Book-Sharing Challenge

Between my brother and I, we belong to about seven different libraries. We like to read, and we like to force our books on each other share what we read. Sometimes we are too busy, however, and the other person is all, "But dude, it's awesome. You really need to read it. Like, now."

And so, the Book-Sharing Challenge has begun.

Each month, one of us recommends a book for the other. The next month, the recommendee writes a post reviewing the recommender's choice. Then we switch.

This is a good way to:
Make me read something that's not a textbook and do something with my free time that isn't watch One Tree Hill.
Discover new authors.
Talk to each other. Although, we are seeing each other twice a week (as a result of our unofficial Sport-Sharing Challenge, where he plays ultimate and I play wheelchair basketball), so maybe that's not really necessary.

The first ever challenge is already up, and in between Challenges/Challenge Reviews we will be posting other book- and reading-related stuff, so if you're into that kind of thing, you should stop by.

Bits and Pieces

Some cool stuff happened on blogs recently:

My pretty sparkly wedding shoes were featured on Shoe Friday. They are sparkly!

I won a hockey tournament! Pretty sure that's what happened anyway. (That's not what happened, but other truly amazing things did.)

***

Some stuff happened in real life, too:

My dad came to visit me and we had lots of fun times. Including my baby brother's 18th. 18!

Six months ago I started dating some guy. And now six months later, we've been going out for six months! (And as a reward, I get to go see Disney On Ice later this year.)

***

Some sport was in there as well:

Safire came 7th at Nationals (which is brilliant!) and won the Your New Uniforms Are Awesome competition.

I went to a doctor about my heel that I injured in January. He was like ... so, you were busy for four months? Um, yes. Yes I was. (No diagnosis yet, scans this week.)

***

And uni happens even when I try to ignore it:

So far, I have been given a Pass, Credit, and Distinction. All I need now is a High Distinction and we've covered all the grades!

I have learned that people are annoying and make me feel the need to use CAPS at them, I need three or four days to write an essay, and I much prefer analysing books than business models.

***

All of these could have had their own posts, but I do not think that was likely to happen, and waiting for time to write one post would have just given more things time to be added to the list. Now I can tick ALL these things off the list!

Stolen

Today at work my housemate called to say we had been broken into. It looked like nothing had been taken but I should check when I got home.

I checked. Something had been taken. All my jewelery.

A couple of Christmases ago, Skywalker bought me a lovely silver jewelery box. I kept it in a shelf with other 'looking pretty' stuff - hair clips and ribbons and costume jewelery. The jewelery box was there, but open, and empty. (The stuff I had lying around on my dresser was untouched. And it was Tiffany, too. Idiot thieves.)

None of it was very expensive. Although the pendant and matching ring my Grandma gave me for my 18th wouldn't have been exactly cheap, it wasn't that expensive and it was the most valuable of the lot. But I started making a list for the cops, and everything item on the list, instead of starting with 'gold' or 'sapphire' began with the occasion or person connected to it: "18th" "Confirmation" "Gma/Winky".

When my Grandmother died, she passed on a pearl necklace to my dad. He gave it a friend of the family (after whom I was named), and when she died, she gave it back to him. When I got it, there was a note, all yellowed and creased, saying she felt she'd only been holding it for him for me.

I don't wear it that much; it's pretty but fairly old-fashioned looking. But I wore it for my birthday this year. I'm wearing it in that photo, although you can't see it very well. (Yeah, turns out all the times I'm photographed wearing my jewelery, the photos are of me, not my neck or fingers or wrists. Shocking, I know.) When I got home that night, I took it off, carefully placed it in its box, and teared up as I read the note. If only I had been a bit sloppier, tossed it down, carelessly left it on the dresser, I would probably still have it.

I called my dad straight away. To tell him what had happened, so someone would give me a hug, even if it was from across the country. But the real reason was to say: I'm sorry, Dad and Winky and Grandma V. You all kept it for me and I didn't manage to keep it safe, but I tried.

And now some loser who didn't even know to wear gloves when breaking and entering has my memories, and is probably giving them to his crackwhore of a girlfriend as we speak. Happy Important Family Mementos Day, fucker.

Eating And Driving

This visit from the boys was a little different to our past ones. No big trips were scheduled - no Great Ocean Road or Odyssey Trip. No old favourites were automatically pencilled in - probably due to the mere six month gap between this and the last visit.

Instead we had zero plans, unless they were of the Last Minute or What Should We Do Tomorrow? or That Sounds Cool variety. This resulted in what shall be known as the Holiday Of Eating And Driving.

We ate at bakeries, pubs, pancake houses, all-you-can-eat diners. We drove north (to a wheelchair basketball game that just finished), south (to the Fruchocs factory, where we proceeded to add imperfect chocolates to our menu), east (to Hahndorf, home of bakery, pub, and elusive doughnut place), and ... actually we didn't drive west, as that's the beach, and this is winter.

It was the holiday of frisbee, BSG, card games, and books. And for the old guys it was the holiday of woodturning.

It was pretty awesome, as always.

Which is more fascinating? A frisbee blog or a knitting blog?

It is winter here in Australia, the alleged land of eternal sunshine and hot weather. IT'S A LIE, I TELL YOU. Not the winter part, the sunshine part. The winter part is very very true right now, and very very cold.

The other thing that's happening right now is that frisbee is taking a little holiday. It's flown off to play in the sunshine (and lightning storms, so I hear) of Prague. Go Smurf!* This is awesome for me, because it means I get a whole month off** in which to eat, do zero exercise, and get massively fat and lazy.

*And Pie Wagon and Kaboom! And u19s and u23s, coming soon to a Germany and Italy near you.

**Actually, it has come to my attention that I have to go back to school frisbee next Monday. Robbed!

So I find myself in need of a project. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to tackle something I've never done before, which results in a very tangible way to measure how good I am (or not) at said new skill. Two bad ideas that taste awesome together.

I have decided to knit a scarf.

I found the address of a knitting shop, went in and told the woman what I wanted to do. She presented me with all kinds of options - for designs, for patterns, for wool - all of which were met with a vague "Um, yes? I don't really know. I guess so?" Once she cottoned on (that's not really a knitting pun) to the fact that I had less than no clue about all this stuff, she made a decision on the pattern, told me which section of wools I should be looking at, and left me to pick a colour that took my fancy.

I chose a purple mixed with black, paid for it all (I would never really pay $30 for a scarf), and that's how I ended up sitting in Adelaide airport with my dad and my brother (Skywalker was surprisingly good at following the pattern instructions, by the way) trying to figure out which exact piece of wool I was supposed to put the needle under and then around? Or though there? Oh well, that'll do! (In case it's not obvious, I would welcome any help the internet has to offer!)

I think my stilted efforts were causing pain to the lady sitting across from us, but she came over and whipped off a couple of stitches and flipped it around and got me going again - all at a supersonic speed - without laughing or crying, so all was well.

Yesterday I decided to figure out this casting off business, so I am now the proud owner of ... maybe a wristband? A remote control rest? An unassembled scrunchie? Plus I have started on the official scarf, which is currently about as long as my practice piece.

I feel like a month may not have been enough time for this project.

17

You can pretend we're making 1-7 instead of two 7s.

I feel a little sorry for 17. It's sandwiched between 16 (drivers licence) and 18 (alcohol) and so fades into the background. But I liked 17. It was year 12, other people's 18ths, and lots of basketball. But as far as parties go, yep, 17 gets shafted. You want to save up (financially and partyingly) for the big one next year.


Party time!

And also speechily, which is why this post is not going to drag up all the embarrassing stories I could mention, in favour of saving them up to be used in twelve months' time.


Besides, who needs embarrassing stories when you have embarrassing photos?

Instead, I will just tell a little story of something that happened, not in an awkward childhood moment, but just a few weeks ago. It didn't strike me as anything massive at the time, but when I had it pointed out to me, I had to agree it is pretty cool.


How did we get so cool?

Wonders and I were out bookshopping when I came across a book we were interested in that I wasn't sure if I had back home or not. The following conversation ensued:
*ring ring*
Little Bro: Hey.
Me: Hey man, just checking if we have A Book?
Little Bro: I dunno.
Me: Just go look!
Little Bro: Yeah... no it's not here.
Me: Sweet. Thanks dude. See ya!
Little Bro: Later.
This was repeated approximately five minutes later, although that one ended with a promise of a book being sent to me.

Like I said, it was nothing, and I thought nothing of it. But Wonders (who has a sister in the same city, not a brother across the country) thought it was so awesome that I could call him up for a five-second query. And I agree, especially because I am equally able to call him up for a ten minute frisbee update or an hour chat about anything from English homework to the awesomeness of wheelchair basketball to ice-skating plans for two months from now.

And that is just one reason why it is my pleasure to wish my little brother (aka skywalker) a very Happy Birthday! Hope 17 is awesome for you, kiddo.

Meet Nepture. Or maybe Sebastian. Or Eric.

This post is for skywalker, who I'm pretty sure is thisclose to flying down here and stabbing me with my own unicorn if I don't get these pictures up rightnow.

A. For Christmas last year, skywalker and I both got little magnet men, which provided us much entertainment on our Great Ocean Road Trip, as a campervan is basically all metal, and magnet men and metal go together like, um, unicorns and mermaids. (This may or may not make sense in a paragraph or so.)

I had the brilliant idea of taking photos of our little men and sending them as postcards, going back and forward until someone ran out of awesome poses. As it turns out, I was the only one to have any awesome, as I'm still waiting for the return postcard.


Abs of steel, or some kind of lightweight metal alloy I'd imagine.

B. When my awesome brother went on his awesome Odyssey trip, he not only bought me a beautiful silver ring that I wear every day, he also went to "a glass place" (I'm pretty sure that was the full and complete description I got) and bought me ...



... Neptune! I'm pretty sure his name is Neptune. However, it may be Sebastian or even Eric. Follow this awesome logic: Unicorns are big in Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars lives in Neptune. Neptune was king of the sea in The Little Mermaid (and, I'm sure, other things like mythology and shit) which featured Sebastian and Eric. It makes perfect sense, really. What do you think his name is?

A+B. Nepbasric appears somewhat more aggressive than I had intended, as Magneto was supposed to be gently patting him on the head, but I guess he took offense at that or whatever, lesson learned.

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.

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.

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?

'In Darwin' Is The New 'In Bed'

I have been keeping a massive secret from you all for some time now, for which I am very sorry, but it was necessary, as telling you would have meant telling certain other people, from whom I was on purpose keeping the secret. Annnyway.

Today is my brother's 16th birthday, and on this very special occasion, I am IN DARWIN! FOR A WHOLE WEEK! (Let's just pretend it is for his birthday and not due to the fact that I could see my breath in the air in Adelaide this week.) And let me tell you, it is lucky I arrived at all.

Wednesday day I had to work, which was fine. Money is good is my current philosophy. Wednesday evening I was invited to play frisbee. League frisbee. Like, awesome player's frisbee. That was very fun, and my white cleats are no longer white (and neither was my entire left side, thanks mud), so clearly I am a real player now.

(Also: When it is too cold to feel the fact that your finger is so injured it's bruised purple and black, it's too fricking cold.)

Then I had to get ready mega quickly, and go to the airport. So ... yeah. Turns out we are entirely too casual about catching planes these days, to the point where we arrive at the airport when the plane is boarding. Remember when Amalah had some flight mix-up and they were all very sympathetic? Apparently that only happens to internet rockstars. I am very very lucky they let me on the plane at all, even if they wouldn't let me check a bag.

::Insert picture of me flinging underwear etc all over the floor of the airport, trying to stuff my worldly belongings into three small handbags, and making tough decisions such as Brother's Present vs Hairbrush.::

In conclusion, I am in Darwin, it is crazy hot, and my baby brother is now SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. How does that even happen?

Jumping Jumping

All has been rather doom and gloom around here lately, but instead of dwelling on my (now restored) dodgy internet, the crazy destructive bushfires that were, thank god, nowhere near me, the end of the two weeks of summer we were apparently allocated this year, or the theft and continued absence of the Scarlet Lady and my resultant reliance on public transport and hatred for the world, we are going to talk about a subject a little more upbeat. You with me? Awesome.

When we were little, my cousins had a trampoline. Between the two youngest, they broke three wrists in the space of a couple of years on (or, more accurately, off) the trampoline. I was jealous. I never got a cast (or crutches). The oldest cousin broke the trampoline mat one night when she and her friends all got on it in high heels, but it got fixed. And my cousins and I liked to turn the tramp on its side then run and knock it over, with us ending up on top of the mat. We also liked to put detergent on the mat and the sprinkler underneath and slide around on it.

My primary school had two trampolines. One massive yellow one and a normal black one. The After School Care kids (of which I was one) were the only ones who ever got to use them, and then I think it was only one year that we were allowed to get them out. The yellow one was the best, and I kicked arse on it. I could jump mega high, and do all kinds of spinning jumps. Then one day the trampolines went away and we had to go back to playing Poison Ball Against The Wall.

But I never had a trampoline of my own. So, as you can imagine, I was very very excited to go to Trampoline World, a magical world just full of trampolines. But, sadly, as you may remember, Trampoline World was frickin CLOSED on the one day we went there. I was devastated.



LUCKILY, Dad is an excellent accommodation booker, and managed to get us into a place with a jumpy pillow. A freaking trampoline equivalent right there in our backyard for two whole days. How awesome is that?! (It was at this time that I discovered that brother, who never had the cousinly trampoline exposure I did, had no idea how to play Crack The Egg. Who doesn't know how to play Crack The Egg? The kid had such a deprived childhood.)



So now you know, if you are ever in need of a Christmas present for me, just buy me a massive trampoline and I will love you forever. The end.

Meet My New Imaginary Husband*

*He is imaginary in the sense that he is not my husband, nor does he even know my name (although he does know I exist), and not in the sense that he is not a real person. I just thought I'd clarify that.

Anyway, on the really hot day that we had, my dad and brother and I went ice-skating. As did many many other people, including a group from a school holiday program.

As skywalker (my brother) and I were skating around the big rink, I naturally took a little survey and determined the hottest guy in the place. (Actually, he was the second-hottest, but the first-hottest was eliminated due to the fact that he was probably 15 and was skating a bit recklessly considering the abundance of kids under ten on the ice.) My new boyfriend and I totally had a moment when some little kid cut us both off simultaneously even though we weren't really skating anywhere close to each other - and certainly not when I was in a good position to check out his arse - and we both did that kind of 'Why don't YOU go, crazy kid' gesture at him. We connected.

Quick cut to me on the little rink, helping dad out, as we got to a part of the railing being held up by a little girl (aged seven, almost eight). She gave me the cutest grin and waved us past in the most adorable way.

Then back to the big rink, some time later. I'm skating by myself, having been ditched by my boys. Cute Girl is now on the big rink, despite having limited skating skills. (The cuteness is still through the roof.) She's all 'OMG YOU CAN SKATE' to me as I go past her, so I stop and she's all 'Can I hold you hand?' I say yes, and we proceed to skate together for a little bit. What with her being a freaking chatterbox, I discover that her name is Hayley, she's with the holiday program group, and that my new fiancee was looking after the group. Clearly, this was FATE!

Just as destiny had arranged, my new husband came up to see if Hayley was bothering me (not at all, we're adopting her. She will be the bridesmaid) and we had even more moments!

And then we all went home, never to see each other again. (Hmm, I think it loses something there at the end there.)

Although: If your name is Ben and you were at ice skating the other day with a kid called Hayley and her friend Claudia, call me! I need you to confirm the guest list.

Road Rules

I am back. Our Great Ocean Road Trip was extremely fun, and I am currently trying to figure out the best way to tell you alllll about it. Thank you for continuing to comment, even as I was reduced to a camera-phone photo post a day. Also, you all continued to post, which meant that this morning I had 962 unread posts. I am getting through them slowly, and when I get down to 0 I'll start actually visiting and commenting. But it was good to hear about great holidays all round.

A while ago now, we got a lesson in freeway driving, which featured the proper response to someone who lets you into a lane. Said response being, as we all know (right?), a wave or simple lifting of a couple of fingers (the nice ones).

An off-shoot of this rule was not included in the lesson per se, but I feel it was implied and therefore am totally perplexed as to its non-application on our recent travels: if you're driving on a highway out in the country and you pass a car coming the other way, you show them the same courtesy of a raised hand. They will simultaneously be giving you a finger or two (again, in the nicest way possible).

Now, maybe this is more an NT thing, where everything is a little more laid-back and more rural and more long lonely highway and less crazy urban commuter freeway. I don't know. BUT STILL. Someone waves to you, you wave back. And YOU SHOULD BE WAVING ANYWAY. It's only polite.

Full disclosure: About the time I had given up on the goodness of humanity and refused to wave anymore, I was waved to and waved back but not in time. I still feel bad that this person remained unwaved to. After all, I was probably the only person ever who would've waved, and even I didn't. Poor bloke.

On the other hand, I like to think that I improved the days of all those people I waved to. And that they were all inspired to wave to the next car they passed. Oh yes, I am bringing it back.

Very Full

So you may have noticed this little thing called Christmas. Yeah, that happened. I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, a little of The OC for lunch, and a lot of family, prawns, and lamingtons for dinner.

Boxing Day I did nothing, all day, repeatedly and at length. I was awesome at it. Even though I should have been getting things like beds and linen and groceries ready, because the next day...

... my boys arrived! And I got up at 5am to meet them at the airport. I am a kick-arse sister/daughter. Then the taxi driver got them lost, even though I told my dad the driver would get them lost and gave him directions to write down which he then didn't bring, and even though I gave the driver directions, which he apparently didn't feel the need to listen to. Here's a hint: the passengers should not be responsible for looking through the street directory.

Anyway, they made it here eventually and proceeded to sleep. All day. While I worked. All day. On the majorest shopping day of the year. (I love my family, I love my family. Ok, all good.) Then we had a barbeque, and talked and laughed into infinity.

Then my dad left us for his brother, skywalker and I went to the gym and woke up crazy sore tomorrow, and very soon we leave for the Great Ocean Road.

Basically: Christmas was lovely, and will be awesome again when we have ours on New Years Eve. My boys are here and we are having lots of fun. Summer is also kind of here, which rocks. Everyone else having fun? Awesome.

The End?

So it would appear I have become really crap at this whole bloggy thing. I have to confess it even crossed my mind that there would be a nice symmetry in starting and finishing something (say, a blog) at the start and finish of my time at Flinders. But no, there will always be topics which make me say "I wonder what the internet would think" and "OMG I MUST COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS TO THE INTERNET."

Today is not one of those times, unless you count the fact that I just had to tell you that I might not be posting so much anymore, but I thought an update would be nice, just to prove that I remember how to type things and hit publish with little regard for content. (Check, check, and hell check.)

I have been working at my sports store job four days a week. Which is nice. We're getting busier as everyone realises that their kids are demanding scooters and those wheely shoe things and whatnot, but we're all pretty much all friends now, and three of us went shopping and movieing yesterday even. (I saw Four Christmases twice in two days, what with having uni friends and work friends, not because it was that awesome. It was funny in parts.) I also got a job at a bookshop, the orientation for which is next week. That is also nice.

Graduation is also next week, and I still haven't found my imaginary shoes, but I think I've found some acceptable ones. Our work Christmas party is on this weekend, and I found a pretty purple dress for that so we're all set for the dress-uppy events.

Turns out I am invited to family Christmas, which means that I have to go Christmas shopping (dammit) for random relatives. What do you get for the boyfriend of a cousin you see once a year? Christmas shopping for the boys did not even necessitate a trip to Marion. I am that good (and lazy).

I'm still going to the gym on the days that I don't work. My treadmill routine isn't particularly hard anymore, and I've added some random balls and weights but I'm too scared to use any of the machines or go to classes because I will for sure look like an idiot.

Planning for our Great Ocean Road Trip is pretty much done, without contributions being made from all members of the travelling party, which is great. It will be awesome.

Summer had not kicked in for real yet, and I am not thrilled about this. Although it does seem to be putting in a little effort to overcome the clouds and rain, I would appreciate the sun's appearance more often and continuously.

I still read your blog, I promise, but I think I've left three comments in the last month. I am terrible, Muriel.

No Room At The Inn

In this the festive season, I have a new appreciation for the hardship the Virgin Mary experienced. "Hitting the road" apparently will land you on the side of the road with no prospect of a hot meal, a shower, or internet power.

On the plus side, even though I've made approximately ten bajillion phone calls all up and down the south east, I'm probably only out, like, a dollar. It doesn't cost much to be told repeatedly, "Hell no, not a chance."

Unless of course you thought to make your bookings a year in advance. For a freaking unpowered camp site. Seriously, tourists, the Great Ocean Road is not all that great. I think you should all take your tents and your caravans and hit some other road, Jack.

To Plan Or Not To Plan

You may recall that vsquared, skywalker, and I (my dad, my brother, and myself, respectively) are heading off on a road trip just after Christmas.

Dad would like it to be some driving off into the sunset, going where the road takes us, beholden to no man, kind of thing. Which I like the sound of, not least because I really have no idea how I did the same trip in three days last year. (I got a speeding ticket. I don't know if that's at all relevent.) Which is all well and good, except that ... the road is taking us to Melbourne. And also it's one of the most touristed stretches of road in Australia. But hey, I'm down with throwing cares to the wind and whatever else.

Until I got asked what had happened to all the planning I was supposed to be doing. Um, like that planning we were expressly forbidden to do? Yeah, that.



The trip, she is planned.

(I am totally not ripping on my dad, here. We are both completely on the same page, which is the one titled Plan Now, Rock Out Later, but also, I have to say, Giving Shit is in the Daughter job description, as is Plan The Perfect Road Trip While The Boys Bum Around At Home, so you know I can't help it. Any of it.)

Exercise = Holiday

When I started going to the gym, I was all, but how am I going to top my reward from last time (which was going to BlogHer in San Francisco)? Even buying new gym clothes pales in comparison to a trip to the other side of the world.

Well, GUESS WHAT?

I have found something totally exciting that I have to look forward to.

MY BOYS ARE COMING DOWN AFTER CHRISTMAS AND WE'RE GOING TO DRIVE THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD IN A CAMPERVAN!

I actually did this trip with two international students last year, but that was in a car, and this will be a bit slower, and we'll be able to see more things along the way, and it'll be much better weather. Plus, vsquared has never driven it, and skywalker hasn't even been out of SA/NT. So it's going to be awesome!



Look up Great Ocean Road on Google Images. Very very pretty drive. I can't wait!

Killer Magpie Invasion

I just got SWOOPED by a MAGPIE.

Now, when I was little my dad used to tell us stories about when he was a boy and he had to ride to school swinging his school bag over his head to scare off the magpies. Darwin magpies don't do that, but it never occurred to me that Adelaide magpies would do it TO ME. Dad lived in the freaking country. Town magpies swoop, but city magpies are all civilised when I want to hang out the washing, right? Turns out: HELL NO.

And also, dad? You can't have your mobile off AND be out of the office when I need to call you. I couldn't really leave a message with Random Lady Who Answered The Phone about giant killer magpies who are out to get me, you know? And now how is my washing going to get dry? It's not-cold AND it's sunny today! But there's a magpie! HELP!