Well yes its that time of year again, the time of year one gets just that little bit wiser, mature, cultured and so on. So what better way to celebrate climbing the maturity ladder than to throw a party and get intoxicated, and do the kinda stupid things you did when you where a teenager.

Actually, speaking of teenagers, it kinda felt like a bit of a school reunion as I hadn’t seen some of the guests well, in a very long time, and what better way to say hi to someone you hadn’t seen in a while or perhaps even there new prospective boyfriend is to answer the door in a cheerleaders outfit (like I normally do).

Ok, im the first to admit when it comes to the whole goth look im not exactly up there with it, but its something that i've always been interested in.

 

Anyway, saturday I got inspired when i walked past vicious venus in smith street collingwood to try something a little different. and Later that night when we decided to go out to dinner and then a club i decided to see just what i could come up with that would classify as goth.

 

Well i have to say, i think that its probably harder for a blonde with olive skin to really pass as a goth. There is the danger that you just end up looking like a dominatrix, and Im still not too sure which category i fell into, but there is one thing that I noticed having at least tried

 

I have to say there is something to be said about the attention one gets when casually strolling down a street in st.kilda (I just had a horrid thought) anyway I have attached some photos so you have an idea what im rambling on about.

 

 

Well I have been pretty slack updating this site, I think its all works fault, yeap I blame my job. There!

 

The thing is that I have been pretty busy spending quality time with my work mates. I have attached some photos when a bunch of us went to celebrate Sergei's birthday party at the local marfia hideout... um russian reception centre.

 

All in all it was an amazing night, I dont think I have ever had that much vodka (well if you excuse when my good friend Tracy and I got sloshed at Lakes Entrance when we where teenagers) Anyway, the following images may be a little disturbing for those not used to seeing people make an arse of themselves. (I wont tell you what happened to Andy)

 

April

Well after a long time waiting, I finally got my new bike, well I got it a while ago, but haven’t until today had anything meaningful to post about it.

 

Today Andy and I decided to go and spectate in the Commonwealth games Road Bike Race. We missed the women’s, it was on way too early. We decided to ride to the event as it was around Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens which isn’t all that far from me down the Yarra bike trail and thought that we could pack a little something to eat and pass out under the cool shade of a tree. (it was pretty hot and sunny)

 

I think we excelled at the eating and passing out under the cool shady tree bit. And as it was far too busy to actually ride anywhere, we just strolled around and looked at the boys beating the cycle track, whom where pretty impressive.

 

Anyway, we took a few pictures and we made sure that we got one of my new bike

Woke up at 5:30am to the alarm, its now dark outside, time to get up. My 7 year old son is with my ex today so there is no need to be up so early to make the mad dash to before school care, but that part of my brain isn’t functioning so I decide to get up anyway and end up watching TV in bed, I fall asleep again.

 

I wake up again, now its 7:00am and I’m late  I rush, pack my work clothes get my bike gear on and rush out of the house. As I’m late I push myself a little faster on the bike.

 

I’m on the bike trail now and doing some serious speed down a hill (can normally do up to 35-40kph downhill) only there has been heavy rain all weekend and the bike track disappears under a foot of wet sloshy mud at the very bottom. The front wheel sinks in and I keep on going.  My feet are still clipped in, so the bike summersaults and sends me into the mud headfirst, then comes to rest on top of me (you can see the shape of the bike frame across my legs) At this point I loose any sense of manners and swear profusely (a scene from four weddings and a funeral comes to mind: fuk-ety fuk)

 

As the guy behind me points out, I was lucky as the mud broke my fall, gee I’m so lucky, and apart from some bruising my biggest problem was riding the rest of the journey to work looking like a mud wrestling contestant. Some of the looks from people as I road up Swanton street where interesting, I saw a mother quickly restrain her child as I rode past in fear and people didn’t cross my path as they normally do as I rode down Bourke street mall. Thank goodness we have showers at work.

 

I enter the change room, and am greeted by the usual inhabitants at that time of morning. My theory that people I work with (at present) are oblivious to everything was proven… I had to point out that I had an accident and explain that I don’t normally walk around caked in mud. I shower, get changed and go to my desk.

 

But the icing of the cake had to be when I went to the coffee machine, the guy in front of me has this massive mug which takes 3 shots of coffee from the machine. So I have to wait till he is done. I go to put my mug under the machine and it starts beeping….

 

“Out of coffee” and there isn’t any spare coffee. Ah fuck it!

Well, Its another year over and Lachlan and I decided to take up an offer from our good friends Tim and Leah to spend some time with them down at the beach near Rye.

 

We spent at total of 5 days in some of the hottest temperatures we’ve had in Melbourne in a long while. It was great, live become a series of trips down to the water (we where seriously 10 meters to the beach max) deciding what to cook and the odd trip to the shops. Fabulous

 

Although sharing new years night on the beach with a 100 drunken people I didnt know was entertaining

I cant remember a Melbourne cup day that went as planned, and like many others this years kept with the tradition.

 

But what started off with pretty much everyone changing plans or disappearing on me, ended up really well because for the first time in a while we had brilliant weather for the cup. So Lachlan and I ended up down at the local pools, soaking up the rays (well I did, Lachlan was sun smart)

 

So yes, I now have some serious tan lines im going to have to work to creatively hide, but it was all worth it. I love summer, even if its technically not.

Last Thursday was Lachlan’s time in the spotlight, my six (turning 7) year old star. His school had the right idea when it came to the theme: Circus Spectacular.

I guess littlies school concerts have a tendency to become somewhat of a circus on the night, so why not theme it accordingly and let all have a good time doing what they do best, being kids and having fun.

Gosh, I’ve been off work for just a few weeks and I think I’ve started to put on some weight so its time to take some affirmative action. So today I went rummaging through the cupboards looking for my rollerblades.

 

Its been almost 6 months since I’ve skated, and really, im not very good, but want to learn. My best friend Tim is like mega good, and it looks like so much fun.

 

Anyway, its amazing just how much of a work out I seem to get just going back and forth in the car park. Who knows what will come of this.

If there has been one person that has always been there for me, its my best friend, Nicky. She is very special and one cannot understate just how much this person has done for me over the years, especially during a rather difficult patch last year. We said some nasty things to each other and both have come to regret what was said and done.

 

I think the ultimate test of a friendship is to have circumstances such that while you become bitter enemies in the moment, you realise that despite your obvious grievances, there is much more good between you than the moment of bad you may experience, and that, especially since we have been very close for 13 years now, isn’t something you can just throw away.

 

So I would like to thank Nicky for putting up with me, and assure her that all bad things have well and truly been forgotten, there is after all so much over riding good in you. And the sacrifices you have made for me will never be forgotten.

You know your starting to get older when all of a sudden you start getting invites to 40^th Birthday parties. OK, I still have another seven years to go, but have been told that time will fly… and in my case, as Im always having fun, doubly so. Yikes!

 

Anyway, Im not sure if there is some wise saying somewhere that you can judge the quality of an individual by the quality of the company they keep. But if there isn’t, there should be.

 

On the weekend I went to a 40^th Birthday party, this time it was my friend Nishith. The person who trusted me to look after their house, car, dog and most importantly plants, while they where off visiting parents in New Zealand. (I think I only killed a few)  The mix of people was truly amazing, we had academics, family, people he fences with, people he plays ultimate frizz-be with and many old work colleagues like myself. It was fun to catch up with old friends, who couldn’t recognise me after all this time… I mean I DID have a radical hair cut.

 

Anyway, if life was to be enjoyed it would be in the company of people like Nish and his friends.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine referred me to a new hairdresser. This woman, Jennie, apparently “knows” curly hair as she has curly hair herself, be it straightened most of the time. So last week I went over to her place to work her magic.

 

The one thing about my hair that’s very annoying is that it takes forever to grow, so when Jennie started cutting away I was naturally a bit nervous. And it started getting shorter and shorter, I just didn’t want to end up looking like a boy.

 

You know that thing you do when you talk endlessly to your hairdresser about stuff, like guys and relationships, well she had finished, and we chatted on and she kept on finding bits that needed trimming, I thought I’d better end the conversation before I walk out bald. But seriously she did a good job, it just took me a while to get used to it.

 

Anyway, everyone says that short hair kinda suites me, I’m not sure. I still think it looks better a little longer, but you know, it will grow back, so I have included a recent photo of my son and I with my new “do” in the post. Wadya think, leave some comments?

 

Jennie is actually very good and DOES know curly hair. I can strongly recommend her. She is also reasonably priced. (only $55 for a standard cut).  You can Email me for her details.

Today, I decided to do something I have been putting off for ages (and no we aren’t talking about my tax either).

 

Over the years I have had many attempts at creating a functional and entertaining website. However like a large percentage of the personal sites they remained in various stages of disrepair or “under construction”. I did a Google on the string: “this page is under construction” and it returned 728,000 results. I guess I’m not the only one then. I wonder how many I’ve created and forgotten about.

 

Anyway, today I updated my personal site, check it out, but beware, its “Under Construction” http://april.fmgirl.com/

OK, well I guess this is my first entry in this blog... So I'd better make it a memorable one, but hey thats too hard.

 

Well, lets see, today I have been told that i _HAVE_ to get the verification section of the project im working on up and running. It wouldnt be so bad if the original system had any structure to it, but I guess im just going to hack it like everything else. As long as it works eh?

 

Im sure I'll have something more meaningful to record in my blog next time. Its approaching lunch time, and im hungry.

 

Cya!

 

April