The Quirky Gene

Ok, so if you haven’t figured it out by now, I can be rather quirky sometimes. I have a very deep admiration and love of the ridiculous. Problem is–if indeed it is a problem at all–I seem to have passed it on to my eldest child.

She has begun to show definite signs of silliness, and I mean that in the nicest, most affectionate way.

For instance…this…

When I saw that, I could not stop laughing for a very long time, and needless to say, my dinner was cold by the time I could eat it.

The other day she told me she was going to sneeze. Thirty seconds later she told me she wasn’t going to sneeze. When I scolded her for being indecisive, she gurgled with laughter. She has the same ridiculous sense of humour as me!

Alas, she has a talent which I cannot match. (Insert despondent sigh here.) She has the admirable and very enviable ability to raise one eyebrow, which gives her face a very comical look when she mixes it with the right facial expression. How I wish I could do the same. She has surpassed me in this.

And yet, I am very proud of my girl. She is aspiring to be a writer just like her mum. How could I ask for more than that? Well, my other two children are close behind, and beginning to develop symptoms of quirkiness of their own. There is no hope. It is in their genes. 😛

In what way have you found you are reproducing yourself? Even if it is as simple as genetic idiosyncrasy.

Published in: on 1st September, 2010 at 1:30 pm  Comments (4)  
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To the rescue…

I am a big fan of superheroes. Any superhero movie shows at the cinema and I’m there (unless they’re really dark heroes). My favourite all time hero just has to be Superman. The original movies with Christopher Reeve are still on my top ten list and I have them on my shelf so I can watch them whenever I get the urge for a great hero movie.

I love that they have to hide who they really are with an ordinary persona. Very ordinary. The kind of ordinary that no-one would ever suspect had greatness beneath the surface. Clark Kent seems rather awkward, un-intelligent and clumsy. ‘Normal’ is their disguise and the ‘hero’ is their true self.

My other favourite hero is the Scarlet Pimpernel. Sir Percy Blakeny is an idiotic fop to all of the British Peerage, and annoyingly shallow. But in reality he  rescues aristocrats from the French Revolution, risking his life without question in daring escapades and amazing disguises.

Can you imagine my joy when my dear friend Brice (the same one who wrote the very silly poem in my fog blog recently) named me The Peppered Spinkler. Yes, (*sighs with resignation*) my true identity has been revealed. I am indeed a superhero. I was having a difficult day and Brice gave me a wonderful boost by informing me of that fact and giving me a hero name. I picked myself up off the floor, put my super powers into action, and ended the day on a high note.

You, too, are a super hero, even if you don’t know it yet. None of us are truly ordinary, we all have our own ‘super power’. So, who are you? What is your secret?

P.S. 😛

Published in: on 18th August, 2010 at 10:17 am  Leave a Comment  
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For the Love of Turbulence

I had to make a trip to the airport last week. My oldest daughter was returning from sunny Queensland with her aunt. I was rather jealous that I wasn’t able to join her.

You see, I love to travel. Put me on a bus or a train, take me on a road trip or a boat cruise and I am in my element. But most of all I love to fly. I think I was born to fly. I get a rush from the force of the plane taking off as it pushes you back against  your seat. There is nothing much that can surpass that bird’s-eye view you get of your world below. But, the best part of flying is the turbulence.

Yes, you heard…er…read me correctly. I love turbulence. When everyone else is gripping the arms of their seats with white knuckles, there I am, whooping and laughing, having the time of my life. I think I have embarrassed a travelling companion or two with my exuberant outbursts over the years. It was the best up in the Top End, flying during the wet season–lots of turbulence.

I know, I know. You’re probably all thinking I’m crazy right now, aren’t you? Well, you’re probably right. But don’t we all have our own oddities? The kinds of things that make people look at us and shake their heads while hiding a smile. Are you game to share yours? Don’t be ashamed, you are in the company of other delightfully crazy people.

Published in: on 11th August, 2010 at 10:56 am  Comments (2)  
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Medieval Spelling

Last week, in the course of my work as a financial administrator, I stumbled upon a quote from a very old document. By very old, I mean mediveal. It is the Statute of Charitable Uses Act from 1601, also known as the Statute of Elizabeth.

I was not so much taken by the content of this document, although it is interesting to see the things she believed charity to encompass. I was more fascinated with the spelling. It is fairly simple to read, the spelling is not that unlike ours, and yet it is different enough to captivate my imagination. Here is a passage from the document:

An Acte to redresse the Misemployment of Landes Goodes and Stockes of Money heretofore given to Charitable Uses. Whereas Landes Tenementes Rentes Annuities Profittes Hereditamentes, Goodes Chattels Money and Stockes of Money, have bene heretofore given limitted appointed and assigned, as well by the Queenes most excellent Majestie and her moste noble Progenitors, as by sondrie other well disposed persons, some for Releife of aged impotent and poore people, some for Maintenance of sicke and maymed Souldiers and Marriners, Schooles of Learninge, Free Schooles and Schollers in Universities, some for Repaire of Bridges Portes Havens Causwaies Churches Seabankes and Highwaies, some for Educacion and prefermente of Orphans, some for or towardes Reliefe Stocke or Maintenance of Howses of Correccion, some for Mariages of poore Maides, some for Supportacion Ayde and Helpe of younge tradesmen Handicraftesmen and persons decayed, and others for reliefe or redemption of Prisoners or Captives, and for aide or ease of any poore Inhabitantes concerninge paymente of Fifteenes, setting out of Souldiers and other Taxes.

My favourite is ‘Howses of Correccion’. ‘Maymed’ and ‘Schooles of Learninge’, are a close second. Did you also notice how long the sentence is? And it didn’t end there. There was actually a semi-colon where I stopped the quote. I didn’t look far enough down the document to find a full stop.

I woulde love to hear your thoughts about this spellinge, but, juste for fun, why not try to reply with an attempt at this verie olde writing style.

 

Published in: on 4th August, 2010 at 8:28 am  Comments (4)  
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