Pimp my plough

We had a proper nerdy weekend at Avoca with Lari and Rob, featuring 2 games of Talisman, some Heroquest for the boys, lots of beer and lots of footie. We also coined the phrases "Pimp My Plough" and "Nerd Curious".

In the footie, England were rotten but Good Enough, Ukraine were brain-spliteringly dull, Germany looked ominously, ahem, efficient. I am getting full-on timezone brain-blur; I am unsure what day it is, am experiencing strange dreams about Philip Senderos' nose, and I have virtually stopped playing Baldur's Gate. I have also adopted the SMH term for your late-night world cup sofa duvet; the maradoona.

In film news, I squeezed in a viewing of The Last Laugh, a moving and technically brilliant silent movie with quite the worst tacked-on happy ending that you will ever see. He didn't die in a toilet, he inherited a fortune from a stranger who happened to be an eccentric, family-less millionnaire! Phew!

Is this the best time to be reading a 300 page 17th century poem? Probably not, but I'm still enjoying Paradise Lost in small doses.

Tote dat barge! Lift dat bale! Git a little drunk, An' you land in jail...

World Cup timezone fatigue

Here's a couple of images for you from Beth's first birthday party. Doesn't she look great in that dress? Luckily the weather was good, so we spilled out into the garden for snags and beer, good time had by all and all that. One tip though; never leave a pom in charge of the barbie. He may blow up the whole party with an ill-attached gas nozzle - or at least badly singe his father-in-laws arm. Speaking theoretically, you understand.

The rest of the week has been footie/sleeplessness dominated - Australia faced up well to Brazil but were unlucky, Engerland have been pants but they've done enough. Another 5am start tomorrow for the Socceroos v Croatia. Go Aussie!

We watched Showboat last night, which is pretty good and of course "Old Man River" is a brilliant song. It also features a lead couple called Gaylord and Magnolia. We've also been watching a DVD of the marvellous Bodyline TV series, which I remember from back in the day.

Up to Avoca this weekend for beer, footie, Talisman and movies - wahey!

Reasons to be cheerful. One, two, three.

It's Beth's first birthday! This time one year ago M and I were nervously waiting in an operating theatre waiting for the caesarian. We're so fortunate that it all turned out alright. I had to be at work today, but we're doing a video link with my mum later, so there should be some good family time before the party on Sunday.

I was up until 4am last night for the England vs T&T match. The first half was just horrible, but it made a nice change to see a Svennis team improve after the break. 2-0 seemed about fair to me, but I'd rather they had scored the goals in the first ten minutes rather than waiting until the last ten.

I'm off to Perth for a conference in September. A whole week of hobnobbing with other librarians, oh yes. OPAC design, RFID specs, tagging v hierarchy - you have no idea how excited I am. Work hard, party hard - that's the librarian way.

I feel nostalgia for an age yet to come.

We’re Gonna Boogie

What a lovely long weekend that was. England were awful, yum cha was good and the Socceroos were chuffing brilliant.

I watched the England Paraguay match at a pub with Nick, Lou and sundry others, and what a trial it was. I was asleep by the end – but that may just have been the beer. The most fun football has definitely been Australia beating Japan with 3 goals in the last 10 minutes. We woke bubba up twice with our yells, bless her. That Rosicky looks a bit good too – v exciting.

She hasn’t been too well, actually. Bronchiolitis, we think – lots of coughing and wheezy breathing. They say that kids pick up all sorts at day-care and that seems to be what happened. Oh well, she seems better today.

We also swung over to another kid’s first birthday party. We were the last to arrive, I didn’t know anybody, then we were the first to leave. We were around for the prayers and the speeches about bring the kid up “in Jesus’ path” though. Beth squealed all the way through the prayers, as it happens. That’s my girl.

Songs of the moment:
- Country Girl, Primal Scream
- Jerusalem, Brave Captain feat. Akira the Don
- Pop A Cap In Yo Ass, Ben Watt feat. Estelle

Love youse all xx

Ice cream and jelly

Beth is still racing about the place, revelling in her new level of mobility. It’s her first birthday in a week and we’re having a wee party on the Sunday. I think it’s pointless myself, but M is keen so I’ll go with it. Have you ever been to a first birthday party? They’re usually rubbish. I’ve got one this weekend with some people I barely know. Can’t wait.

She gave birth to a daughter/ Within a year a walker/ She looked just like her mother/ If there could be another.

Here’s a tip. You may not have noticed, but a football tournament starts this weekend. Typical that I was in Europe for Japan/South Korea and now I’m in Godzone for Germany. Oh well, I’m used to late night football these days, and at least Australia are in it for once so at least the locals will be a little bit interested, at least until they lose all three matches that they’ve got. I’m heading to town tomorrow with Nick and Lou. The Engerland match starts at 11pm, so we’ll have to be rather careful how much we drink. I’ll let you know how it goes, if I can remember that is.

It’s a long weekend, for the queen’s birthday of all things, so as well as football and birthday parties I get to go to yum cha on Monday with Ness and Jem. Weirdly enough I’ve never done the yum cha thing despite my longstanding fondness for Chinese dumplings and large breakfasts. I’m getting rather excited.

Word origins, Booker winners, Gussie Fink-Nottle…they’re all over at my book review blog. Heaps more photos on the Flickr site too. Am I good to you or what?

Old Red he died/And every single landlord in the district cried.