What a week! January 30, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Life At Home, Michele, Observations, To Start Off With, Wedding.Tags: brain dead, brindle, celebrant, connex, council, darcy freeman, heat wave, kelpie, melbourne, rangers, repurcussions, transport, Wedding
add a comment
Different year, same heat. My family going through the cooling motions in the summer of 06/07.
It’s been a long hard week for Michele and me. But first, some good news.
We met up with our celebrant earlier in the week and registered our intent to marry. We wrote and signed into a big, hard-covered book and discussed what had to be done on the wedding day itself. We’ve not decided how our Order of Service should look. It’s something we’ve to decide really soon.
And then the bad news. As if tackling a Melbourne 40+ Degrees heatwave for three days in a row wasn’t enough, we both had to tackle different challenges from work.
A tragedy can occur in all forms. Yesterday evening Michele came home relatively depressed, having witnessed the death of a girl after she was rushed to the department Michele works in. Although she’s seen death several times throughout her career, it’s still hard to take. Michele told me her team – together with others from other departments – tried valiantly to save her but she was pronounced brain dead within minutes.
Planz schmanz – Wedding (the invites) January 28, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Wedding.Tags: address, asia, australia, ballpark, beseech, cardprints, carte blanche, chinese customs, comedy, diablo 3, drama, dramedy, el diablo, English, europe, fed-ex, greeks, international comedy festival, knock down prices, maid-of-honour, marriage, marrying, melbourne, overseas, pedantic, philippines, pinay, relos, rsvp, scurbs, singapore, sri lanka, stand-up, wedding invites, zach braff
add a comment
The non-Australian invites were sent out this week. Legible handwriting, much?
If there’s any reason to rethink your marriage to your partner and you’re even contemplating marrying again, I beseech you to reconsider that crazy notion. That’ll mean you’ve to spend many hours speaking to relos you’ve not spoken to for many years (or care), asking in pedantic details what their bloody address is. This is followed by more hours of explaining why I’m getting married (eh, ‘coz I’m in love?), why I’m not marrying in Singapore (Australia is home), yelling at my folks after they’ve still not gotten around to acquiring *insert relo’s name here* address.
Had I known writing our relos addresses and finding out their actual names was that tedious, I’d have second-thought my decision to get married. Until last week, I didn’t think six-line addresses still existed. Where the hell do these people live?
50 cents January 21, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Life At Home, Michele, To Start Off With.Tags: 50 cent, american, cover, first choice extras, fiscal, foxtel, health insurance, hospital, interest rates, latte, medibank private, pc, playstation 2, rapper, savings account, singles, slack ass jowl, waiting period, Wedding
add a comment
No, not the grammatically-challenged American rapper who infamously, is still alive. Rather, that’s how much I’m paying a day for my private health insurance.
They don’t advertise it on their website, but Medibank Private has a really amazing extras cover that covers my high-risk and hazardous lifestyle (sitting at my PC for hours, watching Foxtel in the lounge, thumb-twitching on the Playstation 2) for a measly $3.50 a week. That’s the cost of a latte with change leftover.
How far have I detoriated over these years? The overweight and unpolicied author, watching telly. Get your act together fat boy!
Danny from Medibank called up in the middle of December to check up on Michele’s policy. Until recently, both Michele and I were on Medibank until my jobless state and the new house (coupled with the wedding funds) took precedence. Which meant we both ran the risk of copping a massive hospital bill.
We chatted for a bit, and he said he’d call up early January to follow up. Just this arvo (on my off day as well), he called again and was I glad to hear from him because I’ve been messing with the thought of getting private health insurance.
Planz schmanz – Wedding (the reception) January 19, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Wedding.Tags: 10%, aristocratic, cheaper, church, courtyard, dearer, DJ, expensive, gargoyles, grandeur, hunky-dory, instinct, jouting, leonda by the yarra, limousine, loot, lyrebird falls, melbourne, nappies, new south wales victoria, onion, pompous, preparations, quat quatta, queensland, reception, scratch the surface, servants, stained glass, tall trees, tasmania, the ascot house, the gables, the willows, triumphant arch, Wedding, wedding caterer of the year, witchmount estate
1 comment so far
Without giving too much away, some stellar sights from the Quat Quatta. Stained glass, the beautiful courtyard and tall trees, complete with a triumphant arch!
Here’s a secret – Michele and I paid the deposit on our reception back in April 2008. That’s almost a full year before our wedding. I remember back then, we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, what with the wedding preparations looking like a portfolio of ‘What to do’ and ‘What not to do’. It’s almost the end of the journey now, but looking back, it almost looks like a one year project.
It was like we were peeling an onion. Scratch the surface, and we got more surface. And with each new surface, a new problem.
Of course, we knew we had to decided on a reception before we even started looking at anything else. It wouldn’t have made any sense to make rushed arrangements to walk in, view and chit chat with the management while we’re stressing about the flowers, the DJ, the car or any other facet of the wedding that you could possibly think of.
Before we discovered Quat Quatta, we had made the usual rounds around the more popular reception venues. Off the top of my head I can think of Leonda by the Yarra, The Ascot House, Lyrebird Falls, The Willows, Witchmount Estate and the The Gables. Kind of reads like a who’s who of Melbourne receptions doesn’t it? Terry, a good mate of mine commented how ‘upperty’ my wedding plans are looking, what with the expensive tastes and fancy frills. Well mate, you only get married once!
You know that little instinct you have, when you walk into a place, you get that ‘vibe’? With the other places, while there are many distinct and memorable parts of the reception that I definitely can’t praise enough, there was always a caveat that kinda gave the game away. I could stand in the reception for hours and still couldn’t envisage Michele and me getting married there, in spite of the venue’s strong selling points.
Cut & Colour! Woof! January 16, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Toby.Tags: colourful, glamourous, groomer, mohawk, number 5 haircut, photoshoot, poodle, sleepy, Toby, turquoise
add a comment
Who said dogs can’t have what they want? I’m envious of Daddy’s and Mommy’s pretty hair dos every few months, so I insisted I have the same treatment. After all, we’re all part of one big family!
Daddy gave me a number 5 haircut and told the groomer he felt like a turquoise mohawk. 90 minutes later, I’m all ready for the summer heat and one glamourous photoshoot away from stardom!
Woof!
Good idea. But no. January 15, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Observations.Tags: challenge, cigarette, cigarette-free, coffee, courtney, hughesy and kate, long drag, mouth, nicotine, nova 100, strong
add a comment
Courtney from work suggested I celebrate a cigarette-free two years with a cigarette. For a second, I actually enjoyed the idea of that idea. But a world of no. A quiet pat on my back from myself is all I need to go another year. The taste of nicotine is still ‘fresh’ in my mouth – yes, I still entertain the idea of a long drag with strong coffee – but I suppose as the years go on I wouldn’t need to talk about it anymore. No big deal. It’s just a personal challenge to myself.
Then, just before I finished my morning shift, good ol’ Hughesy and Kate decides to run a competition on which Nova 100 listener smokes the most number of cigarettes in a day. What the hell? Are they taunting me?
By the way, a nice lady called up Nova and said her grandmother smoked over 80 cigarettes (that’s 2×40/pack) in over six hours while they were visiting during the Christmas. I didn’t stay around to tune in on the winner, but damn if that granny didn’t win, I sure hope her cancer bills do!
An Update – It’s Weird All Around! January 14, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Michele, To Start Off With, Wedding.Tags: ankle, anton's, boys, bug, buggered, dunhill, front door, fumes, groomsmen, jack daniels, limb, measurements, melbourne central, nauseated, painting, pyramid, swelling, tobacco, toxic, ultrasound, Wedding, winter, woggy
add a comment
Gosh has it really been four days since I’ve gone? Back in the good old days time crawls and potters along when you’ve nothing exciting in life worth looking forward to; these days, nary a moment goes by before I go ‘Snap! Time to blog again!’
Michele’s been afflicted with a weird swelling of her ankle that has gotten considerably itchy. She doesn’t remember spraining it, and a trip to the doctor’s revealed it could be a reaction caused by an insect bite. Okay, she does remember getting bitten on the knee of her same leg. The doctor’s have packed her off with some antibodies and arranged Michele for an ultrasound if she thinks necessary. But it’s weird. I mean, who gets a swollen limb after getting bitten by an bug?
Yesterday, a half-standing Michele, her buggered leg (pardon the pun) and me finally got around to painting our front door. We’ve moved in for almost a year now but never found the time to do little upkeepity things like that. We had gotten the new door ordered in to replace the very woggy door owned by the previous owners, but by the time we settled down in our home winter was fast approaching and it was too cold to leave the door open for half a day, painting et al. But it’s weird. I mean, who leaves their front door unpainted for almost a year?
The many faces of Toby (August – December ‘08) Part 2 January 11, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Toby.Tags: dog, hypnotise, Leeds United, poodle, scarf, Toby
add a comment
Clockwise from Top left: Toby in a Leeds United scarf. It's really easy to get Toby's attention. 'Hypnotise' him with a ball, he'll sit and be your best friend.
The many faces of Toby (August – December ‘08) Part 1 January 10, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Toby.Tags: dog, nun, poodle, santa, Toby, weight, winter
add a comment
Top: Toby wrapped up like a nun after a bath. Above left: Toby's put on weight in the winter just past. He's always hovered around 5.5kg. Towards the end of the year he was 6.3kg. Above right: We like dressing Toby up. Here, he's wearing one of my ties and his Santa tee shirt.
Here are some of the best pictures of Toby over the last four months. I did say I was going to catch up on his posts didn’t I? Stay tuned, as Toby just came home from the groomers. He looks really funky…
Aussies working world’s longest hours January 9, 2009
Posted by themarchingjester in Life At Home, To Start Off With.Tags: Aussies, holiday, leave, longest hours, Must See TV, pay, sabbatical, salary, sickie, TLC, tourism australia, work
1 comment so far
Shockingly, one third of full-time workers will take not one day of annual leave this year, according the country’s largest ever study into annual leave accrual undertaken by Tourism Australia.
The figures show Australians work the longest hours in the developed world.
A myth debunked – the laid back Aussie lifestyle has gone to the bowels of stereotyped history. Popular foreign opinion can call our bluff.
Here’s another way to put it – we Aussies (or is it ‘us Aussies?’ bah damn my failing English!) work our socks off coz we have to pay off some things or another.
Myself? I haven’t the gall or audacity to chuck a sickie or even take a day of leave considering I was on a one year enforced sabbatical last year. And really, I’m working and making up for lost time in 2008.
I just received my Christmas and New Year fortnight pay, and I said a little prayer when I saw my bank balance. In just a little over the last two months, I’ve earnt more than the entire financial year just gone. Money was so hard to come buy, and I was only getting one or two days shifts a week. Watching your bank balance swell to a four-digit sum after bills does make for Must See TV.
Most importantly, I’m working for the wedding and pull off a miraculous escape. Just several months ago the idea of postponing the wedding was an idea I played around with; now I put in almost 80% of my pay into the wedding fund and we’re both looking forward to the big day. I’m sure the wedding fund appreciates the extra dose of TLC it’s receiving from me as well.
So yes, Tourism Australia isn’t doing anything wrong per se. I’m just a little unsure if they’re doing the right thing as the millions they’ve invested on luring Aussies back into month-long escapades is a classic case of one step forward, two steps back. But for many Aussies out there, myself included, we won’t be taking any time off for personal fulfillment.
