A Shadow of A Smile

"One more chapter of Lost Girls" turned into the rest of Book 1. As a result I'm limiting myself to reading Lost Girls only during the day.

Today seems to be dragging its heels a little, although I have been up for five hours so I suppose it feels like awhile. I waved everyone goodbye on their way to work and have two snoring pugs beside me for company.

Random small projects keep popping up in my mind as I try to pinpoint something to occupy my time. The other night I started to transform The Arctic Measles That Never Were into comic format but it was a much greater task that I could accomplish at 0300 with no forward planning. I'm back to sketching panel layouts now and trying to decide how to illustrate the characters/photos.

I also had a play with PhotoBooth again having just worked out what the iGlasses function does with my webcam. Can you tell I had fun?

Firsts, 24ths and 21sts

Thursday felt like a Friday. Yesterday felt like a Saturday. Today felt like a daze. It seems that's what happens when I stay out till 0500 and have to be somewhere by 1230 the next day. I think I've caught up with my week now...

On Thursday I went to see the opening night of Opera Australia's Rusalka with Claire, Matt and Nick. It was my first time at the opera and it was lovely. Visually it was quite pretty and the music was beautiful although I did find myself ignoring the surtitling at points and just enjoying the music and cast roaming about the stage. Jezibaba was by far my favourite character. I think I went to school with the woman who played the kitchen boy.

We went for drinks afterwards and I tried to get a taxi to meet up with Gene at Trades Hall as the bar started to close. No joy there. Apparently the taxi rank at Flinders Street was not the place to get a taxi. There were about 8 of them there and none were taking passengers for short trips. They'd been waiting too long without a fare it seems.

After a few hours and several early birthday wishes at the Bystander Bar we headed home.

I surfaced from my sleep about four hours after crawling into bed and promised myself a quieter night... maybe staying out until 0200 as I was a walking zombie much of the day. Mum & Dad had come home with a slice of my favourite cake and four Mythbusters DVDs including the Son of a Gun episode that I hadn't seen the end of. Gene and Nick bought me Lost Girls as the pugs had gotten to Percy (the pig pinata that they had been making for my birthday). The day couldn't have been better really. (Unless I'd gotten some sleep).

We ate till we were stuffed at Matsumoto to celebrate my birthday as well as our 21 years in Australia and then it was back to the Bystander Bar for drinks that night where I caught up with Paul, Deb, Nick C, Nick S and Tamsin. Paul and Deb gave me a beautiful flocked journal and note card set that I can wait to start using. Perfectly timed as I'm almost through my current journal.

As the best laid plans go awry we ended up have so much fun that we stayed until about quarter to five this morning. I had my haircut booked for 1230 today so I was up and on the road by 1145. My hair is now a darker shade of blue-black with violet pieces for those interested and my nails are the fashionable black that harks back to my uni goth-clubbing days. Matches my hair and general wardrobe though!

So after all the excitement I crashed out on the couch at 1700 and woke up only an hour ago. I'm definitely ready for bed. That's not going to stop me from reading one more chapter of Lost Girls first!

Festival FINA Photos

I've been meaning to post some photos for quite some time... a month to be more precise. Time to make a start...

In March I worked on Festival FINA. Our first job was working on the Kusama sculptures which were affectionately known as the mushrooms. One hopeful teen licked the white dots just to be sure...



I mentioned in an earlier blog a few of my highlights of the Festival including Group F and Mechanique Vivante.







What can I say... flame and sirens are always memorable :)

Restless

It's been almost a week since I posted and it feels longer and shorter than that at the same time.

I keep meaning to post about things that have been happening. New projects (knitting related of course) and general news but I can barely sit still at the moment. Proverbial goldfish-esque attention span.

Definitely time to get some work. Just something temporary and casual to help fund my future travel plans (Europe again in November with any luck). Something to stop me from feeling like I'm going quietly insane.

At the moment I'm knitting Gene a pair of Space Invader Socks which is taking much longer than anticipated. I'm glad that I decided to start early because it took me about five hours to make it through the 10 rows of the cuff (usually only a 30-40 minute task in front of the TV for anyone who hasn't had my sock knitting inflicted on them). It's also allowing me to do two colour stranding in my knitting (new technique I'm learning) which involves me knitting with a strand of yarn in each hand. Continental (a.k.a. left-handed) and English knitting (normal technique). I'm loving it but when my brain is ready to explode I move onto a pair of lacy socks that I'm making for myself.

Still going strong on the cooking front. More so as our family move to a healthier diet. Anything involving mushrooms and baby spinach is a favourite at the moment. Less baking happening on my part but Dad made a delicious banana cake last night. His first if I'm not mistaken. A proud moment as he got to use our cake mixer and blender last night. Pictures to follow.

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts at the moment that I'm sure it's not good for me. So far the most exciting thing thats not space-invader-sock-related is my drive to label and catalog things. I spent the better part of Tuesday labeling all 253 posts in this blog. I then spent much of the wee hours of Wednesday starting to catalog my book collection at LibraryThing.

Yeah rock on I say!

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.

A Gingerbread Family

Caution: Naked Gingerbread Women Ahead

I've had many blog entries in mind today. Each one of them writing themselves in my mind differently depending on my mood at the time. Believe me when I say they were largely variations and a tediously melancholy theme.

Not sure why this is. Think I just started the day badly. Not sure how though.

My lousy mood aside the day has been a lovely one full of things to be happy about.

For one my birthday present from my folks arrived just after midday in a courier van. A sleek black set of JBL Onstage II speakers. The remote control hasn't left me yet.

In an attempt to break Grumpus' hold on me I started to bake. After all any girl who's feeling down loves a good snacking session on something sweet and I do love my baking! Plus I got to try out the lovely new baking tray that we bought on the weekend.

Current Cookie Count:
- 16 raspberry jam drops
- 12 wildberry jam drops
- 28 chocolate "jam" drops
- a gingerbread family

After the delicious chicken & mushroom risotto that Gene cooked we sat around the table and decorated the gingerbread people that I'd baked earlier.



It was a wonderful way to spend time with my family. It's not something that I get to do everyday even though we're all living in the same house at the moment. We all have our own rhythms and routines and often spend our time doing our own thing but tonight we sat around the table, grabbing the various tubes of icing and made our own little family of gingerbread folk and that was the best part of the day.

I've spent a bit of time with my parents over the weekend. Driving up to Sassafras for another visit to Tea Leaves for yet another tea buying spree (this time for Dad who is now the happy owner of 500g of ceylon pekoe and 100g orange pekoe tea). Then gorging ourselves on the delicious Yarra Valley icecream (this is starting to sound like an ad for Mount Dandenong isn't it?). It was a great way to spend some time with my folks before returning to our normal routines.

So even though I'm feeling a out of sorts today I'm content in the knowledge that things will improve again and making a gingerbread family with my family was the best way to cheer me up.

Heaven in a Tea Cup

Today the knitting and crochet was put aside for a trip to the beach. Due to the inclement and wonderful Melbourne weather though, Nick and I decided to head to Mount Dandenong instead and take in the views of the forest and city skyline.

The drive was pleasant as it usually is when you're surrounded by big old forests. Not to mention the quaint little tea houses and pubs that all claim to be the best in the region.

We ended up heading to the Sky High Observatory point at the top of Mount Dandenong and were surprised at the entry fee (admittedly only $4 per car) as it had been free for as long as we'd remembered. So we wandered about and visited Igor the Giant's chair, Percy Possum's house and saw the Sky High Maze under construction (grand opening next week). It was a great view of the city though, as good as I remembered. In fact the only thing that made it better was the rain clouds sweeping across the city at the time. We played spot the building which was easier for Eureka Tower than the Menzies building but we found them both.

After walking through the English garden we headed back down to Olinda for lunch at the pie/pastie shop. Beef and burgandy is a wonderful thing in a pie. The lemongrass tea I had was great too although perhaps not the best accompaniment to the pie.

As we were heading home through Sassafras we found the tea shop next to Miss Marple's tea room that I'd remembered from when I went up there with my folks in high school. Naturally we had to stop.

It was heavenly. We spent a lot of time in there. There were many teas to be smelled and teapots to marvel at. After careful deliberation I narrowed my purchases down to a warm and friendly 4-cup filter, blood red, teapot by London Pottery and 4 blends of tea. So far I've only sampled my French Earl Grey, which is like a girly version of earl grey, and the after-dinner tea. I also got the Refresh and Relax blends for the days when I need a little pick me up or some mild sedation. They also had a cafe latte tea which smelled pretty damn good too... Nick said I should have asked for a job there.

So you can all rest easily now. My teapot hunt is over for now and I have plenty of lovely teas to get me through the next little while.

I'm sure that as time passes I'm just growing into my inner granny. I'll be eighty and still knitting, crocheting and drinking tea but I'm okay with that. There are worse ways to go!

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!