Loving Life

The Real Clark Griswalds

Going on a big family holiday can cause excitement for some, and dread for others. While the parents are ecstatic to finally get some time off work, and enjoy the R&R their hard earned money has gotten them, the kids don't often share this enthusiasm.

See there's this syndrome that many dads suffer from as soon as they tighten up those roof straps, whip out those boardies, or god forbid learn how to turn on their new digital camera - it's called Clark Griswald syndrome. If any of you haven't seen any of the many National Lampoons movies then stop right here, and go and educate yourself with some great 90s cinema.

I'm as guilty of it as the next over-excited let's-make-the-most-of-this-trip dad, dragging his kids into every embarassing photo next to a London beef eater or pretending to do the hula. I even have a t-shirt given to me by my kids with 'Clark' in big red letters across the back...

Now thanks to the blog Dads On Vacation, there's a vast array of embarrassing dads doing embarrassing things while on holiday, for your viewing pleasure. Posts are by submission only, so if you've got a cracker Clark Griswald moment of yourself or your dad, share it on and make those dads and mortified kids alike not feel so alone.

Enjoy the LOL and happy Friday!

All Things Weird And Wonderful

We all have a talent. It could be something others appreciate, like singing or being good at sport, or it could be something more simple, like being able to add sums really fast, or give good advice. But for others they get a bit... weirder. If you didn't see it on Sunrise this week, there's an American teenager who can say any word backwards almost instantly. Take a look here.

What Aussies love most

There are many things Aussies love about being, well, Aussie. The first things that come to mind are beaches, cricket, snags on the barbie, and of course a nice cold beer. While we do love all of the above, when the Herald Sun conducted a survey to see people's top three favourite things about being Australian, the most common word from 15,000 responses was 'freedom'.

The ususal suspects were also on the list, but it's nice to see that our bogan stereotype aside, what we value most is the important stuff that is too easy to take for granted. Here's a clever word-cloud they made up with the top ranswers.

991445-australia-day-word-cloud

Friday Joke: The difference between Greeks and Italians

Some years ago a small rural town in Italy twinned with a similar town in Greece.

The Mayor of the Greek town visited the Italian town. When he saw the palatialmansion belonging to the Italian mayor he wondered how he could afford such ahouse. The Italian said; "You see that bridge over there? The EU gave us agrant to build a two-lane bridge, but by building a single lane bridge withtraffic lights at either end, this house could be built".

The following year the Italian visited the Greek town. He was simply amazed atthe Greek Mayor's house, gold taps, marble floors, it was marvellous. When heasked how this could be afforded the Greek said; "You see that bridge overthere?"

The Italian replied; "No."

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