perth...

... was over too quickly.
... was so much fun.
... was sentimental.
... is the home of my closest friends.
... has Gizmo.

for all the above reasons and more, my trip to perth (or rather, leaving it) was totally heartwrenching. It was really like I'd never left. Elaine and I picked up our conversation where we left it 12 months ago, and staying at Jade's house truly felt like a time warp. Have I really been away over 4.5 years? Surely not! Besides the new fandangle tv they have and Gizmo's continuously growing gut, I felt more at home than I have anywhere for a long time.

I miss them. a lot.

alas, the fun lasted only 4 days. retrospectively, i wonder why i didn't just stay for a week. i wish i had. Too much was crammed into the few days ~

Friday night dinner with Elaine, Wendy, Mags & Janee ~ Saigon chicken rice, my most favourite!










Ivan & Monica's beautiful wedding on the Terrace @ Parmelia Hilton...






















... followed by the lovely and equally crazy reception in the Swan Room.





























I've known Ivan for a whole decade now, and I remember clearly when he first met Monica. He's always been one of those friends who I can talk to about anything, and I love the crap out of him. I'm happy he's finally tied the knot with the woman who he's been head over heels for for 10 years.

*sniff*

Moving right along! Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day in Fremantle... had to have Cicerello's!





























and ofcourse, spending time with my precious Gizmo.












Well, I guess things change and people grow up. I'm a drifter at heart and I know I can't have the best of both worlds. So let me look forward, not backward and speaking of which, it is only 9 weeks today that we take off....

leaving on a jet plane...

heading off to good ol' perth tonight for the first time in over 4 years. so excited to see the old crew. so so excited to see Gizmo! I'm looking forward to taking a wee break ~ this week has been testing to say the very least. i even had a cry on monday night because i have been so stressed at work, but hey, it's all good.

maybe i was just coming down from a fabulous weekend spent with ying! ying's whirlwind sydney trip included all the culinary delights sydney can offer from my most favourite sushi train to gelatomassi to spanish tapas and finally the chocolate overkill that is max brenner!










check out Panu's red-eye. no, I didn't fart on his pillow *tsk tsk* he had lasik last week!

anyway, the journey this weekend is for my friend ivan's wedding on saturday night. stay tuned for stories and photos!

we went skydiving....! ... not.

last saturday was primed to be by far the most exciting day of my life. i woke up stupidly early and started poking panu in the face ~ that's a romantic way to wake up, no? ~ which annoys the crap out of him but he likes me, so its sweet.

the source of the excitement? i was 8 hours away from throwing myself out of a plane at 14,000ft, free falling for 60 seconds and then cruising the rest of the way down to the beach. i know i'm going to sound like i'm exaggerating, but i have been waiting for this day for a long long time. not only would i have ticked off all of my resolutions for '07, this crave has been something that has been laying dormant in me for 10 years.

after an enormous breakfast ala ita, 8 of us eagerly headed off to Wollongong. I have to say, having the Segura's in our car was an experience in itself. these guys don't usually make it further than a 5km radius of Sydney CBD, so a 1.5 hour car trip was interesting. they mostly amused themselves... *heHe*

the weather was quite overcast, but we had been advised by the people at the skydiving place that unless it rains or is too windy, all jumps are going ahead. We were jumping at 4.30pm, they'd make a call at 4.

after blowing time at a pub and a shopping mall (yeh, cos there ain't enough pubs and malls in Sydney) we drove over to the jump point. I forced myself to suppress the buzz because the weather was still questionable and I didn't want to nurse my own broken heart. we checked in and lo' and behold, the declaration was made: we are jumping!

*wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

we each were handed some blue pants which felt like the carcass of a dead marquee, but hey, whatever ~ i'd dress like a damn chicken if that was a prerequisite to jump out of a plane! the tops were fleecy jumpers, Lowes style, 3 sizes too big but hella warm so that was acceptable too.




















we were harnessed up, incredibly tight but again that's acceptable because 14,000ft is a long way down. they then gave us lessons in loading, jumping, falling and landing. actually we looked rather like a cult of tellytubbies praying to our great tellytubby god on the lawn.











and then we were ready!

now i let my sheer exhiliration spill over. i was hyped. it took weeks to coordinate this day and after handing over a collective $3,000, it is now really happening!

but then...

the group before had just returned, high from their jump, and the professional divers motioned for our group leader. a few words were exchanged and our group leader came back looking rather forlorn. he told us that we were not going ahead with our jump. the divers thought the clouds were getting a little low and didn't want to go back up.

my jaw dropped. i was speechless. and to those who know me, you can imagine what shock it would take to render me speechless. but what turned my disappointment into anger was that after some complaints they offered to take 3 of us up, but not 7. what? does that even make sense?? we thought they were cancelling due to weather conditions but then why would 3 be able to go but not 7? oh i see. because the other 4 divers were actually done for the day... and even though we were the last group to jump, they wanted to call it quits.

i was fucking filthy. i couldn't even comprehend how they were allowed to say they just didn't feel like going. especially after suiting us up, harnessing us and training us. it was beyond ridiculous.

the icing on my cow-poo cake? they wouldn't refund our deposit. what the fuck. it wasn't like we cancelled, or we were late. they cancelled on us. and we dont get our deposits back. I left the negotiations up to others because at this stage i fuming, and so emotionally involved that i would have quite literally bitten someone's head off.

so anyway, Saturday turned out to be a royal waste of time... i feel cheated and amazingly more heart broken than i imagined i would be. time heals though and my only consolation is that panu promised he'd jump with me next time.