Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Housemate got the first 3 dvds of Trigun for giftmas and we've been watching them.
<big eyes> The picture's so crisp and clear and I'm picking up all sorts of things in the audio that I just don't catch on the pay-channel. The subtitles are intersting as well, there's a slight change in emphasis in some parts that opens up different aspects of the story. I'd definitely like my own copies.

<sniffle> Watched Moulin Rouge today. That oughta keep the fluffy-bunny romantic from rattling the bars of her cage for a while...

Good gods! New Year's Eve is tomorrow!
Well, I doubt I'll have the first draft 'Dancing' finished like I said I would - but that's okay, I'll just send myself to bed without supper as punishment.
I was also planning on cleaning the house but I don't think I'll bother - it's only going to get to the same state again within hours and I simply don't have the energy to keep at it.

Yay for Ripley, Talon! <bg> You must be very proud. Or relieved. I know I was when the cubs finally got it right.
I know dairy products tend to make me 'chesty' so why is that all I've been eating for the past few days? Heh, probably because it's cold food (the temperature's been hot again), it's there and I don't have to prepare it. Ah well, I'll put up with the cough and snuffles until the cheese and yoghurt runs out. : )

Right, finished that Dystopia chapter, 'One Step Forward'. This universe was actually created with a central plot in mind and dang it all, this chapter actually begins to address that plot.
Still haven't looked at 'Dancing' though - how many sleeps 'til the new year? 2?

Thank you for the frog stamp, Alarice! It's sooo cute! <bhg> (Oh, and Soulsis and I are booked to go, we'll see you in about 10 days. : )


Sunday, December 28, 2003

<sigh> KittenKong's brought another mouse in and is having great fun batting it around the kitchen. Fortunately it's already dead.

The cubs' father and I were treated to a puppet-show tonight, starring the shark puppets they got yesterday. Need I say more? : )

(KK's now playing with her mouse under my chair. Get out of it, cat!)

Okay, looks like Soulsis and I will be going up to Adelaide by train but coming back by coach. Not the ideal way to go but if there's no trains running on the day I need to come back...? Eh, well. Should be a fun trip though, Soulsis will have a captive audience for hours at a time. <eg> (I'm joking of course, precious : )

(Duuuh... where'd it go? <smirk> I've picked the mouse up from beside my chair and disposed of it - KK is now wandering around looking for her new best toy.)

A slow night? Y'think? : )
Ooh! I noticed in the Buzz Lightyear video, that his partner Warp Darkmatter has blue skin and gold eyes. Looks pretty buff too, under the Galactic Rangers get-up...
<wince> I really should invest in shoes appropriate for my special-needs feet...
The cubs and I went to the Aquarium today - (after I went to book the tickets to Adelaide but that's a whole 'nother story.)
It's been a while since we've been to see the fishies but it was still a lot of fun. Not terribly crowded either, which was a bonus. The cubs both got shark hand-puppets plus keychains to hang off the Tidja Midja Nidja back-packs they got for xmas, and I treated myself to a tacky clown fish statuette. : )
One of the Aquarium staff noticed the cubs pretending to be port jackson sharks (hard to miss, they were sprawled in the middle of the floor - I've got photos) and a little while later as she was hosting a trivia quiz thing she pointed out the 'Port Jackson Shark Twins' to the rest of the audience. <head in hands> Needless to say the cubs were thrilled and thereafter introduced themselves to anyone who even vaguely looked in their direction. I tell you - sometimes it can be a trial being the mother of 'characters'... <g>
We stopped in at Hearn's Hobbies on the way home so the cubs could drool over the Hornby system Thomas stuff (and so I could drool over the model car kits. Mmmm... 1970 Ford Torino... I'd paint mine purple...)

Ack! Just remembered the dream I had last night! I was marrying Professor Utonium [sic?] at my old high-school. Oookaaay....

Okay I admit it, I'm procrastinating. I've started another Dystopia chapter rather than knuckle down to finish 'Dancing'. Why? Gods know. Fear of failure? Fear of success? Eh.

Finished the fourth strip for my quilt - only 9 more to go then I can sew them all together! : )

Awwww! Kai's card for you looks wonderful, Joules, and that photo's amazing! I'd like to see that photo album as well. : )

Oh good grief! Thundercats?! Centurions was bad enough (though the Village People undertone is vaguely amusing). Time to change the channel...

Friday, December 26, 2003

You know that feeling you get when you've been focussing all your energies so tightly on something that when it's all over you feel like you've run off a cliff into freefall with no idea what to do next?
Heh, post-xmas 'now what's? : )
<happy sigh> There's always writing, though I did promise the cubs I'd take them down to the park today so they could ride their bikes.
(And I did check my account and I think I can still make all the bills more or less on time. Good. One less thing to worry about. : )
Ok, haven't quite gone to bed yet, got distracted...

I deliberately tweaked the answers to this result... Not because I'm especially fond of Orli (I mean, come on, he's an elf and you know how I feel about pointy-eared-prancing-about-the-forest elves <shudder> ) I just wanted to see what it said. So I did, and it was funny so I posted it. Now, horselords, on the other hand... I bought a packet of marshmallows the other day cos it had an Eomer card in it. Bring him to my tent! Hm, everytime I see him I think about finishing a slave-fic I started ages ago...
I'm rambling, aren't I?

alttext
You are an...
ORLANDO BLOOM FANGIRL.

Here's a bloody picture of bloody Orlando, then.
Admit it, the possibility of acquiring another
Orli picture to go with the 37,000 you already
have in on your hard-drive is the only reason
you did this quiz in the first place. You are
the scourge of Tolkien fandom everywhere with
yer giggling and file-swapping and Mary-Sueing
all over the place. And you are almost solely
responsible for the popularity of the film
'Pirates of the Caribbean'. There is no hope
for you. Now go away.


What The Hell Kind of Tolkien Fan Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


D'oh! Knew there was something I forgot to say...
Happy thingy to you all, and to all, a good night!
<yawning so hard my jaw hurts>
<stretch-yawn> Well, that's another xmas over with. It wasn't too bad actually. Sure I overspent horribly (I'm not even going to check the amount in my account cos I know I'll start panicking about the rent) but we've got 2 extremely happy cubs who've been telling me this is the best xmas they've ever had. : ) Heh, I remember how much of a big deal it was getting a bike.
Met up with Mum and a friend, and soulsis and her chicks at Healesville Sanctuary ('See nature close up'! Yeah, so close it tries to nick your flipping lunch! Bloody ibises... : ) for our now traditional picnic. It was good, despite the heat. Ate a lot but not excessively, and the load we carried out was considerably lighter than what we brought in. (Soulsis, I polished off your cheese twists and mini-quiches for dinner. Nummy, thanks!)
I got some very cool presents too! <reverting to excited child persona> Sparkly window danglies from Soulsis and Niki, sparkly grapes and an otter picture on slate from Soulsis and chicks, 2 small patchwork wall-hangings Mum made for me and... other stuff that embarrassingly escapes me right now. Tch, must be tired if I can't recall all my loot.

Finished watching Yami no Matsuei...
<clawing gouges in desk> There has to be more! Tell me there's MORE!
<g> I really enjoyed that series, intriguing world-frame, loads of potential there for expansion and some of the funniest japanglish subtitles I've had the pleasure of witnessing. : )
"Hey... wart a minute!"
"I nearty died!"
"Wh... shat is that?"

Oh dear oh dear...
Not typed by native English spearkers, perhaps?

Heh, and after a couple of days pondering I now have the entire plot arc for 'Elga' filed away neatly in my brain (the first chapter was recently posted in the DarkRealm section of The Zone). But, 'Dancing' has to take priority at the moment.
Joules' latest Ultimate Muscle thing has been posted too... Go, Dik Dik! <smirk> I'm thinking I'll have to rewatch the series now to catch all the hysterical snippets Joules has been quoting at me!

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

OkapiPrincess sent me an email - I had to share it...
"We saw a lot of people in costumes. We saw a lot of people attacking other people who were in costumes. There was a lot of seemingly pointless running and screaming. People were whipping each other with leashes. People who shouldn't be wearing spandex, were. The hotel staff looked slightly mortified. It was hilarious."

I have been doodling about on the net looking at all the majesty of yaoi sites...and the above is a quote from a report about Yaoi-Con 2003 which happened in San Francisco...
I would have thought the hotel staff in SF would be inured to anything!

<bg> The staff probably wouldn't have even blinked at a BDSM convention!
I think a lot of people have problems coping with 'fandom', even well-known ones like Trek still get raised eyebrows and sniggers, let alone that 'weird jap cartoon stuff'.
Ahhhh, ordinary people.. such fun to mess with their minds...
Still like to get to YaoiCon one year - heh, maybe I can treat myself (and everyone else) when I become rich and famous.


So, I watched (heh, devoured) the first disc of Yami no Matsuei last night...
<big BIG eyes> This has got to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen!
It's got everything! Good bishies, bad bishies, it's beautifully drawn, there's subtext and magic!
D'oh! No wonder I'm loving it, it's magical girl anime only with boys. And such boys... Maybe it should be called Yummy no Matsuei? <smirk>
It says Volume 1 on the cover - does that mean there's more? My birthday's in March. (<blinks: smacks the fluffybunny fangirl back into her box> Ignore her, opportunistic little cow. : )
Thank you, Onna!

And thank you, Niki - who rang me yesterday to ask if I'd like to borrow her spare car for the next week. : ) <hugs>


Tuesday, December 23, 2003

.. and because I'm in that sort of mood (and because she couldn't summon the energy to do it herself) I've tallied up what Joules has done this year.
Are you ready? Take a deep breath...

37 Alliance Chronicles chapters;
14 of the 23 'l/L chapters (the rest were joint efforts);
13 Dystopia (plus 9 written with me);
7 Ultimate Muscle;
2 of the first Demon series, and 2 joint.
3 Cyber City Odeo;
2 Arislan (the first one was written last year);
the 2 latest instalments of Transposition;
and the gorgeous, so sad 'Lull' from Ai no Kusabi.

So - that's <counting> 81 individual pieces, (plus 18 written jointly with me) and not including the 39 chapters of 'First Light' - a good chunk of which were brand new chapters. : )
Feel a little better now, Joules? You've not exactly been idle this year. <smirk>

(Oh, hang on.. I've said Joules has written 18 pieces with me, but that I've written 20 pieces with her. <blink> Ack, not going to go back and recheck but I know there were some that Joules credited me with part-authorship where I didn't contribute more than a few paragraphs.)
I've just obsessively gone through and tallied up what I've written this year and guess what? I've not been as unproductive as I felt.

Not trying to skyte or anything but aside from almost finishing a novel I've completed 37 individual pieces (spread out over the Alliance Chronicles, Dystopia & DarkRealm) and another 20 or so working with Joules. Not too shabby, eh?
Heh, just think how much more I could get though if I was organised...
SQUEAK!! I've just got the parcel from Onna!
Vol 1 of 'Yami no Matsuei' on dvd!
You know, I have no idea what this is about <idiot grin> but the bishies on the cover are making me salivate! (No, don't anybody tell me anything, I'm quite looking forward to watching it clueless. : )
Thankyouthankyouthankyou, Onna! <tackleGLOMPS>
(nicked from Joules' blog:)
[sigh] Ever tried to struggle round a packed supermarket, with a headache, in the company of a child who will not stop talking?

Funnily enough, yes. : ) Though my cubs don't necessarily need sugar and they tend to talk over each other, getting louder and louder in the effort to be heard... But I have to say that, being twins, they're more likely to talk at each other. See? There are advantages to multiples.

<sigh of relief> My AC is finally, finally finished - before Xmas too, thank all the gods. Sorry it took so long, Joules, finding it hard to focus on anything much less AC. So, that's AC 5 done then, eh? : )
Speaking of which...
Having read 'Journey' the ending chapter for AC5 all I've got to say is:

AAAARRRGH!!


'Dancing' is next on the list - I will have the first draft finished before new year.
Hee! Joules has shown me the first part of her 1st person POV bishie-fic for Dystopia. I'd be seething with jealousy at her apparently effortless ability to slip into anything if I wasn't too intrigued to find out what happens next. <smirk>


Happy Solstice, everyone!
Take a few moments today from the xmas crap to give thanks to <insert name of higher being here> for the wonder of our planet, our home. : )

Oh, and Happy Anniversary, Joules and Ken, hope it's a good one!

Sunday, December 21, 2003

The wind's picked up and I'm sitting here listening to the roof flapping.
I really should ring the agent and get it fixed...

And Okapi has helpfully informed me it was an Indian Mynah (note the evil, souless eye) that had stupidly got itself caught in my kitchen, not an African Minor. : )
<head in hands> I have spent so much money today... but it was fun.
The cubs and I went to Puffing Billy - it's been over 2 years since we were there last <waves at Di and Andi>.
Well what can I say? Steam trains, old diesel trains... of course it was fun!
We only did half the journey today - to Emerald Lake and back - but it's almost an hour each way. There was some grumbling when we got to the lake cos I wouldn't let the cubs have a go on the paddle-bikes. They were too young to go on by themselves and there was no way I was going to leave either one unattended while I accompanied the other on the water. Heh, next time we'll think to bring a spare adult...
The model railway made up for it though.
30x6 metres of miniature trains in a miniature landscape. Very cool. : )
We stopped off at the railway museum on the way back but unfortunately it was closed. Still, the cubs had a deliriously happy few minutes clambering over the fuge derelict steam engine out the front before we scrambled back on to the train.
The gift-shop - curse it's well-stocked shelves - had a fabulous selection of Thomas merchandise that I've not seen anywhere else, including <whispering> some of the things I've been searching for. Ah well, already spent the allocated budget for giftmas (Okapi's word : ) - I'll bear it in mind for birthdays.
(Hee, and I indulged myself and bought another slidey-pen, yellow this time.)
Sucker that I am I succumbed to the hard-sell of a volunteer and forked out some money for an official souvenir photo of the cubs and I on the train. It's not a bad pic, actually, might put it up on my blog a little later.
Mum gave me her old camera when she came back from Queensland and I remembered to take it with me today. After I'd worked out how to start it up - putting the batteries in the right way really helps - took lots of photos. Not sure what the quality's going to be like, it's been a loooong time since I've used a camera and I suspect my 'eye' isn't once what it was. Eh, we'll see soon enough.

Saturday, December 20, 2003

When the cubs and I got home from school the other day, we found a bird (African Minor - horrible things) had got itself trapped in the kitchen and was flapping frantically at a window trying to get out. (The fact there was an open window right next to it hadn't penetrated it's puny brain.) The cubs squeaked and ran away (such natureboys - not : ) and even KittenKong, sensibly, kept her distance. I have mentioned I don't like birds, haven't I? Fortunately the stupid thing was in a corner so it wasn't too much effort to wrap it in a towel and redirect it to the open window. The bloody thing shrieked when I nabbed it - probably from fright - but flew away happily enough.
Heh, I must be growing up or something, first getting the bird out of the house then shooing a half-grown (2 inches across) huntsman spider away from the washing-up and out of the window without freaking out... Of course, all bets would've been off if it'd been a full-grown spider. <shudder>

Last day of school yesterday and the final assembly for the year was mostly a reprise of the xmas concert. <twitch>
Had an amusing python moment though (as in Monty Python). At one point the principal told the children to 'sit up straight, hands in your laps... your own laps.'
<blinks> Pardon? I had visions of black-gowned school masters looking sheepish...

Right, one of the demon things I've finished - 'Mismatch' - is now posted in the DarkRealms, (which you can access from both the Dystopia and Zone pages). It's a prequel of sorts, to 'Annaia'.
Joules has told me she's starting her next AC, which is brill but eeep! my chapter comes before that! Better get a move on then, eh?
(Oh, and 'Games' her latest Ultimate Muscle fic is finished. Mmmm... I do like Joules' lemons... : )

Almost came home with another kitten yesterday - one of the mums was trying to find homes for them before going to the pet-shop. Two things stopped me.. well, 3 things. First - I don't think KK would've been terribly impressed, second we don't have any screens on the windows so it would be difficult to keep the wee thing inside while it adjusts to us (during Winter, not a problem, we can keep the windows shut) and third, pretty as they were, none of them really connected with me. Unlike KittenKong whose name popped into my head within seconds of first holding her. : )
Got offered a rabbit as well, which I said 'no' to after thinking about it - must've been a day for it.

Watched a program about Liberace last night.
There were people who seriously thought he was straight? Good grief, I grew up knowing he wasn't - I got shouted at in Primary school for even suggesting such a thing!
Heh, mind you the same thing happened in High School - getting yelled at for saying similar about The Village People. <g> Maybe I've always had a finely tuned gaydar...

Friday, December 19, 2003

KittenKong outdid herself for catness yesterday. The cubs set up some train track on the coffee table and Madame Thunderpaws plonked herself down in the middle of it all. (Well, what do you expect? That's where everyone's attention was focused so of course that's where she's going to sit. : ) She'd strategically sprawled so her tail, and paws, blocked the track, and she could bat at the rolling stock as it went past her nose. The cubs squealed that the cat was ruining their game and asked me to shift her. I suggested instead that they might like to incorporate her presence - 'Oh no! The giant cat has invaded the Island of Sodor!'...
<bg> Kittenkong soon got tired of the engines - very loud and squeaky - 'panicking' as they tore around the track trying to escape from the monster, and she took herself off to find somewhere quieter to sprawl.

I saw a bumper sticker today.
'... and on the eigth day God made Richmond.'

Which was cute - Richmond is one of the local AFL football teams here, but how much cuter would it be if it said:
'... and on the eigth day God made YAOI.'

<smirk>
... at least it's not hot anymore...

<grumble> My shopping centre is being taken over by amateur shoppers. By amateur I mean people who don't normally shop during the day but are on holiday now and doing their xmas shopping. You can spot them easily - they're like tourists...
I think I've got nearly everything (except food) I was planning on getting for the silly season. Fingers crossed that means I won't have to venture forth into the crowds of mutoids too much over the next couple of weeks.

The cubs got their end-of-year reports yesterday. Quite pleased, there was a slight improvement on the already good half-year reports. They've worked hard this year. True they've had to be poked with cattle prods sometimes but they've made the effort and we're all looking forward to a break. : )

Enjoy bratling's school concert, Joules! (I'm not sniggering, really I'm not!)

Was there something else I wanted to say?
Tch, can't remember - the higher functions of my brain are still offline because of the recent hot days. I really should get a better fan installed...

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

(Also nicked from Okapi's blog:)

Now how can I dispute this? : )

Artistic
You are naturally born with a gift, whether it be
poetry, writing or song. You love beauty and
creativity, and usually are highly intelligent.
Others view you as mysterious and dreamy, yet
also bold since you hold firm in your beliefs.


What Type of Soul Do You Have ?
brought to you by Quizilla


Oh, and Joules has started the next UM ficlet. <smirk>

I wasn't going to post anything today cos it's been really hot for a couple of days now and I'm brain-dead and grumpy.
However...

(nicked from OkapiPrincess' blog:)

alttext
You are...
NOT A TRUE TOLKIEN FAN.

Sorry, but there it is. You may have made an
effort, or you may seriously not care less, but
the fact is that you don't know your Sindarin
from your Quenya, or your Bracegirdles from
your Brandybucks. Never mind, just sit back,
eat your popcorn chicken and watch the pretty
movies - I promise there'll be explosions in
the next one.


What The Hell Kind of Tolkien Fan Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Teeheehee...

You know, I can't remember the last movie I saw (at the cinema) that didn't involve CGI fish. <sigh> Maybe I should get out more...

[Missed you? <nonchalant shrug> Oh - a bit, I suppose. <surreptitiously pushes cuddly 'lestrel doll under a pillow>...]

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

I'm going to whinge about the weather so you might want to skip this next bit.
Actually, no, don't worry, there's no point whinging - can't do anything about it. : )
Needless to say it's hot (still high 20's at 10 pm) and except for very specific circumstances, I don't like sweating.

Anyway, moving right along...
I've got some very clear images from this magical girl thing, some as b/w 'panels', some as colour action. Don't think it'd be so much a multi-part series though it could work as a movie - or a two-part special (yeah! Cliff hanger!). Hn, the story would have to be restructured - heh, could be fun to rewrite it as a screenplay sometime. <g> Yup, I'll add it to the list...

Awww! <squinch> The preps gave myself and Pat (the other library volunteer) a xmas present today. A box of chocolates - very welcome, I was on the verge of killing for some chocolate last night. : )

Ack, I'm surrounded!
One of the boys in my cub's class has a new little brother, and another girl has a sibling due in March. This is on top of the prep boy whose new little brother is a fortnight old, and the other two preps who are also expecting new additions to their families next year.
I should point out that I do not want any more children - nope nope nope, not doing that again... so I don't know why I'm bothered by all the rampant fecundity. Eh, it's too late and too hot to analyse that.

[<happysqueakGLOMP> You're back!You're back!You're back!...]

Monday, December 15, 2003

My cat can count, in fact, she can count backwards.
's true! If she's on one side of a door or window, and I'm on the other and want to close it, I count slowly backwards from 3. Kittenkong knows that when I get to 1 I'm going to shut the door/window regardless of which side she's on. : )

<twitch> School xmas concert tonight. My tolerance for god songs - sorry, carols - has all but disappeared over the years. On the plus side, Penny gave me a x-stitch pattern for grapes and vine leaves and I spent some happy time planning what I was going to do with it. (The basic pattern is dark purple grapes and green leaves. I'll be doing two bunches, the second one in reds and pinks, and filling in the background with gold. Neat, eh? : )

Almost finished the 3rd (of 13) star and hexagon strips for my quilt. This part is coming together satisfyingly quickly!

Oookaaay, finished both the demon and the magical girl things (give us a hoi when you get back, Joules, and I'll send them over), now it's on to the AC. However, the temperature's supposed to be in the high thirties tomorrow <ack!> It's more likely I'll be flaked out in front of the fan.

Had a dream while I napped this afternoon...
I was out and about doing things, as one does, then stopped in at a friend's place and fell asleep. When I woke up it was 4:45 - I realised I was sposed to pick the cubs up at 3:30. Eeeep! My phone was out of charge and though there were lots of other people there, all with mobile phones, I just could not get any of them to work. Trying to call the cubs' father I either kept hitting the wrong numbers or couldn't find the 'send' keys. I was getting frantic - then I woke up. I hadn't realised I'd been dreaming until then. : )
Does that sound like your basic anxiety dream? <g>

The cubs told me this morning they're bored with going to school, they wanted to stay home. 'No way' quoth I, 'this is my last chance to be alone for weeks - you're going to school...' : ) Such an insensitive mummy...

And what am I planning on doing with this last week of freedom? Finishing off both the demon thing and the magical girl thing, definitely (they're both only a sneeze away from being completed), then my next AC, then I'll concentrate on finishing the first draft of 'Dancing'. Hn, don't think I'll get much opportunity to finish off the backlog of one-off's before the end of the year - maybe I'll extend that deadline to the end of January, though I'd really like to clear some of the stuff that's been dagging around for years before I settle down and concentrate on attempting to make a living from this writing thing. : )

(nicked from Onna's blog:)

<rolling around laughing> I never knew she had it in her!

Who will give you an orgasm? by leslie13
Name
Age
Virgin?
So, who will make you moan?Britney Spears...lucky.
How?Manually.
Will it be good?OH YEAH.
Created with quill18's MemeGen!



[... <mopey sigh>...]

Sunday, December 14, 2003

There's one good thing about the cubs rediscovering their obsession with Thomas, they're not wallowing in Cartoon Network anymore. That is such a relief cos let's face it, with a couple of notable exceptions, most of what's shown on CN is crap, either retro-crap <shudder> or contemporary crap, or retro-crap revisited <SHUDDER>. It's a shame, there's so much fantastic, entertaining, well-made and - yes - even educational children's programs about but they hardly ever find their way onto pay-TV.

I downloaded a x-stitch converter program thingy the other day (thanks for that, Penny!) and have been playing with it. The only problem with the freeware version is that the 'save' function's been disabled so - in theory - you can't save/print anything you've done unless you buy the software. In theory. <smirk> There are ways around that (thank you, again, Penny : ) It's a little fiddly but it still works. I've been experimenting with a couple of screencaps of Vash (such pretty eyes) and I think I can get a workable stitch pattern. Hee! Something to take with me to do when Soulsis and I go to Adelaide.

... and speaking of which...
You'd think it'd be a simple thing, getting a train ticket interstate.

Very difficult getting motivated at the moment - end of year blah's I think. One more week of school left...
Almost done with the short prequel(?) to the last demon-thing I finished - then I can get on with the magical girl thing which is clamouring at me.
(Not wanting to whinge or anything but I'm just not looking at the list of pending/half-finished projects waiting for my attention cos the sheer volume will scare me into immobility. : )

The cubs went to the end of year disco at school on friday night. It was very cute, watching all these little kids boppin' around though I have to say that most of the music played did nothing for me. Heh, I listen to essentially indie radio, mainstream 'dance' music is very, very dull in comparison. : )

Thursday, December 11, 2003

[<cuddle> it's not for long, aijin, and we'll do something... special when you get back. ^~^ ]
'Dance like it hurts.
Make love like you need money.
Work when somebody's watching.'

- Dogbert.

I think there's something in that for all of us...



<happysqueak!> I got a parcel from Joules today!
It contained a beautiful card, some more of the delicious turkish-delight flavoured hot chocolate sachets, 4 packets of pink stuff (some are just past their useby date so alas, <hand to forehead> they have to be consumed right away hehehehehe...). There was also a miniature whip on a keychain which the cubs looked at and decided they could use as a pretend squid. <blinks> .... riiiight.... (They knew it was a whip, by the way - I think that's because they've seen them in their 'Horrible Histories' magazine used in dungeons.)
There were some little things from Goodtwin included as well; 3 glow-in-the-dark plastic snakes, a fish on a keychain whose eyes bulge out when you squeeze him (so funny!) and 3 more of the gorgeous little plastic lionhead goldfish squirty things! : )
Thank you!! <tackleglomps Joules and Goodtwin>

Had a good giggle in the library this morning.
The school principal, bless her, told us to go through the picture books, pull out the ones that are too old or too tatty and put them in a box for her to go through later. <rolling around laughing> A box - like she expects there to be a dozen or so books... I took 60 or more off the shelves today and that was just in the A & B's. : ) Ah, dear...


Wednesday, December 10, 2003

... It started out as a simple enough idea.
I decided I wanted to try writing some 'magical girl' fic - it's a genre I've got a soft spot for and it's not something I've tried yet, both good reasons for having a go. Within minutes of actively making the decision, spang!, there she was clear in my mind, my magical girl. But as I've been pondering it, it seems to have morphed into something darker and more complicated than what I associate with MG storylines.
Actually I can easily visualise this as a manga, or anime, series - 24 parts/eps with an evolving story. I'd hesitate to say there'd be anything startlingly innovative about it though, but I think I can do the style justice.
Sex and violence and gratuitous nudity? Oh yes... <smirk>
In my dream last night I was checking out an artist's work (inbetween faffing about with weird, vaguely offensive and controversial [to others, I couldn't see the fuss] art installations and obscure unpublished manuscripts written on gold paper) that he had displayed on the pavement. Beautiful, realistic wooden and ceramic scupltures of animals. There was one of a rabbit and her kits, which at first glance was lovely but a closer look revealed the young were growing out of her eyes...

Cicada wings are beautiful things, green and delicate... even after they've been gnawed off their owner by a mighty hunter. <rolls eyes>

Imagine for a moment you're a thinking, reasoning creature with some claim to intelligence. You notice that every time you go to use the shower the bathmat is hanging up. As a thinking, reasoning creature would it occur to you to hang the bathmat up when you've finished with the shower, or would you blithely ignore the sodden mass on the floor and simply walk away?
I know it's a stupid thing to get annoyed about (about as stupid as freaking out over the up/downness of the toilet seat) but dammit... <grumble>

My next AC is clawing it's way into existence, slowly. The next one of the Demon story things is cued up in my brain ready to write, and Joules is getting a spot ready for this particular universe in the Zone. <fuge grin> Isn't she wunnerful?

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

(nicked from Joules' blog:)
... hideously scary singing Xmas trees... [shudderwhimper]

<cuddles> I know, I know... The first cheesy, jiggling xmas decoration I see of the 'holiday' season is always traumatic. After that I can more or less blank them out. : )

(A burst of indignant squawking from outside - a second later Kittenkong skulks in to huddle under my chair...
Been bothering the birds again, cat? <g>)

(culled selectively from Talon's blog:)


Heh...


goldwere
You are a Luminoes werewolf, a breed of werewolf
that can range from colours of gold, to blonde
brown and sometimes a red-yellow colour.
Luminoes werewolves are more common and are
usually in larger packs than any of the other
werewolf breeds because they tend to join other
werewolf packs. They are peacful and great
story tellers but their creativity sometimes
shows in art and dance. They tend to mark their
territory by clawing a symbol on trees in their
territory.


Which Breed Of Werewolf Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Weee! Magical girl!


CCS Girls
You are the Card Captor Sakura girls!


Which group of anime girls are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Interesting, I actually expected a lesser score...



I'm getting there. I don't suck, but I've got a ways to go.


Not too bad, but you can do better. Keep working on it- maybe try kicking a few guys wherever you want to, then start lighting them on fire. Slow and steady wins the race, okay? You've got a long way to go, but I think you'll survive.


Not keen on blues, especially light blues but as for the rest...


you are lightblue
#ADD8E6

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well.

Your saturation level is low - You stay out of stressful situations and advise others to do the same. You may not be the go-to person when something really needs done, but you know never to blow things out of proportion.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.
the spacefem.com html color quiz



<rolling around laughing> oh.. you have no idea...!



No! Isn't that awesome? Yay you! You've won the quiz and will be just fine as your tough woman self.

Monday, December 08, 2003

Kittenkong's total so far today is 2 skinks and 1 cicada. Yesterday it was 1 rat and 2 cicadas (well, 1 stupid cicada caught twice.) She's only had kibble to eat for the past couple of days and she's making her displeasure known... Fortunately she doesn't seem to be the sort of cat who uses bowel functions as a protest. : )

... I'm sure I had something else to say.

Cute fish, Talon : ) , very pretty.

... um...

Joules is thigh-deep in another Dikdik fic. <smirk> I've been giggling over it...
And we've fiddled with the AC timeline, got that all sorted now, can get on with the next couple of chapters.

Oh, my cub with the split lip had the stitches out a week ago and it's healing up nicely.

... tch, if I think of anything else I'll do another update.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

I'm not sure if this is a good thing but we got hold of a copy of the second Tidga Midja Nidja Turtles movie and the cubs loved it! We've watched it half a dozen times over the week and had pizza tonight in honour of the turtles. Heh, anything other than flipping Thomas is an improvement I guess...
And today I introduced the cubs to the Stray Cats, one of my fav bands from my feckless youth. They liked them too, hee, prancing around the lounge room, pretending to be rock stars...

The other night, KittenKong brought in something she'd caught and dropped it outside my bedroom. I peered at it, not sure what I was looking at - I'd been typing for a couple of hours and my eyes were pretty tired - then decided it was the ugliest frog I'd ever seen. Wasn't a frog though, as I discovered when I worked up the enthausiasm to go look, it was another fledgling. <sigh>

I saw the BeBop movie the other day - damn it's good! Like an episode only more so. Fabulous villain, very .. tch, what's the word I'm looking for? Empathic? As in I empathised with them? Watched some of the special features on the DVD and I think my ears must not be attuned to Japanese intonations cos the Asian soundtrack just sounded flat.
Heh, still watching (fascinated by) Trigun but I had an interesting reaction to Merril's thing with Vash...
Vash and a girl?! Eeeeeuuuwww!
<bg> Too much yaoi perhaps?

Joules, I really enjoyed the Dikdik fics and I've got a challenge for you.
I know he's a perfect h/c puppy, gazelle thing, whatever, but could you write one where he doesn't get hurt beforehand? <evil grin>

Adk! Two more weeks of school!

[Mmm... <happy snuggle> good to be back...]

What sort of Lotus? Um.... red? I dunno, I was too busy caressing the burnt orange Datsun to pay much notice! <smirk>
There was a also a black Monaro there - 60's I think, too blocky to be 70's - which was verra nice! (Melbournians will know what Monaros look like - Maaate!)
And speaking of cars, I finally got to see 'The Fast and the Furious'...
<big eyes> Pretty, pretty cars and some fantastic driving! Wooden plot, characters etc but pretty cars!
(... and plot ideas for Dystopia)
Okay, I'm back - more or less, computer shuts down when I try to get into ICQ. <whimper> (Carli, don't tell me you enjoyed the past week, being left to your own devices?)
Anyway, not a massively productive week; one very short fic finished, another started, but that was about it. Lots of thoughts though.
No more housework than usual done but I have begun putting my quilt together. : ) Spent a couple of hours trying to nut out if/what patterns I was going to use and how to do them but it gave me a headache so I decided to go with the original idea of random stars. Well, random-ish, there's still thought being put into the colour order. Some pics soon if I can organise it.

I'm an idiot, I managed to get sunburnt yesterday at the school fete, though in reality I was only in the sun for <thinks> less than in hour total? The rest of the time I was in the shade, or inside. The cubs had fun though, there was a model steam-train ride (8 times) and go-karts (3 times - thank heavens for the unlimited ride option on the tickets) and some really sweet cars! Mmmm... Datsun 240Z... '74 Datsun coupe... Mmm.... Sure there was a Lotus and an beautiful old Jag but the Datsuns are more likely for me. And they're such a gorgeous shape! And only 2 seats! Definitely be Mum's car.. no passengers... Hmm... I wonder how they'd handle on a roadtrip?

Catching up on blogs/comics/fics/mail - another update soon, I guess. : )


Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Annoyed. Computer problems - I need to reinstall windows <grumble>. The keyboards on public access terminals are just wrong.
Anyway, I've still got the other computer to work on so I can still write, thank all the gods. With luck there'll be lots of stuff finished by the time I get back online properly.

Saturday, November 29, 2003

<deep breath> Right, that's the songfic finished. What shall I do next? (She says carefully avoiding looking at 'Dancing') No, I'll get back to that next week, promise, see if I can get something else finished over the weekend.

Joules has finished her Dystopia PWP (mmrowrr!) and started on the
next instalment of 'l/L. : )

The cubs and I are going to their cousins' birthday party today. Should be fun even though it's very hot and we'll probly be stiff from the sheer amount of sunscreen we'll be slathered in. <g>

Woohoo! All being well I'll be nipping over to Adelaide (by train, hee!) for a few days during the summer holidays. Looking forward to it - always fun spending time with Alarice and Pete.

Friday, November 28, 2003

Feeling kind of manic... Maybe it's the chocolate I just ate?

Greenpeace has released the 2nd of their 'True Food guide', which is a list of food companies that do - and more importantly - don't use genetically modified produce. You can get a copy of the guide here.
I feel very strongly about such things, it's bad enough we're cheerfully poisoning our air, water and land but to tamper with the food this way as well? <growling> The arrogance of the human race is beyond belief, thinking we can change things around willy-nilly to 'make things easier' (or make more money) and not bother about the consequences...? You can not tweak one string of the web we're part of without it affecting the rest of it. Just because the initial experiments in gene modification haven't exploded in anyones faces doesn't mean it's safe...

<settling ruffled feathers> moving right along...

I suspect my cat is an idiot.
When she brings her catches inside and I rescue them, even if she sees me putting the container down over the hapless creature it suddenly disappears and she has to go looking for it!

Had a very interesting dream this morning. In it I had a dress belonging to Okapiprincess' son (no, I don't know why). It was a very lovely dress and I thought I should return it to him. Trouble was he and his father were out on a boat somewhere with some other people. I had to radio the boat to let them know I had the dress but the line/connection (whatever radios have) was bad and Mr W (Okapi's partner) just couldn't understand what I was saying...
In the second part, after Okapi and I had travelled to meet the boat, someone I know (but can't remember now) pulled out a beautiful gem they'd 'borrowed' from the British royal family. It was spherical and held somehow between flattened rings of silver. It was like a maginifying glass but the clarity was such that when I looked through it I could just make out the Eiffel Tower - not bad considering I was in Australia at the time...
<whispering> Joules has written a short PWP - the Dikdikfic - that she's a bit embarrased about. I don't know why she's embarrased, I think it's as phwoaar! as any of her other delicious lemons. Maybe because it's based on characters from a cartoon that has a lot of fart jokes? <bg>

Thursday, November 27, 2003

I obviously had a brain spasm the other day - I've found unpaid household bills and the cubs' booklists in the recycling.

<rolls eyes> All this Dikdik talk has inadvertantly spawned another ficlet, which might possibly be part of something larger.
I really should finish 'Dancing' first though - I'll add the new one to the list.

Ah yes, remembered something else I was going to say about Thomas et al in the last post.
Why would Sir Topham Hat order an engine to go and pick up a load of garden gnomes from an abandoned quarry, in the middle of the night? Eh? Is this some sort of dodgy deal our Honorable Fat Controller's got involved in? Wouldn't the local constabulary think it a bit suss if a shipment of garden gnomes goes astray then suddenly Lower Tidmouth station is festooned with cheery little red-cheeked figurines?
Honestly, the Island of Sodor is a hot-bed of crinimal activity!
(No, I'm not writing any of it : )


Well that was a particularly uninspiring cup of tea.
Got a free sample teabag of 'everyday tea with a little extra' - in this case ginseng and peppermint. Hn. It was a Tetley's product for a start and their tea is frankly awful, the additions didn't help. No thanks, I'll stick to my lovely, fragrant Earth's Harvest organic earl grey and ceylon.

Splitlipboy - as Okapi has dubbed my poor cub - is home today. He slept for 12 hours solid last night and wasn't feeling very bright this morning. His lip was really sore as well so I said he could stay home from school. (Though he had to come into the library with me this morning for a little while, which was fine he sat and read for a couple of hours without a murmur.) He's terribly embarrased too, poor thing, cos everyone wants to see the stitches. <g>

As a writer I have to say that the storylines in Thomas the Tank Engine suck. Illogical, inconsitent and defying even my healthy suspension of disbelief. It's astonishing how many tales there are of someone being told off for something they didn't do or that couldn't possibly be their fault but they meekly accept the drubbing! Aaaaarrrgh! <frothing> The injustice of the Fat Controller's Victorian method of governing makes me so cross! >: I

(nicked from the Meeces' Hole:)
Netted in the pond

She read that comment as "I dont want a calendar of erotic chickens, do I?"

LOL! So did I!

Tch, you lot... one-track minds... : )

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

<rolling around laughing>
Thank you, onna! That gif's so funny! I like what comes out of your brain when you're tired... <bg> (About the gif though - there's a bit of language in it. If you're bothered by such things don't look too closely... : ) But I still love it, so there!)
Ouch, Talon, that toe of yours looks sore!

I got a call from the school today, one of my cubs had fallen over and split his lip open. I had to take him to the doctor. Poor baby, 2 stitches - but he was very brave.
I wasn't though, I displayed an intense interest in a poster on the wall while he was being stitched. It wasn't so much the sight of the wound that bothered me but the sound the needle made when it punched through his skin. <shudder>
All being well the stitches will come out on monday. Heh, better make sure I write that appointment down somewhere cos I will forget.

After going to the doctors, my cub and I popped into an op-shop and had a browse. I found a pretty green sarong for $2 and a chicken thing. I thought it was a salt shaker at first but there were no little holes, just one big one on it's tail. I concluded it must be some sort of toothpick holder... (And I'm going to keep an eye on that chicken calendar - if it comes down in price then I might get it. Maybe. Unless I come to my senses in the meantime.)

I'm really not in a 'Dancing' kind of mood - looks like it's more Dystopia then. : )

Gah! Why are lemons so hard to write?
Anyway, my Dystopia PWP is finished and will be posted soon. It's sheer fluff, I have to say, written purely for my own stim entertainment. <g>
Joules has finished her Ulysses 31 ficlet (very different, left me thinking - I'm sure that's a good thing : ). That's posted now in the League of Lesser-known Bishies at The Zone - and she's started her own, wriggle-worthy (I'm quoting : ) Dystopia PWP.
I love the way Joules can effortlessly pick up my characters and translate them to her own work. I sometimes feel a little clumsy in comparison, I admit, but then, looking at it all objectively, Joules and I have very different writing styles. Not so dissimilar we can't mesh easily, but still noticeably mine and hers...

<blinks> Okapiprincess has just told me it's been twelve years (and 2 days) since Freddy Mercury died!
Where does the time go?

(I don't want a calendar of exotic chickens, do I? Be better to stick to the Sports Illustrated, right?)

It was the cubs' father's birthday yesterday. We took him out for dinner the night before, and the cubs made him birthday cards to go with the I, Claudius DVD's I got him. (And for the record, I got those because I know he wanted them, not cos I wanted them!)
I think I'd like to go to a restaurant again for my birthday next year. I like restaurants, not much of a 'party' person...

I need to get a children's dictionary for the cubs. There's been quite a lot of 'look this word up in the dictionary' questions on homework recently and my 1975 Oxford Conscise is pretty hopeless when it comes to child-friendly explanations. Oh dear, <hand to forehead> this means I'll have to go looking in bookshops! Such a trial...

Monday, November 24, 2003

The toe-ring is lovely soulsis, glittering away greenly down there. It's not uncomfortable or anything, I've been wearing it all day and hardly noticed it.
And I forgot to mention the purple xmas-tree decorations you gave me yesterday as well! Good choice, I seem to be collecting purple ornaments this year...

Hee, Nijii (the rainbow bishie) is starring in a PWP with 'ju and 'kami. Which is cool but sometimes I think I should be getting on with finishing things I've already started rather than diving into new.
Eh, what the heck, I need variety or I get bored. : )

I don't normally pay any attention to sport but in this case:
Congratulations England, on the rugby, and well done Wallabies, it was a good fight and honourably lost.
What's especially good about all this is that Australia isn't being sledged by their own for losing, something that unfortunately happens far too often, but I guess we at least beat New Zealand so losing to England is forgivable. <g>

Plans for this week? Finish that sodding 'Dancing' chapter; finish the PWP and the songfic.
There, that oughta keep me occupied.

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Tired. Patchy night's sleep and having to get up week-day early to pick the cubs up from their sleep-over.
They had fun, I think, going by the details I managed to winkle out of them. I missed my babies though, kept finding myself listening out for them and creeping quietly past their room so I didnt wake them. Even went to check on them before I went to bed as I usually do. <g> What am I going to be like if/when they spend time at their father's? I spose you get used to the silence. : )

Soulsis and her chicks came round for a visit today. It was good, the children more or less left us alone while we hauled weeds and flung snails. Soulsis and I managed to clear a big section of a chronically overgrown garden bed before play ceased due to rain. <g> I always find it easier to do thankless jobs when I've got congenial, helpful company - thanks, precious! (Oh, and thank you for the toe-ring, the crystal rat, the chocolate and the very glamorous purple plastic bead bag. : )

Ooh! Joules has started her next AC - the thot plickens - and the bishie boy from the program I watched last night now has a name (thanks, Joules!) and a place in the Dystopia universe. Heh, doncha love inspiration?

Friday, November 21, 2003

It's quiet... too quiet... the sort of quiet that has me thinking that maybe I should see what the cubs are up to...
But of course, they're not here, they're at the school sleep-over.
I'm not fretting - wandering aimlessly from room to room is not fretting...

Burke's Backyard - one of our plethora of gardening and lifestyle shows - tonight had a special on Japan. Cheerfully disregarded most of it but smiled all the way through the segment on koi carp. Some beautiful fishies! Big beautiful fishies! : ) I'd love to keep koi but I'd want someone else to look after them - maybe the same person who can cook and give good foot massages? <g>
In another section of the show they had a brief look at 'non-conformist' Japanese, including a glimpse of a beautiful boy with rainbow hair, wearing a short blue cheong-san and black floral-patterned tights. Couldn't see what he had on his feet but from his gait I suspect it was boots...

Inching my way towards finishing this last but one chapter of 'Dancing'.
I will have the first draft finished by the end of the year.
I love the way my cat follows me from room to room. The cubs do it too but KittenKong's nowhere near as demanding. : )

I'm all inspired to try some 'paper art' stuff - to whit, making collage pictures out of paper. <g> Saw a lovely, very simple and effective picture yesterday that got me thinking about some ideas I'd like to try. (And if I start to do this - hee - I'll have to begin collecting interesting bits of paper!) Ideally I'd like to make my own paper, that'd be a great way to get a range of different colours/textures. Gosh, what could I attempt as my first project? Something with scales, perhaps...?

Joules is back writing more First Light! Which is great cos I've been missing my little previews - I want to know what's going to happen next!

Ack! It's only four weeks 'til the end of term! <mild panic>
It's also the time of year where I try to decide if I can make the cubs' school uniforms last through to the end of the year or if I need to get some more. Definitely need to restock over the holidays but I think we can get through these next few weeks with what we've got, especially if I can find another couple of pairs of shorts...

Bother! I want to talk about xmas presents but I can't cos some of the recipients read this. <bg> Oh well, I'm a pisces, it's not like I can't keep a secret.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Mmmm.... asparagus is in season again. I love asparagus, love its pretty green spears, love the way the colour intensifies when it's cooked juuuuust right. Absolutely delicious.

<whinge> Was hot yesterday and muggy today... Don't like hot and muggy... But, we had a cracking thunderstorm last night, wonderful thunder and lightning, I'm surprised the cubs didn't wake up.

I did a word count for 'Dancing' and was pleasantly surprised to find it's coming up to 38,000! There's another 10,000 words have snuck in there without me noticing. : )

Watched one of the foodporn programs last night (cooking shows) and thought how nice it'd be to have a partner who can cook, and who enjoys cooking... and if they're good with footmassages too that'd be points in their favour...

We got the cubs' booklist for next year. Ouch!
The school will be getting a proper sports teacher next year as well, and the cost for that (not much, admittedly, but when you have 2 children...) was included. The sports teacher will be taking the classes for only an hour or so each a week but this is on top of the normal PE activities. I think it's a great idea (even though I understand how much the cubs detest sport - I mean, I did too) and any opportunity for them to get structured exercise is a good one.

We got the next 2 issues of Horrible Histories in the post today. I told the cubs and they weren't that impressed. Tch, didn't take long for that interest to die down in the face of the obsessive train onslaught.
Eh, 's ok, I like the magazine, I'll keep collecting it, and knowing the cubs their interest will swing sporadically back that way soon enough.
With this month's issues we got our 'free gift for subscribing' which was a set of Egyptian hieroglyph stamps. Very cool, the cubs not surprisingly, used them to spell out the names of their favourite engines...

Picked up the first of my new tidja midja nidga's today from lay-by. I do like Donatello but I'm aiming to get a Leonardo next. : )

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

<does a little dance> Finished the stars! Only a few days past the original start date a year ago. : ) It's not going to take long to baste the paper into the hexagons then I'll have nothing to distract me from finally having to make the decision about how it's going to go together.
No help for it, going to have to clear some space and try laying out different patterns to see what works.

Thank you for the gift certificate, soulsis, I got the cubs another Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. They're dead chuffed, naturally. : )
They had their meningicocal innoculations today, poor things, I thought they deserved a treat.

Wow! Joules has just shown me a scan of some embroidery she did a couple of years ago when she was at school! It's very cool, I'm dead impressed. There's a pic of it on her blog.


Monday, November 17, 2003

The cubs' father took the cubs and I to Smorgy's for dinner tonight.
It's far more satisfying to be half-full with good food than to be chockers with
mediocre...

I went to visit Okapi today. : ) We 'show and tell'ed our latest treasures and swapped stories of really dumb amounts of money we have/we almost spent on our obsessions. <g>
She also gave me the snowdome she found for me while in Perth - it's lovely, and sitting proudly now amongst its peers.

Heh, I was told this morning that because the school will be doing testing all this week I won't be needed as a classroom helper.
Yay! That's the last of my 'volunteer' days for the term, thank all the gods. I'm going to be strong and not put my name down for this next year - I'm more than happy to spend a few hours a week in the library but the classroom work is no fun at all.

Hee! Soulsis and her chicks will be coming down for a visit on the weekend. The cubs are looking forward to that.

And Joules is tearing along with her next AC chapter! It's a great chapter too, I'm eagerly waiting for the snippets she's giving me. <g>

You know that song It ain't necessarily so? Well I was humming it this evening (the Jimmy Sommerville version) and at the bit about Jonah in the whale ( '... he made a home in that fish's abdomen...') a new, partial line slipped into my mind:

'...he [somethingsomething] Baron Harkonnen...'


I'm sure there's a filk in there somewhere...
Heh, I've finally started the Dystopia songfic I mentioned. It's interesting, I think, how it came together. After listening to the song umpteen times to get the 'feel' of it I was left with a very strong impression of a (new) character and their state of mind. I wondered how they'd got to that point in their lives. There were clues in the lyrics and after listening, and pondering, gradually the story wove itself into being...
Shouldn't be a terribly long piece though I'll be curious to see if I can effectively convey the way the song made me feel.

Sunday, November 16, 2003

You know, I'm beginning to get the teensiest bit annoyed with the way the cubs' father can just waltz out of the house to have fun whenever he wants. Nice for some - he doesn't have to worry about finding a babysitter. >: (
(Don't mind me, it's been a tiring weekend.)

The cubs - prompted by me - finished their projects today and there was much rejoicing. Not too bad, I guess, we spent 3 hours in total on the assignments and the cubs actually did quite a lot of work.

I cleaned my room this afternoon. Kind of. Managed to clear out the rubbish and make a small space in the middle of the room. Not a big enough space to do anything much with other than stand in and smirk triumphantly at clearing some space. <sigh> The problem is I have waaaay too much stuff in there and nowhere to put it all (you may have heard this whinge before). There is however, the hall cupboard which is filled to eye-ball height with stuff that should go to an op-shop. I could empty that then at least I'd have somewhere to put the teetering tower of material I'm amassing - which would clear the end of my bed, then just possibly I could think about getting a proper bed? The mattress-on-the-floor scenario is getting very old... (and there'd be storage space under the bed!) <g>

(nicked from Onna's blog:)

.... no comment...

solitary
Your soul is bound to the Solitary Rose: The
Alone.

"When I wake up alone, the shades are still
drawn on the cold window pane so they cast
their lines on my bed and lines on my
face."


The Solitary Rose is associated with loneliness,
melancholy, and patience. It is governed by
the goddess Merope and its sign is The Sword,
or Unrequited Love.

As a Solitary Rose, you may be summed up as a
hopeless romantic. You desire love and have so
much love to give, but thing just never seem to
work out the way you want them to. In life,
you can be very optomistic, even when things
are gray and nothing works out to your
expectations.


What Rose Is Your Soul Bound To?
brought to you by Quizilla

I've been contemplating what colours I'd paint the walls in my house (if I owned my own home, that is, and didn't have to worry about fascist agent/owners freaking out if anything's changed - even if it's an improvement.) I really like the idea of a bright, eggyolk yellow for the entrance/hall way, something bright and cheery to walk into. Maybe a softer yellow for the kitchen? I think I'd stick with off-whites for the bathroom, but possibly something brighter (aqua?) for the toilet. Hmm.. though aqua would work in the bathroom too... Lounge-room? I'm not sure - it would depend on the furniture, I guess, but there's a creamy pale orange I've seen that I like. For my bedroom I thought something like a strawberry mousse colour but I know I'd get sick of that pretty quickly. Avocado? Pale olive/gum leaf? That'd be nice and wouldn't compete with my prettyshinys.
<sigh> I think I'm nesting again.

Yesterday was fraught - not only was it really hot (39 degrees! In November! Ack!) but I had to make the cubs sit down and work on a school project. My own fault, we've had 4 weeks to do it but instead of sensibly finishing it little by little I let it slide... I should point out that, unfortunately, I can't leave the cubs to do things like this on their own, it just doesn't happen, they have to be supervised. It's frustrating, especially when there's loads of other things that need my attention, but there's not a lot I can do about it.
So anyway, I figured I could maybe push the cubs for half an hour then let them have a break. Nope, had to push for half an hour before they got started. The morning session was bad, had a headache by the end of it. I had to try and field questions from 2 directions, (both cubs talking/shouting over the other unless I exercised rigid control) and try to keep them both on track and focused. My brain felt like mush by lunchtime. The afternoon session wasn't too bad because we were doing the more fun things - drawing, cutting and pasting - but it still felt like an uphill slog.

<bg> Joules has started the next AC (so good she's feeling well enough to write again!). As for me? Will do some more Dancing this week, that's a priority now, but for the rest? I have no idea. I think I'm fighting against the end-of-year lethargy. But I better make the most of these last weeks of term, going to have precious little time to myself once the summer holidays start...

Saturday, November 15, 2003

Waaah! <sniffle> Vengeance pt 3 is almost finished... (Joules mentioned in passing she might go for the angst crown, to complement her Queen of Casual Torture title. She's got my vote! : )

It was hot today. Not damn hot, but hot enough - our first taste of summer and I wanted to spit it back out. Got some more gardening done after dinner, and for a wonder the cubs were actually helpful. True, I had to tailor the help required to the game they were playing but they did do a good job all told. <g> I'm slowly clearing the ridiculously overgrown garden beds and using some of the metre2 lawn clippings as a weed suppressing mat. I'll whack some more aesthetically pleasing mulch on top of that when I can afford it.
Poop, it's going to be hot again tomorrow. Heh a good excuse for not leaving the house...

Friday, November 14, 2003

Oh good, I'm safe for the moment then - if she's not got the energy for Zabon then she won't have the energy to ... chastise me. : )
..... uh oh.
Better start looking for a hiding place... or someone to hide behind. <eg> I wonder if I threw Zarbon in her path it'd distract her long enough for me to get away?
Yay! Joules is feeling better enough now to start writing again! (Heh, she's still quite ill but she wasn't kidding when she says she 'lives to write'.) Vengeance pt 3 is being written right now! <happy squeak>
Though you're not going to push it, are you sinam? <stern look> It would be bad if you made yourself worse by not resting when you need to...


204 stars completed but I've voluntarily set the count back by 10 cos I've found a beautiful dark-pink pansy pattern I have to use. So I'm substituting the new material for an earlier batch of pink I'm less enthusiastic about. : )

KittenKong had a traumatic experience today.
This morning, while I was rushing about getting the cubs ready for school, I suddenly realised I wasn't tripping over the cat. Thinking the worse – as is my wont when one of my feline companions goes missing – I was on the point of venturing outside to see if I could find her mangled remains when I remembered I'd gone out to the garage yesterday afternoon. Given madame thunderpaws' habit of making a beeline for any open door (how many times has she been shut in a cupboard?) I checked there first and sure enough... <g> Bloody cat – stuck in the garage all night... She's been very cuddly today too, poor traumatised creature.

There was a suggestion I read in a magazine recently that instead of buying an entire dinner set, you could pick a colour/theme and buy individual pieces as you come across ones you like. Great idea – not only would you have an interesting collection but you wouldn't have to worry about breaking a piece cos they're all different to begin with!
Anyway, I've been thinking about getting some new crockery for a while and in one of the local homewares shops I saw some very nice green dinnerware. Green was a colour I was considering for my new crockery so I put a few pieces on lay-by. : ) Those - and a sugar themometer so I can have a go at making some turkish delight sometime. (Thanks for the recipe, Soulsis!)

I love browsing around the homewares shops even though I live in fear of knocking something over. Little miss clumsy (me) – who's proprioreception hasn't changed from the time when she was younger, fitter and considerably thinner – makes sure she moves slowly and deliberately in places where it's expensive to break things.
Needless to say I don't take the cubs into shops like that if I can at all help it. : )

One of the things I sporadically collect is paté knives. On a whim I decided to paw through my collection and count them all.
I have 15, which isn't that very many considering how long I've been collecting them and how many of the damn things there are around. But I only buy the knives I really like, not all that I clap eyes on so that's ok. : )
Like to know what I've got? (Let's see if I list them without having to go and check...)
Lamb, 2 chickens, trout, lobster, cockatoo, cheese wedge, aubergine, 2 grapes, xmas tree, striped candy-cane, paper lanterns, 2 flamingos. Neat, eh? <g>
I still haven't worked out a way to display them though - any suggestions?

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Okies - Joules, via Ken, has asked me to let everyone know she's got the flu and (this is a quote from Ken) '... may not be able to interface with the Internet on her usual, almost 24/7 basis.'
Ack! All I can say is it must be dire if she can't drag herself over to the computer like she normally does when she's ill. <disapproving frown> (And to clarify: I'm disapproving of Joules pushing herself like that when she needs to rest, not disapproving cos she's not killing herself to stay online. <blink> Did that make sense?)
So anyway, don't expect anything much from The Zone for the moment, but normal (hah! Normal?) service will be resumed as soon as possible.
Sending happy vibes to the Taylor household, and I hope you're all feeling better soon. <hugs>

Oh no! I've just read on K. Sandra Fuhr's lj that Boy Meets Boy is finishing sometime in January! : ( Dammit.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Ouchouchouchouch.
It's costing a lot of money to get the lawns hacked back to something less than wilderness. My own fault, I shouldn't have let it go so long (and no, even with my own lawn-mower I wouldn't have been able to tackle it.) Might not have been so bad if it was just grass but 2/3rd of the back yard was a mat of baby wattle trees and a runner-type plant with a very tough, fibrous stem. Took 4 hours to do and poor Ursie had to stop every 5 minutes to not only clear the catcher, but the blades as well. She's earnt her money today.
But anyway, I've put a big note on the calendar for a month's time to get the lawn's seen to - I literally cannot afford to let it get so bad again. (Heh, and a big garden is probably not something I'll be looking for in my next house! : )

Our school has several traditions that I know of, one of which is the term 4 dinner/sleepover. This is for the preps through to grade 3 and usually happens about the time the grades 4-6 are away on camp. Actually, it's only the grade 2 & 3 that sleepover, the preps and 1's come to the school for dinner and games. But my cubs are in grade 2 this year so it'll be their first school sleepover.
Waah! My babies are growing up!
They're quite excited, which is great but I won't hold my breath about their wanting to stay the whole night. I'll have to make sure their father is home too so the car's available to pick them up if they decide it's all a bit much. (But then, if they can't be picked up then they can't come home. Hn.) It won't be the first time they've slept away from their father and I but the last occasion was a long, long while ago.
Eh, you never know, they might surprise me and be perfectly happy away from home for a night...

Monday, November 10, 2003

I've never been able to get the hang of scoring for bowling... a high score is good, right?
<bg> This is fun!

The above link was sent to me by Peter, ta!
So was this...
IRB Rugby World Cup 2003
Following complaints made to the IRB about the All Blacks being allowed to motivate themselves by performing the "Haka" before their games, other nations were asked to suggest pre-match rituals of their own.

The IRB World Cup Organising Committee agreed to the following pre-match displays:

ENGLAND will chat about the weather, wave hankies in the air and attach bells to their ankles before moaning about how they invented the game and gave it to the world, and how it's not fair that everyone still thinks that New Zealand are the best team in the world.

SCOTLAND will chant "You lookin' at me jimmy?" before smashing an Iron Bru bottle over their opponents heads.

IRELAND will split into two, with the Southern half performing a Riverdance, while the Northerners march the Traditional route from their dressing room to the pitch, via their opponents dressing room.

ARGENTINA will unexpectedly invade a small portion of opposition territory, claim it as their own "Las In-Goals-Areas" and then be forcibly removed by the match stewards.

SOUTH AFRICA two members of the team will claim to be more important than the other 13, whom they will imprison between the posts whilst they claim the rest of the pitch for themselves.

USA will not attend until almost full time. In future years they will amend the records to show that they were in fact the most important team in the tournament and Hollywood will make a film called "Saving No.8 Lyle"

Tee hee hee... : )

Hee, 190 stars...

Today, for the first time in several days, I didn't need to have a nap, cough medicine, paracetamol or aspirin. A good day. : )

During daylight savings I don't so much become a creature of the night as a creature of the late afternoon. It was still light enough after the cubs had been fed to head outside and do some gardening, so that's what I did. Cleared a small patch in one of the front beds and transplanted some of the beautiful echevaria that was growing abundantly down the side of the rocks into the bare patches of earth. Really need to get some more mulch though, and repot the sage plant OkapiPrincess gave me years ago - and do some pruning. (<sigh> That's just the front garden, someone's coming round tomorrow to slash out a lawn from the waist-high jungle around the back!)
Thankfully it looks as though the tree-fern has recovered from my neglect of it last summer, it's shooting out new fronds all over the place, (I promise I'll pay more attention to it this summer) and the kangaroo paw Niki gave me when I moved in is currently a mass of gorgeous, hot deep-pink flowers. That's coming with me when I move again - I'm very fond of that plant.
Weeded a little bit of the path as well but I suspect that at least one of the plants I was pulling out from between the bricks is/was a native grass. How do I know this? It came out very easily and the exotic bastard imports don't come out without a fight (or lacerated fingers : ). The cubs were out there with me but no earthly help at all being too freaked out by the thought of bugs. They relaxed a bit when I explained that it was good having lots of insects because it meant our garden ecosystem was healthy - I don't use pesticides or herbicides. Heh, such nature boys my cubs. Not.

And speaking of the cubs...
Operation get-the-cubs-to-try-something-anything-new-on-a-regular-basis went into affect today - to whit, sweet potatoes mashed up with their regular plain potatoes. After some wrinkling of noses (and threats of no dessert if they didn't eat at least half of the pale orange mash) they ate it happily enough, so I'll spring it on them again in about a week. : )

Yesterday I bought a perfect avocado with the intention of having avocado nori for dinner tonight. Made up the vinegared rice, let it cool, then discovered I'd run out of seaweed sheets! Aaargh! Dammit, I was all geared up for rice and avocado wrapped up in green stuff, but being a resourceful creature I remembered I had a butter lettuce I could use instead. (Not hard to remember - the thing was sitting on top of the microwave looming at me like some, squat, round tryffd...) Anyway, my dinner was delicious and I'm now happily chock-full of healthyons...

The cubs got their books today that we ordered from the school's bookclub - the latest Captain Underpants and a Finding Nemo joke book. I've avoided the CU (cos this one is about snot monsters) but it was fun sitting down with the cubs and reading through the joke book. It's basically full of fishy-based puns and some reasonable limericks:
There once was a tang called Dory,
Who had a short-term mem-ory.
When asked why this was
She said, "Oh, because..."
And couldn't remember the story!

It was interesting trying to explain to the cubs the jokes they didn't get. Funnily enough, this one they got straight away:
Why is the sand wet?
Because the sea-weed.

<sigh> Gales of laughter at that one. Tch, boys... : )

Bad Lutra! The Saddle Club is not Dystopia!
<eg> Can't remember exactly how the scene went (only caught a few seconds) but...
first teenage horsey-girl: I've managed to get [someone] to agree to [something apparently unlikely]
second teenage horsey-girl: Gosh! How did you manage that!?

.... cue Lutra's sordid reasoning coming up with all sorts of unsavoury activities. I wonder about myself sometimes. : )

Just stumbled across a fascinating word in the dictionary (Oxford Concise - 1975) while I was looking for something else:
desquamate - come off in scales. Hence desquamation, desquamative, (and this made me giggle) desquamatory. Is that last like defamatory, only for fish? Or defaming someone by saying their scales are falling off? <silly grin>

I love dictionaries, so many interesting words...
Woke up this morning to the realisation that cos I'd spent the weekend languishing on my bed of pain (okay, I'm a exaggerating a bit) no washing had been done and the cubs didn't have any clean school uniforms. Oops. Managed to hunt them up a pair each of not too grotty, not too holey trousers but decided enough was enough they really needed new uniforms. So I trotted off to the costumeuniform shop after assembly and picked up 4 pairs of trousers and 2 pairs of shorts, all second hand and in good condition, for the same price as one pair of new trousers. : ) Feeling very pleased with myself now.
(Hn, spose I'd better get on and do some washing then, I don't have any clean clothes either...)

Heh, another Joules-Lutra Dystopia chapter is almost done. Came together quite quickly too though they usually do when the pair of us put our heads together.

Right, catching up: Talon, that's a fab start to the story, where's the rest? <eg>
Onna, I love the way you draw Eiri! (D'oh, and I left him off my list of blonde semes!)
Joules: you know the drill, rest and lots of fluid! <hugs>
Okapiprincess: are you back yet?
Soulsis: I haven't attempted that mammoth list of quizes yet, been feeling quite daunted by it all. : )

Sunday, November 09, 2003

Hm... Fluffy Vash, yes, James, yes - if Jesse can play too. : ) Okio? Don't know her but I'm happy to play on recommendation... <bg>
Mmm... now this is what cough medicine should be like - thick, black and syrupy...

Eeek! <bites nails> Joules has posted Vengeance pt 2... We'll just barricade ourselves in the castle and await the angry mob carrying pitchforks and flames, shall we? <smirk>

(nicked from The Zone - about Legato:)
[grins] Ah, you just need a strong mind - or your own mental powers - to handle him... He is pretty though, isn't he? Lovely golden eyes - and that voice...

Oh well, I'm stuffed then, I'll go find someone... fluffy to play with instead. : )

Eeeep! Joules, Legato is all yours!
Yes, very pretty but I like the illusion of autonomy at least... : )

........... umm.

Bugger, I thought I had more to say than that. Maybe when my brain isn't trying to leak out of my nose...

Yay!! Okapiprincess should be home soon!

Friday, November 07, 2003

Heh, well the cub has decided he doesn't want to go to the wedding after all. Not a problem for me, really, I'm feeling decidedly dodgey. Had an extra 5 hours sleep today and I'm still bone-weary - and craving salt and carbohydrates! Gah, even asked the cubs' father to bring me home some take-away from the Golden Arches of Doom tonight! I must be ill... : )

<bites nails> Joules has started the next 'l/L chapter!

185 stars finished and I've cut out all the hexagons needed. : ) Very pleased...
Now, do I finish putting all the stars together before I baste the paper into the hexagons? Hm, I think so, let's get one job completely finished before starting the next.

(nicked from the Meeces' Hole:)
So... I can summon lightning with superhuman strength, have impenetrable skin and am protected from twisted plans... No evil overlord can take me on <BG>

Ahah! And with those superhero powers you'll need a superhero costume! Now, let's see.. what goes well with green and purple with spangly fringing? (Cos that's my - ActionOtter's - costume, and we can't clash, the villains would laugh...)

Thursday, November 06, 2003

Ow, ow, my throat hurts... I know when I'm genuinely not feeling the best cos I become even clumsier than normal, my patience and tolerance evaporates and my language becomes - um - freer than usual in front of the cubs. : )

One of Rik Mayall's series, Believe Nothing, has just started showing here and it's hysterical. Far, far funnier than anything else I've seen of his, and a lot of it has to do with Michael Maloney's character, the faithful retainer, Albumen. His relationship with his employer is not at all subtle.
<eg> In tonight's episode, Prepare to Meteor maker, Adonis Cnut (Mayall's character), Albumen and the female lead are in a hot-air ballon (don't ask). Cnut orders his man-servant to 'go down' and Albumen immediately drops to his knees in front of his master and says - hoarsely, hopefully - 'Oh sir, does this mean we're friends again?' <rolling around laughing>
Of course, that's not what Cnut means at all though there's a beautiful little pause where we're left in no doubt that that's been the case in the past. The show is peppered with moments like this and I love it, looking forward to next week's ep. : )

Took the cubs clothes shopping after school - what fun! They're going to a wedding on saturday and they've got nothing to wear that isn't made of fleecy or t-shirt material. : ) But what to get them? What's suitable for 8 year old boys to wear to a wedding? (The last wedding I went to was my own, I think, and that was medieval so no help there.) Settled on a pair of reasonable trousers and bright shirt each, that'll do, at least they'll be clean and unchewed!

(And speaking of clothes...) Hee, I've got an old seersucker tablecloth that Soulsis found - it's bright purple and emerald green check (3 inch squares). Do I dare make myself some trousers out of it? I really need some new ones and let's face it, my clothes rarely look 'good' so I may as well go for 'idiosyncratic'!... : )

(And about the monkeys? Don't worry, it was just me parrotting what I'd seen on last night's Life of Mammals episode. <bg> Though as the grazing monkeys are herbivores they're probably very tasty...)

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

[suspicious look] aijin, why this sudden interest in monkeys? Is this some kind of research? Saiyans are a variety of ape, not monkey. As for eating monkeys... [fastidious shudder]... I think I might draw the line there. Too much like cannibalism...

Well I only managed to get a page of 'Dancing' done but more importantly I know where this chapter is heading now (thanks to Joules for letting me bounce ideas : ) and I've been making notes as I go for the second draft.

Yesterday, Niki gave me a Richard Scarry book in german, and today I sat down with the cubs and we had a look at it. I studied german for a couple of years ages ago and it was encouraging that I could puzzle out some of the text from remembered words. Of course, the bright, clear illustrations didn't hurt either. <g> ('OK, the children are playing with marbles so I guess that word underneath the picture means... marbles.)
I think I got my first Scarry book when I was four and I remember spending hours poring over it by myself. Learnt a lot of vocab from that and my Dr Seuss illustrated Dictionary. I've still got them, tucked away in the garage, they're two of my childhood books I haven't passed on to the cubs. : )

Did you know that infants are protected in baboon society so it's not unusual for an adult baboon, who's feeling threatened, to grab a baby because they know they're not going to be attacked while they're holding it. Smart, eh? And there's tribes of baboons that live near the soda lakes in Africa that have learnt in the past few years to catch flamingos. And there's a species of grazing monkey in Africa that lives in huge 'herds' but because they spend so much of their time sitting down, their sexual characteristics (ie: dominance, virility, social standing etc) are displayed on their chest rather than their hindquarters. Oh, and the bigger the social groups monkey species congregate in the bigger their brains tend to be... I think there's something in that for all of us.

(... yes, I'm sure monkeys are delicious - though that would depend to a degree on what they eat... : )
I think I've finally worked out what's been bothering me about the Thomas the Tank Engine movie.
It's like really bad fanfic, where the author has some great (they think) ideas or is attempting an unlikely cross-over, and all the way through they seem to be madly justifying what happens even though the new ideas just do not mesh with the original story!
I can't believe how badly this movie sucks, or how much it still pisses me off after all this time. What was the reasoning behind the 'additions' I wonder? Was it purely an attempt to make the product more palatable for the US? Was it an effort to 'revamp' the program? Whatever the reason, it didn't work and Britt Allcroft should be forced to watch this crap for hours on end for letting it happen...
Just because a show is designed for little kids (and train-mad older kids <rolls eyes>) doesn't mean you can skimp on the quality of storyline. Even if the kids don't pick up how bad it is, spare a thought for the poor adults who have to sit and watch it with their offspring...
The cubs' father approached me this morning while I was ferreting around for school clothes and asked with a smile if I could remember what we were doing this time ten years ago. Oh, I remembered even though the memory had been overlaid with more relevant bits of information. November 5 is our anniversary - we would've been together 15 years in total.
I still find myself wondering if the marriage could've survived if I'd made more of an effort, but honestly, I don't think it would've, not without me continuing to suppress great chunks of myself. If I'd been completely honest with myself beforehand it's unlikely we would've gotten married anyway, but then I wouldn't have had the cubs... Heh, it's not like the time was wasted.
Sometimes I think it'd be nice not to be on my own but - I have a life, I don't need a partner...

The four-day weekend was very slack, ultimately, the only time the boys got out of their pyjama's was on sunday, when we went swimming, and yesterday when we <gasp> left the house. : )
First, we went to Penny and Sarah's for lunch then sat and watched 'Spirited Away'. (Or rather, Penny, Sarah and I watched the DVD while the cubs played in Sarah's room.) Very interesting movie with a fascinating, detailed world-frame. The animation was pretty good too, though there were times the lead character looked way too much like a monkey. : ) I'd like to see it again sometime.
When we got home from that in the late afternoon, Soulsis came and picked the cubs and I up and we went to Niki's place for dinner. I am so glad the bratlings are all of an age to play more or less harmoniously together now - Niki, Soulsis and I were left pretty much in peace! Very nice, and I sewed some more stars together - I've now completed 174. : )

Well I was sposed to get straight back to 'Dancing' but distracted myself with some more Dystopia. Far too easy to do! Heh, but once I get started it'll all tumble together pretty quickly.

Monday, November 03, 2003

So - the cubs and I cleaned up their room today, including sorting out their shelves (but not the soft toys). Took a couple of hours but we got rid of a few bags of stuff and cleared their floor. Of course, now it's covered in train-track and is still a death-trap for the unwary... <g>

(nicked from the Meeces' Hole:)
It's Cup day on Tuesday (yes, one of Melbourne's public holidays is because of a horse race)

Now, I knew this. (At least, not that it was Tuesday, precisely, but that Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday.) Dick Francis set one of his books there and did a bit of B&E while everyone was busy <g>

Yes, that happens quite a lot, so I hear. : )