And the fesitval begins!

My first birthday present of the year......given to me by my top 3 Friend

MoR #6

Every year a little club called the Hi-Fi Bar holds a rock and roll extravaganza called Monsters of Rock.

Nationally successful coverbands from around the country on the one stage for one night only!

X-Halen (Van Halen)

Bad Medicine (Bon Jovi)

Poisoned (Poison)

KISStroyer (KISS)

Thunderstruck (AC/DC)

The OZ Queen Show (Queen)

Blood Sugar Sex Magic (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

It was AWESOME. So much fun. Lots of fun people, lots of fun bands, lots of alcohol....what more could you ask for.

This is X-Halen:

Finger Food

Made this for my lunch the other day. So healthy :)

Do you have plans for lunch?

This is where I go..........I loiter, I search, I browse, I wander, I read and I am happy.

It is my lunchtime refuge. The place that calls when I have no socialising planned, the place that I feel safe.

New workstation

We moved to a different level in the same building. This is my new desk

Although, I don't usually have 2 dozen red roses on my desk. GB spoiling me for our 5th!

Check out The Cute Little Dead Girl Lenore, Mr Gosh and all the TMNT's :)

1/20th of a century

GB and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in contemporary style. Usually our tastes run to the older styled venues with lots of character and charm, some might call them dingy.... However, this year I decided a little something different was in order. The hotel we stayed at is The Adelphi which boasts very modern styling and one of the most photographed hotel swimming pools in the world.

Prior to our retiring from the world into the edgy hotel room - and I mean edgy in the way that I have bruises on my shins from walking into all the edges from all the jutting furniture which is supposed to give it the "modern" feel. (Give me rounded, wooden, polished pieces anyday!) - we saw a contemporary reworking of Romeo and Juliet, by Lithuanian director Oskaras Koršunovas', which sets the infamous conflict between the Capulets and Montagues in rival pizzerias.
What I hadn't noticed when I booked was that the play was in Lithuanian with English subtitles. But it didn't matter - the actors were simply amazing. It was a funny and moving rendtition that relied on universal humor to convey the amusing qualities of the characters. The imagery was powerful, so much so, with even knowing the end I was moved to tears. It is hard to describe just how great I thought it was. To convey perhaps how talented the director and actors are is to acknowledge the greatest stage prop they had was flour - and boy did they use it well.

I could ramble on about how much I enjoyed it for eons and I prolly will annoy everyone at work today with my inarticulate praises for the show.

This morning we stopped off for Breakfast.

This is the cafe we were sitting opposite....to me it is so "Melbourne" and that feeling makes me fall in love with this city all over again.

MotoGP 2008 #9

Thursday 2nd October 2008 was the start of my MotoGP weekend. I picked T up from the Airport at 8:30am and it was straight down to the island. We made record time and arrived at the Red Rocks Golf Ranch a couple of hours before check in time. We decided to check in anyway so we could lose the bags and spend the afternoon hanging out in Cowes and checking out the track, which is our usual Thursday ritual.

Much confusion was caused when we rocked up to the Ranch and tried to obtain our keys. The kind couple that were running the establishment couldn't figure out why 2 girls had booked the Queen Studio room. There is a bit of a story behind that - but to make it short.....we left the accommodation organisation a little late and couldn't find anywhere. I did however try to make a booking for a room at this ranch. Apparently one of the parties that had booked several rooms had a DEATH. Yep - that is what they told me. So we got their room. Fair enough I guess since they couldn't use it anymore. But as you can see a Queen Studio really wasn't a choice but all that was left available to us. When the couple still couldn't work out if we knew what we were doing.....they asked us straight out if we knew we would be sharing a bed. I wondered if we were a lesbian couple what we would have made of their reluctance to believe in girl / girl relationships.

The afternoon trip to the track was in enough time to see the hundreds of bikes that made the Barry Sheene Tribute Ride make their way around the GP circuit. It was quite the spectacle. One poor sod broke down on the road beside the track after making the trip all the way from Bairnsdale.


The weather was some of the best that the Island has managed to put on over the last 9 years. The only downside to the weekend, well their was two. 1. M couldn't make it this year and 2. They didn't have the jets this year either. So it was just T and I for most of the weekend. Madjid and Amanda joined us on the Race day and we had a nice picnic on the grass with the thousands of other fans and wannabes.

The Friday and Saturday of the weekend share a very similar ritual. As soon as we get to the track we get a coffee and go to the fence or our seats and watch the free practice sessions for all the bikes 125s, 250s and MotoGPs. The only exception is that Friday I will line up in the merchandise tent to secure my hat for the weekend. I now have 9 of them!
After free practice it is time to walk around the track - taking in the qualifying sessions from every angle the track has to offer. I think it is something like 4.2km around the track. So I get just enough exercise in to balance the beer consumed on race day :)

Here are some of the photos from the podium and the excited crowd storming the track. There really is nothing like seeing thousands of people converge into the one area. These photos don't convey the thrill and sheer size of the crowd.

So far I am still riding the buzz from seeing some of the best sportsmen in the world. Rossi took the championship in the prior race, however seeing him ride out of 12th position into 2nd was just amazing. He is most definitely the best rider. EVER. Hehe I feel privileged that I have been around for his reign as champion. Almost makes me want to spawn some kidlets so I can tell them and their children all about it.......

Until next year.

Sunny Corner

This little old duplex, sitting dwarfed by the large looming apartment blocks that surround it and bulge onto the once quiet street, features prominently in any reminiscing that I do. It represents the time I consider my coming of age. When I fell headlong into a hedonism of the poor and dysfunctional. Sunny Corner. It saw many late nights and early mornings as occupants sat buried in a daze of ciggerettes, journal keeping...the walls trying to contain the smoke, the low noise from Rage on the tv and the huntsmen.

I discovered I wasn't a goth, that I didn't belong on the "Gold Coast" and that Jeff Buckley was magic. I pawned all my unneccesary possessions and traded them for even more unnecessary ones and spent the rest of the money on coffee. Britpop was massive and being an elitest, purest or generally self obsessed self righteous twat seemed easy and natural. The rose-tint that memory glosses over this time forges it in my mind as the best time of my life.......

When the mould grows

I am feeling very sad and just a trifle cranky. Today I went to get my Starbuck glass from the work fridge and empty out the Chia seeds which were slowly fermenting and festering. I was 2 days late. After not being able to find my beloved glass in the fridge I announced to my department in a slightly strained voice that my glass was missing. To my horror I was then informed, bravely by the HR lady herself, that she had indeed thrown my glass and its contents into the bin. Didn't just empty out the collectors memrobillia glass and put it in the dishwasher. NO! Threw it and it's contents into the rubbish without a warning.

I don't really remember what was said after that. I was trying to quell the rising tears and keep my voice even.......

I'm sad.

Rookie mistakes and Soy lattes in the sun

This weekend just gone was close to the best weekend I have had apart from the Phillip Island MotoGP round.

Friday: The Run Real Estate called to confirm that GB and I were successful in our application for the house we wanted in Seaford. Hooray! I am going to be a proper commuter now.
I left for the airport straight after work and arrived at Coolangatta at 9pm. T picked me up (yep she has her car licence now) and we went for a burl around the coast and had coffee at Kingscliffe’s new resort. I haven’t seen T or M since the MotoGP in October 2007.

Saturday and Sunday: I spent the weekend on the coast with the Bott’s and indulged in every way a person does on holiday. Overate and drank too much :)
It has been about 10 years since I have been back on the coast, so there was the obligatory drive by the old house and wandering around the old haunts exclaiming how much things have changed. T is not much of a drinker and M is 2 weeks away from having her second child, so it was up to Dr Bott to be my drinking partner. We shared a lovely bottle of wine over a seafood lunch sitting on Tweed River, then followed that up with drinks at SaltBar in Kinglscliffe.

GB was playing the perfect boyfriend and was there waiting dutifully at the airport and surprised me with a bunch of welcome home flowers. But the weekend was way too short and I found myself a little bit sad on the trip home from the airport. I miss having my friends close by.
The perfect end to the great weekend was waking up to the Leguna Seca MotoGP live on TV. Rossi and Stoner put on quite the show. Chris Vermeulen got another podium which I was happy about. Stoner made a Rookie mistake which saw Rossi take the lead by over 10sec , then Stoner whinged about it like the bad sport he can be at times.

So I find myself in the best mood - at work, although not working yet, and I feel reinvigorated and motivated and excited for all the changes coming up.