why wy?

Played tourist today, with my 78-year-old aunt the tour guide. She walks faster than me. Everyone is talking about vivio city, the new shopping centre - as in so new than the cinema in it hasn't opened yet. Will try and check it out later in the week.

Had to update the photo on my identity card - in a sense I turned 30 again. The registration centre is crowded but they send me to the front of the queue, perhaps they think I don't have time to lose. An hour and two blackened thumbs later, I've got a new card. The last photo was taken when I was 17 or 18. My eyebags have doubled since then, and I'm pretty sure I'll look back 10 years from now and moan about my unfashionable haircut now.

It has been raining every afternoon, which makes the heat bearable. This is tropical drenching rain, not pissy weak damp rain. Have taken to carrying a brolly around.

Now with exams over, my social life has bloomed - like cactus after rain. But some days, a gel just has to stay home and do laundry. A quick shout to my neighbour (literally yelling from the carpark) quickly led to a couple of beers, G&Ts when the beers ran out (to be honest I only had 3 bottles in the house) and suddenly, noticing the sunset, I said a little too brightly: Let's go for a walk!

Walk walk walk.
Past the local lawn bowls club. Lawn bowls is a cross between regular bowling and golf and is usually played by old people. It is what I would term daggy cool, ie like wearing golf wear to the club.

A couple of bowlers, the sort of men you would see at a country pub, give us the once-over. Bowling clubs are known for their extremely cheap grog. We are contemplating this when suddenly, a female face pops up.

Are you gels interested in bowling?

Short answer - we walk back to get some moolah, exchange friendlies with the bartender ($2.20 pots!) and find ourselves barefoot on the green.

There's plenty of advice from the men:
"Why did you do that? You stupid woman!"
"I'm not trying to coach you but...'
"If you can't get within 3 feet of the jack, you have to start taking clothes off.''

Incredibly offensive of course, but on a warm relaxed Saturday evening and after a couple of beers, everything is funny. It's all harmless, it feels like hanging out with the uncles at the end of a wedding dinner, when everyone has had a bit in them, and they are putting their arm around you and giving you "serious advice', while their wives just roll their eyes.

Two of the bowlers are nicknamed Chopper and choppa. I'm not saying the local club is a rough place, but but Chopper has been banned from lawn bowls on three occasions. There's a lot of etiquette, he says. Uhuh. And he also punched the president of another club (when he was a member there). At the AGM.

We impress them with our preference for beer over "girl drinks', our keenness at bowling - if not ability although I actually got better after two beers - and they even forgive us for being vego. (I wasn't feeling up to the sausage sizzle.)

I'm not sure if hanging out with drunk old people is something I want to do on a weekly basis, but it definitely makes for an unusual night out.

And the pickle sisters is born.

Thanks Mon, as always, for feeding me and being an inspiration.

Had a wonderful day, despite having an exam tomorrow, can't seem to get into study mode. Listening to the Wallflowers now, and it fully captures the vibe of the day, laid back, relaxed.

It all started with a good breakfast - you can't go wrong with a croissant dipped in molten chocolate and hazelnut coffee. The croissant was store-bought (I haven't had home-baked since nick, my first housemate, who was generous and unafraid of butter), the sauce made by melting dark cooking chocolate and adding some cream at the end (so that it doesn't harden when it cools and looks glossy) and the coffee came in a tea bag. Which isn't real expresso coffee but I like it gentle and mellow.

Picked up my race winnings, took a stroll to the supermarket, and much later, found a food blog that celebrates food, good writing and a love for the supermarket (my no-longer-secret guilty pleasure). Here's what Orangette has to say:

Human beings, I believe, come in two varieties: there are those who love to go to the grocery store, and then there are the rest. According to modern taxonomy, both varieties fit within the category Homo sapiens sapiens, meaning “very wise man.” According to me, however, those who prowl the produce section and dally in the dairy aisle are something else entirely. They are of the subcategory Homo sapiens sapiens sapiens, meaning “very, very wise man.” Or so I like to tell myself.

For me, going to the grocery store is less about buying than it is about being there, less shopping than a sort of sensory steeping. The grocery store is not only a place for purchasing, but also for observing, for ogling, for stacks of crisp-smelling boxes, bright colors, and big ideas. It is a place of promise, neatly presented, aisle after aisle, edible and otherwise.

I will bake a quiche tomorrow I think.

What happens when you try to mug a magician? You don't get very much, as 2 teenagers found out. From AP

Copperfield, 50, and two female assistants were walking from the Kravis Center to their tour bus when they were approached by the teens April 23. The assistants handed over money and a cellphone, but the illusionist turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing, although he was carrying his passport, wallet and cell phone.

"He said in depositions that he had things on him, but it wasn't difficult to make it seem like there was nothing there," prosecutor Sherri Collins said.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Besides exams, I've also turned my interest to Spring Racing. I'm not so much interested in the fancy hats and flirty dresses, but in the gambling side of things (and the champagne of course). I picked two winners (but fell asleep before I could place my bet for the first one), so here is my very short list of what works and doesn't, gleamed from my very short betting history.

1) Don't bet on the favourite (the horse with the lowest odds). It doesn't pay well and rarely comes in.

2) Some races are known for being wide open, so there is always a surprise element to it. In which case, your guess is as good as mine. You can always pick the horse that has won the most money so far, if all fails. (delta blues, winner of melbourne cup) For the other races apparently, it's easier to pick a winner.

3) Like the name? The two winners I picked from gut feel and the buzz they were generating (divine madonna, miss finland), but then again two others I picked using the same criteria didn't make it (geordieland, superkid).

So I don't think I made any money in the end, but I think I may have just broken even. Which leads into

4) If you have one in mind, don't be greedy and bet on a few horses. So even if you do win on one horse, you end up losing money on the rest.

Looking forward to doing the same thing next year and hopefully making enough to buy dinner!

A bit of shameless self promotion ahem. I am not taking orders.

Glad you liked them gnat. To be honest, the sewing was easy but I did do a double take when they told me how much the postage was. I could buy a *real* gift for that amount ;)

Maybe I should take up knitting.