Now, this is an icon.  © Peter Croft 1992, 2014

I’ve decided it’s time to establish an organisation called Iconics Anonymous.  It’s for journalists, mainly, but anyone who can’t help themself using iconic more than once a year is welcome to join.  Some unfortunate scribes have been known to use this word twice in the same piece.

We will hold meetings once a week where you can say out loud,  “I’m a victim of this awful cliche word, gasp!, iconic and I admit it.”  We will use aversion therapy where the word is endlessly repeated, a bit like reading a newspaper, until the journalist begs for mercy.  The true meaning of the word will also be explored and its proper use explained with the use of diagrams, etymologies, Power Point presentations, text book quotations and dictionaries, with many, nay, prolific examples to be studied from the Australian press.

Anyone who has used the word up to twice in the past week is eligible to join at no cost, but each trespass above twice incurs a $10 per misuse joining fee.  Any journalist who falls back on this word during the week will be made to write out lines.  Repeat offenders will be made to read all the offending pieces from all sources for the past month.  This will take some time.  All fines and fees will accrue to me. 😉

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This crazy, annoying blogging software.  The text above is a cut and paste from an email I wrote, but look how some has pasted as a smaller font, but some is this bigger font, even in the same sentence!  Look how it changes after the $10.  There’s no logic too it. I haven’t edited the item.  Grrr.  This is Word Press and I think you have to pay to get the full quid.  I have no control over font size in the unpaid version.  Annoying.

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A bloke bent my bumper today.  I was waiting for him to back out of his parking space next to mine, and nudge!  Nudgy wudgy.  My car moved.  His front bumper had a much too close encounter with my rear bumper.

I waited a few seconds for him to get out but he made no move to, so I got out and approached him.  Only then did he wind his window down.  I reckon he would have driven away if he thought he could get away with it.

The damage to my bumper was only his grey paint added to a green scrape of my own, but his bumper was pushed in and had a fair helping of my white paint on it.  He was an old bloke so I just said, “Oh, don’t worry about it – the damage to your car is what you should be concerned about.”  He still didn’t get out and just drove away.

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My car, a Magna Advance station wagon, is 13 years old now and although it’s still ultra reliable and drives beautifully, it’s looking a bit down at heel.  I use the wagon functionality a fair bit to transport flat pack furniture, for example, or long bits of timber or curtain rods and so on.

It also used to transport my beautiful dogs. That’s why I needed a wagon.  Both Boopsie the Border Collie and Minnie the Golden Labrador used to be able to jump up into the back — in fact they loved doing so because it meant a trip in the car! Going somewhere!  Pant pant, dribble dribble.

Just memories now.  Very, very fond memories.

Anyway, I was talking to a bank man in Clarkson about a future reverse mortgage and there’s no problem.  Don’t do it now, of course, but when I turn 70 it’ll be time to think about it.

So I’m thinking of a replacement car.  I remember thinking that this Magna would be the last car I’d be able to afford, but it’s not worked out that way — it looks as if I can buy another car.  Not new, it will be second hand, but it might be an addition, not a replacement.  So I’m thinking — what do I want?  Honda S2000 comes to mind, but soft top only and manual only.  Mercedes 500SL convertible?  They date from the 1990s so it would be a 20 year old car and possibly a money pit.  But a friend from Channel 7 days is an encyclopedia on Mercs and would be a good advisor.

Or a Lexus Soarer. Again a 1990s car, but with super reliable Lexus quality, it would be low risk.  Boring looks, though.  BMW 7 series?  Again, 1990s and money pits, I’m told.

Nice to think about things like this, though.

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Lucky I keep boxes.  My Pioneer Blu Ray player has given up the ghost.  It wouldn’t play Blu Ray discs, then seemed to refuse ordinary DVDs too, so I set it up on the bench in a simple configuration to try to work out what was what.  But now it won’t even power up.  I’ve tried other cables – I’m a tech, remember.  So I get the box out of the garage and pack it up to return it.  I’m sure JB will just swap it for a new one.  Hope I can still find the docket though.

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Up to 32 units of insulin this morning (increasing by 2U per day). Fasting BSL 8.5 — that’s the lowest for quite a few years, so it’s gradually working.  Food really spikes me up still, and it’s not coming down fast enough.  I see the doc again on Thursday for review.  I feel reasonably OK but any exertion (even pushing a trolley around the shops) tires me out.

Still off the grog, by the way!  It’s about a month or more now.  You’d think the benefit of the reduction in calories from the beer and all the crunchies i Used to eat as well would show up?  Not in the slightest.  I eat way less than the 8700KJ a day, but my weight is static.  It’s very discouraging.