. The organiser is music A&R man Andy Kelly. The stars this time are Matthew 'Richo' Richardson and Tim 'Tim Rogers' Rogers.

Our buddy Vincent attended Presentation Night #1, and reported that he was not the only one there wearing a 70s Footy Enigmas shirt. I got in touch with Andy and said how much I wanted to attend #2, thinking it would be an annual thing. Lo and behold, he announced #2 about five minutes later.

So I am off over to Melbourne for a few days to attend this function and also see my Tigers take on the old enemy Carlton. Carlton are msifiring dreadfully at the moment, will be missing about a dozen first choice players, and have next to no chance. Richmond are in their best form in a decade and are warming up for their first finals series since 2001. It promises to be a fine old bloodbath. I am going along with three Melbourne-based pals who all go for the Blues, and they are as buoyant at the prospect as if we were going to a school recorder recital.

Andy asked me to write a spiel about the footy shirts for his Presentation Night blog, and you can read it here. Another online friend is The Holy Boot, and he also asked me to give him some wordage for his blog, which is over here.

Monsterpants

Just been to KMart. They seem to be panicking about the obesity epidemic: there were racks and racks of unsold 2XL -> 7XL underpants. I was after plain L for my robust but apparently sub-normal arse. Had to shift literally wheelbarrowloads of monsterpants to find one pair Ls.

A stirring tale in pictures by Michael Rees (9)

This has got the feel of the Bayeaux Tapestry about it, but Michael tells me that his inspiration was actually the Royal Standard of Ur.

Snow

These were taken here at our place a week ago. It was pretty crisp.

Cousins

My sisters and I have four first cousins. Our parents each had one sibling who married and had a boy and a girl. But like most of our parents, our Mum and Dad had cousins galore. Dad’s dad was the last of eleven.

Dad grew up in Launceston, and after his father Didds died (when I was a baby), our whole family would drive there two-and-a-half hours each way, in our small Fiat. This was about once a month - or so it seemed. Maybe it was more often, maybe less. We would visit Ibey and Dad would mow the lawn and collect the fruit from the trees, and generally be the handyman. Ibey didn't trust tradesmen so Dad was required to develop skills in many different disciplines.

One day recently I was asking Dad about the family tree, and he said off-handedly that Uncle Norm lived at Nº 9 such-and-such street Invermay - not very far from Ibey. I was flabbergsted - why had we never gone to visit when we were in town? Dad’s answer was there were just so many uncles, aunts and cousins its was simpler to visit none than to visit all.

Dad and Mum just set off for a few weeks visiting friends and family around NSW. Dad popped in just before they left to return my wheelbarrow and give me the latest printout of the definitive family tree, which he was sent by the official family genealogist John Cannon, the bushwalking columnist in the Mercury - a distant cousin of Dad’s.

Dad's parting words were that he was surprised to look through and see how many of his cousins have died. Dad is 77 this year.

Even though I only have 4 cousins and it is easier than it has ever been to keep in touch, I haven’t seen or spoken to any for at least ten years. And I suppose one day they and I and my sisters will also be part of an update to the family tree.

Exciting sideburns news

My 1970s footballer shirts got a write-up in big-city newspaper The Age the other day! I was working from home, noodling through some project or other, and I kept getting email alerts that shirts had sold online. By the end of the day I had sold about 20 (previously I had been selling maybe 1 or 2 per week). It was very hard to concentrate.

In the evening someone commented on my Rees Design Retail facebook page that they'd seen an article in the Herald Sun - cue a fruitless (and gooseless) wild goose chase, then I found it here in the Age Online. The next day I tracked down a printed copy, and it was even better as it reproduced one of my shirt designs, of Geoff Blethyn from Essendon.

The writer Peter Hanlon contacted Geoff, who was quite pleased to be remembered and gave his blessing to the design. Since then I have spoken to him and sent him a shirt - he's a very nice guy, humble about his achievements and interested in what I do. He also ran a company called Major Pants for 15 years, you’ve got to love that. Peter mentioned that I had done other designs, and it seems people have googled "1970s footy enigmas" and found my RedBubble shop that way.

The sales spike is fading now but it has lasted for a week, and given me a hell of a boost.

Winning stuff in the school hall

On Friday the school hosted an inter-school chess tournament. Chess Kids do a really great job - they bring the whole circus with them except desks and chairs. I got there at 8 to set up for 100 kids and about 20 parents and teachers.The tables were out but they were pretty yucky so I swabbed 25 tables which was a good warm-up for putting out 120 chairs.

It all went very well. I took the opportunity of nominating about twice the usual number of kids, since we didn't have to worry about transport or supervision (well, I supervised all day so it wasn't putting anyone else out at least). This meant we had plenty of first-timers but they all seemed to have fun and find their level OK.

Marcus was in the mix towards the end. After winning, then losing, he won the next 5 straight and ended up equal first (although he admitted to me later he would have been 3rd if they had done a countback). He got another medal to add to his massive clanking collection which always reminds me of Idi Amin. The school finished 4th which was enough for us to earn 5 spots at the State championships in November. This caught me by surprise and I clapped and let out a little "Wooh!!" in an otherwise tiredly silent hall. Marcus was somewhat embarrassed, so that all went very well.

A bit over 24 hours later, back in the same hall with the same tables and chairs, Elf and I found ourselves at the annual fundraising Quiz Night. I have commented on this before, and once again we had been treated to our tickets by our friend The Fewst who wished to have our brains on her side.

Now - just to jettison false modesty once and for all, it was pretty much about having ME on her side. It is now considered proven fact that I am a Quiz Freak and you do no not want one of them outside the tent as they say. So I was in the tent and furthermore given the job of team scribe which was a relief. In other years I have had to plead with the scribe to write down what I know with 200% certainty is right, while they are looking at me sidelong and saying "Yeah well I'm PRETTY SURE there are 52 states". This year I wrote down whatever I liked, pretty much. And no, I wasn't always right (isn't it weird how Tiger Woods' voice sounds like Lance Armstrong's?) but I was right enough that we WON.

And took home one bottle of wine and a really ugly wine cooler thing each. Oh well. It was a good cause etc. I can't think of a particular "wow" answer that I knew that no-one else did, but I was solid.

Boys v Girls in the middle of Tasmania

It was a perfect day up at Campbell Town today. Marcus and the Central u11s played the State Girls u13s and sneaked home 4-2 in the end. It was a huge field and an 80 minute match (the boys are used to 50) so they did well. Look at the size difference when Marcus was marking his "man".

Meanwhile on the sidelines

Michael is always terrific at soccer events. He mildly wishes Marcus well, and will sometimes politely ask the score, or “who won?”. While the game goes on, he finds things to do. Often this has involved mud, puddles, sticks, bits of scavenged metal and a lot of quiet muttering. I am sure some of the other parents think he's been raised by wolves.

Up in Devonport, he spent a lot of his time sitting on a soccer ball, drawing and calculating on a pad. He spent most of day 1 drawing an intricate map of a made-up continent. Judging by the arrows one country was invading another one. I used to do the very same thing - I have NOT taught him how to do this but he does read a lot of the same books I did as a kid - 1950s and 60s geography textbooks that my dad once taught from. They are full of pincer-movements on the Western Front and waves of Norsemen assailing the coasts of Britain, etc.

For day 2, he covered a few pages with numbers, attempting work out what a completely impossible fraction-of-a-fraction-of-a-fraction (that he made up) would equal as a decimal. This is NOT something I would have ever done as a kid, but he will regularly do this, while whistling, singing or just beatboxing. I think he enjoys the feeling of having his brain fully engaged in something. People going past admired and said "Wow, he's a bit of a genius isn't he?" One said "Goodness, is he .. doing homework???"

Leaving aside the fact that our other son, the strapping right-fullback, is also a mental wunderkind, the fact is Michael's numbers actually made no real sense, but he was as happy as a trout. For us the big thing is we can take him off to something like the soccer carnival, and he keeps himself occupied one way or another, despite his zero interest in soccer.

There has been a bit of a sportfest at home lately with footy and soccer on TV every other day. While Marcus and I are absorbed in that stuff, Michael is on the floor between us and the TV, with anything from 3 to 10 books open all over the place. Library books and my books, his books, old books that i can't remember where they come from. And he takes a bit from here and a bit from there and makes something new. These below all come from a 4-5 day period, except the map of France at the end. That was a sustained effort over about 4 days, drawn on an x-ray envelope.

Soccer names

I passed a lazy half hour this morning (a public holiday) slurping tea and looking over the program for the weekend's soccer carnival, primarily at the kids' names. I am of course not wanting to make fun of names which are part of other cultures. Just names from the stranger aspects of my own culture.

I see these names as a desperate stab at creativity by some parent or parents who possibly have very limited outlets for their poetic hearts. I imagine these are people who put a high premium on things that are NEW and DIFFERENT and UNIQUE. How about naming your daughter Angel? Wait. POWER MOVE. How about going one better and naming her Aingel? Really get the Ain in there so people don't think of Angle.

One girls team has a very tempestuous backline Imagine the drama and recriminations when Storm is picking the ball out of the net and pointing the finger at Skye and Angel (without an i).

One team has two Zoes and a Zara. Zzzzzzzzz!! One team has two Raphaelas and a Gabriella but they are all beyond reproach judging by the surnames. There are Pipers and Ethans absolutely everywhere. It's times like this that I appreciate my ignorance of the old testament - it must be quite unsettling to have grandchildren named Noah and Caleb and Aaron and Zachariah when those names create vivid images in your mind of first-borns being slain and calves being fatted etc.

Did Brumby Smalley and Luke Klug's parents ever say those names out loud? I'm sure they are great kids by the way and I wish all of them, the Chloes and Zoes and Kades and Jades and my favourite - plain old Erin Fudge - all the best with their soccer careers.

Central Region win on the road again

We just spent the weekend with Marcus up north for the Devonport Soccer Carnival. His team Central Region (representing the main metro area of Hobart) won their four games and took out the tournament again. Last year they won Devonport and Launceston and lost at home in Hobart (to Northern Tasmania). Again this year they have lost in Hobart (to Northern Tasmania) and won in Devonport - we travel to Launceston in about 5 weeks. We have just heard there is going to be a fourth tournament, in Burnie in September.

The first game on Saturday against Eastern (representing the eastern shore of Hobart) was a tight tussle. Central were 3-0 up early in the 2nd half when they started to get complacent. Some snoozy defending let Eastern in for an excellent goal, and then it looked like a matter of time before they scored again as panic set in.Central's travelling supporters started praying for the whistle and the ref obliged, final score 3-1.

In the afternoon was the game we all were hanging on, against the main threat, Northern Tasmania (who represent the whole North and North East but are generally just called "Launceston"). They were very unlucky to have a probable goal ignored by the ref, who thought it didn't cross the line. Our keeper Ethan scooped it out, and play continued. It was extremely tense for the whole first half, which finished 0-0. After the break Central scored from a goalmouth scramble. Again there was debate whether it had gone over the line but the referee was very decisive and firm in all four games. I was still worrying that we had been very lucky to be 1-0 when a 2nd went in. The Launceston boys dropped their heads then and it became a rout, finishing 5-0. Our boys were terrific in their behaviour - no over-the-top goal celebrations. Although they knew they had made a huge step towards winning the comp, they were respectful of their opponents and didn't go crazy at the end.

The next morning we played one of the traditionally weaker teams, WSSA based in Burnie. They gave us a very tough match - WSSA scored after only a minute. Again there was some dozy boys in the backline, WSSA won a corner which popped out to one of their midfielders who crashed it in just under the crossbar. Within 3 minutes Central equalised then added another. WSSA were moving the ball around really nicely while Central were rushing everything, but it was still 2-1 at half time. Central settled in the 2nd half and got out to a comfortable 4-1 lead. WSSA pulled a well-deserved goal back before the end. Coach Atef addressed the boys at the end, (in gentle-chiding mode rather than hairdryer mode) and said that apart from Marcus who was man-of-the-match, everyone else forgot to do the jobs assigned to them.

Our last game was against the hosts, Devonport. The word was out that our boys needed only to draw to take first place, but Devonport had also looked like an improved team. They took it right up to Central, and had us under a lot of pressure at times. Our defence in this match was a lot better, and our forwards made the most of their chances. Central won 5-1 although on the balance of play the teams seemed much closer.

The team has changed a bit from last year. Sam, Antonio and Gus have left either for AFL or to play exclusively for Ken Morton's soccer school. Sam was our best defender but I think Marcus has taken that mantle now. He always gives 100% and I get the impression the coaches really trust him. He is happy playing at right fullback where his primary job is marking. But he plays more like a centre-back, and I think with his height there is a good chance he'll be given that responsibility sooner or later.

New website n stuff

I have got my own domain name now, www.reesdesign.com.au. This is part of a major push to garner more work, since my only dependable cash-cow client has just cut me back to irregular projects rather than a weekly day in the studio.

There is a just a place holder on the site for now but coming soon will be this;

Of course if you have any work in the field of graphic design, interactive design (Flash etc), animation, illustration, typography and the like - please get in touch! 

Ketchup

Its time for a big state-of-the-nation catchup blog I think. For one reason or another I have been captured by the dubious charms of Facebook in recent months. I could rave on about how busy I have been yadda yadda but in fact I have no excuses. FB does have the very enjoyable aspect of instant feedback, and an audience for your writing which is narrower but a lot less mysterious.

However now I am addressing myself to you guys, in Saskatchewan, Springvale, Switzerland and South Sudan. How are you all going?

It’s nearly winter here now. I have a photo taken on February 28, 2002, showing the poplars turning yellow. (I know the date because it was the day Marcus was born). This photo has led me to thinking that is when the colours will change every year, but I realise now that must have been an early autumn.

Marcus will be at high school next year, which freaks me out considerably. Last week he and Elf and I were escorted on a tour of his prospective high school by a couple of very nice and well-adjusted Grade 8 kids. I don’t know when this species evolved, it wasn’t abroad on the earth when I was at high school.

The school was well-scrubbed and a lot of it seems very new. Like most schools in the country they got a bunch of funding under the Building The Education Revolution program. Now all the headlines about rorts and delays have faded away, we are left with what seems to be some very good education infrastructure.

Co-incidentally, the very same day we toured Taroona High, we were invited to a ceremony at New Town High, (the alternative high school option). Michael did very well in his NAPLAN tests last year (as did Marcus) and he was given a certificate, along with about 100 other kids from the south of Tasmania who either topped the school, came in the top 1%, or did both.

The government claim that NAPLAN is not about league tables of school v school, and they may really believe that. However when you have to sit through a very long presentation in a large hall, your mind does turn to the schools whose top performer is outside the top 1% and think - hmmm. If I was principal of such a school, especially if it was a medium-to-large one, I would feel this was exposing me to criticism.

Minister for Education Nick McKim congratulates future archaeologist/slapstick comedian Michael Rees.

We have been lucky to have a lot of family around lately. My sister Jacki visited Hobart for a week from NSW, and stayed with Mum and Dad over the river. She had a great time with them, and managed to get around to a lot of the best things to see. We had several dinners and get-togethers, and managed to get a sibling photo with Sally - these summit meetings only happen about every 3-5 years.

Jacki, me and Sally.

For comparison,  here we are in about 1980 (with our carroty cousins).

Jacki and Dad and I also went to the footy up in Launceston a few Sundays back. It was a gorgeous day (we are having a lot of that at the moment), and although I don't have a great interest in either Hawthorn or GWS Giants, it was a pretty good game. Just nice to spend time together too. Jacki lives at Smiths Lake on the mid-north coast of NSW, and its a major operation getting to or from there to Tasmania.

Moments after Jacki went home, Fred arrived from Canberra to spend a week with us, to celebrate his birthday. Again it was all dinners and outings for a while. The boys and their cousins were hanging off him most of the time.

We are only very occasional Skype-rs, and fired up the camera on the Smart TV to call Chonk and Irma in Switzerland while we had Fred with us. It's fantastic to have a full family-on-family gathering at such a distance. They have now replaced their laptop-based skype setup with a camera on top of the big TV like we have, and it s a different experience altogether.

We all had a big day out at Richmond on Sunday - lunch at the pub, getting lost in the big maze, and then a few hours at Zoodoo. I have just found an excellent setting on the camera that enables me to fill the card with bad photos in mere seconds. This lion was standing up staring mystically into the distance, well, towards Launceston actually.

In other miscellaneous news, Marcus's school soccer team just had their first win of the year, which will hopefully be the first of many. I coached his team last year, but this year I found someone else to take training, so I am only responsible on game day. A few of last year's players were ratbags who took up a lot of my time at the expense of the rest of the kids, and they have moved on or dropped out this year, so it's a good deal more rewarding.

Marcus is still playing for the Hobart Central Region representative team - the next tournament is in a bit over a week up in Devonport, They had a friendly game on Sunday morning against a Northern Suburbs rep team. It was pretty even for the first ten minutes, then Marcus (who plays in defence) scored the first goal, after coming up for a corner kick. After that everyone lost count - it was something like 12-0 in the end I think.

50th birthday preview

This is what my 50th birthday is going to be like. Everyone better start practising now -you have less than 5 years to get loose and funky.

Fraught scenes at Table 1

I am at a school chess tournament. Marcus has been very excited about it, as last year’s top players were all Grade Sixers, and they have moved into the senior category, leaving him as (he hopes) top dog. Unfortunately he has already lost one of his 4 games, and there were a few tears. He is a lot more resilient than he once was, but he still expects a lot of himself. The team started well but have drifted to equal 4th, hopefully a good final round might get us into the medals.

--------- oOo ---------

Well, that was exciting. We were pretty much out of it with one round to go, but managed to sneak in for 3rd place! Most of the team picked up bronze medals - the top 4 scorers get them, and if a few are equal 4th they all get them.

Marcus came equal 2nd overall. His last game was on the top table against the eventual winner. It finished in a controversial draw when she walked out, and said she couldn't play as there were too many people crowding around the table. This crowding always happens with long games on the top tables - players who have finished their games congregate and watch, not always quietly. I'm disappointed the organisers didn't look after the situation a bit better - last game on table 1 should always have a referee/arbiter keeping an eye on it.

Marcus was furious because he had just taken a big advantage in the game when his opponent took a stress break. I can't testify to what happened, as I always stay away from his games, but no-one has said that he did anything wrong. But when the other player came back in, the tournament organiser had a little conference, asked Marcus to apologise to her, and declared it a draw.

Of course its not easy running these things, and I am happy to accept the umpire's decision (although its not the decision I would have made.) In the moment I was determined not to be Ugly Chess Dad, so I just went along with things. But now I wish I had just asked "What exactly is he apologising for?"

Hobart Cup 2013

I half-heard some after-school news from Elf while I was sitting here with the sandwich-sized laptop. Someone had said something about the venue for soccer on Saturday. I googled it to verify - hmmm, rosters are not online yet. "Marcus has the roster in his schoolbag!" Which is downstairs. Hmm, maybe if I google again? Nup - still not online. Sigh.

School went back today after 2 weeks of holidays. I enjoyed a break from being soccer coach and school chess guy, both of which will now resume.

The last 2 days we supported Marcus and Central Region's U/11s at the Hobart Cup soccer tournament. They had a few close games, won 3 out of 4 but lost the one that counted against Launceston, who took the Cup home (in their hearts - the Cup has no actual cup). Elf and I are like chalk and cheese at a soccer match - she doesn't really like to watch and never says anything. I am glued to the action throughout and yell my head off. Our team manager was summoned for a dressing down yesterday morning because he and some of our parents were a bit vocal during the Launceston game, and the young ref was quite upset by the end. I feel pretty bad about it, as I hate to be seen to be just whingeing when we are losing. He didn't do a great job though, and the organisers gave him even younger ref's assistants so he didn't have a lot of help.

Marcus copped a ball in the face a number of times, close range goalkicks to the torso, a kick in the back when he was on the ground, had a clash of heads ... that's the way he plays. The manager loves him as he always bounces to his feet and gets back into it. I love it too but Elf ... I think she'd be happier if he was playing tennis.

Towel news

It’s taken 45 years, but I have achieved this: I own two bathrooms, and they are adorned with matching hand towels. I consider this a base camp from which I may ascend to even greater heights of manchester co-ordination.

Beating the system

I am a fond wearer of shorts. There are people (whose opinion I usually respect) who would feel this puts me in the category of Schlub. They are welcome to their opinons. All I can say is I have big legs that do not ever feel all that comfortable in jeans, and I am just not ready to adopt voluminous harem pants. Yet.

My shorts always wear out in the same spot - where the creases form across the top of the thigh. I should say that these are always "cargo" style shorts. I am just comfortable in that length of short - the over-pockettage I just ignore.

Due to my complete lack of hips I need my shorts to have a drawstring. And it's been getting harder and harder to find them. They are all elastic-waist or have belt loops - as if I am going to wear a belt with shorts. What do they think I am - an axe murderer?

So I have been wearing my old scraggy torn-through-the-creases shorts while walking the streets of this town (which is actually oversupplied with pants shops) searching for a new pair. Is there anything sadder than a scraggy-shorts-wearing middle-aged man, on a Tuesday morning, wandering through Glasser and Parker running his hand around the waistline of pair after pair after pair of shorts? No.

So I gave in, and bought a pair with an elasticise... no I can't even type it. And for the last month I have hitched them up every 25 minutes - that’s about 1700 times.

Last night I finally beat the system. I took the drawstring out of an old pair (I keep the torn ones for 6 - 8 years as you do) and surgically inserted it into the waist of the new ones. And I do not say "surgically" without cause. I started the night before at about 10.30pm - tired, poor light, cranky. I had a paperclip and a scalpel blade, one of those curved ones - to use as a quik-unpik and to slice through obstructing layers of short. I was holding it in my hand because my scalpel was .. uh .. so tired. You know?

I could have used better tools if I had been bothered to go find them, but I wasn’t. This session ended with the paperclip hopelessly lost in Quadrant 5 of the waistband, and blood on the floor. And on the shorts. The new shorts.

Last night I decided to return to the fray. I had Michael’s head-torch, a proper craft knife, pliers to get the paperclip into an efficient shape, and steely determination. It took a little while but it was SO much easier and I didn’t even once consider calling an ambulance.

I am now proudly wearing my improved shorts, and I will be able to get out of the car without hitching up my pants like a Maurie Fields.

Boast