The New Adventures of Old Chrystina

I am determined to do things differently this time 'round... I am determined to try new things.
Being a creature of habit, I'm not sure how well this will go but one can only try.
Two bad things have happened since my last post. My beautiful, loving and lovable Aunty passed away. She had emphysema and had battled it for 20 years... she got ill and it finished off her lungs. She went so quick it was a terrible shock and a terrible loss for our family as she was central to all our lives on my Mum's side of the family. When I went up to the hospital to see her, she held my hand so tight and told me she loved me. I know she loved me. It is a comfort but it is still hard to believe she is gone. When I went to see her, I did my usual and tried to cheer everyone up and make everyone laugh and feel happy and positive. I refused to believe she was in any real danger. I told her I had a date that night. She was happy for me. I never did go on that date. I was too drained from the hospital visit. Stupidly, I went on a date the day after her funeral. I thought if I just had something nice to look forward to, it would ease the pain of losing her, but I am really not ready for dating. Not that I have remaining feelings or issues with the ended marriage, I'm so over that... and I had been lonely in the marriage for decades... but I need to be by myself for awhile, to know how to assert myself and just be myself. For so many years I was way too submissive for the sake of a peaceful life and I don't want to retain the habit of deferring to some man. My sister happily met her new husband via internet dating and encouraged me to give it a try, making out it was all butterflies and rainbows. But I take a long time to relax and feel at ease enough to be myself around anyone... and especially around men. I turn into a zombie, my mind goes blank and I can barely make a peep. I know this about myself, so I have no idea what I was thinking when I went on this date. Oh well, it won't be happening again. If ever I am to meet anyone, it will have to be the old fashioned way. It needs to be someone I have known for some small amount of time at least. Good luck with that!  *sigh*  So that's the end to the New Adventures of Old Chrystina....romantically anyway...
Anyway... since the last post my sis and I have seen Nunchukka Superfly at the Prince of Wales Punkfest in January and then this Easter Saturday we saw Hard-Ons at Tym's Guitars for the re-issue of their classic 7" "Girl in the Sweater" that Tym's Guitars released especially for Record Store Day.

Such a great night and fun atmosphere. It is a bit of a lead up to the Hard-Ons 30th year anniversary tour with original drummer/lead singer Keish coming up in June this year!! I've already bought tickets...I'd just wanna slit my throat if I missed out on this... (I was already bummed out by missing out on tickets to see The Stems at the Tivoli last month!) If you are in Australia and wanna go see this legendary Aussie band and have a hankering to hear a particular song of old ... just go to the Hard-Ons forums here and leave a song request. I really can't wait!! It is Very Exciting!! Another awesome thing to look forward to, is next month, Nunchukka Superfly are returning to Punkfest again! Twice in one year... blessed!
In other news, my neighbour and I, with her son and my youngest daughter, went away for the week end to Twin Waters. We had such a wonderful time, lots of swimming, sailing, kayaking, eating and laughing. I especially enjoyed doing laps of the lake, so relaxing.

I also loved the kayaking so much, that when I came home and saw a coupon deal in my inbox for kayaking down the Brisbane River, I bought it... so sometime soon I will be paddling down the Brisbane River on twilight with a group of people. I have since been told the Brisbane River is teeming with bull sharks... oh happy day! But I am not deterred... I am looking forward to doing something different to my usual activities. I think it will be fun. Another fun thing I did recently was go to a Vegan Festival.  

It was at a nightclub.. unbeknowns to me... I assumed it would be a cafe type setting. I took my 73 year old Mother... when we got there and I saw that it was a nightclub and that it was nestled between two gentlemen's clubs, I knew I was going to hell.... but Mum took it in her stride and enjoyed the night with me anyway... tho I did get a few harsh words later on, lol....

Here's my Mum, in a nightclub...

and Mum watching the Vegan Black Metal Chef... it was a really good night actually and really inspired me to at least ditch the dairy. I got Isa Chandra Moskawitz's recipe book "Isa Does It" (I ordered it through work, we had to fly like the clock struck midnight after the show) she is so funny and talented, I really liked her, but they were all inspiring and great to hear each of their vegan stories.

Isa's book is a great cookbook, so glad I got it and I was desperate to try the recipe she demonstrated on the night... a vegan mac and cheese.... and it is SOOO yummy...very "creamy".... the kids loved it, which is what I was hoping for... can't wait to try out more of these recipes on them!

And that's my life up till now... hoping it gets better and better xx