Life

As per usual I have been neglecting my blog with a lack of any happenings in my life. As I've mentioned many times before motivation doesn't come easy to me. Stuff going on at work over the last 2-3 weeks hasn't helped much to say the least.

Anyway, here's what has been happening (and not happening) in my life over the last few weeks.

As mentioned previously, I turned 35 on April 13th. It was a great weekend. On the Friday night our neighbours J & S came over and we picked up some excellent takeaway curry from Gawler, washed down with a few bottles of Cooper's. Saturday was a lazy day and Jo cooked up one of her excellent lasagne's.

On the Sunday the kids came down to our bedroom early in the morning and I opened my cards and presents. When we eventually got up and going, we headed for a drive through the Adelaide Hills down to Hahndorf, an early German settlement with more than a subtle hint of the culture still thriving. We grabbed lunch at The German Arms hotel where I took the opportunity to have a Bavarian Mixed Grill to acclimatise myself before travelling back to Germany with work the following weekend.

After we got back from Hahndorf I headed back out to the city with a mate for a bite to eat at The Lion and then onto the W.A.S.P. gig at Thebarton.

W.A.S.P. were one of the first metal bands I got into in the late 80's. I'd started to turn to the dark side (!) through a couple of Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi tracks that made it into the UK Top 40. My brother was a metalhead too and I managed to copy a few songs from his growing vinyl collection. W.A.S.P. were probably the first band I found out about through my own mates and their 1987 Live ... In The Raw album was always in the cassette deck from the moment I picked up a copy. Around the same time I was just starting to get into Metallica's Master of Puppets album, Def Leppard's Hysteria and not longer after the Gunners Appetite For Destruction.

That Christmas I remember getting the back catalog of W.A.S.P. albums from my family which was quite amusing considering how their "show" was all about blood, women, sex, drugs and rock n' roll. I just missed out on seeing them in London in 1989 on their tour for The Headless Children album (a partly political album and not literally about decapitated kids).

W.A.S.P. were also one of the targets of the American organisation led by Al Gore's wife Tipper, the PMRC - the Parent's Music Resource Centre - who basically try to ban all music that was deemed a little risky. Anything from W.A.S.P.'s Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) to Cyndi Lauper's She Bop, a song about masturbation. Madonna, Sheena Easton & Prince were all targets in the mainstream. The PMRC never actually won, but they were responsible for the "Parental Advisory - Explicit Lyrics" sticker that still appears on CD's today. If anything they failed miserably, succeeding only in promoting metal acts and making the kids want to find out what it was all about. (Read more here).

Anyway, I always ramble when I write about music ... the gig was great. I hadn't seen them since 1993 when they toured to support The Crimson Idol album. This tour in Australia was their first ever and they were celebrating the 15th anniversary of The Crimson Idol, playing the "rock opera" it in it's entirety as had always been intended.

The long weekend just gone was also great. We redecorated the nursery now that the twins are way too old for it. Scarlett has decided to move into Ab's room which is purple and Ab is moving into the old nursery. Of all colours, she chose pink. Hmmm. Surprisingly it wasn't too bad to paint. In fact it was almost a relaxing colour to spread across the walls. We have a couple of things to fix up this week and she should be ready to move in by this coming weekend when the fumes have dispersed.

I hate painting but I love the feeling of achievement after it's complete.

The trip to Germany I mentioned earlier didn't happen because of the problems at work. It was cancelled with a couple of days to spare. Although I was looking forward to it in some ways, I was quite happy to have the last two weekends back to myself rather than spending them travelling.

That's it. I might try and get 'C' complete tomorrow for the A-Z. Emphasis on might.