Eighteen

Its that time of year when things tend toward the chaotic (which is why I am now finishing this several weeks after I started writing it). That's never more the case than when one of the kids is graduating. Add an eighteenth birthday into the mix and well chaos is very much the state of things. 

So Sam has turned 18. With final exams looming it was something of a quiet affair with just the family. Sam hasn't decided that its worth starting drinking at this point in his life, so much so that several days after his birthday he said, "Do you know that no-one offered me a drink on my birthday?" I in return asked whether he would have had one. His response was, "No, I just thought it was interesting." I had sent him off to buy champagne for the sole purpose of making him have to show his ID once on his birthday just as an acknowledgment that there was some right of passage.

It was only a week or so after his birthday that we were at school for his graduation assembly. Being the second time around for us after Michael went through it two years ago, we knew that we were in for something of an emotional ride. That proved to be very true as we swelled with pride and saw Sam's achievements celebrated along with those of his cohort. Having engaged in a plethora of sporting activities (if for no other reason than to avoid wearing formal uniform almost every day), he was recognised for service to a couple of sports and showed off his well-balanced approach to life with a couple of academic awards for topping subjects as well. The icing on the cake was when he was presented with one of the 6 mercy awards for his year. Not a bad effort at all and thoroughly deserved. 

Following on from that we went through the last of the current formalities - Graduation Ball. In a  reflection of Sam's life philosophy - (live it in shorts) the pants that came with the suit we bought him officially became the only pair of pants he owns that extend past the knee. When asked if he was excited about the ball, the response was pretty much a shrug of the shoulders and "Maybe, it shouldn't be too bad." I honestly think that Caroline, Michael and I who all went along to the event were significantly more excited about it than he was. When it came to a close at half eleven, Sam went off home with a friend as he had to get ready for 'schoolies' the next day. Caroline, Michael and I opted to party on. And to be honest, I was floored when I found out that Sam was actually going to schoolies. I was pleased that he was, but completely surprised. I half expect to hear when he returns that he spent two days camping and playing Pokemon. Somehow I think that there's a fair chance that he'll be the only one of the boys that goes through that little ritual of life without having a single alcoholic drink. I seem to remember Sam mentioning that he may have had a drink of orange juice, just to mix things up at some point.

So what is there to say about our Sam in this belated celebratory note to his eighteenth birthday? he is independent, responsible, honest and reliable. He is quite possibly the best of all aspects of us, his parents. His achievements are many and varied and he is an absolute delight to have as part of the family. One day there will be a girl that will awaken him to the other half of the species and if she's lucky enough to snare him, he will be a good catch indeed.

Exams are over and we now get to endure the wait to see how ell he's gone. Hopefully the reward matches the effort and dedication that went into his year. 

Not one to sit idly around, Sam's been busy since finishing school. He's assembled presents for teachers, from baked goods to compressed air powered marshmallow guns and has now set about the task of cleaning out our shed because somewhere along the way in the last couple of years Sam has become a clean freak. It's not a bad thing, not unless you're looking for that bill you were going to pay a couple of weeks ago and find that its already been slipped away somewhere safe so its no 'littering the counter'.

We're looking forward to seeing what comes next for Sam and in the meantime I thought I'd just bestow a couple of titles upon him for fun as a reflection of interests and achievements:

Master of Origami

Washer of dishes

Assembler of computers

Baker of cakes

Fixer of phones

Pokenut

Wearer of shorts

Declutterer extraordinaire

Happy 18th Birthday Sam and congratulations on the completion of school. You'll go far and you'll do well. Have fun along the way.

Sixteen

Sixteen. 

As with so many kid-based milestones, its hard to believe that Thomas has just turned 16. Yet another one on the road. The prankster has his learner's permit. What could there possibly be to be scared about? Maybe the fact that he's the only one of the three boys that has expressed overtly keen interest in driving the Porsche?

Thomas has had a big year these last 12 months. For a start he changed schools. In the process of looking at what measures we might have to take back when I was unemployed, schooling was one of the things that we thought might have to be sacrificed, what with it being one of our significant expenses. In considering what we might do if it came to such drastic measures Caroline unearthed the Australian Science and Maths School at Flinders University. We explored the place and Thomas decided that it presented and exciting and interesting opportunity for him. If nothing else, it presented him with the chance to escape French! So at the start of the year, after getting through the application process he embarked on his new challenge. Its been good for him. He's enjoyed it and so far, he's doing very well there. 

Thomas is the family clown, always quick with a joke and looking for the funny in life. There are times when it feels like he needs to be reminded that there is a serious side to life, but at the same time, why quash that spirit. There'll be plenty of time for serious as he goes through life and hanging onto the fun is important.

He's picked up a couple of hobbies that haven't been too hard to spot over the last 12 months. Juggling, Rubik's cubes and card tricks being the main focus. Where possible, he likes to combine the three, though that's mostly been confined to juggling the rubik's cubes and attempting to solve them whilst doing so. He hasn't mastered it to the point of being able to juggle and solve three completely mixed cubes at once, but the fact that he can even manage to rotate a targeted face of even one cube whilst juggling far exceeds any talent I ever nurtured in the area. Threats have been made of course, because the process of learning to juggle often results in the objects being juggled clattering across the floor. Less of a problem for the wannabe juggler than the other occupants of the room. The juggling seems to have gone by the wayside for now, with cards having taken more of a central role in Thomas' hobbies lately. Its generally a quieter learning process, though at times no less annoying as we're forced to sit through endless riffling of cards. It could, of course, be far worse.

Thomas picked up club soccer again this year, playing U16s for Adelaide University. It wasn't the greatest season, but he improved noticeably through the season and gave us plenty of moments in which to be proud parents. At this point he's decided to focus on refereeing next year rather than playing. Through the course of this year he generally assisted at premier league reserves and U18 games and enjoyed the experience almost as much as the money that it put in his pocket. I think he's keen to back that up next year and increase the funds coming in by being available two days a weekend instead of one. I'm sure its also driving his desire to get through the license process so that he can reach the point where he is able to get to games off his own back rather having to rely on being transported by semi-reliable family members (we only forgot him a couple of times, honest!)

I've really enjoyed Thomas' growth over the last 12 months (though perhaps not the literal growth that has relegated me to the shortest male in the house) and appreciate the fact that of everyone, he seems to enjoy my terrible humour the most.  I know he was expecting me to put something terrible on facebook on his birthday, but hey knowing he was anticipating it was enough fun without having to really embarrass him. I've written this instead. 

And I didn't even mention the girlfriend ;)

Happy 16th Birthday Thomas.

Fort McMurray

I started to write this last week as I watched, horrified and concerned at everything that was scrolling across my Facebook newsfeed. When I got to the end it was a bit of an emotional ramble, so I decided to give it another go and to give it a bit of structure. I felt compelled to write. I needed to share and what I ended up with was this:

The last couple of days have been very distracting. Its not often that the little city of Fort McMurray, (or as we and most others who have called the place home call it, Fort Mac.) makes international news. Sadly when it does it doesn't tend to be for the right reasons.

Fort Mac generally gets a bad rap. Its the heart of the oil sands industry. Dirty Oil. Drugs, crime and greed are often the things that visiting journalists are attracted to and write about (if not the reason they go there in the first place). Their not entirely wrong. There is crime in Fort Mac; there are drugs too, but possibly no more so than any other small city with a rich resource and a rapidly growing population (at least when we were there) that pushes the city's infrastructure to its limits. 

Mostly the thing that gets focussed on is the Oil Sands though. They say that its destroying the environment. They say that we shouldn't be producing oil from the bitumen-soaked tar sands. Of course they often say so after having flown to town and taking a helicopter tour. Most of those people that criticise the industry and the town at the centre of it still drive their cars though. They still happily take all the benefits that their hydrocarbon sourced lifestyle affords them. Yes, I do mean you, Leo Dicaprio with your luxury yacht holidays and private jets. I often wonder if these people realise just how many products in their day to day life wouldn't exist without an oil industry.

Does this mean that we shouldn't find alternatives? That global warming doesn't exist? That we should ignore it? Of course not. But until we find viable alternatives, we will continue to extract the resources that the earth does have and we'll use them. If anything, it should encourage investment in alternate energy. Now I can't speak for all of the companies that produce oil from the area but I can say that the client that I worked for while we lived there was heavily invested in research, development and production of alternate fuels. To me, they actually cared. They invest in the rehabilitation of the land that they mine and produce from. Was it the exact same environment which they'd started with? No. But it did sustain Bison and other wild life that had previously been almost completely hunted from the area. If we want to continue to breed and populate the world, resources are going to have to come from somewhere and at least from my experience, those companies producing from the Fort Mac area were doing so with a conscience. 

Fort Mac was our home for three years and we took a lot away from our time there. We met amazing people that have become life long friends, even if we now live on opposite sides of the world. 

Over the last the last two days (over a week now that I am finishing this off!) Fort Mac has once again made international news, though this time not because of its industry, but because of the devastating wild fires that have forced evacuation of the entire town. 80,000 people have had to flee, many of them losing their homes. We're no strangers to bush fires here in Australia. They are unpredictable, hard to control and deadly. When you're in a place like Fort Mac, surrounded by forest and not much else, controlling and beating a wild fire becomes a staggering task. Possibly the most amazing thing to date about the fire in and around Fort Mac is that there hasn't been a loss of life (that was true when I first wrote this, but I have since heard of one life lost in a traffic accident during the evacuation). 

As usually happens with a massive tragedy there have been acts of heroism and many people are pulling together to help those in need. I'm far from surprised given our experience in the community.

We found Fort Mac to be an incredibly welcoming and above all, giving community. I learnt a lot about generosity in my time in Fort Mac. Sure, we were there during a booming economic period, but even taking that into account, the money that was raised throughout the community to support local charities, the hospital and anything considered worthwhile blew my mind every time I experienced it.

People worked long, hard hours and still gave up time to volunteer and ensure that the kids of the district had opportunities to learn, play sport, travel and a host of things beside. They came from all walks of life, all corners of the world and in most cases, they brought the best of things with them.

That's not to say Fort Mac wasn't without its problems. There were drugs and homelessness and crime, but that wasn't the day to day experience of living there. Like any place, trouble wasn't hard to find if you wanted to, but it was mostly easily avoidable as well.

So its been with a heavy heart that I've watched the evolving news and the horrifying pictures that have been scrolling through my Facebook feed. Knowing that so many have lost so much in such a small community is devastating, but I also know that the community will pull through. They'll work for each other and will be supported by the enormous numbers of people that have benefitted from the wealth that the industry has generated because that spirit of giving extends through Alberta and beyond, because for all the bad press about dirty oil and and tar sands and environmental destruction, the reality is that the money that flows from the the oil sands supports untold numbers of people. People that have worked FIFO construction from the east coast, people that have managed to find a better, safer life from South Africa and the subcontinent, the Australian contingent of which we were a temporary part, to all of Alberta with their reduced tax rates compared to other parts of Canada.  

So my heart goes out to our extended Fort Mac family and everything that they are suffering through. Stay strong and we'll keep you in our prayers.

The run that broke me

If you're friends with me on facebook, then you've probably noticed that I've done a bit of running. I decided last September that if I was going to be lying on a beach/lounging by the pool in Bali, then it was time that I lost some weight. I'd dropped a good amount during the last period of my employment with Transfield, but then over the course of my year with Sargent where I travelled extensively I managed to put it back on. That and the fact that my achilles started to hurt a lot last year and so I backed off the running and limited it to soccer. 

So I started tracking the food intake, bumped up the exercise and went to it. It worked. At the moment I'm about 10kgs less than I was when I started this process back in September. 

I'm travelling a lot again with my new job, but have made the commitment to myself not to fall into the traps that I did last time. So when I am away, I make sure I run. I've built up to 10k and am happy at that point. I've also been good with the food. At least when I'm away, my commute is generally about 10% of what it is at home and if I go running for close to an hour, I'm not depriving the family of my company as that's happening anyway.

This week I've been away all week. I decided on Monday that it should be 'marathon week'. No, I'm not about to run one, but I thought if I ran 10kms for four of the days that I was away I'd be close enough. Monday I managed to run in Fremantle in the evening, but wasn't prepared to back it up by running again the next morning given I was flying to Melbourne that night and not arriving until 11pm. That meant that to hit my goal I had to get up and run Wednesday morning. It hurt, but I did it. That left me two mornings to run the last 20kms before I fly home on Friday.

So this morning I set the alarm and dragged my sorry tired arse out of bed and went for a run. I can't say I really felt up to it at first, but as I got into it I nearly woke up. I say nearly, because at about 4.8kms things went horribly wrong. 

After having had problems with her knees last year, Caroline keeps telling me not to overdo it so that I don't ruin mine. Add to that a history of hamstring, calf and other muscular injuries, I've been very happy with the way the body has responded to all the extra work. I mean I actually started the soccer season fitter than I've been in years, weighing less, enthusiastic and pretty much pain free. So the last thing I expected was what was about to happen. I was running along, slightly downhill, clearly not quite paying enough attention on a wet, though not overly cold Melbourne morning. I didn't quite lift my foot enough. There was a subtle variation in the bitumen foot path. The two things combined to trip me. I pitched forward headed straight for the edge of the curb.

At this point all coordination seemed to fail me as I attempted to arrest my fall without sliding along the bitumen and stripping skin from my body. I wasn't overly successful. I ended up lying in the gutter between two parked cars as water trickled past me (and under me). Now quite some years ago I managed to damage my shoulder whilst playing touch football. It felt like I'd done it again in attempting to save myself. 

After a couple of moments of shock I managed to get back on my feet and stop various recording devices (hey gotta keep that run history right?) and decided that I should probably stop running and walk back to the hotel. Amazingly, my entire tumble and recovery went completely unobserved! 

As I walked along I couldn't help but note that my body seemed a bit stuck in something of an Igor-esque pose with my right shoulder not only providing pain signals to let me know how it felt, but also not seeming to work quite right. After about 15 metres it slipped. I don't quite know how else to describe it. The good thing is that it felt like it slipped into its socket. So partial dislocation perhaps?

Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe just sheer bloody mindedness, but I thought about my marathon week and turned around and started running slowly again. The shoulder throbbed a bit, but at a lower speed it wasn't the end of the world. So I finished off the last 5kms of my run and then walked back to the hotel.

I can't help but think as I sit here writing this that perhaps that wasn't the smartest thing to have done. Especially as after driving one-handed from Geelong to Melbourne this afternoon I could barely lift my arm. I'm really looking forward to attempting to sleep with it. 

Oh and I'm just ever so pissed about the fact that I'm staring down the barrel of missing God knows how much of the soccer season because I injured my shoulder running!

The fourth teenager

Last week Emily turned 13. The baby of the family is now a teenager. There's already three teenagers in the house and so for the next year, Emily makes four. Should be fun. 

Of course, even though Emily might be the fourth teenager in the house, she's the first teenage girl and that will no doubt produce a lovely new set of challenges for us in the years ahead.

Emily at thirteen is confident, mostly happy and opinionated enough for a small independent nation's government. Her list of interests continues to evolve and expand, but is currently fixated on a whole lot of anime (including an inherited/learnt love of Pokemon). Its lead to a phenomenon that sees her never far from a computer or other means of electronic delivery which in turn has set up just the occasional battle of will with her mother over what's an acceptable amount of time to sit in front of some sort of screen.

When dragged away from the electronics Emily maintains a love of reading and occasionally still dabbles with music, though she's stopped any sort of formal learning. The anime influence has led to some strange music emanating from the bedroom at times, but hey, I'm sure that it could be worse. 

Emily likes to complain about exercise, but if the mood strikes she's more than competent in her pursuits. She's currently playing softball in the summer and netball in the winter, with table tennis and volleyball having been recently added to the mix. She surprised me the other week when she came home from sports day complaining about being sore. I asked if she'd managed to have any success through the day and it turns out that she'd come home with something like 3 firsts, a couple of seconds and a third. I had expected her to say that she'd managed to reduce her participation to a minimum of effort. But that's one of the things about Emily. If she's not forced (or doesn't realise she's having fun) she's capable of all sorts of things that even she wouldn't believe.

She's a beautiful, entertaining girl and I look forward the adventures to come. Happy birthday Emily