iPOD, youPOD, he/shePODS...

is there anything left that an iPod can't do?
also, this would seem to be too good to be true. would be nice, though.


quick thoughts on job hunting at thirty.

i'm writing my blog. i should be finishing off my resumé. i should be job hunting. i'm sitting on the couch at home, in my pyjamas, listening to an ash cd (is it just me, or do ash write some hella-catchy songs?), and specifically not job hunting. don't worry, i will. it's still only 9am. plenty of time still. (and i'll keep telling myself that, right up until bed time.)

so i've been thirty for 2 weeks, now. i'm about to have my 2nd 30th birthday party (this sunday). everyone (well, everyone over 30, anyway) keeps telling me that the 30s are the best years. "life begins at 30," they say. "30s are the new 40s," and also "30s are the new 20s."
seeing as how i'm supposed to be job hunting, i think now would be a good time for a quick look back at my 20s ("20s are the new teens, or perhaps the new octogenarians who knows?). my 20s were fairly good to me. i fulfilled several childhood dreams within the space of a few short years:

my early 20s were spent in something of a toman-fuelled haze at university, (i started uni 10 years ago! aaaarrrrgggghhhh!), but a fun haze, nevertheless.

at the age of 23, i got a job in a record store - i said in my interview (and it wasn't a lie) that it had long been a dream of mine to work in one. and i have. and i'd do it again, by golly! maybe one day i'll have my own store!

at the age of 25, i joined a rock'n'roll band and travelled to australia (where i have been living ever since), living the rock'n'roll lifestyle - like a modern day monkees, all living together in our comedy house.

still at 25, i met my wonderful, wondrous partner, who i think is spiffing.

at the age of 27, i wrote, produced, dirtected and edited my own film. yay!

at 28, my wonderful, wondrous partner and i travelled around western europe together - i find it highly amusing that waited until i moved to australia before i got around to seeing 'the continent.' and i have been exceptionally slack about travelling around my adopted homeland - i've only ventured out of victoria once, and that was to visit emily & richard when they were living in sydney.

at 29, my wonderful, wondrous partner and i bought ourselves a home! (2006 seems to have been the year for it - both my brothers have recently entered the property ladder, too). we went back to england, as well, and walked along the first third of the thames, which was fun and took about 5 days. then i turned 30 and was the subject of a documentary film by the diabolical directing duo louis segal (multi-madness, the psychiatric channel) and daniel moses.

the one thing i haven't managed to get sorted out yet is a job. so i really must stop procrastinating, now - i AM 3o, after all, and old enough to know better - and get back to job hunting.

till next time

DISGRUNTLED FINNS OF THE WORLD... UNITE!

ah, helsinki... i think the world would be a better place if it contained more complaints choirs.
i was not surprised to find that the first complaints choir was from birmingham.

SPAM

this is the list of spam that was waiting for me in the spam folder in my gmail account today. my favourites are from Mima Oneal and Victor Frye. Especially Victor.

Werner Ola - Good stuff
Aeolus Copley - Re: good 8275
Jordan Thayer - New Home Lloan lApproval
Mima Oneal - grandmother diplomat
so - Re: much
Danny Cote - christmas are coming!
Pam Coffey - hi rhythm
Brady - show your sweet heart how much you care Armand
Jennifer Hurst - wind
Erin Lunsford - Want to be a hero in a bed? orderid:collision
Nanny Pickett - prejudiced
Meade & Trent Doherty - Meade & Trent Doherty is back and I got one of these
Wallace May - Home Improlvement Approvlal
first - Re: Sacked
Victor Frye - vagina earache
Nephele Malloy - Re: good 456

A STORY IN JUST SIX WORDS

wired magazine has asked 33 writers to write 6-word science fiction stories. (arthur c. clarke cheated - his has 10 words).

here are ten of my own efforts:

1. the trees cried one last time.
2. fun is outlawed. let's leave town.
3. feet... too... sore. can't... go... on...
4. smoking is good for your cancer.
5. i spread my wings and plummet.
6. the sky is blue. for now.
7. computer told me to write this.
8. the house collapsed. a homeless ghost.
9. time will soon go backwards again.
10. saddam wakes. sits up. rubs eyes.

ok, those are my spur of the moment efforts. leave your stories in the comments, or anywhere else you can think of.

congratulations to my very dear friends emily and richard on their engagement. i hope you continue to share many wonderful holidays together!

in other news, the countdown continues, with less than a week to go until our departure. we both only have one day of work left (j's is tomorrow, mine is monday), then the serious pre-trip preparations can begin.

i read a really good joke the other day that i wanted to share with the world, but i can't for the life of me remeber it. oh well. next time. but while i'm on the subject, i'd just like to say how much i object to all the sex on computers these days. i mean, it's uncomfortable and i keep falling off.

the music in my brain at the moment is mainly by blondie, which can only be a good thing.

the birthday season

it was my brother's birthday the other day - he turned 28. it's my mum's birthday next week, then a few of my cousin's add another year to their respective ages. my 30th birthday is less than a month away, and the rest of november is filled with the celebrations of numerous friends and family members. and just when you think it's safe to venture out again, my baby brother (i say 'baby' - he's turning 23 and has a 4 month old baby himself) goes and has a december birthday. sneaky little blighter.

in one week and one day, we will be boarding a plane a jetting ove to the midst of these celebrations. the excitment is building...

DAN FIC

i'm not generally speaking a huge fan of fan-fics, but i thought i'd share this with you.

also, did anyone see this episode of eastenders?

This, is an ex-budgie.
On Friday 12th July 2002, the BBC once again proved that they are, indeed, the Monty Python channel. A new version of Monty Python's famous Parrot sketch was woven into Eastenders", the BBC's award winning soap. Jim Branning, a leading character in the programme, is tasked by his wife to clean out the bird cage belonging to their pet budgie. Jim, never the sharpest tool in the box, decides to use the vacuum cleaner pipe; a reasonable idea except when the budgie is still in the cage. The inevitable happens and seconds later the bird has vanished from its perch and into the pipe.Panicking, Jim realises that he must replace the bird or explain to the wife. Numerous phone calls to pet shops later, he successfully locates a seller with the right bird and the right plumage. With the corpse of the last bird securely packaged in a shoe box, he makes his way to the pet shop and becomes an unwitting victim to the Monty Python loving shop assistants. Read the text below and/or download it as a 155k WAV

Shop Assistant 1 (S1)
Shop Assistant 2 (S2)
Jim Branning (JB)

S1: Are you sure it's dead?
JB: Eh?
S1: It might be resting.
JB: It's dead mate. Look at it!
S1:Maybe it's just stunned?
JB: Stunned? It's as stiff as a board.
S1: Norweigan blues you see, they prefer kipping on their backs.
JB: No 'e ain't kipping, mate. 'e's brown bread.
S1: See if you can wake him.
S2: Wakey, wakey! [Shakes box] There he moved!
JB: You moved the box!
S2: No I didn't!
JB: Are you having me on or what?
S1: This budgie is no more. He has ceased to be. He has expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. [Pause]
S2: This, is an ex-budgie.

revenge...REVENGE!

oh. oh dear. oh dear me.

BUSES

you wait ages for a post, then 3 come along at once.

Two Daniel Katz's

I found this while googling boredly at work today. Click the title above for the full page.

"There appear to have been two men named Daniel Katz who are significant figures in the history of psychology. One of them (July 18, 1903 - Feb. 28, 1998) was important in social psychology. But I don't know anything about the other Daniel
Katz (Oct. 1, 1884 - Feb 2, 1953). Can anyone share information about the earlier Daniel Katz? Does anyone know the middle name or initial of either? "

A GAMMY LEG

i took a bit of a tumble at work last friday. a stool broke underneath me, and i went clattering to the floor. my knee has been buggered since then. it's getting better - last saturday i could barely bend my leg, and was in intense agony, but i found the whole situation extremely hilarious. i sat on by bed, trying to put on a sock, and howling alternatively in agony and with amusement. however, by sunday i was over it all. i've had x-rays and check ups and i'm on anti-inflammatories, and it is getting better, but it still gets tender and sore by the end of the day - especially as i'm standing up all day at work.

in other news, this time next month, we'll be in london!

and finally, album of the month: rogue's gallery (various artists), an album that is much better than we have any right to expect it to be. folky, punky pirate ballads, performed by, amongst others, lou reed, bono, sting, bryan ferry, nick cave, several carthys, a wainwright or two, and the whole project was executive produced by johnny depp and gore verbinski, who just wanted to listen to some sea shanties. and also, some of it is a bit rude, which is always a good thing.

The Most Annoying Pair Of Shoes Ever Cobbled

As I was trapsing around Highpoint Shopping Centre this morning, my ears were assaulted by a high pitched squeaking noise - the kind of noise made by one of those rubber duckie-type toys; the kind of noise that has been designed to squeak at the exact frequency to make you wish that you had a blackboard handy so that you could run your fingernails down it to cover up the noise of the squeak. Normally, however, the rubber-duckie toy squeak dosen't last long - a couple of hearty throttlings from a young child who either becomes bored very quickly, or manages to completely mangle the sqeaking mechanism - so that relief and sanity are usually restored fairly quickly.

However (and here I end my pre-amble), today the noise didn't stop. It kept sqeaking and squeaking and sqeaking, getting closer and closer. And closer. I turned to see a child delightedly jumping up and down, running around - a sickening SQUEAK merging and ecoing around the food court with every step. I had seen them - THE MOST ANNOYING PAIR OF SHOES EVER COBBLED (or however they make shoes these days). WHY would parents do that to their own sanity? Why? WHY?

I ran as fast as my non-squeaky converse would carry me back to the relative safety of my place of work, where I spent the rest of the day planning and scheming, pondering where might be able to get my hands on a cauldron big enough to boil every pair of squeaky shoes ever produced. Only then will I be able to sleep soundly, without the hideous SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK haunting my dreams.

Goodnight.

ps. click this post's title to witness the horror...the horror...

Uncledom

As of this morning (Australian time - last night UK time) I am an Uncle! My parents are GRANDPARENTS! My baby brother is a FATHER!!! Aaaargh! What is the world coming to?

Congratulations to Orly and Adam on the birth of their first (of many?) born.

An African Adventure - Part the iii

I've left you waiting long enough. Time for the next instalment.

Tuesday 14th March

We arrived back in Capies around 6pm, strolled along the beach, moved into our temporary abode (our cousin's place), refreshed, then out for dinner to the area of town known as the Waterkant (my mother never gets tired of mispronouncing that word), for a delicious Italian dinner. Then back to the flat, where I made a quick call to Rachel. Yay, I got to speak to Rachel! Great!

Wednesday 15th March

The rest of the family (my baby brother and a-father-to-be Adam, cousins Ben and Anna, and aunt and uncle Rhoda and Baruch) arrived from London (although Anna had only been in London for a day, having come over from Brazil – the jetsetter). After catching up, we went to the supermarket to stock up. After lunch, the cousins went for a coastal drive, followed by a walk and a scramble along Llandudno Beach (not the one in Wales, obviously). In the evening, the family gathered at Arthur(the groom, and the very essence of a mobster don – cigar, belly, husky voice, expensive gadgets, generous to friends)’s very large home. Dinner was delicious, saw a lot of people I recognised but couldn’t quite place (ah, large family gatherings…), Adam fell asleep. That was pretty much that.

Thursday 16th March

Day trip with cousins and parents and aunt and uncle. First stop was Moizenburg (sp?) my mother’s childhood holiday beach. Then onto Kalk Bay for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea, before driving on to Boulder to stare at penguins. Hehehehe – they are small and cute! And they get under your car! Then we drove up to Cape Point, where there was many a baboon (bobbejanes in Afrikaans). Caught a funicular up to the top, walked around looking at the picturesque scenery and views, before walking back down to the car park, where a large alpha-male baboon came bolting out of the undergrowth next to me and shot straight over to a car with an open boot. The owner of the car was alert enough to slam the boot shut and jump back before the baboon arrived and jumped up onto the roof of the car. He sat there for a few moments, posing for photos, before dashing off again.

Meanwhile, some Israelis were taking photos of a nearby baboon, and foolishly left their car doors open. The alpha male re-appeared and jumped into their car, rummaging around for food. It drew a large crowd, including us, and at one point, the baboon emerged from the car, made a lunge at Ben and one of the Israelis, before getting back into the car. We took this as a good sign that we should be on our way, so we climbed into our cars and were on our way. We drove back via the stunning Chapman’s Peak Drive (Cape Town’s version of the Great Ocean Road, only shorter), stopping frequently for photo opportunities of the sun setting over the ocean.

We went out for dinner that night to a nearby Kosher restaurant, then for drinks at the Buena Vista Social Café – nice, trendy, cool, smokey.

I’ll save the final 5 days for the next entry. Until then…

An African Adventure - Part the B

Saturday, 11th March

We stayed in Knysna for 4 nights, using it as a base to visit various sites around the area. The first day, however, was spent exploring Knysna itself, which was small, uninspiring, full of Brits, but pleasant enough. In the evening, we headed out to the Phantom Forest Eco Restaurant, which, aside from having a cool name, was what their brochure would probably call a 'dining experience'. We drove into the car park and talked to reception, where we were told that a car would be down in a moment to take us up. Sure enough, a moment later, a jeep emerged at the foot of the hill. We climbed in, were drivin up the small, bumpy, windy and steep path up to the restaurant waiting area. Here we sat, chatted, ordered drinks, drank drinks (mineral water for me - I was the designated driver), ordered our food, sat a bit more, until we were fetched by a waiter who took us on a little walk along wooden walkways amidst the treetops, not unlike an Ewok village. The setting was nice, the food was fancy. After the meal, we were taken outside to sit by the fire (the bushmen's TV, they called it - much better than the rubbish on Channel 9) where we were served coffee and sweets. Then we reversed the journey we had made on the way up, and headed back to Pleasure Isle.

Next day (Sunday 12th March - one month ago today), we went to visit the famous Cango Caves. On the drive up through the mountains, we listened on the radio to Australia demolishing South Africa in the final one-dayer (breaking all records they came across in the proess). Arrived, had a tea and scone, then headed into the caves for the 2 o'clock tour. The group was too large to all go in together, so it was split into 2 groups - one tour was led in German, the other in English. The caves were big and old and dark and dank, and full of impressive stalactites and stalagmites, with all sorts of odd and creepy shapes and patterns - like walking through the mind of HR Geiger. After emerging into the daylight, we headed back in the car through the mountains, listening on the radio to South Africa demolishing Australia in the final one-dayer (breaking all records they came across in the process). Back in Knysna, went to a pub, where we saw South Africa win the match (and thereby the series) by one wicket, then watched a game of football (not the Australian variety) - Arsenal Liverpool. Then back to base. While struggling to sleep that night, I half watched the utterly appaling-and-therefore-wonderful programme known as Walker, Texas Ranger, 'starring' Chuck Norris. If you've never seen it, then you really cannot grasp the appalingness you are missing out on.

Monday, and off to the Tsitsikamma National Park. Arrived, sat and had a drink, did a 1km walk to see a suspension bridge (which was closed for maintenance). Walked back again, had a light lunch, then headed off on a much nicer, quieter, more secluded 4km walk through forest terrain. I will try to get some pictures on-line for you to ogle. Then drove back towards Knysna, stopping of for dinner at Pletenburg Bay, eating at a place called The Lookout (I guess because it was 'looking out' over the sea - imaginative), where the food was good, but our table was next to rabble of rowdy and drunk English lawyers, which was not so good. Then back for our last night on Pleasure Isle. We never did get to explore much of the Isle, so I have no idea if the name is justly given.

Tuesday involved a long drive back to Cape Town, and you will have to wait until next time for more...

An African Adventure - Part the First

There now follows a brief recap of my adventures in South Africa earlier this month. (Also, check out the new links on the right).

R had gone to Bairnsdale to play a gig with EJ on saturday (4th), so I spent that night alone, and set my alarm to wake me up at 4.40am on Sunday morning - ouch. Taxi arrived at 4.55 (5 minutes early) and I was painfully tired. Flew to Sydney (the pilot's name was Captain Roothouse), then flew from Sydney back over Melbourne on route to Jo'burg (?) and then rushed through customs (I think Pele was standing in the customs queue next to me) to make my connecting flight to Cape Town - I had no sitting-around time at any of the airports (except Tullamarine) - I was rushing from one plane to another. When I descended the steps out of the plane and onto the tarmac of Cape Town airport, I was greeted by the spectacular sight of the sun setting behind Table Mountain. Met by my parents and my uncle, who drove us back to his house (past my first glimpses of the almost ubiquitous - and utterly disconcerting for the uninitiated - South African townships), where, after a delightful dinner with cousins, aunt, uncle and parents, I collapsed into my bed-for-the-night, utterly exhausted (having had almost no sleep on the flights), only to be woken shortly after midnight by my brother, returning from a friend's wedding. I gave him a tired greeting hug, then went straight back to sleep - the end of my 33 hour day.

Most of the next day was taken up by the long drive (we also took the scenic route, which made us slightly late) from Cape Town to Mosselbaai. On the way, we saw many mountainous mountains, ostrichy ostriches, and a babboon or two sitting by the road side. I was suprisingly unaffected by jet lag, considering how utterly exhausted I had been the day before. But I was relieved when we arrived at our destination, because it meant the end of 3 days of sitting very still in vehicles. Checked in with the tour organiser, had dinner out (all included in the cost of the hike) and went to bed.

Up early for the first day of out hike (15km). Met our guide, Willie, over breakfast. Then we set off on our 4-day walk. Along the beach front, past a lighthouse, and into a shallow cave, where we saw many a Dassie (small littel rodenty type creatures that sort of look a bit like tailless beavers, but sort of not). We walked up and down, following a rocky trail under a scorching sun (it was very hot - mid 30s - not ideal walking weather), stopping every now and then so that Willie could point out plants to us and tell us about their herbal (or poisonous) properties. Stopped for lunch on a little plateau overlooking the ocean. Up until this point, the walk had been stunning, but towards the end of the day's trail, the path cut across a construction site (they were constructing a golf course) which was less attractive. We could have taken a coastal path which cut out the coarse and took in some caves, but it meant a very steep climb down and up, which we probably would have done if it had been at the start of the walk, but the sun had drained us of all our energy. We were hot and dehydrated and achey. Which is why we were relieved when we came to a road, and Willie announced that we were to be picked up from here and deposited at our place of rest for that night (this was the only time we were picked up - every other day, we walked to where we were staying). We were greeted by copious amounts of food and drink, and then a lecture on the African Black Oystercatcher - a very rare and endangered bird.

Our second day's walk was shorter (12km) but it was all on sand, although we also walked on thousands of beached blue-bottles, which make incredibly satisfying popping noises when stepped on - the ocean's own bubblewrap. We also found an Oystercatcher chick, despite being told yesterday that none had been born at all this year. So I guess that we saw the only African Black Oystercatcher to be born in 2006. We also found an old african midden on top of a dune. The walk itself was hard because it was impossible to guage our progress - the scenery didn't change, our destination didn't seem to be getting any closer, and our starting point wasn't getting any further away. But it was much cooler weather today, and the walk was flat, so I found the going to be quite easy. We arrived at our destination (a place called Boggomsbaai) to find an abundance of thatched cottages. We stayed in a lovely house with a large open fireplace and comfy beds. Which were gratefully occupied by us.

3rd day of walk was our longest - 16km, including some beach walking. We stopped off at a random old lady's house for a toilet break (and so Willie could go to the shops and get some credit for his mobile phone), then hiked up rocky paths to Fransmanshoek, where we stopped for lunch. Then more rocky paths, before embarking on quite a long stretch of beach. At one point, I found out later, Willie turned to my parents and said "I'm going to find out how fit your boys are". He then turned to us, ponted to a huge sand dune, and said "follow me". He then RAN up the side of the dune! Eliot and I attempted to emulate him, but running up a soft sand dune is not easy, and we were soon panting and wheezing away. I kept battling on up (not running - closer to stumbling), but didn't quite make it to the top (it was very windy up there). In the mean time, Willie had made it to the next peak, and had turned around and was running back down past us. We trudged back down with aching limbs and continued on our walk, past Kanon Village and onto our final resting place - an idylically located house right by the sea, with nothing around except rocks, seals and swifts (there was a swift's nest right above the front door).

The last day of our walk was a measly 5km, but it culminated in a boat trip and a champagne brunch. We were driven back to our starting point at Mosselbaai. We then drove towards our next resting place - Knysna - stopping off on the way to pay a visit to a nature reserve, where we saw wilderbeest/gnus, rhinos, giraffes, lions, boks, and some rather touchy-feely elephants (or oliphants, in Africaans). Then to Knysna, where we stayed on a little island called Pleasure Isle. We slept soundly.

The adventure will continue...

Work In Progress

The more observant among you will notice that this blog looks somewhat different to how it once did. I've fixed the problem with posting comments (should be much easier to do it now), but something's playing with the rest of my formatting. All the links and stuff are now right down at the bottom of the page, instead of where they should be, at the side. I'll try and fix this up, but it probably won't get done until I get back from travelling.

Tomorrow morning, I'm jetting off for 2 and a half weeks in South Africa, for my cousins wedding. I will be seeing all my family again (parents and brothers and cousins and aunts and uncles) which will be great, but R is not joining me, so I shall be busy missing her the whole time.

While I'm away, E+J will be setting off on their travels. They shall be gone indefinitley, so who knows when they'll be back. Take care, guys. See you in Scotland!

Oh, and the other day, I was listening to a song by Bow Wow Wow, called C30, C60, C90, Go. It was great! I love it! Whatever happened to the cassette? Such an 80s format...

I've still got heaps to do to get ready for tomorrow, so I'd best be on my way. Until next time, happy camping

db
xx

WE GOT IT!!!

Er... What the title says. We are feeling a crazy combination of excitment, stress, relief and apprehension (oh my god! What have we done???!!!)

See link on right for a quick view at our new home (quick, before they take the details away!)

It's so hard to think of a good title.

OK, so it’s been a while since my last update. Sorry, but it’s here now, so you can breath easy once again. I started writing an entry about 2 weeks ago, but never go a round to finishing it. So I think it has been about a month since I last posted. Since then, our tiny cramped flat has become even more crowded – 18 boxes of my stuff have arrived from England. I have managed to empty about three of them, we stuffed 8 into our walk-in wardrobe, and there are 7 propping up our living room (misnomer?) wall.

We have in that time also received our brand new recycling bins – everyone in our suburb received them on the same day, and there were seas of bright shiny new bins all over Brunswick – it was quite a moving site…

We nearly bought a flat in Northcote, but were out-bid. We spent today looking at more flats – some nicer than others. We are now going to try to buy one in Thornbury (the nicest and cheapest – but not the largest – of all the flats we looked at today). 2 bedrooms, balcony, bath, gas, laundry, and you won’t find a car-park with better views of the city! And it is right next to the wonderful Merri Creek. I’ll let you know how that goes. Wish us luck!

After 4 years of trying, we finally made it in to the Moroccan Soup Bar in North Fitzroy. It comes highly recommended (go for the banquet – excellent value at $16.50 per head), but it’s a good idea to get there early, otherwise, you may be in for a bit of a wait for seats (you can only book for 6 or more people).

We have been for another walk – we took friends along this time. 5 of us went for a thoroughly pleasant stroll up the Moonee Ponds Creek (no off-track rambles this time) - saw some ducklings and a couple of eels slithering amongst the rushes – followed by a nice picnic, then back to ours for afternoon tea.

This weeks Music In The Air From The Zoo was a (not particularly good) Bee Gees cover band. Hmmm…

This weeks recommended music is The Magic Numbers self-titled debut album. Fantabulous foot tappin’ fun, hummable harmonies and hook lines, thumping bass, and a melodica! Alt.Country-Indy-Pop-Rock-Blues has never sounded so good!

So tomorrow, we may put an offer on a house – I think we need to get some rest before hand – it’s an exhausting process. Till next time, take care of yourselves, and Jerry Springer.

A serious survey of selected sections of stuff since Sunday (well, Friday really, but that doesn't alliterate)

I wrote such a long blog last week that I ran out of time to do all the things I was meant to be doing (the household chores had to wait). So this week, I’ve decided to type it all up on Word the night before. How organised am I? Answers in the comments section below…


And then it was Friday 13th… oooooohhhhh… I never really got the whole superstition thing. I mean, really… why? They make no sense to my brain.

R got a free, all-expenses-paid trip to Sydney through her work, which is cool. So if any of you will be at the Sydney Trade Fair this year, keep your eyes open for strange people offering you tea…


We got a new neighbour on the 14th – her name (truly) is Baby, and she’s from Bangladesh. Seems nice, if a little odd. But then again, odd is our kind of people.

In the evening, we had a dinner date with RB and EJ, for which R and I had to work very hard to leave the house – we were both exhausted after work. But we managed to walk over to Lygon Street (the buses don’t run after 6.30 on Saturdays… grrr…). Went to a Thai restaurant, which is normally excellent, but was decidedly average that night. Maybe I was just too tired to enjoy the evening properly. Fortunately, we didn’t have to walk back, as RB gave us a very much-appreciated lift.


So we arrive at Sunday. Several exciting items on today’s agenda.
1) I received an e-mail from a competition that I entered telling me that I had won! Woo-hoo! And guess what I won… a BOOK! Just what we needed – more books. We are well short on books. Seriously though, we really need a new bookshelf. Our two are severely overflowing.
2) My cousin has announced her engagement (something of a whirlwind romance by all accounts)
3) Our neighbour, Baby, came over and sang oriental religious chants to us! And then she struggled to put a curtain in her flat.
4) I had the next 2 days off! And it doesn’t get much more exciting than that.
5) No Beatles music today. This week, it was ELVIS!


Tell me why I don’t like Mondays. Well, actually, some of them are pretty good. And this particular Monday was great. R and I both had the day off work and it was our 3 ½ year anniversary, so we decided to take a long walk together. We walked from our place, across to the Merri Creek, down to Fairfield Boat House, back down the Creek to Dights Falls, then along the Yarra to Bridge Road. It ended up being about 12km (approximately 8 miles) in total. We then caught the tram over to R’s grandparents place, where we were regaled with tea and cakes and stuff. Caught a cab home, and collapsed into bed.


Next morning, there were many stiff limbs groaning and creaking in our bed. I spent the morning doing housework and listening to music. I rediscovered an album that I have hardly listened to since I bought it 4 years ago – Sha Sha by Ben Kweller. It was great! I was singing and dancing along while doing the dishes. So that’s my musical recommendation of the week (if you’re lucky, I might make that a regular feature, so you can know what to like). Then into the city to spend Christmas gift vouchers (thanks L & J!) – I bought 2 books: ‘The Princess Bride’ and ‘Melbourne’s Great Outdoors’ – and then met R, went for some chocolaty indulgences at Koko Blacks, then had takeaway pizza to counter-act the chocolate.


It was back to work today. I spend most of my days at work quoting films (especially Napoleon Dynamite) with one of my colleagues.

How does the dealio sound to you?

A new beginning

So. Here we are. I signed up for this blog almost one year ago, and as you can see, I haven't written very much (although to be fair, I have occasionally written here - so that's alright). Two recent incidents have inspired me to put finger to keyboard, as t'were. Firstly, I read The Baghdad Blog by Salam Pax, which got me in the mood for blog. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything to write about. Which is where incident number 2 comes in. I've already written about it on the danracheltravel blog. It made me realise that there are interesting things happening all around me, and that I could be excited and inspired by simple, everyday experiences. And since then, I've been writing in my diary everyday - not a lot, but infinitely more than the huge quantity of nothing I was churning out before. (I was very prolific - I could write nothing for days, weeks, months, years. I could represent my country - whichever it may be - at the Olympics in the 4x400m Writing Nothing category. You could fill countless exercise books with all the nothing I've written. I think you probably get the point now. It's about time these brackets closed).


YOU DON"T KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE, BOY...

Incident No. 2:
I was wondering around our tiny little Brunswick flat, when I heard a Beatles song (I think it was Paperback Writer) wafting through the air. I persumed that one of our neighbours was listening to the Beatles with the volume turned up to 11. The next track was Rock And Roll Music, but it sounded different - I realised it was a live version. Then I relealised that ALL the songs were live - and not live recordings - actual LIVE songs being performed at that exact moment (give or take a few seconds to account for the time lag caused by speed of sound). I then remembered that the nearby Melbourne Zoo (I love the fact that I can see elephants from the tram on my way into the city!) was starting its season of summer concerts that evening. And that the first band was The Beatnix (Aussie beatles tribute band). And that was what i was hearing. But it sounded for all the world like there was an ACTUAL BEATLES CONCERT happening just outside our front door. I felt lifted.

That was on Sunday.


EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD NEIGHBOURS

On Monday, R and I moved our washing machine out of our walk-in-wardrobe and into our communal laundry space just outside our flat. This had the double-plus-good benefits of creating more space in our space-starved flat, and also saving us time and money from having to go to the EXPENSIVE laundrette down the road. Somewher in the moving process, I managed to get bitten by a (or possibly 2) spider(s) - my first ever spider bites! And Australian spiders at that! One bite on my fabulaously named Mound of Venus, and one on my calf. Much to my relief, I didn't die. Much to my disappointment, I didn't turn into Spiderman.

That evening, we informed our neighbours that they now had access to a washing machine, and we all celebrated by having a spontaneous tea party - again, something we haven't done before. We drank copious amounts of tea, ate cake and fruit, and talked until late in the night. Nice.


WALK, FOOD, FILM, FOOD

On Tuesday, we started off the day with a walk to Fitzroy, meeting EJ on the way. Went to Bimbos (RIP Punters Club) for cheap, good pizza, then trammed past the upside down statue of LaTrobe to Fed Square, and into ACMI to see Howl's Moving Castle with a lot of talkative kids, who seemed to have decided to do their own commentary throught the film. Then R and I went to Balaclava to buy bagels and to go joospotten'. Then walked home from the Zoo and flomped.


CHORES AND CHEERS

An exciting morning spent doing washing, shopping, paying bills. I had a snooze in the afternoon, while R did e-mail and internet stuff. I then called the company have shipped all my stuff from London. They left a message on Friday for me to call them saying that customs was holding the boxes and needed more information. I called the number they left, and found myself talking to a call centre in Malaysia, who were unable to transfer me through to the Australian office, but they gave me a phone number which was clearly wrong - there weren't enough digits - but I figured out where the missing number went, and eventually sorted it all out (I hope). So our tiny and cramped flat will soon be invaded by 18 big boxes of a lifetimes worth of collecting! Fun!

We spent the evening at Saj & Es(EO'RdG, if I continue to identify people by initials)'s fabulous new house eating yummy food, drinking wine, watching Mean Girls, and being moulted on by their cats.

That was the last few days. I've got to go and get ready for work now.

Until next time.