I'm going to be a Dad again!

Exciting news revealed for your Christmas enjoyment :) Ben is going to be a Dad again, Inspiral will be doing the hard yards as Mum and Kez will relax in the role of Aunty. Again. In September. Or possibly August. Awwww :)

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feeling: Christmassy
groovin' to: Professional Pirate
last movie viewing: Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
bookworm currently enjoying: Wheel of Time
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incidents, observations and ideas

Yesterday, while shopping with my sis-in-law Inspiral, I suspect I was the unwitting victim of some shopping centre rage! We were strolling away from New Zealand icecream, sipping our Chillos (I went for mint-choc, Inspiral taste-tested the cookies'n'cream), when I felt something slam into my ankle. Turning around, I discovered it was a shopping trolley being pushed by a woman who I imagine thought we weren't walking fast enough. "Sorry!" she said, not very sincerely. Humph! Inspiral and I veered off to the left, away from the crazy-woman-with-trolley.

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Did you know, when you overmelt Melts, they don't just become super liquid chocolate, but rather weird, hard, crunchy-looking lumps that don't look fit for human consumption. Go figure.

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Rexona deoderant acts as a fertiliser on underarm hair. Just trust me on this one, folks.

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I'm a pretty fussy eater, which can lead to some, shall we say, interesting requests when getting takeaway. At Subway, when asked which salad items I would like added to my Pizza sub (with chicken and bacon, mmMMM!), I requested only pickles and capsicum. The "sandwich artiste" seemed a little thrown by the request as for a good few seconds her hand kept reaching into the lettuce. No lettuce! Lettuce is for rabbits! Yuck!

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You know you're getting older and losing your svelte figure when you go shopping for swimwear and bypass the bikini racks heading straight for the one-piece, in black (very slimming!), low cut at the bottom and high cut at the top... and then you grab a pair of baggy knee-length boardies as well.

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Marshmallows are really hard to chop. Yep. Those suckers are so darn sticky on the inside.

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My Christmas card list seems to dwindle every year. This year I believe I will only be sending four Christmas cards. I suppose this qualifies me as "sad and lonely", though I don't feel that way. Seems I have many friends who have never cared to pass on their postal addresses! At least it's a saving when buying packs of Christmas cards. I need only buy one pack every half-dozen years. I wonder if those few people who are recipients of cards from me will notice that they are receiving the exact same card design several years running..

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If I ever make it to New Zealand, I am so gonna go Zorbing!

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this post is about cricket (but it's brief)

..much like South Australia's innings. Today, the South Aussies were bowled out by the Baby Blues (that's New South Wales for the uninitiated) for 29 runs. "Hmm" says I, "that must be one dodgy pitch!" Not so! At the close of play, NSW were 2 down for 233. One batsman alone has scored 154.

Damn, that's embarrassing! (if you're a South Aussie cricketer)

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piratekez

Don't let me down lubbers, or I'll make ye walk the plank! Arrr!

What kind of pirate am I? You decide!
You can also view a breakdown of results or put one of these on your own page!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

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oh christmas tree

December 1st has long been designated Christmas Tree Decoration Day in this household. Furthermore, for a number of years now, I have been the designated Christmas Decorator. Therefore, 'tis always a great joy for me when December 1st rolls around; I wake up excited for the day ahead, perhaps even more excited than on Christmas Day itself!

Christmas Tree Decoration Day jumpstarts the festive spirit within, for me anyway. I lug the tree and decorations out of storage, then dust off the Christmas CDs and pump cheery tunes out of the stereo while I set to work. It typically takes me a few CDs to finish my decorating, because I like to pause from time to time to sing along with the carols or groove around the tree as I see fit.

Each year I like to add something new to the tree. This year I decided the tree was long past due for a new set of lights! I found a pretty set of 36 star-shaped lights that have numerous flashing functions. I can't wait for the big unveil tonight - since I have placed the tree right behind one of our front windows, I'm going to drag my folks outside and have them do the drumroll, a la "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation". Should be a laugh! Hopefully some of the neighbours will be out and about to join in the fun, though that's unlikely. But you never know!

Anyway, in the spirit of spreading Christmas cheer, I am going to post a pic of our Christmas tree - also with the hope that it might encourage others to do the same! I love seeing how different folks spruce up their festive season. :-)

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blogfession: the new boy in my life

Yes, the time has come for me to make my blogfession. While I remain committed to the belief that some aspects of one's life are not really appropriate post material in the blog environment, I am concerned my recent absence in blogland has become fodder for blogossips, and that's just not on! I'm here to set the record straight.

It is true, there is a new boy in my life. :-) We met only recently, and it was not, as some of you may have guessed, via the online dating site. In actual fact, our meeting was facilitated by my Mother! I know that sounds a bit hokey, but to be honest there is no-one who knows me better than my Mother. She knows what I like, what I want, and most importantly what I need. When she showed me a picture of my boy, I knew that she was spot on with her prediction that it would be love at first sight. *siggggh*

And love at first sight it was, on both our behalves. How rare and beautiful is such an occurrence? On the day we met, he said not a word of complaint as I wandered around the shopping centre with him in tow. I think he was just delighted to be in my company. How sweet is that? We have spent many blissful hours together since that shopping centre meeting. He is a quiet and reserved type, so mostly we have stayed in, cuddling in front of the television taking in a number of movies. He's a cuddle-aholic! Luckily, so am I. He's also extremely easy going, always happy to allow me to choose the movies and willing to watch whatever takes my fancy. The other night we watched "Secret Window" - which really just gave me an excuse to snuggle into him during the scary bits. ;-)

I've often come home to find him waiting for me, lounging on my bed, in nothing but a silky red ribbon... am I getting too personal here? Oh well, better not go into any more detail other than to say that his name is Bobby, and he said it was fine if I wanted to share a pic with you all, dear blog friends.

Is he not the cutest boy bear you ever did see?

PS. Lady Beetle thinks he belongs to her, but I know better.

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[BloHaMa] Hang ye scurvy lubber!

Yay! Another wee man saved from the noose over at Singlefin's place. Let's see if this hanging man will be so lucky!

the word --> X Y L O P H O N E

Congratulations go to Casyn for saving the scurvy lubber from the noose... this time around!
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guessed letters --> B C E H M N O P S T

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In other news, today is White Ribbon Day, or United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I'm 100% in support of such a cause (and yes, I'm wearing a White Ribbon, courtesy of The Body Shop) but gee that is a mouthful to say. Hmm.

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run away with the circus

You'd be forgiven for assuming that I have, indeed, run away with the circus, so absent have I been from my poor little blog of late. And after Saturday night, a part of me wishes I could run away with the circus! Alas, I'm not blessed with any appropriate circus talents (although there are some who know me who might tell you that I could take a stab at becoming a clown).

Saturday night, you see, I was lucky enough to pop along to see the fabulous Cirque du Soleil's "Quidam" show. Lucky in more ways than one! The first being that it was a real treat to see a live Cirque performance. I have watched a few on television in recent times but it just doesn't compare to the magic of entering the big blue 'n yellow tent with its sometimes cloudy, sometimes starry, sometimes stormy (and therefore always atmospheric - heck, we were even rained on at one point!) ceiling. The second being that I was ever so lucky to enjoy the show free of charge, having some time ago offered my company to the lovely Pickwick in order to solve her ticket quandary. Hey, I'm an enterprising sort, certainly not one to miss such a fabulous opportunity!

And fabulous it was. In the first place, it was a pleasure to meet Pickwick in person. She's in many ways much as I imagined she'd be from her blog, and yes she does have amazing hair, even if it wasn't in all its amazing glory on Saturday night, as she confessed. ;-) We had fairly good seats for the show - side-on to the action, which apart from a (very) few occasions, was perfectly fine.

I'm hard pressed now to remember the order of the acts, but I do believe it began with the German Wheel (which looks like a ridiculous amount of fun but I'm sure is damn hard work) and possibly ended with the Banquine (some of the most breathtaking acrobatics I've ever seen). In between were a number of acts that were equally fascinating and impressive, and I often found myself completely mesmerised. There's nothing quite so thrilling as watching talented people displaying the full range of their talents! Even the skipping rope performers, something which I myself used to be quite good at, had me gaping at their abilities. That was a highlight, along with a woman who performed Aerial Contortion in Silk, which I thought simply beautiful. In fact, all the performers in the air were stunning to watch. And those on the ground. And the musicians were wonderful, if perhaps a little over enthusiastic volume-wise at times.

Then there were the clowns. I didn't realise there was such a comedic aspect to Cirque du Soleil! There were two main skits in which the clowns enticed people from the audience (oh what fun that would be!) and proceeded to make them amusement value for the rest of us in the audience. Good stuff! The woman sitting in front of Pickwick had this weird howl or whoop or something when she found something very funny, which I in turn found very funny. Much laughter to be had!

All in all it was a great night's entertainment, and definitely well worth experiencing. I shall be looking forward to the next Cirque show to make its way to Brisbane, whenever that may be. And yes, I shall save my pennies to buy myself a ticket to that one. ;-)

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security alarms, reckless drivers, glitter, mint chocochillos and gollum

Otherwise titled as "Monday, glorious Monday!"

Yesterday I greeted the day bright (read: "grumpy due to restless disturbed sleep") and early (read: "8:30am") and ready for adventure (read: "therapeutic money spending")! I headed off for Adventure #1, to my local multiplex for the first session of "Saved!" - I'd heard good things, I wasn't disappointed. Perhaps not as hysterically funny as I had expected, but I chuckled many times and may have even let out a guffaw or two. It's short, sharp, and avoids the sap until the ending, which was vaguely blah but not entirely unexpected, so I'm not really complaining. If you've not heard any whispers of the film, here's the basic gist: Girl, about to enter senior year at gloriously Christian highschool, has the perfect Christian life, perfect Christian friends and the perfect Christian boyfriend. Then lo! Boyfriend says he is gay. *gasp* She must save him, and how better to do that than to throw her Christian promise to wait out the window and give him a good shagging! Hello Teenage Unwed Pregnancy! Wheee. :-) It's fun and more interesting than you might suspect. *I'm looking at you, Casyn* ;-)

Adventure #2 was a round of clothes shopping because I'm a glutton for punishment! As it turns out, it wasn't entirely unrewarding as it has been so frequently of recent times. I picked up a swish pair of navy pants (impressively discounted) and a pair of jeans (alas, not discounted) from the fine 'n fancy Tar-jay (or Target for us yokels). I also tried on three tops, all of which went straight back to the rack. I wasn't particularly upset about that except for one of them. It was this delightful vibrant green/blue number that snugged above and over the breasts, then fell in gentle flows to the top of the hips, very flattering over my cuddly pot belly! Unfortunately, leaving so much bare skin up top it made me look all broad-shouldered and low-chested and just frankly quite ridiculous. Boo. :-( It was also decorated with not-very-well-glued-on glitter, a large portion of which I left on the floor of the dressing room. Pretty, sparkly carpet!

So, I decided to move to K-Mart (yep, I'm cheap) in the quest for tops, greeted the lady at the entrance with a cheery smile and promptly set off the security alarms as I entered the store. D'oh! I hate when that happens! She checked my bags which, you know, rather pointless considering I was entering the store, but informed me that many people who have come from Target set off their security alarms. Stupid Target! I set off the alarms again on my way out at the checkout (success, found a cute top!) and had my bags checked again while the people behind me in the queue looked at me warily and laughed nervously when I said with a grin "I'm not a shoplifter, don't ya worry!" Hmm. The K-Mart lady advised me to return to Target otherwise I would probably set off other store security systems, and even though I wasn't planning to continue shopping, I went back and had Target deactivate the tag they had neglected to deactive the first time. The weird part of the story though, is that when I left Target (the first time) I didn't set off their security alarms. Shoplifters take note! ;-)

(I really am not condoning or encouraging shoplifting, because stealing is wrong, mmkay?)

I was feeling a bit hungry by this stage, but my tastebuds weren't tempted by any of the choices on offer in the food court. They were, rather, craving a chocochillo from New Zealand Icecream. Mmmm! Seeing as I hadn't indulged them in some time, I made my way to the NZ Icecream store. While consulting the board to see how much they were, I discovered that there were other chillo flavours I'd never noticed before, one of those being mint chocachilllo. Being an absolute freak for choc-mint, I couldn't resist. Ohhh, it was so good! Yum yum yum! And suitably filling, an added bonus.

Driving home, I was approaching traffic lights not far from my house when I observed a 4wd driver run a red light. Granted, people running red lights in Brisbane is far from uncommon, but I found this one particularly surprising. This particular driver was waiting in a right-hand turning lane as I approached, stopped for the red light. The straight aheads had the green light at the time. Now, the red arrow stays on at these particular lights because the view is not particularly good, but this driver, who had stopped for the red light, just randomly decided they didn't want to wait any longer and off they went! Madness. Nothing untoward happened, but it made me cranky, because it's foolish rule-disrespectin' drivers like that who cause "accidents" at traffic lights where there is just no excuse for "accidents"! Grrr.

On a lighter note, I have a Lord of the Rings desktop calendar, one of those ones that you tear off a page each day. Yesterday's picture was my favourite for the year to date, so I had to share. Heeheehee! :-)

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groovin' to: "Extraordinary Day" - Delta Goodrem
last movie viewing: "Saved!" [cinema]
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today I have learned:

(1) That leftover, reheated macaroni cheese is all kinds of nasty and therefore should never be eaten by anyone, under any circumstances, for any reason known to man, except perhaps as a cruel and inhumane form of torture! (if that type of thing floats your boat.)

(2) That Harry Connick Jr is coming to town early in the New Year and performing with the Queensland Orchestra! As Molly would say, do yourselves a favour and book your tickets (on the 15th) for what is guaranteed to be a night of sensationally smooth music stylings.

(3) That Andrew Symonds' (cricketer, QLD and Australia) fro has gone so crazy wild that there's just no saving it!

(4) That blogger seems to think I am on daylight savings time. Hmmmm.

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do you hear what I hear?

(No, it's not the ridiculously cheery sound of Christmas carols being pumped over store sound systems two months early.)

Last night as I lay in bed still wide awake at 1am, I listened to the squeakings and squealings of the fruit bats in the trees outside. I hear them most nights and have always liked their funny chitterings. Some nights they alight in the large tree that the local crows call home. Then follows quite lengthy arguments between the bats' chitterings and the crows' cawings over who has the right to use which branches. I think the crows must win because they are always still perched in their tree come morning.

I've often suggested that if I were forced to surrender one of my five senses, the one I'd send gleefully tumbling off the plank is my sense of smell. I'm blessed (and cursed) with what I consider quite an acute sense of smell. I tend to pick up on scents in the air before others notice them, which, depending on the scent, can be a good or bad thing. I find it unpleasant to walk down the washing powder aisle at the supermarket. I hold my breath when entering Myer via the perfume and cosmetics section. I hate to be sat next to someone who wears anything more than a subtle hint of perfume/deoderant/cologne. On the flip side, I love driving past the park by my uni which, in recent times, has been filled with jasmine. Walking past the cookie store at the local shopping centre is delightful. Inhaling the sweet scent of Mum's chameleon rose plant in the front garden is one of life's simple pleasures.

The bats' chitterings last night got me thinking how much I value one of my other senses: hearing. Even disregarding the joys of music, such an integral part of my (and many others) life, there are so many small sounds that I hear throughout a given day that give my spirit a boost. The gentle yet frenetic bubbling sound of my goldfish gobbling their weetbix crumbs each morning. (Bet you didn't know that Aussie fish are Weetbix fish!) The muffled and constant chirps of my budgie, muttering away with her beak planted firmly in her feathers. Raindrops on the roof. My youngest nephew's giggles. The wind through the leaves. A duck's quack. A cheerful voice on the telephone. ...to name a few. :-)

Now to remember what a blessing it is to not live in a silent world next time one of the neighbours revs up the lawn mower at 7:30am on a Sunday morning, or has a rowdy late night party, or the local hoons go for a 2am spin round the block.

You take the good with the bad!

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feeling: [funkariffic!]
groovin' to: "The Sun" - Maroon 5
last movie viewing: "The Notebook" [cinema]
bookworm currently enjoying: "Joe Cinque's Consolation" - Helen Garner
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random space-filling nonsense

Poor blog! It's been looking rather neglected this past week (and a bit), apart from its gentle facelift, of course. Yeah, look at my blog, all style and no substance! Quite the opposite from me, or at least I like to think I'm all substance and no style. Well I know I've got the "no style" bit down pat.. ;-)

Anyway, life has been pretty average since I finished uni. Any sane person, in my position, would be doing cartwheels over the fact that another university semester has bitten the dust, staring down the barrel of months of holiday bliss. But not me. Nope. Instead, I am meandering around feeling just generally "meh" about life.

I've decided the problem is that I define myself as: Uni Student. Thus, when university ended for the year I became: Blot. Now, when I am Uni Student, I feel that I have purpose, and a sense of direction, and that I belong somewhere in this big scary world. When I am Blot, I lack purpose, and direction, and wonder where I fit.

Blot. Blot. Blot.

Admit it, you love that word as much as I do!

I'm sure I should have all this stuff sorted by my age, but you know, I've always been a bit of a late bloomer. Or maybe it's just a really early mid-life crisis. Yeah, that might be a more positive way to look at things.

So! I went shopping the other day (because shopping is fun even when you're lacking wads of cash) in search of Josh Groban CDs. I've been seeking them for a while, and they're either difficult to come by, or really expensive. And when I say really expensive, I'm talking $33. That's nuts, who pays that much for a CD? Certainly not I, said the not-so-nutty squirrel. Disheartened at the lack of affordable Josh Groban CDs, I decided to cheer myself up by buying "Troy" on DVD. I missed seeing it at the cinemas, though for the life of me I can't recall how that happened. I know that I had every desire and intention to see it at the cinema but it just didn't happen. And now that I've since seen it on a small screen, I really regret missing the opportunity to bask in its beauty in an appropriate environment. Boo hoo! :-(

Yes, one really should see a buffed Eric Bana on the big screen.

*wink*! Obvious aesthetic pleasures aside, I did find the movie really entertaining. And knowing squat about history, I of course didn't notice the apparently numerous liberties taken by the script-writers. Sometimes ignorance is a bonus! (Mostly it's an embarrassment.)

But anyway, imagine my surprise and delight to discover that the song playing over the end credits was performed by none other than Josh Groban! Yep, turns out I scored some Groban goodness after all. :-)

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today is..

.. the 25th of October. Ha! :-) You thought there was going to be something interesting about today, didn't you?

You'd of course be right! Today is two months till Christmas day! Oh no! I haven't even started my shopping yet. If you know I will be buying a gift for you, now is a prime opportunity to get those requests happening.

But more importantly, today is Inspiral's Birthday! Hap hap happy birthday to you. :-) Have a lovely day!

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blog hangman - the phenomenon continues

I guessed Inspiral's hangman word: "whisk", so now the fun of hosting falls to me.

the word: Q U A C K

Congrats to Ben for correctly guessing this word that does not echo. Er.. only when a duck says it though. ;-) Blog hangman returns to its spiritual home, and now you needn't start a Rogue Hangman Ben!

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guessed letters: S E H A N G T M R K C
incorrectly guessed words: Buffy :-)

*gasp* You people have guessed letters that spell "hang"! Is it an ominous sign?

Ohoh, things aren't looking too good for our little hangman. I can't think of a clue for the word that wouldn't make it blindingly obvious - so here's a little clue. * Think of a letter that's important to me, for without this letter, I would just be easy! *

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assorted crazies and craziness

Yesterday while browsing IMDB.com I saw a bannerad for a movie called "The Machinist", starring Christian Bale. However, the photograph looked nothing like Christian Bale. Suitably curious, I further investigated the movie (downloading the trailer among other things) and was alarmed to discover that it was indeed a picture of an horribly thin and gaunt Christian Bale. The reason? Bale plays a character who hasn't slept in a year. Now, I'm thinking if you hadn't slept for a year you'd be DEAD, so I suppose that's the theory behind his walking corpse appearance.

What possesses a person to go to such extremes for their "craft"? I'm tempted to just lump Bale with a "crazy person!" tag now. Apparently he lost about 30kg in three weeks to play the role, and if that isn't unhealthy enough for you, afterwards he piled on 45kg in a couple of weeks as he was due to start filming "Batman Begins". Is anything worth putting your body through something so unhealthy? I'm sure there were immediate consequences to this starvation / binging, but what about long term consequences? For sure the body will seek its revenge at some point if you mistreat it!

Hmm, the movie itself looks quite intriguing, don't know when it will be released here, but you can download the trailer if you're interested.

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Last night the bro suggested I check out NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which was mentioned on the Blogger News page recently. The gist of NaNoWriMo is that budding novelists set the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel.. within the month of November. Yup, that's right, one month to write a novel. That's crazy talk! But as the site says, emphasis is on quantity rather than quality. ;-) I don't know, I'm thinking it could be a lot of fun so I might just give it a whirl. If I do, I'll probably create a separate blog and post my novel as I write it. At the moment my best idea revolves around a pirate and his pet bunny rabbit that communicates via morse code by thumping its cute li'l bunny paws. Admit it, you're excited! (Don't steal my groovy idea!)

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Meanwhile, my crazy obsession with the first series of Australian Idol continues! This morning I went shopping and bought Cosima's album, and Guy Sebastian's new album. I like my pop music. Yup, mock at will! :-)

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photo fun (third and final round)

Finally getting to those neglected photo requests, now that I have finished my final assignment. Yes, you read that right folks, I am done for the year! Can I get a "woohoo!" or two? ;-) Well, technically I'm not quite done as I haven't handed in my final assignment but it's ready to go, tomorrow, a day early. Yay!

So, onto the photos. Ben requested two impossible snaps, including a picture of the first guy I've met through that online dating site I signed up to, and a picture of me watching Star Trek. Regarding the first, how remiss of me not to take my camera with me the first time I meet a guy. :-P You'll have to make do with an "artist's impression". As to the second, I cannot photograph something that has never and will never happen (no offence to any passing Trekkies), so I decided to snap myself watching another program that is sure to kill off any last remaining "cool" vibes I may have inadvertently given off. And finally, I can indeed provide a snap of me playing the super cool Flash game I designed for a university assignment. And look, I caught the little skatey in mid-jump!

Next! :-) Singlefin requested snaps of my car boot, the view from my bedroom window, and my garage. As it happens, I don't have my own car, and the one I drive has naught in the boot that belongs to me. So I figured that wouldn't be a worthwhile photograph. Unfortunately, I can't very well see the view from my bedroom as I have security grids AND an outdoor blind. But never fear, I took a snap the other day from the side verandah when a storm was brewin'. It's basically the view from my bedroom window, if one could actually see out of it. ;-) And finally, damn we have an ugly garage!

Umm, I'm still pondering how best to respond to the requests of The Saturnyne: "i want three pics which include all of the above... naked self optional... oh allright, you can include your naked elbow. If you must..." Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I can provide two of petiteflower's photo requests! I opted for the bathroom countertop over the medicine cabinet, right after I had cleaned it (see how it sparkles)! I refrained from tidying my computer desk before taking a photo as that would be an inaccurate representation. I like clutter in my workspace. Lots and LOTS of clutter. And yes, that be a photograph of a camel..

[ Third photo to be added soon! ]

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I did it!

And no, I'm not referring to finishing my final assignment for the year. *sigh* Although, I did get the first draft completed today so that's a good feeling. An even better feeling however stems from the fact that I have finally accomplished my goal of making it onto one of the high score tables of an Orisinal game! I've been trying for quite some time - the Orisinal site has been my procrastination tool of choice over the past few weeks, possibly months.. I lose track of time. Anyway, not only did I make it onto the high score table of "Pocketful of Stars", I'm sitting pretty right ON TOP of the table! And look, since someone will no doubt beat me sooner or later, I captured the evidence for posterity. *does a funky li'l "go me!" boogie*

(click for full table)

Ahh, bask in my reflected glory! ;-) Then, if you would like to attempt to knock me off my pedestal, click to play "Pocketful of Stars".

Have fun! :-)

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all work and no play

..makes me a dull person, and this a dull blog! But a temporary end to the work is in sight. Today I handed in two assignments (that makes three for this week), leaving me with only one to complete. Then I'm done for this semester and all set to enjoy a few months of summer holiday bliss. Ahhh, I can smell that sweet salted air already.. which is odd because I probably won't actually spend much time at the beach. Or maybe I will, who can say?

Anyway, so time for an odd and random anecdote. Yesterday my sister-in-law rescued me from the drudgery of assignments for a short time so we could take in a movie. (We saw Wimbledon, we liked Wimbledon, you can read my short review over there to your right. --->) After the movie we both had to buy loaves of bread for our respective families, and while in the grocery store we came across a display of Greenseas Flavoured Tunas. I'm a big fan of tuna sandwiches and my flavours of choice are "Lightly Smoked" and "Tomato and Basil". Yesterday I decided to try something different and settled for "Spicy Chilli". Now, it should be noted that I'm quite a fusspot when it comes to food and far from adventurous. I don't mind "mild" spices, but anything beyond that is usually a no no. But I was thinking, seriously, how spicy can it be, it's mostly tuna with a bit of flavouring, right?

Imagine my surprise then, when I pulled back the lid of the can, and discovered, there nestled snug in a bed of tuna, a 3cm long WHOLE chilli! *gasp*

I didn't eat it. The chilli I mean - the tuna tasted great though, but a little spicier than I like. Perhaps I'll have to try the "Sweet Chilli" variety and forego the spicy. ;-)

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feeling: [uninspired, alas, one assignment still to go!]
groovin' to: "Crush" - Gavin DeGraw
bookworm currently enjoying: "Guardians of the Lost" - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
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don't let the little guy die!

Don't let blog hangman die people (hoho, pun fully intended)! It's great fun, and a good way to make new bloggy friends. Onanymous is hosting the current game - stop by and join in the frivolity and festivities of a good ol' fashioned hanging! :-)

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hahaha!

download the internet

... well it made me laugh. ;-)

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to the person across the road..

.. who is outside on this smoky October morn, mowing their lawn (and I use the term very loosely) - what is wrong with you?! We've not had any decent rain in a long time, your grass has not grown, it has in fact keeled over and died. Therefore, there is nothing to mow! Now stop noise polluting and stirring up dust, you are disturbing my Wednesday morning chi.

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photo fun (round 2)

Here is the mind-blowingly exciting second installment of a little glimpse into the "real world of MuzeKez". These are the snapshots requested by Pickwick. Click on the images for a better view, if you so desire. :-)

Photo 1 Notes
Like a tiger! *rarrr* Before anyone makes any comment regarding the animal printed on my blanket and whether or not that corresponds to my own animalistic tendencies in the bedroom, let me state for the record that a sloth print blanket would be a far more accurate representation. :-)

Photo 2 Notes
This is only the left side of my wardrobe. Unfortunately it posed too much of a challenge to photograph the right side as there is a large entertainment unit in the way. The essentials at opposite ends: far left - big fluffy blue dressing gown; far right (before divider) - li'l black dress.

Photo 3 Notes
It's a little difficult to make out, but the predominant plant pictured is a foxtail! (No, that is not their technical name.) ;-) I just love these plants, because they really do look like foxtails, and they're wonderfully soft to the touch. 'tis my favourite jungley section of the yard!

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pimples in odd places

I have a pimple on my knee. How weird is that? What is it doing there? What possessed it to choose my knee as the place in which to sprout its ugly little head? And why does it hurt like hell when I try and squish it? *hears a collective "ewwww!" from her blog readers*

I'd post a picture but that would just be gross.

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photo fun (round 1)

May I present the first installment of a little glimpse into the "real world of MuzeKez". These are the snapshots requested by Verbs. As always, click on the images for a better view, if you so desire. :-)

Photo 1 Notes
My pretty little budgie's name is Aussie and hopefully it's obvious as to why she is so-named. She lives in her cage as I wasn't able to tame her (females are harder to tame than males) and thus daren't run the risk of letting her fly around the house as I may never get her back in her little home. Plus she'd probably go berserk and run into stuff and that would be bad! She's very chirpy (particularly in the evenings) and loves to screech at the lorikeets when they're in the garden. She gets the crankies with me every week when I clean her cage and threatens to bite, but if I put my finger too close to her beak she'll only nibble. Thus I am convinced that really she appreciates my efforts in keeping her little home clean. ;-)

Photo 2 Notes
Baileys Irish Cream - not mine.
Cranberry & Blackcurrant Juice - mine!
Can of V - also mine, and it has been sitting in the fridge since July when I received it as a secret Santa "Christmas in July" gift. I'm too afraid to drink it because I rarely have caffeine and it's loaded with the stuff!
Three flavours of cordial - (Dick Smith) Lime, Sarsaparilla and Orange Mandarin Crush.
There's a tiny box of Smarties hiding somewhere in this fridge!

Photo 3 Notes
Up until about a year ago I was a Weet-Bix kid. Since then I've cut back significantly on my wheat intake and I am now a Rice Bubbles kid. This is my standard breakfast and it very rarely changes. Brown sugar sprinkled on top to taste.. bad I know, but geez it's a bland cereal otherwise. For the record, I never, ever skip breakfast, and neither should YOU! :-)

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friday fun on monday

I came across this quirky and (potentially) interesting idea on Blogger News:

Ask your readers to think of three photos they'd like to see posted to your blog. (Things around your house or whatever.) When you have enough requests, post them!

So there you have it - fire away with some photo requests and, assuming they're not too outlandish, I shall comply. (It will give me something to do away from the computer when I need a break from assignments.)

Wheeee. :-)

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say g'day to my new fishy friends

One of the few items on my birthday gift wish list this year was a couple of lionhead fishies. They are quite quirky looking and, frankly, rather cute (as fish go). My Nana decided she would grant this birthday wish and gifted me with the money to buy two of the little guys, so I ventured to the local Aquarium yesterday and picked out my new pets. I present.. Frodo and Peregrin Lionhead!

Frodo is the longer, lighter coloured fish, while Peregrin is the stumpy orange. They have yet to develop their "manes", obviously. :-) Hopefully they will survive long enough to do so! Unfortunately they were chased around the tank yesterday by one of the demon fish! The guy at the Aquarium assured me that it would be safe to put the little guys in with goldfish because, and I quote, "goldfish are very sociable". Uhuh, I see, very sociable and also either (a) very randy or (b) very territorial. They seem okay today, not being chased quite so relentlessly (they are not fast swimmers) and have also managed to find themselves some nifty little hiding nooks. Quirky and smart, what a super combination!

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gifts for a 26-year-old in denial

Today is my birthday. :-) "Go MuzeKez, it's your birthday!" I am now 26 years young. I find it a bit sad that I'm on the downhill slide of my twenties, because I feel I still have much "growing up" to do, and I don't really care to do it just yet!

Luckily for me, I am blessed with wonderful parents who are more than happy to allow me to cling desperately to my youth for as long as I wish. In fact, they even encourage it! Hmm, what would you guess is hiding inside the box wrapped in paper that looks good enough to eat?

For the record, this paper was (disappointingly) NOT like the lickable wallpaper in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. I couldn't resist testing it, just in case!

Anyway, if you guessed "Harry Potter lego!" you'd be right! Woohoo! I took a break from working on assignments to assemble it, as you can see below (click on the image for an even closer view):

What fun! It's so groovy and purple! And it even has beds inside it that slide around, heehee. And er, yes that is indeed a Care Bears card, with stickers included, and a picture to colour in on the reverse. "Just wanna be a Care Bear!" Oh, I'm regressing to my childhood. Quirky fact: in primary school I had a friend who called me "Care Bear".

So there you have it - another year older, yet still no closer to growing up. ;-)

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read it and drool!

Early birthday celebrations today called for a visit to the local Cheesecake Shop. After all, it's simply not a birthday celebration without cake! I'm very fond of the mudcakes available at the Cheesecake Shop and am yet to try one that hasn't delighted my tastebuds. This morning I was excited to discover two styles of mudcake that I hadn't had the sheer pleasure of taste-testing! So I went for half of each - chocolate mint, and cherry delight.

Mmm.. and yes, I am pleased to report that they tasted even more heavenly than they look. Yum, yum, yum! Now to try and make them last till my actual birthday on Wednesday.. ha, not likely. :-)

I also received the above beautiful gift (click for a better view) from my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. It looks exquisite as is, but even cooler when you sit it on a nifty little nest of coloured lights and get that oh-so-pretty lighting effect shooting through it. I could watch it for hours.. it will be a most welcome distraction on those evenings when I have trouble sleeping and don't want to lie in bed bored in the dark. :-) Ahhh, pretty!

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oh no, it's started!

Last night (or rather, this morning) I woke at 3am from a dream in which I had failed my university assignments. *sigh* This is a sure sign that it has reached that time of the semester where I, at least subconsciously, start to stress. There are only a handful of weeks remaining (finish in late October) and mountains of work to complete before then.

So if this blog becomes rather quiet over the next month-and-a-bit, you'll know why. I shall leave a nice aquarium picture to entertain you all in the meantime.

NB. Do not photograph your pet goldfish with the flash turned on as this is what happens. ARRRGH, demon goldfish!!!

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had a blast at supanova! (part 2)

[continued from part 1]

After the madness of the Kamehameha Blast-Off! I made my way back to the seminar room. It was midway through Paul Goddard's seminar (best known for "The Matrix" and "Farscape") and I thought I'd try and get a good seat for Sean Astin's seminar which was due to follow. Unfortunately, a number of people seemed to have the same idea, as when Paul Goddard finished speaking (he was very entertaining by the way) very few people got up and left, so I didn't have the greatest view for Sean Astin and in the pictures I took he appears as a blurred blob. Pity! Anyway, the place was (not surprisingly) packed and Sean got a rousing reception when he arrived. He seemed to enjoy the sound of his voice through the microphone as he played around in a number of voices (no Sam accent though) and made many jokes. He talked for quite some time about his family, particularly daughter Alexandra, who had turned down the opportunity to travel with him as she was "star of the week" at her school, and his mother Patty Duke who was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cute coincidence, huh? :-) He also talked about the "nature of celebrity" (though I think I missed the point because he tends to get sidetracked easily!), his likeness being on a stamp and money in New Zealand, how he hated having to put on weight to play Sam, that he's back in New Zealand filming "Hercules", politics, and numerous other matters which have slipped my mind. He is an engaging speaker though, I must say. He then opened the floor for questions, and the most memorable was when someone raised the issue of all the Sam/Frodo homoerotic material on the internet. After much laughter, Sean regaled us all with a tale about when he received a book of such material from fans at another convention in Utah. He mentioned how he had it shipped home as he didn't want to be questioned about it at an airport.. then told us when he arrived back home and went to his office bathroom, he found a large poster (from the book) had been stuck on the wall by his assistant. He said he left it there.. ;-)

That was probably the day's highlight for me, and I'm so thankful the convention staff allowed me to use my Saturday ticket on Sunday so I didn't have to miss this no doubt once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I made my way back to the Madman Anime Theatre to check out the Madman Cosplay Contest. It was wild! I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to anime, but even I couldn't help but be swept up in the frivolity of the contest. I'd seen numerous people wandering around in costumes during the morning, and now I discovered why. They each had their time on stage, most of them staying in character, doing appropriate poses for the audience, and enjoying the extremely enthusiastic applause, whistles, and hollers from all in attendance. I tried to get some photos but no matter what setting I used on my camera, all the photos were dark except for the glowing screen on the stage. D'oh! There are some great pictures of the Saturday Cosplayers located here though, for anyone who is interested. My favourites were a couple of pirates who got up there and declared it "talk like a pirate day" then had everyone in the audience bellowing "Arrr!" and "Yo ho!" Hilarious! :-)

I then had some time to pass before the final seminar I wished to attend, so I returned to the main building when they happened to be speaking to Jade Carter over the PA. He had to leave not long after, so they were encouraging anyone who wished to pick up an autograph to do it now. So I did. :-) He asked my name then looked at me and said "I remember you from this morning!" to which I replied, "Yeah, I'm the non-Jag fan girl!" Anyway, we then got to chatting about my necklace (a replica Sting, which he liked and wondered if I had picked it up there at the convention as he hadn't noticed it that morning) and Buffy. He asked who I liked as he had met most of the cast, I responded Spike, and he started writing a message on the print. I asked if he was going to sign as "Spike" to which he replied he wouldn't, as Spike would kill him. :-) After reading what he wrote and giggling at the message, he told me that he had hugged Spike, and now he was going to hug me, which he did (hello, not everyday I have incredibly attractive actors hugging me!), so it was like I had almost hugged Spike. How sweet is that? ;-) He was gorgeous in every possible sense of the word, and he now has a new devoted fan. Yeah, I'm easy to win over. :-)

I passed some more time in wandering around the stalls. Popped by the Madman booth where I filled in a questionnaire so I could score a free anime DVD sampler. The bro had asked for some anime goodies, and since I was by this stage out of money (and apparently all the ATMs in the vicinity had been emptied!), this was the best I could do. At least I remembered and got something, right bro? ;-)

Also checked out the EA Games booth because they had their next "Lord of the Rings" game on display: "The Battle for Middle Earth". I didn't have an opportunity to try it out for myself, but spent some time watching other people play it. Gameplay seems far more involved than their previous "Lord of the Rings" games and the graphics look amazing, so I'm looking forward to its release.

I wrapped up my day at Supanova by attending John Noble's seminar. He's an incredibly enthusiastic and passionate speaker. He had much to say about his role as Denethor (there were plenty of excellent questions for him to answer) and time filming the movies in general. One interesting tidbit was that during the audition process he was asked to read for both Denethor and Saruman. Anyway, I asked him about the scene that was added to the extended edition of "The Two Towers", featuring himself, Sean Bean (Boromir) and David Wenham (Faramir). It's a favourite of mine and one I felt really belonged in the theatrical edition. John was quite philosophical about it and said he wasn't disappointed over its exclusion personally, but felt bad for David Wenham. He thought it would have been a much better introduction to the Faramir character. But he did admit he felt the theatrical editions would fade into oblivion and that people would only watch the extended editions in the future, so there was no problem with that scene not appearing in the theatrical edition. :-)

John Noble seminar snaps: 01 / 02

And that rounded off my day. It was just after 5pm, and though the exhibition was open till 6pm I was feeling a little weary (and suitably satisfied) by then, so I headed home.. looking forward to next year's Supanova! Bring it on!

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had a blast at supanova! (part 1)

Today I attended the Supanova Pop Culture Expo at the RNA Showgrounds. It was a brilliant day! I had actually bought a ticket to attend yesterday but when I found out that Sean Astin would only be conducting a seminar today, I asked the lovely people at Supanova if I could exchange it for a Sunday ticket, which they kindly allowed me to do. Thanks groovy Supanova staff!

Anyway, I arrived just after 10am and discovered the pre-bought ticket queue was moving pretty quickly (hooray!) so it wasn't long before I found myself inside with crowds of people (of all ages) browsing stall after stall of comic books and anime stuff and other assorted fantasy and sci-fi paraphernalia. First stop was to pick up a copy of Sean Astin's book "There and Back Again" which was conveniently located right by the entrance. That's product placement for you! Bit of a scoop for Supanova to have the book available as I don't think it's been released anywhere else yet. Yeah, look at that pretty cover there. :-)

I had a quick browse through some of the stalls then made my way to the seminar area for the first speaker of the day, Jade Carter. There was a small crowd, which was great because it meant that everyone who had a question was able to ask it. Jade was lovely and warm, very personable and extremely chatty. When he finished speaking, a young lady asked him to come out for photographs which he was more than happy to do. I decided this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so jumped in line. Upon telling him I wasn't a "Jag" fan (the show he is best known for) he joked that he wasn't going to have a photo with me and walked away! *gasp* Lucky for me, he came back. ;-) (You can click on the image to bask in the spunkiness of Jade.. and see my foolishly grinning self.)

Jade Carter seminar snaps: 01 / 02

Next up was the boring part of the day - standing in the autograph queue for about an hour and a half. *yawns* Actually, I chatted to some lovely people also waiting in the queue, so that made the time pass quickly. Since you have to pay for autographs (!) I had to make a choice as I only carried so many $$$s with me - I opted for Sean Astin and John Noble (he was $5 cheaper than Sean and John Rhys-Davies). Unfortunately, because the queue moved slooowly at the end, I missed John Rhys-Davies' seminar, my only disappointment for the day. Bummer!

John Noble asked my name and shook my hand, and it was wonderful to enjoy a brief personal chat with the man who did such a magnificent job of bringing the difficult character of Denethor to life. A very charming man. :-)

Sean Astin gave up his lunch to sign for as many people as possible, as he had to leave at 3:30 in the afternoon. I said something along the lines of "yay it's Sam!" as he was signing and I think he snickered at me? Ah well, he seemed a little distracted (possibly rather autograph-weary) but it was still a buzz to come face to face with a hobbit! And he was kind enough to pose for a photograph with me (see below).

Do I look flushed? Heehee, I'll just put that down to hobbity good cheer. Moving on, I was getting hungry by this stage, so I ventured over to the Madman Anime Theatre to check out the Kamehameha Blast-Off! Contest. Apparently this is something from Dragonball Z, but to me it was just a really amusing session of people getting up on stage, doing some weird "power up" kind of moves, and hollering really loudly! Great fun and suitable lunch time entertainment.

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The afternoon session (including seminars by Sean Astin and John Noble, another encounter with Jade Carter, and some costumed frivolity) to follow in a subsequent post, most likely to be typed up tomorrow. Right now I want to watch Zoolander. ;-)

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I went shopping and I bought..

[Advance apologies to my male readers, I know this post won't be of much interest. However, I am going to talk about underwear a little later so you might want to stick around for that. Or not!]

Yesterday I indulged in a spot of retail therapy and managed to find some suitably appealing new clothes. I don't know about everyone else, but generally speaking, I find clothes shopping a nightmare! Not the actual act of buying new clothes, but the incredible challenge it typically presents to actually find anything in the stores that even remotely appeals to my (admittedly boring) fashion sense.

One item of purchase was this lovely, pretty, feminine top. It fitted the mould of exactly what I had been looking for and, happily, also fitted and dare I say, vaguely complimented, my figure. Plus, it was 20% off. Score! Excited by my success, when I arrived home I whipped it out of the shopping bag to show my father. Now I'm well aware that men and womens clothes shopping exploits don't mix, but as my mother wasn't home there was no-one else with whom to share my glee.

MuzeKez to MuzeKez-Dad: "Look what I bought!"
MuzeKez-Dad to MuzeKez: [with some alarm] "Is that a dress?! There's not much to it!"

*sigh* Men.

Anyway, back to the retail therapy, after purchasing aforementioned pretty top, I realised I would most definitely need to invest in a strapless bra. I've been meaning to buy one for some time as there are a few items in my wardrobe (currently hanging sadly unworn) that require a strapless bra. It does seem more acceptable these days to have your bra straps showing, but it looks a little ridiculous. And don't get me started on those "clear" bra straps!

Several bras later.. I discovered one that fit, and managed not to flatten my breasts to the thickness of pancakes. *huzzah!* I glanced at the price tag (I mean, there was no way I wasn't going to buy the thing but it's good to know the price before the sales assistant tells you and your jaw hits the floor) and was rather disheartened to discover that it was twice as expensive as the pretty top.

It's a crazy, messed-up world when your underwear costs twice as much as your outerwear!

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when nature calls, answer the phone

Yesterday, about half an hour into one of my tutorials, I was struck by the call o' nature, as they say. And it wasn't a gentle, friendly "how ya doin'?" call, it was a painful, insistent "answer me now or the fact you're wearing brown pants today isn't gonna be enough to save ya buddy!" I did my best to resist, attempting to keep a poker face as some semi-strong pains lanced through my intestines, but eventually realised that resistance was futile. So as soon as the tutor stopped yapping and let us get on with the activity, I beat a hasty retreat from the computer lab.

Now, I found the whole episode quite embarrassing. I really don't like having to go to the loo in the middle of something. Since I was a young'un when my family and I used to travel from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast frequently (a three hour drive), I've had the habit drummed into me of going to the loo before I go out. Consequently, it is an extremely rare occasion that finds me skipping out during class, or a movie, or a live concert/performance, or any kind of similar situation, to go to the loo. Extremely rare, and therefore difficult for me to feel comfortable doing so. I feel like people will think I have bladder issues (though in this case it wasn't the bladder that was the problem - is that too much information? What are blogs for, after all?), when I'm sure no-one actually noticed.

But still! After I'd returned to class and some minutes later, I noticed a guy beating his own hasty retreat from the lab.. only his purpose was to answer a mobile call! Naturally this got me thinking how the pretence of an important mobile call might be a good cover for actually needing to leave the room for.. other purposes.

"Aha!" says I, "next time nature calls, I'm gonna answer my phone!"

Yup, I'm always learning new skills at uni. :-)

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because it's funny

Go on, you know you want to BATTLE!

MuzeKez is a Broccoli-Eating Paladin Monkey ...with a Battle Rating of 7.7 To see if your Food-Eating Battle Monkey can defeat MuzeKez, enter your name:

(I shamelessly flogged this groovy idea from SingleFin - incidentally, my monkey self kicked his monkey butt!)

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incy wincy spider, sitting on my blind

This morning when I joyously flung my curtains wide to greet this glorious September morn, I instead found myself eyeballing an incy wincy spider who had taken up residence on my (external) blind during the night.

I'm a big scaredy when it comes to spiders. Even seeing this, admittedly mid-sized one outside the house made me hop from one foot to another while wringing my hands and squealing "get it off get it off get it off!" Okay, I didn't actually physically do that but I sure felt like doing it! Logic tells me that it's just one short leap for incy wincy to find himself on my fly screen, and I know spiders. They're tricksy critters, able to squeeze themselves through teensy holes to come inside a house. Go on, click on the pic to get a lovely close up view of his spindley extended leg, I dare ya!

Anyway, I've opened my blind in the hope that a gust of wind will snatch incy wincy from my blind and carry him, floating merrily, to a happier spider place.

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the irresistible lure of vending machines

I've recently come to realise that vending machines have a strange hold over me. It seems I can't walk past one without putting money in, and taking chocolate out. Oh, I admit, sometimes I opt for a bag o' chips or some other confectionary item, but that's beside the point. And that point being that I can't resist a sexy vending machine. ;-)

My uni campus is littered with vending machines. Since it's a fairly new campus, there aren't many food facilities available. There is a small cafe with a limited range (I got a great ham, cheese and tomato panini from there once, though I had no idea what a panini was) but unless you want to trudge up the hill to the refectory at the other campus, you're pretty much stuck with vending machines.

Having said that, I think I'd still be suckered in by the vending machines even if there were more (and healthier) food options. There's something so very appealing about the vending machine process: see food, money in, push buttons, retrieve food from tray, eat! In a store, you have to find the food item, take it to the cashier, have them zip it over a scanning device, give money to the cashier, wait for change, wait for the cashier to shove your chocolately goodness in a bag, exit the store, then eat. That's just downright annoying and time-consuming! Thus it is that I can quite happily resist chocolate in the stores.

But oh, not the vending machines. See food, money in, push buttons, retrieve food from tray, eat!

Last week I indulged in a Tim Tam Finger one day, and a Mars Bar the next. The week before it was a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and a Twirl. It doesn't even bother me that I'm paying extra for the privilege of the exceptional vending machine service. Nor am I worried about losing my money. Yes, I have been burnt before by dodgy machines, but the ones at my uni have been so good to me lately! I haven't lost any money all semester. I don't even mind that the chocolate comes out slightly melted because the machines aren't refrigerated.

Pop Quiz! Here (A) and here (B) you will find pictures of vending machines. One is a good :-) vending machine, and one is bad :-( but which is which, and why?

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feeling: [hungry.. but probably not for apples!]
groovin' to: "Anthem" (from Chess) - Anthony Warlow
last movie viewing: "The Man From Snowy River 2" [DVD]
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and now it's answer time!

The first batch of three questions come courtesy of Verbs.

1. What is your absolute favourite film of all time?

I ummed and ahhed about saying "The Lord of the Rings" but since that is actually three films it probably shouldn't count. ;-) Unfair advantage and all that. So, in light of that reasoning, my absolute favourite film is.. "Circle of Friends". 'tis a charming, gentle story, set in Ireland, about young people's loves and lives (one young woman in particular), and it's long held a special place in my heart. It has that certain fairytale romance element that makes the romantic sap in me *sigh* blissfully.

2. At what age did you find out the "truth" about santa, and how did you feel at the time?

Way to test the memory! I honestly cannot recall what age I discovered the "truth", but I don't believe I was too affected by the gaining of such wisdom. I certainly don't have any traumatic memories regarding Santa! I will say though, that one Christmas eve many years ago, while we (my family) were housesitting for relatives on the Gold Coast, I was tucked up in bed, gazing out the window, when I saw a red streak zoom across the sky. Naturally I was convinced this was Santa, and even learning the "truth" has never dimmed this exciting memory.

3. If you were given the choice of living for ever, would you take up the offer?

Nope! :-) That way lies madness! I believe we each spend as much or as little time as intended on this beautiful earth, and to choose to live forever would be overstaying my welcome. Plus I don't fancy the thought of watching generations of loved ones age and die. I'll be satisfied with however long I'm here.

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The second batch of three questions come courtesy of Amanda.

1) At this stage in your life -no matter what you may actually be aiming for- what is the one occupation you wish you could have if you were told you'd be doing it successfully for the rest of your life?

I think I'd like to be Hugh Jackman's personal assistant. *hee* Alright, in all honesty, if I have the guarantee of being successful at it for the rest of my life, I'll take the occupation of film score composer, thanks! :-) Especially if I can bypass the years of training at music conservatoriums that reject my applications..! I think this would be the most soul-filling occupation I could have.

2) What was your favourite book as a child? (youngest memory you have)

I have fond early memories of a book called "Oopsie the Witch" (yes, it's still in our bookshelf!). She liked lemon meringue pie, I like lemon meringue pie, I think I felt an affinity with Oopsie because of this. :-) Also, I know Ben will be disappointed if I don't mention Yok-Yok, but I think he was more of a Yok-Yok fan than I was. Yok-Yok liked to catch the stars, and put them in his walnut shell.

3) Out of all the chat programs on the web, different blogger types and plain old e-mail, which has been your favourite source used to communicate with online friends since way back when you first started using the web?

Funny you should mention 'way back when you first started using the web', because I think it would have to be IRC. I have no interest in using it now, but I used to have great times chatting on a channel called #black and I really liked that open chatting environment with lots of people all typing like mad. :-) Oh, and the desperation to become an Op and get the little @ before your nick! Good times, good times.

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The final batch of three questions come courtesy of Pickwick.

Q1. If a movie was to be made of your life, which actors would you get to play your parents, Ben, you and your first lover... add to that the inevitable and 'why'?

If a movie was to be made of my life, would you go and see it? ;-) Let's see.. I'd like Tom Hanks to play my Dad for the simple reason that I know he's adept at growing a full beard, which is an absolute must for anyone portraying my Father! *heehee* Mum's a tricky one, I'll come back to her. Ben can be played by David Boreanaz, because they both "don't dance". Also, David has a nice surprising sense of comedic timing which I think would be important, and he can do "geeky" as well. *bwahaha* Actually, David looks a little old to convincingly portray the youthful looks of Ben. Perhaps a young Ben Mendelsohn? Tobey Maguire is a must in the role of my first lover - he'd need elements of his portrayal of Peter Parker to play said lover. ;-) And finally I want Liv Tyler to play me, just because I think she's fabulous (and I can't actually come up with an appropriate actress).

Oh wait! Mum! The best I can come up with is Susan Sarandon (though she has a few years on my Mum). But she is also fabulous, and can convincingly portray a full spectrum of emotions.

Q2. If you could be a fly on any wall, at any time, which wall would it be, where, when and ... why?

I'd like to be a fly on the wall of an ATM when an exceptionally wealthy person is punching in their pin number. Now there's a short, sweet answer.. if rather devious and evil. ;-)

Q3. I'm raising you on that fire... There's a nuclear bomb heading our way. You have a Super-Dooper, Anti-Nuke-'Em fallout shelter that takes 10. Who do you want to put in there with you? You'll be spending a lot of time together, and there's always that small issue of re-population...

What an easy question. I'll take nine of the most intelligent, well-read, talented and finest looking males on the planet! I'm sure my loved ones will understand.. ;-) Actually, I don't think I would forgive myself if I didn't take my family with me - that's Mum and Dad, brother and sister-in-law and two nephews. Of course, that still leaves room for three of the most intelligent, well-read, talented and finest looking males on the planet! I'm more than happy to do my bit to "repopulate". But wait, we're going to encounter inbreeding issues much too quickly. Hmm, this question is not so easy as I thought.

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it's question time!

Well I'm game (and bored), so I thought I'd join in this question thing, as recently viewed on Pickwick's blog.

Here comes the blurb..

Ask me 3 questions - just three. You may ask me anything! I will answer the first five sets [if I even receive that many] of three questions, at the minimum. I will commit to answering the questions and not ducking and weaving or obfiscating. [Do not ask me to define obfiscating though, as I can't help you with that one.]

Then you're on your own.
Copy this to your own blog (if you have one) and invite others to ask you three questions.

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a good news day!

I have just discovered that my university has finally processed my application for credit. This has been a source of much stress and frustration for me as my initial application (lodged in February) was somehow lost by the uni. I then had meetings with staff to try and sort out the whole situation in May, but that came to nothing due to staff too busy to bother about student concerns. In July, therefore, I went to the trouble of lodging a new application for credit, accompanied by a letter (very politely) requesting that things be sorted out before the start of the 2005 academic year.

Today I checked my online portal and lo, suddenly I had significantly more credit points towards my degree than before. Turns out that I have been granted all the credit I applied for towards my current degree (11 subjects from previous studies) which means that after this current semester, I will only need to complete eight more subjects (that's two full-time semesters) to graduate!

I am absolutely over the moon about this, because much as I enjoy the student lifestyle, I will be glad to finally have that elusive "Piece of Paper" that will hopefully entice employers to hire me and pay me lots of lovely money for my work! Wheee!! Such is the plan anyway.

Now to make sure I can squeeze in all the Comm Design subjects I need to complete, in two semesters next year. ;-)

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an open letter to womens underwear manufacturers

Dear Undie Makers,

While sitting on the can this morning (as you do), I took to reading the tag on my undies to pass the time. There I noticed a rather bemusing curiosity. Printed on said tag, in bold black ink, were the following words:
TO FIT:
Bust [measurement I don't care to specify]
Waist [measurement I don't care to specify]

I fail to understand the reasoning behind printing these particular measurements. How can a bust measurement have any relevance to a pair of dacks? I certainly don't wear my dacks around my bust! They would need some serious modifications to be of any use on that area of my body, let me tell you. I have come up with only two possible conclusions as to the motivation to provide a Bust measurement on my underwear.

(1) as a (supposedly) helpful guide to buying a bra - rather than actually measure my bust or try on bras, I should simply look to my undies to know which size to buy
(2) as a reminder of just how out of proportion my waist and bust measurements are to the "perfectly proportioned woman"

If it is reason (1), then I suppose I should thank you for making the effort. In theory this is a good idea but if you look to reason (2) you will see the flaws of this concept. And if it is reason (2), then boo to you all for further making women feel lousy about their body shape!

As for providing a waist measurement on my dacks, this also seems rather unnecessary considering they are *hipster* style and therefore do not even come close to reaching my waist. Thus I find that, as (2) above, you seek to remind me now how out of proportion my hips are to my bust/waist.

As a regular wearer of undies, I felt it only right that I should bring these matters to your attention, for consideration in future manufacturing efforts.

With regards,
- a polite, yet disgruntled, undie wearer.

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feeling:
groovin' to: "Silver Bells" - Harry Connick, Jr.
last movie viewing: "The Man From Snowy River" [DVD]
bookworm currently enjoying: "My Place" - Sally Morgan
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batman has an aragorn moment

This morning I downloaded the teaser preview for "Batman Begins". For the record, I think that's a pretty dumb title, hopefully they'll think up something a little more catchy before the movie is released. Anyway, like most teasers it doesn't give much away but is just intriguing enough to whet the appetite and stir some interest. Worked for me, I'm suitably curious for more. There are some beautiful location shots in the teaser, and (girly moment!) Christian Bale's sexy voiceover works a treat.

One part of the teaser had me laughing though! Pray tell, do the following screen shots recall another major movie preview moment? (If not, look to the post title for a blatantly obvious hint.)

I'm wondering if it's just a strange coincidence or a conscious decision.. hmm. :-) Either way, I know it's early days but I think it's safe to say that I'll be checking this one out whenever it hits cinemas next year. I've found something to enjoy about all the previous Batman flicks, although there was very little to recommend "Batman and Robin", including the casting of George Clooney (who does nothing for me). Fingers crossed that Christian Bale can do the character justice.

I also downloaded the preview for "Wimbledon", which opens at the end of the month. It looks sweet, charming and funny, and it stars Paul Bettany. Count me in!

(Jurassic Punk is my source of choice for movie preview downloads.)

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feeling:
groovin' to: "Two Points For Honesty" - Guster
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yes this post is about football

Just giving prior warning there to anyone who isn't interested in football and therefore can choose not to read on. :-)

So I have the AFL on, it's midway through the third and the Lions are just stompin' all over the Saints. And when I say stompin', I'm not exaggerating, because Brisbane are more than double the Saints lowly tally to date. That's some pretty serious stompin'. And St Kilda are supposed to be the "heir apparents" (I'm quoting commentators here) - I think not, baby puppies.

(Geez Michael Voss is sweating like a pig. Obviously he's been working exceptionally hard, good to see.)

This bodes well for premiership #4. I don't think I'm counting my chickadees before they hatch by declaring that either.. heck I declared it months ago. I mean, anything can happen in the finals series but Brisbane are just looking so *on*, firing at the right time and all that.

Memo to self: buy spiffy li'l Lions supporter badge from Newsagency on Sunday.

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boy, do I ever hate popups!

Mozilla Firefox is a fantastic browser in that it blocks annoying popup windows. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to include the most annoying of all annoying popups: javascript popup windows that force one to click through an infinite number of inane and pointless messages before the window will close!

These javascript popups are completely ruining my "Next Blog" cruising, because inevitably when I go on blog safari, sooner or later I will end up at a blog with a javascript popup. It's scary just how many are out there! Most seem to be on the blogs of young people who tYpE lIkE tHiS and seem comfortable in the fact they are wasting my time. This seems to me decidedly unfair, as due to my age I (most likely) have significantly less time left on this earth than they do.

These popups are not in any way cute, or endearing, or interesting. They do nothing to enhance a website and in fact are quite likely to encourage people to never return . Please, please stop the madness!

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In completely unrelated matters, I was just browsing imdb and discovered that today is Keanu Reeves' 40th Birthday. Dude! I think this calls for a Bill & Ted fest! Excellent!

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dating, the online way

Yesterday I put my profile up on one of those online dating websites. It's possible I was spurred by foggy-headed foolishness (brought on by suffering a head cold) but I must confess I have been trawling through said online dating website for the past few weeks. I've been single now for two years (and a few months, not that I've been counting) and while mostly I'm happy enough to be a single independent woman and all that, sometimes I miss affectionate male company. I know, I should just get a dog, right?

The only occurrence of anything remotely resembling a "date" in the last few years was a few months ago when I met some guy in a Gold Class cinema. We chatted a bit while waiting for the movie to begin, then again after the movie, until he suggested we get a coffee. (I don't actually drink coffee but that's beside the point). So we had a drink, exchanged numbers.. he never called, I never called, the end.

Which brings me to trying the online dating thing. I whacked up a brief profile yesterday that covered the requisite age, location, height, eye colour, hair colour, occupation, religious and political persuasions, etc, with a view to fleshing it out today or tomorrow (no uni class for me on Thursday and Fridays) and possibly braving uploading a photograph. *shock horror*

Before I could get to all that stuff though, this morning I discovered four, shall we call them "expressions of interest", in my inbox. I was most surprised considering there really wasn't much to go on, but there you have it, there are plenty of eager online daters! :-)

Here's where the story takes an amusing twist.. I was checking out one of the guy's profiles and thinking he sounded like a good sort. Typed in the password to investigate his photograph and lo, was greeted with a familiar face! Seriously, what are the odds that one of my first contacts would be someone I already know?! I mean, in all my perusing of eligible blokes over the last few weeks I hadn't come across anyone that even looked vaguely familiar.

Ahh, it made me laugh! I emailed the guy to confess who I was and now I'm waiting to hear what he thinks about the whole situation.

(Hoping this will be the first of many amusing online dating website experiences to share in my blog.)

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feeling:
groovin' to: "Somewhere Only We Know" - Keane
last movie viewing: "Loser" [TV]
bookworm currently enjoying: "Pride & Prejudice" - Jane Austen
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