Yay! Congratulations Sue and GoodTwin for your excellent (and well deserved!) results in this year's Cowley awards. Always good to see great writing acknowledged. : )

Cubs and I had a fun day at the Museum. The Dino exhibition was great - even if I wasn't given much opportunity to savour it - and standing next to those effing big skeletons was marvellous. All too easy to imagine what it would've been like living in their midst. Hm, I'm sure I can work some megafauna into SFSG somewhere...

Getting home we just missed the bus but I was stuffed if I was going to hang around and wait 50 minutes for a 5 minute bus-ride so I cajoled the cubs into walking. Not only did we make it up the long, steep hill with only one rest in the middle, we also got our fish'n'chips and arrived home before the bus would've picked us up from the original stop. Hah! Very proud of us, I am. : )
My feet hurt a bit though, not enough to consider aspirin so I can live with it.

Right. Quizzes nicked from The Zone:

You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” --Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.” --Blaise Pascal More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... Existentialism 75% Hedonism 70% Justice (Fairness) 65% Utilitarianism 50% Strong Egoism 45% Kantianism 35% Apathy 30% Divine Command 20% Nihilism 10% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Dragon. You are the Dragon. You store a lot of knowledge about everything. You are generally one who is good with personal growth and can regenerate yourself after a bad experience. Dragon 83% Eagle 83% Salmon 83% Bear 75% Dog 75% Deer 75% Fox 67% Stag 67% Horse 58% Crow 50% Ram 50% Wolf 42% Bull 42% Snake 33% Which animal totem best suits you? created with QuizFarm.com

So... an existentialist - bordering on hedonist - dragon, eh? Sounds about right...

This one came from Okapi's lj:

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweet Comforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyper You always see both sides to everything

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

"Quirky... quietly hyper..." <smirk> Moi?

(And Onna has on her blog a very funny "Letter to my pets". : )

Okay, so here we are at the beginning of another fortnight of holidays. Personal goals? Finish chapter 5, clean my room, make some clothes for myself.
The cubs and I are going to the Museum tomorrow to see the Chinese Dinosaur exhibition before it closes (better remember to check ticket prices online before we go - and bus timetables).

Bit annoyed with the cubs, actually. They saw these Aquapets on the telly and as so often happens, what they see is what they want. We nipped into a toy store after school, just so they could have a look. The shop only had 2 and they were discounted, and I'd just got paid (you can see where this is leading) so in a moment of weakness I offered to get them one if they could agree to share it.
They opened the box the moment we stepped out of the store, not surprising, but 2 minutes later there was tears as they realised the thing was interactive ie: you can't just play with it, you've got to look after it or it will grizzle at you.
<rolls eyes> Can't wait to see them with kids of their own. "Make it stop crying! Turn it off! Take the batteries out!" <sigh>
They wanted to take the thing back to the shop and I lost my temper at them. Long story short I made them grub through the rubbish bin to find the thing's instruction manual they'd thrown away without looking at, worked out how to send the critter to 'sleep', then claimed the thing for myself.
His name's Fanga and he's kind of cute. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finally work out what it is he wants to make him happy. His little 'happy dance' is good to see...

The cubs' father and I had our interview with S's teacher the other day. The first thing she said was how different he was without his brother around, the second was how imaginative he is...
This cub's also doing well and his teacher is pleased with his progress. Like his brother his reading level is way above average and he's finding the class work interesting. I'm so glad: last year was a horrible year for them both, brought about mainly by a teacher who scared them and who didn't, apparently, believe in giving encouragment to anyone who wasn't keeping up. He's gone now.

The definitions, and differences, between Mary Sue's and self-insertions is something I keep coming back to in my own mind, trying for clarification. There was a discussion about it recently on the Prosfanfic list and with Sue's permission I'll quote a snippet of one of her posts that says it all, really.

"...I often hear the terms MS and author insertion used indiscriminately.
The two are not the same, in my opinion. MS is, as we've said, a poorly written character by dint of being too good to be true.. Author insertion seems to me, to be more a way of drawing on life's experiences so as to make your characters more believable."

Yeah, what she said! <g>

Here's an interesting word:
intagliated - carved on the surface. (Oxford Concise: 1974)

Oooh! Just found out that UK TV over here will be running the Sharpe's Rifles series! YAY! I've wanted to see these again for ages! (Still can't get the DVDs in Aus - not without a credit card anyway.)
Oh dear <tongue in cheek> They'll be screening at the same time as The Bill - whichever shall I choose?
<snort> Like there's a contest...? I've missed the past few eps of that and I'm not in any hurry to catch up...

Meh.
I do have a list of things to mention, just couldn't be arsed right now. I've been languishing in the late-season heat and I'm too full of home-made mushroom lasagne to move. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. : )

Tee hee hee...
(Link nicked from Blue Witch's blog.)

We still had Soulsis' car for today so I drove the cubs to school. Ah, luxury. Got there ridiculously early so we spent half an hour at the playground. The cubs ran around for a while and I played on the swings. Hee. The playground near the school really is an equal opportunity fun-time place. Not only does it have ramps for wheelchair access it's got sensible swings. By 'sensible' I mean it uses wide-ish rubber straps for the seats rather than those hard little plastic monstrosities which can only fit the little bottoms of children, not the huge bottoms of their obese parents.
I love swinging. I love going as high as I can then relaxing and closing my eyes so I lose my sense of where I am in relation to the world. <happy sigh> And I can do it on these swings, even though they creak. So I swing, trusting that they've been stress-tested for a greater weight than mine. : )

For the past little while, writing wise, I've only been concentrating on one thing and it's been great. Focusing my attention in one place rather than the shotgun approach I usually have has let me really build on the worldframe and it's fascinating to see what's developing.
Finished chapter 4, by the way...

Parent-teacher interviews this week. Had one today - the other is tomorrow. M's teacher is very pleased with him, academically. She's a little worried about his social skills but she's making the effort in class to focus on 'friendship building' and 'working together'. She also mentioned more than once his amazing imagination and how enthusiastic he can get over certain subjects. Can't remember exactly what else she said but the cub's father and I got the impression we're raising an A1 geek. <bg> Just like his parents. Something to be proud of.
I suspect the other cub's interview will go along similar lines.

Holidays at the end of the week. As always the cubs and I have been discussing the sort of things we'd like to do. A visit to the Museum and Aquarium, most likely. Perhaps a day at the Adventure Playground in St Kilda. A movie or two, maybe an 'adventure' on a bus - just hopping on one and seeing where it goes. Ooh, we could take a trip out to Willimastown to the maritime museum there. <g>
And of course there's always the opportunity to stay home and sleep in.

Food:

Umm...: It's the tail-end of the annual orgy of chocolate, aside from 1/4 of a cantaloupe this evening what do you think I've been munching on all day?
I wonder if there's been any scientific studies into chocolate's ability to suppress appetite? Hmm...

Back home from Man-on-a-stick weekend with Mum. Had a good, relaxed time - it went very quickly though. Cubs didn't gribble too much either, which is always a good thing.
We took a ride on the Healesville Trolley on Saturday. Perfect weather for it as well. Fine, sunny but not hot with a cool wind. I saw an eagle! I love it out there, close to the hills: the sky is just beautiful, it fills your vision. At the moment it's still that deep, rich Summer blue, and photographs just can't do it justice.
Had a happy browse around the (tiny), local, organic farmers market. Picked up a packet of home-made prunes and a bunch of fresh, biodynamic beetroot. (Wash the beets but don't peel them, boil until soft, let cool a little then rub off the skins. Cut up into bite-sized pieces and serve with sea salt, vinegar and sour cream. <drool> One of my favourite Winter recipes.) Spent the rest of the afternoon getting help from Mum organising my quilt. Thanks to her it's now pinned along one edge and down the centreline - enough for me to continue with it at home. Hee. : )

On Sunday after a visit from the Easter Bilby the cubs and I left Nana in peace for a little while in the morning while we wandered off to the local market. Wasn't all that interesting, unfortunately, but the cubs had fun at the park. The day passed gently, and later in the afternoon the cubs and I went to the park again. (It is possible for children to max-out on chocolate, by the way...)

Today the four of us went out to the Patchwork Teahouse's new premises. Bigger... more stuff... Overspent a bit on some lovely material, oops, but the delicious lemon-meringue tart and walk along the river alleviated any stress. <happy sigh>

The cubs enjoyed their weekend but were happy to come home. I was a little less enthusiastic though my home-comings usually involve unpacking and washing and putting things away... <g>
I had the use of Soulsis' car this weekend which was brilliant. Didn't have to worry about only taking what we could carry on the train, and it gave Mum the opportunity to load me up with stuff she'd otherwise have to bring with her next time she visited.

'k, food this weekend. My meals tend to be more regular when I'm with Mum...

Breakfasts: bacon and eggs X 2, bacon and tomato.
Lunches: Salami and brie, salads and today a sandwich with left-over roast pork. Yum!
Dinners: Kedjeree [sic], roast chicken bits and salad, roast pork and veggies.
Snacks: Cakes, and lollies, and chocolates, oh my! <eg>

Tch, almost forgot. Came home to find the cubs' father had given me a new monitor. The old one was getting very dodgy, even at maximum brightness/contrast the textured background of Joules' blog only looked black.
It wasn't an entirely self-less act though. The cubs' father basically swapped our monitors over because his machine's only good for reading email at the moment, and (with my permission) he uses my 'puter to play games...
It's the thought that counts, isn't it?

The cubs have been looking forward to seeing the film 'Robots' ever since we saw a preview of it months ago. It opened in Australia today, so this afternoon after school the cubs and I went to see it. I was more impressed than I thought I would be. Sure the plot's a little sparse but the worldframe has been realised brilliantly. There's obviously been a lot of thought put into the translation of our world to a mechanical one. It's all a bit wacky but it makes sense within itself and the themes of greed and idealism weren't hard to transfer.
I have to say that this is one of the rare movies where the special effects actually enhance a weak plot rather than simply try to make up for it. There are a couple of fabulous action sequences where it really felt like I was in the thick of it all. Lots of fun!
'Robots' is full of pop-culture references, ie: it nicks things from all over the place. Some of the bits are cleverly used - the 'Two Towers' reference made me giggle - and were picked to appeal to a wide demographic. For instance, I almost didn't catch the Brittney reference but the 'Singing in the Rain' one was easy-peasy. : )
The voice talent was well-chosen, I think. I recognised Robin Williams (of course, his role has been heavily promoted) and picked out Mel Brooks easily enough. I couldn't work out who the male lead was, though his voice seemed familiar. It was Eye-candy McDrooly with a US accent. <g> End credits are useful things. RW might be slowing down as he ages, his characterisation lacked a little of that manic, slightly irritating patter, but even so I laughed out loud at some of it.
I think the cubs would've loved this movie even without the ample amount of fart jokes and toilet humour. I wouldn't mind seeing it at the cinema again - it'll be one of those films that will lose a lot of impact and detail on the small screen.

Watching the previews before the feature can be fun - it's nice to know what's coming up. There's another 'Ice Age' on the way, apparently, and the more snippets I see of the third Star Wars movie the more I think I might find something in it to appeal to me. But I really am getting tired of the remakes.
Someone has ritually slaughtered a goat in the Holy Rodent Empire's movie graveyard and resurrected the rotting corpse of Herbie, the love bug. <head in hands> Oh for gods' sake - what next? 'Pete's Dragon'? 'The computer wore tennis shoes'? And surely by now the software has advanced enough for someone to attempt to rethink 'Tron'. <sarcastic grump> It doesn't help that I saw in a magazine today that Gerry Anderson's 'Captain Scarlet' is being remade with CGI. (I'll reserve judgement, but I'm not sure I wholly approve. In the tradition of 'updating' an old idea they've fiddled with some of the characters. Lt. Green is now female - though an interestingly curvy one...)
Tch, this isn't progress, it's using the excuse of 'better nostalgia through technology' to avoid having to expend the effort to think up anything new. But then, isn't it easier to sell old stuff prettied up to the complacent lowest common denominator than something that might just possibly give them a new outlook?
Okay... </cynical rant> : )

Food:

Morning: Even with being left a couple of days to ripen the bananas were still uninspiring.
Later: Organic porridge.
Afternoon tea with Penny: Fresh coffee, Southcape Camembert with organic crispbreads, not particularly interesting 'sweet dip' made from dates, cream cheese and vanilla, and a couple of slices of Penny's yummy chocolate cake.
Dinner: Good few handfuls of potato chips at the cinema; chicken thigh fillets marinated in a basil/sun-dried tomatoe mix (on special at the supermarket - nice but I won't be rushing to eat the other pack in the freezer) with fresh cucumber; cup of tea and the rest of the grapes.

Hee, I got my copy of the Hello, Tarot in the mail today. It was an eBay thing - a colour-in tarot based on Hello Kitty. So cute! I don't think it's close to official Sanrio merchandise, though, there's no trademarks to be seen, anywhere, but kudos to the artist who had the idea in the first place.
And speaking of knock-offs, I found some 'DBZ' stickers today. Why do I think they're not official? In one of them Vegeta was wearing a fuschia-coloured body-suit, and in another, purple. <smirk> Going to have to get a set, just for the snigger value...

I've been giving (probably too much) thought to the phenomenon of stupid grrrl/boi-blog talk and reached the conclusion that perhaps these people are writing like they speak - which is scary enough - but then, I write as I speak. Or rather, as I speak in my head: what comes out of my mouth is generally gibberish but in my head I'm very eloquent.
...
Tch, that thought had been going somewhere when I started but buggered if I can remember now. Meh, it feels like it's been a long week.
Heh, I think I'll give up trying to make sense and just leave this post with an enigmatic ending...

Can't remember much of what my dream was about last night but I recall looking at a display of Viking 'action-figures' while cautioning myself against squealing at how cute they were, not when the real thing was standing beside me and I couldn't be sure he'd take it the right way. Heh.
And being handed Ned Flanders' stash of the polaroids he'd taken of people's arses (mine included) then being really upset to learn he'd died in the battle.
Um...

Oh pooh, the FotR boxed set I was bidding on is already significantly over my maximum bid with one day left to go of the auction. For a moment there I actually thought I was going to win it. Oh well - there'll be others to bid on. Those Argonath will be mine! Mwaahahahahaha!
But waiting for me in the mail this morning was my very own DVD copy of Cyber City Oedo! <boingboing> The only thing better than birthday presents is belated birthday presents! <g> Thanks, Joules, and thanks, Onna for being the medium through which the anime goodness was able to reach me. : )

Hm, seeing as Easter is at the end of this week I don't think I can reasonably expect to have Chapter 4 finished by then, so I'll aim to have it finished by the end of next week. Which, incidentally, is the end of the first school term (gah!). Then I think I'll try to finish at least one more chapter over the holidays. I don't think that'll be an impossible goal.

Food:

Morning: <hand to forehead> Too stressed to eat.
Later: Cup of coffee, large mixed sushi pack (mmm... sushi...), small iced coffee, orange juice.
Dinner: warmed-up left over rice with a sauce made from organic tinned tomatoes simmered with organic sea salt, garlic and pepper, then the remaining baby spinach leaves stirred in at the last moment so they're soft, and served with a handful of chopped goat's milk fetta sprinkled over the top. Yum!
And, alas, the box of chocolates is no more...

Nicked from Joules' blog...


You are white-headed. You are lucky and optimistic.
People like you, and your accepting. nature.
You are very popular, mature, and irresistable.


What is your inner anime hair color?
brought to you by Quizilla

I can be irresistable when I've a mind to, but I usually find it's too much like hard work to maintain. Not worth the effort any more, people can take me as they find me.. : )

My next door neighbour pulled me up on my way home today to ask if my cat was all right. There's a fox about, apparently - which would explain the twitchy, slinking-about big-eyed behaviour KittenKong displayed a couple of nights ago.

Cub was home sick again but I think he'll be fine to go to school tomorrow. His cough's subsided and he's got his energy back (also read: bouncing off the walls).
Some disturbing news from Penny though: as her daughter was bicycling home a man pulled up beside her and asked her to get in his car...
<snarling> Not in MY leafy-green suburbs, prick.
Fortunately she's a smart lass and bolted straight home. Yes, the police were informed, and yes, they responded quickly and with due sensitivity.
<bristling> Grrr... This is a real concern, I know how many of our children walk home unsupervised...

On a lighter note, I had to snigger at something in the pre-school programming my cub was watching this afternoon. It was a song about how "Woof, bark bark, arf!" in dog-talk means "I want to dance the doggy-polka with you."
I couldn't laugh out loud cos then my cub would've wanted to know what I was laughing about and I really didn't relish trying to explain the hentai thoughts that careened unbidden into my mind when I heard that line.
And this was on top of the recent ad we saw for a Superman - Justice League figure that has 'cape-blowing action' (I can't remember the tag exactly but that'll suffice) which looks kind of cool when the figure is 'flying' but not when he's standing upright. Then it just looks like he's done a massive fart. <snerk> My cubs and I had a good laugh over that one.

A good day for food:

Breakfast: Orange juice and grapes.
Lunch: (yes, 3 distinct meals today) More orange juice, sliced cucumber and blue cheese on organic wafers. (The cheese was 'Tasmanian Heritage - True Blue' which is basically a mildly 'blued' camembert. Very smooth, but more salty than tangy.)
Dinner: Grilled chicken sliced into a salad comprising baby spinach leaves, goat's milk fetta and black olives. Mmmm...
We'll overlook the half-eaten box of Cadbury's Favourite Chocolates selection hidden in my bedroom...

I was interested to discover that all of the cheese sold in Australia has to be made from pasteurised milk. Even the imported stuff can't come from raw milk. This is one of the reasons I'm looking forward to going to Europe so I can taste some of these other cheeses. Apparently the range of flavours from raw milk products has a much wider variety. Yum! Oh, I could so easily become a cheese geek...

(Added bit:)
Gah. I'm glad the cubs are at an age that when they feel sick I can give them a container secure in the knowledge that they'll have the sense to use it. Makes it so much easier to cope with them being ill when I don't have to clean them up and change their clothes and bedlinen every time...

<girly squeal!> I've just seen a 'behind the scenes' snippety thing on Foxtel for 'The Chronicles of Riddick'! Hee. Karl Urban...
And remaining on the fan-girly theme - I saw a couple of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' figures in a games shop today: Captain Barbarossa and Will Turner. Which means there should be a Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth - (oh, bloody hell, what was her name?) figures out there too. Cool! They weren't bad representations, either, they actually looked like the actors which seems to be a rarity in the action-figure market.
I'm tempted, I admit, I know this shop has lay-by...
Nah, best to leave it 'til after Easter at least.


(Edit:)
Ahah! Found it - Elizabeth Swann! <g> I'll be able to sleep now...

Cub-logic: It's not being rude if the person isn't there to hear...
<eyebrow> Riiiight...

Hey guess what? We won 2nd prize in the school's Easter raffle! A Big bundle of chocolatey goodness came home with us today. Mmmm... This is the first time we've won anything in any of the innumerable fund-raising raffles, and there was much rejoicing. : )

One of my cubs was home sick today. He had to come with us to get his brother to school cos there was no-one awake to keep an eye on him. Poor thing, he was visibly drooping by the time we got home. He had a very quiet day, didn't say or move much - a sure sign he wasn't feeling 100%.

Eheh. Had a brain-spang this afternoon about chapter 4 after Joules mentioned it could do with expanding in parts. Ended up with a page or so of notes to include for the revision. Hee, I love that surge of creative energy...

Food:

Morning: Disappointingly tasteless banana, quite nice apple (they're coming back into season so are finally worth eating again), cup of tea, couple of slices of bread and butter.
Evening: not terribly hungry. A few lolly bananas, cup of coffee, some home-made chicken nuggets (cut breast meat into little pieces, coat in egg/milk mix, roll in breadcrumbs then fry) that the cubs didn't want to finish. Little bit of rice. I've got a piece of grilled chicken waiting for me but I'm still not hungry enough to want to eat despite the yummy baby spinach I bought today to have with it.

Blog-browsing is like gambling, you keep hitting the 'next blog' button in the hope that the next one that pops up will be worth it.
There's an awful lot of company-blogs out there that just list goods or services - boooooring! - and an ungodly amount of what appears to be blogs from students that are nigh incomprehensible.
Here's an example of one I found. (I'm not including the URL cos I don't want to inflict it on anyone else.)

"aussie unis
went to the uni fair these two daes.. mi dad went w mi too.. upon mi invitation of course.. got tonnes of info booklets onli to realise tt i actualli i suddenly dun feel like going.. haha.. okae call mi fickle.. haha.. ah well.. i guess im the kind i juz haf a sudden craze for sth.. then when i haf enuff of it.. i'll move on.. ahha.. ah well but so far i still haven haf enuff of cute guys! haha.. coz in the first place nth has quenched mi thirst for it yet.. nth gd enufff.. haha..

aniwae im realli realli vvv grateful n touched by mi dad.. im realli.. speechless.. he din even scold mi or watever abt mi fone.. he juz said tt he'l get for mi the same one.. *sigh* i feel so bad!! somebody slap mi!!!!!

Slap you? Bloody knock some sense into you, you... gibbering moron.
Ok, to be fair I suspect that English isn't this person's first language, but still...
The blog had a tag-box - I almost left this message:

"I was just browsing random blogs and found this one. I'm sorry... are you an English speaker? I can't tell... No offense but those insane phonetics are hurting my brain."

I decided against it - it would've been a needlessly vindictive act, done purely as a response to my pissed-off-ness with not being able to read what half these bloggers were saying. I make no apologies for my being an English-language snob... : )

Chapter 3's finished - on to chapter 4.
And I'm still having fun with it... : )

Sparkly!
The glitter lamp Soulsis and Niki gave me for my birthday is just gorgeous. When it's switched on the colour of the oil gradiates from a pink down the bottom, to purple at the top. The Silver sequins floating inside catch the light in a wonderfully pretty way and the whole thing throws lovely watery-ripple reflections on the wall. It's almost as soothing to watch as a fishtank. <g>

Food:

Day: Creamy organic porridge (nummy), couple of handfuls of raw brazil nuts, peppermint tea.
Evening: Individual 'minted-lamb' pie, and cucumber and black-olive salad. (While the idea of Joules' cucumber and blue cheese sandwich sounded yummy, in reality I couldn't face any dairy today) followed by a cup of tea and some lemon cake.

<smirk> A "prolific, little black-leather clad pixie..." That's how Joules' described herself to me after running through the (extensive) list of fandoms she'd written in. : )
It's the image of the ears, I think, that makes me giggle...

<g> Inspired by Onna's Gravitation Badfic flash animation (Thursday 17th March), the cubs have been storyboarding (at my suggestion) their own little animations. We don't have flash, alas, but XP's Powerpoint Presentation has the capacity for very simple animations. Okay, I can see how they'll be spending their afternoon...
I'd love to get them a video/digital camera to play with - they're intrigued with stop-motion - and there's some nice and basic editing software about now I understand.
The next Speilbergs? I doubt it, their imaginations are too off-the-wall for that. Tim Burton, perhaps... : )

Yesterday was another non-day as far as food went. Wasn't terribly inspired to do much, and the cubs' father took them out for fish'n'chips anyway so there was no reason for me to cook. However...

Grazing through the day: Finished the grapes, had a couple of small packets of chips, organic s'getti with parmesan cheese (thank you, Joules : ), fruit juice and peppermint tea, random sponge fingers.
Evening: organic boiled potatoes with butter, then more home-made trifle. Sort of - there was left-over custard, I hadn't eaten all the sponge fingers and we've always got jelly. No cream though, but that wasn't a problem.

I'm very pleased with how much of what the cubs and I eat is organically produced. Rice, pasta, potatoes, carrots, milk, flours, sugars, crackers, eggs, soy-milk, cereals, teas/coffee, meat when I can afford it, ditto other types of fruit and veg. Enlightened as our supermarket is they don't have an organic alternative for everything but being an aware consumer I know which brands at least have a 'GMO free' policy. I think we're doing all right... : )

I was very restrained yesterday. I didn't say 'Screw the budget, I want the next DVD's of all the series I'm collecting now!' I didn't even impulse buy any new material for my latest idea, but now, after watching volume 4 of Last Exile, I want the rest of it! <pout>
No, I'll stick to the budget - if any of the DVD's go off the shelves I'll be able to find them somewhere else if not order them in.

Right. Food.
Let's just ignore everything I ate yesterday (there was a reason I had to crash out for an extended nap yesterday afternoon) except for the big plate of roast veggies (organic potatoes, pumpkin and swede) served with home-made onion gravy I had for dinner, followed by some quite nice home-made trifle.
There's no guarantee I'll eat better today - just not in the right mood - but at least with all the sugary stuff gone if I want any I'll have to get off my arse and walk to the shops to get it.

Onna, how 'bout just a sample day of what you regularly eat? Nosy parkers (ie: me) want to know... : )

The cubs got home at 10.30 p.m. last night from the martial arts demonstration. They had a good time, though, loved the sumo wrestling.
My cubs were a big hit too, apparently. The visiting Japanese girls thought one little boy with longish red hair was cute enough but when they saw the pair of them together... kawaii!! <g> The cubs told me they had their photos taken a number of times. : )

It wasn't a late night for them tonight, though it was a busy one: the school held its annual Twilight Sports Night.
I've never wanted to go to any of these but so far I've not managed to miss one - perversely proud of that. Wasn't sure we'd be able to get there this year, it was being held in an oval that was awkward to get to via public transport, but Penny offered us a lift, so we went. It wasn't too bad (they never are) and my cubs came third and fourth in their race. Mind you there were only 4 people in their heat but it was a noble effort nonetheless. <g>
Anyway, it's not yet 10 and they're already asleep - puir tired wee things. : )

I pulled out some of my knitting last night, specifically the pink fluffy neko hat I started last Winter. Got a few more lines done. I might actually need a hat this year if we're still traveling to school by PT; gets a bit chilly standing there at the bus-stops.

Hee. Got this from Okapi's lj.


Sometimes your creative solutions land you in
sticky situations but you remain adventurous
and undaunted by failure. You posess an
infectious confidence and deep thinking comes
naturally to you.
Always on the go with many paws in many pies,
Rabbits can appear slightly manic to others.
But not to worry, you have everything under
control... most of the time.


Which Pooh character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Manic? Moi? <eg>

Yay! The cubs' father finally got round to giving me a birthday present - volume 4 of 'Last Exile'! I'll treat myself to that tomorrow afternoon while they're at the Golden Arches of Doom.

Food! (Forgot to mention yesterday the smooshed Easter egg I rescued from one of the cubs' school bags. He couldn't donate it to the school's Easter raffle in that state, so I nobly ate it... while the cubs were out so they wouldn't pester ask me for some...)

Early: Grapes, a couple of small, sticky 'treat' bars made from rice bubbles and marshmallow, glass of discounted apple/blueberry/banana juice, several slices of Danish salami.
Afternoon tea with Penny: fresh coffee, King Island 'double' brie with organic water crackers, 3 yummy fresh and soft donuts (chocolate, passionfruit and chocolate with custard) to share.
Evening during Sports Night: More grapes, chicken-flavoured chips, lemonade, 'crunchy' M&Ms.

I'm a little peckish now, but not hungry. Certainly not hungry enough to seriously consider cooking anything.
And there's some grapes left - I'll have them for breakfast, I think

It's quiet.
... too quiet.
The sort of quiet that makes me wonder what the cubs are doing...

<g> They're at a martial arts demonstration with their father. I was able to watch a whole DVD without interruption.

Joules and I had a serious and intelligent discussion about turnips and swedes (rutabagas) today. It's amazing what can come up in conversation, ne?

And on the subject of food...

Daytime: banana, water, 2 sandwiches made with fresh bakery bread and sun-dried tomatoes (yum), apple.
Nighttime: nibbles of the bacon I was cooking for the cubs, home-made tuna sushi (the cat was my best friend!), cup of tea, water.

Right, I think I'm almost half-way through chapter 3. I'm largely making it up as I go for this bit, filling in around the basic framework, but it's interesting what's surfacing as I write. This universe is growing right before my eyes. : )

It's not all fun sleeping on a mattress on the floor. You can feel the vibrations of various activities through the floorboards, like your housemate's full volume shoot-em-up computer games, or his snoring, or the using the farking washing machine at farking 2 in the morning! Grrr...

Moving right along...
Penny and I had a fun afternoon. We decided last week to treat ourselves to a combined birthday thing (her birthday was on Monday) and today was the day. First of all we popped in to one of our local op-shops where I picked up some half-price lovely pieces of clothing destined to be cut up into quilts, then we went to the Pancake Parlour for lunch.
Which brings me to...

Food.

Morning: Banana, another weird nectarine, the few birthday chocolates that survived this long, water.
Lunch: orange juice, water, 'beef-burger and fried egg on a buckwheat pancake, served with a side salad [one leaf of cos lettuce, 2 slices of tomato, 3 rings of spanish onion] plus mustard and tomato sauce'. Tasty but not exceptional.
Dinner: organic potatoes and carrots cooked in home-made chicken broth, iced coffee made with sweetened coffe/chicory essence.

I was contemplating having some pink-stuff after dinner, but honestly I was too full to really appreciate it.
See? I can so do restraint. <g>

Wee! Look! Up there in the addie field.
Is it a flower? Is it an icecream?
No! It's a puffer-fish icon!
That's so cute - thanks, Joules!
(I really should get on with making that puffer-fish shaped handbag, ne?)

Started watching the first volume of Twelve Kingdoms again. Glad I did cos as usual there were lots of little plot things I picked up the second time round. Plus, the DVD sleeve has a mini-glossary, which is t'riffic cos now I've got some idea of who's what and how they work around each other. <g>
Definitely wouldn't mind having the tech to do screencaps - there's some very pretty images in this series...

Woohoo! Three and a bit pages into chapter 3. I have definite 'scenes' in my head as I write - the fun bit is linking them together, and giving enough information about the worldframe without waffling. I think I'm mostly getting the balance right.

Food food food:

Morning: Banana, the weirdest nectarine I've ever eaten (sweet and juicy but fibrous like the inner bit of a mango) water, cups of tea, and lollies.
Afternoon: Bacon, anchovies, olives, dried tomatoes and chocolate.
Evening: Fresh coffee, noodles and chicken, more olives but no more lollies - all gone...

Ah, yes, before I forget. Links and things!

Okapi posted this in the comments box. Cacked myself laughing! The rest of the site's worth a look, too.
And this link came from Joules' blog. Again, I cacked myself laughing. This also comes from the same (quite interesting) site... Given my love of tat, I giggled a lot. : )

Oh dear, sugar's wearing off, looks like I'll be off to bed soon...
Thanks Onna, Carol and Sue for the e-cards!

[points upwards] There you go - a little pink pufferfish icon for your blog...

Soulsis (bless her) drove the cubs and I to Niki's this morning for a birthday thing. Was a loverly relaxed sort of day. The brats all played more-or-less nicely together which helped. And I was showered with gifts! <g> A purple 'glitter' lamp, beautiful scarves, chocolates and lollies! Hee.
It was hot again today but the temperature came down late in the afternoon so we sat outside and played with Gemma (the dog). I had a nap in the shade on Niki's lawn. Can't remember the dream but it was odd, and permeated with the scent of the rose geranium that had been pruned while I slept.
It was quite late when we got home (Soulsis drove us again : ) and the cubs crawled off to bed without a murmur.
Thanks for a great day, guys. <hugs>

Food:

Grazing throughout the day: Banana, delicious cold roast pork and vegetables with a superb gravy (thanks, Niki!), and the best crackling I've had in ages. Glass of fermented grape juice, and cordial and water and cups of tea, and a slice of chocolate ripple cake. Also yum. : )
Dinner: Noodles with left-over roast pork simmered in left-over gravy, and steamed fresh green beans.

Happy Birthday to me...
Well I've had worse days. <g>
Got a lovely hand-made card from my cubs, and Joules wrote some fabulous smut for me, based on two of my favourite bishies! <happy squeak> Alas, I can't share it with anyone - not until Haadri is released at least so for the time being it's mine, all mine! Mwahahahahahahahahahah!
Right, where was I?
Ah yes...
Both Soulsis and GoodTwin sent me very funny e-cards, and Okapi wrote me a haiku! It's in the comments for the previous post. : )

It's amazing what you can find following links.
This first cartoon, Nice Hair, is very odd but I like it a lot. It's got a gay pirate called Jack, how can I not like it? <smirk>
And this one, Marilith, is looking quite interesting. The (completed) prequel is here by the way.
Adult warnings for violence for the last two comics, incidentally.

Okay, food for today:

Early: Banana, cups of tea and hot chocolate, cold left-over lasagne, and a lump of very ordinary cheddar cheese.
Later: Home-made pizza with olives, anchovies, bocconcini, dried tomatoes, mushrooms and mozarella. Couple of slices of chocolate swiss-roll, and far too much Sara Lee lemon cheesecake. More tea, and cos it's been hot, water as well.

Tired now. Going to bed. Tomorrow should be fun... : )

Tried drafting an update a little while ago and it was nothing short of uninspired.
So, I'm starting from scratch.

Curriculum day - cubs and I went to the Aquarium.
Had lots of fun, saw lots of fishies including wee, baby Leafy Sea Dragons.
Cubs got new plushy (tiger) sharks each, and I got a biiiiig (40cm long) plushy clownfish. : )

Today's food:

Pre-dinner: Banana, 2 fresh bread rolls with wasabi/soy flavoured tuna (not as exciting as it sounds), iced apple pie thing, small can of iced coffee, 2 dried fruit 'roll-ups', small piece of the meat lasagne I made for the cubs' dinner, glass of home-made iced coffee.
Dinner: Piece of basa (freshwater fish) steamed with carrots and brussel sprouts, topped with garlic sauteed in butter and lemon juice. Verra nice.

This is an idea nicked from Erestor's lj.

10 Things I've done that you might not have.

1 - Emigrated to another country. (Yes, ok, Sammi did that.)

2 - Gave birth to naturally conceived twins. (And, yes, Soulsis did that, too. :)

3 - Got my nose pierced.

4 - Almost touched Adam Ant. (So close... so close...)

5 - Sniffed hydrochloric acid. (Why? Cos I wanted to know what it smelt like. Which, by the way, is vinegar, though I couldn't smell anything else for 3 weeks.)

6 - Sang 'Always look on the bright side of life' at someone's funeral.

7 - Lived in a haunted house. (And made friends with the ghost!)

8 - Went to a garage sale at a Convent. (Hee, glow-in-the-dark Virgin Mary!)

9 - Hung around Gatwick airport for almost 24 hours cos we'd missed the 'plane.

10 - Was saved from a life of crime by a shopkeeper catching me shoplifting.

Golly, what an interesting life I've lead, ne?
Of course I haven't included anything that I thought might make me look like a pervy hentai. <smirk>

Now they're just teasing...
<poutgrumble> The creators of the yaoi webcomic Sublunary have stated that they've got enough updates for the comic ready that'll take them through to the beginning of May.
May!? I want it all now!

And now my food list for today:

Earlyish: Banana, apple, and a sliver of a really nice cheesecake. A proper baked one, not one of those creamcheese and gelatin things.
Afternoon tea: (a weekly event with Penny) Camembert cheese and organic water crackers (yum!), good brewed coffee, Penny's home-made banana cake and a shop-bought chocolate/mint cake (which was very rich and nowhere near as nice as the banana cake.)
Dinner: The cubs' father treated me to Chinese tonight - beef and cashews, beef and black bean sauce, and special fried rice. Mmmm...
What else was there? A small handful of hulled sunflower seeds and a couple of glasses of fizzy orange drink.

Hm, thirsty now - haven't had much to drink today...

Joules thought it could be interesting to see how/what other people eat. So, daily for the next week or so we'll be listing on our blogs things wot we've eaten that day. (<blink> Did that sentence make any sense at all? Eh. It's late, I don't really care... Anyway, back to the fun...)
Today was a good day to start - I had fruit!

Breakfast/Lunch (no clear meal as such): apple, 2 pieces of flat bread, iced coffee (with home-made sweet, brewed coffee. Yum!), couple of bites of an unripe, tasteless pear.
Dinner: Roast (organic) potatoes and pumpkin, with garlic, sea salt and sour cream. More iced coffee and 2 glasses of ginger cordial and soda water.

That's not too bad actually, is it? Good job I didn't start yesterday cos then I'd have to list the 3 mini-packets of chips I raided from the cubs' lunchtime stash. <g> Sue me, I was hungry.


Yay! First draft of chapter 2 is done! Think I'll finish up something else (next Elga, or Haadri-fic, perhaps) before beginning chapter 3.

Hah! Years of observation has proved me right. It's going to be hot on my birthday weekend - it has always been hot on my birthday weekend. : ) But on the up side this hot spell is usually the last before the long slow slide into Winter.

Oookaaay... Soulsis sent me this.
I think that's sposed to be an otter.
Good sentiments, though.

<hand to forehead> Only 8 days into the month and I've already used 50% of my broadband allowance. Curse those mp3's... <smirk>
Fortunately I don't get charged extra if I go over the limit, I just have the cable speed reduced to 28kps until the next month clocks over. And unlike the dial-up connection it'll be a true 28k rather than the 4-5k the 56k modem generally managed.

And speaking of mp3's. Joules (not obsessive, just thorough) found this brill site. It's chockas full of downloadable anime music, lots of full versions and very good quality. Fun fun fun!

Two days to go then it's the long weekend. Woohoo!

One of my cubs came up to me the other day with one of his Transformers.

"Megatron's unhappy, mum." (The horns on his helmet were turned down.) "How can I cheer him up?"
"Do a little dance for him." I said. "Works for me."
"Mum." My cub gave me a look. "This is the supreme ruler of the Decepticons we're talking about..."

<g> Well, it does cheer me up immeasurably when my cubs do little dances for me. Can't see why it wouldn't work for an evil robot...

Gah. Well that was a weekend.
The cubs had school projects that had to be handed in today. As usual we left it to the last minute and spent a good 10 hours working on them but by golly we got it done. Of course, when I say 'we' I mean 'them' with me applying the cattle-prod. Aside from the mobiles (one is of Saturn and Titan, the other of Mars and Phobos/Deimos) the work is all the cubs' own. Yes, it could be neater, and there could be more details, but they did it on their own. :)

Heh, it's been a year since the school burnt down. The Education Dept. has just started accepting 'applications of interest' from builders. Apparently we're still on schedule for moving into the new building beginning of next year. Blimey, we're almost at the end of first term as it is. After Easter - which is what? 3 weeks away? - there's only another week then holidays. Can't say I'm not looking forward to it, though, first term always seems rushed.

Isn't she pretty! Toys'r'us are having a sale - I got her for $5. <g>

Watched volume 3 of Last Exile. <happy sigh> I love this series. And because sometimes it's fun to take a chance I also picked up volume 1 of Twelve Kingdoms. Knew nothing about this series but it was one I kept going back to when browsing the store shelves. Cover art was attractive and on one of the volumes there was a giant mouse! How could I pass it up? Well anyway, I watched one ep and wasn't all that impressed. Very ordinary story, I thought, and stilted, recognisable character types. But I didn't have anything better to do so I kept watching.
It built slowly and by the end of the fifth ep I wanted to see more, not just because of the bishies (... oh gods, no, I've just had a [ping]... Need to get a better idea of the charas though...) but because I want to know what happens to these people. And I want to know if my wild hypotheses re: the various plots are correct.
Oh yes, and I haven't seen the mouse yet, that comes in episode 6. :)

Feeling a vague sense of determination - the second chapter of my next novel is half-done and I want to get it finished before the weekend. I'm toying with the idea of completing a chapter a week but we'll see how we go.

I'm now undecided as to whether to post the merboiz fic - SirenSong - in an open page. Although it fits very neatly into the Flight and Fancy continuum (remember that?) it's a little on the graphic side, and while according to my research there are a number of animals that do commonly engage in same-sex intimacy - including dolphins - I don't really know how visitors would react. Lutra's suggested I post the full version in The Zone and the CCO Lj, and a censored version in The Vault. That would work, though it's extra work for me...

I'll think about it while I'm coding.

As my birthday treat to myself I picked up volume 2 of Wolf's Rain, and volume 3 of Last Exile. Managed to sit down and watch the wolfy one this afternoon while the cubs were out with their father.
Not that I didn't enjoy these eps but I don't think I liked them much as the first lot, (though we got to see more of Darcia and he's an absolute honey...). The animation is still t'riffic but the little niggling things that bugged me at the beginning are still there. One thing in particular I noticed this time 'round was the 'freezing' of characters onscreen. Ye-e-e-s, it could be a way of representing the stillness of the wolves but I can't help thinking it's just another method of filling in screen time cheaply. Maybe I'm too cynical.
And the story seemed to waffle on a bit, I felt like I was waiting for something to happen a lot of the time.
Still, the worldframe is interesting, the characterisations are believable and the closing credits theme is lovely. (... and I still think Toboe is the cutest little uke I've ever seen. : ) I'll get the next volume when it's released.

My cub's sore toe is healing up nicely - he doesn't yelp quite so loudly when you poke it. <smirk> Mean mummy...

Yay! Joules has written the merboiz ficlet! It's gorgeous, and once again she's managed to conjure an entire world in 3 paragraphs. <envyenvy>
Look for it soonish in The Vault, the non-passworded area of the Wavewrights site. Details on the Updates Blog when the author has a moment...

My poor cub's had an infection in his toenail for ages now. Finally got him to the doctors today, a feat in itself seeing as the surgery isn't on our main bus route. (Mind you, it was only 15 minutes walk from the nearest connecting stop so it's not impossible.)
So now he's got a prescription for something to clear up the infection, and in a weeks time we'll go back to the doc and see about getting rid of the excess skin that's grown over the nail. Poor mite, I don't think he's going to enjoy the application of dry ice - I never do. Very proud of him, though, this was the first time he's had to take medicine in capsule form and got it down without too much trouble. : )

There's an automated toilet in the park near the cubs' school. Very strange contraption. It plays muzak and will only let you have the equivalent of 5 sheets of paper at a time. It carries a warning that if you're in there for more than 10 minutes an alarm will sound and the door will open. Not somewhere a loo-lingerer would feel comfortable, I'm guessing.

Yay! I've got a blender!
And it wasn't hot today!
See? Lot's of reasons to be happy...

You know it's time to defrost the freezer when the door isn't shutting properly and there's ostensibly nothing in the way.

I found the mouse KK was torturing last night.
<blinks> No, not in the freezer! In my bedroom. On the carpet. It wasn't there when I woke up this morning. Puir wee thing, it had such pretty soft-grey fur.

I'm rather annoyed with the blathering on in some quarters of the media about the '30 year romance' of Chuck and Cammy.
It bloody was not! It was 30 years of adultery and deceit! Not that I've ever had any sympathy for the other leg of that particular triangle either - honestly, they all deserved each other - but it irks me that something good and noble is trying to be made out of what was ultimately a betrayal of vows. Not just Chuck and Di's, either...

This is such a stupid time of the year to have Easter in Australia. Gods above, aside from it not being Spring, you buy the chocolate eggs for your loved ones, bring them home to hide them then fret about them melting in the sodding heat. Unless of course you've got an air-conditioned house, which I don't. But anyway, where was I? Ah yes, whinging. <g>
(Eh, sue me, it's been hot for a couple of days - makes for an automatically cranky Lutra. I'll be happier tomorrow.)

........
Nope. Brain's gone. Can't remember if there was something I was going to rant about mention. :)

Forgot to mention that Soulsis also gave me some lovely roses from her garden (which she rescued from a horse) and a book on Elizabethan poetry. Very interesting style of writing, very rich and descriptive. Can see where the Victorians got at least some of their inspiration for their 'prose'...

I've trained the cubs to use Mozilla Firefox instead of IE as their internet browser - only they quite unintentionally call it mozarella. <giggling>
Tonight they sat down with me and we looked through some of my old family photos. They picked up the family resemblances between their cousins, my brother, myself and our parents. And they were astonished at how blonde I was when I was little. <g>

Woohoo! Finally worked up enough reward points through AC Nielsen's online surveys to get something useful - a blender! It's taken ages, but then I haven't particpated in every survey they tossed at me. Heh. Might aim for a digital camera next time. Or donate my points to a charity.

Well, looky here. The Van Von Hunter comic site is back, with several updates, too. Well spotted, Joules. : )

And news just in:
... Bloody cat!
I heard her yowling but wasn't quick enough to relieve her of her catch before she darted into my room.
Now I have a live - possibly half-dead - mouse (or young rat, oh joy) hiding under my wardrobe.
Fine, whatever, as long as it doesn't a: die there, or b: crawl over me while trying to find its way out of the room. Tch...

Finally finished the LotR trilogy. I left off reading the last chapter until I was at home cos I knew I'd cry. <g> And I did.
Debated ploughing through the appendixes in the back. Almost decided not to but I started reading one and despite the dryness of the writing got sucked in to the story.
Lots of potential there in the history of Middle Earth...

Happy Birthday, Joules!

Found this at The Meece's Hole. Yes, GoodTwin, I'm very familiar with this model, too...

And continuing on sorting through my 'Ooh! Gotta post this! file:
Here's an interesting explanation as to why anthropomorphic robots freak me out so much. (Incidentally, if you're into furries, there's some interesting stuff on this site. Warnings for Adult content.)

On Joules' recommendation I've started using Eudora as my mail server. It's a nifty bit of gear! Took a while to set up, especially once we tried to add my broadband email addie to the mix (did I mention I have broadband? Hee!) and I would've been completely bamboozled without Joules' help. But it's all sorted now and I'm ridiculously pleased. <g> Thanks, Joules!

Soulsis and her brood came over for a visit today and Soulsis gave me a brilliant bit of material. A purple/yellow striped tablecloth thingy with fringing on either end! I envision a pair of fringed trousers in my near future. <g>
And Soulsis has taken a few pics of some of my treasures, I'll post them soonish. : )

My friend Jackie died almost a decade ago. It was her birthday yesterday, and I dreamt about her last night. She was going on holidays for a few weeks and asked me to look after her flat and pets. Her pets consisted of a small, annoying - and rather malicious - dog and a tankful of very cute rats. There wasn't a cat in sight, which was unusual cos Jackie was a Cat Person. (I've noticed my dreams include pet rats at times when I'm feeling overburdened. Interesting, ne?)
In the dream I knew she was going to die but I wasn't sad, I was enjoying the moment, the chance to be with her and just chat.
Of course, now that I'm awake and remembering I'm bawling my eyes out. Heh. : )

Hm... Broadband.
New technology.
I shall have to poke it with a stick until I'm comfortable with it. : )

This walking stuff appears to be having an effect. My lungs are clearer than they have been for a while.
<blink> And I appear to have dropped a cup size.

There's an army disposal store in our local shopping centre. The male mannequins used to display the combat gear in the shop front have make-up. It's quite an interesting effect - macho-looking fatigues over plastic wash-board stomach, and pouty red lips. <smirk> I'm going to have to nick that image...

Nicked from Onna's blog:

Hmm...


Otaku Level 3


What Stage of Anime Fandom That I Went Through Are You At?
brought to you by Quizilla

The cubs' father saw my Cardcaptors boardgame.
"Oh noooo," he smirked. "You're not otaku..."
..... Humph. Smartarse.
I do know however, without looking it up, that that's Revolutionary Girl Utena in the pic above. Heh.

There was a mouse floating dead in the bath a couple of days ago! Bloody cat. Fair enough, there's the possibility it fell in all on its own and drowned but given KK's track record...
And I found a skink's tail in my bedroom the same day. My first thought was 'where's the rest of it?'

At the beginning of the year I was finding the prospect of taking the cubs to school by bus every day daunting. Funny how you get used to things. Catching PT now is kind of meh. : )
I've got heaps of reading done, though.

Ah, I'm having lots of fun riding the wave of creativity - and who'd've thought my roleplaying experience with deck-plans for spaceships would come in handy? <g>

Now, shamelessly copying Joules, I'm posting a wee snippet of mine from our next project. What are we going to call it, anyway?

    Three steps. Three steps and it would all be over...
    The haggard black woman stood in the shadows well back from the doorway, her stooped body quivering towards the dawn light. She ground her teeth together and curled her fingers into her palms so tightly it would've drawn blood from the wounds, if she had blood to draw.
    Three steps and an end to the memories. It would be such a relief...
    She couldn't do it, couldn't bring herself to step into the light. With her 're-awakening' the fog had lifted from her mind and now while she still longed for death she also, perversely, didn't want to die. Before the change, to die would have been nothing, an easy step from one state to another with no regrets but now, without the madness of despair to buffer her, dying would be a terrible loss of self, an emptiness she couldn't face. But why live, if living this could be called?
    Her babies, she'd killed her babies...
    She shut her eyes against the growing brightness and stumbled back into the gloom. Time to feed, then rest. She turned her back on the deadly radiance, turning her attention to the faint stirrings of life hidden within the tunnels. She ignored the small motes that were rats, they weren't worth the effort, but a little way off to the East... Hannah adopted her customary stance - shoulders rounded and head lowered - and shuffled further into the litter-strewn warren, muttering darkly and incoherently to herself, to all appearances another lost soul of the streets.
    Hanna mused on the appropriateness of the 'dregs' of society congregating in the disused railway tunnels. The hopeless, the insane, the anti-social: they were the unwanted sediment drifting downwards to the lowest lying areas of the old city. She'd lived amongst them for years before... Well, before she'd had her choices ripped away.
    There was barely any light in the chamber but Hannah had no trouble discerning the various, malodorous shapes huddled against the walls or curled up on relatively luxurious cardboard beds fashioned from flattened-out boxes. Ah, home...
    None of the room's occupants showed any sign of noticing the newcomer as she prowled amongst them, eventually choosing a bare patch of wall in the corner furthest from the entrance. Hanna swiftly settled herself against the crumbling, cold bricks then after a furtive glance around picked up with great gentleness the wrist of the man snoring beside her. She pushed back the tattered sleeve and sniffed at his skin. None too clean, but how long had it been since that had bothered her?
    The man stirred in his sleep, moaning softly for a moment in pain or arousal before lapsing back into deeper slumber. Hannah licked her lips and tugged her grimy anorak closer about herself, letting her head drop to her breast as she too slid off into sleep.

I think The Bill's jumped the shark a bit. I'm only watching now from habit, not from any enjoyment or actual empathy for any of the characters...

Well, that was an adrenalin-fueled morning! Woke up 20 mins before we were due to catch the bus. We made it though. : ) Very proud of ourselves. Very interesting dreams last night, however. In the first I was being hunted through the suburban streets by a big, slow-moving machine. It wasn't going to do anything evil to me, just something gross and embarrassing (I think The Man Show was involved. <shudder> ). I was trying to hide but its operators noticed me because I was trying to hide.
The other dream was just icky and I'm still trying to sort through that one. There was images in there that'll haunt me for a while.

One of the most annoying things about not having a car is that the weekly shopping - instead of being over with in one day - now takes all week as I have to get it home bit by bit in my backpack and bags. Yes, I could do it all at once and get it delivered but I've always taken a perverse sort of pride in doing things on my own.

Uh oh. Soulsis is discovering the pitfalls of eBay.
I did warn her, and to be fair she's doing better than I did in my first few weeks. (Plus she's won some really cute fishie beads for me! : )

Penny asked me the other day how I managed to get so much sewing done - she's only completed a couple of small squares while I'm half-way through the 2nd quilt.
I grinned and said it was because aside from writing I didn't do anything else!
Housework?
Nah...

Stress is the result of an imbalance between what you want to do, what you are doing, and what you think you should be doing.
Trés profound, n'est ce pas?

Heh. So. Dystopia is winding up and we've already got the next potential project muttering quietly to itself.
It's nice to have something to look forward to, isn't it? <g>
Joules' has posted a teaser snippet on her blog. It's titled 'Study in Bronze'.
Now, I'm intrigued!

Ooops...
The cubs' father has a naginata demonstration today. He washed his - white - gi last night and hung it up to dry on the clothes horse, right next to the trousers I'd tie-dyed purple yesterday.
It's only a small spot but it's noticeable.
Tch, I refuse to feel guilty about it. If you're wanting to keep something spotless you make sure that while it's damp it's not in contact with anything coloured, right?

Heh, well I got as far as laying out (or trying to) the various layers of the first quilt. Had a panicy moment when it looked like I'd miscaluculated somewhere and didn't have enough of the backing, but it was fine I'd simply made the borders too big. Eh, can trim those later.
I think I am going to have to go to my Mum's and get her help with this though. She has a lovely big fold-out table; be easier to work on that rather than messing about on the floor.
And I've begun sewing together the individual strips of the hexagon quilt. Right up until I started combining the strips I wasn't really sure about the colours - I thought they'd work - but now I know they will work. This is going to be another bright and colourful quilt! Hee.

I've more or less stopped working on the first novel, 'Dancing. I was becoming very shy and hesitant about anyone seeing it - it's very personal in an abstract sort of way - so I'm leaving it for the moment and working on something else. : )

Lessons I have learnt #9:

If you're patient, sooner or later all that you desire will be marked down... : )
To whit (to whoo!) I found a music CD that I've wanted for a year has been reduced by 50%. Happy Lutra.

This is annoying. This link used to go to the Van Von Hunter comic but now it doesn't. Momentary glitch? Perhaps not. The first volume of a manga version has just been released. Removing the 'net-version might have been a condition of publication. Pooh.

I've noticed in some areas of fandom 'sporking' refers to the practise of taking the mick out of bad fics, kind of like MST-ing where the sporker inserts their own, usually acidic, comments into the text.
I prefer our version of sporking: to gently prod someone into action, by nagging and/or the judicious application of prawns. : )

The Sex-Workers Collective over here has come up with a novel fund-raising idea. On a particular day soon, participating brothels will donate a percentage of their take to the Tsunami aid appeal, specifically to help the sex-workers in the countries affected. Apparently they'll be giving their clients little badges (sort of like the red noses, I guess) so they can proudly show evidence of their contribution to the cause. The badges carry slogans, one of which is 'Tsunami Sex Appeal: I gave a f*ck.' <smirk>

The more I read about Faramir the more I like him. (*hearts Faramir* <g> Sorry, that was unforgivably fan-girly. Hee.)
And speaking of fan-girly, I picked up a copy of the Cardcaptors board-game for $6! I do have a soft spot for the show. Magical girl! Wheeee! Sakura is so cute! <squinch>

I'm as twitchy as a cat... there's a ginormous huntsman lurking in the kitchen. It keeps disappearing...

Oh good, it looks like my puir wee injured cub will keep his cute profile. Save for a tiny bump his nose is almost back to what it was. How do I know this? By comparing him with his brother - they had the same profile. : )

There was an article in this weeks Time magazine about children's imaginary friends and how research is showing they're probly not a sign of a deranged psyche.
This bit made me laugh:

"The interplay of real and imaginary doesn't have to stop at the end of childhood. ... interviewing fiction writers and finding that they interact with their characters in some ways that parallel children's make-believe play. Authors often report that their characters seem to have autonomous lives, dictating their own dialogue, controlling the plot of stories and sometimes refusing to do what the authors ask of them..."

Well, goodness, who'd have thought...? <smirk>

I'm noticing similarities between Tolkien's writing and some of the ancient Greek plays. The major characters in both, the heroes and nobles, are treated with dignity and gravity, their speech tends to be formal if not downright grand. The lesser characters, the support cast, however are freer in what they can say - lighter, more human if you like. If anybody's going to laugh out loud it's more likely to be at something a secondary character says or does.
I vaguely remember something from High School about the 'chorus' being there in 'Antigone' as a connecting bridge between the plebs in the audience and the lofty characters portrayed on stage. Or I could be mis-remembering. Eh.

I heard this (inaccurately quoted - I didn't catch all of it) on an episode of Jimmy Neutron the other day:

"I am at the pointy end of the food-chain. Gaze upon my opposable thumbs and tremble!"

<g>

Still reading 'Two Towers'.
The word gangrel was used by Faramir (who is far more noble and courteous in the book than the movie) to describe Gollum. Interesting word, I'd come across it before in the White Wolf role-playing system where Gangrel is the name of one of the Vampire clans. Had the game designers nicked it from Tolkien, I wondered? Anyway I looked it up and apparently it's a Scots word meaning 'vagabond or drifter', possibly derived from a middle English word - gangen - which means 'to go'. See? It all makes sense now…
Heh, and I don't just mis-hear things, I mis-read stuff all the time as well.

Faramir to Frodo: "Do not approach their citadel. You will be espied. It is a place of sheepless malice..."

... Pardon?
It was of course, "sleepless malice...", but it made me giggle.

There's an art to browning onions. First of all you have to use plenty of oil or butter (a teaspoon? I don't think so) and then the heat has to be high enough to cook them without being so hot they turn to charcoal. If in doubt use a lower heat, and be patient. Good browned onions, like a good sauce, take time.

Which fandom has the worst fanfic? Mary-Sues, OOC's, just plain nonsense?
So far, in my hardly extensive reading, I have to say the Harry Potter-verse has turned out a goodly amount of tripe, with LotR coming a close second. True, not all of it is crap, and they're not the only fandoms to be afflicted by bad writing. (Professionals - 'The best Cowboys have Chinese eyes.'. Farking… what? That was the first truly awful fanfic I'd read. I don't think I've recovered yet. And don't get me started on Jane's efforts…)
Admittedly I'm more likely to give a bad fic a go if I'm interested in the fandom but I don't think I've ever managed to finish a HP story.
It's possible, I suppose, that the bigger fandoms will have a higher proportion of rubbish because there's just so many more people active in it. And supporting that theory is the fact that within the smaller fandoms I tend to find more care is taken over the stories. Go figure.

Finally caught up with Sublunary. Phew! It's a very attractive comic but I have problems with 14 year-old geniuses, and this story is stuffed with 'em! Still, it has pretty boyz rabbiting away so I can't complain too loudly - except to say it could do with more rabbiting, thanks. : )

Hee. A friend of the cubs' father has just come back from travelling and in exchange for a naginata bag he asked her to bring back some snow domes for me! <g> Now I'm the proud owner of a particularly tasteful clear acrylic pyramid that has drifts of golden sparklies swirling around miniature sphinxes and pyramids, and a glass dome containing a black swan, from Perth, similar to the one OkapiPrincess got me a little while back.
I need to get Soulsis back here with her digital camera (and the cable, this time) so I can take some photos of my treasures. Then I can upload them and share the joy.

Awww, one of my cubs made me a V-day card... It's decorated with hand-drawn pictures of Spongebob Squarepants characters. You know, I still think they haven't quite got the idea of giving someone what they'll be interested in. : )

It's overcast and drizzly today - cool, but not cold. Perfect. This was the sort of day where I used to love taking photos of raindrops on leaves and flowers, trying to capture that luminosity plants have when it's overcast. Man-made objects tend to go flat and dull under a cloudy sky, but plants really glow - it's beautiful...

Tch. Scared myself earlier - checked my blog only to find the latest post (this one) wasn't there!
No of course it wasn't, cos I'd only drafted it, hadn't uploaded yet. <shakes head> Honestly, I wonder at myself sometimes...

You know I'd almost managed to forget Valentine's Day. It's not that I have issues with this opportunity to 'show someone you care' but at this time of year I'm more likely to be either wallowing in cynicism or self-pity, depending on where I am on my highly volatile emotional scale. And that just makes me cross at myself.

Moving right along…
I now have 19 paté knives thanks to the pair Soulsis gave me the other day! (Forgot to mention it, baka-moi.) Still trying to figure out the best way to display them…

I've been eyeing off the Easter decorations – some of them will be perfect for my Summer Xmas. : ) Not the daft rabbit and egg things but I've seen some lovely little birds and garlands of flowers. Much more appropriate for an antipodean Xmas than bloody snowmen.

'Finale', Joules and my second last Dystopia chapter, will be posted soon. I'm on a roll now, I could get on with that final chapter. Or the next 'Elga', perhaps? Hm...

"Holy Bonking Bishies, Batman!"

<smirk> I've stumbled across a tasty little online comic called Sublunary. Anime influenced, very nicely drawn, lots of updates and goes back about 18 months. Graphic yaoi - no annoying little clouds obscuring the action - and shota. (And if there's anyone here who doesn't know by now what yaoi is - Google it.) Needless to say I'd advise against opening this at work or where curious (nosy) children who ask awkward questions can see.
I'm enjoying it immensely though I have issues with what some of the characters are wearing. (Yes, I know this is a fangirl's comic full of fan-service, but honestly! Was there a run on fishnet?)

I was flicking through my dictionary...
Emulous: zealously, jealously, imitative or desirous of.
Neat, eh?

Soulsis popped 'round on Friday. We browsed eBay for a while, she won her first online auction <g> and we went opp-shopping. Soulsis also returned my saucepan, the one we took camping and which got lost in her car on the way home, and she gave me a strobing fish! You squish its head and it flashes. Hee! Thanks, Soulsis!

The next Islandkateers weekend away looks to be taking place at the end of April on the Anzac day long weekend. Excellent, I shall start saving immediately.

I found last week that I was quite enjoying walking, more so when I didn't have the cubs with me. Then I could happily amble along in my own little world without the constant chatter. : ) I love my cubs, I really do, but they talk all the time! They're as bad as my mum...

The (probably) penultimate joint Dystopia chapter will be finished soon. Then it'll be just the epilogue to finish and we're done. Blimey. Another project winding up. Cor, I'm not going to have any excuses left for not getting on with my real writing!

This came from Onna's blog:

Think about what cities or towns you've lived in (not just visited) in your life, and post them in your journal:

Do suburbs count as towns? Cos aside from the place in Hertfordshire - that I can never remember the name of and anyway left when I was 6 - I've only lived in Melbourne. Mind you, it's been a few places in Melbourne.
Let's see:
Pascoe Vale (in the North, to my shame)
Campbellfield (ditto)
Windsor (trendy South-Eastern. yeah!)
South Yarra (ditto)
Box Hill (solid Eastern suburb)
Elwood (trendy beachside suburb. yeah!)
Hawthorn (older, trendyish Eastern suburb)
Glen Iris (expensive Eastern)
Camberwell (ditto)
Box Hill (different area than previously)
Ashburton (not quite so upmarket Sth Eastern)
East Malvern ('posh' suburb)
Ashwood (becoming expensive SE suburb)

Well, there you go.

"Vo morket rei."

That's the phrase given to me (in my napping dream this afternoon) by a friend (Alarice, I think). It was like a password, so I could recognize the aliens that would be visiting soon, and so they could recognize me as one of the 'forewarned'...

Oh pooh. <grump> No matter how I try to wangle it I simply can't afford to buy myself a dvd this week. Oh well, perhaps next week.
And I had a quick look for vcrs this afternoon. They're quite cheap now but it doesn't look like the 'long-play' function is a standard anymore. Eh, I'm sure there's at least one model available somewhere, and it's not like those tapes GoodTwin sent me a couple of years ago can't wait just a bit longer to be watched. <g>

... there's really not a lot of intelligence in a piggle's eyes, is there?
Having said that it's kind of scary the way my piggle treats her food. She'll sink her teeth into the piece of lettuce and drag it to the back of the cage. It's not a great distance, admittedly, but it's the sense she's dragging her prey into her lair to be devoured that's disturbing. Perhaps she was a carnivore in her last life? Perhaps she remembers what it was like to rend flesh? That would explain her general air of psychosis...

Heh, these past couple of days I've managed to do without aspirin as preventative analgesia so I can walk. This is a good thing. There might actually be some health benefits in this exercise nonsense. : )

I'm fed up with not being able to always get online when I want to. I use the net at specific times for a reason and I can get very shirty if I have to wait. So I'm getting broadband. Installation slated for the end of the month. My account for my computer. So there.

Mmmmm.... pink stuff... Such is its power that all woes are as midges in its presence. Happy now...

<blinkblink> ... I think this is a joke.
I got it from a 'We Hate Mary-Sues' site. There's only 3 questions... My eyes hurt...


omg wats gonna happen lolz well he said ur not
ready plus...kinda young huh but u nvr kno okay
but just one question wat name is better the
one already or Pain, Love, and Revenge with
Draco by ur side


.::pRiNcEsS oF sLyThErIn::.
brought to you by Quizilla

It's wet again. Not cold and windy as well, this time, just wet. If I didn't know better I'd say we'd hit Autumn early. But I do know better – I know that there'll more hothothot days before the Summer's done with us.

One of my cubs came into me at 5.30 this morning after a nightmare – been ages since either of them have done that but then again it's been ages since there's been clear enough space on my bed for someone other than myself. (KittenKong doesn't count, she'll happily sleep on top of the rubbish : )
Interesting dream, though. He and his brother were sitting in the back of a big rubber bus. He was looking out of the window enjoying the view but his brother told him to stop looking there and look where he wanted him to. He ignored his brother, who then pushed him out of the bus and the dream turned into a 'falling' nightmare. Oh dear. But he went back to sleep easily enough after he cuddled up to me.

Decisions, decisions.
In Melbourne this coming Sunday is both the Chinese New Year Dragon Parade and the Midsumma carnival. Both should be lots of fun, could probly spend a bit of time at each though the cubs' father said he wouldn't mind taking them to the Chinese thing, that would leave me free to frolic down by the Yarra with Aaronpoohs and friends. (Tch, what am I saying? I'll most likely end up being the only parent awake anyway... Cynical? No, just years of experience...)
(By the way, Melbourne's dragon is Dai Loong. Fantastic creature. I was at the 'waking up' ceremony one year and I almost wet myself. There was an effing dragon and it was waking up! Fortunately he's a friendly, protective dragon, but the energy generated by the event made my hair stand on end. <g> )

And on to the next Dystopia chapter...

Meep! Oh pooh - both volume 2 of Wolf's Rain and volume 3 of Last Exile are in the shop. Plus the cubs are making chibi eyes at me about the series 1 boxed set of Transformers. Tch, can't really justify it this week: let's face it, if it came down to a DVD for me or bus fares for the 3 of us for the whole week... Oh well, I've got a birthday coming up, I can start dropping broad hints. <g>

Funny thing last week while we were having all the wind and rain. Looking at the weather report and seeing the swirling vortex of (dooooom!) cloud hovering over Melbourne I thought, hang on - when that weather pattern appears in our tropical North it's called a cyclone...

Woohoo! Go us! Both Joules and I have managed to finish one of our final Dystopia chapters each! I think we can get away with possibly one more joint chapter, and an epilogue of sorts - and then there's the not-sequel. I should explain. The main arcs of Dys are being wound up and while I hadn't really considered continuing the series there's still one or two largish plot bunnies gamboling about the place, making a mess. It wouldn't be as big as the original, more of a mini-series. But I'll think about it later. : )
Did I mention I'd finished that last Elga chapter? It's posted now - thanks, Joules!

Aaaand I've finished sewing up the last of the strips for the hexagon quilt. Still haven't attempted pinning together the first one, though.

All this walking might be doing my cardio-vascular fitness a power of good but it's grinding my ankles to dust. Whinge, moan, complain. <g> I'll shut up now.

Cor, we've been having some weather lately! Record-breaking stuff apparently. The most rain ever in a 24, or 48 hour period, coldest February day ever, and at the height of it the State Emergency Service fielded the most amount of calls for help ever. Gods, I love Melbourne. : )
The cubs saw their first blown-over trees on the way to school yesterday as well, that was exciting, one had come down over the pavement. I walked around the obstruction, my cubs... crawled through it. <rolls eyes>

KittenKong is a good indicator of how cold a night has been. If it was hot she's stretched out on the floor by my bed, if it wasn't hot she's on the bed, but if it was cold she's curled up right next to me. That's just one of the reasons I like Winter, my cat gets cuddly.

I've been shown how to use the school's new library computer catalogue. It's easy peasy, a lot less labour intensive than the old system. Good, now I can get back to helping with the library work. Not that the school has a library yet, not until the new building's finished, but there's boxes and boxes of books that need to be catalogued. <happy sigh> Felt at a loss last year not working in the library, I'm looking forward to getting stuck back in.

<g> Started one of the Dystopia winding-up chapters... this is going to be fun...

Why can't people take responsibility for their own rubbish? It appals me how much litter there is left to blow around the streets - bus tickets, papers, food wrappers and the bloody everpresent cigarette butts. The cubs and I always bring our rubbish home for sorting, why can't others? I just don't understand the 'it's not my problem' attitude towards environmental issues. Okay, fine, the cities and suburbs aren't pristine wilderness but rubbish left lying around in the streets ends up in the waterways, both inland and coastal.
We have one planet, people, one chance, one home. If we kill her we kill ourselves.

Finished reading Fellowship and started on Two Towers. This is much better paced, faster, more involving. Mind you, I suspect the ponderous wallowing in angst from the first book will continue whenever Frodo makes an appearance.
I like Arogorn's description of the Horse Lords:

"They are proud and willful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years."

<g> I'd like to get hold of 'The Unfinished Tales' which apparently has details of the Rohirrim's military structure. Probly should clear the backlog of overdue fines at the library before trying there. Heh.

(As I'm drafting this [in Word, cos housemate snuck online before me <grumble> ] it's pissing down outside. Actually that's a bit of an exaggeration, it's closer to widdling, light but consistent. : ) Desperately needed, though, been weeks since the last decent rain. And it's cold, too! Woohoo! I love Melbourne: sweltering one day, freezing the next. You know it's never going to be hot for long.
It's almost chilly enough to consider lighting the fire but I refuse to do that on principle. It's the middle of the Summer for goodness sake! If anyone's cold they can put more clothes on. Besides, the pilot light for the heater is off and it's a real bugger to light again.)
(Added later: It started pissing down in earnest when I went to pick the cubs up from school. Typical. But the cubs are now proud owners of - matching - umbrellas. They're very pleased. And I gave in and lit the fire once we got home - was just too chilly otherwise. : )
(And later again: Apparently we've just had the coldest February day on record: 13 C. That's a typical mid-Winter temperature. Okay, so now I don't feel like such a wuss for putting the heater on.)

The cub with the sore nose is feeling better, thank you. : ) Swelling hasn't gone down completely and he's almost got the raccoon-mask black eyes but he says it doesn't hurt that much and he's not reliant on pain-killers. Rotten thing won't let me take photos though. <grump> He - and his brother - wouldn't let me photograph their recent rashes, either. Tch, spoil all my fun...

As we were traveling to school by bus this morning, I saw a gorgeous old, cream-coloured Rolls Royce. Wow! The back seat looked like a couch and there was so much leg room! You'd get all your shopping in there with no problem. Ah, luxury...

The next chapter of 'Elga' is almost finished. It's taken an unreasonable amount of time to do given how short it is. Got stalled on the lemony bits again. <sigh> But anyway once that's out of the way I can move along with finishing my share of the plot arcs in 'Dystopia'. Not a huge amount to tie up, though there's one longish story I'd like to tackle, an idea that's been lurking around for years. It's not going to be part of the main arcs, more of a side-story, and doesn't involve any of the main charas so I guess there's no hurry for it.
It's interesting, I'm finding a lot of old ideas are beginning to surface now and work their ways into the various continua I play with. And I mean old, some of this stuff has been moldering in the back-rooms of my brain for a decade or two. Don't think this means I'm going to run dry of new ideas, though. Heavens, no. It occurred to me the other day that I haven't attempted a Vampire story yet. <bg> That could be fun.

The architects chosen to design the new school have produced some computer images of the proposed building. It's nice enough, inoffensive. 'Modern and interesting' our principal says of the design. Heh, possibly, but likely to be thought of as 'dated and twee' in 15 years. : )
I still miss the old school, especially the library. Ah well...