Pink cupcakes!

We had cupcakes at work this morning. Home baked ones that The Operations Manager's daughter Casey made. She's awesome. Nothing makes me smile like cupcakes with pink icing. Also, I'm feeling much better (I had a cold earlier in the week), so today is a good day. Apart from anything else, it's Friday!

it's always sunny

Sydney has the most fantastic weather, all the time. Last weekend was completely cloudless, and on Saturday I went to see the World Press Photo exhibition at the library. SO GOOD! If you're in Sydney get down and see it this week cause it's free, and gone after the 31st. I loved it. So many amazing pitcures!
After I did that I had a look around the botannical gardens, and saw a crapload of cockatoos, just kicking round this lawn. They're kind of scary en masse, but I'm not much of a bird fan at the best of times. I don't like the way they have all sorts of sharp bits. Still, I've never seen a cockatoo, apart from the one at Auckland Zoo that talks, so that was pretty exciting... but not as exciting as the hundreds and hundreds of bats sleeping on this big pine tree in the sunshine. That was a sight to behold. They're noisy buggers too.
Rory had a couple of job interviews today. Bigup Rory! :D

I'm brilliant!

Today was one of those rare days when everything you do seems to be a stroke of genius. I came up with some absolute gold corporate speak, so much so that my boss gave me a bottle of wine. I also had not one but two brilliant ideas for paintings - one about one of those old green phones, and one about a mechanical body. I've started on the phone series, and I'll buy some stuff for the other one tomorrow I think. I'm tempted to just stay up all night and work on it, but I've also been really tired, trying to catch up on sleep from Monday.

I'm only staying up to write this blog cause I wanted to say: I love my new job. It's so nice to be recognised in a meaningful way, not like at IR, where it was all very token, and they'd praise you because it was in the staff feedback survey that they had to.. not because your work meant anything or anyone genuinely appreciated you. I can see my work making a difference where I am now, and that's cool. Especially when I'm having one of those days where everything that comes out of my mouth (and typing fingers) seems really well crafted and insightful! Ok ok ok, me and my big fat ego are going to bed now.

the last one about cheese, I promise.

It turns out cheese does give you weird dreams. After eating cheese for dinner on Sunday, apparently in the middle of the night Rory woke up because I was trying to push him out of bed. He says I told him I had a dream about someone I didn't know trying to grab me, so I was pushing them away. I have no memory of this, but when I woke up my wrist was all bung and my shoulder was all gammy, and the back of my thigh was all sore. I must be a lot more kickass asleep than I am awake.

I gave this homeless guy half my salad today. He was looking in the bin for something to eat, and I was full, so I gave him the rest of my salad, then spent the next hour feeling really guilty because a) I'd already eaten the good bits, there was lettuce and carrot mostly left and b) I forgot to give him the bread roll that came with it, and he wasn't going to be very full on half a salad's worth of rabbit food and c) I spend five minutes congratulating myself on what I good person I was before I made the abovementioned realisations. I still kinda feel bad about it, but I couldn't find him again after I'd been for my walk and realised. Poor old hungry guy. :(

I was shocked to hear also, that AWB Limited, the former Australian Wheat Board had been paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime during UN sanctions. How corrupt is that? I can't believe I missed it in the news when it came out. Anyway, they were looking at having their monopoly toppled today. They have some crazy system in Australia where anyone who wants to export their wheat has to go through AWB and put up with lower than market prices. How backwards and regulated! But at the same time, I can see the sense in argumants for it, given American and Eurpopean subsidies for farmers. If I come down on the side of deregulating the market, does that make me right wing?

Rory and I went out to Liverpool last night for Liverpool Idol. It was top fun. Six bands played. The first three were arse, but Argie's band, Hail Discordia (who we were there to support) were awesome. And I'm not just saying that because he is devastatingly handsome. Johnny-Depp-in-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Good-Looking. So, so hot. Rory agrees. He's also a talented musician, and has a great voice. However, I think I might be too old to go out til 1am on a school night, because I am shattered today. And of course, I had to stay back at work til 7pm today because stuff needed doing.

On the way back we missed one train, then had to change at Granville for another one, and while we were waiting at Granville we saw a mighty long coal train being pulled by no less than FOUR diesel engines, and also two orange diesel engines with big round noses, just like in a train set, but real life!
Just like this one! I was kinda excited, but I tried not to let it show in case people found out I'm a closet train geek. I have my father to thank for that. He's so into trains that he drives the kids' train in the esplanade in Palmerston North at weekends. Ok, I'm kinda excited about that too, its the cutest thing. I like trains.

I'm knackered. Goodnight!

PS, I'm not allowed to tell people that Rory shaved his armpits. Weirdo.

Cheese for Dinner

That's right, you heard me. I'm a grown-up, and if I want to eat cheese for dinner, I can! Hell, I could eat ice cream for dinner if I wanted to. On occasion I have. However, now I have a sore tummy, and I'm pretty sure I have cheese to thank. Delicious as it was.

I was a little worried about going to sleep having just chowed down on an awful lot of cheese, but the British Cheese Board says it's sweet as! Thank goodness for that!

cheese, chive and chicken

Cooking at the butcher yesterday: Cheese, chive and chicken sausages. I never want to say that phrase again. When I came home Kim asked me what was cooking, and all I could manage was "sausages". Six hours saying a tongue twister makes your mouth real stumbly!

While I was cooking the tongue twister sausages, Rory and Kim saw Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban macking at the café around the corner from my house. They didn't stop and bother them, but Rory reports that she is really beautiful in real life. Welcome to my 'hood, celebrity types! Come round for a nice cup of tea and a biscuit sometime....!

Annnnd! On Friday I signed my permanent contract with the stockbrokers, yay!! Now Rory gets money if I die, as life insurance was part of the package. I guess he'll need it, as he's a proper dependent at the moment. I'm giving him an allowance... he hasn't found a job just yet.

So, APEC coming up in September. The Aussies are going hard to prevent the percieved terrorism threat. They're declaring a public holiday on the Friday of the three-day weekend conference. They're closing city train stations.

They're jamming mobile networks - but only in a really small area over the important people.

They're busting out the SAS.

Are they being overly paranoid? Obviously some security will be required, but are they overstating thier own importance? Or has Australia kissed America's arse enough to be a real terrorism target? We didn't really have to worry about this sort of thing at home, and I can't work out whether it's silly or warranted, given the effect on the residents of the city, and people's rights to protest.
It worries me some.

Art Party

I did the most fun thing on Tuesday night - I took Rory, Kim and Kev to Dr Sketchy's - which is a life drawing session at the Arthouse bar with burlesque models. Rory and Kim didn't seem that into it, but Kev loved it, and for a Westie, he's pretty good! The models were gorgeous too. I have some pics of the sketches I did, which I'll upload at some point. I'll definitely do it again though. www.burlesqueball.com <-- Dr Sketchy's website if you'd like to come too..

After that I was absolutely destitute, but I managed to go out last night as well, cause Adam shouted. Thanks Adam! We went to the Bavarian Bier Cafe on York Street - which apparently is different to the Belgian Beer Cafe, somewhere else and the German Beer cafe, which is another one again, and may in fact have a German name. I'm ashamed to say I got home somewhat intoximacated. Kim went on a date last night... and when I got up this morning he was in the lounge! Hehehee...

Oh, I almost forgot...

Rory ate his toast into the shape of Australia this morning. Now that's patriotic!

Ramen!

A bit of a boring day today. Turns out Kev got the wrong day for this battle of the bands thing - it's next monday. So I came home and cooked up some Ramen for Rory and I...

It was killer. I had nori, and shiitake mushrooms, and tofu and everything. Kickass. Not much else going on. Work is still good.

I've decided I'm going to sort my diet out though. So I've had vegemite vogels toast, some almonds, a salad for lunch, a mandarin and my tasty ramen for dinner *polishes halo* Rory even did me the favour of eating the rest of the chips I had, so they don't have to end up on my hips. He's so thoughtful. The only trouble is, now I reallly want something chocolate!

Happy Mother's Day

My mum is awesome. She's always got something helpful to say, she ages gracefully (even though she's not very old), she makes great asian food and she's cool. She lives on a rural property out of Ashhurst with six sheep (or is it seven?), six chickens, a cat and a buttload of walnut trees. You can borrow my mum, for a price, cause she and my Dad have a bed and breakfast you can stay at - www.konewa.co.nz
I recommend it very highly, because they're both awesome people, and it's a really nice property. Mum and Dad have turned their place from a random bit of land with no power, no phone and a long-drop toilet into a flourishing farmlet and walnut orchard in just over five years. I'm really proud of them.

Having no Mum to hang out with today, I consoled myself with shopping. Rory and I went to the mall in Chatswood intending to buy a World of Warcraft game card and something else. I can't remember what that was. We ended up with two noodle bowls (I am yet to make that ramen though, Kim cooked butter chicken tonight), a rubbish bin for the kitchen, two large canvases and four small ones, plus some gesso, a sketch book for Rory, a toothbrush holder, a game card and a 'For the Horde' T-shirt for Rory, and then we had the great misfortune of walking past a really good sale at Ice (a cheapish clothes shop). I walked out with a green and black striped singlet, two 60s style dresses, a geometric print top and a plaid flannel shirt dress (how grunge!) for just under $30. I was well pleased, and am going to wear my new singlet tomorrow, when I go out to Liverpool to see a band with Kevin.
I've started on one of the large canvases - I'm doing some sakura blossoms for the bedroom, and if it turns out not to suck I might work on something for the Parentals.

Yesterday I worked Kim's day at the butchers, which was good fun. I cooked rump steaks (the rump jokes never get old, I tell ya). It was the final straw for my poor feet though. I wore flats, so it wasn't too bad.. but it meant that my heels got a workout to match my toes from standing around in heels from the conference. Afterwards, I went to Woolies and bought heaps of good stuff, like cottage cheese, fruit, vegetables and beans, because this week I am sorting out my diet. For serious. Then I went to catch the bus and discovered that I'd just missed it and the next one was half an hour away. Not being the sort to sit around on my tod, I decided I'd walk a few stops. The bus went past me just as I'd passed the last stop before mine, so I ended up walking the whole way home. You shouldn't feel sorry for me, cause it was only a 40 minute walk (I think I made it an hour with my feet and my shopping), but by the time I got home I was practically incoherent. Rory had to go to the bottlo to procure me some vodka. Fortunately, Rory and Kim had taken the liberty of ordering me some pizza, so dinner was ready and waiting. d(^_^d)

Tomorrow I am going to a battle of the bands thing out in Liverpool with Kevin. Rory's coming too, and we'll probably crash at Kev's house in Fairfield. Evan might come too, I hope so, cause he's a top bloke. The band we're going to support plays medieval influenced metal, so it should be interesting!

the pain! oh god, the pain!

My feet are so sore right now. I've been swanning about schmoozing all day in cheap stilettoes. That'll learn me.
The conference was pretty interesting. Well, I thought so, but then I've been known to enthuse about things most people would fine deathly boring. Like belly button lint and writing KPIs. Anyway, the first day went off really well. I dressed conservatively and didn't say anything dumb, and I got to have a little drinkie with the new workmates afterwards. The CEO even rocked over and told me he'd been hearing good things about me. *blush!*
The conference itself, like the industries involved (stockbroking, mining, oil and gas production) was hugely male dominated. At one point, I was the only woman in a room full of about 70 people, and I was only there being a microphone taker-overer for question time and geeking it up learning industry terms so I can impress the people who make decisions about hiring one permanently. Still, it was quite interesting. I picked up some stuff about what makes a good presentation, and what makes a dull one, as well as got inspired to sink some nonexistent funds into nickel mining and exploration.
Good times!

For now though, I'm going to go and have a cry about how much my feet hurt!

Bats

There are a lot of bats here. Seriously. A LOT of bats. One just flew past my window. I can't get over how there are just bats kicking around the city, like mammalian little night pigeons. It's kind of creepy, but also kind of cool.

I am knackered today. My friend Kev came over last night and we stayed up chatting for ages, which was cool cause I haven't caught up with him properly for a while.. but it's been a huge week at work also, due to this conference thing we're having tomorrow, so I've been super busy all week. I'm kind of excited about it.. I'm even going to buy a suit tomorrow in the morning. Cause I don't acutally own one any more, and this shindig is going to be pretty corporate. Gosh, I hope I don't mess it up by saying something completely inappropriate and retarded.

Only two more days to go til the weekend. I don't know what I'm going to do with this one - except maybe meet Anton for a drink. And maybe go to Manly for another drink with Auntie Karen's $50 note.
On monday though, I am going to see a battle of the bands thing that someone Kev knows is in, which should be awesome. They play medieval influenced metal. The last time I went to a live gig was when I saw Pennywise last year in July, I think. I'm really looking forward to it!

At last!!

^^ costume party!

After over a week of dragging the chain, several hours and hundreds of dollars of phone calls and some serious bollocking... we finally have a landline and internet at home. Now we can't make the router work, so we can only have internet on one PC at a time, but it sure beats paying for internet cafes!

We've moved into our room and we're borrowing Lou (the previous occupant)'s bed. It's nice and firm, and not an air bed. I love it! The building is really shoddily built, early 80s vintage and as such it's kind of crumbling in places. There's a big crack between one of the walls and the roof, and one of the wardrobe doors fell off the first day. It's got lots of light though, a big ranch slider and a skylight.
Ok, it's not the place I would have chosen, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it here once I've decorated a bit.
The room faces north, so it gets lots of sun in the middle of the day, and lots of air when the ranch slider is open. I was lying on the bed reading my book and enjoying having a room on the weekend, and looking out the window. All sorts of crap flies past the window. Like, a bunch of black and silver balloons, two crows, some rosella things, leaves, a plastic bag. It's the third floor up, and we look out onto next door's roof and chimney, which is brick and has old fashioned chimney pots on top.

Last weekend we went to the oriental markets. I had a great time, and came back with so much stuff! Rory, Kim and I were going to a costume party on the Saturday night, so we bough costumes to wear. I was a geisha, and Rory was a wizard. I also bought a hat, two pairs of leggings, a shirt-dress, a paper lampshade, a japanese sword for Rory, and a bowl of ramen. Good gear, as my dad calls it. Now I'm determined to make some at home, and I've got a shopping list for miso paste, nori. bonito flakes and suchlike. Yum!
The other thing I came back with was a second-hand tennis racquete which I found at the St Vinnie's shop up the road. The lady said I could bring it back the next weekend (we were going to use it for the costume party), but I haven't been back. I liked her, and I liked the op shop, so I might have another look this saturday.

The costume party was a bit meh.. everyone seemed to be trying a bit too hard... or that might have been leftover annoyance from a book I had read last week, where I couldn't stand the main character because she was a shameless social climber, and said things like "groovy". Unforgivable!

Last weekend was a bit quiet, apart from Friday night, when Rory and I went out to Parramatta to see Spiderman 3 (Don't bother), and afterwards I went out with Adam and some of his friends to this old-man pub in Darling Harbour called the Pyrmont Hotel. It was gorgeous, full of character. I even almost saw a proper Aussie bar brawl! Adam's friend Cynthia, who called me Switzerland, was gorgeous. I liked her. She had lovely clear skin, full lips and dark eyes and a cool peircing.

I'm so happy about having interweb. It's so cool to be sitting here in leggings and my big fluffy blue socks posting on my blog. It's even cooler to be able to just blog when I think of something to say, cause I keep forgetting all this brilliant stuff I want to post about.