22 November 2008

Lighters out! (the album that taste forgot)

Here's a compilation we put together to amuse ourselves for a long car trip. A compulsion to air-drum is almost a pre-requisite for this list. Unfortunately, you end up skipping through most of the tracks after the first chorus. Still amusing, though. Here goes:

1) Livin' on a Prayer / Bon Jovi (Karaoke favourite of the 90's)
2) I'm not in love / 10cc (Just a silly phase i'm going through)
3) I want it that way / Backstreet Boys (perplexing - which way exactly?)
4) Total eclipse of the heart / Bonnie Tyler (nothing I can say...)
5) More than a feeling / Boston (power ballad meets catchy, toe tappin' riff, but you wish it didn't...)
6) I've never been to me / Charlene (she's been to paradise, but she's never been to songwriting school... *the* worst song of all time)
7) All by myself / Jamie O'Neil (immortalised by the opening air guitar and drums sequence at the start of the first Bridget Jones movie)
8) Stonehenge / Spinal Tap (deliberatly silly, unlike the others in this list, but still funny)
9) I want to know what love is / Foreigner (Can't stop now, I've travelled so far..... I wanna know what love is.... I *know* you can show me....)
10) I should have known better / Jim Diamond (I remember this being number one and being shown at the end of Countdown for many weeks.... aay ay ay aay aay, ay ay ay ay ay I looooove yooooooou....)
11) If you like Pina Coladas / Rupert Holmes (cheesey, dodgey, and so wrong it's almost right. Thank god you don't hear this playing in the supermarkets any more)
12) Paradise by the dashboard lights / Meatloaf (I can't stand Meatloaf, but by all accounts, this is a bit of a teenage boy all time favourite)
13) Africa / Toto (they've bless the rains down for years, but to no effect except for tears of boredom)

Coming soon - song list with blatant use of children's choirs

Kind... what?!

Ever noticed how the "t" and the "g" keys are right next to each other on the keyboard?
Me neither. That was, until at a busy patch at work recently, involving lots of letters and emails where I DEFINITELY would not want to offend anyone, I kept noticing that I was accidentally typing "Kind retards," at the end of each email. Luckily I would notice and correct my mistake before sending, but I dreaded the time when I would forget to do this.

09 November 2008

Nice little exhibition

We went to a print exhibition yesterday - I can thoroughly recommend it for a few reasons: one of my neighbours is exhibiting there; there are some really good, locally produced prints - we actually bought one by Patricia Mado; and the exhibition is downstairs at an Antique store. After viewing the exhibit, we wandered around the antique store, and yes - most of what I'd really like is way out of my price range - but it's inspiring none the less. Ms J and I spent a fair bit of time admiring bakelite jewellry afterwards...
It goes until early December, and there is a bus stop nearby on Sydneys new #10 metrobus!

06 November 2008

Secret truth: toddlers are cool!

I think I have to say that the age my son is currently (nearly 2 ½) has to be my favourite age so far.

Sure, toddlers have tantrums, whine, push boundaries, and dart off unexpectedly causing your heart to rise up into your throat as you take off after them, hoping you can reach them before they throw themselves in the path of danger (ie an oncoming car, something to slip or trip on, another kid who isn’t looking where they are going… etc etc). Toddlers break their routines regularly and encroach into your evening quiet time by trying to stay up late. Sometimes it’s really hard to explain things to them – the gulf between your understanding of say, basic immunology, and the language you can use to explain it to them is massive, as I found the other day when I had to take Ethan away from where he wanted to play because a child nearby had just been diagnosed with a really infectious virus that I could do without him getting quite frankly after the run of illnesses we seem to have had this year.

But there are lots of up sides to toddlers:
- They want to stay up late to hang out with you!
- They have cute little conversations now – recapping the days events with as many words as they can, plus gestures, pausing from time to time to think about how to say what they want to say
- They can use simple sentences to tell you things or ask for things
- When you are happy, they are usually happy too, making you even happier!
- They start to choose what they want to wear
- They walk well, so you don’t have to carry them often or use the pram (in fact, with my son it's mostly running or standing still)
- They have little friends, and are starting to play cooperatively. Play usually involves running around copying each other and giggling.
- They can remember the names of family and friends you see or talk to often
- They can get out of bed themselves, and come in and visit you in the morning
- They ask you to kiss their sore finger/leg/head better! And once you've done this, they ARE better!!