QCMF

There's a music festival held annually in Brisbane for all Catholic schools - the Queensland Catholic Schools and Colleges Music Festival.

Personally, I had never heard of the thing - but until this year I had never worked in a Catholic school in Brisbane, so I guess I wouldn't have heard of it. Apparently its been going for some time. Anyway, my current school, being Catholic, always goes in the competition - and always does well. In fact, the choir (my group) always score gold, as does the other choral groups in the school. You see, at this competition, there are no first, second and third places - its just gold, silver and bronze - and you could have several of them in the one category. In fact, everyone who goes in it gets bronze just for showing up.

Well yesterday was the festival, and my choir was in it. I was very worried, as I haven't been in the competition before, and I didn't think they'd do well enough, but luckily I was wrong. They did very well, scoring one of two golds given out for our section.

Not bad, eh?

On Being A Virgin

Yes, that's right. I'm a virgin... virgin wireless broadband, of course.

I'm not too sure what I think of them just yet, and probably for good reason. You see, I finally decided to invest in a mobile broadband pre-paid plan, rather than have the hassle of signing up for a lengthy (and expensive) contract with a broadband provider, buying a modem, paying all the necessary set up charges and the like. So I did some research (no easy task, there's not really a good comparison website for these sorts of things in Australia), and decided that buying a wireless modem (why oh why did I ever leave mine in the UK?) for $129 and then buying 'top up' vouchers as required, was the way to go. The cheapest deal for this (other than Telstra, who seriously suck) was Virgin. So I ordered their modem online and a few days later it arrived in the mail. Sweet.

Except that when I went to set it up, it didn't work. At all. So I tried it on a PC. Works fine. Plugged it back into my mac. Nope, no luck. Phoned up the blighters, followed all their silly instructions. Still no luck. This is most definitely not good now, as they have a "no refund" policy. Crap.

So I resorted to searching copious online forums in the hope that someone had the solution - and lucky for me, they did. It took a bit of searching, bit of research, and a bit of faffing around - but finally I'm connected!

'Bout bleepin' time, too!

DIY Hair Colour

Why is that DIY hair colouring is never easy? I mean, it should be - its a simple case of mixing a bit of solution together, tipping that on your hair and waiting 25 minutes or so before washing it off. Shouldn't be a problem at all...

Except that it is! First of all, mixing that silly solution whilst wearing those slippery plastic gloves (which are way too big for your hand) is near on impossible. How many times did I drop that stupid bottle! Solution all over floor, and me frantically trying to wipe it up - succeeding only in practically gassing myself to death on the fumes whilst creating lovely brown streaks all over the floor! And then, when I finally managed to pick the bottle up, I put it on the melamine counter - and you guessed it, it left a gorgeous brown rim! Which of course, I can't remove...!

So I eventually get some of the stuff in my hair, piling it on top of my head akin to the beehive hair style out of Hairspray or something, only to have it come tumbling back down all over my face, dying it a gorgeous streaky pooh brown colour! But by now I've removed the gorgeous plastic gloves, which I've chucked in the bin, and have to use my bare hands to sort this mess out. This unfortunately leaves them a gorgeous pooh brown colour!

And then when I eventually sit out the 25 minutes and so on, and go to wash it all off, I discover many more spots and streaks of brown all over the counter - permanently stained of course (unfortunate for a rental property) - as well as the fact that my ears are now dyed brown also!

Why oh why is this so difficult? And the reason for this endeavour? Today at school I discovered in the bathroom mirror my roots showing... vanity is a curse...!

So as payment, tomorrow I'll be going to school looking like a panda...

Two Movies in Two Days

This weekend has been a busy one for me. Not only have I had the stress of picking up a new fridge, but I've also been out to IKEA to collect my new mattress, spent a couple of hours sandpapering and varnishing wood for my father, bur I've also got that stupid Catholic Colleges competition for school tomorrow. With all that on my plate, it's quote astonishing that I've also managed to squeeze two movies in.

The first was yesterday with the women from church. We went to see the very very sad "My sisters keeper". It was a lovely movie, one which would've brought me to tears but for the rest of the women who were bawling their eyes out already. I thought it was really well done, though.

Then tonight I met a friend in town and went to the Regent (a bit of a Brisbane institution) to see "Beautiful Kate". Although a somewhat sordid topic, it was well acted and well directed and well worth a look.

So now, on the train home, all that is left is for me to worry about this silly Catholic thing tomorrow...

Staff on Retreat

One of the strange things about working in a Catholic school is their strange sense of "spirituality" and religion. I have managed in the most part to deal with it, having learned fairly quickly the correct way to cross myself, and stopping myself from cringing each time, in the interests of political correctness, and in an endeavour to show support to more feminist sort of issues, they say "In the name of the Creator", instead of "In the name of the Father". I can sort of adapt to all these strange things, even the fact that as the teacher I have to greet every class with "Good morning ____ (e.g. Yr 8) and may God bless you". But I simply can not grasp the concept of the 'retreat'.

My idea of a 'retreat' would be to go on some sort of Bible camp or something, you know, a weekend away where you spend time praying, singing worship songs, reading the Bible, and talking deeply and meaningfully about your faith with others who are like-minded. And I enjoyed quite a lot of that sort of experience when growing up. But that is not what a Catholic retreat is. No sir-ee.

Instead, you go off for a day of whishy-washy faffiness. Where you skirt about the true issues of what it means to be a Christian, and just look at what it means to be vaguely 'spiritual' instead. Its a pile of bollocks, I can assure you.

So today, imagine my great joy and delight (sarcasm dripping there, can't you hear it) at the concept of spending a full day on "Staff Retreat". Poking my eyes out with a knitting needle would be much more enjoyable.

Or so I thought. Fortunately today we got to choose which workshops we endured, and luckily, I got my choices in quickly, which meant that I actually got those choices. So, for my first workshop, I went on a tour of the Mercy Heritage Centre, which is a Catholic Museum attached to the school, and for the second workshop, I was on "Finding God in the Cinema" which was about finding 'spiritual' moments in movies. This basically meant that we got to watch a load of movie clips and then 'discuss' them. Not a bad one, actually.

So on the whole, although I still feel like poking my eyes out at the thought of "Staff Retreat", it wasn't so bad today... but slightly surreal...

Brisbane Roar? Or Is That Whimper? Whimp, even?

On Saturday, before the big IKEA debacle, Beck phoned me up to see if I wanted to go see the soccer that night. Now I've actually never been to a live soccer game before, so I thought it could be kind of interesting, especially as it was on at Suncorp stadium, where they play all the big rugby league, and also because Beck had a special deal on the tickets - two for the price of one - so they would work out at about $16 each. Sure, why not, I thought?

Well, first of all, a good reason why not would be that Brisbane Roar should really be called Brisbane Whimps. They absolutely sucked! Which wasn't helped by the fact that the ref clearly forgot his little white cane - he was as blind as a bat!

But despite all that, and despite the Whimps losing, Beck and I had a good time...

Shopping at Ikea is So Easy...?

As many of you know, outside of the Apple Store on Regent Street, IKEA would have to be my most favourite store on the planet. Oh the joy, the sheer exhilarance of wandering around the gorgeous displays, dreaming about the endless possibilities - how you, too, could have an IKEA dream home for a reasonable price - the only limit (other than your pocket) is your imagination. It makes me literally dizzy with excitement. And to top it all off, you can have a (relatively cheap) yummy lunch of meatballs with lingonberry sauce - oh it takes me back to Sweden and the Icehotel...fabulous...

So of course, every available chance I get, off I choof to IKEA. Well, its not like I have a real lot else to do! The fact that the nearest store to me is no longer 3 miles away is irrelevant - no, that just adds to the adventure. Its at least an hour long journey now to my nearest store, the only one in Queensland (although apparently that's set to change with one being proposed at North Lakes) - and I relish every minute of the trip, psyching myself up for the buzz of wandering those hallowed showrooms, soaking up that IKEA millieu...

Alas, my last few journeys have unfortunately not been "all that". First of all, I've had literally no money with which to shop - so I've had to gaze longingly at the lovely items, pick them up if possible, play with them, sniff them, drool over them - and return them to the shelf. Except for my most expensive IKEA purchase to date - my bed. I was so pleased with that purchase, a piece of 'proper' IKEA, not the sort of quasi IKEA stuff I'd been buying (you know, small storage boxes, a dish scrubber and the like - the small stuff). A real proper thing - fantastic.

Except for the mattress. To be honest, I really have a lot of problems with mattresses lately. I guess its just because I'm getting older, but it seems to me that particularly in the last few years, I've had a lot of back problems if I sleep on a mattress which is too soft. Mattresses are a really difficult thing to get right. Luckily though, IKEA have the 'love it and exchange it' policy - which means that you can try the mattress at home, and if its not suitable, bring it back and exchange for another within that specific brand. There are a few other terms and conditions, but that's essentially it.

Well anyway, this mattress has been giving me a bit of gip, so finally I decided to take it back and exchange for a firmer one. Out we trot to IKEA - Dad needing to come too as I don't have a bullbar on my car so I can't tow a trailer - and I return the mattress. We then have a quick spot of lunch and head off to the showroom to try out the others.

Eventually I selected one that I liked - some $400 dearer mind you, but nonetheless, I thought it would be ok. So I tell the salesperson which one I've selected and then she does a check on the stock levels. Alas, they're out of stock. Hmm. What to do now - my original mattress has already been taken away...

I went back down to the exchange counter and explained the dilemma. She, too, had a look and discovered the stocks were out, so we set about setting up a 'case file' so that the new one could be ordered. She told me the difference in price - and it was $50 more than I thought it would be. Why? Well it turns out that the salesperson had given me the code for the Queen size - but I wanted a Double. Quickly the lady checked - and it seemed that they did actually have a Double in stock. Great, I'll take it. So she cancelled the previous paperwork and set about arranging for the correct mattress. Meanwhile, she was now technically working overtime, as she should've finished at 4, so when the paperwork was in order, she told me all I had to do was wait til my number was called, and it would be ok. 4.30 came and went. 4.45 passed. 5.00 too. Then at 5.15, (15 minutes after the store had closed), I was informed that there were no Doubles in stock! Problem!

'Cos now of course my other mattress has well and truly gone - and its getting late - and I don't have a bed to sleep in!

So the long and short of it is, I've got to sleep on my dodgy pull out sofa bed for a week until a new mattress comes in!

Kind of makes you re-think this photo then, eh?

A Month of Birthdays...

July has been one very difficult month for me, in terms of my diet. This is because this is the month of many birthdays in our family - 4th - Mel, 14th - Dad, 27th - Beck... so its pretty huge.

We chose to celebrate them this time with family dinners at Mum and Dad's. This has actually been quite good, although I have been very surprised at just how loud it is - when you have 7 adults and 5 kids all crowded around one small table, it is very, very NOISY! (in a nice enough way, I suppose).

It has been lovely to be able to spend these times with the family (although very hard-hitting on the old pocket, I assure you - and the hips) - and we've got round 4 tonight with Mum and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary... oy ve!

Anyway, here are some pics... alas I don't seem to have any of Mel's sorry, but if I get some I'll put them up here...

Dad's Birthday

Beck's Birthday

Desperate Times...

Well, I know I haven't posted here for a while, but boy has there been some stuff going on. Alas, all the concerns are ones to do with that one thing that causes everyone much concern... yes, I am speaking of money, and especially the lack thereof.

You see, as many of you know, I have 2 "investment" properties that I rent out - and I am currently renting the place I live in. Unfortunately, the cost of living in Brisbane over the last 10 years has seriously escalated, and it is not unheard of for me to have to spend quite a large whack of my salary on everyday necessities... you know... food...electricity...a roof over my head...

With the setup costs of moving into my flat, things have been somewhat tight, and I have had to go without a lot. I've also had to swallow my pride, and ask for help where needed - like with furniture, a fridge, a tv... and its been tough. It's been particularly tough to do without internet at home - but that's because I don't want to be locked in to a contract, so of course in that instance you pay more for the set up and so on, but once you're connected, you're pretty much on even stevens with everyone else. But I've been getting by with going to McDonalds and using the free wi-fi there, when it works, and stuff like that. Its a pain, but do-able.

I've had to make do with crap TV too, because unless you have Foxtel, there's nothing really worth watching on the box. In the past my way around this has been to watch lots of DVDs - but of course here, they're region 4, not 2, and my Mac isn't as easy to hack as a PC and get around the region encoding. Plus, why would I change everything to region 4 when I have a load of region 2 DVDs in my collection? So I bought an external DVD-Rom from Cash Converters to attach to my Mac, but recently that has been going belly up - and I don't own a DVD player for the TV. So no movies or anything for me. Just crap telly.

Anyway, I was sort of making do, and getting by ok, until recently. One of my tenants has moved out - and the real estate agents as yet haven't found anyone else to move in. This leaves me with a substantial mortgage to pay on top of my already very high living costs. Not good. Then today I found out that the other tenant is moving out next month! How am I going to manage?

I mean, as it is, my grocery bill is as minimal as I can make it - and therefore my diet is not very interesting, bit like eating cardboard, really. So how on earth will I afford all of this?

I just don't know... these are desperate times, indeed...

Menopause: The Musical

Now before you think I've completely lost it - this actually was surprisingly quite good! Last night, Mum, Mel and I went to see this musical at the Gardens Theatre, QUT. I was a bit apprehensive - hey, its a theatre in a University after all - but I had heard good reviews and thought that it could be a bit of a laugh. Plus, its Mel's birthday this weekend, so the tickets make a perfect birthday present, right? Well, aside from the intimation that another year older, another year closer to the big M...

Anyway, I picked Mum up earlier in the day at Chermside (after returning the boys to their mother there - having endured the awful Land of the Lost movie - how that got a PG rating I'll never know!) and we made our way back to the flat for a cuppa and to wait for Mel. Mel rocked up around 6ish and we headed into town, grabbing a very quick bite at some Chinese restaurant in George St or something.

We made it in good time to the show, and settled down to a very fine evening of laughter. This musical uses old 60s, 70s, 80s songs to get across their humorous viewpoint on the menopause. It was soooo funny!

If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.. Menopause: The Musical!