Perth

well 1st oct... i leave for perth and the fics conference... and the icssd exam!!
feeling quite underprepared for the exam.

1st oct thur - flew into perth, got my rental car. the hotel wouldnt allow me to check in till 2pm and it was around 10:30am! i was so knackered with not much to do. so i went for a walk around the city. there are actually these free city circle trams called 'cats' - 'red cat', 'blue cat', 'yellow cat'.
ended up at the dfo in perth to kill some time. i didnt really feel like shopping though cos i didnt want to spend too much $$.
dinner was the worst and most expensive sushi i've ever had... and walking around i realised that food isnt one of perth's strong points (not like melbourne)
spent the night in and slept early. the mantra on murray room was actually quite big and had a kitchenette where you could cook/microwave etc.

2nd oct fri - drove down to murdoch which was a nice easy drive. checked into the visitors units at the uni. quite nice. bedroom had 1 double and a single bed so sleeps 3. pretty basic bathroom. living room had kitchen and tv, couch etc. not bad for $75. i didnt want a late night but thought it would be good to hang out with people. most were staying in fremantle. went to the brewery called 'little creatures' for dinner. i had a nice ale though but a few sips and i was already going red. bit stressed about the exam the next day but got some tips - like know your concussion grading etc.

3rd oct sat - uni accommodation was booked up so i had to move to fremantle for the night. did the exam which was fine but at 6pm perth time (8pm sydney time) my brain was starting to go mushy. i was the last to finish... 150 multiple choice in 2 hrs but i did go through the paper twice. there was a typo that i pointed out after the exam and the cpr data was outdated as well... it asked how many breaths to compressions in a 1 person cpr. the latest is 2-30 but that wasnt an option. there were a number of concussion questions so good thing i studied it the night before.

got back to fremantle around 9pm. the b&b i was staying at had a spa which was awesome. got fish and chips and icecream - thought that would be nice to eat icecream whilst relaxing in the spa.
perth had this special event on called 'telethon' that i actually thought should have been called 'stripathon'. they do a 24 hr broadcast with celebrities and performances to raise money for a number of charities - mostly children's charities. anyway aparently it's traditional that around 10-11pm that people ring up and offer to dontate money if people will take their shirts off. most of the celebrities taking shirts off were from home and away and had ok bodies. one guy took off his pants and i was this close to ringing up to dontate if he would put them back on cos he wasnt one of those good-looking ppl.

3rd oct sun - the place is a b&b... and breakfast was basic but good. had a nice toasted ham and cheese croissant. turned on the tv and the telethon was still on... jack was on the panel in the morning so i watched some of it. i saw him the week before and knew he was going to be in perth for telethon. heheh i thought it might be funny to call up and offer to donate money if he took his shirt off. dont get me wrong it's not cos i wanted to perv it would have been funny to see his reaction but then if he knew it was me then he might get the wrong idea and i dunno whether he'd get my sense of humour. and anyway i guess sun morning is family viewing! not like the night before!!
last day of the conference... deb came up to me and congratulated me so i know i passed just dont know by how much. finished in the early arvo.
so i decided to go back to perth city to the convention centre.
there was a geek convention called GO3. lots of anime, star wars and sci fi stuff. special guests were a guy from stargate atlantis, star trek enterprise and chaske spencer who plays sam uley in twilight new moon. also went to check out the telethon. actually the sat disney guys were doing a childrens show and i thought of popping in and saying hello but ended up being a little late.
checked out fremantle markets which was really small. like it was a market but really disappointing... really only a few stalls.
nice leisurely drive to rockingham and safety bay cos i was staying with the mclernons for a few days.

4th oct mon - took a drive around rockingham up to point peron and then hung out at rockingham beach for a bit.

5th oct tue - took a drive down to mandurah and lay on the beach for the arvo reading a book. great idea for a holiday.

6th oct wed - drove back to perth city. mum asked me to bring back some otak so i trekked out to northbridge which is the asian precinct. they're wrapped in banana leaves but i had to remove them... lol the hotel staff might have been a little confused by all the banana leaves in the bin. my last night in perth at the mantra again.

7th oct thur - meant to come back to perth. organised a shuttle to the airport and was there at 1:30pm... my flight was at 3:15 so i was kinda bored. anyway, planed ended up being delayed. boarded around 4 and then when we were all boarded, we were told to get off cos we werent going to take off. the plane wouldnt make it back before sydney curfew. they rescheduled the flight back to 4am the next morning (7am syd time to arrive at 11am syd time). ended up getting on the red eye - midnight.
so... i had around 6 hrs to wait till the flight. so i caught a bus to the local shopping centre - lucky it's late night shopping on thur nights. found a maccas and used free wi-fi to kill time.
midnight flight... arrived back in syd at 7am (AEDST)

wkc

well i volunteered to help out at WKC on 26-27th sept. 1 week before my exam... lol i realised it wasnt such a good idea when i was frantically studying in free time.

but it was fun hanging out with the girls from st. pauls.

i must admit though being an usher at a Christian event was tough... people didnt want to listen and just kinda sat wherever.

i think one thing they did differently this year was they had a lady talk about the social issue of the sexualisation of children. i think a lot of people were shocked and very challenged. i must admit though that cos i dont have children etc, i found i wasnt really challenged by this wkc... reminded of some key things yes. i think i enjoyed engage a lot more.

twitter and facebook updates

well i guess you share your life on twitter on facebook by updating your tweet or status.
here are some status' from the week... my life in tweet...

sunday 13/09/09:
Mel is at the festival of the wind and enjoying watching the pretty kites
Mel likes the teddy bear kite
Mel wishes she was out wakeboarding cos it's 30degrees today... but the water is cold
Mel is late for welcoming at church tonight
Mel likes going to bondi cos i keep getting free stuff... today it was a free loaf of bread
Mel is absolutely knackered from all the walking today.

saturday 12/09/09:
Mel is too tired to get up... it's saturday... sleep in!
Mel is off to the city beach sale at birkenhead. shop opening today. massive specials.
Mel is off to world kitchen to buy some pyrex
Mel slept the arvo
Mel is off to Courtney's 21st... but anne of green gables is also on tv...

friday 11/09/09:
Mel spares a thought for the 9/11 victims. Prayers for their families.
Mel isnt feeling great today... hope to get home early.

John Farnham concert & SSO plays Star Trek!!

John Farnham concert
Fri 4th September. Lyric theatre.
Been looking forward to the John Farnham concert for ages.

The support act was a Melbourne guy... he had 3 acoustic guitars and a keyboard... very mellow acoustic stuff that wasnt too bad. It wasnt until after the guy finished playing that we realised he was being lifted down from the stool he was sitting on and being put into a wheelchair and he wheeled off stage.

then John Farnham came on... and i must admit that i love his band as much as i love him... chong lim, brett garsed, stuart fraser... the usual band... i also recognised stevie williams, angus burchall (with a lot less hair!), lindsay field and lisa edwards.
we were in the 5th row next to the speakers at the right of the stage so it was kinda loud. finished the night feeling quite deaf. i dont think lyric theatre is good for rock acts... musicals yes... but not necessarily acts that have loud guitars cos acoustics are crap.

funny things from the night... one lady gave JF a bra... prob her bra... only thing it must have been like a double G cup granny bra... JF was a good sport about it... was very funny... but i was thinking... if you're gonna throw a bra then at least get a nice lacy number or a bright string bikini...

JF has certainly put on weight... mum commented that he was fat when he came on stage. anyway he spent the night taking the mickey outa himself... the true Aussie way! so he said he had retired and it's been 3 yrs since he's toured... he tried to take it easy but he got bored. he was sitting on the couch reading gossip mags about celebrities going into rehab. he said "i didnt go into rehab but i went to a restaurant... and apparently stayed there for a while" - making a comment on his weight...
through the rest of the night he made comments about his loss of hearing in his old age... and lack of memory.

all in all i enjoyed the night and the songs. was quite short - only 1 1/2 hrs on stage but i guess he is getting older.

Sydney Symphony plays Star Trek: sat 5th sept

dad's father's day present. he likes syd symphony and i like star trek.
was actually quite good. there was a big screen with clips from all the movies.

first part - they played theme from 2001 space odessy, mars from the planets suite and the transformers theme.

second part - one theme from each of the 11 movies.

the conductor was actually quite funny. he did a bit of stand up comedy introducing the pieces.
he welcomed all the trekkies in the audience. he remarked that one guy had even worn spock ears... "what those are your real ears? oh sorry sir"
then he came out wearing the tos costume. he also referred to the brass section as the klingons and the harpist as an android.

checking out the program and realised row crowch from school was actually playing with the orchestra. which is kinda cool...

Engage

It's kinda funny... my first day after finishing up at my old job.
And i'm up at Engage where the talks are focused on young workers and working culture, relationships for people around my stage of life.

Feel strangely content with making the decision to cut down work. And faced with the money issues of not having that work and having to trust in God and His provision.

First talk this morning was by William Taylor. He's a middle aged gentleman from the UK with teenage/younger children. He talked about losing Jesus in our lives. Like being 'Christian' but without Jesus. Was a great reminder on focus cos I think at work you just go through the motions of doing and a lot of the time just forget who we are in Jesus.

Matt Chandler spoke on relationships. Kinda mirrored the talk from last year by Mark Driscoll. He made some points about guys growing up and becoming men... and for us girls to be patient and wait and dont compromise standards. I think that was important for me to hear. He mentioned a woman who was married to a non-Christian and her children had been coming to church but had decided to follow her husband. The heartache this woman felt i guess is something that you have to think about when dating or marrying a non-Christian. Sometimes it is hard for Christian women to wait for Christian guys to be interested and it seems to easy cos non-Xn guys just pursue you. Anyway... a lot to think about. But Matt Chandler was pretty emphatic about guys growing into the men God created them to be. Good on him for saying it so directly.

Last talk of the day was William Taylor at night. Again I think we go through the motions of work... everything is just so normal. but the world we live in is a dead man's world... where people are walking around... dead people walking around without Jesus. We were challenged to see the world through Jesus' eyes not our own eyes or through the eyes of other worldly people.

too much information

[edited]patients can be funny sometimes. had a patient with back pain he got from 'nocturnal activities'. trev calls it 'banger's back'. i guess i need to know how the pain started but sometimes it's just a little too much info...

packed to the rafters

i really like this show... at first i didnt but now i'm getting into it.

except one of the cast members really annoys me... i recognise the guy who plays jake... actually met him years ago and he's a bit of a tool...

was at ryan acosta's 21st. he was a guy that worked at target... and i think i must have been about 19 or 20... anyway we were at metro at north sydney and ryan had one side of the nightclub for his party.

ngi spotted this guy james...and recognised him from a tv show called 'breakers'.
so she dragged me with her to say hello cos she reckons he was HOT. james' friend heath who's also an actor off the show took a liking to me...

anyway i remember dancing with him before he tried to get too close. then i wasnt impressed so i went to the public side of the nightclub and he was following me around. and then i went back to ryan's party... he kept followign me around the whole night. so i ended up playing pool with tim... and then for the rest of the night i was stuck hiding from him in a corner with tim keeping me company...

the ugly truth

went to see this movie tonight!
chick flick...

was so funny when i went to buy the tickets. the lady asked if everybody was over 15... lol... so i had to say that i was flattered but over 30!

the movie was really funny... made me think... and i dont know if i can put it all into words... just made me think about the games that people play.

but on the surface... being totally superficial... the guy she ended up dumping in the end, the orthopedic surgeon... well he was absolutely gorgeous...

alright movie... not rushing out to see it again... or get it on dvd...

lymph node

for the past 4 weeks i've had an enlarged lymph node on my neck...
could be that i'm just fighting infection... considering it's flu season and everybody seems to be sick atm... including mum.

but the node isnt tender. and i've been feeling a bit more tired than usual... but i guess tiredness could be cos i've been working/studying/playing?! lol

so went to the gp's to see... did a blood test which came back ok... so i guess it's unlikely that i have lymphoma or leukemia... still...

anyway... so a waiting game... will just see what happens - whether it goes by itself.

misc stuff...

19/6/09 first biggie... i quit my job!!
i seem to have no weekends or rest these days... just so stressed out and not sleeping well... although wimbledon is also on at nights but i'm not watching it anymore cos i lost interest.


i managed to get addicted to the tv show 'merlin'. watched the whole series now...

25/6/09
well this week has been good...
submitted my sports med assignment... i was a bit over it by the end so it was a bit of a relief sending it in. the rest of the requirements for the sports med course should be waived cos i sent in copies of my degrees. so yay.. one thing over.

have been really really tired lately. i basically work, eat, sleep.

i've had a swollen lymph node on my neck for a couple of weeks. been waiting to get sick but havent... so started to get a little worried. went to the doctors on wed for a 2nd opinion. had a blood test and she gave me a referral for an ultrasound depending on the results of the blood test. hope it's all ok... will find out results on monday.
havent been sleeping well lately and i'm not sure why... just feeling quite tired and run down.

life is pretty boring really...

Melbourne

i should be excited about my trip to melbourne... maybe if i wasnt so tired.
flew in early and popped our bags at the hotel then went out to docklands/harbourtown shopping. i ended up buying some sisco jeans, a couple of tops and a jeep belt.

wicked - soooo good. it's become my new no. 2 musical after miss saigon. gone wicked crazy now. bought the cd and have been listening to it on repeat. i'm going to go order the music now.

food - we started off quite hungry but then were really really full after a serving of mexican lord of the fries as well as dumplings from the shanghai dumpling place in little bourke st. made us nearly fall asleep in wicked.

sunday - woke up and bolted down to bridge rd for some more shopping. a very successful shopping weekend as i emptied my wallet and will have to pay for it all later... lol... oh well... my 30th only comes around once...

twilight

i must admit i didnt really like the script of the movie. some bits were done well and i appreciate the way it was filmed. i think several poignant parts of the book were left out. i think ppl have commented on the fact that there was never an "i love you" in the movie.

so on tue i got a msg from jbhifi to say my dvd was in. went to collect it at castle hill in my lunchbreak. it came with a free tshirt. i dont really want the shirt... maybe i'll wait a bit to sell it on ebay.

watched some of the dvd tonight but was so tired i didnt get through it all. i must admit the director/actors commentary cracked me up. rob pattinson is funny...

funny bits:
- edward and bella chatting near the bus after the field excursion where the guys are playing with worms?!!? (that was one weird scene with eric holding up a stick with a worm dangling on it... bit random really... i guess boys will be immature and stupid!) rob pattinson comments - hey i have pecs in this scene. i thought it was funny...

no idea why... he seems to scrutinise and criticise himself a lot... interesting...
- during the cafeteria scene there's the commentary after the bit where the apple drops and he kicks it up and catches it perfectly. he makes fun of himself as the guy who wears lipstick, has a bouffant and does circus tricks. although the accent is great
- rob pattinson's laugh is funny... quite girly at times.
- the bit where bella says she knows edward is a vampire. edward asks bella "what do we eat" and rob's comment was "cheeseburgers"... that cracked me up...

i'm also quite addicted to the soundtrack. bella's lullaby has grown on me and i wanted to play it on the piano. also really like muse, paramore and collective soul.

wed lunchtime i downloaded and listened to a podcast - meet the director and actor of twi. was catherine hardwicke and rob pattinson. these girls were screaming... geez i wonder what he thinks. he cant enjoy that... hmmm i dont think if i met him i'd scream at him... would totally freak me out. one girl asked him to kill her and he's like "kill you? i dont even know you..." how freaky...
i'm a twi fan... i'd ask for a photo or autograph but might not go as far as to deafen a cast member or ask for a bite?!?! crazy ppl!

john & reg's commissioning

today was john and reg's commissioning at nsccc. it's so encouraging to see them take this step and i'm so thankful God has given them this heart for the people of China.

i'm getting a lil emotional being there sending off more friends to the mission field... grace is in China too... it's a challenge cos i used to want to go too... maybe not to China... japan would be good. something to keep praying about and yet i know myself and the fact that i wouldnt cope well out there alone. but is it bad to be so attached to the comfort zone of family and friends here when we are commanded to make disciples of all nations...

anyway i was reminded today that God uses us. He doesnt need us but He uses us nonetheless. but people dont come to Him because of what we say but because they hear Jesus. it's humbling and amazing.

lack of posts

well i havent posted in a very very long time...
reading some of my own private blog and realised i could share some of the funny stuff...

Jan/Feb 2009 got addicted to Twilight series. and then got Daph addicted. I lent her the first book which she decided 'wasnt really her thing'. After giving it more of a chance, i get a text message on a thur morning saying 'you're in big trouble'.
she didnt eat or sleep for 2 days reading the first book. then we watched the movie twice in 2 days. then she went nuts over the next couple of books before getting bored through the last book.

Jan 25th - in Melb watching tennis. Was watching tennis on tv and Baghdatis was playing. He was blowing his nose onto the court. I thought it was gross, Nuggy makes a comment "remember that episode of 'Friends' where Joey slips on a oyster".
Friends ep: Chandler tries an oyster and doesnt like it, he spits it out and it ends up on the ground. Joey comes along and slips on it. he gets up and says 'urgh i just slipped on a big booger'. 5 mins after Nuggy's comment, Baghdatis' opponents slips over on the court... sooo funny!

Sometime in March - i walk into the kitchen to look at the tv program. Dad had circled 'Wu tang clan live in [blank]" I was wondering why. he said he thought it might be interesting cos he thought it was some martial arts show. i couldnt stop laughing... had to explain that wu tang clan are a black gangsta rap band who like to swear a lot (every 2nd word!).

post-TWIST review...

Last week I went to a conference called TWIST... Love Christian acronyms... cos TWIST stands for "The Word In Song Together".

I must admit... i always find TWIST refreshing... it's really encouraging seeing so many people singing at the top of their lungs in praise to God.

The speaker was Mike Raiter and he gave 3 talks that were based on some songs through the bible. Something that struck me or gave me something to think about was something i'd heard before and i think that Moore college holds this view of singing worship...
I was challenged to look more closely at lyrics of the songs that are chosen... There are some songs that are repetitive in their "praise God" but never elaborate on the gospel truth behind WHY we praise Him. ND has just put together a music book earlier this year... I think because of the time frame we could have been very hasty in including songs that sounded good but i think i'm gonna have a look back at what we've chosen and carefully examine the lyrics. I remember at the time reading through them and seeing that none were heretical lol so i think we're ok there!

Second talk was from a Psalm... i must admit... sometimes i'm not great at recalling what i've heard... hehe or taking notes during talks... Something i do remember him saying that has kinda stuck with me is the fact that when we sing, we sing with passion because we feel the truth of the gospel. Was chatting to a friend after and we were talking about singing... we dont sing with passion because it makes us feel more spiritual but rather the gospel impacts us to sing with passion... which brings me back to what we're actually singing (lyrics)....

Next time i'm songleading, i might pick one song... let people scroll through the words first before singing it to really think about it... cos sometimes we just sing without really thinking about it... heheeh dunno how that would work... have to think about that one...

There were also workshops at TWIST.. i decided to pick all practical ones this year.
Went to a drumming workshop... figured out that i have no rhythm or co-ordination!!
The band workshop was really good as well. It's really important for the band to work as one and this involves listening to each other and working with one another... It's not a loudness contest (which sometimes ticks me off a bit at church) but a way to build up the rest of the music team and the congregation.

Anyway... what do u do at the end of a music conference?? well jam of course... was really fun just hanging out with brothers and sisters and enjoying music together. Something else from the talks i remember is... in the midst of trouble we can remember that in heaven, nothing will stop God's people from singing his praises... How cool!

Totally over the 60-70hr weeks.

Well... it's been a while since i posted...
I'm the owner of Absolute Care Chiropractic... with all the responsibilities associated with owning a business...

It's been a tough few weeks... long hours... little sleep... i feel like all i do is sleep, work... and sometimes eat...

Hehe very funny actually... my patients must think i'm getting lean (although i think i can afford to lose the weight...) They've started bringing me food! Lol or am i now accepting payment in food?!?

8 days and counting....

Gee it's been a while... I dont blog when i get busy...
At the moment this is the calm before the storm though...

So big news... In 8 days... The Eastwood clinic I work at will be MINE!! I will own it!!
What a scary thought... and all i've been doing for the last 6 weeks has been running around getting a loan, getting contracts drawn up, interviewing for an associate to work with me.

So exciting but so scary at the same time. I just pray for God's guidance and provision at this time cos I have noooo idea what is going to happen. If you're reading this... please pray for me!

Quad Biking is fun!!!

Feb 18th: Quad Biking at Stockton dunes, Anna Bay

Heaps and heaps of fun!!

I must admit i was pretty scared at first... Going down hills, ur meant to just go straight down and not try to go down diagonally. Just lock ur back brakes and go straight down... soooo scary... but major adrenaline rush.

It was fun in the end... My major accomplishment was to roll my quadbike... how did i manage it?? Well... i was hooning around the sand dunes... and all the sand looks the same really... sometimes it's hard to see the contours... So i was going really really fast and didnt realise infront of me was a straight drop... So i managed to go flying off a straight drop. My mind wasnt thinking well enough to jam on the back brakes so... but anyway... i hit the dune nose first... got flung off my bike... it went rolling... i went rolling and it landed semi on top of me at the bottom... Felt like such a fool... but i guess u gotta have those kinda accidents to make it all memorable...

Anyway if ur reading... dont be put off... it's mad fun!! I'd go again!

The group of us that went up... i got the blue bike!!

A posed photo at the meeting place before our quadbike ride. I thought it looked cool...

Quad Biking is fun!!!

Feb 18th: Quad Biking at Stockton dunes, Anna Bay

Heaps and heaps of fun!!
I must admit i was pretty scared at first...
Going down hills, ur meant to just go straight down and not try to go down diagonally. Just lock ur back brakes and go straight down... soooo scary... but major adrenaline rush. It was fun in the end...

My major accomplishment was to roll my quadbike... how did i manage it??
Well... i was hooning around the sand dunes... and all the sand looks the same really... sometimes it's hard to see the contours...
So i was going really really fast and didnt realise infront of me was a straight drop... So i managed to go flying off a straight drop. My mind wasnt thinking well enough to jam on the back brakes so... but anyway... i hit the dune nose first... got flung off my bike... it went rolling... i went rolling and it landed semi on top of me at the bottom... Felt like such a fool... but i guess u gotta have those kinda accidents to make it all memorable...

Anyway if ur reading... dont be put off... it's mad fun!! I'd go again!

Melbourne... a month later...

Well it's well into the new year now...
I've kinda been either busy or lazy so havent posted for a while.

So... what's been happening...

Well in January I went to Melbourne for a week. This is my week:

Sat 13th Jan: Flew down on a saturday morning, dropped bags and checked into the hotel and then went straight to Kooyong for the final of the AAMI classic.
My favourite player has been Andy Roddick for a while and so it was good to be able to see him play Roger Federer in the final.
Erica (my friend whom i went to melb with) likes Safin and we were both treated cos we got to see the play-off for 3rd and 4th between Andy Murray of England and Marat Safin.
Was a great day cos Andy beat Roger in 3 exciting sets.

Sunday we went to Victoria markets where i bought heaps of earrings!! Walked around melbourne city and Docklands for a bit and then went to dinner at the Sofitel.

The restaurant at the Sofitel is on the 35th floor and boasts a really nice view over the Yarra and tennis centre, MCG etc... Also nice that I get 50% off there so i ordered the seafood platter... mmmmmm!!


Monday - at the tennis. Took heaps of photos... First match was Mauresmo and then Roger played. Since i'd seen them before, i wasnt really that fussed and didnt really stay in centre court. Went to go cheer on Ai Sugiyama who is a Japanese player i know from when i worked at the tennis... she's prob the only player that remembers me from my days at the tennis. Sat with a bunch of Japanese ppl and i think i might have been one of only a few that called out encouragement while she was playing... the Japanese ppl just sit there politely and watch. On the other hand, the swedish supports (her opponent was swedish) were very vocal!

Went round the centre collecting various freebies... It was nice to have an American express card cos u get a free radio and also free frappes in the AMEX marquee. It would come in handy the next day when i kept going back every hour for a free drink cos it was 40 degrees.

Mon night we went to Lygon st for pasta!! yummmm. there's also this lolly shop that has all kinds of unusual lollies... yummmm.

Tue went to the tennis again. Funny story... a girl was walking up some stairs and suddenly one of her thongs came off. The stairs are badly designed and she unluckily flung her thong between the stairs to the area below... which nobody could seem to get to. At around the same time... i happened to drop my program between the stairs too! So... off to ask somebody in security to help. But i was chatting to the event staff person who helped us and mentioned i used to work at the tennis in sydney... she was really nice... and i dont know how i got the info but she ended up telling me where all the important players would be that day... like when they had booked practise courts and which court they would be on at what time. Handy info to know... took heaps more photos.


Wed... no tennis... had lunch at Fifteen, which is Jamie Oliver's restaurant - the one that has been on TV... What can i say... big plate, little food. Think I paid $40 for an entree and dessert. The service was great and the staff were so polite and even offered to take photos for us.
Trev calls Fifteen "the zoo" because "you're only going there to eat so you can see the 'freaks' (his words) that work there". I think i can say i've been there but i prob wouldnt go back.



Caught up with Cath Wan at night... it's been yonks since i've seen her... had tapas and then went out for coffee. Great to catch up!

Thursday... sleep in day... no tennis today either... but lots of shopping. It's amazing how Melbourne weather changes... on tuesday it was like 40 degrees, wed 20 degrees - freezing cold and rainy. Thursday was rainy in patches. Went down to Bridge St. which is where the factory outlets are... bought lots but mainly presents for upcoming b'days and things like that.

Friday.. went shopping again... hey melb is good for shopping... this time chapel st. It's factory outlets again but more upmarket clothing brands. Not as many bargains. At night went to the tennis. I've been a bit disappointed at not seeing Andy at all at the Aust open... he played on the Vodafone arena on the first day and we only had tix to the Rod Laver Arena. So... was great that the match we got to see at night was... Roddick vs Safin... My favourite vs Erica's favourite... was gonna be interesting... although now i think she's an andy fan... a convert!! And andy won!! GO ANDY!

Sat 20th Jan... slept in and then wandered around melb city for a bit. More shopping in the city before going to the airport and flying home...

James Blake


Roger Federer


Rafa Nadal