Really that says it all ! But no I should say more !
I saw the original Todd McKenney production in 2000 and have always felt
Todd was purely perfect in the role of Peter Allen. So I had to separate this new
production in my mind and not compare the two.
Having been a Hugh Jackman fan ever since he served me tortellini while still
studying acting - I knew I had to see him in this massive new arena style
production.
The show was utterly incredible. "Huge" is too small a word to describe it.
Hugh was cheeky, on the ball, full of fast ad libbed retorts, dancin mad,
hilarious - all of it.
He ran through the audience at one stage and high fived mum while I managed
to touch his sweaty waist (sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). He grabbed a guy out of the
crowd to teach him to swivel like a pro. That guy will be a legend in his house
hold for some time ! I might add that by then Hugh was wearing a stunning sequinned Eagles jumper and demonstrating how he could have made the team - in tight gold trousers !
Colleen Hewitt got a extremely well deserved long long standing ovation (the longest I have ever witnessed for a support actor) after belting out Dont Cry Out Loud - so much so that she cried on stage. Hugh followed with Tenterfield Saddler and if there was a dry eye in the house after either I would be surprised.
We Will Rock You diva's Kate Maree Houlihan and Sarah Harlow were the back up vocalists - with little extra ensemble work throughout. They played a joke on Hugh at some point - supposedly something written on their chests that only he could see - must find out what it was !
I Still Call Australia Home was a big big highlight naturally. A huge girls school choir joined Hugh on stage, along with drizaboned extras who carried a MASSIVE Australian flag into the audience and over the tops of our heads - I touched the big star as it went over my head. I Go To Rio was the big fave of the night - the entire audience on their feet singing and dancing and ensemble carrying huge pinata style Oscars and musical notes and other cabaret symbols into the crowd before TONNES of sparkles fell from the roof all over us. They were still falling as Hugh closed the show with a gorgeous ballad Once Before I Go.
So many highlights that I cant even remember them all as I try to describe it all ! I am so glad I went. It was worth every exhorbitant cent. I know I would have whinged for a decade if I had missed out.
I still believe Todd McKenney was and always will be the best man for the Peter Allen job - but I also believe Hugh Jackman is quite possibly the most incredible talent this country has ever produced.
Mum and I walked home in the rain - I stopped to ask a policeman for a plastic bag to protect my expensive theatre program and to mums surprise he handed me an evidence bag ! What a nice policeman.
As we disrobed from our "going out clothes" remnents of sparkles fell from our clothes and bodies - and handbags ! Red foil hearts, silver and gold strips, multi colours diamonds galore. I found a group of sparkles inside my cleavage (you know how it is !!) and the red foil heart had left an imprint right between my boobs and wont wash off - so I am now calling it the Hugh Jackman Hickie !!!
15 July 2006 Saturday
I bought a new camera the other week - a Canon S2IS. Its quite a step up from my last one -
the early digital model Canon A30 which I bought in 2002. The things digital cameras can do
now are baffling !! Anyway this week we had a stunning full moon so I stood out in the freezing
2 degree temps trying to stop shivering long enough to hold the camera steady enough to
capture the moon without the aid of a tripod. The pic on the right is the best I took that night.
The larger version can be seen in my photo albums. Just click on the link below the blog and go to the Album titled Perth.
This weeks Lost ep was pretty mindblowing. Tho part of me thinks the final few dramatic seconds was someones dream sequence - I guess I will know next week. The plot revealed Anna Lucia went to Australia with Jacks Dad - interesting. And the 6 degrees moment was when she pulled up at a bar and Sawyer walks past.
In Big Brother we had two more housemates enter the house to stir things up. Most hilarious was intruder Darrens reaction. He himself was an intruder but he appears to think he was the most valuable housemate. He became a big sooky la la and sulked and pouted all week. Never mind Darren - you will be evicted on Sunday and your 15 minutes will be over !!
Its been a quiet few weeks. Lots of telly to watch and lots more to record and watch later !
Laurel and I went to see Split Enz last night. The last time we saw them perform live was in October 1984 !
Things that have changed between the 1984 gig and the 2006 gig:
- Tim Finns hair was black and is now silver.
- My hair was blonde and is now brunette.
- My 1984 concert t shirt definitely doesnt fit anymore !
- 1984 was at the Entertainment Centre - a venue we love and miss dearly. 2006 was at the crappy Burwood Dome. A place with the worst acoustics and so bloody cold we may as well have watched the concert naked on a ski-slope. Rows of tacky tiny seats made for 14 year old bums (Laurel felt they were on loan from a scout hall) - definitely not good seating for an over 30s crowd whose average size was HUGE !!! I felt thin in the audience !!
- 1984 we all had little instamatic camera's with no zoom. 2006 all I could see was hundreds of mobile phones held in the air taking photos !
- The music hasnt changed !!!!! Not a scrap. They are all still great musicians and great performers.
It was the final night of their reunion tour of Oz and they all looked like they were having a great time - as were we ! I have put some photos on the photosite - click on the photo album button below on the right.
UPDATE A FEW HOURS LATER: Okay just watching the news and I wasnt kidding about how cold it was last night! It was Perths record coldest night ever ! It got down to a wee -0.7 celcius. Yes MINUS!
28 June 2006. Wednesday.
Last night I took mum and Mal to see Dusty The Musical. Its an Australian production from start to finish - but because it is the story of the world known songstress Dusty Springfield I know it will eventually play around the world someday soon.
It starred the brilliant Tamsin Carroll, who mum and I last saw as Nancy in Oliver. She has such a great stage presence and a fantastic voice. Also a stand out was co star Deni Hines - daughter of the goddess that is Marcia. The entire support cast and ensemble were awesome.
Having watched the "Making of" doco on the ABC earlier this year I was really keen to see how the whole production turned out. What a great job to all involved.
Out of all the musicals I have seen in my lifetime - this one surely has to hold the record for most costume and wig changes in history ! It was amazing how fast Tamsin and the cast were getting changed !! Great show and great music - and if you havent seen it - DO IT !!
8 July 2006. Hmmm looking at clock its really the 9th cos its 1am Sunday Morning !
I am bored and I really have nothing exciting to say.
My neighbours loaned me a dvd so I watched it during the day - mainly cos I had been told it was too scarey to watch at night ! Its called Open Water and it was loosely based on the US divers - the Lonergans - who went missing after a diving trip off the Barrier Reef. Personally I didnt find the movie scarey. I didnt even find it jumpy. Initially the camera work bugged me - it looked like the quality I expect from my mums holiday videos. 95% of the movie is just the couple out there in the water so the tension has to be created by their conversations, their fears, and the extremely real sharks swimming nearby.
I found the dvd extras far more interesting and learned that the reason it looked like a home movie was because the entire thing was filmed on a small digital video recorder by a husband and wife team. It was an independent film with a smidgeon of a budget - so for that I give it some respect.
Should I sit here and waffle about all the Big brother controversy ? Two housemates were thrown out last Saturday after an "incident" of sexual activity. Big Brother deemed the footage (whiched aired online at 4am) inappropriate to show on TV and covered the incident on Sunday nights show quite well. The hypocrasy was that, in order for Ch 7 and 9 to tell their viewers what a bad show Big Brother was - they felt it was appropriate to show the footage of the incident in lead reports at 6pm and again on Today Tonight and ACA at 6.30pm. Even they couldnt see how stupid it made them. If they hadnt shown the footage - the television viewing public would never have actually been subjected to it. BB was never going to show it. So all the hype from politicians from the Prime Minister and down demanding the show be thrown off the air, despite none of them having actually seen the show or the specific footage, was massive hot air !
As for the incident itself - I saw the unedited version and while I am definitely no prude - if thats the normal past time for 19 year old males these days then I am really glad to be in my late 30s ! They were simply pathetic children with no respect for themselves or women. I think Rove said it best - they were actually so unimpressionable and dull over the past 10 weeks that viewers havent even noticed they are gone !
Lost continues to baffle, bewilder and intrigue me. I was glad to finally see a Rose and Bernard flashback at long last. They are such an adorable mix matched couple and it was great to see how they got together and to know Rose's secret and her knowledge of Lockes disability. Another link in the ever growing chain. The producers tease us with illuminated codes in the hatch, parachute drops of new food supplies, evidence that the others are wearing costumes - not old worn clothes, the list goes on. Keeping track of who has met who in previous lives is almost requiring a diary !! In recent weeks I have seen Sawyer served in a cafe by Freckles mum, Sayid shown a photo of Freckles as a child by a soldier in the Gulf War, Libby in the same asylum as Hurley, Locke talking to Sayids lost love Nadia, and it looks like someone meets with Jacks father in next weeks ep.
I am sticking to my original theory (which started with the discovery of the hatch and has intensified since then) of the scientific experiment. But why they all ended up on the same plane - obviously pre ordained - is still a mystery to me.
OR
Is it simply evidence that the SIX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON theory really is true. That if you strand 43 people on an island they will all somehow have links to each other ?
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I am hungry and I cant eat at this late hour :( So to bed with growly tummy I go. nite nite.
20 August 2006, Sunday
I know I know - its more than a month since I last blogged. Very slack of me but I really havent had a whole lot to say.
First up I must apologise to friends in the UK who read the spoilers about Lost further below. I assumed Aus would be behind the rest of the world and had no idea the UK was 6 or 7 eps behind us here. When you finally see the big finale - email me to discuss !!!!
Mum & Mal went to Norfolk Island in July and after hearing all their stories about the tours they took, and seeing their lovely photos, I want to go there NOW. I have always wanted to see the place because of its historical links to Australia in the convict era and its Mutiny on the Bounty link, not to mention it being the home of my most beloved writer - Colleen McCullough. There will be major political changes regarding its attachment to Australia this time next year and its hard to know how it will change it as a historical and pure destination - so I want to go before then.
As I write this Xanadu is on TV. God its so bad ! How did I worship it as a child & teen ? Its so badly dated and cheesy. Some movie musicals have aged fabulously over the years - The Sound of Music and Rocky Horror Picture Show are as wonderful and alive as the day they first screened. But some, like Xanadu, just make me cringe and regret ever paying to see them all those years ago. And there are soe where I only ever saw them once or twice because even as a child I wondered what drugs the directors were on at the time - Willy Wonka and the Wizard of Oz being the main two. I realise some out there worship these films as much as I worship Rocky Horror - but that just makes me wonder what ADHD medication they are on !
So - what to watch now - with Desperate Housewives, Lost, Big Brother and many others all finishing up in recent weeks. Once again we sit and wonder why Australia bothers with a "ratings season" that assumes we all leave the house every night of the week between August and February.
Australian Celebrity Survivor may be my only saving grace - if only for fab host Dicko and hunky iron man Guy Leech for perving at.
Some new forensic style shows started last week - including Bones which is based on the novels of real life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. So far it seems a little formulaic but I will give it a chance to grow. Another one starring the brilliant Mandy Patinkin is in a bad timeslot so I keep missing it but visually it is very different to most forensic shows to date.
ER has disappeared off the radar mid season and Ch9 is keeping it a secret as to when it might return. Never mind anyone who was following a storyline. I am sure the frightful Footy Show is far more important. CRAP !
Meanwhile - to take my mind off the empty TV guide - I have been watching DVDS - namely season 2 of an old fave series - Quantum Leap. It scrubs up well 17 years down the track. Also watching The A Team - which hasnt aged as well - but Dirk Benedict and that white corvette is my guilty guilty pleasure !!!!!! I also bought season 1 of ER on special as I didnt get into the series until season 4 or 5 so I missed a lot of the Clooner !!!!!
Hmmmmm what else. Had to go to the government medical officer last week about my RSI affected right arm. For 3 hours I was interrogated about my entire life from birth to now and for 3 minutes I was questioned about my arm. It felt like I was pschyo analysed. It felt like my arm was the least important topic. It cost my office $1000. For this they will supposedly write a report about what jobs I can and cant do in our office. How - I dont know ! I dont think they asked me enough questions about my arm and they didnt bother even touching the swelling or testing its limited movement. A waste of my office's money personally. So who knows. I guess I will see the report next week. So I will either be happy or furious - there wont be an inbetween.
God its cold today. I want to give in and shut out the fresh air and close everything up and put the heater on. But its been closed up all week and I really want to let fresh air - freezing as it is - to circulate around the place for the afternoon. Ok - will just put more layers on !!!!!
31 August 2006, Thursday
Yes its not the weekend - here I am posting on a weekday. I have been home sick in bed since Sunday afternoon with a nasty throat infection.
Discovering the "joys" (I use that word extremely loosely) of day time television - and thanking myself for a large dvd collection !
You know how when you dont watch Days of Our Lives for 5 or 6 years and nothing has changed - well today I watched it in a state of confusion. Its probably 10 years since I watched it last but seriously - people that were unborn foetus's the last time I watched - have all been born and are now dating each other and making the same mistakes as their parents !! Its like it jumped 18 years in just 10 years. And just to confuse me even more - Josh Taylor - who played Chris Kosichek for years - is now playing Roman - but Wayne Northrop who played Roman for years - is now playing some other character. Confused ? yep me too ! Do you wonder if the actors get confused or whether they are just glad to have a paying job !
And Channel 7 is showing the entire career of John Wood at 2pm - First with Blue Heelers eps filmed in the 2000s then following it with his role in Raffertys Rules which I gather from the fashion statements, must have been filmed in the early to mid 80s !
Anyway - before I got sick I had a lovely night out with friend Sue. It was a great catchup. She has been living overseas for 7 or 8 years now and I have really missed her. So we wandered into Northbridge and had a lovely italian dinner (I had the veal and she had the steak) over a nice bottle of Goundrey, then wandered around to my favourite cafe for mud cupcakes and a cuppa, before strolling home and gossiping all night. She flies home to Dubai later this week :( I must find an excuse soon to fly there for a visit !!
Ohhh I got the report from the Commonwealth Medical Officer. No idea how - but she somehow managed to write something about my RSI - confirming that I cant do call centre work as it would be detrimental to my injury. So thankfully that means the office cant force me to do that work whenever there is an overflow of work in that area. Phew ! Still no idea why she needed my entire life history to work that out but I dont care now - I am not stressing over it.
4 Sept 2006 Monday
This is just too sad for words. Steve Irwin died today doing his everyday job - out there with the animals. The biggest eco warrior this country has ever had. Someone who loved his country as passionately as he loved his family and his zoo.
What a miserable week it has been here in Aus. Beginning with the shock death of Steve Irwin on Monday, continuing with the passing of the brilliant author Colin Thiele, and ending on Friday with sudden crash death of motoring legend Peter Brock during a car rally here in Perth.
Should I even mention that both the Eagles and the Dockers lost the footy today ?
Naturally the week has been filled with TV tributes to Steve and I have to say - Ch7 should find some off air jobs for Mel and Kochy - they really are abysmal hosts/presenters. Neither can construct an entire sentence without a prompter. Ch9s Ray Martin special on Wednesday was far more professional and slick and included some really great moments and memories.
But in a week where we are also bombarded with 5th anniversary Sept 11 docos - is it any wonder I went to bed and dreamed of Steve being stuck in a collapsed building ?
I feel like I have cried and cried all week. I probably shouldnt have watched Beaches last weekend either ! I will run out of liquid and dehydrate myself.
And to top it off - that spiteful old bag that left Australia 40 years ago and was never missed by any of us - Germaine Greer - felt the need to rip Steve to shreds just to get herself some publicity this week. What the fuck has she done with her life ? Wrote a crap book 30 years ago and got cast in Celebrity UK Big Brother.
Has she ever done ANYTHING for her country of birth ? Steve brought $100 million in tourism dollars in this country.
Has she ever rescued a human or an animal ? hmmm Steve has rescued both.
Has she ever built animal hospitals ? yep Steve has.
Has she ever started a wildlife charity ? ummm Steve has.
Has she ever purchased thousands of acres of land just to ensure it never gets developed or mined - but just exists for animals and trees ? gosh Steve has.
Seriously Germaine - you are a bitter and twisted old cow and a complete hasbeen. No one under 30 has a clue who you are and lucky for them ! Who are you to state what Australians should think or feel about anything or anyone ? You left here because you hated it and we hated you. You have done nothing but rubbish us ever since. Hand back your passport and fuck off for good. You are far more of an embarrasment than a wildlife warrior could ever be. At least he understood how to be passionate about something.
16 September 2006, Saturday.
Mum and I went to the Countdown Spectacular concert on Wednesday night.
First up, the obligatory complaints about Burswood Dome;
WHY OH WHY CAN WE NOT REOPEN THE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE ?
It sickens me - it really does - when we pay hundreds and hundreds to go to concerts in a second.... make that tenth rate venue.
Rows of uncomfortable plastic seats - so small they have to have been borrowed from the local cub scout hall.
Seating plans that bear NO resemblence to the online ticketing sites plans.
Please someone - please Mr Packer Junior, bulldoze this stupid stupid dome SOON.
Please anyone - open the PEC, get rid of the barbed wire, give it a bit of a vacumn and start putting shows in there again. Ok so it holds 8000 - but thats 8000 sitting in comfort in a venue that was built for concerts.
OK - the show itself. Just under 4 hours and 30 acts - of which 25 or so I would definitely consider my favourite artists of the 70s and 80s.
So they were; (not necessarily in order - going from memory here !!).
John Paul Young - he opened the show with Yesterdays Hero and then returned towards the end to do I Hate The Music.
Swanee - he belted out If I Were A Carpenter and rocked the house.
Scott Carne from Kids In The Kitchen - rocked out Change in Mood
Cheetah - I forget the song they sung - too busy thinking how hot they both looked 30 years down the track !
Frankie J Holden & Wilbur Wilde from Ol’ 55 - They rocked !! And Wilbur was the busiest guy of the night - 90% of the show he was on stage with his sax.
Joe Dolce - the less said the better.
Paul Norton - seriously - who ???????
Wendy Stapleton - did her big Countdown hit Play The Game.
Brian Mannix from Uncanny X-Men - belted out Everybody Wants To Work.
Brian Canham from Pseudo Echo - Funky Town - he took us there.
Shane Howard from Goanna - relived the classic Solid Rock.
Stephen Cummings from The Sports - flashback Who Listens To The Radio.
Jo Jo Zep - classic Joe Camilleri and the boys did Got Me In The Shape I'm In and a couple of others.
Alex Smith from Moving Pictures - he had us standing and some crying with his huge anthemic What About Me.
James Freud & Sean Kelly from the Models - James looks like the poster child for heroin addiction - someone who makes Keith Richards look healthy.
Dave Sterry from Real Life - did Send Me An Angel - still has a great voice.
Grace Knight and Bernie Lynch from the Eurogliders - did the old Heaven, Must Be There.
Choirboys - did the big one Run To Paradise.
Billy Miller from The Ferrets - No idea what this guy sung !
Hush - Seriously bad and seriously loud. But I think they were like that in the 70s so no change !! They did Boney Maroney and another one.
Leo Sayer - he did You Make Me Feel Like Dancin and When I Need You, then crawled off the stage and disappeared into a throng of old women !!
The Chantoozies - the girls were still hot and having fun. Ally Fowler looks better than she ever has.
Jon English - beared his chest to the 50 year olds !! Hammed it up big time and belted out Hollywood 7 and Six Ribbons.
Mondo Rock - Did Come Said The Boy and a few others - bass was so powerful it changed our heart beats !!!!
Renee Geyer - has lost weight and looked fab - sung Its a Mans World and Say I Love You.
James Reyne - started with just him and his guitar and a lovely acoustic version of Reckless before joining the band for a medley of Australian Crawls biggest hits.
Sherbet - ok so I was more a Skyhooks fan back then - I will admit I only recognised Howzat and Summer Love out of all the numbers they did.
Then everyone came out to party and sings some songs together. Living in the 70s was a great number.
In between some of the acts the "Countdown Dancers" came out and did routines to stuff like Flashdance, Fame, Footloose, Thriller, YMCA, Nutbush etc - god forbid that the Burswood Bouncers let any of us stand and dance ! Actually I could have done without the dancers - plenty of the acts could have done a second song in that time. Could have also done without the "interaction" between Molly and Joe Dolce - it was painful. Red Symons bittersweet but funny tribute to the gone but not forgotten lead singers was gorgeous - especially when he said it wasnt fair that they didnt have to grow old like the rest of us ! And only Red could get away with saying that if someone else in Skyhooks had died - other than Shirl - the band could have joined the line up.
So out of 10 - I give the venue a zero, the acts a 9.5, the set a 6 (the columns/cones obscured the view for most of the audience), and the concept a 10. The size of the crowd proved that these acts can still entertain the masses.
Being on the front row with a big zoom lens - I took a MASS of photos. They can be seen in my photo album.
3 October 2006, Tuesday.
WOW, WOW and WOW - so very much to catch up on !!
In the past few weeks I have been to a few amazing shows and really need to catch up on myself.
First up on Sep19 (Tues) Laurel and I went to opening night of the play The Woman in Black - a two man play starring John Waters and Brett Tucker. Thanks John & Zoe for the tickets - they were fab seats.
I dont honestly remember ever seeing a 2 man play before and I really have to admire actors who are capable of memorising and delivering so much dialogue. The play is about a haunting and clever sound & lighting effects - along with the two amazing actors creating the appropriate suspense levels - left the audience jumping and screaming in all the right moments. Its a play within a play and a really nicely written story with a killer twist that beats The Crying Game and 6th Sense for its unexpectedness.
I went again with Mum the following Friday (22nd) - sitting in the centre of the second row. I wasnt sure if the suspense would be ruined by already knowing the storyline - it wasnt ! I still leapt in fright in many parts but was also able to concentrate more on the dialogue and both actors sterling performances.
Thank you to the producers for bringing such an unusual play to Perth with such talented performers.
My only complaint - the usual one - Perth venues. The Burswood Showroom was far too big and cavernous for the production. It needed the intimacy and warmth of the Regal or His Maj. I cannot fathom that the audience members sitting beyond row Z could have possibly appreciated the attention to detail and facial expressions of the actors (but then I think that of all audiences - being the girl that never sits further back than 10th row !).
So - Mum stayed the week, and constructed some lovely long purple curtains for end end of my living room. Gone are the vile dirty pale green aluminium venetians forever. Now I have curtains that actually block out the street lights at night. Now I have curtains that allow me to leave windows open without the noise of crashing banging annoying venetians. YEAY.
So then along came the weekend. In some circles its the Queens Birthday Weekend, but for so many of us its the AFL Grand Final Weekend - and its all the more important when your team is playing in it !! So once again our West Coast Eagles met up with Sydney Swans. Losing the GF to the Swans last year was heartbreaking.
This years game was a nail biter to the very end. The final 20 minutes was heartstopping as it became a goal for goal game before finally ending with us just one point in front. Talk about stressful for those on couches all over the state ! Haha - I am sure it was more stressful for those boys on the field.
The other highlight was the prematch entertainment. This year the stars of the Countdown Spectacular - including my boy Brian Mannix - performed a medley of their individual hits before singing the national anthem - awwwwwwww.
Today the players were in the city for a welcoming parade of champions. I was
going to go in for it but the weather didnt exactly welcome our champs - in fact it has been pouring all morning. Then I remembered it was also school holidays and you know I cant tolerate that many screaming under 12 year olds in one vicinity !!!!! So I watched it on the telly instead !
21 October 2006, Saturday.
So I kinda left the blog as it was for a few weeks, mainly because it was filled with descriptions of great fun events. Meanwhile the past few weeks have been really crappy for me.
On the 9th I had a bad fall at work. Not a fall that you can blame on loose carpet or a crooked path or anything. One of those falls where you are walking along normally and suddenly your ankle rolls and down you go. And its never a ladylike fall - its an unglamorous flailing in slow motion down to the ground. This time I was carrying a box - and the box made a small attempt at breaking my fall - by nearly breaking my ribs instead. Two days later the pain set in around my hip and sciatic area. Regular readers will know I had a lot of pain there for a few months early last year. So its back - aggravated badly by the fall (or the landing I guess!). So back on pain killers and anti inflams for a while and the doctor will send me for scans in a few weeks if its still hurting.
So then - the next weekend - one of my broken teeth broke even more. Before it was just annoyingly broken - now its painfully throbbingly broken :( Now its so broken I am too frightened to bit into anything that isnt mush. I have lived on mash potato and pasta since then. Regular readers will of course be aware of that little thing called DENTIST PHOBIA that I suffer from. So bad that a general aneasthetic is usually required just to phone up for an appointment, and even then I ring and cancel. So you know I aint going near one dont you.
SO THEN - cos October by now was proving to be a friggen crappy birthday month. This week, as well as the twice yearly office shake up where everyone swaps teams and changes roles etc (just to ensure no one ever really feels settled in a government department) - the office bitch (amazing that isnt me !) lodges a complaint about me. What have I done to warrant such a formal conduct complaint you may ask - well so did I !. It seems this bitch feels aggrieved because I dont greet her in the mornings. While some people may be capable of greeting people they intensely dislike each day - I am not one of those people. Furthermore - because I have just woken up from that valuable hour of sleep an insomniac is lucky to get - I rarely even say good morning to the people I like. I just crawl to my desk and start work. I have questioned half my building and have still not managed to find anyone who likes this woman enough to say good morning to her - yet its me who is getting the complaint laid against them. Me who could be penalised by suspension or termination of my job. Yet this COW - who is disliked by an entire building, this cow - who has been kicked out of every team she has worked in due to her aggressive nature, THIS FRIGGEN COW - chooses just me to lodge her complaint against.
So yes - I am shitty. In my time in this department I have often experienced and witness the effects of an open employment policy. A policy that allows anyone to be employed no matter how friggen psychotic they may be. Over time in this department I have been physically assaulted by a guy that was criminally insane - he was on the police watch list as a serial killer suspect for gods sake. I have been badly bullied by a female team leader to the point that I sat vomiting in the toilets most days rather than join my team. And last year I (and many of my team) was bullied by a power hungry team member who had no respect for females - let alone females that knew his job better than he did.
Yet at no time have I felt the need to write a formal complaint about these people. At no time did I feel like I could or should affect their future employment. (ok so the seriel killer suspect did eventually get a golden handshake and left !). Yet this woman could have me sacked because I didnt fucken say GOOD MORNING to her. She actually feels that warrants a formal complaint. And no matter how deluded I personally think she is (nor how much the people in my building agree with me) - the department is forced to take her complaint seriously.
So - I can just see me - with my year 9 education of some 24 years ago - out there trying to find a job - competing with 18 year old graduates who are far cheaper to employ. Unbelievable.
Strangely my zodiac stars on the day she made the complaint and the next day when I had to compose a rebuttal - mentioned that I would recieve harsh critisism and not to retreat into my shell, and that power hungry Mars would act as a catalyst for positive change and that someone would try to undermine my confidence. Rather spot on !
So - regardless of how karma works - I hope she gets hit by a truck ! I really really do.
28 October 2006. Saturday.
I have voted against Daylight Saving in all the referendums held in WA over the last 20 years. Here it is in the news again. Only this time the Pollies want to bring it in next month as a trial for 3 years - without giving WA residents a say in the matter. I have followed the debates for and against it for 30 years or more and I find it really interesting that in all those years the only people who ever actually mention the fading curtains and confused cows are the one trying to get DLS voted in. Personally I have never heard an anti DLS person raise that issue.
I have lived in every state of Australia and also in the US and the UK and can safely say I have NOT enjoyed DLS anywhere. I have absolutely hated it.
As for the WA pollies who actually think everyones lifestyle will suddenly change for the better - people will still come home from work at the same time, they will still be hungry for dinner at the same time, they will still need to put the kids to bed at the same time and they too will still go to bed at the same time. The difference ? it will be still light when these things all happen - instead of dusk or dark. People will be sitting in traffic jams while its stinking hot, kids will be walking home in the hottest part of the day. Everyone will get home to houses that have yet to cool down - airconditioning usage will skyrocket. And dont forget we live in a state that has threatened to prevent us from using too much power during summer.
Personally for me I wont be getting a miraculously improved lifestyle as the pollies insist. I walk to and from work. I stay at work in summer till the sun goes down so my walk is a little cooler. So I will now have to stay at work until 7.30 or 8pm. Hmmmmm I dont see how that will be improving my lifestyle somehow Mr Pollie.
The issue gets raised by the business sector in Perth at the start of every summer. They say it cripples them not being able to contact the east coast in the afternoon. Fact is they are benefiting by being on the same time line as Asia far more than they are affected by an hours difference in the time on the east coast. And if the private sector introduced flexi time like we have in the government the time difference becomes a complete non issue. I time manage my day to call my east coast DLS clients in the morning, my QLD clients in the middle of my day and my WA clients for the rest of the afternoon. And there is all that amazing technology - faxes, emails etc. Its all there to improve communications !
WA Parliament has yet to vote the trial through as at the news updates this morning. Perhaps they will recognise that it is simply a clever little distraction by the pollies to ensure we stop noticing the education minister is screwing up our states childrens careers, or that our hospitals are understaffed, or that our power company holds us to ransom every summer, or that our water company cant come up with solutions to ensure there is enough water for each and every household in this growing state. All seriously more important issues than whether people can play in the park after work. Its a distraction - dont fall for it ! Thats my pollie rant for the day !
An update from the events of the previous week where the office bitch lodged a complaint against me. I wrote my rebuttal and handed it in on the Friday (20th). On Thursday 26th my stars said "Doubt may be cast over a situation and until the issue is resolved you may feel anxious. This is when your need to put your trust in others and the Universe, believing that everything will work out." So I felt that it meant my boss would be the one I put my trust in. That my boss would talk this cow into dropping the complaint. Especially since my rebuttal clearly explained all her agressive actions and verbal assaults over the past 16 months and the number of times I had raised the problem with various team leaders and the number of witnesses I had to the verbal assaults. I made it clear in the rebuttal that there was ample reason for me to raise a counter complaint should I ever feel petty enough to do so. So finally yesterday I got the email to say the matter had been dropped completely. PHEW ! And if she friggen well thinks I am going to greet her like a long lost friend next time we cross paths - then she is more deluded than I already think she is !
29 October 2006. Sunday.
It took me till 8am this morning to finally fall asleep, and when I did I had a dream that disturbed me. Some history first. For those that have known me since childhood you would know that I have always written down my dreams. I have dream books and note pads filled to the brim with details of practically every dream I have ever had. Those that know me also know that I have repetetive dreams of the same subject matter for years/decades at a time. On a few occasions those repetetive dreams have later been represented in real life. I dont profess to being a "see-er" or anything. Sometimes things just happen.
As a kid I dreamed regularly of moving away from my family and returning to find everything had changed. That finally happened when I was 15 - I did return to a divorced family and because I couldnt return to high school - lost contact with many friends due to our lives being so different. I firmly believe that move away changed the course of my life.
If you turn to the blog entry in April this year you would remember that I dreamed of Port Arthur almost weekly for decades and since the 1996 massacre have never dreamed of it again.
Some of you would remember ringing me a few days after September 11 2001 and saying to me "My god that was your dream". I had obviously described in great detail to many of you my constant dreams of planes going through buildings. Those dreams started in the early 90s and stopped on September 12 2001. I had not had a single similar dream since that day.
Till this morning.
I dreamed that my mum and I were standing on a lay over area (or similar) on a bridge. There was more bridges or freeways above and below us. I gather we were on a holiday because behind us was mums car and a caravan. We were looking out over a busy and big CBD area - not one that I recognised. We heard a noise and realised a huge plane was flying low over us and then downwards - ploughing into a skyscraper - but hitting it quite low - like only the 14th or 15 floor. One of us - or someone near us - yelled "no - it couldnt happen again, it couldnt, not that again". I said "if its happening again there will be more" - sure enough there came the sound of a low flying jet right above us and we watched as it too flew down into the lower floors of a skyscraper. From above on the bridge I watched people running from plumes of smoke and rubble and watched as clouds of dust filled the streets. Then mum and I were discussing the obvious need to get away from the place - and whether we should bother with the caravan or should we just take what we needed and go in the car.
Then I woke up.
Its the first plane dream I have had in 5 years. I would like to think it wasnt seeing anything due to happen.
11 November 2006, Saturday. aka Remembrance Day, aka Poppy Day.
It seems so fitting that on the morning where we look at our poppies and remember the men who fought and died in the various wars, we wake to hear of the sad passing of a young woman who fought so long with her own private war. The 8 year battle with cancer.
I remember being so shocked in 1998 when Belinda Emmett (starring as Fishers daughter in Home and Away at the time) was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 24 years of age. This was not considered to be the disease of the young. Mothers and grandmothers got breast cancer - not young women in their prime.
Then in 2001 more shock news when Belinda had to leave her role as Jodi in All Saints after being diagnosed with secondary bone cancer.
We watched this woman fight this disease - and change from a healthy vibrant girl to a frail waiflike girl with a big determination to keep on living.
She married Perth boy and pint size talk show host Rove McManus in 2005
and was by his side at all his Logie wins.
RIP Belinda. I am glad you are no longer in pain. 32 is too young.
Sympathies to Rove and the extended McManus and Emmett familys.
Ladies of all ages - check your breasts regularly. Just do it.
Not much happened this week. Its been uncomfortably humid and a few thunderstorms. Work work work. Finished reading the ever so exciting Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders, and started reading the lastest Kathy Reichs, Cross Bones. And am now wanting to purchase Ben Eltons lastest satrical offering - a pisstake of the Idol phenomenon called Chart Throb.
Speaking of Aus Idol - my fav Chris Murphy left this week leaving just 3 to go. This boy will get a recording contract before 2006 is over. He has such a great rock and ballad voice - like a mix of Queen, Dennis from Dr Hook, Paul McCartney, and the Finn brothers all rolled into one.
