Blog Out

Well, that's me for 2010.

I'll be taking a few weeks off the blog, and will be back prolly mid January.

Feeling good. Today's my last day of work for three weeks, going out for our fancy annual lunch at Aria today (hello, pork belly), it's a week till Chrissy, then after that we are headed down to a beach cabin on the South Coast for a few days. Good times.

Thanks for reading the blog this year, it's been swell. I'll miss you guys, and I hope you all have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

See you soon!

Thursday Peanuts

Heady Days

Brum Brum!

One of the many ways in which I am kinda lame, is that I was never interested in driving, and it's taken me absolutely yonks to get my licence.

But yesterday I finally became a fully operational normal member of society, passing my last test to get my proper, proper non P plate licence.

Woo hoo. Now I'm going to go out and drive at 110 while being 0.05, just because I can.

How you like me now, Society?

Ben vs. Ben

I am in serious wind-down mode. Three more days of work.

Ohhhh man.

January Ben is going to hate December Ben's guts though, as he is being a lazy bludger, and banking on faithful ol' JanBen to clean up his mess. That's so typical of DecBen.

When will he learn.

I Know I'm Terrible And Unpatriotic, But..

..that was hilarious seeing our top ambassadors (Hugh, Nicole, Keith, Olivia, Rusty)singing 'I Still Call Australia Home' at Oprah's shindig.

Especially the very po-faced, pony-tailed Rusty.

Go you little Aussie battlers!

Book Review Wednesday by Crazyjedidiah

The Miracles of Prato
By Laurie Albanese and Laura Morowitz (2009)

Review by Crazyjedidiah

This is a historical novel about the artist Filippo Lippi and his relationship with Lucrezia Butti. I read it cause I won it at TAFE but it is not what I would usually read.

I was really interested after reading the prologue, but then when I got to the actual story I didn't feel like I could connect with the characters and there were things that happened that I felt were not right. I also found it a little difficult cause I don't really know that much about painting and I don't really understand about the Catholic church and their saints.

However after one particular incident I suddenly connected with one particular character and I felt a great empathy for her. But then things happened again in the book that I wasn't sure about whether or not they were the right thing. And besides the one miracle that did happen I'm not sure that it was a miracle at all.

The biggest thing that I did get from the book was that the way that people especially young women were dealt with after they're families came into hard times was to pack them away to the convent/monastery to become nuns/monks which may not necessarily have been what they were suited to or prepared for. I'm sure it meant they were looked after but forcing someone to do something that they are not ready for doesn't help anyone.

Thanks Crazyjedidiah, great to have your review!

Guess What??

We just bought a house!!!

It's been a very, very tense couple of days. We went to this auction on Saturday, and after a stressful 20 minutes or so, ended up with the winning bid. Unfortunately, the property was then passed in, as we'd fallen short of the reserve. The ball was then in our court to negotiate a price today, but some joker came in after the auction, having not even bid, and said he'd pay the reserve.

So anyway, long story short, we've spent the past couple of days stewing, discussing, weighing, praying etc. But we decided we really wanted to go for at about midnight last night, and got up this morning and went and did the deal.

The place isn't flash, and will need work, but it's in a really nice location, and has a lot of potential- room to add on, reconfigure etc. And a great big backyard. So hopefully that'll be us settled for a very long time to come.

So there you go!! It's a very lovely and exciting Christmas present, and once again, God has been hugely kind to us.

The Epic End of Year Super Quiz 2010

Well, it's been another fun year for the Monday Quiz. Some new folks have come to try their hands. Some old folks have moved on to other things (ie, were totally dominated and stretched by the awesomeness that is weekly quizzing, that they needed to go and have a little lie down).

But for you stalwarts battling on Monday to Monday, here's one last biggie for the year. Take your time. Do some stretches. And begin. Your time starts..

NOW.

1. Favourite album, this year (NOTE- doesn't have to have been made this year, just what your fav. was. Same goes with books, movies etc.)
2. Favourite song, this year
3. Favourite movie, this year
4. Favourite TV show, this year
5. Favourite book, this year

6. A global phenomenon you'd like to see not carried into the next decade
7. Most annoying word/saying of the year
8. Biggest eye-roll inducer of the year
9. Over-exposed celeb of the year
10. Interesting world event

11. Highlight of your year
12. Lowlight of your year
13. Something you're proud of achieving this year
14. A disappointment
15. Something you'd change if you had the chance again

16. Describe your year in a sentence or two, bare bones.
17. A way that you are different now than you were in January
18. A way you'd like to be different by next December
19. A hope for next year
20. A resolution

Bear With Me..

In the middle of *hopefully* buying a house

Thursday Peanuts

Pike

My work Christmas party is on tonight.

I will not be attending as sadly I have a commitment I can't get out of.

The King's Speech

I'll be interested to see The King's Speech (out in a couple of weeks), which tells the story of King George VI (father of the current Queen Elizabeth) and his battles with stuttering.

Colin Firth plays George, Helena Bonham Carter plays his wife (the Queen mum) and Geoffrey Rush plays his Australian speech therapist.

It's always very interesting for me to see any story of a stutterer, and also interesting to see how stuttering gets portrayed. It's not something you see in movies that often. I liked A Fish Called Wanda, and Micheal Palin played a stutterer exceedingly well (apparently his father had a severe stutter), but as a stutterer that is one painful movie to watch!

Maybe this one will be a little more inspiring (although the trailer looks a little cheesy to me).

We'll see.

Attention Female Readers!

Nominations for the 2011 New South Wales Woman of The Year have been extended until next Tuesday!

This gives you a whopping five more days to go get out there and make an Outstanding Contribution to society. Quick sticks! Come on, go do something epic and I'll totally vote for you.

Some suggestions:

1) Invent something awesome
2) Cure something terrible
3) Save something cute

Go! Go! Go!

In A Fit Of Sheer Excitement..

..I just went out and had this done:

You like?

Pharklis

I just had this as my word verification thing on someone's blog. I hate word verification, as it wastes precious seconds of my life. But when I occasionally get one as good as this, it makes all the preceding pain worthwhile.

Pharklis.

Say it out loud and you'll vaguely feel the need to wash your own mouth out with soap, it's that good.

Batten Down The Hatches

Oprah arrives today. On her private jet. Ready to be welcomed in crazed hysterics by her minions, who arrived yesterday.

I assume by now you will have all taken necessary measures- stocked up on drinking water and canned goods. Found an appropriate bomb shelter or hidden basement.

See you on the other side, comrades.

Now Where Did I Put That Rifle

I worry a bit that I'm going to become one of those over protective fathers.

Not in an 'oh no shnookums you mustn't go outside without your sun bonnet and appropriate footwear', but more in a 'you hurt my child's feelings, now I must hunt you down and take necessary action' kind of way. I guess, less the way that gets you laughed at a bit, and more the way that gets you, um, sort of imprisoned.

There are a couple of kids that live next door, and they are probably nice enough kids. But they are a couple of years older than Little e, and so she pretty much thinks they are awesome and will do whatever they tell her to do. She wanders over to the fence and calls their names longingly. Play with me. Please. Please! Oh you are going out to the shops for several hours with your mother? Oh nevermind, I'll just wait her for you by the fence until you come back. Oh, it's raining heavily now? Nevermind, I'll just be here nonetheless, don't you worry about that.

And so the kids take advantage a bit. Get her to do silly things. Leave her waiting around. I can't stand this. I want to whisk my daughter away, and yell out 'you're not worthy to play with my little girl, you little toe-rags!' I get worked up. No longer do I see a couple of little kids, but rather my Mortal Enemies who have stepped over that line and Hurt. My. Little. Girl.

Now, I know this is cringey, but seriously, it's a hard thing to shake, and a difficult thing to balance. There's nothing worse than when you are with friends who also have children, and the parents treat your kids more harshly than their own. I certainly don't want to be like that. And there's also something really nice about the opposite, where parents don't show favouritism, but embrace other kids the same as their own, and treat them equally.

But still. It's hard to stand back and let the kids deal with it themselves. It's hard not to rush in prematurely and intervene when it might not be necessary. It's hard not to give those neighbour kids a death stare sometimes.

It'd be nice if more was said on the topic. There are a million books about how to treat your own kids, but not so many about how to treat other peoples' kids.

The Quiz

1. How long would your average shower be? Honestly.
2. Will you be putting up a tree this year?
3. Best thing about Christmas
4. Worst thing about Christmas
5. This NYE I'll probably..

This is the 2nd last quiz of 2010. Stay tuned for next weeks' mega end of year super quiz!

Dear Quizmasters..

Monday's quiz will be on Tuesday this week, as I will be at a funeral Monday morning.

See you then.

Thursday Peanuts

The Delayed Hello

In recent times my department was put beside another department, and so the equilibrium was a bit disturbed. My department is basically quiet and morose, and there's is basically unseasonably excitable and well, noisy. And they are all female as well.

Mostly I don't mind, and they are all nice people. But they all have one thing in common, one thing that frustrates me and brings unnecessary stress to the situation.

They are all perpetrators of The Delayed Hello. Now, The Delayed Hello is something that does not even need to exist, a silly thing that has come in to being by pure carelessness and a lack of foresight past the current moment.

Let me outline the right way to behave, the antithesis, so you can then better understand the wrong way. You walk into work, it's pretty open planned, and there are several people already at their desks in the vicinity of your desk. 'Good morning' you say, and let your gaze go briefly to every face. Quick, painless, done. In some cases you now may not have to even utter a word to some of these people for the rest of the day, until you say 'Bye everyone' as you leave. So simple, so straightforward.

Unless you go the foolish Delayed Hello route. You walk in to work, and go straight to your desk, and then start a conversation with your close pals who sit right beside you. The conversation can quickly blow out to many minutes as you discuss each others clothing choices of the day, what lovely fabric they are made from, how well those shoes go with said fabric, how annoying your hair has been this morning.

And now through carelessness, the rest of the room is placed in an awkward position, where they have to try and work in a 'hello' at some point through the day without it seeming weird and out of place. You have to casually try to meet their eye as they pass you in the kitchen, or on the way to the photocopier.

Why stress, I hear you ask. If they didn't give you a hello first thing, it's their prerogative to try and work it in somewhere. Well sure, but will they bother? No. And then your left at the end of the day to say goodbye to people you never said hello to, which frankly, disaligns the entire universe.

The Delayed Hello. Do you do it?

Don't.

Lopped

I'd like to tell you about another one of my pet hates, but it might be easier to give you a diagram than to explain it--

Wednesday Book Review by Jess

Jane and the Barque of Frailty
by Stephanie Barron

Review by Jess

I examined 6 aisles of books at the library before I found something to borrow, and I could hardly believe my luck: Jane Austen solves crimes! Regency murder mystery!

I knew it would be disappointing because the premise, as exciting as it is to me, is totally implausible. It's like the movie Becoming Jane - you have to forget that it's about Jane Austen, and enjoy someone else with the same name being fickle and clueless and eloping (like silly Lydia Bennet) with James McAvoy (well, perhaps I forgive her). In this case, she's associating with spies and high-class prostitutes. That's unlikely. So you have to put disbelief aside and enjoy it for what it is: Jane Austen solves crimes!!!

It starts surprisingly well, because the author is pretty good at mimicking the language of JA books. The shape of the sentences, little expressions like "I schooled my face to a smile" make it interesting and seem quite authentic. Then she gets a bit carried away with the slang, so one sentence will have 3 different words for drunkenness, which is awkward. But I now know a lot of different names for debt, status, bosoms and prostitutes. (One of the latter is 'Barque of Frailty'.)

The characters have some good names, in the Dickens style, where the names are sort of made-up but descriptive. Chizzlewit is a friendly solicitor. Skroggs is a brute of a law-enforcer. Some characters are based on real people, real spies and politicians. I don't like it when authors take liberties with real dead people, and I think she crosses the line a little — not just with Jane, which is a given in this case.

The plot is based around the murder of a Russian princess. I figured out who must have done it around halfway through the book, at the second clue. (Spoiler, possibly:) It was basically the butler. But then in the end… maybe he didn't, maybe it was all a nothing. Unresolved mysteries are annoying.

It was moderately enjoyable, but I probably won't read any more in the series. Too much Jane Austen para-literature makes me feel soiled.

Thanks Jess! Go check out Jess' cool blogs, Jelssie and The Thought Tree.

Five Great Things About Today

1. The first (albeit very wet) day of the awesomeness that is Summer

2. As of today, it is now socially acceptable to put the Christmas tree up

3. The end of Movember and all those suspect mo's

4. 13 more days of work left

5. Rice paper rolls with our good friends tonight

The Bridge Is Down

Not a fun trip to work this morning. Muchos rainos, as the Spanish would say.

I sprinted to the station, getting fairly soaked, and then when I got to Town Hall they said the trains were out, because of some problem on the Harbour Bridge, so I trudged out to the street with the hordes to catch a rail bus. It was like, one bus per every seven thousand waiting passengers.

Not very First Day of Summer-ish, but on the upside, I was humming Summer Rain by Belinda Carlisle to rouse my spirits. It worked in spades, as you'd no doubt guess.