Procrastination Part I

LIFE IN THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY

Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town west Of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland)

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all yagotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shave though, but its not so bad, coz there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon, and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the back paddock!! This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and its not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - its a piece of piss!! You don't even load your own cartridges - they comes in little boxes and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster. Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer. I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter, Sheila

The weekend...

So, I have successfully managed to waste a lot of time. Which I don't think is very effective, but anyway...

On Friday night, we went out for Mel's birthday to Blue Train. It was beautiful :)
Yes, I laboured for a number of hours trying to figure out to wear, when I realised much later that it wasn't that hard to dress up (or not too dressy..!). Either way, it was a beautiful night! Mind you, it is fun to get dressed up! And it's nice going out with a whole bunch of people. Sarah, nice look :) Gotta love it! I am v. impressed! Blue Train was nice. As always....a very happening place! And as usual, more girls than guys! (see, it always happens!) Anyway, it was a great dinner...we love photos...(i should put some on....!). Mel n Sarah went to the Martini Bar after, while the rest of us headed home...(what a tiring day! I mean, after a whole semester..? :S that's pretty intense..) We headed home to celebrate Trev's birthday..

HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY TREV!!!
So, we had some cake and all...after surprising him at just past 11 o'clock, with a whole bunch of people outside his door, singing and all! Haha....one can't go to bed before 12..it's a Chinese tradition? Hah. Nice work, Cece. :P

It was a good way to round of the semester! (argh! a whole year's worth of classes!!)

So, Saturday was again very unproductive in terms of work...

After being completely bummed out on Friday night, I slept in a bit more than usual (argh! the half hour!!) then you know, normal morning routines...brekkie :) (mmm.....brunch! haha) Then I don't know what for a little while..(hmm...i guess, online? hah. yeah, that's different!) then pete wants to go SUIT SHOPPING. Yes, suit shopping. And needs opinions, clearly....so mel and i ended up going into the city with him to buy his suit.

So, myer it is. and boy, do they do wonderful suits or what? Every man working in that department looked sooo sharp in their own suits! And the guy selling pete his suit was so chatty. And it was soo awesome! By the end of the 'session', we had seen a picture of his daughter, found out that his family was greek, found out that he went to the VCA for a while but left, played in a band (or several!) as a guitarist, had toured places, including the USA, he'd found out that we were college kids, doing our respective degrees (wow! we are all double degree students..go us! haha :P ), found out that my fave composer was bach, and collected our numbers to put on his mailing list of his band so that he could let us know in the future of gigs! Sure, it took about twice the normal amount of time to do this suit, but hey! It was awesome :) Oh, and that he'd done acting and was a bad guy in a number of shows! How cool is that??

yeah, so back to the suit....pete, it's a GREAT suit!! Lookin' hot! :D haha. it sits very well. and it looks tres chic! So, I am impressed by mel n i for giving you such great advice :P haha.

So, we head down to Word afterwards to 'look around', pete wants to 'buy a cd' (which he ends up doing) and we also manage to buy mel's pressie as she's not looking. That's impressive! haha. we then have maccas for lunch (unhealthily enough..! you guys could have said no, it was just a thought....next time we should go to gigi for japanese..? what do u say?) then shopping and browsing around. Yeah, pete, just coz you buy a suit doesn't mean we can't look.. ("Why are we in this store if you girls have no intention whatsoever of buying anything?? Why are we still here?" Because we are girls, that's why!!! )

we then head home, thinking "yeah, we'll take a nap before we go out again, to the apartment warming and the ball." Oh yeah, and all day we're still trying to figure out how to make it to the ball! Get home, do some pno practice, online some more (just a bit!) then get a message that says "oh, we have to leave at 4" which gives us about half an hour to get ready. Yes, for a ball?? Hah. We did ok....

we dressed, primped up, got ready in about half and hour. I say record time...! And yeah, we look hot. (see the photos below...esp. of us on the terrace!) Our feet are killing as we head down to the city yet again....and have to walk from swanston st to about crown...! argh!) We headed to the apartment....and yeah, it's nice :) nice location, good facilities, nicely laid out and all. Sure, it's not like panorama, but still nice :) ok, i won't blab about it....surely sarah can tell us all! :)

we only manage to stay for about half an hour or so, duck into a convenience store for band-aids (yes, a girl's accessory for a night out..!) and tic-tacs (which were popped like pills..urgh!) and then head to flinders to catch a train out to auburn. Oh my....there were soo many people coming back from the races....in all sorts of wonderful outfits. And yeah, a lot of people looked absolutely AMAZING!! Pity so many were so wasted! we have difficulty finding the right train and platform to take....then make the 'alpha-male' ask for them (yes! a conquest! haha...!) and then find ourselves squished very tightly on a train with a whole bunch of people looking as hot as us (all dressed up.....good thing we did or else we'd feel out of place!) and have to endure somebody throwing up....ewww!! Oh well, we got off soon enough....then to be driven by maz to doncaster (woop woop somewhere??). We finally find the place, and make our entrance into the

Inaugural CU Ball 2005!!!

Wow, everybody looked awesome (as you can see from the photos below..)
check those out!
what can i say about the night? The music was ok, but meeting a whole heap of people was awesome. Mel had some really quirky incidences....i met lauren...well, i know her, but not v. well, so I was really excited! Met more musos....was blown away talking to one of them who'd graudated a while back...a piano graduate! That made me soo happy :D Ok, yeah....
we caught a lift back with chris, who has a nice car......and it took sooo much shorter! And it felt like chris n ez were the mum and dad picking up their kids from a party. Hahahahaha. I laughed so hard that my tummy ached!

Ez: "honey, we need to get that soy milk"
chris: "oh, I've just had a hard day at work, all i want to do is get home"
mel: "mummy, i don't feel well..."
pete: "mummy, i've just had an accident...."
me: "mummy, it smells..."
chris: "and i've just cleaned the car..."
ez: "is that all you can think of? The car? I feel so disempowered by you"
me: "mummy, she's on my side...she pulled my hair!"
pete: "mummy, it's squishy..."
Chris: "if you kids don't stop...." (chris proceeds to put some brakes on on the freeway! hahah.)

yeah, good times good times :)

so, got home...daylight saving about to completely screw me up! it did, when i had to change it from 2am to 3am, then was like, "wow! it's really late, maybe i should go to bed now!" woke up completely confused on sunday morning (yep, still morning now time!) then was like, "wow, i need to make a trip to lygon court.." rush brunch/lunch down to walk with gem. Come back after a fairly successful trip, although photo card idea is munted, becuase there is no photo because the photo shop isn't open!!! (grrr...). oh well. skip choir, because of QCWT, head down to safeway again with jess, have dinner, then off to jude's. oh my. QCWT rocked da house!

i had soooo much fun.....i would love to do that again if anybody was interested...! and it was just so great playing with people i actually like!! (not that i've had really horrible experiences yet, but you know...! it's so awesome to be playing with people so into it and all!) Sorry for my terrible bongo drums thing...i'm not a percussionist for nothing!) and yeah, awesome harmonies guys! :)

so then we went out for gelate.....gosh, that place is really good :) Gives you lots....! and it's soo good. But i knew i so shouldn't have eaten that much...and put on an extra layer because i was freezing by the end of it! conversation was interesting....i am going to have to change my phone message soon...just coz i sound articulated on the phone is not a bad thing..? my reading voice...sigh. Shoudl i just do demos or something, guys?? haha. Mutual friends. Significant others. Ribs. Teeth. Haha.

So, that has been my exciting weekend. Just to cap off the busy week! and here i am, swotvac. procrastinating by blogging. But i'm sure you all want to know the intricacies of my life :P (why else are you reading???) I feel reflective after reading mel's...perhaps i shall do my own but later...i've spend wayy too long writing this one! (Why are these so long? the detail? or the jam-packed week i've had?)

oh well....this is drawn out long enough.
signing out and over (or whatever..!)

Mel, Pete n Me on the terrace of Em's/Sarah's/Anna's apartment at Southbank Towers :) (did we look hot or what? Nice suit pete...:P And mel, u look hot anyway hehe :P) 

mel n me :) the obligatary photo we take at all events....taken by us, of course! :) 

george and jacob. Nice ties, guys! good look...(see? it does work..really well, in fact!) 

erica n mel :D 

jane :) 

kelly n mel (they went to primary school together in adelaide!!! how quirky is that???) 

pete - what a poser! :P 

me, lauren, erica (lauren is a music student at the con too!!! :) ) 

Jim looking the other way... 

mel n me 

Where has this year gone???

Where has this year gone??? I've just had my last class for this year (lectures, i guess..) and it finished early! (Piano lessons don't count, because i expect them, i guess!)

wow.....it has been busy!

Chris n erica's was AWEOSME!! (as per the photos!) there was this awesome jazz band called "Dry White Toast" and the bass guitarist was this dude from my music mentor group, which was kinda like, "woah! do i know you??" haha :P

the next day (sat) mel and i were contemplating how cool jazz was, and found ourselves thinking "woah, we need to able to dance to jazz and stuff like that!" so we managed to look on the internet for dancing tips. and yes, we spent like, one hour going through a number of videos in our attempts to learn the east coast swing, the samba, the merengue and what not. I think i've forgotten. but i think it's all about attitude (a la xing? haha :P awesome!)

i also had a gig on saturday...i played at a wedding for a singer, who was also a bridesmaid, who was the vocal coach for singin' in the rain. it was a beautiful place....st mary's star of the sea on the cnr of victoria and howard sts in north melbourne. it's currently under this reconstruction. it's quite pretty...and apparently one of the largest parish churches in victoria, or the country (excluding the main cathedrals). v. elaborate. But they didn't have a piano (only an organ..) so i ended up playing on a keyboard. an experience, i guess! (can't say i'm a huge fan...)

anyway....
so, today marks the last day of the teaching semester...v. scary!
i thought be relatively free after the play. the week after proved me wrong. this week def. proved me wrong! i have been running around like a headless chicken! on monday night, i went to the monday evening programme, where helen (my music tutor), played a concert of franco-belgian music, accompanied by mark kruger, this dude from the con who's just finished his doctorate, i think.....my gosh, the franck sonata is DIVINE!! (anne is soooo right!) then mel and i went to the vic to visit chris n erica to deliver pressies and cake and cards :) we ended up talking to them for a few hours :) we watched bits of who wants to be a millionaire, to see if ian tupper got on, but he unfortunately didn't....

ooh!!! in piano class on monday, we saw cool things! we watched these three videos. the first one, i've forgotten. this painist playing shostakovich preludes and fugues. she was aweomse. But the most awesomest thing in my opinion was seeing footage of leonard bernstein....he was the conductor of the ny phil and he used to put on a number of free concerts during the summer at carnegie hall, free for children and their parents, sort of like an educational programme of introducing kids to the orchestra and stuff....think an early "keys to music programme". So, in this footage, he conducted the Copland piano concerto. And the soloist was none other than Aaron copland himself. It was amazing. Sure, there were some bits in it that i didn't really like, but on the whole, it was amazing. Joyfully jazzy, the whole 'open' sound, the use of a sop. sax and what not.....SOO COOL!!!!! Yeah, i love copland.....and ravel.....and debussy.....oh my gosh. i could go on for a while...i'll stop there...before you think me even more nuts! Well, on sunday night, i was in the library doing some work, and decided to read limelight magazine. That's when i realised (yet again) that I am nuts...about music. it was lovely. i was reading through the cd reviews, the concerts and the advertising for 2006 seasons around the country, and the programme listings for the classical channel, and kept sighing to myself, thinking "Wow that's an amazing piece" or "wow, that's an amazing artist....listen for it!". Yeah, i am nuts. i even got really excited when i saw pictures and names of current students, or recent graduates of the con!!! :D

ok...moving on...

tuesday night i had tutes....then a very amusing Bible study. hahahahahha. sigh. I am so greatly amused :) (in a good way!) it's sad that a number of us (well, not us, as in me, but you know, collectively) are leaving.... :(

wednesday saw the piano duo finale, a concert of piano duet/duo works from the Romantic era. gina and i played.....i was kinda nervous, because it was assessed....but nice to have like, a concert! olga was like, "you girls played very well!" so hopefully that went ok! :) it's nice to have the chance to play in melba hall on such a fine instrument! thanx to gowri, sam n mags who came :) Some duos were amazing.....eg. tristan n will. they are just amazing. and peter dumsday. he is an aweosme pianist...kinda underrated next to stefan, but you know.......still v. good.

then on wed. night i played a little recital at queen's. just to play my programme through. sure, there were some dodgy bits....i have about 3 weeks to fix it up, so hopefully that will go well! thanx to everybody who came...(i'm not going to list, coz i will forget somebody and then feel really really bad..!). it's nice to play to some people! then mel n i went to safeway :) gotta love that place! (sorry this is so dry!!!)

then, yesterday was the last concert class of the year. it was a really good class as well! cameron hill played...and gosh, he is sooo awesome. I'm upset that i missed the orchestra concert on tuesday night, but i had to go to tutes and stuff! (he played with the orchestra in the bartok concerto no.2, which he won a violin scholarship for previously......). he is just sooo amazing. sure, i've never talked to him, but he just seems like such a down-to-earth awesome guy. i wish i knew him. and yeah, if i passed him on the street, i wouldn't be able to tell he was such an awesome violinist! edwina played and yeah, drama queen as she is....but she did play well! and well, stefan played.......he is rather good..! sigh...it was SUCH an aweosme concert class. the funniest has gotta have been the poulenc sonata, played by a brass trio (of a trumpet, horn and trombone), including rob shirley (wyvern)...and they walked out in top half black tie (yes, the whole white shirt, bow tie and jacket) and the bottom half either board shorts/denim shorts and thongs/sandels. It was so amusing!!! how's that for some either 'wow' factor, or just great amusement! yes, it was an awesome concert class. while i am glad that i don't have to sit for two hours for about three months listening to people play and tryign to stay awake, it is relaly nice to see how people are going...they play so well...(really a testament to the awesome talent, teachers and faculty!) and it's sad that some people are leaving...!!! *sniff!* and i haven't even gotten to know people that i'd like to! *sniff!*

ok, enough of the sadness...

yesterday was mel's birthday, so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL!!! (again!)

i was incredibly busy yesterday...i have no idea why! after concert class, sam n rach came back to queen's with me for lunch..(which i very nearly missed....so late!) and then we did an aural practice with queen benny n a divine velvet jet. it went v. well, i thought! just a few more bits to polish. and it shoudl be pretty right for the exam (hopefully she likes us!)

then sam n rach and i hung round doing stuff....mucking about and what not....then i had to go off for a QCWT rehearsal! hahah....this seriously made my day! talk about talent and what not! there's al, who i'm glad for coz he now has a whole kit to play on! then pete who needs a guitar solo; jon, who's always sticking in funky chords..and going "i think we should have a violin solo", ben "i can sing!" (he can.....it's awesome! haha) and mel "i'm giving this a shot!" and yeah, it sounds aweosme, melliee!!!!! :D :D and gina "let's put some musical bits to it"...i guess she's QCWT without the QC attachment, really...oh well. it was an awesome rehearsal :) I hope i remember everything correctly! we missed dinner, so we all went (besides jon and gina) to subway. Haha. it must be a tradition now....that's the 2nd time we've been with the exact same people!!!

then, headed back to college, only to be called by paul, the director of sitr to ask about the music for the caberet thing tonight, and i'm like, "i thought gareth had the music???" of course, my phone died on me..(it's a habit....try not to call me ppl, msg me instead!) and came back to queen's, only to bump into paul, to be told, "oh there's a dress rehearsal tonight!" and i'm thinking, "well, i ain't playing so i'll try find anne!" unfortunately i couldn't find anne, so i had to do the dress...it went ok, though! i didn't realise SITR is nominated for best production. i hope we win...because it was an aweosme play. seriously, i was carryign around the prop (a mirror, yes a mirror!!! how minor..) and went to the teatre, looking quite lost as to where i was supposed to be...and then this guy saw me and was like, "oh! singin' in the rain!" yeah....from ONE PROP!!! how quirky is that? was it really that recognisable????? how odd. but funny!

then, headed back home after the dress, to go to kernick and have celebrations for mel's at kernick :) it was nice. sarah, you are the perfect proxy-proxy mum (xing is the original proxy..). soooooo full!!!! and oh so yum!!! :) haha. just the perfect way to end the night, i guess! :) i am so looking forward to tonight....we are going out for mel's....yeah, i'm more excited than mel herself... get pumped, woman! (just so that i don't feel like a nut anymore than i really need to! haha). pity that mothers' birthdayS fall on the same weekend! how coincidental is that??? (sigh..) oh well. save them cake or something..?

ok, so i've spent a really long time blogging. sorry it's so long. it's been a busy time....

mel n i r going to the first-ever CU ball tomorrow night...now to figure out how to get out to doncaster...... :S (it's good, it's dry, that's ok. 3-course meal and the tix money goes to supporting missionaries. it's nice :) )

okay i'm really off. it sounds like i'm talking to myself....and i've had plenty of weird convos in the past few weeks...(haha mel...you know exactly who/what i'm talking about! haha...)

have a great day guys! :)

Pete. Hahahahahhahaha. (Sorry). Pics from Chris and Erica's 21st :) Held at the Retro Cafe, 21st October 2005. Thanks to Mel for all the photos :) Where would I be without you??? Sorry I mightn't be able to post about it for a while (exams call...) but the photos should at least be something! :) 

Chris making a speech! 

Chris and Erica :D 

me n mel (taken by mel...she's actually really good at these!) 

pete n me 

pete n mel (popular guy...ahem...) 

Sibling love (aww!) Petey giving Chris a big hug :) 

Mel n Chris :) 

Tim, Mel, Pete's face cut off, me. That turned out quite well, considering all...(tim took this photo...) Woah, what's with me being surrounded by Youngs?????  

Gaz, George, me (yay for G people! :D ) 

Me, Erica, Mel :) 

Al doing weird face...(not incredibly unusual...) 

Al Take 2 

Background: Ozzie, some guy I don't know, Treas. Tim n me 

Pete n Jim