Na-na na-na na-na na-na na! BatAlex!

Another bout of silence but not as long as before. The virtual world is not holding much appeal for me at the moment, it has to be said. I’m spending most of my time working and being with family as per usual.

Work has seriously improved. My old assistant has taken a secondment to another section and I have a new assistant whom I have been working with for the last two months and it’s a HUGE improvement. She is much more relaxed and more efficient. We are actually AHEAD of our current schedule of classes and have some time to tackle the jobs that normally get left to the semester breaks. It’s awesome. She doesn’t take offence to things like my old assistant did and I don’t have to tiptoe around her like I used to. End result: I’m more relaxed and happy at work. I’d nearly forgotten what that was like.

At home, I am enjoying my son being three. His personality has come leaping out now that he’s discovered his voice and it’s a doozy. His first passion is Cars. Not just any old cars (though he does love Matchbox and Hot Wheels) but Cars from Pixar. He has just about every Cars thing that has ever been made but he’s also recently developed a liking for Batman. Most three-year olds I’ve met love Spider-man but not my boy. Batman all the way and that’s fine by me. I love Batman. He has a little Batman shirt that comes complete with a cape and he loves few things more than running around trying to make the cape fly out behind him and it’s so much fun to watch.

He loves the shirt so much that he wears it everywhere he can. This lead to the following incident, as described to me by my wife. The other day he was at the shops with his Mum and wearing his Batman shirt and cape. It came time to leave and so the following exchange took place:

“Alex, it’s time to go.”

“I’m not Alex. I’m Batman and Batman goes where he wants!”

“Well, I’m Batman’s MUM and Batman’s MUM says it’s time to go!”

“Oh.”

Heh. I would have LOVED to have seen that. My little Batman!

On the gaming front, not much has happened. I had planned on getting lots ready for CanCon 2013 Apocalypse but to tell the truth, nothing much has changed. I’ve developed a new list that has cut down the number of models I need to paint from 117 to 82 but I still have a LOT to paint (only 1 model of that 82 is painted). Easter is on its way, though, and I hope to get a little time to do some more prep on the army and get it ready.

Hello 2012

A flurry of posting activity and then silence. Until now.

Yep, last year I got busy with the postings and then lay low. The usual excuses still apply: family and work. Christmas was very nice with a visit from my folks in the morning to watch my son go mad opening presents and not know what to play with first. They also helped to assemble Alex’s big present: a 16ft trampoline. It’s a big SOB. Luckily we had cleared a big section of the backyard only a couple of months before otherwise we’d have had no where to put it. Thankfully he loves it and gets very depressed when it rains and he can’t use it. Christmas lunch then followed with a few friends joining us for the traditional stuffing of the face punctuated with home-made mojitos (I’m pretty awesome at mojitos I have to say). A nice relaxing day that I really did enjoy.

New Year came and went and I started back at work. First thing up was hiring a new assistant. My previous one took a secondment to another section to earn more money (yay!) so I had to hire a replacement. She seems to be working out really well and we appear to be getting on O.K. so the stress here at work has lessened, which has made for a happier me. It should be an interesting year as QUT is hosting TechNet, a conference for Technical Staff from around Australia and I’m involved with the Entertainment Committee. We’re having fun arranging a place for the conference dinner as well as the attendee packs and other entertainment (funny that).

On the gaming front I’ve done very little. I’m spending lots of spare time with my family as Alex is at such a fun age. His speech continues to rocket along and we’ve finally reached the point where we are telling him to shut up. I never thought I’d be happy to have to tell my boy to be quiet. But on the topic of gaming, I’ve decided to aim for CanCon 2013 to play Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse again. Last time I went and played it, I had a great time and I’d love to do it again. To that end I am planning my army now so there isn’t a big rush to get it finished. Last time I took Tau (with the attendant Tigershark aircraft I built. I still owe Blog-land pics of the finished products). This time I plan to break out my first 40K army: Imperial Guard. Normally the Imperial Guard are pretty squishy with lots of infantry that dies easily but in Apocalypse, you get to take some of the really BIG stuff, which the Imperial Guard have in abundance. I am aiming to take a company of three Baneblades (tanks that are 4 times the size of an ordinary tank, with the expected big guns and tough hides), a Shadowsword (another superheavy tank with a massive laser cannon), Deathstrike Vortex Missile (think of a cruise missile launcher who’s missile annihilates everything it touches when it blows) and lots of infantry to protect them. Heh. Fun. But there’s lots of assembling and painting to do between now and January 2013. Hopefully I can use this blog as a way of keeping track of my progress but based on my track record, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was you.

In any case, stay tuned for either modelling updates or a complete lack of activity!

Vroooommmm!

Man. I'm exhausted. Today, Tash and I cleaned up the backyard in preparation for Alex's birthday party next week. We had a lot of assistance from my Mum, Dad, brother and Medway. But the backyard is clear of rubbish and fully fenced in. I'm so glad to have a backyard that Alex can't escape from now. I've been so worried he'd run out onto the main road and now we can be in the backyard with him and not have to worry about him running off.

Also, I'm now the proud owner of a new bike. A nice 650cc Hyosung Aquila cruiser. I went into the dealership for a test ride yesterday and really enjoyed the ride. Very, very nice bike and the price just can't be beaten. The next best bike would be a Honda Shadow and while its the same price (and is also a very, very nice ride), it's only a 400cc and has none of the extra features that the Hyosung has. Tash came along and had a look and we negotiated a deal for this:


This my very bike. Even the colour. With all the bells and whistles. Sweet. I pick it up on Wednesday and I have to say that I just can't wait. I'm taking the day off work and I'm going on a nice, long ride on it. I think I'll head either up or down the coast with it to give it a good run. Heh, heh. Vrooooommm!

My Boy's Growing Up.

Two posts in a single day? Are you kidding me? Wow. He’s either got lots of news to share, is feeling talkative or is bored at work. Well, it’s mostly the latter. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got stuff to do but I’m just not interested in doing it. Plus I’m on my break.

I mentioned a couple of months ago that Alex is in speech therapy to treat his childhood apraxia of speech (or “CAS”). He’s been coming along brilliantly and is up to spontaneous 4 to 6 word sentences. This is awesome. For a child diagnosed with severe CAS, to be spontaneously generating sentences of this length after only 7 months of treatment is truly amazing. But that’s not the best part. What is even better is that he is also spontaneously copying new words and repeating them without prompting. This means he is starting to overcome the apraxia barriers in his mind and body. And yesterday evening he showed me just how far he’s come.

We’ve had a big corner of our backyard cleared out of the weeds and crap. This left a big, bare patch of soil which we seeded with some grass. This has come up but the recent (and sudden) increase in temperature coupled with a lack of rain has turned it brown and its starting to die. Water restrictions have been eased lately so I thought we’d water it to try and get it going again. I was watering it when Alex came over and told me “My turn, Dad”. I gave him the hose and he ran off to spray the water into his sandpit. I told him to come back and water the grass.

“No. My turn, Dad!”

“But the grass needs water, Alex.”

“No.”

“But look, it’s all brown and sad. Its needs the water to be happy again.”

“Oh, no. My turn for happy!”

With that, he ran over to the grass and began to water it by running up and down, spraying water and saying “Happy! Happy!” over and over. He’s never said the word “happy” before. It involves several sounds he’s had trouble with (“H”, “Pee”) but he just took straight to it. It was wonderful and made the months of hard work worth every minute and cent we’ve spent. Occasionally he’d stop to survey his handiwork and see a brown patch he’d not seen previously. He’d say “Oh, no. Sad, Dad!” I’d ask him, “So what will you do?”, “I go happy!” would be his reply (we’re working on “make”). He’d smile at me and run off with the hose and water the patch of “sad” grass. It felt good to have him communicate with me. I can’t wait to hold long conversations with my boy.

Parental Anecdotes 2.0

And yet another blog post proving that I have had my head buried in work and family for such a long time that it’s now September, meaning 6 months have flown by since my last Blog post. Geez. Lots has happened. Work got busy. Alex grew some more and started speech therapy (he has been diagnosed as having Apraxia of speech) and is coming along in leaps and bounds. Tash started a new job. I got all technological and acquired smartphones for Tash and I. Busy, busy, busy life.

But what I wanted to share in this blog post was another joyful moment of parenthood I experienced last night. Alex and Tash went to bed early as they were both exhausted giving me a couple of hours of Peace and Quiet (TM). I watched a movie and then played a game on the ‘puter. Just before I shut the ‘puter off I decided to browse through the folder marked “Alexander”. While trolling through the hundreds of photos of my son I found a folder marked “Playing with the New Camcorder”. I open it to find some AVI files of Alex. In one of them he is “helping” his mother water the garden. What he is actually doing is spraying everything in sight with the hose. At one point he finds the outlet for the downpipe off the shed roof and begins spraying water up the pipe. After a couple of seconds, the water begins to run out again, at which Alex squeals with delight. So he sprays the water again and, after another delay, more water comes out. He’s fascinated. He does this a few more times before the video ends. It was really nice to watch.

I love watching my little boy discover the world. He just finds so much happiness in the simple things and I love sharing it with him, even after the fact.

AMUSING SIDE STORY: Two nights ago I was getting ready for bed when I heard Alex grumbling in his sleep. He’s had some nightmares recently so I thought I’d check on him. As I entered the room he sat up, still sound asleep, and belched rather loudly. After the belching was done, he giggled and proceeded to lie back down as if nothing had happened. All still sound asleep. I had to creep out so I didn’t wake him with my laughter. It still makes me laugh. Heh. THAT’S my boy!

So 20% of 2011 is gone?

Wow. Three months gone. And what a three months it has been. Alex turned two. My wife and I each officially got another year older. We once again celebrated the Christian hijacking of a pagan holiday as well as the turning of the year. I watched as my hometown (Brisbane) flooded to levels last seen when I was just one year old. I’ve been to Melbourne and Canberra (in that order). Alex started at Childcare. Wow. A very busy time. So much has happened it’s hard to know what the most significant event is. I’m thinking its likely best to just leave it there and pick up anew when I get a bit more time to write more.

I’ll write more about the Tigershark conversion I mentioned a while ago along with completed pics as they turned out better than I had feared. Plus they have lights and sounds! Wheee!

But for now, let’s just agree that it’s been a helluva time since I last posted, shall we?

The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back...

Bleh. What a way to start December. Normally, I absolutely love this time of year. Its normally quiet at work so I get all those things that have piled up done and out of the way and with my wife's and son's birthdays as well as Christmas there's lots of celebrating to be done.

But these last few days have been a trial. Lots and lots of little things have all built up to be annoying one after the other and making me more and more agitated. Things falling over. Tripping on the boy's toys. Not leaving for work on time. The boy having a rotten night's sleep. Dropping things constantly. Then last night Alex poked himself in the eye with a paintbrush and got so upset about it that he threw up everywhere (if Alex gets really, really distressed, he vomits). Vomit all over our bed (twice), all over the bathtub. Thankfully the bathtub is easy to fix but at 9pm the last thing you want to be doing is to be changing your bedsheets and putting the foul ones in the washing machine. It took ages for Tash to calm him down (he didn't want to be anywhere near me and cried everytime he saw me).

Then this morning, I lost my wallet. My Mum and I tore apart the house looking for it but it was nowhere to be found. That was the last straw. I pretty much lost it and cracked the sh!ts. After three days of frustration, all I needed was to lose my wallet. This also made me very late for work and that just p!ssed me off even more. The wallet has been found by my long-suffering wife under the driver's seat of our car but the stress of not knowing where it was has put me off for the day. Bleh. I really, really hate losing things.

It just goes to show how very, very important it is to have a safety valve. Stress and frustration can build up ever so slowly until you blow your stack. I think I need to get myself a punching bag. Or I need to go and stand in the rain.

Where HAVE you been?

Wow. The months fly by. Its such a cliche but at the same time its not uncommon to look up and think, "Geez! Where did that time go?". And so it's been for me. So what has been keeping me so busy?

Gaming.
I've mentioned my liking for the miniature games Warmachine and Hordes before. What I may not have mentioned that I am a volunteer rep for the company that produces them. For those of you not familiar with these games and their parent company, Privateer Press, we reps are called Press Gangers (Privateer Press - Press Gangers; get it?). Each year in Australia we hold a National Championship for these games to crown an Australian Champion. Its normally held at GenCon Australia, formerly Australia's "Premier Gaming Event" and this year I volunteered to run it. About 8 weeks out from the event, GenCon Australia announced they would not be running this year due to "financial concerns". This created a few hiccups around the traps but eventually we found a new venue and ploughed ahead with running our National Titles anyway. I wanted to make this event the biggest and best Nationals ever seen and to that end I wanted to give every player a prize-pack for coming along. It was quite a lot of work getting it all together. I could bore you with all the details but to make a long story short, I ran the event (with much help from friends and fellow Press Gangers), the players played and walked away with their swag of stuff and the various champions walked away with a swag of prizes. I thought the event went along pretty well on the whole but it ate a large chunk of my spare time.

Work.
I won't say much about work as you never know who's reading your blog and don't want to unnecessarily offend certain people. Suffice to say that I've had some big issues at work and have been focusing on getting under control there. Its been pretty stressful and I'll be glad when its all sorted out some more or I go on holidays a few weeks (yay January!).

Family.
Before you get worried, my wife and son are fine. We still have a few sleep issues with our boy but they are slowly improving. He goes to sleep much better now than he used to, he just gets pretty restless some nights and finds it hard to settle himself. We're working on it. Other than that, our boy is a pretty happy lad who is fairly easy to take care of. He has his good days and bad days but on the whole, the good far outweighs the bad. My wife is enjoying being back working at least two days a week and feels like she's contributing something (as if looking after our son wasn't enough). No, my family issues have been with one of my brothers. He suffers from pretty severe depression and recently it got the better of him. Thankfully, nothing tragic happened but it was touch and go for quite a while. While I didn't have to deal with most of the problems, it still made me worry a lot at a time when I had lots of worries already. Depression is a very serious mental health issue that many people don't realise is quite so bad until they have to deal with it (and I didn't deal very well with it I have to say).

But thank heavens a lot of it has passed and things are looking up. I hope to be blogging more regularly in the near future. I'm heading to Canberra to play in an Apocalypse tourney being run by my mate Bart in January and I am really looking forward to it so to motivate myself to get my figures ready I'll try and blog about my progress. Stay tuned.

Simple Joys

What is it that happens to adults that we find it harder and harder to find joy in our lives? Sure, we have the burdens of finding food, clothing and shelter for ourselves and those we care for but surely the burden is not so onerous that we cannot find simple joy in things?

I've been watching my son with interest over the last few months and I am constantly delighted and surprised at just what he can find joy and happiness in. Pulling a silly face at him can make him laugh himself silly. A few nights ago I was lying on the floor when my wife came over and I asked her to help pull me up. Alex squealed with delight and "helped" push me up. I then collapsed back down so he could do it again and for the next ten minutes I was pushed and pulled into a sitting position by my son and wife while he laughed himself to the point of tears. He has also taken to dragging around a tunnel that we have for him. He drags it from one room to another, laughing and smiling all the while.

The simplest things are an absolute joy to him and I love watching him enjoy it and as a result I find myself finding joy in these things, too. This causes me to ponder my initial question: what is it that happens to adults that we find it harder and harder to find joy in our lives? Is it the burden of responsibility? Is it the influence of the modern media and marketing? Or have we simply taken for granted the world around us and can no longer see the simple pleasures it has to offer us?

I know there will come a time when nothing I say will be right and I will be the very definition of un-cool but right now I am one of the most important things in his world and I am going to enjoy it for all its worth. Knowing I can make my boy laugh with just a silly face or playing peek-a-boo is possibly the most wonderful thing in this world. I thank my lucky stars for my beautiful son. Through him I have re-discovered a beauty and joy in the world that I had previously lost.

Nothin' beats home cookin'

Yep. There's no denying that homemade food is best. Since the arrival of Alex, Tash and I have gotten somewhat lazy with eating. Alex is not a great sleeper (as I have mentioned before) and as such we are both often very tired in the evenings and get lazy with the cooking. Enter the Slow-cooker. What a wonderful invention. We can prep dinner in the mornings when we tend to have more energy and simply drop it all in the cooker. Set for "Low" and leave it to do its thing for the day. At the end of the day I'll simply make some roast potatoes or something equally nice and serve. Beautiful. Corned Beef, roast chicken, beef or lamb, stews, casseroles, etc. Simply delicious and packed full of veggies.

Yesterday we realised that we had some porterhouse steak in the fridge that had to be used. Neither of us were inclined towards a steak dinner so Tash suggested pies. We have a little pie-making device that Tash won years ago but that we haven't used in ages. So Tash seasoned the steaks and popped them in the slow cooker for a few hours. When done, they simply fell apart and tasted amazing (got to taste before using). Using the stock that was left in the pot, Tash brewed up some fantastic gravy and we cooked up some carrots, peas, corn, onion and capsicum. All mixed in with the shredded beef from the steaks and popped into pastry to make pies. Man they were good. They beat the cr@p out of anything you can buy in the stores. A complete meal encased in pastry. Oh yeah. My wife has the best ideas sometimes and man-oh-man can she cook. Gourmet meals and all that fancy stuff they show on things like "Masterchef" (bah!) are all well and good but simple and tasty home cooked meals are often the best. Duck L'orange and Souffle are nice and all but a lot of the time I just enjoy a simple home recipe like savoury mince, beef casserole or those wonderful meat pies. Yum.

"It Sucks to be Me"

Here on Avenue Q! That was a great night. Tash, myself and a few of my work and gaming friends went to see Avenue Q last night and I was very happy to say it really lived up to all of the hype I've heard. I'm sure I'll be humming "The Internet is for Porn", "It Sucks to be Me", "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and "If You Were Gay I'd Shout Hooray!" for many days and weeks to come. Its even funnier if you're a parent of a young child as Seseme Street is often a staple part of your day.

But the other nice thing is this was Tash and my first night out in a long time. Last year we wnt to see my mate Greg in the Macbeth rock opera and we left Alex with my folks. He hated it and cried and cried until we got home. He was about 5 months old at that point and I'm not sure he was ready. He's now 15 months and is much happier to be left with his Nanna and Granda now. He was so happy in fact he seemed to be waving me out the door as we left, quite content to be left with my parents. He loves them a lot. And so Tash and I had a nice night out. I think we're going to have to do it more often now that we can. Next step: sleeping over at Nanna's or Meme's (that's what Tash's Mum likes to be called). That will be nice.

A very special moment.

Its the simple things that make you happy as a parent. Monday, my boy took his first steps. Three, unsteady steps before he fell onto his hands and then crawled the rest of the way at break-neck speed but nonetheless, first steps. His Mum and I are very proud.

But last night he took what I consider to be his first walk. He walked about a metre and a half without holding anything or anyone, didn't fall and made it to his goal. And he did it just for me. Tuesday nights are Tash's night out. She gets a break from Alex and he and I spend some quality time together, a boy's night. And to show off to me, he walked on his own. Tash is extremely jealous. He hasn't done that for her yet.

To say I am proud is a bit of an understatement. I feel very special that he decided to make his first real walk a special moment just for the two of us.

And doesn't he look pleased with himself?


I love my little boy.