Middle Park lightrail station: “Mart” is “tram” spelled backwards, but why this needs to be visible in reverse is beyond me. Anyone?

 
3 days until summer.
23 days until I see my family again.
27 days until Christmas.
43 days until Mr Honey officially becomes ex-Mr Honey.

It’s hard to say which I’m most looking forward to.

La Clique: hula hoops in action at the Spiegeltent

 
If you haven’t been to the Spiegeltent, go. It is amazing. I am not a big fan of circusy-type entertainment, but La Clique was really great fun. Highly recommended, and you will leave saying “I’ve never seen that before…” about at least one of the acts. Not for kids, though.

Also amazing: the Halfpipe room at the new Hoyts cinemas in Melbourne Central. The room is filled with 16 giant, ultrasuede-covered beanbags that easily fit two or three people. It’s a bit hard to eat when you’re practically horizontal (as evidenced by the ice cream all over my jacket), but it’s so much fun and quite comfy, especially if you have long legs. It’s the same price as a normal ticket and arguably more comfortable/fun than Gold Class. Probably better for couples or families, but you could easily enjoy it on your own, too.

 

Yarck, pop. 130 — motto: Where the farck is Yarck?

 
Spent part of the weekend in the country at a 30th birthday party. Much fun was had, if you don’t count the hayfever (the bales of hay outside our tent didn’t help) or other sleep disturbances.

 

Yea, pop. 1000 — motto (according to Honey): Yay! I’ve been to Yea!
I took this sign solely for the typeface, but you probably already guessed that.

I picked up four CDs at Polyester yesterday, one of them the new Sun Kil Moon album. I quickly scanned the song titles and thought they seemed a big lengthy for Mark. Then I heard track 5, “Dramamine”, a Modest Mouse cover I remember enjoying when he played here just over a year ago.

I looked at the inside cover to check the songwriting credits and discovered ALL of the tracks are Modest Mouse covers. There’s no mention of this anywhere on the CD, and I haven’t seen anything in the press. This, after an entire album of AC/DC covers and a mixed bag of covers on other CDs, including gems by the Cars, Kiss, Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver and Wings.

As one of the crazier performers in La Clique said, “With my acts, it’s not so much ‘wow’ as ‘why’.”

view from the beach box: Rupert and Sparky

 
I am back from a lovely trip to the peninsula.

The trip was lovely; my sunburn is not. It’s quite painful and raw, in fact.

I also caught my first case of hayfever this year, today. My left eye is itchy and weeping. Woe is me.

I’m supposed to be collating receipts and statements for the accountant for tomorrow, but my nose is running and it hurts to walk. I think I will sleep instead, something I know how to do well.

I spoke to my mom on the phone today and told her about my Friday realisation that Melbourne feels like home. She said, only half-jokingly, that she had to remove the knife from her heart. It’s good that she cares, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me to reconcile my feelings.

I also spoke to my sister-in-law, who said my hometown is getting Sephora, Anthropologie and Banana Republic stores in the new open-air section of the mall. It’s about time, but — hello! — Santa Monica Third Street Promenade, anyone?

Melbourne Cup 2005

 
I had the best birthday ever. Seriously.

 

view from the cheap seats

 
Highlights:

 

My favourite outfits of the day — so elegant!

 
I was surprised by just how much fun it all was. I loved the whole people-watching experience, especially the frocks and hats. The loveliest women, I thought, were the visitors in traditional kimono, no doubt betting on the Japanese horse in the Cup. They made up for all the lingerie crimes committed by others, including the girl whose polyester ruffled minidress flew up to reveal baggy white cotton undies. It looked even classier when she wobbled under the influence of alcohol.

It really was an amazing experience, though — one I’d love to repeat again.

 
After a particularly prickly, unenjoyable discussion last week about whether or not I personally should have a blog (and benefits versus drawbacks), I’ve been having some doubts about whether or not to continue with this site.

I’m pretty open about what I discuss here, but, at the same time, I’m fully aware that it’s a version of the truth. That version, though, still leaves me vulnerable in some ways.

For those of you with blogs, could you please leave comments with some of your blogging pros and cons? Particularly if you’ve had doubts but have decided to keep sharing with the rest of the world, I’d love to hear what keeps you going. Password protection was brought up in the discussion last week, but I’m reluctant to do that for a few reasons. I’d love to hear your thoughts.