Who Doesn't Like To Get a Little Catty Now and Then?

I love cats.

I don't dislike dogs, and actually think they're sweet and adorable, but when it comes to the pet I adore, it's cats, and only cats. I know they can be vexatious, overly independent at times, and even downright sassy (to use an American term that I love) but that's part of their charm; they're also warm, affectionate and loving when it suits them (and often you), and when it doesn't, well no amount of coaxing is going to shift their decision anyway so why try to fight it?

I love the photos above & below (sent to me by my sister via email) because they remind that cats rate sleep as the most wonderful activity ever, and given a preference will sleep till doomsday (and likely right through it!). I had a cat once that would sleep on the top of our pagola (verandah roofing made of wooden slats) and have the front paws over one beam, the back legs over another and the body swinging very uncomfortably (well we thought so; clearly the cat didn't!) in the middle. How it stayed on there, let alone slept, is beyond me, but he loved it, and also made a real effort to sleep on the BBQ chimney as much as he could. They are peculiar contrary beasts but I wouldn't have them any other way!

Project 289 - Day 36 : The Sticky Fingers of the Ghost of Easter Past

The year is racing past so fast that Easter, once a beguiling glimmer of long weekend hope in the bleak non-public holiday desert of March, is receding quickly into the haze of glittery multi-coloured metallic memory....

.... but before it did, I got to relive it today! Sitting on my desk last night, just before I left work last night was a bag of Darrell Lea Easter Eggs courtesy of the consultancy company we're using for a project at work which is aimed at totally transforming the customer service we deliver to our clients. I had an inkling they were coming my way but given my rush to get to the movie I had bought tickets for, all I could do was admire the sweetness (literally and figuratively) of the gift and rush for the exit.

But today, after much resistance I succumbed and and not only looked closely at the lovely gift (seen above, after half it's contents helped to a cocoa-induced sen-like state... well as zen as I was going to get in Outlook hell!) from the consultancy company that I worked extremely hard for while they were at the company I work for, but ate two of the chocolate eggs, which given my rather lax exercise regime of late, and high caloric intake, my 43 year old body didn't need. Sadly though when it comes to chocolate, I can't just be a sticky voyeur; I have to jump in feet first, and gorge myself on the yummy temptations before me.... and today I did just that in a 10 hour day where stress was abundant, and the will to resist making the busyness a little bearable by eating chocolate virtually non-existent by mid afternoon. 

No point regretting it; it made a stressful day a little more fun (yes comfort food - I know! I know! LOL) and gave me a chance to relive a little bit of Easter weeks after it, and the Easter bunny slid into the realm of the past.... well except on my stomach and love handles where I dare say Easter will linger for just a little while yet!!

Project 289 - Day 35 : Love & Death in an Age of Croissants

I love all things French (which would not have made me very popular in a room of right wing Christian conservatives in the USA post 9/11, when the French were blamed for being cowardly in the face of terrorism, when in fact they were a hastily disregarded voice of reason; but I revel in flying in the face of the massed mob's orthodoxy where I believe fundamentals of decent human behaviour are being trampled in the rush to populist activism) and tonight that led me to Dendy Newtown where I saw the French movie, "The Summer Hours".

I had to rush there from a nightmarishly busy day at work but for once the public transport system obliged by actually having trains leaving on time (I know - it's the fourth sign of the apocalypse.... I expect fiery horseman in my apartment block's tennis courts any nanosecond now!) and I got there with enough time to pick up the tickets I'd bought on the net (I love doing most things online!), join Dendy's movie club for 2 years, and buy two Tiramisu-flavoured choc tops (gourmet ice cream in a cone served at the same food bar you can get wine at - tres chic and oh so Newtown, which I adore!) before the bf arrived and we headed into the confines of Cinema 2.....

..... for a movie that was a wonderful exploration of what happens to families after a loved one dies, and the previously taut fabric of their familial existence unravels just enough that they all realise that nothing will ever be the same again. Previously held assumptions are quickly shown to be wafer thin delusions, and reality comes roaring up with a ferocity that surprises people who mere days before were in the safe embrace of a decades long cocoon of family. Of course the family in most cases rallies and unites but with different dynamics driving the interactions between the members, and that takes some getting used to; as does dealing with the fallout from those dynamics coming into play. In the case of the characters in this movie, it means the selling of a home and artwork that one son sees as a treasured birthright to be preserved at all costs while his two siblings, living outside France and subsumed in their own demanding worlds, are not as troubled by it. The bonds of family hold, but everything is different, and there is grieving not just for the loss of the mother but for all that she represented, and it takes time for them all to adjust to a world none were really prepared to encounter.

For all that wonderful rumination on the human condition, I found it a little difficult to warm to the characters. It's not that they were unlikeable; just not emotionally engaging enough for me to truly care about them, and that's usually what draws me into a movie, and keepsme  transfixed - the emotional resonance I find in the film. It was there in some way, just not profound enough for me. Having said that, the bf (seen above contemplating life by the movie's poster), who has a fine eye and heart for these things, thoroughly enjoyed it so maybe I was just having an off night. 

Who knows? But at least the choc chops were yummy, and I had the company of my beautiful man in a cinema I adore in the suburb I call home. Life doesn't get any better than that especially when it ends with a kiss and a cuddle, and a snuggly good night's sleep in the first cosy grip of Autumn,

His Name Was Allegory and He Was In Love With a Metaphor

Project 289 - Day 34 : If Molars Were Horses, Mine Would Be Stuffed

So today I didn't have to go to work! Yay!

But I did have to go to the dentist! Boo! Thankfully my dentist, a good friend, is absolutely brilliant at what he does, and after a fortifying course of croissant and apple juice, I sat down in his chair, got the left side of my face number till I am fairly certain they were able to lift it off my head and work on it away from the rest of me (hey how would I have known it had gone?! (a) I couldn't feel a thing and (b) I was engrossed in Mel and Kochie on 'Sunrise' and the texting services inability to type quickly AND accurately! So engrossed in fact I missed several instructions from the dentist...oops!). There was one small hiccup - the suction system refused to work properly for about 1/2 hour but eventually that got up and running and we were drilling, and gouging and polishing and prodding and poking, while I felt not a freaking thing! Got to love that! (Although you may not love the shot of my mouth with the new molars gleaming in the background - see below)

In the end I was in the dentist's chair for almost 2 hours and the main issue was the cramping of my moving-stressed calf muscles as they lay outstretched in the chair. That made a delightful change from most dentist's where my main concern was how to survive the feeling that they were drilling for oil in the back blocks of my gums. In this case, I felt nothing (bar the enormous slug to the credit card), the dentist explained what he'd done and what should hopefully happen (i.e. a cessation of pain),and I traipsed out of there (yes traipsed.... and why not I say? I had just survived a visit to the dentist!! LOL) for a spot of retail therapy (yes nothing like spending more money as my mouth, and car, sent me happily tripping to insolvency!), a nap and eventually, when the numbing had worn off, lunch.... and drooling... yes, lots and lots of drooling of socially isolating drooling!!!LOL

Project 289 - Day 33 : Cleanliness is Next to Godliness... So We Must Be Freakin' Saints by Now!

There is a god in heaven because I got to sleep in this morning.

Of course my dreams were full of dancing boxes, pirouetting fridges and Ajax Spray and Wipe packs conga lining through my loungeroom, but sleep in I did, and it was bliss. The bf and I lazed in bed, before getting up mid morning, cooking pancakes, consuming them with lashings of... not ginger beer... lemon juice and sugar (being good Anglophiles - well when it comes to food anyway! Hmm well this particular type of food let's just say!), and then bravely jumping in the car, and heading back of yesterday's crime....

..... where box upon hastily stacked box awaited us at the Flea Palace, along with a kitchen that clearly has been cleaned by the Grotty Previous Tenant's (GPT) 9-10 feral cats (we assume he must have had that many to accumulate the fleas he has, and let's face it, why should only crazy old single ladies have lots of cats?!) when they were blind drunk and using their tongue to wash down the surfaces. So as the bf scrubbed away on the fridge and the cavity it had to fit into, I wiped down cupboard door after cupboard door, Chux'd (yes it makes a particularly fetching verb doesn't it? LOL) the shelves and drawers, and developed wrinkly wet hands with crevices so deep on my fingertips I almost lost the cleaning product's bottle in them. No, really, I worked that hard!!

Eventually we tamed the Kitchen of Wishful Cleaning, made the bed up (strike one for a step towards normalcy!) and drove to Marrickville Metro for some key cutting (more on that later), grocery shopping, pizza slice and Michel's caramel tart eating (yes I was embracing the comfort food with a furious vengeance!) before heading back to my place..... where I promptly crashed out for an hour while the bf raced back to his old abode to grab clothes for the week.....

Then it was off to the Union pub for a yummy meal (Cajun Chicken and Chips, not fries! LOL) with good friends  (through driving wind and rain which was so not delightful) before heading home in fine weather, and a night hopefully NOT filled with dreams of anything but boxes, moving trucks and Chux.

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Oh, and the keys? Well the set the bf got cut at work were handed to me because (a) he wanted someone to have a set should he have early onset dementia and leave his keys in the house; and (b), and this is what made my heart go all a-flutter (whaaa I do declare!), he wanted me, as his bf, to have the keys to his apartment. Yes I was touched, and while I know the decision was partly practical, it was also romantic and made my night, sentimental fool that I am!

Project 289 - Day 32 (Saturday, 18 April, 2009): Ya Gotsta Move It, Move it!

I love to be moved.....

Watching the final scene in a dramatic movie, regardless of whether the ending is bad or good, and crying bucket loads of tears (why is there no Gatorade on tap in cinemas where it's really needed hmm?). Seeing someone surmount an impossible obstacle with sheer grit, determination, and chutzpah worthy of a champion. Seeing a friend achieve a much sought after goal and being there every agonising, joyful step of the way......

Oh yes all those moments are wonderful to be a part of, and no doubt, have been denuded of all authentic emotional resonance on some sickly inspirational poster with an eagle on it somewhere..... what I don't love to be moved by is a 3 tonne hire truck as it trundles along to Marrickville, as it trundles along to collect all the world goods of my darling man. It's not that I don't want to help him; I would happily do anything if it made my guy happy. Rather it's that I would have you gouge my kidney out with a blunt HB pencil in a fetid slum than carry boxes, and sundry furniture items up and down tiny stairwells. (Hmm, perhaps I exaggerate a tad - frankly the slum option makes boxes full of cook books look damn near inviting!) But haul boxes, schlepp fridges and dressers, and bags full of kitchen goods up and down stairs I did in a near record 4.5 hours with 3 close friends and the bf, all for the joy of knowing I have saved him a whole heap of stress, and gained a good ol' helping of KFC and Gatorade along the way (see below).

There was some drama along the way. Getting the truck in and out of a narrow driveway down the sides of the apartment block  with just 1 cm clearance below one of the overhanging balconies on the way out; occasional flares of tension over the best way to pack the truck.... and wondering if Jack would get Rose safely off the.... wait, no, that's 'Titanic'.... anyway, we were busy but surprisingly had fun laughing and joking as you do with very good friends, even in sweaty exhausting situations. It's often the only way to get through them....

But thankfully, it was done mid-afternoon, the bf & I returned the truck and then crashed for the night before pizza and a "Vicar of Dibley" episode content in the knowledge that all the boxes and furniture were out of his friend's garage, and ready to be unpacked...oh man! Why did I even let that thought cross my mind?!

Project 289 - Day 31 : I'm Keane As Mustard and Twice As Melodic

It's true. Mustard may be a great condiment, adding zest to sandwiches and dishes alike, but it has no rhythm and has no soul...

But it doesn't need to! What does matter is that, rather poor denigration of condiments jokes aside, is that Keane, one of my favourite bands ever after Coldplay is in town and rocking the Metro Theatre tonight. While you could class their music as Coldplay-like in some respects (in so much as they subscribe to roughly the same Britpop sound), they have a sound all their own; in turn rocking out, while at other times creating the most achingly beautiful, emotion-laden ballads out there that shimmer with an intensity and a lyrical delivery where you feel every lyric, every note. These guys have a gift for capturing the sort of emotion that runs out to the middle of a windswept landscape at 3 in the morning, crazy with wonder or grief, and asks why or glories in the moment, married to a melodic sensibility that matches it to the core. I find them truly moving, and I am looking forward to what will no doubt be a great concert.

Of course to get to that, I need to survive what I am sure will be a madly busy day at work thanks to yet another day not spent at the Cubicle of Death and Greyness thanks to my sore jaw. While I did answer some emails via the Crackberry yesterday - I swore I would never get that addicted but clearly I weakened! - there will be a tad of tasks to get through when I reach the corporate utopia I call home for 9-10 hours a day and I am hoping I survive it all. Ah well, at least I can look forward to pouring all that emotion into the Keane concert, and get it out of my system that way!

POSTSCRIPT: The concert was so much fun! They played all the big hits, the concert was energetic and entertaining, and the Metro Theatre, while pretty much standing room only, was a great venue with the full-on energy of a 1000 fans all screaming and hollering! Add to that a yummy tapas dinner beforehand, and it turned out to be a wonderful night with my lovely guy, that defied the exhaustion of what had been a ridiculously busy day!

Project 289 - Day 30 : Dye! Dye! Xray! Bleed!

I was pumped full of dye today!

No, it wasn't the latest in a long line of attempts to recapture the spirit of the decade of my birth by tie-dying my innards; rather, and this is far less fun than putting funky patterns on my lower intestines, the good folks at the imaging practice filled me full of iridescent harmless goo (hopefully!! I guess we'll see in 5 years time if I grow a third arm or something from the mutating effects of radiation), all the better to see the inside of my jaw which has been hurting me like crazy these past few days. The dentist on Tuesday said it wasn't my teeth and the doctor at the medical practice I foolishly frequent in Newtown wasn't sure what the problem may be and so I found myself today strapped to a bed, being pumped full of rainbow-coloured sludge and whizzed in and out of the scanner, which is apparently so bad for you that the doctor flees the room, and leaves you alone with it!!

The insertion of the goop itself was a treat too. The doctor had issues giving the dye to go into my left arm, despite a bulging healthy vein that practically leaps off my arm begging to be noticed, so he tried the right arm instead (with a vein that clearly was complicit in allowing the slime in - so Vichy of it, collaborative bunch of corpuscles that it is!) which meant I ended up with a cotton wool ball per arm (see how fetching the look is, and why it will be the in-look this Northern Hemisphere Summer, in the photo below). Yes, a delightfully white matching pair that no doubt will be slavishly copied by the hipsters on King Street as the next big fashion statement, after I walked back to my car so adorned (so as not to bleed to death, which while dramatic, is not something I want as a life goal.. or death one, depending on how you see it). 

Not content with scarring me for the day, the goo also gave me an almighty hot flush and the feeling that I was pissing my pants..... I am sure there is some medical scientist, driven to sadism by walking in a dark basement lab somewhere, chortling merrily to himself at the idea of patients feeling that fabulously sensation.... I would hunt him down and make him watch endless re-runs of "Baywatch" but frankly I need to devote all my time to meeting demand for my new cotton wool arm adornments available for $119.95 at all good, and not so good, retail outlets.

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In between becoming my very own medical Chernobyl (no doubt you can see me glowing from wherever you are), I got the fan belt on my car tightened, took numerous painkillers, read some more of my book, napped, bought a CD by Razorlight, ate a ham & cheese croissant followed by a pecan tart, and walked the length of King Street..... and I finish the main part of the day here in my bedroom, watching the sun go down, the lights of the city go on (see the photo below), and wait for my darling man to come over for dinner.... naturally we will eat by the light of my radioactive glow.... how romantic.....

Popping Weasels @ The Zeitgeist Cafe - REVIEW

READING WEASELS

"Flood"

With all the talk of climate change, a topic that consumes a great deal of debate regardless of whether your a climate change believer or sceptic, you could begin to feel like the issue is somewhat remote and academic (unless of course you are the citizen of a country of low lying atolls in which case not so academic!), or simply too large an issue to fully grasp.

Well flail no more in Hard to Grapple with Land, "Flood" does an excellent job of taking climate change, and the future of humanity on our tiny blue globe, and making it something that will resonate with you. While admittedly much of the flooding is revealed to be the result of something else entirely, the book does a very good job of postulating about mankind's fate should a watery apocalypse befall us, and trust me, it isn't pretty, civilised or a glittering affirmation of our essential nobility. Rather we come a lot worse for wear, as the titular flood consumes more and more land, and people are forced to make some very hard moral and ethical choices in order to survive.

Is it OTT? Yes. But it is strangely enough, not melodramatic, the characters work well, and while the plot pacing is a little slow and uneven at times, it's a good read, and after a long day at the corporate coal face, who doesn't want a bit of escapist disaster reading with a brain?

MUSIC WEASELS

"Junior" - Royksopp

These guys are my favourite Norwegians! It's true and they have crafted a third CD of contagiously melodic CD of electronic beats that will you tapping your feet one moment, and then drifting off to dreamy places the next.  According to Svein Berge, one half of the Norweigan electronic duo:  "If Melody A.M. (their first CD) was a relaxed journey inwards on a Sunday afternoon and The Understanding (the second CD)was more uptempo, with more vocals and a hint of melodic catchiness, then the new album is a mix of the two." They have co-opted a host of fabulous artists from the country next door, Sweden, and Robyn, Likke Li and Karin Dreijer of The Knife all add a distinct presence to music that is unashamedly joyful, fun and enchanting, an ode to joyful happy times. Listen to this if you want to feel the heady rush of Spring after the dark days of Winter and SMILE.

 

Project 289 - Day 29 : Twas Always Frantic in Outlook Land

Today I paid for having my jaw flame out on me on yesterday!

I arrived early at work - 7.30 a.m. when no one but the cubicle addicts (and you know who you are!!) were present and accounted for - to finalise a report my boss needed that day, and didn't get on the bus to freedom till 6.05 pm. Inbetween I scheduled and re-scheduled countless meetings, sat in a 2 hour one with my boss and her direct reports, raced across the campus and back getting lunches and sundry other errands, and ate lunch at my desk trying desperately hard not to engage my jaw in any significant fashion. Alas just staring at the food, and willing it to enter your bloodstream doesn't work, and so I had to chew it while rushing like a madman to get all my Outlook ducks in a row. 

That's why today's photo is a snapshot of the 5 calendars I am overseeing this week. It illustrates in a way mere words can't, just how frantic my day gets, and while most nights it takes a great deal of effort to wind down, and do little.... especially now I have my Crackb... er... Blackberry always at my side. I vowed I would not check it outside of work, but I am, and I loathe myself! OK I really don't but mildly unimpressed? Yep. So tonight, I just watched a DVD, read, talked to my man, and then slept and pretended that Outlook, Blackberries and all the sundry other technological enslavements of the 21st Century don't exist.

Project 289 - Day 28 : Honey They Just Shrunk My Liquid Available Cash! Again!

Today was an off day. 

Normally returning to work after a weekend, and a long weekend especially (when one of those New Orleans funeral parades would work a treat as a way of signifying just how un-joyful the day is), I curse the alarm, wish it was yesterday (having failed to gainfully spend the weekend mastering time travel, lots of wishing is all I have!), do all the fabulous fun things I get to do in the morning (like train travel with 100s of my closest un-emotional 'friends')... and arrive at work to marshall up some enthusiasm for the long busy day ahead.....

Only today, the niggling pain in my lower left jaw went ballistic and a relaxing breakfast of cereal, bananas and Blackberry (the communications device, not the fruit, I'm afraid, which to date is pathetically unable to display even a letter, let alone a whole email: must be why I like the fruit so much! LOL) became an urgent call to my dentist, a dash for the next Chatswood train, and that most surreal of experiences, commuting home mid-morning, when everything seems very Alice In Wonderland-ish and wrong.....

It took a delightful (haha!) 1.5 hours to get home, and my quick trip to the dentist (which was actually enjoyable thanks to the fact that the dentist is a friend, and has a brilliant sink-side manner) rapidly became a follow up trip to the doctor (when the dentist found nothing wrong) followed by a sublime trip to the radiologist for an X-ray and a CT scan.... which have been put off till Thursday because that's the earliest they could fit the CT scan in! What a simply super day it was, Edmund! (Echos of Enid Blyton here).

So it seems only fitting that the first day at work, which is technically now rated as a sick day, involved no actual resting from my ailment but multiple drives, parks, waits, and bills.... which to my utter delight will lead to another day of multiple drives, parks, waits and bills on Thursday.... yes I lead a charming existence at times...... at least I got to see the sun set over the City which normally happens on my way home so there are some small compensations on what was an extremely weird day (OK, not Donnie Darko weird but weird enough).....

Project 289 - Day 27 (Monday 13 April, 2009) : Chilling in the Soporific Waters of the Gloriously Banal

Today was the same that we went nowhere much.

After racing up to the Blue Mountains (which were a spectacular blue on Saturday) and driving across Sydney away from the usual well worn footpaths (note, Stephen, that I did not use the term 'sidewalk') yesterday, today was the day we slept in, ate yet more hot cross buns (I am sure there must be a thank you letter from the Australian Hot Cross Bun Bakers Association on it's way to us).... and went and bought groceries! Yes good old essential boring groceries.... yes we did pick up a large Lindt Easter Egg as a gift for a friend but mainly the trip to Woolies at Marrickville Metro (it's daggy as heck but I love it even so) was to get thrilling items like Listerine, vegetables, and juice..... 

We were intending to at least be semi-active and hit the shops to check out the prices of front loader washing machines for Steve's new apartment (yes the Flea Palace is nearing the move in date!), but somehow that noble idea to stimulate the Australian economy (I am also expecting a thank you letter from Kevin Rudd for doing that.... assuming he stays in Australia long enough to write the thing!) fell victim to a lunch of leftover pastizzis and salad, a nap, and then a torrential downpour (and we without our umbrellas!!)....

We did however manage to finish off the day with a delicious $10 steak dinner at the local pub where we joined by my good friend Fahmi who had just arrived back in from Singapore. I thought that I had dodged the remark that always seems to mar the end of any weekend - "Pity we have to go to work tomorrow" - when one of my friends texted it, and so I drank more wine, and pretended that I was one of the idle rich and that this wonderful Easter break, spend with the loveliest man I know, was just another chapter in a life of self-indulgence and sloth (which lasted till approximately 6 a.m. this morning when my alarm punctured that admittedly delightful delusion!)..... 

When Wacky Bunnies Ruled The Earth Part 2 - Bloody Eggs of Death

Project 289 - Day 26 : Be Very Very Fat-Inducing... We're Hunting Easter Eggs

I went on an Easter Egg Hunt today.

In my lounge room. On my way to getting a drink of water for my boyfriend... which it turned out was simply a pretext (yes I was had!! LOL) for getting me into said lounge room, where I would see Easter eggs of all colours (well mainly yellow and red but all colours sounds far more inclusive) on the coffee table, books, bookcase shelves, sculpture, and even on my M & Ms display..... to say I was delighted was an understatement (see me smiling above)! I giggled, clapped my hands and danced around the room - I am fairly certain that there were less gay displays by wildly flamboyant drag queens on Oxford Street! But hey! No one saw me, I wasn't filmed for YouTube, and I got the most wonderful surprise gift from my gorgeous guy.... in return I gave him a very understated Easter gift basket (see the photo) in electric blue material with neon coloured Easter eggs across it. Elegant, sophisticated and the sort of thing all straight men would give as gifts.....ah-huh...yep...no, no they wouldn't.....

With all the chocolate-ty calories given and discovered, we lazed around for hours, ate some hot cross buns (had them for breakfast all 4 days of Easter - YUM!), and went out for what Stephen jokingly referred to as "brunch".... at 2 pm!! After all the to-ing and fro-ing of the day before, I think a slow start was just what the Easter Bunny ordered, and so it was we found ourselves belatedly at Watsons Bay, checking out the walk along the cliff (with an hysterical un-PC commentary provided by Stephen, along with lots of botanical education - see us below), eating fish and chips from the kiosk on a beautiful balmy Autumn day (with lashings of soft drink!! LOL See Stephen above), kids threatening to do us bodily harm at every turn with soccer balls or footballs, the sun shining, and the hours sliding lazily by....

We followed up all the un-holy sloth and indolence by heading to the birthplace of leisurely hedonism in Australia - Bondi Beach (there I am posing on the railing). I was determined to get an ice cream there after a walk along the beach and back, but cooler heads prevailed (thank you Stephen for reminding just how many gigajoules were waiting back at Easter egg central!) and we stuck to walking and not eating at the same time.....

The day finished in a time of calm reflection, meditation and peace..... OR.... we headed to Pastizzi Cafe on King Street, grabbed a dozen pastizzi, a bottle of wine and watched the sun go down at the end of the sort of day long weekends are made for, a day made even sweeter by the fact that WE DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK MONDAY! YEAH!!! 

Project 289 - Day 25 (Saturday 11 April 2009) : Vaguely Pornographic Hills

So what do you do when you can't find reasonably priced accommodation in the Blue Mountains on Easter Saturday? Take your cue from the Mountains' name (nothing like a colour-specific emotional response!), or book tickets tickets for Paris instead?

...... OR realising that your VISA won't stretch to that particular rich person's fantasy (or reality in fact), you decide "Dangnabbit! (Having a rare moment of American colloquial speak where your urge to sound like a complete yokel was deliciously realised) I will not yield! As God/gods is my witness (deep burgundy shades of Scarlett O'Hara there), I shall have my weekend away, but instead of a weekend, it will be a day!" Ignoring the face that one day does not equal a weekend (except in the USA, where every bit of time off is smaller than elsewhere), you make plans to get up early on Easter Saturday, hit the road and enjoy a wonderful day amid the grandeur and beauty of one of Australia's most stunning National Parks....

..... ONLY you sleep in (after a big day of wining and dining Friday), cuddle and chill, and only then hit the road, meaning you are wrapped in the warm embrace of Parramatta Road's bitumen mid morning, and not early morning, resulting in the inestimable joy of sitting in heavy traffic up in the Mountains (see the photo above), achingly close to Leura, your cute village-like tourist-trap (albeit a beautiful one that I adore) destination.....

..... SO thinking quickly, and ever grateful that your boyfriend spent 6 years driving back and forth over the Mountains to and from Bathurst (he occasionally let himself rest, which was sensible) and knows all the back roads (drive like a local baby!), you leave the highway, race like a rally driver (albeit one that fully respects the road rules at all times, naturally) down the back road, and arrive in Leura, just in time for some shopping (where miraculously you buy nothing despite there being a Christmas ornaments shop, a book shop AND homewares shops!! I even emerged empty handed from the ye olde lolly shop! I know!!!) and lunch at what use to be the post office but is now a gallery, a restaurant and goodness knows what else....

..... THE urge to shop satiated, it's off to Blackheath and a chance to get back to nature. Well the tourist-shaped, officially sanctioned bit of nature anyway over at Govett's Leap where you join many other people in taking a breath taking view. You even walk down a very steep set of muddy sandstone stairs (realising all too late that your fabulous shoes are simply not designed for mountain goat hiking darling!), do the "I'm the King of the World!" schtick from "Titanic" (and do it fabulously well, I might add!), ooh and ahh at the scenery one more time, and then die a thousand lung-rattling deaths as you climb the now insanely steep stairs back to the car park where you collapse into your car (OK a tad too dramatic; I slid gracefully but breathing well-challenged into it) before driving to shop for antiques (got my gorgeous man the fabbest present ever, alas in clear view of him, unavoidable since we were driving together) and buying some Logan Brae apple juice that tastes like...wait for it... actual apples!! I know! What madness is this?!

..... THEN realising it's 5.15 pm, and far too early for an idyllic mountain dinner (with 1000s of your favourite fellow tourists), unless you plan to start eating like you're retired 25 years ahead of time (no thank you!!), you hit the road, bidding a fond farewell to one of the loveliest place's in Australia, survive the traffic going home (where apparently it's Drive Like an F1 Driver Day and me without my leathers!! How embarreshment!) and though exhausted, have dinner with two wonderfully close friends, Peter, and Ian (see below), at Cammeray, where you laugh, talk, and enjoy the company of those you love, relaxed in the way only a holiday can do.

..... TILL you realise you still have to drive the last small section home before collapsing into bed, with nary a tariff to be seen (but also alas no chocolates on the pillows either), but also the warmth and snuggleyness (I am sure it's word really!) of your own place enveloping you..... so ends a day away, a day where you realise that the best things in life are simple and free.... well as long as you have VISA or Mastercard, a car, and a job to pay for them.... then they are so free.... yep free as a freakin' bird :)

Project 289 - Day 24 (Friday April 10, 2009) : Lunches Without End Are the Happiest of Them All

Content here soon hopefully not like NSW Govt promises!!)

Easter - When Wacky Bunnies Ruled the Earth

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Project 289 - Day 23 : The ears were tall, pink and waving gently in the April wind

I wear fake rabbit ears. There I've said it! Phew - I feel so much better. All these years I have been hiding the truth about my rabbit ears fetish and now I can walk tall and proud, confident that wearing rabbit ears doesn't diminish me as a man but rather...... 

Right that got you in didn't it?! I mean who wants some namby pamby nothing start to a blog entry when you can have a kinky fetish-confessional opening? The only true part about that sensational first paragraph is that I wore rabbit ears. At work. Today. In front of straight people... and they loved it! The fact that it was the day before Good Friday no doubt helped my cause (who doesn't love a seasonally-appropriate gay man hamming it up hmmmm?!) , as did hosting the hot cross bun and itsy bitsy teeny weeny chocolate Easter egg morning tea. I figured that all that Easter-ness demanded an in character performance and so I donned the ears, played the part, and let them eat buns....

While it was not exactly a Sipping-Pina-Coladas-By-The-Optus-Pool relaxed kind of day, it was a little more chilled than most of my frenetic days and I even managed to squeeze lunch in with my good friend Justin, and catch up on all sorts of admin tasks since my boss and many co-workers had started Easter early and taken Thursday off.... I can understand taking the extra time off but missing out on free hot cross buns, baby Easter eggs (cruelly separated from their mother too early, poor chocky babies!), and more particularly me in rabbit ears?! Ah well -  their loss! LOL

Project 289 - Day 22 : There's Nothing Like a Sausage in Your Mouth

I have a window desk at work. 

Left like that, that sentence reads like an incredibly self-indulgent piece of corporate oneupmanship that Gordon Gecko would have gloried in. In context, it explains today's fun activity at work - yes I used the word 'fun' and 'work' in the same sentence, and no, I am not using the sorts of drugs that Ben Cousins is now ignoring! - has a lot to do with the view I have which takes in buildings E & F and the lovely courtyard (including duck ponds) that lies between those buildings and the one that houses my Cubicle of Greyness and Death. For just below my window lies the BBQ Ampitheatre area where countless work groups from across all the divisions have BBQs day in and day out, while we toil away like ADHD worker bees. Did we ever use it? Bar a windy rainy day last Melbourne Cup day where we were lucky we weren't blown clear across Sydney into the Harbour, we have sadly ignored this playpen of workplace fun.

Well no more!! Yesterday, using sausages Sammi had brought for another BBQ to celebrate her 1st year at Optus (which was rained out; the BBQ not the 1st year at work!), and gathering close a good group of work friends, we sizzled up gourmet snags, chops and kebabs, put tomato sauce and BBQ sauce on bread, scooped up salads and enjoyed a brief break from the pell mell world we usually inhabit. My chief claim to fame was being the Head Chef and BBQ Guru, which was an unaccustomed super macho role for me but one I inhabited gracefully and enjoyed! I even burnt a sausage or two, thus keeping alive that most sacred of Aussie BBQ rites - the Carcinogenic Snag. Who said I don't respect tradition?! LOL

Project 289 - Day 21 : The Thin Blue Line of Happiness

I am not entirely if my intense eyes in this shot are a sign of a man absolutely committed and fixated on getting fit, eager to jump into the pool and do as many laps as his tired body will allow; OR of a man trying desperately hard to will himself into a state of being committed and fixated yada yada blah blah.... whatever the reason for the scarily intense blue eyes, I took the shot tonight just before going swimming in the indoor 25m lap pool that sits snugly next to the gym in my apartment complex. Most nights I try to get home and swim but the reality is that most nights since my bronchitis attack in January have revolved more around everything else but swimming.

Well, no more! Last night I got the Speedos off the towel rack where they had resigned themselves to being a pretty piece of decorative lycra for goodness knows how long (who is this Goodness person by the way, and how does she know so much, and should I get an AVO while there's still time? Things to ponder), found my goggles (fortunately under the ever-so-decorative Speedos), and headed off to the pool to try to recapture my past swimming glories. No, I'm not talking gold medals at the Olympics but I am guessing you probably worked that out for yourselves. What I am referring to is the fact that I used to swim 1.5 km without stopping, a feat of endurance that left me, after a few short months, buffed, muscular and ready for anything. Well almost anything. I still have no wish to see Pauline Hanson naked and there's nothing swimming could do to prepare for me for that even if the photos turned out to be fake!

I did surprise myself last night swimming 500m without stopping and then a further 250m before wisely deciding to give my body a rest, relax in the afterglow of endorphins racing like frenzied commuters through my body, and indulge in the feeling of fitness virtue that had eluded me, yea these long few months since January.....

Cheery Optimism on a Cold, Grey Tuesday, The Nothing Day of the Week

Project 289 - Day 20 : Kohi o nomismasu ka? Hai! (Would you like to drink a cup of coffee? Yes!)

I am usually the sort of person who eschews mind-numbing routines that repeat themselves ad nauseum,  like Nathan Rees (NSW Premier) runs from actually governing the state of NSW in any meaningful fashion. But I do make some exceptions, and one of those time-honoured traditions is the fetching of the Regular Skinny Chai Latte from Rocket, the funky salad place previously mentioned in this blog, with my chief fag hag and BFF at work, Sammi. Somewhere around 9 -9.15 (you will notice that I at least don't get up from my desk at 9 a.m. on the dot each morning, like some obsessive compulsive java addict! OK it's not much of a break from stereotypical rut-following behaviour but it's the best I can offer) Sammi and I wander down the long hallways of building A, cut across the courtyard to Building E, and join the line for coffee, Chai, and sometimes even multi grain toast with honey (yes I am a rebel wild child!! LOL)

Apart from giving me a lovely chance to swap goss., life events and life's war stories with Sammi, it also forces me to step away from my desk, something that is extremely difficult to do in my line of work. If I didn't build in little snippets of caffeine-fueled routine (yes I am trying to justify my rut-gripping, and I would thank you to let me be as defensive as hell!! LOL), as well as lunches with good friends, I would never leave the confines of the Cubicle of Death and Greyness, and that would be a greater crime than carving a channel of sameness through the mono-colourful landscape of my working world. (Yes it is impressive how I have managed to turn a day in, day out slab of routine into an assuming of the work/life balance high ground. It is a rare talent!)

Project 289 - Day 19 : Going to the Temple and We're Gonna Get a Splerken Meiken!

One of the things I regret most about my life is that I don't own a mansion. Now lest you think I crave so much space I could fit entire football teams into broom closets (and have space left over for a netball team or two), the reason I want such a large dwelling is purely so I could go to IKEA all the time and come back with all sorts of fabulously coloured furniture in flat packs with badly worded and drawn directions, and spend my days wondering why I craved going to IKEA all the time!

Alas the space in my apartment is infinite (despite my attempts to kick a hole in the space/time continuum and have access to endless alternate universes, each with their own apartments to fill with pretty red pieces of furniture) so my trips to IKEA are few and far between. But the Bf is in need of furniture for his newly rented 2 bedroom kingdom and so we headed off to IKEA today, or the Temple as I affectionately call it, he to look at wardrobes, bookcases, and me to get another Benno (funky CD/DVD storage units that go up and not across the wall in brilliant reds, shiny silvers etc) and some bits and pieces from the Knicken-Knacken department (OK there isn't one but it feels like there is when I am in it whatever they call the fun coloured gadgets area!).

We ended up spending two hours in there, wandering through the two levels, and I got my Benno and sundry fun things (including burnt orange magazine holders) and he got lots of great ideas. I will admit that it's not always the best furniture in the world, but it is fun, it has a cool style, and a few pieces of IKEA magic here and there can really make a place come alive.....plus it's so much fun to shop in, especially with someone as much fun as the Bf. IKEA also explains my great fondness for Scandinavia - first ABBA, and now fun furniture. What can't the Swedes do? I wait with baited breath for their next move into the world, and I have my wallet ready and willing to be opened!!

Project 289 - Day 18 (Saturday 4 April, 2009) : Saturday Child's is Chock Full of Vindaloo

Now that that my Bf's unit has been signed for on the dotted line, and he won't be homeless and and wandering the streets with his sundry possessions, Saturdays are free, up for grabs, and no longer timetabled according to real estate agent's capricious whims. While I had vague plans for venturing to the new unit complex going up next door, and seeing how much of an apartment I can't afford (ah yes Sydney - real estate S & M is big here! LOL), I gave up that up in favour of seeing my friend Fahmi before he jets off to Singapore (for more food that you can poke a chilli crab at!), chilling at home while my lovely guy caught up with an old friend for lunch, reading the paper, napping, and then spending quality time with the bf lazing around. That's the best part about weekends for me since my week's are so highly regulated - doing absolutely freaking nothing on a non-existent timetable!

The one fixture in this blurred day of nothingness was dinner with my very close friends Warren, Ian & Peter at Peter's favourite restaurant, Malabar over in Crow's Nest. The dosai, a chickpea pastry rolled wafer thin and filled with all sorts of spicy potato and meat dishes, were as delicious as ever and we followed them with Beef Vindaloo (the kind that does leave some parts of your mouth intact and functioning!), Lamb Saagwala (no Popeye effects from the spinach at all  dang!), Chicken Chettinad, a goat curry and a curry to keep PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) - eggplant and potato! Washed down with some crisp white wines, we waddled home via the gelato bar and somehow didn't wake up this morning the size of Biggest Loser contestants! 

The thing I appreciate most about nights like this is the chance to see my three closest friends, now joined by my bf whom they all like (thank goodness - but then was there any doubt they would?!), and just kick back, talk, and be reminded that even though life gets harried, stressed, and down right Rottweiler-nasty at times, that the spirit of it all is suffused by the warmth and generosity of friends.... and curry....and wine..... and gelato....

Project 289 - Day 17 (Friday 3 April, 2009): Then The Week Ended and All the Good Folk of Erskineville Rejoiced

Most weeks I arrive at the Most Blessed Day of the Week, TGIF (Thank God It's Friday!), exhausted, Outlooked-out (it's a word and a definable medical condition) and wanting nothing more than to eat a take away Indian curry, drink some white wine (hello Verdelho!) and chill out as my brain melts into a featureless goo watching a movie conceived by Hollywood executives on a bender at a strip joint in Vegas. But I bucked that trend tonight by heading to the Village of Erskineville (I am fairly sure the capitals are an integral part of the name and the suburb would sound the same without it) via some of the lovely lane ways and streets that run from my apartment complex through to Newtown eventually, and having a yummy dinner at a Thai restaurant called "Stir Crazy Thai" (see below, by night).... with wine... so how is this different from my usual Friday night indulgence? Oh yeah, no brain dead movie! I knew it was completely different! 

Now Erskineville/Newtown has more Thai restaurants per square centimetre than just about anywhere in Sydney, and findong one with even a shred of originality and verve is a challenge but "Stir Crazy Thai" is in a funky older building, has some interesting dishes and on most nights very good service (tonight, alas, was NOT one of those nights!). It is also the restaurant where I had my first date with my gorgeous bf and so it has a lot of sentimental meaning for me. We even managed to score an outside table tonight - admittedly at the entrance so getting bumped and jostled by other patrons was a real possibility but we emerged unscathed - and had a romantic dinner staring dreamily into each other's eyes, drinking wine, and soaking up the idiosyncratic nightlife of this most unique of suburbs.

Project 289 - Day 16 (Thursday 2 April) : The Car Repair Bill That Ate Paris (and Some Surrounding Suburbs)

"Hi, My Name is Andrew, and I am NOT a Petrolhead"..... "Hi Andrew"..... 

If there's one thing you can say about me, and I appreciate the list is endless, positive and glowing (ah if only! LOL), it's that I don't love cars, Bunnings, or most sports (with the exception of Basketball, which is a blast to watch so fast and furious is it, and AFL because the men look so smokin' hot in their uniforms! YUM!). Top of this list, and standing alone for many years atop the dais, is my dislike of cars. Now if I recall correctly, cars have never done anything to me, and to date I have not been attacked, mauled or otherwise harmed by a Hateful Hyundai, Ticked-off Toyota, or a Nasty Nissan. They have taken me to movies, concerts, dinners with close friends, and any number of wonderful events. You would have to say that by any measure they are useful, and valuable. BUT.....

Ah yes, the much expected BUT.....That's the key point though. They are a means to a fun end, and not, contrary to the belief of many a petrol head, fabulously wonderful in and of themselves. Hence any relationship I have with my car, Fido, hinges delicately, and always at the risk of collapse on, it's ability to get me to these desirable locales, and at the lowest possible cost. I will happily waste my hard earned dollars on any number of DVDs, CDs, books, dinners out or concerts, but should my car so much as hint at the need for a part of any kind, it's in the metaphorical dog box....

Well it didn't just step into the dog box today; it pretty much hurled itself into the box, rolled around in, and snuggled up close to anyone unfortunate to be there at the time. In a breathtakingly audacious move, it has cost me, in just 4 short weeks about $2500, an amount that would have got me to Vancouver, Canada and back, and left me some money over to go shopping on Robson Street and take my friends out to dinner.... and yet all I get is car that while admittedly in better shape than it was, looks exactly the same as it did before. The least it could do, and sadly it hasn't even taken a step in this direction, is to re-fashion itself into an Audi TT. It didn't even try! For shame, Fido, for shame!

Project 289 - Day 15 (Wednesday - April Fool's Day) : Making the Day Go Bye Bye Bye

So how do I cope with my enormously stressful Outlook fueled days, when I rush from hither to yon (Hither I like; Yon not so much) moving like a lightweight pinjata swinging in a heavy breeze, just waiting for sugar-jumped up kids to swing sticks at me? (It is highly unusual that my day will involve children beating me with sticks after too much red and yellow food colouring and cake and for that I am extremely grateful - thank god for good OH & S policies!)

Why I eat of course! Beloved by stressed out work monkeys everywhere, inappropriate food intake saves many a day beset by more problems than my boyfriend's new apartment has fleas! To be fair, I am careful about my caloric intake, usually primarily because it is very easy as you sit in the Cubicle o' Death and Greyness to eat far too much and have people remarking that you bear a striking resemblance to the Michelin Man (and they're not talking about his representation of excellent tyre safety! LOL). My one great vice in a day is my can of Pepsi Max (or two), which I know isn't good for me but hey, I don't drink coffee, smoke, or smuggle flasks of vodka into work so I figure one small can of black-coloured vice won't kill me. 

OK it well could, but best not to think about that, open the can, eat a snack, and try to figure out how to squeeze one more meeting into an already crowded calendar that could well explode just like the overeater in "The Meaning of Life"..... BOOM!