Sam in Melbourne

My new obsession!

2008-11-08T18:49:00.001+11:00

Weird photos of Brisbane taken with my new camera

2008-10-10T22:30:00.005+11:00

Weird things I saw in St Kilda today

2008-09-16T20:24:00.004+10:00

A woman in a business suit riding a skateboard down St Kilda Road.

A man wearing overalls carrying a handbag along Barcly Street.

A waist-high giant teddy bear sitting on the footpath in Southey Street.

Other recent sightings:

On Barcly Street:

Near St Kilda Gardens

A man walking an alpaca on a lead in Acland Street.

A very glamorous drag queen waltzing along Fitzroy Street at about 7am one weekday morning.

A dead body outside the Prince Hotel early one morning.

Ange & Steve's Surprise Party

2008-02-24T14:31:00.005+11:00

Linda and I conspired for a few weeks to organise a surprise party for her husband Steve and for Ange, as they have their birthday on the same day. We picked them up in a stretch limo and drove around drinking champagne and singing karaoke for an hour or so.

Then we blindfolded Steve and Ange and made them get changed into new outfits. This was because the party was a "Peter Sellers' The Party" costume party. They had no idea what was going on.

The costumes were hilarious, and as the night went on and people drank more, some people decided to swap outfits - with hysterically funny results:

Melbourne Pride March 2008

2008-02-10T17:53:00.000+11:00

We went out as usual to support Pride March and cheer on the parade. It seemed smaller this year, although there was a good crowd watching.

As usual, the parade was started by the Dykes on Bikes.

The Victorian Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby - a small group of very dedicated people who do a lot of good work.

What it's all about:

Tina doing her bit for lesbian health:

It was great to see some school groups!
How different my life could have been if I went to a school like this:

I know it was probably just hormones, but these two next groups following one after another literally brought a tear to my eye! Especially the father with his gay son carrying a sign "proud Dad". After seeing and hearing about so much discrimination and unnecesary suffering, it is heartwarming to see so much love and support.

Love makes a family!

Tina, starting her own hot lesbian school teachers' float:

The trouble-makers on the sidelines:

Dave's 40th Birthday

2008-01-21T20:05:00.000+11:00

My second family: Ange, Grace, Dave, Larissa, Paul, Mikey

More babies and kids in our lives!

2008-01-21T19:56:00.000+11:00

Evan

Ros, Candice and Libby
Ange, OJo, Baby and Matilda
Hudson
Xavier

Beautiful North East Tasmania

2008-01-21T18:30:00.000+11:00

Our trusty chariot, also known as the SNAGOmobile. This was because it had a sticker on the back that said SNAGO (sensitive new age gun owner). That would be Ange's Dad. At first we were horrified, but we soon realised that our transport gave us serious cred' driving around the North East, and we even got waved down when someone wanted to ask us for directions!

Camping with Dave, Larissa and the kids

Binalong Bay

Eddystone Point

Christmas

2008-01-21T18:18:00.001+11:00

This blog is turning into a photo album, but they do say that a picture says a thousand words.

Party Time continues!

2007-11-24T20:30:00.000+11:00

After singstar, things became, well, interesting.....it all started with leg wrestling:

...and then someone suggested dressing up and putting on performances for each other, which were, as you will see, inspired...

Party Time!

2007-11-24T16:55:00.000+11:00

Paul and Alison explained that their two families are like Mercury and Water: Totally fine when they are alone, but trouble when you put them together. This was proved beyond a doubt at a get-together at Paul and Mikey's place while Grandma looked after the kids. I wish I'd known these guys years ago - they really know how to have fun!

The night started off with champagne and beers...

Then Linda's shoes took on magical powers, turning the person wearing them into an instant guitar hero...

Singstar inevitably followed...

Stu was the perfect Roadie for the stars...

Stayed tuned for part two...things just get even more ridiculous as the night wears on!!!

Catching up with the kids and a grown up's dinner

2007-10-28T22:47:00.000+11:00

Sarah and Thomas

Priya, Ange and Maya

Charlie and Ange

Grown up's dinner
for Sooz's birthday

Chris and Michelle

Rick and Sooz

Woo Hoo! She said yes!

2007-10-21T20:10:00.000+10:00

This weekend was was Ange's and my anniversary. And I proposed. She said yes! (Phew!)

STEP ONE: Set the scene:

STEP TWO: Long stem roses by the dozens:

STEP THREE: A ring:

......SUCCESS!

Super Golf!

2007-10-06T08:29:00.001+10:00

Family Fun!

2007-10-06T08:22:00.000+10:00

I recently had two whole days (!) off work with my brother, sister-in-law, two adorable nephews and Ange in Perth. Here are the photos - we had so much fun!

Daggy Decor

2007-09-06T21:57:00.001+10:00

This is the bed head in one of the hotels I stayed in during my travels around country Victoria! What the photo doesn't show is the super-saggy mattress!

Stop the world, I want to get off!

2007-09-05T20:57:00.000+10:00

PHEW! What a month I've had. I've been travelling all around regional Victoria doing negotiation training for lawyers, and I've also been up in Brisbane for meetings, and I managed a weekend at Mum and Dad's place in Northern NSW so that I could take Ange to meet them and Corky Dog. In the middle of all that I got the flu, spent four days in bed, but then had to get up and travelling again probably a bit too soon. I've still got a very annoying cough, three weeks later. I've also just managed to finish my first linguistics assignment for this semester.

What am I thinking, trying to study while work is so busy? But it's the last subject for my Arts degree, which I have been studying part time for well over ten years now, so it's more than time I get the darned thing finished. If I had more time to study it carefully I think I would really enjoy it, but I've had to do it in such a rush that it wasn't that much fun at the time. Hopefully I'll pass though!

Playing with Corky and Kimmie at Mum and Dad's place.

Corky's best meer cat impersonation!

Ange and I at Byron Bay as the sun was going down.

My week in pictures

2007-08-19T17:42:00.001+10:00

Dinner with Amanda and Claudia

Craziness at Blonde on the Rocks

Jamie's Birthday Present

Jamie's Birthday LunchAnge, Jamie and Max

Babies, children and work

2007-08-10T21:56:00.000+10:00

That's been my life for the past few weeks. Not my babies, not my children, but definitely my work. In between struggling to keep afloat with all that's going down in my day job, I've also done a bit of babysitting recently. God, I even changed a nappy! I have to say I was blessed with kids who were pretty angelic the whole time I had them in my care. Here is what I learned:

1. Things are not always what they seem:

Playing in front of the distortion mirrors with Ange and Jamie, after having just seen the latest Harry Potter movie.

2. If all else fails, put on a DVD with cartoons.

Finding Nemo was a big winnner!

3. Stay away from bizarre playground equipment:

Freaky fish-lizard thingies were not such a big hit.

4. Swinging is the most fun thing to do in the world:

4. A muzzie is the best protection from scary monsters:

5. It's important to rug up while watching sport:

6. It's hard to take your own photo and hold a baby at the same time:

IKEA Rage!

2007-07-30T20:44:00.000+10:00

Sunday morning IKEA trip was nearly the end of me. Towards the end of our journey through the store, pushed along by the mass of men, women and prams, we realised that we hadn't written down the shelf details to find the flatpacked items near the store exit. Back we went, like salmon swimming upstream, trying to relocate the items we wanted to purchase. Diligently, we wrote down the aisle and shelf details and returned to the flatpack area, only to find that a couple of the items did not appear where they should have been. Eventually, we found a sales assistant, who explained to us that some of the items were actually available in a different part of the store...back where we had come from. Back we went, this time like salmon swimming upstream while pushing a large trolley with flatpacked parts of incomplete furniture on it. We find the area in which the additional part of the furniture is supposed to be stored, but guess what...there's none there. After finding another elusive sales assistant, we were informed that they were out of stock of that particular part. Arghhhhh! Back to the flat pack area to get our next item, which of course is not where it's supposed to be. Instead there is a small notice "Please obtain this item from the main furniture aisle". So back I go yet again upstream. Eventually I find the damn stools, but they are locked to the wall. Another sales assistant tries to avoid me, but eventually I corner her and ask her to release one of the stools for me. She says she has to make a phone call first. I stand close by, to make sure she doesn't run away. She has a lengthy conversation on the phone (how hard can this be?) and eventually hangs up to explain to me that she is not 'authorised' to release display stools to customers, but that there are 80 of them in the flat pack area. I beg to differ, explaining that there were no stools on the shelf, but a little sign saying to get the stools from the main furniture aisle. She then explains that the sign was referring to the main furniture aisle in the flat pack area. ARGHHHHHH! I head back to Ange, who is not answering my frantic calls on her mobile. When I find her she says that her phone has no service. Apparently IKEA is a mobile phone service black hole, just to make the whole experience a little more challenging. We go back to the flat pack area to look for stools. Can't find them anywhere. But I see a flash of yellow out of the corner of my eye and pounce on the unsuspecting sales assistant and demand to be taken to the stools. He looks panicked but then directs me to an enormous pile of stools just near the checkouts. ARGHHHHHHH!

Finally we escaped from the IKEA vortex. They should offer free counselling at the exits. Honestly, next time anyone suggests a trip to IKEA, I am going to recommend rolling in some broken glass instead - honestly, it will be less painful.

Bedding

2007-07-23T18:10:00.000+10:00

Just down the road from my apartment is a church yard. One of the buildings has a wide veranda around it, and in the summer one or two homeless people sleep there. A couple of months ago when it started to get cold, I was walking past early one morning on my way to work. I noticed that the man sleeping on the veranda only had a thin blanket and was shivering. I immediately decided to get out my spare blankets and old doona and leave them on the veranda on the following weekend. The next day, however, as I was walking past to go to work, I noticed that someone beat me to it. On the veranda was a big pile of mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets. Other people obviously noticed too.

Since then, it has become much colder, almost freezing, at night, and a few more people have been sleeping on the veranda. I guess it's warmer with a few bodies together. This morning I walked by at about 7am, and it was about 4 degrees celcius (just above freezing) and as I looked over at the bodies huddled under the blankets, I saw something rather touching. A cat was curled up on top of one of the bodies, fast asleep and obviously making the most of the body heat, and no doubt also giving a little comfort to the person sleeping below.

This afternoon I was walking home with my just-purchased sets of new sheets for my bed, and as I walked past the church yard I suddenly realised the enormous luxury that I take for granted on a daily basis and I was suitably humbled.

Brazilian Wax

2007-07-07T13:20:00.001+10:00

This is hilarious!

Degusthaustion!

2007-07-07T12:59:00.000+10:00

Last night Ange took me out for a belated birthday dinner. She took me to Circa at the Prince, one of Melbourne's top restaurants. It is actually just down the road from where I live, but I had never been there. The decor is lovely and they have a large number of wait staff on hand to give you constant (but not intrusive) service. We decided to have the 8 course degustation menu which took us 4 hours to get through! Hence our renaming the concept to encompass the exhaustion involved in the process. The food was glorious: Ange had the normal degustation menu and I had the vegetarian version. That was fun as I didn't really know what each course was, so I was experiencing all these tastes and textures often without knowing what they were. I did find the menu on the website this morning though and discovered some of the mystery flavours!

We decided just to order a bottle of wine rather than have the degustation wine list as well. The couple sitting next to us had the whole degustation extravaganza which involved a specially matched glass of wine or liquor with every course. I think I would have passed out after about the fourth glass, and not been able to make it to the end of the courses!

It was actually lovely to sit still for 4 hours and have the chance to talk for that long. In our lives these days we don't often sit still that long, let alone in an environment where there's nothing to do except talk - no television, other people to entertain, etc. We both enjoyed it, although we were exhausted and in danger of slipping into food coma by the end of the night!

Blonde moment of the week

2007-07-07T12:15:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I rushed home from work to have a shower and get changed to go out to dinner. I took off my jacket, my sweater, my shirt, and then had a moment of "what the.....?!" because I didn't have a bra on!!! Yes, I had gone to work sans-bra and hadn't even realised. I'm glad I didn't notice until I got home or I would have died of embarassment all day at work. I can't believe I did that - I must have been half-asleep that morning when I got dressed. Luckily I had so many layers of clothes on that it wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone else. Hilarious!

My last week in the US

2007-06-25T19:30:00.000+10:00

Love, Marriage and Sex - preferrably in that order

2007-06-24T13:56:00.001+10:00

I'm sitting in an airport lounge in LA waiting for my connection back to Melbourne. May need to have a couple more drinks to make sure I sleep! Anyway, on the flight from Boston to here I was pondering something that has been bugging me lately.

Some of my friends and colleagues now have kids at that age when they start asking questions about sex. One of the American trainers at the course I just attended told a funny story. Her friend's 7 year old daughter came home from school and asked that question that parents dread: "Mummy, what's sex?" Her friend explained it in an "appropriate way" suitable for a 7 year old to understand. Long pause. 7-year-old says "So, do you and Daddy do that?" Even longer pause. Mum says "yes, sometimes". Even longer pause. 7-year-old thinks about this for a moment and says "You know, I think I'd understand it much better if I could watch you doing it"!!!! Glad I didn't have to explain to a 7-year-old why that was not going to happen!

But I digress. My real issue is with what is an appropriate way to explain this kind of thing to children. Another colleague of mine was telling me a similar kind of story lately, about having to explain the concept of sex to her young daughter. She told me that she had said that sex was something that happens between a man and a woman after they get married. She must have seen the look on my face and quickly explained "well, I don't really expect her not to have sex before marriage, I mean we all do, but I thought I should get her to aim high at least while she's this young". Funny though, it wasn't that part so much that bothered me. It was more the "sex is something that happens between a man and a woman" bit. Just in case anyone reading this hasn't figured this out yet, I am a lesbian, and my colleague knows this.

So, this conversation, so typical for parents with kids of this age, has bugged me for weeks, and I am adding a lot of my personal baggage to contextualise it. Let me share (purge?)... When I was growing up I didn't even know that there was such thing as gay men and lesbians, let alone transgender, intersex and all the other labels that we like to attribute to people. I did have a very similar sex talk with my Mum at about the age of 9, when I clearly remember that after my Mum explained the mechanics of the male/female sex act I said "eeeew, I will NEVER do that"! I wonder if Mum remembers that, she'd laugh about it now! Anyway, at some later stage, I found out about gay men and lesbians, but I had a very negatively stereotypical image of what they were like. Gay men were VERY effeminate men, and lesbians were VERY masculine women, and not only that they were really weird and evil. They were nothing like me.

I recently had a bit of a talk with my mother about 'when I realised I was a lesbian'. She asked. I think she feels that she didn't support me enough and that I may have been happier earlier if she had done something differently. Maybe. But as she pointed out, she didn't ever know anyone who was gay or lesbian (as far as she knew), so she really couldn't give me any broader kind of sex talk or support than she did. She did her best.

I am confident that children of glbti families are now given a wide range of information about sex, gender, etc and their freedom to be whatever works for them. And I would like to think that many heterosexual parents who are now exposed to a more 'normal' (I use that word with some trepidation) vision of homosexuality also have much more open discussions with their kids. But after the conversations I've had recently, I'm not so sure. All these people I've spoken with are not homophobic - well not in the conscious ugly sense of the word. But it doesn't seem that any of them have explained any options other than the standard hetero-normative view of sex to their kids. Is it because this is just easier? Is it because you tell what you know? Is it because they can't quite figure out how to explain homosexual sex (I mean, what DO lesbians do in bed?????!)?

And then the whole marriage thing. You see, if the highest standard to encourage your children to reach for is sex within marriage, then my relationship with my partner is automatically substandard, because we can't get married. And, on a related note, even within the heteronormative framework I worry about this as the standard, having known it to come unstuck with a few of my friends, who believed strongly in not having sex before marriage, and thus didn't think about contraception before marriage and then 'accidently' got pregnant before marriage in the heat of the moment (and here I don't mean necessarily sex in the standard heteronormative way either, a couple of them didn't actually 'do it' - in their words - and still managed to get pregnant - virgin mothers almost).

Anyway, I think a more interesting conversation would be about what marriage actually means to people - other than the actual wedding ceremony, that is. Anyway, that's another dissertation or two in the making.

Enough ranting and raving for one stop-over!

Killer Squirrels

2007-06-20T10:01:00.000+10:00

I've been chasing squirrels around Boston for the past two days trying to get good photos. I had no idea that they could be dangerous, but Ange just sent me this link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,488343,00.html

Day 2 at Harvard

2007-06-20T08:05:00.000+10:00

Met some more interesting people today. One man doing the course is a pulmonary and respiratory specialist who works in ICU and is on the faculty of one of the other USA university's med schools - can't remember which one. Another woman is an anthropologist who specialises in conflict resolution between native indians. Interesting!

Took lots of photos today around the campus. Got a great shot of a squirrel eating a nut and later saw one trying to chew on a nut almost twice as big as he was! Also saw a guy with a chihuahua! Found a really weird looking insect in my bathroom - no idea what it is - kind of a cross between a centipede and a daddy-long-legs spider. It looks like one of those deep sea creatures!!!

Really hot today - I'm guessing around 30 degrees. Wore casual clothes to class today - thought I couldn't bear work clothes in this heat. Other people turned up in jeans and shorts too, so guess the requirement for "business attire" is out the window now. There is a woman from Jamaica in the course and the poor thing is freezing to death! We have the airconditioning turned up full bore and we're complaining how hot it is, and she's sitting there with a shawl around her shivering! So funny!

Learning heaps, my head is spinning with new ideas and exciting revelations. As one of the presenters, Sheila, would say: I'm having a brain quake. Sheila commented yesterday "You have no idea how hard it is to work in Australia with my name"! We three Australians cracked up laughing and then we had to try and explain why it was funny, especially to the Brazilians. I don't think I did a good job explaining it - one of them said to me, "so it's like your name is whore?"!!!! Imagine if I had to explain to him the concept of Brazilian waxing!!!

One guy said to me this afternoon: "You sure have lots of funny stories!" I replied "yeah, it's kind of a hobby of mine"!

Crockery Dundee saves the day

2007-06-19T11:54:00.000+10:00

I'm in the USA at the moment. Spent the weekend in LA with Susan, possibly the funniest woman on the planet. My stomach muscles still hurt from laughing.

First night of our stay there we were woken in the wee hours of the morning by this banging noise. Susan rang reception and said "what's going on?" and they said "i'm so sorry, it's the fire service, there's been a fire and they have to find a gas leak". We looked outside and there were the firemen, with sledge hammers, destroying the fireplace. There was smoke damage and the people in the rooms above the fireplace were asleep on the sun lounges around the pool!!! We were the other end of the pool, so had no smoke, just the noise.

The next night we were having dinner on the poolside when a waitress dropped a plate and a piece fell into the pool. Staff immediately came running and they told everyone to get out of the pool. They then closed access to the pool and all stood helplessly on the side looking at the fragment of plate in the bottom, trying to figure out how they could get it out. I said to Susan, that's ridiculous, I could just dive in there and get it for them. She said, they won't let you, they'll be worried you'll hurt yourself and sue.

I couldn't help it, I raced up to the room, grabbed my goggles, went back to the pool, ripped my shirt open, dropped my skirt, put on the goggles, and in the spirit of crocodile dundee, yelled "that's not a piece of crockery, you should see how big they are in Australia!", jumped in, picked up the bit of broken plate and handed it up to the staff. They all clapped and laughed (Susan took a photo) and I was suddenly the heroine of the night.

They call me Crockery Dundee, the Crockery Hunter!

Free margaritas, vodka cocktails and desserts later, I staggered back up to the room!

(Check out the waitress on the far right - is she doing the "you're my hero" pose or what?!!)

Rode cruisers down Santa Monica and Venice beach. Saw a guy holding a sign saying "Will work for marijuana"! At least he was honest!

At Harvard this week - Boston is beautiful and the Harvard campus is gorgeous. I am channelling Elle Wood from Legally Blonde - as I walk around the campus all her best lines keep popping into my head! So far I haven't seen any law students with chihuahuas!

Fun with the kids this weekend

2007-06-11T12:53:00.000+10:00

Sunday's entertainment!

2007-06-04T20:19:00.001+10:00

Four of my favourite Melbourne people!

My first attempt at being a Hockey Cheerleader...

It would help if I knew the rules!

Saturday night's entertainment!

2007-06-04T20:15:00.000+10:00

These boys sure have fast fingers! They played in a church, which had great acoustics but was pretty cold and those pews are not the most comfortable places to sit. Ange and I planned a whole business venture based on hiring out banana lounges and selling mulled wine...we would have made a killing!

Wednesday night's entertainment!

2007-06-02T18:28:00.000+10:00

She was great!

The view from my office window today

2007-05-29T17:05:00.000+10:00

The Human Body Exhibition

2007-05-28T20:25:00.000+10:00

This weekend Ange and I went to see the Human Body Exhibition with her Mum, Paul and Mikey. The exhibition features real cadavers that have been preserved using a technique known as plastination. This enables them to be displayed without the need for storing them in fluid.

The display was produced by the guy who conducts autopsies in front of a live audience for the SBS show Anatomy For Beginners. I'm telling you, this guy is truly weird. I tried to watch some of the show, but picked an episode where he was methodically skinning a cadaver. That was too much for me.

The exhibition wasn't as bad, although some of the displays were a little disturbing. It was fascinating to see all the amazing things that go on inside our bodies. I wasn't sure about the need to pose some of the cadavers as if they were playing basketball or soccer though - that didn't seem to enhance the educational experience at all.

Things that made the exhibition a little weird:

At the entrance there was a profile of the anatomist Gunther von Hagens which specified "Sexuality: Straight". Why he felt it necessary to write this was unclear (although the propensity of the cadavers to still have their penises attached even when they were little more than skeletons displaying bone structure may have something to do with this).

The cadavers appeared to be mostly Asian (which is only weird because the guy who does the autopsies is not Asian and is not based in Asia - do Asians tend to donate their bodies to science more readily, or is there a more sinister explanation for this)?

The display of human embryos at almost every week of development was particularly difficult to look at. Weirdly, there was even an embryo described as "embryo at month 10". Not sure whether that was accurate.

The signs explaining the displays were poorly translated into English, and sometimes said some really bizarre things. For example, one of the signs above an embryo said something like "the woman feels much happiness and sadness and stomach upset".

I was torn throughout the time I spent in the exhibition between being fascinated by the anatomical displays, feeling very respectful of the people who donated their bodies to science, and trying not to burst into a fit of the giggles. In the end I was quite glad to leave the exhibition and walk outside into the sunlight.

Ange cracked us all up as our eyes adjusted to the outside world and she asked "What, no gift shop?!"

Wombat Hill and Beechworth Harvest Festival

2007-05-21T08:23:00.000+10:00

Ange and I went away for the weekend to Wombat Hill, at the bottom of Mt Buller. It was a cold and rainy weekend, but perfect for relaxing in the little stone cottage with a wood fire. Here's the view from our door:

The dam was pretty empty:

Each morning we had freshly baked croissants! Yummy! The food and the little touches that our hosts Norm and Helen added to the accommodation were wonderful.

We toasted marshmallows on the fire!

The locals were pretty friendly:
Beechworth Harvest Festival scarecrow competition:

I love Wilfred

2007-05-13T15:52:00.000+10:00

Wilfred is a weird new show on SBS Television. It's about a woman and her dog, and how the dog attempts to deal with the woman's new boyfriend. The thing that makes it totally bizarre is that Wilfred is a man in a dog suit. Yes, seriously. It's a whole new twist on anthropomorphizing our pets. I love it!

Collingwood Childrens Farm

2007-05-13T15:43:00.000+10:00

This morning Ange, Daniela, Rita and I went to the Collingwood Children's Farm. We checked out the chickens, ducks, cows, goats and pigs. We also had to fight off swarms of wasps while we ate our breakfast, but no one was stung. Rita invented a new breakfast delicacy - toast with vegemite and sugar sprinkled all over it.

Fun in the Sun

2007-05-13T15:33:00.000+10:00

I just spent a long weekend up in Brisbane with two of the most adorable one-year-olds you could ever meet! The first little blonde cutie is my nephen Nathan. Check him out:

The other dark curly haired heart-breaker is Liam, my friends Kate and Phil's son. I'm so glad you guys are back from the UK - I missed you! And it was very exciting to be there when Liam started to walk. (Next time I'm up there I'll have him driving the car!)

Fun with the boys

2007-04-29T14:15:00.000+10:00

Playstation Guitar Hero challenge.

ANZAC day picnic in the Botanical Gardens.

Pedal Power!

2007-04-23T21:08:00.000+10:00

I've been riding to work!

OK, perhaps that's overstating it. I've ridden to work exactly twice so far! But that averages out to once a week, and this week circumstances beyond my control have prevented me from donning my stack hat. And no, I don't mean a bit of rain, I'm not scared of getting wet!

Anyway, riding to work. It's a great ride from my place, along the beach, then through the park, and then the last little bit along St Kilda road into the city. So far so good. I was pretty nervous about riding in big city traffic, but there are clearly marked bike lanes and so long as you keep an eye out for distracted morning motorists with road rage, it seems fairly safe. But most importantly - it's completely flat the entire way - no hills!

It actually takes me less time on the bike than on the tram (and that's at my snail's pace - anyone with the slightest degree of fitness would probably get there in half the time it takes me)! And, weirdly, I get to sit down all the way (albeit on a fairly hard bike seat) compared with my usual trip home on the tram standing up packed in like a can of human sardines.

So, I can release some work tension, get some exercise, get home faster (and while sitting down!), save the environment and enjoy the scenery, all at the same time! Fabulous!

Cheesy Grins

2007-04-16T20:12:00.000+10:00

Vipassana

2007-04-10T13:24:00.000+10:00

On Sunday I went to a one-day Vipassana meditation course. I have previously done two of the ten-day Vipassana courses, but I haven't done any meditation for a couple of years now. It was great to get back into it again.

Although I haven't been meditating regularly, so much of what I learnt in the two ten-day courses has stayed with me and helped me in my everyday life. That's not to say that I am completely 'zen' now, but I am at least aware of some of my patterns of thinking that tend to make me unhappy.

Vipassana is a truly wonderful technique. It is a buddhist-based meditation practice, but it is taught as a secular technique - there is no religious dogma or rites and rituals to follow. It's all very good common sense.

My body is aching from having to sit cross-legged from 9am to 6pm, but my mind feels pretty refreshed! The day actually made me long to do another ten-day course again. After a couple of days of silent mediation your mind really slows down and focuses, which is something that rarely happens in my crazy busy life these days.

PMT

2007-03-27T17:21:00.000+10:00

I used to think that PMT was just an excuse that women used for being a bit grumpy. Five years into my thirties, and 5 years after I stopped taking the contraceptive pill, I now have a whole new understanding of the concept of PMT and I apologise to anyone I didn't take seriously before.

There are days when I am agitated and likely to burst into tears for no apparent reason. It's bizarre because you just can't explain why you feel like that. And then you get even more agitated and want to burst into tears all over again at being so irrational and emotional. At feeling so out of control. Hormones are powerful things. I have a whole new respect for hormones.

I also used to think that in lesbian relationships there was likely to be twice as much PMT so double the amount of angst. But I was wrong. Two lots of PMT does not equal PMT doubled - it equals PMT squared! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Stress in the City

2007-03-23T20:44:00.000+11:00

Everyone I know is stressed. REALLY stressed. And everyone is so stressed that they have no time or energy left to be sympathetic about each other's stress levels.

Mostly this stress seems to come from two main sources: work and babies. However, after pondering about this for a few days, I think there is a third factor: Melbourne. Well, not Melbourne itself, but the stress that comes from living in a busy city. The reason I think Melbourne is a factor is that for the past six or so years that I lived in Tasmania, I knew people who worked and people who had babies, and they just didn't seem as stressed as the people I know here.

Life in Tassie just moves at a different pace. Most people seem to work fairly normal hours, or if they don't, it's because they either love their job or they are the kinds of people who always put that bit of extra effort into whatever they do (yes, you know who you are!). Tasmania has:

less traffic and therefore less road rage
fewer things to do of an evening so less stress about overwhelming social calendars
shorter distances to travel between work and home
fewer shops so less temptation to spend beyond your budget
less choice about where to shop, what to buy, what movie to see and where to go for dinner so less anxiety over decision-making
less competition for jobs, real estate, the best seats in the cinema, a seat on the tram, parking spaces, etc, etc

Having said all that, I could write an enormous list of all the things that Melbourne has that Tasmania doesn't (but I'd just end up getting stressed out about not having enough time to do all the things that Melbourne has to offer).

Anyway, they are my Friday-night-at-home-alone thoughts. And don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED to be home on a Friday night. For once I have managed to have NOTHING to do, and am enjoying pizza, beer, soothing music and chilling out on the couch in my pj's. (And Ange will be on her way over later after her dinner with her good friend who she has been too busy and too stressed to catch up with for so long now. I hope both of them relax enough to talk about something other than how stressed they are at work!)

Interview Me!

2007-03-19T08:20:00.000+11:00

The Rules: Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate! You WILL update your journal/bloggy thing/whatever with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

My questions come from Thinking Girl:

1. What is your least favourite household task? Explain (if necessary).

Definitely ironing - I HATE ironing! Gone are the days when I lived at home with the magic laundry basket. You know the one - you put in your dirty clothes and a couple of days later they turn up clean and ironed in your wardrobe - like magic!

2. Would you describe yourself as organized, unbothered by a wee spot of untidiness, hopelessly obsessive-compulsive, or hopelessly disorganized to the point of “absentminded professor”?

Depends how busy I am. Generally I border on obsessive-compulsive - I like everything in its place. But when I'm busy my apartment gets messier and messier. Then one day I have time to see it all and I whip myself into a tidying up frenzy. I always find that very therapeutic!

3. How do you like to unwind? Bubble bath? Yoga? Reading? TV? Glass of wine? Turn up the stereo? Late night disco dancing? Or something else entirely?

Reading. I am a compulsive reader. I read the backs of cereal packets, the signs on the trams, anything that stays still long enough! There's nothing I love more than lying on the sofa with a good cup of coffee and a book!

4. Please tell me about your pets, from childhood onward. With names, and if possible, pictures!

First Pet - Kimmy the German Sherpherd. An extremely smart and tolerant dog. She put up with me climbing all over her, sticking my fingers in her ears, and just generally giving her that kind of affection only infants can dish out. Here we are:

After that was Duke the crazy labrador. He used to jump our 7 foot paling fence and roam the neighbourhood. This was back in the days when milk was delivered in glass bottles with foil tops. Duke used to like to pierce the foil and lick out as much milk as he could reach with his tongue - for a while there he did this to most of the milk delivered to our street - the neighbours were not impressed. He also LOVED to chase cars, which was eventually the way in which he met his match. At least he died doing something he loved.

We also had a cat called Tinker "the Stinker". She came from the local Railway Yard when the railway cat had kittens. The first day she was home she went to the toilet on the cream carpet in our lounge room and Mum was not impressed (hence her nickname). She was a very independently minded cat and didn't like being cuddled. I once tried to rescue her from a fight with the neighbour's cat and ended up scratched and bleeding.

After that there were two cattle dogs: Duchess and Baron. Duchess was a pedigree and Dad wanted to breed her. But she was a modern dog and didn't want puppies. She made this very clear when she attacked the male dog brought over to service her. You go girl! She died fat and happy. Baron was a stray who we rescued on a busy road. He kept Duchess company and was a good dog all round.

Finally, my very own and beloved Corky Dog, who late last year went to live with my parents and their dog up on the waterfront. I moved to the city and Corky just wouldn't have coped here. She needs lots of space to run and water to swim, and most of all she needs company all the time. She has that with Kimmy Number 2, my parents' kelpie dog, and the two of them are now best friends and love to race each other around the back yard and in-and-out the dog door!

Corky Monster and her new best friend Kimmy the Wonder Dog:

5. Who is your favourite family member, and why? Who is your most interesting family member, and is he/she the same as your favourite?

Difficult question - not sure I can say that I have a favourite. I love each of them for their own individual quirks. If I have to pick favourites, it would be tie between my two nephews. Ryan is 3 years old and very cheeky. He makes me laugh. Nathan is 1 year old and an adorable smiley boy who you just want to cuddle all the time.

My most interesting family member would have to be my grandfather, known as "Paddy". He has lived a fascinating life with lots of international travel and he has great stories of famous people he has known.

Mardi Gras Weekend

2007-03-10T17:32:00.000+11:00

OK, where do I start? At the airport ticket disaster? Here's what happened.

The Friday of the Mardi Gras weekend Ange picked me up from work and we went straight to the airport. We had our costumes in our hand luggage...the group organisers had reminded us over and over again not to forget our costumes, and to make sure we took them on as hand luggage so that they didn't get lost on the way to Sydney. We'd been over all our costume parts again and again and were sure we had everything we needed.

About half an hour before the plane was boarding, Ange suddenly turned to me and said "Babe, you did remember to put in the Mardi Gras After-Party Tickets didn't you?" OH MY GOD! I didn't! They were still sitting on my desk at home. Panic set in. We didn't have time to get back home to get them before the plane was due to leave. The real estate agency which had my spare keys was closed for the weekend. I tried to call the ticket agency to see whether they could reissue them in Sydney if I presented the same credit card I paid for them with (together they cost over $250) but I couldn't get through. I was beside myself. I couldn't believe it.

Then Ange had a brainwave. I had recently found out that my landlord lived in the block next door to me, and I thought he might still have a set of keys for the apartment. I rang directory assistance and asked if they had a listing at that address in his name. THEY DID! I rang and got his answering machine and hung up without leaving a message - "He's not home" I said to Ange in despair. "Try again", she said, "and this time leave a message". I called back and started relaying my problem into the answering machine. Paul then picked up the phone - he WAS home, and better still, he had a set of keys! We then rang Mark, Ange's flatmate, who was flying down to Sydney the next morning. He was out on his bike, quite near my apartment and went straight over, got the keys from Paul, got the tickets, and all was resolved moments before we boarded the plane! Thank goodness for a set of coincidences that all fell into place! The flight to Sydney was much more relaxed after that was sorted out!

We got to Sydney and met up with Ange's friend David and his partner. They were on their way to a party in a high rise apartment near Kings Cross and invited us to come along. It was an interesting evening! The apartment had a doorman and an amazing view! The party was all gay boys and Ange and I were the only females there. The barman made us some drinks and we chatted to a few of the guys. There were bankers turned novelists, journalists, film makers, all sorts of interesting people. We spent a lot of time talking to these two really fascinating guys from Latin America and Russia, who had both immigrated to Australia. They had amazing stories to tell about their histories and the projects that they were now working on. One was a film maker and was making a very interesting movie about family secrets and adoption. Anyway, we asked them if they were together, and they said yes, for about five years, and then noted that one of them had been also with this other guy across the room for eight years. We were a bit confused but assumed they meant before their relationship, although it was kind of a weird thing to say. Later in the conversation it became clearer, when they were talking about how they wanted to adopt a child, and although it was hard enough for two gay guys to adopt, it was even harder for three gay guys to adopt. OK, now we got it, they were a threesome! Can't say I've ever met one of those before, but it obviously worked for them, as the three of them have been together for five years now. Sometimes I feel like I have lived such a sheltered life!

Mardi Gras!

2007-03-05T18:26:00.000+11:00

Here are the photos from Mardi Gras 2007! We had SO MUCH FUN! We are definitely going in it again next year. Vic Presence was, naturally, the BEST group!

Here are the boys, waiting impatiently to get started:

And two of the 6 girls (outnumbered by the 60 guys in our group):

Ange and Mark, looking gorgeous:

Ange, Mark and Sam:

Sam and Ange, after the parade, exhausted, sweaty, red in the face, but all smiles: