Author: marlytheadoptee

Posted in 2016, Blogging, east coast tour, Simple Plan, thoughts

Simple Plan, Australia 2016 – East Coast Tour – My thoughts

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
I wasn’t going to say anything, but I feel I need to.  Simple Plan has been a mainstay in my life for the past 12 (almost) years.  I saw them for the first time in 2005, flew to Brisbane so I could see them.  I was living in Townsville at the time and in those days “big” bands didn’t do the North Queensland city.  Then I moved to Perth, and the boys were meant to come in 2008.  
Now, what happened was that they had booked an 18+ gig and they ended up having to cancel as they didn’t get enough bookings for some reason or other.  The band apologised and promised they would be back.  I personally got upset (and became an A7X fan…) but at the same time I held them to their promise.  And guess what, they kept it.  Five years later, in 2013 as part of their Warped Tour run, they came back to Perth, because Perth wasn’t getting Warped Tour.  
Yes, I saw them again in 2012, once again flying over to Melbourne, and that was absolutely amazing, especially as I met them for the very first time.  
But, the point of my post is this:  it disheartens me to see fans of Simple Plan getting angry at Chuck and/or the band for not scheduling shows in their city/country.  There is only 365 days in a year…and they can’t get everywhere at once.  Also, they need to have breaks so they don’t burn out, and they can also go where there is demand.  Chuck (the band) and management try their hardest to plan the best tours and we as fans need to give them a chance.  And sometimes it’s out of their control.  
Consider the fact that there’s only a certain amount of venues in each city, and then the fact that there may be many other artists and bands touring at around the same time…well, they have to fit their schedule between other events.  

Chuck himself tweeted that they have tried their best and he promises if not this time…there is next time.  We all know that Simple Plan’s tour cycles often go over two or more years…and they often come back.  Take the European Tour as an example.  They’ve toured there twice, already.  

So, in this time period where we are so used to having things instantly…how about we all slow down and remember how to be patient?  The guys love us and love performing for us.  They’ll come see you.  Soon.

To all my fellow Aussie fans.  If you are lucky enough to get to one of their three shows?  

Enjoy and cherish it as a special moment in your life.  Be it your 1st, or you 100th Simple Plan concert.  

Astronaut, out.  


Posted in Blogging, care, Daniel McTavish, day 13, fictional vignette, July, the real McTavish, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 13 – Care

Going to do another fictional vignette for this word.  Enjoy.  This is Daniel McTavish and his thoughts.  

Thoughts from The Real McTavish

Daniel

Take care of it.  That was always what I promised the boss.  That I’d take care of whatever was necessary.  No job was too hard for me.  Or too easy.  I remember one particular job.  There’d been a betrayal within the family.  A rat.  Rats were exterminated, there was no other recourse for traitors.  
A bullet to the brain was all that was necessary.  And I did it, easily enough.  It was the aftermath that wasn’t so pretty.  Unexpected but I actually felt a hint of guilt.  I brushed it off, though…it wasn’t anything… Or at least that was what I made myself believe back then.  Now in hindsight I know that it was the beginning of the end.  It took a whole year of subterfuge to keep Mickey off my back….and then the hit on the Boss….well…that’s a whole other story…
Suffice to say that the capacity I have to care is a whole lot different these days.  Tyson would tell you – Tyson’s a street kid that I got off the streets – he would tell you that I’m a changed man.  But, I don’t think that’s the entire truth.  I’m still me…except now…well, I have God in my life.  And that explains a lot more than needs to be said.  Though, Mickey doesn’t know.  Colleen made me promise never to contact any of them again…back when we were still together.  She didn’t know….about her father.   Then.  Not until a…well, like I said, that’s a whole other story.  
Anyway… That’s all I have to say…gotta go catch Cath before she leaves.  


Posted in Blogging, day 12, July, my thoughts, word a day, yawn

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 12 – Yawn

So, why do we yawn?  I know when we’re tired we yawn, but that can’t be the only reason, as sometimes we yawn as we wake up and we also yawn when others around us yawn.  It seems to be something that social animals do as well.  Many mammals also ‘yawn’.  So, I wonder if there is some evolutionary value to the yawn.  
There are theories that suggest we yawn when we’re not getting enough oxygen, which would make some sense as it means we get more air in.  Maybe to invigorate us to be ready to fight or take flight?  I don’t know.  Sounds as good a theory as any.  
I found myself yawning quite a bit today.  I’m usually a lot tireder when it’s that time of the month.  Anyway, I think this will be a shorter post as I have no motivation, even with this word…think it’s time for some zzz’s…. *yawn*. 
Haha.  

Posted in alex o'loughlin, Blogging, day 11, July, water, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 11 – Water

I don’t drink enough water in winter.  It’s a little bit of a problem, to be honest.  It’s probably what contributes to the dryness of my skin and lips and everything.  I get headaches sometimes, but I wonder if that’s because I forget to have my coffee.  Or, whether it is because of the lack of fluid that I drink.  when I’m fixated on something I forget to drink and eat and I find myself thinking, why am I hungry? Or why am I thirsty?  I wonder why…
Water is an essential.  We can go without food for a while, but we can’t go without water.  We are 70% water, I believe.  Don’t quote me on that; it’s been a while since I’ve read the science behind that statement.  The scientific formula for water is H2O – dihydrogen oxide.  And water is the most important molecule I think.  The planet that we live on is a watery planet with more oceans etc than land mass.  
But, anyway, I was thinking of places that I would love to visit that are on the water, and I’m currently re-watching season four of Hawaii Five-0…so…Hawaii comes to mind.  Haha.  
Especially because of these three…
I haven’t had my McGarrett fix in a while.
I mean look at that…
McGarrett on a horse…
Yeah, nothing about water…I know.  But, hey….word association isn’t my forte.
But, hey, I’ve had Alex O’Loughlin on the brain as well, because of my character McTavish.
So…here’s a photo of Steve in the water?
Nope….with a cat instead.
Ahhh…here.
Good night all.

Posted in Blogging, day 10, July, my thoughts, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 10 – Everything

Today was one of those full kind of days. 
1. We went to church this morning and the God encounters that I knew were happening were palpable.  Worship went off in a good way.  
2. Then we had lunch with family with lots of lively discussion.  
3. Earlier in the morning I was up and pottering around, listening to music and surfing the net.  
4. Tonight I will watch The Voice then catch up with the Play School 50 year documentary on iView.  
5.  I was looking at one of my fan fictions this morning and it was making me all teary….thanks very much hormones.  Pretty weird to be crying over my own writing.
6.  I’m so pleased for Clokey.  4 goals and 19 disposals in a Collingwood win over GWS yesterday.  GWS has never beaten Collingwood.  And still hasn’t, so woot!  
7.  Tomorrow is probably my last Monday off, which I’m actually happy about.  After the school holidays I’ll be going back to five days, but on a shorter shift.  8 hours (7.5 plus half hour lunch) instead of 10.  
8.  I’ve had EP on my mind.  
9.  Been reading a book on science, myth and philosophy which has been getting me thinking.  Ironic that.  A Chaos of Delight written by Geoffrey Dobson is a fascinating read, though some of what is in the book has been hurting my brain, haha.
10.  I’m going to have Cheerios in a minute.  No, not the cereal.  Cocktail frankfurts.  We used to call them Cheerios in Queensland.
11.  The 3rd State of Origin game is on this weekend.  Queensland have won the series, though…so really it’s so NSW can salvage some dignity….maybe? 
12.  Story Park is such a good program to use for documenting the learning of the children at our centre, and to be able to communicate with the families and other staff. 
13.  Mark bought me a black series Rey figurine! She’s awesome.
14.  This has been a list on “everything” that’s kind of been going on in my mind today.  But, really I can’t list everything because then this would be thousands of words long.  Haha.  
Posted in Blogging, day 9, fan fiction, fiction, July, my muses, my thoughts, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 9 – Imagine

Honesty time.  I use my imagination a lot.  I make up stories in my head, which some would call them fantasies.  The most prevalent ones feature the Rebels of Scotland (the five Douglas brothers – Gordon, Joshua, Daniel, Richard and Robert and their family and friends and enemies…); the Pierre clones (EP, Pips and the “real” Pierre Bouvier); and my other muses – namely Elliott and Phil Preston, Daniel McTavish and co.  Travis Cloke of Collingwood, Alex O’Loughlin and M Shadows have all featured as well.  I do write fan fiction after all.  
Clokey 
 
Clokey is my Fallen Angel.  In my fiction he is literally the human incarnation of the fallen angel Azael.  He was a disciple of the Devil until he was redeemed and evolved into human conscious so that he could make up for all the wrong that he did in the heavens.  Inspired by the angel wing tattoo that Trav has on his back.

Pierre Bouvier
The first “celebrity” I seriously crushed on and the main character of most of my fan fictions.  He features especially in Jars of Clay, To Assasinate an Angel, Pierre Wars: Attack of the Clones, Bed Hair is Not a Fashion Statement, Songs of the Deep Blue, Tattoos of Memories. He has featured in many others, but a lot of them in the guise of….

EP
EP (Evil Pierre) is my writing muse.  He is how Pierre has manifested in many of my stories.  A darker version of the Pierre we all know and love.  He’s been a bounty hunter, a vampire, a master, a serial killer to name a few.  

Pips
Isn’t really my creation but I borrowed him for some of my stories.  He’s the lighter side of Pierre, the sweet, cheeky personality that doesn’t have a care in the world and balances out the darkness that is EP.  

The three Pierres are linked inexplicably and they are in my fictional worlds (my imagination at least) capable of supernatural feats – mind reading, teleportation, healing and the like.  Though this was more in role play with friends on the old SimplePlanOnline message boards back when I was younger.

Alex O’Loughlin
Daniel McTavish face claim
Alex has been himself; a vampire; and sometimes McGarrett.  He is also the face of Daniel McTavish my completely original character who came to me relatively recently in comparison to my other muses. He is of two guises.  One is the killer cum youth pastor; the other is the Commander in a dystopian society that has banned music…inspired from a tale featuring…

M Shadows and Zacky V
Matthew Sanders is the original Commander of the Creed.  (Well, he’s actually the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold in real life, and Zacky is the rhythm guitarist).  But, it’s his story, Avenged Sevenfold fan fic Shadow’s Creed that inspired my original fiction The Uprising, which is McTavish’s story.  Matthew and ZV have also been vampires alongside EP’s vampire.  He’s also joined Alex, EP, Pierre and Clokey in fighting for my mind’s attention.  

The Rebels
My fertile imagination created before all of these, the Rebels of Scotland.  Gordon was inspired directly from my high school crush, at least his name and looks.  Everything else was my own creation.  Gordon and his four younger brothers (Joshua, Daniel, Richard, Robert).  His mother Celandine; his father Gregory.  And the rest.  The Fenton’s (Joseph, Josephine, Jacob, Jemima), the McDonalds (Stephen, Kayla, Jams), the McGregors (the Royal family of Scotland), the O’Donnells (Zachariah, Caleb, Jason), the Pasans (Matthew, Anthony), the O’Days (Michael, Terence)…and so on and so forth.  
They exist in a fictional Scotland that is ruled by His Majesty King Henry McGregor and his Crown Prince son, Jonathan.  I don’t really have any concrete tale, except that Gordon left Scotland to go to school in Australia, then returns to Scotland with the school and they don’t realise that he is a Rebel.  He doesn’t tell them and they don’t find out until either of two things happens….depending on where my mind goes.
Either Gordon is rude to prince Jonathan when the prince tells his school group that the Rebel Chieftain (who is Gordon’s younger brother) is dangerous and they need to stay away from him.  And then Gordon’s teachers want him to apologise to Prince Jonathan and after that want to meet his family.  And only after that they find out Gordon is a Rebel.
The other scenario is that the Rebel Chieftan (Joshua, Gordon’s brother) has been hosting one of Gordon’s friends and then that friend gets hurt, and Joshua was going to be arrested but Gordon manages to persuade them to give him a chance and let him host him instead.  Again it’s not until after he’s spent some time with Joshua being “hosted” that his friends and teachers find out that Gordon is actually a Rebel.  
I do want to write some proper fiction around them, but in the mean time I’ve borrowed, Gordon, Robert and their cousin Lachlan for my Uprising fiction.  
The Uprising
My imagination brought me to these four as the faces of The Uprising… And I found that amazing because that never used to happen to me. 
Alex is Daniel
Thomas Sangster is Robbie
Pierre is Pips Preston
Jim Sturgess is Elliott

Part of me sits back and thinks…imagine if none of these muses had ever shown up.  Mayhap my Rebels may have populated the pages of writing that have been consumed by EP and his ilk.

I am so glad that was not the case.  I feel blessed to be able to write everything I have.  I’ve learnt and grown a lot as a writer and that’s something.  




Posted in Blogging, July, my thoughts, slow, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 8 – Slow

Today was a slow day.  Only had three babies in our room today.  And we amused ourselves with dancing, singing and reading books and cuddles and eating and sleeping (the babies) not my colleague and I.  Though we both were tired.  
We had the dinosaurs set up in the room all week which was a lot of fun.  They were in the sensory play experience tray that we set up.  
(Poor chickens and T-Rex, the brachiosaurus wasn’t impressed.)
And we also had some Australian animals as well.
(Thorny devil, dingo and red kangaroo.)
(Mr Platypus…)
It was a long day too, and I was there from 7.30 in the morning until 6.30 at night….so eleven hours straight. Long long day.   I love my work, but it can be absolutely exhausting.  I wouldn’t trade it, though.  And I don’t mind the slow days so much.  So much more one-on-one interactions can happen on those days.  I love it.

Posted in Blogging, day 7, July, life, shorter post, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 7 – Talk

Today was filled with talk.  Babies learning to talk, learning new words and just babbling and believing that they were fully engaged in conversation.  Talk of work practises at previous centres that we all worked at and tonight, talk with family and friends about everything that was possible.  From Star Wars to work, to relationships, to religion, to innuendo laden statements.
And that last talk was accompanied by tacos.
Taco and Talk was what Mark called it.
A great day.  With lots of words spoken.  
Posted in a chaos of delight, Blogging, day 6, July, seed, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word a Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 6 – Seed

I’m not a green thumb so I won’t talk about seed plants, or anything to do with actual physical seeds.  Instead I want to talk about a small thought I had during the day.  
Lately I’ve become, I hesitate to say, addicted to playing games on my iPad when I could be better served spending my time on more intellectual pursuits.  So, that’s why I picked up Geoffrey Dobson’s book A Chaos of Delight: Science, Religion and Myth and the Shaping of Western Thought.  

It’s a fantastic and thought provoking read so far.  I know I’ve probably read it before many years ago, but I thought I’d give my brain some exercise again.  It looks into how across the years humans have tried to make sense of the world through religion, myth and science and looks at the history of all these ways.  Fascinating book.  Dobson is objective in how he approaches the information in the book but does take a benevolent view toward religion etc and basically explains that we as humans need to understand that everyone has different views and that they are legitimate.  And that the most important thing is that we the fact that we have such diverse views of the world is actually essential to us as humans.  
I think that this book is one off the first where I actually paid attention to the footnotes as Dobson adds extra information in many of his.  
I love reading books like this.  It stretches my mind and that’s always a good thing.
Oh and I love learning about the history of religious belief and mythology and science, so there’s that too.  
And perhaps reading books like this will plant new seeds of thoughts in my mind.  



Posted in Blogging, July, my thoughts, word a day

July Blogging Challenge – Word A Day

Posted on by marlytheadoptee
Day 5 – Golden

Golden is the name of the filly that Thowra, in The Silver Brumby, directs his attention to when The Man returns to the mountains.  The Man trained her up in the mountains and I know that he did it up there deliberately to try and catch Thowra.  But that backfired and Golden ended up running with Thowra’s herd and having his foals.  

The Silver Brumby is one of my all time favourite films based on one of my favourite childhood books.  

And, yes.  That’s Russell Crowe before he became famous.  He played “The Man”.