Coming out of Hibernation (10.08.08)

After being sick with the IBRO virus and being home ridden for a week...I was totally ready to come out of hibernation :P so I did! I had all this energy just slowly building up inside of me over the week (sorry to everyone at work that had to put up with my hypo-ness), so when MallyMoodle told me about Lydia's going away drinks with free champagne, I said "yes mam"!

Well...Friday morning actually started off disastrously. I had told MallyMoodle that I would dress up for going to Charlie's bar...however, after a late Thursday night I literally woke up at 8:00am after snoozing for like 30mins...so there was no chance in hell that I was going to figure out what I was going to wear let alone pack anything. So I chucked on my jeans and my T and was out the door running to the station in 10mins. The best I could do was wear my Mollini pumps....so much for dressing up (lol)! I swear by 5pm on Friday I was feeling so disgusting coz I had worn this same T for 2 days already, I guess I pretty much felt like a bloke (lol).

Anyhoo....after work we met up with Ginger and headed to Charlie's Bar in Hardware lane and went for the free Champas, it was a nice little bar downstairs and MallyMoodle's mates were nice to chat to, so it was a good start to the night!


After a couple of hours the crowd started to disappear and there was no more free champagne so we decided to head to The Order of Melbourne. It worked out quite well coz it was around 9pm & Davo had just finished work thus he came and picked us up. Yay! free ride..thanx Davo! As Ginger, me, Bec & Ebony walked out towards Lonsdale St...I heard some people yelling out my name...naturally I turned around...and there was Mukie, Michelle and their mates sitting down having a drink. By this time I was quite happy as I'd had about 4 champagnes and the bubbles had started to get to my head....so I said hi with all my enthusiasm before moving on. It was so funny when we got into Davo's car. First of all he didn't realize that there was 4 of us....thus the state of his backseats were...hm...lets just say appalling as usual! After shoving everything on to the floor we were off. It's such a small world...and it just keeps getting smaller! Bec and Ebony found out that Davo is a fellow Dendenong resident and in their semi drunken state....they got really excited (especially Bec)...and started blurting out names of schools, streets and friends to see how connected they are (sorry Davo if you got freaked out)!

Some of you may already know this, but in the last month or so...I started to really get into my wines...especially the lighter reds. However, my nights out still consisted of beers, shots and spirits as they are what I've been drinking for years, so I guess in a way I know how to pace myself better with these drinks. This all changed on Friday night....I decided that I was going to get out of my comfort zone...and just go for the reds after all the champagne. Wrong decision! I expected the reds to have a similar effect on me as the beers and the other usual drinks that I normally have. But I was wrong...dead wrong! One lesson I have learnt from Friday night is that...red wine kinda has a much more "delayed" effect on me compared to the other drinks. Instead of going through the scale of being happy tipsy...slightly drunk...then to the point where I can tell that I should stop (otherwise I'll be sick)....It was literally...like being happy tipsy...then the next thing I know I'm chucking up in the toilets with a really heavy head and being really sleepy. The funny thing is...I think I only had two glasses of the Platypus Pinot Noir (man this wine was really good) before it all hit me later. I mean the fact that I had no dinner may have contributed but still...I was expecting a more gradual effect. So much for "not going to have a huge night coz I'm suppose to have a massive one Sat night for Liz's 23rd".....I got completely trashed @ The Order (Shame on me)! Here are some pics from The Order when I was still conscious before the evil red wine took over:



After being totally looked after by PowPow and Ginger (thanx I luv you guys)...we eventually made it home...and apparently I even chucked a little when I got home...and Mum saw...lets just say she was NOT impressed. Ginger gave me the lo-down Sat morning while I was trying to get over my mini hang over before taking mum to the airport...coz I couldn't remember bits of the night. Apparently, after I was sick...I got all really apologetic & embarrassed coz work people were there, and was saying sorry to everyone (soz to all that had to see the ugly scene). I also looked through some of Ginger's photos...and there were a couple that I had no recollection of...eg.there was one of me and Davo...and it looked like we were dancing...so I was like "I don't remember this shot"...and Ginger was like "oh yeah...that was funny, you guys weren't dancing...Davo had to hold you up..."...hahahah.....and PowPow decided to totally take advantage of me while I was semi-unconscious and took all these shocking photos of me being sick in the toilet (aarggghhhh...):




Well, what can I say...I guess all I can do is laugh! It was hell of a way to come out of hibernation ;P


For rest of the pics from Charlie's Bar & The order of Melbourne please visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dancinghula/CharlieSBarTheOrderOfMelbourne100807

Wow! Mum turned 50 (5.08.07)!!

I've never thought that I was the perfect daughter...and this incident just confirms how bad i really am. Of course I know what day and month my parents' are born, however....what I don't know is the YEAR.

So every year for our birthdays we rock up to Nana and Ferdy's place for a nice family get together. Sticking to the tradition we all rock up to their place sat night for Mum's birthday (which is actually on Sunday). we were chatting and kissing hellos when Ferdy said that he should crack open the champas. In my head i was thinking "champas??? but why...we don't normally drink when we come over...hm......" Ginger and I looked at each other in utter confusion. Then Nana says to mum "we thought we'd get some champagne coz its a special one this time that you are turning 50!" "OMG!!!!...CRAPPOLA!!!" is what went through my head. There we were, Ginger and I are staring at each other wide eyed both thinking....S*#T...what? she's 50?! Although presents are unusual for birthdays in my family (coz it's just not something we do).....turning 50 definitely qualifies for something special! So Ginger and I both knew that Sunday morning was time for a bit of damage control (lol)!

After our initial freak out session we eventually calmed down and got on with the feasting. There were lots of finger food (bad idea to have eaten so much dinner be4 we rocked up)....asparagus rolls, smoked oysters on crackers, salmon dip, almond fingers...heaps of assorted sweet biscuits and a Monte Carlo cake (chocolate cookie base with chocolate & coffee moose) from Laurent! No need to say we all stuffed our selves!

Sunday morning came, damage control time it is. Ginger and I got a bunch of really pretty pink roses to start off with (for mum's new pink vase that she got from Nana & Ferdy), we made a pile of buckwheat pancakes with vanilla ice-cream and lotsa blueberries for her brunch! Then to top it all off Ginger and I took everyone to Plume restaurant for dinner. We went all out with Peking duck and heaps of other dishes...& bottle of mum's favorite sparkling red: Chandon's Pinot Shiraz..........yes again...lots of food...really good food.......yum! So I think mum quite enjoyed her self which was the important thing...and everyone else certainly enjoyed it! Then, mum requested that we all watch Gone with the wind with her...so we did! So it was a last minute success story (phew.....)!

Justin Theroux

So I admit that I do enjoy my share of "eye candys" as MallyMoodle will know coz we did have a mini "perving" session of sports stars in the microscope room, caught red handed by Jason (lol)! Being totally home bound with the infamous IBRO virus, I switched into complete couch potato mode with my hot teas and little red blanket watching cable TV. I just finished watching "The Legend of Lucy Keyes" and couldn't help but really liking the male lead actor. He's not exactly the hottest thing...but there was just this aurora or mystic about him that really catches my attention. So Justin Theroux it is....I know...I know.....he's like 37 or something...but at least he's manly and I like my brown heads :P
While I was watching the movie....i was like...man...he looks so familiar...then it hit me...haha...he was evil Shamus in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle! Looking up his filmography had me impressed....he had been in all these movies that I had seen but had I had no recollection of him in any of them....makes me want to go back and watch them all again just so i can look out for him...some of these include: Miami Vice, Six Feet Under: Season 04, Duplex, Mulholland Drive, American Psycho and Romy & Michele's High School Reunion. Anyhooo.....hm....I like him :P

I've finally simsponized myself!

I know it's been a long time since MallyMoodle told me about this site where you can Simpsonize yourself. Due to my sickness I finally had the time to get around doing it! YAY! It's fun! Check it out guys: http://simpsonizeme.com/

OMG...I've got the IBRO virus (1.08.07)

Man...so i rocked up to work yesterday with a bit of a sore throat and a sore body (which i just assumed was a result of my stacks up at the snow.....even though now I look back and I was more sore yesterday than I was on Monday which was weird...) but i didn't think much of it...coz it's happened a couple of times but I've always been able to fight it off no problems. However, as the day progressed.....this throat thing got a lot worse and the aching got really bad...almost like I was hyperalgesic....every surface of my body was aching...even areas that had nothing to do with my falls. Not soon after, my head starts throbbing like hell....and this all happened between 9am-2:30pm....talk about a fast moving virus.

So Colin gave the green light to go home early as I had finished my tissue processing anywayz.....and all I had to do was hang around for the ACB book launch event. As I started making my way home....everything just went down hill. Sitting there on the train I felt like I was in hell....the ride took like hours instead 20 mins....so that's what it felt like! I got home by 3:30pm and basically headed straight upstairs and collapsed into bed. I was in bed from 3:30pm till 9pm...being semi-delirious, drifting in and out of sleep while being really sore everywhere and getting cold and hot flushes. I got up at 9pm thinking that I'd be alright....and headed downstairs to get some food.....nope...i was wrong...got downstairs and my head was spinning like crazy and my legs were giving way. Had to sit down straight away coz I felt like I was going to faint. Mum cooked me some congee (thanx mum!) so i basically just drank that coz it was too painful and took too much energy having to chew (was painful enough swallowing) then headed straight up to bed again...back to my hallucination state in bed till this morning.

Woke up feeling a lot better in comparison to last night...but still sick. At least the body aches have mostly gone except in the neck and my head. Actually have energy to walk around without feeling light headed. I can't remember the last time I felt that sick....and was bed ridden....think it was like in yr 8 when i used to get migraines. From the information that I got from Markdot (who had just gotten over her IBRO virus) our symptoms seem very similar....however, she was out for nearly a week....and I'm already feeling better now (although this may just be all relative compared to last night which was HELL!)....so don't know if it's the same thing, maybe a related strain. Anyhoo...lets just hope I'm on the road to recovery! At least one good thing that has come out of this sickness....is that it allowed me to take a day off today from work...and after spending the whole morning in bed.....I couldn't take it anymore...so got my laptop and updated my blog...as you can probably see...hehe...oh, and i also finally fininshed knitting my scarf that i started at the beginning of the year!

YAY snowboarding @ Mt. Buller (29.07.07)

So after sitting around on my ass for a couple of hours after dinner on Sat. night I finally realized "holy crap! we are suppose to be on the road to Mt. Buller by 4:30am and it's already 11:30pm and I haven't even found any of my gear or made any food". So Ginger & I get our acts together and made sandwiches and packed our gear. By the time we got to bed we had lets say... 3hrs of sleep before we had to get up and go. But we were so excited about the trip we weren't even that sleepy! Johnny picked us up (after waiting for us to get ready, sorry dude!) and then picked up PowPow before heading towards Mt. Buller. Thanx to Johnny's crazy ass driving, speeding along the windy Melba Hwy (which by the way scared me and PowPow shit-less) we made it to Mansfield in a record breaking time of 2.5hrs. We grabbed breakie and did our hiring which as usual took forever! But it was all worth it coz i actually got really nice fitting boots and a kick ass board! So we made our way up the mountain (again with johnny's crazy ass driving where one point in time he over took a freaking bus on the windy road up the mountain....and yes again...PowPow and I were shitting ourselves)!
So we make it up the mountain alive and got our lift tix and made it to the 10 0'clock lesson. The lesson was such a waste of time.....coz we were in a massive group, and even though it was suppose to be an intermediate lesson...there were a couple of people in our group that should've been in the beginner's class.....so they totally dragged the rest of the class behind... I think I spent more time sitting on my ass in the snow waiting for them then actually boarding. What really took me by surprise was that I'd actually remember how to link turns quite well and could pick it up straight away. I had never been able to do this first off when i used to go up to the snow previously. This was kool coz it meant that i started carving pretty much straight away, instead of traversing for half a day before hand...like i used to! The weather was beautiful when we got there...not like last time I was up at Buller in blizzard conditions (that was horrible)! It was sunny, no wind factor and there was lotsa snow! We spent most of our time around blue bullet 1 & 2 coz PowPow was a first timer while Johnny and Ginger were kinda beginners. However, after lunch I manage to convince PowPow to come and do the Wombat and Little Buller Spur runs with me...coz for a beginner he was doing bloody awesome...i think he's skate boarding history really helped him out! Unfortunately, by the time we got over that side of the mountain....it started to get incredibly foggy so we were snowboarding pretty much blind. I was quite proud of myself coz I hadn't really stacked at all when I was on the Blue Bullet runs in the morning....however, this all changed after we were boarding in blinding conditions at Wombat....I did 2 major stacks at a really steep part of the run so that was really really painful (ouchy)! It really got to my wrists and my left bum (lol), and worst of all I started cramping in the arch of my left foot while I was in the middle of the run way and had to stop and take my foot out so I could stretch it out....by the time I was all good...PowPow decided that he had cramps too....so we were like taking up the middle of the run way at wombat not being able to move...hahah.....but it was all good we eventually made it! So we went back to Blue Bullet to meet up with Ginger and Johnny and boarded with them for a little bit. Then I managed to convince all of them to go over to Wombat again....coz it's so much more fun and a bigger challenge....and by this time the fog had started to clear up and you could see an amazing view at the top of blue bullet 2. Sadly by the time we lifted up there...it was already 4:30pm and they had already closed all the runs but blue bullet :( So we all did stacks on PowPow when he tried in vain to make a snow angel, then just finished the day off with a last run where we all boarded down together as fast as we could! It was a awesome day! Best trip ever :)


For rest of Mt. Buller Pics visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dancinghula/MtBuller290707

The Green Refectory & The Amazing Human Body (28.07.07)

So after dancing the night away at Seven nightclub and getting 5hrs of sleep, I got up and was surprisingly quite awake for the day ahead of celebrating Kazza's be-lated birthday. So I picked Kazza up and we were on our way to The Green Refectory for brunch and to meet up with the rest of the crew! Unfortunately The Green Refectory doesn't take bookings for Saturdays so Kazza and I rocked up wishing for the best. As we expected, there was no room for 6, so we had wait for a table. It actually turned out really well, coz everyone else was late...so we just sat down in the corner and grabbed coffees and had our little catch up session first. By the time people started to turn up...the big table in the back also became available so it was all sweet.

The Green refectory is definitely one of my favourite cafes if not my favourite! It's a modest little joint with no street signage (except for the Illy coffee sign). It's famous for its irregularly shaped home made muffins and for its gourmet salads (e.g. tangy couscous salad with pumpkin, snow peas and heaps of mint). It has a great all-day breakfast menu with highlights consisting of banana and caramel pancakes, a breakfast burrito and the impressively compiled 'brekkie stack': a potato fritter topped with grilled tomatoes, basil, bacon, grilled haloumi, spinach, house made relish and a poached egg! They are also famous for their fine quality Illy coffee and a wide array of house made baked goods and desserts, from old-fashioned sponges to fresh muffins and forest cakes!

So after our meals we were too full for sweets, so we decided to go to the Amazing Human Body exhibition first, then come back for dessert later (yep, this is how much we luv the place, enough to go twice in a day)! The goys couldn't come to the exhibition so I dropped them off at uni and then Kazza, SeBear and I made our way down to the docklands.

The exhibition featured more than 400 anatomical specimens along with 18 whole body specimens and also transparent vertical and horizontal slices that are preserved through a revolutionary technique called Plastination (where body fluids are replaced by special plastics). I thought that some of the whole body poses were done really well with different layers of the body peeled back and exposed. However, I disagree with the fact that they were "aesthetically posed"! It was somewhat gimmicky and corny the way they would pose the bodies playing chess, or on bicycles. It just didn't feel quite right. Even though it was probably done to engage the general public more, I thought it was kind of disrespectful to the deceased. It was super duper that SeBear was with us with all her anatomical knowledge! She was our walking audio guide (thanx SeBear...you ROCK)! Although I quite liked the exhibition, I think i would've enjoyed and appreciate it way more, if I had been an anatomy student or had more prior knowledge.
When we left the exhibition, we saw a team of ice sculptors at the docklands carving a dragon which was super kool....(Kazza! I have to get the photos of you)! Anywhoo....we eventually headed back to the green refractory where we got desserts. I got the rhubarb cheese cake, SeBear got the lumberjack's cake and Kazza got a special croissant swirl. YUM! It was such a good day. So we all headed home by 6pm which was good, coz i had to prepare for going up to Mt. Buller the next day :)


For more photos from the green refractory visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dancinghula/TheGreenRefectory280707