mmmmm, so what do YOU all have planned ?
I wonder just how many ‘baby boomers’ were conceived after a night like like this ???
Tag Archives: reflections
stuck up…
10 FebOver recent times I have been taking more and more notice of stickers on cars… kind of like body art they have become (a slightly less permanent) expression of one’s identity.
Some of them are amusing, some cute, some downright racist and obnoxious…. and some just make me wonder …WHY??
Like the two I passed today with RIP (insert name here) followed by their DOB & DOD – emblazoned in huge lettering across the rear window.
I don’t feel strongly ‘for’ or ‘against’ this … whatever floats your boat is fine with me, but I do wonder what it really says ???
I almost understand when the person was a young’n and perhaps lost their life in a car accident (I don’t know why that’s different, but it somehow feels it)… but today’s example was born in 1935 and died in 2013… 78yrs, a pretty average sort of innings by today’s standard.
Then there are the ‘Peter Brock’ fans whose view through their rear windscreens are almost completely zilch due to their public display of grief at the loss of their hero …. Again I ask …Why ??
Don’t even start me on the stick families … or the Aussie pride (read racist) sentiments often shouting at you from the next lane on the freeway…. that’s another story !
how to ruin a good movie …and lunch
8 FebSitting in a cafe today and I was acutely aware of the bizarre scene that was unfolding at the next table.
Nothing dreadful (well I guess, that’s debatable lol), just two ’50 something women’ talking. Perhaps I should rephrase that ~ one talking …loudly and non stop, while the other made strange noises like ‘ooh’… ‘o-h’…’reeea-lly’…’mmm’ …’yeah’.
It was the most absurd demonstration of one sided babble, while woman #1 proceeded to tell her friend (and anyone within earshot), the entire storyline of a new release movie. At every opportunity she mentioned ‘Geoffrey Rush’ by name, as though she was trying to sound cultured, although the loud and monotone voice was a dead give-away on the question of culture. 
Then, only mildly more irritating than the Geoffrey Rush echo was the repeated chorus line ‘you’ve just GOT to see it’ … well here’s the truth ..No she doesn’t…. and neither do we, now that we know the whole darn story.
Perhaps it’s vocal envy, and my inability to compete… but I have to say that overbearing voices are right up there on my list of the ten most irritating behaviours ~ even worse than nose picking or pimple squeezing.
I’m irritated and ’50 something’…
but not dead yet.
coffee cringes
6 FebI love my coffee just as much as the next person …but I really find ‘coffee snobs’ hard to swallow; they are popping up everywhere and are just as bad as the know-it-all wine snob. I really don’t care whether it’s plunged, perked, dripped or instant…as long as it is hot strong and not-too-milky.
Which brings me to my point…. when IS it ok to complain about a bad one, without sounding like a complete tosser?
Today I had the pleasure of meeting a friend for catch up and coffee at a cafe in her workplace … It was made even better when she offered to shout…( I should have suspected something when she opted for a cold drink instead). So, there we were settled into our conversation and I took my first sip… eeek… watery and very very odd flavour. I just smiled and we continued to talk as I felt awkward that: (a) she has paid for it …and (b) I hate to complain (and sound like a tosser).
So…I persevered for 2 more mouthfuls until it all became TOO much…The vile after-taste had me imagining that I was about to succumb to some sort of bizarre toxicity and be rushed off to the local hospital ( and THAT wasn’t a good option – I know because I work there).
I eventually fess up and tell my friend that it is god awful, and she laughed saying “that’s why no-one buys coffee here”. (LOL thanks Karen).
I decided to brave it and tell the barista…BUT… given the crowd and my ‘vocal challenges’, it just all became too hard …so I binned it !! (and left feeling bad for the next victim)…. BUT I am happy to report that I’m 50 something and (still) not dead yet despite my ordeal.
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scratch that itch…
4 FebLast night I posed the question … is a good back scratch better than sex?
Well I’m going to let you make up your own mind about THAT… All I am suggesting is that over more recent years…(since becoming a ‘50 something’)I have developed an itchy back. There are no signs of anything wrong or irritation, I just think I’ve come to love the sensation of a good back scratch and will take (almost) any opportunity to get one.
Funny really, because I can remember my dear Dad sidling up to a door jam for a good old back scratch, and thinking he was ‘a little odd’ as he almost purred with relief while he rubbed his back against the sharp timber edge.
But, I sometimes wonder what comes first the itch?… or the scratch?
Scratching perpetuates the itch and before you know it the whole surface of your back is screaming out for more (I’m sure you all know that deliriously delightful sensation).
When checking to see if there were any photos worth pinching to attach to tonight’s post, I stumbled across the attached link to an article called “scratching your ankle is like masturbating” …. so perhaps we ARE onto something here after all ….but in the wrong area.
Lets face it…it’s cheap, it’s easy, and you can do it almost anywhere… alone or with a partner.
http://thestir.cafemom.com/love_sex/131957/scratching_your_ankle_is_the.
how to spot a sycophant…
29 JanFrom the time I was little (well probably ‘young’ is a better description…I was never really ‘little’), I have believed that all people were equal… race, gender, colour, age were all irrelevant in my simple mind; not through any particular social consciousness, probably more because I was too ‘simple’ to categorise people (or maybe because I’m a Libran and life is all about things being equal).
Don’t panic….I’m not about to jump on any do-gooder equality soap box …you either believe it or you don’t… BUT when it comes to sycophants? well that’s a different story (cue the soap box).
I can’t help but notice that this fabulous word has rolled off many-a- tongue in recent conversations… partly because it’s such a fantastic word to say (go on try it… ‘sick-o-fant’) but also because the act of sycophancy seems almost compulsory in some circles.
You may not be particularly familiar with it’s meaning BUT I’ll bet you recognise, ‘brown nose’…’groveller’…’suck-hole’…’crawler’… ‘flatterer’ … and the list goes on; but for the record, the dictionary describes the sycophant as
‘a servile self-seeker who attempts to win favour by flattering influential people’.
We all know them, and they are easy to spot; usually with a dirty nose and muttering incessant drivel about the qualities of their chosen ‘hero’. Generally speaking they make you want to puke as they fawn around the boss, the rich, the powerful, the influential… but contribute nothing.
So back to my point, we all eat, breathe, sleep and pee the same regardless of our ‘position’… so whether your job is to remove the brain tumours or mop the operating theatre floor embrace it, and help free the world of sycophants.
End of sermon.
homemaker….or making home?
25 JanNow I’m no Martha Gardener, but I do my bit to keep the place in a reasonable state of liveability; and while it may not be 
sanitised, sterilised and anti-bacterialised… with every germ destroying product that’s meant to turn you into the perfect ‘homemaker’ … the place is safe and no-one has succumbed to anything terminal following a visit.
BUT that said … I do have to wonder, “where do all the cobwebs come from?” I mean …as I was vacuuming today I found so many cobwebs , some with spiders and some without ….all carefully constructed by ‘daddy longlegs’ who were lurking somewhere. … but where ???
Come to think of it …. what IS the purpose of the daddy long leg? Such a fragile harmless looking creature, with that tiny tiny body and all those gangly legs…what does it do all day? (other than setting up home on my cornices…, just to be sucked back down again at first sighting).
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the fine art of fishing
16 JanIt’s true to say that ever since I was young, I have liked to challenge convention; not in any huge anti-establishment kind of way, but more an irreverence to accepted practice. As a young adult I was always good at questioning and then stretching the rules (rather than breaking them outright) and the more someone told me ‘this is the way we do it …(whatever ‘IT’ was)’ the more likely I was to find an alternative way to get there.
So it comes as no surprise that from the time I met my now ’50 something’ man, (who considered himself an accomplished fisherman; having been trained in the nuances of the sport by his father) … I have challenged the ‘rules’ of fishing. Who says the fish don’t bite if it’s windy (surely it doesn’t affect them underwater)… or that you should have a particular type of line with a particular style of hook if you want to catch a particular kind of fish…and then there is the bait… bla bla bla ….on it goes, and suddenly a simple and relaxing pastime becomes fraught with rules.
MY rule is just grab whatever leftovers you have handy (that will stay on your hook), and knock yourself out. As for line and rigging …if it looks good and the hook stays on, then who cares what kind of knots you tie?
Some of my more successful moments have been with apple and chicken, but over the past few days I have managed to score flathead with BBQ’d tomato and basil sausage, and bream with multigrain toast. See…Who said it needs to be complicated? (although I’m sure my now departed FIL would turn in his grave at the thought …)
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when is a bargain not a bargain?
2 JanToday I’m wondering about the things that we are good at …..and the things that we are not so good at. In fact there are many many things that I am really shit at, but today I want to admit to a failing that many of you will find ridiculous. I am just useless at internet shopping !!!
Sure I have clicked ‘buy now’ on a number of Catch of the Day or similar promos that fall in your lap and you don’t need to think about (and more likely, don’t actually ‘need’ at all)… but when it comes to deliberate purchases …I suck.
I have never been a great bargain hunter. You know the type, comparing prices and value for money, blah blah blah …. so the idea of comparing a “WORLD’s worth’ of products to get the best price really just annoys me. I would much rather walk into a shop to touch, feel, smell, try on …. a product, than to click ‘buy’ and then wonder if it really is what I think it is.
I have had several disaster purchases, but today’s case in point goes like this: I was needing a new smart phone …don’t really care too much other than it MUST be dual sim card. I let Michael do lots of the background reviews and then present me with a shortlist, which was then easily narrowed to one specific phone.
This phone was available in-store at a reasonable price last Monday (walk in walk out with it) BUT, was advertised $50 cheaper online, with the option to ‘pick-up’. That that sounded completely reasonable to me (even though it meant a trip to Parramatta), so taking the opportunity for a girly day of shopping with a friend and lunch, I collected it on Tuesday . BUT after driving all the way home, I soon discovered it was NOT the dual sim model of the phone at all !! Aarrgh.
Of course the store was closed by the time I realised and we tried to call, …then the following day (yesterday) was a public holiday… So today I headed back to Parra to exchange it, only to be told that the advertisement was wrong BUT I could have the dual sim phone for …. the SAME price that I could have bought it in the first place last Monday, but ‘by the way …we don’t have the colour you want’.
So my potential $50 savings cost me 4 x 55km trips, a parking fee, a heap of time, and a whole lot of opportunistic shopping en route… only to get a full refund and then buy (the right colour) at the original price… go figure !!
Wonder Years 