Musings on chess, and lesser things
It’s a well-established ritual to spend ANZAC Day in Melbourne for the traditional grudge match between the Essendon and Collingwood football clubs. But this year I’m heading to Melbourne for a slightly lesser known tradition: the Melbourne Chess Club ANZAC Day Weekender. Chess organisers love a long weekend. It allows them to adopt longer time …
What is up with Australia’s house prices? Everything, it seems. I of course have some personal bias in the matter, being one of many potential Australian first-home buyers ‘in the market.’ But even leaving aside my personal gripes, it must be said that Australian housing prices are ridiculously inflated. There are a number of possible …
Today is one of those days when you just don’t want to play chess. Well, that’s not strictly true: you just don’t want to be cooped up in a chess hall for the daylight hours. I’m writing this on my lunch break in between rounds at the Sydney International Open, and it’s a glorious day. …
The goddess of chess, Caissa, is a fickle woman, and sometimes being a chess player is a bit like being married. For the most part, it’s a loving, caring relationship, full of laughs and cheer. And really, if given a choice, wouldn’t we all rather be playing chess all day? But alas, like every successful …
I received a few comments following my bike posts on the site, most rebuking my apparently anti-bipodean sentiments (not to mention my apparently anti-environmental ones). “You’re not giving cycling a fair go!” cried one. “Don’t you care about global warming? One less car!” argued another, with blissfully ignorant mathematical precision. “Cycling is the most …
I come to you briefly during an ad break in the original Alice in Wonderland, courtesy of free-to-air. It’s glorious! I really had forgotten how entertaining being a child is. Not only is one free of worries and responsibilities, but the stories are so much better. Nowadays the stories filling my ears usually consist of …
In case you have been living under a rock for the past week, the front-page news in every Australian media outlet has been the ‘tragic’ split between Lara Bingle and Australian cricketer Michael Clarke. For the non-Australian readers out there, Lara can be loosely defined as Australia’s answer to Paris Hilton. She’s a 22-year old …
So last Friday I had my first crack at stand up comedy as part of the Australian ‘Raw Comedy’ competition. I tell you what, I’m no stranger to public speaking, but I’ve never been so nervous in all my life! The challenge of making people laugh ‘on cue’ was simply terrifying, and the possibility of …
As my head of hair continues to recede in the same direction as the Greek economy, I’ve begun to notice more and more frequent signs of my recent exodus of the ‘Tween’ years. The college honeymoon certainly seems to be over. While there is some consolation that my demeanor and speech has finally caught up with my involuntary hairstyle, the number of times I’ve caught myself uttering ‘ageisms’ in 2010 is a little concerning. Here’s a selection of favourites:
Top 10 Signs In 2010 That I’m Getting Old
Besides chess, obviously. Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article on ‘The Sulky Mozart of chess’, our very own world number one, Magnus Carlsen. The article delighted in quoting quirky facts illustrating the freaky intellect of this prestigious prodigy, including Magnus’ ability to quote the area, population, flag and capital of every country in …