Bitz-n-piecz

I-B-Back

2009-08-11T21:06:00.005+10:00

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ....... I stopped posting here a while back (well ages ago actually) because as with most things life simply got in the way and to be honest, despite a lot happening, I didn't really feel that I had anything particularly interesting to say.

So what's happened since last time ? A hell of a lot actually !

Moved into a great apartment in the Valley (well that actually happened prior to the last post but I neglected to mention it)
Had a fantastic family holiday in Vietnam and Cambodia
Saw Wicked again *yay*
Spent Chrissie and New Year on the beach in Phuket
Got a promotion at work
Came out of 'retirement' ........ and then went back into it
Reconnected with 2 very old and dear friends I had not seen in about 10 years
Turned 40
Had a great holiday in LA and Las Vegas
Celebrated our 6th anniversary
Saw Wicked AGAIN - ok ok ok maybe overkill but it was closing night !

....... and ................... I guess the reason for starting this up again, a move south to Melbourne.

Late last year BJ was retrenched from the place he'd been employed at for 16 years. Since then he's moved through being 'retrenched' to 'retired' to unemployed .... altho he's certainly managed to firmly keep his fingers in a number of pies. The new job has been in the pipeline for quite a few months so there has been quite a bit of ifs and maybes since early this year but now everything is finally confirmed and moving extremely quickly.

Yesterday we scored a great little place in Carlton and BJ is going to be moving down in the next fortnight. I'll be following but not until early next year (at this stage) once I have my own life sorted out and have a new job pinned down.

I have to admit that the whole prospect is scary ... to say the least ! I am a Brissie boy through and through and while I love Melbourne and have always said if I had to live somewhere else in Aus it would be Melbourne hands down, now that it's real it is all more than a bit daunting.

So, that's it in a nutshell. The next few months are going to be very interesting and very challenging and I guess that is the reason for starting this up again. It'll give me an outlet for all the trials and tribulations I am sure will come up between now and when I go...... plus the excitement of exploring a new city and a whole new life.

Stay tuned ;-)

p.s ...... the black pic is there to break the blog from what was to what is !

And where the fark have YOU been ?

2008-07-09T22:01:00.014+10:00

Been right here but busy busy busy !

It's hard to believe that we've been back in Oz for 6 weeks already.

There has been a hell of a lot happening in the time since we got back ....... settling back into work ...... getting into some heavy motivation to start working on the new show (since I spent a considerable amount of cash buying fabric and bling whilst OS - more on that to follow ) , putting the starting blocks in place for organising the next trip in September and finally, organising the last stage of the house move that started in November.

Now, here we at the end of February already and Christ I am feeling old but the show is taking form, at least on paper - the next trip is all but arranged - and the move is finally over ! At last a little bit of quiet time :-)The time away over Xmas ?

Quite simply, the most incredible experience of my life !

Thank you BJ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course you will be reading this thinking 'back for 6 weeks?' ..... "6 WEEKS ?"

Well that's how long we'd been back when I originally wrote the first part but now it's actually 6 months since Paris !

So what finally managed to drag me out of hibernation ? One word .... WICKED !

Ok.... I love musicals ... especially big musicals ...... but it's been a very long time since I have been as excited by a show as I am about this one. I worked on some incredible shows over the years I was at the Lyric and I miss the adrenalin rush that happens every night when the curtain goes up but this show really makes it hit home how much I miss the whole experience of working in that industry.

I have been a devoted fan of Wicked since we saw it in London in December. That cast was truly superb and I have been a bit aprehensive about the Australian cast - simply because with a show of the calibre of Wicked, this is not the time to make dodgy casting choices but I can assure you that the casting for this production could not have been more spot on.

In the last few months I have been a rampant Youtube surfer, eagerly viewing clips from productions around the world and I while I never really found anything to fully match the cast we saw in London there are some fantastic performances floating around. What we saw on Sunday night though could well eclipse the best of them.

I don't say that with any false sense of patriotism. I would just as quickly dismiss a production that really does not do justice to the true potential of a show.

As a rule, the longer a show runs the more it evolves and the more artists who perform the roles the more the characters develop. Wicked has been running for about 5 or 6 years on Broadway and having seen footage of the original Broadway cast - as good as they were - the characters and script have become far more defined and more multi dimensional.

Of course it's still up to the cast to nail it - and in Melbourne on Sunday night, nail it they did !

Amanda Harrison - Amanda Harrison

Wow ! I'll say it again for effect - WOW !! Nothing more to say really.... spot on ... nailed it from start to finish.

Lucy Durak - Glinda

Lucy Durack is just beautiful. When I worked on Mamma Mia, Lucy was just joining the show as a new Ensemble member at the end of the Brisbane season. Being in the Ensemble is not likely to be something this lady has to worry about again.

Rob Mills - Fiyero

Rob Mills was a bit of a 'ho hum' choice for me but he was spot on ! His acting was a lot better than I expected and he played Fiyero much better than I thought he would. Again there has been a fair bit of criticism about Rob Mills in this role but he was great.

Maggie Kirkpatrick - Madam Morrible

What can I say ? I thought of a few Aussie performers who could play Morrible - specifically Judi Connelli and Geraldine Turner - and I never factored Maggie into the equasion when the casting started but she suits the role perfectly. Morrible doesn't really have a song to speak of but she is woven through the whole storyline. Maggie plays her as intimidating and sinister and it was really cool to see a few flashes of the Freak showing through later in Act 2 !

Rob Guest - The Wizard

It must have been a challenge for Rob to restrain himself in what is a very small role. He has 2 songs only one of which is his 'big number' but he played the part very well.

Penny McNamee - Nessarose

Nessarose is the Wicked Witch's little sister. Again, not a big role but Penny put a lot more emotion into the character than I have heard or seen before.

Anthony Callea - Boq

There have been a lot of comments made about Anthony Calea being included in the cast - most of them not flattering. Sure he was possibly included more for his name than his acting history. The role isn't particularly challenging vocally and it is certainly not a big role although it is fairly integral to the twists in Act 2. Personally, I thought he did a good job. No he isn't the best actor in the world but he will certainly relax into the role as time goes on.

Rodney Dobson - Dr Dillamond

I have worked with Rodney on a couple of shows - Les Mis and Jolson and he a great performer and a lot of fun. He makes a great 'token goat' and it's good to see him cast in a principal role in a show this big.

The costumes and set are spectacular.

The music is powerful.

The lighting is perfect.

The story takes you along with it from start to finish.

Harrison and Durack - Brilliant !

Wicked ? - Breath taking !

See it at all costs.

Amanda Harrison*

Lucy Durack*

Rob Mills*

Maggie Kirkpatrick*

Rob Guest*

Anthony Callea*

In action *

I think this sign will be making frequent appearances at the front of the Regent Theatre !*

* I did not take these photo's

More on what else has been happening after the weekend !

Rumour and inuendo

2008-01-24T20:46:00.000+10:00

Other than the fact that Heath Ledger's death is incredibly sad and a monumental waste of talent, the only thing I can say is for Christ's sake leave the guy alone.

All the speculation in the world is not going to give anyone true answers on what really happened. The only person who would ever be able to shed light on how Heath Ledger died is Heath Ledger - and he's not going to be telling !

My own thoughts ???? I do not believe for for a minute that it was suicide - there is a certain lack of dignity in being found naked !!!!

They have done the autopsy - it apparently gave no real answers - they are now waiting on tests to determine the level and types of drugs in his system ..... no amount of speculation is going to make those results come any faster.

There are many many people around the world who are deeply affected and saddened by what has happened but there are a handful of people who loved this man and whom he loved in return who are trying to come to terms with their grief with the knowledge that they may never know why someone special to them left them so suddenly. Rumours and inuendo do not in any way help this small group of people come to terms with their loss - it only deepens their grief.

RIP Heath !

The one with the whackers !

2008-01-13T12:24:00.000+10:00

Some time ago MBB revealed a rather unpleasant weapon ( no, not THAT one ! ) which she has taken it upon herself to strike me with on numerous occasions. This 'weapon' is what I refer to as "The Whacker" and while there are multiple other options for MBB to use this item on in the office, she still only seems to pick on me when it comes time to unleash an unwarranted attack.

Since my unfortunate return to work is looming in less than 24 hours I thought it was a good opportunity to lett MBB know that while we were in Tokyo I found some interesting little items and decided to arm myself with a veritable arsenal in an attempt to ensure my safety once the daily grind resumes.

Allow me to introduce the new generation of "Whackers" which will take pride of place on my desk from tomorrow -

The Team !

The Slapper

This one will no doubt get a pretty good work out in the early part of the year.

The Closed Fist

This one will be saved for very special occasions - mainly for days ending in 'Y'

The Pointer

Less combative than it's counterparts but a handy item when someone's name escapes you or to get someone's attention

The Fuck You, Loser

My personal favourite and I feel the one which will get the most use of all.

Also known as The Bite Me and The Blow It Out Your Arse

Be on alert MBB - your makeshift weaponry has been superceded ..... it's clobberin' time !

Not quite what we've been used to !

2008-01-03T23:07:00.000+10:00

It's a weeny bit on the cold side here today !

That is all - go back to what you were doing !

NY in NY

2008-01-01T22:57:00.000+10:00

New Year's Eve is a bit of a surreal experience in New York for the uninitiated.

When you expect to see the streets full of traffic the sight of Broadway, 7th Avenue and cross streets from at least 47th to 54th devoid of cars seems very strange indeed.

We managed to catch up with a good friend who happened to be here as well and at a loose end - we are staying on Broadway between 48th and 49th - she is staying in a hotel on 58th. The walk up to her hotel to get her at about 5pm was interesting to say the least but the trip back, trying to get through the closed off streets was a bit of a challenge. The NYPD is out in force and NOBODY gets through the blockades easily once each street is closed off.

As a side note - our friend is staying at a hotel we have looked at a few times ourselves - having now experienced their reception staff first hand we can quite safely scratch it off the list of places to stay in NY. If anyone from The Hudson happens to be reading this, your reception staff (all bar one) are rude, arrogant and unhelpful to the extreme and the two 'boys' on your front desk last night, who I can only describe as "VILE QUEENS" , desperately need some retraining !!!!! ................. and for Christ's sake, buy some damn lights ! Ambiance is one thing but having to stand in your reception for 5 minutes to let your eyes adjust to the dark is a bit of overkill.

Anyway ........ we ate, drank and were merry until about 11:45 when we decided to head to the street .... not knowing if we were even going to be allowed out of the building. We were though and had a great vantage point that hundreds of thousands of people had started lining up at lunch time would have killed for !!!! :-)

A small video welcoming in the NY in NY for your viewing pleasure. The high pitched screeching is step-daughter #1 who may or may not have had one too many 'shandys' !

Hope your NYE was wonderful wherever you were and whatever you were doing !

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-12-30T09:39:00.000+10:00

In a little over 12 hours we will be on our way to the airport headed for NY and while it will be nice to be nearing home it has hit me a bit harder than I expected to be leaving.

Sure, a holiday is just that - a holiday .... they all have a beginning, middle and end and (mostly) everyone says that they would love to stay there forever but this is one place where I can say that with all honesty.

But back to reality - we had a wonderful 'last night' dinner at Kong Restaurant followed by a cab ride through the Alma Tunnel (which was unexpectedly surreal) to the Trocadero to see the lights on the Eiffel Tower for the last time.

The packing has already been done for the most part and only a bit of tidying up left to be done tomorrow befor ewe head off to CDG at 2:30. The luggage is going to be an issue since we have gained 2 extra bags since we arrived but I guess as long as BJ and I start hauling them down the stairs at about 12 we should be ready in the nick of time.

Anyway, since we don't know whether the accom in NY has a functioning internet connection
(it's meant to but you never can tell) I will wish you all a very Happy (and safe) New Year !!!!!!!!!

Lillibet's Xmas Message

2007-12-30T08:44:00.000+10:00

A Wicked time in London !

2007-12-19T10:47:00.000+10:00

It's been grey and bleak and bone chillingly cold but our time in London has been a wonderful couple of days.

There wasn't a lot that was really a 'must see' for me this time around - except for tomorrow when we are going through Westminster Abbey and the girls and I are going on the London Eye (BJ wont be in it - he's going to see a Dali exhibit instead) - for me, this has been a theatre trip and we have not been disappointed for a single minute.

Last night was Mamma Mia. I included this at the last minute since we ended up with a spare night here and while I still think the original Australian cast is unbeatable, this production is a pretty damn close second - only 2nd though because of a few minor (and personal) preferences.

Don't take that last sentance as being a typical 'home town' patriotic assessment - I would be just as quick to slam an Aussie cast if it didn't do a show the justice it deserved - it's about the show not where it's being performed that matters to me.

For me, Mamma Mia is about the chemistry between the 3 lead females and in the original Australian cast, Anne Wood, Rhonda Burchmore and Lara Mulcahy we just magic. I saw the return season a couple of years later and while the show was still great, to me it was lacking something and that something was an undeniable chemistry between the (new) actresses in the lead roles. They were all very good but still it wasn't quite there.

In the show last night the 3 leads ( Linzi Hateley, Jane Gurnett and Joanna Munro) were just amazing and the show over all is every bit as much fun as I remember it to be.

BJ has seen it before and I worked on the show during the original Brisbane season so we were both well acquainted with Mamma Mia. this time was about the girls and they both loved it.

I will admit that it made me very 'homesick' for the theatre though !!!!!

With the movie coming out next year I strongly urge you to see it if you are unfamiliar with the show - the producers have chosen their cast with great care and Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and the sublime Christine Baranski will be superb.

Tonight of course was the whole reason for the side trip to London - Wicked !

Out of all the shows we are seeing while we are away, Wicked is the only one I have not already seen. It's a tough call to spend that much money on tickets to a show you really know very little about and have seen and heard virtually nothing from but tonight's show was ...................

(a) Everything I expected

(b) Nothing like I expected

and

...................... all rolled into one show !

Kerry Ellis and Dianne Pilkington as Elphaba and Glinda (respectively) were both amazing.

Pilkington's 'Legally Blonde' meets 'Clueless' portrayal of Glinda was hysterical and must have been an incredibly hard character to keep up for 2 hours. Ellis's 'Ephalba' was a character you immediately both empathised and sympathised with as someone who was different through no fault of their own and constantly ridiculed as a result. The sincerity of her performance and the sheer power in her voice were both incredible.

'Defying Gravity' which closes Act 1 was 'goosebumps' material !

The basis for the plot was the age old Good V.s Evil scenario ...... but which is which (or Witch is Witch) is the question posed here.

There were a few other interesting twists throughout the show and what really surprised me is that the show is not actually a prequal to The Wizard of Oz as I had initially thought. From about half way though Act 2 it actually runs concurrently with W of O and the end takes place after W of O had concluded !

Looking back over the information I had it doesn't actually say anywhere that it is a prequal - rather that it is the 'untold story of the Witches of Oz' - and a pretty damn spectacular story it is.

It opens in our very own Oz in 2008 and I can highly recommend you see it ! I will add a bit more about the show in the next day or so.

Back to Paris via the Chunnel tomorrow night - we are about half way through the adventure now.

More later :-)

WARNING !!! BAD TASTE ENTRY FOLLOWS - May offend some viewers !

2007-12-18T02:11:00.000+10:00

As a post script to my 2nd shopping expedition to Montmartre yesterday - the sign on the shop I wanted to go to that said it was closed on Saturdays must have meant that it was closed on Saturdays IN ADDITION to Sundays as the roller door remained firmly locked yesterday - as were the doors of ALL of the shops in the immediate area !

So ........................... what do you do when you are all dressed up with nowhere to shop ?

Simple ................... you go to the local museum of erotica, that's what !!

A block of flaps ?

Perhaps where the urban legend about them having teeth came from ?

Under glass

Useful art - decorative and practical

Can't say what this represents but it doesn't look comfortable !

Arrived in London this morning to a pleasantly warm winter day ........................... for about an hour. After that the mercury hit zero and those howling winds we remember so fondly returned to greet us.

Welcome to London !

Off to Mamma Mia in a little while......... more when we get back to Paris.

Une autre semaine dans le paradis ! (Another week in paradise !)

2007-12-16T05:37:00.000+10:00

It’s 8am Sunday (at the time of starting this entry) and a beautiful minus 3 degrees (feels like minus 8 !)

Heading off to Montmartre this morning for the 2nd day in a row. I went yesterday to check out the fabric and bling shops in the Abbesses area but the one particular shop I really wanted to look through is closed on Saturdays as it turns out!! DOH! Good excuse to go back for another look though.

We’ve had the chance to use the Metro a fair bit over the last week or so and all I can really say is “ Qld Rail – you really have no idea !”

The trains run approximately every 3 to 4 minutes on every line and you go anywhere on the Metro network for 1.50Euro (as long as you don’t actually exit the subway system – like a train from Beenleigh to Caboolture costing about $2 @ home)

For all the bleating the powers that be at home do about not enough people using public transport they really don’t seem to get how to make the public system attractive to people so that they will use it.

A 30 minute wait between trains or busses is too long – if you miss a train here, so what! There will be another one along in 3 minutes.

Much more attractive!

You do need to be careful that you don’t muck around getting on and off though – there is no guard standing watch to make sure all the action has finished before the doors close. I helped a Sth African girl the other day who was lugging a suitcase almost as big as she was – she was part of a group of 3 heading to Gare du Nord ( Paris North station ), all with mighty big suitcases so I did the gentlemanly thing and offered to help.

BJ got on as did one of the other girls and the girl I was helping out – next thing the buzzer sounds and the doors close with my arm and backpack inside the train and the rest of me outside !

Got my arm out of course but had to wait a whole 3 minutes to jump onto the next train. I had the remaining Sth African girl for company though and getting left behind on the platform was nothing new for her – she joked that the smallest girl in the group had the biggest and heaviest suitcase which had been the cause of many missed trains and connections during their trip through Europe.

So.................................... what's been hapening ????

Last Sunday we packed a few things and headed off to Disneyland for 3 days. Well, BJ and I packed a few things - the girls packed just about everything judging by the weight of their bag !

Disneyland Paris had all of the cheesy and kitschy decorations and displays that you would expect to see but what a magical experience. Music playing everywhere, snow falling (really soap suds but who cares).

We went on just about every ride we could possibly go on - some of the roller coasters we made multiple visits to. Back home we went to Movie World and went on the Superman ride which launches you from 0 to 100 in X seconds and also on the Scooby Doo ride which goes through most of the time in pitch blackness - the rollercoasters at Disneyland are a combination of the 2 - launch you at incredible speed into pitch black - scary scary scary !!!!! But fantastic !!!!!!!!

The only thing I was a little disappointed in was that there were nowhere near as many characters walking around the park throughout the course of the day. I kind of expected to see 'living' Disney characters everywhere but we maybe saw about a maximum of 20 over the 3 days and usually all at the same time and place. Nothing that spoilt the time there but just would have expected with the enormous number of characters available to Disney that they would have been everywhere.

On Wednesday after we got back, BJ and I headed off to Pere Lachaise cemetary.

The cemeteries here really are the stuff of nightmares. At home, most grave yards are neatly lined with rows of plaques and tombstones but here they are a hodge podge of tombs, crypts and mammoth statues tucked into every possible spare piece of ground.

Very serene to walk through during the day but there is no way you would catch me near one at night !!!!

After being unceremoniously thrown out of the Montparnasse cemetery the other week we were hoping there wouldn’t be a repeat performance at Pere Lachaise. Fortunately there wasn’t and we spent a good few hours wandering around.

We went there specifically looking for the final resting places of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf – and managed to find all of them. Morrison’s was a bit of a problem though since it was tucked in behind a number of larger tombs.

Something astounding is that there are fresh flowers at the graves of Piaf and Morrison - fresh as in left there in the last day or so.

EDITH PIAF

OSCAR WILDE

The strange marks you can see here are lipstick marks from fans kissing the grave.

JIM MORRISON

Notice the cigarette on the edge and the joint in the glass tube with the green stopper !

People are so kind ! :-)

More views of Pere Lachaise

CREEPY !

Waiting for the Mrs

No entry

This was REALLY creepy !

You will need to enlarge to understand

The intention was to head to Versailles on Thursday.

Rather than wait in a potentially huge queue to get tickets once we got there we went to get them from the FNAC store (music chain store) but oddly enough they can’t sell tickets for same day visits (???) Decided instead to hit Versailles on Friday and headed off to have a look through the Opera House and Invalides.

We’ve only been around the outside of the Opera House and the last time we tried to have a gawk inside it was closed to visitors – not so this time and I gotta say it’s mighty impressive on the inside !

At the top of the list of many things the French do well is opulence - with a capital 'O' ...... actually a capital everything !

There was a rehearsal going on so we couldn’t actually get into the auditorium but we worked out that we could get into the boxes while they were on a break so I got a bit of a peek.

Sorry these 2 are a bit dark -

2nd one is THE chandelier from Phantom of the Opera !

Invalides isn’t all that spectacular really compared to other attractions until you get to Napoleon’s tomb. Like most of the chapels we’ve had a look in here this one is splendidly decorated – and such an enormous coffin for a supposedly small man ! It is 6 layers I suppose.

Napoleon's coffin

THAT hat & coat

Not Invalides but I loved this one of the Eiffel Tower disappearing into the clouds

Our visit to Versailles on Friday coincided with (a) the coldest day here so far and (b) Colonel Gadaffi’s visit to Versailles.

There were police everywhere when we got there and I said that Gadaffi was probably going to be there – as t turned out I was right ...... BJ was interviewed by, I assume, a radio person. Not asked any real questions, just whether he knew Gadaffi was going to be there and was it going to spoil his visit to Versailles – “Yes” and “No” were the answers in that order. He possibly ended up on Al Jazeera !!!!

Versailles is magnificent.

The palace part of the tour is not all that long – a lot to see and again, opulence is the name of the game but the grounds are the real attraction here – the vastness of the estate is astounding. We spent more time walking through the grounds than the palace. Unfortunately the fountains were off and all of the statues in the grounds were covered with tarps –presumably so they don’t get cold ???

Hall of Mirrors

SOME of Gadaffi's protectors

Just for the 'AWWWW" factor

This kitten had a price tag of 3600 Euros - thats just over $6000 Aussie !!!

This cat would want to buy it's own litter and clean up it's own le poop from le pooper for that !

Off to London in the morning until Wednesday ........ brrrrrrrrrr !

I forgot to add this pic earlier .........

2007-12-08T21:21:00.000+10:00

Clearly we wandered into the gay part of town !

Officially 1 full week down .......

2007-12-08T03:57:00.000+10:00

We've had a fairly relaxed time here so far but we've still managed to fit a hell of a lot in.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty cruisy, still suffering from jetlag and 24hours of travelling, so mainly it was a bit of wandering around to orientate the kids with the immediate area and look for a supermarket. It was also pretty quiet because of the gale force wind and pouring rain which started about 10 minutes after we headed out and didn't improve until sometime that night.

As I think I mentioned last time - the big shock ( for me anyway ) was that there was no lift - so it's about 100 stairs any time we go in or out ... the legs will either look fantastic by the time we leave or they will give out :-)

1 2 3

1/The girls - 1st hour in Paris and already ovewhelmed

2 / First sunrise from the balcony

3/ View over the roof tops

4 5 6

4/ Grand vin et grand fromage

5/ The girls favourite passtime

6/ Forum des Halles

7 8

7/ The Paris Opera House

8/ American Dream

Grocery shopping has been one of my favourite things so far - getting an apartment and fending for ourselves was definitely the way to do it - no better way to immerse yourself in the lifestyle than than to have to look after yourself without the safety net of a hotel concierge to help fill in the blanks.

9 10 11

9/ Monster snow pea !

10/ We asked for Sprite but when it came out it was Pschitt !

11/ Every supermarket needs a section like this !

(Time is running short for now so going to do away with the numbering on the pics - I will add a bit more of a description to some of them later on )

Monday was a leisurely stroll around the Louvre - still as magnificent as it was the last time !!! It was great that you could photograph the Mona Lisa this time - it was not allowed at all last time.

Tuesday was a marathon walk from 'home' through the grounds of the Louvre and the Jardins du Tuileries to Place de la Concorde - up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe ( and up the 300 odd stairs to the top ) then along Rue Kleiber to the Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower - past the tower through the Champs du Mars, almost down to Montparnasse and back up through the grounds of Invalides and back 'home' - about 6 hours walking and we were pretty shattered by the time we got back but it was a wonderful day - topped off with the show at the Lido on Monday night.

The Lido show is good but (to me) it doesn't compare to the Moulin Rouge - the music is a little too droll for my liking - I will admit to dozing off a few times but that could have been the result of the huge walk and the bottle of champagne we had during the show :-)

Another quiet one Wednesday, I went on an excursion to find a pair of kitchen tongs - hardly exciting I know but nothing worse than trying to trying to cook with only a spatula to help you ..... and it's no small feat trying to find a pair of tongs here ... most of the people I asked looked at me like I was quite mad but I finally got a tip on where to possibly find a pair. About $22 later I had said tongs in hand .......... BJ and I went for a late afternoon stroll up to Notre Dame and to find the bookstore that MBB demanded I find for her - friends can be so high maintenance sometimes ;-)

Last time here we only saw Notre Dame from the outside - the queue to get in was incredibly long so we gave going in a miss ... this time there was nobody except for a few Bosnian beggars (please, if you were fleeing from Bosnia WHY would you choose Paris to beg in .... one of the most expensive cities in the world ????) ..... anyway ..... the grandeur of Notre Dame is quite overwhelming. I am not into religion or religious icons of any description or denomination but it is awe inspiring to stand withing the walls of a building of this magnitude.

Thursday morning we hit the Metro and headed to Montmarte to see Sacre Coeur and have a stroll around the streets. This area is just beautiful !!

Sacre Coeur is on par with Notre Dame in terms of breathtaking grandeur - no piccies allowed inside here though but just picture the same type of interior as Notre Dame and you have the look. The position on top of the hill gives a spectacular view over Paris - the stairs here are a killer though so if you are planning to visit, be aware !!! Also be aware that there is a tram that shuttles people up the hill ( we did not realise this until we were at the top though ! DOH ! ) but , there are not THAT many stairs that you really need to use the tram.

What I didn't realise about Montmarte was that in the market area there is street after street after street of fabric shops !!!!!! Now, if you have read some of the earlier posts you would be aware that I used to run a pretty damn good drag show. I 'retired' from this about 2 years ago but have been thinking for about a year or so about getting a new show together as a one off 'spectacular' just to let people know I am still around and always watching ;-)

When I finished up I sold off the entire wardrobe of costumes which had been accumulated over about 15years so doing a new show meant starting everything from scratch - and finding this 'community' of shops just overflowing with glamour was almost too much to bear. I will be heading back to Montmarte next week on a reconissance mission to check out the prices - I am hoping that with so many similar shops in such a small area that the prices are going to be pretty competitive, even with the poor conversion rate - keep your fingers X'd !

Today was a bit of a strange day - we all seemed to be a bit worn out and nobody really started to surface until nearly lunchtime. The plan for the day was to head to Montparnasse to see the Catacombes (I have been looking forward to this for ages) and have a wander through Cimitere du Montparnasse.

When we got there though what do we see on the entry to the Catacombes ?

A 'Closed' sign ! ... not just closed today but closed until February 2008 !!!!!!!

HOW typical is that ?????

Oh well !!

We headed up the road to Cimitere du Montparnasse - one of a number of gothic cemetaries in Paris. After wandering around for a while looking for Samuel Beckett's grave - once we finally found it we headed off looking for Man Ray's resting place when we were stopped by a cemetary worker and basically thrown out !

No idea why !

It was only about 2pm and it was meant to be open until 5 but even with the difficulty in translation it was easy enough to figure out we were not wanted - all I could think was " We've been thrown out of far better places than this, and besides,the crowd is dead anyway !"

:-)

So it was back on the Metro to take the kids for a look at Notre Dame and to visit Centre Pompidou. The weather by now was pretty crap and I learnt that my fab new jacket that I bought in China last year really is waterproof - to a point - and unfortunately that point was reached about 20 minutes before we managed to get home ! Live and learn !

So, Paris in summary form so far -

Food - Superb !!!! Particualrly 'Louise's brasserie' on the corner of our street - simple food but in a home cooked style and utterly delicious !!!!!! 9 Rue De Pelican if you happen to be in the area - Loiuse is just gorgeous and always scurrying around making sure everything is perfect - which it always is.

Wine - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ! Available in stores and supermarkets - excellent valus and just wonderful !!!!! May go into withdrawals when we leave here :-(

People - wonderful ! Don't believe the stories about arrogance and rudeness - simply not true ! Make even the slightest effort to speak a little French and people will bend over backwards to help.

Metro - Cheap - efficient - easy ! Can't put it any simpler.

Tourist spots -

The usual suspects - truly breathtaking IMO - but it depends what you are looking for - and I suspect on your generational point of view. BJ and I stand gaping at some of these historical monuments while the girls kind of just gaze about looking for a nearby department store :-)

The unsuspected surprises - As I have said before I am really interested in the normal day to day streetscape of the city - there are some truly beautiful areas that are nothing at all to do with the usual tourist traps but none the less worthy. There is history and grandeur everywhere you look.

Hotel V.S Apartment - Definitely apartment ! This is obviously going to depend on the length of stay but if you are staying for more than a week I would recommend booking a self catering apartment over a hotel any day - even with the 100 odd stairs.

Come walk up the stairs with me !

Turn the volume down if you don't want to hear me wheezing !! hehe

We are off to Disneyland on Sunday for a few days - hopefully the weather will hold off a bit while we are there. Overall the weather has been pretty good - most days have been no colder than we get at home during winter. Obviously that isn't going to last but it's pretty damn good for now. A few rainy days but in some ways it's kind of nice strolling around in the rain. Different story when the wind picks up though !!!!!

More next week :-)

Paris - 5 days down - the verdict so far..........

2007-12-06T03:09:00.002+10:00

Without a doubt, I would live here in the blink of an eye.

Paris (IMO) is the most beautiful city in the world - in my 'extensive' experience ! hehe

It is just so easy here ... and whoever it was that started the rumour that the French are rude and arrogant really needs to reassess their opinion. I am sure there are people here who fit that description but then there are the same to be found in any country in the world - I am from Australia remember so I know a ignorant pig when I encounter one.

In the time here so far we have only ever been treated with the utmost courtesy and graciousness - except for the shonky locksmith who tried to rip us off but that's another story - and we had already been forewarned about it.

There has really only been one really full on day so far - the rest of the time has been pretty mellow which was always the intention. Lots of good food and good wine ( good vino here is often cheaper than a bottle of coke).

More of a description to come tomorrow - with lots of pics as well ...... when I bought the new camera in HK I was offered a GPS system to go with the camera which would tell me exactly where the pic was taken - in hindsight I probably should have bought it. Aside from the obvious photo opportunites, I love taking photos of 'street scenes' - just the day to day life. The problem is, by the time I get around to doing anything with the photos I have no idea where most of them were actually taken. I will however have a good attempt at this tomorrow and post accordingly :-)

Until then - faites attention et appréciez la vie ! (Take care and appreciate life - translation is not necessarily literal :-D )

With 1st & 2nd born @ Le Louvre

Sky clearing over Avenue Lowendale

Avenue des Champs Elysee

Tour Eiffel from the Trocadero

Clearing sky from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

For MBB - Des slut de livre ont mouillé le rêve

2007-12-06T03:09:00.001+10:00

Magic Belly Button - Despite your incredibly hurtful but honest 'Wino' comment I decided to post these just for you.

Enjoy

:-)

This next one will only be exciting to MBB - I actually shudder to think HOW exciting !

If you are NOT Magic Belly Button I suggest you do NOT play or risk being bored to death.

Viva La France

2007-12-01T21:16:00.000+10:00

Finally !

After about 24 hours on the go we finally arrived in Paris last night at about 8pm - just to get the timing thing right, we had a 4:30am start HK time on Friday (which is 6:30am Brisbane time) for the flight to London - BJ and I sent the girls on to wait at the gate while we made a last minute stop in the exclusive smokers lounge before the 13hour flight to London. This pit-stop marked a first for us as we have never been the last ones to board a plane before but we made our way to the gate only to find they were holding the flight for us ! Ooops !!!!

Once we hit Heathrow we made our way to the British Airways transfer desk to check in for the last leg to Paris and encountered the real life equivilent of the "Computer says no" character out of Little Britain - if she had been any less enthusiastic and any slower she would have been going in reverse.

"Mmmm. 4 seats together ? Computer says nooooo"

Heathrow airport is a hell hole by the way - next time we go anywhere that requires a transfer through this airport we will be strongly recommending the agent finds an alternative.

The transfer from Charles De Gaulle airport was a great drive once we hit the city proper - not quite sure why but we seemed to drive forever through backstreets to drop off one of the other passengers before our stop - last time we were here it was for a few days over New Year so there was no real traffic to spesk of but driving through these tiny winding streets at night was wonderful. The kids had crashed out and missed it but BJ and I loved it.

By the time we got to the apartment it was about 8pm Paris time ( 5am Bris time ) so it had been a huge day. Finally crashed out about midnight (9am Bris). The apartment is just wonderful - everything we expected it to be - what I didn't take into account though is that being on the top floor of a 17th century building there is no lift which meant hauling luggage up 5 flights of spiral stairs, oh well- good with the bad :-)

We're off in a lttle while to find a supermarket and have a bit of a wander around. I will throw a few pics on a bit later today.

Bonkers in Honkers

2007-11-29T09:18:00.000+10:00

Start of day 2 in Hong Kong and it's a pity that it's the last day here - Everything is so clean, the people are very friendly and there are no hawkers/con artists every few metres just waiting to hassle you which is a vast contrast to Beijing and Shanghai last year. I'm sure the hawkers/con artists are lurking and we did encounter a few yesterday on the way down to the harbour but they are far less intrusive and much easier to spot since they all seem to be Indian so far!

We've had no set plans for the time here so we decided to wander down to the Star Ferry terminal on the harbour and head over to Hong Kong Island - about a 3k walk from the hotel through Mongkok, Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui. We had to make a pitstop at Carnarvon Road in Tsim Sha Tsui so I could buy a new camera since mine died in transit ! Digital camera shops are everywhere here but I had read some dire warnings about the goings on in these places so there was some pretty extensive research on Tuesday night to work out the safest local place would be .... very happy with the purchase though - a Sony Cyber-shot W200 which sells for $700 at home but I got it here for about 450 including a spare battery. Still could have done without having to spend that much unexpectedly on the first day !!!!

Anyway, the highlights of the day were -

1/ The Peak on HK Island -the tram ride up was incredible, it's so steep it feels like you are on a roller coaster heading up to the top for the big ride down ( coming down in the tram you sit facing backwards because facing forwards would see you sliding off the seat and rolling down the aisle of the tram ! The view from the top is breathtaking - pity about the smog but hey ! it's China. We has lunch at Bubba Gump's House of Shrimp - terribly terribly kitch Forrest Gump themed restaurant - signs on the table saying 'Run Forrest Run' and 'Stop Forrest Stop' - when you are ready to order you turn the sign to the 'Stop' side ..... after the waitress had taken the order I thanked her and she stood there for a minute and said "Can I run now?" huh ??? then it registered and I turned the sign back to 'Run Forrest Run' and off she went :-\

2/ The Symphony of Light on HK harbour - Asians love their light up buildings and this show takes it to the n'th degree - cheesy but on a clear night, looking across the harbour at the buildings and lasers etc was spectacular.

Today is a trip to Stanley Markets and Repulse Bay and possibly dinner tonight at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant at Aberdeen. A 4:30am start tomorrow to get to the airport and it's Paris here we come :-D

A friend of MBB's we met at the Avenue of Stars

View from the hotel room

The streets of Mong Kok

Not much must happen in this park

??????

Never a truer word spoken

Fun at Bubba's

View from The Peak

Peak Tram heading down

Us at Symphony of Light

Symphony of Light ..... without us

Baggage limits .........

2007-11-25T17:24:00.000+10:00

I started to pack properly the other day, deciding to pack what I thought I wanted to take, then going through it to cull the excess. This was a fairly easy thing until today when I realised that even after the cull I was still on 28kg for checked luggage.

I am certain that the limit last time ( and the times before) was around the 30kg mark but BJ announced that 20kg was the limit on most international flights - cue ominous fanfare and bug-eyed expression.

20kg ???????????

Now ok, I will admit that I have a tendancy to overpack although I have gotten better the more times we do it but really - 20kg for 7 weeks is not a hell of a lot. I am no clothes horse but I am also not a 2 shirts and a pair of jeans kinda guy especially when we are away for close to 2 months. I know I can buy more stuff over there but what the hell do I do with it coming home????

Anyway, back to it - onto the 4th repack ! Down to 22kg now

Light at the end of the tunnel

2007-11-24T06:15:00.000+10:00

This whole blogging thing has been spectacularly unsuccessful so far ...... that was never the intention but to be totally honest for the last few months, thanks to work, I have literally been too drained and exhausted to put anything remotely interesting on here apart from the odd entry or two....

I have written a number of entries which have never made it to posting stage - I realised how many today when I logged in and actually looked back through them. These 'not quite posts' were intended to be a bit of an outlet about the day/week that was but looking back over them today they were little more than a senseless rant filled with bile and expletives which really made absolutely no sense whatsoever and while they would have made a pretty damn ugly post the scary part is that they perfectly summed up what my working world has become over the last 4 months - welcome to the Public Service where good performance is exploited and mediocrity is celebrated (so long as the the 'mediocre' in question has a tongue long enough and strong enough to lick all of the appropriate arses simultaneously)

Since August I have been basically performing 2 different roles - not really a big deal in itself, I have done similar before when there had been a legitimate business need to do so - where I have a problem in this instance is that this came about because of precious personalities and a total inability on the part of the knobs at the top to admit they fucked up BIG TIME. I have never worked anywhere where there are so many people in positions of authority whose only true priority is covering their own arses at the expense of everyone under them.

Let's take a quick look at Gemineye's working world since August -

I perform role A - a colleague performs role B - both roles are highly technical, each with multiple long standing problems.
Colleague in role B makes the mistake of disagreeing with something new manager says and is unceremoniously shunted into a new team performing drone work more 'suited to their ability'
I end up being moved to role B and a new 'star recruit' is moved into role A
Responsibility for training new 'star recruit' in the functions of role A falls to me - even though I was still in the process of learning role A myself and this is meant to happen concurrently with learning role B and all of its associated problems - problems which I then had the responsibility to fix despite the fact that I had no idea how they should have worked in the first place. Thankfully 'former colleague in role B' had done a pretty damn good job getting a lot of it back on track before 'losing the ability to perform the role'
New 'star recruit' has a great deal of difficulty in picking up the basics of role A - such as how to open a file.
First of many MANY concerns are raised about the ability of star recruit - also first of many MANY blank stares and dismissals that my concerns were biased and unfounded.

I need to break continuity here to draw attention to at least part of the pecking order -

We have manager 1 - a ball breaker with no people skills whatsoever and a list of hidden agendas. Manager 1 is technically responsible for another team but had been acting in our team before becoming the acting manager for the whole division - lets call her The Puppet Master

Then also have manager 2 - a nice enough guy but his lack of a spine has quickly tarnished what was a glossy veneer. The lack of a spine though does make it easier for him to make sure his arse is covered at all times. Lets call him The Sock Puppet

Then we have the assistant manager - also a relatively nice guy until he became my direct supervisor and I realised that he is a controlling micro manager - an interesting way to be when he has absolutely no idea at all of how any of the functions of the team work. Lets call him The Finger Puppet.

So.... moving on .................

Mid October - the Puppet Master's grand plan of a 'super team' is realised when her team and ours are merged with much fanfare bit little planning.
New 'star recruit' turns into a train wreck and is moved back to their original position - ONLY because the star recruit bleated that they weren't happy doing role A and wanted to go back to being a drone. "Of course, we will move you immediately - we don't want you to be unhappy." - "Gemineye, you don't mind cleaning up the wreckage that the star recruit left behind do you ? While you continue to learn role B of course"
Gemineye speaks his mind during a monthly 1on1 with the Finger Puppet and suddenly becomes micro managed.
The ridiculous part of that is that all of the things that the Finger Puppet comes to check up on are only known to the Finger Puppet because Gemineye told him they exist. Otherwise the Finger Puppet would have no clue at all what is meant to be happening. As it is he has absolutely no idea WHAT these things are, just that they are.
I, and a number of others, put in requests to transfer to different areas in an attempt to escape the insanity.
The Puppet Master, realising that there are a large number of transfers being requested from within her empire, realises that there may be a problem that needs to be addressed.
Solution found - there is no doubt about the Puppet Master now - 'wow, we have all these people wanting to transfer out of the team, what can we do to fix the problems ? I know .....
The Puppet Master announces that all transfer requests have been cancelled until early in the new year for operational reasons. Yep, perfect solution ! Instead of find out why people want to get away, take away their opportunity to move and we will eventually break them and they will conform.

Anyway ..... it's all getting a bit too convoluted now and it's really really difficult to express all of this properly because there have just been so many different things.

The good part is though ....... that I finished on Friday and we are flying out on Tuesday so for the next seven weeks I could not give a flying fuck what they do. :-)

More later today .............................

Tagged !

2007-10-14T20:48:00.000+10:00

I can’t say I have ever been ‘tagged’ before but MBB has ‘tagged’ me tonight – can’t say I really understand but I am assuming it’s kinda like those pesky chain emails – you know the ones where your world will cave in if you don’t forward it on to 5492 of your closest friends within a nano-second of receiving it.

Anyhoo …… I can play along so here it goes –

An interesting animal I had -
I used to collect lizards when I was a kid – little skinks mainly because they couldn’t bite hard ! :-) I had a fish tank that worked really well to keep them in but I decided to take them to school one day and made a little home for them in an old plastic Avon perfume box which would have been perfect except I forgot to put air holes in it so that was ultimately unsuccessful !!

An interesting animal I ate -
Do snails count as an animal ? Other than that, the strangest would be roo and croc,

An interesting thing I did with or to an animal -
We had a labby when I was a kid and I used to drag her up quite a lot – a hint of things to come maybe ??

An interesting animal at the museum -
Ummmmmm

An interesting animal in its natural habitat -
Monkeys, because they have no shame at all – if they want a wank they just go for it lol.

Off topic but the vids below are for MBB - taken at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.

So … that’s the obligatory bit out of the way. As MBB pointed out, I have to get my arse into gear and update this and she’s right …… hmmm, that left a bad taste in my mouth!!! Anyway, what is likely to happen from here is that the posts will probably be a bit sporadic (shock) until we head overseas, although I will get Paris done before then!! Instead of quietening down, work has just become more insane and there are a few big challenges to get past before I go away..... and on top of it I am trying to pack up so that I can move in about a month so the mental capacity is a wee bit drained at the moment.

The accommodation thing has sorted itself out though – BJ has bough a new apartment and I am going to move there after we get back from OS. The goal though is to be out of this place by about November 10 so that Sis and I have 2 weeks to get the place cleaned etc – not that it’s THAT much of a mess, we just don’t want the hassle of having to rush to get it done.

With so much happening at work at the moment and so much to get organised here I want the whole thing to go as smoothly as possible and have the luxury of not having to rush or stress about it. What it means though is doing a huge amount of purging – going from a house to an apartment is the perfect trigger to get rid of a lot of useless crap.

Everything is pretty organised already actually and if I had to I could move tomorrow !

Anyway – more about that in a few days.

Still alive !

2007-09-25T19:53:00.000+10:00

My God ! It's been ages !!!

Sorry to all the faithful readers who have kept on dropping by to see if I have bothered to update this thing ..... I appreciate both of you sticking around :-)

So .... where have I been ? Why have I been such a slack arse at throwing in a new entry ??

I've been around (no ! not like THAT ! ) but it's been a bit crazy in public service land for the last month or so. MBB has made similar remarks recently and while my side of the wall (I sit beside MBB) deals with a different pile of crap to MBB's it's been no less overwhelming.

A little while ago I was moved to a new position within the team - dealing with an area I acutally do enjoy working in but an area with a LOT of problems so things have been frantic since day one. Now, I have always enjoyed a challenge but I am really missing the feeling of being confident and at ease with what I am doing at work. Before the move happened I was just starting to hit that comfort zone with what I was doing and suddenly it's back to baby steps again so I am looking forward to getting into that 'zone' again.

Mind you - that will probably start to happen around November - just before I am away for nearly 2 months so I figure I will have forgotten a lot of it by the time I get back !!! :-D

So what else has been happening ? Last time I was here I mentioned a technical type problem I was having. Well luckily I managed to get that sorted out because it was starting to drive me berserk. Not because of what I was trying to do so much, more because I knew that what I was trying to achieve was possible but not one of the supposed 'experts' in the field was able to give me any sensible advice.

Aside from that - work has been about it really. Too damn tired by the time I get home to do too much at all.

With just over 60 days to go till we fly out and a hell of a lot to organise in that time the rest of the year is not looking like easing up much but I will make sure I get some photos and a blurb about Paris on here in the next couple of days - which was the intention at the start of the month too. Between now and then I also intend to be moving house - our lease runs out here 3 DAYS before we leave and I really don't care to renew it for another year so it's time to go. Not a lot of detail on that one yet but more when I have something to say. What it does mean though is 2 or 3 completely separate lots of packing - trip, move and maybe storage - so it's going to be a wee bit full on.

OH ! One last thing ...... I have joined up as a contributor to a new blog - there is a cast of thousands contributing to it ( well 5 incl me ) which will hopefully cover my lack of reliability when it comes to posting blog entries.

Starting to get into holiday mode now as the countdown progresses so Paris pics soon ...... I promise !! :-)

Around the world in 80 days ....

2007-09-07T22:04:00.000+10:00

Just wanted throw that in 'cos I know it will piss MBB off ! :-)

Success .... almost ..... kinda !

2007-09-05T22:11:00.000+10:00

A while back I decided to put the pics from the NY/Paris holiday into a slide show so I could burn it onto a DVD. I had done this with the photos from Egypt but wanted to do something a bit different this time around.

There are some very good slideshow programs out there but I wanted to do something other than just have one photo after another … after another….after another, and I eventually decided to have a play around with PowerPoint.

The result? Perfect!

Doing it with PowerPoint meant that I could add in multiple pics into the one frame, time the background music properly and basically just be creative with it rather than just one pic after another.

The hitch ? There is nothing out there that will successfully convert a PowerPoint presentation into a format that will play on anything other than a computer. Note that I said ‘successfully’ convert it …. There are plenty of programs out there that do the job but they don’t preserve the timings and transitions.

I’ve been playing around with this for over 18 months now and recently I had a brainwave (it does happen occasionally) ……. A little while back I bought a DVD Recorder/VCR combo and I figured that if I could hook the PC up to the DVD recorder I should be able to record it as if I was recording a TV show.

After a LOT of mucking about ….and a LOT of phone calls I worked out that I will not be able to get it to run properly through the DVD recorder but I can very successfully get it to run directly through the TV.

The problem now ? Figuring out how to hook the TV up to the DVD recorder at the same time so that I can record it onto a disc ….. Argh !

The TV has so many AV points on the back of it that you just about need a Uni degree to figure anything out – it actually took me a couple of weeks to get it all hooked up when I first bought it and usually I can get an AV set up all wired and ready in no time.

So, it’s nearly there …. If anyone out there in cyberspace reads this and happens to be a whiz with audio visual type stuff and can offer some advice – for Christ’s sake get in touch!!! :-)

Things I have learnt from this -

1/ Most people who work in the computer / audio visual retail industry know absolutely nothing about the products they sell - except how to try to get you to buy things you don't need.

2/ Most people don't really listen to a word you say and speak to you like you are an idiot - when you probably know more than they do.

3/ Your chances of speaking to someone who is actually an adult is almost nil - I have had wine older than most of the people I spoke to asking for assistance/advice.

4/ If you have low blood pressure try speaking to the staff at Harvey Norman - I can assure you your blood pressure will go up in no time.

P.S - Paris pics on the way soon!!

Separated at birth ?????

2007-08-27T20:08:00.000+10:00

New York .... Last but not least

2007-08-22T06:48:00.000+10:00

Ok ... all pics and no words this time ..... well, except these ones :-)

The subject or location of some of these is going to be self explanatory ... some not - and waaaaaay too many to label individually, so if there is something that strikes your interest and you can't figure out what or where in NY it is get in touch and I will (try) to fill in the gaps..........