yes... i'm still alive...

and i promise to write something of substance in the near future...

however i can report that i am currently going through wearing clothes i havent worn in a while to work out once and for all which things can go to the op shop for someone else to enjoy, which things actually still fit me... etc etc.

and i'm getting beItta at hacky.

that's all for now. at work. best behave eh?
xJ

i love my job...

i really do... but it must be the thought that very soon i will have ten whole days off that makes me feel not particularly motivated...

my workmate thinks i trust to much sometimes, trust to much in the good in people, when they're likely to shit all over you. i think that shows no faith in humanity whatsoever... either that or a lot of past hurt.

the thing is, if you don't allow yourself to be kind and to like somebody for exactly who they are, then how can you expect it back? if you don't respect someones need for you, or need to be alone, or need to be irresponsible or need to put you back in your place then sure, you may get burned once in a while, but will you ever have any real friends without allowing someone the freedom to muck up every now and again?

everyone learns from mistakes, and sometimes you have to be hurt to make someone remember that.

i am not hurting now, but one friendship i have is eventually going to keehaul me, i know it.

i was really angry at myself this afternoon, because whilst thinking about something else and doing some filing at work, i kicked an archive box that was under a table and my knee popped again. i was like 'brilliant! two months of pain and it nearly being back to normal and i have to fuck it up again'...
i was really angry with myself and canned plans to walk home with my other workmate, which i do regularly as we live in the same area. i thought i should get on a bus, but decided against it. walked all the way home, worked up a sweat, had a cold shower, sat around, began to feel better. it's less painful now, but that could be the anti-inflammatories...

i haven't been sleeping very well lately which could be attributed to a number of things. the sun coming up at 4am (yes 4AM! SUX!), not working hard enough at the end of my day to tire my body so that it needs rest... never ending thoughts, thousands swirl and tumble within my head, as they do to most of you i am sure.

i feel like being ridiculous irresponsible this weekend as King Daddy from my home town of RADelaide will be gracing the stage at the Troubador on Friday. Maybe i will be ridiculously irresponsible, as long as my friend is there to hold me upright i should be fine.

I can't wait for my adventure o/s in february... and no kirsty, i'm still not telling you where we are going!!

if you're reading, leave me a comment kids.
love ya GUTS!
xJ

some news...

so i'm not going home for kweznus BUT i'm going to Asia in February!
I can't say where because it's a secret from Kirsty but let's just say it will be totally RADtastic!

Saw Cornelius last night at the opening of the Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane. Haven't managed to go have a proper look around as yet at the gallery itself but what i did see was impressive, and it's HUGE! So do yourself a favour and check it out.

Best be off to get in the shower and stuff and things... walked all the way home from the cultural centre last night because there were no freakn buses, got invited to stop in at chalk by some random dude on the street... they all seemed nice enough, but i'm not really a chalk girl unless it's during the day for a foccacia and coffee!

xJ

crikey that took ages to load up...

excuse me whilst i ramble...

the weather is hot. i can hear the roar of the ashes crowd at the Gabba from my place. i should dance around and pretend they are cheering for me. australia is apparently kicking a lot of pommie arse. well good for them.

my energy levels are low, lasting only just through the PREFERENCE EP Launch last night at the basement. i thought some more about my knee issue and when visiting the osteo last week i commented that i'd noticed the veins on the back of my left leg are quite a lot more prominent than the ones on the right leg. osteo agreed. i figure that possibly the busted disc in my spine is cutting the blood flow to the lower half of the left side of my body more than the right...

which would mean the seemingly small incident that caused my knee issue, had it been the right leg probably would have done jack shit.

i've been doing many floor exercises and stretching, along with situps and push ups to start to strengthen my body to help me along. it's frustrating with the knee business, but i feel like at least i can do something.

did i saw i saw little miss sunshine recently? well i did with cuchulain and it was freakn hilarious!

berocca is my friend.

i want to hear from my friends.

i feel particularly isolated at the moment. i'm not sure why that is. could be the health stuff.

i'm seeing the dentist again soon for the first lot of two treatments on my gums. i'm kind of glad when i'm seeing these professionals that they're finding stuff they can help me work on. because i figure one more health thing treated is one less to worry about. and it will allow me to focus on the whole body stuff. i'm seeing a wholistic dentist now, and i appreciate the way they do things for sure. they are taking into consideration my whole body and what's going on.

i wish i could stop smoking, just like that. why is it harder now when it matters the most?

i should return those shoes i bought a month or so ago. because i haven't worn them and they totally suck arse.

i want a hug... from the best known huggers around... where the fuck are u when i need one?
theres something to be said about a good hug.

i bought a muppet show dvd (first 24 episodes ever) for $20. i am trying not to spend money on such things, but it was too much of a bargain to turn down.
xJ

jebus where do i start?

i guess right here huh?

firstly i must put some thankyous in here to the folk who have been kind to me in recent times:

Scottie the hottie for being one of the best folk in the known universe...
Polly pokkit for listening to me any time i need her to and keeping me sane...
The Jasperian for entertaining me and somehow reminding me that i'm still young and silly even though i'm now old...
Shazzy G and Judes for always letting me ring RADelaide and ramble til my face swells up and my head explodes...
My workies for also showing concern and being nice folk, even when we're all working considerably hard at present...

A couple of months ago, my left leg started feeling all random. It didnt hurt at the top of my leg, but seemed to skip and go straight to my calf. Kind of tingly and making me walk wobbly. I had an osteo treatment lined up and so went along to which simoni stated that it was weird because there's nothing really connecting your back or whatever to that particular part of your leg.
I then went to the doctor to ask the same question, to which he looked at the 'map' of the human body on the wall and stated a similar thing.
Also, usually when i get body pain it's not in my leg.
So i was sent for a CT Scan and blood tests to check out what was going on in there.

In my lower spine they found a protruding disc at L5 (lumbar 5) which is right down the bottom of your spine, yummy.
To which the doctor replied 'short of cutting your spine open there's not a whole lot they can do... it's up to you to get as strong as you can to support your spine and be aware that you'll occasionally have to deal with some pain...'
which is fine i can deal with that. they're not touching my spine unless it starts really impairing me walk, and even then, i'm not sure i'd let anyone go in there.

I didn't get the blood tests for about another 3-4 weeks cos i went to radelaide et al and was busy with work and such, and the place i had to go you can't make appointments you just have to rock up and hope there's not a queue. After having said tests, returned to doctor where he announced one positive test. The marker that can appear in some folks blood known as HLA B27 was found. It can mean one of many conditions, or nothing at all. I mean i'd say in my case it's going to be bone related, however this marker can appear in approximately 10% of normal people as well.

more soon.
xJ

A weekend in RADelaide…. Oct 6 to Oct 10 2006

“sky rockets at night…. babaBoooo…. Afternoon delight…. Ah-aaa, afternoon delight…”

Top 5 sucky things about the weekend…

1. Black & White cabs – you’d think that ordering a cab 12 or so hours before pick up to get you to the airport the following morning would mean they would turn up on time, nay, early to get you. It was not to be. Sucks to be you black & white cabs, I will never use you again, and I’ll be writing to you shortly to ask you to refund the $160 we had to pay to get our flights changed (see number 2)
2. QANTAS – refusing to let Sammi and I on the plane because we had arrived approximately 1-2 mins after the cut off time… (apparently anyways) not even “the cab never showed” followed shortly by “its my birthday and im a frequent flyer” helped… nothing. Now I understand security policy and all, but being told it “doesn’t matter who you are or what day it is” is UNCOOL! Also having to pay an extra $81.10 each to fly through Melbourne with an hour and a half stopover is particularly stupid.
3. Little Isaac being stung by a bee! Yowch! Try telling a three year old that the bee has gone when all he can associate with the bee is PAIN…
4. Not getting to see Luke (x2), Woody or Philo and missing Annie by a day!
5. Drunken arguments anyone?

Top 5 yummy food experiences of the weekend…

1. Chocolat (Rundle Street)…. Oooh, ahhhh, look at that glass menagerie of chocolate over there…. Mmm coffee….. three of them… actually two and an iced tea. Very norty. But the company was nice.
2. Jerusalem (Hindley Street)…. Mmmm sheskabab, hommous, tabouli, tasty bread, falafel…. And nice company… whee!
3. Dulwich Bakery (Stuart Road, Dulwich)…. Still the best tuna and potato goulash-type pies in the entire WORLD! And more nice company…
4. My home made Jules n Trav breakfasts!! Much reminiscent speak about the night before…
5. Sliced fruit and barbeque rice thingys and champagne on my last night…. Thanks Koz for the chinwag.

I’m not sure if I have top 5 gigs but…

1. WOLF & CUB – you roxxors my boxxors
2. Comedy and music at Rhino

xJ

some pics... promise to be back soon properly...

Recently visiting Brisneyland, say Bonjour to Guillaume on his RACQ man tour!!


me playing merch bitch to novi split at SOOB 2006 - The Globe

xJ

RADelaide...

Friday... missed the plane, had to go through melbourne and pay an extra $80...
no kudos to black and white cabs for not being on time, and no kudos to qantas for having someone who says 'it doesnt matter what day it is or who you are?' to me on my birthday!

met the spud for the first time, what a cutie pie.
saw the much older, walking and kinda talking coco.
went to comedy at rhino with Nash and Rohan and Danielle. Had a silly drunken time.
more soon.

xJ

i want to know something....

since WHEN are stayfree tampons cooler than your mum??

xJ

ps. for those overseasies... australian feminine hygiene ads continue to get worse!

i have to have a CT scan tommorrow...

so that perhaps they'll find out whats making my legs tingle and hurt... in my spine.

Oh goody!
xJ

so, i finally had another dream about someone famous...

...second one ever me thinx... but lets be fair, i did watch too many episodes of "House" this weekend.

yes season 1 is now in my ever growing collection of film and television masterpieces, and the famous person in question of course was Hugh Laurie.

Now may i say that in no way was it a norty dream, but more about watching him act, because I have great respect for him.

Who would have thought, from blackadder to winning over american audiences...

Now if only i could have a norty dream about a person i'd really like to do squidgy things with, that would be splendid!

*nyuk*
xJ

what is it with this universe...

slowly torturing me!!

i swear to god, if this world keeps bringing folk into my life, even when they're just friends, and ripping them off me again and sending them back to where ever they live i am just going to scream!

Why can't ALL the good people i love be in the same place?!
xJ

SOOB... what day are we on again?

Ok so it was totally my intention to post something every day of the wild and wonderful things I have been seeing and doing but i am just tooo busy sleeping, cleaning, running around and being helpful etc etc etc.

last night we had the DAMN BIG HIP HOP SHOW with some great sets from Macromantics, Liones, Chasm & Mantra and the Optimen. Much fun was had by all, especially those that like a wee bit of a boogie.

Tonight I'll be stationed at Globe for Some Folk's Music... should be a fantastic night!

Bless my boss for giving me time off for the festival, bless him indeed.
xJ

SOOB Day One

well greetings and saluations from brisneyland, the land of SUN SUN SUN!
It is the middle of winter, right? It astounds me. We're having perfect 25 degree days with not a cloud in the sky. Mother Nature must have decided to shine down on SOOB...

Last night we looked after some of the proceedings for the Medical Records - All Ages Showcase at Juggler's Art Space.

The Understudy was great. Just a girl and her guitar, and occasionally her harmonica. Really mellow moving songs with an audience of around 50 sitting quietly indulgent on the floor.

The Ambitious Lovers used things you can find around the home (fly swats as drum sticks anyone?!) and a ukelele to produce some quirky and sometimes insightful tunes.

The Rational Academy took the stage to a partially dancing crowd...

Novi Split was gorgeous ("oh youre gorgeous") and was accompanied on a few songs by a local violinist. An impromptu cover of Weezers Janie with the singer from Rational Academy ensued as well as a cover of Crazy (Beyonce - like you've never heard her before) and some fantastic originals, finished off with a hymn.

I've given his CD two listens already today. Is that too much?

Purchase number uno:
Two Novi Split albums and a shirt for NASH (yeh Nash, I mean you, well obviously) and kindly given a new demo disk (teeny tiny) and a rainbow Novi Split badge, now proudly displayed on my bag o' badges.

Turnpike finished off the night, sweating all the way. I think they were great at SOOBiesta and also great last night.

That's all from me, and that's all from him.
xJ

A "P" Party

Last night we celebrated Eric's 30th with a P themed party!

There were pirates, parrots, prostitutes, and pimps of course, police women, poison ivy, the prince of darkness and me dressed primarily in purple!

Even the police turned up because we were making so much noise. P for Police! and don't we love them.

xJ

i come home...

i inject my body with sugar and nicotine...
and i get back on the computer to coordinate the volunteers for Straight Out of Brisbane 2006!!

People have asked me why I put my hand up and just volunteer for stuff, others have said they've never met anyone like me whose happy to just help out.

Well I'll tell you why...

You always learn something
You always make a new friend
You always feel good when it's over

That's why.
xJ

black books...

erin was kind enough to lend me all 3 seasons of black books. god i LOVE it. Sooooo funny.
Dylan Moran your a freaking genius! And you look pretty darned good too.

We're so blessed to have several things in this country... apart from sunshine... they are:
the amount of british comedy we get to watch

and secondly:
entire asian grocery isles in supermarkets!

it was so hard to find rice paper in the states - i think of it every time i go to buy some here... that were so lucky to have the asia-pacific influence in foods and all the good british comedy!

had a pretty huge night celebrating sals bday last night, getting home somewhere in the vicinity of... well... the suns coming up pretty soon.

went to simpatico in paddington (great food), followed by maggie bears in milton, some party in highgate hill, then a mates place a few blocks away where we had late night violin recitals, fish watching and a whole bunch of people in the same bed (and no, it's not what you think - it was simply cold! hehe!)

avalovelyweek all!
xJ

it's so windy today i'm sure there are leaves in my car!!

yes, still no fixee of zee broken electric windows in the car... but i can now afford to get them fixed, so shall be doing so in due course - pre festival certainly.

i've just been reading pipstars battlecat.net trying to catch up on those folk i feel like i am neglecting. she writes so beautifully. i used to, until this thing called corporate world caught up with me. My days are filled with dealing with lots of rich arseholes primarily, who dont like adhering to legislation and couldnt care less if you have to get Committee approval for something and then whine when you tell them they have to undo the thousands of dollars of work they've done on something...

And when these buttheads ring i think... isn't there something a little bit more important going on in the world? Dont you care that people are being blown up in foreign countries for some random reason that noone can quite figure out? arent you pissed you didnt win big brother? do you care that they're trying to pass a random legislation taking away land from aboriginals AGAIN!?

These callers... they're unreasonable folk, mostly i'd like to box their ears or at least tell them what i think of them.

i saw SHOPGIRL this week, and though i wanted MORE of jason schwartzman and LESS of steve martin, it was quite a good film because it was hard to tell what was going to happen with it. Did i already write about this? I feel like I did...

Anyhoo, this evening we are going to dinner to celebrate Miss Sallie's birthday, which isn't until Monday but we don't care.

I think I shall do some washing and then maybe play with my herb garden and get rid of earlier said leaves that are probably invading it as well and not helping the growth of the rejuvenated parsley and garlic chives!

I love you pipstar. Enjoy your travels lady.
xxJ

Buck 65...

so let me update you on my second buck 65 experience. i bought my dancing-friend olson a ticket just because i wanted someone to go with who would dance, without even knowing or realising that he himself is a huge fan of buck's... i knew there was some reason i liked him.

anyways, so we hooked up early on at rics in the valley and sunk a few pints (maybe more than a few) before heading over to the rev to see the man himself.

the supports were two of my favourite aussie groups... CURSE OV DIALECT - oh it's been so long, and THE BIRD - who i'd seen this year already with handsome jon and scottie the hottie.

Curse KICKED as usual pumping out some tracks I hadn't heard before and some old faves, dressed to the nines as usual... if you call black plastic and nationality/country-specific costumes the nines that is. I LOVE THEM! I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM TENTHOUSAND! STILL! after all this time, they still kick. It reminded me of my last few electro-fuelled years in RADelaide and how i must thank benjamin and tyson for introducing me to CURSE so long ago!

THE BIRD have changed somewhat from when i saw them originally at rhino. I mean they're still certainly dance-able but the sound has changed somewhat. There used to be way more focus on just drums, but they've expanded a bit. However they're knowledge of different types of music is really astounding and they drop in plenty of different sounds from all over the globe. Well rounded lads indeed!

RICH (Buck) took the stage and I lost all sense of concentration on anything but the man himself. He really is quite mesmerising and it's not just about his dashing good looks. He can captivate and audience, fully entertain them on his own. But THEN, but THEN he brings his best friend Claire up on the stage who recorded with him on the Secret House album. She was amazing, long flowing dark hair, dancing around with no shoes, singing in french and english and generally blowing everyone away.
I managed to take some snaps with my shitty motorola and surprisingly they worked reasonably well. I would have taken my SLR for sure but the damn thing seems to have siezed up. Could be the cold, could just be that i need a new camera or it needs a service. I also nabbed about a minute of video footage of a new song (spread your legs) said to be taken from a new album. Oh hallelujah! He could release as many albums at Ed Keupper and I'd be the happiest girl in the world!

Sam also joined us for the festivities as did Lee and a few other folk too. Sam was a BUCK virgin and also highly enjoyed the festivities.
I want him back! I want him back RIGHT NOW! to play another show. I hope he returns sometime soon. With a new album who knows.

And now that there's a new peaches album... i hope a tour is on the cards for her as well.

*swoon* Rich, *swoon* indeed.
And had i found that old radio interview from three d from 2004, i would have come up and said hi and shoved a copy in your hand for momento's sake.
I love your GUTS! Always!
xJ

well i would LOVE to win a trip to Fiji QANTAS...

but who would i take?

Yes I'm back from blogging hiatus because i actually have a partially set up office now in preparation for my responsibilities as Volunteer Coordinator for Straight Out of Brisbane festival which is creeping up particularly quickly... by the way if you're interested in helping out, please get in touch!

I'll do an a-z, that's the easiest way to get around an update on all things jules related...
A - A new red shirt, my favourite article of work/social clothing. I love it when they can cross over as such!
B - Buck 65!! I saw him again!! *swoon*
c - Call THAT a snog?! I don't.
D - DEEP BLUE, Sallie, Danielle and Dave performed in this outstanding Brisbane Festival Show... which scottie the hottie and i were lucky enough to see last Tuesday!
E - Erin and I had breakfast at (guess where?) Tongue and Groove - cos it was her birthday and we love the brekkie there and quality uninterrupted julie-erin catch up time.
F - Fucktards! The world is filled with them. But some pleasant folk as well thankfully!
G - German Club... spent the last two fridays drinking erdinger and stuffing my face with Bratwurst there. Suits my surname to a tea.
H - Harem turkish restaurant - we're going there for dinner tonight, me and some work mates and their respective other halves...
I - I'm in print! Again! See page 26 of issue 651 of scene for my mug shot with Benjamin from SOOB and some random handsome fellow whose name I forget but who I will probably meet again at the festival somewhere!
J - Janet... big Janet actually. My aunt came to visit! Well she came for a conference but I got to see her. It was great.
K - Kan't think of a K thing!
L - Loz is back for a couple weeks from RADelaide.
M - Men! Can I have a decent one please?
N - Nobody smokes here... anymore... nooooo mooooree (well i have been but they banned smoking in qld in anywhere eating related or pubs etc)
O - Don't mention the O-man, please!
P - Party at Stuii's - it was ace, filled with laughter at issue 100 of FHM magazine and their tips for spicing up your sex life, some ping pong, and some GUITAR HERO!!
Q - Questionable! Brokeback Mountain - it just made me think of that line from tripods tosswinkle show... "i'm close enough to slap ya! if you want rough love, come on!" not particularly romantic or a pleasant film, however the scenery was fantastic and I have to finally give heath ledger some credit for something. Cos I do truly ordinarily think he's shit.
R - Renovations - well the latest is that I painted the entry wall in my house a nice green colour... and rearranged the whole place to boot!
S - SOOBIESTA! at the Jubilee, I managed the green room with Derryn. It was tres fun.
T - Talk is cheap!
U - Uhhhh....???
V - Victoria... the Spiegeltent that's here for the brisbane festival. We saw a lunchtime freebie there.
W - Work has improved. I got some good news, and things are feeling much better in this regard.
X - X-rated. If only my life was more so!
Y - Yellowstone National Park - I'd like to go there.
Z - Zelda - haven't played that game in ages, would be good to give it a crack again!

xJ