Well this is annoying - I can't get into my Yahoo, eBay or Blogger accounts. (Joules is posting this for me - thank you, sinam!) Yahoo's telling me my browser isn't accepting the cookie so I'm assuming that's what's happening with the other two sites. Tch. Poked through the internet options on the browser thing and can't see that anything's changed. It happened after I'd downloaded adaware - though not immediately after so I don't know that had anything to do with it.
<grump> I only check Yahoo once a week, or less, and it would probly be a good thing if I can't get into eBay, but not being able to access Blogger is a pain in the bum.


Last night's dream seemed to be a catching up one. Inbetween getting ready for a deep-sea fishing trip I was chatting to people I'd gone to school with, worked with... and been in prison with.
<eyebrow> Oookaay. Maybe I'm reading too much crime fiction?


While I was waiting for the bus this afternoon, instead of filling in the time reading like I normally do, I had a think about the next chapter of SFSG. I wasn't consciously trying to plot, just letting my mind amble on down the path to see what stirred in the undergrowth. Couple of interesting plot-bunnies zipped out in front of me, just little ones... : ) Which is good - I have an idea of where this particular section is going now.


Erk, there's only 4 weeks 'til the end of term! And the cubs' birthdays! Erk!


Heh, well, the cubs' father has gone to see Kingdom of Heaven tonight. Be interesting to hear what he has to say about it, seeing as the Crusades and 11th-14th Century history is a particular interest of his.

Chapter 8 is finally finished. Not completely happy with it but that's what review/rewrites are for, eh?
But - only a third of the way through SFSG I've officially written more than I did of Dancing. <g> Pleased about that.

Okay, so I apparently have a thing for armour. I can pinpoint specifically where that started, too - Excalibur. Explains a lot. Sheesh, no wonder I was drawn to the SCA, and it's not so inexplicable now why the Rohirrim were so attractive. Tch. I might have a closer look at Escaflowne too, the few bits I've seen of that piqued my, um, interest...

Oh.my.gods. It's out there, I found it. Transformer smut. Nooooo! My eyes! It burns...!
Eeuuuww, and it's mostly het too.

I went to see Kingdom of Heaven yesterday afternoon, taking advantage of the cubs' father picking them up from school. It worked well, I'll be doing that again I think, catching an afternoon session of something. : )
The fun thing about going to see M rated movies is the different previews you get. G and PG movies won't show previews of anything else. Mind you, looks like there's some crap destined for our screens. One had me rolling my eyes - Stealth. The premise is a 3 man (person) team of fighter pilots get a fourth member who turns out to be (dun dun dun) a computer. In a completely original plot twist, the 'puter pilot is hit by lighting and becomes sentient. Oh for gods' sake... "Number 4 is alive!"
<groan> It's a pretty safe bet I won't be watching that.

And getting back to KoH - you didn't really expect me not to, did you? - there wasn't enough gratuitous nudity, in my opinion. Only one torso shot of Orli-squee! Tch, come on, let's have some fan-service! <smirk>

Hey wow, my hair is long enough again to need tying back. I need a haircut... Soulsis, can I prevail on you?

Awww, found the poem the S cub wrote for me for mother's day.

Trees are nice,
Hedgehogs are cool,
And Radics are super cool, but
Nothing is as cool as you.
Kacheeks are cute,

Yummy food,
Orange jelly is tasty too, but
U are cool

Mum,
U are cool.
Mum, you are ... cool

(Transcribed precisely, by the way.)
Isn't that sweet, and vaguely incomprehensible? : ) Just like real poetry...

I saw Kingdom of Heaven today!
<fangirly squeal> I loved it, not least because it catered to several of my less PC fantasies (of the 'bring him to my tent/chamber/talan' ilk. Hee.) The standard disclaimer at the end of the credits implied there'd been some liberties taken with the retelling of an actual event, but as 12th century European history isn't my forte I didn't pick up any glaring inaccuracies if there were any. What did impress me all to pieces though was the look of it. Everything looked right, the locations, sets, props, armour, costumes... And, oh, the costumes. Not a skerrick of knitted chain-mail anywhere and no obvious signs of machine sewing - on the principals costumes at least. (Sorry, pet hate. The costume fascist in me will not accept the fantasy if the fantasy doesn't make an effort to look real.) I was coveting the material all over the place, not so much the embroidered silks but the cottons, linens and wool. Gorgeous stuff, the texture was so inviting, I'd be happy never to wear modern-looking cloth again...
There were a couple of bits that made me giggle (Balian, son of Godfrey has the whitest teeth in Christendom!) because I can never completely take visual entertainment seriously but on the whole I had no quibbles with this movie. Alright, perhaps one or two. I'd be iffy about who were made the villains but I'd need to do some research first (it wasn't the Saracens, they were the 'noble enemy') and the 20th century moralising towards the end didn't sit all that comfortably but it wasn't too distracting.
Casting, and acting, was a good standard also. Jeremy Irons overacted just a touch, but hey, you expect that from him, and it was sooo nice to see David Thewlis not playing a slimy villain. Orli was convincing enough and what man would regret begetting such a pretty bastard? : )
So yes, I liked this movie. If you liked Gladiator you'll like this one - same director, same cinematic style, same splattering of gore. <g> I'd give it a squee factor of 7/10 - meaning that I was squeeing quietly to myself for about 70% of the movie. Coincidentally Orli was onscreen for least 70% of the time as well, not that that has any relation, I'm sure.

Tch, it's bogging moth season again. Bloody things are everywhere, so many of them in fact that even KittenKong's lost interest in the chase.
(Though after a little googling... wondering now if the things invading my kitchen are actually Bogong moths. I'm pretty sure they are, even though this might technically be a bit too far South for them. It's not unlikely, I suppose, given the Autumn winds, that each year some get blown off-course and end up further South instead of continuing on to Queensland. Eh, at least the magpies are happy, they love the moths - in a purely culinary way...)

There was a retrospective documentary on Sunday night about Geldof's 80's Bandaid. It was quite fun to watch, seeing how well - or not - some of the 80's UK pop idols had aged. It was fun, also, watching footage from the event and giggling at the <cough> 'fashion'. I think it was Geldof who described Bono as 'Captain Mullet' <snigger>. What was also interesting was that almost all of those interviewed for the program said they hadn't realised just how big this thing was going to be and if they had they'd have made 'more of an effort' to look good on the day. <g>
But now I can't get the damn song out of my head...

Hm, I really should do something about my glasses. Last week one of the arms fell off and I couldn't find the missing screw so I slipped a sewing pin in to hold everything in place. There's a wad of sticky tape at the end of the pin to stop me poking myself in the eye...
Well, I should probly get new glasses anyway, or at least new lenses - these ones are scratched enough now (right on the focal point, too) that the marks register in my vision.

Oooh, I found the cutest thing in an op-shop yesterday. At first glance it looked like a small, round (15cm diameter), 3 tiered bento box decorated with a classic red/black/gold sakura pattern. Turns out it was plastic rather than lacquer and had originally been a chocolate gift-box. : ) I'm guessing it's from the 70's cos that's about the time the 'Japanese style' came into vogue in the West.
I also picked up a copy of John Berendt's book 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.' I knew it had been made into a movie but other than that didn't have much of a clue what it was about. It's faction, reality written as a novel (factfic?). <g> I love google...

And from the same site as the bogong moth - just cos I like cuddlefish...

(Tch, the link still comes up as the one for the bogong moth. Oh well, go to the bottom of that page and click on 'cuttlefish'. Or you could go here and read about human/cuttlefish interaction... : )

It was a family outing to Scienceworks today - the cubs' father came with us. Which was good, cos with the car it was a 35 minute trip rather than 1.5 hours on public transport with a 20 minute walk at the end...
Excellent new exhibition about predators - Eaten Alive - the highlight of which was a 3D virtual dive in a shark-proof cage. That was cool, if a little gruesome. (The 3D seal bled quite realistically..) Lots of other fun and interactive thingies too, including some t'riffic animatronic critters. You could step back a bit from the 6' funnelweb spider cos you knew it wasn't real but the crocodile was life-size and that was disturbing to watch. Looking into that gaping maw and thinking, holy crap, I'd fit in there! <g>
One exhibit was a bit icky - 'guess who killed the deer?'. Big photo of a dead dear and below that a display of 3 different predators claw patterns (and behind a flap with a clearly marked squick warning, a photo of what's left of an animal when that particular predator has finished. Did you know cheetahs don't eat the intestinal tract while lions eat practically everything? Eeuuww.)
The cubs really enjoyed the exhibition, even though this evening one of them snuck out of his room at bedtime saying he couldn't sleep cos of the scary thoughts. Getting him to cuddle up with one of his plushies usually helps him settle but tonight we realised he has no plushies that aren't predators. <g> We reached a compromise - his big shark is still a predator but it's not likely to eat him...
The rest of the day there was lots of fun as well even though the 'Electricity' exhibit gave me headache. It was probly a combination of the static being generated and the dozens of strong magnets used in the displays.
Having a look in the gift-shop a little later and the cubs were a bit disappointed they couldn't have the Albert Einstein action-figure (I kid you not) or the robot-gripper claw but were happy enough with a blob of slime and a bottle of the 'touchable bubbles' bubble making kit. And I was happy cos I got another fishie to add to my collection! Only missing the self-coloured gold wind-up koi now from the collection. : )

Walking back from the supermarket on Saturday the cubs and I stopped to browse the bargain book table outside the newsagent. On sale was the Athens Olympics special edition of B&W Magazine. Lovely, lovely nude photos, I spent several minutes browsing - then the cubs noticed what I was looking at and wanted to look as well. It did occur to me for a split second that perhaps I shouldn't be letting my children see these pictures then I dismissed the thought. They were just images of nude people, they weren't sexualised in any particular way and I honestly couldn't see the problem. Besides, I'd rather the cubs got their first look at naked bods from something like this than the less-than-subtle porn mags.

Annoyed though, discovered the bakery next to the newsagents has changed hands in the past few days. That's where I've bought my coffee (organically produced in E.Timor by a fair-trade group - absolutely delicious) for the past year. I'll be miffed if I can't get hold of it easily.

Right, actually making headway with chapter 8 and I've regained my confidence that I can write something that's not crap. Heh.

I saw Return of the Sith today.
Hm.
It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but my suspension of disbelief will only stretch so far before it snaps back and smacks me in the head.
First let me say there were parts that I loved. Lucas has always been good at realisation of vistas; the space scenes, the cityscapes, the landscapes, all the 'big picture' stuff was marvelous and I lost myself in those bits. I really liked the Wookies homeworld and Corisant all the way through this trilogy has lived for me. There were other things, too, that impressed me - the glimpses of the political intrigues that were the heart of the problems and the rather neat way all the threads were tied up as the stage was set for 'A New Hope' but...

[Potential Spoilers - though I don't think I'm giving too much away.]

- General Grievous was a glaringly obvious plot-device ('we have the technology...')

- the moment of schlock horror near the end had me laughing out loud even though I suspect it was meant to be one of the more emotionally charged parts of the action.

- the 'extras' looked like nothing more than cosplayers at a convention. You know how fangeeks can be so terribly serious yet self-conscious in their roles? Yes, well.

- she was so not carrying close-to-term twins!

... but worst of all was the awful feeling I was witnessing some very clumsy fanfic. Great chunks seemed to be missing from the narrative and tenuous threads of plot were tied together in such a way it left me with the impression the author couldn't think of a better way to fit it all the disparate, though necessary, bits together.

But then again, much as those gaffes pained me they're not the things I'll be remembering. The movie was truly heart-wrenching in places, the tragedy of it was believable. I could see where the Ben Kenobi and Yoda of the original series were formed and their existence there is all the more poignant knowing the backstories.
I don't know why, can't pinpoint the reason, but I felt Yoda was the most real character of them all in RotS. I was empathising freely with the little green CGI dude, and rarely if at all with the majority of the flesh and blood cast (and not at all with that stupid gold 'droid. Gods, he's always annoyed me!)
Eyecandy McDrooly does a very convincing Alec Guinness though and the feathered lizard was soooo cute! I'll definitely be looking out for the action figure of that. : )
Oh, and the tapeworm ballet will keep me amused for days, I'm sure...

<licks lips> I want some steak, now, a slab of meat that bleeds when you stick your knife in.
It's been days since I've had red meat - wonder if that's got anything to do with this craving. That, or the fact that I've eaten nothing but vegetables for the past couple of days.
Mind you, tonight's dinner (cauliflower and carrot au gratin) was sehr yummy despite the garlicky white sauce being a little bit lumpy. (Note to self: remove sautéd garlic from the saucepan before making the sauce, then mix it back in later...)
<sigh> I still want red meat, though, and sausages just won't do it for me. Oh well, I'll treat myself later this week, I have organic beetroot to look forward too first! (Ooh, I can have that tomorrow night with the grilled chicken! Mmmm...)

Beetroot... now there's something I can put on my list of things I'd like to grow. : )

(Postscript: Blogger's spell-checker didn't recognise gratin and threw up greaten as a suggestion?
Pardon? Why on earth does that daft bit of software have an archaic (though very interesting) word like that in its database when it doesn't have more or less everyday words like, oh I don't know... blog? Tch.)

Watching the Holy Rodent Channel the other day and one of the regular presenters was talking to some pretty blond about his music or something. She was commenting on the debut of his new album and she burbled (and I quote) "...the reaction was magnanimous!"
<head->desk> The hell is she talking about?!
Unless of course the music wasn't really that good and the 'fans' were just being generous...
Honestly, people, if you're going to use a big word at least know what it means first.

Okay, looks like I might be able to get back to SFSG - I've dealt with the bit that had me shuddering to a halt, doubting my ability to turn out anything other than clichéd dross. (No, I'm not being overly harsh, it was so... pat it made me cringe. I knew I could do better than that.)

I had another 'getting ready for a cruise' dream last night, only this time the cubs' father (and housemate, I think) were part of the entourage which made the preparations even less fun. Not that any of the cruises in these dreams have been the happy fun-time holiday sort anyway, they've all had a feeling of a destination.
A recurring dream (or theme) means something, doesn't it? What am I trying to tell myself?
Mind you the dream I had night before last was jolly interesting. Set in Victoria England, which was scary enough <shudder> but it also woke me up. (Can't remember the last time a dream woke me - other than the ghost one I had when I was pregnant, but anyway...) In the early part of the dream there was a man, a shape-changing fox-demon who was killed. Didn't seem to have any relevance to the rest of the dream until later I found out he was the father of a young woman who'd just run away with her beau. How did I know this? The pair were on the river, making their escape; she was breathless and excited, the oar dipped into the water and (dun dun DUN) pulled up the corpse of a large fox! Eeeuuwww! I woke up at that point because the critter's eyes were open, and alive! And the thought running through my head at that point was that the girl's actions didn't have daddy's approval.
Exciting, eh?
I have very interesting dreams sometimes. Remind me to mention the one where the billionaire Asian man asked me to marry him...

Hm. The berry sake drink isn't as nice as the lychee one, not as sweet. Still yummy, especially straight out of the freezer. : )

<tremulous sigh> They grow up so fast...
The cubs tonight asked for fruit, without prompting, and last night there was kissing in the movie we were watching and they didn't go "eeuuwww...!". : )

... and speaking of 'waking up Hicks', housemate was watching Aliens when the cubs, their father and I got home this evening from the Japan Festival in Box Hill.
Not a bad day, far too many people for comfort but there were plenty of good things to drool over. The cubs were thrilled to see their father up on stage with his naginata group and it was definitely worth staying for the taiko drumming which concluded the day's program. : )
Picked up a cute wee (4") gashaphon (I think) toy of a perky red-head in a bodysuit. No idea who she was until I got home and googled her. <g> Arisa Glennorth from Stellvia of the Universe.
The cubs got a cheapie robot action figure each as well as having fun making a couple of little origami things. (One of the cubs was terribly disappointed cos he couldn't find any Transformers toys this year. There were some last year but I couldn't afford them. The robot toys made up for that, though.)
Manifest is on again in September (hee! Might get there this year) and I also discovered there's an Australian manga group - OzTaku. They had copies of their publication for sale but not surprisingly I couldn't afford them. Might try tracking them down in a couple of weeks, they looked very interesting and I think it'd be good to get behind locally produced manga.
Lots of food! I had some inari there for lunch and got a couple of packs of california rolls (priced 2 for 1 at the end of the day) to take home for dinner. (And the cubs' father had got me a sushi pack as well. Mmm... spoilt!) The cubs shared their fairy floss with me and we scoffed some delicious chocolate cake before the drumming started. I treated myself as well to a couple of bottles of Tsunami, a 'sparkling sake cocktail'. Very yummy. (Drank the lychee and Muscat flavour with my sushi, and I'll open the Muscat and berry flavour once the cubs are in bed...)

Oh, in other news, the cubs' father has finally got himself another car. He's a happy puppy again.

Uh oh. I've made a clean spot in the kitchen...

.......

(Come hither, little thoughts, I know you're there somewhere... Ah yes, there you are...)

Soundcard's still non-functional but to be honest I haven't made that much effort to fix it. More irritating though is that the cd-burner needs to be reinstalled and while I've got the drivers I stupidly didn't make a note of the password code thing to activate it. Won't be making that mistake again.
But, I'm able to get online, and write and that's the most important thing. : )

Speaking of writing, SFSG is on hiatus for a wee while. It'd ground to a halt after 6-ish weeks of intense (for me) work and I decided I needed a break. The little short I'm working on at the moment is lots of fun though, and sufficiently different from the novel to be refreshing.
I've also decided that for the most part I won't be posting my original fiction online. What I'll do instead is perhaps post a teaser here and if anyone's interested in reading something they can email me.

Still on the subject of writing found this quote on Oddverse (used without permission.)

There are often claims that Science Fiction and it's bastard daughter Fantasy are in some way easy escapist nonsense. The argument runs along the lines of: These worlds are fictional, rather than researched. So they're made up. So the writer, in choosing to set their fiction there, has done something easy, and therefore to be derided.

This is, of course, nonsense.

It's one thing to write a novel set on the world of the bouncing pigs. It's another thing to set a novel on the world of the bouncing pigs, but make the world entirely plausible, make the bouncing feel entirely natural, make the characters the sort of living breathing characters that the reader can relate to, and tell a story that says as much about the culture inhabited by the writer as it does about the culture that the writer has created. In some ways, writing what you know is the easy way out. Creating something plausible is much, much trickier.

I tend not to write 'real life' situations, partly cos the idea of research is too much like hard work, but mostly because it's much more fun creating my own worlds. : )

<g> And then there was this - the results of my personality defect quiz. (Nicked from Valkyrie's lj.)

Starving Artist You are 28% Rational, 0% Extroverted, 28% Brutal, and 71% Arrogant.

You are the Starving Artist! You are more intuitive than logical, and are primarily guided by your heart and emotions. You are also very introverted and gentle. Of course, this does not mean that you do not have an ego. In fact, you are surprisingly arrogant for someone so emotional and gentle. This is why you are best described as a starving artist. You are very introspective and quite sure of yourself, as any accomplished artist is, yet your views are impractical, emotional, and overly gentle. You probably find math, logic, and similar intellectual pursuits offensive to your artistic sensibilities, and you prefer the open-endedness of artistry because then you know you can never truly have a wrong answer. So really you have no reason to be arrogant, you big doofus, because the skills you value (emotion, spirit, art, etc.) in yourself are valuable only on a subjective level, meaning your arrogance is purely masturbatory. In short, your personality is defective because you are arrogant, introverted, introspective, gentle, and thoroughly irrational...posessing most of the traits needed to be a starving--and useless--artist. So get out there, write a few short stories that are allegories for the spirit, and starve! To put it less negatively: 1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational. 2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more ARROGANT than humble. My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 3% on Rationality You scored higher than 0% on Extroversion You scored higher than 29% on Brutality You scored higher than 81% on Arrogance

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline

Tee hee hee.

Hee. Joules, don't bother sending things by air anymore. Send them surface mail - they get here quicker!
<happy squeak!> I got a parcel! Where to start...?
A Hello Kitty toothbrush holder; a small spray of beautiful silk orchids; fistfuls of sachets of Turkish delight flavoured hot chocolate (my favourite!); mwahahahahah! - the Reloaded DVD (Twinfix!); a pink scarf that I think is pretty; a see-through blow-up pillow stuffed with purple feathers!; strawberry lollies and chocolates for the cubs (I'm sure they'll share); a beaded choker; an Incredibles funfax (stickers! cool!) and a gorgeous lampshade! There was also some off-cuts from the materials Joules recently used for decorating - so pretty!
<hastily> No, not pretty, um, rich, opulent, gorgeous... and plenty for me to do something with. I have plans... <g>

There was also a package of leaf-shaped, rose-scented bookmarks - the strawberry-scented ones had been confiscated by the Quarantine people. <shakes head> Why one and not the other? Gods know.
But anyway, the rest of my treasures are fabulous! I shall enjoy pawing through them, immensely. : )Thank you, Joules!

Yay! Niki to the rescue! The cubs have PowerPoint and I have Word again. One less reason to procrastinate, eheh... : )

Soundcard's still being awkward but Bob GoodTwin (<smirk> ) has some ideas for me to try.

Tch. Can't think - too much sugar over the past couple of days. Brain go squeak.
Though I will finish the holiday weekend thread soonish.
I'm sure I will.
Remind me...

Before I say anything else I have to thank GoodTwin for her help getting me back online safely, and for her ongoing role as 'puter guru. Thank you! : )

It's Mothers' Day here. Didn't quite get breakfast in bed but there was a bowl of weatabix soup waiting for me in the kitchen. <giggling> One biscuit crumbled up into a bowl of milk. I added another biscuit to soak up some of the liquid and everything was fine. (When I say 'weatabix' I actually mean an organic knock-off with half the added sugar of the brand name one. Yummy!)
And there were presents, too. In fact the cubs wanted to turf me out of bed an hour earlier cos they were eager to give me their gifts! I'm now the proud owner of 2 garden ornaments (a metal 'silhouette' bee, and a beads and copper wire butterfly - both sit on top of metal sticks); 2 fridge magnet shopping lists; a pretty coffee cup; a funky glittery orange desk set and a fistful of cub-made cards. <bsg> I have to say it's an improvement on the bonking frogs, phallic snails and ugly-faced plant holders from previous years. Not that I didn't love those as well, but... Heh.

Tony also gave me a present - Volume 8 of Yu Yu Hakusho. And miraculously, it looks like the DVD is working again. Hooray! I've a hankering to watch Velvet Goldmine and Cyber City Oedo as well.

<frowning> Almost back to normal, aside from hunting down and bookmarking favoured sites and getting bloody M$Word to work! Grrr...
(It's not the end of the world though, Word.docs open in WordPad.)
Oh, and pecking at Eudora. Stupidly didn't make a note of the settings before. Oh well. Again that's not the end of the world, can still access the different accounts online.

And there was a present waiting for me in one of them!
<smirk> The opening fic of the MS Avenger... Mine, all mine! Mwhahahahahahahah! (Still giggling - it's so funny! Thank you, Joules!)

Mother's day here tomorrow. The cubs have been at pains to tell me they'd bought some lovely stuff at the school's mothers' day stall and I've been threatened promised breakfast in bed...

Am I futilely beating my head against a wall?
As luck would have it I get home and find the browsers are working again. Hooray! - quoth I - I can see if I can find some different anti-viral/firewall software for free!
<grump> Most of it won't download let alone run from FireFox. I (reluctantly) switch to IE and discover that they won't run from there either, cos the sites use bloody java, which - I don't know why - has never worked on this 'puter. The one bit of gear I could get to d/l now won't install. Just fan-farging-tastic.

Homicidal? A bit. Close to tears? Definitely.
Anybody got any suggestions before I give up and do a [format c:]?

(And to make the day complete, the cubs' father finally managed to get enough money together to see about getting his car fixed only to find out it's essentially a write-off. It'll cost less to buy another car.)

Very tempted to take money I can't afford and drown my sorrows in sushi. I would be tempted to blow the cash on frivolous DVDs except the player's still not working.

Whinge-moan-complain. At least my children love me...

<grumble> Having 'puter problems. None of my 'net security software will run and it looks like the problems are cascading down to affect the rest of my system.
Virus? Hacker? Don't know but they'd be in fear for their fingers and voicebox if I ever catch up with the creator.

Thorne, how does Linux cope with reading Word/Windows documents? Very tempted to switch over but if I can't access my work there's no point.

One last try to sort it out then if that doesn't work I'll probly have to reinstall the OS.

Wish me luck.

Oh my brain hurts.
'Red Sonja'.
Gods this is an awful movie.
Would it have killed the actors (Arnie, Bridget, primarily) to have worked just a little inflection into their voices? And my goodness, isn't that a heroic codpiece Callidor is flaunting...
I like the sword and sandal fantasy genre, I really do, it just never seems to translate well to the screen no matter how good the props/sets/costumes are. The movies can be fun though, as long as you can switch off your logic function.

Fundraising time at school again. Could we eat $40 worth of chocolate in a week? You betcha. : ) Whether we should or no is another matter entirely. I suppose we should make some effort to actually sell some.

.............

Nope, can't remember what else I was going to say. The laughable 'script' of the movie has worked its evil and turned my brain to porridge...

When a plant doesn't grow the way you want it to, you prune it. As for plants, so for fics. 3 pages into chapter 8 and the notion that it was all going the wrong way stopped being a suspicion and became a full-fledged certainty. The problem was, I think, that I was viewing the flow of events from a 21st century, First world perspective, which is nothing like the predominant culture in SFSG.
So, time for a rethink. I had to pull the fluffy-bunny off the path of gentleness and compassion and point her nose towards something a bit less... fluffy. It's a little aggravating - there was some good stuff in those 3 pages - but I'm happier now with what's unfolding and I'm sure I'll be able to slot some of that meaty angst in somewhere else. : )

Okapi sent me this! I laughed out loud. <g>

Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father
by Ian Frazier


Laws Concerning Food and Drink

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat,
neither may you drink.

But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.


Laws When at Table

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away.

When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.


Laws Pertaining to Dessert

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.


On Screaming

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you, and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even now I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die.


Concerning Face and Hands

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.


Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not that humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.


Complaints and Lamentations

O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the law teaches that no one shall be sent to the corner for more minutes than he has years of age, yet I would leave you there all day, so mighty am I in anger. But upon being sent to the corner you ask straightaway, "Can I come out?" and I reply, "No, you may not come out." And again you ask, and again I give the same reply. But when you ask again a third time, then you may come out.

Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before. For our health, that we may be covered, I give six hundred and twenty talents twelve times in a year; but even this covers not the fifteen hundred deductible for each member of the family within a calendar year. And yet for ordinary visits we still are not covered, nor for many medicines, nor for the teeth within our mouths. Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know.

For I will come to you at the first of the month and at the fifteenth of the month with the bills and a great whining and moan. And when the month of taxes comes, I will decry the wrong and unfairness of it, and mourn with wine and ashtrays, and rend my receipts. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me.

(Copyright C 1997 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; February 1997; Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father; Volume 279, No. 2; pages 89 - 90.

Lamentations of the Father was written by Ian Frazier. Please do not send or copy this to anyone unless you send this entire page, including this attribution.)

<g> Cute, ne?

Another Batman movie, eh? A backstory, eh? Could be all right; could be crap. Christian Bale as the young Bruce Wayne made me smile though, he was Arthur in Velvet Goldmine...

Right, chapter 7's finally finished and 8's been started. This only-working-on-one-thing-at-a-time lark does have its benefits but I think I'm going to have to take a break and do something else soonish before I get bored. <hand to forehead> Curse my gadfly mind and it's need for evernew shiny things...
No, not really, I'd never wish away my creativity or imagination, but I know myself well enough to pick when I'm starting to get fed-up with something. And coincidentally I'm sure, a proto-idea I've had kicking around for ages fell into place last night while I was watching Sharpe's Honour. It'd make a decent short, I think, perhaps a novella...

I'll happily admit to being a voyeur - I do like to watch, anonymously - and I've just discovered photoblogs! There is something strangely compelling about peeping into the lives of total strangers. True, a lot of the images are completely inane or meaningless (if you don't know the person) but there's also a wealth of incidental information about who they are and how they feel about themselves, their lives, their friends, their town etc. It's fascinating to see what other people find interesting enough to post.
I definitely want my own digital camera now, I've already begun composing shots in my mind of my everyday things.

When I was younger I used to roll my eyes and smirk at older folks and their 'set ways'. I have a different perspective on that now. It's not so much to do with being inflexible and ornery but more along the lines of knowing what works for you.
Of course, there are some people who are inflexible and ornery but I'm never going to be like them. : )

traveler's tales!
Sunday was a good day. Another breakfast of bacon and eggs then several hours of combat scrabble interspersed with a few brain-twisting games of Set and then suddenly it was nearing dusk. A small excursion to the nearby blowholes and petrified forest was organised.
<happy sigh> The colour of the sea around the coast was amazing, varied shades of deep aqua and white, white foam that contrasted amazingly with the black volcanic rock. And it all glowed in the evening light - just beautiful. The petrified forest was a little eerie but fascinating. In some of the limestone tubes you could see the impression left by the bark of the trees and that combined with the complex weathering of the sandstone (looked like perfect cliff-side dwellings for flyers, in miniature) it all felt so... ancient. I definitely want to go back there, there's still so much to see!
Our last dinner was scrumptious chicken and vegetable parcels (thank you, Sam!) and stewed apples with ice-cream. Mmmmm... (And the 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of doooom that was started on Friday night was determinedly finished by Soulsis, 'bec... and others, can't remember. I wondered where they'd got to that afternoon... : )
I did most of my packing before I went to bed, which meant the next morning wouldn't be quite so much of a frantic rush and I could enjoy what was left of my time at Cape Bridgewater.

The cubs had another day off school today so Penny and I - avec kidlings - drove out to a lavender farm. It was fun, not only did we have a very pleasant morning tea at the tea-house there (lavender scones, yum!) we also stopped in at a few op-shops on the way. The first one was a fuge Salvation Army place, but as regular op-shoppers in Melbourne know the Salvos are always ridiculously expensive, so didn't get much. ($2 for a paperback novel? I don't think so...) I did, however, find another snowdome from Egypt that's similar to the one I already have. Similar, but not the same, it's now sitting on the mantelpiece next to the other one...
The next shop we visited in Wooriallock was much better. Came out with an armload of stuff, most of which had been priced at 50cents or less. Impressed? Delighted? Yep. That's where I picked up an almost complete box of the 'Two Towers' stickers, you know the ones that have '300' plus items? <bg> Most of the Eomer stickers were still there as well as one small one that had a line drawing of the white horse decoration in the Meduseld that made my heart sing. (And I checked very carefully, Joules, but the only pointy-ear represented was Legs...)
The third shop wasn't bad, either, the cubs got a bunch of toys for 50 cents. : )
Ah, don't get to go op-shopping all that often anymore.

And before I forget...
Thank you, Joules, for adding the 'Make Poverty History' banner thing at the top of my blog, and thank you, Soulsis for all the cool stuff you gave me last week! Some lovely, heavy, indian cotton - pink and purple! - to make into trousers, a large 'Hello Kitty' bowl and a pair of jam pots. The grape shaped one is almost perfect but the strawberry shaped one had lost its lid. No matter, it'll be perfect for a cactus! <g>

Right, where did I get to with the travellers' tales? Ah yes, Portland on Saturday morning...
The night before the mist had rolled in off the ocean obscuring the countryside when we drove into town but this morning it was clear and bright. There were a lot of cows...
Portland is quite large, and busy, it's the only deep-water port between Adelaide and Melbourne. It also had 3 op-shops within easy walking distance. Well, we did need some teatowels and other kitcheny bits and pieces that weren't supplied with the camp's kitchen and I'm sure I'll find a use for the turquoise plastic lobster-shaped tray I found... Had fun pottering around there for a bit, then we met up with Rod and Ruth and got on with the serious business of gathering supplies for the weekend. There was an open-air fruit and veg market near the supermarket. We got some lovely stuff there, including the nicest, crunchiest grapes I'd had for a long time. The supermarket was less exciting but we managed to get everything we needed and still stay within budget!
It was probly close to 2 in the afternoon when we got back to the camp for lunch. Spent the afternoon playing the 'Family Feud' boardgame that Mike had found in an op-shop. Actually, we weren't playing it as such, just trying to guess the answers to the very dated, USA-ethnocentric questions! <g> That was fun!
Pete made himself responsible for dinner - roast vegies and chicken bits - and Niki cooked the deserts, self-saucing choc puddings and a yummy lemony-custardy thing.
The Islandkateer weekends that work the best, in my opinon, are the ones where we cater and cook for ourselves. Not only is the food generally better but I think the way everyone chips in and helps in some way is a very bonding experience for the tribe.
Saturday was 'bec's birthday, too! I hope she had fun, what with the presents from Niki and I and the mini 'surprise' after dinner <g> So, 12 years old now, eh, sweetie? : )

We really were in a lovely spot, you could see the ocean and part of the beach from the hall. There was always the sound of the waves in the distance, and that wonderful salty, ozoney smell from the sea. There was hardly any traffic came our way and the garden snails on the coast look completely different to the ones I'm familiar with. Same shaped shells but the colours are lighter, more varied. Beautiful.

Yep, more later...

Another little snippet of my weekend a bit later but first this:

(nicked from The Zone)


Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Actually I like that result...

Niki has a CD of old jazz/crooner tracks which we tend to play in the car when we do roadtrips. One track in particular I really like, Dean Martin's 'Sway'. From the moment I first heard it I've always thought he was singing to another man. Only worked out why I thought that this weekend.

When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me

Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have the magic technique
When we sway I go weak

I can hear the sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now

Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have the magic technique
When we sway I go weak

I can hear the sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now
You know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now

These type of 'take me/make me' lyrics tend to be written for/sung by women. Interestingly though, not once did the idea of Deano singing to another man seem the least bit odd. <g>
(Lyrics taken from here, by the way...)

Right, where did I get up to on my travellers tales? Ah yes...

Saturday morning I was woken up before 8 a.m. by the cubs' father growling that Soulsis' car wouldn't start. (She'd very kindly leant it to him while we were away.) I pointed out that she had told him about the starter motor sometimes not kicking over first go, especially when it was cold - as it was that morning. I got grumbled at some more before he said he'd try again and rang off. A minute later I get a text message saying the car had started fine. <rolls eyes> Tch, well I was awake now so I got up and had a shower. The cabin I was sharing with Niki, Alarice and Pete, Mike and Karen, and later that day Rod and Ruth, had two adequate bathrooms. The light/exhaust fan switch for both was on the wall outside and there were a couple of comical moments of turning off the lights in the occupied bathroom before we sorted out which switch belonged to which room. : )
Shower cubicles were very, very small though, and I found the hot water ran out after a couple of minutes. (No one else seemed to have that problem - perhaps I was just unlucky?) It is possible to wash yourself and your hair in a trickle of cold water, it's just not very comfortable. But anyway, on to breakfast!
Sam and Al took care of cooking the bacon and eggs for us each morning - thank you! - a task that was made easier by the huge oven in the hall's kitchen. (Ah, I should probly describe the camp. We had the use of a 5 bedroom cabin, a 2 bedroom cabin, a bunkhouse, and a small hall with attached kitchen.) Then once we'd all woken up sufficiently we piled into the cars and headed into Portland to do our shopping for the weekend...

More later!

<happy sigh> That was a good few days...
The Islandkateers met this weekend at Cape Bridgewater - 6ish hours out of Melbourne down along the South coast. Soulsis and her daughter ('bec, who turned 12 on Saturday) met Niki at my place on Friday morning after I took the cubs to school. To all our surprise we were packed and underway by 10.30, not only that but we (ie: Niki) managed to fit all of our gear in the car! This is notable because last time we went on a weekend away there was only 3 of us and the spare seat ended up being packed full of stuff that wouldn't fit in the boot. As Niki said, we must be getting better with practise.
We took our time getting there, stopping for breaks just outside Geelong, then in Camperdown, where we found an op-shop! We passed through Warrnambool which had previously been the furthest we'd been along the coast - going inland to Adelaide is something else entirely - then had a final stop in Port Fairy. Soulsis found another op-shop, and I found a lolly shop. : ) Port Fairy is lovely, it's like all the beautiful, quaint, old, pretty bits of Warrnambool pushed closer together.
We found our way to Cape Bridgewater, which is a lovely little coastal town, very quiet, with a widely curving bay surrounded by cliffs. We got to our accomodation by, oh, 5.30ish I think it was, Met Sam and Al there, then got settled in to our rooms (first there, first choice, woohoo!). Then we headed into the nearby town of Portland for dinner. It was dusk by that time, when a lot of critters become active, and unfortunately we hit a wallaby when it jumped out from the shrubby brush lining the side of the road. We think it must've clipped the front corner of the car, but weren't sure if it had been killed. We backtracked and couldn't find any sign of the poor wee thing, and it hadn't sounded like a solid impact so hopefully it took itself off with just a headache. Still, that was a bit of a downer after the easy trip up, and the 'Kangaroos ahead' road-sign we saw shortly after was just shy of mocking.
Anyway, got into Portland and found the pub that'd been recommended to us. Alarice, Pete and Paul were apparently on their way in (they'd driven from Adelaide, about 6ish hours the other way) and they made it to the pub just before the kitchen closed.
We had a good dinner (I had a 1/2 serve of fish and chips, which was about the equivalent of a full meal for me, and sticky-date pudding for desert) then Soulsis, 'bec and I decided to go for a walk and meet everyone else at the supermarket in a little while. Well, we walked, and walked, in the dark, with no sign of the shop. Saw some interesting things but not what we were expecting. Of course, we'd simply continued up the main road, the one that ran along the waterfront, forgetting completely that we'd turned off from another road on the way in. Ooops. Walked back a bit, then cut through to the road where we were supposed to be, then were rescued by Al... <sheepish> It was a good night for a walk, anyway, and not difficult, only a slight hill...

We got back to the camp without incident and not long after that Mike and Karen arrived. Lots of happy chatting - it'd been a while since some of us had seen the others.
Drifted off to bed around midnight, in a room I had all to myself...

continued tomorrow

Yep, lots more to say and too tired to do it now - especially with an early morning looming. : )

You can tell a lot about people from what's in the fridge, on their bookshelf, or on their mp3 playlist.
Here's my current favourites: (in no particular order - very handy thing that random button...)

Oasis - Wonderwall
Beach Boys - Wouldn't it be nice
Slade - Cuz I love you
Cold Play - God put a smile upon your face
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Primal Scream & Kate Moss - Some velvet morning
Doves - Black and white town
Tatu - Everything she said
Duran Duran - Save a prayer
Eagles of Death Metal - I only want you
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Outkast - Hey ya
Iggy Pop & the Stooges - Gimme Danger (not as good as Eye-candy McDrooly's version but seeing as I can't get a copy of that...)
Placebo - The bitter end
Kylie Minogue - Can't get you out of my head
The Hives - Hate to say I told you so
Last Exile soundtrack - Cloud Age Symphony
Massive Attack - Teardrop.

The Smashing Pumpkins' 'Rat in a cage' would've been on there as well but I can't find the bloody file. <grump> Oh well, it's not like Morpheus isn't easy to boot up.
One of these days I'll get round to converting my own copies of my CDs to mp3s, then I can have all of my favourites handy in a playlist.

Found KittenKong disemboweling one of cubs' marker pens the other day - no more baby mice left to torment, obviously. She's already been through the local mynah population.

There's been new Samurai Jack eps showing and I've not managed to see any of them. Unfortunately it clashes with Spongebob Squarepants on another channel. Tch.

Wading through chapter 7 of SFSG at the moment - this one's not been as easy to get out as the previous. I've been writing long enough now, I suppose, to not be surprised when a fic slows down to a crawl, especially after a burst of intense creativity. Still annoying though.
Hee, on the train going to the Aquarium the other day, one of the cubs said something that set off a runaway train of thought which ended up being an outline for another novel. <g> I've made lots of notes but it's going to sit in my 'Ideas' folder for the moment.
Not sure why but I seem to be angling towards the Sci-Fi end of the literary spectrum.
(Onna, don't sweat the new ideas coming in on top of everything else, it's all part of the ebb and flow of creative energy.)

A marker on my personal journey: When people asked me what I did I used to reply 'full-time mother', 'writer' rarely, if ever, was mentioned. Now when I'm asked that question I answer without hesitation 'writer'. Cos that's what I am. : )

<rolling around laughing>
Okay, this was funny enough, but then go here and watch the special edition trailer for Two Towers. Oh my goodness, elves have never looked so... right. <smirk>
Thanks for the links, Gibbon!

Yay! Chestnuts are back in season! I love 'em with butter when they're still warm...

Cubs back at school today. Early morning. Tired now.

Dang, I think our DVD is broken. It makes this godsawful squealing when a disc is playing. Heh, it'd probly cost as much to buy a new one as fix the old but I loathe the idea of disposable tech. Maybe there's an electronics repairer we can sell it to for a few quid?

Cubs and I went to the Aquarium today. <happy sigh> It's still one of my favourite places to be. The baby leafy seadragons have grown noticeably - so cute! I want a tank of those when I'm unnecessarily wealthy. It's very restful watching them just drift around...
Cos it's the holidays there was face-painting for the kidlings there today. Most children chose from the available list - they want to be a puppy or a kitten, or a pirate, a witch, or Darth Maul. Most children. My cubs naturally wanted their own designs, which they drew for the bemused girl doing the duty. <g> Blue and orange jellyfishes on their cheeks...
The gift shop, alas, had run out of plush jelly fish but 2 new plush sharks were added to the cubs' collection and I got a purple squeaky puffer fish! Have to go back in a few weeks and get the pink and blue ones. I do so like having sets of things.

[smirk] Lutra's SP chara...



Interesting how we see ourselves, isn't it?

I-i-interesting day. The cubs' father developed chest pains yesterday so today he took himself off to the doctors while the cubs and I had lunch at Smorgys. I got a text message from him later in the afternoon saying that while the e.c.g. was clear he was being kept in overnight for observation.
Hm. Stress perhaps? Or decades of dining at the Golden Arches of Doom (and similar) catching up with him?
Anyway, he rang later again tonight to say all the obs were negative so he was coming home.
Heh, just spent the last 15 minutes listening to him try to remove the sticky disc contact things left behind from the e.c.g. without pulling out too much body hair...

Yay! Chapter 6 is finished! I'm one chapter ahead of my proposed schedule. Very pleased about that. : )
And there was a tickling [ping] this evening that could develop into a decent short. I've made notes, will let it simmer for the moment and see what happens.
Gods I love my imagination!

Was there something else?
Ah yes...
This make your own South Park character site is lots of fun. (Thanks for the link, Joules!) I think it's an updated version of the program that Okapi used to make the little Lutra portrait at the top of the page. Cubs had a ball with it, as well. Kept them amused for minutes...

And something else that came from Joules' blog:

C...Carbon You scored 31 Mass, 39 Electronegativity, 32 Metal, and 0 Radioactivity!

Nobody understands you... no, not even organic chemists. The social individualist. You like your attention... but not TOO MUCH attention. You are able to form incredibly close relationships with many individuals, but you don't really get along with preexisting groups. You value equality in relationships, and don't deal well with overly submissive or demanding people. Well, whatever... thanks for making life possible... oh, and cut the global warming out.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 30% on Mass You scored higher than 77% on Electroneg You scored higher than 15% on Metal You scored higher than 0% on Radioactivity

Link: The Which Chemical Element Am I Test written by effataigus on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Ooookaaay... : )

Heh, school holidays are almost over. Not been a bad couple of weeks - not entirely looking forward to going back to the grind again. Eh well, one does ones best...

I keep forgetting to say that Soulsis and two of her chicks came 'round for a visit last Sunday. We watched Short Circuit and Spaceballs, and later on Pirates of the Caribbean (hee, Orli...)
Soulsis arrived bearing gifts as well: a very cute little pink beaded chandelier, a string of clear quartz chips, and a lovely, pudgy blue ceramic fish. <bg>

The cubs, my mum and I went to see a movie today - you'll never guess which one.
Robots. Again. Probly just as well I quite like it but...
The Fat Albert Movie... <headdesk> Why??
At least it looks like they've not tried to base it in 'reality'.

This headline on a magazine cover caught my eye the other day:

"Princesses feud over father's death bed."

My initial thought was to wonder why anyone would want to fight for possession of something like that? : )

Hey, cool, Orli's in another 'historical' epic movie! Wonder if there was any gratuitous nudity in 11th century Europe? <smirk>

Ah, pop culture, you've got to love it. There was a Phillip K. Dick reference in a recent episode of My Life as a Teenage Robot. XJ9's mother/creator - when the 'droid wanted to experience dreaming - wondered in passing what it was androids dreamt of - Electric sheep? It's probly daft but I always feel clever, somehow, when I pick up an injoke. : )

"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

Dang it, I wish I could remember where that quote came from - something the cubs were watching, I think. Atomic Betty? Danny Phantom?

I had an 'excuse me??' moment today. There was an ad for some Yu Gi Oh merchandise - dueling dragons, or something, that fired missiles at each other - but the tag line was 'so you can hit the sweet spot' every time!'
<snigger> Perhaps I read too much yaoi but isn't that a euphemism for the prostate gland?

Oh, oh, oh! Go here! Cacked myself laughing! (Link nicked from Joules' blog.)

Woohoo! 4 pages into chapter 6 and I had a brain-spang about an upcoming bit. Yeah!

Tch, oh for heaven's sake, my memory's turned to porridge - can't remember where this quiz came from...

You Are A Lime Tree

You are intelligent, hard working, and innately successful. You try to change what you can in life - and you accept what you can't change. Tough on the outside, you are actually soft and relenting. Jealous at times, you are extremely loyal and giving to those you love. You have many talents, but you don't have enough time to use them.

What is Your Celtic Horoscope?

Given that this is a seasonal thingy I wonder if the results would still be relevant for someone born in the Southern Hemisphere?

And Joules just gave me the link to this quiz...

I am: Cordwainer Smith (Paul M.A. Linebarger) This inimitably unique storyteller created a future with so many deep layers of history that all the world we know is practically lost in it.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Don't know him at all but his work sounds fascinating. Heck it sounds like something I'd write!

As with movie adaptations you never expect a TV serial to stay true to the original book but by golly I'd not realised just how thoroughly the Sharpe mythos has been tampered with. It's not a bad reworking, it holds true within itself, but the books are far more detailed, and involving.
Having said that I'd still like to get the DVDs - always keen to add to my Sean Bean collection of media, hee. There was someone on eBay selling the sets very cheaply... but they (the seller) have been suspended from trading. Dang. Just as it looked I might be able to afford a set. Oh well, one day.

Had another dream last night about preparing for a cruise 'home' - this is the second one in recent months. The bulk of the dream involved preparations, making sure everything of mine and the cubs was packed, working out when we'd have to leave to get to the ship on time, thinking about what sorts of supplies we'd need for the journey. It was too close to reality in that respect to be a 'fun' dream but I was definitely anticipating the journey and destination.

Yay! Chapter 5's finished!
Did a quick word-count and the total so far is just about 30,000. Not bad for 6 weeks work, eh?

Oh for goodness sake! It got to 33 degrees today, forecast 31 tomorrow. <grumblemutter> It's Autumn, temperatures are sposed to be dropping...
And I've got a mild cold <snuffle>. I feel entitled to whinge. : )

Monumentally annoyed.
The cubs' father's old, unpaid cable bill has turned up on mine. Grrrr... When he said he'd 'sorted' the outstanding amount (the arrears that ended with his losing the connection) I naively assumed that meant he'd paid the bloody thing off.
I shall have to have words.

You know, I really need some bookcases so I can bring my eclectic assortment of books out of storage. I realised today, on the way to the bus-stop, that probly the main reason my general/literary knowledge is better than average is because from a very young age I was browsing my parents' bookshelves. My cubs don't really have that option at the moment. They have their bookshelf in their bedroom, then there's only one other bookshelf available to them in the lounge-room and that's half-full of DVD's and photos. (There's one slim shelf in my bedroom but given the usual clutter in there even I can't access that without effort.) <grumble> I need space...

Not been paying an awful lot of attention to the whole Pope thing but one image in the media caught my attention: that of Dubya in the thick of it all looking extremely uncomfortable and out of place. It occured to me that given his religious background there's a good chance he was brought up being told that Catholicism was one fairy-step over from worship of the anti-christ.
No wonder he looked uneasy.

I've been working through my list of interesting typos etc. as new characters appear in SFSG, finding names for them all. I remarked to Joules that I was going to run out of names soon but today I found an excellent source to supplement the typos.
Ablyn - Gabie - Jonti - Rache - Taila - Keely - Mohi - Miriama...
These were all first names from Nickelodeon's daily 'Birthday Bop' list. Hee.
Ah, now there's a thought, I could always pay a visit to Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing. Some of the names listed there would be perfect in a sci-fi setting - much better than trying to foist them on a child in the here and now. <smirk>

The cubs and I went to the Melbourne International Flower Show today. Or rather, I went and dragged them along with me. : ) Eh, wasn't too bad, they didn't get too bored and in fact found some of the exhibits fascinating, being genuinely intrigued to see 'art' made with organic elements. It helped that we were able to track down the source of free balloons amongst the too-many-to-count booths so the cubs went away happy.
I knew I should've brought my camera though. The first thing we saw in the exhibition hall was 2 huge flamingos made from pink carnations! Tch. Ah well.
Got away with only buying the cubs one icecream each - we brought all our food and drink - but I probly would've spent more if I'd gone on my own and had a proper chance to browse. There was lots of very cool stuff on offer including some gorgeous orchids, Joules, but on closer inspection they were either made of plastic or modelling clay.
A fun day, but I'm tired now and it's supposed to be hot again tomorrow. Tch. 'Unseasonal heat'. No, really? <grump>

I've got some potatoes at the moment that are no good for boiling - they break apart - but they make the best roast taters. : ) Crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. <licks lips> Bet they'd make decent baked potatoes, as well. Hm, maybe tomorrow night...

Ah, I keep forgetting to post these links to a couple of interesting blog/lj thingies:
Diamond Geezer's entry on the 4th April about the decline of British television is very funny (today's is a bit of a giggle as well), and Erestor's entry on the 3rd of April is a thoughtful, rather soothing little piece about death... not to mention her ongoing links to pictures of 'nekkid/textile-free french rugby players'. Hee.

<sigh> The cubs' father has written a book, a <shudder> Romance novel to be precise and I've agreed to edit for him. Fortunately there's no issues with his spelling, grammar or punctuation but... I don't like Romances.
Why did I agree? Cos I'm egotistical enough to believe that with my input there's a better chance it'll sell, which would be good I have to admit.
But... I don't like Romances...
What I've read so far seems to be no more or less contrived or lame than any published Romance I've read (when you're desperate enough, you'll read anything) so that'd have to be points in his favour and to be honest, I've read much, much worse.

Soulsis lent me her DVD copy of 'Final Fantasy' a week or so ago and at last I got round to watching it.
Yes, I can acknowledge the technical mastery of the CGI but no matter how realistic the main chara's hair is (and it is, though interestingly no one else in the movie has anything close. It's all short-back-and-sides, or missing, or slicked-down for every one else!) it's no substitute for a half-arsed plot.
I don't know the FF games at all but was this movie taken from one of the game plots? It seems to suffer from the same problems a 20 part series has when it's cut down to a 90 minute film. Interesting premise overall but the treatment of it was slap-dash, requiring great bouts of suspension of disbelief without adequate explanations to back those up.
But that's not what really bothered me. On some levels I could appreciate how life-like the characters were, their body movements were convincing enough most of the time and a lot of thought had obviously been put into skin, hair etc but for all that the characters were terribly wooden. There was very little movement in their faces which unfortunately lead to minimal expressions. For instance, when the main 'villain' realises he's stuffed up, his voice (James Wood) is full of anguish and disbelief but his face displays not much more than mild annoyance.
Quibbles aside I'm glad I saw it, and will probly happily watch it again when the cubs aren't being distracting...

Heh, the little Haadri birthday-smut Joules wrote for me has filled out to a five-part mini epic. : ) Not that I'm complaining, oh not at all. Lots of lovely lemon...

Hm. At the Museum on Sunday I had the opportunity to measure how tall I am. 160 cm - 5'3". I could've sworn I was 5'6". Perhaps I've shrunk? Or have I just got it wrong all these years.
Heh, well, at 5'7" I'll be literally looking up to Joules, then...
The cubs, however, are 140 cm tall. Eeek!

I'm a lazy person, I admit that. By 'lazy' I mean I'll happy ignore boring yet necessary tasks in favour of stuff I want to do. (But then, isn't 'lazy' one of those subjective terms, like 'selfish'. I had a relative who was disappointed in me cos I was 'selfish'. I was very upset, until it dawned on me I was only 'selfish' cos I didn't put them first all the time. Humph. But am I really lazy? When there's the need, or desire, I can work as hard and tirelessly as anyone [no guarantee about not whinging, though.] Perhaps the sort of people who might consider me 'lazy' could be those who work themselves into the ground carrying out duties/obligations/jobs that they don't enjoy simply cos they feel they should - which creates bitterness and resentment towards those who appear to be slacking off... I digress - where was I? Ah yes...) Every so often the consequences of my laziness comes back to bite me on the bum. Like this morning. I knew I should've done some washing yesterday but I couldn't be bothered, so I paid for it by having to spend extra time rummaging through the laundry pile, getting stressed, trying to find something not too obviously grotty for the cubs to wear. Heh.
Needless to say I did a load of washing this evening when we got home...

I went into the cubs' school today to spend a few hours inputting a fuge pile of books into the library database. The cubs' came with me, grimbling about their having to go into school on the holidays. I explained that they weren't going to School, just to school, to have fun while I worked. : )
Eh, it was fine. They divided their time between reading quietly in the room I was working, or tearing off outside to have fun with Penny and Sarah, who'd come along to do some gardening.
And later in the afternoon we met their father at the cinema to go and see Robots again. My first impressions were confirmed - it's a light, clever, fun little movie who's plot is just a bit too pat for my satisfaction but that's very enjoyable nonetheless. This time though I got the chance to really appreciate just how well the musical soundtrack meshed with the action. (But as I found out later that all the really good songs aren't on the official CD. Tch, typical.) The cubs loved Robots all over again, and there's a very good chance we'll be seeing it next week as well. No problem there for me. : )

LOLOL! One of my cubs made a funny! Watching the news today about the continuing saga of the dead Pope, some talking-head on-screen made some comment about 'filling his shoes'. S piped up and said he could fill the Pope's shoes... with butter! <proudsmirk> That's my boy!

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

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

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

Right. Quizzes nicked from The Zone:

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

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

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

This one came from Okapi's lj:

You Are Strawberry Pocky

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

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, what she said! <g>

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

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

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

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