My coat has blood on it, and I had blood on me! My coat was used to cover a little old (70+) lady who was hit by a car in front of me and Darius in Norwood on Sunday night. And I had blood on me from her blood on her umbrella because it was raining and dripping onto my shirt. She kept looking for her umbrella but denying that the one I was holding was hers, every time we told her that I was holding it for her. It was slightly bent and had some blood on it, and it was the umbrella picked up from the ground next to her ... so I'm pretty sure it was hers. I think she just didn't recognise it. Or, the dented umbrella did not go with her outfit and she didn't want it anymore ;-)

I think she will be ok (possible broken bones and a few cuts and bruises aside) because she was pretty collected while waiting for the ambulance - an onlooker said "shit!" and she said "I beg your pardon!" in a most affronted tone. Ha! Go the sassy grandma who won't stand for that language even when she's down!

Well, the ambulance and an on-duty police officer arrived, so we headed back to the car and took of all our wet and/or bloodied shirts and coats (it sounds so much worse than it was - I just had a drop on my shirt sleeve and arm, and a bit mixed with the rain on my coat) and went home in our singlets. I put everything in the wash and changed so that we were presentable for my cousin's birthday dinner.

Whew! Ok, so let me fill you in on the latest and greatest in my life.

The funniest, and first therefore off the rank, is my Harry Potter dream. I dreamt I was a student at a boarding school where the students individual bedrooms were built in a circle, like an "O", and the centre had been hollowed out and turned into a tropical marine aquarium. Each bedroom had a large wall-to-wall window that was a view into the aquarium. It was sports day, and there was a swimming carnival going on in an aquatic centre annexed to the school building (which was on a reef, wtf?). If you weren't competing, you were entitled to dress up in wild and wacky costumes and support the competitors. I had the genius idea of dressing up as something from Harry Potter. A Death Eater no less. o_O I made it up to the swimming pool area and then had to battle my way to the seating waving my wand and yelling things like "wingardium leviosa" and the like, because I couldn't remember for the life of my how to disarm ("expelliarmus") opponents - of which there were suddenly many non-Death Eater wizard costume wearers! - to my Death Eater look! lol.

My return home to Oscar and Indigo ... let's not address Oscar. Suffice to say he was grumpy and hissed and growled if anyone even looked at him. I later inspected him and found he had a shredded ear. Treatment for that is occurring. Indigo on the other hand was a little cautious but otherwise generally welcomed me back with open paws. She loved me up until I treated her for fleas and clipped her claws. Still, she forgave me and has deigned to sleep on my bed with me these last few nights either spooning or lying belly to belly (she sneaks under the covers). She's also gone absolutely nuts over the fact that I brought back the original scratching post that I had brought over from Adelaide for her to use when I first got her. She launches herself at it in a flying leap in order to attack, bite and shred the damn thing. It's hysterical to watch.

My job prospects are reassuring. Yay! Relief! Etc. One girlfriend alone has two positions she can put my name forward for that are PA roles.

That's all for now folks! Oh, wait, no - Port Augusta was lovely, and it was really great to see Darius again. I really enjoyed spending time with him doing the stuff we both like doing - driving around seeing things and taking photos etc and watching films that we enjoy ... as a start. Good times, good times. We made curry, and we BBQ'd on another night. Yum.

Darius is back. He said, even though he was over there and everything, he didn't even see a koala.

I think that they are flown in and out for their usual shift hours ... so maybe other policemen have gone in as he left. I hope they stay safe too.

In any event, he's back. Safe and whole. I'm really glad he let me know he was going, and that he is back safely. I would have been devastated if something had happened and I hadn't known.

Thank you, everyone, for holding him in your thoughts.

They have sent Darius to fight bush fires on Kangaroo Island. I received a text message from him to let me know as he was boarding the plane to go there.

One person has already died.

Mmm, wedding mania. That, and babies, seems to be the go these days. I have attended three weddings this year, two in the past ten days. Everyone else is having babies!

On that note, the girl at work is much recovered but still needing to take care of herself and the baby. But more to the point, Darius' sister had a baby in March, his cousin 's wife had a baby six weeks ago, his other cousin is pregnant again ... and one of my LJ friends recently announced her own pregnancy. Yikes!

On the upside, I didn't catch the bouquet! Whew.

The wedding ceremony itself (in a Catholic church in Willunga) was very brief, but the priest was a character and made us laugh a few times as well.

The bride wore a white dress with a beaded bodice and skirt with netting overlay. The bridesmaids (3) and flower girl wore charcoal gray strapless dresses with netting under the skirt. The groom and groomsmen (3) wore dark charcoal grey (if not black, maybe) suits with a thick-ish charcoal grey pinstripe. The buttonholes were orchids (only grown by one person in the whole of South Australia) and the bride had red roses with the same orchids dotted throughout. The bridesmaids had bouquets of red roses. The bride and bridesmaids and flower girl wore matching red sequined ballet flat style shoes.

Darius and the two other people he has formed a trio with played the processional and while the register was signed. Upon exiting the church, a Lithuanian wedding tradition was upheld - woven sashes in various colours are held by two rows of young and (usually) single people as an arch/guard of honour for the newlyweds, and bubbles were blown.

The reception (the Alma Hotel, Willunga) started a couple of hours later with a buffet of various foods, cold meats, cheeses, quartered chicken, salads (green, pasta, potato) and little hot finger foods - pies, pasties, mini pizzas, and spring rolls and curry puffs. The cake was made by the groom - alternating milk and white chocolate mudcake cupcakes (gluten free, the groom is allergic - also to potatoes, the pain!)

I polished off nearly a whole bottle of Scarpantoni Ceres Rosé (same kind as had at dinner in the car with Darius the other weekend), four glasses of champagne and a lemon Ruski and a glass of sauvignon blanc ... and I was both still upright, making sense, not maudlin, and not regretting anything I said! That is one hell of an achievement for me since I usually fall over after around a glass and a half.

Question of the evening, from the best man after first enquiring if Darius and I were together or related (the answer to both being no): "Does it bother you that you're both still in love with each other?" ... I nearly giggled in his face =X Of course it is, I think, not an inaccurate assessment of the situation but it's not a bother or awkward for either of us as I think one always has some love for one's first love. Whether or not that translates to the resumption of the relationship as a couple, I don't know - I suppose it does for some (actually, I know of three couples offhand who have parted only to come back together again with the benefit of that time apart, but that's besides the point).

Breakfast was barbecued bacon and eggs and toast. We had lunch (fish and chips) at the bride and groom's flat with all the family, and then we headed back to Adelaide from Port Willunga, via Moana where we dashed into the water and cooled off. Very fresh and chilly to start with but a pleasant temperature after five or so minutes of adjustment. We bodysurfed for a bit and then got out and sat in the sun to dry off. Lovely day, nay weekend, in all.

I made my flight (Qantas this time) on time and got into the house at 10.30pm. I was in bed by 11pm and I slept really well that night. I was exhausted from all the events!

Well, things are considerably more settled after the drama of last week. I reviewed my postings, and noted that five of my six most recent posts have been about Indigo. She would tell you "that is as it should be", and I'm sure she's correct ... but it's commonly said that variety is the spice of life. In that vein, here is some variety.

Virgin Blue's flight service is rock bottom (and I took the time to tell them so in a survey I was offered the opportunity of completing). Both flights with them, in the space of 8 days, were half an hour behind at least in landing and allowing us to board. That would be understandable (although, disappointing that it appears in my experience as the norm for them) but it was sub-standard that there wasn't any communication of the delay and thanks for patience to the waiting customers (some of whom had appointments to keep at the other end!). However once we were in the air, the pilots made the decision to fly higher than they normally would in order to regain lost time. We arrived only 15 minutes later than we should have. Also - I managed to land pole position in seating for the flight. Seat 1F, window and front. Nice. Those things did make up for the lateness, but I still can't shake the disappointment - makes me less inclined to fly Virgin Blue again.

I had an awesome dinner (sushi at my favourite place in Adelaide) with Manda and laughed hysterically with her about my latest idea that I had for a wedding ceremony (how long will this one last, lol) - instead of music while the bride (that would be me) and the groom (Mr Plug-In since I don't currently have a potential groom) were signing the register, I wondered if lion dancers wouldn't be both more entertaining and a little sort of "taste of culture" from my side. Anyway ... that did afford both Manda (and just2draw who had arrived to take me on to coffee and a catch up chat) a lot of laughs.

just2draw and I walked further down the street from the sushi bar and into a cafe where we had hot chocolate in a latte style (that is to say, milkier ... because I prefer milkier hot chocolates, lol). We chatted for a while, and I don't think it would be inaccurate to say that the opportunity to touch base and talk about some more intense issues going on in our individual lives was relished and just what we both needed. I really value the amusement and insight that I can offer to just2draw and that he seems to take from my company. In fact, his amusement often amuses me! And he was kind enough to make a detour when dropping me home in order for me to purchase new batteries for my SLR camera.

Batteries, by the way, were a good purchase, and I took a good number of photos at the wedding over the weekend. I won't post about Indigo's return home, as I did that in the entry just prior to this one. And, I think I will post wedding commentary and reflections in another post following this one.

In any event though, my weekend was awesome! I ate good food, caught up with good friends, my darling Indi came home, and I saw all of Darius' family - which meant so much to me because they have been dear to me for a very long time.

Weekend in Adelaide was joyful! =D

I landed on Thursday evening and my mother took me to meet my brother's new girlfriend Jess ... 19, one quarter Maori, one quarter Scottish, the rest mostly Hong Kong Portuguese with the possibility of some Chinese somewhere. She is, in a word, beautiful. And not just physically. She is the most confident, open and friendly girlfriend James has had yet! (Although, his first ever girlfriend, and one other, still remain very dear in our - the family's - hearts).

On Friday morning I took the cats to the vet. Oscar was chipped (there was hatred glared at me for the rest of the day) and had his claws trimmed (possibly, the chipping didn't bother him as much as the claw clipping - this might be where the hatred comes from). It too him all weekend to forgive me. Indi was scanned for her barcode (hehe) and will be registed on the national register. She also had her claws trimmed but didn't even blink at it.

As a treat, I purchased a toy (feathers on the end of a bendy-ish rod, Oscar ignores it, Indi loves it and tries to play with it by herself even) and a cat bed for Indi. Oscar already has one. She loves that too. It's very cute to see her head just peeking out of the entrance to the little set up. Heh.

Then just2draw came around. He took pictures of the cats! (Here, and here. Also here.)

We went to lunch at a little Malaysian cafe/restaurant I discovered last time I was in Adelaide (August) called Kopi Tim on Gouger Street. Very yummy Hainan Chicken Rice! And then just2draw kindly took me past my mother's office to collect something and then dropped me at the Bead Hive on Pulteney Street for my next catch up (a couple of hours with miss__scarlet spent creating a necklace together, as she is very experienced, to display a large bead of Venetian glass that one of my Italian lecturers gave to me).

From here I managed to get a lift with miss__scarlet to my old workplace and caught up with a number of people there. It was good.

Then I rushed back to the city (only a couple of blocks from these offices) to meet Manda. I ended up wandering on Rundle Street briefly and bought a leather bolero. My necklace, created that day, was also admired by a prefessional jewellery maker! (one of the staff in Blue Chilli on Rundle Street).

Then Manda, her boy and I made our way to T Chow restaurant. We caught up with a number of people there (approximately 8 others). Food was good (well, the noodles and ice cream were ... the chicken was not as good as on other occasions, though not bad either).

Then I dropped past Kami's house ont he way home (scored a lift from Moni!).

Saturday saw me go to the doctor - a number of blood tests and check ups were done, plus the first of the three Gardisil vaccinations. I'm being tested for Coeliac generally and also the genetic Ceoliac test (not requiring gluten antibodies to be present in the blood, and predicts risk of developing Coeliac disease).

My day did get better though, as all the unconfortable and needle bits were over and done with early! I went with Moni to the supermarket and grabbed a few things (primarily cat food for Oscar and Indigo) before rushing to the Central Markets with my mother and brother to meet up with his new girlfriend for lunch.

James was disappointed as we spotted a school mate of mine (from primary school) and although I wanted to catch up with the friend and reconnect, I was hoping to avoid it then as then was not the time. Unfortunately his dad hailed us over, and I foolishly went (and then couldn't extract myself until it was time to leave for the next thing I had planned). I will look forward to the opportunity to get to know Jess properly though, next time.

I then caught up with Darius. We went to Marion to try and find him a shirt and tie for his sister's wedding, then to the beach to talk and walk, and I scouted for washed glass for his dad's aquarium - something I always automatically do when I'm on a beach. After that, we dropped into his house before heading out again (past the cemetary to visit his grandfather's grave) and then up the hill to get chicken and chips. We ate in the car at the look-out near my house, and shared a bottle of rosé (plastic cups! hehe).

On Sunday, I went to the wedding that had been the reason for my visit. It was nice, though not my style. (miss__scarlet, I'll fill you in when we catch up, instead of writing it ... Hopefully people will put up photos on Facebook, but I know Elisa already has on MySpace).

The reception was High Tea. I had a lactose allergy moment. It was unpleasant, though my own fault (I would try a sandwich from the non-lactose free plate on the off chance it was the same as from the lactose-free plate...). I vomited. Heh. But I felt better after that!

The bouquet toss is something else to write about. I'll do that in a separate post.

Then I dropped past Darius' dad's house and petted their cat and caught up with Darius, his brother and his brother's girlfriend. I also watched a tiny bit of Australian Idol before I headed off to meet Manda and her boy for dinner (stew. cooked by boy, was very tasty in fact!).

Then I had a ridiculously small amount of sleep before I had to rush for the plane. I slept on the plane, but it couldn't land quickly enough. For some reason I was nauseated in the last twenty minutes of the flight (a lot of turbulence, but not the scary kind, just the uncomfortable kind ... I don't usually get motion sickness).

And that, folks, was my weekend.

I had a brief conversation with Darius by SMS this afternoon. He asked a question, I answered, then in more detail (because, well, I'm like that. I generally what to give as complete an answer as I can - without drowning a person in too complex or "correct" language and information ... Except that I usually fail and give too much information anyway, and then people get confused. Sigh).

As follows:

D: Ragazza?

S: Italian for girl. Why?

D: Thought maybe wife or partner. Close. Just reading.

S: It can imply girlfriend - usually preceded by a possessive determinative pronoun, that is "my" (for example). Fidanzata is fiancée, or even more significant than girlfriend but with the evolution of language also less than fiancée. Moglie is wife. Sposa is bride.

D: Aciu*

S: De nada, amigo!

He may or may not remember that once upon a time, I called him both "mio ragazzo" and "mio fidanzato" (the masculine variations of the words under discussion in the SMS) in conversation to people who spoke Italian. It defined his place and significance in my life.

*Aciu is "thank you" in Lithuanian.

I'm going out salsa dancing tonight. First time in ages. I will be so rusty. Couldn't convince anyone else to go, so will only know one person there - a friend from Adelaide who moved to Sydney some years back and who invited me to go out with her tonight.

Looking forward to being back in Adelaide for a little while, next week. Plans are to hit the ground running - straight from the airport to coffee with a girlfriend who leaves the next morning to go to Spain! Then Friday (I think, or possibly Monday) will be lunch with an old co-worker from the previous place I worked at. Maybe a dinner at my favourite sushi restaurant with my mum. I'm also hoping to catch up with _flygirl5 for an evening. Saturday I'll be having coffee with Darius before he heads off to Renmark for the weekend. Then Saturday evening - no plans yet, maybe catch up with monggy and go out? Sunday I will catch up with Sarah for coffee in the afternoon, and follow that up with dinner with the family on Sunday night. And a touch-base appointment with Dora on the Monday. Should be good!

Ahhh, home.

Well, and hello :)

It's been a little bit of a drought in my journal - I have been so busy lately that I've only had time to read and comment your journals. Posting in my own barely merited thinking about, let alone even actually doing.

I plan to re-size a selection of pictures from my holiday tonight (yayheaven will probably hold me to that ;) so you should expect another post much later this evening from me containing them.

In the meantime, I've been rushed off my feet preparing the house for the arrival of a new exchange students - a Spanish boy, and an Italian girl - and negotiating with my brother to make sure he helps out.

Actually, I said to my brother that I had been quite disappointed and let down by him the last two weeks, to which he said he knew he was shit. This surprised me - but then he had had a severe speaking to from my mother since this (which happened a few more times - er, the disturbances at night, not the "ack your friend saw me naked" thing) which was possibly the most severe talking to he has ever received from her (being that she is a little easy going on The Only Son) but I was quick to tell him that I wasn't saying he was shit, and that the issue was that I knew he was capable of more responsibility, reliability and consideration than he had shown in the last fortnight.

Anyway, the drain of managing the household, cleaning it, managing my parents' mail and accounting, and working fulltime has been exhausting. It's like my life has vampiric leanings ... it's trying to suck all the energy out of me o.0

But I'm back on top again so things are running more or less smoothly at the moment. I have some great news - such as my personal debt already being reduced by almost one fifth, D being up for more "definite" hour/shifts at his workplace, my car having the cd player and iPod adaptor installed today, and my body has finally started to co-operate (but I'll be heading back to the doctor tomorrow morning just for one last check on that) ...

And some funny news - the cat has big bald patches on his neck and head. If you remember this
"[...] it appears the cat has diaorrhea ... I washed him yesterday because there was no other way to deal with it matted all through his tail and bottom fur. He was one angry and skinny-looking cat at the end of it all, lol. But he forgave me pretty quickly." ... Well, the cat's hair matted in some areas even though I kept combing him as his fur dried, and it resulted in my having to cut a number of dreadlocks out. I cut it so neatly and closely (because it was knotted all the way to the skin) that he now has a few bald patches where white kitty skin is showing amongst his otherwise super-fluffy coat. I'll grab D's camera and take a photo to show you (but don't tell Oscar - he'll be mad if he knows we're laughing at him). lol.

And that's largely all I have to say at the moment. Hopefully my weekend is exciting and affords me some interesting things to post about here :P

Darth Toothbrush: the true story.

D: Did you bring my toothbrush back from your place?
S: Yes! I'm holding it ransom for nice things!
D: My toothbrush likes you?
S: Noooooooo - that's not nice enough.
D: Mwahaha, myy toothbrush is faithful to its master! It only brushes one set of teeth!
S: Mwahahaha, not true! I subverted it! It has served me in the past! I brought your toothbrush over to the dark side!
D: Noooo, not the dark side!
S: Yes! The DUCK side! Quack, quack! (dies of laughter and quacking)
D: Quack, quack!

So, the tulips. Today was freeeeeezing cold. Icy winds and 12 degrees C, even hail for five minutes up at my place! But in between rain showers, I managed to put the bulbs in the ground - took all of twenty minutes - but then had to poke the extra bulbs that I ran out of space for in the gaps between. D pointed out afterwards that the best way to fit them all in the box would have been to zigzag them, but I am not mathematical/logical so it didn't occur to me. I did them in straight lines, then stuffed the extra four here and there. Fingers crossed they go ok - but I guess I'll have to wait until spring to know :)

In other news? Snugglepot and Cuddlepie's latest clutch are escaping the nest ... but D and I have had to rescue two of the babies and put them back into the nest because while they are big enough to start coming out of the box, getting back in has been another matter entirely due to the height oft he entrance to the new box we gave them when we moved the birds to D's place. Yeesh, that's a long sentence, lol. They'll be ready to go in the next week and a half or so.

Other extremely exciting news is that Romeo and Juliet not only laid eggs, but have had a successful first hatching - about three babies (I'm guessing - last check on Friday revealed two, but circumstances are likely to have changed between now and then ... although even just two out of 5 eggs would be successful for a first clutch, now we just have to hope their parenting skills combined with the superior nesting situation compared to Snugglepot and Cuddlepie's first time will allow for all the babies to develop/mature to the independent age!). This is a good result - something I hadn't told you all about was that sometimes same sex pairings of lovebirds will behave like a male-female couple, even laying eggs (albeit unfertilised)! The man who I bought them from had assured me they were a mixed gender pair, and my breeder contact had confirmed that insofar as the space between their pelvic bones can indicate ... but one can have males with larger pelvis space, or females with smaller space, and as appearance is not linked to gender it's actually impossible to confirm until eggs hatch or a blood test is performed.

I showed D how I catch and hold the baby birds in order to get them back into the next, and let him in on the need to discard the eggs that didn't hatch. He'll do that shortly. He's not as excited as I was, but still does find it a little exciting at least as he's never had care of the birds while they've been laying and hatching. His grandmother enjoys them. She spends hours at a time watching them, because "they are always doing something". I'm glad. It's lonely for her now ... and she never would accept a pet for herself (she doesn't really like them), but she's fine with our birds, and in fact even takes pleasure from them (something that pleases me immensely, for her sake).

And ... that's all folks. I'll catch you most likely tomorrow when I'm at work and chained to a computer for 8.5 hours of the day ;) (PS, that's Romeo and Juliet in the icon. No, I don't know which is which, lol.)

Well, Saturday night was a evening spent celebrating the engagement of D's sister and her partner. It was actually really enjoyable - perhaps because it wasn't overwhelming "her/their friends" and was more balanced with people I knew and already had a rapport with (thus allowing conversation to flow a little more freely - for me anyway).

I gave her a hug which seemed to surprise/unbalance her, and told her that I was absolutely over the moon to see her with someone who clearly adored and treated her the way she deserved. I think she expected me to be jealous?

We gave them a popcorn maker (at her request), a baking tin, and a gift voucher for a fancy homewares/decoration store that I'd seen near my work. She said that our present was the best present all night, as she has seen and admired the store that the gift voucher was for and was pleased by both the popcorn maker and the cake tin (her partner is a baker and he was excited too).

I had more than a few very interesting conversations with people (discussions on various housing and financial situations - my own included, discussions on the loss/incomplete identity of a bi/multi-cultural* child who is denied the exposure to one part of their culture, etc).

I was also asked by one aunt's partner's child from a previous marriage (who is growing up and starting to come out of her shell a little more - which is lovely) if I was Greek or Italian. She was surprised to hear that it was neither, and in fact different entirely (obviously, dear informed readers, Chinese and Anglo-Saxon).

* bearing in mind that I refer to children with a more immediate blood link to their culture - like half-half or reasonably close to that mix (but allowing that even a child with a more diluted cultural mix may still feel the loss as they mature) or even full with no understanding of their ethnic heritage.

I also met D's gay uncle's new partner (his previous relationship had lasted 19 or 20 years) who was significantly his junior - we swapped opinions of clubs, and I learnt a bit more about D's uncle than I think D's uncle would normally tell me (although he's been open with me about his relationship with his previous partner finishing and the emotional side of that) I think. Although the new partner did not mean to tell me, it was more information picked up by context which would be otherwise innocuous.

We didn't leave until 4.30am which only afforded me 2.5 hours sleep (in order to get up to see Valentina off at the airport) once we actually got home and into bed.

I like D's family. They are varied and highly individual characters. Not to suggest anyone else's family isn't ... but this family entertains me, and I enjoy it and am fond of them.

Well, Easter was eventful. The majority of it is stuff that I don't need to revisit. The main other eventful occurrence was when I managed to end up in the ER/After Hours clinic at the local (small) hospital. The short story goes like this: "Knife meet finger." "Finger meet knife." "Ok. Hospital?" ( A little bloody, so maybe skip this if you're not good with that kind of stuff. )

So other than that, I spent most of the weekend with D and his family in the end. Very enjoyable. I even presented myself at the church (whew!) to make his grandmother smile (she was quite sad as it was her first Easter without the grandfather). I get the feeling that no one is really able to hug her - I don't think her sons do that (well, properly, that is) and I'm not sure she has the huggy-style relationship with her sisters. So I hug her. And she holds tight and cries ... because no one else lets her do that.

I've promised to leave my Scrabble set at her house and play with her some time - which will be interesting with my limited Lithuanian and her limited English.

My plans for fitness are stalled somewhat. Pole dancing will depend on finances and spaces in the classes. Salsa - I'm waiting for the instructors to call me to work something out. Flamenco - again, Rosh is waiting for the venue to be ready, and then will let me know. And finally, the belly dancing - Daniela wants to come with me so we are waiting for her to return from her visit to Italy in June before we go. But you know, other than that one class of each a week should really help.

Anyway, I know I haven't posted here lately, but I'm not overly motivated - or don't have anything interesting to say (and now typing is more difficult). I'm actively reading everyone's LJs though. I hope you all had a safer and less eventful Easter than I did!

I have just spent a really enjoyable weekend in Melbourne with D. But first, I owe kathsonno a big apology, as we'd made rough plans to meet up on Saturday afternoon - I realised as I was getting on the plane that I hadn't confirmed with you or given you my mobile number to contact me on, so when I got to Melbourne I rang directory assistance looking for you in the Mornington area ... no luck. No one with your initials came up. And I just never got to an internet cafe. Maybe next time I'm in Melbourne and am more organised?

In the meantime, we left on Friday evening. The new Adelaide airport complex is quite shiny, and reminiscent of the small bit of Fumicino Da Vinci in Rome that I remember. The flight passed quickly - in fact, I felt like it consisted of take off, a trip to the toilet, and landing. D informed me that I was in the toilet for a long time, and that as we'd scoffed dinner due to lack of time, he had worried that I'd eaten too quickly and ended up vomiting. Fortunately this was not the case as my dinner remained firmly (yay!) in my stomach.

We were collected by my friend V and her partner who were putting us up for the weekend. It turned out, when we arrived, that she had vacated her bed for us and was sleeping on the single fold out bed in the lounge. Very sweet. We paid for her groceries that weekend, and took both her and her partner out to dinner on the Sunday night before we left.

Saturday morning was spent on Bridge St, starting with a very yummy breakfast at the Groove Train cafe. D decided it would be a good place to try as it was both reasonably priced, and frequented by cyclists (the sort that dress like they're in Tour De France and drink espresso before hopping back on their bikes to go ... wherever it is road cyclists go, lol). It was a good choice, as the food was excellent, and the orange juice was served in very tall glasses! From there we wandered back up Bridge St and did a little shopping - I bought a cute dark plum/maroon sun dress with a cream, pink and white print, and a green t shirt for D. Then we looked in a few other shops - United Colors of Benetton, for example, which brought back a lot of memories of shopping in Italy - before I had the bright idea to walk to Chapel St from there. Haha. It's not like Adelaide where you can actually manage to walk from one end of the city to the other fairly quickly ... although in my defence, I did ask a shop assistant who told me it was 1.5 km away. Ha. More like 3 km. Never mind, we made it as far as Richmond East (another ten to fifteen minutes from Chapel St) before giving up and catching the train to the city in time to meet D's friend K.

K took us to lunch at the Blue Train where I had a most delicious lamb cutlet salad with roasted pine nuts. K paid for lunch as we had hosted her last time she was in Adelaide and driven her around a lot. We all went to the National Gallery Victoria and saw an exhibition of one of the first impressionists, Pissarro. It was interesting to see the development of his style, and the experimentation that ultimately blended with his initial style to produce paintings that more and more looked like photographs if you stood at either an angle to the image or a few metres back. After the gallery, D and I headed back to Chapel St with the agreement to catch up with K for dinner that night to celebrate her birthday. We arrived right on Chapel St (by tram) instead of trying to walk a ridiculous distance - I bought a pair of sandals (which later broke when someone stepped on the back of the shoe in a crowd as I was lifting my foot up to take a step), and then headed back to V's place to prepare for the night.

V had study to do, so we got information from her on which tram to catch and which street to find the little bar/restaurant at which we would meet K. Unfortunately, despite relatively clear instructions from K earlier in the day, V before we left, another random girl on the tram, and a police officer ... we still got lost. However, the group still were waiting to order by the time we found the place, so we weren't holding anyone up. We ate at the Kitten Club - very tasty, and expensive. D and I shared a plate. Has anyone else noticed that the more you pay for a meal, the less food you actually get? The top floor of the Kitten Club was actually a jazz lounge, so we headed up there after dinner and relaxed to a live band consisting of a piano, bass, electric guitar, two saxophones (alto and tenor) and a drum kit. No vocals. I had a glass of wine (white) with dinner, and an Absinthe and apple based cocktail in the jazz lounge. We had a fairly early night, leaving at about 11pm to catch a tram back to Flemingon where V's apartment was. While we were waiting for the tram to leave, we had some random crazy people provide entertainment as they set up their portable cd player and amp and did the chicken dance and then sang along to "Voodoo Child".

D cooked breakfast for all of us, including V, on Sunday morning - bacon, eggs, toast, tomatoes, and hash browns. Mmmmmmm. After that he went to a Lithuanian event (folk dancing) at the Lithuanian Community Centre (or, "Lithuanian House"), and V and I went to Chapel St. Or intended to. We ended up detouring to Bridge St, and we never quite left it. Never mind, I can do the rest of Chapel St next time, lol. I bought a $600 silk Cooper St dress that had been marked down to $89 from a shop called Green With Envy, a singlet top from Esprit, a satin dress from a shop called Mazi, and an Oroton handbag marked down from $500 to $200 and which I got another 10% off as there was a pen mark on it. Then we headed back to V's apartment and recovered from shopping while we waited for her partner to get back from work, and D to get back from his outing to Lithuanian House.

At V's suggestion, we went to dinner at the Leveson. Unfortunately a guy from the first series of Australian Idol, Millsy, was playing there (obviously still milking his "Final Five" fame for all it's worth, from a show that aired four years ago). We sat as far as we could from the music. but then unfortunately the set finished and Millsy sat down on the table smack bang next to us. So ... naughty Sari has a bright idea. I stood up and moved over to where he was sitting and held my camera out in front of me. He looked up and grinned, ready to let me take a picture with him, and then I said "sorry, could you take a photo of me and my friends, please? The camera has auto-focus, so just press down once". He got up and took the shot for us, and then handed the camera back. I thanked him, and then we turned out backs to him and proceeded to pay him no attention whatsoever. lol. That took him down a peg a little, and rightly so as he is an arrogant idiot who thinks the sun shines out of ... hmm, yes, well anyway. D and I finished the evening by watching some of the free entertainment available due to the Commonwealth Games being on. We watched a light show on the Yarra river with music and fountains made from metal sculptures of fish, and then a few different percussion ensembles in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (an open air performance venue in the botanic gardens) before we headed home for the night.

Monday was our last day in Melbourne, and we started it with another of D's tasty breakfasts (as good as the one from the Groove Train cafe) followed by a bit of cleaning in V's place (she had gone early to university). We locked up and threw the keys back in through the bathroom window, lol, before heading into the city and checking out the Melbourne Aquarium for a few hours, and then catching the bus to the airport. And then? Home again. Hooray! But I look forward to heading to Melbourne again sometime soon! :)

Here's my weekend ... in a nutshell.

On Friday night I was going to go to the beach with D to catch up with some friends (same friends that I went away for the weekend with recently), and then his car (the turbo one) just died less than half way down the street after being perfectly fine all day. Needless to say, the beach did not happen that night. We had to push the darned thing home, and then it took us an hour to work out what the problem was. It was not so bad - nothing in the engine itself, nothing electrical. Exactly as I was hoping, and saying to the sky and the car or anything that might be listening, "please let it be something simple and not engine related for once!" Well, something was listening - it was the fuel pump. Simple, and different ... but costly. A new pump has set him back $220. And that was after the guy discounted it from $300.

Saturday was spent trying to be a little active while holed up in my room watching dvds (so I was doing stupid things like jogging on the spot, and doing squats and stuff while watching a film - or more specifically, three films, and half a season of Charmed). In the evening, I went around to D's house and watched some tv with him, and enjoyed a dinner cooked by him - chicken marinated in soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and honey, with rice and vegetables. Mmm! We had a rose wine that I particularly like as well - not because it was the best complement to the chicken (it wasn't, but it also wasn't bad though), but because I liked it and had purchased it prior to dinner being prepared. Mmmm, so tasty dinner - I would love to eat it again!

Sunday was also spent trying not to be inactive, and making up for a whole week of hiding in my room watch dvds when I wasn't at work. I went to a public swimming pool with Valentina and spent a couple of hours there. I did laps and spent some time in the sauna. I didn't stay long in the spa as some guy pinched my ass while I was in there (I got out pretty quick smart, and did not go back). After we finished at the swimming pool, we went to my favourite sushi restaurante and had sushi for dinner. Tasty! And shortly after that we went back to D's place because Valentina needed to take photos for her art project.

Valentina is doing a study on hands. so she's taking a lot of photos of people's hands doing various things. Old hands, young hands, hands on pregnant stomachs, hands holding mechanical bits and pieces, hands playing the piano and violin, and hands on body bits. More specifically, D's hands on my back. She asked me to sit naked on a stool with my back to the camera. Then she made him sit in front of me and more or less "hug" or hold me so that his hands were visible on my back to the camera. Then she took lots of pictures. I'm excited to have another photographer to go a bit crazy with. D was also full of great ideas when Valentina first told us she was out of inspiration.

After this, I scrambled back home to change and go out to see a friend. Tom's going to China and Thailand for a month and I haven't seen him in a good while, so I wanted to make an effort to catch up before he went. I met him at The Wave, a small one room club in the foyer area of the Hyatt Regency hotel. It was great, because even though Tom knows a lot of the people there (he's a regular, and has been dancing for a while so he knows all the teachers, professionals, and other advanced students) he'd come to spend his time with me - and I got to monopolise his skill as a dancer until I went home! lol. I had a lot of fun - I know the basics, but Tom has a strong lead and quite often just guides me into doing something fabulous and new that I have never done before without my even realising it. It's the best fun, and I always leave with a smile on my face. I only lost the beat once, and only bumped into him once, and only added one or two extra things that I wasn't supposed to do, lmao (like extra turns, etc). So. Much. Fun! I forgot how much I enjoy Latino dances - I will be going back again soon (as soon as Tom get's back from overseas, as I don't know anyone else at the club).

Lately, I've been talking about wanting to get a horse again ... but then the money would all go there, and I wouldn't have time to do dance classes. In fact, I don't have enough money to do all the dance classes that I want to either - belly dancing, salsa, flamenco ... SIGH! I have to work out my priorities, lol!

I gave D a broom for his car/garage workshop area for Valentine's day. I bought it in two pieces, broom head, and broom stick/handle. I arrived at his place holding the two parts separately. Conversation as follows:

Sari: Hi! Um ... Happy premature Valentine's day ...
Sari: (thinks to self: haha, my broom is broken)
D: Oh, hey thanks. Uh ... your broom is broken. How are you going to get home now?
D: *ducks*
Sari: *swats* That's just what I was thinking.


One of D's friends persists in calling me a Witch like it's some kind of insult. It confuses him that I just say "yes" in response. Not that I classify myself as a Witch, per se, but I guess you could say that or pagan if you were at a loss to describe my spiritual (note spiritual, not religious) beliefs. Actually, speaking of that friend, he and his girlfriend broke up recently. It was quite a shock to me to hear about it and took me nearly a day to reconcile the information with my knowledge of them, the last time I had seen them.

I hit on this really hot bartender at Big Day Out. It got me cheap/free drinks and dinner, and a boost to see over the crowd at one of the acts, later on in the night. I ended up picking him up.


Bartender. So. Hot. We spent the night together.


Luckily for me, the bartender is also my boyfriend :X lol.

:P I love you all. BDO summary coming up soon-ish (including the birthday phone call from adudeabides that I received while The Living End were playing).

I think I successfully bronzed my passenger arm on Sunday, during the cruise (w00t ... er, almost literally*). I wore sunscreen, but left the window down and my arm in a patch of sun.

Driver's Arm, I will defeat thee!

*D tells me he has been getting PM messages (from other drivers) through the forums congratulating him on the agility and speed of my car.