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.

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

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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.

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(By way of soulsis, on FB..)




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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... :)

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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.

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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...?)

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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.

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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. :)

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This isn't for sale apparently.
The teasers!



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

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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. :)

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Forecast: 20-31°
Attained: 21-32°

Kitty really wants in... :)



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Forecast: 18-30°
Attained: 18-32°

...
Nope. I got nuthin'
:)

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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...



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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.

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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. :)

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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.



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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.)

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Forecast: 20-33°
Attained: 20-34°

I watched The Avengers this afternoon.



Happy now.

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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. :)

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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...

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

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



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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'..." :)

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My 'phone's current wallpaper. Hee.



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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. :)

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Currently my favourite song!
Bouncy yet deep. :)



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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

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



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Forecast: 17-23°
Attained: 16-23°

I'm getting more culture. Yes, indeed.

Hollow Crown: Henry IV Pt. 2.

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

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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...

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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. :)

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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. :)

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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.

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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... :)

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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...?!"

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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...? :)

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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. :)

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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. :)

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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...

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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... :)

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So true...

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

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Forecast: 14-19°
Attained: 12-21°

I've probly jinxed it now but I realised I haven't really had a nasty cold for over a year. It could be because I'm eating better, or I'm generally less stressed than I have been for years. It could also be because I haven't used public transport for ages, nor am I sharing my breathing space with someone who works on a respiratory ward. I don't think those factors can be discounted. :)

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First week back at school and the cubs have been in on time everyday. At least, I assume they have, I haven't received any 'omg, ur childz r l8!' messages.

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