Ok, you’ve probably wondering if I’ve been to America for the wedding of the year or not…

I haven’t… (like duh… I’d have told you already right??)

I’m getting geared up (pun intended) for the event… and to that end I’ve been shopping. Internet shopping to net me a baggage bargain…

The evidence below, both purchased online, both bargains. The Camera/Computer bag is brand new but I saved $30.00 buying online… The roller bag was an excess wedding gift, used once and sold to me… cha ching…

I know you’re really interested in my luggage… It’s so interesting I made an animation (see below) sheesh… you’d think I could find something better to do wouldn’t you??

In one day I’ve heard both spectrums of talent on the singing scale…

At one end there’s Bianca Ryan (am I the last person on earth to have heard this kid? She’s enough to make every singer want to pack up their mic and never sing again…)

And at the other there is our local night school community singing class. It’s a class I taught a couple of years back and which tonight I had the pleasure of going back to mark their final assessment… I felt like Marcia, all the wrong colour of course, but I sat there behind a table with a marking sheet trying to write lots of positive stuff around the constructive critique…
It was great fun, and I was lovely… not like those other idiots.

Anyway… like I said… opposing ends of the scale… Enough Said.

Actually, there’s been a fair bit of music in my week. I sang for the first time since Jonah at a major work recital put on by a 3rd year sca student. I had such a great time. I really need an outlet for this singing gene… Singing at church is out of the question for various reasons and Schweeb, the chick who’s teaching the nightschool class and I are talking about getting a vocal ensemble together and doing a recital next year.

I think it’s a good idea.

Wanna audition? I know the choir director… she’s soft like Marcia… you’ll be a shoe-in!

When you live in Australia and have a first time visitor as a house guest you take them to Taronga Zoo. If you’re lucky enough to have a small godson…

You take him too!!

There are more pictures… click on the Pelly-Can. The’re are a few from the last camera club excursion as well!!

Internet romance cops a lot of flak, raised eyebrows… the gentle hmmmmm of a hesitant correspondent. You can hear it, the “Riiiiight… internet date… okaaaay.” Like there’s something about it that’s not quite genuine, slightly seedy, a bit pathetic and dare I admit it…

Desperate…

It isn’t just the people in Co-op* relationships who look askance… there are even Singulars who for whatever reason look down on the whole process… as if their singularity is somehow higher than settling for… [sharp intake of breath]

An Internet Thing.

In spite of this, millions of single people out there are signed up on God only knows how many internet dating sites hooking up, either online or in person, casually, or committedly… But for all that there’s apparently still something that’s just…

Not…Quite…Right. At least, that’s how it comes across…

That eyebrow…

That “Hmmmmmm”.

The reason I’m thinking about it is… that for the last 2 months I’ve been in the middle of…

An Internet Thing…

A thing that’s been subject to those eyebrows, and hums. Subject to concerned inquiries… Yes on some fronts subject to enthusiastic support but by no means unanimous applause. Truth is? I’m ok with that – to each his own. The Hums are usually motivated by concern for my welfare, and having concerned friends is cool…

V cool.

All the same, today, in a mutually agreeable decision, Kiwifella and I closed down the internet connection. Not without tears on either side of the Tasman, and not without a conviction that it was the right thing to do.

It was fun while it lasted, and we don’t regret it for a minute – but the course had been run and the finish line was waiting for us to have the courage to cross it.

Not all internet romancers are Axe Wielding Maniacs. Some of them are genuine guys looking for genuine girls. My heart has got away with my head before, I’m very wary these days… but I know for sure, this one?

He’s a keeper.

I’m sad it’s not me who gets to keep him but I’m glad, that for these few weeks I was a spring in his step, and he in mine. Glad that we tried it out, long distance and all and that our emails were the highlight of each other’s days. Glad that I put myself out there, gave it a shot and took the risk, the risk that this day would come.

Because unless I do I am sitting in an ivory tower waiting for the axe wielding prince to break down the door.

When maybe what he really needs is for me to leave out the key.

*Co-operative adj 1: involving the joint activity of two or more people; antonym – Singular.