"So sweet," huh?

On Sunday I received a message on my phone. The subject read:

Look out.

It then featured this photo:










with the caption: "I'm coming to get you!"


So it's not enough that I get bitten by a donkey, now I am being stalked by one too. Great.

The Auction

One armadillo for both warts, going once, going twice...




(Adam I expect prompt delivery on purchase. I'm a bit worried about how Chester's going to get along with the armadillo. It will be much bigger than him. And they both eat ants.)

Galaxies

Over the past 24 hours, Adam and I have had some very tough conversations. The long distance thing is starting to take its toll and we are both a bit fed up with it. The financial strain is difficult for us both to deal with and there are still some unresolved issues from the past floating around. We both had a pretty shitty week.

communicating about feelings and emotional stuff is difficult, but we gave it our best shot and I think we're both feeling a bit better. I am very confident that we will be able to ride out the next few months and things will improve greatly once we're both in the same state. We are a great team and I think once we get past this difficult first bit, 2007's going to be a great year for us.

Tonight, I am doing something which I am very excited about. Laura Veirs is playing at the Corner Hotel and I will be there. Unfortunately I am going alone, but that's ok, as long as I get to see her play I'll be happy.

The reason I've brought this up is that I was listening to her latest CD today, Year Of Meteors, and the lyrics of this song are a beautiful description of what it's like to be in love with someone as beautiful as Adam:

When you sing, when you sing
The stars fill up my eyes
Galaxies pour down my cheeks
Galaxies!
Galaxies they flood the street
Galaxies!

When we dance, when we dance
Eels and seagrass float on by
I'm ten thousand leagues beneath the sea
Ten thousand leagues!
Ten thousand leagues beneath the green
Ten thousand leagues!

When we kiss, when we kiss
Bears and boulders vibrate through the air
Gravity is dead you see
No gravity!
All I need is beating red
No gravity!

Hee-haw!

Yesterday, a donkey bit me.


Here are some pictures of the fucker:



Yes, looks all sweet and innocent doesn't he? Yeah, right. I've seen Shrek.


Yesterday I also started an auction here (scroll down). Please feel free to bid...

Wart do you want? (practising bad puns for when I become editor of Odd Spot)

About a week ago I discovered a growth on my thumb. It didn't belong and was a bit tender to touch. I suspected it might be a wart. I know, ew.

Let me tell you I have never had warts, and I don't intend to start now. Warts belong on witches and toads, not on me.

It looked not unlike this:


















Fig 1: Not actual thumb depicted, this is another similar growth that has since appeared on my middle finger. But this is what it did look like. Not much, just a little red raised lump. Like my macro work, Deb?

So, I went immediately to the Chemist and asked if she had something for warts. I didn't even want to say it out loud, it's such an icky word.

She examined my thumb and said it didn't look like a wart. Warts are hairy. I asked what else it could be. She said maybe it was a blister. It was not a blister.

So I got the wart stuff and went home. It is quite complicated - you have to put something around the wart to protect the rest of your skin, then apply the stuff, and then cover with a bandaid. And then try not to get it wet. Yeah right.

I used clear nail polish around it as suggested, and diligently applied the stuff every day for a week. I did get it wet, you can't really help that with showers and hand washing and such.

Now, it looks like this:

















Fig 2: Actual thumb depicted.

Notice how red and angry looking the thing is? It hurts like buggery. I have effectively been burning a hole in my thumb with acid. Now I don't really know what to do about it. Continue until there is no sign of a wart left or I reach bone, whichever comes sooner? Put burn cream on it to try and heal it? It looks like it will scar, so now rather than having a big ugly wart on my thumb I will have a big ugly scar. Just what a pianist needs!

And if you read the fineprint earlier you will have noticed that another one of these growths has sprung up on my middle finger of the other hand. I'm not burning this one off, I'll wait and see what it does.

If anyone has any experience with warts and/or is a dermatologist - please help??? I was so afraid of having ugly warty hands that I may have made a big mistake trying to burn this thing off...



In other news I am cranky with Chester today because he did a big pee on the carpet right by the front door. And this is not an isolated incident - he has done several pees in the house recently. The annoying thing is I can't really even tell him off, it's not his fault.

Chester is totally housetrained and knows not to pee inside. He can usually hold on for a very long time - all night and then some. Since he started collapsing etc, the vet told me to keep him out of the heat, and not take him for walks (there is a strong possibility something around his heart could explode). So I have been keeping him inside a lot. Also when I try to put him outside when I go out, he often refuses to come. And I am a big softie and let him stay inside. Furthermore, he is on fluid tablets which should make him pee more.

So when I went to the gym and it was raining, I let him in the house, and came home to wet carpet. Not his fault really. He is currently outside, squeaking to be let in. I am being strong.

Yes, the gym, I went again today! That's three times this week. It was a good workout today, short and to the point. There was a girl there doing some amazing balancing stuff on one of those fitballs, and I wondered whether she is a gymnast or circus performer. I must have been staring because a middle-aged sweaty man asked me whether I can do that. "Nowhere near," I replied, startled out of my circus fantasy.

I was a bit annoyed because my i-pod shuffle that I used once before it stopped working has been fixed - YAY - but I forgot to bring it - BOO! Putting it in the gym bag right now so I can't forget again.

I bought two tambourines yesterday. Our producer has always complained that mine sounds shit on tape (even though it has cool gold stars on it) and a tambourine part is the last thing I have left to record on the album. So I went to buy a new one and was shocked by just how many different sounding tambourines there are. I thought it would be a straightforward purchase!!! In the end I couldn't decide and they are pretty cheap so I got two - both wooden, one mahogany with one row of "jingles" and one plywood I think, something cheaper, but with two rows of jingles. The one I already have is a RhythmTech, that is the standard professional tambourine and costs 3 times as much as the others I bought. So I am skeptical about whether they'll be better. I asked Robbie about it later, and he said it's not necessarily the brand, but each individual tambourine sounds different. So you can get good RhythmTech ones and bad ones. You have to go through the whole box. Apparently. I'm sure I couldn't hear the difference between them, but there is a surprising amount of difference between the different brands/styles. So we'll see how we go. Surely with 3 options we'll find something that works...

Last night I went to a new little jazz club in the city to see a friend's band play. He's a sax player. And actually he's my ex-boyfriend. Another one. From a very long time ago. Let's call him Grooveboy... (Aha! she finally figured out that if you don't use real names you can say juicy stuff about people!)

So, I went on my own and got there as they were just about to start. I found a stool at the bar & ordered a glass of white wine and watched the first few songs. And thought to myself - it's so weird, I really loved that guy once. I'd say he was my first real love. And you know how that goes, so fierce and naive. And now, I don't. At all.

It's funny what years and life experience can do. I mean I am still friends with the guy, don't see him all that often but I did go to his wedding (well, one of three - long story but he met an English girl on a cruise ship and that meant three wedding ceremonies). Watching him play used to fill me with such pride and admiration, now mostly what I feel is irritation - his ego is so huge, he really gets off on himself and I find that quite annoying.

Interestingly, so does his wife sometimes. She is a blonde dancer who is very down to earth and I think is great for him because she keeps him grounded. During one prolonged solo bit she rolled her eyes and whispered in my ear "Get on with it then! God, he can be SO self-indulgent. This bit gets longer and longer every time!". I had to laugh.

And I had to laugh even harder, albeit on the inside, when I heard about her latest job. She couldn't tell me in front of his parents, she had to whisper that she's working at the Men's Gallery. At first I thought she meant bar tending but it became apparent that she meant dancing... or stripping.

Excellent money apparently.

I didn't ask too many questions although I wish now that I had. I do know that she doesn't make as much as some of the girls because she's not "plastic fantastic" - ie she has a very nice but normal body. But she doesn't leave before she's made $300 a night. And the girls have to pay to work there - I think it was $60/night, so she has to cover that and then start on her $300.

I wonder whether I could do something like that. I don't think so. I'd have to be pretty desperate I think. But if you were a dancer and had lots of confidence I guess it would be easy money...

Four weddings and a...

It has been a bit of a sombre week.

Bushfires are still raging out of control across Victoria, we have had power outages across the state, it is hot as hell and no-one's allowed to use water. The city is still covered in smoke. Closer to home, Chester has been a rather sick puppy, and my sister's friend's housemate died tragically a few days ago. So when I got a phone call to ask if I could play piano at a funeral, I somehow was not surprised.

I didn't know who the funeral was for, nor did I know the singer I was to play with, and I only had two days to prepare. Well, more like two hours when you consider I spent all of yesterday recording and rehearsing, and I had to be there at 1pm today.

So the whole thing was very underprepared and I felt a bit bad for the family. Not that we completely cocked it up, I think we got away with it, but it wasn't the best performance of my life, that's for sure!!

Apologies to Adam who has heard all about it already, but I thought I'd explain why I felt like a complete phoney...

In the first song, Love Me Tender, the singer had a backing track so I turned my volume down quite low and played along. I thought she was finished though and then the thing kept going so I sat there like an indiot with my hands in my lap while she sang another verse!!

I didn't have the sheet music for the second song, so I turned my volume down to zero and mimed. I have never done that before. I’m not sure if anyone noticed.

The third song was the really important one – no backing track, just me and Debbi (who spells it like that??!). And neither of us really knew the song. I barely had any time to learn it in the end, about half an hour this morning.So we got there early and had a practice, and I made her nervous by being not very good. And she wanted me to sing along (with a microphone and everything) and I said I wasn’t sure if I could but she made me do it anyway.

So it got to halfway through the funeral, when Debbi realised that they had printed the words wrong in the program and so we had to do the 2^nd verse instead of the first. I didn’t have the chords written anywhere near the words of the 2^nd verse, and there was no way I could pull out a pencil and do it during the service. So I think I sang the first line with her and then dropped out to concentrate on getting the chords right, which was more important anyway. The stupid thing was, the congregation all sang along during the chorus, which was the bit we both knew, and then they stopped during the verse which was the bit we fudged. Arrrghh!!

Afterwards the deceased lady’s brother, a rather elderly gent, came up to us and sang it how it was supposed to go. But everyone else seemed pretty happy with it and one of the lady’s daughters came up and gave us both a kiss so perhaps it wasn't too bad!!! But I felt like such a fake! Still, it was the best paying gig I've had in a long while…

Lack of Inspiration = Motivation

I just got home from the gym. Not so remarkable. But when you consider that I hadn't been to a gym for... oooh... four years??? Now that's news!!

I put my somewhat musty exercise gear on and power-walked to the gym (about 15-20 mins). Then I had to fill out forms and do all the usual crap they make you do, go on a tour etc. I thought the guy would show me how to use the machines but no! So I started with the exercises my chiro wants me to do every day, and then hopped on an exercise bike. Almost 5km, pretty good for the first time, don't want to overdo it and be so sore I never go back!!!

Then I wandered around looking bewildered, searching for some weight machines that I recognised from my old gym. I found one and did four sets on that. Then I wandered round some more, sitting down at a machine, not for the life of me being able to work out how to use it, and then moving on to another one. Eventually I was rescued by Karl the hot Dutch fitness coach, who showed me the correct way to use half a dozen machines. Thank god for Karl!!!

After my workout I power walked home again, along the beach, and felt great! I was absolutely starving when I got home, I had expected to take about an hour and a half, instead I was gone for over two and a half hours!!! I'm gonna be so sore tomorrow!


So what brought on this burst of energy? Well...


Yesterday was my day to practice piano. Well, not the only day, but it was the dedicated day for it. I have been a bit busy since I got back from Brisbane - busy, or was I just procrastinating? I can be really good at doing everything except the thing that really needs to be done. So I had deliberately kept Sunday free to concentrate on this.

I guess I've had trouble getting motivated because the tunes I'm supposed to be working on have not really got me inspired. I can't seem to achieve the sound I'm looking for and don't feel technically strong or creative enough to get what I want. As you can imagine, this is very frustrating. I think the problem is that these two songs have not been workshopped with the rest of the band, as is our usual mode of operation. I have pretty much been sent off to the bedroom to come up with something. And it's just not coming. You may recall I attempted to record these tracks before Christmas, with so-so results. This Wednesday will be the second and hopefully final attempt. So I really am on a deadline to kick these songs into shape.

But, yesterday, I was floundering a bit, and decided I needed some air. I had been in the study for the whole day alternating between the computer and keyboard, so it was time to stretch my legs. I'm really glad I did! It was a gorgeous evening, and I pushed myself to walk fast for about half an hour. I felt much better afterwards. Here are some photos I took along the water...



After dinner I watched Shopgirl (I thought it was beautiful) and then was browsing some blogs (procrastinating again - should have been going to bed) and found Amanda who was talking about trying to get motivated to go to the gym... and I remembered that I purchased a 3-week trial pass to my local gym the other day for $10. Spurred on by my power-walk and increasingly flabby tummy and Amanda's inspiring story I decided tomorrow was the day to get my ass to the gym.

I'll keep you posted with how this spurt of motivation goes, but I really want to keep it up for at least the three weeks I've paid for.

Chester was HEAPS better yesterday, totally himself again, trotting round the house, jumping up on me, etc. VERY happy about this!!! The new medication is making a huge difference. This morning he has woken up with a nasty cough. Which is weird, because his cough has been virtually gone since I went to Brisbane. I gave him some cough mixture this morning and that seems to have helped. We'll see how it goes... honestly, if it's not one thing, it's another!! But I'd rather have a dog with a cough than a dog who collapses and can't breathe properly! Poor little Chester, he's SO cute!! I love him so much!!

The Cara & Adam Weekend Of Awes*

*"Awes" is an abbreviation of "awesome". It is pronounced like "horse" without the "h". The term was coined by my bogan cousins Josh & James, and I think it's genius. Try it out some time, you won't be sorry!

Cara and Adam had one more weekend left in the sunshine state (oh sorry, the smart state), before Cara returned home to the garden state, oh sorry, the place to be. Thank god they changed that one - not many gardens left in ol Melbourne town now, especially in even numbered houses where one of our two allowed garden watering time slots is 8-10pm on Saturday night. Saturday night! Who is home on Saturday night watering their garden????!!!

Anyway, I'm off track now.

So, how would a Rock Chick and an IT Ninja fill in their last 48 hours together? Well, there are a few obvious answers to that. How about a Rock Show? Followed by a Nerdfest. Followed by... something completely mad, crazy and fun. Hmmm, that's a toughie. Let's come back to it.

The Rock Show. Best of both worlds with both a Melbourne and Brisbane band playing at the Troubadour. Our heroes did their best to look cool whilst scribbling notes and fiddling with the ISO. Cara wanted to talk to the band members after the show but chickened out. Eating pizza by the slice watching drunk Brisbanites stumble around the valley at 1am was fun. The weekend was off to a good start.

Nerdfest II. Plenty has been said already about the cuisine - lack of chicken in the pudding, lack of niceness in the fried ice-cream, but no mention has yet been made of Cara's delicious lamb cutlets which she took great pleasure in noisily gobbling with lots of lipsmacking next to a vegetarian. And much has been made of a young ninja-in-training's prowess with a big stick against the evil spider, but barely any props given to the bravery of the eyewitnesses, both tall and small, who will now be scarred for life. This was a heaps good time which both our young heroes enjoyed thoroughly.

Something Completely Mad, Crazy and Fun. Hmmm.... what to do, what to do? What on earth would take advantage of a day of brilliant Queensland sunshine, allow Adam to flex his muscles and act all manly, and allow Cara to practice her Baywatch Bikini Bounce TM and her Oh-My-God-David Hasselhof/Grohl/Bowie-Is-So-Hot scream???

Where could they go???



I know...









WET N WILD!!!!!!!!



YAY!!!!!


So they rented a cheap-ass Hyundai from Budget, found a cheap-ass room at a fancy five star resort on Lastminute.com, drove to the Gold Coast and had a freaking brilliant day at Wet n Wild.

The sun was out, the school holidays were on, but it's gonna take more than mobs of teenagers and high UV levels to deter our heroes from having a good time. First up was the wave pool to get wet, followed by Mammoth Falls. Cara was terrified by the endless flights of stairs you can see through, clinging to the handrail for dear life, not looking down or sideways and not speaking to anyone. Adam leapt up the stairs seven at a time and waited patiently at the top. This was a pattern that would continue throughout the day. They plummeted down the falls, Cara shrieking in terror while Adam yelled "Righteous!! RIGHTEOUS!!!". This was also a pattern that would continue throughout the day.

After Mammoth Falls they ventured onto the Twister, (scarier than expected - and wedgier!!), White Water Mountian (an old-fashioned sit-on-your-bum waterslide), Aqua races (face first sprint down the hill - Adam sadly 3rd place, Cara proudly 5th place, ahead of a mum and two 6 year olds), Mach 5 (twice - this one was awes!), Calypso Beach (a surprise hit - riding around a fake river in blow-up donuts would seem a little lame-o, but was really relaxing and fun. Adam used his ninja skills to good effect flipping Cara when she least expected it...) and finally, The Tornado.


The Tornado is Wet n Wild's newest ride, the crowning glory in the brand new Extreme H2O Zone. It also looks a lot like this. After queueing for forty-five minutes, Cara and Adam agreed to share a raft with two young boys who looked like they would be very comfortable doing laps on Chapel or Lygon st in their Monaro. As they climbed the 29,000 stairs to the top (or so it seemed to panic-stricken Cara) the boys joked with Adam about how they were going to make the raft do a 360 spin around the cone of the tornado. Cara went white and started to shake. They watched other groups being spat out of the dark tunnel into the huge cone, going higher and higher up the edges. "Let's try and get above that blue section!" Adam enthused. Cara clung tighter to the hand railing. Suddenly they were at the top, legs a-kimbo, clambering into the raft in ankle-deep rushing water. and then they were hurtling through a dark tunnel, screaming for dear life (well, Cara was), going down, down, down, until...

They were spat out into the cone, whooshing up and up, until Cara was sure they were either going to do that promised 360, or, be flung out of the front of the cone onto the onlooking crowd, crushing dozens of people. Best case scenario.

But what goes up must come down, and down they did come, until they were whooshing up and up the other side of the cone. Not again!!! They continued to zig zag up and down the cone while Adam smiled for the camera at all appropriate points, until finally they were spat out the pointy bit of the cone into a pool of freezing water, giggling and grinning like little school girls. Even Cara. Who was also shaking like a leaf. "That was fun, honey. Can we go home now?"

The ever-gallant Adam chauffered the young lady back to their five-star resort where they collapsed in the hot spa and kanoodled. Until a family with a 2 year old and a video camera intent on capturing every second of the poor bugger's life ruined it all. Kids. Should be illegal.

They then retired to their suite where as luck would have it, a David Bowie concert was on cable. Cara had no Oh-My-God-David Hasselhof/Grohl/Bowie-Is-So-Hot screams left, so she had to make do with goo-goo eyes. Adam read a book jealously in the corner.

Dinner was lovely, as the couple had requested a table "as far as humanly possible from any kids please" and were indulged by the waiting staff. Macarena the waitress had a bit of trouble with english, and waiting, but other than that was very lovely and sure knew how to dance.

Retiring early to the boudoir, the couple enjoyed their last night together before Cara would be rudely snatched back by the real world. They rose at the crack of dawn and drove the Hyundai back to the city with one million other commuters, and bid each other fond farewells. They would see each other again in three weeks time, but it felt like forever away. Time is cruel to young lovers.

Warning: this may put you off your dinner...

This afternoon when Chester and I went for a walk we came across this:




















I guess this baby bird must have fallen out of its nest. How sad. I guess what struck me was its nakedness - not a single feather on the creature, and its size - large enough to be a fully formed bird but still quite tiny. In an attempt to show how small it was I took this:



















I'm not quite sure if that has the effect I was looking for but anyway the poor blighter was only a few inches long. I wonder if his parents pushed him out of the nest or he fell all by himself. Stupid parents for having a nest so high above a concrete ground, really. Should have been in a nice low tree branch with soft grass below to cushion his fall. It was quite grotesque, just baking there in the sun. No way I was touching it though. Even Chester kept a respectful distance.

Oh FYI Chester seems a bit better today. He didn't collapse or anything on our walk and in fact we made a few new friends. He is a very popular puppy, everyone wants to have a pat and a chat. Even the scary bogan blokes drinking out the front of the bottle-o round the corner. Who needs a pub really when you can just sit outside the local strip shops and heckle poor young girls on their way to the post office? In their defence though, they were actually quite friendly behind the tattooed, mulleted facade. And two of them claimed to have dogs just like him. Ha! Guys like that should have pit-bulls, not chihuahuas!!!

Graveyard shift last night was fun!!! Played vinyl for the first time - Babooshka (all this talk of Kate Bush gave me a hankerin') and Bros - Drop the Boy. Rock on.

Ok better go, two gigs to go to tonight...

Brain Dump

Lots of random thoughts in my head today that I feel like sharing...

Firstly - YAYAYAYAYYYYY!!!!!! Just found out that Wilco - one of my all time favourite bands - are coming to Australia!!! SO excited!! Details here if anyone's interested...

Chester has not been himself since I got back from Brisbane. He was staying with Amber, his other mummy, and her partner Justin while I was away, and when I picked him up from their place he was acting all sulky and sad. I put it down to him not being impressed about moving again. He didn't eat his dinner. The next day though, when I was walking him, he slowed to a stop, and then went to take a step and his legs buckled underneath him. I had to carry him the rest of the way home. He felt all limp like a rag-dog. It was a bit scary.


He seemed okayish the rest of the day, and even ate all of his dinner, but much less active than usual. Usually he follows me round like, well, like a puppy dog. Yesterday and today he's spent most of the time lying on the ground, following me with his eyes instead. Today when I took him on a short walk, he seemed quite content, if a little slower than usual, then all of a sudden, he laid down on the grass. On the median strip in the middle of the road. This is not like him at all. He doesn't even like grass! I wish I knew what was going on. Hopefully the new medication will sort it out. I've got the capsules but they're too big for him. Amber was supposed to get them halved while I was away but forgot. Oh well... hopefully he'll be ok. It does feel like he's rapidly getting very old though, which is a bit sad.

Got excited tonight and plugged the new mic I got for Christmas into the new amp I got before Christmas (yes I am spoilt) - and it didn't work. I realised pretty quickly what was wrong - the Beta 87A is a condenser mic which requires phantom power. Most PAs have this, but my little keyboard amp doesn't. I would need to use a pre-amp or some other power supply. Bugger.

It was HOT here today. I loved it - well over 30c, dry heat, clear blue skies, perfect. It's only now, after midnight when it's still about 25c, that it feels a bit stifling.

We found out recently that our good friend Sandra is getting married. I found out that she is having seven bridesmaids. Seven!! And was a little bit miffed to realise I am not one of them. Now I know she is an awesome girl with heaps of very close friends, but I count her amongst my closest couple of friends in Melbourne, and it hurts a little bit to know that I didn't make the top seven. But when you consider two of the girls are from overseas and another two are family members, there are really only three girls from here who got the gig - and she has known them a lot longer than me. So I shouldn't be upset. And I'm not, really, just a little... miffed was a good word, let's use it again.

I killed a spider in my laundry today. With a rolled up newspaper and a good thwack. This is unusually brave for me. Me who gets the house exterminated each year so I don't have to deal with spiders...

Got a banjo complete with player for Christmas from Bevis - a generous re-gift from him.

Got the original version of "Don't Give Up" from TT
- it is still a rather sickly song but certainly a better performance by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush than our own Nollsie and Nat. The quiver in Kate Bush's vocal certainly does sound like perhaps there was some smoochy smoochy between her and Gabriel, and as I said to TT, why wouldn't you go for her with those sexy leotards??? Rowr!!


Had a very long band meeting last night - watched the footage from our last show and discussed how we looked. I looked hot.

Seriously though it was good to see it and for everyone to realise that every single thing they do or don't do is exposed for scrutiny by the audience. Sometimes when you play a lot of gigs its easy to forget that people are looking at you, if that makes sense. We also discussed the fact that everyone needs to put in equal effort in terms of promoting the shows. It was good that Paris brought this up because I have been feeling this way for a long time, like if my sister and her friends didn't come there would be no-one there. Dave, the new drummer, has some good, simple ideas about promotion which should hopefully kick the others into gear a bit too. We'll see how the next few gigs go, they are at indie nightclubs rather than band rooms, and I fear we may get eaten alive. We certainly need another shopping expedition before then to get some cool threads happening. The boys are getting there but they still need some work I think.

I miss Adam. Already. It has been two days...

I feel like we are closer than ever at the moment (well apart from being 2 states apart) and I love that feeling. I think I coped pretty well with the shock of discovering a big part of his life that I didn't know about (you guys, duh) and, have I said this before? feel flattered that he trusted me enough at this point in our relationship to share it with me. I decided not to read the whole back catalogue after finding a few bits and pieces that upset me - what's done is done and I am excited about the present and the future. So I will certainly be reading that!

I need to unpack. And do some washing. I can barely get to my bed at the moment for all the crap on the floor. At least I did the dishes!

I also need to take the video back. The Northern Exposure Series I DVD that I have had for about 3-4 weeks now, that I still haven't finished watching. Not that I don't absolutely love it, but December was a busy month!! And now that I have Scrubs IV to get through...

So: what's on the agenda for tomorrow?
-Put some washing on
-Practise piano first thing
-Hang the washing out - inside, it's going to thunderstorm tomorrow.
-Take the Nikon Coolpix P2 to get repaired. (Less than a year old, great little camera, but when you take a photo white horizontal lines appear on the picture, as if you have taken the photo through window with blinds on it. I think it's something serious)
-Go to the Podiatrist (corns & ingrown toenails - ew)
-Help Sandra & Lee move house (called her today to see if she needed help and was terrified that I was going to say "So, Sandra, do you need any help choosing bridesmaids - ahem, i mean, moving house?")
-Perhaps work on my resume some more (attempting to infiltrate the IT world becoming Australia's first Rockstar Ninja)
-Take the fricken DVD back and probably pay four million dollars for it. Should have just bought it instead of renting it but who knew?
-Have a nanna nap
-Get up and go to 3RRR for my graveyard shift 2am-6am.
-Come home and sleep till the afternoon.

The exciting life of an Aussie Rock Chick!!!

Give Up.

Staying at Adam's has, for better or worse, re-introduced me to the world of cable TV.

At first I was excited by having two 24-hour music channels, as I am one of those music freaks that hangs out for Rage on the weekends. Unfortunately the repetitiveness of the two channels in question is already starting to do my head in after only a week. If only I were in charge, I would do such a better job!!! It has always been my dream to guest program Rage... one day...

Anyway, the reason for this blog is to vent my disgust at the latest Aussie shite to be added to hi-rotation. "Don't Give Up" is the offending piece of codswallop. A charity record, it seems, delivered to us by Shannon "Oz Idol" Noll and Natalie "Rogue Traders/Neighbours" Bassingthwaighte.

Now I expect nothing less than rubbish from young Nollsie. I couldn't stand him on Idol and I can't stand him now. I must say I'm grudgingly impressed that he's still around, but, well, people are idiots.

Natalie though. I have been extremely impressed by the path she has followed recently. Rather than shimmying her way into obscurity as so many soap starlets tend to do after their first single, she has forged a career as a plausible pop vixen fronting the Rogue Traders with oomph and pizazz. Now poor Izzy stands to lose every ounce of credibility she may have had with this abominable contribution.

Now possibly it is not a bad song. I say this because, with research, I have discovered that this is the third time this song has been recorded. And the first two were by fairly notable artists: Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush in 1986, and Bono & Alicia Keys in 2005. Who may have done a good job, I'm not sure because I don't remember either version. Which may say something!

But this recording is the cheesiest, most insincere piece of crap I've seen in a long time. The video makes me want to vomit. Enough said.

Mere Male

When I was a kid I used to love those Mere Male pages in New Idea...

Listen up

I was telling MM about the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus - the section about why men don't listen. After 10 minutes I asked what he thought. "Sorry, I wasn't listening," was the answer. Melissa, Toowoomba, QLD

Wet behind the ears

We were running towards my car in the pouring rain when my boyfriend said: 'Who would have thought rain could be this wet'. It wasn't until I started laughing that I realised he meant what he'd said! K Trimper, Renmark, SA

A real one happened to me today:

Soap Suds

I needed to do some washing at MM's apartment and the only detergent I could find was a bottle of Earth's Choice Dishwashing Liquid next to the washing machine. I asked MM whether he kept his washing powder somewhere else. " HOLY CRAP!! I've been using dishwashing detergent to wash my clothes for months, I didn't even notice!! Que imbecile!" Well, at least he was looking after the environment. Aussie Rock Chick, Melbourne, VIC

I'm off to the shops now to get some laundry powder...

Dr Evil

A few weeks ago Adam asked me what the name of our local GP was. I couldn't remember exactly, but I knew it would come to me. He asked if it was Richard. I said I think so.

He had been watching Today Tonight or one of those stupid shows for the first time in years (It is banned in our house. So is the news: it makes me cry.), and they happened to have a story on a GP who did inappropriate things to his female patients. He thought it looked like our doctor.

Today I was transferring last year's dates into this year's diary (I am such a nerd, but I love doing that!) and came across a doctor's appointment - with Dr Richard Young. I googled him and came up with this:

Melbourne doctor to get lessons in chat

Friday December 22, 2006

MELBOURNE - A Melbourne doctor and former Cleo Bachelor of the Year nominee who made sexual comments to a patient during a pap smear will be counselled on how to talk to women.

Dr Richard Young will continue to practise medicine but was reprimanded and cautioned by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria.

The board found Young acted unprofessionally by digitally penetrating the woman in a way that was not medically required.

He told his patient, "Holy mackerel, you are small." He then said, "You're really small, which is great for ... " at which point she cut him off by saying, "Not too good for having a baby."

The board said Young's behaviour was seriously unprofessional but not bad enough to be professional misconduct.

In July 2001, he was suspended for 15 months for affairs with two patients which stemmed from inappropriate comments made during examinations.

Young was ordered to have six counselling sessions on the appropriate language to use during intimate examinations.

Ew.

All I can say is, thank god I never had a pap smear at that clinic.

I always did find him a bit... I don't know if sleazy is the right word... but, overfriendly, I guess. Which sounds fairly innocuous. But consultations always did feel like he was trying to chat me up, rather than make me not sick. This probably sounds like 20/20 hindsight, but Adam has always agreed with me. Which is probably why I have another female doctor in the city that I go to for lady stuff.

I always do find male gynacologists etc kinda creepy. It's just not something I really want a strange man to be looking at. And I have had to see quite a few of them, since I have a wonderful (read: very painful) condition called vulvar vestibulitis (i think that's how you spell it). I have never felt comfortable with male doctors who specialise in this field... if I didn't have such a driving ambition to be a rockstar maybe I'd become a doctor and help all the women like me who don't want some guy who reminds them of their dad/grandfather/uncle prodding at her special bits.

New Years weekend

On Saturday morning, as I was reading the paper on the balcony, Mich handed me her mobile. Sandra was on the other end.

"Guess what??"
"What?"
"We got engaged!!!"
"Oh my god!!!!! "

This was not a huge surprise, as Lee has been talking about proposing virtually since he met Sandra, but still exciting. I asked all the obligatory "how?" "when?" questions and was genuinely very happy for them. Sandra is an awesome chick and I think she's found someone she's excited about who will make her very happy. She has had some crappy luck in the past with guys, but it looks like Lee is the real deal.

Mich took it quite well considering. I guess she has had a while to prepare herself. She and Sandra are very close, she often refers to Sandra as being her surrogate boyfriend, and they go on "hot dates" together. So you can probably guess that she has had a hard time accepting Sandra's relationship with Lee. Or any boyfriend for that matter.

Anyway, the three of us talked about it a bit, and Mich seemed to be coping quite well. Being the first one to get the phone call definitely helped. She likes to be the most important.

Later we picked up a rental car and drove up to the Sunshine coast for the day. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lovely afternoon on the beach in Mooloolabah before heading back to Brissie for dinner with Kirsten.

Kirsten takes a bit of explaining. She is a very crazy, over the top person with an overt sexuality and an infectious personality. Not for everyone. But definitely for Mich. She has a certain pull over her, which for us is hard to explain.

Over dinner I simply found Kirsten annoying, and enjoyed more chatting with the other random people she'd assembled for her whirlwind Brisbane trip. She was on leave from her work in Sudan with the UN or something crazy like that. A very intelligent, passionate girl. But I just couldn't cope with her exaggerated enthusiasm for everything. And the way Mich became when she was around these people. At one point Mich had a go at Adam which came completely out of nowhere. It was so random I almost intervened, but didn't want to make it worse, so later I took her aside and said "Do you realise just how overly aggressive that was?" I explained what I had seen happen and I think she understood, and appreciated it being pointed out. I shouldn't have to, but if that's what it takes...

From dinner we went to a really bad sports bar with really bad music and really bad dancing. Not good-bad. Just bad.

Adam and I were over it pretty quickly, but we stayed as long as we could handle it for. Mich wasn't really ready to leave, until she noticed Kirsten was outside. Then she practically demanded that we did.

Ok, you've noticed a lot of Mich bashing by now. I guess I need it to be out of my system. Sorry if it is making me sound like a bitch. I'm not really - she's just hard work at the moment! She can be a beautiful, wonderful, fun friend, but sometimes I wonder what happened to those bits.

So... New Years Eve.

We drove in the opposite direction, down the coast to Byron Bay.

We checked into our hotel in Ballina, a very posh one as that was all that was left at the start of December when we booked. Byron fills up very quickly!! It was gorgeous, and with the sun shining in the little courtyard it was almost a shame we had to leave.

By the time we got to Byron to meet up with Sandra & Lee it was kind of overcast. We joined them on the beach anyway, and Lee showed Adam how to skimboard. Such a perfect Adam thing to do!

Another friend of ours, Wilby (her real name is Sarah but everyone calls her Wilby), was also in Byron with three girlfriends. They are all 20-21 years old, and went off to get ready for the party at about 3:30pm. The rest of us sat on the beach for the afternoon, before getting changed in the skanky beach toilet block ready for a big night out.

The nine of us started with dinner at the Hogs Breath (not any of our first choices but try getting a booking for 9 on new years eve in byron bay at short notice!!) and with stomachs sufficiently lined progressed to the main attraction for the night, a 1000-ticket party at Hotel Byron. This place was very well set up for a huge party, with several bars, a huge dancefloor and easy access to the beach. And we had a great time, it was a good mixture of daggy dance music, more current fun stuff, and True Live to top it all off. They were fantastic, a hip-hop band with a string trio, you wouldn't think it would work but it goes off! They played for about an hour and a half, counting in the new year as well. The only bummer was no fireworks. I don't know why there were none at Byron, I'm sure everywhere else in the world has them!! But it was fun all the same. Mich pashed an Adam. Not my Adam of course, but an Adam all the same. We all clapped and cheered when he went in for the first one. She wanted to die of embarrassment. Sort of. I think she kinda enjoyed the attention actually!!

At one point I went to the loo. A very long queue. When I got back Adam grabbed me and told me he'd made some friends he wanted me to meet. I was chatting with them for quite some time, thinking they were random strangers. The girl showed me some pictures of some miniature animals on her camera. A horse as small as a dog. But with a penis the size of a horse. Gross. I thought maybe it was time to ditch these weird new friends and get another drink. Adam came with me.

"Did you work out that I already knew those people?"
"What?!!" Hmm come to think of it the guy had just told me where he worked, and it was the same place Adam used to work in Sydney. I'd told him that, and he'd said "I know". I figured they had already realised that they'd worked at the same place at different times. Duh!!! Of course they were friends back then and randomly bumped into each other tonight. Adam was very happy, because they had never met me before, and had all joked that I was a phantom girlfriend.

By 12:30 Wilby & co were getting rather messy and I was pretty ready to leave. Sandra had been sitting down for the last half hour and I wished I had been. Despite the sensible flat shoe option, my feet were killing me. I found somewhere to sit and wait. Adam was worried about the car, we were parked in a carpark that said no parking after 1am. We didn't want to get a parking ticket, or worse - towed. So the two of us decided to go and rescue the car, and then do laps until Mich was ready to leave or the party was over.

Sandra, Lee and Mich came out not long afterwards. It had been a fun night, but it was time for it to end. The 21 year olds could party till dawn, we'd had enough. And, it had started raining.

The drive back to Ballina was wet, I couldn't wait to have a shower and climb into bed. I was still covered in sunscreen from the beach, plus someone had emptied a drink on my legs near the end of the night. Yuck.

The next day we drove to Kingscliff, where Sandra & Lee were staying with Sandra's family, and spent the day there. It is a gorgeous place, but they were staying at a family resort - read: lots of kids everywhere. Which made sense since they were there with Sandra's little niece and nephew.

We had lunch, I had a go at skimboarding and did a terrific splat on my first go. But got back on and nearly got the hang of it with a few more tries. Adam was by now an expert, which he was very happy about!!

We swam in the resort pool, which was absolutely beautiful, and Mich and Adam beat Sandra and Lee in a pool wrestling match, which they were very happy about. It's the small victories...

That night was Mich's last one in Brisbane. We were all completely exhausterated so watched a few episodes of my Scrubs DVD and went to bed.

The next day Mich and I went to the Valley for lunch before Mich had to head for the airport. We had a good chat about all the stuff that had been going on. I think she wants to change, but it's time to see some action. She knows it needs to happen. Time will tell...

I walked to the city and bought some clothes for Adam in the sales. He needs them. He only has one pair of shorts! In Brisbane! In summer!!!

We met at Southbank to see Happy Feet!!! Yay!!! I have been anticipating this for a while. And while it wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped, it was still super-cute and we enjoyed it. The babies are SO cute!! Yes, I am such a girl.

After the movie and a dinner I scraped together from random stuff in Adam's cupboards/fridge, Adam said he had something to tell me. He looked serious.

"What it is...?" I asked warily.
"Don't worry, it's not something bad. Well, maybe... hmm... you might be a little bit upset."
Well, he knows how to get my undivided attention. I'm riveted to the spot.
"Remember a long time ago, when you said I needed to find someone to talk to about us? Well I did, kind of."
It's true, he used to bottle his feelings up for so long and then they would all explode at once and we would have a huge fight. I encouraged him to find someone he trusted to share things with, to get a different perspective, and just to vent. I find talking to my girlfriends, sister, whoever will listen, about things that are bothering me incredibly theraputic, and he just didn't seem to talk to anyone about us except me.
What he said next was not what I expected.
"So I started a blog. Two years ago. And I would like to share it with you now."

Whoa.

But I was not mad. I was mad when he went skydiving without telling me. This was different. I was glad and proud. And a little nervous.

Glad and proud because he had taken my advice and found an outlet, a sounding board for all his frustrations and worries. As well as the fun stuff that sometimes I might be too self absorbed to give my full attention to.

Nervous because of what I might read about myself.

I asked him why he decided to tell me about it now. Because he has been invited to dinner with some people, and he would like me to come. Wow. This is a lot to take in. Not only is there a whole lot of people with this potentially quite intimate relationship with Adam, but I was about to meet them.

So I sat down to read Adam's blog, and was hooked from the beginning. I haven't gotten very far through it yet... but I love what I've read so far. Obviously I haven't gotten to any bad bits about me yet!!! But he told me that there should be nothing in there that we haven't already talked about, and I think I'll be ok. We'll see...





Well! That's me up to date. Finally.

I thought I said I was going to try to be succinct. So much for that. I think I am destined to write novels, not news articles. Hopefully with a really good editor!

I will try and write things as they happen from now on, rather than an all day blog-fest. I'm exhausted!! Now I think the only thing missing is Hawaii... but I'll save that story for another time.

Brisbane again :-)

I love Brisbane!! It makes me happy! Not only is my beautiful Adam here, but also the weather is always nice. Sunshine makes me happy. I'm a simple girl, really.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I arrived on Wednesday night to find it had been raining for several days. Mich was not impressed. She flew up on Christmas night and had been driving Adam crazy until I finally arrived two days later. Two loooong days, from what I can gather.

Adam met me at the airport and we found Mich in the apartment looking quite hot in a new white top. We were going to a "white party". Oh great. Loads of tanned, blonde, skinny Queenslanders in skimpy white frocks and singlets, and then us. White, slightly chubbier Melbournites with barely a white item between us. (If it were a black party, we would have been in our element!) Hence Mich's new top. Apparently Glen and Dan had bought it for her. They are a couple of crazy young guys who run a very successful business. Apparently they were behind the white party.

I had a pair of white pants with me (gasp! i know. but since i lost a bit of weight they look ok.). Adam didn't have a single white thing other than a business shirt, and something told us that wasn't going to be the kind of white they were looking for. He settled on a khaki shirt he looks hot in and off we went.

The party was pretty much exactly what I expected. Loads of squealing underage blonde girls in incredibly skimpy outfits (I swear, one girl had just a top on, no pants!). The guys were slightly above my expectations though, in that several of them were dressed up. There were cricket players complete with zinc across the nose, sailors, tennis players - they got quite creative. The girls just used it as an opportunity to show off their fake tan. Or possibly real, since we're in Queensland.

I was quite exhausted from travelling and Christmas and whatnot, so Adam took me home for some you-know-what, and we left Mich in the capable hands of the boys. She came home the next afternoon. Not surprised!

The following day was a pretty lazy one - Adam had to work, and I was a sloth until Mich came home. Then we met up with Paul, a friend of hers who was good value, and had Cold Rock - mmmm... Add Cold Rock to my list of reasons I love Brisbane! I think we have it in Melbourne but I'm not sure where, and certainly not walking distance from my house!!!

On Friday Mich and I clocked up some pool time (yes, the sun came out! finally!!!) and then went to see The Holiday. The ultimate chick flick. We loved it. Jack Black plays himself, as usual, and Jude Law's so cute. And I think I might have slight crushes on both Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. *sigh*

After we met Adam in the city for dinner, Mich decided to go and say goodbye to the boys, as they are relocating their business to the UK and she wouldn't see them for "five years". Yeah right. Anyway, we let her go and walked home.

At home we had some rather intense discussions about that thing that all couples fight about... money. Adam has been working his little butt off to get him ahead, and he has been feeling like I haven't been putting in equal effort. I think I have been trying, but maybe not as hard as I possibly possibly could, so I will try harder. He made an excellent point that I need to work as hard towards achieving his goals as he does towards mine. As I've said before, I can be pretty selfish. I made sure he understood that while i have been doing lots of exciting things lately, most of them have been work-related, and haven't cost much money. I haven't been buying random things and I don't go out drinking and eating out every night. And he made sure I understood that he has not been going out or buying things at all. He has been putting all his energy into saving and catching up so that we are in a position to do fun things without having to worry.

Of course I feel bad because I am not earning anything, and my career costs money at this stage. We have talked about me working, and unless it is for a decent daily rate, we have agreed that for what I can earn, my time isn't worth it. So I just have to pull my head in and spend as little as possible, knuckle down and do as much practice as I can, help Paris in every way possible to get this band up and running and hope like hell that it starts earning something soon.

Mich came home in the middle of our "discussion", and made a discreet escape to her room to do some reading. Uncharacteristically subtle!

I feel good that we were able to have this chat in a rational way without tears or screaming. Not that we usually scream. But tears are not uncommon on my behalf. I'm not good with conflict. But we talked it out, not without emotion mind you, but in a rational, understanding way. I think.

Showers clearing finally

The rain has stopped. I have bruises on my wrists from typing on the laptop for too long. I need a walk.

For under $50 I have filled out Adam's spartan kitchen cupboards. Pretty proud of that. We should have plenty of food to last at least until I leave, probably longer. If he is ever brave enough to cook with something I've bought.

I also bought 50c worth of red frogs and gutsed them all. So much for that post-christmas diet.

Third Rock From The Sun is over and now Hey Dad is starting. I can't bear it. So I write some more...

Christmas #3 (The Day Of Boxing)

Sadly Sash had to work on Boxing Day, so it was me in the back of mum & dad's car all the way to Castlemaine. Castlemaine is about 2 hours northish of Melbourne, in goldfields country. Equally sadly, I inquired as to whether dad thought the cricket (Boxing Day Test) would be rained out. Just being friendly, really. Not an invitation to tune into the cricket for the entire 2 hour drive!!! Mum was not impressed!!

The weather was not really warm, but the rain had cleared up and it was bearable to be outside. My auntie and uncle who live in Castlemaine live on a beautiful property in a heritage listed house. They are a school principle and a doctor respectively, with beautiful taste. Their house is gorgeous.

I should probably explain the Boxing Day thing. I think I've mentioned how humungous my family is: mum has eight brothers and sisters and all but one are married with kids. Which means a lot of inlaws. So, on Christmas day, most people go to their inlaws for lunch/dinner/whatever and the big family gets together on Boxing Day instead. Mum hosts lunch on Christmas day for her parents and those who don't have inlaws available. In the past, we would do Christmas with dad's family in Hamilton the weekend before Christmas. This year, Grandma and Wilma came to Christmas day instead.

So anyway, Boxing Day is normally a huge affair, with about 40 people. It used to be lots of little kids, but we have almost all grown up. I am the oldest of the grandkids, and the youngest were camping in Tasmania. So again today, Jack & Sam, the twins, were the youngest.

I still can't get used to my cousins being grown up. I used to babysit them, change their nappies, teach them piano, and now they're adults. When I started teaching Alex piano she was in prep. I remember this stubborn little five year old, she had the talent but was a bit reluctant to practice. Now she is a stunning 15 year old blonde thing, taller than me, still a bit stubborn I suspect. Her brother Scott was a different story. Two years older, he was very serious about it and practiced a lot. He was great and has gone on to learn guitar. He played his first gig at the Perseverance a few weeks ago (I couldn't go as I had rehearsal but I can't wait for the next one). Luke is the same age as Scott, also a talented musician and sportsman, and about 8 feet tall now. They have both just finished high school, and did really well. They both gave me shit for raising the bar so high that no-one has ever been able to beat it. I didn't mean to get 99 really! But they will never let me forget it!!! Megan is about six months older than the boys, and has always been a bit of a rebel. She belongs to the Castlemaine family and went to boarding school. She has gone through the "emo" phase and I think come out the other side, although she still has black hair and piercings.

The "girls", Elizabeth and Steph, are gorgeous. (Most of my cousins come in pairs) Both turning 21 this year, they are very different - Liz very easygoing, but quite vague and a bit ditsy, Steph very down to earth, practical and confident. Both lovely and very cute. They were very close growing up, and remain so despite Steph's family having moved to Sydney about 10 years ago.

Then there's a whole stack of boys: Matt, Josh, James & Xavier. Matt is the closest cousin to my age, but we don't have much in common. He did come to my gig when we played in Sydney a few weeks ago though. Josh & James are hilarious, they are complete bogan boys who have their own language and I'm sure completely ruled their school. Our uncle Ray calls them Beavis and Butthead. But they are actually gorgeous, hearts of gold and wicked senses of humour. James is a very talented drummer and they are both great at sports. Sport and music kind of run in the family.

Xavier is a little bit younger than Josh n James, and grew up in a very different environment. He's much more worldly, having travelled overseas from a young age with his parents, and gone on exchange to Japan in school. He has since spent quite a bit of time overseas, and actually met up with Sash in Indonesia a few years ago for New Years Eve.

So that's most of the kids, the other Sydney family couldn't make it down so their two are missing, and there were the others in Tasmania, so it's not quite the complete picture. But they're the ones I grew up with, the others are much younger.

The actual grown ups, the mums and dads, would take much longer to describe, but suffice to say they are a very tight group. Mum & Dad don't have many other friends, their best friends are their brothers & sisters. Weird, I know. All the sisters spend heaps of time together, including lunch every Saturday. The brothers-in-law (for most of mum's siblings are girls) share a love of golf, sport in general, golf, drinking beer, and golf. And teasing poor defenseless young nieces. Which is why I think when I got to uni I got along better with guys than girls. They made sense. They were just like my uncles - they operated by teasing each other and whoever else they could pick on.

Lunch was fabulous, way too much food as usual. Pauline had forgotten to bring her tomato salad and was rather dark about it, so the uncles of course mentioned it at every opportunity. "Gee, it would be nice if there were some tomato with this meal..." etc.

After lunch it was time for presents. As the family is so big, we long ago gave up the concept of everyone buying gifts for everyone. It just got ridiculous. So we now do a kris kringle style thing where everyone gets one gift. And the best part is, I'm a kid, which means I don't have to buy anything for anyone. Years ago I said I was happy to buy for someone, but the adults wouldn't have a bar of it. So I just sit back and open my present.

I got a cute pair of summer pj's. Good timing, I had almost bought a pair the other day.

After lunch an even better surprise: Sash arrived!! She had worked till about 3pm and it was fairly quiet so her boss told her to go. She drove up in her work uniform without telling anyone she was coming.

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking wine and digesting the huge meal. At some stage afternoon turned into evening and people drifted off home. I was staying the night in Castlemaine with mum and dad at some dodgy motel. I took Sash to pick up the key and we checked out the room. The single bed was less than a foot from the double bed. No way I was sleeping in such proximity to my parents!!

Over dinner (yes, somehow we managed to shovel more food down) the conversation became quite serious. There was talk of drugs, depression, all the things that families, or our family anyway, normally steer away from. Alex ended up in tears, I think it was all a bit much for her 15 year old mind. But it was good for us to have those discussions, and good for her to be involved I think. I really did have a sheltered upbringing, it is good that the family is finally discussing important things.

We had considered meeting Megan at the pub, but hanging out with 18 year olds at the local country pub just didn't appeal in the end and Sash and I went to sleep on mattresses on the floor of the spare room.

I was woken up to Sasha's alarm waking her up in time to drive back for work. "I have to snooze or I can't get up" she said grumpily and went back to sleep.

Ten minutes later it went off again.

"FUCK!" Sash said angrily.
"What?" I said, thinking she'd overslept or forgotten something, or some other similar crisis.
"I don't want to go to work!"
Good morning person.

So she got ready and went off to work. I was awake now, so I ventured out to the loo and found Yvette already up. Yvette's the youngest of my mum's siblings and only 10 years older than me. We've always been quite close. We found Terry (the doctor) outside reading the paper over coffee. He had to go to work today. We sat with him and I munched on a piece of toast to tide me over till the rest of us went out for brunch.

Brunch was really nice, Castlemaine is a lovely town and I had a huge pancake. Yum!! Yes, Christmas is all about the food!! We said goodbye to our relatives and drove back to Melbourne. Mum and dad dropped me off at home - I had a few hours to pack etc before flying to Brisbane to stay with Adam for 10 glorious days!!!

Christmas #2 (The real one, 25/12/06)

Woke up at the crack of dawn to the sound of pouring rain. Not unlike today.

It had been raining all night, much needed rain once again arriving at an inconvenient time. But welcome nonetheless.

Christmas day in Melbourne was seriously freezing. Bear in mind it is the middle of summer. Often it is over 30c on Christmas day. This year it was approximately 10c. And raining/hailing all day. I have never seen so much hail! It was almost like a white christmas! In fact, it did snow on the mountains. Snow at Christmastime - that's unheard of in Australia! Except maybe in Tasmania. It's always cold there.

We got up early - Grandma and Papa were due at 7am for present opening. You would think us girls were four and eight years old, not twenty-four and twenty-eight!!

Grandma and Papa were uncharacteristically late but it was quite nice just the four of us having tea and toast in our dressing gowns.

They finally arrived and we opened a stupid amount of presents. I got some wonderful gifts, including a Shure Beta 87A microphone from Adam. This came with a backstory. He had had to speak to Hayley to find out which model of mic to get, he'd remembered me saying she had a particular mic which was more suited to girls' voices. Then he'd had it delivered all the way from Brisbane to my parents' house, but it had been delivered to the wrong house and they were still trying to sort it out at 6pm on the Friday before Christmas. Somehow, they got it there on time!

I was completely spoilt, with a whole stack of other cool stuff including a cute top from Sash, some red low top Chuck Taylors from mum & dad, Radio City: the history of RRR and Ice Age 2 & Scrubs series 4 DVDs from grandma & auntie Wilma, a radio station from S (well not exactly, more like a donation towards women's radio in Bandeh Aceh via Oxfam Unwrapped) and bits and pieces for the house etc from Santa. Yes, mum still does Santa presents.

Sash, Adam and I gave mum and dad tickets to A Day On The Green with Crosby Still and Nash. I knew they would love this. Mum was so excited!! They had been planning to go but not bought tickets yet.

Lunch was very enjoyable. I know that sounds cliche but it was! It was a good group with not too many kids (nine year old twin boys and a few teenagers). All our remaining grandparents were there for the first time in years. Everyone got along pretty well and no-one tried to kill anyone. Mum & Dad's house looked absolutely beautiful and we just kept being amazed as the hail came down. Everyone was impressed by the deck which is underway on the back of the house. The deck will bigger than my whole house. Seriously. It will be a huge outdoor living space for them to entertain on, leading down to the pool. It really is their dream house, slowly taking shape as they can afford to add bits and pieces. Quite magnificent.

I played Pictionary Junior with Jack which was hysterical. We made up our own rules which he proceeded to break whenever it suited him. He was a better drawer than me. When he had to draw "father", instead of trying to draw his dad like most kids would do, he made his Catholic mother proud by drawing a priest in full regalia complete with challis. Definitely better than I could have done!

Later Louise, his mum, joined in, and it was Jack's turn to draw. He drew someone with a cross on their chest (like I said the rules were relaxed) and it seemed to have breasts so I guessed a nun. No. Sister? Nurse? No. Hmmm... what could it be. Jack drew the arms up in the air with two round things in the hands. I thought maybe it was a prisoner chained to the wall. No.

Time up. "Who is it, Jack?"
"A doctor!!!!" he exclaimed, frustrated.
"What are those things in his hands?"
"The defibrillators, of course!"

This from a 9 year old.

It was a shame Adam couldn't be there. I know he's not big on Christmas, but it would have been great for him to see my face when I opened the microphone, plus I had an exciting gift for him. And the parcel that I'd sent express post to ensure he'd have something to open on Christmas day had been delivered to a post office that was not near his house. Bloody Australia Post!! And it was such a nice day, I would have like to share it with him. Bloody contract work. Bloody Brisbane.

After everyone had gone home and it was just the four of us left, I put on Ice Age 2. Mum hates cartoons and was not impressed, but even she laughed at the antics of the little squirrel thing. He's SO cute, I love him!!! He reminds me of Chester. Not very bright but immensely cute.

What a lovely Christmas. The next day we would drive to Castelmaine to do it all again...

Wardlow Christmas Masquerade Ball

Sounds fancy, doesn't it?

Well, really just a fancy name for a house party, but boy, what a house!!

My friend Hayley moved house a few months ago - into a mansion. A bona fide mansion with three bathrooms, 8 bedrooms, sweeping balconies, servants quarters and, get this, a turret. It must have been one of the first houses in Melbourne, and even has a bell for the servants in each room!

Hayley's brother found the house up for rent, and quickly convinced Hayley and six other friends to move in. They are each paying the same rent they would pay for a regular share house, but instead they are living in luxury. Only four of them are on the lease, so if the real estate agents find out there are 8 people living there they will probably be booted out. But, as Hayley said, it's fun while it lasts.

And rather than being the run down dump you are imagining, the house is in immaculate condition. Apparently the owners are only away for a year, so have even left all the fittings intact. So there are 2m gilded mirrors, antique dining chairs, fireplace accessories (i don't even know what you call them - the screen thing and the little bellows), etc. Spotless white carpet, a brand new kitchen with truckloads of storage space and expensive appliances, a gorgeous courtyard and stunning garden... quite an incredible place. I can't believe that someone I know actually lives there!! And Hayley has the best bedroom, I would guess the master bedroom with a bay window, balcony and access to the turret. Her harp looks right at home in there. All the housemates are muso types, so I figured their Christmas Masquerade Ball would be a fun event. I invited Sash to come with me, who accepted readily.

By the time I went through the saga of picking up my gear from Pony and returning the rental car (my gear's too big to fit in my Echo), it was getting quite late. I got dressed up and met Sash at her place, not far from Hayley's. Neither of us had eaten so we found a little Indian place that was excellent. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the party, it was too late to remember Adam's Theory Of Parties Where You Don't Know Anyone. Adam's theory is: be one of the first ones there, that way you meet and bond with people as they arrive, thus by the time the party's in full swing, you know everyone. By the time we got there, most people had already arrived and were in various sections of the mansion in various states of drunkenness. Still, we commandeered Hayley's boyfriend Cam to steal us some alcohol (we forgot to bring any) and armed with a glass of pink champagne each, we found some people to chat to. One of them being Magic Tony, the magician who both Sash and I knew through Le Bop, but we didn't realise knew Hayley (not through Le Bop).

We got stuck talking to some geek engineering students and were wondering what to do when someone distracted them for a second. "Quick!" I hissed to Sash, not too subtly. "Let's go! Now!" We made a hasty getaway and found some more interesting people in the courtyard.

Callum arrived later, after he had finished work at a wine store. (Not a bottle-o, a wine store). Callum was my best friend at uni. We were in a band together for four years and bonded over shopping and girl/boy troubles. Callum used to be the gayest straight man I knew. He has gotten less gay over the years. Back then he used to work at Prada and worship the Spice Girls. I know.

Anyway Callum used to date Hayley for a while. They were a great idea on paper but a complete disaster in practice. It didn't last overly long, less than a year I think, and they have been friends ever since, but still I was nervous about him telling her he's engaged. He told me a few weeks ago but asked me not to tell Hayley, he wanted to tell her himself. Apparently though, he hadn't gotten round to it yet. Sasha, a travel agent, is booking his honeymoon, so we both had to be careful not to mention it to Hayley.

Finally the moment was right. "Hayley, I have some news,"
"What?"
"I'm getting married!"
"I SO knew you were going to say that!"
And that was that.

Phew, glad I kept it such a good secret!

After some dancing to bad 80s music (Hayley's brother is apparently addicted to Belinda Carlisle at the moment. What's with that???) Sash and I were knackered and headed home. I think I did pretty well to last as long as I did considering I had only had three hours sleep the night before!

The next day I slept till lunchtime, a badly needed catch-up, before dropping Chester off at Amber & Justin's for a Christmas-New Year holiday, bought my last Christmas present and got picked up by Sash to go to mum and dad's for Christmas Eve.

We watched Carols by Candlelight on TV while mum set the tables ready for tomorrow's "small" lunch for 18 people. It was nice, the first time both girls have been home on Christmas eve for many years. Mum and dad were very happy. Dad realised at quarter to ten that he hadn't bought any white wine for tomorrow. He had been drinking beer all evening so let me drive him in his new car to the bottle-o. We got there five minutes before closing. Lucky!

Showers not clearing

The time is now 9:57am. I have written 10 posts this morning. It is still pouring.

Time for a shower.

Fucken Blogger

Goddamn it shitty shitty shit!!! There goes my tourette's again.

I just wrote the hugest post about our Pony gig on the Friday before Christmas, and was almost finished when somehow bumped something and it disappeared. I knew I should've saved it as I went. But fuckity fuck fuck I was so close!!! And it was so long!!! And I even made it interesting. Goddamn it!!!

Ok. Summary.

Got to soundcheck late.

Got absolutely poured on while loading into the venue. Good hair day ruined.

Dinner with Will while others got changed.

First band: Experimental/garage put-the-guitar-on-the-ground-and-kick-it to a backing of metal acoustic bass and roto-toms. Extremely loud.

Second band: Guy fucking around with an acoustic guitar and a laptop. Not impressed.

Third band: Great!

Paris: Trashed. Gaga over new guy she is seeing. Yet another lead singer who will probably break her heart.

Videographer: Strange but lovely. She is a 45 year old transgender film maker & artist we found on the net. She was very excited about the project and the clip she made looks great. Lot of high-contrast close-ups, very dramatic.

Hair: Improved. Dried in ringlets instead of the frizz I was expecting.

Our set: Went really well. Dave the new drummer did a great job. Managed to arrive from his other gig 15 min before we were due to play, a good effort! Last song gave my sister tears.

Party on: When a random guy shouted the band a round of beer after our set, I decided to leave my car there and taxi home. Good decision. Had heaps of fun with the other band members (gasp!) and random others. Great party atmosphere. The 2am band were great too, although the singer got a bit annoying. Ended up chatting to some guy for quite a long time. He was very intriguing. "I don't have friends" he told me. Very intelligent though, and quite funny. Very cute. Once I told him all about my relationship (I was very conscious of doing this after my discussion with Adam) he told me he was wasting his time with me. But he said he enjoyed my company so it didn't matter. We chatted about everything and nothing, he told me my long distance relationship isn't going to work and I assured him it already has worked, is working and will continue to work. I think he got it.

Left the venue at 5am or so, and caught a cab with another random guy I met in the street. Not like me, really. But I made a quick judgement that a) I wasn't that drunk, and b) he was trustworthy, and I was right. Not only that, he was a musician. Currently recording an album for one of the majors, collaborating with someone from a quite well known local band. What are the chances????

Sheepishly let myself into the house as the sun was rising at about 6am, confusing the hell out of Chester. I climbed straight into bed and collapsed into a deep, satisfied sleep.

Discussions

One night this week, Adam and I had a pretty serious discussion. I had called him, quite late as I had had something on every night this week and we hadn't spoken much. It was midnight my time which meant 11pm his time (Brisbane doens't have daylight savings because they are idiots). Chances are, he'd still be up.

He was not.

So he was a bit cranky at being gotten out of bed. Even though he hadn't actually been asleep. Fair enough though, once you're in bed for the night that's usually it, it's a bit of an effort to get out of bed to answer the phone. I asked if he wanted to go back to bed and talk another time but he said no. We chatted for a while and he didn't snap out of his grumpy mood, which is unusual for him. I asked if something was up. He reluctantly said yes.

There were a few reasons he was upset, and I think most of it boiled down to him being up in Brisbane all alone, starved of affection, and me being down in Melbourne busy every night having fun and only emailing or calling when I need something or want to tell him all about my fantastic day or complain about something. I have been totally absorbed in my own little world and not really interested in his. Also, I had forgotten to update him on the Dave situation, and he was worried about what was happening between us. This sparked a big discussion about trust, which was very hard. When I get very drunk, I do not always do smart things. I sometimes behave in a manner which does not promote trust. I become very flirtatious and do a lot of things that I don't really remember the next day. This has caused a bit of insecurity on Adam's behalf, which is no surprise. I tell him he doesn't need to worry, but it is very hard because I do not remember these things properly and so have trouble explaining even to myself why they happen. So I guess every time I go out without Adam, he is worried about what might happen, and this week with me out nearly every night it was all too much.

As hard as this discussion was, it was very well timed. I really did think about what he said and with all that's been going on I have been very self-involved. I did feel though, that he hadn't given me credit for some of the nice things I had said and done. I'm not saying he was wrong, but that I'm not a complete ogre!! Anyway it was good to discuss it and to remind me that he is very lonely up there and I need to remind him in as many ways as possible how special he is to me. Also, the bit about trust etc, came in very handy the next night...

Final rehearsal

The final rehearsal before the Pony gig went really well. Dave had done his homework and really learned the songs. We put together a rocking set which even included a new song we had never played live before.

We were ready to rock...

Byte into Christmas

Wednesday was also the last Byte Into IT show for the year. This is the 3RRR show I push buttons for every week.

Last year I made my debut on 3RRR airwaves on the Byte xmas show. I was invited into the studio to observe, having just commenced my panelling training. During a lull in conversation I popped a champagne cork, completely throwing the presenters and causing all-round chaos.

This year I was in the driver's seat, and another volunteer who has been helping out with the show was taking over the observational duties. Unfortunately no champagne incidents, but both she and I did inadvertently go to air when giggling at a particular funny joke one of the guys made. My sister told me later she heard female voices laughing in the background a few times. Whoops!

It was a particularly entertaining show, with the presenters giving their computing and technology highlights of the year and being generally quite funny. In a sort of nerdy way, but still funny. There was absolutely NO snickering about the name of Nintendo's new game console. It is pronounced "wee". No snickering at all. Promise.

Afterwards we went to the pub across the road (this pub would be closed down if it weren't for RRR moving in across the road!) for a feed and chat before wishing each other our merry christmases and getting on our merry ways.

I had a gig to go to.

Tom, our frontman, has been playing bass with another band for a while. They have had one gig, which I couldn't make it to, so I was keen to get along this time and check it out.

Unfortunately the show was a bit of a debacle, with PA problems, bands not playing on time, crazy nightclub lighting, and I only got to see about four songs before I had to leave. To go back to RRR.

I had a show to do.

The day before, I had been asked to do a fill on boxing day. I was going to be away. "Ok, then," said the ever optimistic program manager, "what about tomorrow night? Midnight till 2am." "Alright." I agreed, happy to be able to help out.

The show was a bit sloppy - the music was ok, but I didn't have anything prepared to say, and I found I wasn't thinking well on my feet that late at night. Afterwards (yes he was still working at 2am!) the program manager burned a CD of the show and asked me to pay particular attention to two things. It seems I use "ahhhh" to punctuate my sentences. Which doesn't sound good on radio. And I need to preview the tracks and work out how long I have to intro them before the singing starts. Talking over the singing is a no-no.

So with that constructive criticism in mind I tortured myself listening to the show on my way home and finally crawled into bed at around 3am. Again.

The voice saga continues...

On Wednesday I went to see Debbie Phyland, voice expert, again. Last time I saw her she took video of my vocal cords in action and told me my nodules are gone. Since then, about three weeks ago, I have continued to lose my voice any time I go out or have a late night or eat a rich dinner or do anything that bears the slightest resemblance to having a normal life. Grrr...

She looked at the video again to make sure she was definitely right and I didn't have nodules. She confirmed that there was a little bit of swelling there, but no nodules. Good news. But, the anti-reflux medication was supposed to make a big difference, and it hasn't. This perplexed her. She told me to keep taking the medication and do simple vocal exercises like brrrr and mmmm 6 times a day and I should see some improvement. Hmmmm... I'm getting so sick of people saying "this will fix everything" and then it doesn't! But, I will try with the exercises and see how I go. It's going to be tricky over Christmas, but i'll try. She also wanted me to have a day of complete vocal rest. This means going to bed, waking up and not speaking at all (or whispering) for a whole day, then going to bed again. So it's effectively about 36 hours of silence. Try it - it's not easy!!! There's no way I will be able to do this before Christmas time, I will try for early Jan. Dammit!! I wanted an instant cure!! Not exercises and days of silence! One pill to fix the whole problem. I should have known that was too easy!!!

Rehearsal (18/12)

Part of the reason I wanted to start this blog was so that I could talk about band stuff somewhat anonymously. So I thought it was worth mentioning this rehearsal.

We had a gig at Pony, a pretty hip band venue, coming up this Friday. Our drummer recently announced he was leaving the band. The Sydney show a few weeks ago was his last show with us. So tonight's rehearsal was our first with Dave, the new drummer.

Now I am not sure whether Dave thinks he is our new permanent drummer, or whether it's a temporary arrangement. The rest of us, from what I can gather, are viewing it as a more temporary thing.

Firstly, Dave plays for another band that our producer works with, and when he told them he was playing with us it caused a bit of a stir. We got accused of trying to steal him, etc etc, when in reality we had only asked if he was interested. We hadn't even played with the guy yet, for all we knew his feel would be all wrong and it would go no further. Suffice to say Jason, the singer of this other band, is a bit of a drama queen.

Secondly, Dave can be a bit... stubborn. He had already clashed with our manager over his intention to use an "inappropriate" drum kit (a small jazz kit) for our show (a rock show), sending the wrong message about our image. "This is my image, take it or leave it." he said.

Also, on a personal level, Dave has been very openly flirtatious with me in the past. He and I got along well when we first met ages ago, but since then he has said some very suggestive, potentially offensive things. Despite us both having partners, he openly perves on me. It is quite flattering to a point, which is why I haven't completely discouraged his behaviour, but sometimes it goes a bit far. So I wasn't sure how it would go being in a band with him. I had said this to Paris, and her attitude seemed to be that maybe that's what the band needs, a bit of a spark. Hmmm...

Adam had expressed his concern about this a little while ago, and asked if I needed him to say something to Dave. I assured him that I didn't think it would be a problem in a professional setting, and if it was I would tell him it wasn't on.

After all this, this was so not an issue during rehearsal. So much so, that I even forgot that it potentially could have been. And forgot to let Adam know that it was ok. Which caused him to brood over it, thinking there was something I wasn't telling him. There wasn't! I truly forgot. I think what I do is, when something I have been worried about turns out to be fine, I cross it off my list of things to worry about and that's it. Sometimes I forget that other people are still worried about them. That used to happen a lot at work actually, when I was a PA. My boss would be waiting to hear that a crisis was resolved, but because I had resolved it, I forgot that there had been a crisis in the first place. So she was waiting to hear back from me, and I had moved on to the next thing.

The actual playing part of the rehearsal went better than I expected. Which is pretty good, considering we had a gig in under a week. Tom and Will had had a rehearsal with Dave last week, when I was in Brisbane, to teach him the basics. He had done a lot of homework and written out the forms of each song. It was weird playing with a different drummer after nearly four years with Wes, but we managed ok. We were crammed into the smallest possible rehearsal room, so small I had to go behind the door. Not the best for a five-piece band with lots of gear but oh well.

Dave kept apologising for things but I think he had done a pretty good job of learning the songs and I knew the gig would be fine. We had one more rehearsal on Thursday to work out a set and run it a few times, before the show on Friday. Dave would be doing the superman phone booth trick - he had a gig with his other band in Richmond at 10:30, then playing in the city with us at midnight. A tough ask, but he was up for the challenge...

Christmas #1 (Sun 17th Jan)

This afternoon was my first Christmas function.

My friends Bridgett, Luke and Claire were coming over to my place for a BBQ, followed by The Messiah at the Concert Hall. Bridgett was performing in the Messiah, the rest of us were watching.

The EAGG lunch had taken a little longer than I'd anticipated, so I was not quite prepared for Bridgett and Luke's ever punctual arrival. I greeted them at the door in rubber gloves, dishwashing suds up to my elbows. The groceries were still in their plastic (sorry environment) bags, sprawling all over the kitchen floor.

"Is there anything we can do?" Luke asked.

I sent him down to the local shop to swap over my empty BBQ gas bottle for a full one. I finished the dishes while Bridgett put away the groceries. Ahh, friends.

I should point out here that Bridgett and Luke are married. They live in a flat in West Brunswick with their two psycho cats (seriously psycho). I used to work with Bridgett, in fact she took my old receptionist job when I became the MD's PA. Both being musicians and too smart to be doing the jobs we were doing, we got along very well. We bonded over the boss's hissy fits and snapped at ungrateful people together. Bridgett is now working in recruitment, and Luke works as a PA at a worker's union. Bridgett was born and raised in the US, met Luke on the internet, moved out to Australia to study music and be with Luke, and then married him and lived happily ever after.

I think I had the dishes done when Claire arrived. Claire moved to Melbourne from Perth this year. She is a good friend of my friend Katie, who I have known since I was in kindergarten, and we have been friends ever since. Katie moved over to WA after she graduated from her journalism course. She has always been quite an independent girl! So Claire is one of Katies best friends, and when Claire moved over to Melbourne, Katie asked me if I could show her the ropes. It just so happened that the first time I met up with Claire (having met her once over a year ago and not even being sure if I remembered what she looked like) I invited her to hang out with me, Bridgett and Luke. They all hit it off straight away and it is a great little gang. I didn't even realise it at the time, but Claire works for an employers union, so she and Luke are kind of like arch rivals. In a friendly way!

The BBQ was lovely, despite the fact that my barbecue decided that only half of it would light up, so we had to cook the food in shifts. We ate WAY too much, and agreed to save Claire's homemade white chocolate chip brownies for after the Messiah. We sipped champagne in the sun (it was a perfect day, weather wise) and played the hysterical "Who What Where" game. You have to draw out three cards, one with a Who, one with a What and one with a Where, and then attempt to draw the scenario. For example, Elton John, playing ice hockey, at the movies. Then you have to pass the drawings round and guess what's going on in each one. For some reason I was completely in tune with Bridgett, I guessed all three of hers every time.

The Messiah. Hmmmm.

Now I am familiar with the Hallelujah chorus, I have sung it several times and in fact really enjoy singing it. And watching it being sung.

The entire Messiah, on the other hand, was a different story.

I have never been so bored in my entire life!

Ok, I'm exaggerating, there was that one time when Adam and I accidentally went to the opera (Romeo & Juliet: we thought it was the play, not the opera). Ok, now I'm giving the impression that I don't like classical or baroque music at all. Which is just not true. You don't study music for four years if you hate classical music. And I have seen two operas I really loved - La Boheme, and Madame Butterfly. So I guess I should stick to Puccini.

Three hours of Handel... I just can't understand how people get so excited about it! I can see how it would be less boring if you were performing it, rather than watching. The parts are difficult to sing, and I can imagine immensely satisfying if you pull them off. And the orchestra (Melbourne Symphony) were great. But oh my god, I do NOT ever want to sit through Handel's Messiah again!!!

Afterwards we went back to my place for a post mortem and brownies. Bridgett was quite shocked that I didn't like it. I hastily added that there was nothing wrong with the performance, she and the choir did well, and the orchestra were great. I was just bored. She asked whether I hated all Baroque music, or just this piece. I thought about it... I love Bach's preludes & fugues, and I love Baroque music when it's played by a chamber ensemble, like a string quartet, or maybe a trio with a harpsichord. So really, it was just the Messiah I had a problem with. I think she understood how parts of it could be boring if you're not performing. But she really does love all Baroque music, including the Messiah... I hope I didn't upset her too much with my honesty. I think she was ok with it.

The brownies were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS and I will be encouraging Claire to make them at every opportunity. I don't have many friends who bake, so it is quite rare to get a homemade treat like that. But with Christmas coming up... well lets just say those jeans that have recently become too loose, will probably find themselves on high rotation again!!