Fab 80's songs that I feel personally responsible for reviving!

Bop Girl...

Pat Wilson was kind of supposed to be Australia's answer to Cyndi Lauper or early Madonna... Wife of Aussie rock legend Ross Wilson and never to be heard from again!

P.S. I only just found out that Nicole Kidman is in this filmclip, and she does't smile in this either!

Wired for sound...

This is my favourite daggy, shameful sing along song... besides, it's got rollerskating in the clip so it cannot be overlooked!!!

Revolution baby...

Gotta Love Transvision Vamp... especially the bit where they jump through the paper screen thingi!!! Man... Wendy James was HOT!

Respectable...

RIP Mel... or was it Kim???

Enjoy and stay tuned for more!

Our Girls....

The next release from my friends at Arcade Publications... I can't wait!

Love Junkie...

I just finished reading Love Junkie: a memoir of love and sex addiction by Rachel Resnick. Wow. Makes my girly behaviour with past crushes pale in comparison!! But then again she usually got the guy in the first place... I never seemed to even get that far! ‘Cept when it came to the boy. Though some of my early behaviour could be considered questionable! But remember ladies... it’s not stalking if they want you back!

Latest pics of Bubba-ista...

I’m up to 32 weeks now, and given Little Miss was a 36 weeker, well there ain't much time to go (though I will probably go well overdue given that I’m assuming and planning for this one to be early too!) I am hyper sensitive to every gut pain at the mo, thinking "am I starting labour or do I just need to go to the toilet?" It’s exhausting!

I feel like I’m going crazy, my hormones are out of control and I’m wavering between complete Bitch, cleaning freak and can’t move off the couch blob... I guess this is typical pregnant woman behaviour! It feels like Permanent Menstrual Tension and I am really over it... so is the Boy! And they pregnancy brain... oh my god, you could dupe me out of anything! I even short-changed myself with the petty cash at work the other day!!

Anyways, enough of the whinge!!!

P.S. Best pregnancy tip I have been given (by a medical professional mind you!)... If you’re feeling low on Iron, Milo is a great source, though you have to eat it straight from the tin because when you mix it with milk, the Vitamin D kind of counteracts with the Iron... Hey I don’t need an excuse to eat Milo straight from the tin!!! But I will use that as justification!!!

Madame....

Ive been meaning to advertise this event on my blog for a while, but of course old Fuzz-Brain here didn't get around to it, and so the author talk was last night and it was great but I still wanted to spruik about his gorgeous little book Madame Brussels: this moral pandemonium by L.M. Robinson. All about Melbourne's "Queen of Harlotry", MB was a brothel owner in Melbourne in the 1880's and 90's and as much as I cant go past anything on this topic... This book is so much more than that!!! It's a great alternative history of Melbourne, delves into the Parliament of the time (MB was widely suspected of being the thief of the Victorian parliamentary mace... taken by some girls and some of her (many) politician clients for some... Hck Hmm... Parliamentary role play... By the way there is still a $50,000 reward out there for the Mace if anyone knows its whereabouts.



Anyways it's a fab little book by my new favourite publishers Arcade publications who are specialising in these quirky, local untold stories.

They have two new books coming out soon too which I'm really excited about. Our Girls: Aussie Pin-Ups of the 40's and 50's... I've already got the Librarian beauty pageant lined up for that one! and Hoax Nation which I think will be just fascinating.


It's just a pity that our Council's communications dept. didn't get behind us in advertising this event... apparently they "ran out of time" (hhmmmm... that's never happened before) which is why it didn't get into the local papers and council news things etc... guess it was all just a bit too saucy for them!

All a bit too much...

Hi there,

Yup, it's been a while, my head feels like a big fuzzball lately and its hard to concentrate on anything much at all really. Besides, I don't want to fill my blog with one big whinge about sore backs, headaches, not being able to sleep, big tummies and weird legs!!!

I've been reading Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It was recommended to me by my very spunky and intelligent friend A whose recommendations I take very seriously. It's taken me a while to get into it which should be no reflection on this book, instead on my state of current being (see above). It's a great book, just a little too much philosophy, art and Russian literature references for my poor pregnancy brain to cope with at the mo!

My friend A is pretty ace, and we met under those kind of weird circumstances that make you think there is a reason you are meant to be friends with this person.

It was when I was working at Camp Becket back in '01. I stayed on to work at the Family Camp after the main camp was finished. A was there with a couple of kids she knew whose parents had some sort of overseas thing come up but didn't want the kids to miss out on the family camp, so they employed A to act as a nanny type thing and take them... a little random... and poor A didn't really fit in anywhere and ended up hanging out with the staff while the kids were occupied. We hit it off immediately and bonded over music, books, feminism etc. etc. Caught up when I visited Boston... then when I visited Boston again, and again... She's a bit of a good sort!!!

I'm sorry but that is just really really creepy...

http://www.bust.com/blog/2009/08/05/kid-tested-mother-approved.html

Ms Anna

And then Click Here to see Melbourne's greatest GoGo dancer... who is not smarter than a 5th grader!

Ms. Pearl

Click here to see the worlds most famous librarian, Nancy Pearl in action!!!

Media Whore...

Check me out making it into both the local paper and Incite in the same week...

what a show off!

Revelations...

I realised something on the weekend. You know how when your a kid and your parents lock you in your room and you think "this is a stupid punishment, all the best stuff is in here." I realise now you weren't locked in your room so much as punishment, but because your parents were at the end of your tether and about to kill you and needed you out of their sight for a while!!!

It's like other revelations you have from childhood. Like when I realised why I always got the bronze medal in ballet. (coz one girls mum always played the piano for the concert and the other's mum did all the organization of it! Politics!!) or like that time when I took my smurf soft toy to mum and asked her to wash him for me and he came back sooooo clean, then years later I found out she had just gone and bought a new one!

Does this happen to everyone or was it just me who was really gullible as a kid?

Rock & Roll Library

Check out this art exhibit from the Clash's guitarist Mick Jones titled Rock & Roll public library

These are two of my favourite things...

Libraries and Ice Cream... I am all for it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/30/ice-cream-libraries-ben-and-jerrys

Robots in disc eyes....

I'm sorry to have another rant, but really, I don't get a lot of time to watch movies these days so it really pisses me off when I do and it turns out to be a waste of two hours of my life which could have been better spent sleeping or eating!

Last night we watched the Transformers movie... I cant remember when I saw such a crap film... if I've seen a movie that crap recently I've obviously blocked it out because it was god damn shite... Not even a good camp 80's reference to save it! In fact it's making me angry just thinking about how shite it was... think I better sit down with some chamomile tea and relax for a bit...

Now as you know, I also took myself off to the movies on Friday by myself with the idea of having a choc top and a good sob. I went and saw My Sister's Keeper, which I would have probably said was a nice piece of sappy-ness despite the time waste-y floaty kind of bits, If I hadn't recently read the book and been pleasantly surprised. But whats with the leaving out of characters, creating new ones, leaving out important plot lines and worst of all... changing the ending which gets rid of the twist at the end which ms. Picoult is (apparently) known for! GGGGrrrrrrrrr. Still had a great cry though... I sobbed like only an overly hormonal pregnant woman can!!!

Now I'm getting a little worried, I just finished Mao's Last Dancer (as in the book) and kind of really loved it but am a bit scared of what they are going to do to that in movie form (coming soon the posters tell me...) but also a bit curious...

I did like Coco Avant Chanel though... go see that one!

And I did get to see a trailer for Where the wild things are which made me very excited!

Shuffle of Shame...

I love a good Facebook game... mostly for their time wasting abilities...

The Shuffle of Shame.

Instructions/Rules/Whatever:

Once you've been tagged...(1) Turn on your MP3 player (or ITunes).(2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode and write down the first 30 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please. If you wanna be sneaky you can make a smart playlist, limited to 30 songs selected by random.(4) Choose 25 (or so) people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.
If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about your musical tastes, or at least a random sampling thereof.
(To do this, go to "NOTES" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, enter your 30 Shuffle Songs, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click Publish, the little blue box at the bottom of your screen).

Alli's Shuffle... (this should be good... or embarrassing!)

1. Bad Influence - Pink
2. Just a girl - No Doubt
3. When I grow up - Garbage
4. Ray of light - Madonna
5. Ace of Spades - Motorhead
6. I'm outta love - Anastacia
7. Whole lotta love - Led Zepplin
8. Stop - Spice Girls
9. Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols
10. Drugs don't work - Ben Harper
11. Atomic - Blondie
12. Lets Groove - Earth Wind and Fire
13. Dr Beat - Gloria Estifan
14. Women - Easybeats
15. Bloody Motherfucking Asshole - Martha Wainright
16. Shake your body down to the ground - Jackson 5
17. (whats so funny bout) Peace love and understanding - Elvis Costello
18. For what it's worth - Buffalo Springfield
19. The Living Daylights - Aha
20. Dirrty - Christina Aguilera
21. Distant Sun - Crowded House
22. Slow - Kylie Minogue
23. Unpretty - TLC
24. Bright side of the road - Van Morrison
25. Without me - Eminiem
26. These boots are made for walking - Nancy Sinatra
27. Let's dance - David Bowie
28. Sister Moon - Transvision Vamp
29. I still haven't found what I'm looking for - U2
30. Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas

OK. so that wasn't too embarrassing... could have been a lot worse

Book Club...

Today I have the Red Couch Book Club, and once again, I'm only half way through the book. What is it, they are all books I want to read, but I think its a bit too much like school, because I have to read it, my subconscious mind finds any reason for me not to!!!!

Can someone please do some sort of psychology thesis on the subject... taa.

Now I'm off to find some study notes on Mao's last dancer so I can cheat!!!

Footy and the Beast...

If there is one actor at the moment I think is a bit of alright it's local boy Eric Bana... He was on Letterman the other night and it's pretty funny listening to him try to explain Aussie Rules to Dave Letterman...

Can't wait to see Love the Beast!

Movies etc...

A few years ago me going to the movies twice in one week would be common practice, but these days... I think I have been to the movies twice... a year, if that!

Last Saturday some of my favourite girly friends took me on "Allison's Amazing Birthday Adventure" which was really just a day of fun, girly laughs. I had three choices, I chose box number three which involved going to see Coco Avant Chanel which was lovely, even if we were running a little late and had to sit in the front row which was not fun with subtitles!

Today I am a bit of a loose end and it's nice and sunny, so I'm gonna take myself on another Yarraville adventure. My sister's keeper is on at the Sun Theatre. It's probably not the sort of movie I would normally go see, but I read the book only a couple of months ago, and I need a good cry!!! (that's why I'm going on my own!) Might have a bit of a wander, some lunch, coffee, check out HausFrau bakery (well I am home alone tonight!!!), add a few titles to my Books to check out in the Sun bookshop... Sounds good to me!!!

Librarians...

Attention Everyone...

The Librarians is back, series 2 starts next Wednesday at 9pm. Keep an eye out for the awards ceremony scene and look out for a certain HotRodLibrarian sitting in the very back row!!!

Thats my bag baby...

Found this great Blog Awful Library Books but was a little dismayed that the first post I see talks about the book on my fabulous library bag...

I think it sounds great... now where can I get me a copy?

Soft Porn + Bad Horror movie Gore = Quality Aussie Drama?

Ive been spending a fair bit of time on the couch where all good pregnant women should be on their week off in the middle of winter with a tub of Ice-cream (for medicinal purposesof course!).

My companion in this weeks non-adventure has been Underbelly:a tale of two cities. Quality Aussie Drama? Well there’s a lot of titties, and the violence is almost cartoon like, though I did enjoy the blood spattered lens during the cricket bat scene!

I’m only half way through so I’m gonna give it a chance, it’s kind of addictive in a car crash viewing kind of way. I really don’t remember the first one being quite this bad... Is it overkill? Cheap bandwagon jumping or just really, really bad????

So many books...

There are so many books on my list of must reads I have now got a book dedicated to them!!! Plus I couldn’t resist the cute “Books to Check Out” Library reference!

P.S. Ive already filled 8 ½ pages from my old lists, and that doesn’t include any of the books I actually own!

Pregancy Brain

You know I never believed that thing about pregnancy brain until I became pregnant myself... I thought it was just a poor excuse for everyday vagueness... No way! I have been the most ditziest, most clutsy, most forgetful, most... um... I cant remember!

A friend told me once that it needs to happen, if your brain actually had to consciously cope with everything that was going on, both internally and externally, it would have a complete meltdown! I mean, think about it, not only are you building a whole nervous system, but your whole life is about to be turned upside down! Things that were once important to you no longer hold the significance they once did, basically you are never going to be that person again and that, for me, was one of the hardest things to cope with!

And geeez I am so freakin' sick of being pregnant! No wonder... I worked out the other day that in the past year, I have been pregnant for 10 months of it!!!! and Ive still got a couple of months to go...

And to top it all off I had to suffer through my first experience of major shopping mall tanties from the Little Miss on Monday! I think it may have been punishment for her staying at her grammies the night before (which she loves... but I seem to get some major drama's every time!) Twas fun... lots of feeling sorry for me looks!!! But after lunch and a big poo it was all over!!!

Still didn't manage to get in the way of some major birthday shopping on my part... including cherry-patterned gumboots, several favourite new outfits (which all consist of PJ's and lots of other fun stuff!!!!

Akky Burfday to me...

Life has a funny way...

So you know how everything evens itself out...

Well today I was crossing the road and found $2 on the ground, I know it doesn't seem like much but I'm a bit broke at the mo so $2 is the difference between a coffee and no coffee and we all should know how important that is! But 3 steps later I step in dog shit... and it was a whopper!

Man it better be a good coffee!!!

Politically incorrect bikkies...

Sorry about yesterdays rant, well not really that sorry coz it made me feel better! Yes he's still being an immature dick but at least not at 5am so I can handle it!!!!

So still hibernating for winter, so along with watching lots of girly TV shows from the 70's and 80's that means lots of Baking/Eating!

Here's one of my mum's specialties from my childhood requested by Lesley...

Afghans (AKA politically incorrect bikkies!)

6oz Butter
3oz Castor Sugar
1/2 Tea. Vanilla
3oz SR Flour
3oz Plain Flour
2 tabs. Cocoa
2oz Cornflakes

Cream Butter, Sugar & Vanilla
add Sifted Flours & Cocoa
Mix with Corn Flakes
Drop one teaspoon full onto tray
Drop next teaspoon full into your mouth
Repeat Pattern...

Bake 350-400 degrees for about 15 mins

Ice with Choc Icing if you want

Impossible to be enjoyed in moderation!

Rant rant rant rant rant

Watch out world, there is an extremely hormonal, overtired pregnant woman coming your way who is PISSED OFF WITH HER BOYFRIEND!!!

Let me explain...

For a start it's 6am and I am wide awake...

I did not get to sleep until after 12 last night after moving onto the couch because I cannot get comfortable with this big fat squirming belly...

Every Wednesday morning he feels the need to pick a fight with me at 5am when he gets up for work knowing it's my most busy and stressful day with work and getting little miss to childcare etc.

And I thought it was only when I was going out somewhere that I might potentially have a good time that he played that manipulative card!

Look don't get me wrong, when its good our relationship is great, but for fucks sake grow up! So you stopped at the 7/11 and bought milk for me on your way home from work, big whoopty-fucking-do! What you want me to do, get down on my knees and praise you for all eternity!!!

I AM GROWING YOUR FUCKING CHILD INSIDE ME!

So grow up and get over yourself, and don't pretend like you don't read this and act all uninterested coz I know you'll sneak a peek!

Sorry 'bout that folks, but geez it feels better!

Now what's there I can eat...

Fab TV chicks

Ive been hibernating for the winter and watching way too much Laverne and Shirley and Golden Girls DVD's!

I love both of these shows for their tough talking chicks and believable characters.

Laverne and Shirley was a spin off of Happy Days, But

unlike HD, where women were either perfect house wives, dates or bratty little sisters, L&S gave us two independent women in 1959, living on their own, working in a brewery and doin' it their way!

As for the Golden Girls, well it's the first... and one of the very few times that older women have been portrayed as Sexual beings! Long before Sex and the City, there were

four man-hungry, fast talking women running around in the latest fabulous fashions!!!

P.S. What would Lenny and Squiggy do?

Bathed in pink...

Went to the Barbie exhibition yesterday... pretty disappointing really!

Went with JA, my ex-toy dept. friend and someone who gets very excited about all things girly and pink! There was some cool stuff, one of however many surviving of the original Barbie, but I would have liked to see a little historical context there, eg. these were the kind of toys/dolls available at the time and why Barbie was such a revolutionary concept!

Highlights included; Elvis and Priscilla wedding dolls, Cher doll with very Cher cheekbones, Twiggy doll with totally different body shape to the regular Barbie. I also loved the old origional Barbie Dream house which was all cardboard and had Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole records.

But the definite highlight was a little story about a boy whose (very cool and progressive) Nana bought him a golden dream barbie for his 5th birthday and helped him to hide it from his dad!

The rest of it was a big (expensive) disappointment, including the gift shop, (although there was a really nice girl working there who let us take one of the barbie paper bags each even though we didn't buy anything... It pays to be cheeky!!!!) and I reckon JA and I could have put something 10 times better together... Or we could have just gone to a toyshop and seen nicer ones!!!

P.S. one of the comments in the comments book was "I want to be just like Barbie, hey mum when we get home i'm gonna go throw up"

Yesterday Coles supermarket announced it would be paying the GST of its range of feminine hygiene products.

About Fucking Time!!!

What I guess it actually means is that Coles will be dropping the price by the amount that the tax is, the tax is not actually gone, but it's a step and a really positive message! Before the GST overhaul about 8 years ago, the tax on pads and tampons came under the title of "Luxury tax", Can you believe it?

Never felt too luxurious to me!!!!

MsBullshitFilter...

Ive just discovered a fab new blog... she calls herself Miss Bullshit Filter and she's taking a look at the strange and mysterious world of online dating... check her out!

in 1970...

Our family was invited to a 70's party, (no, not in 1970, more like about 1986) I couldn't have been more than about 11. My (slightly warped) brother came up with the idea we should dress as sailors... because in 1970 we were both Se(a)men!

(No I didn't look like this!)

Travel Pics from the past...

Here’s one of my favourite pics from my Europe travels oh so many years ago. Its my friend G at the East Side Gallery at the Berlin Wall. I really really want to go back to Berlin, and more of Germany too. I found it such a fascinating place, I love a bit of History that I can remember! And boy does that city have an interesting story or two!!!

P.S. Think I'm either getting a bit sentimental going through my old photo's... Or jealous of my lack of recent travel opportunities!

Two Events that might get me out of my Funk...

Ive been hibernating for winter... Been in a bit of a Funk and had a bit of a cold (or could it be Karma from my Swine Flu Rant!!) But I have found two events that may just get me out and about again... any one up for it?

I won I won I won!!!

I won the Tattslotto big superdraw the other night... well I probably should clarify before you go rining me up for a loan... I won $13.20... On a ticket that cost me $13.10... Still a profit so you’ve got to be happy with that!!!

Celebrity Deaths...

So it turns out that today will be one of those “where were you when you heard...” days (in the car backing out my driveway if anybody cares.)

But what about poor Farrah? She had better hair and better nipples (hmmm... I wonder if MJ actually had nipples???)

Farrah died last night too but Michael Jackson had to go and steal the limelight didn’t he?! Yeah it’s a bit sad, and Off the wall was a really good album and I have been known to Blame it on the Boogie several times in my life, but the guy had turned into a freak, and although I feel really sorry for him coz he had no childhood blah blah, he was a FREAK OK... and now everyone's gonna forget about that... and what about poor Farrah! So yes this will be one of those defining moments of our generation, blah blah, but we all know he will be down in Tijuana pumping gas with Father-in-law Elvis very very soon...

I wonder if they will hold his funeral at Disneyland???

And does this mean we will be seeing more or less of LaToya?

And in the after life... will he be Black or White?

Celebrity deaths are always a weird one, All this outpouring of grief like you actually knew the person. Come on people, what you knew was what the gossip columnists, publicists and rest of the media fed your hunger for, and it's the same with death, I think people just have a hard time understanding that these people are actually just flesh and bone... and plastic... And in the end just as vulnerable as you and I. There will be all sorts of rumours now, thing is, I think he was just a lonely sad man who had probably just had enough...

But this will be compared too the deaths of...

Marilyn and Elvis (not alive to remember)

John Lennon (too young to remember)

Princess Di (was at a 21st birthday party, first reaction was "they're faking it")

9/11 (was working at Becket-Chimney Corners Outdoor Centre in Massachusetts, taking a group of school kids on the high ropes course when all these messages came over the walkie talkies about what was and allegedly going on... the school group was from... you guessed it, New York City! It was my last day of work and I was heading to Boston the next day and NYC a few days later... obviously plans were changed!)

Now lets all brace ourselves for the onslaught of tribute shows... I wonder how many pages of the Herald-Sun will be dedicated to him tomorrow... Or will it be a special edition perhaps?

Who says you c*nt swear in the library?

J is for...

Japan!

The following is a copy of an email I sent on Monday 4th June 2001 near the end of my first trip to Japan.

hi everybody...

moshi moshi konichi-wa from Japan...I'm having a ball, Japan is an onslaught to the senses!

Here is 12 reasons why I love japan;

1/I love vending machines... I love the 20 million different sorts of drinks you can buy from them, and I love that everyone is a surprise because i cant read what they are!!! I love that I can buy film and batteries and Hagan daaz Ice cream from them, and if I drank beer and smoked I would love buying them from vending machines too!

2/I love heated toilet seats... I love them even more when they have a Boedau thing (yeah I know I can't spell, but you know, the wash your bum thing!) the restaurant we went to last night even had a fake flush sound function... don't ask me why I have no idea! some of the toilets have an automatic hand wash tap and basin thing which starts when you flush, then the water goes into the thing and becomes the water for the next flush, very economical. I love that Dave’s toilet comes with instructions including diagrams of how to sit or stand! (he doesn’t have a heated seat though!!!)(p.s. note to the girls... squat toilets are no fun when you have your period, well sorry but it’s true!)

3/I love big Buddha’s... Ive seen the two biggest ones in Japan, and millions of little Buddhas and lots of Buddhist art... and about 20 million shrines and temples and more Buddhas.

4/I love MOS burgers... I don’t care that they are about half the size and twice the price of McDonald's (and twice as greasy!) they taste damn good, were just around the corner from where I stayed in Kyoto, and have no pickle!

5/I love all the other new food Ive tried... yes I have had raw fish,* not so bad. David took me for Kaiten Zushi (revolving sushi) and i had salmon and tuna and that was a week ago and i’m still alive!!! I’ve also had Okonomyaki (As you like pancakes) and i must say that my pancake flipping skills are much better than Dave's. Shabu Shabu (One pot veggies and meat) you cook both of the last two things yourself at the table. Last night I was forced to try octopus... and we had a ‘surprise parfait’ between 5 of us and we could still only get half way through! Lots of different meat on a skewer type things and of course, god old Mos burger!

6/i love pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate called ‘Pocky’ (you can get them from vending machines too!)

7/I love tacky souvenir shopping... I love tacky souvenir shopping anywhere as some of you well know, but it’s even more fun in Japan... Haven't gone overboard but have bought myself a Kimono which I’m sending home to mum, and it’s not a tacky one at all... so someone needs to come up with an excuse for me to wear it when I get back. I could have spent so much money on crazy camera stuff and books and all the usuals... lucky I don’t have the room.

8/I love that I got to feel an earthquake... just a little one!

9/I love that I’ve seen some really cool photography exhibitions... One you would have liked Julie T was called ‘moonlight blue earth’ where all the shots were lit only by moonlight, not your average startrails!

10/I love checking out the toy dept’s** in the department stores... nothing on Myer Melbourne toys! They’ve all been relatively small, a little bit of Lego, lots of collectible Barbies (but not many pink box, note to Jenny-Anne, Black lingerie barbie and the blonde one with the white lingerie were 7000 yen, so about 100-120 dollars) but lots of Hello Kitty as to be expected... not as much pokemon as I thought, thank god!

11/I love walking out of Shinjuku station for my first glimpse of Tokyo which feels like your walking onto another planet!

12/I love that everyone is so nice and polite (except on trains) and patient with me for not speaking any of the language (and every time I attempt it I pronounce it wrong!) the guy next to me on the plane (who i’d hardly even spoken to) gave me one of each Japanese coins with a little chart of each one he had drawn on a napkin, so I gave him a caramello koala! And the lady at the inn I stayed at in Kyoto also gave me a little present but I had left my caramello koala’s at Dave's! (note to mum, send more caramello koalas!!)

Well that's it for this episode of ‘Allison’s observations of the world... I leave for the states on the 6th and start at camp on the 10th. Hope everyone is well and please keep me up to date with all important gossip!!!
Lots of Love,
Alli

*remember this is 8 years ago and sushi wasn’t as common in western countries as it is now.

**I had just finished up a year of working at Myer toys so it was on my mind!

reading over this has been a blast from the past!

I have been back to Japan twice since then. The 3rd time was only for one night but it still counts OK! (I was on my way to the States and the Japan airlines flight co-ordination meant a 20 hour stopover with supplied hotel room, my travel agent knew I had friends there so offered me that one. They were a little surprised when I emailed them and said "what are you doing on the night of such-and-such coz I was just wondering if you wanted to take me out for dinner!")

I cant believe how green I was and it's interesting to see what was important to me then. Also many of my favourite aspects of Japan are not mentioned (maybe I didn't discover them until the second trip) like Harajuku on a Sunday and that huge massive toy store over four levels and Onsen and the food area of the department stores where you can pretty much fill yourself up for lunch on samples (gotta love free samples!) and my favourite shopping experience...

The vast range of condoms available! my favourite being 'No Touch' which have little tabs so you can open the packet and avoid touching both the condom and the penis because obviously when you are having sex you do not actually want to touch the person!!!

More chooks...

Meet chook #2 AKA Soup, AKA Brown One... Sorry i've been a bit slack, we've had her about 3 weeks now and she's lovely (unlike Ms. Roast who is still not very friendly). She lets you pat her and pick her up, comes running when she see's you coming and checks out what you are doing through the kitchen window. We are also starting to get some eggs (not sure which one is the producer as yet) so given that they are starting to make themselves useful I am thinking of re-naming them scrambled and poached!

As discussed last night!!!

Obviously the best version ever of Danny Boy!

Some good movies that have graced my screen...

I haven’t been watching all that many movies recently, I don’t tend to have the brain space nor the patience to sit through anything too long, but here is a couple of gems worth mentioning...

The dinner game – Hilarious French comedy about a bumbling idiot... I could relate!
Death at a Funeral – Love a good black comedy!
Stone – Classic Australian film, love the bit where the guy gets his head cut off... so so fake!!!
And Last and defiantly least...
He’s just not that into you – Look I’m not going to say it was good, but it was exactly the kind of mindless papp I needed OK!?
A friend told me a funny story about that one, she went to see it at the movies with a couple of girls from her work, including one who checked her blackberry 3 times during the movie to see if she had a message from a guy who, you guessed it, was just not that into her!

Sleep in a cardboard box!

Check out this cardboard box bedding by Dutch designer Snurk to raise money for homeless charities... I love it!

Old kids on the block...

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed distinct similarities between the Aussie movie Boytown (which I really like except for the completely naff ending!) and the recent return of New Kids on the Block???

A load of swine... AKA. Pigs Bum!?

One thing has upset me about this whole swine flu thing, no one seems at all concerned with the pigs! Think about it, when there was that bird flu thing a while back all the chickens copped the blame and got put down, but no one has mentioned the pigs... the pigs... the poor little pigs!!!

Now I’m not a conspiracy theorist normally, but what about the makers of this Tamiflu pill or whatever it is... What’s the bet they had big piles of this thing they just couldn’t shift and someone thought, hey you know what we need, a good medical scare, nothing too serious, just something along the lines of the common cold will do, hey I’m sure the media won’t mind getting on board here, they love whipping up a good frenzy!!!


P.S. my apologies to anyone who has actually gotten sick from this... I’ve had to stop joking about it at work now that I know someone who’s brothers sisters dogs uncles cousins 14 year old somebody has it... funny thing is, she’s allowed to go out, it’s her parents that have been told they have to stay in quarantine!

Now thats my kind of Library!

Happy world wide knit in public day!

Girls Girls Girls...

Break out the pink wool friends. Contrary to what my psychic Krystal told me last year, and ten years ago, looks like it’s going to be two girls for me...

Now I know that these things can be wrong, but this ultrasound was done by a doctor and I was sent to this place because they are the best. The doctor said he was 100% sure this was a girl and if my obstetrician pulls out a boy he wants to be called straight away!

So now we are on the hunt for girls names... any suggestions?

Enjoy!

Sis...

I’ve been a little slack of late with my unsolicited book review type posts of late; I’ve been reading a lot, but nothing that has really blown me away.

Red Couch Book Club is currently reading Jodi Picoult’s My Sisters Keeper. She’s not the sort of author I would normally pick up; in fact I would probably put her into the category of “Popular faff”. I do have a friend who raves about her though so I was happy to give her a go. I have to say this one is defiantly pulling at the heart strings. The chapters alternate the voices of the characters, all in the present except Sara (the mum’s) which is giving us the background info. Its Sara’s chapters I am finding hard to read, especially the first one, where her two year old daughter is diagnosed with leukaemia.

I have a two year old daughter.

I guess I am also a bit sensitive at the moment, I am around the point in my pregnancy where I lost the last baby, and I am very aware of every movement, or lack thereof. I know on an intellectual level that there was no found reason for the loss of the last one and therefore no indication that it is likely to happen again, but unfortunately these things don’t work on an intellectual level.

So my apologies if I seem a little snappy, or disappear off for a while...

Anyways, back to the book. I am just over half way through and at first I was very sympathetic with the Anna Character and hated Sara, but as it goes along I’m beginning to understand Sara a lot more. I guess it’s that old “Both sides of the story” thing! I’m still finding Sara’s chapters hard to read and I had a bit of a cry over it last night (oh my god, I’m actually admitting to that!!!!) and I know what’s going to happen, but I’m determined to finish it... perhaps a good cry will do me good, just have to make sure I read it when no one’s around!

P.S. (a couple of days after writing this post) I just finished this book and certainly didn't see that one coming! I should have, looking back it should have been predictable. Had a good cry anyway!!!!

Cat Pee Barbie...

Yes I am serious!

In the series of "really strange toys for kiddies" I present Teresa, that's Barbie's friend, and her cat Mika who pee's. yes that's right, you feed it water and squeeze it and it pee's.... It comes complete with Kitty litter box and coloured sand!



Apparently the Barbie one comes with a Pooing dog... Comes with a pooper scooper and everything!!!

Q Balls...

I had a little bit of unexpected fun last night, I got a call from my lovely, puppet loving friend J at about 12.30 yesterday to see if I was free that night, as she had, through a hooked up friend of hers, tickets to Avenue Q. I'm flattered, but not surprised that she immediately thought of me (after all, when I worked at the Arts centre a few years back I took her to a Possum Magic stage show that was on for the school holidays, and we are such big kids that we didn't even bother borrowing any to go with us!)

She rang me back a couple of hours later all concerned when she found out it was the Australian premiere! We had quite a few B grade celebrity sightings; several neighbours "stars", Rove, Some judge guy from so you thing you can dance (apparently!), Natalie Bathingswaite, Someone who looked like a newsreader that may or may not have been Sandra Sully, several radio personalities (I think, it's hard to tell!) and Chris Lilley who was the only one that I was actually excited about!!!

I wasn't quite sure how I would like the show, with the puppeteers on stage but I actually really loved that part, it wasn't distracting at all and really showed the talent of the puppeteers, especially when they were playing multiple characters, both of which were sometimes on the stage at the same time. I'm still not sure about the human characters though, especially Gary Coleman, I didn't really get that and thought it would have been funnier to have a Gary Coleman Puppet.

Poor J though. She's no prude by any means, she just really loves puppets and hates it when they are made to do naughty things! I hope she wasn't too traumatised!!!!

Goin' up the country...

A few years back I took some friends up to my home town, promising them a typical country night out at the pub which should consist of; a)a fight (didn't actually get one, but we did get to see someone turning a table over ) and b) a sighting of Sean Smith's dick (again didn't come through with the goods though the only other female member of our party was on watch for us all night.)

But the following exchange did happen at the urinal in the male toilets between my (very camp) friend S and a man he described as "looking like a huge bulldog";

BD: So, who do you barrack for mate?

S: (shit scared thinking "what do I say, what do I say") Um, Hibs.

BD: Huh?

S: Hibs, Hibernian, their a Scottish team, I'm not from here.

BD: Oh.

Pause.

BD: So you gettin' any?

S: (not wanting to say "well my (equally camp) partner is just outside" and thinking "what do I say, what do I say") Um, I'm working on it.

BD: (slapping him on the back): Well get out there mate, there's plenty of puss out there for the taking!

RIP the Cri!

Trouble in the henhouse... AKA You stupid #%@*^$! chook!

What a calamity has befooted our backyard this weekend! We have had our chook (named Cookie by my daughter who cannot yet say her CH's) a week now and felt, perhaps she was suitably comfortable enough to let her have a bit of a roam in the garden, stretch her bits and all that, which was all fine and dandy until we tried to put her away!

My partner was having a lovely old time watching me chase her around the garden, trying chook psychology and good old bribing! eventually he came out to help corner her which just made her head up. Onto the roof of the shed. Our shed which adjoins the neighbours house roof. So up the ladder he goes to chase her down, instead she flys into the only tree in our backyard and nothing was going to get her down from there!!! (and believe me we tried!)

10pm last night when we got home from dinner, still in the tree. Figured she was safe enough there and there's not much we can do about it.

Got up this morning for chook search and rescue. No sign, not dead or alive. I hunted around her hiding spots from the day before, still no sign. looked over the neighbours fence and what do I see... a confused chookie, looking back at me. There was no sign of anyone awake at the neighbours house and I don't know them well enough to go getting anyone out of bed. And me, home alone. So here I am, in my jammies, overcoat and the boys workboots, sneaking around the neighbours driveway area (probably looking incredibly suspicious) chook chasing. seems the chook is not as dumb as we had been assuming, could not be cornered or tricked into a box, even with the bribe of food.

So chasing it was, eventually into our (unfenced) front yard, up a tree (again) and me, who, despite growing up in the country wouldn't really have any clue about catching chooks trying to coax it down before it ends up back on the roof. I was eventually able to pull the branches down far enough to grab miss Cookie, which was straight back into the henhouse for her, and no stretching her bits for a very long time!!!

I have renamed her Roast.

We have two more chooks ariving (maybe) today which I have named Soup and Korma.

Anyone want to come over for dinner?

Jewellery fit for a Hot Rod Librarian!

I found this super cool necklace in the BUST Boobtique. And guess what... I have a birthday coming up!

Hint Hint!!