…I saw a man, perched precariously on the edge of the arm of an outdoor bench, with all limbs crossed, reading a comic while drinking an espresso and smoking a joint.

Amsterdam never ceases to impress me.

Meanwhile, le petit bateau now reeks of fromage. I may or may not have bought a few hundred kilos of the stuff yesterday. I may or may not have bought (too) many fabulous bottles of fine French wine. I may or may not have sunk this boat.

whoops.

So I thought it might be wise to clear out some space in my recently missing head to enable new randomness to come forth. And it dawned on me while thinking about this, why not empty it right here? Perhaps you feel the urge to back away right about now? I understand.

I should actually be clearing away the props in this boat for the same reasons but I just can’t make myself do it, so still it sits. and waits…

Head space first. Boat space later.

New aussie blog pal Ness tagged me a couple of weeks back with a request to reveal 6 random facts about myself, and I figure that might be the perfect way to begin the cleansing process. I never get bored of reading other blogger’s six random facts and laughing out loud (not at you, with you), but mine never seem as interesting. And let’s be truthful, we’ve been here a couple of times already since I started this blog. But believe it or not, I did manage to find another 6 random facts about myself that perhaps you didn’t already know. You might find them somewhat entertaining, let’s find out…

1. I enjoy having breakfast for dinner. (and i just had breakfast for lunch).

2. There is one lesson I never learn. It is this: piping hot liquids need to be cooled before I put them in my mouth.

Intriguing, non? The amount of times I have burnt my tongue is infinite. I have one rather special friend who is the only person who has noticed -in fact, could even go so far as laying claim to having discovered– this phenomenon. When speaking to him recently, the first question he asked me was, “So, have you burnt your tongue lately?” and the answer was a predictable “yes”, followed by the full description of how. He laughs. And that’s all that matters.

3. I heavily dislike (read: despise) the word “bespoke”. I refuse to use it in my own writing, and while I’ve been writing my book the topic could benefit tremendously from the use of this word many times over, but instead I go to great lengths to find alternatives. When the book comes out, if somehow this word has slipped in there, you must tell me, but then I will probably slit my wrists.

4. I heavily adore (read: completely smitten about) the word “albeit”. I use this word all the time and go to great lengths to find sentences to use it in. I suffer if I haven’t been able to use it (like right now, believe me, I’ve tried, albeit feebly. OOH!)

5. I like promite more than I like vegimite. There. I said it.

6. This morning, while plucking my right eyebrow, I noticed my first permanent forehead wrinkle. It is a wrinkle formed from always raising that eyebrow in surprise. “Really?” Exactly.

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Thanks for the fun Ness, it’s been wonderful getting to know you through your blog and your tag. We must indulge in this again sometime! Perhaps over coffee and cake one day. Until then!

xx

PS. I’m convinced everyone is sick of me asking to play tag, so I shall spare innocent victims this time ’round. Unless of course you just happen to have 6 random facts in need of getting out, for your own cleansing process, then yes! please! and let me know in a comment to this post. x

Me too. Although I am sitting right here at my desk, surrounded by numerous cascading piles of papers and books, with props scattered from one end of the boat to the other in need of serious attention, and dishes piling up on the kitchen counter top.

My head however, is far far away. Where exactly, I do not know. Perhaps you have seen it around? If so, can you send it back to me? Cheers.

Why, this is my new goddaughter! Remember I talked about her here? Well, as a little gift to her to say thank you for choosing me to be one of her special godmothers, I asked the very creative Leah over at Hyena in Petticoats if she could make me one of her special custom made ‘nongs’. Do you know what a nong is? It’s this fabulous creature you see above, with lovely long limbs and a number of gorgeous, unique details. Click here and here to see a few other fab examples of Leah’s nongs.

So from Amsterdam to Adelaide, Leah and I discussed the finer points of what this special nong should look like (buttons for eyes? no buttons for eyes, fabric choices? anything with red, she loves red etc etc), and then straight from Adelaide to Sydney flew this special creature, into the arms of my darling goddaughter. Her and her parents have named her ‘nina’ – so nina nong is now in her new home, and no doubt will have her limbs nicely chewed by the time teething season is over.

Oh just look at that smile!

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If you’d like to order your own special nong, click here to read all about how to order, and click here to contact Leah. Thanks Leah, I can’t wait to meet nina nong in person one day!

Wow! Well. Where to go from here. Even though I have a truckload of things I’ve been wanting to share with you after I finished my Sydney soundscapes, I never imagined you would all love the piano piece as much as you have. You left this pipelette speechless! Thank you for all your comments, emails, and for linking the post to your blogs. I think that’s as close as I will ever get to performing live. And I must say, I loved it. So I will do it again.

But for now, let me get cracking on this week’s posts. I’ve got heaps to share, so let the fun begin!

xx

PS the name of the tune is “comptine d’un autre été l’apres midi” by Yann Tiersen. It is from the Amélie movie. Thank you to my readers who replied to other readers in the comments section to let them know, you are wonderful.