Two small rants

I try not to bang on about negative stuff, but I'm in a negative mood lately, coz I can't run.

So here goes with two things that bugged me today.

I went to a college fashion show today. I thought I might spot a future talent - always good in my field to keep your finger on the pulse. But I saw nothing.

All the clothes looked like they had come out of a manga comic, and the seats were set so far back from the stage (I was front row, but still 25m away!) that I couldn't see if what I was looking at was well made or not.

But then the prizes were awarded and I was stunned to learn that nothing had been made by individuals. It was all teams! No wonder the standard was so poor - this was fashion design by committee. No room for individual expression, no chance of stunning people with your special effort - just middle of the road, cartoon-inspired rubbish. Stupid system.

Second rant, Miyuki Hatoyama. Not cute. Not sensible. Not "a breath of fresh air". Just plain wacky - which is not good for a first lady or Japan. The international press are saying Ms. Hatoyama is breaking the mold of meek Japanese women who stand behind their men, but the same system that produces meek produces immature fruitcakes. The nation's first lady has a lot of growing up to do, I hope she does it quickly.

Keirin guy takes on politics

Tomohiro Nagatsuka (above), silver medalist in the Olympic Sprint in Athens, looks like joining the race for mayor of Ibaraki as the DPJ-backed candidate, according to a report in today's Sankei. Nagatsuka is said to be quite an economist with a great knowledge of how money markets work - so that's where he's been investing all his winnings on the keirin circuit.

5km in 17.57

I was glad to do a half-decent run tonight at Oda Field. Had awful stomach cramps but managed to hang on for an OK time.

Oh, and in case I don't blog again before the U.S. presidential election

ø„¸¨°º¤ø„¸¸„ø¤º°¨¸„ø¤º°¨
¨°º¤ø„¸ Obama „ø¤º°¨
¸„ø¤º°¨ for president`°º¤ø„¸
¸„ø¤º°¨¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø„¸ ¨°º¤ø„

I just wish the world got a vote.

25 minutes easy

Went for a run today, to test the progression of my knees. The right one is back to normal, but the left has developed a pain at the bottom right of the kneecap. This suggests slight tendon damage (a common secondary problem when the ITB is pulling the kneecap out of alignment). The pain was OK and diminished a bit near the end of the run. I have no swelling.

On matters political, I'm kind of glad to see Kevin Rudd elected in Australia. Unfortunately he's a bit a Blair. But, fingers crossed, he might be good.

It is sad to see, however, the continued obliteration of the Australian Democrats, with all of the party's seats being lost - including Andrew Bartlett in Queensland. The Democrats now have only one elected member of any parliament, and that is in my home state of South Australia, Sandra Kanck.

Pointing the finger

I rarely talk about politics on this blog, but one thing has been winding me up lately. The finger point. Politician goes on stage and gets told to find someone they know (or don't know) in the audience, point and them and mouth something banal like "Wow! You're here!".





With the U.S. and Australian elections on the way we'll be seeing a lot more of this fakery. I wish politicians could think of a way to get photographed without doing it.


Running
Did 40 minutes tonight. Left foot started hurting a bit, both knees feel iffy. Should be fine though.

Howard's crusade

I won't say much about what is happening in Australia at the moment because I don't have the answers. However, I found this report by Germaine Greer very informative. click here for the report by Germaine Greer