You are currently browsing thearchives for October, 2007.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 10:45 am. 1 comment
Yesterday afternoon I caved in - after withstanding weeks, months of mum’s badgering, I conceeded and agreed to go to the dentist.
I’ve been avoiding the dentist of the same reason many others do - fear. Well, I have a variety of reasons (denial, shame), but it’s mostly fear. In my youth (well, early youth I suppose) I did everything I could to dodge the dental van. I’d throw away countless newsletters and notices, fake mum’s signature - usually she’d catch on and sign the appropriate papers to have my teeth filled and otherwise meddled with, but I’d wriggle out of that too, usually by faking a sick day or just plain not showing up. In my much earlier youth - I’m talking as early as I can remember - mum used to have to sit on my chest and hold my arms to brush my teeth.
I guess I just didn’t enjoy foreign objects in my mouth.
I suppose I’m quite blessed - visually, aside from an irritating crossover on my front teeth that Nathan apparently finds cute - my teeth are in fine form. No chips or holes or stains - but as I found out yesterday, there’s considerable trouble in dental paradise.
I departed work early in the afternoon - around 4pm, and found a seat on the unexpectedly quiet train. I’d visited the library earlier in the day so I was equipped with enough reading material to keep me occupied for the entire journey - but I ended up napping anyway.
As the train approached Morayfield I stirred, gathered my phone, book and bag, double checked that I had infact gathered my phone, book and bag, and waiting at the door. The faint aroma of urine made me wrinkle my nose, and reminded me of exactly why I prefer not to utilise our magnificent public transport system.
After stuffing around at mum’s place for a while, she drove me to the dentist, touting the wonders of MBF at me, until we got inside, I scribbled my name on some forms, and we went through to the dentists office…
(more to come, brb.)
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 12:52 pm. 0 comments
After fawning over Nathan’s car for a while, we decided it was time to set up camp. Our “Drink, Drink, and then Drink More” plans for the weekend didn’t really seem to fit with the overwhelming family vibe of the general camping ground, so we opted for a fairly secluded corner, with enough space for us to spread out while remaining somewhat unobtrusive.
I chose a spot between two trees for our tent, Scott and Ashley selected the bottom corner, leaving a space for Tom and Joel on the opposite side of the fire pit. It was at this stage that I started to worry about them - we didn’t have any mobile phone receoption and considering that they’d apparently left before us, I was fairly concerned that they wouldn’t find us. Halfway through setting up my tent, my fears were quelled as Tom’s baby 4WD came charging down toward us. After they confessed that they hadn’t even left Alderley when I called them that morning, things finally seemed to be going to plan.
This is when I discovered I had left most of the camping gear in the back of Seymour. As luck would have it, Seymour was at home. Locked away in my garage.
Well.. perhaps most is an exaggeration - some chairs, a gas cooker and a billy were all we left behind, but I still felt extremely guilty, ESPECIALLY because I’d been ordering everyone around like a cranky shrew in my onslaught of emails.
Nevertheless, we set up camp, arranged our tents and took some photos, and once everyone was sorted we congregated under the awesome tarp that the boy had arranged.
Ashley and I got straight into the alcohol. I had a few sips of my drink before I started feeling tipsy (we’d been off drinking for 3 weeks at this stage, remember.) - and Tom started touting the majesty of the fire tower. I was easliy convinced to hop in his car for what eventually turned out to be a wild goose chase, but in my slightly lubricated state (we’d had a few more by then) I was happy just to go for the ride. When we decided we were definitely going the wrong way Tom turned around, and as we headed back Nathan fell asleep. It was adorable.
We went for a nap while the boys played a few rounds of Uno. Joel and Tom started to feel a little under the weather, so I dispensed some pain killers and booze as necessary, and we played some cards, followed by some card related drinking games. My memory gets a little hazy here but I remember that the food I cooked for tea was delicious, and the drinking games were fun - and terribly effective. For some inexplicable reason Nathan and I got a little.. sleepy, so while the boys taught Ashley how to play poker, we managed to squeeze in some more sleep, and then joined them for a few hands.
Beginners luck aided ashley to his eventual poker domination. He took his $20 winnings and guiltily stuffed them in the side of his tent, semi-drunkenly gushing about buying everyone ice-cream.
The evening started to wind down, Tom and Joel retired to their tent for some actual sleep, and the remaining few congregated around the fire. I’m told that I fell asleep shortly after, and wasn’t easily woken - I even managed to sleep through a whole bunch of kisses, Tom freaking out and a visit from a couple of the cutest possums I’ve ever not seen.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 9:20 am. 0 comments
On Saturday morning I awoke with a smile. I’d had a few undoubtedly camping related dreams, which only intensified my excitement. I’d asked mum to wake Nathan and I up early , but because I was so eager (like a kid on Christmas, honestly it was kind of embarassing), I beat her to the punch, lying awake and watching the boy, playing with his hair until he woke.
I love mum’s pancakes. I have the recipe, and I’ve tried time and time again to make them, but they’re never quite right. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still fantastic pancakes, but.. they’re just not the same. Like spaghetti on toast (she uses just enough butter, salt and pepper, and if I’m reaaally lucky she cuts each piece up into nine rough squares) and milo (I don’t know what she does there but it’s awesome) - she just manages to add something I can’t quite figure out. She’d probably wax lyrical about a mothers love and all that stuff, and she might be right, but I really can’t go past them. I fancy myself as a fairly reasonable cook, and lord knows she’s somewhat useless with normal cooking, but there’s something very special about her breakfasts - and her butterscotch pudding. She’s definitely improved since the days of Steak, Mashed Pumpkin, Mashed Potato and Peas, Steak, Mashed Pumpkin MashedPotato andpeas steakmashedpumpkingmashedpotatoandpeas EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR YEARS - but I reckon I’m better.
I digress. We woke up, got dressed and wandered bleary eyed into the kitchen, where she’d already started getting everything prepared for a sumptuous pancake feast.
This was apparently not as appealing to Ashley as it was to the rest of us. Just after Scott arrived and flopped down into one of her recliners, I woke Ashley gently, murmuring things about piles of delicious fluffy breakfast goodness - his response was a half asleep grumble, accompanied by a few mis-directed swats. I mithered him until he finally opened his eyes, yet he remained vaguely unenthused by the prospect of warm delicious goodness, even when he’d relented and joined us at the table.
After filling my face, I realised that Tom hadn’t shown up and after a panicked phone call (me to him, obviously), he revealed that he was already in Caboolture. Never to be outdone, I was inspired to get our stuff together and we finally got our semblance of a convoy on the road.
On the trip I decided to share something with Nathan that I usually only do in private. I can’t be certain whether he found it highly irritating or somewhat cute, but it made me really realise that we’ve crossed into unfamiliar territory - scary stuff. I spent most of the trip skipping through songs and absentmindedly memorizing his profile, which turned out to be a very satisfying method of passing time. I eventually settled on Tool, and we had a brief singalong before stopping in at conondale for some ice, toothbrushes, and oil.
If you could all please imagine some kind of ominous, eerie music here, that’d be fantastic.
We spent a good minute drooling over an amazing smell, which upon enquiry turned out to be “Just me roast chooks”, and then piled into our respective cars. Nathan had put some oil in his, so when we started smelling that distinctive, burnt oil smell I thought nothing of it.
The road to Charlie Morelan Reserve was a 4.5km path of dust, loose dark gravel and a “traffic hazard”, which was actually a barely 1m by 1m pile of orange mesh on the roadside. To be honest, I felt that the road itself was more of a hazard, but who am I to judge.
As we drove over the cattle grid and into the campsite, a place that I haven’t visited for forever but was still so familiar, memories of chasing birds, splashing around in the murky water, burning marshmallows and going on long walks at night with mum unburied themselves and I reminisced, not noticing that the car was smoking and the burnt oil smell was now at an overpowering level. When we came to a stop, Nathan leap out of the car, and popped the bonnet. The rest of us surveyed the area critically, trying to decide on the perfect spot to unload and set up camp.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 11:09 am. 0 comments
I’m a bit of a planner. Despite my horrible disorganisation when it comes to maintaining my room or hanging up clothes, I really do like being organised. On paper, at least.
Friday night was not organised. I would infact go so far as to say that it was DIS-organised. If I had to pick a day to nominate for some kind of even vaguely organised award (perhaps an award for the most marginally organised day or some such) IT WOULD NOT BE FRIDAY.
THIS IS WHY I SENT ~10 EMAILS, PEOPLE. Jeez. <3
That aside, considering how badly it all could’ve gone, things went well.
When no-one had arrived at my place by 6pm I felt a little dejected and decided to have a nice long shower. You know, washing my hair and singing at the top of my lungs, much to the disgust of my co-habitors, neighbours and most of the local wildlife. After decided I’d aurally tortured all of them for an adequate amount of time, I stepped out of the shower and wandered idly around my room - I had that unusual feeling like I’d forgotten something. Moments later I realised that it was obscenely late and there was probably a group of angry campers, laden with bags and gear, waiting in the cold and dark on my stoop.
Sheepishly, I walked down the stairs in my big fluffly towel, humming and putting my best “I’m so sorry please love me regardless of how long I’ve left you out in the cold!” face on.  As it turns out, my poor home-security skills prevailed and Ashley had let himself in, seemingly making himself comfortable in the lounge, so I joined him in some lazing about and watching TV. Considering how often I watch TV, this was a rarity, so it was pretty relaxing. A while after, Nathan arrived (looking hot -as- in a black bonds singlet) and I pulled him into the bathroom while I got dressed for some company and some kisses.
Ashley seemed somewhat uncomfortable. It was very cute.
We dashed about and packed things up (turns out, watching cute boys pack heavy things into cars is very, very entertaining) and made last minute shopping lists. It struck me that Scott was absent, I’d assumed he was at work but apparently not, so we called him and I gestured wildly at Ashley as he enquired to his whereabouts. Turned out that he was at Laura’s place for some pre-birthday celebrations (claiming that he hadn’t been informed), and we agreed that he’d meet us at Mum’s place later that evening. Now slightly annoyed, I verified that we had everything and explained a few hundred times to Nathan where he should meet us after band, we departed.
Ashley and I headed off to coles for some last minute shopping. I was moaning about something or other and he was making his best sympathetic face, so after we made sure to buy Uno, which he -adores-, and gathered a few other bits, I headed over to BWS.
Nothing like alcohol to soothe a cranky whiner.
(Geddit, winer? *guffaw* Sigh.)
The salesman (boy) in BWS turned out to be quite the conversationalist and while Ashley was away getting money, we discussed oversized bottles of cheap booze (apparently Lutwyche has a niche cheap oversized booze market, surprise surprise) and the tedium of being a liquor store sales assistant. Upon Ashley’s return, I felt inspired and decided to grab a bottle of Passion Pop (the sales guy made some very disapproving and perhaps slightly disappointed eyes at me) and we left after I thanked him for the entertainment.
We were finally on the road, and before I knew it I was a pile of carbonated-wine induced giggles, and I was spilling out a bunch of secrets at an alarming rate to Ashley - or so I assume. We could’ve been talking about climate change and whaling for all I know. I do remember a few things though - and I definitely remember commandeering the radio and singing along to Triple M - as an aside, drunkenly warmbling along to Reckless by Australian Crawl and eventually getting it stuck in your head and singing it for days to the point where everyone on the trip had eventually uttered either “She don’t like that kind of behaviour” “don’t be so reckless” or “throw down your guns” is probably one of the coolest things ever.
We had some food, (Nathan bought me onion rings <3) and drove home to Mum’s place. Aside from the few sms I got from Tom and Scott expressing their gratitude for arranging camping but informing me they were going to have to meet me at mum’s place/at the camping site in the morning, the trip was.. fun. I introduced Nathan to Russ and Kylie when we got to Morayfield, and then we settled in at Mum’s place. I miss her lots more when I get to see her. We decided to play some card games with her, and once we all wound down and yawns were being passed around the table, we all crashed out for the night. Sleeping in my high school bedroom, complete with uncomfortable single bed, is much, much better when there’s a cute boy beside you.
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 3:43 pm. 1 comment
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Ashley, Scott, myself and a few others went camping this weekend, and despite the possible water-parasite contamination (poor tom and joel <3) we all had a pretty good time. Here are some photos!
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