Come the holidays.

Last day of work. It sort of came all unexpectedly, this long weekend, and I'm flying to Armidale for a break on Tuesday. Not sure what I'll do in Armidale, it's all unplanned and casual, but my friend lives in a building full of pianos, so I imagine I shall have plenty to amuse me there. In the meantime, the long weekend will also be good, I hope, spent quietly here in Sydney. Tonight I am seeing Legally Blonde the musical, yay!, and tomorrow a friend is coming over and we are doing a combined op-shop clearout of our junk, her suggestion after reading my blog post, I really enjoy spending time with people while doing something useful. No slight guilt over money spent or calories eaten. My big ambition, though, is to varnish the chest of drawers. I don't know if the weather will be good enough, but I'm fed up of my clothes on the floor and the big unfinished project. I've got a paintbrush from Mitre 10 in my handbag right now. On the other hand, maybe I should prioritise house cleaning for the rental inspection. Nah, paint first clean later.

On a related note, Did you know there is a Josephan's chocolate shop in the city? The one from Leura, it's on the corner of King and York streets. I don't buy gourmet chocolate myself but I know others do, so I am sharing the good news. York street is a very nice street, it has lovely stone buildings, but the shops there are shabby, it's got the useful shops like Lincraft and Mitre 10, rather than fancy clothes shops like everywhere else. Funny how like attracts like. Of all the city streets it's the one I would like to live on I think.

Wayfarer: The River

I love this EP. Hymns in a Fleet Foxes style. It's creative and singable. I'm singing "What wondrous love is this, oh my soul" all the time. I like hymns that don't have epic lyrics with 8 lines a verse; I like hymns that you barely need a powerpoint slide to read from, because they are plain and simple. I predict a trend in that direction.

You can get it on iTunes, Bandcamp, Noisetrade, etc etc (re Noisetrade, it's free, but it's worth a donation, I think, so I "bought" it there rather than funding apple with their outrageous prices and the cut they get from it).
http://noisetrade.com/wayfarer

Hard Magic by Larry Correia

I sprung $4.95 on an audible sale and bought a book I've never heard of, Hard Magic. It's the concept from X Men or Heroes, ie, some humans have evolved magic powers, so it's set in a well-developed alternate reality. The 20th Century is there but different. It's set in the 1930s depression, in America, with gangsters and prohibition and Oakies from the dustbowl and flying blimps and fedora hats, but with different wars and politics. And it's got a big cast of characters with intertwined stories, I always like that. $4.95 well spent.

The Way I Am

http://youtu.be/9SnhmIqxpDo

This is by Ingrid Michaelson. Official, ugly, music video here.

This would be a good cutesy song to have at a wedding, but I like it anyway. It's short, simple, sweet, and it has more to it than sunshine and romance. Marriage vows sort of do contain promises that you will love each other when they go bald, or you want to borrow their clean hanky.

All the more.

Another love song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OpN9YHo-5A
This is the only video unfortunately, it's barely worth watching. The first verse is about cute romantic first love, and the second verse is about wrinkly lasting love. These are words worth contemplating.

The beauty of loving through time
is the intimate knowledge of lines and of 
creases that tell all the stories we've written together.
You're in love with the truth about me,
all the scars that no-one else sees,
and that vision you hold speaks louder than a thousand love letters.

I think it's something that's true of all long-lasting love—friendship or family.

My love is my love.

Peter Bradley Adams. I like his really laid back croony sort of arrangements.

I'm going to start blogging love songs that have depth, that have issues in them, or are in some way grown up. But are still easy listening.

I spent all my money trying to look stable
Bought you a diamond before I was able
But a man's got to gamble if he wants to look proud
My luck is my luck and I guess it ran out

http://vimeo.com/27543309

Braces update.

Well, I think the gap shrunk a little in the last month, maybe 1/3mm smaller. Not small enough, however. Today, some of my top teeth were filed a bit, the microscrew was deemed to be getting loose and coming to the end of it's useful life soon, some more rubber chain was wrapped around my teeth, and I have a long appointment in 2 months time to change the screw. So it doesn't sound like I'll have braces off anytime this year. I should really stop making up these deadlines, it's such a letdown.

Busy but good.

I had a really nice weekend. I'm always torn three ways on weekends, I want to do nothing and rest with a book or the TV, I want to see my friends and do fun things outside and enjoy the weather, and I want to get my life and house in order and shop and exercise and be productive. All three is a bit hard. This weekend I kind of let go of what I wanted to do because there was just stuff I had to do, music for a kids event at church taking up half of it. But miraculously, I managed to get all 3 weekends in one anyway! It was actually a bit hectic and went fast, but it didn't feel hectic.

I had dinner with 2 friends in Chinatown after work on Friday, tick social, went to bed early, got up and did some Jillian after breakfast, tick exercise. Got summer clothes out and put some coats away, tick productive. Went to vote at my flatmates church with K, had a sausage bun for lunch and saw a car accident, tick do fun things, did my grocery shopping on way home, tick food. Walked to M Junction and EG Westfield to find a new fluro tube for the kitchen. Couldn't find one, and also got a bit lost on the way so was very hot and angry and tired by the time I got to church for music practice, in a foul mood. Fail. Oh I forgot, being so hot and tired I wanted a smoothie but couldn't buy one. After a few hours learning kids songs I got a lift home, and I was complaining about how hard it is to find a fluro lightbulb, and it turns out the couple driving me home had a lightbulb store in the boot of the car. What are the chances? "Mr Good" installed it for me and everything! Tick changing the light, and tick I feel happy because someone randomly helped me!

Then I was about to start cooking dinner but I remembered I should make soup for church dinner instead, so I went back to Coles and bought pumpkin etc and made soup. THEN I vegged out with Season 1 of Criminal Minds, tick relaxing. My flatmate likes the show but I find it scary and also the characters are pretty dull and I have no idea who is who, so I thought I'd start at the beginning, and it's a lot better at the beginning. The characters actually have personality.

Sunday morning was the kids thing at church, tick serving others. After lunch I watched some more Criminal Minds with my flatmate and a bag of freddos, tick relaxing. Then walked to church, tick exercise and enjoying sun. Soup after church but didn't have to wash up because had cooked, tick not washing up. More Criminal Minds after church. Made my sandwich for Monday, tick getting stuff done.

Your Song: cover

I really like this cover. It's done quite differently. The Ewen version is good too but this is my new favourite cover.

It's not for sale on itunes except on an album so I can't buy it, I just watch this video a lot. It's a cute and happy video as well, so it might cheer you up like it does me. Makes me want a cat and some autumn leaves and maybe dye my hair blonde and shave a bit of it off.

Call the midwife.

Loved the first episode. I have just enough history to recognise things. Post WWII era means the baby boom. No contraceptive pill. Rationing, so food and clothing very simple. Poor people have always lived in the East End of London because that is downwind of the city and the air is worse. Before the Clean Air Act the smog+fog was sometimes so bad that people died. The 50s is recent so there was a very real and unjudgmental sense of place and time, although the era is completely vanished, which makes it quaint and interesting. Also, childbirth is a yucky thing, just as I suspected, and which I have not really picked up in other movies and tv shows featuring a birth. Bicycles film well, they lend themselves to long travelling outdoor shots. There was a quotable quote in the first 5 minutes: "The time has come for us to go in search of cake."