17 July 2008

Part 2: It's my SITS Day and I'll cry if I want to...

And I Still Don't Want To!

I've enjoyed reading your comments and I feel honoured that so many people visited from all over the world to read some of the crazy things over here at Killing A Fly.

I was particularly amused that you thought Australia was such an unusual and exotic place to visit. Australia IS great place to live, but there are 21 million of us over here and each day it's pretty much business as usual. We all ride kangaroos to the shops, get bitten by sharks and suffer from Vegemite-related health issues on a daily basis, just as you've heard.

Part of the complete joy of my SITS day was finally being the first commenter of the (at last count) 144 SITStas. I failed the last time I tried. This time my shameful confession is that I pre-wrote my comment, copied it ... hovered ... refreshed-refreshed-refreshed, aaand ... CONTROL-V-Paste-Shortcut SUCCESS!!

How very sad.

Less than 55 seconds later Robin the second commenter posted, so I must have only scraped in. That's it, I’m not stalking SITS comments anymore. I've had my time in the sun – it's somebody else's turn.

When I re-read my story about winning the eBay auction for the Bingo Set, I wondered why I thought it was interesting enough to feature. But I was encouraged to read that my SITS Sistas thought there was at least some merit in it. Reading the comments has been awesome! (Yes, those shrink-wrapped bingo balls do look sealed packs of birth control pills.)

Some of you were amazed I could get a rhyme for all those numbers – actually these are real "Bingo calls" and I found them here when I was doing some background reading for this post.

I loved Heather's confession:

I just read your ENTIRE bingo-related post waiting for the bit when the Two Fat Ladies came into the picture. Seriously. When you got to the part about camp, I was all "aha, so they're doing a Bad British Food theme night and will go riding in an old motorcycle with a sidecar..."
Which sounds like top-notch comedy to me, Heather, and I love it! Camp could certainly do with some Jennifer and Clarissa stirring cigarette ash into the artichokes!

The post about the Parasite Pyjamas seemed to spread a mass case of Psychological Bed Bugs all across the globe. Sorry I made you all scratch. Yes, bed bugs are actually

  • real
  • horrible
  • easy to bring home from dorm, camp, backpacker or hotel accommodation
  • terribly hard to get rid of once they’re established.

But don’t let that make you scratch all day!

Oh who am I kidding, as we started winning the war against them, I too had a major problem with psychological bed bugs. It was difficult to determine if we had made progress killing every last one because I felt my report of "I think I’ve been bitten, I’m itchy all over" became very unreliable as my mind conjured bugs and bites that didn't exist. I have read that this pest, above all others, is the one that will have a homeowner in tears when the Pest Control Officer arrives to treat the dwelling. In all seriousness, this is too terribly true. The violation of your body (they squirt an anaesthetic and and anti-coagulant into you, then suck your blood leaving you itchy and spotty) and the apparent hopelessness of so many attempts to control them can make you so depressed and apathetic.

But you liked the post and enjoyed my inexpertly-photoshopped creations, and for that, I thank you.

Many of you had suggestions for other items in the Parasite Wear range, including various items of clothing emblazoned with ringworm, tapeworm, duck itch, flesh-eating bacteria, mosquitoes, stomach viruses, the 'flu, streptococcus, scabies, toe jam, belly button boogers, chicken pox and Lyme disease.

I loved the suggestion for "Spider Egg Sac" earrings, with tiny baby spiders hatching and crawling down the side. The idea for a pyjama set with the words "I'm infectious, stay away!" was an interesting (but perhaps more effective?) twist on "Honey, I have a headache tonight." And yes you’re right, the intestinal worms could have been moved down a bit lower on the pyjama top so they could be more anatomically correct.

Thanks for making my SITS day so exciting and memorable! It's someone else's turn now...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, I heard today that someone had heard from somewhere (yes, very reliable source) that Australia is currently having a bit of a bed bug plague. So don't get too worried that you had them - apparently they're everywhere (except at YOUR PLACE anymore - Yay!). Jen.

Lynda said...

Are you saying you DON'T ride kangaroos? don't have koalas instead of stuffed animals for your kids? don't have those tiny killer jellyfish in a goldfish bowl in the living room? don't have Tasmanian devils spinning in circles in the backyard? and DON'T have kookaburras sitting on the old gum tree??? I am devastated.

katylinvw said...

i was so glad to meet you through SITS! and i will definitely be back! :)

scargosun said...

Kangaroos are such a smart transportation option. That pouch could probably hold a lot of stuff from errands. Probably even keep dinner from take out warm.

Angie's Spot said...

Congrats on your SITS spotlight! I love reading blogs from moms in other countries. It reminds me of just how small this world really is. My best friend & I are planning a trip "down under", so I'm sure I'll be back to visit. :-)

Anonymous said...

Just letting Lynda know that there is in fact a kookaburra that comes and sits in the old gum tree on the vacant block just next to me (and I do live in town, albiet a small one).

And I do have a stuffed koala in my soft toy collection. No jellyfish, though - I have less luck keeping an aquarium than Givinya does, so if I had one it would be dead (which would probably help me avoid stings when cleaning the tank). Jen.

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Hey Jen - I've nearly finished that mega jar of aquarium water conditioner you gave me when all your fish died... ten years ago? Man that was a big jar.

I live in country Australia and have an English lady moving in next door. When she told me she was going to get a pet rabbit, I nearly swallowed my tongue! It's illegal here. $20 000 fine. Oh, she said. Maybe a turtle then. That's ok, but you need a permit to own Aussie native animals. What's wrong with a dog? Get a dog. Then I can sneak meat scraps over the fence...

@TiffanyRom said...

This is such a great post.. you are such a fun SITSta and I was thrilled when I saw that you took the top spot on roll call.. see persistence does pay!

Anonymous said...

Dear Crazy Sister, so good to hear that I've saved you 10 years worth of water conditioner. My poor fish didn't die in vain. Jen.

Heather said...

Just so you know, if the spider egg sac earrings ever catch on, I'm due royalties for them. ;)

Clearly I had no reason to know that Two Fat Ladies was a bingo call, having only ever played bingo (outside of grade school) twice in my life. Once at a local temple where the highlight was Hubby getting to eat TWO egg salad sandwiches (ew and ew) for 50 cents, and the other was at a real, live Bingo Parlor where the regulars were so horrified that we had neither brought trolls nor dobbers that they promptly loaned us both. We felt like such bingo-y losers!

So you see, clearly I spend way more time watching cooking shows on TV starring you exotically accented types (oh, and Alton Brown, who'd be domestic but still awesome) than I do learning all the cool Bingo lingo.

I added you to my blogroll, by the by, so hopefully that gets you some traffic and comment love, even if your Featured Blogger day is over!

Cheers!