First, an update

As you know, my life's not generally as exciting as that of the glitterati, but for a normal person, I've had some cool stuff going on this year. So first things first, a quick update. The year in pictures:

In March, I bought a new car:

Her name is Ruby Scarlet, and she's just lovely.
We were also due to go ballooning in March (on what would have been Sam's 16th birthday), but it was too wet. But we did go one foggy morning in April:

If you've never been in a hot air balloon, can I suggest you try it? It's a truly wonderful experience!


Of course, it wasn't all fun and shiny red cars, I did have to work. But, oh, that's right. I have a very cool job. We do some interesting things:

In April I also did my Sh'Bam instructor training. And then I went to Sydney and did Sh'Bam with 300 super-fit hotties!

And then in May, I went to Melbourne for a dear old friend's 40th. And I saw Prince. He was very cool.

Then we went to Sydney and walked across the bridge.

And swam  in a rooftop pool in the rain:

We bought some goats:

(They're gone now. They were a bit stinky! And they needed more room - and edible trees - than we could give them!)
We walked up some mountains:

And we played with Lego. In Sydney and in Canberra:

And most recently, in Milton:

(We'd lost Wally. But lots of people found him. I'll tell you about it sometime).

 And we welcomed a new member of the family:

Meet Rollo!

So yeah, all in all it was good. Good, yeah.
And before you ask, yes. I did have a nice year. And spent a lot of money. And was lucky enough to do some really cool things with my family. And that's what life (and this blog) is all about now.
I'm sure I'll get to tell you more soon. I hope you'll join me!

Worshipping the Foo

I know you probably don't want to hear any more about the Foo Fighters, but I simply must document my awesome evening (mainly because I want to remember it past today!).

So I'm going to write a (probably long) post about my day yesterday. Feel free to skip if you like, I'll be back on the weekend with something about my boys...

Anticipation

Anthony and I arrived in Sydney long before the registration started. But that was OK; we had a nice walk through Darling Harbour and did some serious people-watching as the crowds arrived. Everybody was extremely well-behaved (throughout the night too) - no yobbo-ing or pushing and shoving, which was nice. There were all sorts of people there, from young kids who were toddling when the Foo Fighters released their first record, to folks much older than Anthony and I.

When the boat finally arrived (a very comfortable three-story one), Anthony and I climbed up to the top floor and grabbed a seat. I'm not great on boats, but I needn't have worried, the short trip was calm and the butterflies in my stomach came more from excitement than nausea.

After a short trip, we disembarked at Goat Island, and walked around to what turned out to be a very intimate and scenic venue.
The small stage was set up with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, and the ground space in front of the stage was tiny. But that was OK, because there were only about 300 of us there anyway (later on, the balconies on the building behind us filled up with 'VIPs' - or people who had some connection to the radio, record company or TV channels, many of which obviously had very little interest in the Foo Fighters, more the prestige of being there...)


Showtime
Finally, the band came on stage:

They ripped through their new album, one after the other, with no breaks to chat or even take a breath. The new songs are great - fast, loud and rocking, like their first album. Lots of chances for Dave to roar his trademark scream.
We were about 6 people back from the stage, and stayed there all night, with none of the crushing and shoving you'd get in a 'regular' mosh pit. Everyone there was on such a high, and so busy loving the band (and loving being so close to the band) that there was none of that stuff.

I loved being able to lock eyes with the guys in the band, getting lovely smiles out of Nate and Pat,

and even managing to look the wonderful Dave Grohl in the eye...*sigh*.

I know, I know, it's a silly thing to get excited about, but realistically, I'm never gonna meet these guys. I never know where to 'stalk' anyway, and always have someone else with me who probably wouldn't want to hang around for hours waiting for that 'chance' anyway. Not that I resent that, I love have someone I love with me at these gigs, especially 'cause I can't take Sam. James waited for a couple of hours with me, after the Them Crooked Vultures concert, with not much of a result, and Anthony probably would have last night, but he had to drive the three hours home anyway (it was OK, we had a lovely beer and a burger at Grill'd, then a nice drive home, reminiscing all the way). So I'm happy that I got that close to them.

After they played the whole new album, from beginning to end, they started in on all their hits. They started with 'All My Life', which got everyone in the (downstairs) crowd jumping up and down and going crazy. They then proceeded to play song after cool song, with yours truly jumping up and down like a mad thing, screaming and singing myself hoarse.

All in all, they played more than 30 songs (I think 38 was the final count). As you can see on the set list (which a fellow Foo fan graciously loaned me for a photo - he even took the photo!), all the hits were covered. Some highlights for me were 'My Hero' (as always: it's a great song, and it reminds me of Sam - we even have 'There Goes My Hero' on our concert shirts), which got everyone singing (even some of the wet blanket VIPS!); 'Stacked Actors', in which Dave leaped into the crowd, ran upstairs and stood up on the balcony for a while, dangling his guitar over the edge; 'Monkey Wrench', which never fails to get everyone up bouncing and singing; 'Everlong' (of course, one of my favourite songs); 'Up in Arms', where Dave dedicated it to a lookalike fan Jim (who had been standing next to us all afternoon), who proceeded to jump up on the stage, chug Pat's beer, and sit down while they sang the intro.

Lucky guy.

More!
In the encore (which was more than the four songs on the set list), they played the lovely 'Butterflies', an old, rare track, and one of my highlights for the night, a truly fabulous cover of 'Darling Nikki' by Prince. Pure gold.
Dave promised us 10 songs in the encore, but by about the 8th one, the powers-that-be were looking at their watches and tapping their feet, because they'd hit the noise curfew. They probably could have gone on for another hour (at least, that's the impression they gave us), but were kinda struggling to find songs to play anyway, or at least struggling to remember how to play them.
They finished off with 'This is a Call', which, as their first hit, was a very loud and fitting way to end the night.

Dave was his usual funny and charming self, Taylor pounded away on the drums (apparantly he could be heard all around the harbour!), Nate and Chris were totally immersed in the music, and Pat alternated between big smiles for the fans and eyes-closed blissful music making.

All in all, 3 hours of musical yumminess which I would gladly do again tonight, and every night. (I found out this morning they're putting on another gig in Sydney tonight - it's times like these I really wish I lived in a big city). The cool thing is, it was all filmed for Channel V, and will be screened on the 2nd of April. Now I've just gotta work out how to get a copy!

By the time they finished, my whole body was stiff, and I had lost my voice. A sure sign of a great night.

A great, great night.

Oh gee, I'm supposed to be studying but I just can't concentrate! Check out the photos on the TripleM website. If you look at photo #48, you'll see me on the top of the boat with both arms in the air. :)

Sydney

Yesterday, Anthony, Oliver and I drove up to Sydney to see his (sort of) sister and her partner and their new baby. He is very tiny and cuddly and gorgeous and it was a great way to spend a Saturday.
On the way back, we stopped for dinner at Sizzler in Campbelltown (because Canberra doesn't have one any more). Samuel loved Sizzler, even though he'd only been there twice. He liked to get 'one dinner and 5 desserts'. We'd had a good time the last time we went there, so we thought we'd stop there again. Oliver had a good go at the 5 desserts thing, but only managed 4. Well, he is a lot smaller!
Anyway, it reminded me of the last time we'd been to Sydney. We went up there in April 2009, mainly to see the Star Wars exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. We stayed at a little hotel in Redfern that was about 10 minutes walk from Central Station. The four of us in one room was interesting, but not horrible.
The day we got there, we walked down to Paddington Markets. Sam bought watch and a trendy hat. Little did we know this was the start of some serious 'cool teen' time for Sam. Although, there was a hint when I told him to pose for a photo in Darling Harbour. I think his body language tells the story:

The next day we went to the Powerhouse. I think I was more excited than any of the boys, being that I am an interesting combination of geek, Star Wars fan (only 4-6 of course!) and movie lover. But once we got in there was something to hold everyone's interest. Oliver raced around, had a go on the hover car


then planted himself at the robotics show. Samuel, Anthony and I wandered around, checking out the displays, periodically checking on Oliver and taking cheesy photos:

After we had walked back to the hotel and had a rest (it was a lot of walking, especially for Oliver!), we decided to go to Manly for dinner. Samuel was by then a keen boatsman (that's not a word is it), after our boat trip in Merimbula and spending time with Ryan on his family's boat, so he was very keen for the ferry. The sea was a little rocky, so of course I sat down and tried not to get sick, but the boys stood at the bow going up and down with the boat.
By the time we got to Manly it was raining fairly steadily, but Oliver was happy to tear about the place and Samuel didn't mind as there were shops! He bought some nice jeans from the hemp shop (the ones we cremated him in), a shirt from the Mambo shop, and a beanie from the Rip Curl shop. By then he had decided that Manly was just about his favourite place on earth and he'd be coming back with MORE MONEY!

We braved the rain a bit, looking for a restaurant and finally found an OK one. By the time we got back on the ferry, it was still raining, windy and very dark. I went straight to the seats, knowing I wouldn't be feeling to goo on this trip, but the boys had a great time, bouncing up an down on the waves and getting soaking wet. They were just about the only ones silly enough to be out there!
Needless to say, the walk back to the hotel (in the rain) was a little soggy. But the smiles on the faces of all three boys was well worth it!
The next day, we went for a HUGE walk through Sydney; from the hotel in Redfern all the way down to the harbour bridge and back.

I was amazed at the boy's stamina, but they didn't complain (much). Samuel found another cool shop in the Queen Victoria Building, this time lollies. This is where he discovered peanut butter M&Ms.

When we were sitting in Sizzler last night (Oliver was at the ice cream bar), Anthony and I talked about how Samuel would have been bored out of his mind, sitting around all day while people cuddled babies and talked (then getting dragged to Ikea). But he wouldn't have complained, he would have just got out his iPod or his phone and pinged away.
Anthone said he would have spent the whole day looking forward to Sizzler. He's probably right.