Dendy Premier Lounge

Thursday was gf2's 26th birthday (AAGH!) and in our current habit of denying birthdays, she decided it was going to be 'just another day' - appropriately, the flowers gf1 and I sent her at work were accompanied with a card wishing her a lovely non-birthday full of lovely non-birthday things.

To celebrate together, we decided to get our snob on on Friday night and visit the Dendy Premier Lounge - something that is quite new(ish) and novel here in Canberra, having only had a Dendy for about a year now, I think. We were a bit cautious about it too - I heard a range of poor reviews (such as this one) when it first opened, but had also heard good things of it lately.

Gf1 called ahead and booked the tickets - she was told we could line up in the special line and be served straight away, however we stood in our special line while they counter lady served three of the 'common' people before directing a guy to help us out - that wasn't so impressive for the $35 a ticket she had prepaid.

We were directed through an archway thing to a little bar area, where a lovely guy talked us through the process of seating and ordering, then proceeded to be super patient with me as I questioned him and the bar girl and the kitchen staff about the ingredients of almost everything on the menu to determine what I could stuff my guts with. I really, Really, REALLY appreciated his patience and understanding on this - I can totally see how annoying it is to serve a vegan in this type of establishment... so yeah - staff, two thumbs up - superawesome!

I'm a bit of a saddo and had been trying to find someone to watch SuperBad with me - I have a lovecrush on Michael Cera and didn't care how bad the movie was meant to be, I knew I would love it merely because he was in it. Middle bro and youngest bro went to see it at 9:30 on Tuesday but it was too late for me so I wussed out; on Thurday one of my martial arts students overheard me begging youngest bro to see it again with me and told me he was seeing it on Thursday - he piked. So luckily I managed to con gf1 and gf2 out of that movie where Clare Danes is a star (wtf?!) and into seeing Superbad.

(I know you're getting gooey jus looking at him!)

It was hilarious!!

It was proddly helped by the surroundings - the recliners are super duper comfy and recline almost flat and there were only two other people in the cosy cinema. It was proddly also helped by the fact I finally had a vodka in my hand, I had a bowl of wedges next to me, I knew there was another drink and turkish bread to come in another hour or so and I could feel my temper slowly wasting away (workmates wanted me to buy them HOTDOGS for afternoon tea?!).

All up, the night would have cost me about $70 - it's roughly $5 cheaper on a Mon - Thurs night, and $10 cheaper on a Mon - Thurs day. Whilst I've heard people say they'd never go to the normal movies again, I wouldn't go that far, but I'd definitely do it again for a special occassion.

So never fear Canberra, our Dendy Premier is up to scratch!
And never fear internet world, Superbad is hilarious!

Oh Golly, Oh Gee

You guys - I am SO excited.

BJORK. IS. COMING.

NEXT YEAR!!!

I am so spoiled!

I saw her when I was in high school, hooked after seeing "It's Oh So Quiet" on Video Hits. I bought a Marvin the Martian tshirt and a new overall dress, and sat with my mum on my left and two friends on my right and we squealed and squealed and squealed.

If only I had realised prior to that night how talented she was and how she would become my favourite artist of all time. If only I knew all her songs then like I do now.

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!

Plus....In a few weeks, we're off to see Angus and Julia Stone at the UC Refect:



In November, we're off to Sydney to see Muse:



In December, we're off to see Homebake, where I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing Mr & Ms Stone again, but also Missy Higgins, Gotye, Sarah Blasko, Josh Pyke, Scribe and Architecture in Helsinki:



On Januray 23, Bjork will be playing a show on the Opera House forecourt:



In January, we will be attending the Big Day Out where she will play again and yes it is worth going just to see her:



Aren't I just the luckiest thing there was?!

Sexsi Angry Slash Hotness

You guys have GOT to watch Dexter - it's not on TV here, so you may have to find some way to come across it... I'd also link you to Wikipedia, but there are some spoilers in there, so I can give you an excerpt.

Dexter was adopted by a Miami police officer who recognized his homicidal tendencies and taught him to channel his gruesome passion for dissection in a "constructive" way: by killing only heinous criminals (such as child molesters, mob assassins, and serial killers of the innocent) who have slipped through the justice system. To satisfy his interest in blood and to facilitate his own crimes, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami police. Although his drive to kill is unflinching, he is easily able to fake normal emotions and keep up his appearance as a socially-responsible human being. He is well-liked by most of his colleagues, his girlfriend, and her children.

I admit it sounds totally not awesome, and I was quite hesitant to watch it, particularly after I realised it wasn't a show about a talking smart cartoon dog. But it sucks you in to the story, it's funny and it's lovely and it's a good kind of thriller.

It also stars Michael C Hall.

Sound familiar?

No?

How about if you look at the guy on the left:

That's right! He played the gay brother in Six Foot Under. And he was the only reason I occasionally watched that show. And then I felt a little weird about crushing on the gay guy. Until I started watching the show where he plays a homocidal sociopath who is just totally hot.

BUT - can you blame me?



I hate thrillers, I hate gore and I hate horror. But you can totally look away when it's about to show a skin slice and it's not all that bad.

He's charming and sweet and totally mental, but he just tries so hard you can't not love him and be thinking of him at times when you really shouldn't be.

It's totally worth looking like a smug tosser for.

Please watch it so we can talk about our favorite parts?!

Chemo Limo

She knew getting in touch with him through a networking site was a bit lame, but it had been some time since she'd last seen him. He'd sent the invite completely out of the blue some time ago, but finally decided to give it a go and join up - he was one of the first people she tracked down on there.

In his first reply back to her he told her he had cancer.

He'd awoken up with stomach pain and thought it was just a hangover. He decided he'd suck it up and drink it off, a habit not out of place considering his new lifestyle. He was living it up up north, enjoying the sun, the way of life and his new dream job. It wasn't until the pain caused him to pass out that it was decided hospital might be a good idea - he was diagnosed with a hernia.

She laughed with him as he professed this. He had always been a bit of a joker and clown. A similar taste in humor wrapped up in the body of the lanky geeky friend.

The hernia operation ran smoothly, leaving a cough in it's aftermath. When the cough refused to leave, even after the pneumonia antibiotics had run their course, another trip to the doctor was scheduled and blood tests were run.

He sat in the doctors office along, awaiting his results. When the doctor arrived, he looked up at his patient, back down at the results in his hand, back up at the patient and let the profanity escape his lips - he could not contain his surprise at realizing his patient was not a man is his sixties, but the boy of only 25.

The tumor was pressing on his left lung, 14 centimeters wide. The smaller tumors sat in front of his right lung, the largest only a few centimeters wide. Prognosis was positive in that they'd caught it early - perhaps the operations had kicked off the germ cells, caused the tumor to grow. It wasn't related to the years of social smoking that she had long protested against, pretending to borrow his cigarette to give it a puff, only to stomp it out on the floor of the nightclub.

She suggested they catch up for lunch and he met her at the local vegetarian restaurant. Presumably due to his health, he was unable to eat stir fried veggies, but didn't mind the crispy soy chicken and red rice she suggested . His spirits were high and he looked well, only the beanie making him seem a little out of place in the room that was not as cold as it was outside. He told her about the award he'd been nominated for, how he was applying for a new job after just being offered another good one and how he was not so fond of the newer networking sight as everyone knew what was going on. He didn't want the pity and just wanted to focus on the future and his impending recovery.

The cell count dropped from 94,000 to 54 after the operation. They had removed most of the tumor and things were looking good. She reminded him that chicks digged scars - he assured her there were plenty to dig. He was supposed to tell her when he was able to receive visitors during his stay, but was released sooner than he expected. After she teased him about this he let her know that he was going back in for five days and she was more than welcome to visit, and to bring a friend or two from their uni days.

The three met in the sunshine at 11am on a Saturday. She could sense they were nervous but they all made small talk on their way up to the ward, clouding the fact that they were happy to see each other again after so long, regretting the fact that this is what it took to meet up.

They squinted at the whiteboard on the wall of the nurses station, trying to decipher which room he was in. 19, 20, 21 - there he was. In the bed by the window.

Had she not used the networking site to see the most recent photos of him, she would not have recognised him - hair and eyebrows gone, skin pale and face bloated. Despite the fluid he looked small in his bed, some of the glint remaining in his eyes as he shook hands with the friends he'd not seen in a few years.

She sat and the two friends stood, bedside for almost three hours. Catching up on what he'd been going through and what they could remember from the days gone past. The ill fated drinking competition with a rematch still waiting. The drunken nights of dancing and kicking the top off of letterboxes. Boot rides and beer and names long forgotten.

He had one more day in the hospital, one last session to go. A tumor had appeared near his heart, another close by. The count has risen back over 1000 days before the chemo had started again. After this, he was unsure. It would start to affect his hearing although he figured it was a small price to pay. He'd had stem cells removed and made the embarassing trip to the sperm bank - another funny story in which he'd needed to visit his grandma's house and needed to leave in a hurry, sample tucked under his armpit.

He can have two more sessions, almost lethal amounts that will reduce him to eating through a tube. As his cells die his stem cells will be returned, trying to bring the life back that is so longed for.

After that, there is nothing he can do.

Three more bags, maybe three more months.

The boy that had followed her friend around. The boy that she sat with in maths and nearly flunked. The boy that had entertained her and annoyed her through uni. The boy she had wrestled to the ground in her only schoolground tussle.

Pulled by his hair to the ground.

I'm under no dissilluisionment that my sh!t doesn't stink like poohpoohpooh

Hey guys - I've really got some sucking up to do here for the level of sh!teousness I've 'written' over the last little while. If it's any consolation, the stuff I am putting out for uni and work is just as bad if not worse, so I don't know if it really counts as neglecting you.

But we can still pity party, swears.

Things are good, weight is going well (not totally awesome, but good enough to keep me happy) uni is obviously still the bane of my existence, I'm warming up to my 7-year-itch in my job and boot camp has chafed my elbows.

I got less than four hours sleep last night due too *grumble*uni*grumble* so I'm going to use this evening to catch up on my blogs and my Facebook and then we can all come together and pretend this past bit hasn't actually happened and you aren't considering delinking me.

*Group hug!*

What's that girl doing, sitting on the couch?

She's trying to write 2000 - 3000 words on the ILO.

ENVY HER.

Hallmark says "I love you"

The more astute of you may remember my breakdown-phase I'm constantly in in February (see here and here and here for snippets of my povvy angst).

The February breakdown was particularly significant as it was buoyed by Valentines day - as part of 'calming me down', The Hun indicated he had selected a day at random that he would send flowers to me at work, because surely that is more special than an American Hallmark 'tradition'. I would ask and ask and ask and he'd never let me know when it was, telling me it was a suprise and that it was circled on the calendar.

Yesterday I got a call from the registry desk to say I had a package, and it wasn't until halfway to registry that I realised it was proddly for flower day - yet when I got to the desk there were no flowers there. Until the guy asked if I was me (to which I answered in the affirmative) and he presented me with a lovely bunch wrapped in purple and pink. Needless to say I gave a little squeal and simultaneously walked, blushed and sweated my way back to my desk to give him a call to say thankyou and that yes, it was very sweet and lovely and that he can send me flowers at work for flower day and valentines day every year from now on.

What made it all the more special is that the 'random' day he had selected was September 11. Not all that random. It wasn't until recently that he realised that it might not be a good day to send flowers in case people thought I had lost someone in the twin towers, so he shifted it back a few days.

Boys - believe you me - there is NO BETTER WAY to get brownie points than to send flowers to a girl. Fact.

Girls - you must spread this story to all the men you know in the event they will take 'initiative' to send you some flowers.

Happy flower day + 1, everyone!

Humbling

When I'm thinking of something that makes me happy or listening to a song I like, there's a half smile on my lips.

This is often the case on the seven minute walk from carpark to work. And the seven minute walk from work back to the carpark.

Today I saw a man standing by his car, waiting for the traffic to pass so he could open the drivers door to begin the journey home. On his face, a half smile.

He looked like a smug tosser.

Damn.

The 'other' camp - 2007

It was just over two years since our last 'other' camp and almost four years to the day since we held a camp in the same place - Friday afternoon I met up with 22 of my adult students to convoy to Tuross for martial arts camp.

It was POURING.

The drive was a little slow but otherwise uneventful, arriving at the camp at about 8pm in time for dinner (where I continued my naughty carb intake). That night I ran them through two circuits and the exact same circuit I'd completed earlier that day at boot camp - perhaps thinking that they could exercise my guilt away, and by the time we got everyone settled it was close to midnight (exasperated by the fact that one of the room lights would not turn off and we needed to shift a room of girls).

Saturday started out a little cloudy but cleared up after the 6:30 session. The day was filled with lot of fitness work, teaching the newly graded students their new combinations and forms and also giving them more experience in partner work, take-downs and jo work, yet they still managed to fit in about 2 hours of ball sports of their own free will! We got to sleep just before midnight again and woke them up again just before 2am for a bit of meditation - nothing like a bit of a shock to the system to feel like you've got the full camp experience.

This morning (Sunday) they were up again before 6:30 for some meditation exercises and then down to the beach for tai chi. After breakfast we took them back down to the beach for 2 hours where it was my task to wear them out as much as possible - but some of them were STILL running around afterwards! We almost lost a few in the rip and a few of them learnt the valuable lesson about white martial arts pants in cold ocean water...

It was great to have almost all of the group together - only two students were unable to make it and they were both from the same strict family with four kids who normally aren't allowed to attend any camp (so it was fantastic to have at least two of them). It was good to do some of the more relaxed stuff where you work as a team or in the large group and lots of fun.

Apologies for this being a bit nonsensical - I think I'm a bit sun-affected and sleep-deprived, and promised to have the photo's up on Facebook for my students to check out (and it's reaaaally sloooooooow!).

Is it irony?

To need to feel needed, yet despise feeling taken for granted?

PS - Martial Arts camp Friday - Sunday, wrapup Sunday night.

Startling Truths

It wasn't that long into our relationship that The Hun pointed out a startling truth to me.

Burps smell.

Or more specifically, my burps smell.

I cannot describe how much of a shock it was to me to find this out - all those years I'd just had no idea. None. At. All. Of course - I guess it's not that far fetched... it comes out of me, and there's stuff that goes into me and hangs around in there for a while...

When I try to get a sneaky one out, The Hun will look at me or say something. And you have no idea how bad I feel when I just have to (quietly) burp when in close proximity to people. Of course, no one else ever says anything - so I do wonder if he has specially honed senses for my stomach juice...

What is one startling truth you've had made known to you?

I've always been an Owen Wilson kinda girl

Which made last week a very distressing week for me. I wasn't into Nirvana until after Kurt died and I stumbled across dadsy's homemade recording of Nirvana Unplugged, so his death didn't have that much of an impact on me. But had Owen succeeded (heaven forbid), there would have been tears - many tears. He's always played the lovable, affable, charming type - tall with a slight quirk that made him all more appealing.

But in other competition - who do you prefer: Ben Stiller or Vince Vaughan?

or

In what way? Why?

Weekend Wrapup

• I didn't make it to the Canberra meetup - Thursday night, The Hun informed me some of his friends were coming over for beers at poker, so he could drop me into town at 7pm at the latest and wouldn't be able to pick me up. Eldest Bro and his gf are in Vanuatu, mumsy and dadsy are down the coast and middle bro and youngest bro were boozing it up at some charity thing, leaving me with a $70 cab fare hanging over my head. When mick let me know that he wouldn't be out there until 8:30 at the earliest I got more and more anxious, not really knowing anyone who would be there at 7pm. And so I piked. TJ - I'm so sorry for not letting you know - I'd figured you were too busy with the move and didn't think to say anything. I woulda been hella p!ssed to rock up and find it canceled...

• As of this morning I'm more than 5kg down! That leaves me 7 to drop in the next two months and I'm thinking I'm good for it. To celebrate I had a salad sandwich and a chili tofu sushi roll for lunch followed by a singular Haigh's frog. ROCK ON, WILD CHILD!

• My feet have shrunk a half size to a terribly annoying 8.5 that is not stocked in many places, particularly in synthetics - I tried on four pairs of sexi shoes this morning and could not get a proper fit. WAH.

• I think I have to buy a lock for my mailbox - D'jens supercute earrings I bought still have not arrived. Damn you, Nappy Valley thugs!

• That assignment that I freaked out over? 75%!! You cannot believe how relieved I was to see that. Thanks must go to The Hun who started to sit up with me to cheer me up, my new friend in my tutorial who answered my idiotic questions via FaceBook and to The Student who sent me an electronic slap in the face to wake up to myself.

• As tertiary proof of my winning personality, I am currently also sitting on 17.6/20 for tutorial participation (worth 20% of the final grade). The massive wave of joy I was washed with as a result gave me the courage to ask my tutor the important question - How long did it take you to grow your ponytail? His response - 10 years.

• The Hun and I were planning to see Ratatouille tonight - did you know it's not released until next week? Do you know how much it has been advertised for not even being released yet?! It doesn't really even look that good, but my experience with Pixar is that they never look that good in the ads (see Finding Nemo, Cars and The Incredibles) but they always turn out awesome.

• Gf1, gf2 and I saw No Reservations last night - I won't say it was awesome because it wasn't, but it wasn't THE most terrible film I have seen. The guy was quite hot but should have had a shorter fringe - it was distracting. On the brighter side, Catherine Zeta-Jones got less annoying to me as the movie went on (once it started I was instantly reminded of how much I dislike her for no particular reason at all) and it stars the young girl from that movie with the family that take the young girl to the dancing competition?!

• If anyone is at all curious about attending Club Med Body and Soul at Lindeman Island this year, please Please PLEASE send me an email?!

• Happy Fathers to all you dads for tmr!