Tina's wanderings around the world

When my dad got married to my stepmom, oh, very nearly 20 years ago, I got an additional two sisters. These two sisters were very close in age to me, one almost two years older and the other just three months younger. At the time, and let's face it throughout most of my childhood, this seemed to me to mean competition. I think growing up in such a large family ignited an extreme sense of selfishness in me, the need to protect all things that were "mine" from food to clothes and friends. Mostly the clothes and friends part. :) But as we grew up I came to realize how truly wonderful these girls are. I certainly don't consider them "step" sisters--they're fully my sisters and they have turned out to be some of the dearest people to me in the world. First we have K, an adventurous soul who has always followed the good parts in life. After high school she decided she wanted to be a scuba instructor, though at some point she realized that wasn't really wha...

I feel like my blog is a school assignment, and sometimes it feels very much like a stream of consciousness, free-write where the pencil can't stop moving and you have to keep writing words no matter what they are. Whatever pops into your head is what goes down on the paper. So today the scatter-gun is getting put to good use to thread out a few thoughts. Quite often at my workplace, we come across wannabe star-spotters who know they're in the workplace of famous people and are hoping to catch a glimpse of a home-grown super star. (Currently we have Bryan Brown in a play--y'know, the Australian guy in Cocktail.) And as one of our artistic directors is particularly famous, they tend to look for her. I don't actually look like her, but we do have three common features--tall, blond, slim. There are days when I get stare downs from people trying to figure out if I am said artistic director and have even heard schoolgirls whisper, "Look, it's CB!" as I walk pas...

Just realized yesterday that I really don't spend time on the internet on the weekends (aside from a massive NZ picture upload onto facebook), so I'm okay with just writing during the weekdays. Unless Marcus is away, in which case I find writing to be great company. The weather is slowly turning to autumn here, with crisp mornings, warm days and rain quite a lot of the time. It's time to rethink an investment in gum boots to keep the tootsies dry. Autumn is my favorite season of the year--I love that transition in the weather where you can wear pretty much anything you want. Pants, shorts, skirts; sandals, boots, tights; tank tops, cardigans, sweaters. It's a mix of everything, and it seems so exciting to get back into an extra layer of clothes. It also means I can start straightening my hair again instead of having to keep it up off my sweaty neck. Delightful, I know. It also means a change in flavors--apple, cinnamon, pumpkin, soups, and all manner of warm teas. Over ...

Like most people, I live for the weekend. Every day I eagerly await the end of the work hours so I can go home and be in a happy home space. Work isn't terribly challenging at the moment (it rarely is) and I'm not feeling intellectually stimulated. So the first part of my day is usually spent reading online newspapers, then any work-related articles, reports and extra info I can find. Though that only takes up a small amount of time, and lately I've been lost in boredom. Though I did submit two volunteer applications to try to get into the spirit of community service again--I still support mentoring and have felt the loss of my own mentors quite greatly since leaving Seattle. And if I can be a mentor half as good as the ladies I've been fortunate enough to be mentored by, I know the mentee in question would benefit greatly. The other application was to an organization whose volunteers read books to foster youth, who don't tend to get that kind of one-on-one attentio...

Is anyone else obsessed over all of these coupon websites that are popping up? Discounted haircuts (I've bought two). Dinners (two more). Various lessons (I'll be learning to how to make coffee one of these days). Adventure trips (how do you think the canyoning and abseiling came about?). House cleaning. Photo books. Paint balling, golfing. Massages. Discounted hotels and vacations. I swear, if you hold out for long enough they'll come up with exactly what you're looking for. And why is it that I feel okay buying discounted things online, but am averse to using coupons? There's something strange about that, and I admit that when I give them my voucher I feel a little ashamed for being so cheap. But then I remember that whatever the regular price is is much more than I would consider spending, so they are actually getting something out of the deal as well. But cruising these sites is dangerous, you could easily become addicted. Two days ago I bought $45 massages...th...

Massive fail, picture uploader. I started writing about New Zealand, but the picture uploader is refusing to upload anything for me. So I am forced to write about something else. Boo. At the moment I'm baking Peter's oh so goooooooood Pumpkin Bread, recipe supplied courtesy of the wonderful Tara and Peter. This is my second go at making this lovely recipe and while I'm a famous recipe meddler, I haven't fiddled with this one even a little bit. Well, except half of my mini-loaves are chocolate chip-less. I know, craziness, but my inspiration for making these was one of the gals at work. I missed her birthday while I was in NZ and of all the things I've baked and brought into work, the thing she's mentioned most is the pumpkin bread. And as I love to bake for a birthday, I decided a few mini-loaves would step into the birthday-cake-turned-birthday-cookie role. For some reason, birthday cake just doesn't quite do it for me. Cake. Meh. A cake is a cake is a cake...

We booked our tickets to New Zealand long, long ago far before the Christmas ("winter") holidays. It wasn't high on Marcus's "to see" list since it's just a hop, skip and a jump away from Australia and it doesn't seem much like an overseas trip. The people are very similar, though they tend to centralize their vowels and say things like fush 'n chups, and Australia is so inundated with kiwis that you wouldn't know there are actually any back in their country. :) Kiwis live in the shadow of Australia, much like Canada and the US. Kiwis hate to be mistaken for Australians, though it happens frequently (I still do it) and it's almost unheard of for Australians to be called kiwis. That being said, they are a very friendly bunch and quite a few of my nicest workmates here in Australia are from NZ. Our tickets were a steal at just over $250 per person, round trip. We couldn't not go. I missed my second big opening night of the year and ano...

On top of the other this's and that's that have been keeping the free time happy lately, I had a very unhappy experience. This past Friday night, a bunch of friends were getting together to some recently-wed friends before they take off on their adventures around Australia. Three weeks into theis couple's relationship, they decided to move to Cairns together and have basically lived around the country ever since. She's a midwife and he's an engineer type who picks up random jobs wherever she happens to find a placement. They came back to Sydney for a few months before their wedding to finish off planning and such, but in typical form they are set to leave again! Exciting for them, so we had a get-together to see them off before they disappear for another year. We all met up in north Sydney for a BBQ then set off to the local pub where the wedding band was playing. Off to the pub, off to the pub. We went inside where the fellow pub-goers were beginning their Friday n...

My mind feels like it's going to waste a bit, like it's underused and certainly not challenged enough. I read quite a lot, though often my book of choice is a good fiction. I just finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and got so fed up with the horrible text about rape and murders that I've determined that it's the first and last book I'll read of the series. The New Internationalist is my bathroom companion (yes, I like reading in the bathroom) though I'm also a subscriber to this artsy Australian magazine called Frankie, which is more aesthetically pleasing than intelligent. And I try doing sudoku whenever I can get my hands on it. I'm nowhere near good, but I'm practicing. I'm also listening to these daily Philosopher's Notes that Peter sent me, which are great for the walk to and from work. Anyway, all of the additions above were justifications to make me feel like my brain is somewhat productive, but really it's not. I find t...