Lets get too know everyone a little better

[Parra47]

Good for you. They will expect you to work until 70. Unlike those pre '88ers. ;-)

Thanks Avenger, you seem to know a fair bit about it. Did you once wear the blue?

 

[Parra47]

For what it's worth, you seem to be very strong and doing very well.

Good on you, brother.

Thanks Elementary, I appreciate that mate

 

[Avenger]

Thanks Avenger, you seem to know a fair bit about it. Did you once wear the blue?

I'm too mysterious to wear uniform. ;-)

 

[Parra47]

I'm too mysterious to wear uniform. ;-)

Are you James Bond?

 

[Avenger]

Are you James Bond?

More like Austin Powers.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Still not 40 but getting close and live on the south coast, dragons territory. Started following the eels because I asked my dad what was good side and he said the eels ( it was back in 1983 or so) which was strange as he was a massive steelers supporter. I can't remember the last eels game I have been to, but never miss them on TV. I actually have been to more dragons games over the years, but also I prefer to watch my local side live which I never miss - I love the atmosphere of grass roots footy and the characters there.

I had a fairly normal upbringing but parents separated. My dad lives pretty close by but can't say I have much of a relationship with him, probably lucky to see him every 2-3 months. He isn't family inclined and there were some occasions where my daughter has asked "who is he". He is my dad but wouldn't call him a friend as such. We have never watched footy together or get together for a few beers etc.

I am married have a young son who plays footy and 2 wonderful daughters along with 2 step daughters ( so things get busy at times). I have Bachelor of Arts which really was 4 years of partying. I have a decent job but nothing special. I don't hate it (but probably not what I would have done if I had my choice again) and it gives me a pretty good / life balance.

I try to help out at my sons footy club. I played footy when I was younger but was crap. I enjoy touch footy and keeping fit but also don't mind a few beers and a good red most weekends. I do have the occasional bet but normally lose. I have a good bunch of friends but do get nervous in social situations meeting new people.

Overall life is pretty good.

 

[Gazzamatta]

1955 was a good year. My first job was as a paper boy when I was in second form. Used to go round to all the offices in Parra selling papers (The Sun and the Daily Mirror). I'd push this metal trolley full of papers around the streets of Parra and end up each afternoon walking through the Albion Hotel shouting "Paper! Paper!" I got a lot of tips there.
I also remember a shop called the 'In-Shop' in Church Street. It was a trendy clothes shop. When I was 15 years old my mother bought me my first pair of flared pants (dark green), a lemon-coloured wide-lapel shirt, a cravat, and a pair of slightly-platformed shoes. I thought I was a bloody rock-star! Do you remember Amco and Leisure Master jeans? Aywon pants? Amoco garages? Tuppenny bungers? Man From Uncle bubble-gum cards? The Samurai and the Phantom Agents on telly? The old Cumberland Oval with Rex Mossop sitting in his little booth calling the game for television? Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days. Whereabouts in Parramatta did you live?

I grew up in Merrylands but we moved further west about the time I started work then to the south west once married.
Yes Auto Alley with Ron Hodgson Motors and Fair Deal Holden. Purchased my first car from Fair Deal Holden, a green ex council Mini for $600. Loved that car.
I collected all the Scanlens Cards. Had most sets. Given I was at Marist Brothers is was inevitable I ended up at Cumberland Oval, a short hop skip and jump up the road. We actually did school sport in the fields along side the oval. Learned to swim at Parramatta Pool.
We would line up outside Cumberland waiting for the gates to open. Pay our sixpence then race to the Grandstand gate, pay a further sixpence then the big sprint to the grandstand to throw down the blanket on some seats to save for the family. I remember very well Rex perched up in his crows nest. Also remember Ray Warren as the ground announcer at his card table on the sideline. I remember the week the barb wire was installed. Loved Cumberland.
Would wait outside the dressing sheds after each game to get autographs and talk to the players. Ken and Moby Dick Thornett were great favourites. I have so many autographs of Parra and opposition players. Ken Thornett was God like such was his popularity but a bloke who had time for all the kids.
Cried like a baby when Kenny threw his famous dummy in 1981 and i was blind drunk within 30 minutes.
How about Knock and Kirbys in Church St and was particularly impressed with the girls from OLMC.
Great times except for being bashed by those bloody Marist Brothers pretty much on a daily basis.
Life is great. Still love my Eels and will defend them and support them till I die. Hard to change habbits of 52 years.

 

[Parra47]

More like Austin Powers.

:lol:

 

[lingard]

Thanks, mate.

It's tough, but it helps to accept myself for who I am - I used to get so anxious because I am socially awkward (to the point of being scared of meeting new people - I'm still terrified of meeting new people) and because I didn't go out to party and have fun.

But it's not really in me. And once I came to terms with it, it was easier.

You know what? I'm socially awkward, too. Parties terrify me. When I say I don't like people much, what I really mean is I feel real awkward around them. I don't know what to say most of the time. I'm hopeless at small-talk. Some days are better than others and some people are easier than others. I used to give myself a real hard time over it. Thought I was a real dick-head or something. But over the years - particularly the last half-dozen years or so - I think I've come to terms with it a lot more. That's just me. I'm a pretty good bloke but I don't mix real well. Big deal. There's lot's of us out there, I think.

 

[yy_cheng]

I'm different, I can talk to nearly anyone.

When I was at school I was a bit introverted. When I started to work I sat in the secretary area where there were 5 ladies.

They would talk about everything and I think it changed me as I then started joining in.

 

[yy_cheng]

One time in Hong Kong, I went to the markets to buy carrots for my horses, normally buy 5kg.

Anyway this day there wasn't many carrots left so I had to search for them

I would ask the old lady shop keeper did she have any carrots. She said I only have those ones over there which were still covered in dirt.

She asked me how much do I need? I said 5kg.she said I peel and clean them for you.

I said fine. We started chatting. Eventually she asked, so you own a juice store? I said no. She said why do you need so much carrots? I said for my horses. She chucked a mental and started to curse. Horses, I'm peeling carrots for horses. She then said take the brown ones or nothing. It was really funny

 

[Eelementary]

You know what? I'm socially awkward, too. Parties terrify me. When I say I don't like people much, what I really mean is I feel real awkward around them. I don't know what to say most of the time. I'm hopeless at small-talk. Some days are better than others and some people are easier than others. I used to give myself a real hard time over it. Thought I was a real dick-head or something. But over the years - particularly the last half-dozen years or so - I think I've come to terms with it a lot more. That's just me. I'm a pretty good bloke but I don't mix real well. Big deal. There's lot's of us out there, I think.

I agree.

People always tell me I'm a nice guy, but I'm still terrified of socialising.

 

[Eelementary]

One time in Hong Kong, I went to the markets to buy carrots for my horses, normally buy 5kg.

Anyway this day there wasn't many carrots left so I had to search for them

I would ask the old lady shop keeper did she have any carrots. She said I only have those ones over there which were still covered in dirt.

She asked me how much do I need? I said 5kg.she said I peel and clean them for you.

I said fine. We started chatting. Eventually she asked, so you own a juice store? I said no. She said why do you need so much carrots? I said for my horses. She chucked a mental and started to curse. Horses, I'm peeling carrots for horses. She then said take the brown ones or nothing. It was really funny

:lol:

 

[I bleed blue & gold]

One time in Hong Kong, I went to the markets to buy carrots for my horses, normally buy 5kg.

Anyway this day there wasn't many carrots left so I had to search for them

I would ask the old lady shop keeper did she have any carrots. She said I only have those ones over there which were still covered in dirt.

She asked me how much do I need? I said 5kg.she said I peel and clean them for you.

I said fine. We started chatting. Eventually she asked, so you own a juice store? I said no. She said why do you need so much carrots? I said for my horses. She chucked a mental and started to curse. Horses, I'm peeling carrots for horses. She then said take the brown ones or nothing. It was really funny

Hahaha.

 

[hindy111]

You know what? I'm socially awkward, too. Parties terrify me. When I say I don't like people much, what I really mean is I feel real awkward around them. I don't know what to say most of the time. I'm hopeless at small-talk. Some days are better than others and some people are easier than others. I used to give myself a real hard time over it. Thought I was a real dick-head or something. But over the years - particularly the last half-dozen years or so - I think I've come to terms with it a lot more. That's just me. I'm a pretty good bloke but I don't mix real well. Big deal. There's lot's of us out there, I think.

Maybe use care too much about what other people think? I don't see why you give a $hit what others would think.At end of day people mainly think of themselves and own life so why worry?
I personally prefer small groups then large.And I wont talk too people if I do not like to look of them or get a bad vibe. I do not really think about it thou in a good or bad way.If I like you i'll talk and if I don't I will be arrogant and brush you off. Some people are nice but boring too each other. You can not like everyone in the world and everyone can not like you.But the good thing is there are heaps of people to chose from.
You have too look at it like - Well its your world, you own it.Its your journey/trip. Everything is for you too enjoy and well its like a TV show.I like a lot of friends so its more like the simpsons, tune into different characters and so on. But in the end we all get old and Die so its pretty simple and not worth trying too complicate with worry and stress.

 

[guruminga]

Hey you mob, here goes...

I'm 37 and married with 4 kids. I the younger and better looking brother of fellow forumite Haynzy.

I lived in Parra when I was born, then moved around a bit. Moved to NT when I was 10 and spent my formative years there. Spent a lot of that time living on an Aboriginal Community which really shaped my worldview to this day. Went to about 11 different schools through the years and then bailed in my 2nd crack at Yr 11.
Moved to Adelaide in my early 20s and worked at Mitre 10 for a number of years, ended up as a Store Manager for a couple of years before having to leave due to a dodgey back.

I have degenerative disc disease in my lowest 2 lumbar discs. I'm in line for a double fusion at some point in the future. I could have gone the workcover route, but I used to retrain some of those blokes and they seemed to have lost their spirit. So I decided to reinvent myself. Ended up selling our house and going povo for 4 years so I could become a teacher. Pretty strange for a bloke who failed his way through school, ha ha. Anyway, I'm now in my 5th year of being a Year 7 teacher at an independent school on the Flureiriu Peninsula (walking distance from the mouth of the Murray River). The best part of my job is that I get to take a group of students up to Central Australia once a year. We go to an Aboriginal community on the APY Lands then head up to Uluru, etc. We sleep in swags for 2 weeks. It's so good to give these kids that live in such a white context the opportunity to develop relationships with kids from another culture and realise how similar they actually are.

I used to play drums in a couple of original bands. The first was Ramones style punk, the other had more of a Grinspoon sound. These days I just drum at church once a month.

Due to leaving Sydney when I was young, I've only ever seen 2 live NRL games. One was when I think Storm and Penrith played over here in Adelaide, the other was Eels v Warriors at Parra Stadium in 09. Haynzy, his son and I went over and stayed at Suity's house and went to the game. I'll never forget it. my son is finally getting to the age that I'm thinking of another trip over.

Sorry about the essay.

Bring on 2016 for the Eels, but I'm really enjoing watching Hayne's journey unfold too.

G

 

[Haynzy]

I attended Hills Grammar School (Delta Goodrem was in my grade in Year 10 before she left to pursue her career) and Macquarie University.

Mate were Mr Smith and Mr Phipps there when you were there?

They were both at my school, St Andrews Cathedral School.

Mr Smith was the only teacher who ever seemed to believe that I wasn't an arse. He had quite a profound impact on me.
Mr Phipps gave me a pretty rough time (which I quite likely deserved), I got the cane off him fairly regularly.

 

[Haynzy]

I'm a product of '71, born in Wagga Wagga but moved to Newtown and then Beecroft and then Parra. Went to Westmead Primary School. Dad was a minister so we moved around a bit more after that.
I fell in love with the Eels as a little fella and managed to get to a few games with my grandpa and then, as I got older I went with my mate who has more recently been quite a popular media manager at a couple of clubs.

We were living in Kensington and I was getting into all sorts of strife at school, so my oldies sent me to St Andrews, it was actually a good move and even though I continued to be a ratbag I learned stuff. I was quite the rebel, probably due to not wanting to be pigeon holed by my Dad's job and ended up doing a bit of experimenting as a teenager. I left school in year 11, once rugby season was finished, and continued self destructing for a while.

A good friend of mine gave me a swift kick up the bum and told me to sort myself out, so I left Sydney and went bush. I ended up in a bible college and learnt a whole lot about life, myself and the universe and I will be forever grateful to that friend for having the guts to tell me to pull my head in.

Since then I have lived in a number of places, both country and city. I played League in Broken Hill, and a town just out of Cowra called Koorawatha.

I now live in Adelaide with my beautiful wife and three kids, one of whom is no longer a kid and is now taking on the big bad world herself. I coach district basketball, and I watch calisthenics (under duress).

I've spent about 20 years working as a musician and have been in a fairly successful jazz band for the last 16years, we've recently had our last gig. I play double bass, electric bass and guitar. Music has led me all over Australia and to the USA and New Zealand. It has given me so many amazing experiences and I can't think of my life without it. I listen most types of music and can generally find something I dig in any genre.

In 2008 I was diagnosed with a fairly rare form of Leukaemia. It was a pretty rough trot and I almost died. Thankfully I was treated by some amazing doctors and I have been cancer free for seven years and according to my Dr, am considered cured. She is now a friend and I teach her son to play bass. So many people were a huge support to me and my family in that time, not to mention a number of people from this forum who I will always count as close friends even though we've only met a few times, and in Belly's case never.

I've spent the last five years as a teacher in the only publicly funded boarding school for Indigenous students in Australia. My students are all predominantly from the APY Lands. I teach English, Humanities, Health, Music and Pitjantjatjara and have this year become the Middle School Coordinator for our school.

A very busy life filled with many experiences, good and bad, but I consider myself blessed.

 

[Eelementary]

Mate were Mr Smith and Mr Phipps there when you were there?

They were both at my school, St Andrews Cathedral School.

Mr Smith was the only teacher who ever seemed to believe that I wasn't an arse. He had quite a profound impact on me.
Mr Phipps gave me a pretty rough time (which I quite likely deserved), I got the cane off him fairly regularly.

They were - Mr. Smith taught me English in Year 10, and was the deputy principal, and Mr. Phipps was the principal.

Good times.

 

[Haynzy]

They were - Mr. Smith taught me English in Year 10, and was the deputy principal, and Mr. Phipps was the principal.

Good times.

Cool, Mr Smith was a good teacher. He always told my parents that I was a good kid that just had a lot of spirit haha.