A Letter to My Son On Entering University: The Journey Continues

By far and away my most popular post has been about the letter I wrote to my son on his final school year retreat.

Titled, A Letter To My Son: Reflections On A Journey it contained my thoughts and messages to my 17-year-old son as he was about to face the toughest academic year of his young life. Each day the post is read many times. It seems many of us parents are looking for inspiration about what to say to our teenage children, particularly on reaching high school graduation. My readers for this post come from all over the world and the issue seems to transcend geographic borders.

So in keeping with this theme, I am posting my next letter to my son who thankfully survived his last year of high school and just this week started university.

Uni grads

As parents, we often feel that the wisdom we try to impart goes unheeded. But I have a small, sneaking suspicion that when we turn our backs and when the going gets a little tough it is our voice that our offspring recalls, our words that are headed and our example that he follows. So in that vein, here is some of my Curtain Raising Wisdom. You never know, when my children are in their thirties and are parents themselves they might even acknowledge that I made some sense.

And so to the letter:

Dear J,

Without preamble or fanfare, let me say I am proud of you. You are now a high school graduate and a university freshman and at the start of what truly is a great adventure.

You will have heard a lot of people say that the university years are the best of your life. And they are right… to a point.

Much awaits you at university, it now all lies at your feet and ahead of you. Step carefully, son of mine as there will be many a siren call to tempt you from your path. You are now an adult of drinking age [note to US readers, the legal drinking age here in Australia is 18], and you will, for the first time, be surrounded in your academic endeavours by members of the opposite sex. Enjoy their presence and learn from them. Learn from their organisation, enterprise and their studiousness. Learn the subtle interplay between male and female, but always remember to practice respect and equality and above all, safe pleasure.

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Mix with the rest of the university population as this is your chance to make life long friendships from a wide circle. Trust me, friendships don’t get deeper than if you have sweated together at 3.00am the night before an assignment is due and neither of you has a clue what the question means. Make friends with people who are studying towards degrees other than your own, pick their brains, let them pick yours, ask questions, think broadly and enjoy the quest to find the answers.

At university no-one takes attendance. Whether you attend lectures and tutorials is up to you. However, as usual with freedom comes responsibility and your own destiny now lies more in your hands. Remember when your high school teachers told you what to read, how to answer a question, where to find resources and reminded you that assessments were due? All that has now stopped and it is up to you to work out what needs to happen and how to get to the end goal. It may be hard at first, but persevere, because this is where you will learn the essential life skills of initiative, self-reliance and resilience.

Enjoy the freedom of having time to work whilst studying, but do not be lured by the false promise of immediate and easy cash. Working is great and offers you a lot of freedom, but do not be lured by the instant gratification of what appears to be easy independence. You will earn more money than you have ever had, but keep your eye on the bigger goal.

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

You are laying foundations and foundations need to be strong and solid. They take time to build and time to settle. It really is true when they say nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. Perhaps if my words don’t resonate then the words of 50 Cent from the 50th Law might:

THE FOOLS IN LIFE WANT THINGS FAST AND EASY—MONEY, SUCCESS, ATTENTION. BOREDOM IS THEIR GREAT ENEMY AND FEAR. WHATEVER THEY MANAGE TO GET SLIPS THROUGH THEIR HANDS AS FAST AS IT COMES IN. YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, WANT TO OUTLAST YOUR RIVALS. YOU ARE BUILDING THE FOUNDATION FOR SOMETHING THAT CAN CONTINUE TO EXPAND. TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN, YOU WILL HAVE TO SERVE AN APPRENTICESHIP. YOU MUST LEARN EARLY ON TO ENDURE THE HOURS OF PRACTICE AND DRUDGERY, KNOWING THAT IN THE END ALL OF THAT TIME WILL TRANSLATE INTO A HIGHER PLEASURE—MASTERY OF A CRAFT AND OF YOURSELF. YOUR GOAL IS TO REACH THE ULTIMATE SKILL LEVEL—AN INTUITIVE FEEL FOR WHAT MUST COME NEXT.

Your father and I believe in you and trust that you have the right tools to see you through the next four years. Go after some of the shiny, shiny distractions, but never forget why you are at University and never forget your dream. Shiny looks even better once you have taken care of business.

Enjoy this time and enjoy all that is to come. It is a parent’s biggest joy to see their offspring fly.

Did you have some great memories of Univserity/College? Do you remember your University/College days? Did you divert from the acadmeic path only to come back to it again in later life?

Stop Using The “CC” As A Weapon

Email, you gotta hate love it.

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

My introduction to email occurred about two decades ago when it opened up the possibility of real time communication with the whole world through an innocuous click. It also made serious inroads into my mastery of the fine art of workplace corridor loitering, you know the loitering you do as a junior whatever to wait for that perfect moment to jump into an office to experience some face time with a senior.

Some might say it is now outdated technology, that communication is all about flow and interaction. Email has a tendency to be fragmented and usually less gratifying. Some might also say that the advent of platforms such as Skype and Facebook chat have usurped the need for email. However, it seems that email is here to stay, at least in business.

I’m sure most of us have some humorous workplace email stories to tell. I’m also sure most of us have misunderstood or have been misunderstood through email and have had the experience where a lot of time and angst could have been avoided if we had just picked up this somewhat underutilised device, called the telephone.

For example, at my last workplace there was a row of desks and partitioning separating the offices which were located along  each wall of a long corridor. Sort of like the Berlin Wall, but the offices belonged to people from the same country department. Despite it being a five minute walk around the Wall (there were no gun or passport controls in evidence) and despite telephones being standard issue, my colleague would send me a slew of emails to deal with a simple matter that could have been resolved in a two minute conversation. Clearly this dude was not going to brave the Wall. Maybe he was too concerned about being thought of as a rebel dissident.

As I move through middle age, I spend a fair bit of time thinking about human interaction, relationships, motivation, influence and connectivity. I’m a fairly late study to these matters and so I approach all of them with the enthusiasm that only “mature age students” can muster.

I am particularly interested how humans use the “CC” field in email and how over time it has taken on a life of its own.

emailetiquette-cc2

Here are couple of observations:

Using CC as a means of CYA

If you have ever played the ancient art of  “telephone-tag” you will know that the  convenience of an email is unsurpassed. You can get your point of view across quickly to a LOT of people at a time of your convenience.

This possibility has led to a rise in what is also an ancient art, the CYA. The CYA, or Cover Your Arse involves copying an  email (through the use of the CC field  – CC, standing for “circulate copy” or “carbon copy”) to twenty other people, the last eighteen of whom are at least five steps removed from the actual subject matter, and couldn’t give a toss about such minutiae. But, rather than back him or herself, the author has purposely set up an “out” if things go pear-shaped “But you knew, you had a copy of the email!”. Here’s a tip: knowing and receiving an email are vastly different things, especially if you have a high traffic in-box. I truly wonder how much these CC’s readers understand the whole matter, even if they do take time to read the email, given they would only have one side of the discussion in real time. Stop with the CC’s already!!

tearing hear out

 

Using CC as an escalation device – the ultimate weapon

I will admit to this being my pet peeve as I detest passive aggression in any form.

This is an example of highly strategic use of the CC. It involves CCing*  senior managers who are perceived as important. Rather than build relationships with the recipient, the author sees fit to CC* the recipient’s senior managers to make sure they know about what is usually a request of the recipient. This way, the senior manager can ensure that his or her underling is performing the required task.

Is this really necessary? Where are you going to escalate to, when escalation truly becomes necessary – if it in fact does? I’m sure that the Lord’s inbox is a lot fuller than yours and that he has other priorities.

How these people must bask in the light of CC afterglow. The cries of “Ha, I showed you and I didn’t even appear to be as spiteful as I really am” echoing through the cyberworld.

I’m not going to touch upon the BCC (being “blind circulate copy”) field in this post, which takes passive aggression to a whole other level.

In summary, the use of the CC field for anything other than what it was designed for is fraught. The agenda of the author is often clearly obvious from his or her use of the field. It is time folks, that we all stopped using the CC as a weapon and actually used it for the purposes of positive communication. Spare a thought not only for the primary recipient of the email as to how your CC will be perceived but also to all your poor CC recipients, who will either get RSI from hitting the delete key or have to spend hours filing your butt covering tracks away. Time better spent having a non-written conversation with a living, breathing human.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of some CC aggression? Do you have a humorous email use story you wish to share?

* I apologise to all the grammar purists out there for using CC as a verb, but this reflects usual parlance and I treat my blog as a conversation not a literary vehicle

I’ve Been Given The Bird And I’m Thrilled #atozchallenge

As preparation and excitement was mounting for the start of the A to Z April Blogging Challenge, a call from the Challenge co-hosts went out for a team of minions to assist with the behind the scenes verification of signed up blogs. The enticement offered by the co-hosts to sign up for minionship was a special A to Z volunteer badge and the offer of a few blog linkages.

The minute I saw the call, I knew I had to sign up. The enticements offered are fine, but to me the real enticement was the opoortunity to work with some amazing and experienced bloggers. So, having braved the great WordPress/Blogger divide, I put my Gravatar up for the cause. It was up to each co-host to choose how many and who they wanted on their volunteer teams, so the volunteer teams were up for grabs.

I am thrilled to announce, I GOT THE BIRD!!!!!!!

ARLEE_~1

What this actually means is that I, together with four other bloggers, are now official Arlee Bird ambassadors for the A to Z April Blogging Challenge. Over the coming weeks we will be checking blogs that have signed up for the Challenge to ensure the links work and that they are legitimate blogs, not just purely promotional vehicles. We will also be checking that they have not overdosed on the use of profanity or if they have they are appropriately marked as adult content. Moreover, we will be spreading A to Z Challenge goodwill to signed up blogs. I’m looking forward to the task of sprinkling some A to Z Challenge love.

To set the scene for the coming weeks, I thought I’d tell you a bit more about The Bird and my fellow Birdassadors (as I have termed them).

The Bird

The Bird, whose blogging name is Arlee Bird, conceived and is the mastermind behind the A to Z Challenge. Arlee resides in sunny California and runs three personal blogs as well as contributing to the A to Z April Blogging Challenge Blog. Arlee’s three blogs are:

Tossing It Out – this is Arlee’s main blog and in his own words covers the field from economics to entertainment. It is a blog rich in postal variety and includes posts on business promotion, US politics, poetry and the human condition. A veritable potpourri from someone who clearly is well read, finds the world an interesting place and conveys that interest with enthusiasm and well written prose.

Wrote by Rote – is a blog about written memoirs, or more specifically provides thoughts and tips on producing a memoir. You can find information on music and video to feed into your memoir, life stages and the elements that go into a good memoir.

A Faraway View – is a blog about dreams of the nighttime variety. It contains posts about the different types of dreams and their aftermath. Arlee’s nocturnal life must be as exciting as his waking hours to produce a whole blog dedicated to the topic. For someone like me who doesn’t remember their dreams often, it makes for interesting reading.

I belive that Arlee will be entering at least two, if not all three, of the blogs into the Challenge. It is no wonder that the lead up to and the Challenge month of April is a busy time for Arlee. Good luck with the Challenge, Arlee and thank you for believing in me as a Birdassador. My aim will be to pay the goodwill you showed me through my first Challenge, last year, forward to other bloggers. For a newbie blogger your guidance and interest made a big difference to the Challenge experience.

The Birdassadors

Arlee’s love of the eclectic has extended to his choice of Birdassadors. My four cohorts are:

Alana who blogs at Writercize. This is the place for writers! The blog is centered around word play and writing tips and exercises to capture the imagination and help with writer’s block. Alana has recently added opinion posts as well as insight on the growing pains and highlights associated with a burgeoning writing career to her blog mix.

Jaimie who blogs at Living In The Light. This blog is about Jaimie’s relationship with her husband and with Christianity. It contains some soulful reflections and important messages. Not forgetting the earthly necessities, it also contains posts about cooking and recipes.

Red Sonja: She Devil with a Sword, a compilation of blog writers who blog at a site of the same name. Wikipedia tells me that:

Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard‘s 1934 short story “The Shadow of the Vulture“. She first appeared in the Marvel Comics book Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973).
Red Sonja has become the archetypical example of the fantasy figure of a fierce and stunningly beautiful female barbarian who typically wears armor resembling a bikini or lingerie. She was ranked first in Comics Buyer’s Guide‘s “100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list.

The site appears to be a compilation of Red Sonja “appearances” either in comic, artistic form or in real life. If you’re into fantasy, sword play and female barbarians it seems the place for you!

Yvonne Lewis who blogs at Yvonne’s Poetry Corner. Yvonne engages in versal rhyme in each post and as a bit of a rhyming aficionado myself, I respect Yvonne’s talent immensely. You can even catch a glimpse of a picture of Yvonne and Arlee on the front page of site.

Yvonne I’m glad we’re on the team
Both with the ability to rhyme, it may seem
The next few weeks are bound to be fun
As we give the A-Z Challenge list a run

As you can see, we are a mixed bunch and will no doubt each bring our own unique perspective to the role of the Birdassador.

The next few weeks are therefore slated to be busy on the blogging front. I have no doubt that the experience will be extremely worthwhile, I will learn a lot on the way through and meet some great bloggers. I am hoping to introduce you to some great blogging finds in the lead up to the Challenge.

In the meantime is that a cry of BIIIIIRDMAAAAAN, I hear?

Biiirdmaaaan!! (said with deep resonance)

Birdmaaaan!! (said with deep resonance)

Do you remember watching Birdman and the Glaxy Trio cartoon as kid? Who is your favourite cartoon hero or heroine?

Postscript: For those of you still thinking about the Challenge, sign up today, you won’t regret it. You can sign up here.

Mother and Son Relationship Punctuation Point #126: Fashion A La Mode

Is there anything more special than a mother/son or a father/ daughter bond? The Almighty has surely blessed me because I have experienced both. One as an offspring, the other as a parent.

As most of you know, I am the proud mother of two sons. It’s an amazing experience to be the centre of a child’s world, even knowing that the centre of that world is only leased to you for a short period of time. As a parent, knowing when to edge more towards the circumference of that world is the key to surviving your offspring’s adolescence.

Every mother/son relationship is filled with punctuation points. Those milestones that signify sometimes subtle, sometimes sledgehammer-like changes in the relationship. The points at which there is no returning to what was. I admit I look forward to these punctuation points because, at least in experience, they have generally been positive or have led to something positive. They are also confirmation that as a parent, one is doing one’s job.

Punctuation point #126 is one of these milestones. It’s the point at which a son develops a taste for fashion and a mother’s role as stylist comes to an end. This point is not necessarily marked by a sudden desire in your son to accessorize or colour co-ordinate or emulate a GQ magazine cover, but rather it means that it’s time to leave little boys clothes behind and become the master of one’s own fashion destiny.

David Beckham

In my experience, point #126 is reached somewhere when your son is between the ages of 12 and 15. Of course, there is always the odd would-be David Beckham prodigy who has the metrosexual thing happening at the age of 8, but they grow up to be Justin Bieber and well, let’s not go there shall we?

The thing is, you never really know the relationship has reached point #126 until you have passed it. You will blissfully be buying packets of 15 assorted colour jockeys as you have done many times in the past because your son needs them only to have them shoved at the back of the drawer with him continuing to wear the worn out underwear with the skull motiff that Aunt Clarice gave him as a Christmas present 3 years ago. The jockeys no longer work because point #126 has unknowingly been reached and because he’s your son and you are his mother, he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. He doesn’t know how to break the news to you.

boys underwearRemember how simple life was when your son was 6 years old and you could go out with utter confidence and buy your child’s outfit? How he loathed shoe and clothes shopping and it was all you could do to get him to the mall to try on a pair of shoes. Remember how you used to go out of your way to never buy your son outfits with “skull stuff” on them? Seriously, when my kids were under ten it was an impossible task to find a piece of clothing without a skull or other gruesome Halloween creature on it. Why clothing manufacturers, why? Why do you want a 6 year old to channel their inner Hulk?

Somehow we got through the horror clothing era, testosterone intact and without either of my boys having dewingined any butterflies or ripped anyone’s arms off to arrive at point #126.

Yes folks, we are now at point #126 with my youngest. And true to form, I only know this because we just passed it with an incident involving socks, a T-shirt and a pencil case.

Him: “Just get me a plain blue pencil case, Mum”

Me: ” I thought your older brother’s advice was to stick the one pen you use for school in your pocket”

Him: “Yeah, that didn’t work. I’ve actually got four pens and a calculator”

Me: “Better that then three weddings and a funeral!”

Him: “Huh? Anyway, just don’t get me anything fancy, Mum. I don’t want any stars, skulls [!!!!! – my emphasis] or anything”

So, as part of the MO code and my service to mothers of adolescents everywhere, here are some of the signs that your son is approaching point #126:

  • he starts wanting to shower everyday
  • he starts taking a major interest in deodorant
  • he spends copious time in front of the mirror
  • he wears the same two T-shirts all week, because he now doesn’t like the rest in his drawer
  • he doesn’t have the usual hangdog expression when he receives clothing as a gift
  • he realises that blue and green are not the same after all
  • he knows the difference between coral and pink

clothes colour chart

He can’t quite articulate what type of clothing he likes until sometime after point #126 is reached. The fashion vocabulary and conceptualizing have not yet fully developed. It takes a mother’s keen power of observation, intuition, planning, mastery and all of your five senses to keep ahead of the fashion game during the transition period which ends when your feldging fashion plate is confident enough to fully develop his own sense of style.

One final word of advice, when your mother/son relationship arrives at point #126, it marks the stage at which mothers have to learn to SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!! Trust me, voicing your opinion at his choice of grey school socks with white sneakers teamed with camouflage coloured pair of shorts only leads to bad juju. There can be no winners in that contest.

Congratulations, you have now made the move from wardrobe stylist to wardrobe consultant. May the Zoolander be with you!

Have you had the same experience with point #126?Is there a similar point with daughters? What is the most outlandish outfit your child has chosen to wear?

Bouncing Around with Bokwa – Zumbalicious Style

Bokwa? You never heard of Bokwa?

Despite the way it reads, it is not the sound of someone choking on a chicken nugget or a new kung-fu move. It is in fact a high impact cardio/dance workout and as they say in the marketing pitch, if you can spell and move, you can do Bokwa. You can read more about Bokwa here.

Keep calm and Bokwa

It’s funny how life always throws things at you in groups. First, there was the A-Z April Blogging Challenge, blogging by the alphabet and now there’s exercise by the alphabet. That’s right, dance steps in the shape of letters or rather your feet move to make letters of the alphabet. I suppose you could Bokwa the alphabet song, but the letters are actually chosen at random to fit in with the routine, rather than danced in alphabetical order. This is a very good thing, because concentrating on the dance steps, coordinating arms and legs whilst reciting the alphabet would probably be a little too much multitasking. All of that and you want grace as well? Ha!

So, I had my first full Bokwa class today after having had an introductory taste of it last week for there comes a time in every mother’s life when being self-consciousness is yesterday’s news. I mean, if you have ever given birth, you would know that you check your dignity at the hospital door. There is just no room for self-consciousness when some nurse is elbow deep inside your birth canal. And that REALLY prepares you for what comes next, namely, when your 5-year-old bright spark of a child boldly announces to the world at large that “Mummy has wobbly bits”.

My wobbly bits look just like hers!Image coutesy of freedigitalphotos.net

My wobbly bits look just like hers!
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

And so it was that I took my wobbly bits to Bokwa.

I am proud to say that not only did I survive the 45 minute class, but I had great fun along the way. Firstly, the music is fantastic. Latest hits that even on a bad day would get your foot tapping, let alone your whole body moving on a good day. And you can sing along whilst doing it. Secondly, whilst the steps are set, you are encouraged to put your own spin on them. Dip here? Why, thank you I will. A bit of booty shaking there, certainly.

Thirdly, and for me, most importantly, the class is taught by a couple of fantastically patient and energetic people from Zumbalicous Australia. You need motivation? They have it in spades. You need to start with the basics? No problem, they will step it through until you’ve got it. You’ve come along for a bit of fun and to sweat – they deliver. A good exercise instructor is like a good hairdresser, a relationship that’s quite personal and something to hold on to for as long as you can!

Below is a pic that was taken after the class. Two of these lovely ladies are fantastic dancers whilst the other wears really bright sneakers.

IMG_1373

 

Over and above the Bokwa itself, I beseech you all to try something new and often. It’s so easy to come up with multiple excuses for not wanting to do or try something, but more often than not if you can overcome the resistance of your old and familiar thought patterns, you’ll be glad you did.

Today I mastered L, O and C. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next week.

And one day soon, I’ll be able to dance the following letters for my wonderful instructors:

T, H, A, N, K, Y, O and U!!

Legal fine print: Bokwa is a registered trademark and so every time you read Bokwa in the above post, please notionally put a little “R” with a circle after it and remember that you can’t steal it.

New to Blogging? 10 Reasons to Participate in the A to Z April Blogging Challenge

A very belated happy new year to all of my blog readers, even though it’s almost February!

Where has the time gone since my last post on Christmas Day?

It’s been a wonderful Summer here and I have been enjoying the warm weather and the change of pace. I am mindful of my countrymen to the north who have faced extreme weather conditions in the form of flooding and severe storms. For the uninitiated Summer tends to bring with it extremes to Australian weather and this year has been no different with heat waves, fire and flood. And that’s just in a two week period!

Otherwise, I have been checking in and reading your blogs and making the very occasional comment. The idea for January though was to keep away from writing and just be. And I was and now it’s over.

I’m also now officially excited as I’ve just signed on for the 2013 A to Z April Blogging Challenge. This is where the blogging journey began for me last year and so I have a real soft spot for this challenge. It was the impetus for starting my blog and it gave me a great introduction to the blogging world.

A2Z-2013-BADGE-001Small_zps669396f9

The Challenge involves creating 26 posts in April, one for every letter of the alphabet. Each day has a designated letter and on that day you post a blog relating to that letter. The subject matter is entirely up to you. You then visit 5 other blogs participating in the Challenge and comment on their blogs – you can visit more if you want. Last year there were over 1,000 blogs participating!

So, if you are contemplating starting a blog, have only recently started a blog or have an established blog, here are 10 reasons why YOU should sign up for the Challenge this year:

  1. It’s just plain, good fun.
  2. It’s a great way to get your creative juices flowing.
  3. It will teach you about the craft of blogging and you will see your blog posts develop as the Challenge continues.
  4. It’s a great way to meet fellow bloggers, both on WordPress and Blogger. The Challenge is supported by its own blog site, a Facebook Page, Google + page and Twitter account. Go meet some people, ask questions!
  5. You will learn a great deal about blogging technique, community, presentation, online interaction and promotion.
  6. It’s a fantastic way to tap into a ready made audience.
  7. It’s a great way to experiment with your blog in a situation where you have the potential to receive some knowledgable and valuable feedback.
  8. You will certainly lose your inhibitions about blogging by the letter E!
  9. You have the opportunity to talk to some extremely experienced bloggers who are willing to share tips and tricks. The hosts are generous with their time and ideas and are very receptive.
  10. It’s only February and you have oodles of time to prepare.
  11. I know I said 10, but here’s a bonus reason – because 10 just isn’t enough. You will have a great sense of achievement and satisfaction when it’s done and will have likely picked up at least a dozen new followers along the way.

I hope you come and join me in the Challenge come April. If you decide to, please add a link to your blog in the comment section below, so I can visit you throughout the Challenge. Also, if you have any questions about my experience from last year, I am happy to answer them.

Join up and experience all the emotions from Anticipation to Zealous. You’ll be glad you did.

Anticipation

My post on Company for Christmas. I really am dreaming of a white Christmas. What are your Christmas dreams?

A Schlocky Rhyming Christmas

It had to happen sooner or later, so it might well be at Christmas when goodwill to fellow man and blogger is supposedly at its highest.

warning symbol

SCHLOCKY POEM AHEAD

This would be a good time to eject if you hate cheese, schlock or have inadverantly landed here only for mental stimulation.

‘Twas the day of Christmas
And all through the house
All creatures were stirring
Even the spouse
 
The tree was adorned
And the presents destined to fate
For the family members knew
That unwrapping must wait
 
For Christmas is about people
And they would come first
A feast to celebrate
More than one birth
 
Yes it’s true that Jesus was born
On this very day
But as luck would have it
So too was the spouse, it’s always been that way
 
A birthday cake and card
Must also be had
Happy birthday sung
Because he is dad (and can perfom a miracle or two when pressed)
 
It is a day to come together
And celebrate what matters
A day for laughter
And cross-generational chatter
 
And after lunch
With stomachs replete
The teens distribute the presents
With much stomping of feet
 
A whole lot of ripping
Of paper ensues
What’s that odd looking moving gift?
We all haven’t a clue
 
It seems at the moment
That my idea is not so jolly
Of choosing that Adam and Eve mug
For old Aunt Molly
 
It’s a little bit naughty
But could cause some grief
When the hot water dissolves
Good ole’ Adam’s fig leaf
 

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

 
The food’s a cooking
And all is in place
For the family to descend
And leave more than a trace
 
So far so good
The situation’s not overly curly
For my mother in law
Has not turned up too early
 
 
 
She usually comes
Two hours before
The critical path time
It’s part of our familty folklore
 
So, I’m thankful
For small mercies
And look forward to the repast
The time is almost here, it’s coming up fast
 
So nothing is left
Other than to say
I wish you all a Merry Christmas
[And Happy Birthday, if it’s relevant to you]
And peace and sanity for the day!
 
Addendum
 
The curtain will be raised
Even more tonight
When I blog at Company for Christmas
To make someone’s day seem more bright
 
c4c-glyph
 
 
 
 
 

A Pre Apocolyptic Public Service Anouncement To All But The Kiwis

I have always been proud to be an Australian. Being an Aussie is seriously cool, people swoon at our accent, they love our laid back attitude and envy our natural surroundings.

Australia timezoneWhat they don’t envy though is our time zone. Our time zone is seriously unforgiving, particularly if you want to do business or socialize with Europe or the East Coast of the United States. Even more so if you want to be awake, astute and passably witty whilst carrying out your obligation to your employer to turn up during local business hours. And by that I mean turn up not only in body, but also in soul and mind.

We are also slightly confused because at present there are four timezones operating in our wonderful nation. The refusal to operate under daylight savings times by some States introduces a fourth time zone for the summer months. Don’t worry Queenslanders, your curtains and cows are still safe, experiencing less daylight hours than everyone else. Don’t forget the SPF 55 sunblock!

However, there are also a few advantages that come with that timezone.

We are amongst the leaders of the pack when it comes to experiencing worldwide events that are tied to a fixed universal time. New Year’s Eve, we’re one of the first to click over. Christmas, we’ve unwrapped, stuffed ourselves and ho, ho hoed long before most of you guys have even gone to bed for your Christmas Eve slumber.

We are at the forefront of time zonage to pretty much all other countries other than New Zealand and a few Pacific island nations.

tomorrow in australia pic

So to all my international readers who are still in yesterday this is my pre apoclyptic public service announcement to you.

It is now roughly 9am, 21 December 2012, eastern daylight saving time. There are no Mayans or Mayan spirits to be seen. The second last page of the Mayan calendar has been ripped off its hinges and discarded, actually no, hang on… that was a 2-year-old Oreo cookie that just rolled out from behind the maple syrup (yes, we have them here – Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry in fact).

So far, the only evidence of an apocalypse are:

    • the state of my closet – what does one actually wear to an apocalypse?
    • our Government  finally admitting that there will be no budget surplus this year;
    • the current state of Australian cricket;
    • the number of Baked Beans tins in my pantry (one can never be over prepared);
    • the state of Australian reality TV; and
    • the state of my kids’ rooms.

There are however 15 hours to go.

Just wondering if the Mayans were timezone sensitive. Maybe for us Aussies it all ends on the 22nd and we have been lulled into a false sense of security.

D’ang, I will now have to return all the end of the world on the 21st Mayan merchandise

The good thing is that we have the New Zealanders Kiwis, who are two hours ahead, to stand in the way of us and the apocalypse. New Zealand, we will be watching, whilst the rest of the world watches us.

apocolypse

Fear not, we Australians will sacrifice ourselves and the Kiwis for the greater international cause. We will be your apocalyptic guinea pigs!!

And the Mayans better get cracking on continuing the calendar. My desktop flip calendar is just crying out for some forward thinking Mayan wisdom and witticism. A suggestion though, the next version should be in the shape of a carrot… the world is now far more health conscious about its calendars.

In the meantime, dear readers…

KEEP CALM

and

BLOG ON

If you could predict it, how would you spend your last day on earth? Are you changing your routine for the 21st? Do you have any Mayan relatives?

A Wonderful Blogging Reason for the Upcoming Season

Please check out this wonderful initiative by a fellow blogger, Rule of Stupid. Christmas Day can be hard for those who are seperated or distanced from friends and family. The blogging community is a caring community and Christmas Day is the perfect choice to spread some blog love and make new connections.

If you can contribute an hour or two and wish to swing by the blog and join the chat over virtual egg nog and christmas pudding, then please do so. You never know which angel might be sitting at that Christmas table.

The blog address for the event is companyforchristmas.wordpress.com.

christmas snoopy