Hens Night

Last night was Magf's Hens Night.

Organising this party made me realise that I don't want to have a Hen's party - 32 people were invited, 13 people responded with yes, 13 responded with no and 6 people didn't even reply. So many people don't even bother to reply or even attend, and then there's always the other people who pike later on or whatever - more trouble than it's worth! Just another night that you have all these expectations on that will never be as good as you hoped... not that it was a totally sh!t night anyway!

I picked her up to take to the Pole Dancing class and we were expecting 3 people to watch and 9 people to dance... only to find one girl was sick and stayed home, one had pulled her neck muscle and one had had a mole removed so we ended up with 7 dancers and 5 watchers.

I knew that I wasn't going to enjoy the dancing and I was totally right - if there hadn't been so many people watching already, I woulda done the watching thing. I only knew Magf and one of our martial arts students, so I felt reaaaaaally self conscious - and I'm too self conscious at the 'best' of times. I stopped participating halfway through, because I couldn't get the whole spinning thing to work - I didn't shift my weight properly, didn't move my hips in the right way and gripped too hard or not hard enough (did you know that the poles actually spin in the ground?! Neither did I!). I just don't think I'm the type of person who is ever going to enjoy faux humping a pole while squatting, flicking my hair around (I always wear my hair up) or using my cellulite to hold my up as I wrap around a pole... Either way - Magf had a good time:

(yeah - they had costumes to wear over our normal clothes at one of the guests insistance!)

After that we headed out to Turkish (the same place we took Desci and Bob a fortnight ago!) and I ate soooo much. Mental note - explain that when you want falaffel and hummus for a main, you don't want TWO mains - I only ate 1.5 falaffel due to all that bread! Here's Magf, myself and another senior from the school:

(I didn't know I'd been outside enough to get tanlines and I MUST learn to tilt sideways in photos to shrink down those shoulders! )

Everyone was meant to wear pink, but I couldn't find anything pink at home so I headed out to the shop with my old boss on Thursday - that top I'm wearing is actually a dress - guess how much it cost?! I'll tell you! $29.95 for one, or $25 for two (in el-cheapo Sisco), so it was only $12.50! Bargain. Also - see that glass in front of me? Brown Brothers Moscato - GO AND GET SOME NOW!

At dinner there was a bit of downer that started to wind the whole night down - the girl that had pulled the neck muscle is a bit of a high stress drama and was sitting holding her chest during dinner. The girl next to her asked if she was ok and neckgirl replied that she was having heart palpitations - when the girl asked if this was normal, neckgirl replied that it was, but not usually for this long. Because neck girl was sitting with her eyes closed, one hand over her heard and one hand over her mouth (seemingly holding any spew back), conversation started to lull at the table and everyone watched on tentatively. This was proddly the worst thing to do as she started to get even worse and it started to get faster and stay longer, so another girl helped her to the bathroom - she kinda staggered and stumbled there with her friend supporting her. Next thing we new? An ambulance shows up. The staff had laid her down in the bathroom and then she had pains down her right arm, her fingers and hands wouldn't move as they had stiffened up and she was bawling. Anxiety attack. They moved her outside after about half an hour and she sat with the ambos outside for close to an hour - the mood died down a bit, obviously.

So, we fitted Magf out in the gear we picked up from Fyshwick the other week:

(The flashing penis is magentised onto a metal penis badge... all class)

It was at this point I starting feeling my internal monologue kick in - I'm too old for Civic. However, that would then mean that I'm also too old to eat soy ice cream for lunch or salty chips in bed at 2am just because The Hun is away, so it should maybe be that I was too sober for Civic (being dessi and all).

We headed out to the new Uni Pub (not to be confused with either of the Uni Bars in Canberra) and it wasn't too bad it - it has 4 levels open with one more to go - There's a clubby one on the ground floor, a grill house that was closed, a pool floor that was playing 'Roxanne' so we hightailed it) and then an 'executive' floor that requires collars and was hosting a private function. We sat in there for a few hours and the 3 girls (including Magf - isn't that poor?!) that made it to Civic sat on the couches and had a few drinks and only got hassled by a dood once (who was toooooooo drunk and got removed shortly after). I also got a 'nice stick on bear' by some old dood (all the people at dinner got bride beanie bears to pin on to their tops) but I told him it was a Hens Night and continued staring straight ahead.

There was another hens night in there as well - and their Hen handcuffed herself to some guy from the private function and took him into the lift and disappeared for like 20 minutes. Now that is so totally wrong - I don't understand these people who are about to get married and decided that all of a sudden hooking up with someone isn't cheating... it makes me so mad! She was yucky anyways... mebbe hence the handcuffs? It also shocked me how nonplussed her gaggle of hens was about it - I knew that one of them there was to be the sister in law - I'd be SPEWING!

Anyways, we looked for somewhere to dance but the buzz still hadn't come back from dinner (not so much out of worry, I think that ppl were just pissed she done the drama act) and we headed to the convenience shop for something for the drive home (I wanted caffeine and salty chips, Magf a sausage roll). In there another oldish dude said to me "I've never seen a pink dress look so good". Can I say - I thought that was lovely. Not in a "OMG LETS PASH" lovely, but in that I'd felt totally awkward on the poles, stayed sober for the drinking (after the wine at dinner) and watched one of the other two girls talk to about 20 guys that night - it was nice to hear someone say something like that (it didn't sound like a come on that was actually meant to go anywhere, so I took it as a compliment).

Anyways - that was the Hens Night! I'd biasedly say it was the most successful of the three I've been to, but I still don't think I ever want one of my own.

Augie March - Cold Acre

Preface: I was thinking about writing this post this morning while watching JTV (The Hun is camping this weekend) and all of a sudden I received notification of a comment relating to what I was about to write about!

Rather than being some kinda bizaare jedi mind reading trick, I'd made reference to it in a comment on an earlier post. It was a very confusing couple of minutes before I worked it out...

So.

Those of you who may not have heard of Augie March before the JJJ Hottest 100 should definately know who they are now. But I have a question I'm hoping to get some help in answering.

Have you see their filmclip for 'Cold Acre'? I can't get it to work on their site, so here's the YouTube:



Anyways, can anybody give me any info on where it was filmed?! Because there are times I'm SURE it's filmed in Canberra, after the bushfires swept through the pine plantation near the parkway (this is what the commenter this morning said too)!

I can't find a way to contact them to find out... so any thoughts or info anyone could give me on this would be very much appreciated!!

I'll have the Crispy Soy Chicken thanks!

I had lunch with a friend today. We hadn't really kept in touch as his gf I didn't get along (she was able to pick up on my not so subtleness) but as of late we decided to lunch. The timeline goes something like this:

??? 2001 - they start going out (a few months after she dumped his good friend for him).
Mar 2006 - she breaks up with him.
Apr 2006 - they start going out again (to his delight).
Sep 2006 - she breaks up with him again.
Oct 2006 - she starts dating someone else.
Jan 2007 - she's engaged.

Snap. Understandably, he's upset - you probably can't imagine how seriously he took this relationship, he really did see it as a lifetime.

I had a really good time - it was good to be catching up on what people are doing, and talk to the poor guy - to see how he was going. I also talked a bit about the breakup and post-breakup with the stoopid ex - it felt good to finally say some of it out loud to someone who was really listening to what I was saying - who knew both parties involved and to have some understanding of why I don't exactly light up at any mention of the guy.

But he also told me about these - so why not have a look?

If you can ignore the annoying voice and some of the lame gags, you might find something of interest.




The second and third parts are found here and here.

Allergic to work?

I'm tired.

It might be because there was no sleep in this weekend due to the grading on Saturday and the Christening on Sunday.

It's only Tuesday, but both days this week I've woken up feeling ok, and then felt crap as soon as I've got into work - throaty, chesty and eye boggly. Yesterday I felt fine once I was outta work - today I feel worse... I still have a headache. This proddly was also due to the INSANE tute and lecture I sat thru this afternoon (well, 1/3rd lecture) of an hour of struggling to understand the tutor, and 30 mins of looking at a screen of notes that weren't on the site when I downloaded LAST WEEKS NOTES BY ACCIDENT this afternoon. The dude started rambling about the history of Industrial Relations - but the slide on the screen had like two sets of years on it, and THAT'S IT. Rambling about the first fleet was this year, first strike was this year, ladies got the vote in this year, the blah-blah ruling was way back here, the so and so whatever happened then... You can tell I wasn't in the mood for it, can't you?!

Luckily, I found out last week that a friend of mine is also in the class, so I'll email him tomorrow for the heads up - I have NO idea what this course is doing - there is no structure to the tutes, there is no direction on what chapters to read, I know I need clippings about SOMETHING but don't really know what.

So I'm kinda hoping for a flu day because I get the flu shot each year - last year I had 3.5 days off work for sick leave - all in a row the week I got the flu shot needle, and THAT WAS IT. Work is quiet and I'm starting to freak myself out that mebbe the symptoms are actually signs of infection and I'll have to get my foot amputated and so on and so forth.

Anyway, the point of my story was meant to be - how can you tell that I'm tired?

When I try to snooze my alarm for another 10 minutes by pressing the side of The Hun's head (as opposed to the side of my phone).

Time for an early night, methinks.

Do you like Tie?

Travel plans are getting their shuffle on - we paid for the plane tix las week (and are STILL yet to hear from the agent about how he's about to help us plan accomodation et al) and I filled out my passport form and photo on Friday (after an impromptu trip out to Births, Deaths and Marriages (thanks Mick!)).

Ugh - passport photo's.

Now, I KNEW it wasn't going to be good - I've heard they're always the worst, so I (thought I was) totally prepared for the ugmo image I'd be getting. Unfortch, it seems I wasn't prepared enough, as it looks a lot like this:

Although with more forehead shine, and less "I'm famous and smug" and more "I'm being held against my will".

We will be flying out of Sydney to Bangkok on the 17th of April for 10 days and will return from Tokyo on the 7th of May.

And although I am super (awesome) excited about travelling and have been gorging myself on the Lonely Planet guides, I am starting to get nervous about Thailand- for two different groups of reasons.

Logically, there are still travel warnings from smart travel as follows:

• We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution because of the high threat of terrorist attack. We continue to receive reports that terrorists may be planning attacks against a range of targets, including places frequented by foreigners. Reports indicate possible bombing attacks at crowded places such as department stores, and sky-train and subway stations in Bangkok on Friday 23 February 2007.

• On 30 January 2007, two small explosions occurred at the Rama Gardens Hotel and the Daily News, both in Bangkok. A series of bombs exploded in various locations in Bangkok on 31 December 2006, killing three and injuring over 30 others, including six foreigners. Further attacks cannot be ruled out.

• There is uncertainty over the political situation following a military takeover of the Government on 19 September 2006. Martial law remains in place in parts of the country.

And so on. We don't speak the language and I have trouble interpreting thick accents such that I often pretend I know what's going on and leave confused. I don't know how well it can be guaranteed that I won't be unintentionally ingesting animals left, right and centre. I don't want to go on a day trip to find it's a fake and end up losing all my money and belongings and be left in the forest somewhere. I don't want to have someone break into our hotel room (if it in fact exists and we haven't paid someone for a non existend room). I don't want to be on a boat trip and have it catch fire. I don't want food poisening. I've been advised to steer of the tap/local water as it's packed full'o'germs, steer clear of fruit and veg as it's washed in the local water, and that The Hun should steer clear of the meat and it's hot over there and everything goes rancid quickly. And so on.

Emotionally, well - where to start. My stoopid ex was Thai. He would always speak in Thai to his family and never tell me what was going on (this frustrated me to no end). He cheated on me in a nightclub with a girl that I believe to be Thai. He bought me a ticket to Thailand to meet his family for my 21st but we broke up before then and so I never went, but there were many months where I was in emotional distress and was torn between wanting to go and never wanting to see him again. Before we broke up he was texting a lot with a girl who was the sister of his (Thai) friend from school. He then replaced me with this new Thai girlfriend. She went to Thailand on the holiday that was meant to be my 21st gift. Her name is also a Thai word for a type of food (which is both hilarious and annoying). The Hun has also started playing tennis with a Thai girl from his work once a week, so you can only IMAGINE how my green eyed monster is being sedated...

So, it's taken a bit of a coming around for me to stop boycotting the entire country and want to travel there.... yet there's still the more normal emotional reasons for being nervous - I'm taller, bigger, louder, paler, wider and bustier than the majority of the population...

Here's hoping for a hassle free trip ;o)

You asked for it!

More precisely, you specifically asked to not have it.

But because I'm a crappy photographer (I blame my tools - we're buying ourselves a new camera for our birthdays (hooray for being 8 days apart for birthdays)) you can see my before and afters as if through a primitive camera phone! The 'before's make my foot look pretty gross, but keep in mind it'd been infected and was scaling off everywhere...

I had a peek today while redoing the bandage (again) and the holes have filled up quite a bit. I rinsed it in salt water but forgot to have another look... that's really the end of my story.

Enjoy!

Warts and all

***** CD OFFER STILL STANDS ***** WOULD LIKE ALL ORDERS IN BEFORE I BURN THEM ***** PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY FRIDAY IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY ***** I'M ALSO GOING TO BURN CD'S FOR DESCI AND BOB SO PLEASE HURRY - I DON'T WANT TO UPSET THE LOVELY GOTHS ***** STOP *****

Three trips to the doctor in two days, anyone?

I'd had a wart on my foot for years... and in recent years two more had appeared. I became particularly self-consious of my foot at martial arts camp, when I realised that while sitting cross legged, my senior would be able to see the cluster up at the top of the ball of my foot. Also that on the rare occurance I took the class through warm-up, they'd notice them too.

When I was younger and visited the doctor with a plantar wart, we were advised to lucoplast banana peel to it - suprisingly, this worked rather well (though it died it didn't fall out until my cousin accidentally scratched it out whilst crawling behind me). Middle bro succesfully used nail polish and duct tape to suffocate his, but I figured that as my curse was more than a few years old, it was too happy to be shifted in such a remedial manner.

I visited the doctor twice late last year to get the warts frozen off. Both times I limped away thinking they were succesfully removed - both times I was dissapointed. A trip to the chemist resulted in a cream to be applied directly to the wart - ignoring a few minor directions (only use it for two weeks *cough*3.5 weeks*cough* and one wart at a time *cough*three*cough* *cough*and cutting at it with scissors*cough*) I was 'suprised' at getting an infection that left me unable to bend or straighten by big toe or put any pressure on my foot.

"Take these antibiotics, leave it for two weeks then come back and get them frozen again." stated yet another doctor.
"But I've had them frozen twice already!"
"Well, some of them take five or six or seven goes to die..."
"But I read that they can just be burnt out?" (The Hun's mum looked it up in her medical book)
"Well - we don't recomend that as it's far too intrusive... and there's only one doctor here who will do it... and he's very busy at the moment..."
"Hrm, ok... thanks."

Five minutes later I was back at my desk requesting a 'have a look' appt with the busy doctor for two weeks time, and another 'burn em out' appt for as close after that as I could (Thursday 15th and Monday 19th respectively).

Well - it's Tuesday, so you know what that means!

Monday morning I nervously shuffled off to my appointment. May I say that having a local anaesthetic poked through the calloused ball of my foot to quite some depth three times is THE MOST PAINFUL AND UNCOMFORTABLE THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED (Tattoo? Check. Stitches in forheard? Check. Stitches in open wound from can opener? Check. etc). "Well, I said it would be uncomfortable, but I didn't tell you quite how uncomfortable it would be..."

And then? A plate thing was put under my calf to stop the electric current - yup - electric. He then used electricity and wire to burn them out. No pain, but I will say that the smell was somewhat unique.

Ten minutes later and I was back at work - shaky and sweaty. I handed the certificate over to my boss and said that although they'd said I'd be fine straight after, I might go home and put my foot up - he readily agreed and sent me on my pasty way. On my way out the door, I stopped in to tell my old boss that I was leaving and was greeted with points and gasps that my foot was bleeding... out of the bandages, all over my foot and ruining my shoe. At this stage it was still numb and I was more concerned with how shaky I was and how hot and clammy I felt and hadn't noticed. So back to the doctor with a squeak to the receptionist ("um, excuse me, I'm meant to keep this bandage on for a week but it's covered with blood and has ruined my shoe...") and I was back on the same bed for a rewrap.

I hate doing the whole coedine talk - I told the nurse I'd go straight home after popping into the chemist (my fear of pain is harsher than actual pain) and she managed to 'find some' there for me so that I could get home and put my foot up immediately. I always get super anxious about looking like a junkie when it comes to drugs - I know I'm the least likely candidate for drug addiction, but I cringe to think of the way I reached for the drugs before she'd finished explaining the risk.

Anyways, I spend the evening with my foot wrapped up double-smart, wondering what on earth I was going to wear on that foot what was so thickly bandaged I couldn't possibly fit it into anything. And work this morning was fine - I managed to find one of those massagey thongs that had velro over the top to strap on, though it doesn't mean it stayed on (as I can't/won't curl my toes). After a trip to the shops at lunch I settled down to relax a bit as I felt a little warm and was worried I could feel a pulse in the ball of my foot - a quick nip under the desk confirmed that something was once again leaking through the bandage.

A trip back to the doctor and ANOTHER afternoon off, I have my foot wrapped up in a heavy duty strapping bandage. Still no crutches or advice other than to 'keep doing what I'm doing" and only one coedine left - I'm a little worried about when the pain will kick in.

And I can tell you that you will be suitably disgusted with an 'after' pic - I sneaked a look today while it was being rewrapped... for all you omni's out there - imagine cutting into a side of pork - white, white skin at the top and the deepest darkest ruby red at the bottom of two cubes that have just been sectioned out.

Roast pork anyone?

Oh Quoints, Dot Points!

• 'Bout time I updated with something other than whinging and YouTube, eh?

• I am so excited to be sitting in front of the telly atm - I've been hanging out for Celebrity Dog School! 9 minutes in, still loving it - though the coach for the cricketer is a PAIN! But then - Biggest Loser AND So You Think You Can Dance - I LURVE SUNDAYS!

• We made it into two (TWO!) travel agents for some discussion re: holiday plans. The plan? 17th April - 28th April in Thailand; 29th April - 7th May in Japan. So excited! We're telling the travel dood tmr to go ahead and book the plane tix, and then we'll be using him to book everything for us (hotels, tours, transfers etc) as we've never been overseas, neither of us are particularly adventurous and I know I'll FREAK OUT if we get lost along the way. I'm sure this will make for many posts in the months to come.
  

• We also made it to Fyshwick yesterday - The Hun lost his Fyshwick virginity! His verdict: "Can we go home and watch the Basketball?". And why were we there? Shopping for Magf's Hens Party - any bride to be who includes pole dancing lessons as part of the Hens Night is just BEGGING to be covered in flashing penis' (penii?).

• Went to ANOTHER Blogmeet! Funnily enough, while I've met Melbournites and Bris Vegans, I'd never met any Canberran's - and all it took was a couple of visiting Melbournians to get some of us to meet! Desci and Bob (of here and here) were coming up for the Mummy exhibit and managed to hook up some of their Canberra listeners. I was proddly most nervous about this meetup, but (like the others!) it went surprisingly well - I popped my podcasting cherry, though I don't believe it's anything worth crowing about. Desci and Bob were much less scary than I thought they would be (Desci is great fun!) and Kerces was lovely and it was good to put a face to RandomGit. I had to pike early as The Hun was picking me up (and the vodka and lemonade I had at the restaraunt wasn't settling down properly) but they were heading out - I hope there's some sort of wrap up post!

• I've mentioned before the warts on the bottom of my foot? Well, I'm off to have them burnt out tmr - stay tuned for the before/after pics (eww/ouch).
  

• I'm off for foccacia and chocolate fondue - tra la!
  

Turn a new page, tear the old one out

Calm down
And get straight
It's in our eyes
It's how we operate

You're true
You are
I'd apologize but it won't go very far

Please come here
Come right on over
And when we collide we'll see what gets left over

A little joy
A little sorrow
And a little pride so we won't have to borrow
Wherever you lead, I'll follow

Turn me inside out and upside down
And try to see things my way
Turn a new page, tear the old one out
And I'll try to see things your way

Please come here
Please come on over
There is no line that you can't step right over
Without you well I'm left hollow
So can we decide to try a little joy tomorrow
'Cos baby tonight I'll follow

Turn me inside out and upside down
And try to see things my way
Turn a new page, tear the old one out
And I'll try to see things your way

The way that we've been speaking now
I swear that we'd be friends, I swear
'Cos all these little deals go down with
Little consequences, we share, we share

Turn me inside out and upside down
And try to see things my way
Turn a new page, tear the old one out
And I'll try to see things your way

And I'm gonna love you anyway
Try to see things your way
Try to see things your way
Try to see things your way

Hallmark says: F*ck You

On Valentines day three years ago, I finished work at the Thai restaraunt my stoopid ex worked at and picked The Hun up for a night on the town. It was a great night, and the precursor to us going out.

Valentines day two years ago I was frantically putting together a CD of songs that reminded me of our first year together, painstakingly formatting a booklet in Excel containing the lyrics, our photos and a description of what each song meant to me.

Valentines day one years ago I bought too many chocolates to fit into a jar and presented The Hun with four giant glass jars of sweets.

Today I gave The Hun a card, a stuffed grizzly bear, some premium ice cream toppings (with icecream) and a cookbook.

I'm taking the cookbook back tomorrow.

In the time it takes to painstakingly prepare a breakfast of hobo eggs and coffee, a car could drive to the shops and back.

In the time it takes to style hair and brush some teeth, a card could have been selected.

And in the time it takes to take a sh!t, my name could have been written at the top and a heart could have been drawn at the bottom.

Yes, we went to dinner and a movie and we had a lovely time - I offered to pay (after I was the one so determined that if we couldn't make it to dinner on the Wednesday because he wanted to play touch then we should go to dinner the night before - at the same place we've celebrated Valentines Day that we've been together).

But a day of seeing people celebrating being in love - be married, engaged or semi-unwanted attention from a half-stranger, it sucks to feel that you aren't worth the time it takes to walk the log.

So I'm going to share some happiness that I should have gotten today with anyone else that wants it.

I recently replied to this post of Fluffy's and received a CD of awesome from Miss As-a-cat herself. I promptly sent off a mix off songs that were what I thought were kinda cool but actually indicate I'm a softie for heartbreak folksongs with some pop mixed in.

If you email me (EnnyPen@gmail.com) your postal address I will send you a copy of BOTH of these CD's (mebbe also lemme know what name I should put on the envelope so as not to freak out the postie/your parents/your neighbours).

I promise not to stalk you.

No really, I PAHROMISE.

Welcome back, me?

Hullo - she has returned.

I'm back from my three nights away - rising at 5:45, spending 9 hours a day at the hall, and keeping an eye on five 18 - 22 year olds (and one 40-something).

It was suprisingly tiring for what it was - I didn't do any training and when I wasn't teaching I was wandering around and correcting, not sweating it out. We had an hour and a half for lunch for two days and I managed to nap during both. We were up at 5:45 each morning but were asleep by 11, but still suprisingly tired!

The candidates did a fantastic job - protocol started to lapse towards the end, but Magf and myself were just as much to blame and I'm not that stressed by that sorta stuff. It was good to see them bonding and getting friendly and it was also good to see youngest bro step up as the senior of the group.

There was an amazing amount of rain last night - 12 hours of rain! Something I haven't seen or heard for a long time, and something that definitely made it easy to get to sleep when sharing a bunk bed room with another person.

We also found two tiny baby sparrows! I headed out to the bathroom and heard something fall behind me - it was a tiny little baby bird - I ran into the hall and fetched the 40-something lady to come fetch it as she has done a lot of wildlife caring and would know what to do - she picked the little fellow up (who was amazingly uninjured) and put him into a tissue box. Not two hours later there was some chirping in the hall (louder than the rest of it) and there was another tiny fellow sitting in of the sheet nets that were hanging from the roof! The hall was over 100 years old and had all these nests in between the walls and roof and the birds were falling out (I think the nets were put there to cushion the fall from all the babies) so we were lucky there weren't more. She has taken both of them home to look after and will release them near her mothers house - her neighbour has sparrows everywhere, apparantly. They were so cute (so tiny!) and I wanted to take them home, but knew that it wouldn't be a good idea with The Hun's dislike for animals and the whole rental agreement with the not having of the pets (including goldfish!).

I think I'm off the blues train again - I think that having some time away from everything was helpful (thanks Adam and Mick for your talking me through, I really appreciate it!). I think that being in the camp situation (which is such an all-consuming environment) helped to put a full stop it in all - like when you slap down on a mosquito bite to stop the itch. I just needed an 'out' to catch my breath.

What was also helpful was reading more of my Buddhism for Dummies book that I bought a little while ago. Whilst it may seem that I'm jumping onto D'jen's bandwagon, it's something that also I've been thinking about for quite some time, more actively since my vegan transition - and with the Dalai Llama and our Rinpoche making visits/tours this year, I'd like to make sure I have at least some idea of what's going on! I've read less than 30 pages of the book so far, but I've already read something that struck a chord with me:

"...suffering and disatisfaction originate in the way your mind responds and reacts to lifes circumstances - not in the raw facts of life."

It might'n't sound like much, but it was a bit of a !ping! moment when I realised that things aren't just the way they are, they are how I perceive them - and I have the ability to control that.

I've also organised my valentines and anniversary gifts for The Hun for Wednesday and the Wednesday after - after finding out there would be no going out for dinner on either of those days, and then wondering why to bother at all, I've picked myself back up again (at Adam's insistence) and put that effort back in there. Because it IS something that makes me feel specialer. The Hun also mentioned that he read the last post and comments and does love me, and will forever and was sorry to hear I've been down in the dumps and please don't leave to rediscover my youth with some slutty 19 year old boy in a nightclub. Which was never going to happen (of course!) but was good to know.

Anyways, I'm gonna catch up on my LonelyGirl and get back into my reading - nigh nigh!

Blarh

Sorry there's been a bit of lack of post atm - I'm off to the coast for three nights tmr.

Sounds nice, eh?

No. It's not.

Magf and I are running a Dan Camp for four of our students (including youngest bro) who are grading to 1st Dan/2nd Dan in another two weekends time. So, we adapted the timetable from the last 3rd Dan Camp we went on in Qld (one of those weekends away where I whine about training 12 hours a day and sleeping only four each night) which means we'll be running them ragged and trying to exhaust them. Shall be interesting.

Anyways, I'm kinda riding the blues train at the moment. I've been mopey for about two weeks, feeling narky at The Hun for nothings (or almost nothings) - I think the whole Japan holiday plan has been canned, work is building up, uni's going to start again, I have bridesmaids stuff to do, I'm getting tired of always being told what to do (being "given advice"), seeing other people happy is making me jaded and twisted and I'm about to turn 25.

25.

I hate it.

It's not even/just the whole thing about where I planned to be at 25 - but I have this terrible feeling of time running out. But for what? Lawd knows what I even want to do/be/see.

Gah.

Back Sun/Mon.

*UPDATED* I got tagged!

Thanks Mick!

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Interlude: Here's something more entertaining than the post below - first forward I've received in a while to make me laugh out loud:

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Five useless facts about me (that you might not know).

Where to begin...?!

1. I'm a hypochondriac. Ok, you might know that already, but within a six month period I'll have been to the doctor for Gardasil, to get a blood test, to get my blood test results, back to the doctor for Gardasil, to get a mole checked, to get my warts frozen, to get my warts frozen again, to get my warts uninfected, to get my warts inspected, to get my warts quarterised (eek!), to get my final Gardasil and (if we end up travelling) to get some needles. And within there I have resisted a few urges to drop in to get more moles checked... I'm paranoid about skin cancer - the story about the girl who got the phone call from David Beckham is my worst nightmare. She saw a few doctors who all told her a mole on her neck were nothing to worry about, but by the time someone took her seriously it was too late and had spread. She died just the other day...

2. I'm super ticklish. You name it, I'm ticklish there. And if you so much as make the ticklish motion towards my body, I get phantom tickle and freak out. My version of freaking out whilst getting tickled also tends to come with my groping for your neck or eyes because my instinct tells me it's the quickest way to get you to stop. I'M. SO. SORRY.

3. I (used to) love squishing eggshells. I don't know what it was, but I LOVED to scrunch empty eggshells in my hands and rub them round and round. Interesting.

4. I've never had a filling. I'm off to the doctor for the first time in almost three years on Monday - this might change.

5. I'm freaking out about my birthday. I used to love birthdays - the happy day, the party, the work lunch, the gifts... I turn 25 this year. 25 is more than a quarter of my life gone. I'm meant to be an adult. I'm going to have grey hairs. I'm going to get wrinkles. I haven't travelled overseas, I have no savings, I don't own a house, I'm childess, I'm unwed, I'm in a job that I fell into and don't know whether I like it or not, I'm still at uni... TWENTY FIVE IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS. I'm predicting tears on my birthday - that's my heads up for you peeps.

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Update!

I was up until 2:30 last night and couldn't sleep, so thought of another five for you folks:

1b. When I sign my name in my signature, I use a curvy 'E' like a backwards three. Why? Because that's how Elvis Presley signed his (and my dad's an Elvis freak!).

2b. I hate bugs. But I hate seeing them killed more. This usually results in shivers, squealing and dancing feet as I try to catch the blighters (spiders, ants, cockroaches) in a cup and paper and put them outside without squishing them. This is also why we had to purchase a humane mousetrap (there's a MOUSE in the HOUSE!) but I have NO IDEA how I will cope with transporting the lil fella.

3b. I have a shocking short and long term memory. I have trouble remembering what I came into a room to do, what the point of my story was, what I was going to blog about. I also have toruble remembering things a while in the past without distorting them a bit. This means that my propensity for retelling stories from the past can cause some grief, what with it changing all the time and making me look like a liar. And I had another point for this but can't remember!

4b. I have an addictive personality. I will play a game to death, to the point where it affects my everyday life. Play Mario till I see a little mario-man jumping between the words when I'm reading a book, playing tetris till I find my self looking at objects and wondering how I could sort them together to make lines, playing minesweeper till I find myself looking at a room and itemising each object with a number depending on the number of other items close to it. This is why I'm happy to eat the same thing for breakfast of lunch or dinner for extended periods of time and also why I haven't taken up smoking or anything (I only just broke my red-eye habit!).

5b. When I'm trying to learn or memorise or remember something, I break it down into initials. That's how I (almost) remembered my points for this post from last night - it was like 'ASAP' with with an M in the middle and slightly different - ESMEI (Elvis, spiders, memory, addictive, initials). As you can see, my letter breakdown might not make a lot of sense to anyone else and it requires me to try and relax and let them come back to me (which is no good as I always need them for an event or something!) but I just can't think of how to learn any other way.

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I'm so sorry that wasn't more interesting...!

I tag:
D'jen - because I'd love to know what she has to say!
Lulu - because I feel bad I didn't do her last meme (don't let the thinking hurt your head)!
Mars - because I want her to realise she's not Bridget Jones!
Deb - because I'd love to know more about her!
Somewhat Sober - because I want to check she's still alive!

(And anyone else who wants to participate of course)

Hottest 100

Yeah yeah, I know it's a bit late.... but did you guys vote?

We managed to catch numbers 60-40 from Hyde Park in Sydney which was pretty awesome - I'd definately like to make a full day of it next time - get there early with grog and food and snag some shade...

Anyways, here's the top 100 (the ones I voted for are in purple)!

1 Augie March - One Crowded Hour
2 Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
2 Hilltop Hoods - The Hard Road
4 The Killers - When You Were Young
5 Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancing
6 Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
7 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
8 Gotye - Hearts A Mess
9 Muse - Starlight
10 The Grates - 19-20-20
11 Little Birdy - Come On Come On
12 John Butler Trio - Funky Tonight
13 My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
14 OK GO - Here It Goes Again
15 Lily Allen - Smile
16 Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
17 The Grates - Science Is Golden
18 Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
19 Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
20 Regina Spektor - Fidelity
21 Youth Group - Forever Young
22 Tool - Vicarious
23 Hilltop Hoods - Clown Prince
24 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion
25 Placebo - Meds
26 Camille - Ta Douleur
27 The Strokes - You Only Live Once
28 Saboteurs - Steady As She Goes
29 Tool - The Pot
30 Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down
31 The Killers - Bones
32 The Butterfly Effect - Gone
33 Cops - Call Me Anytime
34 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
35 Lily Allen - LDN
36 Bob Evans - Nowhere Without You
37 Bob Evans - Don't You Think It's Time
38 Josh Pyke - Memories & Dust
39 The Butterfly Effect - A Slow Descent
40 Basement Jaxx - Take Me Back To Your House
41 Hilltop Hoods - What A Great Night!
42 The Grates - Inside Outside
43 Angus & Julia Stone - Paper Aeroplane
44 Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me
45 Karnivool - Roquefort
46 AFI - Miss Murder
47 Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Is That They Die)
48 Regina Spektor - On The Radio
49 Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales Of San Francisco
49 The Strokes - Heart In A Cage
51 Something For Kate - Cigarettes And Suitcases
52 The Herd - Unpredictable
53 The Living End - Wake Up
54 Eagles Of Death Metal - I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)
55 Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)
56 Hilltop Hoods - Stopping All Stations
57 Josh Pyke - Private Education
58 Sarah Blasko - Always On This Line
59 Placebo - Song To Say Goodbye
60 Hot Chip - Over And Over
61 Foo Fighters - Everlong (Acoustic Live)
62 Justice Vs Simian - We Are Your Friends
63 TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
64 Something With Numbers - Apple Of The Eye
65 Bloc Party - The Prayer
66 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomena
67 AFI - Love Like Winter
68 Darren Hanlon - Happiness Is A Chemical
69 Beck - Nausea
70 Ben Folds - Such Great Heights (Like A Version)
71 The Grates - Lies Are Much More Fun
72 Jet - Put Your Money Where Mouth Is
73 Matisyahu - King Without A Crown
74 Snow Patrol - Hands Open
75 Ben Kweller - Sundress
76 Jet - Rip It Up
77 Hilltop Hoods - Recapturing The Vibe
78 Placebo - Infra-Red
79 Sarah Blasko - Explain
80 Wolfmother - Love Train
81 Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
82 Freestylers/Pendulum - Painkiller
83 Butterfingers - Get Up Outta The Dirt
84 Thom Yorke - Black Swan
85 Infadels - Love Like Semtex
86 Kanye West - Touch The Sky
87 Ben Harper - Better Way
88 Pendulum - Tarantula
89 Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum
90 Jurassic 5 - Work It Out (Feat. Dave Matthews Band)
91 Panic! At The Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom & Suicide
92 Lily Allen - Alfie
93 Lily Allen - Everything's Just Wonderful
94 Gotye - Learnalilgivnanlovin
95 Eskimo Joe - New York
96 Red Riders - Slide In Next To Me
97 Pearl Jam - Worldwide Suicide
98 Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
99 Audioslave - Original Fire
100 Blue King Brown - Come And Check Your Head

I'm really glad Augie March made it to number one - I love that song and I listened to it a LOT on repeat...

I also voted for Basement Jaxx - Hey U, Holly Throsby - Making A Fire, Jose Gonzalez - Hand On Your Heart, Lily Allen - Friday Night (which I think is not the one I actually meant to vote for) and Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches.

Did you vote? How'd you go?!

BDO Wrapup

Am back!

BDO was fantastic - my first and mebbe not my last? I will admit I was a little put off by the sheer number of lolly pop heads in shorty shorts, but there was also a fair share of the opposite, so it kinda evened out. That said, almost ALL the guys that were there were drunken d!ckheads, with the exception of a few old men who must've been going for years and just won't give it up.

We got in there at about 10ish and went straight through to get the grog wristband 'just in case'. A quick glance at my ID got me straight through (The Hun's ID didn't even get looked at!) and the lines were the quickest thing I'd ever seen.

We worked out where we were on the map and made our way to catch three songs of Richard In Your Mind. They were alright and cute - a bit geeky with all four were wearing glasses and shouting out "Who likes physics?!... huh huh, huh...."! They also had song about gravity and a memorable line "If the skeleton wants to dance, then I'm a dancer too" or something of the sort... pretty good for a new act, nontheless.

We then headed over to sit on the grass for Devoted Few who were also pretty good - we were sitting on a rain poncho (the whole day was overcast and the grass was wet) so couldn't really see through the crowd but the lady on the keyboard had a funky red fringe. The Hun has picked them to become more popular in the upcoming years, so keep an ear out.

We good some food and listened to a little of Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males but only heard a few songs - I didn't recognise any of it and was anxious to get a good seat for the next act... and a frozen red fire engine! They both won out and we headed in to see...

Angus and Julia Stone and they were my pick of the day! The place was totally packed out - we secured a seat and then managed to spot Middle Bro, Eldest Bro and Eldest Bro's friend on the stairs - just as Middle Bro was messging me to see where we were. We managed to save two seats but they dissapeared... only to find Middle Bro at the end of the show TANKED. Yup - I thought the lines and the prices and the grotty toilets would be a deterrant but there were a LOT of drinkers out there! Anyways, the music was fantastic and lovely folky, Angus is soooooo cute and Julia was telling us how she had her wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago and she was spitting out stitches through her trumpet. It was also during this show that I heard some young things pointing to an afro in the crowd and saying 'See! That's her! From Sneaky Sound system!'.... The Hun pointed out that they were talking about:

...her...

but actually seeing

...her...!

I think that's about when we went to look for where those turkish flat pide things with spinach in the middle were being sold but we couldn't track them down so stopped for a 'gourmet roll' - and the losers put mayo on my veggie wrap! I ate around it and then sourced some (more) hot chips and headed towards the Boiler Room - on the way there The Hun stopped for the bathroom and these two guys beckoned out 'Hey you! Come here! Can you put in my contact for me? Our hands are too shaky...' to which they got 'Ew! No! I hate eyes!' and a turned back. Until The Hun came out and I told him what happened and he coerced me to go back and offer to help... I tell you what, there is NOTHING as DISGUSTING as poking two fingers into some randoms eyes to get a dancefloor contact to sit - especially when you gotta do it a few times after it flicks back under his eyelid... ew! But, I got it in for him and went to do the other guys, but he just couldn't open his eyelids wide enough to fit the contact and he kept blinking when I got close which made me jump... and I DREAD to think of all the germs they were putting in their eyes!

Anyways, we made it into the boiler room to see Lily Allen - hooray! She was my third fav act of the day - mainly detracted by the pushy little b!tches who shove their way past without even offering a 'sorry' or 'excuse me'! I couldn't believe it!! There was one REALLY rude lil twat who was literally shoving her way through people - a guy pushed her back and she turned around and delivered one of those angsty emo middle fingers that only stuckup tweenies can deliver - hilarious! Anways, she was really good - the place was packed out - she took a pic to put on her MySpace as she said it was her biggest crowd yet, but it's not up yet! She also paid out Chris, the drummer from Jet who she said threw a lit cigarette at her face which she paid back with a glass to his face, and then dedicated 'Not Big' to him. We also stood behind Fuzzy the whole time! She's very small and thin and had a few girls wave to her and guy come up to ask her what time she was playing today - she must get that a lot! Getting out of The Boiler Room was CHAOS - it was like a cattler herd for like a few hundred metres - absolutely insane.

We managed to hear a few songs at the end of My Chemical Romance who weren't as good as I hoped - but then we didn't hear them all. With much prompting The Hun conned me into the D but we walked straight out as soon as we were in - it was too packed!

So we moved across to listen to Eskimo Joe who were pretty good too - I'm not that big a fan of the latest stuff, but The Chifley House had the album before in pretty much permanent playback the whole time I lived there, so it was good to be able to sing along to a few of the songs. There was also a bunch of wankers with a rug thing who were prompting people to lay on it while 12 others would fling them up into the air like a trampoline - it was always courting disaster. Some twiggy little thing decided to hold on to the edge of the cloth and got flung up and around - I was sure she landed on her head but she looked dazed and a lil shook up. The wankers kept moving forward and asking more pople to come hold the edges - as if! Luckily they stopped after not too long, but not before the mat went left as the guy went right - some poor guy stood up and was bleeding from his tooth. Wankers - they really needed their mothers there to tell them it was OBVIOUSLY not a good idea.

We moved back accross to see John Butler Trio but by this time I was getting just a liiiiiiittle tired - I was a bit pouty, my feet were sore and I was anxious about the crowds coming up. I also didn't know as many songs of theirs as I thought I did - I shoulda made MORE of an effort to get to know the songs!

We headed out for a trip to the bathroom where I got to hear my first lady spew of the day (disgusting!) and managed to find the vegetarian stand (yummy samosas and not as yummy spring rolls) and went to listen to Dappled Cities Fly who were WAY TOO LOUD - we couldn't sit in there! So we sat outside and were a bit dissapointed - their MySpace made them sound like they'd be really good and croozy, but they just weren't.

We then headed off to find The Streets but found the spinachy pide things - I HAD to have one after talking them up to The Hun but couldn't even eat half! I was such a piglet this weekend - back on the CalorieKing wagon this tomorrow! We headed in but he was hard to understand, though we did catch the song that I like - 'When you wasn't famous' which I love.

We headed back down to the main stage for Muse - they were absolutely fantastic!!! My second favourite of the whole day, awesome stage presence, great use of the stage and screen and I just can't help but love a group who rocks out so hard AND uses the piano!!! Very highly recommended - you missed out!

And then - one of The Hun's favourite bands - Tool. I though I knew a fair amount of their stuff, but there was only four of five that I could actually 'sing' along too. But they were also fantastic - my fourth fav of the day. It's fantastic that they're still playing and releasing, and hugging at the end of each set - they were really great and I'm glad I got the opportunity to see them.

When it was time to move along, The Hun managed to pick the rest of the boys we were with - The D was so insane that Eldest Bro's friend lost his shoes and he just had to get out of there. Youngest Bro also told us that his shoe fell off and he leant to down to fix it and got knocked down - he put his hand up and luckilly someone helped him up - that's INSANELY DANGEROUS! Not to mention the number of stories about the number of guys peeing in bottles... So we all headed off to see Crystal Method where we got split up again - I'd just bought my two glowsticks and started to get into it when we all got the message that everyone else was going home. The trains were packed and I got accosted by some guy on drugs asking if I was writing something about karate - I though he might have been talking about my tattoo but it wasn't on show... so I just backed away slooooooooowly.

That was pretty much that! Now if only Basement Jaxx would play in 2008...

Enny's Big Day Out

Tra-la, peeps! Off to Sydney v early tmr (with 12 others as organised by middle bro) for three nights in Sydney for my first Big Day Out!

My plan (in order of course!):

• Richard In Your Mind
• Devoted Few
• (start of) Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males
  
• Angus and Julia Stone
• (end of) Butterfly Effect
• Evermore
• Lily Allen
• (end of) My Chemical Romance
• Eskimo Joe
• John Butler Trio
• Dappled Cities Fly
• The Streets
• Must
• Tool
• Shapeshifter
  

AWESOME!

Lily Allen, Muse and Angus & Julia Stone are the ones I'm looking forward to the most - I can't wait!

Shall be back on Sat arvo, no doubt with a wrap up!

Say 'hullo!' to the overwhelmed looking girl with the Paul Frank cap!

New Fame

Now, I wasn't planning to post today - I whipped up a dodgy cartoon for Adam last night and thought I'd be right until Tuesday night... but as The Hun is sick in bed I'm playing Queen Domestic and doing the washing up and some laundry - there was a lull in the middle while waiting for the machine to finish so I jumped back on and checked out my statcounter (jus keeping an eye on those keeping an eye on me) and found a few links from one page I didn't recognise.

Remember this post where I pasted THIS smh article?

It's resulted in this and this and this (that I've found).

So if you've come here due to these discussion things, can I please say:

• I didn't write the article, Samantha Brett of Sydney Morning Herald did; and
  
• The article was pasted (and referenced!) for people to discuss their views, not as something I've taken at face value.

I hope this clears up any confusions and my next 'reference' post can be less fraught with incidents*.

*Though I do kinda like being portrayed as the victim** in all this.
** A sincere one, at that!

Reason not to wear a convertable bra to work

Yes I'm home early

I flexxed off the afternoon to try on the final size for my Bridesmaids dress. Bad News? I'm getting bigger size over the smaller size. Good News? I'm not more than 50% depressed about it - preferring to think it's due to my bust rather than my back fat, and I can always get it taken in. And it's more comfortable.

Anyways!

The Hun sent me a link to this article this morning (he knows I'm into these sortsa things) and as much as I can't stand the SMH blogs, this is the second interesting one he's sent me in as many weeks:

Is living together a good idea?

Thinking of moving in together before you get hitched? Well why not?

If you do, you'd find out ahead of time what it's like to sleep in the same bed night after night; share a laptop and unclog their toilet. Plus it would be cheaper, you could halve the washing load and there'd be someone else to clean the dishes. What's not to love?

"It's absolutely necessary to live with someone before marriage," many of my friends in their late 20s and early 30s holler when I pose the question. "How can you not? It's like buying a car without a test drive, or a pair of shoes without trying them on."

True, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche believed we should all "live dangerously" if we want to reap the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life.

But moving in with someone is a whole different ball game from going the dangers of going bungy jumping, entering Australian Idol or taking a peak at a picture of Britney Spears, sans the undies...

Sure, if we are asked to move into our new partner's luxurious abode with park views, two bathrooms and a trained Chihuahua, our brains would light up as brightly as a kid's in a candy store. But the initial rush doesn't last. Nor does it translate into better relationships.

Now before you complain that it's 2007, and those ancient "living-in-sin" rules no longer apply, let me just say I've been frantically attempting to pool together some info that puts a positive spin on shacking up without the ring, but sadly folks, apparently it's just not the case.

In fact, while 60 per cent of Australians are living together before they get married, a BBC report on the subject concluded that partners who live together are nine times more likely to split up than those who get married.

Introducing the modern perils of serial monogamy. We live with one person for a few months, even years. Then, when things don't go our way, instead of working at them, like say, a married couple might, we simply pack up our things and move in with the next person.

Ouch. And you thought shacking up before the big commitment would improve your chances? Think again.

A Columbia University study found there's actually less chance of marrying a person when you live with them, with only 26 per cent of women and a scant 19 cent of the men surveyed marrying the person they cohabited with.

Psychologist and radio personality Dr Laura Schlessinger backs up the stats. She cites "shacking up with your honey" as one of the "Ten stupid things women do to mess up their lives" in her book of the same name.

And if that's not enough already for your don't-live-together-before-marriage arsenal, let's hop over to the bedroom for just a moment.

The findings are that those who live together before marriage do not have the best sex. (I'm not sure I believe it, but those living alone can still hope it ain't true.)

The blogger who calls herself The Truth is still undecided. She notes that, while Australian culture is big on moving in together before marriage, other cultures don't share the same reasoning.

"So which way is better?" she wants to know. "And if you do move in with a guy before marriage, how many relationships actually end up in marriage? Girls, how long did it take till he popped the question? And for those that married before moving in - do they regret not moving in together before?"

It's an interesting conundrum. Of course many believe something along the lines of, "Why would anyone buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"

But as Nietzsche says, life's all about living dangerously ...

Would you live together before marriage? What are the pros and cons on each side? What do you think makes a more successful future?

Don't get me wrong - any old monkey can trot out this sorta thing - it's the comments that make it interesting.

There seems to be two schools of though on the argument - they yes' and the no's.

Personally, I'm (obviously) not against the idea of living together before being married. I don't see it as a test drive, and I don't see it as a decision to be taken lightly or based on convenience or 'why not'.

We'd been talking about moving out whilst living in the Monash house (after our hasty retreat from the Chifley house). The Huns best friend was talking about how he and his wife were buying, leaving their house available to rent - we'd been there for dinner and it was lovely and new in a quiet area. When they mentioned that the rent would stay at the same price as they were just transferring the contract, the seal was made. And there was a lot of discussion taking place about the importance of the decision to me - that this was a 'next step' in something that we knew was lifelong, before the usual engagement, marriage, children etc - and my priorities are still the same. Marriage is important, but not more important than spending a lifetime with the one you love.

We've been living together for almost two years now - we moved in after 11 months together. And I do think it was the right thing for us to do - I think it's important to really get to know the person you plan to commit to for the rest of your life, to see them with the frazzled hair, no makeup, tired and grumpy, flatulent, cramped, hormonal, food poisened and morning breathed. Some of the commenters in the article also made reference to overseas travel being a good test for couples - spending 24 hours a day with your partner in one of the most stressful ongoing situations to see their worst, while still combining it with the high of travel.

But there does some seem to be a whole lot of people speaking a whole lot of 'people who live together first don't stay together' and it's quite depressing to hear, being one of the people who's sure if was the right thing to do. Luckily I read some valid points in the comments - People who don't live together first are often on the more conservative side and more likely to stay married than go through divorce. The more people that you've lived with before, the morely you are to up and leave. Sometimes people may try to 'save' a relationship by moving in together or getting married (which isn't going to work!).

So I guess it's not all bad news.

Besides, one of the commenters actually read the article Sam was quoting and found that it actually said:

"Partners who live together are up to nine times more likely to split up as those who get married, according to national statistics. But people who marry without living together first are just as likely to separate as those who cohabit then marry."

What are your thoughts?

Come out, come out...

(Copied from Deb)

I'm Interfamous!

Remember Point 19 from this?

I sent it into Totally Not Vegan (see the comics here) and they emailed me for more info so they could do the comic for it... and they did!

Here I am in all my net glory!!!

The wonderful mystery box

Anyways, I do apologise for the LG15 talk below - you may have been able to see through my plot to keep the links somewhere other than in my Mozilla tabs to keep things tidy. Also, I can't promise that you'll find this any more rivotting.

When it comes to ladies bathrooms, everyone has their favourite. At work, I'm a third from the end kinda gal - my old boss favours the one on the end even after I told her how the toilet furthest from the door is always germiest as it's the most used toilet (in all ladies toilets apparantly, though at our work it also seems to be the favoured one for stanking it up) but she has issues with using the cubicle closest to the door as it's the one favoured by our special staff (special as in it's the one where the murmering, singing and slurping comes from, where the toilet roll holder has been snapped off the wall, and where ladies have been found doing their business with the door not only unlocked but sitting wide open. This does not a lovely welcome make as it's the first cubicle you see by default in the mirror reflection and no amount of them singing 'so-rry' while doing there business is ever going to make it ok). My third from the end status also means that I don't mind (as much) going into the bathroom at the same time as her as I always know where she's going to be and I can relax in the fact there won't be any awkward there's-someone-too-close-and-I-can't-totally-relax type nonsense.

For a few months now (not an exageration, though I wish I'd marked the start date in my organiser) my cubicle has had (another!) special guest - the mystery pube. The mystery pube is curly like a signature and attached the wall, starting about ten centimetres from the gap. I often fall deep in though while gazing at mystery pube - How long have you been here? Who do you belong to? How did you get there? Did they put you there on purpose? Who works here that lets their pubes get so long? How many other people have noticed you? Who can I tell about you without coming off as seven kinds of freaky? Why hasn't the cleaner wiped you off? HOW MANY GERMS AM I IN THIS CONFINED SPACE WITH?

Today there was another new guest - a daddy longlegs (who's your daddy? he isn't!). At first I was startled and moved to make the switch to another cubicle, but decided I'd already shared it with person DNA, I guess a spider is no different. I was worried at first that someone would see him and squish him, then realised I was in the ladies room and they were more likely to squeal and switch then make an attack. Then I thought maybe I should move him outside, but figured the grief I get from security for bringing my futurama freezer bag full of lunch every day doesn't need to be amped up once they see me squealing outside holding an upside down cup over an envelope (I'm all for saving them, doesn't mean I like being the one doing it!). Then I thought maybe I should tell the cleaner so that he knows not to kill him - but seriously, what type of cleaner would move a spider that's had ample opportunity to remove a more offensive item from the same stall!

The race is on - who will outwit, outplay and outlast the other? So far it's a bit of tie (I've had more than half a dozen opportunities to keep track of how they're going due to the detox thing - I've already drunk more than 2.5 litres of water at work today!) as both are still there.

Hrm, it's starting to get kinda crowded...

Do you tube?

I was a bit late getting on the YouTube bandwagon - even now I'm not all THAT good at is, preferring to stick to a few of the well known ones that aren't cool any more.

So I'm going to give you the links and you can tell me if you get into it or not (ie, I feel bad I haven't posted but since Sat and I think my posts are getting more space in between and I don't like that byt I'm still trying to timetable all my stuff please forgive me don't hate me).

I found out about LonelyGirl15 after it came out in the news as being a shock-horror fake - only then did I realise that it was something that people liked and were upset about, so thought it was worth a look.

Bree is the main character - I thought she was pretty cool at first but now I kinda find her annoying.

DanielBeast is her 'friend' but you know there's a lil sum'n sum'n going on in his head, and she refuses to admit it. I quite like him because he's geeky but The Hun says it's obviously fake because they put the nerdy guy in with the hot girl to make the loner subscribers feel good.

Gemma is a twat. She's really an aussie and she annoys me with her puffy mouth and fake accent, tho I will admit I do think she is pretty too. She knows Bree from when they were younger and was the third 'player'. There's also been some recent changes in her site - it seems someone has taken over and is posting their own videos...

Jonas is yum. I'm not quite sure how he got in other than he helps Bree and Daniel out a bit earlier in the piece. He boxes and he's funny and I have an image of him shirtless in my mind but can't remember if it was in a video or if I made it up.

I had managed to keep on top of it all and watched them pretty much in order as I got in before Gemma and Jonas came into it - so if you can do it that way it might make some more sense.

This afternoon as I was sitting down to surf blogs before hopefully posting something new, I found out there are another two players in the game - and I don't get to catch up until on the weekend!

It's hard to tell who/what 10033 is - a sister, a brother or an ex?! I don't look at the forums or any other sites, so if the video's don't make sense I'm gonna hafta get my detective cap on. Tachyon too - I have no idea!

OpAphid is a new player - though from the previews it seems that they're responsible for the dissapearance of Cassandra - a friend that Bree and Gemma have mentioned in their video's from when they were younger...

Anyways - if it were to be turned into a movie I don't think that I'd be into it. Maybe on video? But I have the feeling I'm a bit above the target age group. Plus Bree's play on cutesy pisses me off - I know longer find myself subconciously twitching my mouth.

Lemme know if you're into it/Have any info to share/Have any thoughts on it!

Sad Panda

I consider myself to be a funny type of people person. I get anxious around new people, becoming either dead quiet or totally overcompensating, The Hun says I'm different with my friends than I am with him, and I seem to spend a fair amount of time feeling that any problems that people are going through are also a burden I shoud carry and something I should fix.

The Hun is camping with friends at the moment (back tmr!) so I've spend a lil time pottering about by myself. I was at xhmM's house last night (he is camping so was watching movies with his gf and another friend) and had tried to book myself to spend today doing something too, so sent around an email to see if anyone was going to the 'nats this weekend - I've never been. Although I knew of five different people going, not one of them contacted me today to organise something (with the exception of youngest bro who messaged at an ungodly hour to say he wasn't going so I shouldn't wait for him - though I didn't hear it, I finally think I've managed to block out my message tone while sleeping!)

(You can also tell I'm home alone as I'm rambling)

So after getting out of bed mid-to-late morning and realising nobody loved me, I hopped on the scales as I have been doing all week. My weight has gone up 800g since Monday. In fact, it has been going up all week (with the exception of a few 100g loss on Day 2). So I moped about this a bit and decided to eat half a bag of rice crackers and mope. This didn't help. Then I decided to try on my two cocktail dresses - neither of them do up. This also didn't help. So I decided to run some washing. Needless to say that was NO help.

So I decided to take up Jey's advice and head out the Belconnen markets.

And the store was lovely.

And this is what I bought:

(Mozzarella!)

Cheese!! Thanks Jey!! I tell you, this stuff is so good grilled on toast that I may or may not have almost finished it all already... the expiry is the 12th, so I figure it's gotta go soon anyways... This would also be a good place to tell you how I was preheating the griller and then found out 10 minutes later I had been heating the oven, not the grill... but it's not really that much of a story and proddly not really worth a mention.

(Miso).

Do you know how many different types of this stuff there are?! It was all very stressful - a recipe I have saved up requires 1tsp of Miso, but that's all it says! Hopefully it works out okay...

(Deodorant)

Because vegan deoderant is hard to find. Well, effective and nice smelling vegan deoderant has thus far been hard to find - this will be my fourth attempt in just over 7 months, what with the tea tree one (too strong smelling), the Lush bar (it hurts to rub on) and the salt water (ineffective and drips).

(Soy Ice 'cream')

How could I not! I was a mopey girl home alone for the weekend and there's something quite cathartic about eating icecream out of a tub for dinner. And while I feel quite full, I don't regret it. Yet.

(Cellulite Cream. Ugh)

Let's not skirt around this, hey? It's hardly 'Life is beautiful' in my pants. And it needs to be fixed. And no, you don't need to tell me that cheese and ice cream aren't going to help because I know that, which is why I bought the next product:

Detox! Although technically, the product I bought next was actually this:

And I didn't realise I'd bought the wrong one until I was home and I was going to traipse all the way back across Canberra to return it, so I stopped past three seperate smaller shops before I went to Tuggeranong to buy the one I actually wanted - middle bro said he'd buy it off me - Hooray!

So yeah, tmr I kick off a bit of a detox - having been inspired by Deb, methinks! I'm ready to go to the gym tmr and I'm feeling motivated - I have to strike the balance between healthy and quantity (mebbe TOO many beans this week?!) and I'll taking DOWN the chart I have on the wall and chart myself by how I fit into the cocktail dresses until the bridesmaids dress comes in.

I've stopped concentrating now coz Clueless is on - Enny out!