NaBloPoMo day 1: The return of glee

Hello, world. It's been a while. Glee has been a little thin on the ground for the last few months and I've been too glum/tired/lazy to force myself to keep blogging through it like I've done in previous gloomy periods.

But I've been feeling more myself the last few weeks (yay for medication) and the urge to blog has slowly returned. Since it's NaBloPoMo time again (already) I thought I'd use it to get back myself back in blogging habit. Yes, I'll be back tomorrow. And the day after. Etc.

Finding things to write about isn't likely to be a challenge because I intend write about stuff that happened while I wasn't blogging - including my trip to England and Paris in August. But I'll start with more mundane stuff. 

I had my performance review at work today and it went well - the partners are happy with my efforts. Not that I expected it to go badly, but for most of the past six months I have felt unmotivated, unenthusiastic and - for a few weeks after my holiday - almost inert. I was sure my funk must have been obvious, but either it wasn't or I met expectations regardless. Whichever. Thankfully, since I've been chirpier, I've been much less inert at work. 

Today is Friday and it was sunny after a yet another week of chilly, grey days. Melbourne is having an unusually chilly, grey spring so today's sunshine was very welcome. Tomorrow is going to be warm too. 

I gave blood today. They had gluten-free mud cake in the cafe. 

Bleeding, clinking, flowering

I donated blood again today, my sixth donation. It hurt more than any other (during and after), but I just tried to think about the good that my blood will do for others and about how I'm a "'good bleeder" with "great veins". Go, me!

Conveniently, the Blood Bank came to my office this time - yet another benefit of working for such a large firm.

I love the cracking, clinking, pinging sound ice makes when you drop it into a tall glass of water.

My spathiphyllum has four flowers on it now. *admires own green thumb*

An Easter epic

The things I have to tell you! I'm three days into my extended Easter break and it's been great so far. Better get yourself a cuppa...


Wednesday

I had a crack at making Anzac biscuits (cookies, for you Yanks). They are supposedly simple enough for kids to bake, so clearly I have less culinary aptitude than a child. While the consistency and texture were fine when made with gluten-free flour, they're too salty. They can't make up their mind if they are sweet or savoury (swavoury?). I followed the recipe I printed from the net too, dagnammit. It's the recipe's fault then.

I should have gone straight to my trusty Cookery the Australian Way because its recipe has no salt (only baking soda, while the recipe I used had both). The only reason I didn't go straight to CAW is because the interwebs led me to believe traditional Anzacs contain coconut (which is forbidden on my allergy elimination diet) and I assumed that the CAW recipe would be old-school. As it happens, it has not a skerrick of coconut. The interwebs lie! Books rule!

I have also decided to make some chocolately treats for my family for Easter so I have a pantry stocked with condensed milk, cocoa, chocolate sprinkles, peanut butter, milk and white choc bits and itty-bitty patty pans (hey, that's fun to say). Easy-peasy stuff though, nothing quite as advanced as biscuits. Going to do that tomorrow.

Wednesday night I went with a group of friends to see English comic Stephen K Amos and it was excellent. I barely stopped laughing - or at least smiling hugely - right from the start when he did a dance routine to Beyonce's Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). He is a master at crowd interaction and there was plenty of it. He seemed to really enjoy himself - the crowd even had him cracking up (especially a woman from Scotland who could imitate one of those honking bicycle horns).


Thursday

Five days after my drought-breaking and paralysis-inducing gym visit, I was finally able to go back there. My quads packed it in after about two lunges and I nearly fell over (phew, no one around!), but everything else was fine. Had Billy Idol's To Be a Lover on repeat and I was running and trickling sweat. I kinda like it when I get sweaty at the gym. Is that gross? I don't like the perspiration per se, just what it represents.

On top of my gym work-out, I also walked 10kms. I have become a little obsessed with my pedometer and how far I'm walking. One week recently I walked 50 kms!

Thursday afternoon I nipped into the Blood Bank and deposited some of my blood so I felt all community-spirited. I'm sensing a pattern here, but is it gross that I am quite fascinated by the sight of my own blood? Not when it spurts out in an uncontrolled, oh-my-god-I-think-I-severed-a-digit way, but in situations like having blood taken...or blood noses even (although that can be uncontrolled - I spent a night in hospital as a kid with cotton wool stuffed up my nose). I always watch when I have blood taken. Not only is blood such a purdy colour...that stuff is what keeps me alive! That's what's inside of me! Anyway...this blog is called Gleeful, not Gross. Sorry.

Thursday night I went to see my current fave band, Melbourne country-rock* group Wagons, perform songs from their soon-to-be-released album at the East Brunswick Club. It was ace. I love those guys (obviously since I have blogged about them about eight times now).

Good Friday

I had a sleep in this morning and then walked into the city to continue my self-guided Walking Melbourne tour. I've now visited and photographed 107 of the 235 buildings and landmarks. It's taking for-bloody-ever^! But I like it.

My wanderings today took in several of my favourite buildings - the gloriously Gothic Olderfleet Building (below) and Melbourne Safe Deposit Building, and 333 Collins Street, which contains the magnificent domed bank vault I have blogged about before. (It was closed today though.)

I was gobsmacked at the things I had never noticed before - for example, the building at 247-249 Collins Street, Newspaper House (once home to The Herald), has a huge glass mosaic on the first floor facade featuring almost nuddy men below the Shakespearean quote I'll put a girdle around the world. According to the Walking Melbourne guide, the figures and objects in the mural represent communication and transport. How could I have never noticed something so stupendous? (Well, as the photo shows, it doesn't really jump out at you. Stupid tree).


Just over the road...I have also never noticed the three stone figures (see one below) playing musical instruments on the arched entrance to what I now know is called Lyric House. It was built in the 1930s to house a piano retailer.


And also one the same block is the Centreway Building and Arcade. I'm very familiar with these, as I walk through them nearly every day to get to work. But I didn't know that somewhere on the rear wall of the arcade this message appears-
weliveinasocietythatplacesaninordinateemphasisonconsumergoodsandservices! (Man it's hard to type without automatically hitting the space bar). This was added during a 1987 refurbishment. I didn't see it today because I was too lazy to backtrack, but next time I pass through, I'll stop to have a look.

I'm a mum to word-triplets

I am now the proud...owner?...parent?...propagator?...of three words from the Save the Words website. I adopted one by accident though. I meant to adopt "lambition" (the act of licking or lapping) and "quibbleism" (the act of beating about the bush), but I inadvertently adopted "psalloid" (shaped like a harp) by careless clicking. Clearly they need more stringent adoption procedures. I will never love "psalloid" as much as its siblings.

I don't think I will get "lambition" on a T-shirt afterall... I chose my words because they seemed to be among the few available for adoption that would be able to be used in every day conversation (which is the point of adopting it - using it, so we don't lose it). While I liked the word panchymagogue, for example, I can't imagine I having much cause to refer to a medicine that purges bodily fluids.

While looking around the Save the Words site, I learned that there is a 20 volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary available to buy. I want it..too bad it costs $1,500 (not to mention that I don't have the shelf space).



Tomorrow...

I'm having brunch with a friend in Collingwood and am going to have a poke about the second-hand bookstores and other shops on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

* Frontman Henry Wagons says if he had to pick a genre to be pigeon-holed into, it would be "Fat Elvis".

^ There is a word for that - sticking a word in the middle of another one. It's called tmesis. Gosh, you are learning lots of words today.

Cookin' the books and the wallabies

Did you know that the International Edible Book Festival is coming up on April 1? No? Well, now you do.

I got an email about it from the Athenaeum Library the other day. Apparently this "ephemeral global banquet" is held every year in many parts of the world. Bookish types get together to whip up culinary delights that either look like books or are inspired by a book. Then they take photos of them, judge the winner and then gobble them all up.

You can see some photos here. I like the Clifford the Big Red Dog one (2007), partly because we had a Clifford book when I was a wee one.

Ballooning

I was up earlier than usual this morning and although I can't lie and say I liked getting up before 7.30 (go on, scoff!), I did enjoy seeing the sun trying to burst through the clouds on the horizon and the sight of three hot hair balloons drifting in the misty sky in the distance.

I'd forgotten about the hot air balloons that float by in the early mornings (though not usually on drizzly mornings like this). It's a nice way to start the day, sitting on your couch eating breakfast while watching hot air balloons. If I could just get out of bed earlier more often...

Once one went right over the top of my flat and was so close they probably could have seen what I was having for breakfast.

Speaking of the sky...

Check out this website, Sky Watch Friday, where people can send in their own pictures of the sky. Make sure you scroll down a bit and see the picture of the winter sunset over Riga. How spectacular is that?!

Coincidence of the week I

I rang the Blood Bank the other day because I hadn't heard from them in relation to an appointment to donate. It had been six weeks since I lodged my details online and I wanted to make sure they hadn't been lost. But then when I got to work later that day, I found they'd emailed me late the previous night to tell me they hadn't forgotten me! They read my mind.... (They've been inundated with donors since the bushfires, you see).

Coincidence of the week II

The Infamous Mrs Blueballs left a comment on my Myspace page today telling me about the Taste of Australia cookbook she picked up while she was visiting, which has recipes such as Yabby Bisque, Emu Slithers on Pumpkin Scones, Kangaroo Pot of Gold Pasties, Wallaby (gasp!) Savoury Crepes, and Quandong and Peach Melbas. Then tonight I caught the tail end of The Cook and The Chef on the ABC in which they were cooking with native foods, including quandongs!

A bloody good day

I donated blood today for the first time! It's one of those things I have been thinking about doing for years and today I finally did it. Woooh! I feel very helpful and virtuous.

I don't know why I put it off for so long because when I have blood taken for tests I always watch and I find the sight of my blood morbidly fascinating (when there's no gushing wound involved). I think it was just the prospect of sitting there with a needle stuck in my arm for a longer period of time that deterred me.

But pah! It was nothing! And clearly I am a superb bleeder because I pumped out the requisite 475ml in about 5 minutes compared to the average is 8-12 minutes. I didn't even have time to finish reading a trash mag story about Angelina Jolie struggling to raise 17 kids under the age of 7 or whatever.

Then I got to the recovery area where you can have a drink and a snack while you sit for 15 minutes and they had Target puzzles to do - and I got the nine-letter word! Yay!

Are you a blood donor?