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WhiteWater World

Mum and I spent the day at the new water park that has opened up down the coast. It is called WhiteWater World and is operated by and located beside Dreamworld.

Mum was going along for a Maths teacher briefing about the activities they run for senior Maths B students which use the rides as models for all sorts of maths stuff. As part of the briefing Mum got in for nicks and I got in at the child’s price :).

We had a blast of a day going on all the rides that we could fit on (eg those kiddie slides just aren’t designed for people with hips) and going on quite a few rides multiple times.

In terms of favourite rides, The Green Room as much as it freaked me out was probably the best ride there, as long as you managed to find two other riders to take you as close as possible to the 300kg ride limit, because the heavier your tube was the higher you went up the sides of the funnel. After that the Broken Headz run in the Temple of Huey. Which the photo below shows Mum and I coming out of.

white water world

It was a blast of a day and whilst there were times when I wished it was a hot sunny day, it was very enjoyable when it was slightly overcast as it meant that the concrete wasn’t hot 🙂

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Do you know the way to Brisbane?

Or more importantly I sure as jaggery hope that Mr Bacharach does because I have a ticket to seem him when he comes to the Convention Centre on July 6 (the day before Karl turns 28!) and I will not be a happy chappy if he gets lost. Perhaps I should send him a map?

When I saw the advert that he was going to be playing in Sydney in Feb, I was ready to walk out the door and start walking to Sydney. It was going to cost me an arm, a leg, an eye and possibly even my soul but this is BURT BACHARACH we are talking about. However I decided that I really did want to keep my soul and two eyes are just so much better than one so I resented myself to not going to see Mr B this time round. Then Mr B had an accident and his daughter died which meant that the Sydney and Adelaide shows were canceled. Then there was a note saying he would be coming back in July and adding some more cities to the show. Yeah for Brisbane. Yeah for Helen having a ticket to see Mr B and The Queensland Orchestra. July 6 will be a total treat 🙂

Or do you know your way round Africa?
The other night Karl sent me this link – 53 African States. It has fast making the rounds of my family and friends either on the web site or on a piece of paper. When I did it this arvo I had 2 states that I couldn’t get 🙁 compared to the 13 so so I couldn’t get the first time I did it. The challenge now is to be able to place them all in the right place on the map. That will be a challenge. How many countries in Africa can you get?

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Flashed

I bought a flash for my camera the other week and it arrived on Thursday. I didn’t dare leave the house till the UPS man had came and finally at 12:06pm, he pulled up to our house with a parcel from BH Photo and there inside was a Canon 580ex Flash and an off-camera flash cord.

Since then, actually since the batteries were charged a couple of hours later, I have been having a ball playing and learning with my flash.
I don’t think I have any “real” photos to show for it other than a whole stack of my handbag sitting on my bed as I played with angles and strength.

My younger brother and my younger “brother” both see my camera as a tool of the devil so the arrival of a flash is just another excuse for my younger brother to yell and scream at me as he tries to defend himself from the devil. My younger “brother” of course follows the lead of his “brother” and after enduring the flash for 2 shots raises his arms to cover his face. Such is my life.

I just had a look through my photos again and I found this one of my duchess, when I was playing with my flash on the off camera cord with a bounce card. This photo shows two of the bangles that I picked up at Woodford. The top beaded one is a nice sparkley one that is nice for wearing out. The bottom one however is my very favourite. I think it is some sort of silver alloy but who knows for sure, just I don’t know where it was made, other than an educated guess of one of the many Muslim countries stretching from Morocco to the ‘stans in Central Asia. Isn’t it pretty though?

My duchess - 20070302

I am off to Natural Arch at Springbook in the morning with some local photographers for a fun filled day of camera fun.

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In my garden

One day I’m going to make me a big big star. Well I already am but only a few people realise that at the moment.

A large handful of years ago (2001) I used to have a little veggie patch. It wasn’t a big producer but I still enjoyed my little patch of soil except the snails and other bugs probably liked it more than I did. They saw it as very much their own little salad bar. At around this time I was listening to The Lion Sleeps Tonight a lot. For some reason or the other I decided to change the lyrics round a bit to suit the snails who saw my garden as a salad bar.

A-wimoweh etc

In my garden
My growing garden
The snails eat my peas
In my garden
The quiet garden
The snails eat my peas

A-wimoweh etc

Near the peas
The dying peas
The snails make their way
Near the peas
The dying peas
The snails eat their feast

A-wimoweh etc

Hush my garden
Don’t fear my garden
The snails will sleep tonight
Hush my garden
Don’t die my darlings
The snails will be gone

A-wimoweh etc

I remember rushing out to Mum as I decided on better words to suit rhythmic patterns and singing to her the most recent version of “In my garden”. I was changing a few things round on my desk the other day and found the piece of paper that it was printed on and thought why not post it 🙂 Though it also means that I think that a large number of my recent posts have been musically based.

Today is Pancake Tuesday(Shrove Tuesday). Matthew and I had pancakes for lunch. mmm yummy. Sunday night I roasted a duck for tea, though this duck must’ve been a duck on a severe diet as it was pretty meatless. Luckily I made heaps of roast veggies to go with it, which were perfectly roasted in duck fat and tasted like heaven. For dessert we had a Blueberry Sourcream cake that I made from a recipe which was in a BBC Good Food magazine a couple of years ago. The cake didn’t just taste like heaven, it was heaven. I should take a photo of a slice before it is all eaten (there is only two slices left).

I am going to get my hair cut this arvo before work 🙂

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Good Day Sunshine :)

Well I have some good news and than it follows with either good or bad news depending on how you look at it.

At the moment I am semi-busy applying for jobs as I find ones that a)interest me and b) I am semi-qualified for. Last Friday I sent off an application for a job. Monday I got a call back saying come in for an interview Tuesday arvo. Tuesday I hit the shops as I was shall we say lacking in the business suitable clothes department. Tuesday arvo I had the interview which went really well. Wednesday I got a call back saying I was on the shortlist and could I come in for an hour or so on Friday just to do a trial run of the job and have another chat. I went in and did the job for an hour or so, had a chat, met some more people and went home knowing that I had done my best and hopefully that was good enough for them. Friday arvo I get a call back saying I hadn’t got the job but could we keep your info on file as we are going to have a few vacancies in a couple of weeks that you may be interested in.

I didn’t get the job but I did get to the second round which is better than not passing the first round, the the beginnings of a business suitable work wear (and a pair of pretty killer shoes) and probably most of all experience in an interview and an idea of what questions they will ask in a the future.

I am still looking for that job ad which says “We are looking for Helen Palsson, are you here?” and then the job description of an job where I would utilise my degree and make a difference in the world in what ever way small or big.

Beatlemania

Tomorrow night, this is going to be a treat in The Valley and I do believe that all those of you are in the Greater Brisbane area should come along to a) hear some great bands doing some great songs and b) to support a great cause. I am going, Clare is going, Clare is dragging people along, I am trying to drag my brother and his mates along. The Beatles need I say more?

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Die Happy

Last night was a blast and I can now Die Happy (incidentally a pretty cool German band I saw at the Pumpwerk in Wilhelmshaven. In terms of live music venues, the Pumpwerk stands out as one of the best for me. Just the right size. Just the right atmosphere. Just the right everything. I would love it if the Pumpwerk were in Brisbane). Back to the topic at hand which was Sam and Helen’s semi-big night out.

The highlight of my night was of course when Women in Docs pulled Sally Dastey up on stage near the end to do Tin Roof. It went off. In case you haven’t realised Tin Roof is pretty high up in that handful of songs that make up my all time favourites. It sits up there with Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills & Nash (who are playing in Brisbane in 3 weeks but the tickets are waaaay to pricey for me), Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan, Safari by The Breeders, The Waitress by The Waifs, You Sound Like Louis Burdett by The Whitlams, The 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel, Lady Madonna by The Beatles, Adelaide by Old 97’s, You or Your Memory by The Mountain Goats and a handful of other songs. Classic songs. Of course going to a concert and hearing one of your all time favourite songs is just top shelf stuff.

Last night with Sam was fantastic. So was the night before with Andrea. Though how could it not have been fantastic? Great music and good friends always equals fun times.

After the show was over we made our way down to Eagle St where Sam works to see Cory and to munch down some wedges and fold cutlery bundles for the next days trade. I have to say at the start of the night I didn’t think I would spend part of it wiping cutlery dry and giving it to Sam so she could wrap it up in a serviette. A couple of hours out on the town, dancing, drinking, chatting, walking and generally having a good time. Then we made our way home and that takes me to where we are now.

If you are going to be in Melbourne, Nowra or Canberra between March 14 and 23, I reckon you should check out the Gig Guide on the Women in Docs website and get a few friends or family and plan an easy night out with good music and lots of laughs 🙂

fireworks