I know I'm gonna be blasted for saying it but, it's been kinda quiet for sport recently.
Our women's beach volleyballers have been doing well at home. The men's and women's tennis tournaments were fun to watch (free to air!). The giant Waka Ama festival did its usual awesome stuff under the radar. We have seen the start of the summer rugby season (yes I know some you are angry at that) which also brought with it some strange headlines like: Highlanders' Coach Happy, yeah that's gotta be a typo.
The South Africa v Australia cricket matches have been a bit of fun, though mainly it's because the South Africans have been winning and, as I said on bfm the other day, those new Aussie uniforms are pretty cool.
Also fun has been the NFL play-offs where the Buzzsaw that is the Arizona Cardinals have cut their way through a number of teams who really should've beaten them and are now in the Superbowl. And the games have been real see-saw battles, not the usual blow-outs. This bodes well for the big game.
So what have I been doing during this natural sports hiatus? I have been growing a moustache.
Every guy does it. One day he goes into the bathroom, looks disdainfully at his razor and says: "not today, not today". Or perhaps as he shaves he stops and says to himself "you know what, I'm keeping this bit".
I always have some kind of facial hair and every time I hack it back to a manageable size I do so in a way that lets me try out all the facial hair styles I can. What? You didn't know that there was more than just beard or moustache? My friend, there is a multitude of designs each with a descriptive name such as Van Dyk or Balbo or Old Dutch.
Luckily, bloggers with time on their hands have been able to chart and attempt the various styles. And while the nomenclature is far from standard, a pattern emerges: Men have as many styles for their facial hair as they do for their, um, head hair.
This freedom of choice with one's degree and shape of mandible furriness led me to grow myself a "standard cop".
Note that this is an old pic and it was much bushier just before it was removed yesterday.
There is freedom in facial hair, a release from the constraints of male facial grooming, like women who gleefully stop shaving their legs in winter. And speaking of women, facial hair is a sure-fire way to win over the womenfolk (please note that I may be making this up) but I'm not sure how it works on menfolk.
While hair-growing I also indulged in a week long late-January holiday to Auckland that allowed me to meet Charlotte face-to-face, have a drink with Richard Irvine and José Barbosa and other friends (who don't have sites for me to link to).
And yes, basically this whole thing is an apology for not posting for a while.