Twenty Six. . .

1: I HATE feet - mine and yours.

2: I love easily - and am hurt easily as a result.

3: My boobs are heaps bigger than they look in clothes.

4: I can't think of anything I am scared of - except for failing.

5: I cut the end of my finger off years ago ... it's name is Stumpy.

6: I think the reason children love me is that they know I'm just a big kid.

7: Loyalty is one of my strongest traits.

8: I have owned 3 cars - Burt, Oscar and Charlie.

9: I read almost every night - even if the words are blurred from alcoholic effects.

10: My mother has recieved a fathers day card from me every year since I was three.

11: I love Africa - although I haven't been yet.

12: I have visited a number of prisons around the country.

13: Beetroot, Pickled Onions, Pork, Bacon and Oysters are some of my favourite foods.

14: If I could do anything in my life once again it would be talking to my Grandpa.

15: I have skydived more than once.

16: I have only had one panic attack ever - it was enough.

17: I love the sight of blood.

18: I can't wait to be a mother but I can wait before I have children.

19: I often regret not standing up for myself.

20: I don't have a sweet tooth.

21: Once you are in my heart, its almost impossible for me to let you go.

22: I do it alone, but tell others not too.

23: I'm a shit magnet. Also, I attract nutbars.

24: I have eaten, worms, bugs, and testicles.

25: My collection of poems is like reading a tortured soul.

26: I cry at movies, books, ads and when others cry but try to stop crying when I am sad.

~So long 26... you've been great, but I'm looking forward to 27 and all it is going to throw at me.

Liking, loving, laughing, longing, lazing, learning. . .

Staunch . . .

Well as staunch as you can be when you are five foot f-all.

You see I was in a real life bar fight, well, not a bar fight where there were bar stools flying around the room, and I didn't shank anyone with the pool cue I snapped across my knee. but, it was scary and loud and I was staunch. Noooo, there was no hair pulling, scratching or pinching. It wasn't even with another girl. It was with a rather scary gang member - I knows...tough much?!

So how does a slightly tall midget blonde get into a bar fight with a big tough nasty piece of arrgh? She asks him to say please. Ohtheprovocation. Yep.

"tinytim" (not tiny - see those inverted commas?) boofs down his empty bottle, says 'beer'. Cheeky bargirl (a wee bit cheeky no commas) 'please?'.

"tinytim" unleashes rant/tirade/verbal diahorreah/word vom/curses/bitches/moans...

Goes on for obscene amount of time, I tried to placeate, I even cried a little (stupid emotional reaction), then I got MAD!

Anyshortgrumpy pants... Best line:

"tinytim" - 'there is the blahblah gang local head, and then there is me'

moi - 'well your still someones bitch then huh?!'

**Small disclaimer - I was shaking in my boots - this is not the normal crowd I see, serve or choose to converse with. This guy was S.cary. However, even though I got lippy, I have no black eyes and my house is not ashes = Dream Result from potentially Nasty Encounter**

Numerical. . .

18...
With the head honcho away for two weeks I will be working (at 3 jobs) 18 days straight... yes eighteen, osamnaest, atten, diciotto, dix-huit - in any language it makes me want to curl up under my duvet, plug in my iPod, cryalittle, drink myself silly and run farfar away. 18 days - really isn't that illegal? It should be.

14...
I realised today that my Grandpa died 14 years ago this March, I was only 13 when he passed. I will have spent more of my life without him 'in it' than with. On that note for the last 13 years I have still written his birthday and his anniversary into my diary. Not that I'd forget either ever... I'd like to think that he and I will always be tied, we were so close, that spiritually we are eternally linked.

9...
It is 9 years since I lived in my hometown, does that make this my new home town? I think generally the winters are too cold to say I'd stay here. But if the folks in charge of the white truck with flashing lights want to pay me to stay I'll most likely do it... they could pay me to go almost anywhere. Volunteering may be good for the soul but not for the bank balance. On that tangent - is a volunteer job a job or a hobby?

Eleventy Million...
That's how many valentines I had to wade through to get out my front door on Sunday... flowers, cards, teddy bears, wine, poems, prospective future husbands offering services - all there. Well apart from the flowers, cards, teddy bears, wine, poems, prospective future husbands...unless they were invisible. Got a couple of sweet messages from friends though! Friend love is just as spesh.

3...
Three months until Nice! Cannot wait - Nice... yep the French Riviera, ahhhh bliss, my Canon and I will be there. Jealous much?

124...
Haemoglobin at 124 - highest its been in the almost 7 months since my blood transfusion - ohhh yeah - making blood cells like a professional I tell you. Normal range for the 1st time and no red flags from the lab! I knew all that red meat eating, spinach chewing and parsley picking was key.

Like a loved up 15 year old...

Oh my lord Santa Mamakat came (way back then) and got me a Canon 500D - I am so in love with this camera.... it may be unhealthy how close we've gotten, we are like a 15 year old loved up couple I can't keep my hands off it...sigh.

I'm still not a 'photographer' per say but I'm shooting for the stars - and everything and everyone else. I figure the more I take, and play with settings, lenses and post production editing the better I'll be.

Click, click, click.....sigh.

Rocking . . .

There is a CD continuously playing in my car, and probably two songs (although I love the whole album) that I can't get enough of on repeat. They are slow songs not usually my driving music but they have touched me (not in that way you grubby folk).

Tahuna Breaks are an 8 piece band who I first saw live last New Years, since them I have not gone more than a day or two without listening to them. They just released their second album and its just as brilliant as their first. Next weekend I'm going to be front row rocking out with them, and their energetic mix of funk, soul, rock n roll and reggae.

The two songs that are my soundtrack at the moment are Sophie's Lullaby and Somebody's Daughter. I think they resonate because the lyrics are so beautiful and poetic.

Also saw them live last month - love loved the show - they sure know how to rock the party! Had a smile a mile wide all night!

Happy Snapping . . .

I've always been a photo-taker (not a photographer that implies something more professional and artistic than I'll ever claim to be). I love capturing a moment in time and having it to reflect on later. I have many photo albums and I would definitely save them if my house caught on fire (also the cat and my childhood teddy).


A friend recently picked up one album and I realised I hadn't printed any photos since 2007. I blame technology, the fact that my facebook profile houses hundreds of shots and that I have treated my laptop like a portable album - and yes technology makes it easy to share and show but its just not the same as having 'real' pictures printed, captioned and flicked through. Before my first digital camera, I knew the staff at my local printing lab by name, I probably had shares in the shop, and I definitely spent too much money there.


So in the last week, I have relived births, weddings, nights out, days in the sun and times with my family. I have laughed, shed tears and cringed, I have selected, chosen, sorted and printed 596 photos. I am almost up to date however since my printing mission I have taken more...


My photos pay homage to my loved ones, friendships, good times and beautiful places, and now no matter the fate of my computer, they are real, not digital, a tangible memory to treasure for always.

Lessons In Life . . .

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never finish a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

Do you remember when you were a kid; playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in the world did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or faq's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say"

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem...

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this.It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my itunes.

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat b@stard before dinner.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

I wonder if cops ever get p1ssed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.