May

Again, in Summary :)

May 05
Para Bailar La Bamba

Today I've made chorizo and red wine sauce with pasta for lunch. I don't really like red wine sauce but its the jar that Sacha bought so there you go. I added real red wine and mushrooms and lots of cheese. I usually like my red wine sauce on steaks, not pasta. I'm bringing the rest of it to work because well, again, I don't really like red wine sauce.

Since they've cancelled work tomorrow I'm just going to go to kickboxing and then meet up with Rose, who I haven't seen in ages. Then go home and do homework, and spend my Saturday evening researching my next brief.

Last night's brazilian party was unbelievably boring. There was a crush of people, mostly older and they were all having fun, but it was like, not our thing. There was an intro to latin dancing downstairs and I enjoyed learning how to mambo. When we started, Sacha and I had to be partners because there weren't enough boys. And then they went, okay switch partners clockwise (bec no one really knew each other). I ended up with this vietnamese/chinese dude who was pretty good but wouldn't look me in the eye. Sacha ended up with a guy who said, "You've never done this before, have you? I think I'll sit this one out" and promptly moved to another partner!!! When it came time to switch I had her dance with my partner.

We left the brazilian party and then moved to The Establishment, Sydney's premiere meat market. I suppose I'm a bit too picky, there really wasn't anyone I liked. Sacha of course, by then had been hit on once, and when we got to Establishment she got hit on twice I think. Everytime Sacha gets picked up I slip away because well, that's their thing. She got hit on by this nice looking black dude on the dance floor, and I just went and danced on my own, near this group of white aussie chicks who couldn't dance for shit, it was so weird I couldn't tell if they were just having fun by dancing funny or they really couldn't dance (what's up with aussies and they're yeah, if i move like this and shake and flail my arms about this is dancing! I would love to generalise and say white people can't dance, but I think Sacha can, so...) Then he asked Sacha out and she said she was seeing someone and he just turned around and walked away! I thought, okay, fair enough, you don't have to waste your time but really, you could have at least said goodbye.

Derek, Sacha's friend from physics who we've both known for quite a while came over to join us. We promised to be his "wing women" i.e. help him pick up the chicks while he would be our (or rather mine, unless Sacha found a really cute one) wingman. From Establishment we went to The Orient, which was full of old people and then to Cargo Bar, which was totally dead, for a Thursday night and then I got hungry so we walked down King St Wharf (Darling Harbor) and found La Cita.

La Cita was a salsa place and it was great. I had beef empanadas, which were great too! We had a drink each and then we started dancing. Derek had taken salsa lessons before so he was trying to teach me. After some time bobbing around I realised that this was quite possibly the first time I had ever danced with a partner and not had to lead!!!

In high school we had to take ballroom dancing. And one of us had to be the boy. And since I looked like a boy anyway, I was the boy. I was always the boy (even in class plays). My partner was darth_stitch. Our best dances were the waltz - we could box step quite well, thank you - and the cha-cha. We could boogie okay but we were absolutely horrible with the tango.

In the first place I don't think we were taught right. I think we were taught to tango ballroom dancing style - the kind your lola does - and not the real argentinian version. Also, darth_stitch had a back problem (?) possibly and couldn't really bend backwards. Actually, no one in the class could bend backwards. So everytime we had to make a dip, darth_stitch (and every other girl in the class) would just bend her neck backwards and look up at the sky, while I would bend forward and bend my knee. We were pathetic but hilarious.

Our final presentation was done to the theme of "That's Entertainment" because we couldn't be bothered to practice and actually do anything. cheese dip was german moreno. and she ripped her pants right after her first introduction and had to borrow my spare pair! All of us "boys" especially me and Naj, who looked equally as much of a boy as I did, looked like we were from La Salle GH, one of the boys schools. Black pants, white shirt.

And so I learnt how to lead, and still have to fight a bit when I start dancing (especially the swing) because as my previous partners have said, "You have to stop leading because I'm the boy."

Roooight.


May 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it.

So Miel and I saw Mission Impossible 3 which was great. I have been action movie starved for ages and ages. It has been such a long time since I've seen a movie where things have been blown up, the plot is slightly if not completely implausible and they have all these cool gadgets. I was perfectly happy with this movie. Tom was tom, and he was the same cool almost unflappable kick ass dude and that was completely believable and not annoying. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who perhaps because of his general stature sometimes makes me mix him up with Jack Black was excellent, as always and the rest of the supporting cast was great. Keri Russell was in that movie for five minutes.

Miel and I went to the movie with Claudia who is quite the noisiest person to see a movie with. Miel and I are usually very talkative as well, but we speak in hushed tones and I've realised that because its fast paced and you don't always have the time to comment I don't usually do that for action movies. Claudia was kinda loud and excited and she kept trying to guess what was going to happen and although I thought her comments were funny there were some times when I wanted to say, hinay hinay, Claudia like I was calming down a rearing horse. It was kinda llike that. (Miel, i know you're going to read this, I like Claudia, but you know, it was funny.)

My housemate Kartini is moving out (don't know if I've mentioned this before) to a castle, which is actually a big house in Annandale (next to Leichhardt where I used to live) with a friend. The rent is really cheap, like a hundred bucks and its a converted ballroom that's been split up to several rooms. Her friend's family is a bit eccentric, his parents live in one wing, and he lives in the other and they've got all this stuff stored in different rooms, like a whole room full of piano music (the kind that plays automatically on those old pianos) and an old elevator sitting in the garden. His father apparently refuses to throw everything out, so they're just basically waiting for him to die (he's in his 70s) to throw everything out. Its got a nice view of the city and the river and since Kartini's hardly ever home, its not such a big deal for her that the place doesn't have internet and all the other stuff. She's leaving most of her furtniture as all she needs is bedroom stuff.

We've all pretty much gotten along well so it will be sad for her to go but its okay, and its not as if we're not going to see each other again. Also I am going to move into her room when she leaves, which will be a pain in the ass to get my stuff together (will have to dismantle wardrobe and possibly bed as well) but what the heck, its bigger and quieter.

May 7
Winter is coming

I have been in denial of winter for well, ages. I wear long sleeved shirts, thick jackets and thongs . Yesterday when I was late for work (and no one noticed) I ran out of the house in thongs and it was just so wrong. The wind started on sunday and it hasn't really stopped since. This morning was the coldest in Sydney so far, at 9 degrees. (Thank God I slept through it in the warmth of my doona) Last night my housemate from Indonesia brought up her giant heater and put it on. I assembled my heater at midnight (naks, parang may magical properties from doing that) and tested it for a bit but I slept without it on.

I've become more acclimatised to the weather, I don't get as cold as often, I've decided the more I can stand the cold the easier for me it will be to get warm - less layers and the less electric heating needed.

So today, hearbreaking as it is, I am packing up my summer clothes. Last Sunday I aired out all my coats, washed all my scarves and beanies and now I'm ready for winter. As much as I appreciate a cool day every now and then, I miss my singlets and my thongs, and my gnarly feet (which are so gnarly they are not funny). As I write this I am wearing a light sweater (the one I got in Switzerland 9 years ago and shrunk in someone's dryer in Texas) knee length pjs and knee length uggs. I also own fuzzy light purple slippers that say "thrill" and "me" (the alternatives were "yes" and "no" in fuschia and "its all about me" in green) for days when i don't quite need the uggs.

I've arranged to keep my socks in the little box with the singlets so I will always remember they are there and I can use them appropriately for layering. I also intend to buy a shoe rack so I can just put all my shoes on it, as the mess is getting slightly annoying. I also own more thongs/slippers than any other pair of shoes, but that's not such a big surprise.

At present
I went to salsa lessons this week, and it was fun. Will go back as soon as I am able - this week I had to work on stuff and next week have got the Sydney Writer's Festival. So far people I have been dancing with have been telling me I'm pretty natural at it so its a bit surprising to actually find out that you're good at something naturally - I've always kind of hoped there would be something, you know how people naturally excel at swimming or basketball or what not. I had sort of reached a point where I was thinking, what if you aren't naturally good at something, so this is surprising but good to say the least.

The other day I had chocolate - tea doesn't quite cut it - at the Lindt Cafe with Kat. We had a cake and a dark chocolate each. Despite my attempts to have chocolate not as frequently as before - now 3-4 times a week which is better than everyday - my stomach has thrown a fit. So no more choccy for a while again. Must get used to not having it often.

My friend Nic is visiting from Brissie and another friend, Andrea, my former housemate is visiting from Melb. Andrea is staying with us, Nic is staying at her family's house in Woolhara.

Today Andrea and I went to see The Crying Men which is basically a showcase of Sam Taylor-Wood, a photographer's works. She took shots of 27 male artistas crying. Of course I could identify 90% :P (there was a dude I didn't know and a couple who you couldn't tell because they had their hands on their faces) My favorites were Hayden, of course, Jude, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. Lawrence Fishbourne had a very striking picture as well. There was also this video that was commissioned by the National Gallery of London that featured David Beckham sleeping. It was supposed to be a "sensual portrait of an icon in repose" or something like that but he just looked so bloody restless. He was sleeping on his side, on an arm and I thought, but your arm will die and you will get cramps. Also, would you be fully accessorized if you were sleeping?

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I am going to boxing now and then I have to do my law. I will update from the Writer's Festival very soon :)