My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

The weekend was really good. My brother and I have talked the most we've talked in a very long time. He has, for the first time, accepted that he has had problems with himself and his life in the past. He has, again for the first time, accepted that it is not too late to change and try to get back some of what he is missing in life. It sounds like, if things go according to plan, that his life will be back on the proverbial track - which for him, and my family is a good thing - now if only he can work out where the track he is on will lead him.

For some reason over the weekend my brothers girlfriends father decided he would chop down our back tree that has been there as a dead "treehouse" type monster since my father and his friend decided to drunkenly "prune it"...they ruined the fence, the bbq, the shed, and the clothesline all in the one day with tree branches the first time they chopped it. so this time had a lot to live up to....so said tree has been aging in a dead state for 15 years and is quite hard...so "the boys" decided they were all tough and would chop it down with a chainsaw...

spectator count = 9 men watching
worker count = 1 guy sharpening chainsaw
tree= perfect condition

1 hr later....6 beers later...work begins....

specator count = 14 men watching
worker count = 1 guy chainsawing the tree
tree = looks like it has been chewed on by a dog

1 carton of beer later....5 hrs later...
spectator count = 5 men watching...
worker count = 1 guy chainsawing the tree....
tree = appears as though someone has been trying to chop it down with a chainsaw

7 hrs later...6 beers later...

spectator count = 7 men "supervising" and offering suggestions of how to chop it down...
worker count = 1 guy chainsawing the tree who after 7 hrs has all but lost hope of chopping it down...
tree = still standing upright with chainsaw marks almost up to a quarter way through it.

the saga shall continue another day with me back in port macquarie oblivious to the happenings....I could have chopped the tree down myself with a saw and axe the old fashioned way in less time than it took them...but no one was willing to even let me try because if the "chain saw" couldn't do it - how could I? they have such little faith in how far determination can take a man.