Madagascar 3 Madness

So on Tuesday my niece Miss M rings me.

"Aunty Kylie," she sweetly intones in that very cute way of hers, "next holiday, can we have a sleepover?"  In the background you can hear Miss G piping up "Me too, me too!"  Well, as it transpires, no, we can't have a sleepover next holiday - cos next holiday starts next weekend and they are going camping with the rest of my family to Bonnydoon (no, not really - but I can't pronounce where they're going so we've all just been calling it, "Bonnydoon") - and anyway, I'm going on a school trip to Cambodia.

But that doesn't mean we can't have a sleepover this weekend - and all that this entails.  Basically, a sleepover at Aunty Kylie's involves the following: junk food, junk food, and more junk food.  Lots of Barbie movies on the TV.  Maybe a trip to the movies or at the very least, the local park.  Drawing, playing with dolls, laughing at the cuckoo clock, occasionally a spot of cooking - but always, junk food and lots of fun.  Oh, and its an unwritten rule that whatever the sleepover guest wants (i.e. Miss M or Miss G), they get.  But I learned last time not to take the guest shopping for the junk food - no, that results in way more junk food than we (a) want or (b) need.  So I did that bit, a couple of days ago.

Anyway, I get the phone call that Miss M and Miss G are ready to go, so we meet at Chermside.  Madagascar 3 is on, so we decided to go see that.  Two very excited little girls jumping up and down at my side as we queue for tickets, then finally, we are in the cinema.  Munching happily on twisties and drinking barbie / dora drinks, I think, can it get any better than this?  Then the movie starts, and I realise that this was probably the worst choice of film to take them to.  Plot?  What plot?  Well, to be fair, there was a plot - but it was, in my opinion, way above the understanding of Miss 5 and Miss 3.  Hence the PG rating, I guess.

It was all too much for Miss G, who promptly starts demanding her 'blanky'.   Well, at least that's what I think she wants - when she says it, it sounds like she's saying 'manky', so I usually do a double take.  Only problem is that manky is in the boot of the car, and in order for us to get it, we'd have to all leave the cinema - its not like I can leave Miss 5 alone in the movies to go get a manky from the car.  The news of this prompts more tears however.

Fortunately, the tiredness and sugar crash from the party they'd attended earlier kicked in, and Miss G nodded off.  Miss M stuck the movie out to the end.  We had to wake Miss G who was deep out of it as we left - and then who promptly wanted to go to the paid bouncing castle next to the cinema.  Oh well, it'll kill a bit of time - off we went.

They played quite nicely there, even played with the other children and built several forts, the purpose of which always was to knock down afterwards.  Soon enough it was time to go.

Back at the ranch, and immediately it was Barbie movies on the box.  Barbie Nutcracker being the favoured one.    Then Barbie Rapunzel.  Then we lost attention span with Barbie and wanted to do some drawing - which at the moment consists of asking Aunty Kylie to draw something which she is then supposed to display on her wall.  There is a reason Aunty Kylie is a music teacher and not a teacher of Art!

Dinner - no one wants it - then more Barbie - then Miss G drops the iPad on her foot, cutting her toes - and the night went downhill from there.  Didn't want a bandaid.  Didn't want me to wipe off the blood. Wanted to go home.  Didn't want to go home.  Wanted Mummy.  More tears.  Finally we call Mummy and then Miss G says she wants to stay for the 'leep over'.  Ok, great.

But at 9.30 it was a totally different matter.  No one was sleeping.  One of the airbeds had sprung a leak and deflated.  Miss G wants to go home - really - and there are tears with this.  But Mummy isn't answering the phone (she's at a movie herself), and the only way to get Miss G to calm down is to tell her that Mummy is on her way (liar! liar!).

Finally Miss G nods off - and Mummy calls - and the decision is made not to pick up Miss G - she'll probably sleep through the night, right?  Wrong.  1am, 2am, 3am, we saw them all.  Each time crying, "want Mummy!"

I swear I have never known tiredness on any level as draining as this.  Miss M enjoyed herself though, sprawled out across my bed so I had nowhere to go.

But you know what?  I'd do it all again - just love those little precious gems...

Reflections on NYE 2012

This is a post that I started in January - but now with the new blogger, when I published it just now, its no longer in chronological order.  Oh well.  Here it is anyway:

Seeing that last year I was so dismal on the blogging front (a measly 6 posts!) I'm not really sure how successful I'll go with blogging 2012 style, but anyway, here goes.

I saw the New Year in with my dear friend Aga in Sydney, which was fabulous. Having never been to Sydney for New Years I didn't really know what to expect - sure, I knew there would be fireworks - I've seen them on the telly before - but I really didn't comprehend the magnitude of the whole thing!

You see, we arrived in Sydney a few days early, on the 29th, to a rather miserable day. I met Aga at the airport as she was arriving from Melbourne, and then we got the free shuttle to our hostel West End Nomad Backpackers in Pitt St. The shuttle was free because we were staying more than 3 nights - and actually, this should've been my first clue to how mad the city would be at this time of year, because when we tried to book our accommodation, there was really not much left at all, and that which was available had a minimum booking period of 5 nights, or 7 nights, or in many cases, 14 nights. Madness. We were lucky to get in at Nomads!


Anyway, we checked in to our hostel (or rather, we tried to check in but they told us we couldn't until 2pm or some silliness, so we left our luggage there in the very manky, very damp and smelly luggage room - the key to which had a huge bit of pvc pipe as its keyring) and then headed off for a spot of sightseeing - after a Starbucks, of course!


We decided to do the open top HOHO (hop on, hop off) bus tour, as then at least we could see a bit of Sydney before maybe meeting up with Uncle David later.  This actually wasn't so bad, despite the weather being a bit inclement - it didn't actually rain but it was overcast, although at one point (as luck would have it, when we arrived at Bondi) the sun came out and it was actually quite warm.  A good thing if you're at the beach in your togs, but a bad thing if you're decked out in jeans, as we were!  Oh well, it didn't stop us going for a bit of a paddle though!


In the evening of the first day we met with Uncle David for dinner, heading off to a place in Chinatown.  It was actually quite pleasant, and we wandered a little bit around the immediate vicinity first, stopping to get a $2 etching of our profiles (which actually looked nothing like us!), before enjoying our meal, which was lovely.   David was on fine form as usual, chatting with everyone we met, including tipping the street entertainer (who was really awesome, actually, such a fine example of excellent core body strength in his display) rather well.  


The next day he picked us up around 7.30am and we headed off for the Blue Mountains.  This was a fabulous day, even if it was quite cold.  I really enjoyed visiting the town of Leura, where we had a magnificent brunch, and a good stickybeak in the shops.  Then it was off to Katoomba, where after taking the obligatory pics of the Three Sisters, we headed off on a quick walk to see them.   There was a bit of a queue to get out to the ledge bit - but it was all worth it.

After this we headed to the actual Blue Mountains resort thing and did the skyway and the railway - the steepest rail incline in the world.  It was brilliant, we had a lovely time walking through the rainforest also - truly beautiful.

It was getting on a bit in the afternoon but we decided, rather than drive back to Sydney and hunt for a restaurant, seeing as David has a full picnic set and portable stove thing in the car, we might as well have a BBQ.  We went to Coles to get some meat - and I saw they had Kangaroo.  Aga, having never tried kangaroo, was quite keen on the idea - so we bought it, and had beautiful skippy steaks.  It was really a magnificent end to a lovely day.

The next day was New Years Eve - we got up late, did a spot of shopping (spot isn't really the word, Aga practically bought out Myers of its Ralph Lauren sheets and bedding) - had to take the shopping back to the hostel - then did the usual sightseeing things - Harbour, Harbour cruise, Opera House etc - before heading off to queue for our spot to see the fireworks.  Unfortunately though we didn't think to queue early enough, so all the best spots were taken - Lady Macquaries chair, the Opera House forecourt etc - and we ended up at the Observatory.  It wasn't so bad - Aga was disappointed though as she really wanted to see the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge behind for her photos.  But I knew if we left there, we'd lose our spot, and we quite likely wouldn't get anything else - so we'd totally miss out.  So I had to sweet talk her into staying.

It was wonderful though.  The fireworks were just magnificent.  I was so pleased to be in Sydney, with the Harbour Bridge behind, watching the fireworks and seeing in 2012.

After the fireworks we ended up walking all the way back to the hostel as there was no transport really.  Crashed into bed, then the next day, up and att'em - off for more sightseeing - before our wonderful Harbour Bridge climb in the afternoon.  It was fantastic.  I was actually quite scared when we started, because although I don't really think I'm afraid of heights - still when you're standing on a see-through grill high above the fast moving Sydney traffic - and you still haven't actually got on to the bridge yet - that's scary.  But once we actually got on the bridge, the 'floor' is fully enclosed - so you can't see cars and trains whooshing past underneath.  

We spent a wonderful 3 hours on the bridge, and then it was time to come down.  Headed off for dinner with one of the girls who'd been on our climb.

All too soon though our Sydney extravaganza was over - the next day, very early, Agnieszka had to head off to the airport for her journey back to London.  Sad to see her go, but boy, we'd had a great time!  Happy New Year!

Jazz at the Spiegeltent

After the joys of the boys in the morning (the Vienna boys choir, that is!) I then had the pleasure to attend Sunday afternoon jazz at the Spiegeltent, as part of the Brisbane Festival.  I was quite proud of this, as I had done something VERY CLEVER - by booking the ticket through school as part of 'professional learning' (because one of the performers did a workshop with our kids) - I can write myself a certificate and count 3 hours of professional development towards the stupid 30 we have to do as part of maintaining teacher registration!  I'm now even thinking, given that the Vienna Boys choir concert feature SSA singing, that I might be able to stick that down as PD as well!

Anyway, the concert was quite good.  The first group, the interestingly named Luara Carlson-Carp trio (either a typo and it should really be Laura - or the product of yet another parent who can't spell, and thus lumps their child with some stupid name for the rest of their life - methinks the latter more likely!) were surprisingly quite good.  She has a lovely, silky, inoffensive quality to her voice.  Whilst I wouldn't go buy the CD, I could listen to her again if I had to.

The second group was the Jacam Manricks (seriously, where do they dig up these names?) band - and they were VERY GOOD.  Fantastic in fact.  I loved it.  Or maybe I just loved him - he is sooo cute!  Regardless, I've never heard anyone play a saxophone like that - not even at Ronnie Scotts - well actually I never heard any saxophonists at Ronny Scotts anyway!  It was just amazing.

The final group was the one we'd actually come to see - Ingrid James and the San Gabriel 7 featuring Bill Watrous.  Awesome.  Clearly the best group there, they literally wiped the floor with everyone else.  Magnificent.  I mean, maybe I'm a bit biased - Ingrid James is after all the mother of one of the girls I teach and she comes to our Weight Watchers meetings also - but still, they were clearly the best.

So in all, a very pleasant Sunday - with the added bonus of ticking off another hour of professional development!  Nice one!

Bye bye, kmuki.com!

Recently I posted about my frustration at having discovered that my blog address, www.kmuki.com, was no longer pointing to my blog, but to some bizarre word press thing.  Well, I did a bit of digging to try to find out how I could my domain back, and boy, it gets interesting.

First thing I did was hunt through google apps website - to no avail - to try to find where I could pay for the thing.  Nope, no luck there.  Did a google search on how to renew the subscription - but you can't do that if its not showing in your account settings anyway.  So no dice there.

But I did find a link that told me that the address was now owned by a company called enom.  So, as I couldn't find any way of contacting google for help - there's no email addresses there to contact anyone - I tried then contacting enom.  Who promptly wrote back with the godaddy.com search that I had found before, telling me that my domain, kmuki.com, is now owned by a Patrick Edwards, of Parker, Colorado.  No business name but I have gleaned, from his email address, that he's probably a chartered accountant or something - he has CPA in his email address.

I wrote to Mr Edwards and basically asked him if he was a business that bought / sold domains, or whether he was a private company that just happened to buy this one.  I explained how it had been my blog address and the situation behind how it came to expire.  And the blighter didn't answer my questions, but wrote back saying he'd sell it to me, for the right price.

So, I wrote back again - again asking what sort of company he was, and asking what he'd paid for it, what currency etc.  The prick wrote back wanting $400 USD for it - for a free domain that cost $15/year to maintain (and would still cost $15 / year or so even if I bought it back) - now honestly, as if I'm going to pay $400 for a more personal blog address on a blog I rarely use (although I've posted 3 posts or so in the last few days).  Get stuffed.

So alas, kmuki.com has gone.  But I'm being a bit sneaky - I can have kmuki.net if I want - $9 - and I can 'backorder' kmuki.com when it becomes available again.  So look out Mr Patrick Greedy Edwards - kmuki.com might just be back with its rightful owner sooner than you think!

Hold the Pergolesi

If you told me last night that today I would go hear the Vienna Boys Choir I would have laughed in your face - primarily because everyone knows that concerts at QPAC cost an arm and a leg (why? I don't know) and this would certainly be true of a world class choir of the calibre as this - so of course I wouldn't be going. Yet this morning, lying in bed, I discovered that there still were some of the cheaper ($69 mind you!) tickets available, and on a whim, given I would be at South Bank later today for a much cheaper event, I decided to hop on the train and go. Fortunately the $5.95 online booking fee prohibited me from booing the tickets online - I figured, given the lateness of the hour and the fact tickets were still showing as available, I'd just try my luck at the box office. Luckily I did, as, whilst waiting in the queue for tickets, a woman approached and asked if I wanted a free one. She was from Kenmore high school and they'd had a no show, so rather than let the ticket waste, it was mine if I wanted it. I however couldn't in all conscience take it for free, so I offered her what was in my wallet - $20 - and the ticket was mine. I couldn't believe my luck!

The concert consisted of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, followed by an interval and then a selection of shorter pieces. First of all, someone needs to educate the Brisbane concert public on concert etiquette. You absolutely DO NOT clap after EVERY SINGLE SECTION of a major work like the Stabat Mater!  How to look like a bunch of provincial, uneducated plebs! It was quite disgraceful - but then I realised - alas, so was the performance! Just diabolical! Intonation all over the shop, soloists who REALLY SHOULDN'T be soloists (some very good ones of course, but some shockers!) - and wherever did they drag up that string quartet? Hopefully not Brisbane locals (but alas I strongly suspect they were!).  I quite seriously was disappointed and debated not returning for the second half. But what to do to kill time in the meantime?

In the end, I returned for the second half - and was quite pleased I did. Much, MUCH better performance.  Mozart's Laudate Dominium particularly was a stand out. And the Trisch Trasch polka was quite good.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning - now lets see how the Spiegeltent gig shapes up...

Something Weird Going On

Something weird is going on with blogger.  Ok, granted I haven't posted on here for, well, a VERY LONG TIME - but still, I don't get it.  I tried to open my blog today and discovered that my address, the wonderful www.kmuki.com, now points to some strange wordpress thing - and my blog is missing!  This is most definitely NOT GOOD.

When I tried to contact blogger about it - do you think I could? No, there's no way of actually contacting blogger.  And because there's now all this weird google stuff going through blogger, google apps and so on - I can't even figure out if the issue is caused by the fact I should've paid some money or something.  Pretty odd if I have to, considering that www.kmuki.com was set up as a free address.

But what takes the cake is that I can't even find the tab on google apps to let me change my bank account / payment details if I wanted to...

Meanwhile, I've tried, for now, to solve the problem by going back to www.kmuki.blogspot.com.  Let's see if in the next few days I can figure it out and GET MY BLOG BACK!!!