Esther Williams, Eat Your Heart Out

Yesterday morning I was kind of futzing around the house, pottering, messing around on the computer and generally being a slacker, when my friend Judy rang and suggested we put the day to good use and go for a drive. So, after collecting me about eleven, we headed up to the Blue Mountains to the lovely little town of Leura, about an hour and a bit drive from Sydney. Yesterday was hot, so the secondary plan was to escape the heat (although, in hindsight I don't think it was any cooler).

I really enjoy Leura, it's kind of touristy but also a bit chi chi and quaint. The main street through town has a fabulous collection of shops, with a heavy emphasis on upscale wine and food, homewares, and the sort of fabulously engaging (but thoroughly non-essential) shops that always win me over. Moontree candle shop and gallery, Elizabeth Rosa fine stationery and Ikou natural products being three that had me before I'd even stepped over their airconditioned thresholds.

After a lovely lunch at the bakehouse cafe, I window shopped like I could do it competitively for Australia, while Judy plonked down some true cash money and was given goods in return! (I love how that works.) It was a little depressing being in Retail Heaven whilst being skint, but helping someone else spend their money is definitely the next best thing.

Safely back in Sydney, I grabbed my swimming gear and headed over to my friend Mike's house for our new weekly swimming regimen. Mike has a very nice, and generally underused, swimming pool in his apartment complex, and a couple of weeks ago started inviting a small group of us over to swim laps. I'm technically a pretty good swimmer if not a strong one, so the pool is a good size for me (about 20m long we estimated). The plan is to get together once a week for lap swimming, with a goal to increase our personal baselines by at least 2 laps each session.

Synchronised naiads! Hot jazz trumpet! Colour coded handmaidens! This bitch knows how to make an entrance...

Not exactly an intensive training regime, but every little bit helps, and it's nice to do it in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. I love the water and have since I was a little nipper, and it's so nice to slip into the pool after a hot day. My natural inclination has always been to slide straight under the water, ever since I was a kid I just about spent more time swimming along the bottom of the pool than anything. However it's nice to break out the old freestyle, side stroke and backstroke. Certainly more taxing physically!

Of course it's then off to the pub for a meal and some beers, but then every elite swimming squad needs a team building exercise now and then.

Fabric Mayhem!

I have fat quarters.

If someone had said that about me only a few months ago I would have assumed they were talking about my ass, but no. No! God help me but I have started buying quilting fabric. Frankly I need another craft in my life like the world economy needs another bank closure, but The Lure Of The Fabric has suckered me in.


One way they sell quilting fabric is in roughly 50cm x 50cm cut pieces that are called Fat Quarters. My favourite fabric store was having a 25% off sale yesterday, so I swung by just for a look. (The way crack addicts seek out dealers, just to keep abreast of current pricing.) At $3.75 a piece after discount, the pretty pretty fabrics had me.


I'm thinking that I might combine the blues and greens together, with lots of white in between to break it up, into one quilt. I like modern styles of quilts like this one, this one, this one, this one and pretty much every design this woman comes up with.


And I loved these charcoal and pale grey squares! I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of a freeform 'log cabin' style quilt with lots of white, some rich greys, a touch of black, and maybe a couple of spots of bright colour like an orange, a red, or maybe a fresh spring green.

See, bitten by the bug.

5 Way Fun Things I Have Done This Week

• Rummaged, exclaimed, declaimed, come over all woozy from excitement and ultimately purchased a bunch of gorgeous things at a shop called Bollywood Braid & Trims.
  
• Forgotten all about the diet. Sorry, what diet? (Don't worry, only for part of the week and I'll be back on the path of righteousness next week.)
  
• Posted an RSVP to attend the wedding of 2 friends. And I've volunteered to do their photos. And they're getting married in full Victorian dress! OK, steampunk wedding photos... too much?
  
• Signed up for a Wardrobe Re-Fashion challenge. (More on that to come.)
  
• Enjoyed walking in the rain for a few days, got well and truly over it by day 5, and then enjoyed walking in the sunshine even more.

5 Things About Thursday 18th December, 2008: Festive Edition

• I made my first Kiva micro-loan last night. I thought it would be nice to exercise the spirit of giving a little at this time of year, and once I saw that the Peruvian dry goods owner Consuelo wanted a short term loan to buy fruitcake, wine and champagne... well, could you resist?
  
• Tall & Handsome and I braved the crowds of late night shopping tonight. Surprisingly neither of us had a meltdown, snapped at each other or pushed a small child over. We actually had a nice dinner at Wagamama at around the halfway point, which helped.
  
• I spent about $100 bucks on myself, which I hadn't planned. You know how it is, you get into that spending groove. The lights, the decorations, the carols. Next thing you know you're buying $75 of discounted knitting yarn.
  
• You know what, Merry Christmas to me!
  
• I'm just about done, giftwise. I still have a crazy list of things to do by Sunday night though. Buy just one or two more gifts. Make a cake. Go to a knitting get-together, and a couple of parties. Tall & Handsome and I are even planning a night out together at a late night leather bar. Festive!

Surprise!

Well, one thing I wasn't expecting when I arrived at work today was to have one of the secretaries come around with a festive envelope addressed to little ole me. "Sign here" she requested, so I signed and was duly handed a red envelope bearing the name of one of our larger retail conglomerates. It turns out that a couple of years ago the staff unanimously elected via a vote to forgo the torture and morning after recriminations joys of a company Christmas Party, for a Christmas gift from the company instead.

So thinking "Score, what's this $30 bucks or sumfink?" I unwrapped a $150- gift card. Nice. Usable in a whole string of stores, including a couple of department stores, KMart, Target and even a liquor store. Helll-lllo Christmas!

Not bad after 2 weeks in the job.

A One Man Economic Recovery Machine

Our Prime Minister is exhorting people to get out there and spend, spend, spend. Oh sure, he's talking to the 'pensioners' and 'families' in particular, and he's giving them a bonus to encourage them to do so, but I'm a patriotic Australian. I take the words of our Prime Minister seriously.

When they suit me.

My new work paid me my first 3 days of work a week earlier than I expected, and unexpected money always feels like a gift, right? So last Saturday I braved the heat, and proceeded to cast my largesse far and wide. Paid it forward. I bought birthday gifts. I bought myself a new shirt. (Marcs, 50% off. Nice.) I bought a new tie. I bought wine and beer for Tall & Handsome's visit this week. I bought fabric, at 25% off the already discounted price... and hello, one of them is a black and blue check destined to be a kilt, so frankly I had no willpower against it. Oh yeah, I put a new sewing machine on layby.



Squeeee. Huskystar C20. On sale. My eyes rolled back in my head when I realised there were like 8 different types of buttonholes or sumfink. EIGHT. That's probably 5 or 6 more than I'll ever need! Awesome.

By the time I was shopping for shoes, the realisation that I had a list of Christmas gifts to buy at some point, started to put some of the brakes on. And by 'brakes' of course I mean guilt.

But, oh my dears, it felt so good to be doing my bit for Australia.

Change In Mood

I was primed to write a bit of a whinetastic entry today, with complaints about too much work to do, too little support, expectations that are too high. Blah de blah. The sort of day we've all had numerous times over in our lives.

I shot this pic in a laneway on the weekend, the rear exit of Lucky's pizzeria.

Scratch that. I had a pleasant walk-and-bus-ride-combo trip home with one of the girls from work, enjoyed a short stroll through Newtown and arrived home to find a book I ordered online only about a week ago waiting for me in the letterbox. Score! Bad mood gone!

BTW, it pains me to say this because I am a big believer in supporting the local independent booksellers, but I'm a new fan of the UK online bookseller The Book Depository. The books vary in discount, but many are really cheap compared to the Australian retail price, and they airmail all orders for free. I bought 3 books the other day for the same price as I would have paid for the most expensive of the 3 in a store here, and the first of them arrived today, only about a week after I ordered. Amazing service. I'll still keep buying books locally, but for harder to find books this is a pretty cool option.

Funny how a mood can change so quickly! What I need to remind myself is that all it takes is a change of perspective, maybe a bit of distraction, and perhaps a pleasant stroll. And finding a little 'gift' in the letterbox doesn't hurt either. I'm such a pushover for a new book.

New Diversions (Or: Entertainment For The Budget Savvy Homosexualist!)

I was in Kinokuniya early this evening and noticed they had a big display of classic Penguins for $9.95. Bargain! Plus they're so titchy, and the covers are kind of thin, and the paper is kind of even thinner. In other words, a bit of a non-modern experience in this post-modern world. Sized and flexible enough for a blazer pocket. You know, should the punting on the river get tiresome.

I have an informal list in my head, the Books I Should Read Before I Die list, and it just so happened that a bunch of them were on the display. I was going to grab three, but then decided to just grab two.



Pretend for a minute you don't know me, what about me would you derive from this selection? Oscar & Truman. Here's a hint the third book, the one I put back, was by E.M. Forster. Anyone? (OK, another hint - I can't whistle either.)

Anyhoo, there is a theme, and that theme is entertainment on a budget!

I also bought two discounted DVDs yesterday. One most excellent, and one... well, nice try. The excellent one was Season 1 of a little show you may have heard of, a little show about Vince Noir (King of the Mods) and Howard Moon (the Jazz Maverick, Monsoon Moon and don't you forget it) and their adventures in the Zooniverse... called The Mighty Boosh. (Wikipedia entry.)





OMG, hi-larious. It was one of those shows I caught snippets of every now and then late at night, and heard good buzz about, but never saw a full episode of. Well I caught a full Season 3 episode on SBS the other night and knew the buzz was true. So I picked up Season 1 post haste, and wasn't disappointed.

The other DVD was a, well, earnest and well intentioned gay film called Defying Gravity. Now I will freely admit that when it comes to judging harshly, I usually give indie gay flicks a bit of a free pass. Traditionally they have been hard to get made, with low budgets, and often with a cast of actors that are just starting their careers. (Actually, according to imdb some of them had no film or tv career they are aware of after this flick. Including the supporting actor whose name I adore - Seabass Diamond.)

There were a couple of quite good performances in the film, but they just threw the weaker actors into sharp relief. Not in a good way. With a more polished script and a more experienced director (this was his only directorial effort, although he has had a full writing and editorial career) some of those gaps might have been smoothed over. So nice try and good intentions, but I won't be adding it to my list of faves (either part 1, or part 2).

You know, I still might go back and get that Forster. And maybe the Gabriel Garcia Marquez... was he a poof too?

Freebies

I did go shopping with my Borders gift voucher last night, I did not end up buying anything. Ugh. Borders was packed, there were a number of books I really wanted but they didn't have, and frankly the pressure of spending the free $50 wisely got to me. You know, when you think I should make the most of this. Just me? Ok then. I almost bought the Dexter season 2 DVD box set, but well, as much as I want to see more sexy creepy Michael C Hall there are some books that I really want. Yes, they're knitting books. Problem? Michael C Hall was pretty tempting though...



I was also considering buying a health DVD. Which sounds a bit random, but the Mayo Clinic has put out this series of DVDs about various ailments and ways to treat them through diet/yoga/exercise. Back Pain, Fibromyalgia, Weight Loss etc. I was looking at the Blood Pressure one, which frankly I could feel climbing as I tried to make a decision.

On the subject of free stuff, out of the blue the really sweet natured Arabic Christian guy I buy my coffee from some mornings gave me a free coffee this morning. Apparently he was making a note of how many I bought each week, and like one of those Buy 10 Get 1 Free coffee cards that some places use, gave me my 11th one free. Oh, and how do I know he's a Christian? Because gentle friends he has the most amazing clock on the wall of the cafe. It has a clock. It has Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And it has a psychedelic spinning disk thing that throws out rays of specialness behind them. I want to photograph it so bad, but he's so friendly and sweet natured that I would hate to offend him.

Popped Cherry

I finally took an important step in every modern knitter's journey. I just purchased some gorgeous yarn online, because I can. Not because I have a specific project that requires it, or even have a clear idea of what I might make from it, but because IT IS GORGEOUS AND IT MUST BE MINE. He, or she, who dies with the most yarn, wins.

Hand dyed superwash merino sock yarn, dyed by a wonderful Etsy seller (and www.ravelry.com buddy) called DharmaRN.

This one, Denim:



And this one, Myst:



Yummy, right? Even as we speak my money has been digitised just like Mike Teavee and is winging its way around the world to DharmaRN. Soon the yarn shall be mine, and that will be a very happy day indeed!

[All pics by DharmaRN.]

I Just Wrote My First Testimonial

For face cream.

Since my late thirties, through to my now earlyish forties, I have been plagued with problem skin. I started to develop a skin problem known as Rosacea in about 2001. What was originally a patch of dry, red, itchy and sensitive skin near my nose became a number similar patches elsewhere. It was misdiagnosed for a couple of years as exzema or dermatitis, and I was even given steroid based creams for it that I have since read only make it worse.

Great.

I'm really fair skinned, and people with my sort of colouring are prone to this condition. Eventually it can coarsen the skin and it sort of inflames and brings the red capillaries closer to the surface, making the skin red. WC Fields big red nose? Yup, that's extreme Rosacea. The other thing about Rosacea, and how I originally realised what I had, is that it's inflamed by alcohol or anything that causes you to blush. Hence the Gin Blossoms nose of WC Fields.

Anyhoo. My skin overall is now frequently quite pink and tender to the touch. Like a very, very mild case of sunburn. I have a few spots, like those near my temples, that are quite red most of the time. So, it's a pain in my ass and can dent the self esteem a bit when I'm having a bit of a breakout. Most of the time it looks ok, just like I've caught a bit of sun. I have a medicated cream for when it's bad, but I've also been looking for sensitive skin skincare that I can use as my skin is generally quite dry most of the time now.

Anyway, enough back story.

I bought a new skin cream the other day and in only about 4 days the change has been remarkable! The appearance of my skin has improved, but the change in how it feels has been incredible. It doesn't feel tender, itchy or dry any more. Now I used to be a cosmetics and fragrance buyer in retail and with that background I'm always interested in the science (or psuedoscience) of skincare. I must admit a bias towards technical fancy sounding skincare. Poly this. Co-enzyme that. Active, Pro-active, Dermo the other. Consequently I always felt like 'natural' skincare was probably less effective. Nice smelling, not harmful, but probably not doing all that much other than putting a moisture barrier on the skin.

I had however read glowing reviews of the Aussie brand [A'kin]. That the products were very rich in active ingredients, heavily researched and free of many of the nasties (ie parabens ansd sulphates) found in many other brands. So I bought a special boxed duo of their two step treatment for really dry and sensitive skins, this oil followed by this cream. The oil seems to just disappear into the skin, and then the cream goes on over. I was worried about looking greasy, because the cream is quite rich, and it does give a bit of a shine yet without looking oily. I'm a convert. I was hoping for an improvement but was astounded at how even within 24 my skin felt so much better. As I run out of my cleanser and eye cream I'm going to convert over to try the other products in this brand.

So I logged on to their contact section and wrote a testimonial. The gospel must be spread! Sorry this is such a long entry that reads like an advertorial, but seriously the change was so dramatic. If you've ever been plagued by bad skin you'll know where I'm coming from...

Random Bits (With An Emphasis On Retail Therapy)

I am now the sort of man that celebrates special events, like the new job, by splurging and buying two knitting books from the Internet.* Rock on!

After being sick and tired of my less than fabulous tv reception at home, I broke out and bought a digital set top box late last week. Folks, it's a miracle. I'm still struggling with getting one of the channels properly, the signal keeps breaking up, but aside from that everything is crisp and lovely. O joyous day! I had a moment of pause when I realised that the channel I wasn't able to get properly was Channel 7 and that meant no Sunday night Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. I think I even cried bitter, bitter tears a bit. But then the stars aligned and I was able to get passable reception long enough to watch my stories. Yay! George being pensive in high def! Izzie cried (again)!

I spent a lovely afternoon on Saturday with Mikey (the lovely ex) buying house paint for his apartment. Artisanal house paint. Not just any house paint, but the bloody Gucci of house paints, sweetie. Then of course, being who we are, there were drinks afterwards.

I've been knitting a ::blah, blah:: ::secret project:: ::blah, blah:: for a friend and I have one row left to knit before I can take it off the needles and sew it together. w00t! The first time I've followed a pattern. I was dead dog tired last night but I considered powering on regardless. Except, that my friends is when you drop stitches at a critical point and completely screw it up. [/end voice of experience]

Speaking of knitting, yesterday afternoon we had a visitor all the way from the U.K. for our pub knitting session at The Courthouse Hotel. New Zealand last week, and Scotland (via Yorkshire) this week. International Pub Knitting that should be. It's interesting because hobbies like knitting (and the same goes for photography I've discovered) are the great icebreakers. With a common interest like these there are plenty of experiences that are universal, and it's never that hard to get a conversation going.

* For those who might be interested - I bought Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann, because I secretly aspire to joing the Cult Of Zimmermann (and I want to be Brooklyntweed when I grow up). I also bought Scarf Style because there are at least 3 or 4 patterns in there I want to make.

If You Loved Me You Would Show It By Buying Me Things

I don't wear a lot of t-shirts (I'm normally a polo sort of guy) but I absolutely must have this t-shirt. Oh crap, no wait, this one. OMG.

So. Awesome.

[Link via Freakgirl.]

Weekend Recap - The Extended Mix

This weekend was so fabulously fabulous that there is just too much to contain in one, or even two, posts! (Expect lots of adjectives.)

I've already filled you in about the early Saturday morning making of the world's campest cupcakes. Then I've tantalised with a few glimpses of Nat's cocktail soiree on Saturday afternoon. But in my eagerness to show you all the pretty pictures I'm already leaping ahead of myself.

We begin our tale on a Friday eve, a Friday eve like any other. Like any other that is that involves meeting up with Graeme and James, drinking lots of beer, watching drag shows at The Imperial Hotel and developing a spontaneous synchronised seated dance routine to "Blame It On The Boogie" by The Jackson Five. I guess you had to be there, because it all made perfect sense at the time.

(James's has posted about the evening also.)

Saturday I've kind of covered to a point. I only had about 4 hours of sleep, thanks to a roughly 3am home time Friday night and my crap ability to sleep in. I spent some of the late morning trying desperately to pass the 4 hour point, but to no avail. Surprisingly I wasn't too hung over, despite drinking for Australia the previous night.

After the cupcake making and the later afternoon cocktail soiree, Mikey (the lovely ex) and I headed off to the farewell party for Spyder & Gordon. It was a fantastic evening, and very enjoyable even though it was so thoroughly tinged with sadness at saying au revoir les enfants to good friends. (The Cristal champagne helped ride the rough spots. Anyway, who can be sad when there's Hello Kitty around?) Lots of our extended circle of friends were there, and it was great to catch up and share some laughs with folks I hadn't seen for a while. It was one of those parties where you spend 90% of your time in the kitchen chatting, so mush so that at one point some of the boys dragged the sofa in for us. Likewise, it all made perfect sense at the time.

Despite getting home at 2am I was up bright and early Sunday morning. (Seriously, I need to stop blogging about my crap sleep patterns. Like for realz.) So I figured I'd put the time to good use and go and have the underwear shopping spree I had planned, and I headed into the Broadway Shopping Centre.

I decided to swing by and see what was on at the cinemas because I had been meaning to see The History Boys for weeks. (More info about the film on imdb.) As it turns out it was down to one session a day, due to start in 10 minutes. Oh man, I loved it. It probably deserves a post of its own, but suffice to say I am Posner, except for the beautiful singing voice. (Not that I let that stop me from singing Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered all the way home.)

Post movie the underwear shopping was completed at Target, and my favourites were even on sale. Thank you Universe! I had a bit of a wander around the shopping centre, then strolled home to collect my things in time to go to Sunday arvo pub knitting. Yet more beer. Yet more laughs. It was a really great afternoon of chatting and knitting with a great set of people.

Thank you for your patience, that now brings us to Sunday evening where the usual Sunday evening tv viewing (Ugly Betty & Grey's) rounds out our weekend experience. Phew. Give yourselves a round of applause for staying the distance.

And you?

[Observant readers will notice something lacking from this recap. Yes, the planned booty call did not happen on account of a scheduling conflict. BOO! Anyway, frankly I don't know where I would have found the time. Make this quick, the meter's running.]

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

This week can kiss my sorry ass. As I mentioned already, I've been training my replacements here at work and it has made for a long, busy and yet rather startlingly unproductive week. Looking back over this blog this week it feels to me a little uninspired, a bit rushed and, well, serviceable but far from thrilling. It's had it's moments, but on balance I judge it and find it wanting.

(I'm not shilling for compliments, because your mileage may vary and you may be worshipping the ground I blog upon as we speak, but it feel to me like it's been a bit lacking in spark.)

Anyhoo. Sticking with a theme, this weekend is going to be a busy one, only a lot more funner than the week that preceded it.

My To Do List.

• Make cupcakes.
  

• Attend cocktail party.
  
• Attend farewell party for dear friend moving to Melbourne (take along said cupcakes, and a jumbo box of tissues).
  
• Underwear buying spree.
  
• Booty call! (Finally, thank the heavens.)
  
• Sunday afternoon pub knitting, with beer.

I may well be kicking it off with some recreational beverages tonight, if I can reach my buddies James and Graeme.

Have a great weekend eveyone!

Green Clean?

One of the things on my To Do list for this weekend is to clean my grubby, grubby house. Ok, to be fair to me it's not that bad, but a few weeks worth of busy weekends have left it untouched for a while now. More than a few weekends really. It's tough for me to get motivated during the working week, in part because I spend a couple of hours each day in a to and from commute. The last thing I feel like doing when I get home is scrubbing the shower alcove. Or the toilet. Or vacuuming. Or dusting...

Anyhoo. I have a guilty secret. I love industrial grade chemicals when it comes to cleaning. I've tried to pretend I don't, but there's a lot to be said for thoroughness. I know, I know. I'm trying to mend the error of my ways, really I am. When I get to the end of the various toxic potions and lotions I've been using I'm going to investigate some less environmentally damaging alternatives. They can get things clean, right? Even though they leave you with all your nasal hairs intact, and don't require a welder's mask?

At lunchtime today I did of bit Google goggling and I discovered a couple of slick looking local suppliers of low impact cleaning products, Todae and Neco. My, my, but eco friendly has come a long way from its hippy origins. No muesli, patchouli and saggy boobs here (although one of them does sell masseur sandals). Todae even has a retail store just a few suburbs over from me, so it's like it's forcing me to get all green and stuff. I like to shop the old fashioned way. Finger the merch. Fork over cash money.

Maybe it's me that's no so far from my hippy origins.

[Updated - 25th May, 2007: I am clearly PSYCHIC because when I arrived home last night my flatmate had done housework! I was greeted by the aroma of lemon scented Mr Sheen! O happy, happy day.]