It's a boy!!

So, we're in the ultrasound room. I've got lots of goo on my belly, and the technician is poking me with high frequency waves - and there's this cute, little grey blob on the screen. The technician is doing the count: two eyes, lips, nose, brain - with a figure eight (this is good), one heart with 4 chambers and aorta, etc.

Technician: And there's the two legs. That's good...
Proquar: Erm... could you tell me what's between the legs?
T: Oh, I'll see if I can have a look. (Technician pushes and pokes my belly a bit more.) Unfortunately, the baby has it legs squeezed tightly together and the cord is in front. I can't see the sex.

This baby is half Dutch. I'm trying to work out why it missed out on the Dutch lack-of-modesty gene (it certainly seems to have the Dutch tall gene). Then hubby suggests that maybe it just didn't realise it had an audience.
Other theories I'm running, it knew I wanted to know - so won't show.
And, it wanted to give hubby a chance to be entrepreneurial: he's running a book - 5 bucks a pop.

I don't want to write many daylogs... but I do want to keep track of the fact that I'm metamorphisising into a chef.
29 January 2003: Enrolled for Certificate II - Kitchen Operations at Loftus TAFE.
31 January 2003: Obtained uniform and chef's toolbox for the journey to become a chef.
18 February 2003: Obtained distinction for Organise and Prepare Foods module. (Also received 2 weeks' notice of eviction.)
28 February 2003: Passed Workplace Hygiene.
10 March 2003: Obtained credit for Methods of Cookery.
10 March 2003: Visited Sneff's kitchen.
19 March 2003: Obtained a pass for Salads, Hors d'Oevres & Canapés.
25 March 2003: Obtained distinction for Sandwiches.
27 March 2003: Passed Receiving and Storage.
27 March 2003: Passed Hospitality Industry.
8 April 2003: Obtained distinction for Stocks, Soups and Sauces.
9 April 2003: Got sunburnt at Fox Studio's Grower's Market.
14 April 2003: First day of work in a professional kitchen. Did I mention I was hungover?
7 May 2003: Obtained a pass in Eggs, Vegetables and Farinaceous.
15 May 2003: Obtained a distinction in Cleaning.
20 May 2003: Failed Cook Poultry and Game.
22 May 2003: Passed Food Safety Systems.
3 June 2003: Obtained a credit in Cook Pastry, Cakes and Yeast Products.

22 July 2003: Begin Certificate III.
7 August 2003: Begin a job as a Casual Cook.
16 August 2003: Two week goal - Have the establishment running smoothly. This is being pushed out a week.
18 August 2003: Quenelled with Sneff.
19 August 2003: Obtained a pass in Prepare and Cook Fish and Seafood.
23 August 2003: Ashamed to admit it - but I have mastered Gravox. Two/three week goal obtained. No more complaints about the timeliness of service.
10 September 2003: It became blatantly frighteningly obvious that the six week goal was never going to be realised. I quit.
13 September 2003: Six week goal - Have the establishment running my way (invite people).What a joke!
3 January 2004: Now it begins for real! Thank you Sneff. Long live Strangers with Candy.
10 January 2004: First identifiable Jamie moment (this is one of those moments that I'm grateful I'm not on international telly during my learning phase) - Fell into the flour.
31 January 2004: Jamie Moment #2 - Naomi, scrape the black seeds out of the cardamon and put it in the onion jam. So I scraped the seeds out of the cardamon onto my board, and put the empty pods in the jam. At least this was easily rectifiable.
19 February 2004: Jamie Moment #3 - Chef had done the demi dance; I was kitchenhanding. I threw the wet tea towel across the room into its pile, only I missed - and the tea towel soaked up half of Chef's liquid gold.
1 April 2004: Did a trial at Hog's Breath Cafe. Discovered I lacked a sense of urgency.
17 April 2004: Began at a local Mexican restaurant.
18 April 2004: Finished at Strangers with mixed emotions. (Write up to come.)
11 May 2004: Went to graduation ceremony for Certificate II. *flex*
15 May 2004: Acquired a cheese cleaver!!

3 July 2004: Put a different bun in the oven - I'm metamorphosising into a mum not a chef!
24 December 2004: But still, my chef skills come in handy. Despite the "Great Turkey Shortage of 2004" in Australia, I cooked the most succulent roast turkey ever! Also made Oysters rockefeller, as well as a whole lot of culinary delights.
31 March 2005: See Dirk!
12 May 2005: Dirk turns 6 weeks.
30 September 2005: Dirquar reaches 6 month.

For anything culinary - Sneff is the King of the Kitchen

For helping with the fishes, thanks yclept

Thank you for the audit Wrinkly!

For a good time, read nodes by Trina.

Sit on my bike and tell me that you love me.

On E2:

If I should send you a typo, please take it as a compliment. I hate to see a good write up spoiled by typos. If it's a crap write up, I'll just vote it down if there's a typo in it.

Thank you to the generous c!hingers out there: Albert Herring, amnesiac, anthropod, Ashley Pomeroy, avalyn, BlueDragon, Chris-O, CloudStrife, drownzsurf, Fruan, Halspal, haze, Heisenberg, Jessicapierce, JohnnyGoodyear, Junkill, kalen, Lometa, Mardy, mauler, momomom, montecarlo, Orpheum, Ouroboros, panamaus, peanut, Posmella, Sekicho, SharQ, siren, Sneff...., Taliesin's Muse, trainman.

E2SSK5:
I haven't worked out who I got my excellent mixed CD from. But I love it! "Running out of time" cracks me up, every time - even when it's very true!
size_of_a_p'nut you'll find me, and I'm glad you like reading.

Chatbox thingies

malcster says the initiation ceremony doesn't exist. There is no spoon. it is, however, a good way to scare newbies, especially if they are acting like bluemoonstar7 was. the spike pit challenge, on the other hand..
malcster says don't worry, it's just where you have to climb the wall of a spike pit, while being whipped and repeating "I will not troll"
briglass says Typical for people to forget what war really is until it starts.
Chris-O says dude, i have NO idea where all this "don't thank me for c!ing your wu" crap is coming from. i've thanked the c!er for every c! i've received. as our sensei said, politeness is always in order. that being said, you're welcome.
dannye: Let's just say that there are secrets and then there are Big Hairy SECRETS, sideways. The kind you get killed for talking about. I'm saying no more. ~~zipit~~
Catbox topic: It is entirely possible that one of the distant galaxies we can see with our newest telescopes is in fact our own galaxy, its light having traveled all the way round the cosmos and back to our eyes.

Wow! I witnessed my node in the random nodes today. This is getting eerie, because it happened again today.

The most number of online noders at the same time as me: 153
The least number of online noders at the same time as me: 4

Seriously, if you're a newbie - don't fall for the Punch Thyself link.

There are some parallel universes I am eternally curious about (on the main I desire them - dreaded alternatives are marked with a "*shudder*"):

1. The one where I insisted on doing German instead of Geography.
2. The one where I took the damn scholarship.
3. The one where I closed the fucking window.
4. The one where I stayed.
5. The one where I left.
6. The one where I didn't. (*shudder*)
7. The one where I don't constantly put my foot in my mouth.

I was a contestant on Burgo's Catch Phrase aired on 17 September 2003. I didn't win a car or a holiday, I didn't even become the carry over champion - but I did have a good time, and I'm waiting for my apartment to be cleaned *grumble*. Woo hoo!
I'll be doing it again in 12 months. No I won't, the show has been canned. :{

Actual conversations I had with Liberal party supporters on election day:

L: The UN is piss weak. The sooner they are gone, the better.

L: It is because the ALP stuffed up the economy so badly, that we had to sell off Australian assets.
P:Er.. if that were strictly true, then after this 8 years of fabulous economic management and with the A$9 billion surplus, why haven't we started to buy Telstra shares back?
...
Two hours after the election, it appeared Liberals would have a huge majority in both houses of parliament, Liberal spokesman on the ABC: We have been given a mandate by the people to sell Telstra.
Ed: Er, actually, you have a mandate to keep interest rates low and to spend a shitload on the elderly and defence - these were the only policies mentioned. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the limited protection for Tasmanian old growth forests.

P: What scares me, is if America decides it wants to conscript for the Invasion of Iraq, then we will too!
L: Of course we would. What's the big deal?

How brave are you this Spring?

The Debutante is coming to Sydney on Tuesday.
We're going to have dinner at a Sneffless Palisade.
Wanna come?
.../msg me

Takers so far: The Debutante, Inoshiro_K, me, Lord of Nothings, Augusta.

Uncle Johnie needs YOU! *big pointing finger*

Panamaus and Sneff - sitting in a tree...

The only effective way to wage War on Terrorism is to defeat the fear.
Reach out to your family, friends, anyone around you,
and have a good time, laugh, smile and relax.