I Went Out With A Hippy And Now I Love Everyone
- Frenzal Rhomb

You taught me to re-align my chakra,
Speak to my inner consciousness.
You made me listen to John Butler
And other rubbish that bored me to sh*t
You wanted to move up the North Coast
Where everthing is so much better
Where you can play Djembes on the beach

I used to get mad
I used to get angry
I used to hate everyone I met
You taught me love
You showed me kindness
You painted flowers on my face
And that gave me the sh*ts
F*ck I hated that
But it taught me a valuable lesson too
Now I love everyone but you
I love everyone but...

We had mushrooms in the morning
I was braindead for eternity
I took my clothes off
You didn't like that
And neither did the check-out chick at Coles
I tried to pash the store security

I used to get mad
I used to get angry
I used to be cynical I know
You showed me love
You taught me yoga
You threw the fire around my head
And that gave me the sh*ts
F*ck I hated that
But it taught me a valuable lesson too
Now I love everyone but you
I love everyone one but you
You wont make me live with no shoes
Now I love everyone but you

Now every full moon I think of last year
And when we went to the bush doof party
And how the acid made the music worse
I know she had a good heart
When she stood in front of trees
But she talked out her arse
She could see me aura turning bad.

And that gave me the sh*ts
F*ck I hated that
Everyone else I know thanks you
Now I love everyone but you
I love everyone but you
I passively resist your coup
Yeah, I love everyone but you...

*teehee!*

The Trinity were planning a holiday. The Spirit, manifesting the creative part of the divine nature, was coming up with the ideas. "Let's go to New York," he suggested.
"No, no, no," said the Father, "They're all so liberated, they'll spend the whole time calling me 'Mother' and it will just do my head in."
So the Spirit sat back and thought. "I know, what about Jerusalem?" he said. "It's beautiful and then there's the history and everything."
"No way!" the Son declared. "After what happened the last time, I'm never going there again!"
At this point, the Spirit got annoyed and went off in a huff. Sometime later he returned and found that the Father and Son had had a idea they both thought was excellent:
"Why don't we go to Rome?" said the Son.
"Perfect!" cried the Holy Spirit. "I've never been there before!"

Today's all about...

# Behind the Front Fence - 30 Modern Australian Short Stories, edited by Barry Oakley, 397 pages, Five Mile Press, 2004.
# Sleeping behind the desk next to the heater. Mmmm...
# Cyclamens.
# Caramel eclairs. Chewy goodness!
# From The Inside (Junior Vasquez Mix) - Gioia.
# Pondering yard cleaning tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be good.
# Special Needs - Placebo.
# "Achtung! No dingding vizout ze vedding ring!"
# Sympathies.
# Wondering about fate and destiny and whether it's rubbish or not.
# The overwhelming desire to *not* blog! *lol* Must be tiring of it.
# Dreading the SPD session - boooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.
# Loretta Young Silks - Sneaker Pimps
# Filthy/Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters
# Deciding to read Animalia when I get home tonight.
# Looking forward to being in South Australia, funerary as it may be.
# Now being one third of my family, rather than one fourth.

Coffee and TV

Bleh... I feel so crusty.

I think I might head home after lunch if I can—can't concentrate on work and things are irritating me just a little too much (like some guy returned a prize we'd sent him and said that we should send him this book by this author which costs $X, and I was like, 'WTF? We're not f*cking well Santa here with a number of pixies to magically whip up things on the whim of someone who doesn't like a CD... I'll send him a f*cking Marilyn Manson album, the little #@**$@&#...') (hey, we're short on budget... you know how things are... thank God for freebies (which constitute all of our prizes!)).

And Dad sent me a copy of Robin Hood, Men In Tights which I'm so just in the mood to go home and watch. I need a good laugh! ESPECIALLY since Channel 10 DIDN'T have their usual Simpsons hour on last night because we were inflicted with Australian Idol instead. That was so not what I needed after yesterday :-p Besides, Australian Idol just makes me feel violent - especially with Mark Holden going 'Hubba hubba!' to female contestants, Kyle Sandilands being a total knob and the whole thing being an entirely manufactured load of bollocks of a glorified karaoke competition.

Not that I don't like karaoke. Actually, I love it :) But to make a tv show out of it? Bah! What we need is Kiwi Ben up there singing 'I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day...' because the expressions on the faces of those people who don't get that whole song are priceless ;) Or with SAC leader Justin trying to karaoke The Timewarp and getting freaked out by the lyrics and exiting stage left *smirks*

Not long until lunch... yay!

*teehee* My friend Sharna Banana has been cheering my up by telling me what she says to her housemate when he sneezes - 'Satan piss on your soul, if it's even worth it.'

*lol* Yes, we're both twisted and odd... but that is funny! :D

Thank-you God...

Thank you that Nanna died peacefully and not in pain or after a long, drawn-out illness.

Thank you for the gorgeous flowers Larissa sent.

Thank you for the gruff hugs from Lee.

Thank you for laughs with Scott and Rachel.

Thank you for Andrew's kind words.

Thank you for a workplace full of wonderful people.

Thank you for providing great music to numb myself with.

Thank you for chocolate (but then I'm always thankful for that...).

good-bye

My Nanna died this morning at 10.30am. Apparently she passed away peacefully in her room at her nursing home.

I'm not going to see her gentle blue eyes again, hold her hands with their papery soft skin, laugh with her about silly things, cook her favourite foods, visit her, be puzzled by her dementia, brush her hair, take her for 'walks' out in the sun, read the Bible with her, connect with our heritage, loving each other heaps, being mischevious.

She was the most amazing lady. Always encouraging, always loving, had a wonderful sense of humour, was strong, tough, caring, always working for others, always there with a treat after school. Some of the best moments in my life were spent at my Nanna and Pappa's house after school (every day all the way through primary school and high school). We'd talk, laugh, watch TV, sometimes have sleep-overs, wander around the gardens together, wrapped up in warmth and love.

I feel guilty for being so far away from her. I saw her last at the end of May and we had a great time. The best thing I remember, though, was at graduation last year how proud she was of me - she was so happy, had the biggest smile on her face. The photos are great - especially the one with her wearing my grad cap.

RIP Nanna. I'll see you later. Love you fit to burst.

If the shoe fits...

...Buy it...

...Wear it...

...Wear it often...

...Buy more shoes that are equally gorgeous...

...Worship the shoe...

...Find a husband with a shoe/foot fetish so he'll buy you more *lol*...

sunbeams

...Jesus, don't want me for a sunbeam
Sunbeams are never made like me

Don't expect me to cry,
For all the reasons you had to die
Don't ever ask your love of me.

Don't expect me to cry
Don't expect me to lie
Don't expect me to die for me...

Yes, I'm revisiting Nirvana and my 'childhood' and so on... and listening to this song just made me think, pfft... Like, to Jesus it doesn't matter about what the heck you are or what you've done, He's still up for you being a sunbeam :) Some of His disciples were weird, some were bad tempered, some were traitors, they weren't these perfect go-to-church-three-times-every-Saturday/Sunday types.

So as bizarre and whatever that I am, I'm still gonna be a sunbeam for Him if He wants me :)

*finshes the day dancing*

Rosebud...

Citizen Kane still has to be one of the best movies ever made, and when I find it on DVD, I'm going to have to buy it (I remember that it made me cry in the media class I first watched it in - the sense of loss was almost edible).

Anyways... the day has improved by a little because I got an e-mail from someone I don't know who now goes to a church I used to go to. She said that she started going to that church two years ago, and the people there still talk about me and miss me, which made me burst into tears when I read it (I miss them dreadfully - some of my best friends go to that church). If I didn't live over 800kms from it, I think I'd still go :) Go Birdwood, you good thing! :)

And I'm listening to Nirvana here at work *happy sigh* I was talking about Nirvana with a friend yesterday and about how much of an influence they had on our lives. They were an amazing band and I think they captured the feel of adolescent angst so well. There's nothing that really has that sort of connection any more as much. Silverchair used to have a lot of similarities to Nirvana, but then they went all sort of mellow and dull. I guess with age, the fire in the belly gets extinguished.

Still, Suicidal Dream is an enduring favourite. And as for Nirvana... well... almost everything...

Argh!!!

Well, the weekend wasn't too bad until late last night. Just before bed, my dog decided that he needed to throw up (it happens when he eats his food too fast sometimes - how delightful...). I picked him up to rush him outside so that he could do it out there rather than inside. It had been raining all evening, so the steps were a bit wet, and I guess I didn't think about that (hey, when you have a dog in your arms who's about to do a technicolour yawn...). Hit the steps to get down to the yard and *bam*... slip on the top wet step, fall down the stairs, my dog goes flying out of my arms and we both land in the gravel somehow... :-/

So I half-killed my dog pretty much :( I think the fall hurt his back pretty badly :( When we limped back inside, I put him to bed with the wheat pack against his back and I got into bed and tried to sleep. My lower back over my left hip is hurting like a b*tch, so is my ankle and somehow I've managed to bruise the top of my right hand, so if I'm hurting I can only imagine how much worse it is for my lil doggie :( :( :(

I've brought him in to work again so I can keep an eye on him. Hopefully he'll be okies :-/

Lesson to be learned from this: don't go anywhere near wet steps while carrying your ancient dog :( It'll only end in tears! :(

Feelings.

It's a simple, tiny little word, but then there's all of this stuff involved and when you let them out, they go *woosh*... and God knows what that means for you after you've spoken about them.

You just think, "Oh God, could I be any more stupid?"

*sigh*

No more late, late nights for me, ever.

Hi to Jesus's girlfriend! :D

Not sure why you can't post comments on here, but keep trying *lol* Hopefully it'll work soon :D *prods blog with a stick* Hmm... technology! What a strange, strange thing it is...

o.0

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose DIY and wondering who the f**k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f**king junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f**ked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life...

Save the whales - collect the whole set!

Work-in-progress - young Maori warrior. I got my Derwents out again, and have been messing around with multi- and mono-colour pencil work.

(The facial tattoos fascinate me)

Will stay up to more insane hours if the cricket is good and continue to sketch things and see how weird things become at 2.30am when I've had too much coffee but am dead to the world, other than shouting at the TV, 'That's not bloody out, you wanker of an umpire!' *lol*

And all the roads we have to walk are winding, and all the lights that lead us there are blinding, there are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how...
Wonderwall, Oasis.

They've got British video night on Rage, which is causing some old memories of the mid-90s to resurface. The fashion was sh*thouse, but the music wasn't too bad, and times were pretty good.

I wouldn't change anything about that time, other than buying more Blur albums.

Good God, reports of smoke and so on in the London underground stations? Please not again...

*sigh*

And a self-proclaimed cleric in Indonesia has been jailed for his part in the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last year. But not for long.

The Indonesian justice system seems insane from the outside - someone who has some marijuana in their bag gets jailed for life by the Indonesian courts, but people who blew up the Sari Club and killed hundreds of people in 2002 get away with it with a slap on the wrist and a jail sentence of a few years?

Hmm.

Perhaps there really isn't justice in the world at all after all. Just us...

But without hands or feet, he couldn't kick Stevie's ar$e...

And that's about all I wanted to say *lol*

Comedy programs were so good last night! And I can't wait for next Wednesday for the show that's replacing Black Books on ABC. It looks like it's going to be hilarious in the wonderfully dark and odd way that only Australian comedy really manages.

Have a good night :D

English Summer Rain

Sitting at my desk, eating strawberries and suddenly the taste of them reminds me of the way the strawberries my pappa used to grow in the veggie garden tasted.

*sigh*

So nice and summery, even though it's the middle of Winter. They're still kind of sharp to taste, but somwhat mellow, too. Very nice indeed :)

I still want to try wild strawberries, though—Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books still inspire me too much *lol*

Spite and Malice

Right now, I should be writing to Oliver - a letter that's long over-due. And then it'll be time to write to all of the other people I owe long-overdue letters to. Maybe this weekend will be entitled E-mail Weekend, rather than Work On Tax And End Up Trying To Spell Words On The Calculator Instead Weekend.

However, I don't feel like it ^.^

Really, I don't have anything to tell people about life at the moment. Oh wait... Taylor visited on Saturday, which rocked! YAY! :) Must try to catch up with him more. And with Bec, seeing as she's meant to be down here, too. Oooh... *shivers with anticipation* Excitement! *lol*

Other than that? It's just work, work, work, woooorrrrrk, more work, different kinds of work, and occasional sleep. Oh, and watch TV and try not to freeze to death at nights (mmm, wood fire). The most interesting thing that's happened lately was being woken up at 5am this morning by an eerie glow, which was caused the moon shining through the fog outside (and not aliens, which would have been more interesting).

I hate Winter. It makes the days far too short. The cold is bearable, but the shortness of days isn't. And no, it has nothing to do with my mild fear of the dark, thank-you Dale :-p Short Winter days just never allow for much productivity outside after work. I mean, when I get home, it's already dark and you only feel like curling up in front of the fire, eating something warming and taking doing sod-all to new levels.

Oh well.

Maybe I'll work on writing something this weekend other than e-mails. Maybe a book. Something interesting/crazy/unusual. I've been using the voice recording function on my phone to record witty comments/interesting thoughts/descriptions of things and so on lately, so maybe I'll sort through them and hear what's to be heard.

*picks up phone, sets record* 11.16am. Note to self. Write book on weekend. Make it amusing. Remember to check for termites under house. Investigate home loans. Don't forget to eat.

:-p

*warning* A bit of a rant

This morning, I read this article about the increase in the numbers of over-20... ermm... 'kids...' who are still living at home in America. There was an article I read recently about this in the Time magazine, too, which explored the mind-sets of young people who are doing this and why it was being done. The stats are something like 25% of people aged between 20 and 35 in America are still living with the parental units.

This just seems bizarre to me!

Alright, this is Australia here, but for a long time our country has been known as 'Oh-My-Flipping-Gosh-Is-This-America?' to the more cynical, and we do seem to copy a lot of American trends (most of which I'd rather spend time slamming my fingers in a desk drawer than follow blindly along with. A pox on right-wing conservatism!).

Okay, so a number of my friends still live with their parents, but that's because they're young and in their final years of university or study. To me, that seems reasonable - saves money, you're still studying, don't have the cash to splash on rent/food/etc. Besides, uni is expensive and all of that. Then after uni, HECS and student loans and all of those other scary things sort of appear. And you have to find a job... One thing that has been noted in both of the articles/studies I've read about the 'twixters' (as Time called them) is that they're waiting for their dream job to pop up—one that they feel is a calling, and has a cushy salary to accompany it.

Umm... hello? Who usually has the luxury of getting such choice?

And anyways, many jobs can seem like a chore after a while, whether they're dream ones or not—in the end you realise that whatever you're doing, it's work from one end of it to the other, you're a slave to the wage and that there are never enough hours in the day. It's up to you individually to decide whether or not you'll actually find something to enjoy about it or whinge like a baby. Much of our satisfaction with work comes from our attitudes toward it, anyway, rather than from the job alone.

(On a tangent, having grown up on a farm, there were always hated jobs that had to be done there, but you stick them out and get them done and it doesn't seem so bad the next day when you get to do more of it. But then I guess there's satisfaction in those sort of things because the results are so immediate—you can see the things you've harvested or the grass that's been mown or whatever.)

Anyways!

Why live back at home with your parents after you've graduated from uni and have a job? Or even without a job? There's always the dole and you can share a house with friends and stuff like that while you search for a job or go back to further studies. It just seems like a bit of a loser thing to graduate and then return home to be like a long-term teenager or something. And it doesn't seem like it would be fair on the parents, either. I mean, they've worked hard, they need some alone time, time to have fun and just do whatever the hell they want to :) Why cause them added worries and expenses?

Sure, it's not much fun to find your feet at first as a totally independent person in the world, but it's so worth it and definitely rewarding. Yup, there's scrimping and saving and sudden realisations about the fact that you can't buy whatever the heck you want to because there are bills/rent/grocery expenses, but that's all learning.

I'd love to have my family closer to me or be closer to them geographically, but that probably won't happen, at least not while we're in the jobs that we're in at the moment. Still, we're really close in the terms of having a great connection and talking lots and caring for each other, and that's what matters :) And there's heaps of support from them in terms of them believing in me and inspiring me to be the best I can be. So even though I'm still 21 and living about 1000kms away from them, I'm still confident that I can do things.

Oh... and God definitely helps out too :) Without Him, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be discovering so many new things.

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me... Philippians 4.13

Journalistic Definitions

Feisty: Short, old female
Informed source: Reads the newspaper
Beloved: Someone who's been around so long no one can stand them any more (eg: Bert Newton)
Self-styled: Phony
Family Values: right wing idiot
Progressive: left wing idiot
Modest, well-kept home: at least the cockroaches are dead
Exclusive: We were the only ones who returned the PR flack's calls
Socialite: unemployed woman who lives in Toorak
Heiress: as above, but able to hire a pricey divorce lawyer

There are heaps more definitions, all of them totally wonderful. Just visit Crikey!

everything's just ducky!

I won two courtesy awards from Rotary or whatever it was when I was younger (which was quite impressive, but then I had my fair share of Student of the Week awards and they never suspected a thing! *muahahaha* *ahem* Actually, I was angellic when I was lil' :).

Anyways...

In spite of that, there are just some days when I want to say, 'Oh, go get a duck up you!' to people in general. And some people in particular. No, those in particular I would actually like to hit with beech rods at random intervals. Or have someone else do it whilst I sit back and have a virgin margarita and a good foot massage.

Still, I probably won't say the duck thing or enforce the beech rods bit because I'm nice :-p

And stop that snickering, I am nice! *lol*

Mr PolarBear complained about Bondage Bear *lol*

Sooooo... hello Polar Bear! :D

*waves*

Feel better now? :) *lol*

Rocky Horror!

Shhhh!

I'm doing quizes at work ;)

Results from the two Rocky Horror Picture Show quizes I took about which character I am are as follows:

You are Magenta...you crazy fun lovin gal...you have issuses its very obvious....but we love you you nasty little bi sl*t...you like your sexy freaky ways dont you? i do...keep after riff

You are *Magenta*! You're husky singing voice and luscious lips make you very very sexy! Guys want you, girls want to be you and you have the biggest hair ever seen on film! You do have a rather strange obsession with your brother though...

*smirks*

...it's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me, so you can't see me, no, not at all...

Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin

Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin
Tom Tykwer, 2000.
Franka Potente, Benno Fürmann, Joachim Krol
135 mins, M15+ (disturbing images and some language)

Irgendwo da draußen wartet die Liebe...

In the lyrics of Believe, which featured in Tom Tykwer's 1998 killer of a movie, Lola Rennt, it says, "I don't believe in promise, I don't believe in chance, I don't believe you can resist the things that make no sense... I don't believe there's destiny, but someone to accuse...' However, chance, coincidence, fate and destiny are themes that seem to play heavily in Tykwer's work, pushing plots far deeper than the simple relationships that they are laid out on.
Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin, which translates to The Warrior and The Empress (although it's called The Princess and The Warrior under English release), covers fate, destiny and chance, as did Lola Rennt, and tells a strangely uplifting existential tale that is both poetic and heartbreaking, achieving a level of humanity and tenderness that very few films will ever reach.
The story is beautifully told in few words, and is visually stunning and aurally perfect. A soundtrack more suited to every moment of the film could not be found, and it helps to add to the intense connection you feel to the film.
All things considered, the premise is deceptively simple - people meeting, perhaps thrown together by fate and a lot of persistence. But this film is about a meeting of souls, not some Hollywood throwing together of people who want to tear off each other's clothes and go at it like wild animals. The characters of Sissi (Potente) and Bodo (Fürmann) are opposites who are fated to attract, even though they are so wildly different.
There are connections between the two throughout the movie that we do not even realise are there until we stumble across the information later in the film - it's like a jigsaw puzzle that we didn't even know existed is taking shape before our eyes - which shows the way that fate has had a hand in it all.
Only by accident - or was it fate?- is Sissi pulled from the psychiatric hospital she works at to go to the bank to settle some business for a friend who has moved to the coast recently after the death of her mother (a letter from her starts the whole movie). On the way to the bank, Sissi is involved in an accident - she is hit by a tanker. She finds herself under the tanker in silence, unable to breathe, until a mysterious stranger (Bodo) comes to the rescue and helps her to breathe again by performing an emergency tracheotomy on her (definitely the most stomach-frightening scene I have ever seen in a movie).
The irony of it all is that Bodo is the one who caused the accident. Or... was it fate that made that all happen?
All Sissi manages to keep of him is a button that comes off of the sleeve of his shirt, and for the 53 days that she's in hospital, thinks of him. She has begun to breathe in life, too... and realises the suffocation that had slowly been happening at the asylum.
Her escape? Finding the man who saved her - there must be a reason to if, destiny, fate, chance? So she begins on her quest to find her saviour, not just because she's greatful, but because of the reasons behind it all. Actually, it's not just Sissi who needs to escape. What are we escaping from? Well, we may not realise that we want to escape, we may be clinging to what prevents us from doing it. Bodo clings to the day his wife immolated herself at a petrol station. Sissi is held by the patients in the psychiatric ward she works at, a place that's shut off from the world where she exists as the darling of the inmates who she cares about as individuals. After all, her father is one of them, it seems. The past holds Bodo and an interminable present keeps Sissi in stasis.
Finding the mysterious man who saved her life is easy enough - it's actually connecting with him that's the hard part. Bodo isn't interested in this, but it is Sissi's tenacity that forges a deeper connection, and it is ultimately the day in the bank that brings them together. She helps and protects him and shelters him when things all go terribly wrong.
Sissi saves Bodo after he had saved her. She saves him emotionally, bringing him back to life. Only together do they truly live - apart from each other, they exist, searching for something, living relatively blank lives with nothingness stretching into the distance. They both need each other to realise something more in life. Of course, they could exist separately in a way that seemed like they were doing perfectly well, but they wouldn't be alive in the truest sense.
This is a film of great beauty, visually and intellectually. It's langorous, liquid, filmed with great attention to detail, with gorgeous colours and clever camera work. There are some parts that are hard to watch, such as the tracheotomy, but they are handled exquisitly and add to the disturbing yet intensely satisfying feel of this movie.
As a viewer, you feel the quiet despair, the loss, the hollowness of an existence in stasis, the love that is tentatively felt, the silence, the greater workings of fate and destiny that remind us that even when things are bad, life is still worth living because you never know what you may find out there.
After all, as the tag line from the title says, irgendwo da draußen wartet die Liebe...

Zdravstvuite!

Hmm, having a random moment of in-between-things-ness, so I thought I'd say some bloggy hello's to people who I know read my blog (which I think is about all of... ermm... five... oooooh, special *lol*).

Hi Jesus! How are things going for you over there in Georgia? And have you set up a blog yet? :-p When you do, I wanna be a blog disciple! *lol*

Hey Clanki!!! Thanks for the cleavage compliment *lol* Hope you're having a good time with your internship and stuff and that life is treating you well.

Bon jour Kristin! Marry Chris, you know you want to *lol*

Hola Timmah :) Oh, and to Chetto too *lol* (for those of you wondering, Chetto is prolly the second cutest dog in the world) (my dog being the first... and I'm totally unbiased there! *LOL*). Hope work is treating you well and that you're having fun :)

Hallo Dale :-p Hope you're enjoying some MGF *lol*

And to everyone else who reads this blog, either on purpose or by accident, hello, ciao, g'day, konichiwa, jambo, annyong ha shimnikka, czesc, al Salaam a' alaykum and all of the rest of that :) Hope you're having a great day out there! :)

Home, home on the range...

Top ten things you don't want to hear from your real estate agent when you go to settlement on your new home:

1. "I think unexplained crop circles add a unique flair to any home's garden."

2. "Actually, it's only the rear portion of the yard that overlaps the ancient Indian burial ground."

3. "Yes, the last owner did donate the house to the Hell's Angels, but I'm told that the judge has ordered them not to come within 50 feet of it."

4. "One bleeding mirror doesn't necessarily mean it's haunted."

5. "Your neighbor has assured me that, technically, they're not 'killer' bees."

6. "Even if there was a full-scale mudslide, it's unlikely that it would reach as far back as your property."

7. "It's quite common for roaches to grow that big even when not in the presence of radioactivity."

8. "Did you know that the punk band "Grave Robber" holds their practice sessions right next door?"

9. "It's true that they died in the house, but the prosecutor was never actually able to prove it was murder."

10. "You can barely hear the sheet metal factory at night."

Blah!

More 2001
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Ugh, I hate being ill. It's impossible to concentrate on work and stuff. Blah! All I want to do is go back to bed and sleep *falls over*

My dog is sleeping under my desk here at work at the moment. I think he's getting a bit better - he's eating things at least (but only things that I cook - no dog food, which is weird).

Early night for me coming up :-p

*sigh*

Things are so wrong with the world.

About an hour or two ago, my mum gave me a call to let me know that a good friend of ours from South Australia had been killed in a car accident on Friday night in Sydney.

He was such a wonderful, wonderful person and has two little kids and everything

I cried a bit on the phone with mum when she told me, and then got the strange urge to cook lots of things. I'm chopping up onion when I realise that the tears I have on my face aren't from the onion hurting my eyes, but that I'm actually sobbing - deep, shuddering sobs.

Maybe it was the realisation that we won't see him again this side of eternity or something like that, perhaps it was a few other things added in.

Why all of this death and pain?

Pozegnalny, Darius.

You Can’t Find Peace
( Pale 3 featuring Skin )

I sit and wait
While you fight this man
You taste when kissing me
I used this time
To pace through our days
Before our life begins
Then you'll see that I'm your god
Corrupt your soul and
Let the blood go

You can't find peace
Without my persistence
I'll break the resistance I see in you
There's no release
Without my incredible resilience
To your will to grieve

Believe in me
I won't crush your beauty
I'll just lick it clean
Don't try to fall
Cuz I'll crawl the way
You're harder than I'll show
Devastation I will find
Dreaming afraid by your side

You can't find peace
Without my persistence
I'll break the resistance I see in you
There's no release
Without my incredible resilience
To your will to grieve

You can't find peace
Without my persistence
I'll break the resistance I see in you
There's no release
Without my incredible resilience
To your will to grieve

Hmmm... Talking to Brandon (aka Jesus) at the moment! Yay! It's been an awesome day today for catching up with uni people *lol* Taylor's down here at the moment for prac, so we saw each other today and did the coffee thing.

Mmmm... coffee...

Had quite a bit actually, so maybe that's why I'm still awake now *lol*

Watching Rage - Shihad is hosting it, and it's pretty interesting. All of these funky old clips and random moments of goodness. The 80s were still rather scary in terms of clothing, though - there was something with polka-dots and black and over-sized-ness before.

The best thing was the Jimi Hendrix clip. That was an aural orgasm! Mmm!

Song of the moment: Figjam by Butterfingers.

*teehee*

I think it's cheered me up by about three per cent *lol*

Also...!!!!!!

My dog ate something!!!

:-D

I hope it'll help him get better.

*tissue moment*

I rang my parents tonight to tell them about my dog being ill, which has really upset them (I feel bad about that), and we talked about the possibility of my dog dying or having to be put down.

He's 15 and almost-a-half now, so I guess he's had a good innings as far as lives go.

But I don't want him to die!

As silly as it might sound, he's almost like a child to me or something like that in terms of how much I care for him. I've owned him since he was six weeks old. When we met it was an instant connection. He owns me just as much as I own him.

If he dies, I dun know what I'll do.

pfft!

What a strange night.

Tony and I have talked about all kinds of random stuff on MSN - he's a fountain of all knowledge on heaps of things. We talked about fish and fishing tonight for a while, and I learnt heaps of things about it all. For example, flatheads are the best for cooking things like curries with! Hmmm.

And then a man I know told me that he loves me. I didn't know how to react to that. He's nice and I like him as a friend, but nothing more than that. I don't know how to tell him that either *lol* (in a non-harsh, evil way...).

I talked about that matter a little with another friend who seems to think that I'm emotionally demented because I don't want to hurt the feelings of other people and often disengage myself from them so they can be the ones who pull away from the 'relationship.' Okies, so it's not as nice as being blunt, but it works for me *lol* Oh well... *shrugs*

Time for bed. Mmmm, sleep!

*under construction*

This is something I have in the works at the moment, I'm just uploading it from work because this image is on the work 'puter. I'll be back later to finish off this blog on Der Krieger und Die Kaiserin!

Meanwhile, go and see it! *shakes fist* Rent it or buy it, whatever, just see it :)

Nosferatu

nosferatu
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

The way that the fog/cloud comes down over the hills in the mid-afternoon and gives the valley a murky feel makes me think that we're in Transylvania or something like that and that Nosferatu/Dracula can't be very far away.

It's sort of eerie, a little creepy. But inspiring in the same way. Perhaps I'll write a book about it *lol* Although I think that would scare me! :-p

Should go to bed... avoiding the flouncy negligee-wearing on the balcony with the exposed neck thing *lol*

Hmmm, time for home almost. A comforting thought! :) Although it's cold at home and takes ages to get the fire going at a temperature warm enough to make a difference and I have cleaning to do.

Oh well, it's home and there's a bed and sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep... mmmm...

*bwahahahaha*

mmm, drummers...
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

My friend Kristin just rang (you can find her here), and although it was originally about work, it soon degenerated *lol*

She was like, "We've only been talking for five minutes and we're already talking about sex!"

*smirks*

Now, I'm thinking that what should be done is a big petition to keep Kristin in the country *lol* And we can send it to the government and let them know just how much she adores the Wide Brown Land.

Okay, so the other name for Australia isn't as romantic-sounding as "Land of the Long White Cloud" (NZ) or "Land of the Morning Calm" (South Korea), but heh... it works well enough *lol*

In other news, Rammstein at work is good!

Doggy Days

How bizarre!

I woke up at the usual sort of time (6.30, thanks to the alarm... *mutters*), got up, got dressed, had a drink and then went back to lie down for a while (at that sort of a time in the morning, I have to have a lie down after I've gotten up just to make sure I can face the day!).

Anyways, the alarm was set to go off for 7am or so, and I think I must have fallen asleep or something and perhaps turned the alarm of while I slept (!?) and only woke up 7.17 when I got an SMS and the alert for that woke me up! o.0

I was like, 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!' but the SMS was from the people who usually give me a lift to work and they'd only just woken up then, too, as their alarm hadn't gone off, so I msg'd them back to say I'd walk to work. In between that time and leaving at 7.30, I decided that my dog should come to work with me, so we walked to work and now he's sitting on his rug (I brought a whole lot of his stuff with me) next to the desk.

It's probably like illegal, immoral and dreadful to have him here...

But it's nice at the same time - with him having been ill lately, I can keep an eye on him and be distracted by him as I attempt to work *lol* 'Twas funny packing up all of his stuff to bring in - food, water bowl, blankets, a tennis ball to play with. I was thinking, 'This is what it must be like to be a parent of a small child in some small kind of way.'

Here's looking at you

Here's looking at you
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

I think my little doggy is ill :(

Poor little sod. I'm going to see whether I can take him in to work with me or not - I have my own office after all. But then who knows...

Scott and Rachel had their dog Henry at work recently, though *lol* He's such a funny big floppy dog :)

My dog's only tiny. And the worst he can do is make a water feature on something like that on the carpet ^_^

^.^

Oroton
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Quoth the raven NEVER more...

# I must never stay up talking to people on MSN ever again. Other than making me over-tired and likely to fall asleep on my desk today, the late hour makes me too honest for my own good *lol*

Although I can just claim later that I was joking later and thus regain my image as the Ice Princess *lol* Besides, I don't really do the romance-caring-fancying thing :-p

# I will never buy chocolate coated coffee beans again. Well, at least not until next year when I've forgotten about them. Fruchocs are better. Normal chocolate is better. Chocolate-coated grasshoppers would be the worst thing, though, so hurrah for perspective.

# I must never laze about in bed any later than 7am because it just makes me late.

# I will never make: satay veggies, lasagne with broccoli, Dolmio macaroni cheese, creamy sundried tomato sauce or banana cake with more than three bananas EVER again.

# I will never restrict myself when it comes to Glo-Mesh and Oroton bags whilst op-shopping :)

# I will never stop singing along to the songs I have saved on my 'puter at work (to prevent annoyance of other colleagues, there is a door. The door is so handy... Open, shut, open, shut. Good door!).

# I will never fail to be excited to receive e-mails from my friend and confidant Oliver :)

That's about it for now, I think... better get to work! :)

:)

Meet Bondage Bear :)

Bondage Bear is my keyring decoration *lol* He's kind of infamous, which is weird! But he's a nice bear :)

This is all I really have to say at the moment. I'm seriously bored at the moment, which is sucky. No-one online, nothing on tv, freezing cold outside, me in need of a holiday to somewhere tropical *lol*

Hmm.

Watching the flames play on the wood in the fireplace. Nice and warm in here finally! It only took like two hours... *lol* I love how the wood breaks down into coals that turn bright hot orange. Then when you poke them around, they make a sound like glass or something similar. Nice :)

what memory?

"I made a point to burn all of her photographs... I remember the face but I can't recall the name..." - Whatsername, Greenday.

For some reason this line in the song made me think of my ex and stuff with him and how I think I only ever had two photographs of him that weren't on the computer (the joy of digital photography, I guess). No idea where the photos of us at the Adelaide zoo are, though, so I may as well have burned them. As for the digital stuff, well... the delete button works well enough.

From an almost-three-year relationship, I have nothing, other than some Hello Kitty stuff he gave me for Christmas once and memories of things we shared. It's like it didn't ever even happen, almost, which is strangely kind of cool. I mean, are relationships really as easy to erase as that? Hmmm...

As for my ex, I can't remember his face, but I recall his name.

*shrugs*

Time marches on, never ending, I suppose. Oh well. Almost the end of the day.

Like/Indifference/Hate

kitted out
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Things I Like Today
# Gingernut biscuits
# Being silly with Mr D via e-mail
# My music library on the computer here at work
# Birds singing
# The comment about the Running of the Bulls: "A lot of people trying to reconnect with their inner steak"
# My phone working again after it looked like it had tragically died (once more - 3 is a bad company to go with!)
# Cool water... so refreshing
# My cowboy boots :)

Things I'm Indifferent Towards Today
# Coffee
# Chocolate coated coffee beans
# Chocolate
# Work

Things I Hate Today
# Grey, dismal overcast weather
# My phone not working for about two hours
# My computer needing to be restarted regularly so that it doesn't spasm and kill my work
# Not getting all of the articles for the mag yet - but they'll arrive sometime, I'm sure... if not, I'll just do something else *lol*
# My messy desk

Hello sailor!

Mrowr!!!

Okay, I want to marry Ioan Grufford *lol* And no, it's not just because he was gorgeously wonderful in Great Expectations (BBC production, a few years ago) or in Hornblower as the dashing Horatio (also BBC, a few years ago), but because of this:

Ioan: Britney sets a bad example
Fantastic Four actor Ioan Gruffudd says Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are bad role models for young girls.
He says they pair are setting a bad example by flaunting their bodies and boasting about their sexual exploits.
According to Contactmusic.com he said: "I look at girls like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and think, they have a responsibility to be role models to their young fans, but, instead, it's all just about sex and selling their bodies.
"I think it's tarty. Personally, I enjoy the elegance and mystery of a woman."

Thanks to www.ananova.com for that!

How to Adopt an African Baby Lesson #1: Become a celebrity

Hollywood actress and UN activist Angelina Jolie has adopted an Ethiopian infant, an AIDS orphan she has named Zahara Marley.
The Daily Telegraph reports the adoption was approved last week by officials. Jolie flew into Ethiopia on Wednesday to collect the baby. Earlier in the week Jolie told celebrity website People she was "very happy to have a new addition to [her] family".
Jolie travelled to Ethiopia with her "Mr And Mrs Smith" co-star Brad Pitt, who she is rumoured to be romancing.
The adoption explains Jolie's recent trip to London department store Harrods, where she was recently spotted shopping for baby items. The visit sparked rumours she was pregnant to Pitt, which Jolie emphatically denied.
Zahara will be a sister to Jolie's son Maddox, who she adopted from Cambodia three years ago.
(from www.yourtv.com.au or whatever the site is)

Hmm.

Adoption sure comes easily for Ms Jolie. I mean, usually it takes forever and a century for a normal family to attempt to adopt a child from overseas (at least it does here in Australia - not that it's not hard enough to adopt 'normally').

And just how does she do it? Does she pop over to Africa, have a look around a few orphanages, line up some babies and say, "Oh, I'll take that one, thanks. Do you also have any in a lighter colour? No? Oh well, I guess this one will just have to do for now."

Okay, so I'm cynical about the whole thing, but it just doesn't seem fair or right that celebrities seem to get short-listed for everything and are allowed to do whatever they want when other families who would love to adopt a lil tacker from another country (or their own country) are struggling through miles of red tape, forms, waiting lists, blah blah blah blah blah!

Bollocks, I say!

As www.defamer.com puts it:
Angelina Jolie is extending her family the old-fashioned way, by jetting into Ethiopia, proclaiming, “I want that one!”, and assimilating a poverty-stricken infant into her steadily-growing brood. Once the quicky adoption of her new daughter is complete, Jolie and newly politically-conscious man-friend Brad Pitt will next (private) jet off to Tibet to select a third delegate of the Security Council for their planned alternate United Nations (comprised entirely of adopted offspring educated solely on international location shoots), which will one day replace the decaying, ineffectual institution and usher in a new era of peace and unity.
Oh, who are we kidding? You know those kids are going to spend their lives trying to convince the public that they’ve earned their movie roles on their own merits, struggling against the burden of famous parents.

Brr!

Walking down to meet the people I get a lift with to work made me almost freeze! It was so cold!!! My poor lil nose is still regaining sensation now *rubs it* Brrr.

On another note, I want to find out where the drafts are coming from in the house *lol* I've worked out where one's coming from, so I'll have to buy one of those snake thingies (you know, the draft stopping rolly things).

Spiders, snakes... what next? *lol*

Heh...

Snow White
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

One of my friends is trying to tell me that the size of the 'lunchboxes' on Leonardo da Vinci's male statues and paintings were just because they weren't interested in anything (read: one) at the time.

I'm like, what, not interested in anyone whilst being naked in Antarctica? HA!

*lol*

That was the intellectual conversation of the day... No, not really :) Just something crazy.

On another note, it's funny, but it sucks to notice that you actually fancy someone because of their absence. Altho I have to say I'm ticked off about that fanciment thing. Must not fancy that individual! Nyarrghh! *lol*

Dr Who...

Dr Who...
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

*holds some crumpled tissues*

Oh dear... Dr Who tonight made me cry for about 20 minutes, which was a bit tragic, I guess.

The episode was the one where Rose and the Dr went back in time to 1987 when Rose's father died, and she saved him from dying, but wrecked time and almost destroyed the world.

The bits that really got to me were where Rose and her dad were talking about the future (which lacked him, but he didn't know and she couldn't tell him, so made up all of these lovely things) and when the dad made his decision to die to save the future.

It was so tear-inducing :(

I think it was also because the dad reminded me heaps of my friend Danny, who I care about deeply.

But I really love Dr Who, and am enjoying the new version of it.

To check out more on Dr Who, click here

Greenery...

the mountain
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Perhaps it's because I'm getting older, but I like cooking shows and gardening shows *lol*

Anyways, I've got a small list of plants I want:

Birdlime Tree
Star Gardenia
Paraguayan Nightshade
Lord Nelson apple
Conknut tree (I think that's what they're called?)
D'anjou pear
Blue Agarve

There are more, but I'll add them at another time :)

You're standing on my neck

My Red Shoes
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Saturday afternoons rock!

Okay, so it's weird, but I love the New Idea Kitchen show that's on on channel 7 at about 2pm - Rick Stein is wonderful, and I love watching his work. He always introduces such interesting concepts and continues with great traditions :)

I've just watched Dracula, Dead and Loving It, too, which was excellent :) And now I'm on some old episodes of Daria.

On top of that, I've done a whole lot of cooking and gotten the house all cozy with a fire blazing away in the fireplace. Mmmm...

I love Saturdays :)

BDSM anyone? *lol*

At the moment, I'm talking to a friend who wants to learn how to be a domme. I'm trying to give her some advice about it and tell her where she can look to start getting in to it, but I think she's a bit shy about learning from a dom/domme, which is nice :)

She wants to dip her toes in and see where the wetness leads.

Hmm... It's interesting with BDSM, it can sort of become either a reality, or it can stay as something that's a fantasy or an imagination thing. Some of the elements are a bit weird, not much of it is for everyone. But it's all a personal choice thing :)

Oh well, I want a holiday! :D

London...

Poor, poor London :(

What happened this morning there? What will happen there?

A series of terrorist attacks. Why London?

It's crazy :( Although I've never been to England, I still love it - perhaps it's because half of my family is from there. I want to be there to help people :(

I don't think I've ever seen a political leader so close to tears as I see Tony Blair right now as he speaks about this. For once, I admire him. And I'm glad that he's going to be there for his country.

Please God, care for the people of London, comfort them, heal them, protect them.

I don't know what else to say.

o.0

May01974
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

If I'm honest, I have problems with a male friend of mine. He's engaged to a lady I know and he and she have been having some problems lately.

He wants to talk to me about those problems, which I guess would be fine, apart from the fact that he has now decided that he has to tell me that he's attracted to me and wants to kiss me, hold me, etc.

It's a dillema.

Shall I be nice to him and keep on fending off his advances?

Or shall I be blunt and say if you even lay a finger on me I will repeatedly knee you in a sensitive area until you scream for mercy in a very high-pitched voice o.0

A dream within a dream

Screen
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

I keep having the most bizarre dreams. I know I had three really odd dreams last night/this morning, but I can only remember one of them. In that dream, I was living in another house that was really nice and open and was waiting for a friend to arrive for the weekend.

It was pretty late in the evening, and it was really nice and mild so I had the windows open. I remember I was watching the X-Files, and got sleepy so I thought I'd take a nap in the time left before my friend arrived, so I went to bed. When I was in bed, I went to sleep in my dream and actually had dreams.

The dreams were like strange montages of images—fire, leaves being swirled in a circle by the wind, the back yard of the house I currently live at, various things like that, mostly from nature.

Something made me wake up from my dreams within a dream to get ready for the arrival of my friend, so I got out of bed, straightened the place up a bit (for some reason we were going to be sharing the bed I think... weird). When I'd finished that, she pulled in down my driveway in her car, but had one of my other friends with her, too. That was surreal, because the person was more like a combination of two of my friends... an odd thing there!

But it was good, in an unusual way.

Still, the dreams have been very tiring :-/

:-p

Ramms+ein
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Saw an amusing quote tonight: "I may have a bad mouth, but I can do great things with it."

*teehee*

So sleepy now ~ must go to bed and rest myself for the wonderful joy of work *lol*

:)

Care factor?

I was just thinking about whether or not I care about anyone at the moment (I mean in terms of romantic sort of care, love, whatever), and I'm afraid the answer has to be a resounding no. There was a guy who I did care for a lot, but then the horror of what he wanted set in.
Okay, so marriage isn't that horrible and terrifying, but it's the whole marriage, settle down, produce offspring, be happy for the rest of our lives thing that frightened me. And it still frightens me! But oh well... I just feel bad that I don't have that lovin' feeling towards that guy any more, and I don't want to tell him why *sigh*
Oh well... Love is a strange beast!

~experimentation~

oil experiement
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

I'd never tried using oil paints before the weekend, and I'm pretty happy with the way things are turning out so far :)

This is some of the work I did on Sunday, sort of as an experiment with how oil paint works and what sort of product you end up with.

One thing I can say for oil paint is that it stinks! And it's stunk out the spare room *lol* I put the painting in there to dry and whenever I open the door, a waft of chemical goodness issues forth. Ick!

But it was fun, and I'll probably do some more work with it this weekend, once I clean the house and do all of those mundane chores...

Spidey sense

Spidey sense
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

My stupid blog won't upload pix, so I have to go the long way around and send them in from flickr.com *sigh* Just another moment of technological joy!

*hits computer with stick*

It's a mental computer, this one. But then it's not it's fault that the blog isn't uploading pix, because my computer at home isn't doing it either *lol* And neither will any of the other computers in the office... :-p

But anyways! These are my wonderfully smashing spider stockings :-D

So, how useful is Live8?

Hmm, I know it'll sound bad, but ha!!!

I was right!

There was just a news report on Mozambique and the problems that they have (the average income is less than $US1 per day, they have hardly any structures in place to earn them money and no-one's investing in the country).

A businessman who has started up the Mozambique stock exchange (which is housed in a tiny office) said that people need education so that they'll be able to work in jobs like that which will bring money in to the country and be profitable in terms of creating infrastructure and import/export relationships with other countries.

One thing I remember the reporter saying was that no matter what happens, the problems won't be solved by one week in a G8 summit. Nor, do I suspect, from a few Live8 concerts.

Sure, the Live8 thing is a great idea.

But since the original Live8, exports from Africa to the rest of the world have dropped from 6% to 2%, so it's clear that the original Live8 may have raised some money and made people feel bad about African children dying, but it didn't actually help people in terms of encouraging an expansion in the work markets, promoting trade with African nations or giving business/trade education to the countries.

Countries need to be able to generate income, not just get to live on hand-outs from us in the 'richer' countries. People need to be educated for that, investments need to be made, time needs to be spent. And that may take lots of time and effort.

Chucking money at the countries and cutting debt may make some sort of instant solution, but what about next year? And the year after? And the next decade? What about when we're having Live8 in another 20 years? Will trade with Africa be at -2% then?

Give a person a fish and they'll eat for a day, but teach them to fish and they'll eat for life...

Heirate Mich

Heirate Mich
Originally uploaded by dellabella.

Mmmmm, Rammstein... I'm so glad I have heaps of Rammstein on my computer at work! Even though the computer is a totally mental, nuts, crazed and demented computer that decides to eat things/die/panic/melt down all of the time :-p

breakage in the pickle asile...

testing, testing

Well, I guess we'll find out whether this works or not! Just testing to see if I have the hang of doing javascript stuff, and if not, I'll just have to relinquish my dreams of doing itallicised and emboldened things *lol*

*notes a few minutes later*

Hurrah!!! It worked!!! I am now slowly coming to understand computery things... ooooh...

o.0

A-Z of today...

A is for Age - 21
B is for Booze - No thanks :)
C is for Career - Working in publishing. Mmm, taste the stress!
D is for Dad's name - That's for me to know, and you to guess wildly about :)
E is for Essential Item to Bring to a Party - Something for the host.
F is for Favorite Song of the Moment - 99 Luftballons by Nena ties for number one with The Timewarp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
G is for Goof Off Thing To Do - Write blogs :)
H is for Hometown - Greenock, originally. I'm sticking with that, it has less murders than here :-p
I is for Instrument You Play - Piano.
J is for Jam or Jelly You Like - Pink Lemonade or the Blue Berry Aeroplane ones.
K is for Kids - Mercy no!
L is for Living Arrangement - Quickly approaching a time to change *le sigh*
M is for Mom's Name - See the answer to D ;)
N is for Names of Best Friends - Hmmm, I have lots of ppl I consider to be best friends.
O is for Overnight Hospital Stays - Too many to remember. Longest stay was for my appendix removal tho :) That was fun! Well, apart from the nearly dying thing, but it was good otherwise.
P is for Phobias - The dark outside on moonless nights.
Q is for Quote You Like - Right now in this very second, it's, 'Do you see the look on my face now? It means that you have just broken my mind!'
R is for Relationship That Lasted the Longest - My last ex.
S is for Siblings - None at all. Hurrah for me!
T is for Texas, ever been? - No. Nor do I intend to. Scummy place the spat out Dubyah!
U is for Unique Trait - I have a few. I guess one major one would be my natural white streak in my hair.
V is for Vegetable You Love - Potato. That must be my German side speaking, but mmmm... yay for potatoes!
W is for Worst Trait - Procrastination, bad temper when I'm sick, easily distracted.
X is for X-rays you've had - Left arm for break, aged around 3, left arm for break, aged around 10, right arm for break, aged around 11, ankles, wrists, some other joints aged about 12. What were they for? Well, the breaks were all because I was a total tomboy and lived on a farm... so many possibilities there (remember folks, do not try to hang upside down from a tree branch with your feet...) *lol* The joints were for a growth/height prediction thing for a leg straightening operation I was supposed to have.
Y is for Yummy Food You Make - I put together a good cheese/fruit/whatever's around platter when I have people over. Also do fantastic stewed apples with cinnamon and cloves, potato patties, cucumber salad, banana and raspberry bread, pumpkin soup (with verjuice and King Island Dairy cream), onion tart, avocado and cos lettuce salad with snow peas, etc...
Z is for Zodiac Sign - Leo, the king of all of the signs. Just the way I like it ;)

It's still too early...

I met Henry this morning :) He's a dog who belongs to some of the people at work, and he's very fluffy indeed! He decided to sit on my lap for the trip to the house of the people he's visiting today—fortunately he's not as heavy as he looks *lol* Wonder what my dog will think of the smell of another dog! *gasp* Cheating! *lol*

Well, time to get started on work and all of that :) And attempt to restrain myself when it comes to the urges to throw the computer from the window for being a horrible, miserable, crashing, fool of a computer :-p This has got to be the first Apple Mac that I've ever had problems with, and of course it's the one I have to work with every day *lol*

Monday, Monday

Well, today started out interestingly. The people I usually get a lift to work with rang me at the time we usually meet to let me know that they'd just woken up *lol* I could either wait for them (another 50 minutes), find someone else to get a lift from (meh) or walk. So I decided to walk :)

On the way down the road, there's a highly irritating little white dog that always comes out and barks at whoever goes past and tried to bite my dog the other weekend. I'm always tempted to kick it (even though I usually love dogs. This one is a little evil b@stard, though). Anyways, this morning, it shoots out and starts barking, so I stared at it. It stopped for a while but the moment I turned my back, it chased after me growling and barking furiously. So I turned around, put on my most evil look and snarled/barked viciously back at it *teehee*

It was so funny! You should have seen and heard that dog! The moment I did that, it almost shot up in the air with surprise, had a look of fear on its face and shot off down the side of the hill squealing in terror.

Ah, my morning's work was done... *happy sigh*

Sure, it's not that nice to laugh about that dog, but if you'd met it, you'd know why it's such a horrible little creature!

Anyways, I got to work about five minutes after it had started, made a start on the 85 e-mails in my inbox (mmm, the joy of work e-mails), worked my a** off on getting the final touches of a late lot of news in to get to pre-press, avoided coffee, needed sleep and had a few laughs with co-workers.

Not a bad Monday morning, all in all.

*fur ball!*

Maybe it's just me, but I think Milo sludge has to be one of the worst-tasting ends to a drink that there could possibly be. Well, perhaps there's the other things like worms in tequilla and things like that, but Milo sludge? Sludge is the only word there can possibly be for it. It looks like some sort of chemical extrusion and has the consistency and taste of wet chalk. Bleh!

:)

I think I broke my other blog *lol* Oh well! This one will just have to do...

Anyway! A nice little joke to be going on with:

A priest wanted to raise money for his church. When told that there was a fortune in horse racing, he decided to purchase a racehorse and enter it in the races. However, at the local auction, the going price for horses was so high that he ended up buying a donkey instead. He figured that since he had it, he might just as well go ahead and enter it in the races. To his surprise, the donkey came in third! The next day the local paper carried this headline:

PRIEST`S ASS SHOWS
The priest was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and this time it won. The paper read:

PRIEST`S ASS OUT IN FRONT
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the priest not to enter the donkey in another race. The paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PRIEST`S ASS
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the priest to get rid of the donkey. The priest decided to give the donkey to a nun in a nearby convent. The paper headline the next day read:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN
The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun she couldn`t keep the donkey. She sold the donkey to a farmer for $10.00. Next day the headline read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.00
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey, lead it to the plains where it could run wild and free. Next day, the headline in the paper read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE
The Bishop was buried the next day.

It's nice to be inside with the warm fire and a nice drink :)

These are my peacock feathers. I love peacock feathers! One of the local stores has white feathers, and I'm planning on finding out whether or not I can buy some of them. They'll make a nice addition to these :)

There was a certain country where things used to go rather oddly. For instance, you could never tell whether it was going to rain or hail, or whether or not the milk was going to turn sour. It was impossible to say whether the next baby would be a boy or a girl, or, even after he was a week old, whether he would wake sweet-tempered or cross.

In strict accordance with the peculiar nature of this country of uncertainties, it came to pass one day that, in the midst of a shower of rain that might well be called golden, seeing the sun, shining as it fell, turned all its drops into molten topazes, and every drop was good for a grain of golden corn, or a yellow cowslip, or a buttercup, or a dandelion at least,-while this splendid rain was falling, I say, with a musical patter upon the great leaves of the horse-chestnuts, which hung like Vandyke collars about the necks of the creamy, red-spotted blossoms, and on the leaves of the sycamores, looking as if they had blood in their veins, and on a multitude of flowers, of which some stood up and boldly held out their cups to catch their share, while others cowered down laughing under the soft patting blows of the heavy warm drops;-while this lovely rain was washing all the air clean from the motes, and the bad odours, and the poisonseeds that had escaped from their prisons during the long drought-while it fell, splashing, and sparkling, with a hum, and a rush, and a soft clashing...

The opening of The Wise Woman by George McDonald :)

I really like George McDonald's writing, and hopefully it will help to take my mind off of more unpleasant things that have happened lately!

Hmm...

This morning when my dog and I were on our Saturday morning walk, we noticed that there were a lot of camera crews around near the police station in town. Being camera-shy, we decided to take the long way to the main street and merrily went on our way. We did a bit of shopping at the local deli (wonderful organic foccacia), looked in some other shops and wandered back towards home.

Anyways, after I cleaned up a bit at home, did some washing up and generally fiddled around, I turned on the cooking show that's on channel 7 (mm, cooking shows!). On a news update on there, the third item or so was about the murder of an 18 year old guy IN A HOUSE IN THIS TOWN o.0

So the camera crews had been around the police station for that and the arrest of a 17 year old guy who apparently did the murder.

Really horrible :(