beesknees 101 in 1001 list

#45 pores

2011-02-04T12:27:00.004+10:00

blocked pores are the bane of my exisitence. Well, one of the many, and I suppose it probably isn't really that bad since I havent exactly gone all out to fix the problem. But, anyway, they suck, I dont like them, it bothers me. We have a bad skin trait on one side of my family which I am really hoping I wont succumb to. I exfoliate, I drink lots of water, but I think that only works to stop things getting worse but doesnt help much when the pores are already blocked. I think its time for a drastic step of seeing a beautician (ugh, even that word makes me squirm), or maybe be scientific about it - a dermatologist, although I'm not sure thats necessary.

#70 starry nights

2011-02-03T12:57:00.003+10:00

In my mind I am quite the romantic. I'm always coming up with these cool whimsical ideas of things I will do. But, in reality I tend to let all kinds of practicalities get in the way and I don't end up having nearly as much of a fanciful life as I imagine. Sleeping under the stars is one of those things that sounds really cool, and I can't say I didn't have opportunities over the 1001 days - particularly while doing fieldwork in outback Queensland, but when it came down to it each time there seemed to be many hindrances to actually doing it - such as masses of nasty mosquitoes, wild pigs, heavy rains, very cold overnight temperatures and just the fact that a perfectly good bed indoors was available. Perhaps I need to do this in a less predator prone place, but it seems that everywhere where it warm enough to sleep outside and far way enough to be able to see a really cool starry sky is a tad 'pesty'

#12 motorbike

2011-02-02T08:15:00.003+10:00

As the result of a little subtle subterfuge, I have a full motorcycle drivers license but I haven't ever driven any bikes larger than 200cc nor one with foot gears. I used to drive the Vespa regularly so I can handle two wheels and know how to use the clutch, so figured I could learn how to do foot gear changes (as opposed to hand gear changes on the Vespa) pretty easy. The only problem being I don't actually own a proper motorbike, and there always seemed to be something else I'd rather spend the money on. I know I can go and learn without actually having my own bike, but that seemed kinda pointless.

#4 ZOP (German)

2011-02-01T08:44:00.003+10:00

I knew this one was pretty stretching when I added it to the list but I guess I was feeling motivated at the time and thought if I set myself the task I might just achieve it. Sadly, since then my motivation for most things has declined rapidly, yes I'm in a bit of a slump, but thats another story. I had managed to pass my previous Goethe Institute German exams with flying colours pretty easily, but that was back when I lived in a German speaking country. Still with (quite)a bit of hard work I might have managed this but not without acheiving #3 which as we know I didn't. and well, hard work hasn't been my bag lately. Also the courses I was following at the Goethe Institure here weren't exactly inspiring, especially when they moved to a Saturday morning, ugh, I don't think so. Anyway, I think this one is best left to when/if I ever live in a German speaking country again and in the meantime I will just concentrate on not forgetting what German I do know.

#3 Deutsche Deklination

2011-01-31T09:40:00.002+10:00

I just don't get anywhere with bloody German grammar, especially declination. Probably because I never sat down and made the effort to just learn it, and because I seem to be able to get by just fine without needing to do this properly. But it is embarrassing sometimes. I only got as far as digging out my books and sheets with simple and clear explanations of the rules, but I never studied it. I think once our German speaking house guests are gone I will have to just stick up a sheet with the rules in the toilet and the bathroom and finally learn them.

#67 foreign countries

2011-01-31T09:20:00.003+10:00

I made it to two new countries, or maybe only 1, I think I might have gone to New Zealand before I started this list? Anyway: New Zealand - mmm, OK, and Fiji - way cool. I'm quite annoyed about this. The are so many places I would have liked to have gone and especially when we were in Brisbane and lots of South Pacific places were so close and cheap to get to. But on the other hand, instead we made an effort and went to some really great places in Australia that I hadn't been to before like The Kimberely, The Tarkine, Broken Hill and back of Bourke, The Blue Mountains, The Brigalow, Whitsunday coast, The Mulga and the Darling Downs. They were all great and I'm always keen to see more of Australia so its all good.

excuses, excuses

2011-01-31T09:14:00.004+10:00

finally finished writing posts about the tasks that I failed but am not bothered about, so was thinking that would be the end of what felt like a long series of posts full of lame excuses. Then I remembered I still have all the stuff on the 'failed but wish I hadn't' list. sigh. sorry but looks like there are still some more posts full of whining 'reasons' for not doing stuff to come!

#58 music

2011-01-28T08:54:00.003+10:00

I'd come to realise that have so many years of living with U I had come to only listen music that he also likes and as such had maybe been limiting what I heard/bought. There are still plenty of times when he's not around and I can listen to stuff he doesnt like, so I know I should not restrict what I put into the music collection. But I have never been much of a music purchaser, I tend to beg, borrow, steal it or just listen to the radio. So I didnt get too far with this one.

#75 kite

2011-01-27T09:13:00.003+10:00

several jobs and countries ago, a colleague of mine, who's a bit flakey but in a good way, gave me a kite as a leaving gift. A few times it got taken out and flown, and its realy quite fun and relaxing, standing in a park, looking up at the sky and getting the kite to soar and weave and duck. I think when I wrote this list I'd just read The Kite Runner and been reminded of my kite, whose location was unknown after several international and interstate moves, and been inspired to want to fly a kite again. Unfortunately, I am now pretty sure the kite is either lost or amongst a whole pile of stuff in a basement in Switzerland not accessible right now. I don't have another one yet.

#7 German novels

2011-01-27T08:47:00.003+10:00

I read one (during the time of this list). It was shit. It was the original version of the White Masai (I may have already complained about this in a post a long time ago). The problem I have encountered in reading German novel, aside from the fact that its hard work 'cos it takes ages, its that I can't really tackle literature because its just way too hard for me to follow, so I end up having to read books with simpler language which by and large are shit books with stupid plots. Also given my innate stinginess I generally dont buy books, the library offers very slim pickings for books in German - its not really one of our local community languages (but, if I wanted Vietnamese, Hindi or Dinka - no problem). But, I must improve my German so will try and make a bigger effort on this task this year. might try to tackle several short stories rather than novels, or articles.

#34 seamtress

2011-01-25T09:33:00.004+10:00

When I went to Africa, back in those days of cameras with films, I bought some fantastic material and kangas for next to nothing with the intention of making some cool dresses and skirts out of them. yeah, still hasnt happened. Getting the sewing machine out is always a big effort, and really I am not much of a seamstress. In my head its all easy the the dresses I would make would look fantastic, but more than likely in reality they'd be badly cut, sewn up crooked and just not sit right. But then again, once about 18 years ago, I made my mother a blouse (with cross stitched buttons no less) and she still wears it sometimes so I can't be that bad. Still, I might stick to keeping the kangas as beach wear.

#89 blood

2011-01-24T09:15:00.002+10:00

I'm afraid I still haven't been able to make myself give blood. And I know I should feel bad about this, but I don't really. I almost had myself convinced that I could just go and do it, but then I had to have a blood test which reminded me just how much I hate needles, ugh, makes me feel queasy just thinking about it. I also I read a story from a friend's blog about a blood donation gone wrong and I just couldnt quite convince myself anymore. Still I am not dismissing this task altogether, one day I will become a brave person realise its really no big deal and have my sticky red stuff drained from my veins for the good of humanity.

#33 camera film

2011-01-24T09:05:00.005+10:00

Back what seems like a very long time ago now, before I had a digital camera, I went on holiday in Tanzania and took photos with actual film. By the end of the holiday I had one film in the camera which was only half used. I remember it was a big deal at the time because were far away from shops and my friend had given me her last film because I'd run out, but apparently desperately needed to take more photos. Shortly after that trip I got a digital camera, but I thought I'd still just finish off the film and then get it developed. Of course I never did and the film is still sitting half used in the camera, assuming it hasnt dissolved or something by now. I'm not even sure where I would go to get it developed these days. Anyway, one day I guess I'll find out and then rediscover whatever it was that I considered so picture worthy back then when we were less snap-happy because we couldnt so easily take them, review them and delete the crap ones.

#11 R

2011-01-24T08:57:00.004+10:00

For those of you who don't know what R is, you can find out here, but I'm afraid this is a very boring nerdy task so you might not want to bother. At the time this seemed like a very useful task for making my work life more efficient, but then I got my current job. It has had little call for the use of R so there really didn't seem to be any point in putting effort into learning something I wasn't using. Hence I didn't get very far with this task. However, with any luck I will hopefully soon have a change in my employment situation and will probably have the opportunity to tackle this one again.

#74 hot air balloon

2011-01-21T11:43:00.003+10:00

I've always though it would be kinda cool to go in a hot air balloon, but given U is not at all keen I just haven't made this happen. It is kinda a couples thing to do. Also, while the idea is cool, I wouldnt really want to go with other people I don't know (other people are annoying) but not sure I would be able to wangle getting a ballon ride for just me, unless I get richer. Once upon a time when I was a kid we were all going to go as a family in Central Australia, that would have been cool. But, my Dad didn't want to get up that early so we didnt go (thats the way I remember it, probably in actuality he didnt wnat to spend that much money), sigh, another great family holiday memory ;). And given what happend to these poor suckers this week, maybe hot air balloon rides arent that great anyway.

#84 letter writing

2011-01-20T08:37:00.004+10:00

You'd think I would have learnt by now - I am a terrible correspondent. I think I set myself this task of writing to my sponsor child 5 times in order to try and make myself become better at correspondence, but obviously it didn't work. To be honest I think I knew it wouldn't when I first set the task. In the past I have tried with a variety of different 'pen friends' but I've never been able to keep myself motivated to write regularly or reply to every letter. Before the poor African sponsor child there was the letters to prisoners program (yes, I know, probably misguided idealism making me think that would somehow help). You'd think the guilt over the idea that these poor unfortunates were maybe waiting for a nice letter from their pen friend to brighten their day would be motivation enough, but it always took me so long to reply and even then it was quite the chore. I think it all harks back to the somewhat traumatic experience of my first pen friend back in primary school. One of our teachers went to the US on holiday and visited a school there. She then arranged for each of the kids in my class to have a pen friend from the American class she visited. It was all very exciting - America seemed so exotic back then (but then again so did Werribee). As it turned out my pen friend was called John Kennedy. All was going well, our letters, stuffed with stickers of native animals, badges and other stuff kids get excited about (although I still get excitied about badges), were going back and forth at a great rate. One night at about 2am my father was woken from a deep sleep by the ringing telephone. When he answered a strange voice announced it was John Kennedy. Confusion ensued, my father in his groggy state thought he was getting a message from the other side. But, eventually things were clarified and I was roused from my bed to talk, I think for the first time, to a foreign person in a far away land with a different time zone. It was all very exciting, none of the other kids at school had had phone calls from their pen friends. After that phone call however, the letters stopped. It turned out that John had in fact been terminally ill and had passed away not longer after our phone call. Poor John. But at least he was the one pen friend I'd made an effort with.

#77 Gold Coast

2011-01-19T09:02:00.002+10:00

To be honest I am not really convinced there is a 'nice' part of the Gold Coast. Friends who live around there have insisted there is, but, though they're good people, I don't really trust their judgement on this kind of thing. The point of this task was really just to prove myself right, but we never went (we went to the shit part, ugh that is SOOO awful) so I'm afraid I will just be sticking with my unproven prejudice that all of the Gold Coast sucks. This was also a perectly reasonable task when we lived in a convenient location for visiting the Gold Coast but now that we are thousands of kilometeres away, less so. There are so many cool places to go and see and not enough time to do that so why waste time seeing places that are more than likely crap.

#62 wagging

2011-01-18T15:44:00.003+10:00

I used to quite like to every now and then just hang around the house relaxing and watching cheesy TV. It used to be I could easily hang aorund on the sofa, forget my troubles and watch 7th heaven, Gilmore Girls a midday movie and Judge Judy. Pure cheese, but always with a moral, and addictive. But, much like the previous post, I think I havent done this task because TV these days is just so unwatchable. Or was it always that unwatchable but I have a lower tolerance now? These days if I bother to look at the daytime TV guide and its all Ready Steady Cook (snore) and the Ellen Degeneres show - my oh my, how bad is that show?!! I just don't know how or why anyone would watch it, what is the point of it?
Also, I've had too much to do to be able to do this without feeling guilty.

#56b films

2011-01-17T09:19:00.004+10:00

I seem to have lost the motivation and enthusiasm for sitting at home watching movies. This year we have had so much to do that sitting around the house and watching DVDs seems to be such a waste of time. Also, wanting to watch specific films requires the organisation of actually finding those films and going out and getting them. I think I'm more of a serendipitous movie watcher - if I happen to find something good on TV when I am home then I will watch it, but otherwise I'm just as happy to miss it. Maybe when its winter again I will get back to watching some films - its seems more justifiable when the weather is bad.

#54 Limoncello

2011-01-17T09:14:00.004+10:00

While I theoretically still kinda like the idea of making my own Limoncello, It was actually somebody else's idea which I stole from their 101 list when I was trying to fill up my list with enough things. We now have our own lemon trees which should make this task easier. But in the meantime we also brought a whole lot of Limoncello back from overseas so there was no longer any driver for making our own. Maybe I'll do this once we've drunk all the Limoncello we already have.

#81 & 82 Investment?

2011-01-17T09:04:00.003+10:00

They say property is an excellent investment. Whoever 'they' are, I'm pretty sure they're not first home buyers in the first year of owing a house.
Yep, I'm making property ownership my current investment plan. Although when I think clearly and logically I am pretty sure we can only make money from our property, it is a bit of a shock to the system suddenly being responsible for all repairs and rates etc etc and it does feel like a money pit a lot of the time.

#69 aikido

2011-01-17T08:54:00.003+10:00

Instead of learning one of those sports I had originally intended, I have finally succumb to the peer pressure and started Aikido. This required a bit less effort and expense on my part because it doesnt involve any expensive equipment like a boat or a board etc that would be needed for the original list of sport. It also can be done on the way home from work. It is quite fun, especially 'cos you get to throw people around and twist their arms and fingers in weird ways, but it does sometimes hurt a bit and I must say I am not very good at it (which is probably why it hurts a bit sometimes - I haven't quite got the throwing myself at the floor thing down pat yet). But the only answer for that is more practice!

#49 toes touched!

2011-01-13T11:39:00.003+10:00

There I was in Pilates the other day and I suddenly realised I was successfully touching my toes, feet together, legs straight, but I was sitting on the floor. So next question was could I do this standing up?, and lo and behold I could, yay! finally getting stretchier. I may not be able to maintain it or hold my toes, but getting there, slowly.

#25 dentist

2011-01-12T09:24:00.002+10:00

I went to my regular dentist check up a couple of weeks ago. The dramas began with finding the bloody place after they moved offices without telling patients. At the old office, where a medical practice is still located, they apparently didnt know the new office location details which it turned out was inside the same shopping centre but at the other end, through a fire exit, down what felt like about a kilometer of corridors, and around 50 corners into the bowels of the maintenance area. Though much nice than the old place when you got inside. But, aside from some tetchiness with the receptionist on my part for failing to infrom me of the change of location (I am prone to getting annoyed with people when I am running late), that's where the dramas ended. Teeth and gums all good, no cavities, little plaque. So, since I seem to get a good report each time and floss only irregularly at best I figure 'make teeth flossing a habit' is no longer a necessary task.

audit

2010-11-04T14:49:00.004+10:00

Failed, that I'm not bothered about

7. Read 3 novels in German
11. Learn how to use R properly – scripting, packages etc
25. Make teeth flossing a habit
33. Get old camera film developed
34. Make dresses or skirts out of my African material
54. Learn how to make Limoncello and make it
56b. write a list of at least 10 movies I want to see and see them under this task
58. Buy 10 new CDs that I like not just what U likes
62. Spend one day a year at home when I should be at work watching crap but fun TV or DVDs. Don’t feel guilty about it
69. Learn at least one of the following sports: skiing, snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding
74. Go in a hot air balloon
75. Find my kite and fly it (if cant be found, buy a kite and fly it)
77. Go to the supposed ‘nice’ part of the Gold Coast with U – NOT Surfers
84. Write to my sponsor child at least 5 times
89. Give blood

Failed that I wish I'd passed

3. Finally learn the German declination rules properly
4. Pass the Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung
10. Write a short story
12. Learn to ride a proper motorbike
26. Get the reference letter off Fischlin
41. Get my toenails into shape
45. Improve my skin
49. Be able to touch my toes
66. Go on a several day carry all your stuff bushwalk
67. Visit 3 countries I’ve never been to before
70. Sleep under the stars

Passed but hadn't got 'round to blogging on yet

14. Fix Teddy
24. Make sunscreen application a habit
37. Lose 5 kilos and keep it off
38. Learn better how to dress for my body type
39. Buy clothes that are more flattering and suit me better
40. Get rid of all my clothes that don’t really suit me
46. Train myself to not eat sugary crap every afternoon at work
65. Watch at least 5 episodes of the real The Office
78b. If still in Australia go bushwalking in a another national park I’ve never been to before
80. Talk to Dad about shares etc
81. Come up with investment plan
82. Invest some money
83. Pay off HECS debt
85. develop better relationship with Lynne
90. Give up something for Lent (or equivalent time period)
98. Make the effort to stop and think properly about my life and where I want to go – write a plan
99. Discuss above plan properly with U and come up with our plan
100. Properly learn and accept that the grass is not greener, things are pretty damn good!

Works in Progress

92. Learn to be kinder to Mum
101. Learn to live for today

failing

2010-10-11T12:36:00.004+10:00

The bad news is I am doing a shockingly bad job with this and with only 27 days left there's no chnace in hell I will make it.

The good news is I just don't care, and therefore it doesnt matter.

I had thought I just wouldnt manage to keep up the blog but I'd probably still do OK with the list even if i didnt write about it - apparently not. Blogging I decided was a waste of time for me - I'm not motivated to update it regularly enough to get something out of it. I only do it when I'm bored or procrastinating and most of the time I'd rather be doing something else. In fact its taken me 24 days just to finish this post (so now I only have 3 days left, oh dear).

Anyway, I will review what I have achieved and make one fimal effort to post on that and the ones I failed - which looks like about 27 of them, hmmm. 73 odd percent is still a pass right?

#56 Romulus, My Father

2010-02-03T09:33:00.002+10:00

This was on TV the other night which made it really easy. In fact at the end I found out that there'd been a whole series of Australian movies on and I'd missed them, propbably would have been a few from my list, oh well. Actually, I remember The Proposition was on a little while ago, and I was home, but I couldn't watch it for some reason - I think the weather was too nice so we were BBQing and eating outside. Anyway, coming back to the point, I watched Romulus but I cant say I was very impressed. It was OK but there just didnt seem to be much point to it. It was sad, which I dont mind in a film, but it wasnt told well enough so it wasnt moving just depressing. I'm assuming the book must have been much better. Chief conclusion: Eric Bana should keep away from foreign accents, at least with Poitr it was meant to be funny.

#90 Chocolate

2010-01-21T13:24:00.000+10:00

The idea behind setting this task has nothing to do with any religious significance (hence ‘or equivalent time period)’ or attempt at being healthier or more grateful for what I have or something like that. Instead I think I was feeling I am generally quite lazy and never bother to set myself any limits and that I wanted to see if I could develop some kind of will power and self discipline, albeit probably in a kinda lame way.

Anyway, after all the over indulgence of Christmas and New Years and what with U adamantly declaring ‘no more chocolate! (for a while)’, I figured now was a good time to do the give up something for Lent task, and chocolate should be the something. I am a bit of a chocoholic and had been tending to eat some kind of chocolaty snack every day at work and usually some more in the evening if there’s chocolate in the house. I often feel like chocolate for breakfast and reckon chocolate goes with everything, including beer. So, I figured even if it sounds lame, giving up chocolate for a while would be a challenge. I started a little while ago and felt like all was going well until I remembered Lent is 40 days, not the 1 month I had in the back of my mind. Its only been two weeks so I still have 26 days to go. I keep having to go to meetings with morning or afternoon tea provided which invariably involves chocolate brownies or chocolate cake. Although U is theoretically also trying not to eat chocolate at the moment, he doesn’t count chocolate chip cookies as chocolate so has been munching away on those at home in front of me. The other day at work our boss came around and gave us all chocolate and now I know its just sitting there in my draw waiting for me to eat it.
Nevertheless, so far so good.

#63 Christmas

2010-01-04T09:29:00.003+10:00

This year we had Christmas at our house and luckily the weather held out which meant not one but two barbeques at our place. The joy of having separated parents is that you get to enjoy all the fun of Christmas celebrations twice in a row (well actually three times because we had a Christmas Eve dinner too). Anyway a pleasant time was had by all, I believe, with only minor stress-outs on my part. A huge amount of alcohol was drunk, and we enjoyed raclette, BBQ'ed prawns, BBQ'ed squid and salmon, kangaroo fillet, roast potatoes (twice), green salad, Christmas pudding, haloumi skewers, BBQ'd mushrooms and beef fillet, traditional pork sauasges, kanagroo sausages, cous cous salad, rice salad, chocolate cheesecake and berry tiramisu.

#9 books

2010-01-04T09:26:00.002+10:00

I'm considering this one done. I read at least a book a month but adding a post for each one is pretty boring.

#53 North Melbourne Farmers market

2010-01-04T09:11:00.003+10:00

Since we no longer live in Brisbane, I had to change this one to the North Melbourne farmers market. We went. It was shit. We wont go again.
I know this market is only new and so perhaps hasn't had time to establish itself and get many traders, but still it was very disappointing. Firstly, despite it being advetrtised everywhere as free entry - which really you would expect at a market, at the entry gate was a woman (and child) with a big bucket insisting on gold coin domations. They were pretty much unavoidable and they did not provide any indication of what the money was for. If it is for some worthy cause I maybe wouldnt be so bothered but then that should be clearly indicated and for all we know she was just pocketing the money. I know I probably should have asked, but why should I have to deal with confrontation just to go to a farmers market. Secondly they hardly had any fresh veggie and fruit stalls which I think is the main reason to go to a farmers market. Instead there was mostly wine, packaged biscuits, olives, boring crafty stuff. and finally it was totally full of try hard North Melbourne wankers, although I did kinda expect that.

#9 never let me go

2009-10-01T12:23:00.002+10:00

Kazuo Ishiguro
This is one of those books that appears on lists of the top 100 books you should read, was short listed for a Booker prize, people rave about etc. But I have to say I didnt find it that great. its not that it was bad, but kind of ho hum. I guess it kind of makes you think about what it really means to be human but it was neither eloquently nor elegantly expressed so I didnt find it overly thought provoking. I'm sure the matter of fact tone is intentional to try and make it more sinister, but I guess it kind of seemed like young adult fiction to me. Also, I hate that style some authors have of always pre-empting whats coming or suggesting and implying a shocking revelation later- its always an anti-climax.

on a related note. I'm thinking of not bothering with these book posts anymore. I imagine they're pretty boring and I think dont make any sense to someone who hasnt read the book 'cos I cant be bothered recounting the plot. Also there are several books I've read recently that never end up here 'cos I forget to blog them

#95 extra curricular

2009-10-01T11:55:00.002+10:00

The joys of now working for the public service mean that I no longer feel guilty about leaving the office by 6pm like I did in academia (as long as I've done my 7 hours 36 mins). This is also to do with the fact that since the job is still relatively new I dont have loads of deadlines and way too much work do to before them like I did in the last year or so of my last job. (what I should (and do) feel guilty about is blogging during work time, but thats another post, and it wont be regular, really). So now I'm leaving by 6 and I've filled the direct time after work with useful stuff. Mondays: German class, Tuesdays and Wednesdays: Yoga, Fridays: random socialising ranging from work Friday night drinks to catching up with my sister, and soon to come to Thursdays: training to become an English tutor for refugees (once training is over this will be replaced with being a English tutor to refugees. Yay!).
This last one has been a bit of a slog. I've been trying to get into some regular volunteer work since I moved back to Melbourne in May, and its taken til now to get sorted, who would have thought it was so hard to become a volunteer?! but I guess its fair to say I'm a bit picky, since I work full time and dont really want to commit to volunteer every weekend, I needed something that can be done in the evening (but not Friday evenings) and I'm not really keen on working with the elderly or disabled, asking people for money, or doing work that I think amounts to free labour for some organisation that isnt really a community group or charitable organisation.
The other problem being that strangley enough a lot of the refugees that need help with English live way out in unsavoury suburbs in the sticks, but a solution has been found and though it may mean hanging around in Footscray at night, at least its close!

#56 little miss sunshine

2009-09-02T13:26:00.002+10:00

This movie was lovely. Very much a feel good flick, in contrast to my last post. Although it was probably a bit of a 'fun-filled caper' movie at the time it didnt seem too cheesy or over the top, so i really liked it.

#56 samson and delilah

2009-09-02T13:10:00.004+10:00

I forgot to mention I went to see this movie a while back. It was very good, but rather confrontational and a little difficult to watch - I did find myself squirming for probably the first 45 mins, largely I was thinking because it felt like nothing was happening in the film. The idea that the nothing much was happening for the young people in the film, every day the same, also made me feel uncomfortable and restless. I guess it was also that inherent guilt someone like me- middle class, white, urban, left-ish type, feels when confronted with a representation of the reality of Australian indigeonous communities. I always feel helpless because I dont know what I could do to improve the situation, and also because if I did do something, would it help?

#59 Yoga

2009-09-02T12:56:00.002+10:00

Since I'm now going to yoga classes twice a week, this is my new hobby. I never would have imagined Yoga would become a hobby of mine - the first time I tried it I thought it was a total crock and couldnt stop laughing. Although thats probably because it was just an informal thing with a friend trying to teach a group of us and she kept going on about chakras and chi, and I basically thought she was full of it. But the teachers I have now are sensible and concentrate on the physical part and make it fun, but also useful, challenging and relaxing, yay! and its helping me achieve #49 - almost there.

#45 eyebrows

2009-07-29T15:16:00.002+10:00

This isnt really related to task 45, its a pretty far along the line of the tangent where skin improvement relates to facial beauty relates to eyebrows. but it was on my mind, and I'm in a procrastinating mood.
I may have mentioned that moving back to Melbourne has reconnected me with a lot of old friends. Upon seeing one of those friends again I felt that something seemed not quite right about her face, like when you see someone who always wears glasses without their glasses or someone who always has lots of eye make-up on with none. But it wasnt any of those things. It took me some time to figure it out, but finally tiny dots of regrowth gave it away - it was down to over-zealous eyebrow waxing. and not the usual height of eyebrows but rather the length, so that her eyebrows are now much too short and hence make her eyes look small or something. This observation led me to wonder why, why would you do it? I admit I have never waxed my eyebrows and this is probably a terrible thing to many women. I could probably look much better if I did (I've seen those before and after eyebrow wax pics of famous people like Madonna, Brooke Shields and Sarah Jessica Parker and could see they looked much better after). but eyebrows are such a defining part of one's face, and surely the natural shape is likely to suit you (maybe I can just say that 'cos I'm not so hairy and have never had to deal with a monobrow)? but what if you get it wrong like my friend. Eyebrow regrowth is very unattractive. I get the feeling that once you've done it there's no going back.
but at least she hasnt gone to waxing them all off and then drawing them back on somewhere else, eek, what are those people thinking?

#61 The Laurel

2009-07-10T10:09:00.002+10:00

So the idea of this item was to eat at the local pub, being the Caxton 'cos they supposedly had good meals and there were special deals for local residents. but we never really got around to going to the Caxton, and now we dont live there anymore. It didnt really seem that appealling when you got there (total bogan pub) and instead we went to other local pubs who had better deals such at the Transit hotel. Anyway, now that we are in Melbourne I can change it to eating at one of our new local pubs, which seem like much better places that the Caxton, the closest one being The Laurel. On Tuesday I ate there with my Mum and sister. Maybe its just me but it seems quite a funny thing that Australian pubs have a bistro menu and then a counter meal menu which is much cheaper despite coming from the same kitchen (and sometimes being the same meals), but has to be eaten in the bar area (instead of the bistro area). Anyway Tuesday at the Laurel is $10 counter meals and $5 pints - bargain. The bar area is not entirely atmospheric but not too bad really - I probably would have been perfectly happy with the atmosphere if my Mum wasnt there. Surprisingly the vegetarian pub food was not lasagne or pasta (its always lasagne or pasta) and it was pretty good and even had fresh vegetables in it.
Thursdays has even cheaper pints ($4) and prizes and all within stumbling distance of home - I think we'll be back (minus Mum).

#91 gossip free

2009-07-07T11:31:00.002+10:00

wow, I finally achieved this - didnt think I ever would but this open plan office malarky is proving to be more and more beneficial to me. I really dont know why I get drawn into celebrity gossip anyway. I hate celebrities and celebrity cultutre, but thats the problem - I seem to have this semi-concious desire to wind myself up and annoy myself by reading about stupid things those people do - perhaps it makes me feel superior? I do like the frock pictures though.
Only problem will be I wont know anything next time I go a to a trivia night.

back again

2009-07-07T11:26:00.002+10:00

yes, I am back and blogging again. But, I dont want to make too much of a fanfare about it since I am doubting it will really become a regular thing again. Basically this is a form of procrastination for me which means I do it at work, but the whole open plan office thing at my new job makes me less inclined to do it sinCe everyone can see I'm wasting work time. Of coruse I could do it at home, but when I get home the last thing I want to do is turn the computer on.
Maybe I will finally become more productive and as such be in the office more reasonable hours and fit more worthwhile things into my life other than work.

#73 home

2009-07-07T11:08:00.003+10:00

its kinda cheating, but I have moved back home to Melbourne and as such this one is automatically achieved. Its been wierd coming back. As partly anticipated it didnt take too long for family over-dose. I'm also working in the same building as a few of my old friends from high school which is particularly wierd. It kinda feels like stepping back in time 10-15 years to that life you had way back then, and you're not sure thats really a good thing.
and yet having those friends and family close and being able to easily see them and be reminded of the genuine (I think) relationships I have with them (its so much different tothe friendships formed in adulthood) is great. and, Melbourne is such a great city - if only it wasnt so bloody cold!

#4 Montag abends

2009-07-07T10:56:00.002+10:00

Its only a small step towards this goal, but gotta start somewhere... In my an attempt to work towards the Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung, which is a German exam at a level I guess more or less euqivalent to 'proficiency', I am once again taking German classes, this tiem at the Goethe Institut. The annoying thing being the only time a class at my level was available was Monday evening - who feels like learning German grammar until late on a Monday night? and I cant get home in time for Flight of the Conchords which is very disappointing since its one of the very few watchable things on TV. Anyway, so far the class is going fine, occassionally a tad boring/tedious - but I've learnt thats the nature of language classes. I've spent much time in the past wondering does it really have to be that way? - isnt it possible to have a language class thats not tedious? a but experience has taught me its not. Maybe in a smaller group with less of a need to cater to lowest common denominator, but that could be even worse (and more expensive)

unlikely

2009-03-20T11:30:00.002+10:00

I have realised that there are several items on the list that I just don't think I'm going to achieve. The question is am I just not trying hard enough, not rising to the challenge and all that and would it be a cop-out to remove them from the list, or am I just being realistic.

#26 - In Switzerland employers are required (by law I believe) to provide you with a written reference when you leave job. as such when you apply for jobs there it is expected that you will have these letters attached to your CV. My boss however, did not give me mine when I left, three years later he still hasnt done it (but always says its coming). I asked him for it at least once a week for the few months before I left. After I left I continued to send him email reminders fornightly to no avail. After a couple of months I contacted the HR people who then put some pressure on him - still nothing. I sent him email every month or so for a while but he always had a (long winded) excuse. I just dont think its ever going to happen. The only option I see is to write it myself and then send it to him to amend, but I really dont know what to write. I would just let it go (I more or less have already), but if in the future I want to apply for jobs in Switzerland, not having a reference letter is going to be a problem.

#37 - so far I have only managed to shift 1 kilo permanently from the weight that I was when I wrote this. I'm doing plenty of exercise and I am a lot fitter than I used to be which is a good thing. The problem comes with food and drink. and I'm not eating a lot of crap - I was very proud a couple of weeks ago when my doctor told me I must have great diet after seeing my blood test results, but I do eat a lot and consume a fair amount of beer and wine. The thing is I think I just dont care about this enough and often enough to really want to achieve this one. After all I'm not fat, and I like food and alcohol and I dont want to become one of those "oh, no thanks I'm trying to be good" people, ugh.

lame

2009-03-05T08:54:00.002+10:00

I have to admit a few items on my list are kinda lame and really just cop-outs, especially #29, #30 and #31 so I think I will have to replace them with something more worthy. I'm just not sure what yet. I have one thing in mind but its also really cheating cos I already achieved it, but it was a great achievement

vague

2009-03-03T12:51:00.002+10:00

The other problem with my list is that many of the items are far too vague, is particular #11 - how will I decide when enough is enough?, #92 - is this even possible, I mean mothers are meant to try us arent they, #95 - what constitutes 'useful'?, #100 and #101.
so I might try and make these more specific. On the other hand I do have my own way of judging and deciding whether this things are achieved, and it is my list so it doesnt really matter if there's no transparent criteria, so maybe I'll just leave them as vague.

#85 not worth the effort

2009-03-03T12:35:00.003+10:00

Keith and Joanne are friends of my father. When I first moved to Brisbane I stayed with them for two weeks and they were great hosts. I planned to stay in touch ,and I really did try. We went out to dinner and drinks with them when my father was visiting. I called them a couple of times to see how they were and invited them over for dinner, but they were vague and non-committal. I thought i should try again but on reflection, they're not really our friends, they're completely somewhere else in their lives (not that that really matters but...) and really they just didnt seem that keen so why bother?
I was going to change this once to 'visit my cousin' (who lives about an hours drive away and I havent seen in at least 10 years) but that didnt work out either and frankly I just dont like her. So I am making this some thing to with developing a better relationship with Lynne, which will be much much harder (more explanation elsewhere).

revamp

2009-03-03T12:20:00.003+10:00

according to a friend of mine when you work in government you have to be constantly reviewing things and resetting goals. sounds like a pain in the arse to me (well, actually I do see the point) but since I will soon be working for government maybe I better get used to it. In any case reviewing and revamping this list seems like a good idea or at least a way to keep me interested since there is some stuff on here that I dont really care about anymore. So, I'm going to replace a few items on the list with other stuff. And because I've given up on my other blog I might also add some random stuff onto this one to theoretically make it more interesting or at least more regular. Any posts will still have some vague connection to a list item I think.
I am going to get rid of these items 'cos I am no longer interested:
#85 call Keith and Joanne
well, actually on closer examination thats the only one I really dont want to do anymore, all the rest might not be my chief goals in life but i still wouldnt mind doing them.
I might just adjust some of them instead or make them more specific.

#48 old

2009-03-03T12:05:00.002+10:00

I recently celebrated one more trip around the sun - as an acquaintance of mine likes to put it, and didnt feel any older at all - despite the current spate of births and housing purchases that seem to be happening to people I know. But last week it all changed. I've been expecting this to happen for several years now, but that it hadn't was yet another way of denying getting older. but last week a hairdresser finally told me I really should do something to cover up all my grey hair. sigh.

#58 soundtrack to slumdog millionaire

2009-02-26T10:56:00.004+10:00

when I saw the movie I wanted to get the soundtrack but I didnt get round to it. Now all the Oscars hype reminded me so I made my first iTunes online purchase (after failing to figure out how to download it elsewhere - i blame our firewalls) . hmm, I'm not yet convinced it was a great purchase but at least 3 or 4 great tunes - especially the MIA ones.

#68 capricorn coast

2009-02-26T10:11:00.004+10:00

Cape Hillsborough and the Pioneer valley. Very very pretty. It was rather steamy which meant we didnt really do much except laze around, and consume good food and drink. just what we needed. Due to the floods the road to Finch Hatton gorge was closed so we didnt see the platypi, oh well, cant have everything. Only downside was that on packing up our tent we found a dead snake under it - eek! It wasnt there before so it must have crawled under and then we crushed it to death in our sleep, ugh. for some reason we didnt take any photos so these are stolen from the
web (shh), but it looked exactly like this

#52 basil, parsley, fennel and marjoram

2009-02-26T09:59:00.003+10:00

I am considering this one done. its been about 5 months since they were planted and none of them are dead yet. Well, none of the herbs - the zucchinis didnt make it and the lebanese cucumber plants are still alive but only produced 3 or 4 cucumbers of which I think only 1 and a half were edible. anyway the herbs are all still going although I'm not really using them. I dont really know what to do with the fennel, I only ever use fennel bulb in cooking but if I dig it up to eat it that will be the end of it, no? which seems a bit odd. The basil leaves are very small and I can get big fragrant ones cheap at the market, same goes for parsley. The marjoram I have used a few times in marinade, although I dont know if it was really successful since I dont eat meat, but no one complained.
anyway, when we move I will also try again.

#9 things fall apart

2009-02-26T09:18:00.003+10:00

Chinua Achebe. this was my pick for book club because it was on some list of great novels, or books you should read or something. anyway, again the main character was totally unlikeable - this seems to be a common theme for me lately, and yet at the end of the book you couldnt help feel empathy for him. The book was quite interesting and definitely thought provoking if not exactly captivating. Part of what made the story interesting was that it was all told so matter-of-fact, with no emotion, which left you to decide for yourself how to take it. This is so rare these days, even the News (especially the News?) takes sides and sensationalises stories from one point of view or the other.
I, being your standard over-educated lefty idealist, might be inclined to think of an idyllic African village life that was later ruined by white people. But this novel (written by a black Nigerian) told of village life and charatcer traits of the people in such a distanced style and described so many aspects that seemed so negative to me that it was hard to feel that this was a happy life. I guess it comes down to that an understanding of another culture is something very hard to achieve.

#9 Money

2009-02-26T09:14:00.003+10:00

Martin Amis. I mentioned this in another post but forgot to actually write a post for it. These ones are pretty bring I guess, but gotta be consistent. In the end I quite liked this book, even though it didnt really make any sense and all the characters were detestable, esp John Self. I seem to remember reading stuff suggesting the Martin Amis is a real arsehole too (I could be misremembering though), but the guy can write and suck you in.

#32. home mechanic

2009-02-01T14:03:00.003+10:00

I really wonder why I bothered with the stupid car service. Since then everything has started going wrong with the car. The boiling-over radiator, smoke blowing half way up the mountain and tow truck ride home were a bit of an adventure. The fan belt changing should have been simple, 5-minute job everyone said. uh huh. They werent taking into account shite quality bolts that snap off now were they. but it got done, eventually. After that we thought, OK thats enough car dramas for a while, but no, last week it decided that the battery had had enough. I spose its all good for me, to learn more about looking after the car myself and all that, home mechanics were never high on my priotity list, but I must admit its kinda fun being able to fix some things for yourself. So this weeks lesson was in jump starting (OK, I already knew that one), battery charging (to no avail), contact and terminal cleaning (also to no avail), battery purchasing and installing. I'm proud to say that I did it all by myself, didnt get any acid burns (although it was close) and the car is now running like a dream - assuming that you dream about 15 years old cars without heating or windscreen washers.

#9 spilling the beans

2009-02-01T13:56:00.004+10:00

OK, this isn't a novel but a auto-biography by Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the two fat ladies (the one who's not dead). At the beginning I didn't like the style but then it got quite interesting but the last few chapters (once the two fat ladies period started) were really boring. Nevertheless on the whole I'd say it was an good story and she certainly had an interesting life. Her attitude however often annoy me immensely, this may be partly because of me being vegetarian and her gleeful expressions of triumph whenever a vegetarian started eating meat, but actually I think its something about the attitude of upper class British people that really really grates on me. Its a certain brand of arrogance that is just offensive.

#56 gran torino

2009-02-01T13:46:00.002+10:00

There were many things that weren't quite right about this movie, but on the whole it wasnt bad, I enjoyed it. Lots of things were kinda over the top and you got the feeling that Clint Eastwood was trying too hard to make a point that he's still a tough guy even if he is pushing 80. It reminded me very much of the Lorne Guyland character in Martin Amis' Money. But in the end it is Clint Eastwood and you gotta love Clint Eastwood. The most troubling thing to me is it brings home, again, the idea that America is full of places you just cant go because it too rough, too full of young moronic gang members who wanna beat the shit out of you just because you're in they're neighbourhood. Is America really so full of these no-go zones or is it an exaggeration? It leaves me thinking once again why would anyone want to live in America?

#56 slumdog millionaire

2009-01-22T09:22:00.001+10:00

brilliant. I loved this movie too. go see it.

#56 australia

2009-01-06T10:10:00.002+10:00

on new years day it was 38 degrees and ridiculously humid. what better solution than a seriously long movie in air conditioned movie theatre comfort.
and I'm not afraid to admit I loved the movie. sure it was cheesy and over the top but as far as I could see that was the point. it was funny and easy to watch (especially Hugh Jackman), a classical adventure type film. I think I'll have to go and get the Man from Snowy River form the video shop

#63 new years eve

2009-01-06T09:57:00.002+10:00

We have a rather large and spiffy BBQ. At our old house we had a neat little enclosed backyard and we used the BBQ all the time. Since we moved to the place we live in now we basically havent used it, the problem being that while we have a backyard a) the car lives there b) there is no gate on the backyard which makes it open to the street (which admittedly is more of a lane than a street but still). Having guests for New Years Eve was the perfect stimulus to finally put our plans into action for a makeshift doesnt cost us much money gate. its a rental property see so we dont wantot spend our money on it, and yes we did ask the landlord to put in a gate - ha!
So with the new 'gate' in place, fairy lights, outdoor umbrellas and the car parked on the street our yard was tranformed into a perfectably suitable new years eve BBQ setting. All went well so I think we're on track for more backyard barbies, yay!

#9 wise children

2009-01-06T09:54:00.001+10:00

Angela Carter.
Meh. Easy enough to read but no literary masterpiece.
I read something else too but cant remember what it was at the moment.

#32 serviced

2008-12-11T09:00:00.003+10:00

If having the car serviced was simply a case of dropping it off at the mechanics and paying and picking it up again I probably would have done this more often. But its all such a pain. Prior to taking it I have to wash the car and clean it inside, which is a double pain with all our water restrictions. Luckily those were relaxed recently so I could wash the car at home, albeit only with a bucket, but there are few things I hate more than going down to the car wash where I have to queue for ages with all the moronic rev-heads, ugh. In the summer here there's no way to avoid that cleaning the car will be a very hot and sweaty job, especially as being inside my non-airconditioned car any time after 7am in December is painful. Then there's the getting from the mechanics to work and back to the mechanics again before they shut, which is always around peak hour so mean getting home again in traffic. But of course the worst part is the feeling that you're going to be ripped off, especially if you're a woman. I dont know much about cars its true, so I alwys have the feeling the mechanic will tell me a load of things (usually expensive things) that the car needs which it doesnt need, and they probably generally do. On top of which then they doubt you on the things that you know it does need, dont do it despite you asking beforehand and then you have to bring it back again another day to get it done.
Still, the service is done now, didnt cost a fortune everything seems more or less OK. I do have a list of suggested repairs but they didnt talk me into any of them and nothing seemd urgent.
The wrote down that the next servie should be in 6 months, he he.

#20 permanent permanent

2008-12-11T08:51:00.002+10:00

yay! I was very excited about this one. U is now a permanent permanent resident (as opposed to a provisional permanent resident) of the gorious land of Australia!Technicially I guess I cant say I really achieved in since its just basically been a matter of waiting for the past 7 months, but I did do most of the tedious paperwork when we had to put it in. And I do think its somehtig nof an acheivement that since then all we had todo was wait ratehr than haveing to go to interviews or answering questions or sending more documents.

#84 letter writing

2008-11-26T14:56:00.003+10:00

I am doing very badly with this one. I am not a good letter writer. I once volunteered to write letters to prisoners which was such a bad move. I hope the poor guy that got me as a correspondent wasn't relying on my letters for contact to the outside world since, they were so sparse I probably just made him feel more abandonned.
anyway, back to the sponsor child. I was watching Foreign Correndent last night and the reporter went to visit his World Vision sponsor child in Ethiopia to find that he and her family receive basically nothing of his money, they are struggling for food and she didnt even know she had a sponsor until he starting planning his trip there (he has sponsored her for 10 years or something). The fact that the family doesnt receive the money directly doesnt bother me. I worked for World Vision for some time and it was fairly clear that the money is intended to go to community projects like education and clean water provision etc rather than individuals but they use profiles and photos of individuals because thats what people here in richer countries need in order to get them to fork over money - connection to an individual - preferably a cute little kid. But that education projects were apparently being prioritised over food is a little worrying, and also that the child didnt know she was sponsored. I wonder then if its worth writing a letter to my sponsor child, and if they dont know they're sponsored then who's writing these letters back to me? of course I dont sponsor with World Vision because I don't like their religious aspect and dont want my money being spent on churches etc, but its probably safe to assume that all those sponsorship organisations operate in similar ways to each other. Of course to be fair, the reporter was definitely biased, was trying to make a good story and contradictory in that he made a big point about WV giving the kids a jacket and a pen when they're half starving, but then did the same thing himself by pretending to be all magnanimous giving them clip-on Koalas (and crappy quality ones too by the look of them). One of the poor hungry little chaps immediately tried to bite it as if it were edible.

#56 little fish

2008-11-26T14:30:00.002+10:00

while not exactly uplifting - which, as discussed before is the kind of film I need to be seeing more of, this movie was pretty good, and its on my AFI list. I really do like seeing Australian movies, and this one had a great cast. Looks like its the time for Australian movies about drug dependance since this week Candy is coming on but I've already seen it: also good, also not uplifiting - but thats to be excpeted for movies about drug dependance.
The thing about this film (little fish that is) is it makes you realise how a rewarding life can be such a difficult thing to obtain and so precarious.
also learnt that beyond soy sauce, there is a whole other world of uses for those little clear plastic fish with the red screw tops. Yes, I admit I'm too naive to know those things.

#9 the other hand

2008-11-17T09:47:00.002+10:00

this was quite a good book, but I think they over-marketed it. The thing about it is that you're not supposed to tell anyone anything about what happens, because its such a 'special' story. Knowing this leads you to think there will be all kinds of twists and intrigue and basically just a an over-expectation which is of course very difficult to meet and usually ends up in disappointment. Not that I was disappointed by the book - I just think they did it a dis-service marketing it in that way. The story was special and I was taken by surprise by some of the little plot twists but it could have been even better if I hadnt had these expectations.
It was yet again one of these sad stories - why do I keep getting drawn to those - must find some happy stories

#64 season 5

2008-11-12T13:02:00.002+10:00

Brilliant again. I really love this show, although I bawled my eyes out. I must gte away from all these sad stories. it a funny thing with Six Feet under because I love the show but I dont really like any of the characters that much (except Keith and sometimes David). I think its because the writers and actors show you the characters really well and gets you to think you like them and know them and then they stuff up and do stupid thing and you realise they're crap but you kepp hoping they will redeem themselves because there is that knowledge that they can be people you'd like, because they are sometimes. It really hooks you in.

#56 Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis

2008-11-12T12:56:00.002+10:00

for some reason a movie in the park during a thunder storm seemed like a good idea on Saturday (luckily I had my sunburn to keep me warm). and in fact in the end, despite being rather damp, it was a good idea. Free movie, free sandwiches, BYO drinks, a lack of crowds and lots of laughs. OK in a different setting (and possibly without the beer) the movie might have seemd a bit too silly, but this way it was a lot of fun - akthough I think it was a lot funnier for the French people there.

#24 slow learner

2008-11-12T12:51:00.002+10:00

last Christmas I got so severely sunburnt that I still have the lines. so so stupid. yet I somehow seem unable to learn from this. Once again my shoulders and neck are red (although this is perhaps appropriate for Queensland). I get so mad at myself everytime this happens and almost feel sick at the stupidity, but somehow always think a I forgoe sunscreen beforehand. I did slather on the sunscreen at abut 11am, but it was well too late by then. argh

#11 oh, the pain

2008-11-12T12:44:00.002+10:00

had to do some programming in R this week. I have put it off and found a million work-around solutions in the past, but this time I finally had to face it. Although it got done quicker than I thought it would, so many painful memories of trying to program while having absolutely no idea what I was doing came flooding back. Of course when it works it's great, but I cant even say I know why it all works 'cos I just copied someone elses program and adjusted it so it gives me what I want even if I dont really know why it does. The thing is that all the nuts of bolts of programming just arent interesting. This of course means that I'm not a real nerd afterall, but that doesnt make me feel any better, if anything it makes me mroe pathetic- a try hard nerd, sigh.

#9 cities of the plain

2008-10-27T08:22:00.002+10:00

This was also very good, but I must read some slightly less depressing stories I think. Although the story was very sad, in a way it was less sad because the whole situation seemed ominous from the beginning, you just knew it wasnt going to work out well - although I kept hoping it would. Also realised too late that this is part of a trilogy, of course the final part of the trilogy. not sure if I should read tehother ones anyway or not bother sicne I now know what happens to the characters.

#58 the hard road

2008-10-21T11:41:00.001+10:00

hill top hoods. apparently this is 'skip hop'. anyway mostly its pretty good - not every song, but in general I'm happy with it.

#9 this side of brightness

2008-10-21T11:33:00.002+10:00

I really liked this one although it was full of tragedy. hard to remember that there can be so much misery in a life. The most tragic part I think was when the (white) mother pretended she didnt know her black son in front of her boss and work colleagues.
it was very engaging though.

#64 season 4

2008-10-08T16:43:00.001+10:00

finally got around to getting this and watching all of season 4. brilliant. This show is just so good. Now just have to wait for season 5 to become available to me at the library. I'm third in the queue. or I could go down to the video shop I guess but then I'd have to see the weird people who work in the video shop and pay, and I probably could do with a TV watching break actually.

#52 basil, parsley, fennel and marjoram

2008-10-08T16:38:00.002+10:00

Bunnings was selling 4 in1 packs and since I wanted basil, parsley and fennel I figured I could work out some use for marjoram. when I got home I realised I wanted dill not fennel - they look so similar. anyway, they are now planted in pots and lets see if they actually grow. got carried away and also planted cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, zuhcinni, radishes and lebanese cucumbers. I'm hope at least the cherry tomatoes will work out since they went so well last time. not holding my breath on the rest given my track record, but hopeful.

#48 hairdessing school

2008-10-04T15:10:00.002+10:00

so I decided to take a risk and get my hair cut at the Brisbane School of Hairdressing. Although the last haircut I got was fine it was nothing exceptional and I reckon it was likely a student could probably do just as well. When I rang up the girl who took my name seemed to barely be able to speak English and when came in I had to sign an indemnity form releasing the school and its staff and students from any accountability for losses or damages I might incur as a result of whatever treatment they performed on my hair. hmmm, not overly confidence inspiring. still, thats all just precautionary surely, what could really go wrong?
As it turns out the student assigned to me was charming despite her lack of proficiency in the English language (she was much better in her native Vietnamese she informed me), and although the hairdressing school is kinda time consuming with having to get all the supervisor approvals at every step, she did a great job including a very good head massage.
an added bonuses were a lack of inane conversation due to language barriers, she did ask a lot of direct questions in that Asian kind of way - how old are you? are you married? why arent you married yet? - but that was much better than the usual bullshit. and since they're all so busy there's none of those stupid style icon questions or pressure to buy this or that rip-off product or treatment.
The major drawback being that you really have to know exactly what you want before you go in, and I never know that, since I'm still unsure about what will suit me. one of the reasons for this item on the list was that I want to find a hairdresser that does a good job and can advise on what will suit me, isnt afraid of doing something different from what I already have if they know it will look good. The school does however have an 'advanced' salon which I think will allow for more help with picking styles so that might be worth a go next time.

all in all for 10 bucks I can say I left happy, yay!

#60 pabloz

2008-10-04T14:57:00.002+10:00

theres only so much refried beans a girl can stomach and after too many episodes that seemed to be Old El Paso sponsored I had pretty much resigned myself to the idea that this task was unachievable. Then a new mexican place opened in West End. yay! good food, pretty good service not too over priced and minimal refried beans. without ever having really been to Mexico (I dont think a day in Tijiuana really counts) it seemed more like proper Mexican food. I'm not even that fussy about Mexican food - in Melbourne I'd generally be happy with Taco Bills, but the options in Brisbane were appalling. Pabloz was a vast improvment, yay! I'll be back.

#40 sorting

2008-10-04T14:47:00.003+10:00

having a part time long distance relationship means long phone calls, which kinda means sitting around doing nothing for ages. but while on the phone today I discovered I could sort through my clothes at the same time. so I now have a pile of stuff ready to go to the op shop to add to the other stuff I meant to take ages ago, and once I do that I will have acheived #16 too, yay! however, I'm not sure I can count 40 as acheived because although I put a fair bit of stuff I like but know doesnt look good on me in the pile I suspect I have left a a few dodgy piece in the wardrobe that I'm not quite ready to part with. so this will be an iterative process with a tougher stance next time

# 9 morality for beautiful girls

2008-10-04T14:41:00.001+10:00

a easy read but quite a sweet story. I think I might read some more in this series but might have to go back to the beginning with the No 1. Ladies Detective Agency

#56 Indiana Jones

2008-09-17T10:42:00.002+10:00

The new one - cant remember what its called.
Everyone told me this was really crap so I wasn't expecting much, therefore didn't find it too bad. yeah, the aliens, flesh eating ants bit and Cate Blanchet's Ukrainian accent were pretty ridiculous, but it was fairly true to Indy tradition

#9 freakonomics

2008-09-17T10:37:00.003+10:00

I'm not sure I can count this since a) its not a novel, and b) I havent read all of it, but since its chapters are stand alone and I just cant bring myself to read the rest of it, I'm counting it.
overall assessment: fodder for the masses

#68 the kimberley

2008-09-17T10:14:00.011+10:00

just brilliant, totally amazing, marvellous

#23 nerd chic

2008-09-17T10:08:00.004+10:00

at least thats what I'm hoping. got these a while back actually but never got 'round to posting the pic

#9 Invisible Man

2008-08-05T09:47:00.004+10:00

When I choose this book for bookclub (yes, I admit it, I am a total dork and in a book club) the American in our group was somewhat bemused by the idea of a group of Australians sitting around talking about American civil rights writing from the 50's and I kinda doubted my choice. I guess she was right given no one wanted to go to the meeting, but after finishing the book I can understand why it was a classic and still think it was well worth reading. The opening chapters were pretty confronting and quite depressing but gripping. The rest really well told and thought provoking although I think I probably need to stop and think about it all a bit more to really get it, or maybe its just all too big for me.

#56 No News from God

2008-07-22T09:49:00.002+10:00

There's an 'Ibero-American' film festival on at Uni this week which means lots of free movies in Spanish (although this one was in French, English, Latin and Spanish). It was pretty good, different and funny. Heaven in Paris in the 40/50's. In Hell everyone speaks English and the CEO of Hell is Swiss, ha ha.

#27 iPod

2008-07-21T11:59:00.002+10:00

Took bloody ages but getting a spiffy new iPod was good inspiration. Noe have all our music on the laptop and on the iPod. Of course getting the iPod wasn't enough we also had to get: FM signal device for listening to iPod though stereo speakers and through Car speakers (I'd say car stereo but it really is a push to call whats in my crappy car a stero); USB adaptor charger thing for charging iPod and FM signal device through wall sockets; iTunes software; iPod cover; portable speakers for listening to music on picnic (OK admittedly they came free with the iPod) and batteries.

#56 Sex and the City

2008-07-11T13:06:00.002+10:00

long.
2 and a half hours you'd expect for some kind of epic saga but for a chick flick, romantic comedy, TV show spin-off its awfully long.

slightly depressing.
Samantha's 'gut' - gees gimme a break. how is it that these people have enough money to buy 500 buck shoes every week, go out for cocktails all the time, only wear each item of clothing once and yet they never seem to work. are thin and in-shape and yet never do any exercise (except Charlotte).

cheesy.
the girls at the registry office, sigh

disappointing.
no more Smith?

but,
engaging and kinda amusing and all in all watchable.

#93 & 94

2008-07-07T09:58:00.002+10:00

yay, made it through these two, must try to keep up 93 (although already failed today, but it is monday) but I don't think I'll be doing 94 again. I think when I wrote this the idea was that it should make me a bit more organised and less prone to procrastination because if I leave earlier I have to be organised to still get work done - but this doesn't seem to have worked and instead I feel like I haven't achieved a lot. Also the problem with leaving before 6 is there's too much traffic - either too many cars on the road, too many people on the bus too many morons on the bike path or a combination of those. its just far too frustrating getting home at the same time as everyone else.

#56b Australiana

2008-07-04T16:05:00.003+10:00

a while ago I read an article celebrating 50 years of the Australian Film Industry and listing the winners of best feature film for the past 50 years. When I read it I realised there was lots of films on there I've wanted to see. I thought it would be cool to see them all AFI winners but never did anything about it. Actually, I don't necessarily want to see all of them and have already seen quite a few of them. So in my new 56b I thought my list could be of the ones I haven't seen and want to see. The list is on the right-hand (;)) side of this page. Hopefully I'll get through them!

#56 unfinished sky

2008-07-02T17:50:00.002+10:00

I really liked this movie even if as my friend said it was a bit dramatic at the end. Also cool 'cos part of it was filmed in Brisbane and in fact just around the corner from our house. there's something fun about seeing your town in a movie, makes you feel closer to the story or something. Not that this movie dealt with fun subjects though (forced prostitution, political refugees, missing loved ones) but it was done in a very nice way and also had plenty of comedy.
also realised I really have been bad with the movie going since I didnt even know that Tuesday was cheap ticket price day, yay!

#72 cold feet

2008-06-30T16:50:00.002+10:00

Friday night called for barefoot bowls, cheap beer, frozen toes due to it being mid-winter (whose idea was this anyway - outside with barefeet after dark in June?!) and gossip with the girls (and there was plenty to gossip about - mental note: must spend mroe time with 'the girls'), followed by late night Korean food with plum wine (yum), a drag show and then karaoke at the Burlesque bar.

#97 watch

2008-06-30T16:43:00.003+10:00

Originally I had in mind organising something to actually do for my Dad's 60th but after several conservation it became very clear that he really doesn't want anyone to do anything. So the rather unexciting plan is fly down to visit and go out for dinner. My father is notoriously impossible to buy presents for since whatever you get he's always convinced he could get better himself somewhere else for a far far better price (which of course he will tell you - not big on tact my Dad), but if you don't get anything at all he has been known to make you feel very guilty about it.
Anyway, a 60th isn't every year so we knew we'd just have to lump any ingratitude and decided to get a nice Swiss watch on our recent visit there. Now we just have to hope that my version of nice is the same as his and if not that he doesnt give it away to certain dodgy people he knows.

#38 skeptical

2008-06-30T16:26:00.004+10:00

last night I saw the Trinny and Susannah Undress TV show for the first time. Ugh, they are truly horrible people. I dont know if i can bring myself to follow their guidelines anymore. I admit I only saw part of the show because they were so icky I couldn't bring myself to watch anymore of it to see if they did a good job of recommending appropriate clothing for their victims, so I probably shouldn't judge. Since (thanks to the wonderful generous Louise) I already have the scanned pages of their book and using their guidelines is no doubt preferable tothe option of figuring it out for myself, I'll go with the assumption that they know what they're talking about even if they arent nice and just never watch the show again.

#58 CASH

2008-06-23T10:22:00.002+10:00

Might seem like an odd choice but I've been meaning to buy some Johnny Cash stuff featuring him doing covers of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode etc for years. When we were in Switzerland last month they were playing a lot of those songs in a bar we were in and we decided we really should buy it. So yesterday we got
American III: Solitary Man, and
American IV: The Man Comes Around.
Pretty good, especially Hurt, One, Personal Jesus, Solitary Man, In My Life and The Mercy Seat. Although its all very melancholy. Typical of a country music singer I guess, hope I'm not getting to be a country fan. The only problem so far is that the song we liked the Mot, Cash's version of Iggy Pop's The Passenger doesnt seem to be on any CD.

#93 & 94 pessimistic

2008-06-23T10:12:00.003+10:00

I've made it halfway through these two, but I have to admit I'm having my doubts that I'm gonna make it, especially the leaving by 6pm part. The first two weeks were directly after returning from holiday and as such I hadnt really gotten back into the work mode, but now I have so much to do. and its so cold for getting up early in the morning. Still, probably a better chance now than when semester starts again. Sadly I have done very badly with #95 but am totally up to date with Neighbours and have seen many episodes of Friends that I never saw before, sigh.

#38 Trinny and Susannah

2008-06-12T17:08:00.004+10:00

sigh. In order to try and achieve this one I'm jumping on the Trinny and Susannah bandwagon. I'm not sure it a good thing to take advice from someone called Trinny (or anyone with a Littlewoods product line) but I figure it cant really do any harm.
So, I've decided I'm a Pear with some Skittle characteristics. I was happy to see that means stilettos are a no-no - good excuse. I'm now going to have to learn how to identify bias cut so I can avoid it, and I'm ashamed to say I had to use a dictionary for gilet. hmmm, I think I've got a long way to go.
now, should I go the whole hog and get the book?

#56 The Darjeeling Limited

2008-06-10T13:01:00.002+10:00

What a great movie. cant fault it. I watched it with my sister and they showed it on our return flight too but without the opening little film in the Paris hotel, why? I dont get that and it means the ending doesnt quite makes sense.

#56 in flight entertainment

2008-06-10T12:22:00.002+10:00

The only advantage of long haul flights is that you get to see a lot of films. of course 22 hours inside a cramped plane with strange air and inconsistent lighting isn't really conducive to concentrating on interesting films and although I know the best choices tend to be easy to watch fluff and comedies on the outbound flight I still decided to go for:
No Country for Old Men - I think this was good but exactly what happened in it is some what blurry, and
There Will Be Blood - due to the wonderful invention of Movies on Demand I was able to start watching this film whenever I wished and as such wished for just over 3 hours before we were supposed to land only to have the entertainment program shut off about 45 mins before landing and thus have the last 10 mins cut off - its a seriously long movie. Luckily U could tell me what happened - I'm think I'm glad I didnt see it.
thinking I needed something less dramatic I then chose:
Dan in Real Life - ugh, this irritated the shit out of me (but I still watched it all). If I ever met real people who were like the characters in this film I think I'd wanna kill them. whose family is like that?!

on the home flight, I went a bit softer
Outsourced - a good plane movie, sweet, kinda funny, a bit too American but not too bad
Cassandra's Dream - I kinda liked this one too, although it did sometimes seem forced and a bit like Americans trying to do British (even though the main actors are not American). I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan and could see his style in this but it seemed not too bad, especially for a plane movie
The Jane Austen Book Club - hmmm, OK. again, too American. probably would have been better if i knew much about Austen, and I really dont like Kathy Baker. but the girl who played Prudie (what kind of a name is Prudie?) was lovely.
The Home Song Stories- this one was really good, although I bawled my eyes out (I do get quite emotional when I travel, but it was very sad). excellent actiing, really well shot and the clothes were great too - I really believed in was 60s/70s Australia

#22 last minute

2008-06-10T12:16:00.003+10:00

On the very day we were due to fly home the department store rings up to say my watch is back from being repaired. Despite a rather annoying amount of panic over not having enough time, we still managed to pick it up, buy some shares, fill the entire apartment building with petrol fumes, go shopping for watch bands, eat a fondue and visit some relatives. and now I know what the time is, yay!

#18 find/buy whats the difference?

2008-06-10T12:11:00.002+10:00

the point is that they look new and dont stink and therefore fit the purpose. there are advantages to having (quasi)relations in a country you used to live in who have space and are afraid to throw out your old things.

#35 TKMaxx

2008-06-10T12:08:00.001+10:00

yay, TK Maxx, 2 pairs of cool shoes for 80 bucks! and they dont look like they were cheap