Surfboards and Catching Flies

Me and my nephew Tom went shopping for surfboards today (well a surfboard - he'd been saving for some time.) After consulting many a surfer dude, and visiting all the surf shops in Canberra (not hard, seeing as Canberra doesn't actually have a beach anywhere nearby - believe me, I've looked) Tom settled on a 6'10 Fish board - not probably the best choice for a big guy who's never really surfed much, but damn it will look sexy on the beach. Which is really quite important when you're seventeen.

I remember being seventeen. It seemed like the hugest, most dramatic and revelatory time in my life. Back then, there were REALLY SERIOUS things that happened to me and my friends. Man - this one time My Aunt Chris got really mad at me and wouldn't let me back in the house, and me and my friends had to sit on a mountain in the dark and smoke bongs and talk for hours about how serious the situation was. I mean - man it was really REALLY HEAVY.

Listening to Tom tell the same kind of stories today, I figured that we grow up a lot faster than we actually grow up. I still don't feel very grown up, and I'm 30. That's really serious man. (If you want to sit on a mountain tonight and talk about it - I'm available...)

On a more boring thirty year old note - my Mom always says:

"You catch more flies with honey".

What she means is that if you want somebody to help you, you're better off being nice to them than just demanding that they help you.

(At least, that's what I thought - maybe she was actually offering me advice on how to catch insects. Probably not - you can catch ants with honey - but not flies)

Regardless, this advice has generally served me well. I like it when people are nice to me, and I tend to be much more responsive to nice people than bossy ones. Bossy people actually make me want to take my sweet time, so that I can piss them off a bit.
Lately I've been a bit less nice, and a bit more bossy. I think this is largely because I've become hugely impatient. Being bossy is like complaining. It puts you in quite a sour state of mind. I think I'll try to do it less.

Ooh - If you like The Beatles, and you like the Beasties - you're going to love The Beastles.