A wimba wey-hey wimba wey

In the jungle, the mighty jungle. That's a very appropriate description of this city. And this mighty jungle, Timon and I found ourselves crossing the East River, which is something we almost never do. We trained into Brooklyn last Sunday to meet up with Sarah Lorens, my old-old boss at IMAX and a close family friend of Ts. She's sojourning in New York for 3 weeks on the way to start a new life in Poland. Man, I know some pretty cool people doing crazy cool things. We found ourselves outside the Brooklyn Museum, which by the way is an amazing building, meeting Sarah and her friend Tracey. Tracey split from the group to participate in a soccer match which we would gather ice-cream for and then watch from the shade. We found the ice-cream shop easily enough and it was a welcome relief from the scorching sun and humidity. The place was pretty popular - an article on the window explained it had to close after 4 days because they ran out of ice-cream. But it was open this day and I enjoyed my malted vanilla scoop with a side of raspberry iced tea. Sarah then proceeded to take us on a wild goose chase around the area, searching for this rumoured soccer pitch. Lucky it wasn't 2million degrees......hang on a second. BUT it was an interesting trek and I got to see a part of Brooklyn that isn't so scary and is actually kind awesome. Some dudes were filming in a side-street, there are cosy cafes everywhere and the terrace houses are gorgeous. Talk about your stoop! We found the pitch (turned out to be not so far away) and watched Tracey's team get completely annihilated. No big deal, it's just a friendly league apparently. Then it was drinks time while Tracey changed and met us for the grand finale of the day.....

THE LION KING SING-A-LONG

I have a distinct weakness for Disney. Sure, The Lion King is no The Little Mermaid, but hell - my boyfriends name is Timon! I have room in my heart for another (Disney film, not boyfriend). The crowd seemed a little quiet when we arrived but I spotted a couple of fancy costumes, an Elton John, a Rafiki and a definite Zazu candidate. There were overpriced snacks and a projector screen showing snippets of the various sequels and video games. We parked on the last few bar stool up the back and stocked up on cider and beer. By the time the film begun the bar was packed and I could barely see. There was trivia ("What is Nala's mum's name?") and a costume competition. I believe Elton John won. Then the film started and I was transported. True Bliss. I know I know all the songs as well as most of the dialogue. I know most of you do to. But to be surrounded by a hundred or so similarly aged peeps belting out "Be Prepared" and "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" complete with waving lighters was a magical experience. I'm only sorry they've already screened The Little Mermaid.

Summer Rain

It's officially summer and it's rained everyday. Now that's more like it. A couple of other noteworthy things have happened - today is Austin's 30th birthday. I think everyone who follows this blog is well acquainted with Austin - he who lives in Japan. And you know that if he's 30, I can't be far behind. But at least Ali will get there first (and they'll both be married before me - am I losing at life?).

Also - gay marriage was legalised in New York today. Pretty cool. I was watching the hoopla surrounding it on the news over the last few days and really got some steam up. I know I'm totally naive, especially when it comes to America, but I'm sure there was some distinction between church and state locked down in the Constitution or something. It just seems so totally heinous that the narrow-minded religious views of a a few (million billion) should have such influence. It's a small victory on the grand scale but I'm pretty chuffed about it.

Timon is out in Brooklyn tonight, partaking in some smoky, dimly lit jazz with Sarah Lorens and her friends. You know I'm out when the gig doesn't start until 11pm and there's no shirtless Donnie Wahlberg. So instead I, rather foolishly, took the opportunity of an empty house to watch the DVD of my nana's funeral. I think the kittens were mildly alarmed at the hysterical sobbing coming from the bedroom, but it was good to get it out. It is very tough being away from your family for so long, especially when they experience a crisis. And it's hard to watch them from some weird god-like perspective as they stand united, without you, on a very sad day. I think I'm glad I watched it, I'm definitely glad I looked at the accompanying photo montage that reminded me how totally rad my nana was (and how much I look like her - on the right).


My parents have finally arrived back in Ballarat after what felt like eons in Europe. I'm glad they're home because I worry like an old mum when they're gallivanting around the world on planes and trains and the like. I wonder if it will be their last trip to the Northern Hemisphere this year.........*hint * hint

NKOTBSB (awesome)

It is ridiculous that tickets to NKOTBSB were only $40. It was SPECTACULAR! For those not quite in the know, NKOTBSB represents the epic event of the year, New Kids on the Block united with the Backstreet Boys - at last! I purchased tickets for myself and poor Timon a couple of months ago and the time had come. We jumped on the train and joined the queue at Port Authority for the bus to New Jersey's IZOD arena. Luckily we were just early enough to get in line before a billion girls of all ages, and some begrudging boys, turned the queue into a giant snake around many corners. We made it to the stadium just in time for Jordin Sparks, an Americal Idol performer who has duetted with none other than Guy Sebastian. Her show was brief and her songs were catchy but the main event was just beyond her giant hair. Our seats, however cheap, provided a pretty awesome view of the stage that extended the length of the stadium. We were also right in front of a giant screen that magnified the action, the boys and the pecs. I spent the next 2 hours in a state of glazed over, light headed, slightly drooling bliss as my old favs went head to head in a boy band showdown. Songs I didn't remember, that thrust me back to my early teens, came pouring out of the rusty NKOTB and the BSB did not disappoint with a mix of old and new. I swear, when the lights came up in the beginning and they were all on stage together, my heart skipped several beats. I felt a little bit bad for Danny and Jon who were so obviously dragged from their day jobs to re-live a time when they were glorified backup singers at best. Danny's only solo effort was.....poor. Jon looked tired before he even started moving. But Jordan (my favourite), Joey and Donnie put it all out there, falsetto and all, muscles and rap, and I was thrilled. Timon spent that same 2 hours taking photos, filming and sneaking sideways glances at the weak kneed, gooey 12 year old girl that used to be his girlfriend. But I wasn't alone - the shrieks in that stadium rivaled any Beatles gig and my ears rung for hours afterwards. Let me throw a few song titles out there, just to see if they jog a memory and thrust you back to an era when denim overalls were the perfect match for high-top reeboks....

"Step-by-Step"
"Hangin Tough"
"You got it (the Right Stuff)"
"Didn't I (Blow your mind this time)"
"I'll be loving you (Forever)"
"Cover Girl"

NB: According to Wikipedia, Marky Mark Wahlberg was an original member alongside brother Donnie.

Also, I cannot explain their penchant for parentheses.

Alice? WTF is Alice?

Alice, a fellow IMAXian, arrived on a Tuesday having spent the last 7 months teaching English in France. We collected her from the E train platform at 42nd Street and dragged her giant luggage up the 5 flights to our apartment. As is now customary for visitors from home, first night food was Indian takeaway. I didn't bother with the inflatable mattress, knowing that it was unlikely that the hole had repaired itself, and set Alice up with some couch cushions, doonas and pillows. I had been under the impression that Alice was staying for 3 nights and flying onto San Fran before heading home. I was wrong. In fact Alice's schedule had her in New York and the surrounding area for 2 weeks! Muchos excitement! Luckily for Alice she arrived just as New York experienced a terrible, mind blowing heatwave. We're talking 40 degrees plus intense humidity. The fans Timon and I had purchased in preparation for summer provided paltry relief at best. And for some reason, on heatwave day, we decided to walk from 105th to Jack's Coffee on 51st. Through the park, we thought. That will be nice, we thought. Eugh. Ugh. Triple Boo.

We did our best to accommodate Alice's every NYC desire. We stopped outside the Seinfeld Diner for the customary photo, we had bagels and hotdogs and pizza and beer. We had frozen margaritas at Mother Burger, watched hours of trash TV, caught endless subway trains, cruised over to Staten Island and glimpsed the Statue, photo bombed the Chrysler, Flatiron, Empire State, Madison Square Garden and perused Martha Stewart kitchen gear at Macy's. We had diner food, dumplings, iced coffee and croissants. We were invited out to the Bronx for a fajita BBQ night with mojitos and dodgy kung-fu projected onto a building wall. We were on the list at the reincarnation of CBGBs and drank free cocktails all night. On her own, Alice visited Boston and New Jersey and left us sweltering in the heat for a quick trip to SF before arriving in the Melbourne winter.

WHILE Alice was here she had to put up with 3 rambunctious kittens harassing her while she slept. But on the second day we received a panic-call from Miriam, our cat lady, asking if we would take an emergency foster - a mum and her ? kittens. Why the ?? Well it seemed that the mother cat was heading to the vet on the subway and proceeded to deliver kittens in the carrier. Miriam wasn't sure how many, but could we do a swap and collect these little dudes from the vet on East 58th. Sounds like an adventure. Why sure.

This is why we now house one giant tiger looking cat and her 4 sweet angel kittens. They are almost 3 weeks old and get cuter by the minute. There are 3 near identical grey kitties and 1 browny ginger one. Their eyes opened last week and everyday they struggle to walk on their disproportionate legs. They haven't been gifted names yet as we're not 100% sure on sex but we know they will stay with us until they're 10 weeks old and ready for adoption. At the moment we only have to feed the mum and she 'takes care' of their bathroom needs. I think it's best if we don't think too hard about that.