Red Hawk Reports

Enjoyed a dinner party on Saturday night cooked by my nearest and dearest one - Rory - or should I say Peaceful Possum.

To break the ice (even though I think everyone had met eachother before more or less) I decided to get everyone to intuitively choose their Native American names. I was inspired by Brat Camp, an engaging documentary screening on ABC TV at the moment, where unruly teens are sent to the wilderness looked after by well meaning, patient adults with names like Stone Bear, Mountain Spirit etc.

So on some old business cards I wrote out a bunch of adjectives and a bunch of nouns and everyone had to choose their name. And I was even wearing red… spooky. Other names included Granite Eagle, Howling Mist, Stormy Rainbow and Iron Mountain.

Rory cooked Indian (as in sub-continent)… which was divine and which will provide the next few dinners and no doubt a few extra pounds on my love handles.

I love it when we have dinner parties… I should have been an adult in the seventies when they were the done thing. Sigh.

My mother has located an evening of Bellydance at Kulcha in Fremantle… I’m thinking of going… anyone dare to join me?

Bling

Happy days indeed my friends, happy days.

It all started at 5.30am when my alarm went off. Rory got up immediately (!!) and found me my pressies. Gorgeous silver necklace and earings from Attica from him and a lovely mother of pearl piece from his mother, Mary. Gorge. Feeling very special the kids then came in and gave me cards they had made - Imogen’s said “I love you because you give me good ideas.” (one of which may have been making the birthday card!)

Work was busy busy busy but I managed to get quite a lot done which is always satisfying and then home.

What a sticky summery day! The kids came straight home and jumped in the pool before Hugo had teeball training with Bevan. It’s so good that Bevan is the coach - he is great - although calling my son “Fart Boy” however well deserved probably wasn’t very Montessori! Hugo seemed to take it well.

When I got home a little exciting box was attached to my front door with a golden card - Mads, Mark and my nephew Logan had popped by. It was a race to the door (the kids won) to find out who it was from. More earings! Yay. Then later Mum popped by with a voucher which is for “something I want”… hmmmm a shopping trip is being planned.

All that plus all the lovely calls and SMSs today makes me feel like a very special girl - thanks guys!

Mum went to the Archetrek follow-up course last night with Gail Lawson. Gail is the person who I went to with Hugo last year and she does lots of one-on-one counselling. It came to Mum last night that she wanted to go further with Archetrek. I’m so thrilled. I wish she could have come to it earlier so we could do my current course together - that would have been awesome. Ah well maybe there is something else we could do…

Anyway my love to you all - and thank you again for making my birthday so VERY special!

It’s my birthday on Wednesday

Just in case you forgot… after all what is the point of a personal blog if you can’t remind people of your birthday? There is no point. This is the sole reason. Mark the date in your diary… :D

What is going on with the Labor Party? Just when you think things can’t get any worse Mark Latham resurrects Simon Crean. Mark the reason Simon’s faction didn’t support him was because he is electoral poison! We need a strong progressive opposition Mark - especially now - get with the program!

The quiz night was interesting - rather than an overall winner they broke the night into three rounds of twenty questions and the table with the most correct answers each round won a table prize. If they won a table prize they were ineligible for another one. At first I thought that it was a good idea but in the end it felt unsatisfying. We came second most rounds so overall who knows where we would have ended up… third or fourth maybe? I wanted to know and also to congratulate the brainiest table… that’s half the fun.

I guess what was missing was the tension that builds throughout the night as the final round gets closer. Also only 60 questions meant a shorter night. And all the decent prizes were auctioned off so while they probably raised more money than a traditional format I felt personally a bit ripped off. Mind you we had a great time anyway and had a great group of people so it was only a little bit.

After that it was a fairly normal weekend. Tee-ball orientation day, The Bill, Nippers and Idol - all standard fare. And a dental appointment.

I have recently changed dentists. I got sick of feeling mugged every time I went for a check up. Flouride treatments ($30), xrays, quotes for crowns (they said I needed five… FIVE!) and the list goes on and on. I decided to get a second opinion. My new dentist I found on the Medibank Private list and she says I don’t need crowns, and she doesn’t believe in Flouride treatments. She swipes my card and unless I have to have a treatment (eg a filling) I pay nothing - it gets automatically sorted out. We’ll see how we go. It’s a bit of a wrench leaving a dental practice I’ve been with since I was 12 but as far as the cost goes… I feel better now!

Oh and I’m interviewing Adam Okaro from The Bill - please forward any questions… the problem is that he’s just a bit nice isn’t he?

What do you mean - you don’t watch The Bill??!

Is it truly only Rory and I who slavishly follow the happenings at Sun Hill? Are we the only people who religiously record ABCTV from 8.30-9.30 Saturday and Tuesday nights? Say it isn’t so!!

We even learned how to G-Code record because of The Bill.

Alright alright we are sad.

I am a bit sad at the moment. Thought I was cool about the Afternoon Job but on receiving feedback found out I was not. Feeling a bit frag about it all in fact. Of course my kids are delighted so at least someone is happy.

So where to now? Well I must say I am really enjoying the management role I’m in at the moment - Jim you had your heart attack just at the right time for me - thank you - it’s a welcome distraction. I’m kind of thinking of maybe going down the management role… we’ll see how we go with this acting appointment… What is it they say about management - if you can’t do - manage? Something like that.

Tonight we test our brains at the Cottesloe Surf Club Quiz night. This is our first social activity with the club since the kids joined nippers last week so looking forward to that - I haven’t been to a quiz night in ages.

Finally an answer

So now I know what I’ve really known for weeks now. That I haven’t got the afternoon job. Bernadette Young from Alice Springs has got the job and from all accounts will do the job well. James (my boss) says her voice has a “Verity” feel to it so I guess that’s what they were looking for. I’ll go through my application with him tomorrow to get some more feedback.

Am I disappointed? Well der. I guess I held out a faint hope. I’m more disappointed that knowing I hadn’t got the job and would be disappointed that Rory didn’t stop by the bottle shop on the way home! What’s up with that?! (okay so he’s not feeling well)

On a brighter note I had my first day in a “proper” office with a door today! I felt like Melanie Griffiths in Working Girl. Except without the big hair. I think I did okay today. Feeling my way a bit but it’s a dream management job - all the good bits without any of the nasty admin bits! Jim however is so fit that I’m sure he’ll be back soon.

The exciting news is I’m going to get to have a chat with a cast member of The Bill! Who will it be I wonder… perhaps you woud like to vote on your fave? (I can’t put in June and Jim - my picks - because they are not available)

The Fur

The Fur by Nathan Hobby - a young WA author - is a very dark novel set in Western Australia. The premise is that WA has been infected with a pervasive fungus that covers just about everything. Even infecting humans. The fur like mycelium gives the disease it’s name. WA has been quarantined and as the millenium draws year a young adult - just turning 18 tries to work out what he will do with his life.

I found this a difficult novel to read. It’s very dark, very introspective. But even though I put it down to read The Crimson Petal and White and The Kite Runner - both great reads - the image of the fur kept invading my mind so I had to finish it. The image will I am sure stay with me. Is that the sign of a good novel?

Back to work tomorrow. I’m filling in behind the colleague I told you about who recently suffered a heart attack. He’s going to be okay thank goodness. In the meantime I get to find out what it’s like to be the Regional Program Director.

Still no word on the Afternoon Job. (I think my silence at this point speaks volumes)

And hey Marty is out of Australian Idol. Hayley next and THEN we get to the pointy end! Will my WA parochialism win out over my liking for originality… will the pocket singer from Melbourne out sing the white witch from Bega… Time, my friends will tell…

The Kite Runner and me

Reading a BRILLIANT book at the moment called The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini. If you see it - read it. Fantastic. Thank you Abi for the recommendation.

Went to nippers this morning with the kids. Both enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I am once again a BAD MOTHER because they and I are sunburnt. No excuses. I’m just bad.

This afternoon headed down to Little Creatures for beer and chips with Bevan. It was lovely catching up with his holiday news and the kids just disappeared and let us eat their chips in peace. Saw a surprising number of people I knew down there as well… no names… don’t want to dob in anyone do I?

Mum and Mary completed their Archetrek course and I think both got a lot out of it. Certainly they both sounded exhausted this evening when I spoke to them. Very interesting maps too. I’m sure Mum will reveal more in her blog soon…

Question - oh yes it all comes back to Idol - well this is just after Idol actually - The ARIAS… why is it bands don’t put their names on the big drum anymore? It was so much simpler to act knowledgeably about music in the olden days…

And okay so it does end with Idol… On tonight’s show… I’m thinking it’s Marty and Hayley in the bottom two and Marty is going… Anthony was the standout for me tonight.

Enterprise

Yesterday the kids set up a Lemonade Stand having made delicious lemonade from Mum and Dad’s lemons. They even got a few customers! And it kept them busy for a few hours. A worthwhile holiday exercise. Imogen also bought a pomegranite tree and now it is planted in their little garden - I have discovered it has thorns and potentially suckers - luckily only from the crown so we should be alright… fingers crossed.

Many of you will have realised that my birthday is coming up… (no?) and you may be thinking of earings as a present… well first of all - you don’t have to buy me a pressie… (you do Rory) but if (Rory) you are thinking of earings it turns out I have a nasty reaction to silver and silver plated nickel. So (Rory) think white gold, 18ct gold (or better), platinum, titanium or implant grade surgical steel.

See blogs can be handy for all sorts of things.

Mum and Mary are doing the Archetrek Foundation Life Map course today and tomorrow. I am so thrilled! I hope they get as much out of it as I did.

A walk on the wild side

Today I had my ears pierced. I have had them done before. When I was 16. In a pharmacy somewhere. But they were not evenly done and often became irritated and infected. I let them grow over.

But increasingly I have felt the need to wear earings and so today I decided to get pierced. To minimise the risk of infection and to “get it done properly” I decided to go somewhere where they pierce people all the time. I didn’t want some ditzy pharmacy assistant to go near me with an earing gun.

I went to Primitive in central Perth. The guy at the counter would have had 10 piercings - that I could see - so I knew I would be in safe hands. I tried not to let the images of tattoos on the walls or the primitive tribal art or the “we do branding” sign get to me as I signed the waver form and waited for my piercer - Ela - to see me.

In the foyer waiting with me were five others - rush hour at metal mart. In front of me a guy having his tongue done and a girl waiting for a belly ring. My ears seemed somewhat tame.

Finally after quite a wait, it was my turn. I followed Ela up the windy and it must be said somewhat shabby spiral staircase up to the piercing rooms - a bit like a beauty parlour except not so… beautiful. In my little room the instruments were laid out on a stainless steel tray still wrapped in their autoclave plastic. I was to sit on a dentists chair.

First Ela discussed what I wanted done and then using calipers also straight from the autoclave measured the distance on my ear to make sure it was symmetrical. She marked my ears with some dye and asked what I thought. What do I know I thought.

Lie back.

In the room there are blackened skulls hanging from raffia. Face masks from Africa maybe contrast sharply with the clinical nature of the chair and steel tray. Ela is wearing surgical gloves.

Breathe in… and out…

Owwww! The pain is intense as she pushes the needle through my ear and then the earing. A circular implant quality surgical steel earing. It burns for a bit as she cleans the blood - one presumes - away. Next one.

Breathe in… and out… and in… and OUCH!

If anything the second one is more painful… we’re not talking a quick acting highly inaccurate earing gun here but a “single use” needle.

But then it’s over and I let Ela clean up as I peruse my ‘aftercare’ sheet and wander past the girls waiting in the foyer… what are they having done I wonder… they look too young for anything… interesting.

And then I went out and bought a pair of ridiculously big fashion sunnies.

The Clockwork Baby

We are looking after 7 month old Logan at the moment. What a cutie! And SO GOOD! Madeleine provided us with his daily program and to the letter he is following it. Ate all his breakfast - no mess! Then a play on the floor. Then bed at 9.30. No whinging! No crying! No tears! I don’t remember my two being as good. Just as well I can’t have any more children or I could be tempted… it’s okay girls - that’s a joke. Cute as he is I’m over that stage. Nice to babysit him though…

Well what about Ricky-Lee going on Australian Idol?! What a surprise. Well I confess she never did it for me… Marty next perhaps? Then Hayley? The others… Courtney, Casey, Anthony and Chanel I don’t mind. I’d buy an album made by Casey - and this is a girl who doesn’t often buy CDs. I think she’d make an interesting CD - as long as she knew the words.

Personally I think the idea of a Beatles night was a crap idea. They have to make their mark and the Beatles songs are too iconic. And no-one picked Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds or Yellow Submarine - What were they thinking?! It’s eighties night next week… wouldn’t mind if they sang an Abba song or two… were they still going in the 80s? Yes they were… Even a Queen song would be fun… sigh. It’ll probably be all new romantic stuff sung badly.

A colleague of mine is in hospital today - heart attack yesterday. He’s in his 50s, rides his bike to work every day - he’s a fit guy! Doesn’t seem right… he’ll be okay though apparently.

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