My List

Hello Possum. Are you a list-writer? I do occasionally write myself lists: shopping lists and lists under the heading “things to do”, and little reminder lists in my diary. You see, I have a motto: “if you think your life is under control, then you have forgotten something”. Sometimes I forget to write lists, or forget to write things in my diary, or forget where my diary is. Just this week I forgot I had a date at the cinema with my friend Lana. She waited for me in the foyer for half an hour. I was mortified and rang her straight away the next morning when I realised. She said the people-watching in the cinema foyer was entertaining and not to worry. 

Miss lionheart tagged me in a list writing meme to “list 5 things you wish to achieve during the week ahead”.  Originally conceived as a motivation meme, for me it is a way of remembering what the hell I need to do. Here goes:

1. Work out a fun activity using pulleys for grade 5 and 6 children.

2. Organise a catch up date with “the gang” and another movie night with Lana.

3. Ring the curtain guys and make an appointment up at our new place.

4. Watch and take notes on at least 4 videos of student interviews for my study.

5. Go through the kids’ wardrobes, put away summer gear and recycle gear nolonger worn.

Oh boy, if I achieve number five, it will be a miracle! 

If you would like to have a go at this meme, let me know and I will pop a link to your site in here.

 

‘Things Left Unsaid’ meme

Hello Possums. I have been thinking about things I have left unsaid ever since reading Charlotte’s post on the same topic. I have decided to write my own list:  

1. Its too late to tell me that you loved me then. But I wish I’d known. My life would have taken a completely different course. I still fantasise about it.  

2.  I loved you like a sister and grieved for two years when our friendship ended.  

3. I always wanted to be just like you, until I realised how painful it was to live your life. I’m much better off playing to my own strengths and making my own rules.  

4. Your effect on our working environment was toxic. Don’t ever presume that just because we were colleagues that we are friends.  
5. I misinterpreted you. I thought our communication was building a relationship.  

6. I have twice given life to you. Digging you out of that sand marked me as deeply emotionally as giving birth.  

7.  You are so hot. I don’t want a relationship but how about just one night together?  

8. Go die in a hole.  

9. Being your mother is the most important thing in my life.  

10. Thanks for coming along to help me reconnoitre the canoe trip. I’m really embarrassed about running out of petrol, especially now that I am a parent too. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there and it were just me, your son and the other student.  

11. I forgive you and I’m glad we have managed to redefine our relationship. My relationship with you is very important to me.

12. I lied to you to break contact and I’m very sorry. You deserved to be treated much better than that. I hope your life has worked out okay.  

13. I’m really sorry that I can’t be nicer to you, but you give me the shits. Perhaps we should just call it a day.

14. We were very young and I hope you have forgotten what I did to you at the blue light disco. I can’t explain my behavioiur to this day. I feel like a complete idiot.

15. Dancing with you was a major turn-on. I wish I could keep you as a pet.

[And that's my list. If you would like to have a go, please let me know in the comments. The challenge is to come up with fifteen!].

Five links

Hello Possums. This morning I’ve decided to put my mind to a little meme sent to me by the riskee and bubbly miss lionheart . The rules are as follows:

Post five links to five of your previously written posts.The posts have to relate to these five key words: family; friend; yourself; your love; anything you like.Tag five other bloggers to do this meme.Try to tag at least two new acquaintances so that you get to know them each a little bit better. Okay here I go!

1. Family: Heather’s Brass is a story about the family I grew up in. Its fragmented now days, but in this story we come together for a common purpose. Other posts about my family are The Cosmic Rocket (about my sister) and Who’s that Man (about my brother).

2. Friend: He arrived for lunch wearing this Where would I be without his friendship throughout the years? It is really important to have people who know you and believe in you. He is an anchor for me.

3. Yourself: I’ll keep it thanks is about me in my body.

4. Your love: The Rose is about my love. This is not about infatuation. This love is a bit bruised, but its still there. Its a long term proposition.

5. Any thing you like: I learn a lot from my children. Lessons in Morality 1.

I now tag: pip, mennogirl, the person who wrote about political connotations in childhood fiction (I will add a link when I find her again – here we go, Catie), Charlotte and AnnaMR.

Someone’s favorite number was eight

I do take on memes if I’ve been tagged. Its the polite thing to do, I feel. This one is from menogirl. Thanks for the challenge, Possum.  8 passions in my life: *cross country skiing *getting out into the bush *lemon tart *education practice and theory *raising my children *dancing *dark chocolate *men.  8 things to do before I die: *be a grandmother many times over *go to Venice *finish my PhD *publish *learn to speak French *live in another country *ski in Europe *host a big outdoor housewarming party.  8 things I often say: *“careful its hot” (after its already been tasted. This joke has been passed down to me by my mother). *”where are my sunglasses” *”who put all these papers on my desk?” *”wouldn’t be dead for quids” (inherited this saying from my grandfather). *”got time for a cuppa?” *”that’s no good pet” *”ok every one you can stop looking now, I’ve found it” (tongue in cheek because no one was looking any way). *”if anyone gets close enough to notice, poke them in the eye” (with respect to stains on clothes or ladders in stockings).  8 books I read recently: *‘Gender Undone’, Judith Butler *’Precarious Life’, Judith Butler *’The Lollipop Shoes’, Joanne Harris *’March’, Geraldine Brooks *’Saturday’, Ian McEwan *’Collapse’, Jarrod Diamond *’Guns Germs and Steel’, Jarrod Diamond *’Climate Change’, Tim Flannery.  8 songs that hold some meaning for me: *‘White Flag’, Dido *’Special Two’, Missy Higgins *’A lizard on the doorstep’, Whitlams (that’s not the songs name, but a line from it. I can’t recall its title and have lost the cd cover, but I love it because its great poetry like all Whitlams songs and it reminds me of my teenaged years). *’(You Will) Throw Your Arms Around Me‘, Hunters and Collectors *’Happy Ending‘, Micka *’Sound of White’, Missy Higgins *’When Doves Cry’, Prince *’Baby give it up’, KC and the Sunshine Band.  8 excellent movies:  * Diva *Pride and Prejudice *Lord of the Rings *Cultural learnings from America *Harry Potter (all) *Moonstruck *Silkwood *Gone with the Wind.  8 qualities I look for in a friend: *easy going *open *sense of humour *intelligence *caring *passion for life *talkative *active.   8 people I’m tagging to go next: This is a megga meme! If you would like to take it on, please do and I’ll pop a link in here for you. Now, don’t all rush! I can only fit eight of you in xx  Fabulous! Charlotte has agreed to give it a go (on a quiet day).  I’m tagging earthpal to do this one, for her own good! [just edited to put in earthpal and I've lost all my paragraph formatting! What's going on? Sorry about this Possums. I hope its fixed soon or we'll all go cross eyed]. 

Fun Monday

 

Poohead:

Do you like the logo?

My brother designed it!

There is also a boy one:

This is my first Fun Monday.

 

Ten Random Things #6-10

Hello Possums, I know its taken me awhile but here goes:

#6: I cry at the movies, theatre, in front of the TV and when reading. The main things that start me off are tragedy (obviously), but also sincerity and bravery. On the way home on the plane I watched ‘The Painted Veil’ with Naomi Watts, whose character marries a nerdy guy (who is actually pretty cute) and they end up working in a village in China. This movie tells a very moving love story with a tragic ending. There I was in my own little world (that’s movie on demand for you) weeping buckets and wiping my nose on my sleeve. I was a basket case. Even when I was safely home in bed eight hours later I was still feeling the weight of this tragic tale. Well, I was a bit over-tired.

#7: I get pretty tense once a month, but I always forget what the reason for it is and generally blame something or someone else initially.

#8: I am well known for telling visual jokes. Friends ask me to repeat the same jokes all the time. They beg me. Why they love the repetition, I do not know.

#9: I laugh a lot and occasionally inappropriately. For example, I laughed when a friend told me she didn’t pass her drivers license test because she hit a pedestrian coming out of a tram. I quickly tried to bottle the laughter when she gave me a dirty look, but it was too late. She never forgave me.

#10: I have had various nick names over the years. The ones that have been used most widely and have stuck for decent amounts of time are Oscar and Benk. Some people only knew me as Oscar at one stage of my life, and I still have a friend who affectionately refers to me as Benk, a nickname invented when we were children. Also Trinity, but this nick name died when I broke up with the boyfriend who invented the context for it (a long time before The Matrix).

There! I now pass this meme on to Stephanie, who I haven’t heard from for quite awhile.

Ten Random Things #5

Random thing about me #5: I love giving birth.

I have done a lot of enjoyable, rewarding and challenging things in my life: climbed mountains, canoed wild water, carved up ungroomed slopes, realised professional dreams, experienced love and all that, but the thing that I am most proud of is having given birth. Now this may sound strange. Giving birth is actually not really a personal achievement. It is due to the fact that I am a woman; something not really within my control. But there you have it!

I also love having a baby around. I could have been one of these people who ditches the career and pops out babies for the rest of their lfe… My close friends have confided in me that they think I am nuts.

Stories from London and Random Thing #4

Well, another cold and windy summers day in London. Today we alighted a double decker bus and hit the local shopping centre complex for the purpose of catching the latest Harry Potter movie: The Order of the Pheonix – the best of the Potter movies so far, in my opinion.

Yesterday we went into Oxford Circus for some shopping. The kids all wanted converse runners. We were able to find the ones Rosie, Sally and Kat wanted, but Emma didn’t have as much luck. Her favorite had a cherry print and each shop we went into only stocked them down to size 5 (she needed size 3).

Low and behold at the end of Order of the Pheonix, Loona Lovegood’s missing shoes that appeared strung up on a rafter were, yep you guessed it – a pair of cherry converse runners.

After the movie, we wandered the shopping centre for awhile and stumbled on a shoe shop having a closing down sale. They had converse! They had the cherry pattern! And they had size 3! The shop assistant said, yeah we have them. They’re the ones from the Harry Potter movie aren’t they?

Yes, said Emma, but I found them before I saw it!

On another, Potter-related note: The girls and I had searched the local area for a copy of the latest book. We found a stand at the supermarket advertising it for £5, but the shelves were empty. I finally found a copy at a bookshop in Soho two days ago, but ended up paying £12.50. I didn’t care! I wasn’t going to risk missing out!

I have been reading it chapter by chapter to the kids since. Anyway, my friend Cara who is staying with us here in London with her family mentioned something to me today about the bookshop in Soho that I had been completely oblivious to at the time.

Did you not see what type of bookshop that was, Bindi?

Um, no, I just went straight for Potter.

I thought it was really funny watching you race into a mostly adult bookshop with six kids following you. There was a sign saying only over 18 allowed down stairs and explicit photos on the fronts of most of the books upstairs!

You see, Possums, we had been looking for Chinatown in Soho and had inadvertently ended up in the red light district.

My goodness I hadn’t even noticed! I was flabbergasted.

Cara ended her recount laughing, that is such a Bindi thing to do!

So let me use this as my random thing about me #4. Although I’m not sure what to call it, since it is from another person’s perspective. I suppose the randon thing is that sometimes I can appear a bit unworldly or oblivious.

Ten Random Things #3

Random thing about me #3: I don’t smoke.

Except, I really enjoy rolling a rollie! And if I get the chance to roll one, I smoke it if I’ve been drinking. The last time this happened was last November at a conference in Adelaide. A tall and very attractive young man with a silky voice had a pack of rollies. I noticed him at the conference dinner slipping off for a smoke early in the night. Later that night after too many champagnes I went up to him and said hi!

Do I know you? said he.

I said, no but I noticed you have a pack of rollies.

Do you smoke?

Only when I’m pissed. (For those of you not from Australia, pissed means drunk).

Do you want to pop outside then? he asked.

Yep!

And we became sort of friends for the rest of the conference. I remember we sat together during a fairly boring presentation and communicated through whispers and scribbled notes – lots of fun! But I do digress.

Then the time before that was probably a few years prior at a farmhouse owned by my friend’s family on a girls weekend away. She pulled out a pack of rollies in the evening around a large open fire. We smoked and chatted into the wee hours of the night, feeling rather naughty to be doing so after so many years.

Prior to that was in my younger years, and where I developed the skill for rolling. A young male friend of mine had sort of an open room. You could enter his room without having to go through the rest of the family home. Often on the way home from an evening out I would pop in for a chat with him if I didn’t feel like going home. We would sit, talk and roll up cigs. I wouldn’t always smoke them, but enjoyed the rolling anyway.

Ten Random Things #2

Random thing #2: I am Pisces.

… not that I think astrology holds much weight, being a scientific thinker and all. However being assigned a star sign does give people the opportunity for reflection on their own identities. It affords one the chance to make statements or think thoughts along the lines, this is who I am, and this is who I am not.

My first true love was a bit of an astrology buff. He thought I fit the description of Pisces perfectly. I still remember how he took it when we broke up. He said something like, well I suppose it makes sense. I can’t expect to hold onto you when you want to go. Like a fish you wiggle free and just swim away.

You might think that sounds like a strange thing to say. If you do, then I agree with you. That’s why I have remembered it. But it is true. I do move on. When I have made the decision I’ve had enough it seems to be irreversible and I have already begun life in another direction. The thing that did it for me in this particular case was living with the man. Its all very well and good to have great sex, but if they don’t help with even the simple house chores then living with them really is too much. Living with him really killed the passion for me, much to my parent’s relief. They never liked him, and I was only 19.