And so the cursor is blink[en]ing. Do I have something to say? Do I need to say anything? is anyone out there, oh wait, there's JJ selecting all > right mouse click > copy > pasting quotes. Yay. you know, if anyone's gonna steal the stuff i've stolen, I'm happy it's the J-ster. yes, I just called you the "j-star". That old question "if you were an animal, which animal would you be?" can be answered in two ways. The first way being, which animal are you most like. The second way is, which animal would you most like to be. Normally I answer the question with "Penguin" because I love the idea of sliding 'round on my tummy in the snow, and not feeling cold, and swimming like a bullet underwater. Actually, I think I can answer both versions of the question that way - if we remove the "swimming under water like a bullet" and, well, I'm not overly fond of snow - wet cold stuff it is. But apart from that. Until I remember, penguins can't fly. Which isn't a problem if you don't think about it because you're just there, smiling happily, imagining the slid[en]ing and the swim[en]ning. The problem begins when you flick the TV channel and find David Attenborough talking about the many hundreds of miles that penguins walk. Pardon? What did you say? walk? WALK? As I was explaining to my bus driver lady person the other day , we takers-of-public-transport and closet penguin'rs, don't LIKE to walk. No sir. We need to be dropped off there, by the Pole, not here by the driveway. Heaven forbid there are step[en]ning movements. So, either, Penguins need to learn to fly, or, they need a Howick Pakuranga Number 52 bus to drive past their Pole. "oh, for god's sake, enough with the navel-gazing psychoanalysis...turn into the hulk already!" ...read the rest of tequilamockingbird...

I fell in love with the cinematography of Tuck Everlasting yesterday. Such a beautiful movie, with lovely sound and a captivating score. Gentle and dreamlike, I've added it to the list of DVDs to own. I'm sitting in the Articulate at the moment and some of the few are talking about the Wizard of Oz. Amy loved that movie. I don't mean "loved" in the way I love The Princess Bride - Own it and watch it on those days you want to lie in a warm lounge on a soft couch and sink into the movie - once or twice a year. No, she loooovvvvved it.. up to six times in ONE DAY. I would say, there was hardly a day that went by, between the end of her 2rd year and her 5th that she didn't watch that movie at least once - and, as I said, there was a day when after the 6th viewing I *had* to take the tape away. Just so she could get outside and breathe some munchkin-free air. When she wasn't sat in front of the television, VCR whirring, thumb and tiggy in place - she was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the drop of a hat or the hint of a request. [insert image of a little girl in a white ballet tutu, hair in pigtails, feet in pink gumboots, taking her thumb out of her mouth to sing - that thumb was literally a noise bung] No one could stretch those first two notes further apart than that little, lisping, snowy headed ringletted, dimple faced munchkin. So that fearless active toddler is now 16 years old. She is working at her first fully paying, part time/afterschool and weekends job. She's had other little jobs before but they've never really been clear in the "paying" department. She works for CountDown Supermarket in Botany - she phoned me on Friday and told me to come in on Saturday and buy my LOTTO ticket from her. So I did - there she was, counting the tickets or-what-ever-she-was-doing yesterday behind the LOTTO counter. I managed to get all the way to the counter without her looking up and noticing me. I'm mean, really I am. I can't help myself and when such an opportunity arises I don't think I do and so I threw myself across her counter, slapping both palms of my hands down and saying in a very loud voice "I'D LIKE TO COMPLAIN [insert amy jumping out of her skin here] THESE TICKETS YOU SELL ME NEVER WIN!!! [insert amy crumpling into a cross between a giggling fit and her heart exploding with fright]". The man at the ajoining counter looked at me and I said "This makes having kids all worthwhile" and he laughed and agreed. From the looks of the queues of people at her counter I was darned lucky to get such a break and a fabulous reaction from Amy. I guess it was "meant to be" I have a stinky cold, and a busy week. Today is beautifully blue sky'd and cool sunshine.

Mitch: "I've never worked at place where no one plays sport" Michelle: "Hey! we play Tetris!" Rosie: "This morning the city looked like it was badly photoshopped against the sky, like it had a 5 pixel feather."