The last month seems to have whizzed past on fast forward.

I could offer an extended list of commitments to explain my absence from my blog over the past weeks, but I’m going to forgo that entirely and simply pick up where I left off since time is of the essence.

‘Time is of the essence’. What a bizarre phrase. Don’t you hate it when you utter some trite cliché and then realise that you have no idea what it actually means? Never mind. Time waits for no man and I don’t have any time up my sleeve to worry about it now.

Over the next week or so I have a number of reviews to publish as well as trying to get back into a routine of general blog posts. I have lots of things to tell you and some great books to recommend, so hopefully you haven’t all given up on me and you’ll call in to see what I’ve been up to.

Back soon with some news and reviews, so stay tuned.

My children love watching MasterChef Australia and I’m enjoying the unexpected side-effects of their MCA obsession. Not only are they fighting for the opportunity to help me cook, they are happily entertaining themselves playing MasterChef. With the help of a plastic picnic set, toy food and a few spare kitchen utensils, they have spent hours these holidays testing each other with mystery box challenges, invention tests and taste tests. The latter in particular can be quite tricky when using fake food, but they seem to manage.

I have been a guest judge on several occasions and I’ve even been tempted to find a scarf/cravat to lend myself the proper air of culinary discernment as I try to choose between the banana bread with ice-cream dipping sauce and the salad with fresh baked bread and tomato salsa.

Today the kids were obviously feeling artistic, as they happily occupied themselves making chalk drawings of the remaining contestants and the judges. My 6 year old son drew the pictures of Jimmy and Jonathan. My 9-year-old daughter drew the rest. What do you think?

(ETA: To avoid confusion, I should point out that Aaron is holding a bowl containing chicken drumsticks.)

Contestants

Judges

I find myself mentioning Twitter more and more often in general conversation of late. After sitting mesmerised by my computer screen last night and again this morning as I watched #spill unfold, I went to be wondering how I ever managed without my Tweeps to keep me informed and entertained.

So, to avoiding writing a serious post about today’s political events, I’m going to list all the reasons I love Twitter.

Hashtag Discussions of Significant Events
Whether it’s #spill/#spillard, #WorldCup2010 or #JustinBieber, I get to supplement my meagre knowledge of politics, sport, celebrity or the event/crisis du jour by eavesdropping on more knowledgeable and/or entertaining people chat about it. Sometimes I add my own comments, other times I just watch and learn. (Disclaimer: I’ve never actually followed a discussion on Justin Bieber. I just want to make that clear. Not that I’m judging, but… well, actually, yes I am.)

Hashtag TV
Watching #Masterchef, #QandA #Greys, #Lost, #origin football? If you are, you can curl up on the lounge with your laptop/iPhone and chat with fellow tweeps watching the same show. If you can’t be bothered, you can simply follow the tweets to know how it all ends and save yourself some time. Win-Win.

No Virtual Reality Games
I know that Mafia Wars did temporarily infiltrate Twitter, but it was much easier to ignore than repeated gifts of a calf or sheaf of wheat for my farm in Farmville or invitations to dine at CafeWorld. You know I love you too, Facebook friends, but you do realise that your Farmville farm isn’t real, don’t you?

Following Followers (or not)
You want to follow me? Fine. Go ahead. I only need to follow the people I find interesting or entertaining (or both). Tweet about what you had on your toast for breakfast and I’ll leave you to it without cluttering my Twitter stream with your comments. If only I could filter all my social interactions this way.

Hashtag games
I rarely join in, but I’ve enjoyed many of the hashtag games that regularly do the Twitter rounds. #LesserMovies #GreaterNovels #SpillMovies #FishMovies – there are some seriously quick-witted people out there and I thank you all for the many laughs you’ve given me.

Brushing shoulders with Celebrity
On Twitter, I get to rub shoulders with ‘celebrity’. I’m not talking about being one of Oprah’s gazillion followers, but rather actually interacting with various public figures (authors, politicians, journalists etc) in a meaningful way, even if it is only a one-off tweet or comment. 

Finding My Tribe
I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow the whole process of interacting on Twitter seems to draw together people with similar interests and complementary personalities. I’ve met people from all over Australia and all over the world with various backgrounds that have become friends – not e-friends, but genuine friends. I’ve been encouraged and supported, entertained, shared insights and information and simply had my world improved and made more interesting by some amazing people that I would never have met otherwise.

Do you love Twitter? Hate it? Don’t understand what all the fuss is about? Leave a comment and let me know why.

I don’t have a lot of indulgences in my life – I don’t drink a lot of alcohol, smoke, gamble, drink coffee, coke or even soft drinks in general. I don’t watch much television and I don’t go out all that often without my kids in tow.

You know, reading over this, it has suddenly become clear why I don’t get many party invitations.

I’ve listed all the things I don’t do, so I should point out that I do have some weaknesses. I’m rather fond of chocolate, spend far too much time chatting on Twitter and have a love of books and the written word that borders on obsessive.

I also love tea.

It has been one of the delights of 2010 that I have discovered The Tea Centre at a local Westfield shopping centre. I’m slowly working my way through their extensive catalogue of teas – black, green, white, flavoured, fruit and more. My current favourites are Sydney Special, Strawberry Cream, Ritz Carlton and Stockholm Blend.

After years of being limited to Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast while friends had 19 different varieties of coffee on offer at cafés, I’ve finally found out what it is like to have a range of choices. It has been wonderful, spectacular, amazing. (Further evidence, as if you needed it, of why those party invitations don’t make it to my mailbox).

A good friend would be pleased that I have found pleasure in such a simple thing, that I’ve found a way to indulge my senses in a way that doesn’t cripple my budget or endanger my soul. A good friend certainly wouldn’t accompany me to my own little piece of paradise, then go home and send me an email with a link to this article about a recent study which has found a strong association between tea and rheumatoid arthritis.

This post is for you, Meredith. You really are a killjoy.

I found this meme at Tina Gray {dot} Me, who apparently borrowed it from Flawed. It’s like the circle of life, but with blog content rather than cute animated Disney characters.

So here goes, I’ve highlighted all the one’s I’ve completed and added some extra comments in brackets here and there (you might want to remove these if you copy & paste the list for your blog). I have a score of  67/102, which is probably better than I expected.

How many of these things have you done?

1. Heard a kookaburra in person. (I’ve also had a sausage stolen from my plate at a BBQ by a kookaburra)
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Seen a koala.
4. Visited Melbourne. (I’m guessing changing planes at Melbourne airport doesn’t count)
5. Watched a summer thunderstorm.
6. Worn a pair of thongs.
7. Been to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock)
8. Visited Cape York.
9. Held a snake.
10. Sang along with Khe San. (in a pub while drinking beer. Doesn’t get more Aussie than that)
11. Drank VB.
12. Visited Sydney.
13. Have seen a shark.
14. Have used Aussie (and NZ) slang naturally in a conversation.
15. Had an actual conversation with an indigenous Australian (Aboriginal). (Not sure why this is particularly ‘Aussie’, as Indigenous Australians can be found all around the world. To round this point out, I should also note that I have had conversations with Australian’s of a variety of cultural backgrounds including Serbian, Greek, US, Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Tongan, German, Canadian, Vietnamese and too many others to mention.)
16. Eaten hot chips from the bag at the beach.
17. Walked/climbed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
18. Used an outside dunny, and checked under the seat before sitting down.
19. Seen Chloe in Young & Jackson’s.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Been to Sydney’s Mardi Gras
22. Have gone bush-bashing.
23. Taken a sickie.
24. Been to see a game of Aussie Rules football.
25. Have seen wild camels. (both camels in the wild and angry camels – do I get to count this twice?)
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Done a Tim Tam Slam.
28. Ridden in a tram in Melbourne.
29. Been at an ANZAC day Dawn Service. (I’ve been to ANZAC services, just not at dawn. My dad used to run two-up games on ANZAC day, so I should get bonus points for that)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. (I’ve seen the sunrise/set over both the Pacific & Indian oceans)
31. Held a wombat.
32. Been on a roadtrip of 800km or more. (biggest Aussie roadtrip has been almost 10,000km)
33. Seen the Great Australian Bight in person.
34. Had a really bad sunburn.
35. Visited an Aboriginal community.
36. Seen a redback spider. (several times, unfortunately)
37. Have watched Paul Hogan.
38. Seen Blue Poles in person. (and discussed how much it cost and whether it was worth it)
39. Wandered barefoot in the bush/outback.
40. Eaten Vegemite.
41. Thrown a boomerang.
42. Seen the Kimberleys.
43. Given a hitch-hiker a lift.
44. Been to Perth.
45. Have tried Lemon, Lime and Bitters.
46. Tried playing a didgeridoo.
47. Seen dinosaur footprints.
48. Eaten Tim Tams.
49. Been to Darwin.
50. Touched a kangaroo.
51. Visted the Great Barrier Reef.
52. Listened to Kevin Bloody Wilson. (not by choice, so maybe I shouldn’t count this one)
53. Killed a Cane Toad.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Have read and own books by Australian authors. (I’ve even talked to several Aussie authors, so I should get bonus points for this one)
56. Visited Adelaide.
57. Know the story behind “Eternity”.
58. Been camping. (I didn’t enjoy it, but I have done it, so that counts)
59. Visited Brisbane.
60. Been in an outback pub.
61. Know what the term “Waltzing Matilda” actually means.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Listened to Slim Dusty (My husband’s Nan had a photo of herself with Slim on her 90th Birthday party invitations)
64. Own five or more Australian movies or TV series. (I even have season 1 of Skippy. That kangaroo could do everything)
65. Sang along to Down Under. (Khe Sahn & Down Under mentioned. What about singing along to Gangajang’s ‘Sounds of Then. That should count too, right?)
66. Have stopped specifically to look at an historic marker by the side of the road. (Banjo Paterson’s memorial and the Burke & Wills tree)
67. Eaten a 4′n’20 pie.
68. Surfed at Bondi. (I haven’t surfed anywhere despite growing up on the coast. I have been to Bondi though, so maybe a 1/2 point for this one)
69. Watched the cricket on Boxing Day. (also watched the start of the Sydney to Hobart and don’t forget watching The Race at Bathurst in October)
70. Visited Hobart.
71. Eaten kangaroo. (and emu and crocodile and camel)
72. Seen a quokka.
73. Visited Canberra.
74. Visited rainforests.
75. Used a Victa lawnmower.
76. Travelled on a tram in Adelaide.
77. Used a Hills hoist.
78. Visited Kata Tjuta
79. Used native Australian plants in cooking.
80. Visited the snow.
81. Chosen a side in Holden VS Ford.
82. Visited the desert.
83. Been water skiing
84. Read The Phantom.
85. Visited Parliament House. (Old & New)
86. Gone spotlighting or pig-shooting. (For those that know me, I’m not kidding. I really have done this)
87. Crossed the Nullarbor. (I’m guessing flying over it in a plane doesn’t count)
88. Avoided swimming in areas because of crocodiles.
89. Listened to AC/DC.
90. Called someone a dag.
91. Voted in a Federal Election.
92. Have been swimming and stayed between the flags.
93. Had a possum in your roof.
94. Visited the outback.
95. Travelled over corrugated roads.
96. Hit a kangaroo while driving.
97. Been well outside any mobile phone coverage.
98. Seen an emu.
99. Have woken to the smell of bushfires.
100. Subscribed to RRR.
101. Patted a pure-bred dingo.
102. Seen the Oils live.

If you use this meme on your blog, come back and leave a comment. If it’s your most recent post, the comment luv feature sure add the link to your comment automatically.

There are few moments as satisfying as the opportunity to deliver a well-timed “I told you so”.

I know that I’m about to offer conclusive proof that I am a less than ideal parent, but a small part of me was waiting for the results of my son’s saxophone exam yesterday, knowing that they would offer me the opportunity to quietly (and just a little smugly) remind him that I had told him, several times, that regular practice was the best way to master an instrument.

I know it’s more than a little immature, but I was going to say it anyway.

The fact that I didn’t say it isn’t a sign of the ‘good parent’ voice winning out over the ‘tell it like it is’ parent voice. No. It was because my only-practices-his-saxophone-when-forced-to son received an A for his exam. That’s right. An A.

How did this happen? I have absolutely no idea. I guess I could fall back on the ‘my child is a musical prodigy’ theory, but I’m more inclined to believe that the universe is out to get me and some eddy in the space time continuum cause the sound waves to warp in the examination room just to pull the rug from under me.

My biggest problem now, aside from wondering just how long I will be able to put up with the smug smile my son gives me every time his saxophone is mentioned, is trying to work out how I will get him to practice regularly from now on. I give my chances of getting him to practice even 3 times a week as somewhere between Buckley’s and none. *sigh*

Sometimes life just isn’t fair.

I was amused as I walked past a classroom at my children’s school yesterday to overhear a teacher explaining time differences around the world using the upcoming World Cup game between Uruguay and Mexico as an example. “The game will be played at Xpm in South Africa, which means to see it live we would have to be watching our television at Yam in the morning, because the world is round and when the sun is shining on one side, it is dark on the other.

Football (soccer) really is the World Game.

I’m not a particularly athletic person, but even I have to admire a sport that can incorporate physical activity, geography, mathematics, science and some really buff incredibly gifted athletes.

Despite my lack of sporting prowess (or indeed even the most fleeting enthusiasm for anything even vaguely athletic) I must confess that it’s hard to resist the lure of World Cup. I’ve bought a poster to keep track of the match results and might even make an effort to watch some of the games. Possibly. If the timing isn’t too ridiculous. Well, I’ll record them and watch them with no more than a 12 hour delay.

But it’s not just about national pride and a chance to barrack for the Australian team taking part in The Beautiful Game. By the end of the World Cup, I’m aiming to work out how to incorporate all the key learning areas across the primary school curriculum into a discussion of football, saving time and possibly reducing student truancy. It’s worth a try.

Will you be watching the games? Sitting up late or cheating like me and recording them to watch at a more civilized hour? Want to help me put together a proposal to use football (and remember we’re talking soccer here) as the basis for a new national curriculum? Make sure you add your comments below.

Ever wish your life was Bigger! Greater! More Amazing!

I know how you feel.

After declaring 2009 “The Year Best Forgotten”, I am determined that 2010 is going to be a much better year – a time for new beginnings, achieving goals and aspiring to greater things.

The trouble is, I’m having some difficulty defining exactly what my goals are and finding time in my schedule of everyday life commitments to fit in activities that are inspiring, uplifting and encouraging.

After almost 11 years as a full-time stay-at-home mum I’m starting to feel a little type-cast. Not that I regret my choice. I’ve loved every minute of being at home with my kids – well, not the toilet training bit, but most of the rest of it. I have worked from home over the years, initially as a contract specialist medical typist and more recently as a freelance writer, but generally I have simply spent each day keeping my family and friends motoring along.

My youngest child started school this year and I’m starting to feel like I’ve been painted into a corner socially. A corner labelled “loves to chat about her kids, cooking, cleaning and the supermarket” where I’m likely to be listening to someone extol the virtues of the latest cookbook giving advice on how to hide artichokes and pumpkin in chocolate chip cookies so that kids get their daily vegetable intake.

I have recently ventured back to uni in an attempt to once again broaden my horizons, although this seems to have backfired a little with the textbook apparently the result of an English to Academic Psychobabble Google translator. I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve spent too long in the don’t-think-too-hard wilderness and my brain is no longer capable of intelligent thought.

So, I’m wondering how to balance focusing on everyday life and social chit-chat with establishing connections with people who enjoy thinking about things more deeply. I do have friends that enjoy the kind of conversations that I do, so perhaps it is more an issue of adjusting the balance to allow for more time talking with these friends.

Maybe my problem is that I’m a little bit too much ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. I know a little bit about a lot of things – books, music, science, politics, social issues, education, religion, photography, history. Eclectic tastes ensure a wide and diverse range of interests, but don’t necessarily result in a passion to pursue any one interest in particular. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that I want to passionately pursue all these interests, so I end up trying to go in 10 different directions at once and therefore don’t go anywhere.

Anyone else out there feeling the same? Wanting more from life, but not quite sure how to get more without losing some of the great things that you already have? I’m open to advice, sympathy and even gentle constructive criticism, so feel free to leave a comment.

Who listens to the radio? Well, hopefully lots of people were tuned in to ABC Newcastle today to listen to me chat with the super amazing Carol Duncan and Meredith (from Oh, The Thinks You Can Think).

What? You didn’t hear our scintillating conversation? Never fear. Carol Duncan has made the audio file available at Afternoons with Carol Duncan.

There were several issues raised during our conversation that I will no doubt write about in the near future, but the thing that has struck me the most is the way in which the old-fashioned medium of the ‘wireless’ has adapted to new technology.

Firstly, there was the delightful twist our conversation took thanks to some tweets by Jayne Kearney (@indydreaming) and Meredith’s husband. Thanks to their input, which Carol was able to access while we were chatting, Meredith delighted us all with her Chewbacca impersonation. I kid you not. Given the opportunity to share her deepest and most inspiring thoughts with the world via the airwaves, Meredith simply growled like a wookie. You just can’t take some people out in public.

I should mention (because if I don’t, Meredith will be really cross) that Meredith did in fact contribute some very interesting remarks. That’s hardly surprising though. After all, we were there to chat with Carol about our role as bloggers and writers and Meredith is, generally speaking, a rather insightful and intelligent individual.

The thing that really caught my attention, however, was that Carol could be chatting with us and adapting the conversation to feature the input of listeners at the same time. For an ‘old-fashioned’ form of communication, I think that’s quite impressive.

I’m also impressed that Carol could then make an audio file available for download on her own blog at the ABC Radio Newcastle website. Listen live or at your own convenience. Doesn’t get much better than that. No, wait it does. I can also download the file and store it on my iPod, can’t I? Doing that will mean I can play back Meredith’s Chewbacca impression whenever and wherever I want. Now that is truly impressive.

There seems to be a ‘then and now’ concept when referring to technology. ‘Then’ is old and outdated, ‘Now’ is new and functional (until next week when it will join the old and outdated class and be replaced by something even newer and more functional). I loved the experience of being part of something that merges an older technology with something new and dynamic.

Thanks again Carol for the opportunity to chat today. I had a great time.

Summary of Today’s Radio Experience

• Morning tea to give us the sugar boost we needed to get through the afternoon: $10.50
• Parking meter charges to park in Newcastle West at ABC radio: $2.00
• Sitting next to Meredith as she performed her wookie impersonation on live radio: priceless!

Tomorrow Meredith from Oh, The Thinks You Can Think and I will be interviewed by Carol Duncan for the local Newcastle ABC radio broadcast. As we have been trying to work out what we could possibly have to say that might be in any way interesting (aside from telling embarrassing stories about each other), it occurred to us that we have been friends for more than half our lifetime.

We met when we were 12, on the first day of high school. Twenty-something years later, we still get together at least once a week to catch up and often chat on the phone. Back in 2005 we even wrote a cookbook together called Keep the Table Laughing.

Because I’m a kind of nerdy, navel-gazy sort of person, I’ve been pondering why it is that our friendship has lasted so long. I’ve come up with the following list:

Why I Am Friends With Meredith

• She writes notes like “ass/shop/tennis” as a reminder to tell me something, then can’t remember what it means.
• She doesn’t make fun of me (to my face) when I get excited about performing very basic technical tasks (like working out how to sync my Outlook calendar with my iPod).
• She also obsesses about completing the word association web on iAssociate.
• She can be easily (and cheaply) bribed with a cup of coffee and the assurance that I don’t have any other friends as funny as she is.
• She knows when to schunkeln.
• Because in the course of a one hour conversation, we can cover such diverse topics as Alvin & the Chipmunks: the Squeak-el, mommy bloggers, Christian fundamentalism, post-impressionist art, the Australian political landscape, geeky iPod apps, whitegoods, German folk music, grocery prices and colouring your lady bits.
• She always buys me the perfect gift for my birthday. I still have my Famous Writer Magenetised Finger Puppets stuck to the fridge – Tolstoy, Dickens, Shakespeare and Woolf.
• She also thinks that it’s awesome that Floyd from the band in the Muppets was pink. Think about it.

What do you value most in your friends? I know all about the loyalty, compassion, encouragement, honesty stuff. What quirky things about your friends make you look forward to seeing them and spending time with them?