Merry Christmas Everyone

Happy Christmas. I know this song is a cliche by now, but it made me cry the other day so what the hell.

Can't make it on my own
I built my dreams around you

Is it Friday at 3pm yet?

It's my last week at work before a 2-week break, and boy do I need it. I'm flipping exhausted. My brain is totally shot, hence the lack of substance in this post.

Mum's out for a month, but her first week must have felt rather domestic and humdrum - we've got more lined up for her as of tomorrow. Here are some photos of her and the kids at MPOW and Newtown:

Oh how I miss Marlborough Lights

I had a letter published in today's Sydney Morning Herald. Here it is in full:

Several correspondents repeat the canard that a smoking ban will save on health spending. The brutal truth is that someone who dies at 50 from a smoking-related illness will cost the taxpayer far less than a non-smoker who dies at 80 from a different condition. Let us argue for a ban on the basis that a longer life is an innate good, not on the erroneous assumption of financial gain.

Tom Goodfellow Cherrybrook

Heh.

Edit: The letter is also appearing in "The Week", a magazine that compiles the best of the week's media. Gratifying

Britney Spears naked

A second consecutive metapost, but at the risk of this blog disappearing up its own fundament I thought this was worth mentioning.

I recently installed something called Google Analytics, a wee add-on that allows me to view stats about how many people are reading this rubbish, and how they arrive here. It's very entertaining, and slightly odd to find out how much traffic I am getting.

I was particularly struck that as many as 13 people per day are arriving via Google at an innocuous post from June last year about the Sydney Film Festival. Then I figured out the reason. I mention in the post that I had sat behind Hugo Weaving, who you may know from such films as The Matrix and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I had therefore whimsically titled the post "Most successful actor ever, in box office terms". It was this header that attracted so many hits from folk trying to access pertinent information but instead receiving some old nonsense about B1 visiting her grandma.

Isn't it odd how the net works?

In case you are concerned, I solemnly promise that I will never resort to cheap Google-bait headers in a tawdry attempt to drum up visits.

Quoting myself out of context

Here's a meme post, taken from Aussie library blogger extraordinaire Kathryn Greenhill. It's the first and last lines from each month's posts on this blog for 2008.

January
First: 10
Last: Thanks for reading - it's been literary.

February
First: I confess to finding the subject a little dull, but so many people have asked about how the Bs coped on the plane flights I feel obliged to cover it here.
Last: I blame the deputy editor.

March
First: Looks like the St Jeromes Lnaeway Festival is set to become an annual fixture, almost regardless of the bands playing.
Last: They are both so adorable right now.

April
First: Another quiet weekend at Avoca but I can barely remember it thanks to a severe lack of meaningful rest in the past 3 weeks scrambling my neurones.
Last: The concepts are mind-blowingly exciting, and the scientist is a real charmer.

May
First: Last week we were pontificating on the old superstition* that trouble comes in threes, and wondering what our number three would be after the illness and the burglary last week.
Last: How do I get to be the librarian?

June
First: I am destined to burn in hell for at least (pauses to count).... twelve reasons.
Last: I could hear him gurgling happily in my ear as we walked around.

July
First: Well, another trip to the UK over (my 4th in a little over 2 years!) and, as usual, I feel exhilarated, melancholy and exhausted by the experience.
Last: From The Guardian, of course.

August
First: Huge excitement at home on the well-being front, after we splashed out for the, like, totally cool Wii and WiiFit.
Last: B1 is being particularly sweet at the moment, and M has written a great post about it on her blog, if you're interested.

September
First: A big week for B2.
Last: There are a bunch of photos on Flickr if you are interested, and I have also made these 2 video clips:

October
First: As you know I love a good quote, and I want to encourage more comments here, so it's about time I instituted a "name that quote" competition, starting now.
Last: Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields

November
First: A kid-tastic weekend featuring Halloween shenanigans and 8 kids playing with syringes.
Last: Huzzah!

December
First: M was away with the kids on Saturday night, so I took advantage of the rest and refreshed my mental and physical batteries for the big 2 months ahead - Christmas/my mum's visit in December, and festival mayhem in January.

Ricky Gervais sums it all up

It's good intentions, isn't it? The New Testament: that's great. There's no greater virtue than forgiveness. I try to live my life on those virtues of kindness, forgiveness, do as you would be done by. I live by those rules. It always does annoy me when people say about atheists that they are amoral and heartless. The opposite is true. I'm not a good person because I want rewards in heaven. I'm not a good person because I will be punished by God. I'm a good person because I want to interact with fellow humans. Nature is more beautiful when you know it's an accident and art is more beautiful when you know that man is an accident.

What he said.

(From The Daily Telegraph, UK version, of all places)

M had a well-deserved rest this weekend, leaving me to look after the kids myself from Friday afternoon until Sunday lunchtime. Miraculously, no bones were broken, A&E remained unvisited and we even had a modicum of fun. It was luvverly actually, although exhausting. I am pleased to be back in the restful environment of paid work this week.

Sunday afternoon was the Player family Christmas shindig, this year with added offspring. B2 was a bit of a star, showcasing his football skills as seen in this video:

Bananaby

M was away with the kids on Saturday night, so I took advantage of the rest and refreshed my mental and physical batteries for the big 2 months ahead - Christmas/my mum's visit in December, and festival mayhem in January.

This morning I was tending B2 while M was busy, which was great fun. He's a racing demon these days, and his language skills are just coming in. "Mama" means mummy or food, "Aga" is again and I get the odd "Dada". Interestingly, he's a lot more advanced in terms of comprehension, so if M says "Shall we eat the banana outside?" he trots off into the back garden.

Some pics from the park this morning are over on Flickr, here's a taster: