Where Eagles Daren't

So we got trounced.
Horribly trounced.
Final score WCE 80-158 Port Adelaide.
At least they didn't double our points... A last minute behind took that stress away.
Break down was:

West Coast       0.4.2  1.5.9  1.6.10  2.8.14 (80)  
Port Adelaide    1.4.3  1.9.4  2.16.6  4.19.8 (158)

Not the best match ever, but I had fun. Even if we did have some scummy Port supporters within our ranks.
And I think I finally know the rules :)


Post match was few more beers than I was planning (from zero to 4 1/2 pints... oops) but it was a good night!

Good times on Break.

So, I normally work an 8:6 roster, 8 days at work, 6 days at home. I used to work from wednesday to wednesday, but work has shufted us all around to try and make room for more people up on site. So now I work Monday-monday. Grr! No more sunday sessions. It takes the shine off when you know you have to get up at 4am to catch a plane for 2 hours.

Because of that, I only get 4 days this time, and take another day off that because yesterday I had to go to head office for a meeting with the Resource Development guys about one of my prospects. So will end up working 17 days with 3 days off. Which sucks!

I've been making the most of it though.

Thursday we went to a friends house for a laid back gathering/chance to show off his new mansion. And I mean mansion. Its massive. And amazing. I want, I want! Its been 30 years in the making though, since he first bought the plot. The idea was to head over to cool off in his balinese themed pool area (it was 42c ish on thursday...) and have a bit of a BBQ. Good way to spend such a hot day!

Thursday night we went to watch Lords and Ladies, a play version of the Terry Pratchett book. More on that in the future.

Friday was office day. We'd booked the car in for a service and timing belt change. The OH took it down, only to be told "Ooops, sorry, we're not going to have time to do it today"
Pah! Why did they accept the booking last week then?! So now it will be next week.

After work (well, from about 3pm, it was friday after all) I went for a wander around Harbour Town, the discount outlet village on the outskirts of the CBD. I was looking for a new LBD, because the one I currently have is my mothers from the 70s, and while I love it, a bit of variety is never a bad thing! I found a gorgeous one in Ojay.
 Its black (kind of has to be for a LBD!), with optional straps, boned top with a sash round the waist, then the selling point- the skirt can either be worn buttoned up underneath, to be all bouff-y, or worn straight for more of a classic look. It fits OK now, but when I shed these last 2 kilos I reckon it will be amazing!
The best bit is, it was labelled at $279... marked down to $99, and when I took it to the till it scanned as $80. Score!

Friday night we went to Tiger Lils, a hot new-ish bar in Perth CBD. We've been before for daytime drinks, but never at night or for food. It was pretty good, and they didn't care at all that it took until an hour after our booking time for all of the 5 of us to appear!
Cocktails were good, though the Chilli, Lime and Coconut "Funk Shui" made me feel a bit queasy for the rest of the night, the chilli vodka didn't sit well in my tummy! The food was yummy all round though. I had squid salad, which was tasty and huge! I couldn't finish it. The Boy had the Kangaroo, which was delicious too. As was the Pad Thai. Eating in the restaurant was a good was to experience the place atmosphere in there (very funky, but very busy) without having to squidge through the crowds or queue at the bar!
Today is a lazy days followed by the football tonight.
Exercise has fallen by the wayside, apart from a bit of a weights session this morning. I could make a list of excuses (its too hot, my knees twinging...) but basically I just can't be bothered! Maybe tomorrow...

Rain drops keep falling on my head... Or not.

OK, so the rain I asked for has come, accompanied by some awesome lightning and massive winds.

I have a love/hate relationship with lightning. While I still enjoy watching it (from a safe distance), I have had a few too many close calls while wild camping in the Swiss Alps to really enjoy being out in it. For example, being at 3000m and 3 hours hike away from camp watching the lightning strike in the valley below me. Or lying awake in the dark for hours, having been woken up by the ground shaking due to the strikes, too scared to death to even turn the torch on in case it attracts the storms attention. So thats why I'm hiding inside.

Anyway, it got me thinking about rainfall in general and Australia being the desert continent that it is...

Perth is suffering pretty badly at the moment. The total rainfall since my birthday back in November is, wait for it, 0.2mm, on the 7th February. Seriously. I can't even see that small. There has been the odd shower in and around Perth, and I assume that this is one of them that happened to pass over the recording station.

The population of Perth is increasing massively and rapidly. We're at 1.65 million up from 1.34 million in 2001. 300,000 extra people in less than a decade. Thats 3 times the number of people who live in the town I come from at home arriving in quick succession. And I'm one of them.

And we're putting a massive strain on the resources.

The water corperation want us to save 6 buckets of water a day. I try to. Really I do, but having been brought up with generally more water than we can deal with (all though I do remember one summer with standpipes and trucked in bottled water for school) you tend not to think about it. Though I have started trying to shorten my showers and turn the water off when I shave my legs. I can do it out bush, when we only have 700 litres to last 6 of us a week. But its never enough to actually get clean, especially from the state we're usually in. Its more psychological clean in that case!

And our lawn sprinklers never seem to come on either, so we're saving water there! Though we don't have much of a lawn left...

What really annoys me is when the council owned areas are wasting huge amounts of water, sprinkling the roads and paths. And all over the cyclists in the case of Perth foreshore. At least 2 days a week there is a bottle neck near the Causeway, as people on bikes and foot and going both directions weave around the puddles and the jets of water. But we're the ones who have to save our 6 buckets?!

People laughed at the idea of a canal from the Kimberly, but seriously, if O'Connor could build the pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie over 100 years ago, surely we can do better. After all, its down hill from up there :)

Oh, and while we have the tropical thunderstorms, Al is fell running in the snow.

Read about it here

Over it!

I'm so over work.

The actual work side, not the enjoyable bush side.

I need to finish my drill report, its so nearly there. I just can't seem to focus on it.

I also need to finish my proposals for this year, I just don't see the point because noone reads them and theyre unlikely to get drilled, so why put time, effort and stress into doing them?

It makes for a fun dilema, becuase I love half my job, but the other half brings me to tears. But in time (if we get any money for 2011 anyway) that side should improve, as I move up the ladder and get more confidence in my ability. I say that I'm gone as soon as my residency allows (becuase ATM I would need a new sponsor to stay in the country and while there are a fair few jobs out there most companies aren't sponsoring as much, even though there are very few un-employed geos around... we need so many geos here at the moment but no-one is applying) but I will miss this place when/if I'm gone... Ah well. I dont yet have residency so I dont yet have options! So no point thinking about that yet.

OK, rant over.

Suck it up and finish!

We're going to go watch the Eagles on Saturday. I'm excited! I was going to suggest that we went but the OH isnt much into Footie, so didnt. Then he asked me if I wanted to go! (because his mates from work were heading down and invited him even though they know he's not all that fussed).  It went along the lines of

Him: Oh, and they want to know if we want to go watch the eagles play on saturday. Theyre playing... erm...

Me: Port Adelaide.

Him: Yeah, maybe.

Me: No, really. Port Adelaide.

Him: Yeah, well, them. Do you want to go?

Me: YES!

WCE Vs Port Adelaide.

Me last time we went:

Hopefully this time it wont rain!

First Drive of the 2010 field season

The moment I've been waiting for since about a week after starting in the Perth office. Today Brad and I went for a drive to check the roads and estimate how much work they'll need before we can start properly.

It too us about 6 hours all up, and that distance would normally take us about 2... But can't be too careful when the next corner or hill brings serious bumps!

In general they weren't too bad- just the odd bad washout where we'd constructed heavy duty tracks across gullies, so what can you expect. And build ups of debris in the river crossings that will need to be moved.

The worrying part is the lack of water! Last year there was more water around for months after the wet ended. Even though the cyclone went right over the top of us, and there was obviously some torrential flows down the rivers to have changed the layout and moved so much material, so much there hasn't been much continuous rain. No afternoon thunderstorms every other day... The Davis River (below) should at least have some water left in it!

Hopefully we'll get more soon, or there will be more dead camels and cows than usual, and  the drillers will complain!

Went for a 7km treadmill run last night (til I got bored),  then today was stiff from so much driving on top of the run, so just 30 minutes slow swim. 

Crickets!

I hate crickets.

Actually, I think a singular cricket is a fairly cool critter. They have amazing eyes and come in great colours, and are mechanically brilliant.
But when they swarm they freak me out.

• They fly in that weird circular pattern
• They have spikey feet
• They get stuck in my hair
• They end up eveywhere.
• 
  
  They make a horrible crunching noise when you stand on the masses of dead ones.
• They sit hidden in spinifex, then you walk past and they all jump out and fly at you.
• They end up in your room and jump around once the lights off, but are nowhere to be seen when the lights are on.
• They smell really bad when they burn up in the fly zapper at the wet mess.
• They spend the whole night flying into the nightlight on the outside of my room, so all I can hear at night is the scratching as the tumble down the wall.
• They land in the pool and turn it into dead cricket soup. So no swimming up here for a while!

Yes, the green tinge to the floor is all cricket carcass...

Off to check the roads to see what damage the wet season has done to them so far.

We get some good washouts, and while it hasnt rained for a while, there are pockets of bull dust that tend to look solid until you drive on to them and sink...

Could be interesting!

Laugavegaur Ultra Marathon

Introducing...
http://alsicelandultra.blogspot.com/

Blatenent advertising, but for a good cause, and something I think will be of interest.

My good friend from back home, and the other half of Vikis wedding, has taken it upon himself to run the Laugavegaur Ultra Marathon, in Iceland:

The distance from Landmannalaugar to Thorsmörk is approximately 55km. The course is multi-terrain; sand, gravel, grass, snow, ice, rivers and streams... and is well-marked with wooden markers to prevent you from getting lost. Hikers normally cover this distance in four days.

The record for the course is FOUR HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES! 

I believe Als aim is to finish, But thats one hell of an aim!

I kind of blame myself. Al used to be a long distance cycling freak, then Viki and I entered the Liverpool HM back in 2006, and Al entered on whim, about 2 weeks before the race, ran it with litttle running fitness and beat me by a million miles. Or about an hour, I seem to remember...


It seems to have sparked something even more masochistic in Al though, because while Viki and I carried on jogging our little hearts out, Al started doing stupid things like running the Snowdon Marathon...


And now its 2010, and he's training hard to run the race and raise money for Mencap, a UK charity helping people with learning disabilities get the most out of life. After chatting with Viki recently, I found out quite how much training he was doing, and today convinced him to record his efforts for all to see. The aim is to raise awareness and keep his training motivation high.


So even if you don't support him financially (though justgiving- http://www.justgiving.com/alan-wood - is international, hint hint!) if this is of any interest to you, take a wander over to his blog and keep him in check and give him some of your wonderful support! 

Dexa Scan

So, I had my DEXA scan on Monday.

After driving around the hospital trying to find the right place for about 15 minutes, we eventually checked the website again and narrowed down our search (the joys of iphones/mobile internet) and found the place.

I went in and it was all very easy. Fill out the basic form and hop through to the machine room. She asked a couple more questions then spent maybe 5 minutes making sure I was in the right zone for teh machine to scan, and marking specific points on my body to calibrate it (i.e. top of centre of head, centre of body between hip bone and lowest rib).

Then I just lay still for 5 minutes while it did its magic.

While I was getting changed again (no metal in the machine) it did all the calculations, so by the time I came out again I had a pretty report, which I will post when I think on to scan it in!

Description Women Men

Essential fat 10–12% 2-4%

Athletes 14–20% 6–13%

Fitness 21–24% 14–17%

Acceptable 25–31% 18–26%

Overweight 32-41% 27-37%

Obese 42%+ 38%+

Basically, it said I was 26% fat, so theres room there for movement! My scales said I was 28%, so apart from them being inaccurate, maybe its true that they mainly measure the bottom half (my hips and bum carry most of my fat).

They also calculate the proportion of fat to lean mass according to overall density (I think thats the right description, though see wikipedia) using the SIRI and Brozek calculations.
According to the SIRI calculation, I'm under-fat (by 1% point!).
I laughed so loud.

My total lean mass was 50kg, and my bone density was good too.
So overall, not to bad a composition... but room for improvement.

It cost $60, so not tooo bad on the wallet either. I'll probably go again see how things change after all the running I intend to do, and continuing with my new found liking of weight training... Maybe September/October time.

I'm back up at Woodie today. Fun times.
There are crickets everywhere! I hate them. They get tangled in your hair, and a massive one jumped into my face... I'm talking handspan sized. Horrid things.
Went to the gym last night, it was good to have a broad array of weights again. I did interval/circuit training, so ran 1km @11kph, then did 10 minutes of weights (arms and abs), then 2km@12kph, 10 minutes same weights, another 2km@12kph, then a bit more core work and stretches. It felt good but was very sweaty!

Back in Perth I clocked up a fair few kms (for me, in recent times) including a 10km long run, planned via the water fountains. But the middle one of the three was broken! Gutted! It looked like the lawnmower machine guy had driven into it. It was at a very interesting angle. I still made it round the full route in a not too bad for recently 67 minutes. My best 10km time is 55 minutes, so still a way to go! Though that was in Liverpool on a cool race day, so can't really be compared to a training run on a hot Perth morning... but thats just an excuse!

I've been trying to get more hills into my routes too. May favourite shorter run is now a 6km loop from my house, with a couple of long hills plus one shorter one that I try and do 5 sprints up. Running as hard as I can so I kind of feel sick by the end, then slow jog the remaining km home and stretch out my cramped up calves!

Not another V-day post

Because we don't do valentines. We are having home made pizza for tea though, which is what he attempted to make me the first time :)
I did send my best friend in England a cutesy card too, mainly because it was time for a catch up letter anyway!

Yesterday was our BBQ for the boys birthday, and also just because we haven't had a barbeque for about a year and a half! It seemed to go well. We had maybe 25 people around, which was a good number, busy but not too crowded.

On friday night I sent the Boy out with a friend so I could make him an amazing cake (even if I do say so myself). I got a couple of drunkard texts from the pair of them over the evening, then a call at about 11 from the Boy asking for help because our other mate had thrown up all over the taxi and now was sitting in the middle of his drive refusing/unable to continue. Boys nights out!

The cake worked pretty well, though it wasn't the prettiest picture and the edges were a bit crispy. And I kind of ran out of icing too... It was a chocolate/raspberry ripple cake with dark and white chocolate frosting. Turned out yummy and moist and the thin spread of icing through the middle kind of dissolved the cake on either side to add to the goo. I hid it in the fridgy, boxed in by chopping boards so he couldn't peak.

The weather was pretty nice, but that meant that our back yard sun trap was roasting!
People started turning up about 1130 as planned. Starting with the first 2 out of the four invited babies. Tom (nearly 2) and his new baby brother William (3 weeks!). So off I start with the coo-ing. Ive never really spent much time with Tom, because everyone else gets dibs and the rumours start to fly about "us being next". Erm, no! But this time there was no one else around so I got to play babysitter while Fiona delt with the little one and Ben talked to the OH. Wed played with the balloons- the RED balloon, or the GREEN balloon, tom? and the ice in the esky (until he started trying to grab the bottles of beer, which Ben quite liked- Can you teach him to bring me a drink while you're there?!), then the fire engine...
It was the first time I've held a small person. Crazy huh! Over the course of the day he kept coming over to me and asking to be picked up and cuddled. At one point a friend was holding him and he started kicking up a fuss to be passed to me. So very cute and I have to admit I'm currently very clucky! But not for a few more years yet. His parents were amazed by how much he'd taken to me over the course of one afternoon, as was I! I put it down to the shiny jingly necklace...

As more people arrived and the day progressed, it was obvious our little back yard was too small and too hot for a BBQ, so the boys moved all the stuff to our front lawn (half dead, and very open- we don't have a fence or anything) and we plonked the BBQ on the footpath (good job its a quiet street) and had a very enjoyable time under the shade of the jacaranda trees out the front. I ate pretty well at the time, but we had plenty of left over sausages so not been doing too well since!

We asked people to bring interesting beer, because thats our hobby. Trying new beers. We got a fair assortment to try, and provided a massive amount of Tanglefoot, the Boys favourite tipple form the Homeland, so that everyone good try some.

I think everyone had a good time. I did, and he did, so thats what matters most.

Went out for a run yesterday morning, hill sprints included. My calves were so sore! Last night I slept for about 12 hours and woke up feeling icky, despite hardly drinking yesterday. I figured I should do something this afternoon though, once I was feeling alive again.So I walked down to the pool, and did whatever the aquatic equivalent of dawdling is... at least it got my muscles moving a bit!

Char Char Bull and San Churro

So on wednesday night we went for dinner at Char Char Bull in Freo.

Its a steak house down on the seafront, fighting for space with all the seafood places.

First we went for a quick half in Little Creatures, because thats what you've got to do when you're in Freo and have any time to spare! So after a drop of the Rogers (my favourite, followed by the pale, then trailing far behing is the pils and the Pipsqueak. Cider should be made of apples, not just vaguely taste like it saw one once) we went to the restaurant.

All was quite quiet when we arrived (6.30 reservation, because I'm always fammished by then) so there was a bit of sniggering along the lines of "good job we booked tee hee".

The menu was pretty decent for a steak house.

The Boy was always going to have the surf and turf, piled high with garlic sauce :)

I was torn between the pork:

Pork rib eye (300 gms), on the bone,

served on bubble & squeak,

with cinnamon spiced apple sauce,

crackling & red wine jus

And the Quail:

Golden roasted quail stuffed with

porcini muchroom & nut farce,

served with bacon, peas,

wilted cos in chicken broth

And the Kangaroo:

Kangaroo fillet, spiced & served pink

on potato mash, with

plim, apple & star anise compote & red wine jus

But went for the Quail, becuase I've never had it before and I would never dare cook it!

It was lovely.

And the steak was perfect. Thick and juicy and cooked to perfection.

And buy about 7:30 the place was packed, even on a wednesday night, so I was very glad I booked so we could have the romantic table in the corner looking out over all the fishing boats and watching the sky change colour.

We looked at their dessert menu, but nothing really jumped out. Maybe thats because I had my mind on the donut and chocolate place. My work mate reminded me of the existance of San Churro when I said we were headed to Freo, and we walked past it on the way to the seafront.

I nearly died in melted chocolate deep fried heaven.

6 Churros and 2 pots of melted couverture chocolate (milk and dark).

Life is for living, right?

In other news, I booked in for a DEXA scan on monday.

I'm intruiged but scared!

Its the Boys birthday

Today he joins me in the quarter-life crisis club :)

He wanted Bioshock 2, which came out yesterday.

I told him I couldnt get out fom work before the shops closed, I'm sorry.

Maybe he could wait til late night shopping on thursday?

He fell for it.

So when I gave him the big heavy box that looked nothing at all like a computer game this morning, he was happy to have something to open. Even if it wasnt his real present. And it even had ribbons.

When it was the collectors version of Bioshock, he was slightly happy!

Meeting a friend for lunch, whos birthday it was yesterday. I couldnt think what to buy her, so I made a funky card instead;

Hopefully she'll like it. I think its funky! I have lots of left over bits, so I think I'll make a few of them and send them to my friends as a surprise "I miss you" card.

Then the Boy and I are off to Char Char Bull in Freo tonight for "steak and beer". Should be good, but the weathers closed in and its actually drizzling, so maybe not the romantic sunset meal I was planning...

But hopefully it should still be good food and good company.

My Goals from way back in August

I've been thinking recently that I need to remind myself of my goals, so here is what I wrote last August when I was realised quite how much my weight, or more importantly, my volume, had snuck up. I was only about 4 kilos more than I averaged all the way through uni, but I'd always felt happier on the low side of where I was, even before this time last year and the start of the rapid ascent!


I got to 69 for my birthday, which was good enough for me. I felt really skinny and tried on some smart trousers that'd been sat languishing in the drawers because thay'd always been on the tight side even on good days, and they were positively baggy :) 
And I'm still 68...
But I'd still like to reach 65 for the wedding. 3 kilos in 4 months. You'd think it should be easy!
Sometime soon I'll go through and re do them, and hopefully it'll spur me on to get down to 65, or preferably even 62 maybe?!, for June...  

***********************************************

Saturday, 22nd Aug 2009
The CK University wants me to think through my motivation, so here I go:

Health I'm borderline BMI at present, though do have a decent set of muscles beneath. But still, more into the healthy range can't hurt, and might save me from going the other way...

Appearance I want a waist... and I want more clothes to look OK on me.

Self-esteem My self esteem is already pretty decent most of the time, thanks in part to a lovely OH who, like in Bridget Jones, loves me just the way I am... But like everyone I have fat days and days where nothing in the wardrobe looks right.

Self-confidence See above... anything that boosts my confidence around strangers has got to be good.

Energy I know that the more I exercise, the better I feel for the rest of the time.

Self-control I have none, its all or nothing. So will be interesting!

Ability to engage in more physical activities I do most anyway...

Social acceptance I already feel socially accepted, but would be nice not to have to wonder if I'm what the guys at work talk about when they mock their mates for taking home girls using descriptions like "well, she wasn't a whale, but y'know, not too good"

Special occasion 25th Birthday in November and for some reason its getting to me Plus bridesmaid next June for one of my best friends weddings back in blighty. Will also be the first time I'll have seen most of the people in 3 years, so would be nice to look good.

So... Main motivators are:
To look better.
Special occassions.

Goals:

67kg by November 19th - my quarter centuary and about the lightest I'll ever have been while taking any notice

65kg by June - for the wedding. Will be mainly a case of maintaining it over that long I think.

Mini Goal - 70kg by 1st October - I know these sound long and drawn out, but I don't want to drop down the bounce right back up again!

There is culture in Perth after all.

A bit too much for some. I heard some funny comments :)

Perth International Arts Festival kicked off on Friday with a big show in the Supreme Court Gardens, featuring La Fura des Baus, a spanish performance arts group:

Multi-award winning and utterly unique, La Fura dels Baus have a world-class reputation for artistic excellence. Their remarkable public shows have been performed around the globe, including at the 1992 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and in Barcelona for the millennium celebration.

La Fura dels Baus create massive, awe-inspiring shows that combine human athletic precision, breathtaking acrobatics and large moveable structures. Among their many creations are flying angels, giant wheels hovering in open air and daredevil choreography performed in a spinning, smoking globe.

Needless to say, it was pretty spectacular! 
I got there a bit early to watch the Welcome to Country, which was pretty cool. 
The gardens were already packed out with picnic-ers, enjoying the fine weather for once (apparently it rained for the last two years).
Once the welcome was over, they gave us warning to pack up all stuff, stand up, and if we were movement inpaired (e.g. disabled, had small kids and especially a pram) to move outside the boundary. People were unwilling, but it soon became obvious why we should!
As the time for the show approached, people started moving through the crowd with burning fire sticks. People started moving!

Then we had all sorts: 

Angels hanging in the sky

flying wheels

bull riders (charging through the crowd, see why you had to move?!) 

and the curtain of sandgropers, hanging from the crane:

Sounds weird but it looked fantastic!

Holidays!

Yey!
I love holiday planning.

We have many trips in the pipeline- its going to be a great year!

• Finally going to go to Melbourne on my first break in March. We were going to go for ~3 weeks, and do a week ish in Melbourne, a week probably in the Snowy Mountains (and Mt Kozy-what-ever-its-called) and a weekend in Canberra, but all the OHs workmates had jumped in and he couldnt get the time off. So just Melbourne it is. Bring on nice food and shopping!
• Hopefully, I will be meeting up withj my best friend from school in Cairns in May-ish. Shes been in NZ for the last 9 months and then plans to do a bit a trip along the east coast before returning to the UK. She's headed from Sydney to Darwin, and Cairns seems liek a good option. I went when my parents were over in August and loved it, so want to take the OH and do soem more exploring.
• We're off back to the UK in June for the wedding. It'll be 3 years since I'll have seen most of the people so I'm excited!
• On the way back we're stopping over in Dubai to see one of my other bestest friends who's currently there engineering water until he gets enough experience to engineer water for Oxfam. We get to see the Burj. I'm nearly as excited as teh OH about that!
• The only time this year that the Staircase to the Moon falls on our break is in September, so we're beading to Broome. I liekd it when I was there... 4 years ago? And when we were sorting through all the residency evidence I found a postcard I'd written, saying that when we moved over here we had to come back and ride camels on the beach at sunset. And now I'm aware of the existancy and deliciousness of Matsos Brewery, so its going to be amazing!

So much planning potential!
Love it!

Where are you off to this year?

Run for a Reason

So, my running has taken a back seat so far this year, what with all the cycling and focus on building strength not just cardio.
I also had unrealistic aims- running a marathon this year?! Who am I trying to kid? Once I'm back out bush all training will go out the window, and train I must to actually finish a marathon without dying.

So. New plan:

Early May: 7km Mothers Day Classic (if this isn't when I'm in Cairns)

End of May: 14km Run for a Reason. I don't know if this is a new event in Perth, but I've never noticed it before. Its the last break before we go home for the wedding, so should help keep me in check until then.

End August: C2S HM. I figure, if I have a good base worked up I'll be able to add another few km to it for the HM. It will be a challenge but it should be achievable. SMART ;)

October (?): Rottnest 10k. I've wanted to do one of the races on Rotto for years. So if no marathon then the 10k it will be.

These are all on my breaks, and I will enter them all soon, so I can't back out.

I would love to do another Tri, especially after reading Mels race report. Ive seen a few around that I could probably phyically aim for, but theyre all open water, and while I'm getting much better with my fear of the unknown I don't think I'm over it enough. My first Tri was in open water, but it was short and sheltered. I think my actual biggest fear is having another panic attack and having to be dragged out of the water, more than any real fear of being eaten alive. I'm doing good at being in the water at my own pace and on my own terms, not on the blow of a whistle... Maybe it can be on the list of things to have done by the time I hit 30...

On a totally unrelated note, I just got back from
Bran Nue Dae.
I really liked it, as I'm assuming did all the rest of the people in the cinema! Its been a long time since I heard so much laugh-out-loud-laughter at a film. 

Part of me wonders if its to cover their embarrassment...

Or am I just cynical?!