I have removed the previous entry for reasons of national security (and to protect my butt from any more kicking). Don't panic, dear readers, all is well. However, I will have to kill all those who read the previous post as it was provided on a "need to know" basis and apparently you guys don't need to know (silly me thought you did).

Anyway, enough of this gibberish. It has been a hectic but enjoyable weekend. Friday was your very basic pizza in front of the tv night. Pizza sure has come a long way since a Four Seasons was the apex of the gourmet pizza experience. We enjoyed a Fu Choo - which had marinated prawns, brocolli, capsicum, baby corn and honey sauce with seasame seeds - yum.

Big Brother on Friday night was pretty good. The three bozos had to do challenges, the worst of which were walking along a narrow walkway thingy but getting to choose how high up it was (both the boys went for 20 metres) and they had to untie two ribbons along the way, and then there was the "bug challenge". There were three seperate bug challenges and each contestant had to choose which they "wanted" (my choice would be: get me the hell out of here!). The first was finding a pingpong ball in a container full of crickets (Vesna), the second sticking your head into a container full of mealey worms and finding a pingpong ball with your mouth (Greg) and the third was sticking your head into a container and having them fill it up first with crickets, then mealey worms and then cockroaches (Tim). I have to hand it to Tim, he handled this last bit of horror in a completely calm manner - as if he did this sort of thing every day. I would be freaking out in a major way. Just the idea of swarms/herds/flocks (?) of cockroaches swarming over my face is enough to make me shudder.

Anyway, last night Vesna was kicked off BB so that leaves the two guys. I wish I could summon the energy to care but I really don't. Greg seems nice enough in a completely "devoid of personality" sort of way. However, I think Tim is going to win. I certainly didn't pick him to win at all. He is not attractive and he is "old" by teeny bopper standards, so possibly the idea that the only people who vote on BB are 12 year old girls is not quite true. I'm sure he is nice and everyone says what a "gentleman" he is, blah blah blah but to be honest he's probably just a bit too lefty for my personal tastes. Mind you he's intelligent so I'm sure we could have a good old debate about the state of the world but the fact remains that he's really not my kind of person. Newtown middle-class lefties just don't ring my bell any more.

Now Saturday Jason went off to work at the City to Surf set up and I took Will shopping. On a good day Will is quite a good shopper and as long as I don't keep him out too long and have something good to look forward to at the end to bribe him with it all works well. We ended up getting groceries, getting the new "Funny Peculiar" CD (very funny and peculiar) and having a good long potter around Myer. They were having a 50% off the already reduced prices sale (music to my ears/eyes/wallet). So I stocked up on some great winter clothes for Will for next year, got some new pillows and even managed to get a present for our new nephew Alexander (congratulations to Troy and Anna).

Then it was off to my dear friend Margaret's house for some tea, gossip and a chance for Will to play with her girls, Lili and Ella. A quick cuppa turned into half the day and I didn't get home until mid-afternoon. Then my best laid plans turned to poo as a few "quick" phone calls turned into one hour marathons. By the time Jason got home the washing was still sitting there unhung and my poor ears were vibrating. Got to see Jay for less than an hour before he rushed off to watch his Sharks get a whomping from the Roosters (Rugby League, for our overseas visitors). Will was meant to go but it was a bitterly cold night and I opted to keep him home and warm.

So Will and I had left over pizza and watched "Funniest Home Videos" in bed. Will loves that show - there is something universally funny about small children and animals hurting themselves and people doing stupid things at wedding - we just can't get enough. Then Will fell asleep and I watched one of the most stupid programs I have ever seen. It was on Foxtel and it was called "A Makeover Story" and it involved two of the Sydney Swans being "made over" by an anorexic American bird known as the "make over coach". Basically she got them stupid haircuts, put them in (generally) stupid clothes and said "Aussssie" (say "s" like snake) a lot. I love Ryan O'Keefe and Amon Buchanan and I can not think what they did wrong to be selected for such a ridiculous show.

Since I was watching the Discovery Health channel (why would they have "A Makeover Story" on a Health channel?) this program was followed by a baby program whose name escapes me. It involved following four couples through a famous IVF program at St Luke's Hospital somewhere in the US. While it was a nice enough documentary (though a little close to the bone, even after all these years) what I found quite upsetting was the way they "dumped" the two "failed" couples and oohed and aaahed over the two successful couples. Two couples got pregnant and we followed them through pregnancy and childbirth. But the two couples who were "negative" were wiped and we got no update on what happened to them: did they try again, were they successful, did they give up, did they adopt? You can't just involve us in the lives of these people and then just move on without a backward glance. Very poor documentary making IMO.

Sunday I was up early to head down to Bondi for my annual volunteer stint at the City to Surf. The adoptive families' support group, Australians Caring for Children (ACC), which we belong to conduct various fundraising activities throughout the year to raise money to help orphanages in Colombia, Bolivia and India. One of the "traditional" activities has been running a water station at the end of the City to Surf "fun run" (an oxymoron if ever I've heard one - you can not seriously put "fun" and "run" in the same sentence, as far as I'm concerned). Apart from it being hellishly cold on Bondi Beach first thing in the morning (which it actually wasn't yesterday) it's quite an enjoyable day. My only beef is with the organisation - whereby there are too many plastic cups, not enough sheets of cardboard and the water is hard to actually get a hold of - but all that is a long and boring story and of interest only to those who work on the day.

I was home by 2:00 pm and happily watching the Swans give those smug Brisbane Lions a good and thorough lesson in how to play AFL (strong words but give me my moment in the sun, won't you?!). A very happy Jason and Will returned home from the game demanding that we plan our trip to Melbourne to watch the Swannies play in the final (which we are all convinced is unavoidable at this point). He is now sulking because our upcoming trip around the world, with a very important stop in Colombia, does not seem to be a good enough reason to miss watching our beloved Swans in the grand final. Well, for a start they haven't even made the final yet and secondly... well, we just can't and won't and that's the end of the story (which translates to something like: "because I said so"). We'll just have to wish them well from afar.

Now for tonight's BB final... who will win? who cares? apparently I do! but I still don't quite know why... My post BB resolution is to read more and watch less crap ... oh, who am I kidding...