Weekends of Culture with a Nosey Kookaburra!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on a pretty OK Sunday afternoon. It rained and was chilly most of yesterday but today it's warmed up (a little) and is raining a lot less. So, managed to get all the chores done before the latest downpour - excellent! But hey, it's winter, this is what it does here. Could be worse, could be the northeast coast. Ha - sucks to be you NYC in wintertime! So, now that the chores are done, we got the hip n' cool jazz tunes, got a nice, cool glass of the standby red (it was a toss-up between the standby red or the standby beer, I went with the red. Still have yet to organize myself to make Gluwein..... yet!), the kittehs were out on the balcony at their guard post stations until the latest downpour drove the big wussies inside. It was either that or the yuuuuge, warbling Kookaburra perched on the balcony railing that motivated them to come in....... So yes, clean house, wussie guard kittehs, good tunes and nice standby red - yes, life is goood!

So, work. Yep. Is good. Just had my mid-year performance review, because having two reviews a year isn't enough. We basically shot the breeze until our time was almost out when he wanted to talk about it. I told him "nothing negative, only positive". Needless to say, that wrapped up pretty quick. They always like to talk negative and I never understood that. So, at least that's over with until Dec or whenever the next one is. Have I mentioned I thought I'd sign up to be a movie/TV extra again? I'd done it a few times when I lived in Phoenix and then again Auckland........ Gotta spice things up in this workaday life. So far I applied to one agency (online) but they never got back to me. Honestly, I only applied to be an extra, not the next Cate Blanchett. There are a couple other agencies to check out, so, all may not be lost. Otherwise, work is work, not too busy, not too slow. Hard to believe folks are thinking about their Xmas parties already, the emails have been zipping around thick and fast. Am happy to miss it this year as I had to plan the last two - logistical nightmares, with such dietary requirements! Ahhhhh well, whining aside, my job is good - always happy to have good, gainful employment!

And then there were a few weekends in there. Last weekend was good, I met my friend Julian and we hit the French Festival for the day! That was tres fantastique! We got there when they first opened at 9am because any later and you can't see any of the stalls for the crowds. This way, you coud have a wander and note the places you wanted to check out later. The food was amazing, as it always is, but ever so overpriced and such tiny portions, as it always is, but so good. French folks eeeeeeverywhere this time, which you'd expect but this time there were lots. Normally there's just a scattering, but not this time. It was great. The wine was really good (but of course, eet ees French), the music was hip, and the people watching was even better. It was a good day. Then, tired of all that culture, we wandered into town and took ourselves on a mini-pub tour, finishing up at my [second] favorite pizza place, Boroughs of NY Pizza (first favorite will always be Kookaburra Cafe). I know it's odd to make legit, NYC pizza, made by real New Yorkers second-place but this last visit, meh, my ginormous slice wasn't cooked all the way, and I wasn't in a hurry and they weren't crowded. Ehhh, will give them one more chance and see where we're at..... And then it was time for home! A good end to a great day!!!!! And then Sunday was a little slow to get going.... I think I made a half-assed attempt at the chores then gave up and watched a movie. It was a good weekend.

And then earlier this week, on Wednesday, my friend Graeme and I went to the opening night of the Scandinavian Film Festival where, for $30 bucks, you got allllll the Cake wine you could drink (and did we ever, it was soooo good) and all the excellent Nordic-themed snacks that you could snaggle as they drifted past. Oh, and the movie we saw was "Welcome to Norway". It was fuuuunny. And just before the movie, the Norwegian Ambassador made a really, really good, little speech, followed by the gal who organized the whole festival (hats off to her) and who also introduced one of the actors whose film we didn't see but was playing the next night (where he was going to have a Q&A), Jakob Oftebro (I saw him in In Order of Disappearance, it was good, funny), he said hi and how happy he was to be there and then waved at his brother standing in the audience (by the exit door) - he was the main actor in a film I'd just watched like two weeks before called The Wave (for disaster films, it was goooooooooodd, based on a true story) - I thought that was neat of them to stop by. Yeah, that was a great evening. Home at respectable hour and everything (for a school night)!

And then here we are at this weekend - dull by comparison! Ahhh, I needed the rest. As my Mom likes to remind me now and then, I'm no spring chicken. Yeah, well, yeah. Anyways, that's about that! All is well here. Just happy that it's not summer because it'll be here soon enough. Although, now that I think about it, at least I'll miss about a month of it.........!? Hmmm. And say, speaking of going away, I finally have some folks coming to visit! An old family friend, Jamie and her husband Ron, are coming for a couple weeks and to take advantage of free digs (and me, the pet sitting) while they check out Brisbane! Turns out Qantas was having a very brief but crazy sale where round-trip tickets from LA to Brisbane were going for $750. Holy shit. I haven't seen tickets that cheap since the 80s. And she managed to get in on the deal and here they come! It'll be great to see them but am sorry to be jetting off not long after they arrive. Ahhhh well, we'll have a great time those couple days! So there you go - ticketing miracles can happen! Keep your eyes open and nab one sometime!!!!!!!!!!!

BYE!
J!

Voting For Glorious Winter Skies!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another beautiful, sunny day. Winter's been here all last week, the week before, and it might even hang around through this coming week. But winter in this sense of the word is about 40+/- degrees at night and upper 60s, low 70s during the mainly bright, sunny days. It makes suffering through the summers worth it, because after our week or two (or three) of winter, we'll go back to beautiful until November, December and then we'll be back to whining about the heat and the humidity! So, we'll enjoy it while we got it! Even the kittehs like this weather better - they're in better moods and they certainly play more - even Kona gets the sillies more often than during the summer, which is understandable. So yes, the weather is in its glorious phase! Otherwise, all is well - the chores are mainly done, the kittehs are out guarding the balcony, got the good ol' jazz tunes, and even have a nice glass of the standby red, although with the "chilly" weather lately, it has occurred to me to try my hand at making a batch of traditional German Gluewein, which I had when I was in southern Germany all those years ago over Xmas and it was The Best Winter Drink EVER! It's just never been cold enough here to bother, heck it isn't now, but man it sure sounds good...... But no, for now it's a just a glass of the standby stuff..... Yes, life is good!

So, work. Yep. Picked up a little last week, had stuff to do to make the day pass, which was nice. Folks seem to be in better moods lately........ Otherwise, all seems better than it has been, but really, who cares, right? Always happy to just have a constant, decent gig to come to everyday that pays me enough to keep rent paid and the lights on (and lately, the heat going)! Waahhooo!

And then there were a couple weekends in there......... Yeah, they were pretty quiet. As the days and weeks drift by on the calendar, I realize how much closer my Big Nordic Adventure is getting (end of Nov) and how much stuff I have yet to buy (thermals, boots, coat, etc).... So yes, the bank account is in virtual lock-down, which in turn means a lot of fun stuff is deferred (unless it's free, that is). Trying to delay dumping it all on the credit card as long as I can because heaven knows it's going to take one hell of a beating during the trip! 

This weekend was quiet but good, one for the record books actually - I finally got to vote in a real-life Australian Federal election - something I haven't been able to do in over ten years!!!!!! And we still don't know who won yet! Sheesh. So, they always have voting day on a Saturday so most folks can actually go do it (looking at you, USA.....), unless of course folks do it early or by mail, then it doesn't matter. And as a citizen you HAVE to vote or you get fined, yes, fined for not doing your civic duty, which I think is a great idea, tho I have no idea what the fine monies actually go to........ So, after doing the chores, off I trotted up the hill to my local polling station, which also happens to be where my swing dance classes are held - lucky eh, to have it less than a minute's walk from my place?!? 

Once there I had to duck and weave past all the different party's volunteers handing out "How to Vote" materials - really just glossy one-pagers telling the uneducated/uninformed and gullible how to vote for their particular candidate and their interests - no, none for me, thanks! I was a good new citizen and spent the night before (that's just how I study, maaaaan) reading up on alllllllllllllll the parties and candidates (of which there are about a million), quickly narrowed them down to those clearly not lunatics, weeded through the ones with deceiving names and nefarious policies, like the Health Australia Party - with a name like that you'd think, yeah, they want us to have access to quality medical care, etc. Nope - they're vitamin-chewing anti-vaxxers who're dead against fluoride in drinking water. So, after hours of reading and whittling, I made up a cheat-sheet of who I'd vote for and brought it in with me. And boy, am I glad I did because good grief their ballots are a joke. For starters, you had to do preferential voting, so, out of the six House of Representatives you had to number your votes 1 - 6, 1 being the one you really like, etc. A method I don't like at all because it still gives votes to the folks I really don't want getting votes. But that's the system. 

Then it was onto the enormous Senate ballot - honestly, this thing was 3/4 the length of me. There were two ways you could fill it out - pick a minimum of six general parties above the line (1-6 preference), or a minimum of twelve(!) individual candidates below the line (1-12 preference!), which is what I'd studied up on. Soooo glad I had my cheat-sheet because seeing and fighting with it in person was an experience enough to fluster folks who'd been doing this for years and years. And then you had to do origami with it to get it through the little slot in the box at the end - that was fun watching folks fight with them. I thought I was super clever and folded mine accordion-style, then in half and it fit through the slot like a breeze. In the end, all I know is I tried to pick the people who have us folks and the country in their best interests (yeah, yeah, I know, but I live in hope), and I certainly didn't vote for annnnnny of the folks you see on the news all the time. No, I voted for the "little people". I feel good that I tried. 

Then it was outside where the first stop is the sausage stand, staffed by plucky volunteers with proceeds going to charity, and is an apparent post-voting Aussie tradition. So, for $2.50 you get a fresh-off-the-grill sausage (or snag, as the locals call them), complete with grilled onions and smothered in ketchup (or BBQ sauce - bleck), all wrapped up nice and neat in a slice of white bread. It was deeeeelicious, but lordy I burned the roof of my mouth something third-degree........ 

So there you have it! A dull campaign followed with a cumbersome ballot experience and no outcome yet! Ahhhhhhh gotta love Australia politics! Sure beats what's happening in the US by miiiiiiles tho!

And that's really been about it! Highlight of being a new citizen really, voting. Of course, the next thing on the list is when I will finally be called for jury duty......... Hmmm. But there you have it. All's well down here. Hope you're all well up there - dodging any wildfires/storms/heat. Hey, if you need a break, we're having a glorious winter........!!!!!!

BYE!

J!