A is for Apple

There was an “A” for the letter meme that was going about a couple of weeks ago.  I haven’t answered it because I’ve been having trouble thinking of things that start with “A” that I like?!?!

List of 10 Things I Like That Start With “A”….

1.  Angel – Obviously… he’s my favourite little person on the planet.
2.  Antibiotics –  living in the 20th/21st centuries is a good thing.
3.  Aibohphobia – appeals to my absurd sesquipedalian sense of humour  😛
4.  Avocados – especially when mushed into guacamole
5.  Amsterdam – canals, coffee shops, museums, red lights
6.  Au – favourite element on the periodic table.
7.  Asterias rubens – also known as the common starfish.
8.  Ahmets – local Turkish restaurants.
9.  Antidisestablishmentarianism – not the movement just the word  😀
10. Alcohol – in moderation of course.

amsterdam canals That was harder than I thought it should be.  Much easier was a 10 Things I Hate or Dislike That Start With “A” List

1.  ATO – (Australian Tax Office) No brainer that one.
2.  Ambiguity – call a spade a spade and we’ll get along famously.
3.  Alligators – not that we have any in Australia but they’re ugly
4.  Astrology – taking money from the niaive since 3000BC
5.  Algebra – didn’t get it then, don’t get it now.
6.  Aliens – not in books, not in movies, not on tv – it’s all crap.
7.  Adam Sandler – just sat through that Zohan nonsense.
8.  Amber – as a gemstone it is a bit of a blah.
9.  Aussie Ockerisms – we aren’t all inarticulate wankers.
10.  Assholes – one of a limitless number of ‘other’ human beings with whom we are forced to share space on this planet who may find themselves categorized thus for one or many infringements (large or small, real or imagined) against our persons.
.

Hazy shade of winter…

Things I like about winter:
Blue skies (in Brisbane)
Ugg boots
Beanies
Snuggling under blankets
Soups for dinner
The sun on my back
Wrapping my hands around hot drinks
Fuzzy warm flannelet sheets
Crumpets for breakfast

Things I don’t like about winter:
Cold bathroom floors
Dry skin
Polar fleece that gets all pilled
Trying to dry my hair when its cold
Winter colds and sniffles
Car heaters with drying hot air on my face
Cold feet in bed that won’t warm up

Who said money can’t buy you happiness?

Happy New Year… sniff… sniff…

Normally I love New Years Eve… we get to go to a party, hang out with friends, drink copious quantities of alcohol and then come midnight… run around kissing inappropriate people for the rest of the evening… what’s not to love?  🙂  But this year in my current drug hazed pain wracked state… New Years Eve didn’t seem worth celebrating.  I’d been invited to three NYE parties at GoddessBek’s place, Fav BIL’s place and Angsty Carrot’s place and in the end, I chose to stay home… have Indian take out, a handful of pain killers, barely two bourbons and watch some old movies.

How sad and pathetic am I?   🙁

So 2007 bites the dust and thank fuck for that I say …. cos it truly sucked ass.  Started off on such a promising high point too.. what with my  father passing away and all in January and ended with me having another car accident in November and finding myself unemployed in December!  Woo-hoo!  What a hoot!  Fun for the whole family!

Here’s a Cool vs Uncool list for 2007, starting with the Uncool cos they just seem easier  🙁

Uncool things about 2007
1.   Dad passing away… we knew it was coming but it were still a shock
2.   Motor Vehicle Accident # Four that didn’t kill my little car enough.
3.   Massive increase in back pain since MVA#4
4.   Goliath closing down and our jobs being relocated to Perth!
5.   Having to go job hunting and suck up to total plonkers.
6.   Absolutely no progress made on the Edouardo situation.  🙁
7.   Getting IVF reminder bills and realizing it’s not going away.
8    Still no online grocery shopping in Bris, come on it’s the 21st Century!
9.   The strange arse obsession with Frangipani stickers this year?!?!
10.  Rexona (the bastards) changing their deodorant can to a positively inoperable design – form follows function people!  😐

Cool Things about 2007
1.   Making some new friends at Goliath – particularly yaleman 🙂
2.   Going to visit with MD in Pakistan – what a grand adventure!
3.   Traveling to Turkey with Dr Nick .. no shit there we were!  🙂
4.   Crossing some more things off my ‘To Do Before I Die’ list.
5.   Hot air ballooning over Capydokya… unbelievable!!!
6.   Getting onto Facebook – and finding some old friends.
7.   Buying ridiculously expensive carpet in Pakistan 🙂
8.   Getting my very own website for SCA stuff  🙂  Thanks Yale.
9.   Buying ludicrously expensive noo latex mattress – love it!
10.  Overindulging on food, wine and group orgies with outrageous like minded friends.

Okay… I may have made that last one up …   😉

new years eve

Things to do before I die

I’ve nearly died – a couple of times actually, which has led to a strong, ‘Do it now, while you can’ attitude in my life choices. In no particular order – My Bucket List as they are known…

Visit Fingal Caves and finally see the puffins goddammit! (even longer story now)
Tour Blenheim Palace where Kenneth Brannagh’s Hamlet was filmed 
See the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road 
Smoke legal marijuana in Amsterdam 
Get arrested for public indecency before I’m 30 (so much for that).
Learn to make Crème brûlée
Drive a car that costs more than my house – never gonna happen!
Go to the Hot Air Ballooning festival in Canberra 
Visit the Cloisters in New York
Do the Overland Trek in Tasmania
Swim in the limestone pools at Pummukale in Turkey 
Have a white Christmas somewhere… Canada? 
Go on Safari in Kenya. Photograph the crazy wildlife
Visit Hampton Court Palace built by Cardinal Wolsey in London 
Tour the Loire valley; go hot air ballooning; eat lots of cheese
Wander through tulips at the Wynyard Tulip Festival in Tasmania
Help cook and be a part of a traditional Māori Hāngi in New Zealand
See Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden
Swim with large rays in Tahiti or the Caribbean
Stay in a glass igloo in Finland in winter
Buy property in Tasmania
Trek to Angel Falls in Venezuela
Cross the Arctic Circle  
Cross the Antarctic Circle 
Go to Carnival in Brazil to people watch 
Go back to Brazil and do Carnivale properly
Check out the Geisha district in Kyoto
Pick up glass pebbles at Mendocino’s beaches in northern California
Buy something from the gold shops on the Pont Vecchio in Florence
Do a transit through the Panama  or Suez Canals
Have a turkish bath in Turkey: Selçuk, Antalya and Istanbul 🙂
Go Goth for a season and dye my hair black
Have roasted chestnuts at Covent Garden  – they’re not great
Visit Mad King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany
Go hot air ballooning over Capadoccia in Turkey 
Stay at the Waldorf Astoria in New York 
Take a boat trip through the glow worm caves in Waitomo, New Zealand
See the Malterer Hangings at the Augustinermuseum in Frieberg, Germany.
Visit Mt Rushmore – stare at it, thinking: ‘Why?’
Visit Machu Picchu – stare at it, thinking: ‘Wow!’ 
Go to the Holi Festival (Festival of Colours) in India
River cruise through Europe on the Danube
Stay in a log cabin in the Canadian Rockies. 
Rock the Kasbah in Marrakech
Canoe with the crocodiles at Yellow Water Lagoon in Kakadu National Park
Go to Japan to see the cherry blossoms
Hit a highway and end up in Baton Rouge – go Garth (blame The Scrubber!) 
Wander through lavender fields in France
Have Chicken Kiev in Kiev 
Stay in a yurt in Mongolia; try the kumiss
Go to the Spring Dances in Kyoto
Learn to knit
Have a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel, Singapore
Visit Greenland – find out if it’s actually green
Get my own website  
Have crazy cold sex in the snow
Acquire an EU passport
See all the Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas 
Explore Antarctica (doubt I’ll get to tick this one)   SQUEE!
See Adele in concert
Do a Polar Bear swim somewhere really cold   SQUEE!
Visit the inaccessible South West National Park in Tasmania
Join the Mile High Club
See Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night  at the MoMA in New York 
Have a baby
Stomp around national parks in Patagonia and admire the scenery 
Take a trip on a bullet train 
Go to Easter Island; take photographs  
Finish my medieval aumoniere embroidery project (finally)
Count the seats in the Ngatokimatawhaorua at Waitangi in New Zealand
Climb Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Central Australia 
Learn some German – enough to buy alcohol and pork knuckles
Take the Trans-Siberian Railway trip
Do a Jane Goodall and meet wild gorillas in Rwanda
Buy pashmina at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul  (+28)
Go do the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon 
Get ridiculously expensive tickets to see Pavarotti in concert
Start my own business 
Learn a smattering of Spanish
Take a trip on The Ghan
Venture to Thailand for the Loi Krathong lantern festival
Visit Vigelund Sculpture Park in Oslo 
Have bagels with cream cheese from street vendors in NYC 
Take the cog railway up Jungraujoch in the Swiss Alps
Go diving in the South Pacific 
Have dinner at Lee Ho Fooks in (Werewolves of) London
Check out the Hong Kong tramway  
Visit the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg to forget the Russian Ark 
Skinny dip in the Pacific ocean 
See the Great Wall of China   😀
Do a helicopter tour of New York City at night
Go see the Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska in March
Check out the hot air ballooning in Kenya
Snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef 
Tour the Hospices of Beaune in Burgundy
Stay in the Blue Hole in Sweden to see the Northern Lights
Marvel at colourful St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow 
Try Peking duck in Peking (Beijing) 
Visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras and collect beads 
Go to the Monaco Grand Prix  and drool over the cars in Monte Carlo
Visit some Japanese onsens
Sit on that bench across the reflection pool at the Taj Mahal
Check out the Vasa Museum in Stockholm 
See the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio 
Go to some Broadway shows in NYC  
Dance the night away on rum cocktails in Havana, Cuba
Return to the Vatican museum and look for lion door-knocker earrings 
Check out red bummed snow monkeys in Japan 
Have a threesome or moresome  ...
Cruise the Inside Passage in Alaska    😀
Study medieval history and/or art history at university
Down tequilas in Tijuana with a tacky Mariachi band
Get a new tattoo in New York
See Pompeii and look for brothels  
Walk through the Forbidden City in China  
Snorkel somewhere in the Caribbean (Barbados & Curacao) 
Chase aurorae (Borealis or Australis)  
Spend a weekend at the Georges V in Paris
Marvel at the colourful, Pink Mosque in Shiraz, Iran
Go on a Russian nuclear icebreaker to the North Pole
See Joe Cocker in Concert
Play with otters 
Tootle around Amish country, in Pennsylvania
Go back to Moscow, visit the Bolshoi Theatre. Drink vodka.
Ride camels in the Sahara Desert
Swim in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
Go back to Peru, try the guinea pig
Visit some Islamic countries (like Pakistan) to shop for rugs
Go to an authentic Tapas bar in Spain 
Learn to ride a motorbike and buy a bright red one
See the Amber Room in the Hermitage Museum  
Skydive in Tahiti at Morea or Bora Bora
Go photograph narwhals in far northern Canada
Visit the Gates of Hell in Turkmenistan
Find a copy of the Great Wave of Kanagawa actually on display 
Get my portrait drawn at Montemarte near Sacré-Cœur in Paris
Hire a pensione in FlorenceSorrento or Orvieto for a month
Chase squirrels in St James’s Park in London
Stay in a yurt and drink kumiss on a tour of Mongolia
Marry a physiotherapist
Go sailing through the Greek Islands and indulge in local seafood
Find the perfect mushroom soup recipe
Visit the Gallipoli Peninsular and salute the ANZACS
Learn to cook GOOD Hollandaise sauce
Find some favourite charities and set up regular donations. 
Wander the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versaille in France
See Rammstein in concert somewhere in Germany Europe
See the Cluny Tapestries at the Musee de Moyen Age in Paris
Get a Brazilian wax (I don’t get it)
Buy some THFM boots 
Go to St Petersburg…  See the Faberge museum. Drink vodka. 
Take up shooting and get my Cat H pistol license 
Stargaze at Ormiston Pound in central Australia 
Go to the US and fly on the Zero G plane thing

I originally wrote this list years ago… and every couple of years or so it gets added to. So far, I’m not doing too bad…