That’s What Your Mum Said

I am lucky in that I have a boyfriend who is currently ‘keeping’ me. It allows me to study without the stress of putting the food on the table or paying the water bill. He claims that he will become a kept man and do his PHD when I graduate, but the joke is on him. I will get a lowly paid social justice job that fulfills me but only pays for half of the rent. HA! Sucker.

Anyway, my point is that my last pay from my once a month shift at an optometrist wasn’t required to make ends meet, so it instead went toward tickets to see Christopher Hitchens speak in Sydney this weekend. I like him. A lot. In a wrong way. Kind of. Sometimes I look at him and I think ‘middle aged paunch’. Other times I glance and I think ‘well hello sailor’. Usually when I don’t look at all and just read what he has written I think that latter. Even when he wrote that women aren’t funny, I liked his style. I love someone that can be a real dick with their tongue in cheek and cop the flack from humourless politically correct wankers. Dude, he visits war zones and rags on Mother Teresa! He has some steel balls right there.

I am hoping that he comes onto the stage with a bottle of scotch in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and it all just spirals into him singing show tunes in a mumbly Patsy-esque voice. That would be rad.

How can you not love him?

Seeing as though I am now essentially jobless and a poor, baked-bean eating student I can’t afford to be too frivolous with the dollars this year. The partner and I are also saving up to buy a shiny car at the end of the year (one with amazing things like power steering and air conditioning and an automatic gear shift that I can actually understand) so I can’t keep using all my money on whores and cocaine.

There are some things I will not ignore though. Like this line-up:

Silverchair / Tegan and Sara / Vampire Weekend / Empire of the Sun / Spoon / Grinspoon / Lisa Mitchell / Miami Horror / British India / Bag Raiders / The Only / Jonathon Boulet

AND MORE

So Adele, say hello to Mi-Goreng for every meal for the next few months. Yum.

Yeah, it is already Friday and I am only just posting about last weekend, but let’s be honest – I have spent the entire week attempting to shake off the effects of last weekend and hence lost the ability to type in an acceptable manner. I am choosing today because I can still reminisce about the awesomeness that was last weekend, whilst enjoying the pure relaxation that is right now. Just so you can be reassured that I am already making the most of my current weekend, be aware of three facts:

1. I just ate salt and pepper squid salad, a piece of toast covered in melted cheese and pepper, and then half of a small tub of ice cream from Cold Rock (coconut with Mini M&M’s and caramel chunks, and coffee with Caramello Koalas).

2. I am wearing a knitted hair band and it feels damn sweet.

3. I will most likely finish the ice cream when I am finished with this post.

Last weekend was pretty much all taken up with the Bimbadgen Blues Festival. Bimbadgen Estate is a winery in the Hunter Valley and it is located approximately an hour away from where I live. It is a wonderful venue for a small scale music festival and is particularly suited to blues and roots music with its rolling hills, wonderful wine and relaxed vibe. I went with the partner, my sister, my best friend and three other close mates. We also all ran into MANY people we knew throughout the day – it was a regular school/university/life reunion.

We started the day with a killer brunch (even if I do say so myself)

I made mini quiches, blueberry and ricotta hotcakes with maple syrup, cinnamon and mascarpone cheese, and a large fruit platter. Of course, it was washed down with champagne and orange juice.

We caught a bus to the venue which meant that we were able to drink without remorse! We had some cider on the way, which although formally forbidden on the coach, was conveniently ignored by the driver. Cheers to him!

It was a sunny, beautiful day, and luckily by the time we got there at 3pm the harshness of the midday sun was almost gone – a bonus as the partner has quite the ginga skin which generally reacts to sun by melting, and also because the rest of us didn’t have to deal with the effects of the sun and drinking wine at the same time. The atmosphere was lovely and fresh and the crowd was joyful which is something I really appreciate when attending festivals. It really helps to get in the mood when everyone else is having a kick ass time and generally being a decent member of society. Every now and then the organisers would send flames shooting into the sky from the main winery building which was also really cool.

The line-up was quite a mixture and to be honest, I actually only really watched two bands. The rest managed to provide background music for wonderful conversations with friends (old and new, drunken chatty ones) and eating the amazing picnic my group managed to scrounge together. Without consulting each other prior to the day we all brought different foods that complemented each other wonderfully. I took leftover quiches and chocolate coated strawberries (fracking yum), my sister brought about five cheeses and many different crackers, my best friend brought her patented egg dip (ditto on the fracking yum) and my other friends brought homemade chocolate tarts, sourdough, chive and cheese spread and a container of balsamic and olive oil mixed together. Very, very fantabulous.

The first band I went to dance to (after lining up for a ridiculous 40 minutes to get a bottle of wine which next time I will sneak into the grounds in my bags that were barely checked by the security guards) was Philadelphia Grand Jury. Man, they are FUN, not to mention uber cute. My best friend loves the bejesus out of them and it was cool to dance along with her like uncoordinated gits. They have a touch of Vampire Weekend about them but are far more down to earth and rough around the edges. The only downer was my friend getting red wine spilt down the entire side of her white dress by bogan feral wanker whores. She handled it like the awesome pro that she is and started dancing all over them and suggestively winking in their direction. Being that homophobia goes hand in hand with being a bogan feral wanker whore, they backed off quick smart. She managed to look great the entire day and totally ignore the fact that she had the biggest red wine stain known to man on her pretty dress. She is my hero and partner in crime. Here she is hoola-hooping like a champion. We both discovered that we have a hidden talent and have vowed to further this skill with drunken competitions in the future. Thanks to the hippies that provided us with the means to discover this gift!

The other band that got us dancing (and never fails to do so) was Bluejuice. They are just happiness, pure and simple. They have a great time on stage and that translates into the audience having a blast as well. I have seen them live 5 or so times now and they just keep getting better. Man, did we pull some moves. Observe!

Notice the delightful Forever 21 skirt I am wearing. It has pockets and was one of the most comfortable outfits I have worn to a festival yet. I think that the awkward dance move/poor posture/flip flops really set it off.

It was a hella fun day out regardless of the fact that I ate way too much cheese which resulted in me being the sickest I have been in a long time for two days after, and then very off colour for the rest of the week. That’s the price you pay for a day of sin I am afraid. God really showed me (douche that he is). A few more photos below to punctuate the fun. Take notice of the photo with the amazing graphically designed smiley face (thanks MSPaint) and go get involved in the awesome pieces made by Kim at Cupcakes and Mace. You won’t be disappointed