So … as my last evening of being a 24 year old, I thought I’d write a blog. Not on anything in particular because … well, I never have anything remotely interesting to write about anyway. So join hands with me, as we take a step into my retarded mind, I can guarantee you one thing if you do. The minutes you spend reading this blog, you will ne’er get back.
I really like painting. And creating. Doing anything with my hands makes me feel completely at peace. I’m looking forward to the next few days as I’m gonna decorate the living cuss out of our front hallway with Christmas decorations. I spent $100 on decorations last Friday night from Spotlight (but only paid $60 because I’m such a loyal cuntstomer and Spotlight looks after me), and I’m gonna hang them all around the place. We’ve never had nice Christmas decorations and I thought it was high time our family got some. I’m gonna make a kickin’ Christmas playlist, too, and get into the Christmas spirit early!
My friends from belly dancing, Nicole and Sonja took me to a funky funky art gallery last Wednesday morning, called Ballyhoo Art, located in Ryrie Street next to Geelong Art Supplies. Over the last year, Nicole has commissioned two paintings from me. She loves my work so much that she finally, after 6 months, convinced me to take some samples of my work to Ballyhoo to show the owner, Sandra, to see if I could sell some stuff. Sandra liked my work. She said “here’s my card, when you get some stuff ready, bring it back in here and we’ll see what we can do”. I went home after having a delightful lunch with Nicole and Sonja at Lotus Living, and started a brand new painting, of an image that’s been stuck in my head for 5 months. It’s nice to get it out. Last Wednesday was a great day! It was 30 degrees outside, cloudy, grey, muggy as all heck. You knew the rain was gonna pour down at any moment, and there was that electricity in the air that gets my insides all buzzing. I sat in my room with my painty clothes on, made a playlist of pop songs from the ’90′s (interspersed with some Beatles), and sat back and painted. Once this blog is complete, I shall continue on with that painting. It’s called “Getting Ready” – I’ll take a photo of it one day and post it on my blog … maybe …
I’m reading The Girl Who Played With Fire at the moment. I like Lisbeth Salander. In fact, I think she’s the best heroine I’ve ever discovered. I guess you could say I love Lisbeth Salander. I like her because she has morals and she treats people the way I always imagine I’d treat people if I were provoked to do so.
I work two days a week these days, and have five consecutive days off. It’s the reverse of what most people do. My spare time is spent gardening and doing art stuff. I’ve decided just today that I’m going to defer my studies next year, take a break from studying, and get a full-time job in Melbourne somewhere, clearing bush trails. I’ll spend my evening and week-ends doing whatevs, I’ll save as much money as I can, and the year after, I’ll get my degree. I don’t like nursing, you see. I want a break from studying. I want to get away from Geelong, the painfully familiar.
I want to work outdoors, forever. Hopefully working for a year will give my heart some peace, enough to get me through my degree. Nursing … I just don’t see myself doing it. It’s not just the hours and the work. It’s the people. And I don’t mean the patients. Other nurses. Battle-axes, young ditzy nurses (I don’t get along with women as a general rule), egotistical doctors (don’t like egotistical anybodies), cleaning up bodily excretions. Honestly, who the fuck invented nursing?! Shittest jorb ever. And you know what else sucks? The hours! THAT’s why I’m so instantly infuriated by people who don’t know me, asking about “my nursing”. Hmmm … I just got an idea for a t-shirt …
And finally, I’m in love! With Zuzana and www.bodyrock.tv. I won’t spoil the surprise but if you’re into muscle tone and accents, then you’ll probably not be let down.
There. Got through the WHOLE blog and what did you get out of it? Nothing.
I warned you, didn’t, I?
Love from Suzy J. 
……..
By: Hooly on November 30, 2010
at 3:19 pm
Alright, here’s a question for ya, Jules, what makes your top 5 best things about Christmas?
By: Suzy J. on November 30, 2010
at 11:14 pm
Good one! In no particular order:
1- Mum’s shortbread.
2- Singing along with the whole family to ‘The Spirit of Christmas 1995′ including all the little ad lib bits and backing vox.
3- A seemingly infinite supply of cashews and other nuts.
4- R&R
5- Watching a timeless Christmas movie like ‘home alone’.
Anyone else? Top 5? Suzy?
By: Hooly on December 2, 2010
at 10:53 am
What’s R&R?
Top 5 for me:
1) Um… well, xmas ham has got to be up there.
2) … wow, I really can’t think of anything. I’m such a scrooge. Consumerism?
3) Doing the dishes
4) Staying out of people’s way on Xmas Day, just in case they explode from the pressure to organise everything.
5) Xmas pudding is also good…. oh, and giving presents.
By: Adam Dean on December 5, 2010
at 1:20 am
R&R … rest and recover? Relax and repent? Ruin and ruminate? Oh! I know! Risk and … nah … I don’t know what the second R is …
Adam, that’s sad. It sounds like Christmas time for you is a total stress. Do you do the dishes on Christmas day to avoid talking to relatives whilst appearing to be a good boy? ‘Cause that’s what I do. Although, I try to look more like a good girl.
Here’s mine, not in order though:
1. The smell of our Christmas tree.
2. Any and all Christmas carols.
3. What Julian wrote for number 5. Included in my list is Trading Places.
4. Christmas pudding and brandy cream.
5. Seeing my cousin, Jenny.
Sheri … top 5??
By: Suzy J. Notini on December 5, 2010
at 9:29 pm
Hey Adam your number four is actually one of the best things about Christmas? It’s one of my worst.
I would’ve wrote your number one Suzy but for the last few years our family has had a fake tree. I miss that smell of pine indoors.
By: Hooly on December 8, 2010
at 4:56 am
I also miss the pine smell indoors. I got a coffee the other day, at a place that had a REAL Christmas tree up, and I felt so young and excited again- it was awesome!
By: crommo on December 10, 2010
at 10:11 am
Want to come over to mine and smell the tree this Christmas?
By: Suzy J. Notini on December 9, 2010
at 11:13 am
Not really.
By: Hooly on December 10, 2010
at 1:02 am
By: Suzy J. on December 10, 2010
at 2:15 am
F*ck you then.
By: Suzy J. on December 10, 2010
at 2:15 am
No one asked me, but I’ll say my top five.
In no particular order:
1. Loads of little “seasonal” edibles, like peanuts, cashews, chocolate coated nuts, german gingerbread cookies, red and white and green bowls filled with lollies.
2. Seeing the people in my family who I like, which, luckily for me, is the majority of my family.
3. Eating a shit load of food like various roasts, cold meats, salads, desserts and bread etc and drinking yummy drinks like beer and wine.
4. Gifts. Receiving them, sure, but also I love it when you know you’ve had a great idea for a gift and you give it to someone and they love it and it’s kind of what the whole thing is about.
5. Usually, when all the family’s out of the way, I end up meeting up with some friends late at night Christmas night. Like at Shoubra, by the fire. Or I think I’m going to a BBQ in Melbourne this year. So, I like seeing friends as well. And I’ll sneak this into this “friends” bit too: GCB carols on Christmas eve, and going somewhere for some beers on Christmas eve with Geelong mates. Often it’s someone I don’t really hang out with at all, but who is cool and enjoyable. And then because I’m drunk I sleep in on Christmas morning and don’t have to wake up 3,234,410 times all excited.
By: crommo on December 10, 2010
at 10:10 am
Mkay, since you asked, here’s my Top Five (my problem will be limiting to only five as Christmas is my favorite time of year and I kinda go a bit mental for it):
5. Snow. In general, it’s a huge pain in the ass. I hate shovelling it, I hate driving in it, and when it gets dirty and slushy, it’s just totally depressing. But there are very few things in this world more beautiful than softly falling snow on a crisp December night, when the sky is filled with stars and all of the neighbouring houses are lit up with twinkle lights. It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever.
4. Christmas baking. There are few things I enjoy more than spending an entire afternoon baking cookies. I turn up the Christmas tunes and put my Christmas apron on, and I go to town rolling out dough, and using my cookie cutters to cut out shapes of stockings and Christmas trees. Then I’ll decorate each one with trim and glitter. I’m happier than a pig in poo doing that sort of thing. I know it sounds lame, but it’s cool, so shut it.
3. Same as your #3 and Jules’ #5, except my list would include Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “A Christmas Story”, all of which I watch faithfully every year. I know you Aussie folk didn’t care for “A Christmas Story”, which I kind-of get, because if I were to watch it for the first time now, I probably would think it sucks. The story line’s pretty shoddy and there’s a bunch of random subplots that don’t really tie in together well, but for me it holds great nostalgic value. Seeing that li’l gaffer bundled up in his snowsuit so tightly he’s unable to put his arms down reminds me so much of mom. It still makes me laugh.
2b. Watching someone open a gift that I KNOW they’re going to love. Man how good is that…. nothing is better than going to a huge effort for someone that you know will appreciate it, and seeing the expression of pure delight on their face. Kids and moms are especially good at that sort of thing. Although that’s more of a present giving thing, not a Christmas thing, so I’m nominating another for #2 on my list.
2a Opening stockings. Early every Christmas morning, I’d run downstairs with my brothers in tow, and we’d grab our stockings and run back upstairs to open them on mom & dad’s bed. We had some traditions that we carry on to this day, such as the mini cereal boxes. We’d get two boxes of sugared cereal, ie: Fruit Loops, Corn Pops, that sort of thing, and it was such a treat because a) mini cereal boxes are hella cool when you’re a kid, but also it was the only day of the year we were allowed to eat sugared cereal – the rest of the year it was Weetabix or Bran Flakes. Another tradition was, my brother Mark & I who are both fiends for green olives, we’d each get a small jar of olives in our stocking. We’d search out the present that was wrapped in the shape of a jar, and on the count of three, we’d unscrew the lid without unwrapping it first and then gorge ourselves on olives. Every year Mom & Dad would threaten that the next year they’d disguise the jar in a box or heavy wrapping so we wouldn’t know which one was the jar, but they never did. I think they got as big of a kick out of it as we did. I also love how mom would wrap everything, even packets of chocolates and gum. Just this year dad confessed to me that they’d be up for hours on Christmas eve wrapping gifts and often wouldn’t finish until moments before we woke up. Then they’d be up all day on virtually no sleep. What troopers. The third stocking stuffer was one of those Lifesaver books that had eight rolls of assorted Lifesavers in the pockets. My brother Stephen and I would eat all of our Lifesavers within a day or two, then steal Mark’s out of his treasure box when he wasn’t looking. * sigh … good times… *
1. The anticipation of Christmas is a huge part of the enjoyment for me. I’d say Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year because you’re done all the shitty shopping, all the lights are on, and the prezzies are wrapped under the tree. I still feel giddy every Dec 24th, because I remember how awesome it felt when I was a kiddie…..too excited to sleep and lying awake, wondering what the next day would have in store.
Other honourable mentions would be, my dad roasting chestnuts in the firepit in the backyard, making snow angels, drinking hot chocolate and/or cider with cinnamin sticks, singing Christmas carols, listening to the Hallelujah chorus being performed by a live choir, egg nog, turkey dinner w/ all the trimmings, feeding the reindeer down at Gore Park… hearing my nephew Tim say, “God bless us, every one!” in his poorly executed English accent (he says it every year without fail and it still makes me laugh)… just to name a few. Good times…
By: Sheri "I heart Christmas" Hawkins on December 10, 2010
at 10:58 am
Aww Crommy, that’s cute. And also kind-of gay. But I can’t really take a crack at you for your inherent gayness when I just crapped on about stockings and roasting chesnuts n shit. But yeah, I can totally picture the mini version of you, all hyper and vibrating from the sheer anticipation of Christmas Day. That’s one thing that doesn’t fully transfer over to adulthood, that mad, crazy adrenilin rush of excitement. It’s still cool, but it’s just not the same…
By: Sheri "I heart Christmas" Hawkins on December 10, 2010
at 11:11 am
Also Suz, I am sorry I forgot your birthday. In my defense, I didn’t actually forget it. I had it written down in my book so I’d remember, I just forgot to call/email you to tell you I’d remembered. But that doesn’t really count. So anyway, I’m sorry for being a shit friend.
By: Sheri "I'm a bad friend" Hawkins on December 10, 2010
at 11:19 am
OK Suz I’ll smell your fucking tree!!! Happy now? Fuck!
And ffs Sheri ya wanna just write a whole comment longer than the actual blog? Well just about, anyway…
Crommo I believe I did ask for your top five when I said ‘anyone else?’
And just in case those three comments of mine didnt lose me three friends can i just say that I’m very disappointed that no one said:
1- Celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ!!!!!!
By: Hooly on December 11, 2010
at 1:00 am
Haha! Whatever you dirty tree-sniffing hippie, baby Jesus can suck it!
By: Sheri on December 11, 2010
at 1:27 am
Aww I feel bad now…. I heart you baby Jesus!
By: Sheri on December 11, 2010
at 1:28 am
Shit, I forgot aboot Jeebus.
By: Suzy J. Notini on December 11, 2010
at 6:27 am