Games People Play

The lobby of Rydges at Cronulla the
day after the 2016 grand final

The bar fridge in my motel room
with the games for sale on the bench

Last year I booked a motel room for one night at Cronulla hoping my team would have won their first ever NRL grand final trophy the night before.

Me on grand final night 2016

Luckily they did, because my mood would have been the exact opposite to the mood I was in on the day.

In fact I doubt any drug in the world was capable of putting me in the euphoric mood I was in for the next week after grand final night.
Or the week before for that matter -
My Happiest Birthday Ever

The Cronulla Shire was on fire with celebration, and I couldn't ever think of a better day to be in Cronulla with the waves of celebration in the air.

Now if any motel chain was going to get me to buy something off their bar-fridge menu then today would be that day.

I noticed there were retro games for sale on the bench like this $16.95 instant beach ball.
Bargain.

Not ... but I bought it so that I was "prepared for future fun".

Ironically beach balls are plastic spheres that could potentially blow out to sea.

The tin had a recycling symbol on it, but I don't know whether that was for the beach ball and the tin, or just the tin.

So that toy beach ball has had me conflicted since I've bought it, as I don't know whether I'm a guy prepared for fun, or just a potential environmental terrorist. 

I also bought a set of wooden dominoes, not that I like the game of dominoes (I don't even know how to play it), but I love "the domino effect" metaphor and love watching falling dominoes.

I guess it teaches me that once you put something in motion you never know where it will end and how many people or events it will effect.

I also bought a set of Pick-Up Sticks, not because I like playing the game so much, but they remind me of yarrow sticks used in the I Ching.

They reminded me also of an art exhibition that was on with 
David Lynch's paintings, which I wrote about in this post -
My Sunday: Between Two Worlds and Trying to Catch the Big Fish
So, apart from the beach ball, all of the other things I bought were eco-friendly and dirt cheap to make and sell on to suckers like me.
I may never play with the souvenirs I bought on the day, but when I see them sitting on the shelf it will give me something metaphorical to think about.

At least I can say that I had a ball down in Cronulla in 2016 ... and have still got it.
One couple's mission to live plastic-free and fight the war on waste

"Days, weeks and months spent picking up marine debris along Australia's coastline has Natalie Woods and Daniel Smith determined to live a plastic-free life.
And the founders of Clean Coast Collective are now on a mission to draw attention to the amount of plastic we use unnecessarily every day."