Getting Old

My nerdy/techie past is catching up with me. I read this today at Techradar.com, and found it rather humorous. It applies more to some of the men I know than to myself, though - only because I don't know that I would ever have been classed as a "hard-core" computer game player in the first place. But it's still quite funny...

11 signs you're no longer a hard-core gamer.

Yup. We're old. :)

Going out on a Limb

A friend had a little competition a while back to choose the name of a little softie that she'd designed. A name I suggested has developed a life of its own. He became a character in a little story, and his adventures developed into a feature of story times. It was just a story, at first, but the fact that Eldest wanted to hear it over and over made me wonder about wider publication.

It's gotten to the stage where I've sent off information to a publisher to test the waters, really. I'm not expecting too much as they say it can take 4 to 6 months for a reply. But if anything did happen, I'd be rather chuffed.


So thanks for the inspiration! :)

Be Careful what you wish (Pray) for...

Last year at the Sydney Anglican Synod, a resolution was passed. It wasn't a big thing. It was just a statement that we as a Sydney church were going to pray for rain, for an end to the drought.

We've now had the wettest April in 77 years.


(I don't think they were the only ones praying, either...)


Edit: This is a very tongue-in-cheek post, by the way. We're in a "green drought", where the coast is being inundated, but inland dams are still dropping. I guess we need to keep praying!

Tagged again!

I've been tagged by Prue for another meme. This time I'm to provide you with links to some of my previous posts. The rules are:

* Link 1 must be about family.
* Link 2 must be about friends.
* Link 3 must be about yourself.
* Link 4 must be about something you love.
* Link 5 can be anything you choose.

Since I stopped tagging my posts some time ago, this might be a bit difficult. Still, it's worth a go!

Family: My reflections on Firecracker nights when I was a child. Those were the days... :-)

Friends: I'm always grateful for friends. Particularly the ones who I can connect with even when we're separated by sizeable distances.

Myself: Well, unfortunately most of this blog is fairly self-absorbed. Kind of like a diary spoken out loud, which is sometimes OK, but often a bit hard to read (sorry!). But here's the post that got this blog going.

Something I love: My kids are very dear to me, as are their toddlerisms. Here are some of them, and here, and here, and...

Anything I choose: Just because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

So, I'm supposed to tag five people to do this fun exercise too. So I tag Kaylene, Cecily, and three other people who'd like to do the same!

Mind yer manners

It seems something is rubbing off on Boo. Over the past few weeks we've been trying to get both Boo and Eldest away from the "I want" clause to a more polite form of discourse. Well, it's been half succesful. We've still had to remind Boo to say "thank you" when we give her something, but she's picked up the "No tenks" (translation: "No thank you") really well.

She's still struggling with the context, though. Now when we ask her to pick up her toys she quite politely says "No tenks Mum". When we proceed with sending her to her time out spot (in front of her cupboard) she also continues (in a slightly more concerned voice) "No tenks Mum. No tupboard. No tenks Mum!"


Well, at least she's trying...

New Experiences

A little while back we went on a Great Expedition. We went to the city to celebrate my brother's birthday at a nice restaurant. My husband had work at home, so I was single-parenting the kids around for the day. It wasn't really all that onerous with grandparents on hand to help, though!

I was loving the chance to get back to the city at night. But judging by my children's faces the experience was a little overwhelming for them. I realised how quiet our lives normally are, as they stared with awe at the light rail, the monorail, the boats, the lights, and the traffic overpasses with booming buses, trucks and cars passing overhead. As we walked around the harbour, Eldest saw a small boat leaving the dock. "That's a taxi!" he called. Sure enough, there was a small sign on the roof of the boat: "TAXI". It seems he's recognising certain words now...

Both Eldest and Boo clung tightly as we walked toward the restaurant. In the gathering darkness we spotted a small bunch of flashing, whirling, glowing lights. It was a stall selling glowsticks, torches, and other toys fitted with little LEDs. As we forked out exorbitant amounts of cash for cheap torches, it all seemed worth it to see the kids relax and play with their little lights. I'd wondered in years past how they made any money. Now I know it's off the backs of generous and slightly over-worried parents.

Then there was the noise. The restaurants were mostly full of Friday-night diners, all having a nice time. I saw the suspicious looks from some of them as we walked in to our table. "Children," they seemed to say, "We don't want none of your kind round here. Spoils the food." A decade ago I would have felt the same. Now I was only worried about whether the kids would settle or not. The noise seemed to overwhelm them again, and Eldest developed strong stomach cramps. My father was a little worried. Apparently migraines can first manifest themselves as stomach pain in young children. I was worried too. After the fifth visit to the bathrooms with no result, we were getting some even more suspicious glances from the nearby tables. But it all worked out fine. Dinner arrived and the kids tucked in to their fish and chips. Our waiter was friendly and kind, even though we didn't fit the Friday party mould. Our brother didn't seem to mind that his dinner party was cut short by slightly frazzled children. No dessert, but that was okay.



It seems we've become country bumpkins.

A 'Crazy' notion

Back when I was studying (Man, I sound old, don't I?)...

Ahem.

A fair while back, there seemed to be fairly stringent requirements on newspaper reporters regarding their language. When a crime was committed, the actions of the supposed perpetrator were to be given the presumption of innocence. So the word "alleged" was widely used, and headlines were kept fairly circumspect. It wasn't any good to have a trial tainted by potentially libellous statements which allowed a perpetrator to succesfully appeal.

I've noticed a bit of a trend lately, where the word "alleged" has been dropped in favour of inverted commas. So headlines now read Uncle "shot nephew in the back", rather than Uncle arrested on suspicion... Certainly it sounds more sensational, doesn't it?

I guess you could then say that you were just reporting what a source said, and not necessarily circumventing the required presumption of innocence. But then, how often do readers assume that the "inverted commas" means it really happened?

I know it's a small thing, but it's getting closer to gossip and further from news all the time...

Seeing things afresh

There's a lot to be said for teaching.

Quite a few years back, I was in a bible study group that was full of really, really lovely people. But every week it was hard to drag myself along to the group, harder still to actually open the bible and read it together.

Why?

It was a really hard time because it seemed a little stagnant. Every person in the group could rightly have been leading a group of their own. We were all knowledgeable, we all knew the relevant bits of the bible, and each weeknight when we met, we all held forth on our long-held views. Answering the study questions was almost too simple for some members of the group. It was really nice to see the people each week, but we were all a little dry.

Maybe we are supposed to always be circulating in Christian ministry. As we learn and grow as Christians, I think there's a time for all of us to become teachers. I don't mean that everyone should move from new Christian to minister of a church. But for us to keep growing, we can't just take in the information and sit on it. We're given the gospel and the bible to share. The more we learn, the more we should share it with others.

The more I pass on, the more I realise I don't know everything. The more I spend time with people who ask me questions, who want to know more, who don't know a huge amount about certain parts of the bible, the more I want to get back into that as well. It's not a situation where I should sit around until I think I've learned everything. I get to share the journey of learning with the kids, young people and adults I'm sharing with. And through that journey I learn, too.

And man, that's exciting.

Back Again!

Ok, so it wasn't a month. But a couple of weeks is Ok, isn't it?

I've had a little blog-free time, and discovered a few interesting things in the intervening weeks:

Good things
- I'm spending more time reading the bible. Things are back on track now after a little slump. Heres' hoping things remain on track. It can take about six weeks to firmly set a habit, so we'll see!
- Since I've been reading more, I've (funnily enough) had more opportunities to share with others in a vibrant way, rather than a regurgitating-lecture-notes kind of way.
- I've been able to spend more time with my kids and not feel the urge to run off and blog about every second thing that happens with them - which was affecting our relating time.

Not-so-good things
- While I spent less time blogging and more time reading, other less helpful activities rushed in to fill some of the gaps. This included playing online boggle and word games, which while mildly helpful for my vocabulary do absolutely nothing for my relationships with family and friends. My next great project, therefore, will be to spend less time on Facebook applications. A friend has suggested I delete the program, and I might just have to in order to stop myself playing it!
- I missed out on friends' blogs, too. So, I'm off to check them out now. See you soon!

The downside of blogs

There are good reasons why diaries are supposed to be private affairs. Looking over my previous posts, I've discovered a lot of garbage - self-pitying, arrogant, badly thought out. The instantaneous nature of the internet allows you to write down private thoughts and then blast them off into the internet, regardless of whether they are properly thought through or not.

Through a badly written and abrupt post, I have dreadfully offended a friend. For that I am truly sorry. I wrongly took offense at something that was supposed to be inoffensive, and have hurt someone in the process. I apologise wholeheartedly.