Cherry Blossom Adventures

Time for a 101 things in 1001 days update but I am teaming it with a meme doing the rounds on a lot of Japan blogs at the moment where you reminise about the last decade.

First things first though- only one thing to cross off my list for the month of December.

92. Watch the rest of Heroes with Shun (season 1, 2, 3)

Done! Finished watching it in the hospital after Noah was born! We will start watching season 4 eventually but at the moment we are enjoying watching flash forward together when it comes back on in the states.

Also we stuck to our budget for the month and have done my December update. Looking through my list I know I don`t have many things left to cross off but I wonder how many of them I will be able to do now that Noah is on the scene- passing level 1 of the JLPT does not look promising  (nor does being able to read a newspaper although perhaps I should buy a magazine and work on that since they are a little easier!) as I doubt I would find the time to study but I really really need to start working on my Japanese again since it is definitely going down hill. Camping might happen this year (I hope so!), I can definitely buy a polaroid camera sometime and probably finish learning to use photo shop. Getting to the cinema might be hard though? Oh well, whatever I don`t finish by the end date (December 2010) means that some money will be going to charity!

Hopefully at the end of this month I will be able to say that I have maintained my weight loss again and start maintaining it for another six months as I got on the scales this morning and have 1.8kg left of pregnancy weight to lose. I would like to lose another 5kg on top of that but am in no hurry. Would be stoked to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight before the end of the month though and it looks like that might happen!!!

Okay, on to my decade on a nutshell! First saw this on umebossy`s blog but have since seen it on heaps of others! I posted a condensed version of my answers in the comments at umebossy`s blog but have added in a bit more now.

2000- Was 15, in grade 10 and doing a lot of sailing and was still singing for first half of the year. Was the year my father was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. Gave up music as a subject at school as well as singing and the violin (continued with piano til I was 17) despite having thought I might like to go to the conservatorium to study. Turns out I wasn`t nearly as good at music as I thought I was. Had a giant crush on a guy from sailing who was NEVER interested me in the slightest. Think this might of been the year I started drinking…I struggled at school a little and hit a rebellious streak with many of my teachers- I still got decent enough grades but I walked out of several classes and out of school on a couple of occasions. I think most of my rebellion was to do with dealing with my father being sick.

2001- Father went into remission after a stem cell transplant. Met first ever boyfriend at the end of the year when I was away for a week at stradbroke island with my highschool girlfriends. We were together 2 years. Don`t really remember much about this year except I was in Maths B and hated it since Maths really wasn`t my strong suit and it took all my effort to pass it whereas I never studied for any of my other classes. I wrote a short story for English that year that I was really proud of too. This was the year I went on anti-depressants after having suffered from depression for almost 2 years previously.

2002- Met Kanako a Japanese exchange student and we became friends and I took her under my wing despite her being older than me and we became really close- I spoke no Japanese at this point. Graduated highschool with reasonable grades. Still with bf. Drank too much, went to a couple of formals, had fun and got my license at the beginning of the year and drove a mini. My dad started doing the mini up for me when he was sick a few years earlier so I learnt to drive in it and had it for several years before selling it when I moved back to Japan for the second time.

2003- Didn`t get into the uni degree I wanted to do and ended up in an arts degree. Decided to study Japanese- broke up with bf near the end of year after applying to go to Japan on exchange and getting accepted. The break-up had been a long time coming and in the end there was another girl- I broke up with him but regretted it but really it was for the best and I can not believe we stayed together that long. First loves and all that though I suppose. We don`t keep in touch but I know he is still with the girl so I guess it worked out well for him (and her!) too. Had a couple of flings..

2004- Went to Japan- had several short term relationships in Aust and Japan. My year on exchange was one of the BEST of my life and I made many life long friends- in particular Cat & James who were both part of our wedding! I went to Thailand in the Japanese summer and met up with my mum and she came back to Japan for a few days also. Found out father was an alcoholic. Had a blast in Japan and my Japanese actually got better. One of the best years of my life despite health issues in the family.

2005- Met Shun in January 2005, went back to Australia in Feb 2005 to finish uni. Shun visited Aust. twice that year. Finished uni with a bachelor of arts in Japanese & Public Relations and a minor in Journalism. Worked full-time for six months with a part-time job & uni to get enough money together to go back to Japan- tried to deal with my father`s issues but never really succeeded. I left home for a couple of weeks near the end of this year and stayed with a friend as I couldn`t handle what was going on at home.

2006- Went to Europe for 6 weeks then back to Japan. My parents officially seperated, sold the family house and bought 2 new places.  Met Shun`s family and lived with them for almost 2 months before I found my own place and then we moved in together (I moved first, Shun followed just before Golden Week). Worked for a horror of a company first as an intern then as staff. Quit the job but was so emotionally drained from the experience that I took a couple months off and went to language school (courtesy of money from my parents) and took the level 2 JLPT.  Lived in Kichijoji- wish I could still live in Kichijoji. Earlier in the year when I was still an intern I worked part-time at two different international schools in Roppongi. This was also the year I got hit by a taxi in Roppongi! I am pretty sure I drank way too much this year as well. I visited Australia sometime too… & Okinawa. Shun`s brother also got married.

2007- Still in Japan, started at a preschool teaching in Kichijoji. Really loved the job and stayed in it until I moved back to Australia again for a year in 2008. I loved the kids that I taught and I can honestly say they liked having me as a teacher. Had a crazy guy (who was a friend of a friend) get very drunk at karaoke and hit me on the head with a heavy beer glass knocking me out and splitting my head open. Police and ambulance were called and by the time I came around they were already there and the guy had fled the scene and I thought I was dying because there was like 10 ambulance staff surrounding me. Had 6 staples (I think?) in my head. Still lived with Shun and we moved to Nakano as living in a 1K was killing us (well me!) and we moved to a nice 2DK. Found out Dad`s cancer was back and he was struggling with his alcholism again (he went into rehab several times in 2007)- I went home for Christmas as Dad had booked to come see me but he wasn`t up for it so we cancelled his tickets and I went home instead. Had a lovely christmas back in Australia but knew that I was going to have to go home for a bit in 2008 to help my family out (I decided this before going home, maybe in November). Shun decided that he would also come to Australia…

2008- Got engaged to Shun in Feb 2008. Moved to Australia in April/May 2008 and friends in Japan through Shun & I a surprise engagement party the weekend before I left. Shun followed me to Australia in July. I helped my dad buy Abbey, his dog, and we bought her home to live with us.  Had lots of family issues to sort through in Oz and was busy planning a wedding. Worked for government for the majority of the year. Was great to have Shun in Australia for Christmas and show him what an Aussie Christmas was like.

2009- Had lots of family issues that drained me emotionally and physically. We started trying for a baby and I went off the pill and was pregnant six weeks later. Got married, honeymooned at Hamilton Island, moved back to Japan, lived with the in-laws, found a place to live in Funabashi and had a baby. (So a very eventful year!)

I am excited about what the new decade will bring. So far 2010 has just seen me getting to know my son and spending time with Shun & my mum (it is great having her here!)- I have made no resolutions this year except to try and lose the baby weight and maintain a healthy weight (for me) and to continue to try and stick with our budget and save a little each month. Also try to continue to cross things off my 101 things in 1001 days list. I am excited about spending this first year with Noah as well as I am sure he will grow up fast and I don`t want to miss anything.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I love looking through old photos and my FIL scanned in a couple of other old photos for me when he did the baby photos. Over the weekend I looked through some other old photos of when Shun & I first met (coming up to 5 years) and from when I was on exchange in Japan in 2004/2005 among others including a couple of highschool shots and during my first year of uni- I can not believe how young I look…

I uploaded some to flickr in an album called “Oldies but Goodies” but thought I would reminisce with a couple here.

My brother & I- I was in year 11 so about 16 years old. He would of been 13 or 14 and we are both in our highschool uniforms.

In Australia we have a formal when we are seniors in highscool (age 17)- here is a photo of me and a friend Claire. A formal is like a prom I guess but because I went to an all girls highschool we were allowed to bring our own partner and I took Jake, my highschool boyfriend.

This is Jake & I- I think this is from his formal though because my hair is shorter and looks different from the photo above but I wore the same dress. I went to another formal that year too, with my friend Duck and I wore a different dress that time but at about $300 or more for a dress and all the money it cost for hair and make-up (and sometimes cars!) it was impossible to buy a different dress for each formal (we also have semi-formals the year before so I had another dress then!)

My first year of uni and the months leading up to when I left for Japan to go on exchange (I spent my second year of uni in Japan on exchange but the year didn`t start til March 2004 meaning I had from beginning of November until I left for Japan on holidays from school)- Here is some photos from those shenanigans.

Em & I- lifesaving in the bath!

Good friends of mine: Nic & Duck. A lot of people in the photos leading up until this point I don`t really have any contact with anymore but Nicole & I are still in touch (she lives in the UK but also did a year in Japan teaching a couple of years back) and Duck I met the same week I met my ex boyfriend Jake in highschool and him & I have stayed friends this entire time and we still catch up whenever I am back in Australia. They were both 18 when this shot was taken (now 24)

All in green to support a friend`s netball team called the ribbits (hence the frog in my top!)- I can`t believe how skinny I look in this photo. It was taken a couple of weeks before I left for Japan the first time so I was just 19.

Next lot of photos were taken the year I was on exchange in Japan- I met Shun at the end of my year here but he is not in any of the first ones.

That is James next to me: he was best man at our wedding. We were the Aussies that came on exchange ( me, James, Erik, Rionne, Gen)

Camping in Chichibu: Hiro, aka Mr Gadget (seriously he pulled that raincoat out of a a pouch the size of a 50 cent piece and also had all sorts of random things attached to his belt including a lighter, ashtray, flashlight & swiss army knife)

Mexican feast night

Osaka: Catherine (maid of honor at wedding) was leaving Japan from Osaka to return to UK to finish her studies so we all went to Osaka to see her off. This photo was taken the day after we arrived- since we caught the local train the whole way to Osaka it took us 10 hours and something like 18 changes!!!

Near Tsukiji: Koki took this photo and he is now a photographer but when I first met him he was studying physics at university (he completed degree but never used it)

This is Koki: We were at Warp, a club in Kichijoji where we went to watch a friend DJ Reggae music. Koki introduced me to Shun originally.

Shun & I: About 2 weeks after we met.

When Shun stayed over he used to have to jump off my 2nd floor balcony onto the bike shed to leave because we were not supposed to have guests stay in our dorm rooms- this is him jumping!

This was the weekend before I went home to Australia- taken in the ferris wheel at Odaiba.

I spent a year back in Australia finishing my degree and Shun came to visit twice, and James came up from Melbourne with his gf at the time Megumi and also my friend Hiro came to stay with us for a couple of months while he went to English school. It was both Shun & Hiro`s first time on Australian soil…

Shun & I: Wello Point: Shun`s first day in Australia, ever

My brother & I with what looks like the same hair (although mine was crazy in colour- that is my brother`s natural colour)

September 2006: Shun, me, James & Megumi heading for Coochimudlo Island

Hiro is at the front on the right- BBQs in the park with his friends from English school

A very drunk Hiro & I – Different BBQ

Lastly, Christmas in Australia 2005- Our family Christmas tree

Definitely fun looking back through these photos and reminiscing about what was happening at the time- funny that it seems like I spent A LOT of my time drinking!!! Especially the year I was on exchange. I can not believe how much things have changed since some of these photos were taken- even in the time since I met Shun. I was 19 when we met and he was 23 and now we are married with a bub due any day (can you say “any day” when you are still more than 2 weeks from your due date?)…. Some of the people in the earlier photos I don`t really have much contact with anymore but most of the people I met while on exchange I still see occasionly and the other foreigners I lived with I see whenever they are in Japan or I am in Australia (for those that were from Oz)- but Hiro and I are still good friends as well as Cat & James (Cat was here last night in fact!). I am sure when I look back on photos from now in 4-5 years time I will be thinking the same thing “Oh my how things have changed” – just think, Goma-chan will be in kindergarten by then!

Popularity: 11% [?]

At the in-laws yesterday FIL kindly scanned in some photos for me and put them on CD. I don`t have that many baby photos of myself here in Japan and I only have a couple of Shun when he was younger that his mum gave me but it was fun looking through them and I am glad I have them digitally now…

Will be interesting which of us Goma-chan takes after when he makes his arrival…

Here is baby Shun- I am not sure how old he is in this photo but this is the youngest photo I have of him.

Here is baby Lulu- doing a similar pose to Shun above- I think I look like a boy!

Oh and lets not forget siblings
My brother & I- eating iceblocks. I still think I look like a boy, oh and yeah my brother had white hair. he was born with it. Shun thinks this might mean Goma-chan has white hair- I told him I do not like his chances (he is also praying on blue eyes but that is unlikely also!)

Shun & his brother (Shun is the younger one, there is 5 years between them)

This is my favourite photo of Shun- I think it might have been near New Years which could explain the outfit.

Here is a favourite photo of mine, of me, from when I was younger as it shows 4 generations. Left to right is my grandmother, great grandmother, my mum & me. I was 10 months old when this was taken and it was my first trip to NZ. I learnt to walk while in NZ that first time….

Just a couple more-

How 80`s is this couch?

I liked dogs even then

Shun`s grandmother (Baba) did a lot of travelling and here is Shun in an outfit she bought back from Mongolia…Can`t wait to dress Goma-chan up in ridiculous outfits and take photos of him. Shame they don`t have this one anymore!

And lastly, check out the carpet WITH the couches in this photo- Gotta love the orange and brown!

Oh and nobody guessed at the random stuff that we could possibly bring home from the in-laws (see end of last post) but here is the answer anyway and actually it was not so random this time. We came home with 2 2L bottles of water (they worry that I drink tap water because we live in an apartment meaning it is tank water but I do not want to lug mineral water home or pay for it really- eventually we will get a purifier put on the tap but honestly water is water), 2 leeks, 2 pieces or sirloin steak, some mail and Shun`s mum made him a bento for today because we were eating there meaning I wouldn`t have leftovers to make him a bento for today (and there was no way I would make something from scratch!). Anyway it was all things I will use so YAY!!!!!!

Popularity: 7% [?]

I always loved to sing while growing up- my father would sing to us most nights and as we got older we sang with him. I played the piano and had lessons from age 3 to age 18 (don`t get any funny ideas- I used to be an okay player but literally have not played in years) and I also learnt the violin for about three years in highschool. During highschool, until my senior years, I also did music class at school and the teacher at the time asked me to try out for a choir that was just starting  that would have 22 students from grades 9 -12(I was grade 9) that would meet twice a week for rehersal and would perform for school functions etc.

I tried out and made it in (Still have no idea how?!) – I also took singing lessons at this time privately and jointly with another girl at school in which we were taught to sing properly including proper breathing tecniques which I know longer use at all when I sing around the house!!! I was also in the large school choir that met once a week that had about 50 students…

Don`t get the wrong idea- I really can not sing well but I guess my previous music training helped seeing as I could read music and play two instruments already and so I knew how to hold a tune even though I was a poor singer compared to the other girls in the special choir.

Anyone who know me now in real life will probably laugh at the fact i was a choir girl- I know I do not seem the type at all. While I went to a religious school we sang mainly jazz and pop in the special choir with just some religious songs that we had to sing on special occasions for school. Singing jazz was always the most fun…

I am no longer musical at all unless you count singing along with the radio- I am not even sure I would be able to read music that well anymore especially piano music and it has been almost 7 years since I picked up a violin and played and almost as long since i sat down at a piano. I have been thinking about getting back into it recently though and would love a keyboard to play around on. When I go to karaoke I mainly choose songs that you get to “scream” out so that I dont actually have to try and sing properly!!!

My brother is still quite musical- while he is doing his degree in civil engineering and graduating later this year I know he contemplated studying music at university which is something I even considered when I was younger. My brother hated music lessons growing up and quit piano after two years but quite enjoyed fiddling around on mum`s old guitar. It was a right handed guitar but my brother is a leftie so he taught himself to play upside down before my parents purchased him a proper left handed acoustic guitar. He took lessons for most of highschool but mostly he was self-taught. I think he owns about 3 guitars now including an electric guitar, plus a bass, a keyboard and my old piano is in our garage at home and he often uses that. While he hated piano when he was younger he went back to it later on but again is mainly selt taught. He plays around with friends a lot and has “jam” sessions and I think he might even be a co-owner of a drum set. Not to mention he has some bongo drums and a harmonica among other instruments littering my mother`s garage.

This is a two part post- listening to itunes today got me thinking about singing and in particular singing to goma-chan.

Goma-chan`s hearing skills will kick in over the next few weeks and already I catch myself talking to him/her and I know that I will eventually start singing to him/her more regulary. I sometimes sing “There`s a kind of hush” to goma-chan at night (my father sang it to us when we were little, it is a Herman`s Hermits song an old British pop band that was around in the 60s- I do not think this band wrote it though) but so far that is the extent of my singing to the bub.

Shun will sing Japanese songs to goma-chan but only if I ask. I know goma-chan can`t hear much, if anything yet but it is still fun.

Other songs that I remember my dad singing to me were “On the Wings of a Snow White Dove”, “Blowin in the wind”, “Oh when the saints”, “Imagine”, “Years may come, years may go” (Another Hermans Hermits hit). One other song my father would often sing was an Italian song called “Ti Amor” that he had a extremely old record of and would put it on when we were little – my father`s best friend is an Aussie Italian guy who came to the wedding and I made sure this song was played so firstly dad and I could dance to it but also so that Joe, dad`s friend also had a dance with me.

There is another song my mum would sing, that was more of a traditional children`s song, that her father had sung to her.  which I can not remember now- but I will have to get her to write down the lyrics and re-teach it to me.

I was wondering what songs you sing to your children (or songs that were sung to you when you were a child)- whether it was before they were born or after. Is there a song that you sang that your kids remember and calms them?

I also wonder if goma-chan will turn out musical at all, or have a nice singing voice?

Popularity: 16% [?]

My father has many stories from when he was younger and as he gets older it sometimes seems as if I have heard the stories 100s of times before. This used to bother me but lately I have realized that I am craving the stories and often ask him to remind me of things that happened when he was younger  or retell old stories so that I can file them away to recall at a later time…

A lot of the stories resolve around the Wynnum Manly area where he grew up and also where he lives now (and we live with him) so it helps that there are often landmarks in the stories that I can relate to.

Like the time him and his three friends from highschool wagged school, after stealing some condy`s crystals & glycerine from their science lab at school. They congregated at Manly Jetty and mixed it together and it shot off like a rocket and they managed to put a big hole in the jetty because it caught on fire. The jetty was closed for awhile apparently (and now the end of the jetty is made from concrete). So that is always an interesting story to tell people, especially locals, because not many people can say their father blew up the jetty.

Condy`s crystals are purple & apparently a couple of years after this they turned the fountain on the round-a-bout near Preston Road purple with them. Needless to say it is not a fountain anymore but a garden.

Or going back years before that even when he was an alter boy (!) in primary school and would travel to Stradbroke Island with a radical priest to do a service and after they were allowed to sit on the rocks, pull of oysters and eat them as they go. You simply can`t do this anymore because there are not enough oysters…

There was also another time when he wagged school at about 13 years old and was playing in the park with a friend who shot him in the face with a cap gun. Dad waited a bit before going home (despite having blood on his face and the begginings of a black eye) because he didn`t want his mum to know he was wagging school. When he did go home and she asked what happened he just said he had been in a fight. Several years later he was in a car crash in which he broke his leg and his head went through the windscreen and when they did an x-ray of his head the first thing the doctor said was “Who shot you?” the cap gun bullet that had hit him 5 years earlier was embedded in the bone under his right eye (It is still there!)

I think my favourite story though is of the apple green ambulance. My father, when he was about 18 years old, and two of his friends, put in $50 each and they bought an old ambulance for $150 dollars and painted it apple green. It could fit up to 20 people in it and they would drive from Brisbane to the coast with surfboards on top with the Beach Boys playing on the radio. He says it was also great for taking to the drive-in theatres because you could fit heaps of people in the back.

I think it is because I can just imagine this apple green ambulance zooming along the old highway…

Popularity: 7% [?]

April 24 2008, Nakano in Tokyo, Olympus u830

There was a bar I used to frequent when we lived in Nakano as it was on my way home. I would stop in to say hello to the owner, have a drink and practice my Japanese conversation. He had been to Spain before, loved the type of “tapas” bars they had there and after spending 10 years as a salaryman he gave up his day job in marketing and started a bar. His name was Kentaro, and even if some days I did not stop to have a glass of wine he would come out to the street to say hello and ask after Shun. I promised him that once we returned to Japan I would be back to visit, even though travelling from Chiba out that way will take an hour or so.

This photo is of him playing this game on which you have to build a pyramid but you can only move one circle at a time.

* Back from Melbourne, had the most fab time! Post with photos to follow sometime soon.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Does anyone remember their first day of primary/elementary school? I do, well parts of it at least…I was excited because I had heard grade 1 would have lots of books I could read by myself and possibly take home to read then return and this appealed to me because even then I was an avid reader.

I know my teacher, Mr Kearney, had taught grade one for a long while and he knew what he was doing. Mum came with me on the first day obviously, with little brother in tail  and if the photos of that day are any indication he had a pretty good day himself. My uniform was blue checked dress with a white collar and white capped sleeves and my shoes were shined within an inch of their life. My pink school bag was all packed (including my lunch box with a popper in it) and I hadn`t been allowed to take bow, my favourite stuffed childhood toy but I left him at the enterance to our house so that he would be the first thing I saw when I returned home. I don`t remember been nervous but I might of been.

Each desk had a little ABC chart contacted to it and every girl had to sit next to a boy. I don`t remember who my neighbour was but my little brother stole my seat early on in the morning when we arrived and he quite possibly could of drawn all over the table. Luckily he didn`t stay long and it wasn`t long before I was saying goodbye to  mum.

I remember nothing else from my first day exactly but there are scattred memories of that year floating around in my head. The great chicken pox outbreak of 1991 for example in which my class of 30 when to 8. Learning to write although I don`t really remember much about this and have nothing to show of my writing from that time but I must have learn to write around that time although I could already read and write a little bit before I started.

One other memory I have of that year was the athletics carnival, which was not held at our school due to our lack of a school oval at that time but I remember running in the kids race that day. My mum tells the story of how my hat blew off halfway through the race, how I stopped, ran back and got it and still won the race by 10m or so. I have many blue ribbons from my primary school athletics carnivals although most of that changed when I went to highschool and started competing again 180 girls instead of 20.

Plus the school assemblies held every Wednesday held outside because I think when I was in year 1 we still didn`t have the church built where the assemblies were held in later years. I know in preschool they were definitely held outside. Mum would come most weeks and we would know she was there from the jingling of her bangles.

I know also that sometime in that year, during a parent teacher conference that my teacher, Mr Kearney, told my parents that I was a delight to teach but that I would be perfectly happy if I was the only person in the class with him and if all the other children disappeared. Apparently it didn`t mean that I didn`t like playing with the other kids just that I was an attention whore even at age 5!

The games we played in year one also play on my mind. Heads down thumbs up and catch and kiss (which was banned the year I was in year 2 or possibly year 1) and also learning our school song “This is our school”.

The friends I had included mainly boys I think…Michael D, Bryce G were a couple as well as one of my bridesmaids Mandy T!

The memories of that time are scattered around in my brain but it is amazing how much I remember from that time really. What do you remember from your early school years?

Popularity: 10% [?]

When I was about eight we went to the drive in theatre- at the time it was a 5 minute drive from my house. It is no longer there- instead it was replaced with factories and they expanded the bowling alley and built a service station. It got me thinking though, as Shun is always at me about how he wants to go to a drive in movie, how many drive in`s were left in Australia, or Queensland at least. I keep telling him there are not very many around and that the concept is actually quite American and not Australian.

A quick google later…Apparently though, there are two left in Brisbane area. One at Aspley & another at Yatala (near the famous pie shop!).

The movies I saw at the drive in movie- Mrs Doubtfire and something else….I can not remember the other movie. My parents took us and dad told us stories about the car he shared with his friends at 16 & 17 that was an old ambulance. Apparently it was great because you could go to the  drive in, pay for two people, but store 10 people in the back!

I think I am going to have to take Shun (since he is 27 and has never been and all!)- probably to Yatala- Will bring back a little nostalgia (natsukashii na!)….

Have you ever been to the drive-in? Are they common where you are? What was the first movie you saw at one?

Popularity: 6% [?]

In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)… participating in this hasn`t actually improved my writing at all but I still live in hope…

**********************************************************************************

X is for x-rays…

There are not many options for the letter “x”…but it was one of the easier choices of topics.

See I have probably had more x-rays in my 23 years of life than my father, mother & brother have had all added up. I was an accident prone child always falling over, always twisting something or pulling something and constantly at the doctors having x-rays for all different parts of my body. In this x-ray category I am including cat scans, bone scans and any other kind of scan you can think of. My first x-ray, that I remember, was when I was five and squashed my foot in a bike (between the peddle, wheel & spokes). It was my left foot, and to date that is the body part that has caused me the most trouble in my relatively short life. There were no broken bones…it was just a sprain.

I was a runner when I was younger (hard to believe now I know) and was constantly rolling my ankles or knees and ending up on crutches after x-rays- in fact when I was in highschool and on crutches for what was probably the tenth time my parents decided to just buy some crutches so that they could stop borrowing them from the chemist or hospital. Of my ankles alone I would say I have had at least 15 x-rays & bone scans.

Having braces at the end of primary school meant teeth x-rays…lots of them.

In highschool a friends ex boyfriend twisted my hand (long story) and then I sailed all weekend and it swelled up to three times the size and a week later I had an x-ray. The found a chip I think? Then I got angry one day six months later and  slammed my hand down on the kitchen bench (I couldn`t find chocolate- that is why I was angry) and it swelled up again. More x-rays. Then several months later it swelled up for no reason (I woke up and it was fat) and I had more x-rays- they found nothing & now I just have a slight lump on that hand…even now.

Dislocated my shoulder (I fell out of an above ground pool- I may have been a little drunk)- more x-rays…dislocated it again in Japan running into my bedroom doorway. Had another x-ray and there was a cracked bone.

There was also some finger x-rays in there…and a head x-ray or two (one in Japan when the crazy guy hit me on the head with the beer glass and split my head open). Had some torn cartlidge in my ribs last year and had a couple of x-rays then too…no broken ribs though.

Plus in Japan they are fans of doing chest x-rays and I had to have a couple for visa`s in the past. (and for some reason whenever I go to the doctors in Japan with ashtma they usually take a chest x-ray then too)

So yeah, you could say I am SLIGHTLY accident prone…and have had too many x-rays. So many in fact that  they now make me wear a lead coat to prevent me from becoming radioactive!!! I don`t think there is a body part I have not had x-rayed…

Popularity: 10% [?]

Several weeks ago I send out a facebook message to a couple of primary school friends I had reconnected with thanks to facebook. I said that we should catch up and so we arranged a date that suited us all, booked a place and then this past weekend the big  day came.

We went to The Lighthouse Restaurant at Cleveland, close to our old primary school stomping grounds (and where two of the girls still live) and caught up. I arrived first and Rachie O arrived soon after and for awhile there we thought it might just be us but Carlie & Michelle showed up. We were expecting another two but they must have decided not to come which was fine since the four of us had a great catch up.

I had seen Rachie O earlier in the year when I was home for Christmas but I hadn`t seen Carlie or Michelle since I was about 17 and even before then after age 12 it had been a bit sporadic. It just goes to show though, that while time passes us by at what seems like lightening speeds sometimes, there are some people in your life that you can meet up with and just take off from where you left off.

With the amount of time I have spend living overseas since finishing highschool I have only a handful of friends from Australia whom I know I have the kind of relationships with that we can just pick up where ever we last left off and go from there. (Mandy, who couldn`t be there for our little reunion is one of those people also!)

While I was a bit nervous about meeting up with these girls again, because you never know if it is going to go smoothly or if the conversation will flow and lets face it, primary school finished over 10 years ago so who knew what we would have in common anymore. I am happy to say though that there was no uncomfortable silence and we really could just take off from where we left off.

We chatted about careers, our boys, our futures and our pasts. We reminised about crazy primary school memories and laughed over old inside jokes.

A common theme in our conversation was friendship and how we had evolved and formed long last friendships with some and not so long lasting friendships with others- both from our primary school days and our highschool days and even our lives now.  I know that I will see these girls again sometime soon, and we are arranging a get together before Christmas, this time with our partners as well.

While we have all gone our separate ways, one of us an accountant, one of us a lawyer and one of us a personal trainer (who was also a manager of a chalet in France and also a car saleswoman!) and me, a roaming girl with no real career yet, we still had common ground. These are girls who I have known since I was 4 or 5-we saw each other grow up, we know each others brothers and sisters and family and we remember what the others dreams were all through primary school! I know it sounds cliched but the conversation honestly never did stop and surprisingly we still had a connection even after all this time.

Five hours later we hugged, said goodbye and promised to not let so many years go by without another reunion!

Do you still have primary school friends? Do you meet up on a regular basis? Since the facebook revolution have you reconnected with people you haven`t seen or spoken to in years?

Popularity: 9% [?]