1. Singing and dancing to John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice” with my sister at our parents house. We were probably about 8 and 10, and were jumping from couch to couch singing the lyrics on full volume on the stereo, I think we also started throwing pillows around, which did end up breaking one of my mum’s decorative swans…

2. When I moved in the Italian Forum in Leichhardt (the birthplace of FiRaChaMo), my partner bought me my first digital camera for my birthday and we were trialling out the video taping feature, so one thing lead to another and I ended up putting on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” once again at full volume and dancing around the loungeroom by myself and singing the words as my partner caught it all on camera. I had the balcony doors wide open and was exhilarated by the fact that I could look out into the forum and sing my lungs out!

Today’s singing and dancing routine was not as memorable as the above two examples but was still uplifting as it kind of happened by accident. My husband was in the garage painting, and so I put on one of his favourite albums, Best of Cold Chisel. I was on the computer surfing the net, and I noticed my foot starting to tap as I sang along to the words… then when “Flame Tree’s” came across the sound waves, I got up and continued to sing the chorus and dance around my loungeroom unbeknown to my husband busily painting away. All the memories from seeing Cold Chisel in concert late last year came back as I sang with enthusiasm and jumped around like a crazy person… yes that was me. Luckily the blinds were drawn!

I am not a fan of wearing my hair out, especially the length it has grown to now, the only way I would do this is if I straightened it for the evening. It is just not me. I think all my years of basketball and playing sports, has resulted in a pony tail being the best option… inevitably that is why in 2008 I shaved my head, as I was sick of the girly pony tail, I had gone through various colour changes – from blond to brown to black – I decided what the hell – let’s just shave it all off. I loved it! Admittedly, it was just coming into winter, so then I needed to incorporate beanies into my wardrobe look. I kept it short for about 2 years and used to cut it myself with the scissors – I guess it was a cross between an Audrey Hepburn from Roman Holiday and a Sinead O’Connor video clip.

When I got engaged, I decided it was time to start growing my hair for the wedding 10 months later – I ended up with a hair piece on the wedding day to give a little more volume, and since then have not turned back and just let it grow until its hearts content. Thus leaves me in the predicament of the pony tail again!

Anyhow, for my unusual hair style for today, I decided to bring back an old classic – quite a challenging one I have to say actually – the two braids like pippy long stockings. I was going to go for the Princess Leia two buns on the side of my head but that can quite often give me a headache from pulling the hair so tightly back from my face… so the laid back braids with the ends nestling over my shoulders was the way to go. At a first attempt, it didn’t turn out too badly, it would be easier perhaps if there was a third hand involved, and perhaps it is not the neatest hair style I have worn on top of my head, but it could be one with practice that I work into my repertoire.

Now for the photo – who knew how incredibly hard it is to take a photo of the back of one’s head… the evidence is below… I am actually quite happy with that straight part down the back of my head… good effort!

So when today’s challenge popped up that I needed to dance down the street while listening to an ipod, I needed to be suitably swept away in another world, so to not notice the social norm I was breaking. It happened to come in the form on a Sales CD a friend had made at work to give to our sales reps so they could hear the messages again from a course they had attended and keep the positivity flowing. I had listened to this CD for the last week or so, and it was coming to its climatic finale today, and something unexpected happened… a song came over the CD at the conclusion that I was not expecting…

The Road to Amarillo.

(unrelated picture of a Stormtrooper who has hijacked my ipod as I have no photographic proof of my dancing down the street while listening to ipod)

The memories of this song created visions in my head of a corporate video made by my crazy friend, who had somehow convinced the most senior managers in our organisation to dance down the halls of the corporate office around the country. The vision of awkward dancing and funny moments came flooding back as I jumped into a little dance myself as I was on my walk to the office.

I didn’t look around, I was not aware of my surroundings – I just listened and walked to the sound of the music and had a jig in my step and movement in my arm, that perhaps some would call this a dance… What a great surge of positivity to start the day. Today was going to be a great day! I recommend to one and all, lose yourself before you get to the office during that 10 minute walk… remember to look out for traffic still.. but have 10 minutes of internal isolation and do whatever you want to do to make sure you have a smile on your face when those lift doors open up at level 6.

Now I was in the jewelry making zone with my pliers and necklace wire in hand, I sifted through my collection of little containers of beads to work out what theme I would aim for my next piece. I decided to use the colour blue as inspiration as I found a couple of transparent blue leaves that would sit perfectly as the centre piece, the remainder of the necklace would be made up of a series of silver and random blue beads. I plotted these onto the necklace design framework and then began working away assembling the beads in order and then attached the clasp at the other end to tie it all of… Success.

I still didn’t feel like stopping though. I had the tennis on in the background and was nicely set up at the card table with everything at hand. I had gone to the trouble of setting myself up, I may as well create one more piece. The first design had used the colours of blue, so I thought to go the opposite and create a pink necklace. Once again I choose my centre piece then worked my way around to the lengths of the necklace that would sit behind my neck ensuring the symmetry of the beads selected. I tied off the ends, and looked at my two creations, realising I had subconsciously created one in the theme of a boys colour, and one in a girls colour – perhaps a sign of my lack of knowledge of the gender of my unborn child, however excitement for this next stage of my life…

Today though I decided to challenge my husband to a Nerf target practice session, and unfortunately for Mr Potato Head, he was selected as our target. We were sitting about 4-5 metres away on our lounge couch and used the small manual Nerf guns that only take one bullet at a time and took it in turns to shoot down different parts of Mr Potato Head. I got the right ear a couple of times, however the door or floor in front of the target was probably hit more often.

We then each had five bullets, as if in a penalty shoot out to see how many out of five we could successfully hit a part of the target. We were off to a good start at one a piece after two shots each, however, my husband then shot off three in a row where the nose, hat and ear were hit in succession. I missed three in a row, and the challenge was over. I lost 1-4. Back to practice for me. Perhaps next time I should opt to use my husbands battery operated slightly larger (and heavier) version that shoots off 16 consecutive bullets when in automatic function.

I suggested to my husband he should get a group of friends together and hire a hall to be able to set it up in full combat style and participate in various ‘capture the flag’ challenges for the day. It doesn’t hurt like paint ball, actually it doesn’t hurt at all when hit, sometimes you don’t even feel it, so you don’t even now you have been… this is where kids parties are going to be heading over the next couple of years – Nerf wars… I guess it is only a matter of time before the next big thing comes out and the Nerf guns are a thing of old gaining dust and covered in cobwebs in sheds in various suburbs around Sydney.

It just takes my breath away every time I see our beautiful harbour either during the day or night. It is a sight I will never take for granted, and a sight I will always look forward to seeing. If I was travelling around the world and had the opportunity to see something as amazing as Sydney Harbour – it would definitely be the highlight of my trip.

The photo below was taken during the Vivid Light Festival in Sydney mid last year. It was freezing cold, but I was standing there with my husband and sister with our beanies and layers on taking some cool long exposure night shots on my SLR camera. I was so impressed with the results, that I think I may even get one of them transferred onto canvas and hang on the wall at home.

Today I was lucky enough to be passing through the Circular Quay precinct to take in all the sights once more. The Opera House, the wharf, the overseas passenger terminal and the Harbour Bridge. There is no one spot or superior vantage point, anywhere along the foreshore of the harbour provides an excellent view from that particular angle. If I lived in one of the apartments that border Circular Quay, I would not be able to step away from my balcony, I would live in the world of the outdoors by people watching the tourists below and watching the lights come to life as the sun sets and the night takes over.

If you have not been to Sydney Harbour in a while, or have never been… you just HAVE to go and find your special spot that gives you the best view of everything you could possibly take in that surrounds you.

The big toe always presents a large canvas that can easily be covered in a few select brush strokes, however as you move progressively through to each smaller toe, the space becomes so small that a sideways stroke is necessary to get into the tight space. By the time you get to the smallest toe – only one tiny brush stroke is needed to cover the nail.

With now one hand and two feet completed, it is time to move onto the dreaded right hand… I try and steady myself by resting my hand on my lap. The goal is to try and get it done in as minimal strokes as possible without dwelling too much on the polish that seeps into the skin either side of the nail, that can be tidied up later. I did run into one problem… a stray thread of hair landed onto the wet painted nail, once noticed and delicately removed a noticeable line was evident on the nail… oh well…a nail perfectionist I am not.

I always think of my sister when I paint my nails as we use to have quite a collection of crazy colours of nail polish when we were younger that we use to paint onto our nails. Sometimes even using different colours on each finger. I would paint my nails for big basketball matches in our team colours – usually blue and gold, to get into the spirit with my matching coloured ribbons in my hair. I will always remember the first time I met one of my brothers best friends, he was a slightly unusual boy and had asked if we had any nail polish remover to take the polish off his nails… I thought how odd – who is this man who paints his nails at the age of 15? I have now known him for 15 years, and for the record he no longer paints his nails.

The morning went by in a breeze as I slept in and then had to get out of bed, have breakfast, check a few websites and wash the dishes. Before I knew it, the time had clicked over to 10:25am, and I needed to be on my way at 10:45am. Had a quick shower, got dressed in a suitable outfit to show of my pregnancy bump so my friend could see, and then jumped in the car to begin my journey into the city.

I parked the car, and walked over to the train station. I had my book and snacks with me, however I ended up surfing the net on my phone as I passed station after station on my express train. I arrived at Central and made my way to the city circle platforms, it was actually quite quiet around the place, and within 3 minutes the train was approaching for my second short leg to get me closer to the harbour.

The train passed through St James and Museum which was interesting for me as I do not normally get the chance to go through these stations, it is more common to go via Town Hall and Wynard which are normally swarming with city folk hustling and bustling to get a seat on the train. St James and Museum are such historical stations, that even the advertising on the walls feels like you are transported back 50-80 years.

The familiarity of the blue seats on the new style trains are so common now that I see everyday on my train trip home… are the little sails depicted on the material, or are they shark fins poking out from the water waves… I am not sure, but it does give the train a nice bright feel when boarding. The train comes into Circular Quay and to the right, I get a glimpse of the harbour bridge and the terrible weather that has engulfed the city… rain! I did not even bring an umbrella with me. I stay under cover of the train exit and look from one side to the other, wondering where I should decide to meet my friend. As I look out towards the city side of the station, I see the imposing building of Customs House. What an amazing structure to welcome you into Circular Quay!

I have decided – I won’t be able to walk over to the theatre in this weather, otherwise I will be soaked and cold for the rest of the day – so I use my spare 10 minutes of time to source an umbrella. Only $10 for a compact green umbrella with a wooden handle that has now set me free into the great outdoors and I can continue on my journey uninterrupted and dry.

I meet up with my friend, and we begin the walk around the ferry wharfs towards The Rocks. The walk takes us uphill, downhill and through little backstreet narrow ways until we reach our restaurant we will be dining at for lunch. Amazing food – then onto an amazing theatre production called A History of Everything. We exit the theatre and the rain has cleared, so our walk back to Circular Quay is a lot more pleasant. We depart by saying our farewells, and I continue back to where I started – the train.

The trip this time involves me relaxing into my seat and reading a book. The train tracks drift pass as well as other trains and stations. The time goes by fairly quickly and before I know it, I arrive home. I get the opportunity now to sit and relax, watch tennis, have some dinner and then off to bed later in the evening ending an exciting day of being out on the town!

I found the book intriguing as a concept, and thought I would include a challenge in last years FiRaChaMo centering on this concept, however unfortunately the post never was published due to unforseen circumstances which resulted in a sudden halt to last years completion of FiRaChaMo. As such, I thought it would be best to bring it back for 2012′s list of challenges, so I can get it out there to the people my experience of living by the dice for the day.

It is actually quite a challenging concept, as you have to come to resolution that you will actually do whatever option is rolled. It involves deciding on an item to roll on, eg: in basic format – an idea could be – ‘what am I going to wear today’… then six options need to be created; 1. pink top, 2. flowery dress, 3. tights, 4. uniform, 5. suit, 6. Husbands clothes. In this example, if you were not comfortable with one of the options, and you just threw it in their to make up the numbers, well each option has a 1 out of 6 chance of occurring, so ultimately if it is rolled – you will have to abide by the roll.

I used the dice for quite menial decisions during this challenge such as what to have for breakfast, which was to exit out of the train station, what order to complete work during the day, who to start conversations with in the office and what story I would tell in the car on my way home. These are not life changing decisions, and certainly did not involve the options or rape and murder!

The important thing to remember is that, being a Dice Man is not the norm in society, and is probably actually frowned upon by most conservatives. I am glad I gave it a go and experienced what indeed it is like to take control away from your decision making, but I am happy to stick to my normal existence of making my own decisions and doing wacky things on my own accord, rather then leave the result up to the flick of the wrist and the face of the dice that remains upright sealing your fate.

At the office, we were celebrating Chinese New Year with a morning tea. The Admin team had really gone to a lot of effort which included lanterns hanging from the roof, random oriental dragon pictures on the wall and a spread of fried food including spring rolls and dim sims… and for some reason a whole heap of individual size portions of custard tarts – not sure of the Chinese resemblance, but they seemed to disappear as the hordes of Accounts Receivable employees bounded in and out of the kitchen taking their mountain high piled plate back to their desk… no one would be having an early lunch today!

In the mix of the fried food bonanza, I came across a hidden gem I had not ever seen before. For all intentions purposes, it looked like a pork bun, however instead of the pristine white fluffy appearance it normally holds, it was looking rather brown as if it had been fried in oil before presentation…

As I selected two of these “balls” onto my plate, I crunched into the first with much satisfaction as I discovered that under that brown fried exterior, was a tasty pork bun with that unusual sweet yet savoury taste. The change to the usual pork bun probably quadrupled this snack in fat content, however, it still meant I could enjoy that distant flavour of the well known pork bun that I have not actually been able to enjoy much in my life. I have probably only had them about 4 times in my life time, and have always really enjoyed them, however I am never completely sure where one goes to buy a good pork bun, so I just had to continue waiting on that moment where I am at a gathering or dining with friends and they make that welcomed appearance again.

Even though today’s food tasting challenge was somewhat familiar, it still ended in trying a food I have not had before – however after consideration, I think I may stick with the steamed variety rather than go out in search for its deep fried cousin.