Stockholm and Swedish things

While I'm quite a fan of Sweden, perhaps a little biased by the men, it's been by accident more than planning a bit of a Swedish weekend starting off Saturday night with a trip to the Theatre to see, you guessed it Stockholm. I'd long forgotten the storyline from the subscription guide last year and hadn't read any reviews, in fact I'd forgotten the name of the play until Saturday. So when it began with a striking couple speaking of themselves in the third person followed by a host of unexpected twists and turns, I was hooked, totally captivated by the whole mix of colour, music, intensely physical choreography and developing story of a beautifully dysfunctional relationship. The sex scenes were really hot, even if they were straight. I was truly taken away into the story, which is for me what theatre is all about and I'd highly recommend it apart from the fact that Saturday night was the final performance. Oh and while there were Swedish themes - it was not actually Swedish.

Update: Stockholm will reappear at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta from May 26 - 29th. Details here.

Which brings us to Sunday, and with rain descending we headed to the cinema to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had heard it was good, but wasn't sure of detail. It continued the Swedish theme - a Swedish movie, subtitled in English, though I understand some Swedish which is useful yet distracting. The movie was totally gripping. Loved it, as disturbing as it was at times, I didn't want to miss a second. It was a little saddening to hear there are plans afoot to make a Hollywood version of it already... what's wrong with appreciating the original? Even if you have to read subtitles it's still extraordinary.

Unplanned Heaven

Weekend Forecast: Cool, Rainy.

Work: Rostered on - Saturday

Social plans: nil.

The weekend looked uninviting.

The reality - a whole different story.

Unexpected guests from near and afar, time spent at the beach in the sunny weather that replaced the rain and hot guys who appeared randomly making the weekend even more stunning. Add in there some games of tennis, scrabble, cycling and more bodysurfing and swimming with the youngster, throw in a mix of meals of different varieties and locations and I'm at the end of an awesome unplanned weekend.

I'm not planning the same again.

Next weekend perhaps.

Taking hold, and letting go

Amélie holding onto my dad's hand - in Hospital.

My dad came out of hospital today. It's a place he's not really frequented in his life but managed to be in for 12 days this admission. He was wheeled to the exit and into the passenger seat of my mum's car - another place he's not generally found - and home with a few walking-frame-navigated distances into a modern apartment now adorned with various mobility aids and hospital style elevated chairs. They all look so out of place. My dad has always been a powerhouse, the guy who lifts cars, fixes everything, climbs into ceiling spaces to install lights and the like, and to see him walking slowly and deliberately with his new titanium reinforcements now inserted into his fractured femur is a little disconcerting. It makes you think about life's responsibilities...

I was driving home afterwards thinking, if something serious happened - would I be able to sort out my parent's affairs, organise appropriate farewells. Would I cope emotionally? I've not ever contemplated life without them, but fragility is just a short mis-taken step away. I see photos of my daughter with my parents and I wonder what memories she will have of them, will they be anything like those I have of my grandparents? My niece the other day asked of my grandmother "...the lady with the purple hair?" but oh, she was so much more than that, the emotions and experiences that are imprinted in my being from her are a powerful influence to this day. And then I see how different my life has been from that of my parents, how I'm partly in their world, but with a foot in another world and Amélie in turn will have her own path...

It does make one look at things with a different perspective. Issues that may have once been all consuming in various relationships become minor details that are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. One's transience becomes a whole lot more obvious. But it's not necessarily a negative thing. I think it's more a reminder that each day is something to be grasped by the balls and run with. There'll be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

One Step Closer

These are my newest fashion accessory... Well, sporting accessory at least, and calculated from a test cycle just now these babies have improved my speed by approximately 4%. I literally ground my last set of pedals to pieces, so to replace those rather last century leather strap contraptions I've joined the real cyclists with clip on ones. Now that I'm cycling in addition to swimming and running I'm going to be asked a lot more now when I'm starting competing in triathlons... that hasn't been decided upon, but I'm tempted. But where to begin?

It's a sensational day today. I'm so glad not to be working, and prior to the cycle I hit the water for an epic swim with some friends a little farther south of home. Right now I'm enjoying babysitting the sleeping child and watching the waves roll on in while the Frenchman has gone in for a dip himself. Ah bliss...

Oh Yes We CAN!

On April 1st I posted the article below which detailed a study identifying how gays & lesbians were shown to perform below par with their straight counterparts. It was of course an April Fools Day joke. Did anyone notice?

The whole idea of the actual poster series (openartistmovement.com) is to demonstrate people who are gay, successful and empowered. I personally love this image both for the hotness factor and the retro reference. And yeah, we can too.

No We Can't

A recent study at The Royal London Institute of Gender Studies, released today, establishes that gay men and lesbian women perform on average, well behind their heterosexual counterparts in a range of physical and intelligence testing over a wide range of testing protocols. Associated with the study was an assessment of workplace performance where those who identified as gay or lesbian were shown to have significantly lower income and workplace ranking compared with their age matched and culturally similar heterosexual counterparts. Interestingly the study showed that those who identified as bisexual performed, on average, well above both their homosexual and heterosexual counterparts in all testing. The formal results, to be released later today, are expected to cause quite a stir in the scientific as well as gay and lesbian communities, but a spokesperson for the International Bisexual Alliance has already stated "It shows we really do have the best of both worlds."