Australia got it wrong

I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post about this year's Australian Idol callbacks being held at my work. Or I might have been dreaming about posting about it but never got around to doing so.

ANYWAY.

Because 125 little pop-wannabes spent 3 days screeching warming up in the bathrooms located right next to my box office, I discovered more than you would ever want Andrew G to tell you about the 2006 Australian Idol contestants.

Naturally, there were those who pissed me off. I won't name names, but the boys who sneeze-called that lovely albeit fairly overweight boy "krispy kreme" as he walked past them should remember the bollocking I gave them and know that if they ever do anything that horrid again I will publicly name and shame.

However there were others with whom I got quite friendly. The ones who made an effort to come up and say hello (and a few who even apologised for their inconsiderate fellow contestants who would not stop caterwauling in the bathrooms). A few of those lovely people made the top 24. Snaps for them. And at least two of them I thought would definitely make the top 12.

These two:

Klancie Keogh

Klancie's from Mt Isa. Actually I think she lives about four hours out of Mt Isa. She sounds about as country as you get, but dresses like an A-lister and is one of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met. Seriously. She's a top bird. And she has a great set of lungs on her. Must be all that yelling across the cattle station. I thought for sure she'd go through. Hell, I even voted for her.

But I was wrong. Australia didn't want her.

So I thought at least if Klancie didn't get through then this next chick would:

Amanda Streete

Another top bird. Really lovely, friendly, down to earth and again, great set of lungs. She belted out such a fabulous version of Early Warning by the Baby Animals right in front of my desk that I thought there would be no way she wouldn't make it to the top 12.

Wrong again.

Obviously, I have different taste to the rest of Australia.

Because instead, Australia saw fit to vote for these little under-age moppets:

Jessica Mauboy

Sweet girl, nice voice, but really.

WHITNEY HUSTON???

Get some frickin' taste girl. Whitney Huston sucked even when I was a teenager.

Maybe there's hope for you. Maybe. But I don't see too many signs of it so far.

And this girl:

Reigan Derry

Shockin. You can't sing about wanting to be a "punk rock girl" when you're dressed like Michelle Phillips from the Mamas & the Papas. And you can't sing that song in the saccharine-coated way you sang it. Did you even think about what those lyrics are saying? I suspect not.

I can't believe Australia voted for you over Klancie & Amanda.

Let's hope the judges see fit to give them a shot at a wild card entry.

Or I'm just going to stop watching.

I'll definitely stop voting anyway.

Sautéed In Wrong Sauce*

Been a bit quiet on the blog front, I know. Haven't had anything much worthwhile to say I guess.

How are y'all? Having fun?

Good, good.

I'm still making my weekly trips to the eye hospital. Dr Sam tells me I have to get used to seeing him for at least the next two months. I told him I have trouble committing to relationships, so not to get his hopes up.

I still have to put the drops in every hour of every day which is getting to be a real frickin bore.

Apparently I tested negative for HLA-B27 so they don't think I have AS. Which is good in one way but bad in another... I was hoping for some answers as to why I have to look like an ugly speccy joe for at least another few months.

I only have one pair of glasses and there are a limited number of items in my wardrobe with which they accessorise successfully. I think I may have to become like Anastacia and invest in a selection of glasses to coordinate with different outfits.

Dunno how I'm going to do my next play in glasses though. Its movement based and I do a lot of jumping around with a bamboo stick.

We started rehearsal this week and we got loads accomplished until Day 3 when two of the performers pulled out for personal reasons. So we spent all of Day 3 and part of Day 4 re-casting and we have to start rehearsal again from scratch next week which only gives us 2 weeks to get the show up and running. Thankfully, Bestie Lulu's boy (he of the stabbing incident) has stepped up to the plate and taken over one of the roles. Should be lots of fun with him around!

Anyway, I should be learning lines. Or sleeping. I have to be at the airport at 6am to collect Bestie P & co from la belle France. I hope Miss Piper remembers her godmother... it's been two whole weeks!

x



* Classic comment by one Mr T Lee on Wednesday night's Rockstar: Supernova. He was talking about Storm's woeful performance of "I Will Survive" and was totally on the money. Yes. I've still got the hots for him. Although I've decided I fancy Gilby Clarke again now too. I still find Dave Navarro one of the freakiest looking men on the planet though. I will never fancy him.

He was a hard headed man...

He was brutally handsome.
And she was terminally pretty.

I love that song lyric. Its playing right now on iTunes and I thought I'd share it with you.

Aren't I nice?

Sooooo... I have a new contender for my GR3. Just one. Alan and James can not be replaced, but Kenneth can. Sorry Ken.

He's been replaced by this man:

I know, I know.

Its just not right, is it?

I. NEED. HELP.

You see, I've been watching this show and I've gone gaga for him.

Wrong. Its all wrong.

Anyways... let's change the topic. Its creeping me out. He creeps me out. But I still fancy him.

CHANGE. THE. TOPIC.

Ummmm... my eye is kinda better. Turns out it wasn't conjunctivitis like the doctor at the Uni Health Clinic (UHC) told me after a perfunctory glance at my weeping eye. Don't go to the UHC. Bad bad bad. I went to my GP a few days later after what the UHC doctor prescribed failed to work. My GP freaked out at the sheer incompetence of the UHC doctor and ordered me to go immediately to the eye hospital. Did you know that we have a hospital in Sydney just for eyes? I didn't. Its in Macquarie Street. Its a very strange place. I think Billy Ray Cyrus is moonlighting as an orderly and Mimi from the Drew Carey show works in the office, alongside Mr Mann from Little Britain. They also have the most extensive range of vintage Conde Nast magazines (Traveller, Vogue, GQ) that I have ever seen in a waiting room.

Pity my eye hurt too much to allow me to read them all.

Anyway, after 7 (yes, that's SEVEN) hours waiting in the emergency room of the eye hospital, I finally get to see an opthalmologist who actually looks at my eye properly and decides that I need a chest x-ray and blood tests. I know, it was my eye, not my chest or my blood. I did say that to him and he laughed and told me to shut up and let him do his job.

I like a doctor you can banter with.

So I sat in a little room trying not to throw up while Dr Dracula takes about a gazillion vials of blood (I have issues with needles... I'd be useless as a junkie) and then I schlep off to the x-ray room. Did you know they process x-rays on the spot now via what looks like a PC and a photocopier? Its cool. I sat there trying to diagnose myself while the x-ray lady was checking to make sure it had turned out right. I was sure I spotted a growth in my lung, but she said I had an overactive imagination.

Which I do.

So then, I go spend $50 at the pharmacy to get two TINY bottles of eye drops and go back to wait for Dr Sam to tell me what I have and what I need to do.

It turns out that what I have is called Iritis. Inflammation of the iris. Fair enough. So why the blood tests and x-rays? Well, its actually a "symptom" of a few different HLA-B27 related diseases, but what he thinks I have is called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I find out for sure on Wednesday, but he's 99% positive.

At this point my head is spinning from lack of food (when you go to emergency at 11am, you really don't bank on still being there at 6pm) and information overload, so Dr Sam writes it all down for me to google at my leisure. That's what he said. Really. "Google at your leisure". He's a cool guy. A little nerdy, but cool.

So I go home, put the drops in (every HOUR for the next MONTH) and a few days later Wikipedia myself silly.

If you can be bothered going to the links, you'll see all the ins & outs of what it is and what can or can't be done. My grandmother apparently developed rheumatoid arthritis when she was my age, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by any of it. And I have to say I'm not particularly bothered by it either. Because it means I actually have a name for it, rather than just putting all the symptoms down to "getting old".

What REALLY concerns me (and I think I may need treatment for this too) is that when I Wikipedia-d the AS, I got quite excited by the discovery that Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe bandmate of aforementioned Tommy Lee) is also a sufferer.

I'm not right. I'm really not.

I'll report back soon.

Hope you are all well. Especially you MG... I didn't like the "anonymous" comment I read earlier on Locket's blog. It upset me. I'm sending you hugs.

While I think of it and completely off-topic yet again, I bought my soon-to-turn seven year old niece "Charlotte's Web" for her birthday. Is she too young for it? I think I read it when I was about 5, but then apparently I was reading in the womb and always read waaay above my age group. So I'm not sure. Has Princess read it MG? If so, at what age?

Oh and Bevis, what's going on with BB? I'm waiting for my umpteenth nomination! And maybe a bit of biffo with Feral when I finally get a-victed.

xox