Failure To Launch – Movie Review

My mum wanted to watch this movie, I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because up until this year she had both her adult sons living at home despite them being in their mid to late 20’s. It was easy for her to relate to the parental characters played by Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw, as easy as it was for me to relate to the three male characters still living at home with their parents.

Matthew McConaughey plays the ‘child’, Tripp, a successful boat broker who at 35 breaks the mould of what you would expect from someone that age still living at home. On the contrary he is quite adept socially, being able to form new relationships with the opposite sex.

Dig a little deeper and you find insecurities in everyone. Tripp is no different as we discover his break up routine of bringing girls home to meet the parents when they are getting too close. The parents want to stop his turnstile relationship history and hire Paula, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who has made it an occupation to launch unsettled bachelors out of the nest. Paula appears perfect and knows all about relationships yet has insecurities of her own, as she discovers a life that is empty and lacking substance.

As far as RomComs (Romantic Comedy) go, I quite enjoyed this as it has enough Com and genuine blokey banter to keep the fellas interested and laughing right to the inevitable end where guy gets girl.

Rates 'Hike' #2

I've been on about about it before but everyone keeps talking about an interest rates hikes with the realisation of another rise prior after immense speculation .

Firstly a definition from the Apple dictionary:

Noun
1. A long walk, esp. in the country or wilderness.
• Informal a long distance.
2. A sharp increase, esp. in price: fears of a hike in interest rates.

Funny how it actually uses interest rates in its example. But also notice how it mentions a sharp increase as the correct definition for a hike. Is 0.25% really a sharp increase? Even if you get 3 or 4 in the space of a few years as we have, I still don’t believe it equates to a sharp increase. Go back to a time in the not too distant past when interest rates rose by 1% in one hit. Now you can talk about sharp increases.

Who is really to blame for interest rates anyway? I feel this is another area that people choose to blame the govt instead of looking at their own behaviours and seeing how they are contributing to the current situation. I’m no economics genius (for that go here) but I did do Economics in Yr 12 and it taught me a lot about how he economy works. A very intelligent teacher broke it down for me and my class. When this is done it’s actually quite easy to understand. Interest rates are trying to make you stop borrowing so much money and instead save a bit more and hold onto your money. So perhaps your credit card habits need to be looked at. Borrowing to pay for the house, car, lounge suit and whatever else simultaneously is probably not a good idea.

For those of us already in a loan, yes of course it is going to sting a bit, but if people got in over their head then that was the individual’s fault not the govt’s.

People tend to look to the govt first instead of looking to themselves first. You’re looking at your own habits to help the environment, now look to how you can help the economy.

Cuckoos Nest – Book Review

“One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest” – Ken Kesey

Well it took me about 4 months of on again / off again reading to get it done but I finally finished it while on my recent trip waiting for a delayed plane in Las Vegas.

Cuckoos Nest was my Yr 11 text. I had never read it properly as I always struggled to read a book when I had a deadline. Instead I relied on the movie and York’s notes to explain the general story and hopefully give some insight into the literary content. The Board of Studies always tended to ask about the literary content and not the movie unfortunately.

While the Oscar winning movie, starring Jack Nicholson, was very good in it’s own right, the book (as most books) was much better than the movie. However, having seen the movie did help me visualise what was happening as I read book.

The story is set in a mental institution in the mid west state of Oregon, USA. It’s narrated by one of the committed patients, Chief Bromden. Nicknamed Chief Broom, as he is a native Indian who doesn’t speak at all, instead spending most of his time cleaning the floors with a broom given to him by the staffers on the ward.

We are introduced to Nurse Ratched. She runs a tight ship and enjoys having a strict, inflexible routine, which must be adhered to at all times by all patients on the ward. It’s therapeutic she would suggest.

To shake up her world and that of all the patients on the ward, in strolls Randall Patrick McMurphy. A career con artist who appears to be faking mental illness to get out of the prison work farm. He turns the routine upside down through his brashness and confidence in his ability to get “up Nurse Ratched’s skirt.” McMurphy continues to get up to mischief even after finding out he won’t be let out until the doctor’s and nurses agree that he is ready to be let out. He never lets up until the very end where you will have mixed emotions as to what happens to all the patients in the ward.

One Year On

I have now been working with the Ambulance Service NSW for just over a year as a Patient Transport Officer. It was my first major career change since starting out as a PE Teacher in secondary schools. It was not a career change that showed much foresight, as I was never sure whether I wanted to take the only chance for advancement and apply to become a Level 1 Ambulance Officer. That hesitation says to me that I shouldn’t take that step as it is one of those occupations that you need to be passionate about. No use trying it out just to see what it would be like, as lives are at stake.


Over the year I have learnt a lot. Mainly about hospital and nursing home locations and also how they work. I also get to know many nurses personally, especially at our regular stops such as Westmead discharge lounge.

I joke around with mum that I know the best nursing homes for her to be put in if that time should come. Of course I wouldn’t want it to come as even the best nursing homes can be very depressing places.

So where to now if I’m not going to AO's? Well I felt that I was being led back into teaching. However finding PE teaching jobs in Sydney is continually hard and the market is still very competitive. I may have to be satisfied with my lot as a PTO for an extended period. Unless another twist and turn comes along to take me on another journey.

My “Non-Obvious US Cities To Tour” Tour

When informing people of my various destinations on The Convicts tour one stood out as strange. Louisville, Kentucky was to be the venue for the US Footy National Championships yet when people hear it their response was usually, “Why are you going there?” This was a very reasonable thing to say, as I would have thought it myself.

What I found though was that there is a surprisingly large amount of stuff to do in Louisville. Problem is that there is no chance that an organised tour would ever travel through places like Louisville. For starters, you can only fly in via Chicago. Tours are more likely to pass through our other destinations, such as: New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Las Angeles.


Based on my experiences in Louisville I am proposing a tour with the working title written above. it may never happen because it would be somewhat of a logistical nightmare and would need a lot of preparation and research which might be why I’m starting early.

First step is to come up with a list of cities that don’t get all the kudos as cities tourists would go to. Louisville is definitely on the list. What else? Perhaps Pittsburgh, PN and Dallas, TX. Any suggestions?