Belly full of laughs

How terrifically fast is this week going by! I have Friday off work so it will go by even faster for me. I am planning on using that day to finally get to the Post Office and send a very belated Christmas present off to some friends. How remiss have I been lately! BTW, did anyone notice the fantastic spelling mistake on Channel 10 news the other day? In the picture next to the presenter's head it said "Saftey Blitz". Gotta love those diligent newshounds down at Channel 10, you can always count on them for a laugh. Almost as entertaining as The Advertiser.

Last night my women's touch team played the worst team in the comp. Not just unskilled, but also rude, aggressive and dishonest. I am not sure which is funnier; the fact that they are so terrible at touch after an entire season, or that they still seem to think that all the problems they experience on the field are our fault, not theirs. Team Agro usually start off each game by picking on someone for giving them a 'hard touch'. Then they see how far they can push it with the ref by attempting to run the game themselves e.g., Agro 1 tucks the ball under her arm and approaches member of our team in an aggressive manner and tells her to 'calm down' or some such. Oh, it's so hard to describe how hilarious it is in real life. She likes to say "It's touch not punch". The best part is that these so-called hard touches are just your normal run of the mill stuff you encounter every game and is really no grounds for complaint. Just think about it, you've got two people running towards each other with some momentum, physics dictates that a light tap on the shoulder isn't going to represent a majority of the touches.

Anyway, throughout the game Team Agro's level of aggression climbs in keeping with our amusement about the whole situation. The trouble is that not only are they whingers, but they are also cheaters. I touched Agro 2 on the arm, she batted my arm out of the way and the ref called a hard touch on her which means I get the ball :) In response to this Agro 2 claims that I slapped her in the face. Luckily for us the ref was an old hat and was also very aware of the tactics of this team so he just told her to pull the other one and sent her off the field. And then at the end of the game they have the nerve to accuse us of being cheaters! There were several colourful words added to the description of us, but I won't mention them here.

I find it scary that there are such people in the world. If these girls can't even play touch without becoming unreasonable, violent and abusive, how in hell are they handling the real world? It just annoys me that they are even allowed to continue to play in the competition. Obviously it's a financial thing, but they are not adding any quality or enjoyment to the game by being out there ranting and raging. And I suspect that the parents of the under 12s team didn't appreciate their girls being called all kinds of names either. I really hope Team Agro doesn't come back next year!

It's my birthday!

Happy Birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! etc...

It's just another day, but I get some chocolate to help me through it! I got a cake at work, and a box of choccies - nice one. After work I am heading to my grandparent's place for dinner. I made a cheesecake for dessert which my bro is taking up in the car. First cheesecake attempt! I got a springform pan the other week so this is the perfect excuse to use it. Yesterday I had a picnic in a park near my place - just a few people and some yummy food. Way too much food as usual though :) It was a warm day but nice and cool under the shade. I adjourned to the local pool at about 4:30 and joined MM and the stinklepants for some splashing around. It all culminated in the clothes changing stand-off post pool when the lack of nap and excess of tickle drink caught up with us. Still, could have been worse!

I am feeling pretty sleepy today. Had a late one on Saturday night and didn't get to catch up much last night. It's going to be another week of chasing my snoozes around I think. Oh I forgot! On Friday I went to fundraising Casino Night at the Griffin's Head. Monte Carlo theme - I didn't bother dressing up though. I gambled once all night. Won $20 and left it there. At the end of the night the idea was that you use the fake gambling money to bid for auction items donated by various kind benefactors of the club. I didn't have anywhere near enough money to bid on anything so I pooled mine in with a few other people's and we won The Silver Box which turned out to contain a few naughty items such as a dildo keychain (functional AND stylish) and some pink undies that said "I fee like a million, just one at a time" on the front. All class. Best of all though, there was this foam 'slapper' hand which was immediately put to great use. MM, Page Boy and I had a great time slapping each other at unsuspecting moments. It turned into a bit of a gigglefest and I think the barman wasn't sure whether to laugh or call security to kick us out... That slap sound though - it's just so satisfactory!

The Return of RBT

Good news! My friend who has been living in Canberra for almost 2 years is returning to Adelaide. Hurray:) I am very very excited. She will be back within a matter of weeks. Such great timing for her, she didn't even need to ask for a transfer, her job just sent her here. Nice one. Now we'll be able to plan our trip much more easily since we can talk face to face! hooo-raaay.

Hooray.

I'm having a picnic in the park for my birthday on Sunday. It's going to be well warm which is great. I'm going to partake of some beer I think. Good on me. Might do that tonight as well since I have to go out for some club fundraiser. Frankly I think it's a bit of a rip off this year - $30 for only one drink and finger food (no doubt some shitty wedges and meat filled fat sacks) and then some pretend money to gamble with. No being a gambler the interest level is at about zero for the whole thing. Why not just let us have drinks? So not worth $30 and now I have no money to actually drink with.. Grrr. Will be an early one for me, I have to make a cheesecake tomorrow morning! Following a baking session I will be off to the markets for fruit and veg shopping, then heading to MM's to help with some house tidying THEN I am having dinner made for me. Milky Joe is going to help with that by jumping up on the kitchen counter and licking everything as soon as we turn our backs. He's good like that. He also likes to pounce (with claws) on anything that moves, that includes fingers, toes, limbs and hair. Twice yesterday he jumped up on my head and gave it a good battering. God knows what he thinks he's up to. It's all fun and games until he claws me in the eye...

MJ

Here is Milky Joe chewing on a toy mouse. He'll chew anything though, not just mice.

Ready for a pastel night out.

A well deserved breakfast in Melbourne. It was a great hotel and yummy breakfast - but the plant on the table is fake. I was very disappointed.

Milky Joe peering somewhere he shouldn't.

Prancing on the lounge.

I had a weekend in Melbourne. The weather was lovely but there was a bit of smog in the air from the bushfires. We basically just chilled out. Went to see Gran Torino on Saturday arvo - it was great. I recommend a viewing. Clint seems to find directing so easy, it is amazing. Saturday evening we went to a place we'd found last time that has the best gnocchi. We weren't disappointed and also had a yummy pizza. Aside from the delayed flight on the way in on Friday night it was a pretty uneventful weekend really!

Three months to go!

Yes, that's right, only 3 more months of boring normal life before my big adventure beigns! Today I will go and pick up my tickets. The travel agent has been quite awful I have to say. Obviously my opinion isn't going to affect many people, but I advise against using STA Travel. They are unprofessional, unknowledgeable, pushy and so SLOW. I could list the particular events that caused me to come to this conclusion, but that's boring. Next time I will spend my money elsewhere, it's as simple as that.

I have quite a few things to organise before I leave though. Have to buy the necessary travel items, move all my stuff out of the house, find a new housemate for my bro, book some hostels in advance and organise my travel money. I am still undecided about how I should take it with me. Credit cards are pretty pricey, and those pre-paid travel cards are even worse as they charge a set fee for each transaction. Every other time I have travelled I have just taken all my money in cash and kept in in various parts of myluggage. But I guess having $200 stolen in Vietnam is not such a big deal as having $8,000 stolen in Peru!

Back to normal life though: it is cold again! And windy. Last ngiht I went to Adelaid Aquatic Centre and tried to swim. I got a cramp in the arch of my foot that was very annoying. Then I got some water right down in my ear, you know how it makes your eye hurt it goes so far in? My goggles leaked. It was awful. I confirmed my non-swimmer status alright. I hate the smell of chlorine as well. MM and I attempted to have dinner afterwards but Stinklepants was tired and cranky so it was a disaster really. The food was also awful. A pizza that was absolutely drowned in oil. It was disgusting. Clearly someone who has no concept of vegetarianism made it. One of the benefits of not eating meat is that you cut out a lot of oil because it simply isn't necessary. When the waitress came to pick up our plates she asked what type of pizza it was and when I told her she said "Ew, it's oily". Yes, yes it is.

Only one sleep until I am in Melbourne!!

Bruises galore!

Another Monday morning... It is pretty quiet here at work again. A slight flurry of activity this morning when there were a few assignments to mark, but it's all over now. I am feeling very sleepy after staying up a bit longer than I should have last night. I was pretty exhausted after playing 2 games of touch during which I sustained several bruises. Here is an itemised list, just because:

1. Top of foot - sustained when team mate stepped on me.
2. Left shin - SIW sustained during 'karaoke' warm up exercise.
3. Right shoulder - sustained during dive at run-away opposition team member
4. Right just-below-the-knee - sustained during same dive
5. Right hip - same dive

It's nice to have small injuries, makes you feel like you might have achieved something. Although it was exhausting playing 2 games in one night, it was also great afterwards to feel so worn out. And our team is playing much better now which is encouraging. Tangible improvement is always better than winning I reckon.

It seems like the hot weather has left us for now. The house has finally cooled down to a normal temperature and I can sleep! We still have no couches or pots and pans, but we are getting around that and it has become normal to boil water in the frying pan and watch TV from the floor. It's certainly giving me more opportunity to do my stretching which I generally neglect badly.

Hot much?

So the summer weather has finally kicked in. All last week it was over 40 in a crazy way and it has only just started cooling down. To the high 30s. At least there is a slight cooling over night - not that any of that cool stuff finds its way into my house. It is now hotter inside than out and I suspect that will continue until there are at least 2 days of much cooler weather. Stupid badly insulated housing.

My technique for escaping the heat has been to be not at home a lot. Pool is good. Air conditioned places such as work are good. Otherwise, it is just best to hide under a wet towel and drink plenty of water at home. We have at least been lucky to escape the power cuts because TV is about the only activity possible when just laying down makes you sweaty. Right now I have a headache and I can't figure out if it's becaus I haven't slept properly for a week, if I am hungry, if my neck is out of whack, or if it's something completely unrelated to any of the above. Temple massage is not helping.

Maybe it's the computer! Better switch it off.