The Rich List

Posted on November 21, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | 3 Comments

Now that new season has started, Brian and I watch pretty faithfully. We are admitted trivia buffs and have a lot of fun guessing the lists from the comfort of our games room. For those of you that haven’t heard of the show, here is the Chanel 7 blurb.

“The Rich List is an addictive quiz show hosted by the clued-up Andrew O’Keefe. Pairs of strangers use knowledge and strategy to complete lists that can win them limitless amounts of money.

The Rich List throws strangers together to form two teams of two who compete against each other by filling in missing answers on a particular list. Wide-ranging topics could include films directed by Steven Spielberg, hit singles by ABBA or states with a coastline. “

It’s great! I can find out how stupid clueless smart I am with every game. However I have one bone to pick…

The topics!

One night the rich list (final where they win the money) consists of naming the letters in the alphabet used to spell “super-cali-fragilistic-expi-alli-docious” and the next night it’s name the women who won best actress oscars between 1982 - 1997.

What??!?

Why is one so simple that you are virtually guarenteed the top prize and the other a feat in human memory? One is relateable to pretty much any english speaking person on the planet and the other only for movie buffs who actually watch the oscars?

I get the diffferent topics; sports, geography, movies, music etc… they are all somewhat related to common knowledge (some people will do better than others in each catagory) but for the final list?? You’d want to give everyone half a chance wouldn’t you?

I don’t even think it’s the topic that gets me but the date range attached to it. Why only a 15 year span?

I know that if I ever got on the show and got to the final list and they said ‘Name 15 French open winners between the years 1960 - 1975 I’d be like…

Are you kidding?

 So.. Rich list people…. Are you kidding?

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Spiders ARE conspiring to take out the bird population….

Posted on October 29, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | 5 Comments

ANOTHER ONE!!!!

Arghhhhhh!!!!!  I’m seriously about to start babbling gibberish and start packing my bags.

“That’s it! I want snow.”

Spiders don’t live in snow you see, but apparently Queensland is just CHOCK FULL OF THEM.  I could barely handle the idea of one massive bird eating spider but obviously they keep them as pets on the other side of Australia.

I will never sleep again….

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Sometimes, Australia just sucks!

Posted on October 29, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, They never should have let me be a mother | 4 Comments

I am a child at heart, (read: Immature) and my kids know it. My husband knows it too but he has denial down to fine art and can pretend that I am a perfectly normal, mature adult… most of the time.

Yesterday, Chelsea and I went shopping for her Halloween party this Friday. We needed Halloween decorations and costume necessities. She’s decided to be a geisha for the party which suits me just fine because I bought yukatas and obis in Japan earlier this year. Hooray for no big spending costs!! Now it’s just a question of getting the hair and makeup required. She totally took advantage of me!! Chelsea has developed a keen sense of ‘How to push Mum’s buttons and maker her do whatever you want by appealing to her immaturity.’ I got all super excited and got heaps of great decorations, ghouls, door hangers, table cloths, prizes and black hair dye for her costume.

I am totally living vicariously through my child. It’s kinda sad really, but there is no other option I tell you! Being Canadian, we love Halloween in all its creepiness and morbid pleasures. Trick or treating, haunted houses, parties and pubs that give przes to the best costume. Australians however, view it as predominantly an “American” holiday and view it with disdain at best. Trick or treating is considered the work of the devil rude and the whole thing is rather unexciting. This leaves us with the Halloween party as the only option to live out our bloody fantasies.

Last year was a crowning moment in my life as a mother. My child came to me and said, “I think I’ll go as ‘Little Dead Riding Hood’ this year.” Makes a mother proud, don’t it?

In any case, I am much lighter in the pocket and it’s not even my party. I want a party! Convincing Australians to come to an adult Halloween party is a painful and fruitless exercise. I’ve tried. It’s times like these that a quick 36-hour flight to Montreal looks really appealing. Worse than trying to convince them that it would be fun to cover yourself in blood and gore and rock the night away to the Monster Mash is trying to explain that it is NOT AMERICAN. They won’t believe you no matter what you say. I’ve never fully understood the intense dislike of anything deemed American but I’ve learned to qualify my accent with a quick “Canada.” whenever I feel the “What part of America are you from?” coming on. (Said with the utmost politeness but wrinkled nose like they have shit smeared on their upper lip which is replaced by relaxed relief once they realize you aren’t a yank. As if being separated by an invisible line somehow makes Canadians more acceptable.

In any case, I will spend this Halloween sitting at home, NOT listening to the doorbell ring every few minutes or children laughing and running from door to door chanting “TRICK OR TREAT!” NOT handing out lollies sure to rot the teeth from their skulls. NOT jumping out of a strategically placed pile of autumn leaves to scare the crap out of the teenagers too old to be trick or treating in the first place and NOT dancing the night away to the Monster Mash.

For those of you that can…..HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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Yep, I’m a slacker

Posted on October 28, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, Tools of the trade - Are you sure I'm qualified?, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity | 4 Comments

I’ve noticed recently that the number of blogs I follow pretty regularly has grown. There is an amazing amount of talented writers out there who make me crack up, shake my fist or sympathize on cue and I have been extremely lax in passing on the joy.

I’m in the midst of doing a major overhawl of my blogroll for this very purpose but please be patient it will take time cause I’m lazy and sorta un-motivated a lot because I do have a job and kids and pets and husbands and all manner of other time consuming things y’know!

For those interested, my top 10 favorie blogs of the moment are (in no particular order)

Wow, I got to ten. Guess I wasn’t so lazy busy after all!

If you get a chance, check ‘em out. It’s well worth it IMO.

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The stuff my nightmares are made of….

Posted on October 27, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

THIS…

…was snapped in Queensland somewhere near Cairnes a little while ago and made it to the news page of nineMSN where it caused me to spit coffee all over my keyboard and thus informing the IT department of my stupidity. What was harder to explain was the fact that I tried to suck it back in (the coffee, not the spider) and proceded to choke to death. (Well, not quite death but close…)

Not the thing to do when surreptitiously surfing the net at work….

 

PS It’s a Golden Orb Weaver, and no, they don’t get that big in WA.

PPS Yes, it is eating a bird.

PPPS Two posts in one day!! Do i get a gold star?

 

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