...Going out now....will write when I get back...probably... ;)

I forgot to write yesterday that one of my bosses had an excellent idea. He told me he thinks I should become a child actor. Hahahahahaha....can you imagine me telling my family? "Hi, Mom and Dad, I'm all grown up now, so I've decided to become a child actor!" :)
This came out of a conversation we were having that was inspired by Alient Ant Farm's rendition of "Smooth Criminal." Of course it made me think of Michael Jackson and how I think it's such a shame that now when people think of him, they associate him with child molestation etc. I told my boss how I was in love with Michael Jackson when I was about 8. I thought I was going to marry him. Of course when I was 9 I was going to marry Jon Bon Jovi. And I wanted to marry the Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio) around then as well....not to mention Patrick Swayze and Joey Tempest (remember the band Europe?) Needless to say, my tastes were pretty loose.

Anyhoo, we got to talking about The Karate Kid and I mentioned that I read somewhere that Ralph Macchio was like 35 when he did that movie (okay probably more like 24, but he looked about 14, so you see where I'm going with this. (Wait, I just realised....I think Patrick Swayze was 35 when he did Dirty Dancing, my bad.) So the fact that Ralph (Daniel) was about 24 or older and looking like he was 14 and playing a kid in highschool. So this inspired my boss to suggest that I become a child actor since I look so young...

Something to think about, definitely ;)

No time to write tonight, I worked late, so I'm buggy-eyed. Just one bit of advice: Never use Dove Body Wash as shampoo when you run out of real shampoo. This morning I was in the shower, just got my hair all wet when I realised I was totally out of shampoo. Once before, maybe 8 months ago, the same thing happened so I used Herbal Essences body wash as shampoo because I was desperate. That actually worked pretty well. However, stupid me went and used Dove Moisturising Body Wash, which I absolutely love because it does make my skin all super silky soft. However, I was basically shampooing like 75% moisturiser into my super-fine long hair. It weighed my hair down - I looked like cousin IT after a day at the beach, with sunscreen in my hair or something. Of course I'm sure no one else noticed it but me but that's because I work with all boys ;)

Anyhoo, a word to the wise... :)

p.s. I never thought I'd stoop so low as to write a blog about a "bad hair day!" ;)

I had a yummy dinner with J and R tonight at a cute little classy restaurant on Elizabeth St. I had the barramundi on a bed of angel hair pasta and zucchini. MMM-MMM-GOOD! I am pathetic, I had one glass of wine with dinner and now I'm zonked. We were celebrating Thanksgiving early tonight and we all realised we have a lot to be thankful for. I'm mostly thankful for my family, friends, everyone's health, the fantastic opportunities I've been given this past year, and the amazing new people I've met over the last two years. It's hard sometimes having the people you love being spread out all over the world, over several continents, but then again, it can be pretty cool too.

This is just a quickie, I'm off to bed - early meeting with a client in the morning - woo-hoo!

One last thing, you know how annoying it is when you get a song in your head and you just can't get rid of it? Well, I have had one of my own songs stuck in my head non-stop for like the last month...trust me, there's nothing more annoying than being tortured by your own stuff! ;)

I am burning chocolate scented incense in my bedroom right now. Smells divine. Today was the 3rd consecutively rainy day in good ol' Sydney. Super windy and pretty chilly and I hate being a boring person who only talks about the weather so I'll shut up now...

Went out to lunch with my co-workers for Yumcha today. Yum! Very nice! We were celebrating the brief return of an old co-worker and the amazing silence in the office today and it was well worth celebrating. Thank you to D for being so nice about letting me sit on his lap to and from Chinatown. Six of us were packed in a small but cool little car. It was like clowns getting out of one of those little cars...where they just keep getting out and you wonder how many are in there ;)

Looking forward to an early Thanksgiving dinner with J & R tomorrow.....won't be the same without my mashed potatoes, but we'll survive. ;)

I am very excited that miss Kristen will be arriving in Sydney soon. We are going to have a ball, my dear, you can bet on it. Things might be looking shady at the moment, but you just get ready to have the time of your life. Madame Butterfly will see to that!

And special get-well wishes go out to Rammstein. May you feel all better soon and enjoy fun halluincatory Vicks-induced dreams in the meantime :)

I felt a bit nauseous this evening - I think it was the damn coffee I had this afternoon. And for the nth time, I think I might give up coffee :) I am actually really craving vegemite toast at the moment - am definitely having it for breakfast tomorrow. For some of you, this will sound quite ordinary, but trust me, for an American to be craving vegemite toast, well, it is a special moment ;)

More gale force winds today, power outages, houses damaged, people hurt, craziness! Thankfully my experiences were pretty tame in comparison. The ladies room in my office is freezing beause the windows can't ever close- they just bang open and bang shut over and over and over again. It's like going to the bathroom outside. Anyhoo, today a leaf and a twig came flying through the window and hit me in the face while I was on the can, and then the extra roll of toilet paper went all over the place when the wind blew it off the window sill.

Only 9 more days until Harry Potter opens...normally I really hate things that are this popular. It's usually a huge turn-off, but they're extremely entertaining and fun books, what can I say? I'm hooked, it's true. And to think just 12 months ago I was on the train snickering at businessmen on the train reading Harry Potter or businesswomen in their powersuits, riding on their scooters while reading Harry Potter. Granted, they can still be laughed at, but for other reasons... ;)

Time for some writing now....*whip cracking*

I am soooo sleepy. I just got home. It's about 7.30pm and I have been out and about since 8.30am. I had a 9am-5pm meditation seminar today. It was really tough, but good. My mind is always racing so learning to "turn it off" for a while was extremely difficult. It will take lots of practice to really get it going, but I was pretty proud of myself, I turned off the thoughts more than I would have thought I could, for periods of time at least.

Our teacher was pretty funny. He's one of those guys that's walking a fine line with me between sincerity, common sense, wisdom, and philosophy and BS. I agreed with a lot of what he said, and I disagreed with quite a bit here and there, but could totally understand where he was coming from even when I didn't agree. And that's what it's all about, isn't it? I mean, some things I was experiencing for the first time, or hearing for the first time, so it was like taking a sip of lemonade and swallowing the sweet bits I liked and spitting out the bits I didn't like (the seeds).

So, it was a good day, albeit a long one. My co-workers on Friday were like, "Can you last that long without talking?" and I dared them to take bets on me. Even though everyone who knows me says I could "talk underwater" I have realised that I don't really talk much on Sundays. Sundays are usually my quiet days. I think I have gone some Sundays without speaking to anyone! (Pick yourselves up off the floor, those of you who have fainted.) I probably have a nightime chat with friends every now and then on Sundays, but usually that's my day of writing/reading/lounging around, with just me, myself, and I.

I only spoke to people today during the two tea breaks. During lunch we were asked to go eat alone and do this special meditation while eating and do a walking meditation through Hyde Park (Virtual Tour). Before lunch we did a laying-down meditation. That was pretty cool. We all laid down on the floor, our heads all pointing towards the middle of the circle, the lights were out, just a candle an some incense burning. Very relaxing. After lunch we learned about Zen meditation and did it for about 45 minutes. It was so strange. I actually did it pretty well towards the beginning and had this incredible urge to giggle and laugh. I felt giddy. And I kinda felt buzzed and "high" even though I've never done drugs before and have no idea what it's like to feel high due to them. But I do know what it feels to be high naturally...sky-diving does that. So it kinda felt like that on a smaller scale. It was pretty cool. But then the thoughts started to invade again and every now and then I'd feel like I just couldn't take it anymore, and I had that antsy "Is it over yet?" feeling, and then I'd chill out again and go with it and it was good. The class next door was talking about culture shock and it was really hard not to let that get into my brain. That whole mantra thing (I said "Kuuuuuu" instead of "Ooooohmmm") does actually help block out everything else.

Our teacher today gave me a lot to think about. It's not as if I hadn't thought of some of these things before, but it was a good reminder. He talked a lot about a good diet and did the whole "you shouldn't eat red meat...it is in the nature of human beings to be vegetarians" thing and he brought up the same points that several authors I've enjoyed have pointed out. Human beings have to cook their meat a LOT and season it and do all sorts of things to hide the meat because it wouldn't naturally taste good to us etc etc. And there are a lot of other valid points too. Now this doesn't mean I'm going to become a vegetarian, but I have noticed that I have become more vegetarian over the last two years. I still eat meat, but not as often as I used to, and I definitely eat a lot less red meat than I used to. Some days I could really go for a good juicy prime rib, but I guess the point is finding moderation. A little bit of anything is fine. When he got into the "eat more fresh foods" spiel, I started thinking that I have been eating too much crap lately and too much soda. So I'm not giving up my junk food or soda cold turkey, but I'm just going to try to eat healthier/better foods and keep the junk to a minimum. So that's more water, less Coke :) I ate pretty healthy today, so we'll see how long it lasts.

The teacher also slagged "psychology" quite a bit and I found it very amusing. He was right about some things. I will be the first to admit that there are a lot of dodgy things involved in psychology and plenty of crap is being thrown around, but he sounded a bit disillusioned to me. Psychology is like any other field or area of study. There's good stuff and bad stuff and it's up to individuals to pick and choose between what they agree with, and what they don't, and you always have to be careful to keep an open mind.

The main thing that I found a bit disconcerting is how he kept talking about "your people" and "my people" etc. etc. He kept making that distinction. When I looked around the room at the other "white people" I wasn't thinking, "These are my people!" I know he was really just making the distinction between western culture/philosophy and eastern culture/philosophy, and that's very relevant, but every time he said, "Your people often like this" or kept using the collective "you," it just felt weird. He was born in part of Persia which is now Iran, but he's been in Australia for 20 years now. He had a great smile and was quite the character. I think more than anything, he just reconfirmed my belief that there are admirable qualities in eastern philosophies and western philosophies and it's good to sift through them and choose what you like to try to find that balance in everything you do.

I have been extra extra tired these last 2 weeks regardless of the amount of "sleep" I've been getting, mostly because the quality of my sleep has been quite poor. So many dreams, lots of shallow sleep. I wake up completely drained. I think it's one part "not enough relaxation" and one part "not enough exercise." I live right across the street from an amazing pool. Ideally I'd like to go swimming for maybe 45 minutes before work, perhaps 3x a week? If I woke up at 6.30, I could fit it in. In my dream world, I'd do 45 minutes of either swimming or Tai Chi in the mornings, then take a shower, then do 25 minutes zen meditation, then eat breakfast, then power-walk to work while doing the walking meditation. Then, after work, I'd do the walking meditation on my way home, come home, do the zen meditation, eat dinner, do my writing for a while, read, then do a bit of Tai Chi, and then finally, the laying-down meditation....it's supposed to give you deep dreamless sleep. I know, I sound absolutely insane! But I think all of that would give me lots more energy and that's what I want! I should really start taking some more Tai Chi classes--I'm really into the relaxation/exercise combo. Anything that gives you a work-out and clears your mind at the same time is SO my bag, baby. Seriously, after my 2 months of Tai Chi, I could really notice the difference. It was very relaxing, and my thigh muscles were strong. I have slacked off in the last couple months and my body is consequently slack as all hell, so time to to start it up again! I'm really in this whole "try new things, see if they're any good, have an open mind" sort of mode, as I think you can tell.

Today was a weird day weather wise. Rainy and crappy (yet warm) this morning, then the sun came out and it was beautiful. Then no idea what happened between 9am-1pm, it was okay during lunchtime, then started raining again, yadda. I went to Broadway to read/write for a couple hours after class (after 5pm) and when I was heading outside the sunny weather changed to rain immediately. I nearly pulled a Mary Poppins as the wind was ripping up and my umbrella kept blowing inside out, but as I was crossing Broadway I saw a rainbow. It was gorgeous. Half of it was coming out of Broadway Shopping Centre and the other half was coming out of the Telstra building. (At least from my perspective.)

Off to do some writing now. Woo-hoo.