Singular Scene

So Singular in Each Particular

Baggage Claim

by

Ok, you’ve probably wondering if I’ve been to America for the wedding of the year or not…

I haven’t… (like duh… I’d have told you already right??)

I’m getting geared up (pun intended) for the event… and to that end I’ve been shopping. Internet shopping to net me a baggage bargain…

The evidence below, both purchased online, both bargains. The Camera/Computer bag is brand new but I saved $30.00 buying online… The roller bag was an excess wedding gift, used once and sold to me… cha ching…

I know you’re really interested in my luggage… It’s so interesting I made an animation (see below) sheesh… you’d think I could find something better to do wouldn’t you??

baggage.gif

Nine One One

by

Sydney NSW, Australia – 9935 miles (15,989 km) away from New York City and yet it could have been next door for the heartbreak we felt, even this far away.
I thought I was the last to know, arriving at the front door of the college I’d been studing at for almost 2 years. The world was at our feet as we began to plan for the following year… the big one. Kirky, best friend and accomplice, met me at the front door with a peculiar look on her face… “Have you heard?” the question on her lips.
“Heard What?” my reply.
Terrorists have attacked the World Trade Centre, hijacked planes, thousands dead, the towers fallen, etc. etc. etc.
Disbelief the immediate response, silent respect, prayer for the lost, for the rescuers and for the remaining. That and an addiction to CNN alone for the following weeks.
For our parents it was the assasination of JFK, the man on the moon. For us? The death of Princess Di, the World Trade Centers falling…
These are the days the world stopped for us.
There are other days, the day a hurricane destroyed a city, the day a tsunami flattened a nation. There are other tragedies… civil wars that are starving their people, men and women held captive lest religious freedom destabilises governments. There are men and women whose children will not live past tomorrow, or worse still, past the time it takes you to read this post.
Yes, it is important to remember the tragedies of the past but let us not lose sight of the tragedies that happen every day in our present, and let us do what we can to make a difference to somebody’s future.
http://www.redcross.org/
http://www.worldvision.com.au/

Held Hostage

by

Some weeks ago the new owner of the agency responsible for the management of the flat we are renting advised us, with written notice, that the payment method that had been previously available to us was to be no more and enclosed with this notice an application form and a new card for us to use instead.
However, this new option we have been offered incurs a fee of $2.10(incl gst) per month whereas the old system cost me nothing (due to the kind of personal account I have with my bank). Furthermore, under the new system I am expected to sign a document allowing a 3rd party to withdraw money from my bank account at appointed times of course, but I’m very cautious when giving this kind of access… paticularly when you see their fee schedule for statements or missed payments etc.
I understand that things come and go, businesses change hands and system efficiencies ebb and flow. I am, after all, not an unreasonable girl. However, I’m not happy to pay for the privilege of paying money to my landlord. I’m not happy to give direct debit access to a company I know nothing of. What I would like to do is pay direct from my bank account into the account of my property manager.
And they won’t do it. It’s ‘not available’… so the only alternate options I now have consist of paying by bank cheque or by money order both of which incure fees that are ridiculous… so… I have, in effect, been hamstrung to this Advantage Card*, which is, in my mind, not advantageous at all.
I have called the Tenancy Tribunal (lovely, lovely people) and apparently my agent is obligated to offer the options in my rental agreement. Options that include direct payment to a bank account…
And so I am waiting with bated breath for a response to my letter indicating that I wish to pay direct or to take up the card and have the agent pay the fees if they’re not prepared to honour my rental agreement…
Hah… take that… and rent’s due on Monday… If you don’t hear from me next week it may be because I’ve been evicted…
*and quite frankly their website looks very low end… hardly inspiring confidence in this web savvy girl…

Idols – Judge or Be Judged

by

In one day I’ve heard both spectrums of talent on the singing scale…

At one end there’s Bianca Ryan (am I the last person on earth to have heard this kid? She’s enough to make every singer want to pack up their mic and never sing again…)

And at the other there is our local night school community singing class. It’s a class I taught a couple of years back and which tonight I had the pleasure of going back to mark their final assessment… I felt like Marcia, all the wrong colour of course, but I sat there behind a table with a marking sheet trying to write lots of positive stuff around the constructive critique…
It was great fun, and I was lovely… not like those other idiots.

Anyway… like I said… opposing ends of the scale… Enough Said.

Actually, there’s been a fair bit of music in my week. I sang for the first time since Jonah at a major work recital put on by a 3rd year sca student. I had such a great time. I really need an outlet for this singing gene… Singing at church is out of the question for various reasons and Schweeb, the chick who’s teaching the nightschool class and I are talking about getting a vocal ensemble together and doing a recital next year.

I think it’s a good idea.

Wanna audition? I know the choir director… she’s soft like Marcia… you’ll be a shoe-in!