The aquarium

"It's feeding time at the zoo," she said, although I'd met them at the aquarium - my best friend who is visiting from Sydney, her husband and my godchild, aged 2 1/2 with her cousins (2, 4) and aunt. They'd all been around the aquarium, ogled at the fish, touched the starfish, stared entranced at the huge tank filled with big fish and a shark or two.

I'd forgotten it was school holidays and planned to meet them in the restaurant for tea, while the littlies ate their lunch of fish and chips - oh, the irony! The noise level was extraordinary and the excitement tangible as hordes (schools?) of children ran between tables populated by harassed-looking mothers and the playroom in the corner, even more ironically sponsored by a frozen fish company.

My godchild informed me that she'd got a hippopotamus, which she'd aptly named Henry. Before I could ascertain where Henry had come from, or why he seemed to be the star of the day when they were at the aquarium, she'd scampered off to play with her tomato sauce-smeared cousins in the playroom, leaving us to chat (at high volume) over a calamari salad.

There's something really lovely about being in a space like that, where children's excitement fills the air, flooding ones lungs and, somehow, changing your view on things slightly, opening one's eyes to the possibilities in everything, the naive wonder of the world.

There's a lot to be said for hanging with the littlies every now and again, despite the noise levels that come with them.

Middle ages approach

I am turning 35. Tomorrow. Which makes the name of my blog even sillier than before. I knew that'd happen when I started it. I think I even wrote a post about how silly it was. Naturally, though, as I am wanton to do, I ignored my sensical side and went with the nonsensical side. Even though I'm turning 35, as I just said, nonsensical Shiny seems to win most arguments still. I am beginning to accept that I may never grow up and become sensical.

So, in this vain, I had a little birthday party on Friday, in the garage, with music, and a mirror ball. There was champagne and lovely friends and fairy lights in the trees and I got spoilt with beautiful presents and the only difference between my youthful garage birthday parties and this new era of middle-aged garage birthday parties (because the garage parties are traditional at this point... I get complaints when I miss a year) was that everyone left by 12. Like in Cinderella.

Tonight I will dine out (look, I'm using phrases like 'dine out' now that I'm almost middle-aged) with my parents and their best friends who have known me, well, since I was 0, and my love, and then tomorrow night I shall go out with a little group of friends, to the same place I celebrated my birthday last year because it was just so fabulous. In that post I couldn't say what the newses were, but the first was that K was pregnant, with my now-Goddaughter, the beautiful Ava, and the second was that my sister was having not one, but two babies. Who now look like this (Allie, especially for you):

I may be an over-zealous, biased Aunt, but aren't they just too sweet?

Grumpiness and gratefulness

You know how people talk about Glass-Half-Full people and Glass-Half-Empty people? I work with a The-Glass-Has-Been-Empty-For-Years-And-Is-Growing-Mould person. Like in, seriously, this guy is grumpy. He could find the bad side of a triple chocolate cake. It's like having a large black cloud walk into the office when he arrives each morning.

Don't get me wrong, he and I are very good friends and my intrinsically sunny disposition (thank god for it, if I may say so myself), normally manages to push the cloud away from my side, and back to his. I've given up (after 12 years) trying to make his go away. I tried and tried. And tried some more. But, alas, the task was too huge. We do get along though mainly. Like a house on fire really. I love that saying... like a house on fire.

The result is that, most of the time, I hum a happy tune in my head and make it louder than his grumpiness. Sometimes, though, it's hard to hum loud enough. I think I may be a bit PMS-ey too, and am going through one of those unsatisfied-with-my-job phases, so that may be adding to it. I do just, every now and again, want to hit him (possibly quite hard) and tell him to look around and realise how much he's got to be grateful for.

Good grief, listen to me (and my sunny disposition I was just bragging about) whinging like, well, a grumpy old man. I'll stop now, shall I?

I have a wonderful dinner to look forward to, with two old varsity friends, one of them being K, mother of my beautiful godchild, who is going back to Sydney on Thursday (sob!) And then home, to where my love will be. See, I have SO much to be grateful for, and that's just scratching the surface.

I am a lucky girl, aren't I?

Twiddling my thumbs

I am still at Real Work. While the rest of the world is not, seemingly. Well, according to the fact that, give or take a car or two, we were the only ones driving to work this morning, and there is an eerie silence in the building. Unless everyone is playing an enormous game of Hide-and-Seek, to which I haven't been invited, there's nobody here.

Thus far, I have:

1. Harvested my crops on Farmville and planted really quick growing crops in their place, so I can harvest again this afternoon. I know, I know, the whole Farmville thing is ridiculous and silly... blah blah. Humbug. I'm addicted. Possibly because I have the brain of an 11-year old boy.
2. Written a couple of Christmas cards.
3. Googled the origins of the phrase "Happy as Larry".
4. Frittered about on Facebook, stalking people I haven't been in contact with for months/years.
5. Googled what being a Godmother entails - I AM one - to the gorgeous cherub, Ava. After my Google search, though, am realising I am possibly not fit to be one, but I figure I'm going to be the best one anyway.
6. Drunk two cups of coffee and two cups of hot water.
7. Played Scrabble on Facebook.
8. Googled recipes for melon-based starters for Christmas lunch.
9. Got irritated with my bra strap which keeps creeping out of my t-shirts armhole and tickling my arm.
10. Worked out, to the second, how long it is until I go on holiday tomorrow... for over THREE WEEKS!
11. Sung my entire repertoire of Christmas songs. Twice.

Thank god for Google and Stalkbook, without whom I may have twiddled my thumbs right off my hands, and I can't imagine it's easy to be thumbless in the world we live in. I think I'll ponder that for a bit.

Is it obvious I'm (just a tad) bored?

Silken sheets

From an e-mail I wrote this morning:

I find myself this morning feeling sensitive, but in a good way. You know that feeling when sometimes it feels like your heart is bigger, and it may also be exposed? Like emotions seem more electrical and fiercer and almost tangible? When your lungs feel tight as if they're wrapped in silken sheets of raw emotion. It's a good tightness. That's how I'm feeling today.

That feeling makes me want to write stuff down. And then I feel like I should send it to you because I want you to know where I am.

And then Real Work stepped in and whisked my mind away, and I remembered it's Christmas tree decorating tonight, and I got an invitation to a long ago dear, dear friend's wedding in London next year, completely unexpectedly. And my best Friend K and her new daughter Ava are here from Sydney, and then I got a comment on the last post that made me feel so very good (a bit like a Sub A kid who got a gold star) and I realised how lucky I am to have woken up this morning with all my emotions standing to attention!

And, while I fear my gushy writing is, well, just gushy, I felt the need to gush a bit. I apologise.

Those silken sheets of raw emotion... rubbing me up the right way... Who could ask for more?

A welcome and a renewal of Human Spiritedness

Welcome to the world little Ava, who arrived this morning at 1:30am (much more reasonably 9:30am her time). A healthy 3.45kgs. As I said to K when I spoke to her delighted self this morning, lucky she was a caesar (she was breach), you would'nt want to squeeze that out of your nether regions! Apparently she is absolutely beautiful and everything went off just fine. I wish little Ava a good trip through this world, filled with oceans of happiness and love and wonderful people and places.

I have been adminny this morning. It's Friday so my day at home for my Other Job. I got off a 10am deadline piece and then went to collect my new credit card at the bank and sell a vacuum cleaner (no, my Other Job is not Vacuum Cleaner Saleswoman, it's an old one - I'm spring-cleaning the garage). I sat in the car outside the shop we were selling it to, watching the passing stream of humanity (it's in a road that leads to the station) and was filled with an overwhelming sense of, well, humankindness. I always try to keep my faith in humankind, but sometimes lose it. Today, though, it was renewed.

You see, its not the most salubrious area (being near the station never is, is it?) and there were all sorts of people that your average "Upper Class Suburban South African" would probably be nervous to hang about. Sitting in my patch of sun in the car though, I smiled at everyone who walked past and happened to catch my eye, and they all smiled back.

It's a really good place to be, right here, right now, isn't it?