Jen - 11 years ago today

We had Appy-schnapps, a huge spa bath and playstation shenannigans in a fancy hotel room.

Happy 12th anniversary, Dan.

And the rain continues

So of course, when festival starts, the rain starts. Day two of almost torrential rain, we spent inside playing Carcossone before venturing out in the evening for some standup. We did manage to see a bunch of stuff - The British Amabassador's Belly Dancer (a one woman show of her life as a dancer in Uzbekistan); Kunst ist Scheisse (a very silly burlesque cabaret); Feasting on Flesh (a brilliant burlesque, cabaret, acrobatic extravaganza) and a bunch of other comedy shows.

Oh, and I finally saw the new Batman movie. How amazing was that!

Kit likes Adelaide...

I spent a long weekend in Adelaide. It's like one loooong country town. I visited the Central Market (yum), had a lot of coffee, ate a lot of cheese. Stayed at a B&B in the Barossa Valley, went walking in Kaiserstuhl park and went geocaching! I got my 50th cache in Springton ~yay me; but my "rival" at work is up to 68 ~Grr.

Guy: Top 10

In the midst of a Twilight plague the English teachers are putting together a list of the top ten books which have changed their lives, in the hope of redeeming some poor lost souls.



I thought I'd post mine;

• 1984 by George Orwell
  
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
  
• Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
  
• Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Neitzsche
  
• The Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia McKillip
  
• Dune by Frank Herbert
  
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  
• Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
  
• The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
  
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  

In all honesty the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook should be at the top of the list, but I don't think it's in the spirit of the thing.

YL - the singing doctor

Yup, that's what they call me. I got stopped and asked by random people (staff & patients) around the hospital and get asked to sing .... 0r where my violin is.

There was a letter from a patient to the ward today which said "And the singing doctor, well you're just tops" ... awwww.

Guy: How many steps?

Just went to see 39 Steps, very funny.

It's been a good year for theatre; this, Rock 'n' Roll, The Pillowman, The Great. But I'm still switching allegiance to Belvoir next year.

Festival Time Again

And so its that time that Edinburgh really comes alive. This time our esteemed visitors are Jo and V, and so what's the first show we booked for them? That's right, all male nudity!

Anna : Death of a Titan

Over the weekend our fish Chuck Norris died. He'd been poorly for a while because we don't have an effective way to keep his bowl warm during the winter months (we'd been keeping him next to the hot water heater but it didn't really help). There was talk of setting up a "Winter Holiday Exchange Program" with Joel's fish tank but he died before we could set anything up.

Peace out Mr. C

Dan - routine catastrophes

Last weekend was one of those weekends where each of the kids had a turn being not well. First was Atty, who had a convulsion on Saturday afternoon - he was out in the back yard while we were out the front, so we only discovered him afterwards. He was OK, but we're going to have to go and get the poor little guy an EEG to diagnose it.

Next up was Elora. We went out for Yum Cha on Sunday morning, and everyone was having a nice time, until she fell off her high chair while performing some daft antics while everyone was busy getting ready to leave, landed flat on her back, and winded herself. Jen quickly picked her up, and she promptly threw up (luckily, mostly on the floor, narrowly missing the people at the next table).

Last was Dante, who felt really ill while doing his homework (and was met with much parental suspicion, especially when he miraculously felt better when playing ball with Atticus, and felt ill again when instructed to sit down and finish his homework). After he went to bed he felt really ill (and seemed actually unwell), so we got the bucket ready, and settled him back down to bed. He turned out to be OK.

Apart from all that, it was actually quite a pleasant weekend, the kids were delightful and well-behaved, and we got mountains of washing and tidying done.

Becstarr : In the gutters, looking at the mulch

The weekend was filled with house planning, cleaning, organising and gardening. Joel cleared the gutters and I mulched the garden and shook down the worm farm while Lady K made curtains to help keep our precious winter warmth in.

Today was a full-on planning day at work: I facilitated two sessions before lunch (what has been / is / should be our group's function within the uni?; what are our immediate tasks and priorities over the next 3 months?). Long day of meetings, but it's definitely going to pay off.