Oh yes, there will be ducklings

About a fortnight ago, I made a Decision. I’d been feeling diffusely miserable for ages, and I was sick of it, so I decided to Stop It. I decided that what was required was a return to the devil-may-care, Pollyanna-shaming, never-failingly-optimistic, near-offensively Upbeat Attitude we all used to know and love/find incredibly irritating.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Everything since then has been great. And it wasn’t just that I had a good couple of weeks, either. A series of Minor Disasters, several Right Kerfuffles and one or two Utter Catastrophes have occurred since then, and each time, I’ve taken a deep breath and said “Oh well, it’s all for the best, I suppose. At least x-good-thing…”

I lost my favourite bracelet apparently forever but really for 2 days.

I didn’t get the job I’d set my heart on, but realised that I really quite like my actual job.

I was completely unable to do the stats in my assignment, but I got someone to help me and made a friend in the process, an adventure which also starred, in a supporting role, one of those Enormous Lollipops.

I realised, not once, not twice, but three times that my psychology report had been done in some completely wrong way and needed to be rethunk and rewritten, but I just did it, and I learned more as a result, and now it’s done at last.

I missed seeing The Devil Wears Prada with everyone, but Sylvia and I had a Quest to see it instead.

In short, Everything is Awesome.

Also, I’ve been playing a game called Killer, and I’m still alive, and have successfully struck twice so far.

Plus, I just finished reading one of thise Georgette Heyer books, and they really are great. This one had the usual dénouement/it-all-worked-out-in-the-end-scene/thingy at the end, which was, as usual great. But this one had an added bonus that for no apparent reason (although nicely supported in the plot), the author seems to have said to herself “this is great and all, but wouldn’t it be better with a bit more, I don’t know, adorableness? Actually, d’you know what’s adorable? Ducklings! Who doesn’t love ducklings? Everyone loves ducklings! Adorable duckling-featuring for all!” And just bunged them in to the last scene to run around the floor, getting underfoot and snuggling at people. It’s all just so absurdly wonderful.

Also, Tim’s nearly finished his thesis, and if it hasn’t killed him yet, I see no reason why it should now. Clearly it’s all going to be dandy, eventually. And not in too long a while, either.

And, and, I got a nice new dress. It’s red and white and summery and says Billabong on it in small letters somewhere, and it cost $70. I wasn’t sure, but I decided to buy it in the spirit of diffuse celebration, and Lo! When I got home that evening, Sylvia gave me $70 which she owed me which I’d forgotten about!
So it’s basically a Free dress! How cool is that? Iwore it today, and it was very comfortable, and although I got a dreadful tummy ache for no apparent reason this afternoon, it wasn’t the dress’ fault, and then the tummy ache went away all by itself anyway! Huzzah!

Merry October, peoples.

P.S.: My computer just crashed, but Just After I’d saved my post! I’ve been writing essays constantly for weeks until today! If that had happened at any time in the last 2 months, it would have been an Awful Catastrophe, but as it was, nada! You see? Life smiles upon us.

Also, I have a fringe now. I wasn’t sure at first, but now I begin to grow quite fond of it. Do be sure to notice it if you see me. Not many people do (notice it), which probably is a good thing in a fringe. I don’t think I’d want a “Dear God! She sure does have a fring now. My word, yes!”-sort of fringe. So, yeah. :D

Or ought that be “:D now, with a fringe? Mayhap not. Hmmm…


P.P.S.: Also, today we had a Baking Day! Sylvia and I (Catie being in Canberra) made (it being a rainy Sunday and Sylvia having an essay due tomorrow) these things, this afternoon: a great many Delicious Biscuits, Homemade Custard, a Golden Pudding, an enormous quantity of Tiny Meringues with flaked almonds on them, and an experimental Coq Au Vin Pie. Oh, and we had bacon and egg sandwiches, too. Mmmmm…

Deliciousness abounds!

Plus, yesterday evening, having run out of book, I read an old fanfic, and rediscovered (once again) how Truly Marvellous Emphatic Capitalisation can be. I submit for your perusal these two small paragraphs. Genius I say!

“ Fleetingly the thought crossed Draco’s mind that Potter had a Very Good Point. His scowl deepened. “Honestly, Potter, now that I’ve got you here do you think I’d let you go? Ha! A-hahaha!”

(Fleetingly the thought crossed Harry’s mind that what he had taken all these years for Pure Malice was by all appearances merely Amateur Theatrics.) ”

Man, it just doesn’t get any more neat than this kind of thing.

And today's Day of The Day is.... Wednesday!

I read a couple of the Original Few blog posts here at the Inadvertent Blog and have come to a Conclusion.

This blog has Gone to Pot.

We don't even do Emphatic Capitalisations anymore! There is, in fact, false advertising in the title box thingy! False Advertising, even. Caps and all!

I hereby resolve to do my best to solve this problem. The whineyness (whininess? whining?) must end!

To this end, the autobiographical and complaint-based content of the blog is hopefully to be strictly reduced, with a view to a complete phasing out by Christmas. Tangents are to be reinstated and with Luck, the strange non-sequiturs we know and love will return forthwith.

In related news: Christmas! We face, as always, an important question: how early is Too Early to Get Excited about Christmas? (Hmmm... something about typing a question like that after a paragraph of waffle makes me feel like Carrie from Sex In The City, a bit. "blather blather blather... When it comes to Sex, how early is too early?" and then you devote the rest of the episode to answering it. But let's not, just this once)

Actually, that tangent was almost not a tangent at all, really. I'd just mentioned Christmas, then I said there'd be non sequiturs which I followed (sequor-ed) with a non sequitur about Christmas. Which makes it not a non sequitur, sort of. Mmmm.... deliciosly paradoxy.

Now there's a good-quality word: Paradoxy.

Paradoxy: [1] (adj.) like unto a paradox.
[2] (preposition) beside/aligned with a lady of easy virtue. "He lay there, paradoxy, as she explained the fee structure to him."

Although I don't know if they lie next to you while the explain to fees. I imagine they'd sit or stand. It'd be awfully disempowering to try to explain to people that they owe you money while supine. At least from lying prone you can leap up, especially if you're a surfer. That's harder than it looks, mind you. Especially if you have to be careful not to tip the board over, because those things are terribly unstable. And here, I suppose, the hypothetical lady would be at an advantage; beds are not only springy, they're also, by and large, not surfboards, which is almost always a good thing, I think.

Back to Christmas, however. On the very first day of September, Spring Day One, I was in a David Jones and they were putting (that word always looks wrong) up decorations already. That, one can't help but feel, displays such an over-abundance of Christmas spirit that one must suspect an ulterior motive of some kind. Mind you, they had a really nice wreath, and if it weren't for the fact that I felt that it would be wrong to encourage them in this blatant folly, I'd have bought it. If I had money now, maybe I could go and get it now? Or is it still Too Early?

See, there are the proponents of the "no getting excited until December" view, the slightly more mellow are ok with it as of the 25th of November, but I really think that any time after the mid-semester break is pretty much Open Season ('s greetings. hehe)

Shall we have a Christmas party? I think that'd be Pretty Neat. Hmmm... I shall open negotiations forthwith. Huzzah!

I think I'm allergic to Tuesdays

I've been feeling upbeat and happy all week, like maybe even too upbeat and happy, but as soon as Tuesday afternoon hit, WHAM! Sad, low mood, sighs etc. What on earth is that about?

Since I'm feeling downbeat, here are the (completely inadequate to account for my mood) things that are non-good that have happened:

- I have a shift of work on Friday
- I seem to have got all my assignment dates muddled, so who knows what's due when?
- The people I work with (not 'work for', the other ones) said that maybe they weren't going to have a day off on Friday after all, so they would get back to me and let me know if I was still working then. (That's so out of line, they don't get to change my shifts for me, only the boss or manager can do that)
- I saw Tim for half an hour today, for the first time in days, during which time we ended up sitting with other people. I may see him briefly again tomorrow in similar circumstances, and then I won't again for at least a week. Stupid thesis. Ditto next week.
- I'm tired of being tired all the time.
- I just read Alicia's post about the EU's secret 4th goal, and now I feel all full of ire and grumpiness at that stupid organisation. I knew it was awful and wrong. Ugh.
- My lunch was expensive and yucky.
- I've managed to double book my already rushed Thursday evening, somehow.
- I didn't actually achieve my only goal for this weekend.
- We went and saw Snakes on a Plane, which was the worst movie ever, and in fact we left early. But I hadn't been to the movies in forever (the lastthing I saw was Cars) and I feel cheated.
- We didn't manage to register the Aardvark party in time, so there's no hope this year.


On the other hand, I actually should be happy, on account of:

- I now get to pick whether I work on Firday or not, I guess.
- I have an extra week to get my History essay done, it turns out.
- I have heaps of great new clothes as of this weekend, much of it bought for me by my saintly parents.
- This latter includes a formal dress for wearing to formal weddings, such as:
- It turns out I definitely am invited to the reception of that wedding I was confused about.
- I now have my FULL LICENSE and thus do not have to complete another driving test in the foreseeable future of the next 60 years.
-I didn't actually have to pay for the movie tickets, because of afore-mentioned parents.
- It's spring and all deliciously summery and so on.

So what gives? Stupid Tuesdays!

21st soon

My 21st is pretty soon, so it occurs to me that I ought to ask if anyone would particularly like to give a speech or has any good pictures. If the former, tell me, if the latter, then email them to me asap, and we'll en-slideshow them.

Gosh, how exciting.

New House! And consequent housewarming!

We just moved house this weekend, which is pretty nifty, so all of you various friend-types are invited to a Housewarming Party the Friday after next, the 4th of August in the evening, starting at say 7.00 pm. (But starting times may change, so re-check here before you come).

It's at Maroubra, which is cool, ask me or Catie or Sylvia offline for the address details (this is my one concession to security-conscious behaviour, otherwise all those spammers might actually turn up on our doorstep and try to sell us Penis-enlargment or something).

More or less BYO, which tends to be the way with our parties, and any contributions to soft drink and nibbles fund would be greatly appreciated, since moving is suprisingly expensive.

So, to recap:

When:
7 pm, Friday, 4/8/06

Where:
Maroubra the new Lilyfield

Who:
You, if I know you, rather than you just stumbling on this blog, or even then, I suppose, if you're nice and like my blog.

Transport:
There's heaps of parking, and also the 377 and a couple of other buses go right to our door. Also we're a short walk from the beach, so any beach service plus a 300 m walk would do.
We haven't got a huge amount of space, so not everyone can stay over, but we still have a few couches, and if you like we can definitely give you a nice patch of carpet if you bring a sleeping bag.

What to bring:
Anything you'd like to drink out of the ordinary (we have a small amount of damn near everything, but not a huge amount of anything much except soft drinks.
Also if the urge to buy us housewarming presents strikes you, don't fight it too hard. But not, y'know, a large dog or anything. Or a live octopus. We'll take anything else within reason though. Especially any spare inner-springed Queen-sized mattresses you might have lying around.
Sleeping bag if you'd like to stay over.
Your charming self.

Hope you can come, RuSerVuP as soon as you know so we can buy the right amounts of chips and such!

EDIT: Yay for everyone in the world! A patient just gave me a present or chocolates in a cool little case becasue she's really great and is generally happy to have a new small person in her life. Also, yesterday, Tim, who is the best boyfriend in the whole wide world and who, quite honestly, surpasses anything by way of imaginatry boyfriends that I could come up with too, yesterday gave me a really nice engraved bracelet out of the blue! Everyone is so nice and lovely.

Hey, it's only two weeks 'til August!

Man, I never seem to post anymore. Also, my sentences increasingly seem to begin "Man!" which is odd. Plus, many of them seem to start with the formula "word comma rest of sentence", I'm just noticing.

Hmmm.... Or Possibly: "Man, hmmm....." so as not to be inconsistent.

Anyway, (dammit, that one was an accident) heaps of stuff has happened, so instead of getting bogged down describing it all in any valid way, I'm going to leap precipitously to my latest thought, which is this: I will shortly be 21. Gosh. Golly-gee even. The actual age is meaningless, I'm not so old that I'm yet worried about being old, but I really have to get organised or no-one will be able to come.

As such, I should like you to all pencil in the evening of the 26th of August to come to Penrith for my party, more details when I think of them.

So this leads me to my next thought: shall I have a themed party? I often seem to, but they really are such jolly good fun. It'll probably be a bit chilly for cocktail dress, and my varied acquaintance would probably object if I went ahead with the "formal dress: tuxeudos, floor length dresses and elbow-length gloves" idea that I've been wistfully entertaining.

Some suggest a pirate party, but I hd one of those for my 18th, and I don't want people to think I have some kind of unhealthy fixation with pirates. (Mmmm... pirates.... Ahem.) Or 20s and 30s, but that's been done. Maybe even a 1940's party or something, and we could all come as people celebrating the defeat of those demmed Jerries or some such. Or... what?

So I appeal to you all for sugestions. I probably need some kind of theme, otherwise Bec'n'Sam will probably impose their own theme idea anyway, thus making the people they don't know/forgot to notify feel all left out. So yes, suggest! you have a week in which to submit any and all ideas, because Ireally need to get organised and write out invitations.

Help me!

Bugger

My email account with the rare and valuable 3 letter password and all my cool saved emails deleted itself. New Address (not typed out in full in fear of spam trawlers) Is angelacula at yahoo dot com dot au.

Also, exam. :(

Also, POTC 2! 06/07/2006! :D

And jonquils! :)

And also everyone in my family but especially me says thanks to Alicia for the condolence card all the way from germany, which is just above and beyond the call of duty.

As such, Leach wins this post's trivia star, and I've decided to rescind on my earlier decision and give Katie that Vogon one after all.

Hello again

Yo, sorry for being grumpy yesterday everyone, was tired and freezing and wet from the rain. So I got more grumpy as I wrote and the water soaked thrpugh my clothes from the outside and froze me.

In other news, we totally made brownies yesterday! Mmm... delicious.

Star to anyone who can suggest an easy fun-to-bake brownie or cake type thing which we don't already have the recipe for to keep us entertained in the coming Stuvac!

Happy birthday-and-a-bit! Now with bonus sleep dilemmas.

I just realised on the bus this morning that I've had this blog for over a year, and I completely neglected to make a"hapy birthday, IB" post. How sad!

Actually I've been neglecting this all semester, due to complete lack of internet access. For some reason, then internet at Penrith never seems to work for me any more, and the internet at Lilyfield works only on Catie's computer in Catie's room, and then only sometimes, I can never get on. I could in theory go and wrest Catie's laptop from her and camp out in her room, but being as how she's employed now, she seems to be always at work (and at other times busy building that enourmous Scrooge MacDuck-style pool of cash to swim in), so she never seems to be there. And when she is there, ususally one of us is asleep, because her sleeping times are about 3am to 12noon (or thereabouts) and mine (due to 9am starts at uni most days) are more like 11/12(ideally, really more like 1am) - 7am. Ugh.

It's frustrating, actually, because I never seem to see the people I live with, and I have the creeping suspicion that they think that this is all my fault, that I'm deliberately barring them by calously sleeping every night. Doubtless this is in my mind, since obviously everyone needs to sleep, and the 9am starts are by no stretch of the imagination my fault, (which is not to say that Cat having work every day/night and bible study every Tuesday and so on are her fault, but they're not mine either: fate just hates us), but lack of sleep makes me paranoid.

It's awful, actually, I'm so tied all the time because I have to get up early every day, but I can never get to bed on time, so I'm constatntly really tired and I repeat myself and I'm really tired, and I fal asleep in class, and burst into tears for no reason all over the place. Poor Tim puts up with a lot of me crying on his shirts because I'm so sleepy and it seems like everyone is conspiring to stop me going to bed and resents me for sleeping and so on. Plus I;m not sure that;s it's healthy to actually fantasise about going to bed during the day/in class/while talking to people/at night/etc. I really should just go to sleep earlier. But then, as I said, I never see people, and they get annoyed because I'm being antisocial, and I'm sad because I never see them and so on.

Actually, it occurs to me that my conviction that the people I live with are annoyed with me is at a sort of equilibrium: either I sleep, so they're annoyed with me, which makes me convinced that they're annoyed with me, or I sleep less which has the effect that (a) I get sleep deprived and paranoid so I'm convinced that they're annoyed with me, (b) I become mentally unsound and iritable, so they're annoyed with me, and (c) eventually I have to go to bed, usually once every night, and then they get annoyed with me then. Also, I genuinely worry for my mental health because of how tired I am all the time. My mood's really unstable and I just feel like I'm becoming mentally unhinged, which I hate.

Heh. I started off this post feeling upbeat about my blog and it's birthday (I'll make a 1 and half-years old post then), but now I'm sitting in the library all sad because of being always sleepy and annoyed-ed with. Damn. I hate everything. I'm going to go and live in a small box by theseaside all by myself and never talk to anyone again. Actually, I thik I will try to talk less, I think my latin class hates me, because I'm always talking. In year 4 I remember Alex Hodgekiss went for a week without talking to see if she could. Maybe I should do that. Also, I'm all sad because my grandmother died last weekend, and she was really great and I miss her.

There is no trivia star today, because I feel all sad and tired and I don't see why anyone else should enjoy themselves. Ha.

(Ok, fine, star to whoever can tell me the name of the Vogon who once uttered similar sentiments)

An eventful few days

So, in the last few days, I have had: *takes deep breath*

-An unexpected chemistry quiz, which I suspect that I flunked spectacularly

-2 essays marked and given back, both with marks below where I'd rather hoped

-1 psych report written within 24 hours

-1 window of my car smashed in, nothing apparently stolen

-1 fall down a flight of concrete stairs

-$22 charged to print aforementioned psych report

-1 delicious Yum Cha lunch

-1 new winter coat (grey)

-1 sister lost in the city sans mobile phone, to general panic and ruination of day

-1 Whitlams concert, much fun had by all

-1 new pair of shoes (black, sparkled) bought to compensate self for 3 largely horrible days

-$140 groceries purchased in a fit of efficiency

-1 medico-legal document proof-read and edited

-1 morning at work

Good grief, I need a nap.

So, speaking of siestas, and for a trivia star, what character in what kid's movie says "Isn't we supposed to be having a fiesta?!"

Gosh! Another one already?

- I hear you cry.

Well, yes, because strange things happened this morning.
First of all, I managed to get white nail polish on one of my favourite black shirts, which is a bit of a bugger.

But just as I was noting this, I saw that the noticeboard next to the footbridge theatre and the Old Geology Lecture theatre was all burnt! It still smelt a bit a smoke, so it must have been fairly recent, but someone has totally set fire to it! In my opinion, I would guess that this was probably because of either the Eu posters or the Socialist Alliance ones, meaning that whichever there were more posters of on the board that day, it seems that the other was the guilty party. Aha! Except not quite, EU people probably more likely to turn the other noticeboard, but my vote is either rabid left wing people pr rabid right wing people. The fuselage of politics are much calmer.

Either that or someone REALLY didn't want anyone else to beat them to that room to let in sunny Glebe house, low rent, minutes to uni.

Also a convincing scenario, now I think about it.

Oh, and also, (and this is a bit embarrassing) I was walking along in my rainbow belt, which I hadn't put through my belt loops, but just tied loosely around myself somewhere in the vicinity of my waist and hips, when it slid off and nearly tripped me over! This was mildly embarrassing, but really the question was how low it had bee for how long? I mean, was I walking along with a belt tied around my thighs without noticing? Surely not, but it was a horrible thought, I thought.

I don't really have anything else to write at the moment, given as how I posted about 24 hours ago, but I just thought I would drop by and tell everyone about the strange happenings, and share my strangely merry mood about.

It's nearly the holidays! *dances* Dance too! The holidays, I tell you!

Satr to the person who most convincingly tells me that they danced too when I said to just then. Because, y'know, Yay For Everything!

PS: good grief, that's almost obscenely cheerful, isn't it?

My goodness

It's been forever since I actually posted anything. Sorry about that. What with uni starting and increasing workloads and, more importantly, our home internet now has a password system, so Lilyfield is denuded of internet access.

I've been outrageously good, actually, I've written 2 essays in the last 2 weeks, and I totally got them done ages in advance, and also 2 presentations, and heaps of latin translations and HEAPS of chemistry homework and so on.

Hmmm.... All sorts of things have been happening, actually, but I can't remember a single one. We went and saw Ross Noble, and my Dad had a birthday, and it's nearly easter, and... actually mostly it's just been working. But there are holidays next week, and Tim was in yesterdays (and today's?) newspaper, on account of his TV show airing this Friday at 7:30 on SBS. [/plug]

Oh my goodness! just got the Guide then, and Nerds FC is Show of the Week! Aaargh....

Trivia star question is Nerds FC themed, as all life seems to be this week, is this: what is a cephalopod?

Death to the Timetabling Computer Unit!

HORRIBLE, POINTY DEATH!

That is all.

(except a star for the movie in which the question "sharp pointy rocks at the bottom?" is answered "Most likely.")

Work = too stressful

I am getting a facial tic. I kid you not. A TIC. In my left eye/brow area. Am becoming Bruce Willis in that movie The Kid.

Curse my career-driven success-obsessed, hard-working lifestyle!

(Well... curse work)

Also, trivia: Name one other movie that the kid who played The Kid was in.

A hectic fortnight. (not Fully Hectic, though)

OK, well, in the last little while, I've done any number of things, most of which I ran late to.

For one thing, I worked a huge amount. Two of the people at my work had to take time off, so I was pulling double shifts, which is a good thing since, and I don't know if I mentioned this already, but I'm just going to go right ahead and complain again, my fridge exploded. Well, stopped working. So more money is, even more than usually, A Good Thing.

Also, if time is money, then Catie and I have spent a small fortune on house-hunting. This has been largely unsuccessful, but, y'know, so it goes. If worst comes to worst we can make do with another six months at Lilyfield, but with more and more builders and suchlike awfulnesses. Well, perhaps I'm being melodramatic now. (NB. Yes, definitely).

This last fortnight in particular has stood out for chaoticness for several reasons. Firstly, my father had kidney stones and had to have an operation, and three days off work. (Regarding this point, everyone, especially you, Pun, is forbidden to comment. The entire damn suburb rang us up and asked him about it in hideous detail. The poor guy deserves a break.)

Then, just as he was recovering from his operation and still feeling horrible, my paternal grandfather passed away on Sunday night, so we went to his funeral on Friday. (again, please no comments re. this bit, complete strangers have been commiserating with me all week, and I've had enough). I realise that perhaps if I don't want you people to respond, then I shouldn't post about it, but it seems sort of awful not to even mention something like that.

On a sort of counterpoint to this, however, my maternal grandmother's 94th birthday party was also this week, so that was good.

Also, they filmed the "makeover" episode of Tim's tv show, which basically means an enforced haircut. Would you believe that when the cameras stop rolling on those shows, they have to give the clothes back? Even the shoes had tape over the soles so they wouldn't scuff them for resale.

So anyway, I had to drive Tim to Paddington to have his haircut (because I had a car, and was at his house, because we'd seen Memoirs of a Geisha late the night before, and it would have been pretty harsh to be like "bye! I'll be driving home now, enjoy your 4 bus rides at 7:30 in the morning, and also, have fun on your day of filming which goes from 9am to midnight!". Which turned out to be entirely to my profit, anyway, because we got to Paddington early, and hadn't had breakfast, so (wait for it, Pun....) we had Max Brenner for breakfast. Hot chocolate and waffles with strawberries and chocolate, and then a mint and lemon granita so we could unglue our tongues from the rooves of our mouths. (Dear everyone who isn't Pun; please don't feel that I've forgotten you, only Pun always reacts so delightfully predictably).

So yes, dear old Tim was ridiculously wonderful throughout the whole week, and didn't mind when I got mascara all over his t-shirt when I was sad about my grandfather and also bought delicious breakfasts and such. He did, mind you, deliberately wind me up about his haircut, by pretending that it was horrible and suchlike, and making me all worried for him, when actually, he looks absolutely fine. *shakes fist*

Also, we went to dinner in Wooloomooloo, (ought there be a double L in there somewhere?) which was unremarkable except in that we ended up parking AGES away, like, in another postcode. Which meant that we accidentally signed ourselves up to walk through Kings Cross after dark, and we saw an interesting array of Ladies of Negotiable Affection. The amazing thing was how similar they were in dress to so many other women, and yet how obviously separate they were. Was made mildly nervous that own dressing style might resemble their attire, but reassured self on that score. Also, we saw Jehan from Uni, but only at a distance.
What else?

Oh yes, also (unrelated to above paragraph), Catie has a new blog, which is pretty cool. I urge you to check it out.

Today's trivia question is this: What do Geoffrey Rush, Stellan Skasgaard, Bill Nighy and this July have in common? *fangirls*

Now I'm back in the swing of things...

So I shall post again, superfluously. Not, obviously, that these posts aren't always superfluous, but there you go.

Apparently the government has today sent an application to Paris to ask if the Opera House can have world heritage listing. This seems somehow amusing to me, that it's Paris we have to ask. All their buildings are old and pretty and we must sound like the nerdy kid running along going "me too! Me too!". Heh. But I hope we do get it listed, that'd be nice. I mean, that building was in a Jmaes Bond movie once, one of those great early ones, where the bad guy was like "here's a slide show of major cities with recognisable landmarks which I am seriously considering razing to the ground, killing the inhabitants of and sewing the land with salt. So please forward an obscene amount of money to this, my home address, where I plan to be peaceably at home asleep tomorrow, and by the way, the sentries change at 7 o'clock. Please don't send James Bond then, or we'd be conveniently defenceless." and so on. (hmmm.... I appear to have gotten a little carried away there, sorry).

Where was I actually going with this post? I strongly suspect that the answer is a resounding "nowhere", but let us not be discouraged, dear readers.

Oh, while I'm at it, I would like to clarify that the Lucy/Tumnus fics that I was hunting for would definitely have been Grownup!Lucy/NotAnyOlder!Tumnus. It's just that he's so cute/english/scarf-wearing/shirtless. And he has adorable little hoofsie-woofsies, to paraphrase Good Omens. Plus he totally looked like he had a crush on her. (Ahem)

Anyway, yesterday I went and saw King Kong, which was a very Peter Jackson film. Long and a little unrelenting, but basically pretty good. I wasn't a huge fan of the people-being-eaten-by-enormous-insects/leeches/worms-with-teeth/spiders bit, but then, this is mainly because I'm not a huge fan of enormous-insects/leeches/worms-with-teeth/spiders in any capacity, even just as office workers or something. Am speciesist, it seems. *is ashamed*

The other day at work we had an odd discussion, one of the ladies had had a prank played on her by her friends, who had put her profile on a gay dating site, and she had a reply from this really shy, nice-sounding girl, ehich she thought was hilarious, I thought was cruel and the other lady thought was gross. Y'see I'm all for taking that sort of thing as a compliment, but she maintained that it could only ever be seen as grotesque and awful to have "one of them" (she may actually have even said "those") find you attractive. I'm interested to know what you guys think. If someone of the same gender as you expresses romantic interest in you, are you (a) complimented and therefore accept/politely decline, explaining that, lovely as they are, you are not that way inclined, or (b) freak out and run screaming to the hills, stopping only to scrub any areas of your skin where they may have touched you and so on?

Half a trivia star to each answerer of this question who has an argument to back it up. I warn you that "b, because it's gross" or anything similarly cretinous will receive negative stars, but genuinely backed up answers either way will be rewarded.

For those of you who are my school friends, I have to warn you that the dates for Maroubra weekend are currently in stasis until SillyOleTim can figure out whether the dates we currently have will clash with his 21st. Since I picked that weekend at random and his 21st has to work around his Dad leaving the country for 5 months, I'm afraid his will have precedence, just like Kathryn's did over my skiing trip.

Also, the IB would like to officially extend its congratulations to Alex and Alan, who recently got engaged, and go "ooh" about engagement rings. (some people get clucky around babies, I get clucky around jewellery. Mmmm... shiny)

Anyway, get on with your lives, people, and have a pleasant evening.

Recipes for Katrina afar

Spiced couscousBring 500ml chicken stock to the boil. Cover and remove from heat.Heat 2tbsp olive oil and 75g of butter in a small saucepan. Add 1 small onion, finely chopped, and cook unitl softened. Add 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped and cook for another 30sec. Add 1tsp each of ground cumin, ground coriander(optional) and turmeric, 1/2tsp of paprika. Cook stirring for 1min or until spices are fragrant. Add the hot stock. Place 2cups of couscous in a heatproof bowl, pour over stock and allow to stand for 5min covered. Use a fork to fluff up couscous. Stir in 1/2cup sultanas, 1/2cup toasted pine nuts and 1/3cup coarsely chopped coriander (or mint). Can add a tbsp or 2 of lemon juice if wanted. Then serve.

Lamb:

1 tablespoon chilli oil
half tablespoon cinnamon
rack of lamb.

Combine oilandcinnaom to form a paste, then rub it all over the outside of the lamb. Roast for half an hour at 180 degrees.

A long overdue post.

So overdue, in fact, that I'm going to have to resort to dot-point to explain all the zany adventures that have been had since the last post. Once again, for your skim-reading convenience, important points (and "important" points) will be underlined.

Let's see, when I last posted, I was amid a quest for a 1920s costume and a red top. You will doubtless be overjoyed, dear reader, to hear that both of these quests were, in the long run brilliantly successful. I managed to make a blue, fringed 20s dress and feathered, sequined, beaded headband, and also managed to get hold of a couple of garments in red. And, due to being quite outragously nifty and also perhaps some kind of domestic goddess or similar, managed to make a handkerchief hem red skirt with gold edges.

So yes, we went to Spencer's Roaring 20s 21st Party, which was pretty good, except for the fact that Sleazy Dave, one of Tim's friends or friends-in-law, if you will, was there, and kept trying to make Catie and I kiss so he couls take a photo of us. Wierd.

What else? Well, I went to Vanuatu, which was pretty nifty. We stayed in one of those resorts with some suites half on stilts over the water, and stayed in those very suites. We saw lots of starfish and et an awful lot of pineapple. Also we went to another island, called Tanna, and in one day went snorkelling on a reef, saw a cargo cult festival, and went to a volcano. Also, I Tragically lost my camera. With all my photos from the trip, and $50, and my dogtags, and a pair of earrings.

On the upside, however, Christmas was just after this, and I got heaps of brilliant presents, including a new camera and a 2 gigabyte (!) memory card, and a lot of books, and some ultra cool jewellery, notably the necklace in my profile pic after which I've been lusting for some time. (Checkit! Awesome, no?)

Then, unsurprisingly, there was New Years, which was also great, and which included waiting on Bondi Beach for the sun to come up so we could go home, and feuerwerks and all those nifty things.

What else? Well, my sister Alex and I went on zany adventures and saw the powerhouse museum and et at a susi train and bought 4 pairs of shoes in one day.

I heroically rescued a 6 year old from drowning in our pool by dint of jumping in fulling clothed. Which was pretty cool, I mean who hasn't always wanted to do that? Other lifelong ambitions achieved include the purchase of ultra-cool knee-high lace-up boots. Which are, wierdly enough, the second most comfortable pair of shoes I own, despite the heels, and which I have every intention of wearing all winter to keep warm.

My sister Katrina has gone to Albury/Wodonga for a while (weeks? months? who knows?) in order to make a small fortune by being a salesperson extraordinaire at the Betta Electricals there, which are apparently pretty nifty themselves, keep winning Victorian business of the year or something. (not, you understand, that there are whalebone corsets and uptight thinking and anti-sodomy laws, but that they're in the state of Victoria. Although, since it is Victoria, on reflection there may well be anti-sodomy laws, uptight thinking, and even whalebone corsets, but probably not concurrently, I suppose) So we are Katrina-less at present, but she will doubtless return and distribute largess at some point due to having an incredibly well-paying full time job at present. So if you're reading this, Katie, I would like a present. Actually, whoever reads this, that goes for you too. Here at the IB, presents are always accepted.

Nothing else of note has occured, other than the fact that I saw Narnia the other day, and there were some strange Lucy/Tumnus vibes, I rather thought. Tragically, however, there is a total dearth of good/completed fics for this on the internet. But this problem will doubtless resolve in a month or so.

Anyway, here it is, a poor quality post to get me back in the habit of posting. Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Oh, and Trivia Question: Which Austen book features a main character named after the author?