Odyssey Updates

If you're like my dad and didn't realise that the Odyssey update page was in fact being continually updated, maybe you'd like to check it out.

There was a little swine flu scare moment there but (SPOILER!) everyone is fine and the trip continues.

Skywalker will arrive in Adelaide on Monday and I get him Wednesday morning. (I have joint custody with our grandma while he's here.) Things we are planning: ice-skating, the Beach House, Aussie Pizza, ultimate frisbee, DVD marathons, and driving in my car.

Adelaide Odyssey 09: Wicked.

Medal Heroes

When I played junior basketball, our end of year presentations were fairly predictable. Myself, Flick, and Bee were the ones who showed for every training and every game. We knew we were likely to get trophies, the only variable was for what. I have every variety of Coaches Award; I was rarely if ever the best player on the team but I was Most Consistent, Best Team Player, etc.

I had no presumptions of getting a medal at the Social Frisbee grand final last night. (If anything, I would have bet on Most Improved or Best New Player for League.) I also didn't care, which is unusual for me. I knew I wasn't Most Spirited and there are about a billion better players than me out there. And yet somehow ...

2009 Semester One Female MVP For Flinders University Ultimate Frisbee Social League.

I am very honoured, and pretty sure I need to play a shitload better next season to earn it.

The Odyssey

At my school (which is now my brother's school) the Year 11s do a trip down the east coast. This trip, called the Odyssey, flies them from Darwin to somewhere on the north-east of the country (I went to Cairns, skywalker went to Brisbane) then busses them all the way down the east coast, visiting theme parks, national monuments, and (for most, for the first time) SNOW.

Skywalker left yesterday and will be travelling for two weeks before finishing the Odyssey in Melbourne and flying to Adelaide to visit me. This will be the update page for his adventures.

Mon 15, 11:03am: Odyssey!
(Me: Whoo dude have an awesome time and keep me updated)
Mon 15, 11:51am: Kk. C u in 2 weeks.

Mon 15, 6:36pm: Just got my luggage from brisbane.
(Me: Cool i just watched my breath at frisbee)

Thurs 18, 5:39pm: *sigh* i have managed to lose my Tower of Terror photo already... :(

Fri 19, 1:37pm: We're in SYD!
(Me: Have an awesome time and don't fall off the bridge. How's it going?)
Fri 19, 6:35pm: Lol, kk. Cold but awesome. Going to the rugby atm

Mon 22, 9:55am: This is insane. We have been driving for like 1 1/2 hours and we are still in syd

(Me, Mon night: I won female MVP!)
Tues 23, 3:09am: Wooo! Gratz.
Tues 23, 7:10am: It is now -2...
Tues 23, 9:48am: Snow is fun!!

Wed 24, 12:47pm: Btw may not be coming to Adelaide
(Me: Whaaaaaaaat?)
Wed 24, 1:58pm: 2 kids with flu maybe swine flu, getting tested. Whole bus could be quarrantined
(Me: Where are you now? You just chillin on the bus?)
Wed 24, 1:13pm: Yeah in ACT. Prob not gonna get to origin.
(Me: If ur quarrantined will you make up the time? Get to melb late?)
Wed 24, 1:43pm: Melb in 2 or 4 days. We are going to origin. Ppl who have been in the same groups as sickies will be tested tomorrow. Its unlikely that it is swine flu. If it was we would all be sick by now.
(Me: Kk. Also there will be frisbee training and possibly pick up game you can come to if ur here on a monday)
Wed 24, 1:56pm: Yes!!!!

Wed 24, 6:41pm: Im at origin, straight behind the goals, near the QLD contingent
Wed 24, 8:26pm: 6-18, QLD up
(Me: Nice and cold?)
Wed 24, 8:28pm: Yes but it isnt too bad
Wed 24, 8:28pm: Nsw just scored
Wed 24, 9:56pm: QLD WIN!!!

Thurs 25, 7:51am: 4 ppl confirmed as flu *might* be swine flu
(Me: When do you find out?)
Thurs 25, 5:13pm: Tomorrow at the latest
(Me: Cool. What did they let you do today?)
Thurs 25, 5:20pm: War memorial, ANZAC parade, AIS, aust museum, art gallery and had a look at the embassies
(Me: Oh cool. So they're letting you do stuff. Any sniffles?)
Thurs 25, 6:08pm: Yeah but i had them the whole trip. They are from the cold
(Me: Good stick with that story. And if all the ais athletes come down with it...!)
Thurs 25, 6:11pm: Lol yeah

Fri 26, 6:06pm: There is no swine flu, we are all ok

Sat 27, 4:30pm: In in wicked atm, @ interval
(Me: Jealous. Is it awesome?)
Sat 27, 5:15pm: It was wicked

Sun 28, 2:32pm: My feet are sore...And chelsea has blisters
(Me: Thanks for the update. You at the footy atm?)
Sun 28, 2:36pm: Nah he made it non compulsesy so i didn't go
(Me: Dude i'm at work i could've seen you on tv! What are you doing instead?)
Sun 28, 2:38pm: Playing cars with chel and emma
(Me: That's the most exciting thing you could find to do in melb?)
Sun 28, 2:40pm: Yeah Lol Nah our feet are sore
(Me: Go sit on a tram! What time is your flight tomorrow? Do you have to wait after the others come back? Anyone else coming?)
Sun 28, 2:48pm: I cant be bothered with the tram, in ou use but i will check, i think i will be about the same time, no one else
(Me: Cool. call gma before you leave so she picks you up. And call me when you're at hers and we can make a plan)
Sun 28, 2:50pm: Kk

(Me: Hey girlies. My bro is down from darwin and we're going iceskating his last night. We'd love you to join us, fri 3 7:30 til 11pm. Cost is $17. Hope to see you soon)
Sun 28, 5:32pm: Lol kk
(Me: Should be a good night)
Sun 28, 5:33pm: Hell yeah, tell me who else says yes

Mon 29, 9:11pm: I'm here!

Isn't it all just fascinating? I'm riveted. Also, I wish I had some pics of my trip to show you. I took five rolls of pre-digital film. That doesn't seem like so many photos now, but it was hells expensive to develop.

The weekly thing that made me roll me eyes before I realised it was the most Awesome Thing Ever

It's currently like -853905 degrees here at the moment, so I've been looking for a new winter jacket. For some bizarre reason, like I cannot even fathom what the designers were thinking, almost none of the jackets I've found and liked include a hood. Seriously, why?

This is where this product comes in:



I know what it looks like, and yes, it is actually a beanie attached to a scarf, but you know what, kooky head-slash-neckwear designers? You have achieved what, for some reason, the crackheads over in jackets have not been able to.

ETA: And also? It's gloves!

Plans Just Aren't What They Used To Be

I think I'm going to blame mobile phones for this one.

In the old days, you would make a plan, sometimes weeks or months in advance, and you would have the relevant details (when, where, for how long, etc) way beforehand and set in stone. This was because you didn't have a mobile that you could use to text someone two minutes before you were supposed to meet them, telling them you all of a sudden weren't coming.

Mobiles have enabled us to call our parents for a ride or our mates for a spur of the moment ice cream mission, but they have also encouraged us to be poorly planned and inconsiderate of other people and prior plans.

Here's an idea, youth of today: make a plan, stick to it. Want to go to dinner? Let's decide to go to dinner! And let's actually go to dinner, when and where we said we would.

Sporting Heroes

I would like to offer two shout-outs to the sporting heroes of today. (As in, like, actually this day today, not as in today this vague region of time.)

The first one is to myself, who stayed for frisbee training, even though we don't have any more League games, and even though it was only 12 degrees and pelting down with rain (a talent I didn't know Adelaide possessed) (the decent rain part, not the cold part) (Adelaide is excellent at doing cold, a fact I tried to block out but which keeps being forced back to me), and even though hail was forecast, and even though I dropped every catch in the Social game prior to training except for the really hard one against like three boys. High five to me!

The second one goes out to my brother, skywalker, whose basketball team won their preliminary final tonight, against probably all predictions except mine, and did it fairly impressively if he did say so himself, 65-36. Nice work, boys, now kick arse in the grand final!

Any other sporting heroes out there today?

Helpful Heroes

Yesterday in the car park at work, we were trying to put my new headlight globe in, and having minimal success, when a nice trolley boy came over and offered his assistance. In five minutes it was all done, and he wandered off back to his trolleys.

Today at work I put through an adidas Originals t-shirt for a young girl and her friend. We were all shocked when it came up at $11.99 and she was justifiably delighted. Unfortunately, we didn't have any left in my size, but wait, maybe the Darwin store does. It does! And now my dad will pick one up for me and a friend from work, and he will send it down to us out of the kindness of his heart.

He doesn't know this yet, but it will happen. Hey dad, I'll call you in a few, ok? We'll chat.

First Car

Today I officially took possession of my first car. I have a feeling my car's name may be Jack or perhaps Jackie but this is yet to be established.

If anyone in the Adelaide/SA area needs a ride, I am totally up for it! Wanna go get dinner? I'll drive! Need me to pick you up after a big night out? I'm there. I estimate this will last approximately a week, or until I realise that a car, unlike a scooter, does not in fact cost five dollars to fill up.

Phrasebook-Writing Heroes

Cathy from Work (who I'm sure I gave some cleverly-disguised nickname once upon a time, which I now can't remember, so Cathy it is) is going to Europe later in the year, and is naturally very excited about all this. Considering I work in a bookshop which is currently giving away free copies of a French phrasebook, the ideal going-away pumping-up tool seemed obvious.

It was hilarious to read what the writers felt were necessary phrases to be able to say should one find themselves in a foreign country.

Condoms, pregnancy tests, drag queens, and "discos" (hee) all made an appearance, but my favourite came a the end of page filled with "Do you come here often?" "Will you walk me home?" "I like you" "Let's make love" "Do you like this?" Yes, that is nice" "No, stop!"-type phrases.

"Never mind, I'll do it myself."

That is one self-sufficient traveller right there.

Ultimate Heroes

Unfortunately lost our Ultimate grand final, but my cleats did awesomely, and I got a catch and an assist. Yay Ultimate!

Heroes Of The Roads

Today at work my Crazy Manager was all, "I hope my tire isn't flat when I go home" and "It was on a lean" and "I noticed when I went to get petrol last night." Dude, last night? You went to get petrol, your car was on a lean, and you didn't feel the need to pump up your tires?

Turns out, she'd never done it before, and since my hero of a father forced me to learn how to pump up and change car tires the second I got my Ls, I could be the hero of modern women everyone by spreading the independence a little and teaching her how.

(Not to mention she got to be my hero by driving me home instead of me having to catch the bus then walk from Marion in the cold and the rain and the dark.)

Then on the way home we were stopped at some lights when we saw a car heroically not run over an old man, and cause a three-car rear-ending for his trouble.

PS: Today I bought a car and I will get it on Friday. Emma-From-Work (who is selling her car to me) is my hero!

NaBloPoMo June: Heroes

I don't even remember how to - oh! So you press these little things here with the letters on them on and - hey! Words on the screen! That's just amazing.

Day One of NaBloPoMo for June 2009. (This should in no way indicate to you that there will be any subsequent days of NaBloPoMo for June 2009 or indeed any other month.) The theme is "Heroes" and your time starts ... now.

Heroes is an awesome tv show. At least it was. I'm not so sure now but I think it still might be. The guys are still hot, so that's cool. Season One was completely brilliant, and at the time it was one of the best shows on tv. Save the cheerleader, save the world. The show had a focus, the characters had goals, and the massive cast was, for the most part, awesome.

Season Two, not so much, and in fact I think I might have blocked most of it out as not much is springing to mind. I think there were some good ideas that didn't really come off and some bad (read: boring) plots that went on faaar too long.

And Season Three. Some flashes of the old Heroes I thought. (The parking garage in the ice was CLASSIC.) Claire's hair? Dude, ew. The ending? Weak, guys. Be man enough to actually kill someone if you're going to, as we all know it's not going to stick.

I have high hopes for Season Four, but Heroes, you better get your act together. A clearly defined mission, a little continuity, make rules for your mythology and stick to them, and I'd totally appreciate it. Cos I love you.