Y'all have fun now, y'hear?

Dear 2005,

Its been an interesting year, but I'm ready to let you go.

You brought me lots of good things and a few not-so-good things, however like 2003 and 2004 before you, you completely failed on the romance front.

For that reason you're dumped.

Goodbye,
Magical_M

_____________________________________________________________________

Dear 2006,

Welcome! I'm looking forward to a good year from you.

Amongst your many duties for the coming year (great career, more money, etc) I would like you to specifically concentrate on the following task:

Find me a nice sensible boyfriend and stop me from forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits, or perverts.*

May the force be with you.


Love,
Magical_M



* Thanks Bridget

Missing: Reward Offered

I think I'm going to get a bit of flack for this post, but I don't care.

The following items have mysteriously disappeared from my house. I want them back. If you borrowed them without my permission or if I drunkenly gave you permission to borrow them and subsequently don't remember you borrowing them, then please return them. Soon. I miss them.


Item One: The Office Christmas Specials



This was a Christmas gift last year from my now ex-flatmate. I've only watched it the once, because almost as soon as it was bestowed upon me it was borrowed for a lengthy period of time by some other friends. They returned it in July, so sometime between now and then, it has gone missing again.

Its a top show and I can understand you wanting to hang on to it, but its not yours so give it back!!



Item Two: Chris Isaak's Self Titled Album

Ahhhh Chris. Soulful crooner. Good dinner party musak. Been missing for quite a while now so I don't know who would have this one. But as I said before:

Its a top album and I can understand you wanting to hang on to it, but its not yours so give it back!!

Item Three: Britney Spears Greatest Hits: My Perogative

The theft of this one mystifies me. The only person I know (besides my strange self) who admits to liking Britney Spears is Bestie Lulu. And she has her own copy of this, so I know she hasn't got it.

Maybe you're embarrassed to admit that you borrowed it. Don't be - its a fun party album. But I'm going to get repetitive here...

Its a top album and I can understand you wanting to hang on to it, but its not yours so give it back!!

Anyone with information leading to the return of my beloved items will be duly rewarded.

Anyone who wants to give me schtick about my taste in music get to the back of the queue.

And So This Is Christmas

This Christmas I've realised a few things:

Just because you choose to spend it alone doesn't mean you'll enjoy every second of it. It was nice to do once, but I don't think I'll do it again.

You can never escape family dramas. Brutha was rushed to hospital on Christmas Eve, which caused a raft of phone calls around the family and a lot of stress. Timing bro. Still, at least you're ok for the moment and didn't have to undergo surgery today. But please, start taking better care of yourself. Its bad enough having Christmas without the Pater... I don't think the Mater could cope if anything happened to you.

The people you think care for you the most don't always show it. I'm still waiting for the calls I made this morning to my two besties to be returned. It especially digs in and twists around when you know they know you're spending the day all alone. I'll admit that a small self-pitying tear was shed a little while ago when I realised that the likelihood of either one of them calling me today is fading fast.

Spending today alone has made me realise how lucky my two besties are to have partners and how much I envy them that.

People you haven't had contact with in ages will often surprise you with festive phone calls and text messages.

Its quite nice to serve your Christmas dinner when you feel like it and not when someone else dictates it should be served.

I suffer from over-catering syndrome. If anyone is in need of a Christmas dinner come over... I have a ridiculous amount of turkey, ham, roast potatoes, parsnips and pumpkin, cauliflower cheese, candied yams, zucchini and tomato bake, carrots, beans and gravy left over. Seriously. I think I was born to cook for a crowd.

Not only do they show Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve but they also repeat it on Christmas Day. I never knew this. There's only so much you can take of Ray and the Australian Idols, surely.

Christmas Day TV is shite, unless you're religious or a child. But you can always rely on Parky. Even if it is a repeat.

I think The Queen has had botox. Think about it. She has no expression on her face. Only her mouth moves. Its either botox or she's a puppet and someone is working the strings.

I think I'm due for a White Christmas again in 2006. I really miss snow.

I'm going off to gorge myself on Christmas choccies and champagne whilst watching a soppy movie. Hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas!

xox

Tried and bloody untrue...

So much for the "tried and true" brownies idea (see post below).

I got up at 7am this morning to make brownies (it was the final baking item needed for Christmas packages).

I decided to multi-task and make the icing for the gingerbread people at the same time.

Whoops.

Whoops.

Icing sugar and flour look quite similar when you're rushing to get something in the oven.

My kitchen is a disaster zone. Apologies to Zimmerman who valiantly struggled to make breakfast this morning amongst the mess. Flatmate B has gone bush with her family so she won't be faced with it thank goodness.

Now I'm stuck at work dealing with stressed out people who've left their gift purchasing until the last minute and want gift certificates for the theatre. The least they could do is admit that they're disorganised...

Happy Chrismukkah everyone!

Next Christmas please remind me...

that I am NOT this woman:

So I shouldn't attempt her baking recipes.

Although, the chocolate covered peppermint dominoes which were such a massive failure last year turned out ok, because this year I used a tiny cookie cutter instead and re-named them "roundy-scallopy-chocolate-peppermint-thingys". I've yet to attempt the "dip them in chocolate" stage however, so it could still go pear shaped. Maybe I'll just drizzle chocolate over them. It might be neater.

BUT...

The christmas cupcakes are a disaster... albiet a tasty one. There's a reason Nigella said to put the muffin cases IN a muffin tin instead of just sitting them on a tray.

I could do them over again, but it took 3 separate mixing bowls, plus a saucepan to get to the "now pour it into the muffin case" stage and quite frankly, I lost my patience and threw a wooden spoon at the wall. I should go and clean it up actually.

I think I may have to revert to my tried and true brownie recipe and make some gingerbread people instead.

Those of you who are the recipients of my food packages each Christmas, please don't judge the cupcakes on their appearance. They are actually quite tasty. They just look like the victims of thalidomide.

I'm not even going to bother with a segueway here, but why must radio stations play such awful Christmas songs? I like the Smashing Pumpkins, but I don't particularly want to hear them singing a Christmas song. The only Christmas songs I ever want to hear are Mele Kelikimaka by Bing, Last Christmas by Wham and Do They Know It's Christmas by Band Aid. On repeat. Oh and Mellencamp's I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. But only once or twice.

I think I'm going to crack open one of those bottles of red now. I don't feel like cooking anymore.

x

Justification

I'm one of those people who is addicted to horoscopes. I'm a Gemini. Its allowed.

I get emailed my horoscope from various places on a daily and weekly basis - sometimes they're accurate, sometimes they're rubbish. Today's was spot-on.

But I'll come back to that.

Now stay with me... there's a bit of back story I need to get out of the way.

In the past couple of years I've had pretty full-on Christmas Days. Last year I cooked brunch and lunch for 10, the year before I was on Kangaroo Island with my family and my sister-in-law's family (about 30 of us all up) and the year before that I was at a mate's place in Mt Woop-Woop with about 15 others.

All lots of fun, but quite stressful and left me feeling strung out for days afterwards.

This year, I have shocked my family and friends by declaring my intent to spend Christmas Day ALONE*. With a bunch of books and dvds to keep me occupied, a few bottles of bubbly and a little one-person dinner of turkey, roast veggies, candied yams, etc etc. I reckon it'll be great.

And if I get lonely, then I can always pop over to Bestie's house. She and her hubby will be at home awaiting the impending birth of the Bun and enjoying their last Christmas alone together before they get caught up in all that kiddie Christmas bulls**t.

But so many of my friends have expressed their outrage/ disappointment/ disbelief at my plan this year, that I was starting to doubt whether it actually was a good idea.

Right. That's the back story completed. You still with me?

This sentence in my weekly horoscope this morning, however, made me feel much better about my decision:

"On Christmas Day Mercury sextiles Neptune, which is perfect for drinking, watching movies and dreaming. You can party another day - sometimes being lazy is preferable."

Justification.

Ha. And ho ho ho.

Roll on Dec 25.



* - There is a chance that I will be spending part of Christmas Day with Ranikins and her parentals serving dinner to patrons at an inner-city shelter... but that is still to be confirmed. And it will only take up a mere 5 hours or so of my day so there will still be plenty of time for solitude.

Don't go changing...

Today is my parents' 39th wedding anniversary.

At least it would have been if my dad hadn't gone and died of cancer in 1994.

In the eleven years since he died, my mum has not once even entertained the thought of being with another man. No dates, no casual lunches, no nothing. She says that she was quite happy being single before she met my dad, was fortunate enough to have a very happy marriage for 28 years and so she is quite happy to be on her own for the rest of her life.

Obviously she feels that the "one true love" theory worked for her.

Its certainly something to think about...

It got me thinking.

I don't think I've ever had that kind of love. I know sometimes I've thought that a guy was "the one" but then he usually broke my heart. I'm really not sure if there is one true love out there for me. And even if I happened to meet someone within the next year (and married them pretty much straight away), by the time my 39th wedding anniversary rolled around, I'd be 73. That's old. And I don't think anyone could love me when I'm that old.

Of course, that's assuming the marriage lasts that long.

Its a rare thing nowadays.

Jeez I get melancholy at this time of year. I need to snap out of it.

I'm going to go and wrap Christmas presents before I start feeling sorry for myself.

So long RocKat...

I'm a little bit drunk... pls forgive for any typos or offensive language.

I've just returned home from farewelling the RocKat who returning to her native Perth for a few months before heading off to the wilds of Blighty. Well, that's the plan anyway. She may well end up in New York or Peru. As long as she finally writes something on her f***ing blog I don't care.

I'm very sad to have lost yet another good mate from the TWOD. There's very few of us left... everyone seems to be getting poached by other arts organisations who actually pay minimum wage or above... something quite foreign and novel to those of us at TWOD.

But the RocKat promises she will be back for a visit before she heads o/s. I'm trying to convince her to visit in March/April so she can come see the play I got cast in yesterday!

*does the yay-i -have-my-first-confirmed-acting-gig-for-2006 dance*

*then does the yay-its-in-a-Sam-Shepard-play-and-i love-Sam-Shepard dance*

Just another reason to drink excessively.

Jeez - I'm feeling a little bit dizzy. And it just took me ten minutes to type that sentence correctly. I'd better go to bed.

Anyone got a berocca?

2005 - The Year In Review!

Well I’m back in the real world and back online and I've been tagged by Bevis for another meme.

I tried doing it yesterday but Blogger crashed on me (grrrrr) and so I decided to go and buy a Christmas tree instead. Pics of that will be posted in the near future as I’m very proud of it.

But you’re not interested in my Christmas tree preparation; I bet you’re just interested in my meme. Or not.

Here you go.


1. What did you do in 2005 that you hadn't done before?

Started a blog. Initially it was just so I could post a comment on Someone Else’s blog, but then I got addicted. And people actually read it! Even if some of them (you know who you are) don’t comment.


2. Did anyone close to you give birth?

I think the question should be “Did anyone close to you NOT give birth?”. Would make for a shorter answer that way.

So far this year, five of my friends have had babies. I say ‘so far’, because my bestie is only about five weeks away from giving birth so could well pop one out before the Dec 31 deadline.

At least another five friends are pregnant and due early in 2006, so I think when/if I do this next year, I’ll just be able to cut and paste the same answer.


3. Did anyone close to you die?

My GAGL died this year. Great Aunt Granny Lil. She was 98.

The reason she’s GAGL, is because technically she was my great aunt (my father’s mother’s sister). But when my dad and his sister were orphaned (at age 12 & 9), she took them in and raised them. On a crappy school teacher’s wage. And I suspect she gave up quite a lot (in terms of relationships – she never married) along the way. But she doted on them, and in turn their families.

I know my dad was eternally grateful to her for all she did. Not sure about his sister – selfish, self-centered cow that she is. But that’s a whole other can of worms in our family…

Anyway, GAGL was a top bird and I miss her heaps.


4. Did you travel? Where did you go? Best holiday memory?

I define ‘travel’ as going overseas to fun, exotic and mind-broadening destinations. So, in my imagination, yes I travelled.

In reality, my trips this year were limited to Melbourne (for GAGL’s funeral), Adelaide (to visit the family) and Thredbo.

Naturally Thredbo wins out – best memory would have to be that rush of joy you get when you go down the first slope on the first day.


5. Best thing you bought?

Books. I love books. And thanks to the wonder of ebay, I’ve been able to purchase some old books that I’d almost given up on ever finding.

Oh and yesterday’s Christmas tree was a great purchase too.


6. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, eBay and having fun. In that order.


7. What do you wish you had done more of?

Paid acting work. Although I can’t complain, because compared to some of my actor friends, I’ve had a really good year on the acting front.


8. What do you wish you had done less of?

Procrastinating. I’m the world’s best procrastinator.


9. What kept you sane?

Music. Music always keeps me sane.


10. What drove you mad?

John Howard.


11. What made you celebrate?

Lots of things – but there were big celebrations with each acting gig I got!


12. What made you sad?

All the terrible things that happened in the world this year, GAGL’s death.


13. How was your birthday this year?

Not terribly memorable… I’m hoping next year will be better.


14. What political issue stirred you the most this year?

Does John Howard’s stupidity count as a political issue? His IR reforms, anti-terror legislation… the mention of that man’s name makes me want to revoke my citizenship and move to a tiny deserted island somewhere with my nearest and dearest.


15. Were you in love in 2005?

Sadly, no. There were a couple of flash-in-the-pan’s, but nothing worked out.


16. What would you like to have in 2006 that you didn't have this year?

Love.


17. What date from 2005 will be etched in your memory and why?

I’m useless with dates. The only dates that are etched in my memory are my family’s birthdays and the date that my dad died.


18. What song will remind you of 2005?

The OC theme song. Its driven me nuts all year.

And 'Catch My Disease' by Ben Lee. Who is known in our household as “The Hobbit”, thanks to ex-flatmate Kate.


19. Compared to this time last year are you happier?

I think so. I’m never really happy with my life, but that’s because I’m afraid that if I’m totally happy and satisfied I’ll get lazy and not strive for anything.


20. Biggest achievement this year?

Signing with my agent.


21. Biggest disappointment this year?

My love life.


22. What is the one thing that would have made you more satisfied?

Trainer Bob from The Biggest Loser.


23. Best new person you met this year?

I know it sounds a tad cheesy, but all the wonderful people I've met blogging. And if Lulu’s dad comes through with the plan* for meeting Trainer Bob, then we can add him to the list too!


24. A valuable life lesson you learnt this year?

Roxette were right.**


25. A question you made up yourself?

Bevis made that one up. And I don’t think I can make up a better one.


-----

Well that’s it bar the tagging. Hmmmm. Who to choose.

I'm tempted to say that this time, RocKat is out – she’s all talk and no action. But if she's willing to step up to the plate...

I’m not sure if anyone has tagged the lovely sublime-ation so we’ll give her a go. And the divine dstah, who I’m sure will have a crack at it. Um, I need a third one. Hmmmm… OK. How about Charlotte. Want to give it a go?
.
.
.
.






*Thanks to Lulu’s dad’s contacts, there is a plan in place (which may or may not pan out) to put me within a tiny distance of Trainer Bob. Of course knowing me I’ll get shy and hide away in the corner.

** Listen To Your Heart. Can also be termed “trust your instincts when it comes to men and how they treat you”.

Vintage Technology

This photo has just taken me ten minutes to upload.

I think the Mater really needs to upgrade her internet.

And having spent the last two hours trying to teach her how to use her new whiz-bang scanner I'm a wee bit fractious. She sure does ask a lot of questions.

Anyway... the monsters really have grown since I last saw them. That photo was taken on Tuesday night while the Zoobster was writing out Christmas cards for all her classmates. Apparently that's what you do in the first grade nowadays. She forgot to sign most of them though, so da Buddha was checking them all for signatures. She took great glee in this task... as all younger sisters do when their elder siblings stuff up.

I haven't been allowed near the computer in the last few days so I'm having serious blog-withdrawal... I'll catch up on everything when I'm back in Sydders next week (and I'll be doing that tag thing then too Bevis!).

Hope you're all well...

xox

Hangin' with the Homies...

This is where I'll be for the next week...

Not in the caravan park... I'm a tad more middle class than that.

The mater's house is just back a bit from the middle of the cove. Ten minutes walk to a beach you can swim in without getting dumped by huge waves. Of course there's always the danger of being eaten by a shark, but when you've grown up with it you don't tend to worry about it.

And when I'm not swimming or working on my tan, I'll be spending some quality time with these monsters...

This one's a nutter. You can usually find her climbing something she shouldn't, breaking something she shouldn't or beating up her big sister.

Obviously she's my favourite. I like rebel qualities in a four year old and try to encourage them as much as I'm allowed.

This one's a bit more placid. And whip-smart. And will charm the socks off you. She'll probably grow up to be a neuro-surgeon and a supermodel. As long as she earns enough money to support her struggling actress aunt I don't mind what she does.

I haven't seen either of them in 2 years.

I hope they remember who I am. A few well placed presents should jog their memories.

x

Its oh so quiet...

Shhhhh...

Shhhhh...

Alright enough already of Bjork.

I know I've been a bit slack on the blog front this week. There are several reasons for this, including:

This one on Wednesday night (special preview - have no idea how I got invited though);

And this one yesterday (first session of the day, natch);

This one last night (which was bloody funny - snaps to all involved and to quote Molly "do yourself a favour...");

This one tonight (my lovely friend Lizzie's the one in the front of the pic in black);

And tomorrow the biggie of them all.

Then I have to drag my ass into work on Sunday for a few hours, go to an engagement party straight after work, then go home and pack my bags because then I'm flying to Adelaide to see ma famille for five days...

So if I get a chance, I will post.

If not, I love you all and I will see you in a week.