Now you're just some blog that I used to know

I am a terrible blogger. Thing is, I just can't be bothered turning on my laptop when I get home after work and I'm usually out at lunch so, you know, nothing gets done.

But! I've done stuff. A couple of weeks ago I went to Scotland for a few days - first, to explore the Scottish Highlands and then to hang about Edinburgh. I had such a lovely time and I have to admit that by the time I had to get on the train back to London, I was feeling quite bereft. Everyone in Edinburgh was just so nice and the place is beautiful, I can completely understand why Lizzie wanted to live there!

Isle of Skye - so breathtaking.

Then last week, we went to a taping of the Jonathan Ross show and I finally managed to get into the Olympic Park as I went to see the 7-a-side football with Abbi and her lovely mother-in-law. If ever there was a summer to be in London, this was it - the weather might have been shit for the most part but all the Olympic and Paralympic spirit was epic. Luckily the aforementioned shit weather stayed away for our event, and we even managed to get sunburned. Considering that a lot of the Olympic Park will be re-purposed and re-developed, I'm glad I got a chance to see the place and be part of such a wonderful event.

Woo! Sport!

That weekend I also went to visit some of mum's family in Reading. In typical me style, I nearly went on the wrong day but then since I was up early on Saturday anyway, I headed out to the South Bank to see what was going on. Turns out a lot. The Thames Festival was happening and with it being the last weekend of the Paralympics, the place was packed. Many athletes were out enjoying the festivities, along with what felt like every tourist in London. I do love the South Bank though, for some reason I am the happiest here when I'm near the river. I made the most of the lovely day and completed the Red and Blue Mascot Strolls while I was out.

A sunny day in London town.

This week was reserved for movie watching with Abbi. We saw Anna Karenina (booooooring! Stylistically it's quite interesting, but the story remains dull and it felt about 20 hours long), The Imposter (a strange, thought-provoking doco) and Lawless (so good, so very, very good - brilliant on all levels, best film of the year to date.)

I actually want to see it again.

And then Friday, I was reminded that I currently work in what is arguably one of the most fun offices ever. We had an extra long lunch, complete with free drinks, and our usual Friday afternoon Wine Club was enhanced by the quite random introduction of a 90s board game called Dream Phone. Hilarity ensued...not that I think we ever actually figured out how to play properly. Following this, a bunch of us decided to continue the festivities elsewhere well into the evening. Fun times.

Wine Dream Cheese Phone Club

Apparently I've been lacking in sleep though because today I only woke up at 12.30. Insanity, I know. But it's the first time in five days I haven't woken up with a headache. Definite plus. Now I'm waiting for the new episode of Downton Abbey to start. That's a pro of living here, no waiting for your tv shows. I've been watching Doctor Who as it airs each week - unheard of!

Music: The Big Bang Theory

My war on commentary

Unless you have been living under a rock, or you are a member of Hermits United, you will know that the Olympics are currently on, right here in my northern hemispherean home of London.

Despite endless complaining leading up to the event, everyone seems to have embraced it wholeheartedly. My house mates and I got together to watch the opening ceremony. I found the whole affair a bit dull, best bit being the Mr Bean scene, but it was nevertheless fun. I was the only one to push through right until the very end so I feel I deserve some kudos for that (come on, you kind of have to, the whole point is the cauldron being lit.) The expected transport-apocalypse hasn't hit either, with trains being way emptier than they normally are. Either it's going to go absolutely nuts next week or the British are just psychotic scaremongers. I'm leaning towards the latter.

I've been enjoying all the sport. Having grown up in a house that's very sport-friendly, I'm used to watching pretty much all of the Olympic events. The tv was always on in our house during times like these, so it's a bit weird for me having to set up my laptop and then choose what I want to watch... but you know, such is life. I had a lovely day at Abbi and Paul's on Sunday, just camped out on the couch watching all sorts of random things - from table tennis and badminton to judo, gymnastics, beach volleyball and water polo. Fun times! 

Somehow, in all the madness, I have turned intensely patriotic. This is worrying. I have always been rather against all kinds of overt patriotism and nationalism, mainly because I think it's vulgar and just causes trouble. In the past, I've always been pretty apathetic about all this support-woo-my-country-is-awesome business. But apparently moving to the other side of the world completely negates all my arguments. Suddenly, I care. A lot. I even get defensive when people start knocking the team. I am completely baffled by this change of heart. 

I keep an eye on twitter for most of the event news, but the only thing I've been following religiously is the swimming. I feel like I have been culturally brainwashed into caring about it. Thing is though, I was introduced to Australian Olympic swimming madness during the golden era of Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, so now I just expect that all the time. All of the medals! I want them! Sadly, we don't really have sure-fire winners like that on the team anymore, but somehow I keep hoping anyway.

Unfortunately, swimming appears to have been assigned the world's worst commentating duo. It's a miracle Tweedledum and Tweedledee manage to find their way to the commentating box each night, they're so incompetent. They are constantly getting mixed up by what's happening in the pool, retell the same tired anecdotes a thousand times and fawn over Michael Phelps to an embarrassing degree. When the US team won the 200m freestyle relay, I though for sure they'd be heading down the the podium to propose to the guy. Just take a look at my twitter stream between 7.30pm and 9.30pm and you'll see just how much they annoy me. They frustrate me so much, the only thing that ends up running through my head is that scene from the Simpsons where Ned is bugging Apu about the octuplets. Shut up! SHUT UP!

So, on that note...

Music: Shut me up - Mindless Self Indulgence

A complicated lifestyle

Cue long exhale. Busy week was epically busy.

Everything has gone by in a mad rush. In fact, this evening was the first time I've actually been home to cook dinner all week! My emails have mounted up to a scary number, heaps of research I need to start and laundry I need to do. But I can't be bothered to do any of it (and starting on my emails seems to daunting) so here we are.

First off, this week was SO LONG. It was painful. I thought it was Friday on Wednesday already, which left a whole two days to suffer through. Do not want. This was mostly due to work drinks on Tuesday evening. One should never have a night out so early in the work week, it just snowballs terribly. But yay, free cocktails!

The whole delightful experienced was marred slightly by my usual incompetence as I lost my oyster card somewhere along the way. Fail. Luckily, they won't sell you a monthly travel card without you registering it first so I could simply ring up and have it transferred to a new card. Took a couple of days, but it's better than losing heaps of money for my stupidity. You have got to love this oyster card system - paper tickets are for the weak! I even accidentally put mine in the wash once and nothing horrible happened to it. If it had been a paper ticket, I'd have been crying over soggy mush. Not ideal.

Other than that, I headed out to dinner with a friend from Twitter on Thursday (all hail the powers of social networking) and last night, after a day of drinking with work mates, I decided in my infinite wisdom to trek out to Sheperds Bush to watch some Super rugby - specifically the Crusaders game. Of course, I would be seated at the same table as a bunch of Chiefs fans (even though the game happened earlier in the day, none of us knew the result so we could pretend we were watching it live) so there were a number of lively disagreements. And my boys won, so all arguments are invalid as far as I'm concerned. It's really weird, but I miss kiwi boys. And when I say kiwi boys, I mean Maori boys, and islander boys. There is a distinct lack of them here and they always make things much more fun. Moan.

Anywhoodle, have been busy hunting more BT Artboxes in the rest of my free time. From Heathrow to Stratford, we're canvassing London. The great thing about this is I get to see parts of town I wouldn't generally wander into. I think I'll do a post on the travel blog about the whole experience once we're done. In the meantime, hop over to Abbi's blog as she's recapping it all in wonderful fashion whereas I'm too lazy to get myself organised at the moment. Today we started in Hyde Park, crossed the London Pride Parade and headed up Baker Street in our noble quest (and also stopped for some shopping, as you do.) Tomorrow, it's another day of hunting around Shoreditch and South Bank. We're going to pass through Old Spitalfields market, so no doubt there will be more shopping. All hail the first weekend after pay-day. Such a joy.

Tiredness has now descended with a vengeance. After all the box hunting (and Oxford street crowd dodging), I cleaned my room, went to the gym, did some grocery shopping and cooked a proper meal for a change (schnitzel with my mum's signature cheese sauce - which again, was not as good as when she makes it, but fine all the same.) I think it may be time to head to bed with some tea and A Feast For Crows. Oh, the horrors that await.

Music: Chop Chop - The Academy Is...

Put another dime in the jukebox

I’ve had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster of a week – all internalised of course because I clearly have issues. But I don’t really feel like getting into it. Let’s just say it was my grandfather’s funeral yesterday and it was quite tough to find myself sitting on the other side of the world to my family and being unable to support them. That’s really what upset me more than anything. I mean I feel pretty useless in those situations in general, but now it was a thousand times worse. Who knew that was possible? But yeah. Not getting into it.

So what have I been up to this week? Um. Good question. New job is still going well, I’m definitely enjoying learning new stuff…although learning more stuff right about now would be a plus. The team is really nice too, which is always a bonus. Friday was pretty hilarious as we were all working away so we could leave early, resulting in some classic one liners.

I also managed to finish three books in a week and a half, so I’m pleased with myself. It’s been so long since I’ve just read. It amuses me that one of the books (High Fidelity) actually dates back to January – I bought it in Paris when we first started our trip. But then I was of course sucked into reading A Song of Ice and Fire so it was forgotten. Lugged all over Europe, but forgotten. It’s so similar to the movie though, dialogue is virtually identical. One of my uni tutors once remarked that Nick Hornby didn’t write novels, he wrote screenplays. You can see where he got that idea from. The other two books I read was for book club - I’ll save my discussion for that. One of them is Fifty Shades of Grey so it'll no doubt be lively o_O

What else? I am terribly disappointed I missed the All Blacks game yesterday. I wandered down to my local pub to watch a replay of the Australia v Wales match, hoping they’d play the AB game afterwards but no, it was not to be. See, I would go to see it live but since it’s in 8.30 in the damn morning, it’s kinda hard to find a pub that’s open. I should just trek out to the Walkabout but…but…but. So. Yeah. I suppose I should be glad that it’s almost Tri Nations (Four Nations? What is it called now?) time, at least when they play in South Africa it’s a reasonable time here.

Other than that, I’ve spent this weekend watching movies. I feel like I watch a lot of movies lately. Since last Sunday, I’ve watched Rock of Ages (soooo much fun), Fast Five, The Muppets, Ratatouille, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (so good, I don’t understand how people think it’s boring), War Horse (despite my better ‘this is going to be so emotionally manipulative’ judgement), and Breaking Dawn Pt 1 (skeletal Bella is kinda terrifying.) I’m also still working my way through Homeland (oh, Damien Lewis, you are so amazing) and trying to finish off Merlin season 4 – that’s taking a while mostly cause I’m lazy and they’re just recycling the same story tropes which is a bit frustrating, but the show still has some desperately awesome adorkable moments so I’m trying to persevere.

And…yeah. That’s about it. My friend A was in town on Monday so we had dinner and I did one of those blitz tours – I’m getting quite good at those. It amazes me that since I’ve been here, I’ve had four sets of friends visiting. The world’s really quite a small place. But sadly she was the last of the planned visits. When I was first organising this year away business, there was talk of my parents dropping by in June/July but that’s obviously not going to happen now.

I have to do some writing today but I’m going to have to build up to it slowly, I think. Bit of a headache. Bit of an extreme laziness. Might watch another film first…



Music: I love rock n roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Turning of the seasons

As I mentioned before, I attended the Rugby Sevens at Twickenham last weekend – the final weekend of the world series. I know I’ve said it before but I really recommend going to a Sevens tournament if you ever have a chance. There’s always such a great carnival atmosphere and it’s actually just heaps of fun. Apparently the event had over 100k people over the weekend, pretty decent. Should be interesting to see how it does as an Olympic sport.

Anywhoodle, Twickenham was 70s themed for the event so there were wigs, sideburns, platforms and flares a plenty. There were also a lot of people in random costume (including a group of daleks) – the most popular being groups of Wallys and Wandas of Where’s Wally (or Waldo I suppose, depending on your frame of reference) fame. There was also a couple of guys dressed up as smurfs. I don’t get this at all but it does seem to be a popular choice as well – I see a group of smurfs pretty much every Sunday I pass through Clapham Junction (mind you, it could always be the same group of guys…which would be very sad, but not impossible.)

Blurry daleks are blurry cause they never stand still.

Walking to the stadium was an experience in itself – pubs were spilling over with revellers and the sidewalks were littered with stalls selling all sorts of things, including one house that was hosting a braai in the front garden. It sounds so silly but it was actually really nice to find myself surrounded on all sides by Australian, New Zealand and South African accents. See, this is the benefit to having ties to all three countries (even if the NZ one is just in my own mind), I always feel at home.

Even though I had access to the press box, I didn’t really hang out there. It sort of defies the point of being at the event for me. My main concern is always the people and the atmosphere. So I was chilling in the stands, first with some English supporters who I quickly abandoned (it is my humble opinion that English fans kinda suck, further affirmed by all the cricket fans I've had to deal with this week since work is just up the road from Lords) in favour of a group of kiwis and Samoans. Much better. I'd also just like to point out that being able to wander wherever you like in a stadium this size is pretty awesome.

Do not let the sun fool you, it was still very chilly.

I then transplanted to the section next to the tunnel entrance which appeared to be populated entirely by family and friends of players. Cue players clambering over the railings and chairs every two seconds. I seemed to be surrounded on all sides by Welsh supporters which was actually very nice as the Welsh team members visiting them were all so lovely to me (I only later realised that one I was flirting with only turned 19 this week. 19!!! Jesus.) Too bad they had such a terrible day on the field.

There were a couple of moments where I was just amazed while eavesdropping on conversations. Like when guys behind me were perplexed why a couple of guys dressed as the Mario Brothers and draped in NZ flags were hanging out with members of the Samoan team. ‘But they’re obviously from New Zealand,’ one guy remarked in clear confusion. Dude. Seriously? I though everyone knew the islands are all one big family. I was also very unimpressed by the booing happening every time NZ or Aus scored a try though. Oh, and France, but that I expected. So not cool.

Rhys, a Welsh player sitting behind me, described England's gear as "impressively ugly kit" and I
wholeheartedly agree. The purple/green monstrosities are way worse when seen first-hand.

Funnily enough, the main thing I took away from the tournament, other than a cold that has gotten steadily worse during the week and a further cemented belief that southern hemisphere teams just play more exciting rugby, is that I’m really looking forward to studying in NZ. It seems completely random, but it’s true. I love kiwis. I don’t know why, but I do. And I miss New Zealand. I miss rugby. I miss home too, more this week because the weather here has been so unbelievably shit.

I can handle a lot of things about living in London. Like being alone 70% of the time. And being at the mercy of public transport which generally means being squashed into trains every morning. And even being completely broke and generally relying on the kindness of my utterly amazing friends here. But I simply can't handle the weather. I struggle to understand how anyone can put up with this for long periods. And I know for a fact that London is actually capable of nice weather and prolonged periods of sunshine, but that doesn’t cancel out that it can also be utterly miserable for weeks on end. And even when the sun is out it’s still cold. It's freezing and the nutters at work have the door open and the aircon on the minute the sun peeks out. I cannot understand it. My mind does not compute. I cannot wait to get back to 38 degree summer days and 90% humidity, when even walking from your car to your front door leaves you overheated and the only thing you want to do is lie around in your swimwear watching Top Gear. Bliss.

And yeah, I know if I study in Dunedin, I won't have that either. The weather will also be sub-arctic and rainy most of the time...but it's only a three hour flight from home (and a five hour drive to Christchurch, three and a half to Queenstown. Love.) That's closer than if I studied in Perth, even.

As much as I love the UK, and Europe, it's just too far for me to cope with on a permanent level and the weather does my head in. I'm a summer child and this *indicates through window at the solid expanse of grey sky* just won't cut it I'm afraid.

I think we have to face it, NZ. I think I love you. 

But probably not as much as I love this place. It's where all my stuff is.

And it's also where this furball is waiting for me. Hard to compete with that.

Music: Don't carry it all - The Decemberists

A whole lot worse for wear

Things that suck about moving…

Oh wait, making a list of that would take far, far, faaaar too long. It is not an enjoyable undertaking whatsoever. Still, things are chugging along. It seems to be taking forever because we’re sort of doing it in drips and drabs as we all coem home from work. So far I’ve managed to completely transpose my room, study and bathroom – although the latter is not completely unpacked due to a lack of shelves. Most of the kitchen has also been moved, thanks to the very efficient assistance from M and A. Awesome friends are awesome.

I’ve been staying in the new place by myself since Sunday night, the house creaks like there’s an axe-murderer on the roof so it’s taken some getting used to. I also desperately miss having Oreo with me all the time – I can’t even imagine how much I’m going to miss her next year. Woe. But! Tomorrow the movers will be transporting all the big stuff over and then it’ll pretty much be home. Only have to unpack and clean the old place. Ugh.

I am covered in so many bruises I can’t even count them. There are three on my left hand alone. It’s quite the worry being both spatially challenged and an easy bruiser. I also have to wear a wrist support since I’ve managed to acquire a pretty nasty case of RSI and lugging stuff up and down stairs isn’t really helping. So yeah, pretty much just falling apart.

Cannot wait for it to be over. No mooore booooxes.

In other news –

I didn’t realise how much this meant until they finally actually won it. I’m just so proud of this team, my team, I could combust with happiness. They nearly gave me a heart attack, but hey, they did it.

I would just like to give credit to Stephen Donald’s shirt — in a highly stressful time, the fact that it clearly wasn’t made for him amused me greatly. The poor guy! That number 10 shirt must’ve been cursed. Insanity.

How lame is this, I still break out in a giant grin just thinking about it *shakes head*

There has also been progress on the Trip front – I booked our Venice accommodation last night which means we’re all set for Carnevale. Excitement abounds!

There’s a lot more to be said but no time to say it. Busy times at work (as usual) and chaos at home. I’m so tired, I feel like my head is floating somewhere near the ceiling.

Music: Casanova, baby! - The Gaslight Anthem

Weekend's worth of thoughts

Out of all my pet peeves, I think the thing I hate the most is being copied. It makes me irately annoyed. But it’s also funny because Em knows how much I loathe it and she always starts laughing in a knowing sort of way whenever it happens and that, in turn, gets me laughing. It’s probably a more healthy response. So thanks for that Em, you’re probably doing wonders for my blood pressure!

On the opposite end of the mood scale, pure euphoria last night with the All Blacks through to the final. Woo! I was almost too nervous to watch the game, I just couldn’t bear the thought of it all going horribly wrong – especially against Australia. I was majorly stressed for most of it, but luckily everything held together. We have to win this thing. Not only because we deserve it, but also for Dan. Ugh, my heart breaks for the guy. If I feel utterly devastated, I can't imagine how he feels. So anyway. I am so excited for the final. It really should have been against Wales though. France has been playing terribly all tournament, it’s pure luck that they’ve made it this far. Ah well.

In other news, applying for my visa tonight. Eee! And probably buying tickets and booking accommodation this week. I’ve just this moment sent off a message to my cousin with dates so if he can put me up, I’ll be off to Botswana at the end of December. I am hoping it works out, I am dying for a safari. I can’t believe how soon it all is – it feels both insanely real and somehow intangible. I’m itching to set off and at the same time, I’m already missing everyone and everything. My puppy mostly, I’m constantly randomly attacking her with cuddles much to her confusion.

She’s very unsettled at the moment cause mum and I started packing on the weekend. She sits and watches me with this look that says ‘There is mischief afoot!’ And then she’s poking her nose in boxes and titling her head in a way to clearly asks ‘What witchcraft is this?’ But seriously, she’s not keen on all this packing activity. She probably thinks we’re going on holiday without her again.

Ugh. Packing. Slow and arduous. We did most of the study on Sunday. Books! So many books! I did throw out about three bags worth of stuff and have another bag to donate (not books, we don’t throw out books in my household) but there’s still so much! How does one accumulate so much crap and fit it all in tiny rooms? Sigh. We’ll probably start the kitchen tonight. Double sigh. I’m already covered in bruises and we haven’t even started the actual moving yet. Bodes well.

Can't stop yawning. I was up at 5.30 this morning, a time reserved for those in the first circle of hell. I have so much work to do, I figured I’d come in early but even though I left home way earlier than normal, I still got to work at the time I usually do. WHAT. Why dost thou mock me, traffic?

Speaking of work and its quantities, better get back to it. Can’t even think about how many profiles I need to write or I’ll be paralysed with apprehension.

Music: American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem

Competition is a fickle thing

So, my boys just lost the Super Rugby final. I'm absolutely devastated. I mean, I'm happy for Ewan McKenzie that he's finally won a final, and it's great for the Reds and rugby in Australia. But, my boys. My boys. After everything we've been through this year, I really think we deserved this win. They lost their home field, faced so much, travelled so much - hell, went to England to play a match to raise money for Christchurch - and just...everything. It would have been so great if they could at least have this. But alas, it was not to be.

Sport, man. Such a cruel mistress. The only consolation I can take from this is that no one is injured, and that surely, surely we'll take the World Cup this year. Now excuse me as I have to get back to entertaining guests. And then later, I shall watch Torchwood - cause I'm sure that'll cheer me up o_O

Music: Fox Sports and weeping

Growing by the hour

I’m finally a little bit excited for Miracle Day. Despite my better judgement, I assure you. But ee! Two days! It’s the countdown UKTV has going that did it, I think. Every time I flipped over it was just there – staring at me.

Oh, wait. I just realised it’s on at the same time as the Super Rugby final! Conundrum! Uuuugh. Jack will just have to wait. I must watch my boys play, it’s going to be such an epic game. I had grand plans of going but I’d have to stay overnight cause flight restrictions mean there’s no flight back to Sydney after 8.30, and also the tickets sold out quite quickly. They were so, so cheap too. But never mind, I don’t exactly have money to waste like that anyway, even if it’s the last opportunity to see them play this year (the All Blacks tri-nations match is also in Brisbane, le sigh.)

What has transpired since my last foray into the blogosphere? Amazon bought The Book Depository – horror! How long until we lose our free shipping? Also, I don’t want to support Amazon. But, but, but…cheap books! *weeps* One of my twitter friends recommended Better World Books so I might give them a go one day when I have disposable income again. On the topic of changes, apparently Google will be rebranding Blogger in the not too distant future. Meh. This whole Google+ thing is getting on my nerves. Really, how many social networking things do we need?  I'm becoming a luddite in my old age.

I finished my beginners French course. Je suis un champion! Haha, I’m an idiot. Anyway, it was so much fun, I really enjoyed it. I’d continue but it’s just not possible to wrangle that right now – so I’ll just have to study by myself. I desperately want to learn other languages as well. German first, I think. Mostly because I think it’d be easier than French, I do kind of already have a Germanic framework. Also, Dutch. And then I’ll go back to the Latin based languages. Spanish. Italian. It’d be easier if I could just get a chip installed in my brain. Or if I had someone to actually speak to.

That reminds me. Hilarious moment of ineptitude. We were sitting in class, chatting in pairs, and my partner went over into English to ask me something. I started replying but alas, in Afrikaans. My brain just skidded to a halt and went ‘uh, wait, wrong one!’ That hasn’t happened to me in years.

I’ll probably never be able to flip through other languages the way I do with English and Afrikaans, but if I could just get a decent level of competency up where I don’t need a reference, and where I can actually read properly, I’ll be happy.

There was something else I was going to say but it has clean popped out of my head. Work still sucks. I have extreme difficulty waking up in the mornings. And I have gone off food. That’s about it. Further updates as events warrant.

Music: Hate this and I'll love you - Muse

We keep it down with the radio on

From the other side of an epic weekend, I bid thee welcome. I’m sore, sunburned and my energy is starting to flag just a little but I’m happy to report that I had so much fun. Not even the fact that a huntsman climb through my open car window this morning could damage my mood (freak me out, yes - but I’m proud that I managed to stay entirely calm. I threw open my door, it climbed back to the other side of the window which I quickly wound up, and then the guy in the car next to me jumped out, shoe in hand, to flick it off the car. We were united in our spider hate and triumphed over the hideous evil.)

Things kicked off bright and early Saturday with a trip to Kiama – a picturesque area that is utterly boring, like pretty much all of the South Coast. It was a family outing, as we all headed down to help out at the Kiama Rugby Sevens tournament. I highly recommend you go watch Sevens rugby if you have a chance – it’s tons of fun, and the speed of the game makes it perfect for a day out – kinda like 20/20 cricket. We were right behind the try line which made me slightly nervous, a valid response as I very nearly avoided being tackled. A quick roll to the right meant only the drinks thing was taken out – that would have left a nice bruise, I’m sure. Anywhoodle, I did a bunch of walking up and down in my role as fetcher and carrier, took my extra lense so I tried out taking action photos of all the goings on, and generally had a lovely time. The field is right next to the beach so after their matches the guys would all traipse down for a swim/surf. By 4pm, there were a lot of guys just wandering around in towels. Now, at the risk of sounding utterly shallow, there were some finely sculpted specimens on show. Had Jared Leto wandered in with his shirt off, he would not have drawn any special attention. I’m just reporting on the facts here, don’t look at me like that. At least I was there on official business and wearing more clothes than any other female my age/younger – you should see some of the girls, I don’t know what they’re thinking. It utterly baffles me. I’ve never been a girl inclined to that sort of attention seeking, though my cousins all were. They’d go off flaunting themselves, and I’d sit around and read haha. Sums me up really. Anyway, it achieves nothing. I was my usual emo self, minding my own business, and got picked up anyway, so why bother?

What you should bother with, however, is sunscreen. It was a lovely sunny day but I’d taken just a little too long to lather up, and now my left arm is pink. Bah. Only on the outside, from my sleeve to my watch, so it’s this really demented tan line. Annoyed and determined not to make it worse, I wore approximately half a bottle of sunscreen to Soundwave yesterday. Actually, the shirtless boys encountered here were in stark contrast to the shirtless boys from Saturday. And they lost. By a mile. I know, I know. I’m a traitor to my kind. This post will be way too long if I included the SW write-up, so it be here.

Music: The Queen of Lower Chelsea - The Gaslight Anthem

Reconcile the violence in your heart

Guess what? I’ve let go of the deranged Leto thing, and have diverted my attention elsewhere. The Super 15 season (or should I just call it Super Rugby now?) started this weekend, so I can go back obsessing over that for a while instead. First things first, it somehow escaped my notice but my boy Dan got engaged at the end of last year. I guess that makes him officially grown up now, awww. We’ve had some times *reminisces* He’ll always be my favourite. Anywhoodle, I actually managed to watch all the games, except for the SA ones as I’m disinclined to staying up all night in order to be aggravated. Oh and, thanks to having a migraine of epic proportions, I slept through the first half of the Highlanders/Hurricanes game…not that I missed much.

But yes! New season! Not a bad start overall, my team lost…but we always start slow, and it wasn’t a big loss, so it’s still good! My other team won by a mile, so there’s that at least. Hilariously, my family and I are playing against each other in a fantasy league. If you were in my house on Saturday night, this is why you’d have heard me yelling “I need a cheap hooker!” and no other reason. Ahem.

Overall, quite a nice weekend. I left work early on Friday after aforementioned migraine attempted to kill me – it was in a class of its own. Dragged on into Saturday, but I managed to numb it somewhat with drugs and head off to picnic with M and R. It was absolutely lovely, and I very ungraciously won a game of Trivial Pursuit. Sunday was dedicated to exploring these markets I’d just found out about with L – they were sadly very little and it was far too humid for comfort, so off to airconditioned shopping mall it was. There was much browsing, a nice lunch and a lovely catch-up. Saw boots I desperately want…need? Must exercise self control! Aaaah! Curse you, responsible adulthood.

Headache returned in the evening. Perhaps heat related? Not sure. Not entirely 100% healthy at the moment, in fact I generally just feel pretty crappy. Probably stress. Need a holiday. A proper holiday. Can’t wait for April – only 51 days to go, but who’s counting?

In other news, I finished The Iliad. I am so proud of myself. I know I attempted reading it before when I was younger, but I can’t remember ever finishing it. Anyway, huzzah! Now I can return to the library triumphant and shuffle slightly forward in history. Also borrowed a stack of books from R on Saturday, so recreational reading is definitely on the cards. Brilliant. Back to uni next week, don’t think I have much required reading for a change, so yay?

Well. That's my boring update. Work to do. Still scrambling with the last lot of deadlines with new ones looming. Also quite a busy week ahead with writers group Wednesday, and other things, plus I’m off to help out at the Kiama Sevens on Saturday, then there’s Soundwave on Sunday. Next week is going to be a tough one – after thoroughly exhausting myself by hanging around outside all weekend, I’m seeing The Gaslight Anthem on Monday night, and then uni 6-9 on Wednesday and Thursday. I’ve said it before, and I will say it many more times in my sad little life – sleep is for the weak.

PS: I know I skipped the Top 10 last week – blame the migraine. Will pick it up again Friday.

Music: Undisclosed desires - Muse

I have just wasted eighty minutes of my life

I am yet to experience a Soundwave Festival that does not include drama of one form or another. At least come Sunday it'll be over for another six months or so, at which point, after much swearing to never go again, they will announce a line-up that I find hard to resist. They are evil, so very evil.

Speaking of evil, I am going along well in my extremely-late-to-the-party Buffy watching. Halfway through season 2, and yes, I am loving it stupid amounts. Should have paid more attention in the 90s. The amount of love I have for Spike is nothing short of disturbing.

In other news, my mum is now sick too, though I am valiantly ignoring the queasy migraine icky-ness with a vague attempt at being organised - though hampered, I admit, by my seeming inability to remember anything I actually want to do a mere few seconds after thinking of it. Sigh. Still I've narrowed down a couple of things, like the French course I will be enrolling in just as soon as I have hoarded my next couple of pay cheques and paid for the geek quest Supanova expedition. I've also resolved to begin the exercise regime again tomorrow - it always falls by the wayside on holiday. I'm thinking of joining a kick-boxing class too...I really enjoy boxing training though I have no real passion for the actual boxing. So we'll see how we go. Uuuuum what else...oh I have to go the doctor at some point to get some blood tests cause I suspect my iron is low. I'm tired virtually all the time and bruise if you just so much as look as me. Not much fun.

Another thing that isn't much fun is the absolutely appalling performance the Crusaders put in this evening. I have never seen them play that poorly, in fact I hadn't realised the Crusaders were capable of conceding so many turnovers. Um...Richie, come baaaaaack. Abject woe. They have always been slow starters in seasons, and they are fielding half their usual team, but still, that was just depressing. They might just get mad now and destroy everything in their path from now on...we can hope, at least.

Music: Fox Sports
Mood: Annoyed

In which I blog as if I were Watson

It had been a day just like any other, a mundane routine that required the barest effort on my part. I had my breakfast and idled away the morning hours with errands and television until the time drew near to depart for work. I stared up at the sky as I made my way to my vehicle, contemplating the chances of the promised storm. The wind had just begun stirring the leaves and there was a certain oppressive quality to the air that made it seem rather likely. I settled into my car with barely any though, fiddled with the audio system, and finally pulled out of the driveway.

I did not go far. I had barely reached the steep incline to the main road when I noticed something was wrong – the car was shaking a great deal more than usual and seemed to be losing speed, rather than gaining it, regardless of how hard I pressed the accelerator. I thought to persevere but before I could turn onto the highway an omen seemed to indicate that I would not make the surgery at this rate. Conceding defeat, I retraced my proverbial steps and with a dejected sigh coasted the car to a stop in front of the garage where it promptly died.

A cursory overview with my father seemed to suggest an innate failure with the power system so with nothing for it, I swapped to his vehicle and set off to work in decidedly worse spirits than a mere half hour before. The surgery was busy but as always it offers little in the way of intellectual stimulation and I had far too much time to contemplate what I could only view as another incident destined to cast me into financial ruin. I must admit my fingernails suffered abysmally for my overactive analytical obsessions. Still, there was nothing to be done until the following business day and I did my best to put it from my mind.

Unfortunately, my obsessive tendencies leave a black mark on my consciousness at the best of times and I spent the evening in the makings of one of my trademark dark moods. I can imagine the picture I painted on the couch, hardly uttering a word nor moving a muscle, while vacantly staring at the flickering image of the television – stuck as it was on UKTV as I could not find the motivation to move for the remote control. The Weakest Link, Gavin and Stacey, The Mitchell and Webb Look, and on it went, drawing ever closer to the inevitable horror of Eastenders, as I feared I would become possessed by the channel. Tellingly, the promised storm broke over the district. My slide into teenaged melodrama and self-loathing was curbed only by my mother’s change to tennis which led to the discovery of the single most hilarious game of doubles I have ever had the privilege to witness in my life. It was an exhibition match featuring Pat Rafter, Henri Leconte, Pat Cash and Wayne Arthurs, and was more circus than tennis. It was well worth our attention and we quite enjoyed ourselves watching the madness.

Yet one cannot ignore reality, and I cast a sad eye at my now abandoned vehicle as I headed off to work yet again in my father’s car. Having this new dilemma to solve, I had to unfortunately cancel an engagement with ever-understanding Elizabeth, and was yet again cast in a less than amused mood. While I was toiling away at the proverbial salt mine, my father set the grounded vehicle alight as he later informed me with barely subdued mirth. No permanent damage was done, but it is still not the most comforting news to receive. After some contemplation, we set off towards the Daihatsu garage and acquired a set of ignition leads that they luckily had in stock. A light lunch later, my father dutifully directed me as I set about replacing these leads. Wonder above wonder, it seemed to do the trick. Two of the old leads were cracked and broken causing spark to escape before it could deliver power to the engine, thus the lack of acceleration and alarming shuddering. After cleaning the engine and allowing it to dry, I drove to the supermarket to replenish my chocolate supply and I can happily report that the car is back to its regular form. All hail Jack, the car that will always revive.

My mood somewhat lightened by this miraculous recovery at a considerably lower price than I feared, and I am feeling a little calmer about the state of my life. I am currently beset by the urge to draw, as per usual little detracted by lack of actual skill in this department (something that usually only bothers me with crushing force once I have completed a drawing), and have turned my rooms upside down searching for my visual art diaries to no avail. I must concede the point and purchase a new one, at which time the others will no doubt make an unexpected re-appearance. That is the law with such things.

I shall now make my best attempt to enjoy the aforementioned chocolate while contemplating the location of my drawing pencils, and perhaps avail myself of a film afterwards. I suspect I may have fallen somewhat in love with RDJ’s Sherlock Holmes but as I cannot watch that film at the present, I feel Iron Man will suffice nicely – “This is the fun-vee, the humdrum-vee is back there.” Tomorrow there is yet more work in my future – unexpected and tiring, but not wholly unwelcome in light of my upcoming travels – and an afternoon hopefully spent in friendly company. Come next week, my mother and I will be preparing to jet off to Afrique du Sud for a weeklong visit with the maternal branch of the family.

And so, as ever, life goes on.

Music: LG Faud - Motion City Soundtrack
Mood: Silly

There I go again

Random tangents of note -

First things first, DANIEL! Aaaaaah! Epic. Glee. I'm oh so very glad he's playing again, I've missed him so much this last season it defies description. Don't ever go play overseas again, and in the name of all that is good and holy, try not to get injured for a while hmmmk? My mum was laughing at my glee all night. I can't help myself, it's been so long since I've seen him play, it's all been stored up, just waiting for this moment. Although I wish the All Blacks didn't suck as much as they do this year. Honestly, what's going on? Then again, maybe if we do badly leading up to the World Cup for a change, we might actually do well during it? This kind of ass-backward reasoning usually features in sport, so it's possible.

Since I'm talking about sport, Stuart Broad FTW. Way to shut them up over here, dude. It so doesn't hurt that I think he's painfully adorable. Win/win.

My neighbour is having a party. He's about 18 or so and I always seem him skulking about the neighbourhood in his Misfits and old school punk t-shirts. The music is on full blast and it kind of makes me want to pop round and join in.

I've agreed to do NaNaWriMo which I will no doubt regret considering my thesis is due the 7th of November and there's no way I'll start any work on it before then, but pushing yourself is half the fun. Besides my writing tutors have always gone on about the benefits of just writing, regardless of quality, so this might be a good exercise in letting that go and just getting ideas on paper. Refinement and insecurities can wait until later. It'll no doubt be an interesting experience regardless.

I'm so glad there is finally a Fall Out Boy video in which Patrick gets most of the screen time (and plays a piano, which never hurts things) and in which Pete doesn't make out with someone. It's kind of heartwarming in a strange way.

In that vein, I was going through some pics and found this one -

I forgot how it used to be. It won't be the same with them apart. Sigh. What happened boys?

Ooookay. Don't cha by the Pussycat Dolls just started playing which makes me rethink what I said earlier about joining the party next door. I am concerned where we went wrong here...





Music: Whatever my neighbour deems fit, currently Mamma Mia
Mood: Sleepy

Here follows some inconsequential rambling

I'm watching the cricket cause Stuart Broad is batting at the moment. Does this make me a bad person? I mean really though, the boy is so, so, so adorable. Hmmm.

So, yesterday went quite well all things considered. Had a perfectly normal day, function wise. I was early to class so I sprawled out across the tables and listened to my audiobook. In the end only three other people showed up. Final class fail, yes? So understandably we didn’t stick around long. I handed in my creative piece as well, so that’s all my assignments done. My tutor said that all the Honours staff members get together to go over everyone’s assignments so they can get a median level for marking the work. This freaked me out slightly. I don’t particularly want everyone to read my no doubt dodgy assignment on, predominantly, Twitter written from the point of view of my phone. I mean, hell, it’s every so slightly dodgy. Ah well. What’s done is done as they say. I just hope I pass everything…

After class I stopped by Starbucks that indulges in one of the few good things about winter – mint hot chocolate. I waited for Roze in Myer, lamenting the fact that we suck so epically and how unstylish we are when compared to Europe. Sigh. The two of us went on an impromptu shopping trip, although neither of us bought anything. There was a close moment in General Pants when I saw a jacket, immediately fell in love (as I am known to do) and Roze remarked “That great. It’s like David Tennant’s jacket for girls.” I promptly grinned like a loon and complimented her on her lovely Tennant reference. Haha. Unfortunately the jacket proved very popular, and they only have 8s left. I could never fit in an 8; for one thing I’d have to chop off half my arm. Sigh. It was quite expensive so it’s probably for the best, but god, it was gorgeous. We shopped some more, chatted, Roze put up with my rambling and was lovely, had food. So overall, a lovely quick little catch up. Tomorrow night we’re all going out for proper dinner and catch-up since we’re all done with uni for now…well technically two of us should be researching, but that can wait until next week…

Overall though, managed to go 35 hours without sleep, without even so much as touching a red bull too. Not much caffeine at all in fact, 1 cup of coffee in the morning. The wheels only really fell off in the car driving home with mum - sitting in the traffic with nothing really to distract me did me in, in the end.

In all of this, I still managed to finish my audiobook, ‘In the Shadows’ by Joe Lidster. It was my first ever audiobook. I’m not sure if I’m keen on the whole thing. I find it very weird not to be reading it myself, and I had this overwhelming sense of wanting to read faster, if that makes sense [it probably doesn’t]. Also, my brain failed at visualising and instead of being immersed in an imaginary world, I was visualising reading a book. This is how ridiculous I am. So, it’s like in a cartoon with an overabundance of thought bubbles. Listening to audiobook leads to visualising reading book which leads to visualising the story – thought bubble within a thought bubble. Maybe it was just sleep deprivation. I also blame the sleep deprivation for completely stripping me of any restraint, so I was giggling like a FOOL on the train (and this is worse when you’re listing to something, at least when I have a book with me there appears to be a flimsy excuse). I also got completely overemotional on the bus to mum’s. I was practically in tears. Cause clearly I am a loser. Overall, I quite liked the story. Nice, creepy and twisted. Think I’d like it more if I could read it. Oh, on that note, I have to say Eve Myles doing an American accent greatly disturbed me. I might never recover.

I spent today, after work and picking up my Anberlin/TAI tix, snuggled up on the couch watching Life on Mars. Finished the first season, finally. I do love that show quite a bit. It’s just so funny. I still can’t quite believe how much they butchered the US version. I heard a rumour about a US Torchwood…? The very thought appals me. Unless they find the missing Torchwood 4 and make it a whole new spin off, don’t even get me started on everything that is wrong with that idea. Just…*shudder*

In other news, people are getting on my nerves, I don’t want to work tomorrow, and I’m really cold! Stupid winter.

Today is the official first screening of Episode 1 of Torchwood Season 3 at BFI. I hate the UK.

James Marsters is going to be at next year’s TW convention thingamabob. I hate the UK.

Oh, how I lie! You know I’m just jealous UK, so, so jealous of your awesomeness. Even if your weather sucks and you think 26 degrees is hot. In fact, I’ll prove just how much I don’t hate you by trying to grunge up some funds to swing by again. Sigh.

Rumoured Green Day gig slotted for Sydney, 11 December. Hee!

Abbi just sent me this. She knows me so well.

Cute boy + Suit = WIN

Music: Angel
Mood: Lazy

Random stuff is random

Perusing the TV guide this morning, I noticed the ABC were listing something called "Triple j tv with The Doctor." I'm sure you can imagine what I immediately thought of.

If you're going to be writing things like that, I have a very specific expectation. It has now been denied. There should be a disclaimer.

This also cracked my up to no end - His name is Lancelot, he goes to France a lot, he likes to dance a lot and dream... Ah Monty Python, you never cease to amuse. As always, credit goes to people who have too much time on their hands, procrastination would be impossible without you. The last clip really made it for me, taking Owen out of context FTW.

But I digress.

Had major falling out with my father last night. He'd gone to the Wallabies/Barbarians game at the SFS so went to pick him up afterwards. The 'We Love Sounds' festival was on at the same time (don't even get me started on this, people were falling out of there wearing virtually nothing, I'm amazed they didn't die of frostbite), and so it was absolute madness at the Entertainment Quarter. Do you think he's grateful that he's being picked up in the cold? Of course not. Instead he's a horrible pain in the ass backseat driver. I was *this* close to chucking him out of the car.

What a woeful game it was too. They're just going to have an inflated sense of worth now. I am really torn when it comes to the Wallabies these days, only because I think Robbie Deans is such a great coach (and I still think of him as my team's coach *woe*) and I want him to do well...but not with them! There are only two players (Luke Burgess and Lachlan Turner) in this Aussie squad that I actualy respect and don't want to run over at the first opportunity. I think Robbie might actually manage to give the team a better attitude, but still. I don't want them to win!

While on the topic of last night's game:
Dear Sonny Bill, please don't go back to League. Don't listen to people who say you're wasting your talents, you just need a little more practice on this level that's all. I like having you in Union. League has nothing to offer you anyway, it's a game with very little presence beyond these shores, and it automatically conjures negative images of neanderthals blundering around getting pissed and asking stupid questions (I know it's a generalisation, but it's not my fault that this is what the game has done to itself now is it? Take it up with...oh I don't know, whichever player is in trouble for something along those lines this week.) Ok yes, you've made mistakes in the past and you're not the brightest crayon in the box, but you're young! Stay in union. Stay. Please.
I think he had a good game last night tbh, even if he was shut down every time he so much as looked at a ball. I've seen worse first games, and we all know he has potential. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I also just have to take this time to say - oh my god Daniel I miss you. Seriously dude, come on. I was watching Luke McAllister play last night and it made me think of him and just, just *sigh* It just hasn't been the same without him. I probably won't see him play at all this year. It just isn't right. Yes, I'm pouting. Luckily he'll be back where he belongs next year, and let this be a lesson to all of them. Fun as it was to see posters of him plastered around Paris, playing overseas is clearly a lot like tempting fate.

I know this is a rugby heavy post, but it's International season! It always promises lots of entertainment.

Oh and sticking to the sport, guess I'll be up watching the French Open until some godforsaken time in the morning. Someone new in a final for a change! Promising.

This is classic:


Enough time wasting. Better get back to uni work. Bah.

Music: Jenny don't be hasty - Paolo Nutini
Mood: Pessimistic