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R. Mutt
Here with his tucker and the new plantings. (Re-planted the spring garden after the two-week drought of vacation, even the Star Jasmine and Bush Cherry were dead and shriveled-up) Here, slowly computing the command “Sit!”. Instantly erased after a cuddle and dog-treat.
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Rufus!
After a fair bit of deliberation, wishing and wanting (and constant enthusiastic encouragement from my sister) I visited the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home in Carlton. I wanted to check out the dogs and take some for a walk to see if they would like me. The home is very busy with lots of barking…
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quality spam on the rise, as are interest rates, cost of living and infant obesity
For some reason, I get a variety of spam which I regularly have to erase off this blog. Usually they are your garden-variety Viagra, bestiality and pirate software plugs but recently I’ve been receiving hoax comments containing famous quotations and proverbs attached to commercial URLs. This morning I received one which had the same effect…
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return to routine
I arrived at Sydney airport and took a taxi straight to my work. Work has been rather busy due to all the changes that have taken place during my absence. I came back to restructure the new classes and meet the new teacher, after which I headed straight to my psychologist’s appointment. It’s so strange…
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ghost of Lily
I was so preoccupied with this baby Chihuahua I didn’t even haggle down the price of my new bag. Why are dumb little animals so damn cute? This one looks just like the old family dog when she was little with more caramel colour.
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SAIGON
Unfortunately we had to share our viewing experience of the War Remnants Museum with hundreds of screaming of school children. Here are a bunch taking their annual school photo in front of a tank. Soon after the teachers rounded them all up with megaphones (they’ve got the right idea) and they left en (squealing) masse.…
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DA NANG
The view from the rented banana lounge. The water wasn’t that clean due to rains the day before. A deserted beach surrounded by hills was a nice break from the constant travel.
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HOI AN
In the lovely seaside town of Hoi An. This seems to be the tailor-shop capitol of Viet Nam. I ended up getting an inordinate amount of trousers made because I just needed, in fact, one clean pair of pants. As the perenial light packer, (positively anorexic compared to some fellow travellers) I found myself with…
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HUE
In this rather prosperous and clean township, with the Imperial Palace and Perfume River. I fell ill with a strange 24 hour virus. I’m aching in my bones now and warding off sharp headaches with regular doses of paracetomol. This whole trip is hard work, we have been covering a crazy amount of distance in…
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SAPA
Blogging in the mountains of Sapa on the slowest internet connection in the world. Max has food poisoning but remains in very good spirits. Constant rain and typhoon in Halong Bay. My kingdom for my blogbox [portable computer] and a high speed wireless internet connection! Other than these horrendous deprivations, holidaying is fine. Although, like…
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Hoa Binh
Looking at the photos, we went camera-crazy in this sleepy little village. Not much else to do really, monsoonal rains and the long drive dampened our enthusiasm for its rustic charm. This is the view from our dingy little bungalow, a rude shock after our nice hotel in Hanoi! We walked in search of something…
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HANOI
This is the view from our window on the Song Hong (Red River). It was hot but overcast and a little rainy. The hotel was once State accommodation for international guests but these days its fading seventies charm services sandal-clad tourists and local conferences on administering aid. It had an old pool next to the…
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Nerida and Randy get hitched
Nerida throws the bouquet to the hopeful bachelorettes. Spared of the ritual humiliation and chatting to friends, I just caught sight of Helen diving for it out of the squealing scrum (well hardly). Many photos were taken by Jake who has become rather well-acquainted to my camera after taking it to Japan.
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fish or chicken
Today I abstained from breakfast in anticipation of the wedding food. I was not disappointed although the soufflé was overcooked and tasted, as Max said, more like a tough muffin. An inordinate amount of alcohol was consumed beforehand so by the time lunch was served I had lost my appetite and didn’t eat very much.…
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you know I’m bad
The taxi gods were smiling on us as we ran out of the apartment in search of a ride to the Mandalay. Limping down the street in undone shoes and my hair partially curled in pursuit of a stern Adrian, we were picked up by a large cab that featured an entertainment system boasting not…
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you know I'm bad
The taxi gods were smiling on us as we ran out of the apartment in search of a ride to the Mandalay. Limping down the street in undone shoes and my hair partially curled in pursuit of a stern Adrian, we were picked up by a large cab that featured an entertainment system boasting not…
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funny games
I think boardgames bring out the worst in people. You can tell if someone was weaned too soon by the way they grab at a pair in a simple game of SNAP; you can tell who resisted toilet training in infancy by the way they purchase property in Monopoly. Personally, I can’t lose a game…
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weary
This is a shout out to all those poor bastards who administer, set-up and maintain websites and do not do it as gainful employment. I just spent my Sunday evening after a nice, greasy meat and veg dinner, tapping away at the keyboard and staring at a computer screen updating the WSSR site. My eyes…
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twice in the day: once in the morning and once at night
Every night I brush my teeth vigorously, filling my mouth up with the chalky, mint-flavoured lather until it leaks out and I am forced to spit it out into the sink. Every time, the foam is stained pink and streaked red with blood. Sometimes I floss and red cracks grow between my teeth. I swig…
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I like your old stuff better than your new stuff
Still being nostalgic. Getting up early to do gardening and assignments and blogging instead. Contact sheets of Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Cité de la Musique, Stereolab, Lina, Sebastien, Labour Day, manifestation, TV tower, Atomium, Metro, Jasmine, Höegarden, La Grande Place, le Sacre Coeur and a marching band.
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why my lomo no go no more?
It’s a damn good question considering there’s nothing to these overpriced plastic constructions. However, it seems that the LOMO no longer works and after only three years of service it has expired. I looked through some old photo albums and found some funny photos. I had a colour flash one but all my colour flash…
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everything in doubt
J’en doute. Je ne doute pas. C’est 16.40, if faut que je sois dans mon cours à la fac mais je reste à la maison. J’ai bu trois verres du vin rouge en mangeant du fromage. J’ai eu un jour de merde à mon travail et je ne peux plus continuer. Je pense que de…
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this is optimism, the perfect Saturday
Every city-dweller is in fact dreaming of the suburbs. After a long and arduous trip to Bunnings, pushing and shoving for trolleys and car spaces with all the other dumb suckers of Sydney’s inner-west I finally came home with a box of seedlings and plants to garnish my future meals! My surrogate cat, Roxy, that…
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AGNSW
Charles Meere Australian beach pattern 1940 Peter Paul Rubens Self-portrait 1623 Giulio Paolini L’altra figura (The Other Figure). Canaletto The Piazza di San Marco Venice Frederick McCubbin Claude Monet Port-Goulphar, Belle Île 1887 I picked out these works for our visit. I think they are some interesting pieces although certainly not my favorites, with the…
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une nouvelle voiture
Aujourd’hui, j’ai pris ma nouvelle voiture [la première qui n’est pas une voiture neuve] du magasin. Malgré mon plaisir d’un nouvel achète, je n’ai pu être heureuse. Je pense ma capacité pour le bonheur est baissé en ce moment. Le psychothérapie est difficile et à ce niveau, franchement c’est très déprimante. Il n’est pas facile…
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reconnaissance
I did a quick reconnaissance this afternoon at the Art Gallery of NSW for tomorrow’s excursion. I forget what a joy it is to take time out and contemplate beautiful works. The galleries were really calm and cool and the walk there was sunny and pleasant. I’ve always thought the permanent collection here to be…
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Impromptu Picnic
Really good weather made us buy a roast chicken and other odds and ends for a late lunch at Callan Park. GT is gleaming after a new wash and a change of spark plugs, fish are jumping and the cotton is high. I’m in good spirits even after a day in Balmain. Dreaming of an…
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seeing the light
It’s Sunday again and after a most excellent extended weekend due to APEC (Welcome Gerge W. Bush!) I have buckled under the pressure (and boredom) and got a Facebook account. However, the only people I want to find are not on Facebook. Denim (what the hell is her last name?) from Fort Street High School…
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rats and stats, gloom and doom
Out of a 75 question test with a point score of 1-6 being – completely untrue of me mostly untrue of me slightly more true than untrue of me moderately true of me mostly true of me describes me perfectly Here is a sample of my 1-6 scores. Q.57. I find it embarrassing to express…
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learning the hard way
Now as an educator it’s an important thing to never give up on the learning enterprise oneself. However noble I feel it is to be autodidact, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to have someone facilitate the learning process. Now my friend Shaun has guided me up many a steep learning curve (for example sailing and its…
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lunar eclipse
We went on the rooftop to see the moon and I took my camera but as Max reported I needed some enormous telescopic lens (I guess like the ones tourists hang around their necks like phalluses springing into action at the sight of some bug on a tree top, indeed I have penis envy [as…
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Sundays are for nothing i.e. blogging
Nothing to report but the immense feeling of having been punched hard in both arms after getting a combined Hepatitis A and B vaccination in the right arm and a typhoid shot in the left. This compounds the general beat-up feeling after stacking the motorbike again. Pap smear results came out normal. How can one graze…
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The awesome Dr.JC
Some would call this a classic example of poor exposure and insufficient lighting, but I say it’s a contender for the Citigroup Photography Portrait Prize. A composition of juxtaposed light and dark with the subject’s direct gaze merely suggested in the shadowy silhouette of his head cocked slightly to the right. A piece of hardware…
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Dinner (in) and the bellyache (on) Sydney
Dinner at Nina and Greg’s again. Minutes were kept and a timetable of things to do laid out but after G&T, red wine and a belly full of homemade pizza it was hard to keep focused on the business at hand. I don’t know if it will recorded on the official transcript of our chit-chat…
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Gertrude Street
We stayed with Max’s friends ex-Sydneysiders, Aaron and Natasha on Gertrude Street, almost opposite Gertrude Contemporary Art Space. Upon the first floor in Studio 12, we came across Matt Griffin’s work Per Diem. I was puzzled as I hadn’t noticed that the slick, long turds formed the shape of a dollar sign. Abject and nasty,…
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Stuck in Sticky
I love this olde worlde shoppe. Thanks to the friendly staff, I made myself a tourist souvenir of my travels by entombing a ink doodle on my boarding pass under clear plastic to form a badge. It now sits on Max’s woolly New Zealand cap as a testament to his groover-slash-rock-dude status. Regressing is an…
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Modern Art makes me want to rock out!
The Guggenheim collection at the NGV. Televisions amongst indoor plants, this is why Nam June Paik is a genius! The exhibition was organised in themes which corresponded loosely with historical movements and chronological order. Some highlights included Felix Gonzalez-Torres ‘Untitled’ (Public Opinion) 1991, although unbeknown to me the pile of of lollies are in fact…
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serendipitous encounter
While interrogating the gallery minder at Gertrude Contemporary Art Space about what was good on in town [my favourite past time as a tourist]. A friendly local artist John Meade offered us a lift and directions to some galleries in the neighbourhood. We dropped into an artist-run gallery called Conical. A rather delightful exhibition of…
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you’ll love every piece of…
Today we got up at 4am and left for Melbourne! We made it just in time for some breakfast before the start of the NextWave indie-gamer conference – Free Play. We went to a divey cafe on Swanson Street to treat ourselves with greasy bacon and egg rolls and a second coffee [by that time…
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you'll love every piece of…
Today we got up at 4am and left for Melbourne! We made it just in time for some breakfast before the start of the NextWave indie-gamer conference – Free Play. We went to a divey cafe on Swanson Street to treat ourselves with greasy bacon and egg rolls and a second coffee [by that time…
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shows and tells
At the very arse-end of the opening, nothing but broken glass in the gallery and melting ice-cubes in the gutter. Some interesting photos, very sexy and glossy prints. We wondered if he had been carted off to St. Vincents but there was no blood. Possible concussion. Broken ribs. Minor scratches.
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cartolina da Venezia
“Prenez-soin de vous” : la rupture vue par Sophie Calle NOUVELOBS.COM | 09.06.2007 | 14:31 L’artiste a demandé à 107 femmes, choisies pour leur métier, de répondre à un e-mail de rupture qui lui était à la base adressé. Parmi les invitées, la sexologue Catherine Solano, la diplomate Leila Shahid ou la journaliste Florence Aubenas.…
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vaguely hungover
Today I had the double indignity of being slightly hungover and working on a beautiful Sunday , so to alleviate my blues, I decided to buy a new computer. A cumulative scale from 1-10 of hangovers. Difficulty getting out of bed. Tired and thirsty in addition to above. Ineffectiveness of caffeine units such as coffee…
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The day according to the horoscope.
I actually read my horoscope today. According to the Sydney Morning Herald’s forecast for Gemini, it was going to be a boring day where pretty much nothing happened but good conversation was set for the evening. So, I planned my day to this by spending the entire day at UTS despite my general feeling of…
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global warming means year-long beach seasons?
The weather forecast said 22 degrees and the Bureau of Meteorology reported 16 degrees in the water so we went to beach! After structuring the last two weeks of classes around the themes of “Public Transport” (particularly good for Numeracy lessons) and reading maps, I took both my classes out for an excursion to Shelly…
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sleepless
I can’t sleep. Instead of trying to kill myself I’ve decided to blog. I can’t speak, my throat is so sore.
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Flu Epidemic Kills 150
Now am I going crazy or is it every year someone is going to tell you that’s it’s the coldest winter ever? Compounded by the drab statistics that get pulled out to enliven an unremarkable weather report every so often, (The lowest recorded temperature at 7am on a 31st of July in the last five…
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I’m gonna kill you!
If I ever get some asshole sending me a DVD movie of their video when I’m authoring another compilation DVD of video art I am going to KILL THEM. That’s right. I’ve been sent DivX files, Xvid files, tiny compressed Quicktimes and even Flash files in my time but the biggest pain of all time…
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I'm gonna kill you!
If I ever get some asshole sending me a DVD movie of their video when I’m authoring another compilation DVD of video art I am going to KILL THEM. That’s right. I’ve been sent DivX files, Xvid files, tiny compressed Quicktimes and even Flash files in my time but the biggest pain of all time…
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Frog sings “Happy Birthday” in Frog
Sorry for missing your birthday barbeque [I was at work- ugh!] I hope you have a really good year and I hope to see more of you soon. Cheers, Frog and Panda
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Frog sings "Happy Birthday" in Frog
Sorry for missing your birthday barbeque [I was at work- ugh!] I hope you have a really good year and I hope to see more of you soon. Cheers, Frog and Panda
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flu again
I got a flu/cold/something again. It’s pretty bad this time around, I can feel the infection in my lungs and I’m wondering if I’ll get bronchitis again. Much to my irritation it’s been the worst today on the Bank Holiday where I had a day off. I didn’t achieve much, I recorded the dialog for…
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the semblance of a real life
I like the way writing an online journal helps me crystallize my thoughts and reflect on new insights on my life and self. Most of all I like the way it gives me the semblance of having an actual interesting, fulfilling life (of which the reality may be wanting). It’s all in the telling of…
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Birthdays can kill you.
Today has been unremarkable in every way except that I ate 4 pieces of cake (additional to lots of fizzy drinks and chips). One large slice of taro cream birthday cake. One large slice of coffee cream cake. One lemon cream cake. Another medium slice of taro cream cake. I now am staying home this…
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malade
Aujourd’hui, je suis malade. En fait j’ai une guerre de bois, j’ai mes regles et j’ai une rhume, donc je suis bien malade et je ne travail pas. C’est bien et toujours quelquechose de nouveau, de prendre un jour de maladie et sois payee quand même. J’en profite parce que, si je sois franche, je…
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sexual depravity chosen over Divine favor
Cheap Tuesday at the cinema, isn’t really that cheap anymore. In any case, it couldn’t be cheap enough to justify watching what I got roped into tonight. Amazing Grace is an overly dramatic and dreary biopic of William Wilberforce, the chap who pushed for the abolition of the slave trade through British Parliament some time…
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The beauty of metaphorical expression.
euphemisms for menstruation Top Five On the rag [old favorite]. The curse. Up on blocks. Visitations. Too wet to plow.
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this diet is not working out
Another day that resembles nothing like a fast. Milk coffee. Breakfast: Bowl of cereal [sugary kind] with soy milk. Lunch: Pho Tai and green tea. Dessert: Short black and sticky date pudding. Quatre heure: Taro ice-cream. Dinner: Spaghetti [wholemeal] with Neapolitan sauce [Italian sausage] and Parmesan cheese. 2 glasses of Grenache. Dessert: Camembert and crackers,…
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Nicest places for eating
Most frequented and cheap eats around Sydney, not in order of rank. Stock bistro, Balmain [not that cheap but delicious, great art on the walls too…haha] La Grande Bouffe, Rozelle [ditto] Pho Bac, Marrickville [going there now!] Fujiyama, Pyrmont Tomadashi, Broadway La Vera, Glebe Green Gourmet, Newtown Guzman y Gomez, Newtown East Ocean, Chinatown [just…
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Day Five
It was a disruptive day and so snacking was had. Not much to report except I ate lots of junk food. Highlights include- potato chips, cheese and spinach roll, diet cola and tinned soup.
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this is a man’s world – a painful account
Well today, I had my first pap smear. In the spirit of what I want the internet to be (a bank of peculiar and irreverent truths) I’ve decided to write about it. Let me tell you, it’s not like anything anyone tells you it is and this very account will probably differ vastly from anyone…
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this is a man's world – a painful account
Well today, I had my first pap smear. In the spirit of what I want the internet to be (a bank of peculiar and irreverent truths) I’ve decided to write about it. Let me tell you, it’s not like anything anyone tells you it is and this very account will probably differ vastly from anyone…
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le quatrième jour- toujours faim
Breakfast 1: Square of white chocolate [on the train]. Breakfast 2: 2 slices of toast [rye] with cream cheese. Coffee, a flat white with one sugar, last remaining square of dark chocolate. Morning tea: Pear [beurre]. Lunch: Vietnamese pork roll. Quatre heure: Black sticky rice [gift]. Two glasses of diet cola. Dinner: [Entree] Vietnamese spring…
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improvisation
In an attempt to remember what the hell we played. I’m going to record music practice [is their are more appropriate synonym for jam? what a cringing muso word]. Here is one with a strange disco beat. A lacklustre session but better than a kick in the head (although uncannily similar to it, for our studio neighbours).
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The third day
This morning I woke up with the realisation that there was no coffee left in the house. I had woken myself up before my alarm clock at 6.30, so it wasn’t that much of a disaster (considering I am the kind of person who can clean out the percolator and put a pot of coffee…
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guests and gifts an exception
Breakfast: Coffee Morning tea: Tin of baked beans Lunch: Two ham and cheese sandwiches [Champagne ham, cream cheese, wholemeal bread]. Flat white coffee, one sugar [half consumed]. Quatre-heure: Sponge cake and red ginseng tea. Aperitifs: Peanuts and Poc-Pan Spring Onion crackers, ginger wine with whisky. Dinner: Chicken and chorizo paella, 2 glasses of red wine. Dessert:…
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the terrible and the horrible
It’s come to my realisation that I’m getting rather portly and without wanting to be alarmist I think it is time to go on… a diet. Naturally, one needs to account for a bit of extra fat that develops at this time of year. It’s not only necessary for its insulating properties but it’s also…
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Bastille Night
Diane, Max and Axanthia My surprise guests Liam and Alex at our fête. The last time I would have seen them was in Paris and I do believe Liam was sporting his beret then too. In the background is Naz as a radical…French maid. Vive la revolution!
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vietnam versus the world of apathy
I’ve just had a long shower. The match starts in 5 minutes and I’m sitting in bed, my old t-shirt sporting a cold, wet patch that’s slowly expanding on my back from my dripping hair. I’m not going to get to see the game because, alas, it’s only being played on Foxtel. Even though I’m…
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banality hits the same plateau again
It had to be reported. Somewhere in the world right now, someone is blogging on the toilet. That’s right, pants down, on the can, unhindered by any cables thanks to a healthy wireless signal, this person (who shall remain nameless and let me tell you it is not myself) is with a laptop typing. That…
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sick, grumpy
I still have this bastard of a flu and now I’m sitting around and doing nothing in my pyjamas and a trenchcoat. I can’t go to sleep because I have a headache but I don’t want to get up and do anything. In the meantime I read Lisa Kelly’s 2002 essay, Servile Youth (which you…
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The Pitz again
Grand Fatale put on a good set with a ring-in bass player. Further ended the evening.
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beautiful bargain buy
My burst of unnecessary alliteration comes from my most recent stroke of luck. As most of my life fulfillment springs directly from one retail spree or act of capitalist consumption, I wanted to report on a most excellent bargain bin find I purchased for $2 in the Broadway Dymocks while waiting for friends. It is…
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pushing the postie
At 8 am this morning you might have seen a pair pushing a Honda CT110 through the city. That would be myself and Max on the way to Surry Hills.
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Party
We have decided to have a party to celebrate Bastille Day and the middle of winter. Unfortunately most of Sydney’s French restaurants are booked out for the Saturday evening and no dégustation menus are available for lunch leaving me to my own devices to fête this jour ferié with an out-of-date tin of foie gras,…
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Superbreed of awesome fighting fish developed in incredible living room biosphere
That’s right, despite whatever anyone says about his permanently filthy dwelling or his eerily immobile state, Jean-Paul lives on and is my longest living pet [bar the old family dog, Lily, God bless her soul and her speedy passage to a most supreme Canine Paradise that awaits her after a life of pious and faithful…
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End-of-financial-year sales inspires meditation on the transience of youth
Usually for me, it’s the change of season that triggers a heavy bout of nostalgia. The first hot days of summer at the beach or the demoralising cold mornings darkened by daylight saving, tend to make me think about the preceding years and all the way back to my childhood. However, this year in the…
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Strawberry Hills Forever
Vanessa’s Book Launch at the Camperdown Bowling Club was a resounding success. I bought my own copy and had it signed with a charming, though generic, dedication. ‘”May you have luck in Op Shops”. I drank a lukewarm ginger tea and contemplated a rather well-styled hipster, loser demographic hit the green with much gusto. I…
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the one day of the year
We were accompanied by a black stray cat, through an inner-west street to Adrian’s new home in Burwood and it was only with great reluctance that I left him at the front door. Now the odd one out in the household (having defected to the Psychology department) Adrian greeted us as his true alter-ego, Chopper…
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up still
It’s a happy, exhausting evening, working on Changi Fiction with Mister Breedon. A fine romance indeed.
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