On Bucket Lists

A couple of weeks ago raincoaster wrote about bucket lists, and bemoaned the fact that people don’t seem to be aiming very high with said lists. (Apparently an inordinate number of people want to visit a place called Six Flags. I googled it. I’m with raincoaster. An amusement park? Really?)

I’ve never written a bucket list, but raincoaster‘s plea resonated with me (and she wrote one kickass list herself), so here is my attempt to aim higher.

Before I kick the bucket, before that future day of global mourning when I will throw in the ~~towel~~ hammer (if I have to go I’m taking someone with me), I want to…

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Spring is in the air…

…and I’m feeling strangely optimistic. I suppose it’s because spring signifies a new start in more ways than one where I’m concerned – I was born in September, after all.

Spring in SA has arrived right on cue. Friday still we had terribly cold weather and even snow in some parts of the country, but on Monday the sun shone warm and bright in the sky. The nights are still chilly, but during the day it’s already warm enough to make one believe summer is on its way.

Green shoots are peeking out all over the place, courtesy of some unseasonal winter rain two weeks ago, and my neighbour’s clivia is in full bloom on our communal porch.

Clivia

One can’t help but feel positive in circumstances like this. I’ve even dropped my winter laziness and started exercising again. Here’s hoping I can keep it up (not just the exercise, but the attitude as well).

Percussive Etymology – Cold enough to freeze something off a brass monkey

It’s time for the second instalment of Percussive Etymology. In this fortnightly feature my trusty hammer and I will explore the origins of one of the many quirky phrases contained in the English language.

After the resounding success of my post on “gumming up the works” it’s a bit intimidating to write another one of these. What if people don’t like it as much? What if I get no comments at all? What if I unwittingly offend my readers and they all unfollow this blog at once? (Do bestselling authors live with this pressure each time they submit a new novel to their publishers?)

However, let no ~~man~~ person call me a coward. Today’s phrase (and pardon the French), “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. Thanks to Matthew Wright for the suggestion.

(By the way, the best part of today’s post is at the very end, below the line.)

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Greatest Hits: If I Ever Get Around To Living by John Mayer

I can’t really tell you what I did to cause this, but my brain is mush and I couldn’t come up with a good Song Title Challenge if I wanted to.

So, here’s a golden oldie, now including the music video. Enjoy it.

Song Title Challenge #3: If I Ever Get Around To Living by John Mayer

P.S. Happy Spring Day to all my Southern Hemisphere friends. To those in the North, winter is coming 😉

KokkieH Reviews <em>The Stone Rose</em> by Jacqueline Rayner – Audiobook narrated by David Tennant

KokkieH Reviews The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner – Audiobook narrated by David Tennant

To round off Official Doctor Who week, before we face off against the Daleks (won’t they ever be exterminated?) with the new Doctor tonight, I bring you a review. The wife and I have lately taken to listening audio books while on the road, which is more fun than I would have thought. Apparently listening to books can be almost as good as reading them.

Of course, with the new Doctor being only a week old there are no novels out yet featuring him, so I’ll be looking at The Stone Rose the first novel featuring the Tenth (and also Eleventh and possibly Twelfth (I see this is going to get confusing…let’s stick with Tenth)) Doctor, written by Jacqueline Rayner and narrated by the Doctor himself, David Tennant.

Cover of "The Stone Rose (Doctor Who)" — Cover designed by Henry Steadman
Publisher BBC Books
Source: amazon.com

The Stone Rose begins with Mickey showing Rose and the Doctor a two-thousand year old statue in a museum of a Roman goddess that looks exactly like Rose. Naturally Rose and the Doctor hop into the TARDIS (this was before Mickey started travelling with them) and set off for Ancient Rome where the Doctor gets caught up in the search for a missing boy and Rose gets an early start on her modelling career, but gets a bit more than she bargained for.

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