bulge

This is one of those TMI (Too Much Information) posts that I do from time to time... you have been warned.

I am officially worn the hell out. I'm not looking for any sympathy, it's all totally self inflicted and I had a good time doing it. And no, it's not what you're currently thinking.

I went out dancing last night. To a dance party, as the kids say. And danced for a little under six hours, non stop. In my underwear. With a group of large, predominately hairy men also in their underwear.

Now I haven't been out dancing in more than ten years. And never before in my life have I been dancing in my underwear.

After the initial moment of "what the fuck" wore off, it was liberating and less titillating overall, but it was easier to have a good perve on guys I thought were hot, especially those in jockstraps.

And weirdly because I chose something more... involved... than regular underwear I did feel a little like I was wearing a tuxedo to a barbecue for the first half hour or so. I also wish I'd decided on something else, just because as minimal as my garment was, I did end up working up quite a sweat.

Given that I danced pretty much continuously for six hours and sweated, there is an issue of inner thigh chaffing, which is going to be problematic and painful for the rest of the week.

Thank god I also have a chiro appointment tomorrow afternoon, because I'm pretty sure I've shaken everything loose and my shoulders are all kinds of big knots of muscle.

I did remember/realise a number of things during the evening though...

Firstly, thankfully there were less than a handful of guys I'd previously hooked up with in the room (four, possibly five, I can't actually remember now), which is always a danger.

Secondly the difference between an underwear dance party and a gay sauna is actually incredibly small, all things considered... and even less so given that fact that I know there was some hook-ups going on, although I didn't witness anything first hand.

Also, I remembered why dancing is an incredibly bad idea for me... it occupies my body but gives my mind free reign to over-think or obsess or fixate.

And because, despite what people may say or even think, all sections of the gay community (even, and sometimes especially, the sub-groups) are essentially like high schools (I'd say Mean Girls, but I've never actually seen the movie). Not quite so much that there are the "jocks" and "nerds" and "popular kids", more so that everyone makes snap judgements on who is on their level and who is beneath them.

For the purposes of this analogy, I'm Ally Sheedy's Alison from The Breakfast Club... I don't fit within the established groups and hierarchy, I'm the weird kid who doesn't speak and sits by themselves. Partly because I prefer that a lot of the time, but also because that's the role I get given.

Which, as a general rule, gets into my head and just makes me both mad and depressed. And it's not even that so much as, the more base and fundamental issue, that it would be nice to get hit on. And especially in that particular crowd.

Maybe it's the fact that I really never stopped dancing... maybe it's that even within the specialised niche of that crowd, I'm my own specialised niche... maybe it's the armour I generally clothe myself in for going out into the world, the "don't talk to me" wall I use on public transport and in shopping malls on those people who try to engage you in conversation as you walk through the mall.

Maybe it's a permutation of the line from the Buffy episode, Earshot...

Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're way too busy with their own. The beautiful ones, the popular ones, the guys that pick on you... everyone.

If you could hear what they're feeling - the confusion, the loneliness... It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening.

Although maybe I'm over-reaching/thinking it.

There were a few things about last night that made it different from previous excursions.

I was one of the first people there... in fact when I walked into the room, I was literally the first person in there (there may have been one other, I'm not sure). A few people showed up gradually and I was checking out one particular guy as he walked from one side of the room to the other because in the dim lighting and without my glasses and given the colour of his skin/underwear, it honestly looked like he was naked.

And then he came and sat at the stupid wobbly little bar table with me. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes and then he asked me something inane, possibly about the fact that I didn't have a drink (which is a whole other conversation), and then we were pretty much off to the races, as they say, having an overly superficial but entertaining enough conversation. And it was slightly flirty with the added frisson of us both being mostly naked, but he'd mentioned his partner a couple of times, so I didn't push anything beyond harmless flirting.

Then he went to get another drink, I got bored with sitting around and went to dance and we drifted apart for a bit. While we'd be talking, he'd said some of his friends had told him about it and that he should introduce me to them when they got there. Which I took with a grain of salt, just because, you know, alcohol and whatever. But a little later I looked around and he was talking with his friends, and I knew a couple of them.

Because, you know, Adelaide.

He did come over and dance with me more than a few times (after initially saying he was more interested in the drinking than that dancing), and made general references to my awesomeness, which was sweet. But he did pike out relatively early.

So, yeah... it was good for the ego and I had a bit of a crush, but the main thing that amused was the friends thing.

Then later this skinny dude in, to be honest, the least interesting or seemingly appropriate underwear for an underwear dance party (it was pink, which is fine, but it didn't seem like it was his "best" or "getting lucky" underwear, it was a little too baggy and boxerbrief-y for that) started dancing not so much with me as at me.

And I was having one of those moments where the whole clique thing was getting to me and I was getting way to into my head about things... but he just managed to break through that and remind me that I was supposed to be having a good time. Sure I think he was, at the very least, three sheets to the wind, if not on additional mood altering substances, but he made me laugh.

Particularly because the best word I can think of to describe his dancing is "fierce"... he was a fierce drunk queen all over really... especially when he started putting his sunglasses on, at 2am, in the middle of a dark dance party (laser lighting notwithstanding).

Would I have gone there if offered the opportunity... oh fuck yes, in a hot minute... but other than one point where he hugged me and told me he loved me (and I'm pretty sure that was more in reference to my non-stop dancing than his desire to get into my... well, not pants, since I wasn't wearing any, but you know what I mean) but if he'd really been interested, he could definitely have danced in closer and I would have made a move. But, it didn't happen... which is fine, it was more important that he made me smile and knocked me out of my fugue than whether I got him out of his underwear.

Would I go again? Yeah, probably, although some serious thought about appropriate undergarments will have to be made between now and then. As well as reminding myself that more water is always the correct answer.

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movies: the tale of princess kaguya

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya is not your typical Studio Ghibli movie.

The art style is closer to My Neighbors the Yamadas, and not surprising really since they share the same director, Isao Takahata.

And at 137 minutes it's the longest Studio Ghibli movie to date, with Princess Mononoke a close second.

The story, partly aided by the painterly art style and the opening narration, give the whole story a very fairy tale vibe... of course the fact that it's a story about a baby found in a glowing stalk of bamboo and raise by a bamboo cutter and his wife also helps.

And it does definitely tick off a number of the fairy tale tropes. But at the same time it also has a Japanese historical vibe.

The version we were watching was the English dub, so I don't know if there were some liberties taken with the translation... however there were a few instances of the characters saying things that didn't 100% make sense and also things that made certain characters less likeable.

Overall it wasn't the best of the Ghibli movies, but it wasn't bad.

yani's rating: 2 bamboo shoots out of 5

warm and fuzzy saturday shopping

I wouldn't say that I was hungover when I woke up this morning, but I was perhaps a little fuzzy around the edges.

I also had to face the detritus of last night, which I abandoned in favour of heading to bed. But half an episode of The West Wing and the kitchen was tidy again.

Once Ma arrived we headed off to the supermarket for the usual wanderings... for some reason it was a bit of a bumper shop and I think the hot weather brought more of the oldies out to do their shopping early than usual because the place was fuller than usual.

I caved in and bought one of the cheap $12 fans at Target... at least until I can make a decision about something else, or until the January sales roll around and I can see what's on offer then.

Once we got back here and I'd unpacked everything, we sat down and went through the Fringe shortlist and then went through the program to see what else I may have missed out on. And we actually found a couple of interesting sounding things. The list currently stands at 17 items, but I need to relook at the handful of shows I'm going to by myself, just to make sure they're all up to snuff.

Then we headed into the city and had a wander up and down the mall, stopping off at the Stop in the Name of Art display... I can't for the life of me remember the name of the guy who set it up, but I chatted with him for a bit, even flashed my Cameron Brideoake tattoo at him and generally had some art geekery moments. Weirdly I feel like we should have (or have and I just don't remember) crossed paths already. He spent time at Espionage Gallery, and when I first saw then, the artworks selected did make me wonder if Josh was involved.

But it's an interesting experiment and if you run into the display, stop and have a chat and give them your opinion.

We didn't really do any shopping, or even look in any shops since we were mostly killing time until we needed to head to the movies.

For an animated movie, and a Studio Ghibli movie as well it was surprisingly long at 137 minutes... so we didn't get out until about 3:45 which gave us just enough time to grab a late lunch at Burger Theory before the car park ticket ran out.

And now I'm just enjoying the coolness of the airconditioner while I hang out and mentally prepare myself to do something I haven't done in a good long while.

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photo friday: boys of summer (sydney edition)

It's definitely been a rollercoaster of a week... and I think part of the issue has been some very late nights and early mornings. Totally self inflicted, but still.

But by the end of the week, I needed to go and get myself some booze... but let's start at the beginning.

Last Sunday I was again woken up by stupid noisy neighbours before 5am... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but if it happens again this week, there will definitely be a firm letter in their mailbox (to be honest I meant to do it this week, but I ran out of week).

I also printed out Ma's 2015 calendar... which is all Sydney (from our March trip) and all water related. And if there ever needed to be proof that I've played too much Assassin's Creed this year, the name of the calendar is in Italian for "city by the water" (according to Google translate anyway).

And for the first time, when I took it to Officeworks to have it bound up, the girl who was serving me said how good it looked, which is always nice to hear.

I also had to buy like $130 worth of printer ink once I was finished, which is frankly just nuts, but it was a pack that contains all five kinds of ink, so it could have been worse.

It's been a weird week at work anyway because one third of my immediate team have been on leave (okay, it's actually only one person, but there are only three of us total) so I haven't been able to hand quite so many things off as I normally would.

However, my other teammate, Pixie, has gone above and beyond on a couple of occasions, so which I am eternally grateful.

For the most part, I do love the people I work with... it's a little like a family, they do get on my nerves from time to time (and I probably get on their nerves even more than that), but when it comes down to it, I'm glad I have them around.

Even if I did accidentally smack Banger square in the nose with a soccer ball earlier in the week. I maintain it was mostly his fault for kicking it to me and having his hands in his pockets at the time. Fortunately there was no damage done beyond some watering eyes for a minute or two.

I'm now down to eight out of the fifteen parcels that I'd ordered, a slow week with only a couple of deliveries.

I also finally finished Assassin's Creed III... there's a larger post coming that details some of my thoughts on all of the AC franchise thus far, but it definitely had some issues... although it hasn't really diminished my overall love for the franchise.

Weirdly as I walked out of work yesterday my headphones started screwing up... the sound started just randomly going in and out on the right side, so I stopped off at Dick Smiths and picked up a shiny new pair, same brand (Sony) but a different model.

Today was definitely a day of contradictions... firstly, the Fringe program dropped this morning. In previous years I'm fairly certain it hasn't been accessible until the official launch around 10:30... but I just happened to check around 9:15 and there it all was, just waiting for me.

I didn't intend to do a full trawl since I was at work, but there wasn't anything pressing that needed my attention, so I did make a cursory look, found quite a few great things... but there also seems to be more duplicate shows (as in shows from previous years) this time around.

Fortunately there were also some artists I really love returning with new shows as well.

These include, but aren't limited to...

• A Simple Space
• Le Gateau Chocolat
• La Soirée
• Paul Dabek
• Philip Escoffey
• Soap
• Hamlet and Juliet
• 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick
• The Boy With Tape On His Face
• Dandyman
• Elixr
• Leo

Yes, Le Gateau Chocolat is back, and yes, I did audibly "SQUEEE" in the office.

I then had to stop due to a meeting and would have then gotten down to work once I got out, but our internet connection was being difficult and I just couldn't get to the two websites I needed to access to do pretty much everything I needed to do today.

The long and short of it is that I now have 24 shows in my first pick list.

I also had lunch with Herschel today out in Victoria Square and we talked about all things video games and Fringe shows. But then when I got back to work I really wasn't in the right frame of mind to do any work. Which would have been fine, but by that point the internet was working properly, we had a backlog and then something from the other day reared it's ugly head again from earlier in the week (when I came within seconds of hanging up the phone on someone) and just pissed me the hell off. Mostly because of the attitude of the person bringing it up, but also because of the way the work was requested in the first place.

So with that, and trying to do a bunch of other annoying things, I decidedly needed a drink when I left work this afternoon.

And oddly, the universe was already pointing me in that direction... we'd done a perfectly ordinary (if slightly urgent) job earlier in the week and the woman who requested it came down with beers for us. Which was completely and totally an overreaction, but who am I to say no to free beer.

Then, when I stopped off at the Bottle Shop on my way home, they had a special offer on six packs of Strongbow Cider, so I ended up with a dozen ciders and two beers... and so far I've drunk a pear cider, an apple cider and a beer.

Now I just need to summon up the energy to tidy my apartment, although tomorrow morning is looking pretty good.

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lego minifigures series 13

When the last series of Lego Minifigures was due to be announced I spent more time than I care to think about doing searches and cobbling together what information I could first on the list of characters and then in a valiant attempt to find a full image of the set.

This morning over breakfast I was flicking through my Twitter feed, and there was a tweet from Lego with the full cast of Series 13.

And what a cast it is...

• Carpenter
• Fencer
• Lady Cyclops
• Palaeontologist
• Galaxy Trooper
• Disco Diva
• Evil Wizard
• Sheriff
• Alien Trooper
• Samurai
• Snake Charmer
• King
• Unicorn Girl
• Goblin
• Hot Dog Man
• Egyptian Warrior

This time around it's all about the front row for me... specifically the king, the snake charmer and his little snake... and who the hell doesn't like the Unicorn Girl and her little unicorn hat. Also the female samurai, the goblin and the Hot Dog Man... I'll be interested to know if he has some sort of uniform on under the suit, or if he's just wearing blue pants and a blank beige top. He's probably the one who'll be joining my Desk Army at work.

I also really like the Palaeontologist, and I'm curious about whether the fencer is a man or a woman... I'm thinking woman, but either is good. I'm also surprised it took them this long to do a sheriff.

I'm also betting that the Alien Trooper head will look interesting separated from the body... and I can also see MOC builders using it as maybe an octopus.

The two I'm highly ambivalent about, to the point of dislike, are the "Disco Diva" and the female repaint of the Cyclops. It's possibly the hair on the diva... and making the cyclops grey with giant pink pornstar lips and blue eyeshadow is perhaps a bit too far.

But I only need to wait until January (well, more likely February here in Australia) to see them in the flesh.

Update: As always, here's the full breakdown of the minifigs from Whitefang over at the Eurobricks Forum.

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movies: the hunger games: mockingjay part one

Let me get this out of the way right off the bat... while I'm totally on the band wagon that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay didn't need to be split into two movies, having now seen Part 1, and knowing everything that will happen in Part 2, I actually works for me.

In a lot of ways the split in this movie is a hell of a lot like the split in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... Part 1 was a slow burn where pretty much nothing happens, while Part 2 is essentially all about the battle.

And even more so in this case, since in the book (at least from memory) a lot of the drama really comes from Katniss' internal thoughts and her conversations with other characters.

It does feel a little like they've stripped a lot of that back and instead played up the Gale vs Peeta storyline/love triangle more than was absolutely necessary. Plus the Katniss who exists in my head was a lot more numb and a lot less outwardly weepy throughout the first part of the book.

But putting all of that to one side, before anything else, Mockingjay is a very beautiful movie. And I fell like a large proportion of that comes from the costume designs of Kurt and Bart (yes, just Kurt and Bart, no surnames). Which in some ways is strange because this is a movie without the excesses of the Captiol and it's insane fashions, and District 13 where the majority of the movie takes place is decidedly grey, utilitarian and very drab.

They do make the Mockingjay look good though.

As always, from a performance perspective, the movie belongs to both Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. And even though Hutcherson is only in the movie in brief yet important scenes, his performance is definitely the most interesting in the movie and the harder one to portray given the brevity. He is helped along by some impressive CGI to create the impression he loses a massive amount of weight through the course of the story.

And Lawrence definitely brings her A Game as Katniss... the occasional bout of weepiness notwithstanding.

The supporting cast are all back again, along with a few new faces, most notably a very different and steely looking Julianne Moore as President Coin and Natalie Dormer as Cressida.

There are also some great sequences that made all the hair stand up on the back of my neck... especially the scene with Katniss singing which transitions into a chorus of other people singing the same song.

I definitely can't wait to be able to watch the two parts of Mockingjay back to back, but I still think this was an interesting way to break up the material.

yani's rating: 3 Mockingjays out of 5

rainy bowerbird saturday shopping

Today has been one of those weird, occasionally frustrating days where I think a lot of my mood has been dependent on the weather.

And the weather has been intense, changeable and stormy... so, you know, draw your own conclusions there.

Ma was off getting her hair did this morning, so I was flying solo on the supermarket portion of the morning... which, as always, meant that I finished up earlier than normal.

But because the weather had settled into just grey and rain, it also meant that I got a little damp around the edges making the dash to the other side of the road for additional supplies.

Once I got home the rain had definitely settled in, so I got on with the unpacking portion of the morning and when Ma arrive I went down to bring things upstairs I got damp again... it was pretty much a recurring theme for much of the morning.

Our destination du jour today was the pre-Christmas edition of Bowerbird Bazaar market at the Showgrounds.

And I only realised this morning that the Supernova Pop Culture Expo was also being held in the same location, and then on top off there was some Uni exam thing going on. So the place was full of Designer Mummies, Geeks (and I saw three different Assassin's Creed assassins on their way to the Supernova entrance) and students (and yes, those last two groups are not mutually exclusive).

But because the parking situation was somewhat dire, we ended up sneaking in the "back way" and both got into the showgrounds and found a park with no problems.

I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that we were a wee bit later than usual in getting there, or just the over-abundance of people milling around, or the whole "it's Christmas soon" thing, but even by the standards of previous Bowerbirds the crowd seriously did my head in.

It wasn't just the usual inability to look where they were going or where other people were... or the women with prams who either never look where they're going (I literally saw a grandmother pushing a pram who was walking forward while looking back over her shoulder and had the woman she almost ploughed into not been facing her instead of the other way, it would have been nasty) or else just leave the pram sticking out into the aisles... this seemed to be a special kind of self involvement and selfishness.

People just stopping in the middle of the walkway to rummage around in their handbags or standing directly in front of stalls while having a conversation while people are trying to move around.

So for that reason, as well as the fact that Ma didn't find much of anything that worked for her Christmas list, we didn't stay as long as we have on previous occasions.

I did find a few things that struck my fancy, which is actually unusual... the crocheted cactus from Crochet Kittenn... the ampersand from Mooza Designs... and the Manjūsagi Mikan (little orange rabbit) from Tovi.

I also picked up a pack of stickers from Tovi, which are too damn cute for words.

We also picked up some brownies from Four Seeds as usual, grabbed something to eat from Archie the Pastizzi Bus and headed out.

Neither of us really had much of anything else we wanted to do, so we called it quits.

Current Mood:

photo friday: comparison

The week in review...

• I got woken up at 4:45am on Sunday when my douchebag "backfence" neighbours decided that it was an appropriate time to play loud music, sing tunelessly and talk loudly in the yard. Once I summoned up the energy to actually reach for my phone, the police were called. The music stopped shortly thereafter however the talking waxed and waned.
• The only upside to that was I got up nice and early and then spent from about 7:30am until 2:30pm cleaning the house and tidying things up for my rental inspection. Not that the apartment needed THAT much cleaning, it's more an excuse to do things I don't normally do, put things away that have been hanging around for weeks and throw away things I honestly don't need. And everything looks great.
• And I did all of it to the awesome sounds of Season 2 of The West Wing. Sorkin rocks! Of course if I hadn't been occasionally distracted by it I might have been finished cleaning earlier.
• I also got high marks for my inspection... the slight marks on the ugly beige carpet notwithstanding.
• Last week I finally got around to naming my Cameron Brideoake designed tattoo... it's only taken me seven months. I decided on Samudra, which is Sanskrit for ocean, but literally means "gathering together of waters", which sounds pretty much perfect. Plus it's easy to shorten, so for "everyday" use, my Ocean Tiger Mochi shall henceforth be known colloquially as Sam.
• The list of parcels I currently have en route has swelled up to fifteen... but about half of those are some form of Christmas present and another two aren't going to arrive until after Christmas. But I did get five of them this week, including more RIPT Apparel t-shirts, more Andrew Christian underwear (and of course had to wear one of my new pairs today), a watch for Ma and another Chris McVeigh Lego camera to add to my collection.
• I now have my "Christmas" teeshirt (featuring Maleficent) and once I make an actual decision about which actual pair, my Christmas undies too.
• And Fringe tickets go on sale in about a week... seriously, where did the year go? But also YAAAAAY! Sadly I don't know if I'll have time at work to go through the program like I've done in previous years... but this time next week I'll be up to my eyeballs in Fringe info.
• Speaking of work... a couple of days this week, including today, have been quite "stressypants"... although I did get told by one of my co-workers, Pixie, that there's a certain level of stressed that I reach where I get, to use her words, "so damn gay". And here I thought I got all butch when I was cranky... ah well, there goes that general fantasy.
• And is it too much to ask that other people do their job correctly and actually provide my team with correct information so we can do our jobs properly rather than them doing a half-assed job, then giving it to us and then them complaining because we did what they actually asked rather than what they meant to ask.

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three part saturday with hair adventures

This is something of a story in three parts...

Well, not exactly, but I didn't bother with a Friday post yesterday because there really wasn't anything of major note that happened last week... I worked all the regular amount, did all the regular things, but nothing much that was actually interesting. So, nominally that's the first part.

This morning was likewise fairly average, although I was running a little late so Ma called me to see where I was while I was doing up my shoes. So I tied my shoes, dragged my broken fan downstairs, and we headed off to the supermarket.

We did the regular thing, and I happened to randomly find the Christmas flavoured Chapstick packs that I was looking for like two years ago and never found... and they show up in a completely different place. So I bought them... they'll make nice stocking stuffers.

Then we poked around Target and Ma found a Christmas tee shirt that wasn't tacky and hideous (it is shiny though, but you can't have everything) and I found a new pair of jeans that fit slightly better than my current jeans and aren't quite so dark.

Cue the returning montage and the usual lugging of shopping bags up numerous flights of stairs.

Given that my pedestal fan died this week... well actually it might be the opposite of died, since the speed knob came off and I couldn't actually turn it off... so less not working, more unable to stop working. Either way... it's all fucked and I need a new one.

But there's a choice to be made, and I have this issue where I'm both cheap but I also don't want another crappy fan that only lasts a couple of years before it dies, or less time than that where it isn't as powerful as it was when I first got it. Also, I hate the fact they get covered in dust.

So essentially my brain is majorly fixated on the Dyson fans. But I also can't justify spending $500 on a fan. Although it does tick all the boxes that I'm looking for other than the pricepoint.

Which, of course, leads to total mental lock-up. And which means that I didn't buy a fan today.

We wandered around The Good Guys, looked at fans, then browsed fridges, for no real reason other than I keep thinking mine is a little small for my purposes... however the ones that are bigger than what I have now but not stupidly too big for me weirdly don't have much more actual fridge room.

Then we gave up and headed into the city.

Ma had a couple of Christmas things she wanted to pick up, I had a couple of errands I wanted to run, but essentially we walked from the end of Rundle Street, to the Hindley Street end of the Mall and back again.

We got all the bits and pieces we were after and then headed back down Rundle Street and had lunch at Burger Theory. I always enjoy their Burger of the Month selections, sometimes more than others, but this month's offering, the Asian inspired Char Sui burger was fantastic... it was like Chinese food and a burger had a lovechild... a tasty, tasty lovechild.

After lunch we had a bit of a detour back up the Mall as I keep thinking I should call into the art supply store and see what they have in the way of really big sheets of cardboard.

The idea that's been tickling away in my back brain since I moved in here in January is that since I have the space now, I wanted a Christmas tree... but not a normal tree... something cute and design-y and also something that folds down to nothing to make storage easy for the rest of the year.

But it has to be a decent size... hence wanting to look in the art supply store for corrugated cardboard.

What I found was one better... bright green corrugated plastic. They were a little pricier than I was originally intending, but if I treat them right then it'll probably a) stand up better than cardboard and b) last longer and store better.

Then we headed back here and, between the rainstorms that had been threatening to drop all day, I sent Ma on her merry way home. Thus endeth part two of the day.

And part three is the fact that today, or more accurately this evening, was Haircut Day.

So when the usual time rolled around I took myself off to see Tink.

The haircut portion of the evening was the same as always, shorter and blonder, but we had a good long chat about all manner of stuff. And interestingly at the end of the evening she said that she always finds out something she didn't know before when she sees me... and clearly she's been telling her sister a number of those things, because her sister has previously asked her if I was the one to tell her that particular tidbit.

Plus she'd been having something of a shitty week, and I made her smile and left her feeling better than when I got there, so that's not much more you can ask for than that.

Thus endeth today...

Current Mood:

unfurling santa's naughty list saturday

There's that point in the year when it's officially okay to start looking at Christmas decorations and starting to buy Christmas presents... and here in Adelaide, we call that point the Christmas Pageant.

Okay, that's actually all a big lie, but it was the Pageant today and we did make the first real foray into Christmas shopping.

My apartment was pretty stuffy when I woke up this morning so I got up fairly early, opened the place up and generally tidied up.

Because I was running way ahead of time I ended up downstairs way before Ma arrived,  but it was cooler outside so I didn't mind so much.

The supermarket was about average, although when we were there last week we mentioned the Chicken with Tomato and Mango relish recipe to our regular Checkout Girly, so Ma had printed it out to give it to her... which then also made me want to make it, so I've got all the fixings.

Since the Pageant was going on in the city, after we came back here and did all the usual unpacking, we decided to head down to Marion and have a wander around, possibly make some headway on Ma's predominately non-existent Christmas shopping list.

Of course we ended up buying more stuff for ourselves and each other, although we did make a breakthrough regarding Miss Oh's present, so at least that's something.

The second batch of the new Disney Infinity figures appeared this week, including my all-time favourite Disney character, Stitch. I think I said this last time, but they really are amazingly detailed both in terms of the sculpt and the paint jobs. And the Stitch sculpt is especially cute as he's in the midst of destroying some sand castles.

We also found these great Christmas storage containers in Big W, which are shaped like giant gingerbread men (they also had a tree, but it wasn't as nice). It'll be useful at Christmas to take goodies into work, and probably also to store Christmas leftovers of the non-fridge variety. It also looks good just leaning up against my artwork under the window. Oh and I bought a giant jingle bell from David Jones... no idea what the hell I'm going to do with it, but it is gorgeous, and it was pretty cheap.

As usual we did a loop from one end of the mall to the other and back again, poking around all manner of shops. We don't go to Marion all that much any more, and while there's mostly the same shops there as there is everywhere else, there's a few different things to keep it interesting.

Midway through we stopped off for a quick bite to eat, and then once we were done we took a detour over to Bunnings to pick up yet more Command hooks to finish up my gallery wall.

Hopefully all of our Christmas shopping will be as easy as today.

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photo friday: four

I got home to find that the fucktards who live in the place over the back fence were sitting around the pool, playing music and talking loudly. That was at 5:30pm... they were still playing music and being loud up until about an hour ago.

Not really the way I wanted to finish my week.

Otherwise it wasn't too bad a week... today's weather was an unfortunate foray into mid-Summer that I could have done without... but as they say, it's going to get worse before it gets better (okay technically that's not true since the temperature is going to drop overnight, but Summer is in fact coming).

I've also been swarmed by insects of every known variety at various points this evening... what the hell is that about. Stupid hot weather.

And I'm currently working out if it's a good idea to just drag my mattress into the living room overnight to take advantage of the aircon.

Anyway...

We tried a little food experiment at work today... let me describe it and then you can draw your own conclusions on the relative successfulness...

And I will just say that it wasn't my idea, but I did join in enthusiastically...

Take a tortilla, spread a little peanut butter on it, chop a Milky Way bar lengthways into slivers, do likewise with half a banana, add a handful of marshmallows, fold the tortilla and place in the sandwich press until hot and melty.

To be honest, when I ate it it was amazing, the marshmallows had melted to a gooey sugary mess, and the combination of peanut butter, chocolate and banana is never a bad thing... but it was only later when I had the sugar high, sugar crash and sugar nausea that it seemed like a really, really bad idea.

That being said, I'd probably do it again, but maybe in a smaller dose.

On Monday I went to see my chiro, and after she adjusted my back I told her all about my issues with my elbow, so she felt the good elbow, then the dodgy one, told me, and I quote, "this is going to hurt" (never really something you want to hear), flexed the elbow a couple of times and then POP, snapped it back into place. It turns out that I'd jammed the joint up into the socket and that's why I didn't have full range of movement.

I mean, you would think that that would be SOMETHING YOU WOULD SEE ON AN X-RAY! So why the hell they didn't see it at the Emergency Room I have no fucking clue.

But I couldn't thank my chiro enough... it's still a little sore and tender when I do various things with it, but I have pretty much the full range of motion with it, whereas before I only had about 85%.

There wasn't a hell of a lot else going on this week... I went to a training course, also on Monday, run by possibly the most boring trainer ever. In fact he was so dull that I kept nodding off when we weren't actually doing activities. Which would have been fine, but I was in the front row.

Actually the most interesting part of the day was going to lunch with Sugarmonkey who was also doing the course, at his suggestion. We went to Jack Ruby, which was quirky but pleasant. I mean what kind of place gives you a container of fresh popcorn as a complimentary starter. But it was a nice lunch and the bar staff were suitably handsome, bearded, tattooed and of the slicked back hair.

It's always a little strange spending one-on-one time with Monkey... not bad, just... odd I guess. But we've known each other for... I dunno, it has to be at least eight years, possibly closer to ten at this point... and we get along fairly well for the most part (even if he does frustrate the living crap out of me on occasion... and I'm sure I do likewise to him).

Oh, and I worked out at some point this week that I'm currently waiting for nine parcels... but I just did a bit of poking around and I mustn't have ordered one of the items... I can't see any reference to it anywhere... weird. I know I came up against the "that item doesn't ship to Australia" issue a few times, but I swear I remember buying it...

Sorry, thinking out loud.

I think that's pretty much it for this week's musings...

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design related saturday shopping

While we did have an instance of general "blah", today pretty much all came together with nary a hitch.

I rolled myself out of bed later than I'd intended this morning, so I only really had a chance to change my bedding and generally straighten things up rather than get things, mostly the kitchen, appropriately shipshape.

And because the weather is unable to pick a season I ended up having to wear a jacket, which is slightly ridiculous for the beginning of November.

As I mentioned last week my superpower to judge when Ma is downstairs is clearly on the fritz, and I had to stand around on the corner like an idiot until she arrived.

Then we switched cars as usual and I drove to the supermarket.

Other than us spending more than the usual amount on groceries there wasn't really anything spectacular about our supermarket adventures... it did appear that a bus full of pensioners had pulled up at some point... when we were headed to the checkouts there were suddenly little old ladies everyfuckingwhere.

But that was it really. And then it was back here for ritual unpackery.

After perusing and rejecting every bedside lamp I've seen for the past several weeks, I finally saw one I liked online this week, so I wanted to go and grab it before it disappeared or I overthought it too much. It would possibly have been an easier excursion if Beacon Lighting actually had stock out on the floor. Also if we hadn't happened to be in there when everyone else in the known universe was in there buying $500 worth of lighting.

I did get the lamp though, and it suits my sense of the absurd.

Since we were literally just down the road, we also detoured over to the framers and picked up my John McConnell artworks... I'm thinking the appropriate place to hang them is in the bedroom, although I'll need to shuffle some other things around first.

And we didn't really have very much else in the planning file... Ma ended up just doing a big driving loop past Ikea, past Harbour Town and back up Anzac Highway to the city.

From there we headed to the Art Gallery to check out the Fashion Icons: Masterpieces from the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris exhibition.

We could have just headed straight to the exhibition space, but instead we had a bit of a wander through the rest of the gallery first. It's been a while since we've done that and they've made some very appealing changes to the spaces along the left side of the gallery... mirrored walls, dark painted walls and instead of trying to cram the labels for everything on the wall alongside the artworks, they've come up with these big laminated sheets you can take from a spot on the wall that feature a picture of the works and all the details.

I would imagine that the only issue with that is that you can't just make rearrangements on the spur of the moment or swap things out without a lot of additional work.

But it does make the gallery walls feel more approachable and more like artwork you'd have on the wall at home than feeling sterile and cold. Granted I'm not sure you'd want to have the back ends of two horses that have been sewn together and hung from a metal pole in your house, but you know what I mean.

Because we took the elevator down to the exhibition area (since Ma isn't great with the gallery stairs) we ended up going into the exhibition backwards.

It ended up being a bonus, for me anyway, since the exhibition is organised by decade from the 50's (late 40's really) through to the 2000's and I much prefer the 50's stuff to a lot of the later stuff.

Some of it is frankly ridiculous, some of it isn't ever going to look as good on the little skinny flat-chested mannequins they're using as it would on actual women in motion, and there is a serious under-representation of men's fashion... but there are some really gorgeous pieces.

Also, I kind of would have liked some additional tidbits like "so-and-so wore this dress in this movie or on the cover of that magazine or to this very important event" type of thing... but clearly that's not the point of the exhibition, so with one exception where the outfit is actually designed for a movie (and is THE most ridiculous outfit in the whole exhibition, being made entirely of giant rolls of metal), they don't do that.

After we'd finished looking at everything we wandered through the rest of the gallery and then headed across to the Mall to get some lunch before calling it a day.

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