I thought you'd like to take a look at the in-house Magazine that the Qld Department of Emergency Services publishes. The latest edition is at www.emergency.qld.gov.au/publications/emergency There's an article on the IWD Forum that I assisted in organising and also a (rather bad) picture of me. It's at the end of the day so neat and tidy and unruffled just weren't happening! You may also find it intieresting as it covers the massive floods we've just had in Quensland as well as the cyclone to hit (floods got under control, then Cyclone came visiting. Our EMQ people were BUSY!)

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Mads!!!!!! Loved the article and the pic!!!! Wow ... your'e really tall, babe! What height you at? I'm 5'11" in bare feet ... You seem to be as tall, if not taller...

Looks great, Maddy! You should be very proud! Wow, you're tall, SJ! I'm jealous! I'm only 5'8", but I've always wanted to be taller, especially since my DH is 6'3"!

Wow! That's very nice, Maddy! We have a celebrity among us! Congrats!!

I'm around 5'11" as well. I was only wearing flat shoes that day - about a 2" heel. We are proud of how well the day went - very smoothly but the WRG committee were totally exhausted at the end!

That's really Mads! I bet it feels good to be publicly acknowledged like that for all your hard work.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Looks great, Maddy! You should be very proud! Wow, you're tall, SJ! I'm jealous! I'm only 5'8", but I've always wanted to be taller, especially since my DH is 6'3"!

We're opposite in our house ... Flash is only 5'6", where as I am the giant... He hates it when I throw on a decent pair of heels, because he ends up with his face at boob level ... haha! Being tall aint all it's cracked up to be ... I am all legs, so I have a 36" inseam, which makes it IMPOSSIBLE to get those cute jeans and pants at a reasonable price.... I have to shop in stores that have the length... Levis does it, as does Parasuco ... and I hae found Aeropostale have a decent length that allows a great pair of heels ... And ... arm length ... (arm length directly corrrelating to height, of course) buying shirts, coats, and blazers with a full sleeve length is damn near impossible ... Tall Girl and Long Legs stores (hugely expensive) become the only place to get a nice coat... 5'8" is a perfect height ... enjoy it, embrace it ... We tall girls are jealous.

Agree SJ - one of the reasons that I make most of my own clothes is to get sleeves especially to fit. I'm fairly in proportion but still, they dont make clothing to fit taller women! Added to height and size - I also take a size 10.5 - 11 shoe!!! - and for a gal with a shoe addiction, then it's a real problem... Funnily enough, with transvestites almost being "mainstream" now plenty of women's shoe manufacturers make larger sizes so I get some really cute heels quite easily from normal stores.

SJ, you'd be surprised how hard it is to find some clothes for 5'8" frame. I'm that tall, too. And I have a hard time with pant lengths and long sleeves. Heck I even have a hard time fitted blouses because I've got broad shoulders. If I can find Talls for pants, I can get a 34" inseam and not look like I'm wearing high waters.

On the other hand, I'm a 7 and a half (American shoe size), making it hard to find work boots. Men's work boots don't often go below about 7 or 8 (8 or 9 women's). Trying to find women's sizes (even at Wal-Mart) is a problem anyway. Mid-range is usually the best place to be for clothes. You aren't stuck looking through childish styles if you're petite, nor are you trying to find your size if you're taller. (And Heaven help you if you're built like the Venus of Willendorf!)

Lookin good Maddy! A job well done. I'm around 5'10" tall, medium frame and broad shoulders, so I don't need shoulder pads!

That's one magazine, Maddy! You must be proud to be a part of it! I always thank God that we do not have such problems, here (we do have ours but nothing compared!), and it's awesome how people unite in aid of each other. I'm 1m 64cm tall (I don't know the conversion in feet at hand!) so I'm quite short compared to you but of the average height of people who live here. My main problem when buying clothes is when it comes to my waist. My bust and hips are proportionate but my waist is tiny compared to them ... so I always end up with the right fit for the wider parts with a gap at the waist! Last time I had to buy the size of a 13-14-year-old from BHS in order to fit in the clothes properly! Not that I did mind ... I do like to wear trendy clothes of the younger generation, notwithstanding my age! Thanks to my family geens I also have to wear Size 40 (Size 7) shoes! Fortunately, nowadays, we can find such sizes in larger quantities in shoe shops!

I must admit tht I'm proud to be part of Emergency Services - the three services it covers (Fire, Ambulance and SES/Coast Guard,etc) are an amazing group of people. The interesting thing is that even those of us who are non-operatoinal (eg: not uniformed) seem to have that same spirit as the operational people. Most of us are either SES volunteers or when needed, we work volunatarily at the Disaster Coordination Centres. It's ben found tht those who don't have that spirit, usualy move onto other Government departments fairly quickly.

Certain jobs are mostly based upon dedication and character, and yours is like such, Maddy! It's great to have a job with a purpose and not just sitting around ... it makes you appreciate life much more and it makes you feel worthy!

Your Right ! you don't last long without spirit and a sense of humour, and able to work/volunteer some very strange and long hours, let along still be happy in the middle of a storm or covered in mud, and learn to sleep when you can and in some stange places You said you're part of Emergency services , Are you Ambo, Firey or More SES or a little of both. Which Disaster Cordination Centre do you work :Kedron? Spent 6-7 years wearing the orange jump suit in NSW and QLD, loved every minute, even when it involved moving live stock. PS as for all you lovely Tall women, I am envious, I'm 5 foot one with a size five foot - still find bargains in the kiddies section

I'm actually an IT Project Administrator so I work on IT projects for all three. I'm based at the Gabba which is where the IT projects tend to live but I do work at Kedron when they active the Disaster centre and I', on a shift there. : grins: You know what I look like now, littlewolf, for when we meet up on Saturday!

Though I feel slightly vertically challenged at the moment, may have to wear heels.(i feel like an umpalumpa) Am trying to cramb a few extra episodes of BOTP in to catch up and re-read some of your fics befor we meet, but have, had the strong urge to do Gatcha-craft, and it's getting a little out of hand, , now I keep wondering were I put my resin, and my gatcha-mobile has gone from me needing my metal cutters to wondering were I can get a welder, thank heavens work is a little slow, my right brain in working overtime

Congratulations, Maddy! It must be a good feeling, at the end of a long day on the job to know that what you're doing saves lives.

I can see why people without 'spirit' move on... it's got to be the kind of job where you give your all, because lives are on the line. I can certainly tell from your psts that you're very proud of your part in it, Maddy! A couple of years ago I discovered a British clothing company called Boden. They make gorgeous clothes in both regular and tall sizes. I usually get the tall sizes, even though they're sometimes too big, because I love the length. And I'm still envious of you tall girls! The only time i get to be truly tall is in my Swannie boots, which add 6 inches to my height! Yes, I'm teetering around on them at over 6 feet...

I'm just a wee bit shorter than TJ- 5'7" and I don't usually feel vertically challenged, but I do after reading this thread! Sounds like our fandom is chock full of runway models! And Maddy, you and LW are meeting up on Saturday? Neat! Hope you have a good time! I think it's so neat when Gatchamaniacs can get together in real life!

Is taller than me, y'know. according to the hospital - once they found my head through my hair - am 5' 7.

Don't feel bad, Ste. You're taller than I am (I only see 5'4" but am devoted to shoes with 4" heels, so everyone always thinks I'm 5'8" or taller *snicker* and they don't believe me when I say I'm not!).

Heels. H'mmm. There's an idea...

5 ft 2 inches here -and I hate being short. Can't reach anything without a stepstool. Everything's built for 5' 6" average. :grumble:

Originally posted by Askura Heels. H'mmm. There's an idea...

Just let me know when you get to the black patent leather ones...

...apparently, says the gay style guy on TV, 2 inch heeled winklepickers are fashionable currently. Though, why anybody wants to wear shoes that pointy is beyond me.

(Forgot!) Congrats, Maddy! And more power to you for what you do! Might want to make sure Askura coordinates the height of his heels with you.

I'm barely 5'2" in shoes and I don't wear heels. Got a podiatrist for an older sister... The same sister who wore 4" stilettos most of her teens and early twenties... Admittedly, my shoes are still more suitable than hers!

Hate heels. Won't wear them. I always make sure to buy two pairs of nice flats when they're in fashion, because 3 years out of 4, high and pointy is in and flats are hard to find. And expensive. Only heels I every liked were the soft plastic straw-soled 'jellies' that were in fashion for a couple of years in the mid-'90s.

Ooooo, not me! Love heels. Love 'em to death. Not so much the really pointy ones, but still love 'em. Only reason I loved the Barbie doll as a child was because of her shoes. Well, that and back then she drove a smokin' hot Corvette....(granted, it was pink but it still looked like the Mach 5!)

I'm the only one of three girls that doesn't love the heels.... Give me sneakers any day!

I am with you on that Green. Much more comfortable when standing all day, teaching as well.

Originally posted by green I'm the only one of three girls that doesn't love the heels.... Give me sneakers any day!

Babe ... count me in on the sneakers thing. I do like a pair of heels when I need to dress it up, but give me the choice and I'm in my Nikes or Pumas ... and they're not usually done up, either... I always kick them off at my desk so I can sit cross legged while I type ... Okay, call me an ankle sock girl ... I prefer to run around in those, and have been known to dart around the office in just my little sport socks ... oh, remember when ankle socks had little pom poms on them? I miss those ... so cute... I'm doing that today, actually. I've been kicking off the Pumas all morning ... I just claim that I'm making our Adidas vendors happy by showing off their socks ... Hmmm ... maybe I should shine on our Nike suppliers ...

That's it, SJ, work it girl! Maybe then they could give you samples of the new stuff that comes out... Guess I'm still the odd one out (but, somehow, this is not surprising...) *snicker*

Barefoot is best whenever possible, sandals in summer when barefoot is inappropriate, sneakers for standing for long periods of time or lots of walking.

You're not the odd one out in my family, RI - I am! I still remember the day my sister came rushing home from uni after learning something about how to choose good footwear and examined all of our shoes.. She was very upset to realise that her 20 yr old younger sister had unknowingly chosen healthier for the feet footwear than anything her closet could boast!

RIgirl - I adore heels!! Absolutely love them!! Unfortuntely, as the years have gone on, heels do not love me! It's sad - I have favorite shoes with 4 inch heels that I love to wear, but can only really do so when sitting down at my desk and teetering short distances. Rest of the time I need to wear flats or small (2 inch usually) heels. And SJ - oh yes I loved those cute sport socks with the pom poms.

I loathe heels. If I must wear something, it will be with the lowest heel I can find, preferably without ending up balancing on a pencil eraser. But then, I never did learn to walk for heels, either. Long, ground-eating strides. I used to do a lot of walking. Only gal in my boot camp company who didn't get blisters. Then I got a car, and it was like pulling the inflation cord on a life vest.... (Ever since the surgery to put my heel together, my left foot tends to roll a bit leftwards. Not a lot, but my left shoes develop a definite wear pattern after a while. Great excuse to not wear heels.)

Originally posted by UnpublishedWriter I loathe heels. If I must wear something, it will be with the lowest heel I can find, preferably without ending up balancing on a pencil eraser. But then, I never did learn to walk for heels, either. Long, ground-eating strides. I used to do a lot of walking. Only gal in my boot camp company who didn't get blisters. Then I got a car, and it was like pulling the inflation cord on a life vest.... (Ever since the surgery to put my heel together, my left foot tends to roll a bit leftwards. Not a lot, but my left shoes develop a definite wear pattern after a while. Great excuse to not wear heels.)

OUCH!!!!! just reading you gave me pain....ahhhhh! I feel your sister I feel your pain!!!! because I know how sensible the feet are on the heel..I got shots on the heel before, just 3 sessions & I really sat in my car for over 1 hour just thinking that I will go trough the pain again...after those 3 sessions just like the raven quote said....never more. OUCH!!