The Noise in the Background

is my son's sixteenth birthday party - it was a surprise party organised by his girlfriend. I did my part by buying Singstar 90s because I really really couldn't bear to here Singstar 80s or Rock one more time. 90s has The Cranberries on it singing Zombie. That did if for Helen and me, we bought it! The background noise means that this is a kind of random thought entry.

I also bought new Docs today - purple ones. Matt Ottley put the mozz on my silvery sheen ones! He commented on how well I'd looked after them in Freo and when I got home, I discovered one of them had slit at the wrinkly little bit at the side. I think the sheen-y finish makes them more vulnerable because my oxblood Docs which were older by about two years are in really good nick still. I reckon the sheeny finish prevents leather restorer from really getting in there and restoring the leather. Nonetheless I was kind of attracted to purple sheeny ones, but the Dandenong store didn't have any so I settled for straight purple. They are at the hard stage still, but already - and only after wearing them for the party time - they've softened up and feel okay. It's so good knowing a boot you can trust.

Helen has declared this the summer of floaty dresses. Normally I wouldn't be thinking of summer at the end of August, but today was so warm, I was in a
three- quarter sleeved top.


It's strange that it isn't strange to be the mother of a sixteen year old boy. We're more alike than we acknowledge - he shares the Campbell family black humour - often makes me laugh out loud. He's a good cook when he can be bothered and he's interested in food. He's opinionated and knows everything about anything he's studied for longer than sixty seconds. He can't sing in tune. But he has an eclectic music taste that takes in Christy Moore, heavy metal and mozart. He enjoys parties. He's very gregarious. He talks too much. He's pretty honest. But obviously his father's genetics come into this too - he's doing VCE Physics in Year 10 - that definitely doesn't come from me! He knows things about warfare - medieval and contemporary - could spell trebuchet and couldn't spell such. Is making chain, painstakingly and recently constructed a blow dart, thus proving that although he can act with a maturity beyond his years, he can also revert to being eight!

There is currently a feeding frenzy around the chocolate fondue. What more can you ask from life than chocolate fondues, purple docs and singstar?