39 Q & A on 2009

My annual, where-did-my-year-go post. Happy New Year all!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Saw more live theatre performances, that I wasn't working on, this year than ever before.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Honestly can't remember this year's resolutions so perhaps I'll just skip them for this year. Oh wait, I still can't juggle three balls.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully not this year.

5. What countries did you visit?
America, Macau SAR, Hong Kong

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More work!

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Saturday 7th Feburary because it felt like the city was burning down around us.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Working out what I wanted in life, what's important to me.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Getting sensible amounts of sleep.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not too badly this year. Except for slipping down some stairs and even that wasn't so bad.

11. What was the best thing you bought in 2009?
My Muppet!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Clio & Zeus for being far more sociable than expected.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Can't think of anyone so it must have been a good year...

14. Did you do to any weddings?
Yes, three in fact.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My Muppet, my new camera, traveling and the amazing shows I saw, not necessarily in that order.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"I'm Alive" from "Next To Normal"

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
---happier or sadder? Much happier
---thinner or heavier? Heavier
---richer or poorer? My life has been more enriched this year

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Baking and reading. Can never bake or read enough.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Procrastinating

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Euro Christmas with my adopted family on the eve, Christmas Day at home with the pugs trying to learn how to draw, Christmas night

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
:)

22. Were you rejected by anyone?
Not per se

23. What was your favorite TV program?
I'd have to say Battlestar Galactica, but I'm a bit behind in my TV viewing.

24. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
Nope.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doige, MD

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I still remember how to play the violin

27. What did you want and got?
A digital SLR

28. What did you want and did not get?
To go to the Merrell store in Hong Kong

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I enjoyed most of the films I saw this year. Maybe "Up".

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I had the day off work and I'm still 26

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing, it was a pretty good year all round.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Blue jeans, black top.

33. What kept you sane?
My wonderful friends. They know who they are :)

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one really.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Gay marriage.

36. Who did you miss?
My Mum and I still miss her.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
The lady in Washington Heights who showed me what berries to pick in the park.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Time is the most precious gift you can give.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Happiness is anyone and anything at all that's loved by you."

A Disjointed Catch Up

I can't help but notice that my lack of blogging seems to stem from just after Gene & I broke up last year. It's almost as if when we broke up I couldn't find any words to write. No way of really saying what I thought and I really didn't feel a need to share how I felt as frankly that would have been boring.

So almost a year on I guess I'm still trying to find myself. Not so much remember what it's like to be single, but discover my independence and learn to enjoy it.

Okay, random burst of self-reflection over (phew!).

Let's just say that there wasn't a great deal of reading in May & June... Combined reading list for those months include:
1. The Dragon Queen
2. Pardon My French
3. Growing Up Asian in Australia

If only event management plans counted in the list... but as thick as some of them were, they're not quite books.

June consisted of many weekend trips from Brisbane to Melbourne & Sydney. Visiting family, farewelling friends and celebrating a birthday. It's a good thing I don't mind flying really. After the last weekend away the Festival really started to ramp up production. Defintely my favourite part that's not the actual Festival.

July saw the start of the Festival. We worked hard, we played hard. There were many opening nights and closing nights celebrated. It was good. Was lucky enough to see some shows which was rather novel. It was all over in a haze of beer, gin & wine and before we knew it we were bare-foot bowling on a beautiful sunny August day.

It would be hard to believe that only a fortnight ago I was sitting in the sun watching people bowl... except that I landed back in Melbourne on Saturday. It was not sunny. Luckily it wasn't too cold either. I keep telling myself that it's "the same temperature as Brisbane at night... but brighter".

Right now I'm in Sydney enjoying the sunshine and 20˚C days... well I was, it's supposed to storm tomorrow. Still trying to work out what I'll do tomorrow... am thinking it could be a good day for a museum or possibly the aquarium. I may yet fit an antique fair in.

I must admit I'm in a bit of a strange mood tonight. It's been a bit of a odd day. I woke up with a migraine and feeling a bit out of sorts. Did a bit of shopping. Had a nap. Woke up when my phone rang. It was Dad. My grandma in Singapore has stage 4 cancer. I pondered the fact that my Mum's family has had and excellent health history until now when both my Mum & Grandma have cancer. I'm starting to think that my random (morbid) thought that I'll die in the water is possibly incorrect and that it's more likely to be cancer. Strangely I'd rather the water but I'm trying not to dwell on that as I don't particularly want to die at this point in time. When I get bad news that I can't do anything about I turn to depressing music to soothe my woes. So after a good hour of depressing tunes I headed out to have cocktails with a few friends. Dinner followed the cocktails (although perhaps it should have been the other way around) and I must say I'm in a much better mood having gone out.

So to summarise... I had a fabulous time in Brisbane and miss the lifestyle up there although it's still not really my city. Am restless, reflective and honestly I think I'm a little angry with myself. Akrasia, what can I say? Do better. Rocks. Anyhow, no point dwelling on that, just have to keep moving forward. Right?

Less disjointed post next time, I promise.

Relaxing Darwin

Darwin is a gorgeous city, if a little warm for my tastes. There are tropical trees in almost every street and the wildlife - early rising - is amazingly vocal. Having been here less than a week it's still a bit rosy for me but I can imagine coming back for a relaxing break.

I took some time to walk around the city today, partially to sate my need to explore and also to fulfill my mission to get a hat before tomorrow's festival. It was a pretty successful day!

My walk took me down Mitchell Street which is one of the main streets in Darwin. It's the backpacker and tourist street complete with the 24 hour Coles which I'm sure I'll be well acquainted with soon. I browsed a couple of shops and tried on a ridiculous number of hats before I found myself in a hat shop just off Mitchell Street. I made the decision not to leave the shop until I had a hat in hand. I'm ashamed to say it took half an hour of hunting through hats and trying them on before I found one that fit, with a wide brim, that didn't look too ridiculous.

Armed with a hat I headed towards Fisherman's Wharf to check out the Darwin Seafood Festival site where I'll be stage managing tomorrow (as you do on your first weekend in Darwin). It's looking good and I watched the sound check for Double Entendre who played an awesome version of Caravan. I think it'll be a hot but really great day tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it.

One other piece of exciting news (if you're me) involves the purchase of a second-hand book in what could become my favourite shop in Darwin... the secondhand bookstore that buys books as well as sells them. While browsing the sci-fi/fantasy section I was looking for the familiar covers... Pratchett, Adams... Gaiman... when I realised that I didn't see any familiar Gaiman covers... On closer inspection, I found a copy of Ghastly Beyond Belief, the somewhat out of print book of quote that he wrote with Kim Newman. Best $6 I've spent in awhile. There goes lunch tomorrow...

Before I run off to lounge on my bed and soak up the good-bad sci-fi/fantasy goodness, I want to thank everyone who's sent their well wishes after my last post. I was in a bit of a horrible place but it's getting better now. Mum seems to be in good spirits and there's a team of people looking after her so I know she's in good hands.

A Longer Post for a Shorter Day

First day back in a theatre today and it was a good feeling. Bump ins are good fun, almost as fun as bumping out...

It was a slow starting day beginning with a hot shower that I'm grateful for as Dad didn't have hot water due to a black out. I was less awake than I thought I was as I managed to stick my right index finger partway into the toaster in an attempt to retrieve my toast. Unsurprisingly this resulted in a small burn on the right side of my finger. Sadly despite my first aid training the first thing I did was swear and blow on it before thinking (quite literally) what the hell are you doing you idiot, run it under cold water! Which I did. It didn't help. Stupid burn. The chilled water made it a bit better but eh... give it a few days.

After work I headed to Knox to get a pressie for my cousin Nadia who's birthday is on Sunday and to pick up a couple of headbands for Mum. I also picked out my birthday books using the voucher from my family in Canberra. I ended up with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon and another book who's title escapes me but has something to do with time lords from memory (not Dr Who).

Armed with a bagful of books I headed to the hospital to visit Mum. She was in fine spirits and was sure to let everyone know that she was feeling much better and was ready to go home. We're still waiting for the blood test results to come back but the specialist/surgeon seems fairly confident that she can come home tomorrow. In true Mum fashion she's already packed and ready to leave. Ever the organised one in our house!

Tomorrow is a long day of spending QT with Mum and trying to catch up on sleep, bookended by a job interview in the morning and a bump out late that night. It's good to be busy again. If only for a day!

Mixed Up Day

When I woke up this morning I had no idea that I would finish the day owning three Tupperware mixing bowls. Admittedly it's not a thought that strikes many people first thing in the morning.

I decided that while I'm not working I should use this time to do as many of the things that I talk about doing when I am working. Like getting fit. After working on Festival FINA I'd toned up a bit and am hoping to keep it that way. Figured if I can keep fit I'll stay healthier and do less stupid things (eg. coffee table incident in Doha). So after staring at the grey clouds outside I decided to start the morning with a gentle hour of stretching. This was followed by dancing like maniac to music on my iPod (happy owner of two versions of 99 Luftballons).

Having disturbed the dogs (and any neighbours who happened to be passing) I plonked myself on the couch to catch up on Max's Top 100 Tear Jerkers countdown. This formed the last part of my plan, to sit on the couch and keep knitting and crocheting for the stall.

Just after Michael Bolton's How Am I Supposed to Live Without You my parents arrived home. We had lunch and in less than an hour I was off to my first Tupperware party. I was determined not to spend any money. I don't have a house. Why would I need Tupperware? (Aside from the pretty new hot pepper colour range and durability).

Two hours later I'd placed an order for some tumblers (to keep my tea in), a 2L mixing bowl (excellent size and it has a splash guard) and a small 260mL container. I've never owned a mixing bowl despite my love of baking so I figured this would be an investment what with my love of baking and all... Mum's also ordered my birthday present, the baking mixing bowl set (which has a 3.5L and 600mL pair of bowls with the great splash guard too). They're blue and pretty and importantly dishwasher safe. I love them and can't wait till they arrive in a couple of weeks. There will be much baking!

Oh and the number one song was Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah.

Wooly Days

The last two days could best be described as wooly. I've felt a little wool in the head but it's what happens when I slow down again.

There's also been much wool shopping (oh the retail therapy) lately after speeding through my current partial stash of yarns to try and make a scarf that Naomi could take to Europe. The speeding through my partial stash comment is a little inaccurate as I still have quite a few random balls of yarn...

It's just that I can't walk past a well priced ball of lovely yarn and K-Marché and Spotlight were having sales...

So Mum and I have spent a couple of days of QT trawling through bargain yarn bins together. Mum scoring record deals like 40c for twenty balls of baby yarn while I lashed out on $24 dollars worth of mohair/wool for a long cross-over wrap. I still have a bit to learn about saving...

We've since been inspired (or possibly it's the guilt of having so much yarn) into holding a stall at the end of the month. That way we can continue to knit and crochet to our hearts content while not filling the house with millions of scarves, socks and other items.

Having finished our knitted socks for our boys (Gene & Dad) we've moved on to making scarves. I started two today... one with a pretty shell pattern (it's a peachy pink) and the other with an open-work pattern that I'm in the process of designing (making it up as I go) that's based on a crocheted block.

Knitting socks is fun but incredibly addictive. Even though it can be exasperating at times once you've made a pair of socks you just want to dive into another sock pattern. There are quite a few I want to try at the moment. One's a lacy stocking-sock from a leaflet Mum got the other day, then there's a crocheted sock... not to mention the space invaders socks that I want to make for Gene... On top of all of this we got some great self-patterning sock yarns that we can make basic socks with pretty patterns!

So many socks, so little time!

Homeward Bound

I'm on my way home at last. By the time I arrive in Melbourne on the 18th February I'll have been away for exactly 6 months.

Our travel arrangements of late have been rather interesting. We were hoping to be able to depart on the 18th February but were doubtful of getting seats. As a result we've been calling Emirates on a daily basis to see how we were doing. Today Gene called up and was advised that we'd all been kicked off the waiting list as it was too long and that the first day it reopened was the 20th Feb. They also mentioned that I should fly soon as the ticket that I was under the impression (due to the printed words at the top of my old ticket) was valid for a year from issue was only valid for six months according to their system. Not wanting to have to buy a new ticket to argue this later we took the one ticket back to Australia that they had. The only catch is I'd have to leave tomorrow.

So I'll be leaving Gene & Nick (again) and heading home first to pave the way for them. With any luck they may be able to get a flight on the 25th Feb but if not they're confirmed for the 28th February.

After recovering from the shock of having to leave tomorrow instead of in a few days or a week my first instinct was to pack everything that I wanted to do into my one day here.

First port of call after a fine breakfast of currypuffs was to take Nick down to Far East Plaza and Orchard Road to see the main shopping strip of Singapore.

We were briefly distracted at Takashimaya where we had a Korean lunch and I bought traditional snacks like mwah chee which is a rice flour dough dipped in crushed peanuts (taste better than it looks and sounds) and some Japanese sweet pancakes (again with peanuts).

Once at Far East Plaza we took him to our favourite ever bookshop, Sunny, where Gene and I proceeded to purchase new libraries.

Reading List for early 2007
- His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
- The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
- The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: and Other Stories by Tim Burton
- The Science of Discworld II: The Globe by Terry Pratchett
- Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Gene bought this one)

Nick left with nothing which was very restraint of him.

Having only just eaten less than an hour ago we trooped upstairs to have Hainanese Chicken Rice at the shop that I've gone to since I was a wee lass. You don't even have to order now. You just let them know how many people need a seat and as you sit down they roll out the rice, chicken, broth and off you go! Two serves for $5.60. Now that's what I love about eating in Singapore.

Next stop was Pan Photo to visit Doris where Nick made up for his lack of shopping at Sunny Bookstore. We walked out of there with one 80GB iPod (Nick), a set of in-ear headphones and iPod Nano case (Gene) and an iPod remote (mine). After that it was time for the boys to stop for a beer if only to interrupt our shopping.

We decided we'd spent enough money but should get some clothes for Chinese New Year's day (you're meant to wear new clothes). We hunted for red shirts for the boys but were unsuccessful. It's red t-shirts instead. I managed to find a lovely red skirt which is about a million miles too long for me but I like the hem (well bottom 20cm) of my skirt dragging on the ground... ahem.

If you think that's the end of the shopping then (to quote Captain Jack Sparrows), clearly you haven't been to Singapore. We headed to Bedok to find some shorts for the boys so they didn't melt. This was a successful trip where they found shorts and I found the world's most comfortable bra. Win win situation for all.

Finally it was time to head home for a rest before heading out for a meal of more local foods...

Tonight's Menu
- BBQ Stingray - Gene's favourite
- Sambal Prawns
- Sambal Sotong (calimari)
- Fried Oyster with egg
- oyster omelette
- 10 x otah (fish cooked in coconut leaf)
- 30 x satay sticks (10 x beef, 10 x chicken, 10 x lamb)
- char kway teow
- another squid & veggie dish that I don't know the name of
- 1 x fresh coconut
- 4 x lime juice slushies
- 1 x fresh sugar cane juice
- 1 x grass jelly drink
- 1 x long neck of tiger beer

We're in the process of trying to introduce Nick to as many of the local foods that we love and crave when we're in Singapore. Needless to say we're all rather full.

So tomorrow I'll have some bak-kwa slices of marinated pork and whatever else that catches my eye before I run off to catch a plane back to reality. It's going to be a big day!

Adventures in Europe.

Norway can stay. While we've been travelling about we've been jokingly talking about bits of the world that we like and bits we think we could do without. Pretty much everywhere we've been can stay in our re-modelled world.

Norway was stunning. Tromsø was truly breathtaking. In the three nights that we were there we made friends with taxi drivers, Norweigan kids TV stars (and their film crew), went dog sledding, saw the Northern lights, went to the hospital, rode in a one-horse open sleigh (hey!), tobogganed at night, ate many random sausages and sat in what must be the only Irish pub that didn't serve Guiness.

The taxi drivers in Norway were wonderfully friendly. Our first taxi driver told us about the region as he took us to our hotel. Our second taxi driver asked us what had posessed us to come in the middle of Winter to the Arctic (in no uncertain terms) and our last taxi driver taught us some Norweigan on the way to the airport.

We were pretty lucky with the weather for our dogsledding. It snowed a fair bit initially but cleared up enough for us to catch the Northern Lights briefly. I say we were lucky because there were a couple of girls there on a Northern Light safari on the same night as we went sledding and they didn't get to see the Lights. The three of us felt a bit bad about being so heavy and making the poor twelve gorgeous huskies tow us around for 10km but we were advised that they were in training for a 1600km race. We still felt bad. After we thanked the dogs for hauling us about the hills we retired to a traditional-ish tent and had a rather rich reindeer soup. Gene maintains that his had a red nose. It was delicious, much like the chocolate cake at the end.

The horse sleigh ride was slow and fun and our host was friendly and informative. His wife told us folk tales of the relationship between the Vikings and the Northern Lights while we ate a home-cooked lamb stew. Dinner was followed with a fortified home-made wine with home-baked cinnamon cake. It was delicious. We passed the evening talking to the aforementioned film crew and TV personality as they had been filming an episode where the presenter overcomes his fear of horses. They were a great bunch and lots of fun. Then we were joined by a group of six Chinese government officials. My Chinese could do with some work... The Northern Lights were pretty faint that night but the company made up for it.

I should probably explain why we went to the hospital. Nick had what we termed Arctic Measles. The hospital was the only place we could get a doctor to see him so that's the first place we went in went Tromsø. Doctor said he'd be fine and it was just a reaction to a virus not chicken pox. We were happy about that.

After three days of freezing in the Artic we returned to Oslo overnight before flying back to Paris where we would split up for a few days.

Paris was a bit of an adventure considering I was there for less that three hours. When we landed at Charles De Gaulle we ended up in terminal 1 which doesn't have a train station there. On top of that it took us 20 minutes to exit the terminal and about as long to get to the station and buy tickets. By the time we got on the train I was meant to be checking into the Eurostar terminal to get my train to London. We made it to Gare du Nord 20 minutes before my train was meant to depart. I managed to sprint through the station and board the train 10 minutes before departure. Nothing like a run through a French train station to kick start a holiday!

Turns out that Gene & Nick had a similarly exciting day when our Eurail pass got pilfered out of Gene's pocket, they couldn't find the car hire place and it was a 15€ taxi ride from the station and it was snowing too hard for them to drive to St Flour where the cottage was so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. 25th January was a good day.

I arrived in London and headed to the tiny studio apartment that I'd rented for my stay. The apartment is in South Kensington near the Glouster Road station and while being slightly smaller than my bedroom at home was perfectly located for supplies and transport. The only down side was that 2 of the three lines that go to my station are closed for maintenance this weekend.

My first night was unexciting as I crashed out in bed at 8pm. My second day involved walking around the area and discovering that the lovely Italian place that according to Gene and Nick served the only decent coffee in England closed down. That evening I caught up with some of the gang from Doha for drinks and food in an Irish pub was a bit of a labarinth. After eating we walked to Trafalgar Square and then went to another pub before heading off home our separate ways.

Today being my last day I went to the Camden Markets. A goth, punk heaven in terms of clothing it was probably a good thing I hadn't gone there while I was on the hunt for a skirt earlier in the trip. There were a few amazing stalls there but just watching the people was great fun.

I took three trains to try and get to the National Theatre to pick up some things for Nick but it turns out the one day the bookshop is closed is Sunday. So I watched the London Eye for a bit before jumping on a train to head home. Tonight I'm catching up with Joe which I'm really looking forward to and then it's back home to finish packing so that I can make my train for France tomorrow to meet up with Gene and Nick again!

Turns out there's a new Tom Stoppard play on in the West End that I totally missed. I knew I should have dragged myself out on my first night instead of giving in to my fatigue!

Anyhow, it's been great seeing people and seeing more of London. I'm looking forward to a restful week and a half in St Flour now before we start the journey back home.

Argh. I repeat - Argh.

Keep meaning to post but have a feeling this won't be happening much in the next thirty or so days...

Monday's news:
- iPod finally arrived. YAY! Music all synchronised and have tried all the games. Podcasts are my bedtime stories.

Tuesday's news:
I never thought I'd be so excited about PPE (personal protective equipment for those with more normal jobs) - Gene Hedley

Our brand new Petzl hard hats arrived. Red so that they go faster?

Mail from Melbourne arrived as well. Mainly bills for me. *sigh*

Wednesday's news:
Started handwriting first 300 or so words of novel. Doubt it's going to get far but I think I'm doing better than last year already. Will remember to bring laptop home tonight instead of locking it up at work. Still loving my iPod. V. Busy.

Thursday's news:
ARGH.

Four Seasons In One Day

My computer (obviously not the one I'm on now) has thrown a hissy fit. IT are onto it but I figure I have a couple of minutes for a quick update.

Antibiotics are doing wonders. Can't possibly forget to take them as I start getting vague and dizzy when I forget. Missed today's check up though... whoops. Maybe on Wednesday when the doctors are in again...

The weather lately has been wonderful. The since Friday the weather has been a pleasant 32˚C during the day. Sometimes there was even a breeze that was cooler than the air temperature! I have a feeling the dust was blocking out the sun a bit and that's what caused the cooler days. Today the sky was rather clear and we were back to 38˚C. Happily our evenings are sitting on 28˚C so we get some respite from the heat.

Over the weekend I took Gene shopping at Landmark so that we could get some decent fruits & vegetables. Naturally the only fruit we ended up bringing home were dried cranberries, a necessity for life. Gene even got roped into installing Age of Empires II on the spice/nut seller's computer at the supermarket. Not sure how he ended up doing that... Gene reckons it was his glasses that made him look like a computer geek. It was a fairly successful shopping trip otherwise. We found a watch for Gene with visible clockwork that's self-charging.

---------------------

Well, I started this post five days ago and I figured it's time to finish it now.

Yesterday was our weekend making today is the start of a new week. All in all it was a good week last week!

Gene, Anneke, Mel and I made our first journey to the Souqs on Sunday. I think we ended up in the textile souqs but I can't be 100% sure. I base that thought solely on the large number of fabric shops that we passed by. It was a fairly successful shopping trip for me, although I'm far too short to wear the dresses that I was after (circle dress mentioned in a previous post). I think I'm going to get one made before I leave. I also found a dress that looked (depending on your point of view) a little like the dress the kid in Final Fantasy X wears (Gene reckons it looked Jedi). It had long bell sleeves and a hood. It was awesome! Sadly the small sizes were meant for people with a better build than I have. Again I may yet get this one made for me.

I ended up with a couple of wraps (100% cotton, I'm ready for Ramadan!) a top which is essentially a square folded in half diagonally and seamed to give it "sleeves" and an abaya which has a gorgeous domino pattern on the gauze-like material it's made of. The plan is to convert it into an overdress (which is not unlike its actual purpose). Beautiful fabric & made.

Speaking of Ramadan, there is every possibility tonight will be the first night! How exciting :) We're looking forward to checking out the Ramadan Tents at night to join in the festivities. "Chrismas everyday for 30 days" is the description we've had so far. Should be fun!

With only 69 days to go until the Opening Ceremony things are starting to get a little busier at which is always good! I like keeping busy, it's more fun that way and means that I'll get more done on my day off!

Yesterday was a fantastic day in every sense of the word. The lovely Amy Wee organised for us to have brunch at the Four Seasons and it was amazing. There's no way to really know how amazing that brunch is unless you go there but let's just say that the dessert room with a chocolate fountain you can smell from the lobby just made me the happiest girl in the hotel. I made it through about 7 courses, wait... make that 8 courses (five buffet and three dessert). There was a tasty selection of seafood, crayfish, oysters, salmon etc, freshly prepared sushi & sashimi, a caesar salad bar... and then there was dessert. We had a designated dessert time so that we'd actually eat some proper food before gorging ourselves on sweets. With an hour left of brunch after two hours of eating we got down to business. Amy enjoyed some chocolate covered prawns and cray tails among other more common dishes (there are photos). I must say that the fresh waffles were possibly the best that I've had. The drinking chocolate was good too... it went well with the chocolate fondue. The creme brulee was tasty although there wasn't much of a caramel top. Having eaten ourselves silly some headed off to the day spa while others headed home for a siesta. We decided to sit by the pool/beach outdoor bar and enjoy a drink before heading home. It was a big day!

Needless to say we skipped dinner and instead went home to relax on the couch while discussing how much exercise we'd need to do to recover from brunch. Something about exercise being 90% mental kept coming up...

Gene & I "exercised" by jumping into a taxi and shopping for a good deal on a PS2 so that we can play DVDs and, of course, games in our spare time. Gene figured that as we may end up moving it would be a good idea. Plus it's something that we've been talking about for a bit and they're quite small and cheap right now. So we ended up with a PS2 that came with 10 (well we got 11 somehow) games, two controller and a memory card. We chose to buy an additional game "Steambot" which we've been enjoying so far. It's a sandbox game and we get to play a blonde boy called "Vanilla". It's pretty funny. We're fairly sure he's got the hots for a girl called "Coriander". It appears everyone is a herb or a spice in the game. Good fun. Unfortunately as Gene's on night shift and I'm on day, it'll be about a week before we get to play it again as we're planning to play it together.

Okay well my backup has finished now so off to work. I can't believe I've been here for five weeks already!

No cows, no feeding them at dawn

Landmark Shopping Mall was today's excursion. I arrived at the early hour of 14:00 having "slept" in until 11:00. Anyone who's known me for a while will tell you that I love my sleep. However it seems in Doha that I can't really sleep in.

Anyhow, Landmark well deserves its reputation for having good shopping. The Mega Mart supermarket brought back memories of home as I browsed the food items there as there were quite a few imported goods that I recognised. They also have much better looking meat and dairy than Carrefour. The downside is that it's a bit of a hike relative to Carrefour.

I did come home with a small digital bedside clock so that I can tell the time without squinting at my watch while half asleep. Other exciting purchases include a pair of jeans. The ones that I'd bought for the trip over are ultra skinny and a little too painted-on-denim for my taste. I'm donating it to the charity bin at work. A couple of cotton shirts as they were AU$20 and even the 15%nylon/spandex/anything acrylic really makes a difference if you're out and about.

One of my more exciting purchases is a book with Arabic sayings, their literal translations and English equivalents, hence the title of this blog. For those of you playing at home it's their equivalent of every cloud has a silver lining. The book is called Unload Your Own Donkey. I'll leave you to work out what that one means.

I must admit I'm amazed at the winter wear that's coming out now (especially given they're still in Summer over here). There are fully lined 100% pure wool coats, some even lined with polar fleece. Puffy down-filled jackets and warm woolen jumpers/cardigans/vests are lining the shops. Anyone who's into fashion would be loving the cost of clothes from designer stores MNG, Miss Sixty Six etc which are retailing at about a third of the price of items in Australia. The aforementioned wool coats are retailing at approx AU$110-130. I'm definitely shopping at Landmark before we head to the UK or France at the end of the year!

The Lonely Plant's Guide to the Arabian Penninsula suggest purchases local goods to support their economy and I'm all for that. For example I bought local fruit juice (ultra sweet but with a dash of water perfect), bread (again with the sweetness). While following this purchasing theory I have however ended up with Magic Tissues which are, I believe, the love-child of lavender scented tissues and kitchen towelling. Scandalous I know. Good for all purpose cleaning but a little harsh on the nose.

I've also learnt that, as I mentioned earlier, even the smallest hint of non-natural fibers seems to make a difference. Not just in the heat but the natural fibres actually protect you better from the sun. I base this on general reading as well as getting mild sunburn through my white shirt the other day. I've since taken to wearing a light sunscreen all over even when I'm fully covered. By light sunscreen I mean SPF 4. Who'da thunk it but they sell that over here for people who are acclimatised to extended periods in the sun. I was just so used to buying sunscreen in Australia where it's SPF 15 as a minimum that I didn't read the bottle properly. Happily we have excellent sunscreen at work.

The weather today hasn't been too bad really. I mean it's still hot but it's bearable as long as you're not exerting yourself too much. I'm gradually trying to spend more time outside and with less airconditioning so that it's less of a shock everytime I leave the house.

As they say, if your head is made of wax, do not walk in the sun. (Oh come on that's an easy one!)

Carrefour - City Centre

Wow. I though the shopping centre that's being constructed near the new Carrefour where we went on Saturday night was big. Tonight I got Mr G (one of the drivers who knows where our villas, office and major shopping centres are) to take me grocery shopping after my rather shoddy attempt on Saturday. City Centre's Carrefour was probably the same size if not marginally smaller but this time I had to navigate a live shopping centre (the other one is still under construction like most of Doha).

The drive there was like most of the drives I've been on here. In essence half build roads with no road rules and "assertive" drivers. I've decided to hold on to my drivers license unless they desperately need me to drive somewhere and even then I'll be strongly considering my options. As I may have mentioned earlier Doha feels like someone started a game of Sim City and currently the whole city is under construction.

I was in for my DAE induction (which has half the length of the M2006 one and to be honest more useful) and they mentioned several reasons that traffic is a bit chaotic. Firstly Doha is growing really rapidly. Doha also lacks a public transport system. Everyone seems to get around by ute. In fact the only buses I've seen are the work ones that shuttle us about and some run down American tv show school buses that ferry the labourers to their various work camps around the city. Walking is completely out of the question unless it's a very short distance and at night because (that's right) it's hot. So with the city rapidly growing and no transport there are more and more cars on the roads.

Did I mention the roads are still under construction? One day you can be travelling down the road and the next day it could be closed off. This is another reason I don't particularly want to drive. I've also noticed that if you miss your exit you're likely to have to drive a fair way in the wrong direction before cutting across several lanes of traffic while beeping your car horn in order to turn back in the correct direction.

Roundabouts deserve the half page paragraph in the guide to Doha that I read. The number of lanes changes at random as do the drivers trying to exit. Imagine the Wheel of Death (in Melbourne) as the standard round about. All in all it still doesn't feel quite as crazy as Malaysia but it's not far behind!

Anyhow I digress. My grocery shopping was far more successful this time. Armed with a list I managed to get everything on it (except for the mince because they ran out). I also managed to find a few gems like Mi Goreng (complete with Arabic labels) and Fox Glacier mints. A few pain au chocolate and a couple of kids picture books in French (because they were cheap and one of them's about penguins). Don't worry Mum & Dad, I did buy some healthy food too like fruits and bread etc. A possible point of interest, durians cost about AU$7 each. They still smell bad.

Well I think I've posted plenty for today. Time for bed.

Doha Days

Right now I'm struggling for a way to start this post. I’m struggling with a few things really. Things like what day it is (Sunday I think), why I’m awake but my brain is not (jet lag), what day is it (oh hang on we've already done that) which brings me back to why my brain is like mush. This is my round-about way of apologising for any incoherent writing ahead.

Doha is pretty amazing. There’s a construction site everywhere you turn. There’s a lot of development happening here and I’m fairly sure it’s not just because of the upcoming Games

I’ve only been here two days and I’m still loving it. The weather isn’t too problematic for me as more often than not I’m in air-conditioning. It’s just when you step outside and have to stand there for more than five minutes that it starts to hurt. We’ve got a buddy system going where you don’t go anywhere by yourself because the heat can get to you really quickly. I must admit there’s still something odd about having a chart on the back of the toilet door that rates the colour of your urine from good to dehydrated. I’m probably sharing a little much but I felt it was necessary

The villa that I’m staying at is fabulous! Gene, you’ll be happy to know that they have gas stoves in the kitchen. My bedroom is a comfortable size and my bed even more so. A queen bed for such a small girl is such a wonderful luxury! I love my air-conditioner in the room. It makes it possible to sleep without being stifled by the heat. I really couldn’t be much happier with the accommodation! By the sounds of things Gene will be staying two villas down the road from me which is wonderful considering he could have ended up in one of the other two apartment/villa complexes. I’m looking forward to seeing him again in a week and a half, although I do
feel like I should explore the compound a little more so that I have some inkling of what’s about! There’s a pool here and apparently a gym as well. I really should get up early for a swim but having fallen asleep at about 02:00 last night and having to be at work at 09:00 I felt that I could be slack on my first day. We’ll see how I do tomorrow!

My first day of work yesterday was a whirlwind of information, as first days are. Today was better although I found my cotton-candy-brain frustrating. The air-conditioning is both a blessing and a curse. Without it you melt and sweat profusely, with it on it sucks all the moisture from your body. I don’t think I’ve drunk this much water since I did the Murray Marathon many years ago!

Yesterday being my first day in Doha I settled into my room and then headed to work (voluntarily, they did say I could stay at home but why would you when there are people to meet and catch up with!). After work AG took Mel and I shopping for supplies. As soon as we reached the Carrefour (imagine a big supermarket with a hint of k-mart and deli) my jet lag kicked in. Mel had a list. I had a sliver of an inkling that I should get some food to cook for dinner. I decided to work from Mel’s list figuring that she’d been here for a day or two more than I had so she knew where it was at. Sadly
that didn’t help me spend less than her or buy milk to eat my cereal with. On the latter observation, I even watched her pick which milk to buy and offered a non-committal opinion. Stupid brain! After a few hours of dodging trolleys, small children and getting lost we made it home with a variety of items including vegies, bananas for less than AU$1/kg, baklava, soy bread, vegemite (because as an Australian you have to buy it), beach towels, pegs and Aussie grown carrots. We also realised that we had enough food to cook about 1-2 meals.

So it was Nando's for dinner as none of us wanted to cook dinner. The food was good (as usual) but the hot tea with mint afterwards was odd but pleasant enough.

One thing I have noticed here is that many of the locals think that I’m Philippino. This is not a huge concern to me but it does mean that I’m right at the bottom of the expat pecking order. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that I’m exempt from random men trying to pick me up. Apparently the faux wedding band trick doesn’t work so well without a guy there. Shopping was still fun though and I’m looking forward to braving it again when I’ve
settled in a bit more.

My sense of direction is completely lost here. I’ve been to the office
twice now by two different routes and back to the villas by three different routes. I’m just glad I don’t have to drive here because the roads are a little unfinished and lack street signs. Luckily there’s an hourly shuttle to the office.

Well, I’m absolutely zonked. It’s only quarter to eight in the evening but I think it’s time to curl up in bed with a good book.

In Transit

I have an hour left until boarding commences for the final leg of my journey. Naturally I have gravitated to the nearest Internet access point to blog. I think it's a comfort thing.

The flight was uneventful. Largely because I slept for more than half of it. I tried to stay up as late as possible to help adjust to the time difference. So I ended up watching three episodes of House, two episodes of Boston Legal and listening to the 1987 Original London Cast recording before dozing off.

I must admit I was impressed with the cabin lighting (in a geeky kind of way). I liked that it changed gradually over time from a tequila sunrise orange on the ceiling and deep sky blue on the sides to include a twinkling starscape on the ceiling. As the flight progressed the orange became blue and then all the lights dimmed leaving nothing but the "stars". Cute.

The lady sitting next to me was going to the World Equestrian Games and we had a great time watching the take off and landing on the monitors in front of us. The plane had cameras mounted on the side and under-carriage (if that's the right word) of the plane. For most of the journey there was nothing to see. A lot of black followed by more black. Thirty-five minutes from Dubai we caught our first glimpse of sunlight and we knew we were close.

When the announcement was made that it was 33 degrees in Dubai there was a bit of a stir in the cabin. When they followed that with rising to a top of 45 there was an unanimous groan.

The only thing I'd change about my flight over here is finding the footrest. It truly sucks to be short. My feet couldn't touch the ground while seated (ha ha ha) and the person in front had reclined their seat fully so I couldn't actually see much of the feet area. Happily I have located the footrest for future reference.

I seem to be a fan of buying bags and as such have increased my handbag to a small case so that I don't lose my new jacket (from Gene), A Short History of Nearly Everything (from Dad) or my other items in my handbag. Dad was right, I should and could have carried something larger. Problem fixed though!

From what I gather I won't have enough time to worry about my footrest on the flight to Doha. Not long to go now! Yay!

Fully licensed. Will bring own boots

Today I am a fully licensed driver. According to Gene this makes me designated driver forever as I tend to have one drink and call it quits for a night which is fair enough.

In celebration of this, and the three inch hole in my right boot, in fine female form, I went shoe shopping today.

I love the Myer sales up here.

Gene is an amazingly helpful person at shoe shopping. He just looks at a shoe and can tell if it's my size... I need a reference shoe before I can tell if it's small enough. Sad but true. Anyhow within two minutes of entering Myer he had found two pairs of knee-high boots in my size. One of them was $70 and cowboy style and the other was $60 and Sarah style. It's soooo pretty! I went to the cashier and found that it was only $40 and on the way picked up a sensible heel (flat) pair of three quarter high boots for, wait for it, $15!. It's been a bit of a shoe hunting day. Like Gene says, I go through shoe hunting phases and hence all my shoes die at the same time. Armed with boots for all occassions, the "Sarah" boots have a heel on them for days when I'm feeling particularly short, and also a cute pair of strappy black heels for the more formal short days, I am ready to tackle any shoe wearing occassion. Well, as long as it involves black shoes!

UDO - Unexpected Day Off

It's my second day in Brisbane. Today I find myself armed with a two bananas and a plethora of tech gear with nothing more to do than explore the Brisbane. There was a small but important typo in my contract which means that I'm not insured for work until tomorrow so I got the day off after our safety & fire induction. I'm kinda wishing I'd brought the spare camera battery now. In fact I may yet ride back to the hostel to drop off my shifter, tape measure, leatherman (plus attachments), and mini-gerber (solstice). So perhaps I'll get the new battery.

Brisbane seems to be a wonderful sleepy kind of city. Admittedly this is largely based on our day out yesterday, which I am aware was a Sunday, but even this morning riding into the CBD for work during peak hour wasn't anywhere near as crazy as the Melbourne peak hour traffic. It's a great city to ride in and I'm glad Gene insisted on bringing the bikes. There seem to be bike lanes on most of the city roads and they're all fairly consistant in width. It's not a particularly generous width but it's enough to ride your bike in without being wide enough for cars to pretend they're bicycles.

Our hostel room is pretty good. It's got everything we need including a fridge and ensuite. We fell asleep to the dulcet tones of the didgeridoo and clapping sticks on our first night while last night there were just people talking and drinking. They seem like a great crowd.

I'm going slightly nuts over the number of times I've been asked in the last two days if I've seen a koala before but I guess that comes with the Asian appearance and the tourist maps of the city that mark us as being from out of town.

Yesterday we decided to take a ride into town so we could work out how to get to work at the Metro Arts building. Turned out to be an easy 15 minute ride with only one hill of note. We then enjoyed a huge lunch at the Pig 'n' Whistle in what I think is the Queen Street Mall before heading towards the famous South Bank. We detoured through St Georges Square in the hopes of seeing Spiegeltent being assembled but it would appear that it hasn't arrived yet and we're just a little too keen.

We visited the famous South Bank in the mid afternoon where we were greeted by a corvette meeting. Plenty of shiny cars that didn't really grab our attention. We briefly toyed with the idea of paddling in the wading pool. By wading pool I mean the 1m deep pool. Gene commented that it would be fine, we'd only be in waist deep until I pointed out to him that I'm only 1.5m tall and would be in far deeper than my waist. It wasn't quite warm enough anyway.

While we're on the topic of temperature... the weather here is gorgeous! Particularly after the bleary Melbourne weather we left. I guess that's another thing that's marking us as tourists. We're in t-shirts and shorts while the locals are in coats and scarves. Anyhow, we're making the most of the 23 degree days and soaking up as much sunshine as we can get. It's also soothing for the soul to not be in total darkness until 17:30.

Being the tech-geeks that we are, we were almost immediately distracted by the Suncorp Metway Super Screen at South Bank. A great outdoor venue with a good looking (and tidy) rig. I took photos. The rig was on chain motors for easy of rigging access. We were most impressed. The speakers weren't on chain motors though so less easy to move, but probably don't need to be moved much anyhow. We also discovered that the screen could swivel but I think I've been geeky enough for now. They were playing Mythbusteres if anyone cares.

After our brief moment of geekiness we discovered the art & craft market there where I bought a Snuggle Pillow because I miss my nice dense head-moulding pillow at home and this works in a similar manner for less cost. Mum if you're reading this, it's filled with tiny polystyrene balls, kind of like bean bag balls but the size of your glass bead from teddy bear making days. Easy to clean and easy to travel so I'm happy. I slept much better last night with it than I did the night before. Gene watched a couple of buskers but had heard most of the jokes before so we headed back to the markets. Not before I managed to find a couple of brochures on Putt Putt golf though! We're going to get a car and check out some places when we have some free time. The courses up here look like lots of fun and car hire's not so bad.

Supermarket shopping was nothing to write home about but I was very excited to find bananas for a whole three dollars cheaper per kilo at the fruit shop. No savings at Coles, I think they standardise the prices there.

Last night was a quiet night consisting of roast chicken for dinner, Dr Who (thanks Nic) and plenty of sleep. Tonight we're catching up with Gene's Auntie Vicki for dinner in the West End. Tee hee, I'm still amused that I'm staying in the West End. Always wanted to go to the West End but was thinking more England way than QLD. One step at a time though!

Wish you could all share the lovely weather with us!

Grumpus Returns

Today is a grumpy day because I can't find my black leather belt. I know this is a trivial matter but as someone who has a great deal of trouble finding belts that are both functional and fit, I am grumpy without it. It would seem that I've lost weight so now I actually need a belt to hold my pants up and I've stupidly gone and misplaced it. Grr! I know it's in the house somewhere and I've hunted through all the rooms and all the clothes and it's just not there. It's probably staring me right in the face. Damn you belt!

Belt-blues aside though it's been an okay day today. Gorgeous Winter day in Melbourne spent bike box shopping which also resulted in the purchase of a black shirt that does up with small hooks & eyelets, a black vest with lacing up the back and a cream top to go with it. I tried to hunt for a belt that fit but the smallest I could find was a 32" belt and that's about 6-7 more inches than I need.

It's almost time to start getting ready for swing dancing which will undoubtably cheer me up. After all, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!

A Complete Day

Well now that Superman's returned safe and sound so we can all get ready for the next cheesy installment of Pirates of the Carribean. Mmmm bring on that Captain Jack Sparrows :)

It's been a great day today. A complete movie experience this morning.

For the price of an adult movie ticket, a complete movie experience includes:
1. Something going wrong at the start of the movie session. eg. subtitles being off screen, movie being out of focus, sound not working or in today's example starting half an hour late with no apparent reason. (When asked the cinema folk apparently replied, oh you're here for the 10:45 session? Hasn't that started?)

2. Junkie snack food with no nutritional value but plenty of chemicals that make you fill "full" - travel style pies. This is an additional cost to the movie ticket and also comes in a combo with drinks that are sized to make you wish there was a fifteen minute interval.

3. Kids. Kids running around the cinema. Kids clambering over the seats. Kids playing with the screen. Kids asking for icecream. Kids refusing to go to the bathroom before the movie starts. Kids going to the bathroom 3-4 times on average through the movie. My favourite though is kids asking "what's happening?" after sitting with their back turned to the screen looking at other people. I love school holidays.(I mean what parent in their right mind would take an eight year old, let alone a group of them, to sit through a 152 minute movie?!)

The movie was enjoyable and I was excited to discover that I actually knew some of the people in the credits. Think I still have their numbers. Oh yeah... I'm special I know. A couple of the guys I worked with at my last job were stunt guys. Didn't realised that they'd filmed it locally. Just goes to show how in touch with the entertainment industry I'm not. *sigh* I should work on that.

After that we came home and enjoyed some of the many left overs in the fridge for lunch. Dad's been going all out with dinner lately and I'm thinking I need to get some exercise if I want to keep up the eating. Especially with the proscuitto wrapped shrimp we had the other night. Mmmmmmm

I'm doing much better on the crochet front with my top. It kinda looks a little huge though but it's at the correct finished size so it's probably just me. I'm pretty small though and I'm about a couple of inches smaller than the smallest size. Guess it's going to be a slightly loose top on me. I've finally made it past the nightmarishly simple waist section, finshed the bodice and now I'm onto the incredibly repetitive sleeves. I may yet complete the top...

The night was capped off with dinner at one of our regular family dinner restaurants, Straits in Wantirna. Excellent Hainanese Chicken Rice as well as Malaysian cuisine. Highly recommended. There's on in Doncaster as well. Try their Har Mee.

After a good feed we headed to Borders to enjoy the end of financial year sale. I ended up with Hanging Out with the Dream King (not obsessed, just focused), The Eyre Affair and Death: At Death's Door (marvel at my focus!). There is plenty of reading to be done tonight! Happily I can read and crochet. Two favourite activities in one! Just need to work out how to blog and do theatre stuff at the same time as well and my non-social life will be complete!

My name is Sarah and...

... I'm a yarnaholic. That's not to say that I love to talk a lot, which I do, but I have well and truly developed a serious yarn buying addiction having moved back in with my folks. It's the lack of having rent to meet... not to mention the stocktake sales - damn you Spotlight and your 20% off everything for one day only...

So my day started off in the usual sleepy way. I slept in on my nice new comfy Memory Foam pillow. I bought a pair of these pillows on the high recommendation from my Mum & my osteo that this would provide me with better quality sleep and less neck & back problems. One of the best purchases of the year so far to be honest! Much too easy to sleep in on though. Also entertaining for the easily amused as you can watch the foam spring back up after you mush it into funny shapes. :)

I woke up and found Mum doing some pattern editing on the computer and showed her how to instert a table in Word without any gridlines which made her happy and then trotted downstairs with full intentions of starting a velvet beret for Lisa (it's in a red wine kind of colour) as soon as I checked my email. Not a good move it seems.

In my mail box was an email from Spotlight that advised me they were having the aforementioned one day sale. Hmmm... interesting... I thought. I don't have any cotton to make that top that I like in the Happy Hooker book that I bought... or that bolero that I like either... I'd also really like to make Dad & Gene some socks... HEY MUM! We need to go out!. Thus began the trip to the shops where I got some gorgeous cotton/alpaca yarn to make my top & bolero, wool to felt into slippers, machine washable wool to make socks for the boys and some to make socks for the girls (Mum & I).

Luckily I'm making my way at great speed through my yarn stash. Last night I finished a hat for Jo, think 1920's cloche decorated with a treble clef that I designed because according to Gene she's a muso. I'm halfway through a moebius wrap for me in blue-purple varigated yarn. I've got a cabled scarf on the go and this new top from the book. Large variety of projects would usually reflect nothing but my fear of commiting to things, but it's actually got more to do with my RSI and carpal tunnel issues. Too much knitting makes my left arm hurt (it was rather swollen two days ago) and too much crochet makes my right arm hurt. So on advice from the experts plenty of projects to keep you moving.

So having spent up I declared two things. Firstly, I'm not going to a yarn shop in the near future. Secondly I needed to start applying for work. Happily the guilt from the yarn shopping prompted me to cautiously check my email again where I got the job list from Arts Hub and started to apply for work. Does anyone else hate writing application letters as much as I do? Anyway it's all done now and I'm still keeping my eye out.

Nothing else is new really so I'm going to crawl back to the couch with my Baileys and watch Gene play Final Fantasy X while crocheting happily into the wee hours of the morning.

Pets & Suits

Suit shopping accomplished!

We finally tore ourselves away from the PS2 and jumped in the car straight to Peter Jackson where the nice man showed us a variety of suits in Gene's size. After determining which suit looked like a school uniform and which didn't, we settled on a gorgeous brown wool pinstripe suit. Now all that remains is to find a shirt and tie and we should be all set.

The best thing about today's shopping trip was the discovery of dog boots/shoes. We went to the pet shop to get some kitty crystals (we're aware that we have a rat, but it helps him to smell less) and lo and behold, no kitty crystals but many pairs of doggy ug-boots. They were zip ups complete with velcro strap to make sure that they stay on. I was tempted to get some just to see if they did stay on because all of the dogs I've had managed to get most bandaging/protection off their paws with just a bit of time and dedication. The cost of the dog shoes greatly reduced my curiousity though.

Safeway proved to have some exciting products though. The one we went to sells Rat/Mouse food! We bought some of that and discovered that we're only meant to be feeding our rat 30g of food a day... Herman's now going on a bit of a diet. We were a little worried that he'd get bored or upset with the new gradual reduction in food so we made up for it by buying him several bird/small animal treat sticks that can be hung up in his cage. We even managed to remember to get him some of those kitty crystals that we'd gone in to buy. Not wanting the dogs to feel left out we got them some dog treats too. We did manage to leave the supermarket without actually buying any of the ingredients that I had planned to get for making dinner tonight though. Guess we really do love our pets!