Forecast: -16
Attained: 9-15

Had a good afternoon at Soulsis' today. Chats were had, and cups of tea. We (Soulsis, Miss Raven and I) left the boys to their video games and yootoobs and went for a wander. Alas, the sushi place was closed but one of the op-shops was open, on a Sunday, too! Even more unusual, I walked out without buying anything...

~=o>

I had hoped to get some pics up here today but they're from my camera phone and the cubs have walked off with both phone<->'puter cables. I'll quiz them in the morning. Right now, I'm off to catch up with some more Time Team :)

Forecast (25/6): 10-17
Attained: 12-17

Yay, one of the bookshelves is sorted and another is almost sorted! I'm beginning to akshully group titles in subjects! The med books are on one shelf; cook books are split over two; the vaguely academic research stuff has a case all of its own and I know where my favourite fiction will reside. Craft stuff, which is currently scattered all over the place, will eventually be grouped together as I clear space. Very satisfying.

~=o>

And it was also very satisfying yesterday to watch 3 eps of Time Team via iview, and knit. :)
I've done half of the first square of a throw. (Not the best pic for detail, alas.)




(Hm. 4mm needles? I thought I was using 3.5. Eh, doesn't matter as long as I'm consistent..)

~=o>

Went to Penny's for dinner last night - all of our respective children were otherwise engaged - and had nommy tomato & bacon soup. For dessert I contributed a packet of my prized pink stuff (specially imported from the UK. Thanks, Joules!). We watched a couple of eps of Firefly, and then first 3 of IT Crowd. (Drudgeon [snerk]. I want that on a t-shirt).

Forecast: 10-17
Attained: 11-18

Performance Feedback & Development: Annual Performance Review...
Good grief those things are unnecessarily prolonged. Yes, yes, they've got to be done but no one looks forward to them. Least of all the managers who have to conduct them!
I did but o'er glance the criteria today and still wanted to bang my head against the wall. Ok, fair enough, checking how my current duties stack up against my job description makes a sort of sense, as does discussing my performance with my manager, but honestly...?
"Review of Demonstration of Company's Values" in which I'm required to think of examples of how I've demonstrated said Values - Accountability, Compassion, Teamwork, Integrity, Respect, Collaboration.

'kin' what? [headdesk] I've already had the job interview - I went through that to get the job! - I shouldn't be obliged to document selection criteria again! I can see I'm going to have to fall back on 'management speak' here, that is, the rendering of hollow nonsense in such a way with appropriate vocabulary (ie: buzzwords) to make it appear I'm not talking bollocks while still giving the impression of earnest intelligence and dedication to the corporate ideal. (See? That was largely bollocks just there that I said.)

Eh, it'll be fine, I'm sure, with all of us trying to make it as painless as possible. Could be worse, I could have to write a report or something. [shudder]

Forecast: 10-16
Attained: 10-16

Had a wee field trip today for work. Next week I'm rostered out at one of the other, smaller sites so today the boss drove me out there for orientation. This campus is only 10 minutes from home! Should be good - if we can find a spare set of keys for me...

~=o>

And, yes! I can haz holidays at the same time as the cubs! Well, one week any way. Aahhh, I foresee lots of napping...

Forecast: 7-14
Attained: 8-14

So, yes, the cubs were s'posed to get up nice and early so they had plenty of time to get to the work experience place in a timely fashion. [eyebrow] Riiiight...
I had to leave to go to work but I kept in touch with them via phone/txt.
(The following is not a verbatum transcript.)

8am:
Me: Out of bed yet?
Response: Er, no...
Me: Grrrr...

9am:
Me: Have you left yet?
Response: Er, no.
Me: Out of bed at least?
Response: Er...
Me: GRRRRR

10am:
Me: How's it going?
Response: We're just getting ready.
Me: [SIGH] You do realise you're going to have to be more organised than this in the future, especially if you get the placement.
Response: Indeed.

11am:
Cubs: We're on the train!
Me:[with a remarkable lack of sarcasm cos it's never helpful] Yay! Let me know how it goes...

Aaaand they got the placements! Start next week, only for a week instead of two but that's better than nothing. :) So that'll be me - and their WE coordinator - off their backs for the moment.

~=o>

A video of the recent FreezeFrame happening in Melbourne. My niece is in it! Look out for the bowler hat and grey bag with the red cross at around 2:30...




And this will make no sense unless you've seen any of Adam Hill in Gordon St Tonight, a sort of talk show that was shown here earlier this year on Our National Broadcaster. The clip is full of cameos from the show's guests: keep an eye out for Captain Australia!




Dalek!

Forecast: 8-13
Attained: 8-12

It hailed today, only little stones thank heavens, but after the window-breaking hailstorm back whenever I tend to get a little twitchy.

~=o>

If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done... (I lay claim to this saying, incidentally.) Cubs are in year 10 and one of the activities they have this year is work experience. They had to organise it themselves, and have known this for months, but despite prodding encouragement from both myself and their dad there's been little or no movement on that front. (We only made suggestions: refused to do it for them.) So here we are in the final two weeks of the term when the vast majority of their year level is out doing work experience and the cubs still had nothing lined up. They went to school on Monday, even though there were no formal classes for them, but I let them stay home today (Tuesday) on the proviso that they get off their bums and make some phone calls. Which they did, after more unsubtle hints from me, and lo and behold they have interviews tomorrow.
It's at the same place for both of them, a model gaming shop where they're quite well known. I think there's a good chance they'll be accepted but even if not the whole experience of organizing themselves and their travel arrangements and being interviewed will be invaluable. To be fair, it's not laziness that led to the procrastination but awkward shyness and lack of confidence, socially. Don't know where they get that from. (What? I have to leave the house? [whimper]... :)

~=o>

While the cubs were doing all that today, I was dancing with Centrelink. All a bit of a teeth-grindy process but necessary. However, when I went in I was told that one of the cub's is now on the system but there was nothing for the other. This was despite both sets of paperwork being in the same envelope I'd sent off last week. [headdesk] Fortunately the very helpful person I saw got the ball rolling to find the missing paperwork and I was given a call a couple of hours later to say it was all sorted. [sigh] Ok, fingers crossed 'twill be smooth sailing from here on in.

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 11-16

I know I said the benefits of living in a concrete house was knowing it wasn't going to collapse around me in high winds, but knowing that doesn't make these high winds any less disquieting...

~=o>

The mound of chaos on the kitchen table is sorted. Of course, now I spend my time telling KittenKong to get off the table.

~=o>

From Lolcats. It made me giggle...


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Forecast: 9-16
Attained: 10-16

Concrete houses do have their issues but at least when the wind's blowin' hard - as it is now - I don't feel like the whole thing's going to collapse around me.

~=o>

The cubs have bought themselves a copy of Holst's Planet Suite. With their own money and everything. :)
Been a good long while since I've listened to it: forgot just how thrilling some of those pieces are.

~=o>

I'm looking forward to July: cubs turn 16, and the final HP movie's going to be released!

Forecast: 10-16
Attained: 10-16

Eeeee, Time Team's back! It's one of my favourite tv shows and I've really been missing it since the last ep was aired here back in September 2010.

~=o>

And I've rewatched the mini-series Blackpool, again. [happy sigh] Another favourite, one that strokes the one romantic bone in my body I'll admit to.

~=o>

I'm continuing to wittle down the piles of stuff. Iz very satisfying, though the shed's getting full as I transfer things around. I almost cleared the mound of chaos beside the computer desk today - might tackle the mound of chaos by one of the bookcases in the lounge room next.

~=o>


New house. With sentinel cat. We've been here almost 9 months now : ) .

Forecast: 8-15
Attained: 9-14

One of the funnest things about having a vivid imagination is that it's rarely the most mundane explanation that springs to my mind when something's not right.
For example...
One day, when I was in my teens, I was sitting in my room when I heard a rustling noise coming from the floor at the end of my bed.
Omigod, of course it was a giant spider! I could just imagine it's 'orrible, hairy - huge - legs as it hauled itself up and over my doona!
It wasn't a giant spider, it was just the cat making herself comfortable.
Forward a few years and I'm driving home from ballet class one night and I notice the highway is lined with people. Omigod, is it a bomb threat!?
But wait - I think - there's no sign of panic, and no emergency services present. Not a bomb threat then... Omigod, aliens!
I'm still driving at this point and trying to peer up through windscreen skywards to see if I could spot anything...
[sigh] Nope, not aliens either, merely a crowd gathered to watch the frontrunners in that year's Sydney to Melbourne marathon come through. I only worked that out after I'd watched the news later on...

~=o>


At last, I can finally get some of my pretties out where I can admire them. The figure to the left (...right? Um...) is indeed a plastic, glow-in-the-dark statuette of Mary, bought 2nd hand from a convent garage sale. Always pure class with me!

Forecast: 5-17
Attained: 4-15

I woke up at 3.30 am - needing to go to the loo - about an hour too early for the lunar eclipse. By 6.20 am, when my secondary alarm finally bludgeoned me out of bed, the eclipse was well and truly over. Bum!

~=o>

I've not been able to find any reasonable footage of the eclipse so have the 'literal version' of Bonnie Tylor's Total Eclipse of the Heart, instead.
(Sorry, could only get the 'cat-framed' version here in the Antipodes.)




[snerk] "And they shouldn't fence at night, or they're going to hurt the gymnasts..."

~=o>

Aww, my cubs are awesome! They've found an mp3 version of Adriana Celentano's Prisencolinwhatsit! The full 7+ minute disco epic version!
(Iz groovin' to it right now. KittenKong's looking at me funny...)

Forecast: 6-16
Attained: 5-15

I'm reinstating the squid-divider!

~=o>

There we go... : )

~=o>

I've had to declare a moratorium on hoiking stuff out of storage for the moment. Fun as it is to rifle through the boxes and discover old treasures, the stuff's been building up in teetering piles around the house as I'm emptying boxes faster than I'm putting things away. True, I've been able to shift a goodly proportion off to op-shops or the bin, but there's still a lot left over.
So, no more new stuff to sort until I've dealt with what's here already. I've made a start: several individual shelves on the bookcases are now neat, and underneath the kitchen table is finally clear. However, we'll avoid looking at the top of the table for the moment.

~=o>

Apparently there's going to be an awesome lunar eclipse early tomorrow morning. Too early for me, alas - 4.30ish am. If it wasn't a work night I'd be there, but, eh...

~=o>



KittenKong. Up the apple tree...

Forecast: 8-15
Attained: 8-14

Well, I'm not a student anymore. Signed the forms and handed in my student ID and everything [sigh], which only leaves the question of institute parking. It's a very convenient car-park for work - and a fraction of the cost of other parking in the area - and although technically I probably shouldn't be using it, I still have the sticker on my car... and I did pay for a year's worth of access...
I guess I'll keep sneaking in there and see what happens. If I get reimbursed the remainder of the fee - all $2.50 of it - or get a fine, then I'll know I should stop. Perhaps I could start taking public transport again?
Nah...


Strike a pose!

This is Loopy Lou, a doll my mum knitted for me when I was little: she's just come out of storage. She's not actually posed, that's just the position she ended up in when I shoved her up there out of harm's way with her sister, Loopy Li, while I decide what I'm going to do with them.

(Wow, after 3.5 years I don't actually have the threat/goad of homework hanging over my head anymore. I could... do something else... )




This is a picture painted for me by my neice, BeccyBoo, a couple of (several?) years ago. I've finally managed to get it out on display! By a happy coincidence the light filtering through the slats of the blind falls across the image not unlike dappled light over water. Neat, huh?

Forecast: 5-15
Attained: 8-15

Emotional storms aside it was quite a nice day, today. Bit of cloud, bit of sun - could soak up some vit D without the risk of frying.

I've withdrawn from the course I was doing. M$ Access has defeated me. (There's more to it than just that, naturally, but the long version is rambling and doesn't make me look good, so, no. :)

And now some random uploads so I can check whether I know what I'm doing or not.
A pic wot I took earlier this year:















And a link to a tubeyclip of a song I quite like. 70's Italian disco/funk ftw!

[Edit: Ok, that didn't work. Hm... Ah, embedding...]

Aaaand it's been almost a year again since my last post. Good grief. Let's see if I can remember how to drive this thing.
Joules, I may squeak for assistance...

[edit:] Ok, apparently it's been closer to two years. Tch, slack.

[edit:] Wow, Blogger's the ultimate hoarder. Never chucks out anything...

[eyebrow] OK, it's been a year since the last post, and that was mine. Is it safe to assume this blog is now defunct? Extinct? A deceased blog?

Click on the water to feed them. They follow your cursor.

More here.

Last week of term. Woot!
I was looking forward to days off and lie-ins... but the diary is already looking pretty full. Tch. It'll all be fun stuff with the cubs, however.
Scienceworks is having a special exhibition, based around Star Wars!
Melbourne Museum is hosting A Day in the life of Pompeii [squee!].
We'll be going up to Mum's for a few days.
There's movies to see! Transformers! Star Trek! (again : ) Ice Age 3... and of course the rest of the Harry Potter franchise for me. (Speaking of which, saw Chamber of Secrets last weekend. Had only seen it on DVD. The spiders were even scarier on the big screen!)
And the cubs are having their birthday and party in the middle of it all.
I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze in a nap or two somewhere.

~=o>

Penny had a Winter Solstice (afternoon) party on the weekend. There was sooo much food that neither the cubs nor I had the slightest bit of interest in dinner that night. There were competitions, too! Rocket came second in the 'Eat the salada biscuit the quickest' - winning a Darryl Lea giant freckle - and I came first in the 'Guess the songs', winning a Penny-made Beelzenef hand puppet. 'Twas fun. : )

~=o>

Driving this morning I saw a bumper sticker on a huge, 4WD ute-monster thing:
"My other toy has tits."
.... nice. >: /
But what really makes me cross is that if I'd made an objection I would've been a humourless dyke/feminist. Tolerance goes both ways, shit-for-brains.

Joules has been very positive in her comments about the UK series Being Human, so I squeaked happily when it was advertised over here.
Watched the first ep tonight and loved it! Good, solid characters right from the start, plus a smattering of back-story to be going on with along with a scary potential menace = yep, got my attention. Looking forward to the next one. : )

~=o>

A little while back I finally got 'round to watching the movie version of Mama Mia. I'd heard a lot of good stuff about it but ultimately it failed to charm. I didn't think Meryl Streep's singing was anything extraordinary and the majority of the characters just made me huff in irritation. (I don't care about you, get over yourselves!) Except for Harry (Colin Firth); I liked him, and, I have to admit the - literally - Greek chorus was a fun idea, but... meh. Won't be going back to that one.
Unlike Across the Universe! Being based on the music of the Beatles gave it a BIG tick to begin with but combined with the excellent casting and performances and excellent use of the music to move the story along I was sold on it completely. Definitely going to get hold of a copy all for my very own. And probably the soundtrack as well. Hmm, and I really do need to replace my Beatles' vinyl eventually...

~=o>

Ooh, I'm not as young as I used to be and if there's anything that'll bring this sharply home to me it's the not being able to stay up really late without consequences rippling on for a couple of days. Case in point: last Saturday night, instead of trotting off to bed between midnight and 1 a.m., as was sensible, I hung around watching Rage until gone 3. To be honest it wasn't because I was enjoying the music, it was more of a omigod, can't look away train wreck sort of thing. The theme last week was Retro Dance and we were treated to such gems as Batdance, and Vogue, and, gods help us, Love is a Battlefield. Not to mention Thriller and U Can't touch this. [shudder]
But anyway, I thought I'd be fine cos I had the buffer of Sunday to recover, it wasn't like I was staying up late on a school night. Heh, Monday rolls around and I still slept in past the alarm and ended up dragging myself through the day 'til I got home and had to nap. Tch.

~=o>

In the lead up to Half-Blood Prince my local cinema (which is actually part of a huge chain) is running all the previous films in limited re-release. I went to see Philosopher's Stone last weekend; tomorrow I'll be seeing Chamber of Secrets. Hee.
Yes I have the dvds and yes I've watched them a lot but there's something special about seeing them on the big screen.

~=o>

This past semester, instead of doing boring old sport, the cubs' school has had the year 8's involved in learning dance and circus tricks. Yesterday evening there was a performance...
I've definitely seen worse! But seriously, the kids looked like they were having fun and it was obvious they'd been working hard on the routines. Good job, y'all! : )

I haz a sick [coughs].
Well, all right, I'm almost better now, but I've just had a week off from practically everything - except cooking - cos I couldn't move without violent coughing. Eh, just a cold, albeit a nasty one, and not in the least bit flu-like.
Apparently there's now over 700 people in Victoria confirmed as having the N1H1 virus. What's not been made clear, however, in allllll the news reports and statements, is whether they are actual cases of the swine-flu, with symptoms, or just people who've tested positive. There is a difference, surely?

~=o>

[snerk] Knicked from Undunoops by way of blpaintchart...

Fish - The Freshmaker!

Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator. Get more fish slogans.

~=o>

Borrowed a copy of the Speed Racer movie from the library. Once you get past the 'oh my god, my eyes!' reaction to the hyper colours, there's really nothing in it. It's a bit clever in a couple of places, I suppose, and the smattering of slash potential kept me vaguely interested (Racer X/Taejo yes!) but at the heart of it, it's just a race movie [snore]. Cubs loved it, unsurprisingly. It does deserve to be seen on a big screen though. Even one of them new-fangled plasma tellies'd do the trick.

~=o>

25 years of Tetris!
Have you seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0LtUX_6IXY