DVD workout: reviews.

You probably won't be interested in this series of posts unless you are also doing some kind of fitness program or routine, but a lot of my friends are doing Jillian or do training for some mudder or other. I'm going to blog everything that's in my head, because that is why I have blogs.

Ah, the many advantages of fitness DVDs! The VALUE! A one off spend of $25ish (plus a mat and 2 weights if you are too fancy for a towel and 2 tinned foods) for unlimited training! The PRIVACY! It doesn't matter how ungraceful you are or what you are wearing or how ugly you look when you sweat, nobody is judging you in your own lounge room! The EFFICIENCY! No commuting to and from a gym or pool or park. The only disadvantage is a lack of accountability to spur you on if you get tired, bored or lazy, so I find I need a really good routine to stick to (my Monday is all about leaving work at 5pm ON THE DOT so that I can be doing Jillian before 6pm). It is really good to work out with a friend, so I sometimes do that.

If you are considering converting to Jillian Michaels, here are three DVD reviews. There are other DVDs I don't own or haven't tried. I have tried Tracy Anderson once and some kick-boxing woman once, but I prefer Jillian. Once you get over her intimidating abs (she has no body fat) she is a good trainer. Not too bright and perky. She just gets down to business.




NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES
This is where I began. It takes the best part of an hour to do the whole thing, and it mixes and combines a lot of different moves in short sets so you don't get bored. It's pretty much all just strength training: circuits of lunges, squats, planks, crunches and arm stuff. The moves are good for beginners, as they don't require much skill or balance: they are simple, but tiring. I feel like this workout covers the whole body, so for me this is the DVD to use regularly. If you want to begin, start with 3 or 4 circuits which will take you about half an hour, and don't go too hard on the lunges and squats for about the first week, or else you won't be able to walk. (I only did Jillian once last week, lost a bit of fitness, and am walking a little stiffly today from my session last night!) Build up to the 7 complete circuits over a month or two. Start with no hand weights, or just 0.5 kg. Do the DVD 3 to 5 times a week. 3 times is about enough for me to maintain.

KILLER BUNS AND THIGHS
Yes, the name is funny. But "killer" is not an exaggeration. This is the hardest DVD I've tried. It's not a friendly workout, it's a maniac workout. There is a stuff like balancing on one leg and kicking slowly in the air. It's the sort of workout that I feel amazed at even finishing. It's a little bit shorter than NMTZ, about 45 min to do the whole thing. George gave me this DVD and I do it occasionally, when I want a real challenge.

30 DAY SHRED
This is for when you do a 30 minute workout every day, which doesn't suit my routine at the moment. I've never gone past level one. There is a good mix of strength and cardio on this DVD, whereas NMTZ doesn't have any pure cardio at all (NMTZ still gets your heart pumping though). I like it, it is short and manageable but I still feel physically tired at the end, particularly my upper body.

Jillian DVDs are pretty much all hard. They are a proper, sweaty workout for a fit person. But they are easy to use and get into if you start small and work up, adding circuits and weights over a few weeks.

It's 50 days til Christmas.

Hardest person to buy a Christmas present for.

In my family, it's not the dad or the brother. There are no in-laws. I know what DVDs people will like. Even if I haven't seen the DVDs myself. My greatest triumph was getting dad Life on Mars, even though I hadn't watched it.

For me it's Grandma.

The jessenomics of food waste.

I think it's something like a quarter or a third of groceries are spoiled and wasted. Australian stats. I think it's often good intentions and bad planning—people want to buy fresh food, but they don't have the lifestyle suited to cooking and eating it. All it takes is shopping for what you realistically WILL eat, and giving up the idol of freshness—tins and frozen food don't waste as easily. Cooking shows make such a big deal about fresh food, perhaps because the supermarkets pay for the ads and get the most benefit from food you buy and don't eat.

Waste is against my nature anyway. I just can't allow it happen, if I can possibly help it. I feel like a moral failure if I throw anything out. For me, a waste of food is both a waste of money and a waste of effort, because of carting it home from the shops on foot and unpacking it into the fridge only to fill up the kitchen bin and carry it out to the wheelie bin. So there's the jessenomics of it, 10 minutes each week of thinking properly about what to buy and cook can save your money, and effort, and the environment. Apparently it's bad for the environment because it's a waste of water and fuel and landfill—not wasting food is the easiest way to reduce "food miles" and all that footprint stuff, it's just not so trendy a "solution". A "solution" has to involve a farmer's market or a veggie patch or something.

No Eat Street on 8th Nov.

It is someone's birthday, so we may see you at that do.

2rph

I recently discovered a radio station of reading out loud. Newspapers, books and magazines. This is an excellent thing, even if you don't have a reading impairment. I think the night programing is pretty good for falling asleep. I don't listen during the day.

Community radio stations have almost completely taken over my ABC radio time! I didn't realise there were so many non-commercial radio options for an ad-hater.

Shoot.

Check if there will be food before RSVPing No.

No-treats-vember.

One of my sisters is a woman after my own heart. Not that the other one isn't too. She is instigating her own month of a challenge, with a cool name. I don't do cool names other than putting "challenge" on the end of something, so this is a good one. If you have been wanting to do a challenge, this might be just the wit to convince you. No-credi-tcard-vember or No-cheese-vember or No-tv-vember. I'm thinking of doing No-tv-vember, but I probably can't.

Long skirt.

A long skirt is a little less warm than jeans, but a little warmer than a normal skirt. It's like a cardigan for the legs. A cardigan is less than a jacket, more than just a shirt.

Information.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/david-allen-on-how-to-fix-your-life/263883/#.UIns-Apttro.mailto


I like "your psyche is not your system". And I like how he prefers paper—I use my phone or iCal for automatic reminders, but day to day stuff goes on paper or in my diary, because I am more likely to see it. Hooray for lists!

Friendship goals.

There is a part of my social life that sustains itself, with eat-streets and facebook and one catch-up flowing naturally into another. When I want to do something, I have a default group of people I recruit from.

For various reasons, I decided I need to invest a little more deeply in some of the other people around me. To build some more friendships that would be mutually beneficial, and also to love people who need a bit more love, and also to sustain friendships that I value through changes in life like marriage (theirs not mine). To fight the sometimes selfish gravity of old friends and comfortable ruts and isolation. The thing is, it's hard to know where to start, other than just by feeling like a failure or deciding I have enough friends anyway or putting it off until something happens spontaneously. I've got the means and the time and the energy at the moment, I want to actually do something, instead of vaguely wish and hope.

I decided instead that I should write down 5 things to do with 5 people, and do them before the end of the year. Then I would know I have invested some of my time in others. It sounds weird and cold, a list of "friendship goals". I'm not that kind of person. It's just that it is easier to do something overwhelming if you have a simple first step, like "1. see a movie with T". So I actually have a list.  I have no expectations of amazing results, and relationships aren't very measurable anyway; I just want to know that I've made an effort.

Eat street other plan.

Sculpture by the Sea this Friday night, I'll be starting at the Bondi end at around 6, and meeting others there or at other points, most of you have my contact details so you can find us there as you arrive. Sunset is at 7.15 so that's why I'm saying 6pm.

Buying the physical thing.

You'll never guess what. I bought a CD today, Sigh No More was $10 at jb hifi so Christmas ahoy, brother. He doesn't read my blog, I bet. Anyway, I got myself one as well. (See, Spotify HASN'T killed MY music sales.) I can't remember when I last bought a CD. I had a little moment of nostalgia. I forgot how clear and shiny a new plastic jewel case is, it used to be as magical to me as new car smell or unbroken book spine. I forgot that you can see the album art bigger in a CD than you can on your iTunes screen. I forgot that they come with booklets with song lyrics in them and pictures of the band and stuff. It was a journey of rediscovery. I still will buy downloads mainly, because I think the CD experience is often clutter rather than nostalgia or excitement, but it was delightful to remember the excitement of my youth, except that this time it's not an *NSync album.

By the way, I trialed ordering online at JBhifi and collecting it in store. It saves looking around for ages in the shop (I had a few things to get) and it's quicker than postage as well. Order at my computer, get emailed a few hours later saying I can collect it, and pop out at lunch.

I loathe My Bad.

I really really hate it when people say "my bad!". Especially if they've already done something to annoy me. "My bad!" is not an apology. "Sorry" is an apology, "my bad!" is a careless dismissal, and makes me want to punch your mouth. Also, it's stupid English.

Breaking the silence.

A man overtook me walking to work, and I noticed his backpack was open. So I though I should tell him. But I did it awkwardly, it took many moments for me to pull my ipod out of my ears and form words with my brain and mouth. It's talking to a stranger, it's breaking that zone everyone locks themselves into with their morning commute, I felt weird and unnatural, plus it was probably the first words I'd spoken that day so my voice was still getting out of bed. "Your backpack is open" came out all slow, blurry and singsong, at an inappropriate volume—I sounded like a one of those talking dogs on youtube. He took like 5 seconds to understand me as well, before checking his backpack.

How a mess starts.

I didn't do Jillian after work yesterday. I was going to do Jillian right up until I walked in the door, and then my brain just couldn't cope. So, it was a mental health break slash mental health house-tidy. The house still looked OK from the BIG CLEAN 2 weeks ago, but there was the beginning of mess. Which is a slippery slope. It starts out innocently enough, with a few small things that are annoying to deal with. Like a piece of mail I need to ring up and query something. Or a nice postcard that I need to find some bluetak to stick up. And then all of a sudden there are 25 small annoying things scattered around, and it's more than I can deal with any more. And it provides a cluttered environment for bigger mess to lay down and grow. And in 3 weeks we are back where we started, unable to use the kitchen table or the dresser.  So I spent an hour putting stuff away, throwing out dead flowers, dealing with a broken shirt, sorting through papers, and drinking tea while listening to an audiobook—and cut the vicious cycle off before it could get going. And then I walked to work this morning, because exercise is still important.

Move over, engagement ring.

I read an article some time ago, I might have already raved about it, saying how the diamond engagement ring tradition is really very modern, an invention of the diamond cartels to flog diamonds to the prosperous middle class of the 50s. Basically it was a really successful advertising campaign, with "diamonds are forever" and "diamonds are a girls best friend" and all that, fed to the public through movies and film stars and songs. Actually, according to that article, diamonds are a pretty poor investment, they decrease in value after you buy them and diamond dealers never buy them back. So all they have is really good branding.

It's still a nice thing to do, a pretty ring is a lovely symbol of a promise, I'd be pleased to get one myself. But it's just doubling up on the job the wedding ring does, really. So if it came to my choice, I now feel like there would be other things I'd like to spend that money on than propping up the diamond industry. Someone in the office reported last week that a ministry they are part of received a donation of the money they would have spent on a ring. He thought that his fiancés faith was the real treasure and they agreed to donate the ring money instead to the ministry she had most benefited from as a young Christian. That's awesome. Myself, I'm a Jane Austen heroine, and I think an engagement piano would be lovely. It worked for Marianne Dashwood and Jane Fairfax. Romantic, nice to look at, and a lot more useful to me. All theoretical, of course.  I can always buy my own piano. See how I worked this whole post into justification for buying myself a piano?

TV is a fickle master.

My flatmate mentioned last week that I should check the TV guides, because all the TV shows we like are being fast-tracked here all of a sudden without much warning. And lo, as she told, I had already missed the first episode of the new season of The Mentalist. I have not been watching ch 9 since they started showing nothing but Big Brother, but surely I would have caught one ad, if they had been promoting it at all. Booo :(

Invention involving a rubber band, an ipod and a bus ticket.

iPod with rubber band wrapped around it. Will hold headphones neat and tidy.

 

On the other side, it will hold bus ticket! Since I always have my ipod on the bus, it's an excellent way to keep my ticket safe AND handy. A wallet is safe, but annoying to get into all the time, and a pocket is handy, but easy to lose.

 

 

In the outside access pocket of my bag.

DESC.

We've been umming and ahhing about it this week. Elsie can't come. She suggested the night noodle markets in Hyde Park. So we're doing that tomorrow night, and it's not really DESC at all, just a catch up. The night noodle markets have always been a bit underwhelming to me, sort of the worst of a food court combined with the worst of a picnic, but I haven't been for a few years so I'm happy to try it again. Let me know if you're coming, we'll be meeting at 6pm but if you're late you can find us by phone.

The downside of taxes.

Having to pay a tax bill is not much of a reward for doing my tax return. (When I say "doing my tax return", I mean my dad doing my tax return.) To me, the refund is the whole point of the exercise. It's fair payment for me keeping my receipts organised for a year. It's my main incentive. I deserve it. Filing is annoying. This year I have to pay for the privilege, unfortunately. I know, first world problem. At least I get to use my cheque book, which is a rare treat.

Haircut plus upselling.

I'm not really obsessed with my hair at the moment, but I have a series of thoughts.

I have never coloured my hair. I want to avoid the commitment and the upkeep. So some hairdressers, when they see my virgin hair, do this:

"This is your natural colour? It's lovely!"
(But this is just to soften me up, because it's immediately contradicted by the following...)
"Have you ever thought about highlights?"
"Or a balayage, that's where we just lighten the ends."
"You've got a lovely base colour, you could get some lovely natural highlights."
The deflection response I tried on Sunday was to have my eyes closed and say nothing more than "hmm". I know I could get highlights, but I haven't asked for them. So just "hmm". Let it end awkwardly.

I got home and looked at my plain natural unhighlighted brown hair colour and I realised I liked it. I've always said "No" to colours on principle because it's how you should respond to upselling, and I'm too indecisive to make up my mind what to do anyway, but actually I like my hair the way it is. It's some sort of rare pleasant self-aware moment, when I realise I like something about myself. It's my hair, and I like it. And I'll be going grey soon.

I make sense.

At dinner the other night, the waiter asked me if I spoke Chinese. I said to him, in Mandarin, "I speak Cantonese."

At first thought, that seems ridiculous, right? Why would I say in one dialect that I speak another? I said it in Mandarin because that's what I expect most people in Chinatown to speak nowadays, but I told him that I speak Cantonese so that he would know why my Mandarin was less than perfect (to put it nicely) and why I might say, "I don't get you." See, I do make sense.

Sweet and salty nuts.

My latest discovery courtesy of Anna. Small tub of sweet and salty nuts. 2 for $7 at Coles right now. Covered with sugar and salt. Hits the same spot as a bag of chips, but, need a lot less of them to be satisfied, so small tub of nuts better value than bag of chips and possibly healthier.

Kiroran Silk Road Uygur Restaurant.

I'm not always going to review Dixon Eat Street, but the food on Monday night was the best cheap food in the CBD, in my opinion. Caveat, Ton Ton Japanese (behind KFC on Bathurst/George) is very central and for $10 you can get a very filling bowl of rice, fried chicken and mayo. But for a proper Asian dinner with a group of people sharing dishes, pretty cheap and extremely delicious, head a bit further down to Dixon Street. It's an upstairs restaurant, shabby but comfortable. You don't go there for the decor. Go to the Korean BBQ over the street if you want decor and slippery useless chopsticks. This place is just for awesome food. Service was pretty good, and with a group of 9 the food arrival was well paced and we got some free bread. The food was generous, with spicy/salty flavours. If something is labelled "hot" it is hot. If it says "spicy" it's more sort of BBQ. They do hand made noodles, and a sort of pancake meat pie which is delicious and for $12 could feed 2 people, and tasty tasty lamb skewers, and other meats and potatoes. It's not fancy but it's the tastiest food you don't have to queue for. (Mamak, I can't be bothered with you.)

We checked out the nitrogen gelato place for dessert, and again, WOW. This is expensive ice-cream at $6 a scoop but it's a good sized scoop and it is really good.

Surprise haircut.

I ended up getting a haircut on Sunday. I just seized the moment, I was doing Jillian and thought "I'll pay someone to wash my hair after this, while I get it cut." Genius idea, going from sweaty and dirty to clean, healthy and blow-dried in one go. Maximum value. Also, I think that getting a haircut is an EXCELLENT job to do when you are tired, because you just sit there.

Tip, if you like to get a haircut with no appointment, like me, Sunday is a quieter day than Saturday, and if it's a beautiful day outside it's even quieter, so you've got excellent chances of wandering in and getting a haircut then and there in peace and quiet, with nobody but a lady getting foils and a few men getting their beards trimmed.

Stickers in the wallet

I've started keeping cute stickers of animals in my wallet. This is for when when I see friends and their kids, I can give the kid a sticker and s/he can start building a positive association with me :)

Life has too many bits.

I believe that there is a set limit on how efficient I can be. I have limited juggling abilities. Probably everybody does, but some people have super-abilities. Once I juggle some balls up in the air, others will drop to the floor and go under the bed. Currently, the balls I am succeeding with are reading the bible almost daily, exercising several times a week, not getting sick or run down, recording my spending, washing up when I run out of breakfast bowls or earlier, and regularly toothbrushing the grout in the bathroom to keep the mould down. The balls I've missed are less important anyway. It's just the housework and stuff. One day, maybe next month, I'll finish painting my chest of drawers so that I can put ALL my clothes away, I'll clean the kitchen and bathroom and mop the floors, I'll get stuck into my list of UFOs, I'll floss my teeth, I'll get a haircut, I'll take that pile of stuff to the op shop.

Argh Coles.

My Coles has rearranged all the aisles. How long will it take me to learn the new map? I don't like walking four aisles to find olives. So far, the only improvement is that now chips and confectionery are in the same aisle, not separate aisles, and it is closer to the express lanes. Which will be a whopping time saver, I'm afraid to say.

Rain enhancer.

I've discovered a thing today: listening to a recording of a rainstorm at the same time as listening to a song. Thankyou youtube.

Here is the rain video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYw7eJYadco

Here is the song where I found out about the thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSrL0jmT2HE

Weekends anywhere.

Wherever I go is where I wish I was and I didn't have to leave.

Comparison

is the thief of joy!

(Random email from a friend this week. It's a quote.)

Christmas.

"This fifty days of preparation is called in their barbarian speech the Exmas Rush."
CS Lewis *

And if only it WAS 50 days, and not 100. Yes, it is only September, and I'm sorry, but I've already bought one Christmas present and I've been thinking of others, in the name of avoiding the Exmas Rush as much as possible. But I saw a display of decorations in a cheap shop at Maroubra Junction last weekend, which made me cross, because all my earliness is being overtaken anyway. And there are ads for office Christmas parties already. And at work I have to think of Christmas card ideas now to get them printed by November, I can't escape it, so I might as well listen to Christmas carols and get into it properly.

*http://www.khad.com/post/196009755/xmas-and-christmas-a-lost-chapter-from-herodotus

Grocery adventure.

It has come into my mind that my efficiency in the area of shopping and cooking is cutting me off from a lot of tastes and experiences the supermarket has to offer. I've been thinking, one week I should do a shop and buy nothing I've ever bought before, only things I have never tried, and cook and eat them. Try cashew milk, fennel, dried eggplant chips or whatever.

I have dipped my toe in the water and tried something new with my breakfast. I have a carefully honed breakfast cereal system with 3 layers, 1: low GI, 2: fibre, 3: something pretty and flaky. I thought, why not try mixing it up, literally mix my layers, and do muesli? I bought a muesli that was too apricotish and sour, so then I padded it out with more rolled oats and I also bought a bag of kamut wheat from the health aisle. Never heard of it. It's bigger, tastier, better for you, puffed wheat. So I think I have invented a perfect muesli! meuslie plus oats plus cornflakes plus kamut. Kamut, you heard it here first. It'll be the next quinoa or chia.

What will I think of next!

Paralympics.

I watched more paralympics than olympics this year. I like the idea of sports that rely on compensatory abilities and senses. I think more of us should play those games that rely on your hearing, for example. That would be so interesting. Why not introduce that at schools? Also, I enjoy watching wheelchair sports. It's probably the scooter part of me. The wheelchair rugby final last night was like the toughest dodgem cars you've ever seen, or maybe like shopping trolleys, and it's quite easy to watch and understand because it's all big, the ball isn't among people's feet, and it's entertaining because it's fast and has crashes. It replaces lawn bowls as sport I most enjoy on TV.

Quirky vs scary.

The quirky character/detective in a TV show won't get killed. Quirky characters make me feel safe. In Criminal Minds, Spencer and Garcia will never be killed. If they were, we would all stop watching. Same with Abby in NCIS, and maybe even DiNozzo. Whereas if like an FBI suit gets killed, I'll get over it. They killed Kate, which was sad, but they wouldn't be able to kill off Abby. The quirky character is the safe place in the scary show.

The opposite is true for movies, H pointed out to me today. In movies, she said, the quirky one dies and the good-looking ones survive.

Election.

I know there are council elections this Saturday but they seem not very exciting compared to federal or state elections. Is voting even compulsory? Is it a big deal and I'm just out of it, or is it not a big deal? Anyway, since I don't have a clue I googled my area to see who was running, and I've chosen who I'll vote for, so I feel super prepared. It's quite exciting, I even had firefighters to choose from.

DESC: Dixon challenge.

Not going to always blog the food, just eat it. But I have such strong opinions this time. Miga Korean BBQ has nice chairs and decor. The cutlery is the worst I have ever used, the chopsticks were slim metal sticks that slipped all over the place and made my hand ache. I dropped one on the floor and barely caught another falling. Korean food is not my thing, I just wont go out of my way to eat it. The flavours are neither here nor there. There was a sweet chilly soft shell crab that was super sweet and super chilli. The hot pots were nice in a mild way. The $15 salad was just a pile of iceberg with a brown mayo on it, must have had a huge profit margin. The honey soy chicken with rice and the seafood pancake were probably the best, but there is nothing exclusively Korean about those, you can get them anywhere. But yes, the decor, service and atmosphere were fine. There was K-pop on TV right above our table, hypnotising. Fun fact, members of K-pop and J-pop boy bands and girl bands are contractually forbidden to date. You can use that conversational gem next time you eat in a place with Korean video hits.

We are going back to Arisun again next time, where we went a few months ago, and the memory of that chicken is so happy, so mark your diaries, Thurs 13th September is FRIED CHICKEN NIGHT.

Paying more or less.

There are things that I think are worth the money. And there are things where the cheap one is fine by me. Like, I have a cheap chopping board. And lots of cheap saucepans and glassware. It makes no difference to how easy they are to use, the cheap ones work just as well as expensive ones. They break, I throw them out. But I wanted an expensive and good knife, so that I could cut things more easily. Because I was sick of my knife block of fat, heavy, awkward knives. Just one good knife, for life. Not a knife block full of OK knives. One good knife. I wrote it on my Christmas list one year, and my parents went to King of Knives and chose one. And 18 months later it fell on the tiled kitchen floor and broke off. Not like, the plastic handle part, but the actual steel broke. It was super disappointing not to get value out of it, although it can be replaced under guarantee. But now I've been using a knife my flatmate got from Coles for $10, and it's not half bad. It looks weird but it's light and easy to use. She regrets not getting the quantity discount on 2 of them.

Newbie guide to Spotify.

I hate being recommended things sometimes. I don't know if I just prefer to discover things for myself, or I like to be minimalist and stick with what already works ok for me, or just be different. I still don't have a smart phone. But I joined Spotify anyway, with much resentment and doubt. I was hooked by the second day. Luckily the new office bandwidth is large.

Requirements: Internet, a facebook account, thirst for music.

What it does: streams music off the internet. It's like itunes crossed with the radio with a little bit of facebook. In fact, the radio application is what I love the most, you can click on a song that matches your mood and then start a radio station from it, and all the songs fit the style/mood. If you get something dud you click next. But also, you can have playlists, like in itunes. So once I've found a new song I like, I save it to a list so that I can thrash it obsessively for 3 days. The facebook part comes in when spotify occasionally tells all your facebook friends what you are listening to.

Is it fair to artists: well, some musicians opt out, which is fair enough. But I reckon if they get almost nothing from each listen, that's more than many of them would have ever got without spotify, because I'm listening to lots of people I would never have heard of on mainstream radio or anywhere. So now indi folk and folktronica artists from all around the world are getting something where before they got nothing, because I wasn't aware of their existance at all. Randoms go on high rotation for a few weeks, then on to somebody new. And there are songs that I've discovered that I do plan on buying once I get an itunes card, so there will be a percentage of artists that get a return beyond spotify. Because after all, owning is still different from just listening. Frankly, I would buy more on itunes if it was not so expensive in $AU but that's another rant.

Privacy: I used to use the private sessions thing, but then I realised, I don't care what other people are listening to, therefore I bet they care zero about my music taste too. Also, if anyone is stalking, my music taste is 90% awesome (in my opinion), so the bit that is daggy is clearly in an ironic context. (Not really, but that's what I want people to think.) Also, if the artists get more publicity out of it that's a good thing for them, I'm happy to help.

My tip: If you care a little bit what people think, you want to be careful what the last song you listen to is. That is the one that shows up to your facebook/spotify friends as what you were "recently" listening to, forever and ever and ever, until you listen to spotify again.

Dressing for it.

I always find it interesting to learn how the outside of us affects the inside and then goes back to the outside. Like how apparently smiling, even fake smiling, improves your mood for real. I have a reminder at my desk to smile so sometimes I sit there at work grinning scarily at nothing. Can't hurt. Also, if you dress fancy, you feel fancy, and you act fancy. This is why I have proper exercise clothes, because I want to feel like exercising when I put them on. Some more interesting bits in this article today. Maybe all school and uni students should do exams in those black robes like at Oxford or Hogwarts.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/clothes-make-the-woman--smarter-20120828-24xst.html

Tidying beyond convention.

In the free time at Engage, I spontaneously helped the friend of a friend tidy up her house for her in-laws to visit on Saturday afternoon. One of those crafty people who see potential in everything and have more inspiration than discipline in their life. I really couldn't sit there and do cross-stitch while she flapped around among the mess and babies saying "I'm just not motivated" so I offered to help her. She said "oh you don't have to" and I explained "I'm that kind of person" (the interfering helpfully sort). And I do believe that other people's mess is a bit easier to work with, because you are undistracted by the sentimental value of the mess, and can get more quickly to the satisfying 'before and after' transformation. Anyway, it was a weird and sort of taking-over thing to do in an almost strangers' house (it was the second time I was visiting), but on the other hand it was a practical and loving way to help, I think... it's hard to know where the boundaries are, sometimes.

Flake, Twirl, Twix

I like Cadbury's Flake Chocolate Bar, except that it's quite messy to eat. I recently rediscovered Twirl Bar, which is like a Flake encased in a chocolate shell. That makes it the perfect way to eat a Flake neatly. I also get Twirl and Twix mixed up because they both start with "twi", even though they're different chocolate bars and have different packaging.

Morning quiet time.

I have been trying to find a time to read my bible. I'm a morning person, but I'm also very clock-driven, and I've found that reading the bible at breakfast has me glancing at the time and mentally preparing to hurry off to the bus. Not conducive to meditating on scripture. After work can be a good time, no distractions, except that I do Jillian or am too tired. Then I realised, why don't I do it in the morning while mentally fresh but AFTER I've commuted! Then I realised, that's not my idea, Anna did that first. But now I've invented it too. So I catch a bus half an hour earlier each morning, which actually is faster and more comfortable and less crowded, and get in the office while empty, and I am in the perfect calm and undistracted state of mind.

This morning I was gazing out the bus window and it dawned on me that I was staring at unfamiliar blocks of flats. Looked around and lo, the bus was not in the centennial park bus lane, we were cruising on towards Anzac Pde. Was I on the wrong bus? Was I going to Central? Have I been paying attention AT ALL? But the bus driver was just being cunning and using Anzac Parade to overtake the buses in the park lane and we beat them all into the ED. Can't do THAT at 8.10, that's a 7.30 trick.

Too amazing to think of a title.

On Friday night, just before I went to bed and the house was pretty dark, I opened some mail. I ripped up the glued-down flap, just the corner. And I saw a tiny flash of light. Weird. Must be my eyes. Ripped a bit further, another tiny purple flash of light. Disbelief. Peeled the rest of the envelope open and every rip was another little purple flash. 

So how did I get this far in my life without seeing or even hearing about envelopes having purple sparks and flashes? It was just so crazy that I walked around the house giggling madly because either:

1. everybody else knew about this and I somehow missed the fact that envelopes have purple sparks, or
2. nobody has ever seen it before and nobody will ever believe me that it happened. What if it was just that one envelope?

And then my flatmate got home, and when she understood what I was cackling about she got her own mail, turned off the light, and opened it they way I told her. MORE PURPLE SPARKS!!! Proof that I am not mad, I have made an amazing discovery.

Mini muffins are better than muffins.

This revelation dawned on me in conversation at a recent birthday picnic.

1. Muffins are massive. I don't want a muffin bigger than a hamburger. They just usually aren't THAT good.
2. Each mini muffin is one or two bites—dainty. And every bite has has access to both the top and bottom of the muffin. No boring middle.
3. You can have two. And it's still a lot less than a normal muffin. In terms of mindless eating, you feel like you've been decadent, but you haven't really. Whereas eating half a normal muffin is wasting half a muffin.

New baking challenge: cookie #1

Haven't baked much bread this year. Sorry friends I promised baking lessons! I do have the time, just have lacked motivation to organise anything.

I currently have two aims. I want to have a go at baking a 'chimney cake' or kurtosh, because they are delicious and surely can't be impossible. Just a coil of bread covered in sugar, really. Here is the recipe I've found. If it doesn't work, I will probably not try again, I just want to give it one red hot go.

Secondly, I want to make my ideal choc chip cookie. I'm tired of the flat soft cookies, which are easy to make I admit, and yummy. But I want to experiment. I found an American recipe which was a very different place to start, but there were many variables in translating it, so it was a slight disappointment. Is baking soda the same as baking powder or bicarb soda? I guessed baking powder. They did rise a little. But other variations were that the recipe said 1 egg + 1 egg yolk. Whatever. I put in 2 eggs. Also, all I had was fancy sea salt, and it didn't disperse through the dough, it stayed in it's big grains, so every so often you get a salty-chocolate bite. That is less ideal, although some people are really into the salty sweet thing and have been impressed by it, the occasional tangy burst of a salt grain. But lesson learned, sea salt is not a baking salt.

Anyway, I was doubtful as I tasted the first results. But actually looking at the photos in the recipe again, maybe I got it pretty right, because they look similarly dense and doughy and brown, and if I make a few adjustments it could be the same but better. The thing I noted this time, other than about the salt, was that the way you put the cookie dough on the tray makes a difference. A round ball will melt flat, but a rough tall pile will make a thicker, chewier biscuit. Also the dough was refrigerated before baking. I would like to apply these techniques to my normal recipe and see what happens.

On a side note, I have also baked a batch of cookies which I added a packed of chocolate frosting mix to. Frosting from a packet of brownie mix. I don't think brownies need icing, they are already chocolatey enough. So I added it to a cookie mix. Not bad, in terms of the biscuit result, soft. Although they looked more chocolatey than they tasted, so each cookie was a little bit of a let down. If I had more choc chips in, they would have been better.

Eat Street: A LOT OF DATES!!!

This may be your only warning re upcoming Eat Dixon Street challenges, we're trying to be efficient here and pick a lot of dates until the end of the year, so that you can put them in your diary and know when you can and can't come.

Friday 31st August
Thus 13 Sep
Monday 24 Sep.
Then Friday 12 October.
Then Friday 26 October.
Then Thurs 8 Nov.
Then tentatively 30 Nov for the last of the year, leaving plenty of room in the stomach for Christmas.

The next one is going to be next door to the Korean Fried Chicken place at 1 Dixon Street. 6.30 pm. I'm not sure what food will be, but it is a very exciting street and there is a lot of fun to be eaten.

How hate grows.

I discovered today that if you google "Todd Sampson Hate" then my jelssie post is the first search result! I'm the biggest hater. Frankly I'm surprised that there aren't more of us out there.

He's a slow grower. At first you think "wow, who is that cool guy in the tshirt, look at his pretty cheekbones, what is that accent—it's lovely". And then you think "He is an image professional. That coolness is carefully honed!". And then you think "Actually, that coolness is kind of a lie, because he's always ripping into the ads and the big companies, but he works for them! How is he any better than Russel? At least Russel looks like what he is, and laughs at it." And then the deceitful hipness is too much and the bile rises in your throat.

I exaggerate slightly. There is no bile. But I have to exaggerate, because so many people are blinded by the cheekbones and the tshirts and the accent.

Watching DVDs in bed

I was bed-bound and unwell a few weeks back. Thankfully, Jess K had lent me Season 2 of Community and I still hadn't finished watching it. I found the only comfortable way of watching it while lying down, was to turn my laptop on its side, like so:

I learnt that if you don't have a tv, it's really important to have some enjoyable DVDs on hand to keep your mind off things or to entertain yourself while you're sick. Hence, a big thank you for Jess K for lending this to me for such a long period :) It's a truly laugh-out-loud series.

I ate two drumsticks.

They are $4 a box of four. I had one while watching Doctor Who. The sort with chocolate ice-cream, chocolate syrup, and solid chocolate in the bottom of the cone. The bottom of the ice-cream is nicer than the top, which is unusual with food, normally the first bite of something is the best and the last bite is the crust or whatever. But, against all my laws of eating, the drumstick gets better and better as you go down. And the last bite was pure moreishness. And there were more drumsticks in the freezer. And Doctor Who was still on. So I had a second one. And afterwards I felt amazing.

Being very independent of fashion.

I have two quotes to share re fashion. One was a writer lady on the radio one night who said she often sees a young person coming towards her and thinks to herself:

"that young man's desire to be fashionable far outweighs his sense of the ridiculous."

...a sentiment which I very much like, and I can't wait to use it in public and sound clever.

I am reading Cranford, and quite enjoying it. So many clever observations. About the attitude of the old ladies to their unfashionable dress sense:

"Their dress is very independent of fashion; as they observe, 'What does it signify how we dress here at Cranford, where everybody knows us?'And if they go from home, their reason is equally cogent, 'What does it signify how we dress here, where nobody knows us?'

Quite logical. Not a million miles away from myself.

Wow, about fog.

On the radio today I learnt about humidity. It started as a question about why it can be raining, but only "50% humidity", not 100%. Answer: humidity is the amount of water in the air. In the air, not in raindrop form. When a cloud reaches 100% humidity the conditions to make raindrops are ripe. Warm air can carry more water in it than cold air. And this is the beautiful part: fog is the water coming out of the cold air and forming droplets and hanging around. Like magic. I love fog.

Nail challenge

I've been a nail-biter for as long as I can remember. I managed to wean myself off nail-biting during high school, but because I had had short nails for so long, I never got used to having longer nails. They just felt weird.

I don't bite my nails anymore, but I do tear them when I get nervous. Given my dry hands and ezcema (or x-ma as Jess likes to call it), my nails and my hands end up looking very ratty.

So, I have embarked on a nail challenge. I will do my best not to tear at my nails (although I did twice after starting this nail challenge) and at the end of about three or four weeks, Jess and I are going to get a manicure together! Something fun to do together.

I'm a bit hesitant to go to those big nail parlours - I have heard they're not very hygienic. You're more than welcome to join us for a mani and we would love to hear any recommendations for where to go for a hygenic one!

Skin care update

I've talked about treating dry facial skin here and here before. I read Paula Begoun's articles: Winterize Your Skin and What To Do When Climate Change Affects Your Skin. I think my new skin care routine is working - I just need to give it time to heal.

Here is my tweaked routine:

Morning
- Changed to a milky/creamy cleanser (found a travel-sized Lancôme cleanser, probably was a gift)
- Organic rosehip and/or argan oil for the face (got a great deal at The Rocks Market)
- Sunscreen
- Moisturiser as needed throughout the day


Night
- Milky/creamy cleanser
- Chemical exfoliant about 2-3 times a week
- Rosehip and/or argan oil
- Moisturiser if still needed

I don't know if it's the rosehip oil doing magic overnight, but each morning following the night that I use it, I wake up to really soft and smooth facial skin. I love that stuff! Can't rate it highly enough! It's definitely worth giving it a go. I'm even sending some to my sister in Japan, and getting my family to try it.

Talk to Facebook.

Someone at work saw my lying on the floor stretching my neck and suggested I try a supportive pillow at night. I thought about it, and finally asked on Facebook to see if there were any other recommendations for them, or whether expensive pillows were just expensive. Lots of people raved about them, including a girl who broke her neck, so it turns out they are a real thing after all. Facebook is brilliant for polls and reviews! I bought a pillow on Saturday. Still getting used to it, I miss my feather pillows, but waking up has been nicer.

Talk to your pharmacist

I've been having some winter ailments: dry hands, dry facial skin and brittle nails. Georgina and a high school friend of mine made a very good suggestion to talk to a pharmacist about it, and ask him or her for recommendations. It's a great idea because a pharmacist is well-trained and easier to see than a GP.

For my dry hands, the pharmacist recommended Ego Silic 15 barrier cream. I currently have three other hand creams, not sure what I'll do with those...

For my brittle nails, the pharmacist recommended a supplement. I'm giving Planet Health's Qsilica (a silica supplement) a go.

Of course, I forgot to ask about the dry facial skin -_-

Bus surfing.

I used to get a seat on the morning bus about 50% of the time. Now I think it's about 1 in 10. But I have a pretty short bus ride usually, 15-20 minutes, so I have embraced the standing up. Standing up is good for you, and I sit at a computer all day, so this is a good opportunity. Also, there are certain things about standing that I enjoy. I don't mind the way you have to brace against the brakes. It's sort of like standing in the sea and bracing against waves. You stand sideways and lean. I try and rely on my balance as much as possibly, rather than my arms. Try and engage the core muscles. Also, if I'm standing, I can face directly into the morning sun, which makes me feel good. And finally, if I stand on the bus, I jump off at the first stop and walk a bit further to work. It's quite refreshing after a packed overheated bus. If I don't tussle to get ON the bus first, then I can often get a better standing position near a door and get OFF it more quickly. The last shall be first.

Winter wardrobe efficiency.

My winter uniform.

I've found the only outfit I need during winter. Jeans, brown boots over the top, any dark skivvy or jumper presentable enough for the office, plus a scarf and my grey wool jacket for being outside. It's practical, warm, nothing falls down or rides up or blows around in the wind, it's neutral colour-wise (without being all black). I can, and do, wear it all week.

I follow the uniform pretty rigidly, but I can vary from this outfit only one way at a time: like, I can wear a different coat occasionally—Blue Blanket Cape gets a wear. Or once a week I can possibly wear a long skirt and leggings instead of jeans. Or I can add a hat. But if I change more than one thing, I invariably end up badly dressed. So I've pretty much given up on fashion creativity, I'm going to stick with my winter uniform.

An extra advantage of a 'uniform' is that I can get dressed really quickly in the morning, without getting cold while changing my mind.

Why I need to CULTIVATE contentment.

What My Son's Disabilities Taught Me About 'Having It All' - The Atlantic

Should I use the box cutlery?

I received a set of Maxwell and Williams cutlery from my parents for a present a few years ago. So I kept it in the box. I recently decided that I should have it handy for visitors, rather than in the top of my wardrobe, so I sewed bags and now keep them in the bottom kitchen drawer. My parents still keep theirs in the box, and get out the "box cutlery" on special occasions, but they don't have a very high standard. If you don't live there, you get the "box cutlery". If you live there, it's red plastic handles. That's pretty much how I've operated. If you are a visitor, I get out the nice set, if it's me or K it's yucky plastic handles.

But, what am I saving them for? I love the ad (which I cant find on youtube) for tea that is about not saving stuff for special occasions but making ordinary life special. I believe that. I try not to put things away anymore for some perfect future when I am married or have a really nice house or both. I might as well enjoy where I am and where I will be for the foreseeable future. So I've been working my way up to throwing out the yucky cheap cutlery and using the good set every day. Or at least, half the set, and keep some in the bags still because I don't want to waste the bags now.

And as a friend pointed out, unused cutlery will only go out of fashion anyway. I didn't think of that in relation to cutlery, only clothes, but it's true. I know a 70s steak knife when I see it. So that cliches that. Tonight is the night.

The secret of the challenge.

How exciting and mysterious is that title! Point made.

I'm currently doing a "don't buy clothes until the end of the year" challenge. It's not really about saving money for 6 months, it's about wardrobe efficiency. I want to refine my wardrobe over a few seasons so that in future I only buy what I need, and no longer end up with things I don't wear. Partly inspired by living out of a suitcase for several weeks, but also by Soph's post (see point 2) and by the women who have done things like only wear blue jeans and black tshirts all year. I've wanted to do something like that for ages.

You may have noticed that I do a lot of 'challenges'. This is why:

• A change is as good as a holiday. I get bored with routine sometimes, and changing things around for a little while is refreshing.
• A 'challenge' is a positive and exciting thing. It's more fun than just doing something hard. 'No clothes shopping' is not fun. But a 'wardrobe discipline challenge' is cool. It's way to spin a positive out of something that you might have to do (save money or eat less chocolate) which would otherwise be tiresome.
• A challenge usually comes with an end date. I do 'one month no chocolate' or 'one month no supermarkets' so I know it's only for a little while. It might hopefully be long enough to change my habits, but at least it's doable because there is an end date.

What ABOUT internet dating?

A recent post on Challies about online prospecting. I haven't thought that much about it, other than to decide that for me, now, I'm not comfortable with going there. (But I'm not comfortable with anything romantic; even if Captain Wentworth himself said he wanted to have coffee with me I would be awkward.) Online match-making is a thing, to be sure. I was bridesmaid for such a wedding last year. But I haven't come across any Christian discussion on the wisdom of it, and my own conversations with friends have been more wondering than useful. None of us disapproves of it but there is some speculation and confusion. Challies doesn't have much to say either, just some generalities, but the first comment there is rather excellent and readworthy for some helpful specifics to consider.

The power of Jillian.

As a few more people have started doing Jillian, and it's almost like a virtual gym class now*, I've noticed something. We tend to talk about Jillian as though she watches over us, and her words come out of our mouths, and we are empowered by her. It's really noticeable how we talk about Jillian. She is practically a cult leader. One long-term Jillianer has recently introduced Jillian to her mum. Even this sensible grown-up lady was texting that "Jillian would scold!". Jillian is a projection of our conscience and the voice of our will-power.

* Is anyone interested in some kind of online group where we can schedule workouts and tick them off when they are completed? I am more motivated when I am accountable and encouraged by others. Don't know if one exists. And we do it verbally anyway.

Bag-free.

I traveled to work this morning with NO BAG. Only my wallet, keys, phone and ipod in my jacket pockets. My wallet and phone are pretty small. I can still fit my hands in as well. I really like being bagless, it feels so fancy-free.

The things I can't fit in my pockets, that I have to carry in a bag when I need them are:

• diary
• lunch
• ipad

But I'm going to try and go bagless as much as possible. No bag is:

• lighter,
• better for your back,
• doesn't clash with your outfit (but outfit needs pockets).

I've always liked a minimalist wallet/purse. I generally avoid loyalty cards. My purse usually just has money, change, bus tickets, a debit card, and a drivers license. I've actually removed all the cards I rarely use, such as medicare, into a small ziplock bag. I saw an woman at church once pull out a plastic curtain ring filled with loyalty cards with holes punched in the corner. If I was going to do Flybuys and Spotlight VIP in a big way, a curtain ring is a cool solution.

http://au.bellroy.com/pages/slim-your-wallet has a whole guide to having a small light wallet. They obviously fancy their own wallet designs as solutions to the problem. I like the thought they put into it though.

Hydrating winter skin - Part 2

I've become very determined in my quest to treat my dry facial skin. I came across this Guardian article on products for dehydrated skin and it recommended glycerin and hyaluronic acid. I don't know why, but I ignored the glycerin and started looking for products with hyaluronic acid.

I remember seeing products in Daiso, Chatswood, that contained hyaluronic acid. I went to a Daiso outlet in the city, but couldn't see any of the products I saw in the Chatswood one. I did come across an Etude House face mask from an Asian beauty store. So I bought one to try.

I also remembered that I recently used a sample of an Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream and it didn't sting my face at all. So I checked out their Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant Fragrance Free. I looked at the ingredients listing and realised it was just glorified Vaseline. I tried a sample and was really happy that it didn't sting my skin. But if it's just glorified Vaseline, then why don't I use Vaseline or the paw paw balm (similar in texture, also enriched with various oils) that I already have?

Anyway, I found that I could get the Elizabeth Arden product for quite a reasonable price online, so I've ordered one.



There is a Japanese drugstore brand called Hado Labo, which has products containing that h-acid. I will ask my sister to grab a couple of products for me. Apparently, some of the products in Aldi's skin care range also contain the h-acid.

So my new routine will be to use the rosehip oil twice a day, and applying the Elizabeth Arden protectant as needed.

Home Decor.

These are my new doilies, 4 for $3. I soaked them in napisan, and now drying them. I'm not sure what I will do with them, but I can't resist buying them.

Also in the picture is my new strategy for organising the messiest part of the kitchen. Bench space is so limited that the freezer (which is turned off and used as storage for TV plugs and vacuum cleaner nozzles) is about 1/4 of our bench space. It's the section with pens, shopping lists, garlic bulbs, and things that haven't made it into the cupboards yet. It is the section with the mess. I had an idea to get some storage drawers to put it all in. But then I remembered I've got this paintbox I made when I used to go to a craft group and do oil painting. I designed it myself. It's almost been thrown out several times, because it is so useless and ungainly. I recently painted it with leftover white bookshelf paint, so it looks rather Swedish now. I thought, I'll give it a go as a bench tidy. I'm putting some unused white coffee cups in one section to hold pens etc. It's really good, so far! I love that I have used something I thought was useless to conquer a really annoying area and make it usable.

TV has died.

Seasons have finaled. Crap has premiered (fortunately I was rewatching season finales and missed out). I'm going to have to find something else to do at night. Maybe read books or something.

Hydrating winter skin

How does winter treat your skin? It makes my face go crazy-dry. I get dry patches around my face and dry, red ones around my eyes. I experienced the same problem when I went over to Tokyo during their most recent winter.

I wasn't sure if it meant I should start using an eye cream, and I didn't really want to step into the world of eye creams: there are so many out there, how do I pick an effective, reasonably priced product?

After doing a bit of research online, I decided to give organic rosehip oil a go. It's meant to be a really amazing product, according to Zoe Foster, a former beauty editor. Lots of people rave about it. There are some great brands you can get at the chemist, including Trilogy and Natio. I ended up buying A'kin because it came with a dropper, which means it's easier to control how much you use, and it was two-for-the-price-of-one...win!

I'm pretty happy with it: it's reasonably priced and is a simple product. I like that it's an organic oil: sounds a lot less complicated than an eye cream or serum.

My skin actually got even drier after a few days of using the rose hip oil (although my cheeks felt very smooth), so I decided to look for a moisturiser to wear on top. I tried some of my mum's Lancôme cream, and it stung my face like crazy :( I also didn't like that it was in a jar. I think moisturisers in jars are less hygienic because you dip your fingers into the product and it gets exposed to air.

I decided to give Avène's Skin Recovery Cream a go, to wear on top of the rosehip oil. It did sting a little bit around the eyes. I don't why I just didn't stick to sorbelene to begin with.

My regular face moisturiser is Redwin Light Facial Moisturiser.

So here's my current battle plan for dry, winter skin:

Mornings
Cleanse as per usual.
Apply rosehip oil.
Apply sunscreen.

Throughout the day
Apply Avène cream as needed.

Nights
Cleanse as per usual.
Apply rosehip oil. Let it soak in for a while and apply Avène or Redwin afterwards. Unfortnately, the moisturiser stings, but the rosehip oil doesn't.

Seems to be working so far!

So what's your battle plan for dry skin? Are you on the rosehip oil bandwagon?

Warm fuzzy feeling.

An email from Myer.

They miss me! Awww! I'm so glad they noticed! Because I've been working really hard at not going there, and saving my money. They actually miss me. I feel validated as a non-shopper!

Chocolate | Cheese.

My latest "Eat Less Chocolate" rule is not to buy blocks of chocolate any more. It's a fairly easy rule to follow. I can buy a single chocolate bar if I want one, but not 200g. Its a good system actually. I applied it to chips as well, when I had such a strong craving one night that I had to walk up to the shops, but I only bought a single serve package, not a big bag. Got my monthly chip hit, no leftovers to eat the next night.

Maybe as a result, or a distraction, from eating less chocolate, I seem to have swapped chocolate for cheese. There are so many nice cheeses! A square inch of cheese goes a lot further than a square inch of chocolate, so hopefully I am eating less fat overall. Possibly.

I am currently enamoured of the packaging of this new brand of cheese, Great Ocean Road. It really stands out on the supermarket shelf. It's just a sandwich cheese, not a fun cheese, but it looks special. 

The other cheese there is a fancy one, it is balls of fetta covered in dukka and swimming in olive oil. Goes well with bread and grilled vegetables and olives.

Inevitable collision.

I walk through the city every day, and cross Elizabeth Sstreet, which no matter where you cross it is the longest and most frustrating intersection ever. You can SEE your bus just on the other side! Wait wait wait. Green man!

Anyway, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. When you cross the street amid a croup of people against another group of people coming the other way, it looks like everyone will bump into each other, but we all magically weave through. When I'm crossing alone, though, and I realise there is someone coming the other way and one of us needs to change path, it's awkward and personal and extremely risky.

Weekly shop.

I used to walk home from work with a backpack and pick up whatever I needed whenever I needed it from cheap Kingsford, or Randwick Coles. My routine has totally changed this year, and now when I get off a packed bus at night the last thing I want to do is dive into a crowded supermarket for dinner. So I've started shopping on the weekend, when I am much calmer. I actually enjoy the routine of sitting down with a pen and paper, and deciding what I will eat for lunches and what I will cook for dinner (I just eat the same thing every day for a week, so it's not hard), write it down, and then go and buy it on Saturday or Sunday morning. It's sunny and peaceful. Then I have almost everything I need for one week. I feel very Proverbs 31. I do sometimes go to the shops anyway for milk or chocolate, but it's a relief that I never come home on a Monday night and try and decide what to buy and eat, cos now the fridge is full and the plan is made.

Photo Finish.

It's a good show. A really simple concept, presented efficiently. I could imagine friends of mine going on it. While it's not really that interesting watching people hold cameras to their faces and squat down, the photographic results are edited in so you see through their cameras as well. It makes me keen to take photography a little bit more seriously. Which I never get an equivalent cooking motivation after watching Masterchef. Probably the best thing about the show though is that it is stripped back. It doesn't try and build hype or drama like cooking and singing shows do. Nobody is on a journey. It's just "here's the brief, here are your cameras, good luck". Andrew G, who used to host Idol, has hardly any hosting to do, and certainly never cuts to an ad break before revealing the final 3. He just says useful things about how to take better photos, and he actually knows what he's talking about. So overall, I'm impressed.  It's niche TV, smartly done, and probably the least annoying reality show ever made.

Just odd.

Today, big news on smh, a restaurant is shutting down. Not because of lack of customers, apparently, but because not enough customers are finishing their dinner or taking the leftovers home in their own tupperware. I totally love her policy! I have brought my own containers to Eat Street many times! It discourages food wastage and plastic takeaway container wastage. I also love that she is so tough that she would rather shut down than be flexible. I would never open a restaurant, but this is what would happen if I did. I want to be a scary person who forces people to not waste food or else go away. You waste her food, you waste her time and your money. If only more people shared her/my views. Well done for trying, anyway.

Cherry Dilemmas.

I'm not sure who Cherry is, but she does some interesting TV programs. Basically she gets alongside different women and talks to them about why they live the way they do, and goes along with them, a different topic each week. I saw one on dating, it was painfully honest about how hard it is to date until you find a husband—one woman was shallow and wouldn't settle for imperfection, another woman had a short life expectancy but didn't want to give up and die single. It was all kind of sad, and made me glad I have more to live for than getting married. Then I missed a few weeks. Then I saw one on body image. Then one, Money Dilemmas, which is on iview for another 2 days, and the variety of women is again the most interesting thing. The millionairess is boring. The other women are fascinating. Marry for money, riches to rags, freegan, and poverty-line. I had no idea that money shapes people so much, until they're compared up close.

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/853053

Fish markets.

A very Sydney thing was done on the weekend. I went to the Sydney Fish Markets for lunch. They are famous and somewhat trendy, actually they are a tourist attraction. I've always wanted to see what they are like. Long time passer-by, first time visitor.

Firstly, Saturday lunch is a rubbish time to get parking anywhere, let alone Pyrmont, let alone the fish markets. But it can be done.

Secondly, Saturday lunch is also a rubbish time to get seating there. It's kind of stressful figuring out what to get and then where to take it.

But once those hurdles are crossed, the fish was affordable, and tasty, although no lemon slices were provided. No lemon? From Doyles at the SFM? I expected more.

I personally wouldn't go back to eat there for Saturday lunch, cos it's just a grotty fishy food court on the water. Amazing that so many people in Audis want to go there, maybe they want to feel gritty. Although I don't think it should ever go fancy, because then it would be a luxury parody of a fish market. Like the "farmers markets" all over the place. They are the total opposite of the Newcastle fruit and veg markets my mum got our food from when I was young, which was a dark and scary warehouse with concrete floors, palettes of cardboard boxes, squashed fruit underfoot. I didn't like it much. But I say keep it authentic, fishy and grotty, and I won't go and eat there. I'll go to proper cafes and stuff. However, aside from a place to eat I would rather recommend it as a place to shop, to buy really fresh fish and produce in a bustling nonColes/Woolies marketplace to take home and cook. Personally, I'll shop closer to home, but if I lived near the fish markets I'd shop there.

Three years

I've noticed that a lot of my close friend are either 3+ years older than me or 3 years younger than me. What is it about the 3 year mark?

Tangent: on jelssie, we have the labels "ponderings" and "musings". I wonder what the difference is between the two?

Jumpers and thermals

So the other day, I was running around, buying jumpers to wear on top of shirts for work when I realised, "Hey, why don't I just buy thermals to wear under my work shirts? Cheaper than jumpers and I don't have to worry about co-coordinating colours on the outside."

Still, good to have both jumpers and thermals: more options and more warmth!