And continuing the P&P fever I seem to be suffering at the moment...

Please tell me I was not the only one who didn't know that in real life, Elizabeth Bennet was Peter Parker's Aunt May's daughter? The fact that she's more American than British has done enough to bowl me over, but that? Of all the connections I've ever come across, Jennifer Ehle being Rosemary Harris' daughter hadn't even made it to the realm of possibility :P 



Found this lovely picture of the two of them at the Wilde premiere (had not realised she was in that either) :D The blonde hair suits her really well... and I'm so used to her as dark-haired Elizabeth. 

ETA: oh dastardly Tripod :P

:D "I do love catching up!"

Hurrah for the shattering of hermit-like existence! Well, sort of anyway... have had a lot of catching up done this week and a good number of reasons for celebration all round, holiday season aside. :D Engagements, birthdays and Honours work completed, to name a few. I myself will be rounding up work for the year soon so I'm looking forward to that as well. In the meantime, Christmas shopping has begun and it's going to be tough... have a couple of rather obscure items in mind for a few people, but if I find them, it will be fantastico.

Sunday, I met up with a friend I'd not seen for at least 2 years... Kasey was one of my original firstyear friends from whom I kind of drifted seeing as she was studying Chemistry... but we've kept in touch over the last couple years and have avowed to make sure another 2 years doesn't dare go by before we grab one another again. We ate, walked, talked (or laughed... heheh), browsed and bought (a couple of tops for summer, which were desperately needed), then promised to do all that again and soon too, especially with Christmas shopping needing to be done. I've nearly exhausted my Dymocks card now because I found 2 collections that day that nearly bowled me over when I saw the prices... I got The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, both collections together for less than $40!! :D Kasey grabbed herself a copy of the Shakespeare collection as well... oh man, I love Wordsworth publishers. I literally went bug-eyed when I saw the books. I mean, seriously. Thank you Vicki and the others back at Pitcher for giving me that card! Angels, the lot of you!

Just a couple of days before, I had been debating whether or not I would use it in order to buy a copy of The Australian Writer's Marketplace which I actually found by chance at the Uni Co-op Bookshop. I honestly have no idea why it's never occurred to me, not once, to go in there since I started working and the only reason I did that day was because of one of the guys down at the RO. Jeffrey had just come back from a conference in the US and on his desk I spotted a copy of Strunk & White's Elements of Style, something I've been hard pressed to find a hardcopy of (it's nice having it online and all, but I really want a hard copy). When I asked him where he got it, he said it was the last copy at the conference and when I mentioned wanting a copy, he suggested the Co-op. Once I got there, I couldn't see Strunk and White anywhere but the 2006 copy of the AWM was staring me in the face. Eventually deciding that I would use my card for books for leisure as opposed to stuff for work, I bought it and at a reduced price too (being a shop mostly catering to students). Damn... I knew that there were publications for every topic under the sun but seeing it all listed in one book kind of emphasises the point further. Not to mention it also contains a complete list of Australian Publishers, Lit Agents, Writer's services, Comps, etc... thanks for the suggestion Jeffrey. :D 

I went to see Pride and Prejudice yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it! Aside from some pangs with the anachronisms and the at times, over the top direction and overpowering musical score, it was a really good movie. I think the interpretation was definitely a more raw approach to the story, where we got to see how things would have played out had a slightly lesser importance been placed upon propriety (although, I do kind of think too much license was taken in Elizabeth's appearance after her walk to Netherfield). It was a version I would gladly watch again. I grinned almost the whole way through (hurrah for those little awkward moments!) and I'm so glad that they included that scene where Bingley was practising his speech. That was gold. Given the time contraints, I did understand how quickly they needed to pace the movie and somtimes that was felt with scenes sort of toppling into one another and other plotlines barely touched on but overall, it was a great watch.

Keira certainly had a handle on the dialogue and whatever issues I had with some of her scenes, I'm kind of attributing that to the direction because I thought she did a really good job. I liked Matthew's Darcy as well... his portrayal was a slight more emotional than I'm used to and it was pretty effective. I liked seeing Darcy that way. :D Mr. Collins had me ROTFL because everything he said seemed to be accompanied by a desperate need to rush to the loo, particularly in Elizabeth's introduction to Lady Catherine. He turned me off in a whole different way to David Bamber's greasy little man in the 1995 version :lol: and Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland played off each other really well :D I did wish his accent would steady itself though. Was it just me or did Wickham bear a vague resemblance to Orlando Bloom? Like a not-so-handsome version of him? My friend actually thought it was him, but then again, I don't think she's seen as many pics of him as I have ;)

I daresay, the BBC version remains my favourite (the subtlety in that movie is damned astounding), but this version is definitely not without its charms. Looking forward to getting the DVD when it comes out :D 

Goblet of Fire opens tomorrow! Hurrah!! :D

'Paper! Snow! A ghost!'

Aside from the fact that I’m currently eating the blandest tasting apple ever, it’s been a pretty cool day. Oh, however, be careful what you wish for too… I complained about the crunchy Anzac Bikkies and what do you know… my sister decides to get me some more (I’m so spoiled) and well… soft. Incompletely baked. I dunno. But still better than the crunchy so heh. 

- Got The Castle DVD :D Aaahh, one of my favourite Aussie Aussie movies. Not to mention vintage Pre-Chopper Eric Bana. I miss him donning the plastic wig while taking off Ray Martin. Classic Bana.
- Finished off re-watching the BBC’s 1995 Pride & Prejudice for the millionth time (all this P&P talk!)… *sigh* then followed it up with Little Women (the ’94 one) and Clueless, both of which I’d not seen for years. Movie fun.
- Finished my first song! Hurrah! Yes, the chord switching is still really rough (much like the tips of my fingers!) but I was able to sing it through with some semi-reasonable breaks. Yippee!
- It was actually earlier in the week, but finally heard from my tutor and well, he’s great… :)
- For some reason, felt compelled to have a go at the YA recaps on TWoP again… and it has been a while since I laughed that hard. Pam Ribon is hilarious :D

And tonight, shall begin on The Shining which I acquired after finally using my Dymocks card. I wanna see if it justifies my having made room in my freezer.

Meanwhile, a million points, a la Whose Line, to whoever knows to what the hell I’m referring in my subject line ;)

Have I put off heading down to the RO enough???

Alrighty then, RO, here I come!

~~~~~~~~~

And it's later in the day, the RO has been covered and I am now power-typing it up on the 7th floor in the library. I was tempted to truck it on up all the way to the Law Faculty (which sits snugly atop the library, with an awesome view of everywhere within a huge radius (wish I could be more specific but sadly, I can't). I love that place, by the way. Talk about cushy. It's enough to convince one to do Law (if they can, that is... my friend got a 99.6 on his UAI and he still couldn't get in as he'd missed the cutoff by what, .2?). In secondyear, I did a course up there - Human Rights in Ancient Rome and it was a really interesting course too. Despite the fact that the guy who taught it was a quiet octogenarian, he was able to get everyone's interest sparked and of course, he was greatly aided by the course material. One thing I learnt? That the Romans were a slippery lot of bastards and I'd want one to represent me if I were ever taken to court. I so wish I'd had the grades to make it into Grad Law. I wanted to do that course so badly but ah well, c'est la vie. Will direct any legal questions to May instead ;)

The wind is hollering like mad outside and you can hear it beating against the windows. I'd anticipated a different day so I'm not really quite dressed for this(although for boiling weather, this shirt is the best). It certainly did aid my walk up here from lower campus... literally pushed me up, step by step, it was that strong. My hair was extremely unappreciative. It doesn't help (or does, as viewpoint calls) that the campus tends to act like one giant wind tunnel. The sensation was one akin to some invisible and impatient (and surprisingly strong) child pushing me up towards some imaginary candy shop and I do believe the angle at which I was walking at times would have betrayed this as well. This does mean that my trek back down to lower campus (only this time, to harass the loverly people down in the Science Office) ought to be pretty interesting. 

Meanwhile, awkward moments abound as I just ran into my best friend's ex. It was your classic stare-down-as-you-walk-past and to be quite frank, I nearly burst out laughing. I'm not sure but I think he might have noticed that as well. So strange. I'm sure he's wondering what the hell I'm still doing on campus seeing as the last time we spoke was the night before my graduation (a conversation which I endured under duress I might add). Then again, maybe he guessed after spying the contraption I was carrying around. Made my day, that certainly did. Up till the final months of his rel/ship with Mel, I actually felt sorry for him at times... and overall thought he was a really great, decent guy. It's weird to look at someone after your opinion of them has been altered so much, and especially after you'd begun to almost consider them a friend.

Although I'm sure it's now over, when I got off at Central station this morning, I got a nice taste of how many people were attending the strikes protesting Howard's new IR laws. Oh man, I was so tempted to go with them and see if I could possibly get something written up. If it weren't for work, I might have. Then again, I've still very little practice as the nosy journalist (too bloody polite that's what :P)... then again, when opportunity knocks? Funnily enough, where the SMH had made it front page, the Daily Tel barely covered it. I'm a little surprised. I understand wanting to cover the terror suspects ('Grubs', in the words of Paul Kent), but come on... a strike over the new IR laws gets nothing? Hell, they even mentioned the strike in Melbourne! Unless someone clears something up for me big time, I can't say I'm on board with the new initiatives... there are a lot of shitty employers out there who will be at even greater advantage to abuse their employees. Not on. Oh, and I'm still not all that happy with a 'shoot to kill policy', although yes, I do think that I would prefer giving the police a little more leeway over having my train blow up on the way to work one morning. 

And now, it's time I ate. Will do so as I plough through some articles I want to read and some potential follow-ups I want to do on them. The assignment I've been working on has me a little stumped at the moment but only because I'm a ridiculous perfectionist when it comes to this and no idea seems good enough. Anyone here have any questions they've ever wanted to ask a range of celebrities (whatever type) which would not only be embarrassment free, but also allow them to better their image whilst being potentially creative and interesting? Hehehe... I want to tackle some writers but then I have to think of publication appeal and it's just not hitting me at the moment, who in the world would want to read about that seeing as I'm having so much trouble finding lit mags here in Sydney and the thought of tackling one of the bigger publications at this stage seems rather implausible.

'Leavin... on a jet plane...'

... man, I wish that were true. I feel like taking a trip or something. I may even restart the search for some nice places in the mountains where (hopefully) it'd be cooler. The heat's pretty scorching and so today, I'll be taking all the 'sheltered' routes around campus in order to make life just that little bit easier.

The last week has sort of flown really and it seems to be doing so ahead of my brain because the attempt just now to recall most of it was pretty blank for a little while there... it's the heat, I tell you. Turns the brain to mush and the body to jelly (or at least, it does mine. Good on you lot who can sustain yourselves in weather like this. I mean it, I applaud you!)

Seeing as I am now in an air-conditioned building and feeling a tad more refreshed, warning: I've yet to see how long it takes me to shut up on this thing :P

Oh ok, I'm nice... will insert cuts so that not everyone's eyes have to bleed ;)

Last week, my bro got a new TV for his room (or, as I like to call it, his 'miniflat' :P) and he'd recently let on that if he were to do such a thing, I could have his old one. Thought that wouldn't happen for years (or at least, not till the darned thing had pretty much broken down) so paid little attention to it. There was also the matter of us having no antenna (thanks to Foxtel) and that there was no way I was about to start shelling out $90 or so a month to get it in my room so a TV in my room would be pretty useless. Nevertheless, the new TV came and the old one made the trip up to my room. Duds and I decided, sure, why not, this way if we were to ever play our ancient Nintendo again, then we would be able to do so unhindered. 

Good plan, turned out better. I've now got a DVD/VCR up there (can we say, hurrah??). My dad was looking through a Bing Lee catalogue when he found a GREAT brand for really cheap and he bugged me about it, saying it was on sale and it would never be this cheap again, ya ya ya... as a testament to my complete impotence as a shopper, I went up and down and up and down (and over and out! Hee... the cheap was a bargain, yes, as well as still being a nice hefty amount of moolah), even doing research into cassette lives and VHS-DVD quality and then caved once I realised that holding out for a 2 way DVD/VCR recorder was completely unnecessary (and according to my research, pointless). At least, for me at this stage. Duds insisted on hooking it all up for me (love her) and there it is. Tis very cool. The concept of me watching TV in my room was so foreign to me this time last week so, ain't life grand? 

Sunday was the official start of my attempts to play the guitar. Thanks to May, my bro and this site online which provides a midi of the E string, I now know how to tune a guitar! That's awesome! And getting past the tuning stage, I also know how to play scales and I've got the G, C and D chords down (or close). I think my hand is still unaccustomed to holding the neck the way I should. My fingering is dodgy as but by yesterday it was improving. My biggest problem seems to be pressing the strings down hard enough for all the notes to ring clearly and doing so without touching any strings I'm not supposed to. Because of this, my G chord sounds really weird to me :P Oh well, practice, practice, practice (Swan Princess flashback)! Switching chords is getting a little easier and I'm even attempting a song (ref: my subject line). Sure, it's coming out really slowly, but so far it doesn't sound awful (to me, anyway :P) so hurrah! Finally getting onto the guitar! I do hope those callouses build up a little more quickly though 

Tuesday (Monday was a lazefest) was pretty cool. I went into work and the Canadian guy there showed me the pics he took on PEI, including a shot of the original house upon which Green Gables was based. Apparently, LM Montgomery's relatives lived there while she in fact lived down the road or something in a house that wasn't so nice. The place looks beautiful... and the country is gorgeous (Chris, I saw some pics of some of the gardens you mentioned... everything there looks really pretty). Apparently, the Anne industry is huge up there (during the summer) and at some points you actually have Matthew and Marilla stalls up and down the streets. Seriously, had he told me this 10 years ago, I would have just gone nuts wanting to laugh and go up to see it at the same time. After that, goofed around with some of the other staff as per usual before finishing up there and the GRS and then heading to the city to meet Mel at St. Mary's where we spent a few hours before heading back for her meeting with her supervisor. 

Yesterday? Mush and jelly... although I did wake up a little bit when I found out that we have another engagement on our hands... my friend, Ed's (the dude who beat me out at trick or treating :lol:) gettin' hitched. I caught him and his sister on my train this morning and got the chance to congratulate him. He and his fiance have been trying to get organised and seems as though that's pretty difficult as every place they've looked up seems to be booked till 2007! Yikes... but that means another wedding to go to (hopefully) next year. Oh geez... what to wear? Meh, I've still got time.

Hello, Friday!

Ok, where are we... where are we...?

- Looking through Lovehammers Pics courtesy of Lovehammers.com and enjoying the hell outta short-haired-Marty shots :D ETA: oh! hello Flip Off shot! :lol:

- Listening to My Yahoo! Music Station. Addicted, I am. I have found soooo many long lost or forgotten songs, albums and artists on this thing and loving every second of it :D No joke, they even have the Anne (of Green Gables) Soundtrack... the Anne soundtrack! I mean, damn! Since when would you hear Anne's Theme playing on a radio station??? Fantastico :D Seems like something's trying to get me to re-read my books or something... first the DVDs and then the guy from work coming back from visiting Charlottetown and giving me an AOGG souvenir pencil (which now sits with pride in front of my set), now this? I'm mad, I know :P

Whoa... Jan, you're one quick woman! And THANK YOU for the song! :hug: Have I told you that you're awesome??? Well, you are! :D

- Waiting on some word from my tutor

- And now being dragged off the computer by my sister... alrighty then :lol:

Heh

Two things I was just doing... reading the news and then looking for scripts, trying to find a particular quote, which I ultimately found:

'Now isn't it just as biased to say things aren't as to say they are, when you don't have proof either way?' - Lucas, SeaQuest (ep: Lostland)

Sure, didn't really need that exact quote to say it, but I liked it.

How much some people stake on pure speculation kills me. 

Man, I love this piece :) *hums along to the FG Suite*

Wow, back sooner than I expected to be... ;)

I like work gaps :D

Tiny little hurrah here because after years of searching (well, ok, more like a search spanning years :P), I've finally found where I can get a copy of a book I absolutely loved as a kid... A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Now, I actually already have an online link to the full story but it was this book in particular that I wanted because of the illustrations... amazingly done by Graham Rust. I had been looking for this book for I don't know how long and if I had remembered Graham Rust's name, that search may have taken much less time. Ah well, bugger it, found it anyway :D Lots of stories associated with this particular book and I seriously can't wait till it's on my shelf...

Meanwhile, hehehe, Halloween passed last night and I think there were a record number of kids walking about our neighbourhood! Trick-or-treating isn't all that big down here in Aust, but kids are catching on. Then again, come on... dressing up and getting free lollies or candy?? That's not something I would have just passed up the opportunity to do when I was a kid (although I've only ever been once in my life. I was 10 and my friend, Christine and I were having a little competition with her brother, Ed [Little-Kid-Who-Thinks-My-Name's-Naughty's dad now] and his friend, Glen. The boys were on blades while Chris and I went about on foot... unfortunately, seems blading was the way to go 'cause the guys were able to cover more area and ended up winning, thanks to some mystery person who gave them entire bars of chocolate! Maaaaann...)

The kids last night were adorable and really polite too, which made them all the cuter. You had the older kids watching over the little ones and helping them out... letting out mini groans when I would be unable to resist giving the tiniest one an extra piece seeing as I nearly missed her... the whole thing was a lot of fun to watch. In fact, Duds and I enjoyed it so much that we wanted to go out and get more stuff in case we ran out. We never ended up doing so though because it was getting dark and no more kids came around. 

Hehe, and now... off to the Red Centre (given it's not raining too hard outside)!

ETA: And Australia holds its breath as the Melbourne Cup gets underway... I'd actually forgotten it was today. Goes to show how much I pay attention :P Fun to see everyone around the offices in on it though. You can see how excited everyone is... and a little worried as well, considering how large some people's bets can get. An old classmate once won something like a grand in the sweeps and she didn't even know anything about it. What a gag. :P Bookies' bet: Makybe Diva

Long time, no update so...

... here we go!

Another day at work and things are just peachy... and I actually mean that without sarcasm. All in all, it's looking to be a pretty easy day (hmmm, have I just cursed it? Ah well...) and well, gotta love that. Work has been pretty good and study is going very well :D

As to news? My gosh, is time flying because not only did I attend a baby shower on Saturday for one of my oldest friends (she's having another girl!), but that day, I also received the news that ANOTHER ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS GETTING MARRIED!! :D My gooosh, I'm so happy for her and her fiance... I'd seriously been waiting for this to happen for about a year but I still yelled like a banshee when she told me :D Man, so many of my old classmates are hitched or soon to be. Who'da thunk? Huzzah! I've been appointed chief hound on all things Wedding-y (first for me!) so this will be the first wedding in which I'm actually an active participant. At the moment, it looks be to be an April wedding so heaps to do! :D :D

As to the shower... well, that was one of the funniest one of those I've ever attended. Angel's got some really hilarious friends and I laughed most of the day away. The new baby (who Ange and Kyle have named Kayla) looks to be pretty set. Her older sister Chloe has made sure there are enough toys for her when she comes (which I think is very sweet considering Chloe is just 4) and the rest of us stocked them up with supplies :) Chloe is one of the most beautiful little things I've ever seen. She's also the spitting image of her mum so I guess that's no surprise. I was watching over her and our neighbour's grandson, Brandon, when the majority of the guests had left and they were a pretty good pair to look after. Very fair in play... at least up until the argument about which Batman movie to watch. I held them off until Kyle took control of the situation. Wow, is that guy good with kids. After Brandon had gone, I spent the rest of the night talking to Ange, with Chloe on my lap watching Batman Returns and at one point, seeing Kayla do something akin to a mexican wave :D I've never seen or felt a baby kicking before so that was pretty damn cool. So's being called, 'Auntie Jel'. At one point, Brandon accused my name of being a 'naughty word'... makes me wonder what Ed's been teaching the kid about me...

Meanwhile, the birthdays in my family are getting scarier and scarier... my bro is now 29 and my baby sister will be 15 in a month (meaning I'm 23 in a month and 2 days... hehehe, weird). When did everyone get so old?? Hehehe, I joke. December is THE month for birthdays in my family so lookin forward to it :D

And now, must head off to the Research Office to get some work knocked off. Hopefully, it's not another year or 2 before my next update on this thing.

'Ow, ow, ow...'

Am half dead after falling hard on my butt twice on the ice today. Can barely move and have hence run to the net for easy, effort free amusement. Unfortunately, this is being slightly interrupted by ma expressing her concern over my coccyx. I mind not. Finished my tax return tonight using e-tax for the first time so hurrah!

I want more Tosca Tango Orchestra!

Unfortunately, I recently read that they had broken up. Oh well, Glover Gill, great music, man! :D All his music made Waking Life that much more amazing to watch. Well, for now, I've just got to settle with the loverly samples they have onthe site. Oh, and here's the Waking Life soundtrack... there are samples there too :D

Hmmm... had many bits and pieces I wanted to put down here, but they seem to have plodded off for a bit... oh well, will just have to bung around on the keys for a while till it all comes out!

I've begun reading HBP... am I the last unspoiled reader? Should I keep my comments to myself for a while? I haven't read that far, really, but I like it already :D Hooks you in, it does :D And another thing that has me hooked at the moment... Arrested Development just started down here on the Comedy Channel. Usually, I don't like those types of comedies (eg. Curb Your Enthusiasm, et al) but this one kills me :D

Oh, Jessy, I really hope you're wrong about the SQ DVDs not coming out... I really do, because when I read Jo's post, I nearly jumped thinking, 'Yessss!!!!! Finally!' Where did you find that out?

I am a little on edge about the journo assignment I sent in on Saturday... I really, really suck at leads (very sad). I just do. I mean, I thought what I came out with was alright... but in the end, I just don't know. I guess I'll see what my tutor has to say. The assignment I'm on at the moment is an editing assignment. Now that, I can handle! Hopefully as well as I think I can anyway. Hmmm... that was a bad sentence. Noting that. Oh, and that was a fragment. Bugger. :P

Last night, after work (and when Jen was done with classes for the day) went out with Jen and some of her old work buddies from ING, down at City Hotel. They were all really nice :D Jen and I ended up having a major talkfest later... 'twas a nice end to what had earlier been a crappy day. 

Today is nice... calm, relaxing... hmmmm...

*goes off, humming to herself*

Nuts

Ok, by total accident, I'm thinking I got a bit spoiled on HBP. Damn... oh well. I guess I'll just have to see how it all goes about! 

Meanwhile, are there any drummers or guitarists in the house?

'Suddenly...'

'the wheels are in motion, and I-I-I-I, am willin' to sail any ocean...' yep... my 80s hitch is still going. That one's from Xanadu and it's a really sweet song.

I've done my load for the day and I'm just relaxing in the library again. I've got an assignment I want to submit tonight for Journo so that I'm on my way with it all again and I want to re-focus and do some brainstorming for some article ideas and some stories I want to write (or at least, try). It feels really good to have things rolling again... I've been stumbling around for a ridiculously long time now and it's about time things began to move forward again :) 

Last week was pretty cruisy... I only went in for one day so I've got some stuff to catch up on this week, which is good. Gives me something to do. Was tired as all hell that day though because we all left the house at around 5.30am in order to drop my dad and bro off at the airport. That meant I got into work around 2 hrs early, and no offices were open yet! I had to wait a bit before I could get started but in the end, I decided to clock out early. I was meeting up with Menchie anyway. She had another interview in the city and it's become the norm for her to drop in on me at work when she's done. 

Thursday night, a bunch of us went out to dinner at Parra and had a blast! My friend, Jennifer, brought her friend, Shay and the two of them combined is hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in ages! Unfortunately, Reyna had to leave around 8.30 so she wasn't able to come with the rest of us to this Karaoke place not far from Westfield. I'd never been to one before, just used friends' sets at their houses, and then later, my family's one. That was a gag and a half. Thankfully the sound system was very kind because I usually don't like the sound of my voice, esp my singing voice, on a mic, but it didn't sound as off there which I'm sure, was a relief to the others!

Then on Friday, I met up with my friend Melissa (whom I fondly refer to as Mel C), whom I have not seen in ages! She will be heading off to WYD soon so it was good to get to see her before she left. We did do some window shopping (seeing as we were at Westfield) but for the most part, we gabbed, which was loverly in itself. We ended up having lunch with her friend Ashish (I'm totally guessing on the spelling there) who works at Myer. Funny guy. When she left, I went about and looked at books. I ended up buying Carrie and Danse Macabre, both by Stephen King (after much price checking!). HURRAH!!!!!!! However, it was only later that I realised that I could have used my Dymocks card. Unbelievable. When I left Pitcher, they gave me an awesome lot of farewell gifts. I got a Lucky Bamboo (yep, the customary plant/flowers - They refrained from giving me flowers because they knew I would kill anyone who dared). I also got a copy of The Firm (I'd recently read RD condensed versions of The Rainmaker and The Pelican Brief and I wanted to get more Grisham), the piano sheet music to the Forrest Gump Suite (beautiful!), and finally a $90 gift card for Dymocks. I was shocked out of my mind when I saw how much the card was for... and I missed out on getting to use it for the first time. No matter. Lots more books to buy! :D

It has taken me a month to finish AC's autobiography. Finished it up on the train in this morning and got started on The Moving Finger, which is pretty good so far. I still have a couple more to go through before I can get onto my new SK books, but that's just another thing to look forward to.

It's really quite odd, having only 3 people in the house. It's just me, Ma and Lourdes... Kristina's already back at Yarraton. It's nice and quiet, but at the same time, I can't stop myself from expecting to hear the jingle of the chimes on the front door as either my dad or my bro arrive home from work. I hope they're enjoying themselves up there :) Thursday night, while waiting for Menchie and her friends to close up Oporto before heading off home, I sent my bro a message saying,'Oy! You guys in Reno yet?' because he hadn't messaged as he said he would and as he did when they arrived in Auckland. He then called me up to tell me how things were, and also to tell me thanks for waking him up at 5.30 in the morning! Light sleeper, that one. I was very, very glad to hear from him though.

Bored at work...

Today has been one of those days I would classify as a good/bad day. Not done a lot, mainly because I covered my quota last week and left myself with almost nothing to do this week. But at the same time, everything else has worked out well. I spent a large portion of the morning reading the news and doing some general reading and research and as the girls have been home lately (school/uni holidays and all), it's been hard to do because I want to avoid fights about who gets to do what on the comp. 

There's also my dad to contend with (and I say that in the most respectful way possible), seeing as he likes to have Filipino radio from Inq7 (?) blasting all night long. What with all that's happening with GMA over there, this has been going on every single night for the last week and a half. I don't mean to sound like I don't care what is happening, but I have to admit, it's hard to get used to the announcer's voice... it's not the easiest on the ears, not to mention all the cheesy ads. 

However, soon he and my brother will be on their way to Arizona for my cousin, Don's wedding and then up to Toronto to visit one of my Ninongs and his family. I was seriously contemplating coming with them, but then realised that it would stuff me financially and it would be too much to ask that they pay for me. Plus (and correct me if you can see I'm wrong Jan) at this time of the year, I wonder if the heat would kill me. Especially in Arizona. I'd prefer to go in the winter. I've been looking up places in the country (mostly the Blue Mountains area) to visit but again, it's a little beyond my means at the moment, so I'm just saving up and biding my time. I was never a travelbug anyway, not like the rest of the family, so if I never leave Sydney or Australia, I really don't mind. 

Oh, and random info from one of the books I'm reading (Agatha Christie's autobiograpy), was that she used to be work at a hospital dispensary during the Great War, so she was essentially a pharmacist. No wonder she can write so well about the use of poisons and chemicals in her stories :D Meanwhile, the woman got more proposals than I could have ever imagined, although from the way in which she writes, it was the norm and thus, not all that extraordinary. I'm not finished yet, but it's a fab read. 

Hurrah for senseless babble!

Anxious

I've had one friend confirm he's ok (and am grateful grateful grateful)... just waiting for word from another. 

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of London and those with family and friends there. 

From everything I've seen and read thus far, can't help but admire the spirit of the people up there. They're so... together, in all senses of the word.

'Standing taaaaaaaall, on the wings of my dreams!'

It's a little strange trying to get back onto this thing, especially since my tendency, as of late, has been to completely avoid going online altogether for anything other than reading the news, doing research (which often means, reading the news) and keeping up with friends (which is still something I have only remained semi-successful in doing). Then again, considering the copious amount of time I can spend reading stuff online, well... really. 

Because I like to ramble, I thought I'd nip that in the bud right now. Mini update? Ok:

- After enjoying unemployment for a few weeks, I got a job back at my uni, UNSW, working in admin there and started at the end of May. The hours and rates are great and the work itself is not difficult at all although somewhat tedious at times. The tedium however, tends to be broken by the good number of people I get to talk to over the course of the day because essentially, I raid a lot of peoples' desks and the various staff members back at uni are a pretty friendly and humorous lot. I also get to see my friends who are still stuck at uni (well sort of, considering it's now holidays) and I've not really had the chance to do that in a really long time. 

- Outside of work, I'm pretty busy so the remaining days of the week are something for which I am freaking grateful. I'm slogging through my Journalism course and trying to read and write as much of everything as possible (as I have so been instructed by many). I'm considering maybe later coming back and doing an arts degree and studying history, english literature and politics but for now, I'll make do with what I can read on my own. I know I don't need a degree to study all this stuff, but it might be nice to go back to do some structured study in those areas. For now though, I'm just trying to keep up my own reading on them and that's cool too. I've still got my counselling diploma to get through as well so going back to uni is still a really distant possibility.

- (small woohoo here!) I'm also really glad to be able to do all of this from the comfort of my own room, which was a recent acquisition after years of nagging to get the hell away from sharing with my two sisters ;) Nah, we added an upper floor to the house. My room has the best view... my window overlooks the park behind our house where kids have soccer games almost every night and you can see the people playing tennis down at the courts... and in the distance (toward the west), you can see the mountains. Of course, they're really tiny from where we are, but it's still really pretty. 

That was all still somewhat rambly so yeah, sorry. Old habits die hard and all that hat.

Meanwhile, in rebuilding my old links since the multiple breakdowns of my computers, I've been catching up on places I used to visit all the time (incl. blogs, forums, etc) and while I've been doing that, I've also been adding a million and onenew links to the favourites list. Today I went a bit nuts when I found this site that has sound files of all these old 80s TV themes (the subject line is from the chorus for Perfect Strangers)! Hello childhood! I love that site and I love the person who put it all together coz that was the biggest trip back into my kiddy past... ::sigh:: I know, I'm a total dork and clearly a HUGE tv geek to be singing along to songs from TV that was on back when I was 4 or 5 years old. And I wonder why I've maintained an American accent down here... I still blame Sesame Street for that :D

Aside from that, I've finally had another look at Wil Wheaton's site, to which I was addicted a couple years back and am now officialy re-hooked. I love the way Wil writes and I just got this vid of him reading from one of his books at Gnomedex, 2004, and he's funny as and a lot of fun to watch. I'm still trying to get a hold of his books (and Sean Astin's as well). It's kinda weird to think about the whole Mary Sue thing with regards to him and Wesley back on TNG, but I admire the hell out of him now.

That all said, here I go a-plugging again :D





And now I'm off coz State of Origin 3 is about to start and it's 1-1 at the moment so tonight's game is anyone's game (not that a NSW whitewash wouldn't have been awesome, but we get what we get). 

Go the BLUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, still alive... :P

Long time, no update. I'm in a rush so basics: quit my job, looking for part time work and back onto journo :D

Snagged from Gill:

1. Total number of films I own on dvd/video...
around the 200 mark...

2. The last film i bought:
Ages ago... Corrina, Corrina

3. The last film i watched: 
The Incredibles (not at the cinema... can't remember for the life of me, what I last saw at the cinema... )

4. Five films i watch a lot or that mean a lot to me: 
Little Women
While You Were Sleeping
Waking Life
Shawshank Redemption
Courage Under Fire

Aaah, the babbling brook...

Ok, first of all, hope everyone had a good Easter weekend :D I spent Sunday tasting wine up at the Hunter Valley with a friend and came to the solid conclusion that I am not a fan of the stuff, including the supposedly sweet, fruity wines. I'm no connoisseur and I wanted to laugh when this woman kept sticking her nose in her glass and talking about how you could smell passionfruit and a few other fruits... I took a whiff and my essentially inexperienced-with-wine nose could detect nothing but alco, which was basically enough to turn me off. Although, there were definitely times I was wishing I had, if anything, a Corona in my hand. That way I could be drinking something I could swallow and also keeping in the spirit of spirits.

Monday? Went shopping with Mel and ended up finding NESII for about $10. Sweet. Although NESII is nothing compared to the first one. But good ol' Foxtel's getting me that one for free (sort of). 

I don't know what more to say right now (although in the past, this has never tended to stop me from babbling on anyway and I doubt this occasion will prove any different). I suppose it doesn't help that it's past 3am down here and cognitive functioning is usually pretty sad around this time. Besides, not knowing what to say doesn't necessarily mean you don't have anything to say, it could also mean that you just can't pick and choose out of the mish that's mashing itself about your head. 

Yep, I would definitely pick number two on that one. This would probably entail a pending spurt of random rattle. Heh, what else am I good for?

I'm stuck for what to get Angela and Kyle for an engagement present. There are so many things you could possibly get, but then there's the matter of who'll get what... makes me appreciate registers all the more, especially since I'm altogether pretty bad with presents. Heh. I've got till Saturday, I'll think of something.

My second journo assignment continues to sit - not exactly untouched because I added to it earlier - forlornly on my laptop. It has been over a month. Man. I actually have an angle for the article now, but for some unknown reason, getting it all down is proving pretty damn hopeless right now. Considering the current time though, I'll just go with, 'there's always tomorrow'. Hopefully it's mailed before the end of the day (in other words, I need to get those journalistic juices pumping somehow before the day is out!). Hmm... I should take out the hopefully. That statement needs to be more resolute (hehe, does saying that work? Is it a start? Worth a shot I guess). 

That in mind, I would just like to say - bloody Sociology. :P Oh bugger, resolve ditched me pretty damn quickly! 'There's always tomorrow...'

My stats mid session is open book. God bless you Melanie... and thanks for being nice to my friends when you were on their honours panels.

Today was (again, considering the time) to be Jonathan Brandis' 28th birthday. I still get pretty damn upset when I think about what happened to him... of course, any case that's similar saddens me. Happy Birthday Jonathan. Wherever you are, here's to hoping you're happy.

There are a lot of people I miss big time, since I've gotten so behind online... all my FF buds (of course, minusing those I get to talk to pretty regularly on MSN ;)) basically. I've not gotten to talk to so many people for a helluva long time and emails are proving cumbersome. Plus, people are getting pretty busy about this time of year so...

Gah, that's enough whining for me. 

As it strikes 4 down here, I'm off to bed. I think I mentioned bodily rebellion in an earlier entry? Well, it's an all out war now and I'm pretty sure I'm losing so some defences need to be rebuilt.

Nighty night. :) 

PS. I know this was painful to read but I should get some allowances. It's 4.14am after all.