What a Bunch of Softies!

I don't think any of the boys in my household would ever be described as 'tough guys'. Oh, Anthony puts on a bit of a gruff show, but he's a big-hearted old thing. Just like my little boys.

Among many things. The three of them also have something else in common. PD.

PD is (obviously) a teddy bear. He hasn't always looked like that, but he has ever since I've known him. He was Anthony's when he was a little boy (sadly, I don't have a picture), and when Samuel was born, Anthony passed PD on to him. I can't find any pictures of Sam with PD either, but here's one of him asleep with PD in the background:

Samuel had lots of teddies as he was growing up, and PD was just one of them. As he got older, he became more attached to some of the stuffed tigers he was collecting (I'll tell you about Sam and tigers some day), especially one called 'Gritty Kitty', which is displayed on Sam's shelf in the lounge room.

When Oliver was born, Samuel decided (on his own) that Oliver should have PD. So he gave it to him early on. Oliver's got quite a few teddies too, but PD has become very important to him. He sleeps with PD every night,

and if he goes to stay somewhere else (even before Sam died), PD has to go with him. Even to hospital.
He was pretty attached to PD even before Sam died, but now he's even more so. He keeps the nightmares away and gives Oliver something to hold on to when he's having a more restless, worried night. PD's been a real comfort to him, and it's almost like a piece of Sam is with him every night.

It's amazing what one teddy can do.

Another Hurdle Jumped

An unexpected outcome of my wonderful trip to see the Foo Fighters was that we (I) had to face a bit of a 'hurdle' in my grief 'journey'.

As you know, Sam died while staying over at his Nanna (Anthony's mum)'s house. So as you can imagine, it's been pretty hard for me to let Oliver out of my sight, let alone let him sleep over anywhere (I still get up at least once per night to check on him).

He has stayed at my parent's place two or three times (they also spent each of those nights with one eye open!), but that's about it.

Of course Oliver is now at that age when kids start to have sleep overs. When his friends first started asking, even he was hesitant. We got around that by asking his friends to stay here instead. And they had great times when they did.

So last Thursday, even though we planned to go home after the show, we knew we'd get back too late to pick Oliver up from anywhere (we ended up getting home around 2am). So we decided to have him sleep over somewhere.

He ended up sleeping at his Nanna's place. This was a hard decision for me to make; not because I blame her for what happened to Sam, but because there was that tiny, very irrational fear about it happening again. You might even call it a phobia. I know it probably sounds very strange to you, but it was something I was having a lot of trouble with!

Well they had a great time together, and Oliver's very keen to do it again, so of course my fears were unfounded, but the fact that I let it happen it shows how far I have come in facing some of those demons that surfaced in late December 2009.

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. :)

An observation (or two)

Ok, I know I've done this before, but there are things I notice as I go about my business, that probably take up way too much of my cognitive time.
So I share them with you. It's only fair...

I wonder if people even notice that they're always talking with their hands. Especially when they're the alone. Especially when they're driving alone.
A few times lately, while I've been driving around the place, I've noticed that many people, alone in their cars, talk with their hands. Waving them around wildly as they (supposedly) concentrate on the road.
Obviously they're being very safety conscious and using a hands-free kit, but surely this is counteracted by the fact that their hands are waving frantically around as they try to make that point that can't be made while the car is stationary (or, god forbid, in person)?
And now that I've noticed it, I notice it ALL the time. Everywhere I go. Are people conducting whole seminars in their cars, or what?

I wonder why people turn up at the supermarket between 4 and 7pm (the busiest time of the day) and then complain about the crowds.

I wonder why people drive the long way round just to skip a couple of traffic lights.

I wonder how a newspaper that is completely wrapped in plastic can still be soaking wet after a rainy night.

I wonder why there are so many people in the world (or maybe it's just this place) that seem to spend their whole day making negative, cynical comments about everything. Witness The Riot Act as an example of this phenomenon.

And just for a laugh: thanks to iGoogle (and presumably many others) for these ones...

I wonder why more psychics don't win the lottery.

I wonder does the reverse side have a reverse side?

I wonder if you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

I wonder why we drive on parkways and park on driveways.

I wonder what was the best thing before sliced bread...


Oh don't worry, there'll be more....

Winner!

I won!!!

The other day, I posted about the new album by Foo Fighters, and Sue, one of my wonderful readers, told me about a competition that Channel V was holding.

Well I spent a day coming up with an entry, which included a poetic ditty and this fairly dumb YouTube video, of course getting to the end of the day thinking about how I'd wasted the day.

Well, turns out the day wasn't wasted, 'cause I won some tickets!

I'm very excited and happy. It was a great day anyway (the student summit was today, I'll tell you about it later), and this totally topped it off!

So Anthony and I are going to drive up to Sydney next Thursday, get whisked off on a boat to some secret location, and treated to a cool show with a heap of serious Foo fans and lots of new songs. Yay!

(and thanks Sue, for the tip!)

Why can't we all just...get along?

I read this morning that 10% of the people we meet will take an instant dislike to us.

I'm appalled! Everyone should just like me! I'm nice and friendly. Aren't I??

Despite the dramatics, cleverly designed to make you think I don't actually care, this concept does not sit well with me.

I like it when people like me. And I try very hard to be receptive: I listen carefully, ask questions that show I'm interested, smile, act politely and mind my body language. I hate thinking that 10 of the people that I've met in the last year don't like me.

I know, I know, it's a personality flaw, and a major indication of my insecurities and low self-esteem, but I'm always going to wonder now, especially when I meet someone new: are they one of the 10%?

Because I've always been a pretty good judge of character. I read people fairly well (or so I thought - I've obviously had blinkers on to the whole 'I don't like you' thing, but that's more denial I think!). I can usually tell if they're going to be annoying, or rude or quite lovely. I'll be on the look out for the hate signals now!

My kids have varying degrees of success with judging someone's character. Samuel, bless him, was just such a nice guy who didn't want to ruffle any feathers or make anyone feel bad. So he often hooked up with unsavoury types. The kind of kids who'd swap him something really lame for something of his (like the bloody kid who duped him out of his game-boy for a stack of footy cards - don't worry, we got them back!), or steal from him outright (like the one who stole his phone, on the pretense of 'having a look'). He learned his lesson though, and had built up a really good group of friends by the end.

Oliver's a little less tolerant. At the beginning of the year, he told me there was a new kid at school and that he really didn't like him. I'd never heard him say anything like that before. Well, this kid was the one that stuck a knee into his injured groin last week. So it looks like he may be a pretty good judge of character after all.

I'd like to think that I'm above making a decision about a person before I've given them half the chance, but the truth is that there have been a few people in my life that I've taken an instant dislike to. It's that whole 'they rub me up the wrong way' thing. For me, it's usually the people that just won't shut up. They are constantly talking about themselves, usually butting in on other people to do so.

I guess we all have things that irk us, and seeing those things in people are probably going to be the trigger for those negative feelings.

Have you ever taken an instant dislike to someone?