not missing much

i was flipping thru this weeks tv guide that came with the paper and came across a desription of tonite's episode of lost:

jack is an interested observer when kate gives the recovering sawyer a much needed haircut.

i thought those descriptions were supposed to enitce you to watch the show.
if thats any indication of stuff on tv i don't think i'll be missing much while we're away with no tv over the next 4 days. 8)

sad kitty and funny kid

this is our friends' sad kitty günther (yes, you have to say his name with the accent). he tore a ligament in his leg a few weeks ago and he's been confined to the kitchen since his operation (for the first 2 weeks he was confined to a large dog cage). günther is very much an outdoor cat who thinks he's better than every one and every thing so to make him have to sit in a room and put up with what he thinks is way below his maturity level takes a big toll on him. he's been forced to be the centre of attention and to take part in things. when we went over last nite he just sat by the door and looked up at me constantly with these very sad kitty eyes (he usually just ignores everyone and refuses to make eye contact) asking me to let him out (at least he's over the vocal stage of asking to be let out). apparently he tests every new person with his sad eyes though, hoping somebody doesn't know the rules and lets him out. he's still got a few weeks to go before he's even allowed to roam around the whole house.

on a complely different topic (my words really are random)-- at the kinder i've been working casually at this week there's some pretty funny kids. today i was staning near a couple kids while they were busy drawing and painting at a table. the boy asked the girl if she wanted to sit next to him at lunch. she said sure. then the boy called out to another staff near by and asked her if he could sit next to the girl at lunch. she thought that was a good idea. the boy's response to that was waving his hands up over his head and shouting "yes!! i'm the man!!" and then in a sing-song voice "i'm gonna have lots of girlfriends, i'm gonna have lots of girlfriends!" as i walked away i heard him telling the girl about the fact he already has a girlfriend.

melbourne ice

*insert stompin' tom conners "good old hockey game" song here*

i got to go to my first hockey game in australia today. it was pretty good. definitely not like watching an nhl game but it was hockey. it was kinda like watching an amateur game at a small ice community ice rink but it was melbourne vs. adelaide in the australian ice hockey league. the penalty box was just a bench in the front row of the bleachers. the bleachers were cement steps which they had padded/insulated with 3 layers of bubble wrap rolled out over the cement and the refs were kind of idiots (they made a couple really controversial calls). it was fun to watch some hockey again and i would definitely go again. unfortunately melbourne lost (4-3) but next time they'll win 8)
on a happier note-- the demons finally won their first game of the footy season against the swans (97-92)

rusty chef

last nite was our fundraiser for food-not-bombs and the free west papua movement. it was a "rusty chef" (spoof on the iron chef) competition. it was a lot more extravigant that the usual fnb fundraiser. we usually just get a few bands that we like to do a benefit gig for us. for this fundraiser we rented out a room in the town hall, set tables to feed about 300 people, got a couple bands, video cameras and projectors (to give live, close up views of the cook-off), got enough kitchen equipment (including stoves) for 2 kitchens to be set up for the competion and we spent many hours preparing entrees, desserts and some of the main courses as well as preping a lot of the food that would be used in the rusty chef competition.
almost all the food was gleaned or donated (in true fnb style) and it was all vegan. some amazing dishes were made out of it. i tried to get some good photos of the nite but it was hard. i somehow ended up being the "dishpit grrrl" for 3-4 hrs (i just started doing it and it just never ended-- it was still happening an hour after i left at midnite. my years of doing dishes at summer camp and weekend retreats all came flooding back to me and i got my familiar system with the industrial dishwasher down pat again)
here's a few of the photos though.
team fnb in the cookoff:

team west papua in the cookoff:

the almost packed full room (a lot of us were pretty skeptical about that many people turning up-- i'm glad we were wrong)
and the winner is..........
west papua!!! i didn't get to try either of the team's food but west papua had their food layed out and it looked amazing-- it must have tasted as good as it looked.
 

canadian stuff

this weekend is a very canadian weekend. last nite we went out with the canada club that i recently joined. it was a great time to meet up with other canadians who had been here as little as 3 months or as long as 27+ years (a lot of "oot"s and "aboot"s to be heard in the conversations). we even met a guy that lives just a couple blocks from us and has only been here 3 months so i think we're gonna try to meet up with him in the near future and help him get settled in melbourne. it was great talking about things like ice hockey, snow storms and canadian food with people who know exactly what you're talking about and i think zac got a bit more of idea of the adjustment period that canadians (or anyone else migrating to oz) go through. tomorrow is gonna be more canadian stuff-- i found out last year that melbourne has an ice hockey team and the season just started up a couple weeks ago. i've convinced zac's mum to come watch the melbourne adelaide game with us tomorrow afternoon(both her and zac have never been). i'm hoping to get a few members of zac's family into ice hockey cuz its fun to watch-- and the rink is in a suburb that's hard to get to by public transport so it'd be nice if someone with a car wanted to go-- and wanted drive us too 8)

tagged

4 Jobs I've Had in my life:
- my parents chocolate factory (definitely a lot of “testing for quality” went on there)
- outdoor education instructor for year-round residential camp in san diego county
- groundskeeper (gardener) at my university (playing on ride on lawnmowers…)
- street collector/door knocker for a couple charities (my first jobs in australia)

4 Movies I could watch over and over:
- shrek
- zoolander
- team america
- fight club

4 places I've been on vacation:

- france (paris and towns near there)
- darwin and kakadu n.p. australia
- road trip around arizona (havasupi, grand canyon, 4 corners, random small towns usa)
- alaska (road trip from vancouver to alaska while visiting home last year)

4 Websites I visit regularly:

- bloglines and various blogs
- yahoo
- ebay
- optus (my other email)

4 Favorite Foods:

- gormet pizza from bimbo’s
- zac’s gnocci (vegan sundried tomato and mint cream sauce)
- crackers with cheese and tomato
- anything i don't have to cook 8)

4 Places I'd rather be right now:

- on a road trip in oz or big vacation (like to canada)
- somewhere warm and sunny
- eating my dinner (gnocci is being made as i type)
- under my doona (comforter for north americans) cuz the heater hasn’t heat up the house yet

4 Books I could read over and over:

- in a sunburned country (called “downunder” in oz)—bill bryson
- the bible
- the meaning of life (bradley trevor greive)—great coffee table book; cute photos, very funny
- i think those are the only books i have read more than once. i usually don’t read things more than that(other than a lot of kids books—sometimes over and over in the same sitting)

4 Songs I could Listen to over and over:

- love song (and a lot of their other songs)—third day
- anything by paul brandt (too hard to choose just 1—-or a dozen-- favourites)
- sunflower man and 4th floor (and others)—the wiafs
- walk the line, jackson, a lot of the hymns he does…. – johnny cash
that was hard. hard enough to narrow it down to 4 artists, let alone 4 songs

4 TV shows love to watch:

- the glass house
- family guy
- bbc shows like the office or little brittian
- house

4 Reasons Why I Blog:

- i like telling random stories about things i’ve done or things i'm thinking
- it’s a great way to see what friends from back home are up to
- i like reading about other people’s experiences and thoughts from around the world or right in my neighbourhood
- it’s a good procrastination activity

Who I tag:

if you read this, consider yourself tagged

bilby hunting

i came across this photo on another blog

i decided that yesterday would be the perfect day to go chocolate bilby hunting cuz i've never had one and it would be a good aussie (commercialized) easter thing to do. any shop that was open had all their easter chocolate 50% off. i thought my best bet would be the big chain stores like k-mart (which had 6 small isles devoted to easter stuff) and any big grocery store. unfortunately by the time i got there in the afternoon it looked like a war had taken place in the easter section. most of the shelves were bare and the few things left were scattered everywhere, broken, opened or pilled in a heap on the floor infront of the price scanner. i walked up and down thru the mess but there were no chocolate bilbies to be found. not even a broken one. i checked the grocery store too and nothing. i find it odd that this was my 3rd easter here and i'd never even heard of chocolate easter bilbies before now. i'm gonna continue my hunt for leftover bilbies this week but i don't think i'm gonna have much luck. next year i'm gonna get in early and get myself (and any other foreigners that i know around melbourne) their very own easter bilby cuz if you're gonna commercialize a very important christian holiday you might as well do it with native animals and give some of the proceeds to help support those animals. 8)

on another random note, i saw this written on the back of a tube of hand lotion:

against testing on animals. supports cancer research.

i wonder if the company has really thought through putting those 2 phrases together on their product. do they realize that a lot of cancer research is done by testing things on animals. maybe they're only against testing their own products on animals. 

randomist

that was the title of the ross noble show we saw last nite for the opening of the melbourne comedy festival. its a brilliant title (i want to point out that random was my absolute favourite word LONG before it ever became overused-- i'm a little sad that people don't think its funny anymore when i overuse that word cuz i've done it for years and everyone used to think it was weird). ross noble is hilarious (i saw him once before as a "surprise" guest-- the surprise leaked into the press 2days before-- at a tsunami benefit last year)!! basically the only way to discribe is act is that he's like an ADHD kid and his brain works faster than his mouth can but he really tries to get everything in his brain out of his mouth (and he does surprisingly well at it). he's different than a lot of comedians in that i don't think he actually has much of a set list when he gets up infront of everyone. i'm sure he has a few vague topics in mind but he basically goes off on tangents within tangents, within tangents.... (you get the point) and he's hilarious. he usually remembers to get to the end of the first story too (even if it is 90 minutes later). the show was 140 minutes and it included a 10 min question period at the end (a lot of which got taken up by a question that reminded him that he did forget to finish one story he started near the beginning of the show. definately worth the $25.

glad to entertain

i've been putting a few random weird pictures up on my ringo account over the last month or so. i knew that zac had put one of the picutres as a background for a computer at work. i didn't realize until today that he's done it a few times and its been entertaining everyone at work (he called from work this evening and i could hear his boss and one of his co-workers laughing in the background. i asked what was so funny and he said he just put my latest photo as a computer background-- everyone shares the computers). this is what they were laughing at tonite:

if you look closely you can see he's talking "baa ram ewe"

one person's junk is another person's treasure

i came across a great website the other day while reading another blog. we've been trying to figure out what to do with our old computer since we got our new one 4 months ago. we didn't want it to end up in a landfill but we didn't know how to find someone who needed a computer but was ok with a really old one (windows 95, modem but VERY slow internet connection). the answer is freecycle! its got groups in several countries and there is a group in melbourne. you can post your unwanted items in there and whoever wants/needs it can respond to your post. the items must be free. i put the computer on earlier this evening and its already going to a boy who could really use it. we're going to put some old bikes and bike parts we have around the house on it too (we were going to give them to a couple bike groups in the area but its hard getting them there without a car and now one bike shed moved out of the area and another just did a huge clean up and i think is trying to cut down on donations until they reorganize and extend their shed/work area). its a great way to get things to people who need them and find random things that you need for free.

autumn

i think autumn officially hit melbourne april 1. starting with the much needed rains overnite on friday nite. my bike adventure on saturday felt very autumn-y (the few people i passed on the bike trail were all bundled up in nice warm clothes). i sat in front of the heater with a cup of tea a lot at denise's house and i've been wearing socks and shoes. yesterday i was volunteering at the harvest festival at ceres in the afternoon. it was perfect weather for that kind of event. the rain held off and everyone was bundled up in fuzzy sweaters and scarves (i went home between my volunteer shift and the volunteer pizza party to get a 3rd shirt on and my gloves and scarf). at one point when i was walking along a path near the top of ceres it felt like it was a weekend day in autumn back in the mountains in california. i know my whole excitement with autumn will wear off pretty quickly though (after i get a chance to wear all my warm clothes once-- i'd much prefer a tank top and if its really hot, a skirt with it, otherwise just pants).

more than i bargained for

i decided to be bit adventurous today and bike up to zac's mum's house instead of just biking 5 min to the train station, sitting on a train for 15 min and then biking 5 more minutes to denise's place. i thought i'd even go the more scenic round about way up the darebin creek trail. before i even got across our street i discovered i had a flat. so i spent 20 min changing the tube (put back the repaired one i took out the day i had a flat on my lunch brake). before i even got to the trail i got hit with a brief rain shower (it wasn't too bad though-- kinda refreshing and only lasted a couple minutes). i got about 11km up the trail and got kinda lost. i'm gonna have to look at a map but i'm not sure where i was but there were just fields of yellow grass and i was on a very unkept track with the remains of truck tire prints with grass growing over it. then i discovered i had a flat (again!). fortunately i'd brought a repair kit and the pump. i figured it was probably just as easy to keep pumping it up every few minutes instead of taking apart and trying to find the hole and fix it while sitting in a field. i knew i was somewhere around latrobe uni but i had no idea where. i kept biking (and stopping to reinflate so i wouldn't damage the rim) until i found a road. it looked like part of the university property but i had no idea where or what direction to head to get to plenty road. i called zac at work and tried to describe where i was but he didn't know either. i got up to a main road and found an intersection then called zac again to tell him where i was. he looked on the melways and gave me directions to get to plenty road and then i could find my way from there. i kept riding along the footpath stopping every couple minutes to pump up the tube (i think the hole must have been getting bigger cuz it was deflating a lot faster-- probably didn't help that i had 2 heavy panniers attached to the back either). i eventually made it to denise's (90 minutes after i left home) after pumping up the tube at least a dozen times. i ended up walking the last couple blocks or so cuz the last time i pumped up the tube i hit the back of my hand really hard on my bike while trying to get the pump off the tube. i must have hit a nerve cuz it hurt so bad i couldn't do anything with that hand for a couple minutes (it still hurts now but at least i can use my hand). now that i'm clean and fed and having a nice hot cup of tea i'm feeling much better. things should be a little less "adventurous" and a little more fun tonite though. we're going to our friends' engagement party after zac gets here in about 45 minutes (the place its at is near zac's mom's house so we decided to catch a cab from here to there and then spend the nite here at denise's)

it was a scenic trip though: the first shot is about 5 minutes after i got lost (the dirt/short grass in the foreground is what i had been riding on-- this is about the point i realized i had a flat)
the tree in the pond was the first point i felt i could describe something to zac and called him ("i'm near a pond with a tree in it. there's a footy oval on the other side. i'm somewhere near latrobe uni can you tell me where to go?")