Present Shopping.

Yesterday I took my mother shopping for birthday presents. Three in the next week. We knew one gift we were buying (Zoo Tycoon) for one of the nephews. The problem was buying for another Nephew and a Niece. I took her to Carousel (which is a BIG shopping centre down the road). We looked in K-Mart, Target, Myers, Electronic Boutique, Games Traders, Dymocks, Angus and Robertsons plus other miscellaneous shops. Nothing. After hours, we had nothing to show for it. I was getting a little pee'd off. We then decided to go to Harvey Norman's to look for the game, and Toys 'R' Us (though, Toys 'R' Expensive might be a more appropriate name for all toy stores!) Other stores had told us not to bother looking for Zoo Tycoon in Harvey Norman ... but guess what, they not only had it, they had the one with the expansion packs (the Dinosaurs, and Marine animals). So we got that. Phew, one present down. Toys'R'Us does have an impressive range, and we were able to get the rest of the presents Phew. The funny thing I noted though, was when we looked at the same stuf fin other stores, m mother wasn't interested in them, but in Toys 'R' Us she didn'tmind looking at them. It was sort of funny, as I'd be looking at a book in K-Mart, and my mother would tell me it was inappropriate, yet in T'R'U she would be like, 'Hey, look at this book', and my brainwould be going, 'But, when I picked it up in K-Mart, it was inappropriate!' I'm sure she likes to make things difficult some times just so she has something to talk about. I can hear her voice now as she tells the party go'ers, 'We looked high and low, and couldn't find anything. Then, after four hours, we finally found what we were looking for!' Yes, she has an adventure to recount at the B'day parties. We then went and did some food shopping for her. I also have B'days for my mother and youngest brother coming up ... luckily, we've already bought presents for mother, and my mother has already bought a present for my brother ... so I just need to get a presetn for Jeff, and my mother has asked that I buy a shirt like one of my black ones which has lace down the front ... I said I didn't want to buy one exactly the same, as we'd look like a pair of idiots. So, I'll look for a similar one in a different colour. Basically, it's so my mother doesn't have to see him wearing the same kaki green shirt he always wears. [Which never seems to get washed either ... ewwww!]

***

Oh, we still have mice. No where near the mice activity we had previously. My mother made me shove some rat sak in the hole near my desk. We'd previously plugged the hole up with plastercine, and the mouse had eaten through it. Then I had plugged it up again ... this time, it has rat sak in it for the mice to chew through first, (That will of course poison them). My mother was going through the pantry today throwing out more things they'd gnawed their way into. This inclued rice and stuff. That means my mother is on the warpath against mice ... she's got little packets of ratsak to chuck in the roof. Ratsak in the pantry (the mice were making little piles of the stuff behind the boxes) and now ratsak behind one the lounges. We have to be careful where we put the ratsak, as the dogs might eat it and get sick, so it all has to be put in places the dogs can't get to.

***

I'm slowly scanning a lot of music and stuff I've collected over the years. It's weird seeing some of the things I've written out - musical stuff other peopel gave me, songs they've written or ones I had to perform. Amongst it all, I found an old note from someone who wanted a double bass player for her blues revival. I kept telling her I could play double bass, she just needed to get me one. She kept insisting that I couldn't! (Silly girl), so she was hanging out for another Double Bass player. In the end, she couldn't get one, but she still wouldn't let me play double bass for her, so she got me to play the electric for her. I got the call up six days before her big review (and people had been practicing for weeks on it). She didn't even have all the music I needed to learn (but I have the hand written copies of some of the songs she had needed me to play). During the six rehersals I attended, I either needed to learn some of the songs by reading over the piano players shoulder, or watching his hands. I challenge most musicians to do that same, it's not easy. Anyway, first night of the big blues review, I played it all through perfectly. Not a hitch. Second night, she had people there to review her. One number, I stuffed up right royally. There was a part where I and the piano player had to keep playing in unison after the choir and other instruments stopped. Then, we both had to stop after playing a number of repetitious bars over and over (ie, it was something like 2o bars of the same eight notes ... over... and over ...and over ... ) Anyway, we both had to stop dad after 20 or so bars (I was never told how many ... or maybe I was ... I just couldn't remember) ... anyway, first night, we'd managed to stop dead right at the same time (like we were supposed to) ... second night, I missed it and stopped about four bars short! OUCH! And the reviewers were there! OW! Why couldn't I have messed up first night, and got it perfect second night. Anywat, I had the letter from her asking me to learn the thirty odd songs in six days, and it just brought back the memories. Lots of other memories of writing music out by hand in the summer in the seventies/early eighties (before photocopiers were as common as they are now). Other music theory and stuff. You are probably wondering how much stuff I have ... it was all kept in folders ... and the latest count from my computer of the pages scanned has come to almost 7,000 pages. (and over 5.1 GB). All the original pages will get stored in plastic tubs in the shed. My brother Jeff is already talking about burning them. (But I don't want them burned!) Anyway, I still have heaps more to go, and looks like it may take upto two DVD's to store the scans on. It does leave a HUGE hole under my computer desk in the other room. I'm hoping that will make somespace to store other things there. When I finish the music, I'm going to start on all my University notes and computer stuff. Easily they'll take even MORE scans than the music. What I am hoping though, is I can go through the rest of my life with about ten or so DVD's worth of these scanned things and it'll make a move to Sydney or London or somewhere so much easier (rather than carting five bookshelves + full of Uni notes etc). It's funny, there are some songs I don't even remember playing from years ago, but I have vague recollections of writing them out and the bands I played them with ... but I don't recall when or where we played the songs. I can remember standing on stage in Adelaide once beltin out 'Get Back' by the Beatles while my eldest brothers band played it (I was just singing for that song), and people telling me off later. [No, they didn't tell me off because of my singing. Some people just didn't know what I was doing on stage ... they had thought the song was an instrumental and didn't have lyrics, therefore they couldn't understand WHY I was singing lyrics to an instrumental ... bloody idiots!] Anyway, I have heaps to do ... must study and get soem training plans organised to train people in Introduction to Computer Networking!