From now on I intend to be found here:

http://avarine.wordpress.com

Byyyyeeeee!!!!

The other day I took out my labret piercing. I decided to do it because the dentist said that it was causing my gum line to recede. This wasn't a big surprise to me - I knew it would happen and suspected it already was. The hole inside my mouth closed up within a couple of hours, although there is still a visible small pinhole under my lip. Apparently that can remain for up to a few years, depending on how long you had the piercing.

I put off taking out the jewellery for ages, because I was used to it and I liked it. I was worried my face would look boring without it! I had it for around two years so I felt it had become part of my face. It's funny because the piercing was very noticeable to people who were new to me, but when I took it out people who see me a lot didn't even notice it's absence until I pointed it out.

Although I didn't want to take it out, removing it had immediate benefits. It's MUCH more comfortable without it. I had become accustomed to it knocking against my teeth and gums. Now it's all smooth and smushy, the way the inside of a mouth should be. It's definitely a lot better for kissing. In the first few days of having no mouth jewellery, I realised that I had a habit of playing with the stud with my tongue. I kept trying to play with it and felt repeatedly surprised to feel no stud!

Now I'm used to it being gone. It was a good two years. I still want to get something "unnatural" done though. I haven't dyed my hair purple as planned this year, so maybe I'll do that. Or perhaps a different piercing. So many options!

About four months ago I joined my local gym. Since then I've been pretty successful with sticking to a regular fitness routine. At first I was so useless! Couldn't even run for two minutes straight on the treadmill. Ben, who joined at the same time as me, could run for half an hour straight away, even though we were both equally unfit before we started. I think I am just naturally not a fitness person.

I gradually got to a point where I could run or jog for twenty minutes on a treadmill and I was pretty proud of myself. Seriously, I was the sort of kid who was amongst the last to be picked for teams in sports at school. And that was back in school, when sporting activities were a compulsory part of my routine! So running for twenty minutes is quite an achievement.

Then for some reason involving me not being able to get to the gym for whatever reason, I substituted the treadmill for running in the REAL world, out in the street! What a shock! Treadmills are sooooo deceiving! You've got wind, corners, slopes... all sorts of things defying you constantly. Also, I think you tend to try to go faster when you're on the earth. Treadmills make you move while keeping you stationary, so you think you're going faster than you are. Or something like that. I've since learnt to pace myself by not going too fast.

I haven't been to the gym for ages, but it was worth getting membership because treadmilling enabled me to get my fitness level up enough to be not self-conscious running on the street. It goes without saying that real world running is heaps more enjoyable. On a treadmill I find myself watching the clock and desperately wanting it to be over.

Still heaps to be done though. One day I might be able to go an hour without stopping. *optimistic*

Anyway, here's the route I ran today: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2353366
With thanks to monototo for the mapper thing. I love it.

Some of these I have no intention of finishing. Some I am reading whenever I have time. Some I intend to get through, but are not prioritised in my List. The List is an ever-present and ever-changing itemization of Things To Do. It defines my life at any given time. I'd be lost without it because my memory is shit.

"The Secret Life of Salvador Dali" - Salvador Dali
"Notes from the Pianist's Bench" - Boris Berman
"Murder in Mesopotamia" - Agatha Christie
"Crime and Punishment" - Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Tehanu" - Urusula Le Guin
"The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales" - Mr. and Mr. Grimm

Listen up kids for some valuable ill skillz. Changing a tyre is something everyone driver should know how to do. I think it's one of those life skills that people just pick up. I've been shown how to do it but I forgot, having not actually given it a go. So I've done some research and now I reckon I could if I needed to. Can you say the same? :D Let me educate thee, younglings.

Step 1
Pull over onto a sae area, on a surface that is hard and flat to change the tyre. Ensure handbrake is applied. If it is a geared car, put it into first, if it's an automatic put into "park". Turn on hazard lights. For extra safety put a chock (piece of wood or a brick) under one of the wheels on the opposite side of the car to the flat tyre.

Step 2
Locate your jack and wheel brace from the boot of the car. Get down on your knees and look for small notches or grooves on the underside of your car. This is where you need to place the jack. The jack needs a hard surface under it. Place a solid object under the jack if you've pulled over onto a soft surface. Once the jack is in place, slowly turn the handle so that some of the car's weight is removed from the flat tyre.

Step 3
Place the wheel brace on one of the wheel nuts and, with straight arm and straight back, "crack" each of the wheel nuts in turn in an anticlockwise direction. This is supposed to be the hardest bit. Keep a straight arm and back and you can use your foot and the weight of your body to turn the wheel brace, apparently. Now use the jack to lift the car up so that it is someway off the ground to accommodate the fully inflated tyre.

Step 4
You should now be able to remove the wheel nuts one by one and gently lift the wheel from the car.

Step 5
Lift the spare tyre onto the wheel studs. The air valve should be facing out. Tighten all the wheel nuts by hand. Tightening the bottom nut first will hold the wheel in place. Using the wheel brace, give all the wheel nuts a small nip to tighten them. The idea is not to tighten the nuts completely at this point because the car is not completely stable while it is still on the jack.

Step 6
Unwind the jack slowly until the new wheel takes the weight of the car and then remove it. Remember to keeo a straight arm and back. With the wheel brace horizontal to the ground, use the weight of your body to tighten all the wheel nuts.

Today my new piano arrives! After I post this I will get ready and then catch the bus up to my parent's house. It's a second hand Yamaha grand piano. It's a C5 model and it's 2 metres long, so it will take up most of the space in my music room. It was made in 1984, so it's my age, but it's been very well maintained and in impeccable condition.

My old Kawai upright will be traded in. Although I hate playing that piano, the thought of saying goodbye to it gives me a pang. I suppose because it was my first. We spent a lot of time together.

When shopping for a reasonably affordable grand piano, Yamaha's and Kawai's are the usual choice. There are some other brands, Steinbach's, Beale's and lesser known brands, but Yamaha's and Kawai's have a reputation for solid workmanship, even tone, and a good ability for holding their tune. The two are somewhat similarly priced, depending on model, of course.

I made a conscious decision to obtain a Yamaha piano this time around. My experience with Kawai, which has included playing my piano, as well as Kawai's belonging to other people and at uni, has made me aware of mild deficiencies. A tendency towards a heavier touch and slower action. Tone which is mellow and even, but often lacking in depth and variety of colour. Of course these are generalisations and when buying a piano one must remember that every piano is different. A good quality upright can outperform a sub par grand piano. An excellent Yamaha grand can surpass a Steinway in poor condition. So it always depends on each piano.

At Allans they had a lot of Kawai pianos when I went to look and chat about trading in. When I asked why, the man said that they love them. I remarked that that was a shame because my experience of them hadn't been that good. He replied that Kawai had really improved their pianos since I had bought mine six years ago. The hammers are now made of some kind of metal (carbonate or something?) instead of the usual wood, meaning that the hammer action was faster and wear was greatly reduced. Indeed, a lot of the new pianos had signs stuck on, announcing that the action was "up to 16% faster". I sat down at a Kawai grand retailing for about $15 000 (about my price range). Improved or no, the piano was still undesirably clunky, and the action was much too slow for my liking. In fact, all of my issues with Kawai pianos was there.

At Winston Music, they specialise in new and second hand Yamaha pianos. I was originally considering a new GC1, at about $15 000 it was a really decent piano. In the end I went for the second hand C5, which is bigger and had a better sound and was great to play. As I mentioned, it was older, but in great condition, and sold for about the same price as the GC1. The C series is the Conservatory series and there is a huge difference between that series and the GC1 and GB1, which are below it. You can really feel the difference in your fingers and the tone is so much richer.

My Mum bargained them down, which is great, but was awfully embarrassing while it happened! And I get a new stool, it's a copy of the Bösendorfer stool (a great piano stool). And it arrives today, and they'll have to take off the piano's legs and turn it sideways to fit in the door, a feat which I am keen to see in person yet which gives me shivers of horror when I think about it.

I have not been posting very much and neither have I been journalling. This is what a day generally consists of for Michelle:

Get up.
Go to the gym.
Return home all sweaty and have a shower.
Spend ages getting dressed.
Have breakfast.
Maybe do some small housework things, like laundry or dishes.
Go somewhere with a piano (my parent's house, work, uni) and practise and drink tea and coffee.
Go to work.
Go home briefly for dinner.
Go to uni to practise.
Return home and play Eternal Sonata on xbox 360.

Hm, I just realised having lunch is not included. Well I definitely have lunch every day. Anyway, you get the picture. I'm back at uni doing Honours in piano and I've changed teachers and my new teacher is very good and she's helping me with my technique and now the way I play the piano is totally changing and it feels good, but it's hard work. And I never can fit in enough practise in a day.

In other music-related news, I'm getting a grand piano (hopefully) soon! It's going to live at my parent's house, and when my lease is up I'm moving back in with my parents. That will be both good and bad.

Also my band is doing pretty well. We got a Helpmann Academy grant to fund the recording of a CD, and we scored a semi-regular gig at Boho Bar. Including this Sunday the 14th, starting at 5pm and playing until 9pm with various half hour breaks after each hour set. Everyone is invited. If you don't come for us, come for the food. If you like potato wedges you'll love their potato skins (they're so good.) We are playing on Radio Adelaide this Friday at 3pm as part of their live music fest too, so tune in to 101.5.

This is turning into a self-promototional plug. Hm, what else can I encourage people to do in support of me? I accept gifts and sponsorship, PM me for my mailing address or bank account details :D

I hate drinking milk, it makes me feel ill if I have too much of it. I have it in tea, and in cereal and that's all. Funny that when my sisters and I were children, Mum would warm a glass of milk in the microwave for each of us before bed, which indicates that my distaste for it must have set in when I got older. Milk is supposed to be important for calcium intake, and all that, but in Hong Kong and China, where Mum and Dad grew up, cow's milk is hard to come by. When I visited my auntie in Hong Kong, all she had was soy milk and and powdered coffee whitener. Are people who live in places where milk is in short supply generally suffering from lack of calcium? In other words, should I be making an effort to drink more milk? Or can I get away with not drinking very much milk because my race has adapted?

I hate cow's milk but I love soy milk, and on its own merits. I just like the taste of it. I can have it on cereal or muesli, in my tea and on its own. It has come to my attention that there are many varieties of soy milk available. You can get sweetened soy milk from Chinatown which I think is delicious (but other people I have shown it to think it's much too sweet), you can get refrigerated and long-life soy milk at the supermarket. Even the supermarket stuff has a big range.

Recently someone recommended I try "Australia's Own" soy milk. I found a carton of it in the long-life section but apparently sometimes it's in the health section. The carton proclaims that it is "malt free" and has "no beany aftertaste". It has the creamy texture of full-cream cow's milk, but it is rather tasteless. It has even less taste than cow's milk. It only has a very, very slight soy bean aftertaste. It is creamy but boring in flavour. What I don't get is why "no beany aftertaste" is supposed to be appealing. What's the point, if it doesn't taste like soy beans? It's like making orange juice that doesn't taste like citrus.

My ideal soy milk would be tasty without added sugar, not too watery, and decidedly beany.

Hot Ribena. It's my new favourite thing. Use boiling water fresh from the kettle. Mmmm... so warming and delicious in the cold winter nights.

...although I was only gone for a week. I spent 3 days in Melbourne attending a seminar for work. I always leave these training seminars feeling inspired and excited by the teaching material. The next 4 days were my leisure days that I spent with my sister. She moved to Melbourne earlier this year and she goes to uni there. My leisure days mainly involved constantly catching the tram or the train (my sis lives pretty far away from the city), eating lots and lots of yummy delicious food, and buying things.

On one day, I found myself possessed of an indomitable sweet-tooth, so I bought a choc mint glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, and then chased that down half an hour later with a huge slice of Mississippi Mudcake, which is served warm with chocolate sauce and ice cream. In hindsight it was foolish of me.... I felt sick and queasy and couldn't finish my cake.

My sis and her boyfriend also showed me a lovely little cafe in Brunswick, quite near the Victoria Markets, which had a huge selection of cakes and an impressive all-day breakfast menu, all available at a pittance. We went there twice.

It was good to get away, but by the end of it I was looking forward to being home. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I applied to go back to uni for Honours and was offered an "unconditional place". And I'm all set to take on a number of new classes at work next semester. I think I feel best when I'm reasonably busy. It's good to look forward to things. In fact, that's how I've recently taken to defining happiness; looking forward to things.

This is so cute and interesting! Children's drawings made into photographs. At first I thought it was the children drawing pictures of the photos, but no it was the other way around. Thanks to Benny for the link!

http://blameitonthevoices.blogspot.com/2008/07/childrens-drawings-photography.html

21 King William Street, Adelaide.

Saldechin Tea Room had been mentioned by a friend as a place worth checking out. As I found myself inadvertently outside it's entrance this afternoon, and I had an hour to kill, I wandered in to experience it for myself.

The interior of the building is quite lovely. It looks reworked and seemed to be fitting with the "traditional Chinese" atmosphere. Chinese music of the sort that my Mum used to listen to sometimes added to the ambience. The chairs faux leather and comfy, the tables large and glass-topped.

You have to go up to the counter to order and pay, quoting your table number as you do so. I ordered jasmine tea for one, $3, and a serve of banana caramel pie for $6.50. The jasmine tea was brought out promptly. It came in a little teapot, with a cup and saucer, all completely of clear glass. The tea was fragrant and quite enjoyable, but not spectacular by any means.

Unfortunately the waiting staff appeared to have forgotten about my pie. I waited for a long time before going back up to the counter to enquire as to whether it was still coming. I had scarcely returned to my seat when the girl brought out the pie. The speed in which it was brought to me after I asked about it seemed to strongly suggest that it had been cut and placed on its plate with its cream and napkin, and then subsequently forgotten about. The way the insides of the pie were sagging over the crust as if it was melting seemed further proof of this.

As for the pie itself, it was sweet and tasty, but the gooey stuff was a bit grainy, and the crust was a little soggy. Not worth the $6.50 I paid for it. Maybe this sounds stingy, but $6.50 is an unusually high price for a slice of pie. I expected it to be exceptional. It was nice, but definitely not worth it.

Saldechin is marketing itself as a traditional Chinese tea house, but modernised. The items on the menu include exhorbitantly priced Yum Cha items as well as salads, sandwiches, focaccia and the like.

My feeling is that they're going to have to make my dollar work a bit harder. If I want Chinese food, I can go to Chinatown and get some for a pittance. If I want cake, I can go to a cafe on Rundle St and get something delicious for less. As for the ambience, that was spoiled by the sloppy service. And having to order up the counter certainly cheapened the experience for me.

Unfortunately, I definitely don't recommend this place, and I most certainly will not be returning.

The Stepford Wives
I saw the original version (I think it dates from the 1970s), not the recent one with Nicole Kidman. This was one film I watched by myself; after Ben and I hired 8 weeklies between us, I had to see the ones he didn't want to watch all by myself. The Stepford Wives moves at a very leisurely pace, a bit too leisurely in my opinion. But I still quite enjoyed it, it was a subtly unsettling experience, a little bit creepy. The Wiki says the director strove to create "a thriller in daylight"; I think this is an apt description. Worth checking out (but not with your boyfriend).

2001: A Space Odyssey
This is one of those films that I felt like I had to like, just because lots of other people do. It certainly seems to be regarded as a movie "classic". I thought it was.... okay. I wouldn't run out to buy it on DVD or anything like that. But I liked it well enough. It was slow at times. The classical soundtrack was effective but I sometimes felt that the scene was dragging for the sake of letting the piece play in its entirety. Hm I should have written this review earlier. I had more to say immediately after I watched it, but perhaps the fact that I've already forgotten is a good indication of my experience - pleasantly forgettable.

Nobody Knows
Nobody Knows is loosely based on actual events. Four children and their mother live in an apartment in Tokyo, but the existence of the 3 youngest children are hidden from the landlord, and indeed, everyone. The four kids were unregistered at birth, each have different fathers, and don't go to school. The film is about what happens when their mother abandons them, leaving the oldest child to take care of his younger siblings. This film was painful to watch, the viewer gets so caught up in the hopelessness of their situation. Nobody Knows is such an intimate, engaging film. I'm glad I watched it. My only (minor) criticism is the (un)ending. I just like things to wrap up cleanly!

Mongol
Ben talked me into seeing this, but I admit I became rather unenthused when I saw that the only other people in the cinema were elderly couples. Thankfully, Mongol was rad. It's about Genghis Khan, although not so much Genghis Khan when he conquered half the world, more Genghis Khan growing up to become the man who conquered half the world. There's some stunning landscape imagery in this film. And I was very enamoured of the portrayal of ancient Mongol life and culture and values. If you see this film, make sure you check out Jamukha, what a bad-ass! A really interesting character! Temudgin himself didn't actually have very much of a character other than what other people said of him. He was a little bland, like a face for you to put Mongol values on. Watch the film and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks to my local movie place, where you can get 8 weeklies for $9.95, I have been doing much movie viewing lately. I have also resolved not to spend money on cinema tickets anymore, if I can help it, because I can get free Hoyts tickets as part of my credit card rewards scheme.

Here are some films I've seen lately, along with my thoughts.

The Game
Someone spent a lot of money to try to keep me guessing. But I didn't like it very much, because the plot took so many twists and turns it was quite without reason. Very unreasonable. At the start of the film I wondered what would happen at the end... and by the end, I didn't even care anymore. Definitely don't recommend it.

Dancer in the Dark
I tried to watch this film some years ago, but gave up because the hand-held camera work was giving me a massive headache twenty minutes in. I decided to give it another go. Now, I am a pretty big Björk fan, so I wanted to enjoy this movie. Sadly, not to be. I think the whole point of this film is to make the viewer as depressed as possible and to that end several of the characters (main character included) do things that are not in keeping with their personas, or indeed with human nature altogether. Or so I see it anyway. Feel free to debate this with me if you disagree. I really reckon that if Björk had not been involved, making the soundtrack and playing the part of Selma, the film would not have attracted any attention.

Marie Antoinette
I saw this film maybe three weeks ago and I'm already struggling to remember what it was like. I really enjoyed the elaborate costume and set design. The "modern" soundtrack wasn't quite convincing, I thought, but even so, it seemed promising until half way through. Then stuff happened too fast; she was sad because her lover went away, then suddenly they were out of touch with the French public. If I didn't know anything about the French Revolution I would have been totally lost. Thankfully, I learned about Marie Antoinette by reading "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Here are some things that have been turning my crank recently:

Peshwari Naan from my local Indian place. It's sweet with coconut and a bit of aniseed and sultanas. I had it for dinner three nights in a row!
Night time walks
Coming home to a clean kitchen
Heart-shaped sunglasses I'm planning to wear them every day.
Well-mannered and courteous people

After taking the Pill for three or four years, I recently decided to switch to Implanon, a long-term contraceptive device that is implanted into the upper arm. Unlike the combined contraceptive pill, it is progestin only (no oestrogen). After it's placed in the arm, it starts working practically immediately and continues to work for three years.

After an appointment with my doctor to determine whether or not it was appropriate, she gave me a script for the Implanon. It cost a little bit more than $30, because it's subsidised by the government. At full cost it's around $220. The box contained a scary looking syringe/gun with the Implanon rod inside. I could just see the tip of it inside the metal syringe. Just looking at it gave me the creeps as I imagined what it would feel like to have that little bit of plastic actually under my skin. Reading the enclosed leaflet did not make me feel any better. As much as I wanted to go through with it, thinking of having a THING just under the surface of my skin seriously grossed me out hardcore.

The following week I returned to my doctor with the Implanon. She bade me lie down, with my left arm bent, my hand up around my ear to expose the soft, white delicate flesh of my inner upper arm. My doctor explained that I would feel a little discomfort. (They always say that, don't they?) She wiped the area with a cotton ball dipped in brown stuff. "To clean it," she said to my "ew". I think it was iodide related? Anyway, next she injected some local anaesthetic into my arm. This was by far the most painful part of the procedure. It really hurt. But at least I could watch the needle go in. Immediately after the anaesthetic was deposited in my arm, the doctor took up the Implanon applicator. As much as I wanted to, I simply could NOT watch. Even though I couldn't feel anything! It's hard to explain the fascination combined with abject horror and disgust the whole procedure induced.

Next thing I knew, it was all done and she was wrapping my arm up tightly. A little too tightly, methinks, because my fingers were soon tingling and my hand fast becoming purple. When I got back to my car I rapidly rewrapped the bandage, loosening it a bit.

The doctor said I could take off the bandage the next day, but I couldn't wait until then. I unwrapped the bandage when I got home later that day to find the skin bruised slightly around the area, and all wrinkly and white from being under the sticky plaster.

The bruising went down more and more each day. At first it was quite tender and hurt when touched more than very gently. It has been about a week. There is still a little scab where the Implanon was inserted, but the bruise is gone. One end of the rod seems to be deeper than the other end, because at the scab end you can see it sticking its little head up and making a bump in my skin. For the past few days it has been quite itchy. I've tried not to scratch too much. You can easily feel it when you brush your finger over the area. I have been showing people and making them touch it just for lulz when they make faces of disgust. I'm already used to it and it doesn't gross me out anymore. It's like a piercing, but less painful to get done.

There are pros and cons to any contraceptive. The biggest con in this case is not being able to predict when my monthlies are due. But this may turn into a pro because they are likely to become sparse or maybe even stop all together. And I don't need to worry about taking pills every day, I can just stop thinking about it for the next three years. Hooray!

... is rad! I had my doubts, as I tend to in regards to long-awaited sequels, but I actually really liked it. Guess what? "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is the only one I haven't seen, but I've seen "Last Crusade" enough times to make up for it. Get thee to the cinema!

To Everyone,

My band, Monkey Puzzle Tree, are playing at Big Star on Rundle St today. It's free and it starts at 5:30. We will play at around 6:15pm.

Here is our myspace: http://www.myspace.com/monkeypuzzletreeadelaide

You are invited.

Love from Michelle.

At the request of my sister, here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Biscuits from the inimitable Stephanie Alexander.

Ingredients
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
120g roasted nuts (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds etc), chopped
170g bittersweet chocolate, chopped (You can also use milk or white chocolate)
110g softened unsalted butter
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup raw or brown sugar
1 egg

Method
Sift flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add nuts and chocolate. In an electric mixer, cream butter, castor sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg, then fold in chocolate mixture. Form into 2 logs about 4 cm in diameter and wrap tightly in plastic film. Chill for 1 hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 175ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper. Unwrap logs and cut into 1/5 cm thick slices. Place on baking tray, allowing room for spreading, and bake for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.


WARNING: These cookies are so bad for you. As you can see, the ingredients are mainly fat and sugar. Nevertheless, it's probably a good idea to make a double batch, as they tend to disappear quickly.