"its in the things they never say..."

"how long is too long?
how far is away?
when it all feels so wrong in the end
and the time that it takes from yer day
and it's my time... again..."

i'm listening to bidston moss, they are/were from melborne and i really love them. and i haven't listened to it in ages but it's quite splendid really.

Erin and I went to see the Family Stone this morning with the delightful SJP and Owen Wilson (Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, yada yada) and i must say it was funny and also sad and all in all, a pretty darn well rounded film.

I give it four stars, but keep in mind I'm in love with SJP and Matthew Broderick so I may be a little biased....!! no i think most people would find it quite nice to watch really... it's not TOO soppy or romantic and the funny bits are fun-ny and there's a nice bit of sarcasm in there and a bit of touching stuff as well.

Nice one bruv.
xJ

hoo ha and ho hum...

now i know U2 are, for lack of a more cliched word ;).... a supergroup.

but i honestly can't say i'd spend large amounts of money to go and see them like so many have. i also found out through a friend that an old friend of mine has bought half a dozen tickets to put them up on e-bay a week or so before the gig. and i think that's shit, all it does is rob tickets from people who actually want to go. and so to him i say SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS to YOU!

the delectible (sp??) polly dyed my hair again for me last night... and i'm starting to look like jessica rabbit... which would be cool if i also had a tight body, but not quite there yet!! hehe.

i'm thinking of going to see the producers or the family stone today, even if nobody goes with me.
it's air conditioned.
last week we saw narnia... and whilst it was good there was something about it... i think sometimes the kids shit me or something. the opening scene made me bawl my eyes out but.

Harold is trying to kill Paul Robinson?! *phwoar*

xJ

buzz! (ps2)

ok, best game EVER!!

i tried out this when back in addylaid over the silly season and was SO suitably impressed I bought myself a copy even though I'm not supposed to spend so much money on such luxury items! bah!

so we spent 6 hours playing it last night? is that excessive or WHAT??

xJ

hey hey hey, what's goin' on rudy?

things i did in addylaid...

saw high fidelity for the first time with philo and jules after having made up some cold rolls for the patient... high fidelity fucking rocks. i love john cusack... still not quite as much as johnny depp or jason schwartzman but there you go.

had pies from the purveyour of pies in williamstown and was witness to a returning kitty who had been on a six month adventure...

got particularly fuschnicken at the grace with judy, lucinda, yas, trav, woody and fiona. which was truly fun indeed.

spent a fine evening with heidi & warwick and our mates playing a very rawkus round of BUZZ on Ps2. i told my folks i'm surprised they didnt hear us two streets away because it really was quite ridiculous the amount of noise we made. it was a pre-new years eve in itself...

(ok, how the FROCK can that FROCKWIT from Australian Idol have such a popular single out already... i'm talking about erm, i even forget his name, but the guy with the stupid hair who apparently 'outsung' dan who as far as i'm concerned should have been in the top two... i actually got a little sucked in last year because of him, because i wanted to see how badly the bad hair bandid sung and cheer when he got booted off... but it didnt happen til right til the end... and if its supposed to be a singing contest, he never should have gotten in in the first place. thats my two cents)

ok... found my therapist. he's not dead, but he was very sweaty, as it should be on new years.

more later.
xJ

in 2006 i intend to...

take up a new dance class...
do things like yoga and swimming regularly to assist my weary hyper-mobile bones...
perhaps do some volunteering reading to the blind or at a childrens hospital where theres a kids radio station...
explore more of queensland...
save enough money to go on another overseas adventure...
stop smoking or at least not smoke very much...
drink less carbonated drinks...
and write much more interesting things more regularly on my blog...

still in adelaide but heading back to brisneyland in the next few hours... an update on my adventures shall ensue.

schlappy new year everyone!
xJ

ok i dont think i finished...

so i've come back to post a few more fun things instead of being brief and blaze about my existence... not that anyone is particularly reading so i don't guess it matters...

i've had more visitors in the last few weeks...

guillaume and molly stopped for a few days on their trek around the country working at festivals and cooking big meals for people. it was lovely to see them. i know both of them from adelaide, gilly did radio with me and molly i just know from around... probably the leah knows sharon whose married to leahs brother - n molly lived with leah thing. i treated them to some surtaj-y goodness (our local splendid indian store) and let them mooch in my house watching vids whilst i went to work, then we cooked a big lasagne the next day - vego of course, filled with eggplant, mushrooms, nut meat, zuchini, cherry tomatoes, lots of spices and lots of cheesy sauce. it really was quite remarkable for a throw together. yummo!
they told me they felt comfortable in my space, which is kind of how i feel about it... except for the lack of storage spaces for my media obsession of old videos, dvds and cds and records! which i kind of hope to rectify in the coming weeks... and the evil flying cockroaches that keep finding their way into my place in the evenings... grr! the collages on the walls are slowly growing, i believe one day at least one part of my lounge wall will be entirely covered.

went to a totally sweet little film festival at the globe in the valley the following saturday... it was called the far out film festival run by my friends friends housemates partner... get that! ordinarily i can be quite disappointed by those things, like you'll get a couple good things and the rest is crap, but this was quite the opposite. we drank a lot of beer and i met a bunch of nice people including a dude who might need me for radio stuff... which could be exciting.

the week before last i practically spent every day coming home, not eating, and feeling absoltuely drained, half the time not even putting tv or tunes on but pottering back and forth going 'huh?'... but this week wasn't so bad... sam and jarren came to visit last weekend from adelaide as well. they spent a few days down in byron bay staying at the arts village, and i saw their room down there, and when i find me a boy... i'm taking him there! wow! half outdoors and half indoors.... so yes, i drove down to pick them up because i'd never been to byron, and it was quite beautiful. we had some brunch, a coffee, and then had a bit of a splash on a beach and drove back on up to brisneyland... past the q1 tower which i've been dying to see... which is quite bizarre from a distance as it towers at least twice the height over ANY other building on the coast! woah!

dropped in on the vulture issue 2 launch and had dinner in paddington before my brain stopped functioning from heat exhaustion and i had to drive us home again. sunday we had lunch at the plough inn for jarrens birthday and then i walked home and let the kids go play shopping and gallery-ing for the rest of the day.

dropped them in west end so they could have a lovely romantic (blergh) dinner and went to visit nic and joely who were screen printing... well joely was screen printing, nic was passed out on a matress. i was going to wake him up by blowing a raspberry on his stomach, but then i thought if he wakes up with a start i could possibly end up headbutted and without any teeth... so just tickled him instead!

other stuff has happened this week that i aint going to mention... boring work related and emotion related.

oh, except i did have this dream about my old friend damien (aka Woody) from adelaide... so maybe that means I'll finally catch up with him over xmas.

and if i dont see my 'therapist' (aka love of my life) i'm going to burst!

xJ

who wears short shorts?

evidently, i do. and i would wear them in public except for my paranoia about exaclty how my legs look in them.

i mean, damn, my legs are long and they're supposed to be buff by now... stupid falling down stairs, long recovery, osteo work etc etc etc. though i can't diss the osteo work, i like my osteo and it certainly helps.

the other reason for not walking home at nights and making my legs work for me, is the storms... woah the storms... i mean wooooah nelly! what a great place to live... if somewhat dangerous having to watch out for falling debris sometimes... but mmmeeeooowwww!! i literally squealed the other week at pols when we were watching this storm roll in and the lighting/thunder hit really close. weeeee!!!

yes so i am alive, if a bit worn out and tired from having a real job... well i've always had real jobs, but i think this one is the busiest i've ever had... except maybe publishing one at TAFE... and having a few staff down is not helping, but me and frey-si (aka Freya) are powering through and just doing what we can to be useful - computer problems and all!

i love this kanye west song, i liked an old single of his as well... can't remember what it was called, but it fuckn ruled. 'go 'head get down'...

so yes i am coming down to adelaide for xmas and looking forward to catching up with a whole bunch of nice folk and running some type of muck... and i'll be in for new years as well... wooo! purple room of mirth, here i come.

xJ

an internal crisis...

is at hand... and i'm somewhat convinced i am a bad friend, but then again... perhaps not. unfortunately it cannot be blazed all over this here blog currently, but for the fortunate few who understand my ramblings and are in the know... i shall certainly keep you updated by ye olde telephone.

i bought myself a few gifts this week, one being the new Gorillaz album 'demon days' and Aimee Mann's 'bachelor number 2' from 1999. Aimee Mann keeps me very sane, now that I rarely hear from my 'therapist' and beautiful bartender, the allusive nico.

ah, he's a bad communicator, and always apologises, can't dislike him for it!

currently, a storm is rolling in on the city of brisneyland... i have been watching it roll in for hours, and made sure i cleared up some more of the garden before it got close enough to ruin my attempt to beat the spiders by making it cleaner around here. Starting to be noticable, but still a load of work to go. Now that my neighbours aren't moving for another year, i'm going to suggest a weekend clean up in a few weeks... a spring clean at the start of summer or something.

I now have itty bitty pumpkins growing in pots on my front porch, grown from drying out pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin my mum bought when they were up here. I'm glad they're growing already, maybe they can grow along our fence.

had some friends over for dinner on friday and cooked a great vego meal of spanish potatoes, a big fuck-off salad and samosas from scratch (via sharons hare krishna recipe). tasteriffic.
we then headed up to the pineapple hotel to watch blues, as has happened many times before, sufficiently smashed and ready to bounce about.

spent most of yesterday wallowing in my own pity on the floor for the hangover and the internalising of this stupid crisis that i'm sure is all in my head!

my friend Sam is having an exhibition this coming week, and the theme is 'wonderland' with about 10 artists total. it's been a while since she's exhibited anything and i hope it's a great success for her, because she's lovely and deserves it.

apart from that, new job is going well.... trying to get my head around being paid monthly is interesting... but should be fine i think.

hmm, back to internalising me thinks.

see some of you at xmas! yes i'm returning to my home-town for some well deserved r&r... that could be rest and relaxation, or rocking and rolling.... i'll let you guys decide!

xJ

so much has been happening...

but at least i finally feel like i'm on a decent path to some success...

last week i officially got offered my job. I've been there for three months as a temp (sort of as a probationary period) and they must be very happy with me for the wage they've offered me... safe to say it's a decent amount more than what i have ever earnt before. So now where the 'julies not sure what shes doing' was is a 'ill be there til next xmas'...

last sunday pol, michelle, sallie and i ended up at the regatta with michelles friend dean who happens to be a trainer or a coach or something for the aussie cricket team. so most of them were there, and my daddio's quite pissed at me for not getting any autographs (i only actually recognised three of them, but could have been speaking to more than that... who knows?! *shrug* i'm no sport fiend).

at some point, after being convinced to stay longer, someone dropped a glass, which shattered and a piece of glass landed in my foot! the battle scar doesnt look that bad (though its not really healing) but there was blood EVERYWHERE... including on my sketchers high heels from New York... so I had a bit of a carrie moment and was like 'ahhh, my shoes!' and 'ahhh, my fucking foot!'...

didnt do stuff all this weekend apart from take pol her bday present on friday night, spent all day saturday sneezing my head off (yay for lawn mowing) and yesterday went to the west end festival... music and stalls and performance and such. it was fun. velvet ended up with a python at one point (yes a live one) and i bumped into handsome-john and some of the other SOOB crew, offering whatever services i can for next years SOOB (being held in august this time).

the bath is running, cos my skins misbehaving, so best be off!!

xJ

cor!

i'm drowning in marathons of sex and the city... since buying the box set a little over a week ago... i've just finished series 3! fuck me!

had dinner friday with jenn and her family and a few friends before her and kate hopped a plane to hong kong; the first stop on their world journey. they'll probably be gone for the full four years they can i'd wager.

a bit sad, cos i haven't known jenn all that long (perhaps may this year) but i think she's tops and she'll be missed around here.

(oh i should update on last weekend in here somewhere too)... yeh that'd be good. last friday i marathoned S&TC on my own, however saturday sallie made me go out and have FUN! we went to ric's for some tasty pumpkin, pine nut and sundried tomato pizza (seriously, this thing kicks!) and some Charles Foster Kane. I had solely consumed nearly an entire bottle of white before leaving the house (and before eating) so found myself sufficiently toasted and on a roll. Probably half because of the booze (confidence booster) and half because of the fact for the first time since i stacked it gracefully down my staircase, i was out, standing up and not hurting, and in a room of handsome boys. (Apparently I kept annoying sallie by bringing them over to meet her when she was trying to listen to music... hey, this is matt, this is matt, this is dave... hehe).

so anyways, somehow i managed to stay upright in my black boots, charm a few handsome men, break my bracelet (which a pleasant man kindly tied back together for me), and meet someone who just studied film in amsterdam with HAL HARTLEY (Bastard!).

We got home at 2... which i only knew when i got home and went 'fuck!'. but that's great, it mean i wasn't bored, and wasn't clock watching.

oh... last night i got attacked by an attack-duck outside courtneys place!
more later.
that was funny as!
xJ

it occured to me last night...

not only am i not writing anything particularly interesting in this blog these days.... but that it was nearly 'time up' for my tax return!

i always leave these things to the last minute... well, i'd started it several weeks back, but the questions about private health insurance always stump me for some reason. so at 9:05 this morning i rang daddio and asked if it was too early for a tax related question!

so dont forget, if you havent done yours... you have til monday!

the most recent exciting love of my life is my new Sex & The City Box Set!! I wish it were a man, but it really isn't. At least I can indulge and giggle my evenings away when I feel like I can't be arsed doing anything else.

I've watched all of series one and part of series two now as well. I think so far there's only one episode that I wasn't sure I'd seen yet. The one thing I really laughed out loud about though was an episode where Carrie is in bed with Mr Big in the morning, and she farts... freaks out, gets dressed and leaves... then obsesses over the fact that perhaps their less frequent sexual escapades are all about the fart! i thought it was hilarious!

ahh, i'm feeble minded!

Anyways... so i thought i might go see a movie today but i think i've missed Charlie which i wanted to go and see cos it seems i'm the only person who has never seen it!! Other than that Sallie and I are going into Ric's later (unless her illness has worsened, everyone seems sick around here atm) to see Charles Foster Kane... who are apparently well regarded up here in Brisneyland, and I'm yet to see them, so why not. It's free and it's music. What more could you want?!

All I can think about at the moment is how to make loads of cash so I can really travel, do some volunteering, and run a total muck. Do some more good in the world or something?!! Get more motivated!

I'm feeling better physically since stacking it down my staircase *rubs butt just thinking about it* after seeing the Osteopath several times and getting given more strengthening exercises to do. I only managed to walk home once this week but next week I'll walk home more. Sometimes it was because of the weather, other times it was because i had a muhassive box of avon in my possession.... but anyways, if I get a boogie in tonight it will make up for some of the non-walking from storms and arms full of shit this week.

bye for now.
xJ
ps. Sarah Jessica Parkers fragrance 'LOVELY' really is... well... lovely!!

a storm is rolling in...

lovely.

had a very quiet weekend, spent some time up at the pineapple hotel on friday night watching some blues.

then veg'd through saturday and went to jenn's for a bit of a farewell shindig for her and kate who are going overseas very soon.

here's a picture of something random...



Oh THATS not random!! it's me and the stunningly stunning Amanda in Denver at the duelling piano bar SING SING!! WOO!!

xJ

strayyun idol...

ok so i watched the show last night and witnessed this horrendous version of Eye of the Tiger done by 'the guy that everyone loves' (apparently) Lee and thought it was absolute bullshit. With one glimmer of hope I waited for some nicely put negative criticism from marcia... but instead she said "there are people in the audience going 'why?' and to them i'd like to say... welcome to the 21st century...!!"

to which my hope was squashed!!!

i mean seriously, what i keep thinking is... what the feck is he doing on australian idol if he wants to sing in a punk band... i mean i think they think it's going to kick start their career... why not do it the hard way you apparent musician?

Marcia!! you disappointed me for the first time... having done ten years in community radio and being exposed in a muhassive amount of all types of music... i was just open-mouthed at that performance, and not in a good way. if i had the vote, i would have booted him out.

xJ

Little Fish

Saw this flick with Ms Fiona last night... it was quite good.

Australian film makers seem to be quite good at not sugar-coating issues like drug abuse and what it can do to families. Although it makes these types of films quite distressing, it's good to see.

Cate Blanchett, Huge Weaving, Sam Neill were all good as is expected... but actually Noni Hazlehurst appearing as the mother was pretty stunning too. I was quite suprised. Perhaps because I was used to seeing her on play-school as a kid or something!!

Today my folks and I were going to go to movie world, however it's coming down in fuckets bull outside, so that's no good for rollercoasters!!

Instead we're watching THE UNFORGIVEN and old Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn film... except I don't quite understand what's going on because I'm not watching properly am i? ;)

Theres lots of dust, horses, the lugged a piano across the plains to bring it home... erm... something!!

xJ

i'm officially...

an avon lady! odd huh? i feel good about it, some of the products i've tried of theirs lately have done positive things such as made me not wear foundation! i was pretty happy with that!

I went to the osteo Tuesday afternoon and she confirmed what my aunt and GP in Adelaide both said... except she thinks i'm not overly hypermobile... but that's ok. So really, what she said in the first place was correct... build up muscle to protect your bones but don't go too overboard. This is very good news.

Polly's housemate the lovely Belinda is coming over shortly to receive her birthday present and have a look at avon...

xJ

pics from heidi & warwicks wedding

ok so they're off my fone so they aren't so good but heres some silly late night shots...


Jet X & Matty Matt


Jet X, Matty Matt & Spoz

xJ

more last weekend pictures...

Aiva & I at the Multicultural Festival - Roma Street Parklands.
Me looking very much like I'd had a day of sneezing! Cos that's exactly what happened!! *ACHOO*


Aiva, Sallie and me in my air stewardess dress at the Clarence Corner Hotel

It was my birthday on Thursday (6 Oct) so we went to the Melbourne for some drinks, then Three Monkeys in West End for a light meal which was lovely. Then last night some nice folk came over to be the guinea pigs for my first trial run of lentil burgers. They were tasteriffic!

I got some jewellery and a calendar to make and some wine for pressies. Thanks guys!

Except my three year plan isn't complete... or anywhere near being complete, so I'm already two days behind on it! bah humbug to me!!

xJ

a weekend in brisneyland...

My Cousin Angela and her bf Nick who have just moved to Brisneyland: at the Clarence Corner Hotel


The Go-Betweens at the Multicultural Festival in Roma Street Parklands... Sunday 2nd October.

xJ

last week in adelaide...

so i guess i need to write about what i actually did instead of being cryptic and saying nothing...

frivolous friday was taking mummy and daddy to the dulwich bakery for some super-tasty goodness... then going to see little bec & coco for the afternoon.

then off the super-fun wedding of heidi and warwick - possibly the two nicest people on the planet.

then off to the city... now... going into the city quickly made me understand why i'm not living there anymore. it was friday night, around midnight, and the city was certainly not buzzing.

it's not that i dont like the people, musos and comedians i know there. i love them, i love them all. i even love their guts... but it's just too quiet for me. that said, i'm not as much into gigging and stuff of late... but plan to pay a bit of money back soon and get right back into it.

(i'm particularly happy to hear WOLF & CUB are coming up here soon!)

saturday morning at the t-bar which is totally my regular place of saturdaymorningbreakfastinadelaide type scenario... with some nice sorts, and lovely tea.

then off to the barossa to see my aunty and get my body-verdict....

more soon.
xJ

what? i mean WHAT....

is the world coming to?

Just read the latest bali blasts report. It's a bit beyond a joke. Why do people do things like that? It doesnt achieve much, except make their local community and livelyhood look like a dangerous place to be.

weirdos.

Aiva is here from syd-e-ney and my cousin Angela and her partner arrived yesterday from Adelaide to their new home BRISNEYLAND!

So we're all off to Ric's for brekkie very soon.

The lovliest lovlies Ken & Scottie brought the futon bed over yesterday as well, so hooray, i finally have furniture! well, some furniture!
tee hee.

xJ