Dinner & a Movie + The Things We Say...Part 34

So we're eating dinner, and watching television. There's nothing particularly impressive on, since there never is, so we end up watching the 2001 'The Musketeer', with Catherine de Neuve, which just happened to be on some random channel. We ended up in the middle of it so it took us a while to figure out who was who and what was where etc. You know how it goes.

Anyways, at one stage during the movie d'Artagnan is on top of the carriage with the queen in it and fires a musket at the baddies.

V's Maternal Parent: Did they even have muskets back then?

My Maternal Parent can be adorable. Dad and I made some sort of comment about who they were musketeers, and she instantly realised the silliness of her question which lead to much giggling.

Holy cow, I am a lazy, lazy non-person.

So, I'm going to fall into that tried-and-tested blog apology - I have totally failed to post... well, pretty much at all in the past couple of months, and for those who give a damn, I apologise. I can pretty much guarantee it'll happen again, though. Just sayin'.

I guess there should be a holiday-roundup taken care of first up: it was awesome. Apart from that bit where I crashed my Mum's car, that is. That was frustrating and upsetting, and I can now add 'guilt-ridden' to my various other neuroses. On the upside, I managed not to kill V in the process, and the only injuries were inflicted on said vehicle (sorry, Tracy). Thanks to the stupidity of insurance companies, the car was written off due to the relatively minor damage (Although I'm still confused about how I managed to screw up the wheel alignment, rear axle, crack the windshield and blow out a tyre while only putting a couple of scratches in the bodywork, but what the hell). Also, V bounced completely off the seat during said accident, but is so tiny that she didn't even hit her head (*whew*).

Before I wiped out the car we were using for our lil Tasmanian road trip, we spent a fun(!) spider-filled night in a caravan at Orford; camped in the Douglas Apsley National Park, visited my ex-sister-in-law and her two delightful (and incredibly energetic) toddlers, stayed in the St. Helens YHA and drove to the Bay of Fires. If you ever have the chance to take your time and see Tasmania, it's a beautiful place - also, wandering around in summer is pleasant, rather than hot. I'll trade 40 degree Canberra days for 25-in-the-sun any day.

We spent a goodly amount of time picking berries. More or less every day we were at my mum's, actually - our record was 5kg for one afternoon's effort. Freezers that smell of raspberries are awesome. I will also post the most amazing summer dessert recipe ever at a later stage, if only 'cause it's fun to be enjoying an antipodean summer while various places experience their snowmageddon.

(Is anyone else underwhelmed by using 'snowpocalypse' or 'snowmageddon' to describe these snowstorms? I guess it must be comforting to have a way to refer to them when you're stuck in the middle of one, but I can't help feeling that if we're gonna make up words, they might as well be fun ones.)

I also spent a fair bit of time sorting through my childhood relics, and lugged a bunch of them home with me. If you've never come across Barbro Lindgren's The Wild Baby, I whole heartedly recommend it - possibly the most endearing and funniest toddler ever. Also, V and I apparently had the same first watches. Weird.

I will leave you with this last comment - 6am skinnydipping in the Douglas Apsley waterhole is the best wake-up idea ever.

Ah...Valentine's Day.

So. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you're all snug 'n things with your partner of choice, be they male, female, virtual, furry, fluffy, blown up, near or far, a book, a cat, a dog, or a box of tissues and chocolates (or as it is in my case, a large bottle of vodka, a bottle of cranberry juice, and my computer).

I've been meaning to talk about this for a long time, but for some reason it just seemed silly and somewhat stupid to talk about that crazy lil thing called 'love' when, firstly, I don't claim to know a thing about it other than what goes on in my brain, and secondly, I figure it's different in all books. And then, hey, check out the date! Perfect excuse right? But before we begin, let me set the rules: I will not cry, I will not rant (much), I will attempt to be objective and general, and I will attempt to use as little profanity as I can. Provided you lot don't laugh or roll your eyes or cry, rant, rave, or judge. Also: I'm not the expert! I'm just being opinionated 'n stuff 'n things, so no one kill me. All happy? Awesome, let's rock...

I keep seeing people stuck in relationships they shouldn't be in, either at all or anymore, take your pick. I know people who shouldn't still be together, except somewhere down the line in the turns and twists of their relationship they forgot that they were allowed to choose their own way, and now they're stuck together for the rest of their lives (granted, at 70, I suppose you really have to want to get out). Humans are creatures of habits, we like things we know, we're scared of things we don't. So few of us take risks anymore, and those of us who do tend to be looked upon as 'crazy idiots who really should settle down'. The thing is, habits and patterns are all well and good, if they're good patterns and habits. If you're in a relationship right now where you respect and love your partner and get that respect and love back, where you're communication is brilliant and everything is shiny 'n happy etc etc etc, then by all means, stay in that pattern and that habit. People who end up sticking it out in relationships where the spark has flown, either need to rekindle (and no I don't know how, I'm just half ranting thoughts here) or need to break the cycle and move on. The trouble is, they don't, because they're in a pattern where they know the ins and outs, where they know the rules and they know how the game is played - even if they don't like that game.

Of course, it's easy for me to say all of that. They're only words for me, for people in the situation, they have to be actions and that's always harder than words.

I've always viewed Valentine's Day as a little bit of a 'silly' holiday, carrying the same weight like 'Teacher's Day' - that came out a little bitter, but the metaphor stands: Teacher's Day is great for people involved in it, bringing apples to the teacher or whatever the traditions are these days (did that make me sound old?). The same goes for good ole V-day: if you're in love, and you're with someone, YAYY!!! If you're not in love and (I suppose therefore) not with someone, then YAYY!! Just another day!! If you're in love but not with someone, then you're just f***ed, cept not literally, which would be part of the problem maybe. (Okay that was bad. Sorry, couldn't help it. BAD V! *finds L and gets  a slap on the wrist*).

(Side question...is quarter to 4 in the afternoon too early to start drinking?)

Of course, you could argue that Valentine's Day is primarily driven by the deliciously capitalist chocolate fabrication businesses, I mean this is their jackpot day right? Forget Halloween, forget Easter (though I would really like another chocolate orange, kthnxbai), and forget Christmas, Valentine's Day is where they really hit the spot. Why? Because people forget about it if they're not 'in the loop', and so they look at the calander and go 'Oh shit, Valentine's Day...should do something in case s/he thinks I forgot and don't love her/him! Where's the nearest chocolate store?'. Okay, so maybe that's a little cynical (*cough*unhealthycynicism*cough*)...and maybe I'm spending too much time thinking about it, but it is V-day...that kind of gives me perogative to think about it right?

Anyways, I hope I didn't spoil anyone's chocolate kisses, and those of you celebrating, celebrate away (safely, please, the world is already overpopulated, we'd like to avoid more accidents in the back of the car, kthnx). And those of you who can't wait to move onto the next chocolate season where you don't have to think about not being someone, it's okay, Easter's just around the corner and we can all celebrate Zombie-Jesus Day with extra chocolatey oranges 'n bunnies, if that's your thing.

Clear Skies~V