So I thought i’d share this list that has been doing the rounds lately.

You know you’re Australian when…

• You’re familiar with Neighbours, Home and Away, Playschool, A Country Practice, Norman Gunston, Barry Humphries, Blue Heelers, Ray Martin, Bert Newton, Lisa McCune, Jon Burgess, Molly Meldrum, Kerry O’Brien, and of course, Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch.

• You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto etc.

• You know that backyard cricket is a nice way to bond with family and the rubbish bin. There’s no lbw in backyard cricket, and over the fence is out. And the ‘one bounce, one hand’ rule always applies.

• You feel obliged to spread salty black stuff that looks like congealed motor oil on bread… and actually grow to like it. You’ve also squeezed Vegemite through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.

• You’ve had an argument with your mate over whether Ford or Holden makes the better car!

• You’ve made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.

• You understand that the phrase “a group of women wearing black thongs” refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.

• You can translate: “Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.”

• You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, pineapples, prawns and sheep.

• You think “Woolloomooloo” is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.

• You believe a hamburger tastes a whole lot better with beetroot.

• You believe that the more you shorten someone’s name the more you like them.

• You understand that “you” has a plural and that it’s “youse”.

• Working at a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.

• You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government’s new test for migrants.

• You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says “cobber”.

• You know that snow is a memorable and freakish occurrence. Sometimes it’s even fake.

• You know that there is a universal place called “woop woop” located in the middle of nowhere… no matter where you actually are.

• You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes so bad. But we let the world think we do anyway because the joke’s on them.

• One word says it all: Skippy.

• If you’re a pedestrian and cars are stopped at a red light, you will fearlessly cross the street in front of them. ‘Hit and runs’ just aren’t cricket. Because Aussies stick together.

• You know that Sydney or Melbourne should be the capital, because Canberra is a hole.

• You have the ability to compress several words into one – i.e. “g’day” and “d’reckn?” This allows more space for profanities.

• You’ve only ever used the words – tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet – to mean good. And then you place “bloody” in front of it when you REALLY mean it.

• You know that the barbeque is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the salad.

• You’ve sucked your tea/coffee/Milo through a Tim Tam and you call it a Tim Tam Bomb or a Tim Tam Slam.

• You see people walking bare-foot on the sidewalk and don’t scorn…. because you’re doing it too.

• You have a story that somehow involves an excessive consumption of booze… but you can’t remember.

• You know that the value of a public holiday is measured in terms of alcohol. God bless the queen and her 4-day birthday.

Have a great Australia Day everyone

I really love this guy, maybe because he’s a musical comedian who is actually a good musician, as he says “i’m a singer/songwriter who’s songs happen to be funny”

Maybe it’s because he likes to go barefoot.

Here’s a clip of the song he played for the opening of the comedy festival:

It seems as though 2012 is the year for change, so many things happening already, and so i’m making some changes of my own. The blog has a new look that I think is more ‘me’. I can do this now because I’m finally starting to get an idea of who ‘me’ is.

Up until recently i’ve basically been a chameleon (not quite as cute as Pascal) changing who I am to fit in with my surroundings and peers, which isn’t always a bad thing, but I never really knew who ‘I’ was. No more.
As well as changing the blog I have also changed myself. Nothing too dramatic, just a haircut, but still it is one more thing that is more ‘me’.

A new year also calls for new resolutions and reflection on the year that has been. My biggest lessons from 2011 were:

1. It’s ok to not be good at everything.

2. Truth and honesty are always good, but only if it is coming from a place of love.

3. I like to travel, but I love Australia and i’m grateful to be able to call it home

4. Life’s too short to not have fun, even if people think think you’re crazy because of it. Better to be crazy and happy than serious and bored.

My resolutions for 2012 are:

1. To listen to, trust and stay true to myself.

2. Save as much money as possible.

3. Get outside more.

4. Blog at least once a week.

My 2012 motto…

What’s a motto?

Nothing, what’s a motto with you?

(sorry, couldn’t help myself)

…is ‘braver, stronger, smarter’ which is an adapted version of the Winnie The Pooh quote-

Promise me you’ll always remember, you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.

 

Here’s to an exciting 2012.

I will be doing a proper post later and fixing up all the other stuff that is still missing, but first I need your help.

Because I am a truly hopeless decision maker I need YOU to pick the background for my gorgeous new blog. I have put some pictures below of what each of the backgrounds look like, we’ll number them 1-4 from top to bottom and you can vote for your favourite using the poll i’ve set up at the bottom of this post.

(UPDATE: I couldn’t figure out how to get the poll to work so we’ll go with the good ol’ fashioned voting via comments)

Thanks for your help