Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Me! Me ! Meme!

As per request of Zoe at the funky Rivetkitty , the community-minded powerhouse Daisy at Daisy patch and Jillian at the sly and sideways Flyleaf :

The rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

Mid-twenties, not a good time. Al and I were living in a sad and bad share house full of passive aggression and side taking. We spent a lot of evenings walking around New Farm to get out of it all. The house is still there: a big old rendered place with a terrace on top of the garage, owned by an Italian family (it's in Hastings St, New Farm). Still, it is the only garden in which I've grown excellent peas, and I first discovered Spanish and lemon thyme, which remain two of my favourite scents. I also had some seriously gorgeous parsley.

What else? I was starting my PhD but without a lot of direction. I went to the gym. I saw movies but didn't read very much. I cooked for the house on Monday nights. I had just returned from a holiday in Thailand and Vietnam. I was kind of rudderless, which was my state of being throughout my twenties. I'm very glad to have moved on.

Five snacks I enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world (and in this world as well):

Only five? Brie on oat biscuits, mars bar slice, chocolate eclairs, honey joys, Schulte's wurst, from up past Gatton.

Five snacks I enjoy in the real world:

Olives, hommous + carrot sticks, rice crackers with peanut butter or avocado, lemon and s+p, boiled peanuts (but I haven't had them for years - do people still make them?), BBQ flavoured chips (because no-one makes Atomic tomato anymore).


Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Tithe, travel, buy up all the wild spaces in and around my town, look after my family, establish a Montessori school in my suburb.

Five jobs that I have had:

Tutor for NESB primary school kids, waitress, tutor for ATSI tertiary students, phone survey gal, university lecturer.


Three of my habits:

I bite my nails, can never push a drawer completely closed, pull out weeds in other people's gardens.

Five places I have lived:

Hobart, Launceston, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hamilton (in Western Victoria). I regret never having had the guts to go live overseas.

Five things to do today:

Plant scavenged violets under the apple trees, buy some cream, crunch numbers, pick up Lu from kindergarten, keep the fire going. So far, so good.


Five people I want to get to know more about:


Well, in the spirit of Jillian, I dream of finding out about the following:

This guy, who used to manage my favourite cafe, Fresh, and then disappeared, replaced by the current team, under obviously angry circumstances. I didn't see him for four or five years and then three weeks ago I saw him driving an old black ute, pulling out of a driveway two streets away. And then on Saturday I saw him dragging a bag of concrete into the old house I dreamed of buying, up near the land slip areas with an orchard out the back and a copse of old pine trees sighing like the sea. All this time I've wondered, for no good reason, who is he?

Cate Blanchett, whom I saw at the airport last Tuesday, babe in arms and sons circling about, her husband rushing up ahead looking harried and just as rumpled as he appears in all the women's mags. She is so skinny and so white and I want to know, is it hard to be that skinny and that white? Are you always hungry? And where did you get that really great skirt?

The guy down the road from me, who is doing up his house with scavenged materials. He has a neat little veggie patch with lovely citrus trees and a prolific passionfruit vine. He used to own a goat called Jeremy, who loved him and brayed for his return of an evening. I've never seen anyone with the man and I want to ask, are you lonely?

The women in a house across the road from me, who never shuts up her vicious dog that goes for anyone who walks by and will start to bark when he sees someone from the top of the street. I want to know, why won't you shut up your damn dog?

The outdoors adventure couple who live at the corner and who are slowly creating a really lovely garden with a pond and pots of good things to eat. They have the tiniest house in Launceston and I want to know, how do you fit all your stuff in there? And where's the bathroom?

But I don't know if these people have blogs and so I'll ask the following mysterious types to share:

Janine at Lost in reverie (a friend for nine or so years - but what was she doing the year before we met?)
My parents at Grace Hill
Kate at Inner city garden (what do inner city folk have on a to do list on a Wednesday?)
Rach of Grandy and Baa (from Tassie to Sydney - what's the story?)
Ingrid from If .... (she's on a break but what does one snack on in a small Austrian village?)

8 comments:

Suse said...

I wish all those people had blogs too. Especially the tiny house couple and the lonely guy and Cate.

Maybe not the vicious dog woman. I wouldn't want to read her blog.

Did you keep the fire going?

Jenny said...

I don't want to sound like a stalker but as I walk down your way when I walk to town I'm trying to figure out which house might be yours. Perhaps we should just introduce ourselves one day then we won't have to wonder anymore.

Anonymous said...

Ta for the tag. Will try and get around to doing it before school hols begin *silent scream*

"...pull out weeds in other people's gardens." Come back! My garden NEEDS YOU :)

White, skinny Cate=no food+umbrella assistant.

Jodi said...

Oh, i want to know about the guy from the cafe. Please go meet him! Is he hot? He sounds mysterious. Mmmm...I'm waiting with bated breath. Cate's just too busy to eat.

Rachael said...

Thanks for the tag - its almost done and should be up soon. I left the island for true love...

Apparently Cate has a large supply of the wonder Nancy Gantz Pantz like me... (However I am not and never will be skinny. Too many crisps...All revealed in the meme)

Unknown said...

Just came back from a weeks holiday in Italy with the family. Be greatful about the beaches you have in Australia (although I did love going to venice and other beautiful ancient Italian Villages we found by accident. And can�t complain about Italian food, although Leichardt Street Sydney gives a run for money).... Sent my husband to bed and thought I weould have a quick check....

Anyway, sure I am meant to put it on my site, but too technical for a bottle of red and 11pm at night, so here it is.....

1. 10 years ago I was living iN canberra. I had left my ying sleezy boyfriend who almost lost me my job. I was a social worker at Centrelink (and he was cheating Centrelink). I loved my job. I loved the fact that I could help people within such a limiting sytem. I loved the mix of client work as well as policy and research. I just hated the people who worked within this system and thought just just a public servant and went tow rok to do the least that they could. I had a few problems with these people as I always stated my opinions. I was one of those obniqious people who tried really hard, went on courses, took on students, went on management committees, took on optional research, etc. I loved what I was doing and was single. For some reason I always ended up in Canberra. I went there the first time as an accountancy student. I didn�t fit in with my Docs and vintage lace dresses. I think it was the bottle of vodka and my speech to be accountancy student rep, calling on people to vote to me so I change the reputation of accountacy students that made me realise I wasn�t made for this course. That and the fact that everyone else had on 3 peice suits in the lecture hall and I didn�t. I ended up back iN Canberra 3 times after this for different reasons. My best friends are still in Canberra. It is some calling (and if I didn�t have a HECS debt and had to go somewhere other than here, I think I would end up in Canberra. My sister is there as well).

2. 5 snacks in a perfect world..... Well, my last baby was 5kg so I ended up having a lot of excess weight. I also breastfed for 2 years and discovered that red wine makes it easier to cope with having 2 children and a husband that spends all his time on the building site. I lost 10kg in the first few months of this years but then put a lot back in in Italy and doing my exams and assignments. Diet starts again tomorrow as I can�t afford to buy new clothes and I can�t fit into my old ones. I have 6 kg to lose. But I love red wine, packet of chips and a DVD on a sturday night while the girls are sleeping.

3. Snacks in a perfect world. Chips and red wine. I live life and then diet when I have to..... (I have a craving sometimes for salt and vinegar chips which cost about A$ 2.80 for a small packet but sometimes I must indulge). We have a web site here for people from English speaking backgrounds and things that can help us. I have made a friend who is going to make me mint slices or at least give me the recipes. I have a passionfruit vine growing (just waiting for flowers. My kangaroo paw just got flowers this year after 3 years since it sprouted. Would love some chocolate bullets sent to me (like my sister did for my birthday) or Tim Tams (but my mother is visiting me this year and I will be In Australia in December. I guess I will put on at least 5 kg with all the treats I can access).

4. 5 things as a billionaire.... Travel. Work in different countries. Pay for all my friends who say they can�t afford to travel to come and visit me or at least meat up with me somewhere (Tuscany girls?????)Help as many people as I can, particually assylum seekers here who have no rights (just like in Australia) and whose life is so dire.

5.5 jobs. Waitress in many different resteraunts. Bar maid at the Uni bar, which was great as I got free alcohol, got to socialise as well as getting paid. Social worker in various organisations and countries. English teacher for the Austrian army. Now, english teacher in the kindergarten.

6. Three of my habits. Check my gardens every day. Cuddle and kiss my girls as much as I can. Analyse every sistuation and then theorise it.

7. 5 places I have lived. Blue Mountains NSW, Canberra ACT, Geelong, Ballarat,Melbourne Vic, Eastbourne East Sussex, St Pantaleon Austria.

8. 5 things to d today. Pick the zuccinis which have grown in the week I was away. I picked them before i went and there were 3 small ones but now I have 8 giant ones. Visit my friends to donae as can�t cook them myself. Read through 1 week of mail, include reading Better Homes and Gardens and see what ideas I can find (idea of pot from clay, idea for recipe, idea for water feature in garden). Drink bottle of wine and try lemon after dinner mints before diet starts tomorrow (whole packet). Check to see if on-line assessments have comments (hate on-line courses but wouldn�t be able to study without it). Catch up on weeks worth of washing. Pick rasperries and strtawberries and freeze for icecream.

9. 5 people to know more about... need more time to look at list and work out how to be technical.........

Unknown said...

Sorry about the typing. Checked it but my computer is going funny (and I need to go to bed)

Kris said...

Yes I kept the fire going - the secret is to use The Australian newspaper rather than the local Examiner and then keep the fire roaring; I like it hot enough to grow bananas in my house, so this is no problem for me.

Daisy - get your mind out of the gutter. And yes, in a very pale sort of way.

Rach - this skinniness is more than wonder pants skinniness. Cate looked like a white chalk marking on the blackboard.

Ingrid - thanks. Good luck with the zukes - they are pitiless, I find.

Jenny - Yes. I do the same, ever since you posted photos of your walk into town. It's my walk into town! I keep trying to match up those tantalising glimpses in your photos with the houses and yards around here. I live in the white house with a tall fence and a big gum out the front of it, up near W. St. Please knock on the door one day ... And I'll email you to see if we can catch up some time.