The Time Has Come...

... for a little privacy.

As much as I love the fact that probably the only people who read my blog are strangers, I am increasingly becoming aware that I have to talk in code or something as kids from school can find it in google search engines.

Therefore, my blog is going private.  If you want to read this after the end of next week (i.e. after June 6th) then you had better send me a request (via the comments section will do) and I will add you.  You'll need to put your email address in (don't worry, I won't publish the comment so you won't get random lots of spam).

After that, www.kmuki.com will be dead to you...

So come on world, sign up!

Road Rage In The School Car Park

This morning the most bizarre thing happened to me.  Road rage - in the school car park!

Now I can (sort of) understand road rage on the highway, or in traffic when tempers are frayed - but in the school car park?  Honestly, I still can't quite believe it.  I'm still not really sure what happened.  Basically, as I rounded the corner from the lane into the car park, I could see that the car park boom gates were up, and the tail lights of a colleagues' car rounding the corner, meaning they had just gone through - but I don't know how long those gates stay up after a car has passed.  Lickety split, quick as a flash, I floored it to get through.  I mean, you don't want the booms coming down on you as you're passing through the gate now do you?

This then meant I had a bit of a speed up going on, as I rounded the first corner looking for a park.  And as usual, I was running late - which at my school means that the chances of you getting a park in the staff car park are quite slim, because there aren't enough spaces for all the cars.  So I guess I was a little pre-occupied with looking for an empty space.

Suddenly, I spied one - but the car that had gone through the boom gates in front of me got there first, and took it.  Except that clearly this woman doesn't know the size of her car, and she had selected, shall we say, one of the more narrow parks - and her vehicle was wide.  She misjudged the angle needed, thus resulting in the need for her to reverse to straighten up.  Except - she didn't check to see the coast was clear before whacking the car in reverse.  She was bearing straight down on me!

I had no other course of action but to floor it, narrowly squeezing past - and pulling into the next available space some several cars down from her.  I didn't think any more of it, I had my spot, and she hadn't backed into me, so I got out and started to get my stuff out of the car.

Next thing I know, this woman is practically in my face. "Didn't you see me reversing?  I nearly hit you!"  she squealed at me - in front of colleagues (one of whom had her daughter with her, who attends our school).  So she goes off into one, ranting and raving, a full, proper road rage carry on!  She wouldn't shut up about it.  So I calmly pointed out that she didn't check her mirrors before reversing.  "I didn't need to check my mirrors, I was in front!"  Yeah, right, honey.  You just keep telling yourself that!  What a nutter!

So I hotfooted it out of there, but as luck would have it, every time I turned around today, I saw that silly woman.  When I left my classroom, she was there.  When I went to the staffroom, she was there.  When I went to my office, she was in the corridor on the way.  Aaaaggghhhh!!

And I'll bet, she'll be the car in front of me again tomorrow as I pass through the boom gates... what's the chance eh?

Hallelujah! It's All Over...!

Hallelujah! It's all over...

For the past 5 months, my Wednesday afternoons and Friday afternoons have been given over to working with kids on the musical (which I can't name as it could come up in search engines). This musical was apparently on London's West End last year (although I never heard of it whilst I was there, and it didn't last for very long) and apparently has been in Melbourne too (like that's a real benchmark!).  

Anyway, it is quite different from your traditional musicals. For starters, we had to rewrite quite a large portion of it, because the lyrics were just too suggestive and crude. Well, its a mickey take of a famous European song contest, right?  What do you expect?

We also had to add in some acting vignettes, because otherwise there was no acting needed at all. The clever thing about this show (other than the music) is that the audience gets to vote for the 'winner'. We ran our performance for 3 nights, and the first two nights Iceland won, and the last night was Ireland. It was very successful and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

Anyway, I'm just glad its all over!

Here are some youtube clips to give you an idea of what the songs were like (these clips are from the West End performances).

Da Da Da Da Da - I'm Lovin' It!

So I'm just sitting here in the food court at Strathpine Westfield's after having been to see the absolutely magnificent Angels and Demons and I have made a fabulous discovery. The Macca's here has free wifi which I, having not purchased any Macdonalds, am able to use! How brilliant is that?

Which means, next time I come here to the movies with the boys I can sit downstairs and use the net whilst waiting for them to finish up at Gamezone! Everyone wins!

Now everyone knows that Maccas has wifi, but I didn't expect to find it in a food court one! Fantastic! Congratulations, Australia! The rest of the world welcomes you to the 21st century!!

Addendum:  I found out the wifi also works if you're going through drive-thru - so I can check my emails whilst waiting for my burger!  Cool!

Nobody Loves Me, Everybody Hates Me, Think I'll Eat Some Worms!

This week has been a tough week. Its been go, go, go at school, the weather has been diabolical - flooding causing lots of traffic headaches and on top of that, I've been (in the attempt to improve my commute to work) house sitting for a friend. And I have, as a result of that experience, come to realise that nobody loves me, everybody hates me - think I'll eat some worms!

What makes me think that? Well, let's see - I was always taught to look at the evidence and see where it points, always taught that where there is smoke, there's fire - that sort of thing - so I'll show you the evidence.

My friend's house is in the same street as another mate. So, when I knew I would be housesitting there, I let my other friend know. I had visions of late night coffees, lengthy chats, a nice gossipy chin wag, maybe going to the nearby cinema for a movie... but alas, none of that has eventuated. In fact, I haven't even had so much as a text or an email from that friend! Now, I know that for the past few days she has been away (and I have been at school musical) - so meeting up wouldn't have been possible - but still - we didn't manage to sort anything out in the first few days I was there. Thus, your Honour, if it please the court, I enter exhibit A into evidence.

Exhibit B. My email inbox. Aside from a bunch of spam emails, I have had, this week, absolutely no emails from friends or family. Zip. Nada. Granted, the only one who usually emails me is my Dad, and he's been away - but Mum has her own little netbook thing, and has her own email on it. What's to stop her?

And finally, exhibit C. I sent a text to my sister earlier this week saying that as I was nearer to her place now than before, if her boys weren't playing soccer this weekend maybe I could take them to the movies (I was thinking specifically of Night At The Museum 2) Saturday morning. I can't do it Saturday afternoon because I have to go to school for the last performance of the musical, but the morning would've worked.

Did she even write back? No. Nothing. Not even an acknowledgement text. And there have been no phone calls from anyone else in my family either.

So as far as I'm concerned, the evidence is overwhelming. Nobody loves me, everybody hates me - think I'll eat some worms! (Either that or move to South Africa or something!)

Addendum:  Murphy's Law, isn't it - I post this and then my Dad phones me, just when I'm at a performance of the school musical - and the one time I haven't turned my phone off.  Thanks a lot Dad!

In Darkest Brisbane - And There's No Way Out

Two weeks ago, I was in the unfortunate position of having to drive home from the city on a Friday night, when one of the biggest rugby league games this year (well, in Brisbane terms anyway) was taking place at Suncorp Stadium. Basically, the police cordoned off all the roads around the venue and put up ridiculous detour signs. It took me almost an hour and a half to get home.

Then today, with the extreme weather and resultant flash floods we've been having, I found myself trying to make my way home from school late at night, and again, the roads were cordoned off and there were silly little men, in psychadelic flourescent vests and with airline controller batons, directing you off into the ether.

The thing that gets me is this - they put detour signs up at the point of road closure, have men with their airline control batons waving them randomly in the air, have roads blocked off by police vehicles and so on - but they don't tell you how to get from where you were to the other side of the blockage. So for example, tonight the area blocked off would have been realistically not even 1 km. I could see where I needed to be on the other side of the road block. But could I get to it? No!

I was 3 times being redirected back to exactly the same location, and I had had an absolute gutful. Tired, cross and desperate to go home, I eventually just stopped in front of some moron in the flouro vest, whacked on the hazards and proceeded to bale the poor beggar out. How dare they put up a detour sign and then not follow it through so that you end up the other end of where you wanted to go? Even the bloke I had a go at could see the flaw in this stupid "logic".

As a result, I got diverted so far out of my way I thought I was en route to Jupiter or something. Took me an hour and a half to travel 19.5 kms.

Thanks very much BCC! (stupid idiots...)

Wayne Brady @ QPAC Concert Hall

So tonight I went to see Wayne Brady, from Who's Line Is It Anyway, at QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Complex). The name of the programme was "Making S%!t Up" and it was a mix of his improv show, plus his singing talents.

Personally I thought the whole thing was very good. A world class performer in a relatively decent venue - what more could you want? Oh yeah. Cheaper tickets.

Would you believe that tickets for this cost $89! $89! That's like £45! I mean, seriously?! I would only pay that for a really famous, really top class performance in London - and I got to see lots of famous people, and lots of top class performances, for half the price! Still, that's what it cost, so that's what I paid.

I guess I got my money's worth. I mean, he was very good, the improv was good (his part of it anyway) - but the bad bit was they played some of the games from Who's Line Is It Anyway (not a problem) - but with some of the audience members. Now to be perfectly frank, it was bad enough to pay $89 for the professional - but $89 to watch a bunch of audience wannabes get up and do not very much at all - not so good.

After his improv set, he did a vocal set - but most people had come to see the improv, so it was really lost on them. I thought he was good though - good enough at least to buy the CD!

Anyway, for my first concert at QPAC in 11 years - it was pretty good. He's well worth seeing, if you ever get the chance...

Anzac Day and Elgato TV

April 25 in Australia is Anzac Day.

Usually I spend Anzac Day at school, but now that I'm back in Oz, its a public holiday (of sorts - but more on that later), so I get the day off, like everyone else.

Its a strange public holiday though. Unlike Australia Day, where, if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, they give you the Monday in lieu, so you get a long weekend, Anzac Day holiday is taken on the day it falls - even if that is, like in this case, a Saturday. Not that I've ever minded before - because every Anzac Day I can remember in Australia has basically involved me getting up at some ungodly hour and going to play in the Salvo band in the near darkness and freezing cold at the Sandgate RSL Dawn service, then off to Nundah and Banyo for their respective services (where the Banyo guy always got the officer's name wrong) before finally making it into town for the big march. Which meant, that when it was all over around 1pm, you were so shattered, that all you wanted to do was go home and sleep - which was what you did. So I never noticed that the shops weren't actually open on Anzac Day.

But this year, because its been soooo busy at school, and because, let's face it, it takes me an eternity to get home, I had a whole stack of errands that I needed to run on my one day off. Particularly because the next day, Sunday, was a whole day rehearsal for the school musical - so there would be no chance to get anything done then.

Well, I had to kiss any idea of getting errands run goodbye, as everything was closed. The only thing that was open, as usual, were the pubs and the TAB - because what do old diggers want to do after the march? Drink and bet, of course.

Anyway, that's not really the main point of this post. This year, because I don't play in any Salvo band anymore, I didn't have services and marches to go to - so I managed a little sleep in. And then, I set up my lovely Elgato Hybrid TV tuner on my lovely Mac, and was able to watch (and record) TV on my computer. So, seeing as there never is anything on telly on Anzac Day but war movies or the march in town, I started to watch that. I began to get a little reminiscient of days gone by, when we would march - and to be honest, I would have to say I missed it a little.

But after that, the ABC (Aussie version of BBC but way, way WAY more boring) were showing the 94th anniversary service from Gallipoli. I was so glad I watched this, because 10 years ago I was there at a dawn service at Gallipoli, and it was one of the most moving things I've ever done. There is absolutely nothing like standing there in the freezing cold, pitch darkness, listening to some Maori dude waving a bullroarer whilst standing on some cenotaph, and thinking about the Anzacs and what they have done for our country. Just special - something I will never forget, for as long as I live.

So I was glad that, despite the fact I didn't get my errands run today - I got to remember the sacrifice the Anzacs made, and think about the effect they have had on our way of life.

Lest We Forget...

The 36 Hour Journey Home

So the next morning, Thursday, I made my way to the airport for the long journey home. I thought I knew how long it would be (should've been 23 hours or so) but oh, how wrong I was!

The first thing I had to face was, how to get all my luggage on the plane. You see, I had bought (being the good aunty I am) quite a lot of things for my lovely nephews and nieces, plus a soprano sax for me, so I had really quite a lot of luggage. Possibly more than my allotted 20kg. And the problem with airline travel is that you are only allowed 1 piece of hand luggage (although the number of people I see who simply can't count - and who get away with it - is just phenomenal). The trick to taking more luggage than you are allowed is simply to get it somehow passed the clerk at check in. If you can manage that, you're home and hosed, as at the scanners going through to the departure lounge, no one checks the number of bags you are carrying. So, you just got to get it passed that first hurdle.

Problem is, I have 1 huge oversize bag which is absolutely chockers with my clothes, shoes, Baby Gap stuff for 2 little girls, and....

... Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock! What? Yes, you heard me, Guitar Hero - for playstation 2, for my nephews. I saw it at HMV for £20, which was just incredible - that's like $50, when in Oz, I had seen it (at the time) for $100 or more. So that was a good bargain - provided I can actually get it home.

Anyway, continuing with the problem. So, I have a huge oversize (and possibly overweight) bag to check in, plus, a chockers carry on bag (with all the heavy things from my luggage - including mugs, stuff for my computer and so on), a handbag, camera bag - and - a soprano saxophone. How can I make a carry on bag, a handbag, camera bag and a soprano saxophone look like just 1 piece of carryon luggage?

Simple. I managed to squeeze the camera bag and hand bag into the already overstuffed carryon. Now I had the problem of the soprano. There was no way it could fit in the bag (it was too long for it, for starters), and no way I could fit it in my check in luggage - plus I wasn't convinced it wouldn't get damaged there.

So, I grabbed a trolley to carry my luggage over to the counter, and I hung the sop case on the small hook over the front of the trolley, covering that with my coat. From the counter, you could not tell there was a bag hanging behind the trolley. Perfect! And it worked, too!

So anyway, I checked in and went through to the departure lounge, settling in for a coffee and preparing myself for the lengthy trip.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur was fairly uneventful, except that again the flight wasn't full, so I quickly spied my opportunity to have a row of seats to myself and at the first possible chance, took it. Excellent - 3 seats all to myself! I actually managed a little sleep on that leg of the journey.

But once we arrived to KL, the drama started. I should've only had 1 1/2 hrs stopover - but by the time we arrived, we were late - and had only 30 minutes. Ok, I can handle that - although I would've liked the chance to do a little shopping. So I boarded the last leg of my journey, found my seat, settled in and waited for take off. And waited. And waited.

Finally the announcement came over that there was some sort of technical hitch with the landing gear of the plane or something, but technicians were working on it. An hour later, and we still haven't moved. Then the situation starts to get dire, because the flight that we were on, for some completely insane reason, didn't fly direct to Brisbane, no, we had to go to Sydney first. (If I had actually read the ticket itinerary properly I would've realised that in advance - but anyway). Ok, so we have to go to Sydney. Fine.

Problem. In Sydney, because of the location of the airport in relation to houses and so on, they have a stupid curfew. This therefore meant that, if we didn't take off by midday KL time, we wouldn't be able to land in Sydney. Fine - fly straight to Brisbane and make the Sydney bound people suffer. They can stay in Brisbane and get a transfer back to Sydney. A completely logical solution.

You'd think, wouldn't you. It does make sense - to anyone going to Brisbane, or anyone with half a brain - but alas, not to the airline. So, when midday came and went, they took us off the plane (having made us sit there for 3 hours) and decided to put us up in a hotel for 12 hours.

Great, maybe I can see a bit of KL if I hurry. Petronas Towers, anyone? But alas, it wasn't to be - as the hotel they took us to was 2 hours bus ride out of KL (that makes sense doesn't it - put us up in a hotel the equivalent distance of Gympie or something from Brisbane). By the time we got there and had lunch, we really only had an hour or so to lie down before it was time to come back!

Suffice to say I wasn't really impressed. By the time I got home (and yes, we had to get off the plane - with all our luggage - in Sydney, go through some stupid scanners, and then get straight back on the SAME PLANE as before) I was absolutely shattered!

I worked out it took me 36 hours in the end... what a waste of time...and a wasted opportunity to maybe see another country...

Star Wars: A Musical Journey

So, when I left off, I was en route to Sutton for a few days with my mates from the Army.

On Saturday I headed off to Tariro's to see just who might be about, and spent most of the day there with Becci and Laura catching up.  Got to see a few others, Adam, Gemma and the lovely Hope, who is sooo grown up now, as well as Graeme and Emily and so on.  It was nice.

Saturday night I went with Laura to the O2 to see Star Wars: A Musical Journey. The last time I was at the O2 was when it was the ill-fated Millennium Dome, which to be honest, I don't remember much of, as it was so crap. Seem to recall some Blackadder Back and Forth film, and that giant body thing (which was rubbish), a few street performers and that's about it. So I was quite interested to see what they've done with the thing since then, especially because of all the debate about what to do with it once the millennium experience was over.

Its actually pretty good, there's a load of restaurants and things, and a cinema, and then the big arena, exhibition areas and so on - I was quite impressed.  And the Star Wars? It was just awesome!  We arrived there and were instantly enveloped in fans of all shapes and sizes, kitted out in all sorts of Star Wars paraphenalia - just like a regular Star Wars convention.  It was fantastic!  I instantly went a bit nuts at the merchandise counters, trying to decide what to buy at this once in a lifetime experience... Laura was much more level-headed about it all, concentrating on taking photos and absorbing the atmosphere... whilst I was like a little kid lost in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!

The performance was awesome, magnificent music, played magnificiently, and timed to match the video scene changes and laser display.  Just wonderful.

The next day, Sunday, I was at Sutton, and was able to catch up with my friends, which was fab.  Katie, Andy, Laura and I went for lunch at the Belmont, a traditional Sunday carvery, just yum.  We then spent the afternoon playing guitar hero, which I was actually terrible at - primarily because there really isn't any musical rhyme nor reason to the timings of the dots passing on the staff.  That being said, the wii version, which they have, is more musical than the PS2 one, which I really can't play at all.  Oh well.

Monday was a rushed trip back to Agnieszka's to dump my stuff then whizz out to Jessie's to say g'day.  Unfortunately Jess had injured her foot and was really unable to walk around anywhere much - so I went out to hers, rather than meet up with her in town.  The problem was, being a public holiday (Easter Monday) many of the buses were on strange timetables, and also, there was engineering works on the train, so a journey which should've taken maybe an hour took more than 2 1/2!  Incredible...

We had a lovely afternoon catching up.

Tuesday was a day of saying hi to kids at the Royal Festival Hall, plus saying farewell to Erik, before heading out to meet with Steve and Jo and the kids.  We had a lovely dinner, Ira and Neil and Col came too, and it was so nice to see everyone.

Wednesday was a day of lastminute shopping, saying goodbye to Mat, and a dinner with Ken and Jeff.  It was lovely to see Ken and Jeff, and we had a really good evening.

I stayed over at Ken's, as it was easier to head off to the airport the next day from there.

How quickly the time has gone!  I can't quite believe it!