Monday, August 31, 2009

Curse those times when you can't stop laughing...


http://bloggedyou.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/laugh_ha_ha.jpg

In high school, I thought silent reading period was torturous and slow. I found it pointless that we should have an hour solely devoted to reading. My silent reading teacher was a strict one as well- as we entered the room, he would ask to view our choice of material (just like the security guard at JB Hi Fi does when you're exiting the store) and if it wasn't by Austen, Bronte or Christie, you could expect to be banished to the library. Not such a bad thing really, but the time I was banished for choosing Lonely Planet France, I was really cheesed off. Who says travel information isn't legit? To be honest, I thought his views on what constituted quality literature, were a little narrow.

Anyway, the bored student that I was, I would spend the period passing notes to one of my girlfriends, who incidentally was one of the funniest girls in the grade. The hours I spent silently crying with laughter, trying not to draw attention to myself by propping my book up in front of my face, or alternatively, pretending to retie my shoelace so that I could laugh safely under the cover of my desk, went into the hundreds. I admit, I was an easy laugh and even more easily entertained, but if only other people weren't so ensconced in their books, they would have realised that so much more fun could be had.

The point is, things are always so much funnier when you can't laugh openly about them. Today, as I sat googling something random at work, I received a forward from that same girlfriend from my silent reading high school days. The floor was silent, everyone was buried in their files, typing, typing typing. It was like high school all over again, except we were 10 years older. I even did the old "have to tie up that rogue shoelace" trick again even though I probably could've laughed out loud. But then I thought to myself, no one looks like a bigger moron than the person who guffaws at their computer and can't find the breath to explain what's so funny... so I regressed back to my old high school ways to keep it real.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the forward, because it's pretty entertaining. It's entitled "Random Thoughts from People 25-35 years old" and I have no idea where she got it from, but whoever wrote it deserves a medal:
  1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

  2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong.

  3. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

  4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realised that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

  5. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

  6. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

  7. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

  8. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

  9. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realise I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.

  10. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

  11. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

  12. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

  13. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

  14. LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

  15. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

  16. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

  17. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

  18. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

  19. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies".

  20. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

  21. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

  22. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

  23. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

  24. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

  25. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

  26. Bad decisions make good stories.

  27. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning that just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

  28. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

  29. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

  30. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem ...

  31. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

  32. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

  33. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

  34. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

  35. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

  36. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

  37. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

  38. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

  39. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

  40. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

  41. Why is a school zone 25 km/h? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for paedophiles...- As a driver I hate pedestrians and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

  42. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

  43. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

  44. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

  45. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

  46. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

  47. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

  48. The other night I ordered take away and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic cutlery. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

'Scuse me for for whining...


http://www.uwm.edu/Library/digilib/cities/images/kano-sign.jpg

...but I really want to go TRAVELLING.

Everyone I know is going travelling, and frankly, I'm unimpressed. I should've been invited, smuggled on board somehow, scrunched up into a tiny ball and shoved in their shoes even- I would've smelt festy, but hey, at least I would've been somewhere other than here.

This time ten months ago I was in New Zealand, campervanning around the South Island with Man from Mars.

This time 2 years ago I was in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Chicago, Washington, Quebec City, New York and London.

This year I've been to Canberra, Melbourne and everywhere in between Sydney and Canberrra.

Where shall I go next? One of my mates is going to St Petersburg: how very Russian Mafia. My girlfriend is in Hvar: how European Summer. My work colleague is in Barcelona: how Sangria.

One of these days Man from Mars will own an airline (go you good thing!!!) and the world shall be my wonderland...

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Spare change anybody?


Today I paid the bus driver entirely in 5 cent coins.

That's $1.90 worth of 5 cents = 38 five cent coins.

World record or what?

It occurred to me as I was getting off the train, that my purse was on the verge of exploding courtesy of my inability to count coins quickly and give anyone exact change. My motto when shopping is, provide notes if possible, get the change and move on. The thought of standing at the counter, digging around in the teensy weensy coin section, using my brain to count out exact money and juggling all these different sized disks in the palm of my slippery hands just doesn't appeal. In fact, I would rather stick pens in my eye than do it; I refuse to do it.

But today was the day where Poor Old Purse looked ready to become Deflated Busted at the Seams Purse, so I took pity on it.

I hopped onto the bus, painstakingly counted out each 5 cent coin with the driver helping me along by droning "5...10....15...20...25..." all the way up to $1.90.

I grinned triumphantly, he declared "You beauty!" and we were ready to rock and roll.

Poor Old Purse lives to see another week.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Filler words...

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/gallery/2002/11/13/Bjork_soquiet_1.jpg

Today I'm officially irritated at everyone on the planet who:
  • starts each sentence with: "Look can I just say something...";
  • ends every sentence (where possible) with: "and so on and so forth";
  • punctuates each thought with "and etcetera etcetera";
  • totally doesn't know what they're talking about and provides explanation by way of: "and so blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, you know what I mean?" (In case you're confused, I'm talking about when people actually say the words "blah blah" billions of times for the purposes of filling time, avoiding silence and finishing off their explanations on a nice round note);
  • say "you know what I mean?" every five seconds;
  • do all of the above;
  • in a really super loud and obnoxious voice.

It drives me crazy. Crazy. Needless to say, today I was officially subjected to the worst mangled mess of debate the world has ever seen.

My ears are ringing, my head is spinning and I need a giant gelato to numb the pain.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Hi, how are you?

It's the perfunctory start to any conversation.

My reply is "Good thanks, yourself?"

Man from Mars opts for the "Not bad, how are you?"

The lady at Coles always says: "I'm alright luv."

Even when things are boring, same old, bad, terrible, depressing and sad, it's always fine, good, alright, not bad, okay.

The stationmaster at Gordon station made our day today. Clearly, he's got a secret to life that no one else knows about, because he replied with a toothy grin and a shake of his afro:

"Unreal! How about you?"

He beamed, I beamed, hell we all beamed. It was one of those moments where you did a mental double take and asked yourself: Did I hear what I think I heard? Did he just say he was unreal? And then you realise he did. And then you think about the fact that he's selling train tickets on a Saturday. And the fact that he could be doing so many other things on the gorgeous day that Saturday was. But yet his day was still unreal.

His reaction was genuine and pretty humbling. I think both Man from Mars and I walked away from that exchange contemplating daily life in a different light. Most days are pretty unreal in their own way. Things that make us giggle, comfortable, warm, full, hungry, curious, excited.... It's all unreal.

P.S. I'm in my happy space today. Thus, the new age life is good post. Ask me this time tomorrow and I may not be as optimistic about the unreal-ness of each day. Who cares, even if I'm not, I'm glad I felt it this weekend.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Oh Hurry up, Hurrrrryyy up

http://9.media.tumblr.com/fbjUvJybPpdi3s52tjA7zg01o1_400.jpg

Remember Blackboard from Mr Squiggle?

He'd get so impatient while Mr Squiggle was working his magic, that sometimes I'd get annoyed at him for being so grumpy. After all, it's not easy concocting clever pictures from impossible lines and oddly shaped circles.

But right now I sort of feel his pain.

Man from Mars is on the bus from Canberra as I write. I'm at work where it's nice and warm, waiting until he arrives at Central Station.

Bearing in mind that it is a Friday night, I feel a little (lot) lame sitting at my post, pretending to work. The boss is still here, as are two other people.

I may as well stop pretending, but everyone else is looking pretty industrious, so I figure I'll do the same. It's easier to fly under the radar, than draw too much attention to the fact that I'm blogging.

Hurray for blogging, I'd be starving from lameness otherwise.

Oh Hurry up, Huuuuuurrrrrrry up!!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Don't be greedy now...

http://www.hlconline.org/images/portion_size.jpg

I get that a lot. Mostly from Man from Mars.

"Don't be greedy," Man from Mars will warn, eyeing my rapid chomping, as I suck my fingers with gusto.

"I'm not being greedy!" I will state, downing my main course and pondering what I should have for dessert. What's next, what should I have next? My brain whirs.

Chocolate? Ice-cream? Ooh Cake!! A big piece of cake!!!

After all, dessert is such sweet seduction.

My problem is, that I have a fantastic appetite. It has never let me down. Not ever. Unless I have giardia, which is what happened at the start of this year, there has never been a time where my appetite has failed me.

Clearly, this means I can eat everything and anything. Unfortunately, it also means that my eyes outclass my stomach and I am left to bear the pain, discomfort and misery that is, the Too Full Stomach.

"I am never, ever ever eating so much again," I will moan, green at the gills and willing the food to digest.

"You have to learn to control yourself," Man from Mars will advise, not unsympathetically.

"I know, but I can't not have dessert, I have to have dessert; it's just not right," I will state as a matter of fact.

Man from Mars will just look at me and not say much at all.

I will close my eyes and massage my belly. The writing's on the wall. Control thyself, or say nothing at all.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Little Luk Chai makes me smile every time...



http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/australias-first-baby-jumbo-gets-buddhist-blessing-20090815-elli.html


Australia's first baby elephant got a Buddhist blessing yesterday. How adorable and tiny is he? Here's what the Brisbane Times reported (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/australias-first-baby-jumbo-gets-buddhist-blessing-20090815-elli.html ):



"Australia's first baby jumbo gets Buddhist blessing"

August 15, 2009

The first elephant calf to be born in Australia has been blessed for good health and success during a traditional Buddhist ceremony in Sydney.

Taronga Zoo's six-week-old Asian elephant calf, Luk Chai, which means son or male child in Thai, received prayers then had water sprinkled over him by monks on Saturday morning.

The blessing was led by senior monk Pra Ratcha Silaporn from Wat Buddharangsee forest monastery in Leumeah with help from eight monks from temples in Sydney and Canberra.

The Reverend Bill Crews, from the Exodus Foundation, a Christian welfare organisation based in Sydney that helps disadvantaged Australians, carried out an ecumenical blessing by burning gum leaves.



Luk Chai appeared unaware of the first part of the ceremony, and continued dunking his trunk in the moat surrounding his enclosure during prayers lasting 10 minutes.

But he later warmed to the monks and wrapped his trunk around their hands as water was sprinkled over him inside his pen, under the watchful eye of his mother Thong Dee.

Taronga Zoo director Guy Cooper said Luk Chai's birth gave hope for the conservation of Asian elephants and had helped forge closer ties between Australia and Thailand.

"With the global response to the challenges of conservation we can only have hope for the future of wildlife," he told crowds watching the ceremonies.

Thai Consul-General Khun Kiattikhun was among those watching.

Taronga's elephants arrived from Thailand in 2006.

Luk Chai, born on July 4, is the first elephant to be successfully bred in Australia.

He remains a crowd pleaser and is said to regularly turn the water hose on his keepers during bath time.

Two of the other elephants in the herd are expected to give birth in 2010 and 2011.

AAP"

Friday, August 14, 2009

Confessions of a gymnerd

http://www.topnews.in/sports/files/images/Nastia-Liukin2.jpg

I'll be the first to admit that I can be a little nerdy.

I know my timestables like no one's business (actually, that's not that special, because I guess everyone pretty much knows their timestables by the time they're 25, but it's still pretty nerdy, hey?). Also, I'm a stickler for grammar and Man from Mars cops sh*t everytime he says something weird like, "I think I'm really opened" (he means open) or spells itinerary, itinery. But most of all, most of all I'm a nerd when it comes to anything gymnastics related.

A trip down memory lane uncovers the origins of my inner gymnastics nerd:
  1. In year 3, Jess and Deb founded The Handstand Committee. As self appointed presidents, they herded together a group of 7 avid handstanders (including none other than yours truly), and the formidable Committee was formed. Our "meetings" comprised of performing "layered" handstands against the brick wall, taking turns on who would be the "bottom layer", who would be in the middle, and who would be the outermost layer. Invariably, the lass with the longest legs was appointed the final handstander to launch themselves into the wall with 6 other girls already handstanded against it- back curved at almost 90 degrees, those long long legs would miraculously find the wall, and the choreographed routine would be complete.
  2. My obsession for handstands led to an obsession to achieve the perfect splits. I practised for hours, wearing socks to make the slidedown smoother. I never got further than 120 degrees.

  3. Mum enrolled me into classes because I was that obsessed. What I lacked in skill, I made up for in enthusiasm, and my moment of crowning glory came when I got the "encouragement award" after four years of classes.

  4. I resigned myself to the fact that I would never be very good, even though my coaches said "she has amazing upper body strength", and decided to keep it as my own nerdy hobby.

  5. Man from Mars subscribed me to "International Gymnast" this year. I read it cover to cover, word for word and analyse photos and scores. It's published in the US and costs a fortune in freight. But given that Man from Mars is a plane-nerd himself, he understands where I'm coming from.

  6. My favourite websites are http://www.ozgymnastics.blogspot.com/ and gymnastike.org and The GymBlog.

Anyway, so there's the end of that confession.

My favourite international gymnast is Nastia Liukin (that's her in the photo). She won gold in the all around in Beijing and is returning to competition at the US Nationals in Dallas. She's 19 and that's ancient in gymnastics speak. But she's got spunk, sparkle and is beautiful to watch, so get ready for action because there's some serious gymnastics goss going down.

Also causing murmurs of excitement is the fact that the Pacific Rim competition will be held in Melbourne next year! Man from Mars is urging me to volunteer. I really want to. Perhaps I will.

Maybe I'll even get an autograph!! !!! !!!!

God, what a nerdface.

It's so smoky in here...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_SPvGjrqqggg/R4iy56zPIgI/AAAAAAAAAnM/wSf2rlVkbF0/DSC_0093.JPG

Whoops, it's not smoke, it's just my dirty glasses.

Why are my glasses always so dirty?????

PS They're not my actual glasses, but my glasses are actually as dirty as those ones.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Are we there yet?



http://media.photobucket.com/image/thank%20god%20its%20friday/ARMANDO_PRMNT/THANKGODITSFIRDAY.jpg


On Sunday, when the clock ticks past midday, I get depressed, fall into major denial and panic about how I should best use the last 12 hours of the weekend.

On Monday, I sit on the train and watch everyone yawn, frown disinterestedly and shuffle up the train aisle as the train gets fuller and fuller.

On Tuesday, I consider that Monday actually went pretty fast and it's almost the middle of the week.

On Wednesday I feel optimistic, because it almost definitely is the middle of the week, and the outlook always gets better once halfway's successfully passed.

On Thursday, I'm almost excited. The end of the week is fast approaching, and late night shopping will only make it come faster.

On Friday, I'm joyful, exuberant and irrepressible, hyperactive and silly.

On Saturday, I'm busy, shopping, eating, sleeping, lazy, lounging, laughing, walking, full of food.

Ho-hum.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Forgive me for being rude, but I was just being honest...

http://www.absolutepopart.com/catalog/Amazingly.jpg


Ordinarily, I'm really good at keeping myself in check and being tactful and "nice". Like, I'm not one of those people who is constantly opinionated, blunt and borderline offensive. When it comes to views on politics and world current affairs, I find I don't really have one because, even though I open each work day with a lazy skim of smh.com.au, I feel like I'm not knowledgeable enough about about every aspect of whatever it is that everyone's discussing, to assert my own views in a particularly persuasive way. (Yeah, I know, it's because I lazily skim and not vociferously absorb like other current affairs addicts, but whatever).

When it comes to telling my friends what I think about their boyfriends, I'm pretty diplomatic. If I despise them, I'll say "they're not optimum"; if they're acceptable with some bad boy blood in them, then I advise them to "make sure they don't go back to their bad boy roots, okay??"; if my friend's too besotted to see the truth, then I just tell them that "he seems nice, but he might not be as nice as he seems. I think I have to meet him for real, to tell you what I think!"

You get the picture.

Anyway, on Friday, things took a sudden turn for the worst and for some reason or another, I honestly could not give enough of a sh*t to keep it nice. The events panned out like this:
  1. Met up with one of my closest friends for dumplings two weeks ago. She announced that she would be going to Canberra this weekend and emphatically stated that she would be catching the 6pm bus. I indicated that I wasn't a big fan of going to Canberra this weekend because Man from Mars had advised me of a "work lunch to welcome me to the team" which would invariably take up all of Saturday and involve much awkward chatter, handshaking and painful boredom.
  2. I subsequently decided, okay, well if she's going, at least the bus ride down will be fun and since I've got nothing better to do, I may as well go.
  3. I email her and let her know that I'm booked and practically boarded. Cue: lots of exclamation marks and excitement adjectives from my end.
  4. She subsequently emails me to advise me that a work deadline a week and a half away may mean that she won't be able to go. But if she goes, she will catch the 7:30 pm, and do I wish to catch that one with her, and eat food beforehand?
  5. I curtly reply that my tickets are discount, nonrefundable.
  6. In my mind, I think, how is catching the 6pm bus very different from catching the 7:30 pm with a bite to eat added on. I mean, that means, you would be leaving work at about 6:30 pm to grab food at 7 pm to get on the bus by 7:30 pm. So, you would be leaving an hour later than if you were catching the 6pm, and given that it's such an urgent deadline, wouldn't you either need to leave much much later, or forgo the trip altogether? Plus, I've already told you I've booked, and I only went because I thought you'd be on my bus, and now, it's suddenly supposedly all changed because of this allegedly v.v. important and pressing work thing.

Well by gosh, I didn't buy that and I was supremely peeved, but didn't say anything.

Thursday comes along and I ask her half heartedly whether her deadline is looming and if she can go.

She says she can and that she's coming with me, "but I'm pretty sick".

Blame it on the swine flu, but I baulk at the prospect of having to sit next to her for the 3 hour ride, particularly, as I've caught a cold from her in the past.

My tact deserts me and I declare:

"If you're sick, then I might not sit too close. Hope you're not offended babe!!!"

Jeepers, did I just say what I think I said??!!!!!

To which she replies with an ambiguous, but arguably good humoured:

"Ha ha whatevs!"

We've been friends for 6 years, and she's never really been subjected to brutal honesty from me before.

Anyway, the next day she emails me and says:

"I'm going to try and change my ride to the 5pm one, and try get to Berra earlier, since I won't be sitting with you anyway! Cough all over other people! Ha ha"

5 pm??!! What happened to the urgent deadline??

And so, badly irritated once more, I tell her how it is:

"I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind being coughed over if I didn't feel like I was being stuffed around".

Cue: detailed description of how her timing suggestions didn't correspond to the pressures of work and that if it were me, I wouldn't even being going to Berra, if work was so pressing.

We exchanged a number of terse emails, and she declares that:

"You don't think I wasn't upset when you said that you didn't want to sit next to me? How can I not be upset when my friend doesn't want to sit with me when I'm sick"

As always in times of heated argument, I go all literary and turn into a semantic smart-arse:

"It's not that I don't want to sit with you per se. It's just that I don't to sit with you when you're sick."

Cue: Further emails expressing taking offence and further responses describing it from what it looked like from my end.

All is on the verge of going to the sh*t, when I decide enough's enough:

"Well, as one of my closest friends, I was only being honest with you, because I don't feel like I need to censor everything I say to you. But if you want me to creep around only saying the things you want to hear, well I can do that too."

She pulls her reins in and quickly recognises the attempt at truce and states magnanimously:

"Okay, well it's cool you told me you got mad, because we were both obviously pissed. Okay, I'm not mad now. See you on the bus!"

And so all's well that ends well and we caught the 6pm to Canberra with me straining into the aisle every time she sneezed, but proud of myself that I'd said what I felt like saying whilst successfully only being mildly offensive.

Maybe it's one of those things that happens when you get older... You don't really care what other people think of you, because even if they don't agree, they'll live, and you'll be fine too...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

My life abridged...



When I worked in a law firm, it was all about concise concise conciseness! Succinct, please! 1 page max! MAX!

So then everyone became really good at dot points and saying things in apparently "laymen" terms... Or plain language (which in itself is a really misleading term, because if I was a layman I'd just think it meant that the English language was sh*t boring, let's listen to music and watch movies instead everybody! I hereby give you permission to roll over and have a siesta!)

Anyway, plain laymen aside, what the partners didn't realise is that layman for one man isn't layman for another, because let's be honest- it's all relative, right?

I'm not pro-conciseness and 1 page max-ness, in fact, I quite like telling stories the long way around and pausing numerous times for dramatic effect. But today, more for the sake of speed and laziness, here's one of my world famous lists:

  1. Work: Good, getting the hang of everything, busy but pretty happy. I like everyone at work and we all get along like awesome companions. No office politics, can you believe???

  2. Speaking of work, my boss thought it would be a great idea to engage the services of a masseuse for all staff, once a month. The first of these sessions was today and we all had 15 minutes of blissful cramp dissolving massage by a skilful masseuse master not by the name of Sven ("Hullo!"), but Ross.

  3. Family: Weird- Mum's well and truly golf crazy and is a little menopausal, Dad is fine and is steadily teaching mum new golf tricks, Sister is marching to her own beat, doing her own thing...

  4. Food: Discovered an awesome dumpling place in World Square which is just across the road. So so SO good.

  5. Man from Mars: Bored at his new job, but consoles himself with the paycheck. Plus, it's only week 2 so it's early days yet. He has a lovely boss and flex (FLEX!!!) so it's all good. House-wise, his housemate is a chatterbox, albeit a good natured and well-intentioned chatterbox. But consensus rules that she talks rather a lot, sometimes too much. Still, it could be worse; she could be a complete loony who talks too much...

  6. Hair: Growing long again! Should I cut it short again, or leave it to grow out?????

  7. Best new find: Girlfriend at work introduced me to an amazing concealer called "Dermablend" sold at Soul Patterson opposite Strand Arcade in Pitt Street. Say buhbye to raging volcanic pimples when the crimson tide strikes!

  8. Travel: Off to the Berra again this weekend. I got Babel for the drive. Might be a bit heavy, but whatever, it got a Golden Globe and has Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt in it and that gives it street cred.

In retrospect, bullet points can be long winded too, hey? Who says they're the only way to a concise read?