Gone... back... gone... back... gone... back... gone... back.

That's right, I'm travelling again.
I have a bunch of travelling to do over the
next 6 or so weeks...

To:
Oman via Dubai
...back via Dubai
Adelaide
...back
Zambia via South Africa
...back via South Africa
Darwin
...back
Townsville
...back

...phew...

But before all that, I was gone...

Well Butch and I that is... for two days.

Butch found a sweet little getaway for us to
spend a couple days together before the
looming separation.

We stayed in this sweet little B&B...


We sat in this sweet little room...


We gazed at this sweet little spar area...


We enjoyed this sweet outdoor dining area...


And in this sweet little room... well never you
mind.

The point is that Butch and I enjoyed a couple
of sweetly romantic days together.


So now I'm gone and I doubt if there will be
very much from me for the next little while...
which is all you've been getting from me in the
last little while anyway. So no change there.

But I'll make it up to you when I get back.

Cheers

Bear

MUTE MONDAY - CUSTOMS (Contraband)

Toby has filmed the wrong people on the phone!
Caught recording an illegal video transaction, a
self styled "citizen journalist" is forced to hunt
down a female activists sabotaging the country's
most controversial cell phone channel- Contraband.
His search leads him into a voyeur underground
where profit-hungry youths prowl city streets
filming violent events to satisfy our society's
accelerating demand for sensational content...

Personal Best...

UPDATE:
Day two of Lilly's competitions and she just blew
us all away.

For a good performance everything needs to go
to plan... and in some cases it's not just a matter how
hard you train or how many run throughs you do,
success can depend on many outside factors that you
just can't plan for. Well poor Lilly had to combat
an equipment malfunction and at another point she
had what's best described as a fleeting moment of
performance anxiety... you know, a little more than
nerves and not quite stage fright (couldn't be a result of
the negative comments that get thrown about, could
it?)... but despite these set backs, and to her credit
as the trooper that she is, she raised herself up to
the next level and got awarded a FIRST.

Now THAT's a personal best.

Well done Lilly.

Love Butch'n'Bear.


I would like to pay tribute to someone that Butch and I
are very proud of...

We know a young lady that's doing extremely well in her
chosen discipline, in which she competed last night to a
very high standard and saw here come in 3rd behind
older and more experienced competitors.

Congratulations Lilly.
Your mother is very proud of you, as
is the rest of your family and friends.

Lilly's relatively new to, and by all accounts wonderfully able
in, the discipline that she has chosen. Despite her age and
the level at which she competes, Lilly gives her all and more,
and often performs at a level beyond expectation.

But that's not the personal best to which I refer...

Apparently, as Lilly was preparing to compete, another
competitor from the same club as Lilly tried to put
her down by making some snide remark to her to the
effect that she would be lucky to get an Honourable
Mention (HM). But Lilly, in her quiet way, and to her
credit, focussed on the task at hand and as you know
came in 3rd against some pretty stiff competition.

Lilly doesn't indulge in such behaviour as to try and
undermine someone's confidence, and in fact from
what I've heard, she's very supportive and encouraging
of others. A real 'good sport'. And there in is her
Personal Best.

And as for the 'team mate'?

Well she got a HM... here.
Oh hang on, that should read D-HM.
(DisHonourable Mention)


(Well... just because Lilly did the right thing and
shrugged off the negativity of her team mate... it
doesn't mean I have to.)


Cheers.

Drunken Master Throwdown

When I was a teenager, new to my job, one of
the crew would announce that he was going
off for some sandwiches for lunch, and he
would ask if anyone wanted to join him.

There were usually a few eager takers and
off they would all go... leaving me to wonder
what the attraction was... I mean, it was only
sandwiches.

I never joined them because the
sandwiches that Mum would make for me to
take to work were quite adequate, thank you.

However, there was one day that found me to be
sandwichless at work, so without saying anything
I joined the others as they all headed off to
buy their lunch.

So how do these sandwiches fit in with this
challenge?

Well... as we walked down the street towards the
local shopping strip, one of the older blokes turned
to me and asked what I was having for lunch, "Oh
I don't, probably a couple of salad sandwiches." At
that, one of the other guys made a comment that I
didn't quite understand but the others all sniggered
at. I didn't give it another thought until after we
had arrived... and they all started filing into the
local pub.

Being only 15 years old at the time, I continued
on as if I was always headed towards the lunch shop
further down the street. But it was at that point
that I got the joke...


"Well I'm having a bottle of sandwiches...
maybe two."

A light lunch?

A banquet, or maybe a smorgasbord.



ED: I should explain for all my readers... those that
comment (about 2 people) and those that lurk
(over 20 people)... that this post is in response to a
challenge laid down by TROLL. Go visit him... but
don't tell him I sent you, I have a reputation of
indifference to him that I need to maintain.

Cheers.

A NEWER YORK... WA

Another Mute Monday companion piece.

I indicated yesterday, in a comment I left on
Pam's MM, that I had thought of doing York,
Western Australia for my MM but had changed
my mind. Well at Pam's encouragement, I have
decided to post the pics I had collected for it.

So here they are;