Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Restaurant brawls

I would like to get your opinion on something that happened last night when my sister's and I went out to dinner.

For this story to make sense you will need to know that a. Jo is my older sister and she has a daughter who is almost 6 b. Barb is my younger sister, Mike is her husband and they have three kids, a 3 yr old, 18 months and 8 weeks c. for those of you who don't know, Christian is my husband.

Right, so I got home last night after work and Barb phones and asks if we want to go out to dinner with them to a place called Sizzler. It's an all you can eat salad bar place where you can get steak and seafood as well. We say yes and shortly afterwards we leave (as we live the furtherest away).

Christian and I arrive and the other's aren't there yet. Now, at Sizzler, you can't book a table but have to wait in line. They ask that you wait until all of your dining companions are there before you line up so we wait outside. Jo and her daughter turn up and still we waiBart outside. Finally Barb and Mike turn up and line up. The baby's nappy needs to be changed, so instead of pushing through the line of people to use the babychange in the restaurant, Barb and Mike go out to the car to change the bub. Meanwhile a group of people turn up and line up behind us.

Following so far? Good.

Barb and Mike finishing changing the baby and come back inside. A woman in the group behind us have a whinge that Barb and Mike shouldn't be allowed to join our group as they will be cutting in the line. Instead of arguing, they agree, reasoning that they did leave the line so it's only fair (when we got to the till to order, they would have been asked to come forward anyway as your whole table has to order at once). Ten minutes pass (it was a long line in front of us) and two people turn up, push past the long line behind us and join the loud mouthed woman's group. So they had just done what they had been whinging about.

Well, Barb and Mike thought 'Bugger them, they just had people cut in so we're joining the rest of our group'. Mrs Loudmouth chucks the biggest stink and starts yelling "NO! How dare you, that's pushing in!" To which Barb replies "You just had people push in front of us, I don't see how that's different." Loudmouth then shouts (and I mean shout for the whole place to hear) "They have been waiting outside having a smoke, they've been here the whole time!". At this point my older sister steps in "How is it different? My sister was changing her son's nappy, in the car, but she's been here the whole time too." Anyway, they argue back and forth some more and finally they drop it.

Then Loudmouth pushed past us and goes to speak to the manager. Well, to make a long story short, her group gets jumped in front of the six groups who have been waiting longer, immediately get a table and get their meals for free.

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THAT THE BIGGEST INJUSTICE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EATING OUT???

I was soooo mad! The only difference between us was, as Christian points out, one was us and the other was them. To them, they felt injusticed, where I believe we were in the right! Grrr, I'm seething just thinking about it now.

Anyway, I'd like to know if you guys agree with me or not. Maybe I'm over- reacting or maybe I'm just right!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Thunderstorms and early mornings

It's very early on Sunday morning here.

For some reason, my brain, acting completely independantly from the rest of my body, decided to wake up this morning at 5:30. I fought this and I fought it hard. I managed to stay in bed for another hour (it is Sunday for Christsake!). I lost the war however and here I am. I've showered, had breakfast, wrapped several Christmas presents and started a blog entry all before 7:30.

I always find that on my days off, I can never sleep in, no matter how hard I try. When I have to get up and go to work however, I could easily stay in bed until 10am. *sigh* The universe can be cruel.

Anyway, last night we had a truly delightful thunderstorm. All day it had been extremely windy, enough to bring down several trees in the neighbourhood. It was supposed to be hot but here in the hills, it was pleasantly cool. I was told that down the hill (as us hillbillies refer to suburbia down on the flats) it was rather humid and uncomfortable.

About 6ish, Christian and I went to visit my sister who lives in the foothills. We were all watching a movie when the storm started with loud bangs of thunder and lightning that really did make night turn into day for a split second. My neice (my other sister's daughter who was staying the night with Barb's kids) is terrified of thunder so she was huddled up on the couch with my brother-in-law so tight that she could have been sitting under him. Barb and I decided to go outside and watch the storm from the verandah as we both love thunderstorms. Well, you should have seen us jump a mile in the air and both pissbolt inside after the loudest clap of thunder you could possibly imagine. It must have been right overhead and it sent vibrations through my chest, as if I was standing next to a speaker at a rock concert. When we got inside my neice was howling, the dog was shaking in a corner, the baby looked shell shocked and Barb and I were pissing ourselves laughing.

The storm continued for quite a while and Christian and I had quite a show as we were driving home. We went the back way home up Red Hill and the view was amazing. There was lightning all around us almost constantly but directly above us was a huge hole in the clouds which allowed the brightest stars to twinkle away. It was like there was a big dounut in the sky iced with lightning strikes!

The storm has passed now, leaving the sun shining and a warm day ahead of us (around 30C or so) which should give us a beautiful day for a bbq down by the river.

P.S. While I was writing this, I had an msn chat with my brother-in-law as he has been up with the kids since 5am. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one awake so early on a Sunday morning!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Memorable quotes

One of the things I love to do is watch movies and certain tv shows. I get hooked on something and I go nuts about it. For instance, I'll start watching a certain show (usually we've downloaded the whole series) and I will just spend a week or two watching it from beginning to end. Firefly, Jeremiah, Stargate, Rescue Me, are all exmples. Or, well go and see the same movie three times in the one day. Each boxing day, for three years running, was spent watching LOTR. We're nerds - whatcha gonna do?

Now, as if that's not bad enough, my husband and I and most of our friends will regularly use quotes from certain movies and shows during everyday conversation. Pretty sad huh?

Anyway, withour further ado, this is a list of some of my favorite, and more commonly used quotes.

'Shut up, that's why!' Simpsons

'I am already in my pyjamas' Futurama

'But I'm hungry Tony!' Father Ted

'Where you going? Fucking nowhere!' Boondock Saints

'No Neo, I am not your Mother' Computer Boy

'Milk goes off you know, unless it's UHT milk, but ther's no demand for that because it's shite' Father Ted

'Hail to the king baby' Army of Darkness

'Oh, my God. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing? Oh, right, that would be me. Back to work.' Firefly

'I hope you diplomatically told him where to shove it' Stargate SG1

'You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.' Stargate SG1

There's so many more but I don't want you to get bored and run away, so I'll leave it at that.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

High School Reunion

Hmmm, I've had an email forwarded to me from Christian's cousin that included a link to a friends reunited site. A girl I went to high school with is trying to organise a reunion for next year (the big 10 year event).

My first thought was, wow, I really want to go. But then I think back on my final year in high school and wonder if I really want to go back. In some regards, it was one of the worst years of my life.

*lights fade, everything gets blury and we enter a hollywood flashback*

Year 12 was a year when several major things happened in my life.

First of all, we had a new girl start at our school, we'll call her 'Bek'. Bek and I were in the same tute so I befriended her on her first day (as I have a habit of doing). I hung out with quite a large group of people but had two principle friends, lets call them 'Vanessa' and 'Ngaire'. So, everything was going along smoothly for a while, until one night I had a party at my house.

This is where the best thing in the world happened to me. I met Christian (have I mentioned we were high school sweethearts?). Christian was my first boyfriend and I his first girlfriend. He's quite the hottie, and several girls were after him. But it was me who snagged him *yay!.
Anyway, one of the girls who was after him was none other than Bek, who had, in such a short time, already developed a reputation as a trollop. Need I say more? I'm sure you can all see where this is going.

So, I won't bother you with all the details of this teen drama. All you need to know is that on a school camp, I was asked by almost everyone there, "When did Chrsitian and Bek get together? We thought you were going out with him?". I was devestated, and we almost broke up over the whole saga.
I will clear up one point though, Christian was an innocent victim in all of this, and when I say innocent, I mean innocent. Bek was flirting outrageously with him, but Christian couldn't see it. All he was doing was being friendly back. It just didn't look that way to everyone else.

Ok, so, Chrsitian and I are on rocky ground but we manage to keep it all together. I've severed ties with Bek. But then there's a twist in the story that I didn't see coming. My two best friends, Vanessa and Ngaire, decide that they agree with Bek and want nothing to do with me.

I had a revelation that day. Females are bitches. And so, from then on, it was just me and the boys. Ever since then, I've had almost exclusively male friends (apart from my sisters, but as family, they don't count). And I'm much happier for it.

*teeny boppy music starts to play as Christian and I walk into the sunset. The credits roll, the lights come up and you leave the cinema*

So, where was I? That's right. School reunion.

Ok, do I really want to have a gathering with the very people who treated me like such dirt? I don't know. I know that Christian refuses to go. Do I want to go alone? I could go with my Brother-in-law, Christian's best friend from high school who conveniently married my sister? I think I'll just wait and see if the reunion even goes ahead.

Right, so thats that. I would like to point out that I do have some female friends now. I didn't for many years but I've since discovered that although all women can be bitchy, they're not all bitches. And most of the chicks I know are also 'one of the boys', so we have lots in common.
Also, half of the people I talk to on an almost daily basis at MoH are chicks and we all get along like a house on fire. So, I have changed my tune a little since high school.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Some days

Can anyone else feel when the day's atmosphere changes?

I don't mean as in atmospheric pressure or anything like that, but the feeling of the day. Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? Or are you all shrugging and giving me weird looks like my husband does.

Sometimes, something will happen and the day will just feel different. For instance, Christian and I were shopping at a hardware store a while back and we walked outside to the garden section and were looking at plants. Some clouds passed in front of the sun and it went a little bit cold and then the sun started shining again and day felt different, almost uncomfortable.

I just can't explain it, how I know it feels.

Ok, I'll try it this way. Do you ever associate certain feelings with certain songs or memories? When we we kids, I remember getting an odd feeling about some Sundays. It always happened on a Sunday, Mum would be cooking corned silverside, it would be quite a warm day and Dad would be watching the AFL. I would wander around the house with an almost nauseus feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's much the same feeling.

Or there are some songs, usually songs from the eighties, that make me feel like that too. Like the Dire Straits song, Money for Nothing. The beginning of that makes me feel a bit depressed and a bit sick.

Anyway, it's probably just me. As I've said before, I'm a bit odd.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Ouch :-(

Some things in life, we take for granted.

For instance, I took for granted the fact that my sunscreen would not have expired since the last time I used it. Alas, this was not the case.

And so, I am now officially a lobster (in colour and texture, but I probably don't taste like one...although don't they say that women taste a bit fishy...ok, I'm going to shut up now.)

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Fun anyone?

I'm scratched, bleeding and feel like I've been beaten with a very big, very dirty, stick.

No, I haven't gone head to head with a T-Rex, I've been gardening (sorry to disappoint my adoring fans).

How fun. Now, I must state here that I'm not a huge fan of gardening. And I'm not talking about gardening as in the fire-break sense (where you just go berserk with the old whipper snipper), I'm talking about the gardening where you rage a day long battle against weeds and tap roots, fighting valiantly against grass seeds and millipedes just to be beaten at the end by those bloody snails!

We have a bricked in area that extendeds about four meters out from the front door and most of that is an over-choked garden full of spiky natives, wild roses and my arch nemesis - the spider plant. I decided this morning that there were too many plants and that over half of them had to go. And so I set to work, digging and pulling and swearing and sweating and cursing. It was very ladylike of me!

And so, as the sun set over a pink horizon, I stood back to admire my handiwork. Unfortunately, the heap of torn and discarded plants that I had piled on the verandah was about three meters high and I couldn't see my handiwork, which was a little disappointing, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

And so, I retired to a hot shower, letting the soap painfully cleanse my gaping wounds and wash away the stink of battle, until tomorrow, when the war continues.

Monday, November 07, 2005

International Sleepover

Isn't it funny how the smallest thing can lead to a split-second decision that involves something big? For example, Boo and I talking on MoH forum about what we'd do if we had a sleepover (watching horror movies, making brownies) and suddenly we've decided that next year I'm going to visit her in Scotland.

I am so excited!

I have always wanted to visit the UK (Christian went years ago with his Mum and he loved the place) and I thought to myself, hey why not go? What do you have to lose? If you don't go now, you'll end up having kids and then never going and wondering for the rest of your life what it's like.

So, in the space of a heartbeat, it's settled. I'll book holidays this week and then we'll see if Boo can get holidays and make sure it's ok with Matt.

I'm also a little scared. What if they don't like me? What if they find my accent annoying and that I'm too loud and too rude and too fat and just too much in general. I'd hate to go for a week and then spend it feeling uncomfortable...

Now I'm just worrying. I'm like that. I'm sure it will be fine. We'll have a few chats on the phone, I'm sure it will go well. I'm sure we'll have a ball.

Did I mention I am so excited!

Friday, November 04, 2005

Strange attractions

I spent an enjoyable evening last night watching several episodes of 'Jeremiah'. For those of you who don't know, it's a show starring 'tv's Luke Perry' and is set in the future after a manufactured disease kills all the adults and leaves the kids to fend for themselves. 15 years after the 'big death' Jeremiah (Luke Perry) is on the road, drifting from town to town, searching for a refernce to 'Valhalla Sector' which may hold a clue to what happened to his Father the last time he saw him alive.

It's very enjoyable, not just because of the great storylines, but because I got to have a great perv too. Not Luke Perry (you sicko's!) but an actor called Peter Sebbings. For those of you who like Stargate, you'll know him as Malek, the Tok'ra dude.

So, I'm enjoying the 'scenery' and it hit me that I have the oddest sense of what makes a guy hot. I mean, all the men I find attractive, aren't attractive in the 'hollywood' sense but are a little left of centre. Stebbings is quite angular, and so is Christian Bale (yummy), then there's Richard Dean Anderson (not when he was young and in MacGyver but as he is now), and then we come in my husband who is so skinny that his hip bones rival those of Kate Moss.

Maybe it's the fact that all of these men have especially delicious necks (I swear I'm not a vampire...) and also nice arms (especailly Christian - husband not batman). I don't know. They're hot, that's all you need to know!

I suppose I should finish this post now before I start telling you of the women I think are hot and getting the boys all excited!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Me, myself and I

I've been feeling a little bit odd lately. Hubby has been working nights so I've been by myself at home, a little depressed I must add, not even logging on to MoH to chat with the guys there.
Not too sure why, I just get like this sometimes when I just prefer my own company. So I've read a couple of books, soaked for hours in a hot bath, caught up on some tv shows that I haven't seen in forever, and had a few early nights.

One reason I might have been feeling down is that on Tuesday, it was the 9 year anniversary of the death of a friend. I can't believe it's really been 9 years but the calander says otherwise.
I felt bad that Christian had to work and was by himself on Tuesday, because he was with Rob when he was killed in a hit and run. They were best mates and I worry that Christian is still hurting. He's the typical male, never tells you if he needs to talk about anything, so I naturally worry that he's keeping all his feelings bottled up. I guess that makes me a typical woman then.

Maybe I should suggest he start a blog so he can express all his pent up anger and sorrow?

Oh, look, a flying pig.