Month completed: June 2008

Into the bin goes my L-plate!

Because last Friday I passed my motorbike license test.

Given I have already done my probationary period on my car license, I don’t even have to display a P-plate.

This was a long-term goal (get my learner’s permit, buy a scooter, wait until I had ridden 1,000km and then go for my license) so this was a very satisfying goal to achieve.

Month completed: April 2008

I always thought I was a positive guy. Now I know I am - literally.

My blood donor card just arrived in the mail yesterday, along with a thankyou letter for donating blood, which I did a couple of weeks ago for the first time.

The blood type written on my donor card? A Positive.

So yes, I literally am ‘a positive’ guy.

Corny enough? I think probably.

I have always had a love hate relationship with needles (I love to hate them) so have never put on a brave face and donated blood, even though I know how much benefit there is in doing it (you potentially save three people every time you donate, plus you get free cookies afterwards).

So until I donated a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea of my blood type. Now I do.

The whole experience was actually better than I thought. The worst part was the finger prick I received to make sure I had enough iron in my blood. I was told that it hurts because there are many nerve endings in the fingers. It stopped stinging after a couple of days.

Only when the needle came out was there a slight problem. I think the nurse who took the needle out did it a little quick, as I was left with a big bruise that is still with me now, two weeks on. Nothing worth doing ever came easy I guess.

The key question is - would I do it again?

Yes, definitely. Only a selected group of people can donate blood (the screening questions they ask prior to donating are lengthy and full on - not often does a complete stranger ask you if you have had sex with a prostitute recently!), so I feel an obligation to do my bit.

You should to, unless perhaps you have been down to Grey Street in St Kilda recently.

Month completed: April 2008

Today is Anzac Day in Australia. A day dedicated to the memories of the Australian soldiers that have lost their lives at war.

Being a proud Australian, I have always wanted to go to Anzac Day memorial service at dawn. So I set my alarm for 4.30am to give me plenty of time to get to the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne for the service at 6am.

Unfortunately I slept through the alarm, so when I did get up at 5.30am, I only had time to put clothes on, swig a gulp of Listerine, and then jump on the scooter for the mad ride to get there in time.

Just as I got there and started up the hill towards the Shrine, the last post started (the last post is a song of military tradition played by a single bugle). This signalled the start of proceedings, so I knew that I had made it just in time.

There were thousands of people there (I heard it was in the tens of thousands on the radio) and it was a very sombre atmosphere. Here is a picture of the Shrine at dawn.

There were speeches by a current army officer, and a girl who played the last post on violin at Gallipoli (but oddly enough didn’t play it today). Then God Save The Queen was played, followed by the Australian national anthem (which brought a tear to my eye, as it usually does).

After all of this, people were invited to enter the Shrine to place a poppy inside to dedicate to a loved one lost, or for all those that lost their lives. As you can see below, there were lots of people wanting to go inside. What was really nice was that there was no urgency from anyone to get inside, so no one was pushing in line or ruining the quiet ambiance of the morning.

Going to a dawn service is something every Australian should do. It gives you a strong sense of national pride and respect for those that have gone to war and represented our nation. Next year I plan to visit Gallipoli (which is in Turkey) on Anzac Day.

Lest We Forget.

Month completed: April 2008

This is a glass of 2007 Vasse Felix Classic Dry White.

Who cares, you say?

Well, this glass of wine is significant in the fact that it is my first glass of alcohol in 100 days. And boy did I enjoy it!

During my 100 days of abstinence (which ended on April 11), I found that there were probably only 6-7 times that I really felt like a drink. The hardest time was probably at a wedding we went to at a winery, which had all sorts of free alcohol, including some great wine from the Margaret River region (also the location of the wedding).

But during this time, I found out about a new drink - ginger ale. And I think this might be my new drink of choice in future.

Benefits of ginger ale:

1. It is non-alcoholic, so you can drink as much of it as you want and still drive home

2. It is cheap - usually about the same price as a Coke

3. It looks pretty much like beer, so people just assume you are drinking beer and don’t call you a pansy for not drinking beer with them

4. It tastes really good

5. You can mix it with a variety of spirits if you feel like it

So I would have to say that apart from feeling healthier after 100 days alcohol-free, I have now discovered the drink that will become my number one choice next time I feel like popping in to a pub.

This goal proved to be a reasonably hard one, but very worthwhile. You should give it a go, if only for the health benefit. But you may just discover a new favourite drink along the way.

Month completed: April 2008

Not being the world’s best cook, I have never made any attempt to cook a cake except when it involves using the pre-made, ‘out of the box and in to the oven’ style ones.

So this goal was on the list to kick me out of that bad habit and see how I would go making a cake properly.

It was Nat that helped me achieve this goal. For a Christmas present last year, I received the following note:

As well as the note, she gave me all the ingredients I needed to make a big batch of cupcakes from scratch.

It took me four months to find a day to make them, but last Saturday I found the day. There were about a dozen people, including Nat and I, going for a night of go-karting on the Saturday night, so I thought what better occasion to cook cupcakes than as a pre-race delight.

Here is me having quite a lot of fun in the kitchen. I really like making a mess (it can always be cleaned up later). You can see two main things in this photo - a huge variety of lollies, and what my hair looks like when I get out of bed in the morning.

There were a couple of stumbles along the way.

1. The icing ingredients required a ‘nut of butter’. After a couple of Google searches came up with nothing, I tried to use a peanut size amount of butter. This was way less than required, so I just put in enough butter until the mixture starting to look like icing. About three big fork-fulls was what I ended up using - probably a little more than it should have been, as the common comment was that the icing was very buttery.

2. You need to leave the cupcakes to cool before applying the icing, I have discovered. Unfortunately I discovered this after using up all my blue icing, which I applied to six cupcakes straight out of the oven. Below is the result. It seems that the icing soaks into the cupcake and the butter rises to the top to form a greasy top layer. Not good.

After that, the rest of the cupcakes were left to cool before icing was applied. The finished result once that was done, and icing, lollies and sprinkles were finally put on top, was the delicious-looking array below.

They proved to be a great success at go-karting (is there anything more manly that pink and purple cupcakes at a go-kart track? I don’t think so) and I can’t wait to make my next batch.

If only I could work out what a nut of butter is….

Month completed: April 2008

The Melbourne Comedy festival is on at the moment, and there was only one comedian I really wanted to see this time - Mark Watson, a Welsh comedian who I saw on TV and heard on radio a couple of times last year and thought was hilarious.

I went on Wednesday night and saw him perform at the Forum and laughed more than I have laughed for ages. He was spot on with his observational humour and his high energy performance was engaging to watch. In fact, it was the best comedy gig I have EVER seen.

I was even lucky enough to get a picture with him after the show.

Thanks Mark for putting on a great show - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Month completed: March 2008

No posts for a while, as I have been off in Broome achieving goal 47.

Having now been, I can summarise Broome in four words:

- Red

- Humid

- Beautiful

- Relaxing

When I say red, I mean that red dirt and rock is everywhere. Wherever you look, there is red. It’s very distinctive.

When I say humid, I mean that it is so humid that your sunglasses fog up within seconds of stepping outside. It is swelteringly humid.

When I say beautiful, I am referring to the beaches, in particular Cable Beach, which is nothing more than kilometres of white sand and clear waters. And great waves. The picture above is of a sunset at Cable Beach. If you look closely, you will see me amongst the waves.

When I say relaxing, I mean that everyone there is on Broome Time. Broome Time is a slow pace that involves no rushing, and when everyone around you is running on Broome time, it is easy to follow suit. Relaxation follows (a 90 minute massage also helps when it comes to relaxation, which Nat and I also partook in).

One of the things you can do here is a sunset camel ride along Cable Beach. Here is me with the camel I rode on during the ride we went on. His name is Mustaf.

I would definitely recommend adding Broome to your list of potential holiday spots. If you can stand the heat, you will love it.

Month completed: February 2008

I played the violin all the way through primary and high school, and was part of the school symphony orchestra throughout high school. All of this made me really appreciate the beauty and brilliance of classical music, especially classical music that involves a heavy violin involvement.

And I have always wanted to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra play live. Last Wednesday, thanks to the Sidney Myer Foundation, I did.

Early every year, the Sidney Myer Foundation put on a series of free orchestral concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. It was the dream of Sidney Myer to be able to fund free concerts for fellow Melburnians so that everyone could enjoy classical music live.

So on Wednesday I went along with Nat and Andy, and had a magical time. The theme of the concert was the violin, and a fantastic violinist called Feng Ning was flown in to play the signature part of Brahm’s Violin Concerto in D.

Even Andy, who I never considered much of a classical music fan, was very impressed.

All in all, a great night, and a nice goal to achieve. I definitely recommend a visit to the orchestra to anyone and everyone. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Month completed: February 2008

My longest goal, six months in the making, is now complete. I made it from the start of August until the end of January without taking the lifts at work (except for some very rare occasions that were allowed according to my two exceptions, which were detailed in my progress post about this goal).

It was hard for the first few weeks not to take the easy option of the lift, but after six months I am now in such a habit of taking the stairs, I think I will probably keep doing it without even thinking about it.

If you have a lift at your home or office, challenge yourself to see how long you can go only using the stairs. Feel free to use my two exceptions if you want - I certainly did!

Month completed: January 2008

Here it is - my big Lego achievement. In fact, it is my big Megabloks achievement, but that’s much of a muchness, because Megabloks is just like Lego, but looks more realistic and less like a bunch of blocks put together. It is the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow’s ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise*.

Nat gave it to me for Christmas, and I couldn’t wait to get started. Unfortunately it took only a few hours to complete and wasn’t too difficult, but what it has done (besides looking awesome) is that it has given me the appetite for more Lego and Megabloks projects.

The only problem I have is trying to find room in a one-bedroom apartment to put all of my future masterpieces!

* The painting behind the ship is one of the beach that I did a while ago. Works in well with the pirate theme I reckon (I am such a geek!).