Dreamworld

Went to Dreamworld today and had the BEST time, except for all the nausea from the thrill rides. I so don't remember having motion sickness as a teen. We tried two fairly tame rides first, then went on the Giant Drop which takes you up to the equivalent of 30 odd stories and then lets you free-fall for half the distance back down. It was cool fun, but freaky. Then we went on the Claw, which almost, almost made me chunder; I never fully recovered from that one. So glad it rained for most of the day though - there were hardly any line-ups. The best bits were definitely the animals. The tiger show was pretty amazing. There was also a baby wombat who was freaked out by the tourists and just wanted to be in his mum's (handler's) lap.
A few days ago we went to the Big Banana and saw real live honest to gd bats sleeping in the carpark! Um, what else? Spent a bomb on perfume at the local DFO, but it has been a while. Oh yeah! and met some lovely karate girls for all-you-can-eat Mongolian BBQ dinner. Was a fun night!

We're holidaying at my Dad's for a week - I love being here! He showed us how to use slings this morning (as in David & Goliath slings). I was pretty clumsy but I can see how lethal they could be if you had a lot of practice. We were aiming at a metal drum set up a few meters away and I only got the ball in once, in about 1/2 an hour of trying. Good fun though, I'll practice while we're up here and see if I'm any better by the end of the week. I would actually like to make one; just so I know how in case the zombies ever come. I have a few movies I'd like to watch while we're here and we want to go to a theme park at some stage too. Moda's got a bit of a cold; hopefully that won't last and we'll get back home "fighting fit" next weekend.
Moda suggested that we should indulge in little pleasures over our holiday. I told him I was feeling fat (I know it's just hormonal) and he said I should eat twice as much chocolate as I want this week. He's very good to me. Seeing you don't get a hangover from chocolate, I just might.

What a great weekend! First karate grading went smoothly, thanks to Moda getting up at 6am to train me most days for the last fortnight. Then a whole day at home on Saturday (I don't remember the last time we did that!), brekky and lake coffee with friends where I saw my first lake rat! A lovely dinner with old friends at Tarago pub, then a day trip to Sydney today to look for some new work clothes and catch up with some special adventurers. I'm very sleepy right now, but it was a lovely couple of days.

Today was a challenge.
I missed out on a good opportunity at work today, darnit. I understand that you need to roll with the punches and learn and keep getting back on your feet. But sometimes the focus changes from "speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others" to "listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story". Fair enough.
Sooo glad I had a backup plan in case today blew up in my face the way it did. Now is the time for taking a few risks. I have full support from Moda, for which I'm grateful. I'm going to take what I'm learning in karate about assertiveness and demonstrate it in the real world. My sensei asked tonight about a certain kata; he said "what do you think of when I say shi hin bun kai"? I replied "I think I'm frightened and I need to jump out of the way". He winced and said "...there is no frightened in karate".
Whoops....

SATC2

So I went along to the movie last night, expecting the very worst after reading all the reviews. I think Rotten Tomatoes gave it 17%. Well, for someone who never watched the TV show and was surprised when she really enjoyed the first one, I didn't think the sequel was all that bad. In fact as the credits were rolling, I thought to myself "were they really expecting it to be life-changing??" It's just another girlie movie. Great clothes, lots of indulgence, not the strongest storyline... but it that so surprising? The writers also could have been a little more sensitive in regards to their depiction of middle eastern culture, but I'd guess that plenty of American tourists behave pretty closely to what was portrayed. I only wish that they'd mentioned the comfort factor of the traditional clothing in those very hot climates (that bit always gets left out). I have a girlfriend who holidayed there and she told me the burka etc keeps you cooler. I'm glad I went. Could possibly have had something to do with the great company, but I did enjoy the night. Hot Tip: Only take a bloke to see it if he's into bronzed Aussie footballers in speedos.

The Grand Master Plan
I have developed a Brilliant Plan. I actually stole it from Moda but I won't tell if you don't. My Plan involves some waiting, (but not for long - only about a fortnight) and then a relaxing holiday and then some daring action and thrilling risk taking. Ooooh!
I have karate tonight & a grading coming up before too long. My Sydney girlfriend also has a grading coming up soon, how cool that we get to do this together!! Well, together in spirit at least.
I'm not such a fan of Flickr after all. I guess I'll have to find a tutor or something - it's not as easy as I had first thought. Hence my 3 lonely Michael Bolton pictures on there, not even in a gallery or an album & nothing new up there yet... But keep the faith - I will soon figure it out and delight the world with my picture taking and posting.
A few unintended things have popped out because of the extra pressures at work lately. I got a challenging email (which was CC'd into everyone btw) and while I was still fuming about it, a colleague popped his head into my personal space and asked me if I wanted to talk about it. I told him that I was in the process of taking aim and if he didn't give me some space he might become the target for my venom. Wouldn't you know; it worked? I think I ruffled a few feathers, but it was much better than if I'd screamed what I really wanted to scream.