I spent over an hour lifting up a corner of my grass tonight so I could replace a sprinkler head. Youtube made it look very easy, but I think my garden shovel was the wrong tool compared to the pointer spades I saw online.

I eventually did uncover enough to unscrew the top and put a new head on. Luckily when I mowed over it last week I just clipped it, and the barrel was intact. I probably wouldn’t have mowed over it if I had a better lawn mower, but I don’t. What am I supposed to do? Buy a garden spade and a new lawnmower and a new shaver head every few months?

On Monday we had a blackout for a few hours. When the power came back on, the alarm system control by the back door was flashing. I have enough LEDs in my life so I pressed some buttons to try and stop the flashing. This armed the alarm system. I did not receive the code to the alarm system from the original owners. A few seconds later the alarm went off.

The house alarm was very loud. Luckily I knew where the box was - in the roof cavity. I also had experience from the old house which also had an alarm system. At that house I unplugged the alarm system, but later it went off and I learned that there was a battery connected for backup. So, I went into the roof cavity and there I learned that the alarm was hardwired in this house AND the battery connection was corroded on. Fortunately, I was in there with a Philips head screwdriver that I’d needed to get into the alarm box in the first place. And I realised that I could use this to unscrew and pull all the wires from their connections. This took a few minutes, and it was quite satisfying hearing each siren and alarm go silent as I pulled out wire after wire. It was like defusing a bomb in a movie.

I am not sure I have done anything to actually improve the house recently, despite many attempts. I can’t just blame my tools. I think I am the tool. I did buy an inflatable basketball hoop slash ring toss for the pool. Let’s count that as a win.

Is perhaps a fire name for a Jazz-Metal band and also my first reflection about shaving with a razor instead of an electric shaver.

My father did not teach me how to shave as a teenager. A very sad story. He probably took one look at my chubby, pink seventeen year old cheeks and realised he’d need to wait for me to graduate from Uni before the need was actually there. Nevertheless, one of my parents handed me down an electric shaver from some other kid. I kept it in a drawer and used it once or twice a week to vibrate my chin. And I used it to make toothbrush related soap opera phocumentaries inspired by whatever I’d seen on Passions that week… That isn’t related to why I couldn’t grow a beard, or at least not related directly.

At some point I must have needed to shave, not because I didn’t want to have a beard but because my sparse stubble would get itchy. A glance in my life archives indicates that by age twenty I was at the point where I didn’t shave for a week before going camping so that I could come back looking rugged - which didn’t work.

I remained loyal to my electric shavers since 2002. I think partly because at least twenty years ago they started selling shavers with cleaning stations that did the cleaning of the foil for you and that felt pretty futuristic and the marketing got me.

A few years ago and a few shavers later I made an investment into a Braun Series 9 electric shaver with cleaning station. It was pretty expensive but I was convinced it was going to reduce the amount of time I waste shaving by cutting closer and not missing as many hairs. I had the foil for a long time, and then I convinced myself that replacing it would give me a more effective shave again. For some reason that foil broke after only eight months. That was annoying, so I bought another replacement for another $100 and after eight months of only shaving two times a week that one broke too.

I was so infuriated by this that I decided to switch to razor shaving, and I bought a razor and some shaving cream. I didn’t bother my father to teach me to shave. At this point there are good Youtube tutorials which I’m guessing most dads are referring their sons to these days anyway.

I watched the Youtube video and then I shaved my face and it was pretty easy. I had given myself like 10% odds that I was going to slit my throat and bleed out just because of how bad at physical labour I am. But I think like Youtube, razors have also reached a point of flawless helpfulness.

Anyway while I didn’t pierce my skin, I clearly did move that razor the wrong way at certain parts of my skin and under my lip was a patch of bleeding pores that triggered the reaction that inspired this entry.

My verdict on razor shaving - I don’t think it’s much different to a Braun Series 9. I still missed a bunch of hairs and it doesn’t feel any closer. The replacement heads are a lot cheaper than a new foil, but on the other hand the razor doesn’t clean itself in a little robot box.

I went to the golf this afternoon. Mainly I wanted to see what the golf course behind my house actually looked like from inside the fence. It was nothing special. Not a lot of shade.

I was there for nearly an hour and I saw one guy hit a golf ball. It went so fast that I lost track of it. I don't know where it landed.

After the golf I saw Peking Duk play a DJ set and do some singing. They were pretty good for 4:30pm on a Thursday. My favourite part was when they played Fire and during the chorus they also shot fire out of a bunch of gas cannons. It was that kind of show. A nice cross section of bangers and bass.

Hopefully I can sell the rest of our complimentary golf tickets on marketplace.