This will hurt me...

Not snorkelling weather. Clifton Beach. May 2013. Sunday Top Five ? That's right, here are Five Words That We Really Need To Start Using In English! Pelinti ( Buli ): You know when you're in a rush to eat a hot pie and you have to open your mouth and tilt your head to avoid burning yourself? Ghanaians have a word for that. Myötähäpeä ( Finnish ): the nicer relative of Schadenfreude . Think, "vicarious embarrassment.” Above us the waves. Clifton Beach. May 2013. Layogenic ( Tagalog ): You know how sometimes you can see something (or someone) from far away and it/ they look pretty good, but when you get a close look it's not quite the case? That's layogenic . Cavoli Riscaldati ( Italian ): a very bad move: trying to revive an unworkable relationship. It literally translates to "reheated cabbage." Litost ( Czech ): I'll defer to Milan Kundera on this one: “a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery.” Th...

Sharks patrol these waters. Manly Sea Aquarium, September 2012. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... Fukuyama quizzes Habermas as to what it is to be European . Right up my alley! Phallus. What does war sound like now? How T. Rex Ate Triceratops in 4 Easy Steps. From Gaza to Where? Ouch. Is Our Retro Obsession Ruining Everything?

SHARK! Manly Sea Aquarium, Manly. Sydney. September 2012. Theme Thursday again and I am challenged by the theme of ANGELS. Well, I don't know any ANGELS and I'm not certain that I've ever met one. Which is why I've written a story, maybe it's a parable. Anyway, I call it Simon's Wife . Simon’s wife often thought of Simon as she did the dog that she had as a young woman, a German shorthaired pointer named The Black Prince . Like The Black Prince , Simon was loyal energetic and enthusiastic. However, also like The Black Prince , Simon could be needy, aggravating, over familiar and often trailed a distasteful smell about him. Helpfully, many of the skills and techniques that Simon’s wife applied to the day-to-day handling and management of The Black Prince were equally useful and applicable to Simon. Tone of voice, consistent and poised body language was critical. Whenever The Black Prince became a little too boisterous or even a little too frisky, Simon’...

FISH! The Musical. Melbourne Aquarium. April 2011. A very VERY busy week has seen me across the state and missing all sorts of opportunities (read: lunch breaks) to read. This has seen the measly return of just one completed novel. Thankfully, it was a good one. The Member of the Wedding is another gem from Carson McCullers, author of last week’s review The Ballad of the Sad Café . The tale of twelve-year-old Frankie Addams, who has reached that point of life when one feels disconnected. She has become – in her words – an "unjoined person". Set during the Second World War, Frankie is lost in a world of dreams (all far, far away from the small town in Georgia which she happens to live), she has detached herself from her friends, disconnected from her father (her mother died in at her birth), Frankie’s closest companions are the family's black maid, Berenice Sadie Brown, and her six-year-old cousin, John Henry. It can be tricky territory, the ‘rite of passage’ novel of a...

Just look at that look of absolute terror on Henry's face. Laurence Olivier eat your heart out!

SHARK! Melbourne Aquarium. April 2011. Despite the fact that it was the stingrays chewing on the diver's head, Henry remained as terrified as ever of the cute 'n cuddly grey nurse shark. It seems that once you've got yourself a reputation (earned or otherwise), some people have you pegged for life!

Ez contemplates swimming through shark-infested waters™ to Jen. Will he survive?