round up.

right so, alot has happened since i last posted.

dory has come and gone with all her many crude jokes, snotty tissues, harrang brownies and serious looks. i guess i had forgotten exactly how much i missed her. before she arrived i guess i was basically nervous. nervous that we might not get along the same way, that we had both changed alot in the year or so that had passed. but it was exactly like old times! sure she had changed - but not reeeally. they were all things that were a part of her before she left but had been given the space to come to the surface. ..and well i guess a little bit of london had rubbed off on her.
so the week while she was here was spent with many nice dinners, breakies, and cups of tea; whinging, listening and giggles. it was really nice. i got to hear all about her life in london which put me much more at ease - i didnt realise it but i guess i was taking on the protective friend role; it was like london was the boyfriend that i hadnt yet met and wasnt really sure if i could trust him. but now i can see that he is making my dory happy. hoooray!

last weekend was spent in tassie. my whole fam went down for my grandma's b'day and also to basically spend time with my grandparents. it has often been noted the sort-of critical mass that can occur when there is two or more members of my family located in any one situation - can you imagine what is like with a dozen of us?? my family is truly nuts!! nuts i tells ya. needless to say i found the weekend most distressing and much unlike a holiday! ..i suspect the reason i had such a lovely time last year had little to do with tassie or my fam and much to do with the fact that i spent most of my time with very fun friends. oh well.
one of the saddest things about it all was the awareness that everyone had about my grandparents' mortality. even them! i was expected to essentially say goodbye to them - but i dont even know where to start - it's not like i have a close relationship with them anyway, they were always the disapproving conservative oldies that no matter what you did would frown. it was all waaay too confronting for me. even without all the other family politics that came along with it.

..while i'm a on whinging note: i flew back before sun rise on monday morning with only 3 hours sleep. i was shitty shitty!! but when i realised i was sitting next to a teenage mum with her mum -and her ugly screaming baby- i wanted to slit my wrists. what is it about babies on flights?? they fucking suck!! especially when they are loaded up with chocolate, coke and chips at 6am. i reckon there should be cry baby flights like there are cry baby sessions at the cinema.

this weekend Smoothy and i are heading down to geelong for some mates party and a looksie around the area. the sun is shining so i'm hoping for some outdoor type activities. i'm guessing he's keen on some riding - we'll see how we go.

here's my map

i'm in tassie. here's my map

broke back mountain

watched brokeback mountain for the first time last nite. it was sad. not only due to the unrequited love thang but also with all the homophobic related violence. heath ledger did an excellent job with his tight lipped stuff. and i found all the old fashioned, ranch living, cowoboy stuff abit interesting - it's like a whole other culture.

i also understood why it recieved so much controversy. it's not only a film about boys that love each other which is pretty unusual for mainstream media. but the first 30mins was REALLY full on! i thought there'd just a be abit of head and some kissing but nah uh! yikes.

once upon a time continued..

we last left our heroine in a state of confusion in regards to the operation of a bike. in her desperation to impress said boy she became far more determined to not fall over and land in some bushes ..or hurt herself in other places.

the girl knew that if she could only stay on the bike without stopping (or going around any tight corners) then the boy wouldn't be as embarrassed to go riding with her. but eventually she figured out how to push off by pushing on one pedal whilst using this force to hoist herself up onto the seat. this prevented many mishaps ..and the boy didnt get that crinkle in his forehead quite so often. but the girl didn't want to be riding forever - she needed to learn how to stop.
as it turns out; bike riding (like ice skating) is much like balboa. "how?" you ask?
a) none of them came naturally to the girl,
b) none of them would make good busking activities,
c) all of them required careful weight changes.
as it turns out; the pedals seem to provide some kind of stepping stone for getting in and out of the seat. this can be done during a cycle or when the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke. "that's obvious!" you might say? ..and you'd be absolutely right!

so the girl learned how to ride a bike (sort of) and didnt get nice smooth arms (not her own anyway) and is still pretty uncoordinated. the end.

Mexican Feast

Smoothy and i made kick-ass mexican food last nite. very enjoyable.
a lovely rich chilli con carne - fairly simple of: tomatoe, mince, mushroom, garlic, onion, cumin, ground corriander, red capsicum, fresh corriander and a smidgeon of chilli. we forgot to put the beans in - but it still rocked!
i also finally made the mexican spiced rice that you get in restaurants. i searched recipesource.com and decided which flavours should be in it and chucked it all together. it's pretty much just lightly puffed rice that gets toasted before you add the water and with a bit of stock and corn in it. but it worked perfectly.
the perfect finish to this ensemble was a delicious salad based loosely on DP's salsa recipe. mine included: tomatoe, capsicum, fresh corriander, red onion, avocado, baby spinach, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper. sides included sour cream and tortias for dipping.
Dp's amazing mexican cook ups have always been very enjoyable and might sometimes include piella or chiroz sausages. but my general experiences in ALL mexican restaurants is that it's over priced and pretty crap. the 1.2litre margurittas do help soften the blow but i'm very unimpressed.
this was also a stand out mexican cooking experience because it wasnt too hot for me - while i do agree that there should be chilli in such food, Smoothy tends to overspice it to such a degree that i can no longer eat it. so now i am The Chilli Controller - oh lai!