OW OW OWOWOWOW.......

http://www5.sbs.com.au/europe/index.php3?id=52544

I USED TO BE A WRITER PART TWO...

Stephen Dedman's selling stories. Martin Livings is selling stories. Chris Lawson is selling stories, and he only writes one every second Ice Age! (Hi Chris! Write more! :) ) I, on the other hand, haven't put pen to paper in weeks. (I found out recently that Chris is a fellow They Might Be Giants Fan. Always liked that boy...)

Wanna know my writing tasks this week? I built a strawberry pot hanger, cleaned the patio and shed, and painted a table. With a new baby, a tired partner, a mad toddler, and a house that looks like ground zero which needs to be cleaned up so we can host the family on boxing day, writing has disappeared. I tell people I work from home, but right now it would be more accurate to say I've retrenched myself.

Lyn's determined I'll get back to it next week, but right now, I don't see myself ever resuming.

GOD BLESS YOU MERRY MERCHANTS, MAY YOU MAKE THE YULETIDE PAY.

Went Brianmas shopping yesterday. My wallet hurts. Buying presents for 9 kids is not cheap. We got some damn good stuff, though :) We're gonna make 9 kids well-pleased.

THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEONE WORSE OFF THAN YOURSELF

Amongst my many noble attributes is fandom of the about-to-be-relegated-to-the-bloody-Second-Division-ferchrissakes Nottingham Forest, (Hey, how many European Championships have YOU won, Arsenal supporters?), a former European power crippled by years of mis-management and a plc that should stand for 'pillocks, losers, and cretins'.

My brother Scott and I bought my Dad's Brianmas present on Ebay last night- a Notts County guernsey. That's right, my Dad supports a sadder, more pathetic team than Forest! Sometimes, that's all I have to keep me going...

For the record, my brother supports Man U. Whore! Okay, Luscious supports them too, but she really only supports Ruud Van Nistleroy and Louis Saha's thighs, that's different :)

SWAPPING SHIRTS

I've known for years that Arsenal started by borrowing a set of Forest shirts and ripping the arms off, hence their red chest/white arms guernsey of today. What I didn't know until Dad told me the other day was that the mighty Italian team Juventus started in the same way by borrowing a set of County shirts.

A favourite catch-cry of Forest supporters whenever they play the Gunners is "We want our shirts back." If I were County, I'd be asking Juventus for the shirts and a couple of Juve's pet corrupt referees :)

WOOHOO ZOO

Off to Perth Zoo tomorrow for part two of Erin's birthday, where there will be cake (what did you think they did with all the old animals?) and hotdogs (like, I said...) and funny hats and stuff. I'm really looking forward to the day: I'm a sucker for animals of the Attenborough persuasion, and the zoo is as close as I'm likely to get to many of them. And Erin just loves the place, which is of course why we're going, so there will be at least 2 of us running around like looneys :)