photo friday: rotunda

I can't claim this is a new shot... this is actually left over from the set of photos I did down along the Riverbank Promenade. This one is of the rotunda, and although it's kind of in shadow, I like how the shot turned out... it definitely has that early morning feel about it (not surprisingly, since it was taken in the early morning).

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random group hotness

Eighteen images for the price of two this week for Random Hotness... these shots come from the very cool photo project Exactitudes, which, according to it's blurb, "provides an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity". I just think it's an awesome idea, well executed. I'd seen it before a long time ago, but it popped up again on Oh la la Paris recently. The images I used are borrowed from the Skaters and Corpos sets.

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coffee with heckle and jeckle

Well that was both odd and a total waste of time...

I had another "quasi-date" tonight (although with a completely different guy than last time)... just coffee... I'm not completely sure why I bother to be honest... but I guess it beats the alternative.

Anyway, we arranged to meet at one of the cafes in O'Connell Street at 7... I headed down there, and as I approached one of the corners I saw a guy who looked very much like my "date", Heckle... but he was walking with someone... so I figured it couldn't possibly be him... so I kept walking and headed down to the cafe.

And lo and behold, while I was talking to the cute twinkie waiter, in walks the guy I'd seen crossing the street... and it was Heckle, and he wasn't alone... he'd brought Jeckle with him... allegedly they'd "run into each other", but were both going to the same place later on in the evening...

I mean, c'mon... I didn't come down in the last shower... ran into each other my ass... who brings a safety net to a first coffee meeting...

And Jeckle couldn't have been less of the kind of person I would want to meet, let alone spend time with or be seen associating... urgh...

The pair of them actually... bitter, jaded queens... I don't do negative people... I just don't... and I could feel it coming off them in waves... I'm sure a body language expert would have had a field day with my posture at the table... I spent the whole time leaning back in my seat, pulling as far back from the pair of them as humanly possible and fiddling first with the spoon from my coffee, and then after the waitress took it away, rubbing my thumb along the wood seams in the table. I so did not want to be there.

To be honest my first reaction when Heckle came in with Jeckle was just to walk out... it was the strongest impulse... but I didn't... I stayed... and that's a pointless hour and a quarter out of my life that I'm not getting back...

Actually it probably a good thing it happened that way... Heckle on his own didn't seem all that bad... and I might have been interested enough to maybe see him again... but if Jeckle reflects the quality of his friends... forget it, no thank you and good night.

Urgh...

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i can see you...

Probably a good thing for a photographer really...

You Communicate With Your Eyes

When you say, "I'll believe it when I see it" - you really mean it. For you, what you see is a lot more important than what you hear. You don't take someone's words at face value. You judge people by their facial expressions, body language, and appearance. You tend to be quiet, but when you talk, you tend to make eye contact and describe things in colorful detail.

How Do You Communicate?

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supposed camera club shoot

Tonight was supposed to be a Portraiture Workshop at Camera Club... okay, that's not fair... it actually WAS a Portraiture Workshop... I just didn't care enough to shoot anything...

It was like last year around this time... I didn't bother loading the camera before I saw the quality (and more importantly the gender) of the models. They were all female, so I didn't bother even putting film in, let alone shooting anything... well, other than this shot of the set up early on, just so I had something to add to the blog.

Stu and I ended up wandering about outside talking crap about random teevee shows (Big Brother, Lost, etc) and taking fairly random shots... initially we went out so he could take shots of the church's stained glass, but they turned the interior lights off before he managed it, so he started off taking shots of planes going over, then random lights outside, then we ended up taking dodgey long exposures of first me, then him, out in the alleyway behind the Camera Club... he's going to send me some of them, so I might post something if it looks halfway interesting.

After that we went and did the coffee thing, and I still didn't get home much before 10:30...

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montage monday: airport

It's that time again... Monday Montage... this time with an actual montage... the shots I took at the airport on Thursday came out okay after all, and I was able to make a halfway decent montage out of them.

I have to say, although I don't actually have a schedule... I feel like I'm running behind it this morning... partly because I just finished making a massive pot of random beef curry for tonight while Rocky Horror was playing in the background... even though I'm not feeding J and Monkey tonight, I still just about filled the Crockpot... there will be more than enough for tonight and tomorrow, and probably still some left over to stick in my slightly overcrowded freezer.

The other reason I feel like I'm still playing catch up is that I had to call my ISP and extend my internet for another three months... and like last time they tried to switch me from my current plan onto a different plan... but not broadband this time... but all the other plans have the "Busy Killer" on them that kills you off after 2 (or according to Andrew this morning, 3) hours during busy periods... me no likee! Then, for reasons best known to the bank, the money that Ma transferred on Saturday wasn't in my account, so I had to call back... they must just have a script at the ISP that comes up on your account screen after a period of time so they can remind you to change accounts, because when I rang the second time the dude I spoke to just put my transaction through and didn't try and switch me or anything.

The ISP thing (and the fact I was on my last 250MB of access by about midday on Friday) also meant that I had a pretty "internet lite" weekend, and didn't check anyone's blogs... which means it's going to be a big old reading fest this morning (hopefully)...

I also need to call about my heater sometime today... I might leave it until this afternoon some time, see if they call me first... hopefully it's ready...

I was sure I mentioned in a previous Monday rambling that one of the laneways on my way to both the supermarket and Camera Club was closed a couple weeks ago (although I can't find any reference to it now), around the long weekend... with no warning and no fanfare... there were just two honking great gates in the way. Well, I discovered yesterday that it's equally mysteriously open again... I did wonder what had happened, but on my way home from the 7 Day Supermarket yesterday, one of the woman who lives down the side street near where the gate was told me that the woman who just bought house closed it off without consulting the appropriate people, and illegally to boot... so she had to remove the gates... stoopid woman...

In Big Brother news, the BB Adults Only show has axed (again)... voluntarily by the network, but they caved in to the vocal moralist contingent who just keep harping on about whether it should even be on the air at all... and saying dumbass things like that it's removal is a triumph for family values... BITE ME! I'm an adult, it's an adult show in an adult timeslot... I have a right to see housemate doodle if I want to see housemate doodle... and it's especially not fair, since now I won't get to see Intruder Darren's (showing off his cute little nipple and armpit on the right) doodle...

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like acid on sundays...

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict. One moment you're in your own little happy universe... And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

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ennui

ennui (n) Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom

Yep, the word of the day is ennui... which I never quite know how to pronounce, but I always think that it's a great looking word. And it's definitely what I'm feeling... listless and dissatifaction...

It's that late Saturday afternoon feeling... after you've come home from shopping, but before full evening... when you can't settle to do anything, there's only random crap and sport on the teevee, and you just don't know what to do with yourself...

Bah!

I can't even settle long enough to write a half decent blog post... nothing sounds right...

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photo friday: fog

The weather report this morning wasn't kidding when it said "early fog"... it got a little surreal a couple of times on my walk... being in the middle of the street and not actually being able to see either end clearly.

I have to admit though, I love it when it's foggy like this... probably because it happens so rarely here... everything just looks unreal...

And I think that's actually two cars (and hence, two sets of headlights) coming towards me... either that or it was some kind of huge monster land tank...

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and now j's gone...

Yeah, I know the shot is blurry, but at least this way he won't kill me if he ever finds out about it (plus I like that the check-in chick seems to have two faces)...

J's gone... he's winging his way to Melbourne as we speak, then it's off to London... Destination Monkey...

It's weird, at the airport I wasn't really thinking about the fact that he was leaving... but then on the ride home it hit me... he's gone again... I'm not exactly sure what my mood is... it's kind of half upset and half not... so I'm hovering somewhere in the middle with this weird half-mood... strange...

The other strange thing was that tonight was almost an exact replica of him leaving the first time... there was just the addition of his galpal Sally this time... and the fact that it's in a brand new airport... but we went into the same craptastic souvenir shop in the airport, and the same (I assume) cafe... at least this time he didn't spill stuff on himself (last time he managed to spill a cup of coffee all over his jeans... not good when you're about to spend all that time sitting in an airplane).

As we went to sit down in the cafe he took his jacket off and without thinking I reached out and ran my hand down his chest, checking if he was wearing his pendant...

Before he left last year, I was sitting and thinking what I could get him to take away with him to remind him of me... and then I had one of those thunderbolt moments... and realised it wasn't something I could buy, but something I would have to give him... something that was already mine... and this crystal pendant sprung to mind. I hadn't worn it in a while, but I used to wear it a lot, so it was pretty much imprinted with me... and before giving it to him at the airport I sat at the computer for at least an hour and a half and wrapped it around my hand (just like in the photo... and yes, for the record, that is my overly lined hand in the shot), getting as much extra "me" vibe/energy/whatever on it as possible.

And when I gave it to him, I told him that he couldn't take it off until he reached his final destination at the other end. I'm not even sure why... it was just one of those things that had to be said... maybe just so "I" could keep him safe all the way there...

He did tell me that it seemed to heat up during his journey... so obviously the "me" on it was working...

When he told me he was coming back, I told him to wear the pendant... again, I'm not sure why I said it... but he obviously did... and he was wearing it again tonight. I hadn't actually thought about it until he took his jacket off to be honest, then my brain just went "pendant"... possibly because his teeshirt was very much a similar colour.

Anyway, I made him take it off so I could "recharge" it again while we were in the cafe, then gave it back to him.

J's sister and I were both being digital camera bunnies the whole time... taking shots of anything and everything... I at least had a purpose to the shots... I was planning on making a montage... we'll see how that works though since a lot of the shots were blurry due to the low light.

He's gone again...

I think I miss him already...

Bugger...

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random soccer hotness

After last week's chilly Random Hotness I figured I owed you all some skin this week... and why not kill two birds with one stone and give a tip of my hat to the 2006 World Cup at the same time (since it's really the only kind of mention a sporting event is going to get in my blog)...

So here's Fredrik Ljungberg... who's playing for his home country, Sweden, in the World Cup... doing his other job, modelling underwear for Calvin Klein...

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monkey's gone...

And I missed him at the airport... *pout*

I should have left my place earlier, but I only ended up leaving at around 9:30... and but the time I made it down to the airport it was already around 10am... I thought I was doing okay, because his flight didn't leave until 10:15, and we were pretty sure it was just a domestic flight to Sydney where he would catch the international flight... but I called J's phone as I reached the terminal to find out where they were, and he'd just gone through into Customs... and I missed him...

I'm so glad that they called in last night before Ma and I went to the movies... Monkey and J were out shopping in town and Monkey, bless him, had bought me a 32 cm Covered Chef Pan... I know that I'd said in my ramblings about Tom's Chicken Curry on Monday that I needed something like it, but I didn't honestly remember saying it to them on the night. J tells me I did, but obviously I was just rambling along to myself as I tend to do when I'm cooking.... so last night, they dropped in so he could give it to me.

Not bad considering the first thing I did when he walked in the door on Monday night was give him an earful because he never called like he was supposed to so we could hang out. It was the full rant (although, since I was cooking, I did put the knife down so I wasn't waving it about)... and he got both barrels... but not in an overbearing or abusive way, I just told him that I was pissed and why I was pissed... and then I was over it. It did kind of help that he came through the door carrying a Famers Union Iced Coffee for me... and the first words out of his mouth were "I'm really late" or something similar. But once I'd gotten it off my chest we were fine.

I just wish I'd made it in time to see him off...

Anyway, J, his sister, Sally and I met up in the airport, and I sent Monkey a text message to say goodbye (thank god for technology)... then, since I'd been a cheapskate and parked in the Ikea carpark across the road instead of paying actual money and parking in the airport, we all headed over to Ikea for a drink and a bit of cake.

We ended up doing the wander around the whole store, since J's sister hadn't been to Ikea before. If nothing else, it was a nice way to waste a morning.

J leaves tomorrow night (don't ask me why they aren't both on the same flight, I asked and I still don't understand it), and we all made sure that we're going to get there in enough time to actually see him off.

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movies: cars

I'm a fan of the work of Pixar... Finding Nemo is up there in my list of favourite movies (even if it does make me cry like a big girl)... although I have to say that I think maybe Pixar kind of peaked with Nemo... The Incredibles was pretty good, but not stellar... and tonight's cinema excursion, Cars was kind of the same. Good, but it didn't break any new ground or show me anything that new.

The Pixar animation and ability to render realistic looking objects and scenery just keeps getting better though. I can't fault them at all there (okay, there was a slight problem I kept having with the way the eyes of the cars looked, but I think that was more my brain than an actual issue)... but the story was a little weak... and highly predictable...

Main character starts out selfish and without any friends, gets into a situation where he's stuck somewhere and then learns the value of friendship and helping others... all that good stuff that parents like to instil in their children, but to be honest, I could see it coming a mile off. In fact, I'd worked it out within about the first five minutes. So the plot wasn't really a surprise... and for the most part, neither was the way it was executed. Yeah, there was a couple of small surprises towards the end, but nothing radically out of character for where I thought it was headed.

I will say this for the movie though... the music is great... to be completely honest I only really noticed it at the beginning and end of the movie, but the first ten minutes or so of music are fantastic and definitely had me humming and toe tapping along (possibly because there were a couple of songs in there that I recognised).

I'm sure that for people who are into cars and racing (the American NASCAR kind, rather than the F1 or European kind) there is probably a whole heap of stuff in there that they would get that just went right over my head... I only know that the "champ" in the movie, The King is voiced by real life NASCAR "king of stock car racing" Richard Petty thanks to IMDB (and in a nice touch, Mrs The King is voiced by Petty's real life wife Lynda).

One of the other details that I thought was cute was that the bugs and flies in Cars-world are actually tiny blue VW Beetles with wings.... and the landscape around Radiator Springs is full of rock formations that look like cars.

All in all though, its a sweet movie. Just be sure, as always with Pixar movies, not only to stay for the credits... this time around for brief "car versions" of Toy Story (Toy Car Story), A Bug's Life (obviously the VW Bug) and Monsters Inc (Monster Cars Inc) which are actually hysterically funny... as well as a "what happens next" type sequence... but after the credits there's a final "capper" scene.

I also enjoyed the brief opening cartoon that tends to come with Pixar movies (Finding Nemo had Knick Knack, Monsters Inc had For the Birds) again... and after the disappointing (to me anyway) Boundin' that came with The Incredibles, I enjoyed the fact that they went back to the "silent movie" style of storytelling with the new one, One Man Band.

yani's rating: 3 Piston Cups out of 5

tom's chicken curry

I mentioned in my Musings post today that I was going to attempt to make Tom's Chicken Curry... I'm always up for new and reasonably easy ways to make things involving the words curry and chicken, so I knew I had to try this one...

The photo isn't one of my better food photos... this is actually what was left over after I'd fed J, Monkey and me... and it had been sitting on the counter top while we ate before being scooped out into this smaller container. There should be enough left for Ma and I tomorrow though.

Like I mentioned in the comments on Tom's blog, next time I'll be using diced tomatoes rather than the whole kind... and cutting the chicken into much smaller pieces... I had great massive hunks of chicken, that although they were all really really tender, were perhaps a little on the unwieldy side.

I also maybe need to think about getting some sherry to appropriately deglaze the pan... I did it with the chicken stock, and it worked pretty well, but it might have worked a little better with booze of some description.

The downside was that all that frying of chicken and other things not only really warmed up my apartment (yaaaay) but also made a lot of smoke (booo)... so much so that my smoke detector went off and we ended up opening the door for a little bit to let it all out.

The other downside was that it took longer to prepare than I expected, and then it has to cook for 90 minutes, so we didn't end up eating until about 8pm... next time though, I know I need to start it earlier.

And I also need to get one of those cast iron casserole dishes you can put on the burners and then stick in the oven, since I kind of skipped that step in Tom's instructions. I'd love to get one of the Le Creuset ones... but they cost an arm and both legs.

But it'd definitely something I'll be making again! Thanks Tom!

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ongoing monday musings

Yes, I know... no Montage again this morning... originally I was going to add a left over image from one of the other shoots... but Blogger is doing that thing it does from time to time and not letting me load any images... so you'll all just have to suffer through without one.

I'm supposed to be hanging out with Monkey today while J finishes his last exam, so if we actually end up doing anything of interest (rather than shopping or sitting around here watching movies and talking crap) then I might make up a montage for next week... if not I'm going to have to come up with something, go somewhere, do something out of the ordinary... it's just not like it's good photography weather at the moment... and I think I've mostly run out of interesting subjects nearby...

When I spoke to Monkey on Saturday about coming to hang out he said he would call me once he'd woken up... and I know that J's exam started at 9... m'eh... he'll call or he won't... I'll see him tonight either way.

Speaking of Monkey though... and J for that matter... the pair of them leave mid week... I need to find out from J tonight the definate where's and when's so I can go and see them off. I'm gunna miss the pair of them I have to say...

And in the grand tradition of cooking something different for them each week during Mythbusters Monday, tonight I'm having a crack at making Tom's curry... although I am only making half measures (serves ten people indeed *rolls eyes*), which should be enough to feed me and the boys tonight and still have enough left over for Ma and I tomorrow on movie night. Hopefully it all works out okay and Tom didn't actually leave anything out of the recipie.

I didn't mention yesterday, but because I had a tiny fashion crisis on Saturday due to not having an appropriate (clean) outfit for the dinner party (or a spare pair of jeans that actually fit properly), I was decked out in new jeans and a new black top for the evening. And I was very impressed with myself that the top is actually two sizes smaller than a lot of the other stuff in my wardrobe... yaaay... I did notice yesterday thought that the little patch it has on the arm with a heraldic lion rampant on it is actually upside down... I'm not sure if it's supposed to be upside down or if the nice folks in China just sewed it on the wrong way up...

I'm still being plagued by random cupboard noises... I am absolutely positive I heard something actually moving in the cupboard on Saturday night (well, it was really Sunday morning after J's dinner party)... I finally gathered up all my courage and checked the cupboard in the morning... and NOTHING! I couldn't see a hole or any evidence of small fuzzy animals... so now I'm confused... and it's still freaking me out (as well as being really annoying because it wakes me up in the wee small hours... I might have to get a mousetrap or something just to be sure... I would get some rat poison, but I don't want whatever it is dying in my cupboard and me not knowing about it. I did have a thought this morning though... all the cupboards are actually up off the floor, but because they are built in, there's a (presumably) hollow section under the whole thing... the whatever it is could actually be in there... which kind of makes the whole thing worse in some ways *shudder*.

In the world of Big Brother... we didn't lose the gay farmer (which was good) or the donkey slonged headband (who annoyed me, then I liked for a while, but is now annoying me again)... but it also means that my gut feeling about who's going to be evicted has been pretty much spot on this whole season (with the exception of the second evictee who was part of a double eviction)... which is good, because it's been the people I haven't liked that have been going, rather than the ones that aren't bothering me.

And as though one lot of intruders isn't enough for the 2006 series, they're about to send in a second set of three... which will make six all up for this season (and lets not forget that they also like to throw in a "special guest" from one of the other BB houses around the world towards the end... or at least they have the last couple of years)... which actually seems a bit insane and exessive to me... and once again it's two girls and a guy... I'm not sure there has ever been a point where they sent in two guys and a girl as intruders... maybe because the female housemates seem to get themselves voted out before the males.

In weather related news, I'm still freezing all my appropriate body parts off... as I mentioned last week, I had to take my heater in for repairs... which I did on Tuesday... and managed to find the repair place again without actually knowing what it was called or where it was exactly... I just went by memory... which, if you know me and my sense of direction is an achievement in itself. According to the little piece of paper the guy at the store gave me, it should be fixed by next Sunday... if that's supposed to be a 5... which means I won't get it back much before Monday... grrrr... and it's bloody freezing innit!

And for reasons I can't quite explain, I've suddenly become addicted to chap stick since i was sick last week... don't know what that's all about... but I think it might be Monkey's fault and/or influence... since he's a lip balm addict...

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dinner at j's part ii

Okay, I promised that I'd give a full rundown of the dinner party at J's last night...

J's dinner parties have become something of an institution I have to say... while he was living in Melbourne he would come back every few months and would invite a bunch of his Adelaide friends over for dinner... the interesting thing always was that it was never the same group of friends twice... I've been to all of them, but, other than J and members of his family, I think I'm the only one...

And, like me, J "collects" people because they're interesting, not necessarily because they're "normal"... so you can imagine how interesting some of his dinner parties have been. And it's usually a mostly gay crowd, so the conversation can get a little blue on occasion too.

But I wouldn't miss them for the world, because they are actually a lot of fun... even if various people at individual parties have annoyed me (specifically J's ex, the woman J used to share a place with, and the random drag queen boyfriend of one of J's friends).... I always have a really good time, chat to at least a couple of people I haven't met before and generally amuse myself and others.

And last night was actually no exception... even though it was basically me, J, Monkey, J's galpal Sally, another random pal of J's, J's family and Ma. J and I have been making vague noises for a while now about getting his Mum and Ma in the same room together, and originally we were talking about taking Monkey to the Zoo while he was here (which, when I read that sentence back just sounds weird... hehe)... but Monkey wasn't actually that fussed on the idea, so instead J invited Ma to his dinner party instead. And in theory it was also so she could meet Monkey since they disappear back to the other side of the planet next week and she won't get another opportunity for a while.

I was amused when we arrived, because it seemed like most of the household actually came to the door to greet us, so I got to do the official introductions pretty much standing in the front hall. And I will confess that I abandoned Ma to J's parents briefly after we arrived... well... they were doing the whole "do I hear an accent?" thing that people have a tendency to do with Ma (she's English, and supposedly still has an accent... I can't hear it though)... and she's a big girl, she doesn't need me for that.

It was a fairly cruisy evening all up... dinner was pleasant as always (and an official shoutout to Monkey for the really nice capsicum dish he contributed to the table... I need to find out what he actually did to that)... you really can't go past a roast dinner with all the appropriate veggies on a cold winter's night.

I'm fairly fond of J's family I have to say... well, mostly... I adore his sister, she's just too cool... and his mum reminds me of Ma in a lot of ways (and is partly the reason J and I wanted to get them in the same room together)... his dad is very dry and laconic, but he's a good guy... it's just J's younger brother who bugs me... the boy has no social skills whatsoever... grrr... mostly I just end up ignoring him...

After dinner, and dessert and coffee we all sat around and just kind of chatted about this and that and nothing much at all really, and before we knew it it was about 12:30am... so, in a complete and utter first for one of J's dinner parties, I was the first person to officially leave (okay, Ma and I if you want to get technical)... although I think J, Monkey and crew were headed out for a night on the town and so would have all left together anyway.

Then in the car on the way home we did the official debrief on the whole evening... and it was interesting listening to her interpretation as an outsider of my interaction with the crew... nothing bad or overly surprising, but just interesting to hear.

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dinner at j's

*Yawn*.... late... went to dinner party/dinner at J's tonight (well, okay, J's parents place)... took Ma... didn't take camera, but did snap this on my mobile during dessert... good night... will blog the full story tomorrow... sleep now... (and it's actually just after 1am right now, but since the dinner was on Saturday, I'm throwing this entry back a little)

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photo friday: paifang

A left over from last weekend's excusion... and the Monday Montage... one of the paifang marking the entrance to Chinatown.

Would have been nicer had the sky actually been a colour instead of being so overcast... but really, what are ya gunna do?

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random chilly hotness

Something a little different again for today's Random Hotness... last night was the coldest night in Adelaide since 1982... and was still incredibly cold when I went out for my walk this morning, so I figured what better as a Random Hotness feature than hot boys in warm coats...

It actually took me a while to find some shots of guys rugged up accordingly, but here are models Khi (on the left) and Rakhal (on the right) braced for the winter chill.

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my eating style

You're an Indulgent Eater

You, more than others, truly gain satisfaction from eating. And because of this, you sometimes have difficulty slowing down or just saying no. You enjoy eating and what's great about that is you understand how to appreciate certain aspects of food that others do not. You see food as more than just a source of nutrition or energy. For you, dining, or just plain eating, can be a really enjoyable experience. On the downside, however, you might sometimes indulge too much in the satisfaction you get from eating.

What's Your Eating Style?

My reply, especially to that last bit... "No shit sherlock"...

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camera club and beyond

Yep, that's right... it's been a while... over a month (again) actually, but tonight it was Camera Club time once again...

Tonight's set subject was Sports... but I'm not really much on sport in general, and even less on taking shots of sport, so, as always I just stuck with the open section.

The random 15yo boy I mentioned a while ago who seemed like he had decided to adopt Stu and I... looks like it's official... even though he was there with his (incredibly youthful looking) dad, he came over to ask my opinion on which two open shots he should put in out of the three he had with him... okay, he didn't get great scores on them anyway (even though they were nice shots), but that was more about the judge than it was about the image choices (I was also amused to see that when he asked the judge's opinion of the shot he didn't enter, it was almost identical to my opinion, only the judge's answer rambled on for a while, whereas mine was essentially six words... "too much sky, not enough seagull").

Speaking of tonight's judge, he was yet another of the 150 year old relic squad... and I know we've had him before, although I'm just not sure when... it could possibly have been the same one that I blogged about in my first ever Camera Club post...

I supposed technically I can't complain too much... I got a couple of decent scores, although I was fairly certain that a couple of the shots would bomb after I saw the judge.

Dark Thoughts (top left) scored a 7 (mostly because, contrary to the view of the shot here, under the lights in the club it came out looking very green for some reason... not sure what that was about), Alex (bottom left) managed an 8 (although the judge did say it may have been better a little darker, so I might have to have a play with that, Columns (top right) got the highest mark of the night with a 9 (bloody judges and bloody architecture shots) and as expected, Abandoned House (bottom right) bombed out with a 6... partly because I couldn't come up with a better name for it after mulling it over for about 15 minutes...

Stu and I did the naughty schoolboy thing again and sat at the back of the room so we could whisper, giggle, abuse the judge's decisions, discuss Big Brother, Lost and Ikea and make fun of proceedings without disturbing other people... which does wonders for my stress level at club meetings I have to say.

Then afterwards he, Mikey and I did the usual coffee thing before Stu dropped me home so that I could loan him the first five seasons of Buffy in return for him dubbing me copies of Jeepers Creepers & Jeepers Creepers II... (shhh... don't tell anyone). And interestingly, while he was here perusing my bookshelves we discovered we had a common love for Laurell K Hamilton's Anita and Merry books... the things you learn!

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montage monday: gouger street

Since I was going to be out somewhere different from the norm anyway yesterday, I decided it was as good a time as any to take some shots for today's Monday Montage... And Gouger Street is actually a pretty visual street... what with the public art and the fact that it's part of Chinatown, and contains the Central Market, and all the other cafes and restaurants... actually that whole section of the street is pretty much an orgy of food... The weather wasn't the best ever, but I still got a few nice shots.

We're having yet another Public Holiday today... this time it's Australia's celebration of the Queen's Birthday... we don't have a public holiday on her real birthday in April because it's too close to Anzac Day and Easter usually. So instead we get a fairly pointless day off in the middle of June, just when everything is all wet and grey.

Miraculously I'm actually feeling pretty much like a person again after my brief bout of sickness at the end of last week... it was really odd though, for some reason I became really sensitive to both light and sound while I was sick... it was actually at it's worst on Saturday, while I was out shopping... so that just became one big chore... it was so bad that I ended up wearing my sunglasses inside the supermarket because it just seemed too bright. And with my hearing being super-sensitive too, crying children became ear-splittingly piercing... and I even had to turn the teevee down because I couldn't cope with the loud noises. Weird.

I also mentioned at the end of last week that my oil heater had gone kaput again... *mutter*... so I'll be taking my heater off to the nice repair man on Tuesday... joy...

Fortunately I'm not freezing to death though... Ma just rocks... after we'd been shopping on Saturday she took off, and then about three quarters of an hour later there was a knock on my door and there she was with what I'm now calling my teddy blankey... it's got that supersoft teddy bear fabric on one side, and the "old school" teddy fleece on the other, and a thin layer of "stuffing" between them, making the whole thing super, super warm... so, that, and making myself a big old jug of Ma's Hot Lemon Drink (freshly squeezed lemons, honey and hot water) I think aided in me feeling all person-like again.

An odd thing happened towards the end of my walk today... I was at the corner, waiting to cross over into the square on the homeward leg of my walk, and this little white car with P plates (ie it either belonged to a gayboy or a girl) appeared, and beeped it's horn at me. At first I thought they were making sure I wasn't going to cross in front of them, but then I realised that the passenger was madly waving at me out of the window... and my first instinct had to have been correct... definitely gay boys... anyway, I'm almost 100% sure I've never seen either the passenger or driver before in my life, so rather than wave, I just kind of watched them quizzically, thinking that they would work out their mistake soon enough if I didn't wave back.

But no... more waving and a little more beeping until they went around the square and out of my direct line of sight. Just in case I did know them, I watched the car go up to the end of the square (in case they were going to do a loop back around), but no, they pulled away from the square and I assumed they were going to continue down the road. But again, no... they stopped the car just past the square... which is when I really thought I must know them, if they were stopping and getting out and coming over towards me.

It wasn't actually me they were headed for though, it was one of the houses around the square... they jumped out of the car, dashed over, seemed to either be ringing the bell at the gate or just jumping around like idiots, I was actually too far away to tell... then suddenly they ran from the gate, jumped back in the car and, just as I got to the end of the square near them, the driver pulled a U-turn and headed back around the square, which meant that they actually went past me again. And again the driver tooted and waved at me. By this point I was just amused by them, so I pointed at the car and then made the international sign for "crazy" (one finger circling by the side of my temple)... which I think got a laugh from the pair of them, then they took off back around the square and off the way they had come.

Weird people...

And yet again tonight, I should be having J and Monkey over for dinner (even though the Powers That Be have moved Mythbusters from 7:30 to 8:30 because of all this World Cup fuss and nonsense)... I think I'm going to miss cooking for them when they're gone... I've actually tried to make sure that I make something different each week since J has been home... First it was stirfry, then chicken schnitzel, then beef curry and tonight will be Pern-inspired Herdbeast stew (which is basically a really nice beef stew... but it's something I haven't made for ages)... then I think I only have to come up with one more thing next week and then they're gone...

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yum cha with freddy

It's been an interesting afternoon I have to say...

I had lunch with Freddy today... Freddy is new... Freddy likes to get to know people before jumping into bed with them, which I can appreciate... Freddy bought me lunch... Freddy has really beautiful green eyes and a tongue piercing...

I'm not into Freddy...

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I chatted with Freddy online about a week ago, and he seemed nice... he was going through some drama with his ex... they're still living in the same house, etc... but they're definitely through... which was good from my perspective.

We agreed to meet up for lunch on Gouger Street (essentially the heart of Adelaide's rather meager Chinatown), his treat (since I'm essentially broke), which I thought was nice... but after we'd made the arrangements and he'd logged off, I suddenly realised who he was...

Because Adelaide is a Two Degrees of Kevin Bacon town at the best of times (as opposed to the usual six)... I realised I'd chatted to both Freddy and his Ex (or more accurately, mostly to his Ex) on a previous occasion regarding the possibility of a little threeway action (since the Ex was someone I'd had playtime with about six or seven years ago anyway), but with one thing and another it never eventuated. Then a day or so before Freddy and I arranged to meet, the Ex had messaged me online, and we'd chatted in that flirty online kind of way.

Then the Ex was online again last night and we had a little flirty chat again, and if I hadn't still been feeling like death warmed over (plus the fact I was meeting Freddy for lunch today), well, who knows what might have happened (we'll assume nothing would have happened because of the lunch date, but, well...).

The interesting thing was that knowing what I knew, I gave the Ex three different opportunities to tell me about him and Freddy being kaput, and he didn't take up any of them...

So naturally, once we were sitting down to lunch today (I had yum cha for the first time, which was nice... a little strange in parts, but nice... and less heavy than a full meal) I put on my Bob the Builder demolition hat (as subtle as a wrecking ball, that's me) and asked Freddy straight out what was up. And surprisingly enough it wasn't Freddy who lied (I actually didn't think it was to be honest), but rather the Ex who was spinning stories.

Now Freddy knows what the Ex has said (although not 100% of it, just the bare basics), I know that Freddy knows... the only person who doesn't know is the Ex... in fact he doesn't even know we had lunch... *grin*... poor Ex.

I'm not completely sure what to do with the information to be honest... I might just file it away until it's appropriately useful (if it ever is, which I doubt). It's honestly not going to get me anything, so it's just interesting more than anything else.

Unfortunately Freddy has enough emotional baggage to go to Europe and back twice... added to that is the fact that even with the pretty green eyes and tongue piercing, I'm just not physically attracted to him. Which also means I probably shouldn't have kissed him after I walked him to his car... well, sometimes you just have to check these things out... it wasn't a bad kiss, but it wasn't up there in the top five...

So it kind of leaves me in a quandary about what to do... potentially I could have playtime with both of them and just keep my mouth shut about it... or I could just write both of them off and not bother with the pair of them... or I could give Freddy the flick and have playtime with the ex... which, to be honest, is possibly the most likely of the outcomes... at least in the short term.

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cookie!

Interestingly enough, this is my favourite Sesame Street character...

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

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scary

Possibly the scariest thing on the face of the planet is when you're awakened at 4am by a noise that appears to be coming from inside one of your kitchen cupboards that sounds for all the world like something with very big, very sharp teeth chewing on wood... loudly...

No wonder I slept with my bedroom door closed last night (mostly so I couldn't hear the noise, but, also, you know, just in case) and probably got maybe just over an hour's sleep between 4am and 7am... *shudder*

I'm still not brave enough to open the cupboard and have a proper look around in there.

Add to that the fact that I came down with my annual "cold" yesterday, and am still feeling like crap, plus the fact that blogger has gone down more than a cheap hooker in the last couple of days, and you have one very sick, slightly sleep deprived, cranky yani...

And now I discover that my oil heater is broken... grrrr....

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