warning, lame post for the next 1,176 characters

Mr You has gone up north to celebrate his grandfathers 80th birthday - hooray! He'll be away for 6 whole nights - booo! He's gone away before so this is not the first time, but each time I'm alone I notice odd things going on. Nothing like my belly button coming undone and my guts bursting out (sorry, I know I should be more sensitive about this, but honestly I haven't laughed so hysterically since Bec Cartwright's poem).

(...and now after those, this post is destined to be bland and oh so lame)

Anyhoo... I seem to forget to go to bed. I'm busying myself trying to keep my mind off spooky thoughts when I hear a leaf gently fall to the ground outside, or see the creepy neighbourhood cat that stares at me without moving a single muscle (not even to blink) through the windows at night. So there I am cutting and pasting, pulling fabric out of my "I'll make something cool out of this one day" box, only to put it back again, drinking yet another cup of tea, and then all of a sudden I realise I've completely forgotten to go to bed.

But what's even stranger is that in the morning after a brief sleep, (when I would usually turn my alarm off without even noticing, and keep sleeping until I have 30 mins to get to work) I bounce up out of bed bright and early. Don't ask me why.

(...actually I was right. This post did end up being bland and OH SO lame. Sorry I'm lonely, okay. Excuse me while I go and challenge the creepy cat to a stare-off...)

version 2

Yesterday I posted out another batch of my CD's. This time they are going to Jen the creator, Shenandoah, Miss May, Erin the Knitterista, and on Monday I'll be popping one in the post for Allison.

I'm not sure if it's considered cheating or not, but I've modified my mix slightly, this one is called Transmittance One-b. I've taken some of Kristi's comments about my initial mix into consideration, and have also added numbers on the tracklist itself. The original list was a bit too heavy, so I've replaced a couple of the heavy tracks with ones that are a little more "friendly". I also switched a few tracks from the listed bands to give a better representation of what they normally sound like.

The new tracks are:
Godhopping - Dogs Dies in Hot Cars: These guys are Scottish and generally quite upbeat.
Special Ones - George: This Australian band became quite popular in a very short space of time, but have now parted. I just read this week that she is about to release her first solo album. If you are like me and don't dare ever sing in public, but secretly, when driving around in the car with all the windows tightly shut, you belt out a song or two (or desperately attempt to in my case)... Then boy, is this one for you!

The switched tracks are:
Car Crash - Eskimo Joe: The original mix had Wake Up, but I've switched it with this one as it's far less heavy, and is a much better example of that sexy breaking point in his voice that I mentioned earlier.
Land Locked Blues - Bright Eyes: This one replaced Light Pollution. Light Pollution is quite a peppy track, and it's great! But it's rare for Bright Eyes; usually his songs are a little melancholy shall we say. I thought this one was somewhere in between, and it's a little bit folky (for Jen. But there's no banjo, so don't get excited).

So that's okay isn't it? Not completely different, just refined slightly. Anyway, I hope the CD lives up to the expectations of the innocent listening bystanders I've over-enthusiastically forced it upon. heeee.

cd number 4

Yesterday I received my 4th CD from CD Swap 2. Technically it was actually the 4th and 5th CD's as in this batch I was awarded with a "bonus CD"!

It's all a little mysterious though. As I pulled the package out of the letterbox, I squeeled "It's from France!". Two CD's and a little note, but I have absolutely no idea who sent it. There was a street address, but no name. To intrigue me even more, the CD's are filled with Australian music (the bonus one is exclusively Aussie music). I've worked out from my sophisticated powers of deduction that this mystery sender must be an Australian serving in the top secret French Foreign Legion; the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi" war cry gave it away.

The "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi war cry?" I hear you ask... Yes, well this is something only Australians, and English Bus Tour Guide's seem to know about. It's mainly used at sporting events. The New Zealanders have the amazing, historical, culturally significant Haka. We Aussies prefer to yell out "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi". Please don't ask me why.

"And the English Bus Tour Guide's" I hear you enquire... Mr You and I were in London last year, and unfortunately boarded a bus tour the day after the English rugby team beat Australia in a match. When "Big Bus Alan" discovered we were Australian, with a spark of gloat in his eye, he cried out "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!". Mr You and I, embarrassedly but politely chuckled and muttered "yeah". This was not enough for him, and louder this time (so the whole coach of tourists from other countries were staring at us) he demanded "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Come On. You know it!" And paused, waiting for our reply. Our eyes darted from side to side at all the people looking at us with great anticipation, and sheepishly we retorted a quiet "Oi, Oi, Oi".

The tourists, obviously expecting some Banjo Patterson prose, were disappointed, and a little confused. Big Bus Alan was deeeelighted, "Yeeeees" he sneered, "Oi Oi Oi".

Yes! Okay! We have the war cry thing, and the Crocodile Hunter, and Russell Crow, and we're very very sorry! But luckily we have very good music, and we can swim fast.

So, thank-you kindly to my mysterious French Foreign Legion ex-patriot, for the 2 CD's. I hope you're enjoying that fabulous French lifestyle, and all that comes with it, (but only on the weekends, when you have some reckie time from the Legion, cause you don't want to run out on those guys. Trust me, I saw a documentary).

top shelf wisdom

My Illustration Friday entry for 'wisdom'.

Do you ever have those days when you’re out of the house, on the train, up the lifts, at work and half way through the day before you realise that you forgot to apply any deodorant that morning? Then you spend the rest of the day making sure your movements are slow and as waft-less as possible.

And do you ever have those days when you’re out of the house, on the train, up the lifts, at work and half way through the day before you realise that you forgot to apply any wisdom that morning? You know you have an acceptable amount of wisdom normally, but that day it escapes you completely. Then you spend the rest of the day regretting something you’ve said or done, making sure your movements for the rest of the afternoon attract as little attention as possible.

Everyone has a little wisdom of their own kind, and hopefully it accumulates with age, but often it takes concentration and focus to apply. Other traits are much easier to access, and are worn with ease. Wisdom tends to be one of those ones you’re always reaching for. And unlike a French perfume, less is not more when it comes to wisdom.

another batch

I'm making a few more CD's to post out in the next day or two. Does anyone else want one?
(flossyp AT gmail DOT com)

it's a small world after all

When Mum gave this 'Dead Sea Black Mud Soap' to me as a gift it cracked me up. I'll admit I'm not so crash hot on the geography trivia questions, but I'm pretty sure the Dead Sea is not in Australia. Maybe it's all part of the drought propaganda.

Speaking of which, a few years back a prankster rang a very well known (but arrogant and stupid) radio talk show host here in Sydney. The prankster pretended he was some sort of drought specialist engineer, and told the talk show host, on air, that they were working with the federal government on a plan to help ease the water crisis. The plan was to tilt the east coastline of Australia up, forcing the rivers to run back inland, therefore creating natural irrigation to the farmers out west. The talkshow host believed it, and quoted this plan as fact for a few weeks after.

While we're on the topic of such brilliance... for those of you who may not know, Australias number one tennis player Llayton Hewitt recently married Home & Away soap star Bec Cartwright. Let's just say it was a little bit "shotgun", but that didn't alter the love between them. Her poem to him put it all in perfect perspective. Check it out, it's well worth it! (here with astute commentary). And I promise you the phrase "this can't be real" will pass your lips - the answer is YES IT IS, 100%!

In other happy news, my rosemary bush has burst into bloom with tiny purple flowers. I'm so proud. Much like geography, I'm not so hot in the garden, but I refuse to give up. My latest victims are lavender bushes and a rosemary bush. So far they seem to be going quite well, that is of course unless the blooming of flowers is a last pitch attempt at spreading new life before it withers and dies. Gulp...

Now the happiest news of all...
I am the proud new owner of one of Penelope Dullaghan's beautiful Dandelion prints.

I'm besotted with it.

For some besottment of your very own visit Penelope's shop: Lopie Pop.

drive.oh.five

A quick update on the CD from Anna at Clicktyclick in Canada, now that I've listened to it (actually I haven't stopped).

As Anna put it, "trucks and pink gingham together at last"!
A road trip CD with a homely twist. The packaging is gorgeous, I especially like the plain gingham CD lable, no words needed to do this classic fabric justice.


This is a fabulous tracklist, packed to the brim with Canadian bands. I was curious when I made my CDs about which Australian bands people had heard of before. So, the bands I know are: Broken Social Scene, The Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Wilco and Palace Music.

This is my kind of music, we even had a "snap" on one song that made it to both of our CDs. There's loads of stuff on here I haven't heard of before. I really like the Death Cab for Cutie track and I love the Mirah song too.

The Weakerthans track 'One Great City!' made me laugh, as I once met a boy from Winnipeg (who was working at a youth hostel in Rome at the time), who pretty much quoted this song. "I hate Winniepeg". I'm sure it's not that bad, although it does sound unbelievably cold.

Anyway, thanks Anna. I'm really liking this one alot.