Outfit #11 - A Bit of Snow White

Wearing this skirt, I felt a little bit like Snow White.  A modern, sub-tropical Snow White.  I definitely had a lot of little people around (although no grade 3 kids today, there was a whole-school assembly during the strings time - really, who does that?!).

Outfit: 
Skirt:  Capture (op shop). Top: Ambra.  Shoes: Pinet.  Earrings: Vietnamese (from Oxfam Shop).  Necklace: made by me.

This was a skirt I bought at the end of Summer School and have been waiting for an opportunity to wear it ever since.  It is quite firm around the waist, so I'd rather not wear it on super hot and humid days.  Today was quite, quite warm - got up to 31 - but not ridiculously humid.  And with all the running I've been doing lately it's not as firm anyway.

When it's on though, I feel a bit special.  It's lined (I love lined skirts) and a bit puffy.  Hence the Snow White feeling.  I must say though, I skimped on the puffy top and boring shoes. 

These shoes received so many compliments.  Not quite everyone I saw complimented me, but many did.  I wore them a couple of weeks ago with long pants so I guess having them exposed made a difference.  They do need to be chosen carefully...  Because there was no assembly, there was a rehearsal for tomorrow's staff concert and then coffee, of course.  Bit of a walk to get the coffee.  And I had 2 young ones I needed to collect and deliver, which is many many steps.  The nail polish is no longer pink, back to a reddish hue - OPI Quarter of a Cent-cherry.  Love it.

These earrings were such an impulse buy.  Last June I had amazing shopping mojo.  I walked into Oxfam looking for something practical (I forget now what that was), and saw these in the discount basket at the front.  Sold!  Every photo shows a different colour, they're like a dark mother-of-pearl.

The necklace I made in June last year, as I was getting tired of not being able to wear necklaces while playing.  I made this and another that have the beads starting low enough that nothing rattles under a shoulder rest or on my collarbones.

Yes.  I'm getting bored of boring poses.  So I imagine anyone reading this will be getting bored of my boring poses.  Besides, this is one of those skirts in which you just need to twirl.  I need to perfect the photo jump/twirl though.

Outfit #10 - Green and Purple

Why green and purple?  Both my necklace and my earrings today have green and purple.  With a green top, of course this meant I was wishing for purple shoes.  That said, it was one of those days - I barely had time for detail shots.  Normally it takes me 45 minutes to get to work (including 15 minutes walk plus a coffee stop).  Today, my train stopped at the station before the city for 40 minutes before I abandoned it.  I left home at 6:25 and got to work at 8:05.  A bit late.


Outfit:
Top: Hot Options. Singlet: Ambra. Pants: Portmans.  Shoes: Pulp.  Necklace and earrings: gifts.






These have turned into my favourite accessories.  The necklace goes with just about everything.  Plus, I can play the violin while wearing it.  That's a big plus.  The earrings also go with most things.

I am still finding it hard to take photos of me wearing my accessories.  They either turn out way too close, or not close enough to be able to see what they actually look like.  Aside from that, I take them during breaks at work...  and hope that no-one sees me taking photos of myself.

The Teaching Policy

For the last couple of years, I've been a fairly cruisey teacher.  If a student couldn't make a lesson for some reason, that was fine.  I'd use the time to practice or check Facebook.  When I was not given much notice for a student who paid cash, and they asked for a lesson at a different time, I'd accommodate them because I knew I wouldn't be paid otherwise.  But towards the end of last year, it got worse - 10 minutes' notice for a really poor excuse, for example.  Or forgetting.

One of the discussions during summer school centred on billing students, and there was an article doing the rounds from a parent's perspective.  This parent believed if you can't make your appointed lesson time, you should not ask for another time, no matter how much notice you give, and you should still pay for the time.  He was an economist and had a well thought-out argument regarding perishable goods etc.  I know I can't jump straight in and tell the parents of my students that, but I started thinking about this.

And then I realised that the only way I will be able to budget for anything successfully would be if I became less Nice.  So, after thinking about this for a while, I wrote up my new Policy today.  It took a while to work out how to say "Pay me my money!" but eventually I found a suitable wording.  It still has the 4 hours' minimum notice for cancellation, but they are now required to pay me if they don't give enough notice and I will send an invoice if I haven't received payment for a missed lesson.  Deep breaths.  Now I just need to be strong and stick to it. 

Every year I put in a word about practicing.  This year I included a sentence about priorities.  I am sick of hearing "Oh I do a lot of sport, on Monday I do this, on Tuesday I do this".... It just goes on and on.  Yet there are others who do all those things and still fit in regular practice.  I like those students.  And generally, they like their lessons a whole lot more than the other sort of student.  This year also has a note on buying instruments.  Cheaper is not better when it comes to violins.  If you skimp on a violin, at best it will just be hard for the student to make a good sound.  But at worst, you'll be replacing parts that will quickly cost more than the original cost of the instrument.  And it will still sound bad and be hard to play.  Always buy the best you can afford.

Movie #8 - Hot Fuzz

I can't believe I haven't seen Hot Fuzz before now.  In fact, at the end of the movie, I asked my brother why he hadn't made me watch it sooner.  "I don't know... I didn't think it was your sort of movie - it's quite a bloke sort of movie".  Well, yes.  But I grew up with 3 brothers.  I'm not the oldest.  Therefore, I grew up watching bloke movies.

Thankfully, I was warned about the violence to the hand at the start.  There is enough warning before all the murders (sorry, murrrderrrrs) that if you're squeamish you have plenty of warning of impending blood and gore.  And essentially, this is a crime movie.  I love watching and reading crime.

There was the added delight of seeing so many familiar British acting faces.  The early scenes were dominated by my squeals of "ooh, it's that stripper guy!!!" (well, not really - the body double for the naked scenes, as seen in Love Actually), "that's Bridget Jones' dad!" and "oh, him!".  Plus, it's really funny.  Nicholas Angel is so black and white, but those in Sandford are wonderfully obtuse - until they surprise you by being brilliantly observant about something.  Little wonder why the last guy had a nervous breakdown.  Unfortunately, there was no option for subtitles, so I didn't quite grasp all the dialogue of northern England when they were not right in front of the camera.  Fortunately, I watched it with someone who has seen this a lot, and has a really good memory for words.

Once you get to the bottom of why all these murrrderrrrs are occurring, it gets quite deep.  Spoiler alert: people who are not conforming to the village's style are getting whacked by those in the Neighbourhood Watch Association.  Gated communities, strict body corporate laws and Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey all spring to mind.  (Incidentally, the Jasper Fforde connection leads me to his Jane Eyre books.  Timothy Dalton plays a villager here, and was also Rochester in the early 80s BBC tv series of Jane Eyre, which I saw from the living room doorway when I was meant to be asleep and had horrific nightmares because of it).  So at first it might seem totally fine to ask everyone to keep their lawns neatly trimmed and their houses in the same rustic style as the village, but how far do you go to keep everyone playing by the same rules?  Once you have that Best Village award it must be hard to contemplate not being the Best Village.  And yes, dealing with the problem-makers early on prevents dealing with them again and again.  But a conformist village is a boring village, and there is always something going on.

Sweet Soy Omelette

This is from a Jill Dupleix recipe book (Good Cooking: the new essentials).  There are a few double page spreads of a focus ingredient used in different, quick recipes, and I'd just skipped over them, except for the lime page.  Mmmmm lime....  But back to the soy.  Needing a quick dinner tonight, the soy omelette said, Try Me, and I did.  Everyone else listens to the illustrations in cookbooks, right?  Yeah, I thought so.

Beat 2 eggs with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp mirin.  Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok, swirl to coat, add the egg mixture, swirl again, loosen the sides, and you're good to go.  Can be rolled and sliced to add to fried rice, soups, or stir fries (as pictured).  It is delicious. 

As you can see, mine is a little darker on the underside.  This is what happens when you take photos while cooking.  It's looking good, put the camera down, and suddenly it's gone all crispy.  Be warned.

State Library of Queensland Cafe

I have long had a love affair with Matisse's paintings, but today I finally went to the Matisse: Drawing Life exhibition at GOMA.  It was wonderful to discover another side of his work, even if I was alongside 3 school groups as well as the general public.  His brevity really appeals to me, as well as his use of pattern.  A lot of the drawings reminded me of the illustrations from a book I read years ago, the name of which I forget - but set in the 1920s.

My favourite was of a violinist (surprise, surprise), possibly the largest work on display.  If I had the means...  What really surprised me was the lack of prints in the merchandise section.  Which is great for my bank balance, but a little disappointing.  I would have loved a print of the violinist, but I had to content myself with a fridge magnet of another work, Patitcha souriante (Pititcha smiling), and a drawing pad.

By the time I had finished, it was well and truly coffee time.  Last week I had noticed the State Library has become a very cool place, so I stopped for a coffee in their cafe.  Quite a cool day, and a couple of hours in air conditioning meant I was already turning purple, so I chose to sit outside instead of in the cosy (but chilly) indoors.  I don't know if it was the time of day, the day of the week, or just because, but outside resembled a childcare centre.  Lots of vocal, energetic little people.  I was really impressed with a bloke sitting in front of me, wired into his laptop and seemingly unaware of the amount of noise surrounding him.  The price of a muffin (not that I had one, mind you) caused me to anticipate high prices, but a mug here was cheaper than a cup at many establishments.  The coffee was good, and the froth even better - one of those where you just want to sculpt something in the foam.  I resisted, though.

The Workouts

I promised on Monday that I'd discuss the Turkish get-ups at a later date, so here we are.  Now, I admit that sometimes, as a teacher, I feel I need a little laugh, so I'll have a student attempt something that is guaranteed for a giggle.  This might be a coordination exercise (try raising your index and ring fingers simultaneously, for example), or watching a 5-yr-old draw a treble clef (circle circle circle mad look in their eyes as they plead for help on how to get this thing finished).  I suspect that personal trainers do the same thing.  Or it could just be that I'm not very coordinated.

On Monday, after 8 hectic rounds (which I didn't really, really feel until Tuesday and now I still can't even sit without feeling it), I still wasn't finished.  Turkish get-ups.  Trainer Dan showed me how one was done, complete with some tips.  It's meant to be done with a weight in one hand but, so that I didn't end up with a kettle bell on my head in 2 seconds, I had to take off a shoe.  The idea was to balance that on top of the hand that would normally hold it - but, as I said, I'm not very coordinated.  It's not even that, really, but that I have a very poor awareness of where I'm at if I'm not upright.  The shoe was not a success.  I realise it will be much easier if a professional describes this, so there is a link here if you want to watch.

The other new workout thing stemmed from a discussion last week about changing things in my workouts more.  Instead of just zoning out on a bike or a treadmill, the new regime involves more interval-style training.  Which is great, except it then took me at least 15 minutes once I woke up to decide exactly I'd do.  When I said I was going to write down some ideas in advance, Trainer Dan said he had loads of these types of workouts, and he emailed them through to me later that day.  Some of them are really, really nasty.  However, I've started working through the list and there are enough of them (about 15) that it will take me a few weeks to get a baseline of achievement.  I then feel free to do what I like, and the biggest plus is that I'm feeling much fitter already.

Lenten Discipline

Today is Ash Wednesday.  I usually give up something for Lent, sometimes I take up something (like, trying to be nice to people I find challenging).  Last year I had a money jar for every time I slipped up - after a few days I had to reduce the fee, but I still managed to donate a large sum of money to a friend doing the CEO sleepout in June.  While that's a great cause, I do hope I don't donate so much from a Lenten discipline this year.

This is the first year I'm giving up alcohol.  I'm not a big drinker, but I have noticed an increase in my intake over the summer.  School nights are alcohol-free so I'll just be pretending every night is a school night for a while. 

Usually I give up peanut butter (I love the stuff) and it's on the list this year as well.  Again, I've just had way too much of it lately.  Chocolate... well... I haven't actually been eating much of it recently so it doesn't feel like it qualifies, but I'll try not to replace my peanut butter addiction with a chocolate overdose.  I will also be trying to do something artistic every week.

Outfit #9 - Creamy Floral with Black

2 New Things in this outfit.  One to be repeated... One if necessary, but with caution.

Outfit:
Tank: Ambra.  Belt: Target.  Skirt: Jeanswest.  Shoes: Pulp.  Necklace: op shop.  Earrings: some silver shop, somewhere.

Good new thing:  a ribbon in my hair.  Just wrapped around the bun, not even in a bow, but there.  It's really hard to take a photo of my own hair.

Not so good new thing: belt around hips not with belt loops.  Really annoying.  I kept pulling it all day, and whenever I bent to help a grade 3 it landed around my waist. 

These shoes are really old.  Well, in the last few years, anyway.  But old enough that the inner sole is starting to come adrift.  Not many more wearings left in them I think.  I've been running a lot lately and wanted to keep my legs happy, but there's very little support in these flats so maybe not such a great choice. 


This is one of my new op shop necklaces from the start of this month.  I can't wear it when playing properly, but for being a Helper and for easy lessons I love the weight of it around my neck. 

Outfit #8 - Black and Red Floral

Earrings - actually sandalwood seed pods.

Outfit:
Dress: Hot Options.  Brooch: gift.  Shoes: Hot Options.  Earrings: from Kuranda.

Shoes, with wedge and Bandaid details.

Yes, I like Hot Options.  I don't often go into Target, but when I do I nearly always find something to try on.  This dress was one of 4 (yes, 4!) that I bought all at once.  2 different styles, each in a different material.  I'm not totally sold on this dress design (a twin to the circle dress, found in outfit #5) - it feels a bit baggy around the middle and I suspect I need to fill it out more for it to look really good.

This is the other brooch I was given for Christmas, which goes so well with this dress.  Someone even asked me if it came with the dress.  All the music staff looked great today - house photos.  Which also meant I had a very messy day trying to teach all my kids when mostly they were being photographed.  Or, it turns out, their teacher was being photographed and so the class went AWOL.  Super.

Beverages

 You know when you embrace change, it just snowballs?  Maybe that's just me, but I have noticed a whole lot of change happening in my life - and not by my choice.  (I'm coping, it's ok!).  Today I had no idea what I might do for something different.  Then, I got up.

Trainer Dan asked for an earlier time, which meant I didn't have my normal Monday morning pre-training breakfast.  Then, after a killer workout (8 fast rounds - my last time was my best, just saying), I got to learn Turkish get-ups.  More about those soon.  And I thought, that could be today's New Thing.  But then I went to the supermarket.

About a year ago I started drinking a glass of vegie juice most days.  It was a suggestion from a doctor-parent as an immunity thing and has mostly worked.  After a few foul-tasting trials, I found a juice I could actually drink - GC Raw, in 3 delightful flavours.  Which are no longer available in the larger bottle.  Although tempted, I decided it was ridiculous to pay that much.  I grizzled in front of the fridge for a while before heading to the long-life aisle.  So this is my new vegie juice.  Woolworths Select, much cheaper, and the tropical flavour helps me drink it without gagging.  Win.

I also needed to buy tea.  On my list was Green Tea with Vanilla.  This is what I drink with breakfast on school mornings, as I know I can't have black tea with breakfast (it blocks iron absorption), and there's no time for coffee.  I'd run out of this on the very last school day last year (superb timing), but neglected to replenish the stock for this year.  Week 5, and I finally remembered on Monday that I needed to buy it for Tuesday.  I spotted this range of teas, though, and thought I'd give it a go.  How pretty is this packaging?  I'm drinking a cup right now and it is one of those Really Amazingly Good Teas.  Very smooth, no bag taste, not in the "I'm herbal, I'm good for you so just forget how I taste and drink me" category at all.  Can't wait for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Whaddaya Call It?

I'm reminded here of the movie, The Castle.  The mum serves dessert to great acclaim.  "Whaddaya call it, love?" asks the dad.  "Icecream", she replies.  "Yeah but whadja do to it?" he asks.  "Scooped it out of the punnet". 

This isn't quite icecream, although it does fit into the dairy category.  With a tub of quark needing to be consumed within 3-4 days, I needed a variety of uses.


A scoop of quark (maybe 1/4 cup), a heaped teaspoon of cocoa, 2 teaspoons of jam.  It will probably last me at least 2 nights for dessert, but it is really yummy.

New Food - Quark

I have often seen Quark in the general store when I'm ordering extras with the fruit and veg box, and never before been game enough to order it.  A friend has just started eating it and said it was the best stuff, so I thought I'd give it a go.  The apparent selling point of "it's just like cottage cheese" was quite a deterrent (having loathed that as a child, I tried it again last year - still foul), but a reassurance of "but it's so much nicer, not lumpy at all" made it better.  Plus it's meant to have some good stuff in there for your brain.  And who can go past that name?  Quark quark quark...

Looking at the nutrition information, there was a bit of a reorganisation of my plans for it.  10. 8 g protein and a whopping 9.6 g fat means I'll count it as a fat, not a protein.  (I had ordered the skim version but they were out of stock, and as I'd never had this before I didn't mind the substitution).

When I started eating it, my tastebuds-brain connections went a bit haywire but by the end of the meal they'd settled somewhat.  In taste it reminds me more of mascarpone than anything else, rich and creamy, so it will be a healthy dessert option for now.  Unless I get creative and do a dip or something. 

Do you eat quark?  Any recipe suggestions?

GOMA Excursion

The balloon room

 Today I had a catch-up with a great friend and her 3 little ones.  This friend is one of those friends who has helped me through really tough parts in my life, we've had several years with little contact, but when we catch up we can just pick up where we left off.  She has a 3-and-a-half year old boy, and 1-and-a-half year old twin girls.  For our catch-up today we went to GOMA.


This was not my first visit to GOMA - pretty sure it was only my second, though.  The first was a few years ago, for a Picasso exhibition (i.e. I went for a reason, and it didn't matter where the exhibition was held as I would have gone regardless).

Sticker room

Several of my friends with small children have visited and said how wonderful it is for little people.  It really is.  Right now there is an exhibition by a Japanese artist which is rather 'Alice in Wonderland'-ish.  There was a room with circular, slightly convex mirrors on the walls.  A room (pictured above) with large spotted balloons and mirrors on opposite walls.  The best room though was the sticker room.  As you walk in you're handed circular stickers, and you can stick them anywhere.  Anywhere!!  So much fun.  They even had a laptop and a piano. 

On the lower floor was a magical fairyland.  Everything was made of sugar and inspired by the magic of fairy tales.  Personally, fairy tales bring to mind horror (being cooked by witches, anyone?) but the whole sweetness was very pretty.  Thankfully the exhibits were just out of reach of little hands.  My biggest laughs came from the computer room, though.  You (apparently) could make a magical fairyland of your own, take photos and make them into characters.... I was stationed with the twins.  "Name your magical land" says the prompt.  zzzzzzzzzz JCHCAO ca o oidhf kdf 'lifj ;aodif j comes up as the girls hit the keys randomly.  Hilarious.

Magical fairy land

The Gym

One of the main reasons I wanted to be less predictable this year was because of the gym.  I used to spend a lot of time on the bike. 

My brief exercise history:  In primary school, I was a champion high-jumper.  And because I was tall, I wasn't too bad at the compulsory cross-country races.  Then we moved to Queensland and I was not longer tall, so only school sport lessons happened, mostly, until I was about 20.  I started walking in the mornings, for various reasons; this graduated to running, and I didn't notice any weather until the drought ended.  Then it seemed I couldn't exercise much due to rain.  I'm not a fan of walking or running around the neighbourhood in the rain.  Eventually, a friend gave my name to the gym and I signed up. 

Gym membership came with a special personal trainer deal - as this was my first time in a gym (seriously) I thought this would be wise.  Hello, Trainer Dan.  After the first 3 sessions I decided to keep going - the 'death session', although really hard, got the endorphins running around at a great rate, and I had already noticed a fitter me.  I have a regular-ish time slot which satisfies my need for routine, but I never know what I'll be doing.  So for the first 15 months or so, Monday morning PT session and usually 3 or so gym sessions (bike, sometimes rowing also), plus at least one run in the real world, was my exercise routine. 

About a month ago Trainer Dan asked how long a 5 km run would take me.  On a treadmill.  I'd been on a treadmill only once by choice - a 2 km run that nearly made me throw up.  So I worked up to 5 km, which feels so good.  I normally run 6.5 - 9 km in the real world, but treadmill running is all about the brain for me.  My next run was so good, I decided to incorporate a treadmill run in each week. 

My first 'weekly treadmill run' was last Thursday.  I was about 40m in when Trainer Dan came over to say hello... and to tell me to change things up a bit.  "Uh yeah, I'm on a treadmill..." I replied.  "Hm.  You need to change things up more". More interval training, like 400m runs interspersed with pushups, situps, squats, kettle bell swings, that sort of thing.  So that day I did 3 rounds of 400m runs, 10 situps, 10 pushups, then a 3 km run.  Next day, I was a little later than normal and was tempted to just do a 'zone out' session - after all, I don't always see Trainer Dan that late... but thought I should be disciplined.  5 rounds of 400m runs and 20 squats, then a 2 km run, and very glad I did - in the 2nd round I hear "Heels on the ground Anna" - sprung!

The next real run was not great... my brain kept thinking, this is more than 400m.  However, this morning I had limited time so just did 5 rounds of 400m runs, 10 half pullups, 20 squats.  This evening I went for a long run which felt so good - totally in the zone, and 5 minutes faster than the last time I ran that far (about 8.5/9 km, haven't put it into a reliable map yet).  The downside of doing workouts like this though, is that I wake up and then have to think for about 15 minutes about what I'll do.  My plan now is to write down some workout ideas, then all I have to do is pick one as I get to the gym, instead of having to think it up every time. 

Outfit #7

 Outfit details:
Shirt dress: Jeanswest (op shop).  Belt: Target.  Leggings: Ambra.  Shoes: from Jeannie.  Olympics earrings: gift.

I think of these earrings as Olympics earrings.  They were a birthday present I received during the last Olympics, and they are gold, silver and bronze (although it's a bit hard to see in the photo).

Today needed a bit of a fun outfit (yes, all black can be fun...) as I was helping with grade 3 strings for the first time.  I won't wear a short skirt next time - I forgot how little grade 3 kids can be, and there was a bit more 'sitting on the floor' time than I had anticipated.  For them.  This was my first group string lesson experience.  I've never taught a group of more than 2, and when they're in an ensemble they can already play.  Trying to position 18 violins/violas on little shoulders not used to this whole shoulder rest/chin rest thing, with the addition of school badges, making it not incredibly uncomfortable - it's tough.  And then all over again in the next class.  I had one boy approach me after - "can you put on badges?  Can you put mine back on for me?"  Their teacher (their real teacher, doing all the work) does such a great job.  All the kids said at the end that it was really fun.  And mostly they could count to 4 and do a little dance in the middle (interesting, in some cases, very energetic in most cases). 

Sauce

Ok, some of my changes are happening because I've been less organised than intended.  Or, something has not happened as I expected.  This week was one of those where I meant to put avocado on my shopping list.  Making my lunch for Tuesday on Monday night, though, I realised there was no avocado in the house.  There was, however, an unopened jar of macadamia sauce.  My parents often stop at the nut factory at Yandina on their way to Brisbane, and they have to support the local economy.  I scored a jar of this sauce not too recently, and as I didn't have any avocado for my salad, this went over my chicken.  I don't think it will replace avocado on a permanent basis, but the salad was tasty.  There was a bit too much vinegar sort of taste for me to love it.

Outfit #6

This is a very short skirt, for me.  If it only just reaches my knees when I'm standing, then there are a few more inches of leg visible when I'm seated.

1 - This outfit is almost entirely recycled.  I think I'm yet to wear an actual 100% recycled outfit (there have been plans, but the weather sometimes gets in the way of good plans).

2 - I'm wearing a belt.  Possibly for the first time in more than... ummm... 6 years?  A long while, anyway.

Shirt: Miss Shop (from Jeannie).  Skirt:  Temt (Lifeline West End).  Belt: gift.  Shoes:  Pulp.  Earrings: Mombasa - the owl earrings from a couple of weeks ago.  My current favourites, I think.

Movie #7

Just for something different, the other movie I borrowed on Saturday was a comedy.  Odd, I know.  This one was called The Guard - it's Irish, so it comes with a language warning.  It is fantastically funny.  Subtitles were on as well, which just added to the amusement ("Spaghetti western style music playing", "Boom!", etc).  Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) was so refreshingly blunt.  Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle - so I kept thinking of him as Basher thanks to the Ocean's movies) was wonderfully straight.  The only way I can think to describe him.  

This was really all good.  The script.  The acting.  The camera work.  The music.  Even the violence was done so well that I thought at the time 'Oh :(' at the worst.  I felt for the wife of the officer who was killed for pulling over the wrong people (and how many people say goodbye to their spouse and don't know if that will be the last time?).  I really enjoyed seeing Mark Strong in a different role - still a bad guy, but a really likeable bad guy.  

This was another satisfying movie - the really really bad guys all died, the good guys mostly all survived.  The Irish speak Gaelic to the FBI man (not actually in the Behavioural Science Unit as they all ask) who then asks a horse if he's seen any of these guys.  

Interestingly, though, the line that has been in my head all day was from a minor character.  Gerry Boyle's mother is quite close to the end of her life (and dies during the movie).  He thinks she's doing ok - "She looks fine" - but the doctor says "It's not what's on the outside that counts.  It's what's on the inside, eating away at you".  As someone who puts on a brave face so people can't tell I'm depressed, this is something I know I should take seriously.  People might think I'm a nice, happy person, but this isn't always the case.

As I was returning the movies, I passed a girl on the station steps.  I thought she was just on her phone, but as I passed she warned me to be careful - she was taking a photo of this little guy.  Very cute, about the size of my hand, but a little cautious of all the attention.  Hopefully his mother found him.

Movie #6

Every time I rent movies, they give me a voucher for Next Time.  I'm such a sucker, I keep on using them.  So Saturday I redeemed a voucher for 2 new release movies for a certain price (hmmm - way more than cheap Tuesday prices...).  The first I watched Saturday night, and it's not a movie I would have borrowed 3 months ago.

3 months ago I saw We Need to Talk About Kevin.  That movie is still with me, popping into my head and swimming around.  I think it will take a very long time to digest.  I mention it because it involves a school shooting, and Saturday's movie, Beautiful Boy, also involved a school shooting.  A lot of the time while watching, I was comparing aspects of the 2 movies.

Beautiful Boy is the story of 2 parents, who are at that stage of "Let's try to work things out".  Their only child is in his first year of college when he suicides after shooting several fellow students and teachers.  The parents are dealing with losing their child, supporting each other, facing a world of criticism, and trying to work out what they did to raise a killer.

I don't think any parent would want this for their child.  Parents do their best not to screw up their children, to raise healthy, happy, well-adjusted kids.  Yet the assumptions and judgments that are made by the rest of society are so harsh.  And I must admit to being guilty of this.  Watching something on tv, for example, I'll think "Yeah, that's the way he is now, but why didn't his parents make him do this before?"  And that's just a small step to "What did his parents do to turn him into a mass-murderer?"  Why do we feel we must judge another human being, who is just trying to do their best with the information that they have?

Meanwhile, I don't know if it's coincidence, but the similarities between the situations of the killers in both Beautiful Boy and We Need to Talk About Kevin are noticeable.  Both lived in large, open houses - the sort featured in fancy home magazines, that I always think would take forever to clean, and feel unlived-in even when full of people and stuff because there's nowhere for intimacy.  Both were functional singles (as in, effectively an only child).  Both had a father who worked away from home in a regular office-type job, and a high-achiever for a mother, who expected great things from her son and kept pushing for better. 

The DVD cover promised powerful performances.  No other way to say it, this was really powerful.  I knew I would cry, and I did (buckets).  The individual reactions of the parents to the news that their son was dead, that he was the one who had shot all those people, was so true.  And after seeing the father absorb so much criticism and hate, his outburst is so compelling and gut-wrenching.  One thing I've been noticing more and more lately is music in movies, or its absence.  This was not free of music, but it was used sparingly.  I was trying to pinpoint what was so weird about this - after all, real life doesn't come with a soundtrack - but actually, my life does.  There is always music in my head or fingers, and if it's not an actual piece, then it will be a particular arpeggio.  I know that's an incredibly weird thing to admit.  But seeing something which is silent, even when it's not silent because it's about to be horrifyingly scary - well, that's just really weird.  Effective, but weird.

Chocolate Fruit and Nut Tart

Jamie Oliver's recipe for Chocolate Fruit and Nut Tart had been tempting me for a little while.  I'd stocked up on Green & Black's 85% before Christmas, and I had 2 blocks best before... yesterday.  So this recipe, calling for 2 blocks of this chocolate, couldn't have been better. 

On the left you can see the illustrations from Jamie's book (Ministry of Food, if you're interested).  Note the regular shape and actual shell styling of the pastry.  Below, you can see my finished product.  Hmmm.  The overview was just too blob-like so I've spared you that photo. 

I think part of the problem was that the Brits do shortcrust pastry differently from Aussies.  He gave instructions for rolling out to just under a centimetre thick, but mine was already rolled to about 4 millimetres.  So pinching the edges to form a sort of lip was not brilliantly successful.  Then, when baking the pastry, if I'd used pastry weights it might have stayed as a shell instead of ending up looking like a rug with stuff swept under it. 

The finished product tasted rather like melted Green & Black's 85% on top of pastry with stuff added to it, funnily enough.  I don't know if it was the pastry I used, but I don't think it was a great addition.  If this gets a second run, I might try making my own and seeing if that solves the above problems.

Instead of using the suggested raisins and hazelnuts, I used some (more) leftover dried apricots and roasted almonds.  One of the things I enjoy about Jamie's cooking is the substition - this, or this, or you know whatever you have to hand...  (Normally I appreciate the quantities as well - handful of this, a bit of this, just chuck in a few of these - but I have quite small hands so often have to guess when it comes to things like a thumb-size piece of ginger, for example).

If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I'll add it.

Hairstyle

This is only a small step up from my normal boring hairstyles.  A ponytail, or this pictured hairstyle minus the plait.  Not the greatest photo... not the greatest plait either, obviously more practice required.  But, different.  And, after 9 hours, nothing's budged.  Played a 1.5 hr gig by a lake (read: windy), plus transport on a very hot and humid day to and from, plus a walk to the video store and back, shower, lounging on the sofa watching a movie - it's done well.  Plus the fringe at the front looks more like it knows what it's doing.  This is important.

Movie #5

The Bank.  A 2001 Australian film starring David Wenham and Anthony LaPaglia.  I'm a fan of both those actors.  Yet... This movie had been sitting in my "I really should see this" pile for many months (the middle of last year, in fact).  I'd often pick it up, look at the cover, and then think ".... ummmm.... not really in the mood for this now".  But, with all this business of watching different movies, I was right in the zone. 

This is such a clever movie.  Two tragedies, 24 years apart, are the basis for the two plots which tie in so neatly that the ending is so incredibly satisfying.  It is quite sad, but also quite funny - I had one of those 'wake up the neighbourhood' laughs at what I consider the best bit (the dad's revenge).  Having the good guys win, and the bad guys get their comeuppance - really, how good is that?! 

It was very interesting to see this now, as opposed to when it was released.  The main plot is all about predicting market crashes.  Although made in 2001, it's set it October 2002.  Anyone watching it these days would know that yes, there was a big market crash - in September 2001.  Aside from that, though, there are so many issues still in the news today.  Shareholders, accountability of businesses, small business versus the banks, trust, full disclosure, foreign markets, morals, principles, ethics, underdogs - it felt very Australian, yet rather global too.

Visually and aurally this is also well done.  The camera work is noticeably good.  The shots of the Yarra, the lights from the bridge... My favourite visual part was a shot from above.  David Wenham's character is trying to decide if he's a good guy or a corporate player, and leaves the bank to have a walk and a think.  It's Melbourne, so it's just been raining, the ground is wet.  We see him walking over these repetitive pavers, and the reflection of the bank in the water on the ground follows him.  Aurally, the music is very well done, at least for the most part (a little bit of cliche ruined a moment for me).  I wasn't surprised to see at the end several big Australian music names.  As well as several big acting names, of course.  

Kathmandu

Last night I went to Kathmandu for dinner. 

I taught this girl from when she was in grades 8 - 11... She's now in grade 12, and her mum called me a few weeks ago.  "I'm so sorry", she said.  "She's giving up everything, even debating... Can we have you over for dinner?"  I understand grade 12 students cutting back and focusing on study, so I wasn't upset with them.  I remember being at that stage of life, and although I still had violin lessons, there was a phone call around the end of August of that year from my violin teacher.  "I'm putting exam entries in tonight.  Yes or no?" Ummmmm.........No.  Like many other students, I wanted to focus on getting good grades.

So, dinner last night.  Originally the plan was for me to go to their place for dinner, but their life has been rather hectic so they took me to Kathmandu instead.  I had passed this little restaurant several times and always thought, that looks nice, but never eaten there.  It's good.  And, apparently (according to a Nepalese colleague of this girl's mother), authentic.  We all shared, of course. 

Starters: Tibetan bread (yum!), vegetarian and meat momos, and pakoras.  I'd had momos before, at the Tibetan Kitchen in the Valley, but not the other selections.  Sometimes food, sometimes food.

Main: ummm, No. 54.  I think it was called Goru ko masu (apologies to any Nepalese reading this...).  The main thing is, slow cooked beef with cardamom, chili, coriander, cumin.  I love all the 'C' spices.  Plus I tried the very delicious Sherpa Chicken and Pesto Chicken. 

We ordered coffees, and our waiter let us know it was organic coffee so it might taste a little different.  I've not had that before - but as I use organic coffee myself, and try to go to coffee places that use organic, it tasted normal for me. 

I was going to take a photo of at least one of the food items, but we were in a dimly lit area so I didn't even try.  Obviously, I'll have to go back.... And maybe next time, try the floor cushion seating instead of a regular table.  This restaurant is on Latrobe Tce, Paddington, if anyone wants some traditional Nepalese yumminess, aromatic yet light curries, and gentle, lovely wait staff.

Outfit #5

Dress: Hot Options. Shoes: Lipstick Design (op shop).

Shoe love

Shoe details

The dress... On the up-side, it's simple, and I don't need to coordinate much with it.  Curiously, it was some time after I bought it that I wore it.  Shoe dilemmas.  On the down side, it's all polyester.  Thankfully I have wonderful air-conditioning in my teaching room.

Now, this dress.  At the end of last year, another violin teacher and I put on a studio concert together.  I almost wore this dress, but decided at the last minute to wear something else.  The other violin teacher, though - she turned up in this dress.  It's a good thing then, that we don't teach there on the same days.

I felt so lucky when I found these shoes just before Christmas in an op shop (West End), and they are so lovely to wear.  When I showed my 3-yr-old niece my shoe collection, she loved these.  Absolute favourites.

Outfit #4

 Two things about today's outfit:

1 - I love this top.  It's cotton and so light, ruffled around the neckline, black.  But, more importantly, I haven't worn it for a few years.  It was in the 'I Wish' pile for a while until I had a very exciting try-on session recently.  Yay!

2 - I'm wearing a brooch.  This is a big thing for me.  I was given two for Christmas, this green fish and a red flower (stay tuned!), and this is the first time this year I've worn one out.  Apart from really liking having a little fish on my blouse, it really broke up the otherwise sombre colour of this outfit.

The pants are cotton/polyester so they feel nice and crisp but still cool and breathable.

I love green.  I love heels.  These shoes are great.  I have to choose outings appropriately though.  Today was not a day I was scheduled to track down kiddies all day (and no fire drill) so I could sit comfortably in my room, looking at my pretty shoes.

Yes, this is the lovely carpet I have in my teaching room at school.  Nice, huh.  Has that old office feel to it.

 The cute fish brooch.



Outfit details:

Blouse: Suite Boutique.  Pants: Portmans.  Shoes: Pinet.  Brooch: Erstwilder (gift).  Bracelet: gift.  Opal earrings: from Kuranda, FNQ.

This jewellery combination made me feel rather precious all day.  Pearl bracelet (a gift from an older brother and his wife).  Opal earrings I bought last September in Kuranda, in Far North Queensland.

Movie #4

Girl, Interrupted was a bit close to home.  I spent the last quarter of the movie (at least) curled up, not always looking at the screen.  However, I am very glad I have now seen this.

As an artistic type, I can relate to many of Susanna's problems.  When I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.  An older brother told me that if you wanted to be a writer, you had to be something else as well.  Writers didn't earn money, and adults needed money to buy things like food.  Goodbye dream... So I became a musician instead.  Funny.

We as humans function better when we have a meaningful purpose in life.  Sometimes that purpose is hard to determine, especially if all we know is we don't want to turn out like our mothers.  It has been very helpful in recent years for me to hear (and receive) the message that no-one else lives me better than me.  I might think that I'm doing something wrong, I'm not passing all the steps that Everyone Else does, but They're Not Me.  When I'm happiest, I'm doing what I love, I'm around people who appreciate what I do, I can help others be happier in themselves.  Similarly with Susanna, when she flashes back to a session with a Guidance Counselor, she is told Everyone Else is going to college, and what is she *actually* going to do, apart from write?  Depression and admittance to a psychiatric hospital followed.  Later, in a pre-release session from the hospital, those in power accept that when she is out in the real world, she will write.  A much more grounded person has emerged.

This more grounded person is now someone who can look out for others and own who she is.  The turning point in her treatment comes when the head nurse throws her in a cold bath and tells her to stop throwing away her life.  Literally and figuratively a wake-up call.  Don't waste what you have.  Take something for granted now, and you may not have it tomorrow.  This is the theme for so many movies - you'd think we'd have got the message by now.  Something I appreciated in this part was that the answers were not coming from the powerful people (doctors) but from the more ordinary people (a black nurse).* 

Another side of this story is the psychiatric hospital genre.  What made me think here though was, how do we as a society judge who should be Inside or Outside?  We accept the really with which we are presented.  'Normal' is just the fatter part of the bell curve.   And, was there really anything in Susanna's problem apart from high intelligence and too many choices in life?

*Coincidentally, this was also the theme of the sermon I heard Sunday morning:  Look for God in the Everyday.

Apricot and Carrot Loaf

Seriously.  I couldn't quite believe it when I found this recipe.  I'd bought the wrong dried apricots, and had 2 bags of carrots in the fridge - hello, Apricot and Carrot Loaf.  I tried a tiny piece and it is really good.  Mostly healthy, but the brown sugar and butter keep it in the Treat Food category.  Thankfully I'm off to a meeting on Tuesday evening - with plenty of grateful stomachs.





Recipe (found at http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/11710/apricot+and+carrot+loaf
Ingredients:

    •    Melted butter, for greasing
    •    110g (2/3 cup) chopped dried apricots
    •    150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
    •    115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
    •    1 tsp mixed spice
    •    200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
    •    250g carrots, grated
    •    65g (1/2 cup) chopped walnuts
    •    125g butter, melted
    •    3 eggs, lightly whisked

Method
    1.    Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a 10.5 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted butter to grease. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.
    2.    Place the apricots in a medium heat-resistant bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 10 minutes. Drain well.
    3.    Sift together the flours and spice into a medium mixing bowl [I had to use my largest - the mix was huge!]. Stir in the apricots, brown sugar, carrots and walnuts. Add the butter and eggs and use a large metal spoon to combine.
    4.    Spoon into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Keeps in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Movie #3

I had actually borrowed Copying Beethoven a couple of times before, and returned it without watching.  I think I even copped a late fine for it on occasion.  Last Tuesday I thought, It's Time.  Friday evening, along with my dad and brother, we watched it.

I'm glad I only paid a dollar.  Yes, Diane Kruger is beautiful.  The music was good - although at times predictable (oh look, he's in a forest - and the Pastoral Symphony is playing!).  After a few hours of grumbling, I realised the point of the movie - that to create, you have to 'build a bridge to the future' which will probably alienate you from everything happening in the Now, because Now is familiar and comfortable.  But if you just do what is familiar and comfortable, you'll stay in the same place.  Now that I've written that, I can see that this is a little like a metaphor for my life right now... Only it was said really badly.

I don't often say a movie was terrible.  I very rarely fast forward through a movie I haven't seen before.  I am actually annoyed that I spent about 100 minutes of my life watching this.  (Playing time is 104 minutes, I watched all the credits for the music, but I don't know how long the fast forward was). 

It could be that a non-musician would love this, Beethoven revealed as a human.  And the contrast of the great composer, who talks of building a bridge to the future with his visceral music to which no-one will listen, smashing the futuristic bridge design.  But: American accents for Viennese, American language jokes (mooning, the Moonlight Sonata... really?!).  So much talk of an angel sent from heaven, and the closest they could really get to a sex scene (a 23-yr-old girl giving a 53-yr-old man a sponge bath) was just...No.  Shudder.  Fast forward.

At the start, the movie is geared towards the premiere of the 9th symphony.  As it was being played I thought, well actually if it's this short that's a mercy.  Except that was only the middle of the movie.  Someone decided to keep going for another 40 minutes and include the Grosse Fugue as well.  As a string player, I loved hearing the Takacs Quartet playing this, but it didn't work well as a plot.  Maybe if it was 2 parts of a series, or if they'd even referenced the quartet before the symphony was performed, but they didn't.  Even the back of the DVD cover ends with the performance of the 9th symphony. 

Meanwhile, the actual performance of the symphony was an epic cringe.  Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger) has been the copyist, at the last minute, and is brought in to help in the conducting.  She crouches in the middle of the violins and conducts so that Beethoven (played by Ed Harris) can mimic her.  Normally, a conductor needs to preempt whatever is about to happen - show an accent a beat early etc.  So if the conductor is taking his cues from someone else, that someone needs to be even further ahead.  She was there, apparently, to show him where the beat would be, but was so engrossed in the music that she lolls around with her eyes closed for most of the time and appears to be behind the beat.  And as Beethoven also closes his eyes, the whole "Let's keep in time" thing seems to be pointless.  The end of the performance was the most effective part of the whole movie though:  the sound was cut except for very muffled thuds and scrapes, ostensibly as Beethoven would have heard the applause at that time.  It is only when someone turns him around to face the audience that he can see they appreciate it, and him.

Phyllida Law has the best line in the whole movie.  She plays Anna's aunt, the Mother Superior of a convent, but she came to Vienna to study with Salieri.  "So you understand", says Anna.  "Oh no, dear.  I never even met Salieri.  They sent me to one of his students.  I was 17.  He was French...".

Friday February 4 - Liquids

My new things were in the liquids. 

Breakfast:  coffee and a smoothie.  This only came about because yoghurt was ordered for the delivery on Thursday but they were out of stock.  Agh!  I really don't like having muesli (or any cereal) with milk.  Plus I must admit to developing a slight addiction to smoothies recently.

Recipe for smoothie:
1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon each protein powder and psyllium husks, 1 teaspoon crunchy peanut butter, c. 1/3 cup chopped mango.  Blend.  I'd run out of honey also, and despite having the cinnamon out, I forgot to include that yet again.  Eventually, I'll remember.





I met Jeannie in West End for some op-shopping, lunch, and coffee.  Lunch was at The Forest, a place I'd never been before (vegan, hippie - you know the type).  It's not often I order juice, but the gorgeous bag I was using has a limited capacity.  I can choose to take a water bottle, or an umbrella.  After choosing the water bottle on one occasion, the umbrella now wins.  So I was thirsty.  This was dragonfruit and lime juice, quite refreshing.  Being in such a healthy sort of place, I didn't even think it would have anything but dragonfruit and lime juice in it.  But, after finishing it, I turned the bottle around and saw the ingredients...  Disappointed.  Sugar and flavour were added, so I'm not having this again.

Coffee was at the Jam Jar - so very West End (and a place I'd never been before) - it's on Boundary St if you want to check it out.  Coffee was good.

January Spending

There has been much op-shopping in my life lately.  I tend to get excited when I find something, try it on, it fits, and costs less than 2 cups of coffee.  So one shop might yield several items of clothes, and I can't seem to resist.  I saw someone had a monthly clothes and accessories limit of $100 and thought that was such a good idea, I'll do that too.  This decision came after I'd bought all these things:

Lifeline in the Valley:
Capture skirt $25 (hmm a bit pricey)
Sunny Girl skirt $8.50
Esprit skirt $9.50

Lifeline Adelaide St:
H&M skirt $7.50
Jacqui E top $9.50

Pearl strand $15

Target:
Hat $5

Thick black belt $19
Thin black belt $0.83 - yes, 83 cents!
Emergency sandals $9.83

January total: $109.66
Thankfully, this stopped me from even looking at bling anywhere else, and I'm quite proud of the fact that I only bought one pair of shoes - and that was an emergency, so it doesn't *really* count.  In fact, without them I would have been within the budget by 17 cents.

I had a shopping trip today with Jeannie (of http://opshopology.blogspot.com.au/) so I'm already half-way through my February budget.

Pink Nails

The back story - I used to have a red violin case.  I like the colour red, a lot.  I also like the colour pink, but having a red violin case meant I couldn't wear pink if I would be carrying my violin (horrendous clash, hurt the eyes), which was most of the time.  Two years ago, I needed a better case, and bought a black Gewa.  It is a wonderful case (anyone who's looking at buying a violin case, I highly recommend this!) and even better, it doesn't clash.  Other benefits include 2 shoulder straps, very light, very strong, and no place for music (it's shaped, not oblong).  At first I missed the music carrier, but I used to overload my case with music, which was not good for the case or for my shoulders or back. 

I have many many shades of red nail polish.  Many - meaning 5 that I just found but I think there might be more hiding somewhere.  Now that my wardrobe is getting used to the idea of pink (after 2 years - it's hard to change), I decided to go pink on the nails.  This colour is Rimmel's Cranberry Zest, and it claims to have a fruity smell when dried.  Maybe - for a couple of hours.  I quite like having cranberry-coloured nails.  Having been a red-wearer for years, though, I discovered my accessories are woefully lacking in the pink department.  This will have to be rectified, and soon.

Outfit #3

 I love these shoes.  I had them several months (from a swap day) before  I actually wore them.  Once I'd tried them out I was smitten.  They're cotton so they breathe, not so precious that I can't wear them in the rain, a bit of height.  Plus they come in my favourite colour - black!  I was trying to last longer before wearing black, but when something is so good, why resist?

This dress is really nice to wear.  It's a fake wrap dress, jersey material, with a tie at the back.  The first outing was for a gig.  After that, I always wear a singlet underneath.  Every time I moved I had to hold onto the front to save it from revealing everything.  Maybe I need to move more when I'm trying on clothes.

Dress: Hot Options.  Singlet (only visible close up): Ambra (bamboo).  Shoes: no label, but made in Spain (swap). Earrings: made by me (no photo - but they're like striped licorice).