Person -al- ity?

Attentive Analyst

While you're there check me out on Facebook:

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Burial ground, The Definite Article and other adventures

Another baby gecko died. Got stuck on the tape again. Yet to bury it. Quite a collection I have out there. Two dead baby geckos, soon to be three and a dead mouse. Starting to wonder if I'm cursed or something.

The new student magazine, of which I am a sub-editor for, is now out. The Definite Article, seems more political and arty than the two other student magazines, Sticks and Stones and Universe, floating around Queensland unis at the moment. I'm hoping to get a bit more solid news content in it next issue. If anyone's interested in a copy, let me know and I'll send you one.

Enjoyed The Gluten-Free Expo thoroughly last Saturday, and discovered oodles of gluten free stores and stockists in the area. Went home with a sore tummy from eating waaaaay too much.

Our broadband was down for about a week, recently. Wild IT has appalling customer service. Be warned!

Apparently Adam is much more settled at school now. He's doing quite well. I can't believe he's starting college next year. I feel so old.

Hmmm that should be enough to keep you all updated.
I'll try not to kill any more animals, promise!


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

And that's why you work at Coles

Sign spotted at Coles Marsden:

Due to technical issue's this register is currently unavailable.


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Canberraness

(ok, so I didn't post yesterday as promised, I'm sure you will cope)

I have much to blog about Canberra.
After Desci's exciting trip to Canberra, I had a trip of my own. Probably not as exciting considering I'd live there for my whole life and all, but it was still enjoyable.

Food and eating seemed to form a large part of it. I purchased some basil and sundried tomato bread from Deeks. Also indulging in some hazlenut biscuits. Before leaving, on Monday, I returned and tried 'the world's first gluten [and lactose] free meat pie'. Freakin' delicious.

Gran made me some rock cakes and the most divine chocolate nut torte. An awesome birthday cake indeed.

A visit to As Nature Intended at the Belconnen Markets involved the purchasement of Turtle Mountain Chocolate Obsession Icecream. Oh god! If you live in Canberra and you're vegan, lactose or gluten intolerant, buy this! Today!

It was excellent to see many of my friends. Chiara gave me a bottle of tequila, which was well utilised at my party. A million billion thanks to Flipe and Skye for letting me have it at their house and thanks to Casey for helping with invites.

Kerces gave me a book of 3024 Dirty Limericks. I read a great one at the party entitled 'The Feminist', which was somewhat appropriate to Kerces as it was about a journalist. Unfortunately, I can't find it again. So, here's another doozy from the crazy book:

The panties of old spinster Tweek
Dropped down in a mishap unique
At a twat exhibition-
It was judged mint condition
And it won the first prize for antique.

Adam and I had fun. It was fantastic watching Monty Python with him, Gran and Pop. Adam and Pop were laughing hysterically. The laughter of loved ones is so precious. Adam assisted me in buying food for my party and he didn't complain about not getting any of the junkfood. He helped carry heavy bags to the car without complaint. Adam also complimented my car - it was so sweet, "Pop's car isn't groovy like yours." He said for me to not tell Pop that he said that though.

Mum was, well, Mum, but she cheered up a bit on Monday. That was good :)

The house did not fall down around Andy in my absence. He successfully purchased a fridge and washing machine. He also bought a microwave but I contest the necessity of the purchase. My microwave was fine! The fridge is HUGE and I think we could both fit in it. Mum suggested that if we are ever poor and destitute we could live in the fridge.

There was a Samuel-Spotting, however I was saying goodbye to Mum at the time, as she got on the bus, so I couldn't get his autograph.

I'd forgotten how crazy Canberra busdrivers are. Nutters! Or, maybe Brisbane busdrivers are boring?

It was great to see those of you I did see (particularly awesome to see Julia and Lesley) and I look forward to seeing those of you I didn't in April! I think this time I might stay at Greg's, as he will be out of town and offered - it got a bit much staying at Gran and Pop's.

'Tis all.

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

P.S March Porn Catalogue has arrived! Watch this space for funniest porn titles.

Confession

I am responsible for the geckoslaughter of a little baby gecko. I discovered it this morning dead in a puddle of Ant Rid. A truly awful discovery.

It was very, very young. Much smaller than the one I photographed. It was probably about 10 cm long in total.

I dug a small hole in the yard and placed it in there. I created a little grave site.

Probably a bit tacky but I feel very sad and responsible.

I’m now investigating natural ant deterrents, seems like peppermint oil or baby powder is the go. Can anyone vouch for their effectiveness or recommend something else?

Farewell little gecko.

You have no mail

I'm becoming quite concerned. We've received very little mail since moving in. Perhaps my mail redirection isn't working and Andy's parents are waiting until he has a few letters and will post them up together? Although his parents were going to send some small parts for his desk up over a week ago. We're yet to receive this.
Maybe there's some kind of protocol you have to give the new postie some choccies or something, before he will deliver your mail? Anyone care to fill me in?
I'd also like the porn catalogue so I can announce the result of January's funniest titles and get onto February's. I should have received that ages ago.
I think I'm going to have to call up some ppl or something. I hate phone calls.

Last (week)day of freedom today. My PhD starts on Monday. Feeling a bit, hmm, emotional, I guess. The uni seems pretty cool and I like my research supervisor. Met some members of the queer and left action collectives. So it won't be so much like the traumatising first day of school, I know the area, some staff and some students. Have successfully negotiated the public transport system a few times now. I may have, however, got nicked by a speed camera on the way home from the trainstation. Stupid pale brown police 4WD, you can't bloody see the things!

Went for quite a ride around my suburb the other day. Got a little misplaced but found my way home. There's another small lake thingy and heaps of green land. The suburb is huuuuge. Lots of people have cows, horses, sheep and geese, too. I think a duck would be a cool pet except I'm scared of them.

Doing alright with the cohabitation. There's one pile of crap that Andy is just not addressing. I've moved it from the dining table and if it continues to grow, I shall put it in a cupboard so I don't have to see it. The other things that are bothering me are small things, so hopefully I can overcome my obsessiveness.

We have broadband! I caught up on downloading my podcasts last night. They download in like five seconds! Now, I just have to get round to listening to them.
Now I watch the silly things people post from the intertubes too.

We're going to the beach tomorrow. I loves the beach!!!!

Oooh btw, today Andy and I have been together for two years! Hooray!
A few friends inquired if we were going to get married when they heard we were moving to QLD and in together. I was slightly surprised by their old-school minds, a bit of a dated assumption, I think.

I should go now. Call people and find out about our mail maybe? Darn people.


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Piccies!

As promised here are some piccies of the house and local area. I don't know how to do one of those 'more' links making it optional to view the whole post, otherwise I would. BTW I am a shit photographer. Deal.

Here is one of the baby geckos that live in our house.

Andy’s friend, Nick, heard them communicating on the first night. They kinda chirp. I think there’s two parents, one larger baby and this is the smaller baby. They're supposed to eat bugs and stuff so we're happy to leave 'em be.


This is an example of the crazy patriotism in this neck of the woods. Our neighbour’s not one, but two, Australia flags flying on their front lawn

The other neighbour’s children were running around draped in Australian flags, screaming ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!’ last Friday. I don’t think they quite knew what they were Aussie-ing nor Oi-ing. A further example of this 'crazy patriotism' is this (re-typed by me - bad editing not my fault) letter to the editor, From one of the free local papers:

'Stand on Crime

"What can we do about the crimes committed in Logan". Well there a few things tat can be done.
1. If the offender is not a citizen send them back from where they came from.
2. If they are a naturalised citizen remove their citizenship and put them on 12 months' probation - if they offend again deport them. [Oh, there's sooooo many commas missing in this darn thing!!!]
3. If they are born Australians then put them into the army for three years.
I blame the courts for most of our problems with crime.'

I have chosen not the republish the local redneck's name. Letter originally published in the Albert Logan News Wed Jan 31 2007, p. 9.
So there you have it kiddies, the troooly Orstrayan solution!

Moving right along...

This is Brodie’s Meal Makers, a takeaway store at Waterford Plaza. I’ve never seen one of these before.

They have chips, fish, burgers and chicken. Nothing particularly exciting. I'm fascinated by the over-excited loaf of bread though.

This is a 7 Eleven.

Yes, I’ve seen them before, we don’t have them in Canberra though, so it’s still a bit of a novelty. This one is a petrol station too!

These are painted electrical posts.

I think this one (above) looks like little green sperm. I think they are supposed to be leaves.

Those from Canberra would be familiar with the painted electrical boxes. The artists were decided through a competition. I don’t know if the painted light posts here were decided through a similar means. I could call the council and ask, but that would involve calling someone.

These are pretty purple flowers in our front yard.

These are palm trees in our front yard.

This is Tygum Lagoon, in our suburb.



Above three photos by Andy.


I was most disenchanted when we got there. By 'lagoon' I imagined crystal blue water. Hurrumph! Andy said, "Why don't they just call it a lake?" To crush all my hopes and dreams, that's why!

Some QUT Garden's Point and Kelvin Grove campus photos coming soon.

Haven't received the hardware for the broadband yet. *grrr*


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Jey in Queensland – brought to from Boganshire

[I wrote this post yesterday arvo, haven't been able to get online.]

I’ve been here for a week now, I think it’s still all sinking in.

Feeling bloody crook, I don’t want to get sick!

The house is coming together quite well. Andy still needs to find a place for a few bits and bobs and complete his office and the garage, but I’ve pretty much done most of what I have to. I need to finish the bar though. Shouldn’t take longer than an hour. I cleaned for 3 hours yesterday. It was horrid. Once I start getting paid, I’m going to be paying to get the place cleaned regularly, so shouldn’t have to deal with that again.

I managed to avoid most of the heavy lifting involved in packing and unpacking. Thanks to those who helped!

Julia has returned to Canberra. I look forward to seeing her when I’m down at the end of Feb.

Next Monday I am going into the city and to QUT to meet my supervisor and the post-graduate convener. I’m catching the same train as Andy so hopefully it won’t end in tears. The Brisbane public transport is very very useful so I’ve got various options, all noted, and I’ve photocopied lots of maps. Hopefully, the adventure doesn’t end in tears.

I’ve got some piccies to share but I’ll post them up separately. There’s a few more I wanna take.

We are near Marsden State High School, they have the most awful school uniforms in the world. They are brown, brown and brown. I’d post piccies of that but I don’t want to go around photographing high school children.

I can see the McDonald’s M from my shower at night, this bother me. KFC is really nearby and sometimes the smell wafts in. This is rather torturous as I can’t eat KFC. The closest servo was held up twice this month, both times the perps got away with nothing. Still kinda creepy. The library is nice, has cheap photocopying, but smells funny. I think it’s a new building.

I’ve lived on Northbourne Avenue but this place, and my last place, are much noisier. I prefer the noise of constant traffic to birds, lotsa birds. Here, there’s birds and traffic. Should get used to it soon though.

The house has some annoying oddities. There are light switches in bizarre places. Everyone time I walk into my office I reach to the right to turn on the light switch and it’s not there then, I curse, “Fucking light switch!”

Something runs across our roof around 6am, without fail. If it's a possum, it's freakin' huge!

My car has seen the inside of the garage! Andy made room for it. It’s a tight squeeze and you have to be really careful reversing, but it fits.

The drive up was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I was quite drowsy before the first stop and I was worried that I was going to have to stop every hour and the drive would take forever. After that first stop, I was fine though. We stayed in Goondiwindi. Cute caravan park. It’s getting a spa and pool put in this year, pity it didn’t have it put in last year.

Being feeling a bit down today and yesterday. Was walking through the small plaza near us. It wasn’t anything new or exciting, just different, and I nearly started crying, thinking ‘I live here now.’

Still not confident I am going to be able to handle living with Andy.

The suburb we live in is really nice. The houses are huge, on huge blocks, and all have these huge ‘fuck off I don’t want you to see my property’ fences. Haven’t checked out the lagoon yet but hope to by the end of the weekend.

Hello to all my Canberra peeps. I miss you!

Thankyou to all of you on the webosphere who sent me well-wishes. :)

Outie.

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

More boxes, tape, and where the hell is that bloody marker?!?!

Oh, the joys of moving!
The house is chaos. I'm not even sure what I'm doing any more. You know when there's a really big job to be done, like cleaning a disasterously messy room, and there's just no plan or sense of organisation to the job?
That's what it's like right now. A bit done over here, start a job over there, wrap up something there, move that four inches to the left, check my email.
The system has dissolved into a mess of newspaper.
It'd be nice to be so extravagantly rich to be able to pay people to pack your house up, move all your stuff and unpack it in the new place. Oh how luxurious!

This will be my last entry in Canberra. (I may post when I visit Canberra, however it is unlikely as visits will only be for a few days and I probably won't have easy web access). Still feeling 'meh' about most aspects of the move. Rather 'gah!' about moving in with Andy though. I cried last night at the thought of having to live with someone. Since overcoming depression, I have really enjoyed living on my own. I'm concerned about being grumpy often and that affecting Andy and not being able to relax because of the constant presence of someone else. I have the ability to adapt pretty well and everyone keeps saying, 'You'll be fine', so I'll try to stop worrying.

On the drive up, my first long distance drive ever, we are taking the inland route. We'll be going through all these crazy country towns. I have visions of the land being all dry and dusty, quintessential Australiana bush landscape. I've also fears of car break-downs and Wolf Creek type characters. Looking forward to all the yummy travel munchies though. Andy bought a bunch of Powerade and Red Eye, he'll be off his face! :p

*BIG HUGS* to all my Canberra peeps, I'll see you around the 23rd of Feb (My birthday weekend *hint hint*).

Guess I'll bugger off and do something productive now.
Over and out.

P.S Where the hell is that bloody marker?!?!

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

T minus one week

Gah! This time next week I'll be on the road, driving to Queensland. Not sure when the most powerful emotions are going to sink in. Not sure I want them to. I might cry, lots.
I'm excited, nervous, happy, stressed and sad but not as much as I could be. I probably shouldn't complain but I usually feel emotions much stronger, thus I'm expecting a big wave to hit me soon.

I've never driven long distance before so, that's going to be a bit scary. I haven't lived with anyone since I was 17 so, that' s going to be a lot scary. I'm a control, neatness and organisation freak. I'm really going to try to go easy with all of that, it's going to take some adjustment though. Say a prayer for Andy's soul?

This is probably the biggest life change for me, ever:
1. Moving interstate, having lived in Canberra my whole life
2. Moving into new house
3. Moving in with partner
3. Starting a PhD
4. Starting at new uni

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to cut down on those anti-depressants last month? I hate change and I predict lots of stress and anxiety. Once the stress and anxiety exhausts me, I get depressed.

Ok, so I'm probably sounding all whingy. I'm excited and happy and stuff. Just have a lot of emotions to work through and trying to deal with them before they bite me on the arse.

My friends keep telling me they're proud of me. I'll focus on that. Go me! :D

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Let them eat bread!

Deeks Bakery and Cafe has opened a store in Dickson (opposite the Post Office), in addition to their long-running Pierce store.

I got rather excited when I discovered this the other day. Being gluten and lactose intolerant bread is not part of my diet and sorely missed. There are products available, but they are rather sub-par and crumble like a dry muffin.

ALL of Deeks' products are gluten free and all of the breads, except two, are lactose free. I was torn between the sundried tomato and basil bread and the herb and olive bread. It really would have been nice to try them all, but finances aren't so free at the moment.

I purchased the herb and olive bread, I also enquired about the cakes, asking if any are lactose free. The biscuits are, but currently all of the cakes contain lactose, Deeks' is, however "always working on new products".

I sliced up my bread on arriving home and had it with some nuttleex. Delicious!
It didn't crumble into a million pieces and had a soft texture. Sure, it's not exactly like a slice of 'normal' bread but it's the best darn gluten free bread I've ever had.

I look forward to having some grilled, which I might do right now ;)
I also look forward to trying more of the breads and other goodies from the bakery.


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Fall-off-the-bed-and-into-the-wall insurance

I'm clumsy, really freakin' clumsy. I'm kinda big, really unco and don't carry myself well. I hurt myself a lot. So far, other things, such as the inanimate objects I injure myself on, remain unscathed.

Andy was buying insurance for the new house, the salesperson offered him 'accidental damage insurance' or as they refer to it in the office 'klutz insurance'. Andy lovingly informed me he thought of me, particularly the time I fell off the bed and into the wall.

I assured him that the wall was fine, and it was me who came off second best. He retorted that the wall was concrete and they're not as solid in the new house.

"Hello, yes. I'd like to make a claim on my accidental damage insurance. My partner has just fallen off the bed and dented the wall."

What insurance do you need? Got-the-shits-and-smashed-the-dishes insurance? The-puppy-chewed-my-shoe insurance (Kerces, I'm looking at you ;))? Got-drunk-and -lost-my-keys-insurance?
Go on, share, what personalised insurance cover would suit you?


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Queer Queensland

I'd like to share some of my initial observations of Queensland.
Andy's friend said it's "ten years and one hour" behind the rest of Australia. I didn't really observe anything that was a decade behind but did note some oddities.
We were only there for three days and spent our time in the Logan Shire, about 30 minutes from Brisbane CBD, so my thoughts are probably not generalisable.

- There are lots of bogans. I mean LOTS. I think I've been sheltered. There's also lots of Islanders and Police.

- There are, like, no flies.

- For stage four water restrictions, it's really freakin' green!

- The sun comes up at four am. WASSUPWITDAT?!?!

- There are not many 'registered club' (e.g The Labour Club, The Tradies, The Hellenic Club). There are a few R.S.Ls, however the substitute of the registered club appears to be the 'hotel'. These establishments have the same facilities as the registered club: meals; pokies; pool tables; sports bars etc.

- It's perfectly acceptable to change lanes in the middle of a roundabout without indicating.

- Real estate agents drive Commodores.

- Apparently ordering 'squash/lemon squash' confuses the bar staff. You have to order 'Lift' or 'Solo'.

I'm sure once I move I'll have more observations to add, if I'm not traumatised by all the oddness.


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Note to self

Note to self:
1) While Rice Bran Oil may have a high burning point, chilli does NOT.

2) Leaving books, such as those titled Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex, out for Grandfathers to see may result in frightened Grandfathers.
p.s Great book - read it!

The flu is most boring

Being sick sucks!
My body needs to sleep but my brain is going nutty. I've a bunch of errands that need to be done and no frozen meals left Too sick to cook, but not sick enough to not be hungry.

I'm soooo bored but soooo achy and weak. This is also the time when living alone is most awful.

At least I'm saving petrol, right?!?!


Thankyou all for your well-wishes re my honours :D


"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Lazy real estate agents

This photo is of one of the houses in for sale in Brisbane that Andy was looking at. The question I pose is, how bloody hard would have it been to move that freakin' trolley out of the way before taking the picture?!?!



Thankyou



"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

What Families Are For

Me: "Adam, you smell. Are you wearing deodorant?"
Adam: "Yes."
Pop: "He doesn't smell, you smell [pointing to his nose]. He stinks, he has an odour."
Me: "Adam, you have an odour"
Adam: "Thanks Pop [said in a 'Thankyou very much for clarifying that one for us' manner]."

Andy and Pop come out.

Andy has my car at the mo' because his bike chucked a tanty and the Skyline still isn't on the road. My car has a fantastic queer pride flag on the back. Ppl might think Andy's queer. I'm a little amused but hope he doesn't fall victim to any nasty homophobes.

The other day Pop was looking at some of my activist badges sitting on the bench. He picked up the 'Shhh...nobody knows I'm queer' one and put in on. He asked if he could wear it to his mates places. I was muchly amused. The next day he asked if he could wear it again. Maybe all his self cross-dressing references are starting to make sense...

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).

Books banned, redundantly.

Two books, Join the Caravan and In Defence of Muslim Lands, have been forcibly removed from the University of Melbourne Library.
The joint statement by the Council of Australian University Librarians, Australian Library and Information Association, Australian Society of Authors and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions can be found here.

However, I have just discovered that the naughty, naughty texts are available online!
Join the Caravan and In Defence of Muslim Lands can be very easily located and read on the web.

The website they are on seems a tad pro-Jihad so I don't know if one can get in trouble for going there too often or linking to the site, but I just wanted to point out the stupidity of the fools banning the books.
Fuckwits!

Lentil Gnomes

Since I've been purchasing, cooking and eating lentils, I've discovered individual uncooked lentils in strange places around the house.
Maybe there's Lentil Gnomes who occasionally drop one on their way home after raiding my pantry?
Just a thought.

"Well if you're not going to talk to me I'm going to talk to my orange" - Adam (my 14-year-old brother).