Just not adult enough…

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/15/2772184.htm?section=justin

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/16/2773749.htm

A tale of two brothers

When mum was alive I was very use to being mistaken for her over the phone.  I’d answer the phone and I get a receiver full of Italian.   But how about being confused for your brother two years older or younger than yourself and not on the phone but in official school records.

Steven and Sean  are two years apart and go to the same High School.  Steven, an average student, is the eldest and doing his School Certificate this year.  Sean is bright, really bright.  So bright in fact it came as a little shock when his parents started getting letters sent home about Sean.  It was even more of a shock when the letter went on to say that if his failure to complete work continued it may harm his School Certificate results.

What?  Year Eight records don’t go towards School Certificate, do they?  Sure enough, Steven had been confused for Sean, and it wasn’t the last for most embarrasing time either.

Just last night, Sean and his family were invited to the end of year Presentation for all students that had excelled through out the year.  It was  big deal as Sean was receiving award for being the best in his year, a great honour. 

I guess the nagging fear may have started when they looked at a program and saw Steven’s name and not Sean’s listed for the award ceremony.  But surely that is just a typo?  Unfortunately not.  Not only was he introduced as Steven to the audience, his certificate and even his medalion were printed with his brother’s name. 

Credit to Sean’s teacher that picked up the error and stuck  into the case for the medalionan, I.O.U. .

It’s days like this that you wish you were adopted.  I know the youngest brother is thanking God that his starts with an A.

The ups and downs of life

Life’s ups and downs can often send us dizzy.  Here’s an example from last week of what I mean.

Penny from work had, had a crazy day.  She’d recently applied for a full-time position that would see her be able to spend more time with her family while ensuring a good steady wage.  Though she’d tried to not get her hopes up, they’d been dashed too many times before, it was just her nature to hope.

After an exhausting morning at work she drove to her children’s school, it was the last day of year and the last day of primary school for eldest, Elizabeth.  As a good mother she had brought along a box of tissue  knowing that her daughter was going to be a blubbering mess at the thought of leaving school for the last time.  Little did she know she’d require them herself. 

Just as she got to the school she receives a phone call from the team leaders to say she hadn’t got the job…again.  Disappointment was not modified by the fact that she was pipped at the post by an extremely competent person.  Once again, regardless of how hard she had worked, she was second place.

The school bell rang and Elizabeth came out sobbing.  Nothing Penny could do would calm her daughter down.  At the same time Penny’s youngest, Sarah also wanted her mother’s attention, brandishing her gift of a christmas cracker.  In the middle of the chaos, she receives another phone call, another library she has applied for a position in.   They wanted to organise a time for an interview where she would be required to do a presentation.  This position was in her field of speciality, full-time and so Choice that a few of us here were a little jealous of her applying.  Dare she pin her hopes on this job just to have them dashed like before? 

Head in a spin she rushes home to drop off her kids.  Her husband is there with bad news, he has to have an operation for the day after the big interview!  What else can happen to complicate her life?  Well, she had plenty of time to contemplate that question, stuck in traffic on the way to her evening job.

The next day they were off to the zoo, I wonder if she thought to stay there, or if she felt she was already living in a zoo.

Deja D-day

 

This is Richard Todd, English actor and war hero who’s  life’s story would do most mere mortals heads in. 

He was one of the first British officers in France on D-Day, as parachutist in the 7th Battalion, Light Infantry.  It was he that made first contact with the gliders and with Major John Howard who was in command of defencing the Pegasus Bridge (Orne Bridge). 

After the war he went back to his career as an actor and starred in many great WWII movies including Dam Busters, D-Day, the sixth of June  and The Longest Day.  It’s in his role in the Longest Day that things get confusing.

The Longest Day is a sweeping war drama about the Normandy landings ecompassing all sections of the battle from the naval bombardment, the infantry landings by sea, parachute and by glider as well as the air support.  In it, Richard Todd played the role of Major John Howard, the commander at Pegasus Bridge.  To make it more confusing they had another actor play him.  So, in a sense,  he played opposite himself, what actor can say that?

Unfortnately this great story only come to light due to the fact that Richard Todd died on Thursday 3rd December at the heroic age of 90.

Postscript: Saturday 28th November 2009

A sad postscript for the wedding I posted about on the Saturday 28th November 2009.  Mrs Puata, who danced into the reception for her son’s wedding died two days after this photo was taken.

The family, shocked and grieving, still laughed when they saw their mother, sister and daughter, in this photograph recently.  It’s a comfort to those who knew her that she lived and loved life to the absolute full and that what were to be her final days were very happy.

Thanks to Joseph Dang for the photograph.

Hitching back to adolescence

Being a Children’s Librarian I have a wonderful excuse for dabbling in chidren’s fiction:

“Hey, it’s my job!”

Of course, I wouldn’t let not being a Children’s Librarian stop me from enjoying my favourite authors, but it’s a good excuse for those who…. just don’t understand.

 Eoin Colfer (it’s pronounced Owen), author of the very smart Artemis Fowl series as well as a bunch of equally well written, engaging books for children and teens is one of these favourites that some adults can’t take seriously.  That he’s never written a book for adults I always thought was a shame because he is such a clever writer, far superior to many  bestsellers and could certainly be appeciated by a wider audience.

And then he was asked to write a sixth book to Douglas Adam’s  Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a trilogy in five parts. 

“My first reaction was semi-outrage that anyone should be allowed to tamper with this incredible series,”

Fortunately he got over  his first feellings of outrage and accepted the challenge of filling the keys on Douglas Adam’s Mac and has since released And another thing…

Of course there was a few people who didn’t like the idea of anyone and especially  Eoin writing And another thing… and made their righteous indignation felt including a Anti-Eoin Colfer sites and Campaign on Facebook; which Eoin very quickly joined.

For those who have reservations about Eoin taking on such a beloved series remeber he was an impressionable 13 year old when the first book came out in 1979.  He’s a fan, a bigger fan than most of us as he’s made a living following in Douglas’ footsteps.  If anyone was going to do the series justice it would be the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

Six years after Eoin was spellbound by Arthur Dent’s adventures I also discovered that universe of outrageous aliens.  I am forever thankful to Eoin for continuing the journey not just through space and time but from my childhood and back again.  And for the fact that I can now share one of my favourite authors with adults that think his books couldn’t be read seriously by anyone over the age of 18. 

 

Nothing is written

Truly,

for some men nothing is written unless

THEY write it.

Lawrence of Arabia

Admirable, but thank God that not everyone has to write their own words.

Saturday 28th November 2009

Going to a Lebonese/Maori wedding was always going to be entertaining.  I’ve been to a Lebonese wedding before and know that it there’s a lot of live music and dancing.  I would never expected that the Maori would have been a natural complement to that, being a culture that also long music, singing and dancing.

The best part of the night for me was the Maori music and dance demonstration where they took volunteers from the audience to teach them the Haka.  Joseph, a work mate pictured opposite, who is up for anything took up the challenge.

I love Australia.

Friday 27 November 2009

We had good intentions.  Yesterday we washed down another wall and prepared it for painting with the intention of painting this morning before it got too hot.  But we didn’t count on the storm that rolled through last night that left not the coolness that one longs for after a storm, but the sticky heaviness associated with Sydney summers.  It wasn’t all bad new though, the garden loved the rain and so did the Wood Ducks(pictured above) who came to visit this morning.

So instead of a highly productive last day of holidays, we’ve bludged around inside under the airconditioner playing Lego Batman.

Wednesday 25th November 2009

Now I’m not a big one for scrapbooking, but I do love a bit of craft.  So when our bible study leader challenged us to a scrapbooked page of Jesus’ various titles I was ready.  Instead of course, I went and paint half of our house with Catherine.  Well, I said I love craft, not that I have a good attention span.