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Archives for August 2008

You’re a creep, you’re a weirdo!

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Last night we went to the pub where we have ukulele practise. We met a friend a bit early to enjoy some dinner beforehand. I ordered food and drinks from the bar and an man old enough to be my father started talking to us. His opening line was, ‘Where does he come from?’ He was referring to JJ and those of you who’ve seen photos of him will know that he isn’t anglo in appearance. I told him that JJ comes from Adelaide which is my standard response to questions like this. The man said that of course he knew that and I relented and told him where JJ’s father was originally from.

He kept talking to me and told me that he’d lived in the Carribbean for a number of years, amongst other things. After we ordered we sat down at our table not far from the bar and JJ sat on a two-seater couch by himself while my friend and I sat in single chairs. Then this man came and sat down next to JJ and it really gave me the creeps.

My first thought was that he was sleazy and maybe my instinct was correct. Have I been conditioned to think that anyone who shows an interest in my son has ulterior motives? I wanted to tell him to go away. The nice girl in me didn’t do that but my eyes were glued. He might have been perfectly innocent and genuinely interested in a non-sleazy way, but who would come and sit down uninvited? Not many people I would think.

I really wasn’t interested in having him sit there and I really didn’t want him sitting there next to my son. JJ is an affectionate boy and has trouble understanding the concept of personal space and sometimes who to be affectionate with, and I didn’t want this potentially sleazy man getting his rocks off by having my son touch him, and then having an excuse to touch him back.

What would you have said to this man?

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Acknowledgement

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Blog blingEvery now and again someone drops by this blog and gives me some acknowledgement of being here and contributing in some way. Lanie of Boo and Me recently did this – at a time when a pat on the back goes a long way. So being the good girl that I am I must:

1. Put the logo on my blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to me.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on my blog.
5. Leave a message for my nominee on their blog.

I’ve already done numbers 1 and 2.

Now for number 3. Some blogs I would like to link to have already received this. So I’ll try and find 7 new ones:

1. Kristabella from Full of Snark. I first met her when interviewing her and have kept up ever since. She recently found out that she was being made redundant but has to stay in her job for two more months.

2. Mel from Freak Parade. Have been reading her blog for a while and her son interviewed me a while back for his homeschooling project. Haven’t heard from him in a while but hopefully he returns to writing his blog.

3. Trish from My Little Drummer Boys. She’s going through a shite time at the moment and has always been supportive of me. This is my acknowledgement to her of that, and that I’m thinking of her at the moment. Bugger, she’s already got this, but I’m sure a double dose won’t hurt.

4. Stacie from Nomadic Creations. She makes some awesome jewellrey (I’m a proud owner of a pair of her earrings) and she’s just become a dog owner.

5. Jayne from Our Great Southern Land. Jayne always comments on my blog and I’d like to thank her for sticking around.

6. Tiff from Three Ring Circus is also another good blog neighbour and she more than deserves this. Damnit, she’s also received this. Australia’s blogging community is just too small sometimes.

7. Joy from The Joy of Six. Joy’s a great blog friend and she can add this to her other bountiful blog bling if she so desires.

Now, I’ve done number’s 3 and 4 and after publishing am about to do number 5.

Feel free, or not, to pass this on y’all and happy Sunday.

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Exploring Rottnest Island

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Exploring Rottnest Island

As I take a break from the mundane everyday life I’m taking a step back in time to a few weeks for our visit to Rottnest Island in Western Australia.

We spent a day there and we were extremely lucky with the weather. It was the perfect winter’s day, blue sky and not too cold. In fact I wish I hadn’t taken my coat as I ended up lugging it around all day.

Rottnest Island is unique in that there are no cars allowed. The main mode of transport is bicycles and it makes for a very peaceful place and the perfect family holiday destination. As we were there during school holidays it was fairly busy and the ferry was pretty full.

Only bikes allowed

The first thing we did upon arrival was find the bike hire place to hire a couple of bikes for the day. They sure don’t make bike seats that comfortable, or maybe it’s just because I don’t ride bikes very often. My bum was pretty sore by the end of the day. I also found out that I’d worn my bike helmet the wrong way around all day as towards the end of the day I was riding past a group of kids and one of them said, ‘You’ve got your helmet on back to front.’ After I stopped and put it on the right way I realised it was a lot more comfortable. And here’s me thinking I was doing okay riding around the island.

Rottnest Island

Actually, we didn’t ride all the way around the island. The smallest hill becomes the largest mountain when you’re riding up it and you’re not used to it. JJ did really well and I was always looking at him in front of me. And we were constrained by time. We probably did about one third of it.

Quokka

Rottnest is named after these little creatures who slightly resemble rats. They are called Quokkas. After our bike ride I was sitting outside after I’d finished an icy cold beer, watching JJ on the playground and I felt something at my feet. I tried to move it out of my way and realised that it was moving. When I looked down it was this creature looking for food. They’re obviously quite tame.

In the main settlement area near the shops, there are also lots of peacocks. The supermarket had little swinging plastic doors which I realised were to keep out hungry animals.

Peacock

All in all it was a really good day and I’d love to go back some time to stay for a while. I think it was our best day in Western Australia.

Shipwreck

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My son the writer

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A couple of months ago JJ started writing a book. Someone at after school care stapled some pages together in a book format for him and then he came up with the title – ‘A big hungry fish and pretty too’. The synopsis is that there’s a happy fish (and pretty too) and a mean and grumpy octopus. So immediately there’s going to be some conflict.

He writes about what the mean octopus does to the pretty fish. There is also character development. The octopus starts to realise that he’s a bit mean and learns from his friends that it’s not nice to be mean, but a lot better to be good – with a zap from an electric worm along the way. An additional character in the form of a shark is shortly going to be introduced.

As I mentioned JJ started writing this book a couple of months ago. It went all the way to Perth and back with us (with no work done on it while we were away), but every now and again he’ll go back to it and add to it and I’ll get him to read it to me. There’s two reasons for getting him to read it to me. One is that he can take ownership and pride in the excellent work he’s done with illustrations and all. The other is that I can’t read his writing as many of the words he’s written as he hears them, not how they should be spelled.

He informed me at the beginning that he doesn’t want anyone to ‘mark’ his work and I’ve solemnly promised not to do such a thing.

When he first read what he’d written and it was pretty obvious that there was a mean octopus I asked if he was modelling the octopus on anyone he knows and he admitted that it was him. So I see this book writing as a learning experience for him in more than just story development, writing and illustration. He knows that some of his behaviour is not ‘good’ and this demonstrates to me that he’s trying to learn not to get into trouble so much.

At school this term he has demonstrated that he’s learning about better behaviour, until a little lapse yesterday when he kicked a boy in the leg after this kid kicked him. When I got a message on my phone from the principal and her first words were, ‘There’s been an incident at school involving JJ……’ my heart sank but once I heard it was in retaliation I thought well at least he didn’t instigate it this time.

I reckon that blogging will be good for JJ once he gets a bit older and then he can get his revenge on me!

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