Quests for Clothes

Today I was all enthused, when I got up (not about getting up, though, because that would be Deeply Unhealthy. Getting out of bed in the morning is one of life's Trials, in my opinion. I'm highly suspicious of those who claim to be "morning people". They're clearly up to something. "Getting the most out of the day" indeed. What about getting sleep out of the day? Besides, there will, almost by definition, be other days. Juice those.) ...because I had a Plan. Not, you understand, an "I've got a Plan" in hte whiney sense like that James Blunt chap, which consists of whinging about how pretty my ex is in the hope that she'll leave the guy she was with on the subway, or whatever it is he's going on about, but a real, honest-to-goodness plan. With steps and a Procedure and everything.

You see, next Friday, I'm going to a 1920s themed 21st, (as well as another, on the same night, but this complication is irrelevant to Our Story). The problem with which is that your average 1920s fashion plate is all about the 12-year-old-boy-ish figure, which, I think I can safely say, does not describe me unless you have those very modern types of 12 year old boys that they keep talking about on Today Tonight ads (and, presumably, Today Tonight itself, but I'm Principled enough to not ever ever ever watch it, so I couldn't swear to it.) So the day before yesterday I hit on the rather nifty plan of sewing rows and rows of stiching on a simple shift dress to make a flapper dress. The bugger of this, it turns out, is that shift dresses cannot cheaply be bought for love nor money (although obviously, expending vast quantities of money in order to get a cheap dress would be pointless. Much better to just go ahead and buy the slightly more expensive one, and ignore all that bribing of the shop-assistants rigmarole. But there wasn't a slightly more expensivve one eaith, sadly, so that was a washout). Further, fringe costs 8 or 9 dollars per metre, which doesn't seem like much until you realise that to completely cover a dress in fringe would cost closer to $100 than $50. And I don't want to go to a costume shop, because I always feel that that's just cheating.

On the other hand, the Terrible Draught of clothes that are Actually Red lifted momentarily, and I bought a red top. Which is nice. But still, the Hunt For Red is currently set to continue until next October. (heh.... geddit? No? Well. The Fletcher brothers will have. Hey guys)

Also, Katie-with-a-K,-the-one-who's-my-sister, who was ridiculously not at school again today bought muppets pyjamas, which are naturally the coolest thing since Iced Bread. (geddit again)

Anyway, It's now the 29th of November, which means its' (a) damn near Christmas, so a red top will be particularly useful, and Christmas earrings are now the go, and (b) 2 days until summer. If someone wouldn't mind reminding the lead singer of Matchbox 20, who might even now do well by putting all this rain back into it's boxes with little yellow tags on every one, therefore, it might be a good idea. (Holy third obscure pun in a row, Batman!)

Anyway, on what day of the year was Ned Kelly shot? Bonus half star for knowing what else happened in Australian history on one of the shooting's anniversaries.

Monorail Expedition! (Now Illustrated!)

Last Thursday Catie and I went on our great Monorail Expedition. We went around Sydney pretending to be tourists, talking occassionally in Terrible Accents, and generally enjoying ourselves.


First we caught the tram to Darling Harbour, which is (tragically, but excitingly) further than I've ever caught the tram before. I always enjoy the lightrail in a markedly 6-year-old sort of way. Then we bought day-passes for the monorail, so as to be able to do otherwise financially untenable things like what we did next: caught the monorail the one stop to the other side of Darling Harbour, where we got off and wandered for a while, and took photos of the Christmas tree, and us in the fountain thingy.



Then we caught the monorail from Darling harbour, where we began the official photo competition (niftiest/most artistic photo at any given site wins)

to World Square, which was an enormous hole in the ground when I last caught to monorail.


The competition continued, with photos of the sculpture there, and of the christmas decorations.

Also, we both tried on dresses, mainly because the one I tried was red, and currently my shopping life revolves around the quest for nice clothes that are Actually Red.

Heaps of stuff is coral, or magenta, or pink, and even orangey red, the problem with which is that I look awful and sallow in orangey reds. So yes, currently questing for bright red clothes. Then we wandered down some niftily dcorated arcades,

and took notes on our progress (what d'you mean "tragically nerdy"?).

Then we went to the Galleries Victoria
and competed about photos taken from a little bridgey thing,


and went to Kinokuniya (where we found out decisively that it will be completely impossible to order in the Studio Ghibli box set from any shop in Australia because it hasn't been rated (although surely it's clearly a strong PG at worst. Maybe slightly more for "supernatural themes" or, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, woud yu believe, "quirky situations"). At Catie's insistance, we went to the bathroom in the Arthouse Hotel, because she'd heard from Bec that they were outstandingly tzujy bathrooms, as indeed they were.

Then (and theeenn...) we went to Darling Park and the Aquarium in order to have icecream (an important part of any tourist day)




and watched the people in formal clothes promenading. This became an exciting game: taking photos of the formalgoers without them spotting us. Hehehe... so much dodgy fun... and lots of pretty/not pretty dresses too.



We considered getting a token cocktail, since it was now 6 ish,


and we were, according to the monorail voiceover guy, in "one of Sydney's hottest nightspots", but decided not to on account of (a) being nearly broke, and (b) thanks to the good people at the RTA, if I have 1 drink, then want to drink hours later, I can't. This being the case, we went twice around the full monorail circut, going "oooh" at the chinese gardens and so on (and having a private carriage all to ourselves by the last circuit).


Then we Trammed home, and went out to Quest for Scrubs season 2 part 2, and had burritos and Scrubs for dinner. Mmmm.... starchy.


A 4.5 star day, all in all. That elusive last 0.5 star would only have been attainable if the camera hadn't run out of batteries.

Today's trivia question: What is the name of JD and Turk's dog?

New Post! Also: EXTRA! Ang's appellatory imagination hits all-time low!

Yay for everything!
Today's featured articles are8 things you didn't know about ROTK http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/returnoftheking.html
and The Suicide Guide http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/suicide.html

Today's trivia question is this: what are the colours of the flags of Germany, France, Italy and Ireland, respectively?

World Cup! Yay!

We qualified for the world cup! How unusual (no really, it really is, it's been, what, 32 years?) for us! Yay for everything! But not the creme brulees that were a bit of a disaster today. But kind of yay for the orange cake-thingy we also made, because it has meringue icing, and the creme brulees used two separate yolks, so you have to make something meringuey to use the whites up. The cake completely (completely) disintegrated when we took it out of the tin, but we glued it back together with meringue, so, y'know, that's a yay on balance!

And it's nearly Christmas time! And I'm going to have High Tea tomorrow! And.... and... yay all round!

Trivia: What fruit flavour of beer is available at the Lowenbrau Keller?

Yay for the holidays! And by extension Christmas!

The exams are over! Yay! *dances* This is weird, actually, I have that strange aimless feeling of directionless guilt I always have after the exams end. Y'know, I've been feeling guilty about doing stuff for so long that I now have nothing I should be doing, I now feel guilty pretty much all the time. Meh. It usually passes within the week. And today I slept in! For the first time in aaaaggges. And, and, I'm currently reading a book! A Book! I haven't read a book in about a month.

And as soon as I get motivated (tomorrow?) I shall make Creme Brulees! Yay!I've been meaning to do that so long that the ingredient cream I bought went off.

Anyway, this afternoon I went to my old school because my sister Alex won a maths prize. It's always odd to go back there. It's strangely the same but also weirdly different. Also, they had a guest speaker who was a maths lecturer for UNSW, who gave us a maths lecture! With powerpoint slides! The first day of my summer holidays and someone gave me a lecture! Waaahh! Anyway, moving on...

This evening Catie and I bought groceries, it was terribly fun. We got all kinds of groceries, including the really fun kind like toffee apples, and a BBQ chicken and had a picnic on our living room floor! Yay picnic! Also, and even more excitingly, I got pjs for $8. Best purchase everrrr. They have a sheep on them and say "Shleepy time" on them. They remind me of a pair of pyjamas I had when I was (very) little which had Cows on them and said "Too tired to Moooove", and I thought they were great. Anyway, the pyjamas are nifty, is more or less my point here.

And then, we Quested(tm) for Scrubs Season 2 on DVD. It was a successful quest indeed, it only took us 3 video shops to find what we were after, so, y'know, yay again!

This post is sort of dull, but really it's just a vehicle for today's question, so that's ok. The question in question is this: Tell me all 50 states of America... no wait, that'll be really boring to check. How's this: what does "Tutto è giusto nell'amore e nella guerra" mean?

Whoa.

That was wierd.

trivia question, apocalyptic theme: who are the four horsemen of the apocalpse? And for a bonus star, who are are the four other horsemen of the apocalypse.

HELP!

where has my blog gone???

And why does the comments link go to my email resignin? And why have I 2 title boxes?

Latin exam study = vital but dull

So here is a point form blog post with vital parts underlined, for ease of skim reading, in manner of exam notes:

*We went to Birkenhead Point for no reason and found an excellent Lolly shop which had all the great stuff from the terrigal lolly shop, thus greatly reducing our travel time next time we crave peach hearts.

*We did the washing up, and I broke/cut-my-hand-on a glass again. This time, though 'tis but a scratch. Last time it was a flesh wound.

*After which, Catie stabbed me lightly with a steak knife.

*I joined the much touted "board" (as it will henceforth be known) of John, Alicia's friend, and also known as the Gargoyles Guy. Also, my new avatar is a fishy. Yay Fishy!

*I have 2 exams tomorrow. You probably know this but far be it from me to fail to complain.

*I got all excited when I realised that if you take the "e" out of exams, you get "xmas" which seemed a good sign to me, until Catie pointed out it was a typo.

*Also, does my blog look weirdly formatted to you guys, or is it just my computer? How odd.

*Also we quested to the corner shop for Coke and WD40 for our dodgy lock, and also got a mango and a banana! Yay! And then we adventured past a fairy party and excitingly put WD40 in the lock (I was going to put "lubricated the lock" but despite being strictly accurate, I feel that would render us vulnerable to innuendo). All in all, it was a terribly exciting and adventurous half hour. (see, I told you exams were good for you) I liked the one where we were dentists.

*Trivia star question:How many books are there in the Hitchiker Trilogy? And what are their names?

Exams are on...

And here's my apalling confession: I quite like exams, actually.

Sad, isn't it?

It's just that, well, it's always the beginning of the holidays, you don't have to go to class, it's self-regulated, but with absolute deadlines. Exams are sort of like 'Xtreme Class Quiz: To the Max!' aren't they? Pressure, can-you-do-it-in-time-?-ness, multiple choice or else essays which there are usually a choice in, sometimes you go in, and are stressed, and you look at the questions, and you're like "Oh, I know that" and it's just great. ('Course sometimes you have no idea, and that pretty much sucks, but meh, exams aren't meant to be fun, it's not like you're losing potential fun or anything. Just your future.)

Plus, in stuvac, everything becomes more fun. There's the excitment of forbidden pleasure in grocery shopping. You feel daring, and as if you're on a major outing, if you so much as go to the corner shop for a litre of milk. And don't even get me started on the baking. Ohhh, the baking that gets done. The hours of flicking through the iPod on Shuffle, racing to figure out title and artist first, extra points if singing hasn't begun yet. (Plus, y'know, I always beat Catie, and I love that).

Yesterday, fun was had by all when Catie spend 45 minutes trying to open my skylight (while I editted her absolutely fascinating 7000 word essay on towns in early britain) with the specially designed to be impossible hook on a long pole thing. Which she then accidentally broke my light shade with.

So I got to have a fun evening trip to Broadway to by new light shades for both of us, as well as 2 singlet tops (2 for $15 from JayJays! Checkit, people, cheap clothes For The Win). And now I have a new light shade! It's a little odd, because the light in my room is all different,but it's also just Nifty. Also, at $9.95, if I get sick of it within a week, then that's still value for money. It was a surprising amount of fun, and I spent the obligatory 3 minutes watching the little Santa on a bicycle that goes back and forth along a string, which was also great.

(No, seriously)

The only dark cloud on all this loveliness is that in my exam yesterday at first I was incredibly, cripplingly tired, which I then overcame, but then I was overcome with a wierd wave of claustrophobia and can't-sit-still-in-this-room-any-longer,-I-feel-like-I'm-suffocating-ness, which was odd, but also new and different for me.

It was kinda funny,actually, because there I was in my Abnormal Pysch exam going "Ohmigosh (well, not really, I just love writing that like that), am I having a panic attack? Oh no!"and then the rest of me went "Wait a minute, you have none of the symptoms of panic attacks whatsoever, take it from someone who was studying this just yesterday for this very exam. You idiot" and then mentally slapped the stressed bit of me upside the head. I still had that restless feeling in the backs of my knees, but sometimes you just have to deal with these things.

It's also amusing that people with Panic disorder and Agoraphobia go to lengths to avoid Panic Attacks, and have all these fun and zany safety behaviours like "don't catch the bus, I had an attack there once" and "tap all mailboxes" and so on [not unlike OCD, which is related, but which amusingly, my lecture notes had this to say about "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: obsessions and compulsions are rare in this disorder" (among other stuff, obviously)] and ...where was I? Oh yes... and also fear that they'll have a heart attack/die/go mad. Conversely, that happened to me and I was busy fearing lest I develop agoraphobia or Panic Disorder or something.

Actually, I was in HMV this afternoon (I had a legitimate excuse to be there in stuvac, honest!) (See, it does make going out more fun)and they had this music DVD on which made me feel sort of like in that exam again, I had the urge to flee the shop. Weird. Particularly for me, anyone will tell you that the only thing that usually gives me the urge to flee a shop is another, more alluring, shop. (or the song "My Hump" by the BlackEyed Peas coming on. Ugh, worst song ever. But everyone always flees that song, surely. Everyone I've heard it in the company of, certainly). So anyway, I stayed in the shop and finished what I was doing, because you can't flee "bad vibes", or they multiply and before you know it, are everywhere.

This worries me a little, because the last time I had that awful feeling of absolutely being completely unable to be where I was a second longer was when I went on the Gravitron at Luna Park. Which was pretty exciting too, I've never asked anyone to stop a ride before. It was just so undealwithably awful. Anyway, that was months ago, and then I had a slightly milder equivalent in my exam (which I stuck out, but which I did not, perhaps, check as thouroughly as I usually would before I left), and then again today, which is the day after, although less strongly again. So that seems sort of intensifying in frequency.

But, on reflectiion, I'm pretty sure that this is all bollocks, so that's ok.

Anyway, I'd best get back to work...

Today's star goes to the first person to list me ...let's say 10 (I'll make it less if no-one can, so keep checking for number reduction)... songs with numbers in their titles. Bonus point if you have 10 sequential numbers.

Have a nice weekend everyone, and good luck to those of us who still have exams. Friendly death (perhaps mild injury? Ok: a paper cut) wished to everyone already on holidays.

And in case I don't post between now and then, Happy 21st Birthday to Bec for Monday. (Do let her know I said so, Sam dear).

Also, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.

(Aaargh! look how long it's taking me to sign out! Procrastination much? *Drags self sternly off stage right by ear*)

*breaks free, runs back on* WAIT! check this awesome stuff out! Yay LOTR comedy stuff! http://pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/50reasons.html/

Dammit! How do you make URLs nifty so that say "click here"?

Anyway, *truges off to work again*

I should write an actual post, this is getting dull for you ppl, I suspect

But I don't have time, I really should GET BACK TO WORK!

So here are my abridged adventures, with occassional words.

Biology exam..... knew answers.... yay!..... new sunglasses......... purple..... groceries....... Kathryn visited........ walk..... post...... sparklers.... cat named Assassin turns out to be called Sam by it's "actual" owners....... so many sams these days...... sleep..... cinnamon toast..... webcomics....... study...... boredom...... study........ sausages......... study........ weaken and write blog post.... sort of.

Anyway, what's the artist and title of this song bit?: "I walk down the street in the mornng, and the blebirds are singing in the old oak tree [kookaburra noises], yeah I sing a little song for the people, little song for me (tralalalalala)."

I have to stop this... [edit]

If only because it's unfair to post so many times in 1 day. But this is the last for a little while, honest! Also, this question is an attempt to foil Catie's attempt to snatch the lead ridiculously early in game.

This post comprises 2 separate trivia questions, worth 1 star each.

(1) According to the song sung by Nat King Cole, who is it who says that a falling blossom only touches lips that lie?

(2) Name one Australian hardwood of dark colour, apart from Cedar.

(Gaah! this take home is soooo dull, and it's taking so long, and I have so much work to do. And because my essay has to be typed, I can't turn my computer off, so I keep wasting my time like this. Also, Catie's trying to edit her 7000 word essay here too, so the silence/music is punctured with cries of "I hate you! Die! Die!.... Not you, you understand. My essay." And similar. I cannot but concur with these sentiments.)

(edit:) Yay! finished 1st draft of take-home at last! And only 24 hours behind schedule! *kills self*

But here are some fun quotes from this evening. May they brighten your day and they have ours, and so on.

Catie :I kill you for leaving out the verb there.
Catie: I fear for my life.
Catie: *maniacal laughter out of nowhere* it doesn’t make any sense, it’s not fair!
Ang: I like Matchbox 20, they’re my friends.
Catie: The word “clean” looked really wrong just then. I was like “what? Kle-ahn?”.
Ang: You were stabbing me in the eye! There’s a different atmosphere there!

You can tell I have a takehome due soon, can't you?

But what of it? Eh?

For this question, Catie is forbidden to use my iTunes, which, for the purposes of this question only (and it's a tough one) would count as cheating.

Name four (4) artists/singers with songs called "Better Man" (or A Better Man, or so on).

Yay! Isn't this fun?

Who is it, in which movie, whom no-one persecutes harmless crackpots like?

As in "No-one persecutes harmless crackpots like.............."

(edit: Hey, someone just asked me if I had an Irish accent! Cool!)

And so... In a move blatantly plagiarised from SpunInJam...

I now give you... Inadvertent Trivia! Each post comes witha trivia question of some kind, first correct answer gets, say.... 1 star. First to 15 stars gets some kind of present, depending on who they are/ how I feel at the time (so, "if you're allergic to apples, not a toffee apple", not "so if I don't like you, you get a small rock"). Any reader of my blog is eligible. But any answer is understood to be sworn on the poster's honour to have been unaided by search engines of any kind. So, if it's a movie quote, or "3 Al Pacino movies" or something, then IMDB counts as cheating. We have no way of catching you if you cheat, but if we do, we confiscate one of your limbs for each occassion.

First question, then is this:
In which movie is the question "For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline!" Replied to with "You know what, pal, you could have told me that before I set it up."?

Yay for commentwh0ring!

Ain't life grand?

Well? Ain't it?

Well, I think it is, so there.

I copy and paste an old but funny article for new kicks.

The article being (a) old, and (b) borrowed from satirewire.com, these kicks are therfore hereby declared (c) new and (d) blue. Mmmm...blue....


ANGERED BY SNUBBING, LIBYA, CHINA, SYRIA FORM AXIS OF JUST AS EVIL

Cuba, Sudan, Serbia Form Axis of Somewhat Evil; Other Nations Start Own Clubs
Beijing (SatireWire.com) — Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his State of the Union address.

Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are Just as Evil... in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. "Everybody knows we're the best evils... best at being evil... we're the best."

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil.
"They told us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"An Axis can't have more than three countries," explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three. And a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool."

THE AXIS PANDEMIC

International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered.

Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what became a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As Just Generally Disagreeable.
With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America, while Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries That Sometimes Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick.
"That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do," said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.

While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in "Guay," accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.

Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any Axis, but privately, world leaders said that's only because no one asked them.
Copyright © 2002, SatireWire.