Lucky in Oz

Royal Wedding Observations

I remember getting up early to watch Charles and Diana get married. (It is weirdly associated with the fictional nuptials of Luke and Laura on General Hospital ... same era.) So, I was compelled to watch Will and Kate. And, here in Oz, it was broadcast at dinner time - bonus! I could celebrate with a glass of wine. I ostensibly was watching for / with Zoe - but frankly she seemed to take a while to warm to it (I had to change the channel from Scoobie Do0). Once she got a load of the fancy cars and the horses being readied though, she was hooked. Our comments / play-by-play most of which I posted on FB:

LJO: Did you see Julia's fascinator? Is it Cup Day or a Royal wedding?

LJO:  Her [Julia Gillard] hair looks pretty like that - way to go Tim!

ZJM: On Beatrice's fascinator: "BAD."

ZJM: Will looks nervous.

ZJM: on Elizabeth in her yellow frock: She's so cute for a queen.

LJO: She is so cute with her handbag. She is ALWAYS clutching a handbag. You would think someone could carry that for her.

Zoe closed her eyes and didn't watch Kate get in the car: "I don't want to see her through the car window." She wants to see her step out at the Abbey. (This was when I knew she was kind of caught up in the magic and romance of it all ... she didn't want to spoil the big reveal by getting a sneak peek.)

ZJM: on Harry's hair: "That's why he's called Harry!" On Harry's face: "Why is he always so red?!"

ZJM: on Kate's brother doing the reading: "He's too posh."

ZJM on the choir: "They're pretty good ... for boys."

ZJM: as the ceremony ended: "They're not married yet, they haven't kissed."

LJO: How cute was Harry in the carriage with the kids?! (LTM commented that probably they wanted to keep him away from the ladies ... )

ZJM: On the balcony - 2nd kiss (she missed the first one): "FINALLY!" 

This was my (and NPR's) fave photo:

 

My realisation of the night: It was wonderful to see all those heads up state getting up to sing hymns together during a beautiful, joyous occasion. Normally they only convene for warmongering and to discuss the various ways we are all doomed. Weddings, royal and otherwise, are a lovely counterpoint to our day-to-day.

Double Dipping

Unless you've been living under a rock, or, you're not on FaceBook (and really, what's the difference?) you know that the "25 Random Things" tagging has been rampant over in that corner of the internets. Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, you choose 25 people to be tagged. After being tagged by a bazillion people, (haha, kidding, no one - not even those crazy college kids - has a bazillion FB friends, right? ... right?!) I finally succumbed to peer pressure and did mine. It was made easier by the fact that so many other folks had done theirs already - I could steal their ideas! (I didn't tag anyone because I think everyone on FB has already been tagged.) The laziness doesn't stop there ... it stops HERE! Because, I am recycling the material as a blog post.

1.    I was born in the year of the horse ... as was my mother ... as was my daughter.

2.    I love trick-taking card games like euchre, pinochle, hearts, whist  ...  and I would love to master bridge.

3.    When I was in college I decided I wanted to learn to knit. I bought the yarn and pattern for a Lopi Icelandic sweater and asked the ladies in the shop to show me how to cast on and the basic knit stitch. I knew if my first project was a scarf I’d never finish it; I didn’t want a scarf, I wanted a sweater.

4.    I was a canvasser for the League of Conservation voters the summer between college and leaving for Peace Corps. I got a $300 donation from Bobby Orr.

5.    I have had different parts of my body in casts five times, but never for a broken bone.

6.    I had eye muscle surgery for strabismus when I was little; I don’t have total binocular vision and thus I don’t have great depth perception.  This makes things like catching softballs and hitting tennis balls kind of tough.

7.    I was a competitive gymnast from when I was 10-years-old most of the way through high-school. Ever since then, I have recurring dreams about doing uneven parallel bars routines – I miss swinging around / upside down.

8.    I could bike, swim or cross-country ski happily all day long, but running bores the shit out of me. I need audiobooks or something really engrossing to listen to when I run and I still check my watch every 30 seconds.

9.    An ex-boyfriend and I drove and I drove cross country and up to Alaska in a pop-top VW Vanagon named “Prudie” when I was in my twenties. Our goal was to get to Baja after the summer in Alaska but we stopped in Seattle and never started again.

10. I have a surplus of summers in my life: I left in November of ’89 for Southern Africa where I spent 2.5 years then we left in September 08 for Australia, where I still am now.

11. I am a voracious reader. I read mostly fiction / novels. Some all-time favourite authors are Zadie Smith, Wallace Stegner, Jane Smiley, Jane Austen, and John Updike.

12. I ignored the Harry Potter craze for the first few years. Then I picked up book 1 during a summer holiday, read it in a day and proceeded through the rest of the series. And while I didn’t stand in line at midnight to buy book 7, I got it the next morning. Other favourite series of books are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and of course the Little House books.

13. I love boarding school fiction; from Ludwig Bemelmans’ “Madeline” to Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Prep” ... you would think that having gone to an all-girls’ boarding school would have gotten it out of my system.

14. I started an environmental group at Lake Forest that is still going today.

15. I was a philosophy major in college. It wasn’t the so much the “what is the meaning of life” aspect that attracted me to philosophy as the esoteric discussions – the cerebral exercise.

16. I am either an INTJ or an ISTJ. I am a classic “I” for sure – I need time alone to recharge. Being around too many people too much without a break is exhausting. The “T” and “J” are also pretty firm. In most tests, I split evenly between an “N” and an “S”.

17. I love organizing things and devising systems and continuously improving processes, etc. Disorder and disregard for efficiency make me crazy.

18. I married an engineer ... who is the least engineer-y guy you’ll ever meet. He has no innate sense of categorization.  He’s getting better about loading the dishwasher though, and there’s plenty of other stuff to love about him.

19. Since Kid was born Guy and I have tried to split domestic stuff as evenly as possible – until we moved, we each worked part-time / from home and shared childcare.

20. I have never been interested in NOT working outside the home ... and now I am starting to go batty. Even though I am busy and have plenty to keep me occupied, I am bored. I need to find a job. 

21. Having Kid, as in the actual birthing – pushing her out – was the most amazing, empowering feeling ever.

22. When I used to get “have another baby” urges, I would usually realize that it wasn’t another baby / child I wanted, but to have Kid as a baby again. I got a puppy when Kid was three – and, no more baby urges.

23. I love my dog more than I like many people. He’s the best, furriest, friendliest, cuddliest little guy.

24. I will almost always choose salty / crunchy over sweet. I love pretzels, tortilla chips, smoked almonds. My favourite snack is popcorn (I have one of those stove-top whirly pop thingies) with Old Bay and nutritional yeast.

25. My favourite flavours are lime, cilantro, basil ... thus my love of Vietnamese and Mexican foods. Fish tacos from Taco Del Mar is the only food I really miss.

26. We moved because we (two returned Peace Corps Volunteers) think living overseas (if you can do it) is a formative and valuable experience. We picked Melbourne because it was number 2 on this list (Vancouver was number 1, but we already lived in Seattle, so it would have been silly to move there).

27. Life here is very, very good. We are very fortunate to have the resources that allowed us to pick up and move halfway around the world, just because. I feel really lucky to be here and I try to not take our good fortune for granted.

28. I have a tendency towards verbosity.

The heat - it's making us all punchy.

Scene: The bathroom. Kid is filling a big metal bowl with water … in which to soak her foot. (Because she has a wart, that’s why – and the foot skin needs to be soft for application of the wart stuff). But don’t distract me. Important features: bathroom, kid, metal bowl.

 

CLATTER, BANG, CLATTER, BOOM.

 

Me: Are you ok?

Kid: Um, I dropped the bowl. And I fell.

Me: Do you need my help?

Kid: Nope. I’m up now.

 

I only hope the wart is less resilient.

 

PS: She probably slipped and fell in a puddle of SWEAT. We are in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave here. The bathroom, with the big freakin greenhouse window got as hot as outside today. That would be 43° thankyouverymuch. (43° = 110° to all you Yanks up over there.)

 

PPS: Yes. Nona is still here.

Memes are good distraction ...

(... and they can stand in for a post when you haven't the mental energy to do an original one.)

 

 

The 99 things meme

 

 

Things you’ve already done: bold

Things you want to do: italicize

Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

 

 

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii. Would have been easier from Seattle than from here. Alas.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis. There should be formatting for “Things I haven’t done but wouldn’t mind doing.” I’m not anti-bug.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Knitting?
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train. See #44
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked. See #44
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. I guess it depends on your definition of “ill” – I somaticize stress in my sinuses I think.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb. Only when Kid shares with me at a petting zoo.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon. Sprint-distance triathalons, sure. But running is my least fave event.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse. Not sure if I have. Lunar certainly, but solar? Hmmmm.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa. As in “Lived in”.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing. Caught fish from a dhow in Kenya, but I don’t think that’s what they mean.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Under, through and around, but not atop.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain. Hard not to when you’ve lived in Seattle.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business. Not a burning desire … but possible.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood. Not allowed. See #44 – Malaria.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. I’m not that type of sentimental.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square. Probably, while waiting for the light to change.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job. As a mothers-helper when I was 17. The mom was a wacko.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London. Been to London though.
77. Broken a bone. Just a toe.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book. Like #57, not a burning desire … but possible.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. Gymnastics and this.
85. Read the entire Bible. We read a lot in Freshman English in high school … not sure if the whole thing though.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. Bobby Orr gave me a $300 donation when I was canvassing for the League of Conservation Voters. Plus, lots of politicians in WA State.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one. My dad.
94. Had a baby. The raison d’etre for this blog.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Clever Kid, BOXES, Guy going Native, Hope ...

On Sunday we were running errands down around Warrigal Road (I know this means nothing to my readers (all eight of you). It's your basic commercial / retail strip.) We went to pick up some warm weather items from the big uniform outlet and we went to Bunnings, which is Home Depot with an Aussie accent. I remembered that the USA Foodstore was in the vicinity and I explained to Zoe just what it is. "You mean Seattle food? Like Wheat Thins and regular Cheerios and stuff?" Exactly. (FYI, they have Cheerios here, but they are multi-grain, which I like fine … but Kid and Guy? They are traditionalists.) So, we found it and ... it was closed. Poor kid, she was so close to Hershey's syrup, she could almost taste it. (She has lamented a few times, "Why does everyone but me like Milo?" Milo is a standard after-school snack. No playdate is complete without a glass of Milo and a Tim Tam. Except at our house. We don’t like Milo.) We agreed that we would go back – and we'll probably do so after school someday soon. But my point was …

We were at Safeway tonight in the cookie biscuit aisle and out of left field she asks me, “At the USA Foodstore? Do you pay in American or Australian money?” Excellent question, isn’t it?! I was impressed. I told her Australian and she thought it strange … until I pointed out that at the Asian Grocery we don’t pay in Japanese money. Then it all made sense.

If I had my camera handy I would post some photos for you of the current chaos that is my house. BOXES! PACKING PAPER! MORE BOXES! Lawrence is going to come home (When? Maybe ten days? I never really pay attention to his return date when he goes on his junkets business trips.) and I’ll be DONE and he’ll have no idea how MANY BOXES THERE WERE. Because alas, he has the camera. See:

Ok. Truth: I have been Skypeing him and walking round the house with my webcam on my computer saying "see! See all the BOXES?! SEE?!?!" So, I’ll not go down quietly. I feel like since I am not working (for money) that I should shut up and be a ahem, homemaker … but I can’t not (intentional double negative there) complain a bit about it.

Another photo I could post if I had a camera would be that of the Obama yard sign in my front garden (Here we say garden instead of yard. Doesn’t it sound more pretty & prosaic?). I guess it was in the shed when the packers moved through because I found it when I went to look for bike helmets. You’ll just have to imagine it. I personally am giddy imagining IT ... even all the way down here.

I need a job.

My running theory is that I need a job so as to have an outlet for my, umm ... meticulousness. Yes, that's it. I'm meticulous. (To a fault, I'll admit.) Without gainful employment I'd be alphabatizing the spices and mapping the flow of my days in Visio. (I already have our address list in a spreadsheet (with a mailmerge for holiday card labels) and pantry Kanban. Probably because I worked only 1/2 time. If I find a full-time job all my carefully honed systems at home will fall apart. Ack. It makes me woozy just thinking of it.) Since we have no spices to alphabatize ...

I made a pivot chart of our food spending. And! I did it in Vista (bowing); so, I had to hunt down all the right menus and buttons. (Most of what you'll need is on the "Insert" and "Data" ribbons, FYI. And while were on it ... ribbons? WTF? I hate to sound like a change-averse luddite, but ribbons suck.)

Yes, the category cells on the "Entry" sheet are a drop-down menu and yes, food is expensive.

Iconic America ... NOT

I was just watching the news on ABC TV (That would be the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the other one. Ha! See? Gotcha already) and saw a piece on a couple that is visiting all the towns listed in this song by Geoff Mack ... come to find out that the version Johnny Cash sang listing American towns wasn't an original, it was written by Geoff Mack, too - an Aussie! I felt a little like I did when I learned that Peter Jennings was Canadian - at first sort of indignantly incredulous ("but, he's so American!") followed immediately by sheepishness at being so presumptuous. I think I might be feeling like that a lot in the near future (which is, in part, really the whole point of moving overseas and getting off the island and away from the myopic American paradigm, as it were).

Pinochle, Earth Day, etc.

When it's been this long between posts are you really surprised when I present you with a bunch of bullet points? Really? Well. Sorry. Here you go anyway.
• This is probably surprising, but here it is: I am a Hillary supporter. I caucused for her and continue to stay in her camp. Why? I am not 60, rural or poor. Actually, I think that when you look up "Obama Demographic" in the dictionary you see a picture of me. But! I like Pinochle! And then there are the health care policy issues: I really, really STRONGLY believe that there must must MUST be an individual mandate as part of a universal coverage plan. And there's this – it ran just prior to our caucuses and Steinem's point that " Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy." was probably the single most important issue guiding me as I signed in declaring my support for HC. I guess I am one of those old-school feminists. But, at the end of the day, I'm like the voter who said "I'd be happy with either … it's like being offered a million dollars – you can have it in 100s or in 500s, but either way YOU GET A MILLION DOLLARS!" But as long as I have a choice, I'm with Hill.
• I celebrated Earth Day by driving to work for an hour-long meeting. What part of "I work from home on Tuesdays" don't these people understand?! The problem is that many of the folks that I need to have meetings with have much more challenging schedules than I … so as much as telecommuting is a great option if I can keep my calendar clear, I often have to cave. And drive.
• But! Last night Kid and I were having dinner at a fave taco place (post-Y workout so I got to justify the Mexi-fries) and she emerged from the Ladies exclaiming "I was taking care of the earth in there." swaggering, pointing a thumb back over her shoulder at the restrooms. She turned off the water while scrubbing her hands, apparently. Good to know someone did her part!
• Here's a "story problem" for you: you have a meeting scheduled from 3-4 PM – you can attend IRL or via phone; schools gets out at 3:15; your husband is in London; you have no after-school care previously arranged. Do you (a) collect child from school early so you can get home and plug her into a movie so you can call into the meeting or (b) try to find someone to take child home from school and stay at work for the meeting. I picked (a) – thinking I'd miss traffic and maybe get to the Y for a 4:30 class. So, we got home and Kid said she didn't want a movie; she'd rather just play in her room. Did you hear me? Kid said she didn't want a movie; she'd rather just play in her room. (Waiting for applause to die down … ) Then, I called in and they told me they needed the line for someone more important than I. So, I am using the bonus time to write this post!

Other recent events I need to tell you about … our weekend at Camp Colman, dressing for the Dalai Lama, why I waited this long to join Facebook, getting a permit to "import" the dog to Australia …

G'day. Still here.

I've not posted in so long that TypePad wanted my email address and password. They had forgotten what I looked like and virtually asked for ID! I get the message! Yes, we were in Melbourne. Yes, we were doing reconnaisance (not looking it up or spell-checking ... total guess ... how'd I do?). Yes, we are moving. (Notice that our "General Skills Migration" visa application was approved arrived at T -2 days before getting on the plane to Melbourne ... it made Immigration at the airport kind of awkward - "no I am not staying more than 6 months ... at least not this time!"). BUT WE HAVE NOT LEFT YET! Not that it would change my online address or presence. But I'd be able to use "moved overseas" as a decent excuse for not posting for so long. Instead all I have is "ignored the WiFi and laptop we had the entire trip ... just ... because I AM LAZY." There. Are you happy now?

Lazy Sunday

We have one of these:

I was trying to explain that when I was little we didn't have CDs, we had these - RECORDS. It felt so "we walked 5 miles to school backwards through the snow ... " that I just stopped mid-sentance and left the room to let her enjoy this - to her - new technology without my pathetic editorial. I had dragged a pile of albums out of the basement and she's settled on "Lovely Rita" as her new favorite song and is playing it over and over. There is a lot for kids to love on Beatles records, for sure.

UPDATED: We went from the Beatles to the Nutcracker (to which she danced a lovely pas de deux with a stuffed pug while costumed in a piece of gold sparkly fabric from the remnants bin at Joanne's) to the Pippin soundtrack, which I fear will be a permanent fixture on the turn-table unless it gets "lost" ... which is looking more and more likely. (Are you aware of the term earworm? Are you aware of the Pippin tune "Magic to Do"?) Gosh! It just struck me! She is like a queeny gay guy - with her love of show tunes, drama, gold sparkly fabric and - this was so obvious, why did I never realize before? - rainbows!