Melbourne has the strongest coffee culture...in fact its an integral way of life. People meet at all hours for "a coffee" and its such an easy way to conduct business or catch up with friends. I love it. Truth be told, I've been hitting the hot chockies and herbal teas these days trying to stay away from the actual caffinated drink....but still, one is able to have a nice conver over a steaming cuppa!

This morning DH and I met with a friend for our post weekend catchup and to just hang out. One story lead to another and he recounted this quaint little tale that I felt compelled to share with all of you....

While travelling around Bali my friend met and expat (aussie) who had decided to take advantage of the 'good living' that one can have in a place like Bali for super cheap.....he purchased a beautiful home by the water and pretty soon became a local in the night scene. One night, he met up with 2 attractive ladies, one slightly older than the other. He invited them back to his love shack....one thing lead to another and they ended up spending the next week together....day and night gelled into each other. After a week or so over breakfast he felt a bit of tension and realized that the females weren't getting along like they usually did.....finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and had to ask what the heck was going on, the younger one stood up and blurted out, "Mom's just being a right bitch!"

Yes, you can just imagine the look on this young man's face.....priceless....

We've been living in Australia for about 14 months now and people often ask us what we miss living here and not in NYC anylonger. Its a funny question, almost predictible. Most of the time, I can't be bothered to get into it so I'll give them the standard, "Only people, friends and really good friends....but you never know, they may move out of NYC one day soon as well." They are usually satisfied with this answer and leave me alone. Which is fine with me. I guess I'm too busy setting up our new life here and don't have time to stop and ponder the true answer to this question.

Well lo-and-behold, something hit me yesterday, something very small but I know one of the things that I do miss....its "flavor." And what I mean by "flavor" is "color-mixed races-vibe-rhythm-flavor". When one walks down the street of NYC you notice the different tones of skin, the different/diverse smells, the many languages spoken.....you're thrown into a world of culture, coolness and languid energy. Mind you, this doesn't happen ALL the time, there are areas and times when this is not prevelant but its usually there....

I was transported to this place after hearing an interview on the radio (here in Melbourne) of an American Black musician....there was something about his tone, the words that he used....things that reminded me of some of my friends who I'd left behind.....this feeling then took me to some of the cafe's, bars, lounges where we used to go that you can't find anywhere else in the world....

Its definately hard to describe in words.....and I'm sure that there are a heap of cool/other worldly type places here, that's not the issue, its what I know and what I miss right now....

So someone has posted this stupid comment on one of my postings...

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19/04/06 @ 05:51

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I can't believe that idiots out there peruse our blogs and have the gall to post this crap on our sites!!! Its disgusting....How do we get rid of these jerks?

Any ideas??????

Leave us alone to write and live peacefully in our blogland!!!!

ok ok breath, breath....

whenever I'm feeling a bit isolated and lonely I send out a bunch of emails to friends around the world and hope that there's something waiting for me the next morning.....well this morning I hit the jackpot. Friends responded to emails from last night and those from last week as well! Woohoo! Love that!

One friend has been living in Indonesia for quite some time now, he's half Indonesian and half Italian (well....I think that part is really American but he likes to say that he's half Italian....) and has been working there successfully first as a tv presenter, then a journalist with Reuters and now Time...but more recently he's gotten a side gig as a DJ. www.equinoxdmd.com (he's Jason) seems that there is a pretty decent Indie music scene there.

I just sit back and think, "wow" this whole internet thing is obvious, we use it every day and don't think twice about it any more but then there are moments when I sit back and think about how easily we can stay in touch with each other and the world. What did we do yrs ago? its too good....

7am
Little lady (the one that's still inside of me) was staaaarrving this morning, had to get up to feed the ever growing belly. Also since DH wanted to turn in early last night. Eyes flew open after nine hrs of sleep while he slept peacefully for a couple of hrs more, lucky guy. Made a HUGE bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar. Surfed my favorite sites....

9am
Started to quietly prepare Easter sides....a big salad with butterleaf lettuce, long ribbons of yummy carrot and tart green apple....made a nice balsamic dressing with heaps of mustard seeds....then made an American classic side dish, corn souffle!

9:15am
DH wakes up groggy....make him some nice coffee....he trods off to surf for a bit

10:00am
I finish preparing Easter lunch stuff....start my "spa" regimine....put on a honey/oatmeal mask and trod around the house picking up things and trying to organize. Start the washing....switch over to another papaya cleansing mask.

10:20am
DH and I start inputting taxes for this quarter so he can zip it off to the accountants....keeps us busy for the next hour

11:30am
Rush into the shower with DH...put washing in the new dryer....such a nice baby shower gift from the fam....not that many people have dryers here in Aus....well, they do but it seems like EVERYONE has one in the States, so I feel lucky to finally own one now!

12:55pm
Get in car and head over to DH's mum's place....get there quickly as there is NO traffic in the city

1:15pm
Walk in, or rather, waddle in trying to look as chic as one can look this far along in pregnancy....motherinlaw and sisinlaw both fall into fits of laughter....not happy am I. Start to organize lunch....make cookies while waiting....start to heat up corn thing and roasted root veggies that sisinlaw has made.

2:00pm
Everyone else shows up, worried if we'll have enough food. Turns out we do....everyone eats heaps of food (other sisinlaw has made the most divine roast of lamb....)
Everyone eats to their heart's content, leaves happy!

6:00pm
Home, in my jammies, I'm happy to be relaxing typing away in my blog world....sigh....

7am
Little lady (the one that's still inside of me) was staaaarrving this morning, had to get up to feed the ever growing belly. Also since DH wanted to turn in early last night. Eyes flew open after nine hrs of sleep while he slept peacefully for a couple of hrs more, lucky guy. Made a HUGE bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar. Surfed my favorite sites....

9am
Started to quietly prepare Easter sides....a big salad with butterleaf lettuce, long ribbons of yummy carrot and tart green apple....made a nice balsamic dressing with heaps of mustard seeds....then made an American classic side dish, corn souffle!

9:15am
DH wakes up groggy....make him some nice coffee....he trods off to surf for a bit

10:00am
I finish preparing Easter lunch stuff....start my "spa" regimine....put on a honey/oatmeal mask and trod around the house picking up things and trying to organize. Start the washing....switch over to another papaya cleansing mask.

10:20am
DH and I start inputting taxes for this quarter so he can zip it off to the accountants....keeps us busy for the next hour

11:30am
Rush into the shower with DH...put washing in the new dryer....such a nice baby shower gift from the fam....not that many people have dryers here in Aus....well, they do but it seems like EVERYONE has one in the States, so I feel lucky to finally own one now!

12:55pm
Get in car and head over to DH's mum's place....get there quickly as there is NO traffic in the city

1:15pm
Walk in, or rather, waddle in trying to look as chic as one can look this far along in pregnancy....motherinlaw and sisinlaw both fall into fits of laughter....not happy am I. Start to organize lunch....make cookies while waiting....start to heat up corn thing and roasted root veggies that sisinlaw has made.

2:00pm
Everyone else shows up, worried if we'll have enough food. Turns out we do....everyone eats heaps and goes home happy....

6:00pm
Home, in my jammies, I'm happy to be relaxing typing away in my blog world....sigh....

Omigod....I'm home on this rainy day and while I'm waiting for the rain to subside I decided that it was a good day to watch the final espisode of SITC (Sex in the City). A good friend gave me the box set of all the episodes and I've been carefully making my way through them. Only allowing myself to watch an episode here and there, really as a treat. Granted, I've seen all of them before but its still special. Anyway, I'm here alone, DH is off playing golf, and really, I like watching them by myself. So here I am all rugged up in front of the heater with my favorite doona, lollies at hand, a nice cup of steaming chai....and the final episode of SITC. Beautiful images of Paris flood the screen, Carrie in her amazing couture based outfits....I mean really, who walks around during the day in full frock?! Maybe the Parisians do....and no one bats an eye....its so wonderful, you begin to think, "Oooh maybe I too can do that!" The story builds with this crescendo of emotion....the storylines come together, all nice and neat. And then BOOM! Out of no-where, I'm caught up in it and waterworks for me. All of the tears that have been waiting behind my pregnant eyes come out all at once! I'm unconsolable, large tears running down my face.....tears of happiness, tears of understanding, tears of sadness, tears of joy. Beautiful round, heavy tears. Just what I needed....but when its over, I wonder how such a schmaltzy show is able to do that to me. Good to get rid of the excess salt that's stored in my preggie body. Less fluid retention for me....fingers might not swell up today as a result.

Ooooh but it felt so good to have a big cry.....

we've been living in this new flat for close to 3 months now and we're finally beginning to feel like its truly home. our belongings are here and we have gotten to know the new area as well. shop owners are beginning to treat us like regulars and we can even solicit a hello from some of our neighbors. one neighbor, who we've never really met or for that matter, will we ever, as they our in the building opposite to ours. their side window faces our 2nd bedroom, kitchen and bathroom windows. I was just in our pantry when I looked out of the window there and noticed how comforting it was to see their light on. don't know why but just the fact that they are home made me feel safe.

note: it is easter weekend and it seems like half of Melbourne has buggered off to their beach houses.....its sort of a like a ghost town around here!

I don't know if it is because I've been having a really hard time sleeping these days (I'm 8+months preggie with a HUGE belly) and it seems like everytime I go to lie down, my hips or another part of my overly female body starts to ache a bit. I've been finding that odd and I mean ODD characters from my past seem to come-a-knocking into my dreams. Sometimes the storyline is such that you know it has to do with an unresolved issue and at other times it has to do with current thoughts that go running through my hormonal brain. Either way, I'm glad that I'm not sleep talking. Its kind of nice to have these little adventures in my very placid life. Trying to make sure that I'm not worked up or overly emotional for fear that it will upset the little bub. I also wonder if she can read these dreams and whether she will remember them down the track.....hmmmm.....

one of our neighbors is rather strange. they tend to divert their eyes whenever they see me coming down the street or if we happen to chance upon one another in front of the building. very odd. I don't think that I've done anything to piss them off or offend them but for some reason they have decided after 2 months that I'm not worthy of their friendliness. even when I run into them and they act poorly towards me I always make sure to send my happiest of happy smiles their way and if I'm in a REALLY good mood I'll trill, "heeeelllo" as well for good measure. I just don't understand why they choose to be so difficult and so freakin' grumpy.

maybe they have perpetual pms (even though this person is of the male persuasion!!!)

funny to think that images/stories/movies/links are sent around and around the world a gazillion times over. after some time you start to even receive the same ones over and over. someone sent this amusing image today and after opening it I realized that I had gotten it around this time last year. still...it has tickled my funny bone and I needed to post it here.

its so easy to slip into the gutter of negativity isn't it? its also very easy to stay there an let the waves of pity, self doubt and self sadness washes over us.....but amazingly, its also easy to look the other way and see that we have so much to be thankful for as well. not that its a healthy practice to compare our lives to others but....when you think about the millions of individuals out there who don't know where their next meal is coming from, or have a roof over their heads or have all their limbs....we have a lot to be thankful for.

even though its just the start of this month we've had a hard one already. I know that we cannot all have luck every minute of the day and everyone experiences this but still.....you wonder when the bad luck will end and you're back on your feet fully again. so its at times like this when you can fall very easily into the gutter of negativity. today, I chose to look the other way and let it get the better of me. sometimes its better to not focus on the bad when there is nothing that you can do about it....

an old neighbor was kind enough to write a very detailed account of something that happened in my old apartment building in new york city. I lived in that building for almost 10 yrs and moved away from it just recently. It was where I came home to, invited friends over to and generally spent whatever time I could in. It was home. And one always has a grand/romantic view of the place that they call home. At least this is how I always viewed my building.....

The something that happened a few weeks ago was a drug bust....not a little one but a pretty decent sized one that involved 40 police men, 9 police cars, 2 paddy wagons and forced entry at 1am!!!! This was a serious raid in a very decent, family oriented/professional building with a doorman!!!! Not the kind of building where you would expect this sort of thing to happen.....maybe if it was way up town in the Bronx, or downtown near the projects but definately not in Greenwish Village....

Anyway, I cannot figure out what the "drug ring" was actually selling....it was either Charlie or Harry, not certain but either way, the police had been planning this raid for a while. And it turns out one of the tenants was also operating as a male prostitute! Sheesh, who knew.

It still blows me away to think that for years....I had always seen these individuals and thought that they were up to no good....but never in my wildest dreams imagined that they were running something so big! I always thought that it was strange that these guys were around during the day and could afford to live in our building....I guess that I thought that they had some sort of government scam going or that they were living off inheritance.....and one time I even thought that they worked as carers....or maybe that one of them was a famous writer....they were always a little edgy or out of it....I'd see them keeping odd hours and they always smelled funny....

how naive we can be.....how naive I was!

kinda good to think that even after all the years in nyc I was still mildly innocent....

more ny reflection soon....