Life in 2D/3D

Why do the things that are bad for you always taste so good?

I forgot to mention - the new sales rep started today. She looks vaguely like a younger version of this woman. I've discovered that this is why i feel very anti-new-sales-rep. The woman in the picture is the annoying lady off the Australian Pensioners Insurance Ad on TV.
Dislike through subconscious association. I will try very hard to enjoy working with her over the coming weeks. She is very very peppy. She gets very excited about everything. She just about married the receptionist when she found out that she'd set up an in-tray for her. Wait until i tell her that her first playground design is done.. Boy will i be popular!

I've been thinking about this ikea thing and i remmebred tha i used to go out with a swedish guy. He spoke the language but he would never speak in Swedish around me. Just like the guy in Ikea. Hmm... some sort of conspiracy?
Probably not.

Yesterday my dinosaur theme playground was installed. It was installed into a council that has a slightly questionable reputation & which has a history of spending more on repairing vandalised equimpent than on new equipment. They installed a giant moulded-rubber dinosaur at the site. It stood about a metre and a half high and was 1m wide, 2m long. It was a big dinosaur - a T-rex. I suggested they should have built it to scale, but they didn't seem very keen on that idea. Something about little kids and scary dinosaurs & tons of rubber. Excuses excuses.

When they installed it , they put star pickets & webbing around it to stop people from climbing on it until the concrete had set. When they went back this morning,  some clever little cookies had ripped the star pickets out of the ground and stabbed the dinosaur repeatedly with it. What kind of mentality must a person have to go around vandalising playground equipment? Why do people feel the need to destroy any public equipment that is brand new? It must be a cool people thing. If only we were all that cool. Well, the cool people will have a field day with the tote board that is being installed at the horse-racing themed playground. A graffiti artists dream.

I bought a desk from Ikea yesterday. It was cheap & suited my purposes exactly. This afternoon, I finally got around to putting it together. Now, I know that people joke a lot about self-assembly furniture & how hard it is to put together, but I never believed that it could be that hard to follow some simple instructions. You know - "insert tab A into slot A" etc etc. How hard could it be to follow that?

After attempting to put this desk together today, I have a new-found respect for anyone who manages to do this on their own.

My instructions (unlike the stereotypical over-worded style instructions) were entirely comprised of pictures. Not a single, solitary word to be found on the sheet. No, wait, I lie. There was the name of the product on the front. Aside from that - nothing. The instructions were simple black & white line drawings printed onto cheap grey paper - the kind that the butcher wraps your meat in, or that your fish & chips come in.

There were 41 steps to constructing my desk. There were a lot of pieces. They were different colours. Yet the instructions were in black & white. They love to make it easy for you, don't they? I have no idea whether or not I would have been able to construct this thing without the help of my father, who is a tradesman of sorts. Well, to be quite honest, he wasn't altogether entirely helpful - he refused to refer to the instructions (sparse as they were) which meant a lot of time was wasted with him sorting through the box trying to find the right screws while I looked them up in the front of the instructions. The line drawings at least looked accurate.

 

It was a very satisfy thing, to see my desk constructed and upright after having put it together myself. It was almost a shame to put my computer on it and mess it up.

 

My trip to Ikea was a lot of fun, actually. I love that Ikea stores are so huge that they're like an entire shopping centre in one building. They had a restaurant! wELL, THEY CALLED IT A RESTAURANT, BUT IT WAS MORE LIKE A TRENDY CAFETERIA. Crap, damn caps lock. Sorry. Their cafeteria served trendy looking meals that were incredibly cheap. They do a bacon, egg, sausage & toast breakfast for $2.50. $2.50! It would cost me more than that to head down to the shops, buy the ingredients and make it myself!

The man behind the counter had an accent (presumably Swedish) and I spent a good deal of time trying to work out if he was really Swedish, or if he was just putting on the accent to add a little authenticity to the experience. The only thing better than eating Swedish meatballs in Ikea is eating Swedish meatballs in Ikea and being served by a Swedish man. I think the correct term is 'Swede' but I think that makes him sound like a vegetable.

 

My only problem with my desk is that I have one of those monitor that is about 8 foot deep - so it's sitting right on the edge of my desk. Tomorrow, I’ll buy a flat screen monitor to save me some space. I'm feeling a bit spendy at the moment. I think it's just rebellious spendi-ness. Both KJ and I are supposed to be saving for the deposit on a house (houses are so expensive around here!) but he's just been offered a Mini Panel Van in great condition that he can't pass up buying. So I’m working on the logic that if he can blow his savings on a car, then my flat screen monitor is a minor thing in comparison. Besides, it’s an excuse. I just like buying things for myself. Especially electrical goods. I'm such a nerd.

My sister had her braces put back on today. For the past two days she had been chowing down on every kind of chewy candy that she can get her hands on because she is now doomed to 6 months without. She has piles and piles of these lollies left over. She can no longer eat them. This is a recipe for disaster. I am on yet another sugar high. This time it's Redskins, Milk Shakes & Sherbies. I should have put more effort into getting JBAA up and running.

Today has marked the beginning of the 6 day working week. On Monday 2 new sales reps start at work. I've met one of them. She was pleasant, but vaguely irritating. If someone asked whether you liked her or not, you would say "Well she's nice enough, but...there's just something about her".
She actually reminds me a lot of my grade 4 teacher. She spoke to children like they were simple. She didn't mind expressing her opinion that we were all just silly little children and I often overheard her making some negative comments about some of my classmates. She wasn't an unpleasant or a nasty person, she was just condescending. She meant well, but she had a vague, lingering air of arrogance about her that children didn't understand and adults didn't notice. It was only recently that I started to remember her comments.

It was at a funeral, in fact. My best friend’s mother passed away & this teacher was at the wake. She still teaches at the school. She seemed so old to me when I was in grade 4, but she must have been young back then, just out of university, because she's the same age as my mother now. We were all sitting around drinking beer (it's the Australian way). She got up and offered to get everyone a drink while she was at the bar. Every that is, except for me. Now I know that might not sound like much, but it typifies her attitude towards children. It's not her fault - she did, after all, teach me when I was 6 years old. In her mind, I’m still that child who needs to have her mind made up for her. It was more to do with the way that she looked at me. I don't know. After reading back over this it sounds silly, but it's not something that I can easily explain. Suffice to say that the new sales rep has a similarly condescending manner.
She brought muffins for everyone to her final interview. They had pineapple in them. I hate pineapple. SO that's something else I dislike about her. Ok, ok, that last one was a joke. Just imagine your most annoying school teacher ever and that is what she's like. She made a fantastic comment to the receptionist. She's going to the upcoming work party which is on a cruise. It's all of the staff members and their husbands/wives/partners. She said to the receptionist "I don't have a partner, so I’ll have to go alone. Maybe I’ll meet someone on the cruise!"
On the cruise with all your workmates and their partners? Uh huh. Sure. It could happen...

This will be the first female sales rep I will have worked with full-time. I'm a little nervous about all these new people, to be quite honest, which I think is why I’m babbling (that and the sugar). If a sales rep doesn't listen to what I ask them to do regarding their dealings with me (i.e. fill out the necessary paperwork in the appropriate way) it can double the time it takes me to do my job. I have to be a bit of a Nazi about that sort of thing with the sales rep, but KJ (who used to do my job) says I’m too nice to them and I let them get away with too much. I can't help it. When they ask me to do ridiculous things, I don't want to upset them by saying no. And I don't mind, really - I just dislike people whose disorganisation sets everyone around them back a day. Big Willy is like that. Last week, he set me back an entire day because he had forgotten he had a tender that was due. That really drives me nuts. But, like KJ always says - "It can't drive ya nuts cause you don't have a steering wheel down your pants!"

Just for the record, I don't have any nuts down there either.

 

My boss, a 37 year old man, is dating his 22 year old Nanny. What a cliche. It's all very controversial. His wife passed away very suddenly about 8 or 9 months back - she was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time & neither she nor the baby survived. 8 months seems such a short time after your wife dies to be shacking up with the nanny. This man (let's call him boss #1) has a certain appeal about him. He's not particularly attractive, but he's very rich. The thing is, this appeal he has doesn't have anything to do with his money. He just has what i suppose you would call sex appeal. I'm reluctant to call it sex appeal,  since i don't find him physically attractive, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to describe it. He's sexy. He's the kind of man that exudes an air of confidence - the kind of man that no matter your relationship with him, you strive to draw his attention, to impress him. You find yourself drawn to him, attracted. Yet he's not goodlooking. It's odd.

The nanny works for Boss #1 looking after his 3 kids. She's not a live-in nanny, but she spends a considerable amount of time there. She got the job because she is Boss #2's daughter's best friend. Hence the controversy. Not only is she seeing this 37 year old man, but the she happens to be like a second daughter to Boss #2 & his wife. (it's a bit like days of our lives, isn't it?)

It gets better (or possibly worse).
She's moving in with him this week.

Boss # 2's wife has been in tears over it. Everyone thinks it's weird, verging on grotesque. I've met this nanny. She's the sort of girl who likes pretty things. She's spoilt. I say she's in it for the money. She may not realise it, but she is. I know i sound cynical and harsh - sure, they could be in love. But his wife (at her funeral, he said it was love at first sight between them) is only 8 months gone. She left him with 3 small children - a daily reminder. There's no way that this man is not still on the rebound. When the woman you plan to spend the rest of your life with ( & not to mention your unborn daughter) die unexpectedly before you're even halfway through your life, 8 months is not enough time to forget about it. Maybe that's just me.

Still. The age difference... While many people live out their lives with a partner much older or younger than them, this girl is 22 years old. She's young. She's barely lived her life. How long will it be before she gets sick of not going out weekends because they have to look after the kids? She likes nightclubs & big nights of drinking... Maybe if she was a 27 & he was 42. I could see that working. But 22? I think it's just a twadry fling gone wrong.

So it looks like everyone is bailing out of tblog. It's a bit of a shame - not that going to a different web address to read my favourite blogs is that much of a problem. Actually, it's not really a shame when i think about it like that.
I have no interest in posting while tblog is being so irritating, so i'll be back when it's fixed, or when i move to another site. I'll let you know. On the plus side, i think comments might be working again.

Tonight i went out for dinner and was served by a man with a mullet. I thought only footballers still had mullets.

I noticed earlier today that all of the people at tblog who haven't uploaded a picture of themsleves have the same image:



Does anyone actually have a head shape like this? And what about the females? While i appreciate being represented as having a very trendy headshape which vaguely resembles Luke Perry in his 90210 years, i'm not sure that it's appropriate.

The thing is, after looking at this headshape day in & day out, i have come to associate it with my fellow tbloggers. So Badaunt may come across as a witty, well spoken, intelligent ( and almost Australian!) woman - but in my mind she looks like Luke Perry in front of a spotlight. Sorry Badaunt. No offense intended. I blame tblog.
If i was ever to come across SatoriSam and he didn't look like he was about to whip a comb out of his pocket every few minutes to slick back his hair, i wouldn't know it was him.
If Audie ever appeared and wasn't wearing a college jacket with a giant letter on it, i would become dazed and confused.

I expect that all these people look like this silhouette, and i suspect that they think i look the same. So to clear up a few questions my head shape, here are a few things about me to give you a better idea.

I don't have Luke Perry Hair. I have very long, black/brown hair. I almost never wear it out. This is because my hair was made for the 80's. I realise the 80's are coming back in fashion now, but for this purpose, big-ass hair is not flattering to my silhouette.
My head is not triangular like Luke-Perry-Tblog-Man's. I think it's slightly more rounded. I'm not sure. How do you describe a head shape? Saying my head is round suggests that my head is also large, and it isn't. Well, at least i hope it isn't.
My ears are less prominent than Luke-Perry-Tblog-Man's. I have nice, small ears. I think they're nice, anyway. They don't stick out, and they are well proportioned to my head.
My neck and my head do not blend together, as does Luke-Perry-Tblog-Man.

Also, i don't have a giant question-mark on my face. But I think that pretty much goes without saying.

i didn't go out and get ridiculously drunk this weekend as planned. Unfortunately, the same illness that was irritating me on thursday was still lingering and made it impossible to enjoy the weekend the way i had planned. Oh well, better luck next time. It was a nice weekend either way. Relaxing.

Today i had a sick day from work. This is the first sick day that i've taken in the last year & i feel a little guilty. I usually don't beleive in taking time off work unless i am well and truly at deaths door. The receptionist at work has a sick day every friday. Ok, so that's a slight exaggeration, but she only ever takes fridays off and it's at least one a month. The reason for this is that Thursday night is her big "going out night". She's doing a traineeship - so she's quite young and i don't think she feels that there is anything wrong with taking a sick day for a hangover. I couldn't disagree more. Sure, i may border on being a workaholic, but that is irrelevant. If you choose to go out on a thursday night, knowing full well that youhave to work the next day, then you should be able to get out of bed the next morning and drag yourself there - hungover or not.

A few weeks ago, this girls mother rang on a friday mornign and told the General Manager that her daughter wouldn't be coming in to work because she had only returned home an hour ago and she needed more sleep. Needeless to say, the GM had a few things to say to her on Monday about the situation and since then she's been quite good. It's strange how much difference there is between the mentality of an 18 year old and a person just a few years older. Maybe it has more to do with upbringing than age. I don't know. I enjoy going out as much as the next person, but i would never call in to work hung over. Oh well.

It's been too long since anything exciting. This weekend, we will dance & be drunken and do many things worth regretting.

On Badaunts advice, I'm starting up JBAA - Jellybean Addicts Anonymous. I now call our first meeting to order.

Hi, my name is Torrygirl & i'm a jellybeanaholic. It's been 7 minutes since i last had a jellybean. It's been hard & i don't think i'm going to last another 7. It started innocently. I just tried one at a party because all my friends were doing it. I didn't think i'd end up addicted. I thought that was something that only happened to other people. At first, i was just eating jellybeans at parties. Then, before i knew it, i was eating them at home Soon, i was eating them at work. I was sneaking them in before meals, then after meals - any time that i could get a fix. Now i can't go a whole day without one.

I need a sponsor. Any volunteers?

I've been bad. I've just been shopping. More jellybeans. I think i'm an addict.

Ergh, sunday again and yet another week of having accomplished very little. My family is planning their trip to the UK in october. They're going to visit my brother & his girlfriend. Their baby is due mid september. For some reason, listening to them planning their trip has really got me down. When i started this blog i promised that i wouldn't end up as one of those people who talk about how depressed they are all the time. So apologies to anyone who reads this and gets disheartened. It won't last long. If you don't want to hear it, then now would be a good time to surf away from this page. here's a quick way out:

Get me outta here!!!

I've been hearing them planning their trip & how they're going to england and to paris for a few days and i guess i'm just down because...well...damn it, i have no idea. Maybe jealous? maybe i feel like it's something that i want to do too? It's not that i couldn't, it's just that i've been saving my money for a long time now so that i can afford to buy a house. I guess i jsut want to be where my best friend is - travelling the world, relaxing on foreign beaches and just experiencing things...i wish i had of done it before i got so settled into my life here, but now i'm in a position where if i want to go overseas, i have to give up a great job, two years worth of savings & all of it just so i can kick back and be irresponsible for a little while. It's not really me. I want to to do it and i want to see my best friend again but i can't do it.  God damn it i'm going to be old before i'm old. I HATE that. I'm going to go out and enjoy melbourne and freakin get over wishing i was somewhere else.

I'm going to be an aunt and i've never met my brothers girlfriend. I've never spoken to her. I've barely seen a photo of her. I won't see my neice until she is no longer a tiny newborn. Probably not until she's a toddler. I hate my brother for doing what he has done. I understand him, but i hate him for it. or as KJ would have me say, i don't hate him, but "He's not my favourite."

Depression done. It's safe to come out now.

Tax time and i think i'll never get around to doing my return. I'm lazy like that. I put things off until the last possible second. Normally i would just do my return online - i never have anything to claim so it's fairly easy. This year is a little different, because i'm paying off my HECS (University Fees). It seems so convenient at the time to not have to pay for University up front, but now that i have to pay it back, it's not as convenient, because it gets taken out of my wages in tax each week, but if you don't take out enough, they make you pay it when you do your tax return. This year, without making any deductions, i will owe the tax man $55. So for the first time ever, someone else will be doing my tax return for me. I hate all this financial stuff. I don't really understand it - but that's mostly because i don't want to understand it. I find it dull, along with all that sort of thing- you know, the things that you see on the business news. Politics and financial strategy etc. etc. I'm sure as i grow older i'll find it all becoming more relevant to me, but until that time, i'm going to try my hardest to pretend that it doesn't exist.

Last night i had dinner with KJ at one of my favourite places. It's a restaurant called Sammy's - just your run of the mill Italian restaurant. Sammy is a great guy - friendly as hell and with a giant handlebar moustache that is the trademark of the place. He's the hands-on type, who'll greet you with a warm handshake (we're regulars there),seat you & stand around and have a chat with you - just long enough to make you feel that he really enjoys talking with you, but not so long that he hasn't got time to greet the next customer in a similar way.
Dessert was the best - Sticky Date Pudding. Possibly the best dessert food known to man. Kind of like a fruity cake, served warm and smothered in the richest butterscotch sauce. I could live on the stuff. The best Sticky Date Pudding I ever had was on my first date with KJ. Fantastic, homemade pudding with the thickest, syrupy sauce and filled with macadamia nuts. It was the kind of restaurant where you expect everything to be perfect. The kind of trendy restaurant that is still filled with the richest people in Melbourne & would not accept being overrun by the chapel street urban crowd, posing as rich, sophisticated people in front of the other people who are pretending they're the same. This restaurant was the real deal. It was a little scary, but something i'll remember as long as i live.

I don't think i could ever manage to have that casual air about money that really rich people do. It amazes me the way that people with loads of the stuff can often just throw it away on things that seem trivial. I suppose that's their right. Take my bosses, for example. The things they spend their money on! It's disgusting sometimes. One of them was quite upset that he couldn't afford the car he wanted - he could only afford the $300,000 mercedes, instead of the $350,000 one that he had his eye one. $300,000!!! That's a house! That's 6 normal cars! 12 small cars!

However, while his opulent lifestyle sounds like a waste of money to me, he's earned the right to live like that. He started off as a highschool dropout who was shearing sheep for a living at age 16. He decided at 18 that he wanted to be a millionaire by the time he was 26 and he went out there and did it. In fact, i think he had it sorted by age 24.
I'd sure like to know how he did it.

My neighbour's son picks his nose and eats it. He's a weird kid. The strangest thing of all is that he is never ever sick. Does he know something about the healing powers of snot that i don't?
He apparently has some variety of attention disorder - a form of autism or something. Well, as politically incorrect as this makes me, it has to be said - he is a pain in the ass. I could understand if he had an attention disorder and he played up occasionally, but this kid runs wild. His father works something ridiculous like 27 hours a day, so he's at home with his mother - the hippy yoga instructor. She pays absolutely no attention to him all day. He runs around the street screaming and yelling and running into things, damaging our property and talking to us like he was brought up in a prison. I can't say that his parents are much better - they are constantly getting workmen in to do things to their house at 7am on a Saturday morning. Their favourite is doing this on the saturday morning of a long weekend. They frequently have parties at which they will block off the street and force people to drive over our garden to get to their homes. His mother whistles at him when she wants him to come in for dinner. Whistles like she's calling a dog.
One particular incident that stands out is when their son spent the better part of the day pulling up all of the grass in our front yard. My Dad asked them to stop their son from doing it & while they were talking, the kid came up and said "My mum's got some special grass..."
That explained a few things!

I've had a few other inter esting run ins with these neighbours over the past few years since they moved in, and today was a culmination of all of those.

I've asked his mother god knows how many times to stop her son from denting my car. I don't think it was an unreasonable request - i don't mind him doing his attention disorder thing, so long as it doesn't cost me money. This week has been unusually bad - i kept finding sticks, gravel - basically anything that he could pick up - on my car & he was there every time, swearing and gloating. I've spoken to his mother about it each and every time so far.
Today i went outside to find a great big (well, kid-sized anyway) dusty hand print on the bonnet of my car. The bonnet of my car is black. I'll have to get it professionally polished to get the scratches out that he's put in it. And there he was, riding around on his bike, giggling and throwing dirt around. I was fed up. I realise it wasn't the best action to take, but i told him with as few swear words as possible to piss off and leave my car alone or i would call the cops next time. Away i went inside and he just kept on playing in the dirt.

Fast forward to later in the day: There's a knock on the door - it's Mr. Attention disorder child. He tells me that his son has told them what i said to him and he would appreciate me not using language like that around his son. Now that really pissed me off. I have been so incredibly polite about this for the past few years. This kid has called me some pretty foul names, And i'm the one getting the stern talking to? So i let loose. I told him what his son had called me. I told him about the constant dents in the car. I told him about the mess that i am constantly cleaning up which is created by his son. And you know what he said to me? "Well i would appreciate if in future, you came and spoke to me about it. I can't do anything if you don't mention it."
I told him, through gritted teeth that I had told his wife about the problem more times than i cared to remember. He suddenly had very little to say. I politely asked him to leave my property. He left without saying a word. I was a little disappointed. I was ready to fight it out. I guess he had to get back to work or something.

I hate having run ins like this, because now i feel frustrated and angry and as though nothing has really been achieved. Attention-Disorder Kid will continue to run riot. His mother will continue to ignore me and/or make excuses for him. His father will continue to never be there. I could have just saved myself the anguish and ignored him. it didn't make a difference. And to top it all off, i was so annoyed & distracted that i burned my dinner. Hmph. :(

I got a pay rise today. It was so unexpected - it was the last thing that i thought would be happening. It was a big one, too. Go me!

I woke up with the biggest headache this morning. I think it was all the jellybeans. Well, more to the point, i think it was all the sugar inthe jellybeans. I have to wonder, who invented imitation flavours? What i mean is, who decided that imitation pineapple flavour would taste the way it does (that is, nothing like pineapple). Who decided that strawberry flavour would be that sickly sweet, tangy flavour, rather than anythign that even tastes remotely like strawberry? And come on, honestly, does anyone actually beleive that chicken flavoured crisps actually taste like chicken? In fact, there are more things that admit to not being chicken that taste like it. Why can't they just name them something else? Most of the flavours are great in their own right without trying to pretend that they're like something that nature created. I'm taking suggestions for re-naming imitation flavours. My first is renaming imitation strawberry "torryberry". (well all those scientists get to name stars and planets and diseases and things after themselves....) If you have any good ones, i'd love to hear them.

Last night I had a revelation. I'm a terrible shopper. I had no idea! I didn't even suspect that I was! But it's been proven. I'm a money waster. Last night I went shopping for food for work this week. Lunch foods (you know the sort, the easy to heat, convenience in a can type foods. Things that taste good on toast or in toasted sandwiches.)
I spent about 20 minutes doing the rounds of the supermarket, reading labels, making sure everything was healthy. I stacked my basket full of brightly coloured cans, fresh breads & healthy soups. I made sure to buy things that were low in fat and low in sugar. Good shopper? At this point, yes.
I stopped ever so briefly (and we're talking a matter of seconds here) in the lolly aisle (candy aisle for you Americans). Then, with my basket brimming, I headed to the checkout. Not to get off track here, but I had a basket full of items and a few more in my spare hand, & the person at the checkout told me to go to the express aisle. I was under the impression that express meant 'fast', not 'If you can get it through the line without having to use a trolley, we'll let you put it through'.

Anyway, The bill came to $42.95 - Not an unreasonable amount given how much I bought. I collected my bags & headed for the car. At this point - still a good shopper. I packed everything in the car & slid into the passenger seat (KJ was driving). I settled down to look over the receipt. As a female, I have that amazing ability to look over a receipt that is 6 foot long & contains a hundred items and still know if I was overcharged for any of them.

This is the point where all my illusions of being a good shopper were shattered. This is the point where I became a weak at the knees, a dribbling mess, shocked by a horrendous revelation. Of my $42.95, I had spent $10 on jellybeans. Jellybeans!
In my own defence, they were gourmet jellybeans. [url=http://www.jellybelly.com]JellyBelly[/url] Jellybeans in fact. [i]But to spend ¼ of my total shopping bill on Jellybeans??!!![/i] I’m a bad shopper. I’m a moneywaster. I’m a jellybean addict.
Is there a future out there for someone like me? Will I grow to be an old, shrivelled, desperate woman with a $10 a day habit? I fear the worst….

Wow i've been slack lately. I haven't blogged in ages. I've been abosultely flat out lately - typical, isn't it? You have nothing to do for a week or two and tehn all of a sudden it all just comes at once and won't stop.

It was a relaxing Saturday full of TV watching. KJ bought the first four seasons of the sopranos on DVD (we're both big fans) and we watched most of season three. There are two episodes left before the end of the 5th season, which is think is the last. That sucks, because it's a great tv show and i'm pretty picky about what i watch. Except when it comes to Australian Idol. That's just plain tragic, but i can't help it. I like to watch talented people. And some really really untalented people, because they're funny.

Australians all seem to be really big on renovation shows. last years series url=http://www.ninemsn.com.au/the...]'The Block'[/url] had the highest ratings of any tv show ever aired. Something tragic like 2 million viewers. Even more tragically, i was amongst them. What i find a bit weird about these shows is that they always seems to have a very camp horticulturalist. Maybe it's because gay people are perceived as having exceptional visual sense & therefore make better designers for television shows, but i have to be honest - i went to a school where horticulture was one of the largest classes and none of the people there had the gay-designer look about them.

Why is it that gay people tend to have such fantastic dress sense/design sense? It makes me want to be a gay man so that i can be as well dressed as they are. Unfotunately all of my gay friends live too far away to be of any real help to me when i go clothes shopping.

One of the men that we deal with at work is gay & is always flirting with KJ. KJ is really good with it - he's a natural flirt, so he deals with it well and even manages to flirt back a little. I'm always giving him shit about his 'boyfriend'. I told him that this guy thinks he's gay and he just laughed and denied it. 'He knows i'm not gay - we're just mesing around',he said.
Later that same day this guy rang the GM and asked her if KJ was gay. I laughed for ages when i found out.