Monday, September 30, 2002
 All right, folks! I think it's finally time to start our The Lovely Bones discussion. Everybody is welcome to join in. I think we're going to have a lot more to talk about with this book than the last one. And don't forget, next on the list is Neil Gaiman's Coraline.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
That said, I think I'm going to take a break from the quilting after I finish this one and learn to knit. Then again, maybe I could actually find a hobby suited to the climate I live in, huh?
1. What are your favorite ways to relax and unwind? Here lately I'm all about the baths. I just crank the hot water in a our big ol' tub and chuck in a bath bomb or some bubble bar. Then I settle in with a book and soak til I'm wrinkly. Ahhhh... I also like working in our back courtyard. I water the plants and rake up the dead leaves and hang clothes on the line. I love being out in the sun. 2. What do you do the moment you get home from work/school/errands? Hmm. *blink* You mean, like, leaving the house? Working from home means you don't do that much. I suppose when I do leave, the first thing I do when I get back is check my e-mail. Seriously. (I know how lame that sounds.) If I'm coming back from the gym, it's straight into the shower. 3. What are your favorite aromatherapeutic smells? "Aromatherapeutic"? What a girly question. I don't really know. I like the stuff that's in my bubble bar - patchouli and tea tree oil. That's pretty good. 4. Do you feel more relaxed with a group of friends or hanging out by yourself? Definitely by myself or with just the Snook. I tend to get too self-conscious when I'm out with others. Not that I don't have fun; it's just that it's not exactly relaxing. 5. What is something that you feel is relaxing but most people don't? Working on my websites. I'm sure most people (whether part of the industry or not) don't think of writing PHP as a relaxing activity. I like the busywork though. I can turn my brain off and still feel productive.
Friday, September 27, 2002
Update: Feeling much better, thanks. No more Martyr Kris. Back to the fun! :) Thursday, September 26, 2002
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
- coriolus effect northern southern hemisphere drains Ah, the classic science experiment. My friend Pat and I tried it back in February. It really does go the opposite way here. - james marsters workout I imagine it involves kicking, punching, and faking a British accent all while wearing a leather trench coat. It's tough, but it'll give you great cheek bones. - movie office space bill lumbergh license plate Umm, yeahhh, I'm gonna need you to come in on the weekend, okay? - Nigella Lawson pictures nude I haven't seen any of these, but if they exist I bet she's lasciviously eating phallic-shaped food in them. She's always doing that. - "andy roddick" nude Again, no nude pictures here, but he does look incredibly like my brother. And no, I won't give you nude pictures of Antny. - "goldfish euthanasia" Waaaaah! Rest in peace, Admiral Ackbar. - photos of jesse bradford and his boyfriends Is Jesse Bradford gay? Does it matter? Hummina hummina. Yes please. - vintage buddy icons How vintage can they be? IM's been around for, what, less than 10 years? Ding dong. - rice krispie chocolate balls I've never tried 'em, but I bet they're salty.
I did like drinkin' all the champagne tonight though. Yum yum! Monday, September 23, 2002
(No, I didn't watch them. They weren't on here. I'm looking at the pictures and pretending.)
Sunday, September 22, 2002
The Snook and I just watched Dude, Where's My Car?. We laughed a lot. (No, we weren't stoned.) It had Micheal Bolton in it! And Fabio! And the Alias chick! And I'm a sucker for bubble-wrap humor. And movies that use "Bust a Move" on the soundtrack. It rocked. We're looking forward to the sequel Seriously Dude, Where's My Car?. Seriously.
Saturday, September 21, 2002
    Going from top-bottom, left-right, you have:
Man, my answers are depressing this week. 1. Would you say that you're good at keeping in touch with people? No. I suck at it. You'd think living so far away I'd have learned the importance, but sadly no. I talk to my immediate family pretty regularly, but as for my friends, I'm the worst pen pal in the world. I don't talk to anybody from high school on a regular basis, and there are only a few college buddies that I keep up with. It's just hard. 2. Which communication method do you usually prefer/use: e-mail, telephone, snail mail, blog comments, or meeting in person? Why? Phone with the fam, because I miss hearing their voices. With everybody else, internet communication is the method of choice. (Of course, I'd go for "in person" if I could, but at $1600 a plane ticket, that's an expensive option.) 3. Do you have an instant messenger program? How many? Why/why not? How often do you use it? Yep. I started out on Yahoo Messenger many years ago but quickly switched to AIM when I figured out that's where most of my friends were. Now thanks to iChat and our ADSL connection, I'm logged in 24 hours a day. The time difference to the States makes it difficult, but I occasionally catch folks on there. 4. Do most of your close friends live nearby or far away? Do I need to answer this? Far, far away. 5. Are you an "out of sight, out of mind" person, or do you believe that "distance makes the heart grow fonder"? A little bit of both. When you live this far from everybody, you necessarily have to try to put them out of mind or you'd just be homesick all the time. I still get my moments, though, when I realize how much I've missed out on and how much I miss certain people. Friday, September 20, 2002
  Thursday, September 19, 2002
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
Monday, September 16, 2002
Wine class was really great tonight. Our topic was fortified wines (port, sherry, etc.) which I wasn't really looking forward to, but I learned a lot and got to try a lot of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise... including amontillado! I also tried some vintage port that was older than I am (27 years old!). I think the tawny port was my favorite. There were these jerks in the corner who talked all the way through the class though. I'm like, what kind of asshole pays $250 for a class and then doesn't pay attention? And I'm the youngest person in there! I thought grown-ups would behave better.
 My dad's wife Cindy sent some pictures from the trip they all took to Cedar Point a few weeks ago. Here's my new little stepbrother Colfax in the stocks on the Frontier Trail. Isn't he a cutie? He's just started kindergarten. It's kinda weird that I'm all grown-up and stuff, yet here my dad is doing it all over again. He sounds like he's loving it though!
Sunday, September 15, 2002
THE SNOOK THINKS IT'S OKAY. He thinks it's perfectly reasonable that since I put something out on the Internet, other people should be able to use it however they want. I agree, as long as I'm not paying for it. He claims that since I don't pay by the megabyte for bandwidth, I can't claim that they're stealing any money from me. I counter with the fact that once I breach my bandwidth cap, I will be, so it's the same difference. And irrespective of the "theft" issue, I just find it completely rude. The argument went on for some time. It climaxed with: Me: "Okay, so you're posting to Slashdot and there's this image you've found to illustrate your argument, so you just embed it directly from the source?" Him: "Yes." Me: "That's it. What if it was my site? YOU'D SLASHDOT ME? We're breaking up." It's a gorgeous day out today, but it's pretty chilly here in the house. Later: An uneasy truce has been called. I think we've got an unspoken agreement to disagree.
1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why? Depends. I'd probably say English or Drama, because they came easiest to me and I always liked readin' the books and watchin' the plays. Math and Science were harder for me, yet (truth be told) I think I got more out of them. It's hard to say since I went to such a small school. There weren't enough resources to cater to everybody, so they took sorta a "lowest common denominator" approach. At the high end of the bell curve, I often found myself bored and frustrated. 2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why? Mr. "Mont" Arnold, my AP Calculus teacher, was pretty cool. He was always trying to find new ways to interest us in a subject that (both we and he knew) most of us would never use again. He recommended sci-fi books to me and gave me extra credit for programming my TI-85. He was funny and he never talked down to any of us. We voted him to be our Commencement Speaker and he confounded all of our parents with a 15-minute speech on chaos theory. Pretty cool. 3. What is your favorite memory of school? Pretty much all of my senior year of high school. I was the valedictorian, the #1 tennis player, the female lead in the musical; I went to the State Speech Meet and won third place in my event. I got into Notre Dame. I dumped junior year's alterna-teen boyfriend in favor of someone a bit more fun and normal. (Granted, a bit of a doof, but no regrets there.) That was a charmed year. 4. What was your favorite recess game? Up until about fifth grade, I was one of those girls who jumped rope every single recess. We had these great long jumpropes with purple and white plastic beads. Our most frequent game was "School", where for each grade you had to do a certain stunt to progress. "Kindergarten" you just had to run through; "1st grade" was one jump; "2nd grade" was two jumps on one foot or something... That was fun. When I got a little bit older is wasn't cool to jump rope anymore. You were supposed to do dangerous things. The fad was for someone to swing really high while another person ran under them from one side of the swingset to the other. You had to time your run just right and follow them as they came down past you. I gave up on that one on the fateful day Charity Martin miscalculated and buried her thick skull full speed into the middle of the swinger's (i.e. my) lower back. I couldn't breathe for fully a minute. After that, I think I mainly stood around with my friends and tried to act above recess. 5. What did you hate most about school? Ugh. Lots. First of all, I absolutely hated riding the bus. It seems statistically impossible, but every bus route I ever had was filled with the county's worst mouth-breathers and social deviants. The day I got my license was like being released from bondage. I also hated gym. I wasn't terribly unfit; in fact I was sorta towards the high end of the normal, non-super-athlete girls. But I was uncoordinated and self-conscious which made it torture. I won't even begin to describe the horrors of seventh grade gym with its units on gymnastics and square dancing. *repress, repress* Friday, September 13, 2002
 "Everybody loves me, nobody hates me 'cos I eat their scraps!"That's right, I got worms. (Spot the movie quote, anyone?) Well, actually I don't have the worms yet. But I do have a worm farm! Like Brigita, I've decided to turn my garden and vegetable waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer with the help of a couple thousand wriggly invertebrates. I can't wait to get some lovely "compost tea" to use on my flowers. Now I just need the worms!
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
I had three errands to run yesterday. Each one, in its own unique way, turned to crap. Be warned; this is one big long bile-filled rant. Feel free to skip over it if you're having a good day. First, the doctor. I went in for my regularly scheduled [discussion of "women's business" removed for sensitive readers], which went well, and afterwards I'm sitting there while the doctor finishes writing on my chart. He says, "Anything new over the last few months?" I've been waiting for this moment. Proudly I say, "I've lost 10 kilos!" He's happy. He asks how I did it. Slight hesitation: "Well, I sorta cut down on carbohydrates..." And he goes off on me. Starts telling me how Atkins and all the rest are full of shit. As Atkin recommends, I calmly and rationally refute all of his arguments. He says it's because I'm exercising more. I tell him I've been doing to the gym with the same frequency since January, and it's only since I've been doing Atkins that I've had any results. He says if I wasn't losing weight, why didn't I see a dietician. "Because I saw YOU", I reminded him (mentally adding the word "dickhead"). He tells me my cholesterol will go up; I tell him that in most cases it goes down, and say that I'm willing to have my blood tested to prove it. "Have you READ the book?" I ask. "I've read ALL the books!" he huffs. Yeah, right. I point out to him the hypocrisy in denouncing something that he hasn't done any research on. That, of course, doesn't stop him from proclaiming, "It's just... IMPOSSIBLE." Yeah, like I just misplaced twenty pounds? This pleasant scene ends with him admonishing me to not "overdo" anything, and just take everything in "moderation". In other words, he advocates the traditional starve-yourself-out-of-sheer-willpower approach. I walked out of there seeing red. Dude, it's not like I'm doing the frickin' Weekly World News Blue Dot All Fruit Juice diet. He pissed me off. I'm gonna find a new doctor. So then it was on to the bank. Banking here confuses me. I've got all these new PINs and secret phone passwords and registration numbers and stuff, and I can't keep any of them straight. I've only had the damn account for a week and I've already forgotten my Internet banking password. So I go to the local branch to reset it. There's only one information desk, and a little old man is currently being served. I figure he's probably just cashing a pension check or something. NO, he's actually, like, planning his entire retirement. Right there at the walk-up counter. I listen as he invests in stock, sets up term deposits, inquires about mutual funds. I swear I watched him hand the teller a check for $600,000. Twenty minutes later I give up and head on to errand #3... ...the library. This wasn't so bad. I pick up my reserved book (Lemony Snicket's The Reptile Room) and grab a few others. I head to the counter. And there she is, the Ill-Tempered Dwarf. The problem is that the check-out counter is really wide, and I always set down my stuff sorta in the middle (you know, as you normally would). But the dwarf has to strain to reach it. So then it's like, do I push them closer so she doesn't have to reach so far? Or will that draw attention to the fact that I'm four feet taller than her? If I don't, will that further cement my place as "Giant Asshole" in her head? It's rather stressful. I tend to just look down, mutter my thanks, and flee. So back to the bank. Old man is still going strong. He finally finishes up and I get to the counter. "I need to reset my Internet banking password, please." She tells me I have to call Customer Service to do that (despite the fact that Rodd was allowed to do it at the branch). Gritting my teeth, I ask if she can at least link up my two accounts (personal and business) so I can get some money from the ATM. "Sure," she says, "what's your secret personal password?" I tell her. It's wrong. I throw out about fifteen other guesses, from my mother's maiden name to books I read in college. Apparently one of them was right (or else she took pity on me) because she pulls my info up on the computer. Oh, sorry, she can't do that. I'm not the prime signa-what's-it on the account, so I can't have the money. I can only get at it if I drag the man of the house along with me. WHATEVER. WHATEVER. WHATEVER. Whew. I feel better now.
The most prophetic quote from the month: "As Snookums put it this morning when we were going our separate ways at work: 'If America goes to war, we're going to Australia.' I couldn't have put it better myself. Get me the hell out of here." And that's all I have to say about that. Tuesday, September 10, 2002
 Sell out with me tonight. The other day while perusing eBay I noticed a copy of Roald Dahl's The Gremlins going for $150 AU. It was his first book and it's extremely rare. As that price equates to about $80 US, my jaw just dropped. To compare, here's the very same book going for over $300 US. I've seen them sold for even more. I figure that all the Americans just bypassed the Australian auction since it was in a different currency. I've actually already got a copy, but I couldn't pass up the chance to get another one dirt cheap. The Snook agreed that it's a pretty good investment. So I waited and watched. The auction sat at $150 AU for most of the day, but as soon as we hit the magic five-minutes-left mark, the price started rising. I watched it go all the way to $300 AU. The Snook and I conferred and agreed that we'd go as high as $350. With one minute to go, I put in my bid... of $357.50. The odd numbers are key. Most people bid in "blocks", so you've got to have just a *little* bit extra to win. I had it at $320... less than 30 seconds... then $330... only fifteen seconds... then $350... and I got it! For $355, to be exact. See, I told you the extra $2.50 was key.Now I'm sorta having second thoughts. Not about the money; I have no doubt I'll be able to sell it for a profit later. It's more the mercenary nature of it. Some other fan wanted that book pretty badly and the younger me would've let them have it. Instead I'm just perpetuating what is already an overpriced market. Do you think that was a shitty thing to do? In my defense, I'm not fabulously wealthy and I could certainly use an extra hundred bucks or so. Should capitalism outweigh youthful ideals?
Monday, September 9, 2002
Sunday, September 8, 2002
The Aussies have this fun habit of taking the first syllable of a word and turning it into slang. (Hence, "Aussies.") Here are some more that I like:
[Related note: The Snook and I watched the James Bond film A View to a Kill the other night. It's the last one Roger Moore did, the weird one 80's one with Grace Jones and the Duran Duran theme song. Anyway, Christopher Walken plays the bad guy, this pseudo-German psychopathic genius horse breeder and microchip manufacturer. (Seriously.) He's really young and he's got dyed blond hair. Halfway through the film I blurted out, "He's Draco Malfoy!" And he seriously is. If they ever need a flash-forward in one of the Potter films to Draco about 30 years older, Walken in a blond wig would be perfect.] Saturday, September 7, 2002
The Snook discovered this the other day and I just have to share. Even you non-dieters would probably love it. I know it sounds gross at first, and believe me, I was a big doubter. Just bear with me. It's called a Mock Danish. Basically, you take 2 oz. of cream cheese (i.e. 1/4 of a Philly block) and melt in the microwave. Then you mix it all up with one egg. Add a little vanilla, lemon, and artificial sweetener. Nuke for two more minutes. Like I said, I know it sounds gross. But get this - it is so good. It is reminiscent of a cream cheese danish, and also a nice cheesecake. Personally, it reminds me of a good eggy custard. I like it with a handful of blueberries and a little cream and cinnamon on top, or with a spoonful of some Weight Watchers jam I got. Plus it has, like, no carbs in it (depending on what you add). It's good for dessert or even for breakfast. It's warm and nummy and soothing and it takes all of five minutes to prepare. Yes, I know you're still dwelling on the grossness. Up until the point I tasted it, I was too. Just give this one a try next time you're in the mood for something cheesecakey. Friday, September 6, 2002
1. What is your biggest pet peeve? Why? Biggest? I can't choose. I have so many. I get annoyed when people have to go to the bathroom too often. Seriously. I think it has to do with having a younger brother with a bladder the size of a teacup. The number of times we'd have to pull over so he could pee in a cornfield... I also hate it when people say "nu-cu-lar" instead of "nuclear". I'm irritated by parents who push inappropriate strollers (filled with inappropriate children) to inappropriate places. I rage when mobile phones ring during a movie. And I have a whole subset of pet peeves just for my gym, such as women who wear make-up on the treadmill, guys who wear combat boots instead of gym shoes, and old women who think they can get away with wearing just a sports bra as a top. Like I said, I got a lot. 2. What irritating habits do you have? I crack my knuckles. I snore (just a little). I do this thing where I fiddle with the edges of fabric, like the hem of a pillowcase or a curtain. That drives my sister crazy. And I have this pathetic inability to just, you know, do stuff. I'm a procrastinator and I'm lazy. I'll decide to do something but then when the time comes, I'll find an excuse to back out. (Hence my spotty training record at the gym.) It even annoys me. 3. Have you tried to change the irritating habits or just let them be? I've tried to change the last one, but it never lasts. I'll get this surge of empowerment and make all these "To Do" lists and stuff, but eventually I just peter out. It doesn't help that the Snook is exactly the same way, so we just enable each other's slackerdom. It's a vicious circle. 4. What grosses you out more than anything else? Why? I can't watch scenes in movies where people receive injections. It's just squicks me out. (I don't mind getting them myself, as long as I don't have to watch.) 5. What one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do? Sadly, eat sushi or oysters. I just can't do the raw fish thing. I think eventually I might work up to cooked seafood, but there's no way I could eat something that's been plucked straight out of the sea. The very smell makes me ill.
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Unfortunately, it seems it's a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Not only would it take two full years for me to get my Masters of Teaching from Sydney Uni, but as I'm still classified as an "International" student (because my permanent residency won't be fully "permanent" for two more years), I'd have to pay about four times the tuition that Australian students would. Then there's the question of whether my enthusiasm for training eager adults would in any way translate into enthusiasm for teaching sullen and obligated young people. I'm not sure. I just finished reading this five-part story about a journalist who took a year off to teach seventh grade English. His experiences are pretty eye-opening. I was always a good student, and in class I resented the teacher having to go so slowly and repetitively for the sake of other kids who couldn't care less. Apparently, though, that's exactly what teachers are forced to do. I like the idea of "breaking through" with a difficult student and teaching them something new, but realistically, how often does that happen? I'm not sure I could deal with putting out a lot of effort and seeing it go to waste. Someone once told me that journalism and education are the most cynical professions and that you lose your youthful idealism pretty quickly. I get depressed enough in I.T.; would it really be wise to make a move? (Article link courtesy of Moire.) Tuesday, September 3, 2002
The Snook has been cruising various low-carb websites in search of recipes to emulate the high-carb stuff we've been missing. Yesterday he picked up lots of almond meal and ground flax seeds in preparation for doing some baking. We spotted some blueberries at the greengrocer and I flashed back to Max's blueberry-banana muffins. Armed with an idea, the Snook took to the kitchen for some invention. The resulting muffins don't look so great, but they taste pretty good and it's nice to eat something "bread-y" again. We estimate they've got about 12 grams of carbs each, so you'd best avoid them if you're doing Induction. Read on for the recipe... [more...]
Monday, September 2, 2002
 Sommelier, here I come!The Snook and I almost missed our first wine-tasting class tonight because somebody misread the date on the acceptance letter. Tsk, tsk. Anyway, we're doing this class through the Sydney Uni CCE with Huon Hooke, who's this pretty famous Australian wine judge and writer. Tonight we learned all about how wine ages and why every wine doesn't necessarily get better as it gets older. We tasted four different wines, two reds and two whites, and within each we had an older and younger version. (The oldest as a 20-year-old cabernet savignon. Snookums thought it was a bit past its peak though.) It was pretty cool for a novice like me, because comparing them like that made it easy to see the changes. I even managed to ask a good question: "If the big variable in how the wine ages - and whether it goes bad - is the cork, why the heck are we still using them?" Turns out Mr. Hooke is a big advocate of using other things, like plastic corks and screw tops. Huh. I also had a lot of fun watching the hoity-toity grown-ups spitting out each mouthful like professional tasters. Not me, babe. That wine was too good and expensive to waste. The "young" vintages were all, like, $60/bottle, and the older ones didn't even have prices listed (because apparently the only way you get them is at auction). I believe wine exists to be drunk, so I downed 'em all. Lest you think I was the only lush, though, I'll have you know that the woman on the other side of Snookums not only drained each glass before we even discussed it, she admonished the guy pouring for not giving her enough. I at least made a pretense of being there for the learnin'. :)
    That first one is just a bit of the waterfall of jasmine that is cascading over the fence between our place and the neighbors'. It smells so amazing. A couple other houses on our street have it too, and you can smell it the second you open a door or window. That second picture is the little lemon tree Mama Snook got us last year. It's doing much better in our garden than it was on our apartment balcony. In fact, it's got some little buds and we thing it's going to flower! The third picture shows some of the gigantic peace lilies we have growing in the back corner. It's the same plant we used to have on our clothes dryer in London, except much bigger with several large flowers. And last is our neighbors' lemon tree, which has dozens of large fruit the size of baseballs dangling from it. The closest branch is only a couple feet from the fence, so I'm hoping a stiff breeze might knock some over our way. :) Sunday, September 1, 2002
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archives
You can search through the archives by post keyword using the form on the left, or you can browse by month using the links at the bottom.
"Moblog" refers to posts and images posted directly from my mobile phone.
"PW Blog" refers to posts recovered from my very first weblog, which dealt with news related to my college dorm. |
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