Engrenages

It's now four episodes in to Spiral and I'm still not sure what I think of it.

On one hand, I like it quite a lot. It's French and on the whole, French productions screened on SBS tend to be of quite a good quality. Apart from that, French is a language I always wanted to learn and it's enjoyable to pick up bits and pieces like a crow attracted to shiny bits of speech. The way it's shot reminds me of the Tungsten setting on my camera. The senior judge amuses me somehow. Caroline Proust is good.

And yet...

It annoys me. I want to know what happened to the murdered Romanian girl, and yet that storyline seems to be going to be dragged out for the entire series and currently it doesn't feel like it's progressed at all, but is idling. Perhaps it's a short attention span brought on by such things as Law & Order when younger, but this was the sort of thing that put me off of watching The Bill when it went all soap opera. I feel almost compelled, but not in a good way, to watch because I don't want to miss bits of the puzzle, and yet nothing seems to happen. The chief prosecutor annoys me, even though he's gorgeous (and French!). The cop who uses coke irritates me deeply. I hope the Romanian guy gets run over by a bus.

But I want to know what happens, I want a resolution to the story we started out with way back in episode one. I want to find out if it's an exploration of a sick society or a sick judicial system - or both? And what about this medicine-making lab?

Drat it.

^ Even more snow today.

Nearly froze to death. But it was nice.

The only thing I love...

^ SNOW!!!

Okay, I do love other things than snow, but today I'm particularly joyful about snow and snow only. There needs to be more of it. Enough powder to plunge into, kick around... And to be the first person to do it for the day, rather than the 401st.

And snow down to 500 metres tomorrow? Guess that will make up for the insane windy weather that's meant to happen. I so hope that snow happens. I'll be ecstatic!

Things I Did Not Need To See #4583:

Old bogan ladies on the bus showing eachother photos of themselves nekkid and giggling away about it like schoolgirls. One of the old ladies had what was practically a goatee, which Clare has suggested might mean it was post-op photos. I think it might just be a revelation of what the bearded lady is doing post-retirement.

Other than that, today was quite pleasant.

An old lady commented on how she simply had to say how she admired my hair, everyone on the bus near the end of the trip ended up singing along to Stuck in the Middle With You (which on reflection is a little surreal), the sun was shining and who knew of the horrors to come?

I'm also just over half-way through Our Mutual Friend. The problem with reading Charles Dickens novels is that once you reach somewhere around the middle-point of the book, you realise you're on the "downward" slope to the conclusion. His writing is just so enjoyable that I don't want it to end.

World Youth Day laws - virgin on the ridiculous?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the laws created for World (Catholic) Youth Day undermine basic rights, are repugnant and an affront to freedom.

The penalties are utterly ridiculous (as are the things about "inconveniencing" or "annoying" any of the attendees - don't cut one off in traffic), the taxpayer "contributions," what the heck is with the strip-searching stuff, $5500 for that inconvenience/annoyance thing and I am so sick of receiving World Youth Day press releases. Seriously - they've been coming for more than a year and are all pointless. And annoying. Hmmm.

Anyway, some random thoughts for t-shirts...


^ Popeiary. When the Pope meets Leatherface and decorative gardening.


^ WYD '08: Not where you'd expect to see a man in a dress in Sydney...


^ Cardinal Sins.

I'm so glad I left NSW. Well, that's mainly from the perspective of no longer having a Dilemma government, along with the multitude of bogans with mullets. But I miss my family there, and the friends who are living there these days.

Update: some extra articles can be found here and here.

^ And even more Picnik'ing.

Picnik's really somewhat addictive. Must... fight... addiction... Actually, that's not hard to do at all. This is only the fourth time I've used it, so addiction might be just a bit of an exaggeration.

^ More Picnik'ing.

I had a massage on Saturday for my annoyingly painful back.

It was quite possibly the most painful thing since the Spanish Inquisition, which no-one expects, particularly when there's that tranquil hippy meandering sort of music being played in the room and there are fluffy, warm towels.

But holy bananas.

Yes, I know I have back tension and muscle knots and so on, but trigger point massage is something I vow here and now to never, ever have done again. Instead of leaving feeling regenerated and like I was in a state of blissful enlightenment with the world, as I did the last time I had a massage done, I left feeling like I'd suddenly turned 95 and all I wanted to do was beat people with a walking frame.

Was violently ill on Sunday and only somewhat less violently ill on Monday, thanks to the muscle knots rebelling and organising amongst themselves to return with vengeful glee to be worse than ever. Advil didn't even take the edge off things. Finally resorted to some leftover prescription stuff from when I had the wisdom teeth out (which is wrong and bad and everything). That was the only thing that managed to get me off to sleep, although I still woke up with one heck of a headache on Monday morning.

And my back's still sore after all that.

Next time I'm going to either make sure I only see the first therapist I saw or just have a long, hot bath with the involvement of a long, interesting book and good music.

Weekend wanderings

After the crazy windy weather...

^ ...the sun breaks through the clouds and I think, "Oh, so this suddenly makes the amount of cleaning up in the yard I'll have to do on the weekend better, does it? DAMMIT!" and soon after that, "Really, I need more sleep. A lot more sleep."

Which didn't happen last night.

Crazy weather makes for a crazy me. It's just lucky I'm not lurching from my desk with a glazed expression on my face, uttering, "Braaaaaaains... BraaaaaAAAaaiiiiins..." Or at least not any more than usual.

Away, away, away down south in Dixie

Yes, I have been away, doing other stuff, venturing off into the outer suburbs, buying red shiny things (red AND shiny is a great combination), being somewhat domestic and sheltering from the INSANE weather that's ranged from gale-force and wild to storm-force and wilder.

I bought Our Mutual Friend on Friday. After months of wishing it would magically appear in shops instead of me having to organise to order it, I bit the bullet and ordered it in. It arrived Friday and I picked it up with exceeding great joy in my heart. Am about half-way through and am enjoying it more than I did the first time I read it.

Also... Day Watch! It is mine! And it is meh. It probably could have done with an extra half-hour of plot to help it along. Or maybe I should read the books instead of just watching the movies. Also, Yegor annoys me and Zavulon looked more like someone's uncle than the leader of the Dark Others.

Naps are things I really need to avoid.

It's strange when you go to a sale and buy nothing that is actually on sale. Even the store manager joked about that with me and I did feel a little silly. But when the things on sale don't make you covet them, it's better to pay full price for what you do want.

There's something nice about being given cake at the post office. It made paying bills so much less painful. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing it was, too.

The house is still a chaotic mess. Must finish putting the art stuff away into some sort of ordered order. And the clothes. And the washing up. Err... Everything.

Lyna sent this on today and it amused me so much I had to post it.

Also, it reminds me of DevilKitteh when he wants attention.

^ Light tower.

^ Toadstools.

^ Ferny stump.

The parental units have been in the UK for the past almost-month and visited Stonehenge again (due to the fact that Tobi was with them and he'd not seen it before). Couldn't help but feel a little envious. Talking to them last night, apparently they'd also had the err... joy... of going through Avebury on Solstice. Although I'd say it wouldn't have been as bad as Stonehenge would be around Solstice time, judging by the signs you get as a "warning" about 15 miles before you even reach the stone circle about "queues expected."

I wouldn't have minded going to Avebury last year when we were on holidays over there, but unfortunately the schedule was pretty tight and didn't allow for much "touristy" stuff. So maybe I should start saving up for another trip over to England to do some of the things that I didn't get to last time. Including shopping more. Although prices over there are mostly rather ridiculous, and that's even before you factor in the conversion rate (something that can seem relatively reasonably priced ends up nearly giving you a heart attack when you later see it on your bank statement after it's all processed).

Anyway. At least Mum and Dad have had an adventure-filled trip there (although I think they could have done without the food poisoning thing). Plus they've found out a whole lot more about the relatives, family history and so on. One part has been traced back to the fourth century in France, which is pretty awesome. Apparently the trail goes a bit cold there and the relatives think that to track back further, they'd have to go to France.

Oh, and there's apparently also that thing about the knight involved in the murder of Thomas Becket. The plus side: a knight! The negative side: a murdering knight!

Who knew family history could be so interesting.

Or stabby.

^ Random other photos from last night.

We did the bowling thing last night.

On the whole it was an entertaining evening. We had dinner at a restaurant that made me think it's the kind of place Carl Williams and co might come for family dinner. Plenty of mullets and Chopper moustaches, flannel-style lumberjack jackets, puffer parkas and spiky hair - the BabyCarl spiked hair -on those not old enough to join the ranks of the Chopper chops. Plus there were a lot of babies.

And a guy who bore a striking resemblance to Carl Williams. Just younger and with a flouro orange tshirt and flanno jacket and facial piercings. But mostly it was people who were dressed like they were about to audition for a Bundaberg Rum ad.

Upon arriving at the bowling place, some old guy was exiting and gave me a lascivious smile and wink. Hmmm. Nothing like the aging, I suppose. Bowling results were unsurprising, having now bowled since around 2000. But the second game with 122 points made me happy :)

Okay, so it's not new at all, but I found a photoshop-style website today that's tonnes of fun to play around with. It's called Picnik and will probably keep me amused for a few days before I forget about it completely.

This is something I was mucking around with earlier:



Which is the same image as the one below, just with a lomo effect applied. Not sure what to think of it, other than it was fun! Well, fun for a Thursday afternoon that's rainy and uninspiring. But it makes me realise that I have oh-so-much to learn.

Abandoned #1

Abandoned #2

Abandoned #3

Scrabbleicious wrongness

We played Scrabble today.

The following are some of the wrong/weird things that came of it:




^ The top pic is of the first seven letters I picked up in order. Which made me laugh and then everyone wanted to see what I was laughing about, so they all got to see the letters. The second is something the officemate discovered on his tiles and didn't end up putting on the board. The third was just a random collection of letters for me. A particularly useless collection of letters.

So Scrabble's not quite as boring as it would seem.

Ask not what piracy can do for you, but what you can do for piracy

^ This is why you shouldn't always put on the first thing that comes to hand in the morning when you're disgustingly tired and running late.

Also, apologies for the somewhat blurry photo. It's difficult to take pix of your own legs from that angle and I realised too late that the ISO was only set at 80. Oops.

Still, remember to avoid skull-y stockings for work!

However, if you're looking for skull stockings in general, these are ones I picked up from The Sock Shop last year at Southern Cross Station. I think there's also Leg Avenue brand skull stockings floating around out there.

Must also remember to not wear the redback spider stockings to work... Regardless of where you wear them, people come up with witty comments such as, "Ooh, you've got spiders on your legs!" which gets somewhat tired after the 79th time.

^ Starburst.

^ Wooden.

I nearly fell down an embankment at lunch.

However, I ended up sliding down it magically and grabbing a branch at the last minute, and hopped back onto the path. I thought, "The time that no-one's around to see, magic happens! But if someone had been around, I probably would have face-planted."

It's so nice to have a sunny day for wandering around, taking photos. I've still got to enter the Digital Photographer of the Year competition thing and haven't been all that inspired yet. The categories don't really cater to what I consider my strong points (macro and nature) and the Hidden Britain thing could be a little difficult (well, were it not for the fact that I've got photos from last year over there).

Also, I've never been anywhere that would suit the penchant for third world misery aesthetic photos. Plus I'm not fond of taking photos of people for some reason. Although the few hundred from the other Saturday night would kind of contradict that *lol*

But you've gotta be in it to win it...

The spare room.

Oh, the spare room.

It was an utter and complete mess and so I hauled most of the things in it out today (other than the big furniture). That included all of the art stuff. The photo above is of about a third of it out in the lounge/dining room. Other things were easy enough to throw out or put into bags for the Salvos/St Vinnies. But when I tried to cull some of the art things, it was impossible.

So the spare room is slightly less messy now.

In other thoughts, I need to go through my multitude of spare handbags, some of which are in the spare room. I looked in some of them and found an assortment of coin and various painkiller things. It was like a bank meets a pharmacy in a very confined space with lipgloss.

Watching Sunday Arts at the moment with the Flinders Ranges story and Hans Heysen's work is currently being featured. I remember going to his studio years ago with my family and enjoying it a lot. The way he captured light was so good. My 16th birthday present was a Heysen print, framed beautifully. The Flinders Ranges are also things I remember from our Flinders National Park/Simpson Desert/Birdsville Track travels when I was about 12.

I remember the vivid, hot colours of the desert, the way in which the sand changed colour over the miles, silence, gibber rocks, gidgee trees and the way they smelled when they got wet, empty waterways lined with sand, the somewhat sulphurous-tasting water at Blanche Cup, late-evening baths at Coward Springs in the bore water, looking up at the stars.

Just appreciating the landscape in Australia is something I wish I'd taken more time to do when younger when I explored things more. I wish I could go back through the Simpson Desert again and approach it from an art perspective.

^ Pulled these leaves out of a vase yesterday and they'd grown roots. Hmm. Must find somewhere to plant these.

I stole this quiz concepty thing from someone's blog I was reading recently, mainly because I've not been feeling inspired for anything much lately and thought it'd be good to at least have some wordage... So here goes with the answers.

Ten things you wish you could say to 10 different people right now. Don't list any names.
1. I love you so much - you make me feel like my heart is breaking with happiness, mingled with the knowledge it'll never be anything more than what it is.
2. How about we do the formal introduction thing, then? ;)
3. Do you really think you're doing the right thing?
4. You're the most awesome family ever and I love you fit to burst!
5. It suits you so much to be the way you are now and it makes me so happy to see you comfortable in who you are.
6. Please wear pants more often.
7. I'm sorry.
8. Do you know how disgustingly cute you are?
9. Have you thought about reserving a plot for it yet?
10. Stop being such a dramaprince. I actually don't care at all.

Nine things about yourself.
1. Tacky TV amuses me a lot. Particularly Midsommer Murders, which was a show I strangely found I had a shared love of with the relatives in England. Bonding over John Nettles's hotness was amusing.
2. There's a lot of stuff I'd love to blog because it's hilarious but just can't.
3. I'm a vegetarian, but I love leather. Poor little dead animals.
4. Photography is one of my favourite things, moreso than writing these days.
5. When I was little, I was chased by a cow and ran about half a kilometre being chased by it and eventually hurdled a fence to escape. It was probably the sportiest thing I've ever done.
6. Comedy things tend to stick in my mind, Lord knows why.
7. Mornings don't suit me.
8. Found my skull and crossbones cardigan today!
9. I really hate reality TV.

Eight ways to win your heart.
1. Be amusing.
2. Be intelligent.
3. Be a lil' bit cheeky.
4. Let me know you fancy me.
5. But don't apply pressure about it.
6. Stimulate my brain - challenge, enlighten, enliven, etc.
7. Don't suddenly reveal a tattoo of John Howard.
8. Possibly have a hot British accent...

Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
1. Music. Music. Music.
2. Him. Oh, and him...
3. "Where's my camera? Gotta photograph that."
4. Things that amuse me.
5. Random things.
6. What to write.
7. Art.

Six things you wish you never did.
1. Said some unpleasant things to people undeserving of them. I'm sorry.
2. Taken up procrastinating.
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
6. ...

Five turn-offs.
1. Rednecks.
2. Racism/sexism/discrimination in general. It's amazing how unsexy you can find someone when they send a mass forwarded email about how people who come to Australia should assimilate or sod off...
3. Mullets.
4. Narrow-minded people.
5. Alcoholics.

Four turn-ons.
1. Older men.
2. Intelligence.
3. A bit of a wild streak.
4. A great voice.

Three good and bad moments in your life you'll never forget.
Good
1. Going to Germany and England. The best three weeks ever.
2. High School. All of the fun my friends and I had there, how much laughter there was, some absolutley amazing teachers, etc.
3. Buying my first house.

Bad
1. Deaths - grandparents, pets, other loved ones.
2. Oh, lots of stuff.
3. Buying my first house.

Two things you want to do before you die.
1. Go back to Germany and England.
2. Live to a ripe old age.

One confession.
...

^ Abandoned lot.

Surprising how hard it is to get motivated after a string of late nights and minimal sleep. Most of today was spent lounging around. At least most of the cleaning up from last night is done, apart from the washing up.

Kez and Penguin and their respective husbands came over to dinner last night and there were hours of silliness and laughter. Which was good after a stressful week. Plus it was great to see Penguin and her husband, who I've not seen for about three and a half years or something.

And now for the washing up.

Eek.