When we were finally allowed back into the cinema, instead of filing in in a single line, it was like lines of 6 and 7 merging together to squeeze into the gap commonly known as the doorway.
My bestie rushed up to our seats and everything was as it should have been: everything was in place, cardi, jacket, bag, mags, refreshments, and THOSE notes. Lol.
As all the Twilight watchers found their seats again, another girl now, also representing the cinema, came in and thanked us for our patience and co-operation. She said that we had been MUCH better than the other cinema-goers. Well of course we had, as more than half of the people in our theatre had already had seats, whereas the other cinemas showing New Moon had people coming in fresh, so they would have been frantically rushing and pushing in to get good seats.
Pat on the back, go us.
We then watched, amused, as all the 'new-comers; practically sprinted in, running to random seats and frantically asking "is this seat taken?"
And we sat, relaxed, awaiting the next couple of hours. So glad we watched Twilight first!
Since it had taken so long to seat everyone, the previews started late, and by this time, I'm sure everyone was hoping to have seen the first half hour of New Moon rather than still be watching film previews.
Every time a preview finished there was an anxious hush of silence. When another movie classification came up, you could hear the frustrated sighs run across the theatre, followed by "geez," and "come on."
"THE REVIEW"
It was all VERY exciting. Once the movie began, after repeated moments from me and bestie of "oh my gosh I can't believe it!' followed by high-pitched "woooooohhhh!" -s, the familiar Summit logo loomed before us and gave us the indication that something great was about to begin.
First the opener. Loved the full moon turning into a new moon to uncover the film title. That was a great effect.
The start was good: hearing Bella open with the Shakespeare quote about "these violent delights have violent ends..." that we first read in the book. Like in the Twilight book, where Bella talks about dying for the one she loves, and in the film, where instead of reading that scene we hear her future thoughts, we also have the opening and pivotal scene in New Moon of Bella rushing through the square towards the Tower to save Edward, much like it's narrative version.
And staying true to the book, we have Bella's dream in which she sees herself as her grandma, the beginning of her ongoing obsession with aging.
The moments I most loved about the film, occurred primarily in the beginning.
I was soooo looking forward to how, and if, the film would portray OR accurately portray the passage of time starting in October that is presented to us in the book by simply stating a month per page, showing us how basic, empty and quick the time has passed for Bella without Edward.
I was moved to tears in the film, I thought it was done brilliantly. The background song "It's a possibility..." looping round and round, as the camera circled her, accompanied very nicely by her emails to Alice, a screen addition that was able to show us Bella's thoughts in another way, was particularly FANTASTIC. I think it showed us her pain really well, along with her screaming nightmares.
When Edward first breaks up with Bella, and then she begins walking around in the forest, finally tripping and staying on the floor of the forest, as again the camera circles in an aerial view from above, although for some viewers I think this would have seemed like a pointless exercise and a bit monotonous, I believe it accurately portrayed how dizzying her world was becoming, and how things were now spiralling out of control. It was a nice metaphor.
The heavy-breathing effect, as Sam emerged from the darkness of the forest carrying Bella: LIKE.
The awkward 'date' with Bella, Jacob and Mike was HILARIOUS. Especially in the cinema, with the guys open and ready-waiting hands on either side of Bella: it was done to true form.
The climactic showdown between Edward and Felix, as Felix attempted to take him down in Volterra in front of the Volturi, was an interesting addition, and definitely added some action that I believe generally lacked in the narrative.
Victoria's run through the forest, coming into a gridlock with Harry Clearwater and then running from the wolves and jumping into the sea, that was good. It paved the way nicely for Bella's own jump, showed the wolves in action as well as the men's hunting, while providing the scene for Harry's heart attack. Applause for the combining of several storylines.
I also loved the little glimmer of the future through Alice's mind, where Aro saw Edward and Bella as vampires. THAT was great! I guess not knowing how things turn out, it was especially exciting for me!
I didn't mind the ending: the showdown between Edward and Jacob, and the way that it appropriately ended with the cliffhanger "Will you marry me?"
What DID upset me slightly in this ending was not the way that it ended, but in the way practically all the teeny-boppers in the cinema reacted: with disappointed and anxiety-riddled excited sighs and screams.
I KNOW that I am in the minority by having only read the first 2 books of the series to date, but I will safely presume that 99.9% of the people in there will have read all of them. So if you know what happens, why are you reacting so strongly? I mean, even with having read the end of New Moon, where the marriage proposal comes earlier in Bella's room and she declines it, I can safely assume I know what happens. (Please don't kill me with spoilers!) Why this blatant and ridiculous display of idiocy and drama from the other girls watching I can't understand!
Now, on the other hand, there was a feeling between our group there, sort of an undefined feeling, but nevertheless a feeling, once the film finished, of "oh."
And it's the same problem that you find with many book to film adaptations, of the film not quite living up to the book in some respect. Now I guess the main problem we saw with the film was that it couldn't quite show the development of the characters relationships: Bella's and Jacob's; Edward's feelings after Jasper attacked Bella; Edward and Bella's subsequent make up; and Bella's fallen out friendships during her hole-in-the-stomach period. This was going to be difficult to do anyway, given the length of time we are reading Bella's thoughts, AND given the length of the book in comparison to the film. Considering the difference, the film did do a good job, it's just so hard to separate the two when you are expecting so much on screen and you keep referring to what you've read: it makes it impossible not to compare as you watch.
I did not particularly like the way Bella jumped on the motorbike of one of the wild guys in Port Angeles: I didn't feel this accurately portrayed her. Yes, she was seeking a thrill, but I found it a bit of an extreme act considering she'd just discovered her adrenaline rush-producing hallucinations.
I see why they did it, with lack of time and all and in line with the general re-shuffling of some scenes and key points, but I didn't expect Bella and Edward to make up so quickly in Volterra. I guess it just came to be what I expected from the film. And I soooo much wanted Edward to breathe "Carlisle was right," when Bella jumped into his arms! But, alas it didn't happen. Much like the line I so much wanted to hear in the Twilight film that came towards the end of the book, after Edward had saved Bella from James, and after sucking out the venom, was now carrying her. I can't remember the exact line, but Edward expressed his love for Bella, and she replied, exhausted by the whole ordeal, simply with "I know." It was so hilarious, simple but poignant, but it missed the book to film translation.
As did the scene in Bella's room in New Moon, where Edward appeared after the Volterra ordeal and she burst out crying, believing she was dead, despite his reassurances of life and love for her. It was so desperate, sad, funny and touching, but something like that, a gem, all those narrative gems, you wonder how they could ever accurately translate into a film, when so much relies on passage after passage, chapter after chapter, continual story build-up, of heartache, desperation and nerves.
I guess there wasn't any real point of disappoint, in terms of a let-down scene, one that not quite lived up to the book, it was just a general run-through of knowing and seeing that the film couldn't keep up. Generally, a book can't provide you with the little details, set you up again and again by keeping Edward away from the action, and give you that incessant feeling of "what is going to happen next? where is this turning point I'm waiting for?" that the book provides. I hear so often of people when having read New Moon for the first time, of being so frustrated, in constantly wondering where Edward was, and always expecting him to turn up and save Bella, without ever doing so.
Although the film shows us the same scenarios, there is the difference in that in the film we do SEE Edward, in Bella's hallucinations. In the book, we can only imagine him, and although it may not seem like much of a difference, it makes us that much more separated and distant from him, makes us long for his character to return even more, and makes us feel as empty and desperate as Bella. Even as a Team Jacob fan, you would be constantly wondering if/how/when Edward was going to return and you'd be second-guessing everything.
I guess New Moon had such a build up and such huge advertising leading up to the premiere, that it was going to be hard, harder for it than for it's predecessor Twilight, to live up to all it's expectations. And that is a problem generally with sequels, none more so than New Moon. Although there was hype with the first film, especially with the die-hard fans of the book, once that became such a box office success, you could almost see the pressure and (unrealistic) expectations already mounting on all the remaining sequels.
The acting was spot on, absolutely superb. Kristen was looking better, more polished, I found Carlisle and Charlie to be so endearing, I love the way their characters are portrayed. Alice is so charming, and Jacob, despite myself being a Team Edward fan, I found really really good. Dakota Fanning as Jane: oh my gosh. Words cannot express how incredible I thought she was, she took on such a different role to others she's had in the past. She's so grown up, and she has fulfilled the role in every possible way, better than expected. Incredible she was.
Despite some of the failings, it doesn't make me love the film version any less. In fact I woke the day after watching it, unable to stop rambling about it to Hubbie, and insisted we must watch it, which we ended up doing a few days ago. My final verdict is: I love it. I guess time has helped me to understand the difficulty of translating text to screen, which I accept more freely now. It was harder to do that in first watching it, after midnight, after such a long anticipating wait and build-up to the main event! I also believe that New Moon is the book in the series that sets a lot of things up: Jacob is a werewolf, we know Edward is a vampire, Bella wants to be a vampire, and there are all sorts of vampires after them for various reasons. I belive there will be a lot of action in the final 2 books, which is why New Moon generally lacked a lot of action. Not having read the last 2, I can't safely presume this, but to me it seems to be the way it's heading.
In case you were wondering.... Hubbie liked it! He hasn't read any of the books, and perhaps because of that, he's liked both without having any problems with the translation of it. I've suggested that he start reading the next two, so that we can argue and debate the whole Twilight series together. I would definitely LOVE that!
Out of 10...... I'd give it an 8. In comparison to the book that is. I still need to watch it at least once more, with my bestie in Gold Class, so I can experience the joy (and sadness) of Bella/Edward/Jacob with refreshments!
However, ideally I'd like to watch it 4 times in total, so I can make it a Full Moon.
LOL. I had to put it in there.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
My New Moon Review!
Only a week after the world premiere of one of the most highly-anticipated movie sequels of all time, and only hours away from watching it again with Hubbie (!), I now give you my New Moon review.
Well, part of giving you my review would be setting the scene, and explaining to you what happened that night. So first things first.
Last Wednesday at 9.15pm, we set off to first watch Twilight. As we arrived in the cinema, already you could feel the anticipation. There weren't a lot of people just yet, but you could see that something was brewing. There was a merchandise stand set up on one side, selling all these Twilight-themed items, from tops, bags and bookmarks. Girls were milling around the stand and excitedly pointing things out.
We wanted to get into the cinema early, in order to secure a good seat, especially after I found out that we would be watching New Moon in the very same cinema.
We came at a good time, we were lucky. We were positioned up the back, off to the left side of the centre seats, without being too far left in the left LEFT seats.
The cinema filled up a substantial amount, it was mad. A girl representing the cinema even came out to introduce herself and thank us for coming. She said that while New Moon was playing in the same cinema we were seated in, that we would need to leave momentarily while they cleaned the cinema between movies. However we could leave something like a jacket behind, to save our spots.
As the previews started, and then finally Twilight began, and the opening scene, it was all-too-familiar for everyone there in the cinema, and people were clapping, cheering even, and it wasn't even the main feature!
The one thing that stuck out to me heaps was that I kept turning to my bestie and saying "I love this part!" It happened A LOT. I think that just shows how well Twilight has done in comparison to the book, how the scenes, either the same or different, compliment perfectly.
We had a whole plan for what we would do after the film ended. We were secretly petrified that upon re-entering the cinema, someone would have stolen our seats and thrown our items on the floor, claiming that the cleaners did it. So we hatched an idea.
Once the Twilight credits started rolling, and everyone started leaving, my bestie and her sister left, and left me behind. I wanted to be the last one there. I arranged our cardigans/jackets over the four chairs (her boyfriend was joining us for New Moon), made sure our drink cups were in the appropriate seat cup holders, alternated our special edition popcorn with my friends empty handbag and our free Twilgiht limited edition Girlfriend mags on the seats. AND, I placed in the centre of each seat, a handwritten note that my bestie had scrawled in the dark, on 4 separate pieces of paper:
"Seat taken."
Ha ha. We were prepared. Desperate, crazy, some might say. But we were determined not to let our seats go.
Once there were only 10 ppl left in the cinema (and I did count, there was 10) the cleaners came in, and announced that we needed to leave momentarily while they cleaned. What they also said was that we were to go into a special line on the left of the cinema, for people who were re-entering the theatre, as opposed to the line on the right, which was for people just arriving to watch New Moon. Apparently we were going to be let in first, before the newcomers.
Phew.
As I left, I asked one of the boys if all our items would stay as is, including our drinks and popcorn, etc. He replied with what I wanted to know, and I left, knowing full well I had done the best I could to preserve our seats.
Well, the lines were long alright. The line on the right was growing increasingly fast and exiting the cinemas. I was sooooo glad we had decided to watch Twilight first, otherwise we would have been one of the poor buggers in that line.
Once I reunited with my group, plus the new addition of bestie's boy, (he'd had a Twilight ticket but decided last minute against 4 hours of squealing girls, opting only for 2 hours of squealing girls, so no, we did not sneak him into the cinema, he had a valid Twilight ticket!) we waited in the left line (oh, left never sounded so good) anticipating what was coming up ahead and simply observing the hysteria around us.
It was mad. The word 'Beatlemania' kept popping up in my head, I never experienced that particular music movement so I don't know how to compare, but I kept thinking, if this is how people are reacting to the premiere of a movie, where they are watching their idols/heroes/objects of affection on screen, how would they react to see them in person? Crazy.
Part 2 coming soon....
Well, part of giving you my review would be setting the scene, and explaining to you what happened that night. So first things first.
Last Wednesday at 9.15pm, we set off to first watch Twilight. As we arrived in the cinema, already you could feel the anticipation. There weren't a lot of people just yet, but you could see that something was brewing. There was a merchandise stand set up on one side, selling all these Twilight-themed items, from tops, bags and bookmarks. Girls were milling around the stand and excitedly pointing things out.
We wanted to get into the cinema early, in order to secure a good seat, especially after I found out that we would be watching New Moon in the very same cinema.
We came at a good time, we were lucky. We were positioned up the back, off to the left side of the centre seats, without being too far left in the left LEFT seats.
The cinema filled up a substantial amount, it was mad. A girl representing the cinema even came out to introduce herself and thank us for coming. She said that while New Moon was playing in the same cinema we were seated in, that we would need to leave momentarily while they cleaned the cinema between movies. However we could leave something like a jacket behind, to save our spots.
As the previews started, and then finally Twilight began, and the opening scene, it was all-too-familiar for everyone there in the cinema, and people were clapping, cheering even, and it wasn't even the main feature!
The one thing that stuck out to me heaps was that I kept turning to my bestie and saying "I love this part!" It happened A LOT. I think that just shows how well Twilight has done in comparison to the book, how the scenes, either the same or different, compliment perfectly.
We had a whole plan for what we would do after the film ended. We were secretly petrified that upon re-entering the cinema, someone would have stolen our seats and thrown our items on the floor, claiming that the cleaners did it. So we hatched an idea.
Once the Twilight credits started rolling, and everyone started leaving, my bestie and her sister left, and left me behind. I wanted to be the last one there. I arranged our cardigans/jackets over the four chairs (her boyfriend was joining us for New Moon), made sure our drink cups were in the appropriate seat cup holders, alternated our special edition popcorn with my friends empty handbag and our free Twilgiht limited edition Girlfriend mags on the seats. AND, I placed in the centre of each seat, a handwritten note that my bestie had scrawled in the dark, on 4 separate pieces of paper:
"Seat taken."
Ha ha. We were prepared. Desperate, crazy, some might say. But we were determined not to let our seats go.
Once there were only 10 ppl left in the cinema (and I did count, there was 10) the cleaners came in, and announced that we needed to leave momentarily while they cleaned. What they also said was that we were to go into a special line on the left of the cinema, for people who were re-entering the theatre, as opposed to the line on the right, which was for people just arriving to watch New Moon. Apparently we were going to be let in first, before the newcomers.
Phew.
As I left, I asked one of the boys if all our items would stay as is, including our drinks and popcorn, etc. He replied with what I wanted to know, and I left, knowing full well I had done the best I could to preserve our seats.
Well, the lines were long alright. The line on the right was growing increasingly fast and exiting the cinemas. I was sooooo glad we had decided to watch Twilight first, otherwise we would have been one of the poor buggers in that line.
Once I reunited with my group, plus the new addition of bestie's boy, (he'd had a Twilight ticket but decided last minute against 4 hours of squealing girls, opting only for 2 hours of squealing girls, so no, we did not sneak him into the cinema, he had a valid Twilight ticket!) we waited in the left line (oh, left never sounded so good) anticipating what was coming up ahead and simply observing the hysteria around us.
It was mad. The word 'Beatlemania' kept popping up in my head, I never experienced that particular music movement so I don't know how to compare, but I kept thinking, if this is how people are reacting to the premiere of a movie, where they are watching their idols/heroes/objects of affection on screen, how would they react to see them in person? Crazy.
Part 2 coming soon....
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
New Moon.......It's coming......
I sit here at work, anxiously observing the time on the computer. Every few minutes I look at my watch.
I preview the work I should be doing. Nothing interests me today. I'm nervous, excited and impatient.
Tonight, at midnight, I'll be one of the first amongst many, who will watch the first screening of the second installment of the Twilight Saga series: that is, New Moon.
The hysteria begins.
I preview the work I should be doing. Nothing interests me today. I'm nervous, excited and impatient.
Tonight, at midnight, I'll be one of the first amongst many, who will watch the first screening of the second installment of the Twilight Saga series: that is, New Moon.
The hysteria begins.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Okay, this is getting ridiculous now
So Sunday night, I'm sitting on the couch, with Kill Bill 2 on in the background, as I read some mags and ponder the thought of going to bed. I'm totally minding my own business. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see movement.
I look, and there's a big disgusting spider scurrying across the floor, past me. Scurrying as if it knows it doesn't belong there, as if it knows I can see it.
I flew into action. After a bit of impromptu swearing, I grabbed the insect spray from the cupboard and proceeded to hunt down the mother. It had disappeared somewhere beneath the lounge, so I knew that by spraying around the lounge area, the smell would eventually force it out of its hiding.
The undenying parallels between what was happening in my lounge room, and what was happening on screen, only spurred me on more. I would've felt even more comfortable with my supposed army gear and face paint, as Hubbie has jokingly suggested that I do in my spider hunts while he's in bed.
As I spotted the ugly thing and sprayed with all my might, running around the lounge as it too, ran from me, Paula faced off with Elle on screen, culminating in a brutal attack.
I was Paula and I was getting even with this spider. This spider was going to take the brunt of my anger, it was going to represent all the spiders that had intruded into our home over the past weeks, scaring me, upsetting me, confusing me and bewildering me. I channelled my inner Paula and the spider could not do a thing. It lost the fight.
Once I'd sprayed enough, and realised the spiders sticky demeanour meant it would soon become still, I got to thinking.
Where the hell where these spiders coming from? Honestly, there had been more spiders in the past 2 weeks in our house than I could remember in one summer at my parents. It wasn't just the quantity of spiders, though, it was their size that made them stand out. They were all HUGE mothers.
I started to worry, and panic. I left the dead spider lying somewhere beneath the lounge, and went to bed.
But I couldn't sleep. I kept imagining spiders crawling up to the bedroom, and crawling all over me. I couldn't help shuddering and wincing.
I dreamt of them that night. I can't remember clearly what it was I dreamt, but I know it wasn't pleasant.
I'm worried there's a nest somewhere. I mean, spiders of this considerable size, I don't believe they've all arrived at the same party (where they're not invited.) by coincidence, by chance. They must be in a pack. And I have a really bad suspicion that they're in the very place that we can't see. I think they might be under the stairs.
That scary place, in a corner, filled with shadows, that can never have enough light, that can never really be lit up. That's the only place they could be.
Today, Hubbie has the day off. I've sent him on a mission, to buy one of those massive insect sprays with a hose, so that we can spray all over the house, inside and out. I might get HIM to take out the stuff we have under the stairs, (there is NO WAY that I will go near that area now) just random shopping bags and our empty suitcases. Then we will spray the hell out of it, and possible watch as millions and trillions of spiders fly out, like maggots out of a dead fly.
Ugh. Shudder. I feel sick.
This saga to be continued....
I look, and there's a big disgusting spider scurrying across the floor, past me. Scurrying as if it knows it doesn't belong there, as if it knows I can see it.
I flew into action. After a bit of impromptu swearing, I grabbed the insect spray from the cupboard and proceeded to hunt down the mother. It had disappeared somewhere beneath the lounge, so I knew that by spraying around the lounge area, the smell would eventually force it out of its hiding.
The undenying parallels between what was happening in my lounge room, and what was happening on screen, only spurred me on more. I would've felt even more comfortable with my supposed army gear and face paint, as Hubbie has jokingly suggested that I do in my spider hunts while he's in bed.
As I spotted the ugly thing and sprayed with all my might, running around the lounge as it too, ran from me, Paula faced off with Elle on screen, culminating in a brutal attack.
I was Paula and I was getting even with this spider. This spider was going to take the brunt of my anger, it was going to represent all the spiders that had intruded into our home over the past weeks, scaring me, upsetting me, confusing me and bewildering me. I channelled my inner Paula and the spider could not do a thing. It lost the fight.
Once I'd sprayed enough, and realised the spiders sticky demeanour meant it would soon become still, I got to thinking.
Where the hell where these spiders coming from? Honestly, there had been more spiders in the past 2 weeks in our house than I could remember in one summer at my parents. It wasn't just the quantity of spiders, though, it was their size that made them stand out. They were all HUGE mothers.
I started to worry, and panic. I left the dead spider lying somewhere beneath the lounge, and went to bed.
But I couldn't sleep. I kept imagining spiders crawling up to the bedroom, and crawling all over me. I couldn't help shuddering and wincing.
I dreamt of them that night. I can't remember clearly what it was I dreamt, but I know it wasn't pleasant.
I'm worried there's a nest somewhere. I mean, spiders of this considerable size, I don't believe they've all arrived at the same party (where they're not invited.) by coincidence, by chance. They must be in a pack. And I have a really bad suspicion that they're in the very place that we can't see. I think they might be under the stairs.
That scary place, in a corner, filled with shadows, that can never have enough light, that can never really be lit up. That's the only place they could be.
Today, Hubbie has the day off. I've sent him on a mission, to buy one of those massive insect sprays with a hose, so that we can spray all over the house, inside and out. I might get HIM to take out the stuff we have under the stairs, (there is NO WAY that I will go near that area now) just random shopping bags and our empty suitcases. Then we will spray the hell out of it, and possible watch as millions and trillions of spiders fly out, like maggots out of a dead fly.
Ugh. Shudder. I feel sick.
This saga to be continued....
Friday, November 13, 2009
Spiders and Moths vs. Miss S.
And so it is, the end of the week. And as I look back, the most prominent thing that stands out in my memories are bloody spiders and moths.
The freaking spiders and the freaking moths.
Although it's only Spring, this fair, ridiculously unpredictable city of ours, has experienced some bizarre heat wave in the past week, with temperatures barely dropping under 30 degrees celcius.
With heat like that, there have been some unexpected and unwelcome visitors in our home.
Now, with spiders, although I'm not a total arachnophobe like my sister is, I still don't like them. They totally freak me out, and I don't like them anywhere near me. I can handle them better than my sis though. Hubbie pointed out one of her bizarre talents only a week ago, it's hilarious. She has some sort of freaky spider radar. She can enter a room/area, and within moments determine and pinpoint the location of every creepy crawly, and with a dismissive hand point out to her husband the areas in which he needs to get to work exterminating.
Think Arnie in Terminator 2 scanning for the bad terminator via his radar, however in this instance it's spiders.
LOL it's great to watch.
Anyway, as I was saying, I don't like spiders. But what I have an unnatural phobia of are moths. Ugh. Shudder. Just the mere thought of them totally freaks me out. I won't go into too much detail about them, because it will start to make me feel sick, but let's just say the way they look, and fly, and the possibility of them with my hair....
STOP.
Move on.
Unfortunately for me we've had both spiders AND moths. More spiders, far more. Moths have been small, luckily, but still a decent size for me to have to insist on their death.
I've actually almost lost count of the times and places I've gone on my killing spree/demanded Hubbie to kill. Just tonight, only an hour ago, I killed 2 spiders. These aren't your little jumping spiders, these are huge Mothers, freakin' put all others to shame. That's why I'm so scared/fed up/overwhelmed. Why the hell are they coming out? Where are they coming from? I mean, how many spiders could there possibly be in one household?
GO away PLEASE!
I've chased them, killed them, tracked them, stamped on them, used my shoe, I've become a spider-killing expert. It's resulted in huge paranoia. I'm constantly looking around me, above to the walls and ceilings, scanning the floors, checking out every nook and cranny for a disgusting... thing. Ugh. The big ones are the scary ones, but usually kark it straight away from the mortein, despite their size.
Moths I can't stand. Those I corner into rooms, close the door, and then leave until Hubbie is able to get rid of them.
Just the other night, I was pleading for him to get a moth out of our bedroom, I needed to get stuff out of there. "Kill eat, save it, eat it, do whatever you want with it just get it out of here."
He raised an eyebrow "Does that mean you'll still kiss me if I eat it?"
"No."
"Well then don't say eat it."
"Oh." Scowl follows. Just kill the bloody thing.
Moths have generally popped up upstairs in the bedrooms, but spiders have been everywhere! Especially the lounge room, that's the 'hang-out,' especially for the big mothers.
Sigh.
I love summer. I LOVE summer weather. But what I'm beginning to realise, in this house anyway, is that summer heat is going to have a side-effect this year, a big annoying, constantly popping up and reoccurring nuisance.
I'm staring at one now. Don't worry it's not a live one. I flooded it with spray just a while ago, and now it lies dead, at the foot of the stairs.
Huh. Serves you right spider. You don't enter our domain! Tell your friends now to stay away..... oh, that's right. Well hopefully your friends have special spider radar and can sense your deadness.....
The freaking spiders and the freaking moths.
Although it's only Spring, this fair, ridiculously unpredictable city of ours, has experienced some bizarre heat wave in the past week, with temperatures barely dropping under 30 degrees celcius.
With heat like that, there have been some unexpected and unwelcome visitors in our home.
Now, with spiders, although I'm not a total arachnophobe like my sister is, I still don't like them. They totally freak me out, and I don't like them anywhere near me. I can handle them better than my sis though. Hubbie pointed out one of her bizarre talents only a week ago, it's hilarious. She has some sort of freaky spider radar. She can enter a room/area, and within moments determine and pinpoint the location of every creepy crawly, and with a dismissive hand point out to her husband the areas in which he needs to get to work exterminating.
Think Arnie in Terminator 2 scanning for the bad terminator via his radar, however in this instance it's spiders.
LOL it's great to watch.
Anyway, as I was saying, I don't like spiders. But what I have an unnatural phobia of are moths. Ugh. Shudder. Just the mere thought of them totally freaks me out. I won't go into too much detail about them, because it will start to make me feel sick, but let's just say the way they look, and fly, and the possibility of them with my hair....
STOP.
Move on.
Unfortunately for me we've had both spiders AND moths. More spiders, far more. Moths have been small, luckily, but still a decent size for me to have to insist on their death.
I've actually almost lost count of the times and places I've gone on my killing spree/demanded Hubbie to kill. Just tonight, only an hour ago, I killed 2 spiders. These aren't your little jumping spiders, these are huge Mothers, freakin' put all others to shame. That's why I'm so scared/fed up/overwhelmed. Why the hell are they coming out? Where are they coming from? I mean, how many spiders could there possibly be in one household?
GO away PLEASE!
I've chased them, killed them, tracked them, stamped on them, used my shoe, I've become a spider-killing expert. It's resulted in huge paranoia. I'm constantly looking around me, above to the walls and ceilings, scanning the floors, checking out every nook and cranny for a disgusting... thing. Ugh. The big ones are the scary ones, but usually kark it straight away from the mortein, despite their size.
Moths I can't stand. Those I corner into rooms, close the door, and then leave until Hubbie is able to get rid of them.
Just the other night, I was pleading for him to get a moth out of our bedroom, I needed to get stuff out of there. "Kill eat, save it, eat it, do whatever you want with it just get it out of here."
He raised an eyebrow "Does that mean you'll still kiss me if I eat it?"
"No."
"Well then don't say eat it."
"Oh." Scowl follows. Just kill the bloody thing.
Moths have generally popped up upstairs in the bedrooms, but spiders have been everywhere! Especially the lounge room, that's the 'hang-out,' especially for the big mothers.
Sigh.
I love summer. I LOVE summer weather. But what I'm beginning to realise, in this house anyway, is that summer heat is going to have a side-effect this year, a big annoying, constantly popping up and reoccurring nuisance.
I'm staring at one now. Don't worry it's not a live one. I flooded it with spray just a while ago, and now it lies dead, at the foot of the stairs.
Huh. Serves you right spider. You don't enter our domain! Tell your friends now to stay away..... oh, that's right. Well hopefully your friends have special spider radar and can sense your deadness.....
They will not control us, we will be Victorious!
From Muse's new song, 'Uprising,' such an awesome title, comes a fantastic chorus:
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Ahh, such powerful lyrics, sung with such gusto. I love it, this is a song that has to be played LOUD.
A worthwhile mention to another fave at the moment. Actually, it's a little part of Fall Out Boys' new one, 'Alpha Dog.'
You're not the first, or the last, but you're possibly the prettiest.
It's great. Often it's not the words that are said, but how they are delivered that produces the meaning. That's true in all of life, not just for music.
AND, continuing from my recent all-things-Twilight theme (as there are only 6 DAYS TO GO! to New Moon) I firmly believe that Muse's uprising is a definite New Moon song, and deserves its place on the soundtrack despite the fact that it is not there. It astounds me that a song by Muse, the band that has been mentioned by many sources if not also by the person herself, Stephenie Meyer, that they are an inspiration to her in her writings, and then a song such as that should appear and not be on the soundtrack despite its clear connection the the movie! Come on, it is so clear!
Uprising? Lyrics like
and hope that we will never see the truth around;
and endless red tape to keep the truth confined;
we should never be afraid to die.
Yes, I realise what Muse are really referring to, but interpretations are unique, meaning you can read it in a number of ways, including from a Twilight-themed perspective. This song could have sooooo been utilised in a much better way.
(So come on!)
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Ahh, such powerful lyrics, sung with such gusto. I love it, this is a song that has to be played LOUD.
A worthwhile mention to another fave at the moment. Actually, it's a little part of Fall Out Boys' new one, 'Alpha Dog.'
You're not the first, or the last, but you're possibly the prettiest.
It's great. Often it's not the words that are said, but how they are delivered that produces the meaning. That's true in all of life, not just for music.
AND, continuing from my recent all-things-Twilight theme (as there are only 6 DAYS TO GO! to New Moon) I firmly believe that Muse's uprising is a definite New Moon song, and deserves its place on the soundtrack despite the fact that it is not there. It astounds me that a song by Muse, the band that has been mentioned by many sources if not also by the person herself, Stephenie Meyer, that they are an inspiration to her in her writings, and then a song such as that should appear and not be on the soundtrack despite its clear connection the the movie! Come on, it is so clear!
Uprising? Lyrics like
and hope that we will never see the truth around;
and endless red tape to keep the truth confined;
we should never be afraid to die.
Yes, I realise what Muse are really referring to, but interpretations are unique, meaning you can read it in a number of ways, including from a Twilight-themed perspective. This song could have sooooo been utilised in a much better way.
(So come on!)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Billboard of Desire
When I first started reading Twilight last year, I was trying to complete it before the movie came out. I was working on a tight shift, as I was working full-time and trying to organise my wedding at the same time. But I was managing to squeeze in a chapter a night.
As I was reading it, and as the movie premiere approached, a certain billboard came up. On my way into work, in the city, in a regular billboard poster spot, a Twilight poster had been placed up. The regular poster that you usually see associated with the movie, with Edward and Bella. I used to look up at that poster everyday on my way in to work, wondering how the book would conclude, and wondering if and how the movie was going to live up to the books' expectations.
After I finished reading it, and the movie came out, and I watched it (several times!), the billboard eventually came down, replaced by another one. I actually saw the 'billboard' men removing it, the day it was replaced, and thought "noooooo! Not Twilight!"
Months passed, and I wondered if when New Moon premiered at the cinemas, whether the Twilight poster saga would return to its rightful place in the city centre.....
And so, as I started reading New Moon only months earlier now, I started to wonder, and look up at that same spot every single day.
I finished New Moon, and still, I observed the billboard space, watching as they changed from promoting, drinks, lingerie and other random items, of which I can barely remember because they were not INTERESTING.
New Moon is only a week away from its premiere. And today, as I turned the familiar corner into this main city street, I glanced up, only a block away to the huge building that housed the billboard spot.
And I could see it was different.
The traffic distracted me from a moment, but not for long. Through the oddly bright yet cloudy morning sun, I could see those words. That font.
New Moon.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I was sooooo excited! I didn't even really know for sure if the billboard would go up in the same spot that the Twilight one did, but after months of staring at that spot, and only ever thinking one thing "Twilight, twilight, twilight....." it's actually happened. Such a minor thing it may seem, but it has made not just my day, but my month, possible MONTHS, depending on how long it'll be up!
So happy!
It's like being a kid again. Hoping against hope that I'd get that barbie caravan, Wishing, hoping, praying and waiting all that time to Christmas. And then BANG! I got it!
Christmas has come early for me :)
The countdown is on. 7 days to go.........
As I was reading it, and as the movie premiere approached, a certain billboard came up. On my way into work, in the city, in a regular billboard poster spot, a Twilight poster had been placed up. The regular poster that you usually see associated with the movie, with Edward and Bella. I used to look up at that poster everyday on my way in to work, wondering how the book would conclude, and wondering if and how the movie was going to live up to the books' expectations.
After I finished reading it, and the movie came out, and I watched it (several times!), the billboard eventually came down, replaced by another one. I actually saw the 'billboard' men removing it, the day it was replaced, and thought "noooooo! Not Twilight!"
Months passed, and I wondered if when New Moon premiered at the cinemas, whether the Twilight poster saga would return to its rightful place in the city centre.....
And so, as I started reading New Moon only months earlier now, I started to wonder, and look up at that same spot every single day.
I finished New Moon, and still, I observed the billboard space, watching as they changed from promoting, drinks, lingerie and other random items, of which I can barely remember because they were not INTERESTING.
New Moon is only a week away from its premiere. And today, as I turned the familiar corner into this main city street, I glanced up, only a block away to the huge building that housed the billboard spot.
And I could see it was different.
The traffic distracted me from a moment, but not for long. Through the oddly bright yet cloudy morning sun, I could see those words. That font.
New Moon.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I was sooooo excited! I didn't even really know for sure if the billboard would go up in the same spot that the Twilight one did, but after months of staring at that spot, and only ever thinking one thing "Twilight, twilight, twilight....." it's actually happened. Such a minor thing it may seem, but it has made not just my day, but my month, possible MONTHS, depending on how long it'll be up!
So happy!
It's like being a kid again. Hoping against hope that I'd get that barbie caravan, Wishing, hoping, praying and waiting all that time to Christmas. And then BANG! I got it!
Christmas has come early for me :)
The countdown is on. 7 days to go.........
Friday, November 6, 2009
WOW. What a weekend/s, what a week/s - Part 2 of my Marathon
Friday morning I had instructions. Before work I was to get half a piece of bread, make it soggy with water and then break it up into little-itty-bitty pieces so that the little-itty-bitty bird could eat it.
I was shitty because firstly, I had to do this. Why couldn't Hubbie do this, he found the bird? I'm almost late to work everyday as it is, let alone having a bird I needed to feed.
His excuse was it's still dark when he gets up. Yes, but.... hmph.
So, I did my bit. And I must admit, when I walked into the shed, and tentatively peeked into the beer box, through the old bbq rack, and saw this cute, so so so small bird staring up at me, my heart melted. It was standing, just staring up, quite unaware of all the trauma we were feeling because of it.
It was soooo sweet. I started crumbing up bits of soggy bread, dropping it through the bbq rack steel slats, and they just dropped around the bird. The bird didn't flinch, it just kept looking at me, it didn't even look down at what I had just dropped. Although I crumbed up the whole piece, I realised this bird was probably looking at me as a substitute for its mother, and expecting me to put the food directly in its mouth. After trying to aim the bread INTO its mouth, unsuccessfully, I whispered some words of eating encouragement to the little one ( I was growing quite fond of it now ) and left.
I had an appointment to get my hair cut and coloured that day after work, so I went there straight after without going home. Before I walked in, I called Hubbie to find out what had happened with the bird when he got home.
I was so surprised, both happy surprised and sad surprised, when he told me he had taken the bird to the local vet, so that they could feed it properly to eventually release it. Happy because this poor bird was finally gonna get some decent help, but sad because in that short amount of time, I felt like I needed to say goodbye to it first before it continued on its journey. Weird, huh?
But I was glad, glad that our efforts had paid off, and that this bird which would have otherwise been eaten by a neighbourhood cat, was getting a second chance at life. Albeit without its little family of birds, but better a life alone than death....
When I got home, more good news. Hubbie had left the fridge in its place, but now the bins were outside in the backyard again. Although we couldn't take them out through the garage anymore, we could just roll them through the house. A little price to pay to make everyone happy.
I had to wait for my U.S pal to stop by to drop off some stuff, and once she had, I rushed to the shops to FINALLY do my massive grocery shop. In my heels, I ran through the store, trolley flying in front of me, and managed to get everything in about 30 minutes. There was no checking for prices or brands, I was just randomly grabbing whatever it was I needed with no usual grocery shopping deliberation about which brand is better and/or cheaper. The store closed and I was on my happy way.
I managed to make my cookie batch that night, and then there was still heaps to do awaiting me the next day.
In summary, Saturday was spent going to the shops, making a lasagna ( and this is a lasagna! ) cleaning the ENTIRE house and getting myself ready for the wedding we had that night, my U.S bestie's sister. It may not sound like much but let me tell you, I barely had time to eat. And all this preparation, for my Hubbie's birthday the next day, where we were having both his and mine immediate families over for lunch, plus some close friends. And Hubbie and I don't do things in halves.
By Saturday night, as excited as I was about having a great night out with my friends, I was spent, and having a glass of red didn't help the cause either.
By the time I got to sleep at 1.30am, I was so tired, not just from that day, but from knowing what would await me the next day, and how much I still had to do.
7.00am I got up, it was painful, really. I'd set my alarm for 6.30am, but I just couldn't get myself up. I trudged out of bed and made my way to my tasks ahead.
Which included: making a cake, preparing the tables, making various salads and other foods and just a whole lot of preparation. If Hubbie hadn't gotten up and helped me out, I'd have been screwed.
Ha ha. The irony of that.
The day went fine, busy but fine. I barely had a chance to sit down, other than when I ate, and after when the cake had been cut and we'd sung happy birthday. I'd actually been finishing the cake throughout the day, so you can see how busy the day had been. The cake was a white chocolate cheesecake and it was a definite success! Everyone loved it, especially Hubbie, which is what mattered most :)
On top of everything that day, my friends came over that night, mainly because my U.S pal was now heading back to the States the next morning, so it was our last little get together.
Thank goodness I'd taken the Monday off. I had a surprise for Hubbie, I'd organised a Crime Tour of our city, after some lunch, and the tour alone took about 3 hours. It was nice, if not just to see our city through new, refreshed eyes.
That night our folks came over to help us eat the leftovers, and then more friends came by later on. It was fun, but the busy-ness was starting to look never-ending to me.
I thought the next night was gonna be quiet, but we ended up out to dinner with some OTHER friends, and then they came over for drinks. Sigh.
FINALLY my break came on Wednesday night. Once I'd finished my nightly duties, I think I just sat on the couch (actually I LAY down) and watched eps of The Bold and the Beautiful that I'd taped. And it felt sooooo good.
Although the previous week/s had been fun, because they had involved our close family, close friends and fun celebrations, I was still so wrecked by it all. As much as I love them all, I was so glad for it to be over. That following weekend we still had some stuff on, but this time it was different, because I didn't have to cook everything and clean the whole house in preparation! We were going out, which was easier....
We had dinner out Saturday night with Hubbie's boss and his wife (boss had gotten a bonus, so we were benefiting from it!) and Sunday night was another wedding.
A public holiday came during the week, and usually on a day like that where I would encourage Hubbie and I to do something with friends, you know what it was that I wanted? All I wanted was "peace and quiet." As my 7-year-old nephew says to his parents when they have a hectic weekend going everywhere, and all he wants to do is stay home and play with his toys. I just wanted to stay at home, and relax.
Which is what you need. Sometimes you need it. Nothingness can be so good.
We won't mind the story about the back-door neighbours stupid dog that dug underneath our fence to make it into our backyard and ruin the small vegie patch we had going. That's a stupid incident we won't indulge in here, because here and now, it's all well, and it's all good.
The weekend ahead looks promising. The forecast says the sun will be shining, there are blue skies ahead, and good times look like a definite. With weather like that, I think I'm ready to get busy again :)
I was shitty because firstly, I had to do this. Why couldn't Hubbie do this, he found the bird? I'm almost late to work everyday as it is, let alone having a bird I needed to feed.
His excuse was it's still dark when he gets up. Yes, but.... hmph.
So, I did my bit. And I must admit, when I walked into the shed, and tentatively peeked into the beer box, through the old bbq rack, and saw this cute, so so so small bird staring up at me, my heart melted. It was standing, just staring up, quite unaware of all the trauma we were feeling because of it.
It was soooo sweet. I started crumbing up bits of soggy bread, dropping it through the bbq rack steel slats, and they just dropped around the bird. The bird didn't flinch, it just kept looking at me, it didn't even look down at what I had just dropped. Although I crumbed up the whole piece, I realised this bird was probably looking at me as a substitute for its mother, and expecting me to put the food directly in its mouth. After trying to aim the bread INTO its mouth, unsuccessfully, I whispered some words of eating encouragement to the little one ( I was growing quite fond of it now ) and left.
I had an appointment to get my hair cut and coloured that day after work, so I went there straight after without going home. Before I walked in, I called Hubbie to find out what had happened with the bird when he got home.
I was so surprised, both happy surprised and sad surprised, when he told me he had taken the bird to the local vet, so that they could feed it properly to eventually release it. Happy because this poor bird was finally gonna get some decent help, but sad because in that short amount of time, I felt like I needed to say goodbye to it first before it continued on its journey. Weird, huh?
But I was glad, glad that our efforts had paid off, and that this bird which would have otherwise been eaten by a neighbourhood cat, was getting a second chance at life. Albeit without its little family of birds, but better a life alone than death....
When I got home, more good news. Hubbie had left the fridge in its place, but now the bins were outside in the backyard again. Although we couldn't take them out through the garage anymore, we could just roll them through the house. A little price to pay to make everyone happy.
I had to wait for my U.S pal to stop by to drop off some stuff, and once she had, I rushed to the shops to FINALLY do my massive grocery shop. In my heels, I ran through the store, trolley flying in front of me, and managed to get everything in about 30 minutes. There was no checking for prices or brands, I was just randomly grabbing whatever it was I needed with no usual grocery shopping deliberation about which brand is better and/or cheaper. The store closed and I was on my happy way.
I managed to make my cookie batch that night, and then there was still heaps to do awaiting me the next day.
In summary, Saturday was spent going to the shops, making a lasagna ( and this is a lasagna! ) cleaning the ENTIRE house and getting myself ready for the wedding we had that night, my U.S bestie's sister. It may not sound like much but let me tell you, I barely had time to eat. And all this preparation, for my Hubbie's birthday the next day, where we were having both his and mine immediate families over for lunch, plus some close friends. And Hubbie and I don't do things in halves.
By Saturday night, as excited as I was about having a great night out with my friends, I was spent, and having a glass of red didn't help the cause either.
By the time I got to sleep at 1.30am, I was so tired, not just from that day, but from knowing what would await me the next day, and how much I still had to do.
7.00am I got up, it was painful, really. I'd set my alarm for 6.30am, but I just couldn't get myself up. I trudged out of bed and made my way to my tasks ahead.
Which included: making a cake, preparing the tables, making various salads and other foods and just a whole lot of preparation. If Hubbie hadn't gotten up and helped me out, I'd have been screwed.
Ha ha. The irony of that.
The day went fine, busy but fine. I barely had a chance to sit down, other than when I ate, and after when the cake had been cut and we'd sung happy birthday. I'd actually been finishing the cake throughout the day, so you can see how busy the day had been. The cake was a white chocolate cheesecake and it was a definite success! Everyone loved it, especially Hubbie, which is what mattered most :)
On top of everything that day, my friends came over that night, mainly because my U.S pal was now heading back to the States the next morning, so it was our last little get together.
Thank goodness I'd taken the Monday off. I had a surprise for Hubbie, I'd organised a Crime Tour of our city, after some lunch, and the tour alone took about 3 hours. It was nice, if not just to see our city through new, refreshed eyes.
That night our folks came over to help us eat the leftovers, and then more friends came by later on. It was fun, but the busy-ness was starting to look never-ending to me.
I thought the next night was gonna be quiet, but we ended up out to dinner with some OTHER friends, and then they came over for drinks. Sigh.
FINALLY my break came on Wednesday night. Once I'd finished my nightly duties, I think I just sat on the couch (actually I LAY down) and watched eps of The Bold and the Beautiful that I'd taped. And it felt sooooo good.
Although the previous week/s had been fun, because they had involved our close family, close friends and fun celebrations, I was still so wrecked by it all. As much as I love them all, I was so glad for it to be over. That following weekend we still had some stuff on, but this time it was different, because I didn't have to cook everything and clean the whole house in preparation! We were going out, which was easier....
We had dinner out Saturday night with Hubbie's boss and his wife (boss had gotten a bonus, so we were benefiting from it!) and Sunday night was another wedding.
A public holiday came during the week, and usually on a day like that where I would encourage Hubbie and I to do something with friends, you know what it was that I wanted? All I wanted was "peace and quiet." As my 7-year-old nephew says to his parents when they have a hectic weekend going everywhere, and all he wants to do is stay home and play with his toys. I just wanted to stay at home, and relax.
Which is what you need. Sometimes you need it. Nothingness can be so good.
We won't mind the story about the back-door neighbours stupid dog that dug underneath our fence to make it into our backyard and ruin the small vegie patch we had going. That's a stupid incident we won't indulge in here, because here and now, it's all well, and it's all good.
The weekend ahead looks promising. The forecast says the sun will be shining, there are blue skies ahead, and good times look like a definite. With weather like that, I think I'm ready to get busy again :)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Compulsive "Checker-outer": An interlude
Do you know someone who just stares?
There's this person at my work. She seems nice enough, I don't work with her directly but occasionally I need to speak to her about a few work-related duties. And you know, rather than the meet-at-the-water-cooler thing, we have the meet-in-the-kitchen thing.
And usually in the kitchen, but not limited to there, whenever I walk by her or we're in a situation to speak and we exchange hello's, it is immediately followed by her once over of me.
Smile, look down to my mid section, check me out, back up.
It is really starting to get to me.
At first when it started happening, I was thinking, "shit, do I have something sticking out?"
Then after a few more times it was "She's checking out my outfit."
But now, it's just getting annoying. Predictable even. It happened both yesterday and today, And today when it happened, as I approached her, I thought to myself "I'll get the once over now," and BANG it happened.
It's just truly irritating. It's not done in a jealous way, at least I don't think so. It's done in an annoying compulsive way, where I think not even she is aware of it.
I'm so tempted to walk into the kitchen next time and not even look at her eyes, but just stare at her pants.
HA.
She's nice and friendly and everything, but even if she is THAT way inclined, she shouldn't do it so overtly. It makes me all uncomfortable.
I should buy her some shaded sunglasses for KK.
There's this person at my work. She seems nice enough, I don't work with her directly but occasionally I need to speak to her about a few work-related duties. And you know, rather than the meet-at-the-water-cooler thing, we have the meet-in-the-kitchen thing.
And usually in the kitchen, but not limited to there, whenever I walk by her or we're in a situation to speak and we exchange hello's, it is immediately followed by her once over of me.
Smile, look down to my mid section, check me out, back up.
It is really starting to get to me.
At first when it started happening, I was thinking, "shit, do I have something sticking out?"
Then after a few more times it was "She's checking out my outfit."
But now, it's just getting annoying. Predictable even. It happened both yesterday and today, And today when it happened, as I approached her, I thought to myself "I'll get the once over now," and BANG it happened.
It's just truly irritating. It's not done in a jealous way, at least I don't think so. It's done in an annoying compulsive way, where I think not even she is aware of it.
I'm so tempted to walk into the kitchen next time and not even look at her eyes, but just stare at her pants.
HA.
She's nice and friendly and everything, but even if she is THAT way inclined, she shouldn't do it so overtly. It makes me all uncomfortable.
I should buy her some shaded sunglasses for KK.
Monday, November 2, 2009
WOW. What a weekend/s, what a week/s
Definitely the right word. WOW.
It has been crazy-mania for a while now. Two Saturdays ago, one of my best friends flew on over from the States, to make it for her sisters wedding.
The same day that she flew over, we went out for her sisters hens night. Being the first girls night I've been to since getting married, the phrase "getting wasted" was a complete understatement to me. My friends found me particularly amusing and entertaining that night. As did Hubbie when I stumbled into the house, clickety-clackety, moaning that I was drunk.
The following day found me not only re-cuperating from the previous nights bender, but catching up wth my sister and brother-in-law, at lo and behold, a bar.
As if I didn't have enough the night before. With the family I had, I had no choice BUT to drink, unless I wanted to be ridiculed for the rest of eternity.
It was a really nice day though, and I didn't drink too much. It was a lovely family catch up.
The next day, Monday night, my U.S pal came by for a visit, and after catching up for a few hours she fell asleep on our couch. While we waited for her sister to pick her up, Hubbie and I took terms babysitting her sleeping self on the couch while the other got ready for bed! By the time she was picked up, I ended up going to bed about 1am.
That was 3 nights of sleep screwed up already. And it was only the beginning of the working week, meaning I wouldn't have much time to catch up on sleep until the weekend. And even that didn't look promising, as the following weekend was going to be busy, busy, busy!!!!
The following nights I can't really remember to be honest. But I know that when you have odd and insufficient sleep patterns for a few nights, you actually need to sleep IN to fix your body clock up. And getting up for work wasn't fixing me up much.
Plus I was busy trying to organise my Hubbie's birthday lunch for that coming Sunday. I had all these plans, to make some food earlier, make a cake and make coo kies, do the grocery shopping, plan my dishes, clean the house, etc, etc....
Thursday after work I had big plans, to do ALL my grocery shopping, make the cookie dough (so it was ready to be baked fresh Sunday morning) as well as get ready for work and other regular weeknight jobs.
Then the bird and the fridge happened. This is a freakin' book in itself.
Let me begin.
I'd come home earlier that day from work, and as Hubbie wanted me to wait for him to eat dinner (I think just leftovers) I had no choice but to wait. My first point of frustration was not being able to make sandwiches for work the next day, as we were out of bread. So I found myself wasting time, which I did not want on a night when I wanted to get a lot done.
Also that day, we'd received a fridge that we had previously ordered, an extra fridge that we wanted to keep in the garage for those family functions where there was just not often room in ONE fridge for all the food, drinks and dessert we had; in other words, this was a grog fridge.
So this fridge was now in our garage having been delivered earlier in the day with my Dad there to accept it.
Hubbie came home and one of the first things out of his mouth was
"there's a baby bird in our front yard and it can't fly!"
Upon further inspection, I saw that this wasn't a baby bird that you keep as a pet, rather it was one of the wild neighbourhood birds (like a sparrow) and it was quite literally in our front yard, so small, trying to fly but not even managing 20 cm into the air, as its wings were not strong enough.
Now I'm not normally a person that gravitates towards birds. I think everyone has one pet animal they prefer and mine is cats. I've never been a huge bird person, but because of Hubbie's love of birds and other random animals, I've grown fond of certain types of them.
Now this was, as I say, only a wild neighbourhood bird, but if you saw how tiny and vulnerable it looked, and the way its wings fluttered helplessly as it tried to take off, your heart would've cried too.
Hubbie and I KNEW what we had to do. We had to somehow save this bird. Another larger bird, possibly a member of its family, flew in a few times when it thought we weren't there, and either gave something to the little one or just checked on it. But then it never came back. And despite my wishful thinking, a flock of birds did not come and lift this baby bird off into the sunset.
It was going to get dark soon, and remembering the wild, vicious cat fight we'd heard outside our yard only nights before, knowing full well that there were plenty of cats in this area, this bird would not last 'til midnight. NO WAY.
So, hungry, with a new fridge in the garage that had to be adjusted because Hubbie's car didn't fit anymore, a baby bird in our front yard that couldn't fly and that would be eaten if we didn't save it, we decided to attempt the task of rescuing - ahem, catching - the bird.
Meanwhile time was ticking, and I still needed to get the grocery shopping done and make my cookie batch.
With an empty cardboard beer box, I stood in one corner, while Hubbie, with his gardening gloves, attempted to come at it from another side, in order to corner it.
The baby, tiny as it was, was also smart, and managed to make its way to a corner where it was almost impossible to reach. I kept saying "just grab it! It's a baby it won't bite you! Stop being so soft!" He attempted again a few times, and finally, managed to lift it and place it in the box. I quickly shut the lid.
As we took it around to the back of the house, (we were going to put it in the shed) I wasn't holding the lid down properly, and this little bird's head started popping out, as it tried to get out of the box.
Now it was me freaking out. I wanted to put it back in, but I didn't know how to do it without damaging its head.
I was totally freaking out and almost shrieking, and it ended up jumping out. Hubbie had to get it again and put it back in. "And you say I'm soft?!"
Yes he was right, I soooo ate my words. I guess its fear of the unknown, fear of this wild bird. No matter how small this thing is, logic flies out the window (ha ha) and you're left petrified of this little object that you could easily miss if you walked by it.
Well, we ended up setting up this poor little bird in our shed: we opened the top lid and slid over it an old bbq rack left behind from the previous tenants, that way the bird could see through and have heaps of breathing space.
Then came the fridge argument. Hubbie realised that the current position of the fridge prevented him from parking his car in the garage, as he could quite literally NOT get out of his car. If the fridge was moved up or down the side of the garage either way, it still meant there was minimal space in squeezing by. And he was not risking, in any way, a scratch on his car.
Sigh.
And then he suggested, putting our spare fridge, under the stairs. As in, in the house, under the stairs, only around the corner from the kitchen and in clear view of our other fridge there!
I was NOT a bogan! I was not going to have one fridge in clear view of the other, shoved into a house space like under the stairs, where you could still clearly see EVERYTHING!
The more we argued the more absolutely furious I got. There was NO WAY, he was keeping the fridge in the garage, with the possibility of scratching his car (he is very precious about his car you see, as it is a classic and on the not-so-cheap side) and there was NO WAY we were moving it under the stairs, where it was in clear view, as I was not going to cheapen the look of our interior. The thought absolutely disgusted me and made my lips curl.
We were stuck in a gridlock over the bloody fridge.
Then we thought of another option. Why don't we move the fridge to the other side of the garage, set up an extension lead, and that way it wouldn't be interfering with Hubbie's passageway to the car?
We realised that would also block one of our exits out - not a crucial exit point, but it was the way we brought our rubbish bins from the back of the house to the front. The fridge being in front of this exit now prevented us from moving our bins through the garage. For the moment we decided to keep the bins IN the garage, therefore removing any use for that door, which was good as we now had a fridge in front of it.
After eating, I frustratingly rushed to the shops. It wasn't helped when Hubbie called as I was getting out of my car and insisted that it was better for the fridge to be under the stairs. I nearly blew my top, the mere thought of that stupid idea turned me bright red. There was no way that was happening, and I let him know that as we hung up.
The rest of the night was just plain stupid. After getting just my BASIC grocery items, I left the shops to see a message on my mobile. I listened to the message as I drove home, and I grimaced as I got to the end of the message. Hubbie. Pretty much saying "get an extension cord...... 5 metres long........ don't leave the shops...... get the cord."
Sigh.
Back I went. And when I couldn't find the right length cord there, I had to go to ANOTHER store.
By the time I got home, I still had to wash the dishes, make lunches for the next day, clean up, and I didn't even get time to make my cookies.
He had moved the fridge in that time, but the old bird cage we wanted to get that resided at Hubbie's parents place, we couldn't get because they weren't home to drop it off to us.
At the end of the day we had a fridge wedged between an extremely frustrated couple.
And we had a bird in a cardboard beer box in a shed, perhaps more lost than when it started out.
To be continued.....
It has been crazy-mania for a while now. Two Saturdays ago, one of my best friends flew on over from the States, to make it for her sisters wedding.
The same day that she flew over, we went out for her sisters hens night. Being the first girls night I've been to since getting married, the phrase "getting wasted" was a complete understatement to me. My friends found me particularly amusing and entertaining that night. As did Hubbie when I stumbled into the house, clickety-clackety, moaning that I was drunk.
The following day found me not only re-cuperating from the previous nights bender, but catching up wth my sister and brother-in-law, at lo and behold, a bar.
As if I didn't have enough the night before. With the family I had, I had no choice BUT to drink, unless I wanted to be ridiculed for the rest of eternity.
It was a really nice day though, and I didn't drink too much. It was a lovely family catch up.
The next day, Monday night, my U.S pal came by for a visit, and after catching up for a few hours she fell asleep on our couch. While we waited for her sister to pick her up, Hubbie and I took terms babysitting her sleeping self on the couch while the other got ready for bed! By the time she was picked up, I ended up going to bed about 1am.
That was 3 nights of sleep screwed up already. And it was only the beginning of the working week, meaning I wouldn't have much time to catch up on sleep until the weekend. And even that didn't look promising, as the following weekend was going to be busy, busy, busy!!!!
The following nights I can't really remember to be honest. But I know that when you have odd and insufficient sleep patterns for a few nights, you actually need to sleep IN to fix your body clock up. And getting up for work wasn't fixing me up much.
Plus I was busy trying to organise my Hubbie's birthday lunch for that coming Sunday. I had all these plans, to make some food earlier, make a cake and make coo kies, do the grocery shopping, plan my dishes, clean the house, etc, etc....
Thursday after work I had big plans, to do ALL my grocery shopping, make the cookie dough (so it was ready to be baked fresh Sunday morning) as well as get ready for work and other regular weeknight jobs.
Then the bird and the fridge happened. This is a freakin' book in itself.
Let me begin.
I'd come home earlier that day from work, and as Hubbie wanted me to wait for him to eat dinner (I think just leftovers) I had no choice but to wait. My first point of frustration was not being able to make sandwiches for work the next day, as we were out of bread. So I found myself wasting time, which I did not want on a night when I wanted to get a lot done.
Also that day, we'd received a fridge that we had previously ordered, an extra fridge that we wanted to keep in the garage for those family functions where there was just not often room in ONE fridge for all the food, drinks and dessert we had; in other words, this was a grog fridge.
So this fridge was now in our garage having been delivered earlier in the day with my Dad there to accept it.
Hubbie came home and one of the first things out of his mouth was
"there's a baby bird in our front yard and it can't fly!"
Upon further inspection, I saw that this wasn't a baby bird that you keep as a pet, rather it was one of the wild neighbourhood birds (like a sparrow) and it was quite literally in our front yard, so small, trying to fly but not even managing 20 cm into the air, as its wings were not strong enough.
Now I'm not normally a person that gravitates towards birds. I think everyone has one pet animal they prefer and mine is cats. I've never been a huge bird person, but because of Hubbie's love of birds and other random animals, I've grown fond of certain types of them.
Now this was, as I say, only a wild neighbourhood bird, but if you saw how tiny and vulnerable it looked, and the way its wings fluttered helplessly as it tried to take off, your heart would've cried too.
Hubbie and I KNEW what we had to do. We had to somehow save this bird. Another larger bird, possibly a member of its family, flew in a few times when it thought we weren't there, and either gave something to the little one or just checked on it. But then it never came back. And despite my wishful thinking, a flock of birds did not come and lift this baby bird off into the sunset.
It was going to get dark soon, and remembering the wild, vicious cat fight we'd heard outside our yard only nights before, knowing full well that there were plenty of cats in this area, this bird would not last 'til midnight. NO WAY.
So, hungry, with a new fridge in the garage that had to be adjusted because Hubbie's car didn't fit anymore, a baby bird in our front yard that couldn't fly and that would be eaten if we didn't save it, we decided to attempt the task of rescuing - ahem, catching - the bird.
Meanwhile time was ticking, and I still needed to get the grocery shopping done and make my cookie batch.
With an empty cardboard beer box, I stood in one corner, while Hubbie, with his gardening gloves, attempted to come at it from another side, in order to corner it.
The baby, tiny as it was, was also smart, and managed to make its way to a corner where it was almost impossible to reach. I kept saying "just grab it! It's a baby it won't bite you! Stop being so soft!" He attempted again a few times, and finally, managed to lift it and place it in the box. I quickly shut the lid.
As we took it around to the back of the house, (we were going to put it in the shed) I wasn't holding the lid down properly, and this little bird's head started popping out, as it tried to get out of the box.
Now it was me freaking out. I wanted to put it back in, but I didn't know how to do it without damaging its head.
I was totally freaking out and almost shrieking, and it ended up jumping out. Hubbie had to get it again and put it back in. "And you say I'm soft?!"
Yes he was right, I soooo ate my words. I guess its fear of the unknown, fear of this wild bird. No matter how small this thing is, logic flies out the window (ha ha) and you're left petrified of this little object that you could easily miss if you walked by it.
Well, we ended up setting up this poor little bird in our shed: we opened the top lid and slid over it an old bbq rack left behind from the previous tenants, that way the bird could see through and have heaps of breathing space.
Then came the fridge argument. Hubbie realised that the current position of the fridge prevented him from parking his car in the garage, as he could quite literally NOT get out of his car. If the fridge was moved up or down the side of the garage either way, it still meant there was minimal space in squeezing by. And he was not risking, in any way, a scratch on his car.
Sigh.
And then he suggested, putting our spare fridge, under the stairs. As in, in the house, under the stairs, only around the corner from the kitchen and in clear view of our other fridge there!
I was NOT a bogan! I was not going to have one fridge in clear view of the other, shoved into a house space like under the stairs, where you could still clearly see EVERYTHING!
The more we argued the more absolutely furious I got. There was NO WAY, he was keeping the fridge in the garage, with the possibility of scratching his car (he is very precious about his car you see, as it is a classic and on the not-so-cheap side) and there was NO WAY we were moving it under the stairs, where it was in clear view, as I was not going to cheapen the look of our interior. The thought absolutely disgusted me and made my lips curl.
We were stuck in a gridlock over the bloody fridge.
Then we thought of another option. Why don't we move the fridge to the other side of the garage, set up an extension lead, and that way it wouldn't be interfering with Hubbie's passageway to the car?
We realised that would also block one of our exits out - not a crucial exit point, but it was the way we brought our rubbish bins from the back of the house to the front. The fridge being in front of this exit now prevented us from moving our bins through the garage. For the moment we decided to keep the bins IN the garage, therefore removing any use for that door, which was good as we now had a fridge in front of it.
After eating, I frustratingly rushed to the shops. It wasn't helped when Hubbie called as I was getting out of my car and insisted that it was better for the fridge to be under the stairs. I nearly blew my top, the mere thought of that stupid idea turned me bright red. There was no way that was happening, and I let him know that as we hung up.
The rest of the night was just plain stupid. After getting just my BASIC grocery items, I left the shops to see a message on my mobile. I listened to the message as I drove home, and I grimaced as I got to the end of the message. Hubbie. Pretty much saying "get an extension cord...... 5 metres long........ don't leave the shops...... get the cord."
Sigh.
Back I went. And when I couldn't find the right length cord there, I had to go to ANOTHER store.
By the time I got home, I still had to wash the dishes, make lunches for the next day, clean up, and I didn't even get time to make my cookies.
He had moved the fridge in that time, but the old bird cage we wanted to get that resided at Hubbie's parents place, we couldn't get because they weren't home to drop it off to us.
At the end of the day we had a fridge wedged between an extremely frustrated couple.
And we had a bird in a cardboard beer box in a shed, perhaps more lost than when it started out.
To be continued.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)