Tuesday Tales

Tuesday 31 Jan 2012 - Today was my friend Hellina's last day at work in our company. I will miss seeing her every day, but we have agreed to have lunch once a fortnight or so. Hopefully this will happen so we get to stay in touch.

Tonight I spoke to Mum & Dad, my sister Donna and my brother Sean. All the family in one night's worth of calls - this doesn't happen too often, because I usually ramble on a bit, which takes a while, so it was good to catch up on their lives.

I went okay with Day 1 of my new 30 Day Challenge, not to swear (too much). I caught myself a couple of times, but practice will make perfect, I'm sure!

As there is obviously not much going on today, I looked up some "getting to know you questions" on www.humorthatworks.com and will attempt to answer 10 of the "favourites" questions they list:

1. What was your favorite food when you were a child? Hot chips - not much has changed
2. What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod? #1 album played is Arcade Fire - The Suburbs 
3. What is one of your favorite quotes? "Don't lose your faith to your lost naivete, weather the storm and don't look back on last November, when your banners were burning down" - Green Day
4. What’s your favorite indoor/outdoor activity? Watching TV
5. What chore do you absolutely hate doing? Cleaning
6. What is your favorite form of exercise? Zumba
7. What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year? Month of May 
8. What’s your least favorite mode of transportation? Motorbikes 
9. What is your favorite body part? Mouth
10. What sound do you love? Magpies singing

Day 30 - Same, Same But Different

Monday 30 Jan 2012 - today is the last day of my 30 Day Challenge, to take a photo every day. Tomorrow, I am going to start a new 30 Day Challenge. I am going to try not to swear for 30 days. Let's see how the first day goes - wish me luck! Not that I'm a complete pottymouth, but it can only be a good thing to cut down on the cussin' and try to be a bit more ladylike and civil in my thoughts and words.

I reckon everyone can do a 30 Day Challenge to add a new good habit, or try to get rid of a bad habit. See the attachment that my brother first showed me, a talk from the site, www.TED.com, which motivated me to get started.

Matt Cutts - Try Something New For 30 Days.  "If you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days" http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html

My last daily photo is what I would call - Same, Same, But Different.

Day 30 - my new haircut and the look I was going for (and also trying for the same model pose)

Ha - you can hardly tell the difference, right?

My hair is never blonder or straighter than when I have paid a visit to my adorable hairdresser, Courtney. She is amazing. Unfortunately, the style goes slowly downhill from the first wash onwards... My hair currently feels lovely and smooth when I run my  hand over it, which makes me smile. Simple things in life.  

More good news - I just found out my favourite show, Bondi Rescue, is back on Channel 10 from next Monday. Simple things in life!

Day 29 Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Sunday 29 Jan 2012 - After going out for a coffee and the Sunday paper, grocery shopping and winning $7 on a Crossword Scratchie, this is what my Sunday afternoon consisted of.

Day 29 Photo - a new TV series on DVD, coffee, a custard scroll and my lounge

My achievements today have been watching 3 episodes of Justified (starring a very cool, charming and handsome Timothy Olyphant) and the first episode of the first season of Sons Of Anarchy. Both show promise. Tonight on ABC2, I plan on watching Zen which stars Rufus Sewell - another good piece of eye candy. Love my TV - could you guess?

Sitting Around Saturday

Saturday 28 Jan 2012 - Today was made for sitting on the lounge watching The Big Bang Theory and having a nap in the middle of the day. Which is coincidentally what I did, while it was raining and nice and cool all day.

I am Catholic. It's not too fashionable these days, but so be it. I like the feeling of peace and calm when I am in a church. I like the rites and rituals at mass - it's all a comfort to me, and like my own version of meditation. I like to think someone is watching out for me in my life. Being a work in progress, I am not the best Christian, but am trying to be better.

Anyway, just a brief reason for my Day 28 photo - St Columba's church. So pretty.

Day 27 - Flat Friday

Friday 27 Jan 2012 - Today I feel fairly... meh. Could be a culmination, or combination of: the weather, a friend's tragedy, being up since 5:30am today, maybe the arrogant a-hole driver that made me reverse on a one lane street so he could get through (such a big man in his little light blue Daihatsu Charade, flashing his lights and waving me back), or feeling a bit left out this afternoon. In summary, I can't really be bothered thinking of stuff to write tonight.

So I looked up some poetry (yes, online!), and came to a website called poetryoflife.com. I am just going to quote part of a poem called Some Days by a clever poet named Praveen (no need to be concerned, I'm just having a Flat Friday, and this struck a chord):

Some days I think I am fine

Some days I think I have a problem

Some days I am strong

Some days I am weak

Some days I am closer to truth

Some days it seems far far away

Some days I think I understand

Some days I am just lost

Some days I have a feeling

one day everything

will be alright

and that day

is closer than ever.



Day 27 photo taken on Paper Camera app in Con Tours mode - sums it up

Australia Day Thursday

Thursday 26 Jan 2012 - Today is Australia Day. My favourite thing to do on this day every year is to listen to the Triple J Hottest 100.

Back on Day 16, I voted for my top 10, and only 5 of my 10 songs appeared in the top 100, at numbers 97, 81, 56, 16 and 2. There were over 1.3 million votes this year.

Songs I liked in the Top 20:

20 Bluejuice - Act Your Age
17 Seeker Lover Keeper - Even Though I'm a Woman (BRILLIANT song, please listen to it, it is just gorgeous) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qeLI_6t6ds&ob=av2n
16 Grouplove - Tongue Tied
15 Foster The People - Helena Beat
11 Calvin Harris - Feel So Close
9 The Jezabels - Endless Summer
7 San Cisco - Awkward
3 Matt Corby - Brother (isn't he the little guy from Australian Idol a few years ago? Good tune anyway)
2 The Black Keys - Lonely Boy (yahoo!! my fave)

9 songs I really liked out of the top 20 - I'm still hanging in there hmm?

Number 1 was a totally expected and dull (in my opinion, but not nearly as bad as last year's Angus & Julia Stone snoozefest) Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know. I liked it for a while, but as usual, mainstream radio got a hold of it and overplayed it big time, so now I am a bit over it. Good on the Aussie though, to get to Number 1. And his real name is Wally, a true blue Aussie name if ever there was one. Good for him.

My big discovery was the Seeker Lover Keeper song. It is wonderful - Sarah Blasko is one of the 3 girls in this band, and I always love listening to her voice, whatever she sings.

Boy & Bear and The Wombats had 3 & 4 songs respectively in the Hottest 100. I have never warmed to Boy & Bear, I think they are fairly d-ull, although they had a song in the top 10 which had a bit of beat to it! The Wombats are okay, and obviously "the kids" love them.

Well that's it for another year, and that's my day over!  

Day 26 photo - a view of Brisbane city in the distance, from the top of Jessop St Windsor.

A slightly ominous sky and a way too large skyscraper standing out - that's the city I live and work in at this point in time. It's not too bad  =)

Day 25 - Weary on Wednesday

Wednesday 25 Jan 2012 - I was really tired this morning, after getting to bed at 12:40am and up again at 6:30am. I'm not as used to going out on school/work nights as I once was! But - a big Queen Bean coffee at work fixed that situation for a while. I had lunch with Debbie, and the rain slowed down during the day. Eventful, I know.

Today I booked flights to Newcastle in May for another girls' weekend away. I'll be going with a different group than my New Year adventure, but still great gals, most of whom I used to work with. So, we are going to the Lovedale Long Lunch at the Hunter Valley, put on by the wineries in the Lovedale area. Lots of choices for lunch, dessert and wine tastings. Lovely! Here is the link if anyone wants to find out more about it. Apparently it's quite a well-known annual event.

http://www.lovedalelonglunch.com.au/

I think before and after Canberra in March and the Hunter in May, I might have to lay low for a while and say no to some things. Because, much as I love having Something To Look Forward To, my credit card statement is not something I look forward to. At all. But like my friend Kylie (the organiser) said - you only live once. And I am determined to enjoy myself more this year. It's just a pity that so many good things cost money. These trips will be totally worth it though!

Day 25 Photo - a few of my favourite things OR a few pictures of one of my favourite things. Taken on Andy Pop mode on, yes, my Paper Camera phone app

I am currently eating the content of the picture as I create today's exciting post. Makes it so much more enjoyable a task.