Not a man or a goth

2009-01-20T18:44:00.002+11:00

On Sunday I fixed the sewing machine. Or at least, it wasn't working before I touched it, then I randomly screwdrivered and oiled some parts, and now it does in fact work.

This is freaking awesome. I feel like an engineer.

2007-11-25T15:54:00.000+11:00

I saw the coolest thing at the Asian grocery store today.

Jay Chou potato chips!

I bought some, even though I don't know what one of the flavours is. Piquancy flavour? Okay.

Celebrity advertising DOES work.

2007-10-11T21:30:00.001+10:00

* You signed up on August 17, 2007
* You are #26504 on the list.
* 11 people are ahead of you in line.
* 15684 people are behind you in line.
* 60% of the list has been invited so far

So close! I'm at the doors of Ravelry with my nose pressed against the glass. Looking at all the wonderful people having their knitting party.

I'll have my invite by the time I wake up tomorrow :)

FO - Waving Lace fingerless mitts

2007-10-09T21:58:00.001+10:00

My roving from Mandie finally became something, albeit something small. I've been spinning since May-ish and this was my first Navajo ply. It wasn't a great job, since the singles broke quite a few times during plying, but it was consistent enough and felt soft to knit with.

These are my computer mitts for next year. I dragged my heels a little too long, and now it's too late to use them this year.

Pattern: I used my generic glove recipe with the Waving Lace stitch pattern from Favorite Socks. It was easy to memorise and really intuitive, so I think I might use it for socks eventually too.

Yarn: Spun from "Neptune's Nemesis" merino roving from Ewe Give Me the Knits. Navajo-plied to about 16 wpi.

Needles: 2.75 mm dpns

Komentar: I think it would have been better if I'd reversed the lace pattern, so that the mitts would be mirror images. Oh well, next time. It would have been awesome if the colour changes lined up too. I blame it on my n00b spinning.

The slit is there for no good reason; I was just playing around to see what it would look like.

In this pic the left is blocked, the right isn't. Although I thought I'd finished the yarn carefully, it still bloomed a little after washing. The mitts were a tiny bit tight pre-blocking, so now they fit great.

I still have a bunch of this roving left over, but I won't be spinning it for a while. I'm too distracted by all the other pretty colours and fibres. My wallet hurts :(

2007-10-03T17:08:00.000+10:00

It's definitely hot enough for this...

Srsly. I can't knit, I can't spin. I can't even wear clothes in this heat. My laptop is awful to use now because the keyboard keeps heating up. It's making worrying whirring noises too.

I left a USB key in for 20 mins, and when I took it out it felt like a seatbelt in a hot car.

I'm really unimpressed by the hot winds too.

2007-09-23T14:52:00.000+10:00

I've had an unhealthy obsession with Foggy Panda ever since Rowan 37 came out back in '05. At first I thought it looked like a weird cow, then I saw it was really a panda devouring a small child.

Why didn't I do it before, if I love it so much? I was held back by my cheapness. The cheapest Rowan 37 I could get was about $40 after postage. Then I got one in England for 10 pounds (with a good exchange rate too). Then I wasn't willing to pony up the dough for the yarn. Man, colour work is expensive.

Eventually I just thought "hell with it", and here we are now:

I thought I'd start with the back so I could guesstimate if I had enough yarn. I'm using Grignasco Tango, which has more yardage than Rowan Wool Cotton, so I bought one less ball of the purple. It should be okay, fingers crossed.

I started counting all the ends I have to weave in, but got bored at 30. So there are 30+ ends left. I like weaving in ends, but don't really feel like it right now. Maybe on the train or something.

I've finished the first sleeve on the Tangled Yoke Cardi, and I'm this far up the body.

It makes pretty good train knitting. I put some text instructions into my ipod because I didn't want my magazine to get battered in my bag. When I get to the yoke bit, it'll be too heavy to carry around and I think I'll leave it at home.

Knittyboard sock swap

2007-09-21T14:14:00.000+10:00

My partner was Gill/Floss from Wales, and she did me this fabulous pair of Monkeys! It's really shiny in person, and the yarn feels very smooth and cool. Good thing too, with summer coming up. Sorry for the weird angles in the photo. I don't do yoga anymore.

I'm really impressed with the lack of pooling. I think I'll have to try a pair of Monkeys myself.

Haha, I really like that tape measure. That'll get a lot of use. I like to keep a tape measure in my handbag, but I often forget to take them out and put them in the bag I'm actually using that day.

There was also a block of Green and Blacks, but it didn't manage to survive until today ;)

Eva from Posh Yarns :) I know exactly what to do with this. It wants to be that lacy little Teardrop scarf from knitscene. This has an entirely different thickness, but I'll work it out.

Thank you Floss for such a luxurious parcel!

What happened?

2007-09-17T17:18:00.000+10:00

I heard a loud BANG, and when I went into the lounge, William said,

"I stepped on it."

It's still half full, and the hole is too small for anything to come out. :(
I'm half laughing, half crying. I really want those peas.

2007-09-13T10:50:00.000+10:00

I'm starting to think I'm a bit spoilt. Where to begin?

I went to Chris' place on Tuesday because he was sick, and walked away with:

my belated birthday present. You all know what an iPod looks like, so there it is in the sock I whipped up last night. It's an 80 gig classic, and soooo cool. The screen seems much bigger than it really is, especially if you hold it close to your face.

My Zen goes to William, IF someone can fix it for me. I dropped it just before I went to England. It makes a ChChChChk noise when you turn it on, and then nothing happens. I had to go throughout the whole England trip listening to that Umbrella song on the radio FIVE OR SIX TIMES A DAY FOR A MONTH because of breaking my Zen :'(

digital scales! I've been lusting over something like this for ages. It has auto-tare :) I tried to spin up some lace weight on my 1.6 oz spindle, but only managed to get a 2 ply fingering. I spun for hours and hours and look, it's only 9 grams worth! That's merino roving from EGMTK in Belle's Story. There's also some white Angelina chucked in as an experiment. It is very princessy. (What would YOU do with pink sparkle yarn? Say, about 400 yards/metres fingering weight?)

yarn! 8 ply Rustic from Bendigo Woolen Mills in Natural Fleck. This was also at Chris' house. I got it delivered there so I wouldn't start knitting with it straight away. Ha. It's becoming the first sleeve for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It's not baby soft, and feels a bit "woolly". I'm not sensitive to woolly knits, so it'll suit me just fine. I like how the huge balls (*snicker*) mean less joining. Plus it was cheap.

Okay, that's it for Chris' house. This is what turned up at my place this week:

Optim from EGMTK in er... I've forgotten the name actually. Something about fruits, I think. If you can't tell, I like this store a lot. The service is fast, and really lovely.

my lace spindle! It's 30 grams-ish, and I can spin to TWICE the wpi than on my old one. It came from the Spindlemaker on etsy, and it is really very beautiful.

Whine

2007-09-08T12:05:00.000+10:00

It's time to accept that the custom-dyed sock yarn I ordered is never coming. It was supposedly sent a month ago, and according to the post office it should have taken a day (max two) to arrive. I've been really cool about it up 'til now, but now I'm so pissed off.

I accept that things go missing in the post. The part that gets me is the lack of reply from the seller. I've asked them (nicely) for confirmation that the parcel was really sent and that the notice I received wasn't an error (I received the email on Sunday night, which was a bit weird, considering the PO is closed on weekends). No reply.

I emailed them AGAIN, giving alternative addresses to reply to, in case their replies were being eaten by spam filter. No reply.

I asked them to file a missing parcel complaint for me. I'd do it myself, but the sender has to do it. No reply.

I left a comment on their blog asking them (again, nicely) to get in touch with me. No reply.

There are no real-life contact details on their yarn website. I did find a link to the web design business they have, but no details there either. I don't think there's anything else I can do, so it looks like it's time to give up :/

I've ordered from them once before, when I needed the yarn for a deadline. At that time, I sent them an email asking if I could get the yarn before the date. I also asked if it was possible to make one of the colours slightly darker. She said the yarn would definitely be ready by the time I needed it, but ignored my question about the colours. The yarn arrived a week later than expected. She was nice about it though, and refunded me the postage cost.

Speaking of postage costs. Why the fuck does she charge $6.10 for regular shipping when she lives about FIFTEEEN minutes away from me? That's $5.10 for a prepaid post satchel, and $1 for what? Her time? When I order things from Victorian sellers, they charge the actual postage cost and it's $3.85 (I think) for up to 250g. Using the prepaid satchels is just dumb. (I thought it was uneconomical before I was pissed off at her, too)

Luckily, I didn't spend too much this time. It was only about $30+, I think. I'm VERY annoyed at this unreliable person. The lady at the post office said that if there were any problems, the parcel would have been returned to the sender. All I want is some acknowledgment. (And my yarn.)

I'm glad there are so many other places to shop.
(Btw, I just did my tax return online, and I'm getting everything back :D Have you done yours?)

2007-09-04T14:51:00.000+10:00

My Fall IK finally arrived, and I feel like I was the very last person in the world to get it.

It's completely worth the wait. All ill will has now dissipated.

I love everything. I love how for some reason, everything is red. I love how it hasn't been damaged this time.

I love the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, Tilted Duster, Minimalist Cardigan (which looks so much better in the mag than in the preview), the Mirepoix bodice (no matter what Chris says about disliking "vertical lines"), and so much more.

I think I'll take a break from spinning and start knitting again, mainly because my left arm is too sore to support my spindle today. Why? Because I just got my HPV vaccination.

GO GET YOURS, if you haven't. It is FREE right now, and very important. (I'd actually forgotten about it for a while, but some med students reminded me)

Kneel, you

2007-09-01T23:50:00.000+10:00

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.
Take this quiz!

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Join

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I'm way prouder of this than I should be...

2007-08-30T20:21:00.000+10:00

So, all I got for my birthday was cash. Over the past week I converted it into actual goods in an orgy of materialism.

Merino cashmere sock yarn from The Knittery in Orange Blossoms.

The same yarn in Indigo on its way to being a spiral boot sock.

Hand dyed merino roving from Ewe Give Me The Knits in Neptune's Nemesis. I've already spun up a quarter of this. It's so easy to handle, and the colours have kept me entertained for hours. Literally hours.

And o-m-g, we have hand dyed Optim in Babycakes (also from EGMTK)! It's so shiny and soft. I'm afraid of messing it up. I think I'll wait until I get my new spindle, then aim for some laceweight.

Yeah, as part of my spree I ordered a spindle from the Spindlemaker. They're made to order, so it should take a while to arrive. John and Juleen helped me choose a spindle since I have nfi.

I also bought some Angels on Bare Skin from Lush. Slightly noticeable improvement so far. I'll see how it is in a few weeks.

At the end of last month, I ordered some dyed-to-order sock yarn with the intention that it'd arrive around my birthday. It was posted a couple of weeks ago, but no sign of it yet. I'm convinced it's gone missing, since it should NOT take 18+ days for something to travel 15 kms.

I think that's all, unless there's something I've bought but forgotten about.

Edit: Also got membership for the Zen String sock club, and some sock needles. I don't know how I forgot those.

FO: Capone

2007-08-11T21:22:00.001+10:00

Pattern: Capone from Rowan 38
Yarn: Twilleys Freedom Spirit in #502 Fire, 1.5 balls.
Mods: Didn't sew ribbon around the brim.

This was really easy and fun. At first it seemed ridiculously huge (I could pull it all the way over my head), and I doubted it would felt enough.

The Twilleys felted like a dream. Much much better than Noro. I did it at 3 a.m. in the bathroom sink, with medium-hot water and a bit of soap. It took about half an hour until I was completely happy with the shrinking. It's a bit redder in real life, but the photos show the subtle striping fairly well.

I didn't join the edges evenly, but the felting obliterated the dodginess. Muahaha. I didn't weave any ends in either, and they turned into short hard nubs that got snipped off without any problems.

I'm not sure that the style of this hat suits me. In fact, I don't think I'm a hat person at all. I knew this before I started, but I really wanted a quick project to play with. I think I'll keep it on the dog until I decide what to do with it.

Boxed by Rowen/Maiziemama

2007-08-07T20:08:00.000+10:00

Mum took the camera so I used my phone. Slightly blurry; it's NOT your eyes.

This arrived at Chris' house last month, and I got it from him last week but didn't put photos up =/

Made by Rowen from handspun (she spun it herself, I think). I love the colours.

Squee, pink yarn! Claudia's Handpaints in Pink Posey. I can't wait to use this. I've never tried Claudia's before.

Pu'er tea. Haven't tried this before either. This is the sort of thing I'd expect customs to take, but they didn't! Maybe because it was at the bottom...?

We were really impressed by the way Rowen managed to fit everything in the box! We couldn't manage to put it all back the right way. It had been opened by customs and they crammed some pamphlets inside, but it seems that they didn't take anything out.

Also in the box, but not pictured here, were:

Knit Klips (which are awesome, and a lot faster than basting)

Clover Chibi needles (I like how there are different eye sizes in the one tube)

Wasabi peas (Chris ate most of these. Some of them were really HOT. They made him tear up a little)

Various candy bars (which I ate without help from anyone).

Cookie A's Gothic Spire

Here's the non-blurry but slightly dark (it was night) photo that Chris sent me, when I was in England:

For anyone who wants to know what happened on the rest of my trip, we went to the country. It was cold and boring and I finished HP7 in 6 hours. We stopped over at Korea on the way back, and Mum had a massive row with people at the airport. We would have totally been on Border Security if it had happened here.

Thursday

2007-07-05T21:04:00.000+10:00

Yay, I got my blogging up to date :D

Took a cruise down the Thames and went to London Zoo. I saw the reptile house where they filmed some of Harry Potter :D It's a pretty small zoo. They had to move the elephants out because they didn't have enough room.

Half the animals there are in quarantine.

After lunch, we went down to Greenwich, home of GMT.

East meets west!

Wednesday

2007-07-05T20:32:00.000+10:00

Hampton Court Palace

This was so much nicer than Kensington Palace. Henry VIII used to hang out here.

The grounds were so large; we only saw a fraction of them.

Hedge maze!

Had dinner near Aldsgate East. There are heaps of Indian restaurants there, with people standing outside trying to get you in. It's really competitive there, so they offer you things like free poppadoms, naan and X% discount.

I'm tired all the time, because we stay out until 11 P.M., and wake up at 8 every day. It's still quite bright even at 10 P.M so it makes you feel like you've been awake forever.

Tuesday

2007-07-05T20:20:00.000+10:00

Kensington Palace
Not really that fancy on the inside. They had a massive Diana shrine/exhibition, since it's the 10th year since her death. They don't let you take photos on the inside because it makes their old stuffs deteriorate.

The Eye
It takes about half an hour to go all the way around. William took this pic; that's why I don't look angry.

Aquarium
Just near the Eye. Something random on the roof.

The Phantom at Her Maj
Still getting standing ovations after 21 years.
(We went to the Tues night performance, but I came back and took a photo this morning, because I'm sad like that.)

Monday

2007-07-04T09:30:00.000+10:00

Madam Tussaud's and Tower Bridge. Also went to London Tower, and saw the crown jewels, but couldn't take any photos of them

2007-07-03T17:15:00.000+10:00

I have quite a bit of London blogging to do, but I only just figured out how to use the wireless internet in the apartment. And I have heaps of emails to answer, and we're about to go out to dinner and a show.

It is pissing down, and it's super cold.

Lamest summer ever.

Korea Stop-over

2007-06-30T22:43:00.000+10:00

Everything is Korea is just... better.

Let's start with the flight. Asiana is the best airline that I can remember using. There was (comparatively) heaps of leg room. Perhaps twice as much as Qantas. William could squeeze past me without me having to get up. The flight attendants were all lovely and polite and they cleaned the toilets EVERY HOUR. They also kept coming past to offer people juice and water. You didn't need to ask for it at all. Whenever you started to feel dry, they were there!

The food didn't make me throw up or feel even remotely ill. There was so much.

Meal #1: Your choice of beef or octopus.

Snack #1: A sandwich.

Meal #2: Your choice of bi-bim-bap or beef something.

Snack #2: Mars bars.

Snack #3: Peanuts and pretzels.

The bi-bim-bap came with a cute "how-to".

(picture here, when I'm not lazy)

Now we're in a 3-star hotel near the airport that came included in the price of the air ticket. This is the most awesome 3-star hotel in the world.

It has a UV cup sterilizer! OMG.

The shower has like, 10 jets. Took a while to figure out how to use this.

And there's a toilet that um, massages you.

And apparently, cleans your face....? :(

This is only Incheon. I totally expect Seoul to trump this.

Late to the party again

2007-06-16T10:52:00.000+10:00

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!

My phone takes okay photos.

2007-06-14T22:58:00.000+10:00

Went to uni yesterday to give in some assignments. I got off at the upper campus bus stop, and there was danger tape (and gauze) all around the library lawn.

What happened?

I think this must have happened because of the wild weather we've been having. If the tree had been intentionally felled, I'm pretty sure they would've cut it near to the base, and then dug up the stump with a stumping machine. Correct me if I'm wrong; I'd really like to know.

It was quite big.

stitch marker action

2007-06-12T13:50:00.000+10:00

I am quite the suck at making jewellery.
However, I think these stitch markers came out pretty well.

The only place I had to hang them was between the knobs of my closet doors, if you're wondering.

These are going to my sock box pal. I might make more later for myself. Anything to avoid studying.

Sox Box Contest #1

2007-05-25T19:39:00.000+10:00

What is your favorite beverage and snack while knitting, and why? Be specific!

Beverage: Green tea. It's getting cold here, and I like to wrap my hands around the cup to keep them warm. Plus, if I spill it on the carpet [or my knitting :( ], it's pretty easy to soak off.

Snack: I don't usually eat while knitting, because my hands are too busy! However, I usually knit in front of the tv, so I get plenty of eye candy.

2007-05-15T22:46:00.000+10:00

w00t, it's Sox Box time!

Super Sox Box Swap Questionnaire:

1.What are your favorite colors? What colors make you cringe?
Love: Pink, red, purple, apple green, navy blue
Hate: Neon green, olive green, highlighter yellow, dirt brown

2.Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks?
Started knitting socks a few years ago, but haven’t done that many. Maybe about 5 pairs.

3.Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?
I like heathered yarns and tonal solids. I used to like self fair isle-ing stuff, but now I’ve gone off it and have too much. Variegateds are cool too (up to 3 colours).

4.What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn?
Love everything but cotton.

5.Where do you usually knit socks?
On the train, at my boyfriend’s house, in lectures, and at home in front of the TV.

6.How do you usually carry/store small projects?
I normally just shove them in my bag naked, no sock bag or anything.

7.What are your favourite sock knitting patterns? Any favourite designers?
Socks: At the moment I love the BF socks. I like the look of Cookie A’s stuff, but haven’t actually done any.
General knitting: Anything by Eunny. Most things by Veronik Avery.

8.What are your favorite sock knitting techniques?
Gusset with flap for either direction. Short row toes and sewn BO for toe-up. Twisted German CO and kitchener toes for cuff-down.

And EOP

9.What new techniques would you like to try?
Nothing in particular

10.Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting?
DPNs -- circs too fiddly and don't make good weapons.

11.What are some of your favorite yarns?
Patonyle: it’s so soft, but comes in drab colours.
Fearless Fibers: fantastic service, and a nice thin yarn (rainbow dyed!)
The Knittery: 10% cashmere sock yarn with nylon

All time favourite yarn: Rowan Cork, now discontinued :( Come back :(

12.What yarn do you adore and yearn for? What yarn makes you happiest?
Haven’t tried any Lorna’s, CTH, Claudia’s or Koigu. The overseas shipping makes me weep.

I’m the happiest with any nice sock yarn, or just anything 4 ply/fingering weight. I generally prefer small-gauged things.

13.Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object?
Time: Peacock Feathers Shawl
Money: That Tilli Thomas Knitted Bodice
Both: Eunny Jang’s Venezia

14.Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?
Metal DPNs, really thin and pointy.
Metal straights with sharp tips.

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?
Probably KSH because I can be a real bitch sometimes ;)

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Sweet or salty?
Ferrero Rocher, Tim Tams, WASABI PEAS.

Do you collect anything?
WIPs… no, make that UFOs ;)

What is your favorite scent?
DKNY Red Delicious. Also love cookies.

Will you be celebrating a birthday, anniversary, etc. between now and the close
of the swap?
Nope

What’s your favorite animal?
Cats, octopi

Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages?
Nope. Had some fish but they died. All of them.

Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read.
People's whole lives do pass in front of their eyes before they die. The process is called 'living'.

What is your motto in life?
Er. See above.

Do you have a wishlist? (ie: Amazon, B&N, a LYS, online store, etc.) Please list link here.
No.

Great Ocean Road

2007-04-24T12:53:00.000+10:00

I found my camera this morning, and all these photos from December were still in it.
This is when we flew down to Melbourne for my sort-of cousin's wedding, and afterwards drove down to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road. It took about a week. Then we stayed in Adelaide for a day before catching a flight back to Sydney.

Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly when and where these photos were taken, so descriptions will be vague.

Possibly London Bridge
I think this might be that London Bridge place, where you used to be able to walk across. One of the arches collapsed while people were on the other side, and they were trapped there for several hours.

A really blue lake
The water really was that colour (Gatorade blue); that's not the reflection of the sky. It's only like this for a couple of months during the year (in summer, I think).

Big sink hole
Actually, I think this is Mt Gambier. Sorry the photo is blurry. It was dusk.
If you come here at night with a bag of apples, possums will approach you to be fed. Now, we didn't have any apples, but we'd been eating apples beforehand. So we got a lot of free possum action.

A big lobster and Dad

Somewhere in the Barossa
I think we bought wine from this place. If we did, the people were very nice and the grounds were beautiful.

I think there must be another memory card from this trip somewhere, because photos of the wedding are conspicuously missing. Anyway, the ones I've posted are a decent summary. I imagine it would be a lovely romantic getaway to take with your partner, if you like driving and the ocean.

Recipe for disaster [?]

2006-05-20T22:08:00.000+10:00

Ingredients:
1 Qfy
1 Spa
1 pair of hair cutting scissors (fabric scissors can be substituted)
Rubber bands (these come in packs of many)
1 towel
1 chair
1 measuring tape
1 comb
1 mirror (optional)

Preparation time:10 mins
Execution time:approx 10 mins (or less! surprisingly fast!)

Well, mon petit chou, you (unless you are me or Spa) missed out on some serious fun today. I don’t know if you were busy, couldn’t be bothered coming, or I just didn’t invite you. Anyway. Now YOU can reproduce this amazing bonding experience in the comfort of your own home.

Step 1:
Look happy. Mock people who pose with V-hands.

Step 2:
Tie hair in sections according to length.

Step 3:
Snip snip!

Step 4:
Freak out. Lament. Wail loudly.

Step 5:
Remark how hair looks and feels like a small dead animal.

Repeat until end.

(still friends!)

(the back!)

See the full set here, if you really want.

Very bad awful day

2006-04-29T00:17:00.000+10:00

Woke up late.

Studied. Discovered a whole topic I didn't know we'd covered. Panic.

Caught train. Got to Green Square, realised I didn't have my calculator.

Called Li. He had a calculator, but was at Hville. He bumped into Johanna while I was talking to him, and I spoke to Joh for 20 seconds. Then I ran out of credit.

Desperate. Bought calculator at newsagency at Central. Couldn't go to Li's mum's shop because she thinks we are dating.

Caught bus to racecourse. Realised calculator couldn't do permutations or combinations. Accosted stranger. Took their calculator.

Exam reasonable. Finished early.

Tried to call parents on train but had no credit. Sadness. Used scary payphone at the station. Standard call is now 50c, not 40c. Chagrin.

Lay some of that heterolingus on me, show me what I've been missing

2006-04-21T12:38:00.000+10:00

Gigli (rhymes with really) is so dodgy! The script makes me want to punch someone in the face.

Donna describes Bad Movie Day so well that I don't have anything left to say. Oh, except that the cheesecake from Michel's Patisserie is awesome. There was still some left when I got home tonight, and I had two slices. Someone put it in the fridge while I was gone, even though it CLEARLY says "best served at room temperature." This is what happens when I'm gone :/ That, and people putting nail polish in the fridge.

Went to Kangaroo Valley/Jamberoo for 3 days with the Chinese Society, and it was really great! I'm a bit grumpy right now though, because of lack of sleep and hatred for canoes. After BMD I had about 4 hours of sleep. Weds night -- 2 hours. Last night -- ??? (about 6 or so).

This morning we went for what I thought would be a paddle down the river. I mean, I liked canoes. I liked rowing. Now it's been ruined forever.

1. We had to paddle for 5.5 kms (3.4375 miles)
2. UPSTREAM
3. Against the wind
4. There were rapids, and the water was too shallow for the canoes to go over. People had to get out and push/pull the canoe over the rocks.
5. The water was really cold.
6. There were painful rocks everywhere.

I felt really guilty, because I got tired and was ineffective at the canoe manipulation. So my partner (Eric) did most (all?) of the paddling and canoe push/pulling. I grew bitter about the whole experience, because towards the end we were paddling but being pushed downstream by the wind. I felt like Sisyphus :(

Jamberoo was fun. Despite being the school holidays, it was empty-ish. So there were hardly any lines, and no band-aids or "other objects" (I really wish you guys hadn't told me about that) floating around. I nearly drowned several times, but in the end wasn't any worse for wear.

You should’ve been there (but you weren’t)

2006-04-15T21:32:00.000+10:00

Went out yesterday with s3. Got to the city early to help Ken with his portfolio. He wants to become a professional photographer, and asked me to model. I hope he managed to get a couple of good shots. I think I’m not bitchy/thin/vain enough to put on the typical Asian model look (and I can be PLENTY bitchy/thin/vain).

We ate dinner at 5, just like old people do. We were supposed to get to Luna Park at 6, but Sharon (yes the one from St George) got mixed up and booked dinner for 6. Er, not only that, but the restaurant was next to a karaoke bar, and she booked the k bar instead of the restaurant. Oh dear. We ended up at that Korean place at Capitol. Didn't eat much, because I was full from a quick stop at Passionflower.

It was good that I didn't each much, because after the first ride I felt really sick and had to sit down for a while to recover. I felt mildly ill for the rest of the night, especially from the spinny rides. I went on the Shockwave twice in a row because it had a forwards/backwards motion instead of round/round/round motion. Then when I got off, someone asked me if I was alright, and I said:

"I'm going to go throw up, please get my bag for me" (I left my bag at the bottom of the ride)

Then I walked to the toilets (Lra never runs) and by the time I got there, I felt better! Hurrah!

More highlights:
** I got to scream really loud on the rides. Really, when else do you have to opportunity to scream as loud as you like? Some people said that I burst their eardrums. I'm so proud :D

** I won a really big lion toy by doing that mallet hitting game (the one where you see how hard you can hit). The first time I only got 76 because I'm weak and girly, but the second time I fluked it and hit right in the middle and got 151. So I got to choose the biggest prize and all the guys were really sore because they couldn't even hit over a hundred.

Okay, not really. I actually won it by doing a ball rolling race (the trick is not to roll too hard). It was super easy. My lion sprung two leaks because it's cheap and made in China. Little white balls starting pouring out of its crotch :( So Ken passed it to a random and said "here you go" and I never saw it again. I didn't really want it in the first place (all I wanted was to win the race), but now I think it might've been a nice souvenir.

Photos here

2006-03-22T15:40:00.000+11:00

Okay, I seriously want to finish the Egypt blogging now. I barely remember what happened anymore anyway :P I've been told that I don't sound like I had much fun, so I'll try to put a bit more sunshine and rainbows in this post.

But first!
More bad things, because complaining is fnu:
*14-year old boy in our group was molested. Some Egyptian man at the market offered him a free shirt, then felt up his penis.
*Waiters on the boat were annoying -- pulled on my hair, kept calling my name every 5 minutes (no hyperbole) while I was eating. Wouldn't let me ignore them -- kept bugging me until I acknowledged them. Tried to trick me into giving them our room number. Folded napkins into penis shapes and smacked the boys in the face with them. Refused to set the table for us on the last day, then asked for tips. My uncle gave them tips, because he's generous like that. But he gave them Egyptian pounds, and they wanted USD, so they asked for more. He told them to shove off.

Some good things:

Abu Simbel (a.k.a Wolf Creek)
*Woke up at 2:45 AY EM so our bus could join the convoy to Abu Simbel. At about 5, I took a peek out the window, and it was pitch black and looked like a scene from Wolf Creek. Saw the sun rise over the desert. Very pretty.

Abu Simbel is huger in real life than the pictures show. Inside it was packed, and it was really hot, which made everyone cranky. It was winter too, so it must be hellish in summer. We saw graffiti from ancient asswipes, eg "Francois 1792". Other than that it was good.

Here Ramesses has his hands flat on his knees, which means he is a merciful king.

Monument for Queen Nefetari, his wife (NOT Nefertiti, who was Akhenaten III's wife). The smaller statues around their feet represent their children.

Kom-ombo Temple (a.k.a. The Temple of Offler-the Crocodile-Headed-God)

William and I went around pointing at anything crocodile-headed, exclaiming "It's Offler!" No one got it but us. Anyone who reads this and gets it can have a gold star. Lined up for ages to see the mummified crocodiles. It was damn hard to take a good photo of one, because it was so dark and I didn't want to disintegrate them with the flash.

Click to see an "interesting heiroglyphic". I forget why this was relevant, but I took a photo anyway. Enjoy.

Luxor (is ultimate)
I like Luxor. The temperature was good, and stuff was a lot cheaper than Cairo. There was lots of stuff to see all around the same area, so we didn't spend hours on the bus.

I've forgotten what this temple was called, but I think it was built by Ramesses II. Anyway, from memory it's one of the best (perhaps THE best) preserved temple. This one still had a lot of its colour, and lots of pictures of ancient Egyptians smiting foreigners.

Er. I think this is the East bank of Luxor. Wherever it is, it's pretty, and I like this photo.

People at Mum's work said "Who took the photos? They are a kickass photographer."
Mum said "No, we just have a good camera."
Thanks a lot, Mum.

After that, we went to the valley of the queens. Apparently Queen Hapshetsut's nephew/stepson/son-in-law(how incestuous!) got his men to chip all the images of her off the walls. Okay, fair enough. But why go to all that trouble and leave most of the statues intact? If you really hate someone, put in the effort and destroy them completely.

I don't have pictures of the Valley of the Kings, because we couldn't take photos inside the tombs, and the outside looked like lumps of sand. Your ticket entitles you to visit three tombs of your choice, except for Tutankhamun's one which costs 70 pounds extra. All the good stuff from the tomb is in the Cairo museum, so don't waste your 70 pounds. All the stairs were really steep, and one woman wearing PLATFORM SHOES tripped. Huh, well. The first tomb was very interesting, the second tomb was moderately interesting, and only William and I went into the third tomb. The layout and the art of each tomb was pretty much the same. By this stage, everyone was Egypted out, and wanted to go back to the boat and play 7-card poker.

Karnak temple is the biggest one, and took around 2000 years to build. There near the lake, there's a statue of a scarab beetle. Our guide told us that if you walk around it clockwise XX times, you'll get married within the year. If you walk around it anti-clockwise XX times, you'll get pregnant. My aunt and her friends went clockwise, but they were the only ones. LOTS of people were going anti-clockwise, including men and little children. I think our guide lied.
There was a funky drawing of the fertility god near the entrance. He only had one leg and one arm, because he was so good at sexing, he didn't need both. Haha. Egyptians are funny.

By the time we got to Luxor temple, it was night time. I think it looks evil in this photo. (Or rather, it would if the photo would upload. I'll do it later. I hate the internet :( )

Then our travel company screwed up our flight back, and it was very trying. It all worked out in the end, except for them.

~the end

2006-02-21T19:08:00.000+11:00

I've mentioned before that our tour company kept screwing around with the itinerary. It's because they left things until the last minute and couldn't confirm the flights. They couldn't get us a flight from Cairo to Aswan, so they had to book us a private jet.

(When we got back to M'sia, they tried to charge us an additional RM4000 for the flight. It's so unprofessional to get people to pay up front, then screw everything up and ask for more money. Well, the trip's over now. Good luck getting your money, suckers.)

I am an anxious flyer, especially after September 11. But ESPECIALLY after watching Lost. Private jets have a tendency to rock :( And on the back of the seat in front of me was a sign saying:

FASTEN SEAT BELT WHILE SEATED
STOW TRAY DURING TAKE-OFF AND LANDING
USE SEAT CUSHION FOR FLOATATION

There were no life jackets. Luckily we were flying above the desert and there was little chance of drowning if we crashed.

There wasn't really that much in Aswan. At night we went on a carriage ride, during which the driver kept asking for tips (even though tips were already included in the fee). He kept asking for "present for the horse", which frankly was a bag of bones. He kept whipping it to make it go faster, and raced with the other carriages. He nearly hit some people, but he thought it was funny.

We went for a nice felucca ride on the Nile. It was sunny and bright, and there was a slight breeze. Some kids paddled up in boats and sang songs. So we gave them money and they went away (very quickly too). The Nile doesn't have crocodiles anymore, and I was disappointed. I was looking forward to some Offler goodness.

Alexandria

2006-02-13T21:30:00.000+11:00

Day 3: Went to Alexandria by road. It took about 3 hours to get there. I think our driver may have been speeding, and it was slightly scary.

Alexandria has a lot of potential. Mum says it looks a bit like the south of France. The water looks nice, despite all the garbage floating in it. The buildings are cramped and dirty. Disturbingly, a lot of them are half-constructed or abandoned. I think if they cleaned the place up, it'd be very spiffy indeed.

There was a man making pictures out of sand. Behold his coolness below. Click to enlarge! I sort of wish I'd bought something from him.

We had good lunch at a place called Athineos, though I'd minus points because the waiters were slow, didn't set enough places, ignored us when we tried to get their attention, and the tablecloth was really dirty. (I think this happened because they knew we'd never ever be coming back. The service for "real" customers looked good). Had great baklava from the Athineos bakery behind the restaurant.

Took another three hours to drive back to Cairo. At night the guide took us to the papyrus factory, where we were all severely ripped off. I bought only one piece of papyrus, so I was less ripped off than everyone else was.

(One of the aunties [not to name any names], always buys what other people buy. She gets out of control, and sometimes for everything you buy, she gets TWO of the same thing. She got ripped off the most, but I don't think she really cares, because it's her husband's money anyway. And she's nutty. End gossip.)

Very tired

2006-02-06T21:54:00.000+11:00

I think I might have jet lag. Wherever I go I feel like the room is moving. Egypt-blog will be in multiple posts, because I can't handle doing the whole thing right now. All dollars mentioned are USD, all pounds are Egyptian pounds.

Day 1: Travelling
Went from KLIA to Doha, then from Doha to Cairo. Arrived at night. Very tired. Went to sleep.

Day 2: (New Year's Day)
Went to see the pyramids of Giza. We went into one of the queens' pyramids, and the stairs were low and steep. Inside was very anticlimactic, since all the treasures are in the museum.

**Traveller's tip #1: Beware the camel men near the pyramids. What they do is, they say "Hey China China. I give you one dollar ride camel." And you think "Hey, $1 is pretty cheap." So then you get on the camel and they don't let you off unless you pay them like, 100 L.E (about $20). Also, they might touch you in funny places when they're helping you up.**

Also visited the Sphinx, briefly. Much like the Mona Lisa, it's smaller in real life.

**Traveller's tip #2: Near the Sphinx there's a hole, which your guide may tell you is a wishing well. There is no historical evidence for this. What happens is, at the end of the day the guards collect the money that sucker tourists throw in.**

Then we visited the perfume essence factory. I bought 3 bottles for $75.
(1 drop essence + 9 drops alcohol = perfume
1 drop essence + 15 drops alcohol = eau de toilette.
Don't ever buy EDT -- it's a rip-off)

Then we went to the Cairo museum for a few hours and had dinner at the worst Chinese restaurant in the entire world, no hyperbole. There were no Chinese vegetables -- everything was made of tomato and carrot. They had yee sang for CNY, but the fish was off :/ One of my cousins only eats pale food (rice, bread, pasta, fish, tofu etc), so we ordered him two fried eggs and they cost USD10. I think it may be the only Chinese restaurant in Cairo, and that's where they take all the tour groups from Taiwan. Boooo.

You know you're in Malaysia when...

2006-01-19T21:51:00.000+11:00

1. You see two cats eating a dead snake at the side of the road.
2. Nobody wears seatbelts.
3. When stray cats sit under your table at the restaurant... you feed them.
4. A whole day's worth of food, including drinks and snacks, costs about $5. Love the exchange rate.
5. Every second shop is a shoe shop.
6. All the meals are Laura-sized.
7. People get time off work/school for Chinese New Year.
8. You can live in a golf course, and people don't think that's weird.
9. Piracy is the norm.
10. No one buys anything at full price. Wait two weeks for a sale, or bargain, dudette.

I am insanely happy! Last night I got a suitcase worth of clothes from my aunt, who warned me not to pack a lot. So because my suitcase was half empty, we put a 20 kg box of kilos in it. And because it was my suitcase, I had to carry it :/ Bitter, me? Naturally.

I have photos to upload, but I left the camera at my other uncle's house (the golf course one).

This computer is weird, and everything on the Blogger site is showing up as a series of unintelligible squares. I hope the blue square means "publish now."

Edit: I don't think it did.

Dinner at Rowda ya Habibi

2006-01-17T18:49:00.000+11:00

I've got feedback from half the people about the KK(K) dinner, and generally the results are:

A month was plenty of time to prepare.

$50 was an appropriate amount to spend.

It's better hosted after Christmas, though really it depends on when everyone's in the country.

The questionnaire was somewhat helpful in deciding what to buy. Future questions could include "Who is your style icon?" and "Clothing size?

The Yankee Swap idea is tres unpopulaire (Franglais is so pretentious, non?)

Spa and I did a good job, yay us.

The food wasn't really my taste. I thought it was a little weird, and a little dry. The people however, were fantastic -- very homey and motherly. On the upside, the Deluxe Banquet had exactly the right amount of food for us -- no repeat of what happened at the Indian place (where we were full after the entree).

When I told Mum about the belly dancer, she asked, "Did anyone give her tips?"
"Tips?" asked I.
"Did anyone stick notes in her cleavage?"
I was horrified. Belly dancers are not strippers (unlike pole dancers...?)
Belly dancing obviously keeps you(r body) young, and I think it'd be a better workout than pole dancing.

After dinner, the Kylie car people went down the street for gelato at Gelatomassi (suddenly I felt I could fit in a scoop, despite being stuffed). I had a scoop of cinnamon, which had a distinct but not overpowering flavour. Alas, they did not have any of their famous "savoury" gelati. Being too lazy to google, I can only presume that these include fabulous flavours like capsicum, salmon, asparagus, and cheese. Must make an effort to go on the appropriate day.

Gelato cakes are very reasonably priced, starting at $34.95.

When I got home, William said to me, "Starship Troopers is the worst movie ever. I'll laugh at you if you like it."
But I did like it. I thought it was a comment on America's post September 11 mentality. Plus things blew up.

Edit: Sophia says, "But it was made in 1997."
Oh well. It's some nice anti-war satire anyway.

I think this is the correct order of gifting, but feel free to mock me if I'm wrong.
Julia -> Leana -> Sophia -> Donna -> Johanna -> Rena -> Kylie -> Juliana -> Me -> Ying -> Julia

I want to see what Johanna got! Someone take pictures for me.

2006-01-09T11:40:00.000+11:00

Mark Ruffalo and Vincent d'Onofrio
I still think I was completely right.

Okay, what do you think of this?
Eerie resemblance no?

Colonel Sanders and Rolf Harris
Yeah, I'm good at this game :P

Some questions (answers welcome)

2006-01-06T16:40:00.000+11:00

1. Why do men insist they like women who are shorter than them, don't have eating disorders and don't wear a lot of makeup... but still lust after models?

2. What's up with those furniture ads with the women lying on the tables? Are they supposed to make the furniture sexier (cringe) somehow? Or is that the recommended method of use?

3. How many packets of two minute noodles do you have to eat before you get a ball of wax in your stomach?

4. Why do little girls think that dolls that cry and poop (just like real babies!) are fun?

5. Who invented those ads where words flash on the screen too quickly for you to read, and a man yells something unintelligable? REALLY, who thought those were a good idea?

6. Why does L'Oreal have a BLACK semi-permanent dye specially formulated for black hair? Why would you want to dye your hair the colour it already is? It can't be to touch up roots, because it washes out in about six washes.

7. Why are shows like Scrubs, Arrested Development and Buffy reruns on at insane times? (Btw, has anyone seen that box set of the whoooole series of Buffy, and if so, how much does it cost?)

8. Why are Zen Micros so shoddy?

Edit: In case you were wondering, I've cheered up considerably and have had a good time writing, mudding and watching Elvis movies.

2005-12-28T11:33:00.000+11:00

Went to the casino last Friday and it was intensely boring. I think I'd rather spend money than gamble it. When you sign up for membership they give you $10 to play with, and you choose whether to give it to the table or give it to the machines. I opted to feed it to the pokies. You need to put $1 in the machine to activate your credits, so they force you to gamble a dollar anyway. I pressed random buttons and lost eight of my eleven dollars. So I took the three remaining dollars and walked to the doppelganger Passionflower with my cousin once removed. He ended up buying ice cream for me, so in the end I profited three dollars and a ginger ice cream.

I put my name in the barrel and fully expected to be drawn and win at least $5000 but I didn't (surprisingly). That's not sarcasm. I was struck by a gentle shower of optimism and really believed I'd win. Luckily, it's gone now. I don't think I'll go again.

On the bright side, they had huge eels in the fish tanks. I think I spent about two hours looking at them, waiting to get a lift home.

I'm in a pit of pessimism post-Christmas. I'd forgotten how terrible the holiday season in Australia is.

1. All the relatives you love are overseas, but all the annoying ones are here, and you have to try to be nice to them even if they ask you the same question six times in a row and keep trying to make you eat.

2. There's nothing to do. The post-Christmas sales are boring, and there are people everywhere.

3. This year was miserable compared to last year, and I can only expect that life will get slightly worse every year.

It's been so long since we've had to be here for Christmas that I don't think we know how to do it anymore. It was like any other weekend, except we said "Merry Christmas" to each other in the morning, and everything on TV was crap.

The only good thing about this year was that I didn't have to pretend to be Christian, which was a relief. I'm not allowed to tell people I'm atheist (because that would bring shame and ruin upon the family), so whenever it's Christmas I have to pretend to be the world's most apathetic Christian.
"How often do you go to church?"
"Once a year."
"Do you go to any youth groups?"
"No."
"Do you go to any bible study groups?"
"No."
"Do you want to come with me?"
"No."

I remembered why I stopped doing creative writing. After writing from midnight to 3 ay em every day (the only hours when I can concentrate) I had a series of realistic dreams. They were about mundane things like "When GJs Hurstville was Renovated and Leana Transferred There and I went to Visit Her," and "When William had a Haircut" and "When a Costume Shop Opened Next to Colorado." Upon waking, I didn't realise they were dreams, but thought they were memories of something I did last week. This resulted in a nasty shock when I tried to visit the Costume Shop. So anyway, I've reduced my output and now I can tell what's real again. Excellent.

NYR 2006: At least try to be normal.
NYR 2006: Get real job.

2005-12-21T20:17:00.000+11:00

"Why haven't you updated your blog?"

The answer is simple. Because I haven't been doing anything worth writing about.

I tried to start my own NaNoWriMo, but the only person who said they wanted to join was Li. I'm 2 000 words in. Only 48 000 to go!

Went to Speech Day, and I still hate Ms Snott. "Before we begin I'd like to acknowledge the original owners of this land." Bleh. I know there's nothing inherently wrong with that -- it's just that she seems to act out of misguided political correctness. She's so pretentious.

Read many, many books. Many of them were crap.

Went to see the Christmas lights at Maple Street, since the dude who owns the house is moving and the new owners might not want to do the lights next year. Though really, why would you buy the house if you weren't going to put on the lights? Ten year olds were singing and screaming loudly at 11 pee em as they walked back to their cars. And people wonder why the neighbours get annoyed :O

Come join me.

(A complete failure; caught red-handed)

2005-12-12T22:41:00.000+11:00

And now a word from our sponsors.

Yes! It’s what you’ve been waiting for – another hilarious disaster proudly brought to you by Laura. (I’m excited!!!)

So I’ve been thinking a while about dyeing my hair. Nothing serious, because I don’t want to damage it for when I donate to Locks of Love. Now, these days I don’t take to leaving the house very much and we don’t have any fun hair dye at home, so I thought I’d try using Kool Aid.

Brief internet research revealed to me that I should mix two packets of Kool Aid with a good dollop of conditioner, smear the mixture into my hair, wait a few hours and rinse out.

The plan was to use blue, so I opened the blue packet. Turns out that the stuff in the blue packet is actually red. (I think that Tropical Punch sounds yellow, anyway.) I tried finding something blue to add, so I’d get purple. Turns out that “Ice Blue (Raspberry crush)” is actually white and has no effect at all. Go figure.

I left it in for three hours, because supposedly the longer the better. Then when I rinsed it out, a disturbingly significant amount of dye came out. It took about 10 minutes of rinsing before the water ran clear. My hair had absorbed none of the dye. The only trace left is a slightly fruity smell which I think is partly the conditioner.

quaffy.o (A complete failure; caught red-handed) says:
my hair tastes like citric acid

Sophia says:
why taste it at all?

quaffy.o (A complete failure; caught red-handed) says:
because it smells fruity

But wait – there’s more.
I didn’t manage to dye my hair, but my scalp is now a lovely shade of red. And since I neglected to wear gloves, so are my hands.

The worst part is, my parents noticed the few drops of pinkish water in the sink, but they didn’t notice my bright red hands. What's up with that?

Yes, it would be very embarrassing if my hands were still red on Friday.

20-second book reviews.

2005-12-07T14:35:00.000+11:00

For those of you who don't know our dark family secret, Mum has about 200 library books in our sun room, and she just keeps reborrowing them. If people reserve them, she returns them, then borrows them again later. She only does this with relatively (sometimes brand-) new books. I think the idea of having something that other people want makes her feel good. Anyway, I'm not here to complain about Mum's problems. The point is, I decided to read some of them so that Mum could return the crap ones.

Most of her stuff is chick lit and crime fiction. But after careful inspection of the covers I weeded out the most gag-inducing ones. Please note that these are books Mum borrowed, and if I'd gone to the library myself I would've chosen something different.

Serving Crazy with Curry
Amulya Malladi

Devi's lost her job, her baby, and had an affair with a married man, so she decides to commit suicide. Her mother (more irritating than Mrs Bennett) lets herself into Devi's apartment with her spare key and saves her. Lots of family drama, like if Bold were a book, and were less cheesy.

Earthly Pleasures
Heavenly Delights
Kerry Greenwood

I liked these books enough to read two[!] of them. There was nice characterisation, lots of cats, and a couple of Discworld references thrown in. In fact, at two ay em, I thought "These are fabulous. Let's email the author!" But then I forgot about it when I woke up and didn't get around to doing it. They're good, despite being chick lit.

A Long Way Down
Nick Hornby

Another book about people trying to off themselves. I liked it. Someone will probably make a movie out of it, like they did with High Fidelity. I bet you.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay

As fun as an economics textbook, and as interesting as LotR. In other words, I hated it, but you might like it. And if so, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, you freak? I thought it was poorly written. The first couple of pages were a mess, and I had to go somewhere dark and quiet to be able to shove the words into my brain. The characters were flat and unlikeable. I admit that I'm not big reader of thrillers (but I am a book whore and will read anything). I got through about 30 pages before I stopped trying to resuscitate the experience. About as boring as Not Yet (see previous post) but this time I knew when to cut my losses and run. To be fair, some seriously deluded crazies on Amazon liked it. You can trust their word over mine if you like. Oh, and the copy I read had a very interesting blurb. I liked that.

Fat, Forty and Fired
Nigel Marsh

Real-life story of man who decides to take a year off work to spend more time with his family and become a better person in general. If I didn't already live in Sydney, I'd want to after reading this book. It makes it sound like paradise. So instead, I just nodded and smiled smugly at the relevant parts. Very funny. Would recommend it to my friends.

Japanese Film Festival

2005-12-03T11:34:00.000+11:00

Woke up bright and early to catch the train with Ky. We arrived at Circular Quay at 9, and everyone (Rna and Spa) was late except for us, so we could've slept for another half an hour. Instead we walked around the quay, looked at tourists, and read those "Writer's Walk" circles.

Then we met up with Kylie's internet friends, who were even later than us. And they had the tickets. I didn't really talk to them much (or at all...), and now I feel a bit bad about that.

Movie reviews!

Hinokio: Inter Galactic Love
I really liked this. I thought it was funny and sweet. It was trippy in parts, but then again, it was Japanese. It's about a boy who can't walk, so he sends a robot to school in his place. Life, love and the universe, two thumbs up.
8.5/10 (liked it a lot, but points minussed for deus ex machina ending. Didn't fall asleep at all)

Hidden Blade
This would've been better if it were two movies, each half the length. There were two storylines -- the love story about Munezo and his maid, and the samurai story. The love story could've been more dramatic, and the samurai story could have been more violent. It wasn't clear until the last 10 mins what the Hidden Blade actually was. A bit waffly but had potential.
6.5/10 (decent, but points minussed because I fell asleep once)

Not yet
Biggest waste of my time ever. Worse than King Arthur. Probably worse than Alexander. Makes Hidden Blade look good. With serious editing, this movie could have been cut to about half an hour. It might've been enjoyable as a short film. There was a party scene that lasted at least 20 mins and was heinously boring. I think the subtitler was bored too, because there were so many mistakes in the subtitles. Some of them were probably intentional, like "Should I put fish in my pond? I want to fill it with crap. I want to put a crap in here as big as a whale." Because hey, by that time the audience isn't paying attention anyway. I fell asleep twice.

Dendy had technical difficulties, where one reel was shown upside down and back to front. At least trying to read the subtitles became fun.

Sophia says:
not yet has a 7.6 rating on imdb :'(

MOO. I can't believe that. I'd give it maybe 3/10, because I liked the parts with the cats.

Oh carp. Now it sounds like I didn't have a good day, but I did really. Should try to end post on a positive note.

I got to eat a McFlurry, a scoop of lemon sorbet and a scoop of chocolate gelato. Thanks Kylie for organising. Please be BOSS of more things :D?

"Sleeeeeepover"

2005-12-03T10:56:00.000+11:00

Another catch-up post, this one in forwards-chronological order.

Friday (the one last week): Went to dinner with beloved "the gang." It was good because I've been pale and weepy and weak all semester and now I feel more like myself. Got my birthday present too (thanks guys :D). Now would be a good time to insert pictures of said present. Will do when less lazy.

The restaurant -- Ky and Dna took all the main bits to blog about, so all I'll say is that the food was good, sitting on the floor was good, and it was noisy. I really don't know what the May 13th review was on about. It would've been better if the tables weren't so long and narrow, cos then I could've talked to more people, but otherwise no complaints.

Saturday (not today): Went to the Powerhouse Museum. Had world's worst PMS but managed not to leave a trail of corpses behind me. They had an ELIZA (one of those stupid programs that simulates a conversation with you), and Li typed some computer-speak at it and broke it. I wanted him to break more things, but all the other computers we saw were Macs. I always wondered what it'd be like to stay overnight at the mooseum, but they kicked us out at 5.

Sunday - Wednesday: Played the Discworld MUD for average 6 hours a day. Okay, I admit that a game with all words and no pictures doesn't sound like fun, but it's a hecka lot better than FFX. FFX requires no thought or skill and I think it should be tagged "interactive movie" rather than "game." Not that mudding is genius work, but at least you get to choose which direction to walk in.

Thursday: Li woke me up at 9 ay em in the morning to go see a movie. Saw Wolf Creek and it was traumatic! People(this means you Spa) who think it's funny are depraved. I'm still up for going on a road trip, if anyone wants to go up/down the coast with me. I think we'll be okay as long as we stick to major roads and highways and stay in areas with decent phone reception.

2005-11-23T13:39:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I received an RAK from Liz156 in Canadia! She sent me Kool-Aid, a notebook and a pencil.

But Wait!, you ask. Where is the Pencil?
The answer is (here)

Yes, another package opened by quarantine! Mum says that one day someone will send me drugs, and if so, I'll be the one legally responsible. Somehow, that doesn't sound right to me. Anyway, I was under the impression that these days people were smuggling drugs OUT of Australia.

Quarantine documents, if you like looking at this sort of thing. (I thought it was exciting)

More quarantine documents.

My options are:
a) Pay them $42.50 so they can chemically treat aforementioned pencil and send it to me.
b) Pay them $42.50 so they can return pencil to sender.
c) Pay them $00.00 and let them use it at work, or take it home to their kids, or do whatever it is they do to it.

You win this round, Quarantine.

2005-11-23T13:38:00.000+11:00

Hi Juliana!

Went to the Australian Idol final on Monday at the Opera House! Juliana had free tickets, hurrah.

You know when you watch on TV and you see those people standing around the outside stage, and you think "Those poor saps" ? Those were us! Overall it was better than I thought it would be.

Highlights:

I thought Casey looked less fat in real life, but Sophia said she looked fatter.

The kid who sang "Climb Every Mountain" (sorry, can't remember his name) sounded much better than he did on TV. And I think he's going to grow up to be a hottie.

So many B-grade celebrities! Loved it! If we'd been closer to the red carpet we could've scored hugs from the Neighbours boys.

Being taller than many people. A lot of them hadn't hit puberty yet.

Would've been better if the music were louder. My ears were ringing when I got home, but that was from screaming tweens.

Went to Pancakes afterwards and there was hardly any line. See, I was worried that parents would let their tweens out in the city at 11 pee em on a Monday night, but I was wrong.

2005-11-23T13:37:00.000+11:00

Friday:

Went to Bondi with Spa and had a look at the sculptures. It was good going on a Friday because there wasn't as much of a crowd. And luckily the holiday season hadn't really started yet, so I didn't see any pasty topless tourists :)

Forgot to bring my camera. However, I'm really keen on going next year, and I won't make the same mistake again. My favourite sculptures were:

1. Two goldfish in a tank.
2. Inflatable octopus-thing.
3. Colourful something made out of plastic bottle bits.
4. The mini van.

And next year I'll bring money with me. I survived the whole day on 20c. Where are the Commonwealth ATMs at Bondi, if any? Sophia bought me an Icypole for a dollar! Thankee muchly. I really needed it. It was hot, with that special sort of Australian sun that crisps your skin. So next year I'll be wearing sunscreen too, or at least a nice hat.

The sea was bluey-green and the sand bright. It's the sort of scene that makes you want to have a picnic at the beach.

Let's go to Nam. It looks pretty good from outside.

No more thinking until March 2006!

2005-11-18T12:36:00.000+11:00

(OY! I've noticed no one's asked for a FSM hat except for Sophia. What, not stylish enough for you? :P )

So it looks like it's going to be knitting and soaps for the next three and a half months, with the occasional hearty partae thrown in. Uni is o-ver, and the relief is the biggest rush I've felt for a long time.

I did two exams today (Thursday). O harrowing day!
I'm not entirely sure that I've passed QMB. I got to the exam late, but that didn't matter because I had plenty of time (I even left early).
"Can't answer that... don't know that... don't understand the question... Well, I've done all I can do. Time to leave!"

It got me thinking - I've never failed anything before. I didn't even fail DT in year 7, and THAT was the year I cut a hole in my bag with the overlocker, tried to tie-dye with rusty ball bearings, and undercooked my final cookies. I didn't even fail PDHPE, when I left labour out of the "child-birthing" cycle and took nearly 14 minutes to "run" 1.6 km. I even did WELL in science, when I thought the atmosphere was made out of mostly methane. I didn't even fail history, when I didn't know who Vladimir "do you mean John Lennon" Lenin was.

(Time to stop exposing my ignorance? Okay.)

Philosophy was MUCH better. Edmond helped me to cram, so from now on I'll be nicer to him. Provided he's nicer to me 'course.

Y'know, it sorta pisses me off when people think that studying philosophy makes you a better person. Like "hey, you should care more about mankind because you study philosophy." That's philANTHROPY, not philoSOPHY!

2005-11-17T23:42:00.000+11:00

Sorry, non-knitter friends! Don't read this post.

Warning: the following is as quick and dirty as a night with Paris Hilton.

I found my Branching Out chart, which I thought I had deleted!

Note: this is a modification of the Knitty pattern. I didn't design Branching Out. However, all the bits below are mine.

Click here for chart

What I did went something like this:
CO 9 with provisional cast-on. On the first row, slip 1 purlwise, then k to the end. Then knit border chart 5 times. (61 + 1 rows)

TURN CORNER 1: Use short rows. I can't remember exactly what I did, but it involved a lot of fudging. Try to end up with 9 sts on the needle, but if you don't, don't worry about it.

After you turn corner, place marker. Look at the straight edge. You have one slipped st for every two rows, ie 30. Put the front loop of the first slipped stitch onto the left needle, then knit into it tbl. Pick up and knit the remaining 29 sts this way.

Place marker. Pick up 9 sts along the cast-on edge, removing waste yarn from the provisional CO.

TURN CORNER 2: Fudge this. Do whatever you like, as long as it's roughly the mirror image of what you did for TURN CORNER 1. Try to end up with 9 sts for the border section (or whatever number you got at the end of TURN CORNER 1). When you're done, your yarn should be at the end of the row, not in the middle of the scarf.

MAIN SCARF PART:
Now you should have something like 9 sts for each border, and 30 sts between the markers. This is where it can get a bit confusing, if it isn't already. If you don't have row counters, you will cry.

One of the borders will begin with border row 12, and the other will begin with border row 1. One side will always be one row in front of the other. If you have a border amount other than 9 sts, find the two rows on the chart that have the numbers you need, and begin on those.

Note: omit the "sl 1 pwise wyif" at the beginning of odd border rows.

Row 1:Work border row 12, slip marker, knit row 1 from the Branching Out chart, slip marker, work border row 1.

Row 2:Work border row 2, slip marker, knit row 2 from the Branching Out chart, slip marker, work border row 1.

Row 3:Work border row 2, sm, knit row 3 from the BO chart, sm, then work border row 3.

And so on.

If you are lucky, when your scarf is about long enough, you'll hit a magic row with the border on rows 1 and 12 and BO on row 10. If not, you have to do more fudging. Sorry. If you can't find this magic row, you can cheat a little by doing a couple of stocking st rows instead of the BO chart.

Work the magic row. Turn corner as appropriate, working on just the border sts.

Now. You're going to be attaching the top border. To do this:
When you work even numbered border rows, knit to the last border st, sl 1, remove marker, slip st back and k2tog. Turn, place marker, knit odd numbered border row WITH slipped stitch at beginning.

(Basically, you're knitting the last border st together with a Branching Out stitch. You don't need the marker anymore if you know what's going on.)

Keep going until you've eaten up all the Branching Out stitches and all you have left is 9 border stitches on each needle. Turn corner and graft together.

~the end

Spread the word!

2005-11-16T16:38:00.000+11:00

If you have not yet been enlightened, go to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If anyone wants a FSM hat, leave a comment and I'll do you one after exams...

...which finish TOMORROW!

*hopes He will touch her exam papers with his Noodly Appendage*

Will blog bigger and better, later. Right now I'm trying not to make any sudden movements, lest I dislodge all that stuff crammed in my brain.
(What sort of clause is that? A negative wish clause? A purpose clause? I'm so tired I don't even know what's going on anymore.)

The albatross, around my neck

2005-11-13T17:45:00.000+11:00

I don't even remember casting on for this, it was that long ago. NO MORE lace scarves until next year. I can't take it anymore.

Pattern: Orenburg lace scarf from the IK free patterns page.
Yarn: Madil Kid Seta, in colour about which I'm unsure. I lost the ball band. Neither picture is accurate. It's more like the first, but a bit lighter.
Needles: 3.75mm
Length: 6-and-a-bit feet
Width: 23(-ish) cms

Look at it, stretching out forever. And ever. It's longer than the piano by a fair bit.

And because I never put a picture up, here's a detail of my Branching Out. Slapped a border on because it made it more fun.

Hours of fun

2005-11-12T14:43:00.000+11:00

Slightly heartbroken about not being able to make a booking at Oscillate Wildly. Though a group of 11 in a restaurant that seats 30-something was probably a bit much to expect.

But look how cool this is. Wow!
Am I wrong for thinking that'd be a fantastic place to go for a date? (Okay, but I thought paintballing was a great Valentine's Day idea too.)

So anyway, if you stumble along this post in the next couple of days, recommend me a restaurant. Otherwise I'll end up trawling food blogs instead of studying.

0 down, 4 to go (final exams for this semester)

2005-11-10T14:57:00.000+11:00

Holiday plans

Dinners, sleepovers etc with beloved high school friends

Finish off all WIPs and write up patterns before I forget what I did.

Finish all RAKs I've been meaning to send off.

At least learn how to turn on the car, if not actually drive it.

Get new job

Do [something good] for NYE. I'm thinking harbour views and fireworks.

Go to M'sia and do clothes and accessories shopping for the year.

Go to Egypt and take lots of photos.

Read the books I've been meaning to read. No audio books; that's cheating.

Write the book I've been meaning to write (for the past 6 years or so).

Draw some eyes.

Clean my room, if I get everything else done.

New Year's Resolutions

Get tough, and stop letting people push me around.

Take up some form of exercise. Anything, really.

Become more decisive so I don't have to hate being BOSS.

Attend at least 50% of lectures and 80% of tutorials.

Take shorter showers.

Become better at replying to emails, SMSes, and PMs instead of letting them sit for a few days.

Nostalgia blog, part 3

2005-11-09T13:54:00.000+11:00

Was going through Spiteful Red and scanned a heap of stuff for no good reason. So here we go! All you people who weren't in Mr Seed's science class can now be incredibly jealous.

Now it becomes obvious that I stole my little birds from the Scarecrowe at Home. (Can you steal from yourself? Yes? No? Nevermind, I'm just confusing myself now.)

The Scarecrowe Cronicals (2002)

(Scarecrowe in the Woom)
Scarecrowe in the Woom is really light and wouldn't scan properly :( I'm going to try again later.

Scarecrowe at Home
Our hero doing what he does best.

Scarecrowe's Holidaye

Scarecrowe's Dream Worlde
Strange androgyny :s

(Scarecrowe on Drugs)
I don't really like this one, so it's not getting uploaded.

Burnte at Thee Steake
This is truly my favourite. Gremlins! (I think we were very disturbed teenagers)

Thee Bouncer

Thee End
What more can I say?

Et Alii
Under the Sea with Shark and Whale
You know that perforated strip on the side of computer paper that has all the holes? That's what shark and whale are.

Johanna's Page!
Comedy gold.

An Extension of the Johanna Page!
More comedy gold.

Creation

2005-11-03T22:35:00.000+11:00

Once upon a time there were two brothers, called Night and Day. Like all brothers, they were rivals.

Both of them liked to tinker. They went around making things. Day made people. Night liked to go around stomping on Day's creations. This is why people are afraid of the dark.

Night made possums. This is why people invented roadkill.

Both Night and Day wanted their armies of death to smite their estranged sibling's creations. But they were too ... uh... tired to make any more creatures, so they decided to modify the existing animals, giving them teeth, claws, and opposable thumbs. The simpler organisms, eg dinosaurs, were used as pawns which is why they no longer exist.

--Excerpt from Spiteful Red, in which Spa and Lra decide science is full of bs and try to invent their own.

One down, four to go (years at uni)

2005-11-03T00:46:00.000+11:00

How this year differs from last year.

Not seeing my group (love you, guys!) nearly every day. You are the square peg for my square hole. I miss how we could talk about life things, newsy things, political things, and gossipy things, as well as random things like "what's the difference between ice cream and gelato?" and "why can't you eat uncooked poultry?"

I miss doodling in Bitchy Green, Spiteful Red, Faithful Black et alii. I miss crosswords in the quad, coffee at GJs, visits to the vending machine, and even the stupid Sock Blenders.

I miss staying up all night at sleepovers and not knowing what day it was anymore. Playing Taboo until we went all the way around and the cards started repeating. Trying to play Ker-plunk quietly so as not to wake Ky's parents. Being impressed by Johanna's cheesecake, her mum's chicken and her dad's pancakes.

See how nostalgic I am?

Being totally irresponsible and skipping uni whenever I didn't feel like going. I only jigged once in six years of high school. It was double English. Fair enough?

Discovering that I can't get 98% in exams without going to lectures, reading the textbook, or listening in tutorials.

Being single for the first time ever. It wasn't too bad actually.

Guys. They're everywhere , but I'm used to them now. They tend to bag you out a lot, but not in a bitchy way like girls do.

Finally getting a bank card resulted in me blowing way too much money on yarn. We're looking at four digits here.

Got my licence and can now do 18+ stuff. Have not been to the casino yet.

Have been knitting like a demon - much much more than last year. I think this is something to do with being single and having more time and energy for myself.

(end of list)

Had a nasty experience on the train today. I freaked out at first, but settled down after talking to Brewin. He is awesome. If you want to know what happened, ask me in private. Jus' so randoms don't read my blog and snigger at me.

2005-11-02T00:11:00.000+11:00

Flirting guide linked on the Knittyboard TMI forum.

I'm disturbed by how many times "Women, however, need to be even more cautious in their use of [action], as men will be inclined to interpret this as a sign of sexual availability" appears.

Hot and agitated

2005-11-01T22:14:00.000+11:00

*groans at own lame post title*
For you non-knitters, that's a felting (fulling) reference.

Whipped up a Booga bag on the weekend. Okay, I made it wider and taller and decided to twist the i-cords, but it is essentially the same bag.

Dimensions: 11 x 5 x 11
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, probably in #42
Lining: Red linen
Other: Magnetic snap closure. The magnets in this are really very strong. It takes effort to pry them apart.

I realised that I keep buying yarn in the same colours. I put my pencil case from year 11 there for comparison. That's Panda Magnum Prints, 8 ply, 100% acrylic. I think the colourway is called something obvious like mauve-pink-green. It has serious pooling problems, and this was the only decent thing I could make out of it. If anyone asks, I'll say I made them match on purpose.

There's still some stitch definition, but I don't really mind.
After waiting all weekend for it to dry, I decided to take it on a visit to uni. It rained and I didn't have an umbrella. I think it's been reblocked to the shape of my uni junk.

[life blog] I'm sorry I doubted Makybe Diva. I feel like such a pessimist.

2005-10-31T22:08:00.000+11:00

Took a break from feeling like crap, and saw The 40-year Old Virgin with Li today, and it was good. Two thumbs up.

Now I'm back to studying and feeling like zombie ninjas are clubbing my brain with a thousand poisonous nun-chucks. No, not really. I just thought it was time to put in some imagery.

Have a couple of FOs but lack the strength to hold the camera still enough to take pictures.
*slumps forward onto keyboard*

adfagnl/

2005-10-27T11:15:00.000+10:00

(edited 1/11)

Got Halloween treats from my SP!

The ghosty Lindts remind me of ghosty Coco Pops. I wish they still made those.

I was digging through my closet last night, trying to find something suitable for a Halloween costume, when I came across the most tragic outfit ever. It was a pants-top set, vaguely leopard print. I don't know where they came from, but I hope that whoever gave them to me meant them to be PJs. The elastic around the waist is insanely tight. I think it's about 20 inches unstretched. It's that sort of very thick elastic that cuts into the waist and creates attractive bulges everywhere (that's sarcasm).

(put tragic photo here)

I think it'd be really great with a pair of ears and a tail.

You are so sexy. I think I love you

2005-10-24T23:32:00.000+10:00

"...people just write about how depressed they are, and people tell them they should be and would be better off killing themselves."
--Jules on blogs

Haha, I think that's excellent :D
Just had to share.

2005-10-24T22:30:00.000+10:00

Did you know...

...that tattoos are actually quite hard to remove (even temporary ones)?

Curse you, you boozy wench! Argh!

Oktoberfest!

2005-10-21T23:56:00.000+10:00

Stupid slow internet is preventing me from uploading a photo of my Oktoberfest temp tatt. Anyway...

I had a great time at Oktoberfest with Spa last night. It would've been much better if other people had come, but I only decided to go the day before and Soph only decided to go at 12 pee em Thursday, so there wasn't much notice. I suppose everyone was busy with study too. I rushed my philosophy essay on Weds night (finished at 3 ay em) so that I could give it in on Thurs afternoon.

I'm glad we went, because I met a lot of new people. (And now Mum doesn't have to hear me complain about not going anywhere)

What did we do, you ask? A bit of drinking, a bit of dancing. I distinctly remember that everything seemed so funny and that I was in a really good mood.

I got free (male) underwear, XL, that says "Dare Coffee Shots" on the back. On the front is a pic of a coffee bean, smack on the crotch. Above the bean are large letters proclaiming "KEEPS YOU UP." I don't know what to do with them yet.

Today is William's birthday! As I never seem to age, and he is ageing rapidly, eventually we will be twins :D That's going to be awesome.

Why didn't I know about this? :(
leana says:
have i whinged about mrs knott to u about the whole indo thing?

BBQ [Mr Shine. Him Diamond] says:
not yet...?

leana says:
she's gotten rid of indo completely

leana says:
and mrs stocker isn't returning

leana says:
something about maternity leave and too much of a hassle and real difficulty finding another indo teacher

leana says:
stupid woman!

BBQ [Mr Shine. Him Diamond] says:
what a moron

BBQ [Mr Shine. Him Diamond] says:
let's write her an angry letter

BBQ [Mr Shine. Him Diamond] says:
in indonesian

leana says:
yes!!

I hate Mrs Snott. The school's going down the flusher. I hope she didn't cancel Indo because we did crap in the HSC. Bad Quaffy, bad! *Slaps self silly* When I go to Speech Day at the end of the year, I'm going to give her a dirty look.

Wanna see some pitchers?

2005-10-19T15:51:00.000+10:00

W00t! This morning I got another package from the mysterious Canadian.

This comes from the Silk Tree in BC. The purple is supposedly from two different dye lots, but I can't tell. The yarn is even sexier in person. It's shiny and silky soft and I'm intimidated by how attractive it is. Go on, lick the monitor. That's what I'd be doing if I didn't actually have a freshly wound ball in my hand, but I do. *Thumbs nose at you and strokes yarn*

The yarn immediately said to me "lace shawl" so that's what I've been doing instead of studying. I'm taking the stole pattern from the Australian Creative Knitting 2004 annual, but continuing the increases to make a triangular shawl. Then I'll probably use the silver to do some sort of edging (undecided as to which). Then I might crochet a bit of purple all the way around to balance it out. The green thing is my A4 philosophy booklet, to give you an idea of what I've done so far.
Note: I can post pics of the WIP because I'm so darn pleased with it that I'm sure I won't frog anything.

Why is this photo so dark? *curses camera* The very dark thing is the card from my Ess Pee, the thing that says Notebook is a basket of apples, and in the fore is a pack of extremely funky tissues. Mum says they are "too good to use." I will definitely not be blowing my nose on them. If anyone has a nice, un-gross suggestion for what else to do with tissues, please give it to me.

More Burt's Bees! The body lotion, as well as smelling fantastic, comes in a bottle that's the perfect size and shape for using as a nostepinne. I used it to wind the silk. *grins* I tried out the soap in the shower and came out all citrussy. Have yet to use the hand salve. (Is that Burt? He looks a bit sinister. Don't trust men with beards.)

A tiger striped measuring tape! William broke my crappy old Lincraft one last week. I forbade him to touch this one. I don't have words for how cool this is.
What are those festive objects, I hear you ask? Are they edible? Yes, but I wouldn't advise it. Those are the funniest soaps I've ever seen. I couldn't stop laughing at them. Mum said that these are also "too good to use." But I will use them, because I want to see if what's trapped inside is more soap, or plastic shapes.

Thanks Ess Pee! You're ultimate!

2005-10-17T15:28:00.000+10:00

I'm writing an essay about De Rerum Natura and I'm up to my eyeballs in stress. Only 2000 words to go! This is THE text that shaped my views on mortality, so I should be enjoying it more (no sarcasm). This is what happens when you leave things until the last minute.

I put links to blogs I read in the sidebar. That's really for my benefit, so I don't have to (try to) remember the URLs. I bet I've left someone out, but I'll remember when I see them in chat (which is French for cat, if you're interested).

Did a lot of knitting while computer man had the computer and I had nothing else to do. I don't dare to put up pictures of WIPs because I know I'll probably frog them and turn them into something else and I'd hate for people to see what a nut I am.

I hate beggars (a story)

2005-10-14T04:16:00.000+10:00

Yesterday at work I was cheerfully stirring the choc dip, when a group of girls in school uniform came up to the counter.
Oh goody, thought I. They are customers.
The girl at the fore of the group asked me “Can I have a free scoop?”
Oh, thought I. Very amusing.
“No…?” said I.
“Give me something for free?” the girl said again, with huge puppy eyes.
I ignored her, which normally works when stupid people think they’re being funny.
“Haven’t you got anything that’s free?” asked the girl, seemingly oblivious to my struggle to hold back snark. People traditionally pay for goods and services, I wanted to say. Even primitive people have bartering systems. Even the homeless sell the Big Issue instead of begging.
“Is this one of those jokes where I say ‘Sure, you can have something’, and you say ‘Ho ho, I was just joking. I’ll really buy something now.’ Ha ha, very amusing?”
“Nuh,” she said, unaffected. “Can you give me something?”
“No,” I said. “Why don’t you try Japan Crepe or NZ Natural?”
“Do you think they’ll give it to me?”
“You could always try.”
I just wanted her to go away. But she just stood there. Every few seconds she’d say “please” and try to look as sad as possible. I then busied myself with trying to separate the sprinkles into different colour groups so I wouldn’t have to look at her.
“Just give me one scoop of Cookie Cream,” said she.
At least know what you’re begging for, damn you! It’s Cookies AND Cream. I ignored her for several minutes more. Finally, she turned away.
“You’re slack,” she said.

Afterwards I came home and cried until my lacrimal ducts were raw and bloody. It really hurts that she called me that. I really sympathised with her but the laws of commerce prevented me from helping. I mean, I can see her point. I’d much rather grovel and demean myself than go without icecream. How dare people like me deny her, especially when she said please! Her money goes to vitally important things like hair dye and eyeliner. A helluva lot of hair dye and eyeliner. How can I expect her to cough up $2 for icecream?

I truly am a bad person.

2005-10-11T11:27:00.000+10:00

Around the city today there are lots of elderly people carrying suitcases. I wonder where they're going?

Melbourne:a review

2005-10-05T06:55:00.000+10:00

THE FOOD:
Okay, besides the scary "Malaysian" restaurant, the food was pretty good. The trick is to get people who actually live in Melbourne to pick the restaurant. There's a really great place in Chinatown called the Red Ant (or Red Ants, I forget). It has tea leaf duck and awesome salted egg prawns. Two thumbs up.
We also ate at Mekong, where it is reported that (Former) President Bill Clinton had TWO bowls. Two thumbs up.
The 24-hr Hungry Jack's/Burger King near David Jones put too much onion in my Whopper Jr. One thumb down.
The ice-cream place at Crown Casino gives really big scoops. Two thumbs up.

THE SHOPPING:
They've renovated the old Daimaru into Melbourne Central and now it rocks. Smith St was pretty good. There was one shop where the owner went nuts. She said "I had such a great lunch! Okay, now everything in the shop is $10". Works for me.

THE ARTS:
There's a piece of artwork on nearly every city corner. I like this.

THE CRAFTS:
There are bead shops everywhere. I did find yarn shops, but there wasn't anything that I couldn't get in Sydney or from my beloved internet. Nothing that was significantly cheaper anyway.

THE WEATHER:
It's SPRING, but the weather was very Wintry. The air was chilly, and there was sporadic rain. Sydney is obviously superior in this respect.

THE YARRA:
The Yarra river is quite ugly and unimpressive compared to Sydney Harbour. Sydney rocks.

THE PLANE:
Virgin is excellent. The flight only took an hour. Dad says this is because the tickets are cheap, so the pilots have to fly FAST. I don't think this is quite right, but oh well.

Back! (yes, I was gone)

2005-10-03T06:02:00.000+10:00

We mainly just hung around Melbourne and shopped a bit. I tried to go yarn shopping but it was hard with the family there. Mum thought everything was too expensive, and I don't like her to know how much money I spend on yarn, so I agreed with her.

Mum: (picking up ugly yarn) Make me a jumper out of this.
Me: (hesitant, but loving daughter) O-kay.
Mum: How many balls will it take? 2?
Me: Er no. More like 10.
Mum: Oh. Then I'd rather just buy one for $20.

Oh well. More time to knit things for myself I suppose.

Okay, now here's the scary part of the post. On Wednesday night we found an "authentic" Malaysian restaurant on Elizabeth St. (Are the inverted commas scaring you yet? Because they should).

What's that, you ask? Don't ask me, I don't know! It was supposed to be Roti Bom. Click on the picture for more info.

The poor thing was drowning :(

I couldn't finish the whole thing. And I felt sick afterwards.

William wants computer. Blog more later.

2005-09-27T05:02:00.000+10:00

Gratuitous eye drawing!

I'm so proud of how white that shiney is.

[Money blog]
I was really good this week. I'm saving up in case we go past the Bendigo mill.

Yarn $39.90
Transport: $17.70
Buttons: $5.95
Food: $5.75
Lent someone 20c
Total: $69.50

2005-09-22T06:56:00.000+10:00

My grandmother died but I don't really want to write about it on the blog.

Anyway, I'm really hot and bored right now. I'm waiting to pick up my philsophy essay. I never picked up the receipt for that, so now I'm worried that they've thrown it away just to spite me. "We don't have any record of you handing it in. Do you have your receipt?" Huh. How dare they have lunch when I want to go home :/

"He found her breast." It's incredibly uncomfortable to sneak a glance at what the person next to you is reading and to discover that it's smutty. From now on, I'm going to nap on the train instead of looking at people.

100 things about me

2005-09-18T16:02:00.000+10:00

This is to help out my Ess Pee (or is it narcissism?). I'm still slightly paranoid about someone stalking me through my blog, but I'll risk it.

1. I knit more than I sleep.
2. I was born in Australia...
3. ... but go to M'sia all the time.
4. If you add up all the time my family's spent there, it's more than a year.
5. I've also been to Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong (before it was China), the You Ess (Ell Ay, Vegas, Lake Tahoe), New Zealand, and around Australia (lots of EXCITING! places like Tasmania and Dubbo ;> )
6. I'm growing my hair for Locks of Love. Done!
7. I went without eating a single hot chip for a year and a month, just to see if I could.
8. When I was young I wanted to be a cat.
9. I enjoy zoos and aquariums.
10. I have an inability to keep fish or plants alive for substantial amounts of time.
11. I am an obsessive-impulsive shopper.
12. I have 5 doppelgangers, at last count. Now 6
13. I want to meet them to see if the universe will really implode.
14. My favourite movie is Zoolander.
15. My second favourite movie is Being John Malkovich.
16. I can't stand Thai food.
17. I'm petite (contributed by Li when I couldn't think of any more.)
18. Fire is pretty.
19. I like to draw.
20. I get bored of drawing people by the time I finish the left eye.
21. I have many pictures of eyes lying around.
22. If I can't be a cat, I think it'd rock to be a ninja, spy or pirate. Or vampire (maybe)
23. I have no idea what I'm going to do after I graduate.
24. That's why I'm doing a double degree - to stall.
25. My mum hates arts and crafts.
26. I don't really look like anyone in my family.
27. I'm probably not adopted though.
28. I have a widow's peak.
29. I have a mole on my face (which is how you can tell that I'm the original and not the doppelganger)
30. I like Knitty people more than my real-life SnB.
31. I do everything at the last minute if I think I can get away with it.
32. I'm not fond of man-type humans at the moment but would probably change my mind for someone with dark hair and eyes. [note: that's dark (hair and eyes) not (dark hair) and (eyes)]
33. I wore braces. The elastics are super-good stitch markers.
34. I do ortho-k.
35. Before ortho-k I was happy to walk around semi-blind, recognising friends by their shape and colour.
36. People always say I have an American accent (I don't!)
37. The American lady at SnB said I sound British (so there!)
38. I like crap TV.
39. The things I enjoy the most (arts and crafts, reading, creative writing, foreign languages, the internet, trashy tv, celebrity gossip, eating junk food) will be absolutely useless in helping me to get a job.
40. I'll probably major in accounting.
41. I don't mind repetitive things.
42. I don't mind repetitive things.
43. My ring size is H or I.

I can't believe it's so hard to come up with 100 things about myself. More to come later!

2005-09-18T15:33:00.000+10:00

[knitting talk]
Finished my sock yarn cardigan and am thinking of submitting it for the Winter Knitty, if only I can figure out the sizing in time:

Problems:
#1: The finished bust measurement is weird. It's 33.75". That's going to look so ugly on the schematic.

#2: I presume people who aren't me have actual shape to their bodies. So do I put in waist shaping or not?

#3: I can't get my head around the idea of a 52" bust, so I'll be madly guessing at proportions.

#4: My gauge is 27.5 sts/4 inches, which is really really bad for trying to work things out. I might just up it to 28 sts and tinker a bit with the numbers.

#5: I started from XXS (me), and am doing sizes in increments of 2" up to XXXXXL (48"). That's 9 more sets of numbers to work out by the end of the week.

#6: I don't want people who are XXXXXL to feel bad because of all the Xs. But I'm not going to call myself XXXS either. If I have time, I'll think of some cool euphemisms.

[/knitting talk]

The Sarah Blasko concert on Friday was good! But why does she always come out late? When she's late, then I have to leave before the end so that I'm not walking through scary Redfern at midnight.

Soph and I ate at the Peasant's Feast (or was the the Pheasant's Feast?). Everything there was organic. It was decent, but not the flavour explosion their business card promises

[Note to self: go to Oscillate Wildly]

I love the Suits (partly because I got a FREE! badge)! If anyone wants to borrow the CD I bought, you may!

OH. And Cityrail's new timetable is CRAP. As IF trains can be 15 mins late when it's midnight and they only come every half an hour anyway.

It's confirmed that we're going to M'sia again at the end of the year. We were going to skip a year, but my grandmother's throat cancer is getting really bad. So we're going back just in case...
And I really thought we were definitely going to take a side trip to China this time (after we didn't go last year), but my aunt Sally said: "I've already been to China, so if you go I won't go with you. Let's go to Egypt instead."

At first I asked Mum "Aren't you afraid of getting shot?" but after watching the news that night and learning about people being robbed at knifepoint at Mortdale, I realised that we can be shot ANYWHERE. So we're _probably_ going to Egypt. It's supposed to be the perfect temperature around that time of year, around 20-25 C. I'm getting pumped about it now. (I think it'll be like a cross between Bali and Cambodia, but we'll see!)

2005-09-08T04:39:00.000+10:00

Wheee! Look what I got Monday morning.
From left to right: (sorta)
Sock yarn, fat balls of mohair, Burt's Bees (lip balm, facial cleanser and hand creme), a glow-in-the-dark sheep, a definitely inedible clover, and Kool Aid. The blue one is "Magique! Couleur secrete! Saveur secrete!"

The Burt's Bees products smell fantastic! I especially like the lemon poppyseed -- it makes me hungry. That reminds me, there were also some Lindt balls in the package but now they are um, gone.

My project for Summer is going to be "make your own Noro", once I find where I put all my pastel wool. I can picture the bag, with the wool inside, but I can't find it. Mum won't let me drink any more Kool Aid because she thinks it'll give me cancer (*rolls eyes*) so I'll use it for dyeing like I always intended.

I've got big plans for the mohair as well. I saw an extra-lacy jumper pattern that used about the same amount, so I'm putting that on the list of things to do.

Also got another two packages on Monday -- pink mohair and stitch markers from my swap with Jacquiebean, and Tootsie Rolls from Maryann (Marymac). Maryann's package had been opened by customs and there was a big yellow sticker saying "opened for quarantine inspection by Australia Post." Damn your hide to Hades, Australia Post!

Saw Charlie and the Chocolate factory yesterday, and I'm still not sure if I liked it. It was creepy. The bits without Johnny Depp were alright though.

2005-09-02T03:39:00.000+10:00

I think today's a good day to defy authority.

This morning at Central, instead of putting my travelpass into the ticket machine I just walked past it, because no one was there to see. (Hah! Take THAT, Pavlov)

And now I'm meant to be doing something something about statistics, but I'm not because the tutor just marks our names off and never checks to see if we've done the work.

I was also thinking a lot about toe socks today. I think that people with long toes probably can't wear normal toe socks because they'd stretch the toes out, and then they'd wear out faster and there wouldn't be much of a point.

I started designing a sock yarn cardigan. It will be super cool, if it ever gets done. There's a sort of shoulder that I see on machine knits everywhere, like a variation of a set-in sleeve. It has no shoulder slope on the front. On the back it has slopes starting about 2.5 inches from the top. The sleeve cap looks asymmetrical. I'm still looking at what sort of sleeve to use, but [crazy sleeve described above] looks like a winner. It looks like it'd fit well, plus I want to figure it out because I like showing off like that.

My gargoyle hasn't been fired yet :( I want to paint it. I had a go at the wheel yesterday, and it's really difficult. Edmond seems to be getting the hang of it, so I'm going to try harder next week. If he beats me, I'll just die ;)

SP5 officially starts today, so I'm sending my pal a card. Meant to do it yesterday but couldn't figure out how to mount cross stitch into a card. (Answer: sticky tape)
So off it goes, all the way to [censored]

Getting old...

2005-08-16T16:02:00.000+10:00

Really really need to get a new job SOON, because once I'm 19 my wage will be even higher and he won't want to put me on except for when he's really desperate.

Today I borrowed the Great Gatsby audio book on CD so I can "read" and knit at the same time. William saw it lying on my bed, and he said:

"You have the worst taste in music."

Groan?

Gratuitous knitting photo:

Ruffled scarf from the Summer Vogue in KSH Majestic and Blushes. I did it in two colours because I wanted to know what it'd look like, and now I do, yay! (If you were wondering, the blue thing is my dressing gown)

More about Phantom of the Opera the Musical the Movie

2005-07-29T17:02:00.000+10:00

Musicals are better than real life. For example, when the full company gets going and everyone sings a different bit, you get a nice polyphonic contrapuntal texture.

In real life, this translates to people yelling as loud as they can, seemingly unable to hear each other.

I think the reason I didn't like Phantom of the Opera the Musical the Movie that much was because I know Phantom of the Opera the Novel and Phantom of the Opera the Musical too well. It's like how I didn't really like The Lion King the Musical.

Knowing exactly what people (or lions, as it may be) are going to say next really saps the fun out of it.

Knitting today: halfway through the 2nd of my oreo socks. Left front and sleeve of Kathy done.

Aaand... found this in my email inbox today!

The Happiest Girl in the World

2005-07-28T16:11:00.000+10:00

Here we have whole PACKS of Rowan Cotton Glace (Passion), Rowan 4 Ply Soft (Buzz) and Rowan Cork (Mushroom). Aaaand, I've already picked out patterns to go with them. In fact, I did a whole sleeve for the Cork last night. It was 14 sts/10 cms though, so it's not like I spent the whole night doing it.

Rowan Classic Cafe, Jaeger 24 and the Cork Book. I'm doing Kathy with the Mushroom. At first I was excited about Rowan having patterns in XS, until I noticed XS is a 32 inch bust. So it seems I'm an XXS, for which there are no patterns. So anyway, I did a bit of resizing. I don't care if it's meant to be loose-fitting. No one needs 10 inches of ease in a ribbed garment. Couldn't really get gauge either. I think I had something like 13 sts/10 cms instead of 14. Recommended gauge is always too loose with Rowan yarns. But meh, I can deal with it.

I was thinking about Phantom of the Opera the Musical the Movie. I wish they'd done it with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. The Phantom wasn't nearly old or ugly enough, and I was really disappointed. Michael Crawford was GROTESQUE, and you could tell even though he had the mask on. His bottom lip was all fat and red, like a lopsided clown's. This new Phantom guy, he wasn't that bad looking really.

On a sad note, I quit guitar today. I still have another 2 weeks worth of bond money to use up, so we're going to learn some popular pieces. Oh man, that's freaky. Anyway, I cried all the way home until Mum said "You're going to look really ugly tomorrow." I still feel sad though. I think I need to go roll in my mountain of Rowan.

Found the camera batteries! :D

2005-07-23T08:42:00.000+10:00

They were in William's discman.
So now I have actual photos of actual FOs.

Not a recent FO, but I like this photo. I think it looks like the ladybird is eating his head.

It's weird taking headless pictures of yourself.
A lot of people don't like VK, but once I changed the gauge, converted the body to one piece, added more waist shaping, did the shoulders with a 3 needle bind off and changed the edging a little bit... I couldn't see anything wrong with this pattern.
I might go back and edge the sleeves. I left the crochet off more out of laziness than actual aesthetics.

Swapping my leftover KSH with Chickwithstix next week. Oh man, I feel sad. I'm getting some mysterious Plassard Rythme in return though, which will probably go towards a hat.

Goodbye KSH...

Toast.

2005-07-19T04:10:00.000+10:00

I've been looking at toast for a while, and I've noticed that our toaster toasts the bottom of the bread more darkly than the top. I came up with a way of giving the burn mark a horizontal axis of symmetry.

1) Put toast in, top edge facing up. Toast.
2) Wait about 45 seconds
3) Prematurely eject toast, turn so that top edge faces down.
4) Toast till timer ends.

Of course, this is all dependent on the toaster's settings. Someone screwed with ours and my toast came up black and carcinogenic yesterday.

Well, well

2005-06-30T06:42:00.000+10:00

Look what we have here

Yes, I went mad with the pixellator today. I really hate the photo, but I don't care, because now I have ID with which to buy sake for Ky's birthday.

I nearly couldn't pass the eye test because I didn't leave my lenses in long enough last night. There was something that could have been an S or an X, so I said "essssssskssss?" and the woman didn't care (or notice). Hurrah!

Decided to celebrate with a yarn purchase. It didn't really count because I'd underestimated yardage on Liberty and needed to get another ball. Then I found out that the sewing machine shop sells photocopies of vintage patterns for 30c. Now I've got another cabled cardi on the needles, this one at 8 sts/inch. 1940s patterns are the best! Sometimes I wish I'd been a knitter then, but then I remember that I'd probably be dead now, or at least very very old.

Vintage Knitting Patterns

2005-06-14T10:09:00.000+10:00

I really like these, and not just because vintage is "in". There's just something about tiny needles that makes me feel pro. I'd actually wear only a few of them though.

I have a theory, that models who have to wear ugly clothing never really look happy.
For example:

On the other hand, look at her:

She's so smug. I wish I were her.

No B to be FO

2005-06-13T12:06:00.000+10:00

I was trying to figure out what sort of fob I am. I thought that maybe I was an Asian-American. The problem is, I'm not American. Then I remembered that I was in fact born here and that there's probably some other convenient abbreviation for me. I just can't think of it right now.

Anyway, I don't know what I'm doing yet, so yay helpful template.

Hi Sophia!