September 6, 2007 – 4:00 pm
I thought that an arrest or stunt might happen as the crew from The Chaser’s War on Everything couldn’t possibly leave this one alone.
According to News.com:
“The arrests were made after the group drove a fake motorcade down Macquarie St
in the APEC restricted zone.”
I think it’s harmless fun and by doing things like this, keeps all that security on their toes. If this is the worst thing that happens, it’s okay isn’t it? I am biased though, because I do like The Chaser’s War tv show.
I don’t live in Sydney so don’t have to contend with the lockdown and I also don’t get a public holiday day off tomorrow because of APEC.
September 5, 2007 – 12:40 pm
Last weekend I felt like I properly relaxed for the first time in a long time. I had a real sense of letting go and just chilling out. So, in no particular order my ingredients for doing this are.
The beach
There’s nothing like the sound of the waves to relax you. We stayed in the same place at Carrickalinga that I went to earlier in the year. I didn’t relax then because my dad had just had his stroke two days prior and nobody knew what the prognosis was yet.
That anxiety wasn’t hanging over my head this time thank goodness.
In addition to the sound of the waves at the beach, walks along the beach are very relaxing. I was even able to do a walk by myself.
Good friends
The weekend would not have been as successful and relaxing if it weren’t for two of my best friends being there too. It took some of the load off me and my sole parenting because JJ could talk to them and I didn’t have to be the only person around for him as is normal. He even chose to share a room with one of my friends which she didn’t mind at all and while I don’t mind sharing a room and/or a bed with him I can live without the teeth grinding.
Laughter
This ties in a bit with the good friends ingredient above. Because we are good friends we can razz each other without offending each other so there was much laughter at each others expense and at much of what else we talked about.
Music
The aim of the weekend was a music retreat. We all sing and play ukuleles so we practised heaps. We worked up a couple of new songs and practised other songs we’d done before. We had an amp and a microphone so we all got some microphone practise.
Apart from a couple of karaoke experiences I’ve never sung into a microphone before and when I first did it on the weekend I sat in front of my two friends dithering because I was really embarrassed even though they’re very used to hearing me sing. I eventually did it and then they couldn’t keep me away. JJ even had a go.
Sustenance
Food and drink. I cooked up beans for nachos to eat on Friday night so we didn’t have to do any major cooking when we arrived. Other than that we had easy to prepare food and snacks. And of course plenty of sparkling red. We didn’t do either to excess.
Game playing
Rummikin and Uno. I’ve never played Rummikin before but I am hooked. It’s sort of like Gin Rummy but you play it with Scrabble like tiles. JJ loves Uno so we had a couple of games before we left on Sunday.
There you have it, the essential ingredients for a relaxing weekend. We are planning a repeat retreat. Can’t wait.
I took some more photos which you can see here.
September 4, 2007 – 8:32 pm
I became pregnant unexpectedly. Obviously I know how I got pregnant, I just didn’t think I ever would produce a child because I’d never really wanted one.
Going through my pregnancy I asked lots of questions and got lots of advice about what to expect. The only thing I remember people saying was that it will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.
So none of the advice people gave me really helped me. How can people explain what it’s really like to be sleep deprived in the first few weeks of new motherhood? How can people describe how it feels to breastfeed? How can people tell you about the overwhelming feeling of love and the accompanying crush of responsibility that motherhood is?
Well, nobody can really make you feel what it is like until you hold that baby in your arms and you have to start dealing with them.
I didn’t know how and how often to change a nappy and having to do that freaked me out. Looking back now, that was one of the easiest things I had to learn.
I managed to crawl my way through babyhood and toddlerhood and then he started school and the fun really started. Fun being the double edged sword here. School was a huge adjustment for him and he started behaving really badly. It wasn’t really funny that he was sent to the principal’s office on his second day at school. And he wasn’t just sent, he had to picked up and moved to the office. This wasn’t the last time he had to visit the principal, or have detention either.
He also really misbehaved with his after school carer, so much so that I inwardly cringed before I knocked on her door to pick him up. It didn’t matter how much I talked to him or tried to explain to him that his behaviour was not okay.
A year has passed since he started school and he has come a long way due to a change in after school care provision, psychologist visits, a new teacher so I’m actually enjoying motherhood for about the first time. He still has his moments of being a pain in the neck but for the most part I really enjoy his company. He makes me laugh. He makes me think. He sometimes brings out the child in me. He makes me see the world through his eyes.
If I wasn’t experiencing motherhood, what would I be doing I wonder?
This is for the September MamaBlogga group writing project.
September 3, 2007 – 3:54 pm
A couple of my photos are featured on the Schmaps digital travel guide website.
The editors must go through Flickr, find and select photos they want to include, email the owner for permission and once they receive permission, use them on their site. I haven’t kept the initial email so this could be incorrect.
Apart from having my photos included (the one here is circled in red), and linked to my Flickr page, I don’t receive any money or any other kickbacks.
To be honest, that is fine because my photos are available for all to see on Flickr anyway and anybody can steal or use them without asking (not that I want them to).
The views of these photos hasn’t risen highly or anything, but because they’re of Womadelaide it will be interesting to see what happens around Womadelaide time next year.
There is some debate around the web about Schmap’s use of people’s photos which I found after I’d said yes, but I still stand by my decision.
