Ahh, the sound of a free-flowing drain is a thing of joy, especially when your shower's just been interrupted by the feel of water pooling around your feet. Ew. I know it's not clean and sweet-smelling stuff that clogs drains and I don't want to be standing in the residue. So, water off, pull on clothes then go and find the unclogging potion.
I poured out a generous dollop then watched attentively for several minutes until bloop-gurgle the standing water suddenly drained away. Hah! I enjoyed my shower after that.
Couldn't help wondering though; in this house do blocked drains only happen to me? Or do others just not give a damn?

Odd dream last night. I was visiting a prostitute at her home, and what a gorgeous home! A Californian Bungalow in beautiful condition and chockers full of decorative items. I noticed my friend had a thing for chrysanthemums; her dress was patterned with them and the theme kept recurring in furnishings and artwork. The back door opened out onto a patio and I bet to myself there was a pool in the back garden. I woke up briefly then drifted back to sleep and - unusually - went once again into the dream. This time I went out through the back door and sure enough I found the pool. It was smallish and in need of a good clean but there it was. I asked my friend how many bedrooms her house had and she said 4 (I'm fairly certain that and the pool had something to do with our conversation yesterday, Joules), and then suddenly the house was full of people partying. Not a problem, except I had to go to the loo and it was a bit awkward trying to wee when there's distracting sexual activity on either side of you... <g>

(And while checking the spelling of 'chrysanthemum' I found 'clapperclaw': [archaic verb transitive] to scratch or hit; abuse or criticize spitefully. Neat!)

So, the second episode of the new-new Dr Who and we had another Darth Vader Redemption. Tch. Why, after a few firm words from the Doctor, did she essentially suicide when previously she'd been utterly ruthless about living? I remain unconvinced.
And why were the experiments clothed? Okay, fair enough, BBC guidelines might have had something to say on the subject but still...
I do like this new doctor, though. A lot.

If you fed a coffee soaked cockroach to a spider, would the spider get a caffeine buzz?

I've got a new mobile phone - though it was done reluctantly. The network used to have this marvellous system where the handsets acted as landlines in the home range and as mobiles outside of it. However, that network is closing soon and the customers have been encouraged to switch over to the standard mobile network. <sigh>
On the plus side, my new phone is hot pink metallic!
On the minus side, it's new technology I have to poke with a stick until I'm comfortable.
But on the plus side again, the phone's incorporated camera is really neat - 2 megapixels.
... can't think of another 'minus' though that might change when I get my first bill for it. :)

Last night's trifle had pink cream... It was sposed to be red but there's only so much you can do with pink food colouring.

Penny made me a hat! It's pink and purple and furry - kitty ears will be a perfect addition. <g>
And we (Penny and I, not the hat and I) had our first Bollywood Dancing class on Wednesday. It was hard work admittedly but so much fun! Hee, unfortunately I still have all the muscle memory of 10+ years of classical ballet, which didn't quite mesh with what I was learning this time. I kept wanting to point my toes. I don't think it's going to take too long to get into the right headspace though, despite feeling as graceless as a lumpish, tight-sinewed Westerner could possibly be. <g> Eh, it was my first time trying a completely new artform, I can expect to be clumsy.

<snerk> Smart Bitches recently had a 'mad libs Romance Title and Tagline' thingy. (Scroll down to Tue. 11th July).
Here's what my carefuly selected words produced:
He rogered his gaspacho when he saw her bouncing her chin. Now, can he stride her rigid pinkie? Find out in...
Love's soft couch.
<rolling around laughing> That's so silly...

I make a point of avoiding things like commercial (or stupid) television but I can't always avoid it when I'm at mum's. When the cubs and I were there last holidays I found my eyeballs assaulted by snippets of the most recent Big Brother. (I hasten to add that Mum doesn't watch the show at all but there were promos and commericals ad nauseum.) Was it just me, or were all the 'contestants' orange? I know it wasn't the telly's colour balance cos everyone else looked normal, but that lot? Will there ever be a fake tan that looks real?

The next best thing to travelling and collecting your own tacky souvenirs is finding them in op shops. I've got a faux bronze mini colosseum! Wonderful! Actually, it's been a good time for op shops. I've also acquired a decorative pickle jar (for all your decorative pickle needs); more forks (muahahahaha); a pretty little painted fan and a 'mounted fish' key holder. Happy now...

I was sort of watching a history doco yesterday and discovered that a couple of George I's mistresses had the nicknames "The May-pole" and "The Elephant". What a great name for a pub! The May-pole and Elephant. I'd drink there. :)

Right, American Gods. Wow, just wow.
I'm quite proud of myself, I managed to pick up a lot of the clues but there were still "d'oh, of course!" moments at the end there. <g> It was an enthralling read, very enjoyable if decidely squicky in places. But then, that's what I've come to expect from Gaiman

Uh oh. It's chocolate drive fund-raising time again. We have a box of assorted bars to eat sell. <hand to forehead> The things we do for the school...

Small furry animals have been popping up in a lot of my dreams recently, however, Alan Rickman featured last night as a runaway prince in a sort of 18th century farce. He was running away because he wanted to study Science. His family disapproved because by tradition the royal family learnt circus arts; juggling, trapeze, high wire... all in gowns and wigs. <g> The prince was living in happy poverty in a city, and the plot - what I saw of it - seemed to centre around him staying out of his parents' clutches. Oh, yes, and there was a poor but honest city girl involved as the object of his secret affection - but then that's to be expected in such a Moliere-esque caper. I woke up wondering if I could write this play. :)

I don't normally comment on politics but the Johhny and Pete show is just silly enough to catch my interest. Pete wants Johhny's job - everyone has always known this despite his protestations of loyalty - and now it's come to light that when Johhny first came to power he apparently agreed to serve for 2 terms then hand over to Pete. Johhny's now saying that he doesn't remember the specifics of the meeting and Pete...? Pete is facing the cameras with the look of a woman wronged. "He took my virginity. He said he'd marry me..."
<rolls eyes> Honestly, it'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

I had a good day on Sunday. I got stuck into cleaning the kitchen, though not all of it. I had to leave the troublesome corner - you know the place where all the miscellany gets dumped - but the rest doesn't look quite so verminous now. When I'd had enough of industrious domesticity I took myself off to the lounge room for some peace and quiet. The cubs were in their fathers' room, leaving the telly free, and I had been considering sitting down to watch a DVD. I decided instead to switch off all the electronical doodads and read a book in blissful silence. An hour, a whole hour of uninterrupted reading. Lovely. I should do that more often.

Glancing in the bathroom mirror the other night I noticed there was a subtle but decidedly silverish sheen to my hair. I hadn't noticed before, I'm used to my hair glinting in strong light but this was the first time I saw it glinting something other than gold. After the initial 'blimey!' I found myself rather pleased. I've never been interested in looking 25, or even 30, for the rest of my life. Dammit, I've earnt the silvery hair and the less-than-perfectly-elastic skin and if anyone is going to think less of me for not persuing eternal youth then they can kiss my saggy arse!
Be cool if I went silver though. Mum hasn't gone grey so much as her hair's just faded, but my dad went silver. Be nice if he gifted me with something from his genetics other than mad-scientist eyebrows. :)

And now some amusing Blogger spell-check suggestions:
Ice cream - isochronal. (Isochronal with what though?)
Soulsis - slouches. (Sit up straight, girl! <smirk>)
Sprogs - spores. (makes sense)
Fruitcake - britches. (... the mind boggles.)
Xmas - smash. (speaks for itself)
Fistful - festival. (... still boggling.)

Mmm... Fruitloops...

Watched the first episode of Tennant's Dr Who this evening. Frankly it was embarrassing - until our hero finally made an appearance, then it got immeasurably better. Could've slapped Rose; whiny bloody cow. Tch. Not fit companion material. I like this Doctor though, he's got that mercurial temperament thing - that thing that's both appealing and off-putting - shaping up nicely. And he's prettier than Eccleston.
However, interesting alien prosthetics aside it was a story of cliches. But then Dr Who = cheese. It has since the beginning and yea, even unto the last episode it will reek of the dairy. Even if it's a particularly English dairy... <g>

I was reading a drivel recently (don't ask) and I stumbled over a couple of things that gave me pause. Both from the hero's perspective.
The first was him musing about how attractive the heroine was. Quoting loosely: she was the sexiest woman he'd ever met, even without make-up. <growling> Because of course, rule: 1 in the book of being a girl is that you can't possibly be considered attractive without enhancements. <swearing>
(Aargh, no, leaving that there. I can already feel myself sliding into incoherency. Where was I? Oh yes...)
That first made me cross, the second just made me boggle. Again the hero was musing on the heroine and how her proximity was a torment because for reasons of paperthin plot bonking her was inadvisable. Again quoting loosely, he mentions, casually in passing, that he hasn't jerked off since college but now, given the heroine's irresistible speshulness he might just have to resort to it to stay sane.
<blink blink> 'kin' what?!
My first thought was 'He doesn't wank? What's wrong with him?'.
What was the author trying to say here? That masturbation is something that grown-ups don't do? Bullshit! Not that I'm in the habit of questioning my male friends about their forays into self-love but over the years, as the subject's come up, the evidence seems to suggest that even with a perfectly amenable sex partner to hand - so to speak - wanking is a normal activity.
Or is that just Australia? Are we a nation of degenerate wankers? I'd rather that than live somewhere that thinks masturbation is something to be shunned. Pffft. Stupid story.

Not a stupid story, however is Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I'm about a third of the way through and well and truly hooked. Gods above this man can weave a cunning thread.
(And I can't think of anything else intelligent to say cos it's end of the day and the fruitloops have worked their soporific magic. Mmmm... Fruitloops...)

I made a trifle the other night. It had green cream - and with the 'rainbow bright' sprinkles it was a very colourful dessert. Yummy too. :)

Had a good day today. Penny and I went trawling in Box Hill for material and... stuff. Picked up some really neat stuff in an op shop - a chunky green glass goblet; an elephant shaped glass jar; and a pretty little notebook. Unfortunately whoever priced the thing had whacked down a piece of sticky-tape to write the price on, and despite my care, removing it lifted and tore some of the (handmade paper) cover. Ah well, the notebook doesn't have a clearly defined front/back - the damaged bit can be the back, I spose.
I also found an interesting souvenir from Israel, at least I think it's a souvenir. What it is is a couple of intriguingly prickly seedpods encased in a 5cm square perspex cube. Beautifully done, the plastic is absolutely clear and there's no bubbles at all, but... what? Is Israel renowned for a particularly spiky plant? Something historical/biblical? I know the cube's from Israel cos there's a sticker on the base that says so. I almost didn't pick the thing up - it's a dried seedpod and therefore brown - but I'm glad I did. The more I puzzle over it, the more fascinating it becomes, if only because I don't have any other perspex paperweight things that are so wonderfully clear...
I also grabbed another handful of mismatched dinner forks. I'm going to have to watch myself; if I'm not careful I'll end up collecting forks. But then, some of the designs on the handles are so pretty.

Heh, following Joules' example I'm making an attempt at finishing up some of my outstanding fics. 'Outstanding' as in 'not finished yet', as opposed to 'blimey, this is fantastic'. <g>
The second part of 'Cathouse Ellis' is almost done, then I might think about completing the 'Elgar' series. Perhaps. What had been a vague idea for a crime novel has suddenly flared into life and I want to make a start on that while I'm enthusiastic.

One of our big retail chains here started its annual Toy Sale today. (I ignored the 'buy now for Xmas!!' signs.) The cubs - clutching the cash and gift-vouchers they got for their birthday - ventured in after school to have a look. (Actually, their hands were free; I had the goodies carefully stashed in my purse. Anyway...) The S cub was specifically looking for RC cars cos they've recently become very popular at school, and lo and behold he found some well within his price range. Bonus, the set had 2 cars in it, so he and his brother could play together. <g> The M cub found a Halo figurine he wanted but there was some problem getting a price on it. Eventually a very helpful salesperson hunted out a barcode we could use at the checkout, at the same time quoting a price that was half retail. Hee, happy cubs. We also started a couple of lay-bys (no deposit and 6 months to pay). The M cub now finally has a Darth Vader Voice Changer helmet to look forward to while the S cub found a cuddly Garfield plush. And they have a big Lego 'plane kit put away as well. Alas, there was nothing there that I wanted, which is probably a good thing, what with needing the cash for my incipient fork obsession...

First day of the new school term and it was two extremely underwhelmed cubs I chivvied out of the house this morning. <g> But it wasn't too bad, they had their ice-cream vouchers to look forward to redeeming after school and it was the first day in the new school.
I've decided that our principal has an overdeveloped sense of occasion. Not that finally moving into the new building isn't a cause for celebration - we've been waiting for two years after all - but having the school's brass band (marching behind the Aus flag) lead us in a parade from the old to the new? Seemed a little cheesy to me, but then again I think the children appreciated the dramatics, so...
After raising the flag on the new flagpole the students filed inside, followed by the parents etc. We were given quick tours around the new building and I have to say I'm impressed. The classrooms all lead off from a large central space which is much more community minded than consecutive rooms linked by a corridor. The library/computer room looks good, too, with lots of light and space. The teachers'/admin area is like a warren, rooms leading into rooms leading into more rooms. <g> And there's a good, solid door separating that from the students' area. The canteen, however, is tiny: as one of the volunteers good-naturedly pointed out the space will very quickly go from 'cosy' to 'claustrophobic' if the workers are on the large side. :)
I like the new building, I don't doubt there'll be teething problems as we settle in, but on the whole I think the design will work well, even if the exterior could possibly be likened to a shearing shed...

In honour of the cubs' birthday I unwrapped the fruitcake I'd made at the beginning of the year. It's very yum, perhaps a little dry, but rich and heavy nonetheless. Hee, delicious, but all the dried fruit gave me some ferocious wind.
I'm going to make another cake (perhaps two!) in the next couple of weeks for xmas. A slight lessening of the cooking time and a more liberal use of brandy should help smooth out the dryness. <g>

Speaking of xmas... We're halfway through the year, and if previous observations are anything to go by, in 8 weeks time xmas merchandise will start appearing in the shops.

Found something odd in the supermarket the other day - Caviart. The taste was reminiscent of dill pickles, and the wee balls were firm and didn't pop between your teeth like real fish eggs do. Good to try it but I don't think I'll be going back.

The cubs had an early start to their birthday this year. The day before the hallowed event we trotted off to the local op shop where they found a fistful of 00 scale model railway tracks and a compatible 'iron' bridge for just a few dollars! Happy cubs, and it revitalised their enthusiasm for model railways.

On an impulse I bought a boxed set of season 1 of Deadwood. It's set in an American frontier gold-mining town in the late 1800's and while it's brutal and gory - I wouldn't want to eat any of the pork in this place - I really enjoyed it. Even despite the casual violence I got sucked in to the lives and trials of the characters, and the characters are, generally, compelling. Not always pleasant or attractive but they feel like real people. For example, at first glance I thought Brad Dourif had been cast yet again as a creepy weirdo but as the series progressed and the character was allowed to develop it was revealed that there was a lot more to him. It was intriguing to watch it all unfold.
The cubs' father watched some of it with me and he queried the sense in using historical figures (Wild Bill Hickok, calamity Jane) in the story. Didn't bother me at all, I thought it gave the series an easily recognisable frame of reference. I knew where I was right from the start.
Heh, I have this thing though, where if I watch a lot of something I'll begin to mimic the speech - at least in my internal monologues. When I was indulging with Taggart there was a pronounced Scottish lilt to my thoughts; after watching Deadwood I find the voice in my head has affected a ponderous mode of speech with a frontier-town drawl. <g> It's probably just as well I never got into Lernsom' Durve cos I would have been incomprehensible even to myself!
So anyway... loved Deadwood and I'm going to get the second series. And I'm delighted to see there's a third season in production now. Woohoo!

Hee, cubs turned 11 today. They've been bouncing off the walls for a week in anticipation of their birthday. I'm not quite sure what time they went to sleep last night but they were still awake at 11.30 when I tried to sneak into my room to haul out their presents. Tch. However, all was quiet in their room when I dragged myself off to bed at 2...

Cubs have had a great day - and it's not over yet cos I'm letting them stay up 'til midnight. <eg> Doubt they'll make it that far, to be honest, they're both flagging noticeably.
By the time I'd managed to wake up this morning the cubs were already well into a game of Halo 2, a present from their dad. He also gave them a couple of action figures from the series, a copy of the Trainz software, and two plastic kits of WWII 'planes. From our housemate they received another couple of H2 figures - and from me they got a Spongebob Squarepants xbox game, a gift voucher from Trampoline Icecream each, a Mars Rover board game thingy and a couple of little spy games kits. They were very pleased with all that but the fun didn't stop there. Their cousins (with Soulsis, naturally) came 'round and gave them a set of toy weapons each, and a Dr Robotnik figure to share. And Becca showed them her gorgeous new pet mouse - Belvedor - but I was probably more thrilled about that than the cubs were. <g> (He's so cute! Soft dove-grey fur and ruby eyes...)

The cubs' father had organised a party for them at Darkzone where they (and their guests) had a ball. It started with tearing into even more presents (more games, more 'spy'ware, gift vouchers, stuff from Cars...) then a 15 minute 'free play' session in the arcade followed by the first of the laser-tag maze games. I didn't join in, cos I'm a wuss, but it sounded like loads of fun. :)
Then we trooped upstairs to the party room for pizza and ice-cream cake, (and sushi, which Soulsis had bought for me) then back down again for a second free-play session and a final run through the maze. <g> Soulsis joined in for that one.
Said goodbye to the friends - except for their cousins, and Sarah, who stayed with us for a little while - and went home where the sprogs played more or less cooperatively on the xbox, then had fish and chips for dinner (thank you, cubs' dad!).
And then they all went home and I passed out on the couch for a couple of hours. Heh.
Despite the snooze I don't doubt I'll have any problems getting to sleep tonight, and I know for a fact the cubs won't! :)

Interesting dream last night. There was a kitten, lovely wee ginger thing that had spent most of its time asleep. Not the way kittens normally spend a great deal of time asleep but only able to stay awake for a few minutes at a time, just long enough to have some liquids spooned into its mouth so it didn't die. Sounded grim but I found the longer I stayed with the kitten the more awake it became, the more it behaved like a normal cat though weak and uncoordinated. The little cutie was gaining animation and confidence as I watched...

Good gods the holidays are almost over. <pout> Don't wanna go back to normal.
What have the cubs and I been up to? We saw Cars again - yay! - and Over the Hedge. Not the most original or intelligent of movies but entertaining nonetheless. You can say one thing for William Shatner, he's not afraid to mock himself.

Cubs and I spent a few days up at Mum's as well. Took the traditional ride on the Healesville Trolley, and found out the company has just got hold of one of the original diesel engines that ran on the line. There's some work to be done but hopefully it'll be running before too long.

Mum wasn't feeling the best the next day so she didn't come with us to the Sanctuary. It's been a couple of years since we were there; lot of good changes including a hospital centre that's open to the public. Had fun looking at microscope slides and browsing the interactive displays; watched a kookaburra being operated on... That was fine until the vet started trying to remove the pin that had been holding the bird's fractured leg together. The thing was solidly wedged and the vet was tugging, tugging, tugging. That I couldn't cope with. <g> I don't know how the operation panned out, the cubs and I left soon afterwards.
I misread the information at the front gate so when we trotted 'round to the Birds of Prey display we discovered we had an hour and a half more to wait than anticipated. Wasn't time wasted though, in the meantime we sat in on the Free-Flying Parrot display. That was fun, and relatively new apparently; that was the first time we'd seen it. The keepers talked about several types of parrots while their charges zipped over and through the audience. Dang some of those birds are noisy! But sooo pretty!
The cubs and I didn't hasten to leave the arena after the display so consequently we were amongst the few that were asked if we'd like to stay and watch a training session for another galah. It was her first time in front of an audience but she handled it well. :)
The Birds of Prey display was as wonderful as ever, even though they couldn't bring the wedge-tailed eagle out cos of the wild eagles in the area. The osprey was being a prima donna as well, gliding between the trees instead of diving into the pool after the fish like she was sposed to. She was teasing her keeper, I'm sure; almost doing as requested, once, then equally ignoring his command to go home. It was quite funny. <g>

The following day, the Friday, I took the cubs swimming while Mum was in her exercise class, then we piled into her little car along with a friend and drove out to Powell Town for lunch at the milk bar/pub/post office/general store. Nice little place - I can always get crunchy cabana there.
After lunch we continued southwards to the heritage-listed Trestle Bridge. Cubs had fun rollicking about on that for a while, then we went back to Mum's.

Last day at Mum's we drove out to Warburton and the Patchwork Teahouse for morning tea. Picked up some nice Japanese influenced material, then the cubs insisted on exploring another old bridge across the road. We found our way up on to it - it's part of the walking trail - then came back down. :)
Had a quick lunch at Mum's, or rather the cubs had something else to eat - I didn't need to, the scones at the Teahouse were huge - then Mum drove us out to the train station and we came home.
It was a fun few days, and not exhausting. Cubs loved their early birthday presents from Nana - a home made heat bag (wheat filled) each, and a selection of 'Australian Light Railways' magazines. Oh, and a pair of bendy pencils, which are bizarre. I can't see how the lead can't be broken and useless, not when you can tie the sheathing material in knots... <g>

Joules has had a quick read through of the SFSG rewrite and still managed to find several boo-boos. Was-were, loose-lose, it's-its, and those pesky commas. Tch. I take heart at least that there's a lot less of those things to find now than when I first started writing.

I did something last night that I haven't done for years. I stayed up stupidly late to watch a soccer match. If it hadn't been the holidays it wouldn't have happened - I fell in to bed at 4.30 a.m! <g>
So anyway, Australia vs. Brazil in the World Cup Soccer. It started slowly, seemingly - to my untrained eye - to be more about defence than goal-scoring. Lots of near misses by both teams but I think there were more too-high/too-wide shots than actual saves by the goalies. I could be wrong, I'll check the stats later perhaps. At half-time the score was 0/0 and the Aus commentators were enthusing about how the 'Roos were holding their own against the best team in the world. Really? It didn't look to me like either side were playing particularly well. There was a lack of follow-through, I thought, a fair few missed opportunities for goals because there were inexplicable holes in the attack. Doesn't matter how skillfully a shot is set up if there's no one there to pass the ball to...
Early in the second half Brazil scored a goal and the energy and pace of the game picked up. Lots more near misses, including some excellent saves from both goalies. Brazil scored a second goal in the last few minutes of the game though it wasn't because of skill - more a case of someone being in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a fumble. There was no need for them to be so smug about it. <grump>
Listening to the commentators afterwards, the consensus was that Australia did very well, considering. There was some very skillful play, I have to admit, and the goalies certainly earned their fees. If we beat Croatia in the next round we could go on to the next level.
Speaking of Croatia... before the Aus/Brazil match I caught the second half of the Croatia/Japan. Now that was entertaining. :) Neither team scored but they were both playing hard. I was impressed too, by the camaraderie and politeness between the opposing sides. There was none of that in the Aus/Brazil match. If someone went down they were on their own, and Aus racked up a huge amount of fouls. Hm. Not sure I could be bothered with catching another 'Roos game but I'll keep my eye out for Japan. <g>
(And chips [crisps] are great for keeping you awake, but only while you're eating them.)

Right. Aside from a couple of minor details needed to slot into early chapters... the SFSG rewrite is finished! <happy dance> 187k words - 4k more than the first draft. Yeah!
Thank you so much for the beta, Joules, it helped enormously. :) I envision there'd have been lots of ineffectual fumbling about if I'd been left to my own devices.
Hee, the next step is to have it looked over by a someone who's not seen it before. That's probably the best way to see if the story makes sense - gods know I can't be objective!
I could have a drink to celebrate... Nah, chocolate...

I grumbled when the alarm went off this morning, until I remembered we're on holidays!

Odd dream last night. Some friends and myself were looking at renting apartments in a huge towerblock in Melbourne's CBD. Someone, the cubs' father I think, was making suggestions about who could live where and said the cubs and I could share a three bedroom unit with... Robert de Niro. I protested that; the cubs need their own rooms! Besides, I didn't know this bloke why would I want to share with him?
Toted up my finances and thought I could just possibly afford a unit on my own though rent would take up 2/3rds of my income. (Which just goes to prove this was a dream - even a bedsit apartment in the docklands would be waaaaaay beyond my reach.)
But the units were quite nice, roomy and light though the building felt quite old, not one of the new glass and chrome edifices that have been fashionable recently. The view of the Yarra and the ports was lovely and you could open a window and catch a sea breeze, or watch the weather coming in...
There was bugger all space for the cubs to run around however, but then, I thought, they don't do much of that anyway, and there was a swimming pool nearby where we could get discount vouchers. So, I decided it was do'able, expensive but do'able.
And then I woke up before I had to start dealing with all the crap that comes along with moving house. :) Still, a docklands apartment? I could go for that...

Of all the GoF stickers I'm missing, the majority are either the 3D or 'character' ones. Demn annoying. Heh, ordering from the company might be an option now cos I'm likely to spend far more than the order price trying to find the missing numbers buying sticker packets. Eh, next month perhaps, once the rent is paid.

Mum rang me last night to complain that she had to hear it on the radio that the cubs' school is reopening - why didn't I tell her?
Um, cos it's so low priority in my mind I forgot? <g> I've got far more important things to think about! I also didn't volunteer to help with the move because, well, I'm lazy, for one thing, and I know just how much use I won't be in a situation working cooperatively with lots of people I barely know.

Cubs got their half-year reports - they didn't vary much from previous ones. Their teachers again acknowledge that my boys are intelligent and capable but bemoan the lack of motivation which is holding them back from excelling. <shrug> They don't have much pride or interest in their work but I don't know what I can do, or if I should try. When they are interested in something the focus they can bring to bear is astonishing, but... They're keeping ahead of what they need to know, and they're both excellent readers and widely read which, as far as life-skills go, is one of the most important and useful you can have.
Should I be worried about this apparent lack of interest in reaching their potential? If they're anything like their father and myself - which, given what I've seen, is likely - they'll happily apply themselves once they've found what it is they want to do. Their organisational skills could definitely stand some improvement, but then, so could mine. In that respect, as a role-mode, I would be marked 'unsatisfactory'. <g> Oh well, in that case, perhaps there is something I can do? Pull my own socks up and serve as an example...

Penny rang me this morning, squealing excitedly. Seconds later I was squealing too. The community centre near the cubs' school is holding Bollywood Dancing classes next term! Hee. I'll be there.

The cubs and I were chatting (enthusing) to the cubs' father about Cars this morning while waiting for the bus. The cubs asked us what sort of cars we'd be in that universe. Their dad decided he'd be a blue panel-van - suits you, sir - and I'd be an old valiant. Yeeeah, a big old purple valiant...
I've seen some less than enthusiastic reviews for Cars over the past couple of days and they've made my brain go spang cos, what? How can you not like this movie?!
But then, realistically, I went into it with a pronounced bias. The soft spot I have for fast and/or powerful cars is largish, and then there's the other largish soft spot I have for road-trips and the scenery thereof...
Heh, each to their own. As I recall I said that Fellowship of the Ring was 'good for a laugh'. <g>

GoF sticker update (cos it's just sooo important...)
47 stickers left to collect, and 4 of the 12 'detector' cards. I've been buying the half-price 'starter packs' - 8 so far - and the people at the newsagents are starting to give me funny looks. Hate to think how much I'd be spending, though, if I had to resort to the full-price individual sticker packs.
You can order missing stickers from the company but at $1 each I'd rather get as many as I can through regular means first. Or eBay. : )

=0
That's a 'gasp' emoticon. Discovered it by accident today while chatting to Joules...
<blink> It also kinda looks like a b/w minstrel. Oh dear.
=0
... that's better. It's not been bolded...

As the SFSG rewrite ambles to an end I'm inevitably drawn to the question of 'what next'. I'm spoilt for choice, really - which is never a good thing. <g> So? Do I delve into the potentially 3 part fantasy? The Dystopia (hence a distinct lack of fluff) Romance? The actual Romance (just to see if I can bring myself to write one)? The contemporary crime fic? The several children's novels lurking in my 'ideas' folder? Eh, I'll come up with something. :)
Heh, and just noticed that those listed are in descending order of preparedness. Guess that narrows it down a touch.

Cars.
I don't have the words... but in the interests of doing the thing justice I will try to find them. :)
Gods, where to start? Um...
The plot was simple, no surprises there, but as I've found with all of Pixar's things the characterisations more than make up for any cliches. True, there's a lot of borderline stereotypes but they're handled so deftly by both the voice-cast and the animators that they become believable, even lovable in some cases.
Okay, visually, this movie was... wow. The speedway sequences were stunning, and the backgrounds/scenery were a cause for endless delight. Again, Pixar has taken the idea of a world and made it live and breath in super-realistic detail. (Hee. Cadillac Ranges and Ornament Valley. You have to see it to believe it.)
There were loads of visual jokes - some very subtle - as well as loads of self-referencing from previous Pixar productions. Do please stay for the end credits! I laughed as hard during those as at any point in the movie.

Right, I can sense myself descending into incoherency at the wonderfulness of it all - there'll be nothing more sensible out of me tonight.
Cubs and I will be definitely seeing it again. We'll get the DVD as well, when it's released even though Cars will certainly lose impact on the small screen.
(Oh, and the short this time was something called 'One-man band'. Not as charming or funny as 'For the Birds' or 'Boundin' but still wonderfully detailed and giggle-worthy.)
Very happy we finally got to see the movie - been waiting for at least eighteen months...
(<frown> Who's got the copy of The Incredibles, Soulsis? I've lost track. :)

Speaking of Soulsis, she visited last week and brought me presents!
A Danger Mouse DVD! (Eeeee! Crumbs, DM!); a very pretty pink/purple polar fleece scarf; a wee little plush fish; a gorgeous burgundy ceramic tri-part serving dish fashioned from leaves, and a set of 1970's paper-plate holders shaped as fish. <g> Authentic colours too: mustard, burnt orange, cacky (Missionary) brown and sage green. Ooh, I love vintage tat... <bounce> Thanks, Soulsis!

Heh, just about finished the follow-up to Lord Rakehell - and because it's lemony, naturally I dithered overlong on it. Tch, there's not even that much smut but still it took more time than it perhaps should've. Eh, well, it's more or less done. Perhaps I should start giving myself mini-challenges? See how much smut I can write in an hour? :)

Joules has finished beta'ing SFSG (the first beta, at least) so I have no excuses now. <g> Not a problem, really, only six chapters to go! With luck (read: determination) I can hopefully get the rewrite finished before the school holidays. That'd be neat.

Watched Coffee and Cigarettes yesterday. It's a series of vignettes about people smoking, drinking coffee and talking. It was odd, and though amusing in places I kept waiting for some deeper meaning to emerge. It was a little disorienting as well - were the actors (in some segments) playing themselves? Or playing characters that had their names and the same professions? Is Tom Waits really that prickly?
There was a lot of awkwardness in the segments too, lots of uncomfortable silences, the sort of silences you have when you're trying to make hesitant conversation with someone you don't really know.
Stylistically there were some wonderful images - some of those faces are fascinating in black and white - and it was fun looking out for and comparing the linking similarities in each segment, but ultimately this movie was a little duller than I'd expected. Though having said that I'll probly still be picking it over in my mind for a little while.

Perspective's a funny thing, innit? Joules and I were comparing temperatures the other day. At 25 degrees she was sweltering while I consider that quite comfortable. At 10 degrees I was shivering but that's apparently balmy in the UK. <g>
I also realised - after seeing a pic of the moon that Joules had taken - that we must be seeing the moon from a different angle down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Back to front (and upside down?) to be precise. No wonder I've never been able to see 'the man in the moon'! I can however easily pick the Japanese 'moon-rabbit'. <g>

This last week of term is mercifully short. Today (Monday) is the Queen's Birthday holiday, and school finishes on Thursday rather than Friday so we can begin the move over to the new building. It should be ready to move into by then. It better be, considering we were sposed to have been able to move at the end of last term.

Mwahahahahahah! I have a GoF sticker book! Actually, it's a 'starter pack' so there were 8 packets of stickers included - and all at about the price of 4 packs. <g> I think I'll pick up a couple more; nice, cheap way to collect. Yes, okay, that means I'll have extra copies of the book and 3D glasses but I'm sure they'll come in handy.
(I have confirmation now: 234 stickers and 12 'secret icon' cards. Now I know what I'm aiming for...)

Andandand! I got a parcel today from GoodTwin! Cutest little lapel pin with a pic of an otter, and a slidey pen! With an otter! <boingboing> Happy now. The pen came from New Forest Otter and Owl Centre. Did you go there, GoodTwin? Looks like fun!

There's nothing like a new fluoro to show you how shabby a room really is.

We've known for months that the light in the kitchen would need replacing sooner rather than later, but in the past few days it's been noticeably failing. So I got a new tube today and - because I get vertigo from standing on chairs - the cubs' father installed it.
Bam!
From perpetual twilight to sunshine bright in a split second! Pity I was looking at the light fixture at the time. <wince>
It's now so bright in the kitchen the spiders have run for the shadows. It's so bright, in fact, that I keep having to stop myself turning the light off cos it feels like daytime and of course you don't need the lights on then...

Dammit. <head~desk> I've mostly managed to ignore the packets of Goblet of Fire collectible stickers for months but yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I... weakened. Buying one won't hurt, will it? - I bethought to myself - Just to see what they're like...
Tch. It only takes one.
Because now I know I'm sporting a wild-eyed, wide-nostrilled look of must-have-more-obsession. And of course I must get the sticker-book so I know how many stickers I have to collect! Plus - and the official site is no bloody use - I need to know what sort of 'specials' there are. Out of the 6 packets (30 cards) I've got already there is one example of a 3D card, and a plastic 'secret icon' card! (Which has quite a nice pic of Draco in dress robes. However...) Is there anything else I should be looking out for? And let's not forget the sticker packets themselves, which have different designs...
<sigh> I think I've made things hard for myself though, coming in 6 months after the initial release; means the cards could be tricky to find - once I've exhausted the supply at my local newsagents. Soulsis, could you keep an eye open for me, please? I don't doubt there'll be some stickers I won't mind having multiples of at all. (No: 160, for example...)
What is odd, however, is that one of the early stickers in the series is from Prisoner of Azkaban. Mistake? Or recap of previous story? See, I need the sticker book so I know what's going on. <nods>

There's toys an' stuff out for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie! (I've noticed I only tend to sneer at cynical merchandising when I'm not interested in the product. Tch, shallow or what?) The action figures don't look too bad - no more or less like the actors than the Lord of the Rings figures were anyway - but the wee ships are cute. : ) But, I don't have a burning desire to own any of that stuff yet, though I could quite fancy some of the posters.
(I wonder sometimes if my life would be dull if I wasn't a fangrrl. Heh, it'd probably be cheaper...)

Both cubs are back at school with a minimum of grumbling. I, however, am ignoring my scratchy throat and runny nose. Nah, not sick, just... gribbly <g>
Only two weeks left of the term though, and one of those weeks is only 3 days long! Then, all being well, we'll be moving into the new school after the holidays. Exciting. Sort of.
I'm going to go paw through my stickers now...

The cubs handle sickness in different ways. One will just lie there quietly, while the other will - loudly - tell me how sick he's feeling. This is the same cub who flung himself face down onto the couch in the busy lounge room and declared he 'wanted to be left alone'. <g>
Yes, they're both still home. The cub who got sick first will probly be able to go back to school tomorrow - the other cub may have to have another day at home. Am I getting much of anything done? No.
We did watch Flash Gordon though. First time the cubs have seen it and they had a ball. I'd forgotten how cheesy it was, but damn good fun. Some of those costumes are intriguing, and Flash/Barin? Poor Dale, she'll never know the truth... <smirk> Ah, she's better off with Aura anyway. Especially once she admits to her BDSM kink. Hee.

Cubs have been playing Cluedo, but not as its makers intended. They're using the house-plan on the board as a battlefield, chasing each other all over the place - roll the dice! Apparently the characters can buy weapons (knife, rope, lead pipe etc:) and use them to inflict damage. I wasn't listening too closely to the rules - it sounded... complicated. >g>

Joules! Crystal Power has turned up in a bookclub catalogue here!

And finally the Snupin's been posted! Hoorah!

Rated R, cos it's a bit rude (but not overly so.)

Lord Rakehell
(Link goes to the archive page where I'm currently top of the list.)

Thank you, Joules, for the beta!

My local library has a small but intersting range of DVDs. I picked up Fritz Lang's 'M' (1931). Even with the overstated performances common to the era (and let's face it, Peter Lorre was never subtle) this is a superb bit of cinema, chilling and powerful.
Lang is described as an 'innovative' director and there's plenty of evidence of that here in one of his first 'talkies'. He plays with camera angles - to great comic effect at times - and deftly swings between the different story threads, allowing them to contrast and highlight each other. Below the suspense there's a sympathetic, wry sort of humour. This humanising humour is absent in the nasty bits though, which just makes them that little bit more skin-crawling, even though the violence is only implied, never seen. (Heh and that's a pet peeve. The introduction of the 'gore fest' in movies - that loss of subtlety - in my opinion has done more to lessen the artform of cinema in recent years than anything else. Except perhaps Star Wars, but that's another rant.)
Yes, so, 'M'. Bloody marvellous!

Both the cubs stayed home on Friday - one was actually sick, and the other insisted that he wanted to look after his brother. <g> If I was being conscientious I should have made the healthy cub go to school but honestly, I couldn't be arsed. It's been a long term, with a few weeks left yet, and we're all tired.
They'll probly be home again on Monday. The sick cub still has a nasty cough, and the healthy cub is now complaining about a sore throat. Of course, that's not stopping either of them playing on the Xbox, but they've both been getting to sleep earlier. Something that only happens when they're unwell...

So, using as a template an earlier fic Joules had coded for me, I coded the Snupin I'd just finished. 25 pages - couple of hours - no problem. Except when I went looking for the file later I could only find the first incomplete and buggy version. Voluble swearing ensued; no idea why the blasted thing hadn't saved properly.
So, I coded it again - another couple of hours. When I'd done I whapped it over to Joules to check. Everything looked fine, so I sent the file over to Master and the Wolf. All sorted, everything fine - except the site mod emailed me back to say he'd fixed a couple of coding glitches, glitches that I knew were only in the first version.
Checked the link - more swearing - yes, my 'puter had apparently reverted to the original file. Again. I don't think my gremlins are technically minded, I can see them both staring as dumbfounded as me! None of us know what's going on...
Fortunately this time the html version was intact so I've sent that over instead. I've asked the mod to check it first before posting, just to be on the safe side.
Tch. Did I simply not save the file correctly? Was the goat the wrong colour? Sheesh. <grump>