Today's post is randomly brought to you from one of the fabulous bloggers participating in -R-'s Blog Share. Please make today's anonymous writer feel welcome, and take a peep at the other participating bloggers featured at the end of the blog: perhaps if you search hard enough, you'll even find mine out there ...

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When -R- initially mentioned this Blog Share, I immediately had ideas bouncing around in my head. There are so many things I would blog about if I were only revealing myself to The Internet, but as it stands now, most of my readers know me In Real Life. I felt overwhelmed with all the things I've left unsaid, held back on or skimmed over because I didn't want to deal with the backlash of questions from concerned or excited friends. But just as quickly as all of those thoughts came to me, they left. The whirlwind has come and gone and left me grasping at underdeveloped ideas and things I'm still not sure I can write about—even anonymously.

So, while I am still trying to figure out what to reveal and what to hold on tight to, I will say that I am feeling the pressure to produce an excellent post. After reading through a dozen or so of Aly's posts, I need to tell you something you already know: She is a great writer. I have created my best 'as heard in the movies' Australian accent for her and I can hear her telling each story. Her posts actually turn out the way that I envision mine. Plus, she can say 'bloody' and 'bugger' without getting strange looks. I also I feel as though we have a lot in common, but then I think about how I am not the only one censoring myself on my blog—that everyone edits out certain details of their lives. That brings me back to the point of this post, Forbidden Blog Topics. This is what I'm reluctant to share:

I want to be pregnant NOW. Luckily, my husband and I are on the same page for this one, but there are a few things holding us back, namely money. I constantly worry about being able to afford children. I also worry about parenting and how it will change our marriage. I do not mention this on my blog because I do not want people to know when we start trying or to constantly nag us about having kids. I don't want my co-workers to find out and have it get back to my boss—if I'm up for a promotion or a new job comes along, I don't want it to even enter their minds. I don't want some of my friends to worry about how it will change our relationships or to plan on baby dates and get-togethers that I may or may not want to have with some of them.

I also really, really want to have a girl. My dad wants a grand daughter and quite possibly for that very reason, I really want a daughter first. Of course I want our baby to be healthy, but I would love to have a healthy baby girl followed by a healthy baby boy.

I have body image issues and it's my right to have them. I realize that I am smaller than some, but that doesn't mean that I am always happy with the way I look or that I don't want to improve certain aspects of my body. I've lost a lot of weight in between college and now, but I would still like to tone up. I have fat days but I know I'm not fat. I'm small, but I'm certainly not a stick figure. I have curves. I have muscles. I have fat. There are days I want plastic surgery and liposuction. I don't post about any of this because at the slightest mention of my size, weight or food intake people roll their eyes and say, "Where do you have weight to lose?" Well, if you can't see it that just means that you haven't seen me naked and my clothes are doing their job.

These are two taboo topics for me. I'm sorry I had to air them at all, but lately I've had the need to just let it out. Thank you, Aly, for allowing me to post on your blog. I did not accomplish my goal of delivering an excellent post, but this was a great release for me. Thank you, -R-, for setting up the Blog Share and for introducing me to new bloggers.

Aly
And You Know What Else
Bright Yellow World
Confessions of a Novice
Everything I Like Causes Cancer
Face Down
Liz Land
Muse On Vacation
Nabbalicious
Nancy Pearl Wannabe
Not What You Think It Is
Operation Pink Herring
Red Red Whine
Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills
Sass Attack
Stefanie Says
Thinking Some More

Once upon a time, there stood a two-story house in a quiet and relaxed suburb. Inside that house, there were two adults, and a brother and sister. For the most part the siblings lived amicably in ajoining rooms, arguing only once an hour every so often. They had their differences, but they also had their moments of peace.

One afternoon, they spent some time playing with their chihuahua, Max, who had recently taken a fancy to a t-shirt wearing toy lion. Snickering, the two siblings talked about how the lion was about the same size as Max, and that we should see how it looked on him. They then set about clothing the chihuahua (much to his disgust) and snapped a picture. The result was a ridiculously cute photograph.

Yes, I'm talking about my brother & I a few years ago. So why did this uneventful afternoon spark a war, you might be wondering? It all comes down to who takes credit for the photo. I will swear until I am black and blue that it was me who snapped the shot. I even remember how I managed to get the positioning perfect - Max was sitting at the top of the stairs, and I was lying down the stairs so that the level was the same. But Ajay also swears that he was the photographer... and so, years later, the debate has still not yet come to an end. Oh dear.

If we never solve the mystery (i.e. If Ajay never comes clean and admits the real story!) at least we have one heck of a picture as a memento.

I know I've mentioned my random musical tastes on this blog before, but after seeing a few bloggers discussing their own favourites, I started thinking about it all over again. I listen to Itunes fairly regularly when I'm on the computer, but it's my Nano that copes with most of the wear and tear; it comes with me everywhere.

If people ask me who my favourite bands are, I'll generally respond with the following: Lifehouse. The Goo Goo Dolls. Sarah McLachlan. Snow Patrol. Mat Kearney. The Fray. Matchbox 20. John Mayer. Dishwalla. Nickelback. Those bands should give you a bit of an indication about my favourite styles of music - I love a good lyric. I love real music. I love hearing a song and thinking about it all day long. And I love taking a song, and making it all about me. Each of those bands is special to me for their own reasons, which I'll spare you from for the moment.

Taking a peek at my top 25 played tracks though, there are some very random tracks that stand out. Have a look for yourself. (Click to enlarge.)



The Fray have most songs featured in the list, but didn't quite manage to reach the top spot; it was taken out by the very mellow Destiny. Good to see Snow Patrol up there too, and I noticed there were a stack of their songs that just missed out on the top list. The sexy 50 Candles has been a favourite of mine since I was young, in all of it's raunchy goodness. (If you haven't heard it before, go take a listen. Phwoar. I still adore this song.) I find it amusing that the Backstreet Boys have a high-rated spot on the list, guess it shows my inner teenybopper is still alive and kicking! And Colorblind.. it's just classically beautiful. I'll never tire of that song.

For the most part though, the songs on the list are a fairly good mix of my tastes; mellow, relaxed & well, me. It will be interesting to look at it again in a few months and see what tracks are still going strong and check out any new additions.

And now my dears, it's your turn: what do your top songs say about you?

Forgive me for today's random post, but am quite literally about to fall asleep on the keyboard. For some reason, this weekend has taken it out of me.

#I like bullet points. So I'm going to use bullet points today. Yes I am.

#I hate the Australian public. Seriously, voting for Matt over Carl in Idol? Crazy.

#I'm in love with several songs: "Breathe In Breathe Out" by Mat Kearney, "Into the Night" by Santana & Chad, and "Lost Without Each Other" by Hanson. Nerd.

#I learnt how to copy text on a Mac. You learn something new every day.

#I have 30 school days to go for this term. Actually, 29 now. How bizarre.

#I'm more than slightly peeved about missing out on the Bon Jovi concert in January. Do you think it would be too soon to fly back to Sydney for a visit?

#I was busted in mid-groove on the treadmill this afternoon, as I belted out Snow Patrol lyrics whilst walking and shimmying. Hi, Mum. I was just stretching. And yawning. And walking. All at the same time. No karaoke-dancing here.

#I exercised for an hour today, after a hiatus due to hurting my foot while running. A few weeks off and I'm back to being unfit: I really need to get back in shape.

#I worked out a date for a backyard going away barbeque, and am now in the process of spreading the word. It's nothing flash, but I'm still left hoping that people will actually want to come to it - otherwise I have a feeling it'll just be me and the sausages. If only I could invite you guys. Oh, maybe I could just make some cardboard cutouts of my bloggy friends and prop them up in random places around the backyard. (You'll have to excuse the craziness, am very tired.)

After turning into a quivering, panicking mess whilst visiting the dentist last month, I swore that I'd take better care of my humble chompers from hereon in. It's not that I was neglecting my dental hygiene or anything, it's just that I tend to skip certain steps in my regime. On the top of that list? Flossing. The dreaded flossing.

I know, I know. Practically everyone flosses in this day and age. I have attempted it in the past, but never stuck with it because honestly? I'll admit it, I'm lazy.

After getting a goodie bag with dental freebies in it though, I've been determined to look after my teeth. Since the bag came with free minty floss, well, I had no excuses. I'm proud to say I've stuck with it for a few weeks now, which has brought to light a couple of interesting observations.

For starters I'm hopeless at it. I think I must be the most uncoordinated person in the world, as I can't for the life of me figure out how to maneuvre the floss between my very back teeth. I also tend to slip at times, leaving rather painful floss-imprints on my poor, unsuspecting gums. I fail at the art of flossing.

But really, it's a downright gross business. Not only the icky things that I'm pulling out from between my teeth, but the overall mess factor. And drooling all over my fingers and face certainly isn't my favourite way to start and end the day.

Hopefully, like with all things, practice makes perfect. In the meantime though, I'm going to keep on flossing, with a bucket firmly placed under my chin to collect any stray dribbles. Wouldn't you love to share a bathroom with me?

As someone who doesn't go shopping very often, I always find it a particularly interesting experience, to say the least. I'm a people watcher by nature, and could quite happily pass the time with my bottom parked at a table, beverage in hand, eyes peeled. As Christmas draws nearer and the shops grow busier, you see some interesting things. What is with the fluro, people? My eyes! They are blinded!

Unlike a lot of people, I actually don't really enjoy shopping itself. I don't like parking lots. I don't like queues. I don't like slow walking people who refuse to let you pass by them. I don't like spending a fortune on things. I bet you are wondering now if I am actually female? I was last time I checked, though. Any time I'm shopping, I tend to go in with a game plan so that I don't end up missing things.

Today's mission; new underwear and a roomy cabin bag for my flight to England.

My friend Elissa came along for the ride, and I'm so glad she did; I'm terrible with making decisions at the best of times. In our very first store, I ended up finding a cute six pack of knickers for $6.99! Not a bad start, if you ask me. Next up was my Supernatural Season 2 DVD, which was $20 cheaper than I'd found anywhere else.

We wandered around for a while, me whinging about nothing fitting me from the cheap & nasty clothing stores and Elissa nodding along patiently, humouring my grouchiness. She was then brave, and dragged me into one of those stores - and I ended up looking around as well. Being a bigger size, I have given up on hoping that anything there will fit me, but I figured I'd give it a shot today. I picked up a few shirts, and headed into the fitting rooms, not holding my breath.

Top #1 was gorgeous - a black strapless tunic top, with dark blue cotton swirls on it. It was stretchy and had elastic around the bust, so I thought it might give me and the boobs a little extra room. Since I don't own a single piece of clothing that is strapless, it was pretty game of me to try it on, but it just wasn't meant to be. What I'd thought was a long tunic top? Turned out to actually be a jumpsuit. Yes, the bottom tapered into short shorts. (You can imagine how teeny the shorts were, considering I had thought it was a top. Oh dear.) No, I didn't buy it. Top #2 was just a cute black & grey swirly top, which actually fit, leaving me mighty impressed. Top #3 also fit, a strapless cleavagey little number with a pleather half-belt, which I know Sarah will be impressed with. My faith in clothing is slightly redeemed.

Hefty purchases in hand, I then grabbed a few boxes of Christmas cards that were on sale, and went on the quest for a cabin bag. From what I had seen, I predicted I was going to spend about the $70 price range, so I hit the stores. One store had two bags.. a black bowling bag that looked nice and sturdy, and a floral oversized square bag, both of which I was umm-ing and aah-ing over. I ended up taking the floral bag, and felt guilty about it the second I did. Not a good sign, eh? Turns out it wasn't meant to be though; I walked straight into the next bag shop, and found my dream bag. It was just sitting on a shelf, calling my name. "Alyyyyy. Come buy me."

So I did. It was a dark red leather bag, with faux snakeskin materal. It's big, but not bulky. It has nice handles. It's nice and roomy, good for sneaking as many clothes and books onto the plane as I can. And best of all? Despite it's $85 price tag, it zapped up for $39. Awesome. Goodbye floral bag, helloooo classy red bag!

Am all shopped out, now. And honestly, I think I have just about everything I need to buy before the big move, other than Christmas gifts. The next step is figuring out exactly what to pack, and how to cram it all to two measly bags. Oh dear.

I'm taking the easy way out with today's question, because even though teaching the kidlets the Thriller dance is exciting? It's also extremely mind-numbing. I also have the world's largest headache after practising for several hours today.

Natalie had a question for me; "Do you have any siblings? If so tell me about them!"

I have one sibling, Ajay. He's 20. He drives me mental, but I really do find him endearing. At times. And because I'm lazy, I'll copy you in on an old post I wrote for him. This should fill you in on the ups & down of our brother/sister relationship.

One of the downsides to moving overseas NEXT MONTH (!) is that I'm missing out on a few special occasions early next year: My grandma turns 80 in March, and my baby brother turns 21 in April. I really wish I could be here for those.

Last year, I had hundreds of hits from people surfing in from the NaBloPoMo Randomizer. Vice versa, it allowed me to find a stack of other wonderful bloggerson my journey as well. This year's Randomizer doesn't seem to be quite as fantastic. So far, in the few hours I've spent flicking through it, I've noticed these things:

*Bloggers who haven't even posted ONCE in November.
*Spam blogs that are using NaBloPoMo to advertise their goods.
*It's not giving a good representation of blogs - it is spitting out about 10-20 blogs before cycling them and going back to the original one.

As for stats, I've not yet noticed any NaBloPoMo related hits in the past few days. It's a bit sad, as I was hoping to make some more blogmates, but doesn't seem to be happening so far. Has anyone else noticed that something is off, or is it just grumpy little me? (And yes. I'm still grumpy. Incredibly grumpy. Be on your toes.)

In other news, today's question(s) come from the lovely Alix.

1. What is your favourite word? Ha. I say that alot. Or.. bugger.
2. What is your least favourite word? Er, deliberate. Tyra says it on ANTM, but if I say it too many times, it doesn't sound like it's a real word. You try it.
3. What turns you on? Kindness.
4. What turns you off? Rudeness.
5. What sound or noise do you love? Music & Laughter.
6. What sound or noise do you hate? My phone alarm. Means I need to get up.
7. What is your favourite curse word? Shit.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I'd love to write. Or work with animals. Both unlikely, though.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything on Dirty Jobs. Yikes!
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? 'Ah yes, we've heard good things about you.'

Feel free to use any of these, if you are so inclined. I'm off to learn the Thriller dance some more, because guess what? My kidlets are performing it for their item later this term. (I am possibly more excited than they are. Oh dear.)

Daily blogging has it's downsides, especially if you have nothing of very much importance to discuss on a particular day. Instead of sharing the details of my current day (which include, but are not restricted to cramping, back aches and stealing the hot gelpack from my brother's post-wisdom teeth extraction to shove down my pants) I'll instead move right along to questions!

Today's one is from Jennie, who asks "When's the hardest you've ever laughed?"

I like to think I laugh alot. I'm definitely not as grouchy as I used to be, and I like to smile. Laughter is different to smiling, though. You can't fake laughter. When I'm amused by something, I have the most dorky sounding laugh ever. Seriously. It sort of bellows out of my mouth, before I can control it into normal sounding laughter. I did it last weekend in the hotel pool and you should have heard my honking echo around the surrounding apartments. A trifle embarrassing.

I can't give you one specific time when I've laughed the hardest, but I can narrow it down to just a few occasions where you'll see me giggling.

#I laugh when I'm tipsy. Especially if there is wine involved. Or if I'm falling down in driveways. Or on Contiki tours. Drunk = laughter.
#I laugh on spontaneous girly weekends. On planes. After eating sugar.
#I laugh when I'm nervous. And sound really, really stupid.
#I laugh when my pets do stupid things. Like Max this morning, who spent about five minutes trying to figure out how to untangle himself from his blanket.
#I laugh after drinking strong coffee. I practically never drink coffee, so when I purchase one from a store like Starbucks or Gloria Jeans, I end up hyper.
#I laugh at my kidlets, because they say the funniest things.
#I laugh with my mum, and it's something I'm going to miss when I leave. As annoying as she/I can be, we never fail to find things to chuckle over.
#I laugh at your funny blog posts, and I mean literally laugh. Out loud.

There are still a good few days left in November to fill, so keep on thinking up some questions for me! I can't promise to have all the answers, but I can promise to give them a shot, and to give you a nifty little shout-out on the blog as well. Hoorah.

When feed readers became more popular, I was never on that particular bandwagon. I knew people who swore by them and was always curious, but for some reason never actually set one up for myself. Instead, I stuck to a regular old blogroll; one which started out small, but then began to grow.. and grow.

Back then, I still blogged daily, happy in the knowledge that the only reader I had was my mum. The first few times I had comments from new people, the excitement was phenomenal. I kid you not, it was a like being a kid in a candy lolly store. As I began to meet more people and add them to my blogroll, it started taking longer to click through and see if people had updated with new posts. After putting it off for months, I finally bit the bullet and registered with Bloglines.

Mine is nothing fancy. It's not organised into groups of bloggers, or categorised in any way. It's just one giant chunk of blogs that I enjoy reading. Having the feed reader do the work for me by highlighting any updated blogs is marvellous, don't get me wrong. But it can also be just a little daunting, especially when you are unable to check it for a few days - I had over 300 posts to catch up on after two days away, mostly thanks to NaBloPoMo! But there are some days where I miss flicking through my blogroll myself, ready to be surprisd by any updates.

I suppose in a way, I'll always love the old fashioned linking. Despite using a feed reader, I still try to keep my Stalkerific Blog links up to date; I think it's nice to show other bloggers that you classify them as a regular read. I know I feel chuffed when I see myself linked elsewhere, so why not return the favour!

Today's food for thought is this: how do you keep on top of your favourite blogs?