Off The Couch!

[dobbinaire]

And thanks TheLoadedDog!! I missed your reply in the other couch thread, so I’ve been waiting all this time wondering if I was ever going to get anything. It was worth the wait.
First a preamble… I came home from work to find the package outside on the porch, poor pitiful thing. My daughter was afraid to bring it in, and this is the girl who opens everything. “Mom, it may be anthrax! Look at the childlike writing on it!” [sub]HeHe sorry TLD :D[/sub] I assured her it was alright, that it was my Doper Pale Pachy[sup]TM[/sup]. She wasn’t very convinced, but watched as I opened it. BTW, ever since I opened it, and subsequently showed her the other WE threads, she says we’re all on crack and need to get a life.

And now in my possession:

1. A new mouse pad, badly needed.
2. Three books: Aboriginal Myths, The life and times of Rasputin, and The Australian Bar Attendant’s Handbook.
   [sub]And now a word from my daughter…[/sub]
   Thanks for the bar attendant’s book…it will help me out some. BTW…there may be some lunies involved in this WE exchange so watch out for yourselves…bye
   [sub]dob again…I’m telling ya, she did freak out a bit, heh…[/sub]
3. Three CD’s: Midnight Oil (aboriginal music?), Ray Charles Wish you were here tonight, and The Glory of Gershwin.
4. A small black rubber ball with faded writing.
5. Three plastic toys: a yellow tennis-playing porcupine (my favorite), a black and yellow action figure on a skateboard, and a green dinosaur.
6. A wooden handheld roller ball massage thingie, immediately tested.
7. And coolest of all - Australian coins!! Really neat!

A cool haul, if I do say so myself. And all the way here from Australia. In an Australian beer box at that. Gosh, the postage. I’ll be taking the first two books to work to read on break, and look forward to listening to the CD’s. Mouse pad already in use. The toys will probably be claimed by my nephews on their next trip here, but only after I tell them where they come from.
Thanks again, TheLoadedDog.

Here’s hoping others can get off that (fattening:)) couch soon.

[TheLoadedDog]

Most Welcome, dobs. And apologies once again for leaving you on that infernal couch for so long (why do you think I sent the massager? ).

The “childlike writing” is something I’ve been cursed with since, well… childhood. My adult version is an illegible scrawl -check the customs slip for an example.

The Midnight Oil CD? M.O. is a (now ageing) Aussie group that started out in the early 80s or therebouts. They’re not Aboriginal, but are highly political in a green/left kind of way, hence the strong focus on Aboriginal issues, and Aboriginal influences in their music. So it’s kind of hard pub rock with lots of didge thrown in. They are one of those “love 'em or hate 'em” outfits. The lead singer is a really weird looking tall guy with a shaved head who ended up in politics in the 80s with his Nuclear Disarmament Party.

The “porcupine” is actually an echidna, one of our local Aussie critters. In fact not any old echidna, but Millie, one of the mascots of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Interestingly, most Aussies thought Millie was bland and characterless, so we came up with an unofficial mascot, Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat who mooned the entire world for two glorious weeks last year.

Your daughter wasn’t the only one concerned. Being a postal employee, I posted that parcel from my work. I had to wait at the counter for a minute or two while the staff received their Anthrax Information Briefing. So, with heads fresh full of anthrax anxiety, they returned to work to find their first customer -me, with a dodgy looking parcel bound for the USA. I just said nothing and grinned stupidly.

Posted on your sister mousepad (the red one). Sister City schemes my bum, this is a much cooler idea. We could really start something here.

Anyhow, glad you liked it, and don’t worry about the postage: those are Australian Dollars, commonly known as Pacific Pesos.

[GraceTX]

Now if only I’d get out the couch. <sigh>