Nagasaki on google maps!

Today I was randomly looking at Google Maps and I decided to look up Nagasaki (I don't know why, exactly).

For some reason that mankind will never know, the Google Map van decided to go around the back streets of Nagasaki.

I decided to see how close I could get to the apartment I lived in in 2007 (tucked away in the middle of nowhere... just like everywhere else in Nagasaki). And.... well, I got pretty close:

Nagasaki city is really long and stretched out (not round and circular and FLAT, how I usually like my cities). Owning a bike in Nagasaki is pretty much a guaranteed FAIL. It's like San Francisco but a lot worse - lots of hills and narrow paths and crazy mountains.

I lived in an apartment about 1km from the bomb blast centre (yeah, that's pretty freaky when you think about it).


So two things struck me about the image I found:

1. The apartment and how much I fucking hated living in Nagasaki with a stupid NZ granny (apartment circled below in pink) and....
   
   
2. the 'Cat-Free bottles, just near our apartment (circled in yellow)
   

Observe:

The apartment is pretty self explanatory - it is an apartment building, I lived there. It was a shit time.

The second thing, the 'Cat-Free' bottles - well, they made me laugh.

What is a 'Cat-Free' bottle I hear you ask? Well, I get that name out of the video game Katamari but basically it's a PET bottle (hang on, do we even call them PET bottles here in Australia?) filled with water. People do this because they believe that it will keep alley cats away. Stop them from peeing and pooing and stuff.

Thing is though, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work.
(yes, OK! I admit we tried it in our backyard once. Stef was quite confused)

Here is a site which has a better explanation than mine. I definitely like the name 'cat scare bottle'.

And anyway, this house near our apartment had about 100 water-filled PET bottles in a row and it almost looked like a dazzling, water-filled, fence! Can you (roughly) see how many they have in that picture above? It was crazy.

There are some much clearer (and funnier) photos on google.co.jp. Have a look here.

Another thing about Nagasaki that I saw on google maps - just down the road from the cat-free bottles - was the ruins of the Urakami Cathedral. The image on google maps is shit, but here's a photo I took at the time.

I had to walk past this every day and it freaked me out.

The blast of the atomic bomb blew this piece of the original cathedral up in the air and here it sits still, 65 years later. It's really really freaky. They built the new cathedral just next to it.

So anyway, Nagasaki. What a weird place.

Kidspot Top 50 Blog Your Way To Dunk Island

When I think of 'family vacations' the last almost 33 years of my life is trumped by the last 19 odd months of my life and I'm sitting here in shock thinking "I have never ever had a family vacation" which is complete rubbish because I have had plenty of them!

It's just that the last 19 and a half months (no, not a sexy romp starring Mickey Rourke) we have not had one.

Unless you count going to the supermarket. And, no, I don't count that.

The next thing I think of when I think of 'family holidays' is that part of National Lampoons European Vacation:

Russ: Dad, I think he's gonna pork her
Clark: He's not gonna pork her, Russ.
Russ: No dad, really, look!
Clark: OK, he may pork her now finish your breakfast.

Yes, dammit, I have seen that movie probably 100 times and I love that part! Tee hee!

The truth is, I grew up a very lucky girl in a very close family and my parents took my brother and I on many family holidays - around Victoria, Australia, across the USA, around Europe (in a campervan).

Now we were not rich and I know my parents sacrificed many things so we could take these trips (you don't have to tell me how lucky I am). We went around Europe for 2 months and did rough it quite a bit. I think there's a story about how we only ate plain spaghetti for 3 days in a row. I don't remember this and I still like spaghetti, so I don't think it damaged me too badly.

There are a lot of vague memories that I can't quite remember all of: seeing a monkey in a cage in a supermarket, the smell of the oil on the ferry, buying bright green nail polish at a market for 50p, making Lego men 'ice-skate' on the table while my dad drove the campervan around Europe.

I do remember chatting some old ladies up on a ferry to Greece and they offered me a piece of Toblerone and I said no thanks, thinking it was poisoned.

You know, if I had taken that piece of Toblerone and they HAD poisoned me, then I wouldn't be here telling my tale.

My brother was apparently looking through my mother's travel diary a few weeks ago and it said "Sharnee was not afraid of talking to Negroes". Um, ok (apologies for my mother's inappropriateness, it was quite a while ago).

Now that you have seen my brother and I "voguing" in front of the Colosseum, let's never mention it again.

I guess, the point I am trying to make in all this reminiscent haze is the fact that I consider these old family vacations not just to be 'vacations' but something that's made me ME.

Yeah it sounds lame.

I think that a childhood of family vacations (if we are talking camping 30 mins from our house or seeing famous art in the Louvre) paved the way for me exploring the world by myself. These are the times that I treasure and that I have continued to seek ever since.

When I think about vacations now I think about how different life is and how we're shackled to this city with two rambunctious toddlers. Right now, I can't imagine ever being able to take vacations. Or even being able to afford it.

However, I do know there will (hopefully) be opportunities to go places and do things with our boys in the future. And I really look forward to those times.

Our family is still quite new and I shouldn't try to rush things, right?

I just hope that I can pave an adventurous path for my kids that was paved for me. Trust me, it leads to exciting places, kiddos!


PS: George or Julius. If you ever go to Japan (I don't mind, it's pretty freaking ace), please don't marry a Japanese girl and stay there forever. My heart might break! Well, ok, if you must then just make sure you send me the odd Swimmer goods. That will make mamma happy.

Somehow, I have found myself a Kidspot Top 50 Blogger and in the running to win a trip to Dunk Island. In my tendency to create my own similes I likened this to just being a normal person and finding yourself on a rocket to the moon with a bunch of professional astronauts.

Like, seriously, look at those other guys!

Anyway if you would like to vote for me, you can do so here (there's no need to join or subscribe).

Geelong Show - 2010 - be in it to win it!

The entries for this years' Geelong show are open!

Background story:
My family are fiercely competitive. Like crazily so. I don't want you to think I am being overly mean but my mother is on the upper end of the competitive scale (think: 100%, competitive to a level you have probably never ever seen before). She notoriously would not give a Trivial Pursuit answer to my dad/uncle in 1980-something when they said "Watership Downs" and not "Watership Down" (yes, they still bitch to each other about that it's hilarious).

So anyway, last year - as you may remember - Stef, my mum, my brother's girlfriend Katrina and myself all entered the fruit butter competition (novice) at the Geelong Show.

So not only did I WIN, but I also go best exhibit in the novice section! Read all the details here.

*insert smug face here*

Stef came third and Katrina and my mother did not place. Awww.

Now this year everyone is going BANANAS and entering half a dozen categories each.

Stef, for some reason or other, is entering shortbread. He has so far spent probably close to $100 on ingredients, had the oven on for almost a whole 24 hours and made about 10 batches of shortbread. THIS IS REACHING EPIC PROPORTIONS, PEOPLE.

This was the shortbread entries from last year:

(yeah I took photos!)

The woman who WON the shortbread last year also came second in the novice fruit butter. So Stef has a lot to prove this year. He is also considering freaking her out by entering shortbread this year that looks IDENTICAL to her entry last year.

Ohh, mind fucking a grandma. Is that illegal?

Our kitchen is filled to the brim with shortbread.

Yes, I have even blurred out Stef's recipe because I know he does not want my mother to see his secrets. Hahahahaha.

I even walked into the kitchen the other night and saw him staring closely at a Walkers Shortbread, trying to unlock its secrets. The man is loopy!

Now, I just have to decide what I am going to enter.

Considering: fruit butter (non-novice section), herbed vinegar (actually don't even know what that is), decorated cupcakes and possibly some other things.....?

My favourite entry from last year - this one.....

Bin Laden - found at the Geelong Show.

I interrupt the internet for a brief lesson in human reproduction

Hello Internets,

I am kind of dismayed that no-one else in the world seemed to pay attention in high school biology. Seriously, the number of times that people say "Oh you have twins? Oh my husband was a twin so I'm really hoping for twins myself".

Unless I'm misinterpreting what they mean and they actually mean:

"Oh my husband was a twin and I really hope I have twins too, even though I know that him being a twin has nothing to do with anything!"

In that case - I forgive them.

But I know that that's NOT what people mean. Seriously, some people must be kind of dumb.

Newsflash:

• Identical twins are pure magic!
  It doesn't run in the family, doesn't matter if you were a twin, your dog was a twin, your next-doors-neighbours-second-cousin was a twin. It's just a freaky thing. It happens. The end.
  
  
  
• Fraternal twins - NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE MAN!
  If I hear another person say "Oh twins run in my husband's family" I may scream.
  Well, OK, I'm not going to scream but why attempt to give any kind of kudos to the man when he produced a zillion sperm and the woman was clever enough to produce 1 (or 2) eggs? I mean, thankyouverymuch I will take all the glory I can there. There will be no talk of mighty sperm as it was moi that should take all credit.
  
  

Obviously I'm not saying the sperm isn't as important as the egg, I just mean that without the woman popping out (or splitting) her eggs then there might only be one baby.

In conclusion: identical = magic, fraternal = womanly magic.

Love,

Sharnee

What's on my fridge (answer: lots of weird shit)

So in an attempt to blog more (because I really am so damn interesting and everyone wants to read about me *hair swish*) I decided to take part in Hello Owl's weekly 'My Place & Yours' thingy. This week, it's all about what's on your fridge.

You know, I do like spying into other people's lives and if you feel like spying on mine for a moment, here you go:

So we do have a lot of crap on our fridge (I'm a big fan of cool fridge magnets). I would say that the 3 showpieces on our fridge are as follows:

• "Rock Japan and then is the Earth!"
  This was a letter that a Japanese guy, Yuji, dropped off at our English school about 10 years ago. He dropped off about 20 copies of these fliers hoping we were (or knew) someone who could make his rock'n roll dreams come true.
  I often wondered what became of Yuji.

(I have cut it off in this image but he says "... please leave your massage")

• My dream man (right, with cauliflower turret/sausage penis)
  He's magnetic and he came with all sorts of awesome clothes. Unfortunately I lost all his clothes but he does have boxer shorts, shoes and socks on.
  The cauliflower/sausage thing is something I got in Japan (free with a Pepsi) and it's a Japanese Bento art thingy (more examples here). It came with instructions on how to turn a bit of cauliflower and a small bit of sausage into.... well, whatever kind of animal that is.
  
  Those damn fussy eater kids in Japan won't just eat anything. It has to be in the shape of something else!

• George, 1 min after being born (left)
  Ok, I know I am evil but I love this picture because his face says it all ("Duuuuude, WTF is going on? It was all warm and dark and now it's not"). And there's also the fact he's done a wee everywhere. Hell yeah I'm going to tease him about it when he's older.
  It makes me laugh. Sorry George.

Happy Birthday Dan (for last week)

A week ago we went to our friend Dan's house for his birthday.
We ate Indian food, drank some crazy honey flavoured bourbon and watched a few movies. It was fun.

Now Dan and Stef (and even myself to a certain degree) are a bit funny about the movies we like. Luckily we all seem to have very similar tastes so it's not a drama when we want to watch Blu-Rays or DVDs together, which is usually every time we do get together.

Stef and Dan are probably worse than me being that YOU CANNOT TELL THEM WHAT MOVIE THEY SHOULD WATCH! Sometimes it's annoying because there might be an awesome movie and you recommend it but it's almost the fact you have recommended it that makes them NOT (AND NEVER) want to watch it.

Let's take Juno for example. It did take me a few years to watch Juno (dunno why) but it was a good movie and Stef does not want to watch it. He also never ever ever wants to watch Dead Poets Society, which.... yeah.... fair enough.

Stef and I do agree on Braveheart. I've never seen it, never care to. Don't give the slightest shit about it. Whatsoever.

Now when it comes to Dan, he had never seen Silence of the Lambs before. Someone bought him the DVD years ago and he always avoided watching it.

He didn't even know what it was about!

Yes, you can probably see where this is going (what kind of friends are we?) we made him watch it on his birthday! Not really such a bad thing because it's a great movie.

Towards the end of the movie when Buffalo Bill is making his lady-suit and dancing around to this song I was wondering what on earth Dan must be making of this crazy movie. Just as the scene reached its peak with Buffalo Bill standing back to revel in his mangina "glory", I announced "Happy Birthday, Dan!" and it was so funny, like the whole movie could have been made just for me to say that to Dan.

Sometimes I entertain myself.
And that's enough.

Crazy times

I feel like I should write a blog entry but I don't honestly know where to start.
Life has been busy busy. But when is it not?

I am finding things pretty full on lately. I have absolutely no "down" time - no time for me at all (unless you count an hour on the train every morning and then again at night "me time", which I don't really. Half the time I'm sitting on the floor of a train and any sitting-on-the-floor-of-a-train-for-1-hour is not counted, ever, as personal time).

Work is crazy but in a good way. I honestly love my job and I feel extremely lucky that I got what I consider to be the perfect job for me. But it is busy (I'm a National Operations Manager, yo!). But I will take this over any of the other jobs I have had over the last 5 years.

Coming home from work and going straight into 'mummy mode' is also hard, but nothing makes me happier than seeing their happy faces light up when I come home.

When the monkey bros. go to bed then it's time to relax (briefly) before going to bed to get up at 5.45am and start it all again the next day.

There's a fair bit of guilt too. That I am not around to look after my boys during the day.

But..... I guess there would be weird guilt regardless of what I was doing - staying at home: weird guilt that I'm not doing a good enough job. At work: weird guilt that I'm not at home.
I have to think about the positive points of this arrangement and that is that they are very lucky to have so much quality time with Stef. I am proud of him for being a Stay-At-Home-Dad (lame term I know). He really has taken to it with such gusto and I could not be prouder. He does everything for them during the day, takes them to their twin playgroup, takes them shopping, washes their clothes, entertains them, plays with them.

He is so busy looking after our two handsome men that he doesn't even love Bobo as much as he used to! That's completely crazy because they used to be basically lovers of the highest order!

It's a pretty crazy life, but it's our life and I know deep down we wouldn't have it any other way. Well, OK, I would prefer to be a billionaire with my own cake shop.

I know we're going to look back at this time with fond memories.
If we can remember anything at all, that is!