The game was going so well. Elsternwick Golf Course, first nine holes. The sun was glinting from behind the clouds, my partner had just got his third ever birdie on the second hole and I was driving well. My short game was a bit sketchy but since this was our first game back after playing the Apollo Bay Golf Course, I wasn't too fazed.

Suddenly my scorecard showed consecutive bogeys. I was quite content. Another bogey on the seventh. Happy days.

We began the second nine with a relaxed and easy game.

And then it happened.

Before I go into the event in detail, I would like to make it clear that I am a normally well-adjusted person. I have been described as "even-tempered". Perhaps even "bubbly" at times.

Until my ball landed in the right side bunker at the 17th.

For some reason I had a feeling of dread as I approached the cavernous bunker. The lip seemed taller than me and for some reason I found this daunting.

"Remember the Jack Nicklaus book" A soothing voice said inside my head. I relaxed again. Then I seized up again. I couldn't remember. Whatever precious nuggets of genius Jack had imbued in my brain had somehow leaked out the other end, leaving a void of panic and terror.

I tried to remember as best I could - open the clubface, hit the sand behind the ball...

So far so good.

Then I struck the shot. My ball flew upwards, upwards and upwards.

Then it just stopped, cruelly wedging itself just below the lip of the bunker.

Something inside me snapped.

"Yaargh!" I ran up the side of the bunker and grunted, striking the ball hard enough to make it dribble back down into the position it had first landed.

"F@&#* ing sand!"
*THWACK*

The ball repeated its journey back down to my feet, leaving a rather pretty little bubble-pattern behind it.

For some reason this really offended me.

*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*

"Arrgh!! Yah!"



















In my mad fury of swinging and thwacking I realised that at least two of these particular shots were nowhere near the ball. They were aimed squarely at the sand for the sole purpose of revenge.

"Yiggh! Ack!! Raargh!!"
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*

I could tell that my partner wanted to say something at this point but thought better of it.

"Graghph!!"
*THWACK*

Finally the ball came popping up out of the bunker and landed on the green, quite close to the pin. A lovely shot.

I took this as the final insult. I stormed out of the mangled bunker (apologies to the greenskeepers and other staff) and stood on the lip, panting maniacally.

"Ruh!"
I threw my cap down in disgust and stormed off to get my putter.

On this rather lonely walk back to my bag I was thinking "Wow... people actually do throw their hats down when they do a bad shot. Then I realised that I had done exactly fifteen bad shots and got mad again. I finished my putt and as we were walking to the next hole I muttered "What did you get?"

"A par." My partner replied. "You?"
"Eighteen."

I was almost immediately calm again. For some reason the sand was out of reach and so was my fury.

My partner sensed this was a good time to speak.
"Er, you know that thing... in the bunker?"

"Yes?"

"Your left arm was bent."

(*Argh!*)

Unfortunately I had managed to forget the most basic rule. "Keep your left arm as straight as you can". I must have looked like a deranged woodcutter.

I have learned so much from this experience. I have realised that you can't, simply can't lose your cool at any time on a golf course.

Not even to take out your revenge on an inanimate object.

technorati tags: golf bunker rage sand wedge elsternwick

If you are anything like me, you probably have a multitude of books lying around. It may be that there are some that are taking up valuable shelf room.

There are a number of options, various places you can Sell TextBooks both in the real world and online. If you are looking to sell your books quickly and at a guaranteed price, you may want to check out SellBackYourBook.com

It works like this:

You enter the ISBN number of up to 20 books in the box and click "price books"















You will then see a list of books and the prices offered. If you are happy with the prices, you can reserve the price and sell your books. I think one of the advantages of a site such as this is the immediacy of the offers. If I were to sell by other means I may be waiting a week to find out if someone is remotely interested in the books I have to offer. For example, there may be a rush on "The Secret" and the demand for crime and thriller books is down. The only way to find out is to check for yourself. I was surprised at some of the books that were and weren't in demand. For example, the latest Harry Potter book was not in demand. Neither was War and Peace or The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Strange. However the latest book about Sarah Palin (titled "Sarah") is in demand, so is "Change We Can Believe In - Barack Obama". The demand appears to change from time to time, as various books wane in popularity and then come back in vogue.

This post brought to you by Sell Back Your Book

If you are like me, you may have a bunch of clothing you just bought on Ebay - perhaps it's not the right size, right colour, or maybe it just doesn't suit you. I usually resell the clothing or donate them to the Brotherhood / Red Cross bins.

A post by Megan at Imaginif brought my attention to fund raising needs in Mapoon's isolated Aboriginal community in Cape York (far North Queensland, Australia).

Nai-Beguta Agama Aboriginal Corporation in Mapoon urgently requires donations of clothing and accessories in order to extend their Community Building. This will include room for a youth worker, counselling rooms and training space.

I will now be donating my extraneous Ebay purchases to assist this fund raising effort. If 1,000,000 items of clothing were donated and sold for $1, the target of $1,000,000 would be reached. I hope we can all work together to assist this effort.




















Send clothing and accessory donations to:

Imaginif,
30 James St,
North Cairns,
QLD 4870.

The clothing will be transported approximately 800km from Cairns to New Mapoon via Sea Swift, a shipping company servicing remote areas.

technorati tags: australia aboriginal community new mapoon raise funds donate