Forecast: 12-17
Attained: 11-17

This time last year I was in Canberra on a Lib Studies trip, being a volatile bundle of differing emotions but having a good time for all that. :) Despite having wanted to go on one of these trips for years, I almost didn't go. I was only 3 weeks in at the new house, still grieving deeply for Mum and still working through the torturous process of settling her estate. Good times, good times. [mild sarcasm]
However, doing a roadtrip to somewhere completely different for a few days was just what I needed. I'm very glad I went, if only to realise that for the first time in years I was truly happy to come home. I certainly hadn't felt that way about the old place for a long, long while...

Some of my fav pics from the trip:


The foyer of the Pavilion Hotel (our group's accomodation). Real greenery, and the roof was canvas. Loved it!

"Still life with toilet paper..."
Inside the loos at the National Film and Sound Archive. Gorgeous Deco building.

Diamonds, by Neil Dawson. Awesome suspended statue outside the National Gallery of Australia.

Notice about not feeding the birds at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

The library holy of holies, National Library of Australia [angelic choir], as viewed from inside a sculpture based on a bower bird's bower.

Detail of Leonard French's stained glass windows at the National Library of Australia.

T'riffic weekend. We packed in so much...! :)

Forecast: 16-21
Attained: 15-23

What? My angel, KittenKong? Nah... :)



~=o>

Stop motion animation isn't new in music clips but this one is fun. Filmed in one night, apparently. It looks exhausting! :)

Mutemath - Blood Pressure



~=o>

I was going to have a mini-rant about how I feel about Halloween in Oz, but I really can't be arsed, except to say: do not want.

Forecast: 16-27
Attained: 18-26

Drama!

Aww, look, a mummy duck and her babies...
Wait, there's only four ducklings! Where's the fifth?

Oh noes! The lost duckling is lost in a drain! Who will rescue the poor creature...?

She will! Yaaaaay, mystery rescuer...!

And a lap of honour for the spectators gathered to witness this heartwarming story unfold!

But srsly, was a very cute duckling :)

Forecast: 11-25
Attained: 12-26

Whoa, so very tired...
Cubs' father came back from o/s lateish last night. Cubs and I met him at the airport and gave him a lift home, problem was, we didn't get home 'til gone midnight.
Add to that another bad night for sleeping (no idea what's going on) and I spent most of the day trying not to nod off. Fortunately I was out at one of the quieter campuses so me almost falling off my chair wasn't quite so noticeable. :)

Bit of excitement there, though, a duckling got stuck in the drain in the fishpond! It was rescued, and I have pics, but I can't download them yet cos I need to steal back the camera/'puter cord the cubs nicked. (We did have 2 of the cords but one's gone mysteriously missing. Or missing mysteriously. Whichever.)

[yawn] Bedtime, methinks....

Forecast: 9-22
Attained: 10-20

Remember how I get very self-congratulatory a few days ago cos I'd put together a spread sheet for quarterly calculations...?

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes, indeed, in my world a year is 16 months long... :)

Forecast: 11-19
Attained: 11-18

Joules has been forwarding selected Transformer fics to me to read. Not one of my preferred fandoms, admittedly, but there's some engaging stuff. However there's one thing common to all these fics that makes me giggle: the exclamation (groan/cry etc.) of 'Primus'.

This is what I think of when I see Primus:

A Primus stove (image nicked from the Wikipedia entry, naturally.)
Ah, so many happy camping memories... :)

~=o>

And now, apropos of nothing, this is a neat costume.
Mmmm, swishy!

(Imaged begged from Penny, who found it while researching costumes for the Scottish Play...)

Forecast: 15-17
Attained: 19-20

([eyebrow] There was only 1 degree difference between today's high/low temperature...)

~=o>

Received the final installment of Scott Westerfeld's 'Leviathan' trilogy today. Zipped through it in about five hours. Marvellous stuff. He writes some excellent female characters... :)

~=o>

Giantmicrobes xmas tree gift box! (Picture nicked from the site.) I spotted a set of these at the convention last Friday and was immediately overcome by the Squee!

Forecast: 12-27
Attained: 13-30

... can't talk. Engrossed in CSI...

(Photo by Minifig on Flickr.)

Forecast: 12-21
Attained: 13-18

So yes, this health libraries conference I went to yesterday. Very, very interesting discussions about future directions and relevance. (In short, in regards to the acceptance, exploration and implementation of technological change, libraries are ahead of the curve). There's some frighteningly intelligent and dedicated people in this industry, and listening to them has made me realise that I don't have anything approximating the expected career plan/path, I just want to work in libraries. I'm happy as a technician, I don't want the responsibilities that seem to go along with being a librarian. It's not laziness, directly, more a not wanting to be in charge of anything :) I still quite like the idea of doing archival work, though. Eh, will see what the future holds, I'm content for the moment just cruising...

Back to the conference. The food was simple but deliciously fresh: pastries for morning tea, sandwiches and wraps and cakes for lunch, and cakes for afternoon tea. Mmmm... I also picked up a load of assorted stationary from the various vendors: pens, notepads, sticky notes, pen holder, puzzle block. Should take pics...

~=o>

Bizarre little dream while I was napping this afternoon. A young boy - 6 or 7 years old? younger? - came to the front door wanting to sell some stuff. The fact that it was a few scrappy bits carried around in a make-up bag (still with a lipstick in there) made me suspicious. The boy was also asking a ridiculous price for the modular plastic space toys he was selling. Yes, they were good quality and looked like something I should recognise but not worth as much as he was asking. I couldn't shake the feeling my house was being cased, or that the make-up bag had recently been stolen...

~=o>

White Rabbits - Percussion Guns.
My current favourite song, that I'm just slightly obsessed with. The percussion line's been nicked from Adam Ant (not a good vid), but then he nicked it from someone else so fair's fair, I guess.
(There's an ad at the beginning of the clip, sorry.)

Forecast: 16-19
Attained: 15-16

Not sure what was going on in the rest of my dream last night but the bit I remember had me saying 'oooh!' to the idea of using 1cm square squares of patterned paper to make collages and mosaics. I thought that could be an excellent use for all those advertising postcards I'd been collecting over the years... :)

~=o>

I found myself staring at a guy on the train today. He had a small mouth, a small receeding chin and bulbous cheeks. I almost laughed when I worked out what he reminded me of.

Slitheen!
That was almost as amusing as when, several years ago, the stick-thin girl with the disproportionately large head and huge eyes reminded me of a Blythe doll.

Hideous things. (Image nicked from Wikipedia.)

~=o>

So, yes, I did go to my first professional convention today, but I'm knackered so will talk about it later. :)

Forecast: 20-30
Attained: 20-28

Yes!
Boss asked me to put together an excel spreadsheet for the stats from the door counter at the main campus library. Took a few hours but I did it. It's got sums an' divisions an' everything! Hah!
You'll have to forgive my gloating triumph but spreadsheeting is not something that comes naturally: I have think logically about displaying number information, not a strength of mine. :)

~=o>

Triple J's current affair program, Hack, has been down in Tasmania this week. Listening to the program has prompted me to remember how much I like the Apple Isle. I've visited a few times over the years, and the cubs' father and I felt so comfortable there we'd contemplated moving. I'm thinking about it again.
Not that long ago I wouldn't have really considered moving interstate but with Mum's shuffling off this mortal coil I suddenly realised I'd been thinking that way primarily because I didn't want to move too far away from her. That's not a barrier now, and the cubs will be 18 in a couple of years and able to fend for themselves. Plus, I work in a mobile industry, there's jobs popping up all the time all over the place.
So, let's see what happens. I have a little time to get my life organised enough for a move bigger than just to the other end of a suburb.

~=o>

From the 'quote of the day' calendar at work. I'm not sure this is entirely accurate:

Forecast: 14-28
Attained: 13-29

The afternoon tea wasn't quite what I was expecting. I envisioned sitting down with my cubs and partaking exclusively of their noms. What actually happened was the guests were invited to wander around the class as a whole and sample everyone's noms. So much food...
Was good though, tasted some lovely snacks. I have pics of the cubs' efforts, just have to d/l them first.
Didn't need to cook dinner tonight, there was so much stuff brought home.

Later this evening BadgerCub's drama class gave their solo perfomances! Some excellent stuff, especially from BC, and I'm not just being biased as a mum. :)
I've recorded his performance so his father can see it when he comes back from o/s. Of course, being an idiot I'd missed the first couple of minutes cos I forgot to check that the camera was in video mode. Tch. And I need to check it's actually got sound... Technogenius, I am not.

Forecast: 8-26
Attained: 8-25

Dramaz...
The major assessment for the cubs' food tech unit this term has been to plan, design and cook for a themed afternoon tea. BadgerCub chose Steampunk/Victorian; VortexCub chose medieval. It's been... challenging for them pulling it all together in time. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done....

The tea is tomorrow; I'll be leaving work early so I can attend. :)

Forecast: 8-21
Attained: 8-18

I expected to dream last night* but instead of the Transformers slavefic** inspired dream I was hoping for I got CSI. [shudder] Was horrible.
In this dream universe a couple of skeletons had been found on a new construction site. I knew who they were cos I'd buried them there, several years earlier. Two of my closest friends had died and while I hadn't killed them, I got the impression I was responsible in some way for their deaths. I'd hidden their bodies and said nothing, just... grieving along with the rest of the friends and family as would be expected.
When my friends were found - as I'd known they would be - I knew their identities would quickly be established cos I'd left their purses/IDs on them. It was a relief in some ways because I'd been carrying this secret with me for so long, but I was concerned about what would happen when their deaths were traced to me. I consoled myself with the thought that I hadn't actually killed them, just concealed their deaths. That wasn't so bad, was it...?

On waking I was horrified and appalled: how could I have subjected their famililes to so many years of anguish, not knowing what'd happened to them? One of my friends had three small children who'd grown up not knowing their mother.

The dread and guilt I've dragged around all day is only now beginning to fade. I love my imagination, seriously I do, but sometimes...

* - Well, I dream every night so that probly should've said 'hoped to remember my dream last night'.
** - Don't ask, but thanks again, Joules for the rec!

~=o>

Ok, I need soothing...

... that's better. Nothing like soothing visuals to um, soothe. :)

(That last is 'Optimus Personified' by LALAax. Nothing at all to do with the slavefic, just something Joules found online that made my jaw drop. [Here's LALAax's deviant art gallery by the way. Nothing immediately NSFW] )

Forecast: 11-18
Attained: 11-18

CSI: Las Vegas.

• Nick's accent.
• Catherine's hair.
• Greg's shoulders.
• Grissom.

 Nice.



~=o>

Warm and windy today, perfect drying weather...

... I'm sure I had something more interesting to say. Oh well.

Ah, Solange...  : )

[Edit:] I remember what I was going to say! I tried the frozen avocados and they were disgusting. Fibrous and tasteless. [shudder]

Forecast: 15-23
Attained: 18-24

So full ov noms...
As a special yay-tax-refund treat, Cubs and I went to the Piggy Place for dinner. Got there later than I'd planned so had to wait a little while for a table. I had the char grilled chicken with mushroom sauce. As always, the meat was perfect, the not-meat portion of the meal less so. :)
([blink] There's an auto-start video on the Piggy Place site. Took me by surprise. Cue hasty back-paging to get away from it!)

~=o>

Bit of a weird day. Up early to drive cubs' father to the airport, then had to come home the long, boring way via Bell st. cos the regular way around the CBD was a carpark rather than a freeway. Seriously, there was traffic backed up and stationary at least two kliks! And yes, Bell st. was as congested as it's always been but at least the traffic was moving. Took two hours to get home rather than the thirty minutes if we'd been able to go via the tollway and tunnels.
Was very tired by the time we got home so I went and had a nap. Intended only an hour or so - I'd set my alarm and everything - but ended up sleeping for four hours. Guess I must've needed the rest. And that's why the cubs and I ended up getting there late to the Piggy Place.

~=o>

A while ago I quite intensely watched seasons 1-6 of CSI:Vegas (thanks, Joules, for the rec, btw). Really got in to it, chasing down the dvds as quickly - and cheaply! - as possible. I think I burnt myself out on it cos by the end of S6 I wasn't that motivated to get S7. The dark subject matter didn't help either: there's only so much gruesome death one can witness before it stops being entertaining, I guess.
I still kept an eye out for cheap copies of the subsequent seasons, however, cos I do really like the characters, got somewhat emotionally attached to a few and I want to know what happens to them. :) Yay for sales, I say. I picked up S7 & 8 for less than half price! Will probably take my time watching them this time...

~=o>

Language has always been fluid but I think with the 'net that fluidity is accelerated. F'rinstance, 'spam', it's those stupid, often innappropriate and always unsolicited emails that clog up your inbox, or used to before the advent of spam-filters, right? Spamming was a bad thing, inflicted on nameless others. To have been spammed was aggravating. However, Cubs have been using the phrase 'pic spamming' to describe the act of uploading a bunch (ie: many) pics to their deviant art account. At first I was a bit surprised at the new slant and made a point of explaining the origin of the word to the cubs and why it made me twitch, but then I thought, does it really matter? I'm watching the meanings of words and phrases changing online, due to memes and such, from day to day. Why am I intent on hanging on to this particular word/meaning? Is it a generational thing...?

There is a point to the above, cos I'm doing some pic spamming of my own now. :)
(I was going to say 'photo bombing' but that means something else to my original understanding of it, as well.)

... ROFLMAO!
And after that little spiel there was only one photo I wanted to upload. Odd, I was under the impression I had a backlog! Boy, is my face red... :)

This pic of avocados and an egg isn't here cos of it's amusing similarity to a comic face, no, it's there to demonstrate the itty-bitty size of the frozen avocados I got from the supermarket.
I've been seeing packets of these for a few months now, and generally ignored them cos they're stupidly expensive, but this time they were on special, $2 down from $6+ for four halves. Plus I was cashed up - always dangerous for impulse buys - and thought 'why not?'. They could be handy to have in the freezer, for lunches and snacks, but when I took a sachet out and saw the tiny things I was appalled. Supermarket seriously wanted people to pay $6+ for these? Also, they're from Mexico - which, if I'd bothered reading the packaging before buying they would've gone straight back in to the freezer.

So yes, kudos to the enterprising sort finding a way of using fruit which is probably too small to sell as is, but I won't be buying these again, on special or not.

~=o>

More from Cosmo Jarvis (Gay Pirates).
Interesting young man, quite subversive.
This clip has a thing or two to say...

Forecast: 11-25
Attained: 11-25

Ok, I went back and watched Rassilon chewing the sets again, and here's what he said:

"... only two stand against and will stand, as monument to their shame, as the weeping angels of old..."

Screen grab:

See the two Timelords with their hands over their eyes? Yeah...
Intriguing snippety bit, yes? :)

~=o>

This is a poignant little song...

Forecast: 8-20
Attained: 8-21

The last Tennant!Doctor special, The End of Time. It gets a bit slashy there between the Doctor and the Master. Hee.
(Also - I'm going to have to go back and rewatch this bit cos I didn't quite catch all of it - but Rassilon says something about shaming the two dissenting timelords, who didn't vote the way he wanted and were marked out by having their hands over their eyes, by making them do something like 'the weeping angels of old'. Eeep.)

~=o>

[giggling] Holding one of the earbud thingies directly against the 'catching' bit of my hearing aide funnels the music directly in to my ear. Tickles!
More importantly, it means I can probably use the cover-your-ears headphones with the aide in place. Wow, stereo music!

Forecast: 9-18
Attained: 10-17

While going through some of my mum's stuff recently I rediscovered one of the funniest comic strips I've ever seen. Well, I rediscovered the hysterical cat element of the comic strip.

This is Hallmarks of Felinity, an archive of the early cat-bits from from 9 Chickweed Lane. The archive only goes so far but I'm trying to pin down how to access the rest of it.

... is remarkably frustrating! There doesn't seem to be any centrally organised site. [grumble]

Forecast: 10-16
Attained: 10-16

Owowow. Since yesterday I've been experiencing cramps in my ribs, of all places. Really annoying cos unlike leg cramps, which I can walk out, there's no stretching, no particular position that eases the owie. I just have to keep moving, swear a lot, and wait for it to pass. Fortunately they don't happen all that often. Not sure what set them off this time but I probably sat too still in one position for too long and let myself get cold. Tch.

~=o>

Staff meeting today but with more than half the staff away on leave there was only three of us. I volunteered to take the minutes and then, because the boss was going on leave tomorrow, I akshully managed to get the minutes written up and off to her for checking a couple of hours after the meeting instead of days later, as is usual. Go me. :) I don't like doing the minutes, I always feel I'm floundering and leaving vital stuff out. This time wasn't too bad, however, partly I'm sure because I got on to it straight away rather than procrastinating and avoiding, but also because, with such a small number of participants I wasn't scrambling to note down what everyone said!

~=o>

Pasta for lunch. Can you spot the dinosaurs?

Forecast: 7-16
Attained: 8-15

While idly google imaging tonight I came across pics taken by someone on their journeys to find 'caches'. Curious, I googled 'cache hunting' and discovered this:

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.

Kinda looks like fun. Gets you out of the house... :)

~=o>

Awesome! There's a second series of 'Sherlock' under way! I shall look forward to that.

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 12-16

Heh, cubs enjoyed their all-night laser tag happy fun time. :) They got in about 5, apparently, but I knew nothing about it, being asleep. Got them up around midday anyway so they have a chance of getting some sleep tonight. It's back to school tomorrow for them.

~=o>

Caught the last ep of Dr Who series 6. I quite liked it! I even liked Amy a bit, not something that's happened much over this past 2 series, though I continue to be awfully fond of Rory.
I'd like to watch the 11th Doctor's series over again. Haven't been overly impressed with the writing though the past few eps have been very engaging.

~=o>

Tch, not sure about this working an extra day. I've only got tomorrow off to do stuff, rather than two days, then it's back to work. Eh well, can't complain about the extra cash...

Forecast (yesterday): 13-19
Attained: 13-20

Forecast (today): 12-20
Attained: 13-19

So, I work a 4 day week and I'm shattered. No stamina, clearly. :)
Well, I've got a few more weeks of this. I'm sure I'll manage.

~=o>

Bwhahahahaha!



~=o>

Cubs will be going to a midnight-dawn laser tag session tonight. [g] Not sure that's such a good idea the weekend before going back to school.

Forecast: 13-20
Attained: 15-20

I really don't understand how daylight savings works. How come, when we put the hour forward, it's darker in the morning and lighter in the evening? Shouldn't that be the other way 'round? I'z confused...

~=o>

Spring, an' stuff!
Outside of work today: suddenly, purple flowers!

I love this Aus native plant. (Not sure what it is: olearia phlogopappa, perhaps? Not quite a brachycome?) We used to have one on the patio of a previous rental place. Fabulous spill of purple for months at a time.

And spotted in the carpark this morning.
These unprepossessing flowers of the port wine magnolia have the loveliest, sweetest scent that releases in the late afternoon. I was definitely looking forward to sticking my nose in there after work! Mmmm...

(Hee, Blogger is telling me I've used 8mg of the 1gb space allocated to me for pics. [snerk] Not trying hard enough, clearly...)

Forecast: 12-22
Attained: 11-22

Made myself a sort of stir-fry tonight for din-dins and tried some 'winter salad' of spinach and kale mixed through it. Nice thought but the spinach reacted to the heat much faster than the kale, already going slimy before it's hardier companion had even warmed through! (Was still nommy though. Forgot how much I like kale...)

And I tried a grapefruit/cola skoosh mix. Yum! The grapefruit lightened the almost cloying sweetness of the cola, while the cola countered the bitterness of the grapefruit just enough. Will definitely be having more of that.

~=o>

Elbow - Grounds for Divorce.

Feckin' fabulous song! I will be always grateful to my niece for introducing me to this band. :)

Forecast: 8-22
Attained: 7-22

I'm going to a work-related conference in a couple of weeks. I feel a bit like a grown-up. :)

~=o>

Dinner: frittata (of sorts). Zucchini, garlic & tomato.

Splort!
I can never transfer things prettily from frying pan to plate. Was tasty, though..

Forecast: 6-20
Attained: 6-19

Well, back to work tomorrow. I did manage to tick off a couple of things on my 'happy holiday fun time wish/to do list' but for the most part my down-time consisted of a lot of very relaxing nothing. :) Of course, I was poorly for a goodly part of it so couldn't have done much of anything anyway, but I don't feel the time has been wasted.

~=o>

This is a wonderful news article about mysterious paper sculptures being discovered around Edinburgh this year.

(Photo by chrisdonia, nicked from their flickr feed.)

Forecast: 8-18
Attained: 9-17

Eee, I'm quite excited about this!
The Wiggles have been around for twenty years now and there's a tribute album coming out next month!
The cubs grew out of the Wiggles about ten years ago but I've still got a soft spot for those Wiggly dudes.

I couldn't find the clip I wanted of my absolute favourite Wiggles song, "I am a dancer" ([snerk] blokes in blunnies doing ballet) but this is my second favourite song. I still know all the moves!



~=o>

One more day of holidays. I shall probly spend it napping... :)

[edit: in reference to yesterday's post about extra sleep. 'Twas not so, alas. An hour forward means an hours less sleep. Tch, have never been able to get the hang of daylight saving...]

Forecast: 10-15
Attained: 9-14

Was a bit chilly today, chilly and rainy. There's still stuff in the washing machine from yesterday, which will have to be washed again before I can hopefully hang it out tomorrow.

~=o>

... Does the hour go forward tonight? Better check...

Yes, it does. Woohoo, an extra hour to sleep!

~=o>

Avalanches: "Since I left you"
Awww... This clip always makes me sooky. :)



~=o>

Dang. Might have to sacrifice a chunk of my tax refund - still assuming I get some - to the gods of dental work. [grump] Would rather have a lap-top...

~=o>

Bwhaahaha!
Lifted from the 'Coming Soon' section at Hoyts.com.au:

33D Invader
Director: Cash Chin
Akiho Yoshizawa and Macy Wu

A beautiful woman from the future by time machine came to 2011, looking for what she needs to perfect genes.From 2046 years of future alien (Kato Taka) know the same beautiful girl from the future WuQing sunny to earth looking for good man away from the earth, and he immediately to stop, and the earth in a relationship, all women are supposed to his claws.

Um, what...?