It's August already! Craaaazy...

Random thoughts/updates/non-tweets...

* I love my piano. Really, really, really.

* I'm liking work at the moment. Nice role with people worthy of both respect and admiration (moreso emphasised by almost 7 years of past experience with people of very different stock). Go the DCRC!

* I kind of miss working at Market. Such a completely unpretentious work environment will never be found again (not even at DCRC although they come a wonderful second)... not to mention the incredibly alive atmosphere whenever markets were open. I miss my Friday $1.50 chips and drink run! Oh, 2007, you were so long ago now...

* Thanks to the Aroma Festival, I have now eaten Chocolate Fudge. As it was also sugar free, the taste needed to grow on me but it did and I whoohoo that. Yummm... my world continues to expand with possibility. Thank you, vegans. If I weren't such a meatlover, I would... still probably not be vegan, but I thank you for giving me one word to summarise my encyclopaedic menu requirements.

* Head's been in the 80s lately (blame 21 Jump Street [I'm kind of in love] and Inspector Gadget [Penny is my childhood hero] and my proclivity for excessive nostalgia) and one funny thing I can't get over was that people used to have to WRITE their bowling scores down. Hee. Oh, that and 'Oh Mr Hart! What a mess!' - yep, there was something unattainably cool about 80s Australian media. I really mean that. Watch the old ads and you will see. Oh and 80s TV Themes were the bomb. Especially the sitcom ones. Ref. Growing Pains, Family Ties, Who's The Boss, Valerie, Perfect Strangers... my mp3 player is graced by your existence.

* Loved the last Harry Potter movie, even the ending I was dreading which I think was better handled in movie rather than book. Admittedly mostly liked what didn't happen in terms of potential cliches in dialogue and scenes and excessive exposition and it was certainly a veritable eyefeast (I almost regret not seeing it in 3D. I said, almost). Worthy fare thee well to an awesome series.

Now I must re-read the series as part of mourning.

* Speaking of movies, I blame my sister for a hopefully temporary loss of sense after staying up to watch WTF?! Movie of the Year - The Accidental Husband. Stupid, pointless, nonsensical, infuriating. It will be some time before I trust Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan again. I don't care if it was 2008. How could they? How??

* Babycakes NYC's tweets make me desperately miss NYC and it's array of fantastically Jel-friendly food. Oh, Whole Foods... how did I ever leave you? And it's not just the food... oh, TKTS with your excellently cheap and surprisingly close seats on Broadway!

* 2011, although you still currently hold the position of 'oddest. year. ever', I can't I say I hate you. I believe it's called 'tough love'. Much as I often want to beat you to death screaming 'merciless bitch', I have seen the moments of unbridled kindness and I know it's all for my own good so... hugs?

Despite horses and buggies, Amish aren't necessarily 'low-tech'

Click the title...

I actually found this really interesting... especially now as everyone constantly lauds the awesome that new technology has been able to bring into our lives while also maintaining the unavoidable wariness of its potential downfalls.

A point on the whole idea of 'friends' VS 'contacts' - from the article:

CNN: What about cars?

Brende: To the extent that you are mobile in an automated or motorized way with something like a car or motorcycle or fast moving tractor, you've increased your radius of contact with other human beings, but at the same time you dilute the quality of contact within that radius.

Like any notion, it's true when it's true and not when it's not (simply put, you're either real friends or you're not) but in a world where networking, 'add as friend' and 'follow' are such highly promoted focal points of communication it's hard not to imagine that human relationships have definitely taken some hits as the years have gone by.

That said, this is all coming from someone writing on an online blog and who has certainly enjoyed the expanded horizons in acquaintance provided by good ol' technological advance. Heh, you'd think my ass would hurt after sitting on this damn fence this whole time...

Oh well, bonus? A little less stereotyping in the mass media about any particular group is always welcome so cheers, Mr Sutter. Thanks for teaching me a little more about the Amish and backing up my belief that being 'behind' doesn't necessarily mean staring people in the ass and missing out on the good stuff.

Whoa... how did I eat that many cookies?

I literally asked myself that question not 5 seconds ago... oh, Country Kooka...

There are few things greater than long weekends and I say this despite the fact that I am currently not working (though hurrah for the fact that that's not for long now!). No this last weekend wasn't a non-stop party per se, rather the perfect balance between good times with good friends, last minute random trips to random destinations and blissfully sheer r&r.

I breathe a long, happy sigh.

The mind continues to whirr but I think I might give it a rest for now.

Congratulations I.aM.mE! - ABDC 6 Finale review

I couldn't be happier that they won despite the travesty that was this entire season. Honestly, the looks on the faces of the Iconic Boyz only emphasises how wrong it was for them to be on the show. The whole time they were led to believe that they were more than they were and talented though they are, they were nowhere within the vicinity of talent as any of the other crews. Hopefully the loss doesn't hit them too hard and they only continue to learn and grow from here.

Thoughts while watching the old champions perform:

Though they never really wowed me that much on the show, Poreotics are pretty damn talented and they've only improved since they won, good stuff...



We Are Heroes were underwhelming...



Quest Crew! Haha, though they're my personal favourites I couldn't hold in the WTF when I saw their outfits and upon first watch I was hmmmm-ing much to my chagrin... not my favourite routine of theirs (who came up with the PJ party idea?? I giggle) but it grew on me upon rewatch... furthermore, they went for humour and it definitely gave that...



Super Crew rocked the ninja theme...



JABBAWOCKEEZ... fucking beautiful - loved that they shared the stage with the competing West Coast crews, loved the always innovative fluidity that never fails to seamlessly meld with their sharp clean moves and ADORED Lil BabyWockee. Sorry Iconic Boyz but Lil Bit (as apparently the crew refer to her) straight up outdanced y'all. AWESOME PERFORMANCE.



And thus the most bizarre season of ABDC comes to a nice close. Thankfully the best crew won!

Recommendations

There aren't many. Due to the rather odd year 2011 has become, I've read a lot less lately so in the last 5 months, I've only really been able to finish one book and am currently in the process of reading book numero dos, which has been pretty good thus far. Films-wise, Saturday night's was the first this year that compelled me to actually recommend it so here goes:

Rec #1 It's Not News, It's FARK by Drew Curtis

                                    

Sure, we all know just how much crap is fed to us by the media as 'news' but give this book a read and you'll see just how farked up the industry really is. Case in point: a random comment on a news piece in a forum went on to become the source for literally hundreds of 'legitimate' news articles. Seriously. Oh, and while informing me just how masterfully the mass media screws itself and us over in the process, this book also cracked me up something fierce. Drew Curtis' wit speaks to my TWOP-bred love of snarky commentary and I can now thank him for some of the odder looks I received on the train while reading his words and proceeding to stifle guffaws. Thanks, man.

Rec #2 X-Men First Class

                                  

I had no real expectations for this movie as I'd grown tired of the X-Men movie franchise, especially considering what they had done to some of my favourite characters from the cartoons (I just cannot accept Anna Paquin as Rogue. And waiting three films before finally showing Gambit?) but I tagged along with my friends last Saturday and LOVED it. Bravo, Matthew Vaughn. James McAvoy was an excellent Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender did an amazing job as Magneto. I also loved the story - inevitable cheesy moments aside - most notably the relationship between Charles and Erik, the alignment of events with those of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the incorporation of Kevin Bacon's Shaw into Magneto's raison d'etre. I'm no comic book purist so I don't know exactly how much that messed with comic book canon but from my vantage point, it was all really well executed and I enjoyed every minute.

Ok, recs done, what I'm currently reading:

                                  

Loved the movie when I saw it not that long ago and so far, the book hasn't disappointed me. I'm loving how Walter Kirn writes about Ryan and his life in Airworld.

And because I can't be bothered including yet another picture, I'm simply going to say I can't wait for the final Harry Potter to come out next month! I'm especially curious what the movie will do with the epilogue. I thought it was nice and it certainly took nothing away from my enjoyment of the book or the series but as someone who has read more than her share of fic over the years, that ending was very fic-ish and I would wonder how the movie would approach it. I guess I'll see next month!

Ten years late, I still have to watch Manic...

This is Me...

Ok, so for the purposes of trying to collectively round up my blogging 'history', I'm linking this place with my other online ranting grounds. Consolidation is nice, no?

My old LJ - where I ranted on and off in my last year at uni and more increasingly off once I began working. Basically the 5 year gap on this blog was mostly filled in there.

My new Tumblr - Still experimental, but admittedly a fun tool.

Meanwhile, here's to the hope that blogging becomes a steadier endeavour in the year ahead... or what's left of it, anyway. Almost halfway through 2011? Trippy.

Post #1 of People I Boundlessly Admire Online

So I've been doing the online thing for nearly 12 years now (which is, funnily enough, also how long I've been honing my writing skills... skills that will likely not make an appearance in this entry) and along the way - what with its ever widening reaches and its providing wonderfully artistic people with more tools than ever before - I've encountered some amazingly talented people during my billions of hours floating through cyberspace.

Whittling the list down so that this entry doesn't end up ridiculously long won't really be that easy, but I'll do what I can. Some of them will certainly be familiar, while others will only have been known to select pockets of people with certain common interests (however dorky those interests may be. Or are). In order to simplify the process for myself, I'm going to approach this chronologically.

On second thought... I've decided I'll make this a series of entries. I know I should reign in my inner rambler, but I just can't and there's so much to say.

#1 Nicky aka Silversun



Back in 2001, while attempting to find more info on a TV show that I had recently become rather obsessed with and that had been cancelled, I came across a place called Fanforum. The show was Young Americans and my friend, Mel, had introduced it to me and, despite the show's complete lack of substance, talent or good writing (seriously!), we both kind of fell in TV love. It was genuinely pathetic (and only she and I will ever know just how far into the depths that pathetic plunged), however, in stumbling quite by accident upon the YA forum on Fanforum, I not only got to catch up on what Aussie TV had not bothered to air, but I also came across an amazing bunch of people and this marked the beginning of some of the most important friendships in my life.

As all this also marked my most thorough attempt at fanfic to date, an area left completely open due to a single season cancellation, I became acquainted with some extremely talented writers who had done incredible jobs of continuing a show that we hadn't wanted to end. Nicky was one of those people.

Funnily enough, it wasn't her alternate second season that made her catch my eye. In fact, it was a crossover fic she had written, combining YA with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Pretty left field combination, huh? But it was so well done. Never mind how well this girl knew how to visualise scenes that sprang to life in my mind, but her representations of the BtVS characters were so on point, I could hear the dialogue so clearly in my head - Buffy, Xander, Willow... seriously, I couldn't get over it. So, I told her so.

After that, we were in touch pretty often, reading each others work and sort of beta-ing them as well. She was one of the first people to read my then developing YA fic and her encouragement was one of the few things that got me to the 100 and something pages that I eventually punched out. I couldn't have been more grateful, especially considering how delicate my life's relationship with writing was at the time. In fact, she was one of the first people in my life to really encourage me to keep writing, and she did this all the way from where she lives in NZ.

Her work, meanwhile, never ceased to amaze me. She wrote each episode in prose, but with some minor cinematic direction, providing teasers, voiceovers and location changes. Her use of language never failed to impress me and, as I said before, everything she wrote lived and breathed in my mind's little TV set. Not to mention her handle on plot and continuity and her grasp of character, something so often lacking in other fic writers' works. Admittedly, an 8-episode season only provided the most basic of introductions to character, but she took those introductions and developed them amazingly. Furthermore, she kept in style to the genre, only 'failing' in that her characters swore, unlike their real TV-world counterparts. Not only did she 'resurrect' the show for those of us who missed it, but she made it her own, breathing depth and life into it that hadn't actually been achieved by the original creators. She gained a substantial audience and even created new fans for the show, also managing to pick up a stack of online awards in the process.

Inevitably, as time went on and studies and life demanded more attention, both our communication and our writing slowly began to wane and, although I kept up with her work, we lost touch. Yes, the sad thing about online relationships of any kind... more often than not, they end up petering out in this very way.

A couple of years passed and one day, I decided to look her up again. I found that she had continued the series and had gotten to Season 4 so every so often, I would check it out, still marvelling at her writing ability and enjoying the way the 'show' had evolved. Then, I noticed she had a 'Progress Journal' on her site so I checked it out. It brought me to her Livejournal which allowed me a little insight into what she was now up to, aside from the writing and the study, and it was here, that I found her work in vidding. Her vids revealed that her talent for creating such vivid tapestries in her writing, also spilled into the realm of visual media and I discovered a whole new level of admiration for her creativity and vision.

Now, although my memory is a little hazy on this, I am certain that by this time, I had already seen some fan vids on other fansites and on a site that, back in good ol' 2005, was still slowly expanding (You-what?). Fan vids, at the time, were gradually developing as a form of fanart, which prior to that point had mostly consisted of Photoshop artworks and animations, and I had seen a few - albeit a poorly edited and clunky few, mostly consisting of some cheesy song playing to some chopped clips. Some had certainly stood out (one that comes to mind was a vid exploring the Harry/Hermione relationship after the release of the third Harry Potter movie. It was to Everytime by Britney Spears, which might sound kind of lame, but actually worked well with the vid), but for the most part, they weren't much to talk about.

Nicky's YA-Think Twice vid blew my mind. While it may be overdoing to say I thought it looked like a professional vid, it was not far from that at all. She had created a study of the Scout/Bella/Sean conflict to Eve 6's Think Twice (an awesome song that I'm happy she introduced me to) and her manipulation of those clips to the music and lyrics was phenomenal. She was able to not only create faux-flashbacks, but her transitions were all on beat, well paced and matching the rapidity of the drums. One section that completely slayed me had an overlay of rapidly changing scenes on one scene, all perfectly in time with the song building up between the bridge and the next verse. It was unbelievable. I had never, ever seen a fan vid quite like it.

Having found one vid, I, of course, sought out more and her other clips were all just as amazing and even better. I'm sure it's safe to say that Think Twice was an extremely well done amateur production, but it only meant that she developed her skill and created even more amazing vids after. She had also linked to some other talented vidders, notably Becky of Tired-Eyes.net, and my appreciation of the art only grew. Vidders (and I mean REAL vidders, not those people who just lump a bunch of clips and effects together with a song, but people who actually delve into character studies and even tell new stories) are a group of little known talents who are, thanks to the growth of the net, slowly getting their due (check out Vividcon 2010). Nicky herself appears to have gained an even bigger audience (hell, she's actually had people create vids for her writing. Yourstreetserenade's vids are particularly awesome) and a stack of accolades and I couldn't be happier for her. She's incredibly talented and she deserves it all.

Anyway, if you're up for checking out her work, just have a peek at the link above. If you're a fan of the vastly developing world of online art, I highly recommend it.

Although I still haven't actually attempted to get back in touch with her personally (due to a dillemma along the lines of the 'Do I say hi or not?' persuasion), I've checked back in to her work every so often over the years and have only continued to be astounded by her visiotivity (thanks Barney). I remember back when we used to email, I once told her that I reckoned she could have shot and directed the YA episodes better than the original creators.

I guess I was onto something there.

Coming up next: he portrayed a few of my favourite characters - Gordie Lachance, Wesley Crusher and Joey Trotta - and was the reason I even thought of starting a blog back in 2003.

Hello

It's a return of sorts, being here... I've said that the last couple of times on my livejournal which, by the way, was the sojourn of the majority of what I had to say 'online' or 'in public' between 2003 and this very moment... where, you ask? Here, good ol' Livejournal, home of poets, storytellers, comedians and observational ramblers.

I got myself on there, acquired some lovely acquaintances, a free web domain, watched as my traffic lessened and lessened over the course of the first month and then posted whatever, whenever. Good times...

The online world is an interesting place and since my first foray into it, I've found it fascinating. I have to admit, it's nice to be here again... and it's even nicer to be here without the aid of Facebook, Myspace, Friendster... and so on.

Almost 2 years to the day since my last post here...

No wait... it's on American time so the date is mixed up. Me and my Aussie ways. Ah well, never mind. Would have been an amusing coincidence.

I'm actually currently lost as to what got me looking up this place again after all this time... while I'm at work, no less. Although, there is a thankful lull after an interestingly hectic day thus far. Looming deadlines and a poorly distributed comm have had me either sending email after email or talking on the phone most of the day so this momentary quiet (however long it ends up lasting) is more than welcome.

I must say, it feels kind of nice to be on here again. Almost like a trip into a different time and a vastly different life. And I think I said something to that effect in my last entry.

What's changed? A lot, but the main things would probably be that two years ago today...

* I was still a financially uncertain casual employee and admittedly, permanency hasn't necessarily rendered my uncertainty non-existent, but a kinder degree of security is a good thing for sure.

* I was still a (not particularly apt) Freelance Journalism student whereas now, I'm technically a far more proficient Ethics and Legal Studies student. Furthermore, I never even saw postgrad studies as an option to begin with. It was nice to be proven wrong.

* I imagined my first book (if it ever came to being) would be fiction. The book I am now more solidly working on is decidedly non-fiction.

* I could never picture myself going on a plane, let alone overseas whereas now I'm set to head up to NYC for an amazing month and a half in October/November of this year.

...among other things...

I kind of love time. Impatient as I may be, being the perpetual student/fascinated little kid that I am, I love the fact that you never stop learning as it unfolds. Whether about yourself or about the world around you, there's always something to capture your interest or attention.

Although that said, there are definitely enough aspects of my life that have remained kindly constant and mostly happily so. I like that very much. Good family, good friends, good times overall.

But for now, back to work and a lovely long weekend following. It's been a nice trip indeed... for whatever is it's purpose, I'm glad this place is here :)

Current mood: Dorky
Current music: My Miracle - Ryan Conferido

As daylight savings once again cost me an hour of sleep, I want to know...

... 2008, if you don't mind me asking, where the hell did you disappear to so quickly?

Then again, I'm not really the best one to talk about disappearance...

Life is no longer so much bizarre (as I would have so vehemently called it at one stage) as it is perpetually momentous in terms of unpredictable yet simultaneously constant change. The interesting thing here is the linkage between my life's past and present that this place represents.

Oh dear, listen to me. Pardon being begged as it is nearly 5am and I'm just thanking goodness for the public holiday tomorrow.

Returning to coherence? An update lest one is needed:

- have recently finally gotten my first permanent job in over 3 years meaning a good ol' hurrah for job security and the freedom to finally concentrate for real

- after 10 years of constantly crippling fear, I finally sent in my first real fiction submission (an achievement somewhat facilitated by security provided by abovementioned job)... only to be met with rejection which was, however, overwhelmed by my joy at holding the evidence in my hand of my having finally gotten over myself and tried (when my sister heard my reaction to the letter I received from ACP Publishing, she thought I'd been published :P)

- to counter that step-and-stumble, have finally received my first byline and am thus finally (although only at the beginnings of being) a published writer. Admittedly, the piece was published in an internal government publication meaning that my only readership would be members of the police force. However the editor liked what I'd written so much that what was originally a letter to the editor was transformed into a story and only 2 words were edited out which makes me :D

Yep, it's taken me 10 years to finally take these first few steps. Granted, there were a few things contributing to my lack of concentration - finishing my degree, attempting to balance full time work with my diploma, fear for lack of financial stability and security due to ongoing casual work and my overall battle with accepting what I want to do with my life alongside life's general goings on - but hey, a start's a start and for the first time in my life, I feel genuinely validated in my choice of career AS WELL AS unafraid of my financial future (or as much so as I can be in the economy's current state).

Regardless of whatever pitfalls approach, things can only get better. :D

FB, MS, FS and of course... LJ! How could i forget?

Seems it's that time of year when I realise this page exists and I decide to do something with that piece of knowledge... like post! Thankfully it's at least been less than a year since I put anything up here but not so great is the fact that enough can happen in pretty short spaces of time... I'm especially hopeless when it comes to catching up as was proven not too long ago, at dinner with a friend I'd not seen in ages. Attempting to answer 'how have you been?' was a little too much for my addled brain :P

That all said, I suddenly find myself with little to say... I'll blame the heat, which ain't great down here at the moment... although apparently nothing to complain too much about in comparison to the people in Cali right now. Jan, hope you're ok hun!

Essentially, details skimmed, life ambles along. I'm currently working two jobs, trying very hard to keep my health in check, while attempting to convince myself yet again that I can still write. It's insanely pathetic, I know, but the minor victories have been there and gladly enough, they've honestly helped. That, and the fact that for every crowd of people that doesn't think much of my chosen path, there is that one person who believes in me :)

Gill and Chris, please forgive me my lack of correspondence. I will definitely be rectifying that situation soon enough! I'm no slave to MySpace, Facebook, Friendster or whatever else out there, but I've somewhat come to rely on them to help keep in touch :P 

Anywho, here's to the next entry, whenever that may be ;)

Who wants an update?

Seems I’ve caught this place after exactly a long lazy month. Funny, that. None too pleased that it’s taken me this long, but I suppose late is usually better than never so will just go with that!

I hope that everyone had a lovely Easter! Mine, as it usually is, was spent with family and we had a wonderful weekend. Easter is generally around my favourite time of the year so am happy to say this year was no different. The fam and I topped up Easter Weekend with dinner at Hog’s Breath Café (one of my favourite restaurants, despite that rather blegh sounding name) where it turned out my friend, Ally, was waitressing her last night and thus planning on getting very drunk at shift’s end. A few of us have wanted her to slow down the work for ages, so was very glad to find that out. She already has a full time job in a law firm in the city and her time at Hog’s was just flattening her out. Granted, rent is a bitch, but she was barely home because of work and at home, all she did was sleep because she was exhausted. Time for a rest, she seems to have realised, while the rest of us breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, what’s been happening? Round up:

* Katherine’s birthday dinner was loverly. We Yum Cha’d it and later, ran into some old friends as well. Am STILL waiting on pictures from the others. That night, Kim stayed over at my place because Shane had just begun renovating their house and she needed to be out of there for a couple weeks. It was funny though, because my mom took one look at her and wanted to know if she and Shane had split up or had a fight or something… I was choking down the laughter while trying to tell her that he was just renovating! She stayed the rest of the time with her family and the work was finished last Monday. Good thing, too. She was missing him badly while she was away and they were barely getting to see one another the whole two weeks. 

* Ange has now joined the ‘23’club. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to her Luna Park gig that Friday because I was at a weekend retreat at Bargo, so she and I chilled it up at her place on her actual birthday (which was the Thursday). Sounds like LP was good though, Ange now branded forever as the Chick who threw up on the Rotor. I must say, though, I HATE that ride. Hate. I was so sure I was going to die when I went on it… eepers.

* The retreat was great, especially being during Lent, and I came home pretty nicely refreshed even after Katherine and I got completely lost on the way home and ended up driving all the way out to the airport. It ended nicely though because we had a major ‘kindness of strangers’ moment trying to find our way home. In fact, I’m currently working on the piece to submit to RD for their ‘Kindness of Strangers’ section :P Sure, it was just really nice people helping us find a route home, but it was so out of the blue and nowhere and kindness is kindness as strangers are strangers and if they read it, we’ll at least have gotten a chance to say thank you :D

* Got to watch the Bell Shakespeare company’s Macbeth at the Opera House with Mel and Ryan. It was AMAZING. The acting, the set, the lighting… Lady Macbeth was really good, the star, without a doubt. Macbeth was good too, but at times, he really needed to tone down his performance. 

* Thanks to Mench, Aissy, Marlina and Sanna, I’ve finally gotten to see the new Pancakes on the Rocks restaurant near Parra. Nice little place, though I still find it so odd that it’s still called Pancakes on the Rocks when it’s nowhere near The Rocks. I dunno, just seems silly to me.

* Friday, went to see Becoming Jane with Nicole and actually really enjoyed it (even though I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it). I actually liked Anne Hathaway in it… and loved James McAvoy. I liked the story and I knew it was largely fictional so I didn’t have any need to be pedantic about accuracy. Rather depressing at times (both Nicole and I kept looking at one another at points and asking if we reckoned it was time to ditch our pens and quit writing considering the hardships involved :P), but overall, it was a good watch.

Meanwhile, coming up, seems another stay at the Westin’s in order for the weekend. Mench’s friend is having a birthday do in the city so most likely there will be clubbing, which I’ve actually wanted to do for a while. Works for me. A good part of me, however, is looking forward to Sunday morning. Martin Place, early morning on the weekend, is so calm and peaceful especially in contrast to the bustling place it is during the week, with everyone rushing to work. It kind of weirds me out to think I used to be one of those people… no regrets though. I just really like getting to see Martin Place like that. Still. Quiet. No people. 

Anzac Day weekend approaches, along with Mel’s birthday so a bunch of us are heading to her place to give her new Wii a go. Considering the effort needed to play that thing, I’m guessing we’re all going to look like right asses by the end of the day! And hurrah, finally seeing the Manga Exhibit at the Art Gallery the Saturday after! I’ve been wanting to go to that for ages. 

At the moment, I'm hoping that all this can come through as the health has been rather up and down over the last couple weeks. Overall, I should be ok, but have been fighting the rather flarey skin and the flu lately. 

Bookswise, I've just finished Written on Glass by Judith Lennox. Took me a month, but LOVED it. The story and the characters are so well written. I'm now on One True Thing by Anna Quindlen, which from all I've heard, is very good. 

Musicwise, maybe it's just the after effect of going to my first ever concert alongside the nostalgia associated with them, but I'm very into Westlife at the moment... or at least, revisiting some of the songs I remember from the end of high school and around firstyear. So very funny, considering how reluctant I was to go in the first place. I've snagged a couple albums and DVDs and I'm really liking them. Also liking that they don't hide from the fact that they are more performers than songwriters. Sure, they're cheesy and all, but damned if their hiding that fact. 

Along with that, have fallen in love with Imogen Heap. 

At work, I'm doing something different for a while. I'm up at Policy Management again, doing copyright work, again. Variety is nice, but admittedly, the work is rather deadening. Thankfully, I'm doing more research than anything else and I've been able to come across some pretty interesting info (and not just about copyright :P) and that's because I'm looking at a lot of journals and snooping around the different faculty sites. The School of Physics site has some really cool stuff on it and it feeds the physics geek in me, so hurrah! :D

Moving away from the work side of things, I've been producing a lot more outside lately and that is fabulous. I've been stretching a bit, creatively... drawing more, playing more... I've been punching out a really basic tune on the piano... the chords, I'm having issues with, but I do like how it sounds so far. It's my third composition, ever, and considering I've been playing for 13 years, I hope I can do a few more at least. For now, however, I'll see how this one pans out. I've also been exercising the voice a lot more and hurrah! My range is wider than it's ever been. I'm hitting notes I never thought I could sing with more ease... my breathing, however, requires a good amount of improvement. 

At the moment, I'm working on a couple of stories, one in particular that I'm enjoying watching evolve as I write it. No, I don't have any plans to send this out... it's more a personal achievement at the moment, considering how dead my writing has been for so long. I'm simply enjoying the process of creating these characters, learning more about them and teasing out their stories bit by bit and I'm loving the fact that I can do it. It's been a rather recent development, this acceptance of what I want to do and its ability to live alongside my attempting to be financially independent (which most others do not see), and I couldn't be happier about that.

So I guess the point of this extremely long entry is that life is good :)

Cake is nice

After finding a quiz on burn out on Gill's LJ, I was looking at the other quizzes and I found this one, feeling the sweet tooth hitting me.

You Are a Lemon Cake

Strong, sexy, and overpowering.

You know who you are, and you're not afraid to show the world your fabulous self.

You're confident, charming, and extremely popular.

I can't say those would have been my first thoughts on a lemon cake but i then thought of the zest... which made me think of semolina lemon cake and that's just... *drool* it is pretty powerful stuff so I get it! Jan, that list of yours wasn't helping out either! I know a conspiracy when I see one... :P

I'm currently munching on a Hobnob so, you win.

Meanwhile, I'm only a few hours shy of finishing Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination and already I'm imagining conspiracies against me. Crazy, rather overly fantastic read, but definitely good fun! I do like Helen Fielding's writing style.

Hmmm, seems a bit of catch up is in order since I last posted... what was there? Oh yes, the Westlife concert was surprisingly fun. I honestly didn't expect to have as good a time as I did (I was also brought back to my Shane Filan crushing days... sometimes I hate being such a girly girl)and going with Mel and Ryan made it the best. I wish one of us had brought a camera though. Pics would have been good! I love those two to death. Afterwards, got a lift home with Menchie and the gals and ended up having ice cream, pancakes and chips (well, the first two for them, the last for me :P) in Parra a little after midnight, before having to drive all the way out to near Liverpool to get Marlina home and thus ensuring that I wasn't going to make it into work tomorrow. Thank goodness for a flexible to the point of ridiculous work timetable!

Then later that week, had dinner with the labbies and then immediately after, I headed back to UNSW (so yeah, I left work, only to come back... very, very sad) for the start of session party at the Roundhouse with Jen and Ri . The decision had been rather up and down until during the dinner when I asked Ri for the directions to her new place in Bondi, she told me to just go to uni and I realised, oh, so we're going after all. I was sure it would reek of firstyears (yes, I am arrogant) and really didn't expect much... but second pleasant surprise of the week was that we had a blast! Ended up there till 3am coz we found the best group of randoms to talk to in the end, amongst all the terrible music, the drunken babble and scary dancing! To Andre, Chris, Chris, Chris, Anthony, Tom, Igor, Slav, Kira, Egg, Swiss guy, new Seven Hills guy, Poker King guy, Prague guy and everyone who bummed Ri's smokes for making the night memorable! Damn it, we should've gotten a pic, but no one thought to bring a camera to this thing.

Next day, Jen and I got to chill at Ri's new place in Bondi... it's lovely and there is a perpetual breeze coming in from the beach and at night, you can sometimes hear the waves... honestly, I'm envious.

Then last week, after some rather interesting days at work, it was to the Blacktown Show with Ange, Kyle and the girls and ok, notes: Kyle is manic in any car-related ride, the Flashdance ride should be outlawed for making me so dopey for 20 minutes after riding it (I stopped drinking for a reason!), Kayla could not be cuter on a jumping castle, Shane is terrible at the pop-up and scare you to death greeting and Tracey is a legend :D

Oh, and I am now officially an Ugly Betty and a Grey's Anatomy fan. Hurrah for Seven's Sunday lineup ;)

As to this week? One of my friends is going to Uruguay to teach English and his farewell is on Friday... I couldn't be prouder. Go Francis! And Katherine's birthday shindig is on Saturday and it's the gals so it'll be good :D Here's to hoping I get over this danged cold before all that!

Revisiting lists...

Patrick Park's Life is a Song is playing in my head.

I made these mid-last year and wanted to see how I'd done with them :)

'DVD hunt currently consists of:

Running On Empty (the River Phoenix one)
Little Nikita
Macross (Do You Remember Love)
Robotech (all eps)
Friends: The One With All Ten Seasons (I already know where this one is, and hopefully will get it soon :D) - got stuffed on this one. Waited too long, however, Ri is helping me out so all is not lost!
Veronica Mars
SeaQuest DSV (season 1, anyway. Yay!)
Entourage
Charles In Charge'

'To add to the potential spending spree, I'm dying to read:

Wicked
March (only because I'm crazily interested in the idea that a fanfic won a Pulitzer)
The Outsiders
A Light In August - hard core read, this one. To me, anyway. I preferred As I Lay Dying.
On The Road...'

To which I now would like to add: My Sister's Keeper (Picoult), Lunar Park (Easton Ellis), and more Daphne Du Maurier. I have recently become obsessed after re-reading Rebecca and then following that up with Flight of the Falcon andMy Cousin Rachel. I could not put any of them down for long at all. What amazing books. 

I've currently suspended myself from reading the rest of Windfall by Penny Vincenzi (I got the book for 30c at a fete last September, along with 12 others [almost all of which I've finished, hurrah! so can hopefully get started on the batch I got at the recent sale in Olympic Park], so I thought I'd give her a try. Bit of a tough act, following Du Maurier, but it is interesting. I'm suspending it in favour of The Artist's Way at the moment, because that will have to go back to Ri soon, along with Breakfast at Tiffany's (which I loved! Oh yeah, I want to add In Cold Blood to the above list). 

I've gone a bit book nuts lately, allowing the tide of DVD fever to subside a little (after getting the Anne Series, The Office S1 and the SQ DVDs, anything else I buy at the moment would just feel like extra :) I still have to wait for the OC S4 DVDs to come out here). Thanks to that fete (13 books for $4!) and then the sale at Olympic Park just after Christmas (10 books for $30, but considering $30 is something like 1 1/2 books...) and my recent discoveries of King books in bargain bins (Pet Semetary, Dolores Claiborne and Misery for $15!!)... I've not been short on reading material - though time to read, that's been another story! I've yet to finish the first batch (although Rebecca and Breakfast at Tiffany'swere some happy intrusions there) and it seems it will be a while before I get to those King books, but ah well! It ain't bad having them to look forward to.

In the outer realms, am going to the Westlife concert tomorrow night that was originally planned for September, last year. Ri keeps paying me out for it and I don't blame her. Last year, Jimmy Eat World were here... and I was going to go to Westlife. This time around, both Evanescence and BoyzIIMen have been out here... and I'm going to Westlife :P I'm going more for the other people going if that makes sense and because I finally said to myself, what the hell, you've never been to a concert before so why not? Little did I know I could have made my first concert a band I really love. 'Tis cool. Westlife are not bad so the show oughta be cool and Anthony Callea is opening and I do want to hear that voice live!

Then Wednesday, maybe go-karting with Mench and the others, if not then dinner after. Whoa, just realised how many birthdays are coming up. Eepers. Maybe I'll skip go-karting.

I know I'm over-emotional at the moment...

...but whoa, I got to watch the Series Finale for The OC and damn it all, I actually cried. I really didn't expect that (but again, will blame current leaning towards emotional excess due to a definitely turbulent afternoon/evening), but it was just really, really well done. I gave up on the show after S2, then was one of the apparent few who heard that Marissa was no longer in the picture so thought, yes! Will check it out again and got re-hooked with S4. It's kinda gone up and down, but I loved how it ended. 

Another show down (but no way did I expect myself to be as sad about this show as I was about Friends... then again, when DC ended I got sad... crap, I'm an ever bigger sap than I realised). Frankly, I don't watch much TV anymore - Buffy, Friends and DC ended... I lost interest in GG and Charmed... and out of the more recent shows, none of the ones I want to keep up with are shown here in Australia. Veronica Mars (it is on here, but very, very behind) and The Office are pretty much it at the moment. With OC off, I'm back to online watching (though, for the most part, I was doing that with OC too being too impatient to wait a whole 3 days). 

Today, went on a bit of a baking spree... well, sort of. More accurately, our bananas were severely overripe so I had to use them and I thought, heck, might as well whip up some shortbread as well (no banana in it, just coz). I was going to make my macaroni salad but in this heat, the baking was enough. When Ange came over because she was sweet enough to snag me some pineapple for the salad when she went to the shops and she left the house with an armful of cake and cookies. 

Meanwhile, the turbulence seems to have taken a rest for now and hopefully does so for a little while. But there are some rather daunting challenges approaching in the week ahead, mostly to do with family and work. Will see how things go!

Hehehe, it feels funny to be coming back to this place for random rants like this :P

I like having days off. :D

LJ Repost: Craaaaaaaaazy!

Well, I've not updated this thing in, let me count it... almost five months! Terrible! That said then, may as well make this post worth it (even though the likelihood is this will show up on Friends pages and people will think... huh? Who is this? No blame for sure! I will cite the usual excuse and move on! Yes, life could always get crazier but admittedly what we have tends to be a bit on the nutso side! I only hope that it's being kind to everyone!

Meanwhile, as to the rest of it, on the more mundane bits and pieces, things are just plodding along really - work, writing, etc... I will say 2007 has already proven an odd and interesting year so I am honestly wondering what else is to come. Considering the curve balls that have made their way into the mix, I honestly have no idea anymore... just waiting and seeing! 

A resolve I have been working on lately, is more pics! I am not a camera person so I've rarely any pics of friends and family, which I really do want to change so I've been trying to gather more and trying to take more (will hopefully soon be investing in a camera!) and I feel like sharing so, here we go :D 

This is my darling friend, Menchie - without a doubt, one of the sweetest people in the world who, though yes, tick-off-able, is never able to hold bad blood toward anyone for long. At all.



It's an old pic, but I love it and recently uncovered it. 3 of the best people you'll ever know - Katherine, Mel and Kim. I've known Kim for 13 years, Katherine for 12 and Mel for 10... wow... love them all.



Dearest Clarkey on her big day :D She's a record holder (unless I can get a pic of Nicole on here...) I've known her since we were 5, so we're going 20 years here! It's amazing to watch someone you've known since Kindergarten, get married :D



This is with our friend Tess, another school friend whom I've known forever (another not so unlucky 13 years) who, much like myself, disappears for eons at a time, but when she comes back up, it's like she was never gone :D



Going from school friends to my main uni crew :D Reyna, Mench, Jennifer and myself. Reyna is one of the best people to hang out with and Jennifer is likely one of the most understanding people I've ever met in my life. Sadly, we are however, missing Ri and Carlos. 



The rest of the 'OC' (or Oporto Crew) at Menchie's bday last year. Cindy, moi, Aissy (Mench's sis), Dolly (from Darwin, hehe), Sam and Mae are all very, very cool chicas. Aissy, especially. Nothing is more fun than watching her and Mench battle it out over whatever in the car. :P



This was at Mench's surprise birthday do, a week before the one in the pics above. She had no idea what was happening (although admittedly, neither did a lot of us up till an hour or so earlier!). At this point, she was in the 'drunk-with-happiness' stage which is really infectious :D



At the Westin, where we stayed when Dolly came down from Darwin for a visit last year. We all experienced the same shock when we walked into the room and found there was a window into the bathroom! That is, till we found the blind. Still, we had to document so... :P



That night, we had dinner at Centrepoint (to crown a day of cruising through Sydney Harbour of which, unfortunately, I don't have pics. Mench and Dolly have them all!) and Ri came up too. All beautiful people through and through. I've covered Mench, Dolly is a real sweetheart and Ri is quite possibly, the best friend anyone could ever have. Love her to death. I couldn't do it myself, but the others got adventurous that night - I can only remember the kangaroo meat, though I'm sure there were some other weird dishes on that list!



An old and terribly scanned pic, but I wanted one of Ange's wedding up. She and Kyle recently celebrated their two year anniversary and now have two damned adorable little girls :D I also have to mention Mellicia, the girl with fabulously curly hair next to me (who doesn't seem to be looking at the right camera). Pure personality, that one, fantastic! 



The labbies. Well, sort of. I'm an 'honorary labbie' and Arlin, to Mel's right is her old friend from Singapore. Pann Pann and Ryan on my right, along with Mel were all up in BioSciences. Mel and PP are still there, but sadly, Ryan took off to USyd to do Medicine :( But no fear, we still all come up with whatever excuses whenever we can to head out to dinner or to the city! Birthdays... Fridays... 



And this was at Pontoon just before New Years. That bar really sucks, but good times abound despite it! We've got Apple on the end, there, Jen's friend... and lucky Carlos in the middle! Looking very out of it, mind you, as are the rest of us...there are some oddities about this pic, almost unnoticed to me except for Ri's caption. Poor Carlos... looks much worse than it is!

From this point, I really want to better maintain this place so hopefully will be able to do that! Missed more about it than I realised... though I admit, people have admittedly gotten me hooked on some other things *cough*myspace*cough*friendster*cough*... but at the same time, my net time has decreased significantly, in comparison to before. I used to be online all the time, browsing pages, forums, FF posting like a nutter, etc... oh well, I still do that, but not nearly as much. Although, I'm guessing that's a good thing! 

Meanwhile, here's to hoping this isn't the last entry for too long! Hopefully the next update doesn't come around later than mid-year or else that end of year round up is going to look so very sad.

Cheers! :D

Just a vent...

I LOATHE the creators of Winfixer, Winantivirus, Drivecleaner and every other similar program that has decided to, all at once, descend upon my PC and slow it down with incessant popups and false NAV alerts... these people need lives, I swear. And there goes another one! I've spent the last two weeks trying to rid my system of the damn PUPs and it's driving me mad! I mean besides the popups, things keep stalling and, oh, yeah all my System Restore points were wiped out so I couldn't use that to get rid of Winfixer(the original culprit). I'm currently getting advice from these dudes at a forum called Geeks to Go, though it's a little difficult to get the time to get online long enough to follow all the necessary steps. i do appreciate the help though.

Bah humbug. 

Ok, breathing normally now. 

Will now attempt to do the rest of the clean up. But before that, mini-update: 

- did not get that job but received a job offer in my current department, which I had to decline because of study. 
- Study, meanwhile, is going along although with some rather large hiccups due to incompetence on the part of the institution which decided to take over my college. It concerns their work experience guidelines which no one seems to know anything about, meaning my search for places to sign up to next year is halted. Although my tutor has expressed dislike towards WE and I wrote back and am now waiting on his reasons why. I'm a little confused, clearly, about certain course expectations... work expectations and thus how to pace myself for the next year, regarding work and a hopeful career... does make things interesting though so, cool, at least I can't say life's boring. 
- That said, I've been going out with my friends heaps and it's been both fantastic and a little distracting (in terms of study). Dopey as it makes me sound, having a life takes adjusting to :P
- Another one of my best friends got married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is currently on her honeymoon in Italy. :D
- I don't normally have much to say in this arena, but guys-wise - an old constant mind occupier has decided to resurface; I've additionally met someone with whom I have a freakish amount in common (although unfortunately I don't think that the attraction is mutual.. damn) and that I really like spending time with (though, sadly, it's not as often as I'd like..everyone's too damn busy nowadays); and am finding myself the object of particular intrigue to someone else. His words, not mine. Of course, what bites is that while yes, he's a pretty interesting guy (in more ways than one), for me, it stops there. 
- Lately, I have gone rather DVD-nuts, not only obtaining a good number of that list I mentioned previously, but heaps more and I am now officially obsessed with The Office (US), particularly Steve Carell and John Krasinski and the whole JAM fiasco (although not just that!). This third season already has me hooked. Oh, thank you YouTube, btw.

Ok, on to that clean up now. Pennebaker was right (again)... am feeling much better than I was earlier. Loverly.

La vita è bella... :)

Though I am both excited and nervous beyond my wits, it's the truth and I like it. 

I'm currently preparing a job app for a position on campus that I would really love and be really lucky to get at this stage. It's been a while since I had to endure the whole job application process and since this is a government/uni position, the process is even more strenuous. I've been fortunate enough to get every tip under the sun from a lot of the people I already work with, my boss has ensured me a fab reference and a couple of people have offered to go over my stuff for me as well so that was really kind of them. Of course, I still have to finalise my other referee (who will be getting a semi-irate call tomorrow... I kid) and finish addressing the criteria (they expect sub headings and admittedly, it does make things easier - I'm just editing now), but the closing date is next Friday so I have a little time.

I am certainly prepped for the possibility I won't get it, but I'm just excited to be applying :D let things go as they go...

Oh yes, and as of today - my HECS debt is history! I made the final payment today and now, I've paid off my entire tertiary education and I'm not destitute, huzzah! *dances* 

And to just pop that cherry on top there, it's payday tomorrow :)

Aaah, the things that excite you when you get older... and after all those lovely simple pleasures everyone's been noting...;) Will get mine out soon, promise.

On the prowl...

Anybody got any opinions on The Outsiders before I run out and find myself a copy?

I'd certainly heard of The Outsiders and recently, for some reason, seems more people are asking me if I've seen it. My answer was generally no up until recently when I was looking up another movie (one I knew had Ralph Macchio in it from the little that I had seen) and found that he wasn't in it (the movie was Gorky Park... how I came by the notion that that was the movie I'd been watching, I no longer know) and after a little more digging, I realised that all this time, I hadwatched The Outsiders, albeit unwittingly. The more I've looked into it, the more I want to read the book and watch the movie properly hence the question above.

DVD hunt currently consists of: 

Running On Empty (the River Phoenix one)
Little Nikita
Macross (Do You Remember Love)
Robotech (all eps)
Friends: The One With All Ten Seasons (I already know where this one is, and hopefully will get it soon :D)
Veronica Mars
SeaQuest DSV 
Entourage
Charles In Charge

Unfortunately, VM, Entourage(is it even on DVD?) and SQ are still unavailable down here in jolly ol' Oz. The others, thankfully, are just a matter of ordering... once I have the funds of course :P As the ATO are soon to receive a rather hefty amount from me, this won't be for some time yet. I can't complain too much though because over the last couple days, I was able to tape Finding Neverland and The Prince and Me, the former making me weepy by the end and the latter just something I can sit back and watch, soaking up the cutesy-poo. 

To add to the potential spending spree, I'm dying to read:

Wicked
March (only because I'm crazily interested in the idea that a fanfic won a Pulitzer)
The Outsiders
A Light In August
On The Road...

... along with a million others :P Thank you, A&R's top 100!

*toddles back off into oblivion*