Tuesday, December 29, 2009

This is a 'There's no excuse, I'm just having fun' Post.

Because we all need to take a break some time. Down here in Australia nothing happens from early December until the end of January. We call it the silly seasons.

The schools and UNIs have their holidays (UNIs don't go back until March). In the business world staff take their holidays so, except for retail, all businesses are on go-slow. From what I've heard it's not like that in the northern hemisphere. But it's midsummer here and so hot, all you want to do is lie around by the pool or at the beach.

So here are some fun things because writers are insatiably curious about people and the world in general.

First of all 9 Things we learned about us in 2009, by Rachel Rettner. For instance, did you know that some adults still have baby fat, or late sleepers are more alert than early risers?

And from that we move onto Humans: The Strangest Species by Robert Roy Britt. You could spend hours trawling through this page and all its links. Why do humans get freckles, get birthmarks, spread urban legends, see things that aren't there, join cults or believe in UFOs? Just for starters. Ever wondered why we're not all beautiful, since females supposedly choose who fathers their children?

Then, because it is a topic that's guaranteed to wake up a bored audience, The 9 Most Provocative Sex Science Stories of 2009, by Sally Law. Would you believe pulling out is almost as effective as using a condom? (Don't try this at home folks. And if you do, don't sue me. I'm only repeating what I've read).

And on the same topic, Sally Law's 10 Surprising Sex Statistics.

These holidays I'm going to recharge my creative batteries. I'm going to read heaps of books, both fiction and non fiction and see lots of movies. What are you going to do, to recharge your creative batteries?

5 comments:

Kate Paulk said...

Ah yes. That time of year when much of Australia goes troppo and the only thing that really matters is the outcome of the Boxing Day cricket match.

I'm doing the equivalent here - relaxing, bumming around, playing with fanfic a bit, and not really trying to do anything in particular.

Rowena Cory Daniells said...

Kate,

We're planning on moving after 20 years, so I'm also madly sorting each room. We're going to a smaller house so I must be firm. It is so hard to be brutal.

Do I save my children's exercise books with their funny little mis-spelt stories about our family life?

Kate Paulk said...

Rowena,

All I can say about that is EEK! I've been through that with my parents (oldest of 5 kids, and mum is the world's biggest bowerbird).

See if your kids want to keep them. If they do, fob them off ;-) You can downsize a lot by giving them to (adult, living in another house) kids.

Rowena Cory Daniells said...

The Adult living in another house (kids) is why we are moving at last. The 3 eldest are moving out, (leaving 3 at home) so we don't need a 8 bedroom house anymore.

But it'd going to mean halving everything we own!

Anonymous said...

Yikes!

Three of the last four moves were paid-for-by-the-company professional moves. The others involved apartments.

I probably won't ever move again, after 24 years here in this house. The whole idea is too scary.

Now, as to recharging batteries? Watching some movies, ignoring the slush pile, reading.

Appripo your references about people, one of my favorite movies is "Unbreakable." For those who haven't sen it, it's about two men out on opposite ends of the bell curve of breakability. Very well done revelation at the end. Worth seeing if you haven't already.