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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supanova - the suspense is thrilling me!

My body is literally wriggling with the excitement.. or perhaps it's the fact that I'm sick and I'm shivering uncontrollably.. no matter. This morning when I collected the mail there was a card from the postie advising that I have a registered letter to pick up from the local PO. It will be my ticket for Supanova! WOOHOO!! I had been debating about whether or not to go for sometime, mostly lured by the chance to see Mr John Rhys-Davies speak, until my mind was made up for me recently by the announcement that Mr Sean Astin will also be attending. Double WOOHOO!!

This will be my virgin convention experience and I am very, very much looking forward to it. I decided to just buy a ticket to attend on Saturday because I thought 8 hours of convention would probably be enough, don't want to overdo it the first time. ;-) I'm mostly interested in checking out all associated with The Lord of the Rings (aside from Astin and Rhys-Davies, John Noble will also be in attendance along with some folk from WETA) as I really don't know any of the other people booked to appear. But I did discover that this spunky Canadian actor from JAG will be there. I don't watch JAG, but listed in this guy's acting credits are an appearance on an episode of Buffy, and two appearances on Miracles (a short-lived TV show that I loved), which therefore makes him pretty cool in my eyes.

If anyone has attended a convention before and has any tips for me on making the most of my convention experience, please share. I'm sure I'll have a blast!

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