Neglected

I know, I've been neglecting this thing a bit lately. It's always like that in winter though - less stuff happens generally. I spend most of my time hibernating on the couch, waiting for it all to be over. My brain shuts down and i have nothing intelligent to say beyond "Pass the chips" or "Lets watch Glee" or the ever popular "I'm booooooored..." (repeat in whiny monotone over and over again for maximum irritation to those around you).

Nothing much happened this week except that i finished two books. The first is called Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell. It's about a woman called Birdie, who runs away from her pastor husband, Evangelical parents and small town life, and heads to L.A, to really BE someone (cause we all really wanna BE someone. Like I really wanna BE Betty White). Several years later though, her life in Hollywood isn't what she thought it would be. This book was beautifully written, and i mean really. The prose is poetic, and sort of drifts along, just like Birdie does. Worth it if you like that lyrical sort of novel with a tragic heroine, if you can call her a heroine - she kinda annoyed me to be honest.

The second is called The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. This book book BLEW ME AWAY. I cannot stop raving about. It was written over 20 years ago, but sometimes a book finds you in a time in your life when it's going to have maximum impact - that's how it felt with this one. The story, essentially, is this - sometime in the near future, the United States is overthrown by a movement known as 'The Sons of Jacob', who create a totalitarian, Christian regime, where men rule and women are totally stripped of their rights. Hierarchy orders society - women in particular are divided into various classes from which they can't deviate or escape without risking death or deportation to the 'colonies'. The colonies are areas of the former United States where labour camps have been set up to clean up radioactive waste resulting from nuclear plant disasters etc, which have also caused mass infertility. With birthrates on the decline, one class of women, called Handmaids, are there specifically to breed. The novel is narrated by one such Handmaid, called Offred. Offred's real name is never clearly revealed - like everything else, this has been taken away from her. Her new name is literally Of Fred - Fred being the man to whom she belongs, for breeding purposes only of course - and is another way of ensuring she is completely owned by in new, patriarchal society.

As you can see, i could go on and on about this book. Don't take my word for it, go and read it yourself. There were times i actually got chills reading it, not just because you feel so much for Offred, but because the writing is so authentic that you actually believe what you're reading could be a reality. The particular cruelty for Offred is that she's forced to live in this new regime while still remembering what it used to be like 'before'. As painful as it is, she struggles to keep those memories alive - the moment she forgets who she was is the moment she ceases to be.

Read it, read it, read it and then tell me what you thought. There's so many things i would love to discuss - so I'm making my friend DT read it next to make sure i have someone to talk about it with. Cause I'm awesome like that.

Our weekend, in brief - our friends Kama and Tony came to dinner, cooked by yours truly to much acclaim, and we had a great night. Tony and I usually enjoy banding together in all of our Mediterranean glory, while Kama and Jo, the resident (read: boring.) Anglo's (just kidding. i love Anglo's), make feeble attempts to...stand a chance. Ha! Never! But hey, its always nice to compare cultural notes.

On Sunday, Faatasi came over to talk WEDDING. The goal for the day was to get some music in order, but we spend most of our time laughing at the songs we wouldn't be using instead. Jo's suggestion that i walk down the aisle to the Jaws theme song, for example, was not considered helpful, nor was Faatasi's suggestion that our first dance be to Smack my Bitch Up. It was the opportune moment for me to let him know that i required him and the rest of the bridal party to prepare some sort of choreographed dance, preferably a recreation of Don't Stop Believing a la the Glee club at regionals (there's practically enough to them to make up the numbers, so. It should work.) He said he'd see what he could do. Fingers crossed it all works out right?

Jo jamming yesterday

My dinner. Cause i can can can, and cause my it's my Dad's birthday tomorrow and he makes damn fine cured meats. Love ya dad!

OK, I'm gonna go watch some of the American cheese that is the Emmy's. Makes my stomach churn, but i can't stop eating.

Well hung.

So the big election was a big letdown.




We haven't had a hung parliament for something like 70 years, which the newspapers call "historic". I call it boring. I'm not ecaxtly the most politically minded person in the world but i do get on the election-fever bandwagon, and now i just want a result. Alas, this hung parliament business means we probably won't get one for days, or even weeks. I think England had one earlier this year, and they were in limbo for 3 weeks. Hopefully the Labor Party has better negotiating skills then they do campaigning skills, because if Tony Abbott become our next PM I'll be horrified. Which probably gives you a good indication of my preferred party, and I'm no swinger on these issues. The man's ears are enough to bring the nation to shame, let alone his policies.




So, onto the rest. Work's been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks, which makes for long, slow days. Most of this week's been spent gazing longingly out the window into the sunshine. Our office overlooks Hyde Park, and the warmer weather had everyone out to play - dogs, kids, British backpackers...everyone but ME! Curse you, consumerism! Why must I be driven to work so i can buy things? Can we not barter, like the old days? Bah. BAH!




Luckily the weekend produced some very fine weather, so at least there was that. Blue skies and white clouds - can't ask for more. Well, i can. But i won't.








And there's no better way to spend sunny weekend mornings than with a book on the balcony. My books, as you can see, are piling up. I have a ton of stuff to get to, which doesn't stops me from ordering more. I've always had a weakness for buying books, but i was recently introduced to this website, www.bookdepository.co.uk, which has cheap books, often ten bucks or less, and FREE shipping - its really too easy. Set up an account and with one click all the books you desire are yours. It's dangerous i tell you. Dangerous.








Anyway, this week i finished a fantastic book called Fingersmith - I've heard lots of good things about its author, Sarah Waters, but for some reason i've never got around to reading anything by her yet. Fingersmith is set in Victorian England, and tells the tale of an orphan called Sue, who is raised among thieves, or fingersmiths, until she becomes embroiled in a plot which could earn her and her adopted family thousands of pounds. Sent to the country in disguise as a lady's maid, her new charge Maud appears the perfect innocent, easy enough to swindle - or is she? There are twists and turns galore in this book, and i didn't guess any of them. The author's writing is really atmospheric, so there's a great sense of place established wherever the characters are, plus you really actually end up liking them, even the bad ones. Throw in some unexpected lesbian love-fests and you've got yourself a winner. A+ from me.





There are signs of spring everywhere - and i for one am ready for August to be over. Apart from voting yesterday, i read, and read, and read some more before Daniel and Romina came over for pizza and red wine, and to watch the live election results, cause we're geeks like that. As you know, our dedication remained unrewarded. But that meatball pizza was gooooood.

Blooms! Spring! Yay!

Sunday morning bliss - again. Those are scones with blackberry jam by the way. And they were freaken awesome.

We headed into town today to run a few errands, and ended up walking through the rocks for a beer at the Lowenbrau, an old favourite haunt, who serve a very refreshing beer with a lemon flavoured drink thingy...that's not the technical term for it of course, but the name escapes me at present. All i can think of is pretzels, and can you blame me? The weather got a little chilly, but we walked right around the harbour anyway, cause it sure is pretty out there, for shiz. I'm suddenly starving, so I'm off to snack on Italian cheese and bread and wine and my dads homemade salami. Can you imagine a nicer dinner? Here's some pics from today to finish you off.

Jo brushing his teeth with his ice cream.




Me

What can i say. Been reading too many vampire books.

Sniffing out spring

After this weekend, I'm almost positive spring is in the air. I was practically sweating out on the balcony over breakfast. The sun was glaring. Check me out - sunnies and a strappy dress!! Fanfreakentastic, for reals.







That's pretty much how i spent my Saturday - reading in the sun. I've finally finished The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which is the last installment in that dragon tattoo series. Not a literary masterpiece, but definitely entertaining reading. The third one is a bit political for me, but aside from that, a satisfying conclusion. Good summer reading (and summer IS coming right up folks!!! *giddy*)




On Saturday night, we were off to Adrian's for a roast. Chicken, that is. And lots of wine and cheese, and Diva goodness. Diva is the dog, and she's hilarious, as young dogs always are.

Not sure, so don't ask me.


Fi and Diva. There are so many ways to caption this, but I'm going to leave it to your capable imaginations.

And now, a retrospective i call "Close up on Diva":

She kind of has a Scooby Doo quality, right? Meanwhile, Sunday morning bliss: Coffee, muffin, book. And SUN. SUN!!

Sunday night we went to Maria's for dinner to talk wedding. When i say we, i of course mean me. I mean Jo was there for the dinner part. But he high-tailed it out of there when wedding talk started. We have a growing list of stuff to do, but lots of it is fun stuff at least. Alas, there are always boring details to consider. Like cars. What do i care about cars? And yet we have a fairly large bridal party that'll need transporting all over the place, so yes, we must consider cars.

Jack is at a good age, where he's funny without realising it. Like we go out for ice cream, and his new thing is to slurp it up, and then laugh hysterically because "the ice cream is making a farting noise." Ah to be young. Afterwards, we get him in the bath and he asks his mother to "get out of the bathroom because Ornella wants to talk to me." LOL. Every time she walked back in, he was all like "get out of the bathroom mum!" This is how it starts. In ten years time, he'll be saying the same thing for oh so different reasons.

Me and the pest

Slurpy ice cream

Sporting a faux ice cream moustache and goatee.

Stuff that happened this weekend

So this week has been largely uneventful, mainly because I've had my head buried in a book called The Girl who Played with Fire, which is the follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There are three in the series in total, and I've just started the third. The second has just as much drama and intrigue as the first, which means its impossible to put down, which means i don't do anything at night but read. Which Jo loves because it means he has full control over the Foxtel remote.




I'm gonna skip straight to weekend activities. On Friday night, mum and I had our Big Night Out. We wandered through Darling Harbour just as the sun was setting...










And on to the Lyric Theatre at the Casino to see this...






We had dinner first though, at a restaurant called XXII, which i have to rave about. I'd never heard of it before, but a friend of mine recommended we go before the show since it was so close to the theatre. Which was great cause those casino buffets really don't do it for me. Ambiance immediately got a tick - cosy sandstone rooms, low lighting. Food - the menu changes twice a week and it was delicious. We had bruschetta with roasted pumpkin, haloumi and pesto to start, which is making my mouth water just THINKING about it as i type, then i had the swordfish and mum had the waygu steak - both excellent. And dessert? Naturally we'd saved room. I had strawberry cheesecake, and mum had the homemade sticky date pudding. If i had three thumbs, I'd give it a triple thumbs up. THAT'S how yum it was. I couldn't even fault the service - our waitress was entertaining and asked me whether i was actually in the show. Doesn't surprise me of course, clearly i was made for showbiz. Thank goodness someones finally realised it.




After dinner, we had a bit of time to kill, so mum made a beeline to the 1c poker machines and proceeded to watch ten dollars disappear in ten seconds (she has a problem). Damn you poker machines, damn you and your tantalising lights.

Mum looking hopeful as she inserts ten dollars. Alas, fortune didn't find us this time.

The show itself was good. I mean it wasn't a big spectacular like Wicked, and as you probably know, there is no happy ending. But the singing and dancing were great, and the songs are familiar and catchy - I've been humming America and Tonight all weekend.

Yesterday we had some friends over for round two of the Bledisloe Cup. As it turned out, there needn't be a round three, since the All Blacks creamed us again. And that's all i have to say about that.

Kat and I. Jo's stuffing chips in his mouth in the background. Just in case you missed that.




Tony and Jo in their opposing colours.

Adrian, charming to the last, and Fe

Today we went to Maria and Peter's for lunch. Correction, we were supposed to go to Maria and Peter's for lunch, however when we got there, the house was ominously empty. A telephone call later, we discover they're at Chatswood, where time had apparently "just got away!" OK, i say, well come now, we're here. . "Well. Why don't you just come meet us here!" Bah. OK. Our promised Italian feast turned into kebabs in the food court. But Jack's excitement to see me was totally worth it. The delighted laughter said it all, and who doesn't love that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing there's a pest out there that loves you.

My pest

That'll do me. Hardly my most interesting post, I'll admit, but I'm dejected about having to go back to work for another whole week, so you can hardly blame me. I'm feeling so low that I'm subjecting myself to another Kristen Stewert movie - Adventureland. Ever heard of it? Me either.

Random ramblings

Alright, down to business. Gotta start by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jo's mum Dawn! Hope you had a great day today!!




Its been one of those weeks. For some reason there's been this underlying sense of anxiety sitting in my stomach for days. I hate when this happens, because I'm not settled and i sleep badly and everything just feels kind of blah. I mean i know I'm a natural worrier. If i have nothing to worry about, don't worry - I'll find something. Its not one of my prettier traits, and i pity the fools around me who have to pat me kindly on the hand and say "there there" while rolling their eyes in the other direction (Its OK, I'd do the same thing.)




Still, we did get up to a few bits and pieces - like going to see Inception at Imax with some friends. It was an impressive movie - great acting, great special effects, a storyline that leaves you debating long after the credits roll - but was it worth the hype? Cause there was a lot of hype. I mean people have been calling it the next Matrix. I would say...tentatively...yes, it just about lived up to the hype. Somethings holding me back from being as enthusiastic as Jo is about it - he loved it. I can't put my finger on what though. But it's solid, insightful storytelling, even if Ellen Page really annoyed me the whole time. She's looks too young i think, and i didn't buy her in the role.




What else. I've just finished reading, finally, the biggest thing to come out of Sweden since Ikea - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. EVERYONE is reading and loving this trilogy, and has been for the last year. So I'm late on the bandwagon. Some scattered points from me - firstly, the writing is crap. Or maybe its the translation that's crap, but whatever. Its very functional. By that i mean, its just a tool to tell a story. It's obvious that writing isn't a craft to the author, though storytelling maybe is - the story itself is very addictive. I was totally sucked in, and finished the book in 5 days. It's an oxymoron - i didn't enjoy the writing, but i couldn't put it down. I liken this to the Dan Brown craze - he has great stories, but his writing sucks. There's no pleasure in the reading of it at all, even though the story is very entertaining. Know what i mean? Secondly, this dude Larsson (unfortunately he passed away before the books were published) had a seriously sick imagination. It's almost TOO over the top. Rape, murder, incest, torture, sex, Nazis, affairs, secrets...this book has it all, the very worst of society is on display. Which i think was the authors point when writing it, but still. It was weird. Then again, part of what makes you race through it is the fact that it's so sordid. Thirdly, for all this social commentary on how women are treated like crap by their male counterparts, his main male character really is a classic womaniser. Classic because he typically thinks there's nothing at all wrong with his behaviour. Worse, most of the females he sleeps with ALSO don't think there's anything at all wrong with his behaviour. In fact, they all seem to be falling over themselves to have sex with him. Just sex, mind you. Nobody in this book seems to want to have a relationship with anyone else. Just sex. But at the end of it all, everyone certainly hopes they can "still be friends" They're all "very fond of each other." I mean, really? Is this just a Swedish thing? *shrugs*, maybe it is. Still, like i said, i couldn't stop reading, and it's a good whodunnit. There are plenty of twists and turns and my friends and I have been talking about it all week. I'm into the second one now, which is similar in style. That was a really long rant about one book. Sorry non-readers. Moving right along.




There really is nothing like a good meat pie and mash. See below if you don't believe me. I had one of these baby's yesterday, and God it was good. No nutritional value whatsoever, obviously. But it's winter. No one cares what they eat in winter, as long as its making you feel good.










We went yesterday to see our wedding reception venue actually set up for an actual wedding, so we'd get an idea of how it would look with all the tables in there, and a dance floor etc. I'm glad we went, because i was panicking slightly about whether it would look empty-ish - the venue itself is a heritage-listed converted wharf warehouse, and even though the dark wood and beams are lovely, i thought it had the potential to look bare. I think it was the high ceilings that had me worried. But once it's filled with tables and chairs and all that, it didn't look at all empty like i pictured, which was good. We're also trying to finalise the guest list, an exercise i can best describe as painful and frustrating. Don't try it at home kids.




We headed over to Daniel and Romina's afterwards to see the baby, since naturally we don't care about them much at all any more. How could we, when their very entertaining munchkin steals the limelight these days. 2 points about Luca - one, he has a high-pitched shriek that rivals Mariah Carey, and two, his name should actually be Puker, because he spent most of the afternoon spewing. Not that i held it against him. Better out than in and all that.

Luca looking over at his mother pleadingly - "Ma, for reals, get me off her. She's crazy man. Crazy."

Luca and I


Rom and Luca

On a final note, hands up if you know what a flogging is?

To flog: Definition - to beat harshly. As in, Australia was flogged by New Zealand in last nights game. Bah. BAH. I blame the ref. Yellow cards, red cards, penalties every two minutes...it was ridiculous. But it didn't stop Adrian from bringing out the yellow jumpsuit in support of the Aussies (you got one free with every jug of bundy rum and coke last night. I mean that's value.) And what a fashion statement it was. I'm sorry i don't have one in my wardrobe for just these occasions.

Jo, Adrian and Fe's hand. I particularly love the pulled up socks with this look. Its special.

Back to the Future is on, so i gotta go. Any movie with a flux capacitor gets a thumbs up from me.