This is just a quickie because:
a) It's late and we just got home after dinner and Wii with The Hun's workmates which was lots of fun and makes the wait until Christmas all the harder;
b) I'm off to the coast tomorrow for two nights with the bro's, some cousins and various partners and I feel I should let you know before I go AWOL;
c) I have something I want to talk about but want to give it the time it deserves, but it's constantly in the back of my mind so I have to get it, shorter and sooner than preferred;
d) All of the above.
I mentioned in this dot point post that Max the dog was unwell with pancreas and bronchial issues, with potential meningitis. Since he started his medication he had pepped up again, cheery and friendly and our happy dog again. When I saw him on the weekend for youngest bro's 21st, he was acting odd again. Watching him in the hallway, his front left leg kept slipping out from under. He was panting and his tongue was hanging out on one side, which whilst may seem cute, is also not normal. He was walking side by side with Elvis the dog, in the exact same way Elvis and Tom used to do (always walking as one) and then he went berko at Elvis and had to be smacked a sent away - something that hasn't happened for quite some time. He came out onto the deck and peed on the mat twice, in front of everyone - he has never done that before.
He was taken back into the vet on Tuesday for further tests and came home with dadsy and youngest bro just before 8pm. Dadsy jumped in the other car with mumsy to pick up birthday dinner Indian, and I met up with youngest bro in the driveway. Youngest bro started to explain what the vet had said, but was intertuped by Max shaking himself, like all dogs do, but landing himself on his back, legs up in the air, unable to get up and unwilling to try. I asked if he'd been sedated and was told that no, he hadn't, just as youngest bro opened the gate for Max. Max turned anticlockwise in almost a full circle to turn right - "He's not turning right" I was told. And whilst typically this could also be amusing in a Zoolander kinda way, it just wasn't. Max was panting and keen to get inside for a drink of water, so took off up the back stairs as per usual but got it wrong again - jumping to the right and almost jamming his head in the corner of the deck under a bicycle tire.
I nearly burst into tears all three things happened within about ten seconds - all I could kinda do was stare at him with my mouth open and feel my stomach fall.
Youngest bro got him inside and told us that one eye was weaker than the other and one leg was weaker.
They told him he may have had a stroke - a blood clot through to his brain; he may have a tumor in his brain; he may have cancer in his brain.
Eldest bro summed it up the most articulately: So they're not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it's shit.
It could have happened before he slipped down the stairs, it could have happened during, it could have happened after. It goes to explain his personality change. It could happen again.
The vet put calls through to Sydney Uni - it's the only place where they can do an MRI. And whilst they said they may not need to take it that far, if they can piece together what's happened, dadsy told me this afternoon that the vet was waiting for the call back from the uni.
I've volunteered to take him up if he needs to go.
Because everyone had a hard enough watching Tom die, and I wasn't there.
Because I was the one so determined that what we needed was another dog.
Because I was the one who picked him out from the pound with mumsy.
Because when I picked him up from the pound I saw such love in his eyes it brought tears to my eyes - the crazy sobbing driver and the ecstatic lovely dog.
Because although he shows no sign of any attachment or loyalty to me, I can't help but feel so much a part of him.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I'm so tired my feet don't touch the ground*
I thought I was the witness of a descending rapture of the heavens this afternoon in the toilet at work, but it was just the Christmas Carol choir practicing in the meeting room next door.
Hallelujah.
At the moment I'm sick of feeling sick. I have the feeling I'm coughing through the night but have stopped waking myself up with it - my only clue to this is when I had a bit of a sleep-in on Saturday and The Hun told me I'd been coughing all morning. That and the way that what used to feel likea good old cough to clear the lungs while I had a runny nose and stuffy head now elicits only a half hearted bark, a cringe and a pout. I'm back to being headachey, blowing my nose in that embarassing way that usually requires more than one tissue and feeling like I've got a filter somewhere in my chest that needs a good poking with a pipecleaner to empty the vents. It doesn't help that I just finished a book about a hypochondriac having a breakdown that I actually quite enjoyed, but has me half believing that perhaps I have a chest infection that's going to devolve itself into pneumonia or bronchitis or lawd knows what. So not only am I sick of being sick and tired of being tired, but now you're probably bored, full stop.
I should proddly just stop this one right here, for the sake of all involved.
28 sleeps to go!
PS - After all of my whinging about uni I got my marks back on Friday - two distinctions, my best ever! Seems the ticket is a delicate balance between cramming at the very last minute and attending all the lectures and tutes, even if you don't absorb a whole lot. I should patent that sh!t right there.
*This is the song that The Hun and I seem to sing any time we feel even a little tired... know it?
Hallelujah.
At the moment I'm sick of feeling sick. I have the feeling I'm coughing through the night but have stopped waking myself up with it - my only clue to this is when I had a bit of a sleep-in on Saturday and The Hun told me I'd been coughing all morning. That and the way that what used to feel likea good old cough to clear the lungs while I had a runny nose and stuffy head now elicits only a half hearted bark, a cringe and a pout. I'm back to being headachey, blowing my nose in that embarassing way that usually requires more than one tissue and feeling like I've got a filter somewhere in my chest that needs a good poking with a pipecleaner to empty the vents. It doesn't help that I just finished a book about a hypochondriac having a breakdown that I actually quite enjoyed, but has me half believing that perhaps I have a chest infection that's going to devolve itself into pneumonia or bronchitis or lawd knows what. So not only am I sick of being sick and tired of being tired, but now you're probably bored, full stop.
I should proddly just stop this one right here, for the sake of all involved.
28 sleeps to go!
PS - After all of my whinging about uni I got my marks back on Friday - two distinctions, my best ever! Seems the ticket is a delicate balance between cramming at the very last minute and attending all the lectures and tutes, even if you don't absorb a whole lot. I should patent that sh!t right there.
*This is the song that The Hun and I seem to sing any time we feel even a little tired... know it?
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Homebake Timetable - My Adventure
I don't know why these concert promoters make their timetables so damned hard to read!
I realise I could be alone on this one, but I've got the same problem with this years Homebake timetable as I did with this years Big Day Out timetable. Can you see what the issue is?
Perhaps you can't - in fact, if you're a guy, chances are you can't.
The thing that REALLY bothers me with this timetable is that it's upside down. Like I understand the need for having the 'big names' at the 'top' but it makes it near impossible for me to read - it's like it switches off some 'understanding' link in my brain. Even if I get a grasp on what show follows what show, I get befuddled with the gaps. The gaps that run in reverse.
I don't typically consider myself an anal type of person *snigger* but when these things are released I just HAVE to reverse them into Excel. And because they don't all start at quarter/half past/to I just have to break the times down in to five minutes blocks.
This isn't even getting onto the annoying manner in which they schedule the ones I want to see all around the same time. Like Missy Higgins & Architecture in Helsinki, and Gotye and Sarah Blasko.
Just as an aside, the lineup isn't all that awesome - I have got to do some serious internet stalking to find out who half these people are otherwise I won't be spending a whole lot of time in The Domain that day!
I realise I could be alone on this one, but I've got the same problem with this years Homebake timetable as I did with this years Big Day Out timetable. Can you see what the issue is?
Perhaps you can't - in fact, if you're a guy, chances are you can't.The thing that REALLY bothers me with this timetable is that it's upside down. Like I understand the need for having the 'big names' at the 'top' but it makes it near impossible for me to read - it's like it switches off some 'understanding' link in my brain. Even if I get a grasp on what show follows what show, I get befuddled with the gaps. The gaps that run in reverse.
I don't typically consider myself an anal type of person *snigger* but when these things are released I just HAVE to reverse them into Excel. And because they don't all start at quarter/half past/to I just have to break the times down in to five minutes blocks.
This isn't even getting onto the annoying manner in which they schedule the ones I want to see all around the same time. Like Missy Higgins & Architecture in Helsinki, and Gotye and Sarah Blasko.
Just as an aside, the lineup isn't all that awesome - I have got to do some serious internet stalking to find out who half these people are otherwise I won't be spending a whole lot of time in The Domain that day!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
(More) Exciting Times - this time in dot points!
- Following on from this, mumsy is veggo too! I had my doubts, I do think she's more likely to try and mislead dadsy on this one - but I'd be more than happy to eat my words on that. Keep your fingers crossed on this one, people!
- I'm mostly over my cold/flu - I spend a lot of time blowing my nose and trying to pick off the dead skin that looks like nasty dried snots while ignoring the comments from my boss about how my coughing sounds like that ad where the lady coughs but it sounds like a dog. I could also do without the waking up choking/coughing/sniffling.
- The hot weather that was bothering me while I was sweating all over the couch has turned on me now that I want to sit outside and drink. What's the special occasion? My old boss is having a Tupperware party and she REALLY knows how to throw a good one! Basically I will sit outside, be showered with cruisers while eating hummus, french bread and kettles, get overexcited at storage and then spend money I don't have on things I don't have room for. Hooray for Tupperware!
- In order to get a lift to/from Tupperware, I had to clean my room (you can guess whose idea THAT was). First time in months that my feral room was cleaned, and even I am relieved to see the carpet again.
- To top that off, youngest bro is having his 21st party on Saturday night. It's a BBQ, but now that mumsy and dadsy are veg*ns and two of my veg*n martial arts students are coming, it's going to be good to have lotsa veg*n food there. I'm excited about it for the food and the drinking and the fact that youngest bro was hammered at the toga party we went to the other week and he invited half my friends as well. Hooray!
- What is it with ho's ruining my favorite TV shows?! I'm finding it really hard to enjoy Dexter because of that feral ho Lila; and Nancy used to be my favorite in Weeds but she is just slutting herself EVERYWHERE at the moment.
- Max the dog has come across a bad patch - he'd been mopey of late and not quite right, keeping his tail down and not getting excited over anything much. Mumsy and dadsy took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a pancreas issue and a bronchial upset, so we figured that was the main cause of his mopeyness, but he's also taken to falling down the stairs a lot (and blaming us for it somehow). Even though mumsy put some anti-slip stripes on the stairs on the weekend it didn't help - he fell down on Monday and had some kind of fit. He was in with the vet all day on Monday and they believed it was either a shock from the fall or meningitis (which is not like pharyngitis like I initially believed, but rather an infection in his brain) - he's been on medication and mumsy installed a baby gate on the stairs and dadsy chaperone's him outside so that he doesn't go anywhere near stairs, and apparently he has really picked up again. I hope it was just shock or a one off - meningitis has about a 60% cure rate and to confirm it they need to extract spinal cord fluid from him, which would really upset it him. It would be so upsetting to see, particularly after poor Tom suffered from seizures as well.
- Guess who's a spoilt girl? At this stage I'm still on track to get a Wii from The Hun for Christmas AND now the bro's have decided to get me a DS as well! This is mainly due to me hating feeling left out while they all play games together (all three of them have one) and so we're also getting one for eldest bro's gf and The Hun. What a bad example of an almost 26 year old I am.
- Another bad example of what a bad 26 year old I am? One friend had her first son on Tuesday, one friend is due in March and one friend is due in the middle of June. OOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllld.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Sick Day Interview
This shoulda been up earlier, but I've been home sick today. And whilst I was perky for Facebook chat, I've started feeling worse. Why the flu and not The Hun's 4kg lighter making gastro bug from last week?!
Lulu did the interview I did a little while ago, and she was so keen to interview that I couldn't help myself - let the interviewing begin!
1. You and The Hun seem like you have been together forever!! Do you think you will get married? If so, when?
As of tomorrow, we will have been together for 3 years and 9 months. Had I managed to get myself knocked up on our 'start date', we would have a 3 year old - scary thought! It's actually funny you asked this question because gf2 went and saw a psychic the other week and she had some interesting things to say on the topic:
But yes, I think that we will. I'm not sure when, but I would like to have kids sooner rather than later (ie, by 30) so it's easier to manage and I still have time to get a career on track. Perhaps we will hafta time it with dadsy's retirement because it seems that childcare is a joke these days. So within the next few years? It might help that I don't even joke about it any more because it was causing some friction for a bit there...
2. If you could live anywhere in the world where do you think it would be?
Now, this might surprise you, but in terms of OS I could see myself handling Japan! As much as I whinged, I could totally see working there doable (language etc aside). More locally, if we were to move anywhere, I imagine Melbourne. Or Sydney. My view is that wherever The Hun is able to find fulfilling work I am more than happy to follow, and hopefully transfer my job to work out of the nearest office of the organisation I work for.
3. What are your favourite vegan recipies?
Heh heh - quick and easy ones! I'm a bad vegan in that I don't do recipes as well as I should, but I should be more honest and say I'm a bad cook! The Hun likes to do gourmet type stuff - fresh herbs, complex recipes, research on the internet etc, whereas I'm more of a 'whatever' kinda cook. So for quick and easy vegan recipes I like my lazy pasta, burritos with refried beans, salsa and lettuce and Sanitarium mock roast with roast veggies (that The Hun is coooking for poor sick enny right now!). I also went mental at The Hub - a bastardised asian grocery in Tuggeranong that makes it easy for me to get all sorts of awesome asian things, so I'm stocked up on puffed tofu, dehydrated 'beef' and 'chicken' nuggets for stirfries, as well as red bean buns, chicken skewers and instant noodles/curries. Yum!
4. If given the chance would you travel to the moon?
No! I'm scared of heights, I'm scared of flying, I'd be scared of motion sickness, burning up, running out of oxygen, and just realising there is no ground underneath me.... not to mention the vastness of space! It's one place I have no interest to visit, but I don't mind looking at the pictures.
5. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Is you life now anything like you thought it would be when you were younger?
Heh heh. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher so that I could write on the blackboard and yell at the kids. Fact. That dropped off somewhere along the line and I decided I wanted to be a vet, but I wans't kidding myself and there was no chance my UAI would get me into that (besides, seeing blood and hurt animals would be pretty un-cope-able for me!). In year 12 I took up a double major in IT (I think it's because the nerdy boys I crushed on (particularly The Hun!) were doing it) and decided I would go on to do IT. Until I dropped out because I can't code.
So no - I don't think my career is what I expected. I remember saying to my old boss when I waitressed that I didn't see myself sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life (just before I told him I couldn't see myself waitressing for the rest of my life and he replaced me and I was unemployed until I got my public service job). But, the way I see it is that I'll stick it out as a public servant for a while - the conditions are really good and I do actually like what I do - I can see it moving more into the type of stuff that I would more like to do as well. But in all honesty I totally expect to have a midlife crisis type thing when my kids are teenagers and The Hun is super successful and become a teacher, or a vet, or a psychologist.
You know the drill:
Now it's your turn. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment including the words "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Lulu did the interview I did a little while ago, and she was so keen to interview that I couldn't help myself - let the interviewing begin!
1. You and The Hun seem like you have been together forever!! Do you think you will get married? If so, when?
As of tomorrow, we will have been together for 3 years and 9 months. Had I managed to get myself knocked up on our 'start date', we would have a 3 year old - scary thought! It's actually funny you asked this question because gf2 went and saw a psychic the other week and she had some interesting things to say on the topic:
- I will marry The Hun;
- He is the type of guy every girl wants to marry;
- There will only be a short engagement (as we're practically engaged now); and
- There will be children (don't know how many) because "I was born to be a mother".
But yes, I think that we will. I'm not sure when, but I would like to have kids sooner rather than later (ie, by 30) so it's easier to manage and I still have time to get a career on track. Perhaps we will hafta time it with dadsy's retirement because it seems that childcare is a joke these days. So within the next few years? It might help that I don't even joke about it any more because it was causing some friction for a bit there...
2. If you could live anywhere in the world where do you think it would be?
Now, this might surprise you, but in terms of OS I could see myself handling Japan! As much as I whinged, I could totally see working there doable (language etc aside). More locally, if we were to move anywhere, I imagine Melbourne. Or Sydney. My view is that wherever The Hun is able to find fulfilling work I am more than happy to follow, and hopefully transfer my job to work out of the nearest office of the organisation I work for.
3. What are your favourite vegan recipies?
Heh heh - quick and easy ones! I'm a bad vegan in that I don't do recipes as well as I should, but I should be more honest and say I'm a bad cook! The Hun likes to do gourmet type stuff - fresh herbs, complex recipes, research on the internet etc, whereas I'm more of a 'whatever' kinda cook. So for quick and easy vegan recipes I like my lazy pasta, burritos with refried beans, salsa and lettuce and Sanitarium mock roast with roast veggies (that The Hun is coooking for poor sick enny right now!). I also went mental at The Hub - a bastardised asian grocery in Tuggeranong that makes it easy for me to get all sorts of awesome asian things, so I'm stocked up on puffed tofu, dehydrated 'beef' and 'chicken' nuggets for stirfries, as well as red bean buns, chicken skewers and instant noodles/curries. Yum!
4. If given the chance would you travel to the moon?
No! I'm scared of heights, I'm scared of flying, I'd be scared of motion sickness, burning up, running out of oxygen, and just realising there is no ground underneath me.... not to mention the vastness of space! It's one place I have no interest to visit, but I don't mind looking at the pictures.
5. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Is you life now anything like you thought it would be when you were younger?
Heh heh. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher so that I could write on the blackboard and yell at the kids. Fact. That dropped off somewhere along the line and I decided I wanted to be a vet, but I wans't kidding myself and there was no chance my UAI would get me into that (besides, seeing blood and hurt animals would be pretty un-cope-able for me!). In year 12 I took up a double major in IT (I think it's because the nerdy boys I crushed on (particularly The Hun!) were doing it) and decided I would go on to do IT. Until I dropped out because I can't code.
So no - I don't think my career is what I expected. I remember saying to my old boss when I waitressed that I didn't see myself sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life (just before I told him I couldn't see myself waitressing for the rest of my life and he replaced me and I was unemployed until I got my public service job). But, the way I see it is that I'll stick it out as a public servant for a while - the conditions are really good and I do actually like what I do - I can see it moving more into the type of stuff that I would more like to do as well. But in all honesty I totally expect to have a midlife crisis type thing when my kids are teenagers and The Hun is super successful and become a teacher, or a vet, or a psychologist.
You know the drill:
Now it's your turn. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment including the words "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Getting close to vote time
You can tell, can't you? The number of voiced over ads are on the rise, as is the amount of time spent thinking about why on earth these promises haven't already been, you know, done.
I posted a while back on not knowing how to vote and got some great advice from commenters, and I thought I would quickly touch back on the topic and let you know about a post of Ruth's that I really appreciate.
Please click on the link to her (November 12) post, read her advice and click on the links in her post to read the policies.
I guess it's so blindly obvious that we should all feel a little guilty for not doing it ourselves... so get those reading glasses, thinking hats and deciding fingers ready - 5 sleeps to go!
I posted a while back on not knowing how to vote and got some great advice from commenters, and I thought I would quickly touch back on the topic and let you know about a post of Ruth's that I really appreciate.
Please click on the link to her (November 12) post, read her advice and click on the links in her post to read the policies.
I guess it's so blindly obvious that we should all feel a little guilty for not doing it ourselves... so get those reading glasses, thinking hats and deciding fingers ready - 5 sleeps to go!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Muse - Sydney Entertainment Centre - November 17th
Well.
It. Was. Fantastic!
I don't know how many of you are into Muse, but it was an amazing show.
The Hun, middle bro, youngest bro and I drove up to Sydney on Saturday, checked into our hotel, went to the shops (a shirt for middle bro, shorts for youngest bro, thongs for The Hun, lunch snack for middle bro and I), went back to the hotel and then went to the the pub across from the entertainment centre. We settled in for a few (middle and youngest bro had had a few of their own before leaving the hotel) and once eldest bro and eldest bro's gf had joined us, we headed in (with a few drinks) so sit on the floor and wait for the support act.
The support act were called The Checks and aren't really all that describable - so here's their Wiki link. Our opinion was that the lead singer was feeling something that wasn't really there, and one of the bro's commented that someone needs to tell him he should be popular/succesful before dancing around like that. I mean, they were ok, but you couldn't really hear what was going on as it was so loud and his silly antics were kinda distracting.
Muse came on at 9:30 and they totally blew me away. I find it so amazing that three people (well, mostly one) can create something that can affect so many people! I have no idea how many people were in there (it was sold out) but to have that many people so excited to see you, and to be able to elicit such an extraordinary reaction from them is something very powerful.
It was the first time I've been in the standing section for anything (other than my one BDO) so I was a little nervous at the start, particularly once the crowd seemed to all move forward at once. Typically I would have bought a seated ticket because I am old and lame and lazy, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it half as much if I were seated. I felt a part of it - jumping and screaming and singing and pointing, but a good 20 metres away from the stage, I would say. We all stayed fairly close together, except for when youngest bro decided to go into the ACTUAL most pit - that is, I think I saw him on the big screen during one of the songs and when he returned to our group 10 minutes before the end he was absolutely soaked. He had sweated so much (and got himself covered in everyone elses sweat) to the point where he had to leave in the final (second) encore for water, so missed part of the show.
So yeah, where we was was pretty awesome - close enough to be in the thick of it, close enough to still have determined young things push past us to get closer and close enough to have sweaty wild-eyed things push past us to get out. And close enough to have two big sweaty guys hear me proclaim 'Oh F*CK no!' as they decided my line of sight was the best place for them to stand and flick sweat around with their lank hair. "It's a mosh pit, get over it" was the response I got, but whilst I was trying to get up the guts to point out that um no, actually it's not the mosh pit - the mosh pit is the bit where people are being lifted up over the fence and this is actually the bit where people stand when they want to totally rock but are too scared of getting crushed they must have realised for themselves because they moved over to where they belonged.
After that we headed back to the hotel (with a stop for some Gatorade and misery chips which I didn't really need but was hungry and why don't 7-11s have SALAD sandwhiches?!) and met up again this morning for the drive back.
(Note: I bought the tour singlet which is totally hawt from the ribcage up, but a little disturbing in the belly button region. It doesn't help that at dinner on fri night with gf1 and gf2 (before they departed for their tropical Lindeman island holiday which I totally should be on too!) gf1 told us how her brother had a friend that went to the doctor because she couldn't lose weight and the doctor told her to stop dieting because she was pregnant, even though she was on the pill and used contraception.)
The only other thing I'd say about the weekend (apart from the concert was awesome! Woot!) was that I don't think I'd recommend the Regent Hotel just off George street - we stayed in a twin share room as part of a mystery deal thing middle bro organised and it was tiny, there was no iron, the pillow hurt my neck, people were knocking on doors at 7am and there is no noise reduction between the hallway and the room, the room has a fake window with light in it and the lifts are jerky. However, for $88 for a room for a night, it was pretty frickin' awesome. Weigh it up, I guess!
It. Was. Fantastic!
I don't know how many of you are into Muse, but it was an amazing show.
The Hun, middle bro, youngest bro and I drove up to Sydney on Saturday, checked into our hotel, went to the shops (a shirt for middle bro, shorts for youngest bro, thongs for The Hun, lunch snack for middle bro and I), went back to the hotel and then went to the the pub across from the entertainment centre. We settled in for a few (middle and youngest bro had had a few of their own before leaving the hotel) and once eldest bro and eldest bro's gf had joined us, we headed in (with a few drinks) so sit on the floor and wait for the support act.
The support act were called The Checks and aren't really all that describable - so here's their Wiki link. Our opinion was that the lead singer was feeling something that wasn't really there, and one of the bro's commented that someone needs to tell him he should be popular/succesful before dancing around like that. I mean, they were ok, but you couldn't really hear what was going on as it was so loud and his silly antics were kinda distracting.
Muse came on at 9:30 and they totally blew me away. I find it so amazing that three people (well, mostly one) can create something that can affect so many people! I have no idea how many people were in there (it was sold out) but to have that many people so excited to see you, and to be able to elicit such an extraordinary reaction from them is something very powerful.
It was the first time I've been in the standing section for anything (other than my one BDO) so I was a little nervous at the start, particularly once the crowd seemed to all move forward at once. Typically I would have bought a seated ticket because I am old and lame and lazy, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it half as much if I were seated. I felt a part of it - jumping and screaming and singing and pointing, but a good 20 metres away from the stage, I would say. We all stayed fairly close together, except for when youngest bro decided to go into the ACTUAL most pit - that is, I think I saw him on the big screen during one of the songs and when he returned to our group 10 minutes before the end he was absolutely soaked. He had sweated so much (and got himself covered in everyone elses sweat) to the point where he had to leave in the final (second) encore for water, so missed part of the show.
So yeah, where we was was pretty awesome - close enough to be in the thick of it, close enough to still have determined young things push past us to get closer and close enough to have sweaty wild-eyed things push past us to get out. And close enough to have two big sweaty guys hear me proclaim 'Oh F*CK no!' as they decided my line of sight was the best place for them to stand and flick sweat around with their lank hair. "It's a mosh pit, get over it" was the response I got, but whilst I was trying to get up the guts to point out that um no, actually it's not the mosh pit - the mosh pit is the bit where people are being lifted up over the fence and this is actually the bit where people stand when they want to totally rock but are too scared of getting crushed they must have realised for themselves because they moved over to where they belonged.
After that we headed back to the hotel (with a stop for some Gatorade and misery chips which I didn't really need but was hungry and why don't 7-11s have SALAD sandwhiches?!) and met up again this morning for the drive back.
(Note: I bought the tour singlet which is totally hawt from the ribcage up, but a little disturbing in the belly button region. It doesn't help that at dinner on fri night with gf1 and gf2 (before they departed for their tropical Lindeman island holiday which I totally should be on too!) gf1 told us how her brother had a friend that went to the doctor because she couldn't lose weight and the doctor told her to stop dieting because she was pregnant, even though she was on the pill and used contraception.)
The only other thing I'd say about the weekend (apart from the concert was awesome! Woot!) was that I don't think I'd recommend the Regent Hotel just off George street - we stayed in a twin share room as part of a mystery deal thing middle bro organised and it was tiny, there was no iron, the pillow hurt my neck, people were knocking on doors at 7am and there is no noise reduction between the hallway and the room, the room has a fake window with light in it and the lifts are jerky. However, for $88 for a room for a night, it was pretty frickin' awesome. Weigh it up, I guess!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Exciting Times!
There's something I'm super excited about :o)
Dadsy's party went well on the weekend (snide comments aside) and I was there for about 12 hours. There was not much drinking for me, largely due to a toga party 21st the night before that included an open bar, but there was the occassional cruiser or Moscato enjoyed by yours truly. There was substantially more drinking from others there including dadsy and one of dadsy's best friends (ever seen a 48 year old man roll out of his undies on a plastic lawn? No? Then you haven't lived).
Anyway, somewhere along the way it was picked up that dadsy was making the usual 'I won't drink much after this' 'I'm going to get fit and slim' 'I'm going to ride my bike to work' (now you know where I get it from!) and I decided to slip in the 'I'm going to be vegetarian'. On my way out the door I reminded him that he was going to stop eating meat and he started getting lyrical about how he hates the cruelty to these animals, how disgusting the live export trade is, how he could perhaps one day make a difference to that and how he remembers his great uncle having pigs that would just nuzzle up to you like a puppy. Before they ate them.
Monday night was dadsy's actual birthday, so the Monday night family tea was more of a special occassion - rather than going out to a restaraunt as planned, it was decided we would stay in and have leftovers and seafood. Because that's how special occassions are celebrated at the house. To say I was a little uncomfortable during the meal is an understatement - dadsy's best friend had returned with his wife for dinner, so there were 10 people around the table, 9 of which were peeling and ripping the heads off of prawns, slurping oyesters, and gouging at crabs with crab forks, spoons, fingers and lips. Whilst everyone kept proclaiming how fantastic it was, how good it tasted, and 'look at me make it move like it's still alive', dadsy was the only one who noticed the predicament for me and felt the need to apologise. Several times.
Don't get me wrong - it's not like I feel I should be owed an apology. I was THE biggest seafood eater, it was my FAVOURITE meal of all time. I'm not mad at them for eating animals, I see it all the time, I was the same way before. It's just that on this particular occassion there was nowhere else to look but down at my cold rice and pasta salad.
Yesterday at work I called dadsy at home - he'd taken some more leave around his birthday so he could relax - to check how Max the dog was doing. Poor thing has been extra mopey with nary a tailwag in sight for a little while now, plus he'd been diagnosed with a bronchial irritation AND he had fallen down the stairs twice in the last few days. I was glad to hear that Max had pepped up somewhat and I decided it would be a good time to stir dadsy about his vegetarianism - "Did you have meat for lunch?".
"No. I haven't had meat today or yesterday."
Stunned silence.
"Wow dad - that's awesome! You're vegetarian now!"
"No no, you know, just testing it out or whatever... not officially... we'll see..."
Cue change of topic on his behalf.
I sent him a message over Facebook last night (because that's how we roll) telling him that I was really proud of him. That it must have been hard for him but that I really respect his decision to do something about the suffering. He's already saved lives and he has already made a difference.
And then I went to bed.
I just think it is absolutely fantastic that someone like my dadsy - 50 years old, lover of expensive foods and animal flesh, born in rural Australia has decided to listen to his heart and make an active decision to make a difference.
I am so excited about this.
Dadsy's party went well on the weekend (snide comments aside) and I was there for about 12 hours. There was not much drinking for me, largely due to a toga party 21st the night before that included an open bar, but there was the occassional cruiser or Moscato enjoyed by yours truly. There was substantially more drinking from others there including dadsy and one of dadsy's best friends (ever seen a 48 year old man roll out of his undies on a plastic lawn? No? Then you haven't lived).
Anyway, somewhere along the way it was picked up that dadsy was making the usual 'I won't drink much after this' 'I'm going to get fit and slim' 'I'm going to ride my bike to work' (now you know where I get it from!) and I decided to slip in the 'I'm going to be vegetarian'. On my way out the door I reminded him that he was going to stop eating meat and he started getting lyrical about how he hates the cruelty to these animals, how disgusting the live export trade is, how he could perhaps one day make a difference to that and how he remembers his great uncle having pigs that would just nuzzle up to you like a puppy. Before they ate them.
Monday night was dadsy's actual birthday, so the Monday night family tea was more of a special occassion - rather than going out to a restaraunt as planned, it was decided we would stay in and have leftovers and seafood. Because that's how special occassions are celebrated at the house. To say I was a little uncomfortable during the meal is an understatement - dadsy's best friend had returned with his wife for dinner, so there were 10 people around the table, 9 of which were peeling and ripping the heads off of prawns, slurping oyesters, and gouging at crabs with crab forks, spoons, fingers and lips. Whilst everyone kept proclaiming how fantastic it was, how good it tasted, and 'look at me make it move like it's still alive', dadsy was the only one who noticed the predicament for me and felt the need to apologise. Several times.
Don't get me wrong - it's not like I feel I should be owed an apology. I was THE biggest seafood eater, it was my FAVOURITE meal of all time. I'm not mad at them for eating animals, I see it all the time, I was the same way before. It's just that on this particular occassion there was nowhere else to look but down at my cold rice and pasta salad.
Yesterday at work I called dadsy at home - he'd taken some more leave around his birthday so he could relax - to check how Max the dog was doing. Poor thing has been extra mopey with nary a tailwag in sight for a little while now, plus he'd been diagnosed with a bronchial irritation AND he had fallen down the stairs twice in the last few days. I was glad to hear that Max had pepped up somewhat and I decided it would be a good time to stir dadsy about his vegetarianism - "Did you have meat for lunch?".
"No. I haven't had meat today or yesterday."
Stunned silence.
"Wow dad - that's awesome! You're vegetarian now!"
"No no, you know, just testing it out or whatever... not officially... we'll see..."
Cue change of topic on his behalf.
I sent him a message over Facebook last night (because that's how we roll) telling him that I was really proud of him. That it must have been hard for him but that I really respect his decision to do something about the suffering. He's already saved lives and he has already made a difference.
And then I went to bed.
I just think it is absolutely fantastic that someone like my dadsy - 50 years old, lover of expensive foods and animal flesh, born in rural Australia has decided to listen to his heart and make an active decision to make a difference.
I am so excited about this.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Does my me etc Pt 2
I really appreciate the kind words from the last post - thanks team.
I mentioned that I'd bought Skinny Bitch and I'm really glad I read it. There may be a slight bias to me because I'm already more than halfway there with what they propose, but it did give me a lot to think about - I do highly recommend it if you read it with an open mind. Even if you don't implement anything/everything from it, it puts thoughts in the right place!
So I think that part of what is frustrating me at the moment is that I have started to make changes to my attitude to food but I am not seeing much in the way of results as yet. And yes, I know it's not immediate, but I am totally a now, Now, NOW kinda girl!
I'm eating fruit for breakfast and another piece of fruit for my snack; I'm snacking on nuts, roasted chickpeas, rice crackers; lunch is salad, sushi or leftovers; bread is wholegrain or with grains and seeds; and dinners aren't deep-fried concoctions - they're full of veggies and proteins, typically with some rice or pasta. See that? I'm not counting out the carbs or sat fats, I'm not avoiding potato or carrot, I'm just eating healthy. If I'm eating well 80 - 90% of the time, then having a treat occasionally is nothing to beat myself up about.
I also finally went in The Hub - it's finally opened down south and I'm in love! If you haven't heard of it, it's pretty much a bastardized asian grocery - the aisles are slightly bigger, the lighting is brighter and all the products have english labels on so I can see what I can and can't have! I'm stocked up on mock meats and sauces so that we're more inclined to cook at home and so The Hun starts enjoying the vegan food a bit more - the products are so easy to cook!
My running and cardioboxing has become a bit lax, but I'm keeping an eye on it and getting ready to get back into it - I've gotten into the heavy end of the running so The Hun is more likely to want to come with me if middle bro is unavailble, and cardioboxing is on again tomorrow.
So I just wanted to say - thanks for the support; read the book; and stop making things more complicated than they need be!
I mentioned that I'd bought Skinny Bitch and I'm really glad I read it. There may be a slight bias to me because I'm already more than halfway there with what they propose, but it did give me a lot to think about - I do highly recommend it if you read it with an open mind. Even if you don't implement anything/everything from it, it puts thoughts in the right place!
So I think that part of what is frustrating me at the moment is that I have started to make changes to my attitude to food but I am not seeing much in the way of results as yet. And yes, I know it's not immediate, but I am totally a now, Now, NOW kinda girl!
I'm eating fruit for breakfast and another piece of fruit for my snack; I'm snacking on nuts, roasted chickpeas, rice crackers; lunch is salad, sushi or leftovers; bread is wholegrain or with grains and seeds; and dinners aren't deep-fried concoctions - they're full of veggies and proteins, typically with some rice or pasta. See that? I'm not counting out the carbs or sat fats, I'm not avoiding potato or carrot, I'm just eating healthy. If I'm eating well 80 - 90% of the time, then having a treat occasionally is nothing to beat myself up about.
I also finally went in The Hub - it's finally opened down south and I'm in love! If you haven't heard of it, it's pretty much a bastardized asian grocery - the aisles are slightly bigger, the lighting is brighter and all the products have english labels on so I can see what I can and can't have! I'm stocked up on mock meats and sauces so that we're more inclined to cook at home and so The Hun starts enjoying the vegan food a bit more - the products are so easy to cook!
My running and cardioboxing has become a bit lax, but I'm keeping an eye on it and getting ready to get back into it - I've gotten into the heavy end of the running so The Hun is more likely to want to come with me if middle bro is unavailble, and cardioboxing is on again tomorrow.
So I just wanted to say - thanks for the support; read the book; and stop making things more complicated than they need be!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Does my me look big in this?
Yesterday my aunty walked up to me at Dadsy's 50th and told me I was 'looking pregnant' as she patted my belly.
I think my reaction was to laugh it off and suddenly look like something important was happening in the kitchen that I need to attend to. Granted, this was probably not the best location to have to be, but at least she didn't follow and I could avoid her for the rest of the day whilst continuing my self conscious habit of pulling my tops down. A lot.
I've long had a bit of a thing going with body image. Nothing major, I don't think, but it's like my little raincloud.
When I was younger, I was the beanpole - no boobs, no real wobble all through college and high school. I'd always been tallish and I was 48kg in year 10, 58 in year 12. Come uni I managed to do something somehow that gifted me with boobs and wobble, courtesy of an extra 15kg or so. So at least I've been pretty consistent since then, typically within 5kg of that - the only variations on the theme being my almost-year of waitressing where I lived on an apple for breakfast before 8 hours on my feet, a nap, whatever dinner my parents cooked and then bed. I also did well in my manic weight-watcher-ing, down 66 kilo's at the lightest.
The thing with me and my weight is that I'm typically in a 'losing' or 'relaxing' frame of mind, with extremes of both. I class my waitressing and WW'ing as extreme losing times - there was nothing healthy about it. I was solely focussed on getting skinny, feeling for my hipbones and checking to see how much I could push down onto my love handles before I could feel only firmness. Conversely, periods of extreme relaxing occur before I start another binge/fad diet. Where I think "I won't be able to enjoy this soon, I better have it even though it's the last thing I feel like".
And always there is this time where I look back on the past - where I look back at pictures of me and think to myself "I thought I looked good there - I looked terrible" or "I thought I looked fat there, I was actually thinner".
It's a terrible, terrible thing!
It's not only weight, but image. I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook, looking through people's photos, as well as my own. More often than not, I do think they look terrible. I can easily look at photo's of other people that might not be flattering for them, but do not bat an eyelid - is it because I know them? That I know they don't look like that all the time? Because I know that I might see it only for a second and it won't cross my mind again - that it's not anything massive in the grand scheme of things?
I can look at someone who might be dangerously unhealthy and underweight, and be envious of their figure.
I can look at someone who might be heavier than me, but see only my stomach might protude more, or my face carry it less well.
I can look at the facts and see - I am 177cm tall, I am in the healthy BMI range, a large amount of my thigh is muscle from martial arts and I believe my back and shoulders followed a similar course for a similar reason.
But why must I spend so much time cringing at my photos, shifting my clothing and stance around, running my internal monologue?
What do people really see when they look at me? What image comes to mind when they think of me? Are they thinking and judging in the same manner I am?
You know, just another Sunday afternoon's ream of thinking.
I think my reaction was to laugh it off and suddenly look like something important was happening in the kitchen that I need to attend to. Granted, this was probably not the best location to have to be, but at least she didn't follow and I could avoid her for the rest of the day whilst continuing my self conscious habit of pulling my tops down. A lot.
I've long had a bit of a thing going with body image. Nothing major, I don't think, but it's like my little raincloud.
When I was younger, I was the beanpole - no boobs, no real wobble all through college and high school. I'd always been tallish and I was 48kg in year 10, 58 in year 12. Come uni I managed to do something somehow that gifted me with boobs and wobble, courtesy of an extra 15kg or so. So at least I've been pretty consistent since then, typically within 5kg of that - the only variations on the theme being my almost-year of waitressing where I lived on an apple for breakfast before 8 hours on my feet, a nap, whatever dinner my parents cooked and then bed. I also did well in my manic weight-watcher-ing, down 66 kilo's at the lightest.
The thing with me and my weight is that I'm typically in a 'losing' or 'relaxing' frame of mind, with extremes of both. I class my waitressing and WW'ing as extreme losing times - there was nothing healthy about it. I was solely focussed on getting skinny, feeling for my hipbones and checking to see how much I could push down onto my love handles before I could feel only firmness. Conversely, periods of extreme relaxing occur before I start another binge/fad diet. Where I think "I won't be able to enjoy this soon, I better have it even though it's the last thing I feel like".
And always there is this time where I look back on the past - where I look back at pictures of me and think to myself "I thought I looked good there - I looked terrible" or "I thought I looked fat there, I was actually thinner".
It's a terrible, terrible thing!
It's not only weight, but image. I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook, looking through people's photos, as well as my own. More often than not, I do think they look terrible. I can easily look at photo's of other people that might not be flattering for them, but do not bat an eyelid - is it because I know them? That I know they don't look like that all the time? Because I know that I might see it only for a second and it won't cross my mind again - that it's not anything massive in the grand scheme of things?
I can look at someone who might be dangerously unhealthy and underweight, and be envious of their figure.
I can look at someone who might be heavier than me, but see only my stomach might protude more, or my face carry it less well.
I can look at the facts and see - I am 177cm tall, I am in the healthy BMI range, a large amount of my thigh is muscle from martial arts and I believe my back and shoulders followed a similar course for a similar reason.
But why must I spend so much time cringing at my photos, shifting my clothing and stance around, running my internal monologue?
What do people really see when they look at me? What image comes to mind when they think of me? Are they thinking and judging in the same manner I am?
You know, just another Sunday afternoon's ream of thinking.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
The Interview
I loved this post when I read it over at Two (three) Peas, No Pod so I'm super excited that I got to participate. In a nutshell: They ask me five questions, I answer them here, and if you want me to ask you five questions then leave a comment!
1. When did you first become a Vegan and why did you decide to make the change?
I've proddly posted all this before, but I'll give you the brief rundown -I went to martial arts camp in May 2006 and the subject of religion was brought up. The majority of seniors in the school are Buddhist, with the exception of Magf and I (both going through the same Catholic schools), although I've long had an interested in exploring it further (Magf does not). When I got home I started reading "Living Buddha, Living Christ" which got me thinking more about cruelty and compassion. I hadn't intentionally killed a bug for many years - our martial arts school has a pledge containing the line "I will not cause suffering or harm to other living beings" and I remember the day my instructor told me that it included bugs and insects too, it was like a light switch going off. Anyway, I thought to myself "Self, you are a hypocrite for feeling righteous about not killing bugs when you eat meat. So stop eating meat.". That was the middle of May 2006. I spent the rest of the month on the internet reading about vegetarianism and realised that not eating meat is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to compassionate living - there is just so much suffering going on in the dairy, egg and all animal industries (read more here), I decided that I was not going to participate in that any more. On the first of June 2006, I became vegan.
2. I notice that you are really into martial arts. What martial arts have you studied? When did you first start taking them and what is it about them that you like?
Ah - a tricky one! I don't really disclose on here which martial art it is because it is quite small and would likely come up on the first page if anyone googled it. So unfortunately, I won't be sharing that with you BUT I can tell you that it's a Korean/Chinese martial art. I started training in June 1999 - they did a pamphlet drop and my mum took eldest bro and middle bro along to a class, who then came back talking about much fun it was, so I joined a class later. I double graded on my first grading (because I was older, I think) so I was always a bit ahead of my brothers (youngest bro joined when he was old enough, middle bro stopped when he started playing MUDD online) which was good for me, maybe not so much for them ;o) I graded to 1st Dan in 1997, 2nd Dan in 2000, and 3rd Dan in 2005 - I have a projected grading date to 4th Dan in 2009 after which I'll be considered a Master. This point is somewhat hilarious to me because I know that I'm not the most technically proficient, I forget things easilly and I do more talking and correcting than actual training - HOWEVER what keeps me there is the people (I have a class of such lovely people, all of them really are genuine and I would consider them all friends) and the 'way of life' it has become for me. I can't imagine not doing it. Also - I tend to think of people who 'collect' black belts as sportspeople or hobbyists, so I'm happy to say I've only ever done the one.
3. You have tried to keep your blog a secret from your family. Why did you make that choice and do you think that your blog would be different if they did know about it?
Interesting... I made the choice when I first started because I wanted to get good first. It's taken a while to get to where I am and I wouldn't exactly say it's good. I was also a bit more open about my work and other peoples business when I first started so I wanted to remain anonymous and "honest". I told youngest bro about it after finding out he had blogged but he didn't much care for it, and I don't think he does to this day. There was then the fiasco with middle bro finding it somehow, then apparently telling eldest bro and his gf and the few fallouts that have happened since then. Mumsy and Dadsy now know there is a blog, but as yet I don't know if they've read it. That said - I do kinda wish it wasn't that way. I might just yet go back and remove the "offensive" things so I don't have anything to feel ashamed of, but something I can be kinda proud of. I'm getting better at realising that being "honest" doesn't mean being nasty and lashing my tongue at everyone and everything. In terms of where it would change, I did say to mumsy that if she became a reader and I found out it would change - I hate being judged (which kinda makes blogging a dumb idea, huh?!) and it would be harder to know I'm being judged by them too.
4. What have been the best and worse things about blogging in your experience?
The best thing would easilly be the people I have met that I do consider friends - Erica, D'jen, Adam, Deb and TokenWoman. I also really enjoy the interaction, the talking through an issue, the discussion, the shared interests and the entertainment. I also got to meet a goth (pretty safe to say this never would have happened otherwise) and the first blogger that I ever read!
The worst thing for me might well be the amount of time I spend with my lappy - reading, writing and browsing. Secondarily, I'm not that big a fan of some of the nastiness that seems to happen when ppl congregate for a while (less so on blogs, more on forums and contribution based sites).
5. What are you studying at University and what got you interested in that degree?
I'm studying Commerce. My reasoning is pretty selfish - I dropped out of my IT degree in the third year after (FINALLY) realising I didn't have a coding bone in my body (I'd get them all mixed up and couldn't work out what I wanted to do and how) and work offered to pay for me if I went back and did something work related. Commerce is basically a bit of everything, so I knew it would always be work related and that I wouldn't have to commit to any one thing, plus being able to choose a major that took into consideration the units I had already completed brought my anticipated end date forward from mid 2011 to the end of 2009. So I got interested in it because it was free and quick(ish).
1. When did you first become a Vegan and why did you decide to make the change?
I've proddly posted all this before, but I'll give you the brief rundown -I went to martial arts camp in May 2006 and the subject of religion was brought up. The majority of seniors in the school are Buddhist, with the exception of Magf and I (both going through the same Catholic schools), although I've long had an interested in exploring it further (Magf does not). When I got home I started reading "Living Buddha, Living Christ" which got me thinking more about cruelty and compassion. I hadn't intentionally killed a bug for many years - our martial arts school has a pledge containing the line "I will not cause suffering or harm to other living beings" and I remember the day my instructor told me that it included bugs and insects too, it was like a light switch going off. Anyway, I thought to myself "Self, you are a hypocrite for feeling righteous about not killing bugs when you eat meat. So stop eating meat.". That was the middle of May 2006. I spent the rest of the month on the internet reading about vegetarianism and realised that not eating meat is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to compassionate living - there is just so much suffering going on in the dairy, egg and all animal industries (read more here), I decided that I was not going to participate in that any more. On the first of June 2006, I became vegan.
2. I notice that you are really into martial arts. What martial arts have you studied? When did you first start taking them and what is it about them that you like?
Ah - a tricky one! I don't really disclose on here which martial art it is because it is quite small and would likely come up on the first page if anyone googled it. So unfortunately, I won't be sharing that with you BUT I can tell you that it's a Korean/Chinese martial art. I started training in June 1999 - they did a pamphlet drop and my mum took eldest bro and middle bro along to a class, who then came back talking about much fun it was, so I joined a class later. I double graded on my first grading (because I was older, I think) so I was always a bit ahead of my brothers (youngest bro joined when he was old enough, middle bro stopped when he started playing MUDD online) which was good for me, maybe not so much for them ;o) I graded to 1st Dan in 1997, 2nd Dan in 2000, and 3rd Dan in 2005 - I have a projected grading date to 4th Dan in 2009 after which I'll be considered a Master. This point is somewhat hilarious to me because I know that I'm not the most technically proficient, I forget things easilly and I do more talking and correcting than actual training - HOWEVER what keeps me there is the people (I have a class of such lovely people, all of them really are genuine and I would consider them all friends) and the 'way of life' it has become for me. I can't imagine not doing it. Also - I tend to think of people who 'collect' black belts as sportspeople or hobbyists, so I'm happy to say I've only ever done the one.
3. You have tried to keep your blog a secret from your family. Why did you make that choice and do you think that your blog would be different if they did know about it?
Interesting... I made the choice when I first started because I wanted to get good first. It's taken a while to get to where I am and I wouldn't exactly say it's good. I was also a bit more open about my work and other peoples business when I first started so I wanted to remain anonymous and "honest". I told youngest bro about it after finding out he had blogged but he didn't much care for it, and I don't think he does to this day. There was then the fiasco with middle bro finding it somehow, then apparently telling eldest bro and his gf and the few fallouts that have happened since then. Mumsy and Dadsy now know there is a blog, but as yet I don't know if they've read it. That said - I do kinda wish it wasn't that way. I might just yet go back and remove the "offensive" things so I don't have anything to feel ashamed of, but something I can be kinda proud of. I'm getting better at realising that being "honest" doesn't mean being nasty and lashing my tongue at everyone and everything. In terms of where it would change, I did say to mumsy that if she became a reader and I found out it would change - I hate being judged (which kinda makes blogging a dumb idea, huh?!) and it would be harder to know I'm being judged by them too.
4. What have been the best and worse things about blogging in your experience?
The best thing would easilly be the people I have met that I do consider friends - Erica, D'jen, Adam, Deb and TokenWoman. I also really enjoy the interaction, the talking through an issue, the discussion, the shared interests and the entertainment. I also got to meet a goth (pretty safe to say this never would have happened otherwise) and the first blogger that I ever read!
The worst thing for me might well be the amount of time I spend with my lappy - reading, writing and browsing. Secondarily, I'm not that big a fan of some of the nastiness that seems to happen when ppl congregate for a while (less so on blogs, more on forums and contribution based sites).
5. What are you studying at University and what got you interested in that degree?
I'm studying Commerce. My reasoning is pretty selfish - I dropped out of my IT degree in the third year after (FINALLY) realising I didn't have a coding bone in my body (I'd get them all mixed up and couldn't work out what I wanted to do and how) and work offered to pay for me if I went back and did something work related. Commerce is basically a bit of everything, so I knew it would always be work related and that I wouldn't have to commit to any one thing, plus being able to choose a major that took into consideration the units I had already completed brought my anticipated end date forward from mid 2011 to the end of 2009. So I got interested in it because it was free and quick(ish).
*******
Now it's your turn. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment including the words "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. *******
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Ticket fiasco
Ticket buying is getting more and more ridiculous - I'm pretty sure you remember my whinge about Big Day Out (if you didn't experience yourself and/or know people who went through the same struggle) and I know that we only just got in with Muse and Homebake too.
Well, it seems Bjork was no different.
My rambling dot points were right - it was THE most disorganised pile of dogsh!t there ever was. My Friday morning in dot point form:
So, lemme know if you're going! OR if you know somewhere to get some tickets - the prob is they aren't sending tix out until January 7, so it's going to be a bit of rush to buy them that way!
Well, it seems Bjork was no different.
My rambling dot points were right - it was THE most disorganised pile of dogsh!t there ever was. My Friday morning in dot point form:
- Open Festival website, see nothing indicating how to order tickets from site;
- Wait until 9am for BUY TICKETS HERE to appear, but nothing;
- Call Opera House 8 times in a row, fail to get a dial tone;
- Find list of phone numbers on festival site where tickets can be bought, ring all 6 a few times until one finally starts ringing;
- Commence 20 minutes of being on hold to Moshtix;
- Frantically refresh the Festival sites;
- Crankilly whinge to self about the Opera House site showing a combination of 'timed out' and 'results not found' when clicking on the 'Bjork' icon;
- Get through to Moshtix only to be told that they have no idea what I'm talking about, even though they are listed as a ticket seller for the event;
- Call The Hun and ask him if he can see anywhere to buy tickets on Festival site;
- Start searching Ticketek site for Bjork tickets;
- Get cranky at website because it keeps showing 'time out' whenever I select 3 tickets;
- Call The Hun and ask him if he can get them from Ticketek;
- Keep trying Ticketeck and Opera House;
- Call The Hun again and find out he has given up because he couldn't buy 3 or 2 or 1 tickets - turns out firewall was blocking ticket buying, not the website;
- Finally get through to Ticketek on phone - be told they are all sold out;
- Call The Hun to tell him they're sold out and struggle to hold back tears;
- Call middle bro to ask him to keep an eye on eBay for me for tickets to Bjork because I will pay anything to see her;
- Call the Opera House - be told that yes, they are all sold out.
- Email The Hun, eldest bro and middle bro a message filled with expletives bluntly stating dissapointment;
- Receive reply from eldest bro stating he hopes she'll hold a second show as there is a few free nights between her show and Big Day Out;
- Receive reply from middle bro stating he hopes she doesn't hold a second show - ignore;
- Receive reply from The Hun indicating a truck crash on the road we need to take to get to wedding - reply that my day can't get any worse;
- Call The Hun to whinge about how the firewall was making it look like the websites were down when actually they weren't and if only I'd know I could have got The Hun or middle bro to buy the tickets for me earlier or I could have started late...;
- Tell The Hun that no, I didn't reply to middle bro's email - why would I, he was being nasty hoping that there wasn't another show;
- Drop jaw in shock as The Hun tells me to open the attachment on middle bro's email that I obviously didn't see and find out middle bro managed to buy me the last ticket available from the Opera House site;
- Feel tears of anger turn to tears of joy.
So, lemme know if you're going! OR if you know somewhere to get some tickets - the prob is they aren't sending tix out until January 7, so it's going to be a bit of rush to buy them that way!
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Praise the blue cord!
That blue computer cord that goes into the flashy box has made my lappy run a little faster - though I STILL can't play Scrabulous...!
Anyways, wedding fest has drawn to a close - I shall celebrate this in the form of dot points to make it easier to skim.
Anyways, wedding fest has drawn to a close - I shall celebrate this in the form of dot points to make it easier to skim.
- The four hour drive seems quicker there than on the way back;
- It rained Friday night, poured Saturday morning, cleared up Saturday lunch, got amazingly foggy Saturday afternoon, stormed Saturday night and blew a mental amount of wind on Sunday morning.
- We ate dinner with one of The Huns good friends and his gf on Friday night at the Hydro Majestic where we were staying - $230 bill for dinner (3 x entree, 4 x main, 3 x dessert, 1 x bottle wine, 2 x glasses vodka)! I don't know that the dinner was worth it - the meals were small, they got my drink wrong the first time, they forgot the creamed potatoes and they spilt wine on the table twice.
- Also - don't think I'd stay there again - it was a 'discount' rate at $235 a night. The rooms were pretty small, there was no bar fridge facility and there was no hot water in the sink and cold water in the shower on the first night. They also charge an administration fee if you leave anything in the room - they assured me that the $100 charge on The Huns card was the bank fee and that it would be returned and that they found nothing in the room (though I've lost one of my crocs!).
- Spending the day with the groom on Saturday was an interesting insight - the poor guy was pretty frazzled, he seemed to be doing multiple errands all the time, scattered all together.
- The outdoor wedding was held in complete fog which was amazing, until it started to get cold. But she looked so beautiful and so happy, and the boys scrubbed up really nicely.
3/74ths of an update
I'm TRYING to write an update of the last few days but my internet is running brainstabbingly slow AND The Hun has been sent to Melbourne for work (to work on Melbourne Cup Day - who does that to their staff?!) and he is not only the glad receiver of my headscratches, but also my internet-fixer-upper dude... so I'm hoping another nights sleep will fix it up, else I have the whole of the newly proclaimed F&C Day to soldier through it.
brblolz!
brblolz!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Hooray - uni is done!
We'll see how well it was done in December - the final exam this morning was okayish, but a little too similar to the one I completed earlier in the year where it all seemed fine and dandy and I walked out early, only to find out I nearly failed. Ah well. I need to get 50% on the exam to pass the unit, at which point I would be on 70.2%... I'm trying not to get too excited.
I should also point out I've had two cruisers, one of which was a double, after my run tonight.
Running is going well - there was a bit of a blip in the radar over a misunderstaning between middle bro, myself and his friends over a pink DS but I kept it up (and found out they kept it up) and all is good in the world. He also managed to recuit another 3 or 4 of his friends, so now we look like a bunch of crazies walking and running around a school oval, yelling at each other to STOP! every so often; me shuffling and lagging up the back; middle bro panting in the middle; and the two newer fittest friends bounding along at the front. What was awesome was that the seemingly fittest of middle bro's friends had to walk it out tonight, whilst middle bro and I managed to soldier on. It's a bit mean, but it's nicer to be fitter than someone, even though I feel sorry for the poor guy who didn't have the advantage or participating in the earlier weeks with us.
The Hun came for the run on Tuesday with me, and spend a large amount of the time trying to lift his knees up for some bizarre reason that made sense to him at the time, but left him with calf pains, whilst I managed to stick it out. Again, deriving happiness from others failures (ignoring the fact that he brought it upon himself).
The running has also helped middle bro in other ways - he derived himself an eating plan and has been working with eldest bro on his gym work - he's lost 20kg and is back to the weight he was in year 10, and almost the same level of fitness. How's THAT for results?!
I, on the other hand, am back up a few kilos.
HOWEVER, my blood pressure was the perfect 80 and 120 thing the other week and my B12 is good again. BUT my iron is down - looks like more tablets for me whilst I work on getting more veggies down my yam.
I started Skinny Bitch last night - did you know carcinogenic meant cancerous?! I think I knew the two were related, but didn't really KNOW. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.
I'm off to ANOTHER wedding this weekend - in the Blue Mountains *which I love*. Should be good - The Hun is bound to enjoy himself more at this one, plus the scenery is beautiful. Not SO keen about the long drive, but will see how al lgoes.
OH! MY! GOD! Could the Sydney Festival be more disorganised?! They were supposed to release the lineup today, indicating times and costs etc for their shows, including Bjork's, but NADA. I think they're also the place to book tickets through... I've pinned my hopes on calling the opera house direct to order and hoping for the best (I called them today) whilst simultaneously trying to book through the Opera House website. Tickets are rumored to be betwen $120 and $150 and a limit of 5000, I cannot WAIT for this show - FANTASTIC!
Oh, I'm sorry - this totally should have been dot pointed. I think the vodka's kicking in - I best be shutting down!
I should also point out I've had two cruisers, one of which was a double, after my run tonight.
Running is going well - there was a bit of a blip in the radar over a misunderstaning between middle bro, myself and his friends over a pink DS but I kept it up (and found out they kept it up) and all is good in the world. He also managed to recuit another 3 or 4 of his friends, so now we look like a bunch of crazies walking and running around a school oval, yelling at each other to STOP! every so often; me shuffling and lagging up the back; middle bro panting in the middle; and the two newer fittest friends bounding along at the front. What was awesome was that the seemingly fittest of middle bro's friends had to walk it out tonight, whilst middle bro and I managed to soldier on. It's a bit mean, but it's nicer to be fitter than someone, even though I feel sorry for the poor guy who didn't have the advantage or participating in the earlier weeks with us.
The Hun came for the run on Tuesday with me, and spend a large amount of the time trying to lift his knees up for some bizarre reason that made sense to him at the time, but left him with calf pains, whilst I managed to stick it out. Again, deriving happiness from others failures (ignoring the fact that he brought it upon himself).
The running has also helped middle bro in other ways - he derived himself an eating plan and has been working with eldest bro on his gym work - he's lost 20kg and is back to the weight he was in year 10, and almost the same level of fitness. How's THAT for results?!
I, on the other hand, am back up a few kilos.
HOWEVER, my blood pressure was the perfect 80 and 120 thing the other week and my B12 is good again. BUT my iron is down - looks like more tablets for me whilst I work on getting more veggies down my yam.
I started Skinny Bitch last night - did you know carcinogenic meant cancerous?! I think I knew the two were related, but didn't really KNOW. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.
I'm off to ANOTHER wedding this weekend - in the Blue Mountains *which I love*. Should be good - The Hun is bound to enjoy himself more at this one, plus the scenery is beautiful. Not SO keen about the long drive, but will see how al lgoes.
OH! MY! GOD! Could the Sydney Festival be more disorganised?! They were supposed to release the lineup today, indicating times and costs etc for their shows, including Bjork's, but NADA. I think they're also the place to book tickets through... I've pinned my hopes on calling the opera house direct to order and hoping for the best (I called them today) whilst simultaneously trying to book through the Opera House website. Tickets are rumored to be betwen $120 and $150 and a limit of 5000, I cannot WAIT for this show - FANTASTIC!
Oh, I'm sorry - this totally should have been dot pointed. I think the vodka's kicking in - I best be shutting down!
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