This is for my friend Scott, who is leaving for Korea tomorrow, where he will be teaching English for the next 6 weeks.



It's actually to Japan; Google wouldn't do Korea, but, it's close enough!

This is the same friend who, last year, drove from London to Mongolia and a few years ago drove all around the United States by himeself, so if you think he is a Grand Adventurer, you'd be right.

'Bye Scott! We'll miss you lots!

Disco Sucks.

I don't remember the DJs or the record burnings; not really, but I remember the Death of Disco.

One year in grade school - I forget which one; 2nd or 3rd, maybe, we learned how to 'do the hustle' in gym class.

When I was in the 5th grade, my birthday party was a 'disco' party. This boy from down the street who knew how to dance came over and showed us how do do some moves.

I actually owned a read satin jacket in the 6th grade, and my class would spend rainy lunch hours dancing to Donna Summers.

In 7th grade, however, Disco was Persona Non Grata amongst those I thought of as the 'cool kids'.

Pink Floyd's The Wall was standard issue, I think, and 'Led Zepplin Rulz' was inked onto many a boy's binder, right next to the words 'Disco Sucks'.

I remember someone had 'disco thinks rock stinks, but rock knows disco blows' on his notebook.

Because I was rather obsessed with being a cool kid; something I was decidely not, I jumped on the 'Disco Sucks' bandwagon. Wasn't a big leap, actually. I was already sliding towards the love of all things Punk/New Wave anyway. And secretly preferred the Monkees.

However, when I hear those disco songs from the 70's today, they make me smile. They were a huge part of my childhood's soundtrack, after all. I'm not running out and downloading "Donna Summers' greatest hits, but I won't pretend I don't know at least some of the words to 'Bad Girls'.

As an aside, in 7th grade - 1979 - 80, when we were waiting for some rally or something to start this kid, Floyd, got in front of the microphone and started singing, or rather 'rapping' a song; although I don't think the term was coined then. I am totally blanking on the song right now, but it was really novel, and completely devoid of any kind of gang violence. Just sayin'...

I had this really awesome weekend last weekend - Charlie was with his Dad from Thursday to Sunday, which sucked on a 'missing him' level, but I partied like it was 1989 and I was a 21 year old college student.

Every night I had something to do, and that something pretty much involved hanging out with people who were much younger than me and staying out until the wee hours of the morning and flirting with really cute 20-something boys and other things that a 40-something mother doesn't normally do.

The speedline at 3am is full of 20-somethings on the way home from bars or shows or whatever it is they do, and there I was, a respectable grown-up, doing the same thing.

This made me think about vampires. Or anyone immortal, really* because they will always be, or at least look, a certain age, so they'd be able to hang with the age group that they look like, right, and be constantly doing the things that one eventually grows out of.

Wouldn't - couldn't - make a habit of having that sort of jam-packed weekend, but it is fun, sometimes, to pretend to be something I'm not anymore, with the added advantage of being older and wiser and MUCH less likely to make a fool of myself.

It's kind of nice.



*and fictional, I know. I'm not crazy.

Yesterday, as I am sure you are aware, was the memorial service for Michael Jackson, and I was given to understand that Brooke Shields' speech was particularly moving. I always liked her, and wanted to hear what she had to say, so I found the clip and watched it last night.

Charlie was in the room with me, but I didn't realise he was watching until it was over and I turned around to see him with tears streaming down his cheeks.

This was actually a good thing, because it shows he has empathy for other people's feelings, even though he couldn't quite tell me what it was that made him sad. It was, I must say, a really, really touching speech she gave, and did bring tears to my own eyes. I'd forgotten they'd hung out together back in the day.

Prior to his death Michael Jackson was really not on Charlie's radar, outside of the song "ABC", but as he was crying on my shoulder he said, 'I really miss Michael Jackson'.

I told him the good thing about famous people is they've left behind all the things that made them famous; all the things we fans knew him through, and we can turn on our iPods or You Tube and see him whenever we want.

Years ago, back in the 80's, there was this movie that was on HBO and we recorded it with our VHS recording device. My sister Susan and I watched it all the time. I was in High School and she in grade school, but nonetheless it was something we both enjoyed, something we shared.

The movie was called BMX Bandits.

It's a very silly movie out of Australia about three teens who ride BMX bikes and get involved with bank robbers with, as the ancient scrolls say, hilarious results, and it stars a very young Nicole Kidman who, I found out later, was quite the teen star in Australia back in the day. The other actors involved didn't seem to do quite as well as she did. I DO notice it doesn't get mentioned very often by her. If I ever meet her, however, the first thing I'd say is 'I loved that movie.'

I'm bringing this up because one of the numerous movie channels I have now is running it. I just caught the ending, and I have now set it up to record because it makes me smile a really lot. It makes me think of my sister, and us saying lines from the movie in very bad Australian accents - 'What'd you do, promise to leave home?'

I made it a point to ask every Australian I'd ever met if they'd seen BMX Bandits, and every single one professed to loving the movie as a kid. You Ozzies on my flist, I'm thinking you're too young, but still...do you know it? Did you like it? Could Nicole Kidman's hair BE any poofier?

I've been perusing the this website called liliks.com; it's just chock full of interesting time wasters. He has this 1973 Sears catalog and he's mocking (rightly so) the 'fashions' of the time.

This page Sent me staggering down memory lane as I had that kind of a dress.

Not those hideous colours, mind, but the long frilly style. Mine was yellow and white and I adored it. Made me feel like a princess.

And I recall one of my birthday parties around that time was populated by little girls in that style of dress.

Other clothes, however, I think I'd rather not remember. Arugh, the amount of red, white and blue that were endured in 1976, you've no idea.

Okay...

So, those of you who pay attention may recall that our Shakespeare company has been having, oh, let's call it personality clashes, amongst the board members. There are two 'factions', my group, who believe that people who have already been in a production shouldn't have to audition for others, and should be considered first before open casting, and the other group who feel like my group is getting all the attention and therefore want to only open cast so they can leave us out, if at all possible.

So the current president, let's call her Jane because I am feeling unimaginative today, is the person directing the next play. To be fair, she DID cast me as the lead in Taming of the Shrew, but directed it so badly that it wasn't the greatest of moments for me.

Jane is a BIG proponent of the 'no, we need to open cast all the time, and everyone has to audition even if they've been in every single play so far and are extremely involved in every aspect of the company because I am a control freak who has let the modicum of power I weld to go to my head.' school of thought.

Fine.

I tested the waters, as you know, and said I am interested in Portia. She said she'd rather see me as Jessica because I have dark hair. So I decided not to audition. I knew I'd just end up feeling bitter, and I'm sort of tired of spending most of the show back stage.

When I found out who got Portia I was sightly bitter, despite my best efforts, simply because she was 'new' to the company and had the lead already twice-one of which was the part I really wanted. But I got over it.

Then I found out that Jane gave her the part without auditioning her.

The exact thing she refuses to do with my group. Hello, hypocrisy.

I just...arugh. It bothers me so much, even though I shouldn't even be surprised at this point.

I wonder what she'd say if we called her on it.

I was in the waiting room of Charlie's therapist when the DJ announced Michael Jackson's death, and one of my first thoughts was 'ack! I need the internet!'

Kelly Garrett was my favourite Angel. Jaclyn Smith. I remember at 9 years old thinking she was so beautiful and wishing I could look like her. My friends and I used to play Charlie's Angels all the time, which mostly consisted of arguing who got to be whom and running around the back yard with pretend guns.

No one ever wanted to be Sabrina.

Sometimes we'd pretend to be 3 completely different people, and frittered the time away by trying to come up with good names. I went with Brandy and Amber quite frequently. Yeah, stripper names. But look at the show. Even at 9 years old I think I got the general gist of what the show was going for.

It was fun.



(P.S. Everyone check out Charlie's video in my previous post, if you can)

OMG you guys! I got it to work. I downloaded Firefox. That helped, apparently.

Anyway...Check it out! Charlie singing Paint it Black! In technocolor!


Here's a link, too Charlie



ETA: I think I embedded it right this time.

Charlie was AWESOME at the keraoke thing yesterday, and I got it all recorded on my camera, and I can't get it to upload anywhere. It is very frustrating. I tried to put it on You Tube, but I guess it is really big or something because it just wouldn't load. It's too big for Facebook, I think, and I can't get it to upload here either. It is so freaking cute though, I want you all to see it. He dances and everything.

I didn't get the best part though. When he finished singing he did a whole lounge act thing 'That was "Paint it Black, I'm Charlie, I hope you enjoyed it' etc.

It was recorded by the Channel 19 guy, or whatever, so hopefully I'll find it somehow. Meanwhile, I'm going to keep trying to get the thing uploaded. Maybe. It is very frustrating.

In other news, my bosses daughter graduated recently with a nursing degree and they had a party for her. He gave me the little party favor bag. In it were those personalised M&Ms. Some had "Congratulations (her name) on it and others had a little picture of her face.

Technology is amazing. Tiny M&Ms (to the Brits - M&Ms slightly smaller versions of Smarties) with your face on it. Weird.

This has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. It is...well...the word 'trippy' comes to mind, but that hardly does it justice.

Seriously. If you have about 15 minutes take a tour. It is totes worth it, truly.

So my BFF and I were planning on taking the kids to Karaoke night at the Pop Shop because it is fun. (and I'm ALL about the Karaoke now, it seems).

Well, guess what? (From The Pop Shop Website

Kids Karaoke Night!

June 24 – TV Night! -- This night will be filmed for TV broadcast by Channel19. This is your child's chance to sing on TV!

Charlie can sing fairly well, especially songs he knows. So I am having visions of him getting all famous and stuff. Okay its Chanel 19 which is like the school reporting channel, but still...That's what You Tube is for, right?

Yeah...I need help...

A very happy birthday to my friend, both here and in real life, pairika!

According to various birthday cards and needlepoint pillows, Life begins now.

I really, really don't watch reality shows as a general rule, and the only time I ever saw any of that Jon and Kate thing was when I was at my mother's and we were channel surfing and she stopped to watch it for a bit.

Of course it is always in the media, so I still know a bit about what's going on, and I did succumb to curiousity and read the article that announced (big surprise) that they are divorcing.

Marriage is hard enough, and I think Hollywood marriages have proven again and again that the spotlight tends to erode relationships, and you put 'regular' people in the spotlight, people who are remarkable only because the fact they had multiple children at once and it happened to catch the media's attention, well...it can't be easy. So they are divorcing, and I'm sure no one is surprised. You put a real family on television and expect them to act like a scripted family and it is likely not going to end well.

That said, I find this rather disturbing:

The kids will continue living in their Wernersville, Pennsylvania, home, the couple say. Each parent will stay there during their time with them. And despite the separation, the show will go on. The couple say they will continue to be a part of "Jon & Kate Plus 8," but instead film their time with the kids separately.

The fact that they are going to continue doing the show makes me lose any sympathy for them, because it just seems exploitative to me. Let's watch the kids struggle with their parents divorce, that should be uplifting.

And, while I find the whole idea of actually time-sharing a house with an ex sort of creepy, it seems even worse to me in this context, because it's almost like the house is a zoo in which to display the children.

Also, and this is just my opinion, and I hope it doesn't offend anyone; I find it kind of greedy when people do in-vitro more than once. They couldn't have kids, they had the procedure, they had twins, why can't they just consider themselves blessed and leave it at that? It's just something I never understood. I needed drugs to concieve Charlie, and I figured I was lucky.like I said, that's just me; but it still makes me wonder why exactly it means they warrent a television show.

My aunt had 8 children - not all at once, mind you, but they were all very close in age, and her husband died when the kids were realitively young. She didn't have much income, but she managed, and every single one of those kids grew up, went to college, finished college, and got good jobs. Every single one. You'd think with 8 there'd be one kid who was a screw-up but no. Most of them are married now too, with children of their own, and while I know they all have their share of problems, they are a close and loving family, and I think my aunt is amazing for having raised them.

That's my kind of reality.

OMG you guiz! Guess what I did on Saturday night? Karaoke! I know, rite?

( cut because this is long and slightly self congratulatory )

I had a random memory pop into my head and I felt like sharing it.

Long time readers might remember me mentioning The Boy I Loved In College. His name was George. George was a musician, and one time he stepped in to play guitar for this band my BFF's boyfriend, Paul, was in.

So my BFF and I went to see the band, naturally and I said to George, 'you realise the people in this band are John, Paul George...and Tim?'

Well, we all had a laugh.

Ahem.

Anyway...Did the big boss dinner last night. One of the 4 times a year I get fed by this man. We went to Butcher and Singer, a Stephen Starr resturant, so it's all sorts of fancy and delicious and clever. I ordered a Sidecar, because Donna Noble ordered one in the Unicorn and the Wasp, because I am that pathetic. It was good, though.

Charlie's last day of school was today. He is no longer a 6th grader. He got 25 autographs in his yearbook, and is very happy about that.

Speaking of Charlie, his aide is going to mind him this summer, so that's good. She's nice. elfmanfan, you actually know her. Small world.

And I know I am probably way biased in favor of Obama, and maybe if Bush had done something similar, I might have rolled my eyes and decided it was a staged event (although I like to think I'm better than that); but the story about Obama writing the excuse note for the little girl who attended the town hall meeting instead of the last day of school was just awesomesauce, y/y?

CNN) -- The chairman of Tennessee's Democratic Party wants a Republican legislative aide fired for sending out a "reprehensible" e-mail depicting President Obama as two cartoonish white eyes peering from a black background..

Know what really, really gets me about this? The fact that the woman who sent the picture isn't sorry about the content but that she sent it to 'the wrong list of people'.

This indicates that there are still people in the world who find this sort of thing remotely funny, and still don't understand why it shouldn't be. It's the 'but I have black friends' mentality.

My cousin was (and I hate to say it, still is) this sort of racist, and I remember as a child her telling me a joke that was not unlike the one depicted in the article, and I laughed because I didn't know any better, and I looked up to her, and she thought it was funny, so I did. My mother, bless her, set me right.

But it kills me that this 'joke' has nothing to do with Obama's policies, or personality, or belief system or anything else a Republican aide might want to make fun of. It isn't ha ha, he's an idiot for thinking he can try for peace in the middle east, but ha, ha he's a black person.

And she doesn't get why that's wrong.

ETA: Check out this 'gem' in the comments: Seriously. Loosen up already. You really don't know what the photo means anyway. Did anyone ask her what it meant. I think that all of those screaming about it are more racist than she is. Come on. Our President might have laughed about it a liitle too. I'm sure he doesn't expect for everyone to hold him as president to a different standard than all the rest of our presidents. I mean come on, our last president was the butt of everyone's joke, except hard core republicans. The president is a celeb kind of and he should expect to be joked about. Loosen up already..

I'm feeling sort of morose and lonely this week, and I'm not sure why. I had a nice weekend - Charlie was with his dad, but I hung out with my friends, and did fun things, and it was all good.

I'm thinking, perhaps, it is because of the Shakespeare Company's board meeting (or as we like to call it, bored meeting). The current president just gets my back up, I think. She sucks all the fun out of everything.

Also, and this is pathetic, I still feel kind of sad and jealous because the woman who got the part of Portia that I didn't even audition for has gotten the lead in the last three shows. I find that annoying. Which is unfair because she's a decent actress and very nice.

But I know she'd have gotten the part if I HAD auditioned, so I guess I can't help but feel bitter anyway. Told you it was pathetic.

Oh, and my sister called from California to basically say I was a horrible mother because I was considering seeing if Charlie could handle being alone during the summer - I'd come home at lunch, and he is able to go to the pool on his own and stuff, and I thought it might be a viable idea. I wasn't sure, of course, but it would have saved me money, so it was an idea worth considering.

It really upset her, and she went on about it at great length. I know she meant well, but it still hurt.

For the record, Charlie's aide from school is going to watch him.

Anyway...sad and morose today. That's me. Someone tell me funny things, please.

I went to an Anime convention yesterday.

But Charliesmum, I hear you cry, I didn't know you even liked Anime. Well I don't.* Or at least I'm not a big ol' fangirl of the genre, but I have friends who are, and they were going, and I like conventions, so I went.

I really do love conventions. I love the energy of hundreds and hundreds of people who share the same interest, who can just unleash their inner geek or whatever, and leave reality at the door for a couple of hours.

And boy. Did they.

I've been to SciFi conventions and Star Trek conventions and one Doctor Who convention, and you get people dressed as their favourite character in various levels of commitment but I have never, ever seen anything to the extent of this Anime thing.

I would say a good 95% of the people there were dressed up. And I don't just mean wearing silly hats. There were characters from every Anime imaginable; more Sailor Moons than you could count, apparently quite a few Final Fantasy people and hundreds of things I couldn't begin to recognize. Some girl was walking around with this triangle thingy on her head. Quite a few young women were dressed very scantily, of course, because some Anime is all about half naked people.

Oh. And Yaoi. Yeah.

It was utterly fascinating. I could have just sat in a corner for hours and watched the people go by. They were all young, too. High school and college age people for the most part.

But we walked around and looked at the nerchandise, and attended a lecture about trying to break into voice acting (basic message was 'yeah, good luck with that.) And I found a pin that said "LJ, we know drama" which made me giggle.

Makes me really hope a Doctor Who convention happens somewhere in my neck of the woods now, because as much as I enjoyed myself it wasn't my tribe, and I really want to go somewhere that I can mingle with my own.

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I do like this one show my friend got me into called Sayuki.

The other night I had a rather fangirly dream involving a Iconic Character That Shall Not Be Named. In this dream, the Iconic Character That Shall Not Be Named and I were together. Why, I don't remember. It was one of those weird dreams that make absolutely no sense the second you wake up.

The bit that I remember, though, was at one point Iconic Character That Shall Not Be Named was talking to me and he had such a look of love in his face when I turned to look at him. I think he hugged me, too.

Do you know what I mean? It was such a clear moment in my dream; he was looking at me, and smiling, and his eyes were just full of love, and I knew we had that relationship where we both meant the world to each other and always would.

It stayed with me, and the rememberence of that dream feeling was so strong that when I saw a photo of the actor who currently plays ICTSNBN my heart beat a little faster for a moment, until reality caught up and I remembered that hello? Dream.

My point of this is that I don't remember anyone (not even the ex who I know did love me at one point) ever looking at me quite like that. I've never really had that 'soulmate' kind of a relationship, where we both just are together on all levels. I think that's why that part of the dream stood out so much to me, because it is something I don't think I've ever had, not completely.

This isn't whiny, or emo. It's just made me feel a little lonely for it these last couple of days. But who knows, maybe I still have a chance.

It doesn't have to be anyone nearly as awesome as Iconic Character That Shall Not Be Named, or even the actor who portrays him. Just someone who genuinely likes me, through and through.

That would be nice.