Forecast: 9-16
Attained: 11-15

Man, I am craving chocolate. Weird. Must have something to do with being ill...

Back to work today, quite cheerfully. I'm a wee bit wearier than usual but other than that - and a slight, lingering lung burble - I reckon I'm all clear. I think one of the reasons I got off lightly this time was cos there's probly still loads of antibots carousing through my system. Secondary infections didn't get a chance to take hold. : )

~=o>

I'm finally getting my lounge room back! What with one health crisis or another it's been a few weeks since I've been able to do anything about sorting through the stuff that had to come out of storage.
It's good, I can see floor again, and soon there'll be enough floor to put down the really nice rug I bought about the time I had to stop doing stuff.
This weekend I plan to reorganise the shed. It's almost full, but I can finagle things so the fullness is a little more conveniently arranged. (And then, one day soon, I will sort through allll my material and wool stash! Mwahahahaha! ... ok, realistically, I probly won't get rid of that much, but you never know.)

~=o>

This caught my eye in the local paper.
It's supposed to be about tinitus, but that's not the first thing I thought of when I saw it. (Note my skillfully applied 'additions'...)

Forecast: 5-16
Attained: 5-15

Lungs have gone from gloopy to burbly. A definite improvement.

~=o>

Don't know if last night's dream was fever-based or just one of my regular, hi-def ones.
I'd bought a raffle ticket, the first prize being a nursing home of predominantly chinese clients. Yeah... Naturally I won, cos you always win the prizes you don't actually want.
So, there I was, in charge of a nursing home, supervising the refurbishment. The cupboards had been cleaned out and I was sorting through all the mounds of old biscuit tins and glassware. I suggested keeping several of the big tins but the rest could go. There was a young guy helping out: I'd sent him off to the kitchen to do some washing up. A bit later he sidled up a little sheepishly and told me he 'didn't know how to use the dishwasher'. Expecting the worst, I went to have a look, and sure enough, it was disconnected and the kitchen and dining room had flooded. The guy and I set to, using brooms and mops to clean up while I wondered where I could get hold of a wet/dry vac...

Perhaps it was a fever dream: I've noticed they tend to be less 'fantastic', in the original sense of the word, than my regular dreams. :)

~=o>

Subject Selection Information Night at the school tonight. Basically, a run-down for year 10-12 students on what subjects are available and how to apply. Akshully informative. Our school offers 3 different subject streams: the one that leads to university, the one that leads to tech college, and the one that can go either way. Now the cubs need to decide exactly what it is they want to do, check out the course requisites and choose appropriate subjects. They have a week.
We had a big problem with subject choice last year, cos the IT subject both cubs really really wanted to do was cancelled cos there wasn't enough interest. I've told them that if the same thing happens this year, they'll still have to take what they can get but we (plural) will actively pursue appropriate extra-curricular courses. But, they have to be organised about it and get the info to their dad and I in plenty of time so we can follow through. Unfortunately, with the state of finances we have to plan ahead. Leaving applications and things 'til the last minute will likely mean they won't happen.

Interestingly, we were informed that from next year all yr 11 & 12 students will get gov-funded laptops (notebooks)! Fabulous news. We'll need to pay a deposit and a small yearly insurance fee - and the machines have to go back to the school at the end of the time - but it also means we don't have to worry about software compatibility with our home systems. Much less hassle.

~=o>

Hard rubbish drive in our area. I've been very good about not stopping and rummaging, except for one thing:

A somewhat intact cat tree! That's KittenKong come to investigate 30 seconds after I got it out of the car.

And for once we had nothing to contribute cos we got rid of all the crap when we moved house. :)

Forecast: 11-14
Attained: 11-15

Heh, I can tell my temperature's been all over the place today. One minute I desperately want something coldcold to drink, the next something hothot sounded like an excellent idea. :) I'm still tiring easily but I'm definitely on the mend. Sleeping on the couch wasn't particularly comfortable but it worked: lungs were much less gloopy.
Moving on from the dept. of TMI...

~=o>

Farmville has finally pissed me off enough that I'm not likely to play it again. I had been aiming to get to level 100 before letting it drop but halfway through level 99 I'd had enough.
The constant tinkering with the platform and support apps was irritating enough but suddenly there's more 'quests' than ever being thrown at me. (The never-ending 'quests' were why I gave up on Frontierville.) Build this. Grow that. Ask your friends for those. Don't miss out on the collectibles! Hurry only X days to go!
PISS OFF! [grump]
... Feel better now.

~=o>

How kewl is this?!

Cat-Zilla scratching post.

At last, a reason to not throw out all the cardboard boxes hoarded from the move!

Forecast: 8-19
Attained: 8-19

Ah crap, cold's settled on my lungs now, but it's still a mild dose cos I can still taste and smell. Woot.
I'll be sleeping in the lounge room tonight, propped sitting up on the couch. Can't seem to manage it in bed, and I could never do that in the old place cos someone else was usually there... On the couch, not in my bed. Not making much sense? Put it down to the cold.

Cubs cooked dinner, bless 'em, though I made trifle for dessert. Mmmm... trifle...

~=o>

Ok, don't judge me. I got a copy of the 2005 movie remake of Magic Roundabout. Why? Momentary curiosity. And a good cast list. (Don't worry, I didn't pay full price.)
It was all right, mostly harmless with some less-than-subtle drug references and a few really funny moments. My new favourite quote is: "Now then, torture..."

~=o>

I want to laugh, but am afraid there will be consequences... :)

(nicked from Historic LOL)

(... why is the text at the side?)

(good grief, really not that important. Go to bed, woman...!)

Forecast: 7-18
Attained: 9-18

I am awash. Between the hot drinks, nourishing soups and ginger/star anise/clove tea I feel positively waterlogged...
I think the cold's only mild: no aches, little fever and I haven't lost my sense of taste or smell. Iz good.

~=o>

If TW4 wasn't Torchwood I'd probably have stopped making an effort to watch about three episodes back. It's lost the originality of the first couple of series and even the increase in Jack!sex! doesn't disguise the fact this program/plot really isn't that interesting. Pity. Ah well, here's hoping it makes a lot of money so there's the possibility of another series...

~=o>

Bwahhahaha!
Lolcats, of course.

Forecast: 7-17
Attained: 8-15

I haz a cold. I intend to spend the weekend doing shit all, and eating soup...

[Edit: Or should that be drinking soup...?]

Forecast: 11-21
Attained: 12-21

Past couple of days I've been working at one of the satellite campuses. There was a note on the desk letting me know that there'd been a mini-plague of huge blowfiles earlier in the week. There were still a couple buzzing around, though sluggishly cos of all the insect spray. There'd been some speculation about the source of the beasties but nothing discovered. However, I spent today being distracted and frowning at the ceiling cos of the birds tromping around in there. Ok, so I'm thinking there's been a hole or something made in the roof, letting the birds in... and the flies. Another mystery solved? P'raps. I'm just hoping the birds aren't trapped in there - last thing we need is bird corpses rotting in the ceiling. Wot fun...

~=o>

TW4 ep 5.

- I like how Jack takes such delight in needling Rex.
- Ack! Vera!!
- More fabulous tat in the hideout. (Hub 3? :)

Hee. Shell art!

Forecast: 9-20
Attained: 8-20

TW4, eps 3 & 4:

- The thot is plickening.
- Whoa, Jack!
- Oh, Jack... : (
- The 'hovel' they're hiding out in has some fabulous stuff!
For instance, in these not terribly good screen shots:

Wooden unicorn!

Forecast: 8-21
Attained: 9-19

Second ep of TW4.
(No real spoilers.)

- Rex is a dick.
- The bad guys are almost cartoony in their villainy.
- Oh noes! Jack!
- This is the picture of Danes' 12 y.o. victim. Look closely...



I'm certain that's a young Eve Myles...

Forecast: 6-20
Attained: 6-19

Just watched the first ep of the fourth season of Torchwood,
Um. It's unsettling, for a number of reasons not least of which Ianto isn't there. I keep expecting him to appear... :(
Lovely to see Gwen again, (and Anwen's gorgeous!), and good that Andy gets a look in, too. Jack's looking older, but then, that could go along with the story line. Overall I'm not falling in to this as quickly as I did with other seasons. Yes, yes, it's only the first ep, but halfway through first ep of season 1 and I was hooked. Hate to admit it but I think a large part of my reluctance here is the American angle. Eh, I'll reserve judgement until I've seen a bit more.

~=o>

Conversation with a cub today:

Cub: The cat. Why does she do that rolling around on the ground thing?
Me: It's a way of scratching. Feels good.
Cub: Why does she do it right where I'm walking?
Me [grinning]: That's attention seeking...

Forecast: 7-19
Attained: 6-21

Two fine days in a row and washing gets done :)
I sat outside in the sunshine for about 20 minutes today, reading. Was quite pleasant: the sun wasn't too hot and I didn't burn. In a few months I won't be able to do that without hat and sunscreen, even for a short time.

The book I'm currently reading is 'Court of the Air' by Stephen Hunt. It's enjoyable, with a very detailed worldframe, but it's not a lazy read, I find I have to really concentrate or I get lost in the world-specific patois. Literally lost in some instances, and there's no handy map illustration to help me keep track of where everyone's going. That's a little frustrating but it does me good to not just skim a text for a change, I guess.
(Oh, and look at that, it's the start of a series. [sigh] Does no one write single volume, stand alone fantasy any more?)

~=o>

Latest installment from the irregular but brilliant Sequential Art.

Yes, there's lots of previous stuff leading up to this point in the story but it's not necessary to know that to enjoy the shit-eating smirk on Leonard the platypus' face. Click on the pic to get a bigger version.

Forecast: 8-18
Attained: 10-18

[sigh] Went back to the doctor's today to see about my icky sore. It's healing, though I'll need a 3rd lot of antibots to make sure the infection is well and truly nailed. Doctor was very clear however about the likelihood of this happening again, and why.
She's not telling me anything I haven't known, understood and willfully ignored for years. I'm borderline diabetic and my body is losing - has lost already perhaps - the ability to bounce back. So. It's up to me now...

~=o>

On a happier note, found out today that itoons has copies of all the Torchwood audio books and radio plays! Cheap! I'll be filling in the gaps in my collection shortly.

~=o>

[chorfle!]



(found while rifling through pics folders. Can't remember where I nicked it from but it was some time ago.)

Forecast: 9-17
Attained: 12-16

I sometimes wonder what women who have nose piercings as a cultural thing think of me...

~=o>

And to cheer me up cos I'm feeling a bit sooky... a scan of a pretty easter egg wrapper!

Forecast: 7-14
Attained: 8-14

Bit of drama at work today.
I was on my own at one of the smaller campuses, and close to knock-off time there was a code red (fire) for the adjoining nursing home. There was no evacuation order so I didn't think anything of it until I wandered out at hometime, or tried to. Big sign at the entrance saying 'NONE SHALL PASS' (I'm paraphrasing, naturally), and big chap saying he couldn't let me out because of the emergency. I was a bit miffed but prepared to wait for the all clear, cos I'm not a maverick, but other staff members, who'd wandered in to the drama in the meantime, were not prepared to put up with that. There was a bit of disbelief, a bit of ineffectual cajoling, then a bit of harrumphing and a declaration that they'd leave by the other exit, then, thank you very much! So I trotted after them - not a maverick, perhaps, but I did want to go home - and just as well I did cos I wouldn't have been able to find this other exit on my own. :) I think there must be an architectural law somewhere that says a hospital must be built like a warren...

No idea if it turned out to be a false alarm or not cos shortly after escaping with the others I was in my car and wending my way homewards.

Also today at work was a charity stall! I stocked up on home-made preserves. Lemon & ginger marmalade, quince jelly and lemon butter! Nom!

~=o>

This is one of the final pics taken with my second-to-last camera phone. (I think. Or it could've been the one before that. Anyway...)
I swear I didn't set this up; this is just what I spotted amongst the detritus on my bedroom floor. A plastic squid capturing a soy-fish! A life and death struggle! Wildlife photography at it's most dramatic!

Forecast: 12-15
Attained: 14-15

Perusing this month's professional development thingies offered by my professional association today, I spotted something that looked interesting. Interesting enough that, even though it wasn't technically any use in my current job so work wouldn't spring for it, I'd consider paying for it myself. Then I looked closer and found out I'd already done it as part of my Advanced Diploma.
No wonder it looked interesting...

~=o>

This ad was in the paper today.



'No: 1's up close and personal'? Eww...!
At least it wasn't no: 2's... [snerk]

Forecast: 10-18
Attained: 12-19

In my dream last night, amidst the dream-logic details of pseudo medieval village life and something about New Year's Day (I think) was a part where I came out of a castle or cathedral and looked up at the night sky. It was awesome and I fell to my knees in something like worship. There was a word written in the stars, or in the dotted clouds that overlay the stars, a lowercase, double image of 'right'. As I was pondering what that was all about, the thought ran through my mind that the word was phonetically 'write'...
:)

~=o>

Hee. Take a cute/funny kitteh video and mash it up with something creepy...

Forecast: 7-17
Attained: 9-15

I picked up another bookcase today from an opshop. It slotted in very nicely next to the one in the hall. I reckon I could probly squeeze in another couple of 50cm wide ones in the loungeroom. I mean, who needs to close doors anyway...? :)

~=o>

"Brian Blessed's voice now available for TomTom devices."

The only reason I'd consider getting a GPS!

"Sharp right, oh, mind the chicken! [bokbokbok...]"

[snerk]

Forecast: 7-15
Attained: 7-17

Cubs got home at 2am last night but I didn't know this until I wandered in to the lounge room this morning, thinking I was alone in the house, and saw someone sitting at my computer! Almost dropped my cup of tea. Luckily I was dressed... :)

~=o>

And now, some pics of KittenKong being opportunistic.


As I was sorting out a box of wool...




As I was bringing things in from the car...





~=o>

Welcome home, Joules! :)

Forecast: 4-15
Attained: 4-14
(and incidentally, cos I didn't get 'round to doing an entry for the day before...
Forecast: (12 Aug) 6-16
Attained: 4-13)

I worked a 4 day week this week. I felt I deserved a box of chocolate.



A BOX OF CHOCOLATE...!




That's a kilo of chocolate in a slightly bigger than A3 box.
What actually happened was that I spotted it while I was doing some shopping on friday night and had to have it. Two reasons: first, Whitman's is one of my fav makers of fine chocolate and I've hardly seen any in the past five years, and second... that is an awesome box! Seriously, look at the size of it! :)

~=o>

I've started rewatching the second series of Torchwood. Love this series; the characters and their interactions have so much more depth.

~=o>

Cubs have been at their dad's since friday night and spending all this time with just the cat for company has made me realise something... When the cubs move out I'm going to have to make a concious effort to step up my social life cos it is soooo easy to easy to not leave the house/not bother talking to anybody unless absolutely necessary. There is precedent for this. Way back when I first moved out of my parents' place, before the advent of mobile phones, I spent 6 months living alone in a flat that had no telephone. I forgot how to talk. No, that's not quite accurate: I forgot how to converse. I didn't lose the power of speech, just forgot how to have conversations, ask/answer questions, that sort of thing. It was a bit scary once I realised what had happened, because of course I didn't realise what had happened until I suddenly found myself in a social situation and had no idea what to do! But then, I guess I've always been more of an innie than an outtie, socially speaking. :)

Forecast: 10-15
Attained: 11-16

Dagnabbit. I'm sulking. Itchy sore on my leg didn't get better, in fact got progressively worse, so I had to go to the doctors. I have a course of antibots to take, plus something to combat water retention (apparently my spongy ankles can be fixed). This is all stuff that will help me get better so why am I sulking? Because these are problems I associate with old people...

~=o>

[rolling around laughing]

You go, 'Dan'!

Forecast: 8-15
Attained: 8-12

Yep, time sense is definitely wobbly. Kept thinking it was Friday, today. :)

~=o>

Frequently at work there are medical seminars and mini-conferences held on the same floor as the library. Frequently I have to negotiate a foyer packed with happy seminar goers. Last Friday's day-long professional development event had something to do with obesity and, being the size I am, I felt just a little bit self-conscious facing up to that lot, nomming on their low-fat, high-fibre, no-fun tea time snacks.
"Object lesson coming through!" I contemplated yelling as I sidled through the crowd to get back to work. "Quick! Hide the muffins!" [g] Made me giggle, anyway...

~=o>

This. Made me laugh.
Tom Hanks spoofing [ew, no, that sounds rude] parodying Child Beauty Paegants.



"Sexy feet! Sexy feet...!"
[snerk]

Forecast: 8-14
Attained: 7-12

National Census Night!
I had planned on filling it in online but apparently you needed to register to do that when the census people came 'round to drop off the form. Which I didn't, cos I was doing something else of vital importance, and the cubs took possession of the form. Eh well, next time...

~=o>

I'm working an extra day this week, which means I'll be ready for the weekend by Thursday. :)

Forecast: 7-15
Attained: 9-14

[flump] Storage place is empty.




It started as this: 3mX3m packed solid.





Those teetering stacks of cardboard boxes on the left (right?). Books.

Admittedly, this was back in April when I started leisurely pulling things out to begin the sort through.
It looked more like this three weekends ago when I decided I had to let it go...





About half-full, but still, a sodding lot to shift.

Penultimate load today was Mum's zomgheavy carved camphor wood chest. One cub helped me get it in to the car - both cubs helped me get it out, then carted it in to my bedroom for me. :) It'll stay there until I can work out a way to get it to my brother in Queensland...

Forecast: 9-15
Attained: 6-14

Wow. My house is chaos...
But, the storage place is almost empty (thanks, cubs, soulsis et al for the help!). We even managed to get a tall cabinet in the car. I love hatchbacks...
Hopefully the storage will be empty in a day or so, well before the deadline, and I might get some money back. As it is, the storage place will buy back the cardboard boxes I bought from them when this all started. Naturally not at full price for the used ones but it's something.

~=o>

Joules is away to Devon for a week! Have fun! :)

(Oh, for heaven's sake! >:[ I did an images search for 'Devon' and got pages and pages of Devon Aoki.




I didn't bother checking out the wiki but I gather from the many, many ludicrous outfits she's pictured in that she's a model.
Wonder if she's related to Steve Aoki?
[Well, there you go, yes, half-sister...]

What I was actually looking for while searching 'Devon' was more like this:




That's better. :)

Forecast: 9-17
Attained: 10-14

This morning I picked up a coffee table/tv cabinet I got on ebay. Only $20 and it's exactly what I was after.


Image nicked from ebay page


Cubs' game consoles and the dvd player will sit on top of that while the vid games can be tucked away on the bottom shelf. Much more efficient than the coffee table that was originally being used, and which can now be reclaimed for use as an actual coffee table. :)

This afternoon I spent an hour at the storage place sorting out what's left. As it stands now there's only another couple of loads to go to Soulsis', plus 3 or so to me, which is actually less than it sounds as 2 of those loads are old chests that will only fit one at a time in my car. It's all coming together...

Forecast: 13-18
Attained: 13-17

[wince] When the government assistance cut out on the cubs' sixteenth birthday, I also lost my concession card. My meds have now jumped from $7.50 a pack to $23... ow.

~=o>

I've been rummaging through a box from storage today that was full of some of my old, old photos, some going back to mid 70's! Amongst them were several contact sheets for rolls of b/w film. A few of the images really stood out, like they'd been taken by someone with talent [g]. Mind you, this was at a tiny size, they might not look so good embiggened.
One of my long-term projects is to get my photos and negatives organised and catalogued. Then I can go through and get prints of favourite images. :)
Speaking of cataloguing... at work we have copies of now superceeded versions of the DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification). I asked the boss if I could borrow a set. I would really like some more experience developing Dewey numbers and what better way to do that than with my own eclectic collection? Hee!

~=o>

This was an image from one of the posts on the wonderful Cake Wrecks blog:




It was driving me nuts cos dammit, I knew that dragon from somewhere!

After some serious pondering memory-bludgeoning I realised why it looked familiar. Wasn't the dragon per se, but its face...





Another mystery solved...

Forecast: 16-21
Attained: 17-21

Tch, and at the first hint of warmth the mosquitoes are back...

~=o>

Would you believe I'm still pulling fabulous glassware out of storage? So much co0l stuff!
(Aaand I feel the descent into babbling incoherency is imminent. Time for bed...)

Forecast: 12-22
Attained: 13-23

The voice of my inner monologue is currently speaking with a Welsh accent.
I've been rewatching Torchwood from the beginning... :) Hopefully, by the time I've worked my way through the first 3 seasons, the latest will be available on DVD.

~=o>

Not a lot to say cos I'm knackered. A broken sleep followed by forgetting to take my glasses to work thus spending the day straining to read anything other than 14pt text has left me soooo tie-tie.

... Nope. No good. Nodding off where I sit. [g] And KittenKong is giving me hopeful looks. Time for bed! [boing!]

Forecast: 11-20
Attained: 12-20

I've had my hearing aid for 2 weeks now and went back to the clinic today for a review.
In the clinical setting - that is, in a sound-proofed room with no ambient noise - the hearing test I did with and without the aid showed that it does help with deciphering speech. In the real world however...
It's good for my nice, quiet workplace, where people speak softly so as not to disturb the reverent hush of the library ([snerk]) but anywhere there's a lot of background noise - particularly sharp noises, like children and cutlery clattering - all it does is make my already bad ear hurt. Supermarkets are so-so; cafes are terrible.
So, considering I didn't have to pay for it, it's sort of worth having. :)

~=o>

Heh, the cubs cooked dinner again tonight: sausages and mashed veggies. I gave verbal directions but didn't step in at any point except to confirm that, yes, the potatoes were cooked. Cubs still need to move faster with the preparation but with the pair of them working in tandem it didn't take much longer than when I'm cooking. Meal was quite nommy, as nommy as when I make it, anyways.
I've suggested they could try some of the recipes they had from foodie classes earlier in the year. Akshully, I'm going to insist they do just that, along with making out the shopping lists as well. And I'm going to write out my recipe for meat sauce (which isn't quite spag bol) for them. That should be interesting: I haven't quantified the ingredients for years. It's all '...about this much of this, and a splash of that...' [g]

Forecast: 10-19
Attained: 11-18

Yay, I was able to find the final piece of tax-related paper as a pdf online. Now I have no excuse not to do my tax...

~=o>

The cubs, bless 'em, are very good about doing their own washing. They still need to be prompted though, first to recognise that that pile of clothes on the floor are dirty and then to follow through to the logical conclusion of putting a load of washing on. Is ok, they'll get the hang of it one day. :)

~=o>

Speaking of cubs he who calls himself Vortex, had an excursion to a university radio station today, to do a show! It's for their media studies class: cub and a class mate had to plan the discussion segments, work out the timings, provide music etc. Didn't do a bad job at all. Cub had very clear diction and good pacing, and basically ran the show! Very proud...

~=o>

WARNING!


THE FOLLOWING PIC IS HIDEOUS.


SERIOUSLY...



I sporadically collect swap cards - it's a hangover from my childhood in the 1970's - and I have a particular fondness for kitsch. These however, had me recoiling in horror. I'm particularly unnerved by the dead-eyed kitten head the brunette girl is cuddling. Is it on a stick? Oh gods, I can't look anymore...




(Lifted from an ebay.au auction)