Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Heh, got the results of last week's test back. 93%.
See, I told you it wasn't going to be 100%. : )
I'm fairly happy with the mark, though as has been the case throughout allll my schooling, I lost points for stupid little mistakes. Eh – I passed, that's all that matters. (The pass-mark was 80%, by the way.)
Had a practice test today for the subject that makes my brain hurt (Occupational Health & Safety). If it'd been the actual exam I would've passed, but not by much. I really really like practise tests, they're an excellent opportunity to check how much you know and where you need to spend more time.
As it stands, I should get a 'CO' (competent) in 3 of my 4 subjects – failing a stupendous cock-up on the real OHS exam 1st week back of term 2, that is. I'm almost certain to pass the fourth subject but I won't officially be marked in that until I've done the required number of hours in 'industry placement', work-experience in other words. There's several subjects have the industry placement criteria – I wonder if I can count my work at the cubs' school towards it? (The principal told me the other day there'll be stacks to do soon, what with all the books that've been donated to the school. : ) That'll be good, I miss the library work.)

<scowl> There's paper plates strewn/stashed all over the house – they've got numbers written on them. Why? Cos one of my cubs decided he wanted to play a number-finding game. <rude noise> Of course, his chances of finding them all are very good cos it was him wot hid them... Plays to win, does my cub - I despair of the kind of gamer he'll be if he ever gets involved in role-playing. Number-crunching Munchkin, anyone?

I probly should get on with my next AC, seeing as Joules has been good and finished hers...
(Or maybe that should be conscientious rather than good. For some reason Joules kicks up about words like 'good' or 'sweet' being used in relation to her. <bg>)

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Astro Boy. Hn, it's as sappy as I remember but no doubt the animation is much better than the original. They've kept the flavour of the original theme too, unlike the - the abomination that was made of the re-released Kimba theme some years ago. <sobs, shakes fist> Curse you, you defilers! .... <deep breath> I'm all right now.
The cubs like Astro Boy, though, they get right into the storylines. : )

And the cubs took me on a tour of the 'portable' school this afternoon when I went to pick them up. It's pretty spiffy, doesn't feel portable at all. The classrooms are set in a 'U' shape around a central lawn - gives it a villagey kind of air. I like it. : )

Hn, Easter holidays start in <counts on fingers> 3 days - spose I should make the now traditional list of goals.
Right, cubs' room - it's a sty, has to be cleaned.
My room - ditto.
.............

I think that'll do.

Monday, March 29, 2004

The Museum's new Bugs Alive exhibit was very, um, interesting. Very interesting, on the whole... even the plethora of live spiders. There was a Chilean Rose tarantula lurking pinkly in its enclosure. I pointed it out to the cubs as the one Kai has and they were dead impressed. They're talking now about having pet spiders... <head in hands> I don't think so, I'm not going to have an animal in the house that makes me twitch.
I got to hold a leaf insect (well, I got to be walked on by a leaf insect) and that was kinda cute in a sticky prickly sort of fashion : ) You can get them from pet-shops around here, as you can some of the ginormous native australian cockroaches...
Nah, if I'm going to acquire some exotic pets they'll most likely be frogs.
As part of the exhibit the Museum has dragged out some of it's extensive insect collection. So pretty! Very dead, but still - so pretty! Hundreds of moths and butterflies and beetles and spiders, all shades and colours, all sizes and shapes, artistically arranged and displayed. Fascinating! I love butterfly collections... if it wasn't for the dodgy karma involved in displaying dead creatures my house would be full of them! (I have toyed with the idea of making karma-free displays - butterflies fashioned from paper or material. I've bought half a dozen origami books over the years just because they contain patterns for butterflys. : )
Was able to buy the cubs a little something each from the gift shop (and something for myself - a piece of plastic sushi, prawn on rice. Hee. Almost got the full set now.) One of my cubs chose a t-rex marionette thing... <sigh> You can only guess how many times in the past 6 hours I've had to untangle the strings.
But it was a fun day and we all want to go back and visit the mini-beasts again.

The cubs' school goes into the portable classrooms tomorrow, where they'll be until the new school is built. Unfortunately I don't think I can stay for the assembly in the morning, let alone the planned ribbon-cutting ceremony, cos I have to get to school myself. Ah well, Penny'll be there, she'll take the photos.
Soulsis (and chicks) brought Mum over this morning then we all went out to lunch. It wasn't bad (heh, Smorgy's food) and Mum enjoyed herself - which was the whole point.
And <happy squeak> Soulsis brought me some presents! The Camelot DVD, a mouse/cat notepad and the cutest set of fish stickers ever. : ) I'm saving those for when I get my new monitor then they can swim around the frame... Thanks, Soulsis!

Heh, this comment thing could be interesting - I can already see it doubling the amount of time spend reading the blogs. <g>

No school tomorrow, and the temperature's forecast for the low 20's. It got to 32 degrees today - ack! It's Autumn for goodness' sake, it's sposed to be getting cooler! But anyway, the cubs and I will probly go into the Museum as planned, and their father mentioned he'd like to take them bike-riding sometime tomorrow as well. Should have two very tired cubs by the end of the day.

Joules is starting her next AC (which is prompting me to think about mine) while I've begun the next Haadri fanfic. : )

Mmmm my house smells of the 'Rock Star' soap...

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Oh, I get it now, they've not simply remastered the Astro Boy series, they've redone it. Ah...
Never much liked the program when I was younger but now, with a bit of anime appreciation behind me, I can admit to a certain curiosity. It starts on Monday, I'll check it out then.

It's interesting, isn't it, that there's no shrinking violets amongst practitioners of the Dark side of the Force. Evil isn't just seductive it's ego-driven! <smirk>
Heh. Just the other day I was talking to someone about the difference between Lj and Blogger, commenting that I preferred Blogger but thought Lj's 'feedback' option was handy.
Guess what? (hint: have a look at the bottom of the posts.)
<smirk> Dipping into some unfamiliar blogs I found one that had the 'comment' option. Naturally curious I clicked on the link and voila . It's not quite the same as Lj, the comments page is a pop-up, but I'll give it a go, see if it buggers around too much with anything else. : )

As mentioned on Joules' blog, my next Dystopia fic, 'Zoo', is posted in Darkside. It's short, but nasty and sets up another important arc in this world-frame.
Think I need to do something light and fluffy now to get rid of the taste... maybe some more Haadri facfic? <bg>


Saturday, March 27, 2004

<happysigh> ... and the ficlet was waiting for me in my email... the fluffy bunny's very happy now... : )

Oh dear, oh dear. Arrr... the haddock be swimmin' agin the toide...
Daylight savings finishes tonight, our clocks go back an hour. I've never been able to make sense of it.

Uhoh, found out where one of my local bookstores (Borders) keeps the manga. I flipped through volume 1 of Fake, and volumes of Cardcaptor Sakura; Excel Saga; Cowboy Bebop; X; GTO; thingy Utena and others I don't remember. Heh, I should've been doing homework and it's a good thing this store doesn't do lay-bys. : )
<poutgrumble> Joules has started the next Watari/Oriya ficlet (and promised lemon) but I have to get offline now and get the cubs ready for this party. 's not fair - I'll have to wait 'til this evening to read it and I've been waiting a whole week already!
[snort] And you know perfectly well that doesn't work. [glares at A'lestrel] I'll deal with you later, obstreperous bratling...

<dismayed squeak> What?! The ham-ham wasn't my idea - I was just following orders!
... okay, that argument didn't work at Nuremberg, either, but - <tears brimming in big, soulful blue eyes> - no Watari/Oriya smu- er, angst? That's not fair! <pout>

[... no, you don't need to make a noise to scare people, hab'lan... <smirk>]
Hee, this was my battlecry result...
(And a battlecry's not so much about letting them know you're coming as scaring seven shades of excrement out of them before you get there. See? : )

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Lo! Who is that, prowling on the desert! It is Lutra, hands clutching a reflective halberd! She grunts homicidally:

"I'm going to screw you in such an unsafe manner, you'll age fifty years!!"

Find out!
Enter username:
Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys



.... this has got me thinking... what sort of carnal relations would be so unsafe they'd age the recipient? Hmm...

I spent last night making ghost costumes, for today's birthday party. The cubs and I worked on the refinements this morning. One cub is going as the ghost of a bionicle and the other as the ghost of a ham-ham. : ) It was fun making the ears! I'll take some photos later...

Friday, March 26, 2004

Heh, now I've done it. Volunteered myself to be Penny's deputy for putting together the school's historical record. : ) We had fun this morning though, borrowing the school's digital camera and zipping around taking photos of the temporary accomodation.

Finally got some photos of the old site scanned.

fire1

The blank space on the right side of the pic is the wing where the library was...













fire2

The front of the school. This part has been demolished now.











cubs

And lastly, my cubs demonstrating how upset they are. <rolls eyes>






(The yellow thing on M's head is a transformer; the thing S's holding is a plush stingray...)



Thanks, Joules, for resizing and hosting the pics! And thank you, Penny, for scanning them. : )

Thursday, March 25, 2004

The school's 'Book Fair' went well. Over $5000 worth of books sold, $1700+ of that in books that have been donated to the school (that includes $40 worth from the cubs and I) and Scholastic - the company that runs these things - will be donating 35% of the total sales in books to the school. Heh, not a bad effort for such a little institution, eh?

Finished fiddling with a couple of 'Dancing' chapters this week and now I'm dippiing back into Dystopia briefly. Got the next Elga chapter started as well.

Treated myself to a sliver of soap from Lush today (had to be a sliver, this stuff is expensive!). The soap's called 'Rock Star' and it smells like fairy floss...
Gah, it feels like Friday. Why isn't it Friday?
Got a full weekend coming up. Saturday the cubs are going to a birthday party; on Sunday Soulsis and her chicks are bringing Mum down and we're going to Smorgy's for her birthday; and on Monday (which is a day off school for the cubs cos they'll be shifting into the portable school) the cubs and I are planning on going into the Museum to see the new Bug's Alive exhibition. I'm exhausted already! : }

Hee, Soulsis rang me today to see if A: I had a copy of the musical Camelot on DVD and B: if not would I like one?
I said yes, naturally, I love musicals and Camelot is one of the fluffy-bunny's favourites, so beautifully, tragically Romantic.
I like musicals so much I swear there must be a part of my psyche that's a gay man. Oookay, before anyone squeaks about 'stereotypes' just let me say that every gay man I've ever known enjoys musicals. So there. : )
I have one little niggle with the X series - sometimes I can't read the yellow subtitles when the backgrounds are pale. Be much easier to follow with closed captions. Ah well.
I've had to resort to listening to the English dub in places cos I just can't follow what's going on otherwise. I have the subtitles on at the same time which makes for an interesting effect. It's surprising how many extra words the dub uses, makes it quite wordy compared to the almost spare subs. This isn't necessarily a good thing - the more words used to expand or explain the subtleties the more the original meaning is submerged. I've found, however, I've been getting a 'feel' for the Japanese voices and am picking up clues as to content from the intonations. Fascinating. The cultural slant on the two tracks in noticeable as well, and quite funny in places. (No, no examples, it's late and it's been a long day. : )
And another quick word about the movie version... The more I see of the series the more I realise how bastardised the movie is. It hasn't just been compressed, it's been completely re-edited and the plot significantly changed. I mean, it still works, but the series is way more satisfying. Hope this isn't putting you off the movie too much, Joules!
(One last word... Mmmm... Fuma... And once again the bad guys are all dead-sexy. Tch.)

Wow, this is the second last week of term. Two of my subjects finish next week, another one finishes the first week of term 2, and the fourth finishes 2 weeks after that. Still haven't had any confirmation about places in other subjects, but if I end up not doing any more classes this year I'll cope no doubt, can always make them up next year.
The cubs were well enough to go to school today which was good cos I had an assessment test scheduled for one of my classes and I really didn't want to miss it. How'd I do? Okay, I guess, I'll be surprised if I failed, but I don't think it'll be another 100 percent score.

Sorry to hear bratling's having difficulties, Joules. : ( Hope it settles down soon with the minimum of aggravation.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

<sniggering> ... and this was Joules' reaction to my previous post...
<from under desk> not coming out 'til you renounce Boobahs, Teletubbies and other assorted spawn of... um.... some demonic being.....
<smirk>
But they're all so cuuuuute...!

Ok, so technically the cubs were well enough to go to school today but I thought it'd be good for them to have a quiet day at home. Means I'm missing my classes, which I'm less happy about, but I'm tired too. Heh, really looking forward to the term break, I have to admit.

Take the Teletubbies, devolve them, then prescribe LSD...
Apparently there is a point to this show but I obviously haven't got it yet. Mind you I thought the Teletubbies were pretty pointless at first but ended up being well and truly charmed. <shakes head> I dunno, put something prettysparkly in front of me and I'm smitten...

Monday, March 22, 2004

Got a call today from the school to go and pick up my cubs from the sports-day excursion. <sigh> The one who'd been sick last night had been sick again. He flaked out on the couch for the rest of the afternoon while the other one (he'll probly get sick in the next couple of days) bounced around bored and distracted cos he had no-one to play with. I blame their father, he was ill over the weekend... : ) Not sure what's going to happen tomorrow – if the sick cub has to stay home do I send his brother off to school anyway? Either way I won't be able to attend my own classes. Eh well.

Aaaand the healthy cub wanted to help me with the washing-up tonight.
<smiling through gritted teeth>
It's good he wants to help – it's good he wants to help.
There's a fine line between gentle, encouraging instruction and tching in barely concealed irritation. I know the only way he's going to learn to do this effectively is by actually doing it but the process took 3 times longer than usual. : )

Started work on chapter 6 of 'Dancing' (hang on? Have I finished 5? Must check...). Had a 'ping' (imagine light-bulb over head) about it, as well. This is good, feel like I'm making progress finally.
I still have no idea what's going to happen when I've finished it though. What do I do? Find an agent first or just start sending out copies to publishers?
<cue Procrastination Princess> I'll think about it later...

Of all the mummy-duties that fall to me there is none I enjoy more than cleaning up after a sick child... (Yes, I'm being sarcastic. What sort of weirdo do you take me for? I've seen those adult websites - I don't understand the attraction in watching a naked woman vomit.)
I digress.
And there's no better time to perform this duty than just before I go to bed. <sigh> (Ok, could've been worse, sick cub could've come to find me after I'd gone to bed.) But of course, all the icked on bedding (and toys) had to be cleaned straight away or they would've stunk up the house, and then I couldn't go back to bed until the load in the washing-machine was finished cos I'm paranoid about fires started by unattended electrical appliances. Who needs extreme sports for action and adventure, just try parenting...

Uhoh, housemate's found a bookshop that sells and more importantly will lay-by the 'How to draw Manga' series. This could be bad, I haven't purchased any of these books yet cos the only other place I've seen them doesn't do lay-bys. Eh, I'll add them to the list. : )

Well the cubs' projects weren't as painful to complete as anticipated. We walked up to the newsagents on Saturday to get all the card/coloured paper/crepe paper etc we needed then after lunch sat down and got to work. Took just over an hour to finish them. Tch. Fair enough they're not particularly involved or detailed constructions but they're done. The integrated subject for this term turned out to be 'Natural Disasters', not 'Art & Artists' (the kids took a vote, apparently) and so my cubs decided to construct volcanoes for their projects. This consisted of a roughly torn ('clever tearing' - it's a technical term : ) piece of brown paper glued to backing board to represent an island, then a green-paper cone set onto that as the volcano with lava streams made up from strips of crepe paper flowing out from the centre. That was the fun bit, less fun was the writing of volcano 'facts' on the card but it was done and we all sat back blinking at each other at how quickly it had been completed. Heh.
... and then yesterday I initiated some cleaning-up of the house.
Telling the cubs that they're going to clean up their room doesn't work, it's too big a task for them to contemplate and I have to reboot their brains with cordial and a snack. Instead I asked them to do one task - pick up their books and put them back on their bookshelf. There was still grumbling and I still had to supervise them but it wasn't the wholesale trauma of an overwhelming job. Tonight I might ask them to do another small task, and tomorrow another. Call me an optimist but if this works their room should be in order before long...

I did some book-covering last night, using the last remainder of the school library.
A few weeks ago (can't remember if I mentioned it or not) I took home some of the library's supply of the product used to cover books' dustjackets. The stuff has been sitting there for years with little chance of being used as the school didn't seem to buy books with dustjackets anymore. So I asked the librarian I worked with if it was okay for me to take some and she said sure, the stuff was likely to end up in the bin anyway. I only took enough to cover 5 of my books, thinking I could always come back for more... A week later the library and everything in it was gone. Oh well, if I want to cover the rest of my books I'm just going to have to shell out the dosh and buy the product myself.
(But covering the books was enjoyable - I did a good job of it if I say so myself : )

Okies, chapter 4 of 'Elga' is posted in DarkRealm (thanks, Joules, again, for the coding and such : ) I've had a good look at the superhero fic from years ago and I think I can do something with it. Needs rewriting desperately but the basic premise is good.
But first I shall work on another chapter of 'Dancing'.

Oh, have you seen this comic-strip? Get Fuzzy. Onna's sent me some of the strips before but I stumbled across the actual website yesterday. If you're a cat-person you'll probly wet yourself laughing over this - I did. <bg>

Happy Mothering Sunday, Joules!
That's one sweet bratling (and mate) you've got there. : )

Saturday, March 20, 2004

In my dream last night someone (I don't know them) was trying to organise my life for their convenience. They looked quite surprised when I growled at them... : )

Apologies beforehand to anybody involved in this 'sport' but don't you think Ballroom Dancing is inherently ludicrous? I could be biased but to me it's faker, more pointless even than ballet (and I should know, I used to teach ballet...) All those big happy smiles that have no emotional connection, the homogenising and sanitising of vibrant, overtly sexual dances into insipid, controlled pap. The costumes can be beautiful though, spangles and fringes and tassels, oh my! <bg> Eh, what do I know? Every BD'er I've spoken to has said they love it - I might too if I could be persuaded to try...

The fourth chapter of Elga is finished. Been a while coming - I had to remind myself that to get to the exciting bits I've got planned for this arc I first have to lay the foundations. Heh.

Going to have to take the cubs up to the newsagents soon so we can get card and such for their projects - the projects which are due to be handed in this coming monday. Oops.
I foresee glue and sticky tape in my weekend... how about you?

Friday, March 19, 2004

I miss Boy Meets . <sigh> I want to see how Skids and Ty are getting on in New York.

The superhero universe I started dabbling with a few years ago has resurfaced. It started off as an AU for a fandom but, again, I think it could work well as an original stand-alone. Hm...

... and Joules has begun the second of the Oriyal tales. : )

(refer last post:)
I loved the Dune movie, as well, for much the same reasons (and the added attraction of the fabulous tech! So baroque...) but the book held a wealth of details and back history and all sorts of stuff that helped it form its own little world. X the series is much the same, you're diving the depths not simply skimming the surface... It's involving and complex and answers the questions the movie threw up.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

In my house I would really like to have a library with a secret room hidden behind the bookcases...

Decision made - I picked up volume 3 of X. : )
Joules has now got the X movie DVD I sent her but I'm tempted to advise her not to bother with it. The movie is to the series what the Dune movie was to the book: it's internally consistent but there's so much missing. Mind you the DVD is worth watching for the animation. (Hee, and there's so much more of that in the series too : )

Joules has started the first of the Oriyal fics! <boing> She says it's gone haring off in an unanticipated direction - gosh, what a surprise. Can't wait to see what happens!

One of my cubs had a nightmare last night so came in to me... Of course, he had to clear the accumulated crap off the bed before he could snuggle - maybe it's time I cleaned my room again?

Decisions, decisions. I've poked at my budget and it appears I can afford one DVD this week. What shall it be? Volume 3 of X? Or the first volume of Last Exile or Excel Saga? And there's a CardCaptor Sakura there as well... <put-upon sigh>

'K, I've told the cubs' father and housemate that I intend to have moved by the end of the year - I think 6 months is fair warning.

KittenKong doesn't like my alarm clock. I use my mobile phone's alarm (cos where my bed is in the room I can't reach the powerpoint without running a cord across the floor) and the tune it plays must irritate her. More than once I've woken up to the alarm and found my cat chewing on my phone. Hn...

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Heh, <smug> I got 20/20 for my first test. Won't do so well on the assignment I handed in today though, I know I haven't given as much information in the answers as was required. Oh well, my lecturer won't be giving me a bookmark as a reward for doing well - I can live with that. : )
The last time I was doing this course, a decade ago, results were graded from Unsatisfactory, through Pass, Credit and Distinction. That's all been scrapped, it's now CO (competent) or NYC (not yet competent). Hn, I don't know, I rather liked the old system, it gave you an idea of how well you were doing, or not.
Only 2 more classes to go for a couple of the subjects. I've been organising getting onto waiting lists for other subjects throughout the year. Shouldn't be too much hassle, and it's all an object lesson, innit? Next year I'll be waaay more organised... : )

They've started clearing the school site – what's left of the wing that was completely destroyed has more or less been dealt with now. Quite sad, really, I got a bit teary-eyed while walking past the site today, peering through the holes in the fence...
The 'portable' school should be ready to use in just over a week. That'll be interesting, shifting everything over from the hall. Not surprisingly the fund-raising activities have kicked into overdrive. Tomorrow there's a sausage sizzle, the 'disco-night' is this weekend (I won't be going), next week there's the book-fair and we've just been given the tickets to sell for the Easter raffle. To be fair, everything except the sausage sizzle was being organised before the fire, there just seems to be an awful lot of it all at once, or maybe it's simply there's more emphasis on the need for fund-raising now.
Looks like I won't be able to buy second-hand unforms for a while either. All of the stock has gone and the portable school won't have the storage room for the gear. Ouch, brand new uniforms are hideously expensive. The cubs have got enough to get them through winter, especially if I keep haunting the major dept. stores for the cheap, un-logo'ed shirts and windcheaters. Eh, I'll deal with the summer stuff closer to the time.

Chapter 4 of Dancing is reviewed, on to chapter 5 I guess. I'll get that done at least before finishing my next AC/Elga/Dystopia. Heh.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Zipping around yesterday paying bills and such only to come to a screeching halt in front of the newsagents...
I have a soft-spot for model kits and diaoramas and I discovered for sale, not one but two 'week-by-week' collectible model kit thingys.
<whimper> Each has 100 parts to it, at $12 per part; that's more than $1000 spread over two years for each kit...
The first was a model of HMS Victory – Nelson's ship at Waterloo. I can leave that one alone, there's some lovely, top-class wooden ship kits available for way less than that. I'm still debating the other one though. It's a 'build your own Medieval Fortress' where you get to make, and decorate, various types of medieval buildings...
I can live without it, I can. I mean, realisitically, what would I do with it? And the $50 a month I'd be spending on it could buy me a DVD, or two. <sigh>

You'd think 2 years would be long enough to drop off of a library's system, yes? No.
Went to join (or rejoin, rather) my local library after not going in there for a couple of years. I owed them a lot of money in fines and I thought, if my records had slid away in the tides of time, I might be able to sneak back onto the system with a clean slate. No such luck – I was still registered, and the fine was still outstanding. Needless to say I can't borrow anything until it's paid off, which is a pain, but I really don't like having these odd financial spikes hanging over my head. I'm going to chip away at it anyway (there's too much for me to be able to pay all at once!). I guess it can all be part of me getting my act together. : )

Sunday, March 14, 2004

<wriggle> Isn't that the cutest pic of the tenshi? Thanks, onna!

Watched volume 2 of X today. Damn, this is a fine series! The characters are developing depth and complexity, I'm getting involved with them (which could be a problem seeing how I know most of them end up. Eh, won't be the first time I've cried watching an anime. : )

The cubs asked me today if (and I quote) it was possible to get stuck in someone's butt?
<blinkblink>
Er - I hedged - stuck how?
A frown, then: Like getting your head stuck.
An inward sigh of relief from me, I knew where this is coming from now, it was something revolting they'd seen on Cartoon Network, not something yaoi they've inadvertantly stumbled across. I then jokingly pointed out how big most heads were and we concluded that, no, it wasn't something that was likely to happen...

I've <gasp!> come to a decision. (Those who know me will realise what a momentous thing this is : )
I'm planning that, car or no car, the cubs and I will be in our new house by xmas this year. Unless something happens in the meantime I'll start seriously searching the rentals in October, that'll give me 6 months to get my act together. In the spirit of organisation I sat down and listed things I'd need for the new place. There's not an awful lot, really, I have most of the necessities already. Yes, I'd like a proper bed but it's not essential, likewise, I'd like a new fridge, and couch and computer, but the ones I've got will do for the time being. It takes some of the financial pressure off, knowing there isn't that much I need to get, and heh, I've got 6 months now to plan for the rest.

D'oh! The cubs have got a project due in tomorrow and we've done nothing. Ooops...
Awww, that was so sweet!
In todays episode of Teen Titans, Raven and Starfire magically swapped bodies - the Puppetmaster's doing, he'd already transferred the other 3 Titans into marionettes. At the end of the ep when the Puppetmaster's power was broken Cybord, Robin and Beastboy went directly back to their bodies but Raven and Starfire's souls twined around each other first. <squinch> The yuri potential in this is so cute... : )

Saturday, March 13, 2004

I've decided to call my feisty wooden dragon Rupert. : )

(Joules has suggested the last line of my little birthday poem could scan better if it was 'So pass a bishie to me.' <g> That works, as I said to her earlier, I've always been rubbish at poetry!)

I had a great day yesterday. We christened Soulsis' new tea-set! It's gorgeous, very bright and colourful and the 3D roses are so cute! : ) There was an awful lot of food, too, all of it delicious, and we almost finished it up. (Hee, I have 3 plastic containers full in the fridge.)
After a couple of hours we left off eating and went to see a movie. Big Fish, one from Tim Burton. An excellent movie, very good performances - and soppy enough that the fluffy-bunny was in her element. : ) Thanks for organising it all, Soulsis and Niki, <cuddles> I have the best friends!
But wait, there's more...
After the movie we went back to Niki's place and continued eating, and watching movies! Strictly Ballroom and Emma, and the last episode of Buffy, which the fluffy-bunny thought was wonderful... soppy cow...
Niki gave me a few strands of decorative vine-leaves - to go with my 5 kilos of plastic grapes, hee! - and Soulsis gave me a ceramic prawn platter. I also got a hanky from Penny, that she'd embroidered grapes on, and ecards from Okapi, Sue and Onna (and a gorgeous oekaki of the tenshi, which hopefully'll go here sometime soon.) Mum gave me my birthday present when we were up there last weekend, a carved wooden dragon. He looks really feisty, I haven't decided what to call him yet. <g>
Heh, almost forgot... saw a preview of the Starsky & Hutch movie yesterday. Hn, I'm not sure I approve of the mickey being taken of the series but I'll go watch the movie to see the car. The Torino is sooooo preeettty! Oh! And there was another pretty car in Big Fish - a red Charger... <dreamy sigh>

Friday, March 12, 2004

Happy birthday to me,
I want to live in a tree,
I look like a fangirl,
So pass me a bishie!
Hee!

The cubs' father gave me a box of my favourite chocolates (Guylian seashells) and the cubs - after whispered instructions from their dad - presented me with volume 2 of X! <happy squeak!> (Yes, I knew it was coming but still, <happy squeak! g>)
And I'm off to Niki's this afternoon for tea with Soulsis, Okapi and possibly Penny. : )

Now, about that rat Kittenkong brought in last night. There's no sign of it this morning so if it's still in the bathroom then it's behind the cupboard, but seeing as rats are resourceful creatures it wouldn't surprise me to find it had got itself outside last night. The bathroom window was open and it would've been an easy jump up onto the bath, then the cupboard then the windowsill - not a hard thing for a rat to accomplish. Actually I hope it got itself out, I really don't fancy having a live rat lurking about the house...

I managed to get a whole 2 paragraphs of writing done last night, not a bad effort considering I was thoroughly distracted by the first 8 eps of Excel Saga. Oh gods this is so funny! And so damn cute! Not Ham-ham cute, the other sort, the quirky, wickedly cute. ES pokes fun at all sorts of anime and pop-culture conventions and I'm sure I'm missing more of the references than I'm getting, but it's so much fun! It could be called a show for fanboys - the 2 female leads are ultra-perky (hey, I don't have a problem with that) - but the evil overlord Mr Ilbaratzo is gorgeous! Very droll, I like him, and you've got to love a secret underground base that only has those push-in button locks on it's door handles for security <rolling around laughing> The opening theme is great, very bouncy and lots of fun, not just musically but visually as well, and the closing theme is poignant but still makes me laugh. I couldn't explain it here, you'd have to see it, but it involves a puppy singing about being eaten, and salt. My favourite AV store has ES on DVD... I'll add it to the list. : )

Weee! Joules wrote a little lemony piece for me, based around my favourite Haadri character! <girly squeal> It was just yummy! Thank you, Joules! <GLOMPS>

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Sodding hell! The cat's just brought in a live rat! It's cute an' all (bright little black eyes distended with terror) but ack! Mice are one thing, wild rats are not something I'm game to deal with. Heh, it made a dive for the bathroom and kittenkong followed... so I shut the door on them both. With luck she'll dispatch it, then I'll just have to watch her for abcesses. <shakes head>

380 Zone members now, eh, Joules? Only 120 to go then we can hold ZoneCon! Hee!

Heh, almost finished the Haadri fanfic and I have to confess it's pure mary-sue. But this happens a lot with Joules work I've noticed, her universes are so compelling and inviting I just have to leap in. : )

(Rat update. I let Kittenkong out of the bathroom but there was no sign of the rat, I think it's got itself wedged behind the cupboard. Damn.)

We had the school Twilight Sports this evening. This event is usually held on the school oval but seeing as that's now full up with portable classrooms we had it in a nearby park. It wasn't a bad evening, really, the cubs didn't win their races but one of them at least beat someone. <g>

There's high fences up all around the school now, and they've been covered with hessian so you can't see into the site. Annoying, really, I want to see when the site's being cleared...

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Glad Kai enjoyed his birthday!

(... and speaking of birthdays...) Thank you, goodtwin, for the card. <bg> I laughed - it's so true on so many levels... (and I know the cubs and their father got me a present tonight but I'm not allowed to see it until friday. Heh, won't be much of a surprise though, got a phone call while they were in the shop to double-check what it was I wanted! : )

Soulsis has this amazing ability to unearth the coolest things. When I saw her at Mum's on the weekend she handed me a 'free anime' DVD. No idea where it came from (though considering there was an advert for a kids magazine on it, I'm guessing that was the source) but it was essentially an hour-long Madman commercial. Not that I'm complaining, it had trailers for half-a-dozen different shows, including Witch Hunter Robin, and the first episodes of Final Fantasy Unlimited, Initial D, and Last Exile. Not overly impressed with FF, and even though Initial D is about street car racing (and we've already established I've got a soft spot for powerful cars...) it's not something I'd consider spending money on. I get the impression it's aimed at teenage boys; the characters' artwork is very basic, not all that attractive but the cars are all CGI and more detailed than anything else. Also there's an overt sexual interest fixed on the only female character to be seen.
[school girl gets into car – panning shot up her thighs to her very short uniform, to linger on her crotch.
Unseen (adult) male's voice: I've always liked you in that outfit.
Natalie, smiling: It's just my uniform.
.... riiiiight....
If this show turned up on cable I'd watch it, I guess, but Last Exile...? Now that's something I could get interested in. Fascinating worldframe – think of a cross between extrapolated Victorian era flying machines and Napoleonic-style conflicts complete with the totally pointless, brutal tactics and the rigid reverence for 'traditional warfare'. I've seen this as a box set in my favourite AV store – I'd be very tempted if they'd let me lay-by it. <g> Probly just as well they won't!

First days back at school for the cubs since the fire. They seem to be coping fine, it's me who keeps getting weepy at odd moments. Heh. The grades have been set up in temporary classrooms in the community centre – which has a large sign taped to the outside wall with the school's name inked in big, defiant red letters - and while it looks pretty chaotic there at the moment I can see there's already been a massive amount of organisation undertaken. A lot of stuff has been donated from local businesses and other schools – books, furniture, computers – and the portable classrooms were all sitting on the oval by the end of the afternoon. Couldn't hazard a guess as to when they'll be ready to use though – no doubt we'll be told in good time. Life goes on, eh? : )

Monday, March 08, 2004

(From an article "Howard condemns ACT gay adoption laws")
""I think it is incredibly important that people have role models of both sexes."
Fair enough, but they don't have to be married... <grrrr>

The cubs and I went up to Mum's this long-weekend. As always, it was tiring but fun. We drove out to Alexandra (another hour on from where Mum lives) to visit the little steam-train museum there. Very cute, it's only small - the engine runs a few times around a circular track, takes about 10 minutes in all - but we all enjoyed ourself, and having bought a family ticket meant we could go on it as many times as we liked (4!).
And today we had a ride on the Healesville trolley again. Hee! : )

For the first time today, as the cubs and I came home on the bus, I didn't feel that warm little rush of homecoming. I know I've been getting awfully restless this past year but my reaction, or non-reaction rather, was unsettling. Maybe it had something to do with me deciding I really like Healesville and could all too easily see myself living the writer's life out there in the hills.
But there's lots of things to consider in a move like that. For a start I'd definitely need a reliable car and what about school, both mine and the cubs? How would my boys take being shifted so far away from what they know? Getting to and from my own classes would be trickier, but not impossible, especially if the cubs' school has before and after school care. Instead of a five-minute walk to the bus it'd be a 30 minute drive to the train station. Heh, it'd test my dedication, that's for sure.
By dint of subtle questioning ("Hey, guys, would you like to live in Healesville?") I discovered that one of my cubs was cool with the idea but the other one - my little nature-boy, not - wasn't.
Eh well, no point chewing over it, a move anywhere isn't likely for a while yet.

Woohoo! Way to go, Kai! Your very own web-site!
(In case I don't remember...) Happy birthday for tomorrow, bratling! <bg>

[...< a flutter of soft wings is the only warning before a moping 'lestrel is bowled over and soundly shuggled by a returning tenshi...>]

Friday, March 05, 2004

... and here's a news article about the fire. Just let me know if I start getting obsessive about this, 'k? : )


The cubs' school burnt down last night. (Thanks, Penny, for ringing me with the news this morning.) Bit of a shock - heh, bit of an understatement. There's only 2 rooms left, the art room and admin, everything else is gutted, or in the case of the wing that contained the cubs' room and the library, just... gone.
There was a meeting in the Community hall next door this morning - classes will be held there for a couple of weeks until the portable classrooms are delivered, and eventually the school will be rebuilt. Going to be a long time, though there's a lot of support for us in the community and with local businesses.
Not sure how the fire started yet - the family who lives across the road from the school heard an explosion around midnight - but it's being treated as 'suspicious'.
Eh well, guess we'll find out soon enough. Needless to say, the cubs are home today, and it's a long weekend (Labour Day) so no classes until Tuesday.

On a brighter note...
<HUGS> Congrats, Joules! FirstLight's finished! Dead impressed... : )

Monday, March 01, 2004

(nicked from Onna's blog:)

<smirk>

Scroll in your toga?
Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?
"Is that a scroll in your toga, or are you just glad to see me?"
You're smooth, okay, but you also need a girlfriend. Bad.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Heh... Haadri fanfic...
Problem is, I don't think anyone's going to be able to see it until First Light has been released. : )

The cubs had fun on the excursion, and there were no tantrums (I asked).
There's a teacher's strike on Wednesday but it looks like the cubs' teacher is the only one not involved. <sigh of relief> This is good, I don't feel up to the task of finding alternate care for them while I'm studying.

<grumble> We've got a few days in a row of really hot temperatures coming up. Tch, it's Autumn for goodness sakes, it's sposed to be getting cooler. I shouldn't be surprised though, I know from experience there's always a last hoorah of heat around my birthday. Eh. It'll be cold soon enough.
Right now - in an alternate universe - I'm fuss-arsing about the climate controls in the Verbank library. <happy sigh>

Mmm... paté and toast for lunch...

I wonder how my cubs are? They're on a school excursion today, to ScienceWorks, but one of them is really, really tired and he can get a bit... emotional when that happens. Maybe I should've volunteered to go with them after all? But no, I'm really tired as well, not a good combination.

Hee! Joules has started the next Gremlins fic, though this one is lemony so it'll be going into the Darkside. <smug smirk> I'm getting snippets as she's writing...