The Woodshed

Thousands of things go right for you every day, beginning at the moment you wake up. Through some magic you don't fully understand, you're still breathing and your heart is still beating, even though you've been unconscious for many hours. The air is a mix of gases that's just right for your body's needs, as it was before you fell asleep. You can see! Light of many colours floods your eyes, registered by nerves that took our creator some millions of years to perfect. The interesting gift of these vivid hues comes to you courtesy of an unimaginably immense globe of fire, the sun, which continually detonates nuclear reactions in order to convert its body into light and heat and energy for your personal use. Did you know that the sun is located at the precise distance from you to perfect service? If it were any closer, you'd fry, and if it were any further away, you'd freeze. Here's another one of the sun's benedictions: It appears to rise over the east...

I've found myself talking about tension a lot recently. I don't why. Maybe it's because people around me simply want to win. They feel so strongly about their point of view and that it's too precious to them not to be accepted. They fight. They argue. They do what it takes. Tension fills the air. At home there's tension: Why didn't you feed the dog? Why did your brother hit you? What did your sister say when you stole her doll? What sort of time is this to come home? At work there's tension: I told you do this 3 days ago! What has taken you so long? Didn't you get the mail? It's due today. If we don't have the presentation ready for tomorrow we're all done for. What I find interesting is that nobody seems to understand that tension isn't there to be resolved. It doesn't exist to be won. No-one realises this. Tension simply exists to be played with. Nobody wins ... or loses. What matters is how you play the tension. What did you do to...

1. Dads are constant. We are always in the mood for sex. If we ever turn sex down we regret it immediately. And for weeks afterwards. On the rare occasion that we may have something else to attend to (see point 3.) we regret it instantly. If you are ever offended that we did not accept the proposition, find some comfort in the fact that we regretted saying no ... and are still regretting it. 2. Dads are young. I say this because we live through our young son(s) or daughter(s). We see the world through their eyes very very easily. More easily than you do. In fact, I think one of the reasons we decide to have children is because we need an excuse to be childlike. And this is the perfect one. The chance to spend an extra 15min studying the action figures. The opportunity to examine those extras that come with the Baby Born. Looking at the detail. Reading the packaging. Marveling at the advancement of the toy. We remember what it was like when we were young and we're living the mome...