Monday, September 02, 2013

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

~=o>




Sunday, September 01, 2013

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

~=o>

Thursday, August 29, 2013

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

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

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

~=o>

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Hello again!

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

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

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

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


~=o>

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Soooo...

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

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

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

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

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



[muffled squealing]

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

~=o>




Sunday, May 12, 2013

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

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

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


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





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

Cubs also made me a card!





They know me so well...


~=o>

Thursday, May 09, 2013

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

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


25°? Tch...

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



(nicked from online and uncredited)

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

~=o>

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

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

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


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

~=o>

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

~=o>

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




Stew was very nom and surprisingly filling.


~=o>

Monday, May 06, 2013

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

~=o>

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Forecast: 11-17°
Attained: 10-16°


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




And there they go... :)




A good start to the day.

~=o>

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Forecast: 9-20°
Attained: 8-19°


Not much to say, really...

~=o>

Monday, April 29, 2013

Forecast: 11-19°
Attained: 11-18°


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



~=o>


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Forecast: 16-20°
Attained: 16-19°


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

~=o>

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

~=o>

Forecast: 15-24°
Attained: 15-24°


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

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

~=o>

Earlier today:

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

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

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

~=o>

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Forecast: 14-22°
Attained: 16-23°


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

~=o>

I'd heard about this...




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

~=o>

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Forecast: 11-21°
Attained: 11-21°


For this public holiday I had planned on going to see Iron Man 3 but by the time I felt even vaguely inclined to leave the house it was 6.30pm so, no. I did however get 3 loads of washing done, rifled through the pantry and got rid of a few more bits and bobs, and finished reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (spoilery link).

Everything else I'd planned to do today can wait for the weekend. :)

~=o>

Forecast: 11-20°
Attained: 14-20°


Woohoo, ANZAC day public holiday tomorrow! I get two fridays this week :)

~=o>

These biscuits are adorable. I wouldn't want to eat them.




(nicked from somewhere on tumblr.)

~=o>

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Forecast: 12-18°
Attained: 12-19°


So, we've finally got an actual trailer for Thor: the Dark World.



On tumblr, the Thor fandom is spazzing out as are Loki's Army/Hiddlestoners. (TBH, I've watched the trailer about a dozen times already, but mostly only from 1:24 on. There was squeeing. BRB. Watching it again... :)

~=o>

Monday, April 22, 2013

Forecast: 12-19°
Attained: 12-17°


Was my normal day-off today. I reviewed the list of things I could be doing at home and decided to screw that and use my complimentary movie ticket instead.

Jurassic Park 3D!

It's been years since I've seen this, long enough to have forgotten some of it. I jumped and squeaked a few times... :)
The 3D treatment worked well, mostly; there were a few bits where the foreground was blurred enough to be distracting.

~=o>


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Forecast: 7-20°
Attained: 7-20°


Busy day. Started early with a trip to the shops to get supplies for Ms Raven's party this afternoon, then a quick dash up to the train station to pick up the cubs' father who's just come back from overseas. He came back to our place for a little while, catching up with the cubs while I made a pile of fairy bread.
We gave him a lift home then drove out to Studley Park Boathouse and Picnic Area for the party.

Well. That was an adventure.
It would've been fine if I hadn't misread the sodding street directory, taken a wrong turn and ended up three suburbs away. Then had to find my way back to where it all went wrong, in Sunday traffic, in a part of Melbourne that doesn't seem to hold much store in clearly labelling streets. Most of the delay was trying to find out where the frack we were then try to correlate it back to the directory. Grrr...
My poor cubs. They put up with a lot from me. There was swearing, and almost tears, and - frankly - histrionics as I became more and more pissed off.
Anyway, after a few more minor false turns we finally got back to where I'd originally decided that hang on, shouldn't we be going that way? The absolute pisser of the thing was that three streets down from where we should've gone was the turn-off we should've taken. I was incredulous, and there was more swearing cos now I was sure the gods were laughing at me. Humph.

After that it was relatively easy, except for arriving an hour late, and there being no convenient parking. I dropped the cubs off with the picnic stuff then went off to find parking on the main road. Ended up being ten minutes walk away, which doesn't sound like much but I was in a foul mood and begrudged every extra step...

But! The day was good! Lots of food, all the fairy bread was eaten, and there was walks and bridges and a river and games and shennanigans. Five of our assorted youngsters, including a cub and the birthday girl, hired a row boat -



- to go messing about on the river.



Hee, and in honour of the Wind in the Willows theme, here's soulsis in rabbit ears. (She doesn't know I took this picture.)



It was a lovely day, in a lovely spot. We made it home without incident - almost: a small wrong-turn but nowhere near as bad as previously - then a quiet evening at home, without dinner cos we were all so full of party food. :)

~=o>

Forecast: 9-19°
Attained: 10-18°


Ridiculously, it wasn't that cold this morning but I was freezing. Had to go back to bed to warm up, and then was fine for the rest of the day. Just as the first few days of summer weather knock me about a little, so do the first cool days.

~=o>

Cubs and I are going to Ms Raven's (my 20 y.o. neice) birthday party tomorrow. It's Wind in the Willows themed and is being held down by a river.
I have had plenty of time to come up with a costume, or at least ears of some description, but no, just wasn't quite that organised...

~=o>

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Forecast: 10-18°
Attained: 10-17°


I was microwaving some veggies for tonights dinner when I smelt burnt plastic...




Annoyed. This was my favourite microwave container. Not quite sure how that happened.

~=o>

It's chilly inside this evening. Though KittenKong is quite content.



~=o>

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Forecast: 10-17°
Attained: 11-18°


I had to have some blood drawn today, to check if my vitD/vitK/haemoglobin levels are as laughably low as they were last year.
Was in and out of the place within five minutes, and had a really good phlebotomist, one of them as takes blood. She was gentle. We chatted, and she commiserated with me about I.V.s [shudder].

And then I nipped across the road to an op shop. It was one of the ones that tend to be expensive - they're doing this for charity, you hear me, charity! - so I wasn't expecting much.
But! I found this pressed-glass platter for $1! In very good nick! I've been collecting this pattern for close to thirty years now, and I don't have a piece like this. :)

In the background you can see cat haunches, for scale.




Close up of the pattern. I call it 'Cathedral Window'. No idea what it's actually called.



~=o>

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Forecast: 9-20°
Attained: 12-19°


I've just spent three days at the main campus - instead of my usual dotted about all over the place - and it was rilly, rilly haaaaaard. Three days in a row of grrr-making parking, and three days in a row of having to wear corporate appropriate clothes. I don't have that many! That's one of the reasons I like going out to the other campuses: I can relax a bit about what I'm wearing...
In some ways, having a uniform for work is a great idea.

On the plus side, three days in the one place gave me a really good grip on the continuity of tasks and I got heaps done.

Day off tomorrow, then back on Friday - the main campus, again - then back to my regularly scheduled three day weekends. Phew...

~=o>

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Forecast: 10-19°
Attained: 12-20°


[snicker] I gave the cubs a fright last night.
I'd gone to bed early but had to get up a little while later to use the loo. The floors here are really creaky, which means you can always tell when someone's moving about. The cubs were both in the back bedroom near the toilet and of course they weren't expecting to hear anything...
Two anxious little faces peering around the door. One of the cubs was holding his walking cane. :)
I didn't laugh. Really I didn't.

~=o>

There's a reason otters aren't kept as pets...




~=o>

Monday, April 15, 2013

Forecast: 13-19°
Attained: 14-16°


[giggling]
Tom Hiddleston won 'Best Villain' at the MTV awards and tumblr exploded. :)

I think he was the only one at the awards wearing a suit...



~=o>

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Forecast (yesterday): 18-24°
Attained: 20-24°

Forecast (today): 15-21°
Attained: 16-22°


I usually have a 3 day weekend, but due to rostering it's only 2 days this time. I feel rushed and discombobulated.
I have at least already made my lunch and got my bag organised. That should help...

~=o>

Cubs go back to school tomorrow. I overheard them this evening freaking out a bit cos they haven't finished their holiday homework. Ooops. I sometimes feel guilty for not pushing them harder about schoolwork/organising their time but honestly I'm no great shakes at it myself, and this is stuff they have to learn to deal with themselves.

~=o>

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Forecast: 13-25°
Attained: 12-24°


Hey wow, this time last year I was in Queensland fondling appreciating Big Things. (Pics by me :)


(Big Banana, Coffs Harbour.)




(Giant Prawn, Ballina.)




(Big Pineapple, Woombye.)




Good times, good times...

~=o>

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Forecast: 13-21°
Attained: 15-17°


The last hot (over 30°) day was almost two weeks ago. Since then the daytime temps have mostly been between 22-25° and the seven-day forecast is predicting much the same.
I think... I can probably finally relax...

~=o>

I really enjoy being out at the remotest campus but the public parking is inconsistent.
For the first little while it was almost a given that the exit boom gate would be up at hometime and I could drive away, cackling, not having had to pay for parking. Then a few months ago, without warning, they 'fixed' the system and I mostly had to pay for parking. That was a fair cop, I thought, I'd been enjoying free parking for a while.

This evening the ticket thingy wouldn't accept notes. This was very annoying as I wasn't sure I had the same amount in coins. Scraped around and finally came up with the dosh only to find that it had taken so long to get the coins together the price had clicked up! I had absolutely no more coins; it looked like I was going to have to beg 50c from someone. grrrrr...
But now the machine wasn't accepting coins either and there were four of us locked in the carpark. One of the other staff members there rang security and explained what was happening. The boom gate was lifted remotely and we all just scarpered back to our cars and left as quickly as possible!

Bit aggravating but I ended up not having to pay for parking so that was a win. :)

~=o>

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Forecast (yesterday): 15-24°
Attained: 14-23°

Forecast (today): 12-26°
Attained: 12-24°


So rat-shit tired yesterday that I basically came home from work, had dinner, then went to bed. Was asleep by 9.30 and slept all the way through to the alarm. Must've reeeeallly needed it.

Coped better today though it felt at times like I was running a low-grade fever. Nothing that needed meds, just feeling a bit off. Not wanting to leap to conclusions but I did have a lot more sugar than usual over the previous week. Could there be a connection? Just possibly.

~=o>

Hee.



~=o>

Monday, April 08, 2013

Forecast: 15-23°
Attained: 17-23°


[pout] I went clothes shopping today. I loathe clothes shopping. I only do it when it's absolutely necessary, like when my (limited amount of) work-suitable clothes are really getting too close to catastrophic failure. [grump] I found one t-shirt top I may be able to get away with on the remote campuses.
Then I met up with Penny for coffee and the soul-anaesthetic of a vanilla slice. We found out one of the other cheap shops (Best 'n' Less) was having a closing down sale so we decided to go and pick over the corpse. Was too demoralised to look for stuff for myself but the cubs got a good swag of new tops and socks.

~=o>

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Forecast: 16-27°
Attained: 16-26°


Heh, a pretty cruisey weekend. Didn't do a lot of anything, except perhaps nap.
Currently waiting for the cubs to let me know when they're coming back from Sydney. (They've had a great weekend, apparently.)

~=o>

[giggling]



Can't remember if I've posted this before, but hey...

~=o>

Forecast (yesterday): 10-24°
Attained: 10-25°

Forecast: 12-26°
Attained: 13-28°


Odd couple of days.
Cos the cubs had to be at the airport stupid early Saturday morning, we all made the attempt to get to bed early Friday night. I was more successful, managing 4 hours sleep compared to the cubs' one hour. :) Fortunately their dad was able to drive us all there and back - he's much better at night driving than I am, for a start, plus he's generally nocturnal anyway so being up at 3am is just a regular day for him.

We got the cubs to their flight in plenty of time and I finally got home about 7am. I stayed awake for the next few hours cos I wanted to catch any texts the cubs sent - all good: flight was fine, they got to the con in time, met up with friends etc - but I eventually had to crash around lunchtime. (Hee, I got a text from them around 8pm this evening saying g'night, they were going to bed now! It'd been a very long day for them...)

I'll be picking the cubs up from the airport late tomorrow (Sunday) night, and then I'm guessing they'll probly sleep away a fair chunk of Monday. Good thing they're still on holidays.

~=o>

zomg!zomg!zomg!Squeep!
Jurassic Park has been rereleased in 3D!
The first time I saw this movie I cried cos the dinosaurs weren't real. I was almost 30 y.o. :)

~=o>

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Forecast (yesterday): 12-19°
Attained: 14-17°

Forecast: 11-22°
Attained: 11-20°


The cubs have got their 'plane/hotel/convention tickets organised for this weekend! Exciting!
They'll be catching a stupid-early flight to Sydney, staying just the one night then flying back to Melbourne after the con. Guess which noble, self-sacrificing mother will be driving them out to and picking them up from the airport? :)

~=o>

Remember this?



New Wave was so silly. (I can mock. I was there. :)

~=o>

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Forecast: 15-19°
Attained: 16-19°


I worked today, on my own, but it was so very, very quiet I mostly bobbed along in my own little bubble. Didn't have to interact much with anything/anyone outside my head. :)
All the work got done and the day zipped along quite nicely all by itself.
And now I have a further 4 days off. Mwahahaha...

~=o>

Kittenkong, helping me with the washing up.



~=o>

Monday, April 01, 2013

Forecast: 12-22°
Attained: 10-20°


Met up with a pair of old friends today. Haven't seen them for years and we spent the first twenty minutes trying to pinpoint when exactly was the the last time we saw each other. :)
I'm still not entirely sure, to be honest!
Was great seeing them, though, and I had a delicious iced mocha from the Lindt cafe. Bought some choc to take away, then came home, ate it, and unsurprisingly fell in to a chocolate coma. :)

~=o>

Not sure if you can see what's happening here but a black house spider and a daddy longlegs (indicated by the yellow arrow) are squaring off over a wasp that's been caught in their overlapping webs.



I think the ddl won...

And that's why I'm quite happy to let them stay in the house!


~=o>

Forecast (yesterday): 13-23°
Attained: 13-22°

Forecast: 15-20°
Attained: 14-19°


Oops, forgot to do a post yesterday...

~=o>

Heh, happy man-on-a-stick day, I guess.
Tommorow is discount chocolate day.
Woot. :)

~=o>

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Forecast: 11-22°
Attained: 11-18°


Hee, treated myself to Skyfall again this evening. Do so enjoy that movie. It was great reliving the sh*tf*cksh*t! moments. :)

I like the new Q, too.



~=o>

Friday, March 29, 2013

Forecast: 16-22°
Attained: 16-21°


Weird sort of day. Despite another bitty, rubbish sleep I was quite energetic - didn't feel like napping once at work. It being the last day before hols might have had something to do with it. (4 days off - 1 day on - 7 days off!)
Also, the carpet is finally dry now, just in time for the Easter close down. :)

~=o>

A friend's lent me the first three books of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. (Paranormal AU modern-day London.) I started reading and was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of snippets of information about past events. They were great! Through them I was slowly building a sense of the world frame and characters. T'riffic idea, I thought.
And then I realised I'd started with the third book. [sigh]
But that was the odd thing. Usually when I start a series in the middle, these sorts of references can be really annoying. I feel adrift within the world, and need to read the previous stuff to get a grounding. These snips, however, were dropped so casually in to the narrative it was like they were important, sort of, but not vital for understanding the story. They added a pleasing richness.
Eh well, I'll start over with the first book, anyway.

~=o>

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Forecast: 22-34°
Attained: 22-35°


It's felt like a friday all day again today. Though it kinda is, in a way, cos this is my last day at the main campus before the hols.

~=o>

Ugh. Hot hot day today, slightly less hot yesterday. Made bearable cos there's at least a week of reasonable temperatures to come. :)

~=o>

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Forecast: 16-32°
Attained: 17-32°


On the way to work.

Two cups of coffee? No, one cup of coffee plus a cup of milk for my cereal. Due to rubbish sleep I got up late and didn't have time to eat breakfast at home.



When I got to work I found this:



I knew about the flooding but because I hadn't actually seen it yet I assumed this was just the carpet not drying out over night.
No, apparently, there was another leak. That's new wet on top of the mostly dried old wet.

By the end of the day it was looking much better though, despite there being a problem with the condenser.
See the wet spot at the back by the cluster of chairs? The unit had got blocked and started leaking. Fortunately a new unit was found forthwith.



~=o>

Monday, March 25, 2013

Forecast: 15-26°
Attained: 14-23°


I don't work on Mondays but I got an email from the boss today, letting me know there's been a flood at the secondary campus, which is where I'm rostered to work tomorrow.
Hasn't affected the books but it's down the end of the library where all the computers are. Consequently, and via OH&S' recommendation, no one is allowed to use the computers there. This is incredibly annoying for the students/med staff doing their training/researchers that regularly use the library.

Engineering says they've fixed the leak - should bloody hope so! - and the cleaners were up there quickly with the wet/dry vacuum thing.
Big fan dryers will be going overnight to help with the drying. Whether that will get rid of the wet carpet smell remains to be seen. I'll see what it's like when I go in tomorrow.

Only the plus side, the library may get a new carpet out of this. :)



(Image nicked from here. My edit.)

~=o>


Forecast (yesterday): 14-25°
Attained: 15-24°


Forecast (today): 14-25°
Attained: 15-24°


I dreamt while I was napping this afternoon.

I picked up the cubs and their friend from somewhere. I had KittenKong in the car with me but she escaped when the door was open and the cubs were getting in. I went after her, managed to catch her and went back to the car... Except the cubs (and friend) had 'borrowed' it and were driving away slowly. I jogged after them, cuddling KK who was quite happy to be carried.
I saw the car stop a little way ahead and they waited for me though I was anxious that they'd take off again before I got there. KK and I continued on, me looking for glimpses of the car as I somehow had to go through peoples' houses and garden - and part of an old hospital! - to finally catch up with them. Once there I was too relieved they'd waited to be angry. Reclaiming my car, KK escaped again, but I wasn't too worried cos I knew she'd come to me when I called. Which she did, little white paws flashing as she ran.

The really interesting thing about this dream was that the cubs (and friend) were primary school age, wearing their uniforms. Even their friend, who they didn't meet until they went to highschool, was wearing the same thing.

Weird, eh? Now if that's not a dream detailing my anxiety about the cubs growing up and moving away from me I don't know what else it could be!

~=o>

And now some adorableness...



~=o>


Friday, March 22, 2013

Forecast: 14-24°
Attained: 15-20°


The phrase 'Wouldn't say boo to a goose...' means that someone is timid, meek.
They're sensible, I say. Gooses are vicious; look at them the wrong way and they'll 'ave you! There's a reason they're used as guard dogs...
When I were a wee lass, living in England, Mum took me to visit a farm. I think we were there to pick up some goose feathers for my Red Indian Amerindian headdress*. Anyway, I refused to get out of the car cos the resident geese scared me. They were almost as big as my five year old self, for a start, and there were a lot of them (in my memory the menacing flock counted in the dozens but it was probably less than that.) So I stayed in the car, keeping a wary eye on these huge birds and anxiously waiting for Mum to return.

(* I loved that headdress. Mum sewed the feathers to a long piece of fabric braid. Sort of like this:



(Image nicked from here.)

Toby, the boy next door, and I played 'Indians' for hours amongst his family's gooseberry bushes - bonus snacks! I had the headdress, he had the bow and arrows, it was perfect. :)
Unfortunately, the headdress was one of the things that didn't come out to Australia with me. Not sure what happened to it, but I do remember missing it. Perhaps it was falling apart and had been tactfully removed when I hadn't been paying attention. Or, possibly it couldn't have come with us cos of quarantine restrictions. I wonder if there's a photo of me wearing it? I haven't looked through all the old family photos yet, hm...)

~=o>

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Forecast: 2-26°
Attained: 20-23°


Woohoo! Windy and rainy today!

~=o>

Interesting...



One of the comments made me giggle:
"Yer a wizard, warlike Harry."

~=o>

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Forecast: 13-29°
Attained: 13-28°


As neither their dad or I could make it this afternoon, the cubs took themselves off to the P/T interviews.
I asked them if they felt more relaxed without us there; unsurprisingly the answer was 'yes'. :)

~=o>

I'm gamely resisting counting down the days 'til wootholidays, but not successfully. Five working days! [bounce]

~=o>

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Forecast: 11-25°
Attained: 12-23°


So there I was last night, happily asleep, when I was suddenly woken by the thumping arounds of cubs.
1.30am
I growled at them via text cos a: they'd woken me up, and b: what were they doing still awake at 1.30am! (That they managed to get to school on time is impressive, however.)

Very not happy, cos of course it took me ages to get back to sleep.

~=o>



Never underestimate the innate nobility of gooses.

~=o>

Monday, March 18, 2013

Forecast: 13-21°
Attained: 13-21°


... when I have an idea about something to blog about I really should write it down.

~=o>

Oh, I remember!
Cubs have got parent/teacher interviews this week but cos of the work-to-rule restrictions the only times available to book are between 2.30-4.30 pm which means because of work I won't be able to go. [sigh] I guess this is why the note this time didn't mention anything about mandatory attendance. Anyway, I've asked the cubs to organise their own interviews and we can discuss them when I get home. Their interim reports are ok, the usual smattering of 'needs attention' in regards to homework amongst the otherwise good stuff.

~=o>

And yes! I'm only rostered on for the one day I requested over the Easter slow week. Mwhahahahaha! Sleeeeeeep innns, precious!

~=o>

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Forecast: 13-20°
Attained: 12-20°


Cubs have realised they've only got a few weeks before the convention in Sydney they're planning to attend. :) Cue frantic checking of hotels/travl arrangements/finances...

~=o>

[giggling]



~=o>

Forecast: 16-22°
Attained: 17-23°


Yay, rain! It's been weeks...

~=o>

I refuse to feel guilty about not answering the door. Everyone I want to speak to will either ring first or has a key. Anyone else is likely to want to talk to me about religion, be looking for a donation or want to convince me to change my electricity supplier. Pfft.
Oh, and there's the kids from over the back fence, looking for lost balls, but they have tactit permission to go look for them without asking first anyway.

~=o>

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Forecast: 15-26°
Attained: 18-23°


Yeah, well, I was going to do stuff this evening, but you know...



~=o>

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Forecast: 15-25°
Attained: 16-24°


I love this!
Alas, no eyetoons munny until after the rent's paid...



Boom! Clap! Boomboomboom clap! :)

~=o>

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Forecaste: 24-29°
Attained: 27-26°


Temperature hovered around 27°* for most of the night, dipping down a few degrees about 10am then climbing back up to 26° later in the day.
Sooo much better though than the past nine days. I may actually sleep tonight...

[* That was outside. It was 32° in my room when I went to bed.


(Happy cuddly cat is happy to cuddle now that the temps gone down. There's not a lot of that goes on when it's hot. :)

~=o>

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Forecast: 24-37°
Attained: 24-36°


Happy birthday to me! :)

The cubs had made a lovely card and their dad turned up this evening with cake!



And, there's a cool change on the way, apparently.

~=o>

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUTRA!!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Forecast: 21-36°
Attained: 21-36°


Penny and I went for a birthday drive today! (My birthday's tomorrow; her's is on Thursday). Loads of fun.
Up to the Patchwork Teahouse for great scones and gooooood coffee, omgsrsly good coffee, then a happy browse of the fabrics. So much pretty, pretty stuff!
We dropped in to the Warratina Lavendar Farm on the way back. The iced coffees were acceptable but unfortunately it took a while to be served, due to a combination of a busy day and new staff being trained.

Got home about 3pm then flaked out cos it was hot. Was a good day :)

~=o>

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Forecast: 22-32°
Attained: 23-35°


Cubs and I went to see Branagh's Hamlet this afternoon, all 4 and a bit hours of it. :)
Oh dear. I seem to have rekindled my uniform fetish...

~=o>

Paolo, with moderate-sized cat for comparison.



~=o>

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Forecast: 22-34°
Attained: 24-35°


... six days of 30+ temps so far. My inner monologue at the moment is made up of mainly whining and swearing. Only four more days of this...

~=o>

Popped up to see soulsis et al this afternoon! We grazed on cheeses and dips and crackers and lollies, mwahahaha, and watched Harvey and Dr Doolittle (the original).
And, I got a present...!

He shall be called Paolo



He is a magnificent brute.
(Better pics tomorrow, when there's daylight. :)

Thanks, soulsis! [bouncing]

~=o



Forecast: 21-32°
Attained: 21-33°


Wow, there's been times I've never thought this day would actually get here...

When the cubs were but wee (adorable) babies their father and I had the good fortune to be talked in to setting up ASG education scholarships for them. The monthly contributions were sometimes hard to manage but we - mostly me - kept them going. I have to admit, the secondary school payouts have been a bloody godsend. Things would've been much, much harder financially without them.
But! The tertiary part of the scheme has finally matured, which means no more monthly contributions! This is a good thing, they were a sizeable chunk of my income. Now, all being well, the cubs will have a small monthly payment to help out when they're at Uni.

~=o>

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Forecast 6th March: 19-33°
Attained: 19-33°

Forecast: 22-33°
Attained: 22-35°


Yay! We are required to have a 'go slow' the week after Easter! Only one person rostered for the major campuses that week. I'll be volunteering to go in on the Tuesday. Purely mercernary, that's the only day that won't be covered by holiday leave.

~=o>

Ah, I laughed so hard... :)




~=o>

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Forecast: 19-32°
Attained: 19-33°


Hee, Branagh's Hamlet is coming up this weekend at the Astor. Just in time for my birthday!



~=o>

Monday, March 04, 2013

Forecast: 16-31°
Attained: 15-32°


[sigh] Another week's worth of 30+° forecast, but hopefully that'll be the end of it and we can start the slide in to what passes for winter here. :)

~=o>

There's a chance the library may have to close over the Easter break, as part of the health service's budgetary measures. I'm kinda hoping we do, actually, even though the boss is resisting. Feeling the need for a break...

~=o>

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Forecast: 15-29°
Attained: 14- ... hm, there's been no Melbourne BOM update since 6.30 this morning. Melb airport readings say it got up to around 28°. Felt like it was at least that here.


I picked up a copy of Anna Karenina (yay, ebooks for instant gratification!). Up to chapter 7 so far and I've already had a few 'oh, so that's what that was about!' moments in regards to the movie. I can also see where there's been cuts and how some dialogue has been shifted to different characters. Fairly standard stuff when it comes to movie adaptations of books, but interesting to see nonetheless.

~=o>

Speaking of adapting books, the cubs - one of them at least - has expressed an interest in doing a creative writing degree! I've checked out the course details and it looks like heaps of fun, and quite useful. There's a lot covered in three years - fiction, non-fiction, screenplays, advertising, journalism etc. I think it's an excellent idea, but they (he) will need to have excellent marks in English, and a portfolio of sorts. Will keep reminding them of this throughout the year. :)

~=o>

Just for interests sake, let's list what I'm currently reading, distinct from what I've started reading but put aside for the moment.

(Careful, these links are pretty spoilery.)

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Faceless killers - Henning Mankel
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (see above)
Black Wings has my angel - Elliott Chaze

Hm, that's quite a high proportion of non-English authors than usual, for me.

~=o>



Forecast: 14-27°
Attained: 15-26°


I went to see Anna Karenina this evening. There's a lot of hate for this movie but I loved it! Visually it was stunning, the blend of theatre/reality was fabulous, and Bill Weasley Domhnall Gleeson can certainly act. :) There was a lot of extremely good performances from lots of people I recognised.
I may have to read the book now, though. Oh alas...!

~=o>

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Forecast: 14-24°
Attained: 15-24°


Weird dream last night. I was at a very rural, quite dilapidated hospital, waiting to start treatment for cancer. I asked the nurse when was I going to start feeling like shit. My support person alternated between my brother and the cubs' dad.
Mind you, this was after waking up in the middle of the night and not being to go back to sleep for ages. :)

~=o>

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Forecast: 16-20°
Attained: 14-21°


Every day this week has felt like a thursday, except for today - thursday - which has felt like a friday.

~=o>

I'm not sure if I'm actually adjusting to my new glasses or if they're just pissing me off less.

~=o>

On the way to work this morning I saw people bundled up in coats and scarves, for heaven's sake. It was 16°, not 6, sheesh.

~=o>

(By way of soulsis, on FB..)




~=o>

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Forecast: 20-26°
Attained: 22-27°


More rain today - yay! - and a little less steamy.
It's finally cool enough that cuddly cat can actually cuddle. We do miss our cuddles when it's hot... :)

~=o>

There was a cricket waiting for me in the kitchen sink this morning. Daft thing. If I hadn't seen it it would've been squashed under plates, or washed down the drain.




... it was actually bigger than it looks.

~=o>

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Forecast (25/2): 22-30°
Attained: 22-28°

Forecast (26/2): 20-27°
Attained: 17-27°



Happy birthday, Joules!



(Transformers birthday card by silverwolf05 on DA)




(Did we ever work out who this was...?)

~=o>


So, this is me, sitting in my car this morning before work, around 7.45 am, being very reluctant to get out cos it was raining heavily.



I had an umbrella, yes, but it's not especially big. Works well enough for quick dashes between buildings etc, but not for 10 minute walks through parks. A third of me was wringing wet when I got in to work. Fortunately I always get in early so I was able to spend 20 minutes in the loos trying to dispel the worst of the water from my shirt with the hand dryers. It wasn't a comfortable start to the day.
(Oh yes, and then there was the lightning, very close, and me scuttling through the park while trying to stay close to anything metal I could find! Good times. ;)

And then the temperature rose during the day so it all got niiiiiiice and steamy. Bleurgh.

~=o>

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Forecast: 21-32°
Attained: 20-34°


All the various online bookstores I frequent generally have a 'bargains' section. Currently most of these sections have a high proportion of paranormal fantasy and (het) erotica titles. I don't often find anything interesting there. :)

~=o>

This isn't for sale apparently.
The teasers!



(There's some very interesting things on this site...)

~=o>

Forecast: 21-33°
Attained: 21-32°


The Cubs' school camp happened very early this year, basically their second week back. It was supposed to be two days - with an overnight stay - at a local university, to get a taste of tertiary life and learn some stuff about good study habits. It ended up just being two days, with no overnighters, because of work-to-rule actions by teachers.
Unfortunately the industrial action will impact on other school activities, too. Both cubs are in a production of 'Twelve Angry Men' - they're studying the book this year - but because of the work-to-rule the cast can't rehearse outside of school hours, and it looks like they'll only be able to perform during school hours as well.

Despite the inconveniences I still support the teacher's union actions. :)

~=o>

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Forecast: 20-31°
Attained: 21-32°


Kitty really wants in... :)



~=o>

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Forecast: 18-30°
Attained: 18-32°


...
Nope. I got nuthin'
:)

~=o>



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Forecast: 15-27°
Attained: 16-29°


One of my work chums attended a big library conference in Brisbane last week. She brought back stuff!

All of the staff monitors now have their very own LGFT. :) (Little green fuzzy thing.) Green, and sparkly!




As always there'd been plenty of free goodies given out at the trade displays. I rummaged in the free-for-all bag and picked up some rad postcards, a little jar of mints, and this:

1GB usb.
No idea what the rational was for it being surrounded by liquid. Other than looking neat, I guess...



~=o>

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Forecast: 20-24°
Attained: ... um
.

At midnight it was 29°. When I got up, around 6.30am, it was 21°. From there it dropped to 19-20° and has sort of lurked there for most of the day. It's only just now dropping further.

~=o>

Because it was going to be an all hands on deck kind of day at the main campus, the boss had asked me to proxy for her today at the department heads meeting at the secondary campus. Outwardly I was all calm professionalism - sure, no problem - but inwardly I was flapping a bit. I didn't have to do anything other than attend, look attentive and take notes but still, these are managers an' shit!
Not surprisingly it was all fine even if it was a little weird sharing oxygen with a dozen or so people whose pay scales are way way above mine. :)

~=o>


Monday, February 18, 2013

Forecast: 23-35°
Attained: 21-36°


A minor quibble but one of the things I dislike most about a string of hot days is the low-level headaches I get from lack of sleep.
Oh well, tomorrow is forecast to be milder - hopefully that'll help.

The back lawn. Quite brown. Don't be fooled by the green bits, that's couch grass (pronounced cooch), which is almost cockroach like in its ability to survive adversity. To whit, it's been at least ten days since the last drop of rain we had, and the previous shower was a month or so before that.



~=o>

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Forecast: 21-34°
Attained: 20-35°


Cubs and I went to see Hansel & Gretel (3D) this afternoon. It was way more violent than I expected, and cos of the 3D there was a lot of icky stuff hitting the screen and making me wince. Still, the story was quite good, the costuming was excellent and Mr Renner has very pretty eyes.



(Image nicked from Google and cropped.)

~=o>

Forecast: 20-33°
Attained: 20-34°


I watched The Avengers this afternoon.



Happy now.

~=o>

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Forecast: 20-31°
Attained: 20-31°


After work this evening I went to see the movie remake of The Sweeney. Really enjoyed it. I laughed and laughed! I even laughed at the bits that were sposed to be funny. :) Chee-hee-hee-sy fun, with lots of 'leave it aht, guv' dialogue in the first twenty minutes so you knew exactly who/what/where you were - y'know, London, with the hard men - and women - of the Met's Flying Squad. (Go look it up.)
Aside from that it also had some glorious aerial shots of London, and the best, most visceral car chase I've seen in a long time. Now that was ride! It also had a dub-step remix of the original theme in the closing credits, which I could've lived without but, eh...

(I was listening to Ben Drew (as George Carter) speak and thought 'hang on, I know that voice, that's Plan B, innit!' And I was right. :)
Also, whoever did Damian Lewis' (as Haskins) make-up should be knee-capped. It was terribly obvious: dark mascara on the upper lashes, none on the bottom, and pale pink lipstick. [sigh] Though I may not have noticed if I hadn't been wearing my new glasses...

Also also saw a preview for a new Arnie movie, The Last Stand. Didn't pay much attention until I recognised some of the locations from the Thor movie! Interesting that Jaimie Alexander is also in it? [She was Sif, in Thor, and she's got the same birthday as me!].)

Ok, done burbling. :)

~=o>


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Forecast: 20-31°
Attained: 19-33°


[sigh] Two days in a row of above 30° and another four forecast. This is really not my fav time of the year...

~=o>

Had a preview today of The Astor's upcoming calendar. Avengers isn't showing. [wibble]

~=o>

Enough whinging. It's clearly time for a duck!



~=o>

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Forecast: 16-30°
Attained: 16-33°


Coming to Melbourne Museum in November!

Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond Style

"Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond Style presents the craft behind the icon, focusing on the distinctly British luxuriance of the world's most iconic movie brand. As the world’s longest running and most successful film franchise, this exhibition looks at Bond’s influence on art, music, lifestyle, automotive design, travel, technology and fashion over the course of five decades..."
I told the cub studying design about this and he said, and I quote, "You had me at 'design'..." :)

~=o>

My 'phone's current wallpaper. Hee.



~=o>

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Forecast: 15-27°
Attained: 16-25°


One of our library volunteers has finally retired due to ill-health (she was in her nineties!) She was essentially our archivist, looking after historical documents that go back to the founding of the hospital in the 1940's. Most of the stuff she was curating had been rescued when departments closed down/shifted location and were chucking out the unimportant stuff...
([taking a deep breath] Sorry, that sort of thing still makes me cross.)
... and room was found in the library.
Anyway, long story short, I've told the boss that I'm interested in taking over the archive. It'll be a volunteer positon and outside of my working hours, probably 2-4 hours a month.
I'm quietly excited about this: my main motivation for going in to the library industry was for the archival aspects. :)

~=o>

Currently my favourite song!
Bouncy yet deep. :)



~=o>

Monday, February 11, 2013

Forecast: 14-26°
Attained: 16-25°


Hee, Cubs are planning on going to PonyConAu in Sydney in April! I'm very excited for them and offered to chip in for transportation costs. :D

~=o>

Frankly, I don't know where to start with this clip. Love the song though...



~=o>

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Forecast: 17-23°
Attained: 16-23°


I'm getting more culture. Yes, indeed.


Hollow Crown: Henry IV Pt. 2.

~=o>

New glasses. Still annoying, but I was able to wear them for a bit longer today. :)


~=o>

Napping this afternoon I had a really neat dream. :)
Was travelling - again, it happens a lot - I think on a ferry? Anyway, I looked up at the sky and saw a series of unicorn head shaped clouds, all in a row! Wow! They were identical and I realised they weren't cloud shapes, as such, but shadows of something big - which I think actually was a large cruise ship - projected on to the clouds.
Unfortunately, I had trouble getting my 'phone out of my pocket, and then it wouldn't focus, so by the time I managed to snap off a couple of pic we'd travelled past the best view...

~=o>

Forecast: 18-30°
Attained: 17-30°


Oops, almost forgot to do an update again.
I've been a little distracted...


Hollow Crown: Henry IV pt. 1.

Oh, and happy birthday, Mr Hiddles. :)

~=o>


Saturday, February 09, 2013

Forecast: 18-31°
Attained: 18-29°


Dang, I think I was spoilt over the cubs' summer hols by them spending most weekends at their dad's. :)

~=o>

I picked up my new glasses today. The multifocal lenses weren't so much disorienting as annoying. There only seems to be a very narrow band that's in focus at any given time. Eh, I've only been wearing them a few hours I'm sure I'll adjust.

~=o>

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Forecast: 20-33°
Attained: 20-30°


Getting ready for work early yesterday morning I looked out of the kitchen window and saw hot air baloons! Yay, hot air balloons, the traditional harbingers of autumn... :)

~=o>

Have you heard this stupid story from the US?
A dog in Tennessee is scheduled to die today, after his owner abandoned him after deciding that the canine was gay. The dog's original master noticed him 'hunched over' another male dog, which made him think that the dog was homosexual. The pitbull is currently at a shelter in Jackson awaiting his fate, but he is set to be put down at 1 p.m. unless a new owner can be found.
(Quote lifted from here.)

Anyway, last year there was this beautiful song from Macklemore called Same Love.
Makes me wibble...



So, some of the socially conscious peeps at triple J decided to put together a tribute/protest song for the dog.

Same Love: Doggy Style



[giggling]
"Have you seen that weird, gay ratdog...?!"

~=o>

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Forecast: 17-37°
Attained: 16-37°


Today's google doodle was commemorating archeao/anthropologist Mary Leakey.
Fascinating woman but there was a line in her wikipedia entry that made me giggle.
"[After having been expelled from two Catholic convent schools for not really giving a shit:] After the second expulsion her mother hired two tutors, who were no more successful than the nuns, and mother and daughter visited Stonehenge..."
Now, I know wikipedia likes to keep the entries concise and lose any extraneous material but that sentence is just weird. Did they go to Stonehenge because the tutors didn't help...? :)

~=o>


Monday, February 04, 2013

Forecast: 15-24°
Attained: 17-22°


Holidays are over, schools have gone back - thought I - the schools' book shop should be empty! I should be out of there in no time...!

No.
Full of parents doing last minute buying, putting in late orders, arguing with the staff about why they can't pick up their late orders now because they put them in at least a week ago...
[headdesk].
I managed to get out with my good humour more or less intact. :)

~=o>

KittenKong was most put out when I nudged her off the keyboard.


On the plus side, I've reorganised the kitchen a little bit so I can actually plug in the laptop and work comfortably at the kitchen table. Woot. :)

~=o>


Sunday, February 03, 2013

Forecast 2/02: 13-21°
Attained: 14-21°

Forecast 3/02: 16-22°
Attained: 16-25°


Didn't do an update yesterday cos of distractions...

~=o>

Apparently my life is binary: I am either writing, or doing other stuff. I can't squeeze in a few minutes of writing here and there - aside from jotting notes. I need to work in solid blocks of time or it's a wasted, frustrated exercise.
So, if I want to write, other stuff has to give way. But then, honestly, I've known this for a very long time... :)

~=o>

So true...

(Nicked from FB. Click on it for a larger image.)


~=o>