So now I'm the tardy one, not updating in over a month. Fair cop, 'guv. So what's been on the go since the last update? Here's a brief rundown in something vaguely resembling chronological order:

A few of us went and saw FourPlay at the Fly by Night again. They were awesome, just like last time (except last time Peter didn't crack his cello - he didn't look happy about that at all). Sandy piked at the last minute, but that didn't stop her from getting Emiko to make Peter sign a shirt for her. He went the extra mile and wrote a haiku. I also picked up their "TheJoyOf" cd, the one I didn't have already. Shenzo threatened to sign it "to Susan" again, but luckily it escaped untarnished!

We found a fantastic new restaurant in North Bridge called "New Orleans". We stopped there by chance, and decided to give it a shot for dinner. Run by some people we suspect escaped from a devastated city after the flooding, they serve up a fine selection of Creole dishes that leave you wishing you weren't quite so full. Quite probably some of the best food I've ever had the chance to try, and at a very reasonably price too. We went back a couple of weeks later and I'm sure we'll be heading back there again and again.

We had a killer meal at the Oyster Bar in South Perth overlooking the Swan river (if that's your idea of fun). I ate too much and spent even more (but not as much as some others), and I'm still not sure if it was worth it. Their steak wasn't very good - I feel cheated. Although I haven't really been a big fan of oysters in the past, I have to admit they were pretty nice. I think I'll have to go back for more of them, and not try to order for variety.

We had a quick game of Trivial Pursuit at Darrell's, playing the 2006 genus. Our team didn't win, but at least Marcus and Darrell got their piece of pink pie! Dunja, Steve and Elissa's team won, but I feel luck was on their side when it came to the easy questions. I mean, c'mon! "What is the name of Google's email service?" "What is the name of the internet search company, who's name is the same as a one followed by 100 zeroes?"

Joey celebrated his birthday in style by having dinner at Seizan Japanese Restaurant in town. 25 or so people stuffed into the party room. They should have closed the sliding doors - we made too much noise. There was karaoke afterwards, but we didn't stay long 'cuz we were tired.

The office provided an almost perfect venue to watch the Red Bull Air Race. As our window overlooks the river and Langley Park, we got to watch them setting up, doing practice runs, time trials, etc. There was no productivity that week. Strangely, its more interesting to watch than Telstra Rally Australia. We're all looking forward to next years event.

Michele cooked us all a fabulous meal at Marcus and Michael's house. The meal was to wish J a happy work trip to Brisvegas for the few weeks she was there (any excuse for a meal, really - she's back already!). Michele cooked all sorts of Japanese dishes, and when I wasn't busy pre-washing the bowls and chopsticks I helped by standing around looking bewildered. Uber scrumptious. I even tried Natou!

We spent last weekend at an Iaido and Jodo seminar at Kent St high school. Budokan Academy arranged for Oda Sensei and Nagayama Sensei to come down from Japan for a week, and Dr Lee Sensei also came by. Together they spent the weekend beating us into shape, clarifying and refining our techniques. It was extremely worthwhile, especially since I won't be able to make it to the national seminar in January. Unfortunately I had been feeling off-colour since the Friday before and it caught up with me on the Sunday afternoon, but I did enjoy what I was able to participate in. They're trying to make this a regular event, so hopefully they'll be back ext year too.

Sadly, Rebecca is leaving us for greener pastures. She's moving to Melbourne for work and play. We sent her off with a meal at Mathilda's in Vic Park (nice place, check it out). She'll be missed around toe dojo, but no doubt she'll be living it up in Melbourne (on the other hand, that means she'll be a Victorian).

Michele had her birthday last weekend! Yay Michele! Yes, the same weekend that we spent at the seminar. Celebrations were held in a mass birthday gathering last Friday, where we also celebrated the birthdays of Darrell, Jono, Luke and Yen. One big happy birthday party at The Blue Duck in Cottesloe. Jono and I got her a placeholder present of "Chess inna Tube" while her real present came from Sydney.

Yesterday saw the beginning of the Day Light Savings trial in WA, and what better way to start that by waking up at the equivalent of 5am to attend a grading. I wasn't attempting anything but was there to watch Michele. Although she was a bucket of nerves, she passed her ikkyu in Jodo and yonkyu in Iaido convincingly. Yay Michele!

So that's about it for now. Christmas is coming up soon, and that means there's some annual leave coming. I'm sure to have more to talk about later.

Saw Pirates of the Carribean on Saturday. I wasn't really all that enthusiastic about going to see it, however I wasn't that enthusiastic about seeing the first one either, and it turned out I loved it. Sadly, I walked away from this one feeling a little let down. The majority of the movie was good, however it ended leaving you with that "Uh" feeling (to quote Eddie Izzard). I just felt the movie could have ended with something a little better had it not been set up for the third.

A good ending would have been if they all sat down for a couple of pizza's at Little Caesars like we did. This place is divine. Well worth the drive out for it, the wait for a seat (in case you're unlucky enough and have to wait), and the price is definately reasonable (we stuffed ourselves silly for around $14 each!). If you haven't been, I suggest you go.

I still can't believe I bought a cook book. This doesn't mean I'm going to cook anything.

Now, lets see about that Green Tea Panna Cotta with Rhubarb...

A friend of Michele's sister runs a tea shop called "Tea Ja Vu". We were invited to have dinner with them on Sunday, and so Michele and I prepared Strawberry Panna Cotta from a recipe found on one of Michele's favourite food blogs.

(I wish my photo looked like this)

Unfortunately we never got to go to dinner, so I was left with seven of these in the fridge.

Woe is me :P

Sunday saw Michele and I do something a little different for a change. We went for a nice breakfast slash lunch at the Mt Street Cafe. I love a place that has a good all-day breakfast menu. It's one of the few places that I keep on coming back to.

I'd mentioned it to Michele before, but there's an cool worldwide exhibition that recently came to Perth that I want to follow: it's called Space Invaders. The basic gist of it is that they go around and put these tile (or other) mosaics in obscure but public places. Space Invader Spotting is apparently something that's fun to do. I know where two of them are in Perth, but once the weather clears up I want to go out and find the rest. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show Michele one of them, as it was right near the cafe.

Despite what you might think, there's always cool stuff like that happenning around Perth, you just need to keep an eye out for it. I just wish I was better at finding out about these things...

I haven't been to the markets in years, but lacking any better ideas, Michele and I decided to head for the Subi markets. For probably the first time ever, I actually enjoyed it, even to the point where I was able to cope with the crowds! (I have issues with crowds - or rather the rudeness of people in crowds - that makes me rather jittery). After picking up a few more things I decided that maybe the markets weren't so bad after all.

Sure, this doesn't look like much, but it took us an hour to finish. Actually, Michele couldn't finish hers - she had to call Jono and ask him to finish it. We had that for dessert after a meal I Cooked All By Myself: a beef salad dish. Daniel wanted to catch up for dinner, and lacking any better ideas on where to go and what to have we decided to just cook something at home. It's about the only time I've had to even think about cooking something nice this year - I normally never have the time.

When he came over to finish Michele's Hot Chocolate, Jono brought his PS2 and a copy of Katamari Damacy. I've been hanging out to just see this game for ages, and he brought it over to play. Not only that, he left it here so I could play it some more! He's so generous. I wonder how long I can keep it for. The game itself is as whacked out as it's made out to be. It's surprisingly challenging, but awesomely fun.

I'm gunna play it 'till the controller breaks. Sorry Jono.