Category Archives: Extracurricular

Blogging, Extracurricular, Random

Billiards, boxes and bloggers – my weekend

Last night we went back to my old university college for a dinner to celebrate the recent fundraising. The guest list was described to me as “a bit random” with one old girl or boy from each year.

We met in the Junior Common Room – a place where I spent a great part of my four years at Uni. For those who might have been there too – what is missing from the photograph below?

The Junior Common Room

That’s right. Where is the billiard table?! I can tell you where. It’s underneath South Wing. What the?

The billiard table is responsible for me being okay at pool. There was one pocket – the top left – we used to call the suction pocket because you only had to get the ball near it for it to be magically sucked down.

I found out last night that when they moved the table they discovered that the floorboards underneath it had completely rotted. Perhaps that’s what caused the slant.

Anyway it’s not going to go back. They are planning on extending the common room through where the kitchens are now… but it won’t be the same.

The JCR had one nice addition though…

Pianola boxes

The olden day equivalent of a CD collection!

Pianola boxes

Oh I love me a pianola.

Much wine was drunk thanks to this lady (who I noticed didn’t touch a drop herself).

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The Chairman

In fact that probably explains why she was the one who came up with the line of the night. We were talking about my brother – who was there in her year – apparently he really hated one of the tutors and painted a rather graphic painting of her which was put up in the annual art auction… this is the students’ chance to rent a college artwork for the year and raise money for EOTK’s (end of term kegs).

The line was: “It was so graphic, that it wasn’t just her eyes that followed you round the room!”

And she seemed so demure too… 😉

All that red wine made it difficult to get up this morning but I was due to meet fellow blogger Jaycee for coffee. We went to the Dome in Northbridge.

JJ - Cameraman

Jaycee had brought her own photographer. 🙂

jaycee

What a cutie.

I always find it interesting to meet other bloggers and to see what blogs in common we read. Turns out quite a few – which I guess isn’t really a surprise as we are both moderators with Aussie Bloggers.

After yesterday’s downpour today was absolutely brilliant. Blue blue skies. One of those bright winter’s days that makes you happy to be living in Perth.

This is my first winter without a dryer so I desperately needed a break in the weather, and I was pleased for Jaycee and JJ’s sake that Perth had finally turned on the weather it is known for.

The rest of the day has just been a catch up on the washing and shopping day – oh and I have another loaf of No Knead Bread on the go… this time using “proper” bread flour. I can taste it already… yum!

Extracurricular

How to replace your Singstar microphones

Groover and The Poshi with Dippity getting in the picture

We are Singstar addicts. I’m not proud of it. It’s just a fact.

We love it, and it has become the family game of choice. The kids have worked out the exact drone you need to not actually sing but still win the game. Groover and I prefer the “sing your heart out approach”.

Funny to watch. To hear? Not so much.

But it came to pass that one of the microphones broke. A wire loose I suspect. Whatever. It wasn’t any fun to play when one of the mics wasn’t recording your singing properly.

So we decided to buy a replacement microphone.

Dead air is the term radio people use to describe the sound on the wireless when NOTHING is going to air.

Dead air is the term I’m using now to describe Sony’s response when we asked where we could get a replacement microphone. That’s right. If your microphone breaks – Sony expect you to buy another full game. $109.

So we decided to try and use the microphones from an old kareoke game we had. Problem. The input jack of the kareoke mic is 6 cm and the input of the little dongle thing from Singstar is 3.5 cm.
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No worries, I thought, we’ll just go to Dick Smiths and get an adapter. Problem. Sony has cunningly made the hole just a little bit smaller than the adapter… and all the microphones for sale have this larger input jack.

I didn’t give up. No corporate giant is going to get the better of me! I went to my local guitar shop – Just Music – and they managed to find me a skinny 3.5 cm plug on a cord and a female-to-female plug which allowed me not only to fit my old mic to Singstar but also gave me a couple of metres extra cord so I could sing from my favourite couch on my lardy arse.

Totally love that.

So if your Singstar mic breaks – you can use any other microphone. Just pop down to your local guitar shop, take your Singstar USB dongle thingy with you so you can fit the new bits, and you can be singing as sweetly as me.

For a grand total of $17.

Singstar components

See the red plug? That’s the Singstar microphone plug. The trick is to find a skinny plug to fit into the Singstar dongle. You also need an adapter to fit a bigger plug – the one most other microphones use.

Singstar replacement microphone

Our new set-up to replace our broken Singstar microphone.

Current Affairs, Extracurricular

The Iron-y of Karratha

Millstream Road
Tom Price to Karratha Road

I spent today in Karratha. A balmy 32C. My bones were warmed. The people there, friendly and welcoming.

But you know, it’s not the most attractive place. Housing is at a critical shortage and it seems unless you know someone and that someone has a spare room – you can’t find anywhere affordable to rent. Certainly not on a government salary.

There is one shopping mall.

There is a hospital but if you’re pregnant – forget it – you either fly to Perth or travel two hours to Port Hedland.

It takes months to see a dentist – even if you have a toothache, there is one gynaecologist, there’s even a month long waiting list to get a haircut. And if you’re car breaks down… well I hope it doesn’t.

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Because the agreements the big companies struck with the government when they first developed the area 30+ years ago are still in place, Rio Tinto, Woodside, etc pay less in local taxes than small businesses.

And because the shire gets funding based on numbers of rate-paying residents and so many of the workers in the North west are Fly-in Fly-out workers – the shire cannot afford to improve many of the services.

This town, and many others in the area are sitting on a goldmine… or rather an iron ore mine and natural gas line. The government collects millions of dollars in royalties and yet a trickle gets back to the people that live there.

So when I hear the State Government whine about WA supporting the whole of Australia at the moment – about how the Commonwealth take more than their fair share of the taxes raised – I think about how the residents of Karratha must feel watching all that money roll out of town and watching a debate over a Ferris Wheel and whether or not it should be erected on the Perth foreshore.

At least they’ve got a nice road.

Dippity, Extracurricular, Family, Random

Why I don’t like painting houses

5 Comments

Don’t get me wrong – I’m up for helping out my brother when he needs me so I went round to his house on Sunday to see how he was going with tarting up his house – which he is renting out while he lives in Melbourne… on the way there…

Port Beach

Sunday afternoon and all the cargo liners head out to sea…

Before we began

The aim was to paint an undercoat over the green paint in the kitchen.

The paint mixers

Of course first we had to mix the paint and luckily the earlier gardening provided a good stirrer.

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Nearly finished

Dippity fills in the last little bit of the undercoat.

Interestingly my brother said at one stage: “I feel as if I’m painting out part of my soul..” He’d painted the wall green when he’d first moved in. Still it’ll keep the tenants happy.

Dippity had a great time. My brother’s walls got painted. I wore gloves, an apron, took my shoes off and rolled my jeans up but still managed to get green paint on the underside of my foot which ended up staining my ugg boots.

Not. Happy. Jan.

(Damn… did I just admit to wearing ugg boots out of the house?!)

Extracurricular, Random, Work

Six tips for great public speaking

Here’s what I learned from giving last night’s speech to 138 members of an exclusive men’s club. It was ladies night so I was speaking to the members and their wives. I was keen to do well as I was speaking in front of my parents and many of their close friends… not to mention Groover.

Ennuin Easter 2007

1. Choose your subject well

You are normally given a little leeway in what you can talk about – find out who your audience is. In my case it was an older audience – average age probably 65 – and I knew that most of them had grown up with my radio station so I went back and relived some of their history – and I tried to find links between the club and the story of the radio station.

2. Know your subject

Even though I didn’t write my speech till the night before I had been researching the topic for a while and knew the history well. This allowed me to tell the story without using notes… although it was helpful to write out the full speech to get a sense of how it might flow.

3. Test your equipment

I used archival audio pieces which enabled me to take a breath and re-group in my mind for the next section… but to do that the equipment had to work. First off I added about 4 minutes of blank sound after each piece – so that the tracks couldn’t run into each other. Secondly I went in early to test the equipment. Twice.

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4. Practice

I had several practices. One where I timed myself, and two others in front of two very supportive individuals – my boss and Groover. This helped me learn the material.

5. Trust yourself and have fun

Instead of reading word-for-word I just wrote a list of key memory-joggers for each paragraph – or section of my speech. Then I told stories around each key word. This helped to keep eye-contact with the audience and allowed me to ad-lib. And someone told me just before I started to enjoy it. Great advice! I was sad when it was over. 🙂 Warning – add about 5 minutes to your timed speech.

6. Have a clear end-point

You need to make sure your audience knows when you’re finished so they know when to clap. Make it easy for them with a good punch line and then a thank you.

I hope that helps you next time you have to give a speech or talk. It’s helpful to remember that the audience are willing you to do well – so use that energy!

More tips

Extracurricular, Introspection, Work

How do you react to deadlines?

Me, I love deadlines – and a daily deadline is the best. Long term projects I end up doing at the last minute anyway so they feel like a daily deadline.

Freshwater Bay

Take this speech I am giving tomorrow night. I’ve known about it for weeks. And I’ve been gathering bits and pieces to put in it over that time and doing a lot of thinking but I’ve not been able to gear myself up to write it until tonight. Tonight. I am ashamed to write it down. But it is just the way I’ve always been.

The more nervous I am the harder I find it to get started. I’m a bit nervous. Public speaking is nothing like radio.

Interestingly it’s the opposite with Groover – the more nervous he is, the more he prepares until he over-prepares and (he says) loses all his spontaneity.

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Having said that, because I’ve lived with my topic for so long now and because I’m interested in it – I found it very easy to write and hopefully deliver tomorrow.

I was the same with exams – especially the big ones – and job interviews.

And I know I’m doing it! I just can’t seem to make myself change my behaviour.

So what about you? Are you a last-minute Laurissa or a pre-prepared Pete?

Extracurricular, Family

OMG! I forgot it was Mother’s Day!

10 Comments

Well not that it was Mother’s Day. Of course I remembered it was Mother’s Day and was looking forward to breakfast in bed and a day when the kids slaved after me. And I was planning to pop over to Mum’s with a bunch of flowers and have a cup of tea.

Goshen
This is my extreme Mum, sledding at Goshen, USA, earlier this year.

I was still feeling rather sorry for myself in bed nursing my cold when the call came.

“So we’ll see you at 12 for lunch?” says Dad.
“What?”
“Lunch at the club – your whole family – remember? I booked it ages ago?”
“… um… yes… okay we’ll be there.”
“Oh and don’t forget Groover’s mum.”
“Sure…” I say weakly falling back against the pillow.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” asks Groover.

Dad had booked us in to his club for lunch weeks ago. I’d forgotten. Hugamuga and Groover were going to football at 11.30am and we hadn’t told his mother that she was invited along too.
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I swung into action. Rang the coach – turned out Hugamuga wasn’t on the list for this weekend anyway – warned him that Groover wouldn’t be there to be a runner (the coach was okay with that). Groover rang his mum and told her to get her glad rags on – he was taking her to lunch.

And we were ready. Drugged up to the eyeballs in cold and flu tablets but dressed, made up, in the car.

It was a very pleasant lunch and thank goodness it all came together.

In the afternoon I was a “proper” mother and ironed my kids’ shirts for school. (Usually I make them do it themselves)

And it’s FYO dinner night at the Redsultana house tonight!

Because frankly my dears, while I could give a damn, I need to put my feet up. After all, it is mother’s day, remember?

PS: Is it Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day? Some apostrophe help would be greatly appreciated. I originally wrote Mothers’ Day as it is a day for all Mothers right? But then it looked wrong and I thought well really you only have one mother (or two maybe if you’re a surrogate or adopted) so maybe it should be Mother’s Day… What do you think?

PPS: FYO = Find Your Own

Extracurricular, NSW, Work

Why you shouldn’t criticise Fashion Week

5 Comments

my little black dressA couple of days ago I was in Sydney for a work shin-dig while Australian Fashion Week was on and I posted a slightly sarcastic post about what a fashionista I was… not.

I waved a trendy vermilion scarf at the fashion gods my friend, and the gods turned to look at me in my LBD and sighed.

That one is tempting fate, they said. And poof! They flicked a finger in my general direction.

The fashion gods give

Oblivious I sashayed downstairs to meet my fellow part-tay goers, enjoy a little pre-dinner drinkie, and hop on the bus.

I love your dress, some cooed and I felt pretty good about my outfit. The ultra-cute Lisa Ho number (okay from last season but I just love it), my S&M boots. I felt hot.

We had the canapes, the entree and a few beverages and I wandered upstairs to the ladies.

The fashion gods take away

Now I should point out that the dress is a little – tight – and despite my best efforts – control tops – it had been a bit of a struggle to zip up.

So I sit down and breathe out and as I do, I feel something give.

A certain tightness across the torso had lessened.
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I bring my hand behind my back and realise the horrible truth:

The zip had split. Completely.

A wardrobe malfunction of mammoth proportions and most of the evening to go.

How I survived

Luckily that vermilion scarf I’d waved earlier in the evening was draped, shawl-like, around my shoulders. I pulled it down to cover the zip and walked carefully back to my table. Luckily our table was against the wall and I was able to slip my leather jacket over my dress without exposing my back to an audience. But dancing later? No. I don’t think so.

The Lesson

And that is why I say, my friends, you must never diss the fashion gods or any festival they might choose to support. They have the power to use fashion against you!

Fashion week? A brilliant event for all. That’s what I say… now.

Sydney Harbour

The confident smile of someone who doesn’t realise her zip is about to leave the party without her.

Extracurricular, Work

I’m too old for 2am bedtime

4 Comments

I’m old. Period.

Just sat in a Mike Walsh presentation on the future of media. Mike Walsh entitle’s himself – Managing Director of Tomorrow. And the tomorrow he sees is a world where The Naturals are under 20 and the rest of us are not older… we’re old.

[of course the old among us will be wondering if how a tv has-been ended up as a futurist but then again, we’re old]

It’s an interesting future where movies are free and content is king – although not owned. Makes me feel a little better about seeing my posts appear on aggregation blogs.

It’s the way of the future my friend.

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What I liked about his presentation – apart from his message – was the presentation itself. A mash up of video, photographs, groovy slides and sound bytes while he maintained an energetic verbal presentation clicking his remote mouse thingy without looking at the screen behind him. Impressive. The full surround sound.

We were sitting in the Marigold restaurant eating Yum Cha. You know I think the last time I had Yum Cha was in Sydney too. Twenty years ago. I’d forgotton how delicious it was. We scoffed our little gooey balls of yumminess and drank cup after cup of green tea and thoroughly embraced the future. Well. As much as one can when one is as old as I am. 🙂

At least I write a blog and I have a little share button below for you to share what you like. I might not update my myspace page or participate anymore on facebook or twitter but at least I have a passing acquaintance with the technology which I hope will allow me to “interface” with my “natural*” children.

*those born in or after 1994

Awards, Blogging, Extracurricular, Random, Theatre

Me and Chas Licciardello

2 Comments

Claiming that my son is a huge fan and would be sick-makingly jealous if I had my photo taken with him, I stood next to the (surprisingly not tall) Chas Licciardello from The Chaser and smiled.

Chas and Me

Of course it’s me who is the big fan… and Hugamuga… but one doesn’t want to be so uncool. Oh except… um… I guess it’s pretty lame to then display the photo on your blog… And I don’t want to appear a stalker but that’s 2/5!

I took the family to The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety Hour at His Majesty’s Theatre this week. I was amused, I laughed out loud, I sniggered, I wondered if we’re going to have a problem in the future recycling all those reusable green shopping bags…

A Green Shopping Bag

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Hugamuga LOVED it.

It’s like a Uni Review crossed with the Chaser’s TV show. The demographic was young. It was fun.

Details of the show.

Speaking of things happening in Perth… apparently the World Blog Awards are in our fair city in August…