Holy Spitballs

We bought a house.

In Brisbane.

A house…

Wow.

Scary bloody shit that!
That being said at this stage there is still plenty that could cause the sale to fall through. But I am trying not to think about those because, although my Velocity account would like me to have to go up to Brisbane to continue house-hunting, I am not terribly anxious to have to drag out the process any longer.
I have too many flights coming up in the next few months to want to lose my only free weekend this month to another day trip to the Sunshine State!

Seriously, last weekend I was in Brisbane on the Saturday house-hunting.
This weekend, tonight in fact, we are flying (all 3 of us) up to Brisbane again. Staying in Brisbane tonight and then heading across to Toowoomba on Saturday morning to visit my Aunt and Grandfather for a big family do.
Next weekend, 24/25 March is currently free.
31Mar/1Apr I am heading to Adelaide for the inaugural Oz Comic-Con down there. Gonna be awesome
Then over Easter we are heading to Rockhampton to spend it with Di’s parents.
Then on May 4 we head to Europe.

Busy times!

Social Media, You’re Doing it Right.

As if I was not a big enough fan of Guzman Y Gomez already, due to their very, very tasty Burritos (and the fact that they stock Jarritos soft drinks), when I found out today that they are opening in North Sydney I tweeted about this, with the following result:

Social Media. They are doing it right. Costs them very little, but is likely to ensure I will not shut up about them… And eat there more frequently.

Oh my poor wallet!

Oh the Places I Go…

So this Saturday just past I was up before any self-respecting rooster would dream of making its presence known and in a cab on the way to Sydney Airport to head to Brisbane to house-hunt.
In all seriousness, apparently there is a 4 O'clock in the morning now! When was this introduced and why was I not informed about it?
It seems like something I should have been made aware of. It is a magical, mystical time where Taxis show up on time and the roads are clear of traffic.
Wonderful.

So, the trip to Brisbane was packed with looking at too many houses over too short a period in stupidly hot weather… Which is what prompted my falling head over heels for a place too small for us, with no back yard and a sub-par kitchen merely because it had a swimming pool.
It was an awesome swimming pool and I am sure we could have taught the cats to swim so they could  still enjoy their outside time. But in the interests of not losing litres of blood before we got to that point I gave up on that house!
I did find another house, that is bigger, although with one bedroom less and with a very, very awesome kitchen (6 burner gas stove, wiiiiiiide oven…). So this is the place we are going for.
Once the agent gets around to sending me the contract…
Seriously. Requested it yesterday morning and I still have not received it. It is almost like he does not want me to try and give him money or something.

So yes, Brisbane move is a go.
Scary stuff.

Because today you need some awesome in your life, here is John Lithgow reading ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go’:

Viva Las Brisneyland

For many years Di and I have enjoyed living in Sydney away from family. They have never been so far away so that if there is an emergency we could not be there in a reasonably short amount of time, but they have been far enough away that interference has been kept to a minimum. We loved this so much that we were even talking about moving to Melbourne. Still only a couple of flights away, but just that little bit further away. Also we have a great network of friends down there. More so than we do here in Sydney it often seemed.

Then Bug arrived.
As expected she pretty much threw our lives upside down and made everything that much more difficult (and wonderful in somewhat equal measure). But she is a reflux baby. Which means screaming.
Lots of screaming.
Lots and lots and lots of screaming.
Suddenly that distance away from family became a bad thing, not a good thing. The old saying ‘It takes a village’ began to make an awful lot of sense.
Suddenly Brisbane seemed to look a whole lot more attractive.

I had been having these thoughts for a little while before I decided it might be worth bringing it up with Di. We are both neither particular fans of Brisbane, but the benefits of moving that much closer to family seem to outweigh the negatives.
2.5-3hr drive is a lot more achievable for weekend visits than a 90min once a day flight on Virgin, or a nearly 3hr connecting flight on Qantas… Hell a 2.5-3hr drive (depending on traffic I guess!) makes (long) day trips possible.
So, roping in my parents or my sister for baby-sitting duties becomes, well actually a plausible option.

One of the main benefits to my mind is that Bug will grow up having a close relationship with her cousin/s and her grandparents. My family here in Australia is quite small. My father moved to Australia after he met my mother and his family is mostly still in the UK. His sister lives in New Zealand, but oddly enough we have had more to do with the family that remained in London than we have with the Kiwis…

So after I broached the subject with Di, who agreed with the reasoning and agreed with the moving North instead of South premise, the hunt began for a place.
We quickly settled on looking in the Northern Brisbane area, not because we know a huge amount about this area we know next to nothing about it, most of our friends live Southside! We settled on the Northern area because it is close to the Bruce Highway which heads north out of Brisbane, towards Hervey Bay and my family. It is also where Brisbane airport is located. We always try to be within about 30mins of the airport if we can manage it as the simple fact of the matter is that we travel quite regularly.
This Saturday I am flying up to Brisbane and back to start the searching. Perhaps all of this will be moot as I will get there and decide that despite all of the advantages I have outlined about moving to Brisbane, that I cannot live there.
It would be really great if this does not happen.

Brisbane is far from my ideal city. The new-build suburbs we are looking at moving into, is not really where I ever pictured myself living. But, here we are. I have shelled out a not insignificant amount of money (ok, in return for a not insignificant amount of Velocity rewards points!) to get up to Brisbane on Saturday and I suspect that it will stick.
I suspect that we will be living in Brisbane sometime shortly after we get back from Europe and Hong Kong.

But I will NEVER be a Queenslander!!

Rediscovering a blog

Oh hi there Blog.
Long time no see. I notice you have gotten a bit dusty because I have been so lazy about keeping you clean and up to date. My bad.

Things have been quite busy since we last met for a chat Blog. Looking back at our last chat I see I was still well over 100 days from going to Europe. Well as I write you this missive I am now much less than 100 days from going to Europe… but on a whole other trip. This time with my wife, and daughter.
Yes, daughter. I am such a bad friend Blog that not once during Di’s pregnancy did I bother to blog about it. I guess I am a bad husband and father as well.

So anyway, lets catch-up…
Shortly before I went to Europe, shortly being a relative term I suppose, looking back, Di found out that she was pregnant. This was not something that we had planned on happening. We had recently had discussions… arguments about it. I was not (and do not believe I am) ready for parenthood. I think the large gash on the back of my foot where I lost my temper and kicked out at one of the baby rockers laying about the place gives weight to my not ready argument.
But regardless of that Di was pregnant and now we have a daughter.

Claudia Jean Waite. Born January 20 2012 at 1106.

My Bug.

Bug is a reflux baby, which means lots of screaming… Which is how I ended up with a bad gash on the back of my foot when I lost my temper. I am fully aware that it is not her fault and that it will pass in due time. But still, does not make it any easier in the moment!

However the screaming pink thing that makes you want to kick at things is rather easily forgotten in those all too brief, but increasing moments when she locks eyes with me and gives me a big gummy smile. Or sticks her tongue out back at me (seriously, I poke my tongue out at her and she mimics!). We have great shower times together. My little Bug is a water baby.

I think the thing that bothers me the most about being a parent is how everyone seems to believe that we will want to go through it again. Even before we had Claudia we only ever wanted one. After the difficult birth and the lack of sleep now we are both firmly cemented into that position (seriously, I will get snipped if that is what it takes), but the volume of people who seem to believe that I am bullshitting when I say that. Or who think that we will change our minds once “we forget all this” and give that smug knowing look…
Urgh… What was true for you is not necessarily going to be true for someone else.
One and Done. Seriously.

Europe was amazing. Seriously an amazing trip. It was so great to be back there after so long and to see so many people again in Hungary. There were some places that I wished I had more time in (Vienna), and others that I wished I had less in (Paris… I’m looking at you).
The trip was not perfect, it was too rushed in some places, not rushed enough in others. But on the whole it was the best holiday I have had.
Getting sick when I was in Hungary was probably the worst moment on the trip as it meant I was stuck in Budapest the whole time. Do not get me wrong, I bloody love Budapest. It is a vibrant, beautiful, amazing city, but I was so hoping to get back down to Szeged and spend a day exploring my old stomping ground. To get to Esztergom and cross into Slovakia. To get to Sopron and go visit the Szechenyi Museum… All of these things and more I did not get to do. However, what I did get to do was catch up with friends, some I had seen recently (Alana), some less recently than that (Ginny, Andi) and some less recently even than that (Poli) and some who I had not seen since I was last in Europe (Zoli… everyone else!). I had some amazing meals, the Gundel Restaurant, the Corso restaurant at my hotel. Had some decent feeds made all the better by the company I kept.

Hungary, whilst obviously the, shall we say, excuse for the trip was just one of the places I visited. As hinted at above Vienna was my favourite place and I am really looking forward to having more time there on our upcoming trip in May. Vienna has a lot of similarities to Budapest, but at the same time is quite different. Certainly Vienna is much richer than Budapest is. They both have great coffee cultures, but I think the Viennese cafe culture trumps Budapests. It was a dream come true for me to spend hours sitting and drinking coffee, eating cake and chatting with friends in a grand old cafe in Vienna… Hopefully little Miss Claudia will allow this to happen!

Germany was great. Got to see Sven again and hang out with him for a good few days. Because I am weird, I picked an odd place for us to visit, the town of Quedlinburg. Pretty, but with an odd pervasive smell of dog shit. Good currywurst though>
We also spent a couple of days in Berlin, which does remain one of the best cities I have been to. Naturally I got ill whilst we were there, spoiling things somewhat. Hopefully this will not happen in May!

London was awesome. Seriously just awesome.

Riots aside.
David Tennant and Catherine Tate in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. The Doctor Who Experience. The National Gallery. Touring the Palaces of Westminister. Was great to catch up with family there. Made a new friend and generally walked a whole lot. Ate a whole lot and did not see half of what I set out to see, but am in no way disappointed with it!

This has come a travelogue of my trip, which is seriously not what I intended this blog to become… I guess that is the problem with being a purely stream of consciousness writer!

The trip finished off in Singapore where Di came and joined me. We had a great week, shopping and eating and lounging by the pool… and eating. Singapore really is one of our favourite places and I do feel a bit sad that we will not be making it there on this next trip. We are going via Guangzhou/Hong Kong instead.


So the Europe Trip and the Baby are really the big news from last year. We did do a rather enjoyable domestic triangle trip to go up to Brisbane for Susans 30th, then down to Melbourne for Leishs wedding.
We stayed at home for Christmas, and New Years, but were once again visited by Alana on her seemingly annual jaunt here from San Fran.
There have been, for me, multiple trips to the Art Gallery, a trip down to Canberra and back on New Years Eve, ostensibly to see the Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery, but really I just wanted to fly on the new Virgin Australia ATRs… Worth it
This is not to say that I did not go to the Gallery. I did and it was ok, but somewhat disappointing. Mad Square and Picasso (two separate exhibitions fyi) were far superior.
Did a day trip up to the Hunter Valley, day trip to Melbourne. Both were great fun.

So all in all things have been pretty busy. Apparently what I am supposed to do once I have a child is settle down and stop jetting around and about the place.
Fuck that shit right off.
Travelling and planning to travel is a big part of who I am. My daughter is not going to grow up in some insular corner of Northern Brisbane suburbia (more on that in another blog), she will be dragged around the country and around the world as often as we can manage it. I grew up where we travelled a reasonable amount. Bug, had her first flight at 4 weeks old and will be on another plane in less than a fortnight and in Europe before she is 6months. We are in a privileged position where we have the means and the desire to be able to travel and expand our daughters mind. Yes, she will not remember these trips that are coming up, but Di and I will. And it is so important to me that we not lose the desire to travel and expand her mind beyond what is presented here in Australia… Especially if Tony Abbott wins the next election.

Sick Days

So there is really nothing for me to say here as for the last two days I have not really actually done anything.
The cold I mentioned previously was threatening to attack took advantage of the fact that I got a bout of the runs on Sunday night and got very little in the way of sleep to hit hard.
I took yesterday and today off of work to try and recover and it does seemed to have worked to a degree in that I no longer feel like I’m going to vomit every time I cough, nor do I get dizzy when I stand up.
So it is looking very likely that tomorrow it will be back to work I go.

Here is a picture I took just over a year ago now, when Di & I spent Christmas with her family and then headed back down to Hervey Bay to spend New Year with my family. On New Years Eve we all headed over onto Fraser Island in my parents 4x4 for the day.
This picture is of the wreck of the Maheno which was being towed to Melbourne when it was caught in a cyclone and beached on 75 Mile Beach on Fraser:

Turn the Sun Down.

So, 7 straight days of 30+degree temperature finally broke today with the temp dropping by around 20 degrees…

… from what my car recorded at Epping earlier in the day.

Hopefully I will be able to get my first decent nights sleep in a week and I won’t succumb to this cold that is threatening.

Kitten is seemingly appreciative of the fact that the unit is now somewhat cooler than it has been for the past week:

So other than the stupid heat and the Cold coming on it has been a pretty good weekend. I spent most of the day up on the Central Coast.
Caught up with my sister, my nephew and a family friend for lunch. And then I headed to my best mates place for dinner. We decided between dinner and dessert that we needed to go to the beach.
Was my first trip to the beach in several years (from memory) and it was very nice to go back to the beach at Avoca that I grew up 10mins drive from.
The rip is still there… We managed to avoid that by just standing in the water waist deep.
Bliss.

Inappropriate Politics

So just when I thought that Tony Abbott could not be any more of an… of an… an… Ignorant, arrogant jack-ass he goes and does this:

Yes. Because what people should be doing when half of Queensland is drying out from massive flooding and the other half is about to be hit by a massive cyclone is donating money to the Liberal Party… Instead of, oh I dunno to flood relief.
Especially when the cyclone about to hit is, oh… about this big:


It would be really great if the politicians would stop playing politics with disasters like this, but I will not hold my breath.

Box Cat

I spent more money that I really should have on Sunday at the Brent Spiner convention. I came home with a snifty model of DS9. Before I had even managed to remove the model from the polystyrene that it was secured in, Caleb had made himself quite at home in the box.
He seems rather smug about the whole thing really!

Weekend Update

So it has been quite a busy week, hence why I haven’t blogged in a few days.

The biggest news of the week is that our new car has *finally* arrived, and we were able to pick it up on Saturday morning.
It’s a Renault Megane and it is a bit more blue than the photo below would indicate… Guess that’s what I guess for taking the photo on my iPhone in the parking garage under our building!

The other news is that we have a new bed. Di insisted that we get a king-sized bed, so it is quite a bit larger than our previous bed. What is a surprise though is quite a bit taller than we expected it to be… Comes up to nearly my waist!
It is supremely comfortable… At least when Di’s body pillow isn’t trying to break my neck!

 

Caleb appears to approve of the new bed!

Random arty-farty shot of the blog, out the back of one of my favourite restaurants.

Also just how in the frak is it the end of January already? Honestly it feels like only a week ago that I was at Circular Quay welcoming in the new year!
Still, only 179 days until I go to Europe!!

Ladies and Gentlemen: Amanda ‘Fucking’ Palmer!

This/yesterday evening Amanda Palmer was performing at the Opera House as part of her Australian tour.
We went and saw her last year at the Opera House as well. This time she had been upgraded from one of the smaller theatres to the main Concert Hall.
The show was pretty bloody brilliant. Whilst I don’t like all of her music, I like most of it. And both shows we’ve seen have been hugely entertaining.
The show this evening blew last years out of the water.
Awesome.

Also, her new husband, and my favourite author, Neil Gaiman was there.
He did a reading from the book that was how they met. Then a short story about the extinct mega-fauna of Australia. He finished up with a very sweet (and only slightly racy) piece about his new wife.
Lovely.
They both signed at the end, and Di got her copy of the book of ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer’ and the new CD ‘Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under’ (not a euphemism, and also a euphemism…) signed and I, FINALLY, got my volumes III and IV of Absolute Sandman signed by Neil… I think I strung two words together, but I cannot be certain of this fact.

Here are a few pictures from the show. Because I’m a dumbass I forgot to bring in a proper camera, so these are all from my phone, hence the less than stellar quality:

Melbourne!!

Haven’t been able to post in a few days, because Di and I went down to Melbourne for her birthday.
Going down there makes me, somewhat, regret our decision to not move down there this year after all. Instead we are planning on heading off to live somewhere overseas for a few years. But I am aware that there will be much more to be gained by living outside of Australia, still…

Anyway here are a few pictures from the visit to that fabulous city down south:

The seemingly endless corridor in our hotel (The Grand on Spencer St):

CBD and Flinders St Station from bridge on the Yarra River.

Laneways of awesome, Degreaves St:

The Royal Arcade, Bourke St. This is where one of the Koko Blacks is… We may have visited more than once this visit:

Plate Up! Preparations for dessert at The Press Club, which is George from Masterchefs restaurant:

Koko Black:

Billy Connolly! Not the reason for the trip… Really, more the excuse:

20/01/11

I’ve Got A Fan.

OK, Sydney. You know I love you right, but seriously… Stop with the  ridiculous humidity at the moment!
Melbourne, I will be in you this weekend, please be nice!
Despite having to reshuffle the (now, no longer) surprise birthday lunch on Sunday, I am really rather looking forward to lunching at The Press Club… It helps that her work is footing the bill

19/01/11

Please Hold.

Interesting times at work and ahead. We’ve got a new guy that started on Monday. And for all and part of next week my Supervisor & Manager will be away on leave. Meaning I’ll be having increased responsibilities and duties.
As I said interesting times ahead

18/01/11

My train this morning was oddly uncrowded. Normally, even in holiday times like this there’s normally not room to swing a gnat. Today, oddly… Spacious.
It was disturbing.

17/01/11

Railway Square, Sydney.

16/01/11

Ronald Roomba. Recharging after his hard day doing the vacuuming for me.

DVDs Now!

So as part of the move we're getting rid of stuff. You've seen the books list, now see the list of DVDs!

If you would like any of these let me know (donations of cashy money would be greatly appreciated, if you're outside of Sydney then you'll at the very least have to pay for postage!).
The Jeremy Clarkson Collection (Extreme Machines, Motorworld & Speed) (Unopened)

Clarkson The Good The Bad The Ugly

The Dismissal (Unopened)

House Complete Season One (Unopened)

Crowded House - Farewell to the World

Death of a President (Unopened)
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Original (Unopened)

Clubland (U.S Title: Introducing the Dwights)

A Love Song for Bobby Long

1984

City of God

An Inconvenient Truth

The Best of The Glasshouse (2002,2004,2005,2006)

South Park: Imaginationland (Region 1 DVD)

SeaQuest DSV - The Complete Season One

Bad Education

The Dreamers (Region 1 DVD)

Michael Moores Fahrenheit 9/11

2 Days in Paris (Unopened)

Saturday Night Live - The Best of Alec Baldwin

Stiff/Brush Off (2 movie boxset - Unopened)

World Comedy Unplugged 2003

World Comedy Unplugged 2004

Borat

Year of the Dog (Unopened)

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

James May's 20th Century (Unopened)

The Late Show Presents: Bargearse and The Olden Days

The Games Complete Series One

Richard Hammond - Engineering Connections

David Attenborough - State of the Planet (Unopened)

Books! Books!! Books!!!

So, we’re moving.
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but we now have a date… And it’s closer than I’d like!
As we’re moving from a place that is really far, far too large for us, to somewhere that’s probably too small (once you take into account the insane amount of cats we have!!), which means that stuff has got to go!
Already we’ve gotten rid of the treadmill and some other bric-a-brac, but so much more needs to go.
With that in mind this evening I went through my bookcase and am getting rid of many many books.
Here’s a list if you’re interested in taking any of my hands (prices negotiable ;) )

- Star Trek: Enterprise: Shockwave Paul Ruditis (based on the teleplay by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga).
- Penumbra Eric Brown
- Bridge to Terabithia Katherina Paterson
- 5 Ways to Carry A Goat Ben Groundwater
- Enough Rope with Andrew Denton Vol I
- Enough Rope with Andrew Denton Vol II
- Enough Rope with Andrew Denton Vol III
- Vancouver Lonely Planet City Guide
- Best of Bali Lonely Planet Pocket Guide & Map
-Bali & Lombok Lonely Planet Destination Guide
- Las Vegas Lonely Planet City Guide
- New Zealand Lonely Planet Country Guide
- New York City Lonely Planet City Guide
- Micro-Nations The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations
- USA Lonely Planet Country Guide
- Little Brother Cory Doctorow
- The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood Nicholas Meyer.
- Driven to Distraction Jeremy Clarkson
- Born to be Riled Jeremy Clarkson
- The World According to Clarkson Jeremy Clarkson
- The World According to Clarkson: And Another Thing Vol 2 Jeremy Clarkson
- For Crying Out Loud: The World According to Clarkson Vol 3 Jeremy Clarkson
- Don’t Stop Me Now Jeremy Clarkson
- The Foodies Guide to Sydney (Sydney Morning Herald) Helen Greenwood & John Newton
- Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil Tony Wheeler
- The Sandman Vol 2: The Doll’s House Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel)
- The Sandman Vol 3: Dream Country Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel)
- The Sandman Vol 4: Season of Mists Neil Gaiman (Graphic Novel)
- 101 Digital Photo Tips Nick Vandome
- Enigma Robert Harris
- Creepy Susie and 13 other tragic take for troubled children Angus Oblong
- Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Trilogy in 5 parts Boxset Douglas Adams
- Mike’s Election Guide 2008 Michael Moore
- Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Letters from the War Zone Michael Moore
- Where’s Wallis? (Travels without a guidebook) Brian Thacker
- The Naked Man Festival and other excuses to fly around the world Brian Thacker
- Dune Frank Herbert
- A Long Way Down  Nick Hornby
- Slam Nick Hornby
- Losing my Virginity (Updated Edition) Richard Branson
- Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur Richard Branson
- Air Babylon Imogen Edwards-Jones & ‘Anonymous’
- Yakety-Yak: Bombay to Beijing by Bicycle Russell McGilton
- Battlestar Galactica The Official Companion Season 1 David Bassom
- Battlestar Galactica The Official Companion Season 2 David Bassom
- The Solitaire Mystery Jostein Gaarder
- Sophie’s World Jostein Gaarder
- Journey to a Revolution: A Personal Meoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Michael Korda
- Farscape Forever! Sex, Drugs and Killer Muppets  Edited by Glenn Yaffeth
- Ticket to Ride: Lost and Found in America Sarah Darmody
- Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
- The Lure of the Vampire: Gender, Fiction and Fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy Milly Williamson
- Teacher Man Frank McCourt
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents: America (The Book) A Citizens Guide to Democracy Inaction
- Doctor Who The Inside Story Gary Russell
- Serenity: The Official Visual Companion Joss Whedon
- The Python Years. Diaries 1969-1979 Michael Palin
- Corsets to Camouflage: Women and War Kate Adie
- Nobody’s Child Kate Adie
- Harry Potter és a Bölcsek Köve (Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone); Hungarian Edition J.K Rowling
- Family Guy: Brian Griffins Guide to Booze, Broad and the Lost Art of Being a Man Brian Griffin, Helped into print by Andrew Goldberg
- Underground Andrew McGahan
- Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper Diablo Cody
- Bad Karma [Confessions of a reckless traveller in South-East Asia] Tamara Sheward
- Meow Wow: Curiously Compelling Facts, True Tales & Trivia Even Your Cat Won’t Know Marty Becker & Gina Spadafori
- Meltdown Ben Elton
- Chart Throb Ben Elton
- Small Wars Permitting: Dispatches from Foreign Lands Christina Lamb
- “Babylon 5” Blood Oath John Vornholt
- Eragon Christopher Paolini
- Running Amok: When News Deadlines, Family and Foreign Affairs Collide Mark Bowling
- Boxing with Shadows: Travels in China Brian Johnston
- Red Storm Rising Tom Clancy
- Front Row at The White House Helen Thomas
- Adrift in China Simon Myers
- Blast from the Past Ben Elton
- A Year in the Merde Stephen Clarke
- Merde Actually Stephen Clarke
- Absurdistan: A bumpy ride through some of the worlds scariest, weirdest places Eric Campbell
- Combustible (a play) Andrew Silver
- Firefly: The Official Companion Vol 1
- The Babylon Project: The Roleplaying Game Based on Babylon 5 Joseph Cochran
- Shoppers Guide to GI Values (2006 Edition) Prof. Jennie Brand-Miller & Kaye Foster-Powell

Reply, email, text or call me if you’re interested in any of these.

Meanderings…

Hi Me, I though that you might like an update on my health issues. The inflamed liver turned out to be nothing too serious (not hepatitis or any of the seemingly hundreds of other serious things that it could have been). It’s just fatty.
My Doctor seemed to think that the change in diet that I need to do to try and control my uric acid levels will also sort out my liver problems. Even so, I’m still looking to see a dietician to get some advice.
On the uric acid front, my foot is fine now. I’m back to walking to the ferry several days a week, and often even walking home from the wharf at Abbottsford. Both those walks add up to my walking 4km, which isn’t too shabby all things considered.

Work is still going well. As with every job there are aspects of it that I like; as well as aspects that I don’t. However I still find many aspects of it challenging, which whilst this may have me nearly pulling my hair out far more frequently than I would like, does at least keep me from getting bored.
And at the very least it does appear that at least in this job I have a supervisor that doesn’t hate me… Or at least he’d better not, considering that I showed him where to get the best bagels in Sydney on Saturday! (Buppa's Bakehouse in Newtown if you were wondering).
Last week was a complete mixed bag in terms of work. I had training for one of our major software products on Monday & Tuesday, and then the rest of the week felt to me like it was a complete write-off. However I do know that on at least a few occasions I was able to put the Level II training into use, which hopefully means my hair will be suffering from less of my trying to wrench it from my scalp in future!

My plannings for my plans for Europe continue. After speaking with a travel agent in North Sydney on Wednesday I have now developed a separate itinerary, based on something that she mentioned may be something I’d like to consider.
What was mentioned was, given that I tend to suffer from somewhat serious air-sickness, that maybe, I should consider what is termed a mixed class or combination class airfare. 
What this would entail is my flying from say Sydney to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian Airlines are apparently the champions of this) in Economy class. Then for the (longer) leg from Asia to Europe I would switch and fly in Business class. The return legs would be in the same cabin class as the outbound ones.
Obviously this does come at a cost, and whether I do travel this way does completely depend on the cost. However the cost is considerably less than travelling the whole length of the flight in Business class.
The travel agent I spoke to seemed to think that it could cost roughly $4,500ish into Frankfurt. 
Now given that the cost of flying like that is a good $2,000 more than a basic Economy class ticket (and strangely about the same as a Premium Economy ticket…) and the budget for my trip is the budget for my trip and no amount of wishing will make it grow larger (unless that big lotto win finally comes through!), something will have to give.
Certain things on the trip are immovable (Hungary for the reunion, Germany to annoy Sven, stopovers in Asia each way) the rest is fluid. 
So putting my thinking cap on I came up with a much simplified itinerary for the trip which should make it doable if the Mixed Class airfare option falls within what I’d be prepared to pay for it and I therefore take it.
Now instead of flying into Germany, I’d fly into the UK and stay with family and annoy friends over there. 
From London I’d get the train to Paris and perhaps overnight there, or at least have a few hours to explore before heading into Germany.
From Germany to Hungary (maybe via Prague in the Czech Republic) before heading home to Australia with a few days stopover somewhere in South-East Asia (Singapore or KL preferably) with Di… For my birthday :)

So a much simpler trip, covering essentially the 3 countries in Europe that I have already been to. But I’m still really excited by the prospect of it.
It makes things much simpler in that I won’t risk offending my family in the UK by not visiting them as on the other trip plan I just don’t see how I can fit in a visit to the UK with everything else I want to see/achieve whilst in Europe.
I’d get to spend more time in the countries that I am going to and by staying with people that I know there I can save on accommodation costs. 
All the airfares for all the airlines will apparently be available by the end of October. Flight Centre are having their Europe travel expo on 31 October (the travel agent I’ve decided to go with works at Escape Travel in North Sydney, she’s pretty awesome). So I should have booked my ticket by November!

Keeping Up Appearances? No…

So I’ve had a very enjoyable week of visiting the Doctor, getting X-Rayed, injected with radiation, made to lay still for ages whilst a big whirly-giggy camera thingy circles around me, all to be told that I haven’t fractured or broken my foot.
In the end a simple blood test showed that I have a high level of uric acid. Which probably means Gout.
And as I’ve been getting recurring pain in my knee for quite some time, a family history of gout, I’m overweight and I eat too much meat… Well it’s not really something I’m prepared to argue against with the Doctor about at the moment.
The anti-inflammatory seems to be doing the trick and there is a noticeable decrease in the pain in my foot since I started on them… Not so much that I’m no longer limping, but I can now put my foot flat on the floor without wanting to bellow in pain ;)

The concerning thing is that the blood tests show that apparently my liver in inflamed at the moment… Which considering that I so very rarely drink, don’t drink a huge amount of diet drinks and don’t believe that I’m currently suffering from hepatitis, is yeah… Somewhat worrying!
So Monday morning I have to get an ultrasound to see what my liver is doing… Wonder if my liver is a boy or a girl?!

Points if you can work out why I’ve called this post what I’ve called it…

Musings on Europe.

As I mentioned in my previous entry we are no longer going to New Zealand in October. This is mostly due to the fact that I was unemployed for much longer than we anticipated my being. Which means that our debt level is larger than we’d like.
Also my determination to go to Hungary next year for my 10 Year AFS Reunion was an influence in the decision also.
I’ve been working out itineraries for the trip in the last few weeks.
The trip has morphed a lot from my original plans.
Originally I wanted to go and visit friends and/or family in the UK, then get the train through the Channel Tunnel to France. Train from there into Germany, back down to Prague in the Czech Republic. From Prague to Zurich, then to Vienna, where I’d get the hydrofoil along the Danube to Budapest.
However the more I thought about that kind of trip the more I realised it would possibly fall outside of my budget, and it also covers a lot of the places that Di wants to visit… And I wanted to do something slightly different as well.
So bearing all those in mind I ditched my Central Europe Lonely Planet guide and picked up an Eastern European one instead.

The plan for the trip at the moment involves flying into Germany. From Germany heading down to Prague. From Prague up to Krakow in Poland, and then onwards to Warsaw.
From Poland I’ll head into the Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
I’m trying to work out where to from there, before heading to Hungary. It’s a toss-up between St Petersburg and Helsinki.
There are pro’s and cons to both obviously. Price isn’t really an issue as it looks like St Petersburg will be similarly priced to Helsinki.
It is certainly cheaper to get to Helsinki, cheaper to leave, similarly priced to sleep and eat. But to go to Russia I need a visa. To go to Finland I do not.
A simple tourist visa to Russia costs $110. Flight from Tallinn to St Petersburg costs roughly $200.
The ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki costs roughly $80
Everyone I’ve asked has said I’d be stupid not to go to St Petersburg and whilst I do agree with them, Finland is calling me.
Finland was the country where I first wanted to go when I went on my AFS exchange and whilst I have no regrets about going to Hungary and it certainly is the best country to go to on exchange to, I still would like to see some of Finland.

Ok so the no one that reads this blog is probably sick (jealous maybe??) of my musings about this trip… But no doubt I’ll be writing more about it in the future ;)

Hey… I have a blog.

Clearly I have somewhat neglected this in the last… Several months.
The short answer to why is that I’ve been busy. The long answer is that I have been busy, tired otherwise occupied, couldn’t be bothered.
Couldn’t be bothered takes up a big proportion of it I have to confess, mostly that’s because maintaining a consistent blogging schedule for something that no one reads is hardly a priority.

However the last few days have seen me having an abundance of free time, given that I’ve done something to my foot that has rendered it incredibly sore.
I was walking down the ferry wharf at Milsons Point from work on Friday evening when it suddenly started hurting.
Over the weekend, which admittedly was busy, it didn’t get any better. In fact, oddly enough, when I walked on it for long periods it was quite agonising.
Monday didn’t see any improvement, so I left work slightly early to head out to Burwood to see a GP. I left the doctors with a referral to get an X-ray the following morning.
So Tuesday rocks up and Di drives me out to Burwood to go to the X-ray place. X-ray done we had to the medical centre.
No sign of what is causing the pain. So the Doctor refers me to get a Bone Scan the next morning (Wednesday).
So I head to and from Burwood 3 times on Wednesday to get this scan done. The initial scan, the main scan and then to go back, pick up the results and see my Doctor.
Still no reason for the pain.
*sigh*
So the Doctor has decided that if it’s not broken or fractured, then perhaps I have Gout and I went to the nurses station in the medical centre and to have a blood sample taken.
I’ve been told to take the rest of the week off and go back on Friday afternoon to get the results.
This leads us straight back to the large amounts of free time I currently have!

I am still employed. Got my full time contract. I’m currently serving out a probation period… Despite my having been there for several months already ;)

We’re no longer going to New Zealand next month. For a variety of reasons, mostly due to money and the lack thereof.
However my friend Alana who was going to be joining us is now going to be coming over and spending Christmas here in Aus. So that should be good.
It also looks like Mum & Dad will be coming down then as well, as well as possibly my sister Caroline and her husband and my nephew James. Although I suspect they’ll stay up on the Central Coast with friends… We’re already looking at a full house without the two of them and the baby, so I hope that’s what they’re doing!! Maybe we can set up a tend in the backyard for them if they do stay here ;)

My plans for a trip to Europe next year are starting to take shape. I’m working on a much more detailed blog about that. Partly for bragging rights, partly so I can put all my thoughts and plans down in one place… So I make no guarantees as to its coherence when I do post it!!
The big change in this trip is that Di is no longer going to be joining me on it.
I both am, and am not upset about this. Yes, it would be great to have her come along with me. But on the other hand having free reign in planning the trip and being able to do what I want to do and when I want to (subject to time and budgetary restraints of course!!) is very appealing as well.
Although it does look like my Mum might be coming along for all, or part of the trip now, so I may have to be flexible in my plans at certain points.
Di won’t be missing out entirely though. As I’m not a good long-haul flyer I plan to stopover on the way to and from Europe, hopefully in Singapore which both Di and I loved when we went there on our honeymoon, so Di will come and meet me for a few days either on my way back, or come out with me and head home when I head off to Europe. We’ve not decided yet.

Micmacs & Meatballs…

As a Joss Whedon fan I’m about to make two admissions that don’t win many friends within that group.
Firstly, up until the last 30minutes Alien Resurrection is a great film, and despite what Joss himself has said I don’t believe that the problems in that film lie solely on the shoulders of the director. I believe that it was the studio, the writing and the directing that led to the film not being as good as it should have been.
Secondly, and it’s very much related to the first point, Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a great director. You don’t make wonderful films like Amélie and Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) by being a crap director as Whedon himself paints Jeunet.
So in defiance of the man himself and no doubt many of his fans who take every word from him as gospel, I am a fan of the man who “ruined” one of Whedons scripts. 
Yesterday evening we went and saw Jeunets first film since 2004’s Very Long Engagement, Micmacs. And I loved it, even with the high expectations I went in with knowing the directors two previous films are two of my all time favourites. Micmacs, essentially is a satire of the arms trade, told through the eyes of a victim of the exploits of two arms dealers.
Bazil sets out, with the help of his ‘created family’ to exact his revenge on the arms companies chiefs in a series of farcical and needlessly complicated plans.
But the farce and complication is part of what makes this film so great. Micmacs is just as stylised as Jeunets previous films, though much different in tone to both, closer in tone to Long Engagement, but with more of the humour of Amelie.

This morning while we were having coffee and cake (well I had coffee and cake, Di had a soy hot chocolate) in Newtown, Di after much prodding, decided that she wanted meatballs for dinner tonight. Now I’ve never cooked meatballs before, but rather than buying them premade I was pretty set on making them from scratch myself.
So when we got home I jumped online and looked up several recipes and did what I normally do, which is pick a choose what I like and make it up as I go along.
So here, at the request of Mim is the best I can do at putting together a recipe.

Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
(Unless specified all ingredients are added to your own taste)
500g Pork Mince
1 egg
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 container tomato paste
Olive Oil
Breadcrumbs
Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Sage
Paprika
Soy Sauce
Cinnamon
Salt & Pepper
Pasta

Pre-heat oven to around 180celcius.
Finely chop (or blend) the basil, oregano, garlic & sage.
Into a large mixing bowl add mince, egg, herbs, paprika, soy sauce, salt & pepper. Using hands mix together all the ingredients until thoroughly combined.
Slowly add and mix through the breadcrumbs, the mix should be dry enough to hold itself together, but still moist.
Divide mince up into balls, mine were slightly smaller than a ping-pong balls.
In a fry pan lightly fry the meatballs until the outsides are browned, remove to an oven dish.
In the fry pan used to brown the meatballs add the diced and tomato paste, cinnamon, garlic, basil, oregano, salt & pepper and stir the sauce whilst it’s heating up.
Once warm pour over the meatballs into oven dish and place under aluminium foil.
Cook for 10-15minutes under foil. Cook for the remaining time with foil removed.

Serve with pasta & (hopefully) enjoy!

There you have it. Had I known that I was going to be asked to provide the recipe I would have taken greater notice of what I added and the quantities of it… I would also have taken some pictures as well!

Internal Displacement

I know I’ve only been working again for a few weeks, but this whole idea of a 4 day working week and a 4 day weekend… Kinda could get used to it!

We’ve been reasonably busy this weekend. Friday morning we were up bright and early and headed down to Canberra.
We drove around aimlessly for a while once we got there, wound up finding Yarralumla (Government House)… Unfortunately the AFP guy in the security booth meant that we couldn’t go and knock on the door and see if the Governor-General would give us lunch. Not to worry though, after a not so brief detour up Mount Ainslie to take in the view, we met up with some old friends of Di’s for lunch at a place called Tilley’s. Pretty decent feed actually, the place was packed and had a nice atmosphere to it.
After lunch we all headed up Black Mountain… To take in the view… From up Black Mountain Tower (Formerly Telstra Tower), which clearly hasn’t seen a lick of paint or anything but the most basic of maintenance since it opened back in the very early 80’s.

After we came back down the mountain we headed to check-in to our hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening lounging around watching Grand Designs, before heading down to dinner.
We had the oddest waiter I’ve ever come across, serving us for dinner. He was very soft-spoken, and every single movement he made seemed so measured… Just odd…
Food was pretty good. Nothing to complain about, but nothing special either.

We slept in a little the following morning before heading out to the Canberra Centre to meet up with Katie, a convention-going friend of ours. We had a nice lunch at Wagamama before heading to Koko Black for dessert. We sat around and chatted for a good couple of hours before Di and I needed to head off to the National Gallery to see their Masterpieces from Paris exhibition.

This is something that Di really wanted to see, but I was quite ambivalent about. However I did find it to be quite enjoyable. A lot of the Monet's and other big name pieces were underwhelming really. We did like Starry Night by Van Gogh though, and picked up a framed print of that.
My favourite piece was by Paul Gauguin, annoyingly there was nothing in the gift shop of it… Not even a postcard.

Straight after leaving the exhibit we headed back home to Sydney. Yesterday (Sunday) we spent the day at home and finished The West Wing and made a start on our re-watch of Farscape.

I found through the magic of Twitter that a band I quite like, Hungry Kids of Hungary, were performing today at the Easter Show, so I decided to brave the insane crowds that would no doubt be present on an Easter Monday and go along to see them perform.
It was as predicted insanely crowded, but I managed to get in, catch up briefly with Davidge & Hazel and then find the amphitheatre that the band was playing in.
It was the first time that I’ve been able to see the guys live, they did recently do a headline gig here in Sydney, but it was on the day that I got back from my trip up to visit my Grandfather, so I was unable to make it.
The guys put on a pretty good show, although personally I think that the sound needed to be worked on a bit (the vocals were too soft against too loud music), but that was more the fault of the guys in the tech box.
My main gripe with the show was the audience, most of the audience was not there to see the band, they were there because there was space to sit out of the sun and made sure that they paid no attention to them and seemed to make as big an effort as possible to ensure that nobody else could enjoy them as well, but I guess that’s to be expected at The Show…
Hopefully it won’t be too long before they’re back doing a gig in a proper venue that I’m able to attend.

After the gig I had a brief wander around, picked up some salty liquorice. Headed to the Fresh Food dome to see the farmers displays… Picked up some Biltong and some fresh pineapple, then headed to the station to head home.
Annoyingly ShityRail was only running trains every 20minutes out of Olympic Park, leading to rather long queues and crowded trains.

Tomorrow morning it’s back to work. Speaking of that, it appears to be going well. It’s getting easier and the learning curve, at the moment, appears to be straightening out somewhat. Hopefully I can keep improving to the point that they’re able to offer me a full-time position in June when my contracted position runs out.
If they can’t then I doubt I’ll be able to go to New Zealand in October… Which would be more than a little bit of a pity!

If Only all Reality TV was this Informative… And Entertaining!

And It’s Surely to their Credit…

So it’s been a busy couple of weeks all told.
Work is… Well honestly, it’s been a steeper learning curve, a bigger difference to previous positions, than I expected.

Also it appears that my brain has atrophied during my nearly 9 months of unemployment.
I’ve had some good days and some bad days. Thursday just gone, for no real apparent reason was just fucking shocking. But I weathered it and Friday was much better.
My supervisor has said I’m doing well, obviously there’s improvement needed, but all things considered… He also doesn’t seem like the type to sugar-coat or beat around the bush, so when he says I’m doing well I’m reasonably inclined to believe him.
All in all it’s great to be working again, and you know… Not great to be working again ;) 

In other news, last weekend we headed down to Melbourne for a (somewhat) surprise birthday party for our friend Sue. 
As usual we had a fantastic time, ate too much, caught up with many, but not all of our friends. 

This weekend was a reasonably quiet one. Friday night we went out in Newtown with my friend Christina. We had African for dinner, which was really great and quite reasonably priced. After that we wandered up and down King St a little. Got Gelato from Gelatomassi, which serves up the best gelato I’ve had since I was in Europe. Then we went and saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo… Which in case you’ve been living under a rock is based on a wildly successful series of books out of Sweden.
The movie is dark, moody, violent, confronting, sometimes humorous, and entirely brilliant. It’s only in a limited release, but if you’ve got to travel somewhere to see it, it’s entirely worth it.

Also read the books!

This coming Easter weekend, we’re taking some time and heading out of Sydney for the Friday and Saturday. We’re heading down to Canberra to catch up with a couple of friends and Di wants to see the Masterpieces from Paris exhibit at the National Gallery. I personally couldn’t give a toss about art, but the boss wants to go, and I tried to beg off, but she wouldn’t let me… So it appears I’ve got to go and pretend to be cultured ;)
And we get to go to Koko Black, which is ALWAYS a good thing!
We really need one of those in Sydney!

First days…

So started at my new job on Monday morning. Didn’t sleep too well on the Sunday night… Oddly enough! But pulled up ok during the day.
Of course I was in bed and asleep by 2030 on Monday evening! Other than being woken up briefly by a cat fight I slept right through until my alarm went off at 0615.
Nice… Well except for the alarm going off at 0615 part anyway!!

Work seems to be good. There’s some stuff that I need to be able to access in order to do my job that I’ve not yet being able to access, so it’s been a nice slow introduction. Which is actually a pretty good way to go about things :)
The people I’ll be working with seem like nice folk, so that’s a plus as well.

I’ve also discovered that the bus ticket that I was sold, which was not the one that I actually wanted, covers trains and ferries as well as the busses. After being more than a little annoyed at the $29 I needlessly wasted on a train ticket that I didn’t actually need anymore, I realised that with the ticket covering ferries, I could have a much nicer trip to and from work, by taking a bus five minutes from home to the ferry wharf and then walking about 1.5km from the wharf to work.
The ferry trip up the Parramatta River and the Upper Harbour is quite lovely and the 15minute each way walk to and from the Milsons Point Ferry Wharf will give me some much, much needed exercise. Win, win really.
Expect pictures :)

Finally!

So for the none of you that don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter and aren’t aware of the news, I was finally successful in gaining employment!
At the moment it’s just a 3month position, but there is the possibility of another permanent position opening up within the company at some stage. So I’ve got that to hope for, but at the moment I’m just happy to have a source of employment to help me pay down some of our debts and start saving for our trip to New Zealand in October. There’s also the not so insignificant matter of it getting me out of the house and doing stuff.
Even if the further position doesn’t come up, or I’m unsuccessful in applying for it, at this stage 3months work seems pretty damned great to me!

Queensland Photos

Here’s a few pictures I took during my trip up to Toowoomba.
The first is a view from my Aunts house during the final moments of sunset:

Queensland Vista by ~ozfinn on deviantART

This picture is a macro shot of an artichoke that my Aunt picked too late and it had flowered and attracted the attention of some ants who seemed to like it. What’s interesting is the camera that I took this shot on I purchased in late 2006 for my 2007 trip to the USA. Since the day I got it the Macro function has never worked… Until this day!!

Ant of an Artichoke by ~ozfinn on deviantART

And finally some junk laying around my Aunts yard. I think these are railroad spikes as they were near to some old railway sleepers she had in the garden.

Railroad Spikes by ~ozfinn on deviantART

So… It’s been a while…

Not that, you know anyone actually reads this thing :)

It’s just that I mostly haven’t had a lot to say. Still unemployed, thus still moping around the house. In fact since November I’ve only had two job interviews. The first was with Flight Centre, it was the third time I’ve interviewed with them, and the third time that they’ve not given me a job. So I say, they’re not going to give me a job, I’m not giving them any of my money in the future. Didn’t get the job because they said there were other better qualified candidates… Yes, because I haven’t worked in a shop for most of my, so-called, career and you know… Can’t talk all day and all night about travelling.
But anyway, back to looking. Again… And again.
The second one was with Nikon, for a position in customer service in their repair department. I had my interview with the recruitment agent at Chatswood and was asked straight away to go down to the Nikon head office in Lidcombe… I figured that was a good sign. But they gave the job to someone internally. So essentially I drove halfway across the Sydney Metropolitan basin and back for no reason whatsoever.
Nice.

Despite my earlier protestations that I’ve really had nothing to write about, I have managed to keep somewhat busy in the last few weeks. Not as busy as I’d like, but busy enough…

From the 22nd-25th of February I was up near Toowoomba staying with my Aunt and visiting my Grandfather, who’s taken a not so great turn in the last few months. I figured that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to spend some time with him, whilst I had the time, if not necessarily the money. Luckily after I’d made the decision and my Mum offered to pay for my flights. I’d gotten lucky and they weren’t too expensive anyway. I could have gotten them a bit cheaper still if I’d violated my “No Jetstar” policy… But, as mentioned I have this No Jetstar policy and I don’t like breaking my own policies!
Whilst not exactly a fun trip, for the most part, I did enjoy getting to spend time with both my Aunt and my Grandfather.
On the Wednesday evening I took the bus back into Brisbane and spent the evening imposing on Dallas & Luelle who I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to catch up with. Was great to see them again.
On Thursday I went into the City and met up with Susan, Trish and Sue (who was up on the NSW North Coast from Melbourne and came along) for lunch at a place in The Valley.
Was great to catch up with all of them, especially Trish who I haven’t seen in several years.

This weekend just past Susan came down from Brisbane for The Hub Productions Stargate convention. Which Di and I also attended. It was a pretty fantastic event. I finally got to meet Claudia Black who is one of my favourite actresses and I’ve wanted to meet her for years. In my photo with her it is painfully obvious that I was mere seconds away from a complete and total geek meltdown. Luckily I managed to keep my shit together and string together several sentences AND reply to stuff when I went to get some stuff signed. Go Me I say!!
Because of the large number of guests we opted to send our pictures down to Melbourne to have them signed by Richard Dean Anderson so that things could move just that little bit quicker and they could get to the airport before their flights to Melbourne left without them. But we did get to meet him when we got our picture taken with him, so we’re not too upset.
And as already mentioned I got to meet Claudia Black.

Last night we saw Amanda Palmer in concert at the Opera House. We had dinner at a place on the Opera Quays called a-Flame… Don’t go there. The best part of my meal was that the rice was cooked properly. The chicken was massively over-cooked, I’ve never had chicken that dry before in my life. The sauce was oily and flavourless. Di’s Spaghetti Bolognaise was lots of spaghetti and very little bolognaise sauce. All this with a 10% surcharge because it’s a Sydney (what a load that is!), and service that was painfully slow and impersonal. Seriously. Don’t go there.
I enjoyed the concert itself, whilst not liking alot of the music. It was a very enjoyable show and we had great seats right up in the front row from which to enjoy it (go me on scoring those!). Her style of music for the most part just isn’t my style, however she has a great stage presence and is highly entertaining, so it was well worth it.

And that pretty much brings you up to date with the exciting events in the world of me. Despite not much going on I’m going to try and keep writing here more often, if for no other reason than to keep my brain somewhat active!