It's probably about time I updated this thing. Last weekend was the Caloundra Music Festival, which is held every year (has been going for a few years now). The event seems to be getting bigger and bigger, with more well known musical acts coming up to perform. This year they had The Living End, The John Butler Trio, The Cat Empire and Noiseworks (and some lesser known acts). Noiseworks has a habit of turning up every year though, which is a bonus because I really enjoy their music Jimmy Barnes didn't perform this year, which was a disappointment. I missed the festival last year (Dad was overseas), so I'm not sure whether Jimmy was there or not, but I know Icehouse was. I would've loved to have heard Icehouse perform live. Two years ago they somehow scored Powderfinger too. I don't personally go down to Kings Beach Park where it's held, but being close to the park, we can hear it from the unit. By the end of the weekend though, we were all happy to finally have the peace and quiet back On Friday, on our way past the Caloundra School to Dad's, we saw that the school oval had been converted into a campground, and the place was just full of tents belonging to the Music Festival attendees. Apparently the school jumped on the profit bandwagon…

It's been the Queensland school holidays too over the past two weeks, so holiday makers come up to enjoy the coast. Tourists never really used to bother me, but now I tend to get impatient. Kids screaming (particularly in the multiple swimming pools surrounding us) drive me insane. The tenant next door to our unit was recently booted out by the owner, so he could convert the place into a holiday stay. The owner brought his family up from Brisbane last weekend to renovate, and he had kids with him, who didn't quite grasp the concept of being quiet in the staircase. They were up and down the stairs non-stop, they let their unit door (which is the only other door with ours on the small landing) slam constantly, and sometimes the kids would stand outside our door, making stupid noises. I wish the parents would control their kids better, and respect the locals They also had a young girl, who kept throwing tantrums and wailing. I could hear her perfectly clear through the lounge room wall, which was annoying because I sleep in the lounge room along the same wall, so there's no escaping it. From what I've been told, the family has now left. I am now dreading the first bout of holidaymakers to stay next door. Fingers crossed no one comes up until Christmas, and fingers crossed they're more courteous

I'm really missing our old neighbor though. He was perfect, because he was so quiet, and half the time you didn't even realize he was there. I can only really remember one negative instance from the 3+ years he'd been living next door, and that was the trash bag ordeal sometime at the start of this year. I understand that he couldn't put it on his balcony, because the crows would tear the bag up to get inside and spew the contents out everywhere. Instead he put it outside his unit door in the staircase (why he didn't just go downstairs and put it in the wheelie-bin, I have no idea). And boy did it smell. I had to use junk mail/catalogues to block up the cracks in the door so the smell wouldn't waft in Usually Dad has a Beer Carton on hand that he'd cut up to slide into the cracks to prevent a draft, but he'd conveniently chosen the week prior to recycle it, as we hadn't been using it for a while and he deemed it time for a "new one". My sister seems to believe the trash bag smell was the old Beer Carton's revenge Luckily the junk mail managed to stop most of it, but not all, and it wasn't until the next morning did we officially find out that it was a trash bag, so half the night we were wondering what the smell actually was. The next morning when we had to use the staircase, it was a mad dash down 3 floors of stairs to the fresh air outside. Good, good times… thankfully our old neighbor hasn't moved far; he's still somehow living in the same unit block, just down a floor and now on the opposite side of the building from where he'd been living.

*** As a side note, I'm thinking of opening up Art Trades. I would love to see more Combat! art, as the number of artwork in the fandom is quite small. I understand that not many people would know what Combat! is, but if anyone is interested in an art trade with me, I will supply you with all the reference and information you need about the show and characters. In exchange, I will be happy to draw anything, so long as it's nothing too explicit