Journal Entry

Diary entry – The night before the grand final

“Gutless wonder! Gutless wonder!” That’s what the crowd’ll be chanting as we soberly walk of the field. As the losing team. And everyone will be blaming me. However their accusations hold no truth because it’s not my fault. Arks would be the person to blame for our team’s thrashing in the grand final as he stupidly made me first ruck knowing that I was hopeless and would let the team down. You also should blame Carol (our original first ruck and a bloody good one) for being disqualified from the team ultimately leading to our demise in the grand finale match. Well, if we’re playing the blame game, blame also my opponent Thumper for being 

a bloody tank on the field. How the hell am I supposed to go up against him?

Honestly, I shouldn’t even be in the footy team; my kick is horrendous, I can’t run (well, compared to Dumby) and I can’t even ruck to save my life. The only reason I made the team is, like I said, is because I’m 

pretty tall and I’m a Goonya. There are probably plenty of Noongas a lot better than me.

Deep down though, I desperately want to this win this match. I’m trying not to get my hopes up but I know everything counts on this game. To name a few there’s my name, which could stay Gary ‘Blacky’ Black or become Gary ‘Gutless Wonder’ Black, my relationship with the old man and of course Pickle’s sexual life. These things, no matter how small ultimately lead disaster in the future. There are just so many things to think about and not enough time...

God, I can’t get sleep; a combination of anxiety and excitement is keeping me from doing so. One of Mum’s pills should cure my insomnia, I‘ll go downstairs and get one now.

Gary

My Name

José Marco Asibal

My first name José comes from my father who was also named José and I was therefore named after. Coincidentally my father’s father was also called José. I suppose I should also name my kid José otherwise I would have broken this tradition. My middle name was chosen just because it sounded good with José and Asibal. However when I was a child when people said José it confused me, because I did not know whether they were referring to me or my father so eventually I just made my middle name my preferred name. Lastly Asibal, like all Filipino surnames, comes from Spain.

Deadly Unna? - Questions

1.      What picture do we get of Blacky in the first chapter? Consider, for example, his sense of humor.

From the chapter one we do not learn very much about Blacky’s life as the chapter mostly goes into the upcoming football grand final. However we do find some important points about Blacky’s life in this chapter. One he plays football, two he is second ruck, three he becomes first ruck after the person playing first ruck was disqualified and five he is suddenly the most important person in the town.

2.      In Chapter 4, Arks takes Blacky for some extra rucking practice. Before this Blacky has given the impression that he is always making fun of Arks. How does he feel towards Arks at the end of this chapter and why does he say to Arks, 'Don't worry, we're gonna win this one'?

Chapter four sees Blacky does some rucking practice with Arks. As the first ruck, Carol, was disqualified they had no time to find a new one so Blacky was appointed first ruck. However when Arks sees Blacky play he realizes how his hope of finally winning a grand final has been lost. Even Blacky recognizes this. “This was his big chance – the talk was that next year the Point would get organized, field its own team – and he’d lost Carol, his best player, his first ruck. All he had was me – Jam-Jar Black” (Page 19).

3.      We first meet Dumby Red in Chapter 5. What is your impression of him in this first meeting? What is Blacky's impression of him?

When we first read about Dumby Red we find that he cares greatly about his appearance, he is very athletic and the fact that he is extremely good at playing football. When Blacky first meets Dumby in the boys change room he thinks that Dumby is up himself and that he is stupid due to the fact he does not know what position he plays on the field. After seeing how skilled Dumby is, Blacky’s first impressions turn to jealousy as Dumby has it all, “This Dumby Red was trendy, he was talented, he was up himself, he wore Jezza’s number, and he had that smile” (Page 25).

4.      In Chapters 6, 7 and 8 we get a good view of Blacky's family life. How would you describe it? What sort of relationship does he have with his siblings and why is Best Team-man called Best Team-man?

Blacky’s family consists of eight children, four boys and four girls, and two parents. Due to the fact that there are so many children it makes their family life somewhat seem like a football team. “I reckon a family is like a football team. Perhaps it’s the original team” (Page 42). His relationship with his siblings is very predictable for a family of that size. From the brief description of his siblings (bar Team-man) in the book, barley a page, it suggests to me that to Blacky at that moment football was his main focus, not so much his brothers and sisters. Best Team-man, Blacky’s brother, was given a whole chapter that gives the origins of his nickname Best Team-man

5.      Why had Blacky never been to the Point? (Chapter 10)

Blacky has never been to the Point, though he has tried once, due to stories he has heard at the local pub that tells of wild Aborigines that attack people with their spears and boomerangs. “But then we started thinking about those stories they told in the front bar – wild Nungas with spears, boomerangs that came from nowhere and knock you senseless”(Page 57) .

Colloquial Language

Colloquial Language - Tennis

Being part of a tennis club I have quite a few friends who also play tennis. Some of my friends are hackers like me and others can play tennis exceptionally well. Take my friend Earl for example. He’s been playing for eight years. Whenever I play against him he handcuffs me, he puts away shots with ease, he can moon shoot the ball right into no-man’s land and occasionally he can even pull off a tweener. He is as fast as a cheetah on court, has strong fore-hands, his backhands have so much top-spin that the ball spins like a propeller in the air and when he serves the ball he does it so easily yet so accurately and lightning fast. Eventually after playing for around ten minutes he’s already got an insurance break on the match so I just end up tanking the game but sometimes if I’m do better than usual, I can get a couple points although not enough to win a game unfortunately. Hopefully after a few more lessons of tennis I can play the counterpuncher or the pusher and finally win a match, or if that’s too much to ask; a set.

 Seriously he’s like Roger Federer or something.