Took Vange and Josh to the park to ride their scooters. Yes, I did have a go on the scooter. Yes, I did take all of the skin off my knee and laddered my stocking all the way up. And, yes, it was humiliating and hurt like billy-oh. The kids thought I was hilarious. I'm very proud of myself for not sobbing like a baby: I figured it wouldn't add anything as far as dignity or mature behaviour went... Apart from this incident it was a nice afternoon. I stumbled upon and fell completely in love with some new music the other day - Aqualung. I think Aqualung is a pretty awful name for any artist, but the loveliness of the music makes up for it, I reckon. I only heard Strange and Beautifulfor the first time the day before yesterday and I've listened to it about sixty-four times since then. The song is sorta creepy - don't know if I would reach for the nearest weaponlike object or dissolve into mushy goo if someone sang it to me - probably would depend on the person and how literally they meant the lyrics. The creepiness abates somewhat when you realise that the song references Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. Intertextuality to the rescue! I haven't really listened to much else of Aqualung's music apart from Brighter than Sunshine, which was OK but a bit meh; 7 Keys, which was lovely, and Who Are We Fooling - duet with Brooke Fraser. I like discovering new music.
Finished sweeping some floors and washing some dishes. My dermatitis-y fingers hate me right now.
Just watched the second half of Meet the Robinsons. Such an underrated film. Makes me go all mushy inside. The first half is pretty 'meh', as Disney films go - the jokes are so-so, the characters are very mediocre (though there are standout moments and characters - Goob!) ... but the second half! Aaaahhh! I have no words! I guess I'm a bit of a sucker for time travel stories - Ahem - but not all time travel stories have the capacity to reduce me to a sniveling pile of soppiness like this movie does. Aaaaand I always get that 'don't worry, things will someday be different' vibe from watching it.
I'm tired of worrying about things and people and futures. Ugh.
Went to the zoo yesterday with the littlest of the kiddiwinks. The pictures are pretty awful, sadly, because I forgot to change the size before I took them:
Lots of people don't like zoos because animals don't belong in enclosures and stuff, but I'm a lifelong Gerald Durrell fan, so I've been indoctrinated with pro-zoo propaganda for quite some time. Besides, I think it's nice when people get to see real animals face to face instead of watching documentaries all the time. I'm very un-PC.
Besides... oh, my gosh! It's Aslan!!! *chortles of joy* I could have stayed at this part of the zoo forever...
Just lately I've noticed that my voice is becoming higher and higher pitched. This worries me. I've only become aware of the fact slowly, over recent days. I think it comes from spending a lot of time with very small children. Ugh, that just made me sound all fake! Like I put on a sappy high pitched voice for little children! But really, one sort of has to. And it's instinctual. And makes one sound less like a big scary person, which is always nice, particularly around little kids. But when I found myself buying a bus ticket at a pitch only bats can hear I made up my mind to spend all of tomorrow doing Jeremy Irons impersonations, just so my voice doesn't decide to permanently default to its Minnie Mouse setting. Wow: in my almost non-existent research for this post I learned that there actually is a market for people who want deeper voices and are willing to pay money to buy a book of exercises or even get testosterone injections (I'm not even kidding) to make their voices deeper. I am sort of offended to note that they only cater to the masculine market. But I have plenty enough testosterone as it is anyway, I'm sure. I really want it to not rain tomorrow. I have washing that has been on the line for over a week now, and more in the washing basket that needs to take its place. I'm lonely for reading material again. Reading too much Stephen Fry at a time is like overdosing on Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I should write a book blog (I have a book blog, for the previously ignorant!) about Unseen Academicals and Never Let Me Go, but I'm not in the frame of mind for it.
Good night and sweet repose, my dears.
I have an infantile sense of humour:
"One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries."
Hello, poppets all,I hired On The Town from the library- tried to watch it last night - got halfway through and kaput! The darned DVD was all scratched up. So peeved. It looked like fun - and a great cast... and I am so addicted to watching Gene Kelly dance...
I have a gigantical list of things I ought to be doing... and am not. But I don't feel too rotten. Had dinner with beloved grandparents and chilled out with more Jeeves and Wooster. I miss my baby brother. I saw him yesterday. But today was nice, despite a few hiccups like mud and dirty nappies and such. I work with such lovely kiddies :)
Finally did the sensible thing and bought some gloves! Surprisingly, I'm still able to type with them on. Brilliant. It's such a funny world. Such a bizarre upside-down confusing wonderful world. Don't know if I'll ever get the hang of it, but such is life!
I need to start living in reality instead of theory.
Took Genevieve to a girly high tea this afternoon. It was very pretty; all the carefully prepared little food items, the pretty dresses, the fancy plates; the punch!
I've had this song stuck in my head all day - just thought I'd purge my soul of it and post it here (now you can have it stuck in your head!) :
At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.
Guten tag.Just found the cord for my MP3 & camera - I can upload photos and listen to music again! Hurrah! So here's some pictures for you of my recent life...Joshua no longer has to wear the helmetty part of his pressure suit! Yaaaaay! Gorgeous child...
Reading another G. K. Chesterton book - Heretics - I'm a wee bit addicted now, I think. His style suits me down to the ground. It's only once every blue moon that you find a writer who expresses so perfectly what you already think - in ways that open windows in your mind. I feel happy when I read Chesterton. Brilliancy. Aaaaaand I got this book as a parcel in the mail, which always makes me happy. On Book Depository, peeps! Free delivery worldwide! Don't bother ordering through bookshops anymore - books are cheaper in the UK, even given the exchange rate.
I feel frothy. I don't even know what that means. Probably it means silly. My mind is flitting from thing to thing like a dying butterfly. So far, my progression of thought (and concurrent internet surfing) whilst writing this has gone thus - G. K. Chesterton - Oscar Wilde - Catholicism - Hilaire Belloc - Stephen Hilaire - Blackstump - Matt Corby.
Blackstump! Please book a ticket, it is awesome and amazing and awesome. I'm going to find out what electives I want to do in advance this year. Must not forget to book ticket - I'm not allowed to go for the family deal coz I don't live with my parents any more. Waaaah.
My mum is soooo pregnant. It's quite scary. Not the idea of a new baby; babies don't frighten me in the least. It's the thought of a new sibling that scares the pants off me. A sibling nearly twenty years my junior. Isn't that just terrifying?
Interesting fact for the day - Oscar Wilde died of an ear infection.
There are so, so many things I want to do. And I have no idea where to begin.
This clip reminds me of my maternal grandma somehow. She taught me a lot about being a lady.
Jeeves lugged my purple socks out of the drawer as if he were a vegetarian fishing a caterpillar out of his salad.
Whilst in that bath, recovering from a pretty lousy day, made lousy by feminine problems, (Normally I enjoy being a girl, but when the stomach cramps set in...) I finished two books. The second one was an autobiographical account of Sean Astin's experience making The Lord Of The Rings. I took it home from the library because I love love love Sam Gamgee and seriously enjoyed Andy Serkis's book about being Gollum, but I was unpleasantly surprised. Firstly Sean Astin was so BORING! Seriously, I had no desire to hear about any of the other 30 films he's made (and I haven't seen); every anecdote about his early acting career was dull as dandruff, and he didn't write about any of the stuff I wanted to hear! (Although hearing about him being really fit and then putting on loads of weight to play Sam was mildly hilarious.)
Also, he was rather egomanical and seemed to enjoy telling unflattering stories about the other actors. All in all the book made me glad that I haven't the figure, talent or motivation to pursue acting. Still, I am now overwhelmed with a desire to rewatch all LOTR movies; which I won't do right now coz it's too late...
At playgroup today we had a song that mentioned, just in the one verse, 'fat teddybears' 'popcorn' 'rainbows' and 'trips to the zoo'. Just because children are lovely doesn't mean that you should bombard them with songs of intense saccharineness.
Despite my out-of-sortsiness, I was still forced to recognise that I have the best job ever. Yesterday Juliette told me that 'nineteen-year-old ladies' don't have lightsaber battles. Today Genevieve told me I was 'easy to love'. Even when nearly doubled over like an old old lady I couldn't help return Jackie's beautiful smiles. That's my kind of job X)
Speaking of egomania: this singer is really annoying. But I quite liked it. The best part is at the end, around 3.19.
Mine is a refined and poetic nature. I like to be surrounded by joy and life, and I know nothing more joyless and deader than a dead fish.
I'm not going to do a gigantic spiel about French literature tonight. (Well, probably not) Do I hear any sighs of relief?
Instead I'm going to go all fan-girly for just a little bit. David Tennant. Yes. One of the least subtle actors ever - but still brilliance x1000. In a way, his intense acting feels more honest - he seems to throw himself into a role so thoroughly. And who could ask for a better role than the Doctor? He was AWESOME. The last few episodes with him in them (the ones I saw, at least) were awful though. You can't create a cheerful, selfless hero and turn him into an angry emo at the last second.
Had a bit of a challenging afternoon. Partly my fault for not getting enough sleep last night; partly because the little ones were sick :( Poor loves. Joshua ran over with a tissue every time he saw Minnie's nose was runny and tried to wipe it for her. Of course, she'd twist and struggle and end up with gunk all over her face, but it's the thought that counts! I adore these children.
I finished The Castle of Otranto late last night (one of the reasons I was sleepy today) ; the first English Gothic novel. It was hilarious! Pictures of ancestors come to life, giant limbs are seen (and never explained) mysteriously peeping around doorframes, maidens run away to forests aaaaand... a skeleton shows up in monk's habit! One of those books that you read and feel slightly guilty upon realising afterwards that you didn't care at all about the characters and couldn't wait to see what horrors fate had heaped upon them. Yes sir, the gothic motif has certainly moved on a bit.
The love of my grandparents is one of God's little gifts to keep me sane at the moment.
This feels so funny, writing for an unseen, unknown (though, granted, I probably know most of you) audience: did a writing assignment with the boys today in which they had to create characters that kids their own age would like... which was actually quite hard for the boys, who, last writing assignment, respectively created characters named 'Fat Hog' and 'Big Pig'... I came home early today because of severe nasty gastro-like symptoms that I won't describe in great detail. Let's just say it was not, in any way shape or form, pretty. Also, re-watched Mulan 2 with Taiya, because she insisted on us watching it together. She cried! My sister cried in a Disney sequel! Bahahahahahaha. I'm never going to let her forget it.
Finished reading 'Orthodoxy'. One of the best books ever. Read it! Read it!
Random clip from QI: this is another moment in which I recommend something absolutely brilliant. Twice in the one blog already!
1000 awesome things, is, by default an awesome website, but I almost cried with happiness at finding this awesome page. I especially recommend the Norah Jones one (in which she bemoans the breakdown of her relationship with the letter 'Y'), the James Blunt one (similar to Norah Jones, except that his friend was a triangle.) and the Feist one. The ones with Robert De Niro, Neil Patrick Harris, and Andrea Bocelli are good too, but a bit weird. The 'Slimey to the Moon' one freaked me out as a kid - Slimey actually never came back, that I remember. Sesame Street holds a very special place in my childhood memory: indeed, I was watching Sesame Street when I lost my first tooth! Happy days.
One thing that has really been worrying me lately is the disturbing reemergence of floral patterened tights. I don't mean groovy, funky tights with cool stuff on them, (like in Jessie's blog) I mean floral patterns. Actually, any kind of pattern. Leopard skin is the worst. Ugh. And apparently the 1990s are coming back into fashion! Only last year I was looking back at some photographs of meself as a young tacker; shuddering in stylistic (and therefore metaphorical) agony at the matching jumper/tights combinations that I wore. Pink and purple zigzags. With flowers on them. The mind reels. And everybody always looked so bad in them. They made your legs look short. They made your legs look fat. They shouted and waved multicoloured flags in the direction of any fat your legs happened to be bearing, be it ever so slight. So why, in the name of all that looks a little bit OK, would anyone in fashion ever wish to relive those years, those horrid years, which seceded the 80s as the second ugliest decade in living memory? I can't say.
Another thing, a fad, a fashion; which, so far as I know isn't coming back: saxophones. And I'm glad. I don't like saxophones. There are few musical instruments that I am actually prejudiced against and one is the saxophone. The sound of a saxophone, to my ears, is what a baby elephant would sound like if you ripped its toenails off, slowly. They don't sound sexy. EVER. End of discussion.
I need to do something to make my room feel warmer and comfier. If only I had space for a small couch or comfy chair! Seriously finding life without a laptop uncomfortable.
I don't really have anything to say. How boring of me.
Let's have some Doctor Who fan art - I've been converted to being a fan art fan now... although I will need some serious convincing before I become a fan of fanfics as well...
Swam in the pool with Vange today. It was freezing, mostly. I always play the weirdest games with Vange: today we played that I was a rooster and she was a duck; then we were both dogs; then we were pirates; then we were The Wiggles. All her own ideas.
Why are there so many Doctor Who/Lion King pics? Weird, man, weird.
I really miss Jayden right now. So, on Monday (when we usually go to work together), when I was in Hurstville, I decided that it was CAC day. Cute Asian Couples day. Because I have a freaky brother who is obsessed with Asian watching - (they're all so pretty! The women can dress like Minnie Mouse and actually look cute! The men can have actual manga hair without looking like the backside of a blowdried rooster!) particularly young couples and children. Seriously, this is what we do whilst waiting for the bus, or during any other activity in Hurstville. Nudge each other and squeak subtly "Look, look! Awesome Asian couple in matching flannos! How cute are the pair with the baby?!"
And so, on Monday I took a ton of candid snaps - most of which didn't work anyway, (and there were no particularly spectacular hairdos or outfits out and about). I felt a bit freaky and racist and wrong doing the photography - and I'm sure it looked creepy, since I didn't ask anybody's permission (would you?!), but my motto is, if it's positive, it isn't racist. And you have to admit, these folks are pretty cute...
Haha! Random incident from today...
I can't remember why, but for some reason, whilst I was preparing dinner, Gen & Jas were talking about things people are allowed to do once they reach age 18. There was a funny exchange about R-rated films (neither of the children has ever watched one, I must clarify!):
"Sometimes they're R because they're rude."
"Yeah, or violent."
"Or both. Like movies with people running around naked killing each other."
