the joys of nature (part II)

Pop quiz!

This morning I was woken (or should that be awoken?) at 5:30am by:
(a) the sweet and pleasant melodic stylings of a pair of magpies, filtering peacefully and tunefully through my window, or
(b) the raucous screechings of a pair of psychotic pink galahs, sharing their domestic woes with the neighbourhood from the neighbour's palm tree.

.....

If you answered (a), you are WRONG! wrong, wroNG, WRONG! To the bottom of the class with you! Did you not pick up on the sarcastic tone of the title? Should I have put inverted commas around the word "joys"? If, however, you answered (b), you are absolutely, one-hundred percent on the money! And a good morning to you too!

So yes, this morning a couple of pink galahs decided to act like, well, like a pair of galahs! I have never heard such hideous screechings emitted by pink galahs. At first, as I lay groggily in bed, I wondered if it was a cranky possum. You see, I could hear the local mickey bird mafia taking offence to some poor critter stumbling into their territory, and as I've experienced their treatment of possums before, this seemed a definite possibility. But as the ruckus continued, I decided it had to be some kind of bird. I could also hear a few rainbow lorikeets combining their piercing squawks with the mickey bird mafia, which is not a common occurrence.

So! I dragged myself up to a sitting position and opened my blind, and there in the neighbour's palm tree, level with my eyeline, saw two pink galahs. One was sitting quietly and hunched up at the time, while the other was extending its wings and repeatedly launching ear-piercing screeches at the lorikeets and mickeys flapping around. Then it would screech at the other galah, which would wake it from its stupor and make it screech right back! UGH! I watched this behaviour for a few minutes, trying to determine what the heck was going on. Was this some kind of bizarre galah mating ritual? Because I'm thinking, buddy, if that's how you attempt to win a girlie galah over, it's no wonder you're single! And if so, what did the other birds have to do with proceedings?

Knowing this was too blogworthy a moment to pass up, I jumped out of bed to grab my camera. Alas, the galahs, damn 'em, decided to fly away just as I returned to the window to snap their picture! No photographic evidence! It's probably just as well though, because if I had snapped a picture, you'd probably look at it and react with "aww, look at the pretty pink birdies!", which is not the sentiment I'm aiming for here.

As Alf Stewart* would say.. flamin' galahs!

*Far be it from me to willingly quote Home and Away characters, but Alf Stewart is an institution unto himself. There's even a T-shirt!

-----

the joys of nature

While on a (semi-daily) walk with my Mum yesterday, I felt something land in my hair, right by my ear. Exploring the ear area returned nothing, but running my fingers through my hair I discovered an object caught up in tangles. Dragging it out, I looked into my hand and saw, to my horror, a stink bug! There followed a period of frantic hand-shaking and exclamations of "Ugh, stink bug!" until my Mum calmly assured me that it had flown merrily away, seemingly no worse for our encounter. Unlike my traumatised self!

Still, I like to think that somewhere, in a place and time not far from here, a stink bug is blogging on the stinkernet about his frightening collision with a big, hairy human head, and his incredible luck in escaping his predicament relatively unscathed.

-----

the price is right!

Woohoo! Greater Union/Birch Carroll and Coyle have dropped the Tuesday ticket price to a meagre $5 (for a limited time). Now, this certainly makes me one happy camper, as my uni timetable has me finishing at 1pm on Tuesdays so I'll be able to take advantage of this el cheapo price over the next few weeks. And it comes just in time for a number of light, fun-lookin' flicks due for release: Bride & Prejudice, In Good Company, and Hitch. I'd say the price is just right for some light entertainment.

Meanwhile, this is definitely a step in the right direction for GU/BCC. Now, if they would just rethink their decision to ban movie munchies other than their own....

-----

meh!

When, oh when, is my blogblock going to pass? So many things to post, so little enthusiasm.

I could blog about...

* my brief sojourn to the lovely Outrigger Mooloolaba, right on the beachfront. I even took pictures for the specific purpose of blogging, but they'll keep, I guess.

* the number of itty bitty geckos currently sharing our residence. Highest gecko count of late: five in one night.

* the fact that it's a great time to be a Jude Law fan. I've recently enjoyed his star turns in "Closer" and "Alfie", and his voice work in the "Lemony Snicket" film. On the viewing agenda are "Sky Captain etc.." and "The Aviator" (yeah, he's in that too apparently). Also, I think the Mr. Ripley flick is on the box later this week.

* the wasted brilliance of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" concept - one season wasn't even close to enough!

* my new penchant for ankle-length, crushed cotton, Gypsy-ish skirts. I can't get enough of 'em (though I only own two) - they are ridiculously comfortable to wear and look soooo pretty.

... but I won't.

-----