Some days I wish I had OCD.

So rental inspection tomorrow. One day I'll be lucky enough to get a slackass rental agent who SAYS they do inspections but really don't...this lot are overzealous in the extreme and this is actually the THIRD inspection I've had since I moved in!! My parents recently went to check out their rental property only to find SOOO many issues and it was totally clear that the rental agent hadn't been there in ages. From a tenant's perspective, that sounds like heaven! Probably not so much for the owner but I'm not really worried about them right now. So this evening will be a crazy nightmare of shoving stuff in cupboards, wiping down things and basically stacking shit up in piles to hide away for a 24 hour period. It's also pretty embarrassing that I also have about 6 boxes lying about that are still half-unpacked. Considering I've been there nearly 5 months. Oops. Every time I move I SWEAR I'm gonna be clean and so, so tidy. Find everything a home and 'everything has a place and everything in its place' and all that. Yeah right. So panic stations. Again. E has been ordered to do the 'vacuum of his life' before I get home and luckily due to the fact he's been away the lounge and his bedroom still look reasonably disaster free. Wish the same could be said of other rooms in the house though... So wish me luck in my cleaning duties and half-assed tidying this evening. Ugh. xx

Chris Brown Ass Clown.

Discuss.

Chris Brown -- I Love Rihanna AND Karrueche Tran - Watch More Celebrity Videos or Subscribe

#FirstWorldProblems

So you want to see what an effective ad looks like?

Check this out.

Watching poverty-stricken Haitans read out such Twitter nonsense as:

'I hate it when my house is so big, that I need two wireless routers'

whilst standing in front of a mud hut about the size of my bathroom that honestly looks like it's being held together on faith and a bit of string...

Powerful stuff.

#FirstWorldProblems is a tag given to those apparently 'tongue-in-cheek' rants about issues we have in our lives that we understand really are trivial in today's Twitter-verse.

Unfortunately I think sometimes the Twits tweets actually forget the irony bit.

Look we all do it, I plead guilty. Just the other day I'm ranting on about my favourite mascara being discontinued so I'm certainly no innocent here. I can carry on about coffee guy (CAPPUCCINO!!! NOT LATTE!!!!) and same hair girl(EVERY.DAMN. DAY) forever and never get bored. I can (and sadly do) discuss pop culture and celebs like they're my neighbours and quote lyrics to describe my mood.

Our lives are totally overrun with all these myriad trivialities and sometimes it's really easy to let them overtake our lives.

Until something like this ad gives us a rude reality check.

And a well-needed one.

I woke up this morning with sore arms after mowing my first lawn yesterday in 3 and a half years, and was going to post a rant on how for the first time ever, I miss unit living (no lawns! no stinkin gardens to maintain!).

I was also narked that my iphone changed itself to Sydney time for some reason and I had to reset it.

And then...

Perspective.

So I mowed a lawn. Whoop-de-friggen-do. Yes, I was hot, dirty and tired. So I went inside my clean HOUSE to drink some clean drinking WATER and then had a SHOWER to freshen up and then got into some clean clothes, of which I had plenty in my wardrobe. Although most are a few seasons old...oops there I go again...

Oh poor me.

So Monday reality check, all. Back to earth with a giant bump.

So I'm off now to try to work out why my stinkin iphone playlist seems to play the same songs all the freaking time and not the ones I want today.

xx

Lash me.

Help!

Can anyone recommend a great mascara for me?

I'm a bit of a mascara junkie. My lashes are flat, light coloured and nowhere near as thick as I'd like. A decent blacker than black mascara can totally change the way I look (none of this brown crap that makeup artists always recommend for green eyes...black all the way) and make my eyes totally pop.

A few years back I was so in love with this particular mascara, I think it was a Maybelline one. It curled, lifted and separated perfectly without looking like a few stray spiders had crawled in the vicinity of my eyes (OK skin crawling sufficiently now...dropping subject).

It wasn't gluggy, it wasn't too thick and it allowed me to do my customary dozen or so strokes that it takes to sufficiently 'lift' my old pale lashes without clumping them all together. Brilliant stuff. Best part was the price!

So OF COURSE it got discontinued. Because everyone knows to never fall in love with a product because it's a sure-fire way of ensuring it's taken off the shelves.

(Benefit - I'm calling you out here - if you ever, and I mean EVER, dare to discontinue your lip and cheek stain in Rose, there will be bloodshed. Lots of. Just saying).

So ever since then I've searched in vain for another really great mascara. I've tried expensive mascaras, cheap mascaras, and everything in between. Some are OK but they're not GREAT, you know?

So what's your mascara nirvana? I'm almost at the end of my tube of ho-hum mascara and would really like to rock a decent lash again.
xx

I'm so sorry, but...Owning your shit.

You know something, I really hate a half-assed apology.

Or apologies with strings. You know, the old, 'I'm sorry but...[insert excuse here]'.

Personally I struggle to be a grudge holder. Even when I really WANT to, somehow the anger and hurt just melt away and I find myself being nice to that person without reservation and then remembering later that I was supposed to be mad at them. D'oh. Clearly it's just not in my DNA.

I used to envy Cathy with her infamous indelible ink 'hitlist' although to her credit you really had to do some serious shit to her to get on the list.

Back to me...if someone unreservedly apologises - all is forgiven (I would also say forgotten...but let's face it, I will bring it up and rub it in your face 10-20 years later just for fun. Case in point: my good friend L who made my life a living hell at high school. I say 'good friend' because at our 10 year reunion, the first person I saw was an inebriated L rushing towards me saying 'I was a complete bitch at high school, and I'm so sorry'. Who can't admire the balls on that??? I like to bring it up as often as I can, as it's fun to have an ex-bitch as a great friend).

I also think I'm pretty free with the apologising myself. I like to think I'm reasonably self aware most of the time (although as per most people I AM the centre of my own universe so it can be hard to judge) and see genuine apologies without strings to be the sign of a strong character.  Note I said 'without strings'. 

So getting back to the point - it's hard to stay on my bad side. You have to seriously screw with me, my friends or my family and then not give a crap that you did. Repeatedly. Even then you likely won't get a tongue lashing from me, I'll just walk away and move on with my life...without you in it.

It shouldn't be that hard to just say, 'I fucked up and I'm sorry'. Seriously.

In my world, if you apologise, you apologise. Done. No bullshit, no finger pointing. No twisting or words or situations. If you need to do this, then don't apologise, because you're not really sorry.

Basically....own your shit (flashback to my stepmother and first boss drumming into my head 'take responsibility for your actions, Rebecca!!! Lesson learned - are you proud???).

I will accept pretty much any apology from anyone who just owns their shit. You'll probably find that I'll reciprocate with my own heartfelt apology, we'll go get drunk and laugh/cry about our exploits both now and in 20 years time.

Look, I'm not denying it can be hard to contact someone years after the fact and apologise. In fact it totally sucks being the bad guy at any time and I know a lot of people see apologising as a kind of weakness. Personally I think the opposite. Someone who can stand there and admit they were wrong and show genuine remorse - that can take seriously huge balls. But it has to be genuine...otherwise there is an element of 'why did they bother?'

To me it just comes down to respect. I have had friends for 20+ years where we've never fought, never spoken badly to each other, barely had a cross word. Amazing for the dramatic little biatches like we are. Respect. And if we inadvertently say something wrong we immediately own our shit and apologise before it escalates.

Works for us.

So there's my thought for the day and an adage that I'm going to use repeatedly because I like the way it sounds...

Own your shit. Own it.

xx

Things that annoy me. Part 64,952.

So it appears people like it when I'm pissed off. Apparently that's funny. Which only annoys me more, thank you. Yes, YOU'RE on the list.

So today's list, in no particular order:

• Train. Ever since I saw Pat whatsisface wearing happy pants and doing his daggy grandpa dance to the horrendous Soul Sister (TOTALLY destroying all lovely images of Ian Astbury in his leather pants and the HAIR rocking out to the similarly-titled song for The Cult circa 1992) on Kerri-Anne Kennerly a few years back, I've not been able to bear the sight or sound of this so-called 'band'. I laughed myself stupid at them thinking no-one would surely think the song was anything but a travesty.

I overestimated people. 

I instantly hated a song that came out recently that kept getting stuck in my head (although I changed the lyrics from 'help me, help me, I'm all out of lies' to 'help me, help me, I'm no good in bed' - try it, my version sounds WAAAYYY better. And you know it's true). 

It didn't surprise me one bit to find out that the hateful band-that-shall-not-be-named were responsible for this outrage. Radio stations everywhere are perpetuating it just to piss me off. I just know it. For shame. Perhaps I need to create my own radio station that is a Train and Nickelback free zone??? Oh, and Rihanna, Chris Brown, Rita Ora....and every other song I don't care for. There may not be much left, but it would be COOL. Thank you.

• Rita Ora. Not sure what 'party and bullshit' actually means but I'll pass. Thank you.

• Toowoomba Crime Reporting. yesterday, apparently a man was caught in a 'low speed car chase', according to the radio news. WTF? Conjures up a mental pic of a deaf grandad with the HAT (never trust a driver wearing a grandad hat) doing 10km on the open road with overweight police, donuts in hand, on foot in hot pursuit a la Chief Wiggum. Huh???

• Bogan voices on radio. So it seems Toowoomba has a penchant for using particularly bad bogan voices and terrible pronunciation for radio advertising. WTF, dude? I'm sorry, I don't want to go 'shoppin at Joycie cos it's Tuesdee'. It's my birthDAY, not my birthdee. And I'm never going to your bowling alley if there's dozens of bogan kids running about with their hard-partying grandmas like your ad suggests. No chance. Changing the station back to Brisbane radio yesterday, whilst the hideous playlist seemed to remain unchanged, at least the voices managed to enunciate somewhat more palatably and in something that resembled English.

Now I'm no grammar nazi (OK that's a lie, I kinda am) but seriously people. If badly spoken people turn you on and make you open your wallet, then you've got bigger problems than I can help you with. That is all.

** This is not a complete list.

xx

Love the ones you love.

What a bittersweet day.

On one hand, I got to hang today with some of the coolest, most beautiful gals and best friends a girl could ever imagine.

On the other, we were gathered to support our friend at the funeral of her father, a truly inspirational and amazing character whose legacy lives on through his children and grandchildren. A life truly well lived.

One day I hope you can read all about this simply spectacular individual. As one attendee today said, 'I feel really honoured to have been allowed to be here today'.

Well said.

The service was beautiful and I choked back tears throughout. I lost it, however, when I watched his two sons carry him out at the end.

What was amazing to me, was sitting with a fellow friend who was there in support of our mate but hadn't really gotten to know her dad, and throughout the service she said several things to me to the tune of 'OMG, THAT'S where she gets it from' and 'she's really like her dad, isn't she?' and the like. She is quite religious and shook her head at one stage, marvelling, 'it's true when they say you never really die', meaning that his children have inherited so many of his traits (good, bad and badder haha) that he will live on, regardless.

It's a wonderful and heartwarming thought.

Spending time with my favourite girls today once again filled my heart, despite sitting here with tears in my eyes regarding the circumstances. It is a shame that bad news is sometimes the only time we are drawn together with our loved ones, however I do think that any time with your loved ones is time to be treasured. Toasting this amazing man with a glass of champagne after the service was quite fitting, seeing as we probably sneaked enough booze off him as teenagers (ugh...oopss....)

Driving several hours today gave me a lot of time to think and I think I'm becoming (perhaps too much) sentimental in my old age. I'm not that much of a crier but it sometimes takes a tragedy to reflect and make you love those you love just a little bit more.

Having lost my own mum as a teenager, it's a lesson I learned early but life gets in the way sometimes and sometimes you need that jolt to remember to really love the ones you love.

Sappy I know. I said perhaps too much sentimental...

So there's my thoughts for the day. Make sure you love the ones you love today.

xx