June 7. Day 158. On the ball

I used to play netball, a sport that at least according to the official rules of play is classified "non-contact". Anyone who has ever watched or played the game will know that this does not mean the game isn't brutal. But as least the netball knee is normally the sport's biggest injury and there are no sticks involved ... I now realise that netball is a bit of a sport for girls - quite literally. Today, at the invitation of my niece Scarlett, I got to see a lacrosse team going through a pretty intensive training run.  I'm sure those you play it could come up with a more accurate description but to me it looked like a cross between hockey and polo but without the horses. It also looks like a great deal of fun and heart starting exercise. I might even be tempted to give it a go if I wasn't 1) old, 2) unfit and 3) a tiny bit scared of games with sticks even with appropriate rules and padding. But for those who are less inclined to be a big sook, players 15 years and older are invited to join up. For now there shall be only one S Hetherington on the field and it will not be me ... (Go Scarlett!)

June 6. Day 157. Ahoy there

I turned down a most awesome deal today. This bloke was sitting next to me with a quite delightful baby boy on his lap. I commented on the child's cuteness and he proposed a swap. I could have his and he'd take mine. Not only that he'd throw in another three he had sitting on the other side. Deal. What he didn't know was that mine is in Year 12 and doing exams this week. Right now, I'd take a baby every time. But here's the thing. Every age has its challenges and nature has a way of making us forget. So doubtless the fondness I have for those preschool years comes from the rose tinted glasses of distance. You do forget. But I can tell you one thing I have not forgotten about those early years and that's the joy of the first experiences of live entertainment. Being in the audience of Studio Theatre's Super Weekend Show Princess and Pirate Party this morning brought it all back. There were pirates, puppets and play in a show perfectly pitched at preschoolers. The kids (and their big people) had the nicest time. Young kids make the best (and if you play them wrongly the worst) audience. They don't play by the polite rules of theatre etiquette. They call it exactly as they see it. And clearly what they saw this morning was exactly to their liking.  They also loved the opportunity to meet and greet the cast in the cafe after the show. My favourite moment came when a little girl (I think she may have been one of the members of the take-one-get-three-free deal ethics had prevented me from accepting earlier) decided to embark on a round of 20 questions with the Pirate King (AKA Damien Lee). "Why is your beard green? Where did you get your coat? Where's your mother? Who do you live with? Do you ever take your coat off? " and so it went. For every answer there was just another question. I might not have agreed to take her home now but I would be most unsurprised if she turns up in my journalism class in a few years time. I'd also be unsurprised if I see her and her siblings at big people theatre as well. Because that's another thing I know for sure. Drama Teen became Drama Teen because of those early theatre years. Folk like Damien Lee and puppeteer Brett Hansen have a lot to answer for. I must send them a thank-you card.

June 5. Day 156. Let there be light

Some times it pays not to ask too many questions and just enjoy the moment. If I was to ask a question, it would be this. Exactly what do giant elephants, the Gruffalo and koalas have the do with multiculturalism? My guess is not a lot, at least not on the face of it. But enlightenment, that I understand. Bringing the community together of a very chilly winter evening, that I get. Celebrating diversity and people no matter where they come from, that seems totally to be endorsed. Large crowds of families, joined school groups and workers from the city at South Bank tonight for the LUMINOUS Lantern Parade, an annual event to welcome Queenslanders, no matter where they come from. So if illuminated elephants don't by themselves make sense, the smiles on the faces of the children totally do. And if they take home some of that joy and a sense of belonging, mission accomplished.

June 4. Day 155. Size doesn't matter

Those who think size doesn't matter clearly have had little to do with small men with over compensation issues or chocolate bars. In both these cases, size is clearly an issue - a big one. But in my experience size has no influence on bullies. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes and it is often the ones that on paper have the least reason to throw their weight around who do. This is the case with the noisy miner versus the kookaburras today. The fact that the noisy miner was our numbered three to one should have been enough for it to back off. It wasn't. The fact that the height, size, weight and beak capacity of any one of the kookaburras put the noisy miner at a very distinct disadvantage didn't seem to bother it either. The birds were all hanging around just outside Margaret's place next door waiting for Rumple and I to leave when the problem started. None of them wanted to take on a dog for a share of Margaret's mince rations but the noisy miner was totally okay with indulging in a bit of push and shove with the kookas. They were all nicely and politely lined up on the power pole waiting their turn. The noisy miner clearly was having none of the polite English-stye queuing business. In a dog-eat-dog (or bird eat mince) world it's every man and bird for himself and the noisy miner was quite determined to queue jump by pushing the kookaburras off their pedestal. He came at them again and again and for the most part they just stood their ground. Every now and again one would snap back and the miner would take a brief retreat, regroup and come back. And that's the thing about bullies. They don't give up easily either. Bastards. I didn't stick around to see what happened but knowing Margaret they all got fed. And tomorrow, they'll do it all again.

June 3. Day 154. We're on fire!

Having a face like the back of the bus, that's a bad thing. Having your face on the ceiling of a CityCat? Well, that's decidedly cool especially if the CityCat is also decorated in the team colours.

Brisbane City Council today launched the city's 21st CityCat, Gilwunpa, and this one is decked out with more Firebirds livery than the Boondall  Entertainment Centre will be when Queensland's champion netball team contest the Australian Conference Final on Sunday. Never before has a CityCat been decorated to celebrate a sporting team and in a city that loves its football, the fact that it is a women's sport is especially rewarding. As I was down at South Bank around the time of the launch this morning I trundled along and invited myself to the event. If you have a camera and look like you know what you are doing, no-one questions another member of the media scrum. What surprised me was that Firebirds' captain  Laura Geitz told Lord Mayor Graham Quirk at the launch that the team had never experienced a media presence quite like it.That's women's sport for you. Despite the definite winter chill this morning, all the team seemed really chuffed to be there (at least they didn't have to wear their netball skirts). I loved their down to earth attitude and sense of fun. Comment of the morning goes to one player who after seeing their images on the ceiling inside the Cat, wondered how long it would be before some teenage boy got a marking pen and started drawing on the boobs. "I reckon that's what I'd do if I was a teenage boy?"

  As the parent of such a species I decline to offer an opinion on that.

June 2. Day 153. De-vine

You know that old memory teaser? The one about peanuts. It goes something like this. A farmer has a peanut tree which grows near his fence. If the wind blows strongly all the nuts end up in his neighbour's property. Who owns the nuts. The answer is no-one. Peanuts, like money, don't grow on trees. Nor do passionfruit. They grow on vines and if you are lucky your neighbour will plant one and all the fruit will end up on your side of the fence. Score one, Susan. Apparently, the fruit like the sun and thus are attracted to my sunny disposition, or something like that. And as it happens I believe that no fruit is more aptly named than the passionfruit.  If I'm feeling generous I might go next door with a basket of fruit.

June 1. Day 152. Into the Woods

Fairy tales were designed not just to entertain (or in the case of the Brothers Grimm to scare the living sh*t out of us). In actual fact Fairy Tales were really secular parables designed to help guide the moral compass of the people. There was always a take home message about how to be a better person and hopefully find the happily ever after. But the modern day ones brought to us by the likes of Disney are so squeaky clean and sugar coated that the chances of learning anything other than success depends on finding a handsome prince is somewhat doubtful. This is what I love about Sondheim's Into the Woods. In the first half it is all mashed up fairy tales and the promise of a glorious future. But then after the intermission, a very strong does of realism sets in. I mean, are you really going to find your endless love in someone you've danced with for a hour or so at the ball? Probably not. Can you steal the goose that laid the golden egg and think that will be the end of it? Again, not likely. And anyway, if you are living a life of servitude, effectively held captive in your own home, verbally bullied and ill-treated, would the one thing you would wish  for be to go to the ball?  Seriously?

Into the Woods is one of my favourite musicals because it looks like it will be all rainbows and sunshine but then it has a much more serious message. It's about being careful about what you wish for and the importance of family and community and caring for each other (and not about kissing frogs and hoping they might become a handsome prince). So I am just a bit excited that Harvest Rain is bringing the musical to QPAC for the first time in October. The cast, which was announced at the official launch I attended tonight, is pretty impressive too. Rhonda Burchmore, Rachel Beck, Eddie Perfect and Georgina Hopson in the lead roles. Can't wait. And in the meantime, I have given a lot of thought to what I'd wish for. For Year 12 to be over. I feel like it will be an eternity before we are out of those woods