A win on the pokies

Hey Gang;

I missed last week's update, probably due in part to my nonchalance at the moment. Still a bit all over the place regarding what my future career should look like. I can't even use the "I'm at a crossroads" cliche - at least then I'd have paths to choose from. No, I need to coin a new saying to enter into the career/life crisis pantheon to describe my current state. Something like "I'm in the salt flats" - everywhere I look there's a big void. I'm not to down about it though, there's just to much to be thankful for to start any hysterics.

Friday night wasn't the usual double header of footy on account of it being a shortened NRL week with the upcoming State-Of-Origin. Irrespective, I still fell asleep by half time.

Saturday was a whole heap of DIY stuff. Actually, my neighbour (a builder) did most of the DIY stuff, i just did some handyman stuff. We've agreed that I'll do some labouring for him if he does some tiling for me. I get a new bathroom and he gets some extra muscle. Pretty good swap I reckon.

Later that afternoon, I broke the news to The Lovely Samantha that I'd secretly booked us into a plush hotel for the night, a cabaret dinner and a spa treatment for her to simply say thanks for being my girl. Chaching! It was like wining the browny points pokies. Lady luck was looking down on us too. Firstly, I found $50 on the footpath and secondly, we literally had ring side seats in this cool burlesque cabaret club which I'd stumbled upon last week (Slide)

The city view I woke up to was certainly different to that which I'd usually wake up to on a Sunday morning, but that same Lovely creature was purring very contentedly right there beside me, just like clockwork. While I razed the complimentary buffet breakfast like an Egyptian pharaoh after 40 days in the desert, Sam was massaged like an Egyptian pharaoh's favoured concubine.

Though we did think about him while away, neither of us missed the boy wonder, and given that his grandma let him watch his Thomas The Tank Engine DVD collection, I strongly doubt he missed us either.

see ya,
Minas.
www.minasaroney.com.au

Mother's Day, Dad's Weekend.

Hey There;

This weekend was chockers with events as part of Head On. I wont bore you with details apart from mentioning this one incredible photographer who's work blew me away. Her name is Cristina Garcia Rodero and her stuff is fully sick mate.
Inspiration was everywhere throughout the whole weekend program of seminars, screenings, exhibitions etc. I'm reinvigorated, just need to find my outlet.
What I did manage to find however was the most dodgy Indian restaurant outside of Delhi. How it's not on the name-n-shame list of skanky Sydney restaurants is a mystery but how I managed to avoid salmonella is thankfully more baffling.

I made breakfast for The Lovely Samantha on Saturday. It was an early Mother's day browny points thing on account of her doing a fun run early the next morning. Lucky I did too - she had to look after the boy wonder for the rest of the weekend while I quaffed wine and talked f-stops with the Sydney snapper scene.

See ya,
Minas.

Head Away

Hiya;

Friday night was the annual Head On portrait prize announcement which also doubled as the official launch of the photo festival (the one I've been helping organise). Peter Garret opened proceedings which was a nice touch. The organising committee then adjourned to an Indian restaurant in Double Bay for a thankyou dinner. Home just after midnight.

Up very very early on Saturday for a boys 4WD camping weekend between Jenolan and Wombeyan caves (2hrs west of Sydney). To be perfectly honest though, there was probably only about 30km of track our family car wouldn't have been able to negotiate. The rest was pretty tame. Didn't stop us from having a cracking weekend though which could be summarised as: Eat, drive, eat, rest, drive, pitch camp, eat, laugh, sleep, eat, pack up camp, drive, eat, sleep. Just what the doctor ordered.

We swapped spare car keys at the start in case any got misplaced during the trip and when Bruce refused to sleep in the tent, opting instead for the back of his troopy, we had no end of hi-jinks locking and unlocking his car in the middle of the night with the spare remote.

I need a few days off to rest my sore ribs.

see ya,
Minas.