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

2015

2015

I could claim that in an effort to be environmentally friendly we dispensed with the traditional Christmas card process, but the reality is more along the lines of life got busy, we waited too long and it simple didn't happen. It doesn't mean that we haven't thought of you all, it just means you get a different method of delivery.

So, Merry Christmas from the Tembys. We hope that the year has been kind to you and that 2016 sees you well favoured, happy and successful.

What's been going down in Tembyland for the last year? Let me wax lyrical for a moment.

The year started in an odd place for us. There was the joy of Michael having excelled in his final year of school, the excitement of a pending trip to Japan and the trepidation of an uncertain employment future for me. 

I spent much of 2014 travelling all over Australian with Sargent, but the reality of the business was that it wasn't going to survive and the likelihood of my contract being extended was very low. We went to Japan anyway. If you've followed this blog, you'll likely have seen the daily catch ups that I posted to cover our time away. We had a ball. The snow was fantastic and it was brilliant to get to ski again. Unfortunately for Caroline her knee was giving her hell for most of the trip and so after having made the most of the skiing, she spent much of time time sightseeing hobbling from place to place (and walking down stairs backwards much to the amusement of many who saw us).

I think one of the highlights for me was once again getting to experience a new culture, even if some of the food was, well, beyond my taste buds' capacity. I told myself that having not really made the most of the culinary experiences that Singapore had to offer all those years ago, that I'd not limit myself too much when we went to Japan, but when face to face with some things, it gets kind of hard to put them in your mouth. 

The return from Japan saw the Michael preparing for Uni life, the rest of the kids return to school and me advised that as expected, me advised that my contract would not be expended. 

It turned into a challenging time for me. In the end it was 6 months before I found another job and I can't say that it was the best period of my life. I bounced from job application to job application, determined and hoping to find something in Adelaide, particularly with Sam having commenced the final two years of his IB journey. I came close to a couple of jobs, getting interviews at periods that would buoy the hope levels for a while only to have them dashed again. It seemed every time that I would consider starting something around the house I'd think I was going to be successful. So other than finishing off Assassin's Creed Black Flag, I can't claim that I achieved as much as I might have through that time. My cooking skills at least improved and I did a bit more cleaning that I was used to as well (though Caroline would certainly be right in saying there was room left for improvement). 

In the end I scored a job though, much to the relief of everyone (and particularly me!) The fact that it was back at Transfield Services held mixed feelings for me. In some ways it was like going home and in others, off the back of having been made redundant, I wondered wether it was a direction I really wanted to go. The fact that it was a good job, based in Adelaide and with a fairly solid future with at least 5 years on the contract meant that it was far too good to turn down and get overly concerned about and now, 3 months later, I'm pleased to say that I've been enjoying it. 

The soccer season was mixed for me this year too. I can honestly say that for the first time in my career I seriously contemplated retirement. It go to the point that I think I mentioned it at almost every training (which I was really having to drag my butt too even though I was unemployed). An early hamstring injury (number 6,872 I think) ankle trouble and the fact that we weren't winning games and the pressure/dejection associated with the job hunt meant that I really wasn't in a great space and at one point realised that I was headed off to the game on the weekend and wasn't really even looking forward to the challenge. That had never happened to me before. Things turn though and somewhere along the way the team found something of a rhythm and we started to win a few games. Then we started to keep some clean sheets. Something remarkable happened. We kept winning in the cup. As a second division Saturday league side, it simply wasn't expected. Especially when late in the cup run we came up against a couple of Sunday division 1 sides. We became giant killers. We knocked off the undefeated Div 1 Sunday leaders and we took out a side that had only conceded 7 league goals all season. It was a new lease on the season and given I had played in the clubs only other finals appearance (and victory 16 years prior) I was keen to have another crack, but with injuries threatening and a long list of available players, even starting was doubtful. In fact, when the teams were announced for the semi-final I was sitting on the bench until one of the other semi-injured centre-backs decided that he wasn't quite sure enough of his injury to start. Sadly the fairy-tale fell apart in the final. We weren't disgraced, but I think we'd run our race to get there.

Demotion to division 3 has me decided to play on though. After all, there's a damn good chance we'll take out the reserve championship with the drop in division, so why not play on for a bit more glory.

Aside from dealing with everything that she normally has to during a year, Caroline of course was a trooper through such an uncertain and change-filled year. Having finished her Masters in Accounting, she too began the year looking for work, but with the uncertainty around what I was doing was somewhat limited in what she was prepared to do. If she scored a job in Adelaide and I then picked up work interstate, would she be forced to quit? Would I commute? It was simply uncertain and messy. In the end she did pick up a job though and happily (if with significant trepidation) she re-entered the workforce as a Graduate Accountant. That took a bit of getting used to for all of us (What am I going to wear?!) but thankfully she has enjoyed it and is now experiencing the joy that is limited holidays and a distinct limit on one's flexibility. 

Caroline's knee has been another significant impact this year. It stopped her from playing hockey and limited what else she could do. It was identified that she'd need an arthroscopy, but timing that with the new job was also an issue and meant that it had to be put off until quite late in the year. When they did finally go in they found more damage than they'd expected and put her on crutches for 6 weeks. Amazing how long 6 weeks can seem to take. I'm pretty sure it was worse for Caroline, but putting a mother on crutches sure as hell impacts the whole family. I think in the end the kids adopted the position that if they holed up in their rooms with headphones on they couldn't be asked to fetch and carry,. Ungrateful sods! Being told that not only had she missed a season of hockey, but that she wouldn't run or play again was certainly not good news and I don't think it helped with the recovery. Thankfully, the most recent inspection has relaxed things somewhat. I don't know that she'll see the hockey pitch again, but being told things aren't as bad as first thought  is certainly a worthy improvement.

Michael began his adventures at Uni this year having started a double degree in Electronic Engineering and Finance. As many will know things have changed a bit since Caroline and I met at that very same university and there's even more flexibility than there was when we were there. On-line course information and the ability to watch lectures from home without attending to them means that when you don't feel like getting out of bed, there's really no immediate consequence for not doing so.  Add to that a penchant for online gaming until 4am and Michael pretty much turned nocturnal for much of the year. Oh the pain and grumbles on the days he had to get out of bed to go to his casual job! Imagine the pain! 

In April he turned 18, another milestone and yet another challenge in parenting, this time mostly in letting go. Its a tricky thing when you can see the writing on the wall. You can issue the warning, provide advice and even get a little angry, but in the end, you have to let them learn for themselves, even when you can see it perhaps not going according to plan (yes, I'm sure you went through much of this Mum and Dad). Let's just say that I hope that a supplementary exam and some Summer School might be the kick in the butt for him that repeating maths was for me!

Mostly Michael's had a good year. There was a girlfriend in the equation briefly, but we won

t say too much about that other than to say that he ended the year as it began. Single.

Sam has had another good year. He's worked his way through year 11 having tackled his year 12 French along the way (we're anxiously waiting for the results that will come through in Early January). Hopefully he's done as well as he hopes and it can take a subject out of the final year load for him. Like Michael, he's tackling the IB and talks of pursuing either Medicine or Engineering once he's got himself through this year. 

Sam is a great believer the adage that too much sport is never enough and this year managed to play Tennis, Soccer, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Badminton and to have some fun with the high jump (I probably missed something too). He did rather well, picking up MVP awards in pretty much everything except Badminton. It meant for lots of running around, especially on Friday nights in winter when he'd have two commitments after school. I'm sure it was a ploy to get someone out of bed to drive him as he had pre-school commitments almost every day of the week.

Not busy enough, he also managed to pick up a job at the local KFC later in the year. I think he's enjoyed the degree of financial independence that its brought him as suddenly there were regular deliveries arriving in the mail, anything from pens to lucid dreaming kits (*cough cough conned?*) Having acquired his learners last year upon turning 16 late the prior year, 2015 was all about getting the hours up to go for his probationary license which he managed to do first time just in time for school to end. Not having to pick him up from work at 11pm on a Sunday and be on a plane at 6am the next day has been but one of the many little blessings of that little event. 

Thomas had a good solid year this year. Academically he did well enough that he can stay for another year. Sport wise he reduced his commitments, having pulled out of cricket (oh the disappointment?) He decided not to play club soccer this year which made things a bit easier on us, but in order to pick up some cash, decided to referee. That meant I spent a lot of time out there as well and all in all he did pretty well. After all, only one game was abandoned (he's beaten me to that one as a referee) and that was about the style of play of one of the teams and the attitude of the coach rather than his performance as the man in the middle. I was very proud of him when he kept at it rather than ditch it and he's lined up to do it again.

Other than the ongoing Minecraft/computer obsession, Thomas has discovered juggling this year. It unusual now not to see him walking around the house with a cascade of balls flying about him and we now just have to find that happy medium between enjoyment and driving his father nuts.

The final big change for Thomas is that he's left Mercedes this year. With everything that was going down job wise this year, Caroline started investigated schooling options on the chance that we had to make a hard call about cutting a significant cost from the family budget. She came across the Australian Science and Mathematics School at Flinders University. Part of the process was attending an open night which we dragged Thomas along to. He became quite excited about the prospect and walked away wanting to apply to go. We worked our way through the application process and in the end, Thomas was accepted. So next year he gets to start a brand new journey in a world of nerds kids with an interest and passion for maths and science. It should prove to be quite the journey (Just let me take my sanity fully in hand for a moment).

And then there's Emily.

Emily turned 12 early in the year and entered her final year of what I still consider as Primary School (year 7). Quite a shock to the system when your youngest starts hitting these milestones, I have to say. Almost a teenager, this year has been interesting as Emily finds her way. She seems pretty sure of exactly what her way is and we just work at trying to quietly (or not as the case demands) steer her down the middle way that might bring peace and harmony to the world or at least our little part of it). She has played softball in the summer and netball through the winter and become obsessed with Anime and sadly, Percy Jackson fan fiction.

Emily too brought home good results from school this year, so we're looking forward to the next stage as she heads for year 8. She can be very sure about what she wants in life, so the challenge is simply to get her wanting the same things that we want Shouldn't be too hard now should it? 

I am reassured when I speak to other parents of similarly aged girls that perhaps the challenges being faced aren't being faced alone? I think? Maybe? 

Certainly one of her highlights would have been getting along to the Taylor Swift concert recently. Given the ticket was a present that she received way back in March, she finally managed to get there in December. The delight on her face as she bopped and sang along to every word was a treat to see.

There you have it, our lives in an abbreviated little capsule. It is far from everything and likely more than you ever wanted to know, but hey, I haven't taken much time to write this year and given all that's happened, I'm just glad to be moving on to the next one whilst thankful for having worked our way through his one as well as we have. 

Over all, we're very blessed and thankful for all that we have, including the amazing love and support of our families.

Merry Christmas to you all,

Dave.

The future of Engineering

Me: Michael, do you know why the light shade is off the light over the pool table is off?
Michael: Because the light was dodgy and I was trying to get it brighter so we could play pool.
Me: Did you try the turning the dimmer switch?
Michael: What dimmer switch?
Me: The one we installed when we put the extension on about 12 years ago.
Michael: ah ...
Me: Some electrical engineer you're going to be ...

Twenty

I'm far from perfect. I'm sure there's plenty of people that would be able to supply ample examples of just how true that statement is, b
ut that's not really what this is all about. Its just a starting point. Despite the probably long list of imperfections, I strive to do my best and get by in the world. Some times its easy, sometimes it proves to be a significant challenge.

So when I get it right, its kind of worth celebrating. After all, despite the fact it might be fun to celebrate the times when we don't quite get it right, the risk with that would be too much celebrating possibly leading to even more poor decisions and choices and even more reason to celebrate. I don't think I could stand an endless celebration of failure and bad choice.

A little over 20 years ago (26 and a half really), I got something right. It was around that time that I made a successful move to have Caroline be more than just a friend. It took a bit longer to reach the point where I got the next really big thing right. it was the 19th of November 1994 actually. That was the day that I proposed. Mine was the easy part really, I mean I just had to ask. Caroline was the one that had to actually say yes. Quite extraordinary that she did really. i certainly consider it fortunate that she did. That lead to the reason for the celebration.

Today is 20 years since we tied the knot. 

A lot happens in 20 years and I am very lucky that most of the things that have happened for us in that time have been overwhelmingly positive. We've brought four kids into the world, we've travelled, we've made friends. We've loved, laughed, celebrated the good times, disagreed once or twice, possibly even argued and supported each other through the bad times. All in all, what can I say about 20 years of marriage?

Its a damn good start.

I love you Caroline.

Nocteenager

<rant>

I used to have a teenager in the house. They say that when you turn 18 you're an adult (I shouuld really write about that, but well, now isn't the time). Allowed to drink, vote, take responsibility for your life. Note the word allowed in there. You don't have to do all those things. They're optional. 

Apparently my 18 year old opted out. They say that teenagers need their sleep. Its good for their (apparently) developing brains and stuff. I also happen to know from involvement in various fatigue studies and exercies that the best time to get sleep is when the body needs it. The key hours being those early hours of the day between oh, you know, about 1am and 5am. it has a  lot to do with why they say you should plan travel around not driving at those times. 

Back in the day I worked nightshift offshore for about 70 days straight. Sunset in the 'morning' and sunrise in the 'evening'. I know that it messes with your head. 

When you're a teenager though, you mess with your own head, so why would you listen to anything like that?

I now have a nocteenager. Its when your teenager becomes nocturnal. I know this because I just coined the phrase. I googled to see if anyone else had. Don't bother, they haven't and the things that showed up were disturbing so just trust me on this.

I have threatened that the next time I find him sleeping past midday i might just come in with water propelling instruments so that I can enjoy waking him up far more than i currently do. I'm pretty sure that life passes you by when you're being woken up at 3:15 in the afternoon. 

Things could be worse, don't get me wrong. There's no drugs, we know where he is at night (never far from the comptuer of the pantry) and things seem to be going okay. The first semester of Uni exams should be a good indicator. I've tried the precautionary tale. Hell I got my kcik up the bum with a taste of reality during first year uni, so I have some (very small amount of) empathy for him. But back the day, I had lectures I had to be at. Or a job to go to. Or sport to play. Hell, I just didn't seem to need to be awake at 4am so that my 12 hours of sleep would extend to the following afternoon. I had no internet, but hey, that's not the point dammit.

So yeah, I have a nocteenager and its driving me nuts. Just once I'd like to fall asleep not listening to a conversation about LOL and not worry that he's not going to be awake for one of those rare commitments that mean he has to be out of the door.

I'm not really looking for solutions and I know where to find sympathy, but its been a good while since I had a rant here so I thought I'd take the opportunity. 

*deep breaths*

</rant>

Japan Adventures - Day 10

The last day. There were only a couple of things on the agenda. Head to the local market and shrine, zip past Akihabara one last time to pick up a couple of things and get to the airport.

Looking out the window of our hotel in Tokyo, there were a couple of things that you could see. A little amusement park, a temple and pagoda, what appeared to be a covered market and a giant golden sperm. Yep, a giant golden sperm. I didn't bother trying to find out what it really was, it would likely only disappoint me. I'll let the photo speak for itself.

We headed out to the covered walkway that we expected to be the local market (as confirmed by some brief research) only to be massively disappointed. Most of the shops were closed and those that were open didn't hold out much hope for the final souvenirs that we were looking to pick up. 

Under limited protest from the kids (apparently they weren't happy to be going without food) we went to the shrine and pagoda instead. It quickly became apparent that if food wasn't found soon that there'd be a mutiny so we set of in search of sustenance before returning to the shrine. We were briefly way-laid in our pursuit by a small group of school kids and their teacher from Shiba to be asked where we were from and a couple of other simple questions. They were 12 years old and one of the young girls (the shortest of them) was devastated to find out that Emily was only 11 and about a foot taller than her! It was all very cute.

It proved to be a good move for two reasons. One, the food improved the mood markedly and two, we stumbled into the actual local market, full of little stalls selling all the little touristy knick-knacks that one could ask for. We trawled our way through the markets, finding even more stuff to jam into our luggage before heading back to the shrine. As we paused to take photos we were accosted by a group of about 10 Japanese teenage schoolgirls who asked if they could take a photo with us. I say us and it was us, (I stepped out to try and get a photo of them taking photos of the rest of the family but was quickly asked to get in the shot again) but clearly Michael was the one they wanted. It was quite hilarious to see a couple of the girls go weak at the knees as they continually sneaked smitten peaks at the tall, gangly blonde haired lad. I'm sure that there's going to be some serious cropping of some of those photos.

Sam attracted his fair share of looks as well, though I think that his number of looks was split between those who couldn't believe he was walking around in shorts (it was about 6C) - something he'd done for the entire trip when we weren't skiing and those who wanted to take him home to meet Mum.

There's clearly a lot of Tokyo that we didn't get to see (I think that could take a lifetime) notably missing out on a couple of attractions:

Seven stories of Karaoke? How did we not do that?

We left the shrine and made our final visit through Akihabara to purchase some last-minute essentials before heading to the airport. 

(It is totally essential to have your own Shinkansen!)

And the last weird drink for the trip? Warm Pikachu juice (chocolate milk?).

It wasn't even from the Pokemon Center.

The rest of the trip was sitting in airplanes and waiting. We're glad to be home and wondering when next we might be able to afford a new adventure. Maybe if we leave the kids home ...

Japan Adventures - Day 9

I bet you thought that now that we're home again you wouldn't get to hear about the last 2 days of our trip. You'd be wrong. I've just been too busy recovering to sit down and capture it.

Our final day in Kyoto was overcast though not quite as wet as the previous day. We packed everything back into our bags again before heading out to the Imperial Palace which was only a short walk from where we were staying. You can't actually get into the Imperial Palace itself (even though the imperial family hasn't lived there since about 1867) but you can walk around the gardens. The entire place is massive and we opted for a short walk around the walled palace rather than the entire garden (I think the circumference of the precinct was about 4kms from memory).

The gates were impressive and so we took the obligatory photos. Caroline thought it would be good to get a photo of Michael up against the wall, so he stepped over the 'moat' and put a hand against the wall. It was at that point that the alarms started to go off. It was a ringing bell reminiscent of a movie's fire station bell that was soon over-layed with a proclamation in Japanese. Michael had stepped back away from the wall even quicker than he'd gone to meet it and we wondered what the likely repercussions were going to be. No one around us seemed to be overly alarmed, but then there really weren't that many people there anyway. The Japanese message was soon replaced with an English announcement letting us all know that it was not permitted to approach the wall. Pity that they hadn't thought to put an English sign up to that effect!

We walked on and turned the corner to find one of the gates open and people standing around directing traffic. As we attempted to peer within the walls for a glimpse of something not usually seen, a fire appliance emerged. Three more followed it in the time we were nearby leading us to conclude that one of three things must be true:

The imperial Palace doubles as a fire station,

That the imperial cat had been stuck in a tree or

That Michael's setting off of the alarm had been taken more seriously than we'd thought.

Given that no-one approached or tried to arrest us, we concluded that 2 was the most viable answer. If nothing else it provided a little bit of excitement for us as we bid farewell to Kyoto. I have to say that I felt like we'd barely scratched the surface.

We travelled by train again from Kyoto to Toyko, enjoying the Shinkansen as we sped through the Japanese country-side. We passed Mount Fuji, which looked fabulous on the horizon and arrived late in the afternoon. 

After settling into the hotel we made a bee-line for one of the kids must-see locations, Akihabara. For the uninitiated, this is essentially the electronics shopping district of Tokyo. Thus began a trolling through store after store looking at phones, tablets and other assorted goods. Fortunately there was just enough to keep us from tearing each other's throats out. There were some tense moments around dinner when we'd had to repeated tell Michael that we hadn't gone all the way to Japan to eat Chinese food, but we eventually both ate and survived.

Wandering through Yodabashi, we found the ultimate souvenir - the 56,800 Yen toilet sea complete with a range of controls and functions! With so many to choose from though we didn't get around to bringing one home. 

That was possibly only topped by this little gem for facial fitness:

I really have no comment.

The next morning we headed out to Mitaka to check out the Ghiblis Anime museum. It was something that Caroline had gone to a bit of effort to line up before we'd left on the basis that the kids might enjoy it. It took a few trains to get us there and a bit of an uncertain walk (I think most people relied on the shuttle-bus but we couldn't even see a sign telling us where to catch it), but we did make it. 

Unfortunately, whilst there were some interesting displays, the notion of explanations in anything other than Japanese hasn't yet caught on at the Ghiblis and so the level of interest quickly waned. I think the kids would have much preferred it if they'd been able to drag us through the shops all over again. it was eminently apparent when that was exactly what they did that afternoon.

They didn't have it all their own way though as we dragged them through Kiddyland (yeah I know that sounds backwards) before they could take us to hell the Pokemon Centre.

Before we ventured that far we did stumble across Condomania (which I read as Condo-mania but really was actually meant as Condom-mania). I didn't venture in, but Caroline had a quick look. There were four floors, but with kids tagging along, she wasn't in there for long at all! That rated up there with the seven floor 'costume and fun' shop that we found later that day that again we didn't bother venturing into.

In a case of I'd rather be anywhere else, I suffered with enduring silence as the kids worked their way through a store dedicated entirely to Pokemon, trying to work out what they could take a away as a souvenir whilst leaving just a little something in the shop for someone else. 

From there it was back to Akihabara for something different - more shopping and a visit to one of Sam's must-see stores - Super Potato. Yeah, who would have thought? It turns out that Super Potato is a store dedicated to retro-gaming (they even had an Atari 2600 in there - though sadly they didn't have it set up to play).

The endless trek through the stores (and eventual decisions to buy at the last minute) meant that our meal times had been thrown out completely an we headed back to the hotel in search of something that was open that would meet the varied (and restrictive) needs of the family's dietary demands.

Michael was happy because we did find somewhere open just down from our hotel - a local Chinese place! At least the food was good. The only issue that came up was the great duck conundrum. Given that the menu consisted mostly of pictures and prices (as opposed to english descriptions of the food) I ordered this item:

When it was delivered, we received four prawn crackers with crispy duck-skin on it and four little pancakes with cucumber and radish and the sauce. That was ok, I expected that the duck was going to come out after that as a separate dish given it was the most expensive item we ordered. I was wrong. The duck didn't arrive. As we sat there discussing the merits of the great rip-off I grabbed the menu for a second look. That was when I noticed the second line of the price at 8,000 Yen (about $80). 

This was the conundrum. What had I ordered and what would I be happy with? Did I put up with the four little pancakes at 1800 Yen and view it as one of those funny little travel experiences, or did I hope for the whole duck to arrive, love it and view it as one of those really expensive little travel experiences. The duck and the money or the skin and the disappointment?

The duck never arrived and we walked out laughing about the whole ducking mess (even as I look at the picture now I see five serves and feel just a little bit miffed!)

We stumbled into bed aware that the next day was our last and would be the end of our Japan Adventure.