Sydney, I love you but you're bringing me down

from here

I like living in Carlton. I like the fact that walking for five minutes or less gets me to a gym, a train station, two medical centres, a post office, a petrol station, a hairdresser, a much-loved park, a tattoo/waxing parlour, a mini supermarket, and a takeaway shop that sells a BBQ pork chow mein so delicious that I’m never disappointed when we get to 5pm and realise we have no food to eat for dinner.

I like it so much that I’d started thinking, “Why did we want to leave Sydney? I like Sydney! Maybe we could stay! Maybe our kids could be Sydney kids!” Our neighbour downstairs had mentioned that he might be selling his place soon, and he suggested we buy it so we could have three bedrooms instead of two. “How cool would that be?!” I’d thought. “We’d only have to move our furniture downstairs! We’d already know the neighbours and the area! We’d have a garage we could actually maneouvre our car into! And yes, property in Sydney is ridiculously expensive, but if we settle for an apartment rather than a house and don’t spend any money on anything else ever, it’ll be totally doable!” I daydreamed about the idea for a while, getting more puffed up with excitement each time I thought about it. And then I jumped online to check out prices of places in this area and promptly deflated.

Whoa. WHOA. W. H. O. A.

We’ve started daydreaming about Adelaide instead.

If everything went according to plan, we’d move down there by the end of next year (Moses starts school in 2016) and we’d rent for a bit while we searched for somewhere to buy, and then we’d buy a place, move once more, and then NEVER MOVE AGAIN EVER FOR THE REST OF OUR WHOLE ENTIRE LIVES. 

To stay sane at the moment, I’m pretending that things for us generally do go according to plan, and that this is probably exactly the way it’ll turn out.

A post for Jo

from here

Hello! I've been thinking of you, and then thinking how weird it is to be thinking of someone I've only ever met through comments on my blog and be wondering if their baby's arrived yet and worrying how well they're sleeping and coping with life with two kids. I hope you're sleeping well (as well as is possible with a newborn), and that you're coping very well with life with two kids. :)

(Apologies to everyone else who reads this blog, I have none of Jo's contacty information and thought I'd give this a burl. We will now resume our regular programming...)

The Sound of Music

I went to see the Rockdale Musical Society’s version of The Sound of Music recently, which reminded me how much I love the movie and wanted to see it again. The movie is so good - SO GOOD! - apart from the Climb Every Mountain song (booooooooooring, fast-forward) and the fact that they play How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria while (SPOILER) she’s walking down the aisle, which seems to rudely suggest they’re answering that question by saying, “You marry her off!”

The DVD I borrowed from the library was the 40th anniversary edition of the film, which had a whole disc of special features including all of the main characters reminiscing about making it and telling funny stories about injuries and getting the giggles and the fact that in the 1980s Ronald Reagan played Edelweiss for the Austrian ambassador thinking it was a traditional Austrian song rather than one that was written for the musical. I found all of the interviews and memories fascinating, and didn’t feel at all like an old lady for enjoying them so thoroughly. Not for a moment.

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I remember when I used to watch The Sound of Music as a teenager, I’d think, “Why would anyone want to be a nun?” Now that I’m older, I watched thinking, “Man, being a nun looks awesome. Thinking about God distraction-free all day! Wearing black! I totally missed my calling.”

Dead as a dongle

Our dongle died, which means I’ve been without internet for the last week or so (except for moments like this, when we tether Alan’s phone and use his). We need a new dongle to be able to access the internet, but it’s difficult to find a new dongle without having access to the internet. It’s a conundrum.

We’re also changing carriers; I called Optus and asked what their new and exciting deals were now that it’s been a few years since we signed up – surely you can get more data for less money these days? Surely! It’s been three years! But apparently their new and exciting deals give you less data for the same money. I asked whether they have any special deals for valued customers who always pay their bills on time and bother to ask and who threaten to cancel their accounts, and they said…

They said no.

Oh internet, how I miss thee and thy connections to the world outside these here walls. May we be reunited soon, dear friend. Kiss kiss.