Monday, September 02, 2013

I'd like to whinge about the weather. Akshully, not so much the weather - which has been lovely - but the temperatures.
In what's passed for our winter we've only had a handful, less than a handful, of overnight lows below 5°. Similarly there's only been a handful of days where the high temp didn't get above 10°. I've only had to wear gloves twice and cotton rather than wool scarves have been perfectly adequate. True, this has been in suburban Melbourne and no doubt it's been much colder along the coast or further inland, but I feel cheated especially now that the temperatures are rising again. The low last night was 18°. 18°. [grump] No wonder I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep easily.

~=o>




Sunday, September 01, 2013

Soulsis and I went to see the Pompeii - captured live in HD doco thingy this afternoon. It was enjoyable but not quite what I was expecting... not that I'm actually sure what I was expecting.
It was, essentially a documentary about the recent Britsh Museum exhibition, showcasing experts talking about stuff. It wouldn't have been out of place on one of the documentary channels, in fact I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn up there.
Even so, there was a lot of fascinating artifacts to ogle...

~=o>

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The local paper had a double page spread on our electoral candidates, (hey wow, we've got a Sex Party* candidate. Neat! That's where my second preference** is going, then.)

It was good being able to read through what the candidates had to say for themselves and it firmed up my Yes/No/NO/DEFINITELYNOT decisions. Even better, one of my newly registered-to-vote cubs had a read through as well, and made a list of his preferences. [proud]

(* If you go to the Sex Party's website, watch their campaign ad. It's a classic.
** First preference is for the Australian Greens, of course. :)

~=o>

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Hello again!

So what else has been happening?
My cubs turned eighteen in July. Eighteen! My baaaaaaabiiiiieees!

Yesterday they went out with their slightly older cousins to a pub for the first time. :) As it was their ID was barely adequate to get them in - school ID and health care card were just enough - and they decided not to buy any alcohol anyway. Which I'm sort of glad about, to be honest; it's good that they know they can go out with their mates and not have to drink. Mind you, they've not grown up with the idea that alcohol is a regular part of life: their dad is a teetotaller and if I have more than three beers over summer I'm a complete lush.

They got home very late though, having seen a movie in the city then come home by public transport. Was quite proud of them for their independence... and not having to haul myself out of the house late at night to go and pick them up from somewhere. (Oh, I would, any time. I've made that very clear to them.)
We had been planning on seeing Branagh's Hamlet this afternoon but decided to skip it, because of the forementioned lateness in getting and home, and also cos we all have so much homework to be doing.
We will still be going to Pacific Rim this thursday, though. That's definite.

The cubs' birthday cake. Made by soulsis, iced by Penny. :)


~=o>

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Soooo...

... haven't stuck my nose in here for a while. Been distracted on tumblr, mostly, and while tumblr is great for fandomy stuff, I tend not to record the everyday things there, or anywhere other than here, really. Which means that I essentially have no record of what's been going on for the past couple of months. Oops.

So what has been going on?
First: today is my eariversary. Yes, on this day a year ago I had an operation that nearly completely returned the hearing in my buggered up right ear. :) The ear is still good, but the change in my tastebuds hasn't completely resolved. My capacity to taste 'sweet' has diminished a bit. Not lifethreateningly inconvenient.

What else?
I've just completed a course in Certificate IV Training & Assessment. Well, sort of. I've attended all the study days - 8 in total - but I still have to hand in the assignments.

Cubs and I have seen Pacific Rim three times so far. Once in 2D, once in 3D and once in Imax 3D, which was the bestest! We'll be going to see it again in a week or so, at the Astor with the other fans.
Cubs and I have also seen the new Trek movie twice, and a Baz Luhrman double (Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge) at the Astor.

Oh, and there's been a new trailer released for the next Thor movie.



[muffled squealing]

Oh hey, look! 24 hours after it was released it has almost 2m views...

~=o>




Sunday, May 12, 2013

Forecast (Friday 10/5): 13-25°
Attained: 13-25°

Forecast (Saturday 11/5): 13-25°
Attained: 14-24°

Forecast (today 12/5): 16-22°
Attained: 18-22°


Mother's Day!
Cubs game me a big box of chocolates...





Between the three of us we finished them off while watching the DVD of The Hobbit. :)
Tired now...

Cubs also made me a card!





They know me so well...


~=o>

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Forecast (yesterday): 15-25°
Attained: 11-23°

Forecast (today): 13-25°
Attained: 16-25°


25°? Tch...

Cubs and I went to see a Die Hard double at the Astor yesterday night. The first installment, followed by the most recent.
Was heaps of fun. Very interesting to see the two films together, to see the difference in style and cinematography. The latest one is very tight, very fast compared to the first, but the first has a better story. And villain.
Ah, Hans...



(nicked from online and uncredited)

Tell you what though, after two testosterone soaked BSU films ('Blowing Stuff Up' I learnt a new term) I really, really wanted a beer. :)

~=o>

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Forecast Monday 6/5: 6-18°
Attained: 6-19°

Forecast today 7/5: 9-20°
Attained: 10-20°


Good grief, we've got a High Fire Danger alert for tomorrow! This is ridiculous, it's almost (what-passes-for) winter here!

~=o>

The boss is away for a few weeks so I somehow managed to volunteer to Chair the next staff meeting. Yerrss, professional development, an' all that, apparently.
Anyway, today I had to get the agenda organised. Bwhahahahah! For that read: take previous agenda, change dates, throw in a couple of token new things so it looks like I'm paying attention, show it to next in charge and hope for the best.
She made a couple of emminently sensible suggestions but otherwise said it was fine. Phew.

~=o>

KittenKong was not impressed with my veg/rice stew, despite being initially attracted to the smell of the chicken/lamb stock in which it was cooked.




Stew was very nom and surprisingly filling.


~=o>

Monday, May 06, 2013

Forecast Thursday 2/5: 8-18°
Attained: 7-18°

Forecast Friday 3/5: 10-20°
Attained: 11-19°

Forecast Saturday 4/5: ?-15°
Attained: 11-17°

Forecast Sunday 5/5: 9-16°
Attained: 11-15°


Oops, been a few days since posting. Let's see if I can remember what's been happening?

Thursday: I took the cubs to see The Hobbit at the Astor. Their first time seeing the movie and they loved it. :) I reacquainted myself with the fabulosity of Gandalf's scarf.

Friday: Um. I worked, then had the house to myself overnight cos the cubs were at their dad's. I cooked roast chicken.

Saturday: I went to see Spartacus at the Astor. The management made an announcement before the show, apologising profusely for the poor quality of the print. It was a digital transfer from the film, but not a good one. The word 'travesty' was used and the announcer hoped we'd be able to get past the quality of the print and try and enjoy the movie anyway. (They're true Film Buffs there :)
Yes, the quality wasn't good - it was like watching a VHS tape projected on to a big screen - and it wasn't a patch on the 80's restoration, but it wasn't unwatchable. Plus there was no scratching or jumping of the film, which will turn me off straight away. Besides it's such a good movie I could overlook the minor fuzzing.
Spartacus is in my top 5 movies of all time. My reasons for loving it have changed around over the 35+ years I've been watching it - the epicness, the gladiatoryness, the campness, the homoeroticism, the zomg-Kubrik-is-a-geniusness - but this time 'round I fell in love with it again for the performances by Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier. Amazing, funny and subtle compared to most of the rest of the cast... :)

Sunday (today): Not a lot happened, admittedly. I've been picking away at the epilogue of some fanfic I'm writing, and cooking, and reading. Eh, could've been worse.

~=o>

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Forecast: 11-17°
Attained: 10-16°


On the way to work this morning.
Hot air balloons passing overhead...




And there they go... :)




A good start to the day.

~=o>

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Forecast: 9-20°
Attained: 8-19°


Not much to say, really...

~=o>

Monday, April 29, 2013

Forecast: 11-19°
Attained: 11-18°


Cubs and I went with their dad to see Iron Man 3 tonight. It was pretty good :)
I'm disappointed though that the Thor 2 trailer wasn't shown. [pout]



~=o>


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Forecast: 16-20°
Attained: 16-19°


Weird day. Went off for a 40 minute nap and woke up four hours later. I probably shouldn't have done that...

~=o>

Did I get anything crossed of my List this weekend? No, but I did some other things that weren't listed on it to start with so that's good.

~=o>

Forecast: 15-24°
Attained: 15-24°


I went off for a nap this afternoon, slept longer than intended and woke up to an empty house.
Cubs had gone to their dad's for the night. I only know this because I txt'd to ask.

Mind you house-to-myself = chips! Mmmmm...

~=o>

Earlier today:

Me: [poking about in a cub's room, making him change his sheets, get rid of some rubbish etc.]
Cub: Isn't there something in your room you could be tidying.
Me: Yep, but your room is irritating me more at the moment...

I mined the laundry basket today, dragging out and washing the stuff that's been lurking in there for months. Will be repurposing some of it - doona to quillow! - and donating some of it to the op shop.

This isn't a spring cleaning urge - it's autumn, anyway - but more of a oh-finally-it's-not-too-hot-too-move-dammit-I-need-to-sort-shit-out urge. :)

~=o>

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Forecast: 14-22°
Attained: 16-23°


Sooo... it's the weekend again. Let's see if I can cross anything of my to-do list this time...

~=o>

I'd heard about this...




I'll watch it all at some point. :)

~=o>