Eighties flashback to Atlantis Marine Park

A recent post on The Worst From Perth made me laugh… and remember one of the first dates I went on with Groover.

We went up to Atlantis Marine Park to see the Dolphin show… It must have closed pretty soon after and the dolphins went to Underwater World - now AQWA. It was a pretty sad story actually because the dolphins had been caught in the wild. They had some babies. By the time the dolphin show thing stopped, they couldn’t reacclimatise so they went to Underwater World. And then, as we know just a few years ago the last three dolphins died mysteriously.

Anyway back to Atlantis Marine Park… there were all these limestone statues in a big circle and we had fun getting up close and personal with them…

The sort of silly stuff you do when you’re young and in love… (hmmm check out those shoulder pads and high waisted baggy jeans! Sexy stuff.)

Okay, perhaps not the best look, but this was before we got really PC in the mid-nineties…

I always wondered what happened to them… and now I know thanks to TWOP!

Sleeping bag cover up!

Dippity is going camping. Her first camp with her new school. She’s pretty excited but a little worried that she won’t be able to get her sleeping bag into its bag. And I don’t blame her.

What is it with sleeping bag makers!

Why can’t they design a bag that makes it easy for a kid use?

Now sure, I could have TMATP* and bought a down filled stuff-in sleeping bag. I have one of those myself and they are great. Warm, compact and best of all easy to store in its little bag. Instead I decided to cut the price tag by more than half and buy a very warm, good quality bag that you need to roll up and put in its bag. IMPOSSIBLE.

It’s hard enough for me, let alone a 11 year old.

Am I alone?

Tell me about your sleeping bag woes…

*TMATP = Thrown Money At The Problem

Nothing like a biosolid necklace to make you feel better

I’ve been feeling poorly over the last 24 hours. Vomiting. And I never vomit. In fact I reckon you can divide the world into vomiters and non-vomiters. Vomiting is much more stressful for a non-vomiter. Such a shock to the system.

Anyway, it’s all been a bit bleah.

Luckily I live with Groover who cheered me up with a little article from “Flowing Forward” produced by the Water Corporation’s Communication Division.

Margaret Domurad (pictured) is wearing shit. Yes. Literally.

She collected some “biosolids” - that’s Water Corp speak for poo - and crystalised them at about 1400 degrees centigrade. She then asked a friend to make them into a necklace. Apparently it doesn’t smell.

I can’t see it taking off though. Not in a big way.

Fingernail vanity

I know posting about this is tantamount at waving a red flag at fate and saying “Yoo hoo! Over here! Time to break a fingernail!” but I don’t care.

I’ve managed to grow my fingernails quite long and they’ve not broken all week, despite gardening on Sunday and I wanted a record..

Noice.

By the way anyone watching East of Everything on Sunday nights? What do you think?
I’m thinking it’s not quite Seachange but I’m starting to enjoy it three episodes in… and that Richard Roxburgh is pretty cute…

Me and Chas Licciardello

Claiming that my son is a huge fan and would be sick-makingly jealous if I had my photo taken with him, I stood next to the (surprisingly not tall) Chas Licciardello from The Chaser and smiled.

Of course it’s me who is the big fan… and Hugamuga… but one doesn’t want to be so uncool. Oh except… um… I guess it’s pretty lame to then display the photo on your blog… And I don’t want to appear a stalker but that’s 2/5!

I took the family to The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety Hour at His Majesty’s Theatre this week. I was amused, I laughed out loud, I sniggered, I wondered if we’re going to have a problem in the future recycling all those reusable green shopping bags…

Hugamuga LOVED it.

It’s like a Uni Review crossed with the Chaser’s TV show. The demographic was young. It was fun.

Details of the show.

Speaking of things happening in Perth… apparently the World Blog Awards are in our fair city in August…

A wet day in Perth

The reticulation has been turned off and the sound of raindrops on the skylight keeps me company as I blog and wonder how I’m going to get my washing dry in time for our camping trip tomorrow.

Not for the dinner table

Tip: Don’t discuss The Tapeworm Diet if spaghetti is on the menu.

PS: Not really a good diet to try… Ewwww.

It’s a croc!

I don’t mean to be judgemental but what were was the New Zealand Olympic Committee thinking?

Crocs? As part of the official uniform?

They are not even from New Zealand!

Okay I know I own a pair but I wouldn’t wear them to an occasion!

The baby name wizard’s name voyager

Name Voyager is a fun web-gadget. You just type in your name and the wizard tells you how popular it’s been over the ages.

So my little family in order of number of times the name was used per million babies born today:

Cellobella!

Ranked in the top 25/1000 in 2006.

Then Hugamuga:

No 371 in 2006.

This is Groover:

Ranked 826 in 2006.

And finally Dippity:

Not in the top 1000 since the 1960s.

Emily is the most popular girls’ name in 2006, and for boys? Jacob. The lists.
Naming trends… did you know that hundreds of babies are named “Unique” in the US every year? Poor darlings.

Warning: This is a BIG timewaster!

How to spell diarrhoea

On a recent holiday the question was asked: How many people in this house can spell diarrhoea correctly?

Groover insisted that he didn’t know anyone who could spell it off the bat, even those who profess to be good spellers.

This proved to be the case with an English major, teacher and journalist all failing admirably to spell it correctly. We’re not counting the engineer who can’t spell for toffee (or even possibly toffee).

It took us a while to even check the right spelling in the dictionary because we couldn’t find it due to the weird and unusual ways we were spelling it. Although, to be fair, we had put the engineer on dictionary duty.

So when we finally found the blasted word we decided we’d better make up a mnemonic to remember it and here’s what we came up with:

Disaster in Arse, Run Run Hide, Or Explosion Arrives

Another one found on the net is:

Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry Or Else Accident!

I think ours is a little more… earthy? A little less school-friendly perhaps.

Which one do you prefer? Or do you have your own?

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