I’m currently riding a wave of notoriety at work after my home cooked brownies were a smash hit at our monthly morning tea, making grown women crumble. All day I had people asking me if I had any more brownies (my team took most of them, including private stashes), and there have been plenty of requests for more. I had an email from one of the people on my interview panel inquiring about the recipe and word started spreading to the other super funds. At least it’s going somewhere to repair the damage after my homemade shortbreads tasted like sand (though even the Scottish woman on my team ate a few).

I’ve programmed the music for the radio programme this weekend, so I’m off to bed for a spot of Murder, She Wrote (which will be the first time I’ve watched in quite a while), and a reasonably early night. Bring on the weekend, even if it is mostly booked up with non-social events already.

Greg and I went road tripping to the Parramatta Record Fair today. We also saw two queens, but they weren’t specifically of the floating variety.

After venturing to the Collectables Fair two years ago, I was pretty sure that we’d find gold at least within the people who frequent these things. Sadly, this time there was no costume donning, but the bootleggers all wore their uniform of all black and a baseball cap. Whilst I was browsing someone’s collection a fellow came up to the stall owner and asked “So what have you got for me?” The seller leapt into action “Fresh, just in from Japan. Haven’t shown it to anyone else,” as he took the CD out of the paper holder with something unreadable scribbled on it. He held it up to the light with both hands as if displaying fine jewelry. “Haven’t seen one like it for a while”. The prospective buyer’s head ducked and weaved as he made sure he saw the light hit it from every angle. “Japan, you say? Hrm, okay then.” “Excellent choice. Three dollars please.” It could only have been more perfect if the seller had a jeweler’s glass and the buyer had a monocle.

One of the drawbacks of these gala events is the air circulation. Put simply, not enough. The smell of one man made my eyes water. It took me back to a day on the bus when a man had secretions that only the devil himself could have concocted and injected into his pores. It was at this point that a terrifying thought struck me: My fingers have been flicking through hundreds of CDs and records that these very same men had been contaminating all day, long before I had arrived to see the worst of it. I was paralyzed by the thought for some considerable time, and it was a while before I had to courage to even flick through the soundtracks sections (which, I figured, would have the least abused fingers scraping DNA across them).

Whilst Greg made shady under the table deals to obtain the latest Beatles bootlegs, I picked up quite a few bargains, including Australian cast recordings of La Cage aux Folles, Annie and They’re Playing Our Song on vinyl.

Afterwards we headed over to Westfield to grab some lunch. We chose a sandwich shop run by an Asian man who was every Asian character ever played by Peter Sellers combined and a Germanic woman who frightened us over and over. I kept getting nervous each time I asked for an ingredient and she would reply in an angry slur, “Of course you do.” When some small children starting making noise she said (or at least we think she said) “If they were mine, I’d take them home, lock them in a cupboard and pour scalding water on them.” Busy day, then? Greg had problems of his own when the man asked him “Father and son?”, referring to us. “Uhhh… not exactly” Greg replied before turning to me and saying “If you blog that I’ll slit your throat.”

It was a fun day, but if you’ll excuse me, I have to create a Facebook group called “If that security alarm goes off when I walk out of here, you’re giving it to me for free.”

I’ve been discussing the prospect of moving out with my parents, something my mother cannot understand because living in the same house as my parents must simply be heaven on earth. Nevermind the fact that my mother moved out of home when she was 15 because “that was different - my parents were annoying.” Can you imagine how hard it is to settle on just one thing to say after being offered that line?

After a slight ‘altercation’ on friday night between myself and my parents (I made a joke about how boring cricket was, my father cracked the shits, I told him he was rude (yes, I actually said ‘rude’)), I think my parents were trying to make amends by offering to take me down to Domayne, a furniture and home electricals store to spend a $50 I had. This isn’t the kind of store I’d normally shop at on account of the heavily inflated prices simply because they arrange the stock they have in colour groups so as to appear as if it has been “designed”, but I had the voucher to spend.

After struggling to find a toaster under $70, I decided to find a rice cooker and vegetable steamer and go on our merry ways. I had the option of an older stock model for $43 or the current stock for $55. As the only difference was the colour (white vs stainless steel, which is a real pain to keep clean), I went for the older model and walked up to the counter. While standing in line, my parents held a typically detailed conversation about which model I really should have chosen with insightful comments like, “Wasn’t the top clear on the other one?… No, it was aluminium…. What about the buttons? Were they rounder?”

When we reached the counter after a considerable wait (and don’t worry, there was plenty of loud commentary about that), my mother tried to buy a $5 gift card, but it wouldn’t work in combination with the gift card. The overwhelmed but kind-spirited cashier was trying to get through the line as quickly as possible and my mother was not helping. I was more than happy to forego the $7, but my parents were not. Cue a $7 shopping spree through the electrical department of Domayne as the three of us spread out in different directions to find something under $7. Batteries? $12. Ipod cover? $30. Blank CDs? $18. Finally my parents grabbed a ream of paper ($6.95) and joined the line again. A few moments later, after seemingly handing over all my personal details, we walked back through the shop to the car with a rice cooker and a ream of paper.

I thought the nightmare of shopping with my parents was over. I couldn’t foresee the row of electronic massage chairs lining the path to the exit. Imagine my horror while my parents try out each one multiple times discussing each one like there was a remote chance they put the $6000 on their credit card and walk out with one of those monsters of leather and fake wood-panelling strapped to the roof of the Volvo (also with the leather and fake wood-panelling). At one point, when all the machines were bulging and thrusting, it looked like the scene from Are You Being Served when Mr Humphries puts the chattering teeth down the underpants of one of the mannequins, except as if this was David Jones’ stocktake sale. When my parents, who had no hope of reading the small screens in front of them started pressing buttons making one machine continuously beep, I knew it was all over.

After what I suspect was supposed to be an operation to encourage me to stay home at least until the year is over, all I could think about in the car on the way home is how long it will take me to pack my things. At least I’ll have rice and some paper to write my recipe on.

I’ve spent the last 5 or so days visiting the House of Lesbos is Brisvegas and am now back home settling in before I head back to work.

I had a wonderful time staying with Becky and Bec as they showed me the sights and sounds of their city. We managed to squeeze five movies which I will attempt to summarise now:

1 - The Mist: This movie smelt almost as bad as the man in front of us who was massaging his feet throughout it’s painfully exaggerated running time.
2 - Alien Vs Predator Requiem: We weren’t exactly sure which was an Alien, which was a predator and which were the real life bugs that were eating our flesh at the outdoor moonlight cinema, but I stood and applauded anyway.
3 - Predator: Get to the chopper before the plot runs out!
4 - 40 Year Old Virgin: Jane Lynch was the star in our household.
5 - Lust, Caution: A walk down memory lane for the many elderly patrons in the cinema, not reminiscent of the ’40s, just of their now stale sex lives.

The ladies looked after me and showed me just a glimpse of what Queensland has to offer, including far too many news anchor men with moustaches. I also caught Phantom of the Opera in Brisbane and although we had the understudy for Phantom, the sound guy was nice enough to consistently play the wrong tapes so we at least heard Anthony Warlow’s voice coming through the speakers.

I came back home to a couple of days of domestic bliss before heading back to work on Friday, my first day as a permanent employee. After not hearing anything from the correspondence uni, I decided to give uni a break for a year and focus on other things. I found out a few days before I left for my holiday that when I returned I would be in one of the permanent roles. I’m still doing the same job, but now getting paid less for it.

A day or two after I returned home I had received a package from University of New England offering me a position in the correspondence Dip Ed. I looked it all up and decided that there just wasn’t going to be the time I needed to do the coursework, as well as the ability to do the large amount of prac teaching and the odd visit to Armidale for on-campus classes.

I always said that once I had a steady income (a prospect which seemed positively diabolical) I’d look towards moving out. When I broached the idea with my parents my mother tried to point out how difficult it will be with scares such as “You’ll have to wash your clothes and buy towels.” In spite of those seemingly insurmountable challenges, I’m quite excited about the prospect. On one hand I think of how it traps me into a working life for the foreseeable future, but on the other hand I am fairly desperate for space. It might not be my end goal just yet, whatever that is, but it’s either a stepping stone or a detour, I’m not sure which yet.

So far 2008 has already taken me down some new paths and changed my plans a few times. I don’t know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing by the end of the year, but I’ll try to remember to write about it here.