The Obligatory Weekend Post

It is an absolutely beautiful day in Melbourne.

It's also Cup Weekend, which makes it all the better- my birthday, summer holidays, Christmas and New Years are all on the way.

Last weekend I hung out with my dad(!) and saw a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta called Patience. I enjoyed it. Good to get a bit of culture on a Saturday Night instead of the usual drinking and debauchery.*



Sunday I caught up with my old high school clique at The Beach Hotel in Albert Park. It was
awful
awfully trendy there- lots of muscles and fake tans- but still a nice Sunday-arvo-drinks thing. I'm very much 'north of the river' Melbourne so being out of my element freaked me out a little, but it was fine.

And I hung out with the boy. It's really going quite well. That's all I'm saying. I'm such a blog-tease about him.











*In truth, I don't actually drink that much. But I am a sucker for alliteration.

Twenty things about me: Part Two

I just got home from a really nice dinner with work people at Tiamo 2 in Lygon Street. Good stuff.

But I digress...

11. I really love all things cultural- books, music, film, art.

12. Politically, I am definitely left-wing.

13. I take baths, not showers.



14. I am happy in my own company and need my own space. I don't really bother with people that I don't like. I take long walks a few times a week to clear my head.

15. I used to sing. I was never great, but I was good. I regret that I haven't kept it up since high school. I'd like to get back into it in some form or another.

16. I don't consider myself particularly 'Australian'. Apparently I don't talk 'Australian' either- I often get asked where my accent is from. I'm fascinated by other cultures and sometimes feel a bit neutral having only an Australian and British background.

17. I love sex. (Did I just say that?)

18. I would say I'm cynical and somewhat pessimistic by nature. It works for me most of the time. (Although I sometimes get depressed).

19. When I was 10 or 11 my friends and I used to have sleepovers in our underwear. I can't remember the significance of this, but I do remember it was very important to wear a crop top as opposed to a singlet top, even though we were flat as ironing boards. Weird.

20. At this very moment, I am happy with my life and where I'm at. Things just seem to be falling into place somehow.

Ok, so that's me.

I tag Deb and Candice.

Go!

Oh, and one more thing:



I'm going to miss this show. Just another example of a good show that ended before its time, like Grosse Pointe or Freaks and Geeks. Sigh.

Weekend = good.

Saw this band at The Corner on Friday. They're really quite good.

The most underwhelming moment of the night, however, came when a guy proposed to his girlfriend on stage at the end of the set.

If she has, indeed, made you the 'luckiest guy in the world' by saying 'yes', do you:

a) Kiss her
b) Give her a big hug or,
c) basically ignore her and go for a stage dive/ crowd surf.

You guessed it.

Lame, lame, lame.






Saturday Night I went to a friend's birthday at Grandma Funks and later Hubcap. Hubcap wasn't really my thing (like, it's more 'club' than 'bar') but it was fine for what it was.

Sunday I worked some stuff out with the aforementioned boyfriend, who will from now on be referred to as the boy only as opposed to the boyfriend

I am feeling much better about it all now, as things were going downhill fast the way they were.


Sorry to disappoint you Deb.


I'm currently listening to Death Cab for Cutie. I really like this band. Check them out here.

Twenty things about me: Part One

Ok, so no-one 'tagged' me, but I've decided my blog is too superficial and that it needs more of 'me' in it.

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon and appropriating one of those '20 things about me' lists that I always find so interesting in other people's blogs.

So, here goes:

1. I used to eat dog biscuits when I was little. They were just.. right there... in the cupboard at kid-level. My family used to train guide dog puppies so we always had big bags of Meaty Bites. I'm now a vegetarian. Coincidence?

2. I'm full of contradictions- I can be introverted, awkward and aloof in some situations, yet loud and confident in others.

3. I've visited the following fifteen countries:

New Zealand
Bali
United Kingdom- England and Scotland
France
Andorra
Spain
Italy
Vatican City (Technically, it is a country)
Monaco (Ditto)
Greece
Austria
Germany
Liechtenstein
Switzerland
Holland

And I've lived in two:

Australia- Melbourne
United Kingdom- London

4. I was called "Martha", which is my second name, until I was 11, and when I was very little I was called "Marty".

5. I'm a cheapskate- I love op-shopping and have volunteered at a number of music festivals to get in for free.

6. I consider myself strong-minded, opinionated and independent.

7. My all-time favourite television show is Freaks and Geeks:



But I also love the Gilmore Girls:



And The Amazing Race:



8. I'm not really into sport. Until recently, I wouldn't have been able to pick Glenn McGrath from a bar of soap. When I read the newspaper, the first thing I do I discard the sport pages. The only trophy I have is from a tennis competition where I was 17 and was playing against 12 year olds.

9. I was a bridesmaid for the first time in June for this person.



I'm the one on the right.

I'm still amazed that she was old enough to get married... because we're more or less the same age.

10. I've been an extra on Neighbours. I was a schoolgirl. At the Pub I worked at in London, the regulars would often sing me the Neighbours theme song because of this fact.

Bonus fact: I'm a major procrastinator. I'll write the other ten facts tomorrow... or... whenever.

Gelati

I just had the best gelati.

Casa del Gelato in Lygon St is awesome. I had Baci flavour, with real hazelnuts, and pink grapefruit flavour. So good.

I also highly recommend the bagels at The Lygon Food Store for lunch, and Koko Black for its chocolates.

The Odd Couple

So I've made it past the first week with the boyfriend. Just.

I thought I was fine with everything, but making things "official" freaked me out.

Is it supposed to be this complicated?

What's up Tiger Lily?

Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to see my new "pet".

My Weekend Mach 2

The big event of my weekend was the Royal Crown Revue/Mad Caddies show at the Forum Theatre on Friday night. Somehow I have lived in Melbourne for almost 23 years and gone to millions of shows yet never had I ventured into the Forum Theatre. I liked the venue. It's very pretty from outside and inside it reminds me of a crappier version of The Regent Theatre in Collins Street. Visit Victoria describes it pretty well: "The Forum Theatre's exterior has an exotic design that continues as you step through the doors. Lavish moulded plaster, gold paint and reproduction casts of famous Greek and Italian sculptures line an auditorium interior topped with a soaring blue ceiling punched with stars designed to look like an open sky."

The crowd was eclectic but on the whole very well dressed. I wore black heels, fishnets with a seam up the back, a fifties-style black and green dress that I love, with a bright red bead necklace and red lipstick. Interesting combination of punters too- the two headlining bands pulling in quite different crowds- the younger Mad Caddies fans in their shorts and t-shirts and the older more-dressed-up Royal Crown Revue fans.

Both bands were fun, played well and the crowd was appreciative. Royal Crown Revue, especially, were great. If you squinted your eyes it was almost like being in Vegas, baby.

Quick weekend post

I love stuffonmycat.com Such a simple concept yet so good.

It's on!

'Better than Cheesecake' had cheesecake last night after her Swing Dancing lesson.

'Better than Cheesecake' must stop referring to herself in the third person.

No, wait, one more... 'Better than Cheesecake' has a boyfriend.

This will take some adjustment.

For example:

No longer will I have to 'grow a boyfriend'...



... as I now have a real live one.

No longer will I have to pretend that my boyfriend is Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional or Xander from Buffy:


Chris Carraba from Further Seems Forever


*Who is the perfect Emo Singer boyfriend for You?*
brought to you by Quizilla





Your boyfriend is Xander.


Who is your Buffy boyfriend?
brought to you by Quizilla

No longer can I act like this:



Or this:



As I will have to be more like this:



I'm usually single and completely comfortable in that role, so having a 'boyfriend' will take a bit of getting used to.

I said in my last post that boy-girl stuff is complicated, and it is.

However, for now at least, I think I want things to be complicated.

My weekend

Feel sick... need sleep... no wait... must crawl... to computer and... update blog...

Anyhoo, had a good and big weekend. The mountainload of study I have to do can wait until, uh, another weekend.

In brief, on Friday I volunteered at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Comedy Trivia night. I am now an expert in frying falafels, spring rolls and potato balls. Apologies to anyone who ate my first few non-expert attempts.

Saturday I had a nice dinner with some school friends (shout out to Sara!) and then went to Gimme Shelter after. Was a'ight until some chick threw up on us. I missed most of the vomit but a friend got the worst of it.

Sunday went to the Coca-Cola Live and Local free concert at Rod Laver. Pretty good for free. The coca-cola/x-box/'free stuff' promotion was pretty damn heavy though. It was good to see some local bands (The Living End, Spiderbait, Dallas Crane, p-Money, The Spazzys and The Gear) playing to such a big crowd, even in such a commercial setting.

And I'm seeing a bit of the boy. It's still all up in the air at the moment but you know, boy-girl stuff is complicated.

Night!

Your Inner Retro Girl Is

1950s Domestic Diva

What Retro Girl Are You?

Oh god, this is like the time Lisa Simpson did the careers test and got 'homemaker'.

Your Life is Like

High Fidelity

What John Cusack movie are you?

Excuse me, I'm off to call my all-time top five exes and go on a 'what does it all mean' journey.

You Are Downtown

You're a funky spirit that requires freedom to live. Your city girl persona needs adventure, diversity, and great pizza.

Are You Uptown or Downtown?

I do like Pizza.




Indie rock! You're my most favourite type of
music... Your music channels lots of emotion.
On the top it seems simple, but underneath
there's always a deep meaning... As your name
you're independent from most of music! Stay
that way! Good on you! There's so much
variation in your style...from deep and
thoughtful like The Stills, to happy go lucky
like Belle & Sebastian, to dancy and catchy
Franz Ferdinand, and back to boogie down Hot
Hot Heat and The Rapture...


What genre of rock are you?
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Well, yeah.

It's all happening

It's Friday! Four more hours of 'Welcome to [Company], this is Susanne' and I'm out of here.

I had a pretty good night last night- had a Swing Dancing lesson, got sushi, went to St Jeromes and Cherry. The Swing Dancing lessons are really fun, and since it's beginners its pretty basic 'this is your left foot, this is your right foot' kind of stuff. I liked St Jeromes too. It's another of Melbourne's go-down-this-laneway-past-the-rubbish-bins-and-you'll-find-it bars.

Also, a certain boy is back from overseas and we've caught up a couple of times this week. It's kind of cool, the two months went by very quickly and so far it seems like we'll be able to pick up where we left off. So that's all good. :)

I'm always busy these days, but I'm happy being that way. Better to have too much on than too little.

'Mysterious Skin'. Great Film. Very affecting. I'm glad it wasn't banned in Australia, as I think it's a really important piece of cinema.

No time to write today, have to go watch my fave show, 'Last Man Standing'. (Well, favourite after 'The Simple Life' of course.)

Art, Life, Travel

I'm sure Rembrandt would have been a blogger. Travelling through Europe I must have seen dozens of his self-portraits. Self-obsessed much?

Anyhoo, as you might have guessed, I saw the Dutch Masters at the NGV this weekend with my mum, along with half of Melbourne. Will definitely not leave it to the last weekend for the 'Art and the 60s' exhibition. There was some nice paintings, but I really resented having to line up to see the paintings and it being so busy. It really made me appreciate how much great Art I saw last year when I was overseas. And while some galleries/paintings such as the Mona Lisa at the Louvre were understandably packed, there was plenty of times when you could stare at a great work of art as long as you wanted, uninterrupted.

Which is a nice segway to the big news- I've made the decision to head back overseas next year after some major umming and ahhing about having no money and considering doing something more serious next year instead like, say, getting a real job.

So the plan is to head over and live and work in Scotland and Ireland for a year, with Italy and maybe Scandinavia in the middle.

Also, after a slow start, I'm starting to really enjoy the whole blogging thing. I've been checking out other people's blogs and have found a few new favourites.
I'm sure mine will get more interesting after this month when I finish uni and have more to write then 'I should be writing an assignment but I'm blogging instead'.

Thanks for those who've left comments, its great to know people are reading it. Yes, all three of you :)

Death

My family's dog, Sandy, was put down a couple of days ago.

I avoided going to the vet or being there when he was buried in the backyard, and haven't really been upset- he got very skinny and sick in the last few months and I think it was all for the best.

It is sad though. A death, even of a pet, is a phase of life finishing. We'd had him for about ten years- when we got him I was only just in High School and now I'm on the verge of finishing uni.

We got him from the RSPCA and I thought he was ugly at first, but we fattened him up and his coat got shiny. He was a Jack Russel Cross.

When you'd take him for walks, he'd decide where you went, and despite his small size would resist you pulling him in a direction that he didn't want to go so much you would have to pick him up.

He'd bite the ankles of us and of visitors.

He had a couple of near-death experiences when he was hit by a car and almost lost a leg, and more recently when he was attacked by a bigger dog. After the latter experience he had stiches all along his back and had to wear one of those round dog-helmet things as well.

In the last few months he got really skinny, quiet and slow, and was throwing up and the like.

He was a great dog.

Now we just have my cat, who is mean.

They never got along.

We'll miss him.