Jovi: 5 days to go. It Begins.

Okay so we are 5 (that's right people FIVE) days out from the first Bon Jovi show I'm going to in Melbourne. I thought I'd share with you all some of my calm, non-panicky, laid-back, totally nonchalant feelings about my upcoming Jovi experience:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Yes that's right, if you didn't know already, I'm possibly ten seconds away from the wetting of the pants. I really hope I don't implode/explode prior to December 11 or I will have wasted a lot of money on tickets, flights, hotels and other general Jovi merchandise.

So here's the story for those not currently in the know....

Friday 10th - fly to Melbourne, have awesome catch up with awesome friends Cara and Anita and their various awesome cats. Possibly drive them batty with Jovi talk and ask if we can stalk the band around Melbourne. They will be more than ready to push me out the door Saturday.

Saturday 11th - MELBOURNE SHOW! Am in pretty good section (A1) Row P, seat 1. Seat 1 will be great if it's the side nearest the pit so fingers crossed:

Sunday 12th - fly home to Brissy and resume normal working day on Monday. Possibly drive everyone at work insane with talk of how Jon looked, how Jon sounded, how Richie played guitar, every facial expression Jon made, what band was wearing etc etc. They will be more than ready to see me leave work Monday.

Tuesday 14th - DA DA DUM! First VIP Package I've got for this tour. Mum (the lucky woman) and I will be going to Suncorp stadium, getting a backstage tour, some goodies and dinner. Then we get to see the show from the Pit, SECOND ROW. Oh yeah. He is totally touchable from there:

Wednesday 15th - rest and recovery. Also a trip to the dentist, but I don't really think anyone is really that interested in that (me included.)

Saturday 18th - fly to Sydney with my wonderful sister in law Jo. Then at 3pm I'm going to a Q&A with the man himself. That's right, I shall be in a small room with JBJ. Yes people I do realise how dangerous this may be, but I'm willing to take the risk. But what shall I ask him? I really want to know if he likes cats - if he doesn't unfortunately things can never work out between us, but possibly may be a waste of a question. So am still working on the perfect question and praying I don't stand up, open mouth and keel over. This could be a tad embarrassing although the question "Is there a Doctor in the house" would be quite appropriate.

Saturday night Jo and I are heading to the show - I'm so glad I get to go to a show with her! We have seats in the lower half of one side of the stadium which will give me another view of the show:

Sunday 19th - I wave 'bye bye' to Jo and have a day kicking myself for whatever embarrassing thing happened during the Q&A (something will happen - of this I have no doubt). Then that night is my final show - another VIP package - in the Pit, THIRD ROW!

Monday 20th - head home to Brissy and prepare slide show of every single photo I took to show everyone I've ever met. Shed a tear that it's all over and start panicking that I haven't got Christmas presents for anyone sorted.

And that's it!

But never fear.....now we commence the countdown to....

BON JOVI - LAS VEGAS.

103 days to go.

Jovi Tickets....The Quest Continues....

So....it's been a big month. Pretty much my life has been consumed with waiting for Bon Jovi tickets to go on sale, searching for the best Bon Jovi tickets I could find , buying Bon Jovi tickets and counting down to the Bon Jovi shows.

So the last time I blogged I was waiting for the Fan Club Presale tickets to go on sale for the Brisbane show.....I was going to the Brisbane show and that's all I was focussed on....

Well a month later and....I've got tickets for FOUR shows.

You heard right. I've got a ticket for the Brisbane show, the Melbourne show and tickets for two of the Sydney shows. "How did this happen?" I hear you ask. Well to be honest I'm not quite sure.....it all started when.....(flashback music starts and the screen goes blurry)......

All I wanted was the best seats possible for the Brisbane show. The fan club pre-sales were available from 9am so I organised to come into work late and that way I could get my tickets in the comfort of my own home and away from all distractions! I was so naive thinking I could just get tickets in a stress-free way. Ha! I started casually hitting refresh on the "buy tickets" page from about 8.55am and at 9am on the dot the magic words appeared "Fan Club VIP Packages". Now it should be noted that there were no prices or seating maps or really any information available until the minute they went on sale. So I was going in blind.....

Of course I clicked on the front row diamond package (duh). Then the price displayed - 3,500 big ones. It was for two tickets so pretty reasonable really to me , but I still rang my parents (who keep my spending sane) and in the six seconds it took my (sensible) mother to say "hmmm" and my (not-so-sensible) dad to shriek in the background "go for it!" the front row package tickets were gone. I nearly started to cry. That's a lie actually - I didn't nearly start to cry - there were actual tears forming and about to trickle down my cheeks. So I went for the second row tickets - gone! Third row....gone! Fourth row.....available! By this stage my heart was nearly pumping out of my chest and I was slightly hysterical. The cats had long since retreated to the safety of under the bed. "Fourth row, fourth row...there are fourth row available" I screeched to my poor mother who was still on the phone for moral support. "For the love of god just get them!!" she yelled back (by this stage everyone had gone nuts). So I clicked and entered the credit card details so fast my mouse nearly burst into flames. Seriously. I still have the burn marks. Success! I had the tickets and at a much more reasonable price - although after nearly spending $3500 anything seems quite reasonable.

It was now 9.04am. The most stressful 4 minutes of my entire life.

So I toddled off to work, relieving the highs and lows of those four minutes. I did a victory dance upon arrival at work and everyone as very impressed with my tickets. Or they thought I was crazy. Most likely the second one.

So all was fine and dandy until I was sitting at my desk, just minding my own business, doing something work related and my mobile rings....and it's an international number. "Hmmm" I think. "This is going to be really, really good or really, really bad."

It turns out it’s someone from the Bon Jovi fanclub in America telling me there was a bug in their system and they had oversold my Row 4 tickets, (at this point the tears started) but did I mind if they put me in Row 2.

Erm No. No I don’t mind!

Woooooooooooooohoooooooooooooo!

Check out my seats:

I am so going to touch him......

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the incredible Jovi tickets journey:”The Stress Continues....”

Bon Jovi tickets...the quest begins.

I knew it was coming. I just didn't know when. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, it was here.

"What is it?" I hear you ask. "Must be important?"

Oh, it is important.

Very very important.

IT'S JOVI TIME!!!!!!!

I knew they were doing a world tour, but wasn't getting too excited as "world tour" doesn't necessarily mean that Australia is included. Apparently we aren’t part of the world according to some tour promoters. I'm just thankful I don't live if New Zealand. They get nothing. Or Perth. They get less than nothing.

Two weeks ago my wonderful sister in law Jo, who has been well trained to inform me of all things Jovi, messaged me and told me about the small blurb in the Sunday Mail that gave hope that the Jovi was in fact considering coming to Australia in December. Not just to Australia, but to Brisbane! Last time they only played in Melbourne and Sydney and I had to go to Sydney and stay in a hotel that was across the road from a Hooters. Not classy.

Now I was on the lookout for any information pertaining to confirmation of said tour. And last week the same paper confirmed the story and even gave a date and a venue. GLORY BE! Life is good!

But not for long.

I then realised I was entering stage 1 of the Bon Jovi concert preparations - securing the best tickets possible. Stage 1 is not fun. No one enjoys this stage. But it must be done. Stage 1 back in 2007 nearly caused my parents, brother, sister in law, co-workers, the telstra network and possibly the group of people I was training, a nervous breakdown.

I've done my research and there are three dates I can get tickets:

First chance tomorrow - these are the pre-pre-sale tickets for members of the Bon Jovi fan club (member since 1983*). The tickets include the elusive VIP concert package tours which include food, drinks, and *dances in joy* a front row seat. Sweeeet. Ever since I was second row back in 2002 and got sweated on, all I want is front row and the chance that there could be contact. Any sort of contact - I'd be happy to touch his shoe (ala Keith Urban 2009 - still talking about that concert). Front row ticket – want, want, want!

Second chance next Wednesday - these are the pre-sale tickets for visa card members. These also include packages, but not sure what sort yet and if there will be the front row packages. These tickets are obtained via a website but this is a highly volatile site and seems to crash if more than three people logon at once.

Third and final chance is the Wednesday after next – these are the tickets on sale to the general public. Do not want to have to get to this level of desperation. Refuse to sit in row ZZZ. REFUSE!

So tomorrow is the first chance to lay my hands on the golden ticket. Cross fingers. Cross everything. If you hear a scream around 9am, Thursday 24^th June 2010, please say a prayer for me that it’s a happy one :-)

*only really a member since 2008. In my head though I’ve been a member since 1983 so I think that counts.

Which one is not like the other?

As an addendum to my last blog about the great car parking debacle of 2010 - I've just found out we have access to a "Carpark Cam" on our computers. You can basically login and see how busy the exits are before you go to the carpark. This seemed excessive to me - how much could it possibly be backed up? Since then I have been told some horror stories of being stuck for AN HOUR AND A HALF in the line to exit the carpark. Note to self: look into the bus timetable.

So now on to some more of the minor/major differences between the new and the old:

Food at the old workplace:

A salad from Coles at Fairfield Gardens. If feeling adventurous, venture to Buranda Shopping Centre for Pizza Capers. If Michelle had her way - Montezuma's and whipped beans every day until we die.

Food at the new workplace:

Choices, choices! Sushi, pizza, subway, crepes, sandwiches, roasts, soup, wraps, hot chips, salads and more. All conveniently located within about 2 minutes from my desk (some very conveniently located next door to my desk). For afternoon tea: cakes, slices, biscuits, chips, chocolates (seriously I've never seen so much chocolate in my life and I've been to the Cadbury Factory). All this is not very convenient for my waistline however -- probably be better to go back to old workplace options. Although the time spent walking around looking for my car in the carpark helps with this.

Doors, windows and fresh air at the old workplace:

Doors left open to let the fresh air in. Windows that looked out over the horses grazing in the horse paddocks (or that looked out over the back of Rickland's head) and let in the natural light. Most of all - FRESH AIR!

Doors, windows and fresh air at the new workplace:
No windows or windows that look out to other rooms with no windows. No doors to open to the outside (well that I can see - obviously there is at least one or we'd all be stuck in the building forever ala that Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode). Very bright fluoro lights that give you a headache before 9.30am. As a hater of the great outdoors who would have thunk one of the things I'd miss the most would be fresh air and sunlight? Not me in a million years (I can hear Michelle fainting from the shock). I actually have to get up every couple of hours, go to the front entrance and get some fresh air. I stand outside taking deep breaths with all the patients who are in their PJ's and attached to IV's, smoking away. They all eye me nervously in case I tell them to put out the ciggy and get back to bed.

People v Animals v "the kids" at the old workplace:

Animals pretty much outnumbered the people. I liked this. Although if the animals ever did organise some sort of meeting and banded together to take over the place we would have been in trouble. The people that were there either didn't have kids or didn't really talk about them (they knew it was a lost cause for the most part). I also liked this.

People v Animals v "the kids" at the old workplace:

People everyone. No animals except for the occasional pigeon flying overhead (probably looking for it's car in the car park). I do not like this. And kids....everyone has got 'em and everyone talks about 'em. I have started talking about my cats as though there were actual human children which seems to confuse and frighten everyone:

Co-worker: "I'm tired, I couldn't get the kids to bed last night and then they kept waking up..."

Me: "Me too. Mine just wouldn't settle last night and then started chasing each other around the house"

Co-worker: "Wow....yeah it's hard isn't it? Then they don't want to get up the next morning..."

Me: "Totally - especially when you get up and step in one of their fur-balls"

Co-worker: "Err....your kids have fur-balls?"

Me: "Yes of course. I have three furry kids. They're gonna get fur-balls!"

Co-worker: *Silence* "Bye - I'm just going off to make a coffee."

And the worst/scariest thing about kids at the new workplace is something I discovered a few days ago. If you venture outside at 1 minute past three there are literally HUNDREDS of them, swarming down the hill from their school, screeching at each other, talking about Justin Beiber and Twilight. Okay yes I know I talk about Twilight as well, but it was still terrifying seeing them all come towards you at a semi-run, chanting pre-teen things and wearing the same outfit. Children of the Corn anyone?

The Fast and the Furious

So...I've been in my new place of work for the past two weeks and I thought I'd highlight one of the differences between my old work place and my new one:

Old workplace parking:

Free parking on streets outside. Have tantrum if have to park and walk more than five steps to the front gate. Circle block hoping someone parked closer will leave. Give up and park illegally, but triumphant only have to walk two steps to the front gate.

New workplace parking:

Three car parks, numerous levels and about six hundred billion car spots that all look identical.

I'm terrified of parking my car and never being able to find it again. So (very cleverly) I decided to always park in the same car park (the smallest one and away from the others), same level, around the same parking spot. As I start work at 8.30 each day this is quite easy to do. Then the day came that I needed to start late and finish late. As I was driving in I remembered hearing that my regular car park can fill up quickly in the morning and be full by 9.15.

Problem - I would have to park in one of the other (bigger) car parks. "Stop worrying" I thought. "It'll be fine!". Famous last words.

I drove into one of the entrances to one of the car parks, did one lap, then had the option to go to the next level OR go to the same level on the western car park, which looked as though I would be going into another parking structure entirely. So to be safe I continued up, doing laps, and trying to find an empty spot - FAIL! In a moment of panic I made the choice to go over to the west side. Bad Move. Still no vacant spots and by now I was completely disorientated (and dizzy). I did a few more laps, haphazardly going from east to west and at one point thought I was just doing circles of the same level. I was sure I kept seeing the same white Honda who had left their lights on. I wondered if I should tell someone about the lights left on, but quickly realised I had no time to worry about their battery -I had problems of my own.

When I finally saw daylight and realised I must be nearing the top, a few vacant spots started to appear and my panic started to subside. I finally screeched into one and sauntered nonchalantly to the lifts. By this stage I was a trifle worried that I would never see my beloved car again, so I took a photo of the sign by the lift - I thought if all else failed I could show it to someone and they might have a clue where it was:

So I hopped into the lift and luckily someone else (who looked like they'd done this before) got in with me and hit the button for 4 (this wouldn't have been my first guess - I would have tried ground). The doors opened at level four......and we were in another car park. Super. Again I stalked the person who had got in the lift with me and followed him along a yellow cement road (I'm assuming out of the two of us I was the one with no brains) and finally came to a walkway to the hospital building. Hallelujah! By this stage I got all confident and overtook the person I'd been following, but then realised I still didn't know if I was in the right building or what level I was on. FAIL!

Anyway, I finally worked it out after taking a few more lifts, stairs and walkways. Now to get back......the end of the day came and I actually did okay in finding my car. I only had to refer to my phone once to remember the level I was on. The best part was when someone asked me for directions in the middle of the car park - god knows where he ended up.

No more deviation from the plan.

PS. During my laps down the car park on the way home that white Honda that had left it's lights on was still there. Hood popped and waiting for RACQ I assume. And yeah, I did feel really bad.

Ice Skating Master Blasters

The date: Friday 16th April 2010
The occasion: Michelle's 'low key' RSPCA farewell
The location: Ice World - home to Steven Bradbury - fluke winter olympic gold medal winner
MIA: Rickland (but she had a good excuse)
The temperature: Freakin' freezing

Holy cow it's cold in an ice skating rink. You would think the word "ice" in the title would have given us a clue, but most of us turned up with some very un-cold weather gear. Can you see Mo's goosebumps?





Minne returned to the car and came back wearing every spare item of clothing she found in there. Lucky there wasn't a stray possum in the carpark or I'm sure she would have come in wearing it as a hat.



Michelle bought a special ice-skating hat. Fancy.



Clever me had worn sensible(ish) clothing, but my feet were soooooo cold. And wet.



Lucky I had some emergency socks and put together a very fetching ensemble of sock and shoes that were never meant to be worn together. Not really sure why my jeans look so short either. Great look - very next season.



The skating was underway and everyone was pretty good. Not bad. Just good.




There were really no big stacks of the night (quite disappointing really) Just lots of wall grabbing to stop. Shiny demonstrates for us.






Here's Michelle trying to carve up the ice:



And here is said ice that was carved:



Love this pic - you try to take a nice shot of everyone and the hilarious people in the background get in the shot. Hmphf, I'm sure it's not karma for all the times I've done it or anything....


For some reason the night ended up with a krump-off between Michelle and Briony. Not really sure who won. Or what the prize was. Or why.

Anyhoo a good time was had by all. I think the excitement of the whole night is summed up by the candid shot of Minnie. Sometimes it's just best not to wonder what's going on in her head. Or when she graduated from the 'special' school.

Easter (egg) madness......

Four days off. Lots of chocolate. Lots of TV to watch. A couch that is for sleeping, laying and sitting.



Yes that's right - EASTER HOLIDAYS.

Day 1 - sleep until 2pm on couch. This is new personal best - normally get up for food/drink/bathroom (or all three) and then go back to sleep - but this was a full on coma sleep until waking. Thought should do some exercise at this point, so channel surf (from the couch) and facebook surf (on phone from couch). Bedtime!



Day 2 - sleep until 1pm on couch. Slightly upset did not at least meet or exceed personal best of yesterday. Today have mission. Must get to shops in pursuit of half price Easter eggs. Get to shops. Easter eggs only 25% off. Humpfh. Hardly worth getting off couch. Still purchased them though. Home again. Nana nap. Bedtime!



Day 3 -had to set alarm as going to visit parents in Dayboro. Must arrive in time for home-cooked lunch. Will need Nana nap to recoup precious lost sleep. Ate, sat on couch, watched TV. Home again. Nana nap. Bedtime!



Day 4 - woke this morning in sugar coma and also with slight panic as thought I should have been at work. Off to visit Julie, Simon and "shake her booty" Lola lollie pants. Had fabulous time doing finger-paintings under the pretense of 'helping' Lola. Think painting is pretty impressive and hope mum will put on her fridge.

Then ran around Coles after Lola (while looking for half price Easter eggs - found them - booyeah). Went home and had Nana nap as exhausted from Lola visit. Bedtime!

Summary - all in all, a good four days off - hurry up next long weekend!