Blug

Blug.

How good is this new and exciting term which I, just this minute invented. I won't Google it, because of course it will say '26 000 000 results' or something annoying, insinuating that I actually didn't invent it. Hey Google, when you point your finger at me, there's three more pointing right back at you.

Anyway, Blug means to 'blog plug'. This is a form of blog-love, when you write a post about someone elses' blog and say how rad they are.

So I thought, to christen this new nerdish term, I would do a blug, right here right now. Here's some blogs I've been particularly liking of late. Not an exhaustive list, just handpicking a few. More next time.

Jelssie. This is one I just stumbled upon recently, written by two girls Jess and Elsie. It is really funny and interesting, and they update lots, which is a rare thing these days. I don't find new blogs that interest me that often, the lady-blogs are generally a bit too girly and craftish for me, and the man-blogs are a bit too serious and wordy. So I was pleased to find something new to add to my shortlist.

Paradoxically Speaking. Al is a pastor, and he has interesting insights. But there is a nice variety on his blog, so he talks about other stuff in his life as well. I like getting a broad picture of bloggers, about their hobbies, family, etc etc, and I like that Al posts about that stuff.

Blurred On The Edges. Christine's a relatively new blogger, and is still going strong content-wise. She writes a good mixed-bag blog and keeps things nice and short. Also her blog design is not too cluttered, so it's easy to go and have a quick skim.

St. Eutychus and Another Something. Why am I grouping Nath and Simone in together? I don't know. These guys are my favourites, and they do a lot to keep this particular blogging community afloat. The thing they share, is dedication. They post a lot, and never post those 'I don't feel like blogging, I'm busy with other priorities, see you in a year' posts. Whatever they are doing in life, they post about it, and that means a lot. The other week Simone even posted while in another state, with her husband was taken to hospital after a skiing accident. Respect! Without these two guys, I may have given it in a while back.

Anyways, this'll do for today.

More blugging soon.

The Confessions of St. Eutychus

Nathan has a good post about pretending to be more bookish than he actually is. He drops little references to stuff he hasn't actually read, to sound kinda awesome.

This is exactly what I do to!

Examples are rife on this blog. You only have to look at the title of this post for one. Did you see what I did there? Cleverly, I've taken the name of Nathan's blog, and combined it with that ol' gem The Confessions of St. Augustine.

I say ol' gem, but I've never read it. I bought it ages ago, and looked at it knowingly. Read the back. Read two pages of the introduction. Hmmm. Yes. So heady. And then popped it on the shelf.

I know it's about some Christian fella doing some serious over-sharing. I know he steals an apple or something as a kid, and then feels bad about it pretty much for the rest of the book.

Is this enough to give me the right to name-drop it? I'm not sure. The truth is that I love books, but have read about three in my life, and two of those were about a hairy little guy called Grug. And the other one was a TV guide I think.

There, I said it.

Thursday Peanuts

Life Lessons or, The Amassed Knowledge Of Thirty-Two Years Of Life On Earth

#4. If a guy kind of creeps you out, and makes you feel unsettled, but you can't quite pin-point why, nine times out of ten it's because he shapes the bottom edge of his eyebrows.

The Campaign Trail

Gotta say, I am already thoroughly sick of seeing Gillard and Abbott with their big, cheesy 'vote for me' grins.

It brings me to the point of nearly being a little bit sick in my mouth, every time I see them kiss a baby, pat a dog, fillet a fish, cuddle a Nanna or put on a construction hard-hat.

Yeah, we get it- you are really just one of us. Congratulations.

(Sneer! Gripe! Hiss!)

Book Review Wednesday

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

I have mixed feelings about this book. In some ways, I'm undecided as to whether I like it or not. I enjoyed reading it, and when I finished I thought, 'well, that was good', but it kind of left me empty. The more I think about it, the less I like it.

The book tells the story of a Roaring '20's Cool Cat called Jay Gatsby, from the point of view of his friend and neighbour, Nick Carraway. It is a pretty negative and pessimistic story, with a pretty negative and pessimistic ending.

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. Yeah, I get that it's a comment on society at the time, and on this boring upper class who apparently didn't have a lot to do with their time except throw parties, smoke a lot and idle away the afternoons on big lounges. But is it enjoyable to read about these characters, who frankly aren't that likable? Not overly.

Jules

The Good Book's Guide To Great Sex

Kamal Weerakoon (the man, the legend), who used to go to our church, has an article in The Herald today, about Christianity and sex.

'The keys to healthy relationships are forgiveness, generosity and trust. Treating sexuality in a self-focused manner – as something we ''demand'' from others and ''take'' from them – leads, at best, to mutual manipulation and exploitation, at worst to child sexual slavery. Healthy sexuality is conducted in an attitude of giving – two people, committed to each other and trusting each other, giving each other the best pleasure in the world.'

The Quiz

1. I'm always forgetting..
2. I wish I could get you people to appreciate the awesomeness that is..
3. Do you like your name?
4. If you could have another name, what would you choose?
5. Did you watch the election debate last night?

Open Your Hardened Hearts To Enjoy The Gift That Was Master Chef

Well, Adam won.

Good for him, though I was really wanting Callum to take it out. Gotta say, what a great show. The three people out there that didn't watch the series, and turned their noses up when you mentioned it, missed some seriously good tele. And last night's grand final was great.

And last night they announced Junior Master Chef is coming soon! Can't wait.

Aww, I Feel Special

Look what was written on my coffee lid just now--

Grrrrrrrrr

Nathan writes about an abortion topic in the news.

I hate the ridiculous hypocrisy of this. 'Don't get me wrong, we love our daughter to bits, but we're suing the doctors for not diagnosing birth defects, missing our opportunity to abort.'

You're a joke.

Tumbleweeds

Is it just me, or has Bloggington been very quiet of late?

Both post and comment-wise, blogs have been pretty light on.

Are you all hibernating over Winter?

Song Of The Week

'Winged Assassins'

Anvil (1983)

Listen~

Thursday Peanuts

Jesus

I was reading over some of Jesus' sermon on the mount, this morning (from Matthew), and was really able to appreciate it afresh. Sometimes it's easy to lose the shine on things that you've heard a million times.

But here, in my red letter Bible, you've just got these few pages of wall to wall red. It's all Jesus, and His words. And each sentence, each phrase, each word is just fathoms deep with meaning. It amazed me what He came and did with the law. He radically simplified it, brought out the true essence of it, stripped off all the excess layers of it. At the same time, He is radically loving, humble and gentle, while being incredibly strong, firm, unwavering, kingly. No one else has ever been like that.

And the more you look at Jesus, the more you get amazed at who He is. In this world, you become so accustomed to disillusionment. The things, people, ideas etc etc that you love, the closer you look, the more flawed they become. But Jesus is absolutely water-tight, without failings, without blemish, without anything at all to say against Him. When you can get into that head-space or heart-space when you can really see a glimpse of Jesus, all you can do is fall before Him in absolute praise and worship and thanks.

He is awesome!

So Long, Jimmy

Good result last night. It was the elimination we had to have.

Adam is the favourite, according to some poll I saw, but I'm still hoping Callum will take it out.

The Sexes At Their Worst

Miranda Devine is spot on with this comment about Mel Gibson and his ex, in this good article about the hypocrisy of Hollywood-

'He has given into frightening narcissistic rage and self-pity, becoming a pathetic object of contempt and perhaps pity.

She is infuriatingly self-righteous, and calculating. It is war between the sexes at its worst, both sides using their lowest weapons.'

Don't Call Me Ishmael

This is why I don't go yachting.

Story here.

Book Review Wednesday

My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George (1959)

My year 5 teacher read this aloud to the class, and it had an immediate and lasting impression on me, right from the first chapter. The whole premise just struck a chord in me, it's like a young boy's ultimate scenario. Young Sam Gribley runs away from home (New York) to the Catskill Mountains, where he lives in a giant hollow tree. He learns to fish, make fire, make his own clothes and tames a falcon.

Awesome. It's like Bear Grylls The Early Years. It set me off for years of searching around the bushland where I lived, to find some sort of hollow tree to set up shop in. To no avail.

The book is very likable, and easy to read. The one thing that struck me though, reading it back as an adult, is where the heck are his folks, and why do they wait so long to come and find him. But, when you're a kid, you don't care about such trivialities. You just care about that sweet hollow tree fantasy.

R.I.P.

'Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain..'

~Helen Burns, died age 14.

Messy in My Heart

We have told Little e that Jesus is in her heart.

Last night, as she was eating some custard for dessert, she asked, "does Jesus get messy in my heart when I'm eating custard?"

Little e is awesome.

Number Crunch

Today this blog should hit the 70,000 mark for page hits.

Thanks for reading, folks.

Funny

The only TV debate prior to the election for new Prime Minister, is probably going to be rescheduled so as not to clash with the ratings-smasher that will be the Master Chef grand final. Heh!

Julia and Tony will probably pretend to be a bit miffed, while being secretly happy, as they plan a fun night at parliament house together (pizza, creaming soda, cheezels) to watch the grand final on the parliament wide screen tele.

I imagine that Julia will barrack for Claire, and Tony will barrack for Callum.

Helen Burns

Master Chef

Who I want to win, from most to least--

1. Callum
2. Adam
3. Claire
4. Alvin
5. Courtney
6. Jimmy

You?

Temporary Tourists

As we are soon to be moving out of the area, we are trying to squeeze in a few of the kind of outings that we won't get to do as much when we move.

Last week it was dumplings at Ashfield, yesterday it was a spontaneous trip to the Sydney Fish Markets. It was great. We all shared a massive seafood platter, and Little e, a big seafood fan, had a ball. I'm proud to have a 3 year old not afraid to try a baby octopus. Even if it was just a small taste. The tentative tasting of tiny tangled tentacles.

Anyway, it's been fun. It's kind of like becoming tourists, where you suddenly reappraise your overly-familiar area, and start doing the sight-seeing you never got around to in the past.

1st Open House

Got our first open house out of the way on Saturday. A few more and then the auction.

It seemed to go pretty well, and there was a fair bit of interest, so God willing things will go alright come auction time. I'm trying not to get overly stressed and to let it consume all my thoughts.

Which is hard!

The Quiz

1. Full cream, or gross watered down milk
2. A sound you don't like to hear
3. Comfort food
4. Weekend highlight
5. Weekend lowlight

Song Of The Week

"Hounds Of Love"

Kate Bush (1985)

The title track from my favourite album of all time.

"It's in the trees.. It's coming!"

Listen~

Mr Brocklehurst

Master Chef

Wow. First Marion, then Jonathan, and now Aaron. All the biggies are getting axed. And they are also all the ones I don't like. Good times.

I predict a Claire/Callum final two, and I'm going for Callum. He's a bit of a nervous ninny, but I like him, and he does a good desert.

My big question is, why the heck is that Jimmy dude still there? Come on!

7

The temperature gauge the bus drove past this morning said 7 degrees, 3 degrees cooler than yesterday. I felt those 3 degrees like crazy.

Thursday Peanuts

The Art of Seat Improvement

When you catch public transport a lot, as I do ('catch' being a very good word for it, in these winter months of uncovered sneezes and used tissues stuffed into seat crevices), you become very adept at the various skills needed to survive this daily frustration.

One of these skills is that of Seat Repositioning. It should be your aim to climb the ladder throughout your allotted journey, to overcome a lowly position and strive for the best one at your disposal.

You may very well aboard your crowded train and start right at the bottom rung, (perhaps standing in the middle of the vestibule, with a guide dog laying on your feet, an environmentally thoughtful persons' bicycle jutting into your back, someone elses' massive newspaper opened wide with the edge of the business section paper cutting your neck, and without a pole anywhere in reach to keep you from tumbling downstairs).

But within twenty minutes, and some deft, opportunistic seat-hopping, you can be right where you want to be. That corner vestibule seat with a wall on one side, and an uncomfortable seat join on the other, effectively acting as a deterring moat or force field to any would-be neighbours. Thus, your morning Everest has been successfully scaled, and you can be proud of a job well done.

However, where the label of Skill is transcended, and elevates into the territory of Art, is in considering the importance of timing. Any vaguely observant pleb can seat-hop with an acceptable degree of success. But it is only the true artisans who truly know about timing. When to hold them, and when to fold them.

Seat-hop too late and you've missed your boat. Some other bloke's got your spoils. But,(and this is a Big Butt with two t's) seat-hop too soon, and you face other consequences. An unnaturally warm seat. This can be highly disconcerting. Body-heat is a great thing. Your body-heat. Someone else's body-heat is not.

It is to be avoided at all costs. Many times in my journey of learning this art, I have stumbled with over-keenness, finding myself with a strange warmness seeping through the vinyl and up into my pant-seat. A chill runs up my spine. This, friends, should not be. You need to allow as much time as you can afford, for adequate seat-cooling.

Thus, timing is the key. Don't dawdle, but don't rush either. Spy your opening, and then hold....hold....hold..... and POUNCE!

The Invisible Man

I have always loved H.G. Wells' Invisible Man character. I remember seeing a TV serial of the story as a kid, and it scared the heck out of me. I also like the old Hollywood version, and reckoned he looked cool walking about in a dressing gown.

The background of this drawing was just a Google image result after typing in "50's street scene".

Ponder Ponder

I've been thinking a lot about how I want to post more drawings, and set myself little projects, like what I'm doing with Jane Eyre. I love the idea of illustrating 'The Classics'.

What I can't decide is whether that should warrant a separate website (sort of like an illustration blog), or whether I should just drib and drab it across this blog. What I don't like about that is that the drawings are all spread out between posts about completely unrelated stuff.

But I'm also the kind of person who has twenty grand ideas at once, and gives himself ulcers trying to fulfill them all at once. And who gets anxiety issues when he tries to do ANY more than one thing at the one time. I already have the painting blog, and two other sites sorta kinda under construction.

I dunno.

Out Of Reach

What do these two fellas have in common?

They both deserve to go to prison, but probably never will, because they are too rich and famous.

Pity.

Inception

Have you heard about this movie?

My friend reckons it's going to be a massive hit, the biggest of the year, and that it will win a bunch of awards, including best picture.

It opens next Thursday. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

Book Review Wednesday

The Shipping News
by E. Annie Proulx (1993)

A few years back when I decided to become 'a reader', I decided to start with The Shipping News, for no particular reason other than I had a passing fascination with the maritime world, and because it had one the Pulitzer Prize. As it turned out, the book left a really big impression on me, and I enjoyed it very much.

It tells the story of Quoyle, a guy used to being walked all over, as he starts a new life in Newfoundland, after his cheating wife leaves. He becomes a writer for a small local newspaper, and begins to rebuild his life with his two young daughters, encountering his strange Aunt, and Wavey, a woman in the town that he befriends.

Proulx's writing is really beautiful- freeform sentences without a lot of punctuation (the library copy I read had been annoyingly 'corrected' by a previous reader, commas and paragraph breaks inserted here and there!), and is genuinely moving. A rewarding, not too difficult read.

Mrs Reed

'Mrs. Reed might be at that time some six or seven and thirty; she was a woman of robust frame, square-shouldered and strong-limbed, not tall, and, though stout, not obese: she had a somewhat large face, the under jaw being much developed and very solid; her brow was low, her chin large and prominent, mouth and nose sufficiently regular; under her light eyebrows glimmered an eye devoid of ruth; her skin was dark and opaque, her hair nearly flaxen; her constitution was sound as a bell..'

It's Quite True

More illustrations now up on my friend's Etsy shop.

B.R.W.

Book Review Wednesday is again rapidly approaching..

Go on, you know you want to.

Go Tige's

Another nail-biting win to the Tigers on Friday night against the Titans. 15-14.

It all came down to a massive 51 metre Benji Marshall field goal, that hit the cross bar and rolled over. One of the longest in history!

Third on the ladder..

Whoops

Oh, I just completely missed the World Cup Final. Had I known, I may have gotten up to watch it.

Ahh, who am I kidding.

Was it good?

Making The Most Of Things While You Can

We went and had dumplings in Ashfield last night. Or as Little e says, dumbellings.

It was really nice, and the kids enjoyed it.

I'm going to miss that kind of thing about the inner west..

Little Dorrit

Still enjoying Little Dorrit.

Still have no idea what's going on.

Spent most of last night's episode bugging E with "so who's that guy again?"

The Quiz

1. Hubbub or solitude
2. A year you remember nostalgically. Why?
3. Best book you've read so far this year
4. The most you've paid for a haircut
5. I'm pretty good at cutting hair. Would you trust me to do yours?

Some News

Heady days, heady days.

Some big stuff has been going on for us, but I'd decided not to blog about it until the ball was rolling. Anyway, it's rolling now.

In a few weeks our place goes up for auction, and if all goes according to plan, we will be moving out of the area within a couple of months.

We will most likely be headed down to the Sutherland Shire area. We like the inner west, but have grown out of our two bedroom unit, and want a house and a back yard for the kids to muck about in, and we can't really afford that where we are. Same old story. the idea is to rent for a while, and get a feel for the area, and then hopefully buy again a little ways down the track, God willing.

So things have all been a bit frantic of late, madly decluttering and getting things in order for the open house thing. Overall, we are kinda nervous, but excited, kinda stressed, but happy.

We will be sad to leave the area, and especially to say goodbye to our church. We have loved being there the past six years, and have made a lot of dear friends.

Anyways, I'll keep you posted with how things progress.

Jane Eyre, Age 10

Song Of The Week

'The Rainbow Connection'


Kermit the Frog (1979)

Listen~


'Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.'

Thursday Peanuts

No Comment

Sorry that comments are randomly not showing.

Not sure what the deal is, but Blogger seems to be eating them up for elevensies.

John Reed

The really, really, really good ideas that people have are the ones where you slap your forehead and say 'golly, I can't believe nobody thought of doing this before'.

A textbook example of this is what I thought of in the very small hours of this morning, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Are you ready for it?

Jane. Eyre. Trading. Cards.

I know. The young people are going to go crazy over these little babies. Let the fun begin--


'John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four years older than I, for I was but ten: large and stout for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large extremities. He gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks.'

Stoopid

I just handed over my weekly travel pass to be stamped at the coffee shop, rather than my coffee card thingy.

The bloke goes "ahhh, that's not really going to work, I'm afraid.."

Book Review Wednesday

The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner (1929)

Although Faulkner is my favourite author, his books are hard work, and none have been harder than The Sound and The Fury. It's a bit like climbing Everest- difficult and slow, but hugely rewarding in the long run.

Set in the American deep south, the novel traces the tragic decline of the Compson family. The story is divided into four sections, each with a different narrator. Each section is like a new pass at the same story, and as you progress, you get a clearer, more vivid idea of what is going on. The first narrator is the mentally handicapped Benji, and this section in particular is pretty baffling at first. But as each subsequent section unravels, the pieces start to fall into place, and you realise the amazing accomplishment of skill that the book is.

An amazing book, difficult but worth the time and effort.

Speech Diary

Chairing the Toastmasters meeting last night went really well- I felt very proud of myself. I maintained slow, steady smooth speech throughout, and didn't make too many blunders, I don't think.

I got good feedback, and was just really happy overall. A big confidence boost.

Speech Diary: Yikes!

I have a pretty scary and daunting task ahead of me tonight. I am going to be in the Chairman role at a Toastmasters meeting, which means I am responsible for hosting and running the night and will do a bunch of talking. And will get to bang a gavel.

I'm kind of surprised that I am not more nervous or filled with dread then I am. My speech has been pretty rough lately, and I'm struggling a lot to hold the smooth speech techniques together.

But for some reason I'm feeling alright about it. Which is funny, seeing as though not too long ago I probably would've rathered jumping off a cliff than doing such a thing!

By God's grace alone..

It's Quite True!

My friend at work has just set up a shop on Etsy, called It's Quite True!

She is selling her very cool, fairy tale-inspired illustration prints. You should check it out.

Carried Away

I get into funny moods in the morning. I can get very carried away. This morning I was walking towards the building where I work, with my headphones on listening to music.
I was so enthralled with the music (Beach House "Teen Dream") that I couldn't bear the thought of turning it off, so I had to keep walking, past my work, and up around a few blocks away, for another twenty five minutes until the album was finished.

In the mornings everything feels more vivid and exciting and beautiful to me.

D'oh!

I took this photo on my phone yesterday, walking to the station.

Failed truck limbo.

Book Review Wednesday Wants YOU

I'm going to start a little book review segment thing on my blog, and I'd love y'all to contribute. It can be any kind of book you like (novel, cook book, maths text book, TV guide), the only rule is that the review be no more than three paragraphs long.

If you are two shy I'll just do them myself each Wednesday until I lose interest (ie, one week), but if you want to do one, just email it to me--

bmclaughlin AT sstar DOT com DOT au

Go on. You'll love it. And I'll love you. Not that I don't already, but I'll love you a little bit more.

The Quiz

1. A word you'd like abolished
2. Resort or log-cabin
3. Three (non-living) things you'd grab if your house was on fire
4. Something fun you did on the weekend
5. Smarties or M&M's

Started

Finished

Little Dorrit

I was very amped about Little Dorrit last night, but spent the first half confused, and the second half asleep. So many characters, I kept losing track of what was going on, and who was who. And then, I just felt really tired, and couldn't stay awake.

But I'm still interested and will try again next week. Maybe I'll hunt down some study notes in the meantime.

Book Dumpster House Auctioned

On Saturday I wandered down to see The Book Dumpster House get auctioned off. I'd spent a lot of time daydreaming about the former resident and his million discarded books, so I wanted to see the story through.

Before the auction I had a quick wander through the house. It was a lot less romantic than I had imagined. It was completely bare, but still looked horribly grotty and neglected. Filthy wallpaper dripped with foul black stains. Different carpet in every room. Dingy, dark, depressing. Maybe the books were actually better off going to the dump than staying in there, after all.

It was my first ever auction. Wow, what an eye-opener. I had the sweats and heart palpitations, and I was just an onlooker. Anyway, the place finished up in the hands of a young family. They got it for $820K. Amazing. Nearly a million dollars for a ramshackle pile of squalor. Heady days.

Thursday Peanuts