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I pity closed-minded people. The ability to admit when you are wrong or listen to someone else’s opinion with respect even when it is vastly different to yours is a quality sadly lacking in too many people nowadays.

Sadder still is that the person with a closed mind will never grow as a person. Instead they will be trapped in the little reality they have created for themselves. What’s more by the time they are in their thirties they become bitter and wonder why no body likes them. Off course they never look inward for the answer but rather it is the fault of every body else. If you know someone like this don’t resent him or her. If you believe in God pray for them. If that isn’t your cup of tea then don’t get drawn into their games and fight with them. The closed minded person who often comes with the accompanying chip on the shoulder thrives on this for it confirms their belief that everyone is out to get them. That everyone is wrong and they off course are right.

I am sure we all know people like this and they can be fun sometimes because their buttons are very easy to push but really we should all just ignore them and leave them in their own little world, at peace with their resentments.

CHOICES

One of the things I really love about being clean and sober is having choices. In addiction choices are taken away from you and made for you by the drug.

Now I know some would say but you choose to use but that is not really the case. Sure when you fist have a beer or a bong or a shot you make that choice to try it. In addiction you don’t choose to use. It becomes a compulsion, a necessity. You find yourself not wanting to use yet still doing it anyway. When you get to that stage you either stop or you die. Though I don’t go to meetings I have read all the literature from AA, NA and GA and one line in the NA 12x12 says. "We live to use and use to live" and that sums it up perfectly. Life becomes all about maintaining your high and a miserable life it is.

Having lived that life for many years I can now fully appreciate the life I have now and the simple choices I have that most would take for granted. From something as simple as choosing a topic for a blog entry or whether to have a coffee after work, to deciding where to go on my next holiday, these are choices I never had in addiction.

Freedom to make choices is truly one of our greatest gifts. One most people take for granted. Only when the freedom to make choices is taken away from you can you really appreciate them.

The Weekly Whine Volume 2

It is that time of the week again. Its whine time.

Actually that is a bit of a misnomer. I am not really going to whine I just have some questions that you people may be able to help me with. These things irk me from time to time and I would appreciate any insight any of you may have.

First up is the blame game. Why do people always want to blame someone in the government for every single little bloody thing that goes wrong in life?

Someone crashes their car and it’s the government’s fault for not making the road 20 centimetres wider.

A storm destroys half of north Queensland and it’s the government’s fault for not changing building codes or not making the Levy 2 millimetres higher.

Why are people always seeking to lay blame? Can we just not accept that some things are accidents or simply beyond our control?

Why do ISP’s in Australia advertise unlimited access and then throttle your speed after a certain number of Gigabytes. Also if my cable speed is uncapped why can’t I ever get over 8MB’s per second yet if I pay an extra $20 I can suddenly double that speed?

Why do so many people join an EFED and want to be an Under Taker rip off?

If women get their periods every month don’t you think that after ten years of it happening they’d be used to it? So why then do women continue to use it as an excuse to be demanding and irritable when really they should really just be over the whole thing by their mid twenties? (I can see the hate mail for that one already, but really it’s a valid question so please give a valid answer if you have one).

That will do for this week. Short and sweet. I have more questions but I’ll test the waters with these.

Au revoir

Mania Predictions so far...

With Just over two weeks to go to Wrestlemania I can’t believe we still don’t know the full card. Nevertheless I am going to put down my predictions for what we have confirmed. I’ll come back and add the other matches as they get announced.

I must say this years mania is a bit hard to predict compared to some others so I’ll start with the easiest match to predict a winner.

UNDERTAKER Vs "Bah Gawd!" MARK HENRY in a casket match.

A casket match? Mania? The worlds strongest Hoss has no chance in hell of winning this.
Your Victor is Taker

EDGE "I Have Horses Teeth" Vs MICK " I keep all dates unless they are in Australia " FOLEY in a Hardcore Match.

I expect Foley to bump like hell in this match. I expect Edge to bleed like a stuck pig. Foley’s goal in life nowadays is to sell books and put everyone except Carlito over so Expect EDGE to get the win.

MR MCMAHON Vs The BackBreak Kid SHAWN MICHAELS

I expect some sort of Shenanigans during this match, perhaps a Dalip Singh debut. I don’t think Brett Hart will get involved. Mcmahon wins and Shawn goes on a little holiday.

Our Olympic hero KURT ANGLE vs REY "Eddie" MYSTERIO Vs DorkBoy RANDY ORTON. For the WHC
Everyone is banking on Dorkboy winning. I think Rey will win so Vince can continue to show no respect for Eddie’s death. Eddie (woops) Rey Pins Dorkboy to win the title.

MITB LADDER MATCH
I doubt this can live up to last years match. I have this bad feeling that Flair is going to win this match so we can see another Flair title reign before he retires. I’ll stick with that bad feeling. Winner is Ric Flair

The Big red Monster Dentist KANE & BIG "slow" SHOW Vs CARLITO "you like my hair?" and CHRIS "You wanna touch my pec implants?" MASTERS.
I have a felling that the purpose of this match is to advance the career of Carlito and turn him face. Carlito and Masters will win. Only to break up within a few months the good old fashioned way with Carlito coming out a face at the end of it.

The Toothless Wolverine CHRIS BENOIT Vs JBL
This is a tough match to call. JBL can wrestle when he wants and he is awesome on the mic. I enjoyed his World Title reign and wouldn’t mind seeing him have a Honky Tonk Manesque US ttile run. As much as I like Benoit I’ll be rooting for JBL to pull this one off. (gee there could be some bad innuendo perceived in that line) You winner and new champion JBL

"Do I look fat?" HHH Vs JOHN "Why do they boo me, boo hoo" CENA
This is the match that must be giving Vince nightmares and HHH’s promo totally burying Cena a few weeks ago hasn’t helped the cause. I’d like to see the title stay on Cena and then when people start to boo him out of the building he can grab the mic and tell them all to go Fuck themselves, thus breaking all the girls hearts, and making the little kids cry why oh why John. Turning him into an Uber heel. It is the only way to go if you want to keep HHH a heel. If HHH wins he is going to get a huge pop. Is the WWE still convinced about keeping Cena as a babyface?. I can’t decide so I tossed a coin and….
John Cena retains and turns heel

Edit:21 Mar..

We have had a match added.

Booker "Goddamn I need a new Gimmick" T Vs The Boogeyman

One has to give Marty Wright credit for getting this character over. Does he deserve to go over Booker? Probably not but I am guessing he will win the match. Most likely by countout. This no doubt will be a comedy match


Mickie James vs Trish Stratus

Not officially announced yet but it has to happen. Expect it to be announced on Raw. Any one else here the crowd pop when Mickie hit Trish at SNME? Mickie is good at what she does and I am not alone in liking her. I expect her to win the title here.

The Weekly Whine Volume 1

Everyone likes a good whinge now and then right? I don’t whinge that much but there are things in life that annoy the bejesus out of me. Normally these things are other people. Whilst I try not to let other people affect me, I am a firm believer that my responses are my responsibility, sometimes people do get under my skin.

So since I can think of no better day to whinge other than a Monday I present the first edition of the weekly whine. Today I am going to whinge about whingers.
I am sure you know the type. These people will moan and complain about anything or worse they will complain about the same thing over and over again. My challenge to these people who complain about the same thing all the time is to be pro-active and change your life to remove the thing that annoys you so.

For example: "I hate my job and my boss is such an arsehole." Everyone whines about work, it is part of the fun of having a job but if you are seriously unhappy then instead of whingeing to the world,(because seriously we don’t care) then get a new job. A Simple solution wouldn’t you agree?

Example two is the person who complains about their partner all the time. I ask you this, are you so co-dependant and afraid of being alone that you would rather be miserable in a relationship rather than leave? Either stop complaining or grow a set of nads and leave the bitch or bastard!

Then there is the drama queen whinger type person. You know the ones that for them everything is a big drama and they aren’t shy about telling us how dramatic that their life is.
For example a normal person would say. "Cityrail trains suck, now I am late for work."

The drama queen whinger will say. "Oh these trains are so terrible, I am late now. I can’t be late or I will get docked half an hour and I can’t afford to get docked because my daughter isn’t working and she just had a baby and her nipples hurt so she can’t breast feed. So now I won’t be able to afford S26 formula and I will have to get that cheap stuff and it gives the baby colic so I will get kept awake at night. Life is so hard and unfair to me all the time."

This type of person isn’t happy telling this to just one person, they will tell everyone in your office the story and then ring other offices to tell them as well. Everyday there is something new for these people to whinge about or make a drama of. I don’t know why these people do this. Are they comfortable being unhappy? If that’s the case then fine - be miserable but don’t share it with me okay. I have no need for your misery and if you are looking for sympathy then you have come to the wrong place. Is it attention you want? Well there are better and less miserable ways to get it.

I have learnt that being happy is actually easier than being miserable or angry. It takes up far less energy perhaps you miserable whelps should give it a try!

Lazy

I have been a bit unwell and lazy this week, hence my lack of writing.

Look for a bit more structure and less of random unconnected opinion over the next few weeks.

I have a few ideas for columns I am sure you readers (and I know there are some) will enjoy.

Toodles

Thorpe faking it?

EDIT:THORPE HAS TODAY WITHDRAWN FROM THE GAMES DUE TO THIS ILLNESS SO PERHAPS I WAS WRONG. I WILL LEAVE THE POST THOUGH

Glad to here someone in the press come out and say that Thorpe is faking this so called mystery illness. As soon as I heard of this "illness" my immediate reaction was to turn to Linda and say he is faking it.

The South African coach is right. We have heard all this before. Are you telling me that with the medical team at his diposal they can't come up with a diagnosis? It is no secret that Thorpe is out of form and I believe this whole illness story has been concocted to be used as an excuse in case he loses. Afterall there is vast amounts of money at stake in sposorship and endorsements. No one wants a loser endorsing there stuff (with the exception of georgous female tennis players).

I am banking on a miraculous recovery if Thorpe wins the gold in his events.

The Problem with AA

Often when people discover for the first time that I am a recovering Alcoholic and Drug addict the first question is always, so do you go to AA meetings?

The short answer is no. Many are surprised by this and when I come across people in early stages of recovery they are often aghast. So brainwashed are they that they think I must surely bust if I don’t go to AA meetings. Well I haven’t yet and didn’t today.

When I first left rehab I did go to meetings. It was instilled into me that I needed at least three meetings a week and being determined to stay straight I did as suggested but within a few months I simply stopped as I didn’t like them. I tried a lot of different meetings in a lot of different places but found they were not adding anything to my recovery. I found most of them to very cliquey and some didn’t seem to be very welcoming to the new guy who they should have been trying to help. I even found some were prejudiced against me because I had went to rehab instead of doing it the hard way. I recall one argument I had with an old timer who was looked up to by all in the group. Rehab was for soft people he said.

Soft? Yeah de-toxing cold from alcohol and speed, without any painkillers and without some old timer to give me a drink to help me through the DDT’s was really pleasant. So was being forced to face my pain and hurt and emotions, unlike him I didn’t get to hide away from my defects for 20 years. I of the white collar world was forced to work in a piggery for 25 weeks to test my acceptance and tolerance of change. That was awesomely easy thank you very much. Needless to say I didn’t go back to that meeting again.

The problem with AA is that it never allows you to be free from your addiction. It uses fear of how bad things were to scare people into not drinking. I don’t need to go to a meeting to hear the same people tell me how bad things were for them. Honestly I don’t care I want to hear how brilliant things are now and there just isn’t enough of that in AA for me. Life is brilliant now for me. I didn't straighten up to remain miserable. If you are going to be miserable you might as well be drunk and miserable! AA has a lot of bitter drunks. Sure they don’t drink anymore but they aren’t recovering they are just the same old drunks who are even more bitter now because they can’t drink

Don’t get me wrong the twelve steps are valid, especially step four and five, as is a belief in God. They can help and AA meetings help some people and if it is working for you then please keep going. What works for me isn’t for everyone but if you find in ten years you are still going to the same meetings every week but not really doing anything different except not drinking then clearly you need to try something else. This website has a lot to offer http://www.rational.org/ and is worth a look.

Once you get used to it it really is easy not to drink or use drugs. I am always willing to talk to other addicts or people who simply want to give up their vices so feel free to send an email.

This topic really didn’t go where I wanted but I’ll post it anyway

Hating on Wrestlemania

Writing about wrestling again but before I do I just have to ask, How fucking good is the band Big and Rich? Listen to some of their stuff now! I discovered them by chance; the band is classed very loosely as country but doesn’t really fit into any genre. They have copped some shit from critics and have been told to find a genre and stick to it, but why the hell should they become just like everyone else. I love their originality. Seriously have a listen.

Anyway onto the topic at hand, which is, Hating on wrestlemania.

God the IWC shit me. They change their mind on people in a flash and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon, whether it is love for Paul London or hating on John Cena. This week the flavour is hating on Wrestlemania. “Oh this is going to be so shit, worst Wrestlemania ever, I won’t be ordering this PPV, instead I’ll be masturbating to Ring of Honour. (okay they don’t say that last bit but you get the picture). Personally I bet they order the damn PPV and then pick the shit out of it all over smarky forums for weeks to come. If it is shit then by all means come out and say. “Gee that Wrestlemania was shit” but for the love of God give it a chance.

I seem to recall all this talk last year as well, yet last years Mania was Okay. Not brilliant but certainly very enjoyable. I have only seen one positive column on the net about Mania and it was that column which got me to writing this. Instead of reasons not to order Mania I’ll give you a few reasons to actually order the thing.

1) Its Wrestlemania.

2) John Cena is going to get booed out of the building if he beats HHH. HHH is going to get a mammoth pop if he wins. This scenario must be giving Vinnie nightmares. Double turn perhaps? You should order it just to see how this transpires.

3) Kurt Angle is wrestling!

4) Brett Hart may well appear to say bye to his fans ( I am almost certain he will)

5) Mick Foley is going to nearly kill himself again. Now I know Australians are still dirty on Mick for no showing the IA tour but its time we forgave him. Its mania, its Foley in a hardcore match. Something good is going to happen.

6) MITB 2 will deliver. You know it will so stop doubting

7) Who doesn’t want to see Rey win the title? Fuck Orton. Ever occur to you that it plays right into Rey's character for no one to give him a hope in hell? I'd be betting on him if I could. (goes to centrebet website but comes back disappointed as there is no betting on Mania)

8) Surprises. You know you want em, you know you’ll get em

I have more reasons but I have already convinced myself that this show will be worth ordering. So why can't people in the IWC start looking at the positives for once?