Welcome to the Macvolution!

I know, don't keel over from the shock - I'm blogging again.

Its not all that exciting, I just wanted to congratulate my lovely sister Mel on coming over to the dark side, and joining the Macvolution. She is now the proud owner of a very swish Macbook Pro - and I am desperately jealous, because mine is now 2 years old, and hers has all the bells and whistles...

Anyway, welcome Mel! Now we just have to get Dad and Beck on to it...

One Man Star Wars

Well as you all know (and if you didn't, then clearly you have been on another planet for the last few years), I am an avid Star Wars fan. Avid. So of course, it stands to reason, that if someone is presenting a "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" at QPAC - in the words of the Jackson Five - I'll be there! Which is therefore where I found myself this evening, alongside my nephews Lach and Haz, and my lovely sister Mel.

The 501st were there too, much to Harry and Lach's delight, and they posed with them for a few photos. Haz's favourite I think was Darth Vader...

The show was performed by Canadian actor Charles Ross, and was a very clever 1 hour long rendition of Episodes 4, 5, and 6 - which was perfect for Mel and I, being Star Wars purists (the original trilogy all the way baby!). This actor manages to give very realistic impersonations of the various characters in an abridged version of the 3 films that has you totally enraptured as you work out which scene you're up to next. It was just fantastic.

The boys seemed to get most of the gags, and seemed to enjoy themselves, which was just as well, as this was their first theatre experience ever (poor kids, hope I haven't scarred them for life!).

Anyway, I found some youtube clips of Ross performing this at other venues, which I link here:

And here's a few pics of the boys with the 501st...At the end of the evening, Ross gave us a sneak peak at his One Man Lord of the Rings...which was very good, although will clearly be a waste on me - I hated the films! Anyway, you can find his website here for more information.

So it was a very good evening!

Miss M's Birthday Party

Well yesterday was the lovely Miss M's 3rd birthday party. My sister Beck held it at her house, and there were hundreds of little kids there! Well, not literally hundreds, but it sure did feel like it!

It was my job to provide the 'pass the parcel'. Now when I was growing up, 'pass the parcel' basically involved layer upon layer of newspaper, with some sort of prize at the end. Usually the birthday boy or girl got the last layer, so they would get the prize. But in this day and age, everyone gets a prize - so that means instead of empty layers, you have to put a freddo or something in each layer. That also means that you need to know how many kids are going to be playing, so you can make sure that each kid gets a prize. And of course, you have to rig it so that the birthday child gets the big prize.

Personally, I think that's a pile of bollocks. And I know Beck does too - but its kind of hard to buck this new trend, as every kid that goes to a party now expects it. So I dutifully wrap up something like 20 odd layers of newspaper, each with a freddo - and then think to myself, gee, that looks a bit stingy. So I unwrap them, add in a chupa chup, a couple of freddos and a box of smarties. Much better. The prize for the winning child is the same as everyone else, plus a few more chupa chups, few more freddos - and a bag of lollies.

Anyway, off we go. And when the first child unwraps the layers, Beck can't quite believe what pours out. Apparently my version is way more generous than normal. Now I've been given the job of doing all the pass the parcels!

The funniest thing though, was watching Miss M all through this. As the parcel went round, and as each time the music stopped it never stopped on her, she began to get more and more distressed - to the point that she decided to leave the game and go cry on Daddy's shoulder. You can imagine she was more than relieved when on the last round she won the grand prize!

Anyway, it was a lovely party - and as it was also my Grandma's birthday, we had a little cake and celebration for her too. I love my Grandma, she has something like 15 Grandchildren, 17 or so great Grandchildren - and she loves each and every one, and makes time for each and every one. So there she was at the party! Fantastic!

Anyway, here's a couple of pics...

The Birthday Girls - Grandma and Miss M - blowing out Grandma's cake

Miss M's Birthday cake

Miss M's guests playing pass the parcel

The One Where Kylie Is Ripped Off - Again

Yep, you read it right. Ripped off...

Some might argue, that depending on how you look at it, I haven't really been ripped off - I've had a bit of a win. But I feel I've been ripped off..!

Why? Well, let's just put it this way, in Australia, unlike in England (well unlike I ever experienced anyway), every year you must put in an income tax return. The idea is that obviously throughout the year the Government rips off Australians through the tax system and therefore at some point gets caught out - through the income tax return.

The last income tax return I did allowed me to travel to England, it was that substantive. So you could forgive me for thinking I would have a bit of a windfall this time around - as obviously I haven't put in a return in 11 years - so surely I would be owed a substantive amount.

The problem is, during this 11 years, I have accrued 2 properties - which makes the income tax return somewhat tricky. Not the sort of thing I could do on my own, that's for sure.

So, I rocked up to my last accountant, the lovely (not) H&R Block, complete with my rather overflowing box of 11 years worth of receipts, contracts, and paperwork relating to my tax. The guy there, the so-called "manager", took one look at the box, and, I swear, audibly groaned. Suffice to say he was extremely unimpressed by the prospect of the honour of completing my tax.

But still I gave him my box, and headed off. Until 3 weeks later, when I phoned to find out the progress on said box - and discovered he hadn't even taken the lid off it. So, under the premise of "I need some paperwork from the box, and would sort it out into financial years", I rocked back up to H&R Block and picked up my box - never, ever, to darken the door of that establishment again.

Doing my research, I realised that I would need an accountant who knew a bit about property investment, which is how I found my current one. I made the necessary appointment and rocked up there with the box. A 30 minute consultation later and I had been assured that they would do the very best for me.

The only problem is, in choosing to return to Australia mid tax year, I would appear to have disadvantaged myself taxwise, as clearly I can only get back that tax which I have paid - and having only worked not even 6 months of the tax year, that is a relatively paltry sum in comparison to that which I could have earned had I been working for a full 12 months. Alas, this can not be helped.

But what could have been helped, and should have been helped, is that I should have checked what this new accountants' fee would be. I didn't, and now I am seriously paying the price.

Because the blighters have charged me a whopping $250 per hour to complete this return - and suffice to say with 11 years or so, it has taken the guy about 10 hours or so to do the work. So, today, he presented me with the outcome - a paltry sum in comparison for a return, similar to that which funded my airfare to England 11 years ago - which was achieved without the so-called 'benefit' of negatively-geared property - and from which will come the whopping $2500 fee for the privilege.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding!

So again, Kylie gets seriously ripped off - this pittance refund will only make a tiny dent on my credit card bill, let alone do what I had hoped, which was fund a return trip to England, or at the bare minimum, buy me a Mac Mini... or enable me to get proper broadband in my house...

Crap!

Bethany's Birthday

Well I know its been a while since I did some blogging, but alas, I have been somewhat busy.

Just thought I'd drop a quick line about the lovely birthday party we had at Mel's for Bethany a few weeks back. It was her second birthday, and it was really lovely because Nanny, who has been unable to leave the house for about 9 months or so now, was able to come too.

The whole family was there (well except for Mum and Dad of course who are sailing) and we just had a wonderful time!

The gorgeous birthday girl herself