I got runner up in a photo competition :) I took this picture months ago when on a trip to Broken Hill. This picture was taken 50kms north of BH on the Silver City Highway, and yes this is the main highway. It was just one of many I took and one of four I entered into the comp.
I didn’t win anything except being able to tell people I got runner up, so here it is.
Ordering anything online these days usually includes word verification. Tonight I was ordering tickets for Billy Elliot and I had to type the word in the box, the word
thrush
I had to go into the city at lunchtime today (doctors appointment for vaccination booster, BP -120/60 thank you very much, pretty much perfect, blood test, re-prescription and weight –gone up a little since last time) and I found myself missing Martin Place.
I got off the bus on Elizabeth Street and started walking down the hill. I had a Red Cross Give Blood bag thrust at me only to have it taken away again when I said ‘I can’t give blood’ (I might have mad cow disease according the Aussie Red Cross). Then the Socialist Alliance drones tried to ply me with leaflets about how they are going to change Australia when they get into power at the next election, all I have to do is vote for them. The Bobbie Goldsmith foundation asked me to help fill their bucket and I nearly got knocked of my feet for daring to look around at my surrounding and take in the atmos. This was all before I reached the fountain at Pitt Street.
The flat bit of Martin Place between Pitt Street and George Street was the usual gauntlet of Greenpeace, WWF, some Cancer charity and ‘homeless’ asking for cash, all this amongst many, many office workers (dressed mostly in black) all rushing headlong between their desks and food and back again.
Hustle and Bustle how I miss you ;-)
I picked up the voicemail on my mobile today. I knew I had a message from Todd, but as it’s normally ‘Call me’ I didn’t pick it up yesterday morning. You can imagine my surprise and belly laughs when I heard the panic stricken voice saying;
‘I’ve just had a dream about Munchkins giving me a blow-job. We are never watching a movie you pick out ever again!’
I would never have believed, in the first years of the twenty first century that I would have ended up cooking dinner for my hubby two months after I left him. We ate, we drank wine, we even chatted while we sat in the back garden, then he fixed my iTunes.
- Whilst walking home last night I saw this beautiful hang of wisteria and had to take pictures. The bee thinks it's tasty.
- Basketball clearly isn't played in the Spring or Summer
- Wisteria look completely different if looked at from underneath
After a day of ironing and watching Season Three of House on DVD, I needed to get out of the house on Sunday so I picked up the car and went to Bondi Junction for a spot of shopping. Actually it was window shopping but seeing as the wind was doing its best to freeze part of the anatomy off I felt window shopping inside a shopping centre was the way to go. Ohh… and I had to buy a pair of gym shorts.
Some lunch and a few kilometres of walking later, I left the shopping centre to pick up Todd for some more window shopping of the increasingly expensive kind. Car shopping. He’s getting a car when he goes back to the States later in the year and he wanted to suss it all out here first. So we took a test drive. Afterwards when we where sitting with the salesman and Todd is explaining how he’ll be paying cash in a few weeks time (anything to try and get out there without signing paperwork), the salesman turns to me and asks if I was his mother.
This isn’t the first time I been mistaken for being older than I am, but I have never been mistaken for being in my fifties. I politely explained that I was a mere twelve days older than my son and that I was a medical miracle at being able to give birth at such a young age. Then I suggested that the eighteen year old salesman keep his age suspicions to himself in future.
What I should have said is that with a female more insecure about her age he could very well have lost the sale.
Todd and I laughed about it for at least three more hours, before we started laughing at Matt Lucas as Sharon's sister on Kath and Kim.
Since I moved into my little cottage in Surry Hills/Redfern I seem to have had a trail of tradesmen in and out. All have been there in a professional capacity. First there was the Hire-a-hubby to put up picture hooks and put together my Ikea units. Then came the handyman to fix the door, only he never actually came until he had missed several appointments and many phone calls. There was the plumber who fixed my revolting drain problems and now there is the renovator.
The Renovator is the man who put in the bathroom vanity and painted the house before I moved in. He’s coming to fit the new hot water tank (so I hope he is a qualified plumber too). I was told he would be calling me last Monday, so I waited. And waited, nothing. Yesterday when I was on the bus at about 11.30 I get a phone call from a private number.
‘Can you be at your house in fifteen to twenty minutes?’
‘Who is this?’ said I.
‘I’m coming to fit your new hot water system.’
‘Ahh, NO! It’s Sunday, I’m on a bus and at what point did we book this?’
‘I’m a very busy man you know.’
You may be, but…’
Anyway, the upshot of the conversation is that he’s coming between 6 and 7pm on Tuesday night. And I still have no idea what his name is.
Update 10:13 26-9-07 His name is Jim and he turned up at 1930. Ohh and he was really smelly.
A subject close to my heart was in the news today. World Youth Day, should or shouldn't it be cancelled due to lack of work being done at the chosen venue due to the horse flu.
According to Yahoo readers today it's currently at 48%/52% in favour of keeping WYD. So I decided to poll my own reader, what do you think?
Cancel or don't cancel
(please consider the influx of up to 500,000 catholic youth to Sydney for the month of July 2008 when casting your vote)
UPDATE : 1313 2-10-07 - The polls results are in. 80% think we should cancel World youth day to protect Sydneysiders and 20% don't care 'cause they'll be on holiday.
Today I’m having a colour crisis. I realized this morning when I was on my way to work that I am wearing a totally tragic outfit. Black boots, brown trousers (it gets worse) a red and white striped shirt and a raspberry jacket. I also currently have red nails. I really must do the ironing this weekend.
People must be looking at me and thinking (just as I did last week when I saw a girl in a black suit with a fuchsia blouse and brown kitten heels), did she get dressed in the dark this morning?
Found out what the sewage issue was this morning, finally. After an hour with and electric eel and a bath full of water the plumbers drew out a larger grey lump of goo and the smaller guy of the two man handled it for a few seconds before withdrawing a small gold crucifix and then he said ‘Ahh…god botherers and white mice’.
It took me a second to realize what he was talking about…now it's your turn, think about it.
Imaginative answers will be marked out of 5 and the correct answer for the person I know will be rewarded by a few bevvies for actually writing the word.
Driving south on the freeway tonight I saw this van, as it was doing exactly the speed limit I couldn’t really overtake, but I did have to take a picture because after twenty odd kilometres and not a single other car on the road it was still sitting in the middle lane. It seems he forgot about moving into the left lane.
You can image how it looked when I got close enough to see the branding on the side, back and front.
In light of our trip to see the War of the Worlds last night, Todd had to alert me to this little story from Peru about a 'meteorite'.
The BBC
Living in Peru
The Guardian, UK
- Richards Hologram (on the left)
- The Tripod
About two months ago I moved into a house on street level in the city. I have come to realize that this has both benefits and drawbacks.
While I love having my own space I find it is invaded by a plethora of junk mail on a daily basis. Catalogues from Coles, Woolworths, BuyLo, Freedom Furniture, Myer and David Jones are just a few of the many I receive. The quality of the paper stock improves as you work your way through the list, which is nice. But these don’t arrive in my letterbox, nope, they are thrown at my front door to be found when I get home somewhere on the step or amongst the plants on the front border. If it rains, they get wet and are useless pulp.
Puss gets to sit outside. He also get to go for walks in the evening, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t go far because he’s never gone for long. There are big scary noises out there in the big wide city world. The bush is much safer.
People trying to sell me stuff/convert me on a Saturday morning. So far I have had Jehovah Witnesses at 9.45am, raffle tickets for some charity or other (I don’t know who because it was 9.01am when the doorbell rang and I was less than polite), the Smith family at 0845 asking if I had any unwanted items (I told them they had more chance if they asked after 10, but no, I don’t) and finally the Jehovah Witnesses again at 9.30. I’m thinking of having a sign that says ‘if it’s the weekend and before 10AM, do even think about ringing my doorbell’
Drainage Problems. When living in a flat on the seventh floor, drains were never a problem. At Bucketlike we had a sess pit and again drainage was never an issue. But Now I seem to be the outflow for the neighbour sewage system. For the last couple of weeks my little house has been getting smellier and smellier, at the weekend I went outside to find the drain had overflowed I had fag butts, cotton pads and toilet roll all over the back garden. Eww! After two weeks of asking the agent to get it sorted, I figured a photograph of my new garden décor would do the trick. Today a plumber arrived on my doorstep at eight o’clock.
Buses. I don’t like them very much, they are unreliable, noisy, dirty and they scare Puss. They run up and down outside every 5-10 minutes in both directions. They do however alert me when they are just around the corner by being noisy and I have just enough time to run across the road to the bus-stop without having to ‘wait’. Marvellous!
All-in-all I like living at street level.
A few months ago, June and I decided to have Yum Cha for lunch. Bad I know, but it is indeed Yum! I have since been told Yum Cha translates to Drink Tea which is something to do with dissolving the fat in the food…but whatever, the tea’s all part of the fun of Yum Cha. Next up, in a couple of weeks - one of the following;
Anyway, apart from steamed prawn dumpling, my favourite dish is a dessert dish. Mango Pancakes. At the first place (Zilver) we went to we decided that the pancakes were too thick and there wasn’t nearly enough actual mango in the tasty little morsels. In a discussion on the way back to the office we decided to visit all the Yum Cha places (within walking distance of Central Station) in an effort to find Sydney’s best Mango Pancake.
So far we have been to (we’re rationing ourselves);
Zilver - pancake too thick, not enough actual mango (1/5)
East Ocean - nice thin pancakes, lots of real mango (4/5)
Today, we went to Marigold on the 5th floor of the City Mark building on George Street. The service wasn’t too bad but the overall food selection was a little on the naff side. Very few steamed dumplings, but loads of fried stuff. We did get fresh greens though and for some reason two pots of tea. The mango pancake however was a little disappointing. Although the pancake itself was nice and thin, it was very soggy. The cream seemed to be watered down slightly and it all gave the appearance of a sweaty sock. They tasted OK, but they weren’t good enough for us to mind leaving the last one.
Overall I would rate the Mango Pancakes at the Marigold three out of a possible five (3/5). 
- These one are slightly brown from the pan, the ones today were NOT, and they're missing the dodgy paper doily ;-)
The Regal (in china town, somewhere)
Sky Phoenix (Sky Garden, Pitt Street)
The Palace (Piccadilly Arcade, Pitt Street.
I had planned a little trip to the garden centre today but the car battery was flat. So after waiting for the NRMA man to arrive and to have him tell me the parking lights had been left on. He then told me I had to drive for at least forty-five minutes to charge the battery back up.
Where to go?
Wentworth Pots was to be my destination, a random trip into the Blue Mountains to get a couple of pots, some polished river stones and compost. The car was riding a little low on the way back but I have managed to turn the garden from this …
to this ...
Picture to come ;-)
Went out with Trixy and Rachel last night to a pub in Newtown. It was supposed to be a crawl from The Bank to The Marly but the addition of Bob and Jenna made it a bit more limited with the hearing issues in ‘loud spaces’. So we ended up, up stairs with a bottle or two of white wine. I hadn’t seen Bob for a while (I used to work with him and Trixy at one of the four leading banks in Aussie five years ago) and he tried to introduce himself to me. He was terribly embarrassed when he realized it was me. He later said to Trixy that he loved my haircut and that it made me look younger.
Anyway…Trixy was confused about why they had come out for a drink in Newtown. These are people who normally hand out at the most expensive restaurants or choose to entertain at home. So why had they come out to play with us?
After nearly five hours of drinking and casual chit chat all was revealed in the last twenty seconds. As Jenna slid into a taxi outside Zanibar, Bob turned to Trixy and said something I didn’t hear. But I did hear Trixy say ‘beat Russell’s offer’ as she slammed the cab door in his face. Only after the car had pulled away did she turn to me and said ‘Ohh, my god, what just happened?’
It’s a long story, but it involves a kick-arse job for Trixy in either Johannesburg or Hong Kong. I may even get in on the action this time.
You go Trixy, you’re all class…I’ll miss you when you move overseas on the 21st November!
There are people out there that make judgements about you based on nothing. This is why I do change management. I find it fascinating that one people deals with a situation in a totally different way to the person sitting at the desk next door. People usually have a reason for doing something. Whether it be kicking up a stink about not having a Position Description (an hour out of my life yesterday in a team meeting), moving the newspapers away from their desk even though they always get put there (the new guy in the office is really upsetting the old-timers), or simply not answering an email.
I could answer the snotty email I received today with a ‘bugger off’ or I could give a detailed explanation about how I’m not interested in what he’s selling and ask he please leave me alone. I have already tried it’s not happening, maybe if I’m nice and the explaining it emails. I can no longer explain myself in the hope he’ll get it.
I’m now hoping if I just ignore him, he’ll go away. I have it on good authority from fellow workers that sometimes if you just ignore it, it WILL go away.
This is my finally request, I can’t be doing with constantly arguing, justifying my action and explaining myself at work or at home.
Update: 1139 15/9/07 - I decided everyone deserves to know why.
Update 1432 17/9/07 - Some people are pricks even if you are trying to be considerate.
Without wanting to moan too much I would like to get a few thing off my chest by putting a few questions out there.
Why do tradesmen feel it’s acceptable to cancel twenty minutes before they are due?
How do you unblock a drain that is blocked so badly that your arm up to the pit doesn’t clear it and it continues to stink your house out?
Why do Telstra keep you holding for so long?
Why does my hair grow so quick now it’s short?
What happened to the letters that were in my bag that I didn’t post?
Why does the new guy in the office think it’s acceptable to tidy others people’s desks?
Why does Sushi taste so good?
Do I look silly in this Ladybird t-shirt?
So this afternoon I had popped to the Ladies, as you do, and while there someone else came in. She went into the cubicle next to me a proceeded to do a poo (I know this ‘cause I heard the plop of it hitting the water).
What made me stop doing up my fly in astonishment was when she said ‘see I knew you could do it, that wasn’t so hard was it?’
It made me question my sanity for a second, but she continued encouraging herself while I washed my hands and as I walked out into the corridor thinking to myself, I hope I don’t do that.
Walking to lunch today I saw a woman in a blue jacket holding a bunch of leaflets that suggested I ‘Test Your Tolerance’ then I notice the words Jesus Saves embroidered on her jacket.
As she thrust a leaflet at me I did an artful bend at the waist avoidance manoeuvre and said ‘No Thanks.’
I already know I’m intolerant of God botherers at lunch time.
That said, what is it exactly that Jesus Saves?
6 – hours sleep between the getting home from the concert and having to get up again
2 – many hours of more General Public and alpaca stuff
5 – plants purchased
1 – hot corn on the cob eaten
1 - ladybird t-shirt purchased, spots and all
176 – raffle tickets left unsold
1530 – Graham Ross from 'Better Home and Gardens' drew the raffle, after I asked him on teh off-chance
1 - bag of alpaca poo presented to the gardener as a thank you for drawing the raffle
2 – alpaca regional members won stuff
1600 – close
2145 – Hmmm…sleep
6 – the day of the week
120 – minutes alone in a marquee defending fleeces, selling raffle tickets, telling people alpacas are cute…etc
120 – the minute I snapped at a lady I had already asked not to touch the fleeces, nicely. Well, she did it again.
125 – the first volunteer decided it was a good time to turn up
10 – minutes of time out and away from General Public
100+ - time I realised that General Public is a twit, again!
1 – mini melt-down
1245 – another volunteer turned up
1700 – closed up and ran away to Sydney were I was to meet with normal, sensible people to see…
2 – great bands, Powderfinger and Silverchair
4 – hours of fun and groovin’ to fantastic music with over
18,000 – other fans who had dragged themselves out to Acer Arena on a Saturday night (see Silverfinger/Powderchair entry for more details on the gig).
Until recently I had no idea the music I was listening to on the radio was by either of these bands. Then Silverchair brought out ‘Straight Lines’ and Powderfinger released ‘Lost and Running’. I was hooked, love both these songs, I brought the current albums. Then I got a couple of back catalogue. Then, when I saw tickets for a concert called ‘Across the Great Divide’ that saw both these bands playing together I had to get tickets.
Saturday night I went to see them (missed backup band Youth Group, sorry fella’) with Trixy, Rachel, Hubby and June. Edna couldn’t make it as it was the last night her folks were in town, so we had a seat for coats and merchandise.
The stage was a long way away, but we had a clear view from our seats in the gods (door 62 row H). I felt like I was in the Hopetoun when I looked down. There was a black stage with a couple of speakers, a few mic stands, a keyboard and a drum kit. The only thing that looked different was the backdrop, very industrial rather than blackout curtains. Even the feedback gave me that Welcome Home feeling.
Don’t get me wrong, the gig was awesome. It was a big little gig by two amazing Aussie bands that gave good concert. Both Daniel Johns (leader singer of Silverchair) and Bernard Fanning (lead singer of Powderfinger) had plenty of interaction with the crowd. But it was of the classic ‘raise your hands in the air’, ‘I want to see how much noise you can make’ and ‘Everybody say Whoa!’
You guys ROCK!
4 - the number of days I have worked as a volunteer, thereby missing out on paid days at work
8 – hours standing with a cracked heel
2 – curly wurly’s
3 – volunteers turned up
7 – alpacas on display
30+ - ladies with more facial hair than their husbands wearing trackie daks pulled up to their boobs
6 – rain showers
60 – lucky dips, dipped
1700 – closed the tent
1720 – stopped to take some pictures of wild spring flowers and misty views
1740 – home
500+ - dollars taken, the alpaca organisation may actually make back the money it spent on the display.
2200 – the time I plan to be in bed by tonight!
3 – the number of days I have spent at Mount Panang Gardens, so far
3 – bales of straw that had to be carried to the tent from the car, that was
3 – volunteers that didn’t bother to turn
2 – of us manning the stand all day
30+ - ladies with more facial hair than their husbands
100+ - school kids with sticky finger touching fleece
12 – skeins of alpaca wool sold, finally!
6 – minutes to eat my lunch
1 – fleece sold, to a spinner who was demonstrating
1700 – jumped in the car and drove to Sydney
1815 – walked into uni class (thanks Apex for a clear traffic run, no speeding required)
2100 – left class
2115 – picked up raffle tickets in my letterbox
2125 – dropped off hubbies mail and saw a rather unstable hubby crossing the road, had a chat and discovered he has no sober friends.
1 – less bouncing bunny in the world :(
1 – quick and happy wallaby
2325 – pulled under carport at Bucketlike
867 – dollars later, fully cashed up for the first trading day
0047 – fell asleep before head hit pillow.
Gotta love this Video. Do Not watch if you are from England and are offended by stereo-types. Actually, sod it, watch it anyway, it's great!
Guest Judge : The Sass and Bide Designers
Three of Them : Cover Girl ‘My Life as a Cover Girl’ True Shine photoshoot and advert
Went Home : Renee ‘I would rather have wisdom in my eyes than be blank and stupid and have nothing there.’
Going through to the Fashion Parade : Jaslene and Natasha
What Renee said about Natatsha – ‘She walks like pigeon toed duck with a piece of poop hanging out of her ass.’
What Nigel Barker said to Renee – ‘You photograph old.’
What Jaslene said about Natasha - ‘If Natasha wins this competition I’m going to pull off all of her hair.’
Fashion Parade : Evolution by Sass and Bide. It started as early woman and got more elegant as the show went on. Natasha’s skirt fell off and the judges commented about how it looked like it was supposed to.
Final Judging Panel : Twiggy, Miss Jay, Tara, Nigel Barker and Jay Emanualle
and Americas Next Top Model is
JASLENE
‘Cause I really don’t want to be here, I’m going to cronical my involvement in the Flora Fest display in numbers.
839 – the time I got up
900 – the time I was supposed to be at the marquee
35 – minutes late for setting up the display
4 - helpers, three from Taree and Macksville
1 – major downpour
1 – wet passenger seat when I couldn’t wind up the car window
123 – dollars to buy a new car battery, when the old one died
1 – time down Kariong Hill
1 – trip to Bunnings (for tarps and cable ties, don’t ask) and Officeworks for sugar
20 – bales of straw
10 – fleeces for sale
8 – mannequins dressed in groovy Alpaca outfits
3 – males mannequins without pants with everything hanging out (well they would have done, if they had any genitals)
135 – kilometres to pick op the 2008 Alpaca Hmmm… calendar
500 – hot looking calendars
1940 – the time I got home
2 – pairs of trousers of Hubbies that will be on mannequins tomorrow
So, is the massive entourage of seventeen black limos that is currently rolling around Sydney and closing roads, the American's way of protecting it’s very own horses arse?
- 450 kilometres
- One trip from Sydney to Morpeth, via Gosford and Tuggerah
- 4 times up Kariong hill
- 3 times into Mount Panang gardens to find the marquee missing one side
- 3 phonecalls to the marquee people to fix the tent
- Twice into Officeworks to get ripped off for printing
- Twice into Spotlight to buy ‘display materials’
- Twice into the petrol station to fill up (I will be claiming petrol)
- Once into Big W to buy sweeties, if i have to stand in a cold marquee for four days I want carbohydrates.
- 8 alpaca outfits for mannequins
- 1 occurrence of having the phone put down on me ‘cause I had the nerve to ask if someone had sent the raffle ticket back in the SSAE provided.
8.30am start, 9pm finish.
There is much talk in the media and around the water coolers at the moment of Sydney’s ‘Wall of Shame’ that is being erected to protect the APEC summit that is happening later in the week. At this rate the protesters aren’t going to give a damn about the Summit, just the fact that they are being told off for even taking photos of the five kilometre, three metre high fence.
Yesterday in my hung-over stupor I took a walk thinking the fresh air would do me good, I ended up having a little barny with a policeman when he told me to delete the amazing arty shot I took. I was very disappointed as I was surprised I could even see after all the Cosmopolitans I drank at Todd’s place on Saturday night at his 70’s Karaoke night. The worst thing about the party was that I went out wearing a fuchsia pink polyester jump-suit with a yellow sash and a blond afro wig before I had even consumed any booze. Worst still, I had to stop off at a petrol station to get ice!
Apart from my little trip out, I spent the rest of the day trying to do the ironing and watching Sex and the City.
This week I will be braving the alpaca industry for the last time and putting on the display at the Australian Springtime Flora Festival in Gosford. It looks like it’s going to suck due to lack of volunteers and stuff to display! ;-)
