Friday, January 30, 2009

Top 5 Angelo induced injuries

I've been rather boring of late. I've been spending most of my time either hanging out with / looking after / trying to entertain Angelo, or battling nature in the terraced yard behind the house ( believe me - a HUGE undertaking ... ).

So - in an effort to be interesting, here is at least a vaguely amusing kiddy related thing. The awful ways in which Angelo has sought to harm his dada.

5. Full-on, Hollywood styled, sfx : rump steak slapped on marble table top, slap in the face.

4. Punch to the throat.

3. Back-hand upper punch to the right eye.

2. Alphabet block smashed into head.

and at number one, a tie !

1. Double foot stomp to the groin / 'brain-buster' falling head-butt to the groin.

I really can't work out which was worse. They both hurt pretty damn bad.

Still - at least he didn't give me carpal tunnel syndrome ...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

What goes on in his head ?

Viva went to the supermarket to get something and took Angelo along for the ride. She told me that when they were in the checkout there was a little girl ahead of them in line who had the hiccups.

Apparently this struck Angelo as being hilariously funny, and he was laughing his head off every time she hiccuped !

I wish I'd seen it !

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Which were worse ?

Ewoks or gungans ?

By a hair - I'd say gungans. But it's a close run thing. MIGHTY close ...

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Singular or plural ?

Advert for a bar I heard on the radio today :

" ... and make sure you come on down on weeknights for our daily Happy Hour - 4pm till 6pm !"

Tee hee !

Star Wars Alphabet Set !!!



V is for Ventress !!!




H is for Hutt !!!

Sweet jumping chilli bean !! This alphabet set is freaking amazing !! How can I get a set for Angelo's room ? Hell - how can I get one for MY room !!!

Monday, January 05, 2009

The Nature of Grudges

I was doing a lot of yard-work today. Much of it was pruning back errant branches of rogue trees. I'm not normally one for work in the great-out-doors, but you know what really makes a difference ? A MP3 player ! I've been listening to audio books and all sorts while I've been waring war on our little section of mother nature. It's been great !

So I was loading new music and sound files onto it this morning before the great attack, and while sifting through my music library, I chanced on 'Under the Pink' by Tori Amos, which I had not listened to for AGES. I started up 'Cornflake Girl' and 'The Wrong Band' and 'Icicle' and 'Yes Anastasia'. Great songs - but it took me back to, oddly enough to a much darker time.

I listened to 'Under the Pink' and 'Little Earthquakes' almost continually after a particularly bad break-up I went though. The songs are now faintly water-marked with that time, even after all these years. Jeesh - how long now ? Dum-de-dum ... over 15 years I think.

One of the worst things about the whole deal was that I had a MAJOR falling out with a friend / flatmate back then. He started going out with said ex-girlfriend within the space of a couple of days. There were great feelings of betrayal folded into the whole stew of the collapsing relationship. It was very bad. I was not a happy guy at that time.

Still, time goes by and tends to heal wounds of these sorts. But while I eventually did the 'forgive - forget' combo with the girl in question, I NEVER did that with the former friend/flatmate.

I have friends who are friends with him, and they have said things to me like 'Hey - that guy, he's a decent bloke !' and 'He's sorry, y'know' and 'It was YEARS ago Seraph ! Let it go !'.

And to be fair - they have various correct points to their arguments.

But they forget some pretty important things about me I think.

First and foremost - I am, no matter how I appear, Italian. And Italians know a thing or two about holding a grudge. Particularly my particular clan. In contrast to some members of my family - I am viewed as being rather too forgiving,
It's a genetic thing. It's not that I particularly WANT to feel the way I feel about the guy But I cannot help it - I feel physically ILL when I am anywhere near the guy. Thankfully, even though I believe he's still kicking around Wellington somewhere, our paths haven't crossed for a few years now - and now the season of 'Stag Nights' have ground to an end, I doubt I'll see him again. I don't think our mutual friends are dumb enough to invite us both to the same events anymore.

And second - some things you just can't forgive. No matter how much you would like to. And yes - it's just as damaging to you as it is to the other person - and you KNOW that, and you still can't.

Sigh. All this from listening to Tori Amos.

I'm not particularly sure when I'm going with any of this - it's just been playing on my mind all day and I felt like saying it.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

If I had 10 million dollars ...

a) I would build a house with secret passages and secret rooms. I don't care WHAT Viv says about it - it would be seriously cool !

b) I'd buy a decommissioned missile silo and turn it into an 'evil genius' lair. There would be go-go dancers. Somehow.

c) I'd fill the Karori public swimming pool with jelly. Lime flavor - naturally.

What would you do ?

Friday, January 02, 2009

Downers of 2008

5. PC woes

My PC died early in the year. The hard-drive suffered some kind of aneurism and died, and the road to getting it back was paved with despair. There were so many problems and crap – from the technicion putting the wrong RAM in it to no sound output. Definitely a pain.

4. Missing out on some things.

The arrival of Angelo, wonderful though it is, does mean that a few things have been sacrificed on the alter of parenthood. I missed not being in the 48 hour film comp this year, and more-so my Tuesday night RPG group. Ah well.

3. Making mistakes in the order of units in my senior drama class and the subsequent heart-stopping panic for 8 weeks.

Yeah – the less said the better. It all worked out in the end. Whew

2. Actually producing the school production films.

It was fun and I learned a lot – but it was a pretty merciless grind.

1. Still having problems with my leg.

It’s over a year now and my right leg / knee isn’t yet 100%. The weight-gain from reduced exercise hasn’t been nice either.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

The Top 10 of 2008

10. Discovering ‘Death Cab for Cutie’
I just don’t tend to find new music that I actually like – so discovering a whole new BAND that makes some really great music is quite a thing !

9. Discovering ‘Old Man’s War’ by John Scalzi
I tend to discover great books a little more often – and this was a seriously good find ! I had never heard of John Scalzi before, but people were talking about him on the ‘Boing Boing’ site and raving about his first book ‘Old Man’s War’. So I figure, what the heck ?
OutSTANDING story !
A cross between ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Cocoon’ – hilarious, sad, action packed and thought provoking. Read it at ONCE ! That’s a order !!!

8. Ran my ‘Resident Evil’ version of “The Mountain Witch” RPG at Kapcon.
Didn’t win any prizes – but the game seemed to go down well !

7. Seeing Bill Bailey live in concert.
My face hurt for hours afterwards !

6. Did a good painting !
‘Alchemy II’ for Dave. I really liked how it turned out.

5. Artwork I did for Hix’s game.
Now he only has to actually produce the product …

4. Acted in a version of “The Four Yorkshiremen” sketch.
At the school variety concert. I was the character that had the last monologue ( was killed by parents who than danced on the grave singing hallelujah ) . Good fun !

3. Renovating the spare room.
Took awhile – but done BEFORE bubba arrived – and it wasn’t half bad into the bargain.

2. Finishing the film productions for school.
Never have I been happier to finish something.

And, at number one, it should come as no surprise …

1.The birth of Angelo.
Which carries with it many wonderful moments of joy !