The Voice.

I love singing shows. The blind auditions for The Voice are the best of the genre. I wish nobody had to be eliminated and you could just have talented people doing covers on TV every night. The battle round doesn't entertain me, I find it stressful, people singing a duet in competition rather than in unity. It is the complete wrong thing to do with a duet. But the rest of the singing is great TV.

I do feel that a good voice is a pretty small component of a music career, though. It's important, but… not everything. Compared to, say, a good song. It's not often a voice that gets stuck in someone's head, it's a song sung by a voice, and able to be sung. You don't buy a voice, you buy a song. And then, also, work ethic and confidence, and in a small music industry like Australia the ability to cross-over a lot, and be good on TV and all that. Because there are SO many good voices that a good voice just doesn't cut through. And think how many catchy songs are sung by average singers. Joel Madden has experience in this area.

I become such a cliche of a woman who rips into other women whenever Delta comes up. I don't know what it is about her, she's just… off. So much potential to be classy, so much natural beauty, but somehow such a fake. Unless posing is her natural state. The funny thing is it's not just me that can't help ripping into her. I've had a lot of company. And today I was lying in the ortho chair listening to the dental nurses on the other side of the room having the exact same conversation.

The black backless and frontless jumpsuit.

Community.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/relationships-are-more-important-than-ambition/275025/

Many nuggets of interest in this article today, re pursuit of greatness vs staying put.

After all, relationships and community impose constraints on freedom, binding people to something larger than themselves. The assumption in our culture is that limiting freedom is detrimental to well-being. That is true to a point. Barry Schwartz, a psychological researcher based at Swarthmore College, has done extensive research suggesting that too much freedom -- or a lack of constraints -- is detrimental to human happiness.

"Relationships are meant to constrain," Schwartz told me, "but if you're always on the lookout for better, such constraints are experienced with bitterness and resentment."

Settling an awkward routine.

It's taken a few months, but I think I have figured out a new hair-washing calendar based on now having Bible study on Wednesday, and getting home too late to wash and dry my hair. I've switched to washing my hair on Tuesday and Thursday night, then Saturday morning after Jillian, then Sunday night to start the week again. The 7 day week is such a nuisance for every-second-day hair washing (my sister Julia suggests an 8 day week would be the best solution). And hair washing needs to factor in so many things, like just before I wash my hair is the ideal time to do Jillian or go for a swim—not while it's freshly clean. I was washing my hair on random days and exercising less, just because Bible study moved from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Individual taste.

I'm the only person I know who likes pumpernickel. It's a sliced brick of rye. It's not trendy, it's not pretty, it's not even delicious, and half the time it's not even in stock at Coles. But I'm dedicated. I don't inflict it on my friends and coworkers, other than the smell of it in the toaster.

Shared enjoyment is the best. The more obscure and particular the taste, the more the joy in finding kindred enjoyment.

Eat St

Friday 19th April at 6.30. Meet on Dixon st in the vague area of Delima Indonesian.

Trending: cardigans with elbow patches.

Had a discussion at work about elbow patches on cardigans. I've noticed them in shops when I've been looking for cardigans. People are wearing them. They seem to be taking off. I'm not going there personally because I think the cardigan is a serious item of clothing, which rises above such fickle trends. It doesn't need to look in season or fake vintage. I know there are connotations of "grandpa fashion" or "hipster" but to me a cardigan is a jumper that opens down the front, which is excellent in itself. Functional and smart.

Staring at mens' faces

This is probably a sign that I've been watching too many makeup videos and reading too many beauty blogs, but I like to stare at and study mens' faces.

Image from http://www.mtv.co.uk/

Men usually don't wear makeup (and presumably take less care of their skin than women), so I imagine what men would have to do, if they made up as women do. Men with a lot of redness in the face might wear foundation to even out the skin tone. Men with sun-damaged skin might benefit from exfoliation and sunscreen. But men with great, makeup-free skin?! What is their secret?? How do they do it?? That's what I want to know.

Sometimes I wonder, is it better to be man, and have the freedom not to wear makeup, or is it better to be a woman and be able to fake looking alert, awake and luminous? Why do we accept men as they look, but expect women to wear makeup?

Anyway, since I like bright colours and it is a creative outlet for me, I pick makeup.

Office metabolism.

By and large, the men in the office seem capable of sitting nearly ALL DAY and working without  getting up to drink water, make tea, find food, go to the bathroom, make more tea, get hungry again. There'll do like one coffee break, that's it. The women in the office are much more active. I'm in and out of the kitchen with my tea mug all the time, and ferreting in desk drawers for biscuits and nuts.

Washing basket zero.

When your dirty clothes basket is empty, the washing line is empty and there are no clothes that need ironing… everything is clean and put away. Laundry heaven. Until you get undressed.

Constant learning

In my current role at work, I get to rotate across at least four different roles in three years. That means constant learning, and constant learning hurts.

In each new role, I've had to learn different concepts, different systems and different skills. In the beginning, it really hurts my brain. I am really slow at performing the task and I document processes as meticulously as I can. There's two different processes going on when you learn to do something: there's the why (understanding what you're doing) and the how (actually being able to perform the task). In the beginning, I don't fully grasp what I'm doing, so I rely heavily on my documented processes. Over time, as I do the task repeatedly, I begin to understand what I'm doing a lot better.

I'm at the brain hurting phase and I have to consciously stop from myself from thinking, "I'm so slow and stupid! Why can't I get this the first time round? Why is this hard to understand?" and remind myself this is part of the learning process and soon enough, I will be efficient and proficient. I remind myself of times when I've mastered a new role and exceeded the expectations of others.

I'm always thinking at the back of my mind, "How would I explain this to a complete newbie? To someone who'll be in my shoes at the next rotation?"

This is what I would do:

• Give an overview of organisational structure of the department: who's who and who you need to know
• Give an overview/big picture of the task at hand
• Explain and walk through a spreadsheet before showing someone how to do it
• Show and explain to someone the end product (e.g. a printed report) before showing them how to put it together
• Show them how to do the task, and then the second time round, getting them to drive and perform the task under supervision
• Speak slowly and clearly, with pauses
• Repeat yourself several times
• Be patient
• Lower your expectations: expect mistakes and questions
• Provide a detailed instruction manual with screenshots (or allow the trainee time to take notes while you're explaining)
• Encourage copious note-taking!
• Tell the trainee it's okay if they don't really understand the first time round or if they feel confused or overwhelmed

Maybe some people are really good at getting things the first time or without taking lots and lots of notes. Not me. I have a Word document at work that's nearly 50 pages filled with screenshots and instructions on how to do my job. It amazes me how people just show you something once and then implicitly expect you to know how to do it next time. I can't do it without taking notes and screenshots, especially since a lot of my tasks are monthly: I'm bound to forget how it did it thirty days later!

People who've done something for years often have forgotten what it's like to do something new for the first time, to see a programme or a particular spreadsheet for the first time. I hope I never forget.

Avoiding Red.

Elsie's post is somewhat of a revelation. I don't like red cosmetics at all, and I think the xma rage slash skin colour thing is why. But also my personality and dress style is for natural tones. So the polishes I get the most use out of are greys, blues, pale pink, etc.

When it comes to red lipstick though, another factor is the size of lips. Bright colours make your lips seem bigger. I don't need that: to quote what A says about having fat lips, when I put bright lipstick on I "look like a clown". It's bad. So I go for just evening out my natural lip colour.

I see red

Jess is a nail polish woman. She loves 'em. I'm a lipstick woman. I love 'em. We can't get enough of our respective loves. Here is what I've observed about wearing red nails or lips. Wearing red nail polish or lipstick will emphasise any red already present in the skin.

Image from http://www.kaboodle.com/

For example, if your hands are red from eczema (aka xma rage), wearing red nail polish will draw attention and emphasise the redness in your hands. It doesn't look as good as someone with an even skin tone on their hands.

This is the same with wearing red lipstick. Unless you have very good skin, you need to wear foundation when wearing red lipstick, in order to minimise the redness in your face (usually around the nose and chin for me). Otherwise, it will make your face look splotchy. As much as I love red, I don't wear red nails that much because of xma rage. I love a bright red lippy, so I make sure I wear foundation before I wear it.

Image from http://ie.rimmellondon.com

While we're on the topic, here are my picks for a red lipstick:

• Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in no. 10. This is possibly my favourite red lippy. It's incredibly bright and really makes your lips pop. Not for the faint-hearted. It makes my skin look even paler when I wear it. For some reason, there is no no. 10 on the website, but I checked my lipstick and it's definitely a 10.
• Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl. Gorgeous, bright and bold. I tried this on at Mecca and loved it.
• Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Crème Lipstick in Icon. 

MAC is also famous for their red lipsticks and most brands will have a good red in their range. If you want something a bit sheerer, but still with a reasonable amount of colour, try Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede in 095 Finale.  If you want super-sheer and moisturing, try Face of Australia Sheer Gloss Lip Crayon in Macaron.

Final tangent: I'm currently loving Butter London Primrose Hill Picnic Nail Lacquer. It's see pleasing to see a bright fuchsia pink on the nails!

Gratuitous link to Split Enz video clip for I See Red here.

Easternomics.

This year, there were a lot of hot cross buns around. At the office we bought and compared various baked goods in the leadup to easter. There is so much variation! Chocolate chip in white bread, chocolate chip in chocolate bread, fruit with orange peel, fruit without orange peel, let alone size, and ratio of raisins or chocolate chips to bread. So I've probably eaten about a dozen hot cross buns this year.

On the other hand, I went totally eggless until Easter Monday, when my flatmate gave me a couple of little leftover egg hunt eggs. I just never got around to buying chocolate just because its in the shape of a hollow egg or rabbit, cos I can get chocolate all year round anyway. And I don't know why, but Easter eggs and bunnies seem like a family thing, for kids to have a shiny chocolate stash once a year, and since I'm not a kid and I don't have kids and my parents got rid of easter egg traditions very early on, hollow chocolate wrapped in foil has fallen to the side of the road. But fresh hot cross buns are for grown-ups and for putting butter on and for sharing and and you can get them from artisan bakeries and they're limited edition and seasonal. So I focused on them.

This article annoys me.

In an email conversation between me and Jess:

E: I got married at 23. What are the rest of you waiting for?

Hurray, you married young because you found someone suitable when you were young. Now stop rubbing it in and assuming there are available men around. There aren't.

J: Correct. Jelssie that. Don't change a word. Subject for post heading.

~~~

I would like to add two points:

• "Marriage doesn’t require a big bank account, a dazzling resumé, or a televised wedding—it requires maturity, commitment, and a desire to grow up together. " LOL, the most basic requirement for a marriage is a suitable marriage partner! 

• To be fair to the author, she probably didn't write with the western Christian culture in mind.
  

New month.

Looking at my spending record, March was a bad month. I blame the visit to the dentist, but that wasn't half of it. It was such a FUN month though! Oh well, April is a new month and I have only spent $4.80 so far.

Passwords.

I've been thinking about passwords a lot. Strong passwords are important. They should be a long, random string of letters, numbers and special characters *?%. But forgetting said passwords is very annoying. Having a list is good, but what if you don't have the list with you when you forgot—that is a delay.

So what you need is a system. A good system.

One obvious system is to have one password you use for everything. Like Green123. Or supercalifrag. However, that means that once a password hacking machine has hacked that, everything falls open. So the one password system is only a good system for things that don't matter being hacked. A lot of things don't matter being hacked, so I would use the Green123 sort of password on chat forums and online clubs that don't even really need passwords at all.

The system I use for higher security sites is to tap my fingers around the keyboard in a certain pattern like a zig zag or Fur Elise (plplpnkjb) for example, and what comes out LOOKS random, and my brain could never remember it, but my fingers remember it because it is a spatial pattern. If you aren't a spatial person, you could take a line from your favourite book or song. Eg "I was in the middle before I knew I had begun" becomes the nicely enigmatic 1witmb1k1hb (with I swapped for 1 obviously). That was the trick in Doctor Who last week, "Run you clever boy, and remember". But I still wouldn't use that one 'random' password for everything, because again, it's safer to have different passwords for facebook and paypal and online banking. So then I put an extension on it (including special characters), so facebook might go plplpnkjb*f*b and paypal might go plplpnkjb*p*p. That's a bit lazy, I should probably have a completely different random pattern, not just an extension, but this system I can keep in my head—and in fact because the system doesn't take up much memory it's even possibly to have different patterns for different things, so social media gets one sort of system and banking stuff gets another.

Trending.

Check it out. The ultimate exercise in cataloging street fashion trends. We know about trends, like young girls at the moment have their hair really long, nail polish is cool, middle aged Christian men wear polo shirts with wide horizontal stripes, urban men are wearing beards and plaid. What is surprising is how SPECIFIC a look can be, and not in teenage girl copying a magazine way—people of all ages have their "style tribe" as it is called. These portraits are taken wearing exactly what they wear on the street, and everyone is expressing themself. It's so interesting to look at the people around you like this, and also wonder which style tribes you subconsciously emulate. (Jeans and brown cardigan girls?) And when you have different areas of your life, like mum culture and office culture and muso culture, how you combine them or switch between.

Albums.

I like albums where all the songs are very similar. So that I can listen right through without changing mode, from the really good song to the angry song to the ballad.  But some people like an album to showcase variety.

'Sup 'sup

Jelssie is into gut health, and I am especially so, after my lovely two week bout of gastritis. As a result, I'm now taking a couple of supplements daily.

I'm taking a probiotic (Nutrition Care Polybac 8). This brand is not as widely available as Inner Health Plus.

Image from http://www.vitalityandwellness.com.au/images/products/Nutritional%20Supplements/Polybac-8-web.jpg

I haven't done my research, but two different supplement sales people recommended this one, so I'll stick with it for the time being. Cheapest I've seen it at so far is at Mr Vitamins in Chatswood.

I'm also eating yoghurt with breakfast during weekdays, because it contains cultures that are beneficial to gut health. My favourite is Gippsland Dairy Organic Natural Yoghurt. It's really tasty, has no sugar and is relatively low in energy compared to other full-fat (or even lite) yoghurts.

Image from http://www.gippslanddairy.com.au/products_yogurt_5.html

As much as I love it, it's quite pricey where I live, so I'm eating ALDI's Just Organic Natural Yoghurt instead. ALDI's one is pretty good and has more energy per 100g than Gippsland Diary.

Image from http://aldi.com.au/au/media/product_range/ALC5020_Dairy_PD_9_Just_Organic_Natural_Yogurt.jpg

Finally, I'm taking liquid chlorophyll, which apparently is great for digestion and your skin. Is it really? I don't really know and I don't know how to judge how effective it is. I'm currently taking Swisse Liquid Chlorophyll, but will try an organic one at my local supplement store next (costs nearly half the price I paid for Swisse!). If you want to buy the Swisse one cheaply, try Priceline when they have a sale. It was nearly half the price I paid for mine -_-.

Taking these supplements makes me feel like a hippy.

(Also, I know yoghurt isn't a supplement, but I included it in here because we are talking about gut health :) )

Indo Eat St in Chinatown

Next Eat Street is 6:30pm Tue 26 March. We're eating at an Indo restaurant, but I don't know what it's called or the address, so let's meet in front of Spicy Panda at 8 Dixon St, Haymarket. See ya there!

Music for 17 years time

Jess and I very much enjoyed the recent Neil Finn and Paul Kelly gig. Most of the crowd were, at least a good ten, if not twenty, years older than us. I joke that Jess and I have "old" taste in music - I mean, we've know The Carpenters and we like them!

It's fine for us to have "older" music taste now because the musicians are still touring, but what about in seventeen years time? Who are we going to listen to and enjoy going to? We need to find someone CURRENT with potential longevity and mild popularity that we can look forward to seeing live in seventeen years time! Someone who can play a back catalogue of hits and favourites. Someone Aussie or Kiwi would be cool too.

Who who who who who who who?

(Talk about planning ahead!)

Seasons change.

You know you've officially hit Autumn when the morning bus has the heating instead of the freezing air con.

I walked out the front door and had to go back and get my scarf. Also, I think I will be wearing socks tomorrow. This weekend will be the swapping of summer and winter clothes in the wardrobe and storage suitcase.

Awkward

Bec and I had impromptu trip into the city today. I wanted to approach the Biotherm counter to have a sniff of their new fragrance Eau Océane, but they had two topless guys promoting stuff at their counter. Having them there just made me feel awkward and we only went back after those two men disappeared. Maybe it's just me and maybe I'm a prude, but topless men at cosmetic counters just puts me off.

Benefit did it too for a recent event.

Photo from Benefit Australia on Facebook.

I could go down the line of argument of "women aren't like men; they're more emotional rather than visual creatures, blah blah blah", but I won't. The point is: I don't need topless men to lure me to a cosmetics counter - I just need beauty blogs and great products!

Oh, and the fragrance is really lovely, really fresh! I quite liked it.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector

I'm starting a new series called "holy grail". Holy grail (or HG) is a term used by makeup and beauty bloggers to describe their absolute favourite product. I'm doing this because I now wear makeup a lot more than I used to (mostly because of work and secondly because I enjoy putting it on for work). I also had some skin issues that were driving me crazy and I'd like to share what I learnt.

Today's holy grail category is: illuminator/highlighter. I suspect this product might not be familiar to some of you because I once had to ask a friend why there was a white powder (the highlighter) next to the powdered blush she gave me!

The point of this product is to make your skin look glow-y and to emphasise the high points of your face . You can apply this product on your cheekbones, your cupid's bow, underneath the arch of your eyebrow and down the bridge of your nose. But that's too much effort for me, so I just apply it on the top of my cheekbones.

My favourite makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge, explains how to use to it make your skin look glow-y. Her English accent is delightful!



Most makeup brands nowadays will have a highlighter or illuminator in a liquid, cream or powdered form. My holy grail one is Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal.

Image from Becca Cosmetics
I like this because I have dry skin on my cheeks and this product sits really well on my skin: it doesn't emphasis flaky or dry patches and the colour is an excellent match for my skin tone. I apply it with my fingers, after foundation. I use a tiny amount and dab it along the top of my cheekbones until it's well blended in. A little goes a long way, and even though it's expensive (AUD66), it's worth it for me because I wear it everyday at work and I only need to use a little bit when I use it. I order mine online from Amazon (USD42).

 If you want to try this product, I suggest you visit a Becca makeup counter at David Jones and ask the makeup artist there to suggest a colour for you and to apply it on you there and then. Take a discerning friend who can tell you which colour suits you better. If you're super-polite, you can ask for a sample to take home and try. I always do this before buying any skin products if possible. It's good to see how a products fares over the course of the day (does it oxidise, does it make you break out etc etc), and see how it looks in natural light. You could try less expensive options from Australis, Face of Australia, Topshop, The Body Shop or any other makeup brand, but the Becca one is my favourite.

Does it work? Well, I did catch up with a friend during a lunch break and she complimented me on my skin, so yeah, I think it works!

Bad with names.

Quote of the day, from one of the writers of The Office.

“I don’t think it should be socially acceptable for people to say they are “bad with names.” No one is bad with names. That is not a real thing. Not knowing people’s names isn’t a neurological condition; it’s a choice. You choose not to make learning people’s names a priority. It’s like saying, “Hey, a disclaimer about me: I’m rude.”

― Mindy Kaling

Marzipan.

Elsie: I picked the chocolate with the marzipan filling. Bad choice.

Me: EEEEWWWWW.

E: Who knew marzipan was so bad.

Me: When I was a kid it was the nicest part of a wedding cake. That is not saying much, because the rest of it is fruit cake.

E: Jelssie that.

Nail File.

Nail polishes. They are the one cosmetic area I actually enjoy. I'm a big believer in sunscreen and moisturiser, etc, but I don't go crazy for lip gloss shades or mascara that doesn't run or whatever. Zero interest. But nail polish… it's less of a makeup thing and more like earrings, or maybe shoes. One part of your life you can have fun and be out there a bit and play with pretty colours, but still turn up to work looking respectable. And it's cheap. Every time I go to Big W or Kmart or Priceline now I see if there are any bargains. I have about 10 bottles, in mostly conservative colours. I have a few natural pale tones, and a few greys and silvers. My all time favourite bottles are my Matte Topcoat, which makes anything look classy, and my very pale pearly pink, which is so natural it is almost invisible. I am looking forward, however, to some exciting additions to the collection. I just have to wait forever for the postage. As Elsie says re internet shopping: delayed gratification. I'm getting a lot of delayed gratification these days. I should probably stop.

My pretties...

Sitting on the floor.

I have decided to sit on the floor when I'm at home watching TV. I tried it last night, sitting on my folded-up yoga mat. It was OK at first, but got a bit tiring. I want be able to increase my sitting-fitness enough to be able to sit through an hour episode of something without having to lean on anything. It's supposed to be better for you for flexibility and stuff, and it's active sitting which is better than just blobbing.

I feel like a new me.

This is the after-effect of the '6 months no shopping challenge'. I recently started culling my summer/autumn stuff that no longer deserves a place in my wardrobe. Shirts I didn't wear all summer because of slight size creep or change in my style, going to my sister. Cardigans that are only fit for the bin, going into the bin. And I am restocking very carefully, with the shirts I have been making in staple colours, and some obsessive cardigan browsing. (NEW CLOTHES ARE AMAZING I LOVE THEM) So I feel a bit proud of my wardrobe, it's getting marginally easier to get dressed in the morning. Also, I now have a mirror, so I can see what I look like before I get to the bus stop. That kind of helps.

However, there is another change afoot, which isn't to do with what I am buying or wearing, but how I am wearing it (probably thanks to the mirror):

 I have started tucking shirts in. This is a small behaviour change, to be sure, but it is a radical change in my presentation. This is a total revelation to me, because I have been an untucker forever. Tucking in a shirt is something Dad does. But suddenly I have reconsidered. There is something confident and put-together about a tucked-in shirt. It turns casual clothes into smart/work clothes instantly. And it doesn't even have to be a business shirt, it can be any shirt long enough to tuck in. A "good" tshirt can look nicer tucked in than untucked. Every outfit gets poshed up a notch simply by tucking the shirt in to the skirt or trousers.

Oils ain't oils

I'm introducing oils into my skin/hair care routine.

Jojoba oil for removing makeup and relieving ezcema symptoms. Castor seed oil to strengthen nails. Rosehip oil to treat dry facial skin. Argan oil to keep hair looking healthy. I like the idea of using oils; it's simple and it's a single ingredient.

Measure of a hymn.

Can you sing it in prison?

Gastritis

I was crook for a couple of weeks with gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining).

I tell you this as an excuse to post up this cute moving GIF image!

The whole episode made me realise how much I took good health for granted. It wasn't until I was really crook that I appreciated how much God sustains me day to day. To feel normal, to be able to eat whatever you like, to live relatively free of pain, to be able to exercise and just generally function is a real blessing.

Happy news for boofheads!

I filled in a survey from the cancer council recently, and I gave them bonus feedback on their hats. They should make them in bigger sizes. They have good hats, I find the 'wash and wear bucket hat' very useful, but they are "one size fits all" and I'm just on the edge of that. I received a response today, saying they have had a lot of similar feedback and from August this year they will have larger hat sizes!

Track My Spend

I clicked on a Facebook ad, for the first time the other day. It was to promote ASIC's Track My Spend app. Jess has praised the Smart Budget app, but at the time, it wasn't available on Android or iPod touch, so I couldn't use it. Thankfully, Track My Spend is Android-friendly and I've really enjoyed using it.

It's really simple to use, has a relatively uncluttered and clean layout. It's been a really helpful way to track my money, as well as keep me more aware of where my money's going. This one's got my thumbs up!

Exercise, wellbeing and weather.

Elsie and I have been discussing exercise, and trying to shift our thinking from a discipline-based or goal-oriented thing, like "yay I did Jillian 4 times this week I'm so proud of myself", towards a sort of wellbeing thing. So it's more about "just moving", as they say, and enjoying it for its own sake. I'm doing less Jillian but more swimming and walking. I still plan out my swims, walks, and Jillians for the week and it takes discipline to get up early or leave work on time. But I'm trying not to reduce it to forcing myself, to getting it over with and only enjoying being satisfied and tired afterwards; I'm trying to make it more about enjoying moving, enjoying fresh air, enjoying water.

The weather has been abysmal this summer. Swims and walks were cancelled. But, it's worth trying despite the weather, and not just so that you can tick off exercise for the day. Weather can actually enhance the experience. You are more aware of the world when it is blowing you or wetting you—it's a richer experience. It gets you out of your head a bit more, and it can be surprisingly beautiful as well, if you pause and appreciate it. A few weeks ago I swam in the morning with a friend and it was spitting and dark, but we went down to the sea anyway. Got in the water and it started pouring. It was amazing being surrounded by raindrops splashing into the ocean. The surface of the water was very pretty. So it's almost MORE worthwhile in bad weather. I may be over-romanticising rain, but it's worth trying.