Daddy-Fu

Well, it does say "occasional missives" up beneath the title there.  Here she is, our new baby girl born last week and whom as of last night I've started calling "Songbird" for little reason.  Well, gut instinct is saying she'll be a singer (and it was right about having a girl) so that's maybe reason enough.

Songbird

And, of course, we also have a very proud big brother:

The Boy and the Songbird

Birth went pretty well, albeit long.  She's sleeping and feeding well and has already put on a bit of weight in very little time indeed.  The whole birth experience plus the aftermath has pretty much been the polar opposite of what happened with The Boy so we're feeling quite lucky.  Yeah, lucky.  Blessed, even.  We have a daughter now.

In other news, I finished my post-grad study and, after a bit of Harry Potteresque flourishes of legal terms like "mandamus!", "certiorari!" and "government contractualist trends as they relate to welfare and employment services!" have now settled in to having my weekends free again.  I've also started a new job, which is quite, quite different to my old job, thereby presenting new challenges and fields of experience.  Which is largely why I took it so excuse me while I go and get a can of HTFU and not sook about it.

Could be another month before I post depending on whims and fancies.  Might write about whisky sometime, I've just started on a bottle of 10yr old Ardbeg and my, it's quite heavenly.  For what it's worth I would like to assure my neighbours - esp. Cat, Snowy, Peter, NDC, Ninj, Ellie and Emu - that I continue to read your posts with interest. 

Caught this kind of randomly the other day when digging around an MP3 player I don't get to use enough, I love the rhythm to it, the underlying piano riff.  And there's the imagery of course, it's sort of what I imagine parts of the US to be like.  Anyway, here it is, Jesusland by Ben Folds.  Might write more about him sometime soon as well, maybe about piano stuff more broadly...

[update the following morning] I wonder, is it possible to feel melancholy tinged with joy?  How terribly dramatic of me, and as I write this yes, the mood and the moment, intangible, both have now passed.  I caught the 7am bus, commuters wrapped in themselves against the cold, dawn was only just breaking and I listened to the song again.  The rhythm of the song lends itself to travel, the soft shuffle of the drums and the tumbling piano riff.  Government buildings in Woden stark against the grey sky.  Naked oaks and elms on Adelaide Avenue, and the morning rhythm continues with mini-pelotons of lycra-clad travellers holding up cars at the exit lanes.

Take a walk

Out the gate you go and never stop

New jumper with dinner

K found out yesterday that her blood pressure's gone back up, after being pretty normal throughout her pregnancy, so the anxiety levels - despite our better efforts - have inevitably gone up as well.  Tomorrow marks the same stage she was at when this guy here <- showed up (6 weeks before the due date) so it wasn't like we didn't have it on our minds already, as we inevitably replay the events of that day and recall some of the minor traumas associated with it.

K's finishing up at work this week which means that she should be able to put her feet up, though there's still a lot of preparation to do for the new arrival.  In the meantime, I'm still slogging away at this last, last piece of assessment I have to do for the Masters.  So much reading to get through still, have to finish it this week before typing all the notes up into a structure and then writing the damned thing As Soon As Possible. 

It's my own fault though - I want to learn which means that I tend to cast a pretty wide net with my research.  It helps me to get the most out of the course but, still, it isn't the best thing to be dealing with at the moment.

And to top it all off I'll be starting a new job at the beginning of next month, so I have to try and tidy everything up at work and then hit the ground running at the new place.  Which will be doubly interesting as it's in an area I've had nothing to do with before, so I'll be relying on raw ability to get across all the new stuff as quickly as I can.  Things sort of came in a rush where I had several opportunities present themselves but I went with the first option available to me, which takes me out of where I am now (which I really, really need) and gives me some more challenges and, hopefully, a bit more professional development in the areas I need it.

The other thing is that aside from being a new job, it'll also represent the end of my role as the primary carer (I'll be going full-time while K stays at home).  Well, maybe not an end, but an evolution.  It's coming up to a year and three quarters since I started being the full-time stay at home parent followed by going back to work part-time last October. 

It hasn't been easy, what with all the colds caught from The Boy via daycare, not to mention trying to manage work expectations when I returned (the bitter experience of which contributed to my desire to leave), but I think we've muddled through it ok.  The evidence, I hope, presents itself in the grin above.  It's the parental prerogative to say so, but he's a charming and funny wee lad that one. 

One day, when he's older, I'll get to talk to him about what it was like when he was at home with me.  About the long neighbourhood walks for his afternoon sleeps at the beginning, about watching play school together, having him on my lap and playing piano, or guitar, or tickle-fu, or hidey.  About the shouts of joy when his mum walked through the door into a house full of cooking smells, of him standing on a chair and watching Betty-Sue (our most excellent mixer for those of you who don't remember) do her thing as I made biscuits, bread or pulla.  

I wish the experience for all fathers, really, though naturally I'm cognisant of why that isn't possible for the vast majority of men.  I tend to think about it as a gender issue I guess - the broader lack of pay parity for women means that it isn't financially viable for most families for the father to take time away from the workplace, which in turn puts the responsibility upon women, which in turn arguably contributes to a lack of pay parity.  It's only been in the past couple of years, just based on what I've seen, that situations like mine have become frequent enough to receive broader comment in the media.

But hey, I'd be fooling myself (and lying to you) if I stood on a pedestal and said "I am doing this solely for the greater good".  I wanted an experience denied to my own father.  I wanted to be a part of my child's life in real, everyday ways.  It looks like I won't really get the opportunity to take a similar period off with no. 2 (as K's indicated that she would prefer to return part-time after the end of her mat leave) but that's ok.  We'll work it out as we go - 'cos what else are you going to do?

Bleh.  I've been home sick today and have just spent five or so minutes trying to articulate what I think about the act of singing.  So rather than mucking about why don't I just put it in dot point form:

• We all sing, though the vast majority of us wouldn't dream of singing in public.  We respect, somehow, those who do.
• There's something inherently personal about the act of singing - we are revealing much of who we really are when we sing. 
• Singing is a key part of maintaining community.  The national anthem, hymns, the club song, Khe San on the pub jukebox. 
• We pass songs down through generations.  Nonsense children's songs and lullabies, story-songs.  Songs of personal importance.

I've been prompted in part by the wonderful experience of seeing Finnish acapella group Rajaton perform recently.  My oh my, they were something.  Just... just great, really.  Sort of poppier than I expected - I went in expecting much more traditional music from the region than they performed.

I've picked up a video of their song Butterfly to add to this post - it's not the clip they did for it, just a photo of the group, deliberately chosen so there's no distraction from the music. 

There's something about this song, it sort of captures a sense of sadness, of fleetingness -

Love me, love me on the leaves
Before we say goodbye
Love me, kiss me with the breeze
You will be my lullaby

Haven't been arsed to do the weekly tips column of late as I've just been too busy (e.g. writing this on a mental break from studying legal articles about government contracting) so thought I'd attempt some discussion through an open thread.  Some topics for consideration:

• Our northern hemisphere friends may like to ask "what's it all about anyway?" and/or "what makes Australian Rules football so different from other sports"?  or even more contentiously "what the hell is meant by the 'holding the ball' rule?".
• Essendon confounded expectations by beating 2008 premiers Hawthorn by 44 points last night.  Does this mean the Hawks are out of it or are they likely to finish the season strongly?  What about the Bombers - are they genuine finals contenders?
• Should the AFL stick to its plan to expand into western Sydney or stick to what could be a "safer" market through the option presented by the Tasmanian government and vocal Taswegian supporters? 

Ready to go

Had one of these great sort of, I don't know, "generation x parenting moments" the other night.  The Boy and I have been taken with the idea playing both real and air guitar on a semi-regular basis, to the point where he's so keen that I'm thinking I'll have to get him a half-sized nylon stringed acoustic for him when he's just a bit bigger. 

Which means we'll probably end up having a surly teenager playing old Cure covers in his bedroom on a beaten up electric guitar but, hey, I can probably live with that.

So I found a bunch of old cassettes the other day while I was packing up a bunch of stuff to go under the house (making room for no. 2 given that we're into the final trimester now) and among them was the first REM album I ever bought, Document.  What a great set of songs.  Marked, of course, by It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I feel fine). 

I only have to reach up to the little stereo perched on top of the kitchen cupboards for monster-moo here to start shouting "air guitar! air guitar!" excitedly, I fast forward to the right spot, turn up the volume, press play and from the opening drum riff we're both leaping and jumping around the kitchen like maniacs.  This is A Good Thing.  Here's the clip:   

See I've been here nine years now so I'm a) almost a local and b) hooked into the climate here now.  So I now know that Anzac Day, aside from being a day of sombre reflection, also marks the official beginning of the cold weather here in Canberra.

For example - today is a perfectly glorious miserable winter's day.  Maximum of 11 degress, raining on and off with possible storms later, and lots of gusty wind about to add further chill.  And I love it.  I love it so much.  My standard line is a thing about "tundra blood" and being of northern european stock, "you call this cold" blah blah de blah, but days like this you just want to sit on the couch under a favourite blanket and watch dvds or muck about on a games console all day long.

And just check out the forecast for the next several days:

Monday         Mostly fine day.            Min 3    Max 13
Tuesday        Mostly fine day.            Min 6    Max 14
Wednesday   Mostly fine.                  Min 4    Max 14
Thursday       Fine.                            Min   4    Max  15
Friday           Fine.                            Min   4    Max  15
Saturday       Mostly fine,                   Min   3    Max  16

Great stuff.  Finally we get to wear scarves, and layers, and torment little children with cold hands, or, as per my wife's habit, harrass our partners with cold nose nuzzles.  We trudge into the office and the coat stands fill up by 9.  Trips out for a coffee run start needing rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes. 

So yeah, Anzac Day = winter starting. 

And this is how the rest of it works.  Autumn usually starts right on the equinox (March 21st-ish) but this year it didn't arrive until just a couple of weeks ago.  Spring starts in early October or so, then it's brisk to mild until the warm weather starts to kick in from Remembrance Day onwards.  We start getting the hot, dry days come late December with a good blast of a few weeks of temps in the high 30s and early 40s in January.  This year was particularly bad, and not just here of course but right through the inland and coast from Adelaide east.

In February we get a week of cooler weather, with max temps usually in the late teens and early 20s, which promptly freaks all the trees out (they start turning much too early) and provides a signal, through a wonderful autumnal smell in the air that you catch ever so briefly in the evening, that winter's coming eventually.  Then we get another few weeks of hot, blasty, dry and windy weather until mid March.  By which point everyone starts getting sick of daylight saving.  Then it's the equinox and we're back to the cooler weather again.

I reckon late March through to late April is the best time to visit Canberra.  The older suburbs, with their streets lined by well-established oak trees, put on these picturesque diplays.  It's pleasurably cooler in the day and cold enough at night to be snug.

When I was new here I used to get asked how I liked it, having come from Brisbane and calling myself a queenslander, but I have no problems.  I prefer the summers here, without the cloying humidity you deal with closer to the sea.  But autumn and winter, my oh my, for me they are compelling reasons to keep me from thinking about leaving. 

Just... just don't pay attention to my tips.  I mean last week was simply a disaster, with my lowest score in a few years.  There I was, thinking it was all pretty straightforward, so the universe goes and gives me a right kick up the arse and tells me to pay attention, or don't, or develop a randomised method of tipping and do that instead, or work out a complicated system involving the cats somehow, or whatever.  Dammit.  Pushed me from 2nd to 13th in one comp and kept me in second in the other with fellow tipsters catching up markedly. 

So I'm going to keep this simple and not put so much effort into the analysis given it's likely at least three of them will be proved wrong:

Port Adelaide v St Kilda:  Saints are due for a win and Port can't beat a top four team twice in a row.

Essendon v Collingwood:  Good win for the Pies last week to get them back into some kind of form, should get the win in tomorrow's big game.

Hawthorn v West Coast:  Tasmania, cranky Hawks chastened after being beaten by Port, inconsistent Eagles, Hawthorn to win.

North Melbourne v Richmond:  5 losses in a row for the Tigers I reckon despite Mark Coughlan's return.  Wallace won't go till the end of the season.

Fremantle v Sydney Swans:  God help me, I'm tipping the Dockers.  Lord ha'mercy on dis poah, deluded boy etc etc.  Sydney like the tight spaces of the SCG but the wide open spaces of Subiaco Oval aren't so amenable.

Geelong v Brisbane:  No ruckmen, no chance for the Lions against the Premiership favourites, especially at Kardinia Park.

Western Bulldogs v Carlton:  No Akermanis or Cooney for the Bulldogs versus a Blues team looking to make amends for a clumsy loss against Sydney last week.

Melbourne v Adelaide:  The Demons needed the win, albeit against the Tigers, but won't be able to overcome the Crows.

Ok, so I'm seeing at least four games there that could go the other way.  Which is why I never bet on football.  Enjoy your weekend, and I trust you'll spare a thought for our veterans tomorrow.

What three things do you regret not learning to do?

This is sort of an odd question - there's still time for nearly all of us to learn new things, isn't there?  So I'm going to answer it as "three things I intend learning how to do" instead.

1. Make puppets and plush toys.  This is something I wanted to learn while I was at home with The Boy full time for a year but just sort of didn't get to it.  But I've had this idea for ages of making my own hand puppets (a ninja, pirate, king, monkey, those sorts of characters) and then constructing a little Punch and Judy style stage thingy to put shows on for the kids.  Honestly.  How much fun would that be?
2. Purchase and learn how to play a piano accordion.  My wife, naturally, isn't too keen on this one, but it's one of those instruments that I've always had a desire to master.  That way, when I'm in my 60s, I can be one of those old guys in a beret sitting on a bench at the neighbourhood shops/mall playing lovely continental tunes.  Not to mention all the tango and traditional Finnish music I could learn as well.  Oh, and I'm hoping to get a digital drumset at some point and teach myself drumming, something I can plug headphones into so I can keep it to myself until I'm at least listenable.
3. Read the classics.  I still haven't read authors like Dickens, Hemingway, Proust, George Orwell's essays, some of the ancient Greeks, you know what I mean. 

There are, of course, more items that I could add to this list.  As I think I've mentioned in the past, I tend to find a topic and learn everything I can about it.  Lately it's been fedoras (after a bit of research and consideration I picked one up the other day, which means that I'm now "that guy in the hat" as I walk to and from work), but study has meant that I've pretty much had to put my own eccentric interests aside and focus on specific subjects instead.  Having knocked off one more course last week with a less than satisfactory 6,700 word essay, I have one more course to go before finishing the Masters completely. 

And it happens to have its assessment due about a week and a bit before K's due date, which, considering that The Boy was six weeks early, means that realistically I should aim to have the single 7,000 word essay submitted by the end of June.  So having had last weekend off, I'll be back into reading and research come this Anzac Day long weekend and all the weekends after... 

Well, I did the right thing last round by sticking with Brisbane and Hawthorn but didn't expect Carlton to be overrun by the Bombers (damn those uppity red and black so and so forths) and also should really have changed my tip away from a certain West Australian team (rhymes with "fockers" as in "those stupid bloody purple-wearing fockers").  But anyway, I'm still subject to week 2 of a four week self-imposed ban, aren't I? 

This week appears to present an easier state of affairs, and barring disaster I expect it to be merely a case of margin in deciding who leads at the conclusion of the round.  So here we go:

Brisbane v Collingwood:  T'was most excellent to see some of the second tier players like Patfull, Drummond and Proud starting to step up in the Lions win against Sydney last Saturday night, though as a fellow watcher remarked could someone please help Travis Johnston with his kicking?  Rocca returns for Collingwood, which means he'll hang around the goal square all night getting marked by Merrett until kicking a boomer from 60 metres out and busting his hamstring.  Or he'll kick 8 and win the game.  He's that kinda guy.  I'm tipping Brisbane given they have a good recent record against them.

Hawthorn v Port Adelaide:  Hawthorn were another team that had some previously underrated players step up in their strong win over the Kangaroos last Sunday.  Hit up with a bout of gastro I caught most of the game while lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself and enjoyed what I saw.  Port, on the other hand, appear to have a disciplinary problem having lost a couple of key players (Cassisi and Burgoyne) due to foolish infractions.  Hawks easily here.

Sydney v Carlton: Can't help thinking that a couple of stupid free kicks against Carlton right in front of goal cost them the game against Essendon, but they should be right here against a Sydney team that kind of looks a little demoralised at the moment.  But if there's one game this weekend that I'm a little unsure about, it's this one.  An 85% confident tip for the Blues.

Adelaide v Geelong: Cats will be fine here playing the Crows at AAMI Stadium, I'm starting to think that I'm guilty of under-rating Adelaide pretty consistently (thinking back to last season here as well) but oppositions don't get much tougher than Geelong at the moment.

St Kilda v Fremantle:  Saints to win and I'll shut up about the other mob.

North Melbourne v Essendon:  Matthew Lloyd, welcome back (though I say this without any affection at all, merely respect as a fan of the game).  No Daniel Wells for North this week which means that they'll lack that extra bit of unpredictability that might otherwise make this game a harder consideration.  The Bombers seem pretty keen on making sure that they're not completely written out of final eight contention and should be ok here.

Richmond v Melbourne:  Big problems, massively huge problems, for Tigers coach Terry Wallace should they not win this game on Sunday arvo.  Word came out this morning that Mick Malthouse is possibly on the radar for the Tigers next year should he not stay with Collingwood, but I reckon they'd be better off looking elsewhere.  Richmond to win.

West Coast v Western Bulldogs:  It's the second trip to Subiaco in about a month for the Bulldogs which is enabling them to fly under the radar a little.  Keep an eye on 'em I say.  The wide open spaces of Subiaco Oval won't present too many problems for them and they'll be right to overcome the Eagles in the evening game.

That's it for this week, Go Lions, have a great weekend.