The Crystal Conundrum

Moving House

2008-11-28T18:05:00.003+11:00

The Crystal Conundrum is moving house.
Check out the new Conundrum Here.
Not sure which blog I will keep yet. Probably the new one.
Let me know what you think.

Sceptical or Cynical

2008-11-05T18:23:00.003+11:00

Congratulations to Barack Obama! That's totally unrelated to this post, but I thought while I'm posting I may as well say it.

sceptic /'skɛptɪk/, n. 1. one who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be knowledge. 2. one who mistrusts and who maintains a pessimistic attitude toward people, plans, ideas, etc. 3. one who doubts the truth of the Christian religion or of important elements of it. 4. (cap.) Philos. a member of the philosophical school of ancient Greece, or any later thinker, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible. -adj. 5. pertaining to sceptics or scepticism. 6. (cap.) pertaining to the Sceptics. Also U.S., skeptic. -sceptical, adj. -sceptically, adv. -scepticalness, scepticism, n.

I would perhaps delete point number two. I would delete the word 'Christian' from point three, and the last part of the sentence. Then that sounds pretty much like me.

cynic /'sɪnɪk/, n. 1. a sneering fault finder; one who doubts or denies the goodness of human motives, and who often displays his attitude by sneers, sarcasm, etc. 2. (cap.) one of a sect of Greek philosophers founded by Anisthenes of Athens (born about 444 B.C.), who sought to develop the ethical teachings of Socrates. -cynicism, n.

This one does not sound like me at all.
I've been thinking lately a lot of people tend to interchange these two words, and think they're the same thing. I heard people on the radio this morning calling themselves cynical because they didn't believe in haunted houses. It sounds a little negative to me.
I'd like to think a sceptical person is an open minded person who likes to see evidence before putting faith in things. I'd like to think a sceptical person would be excited to be proven wrong about things. I heard a great quote about science on a podcast today:
"There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." -Enrico Fermi

Definitions from The Concise Macquarie Dictionary, 1982 ed.

No, I'm from Australia. Austria is a small country in Europe.

2008-10-25T12:28:00.000+11:00

I was listening to "The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe" podcast. It's an American podcast (hence the 'k' in skeptics'). They did an interview with Matthew Chapman (incidentally, Charles Darwin's great-grandson). Which is not really the point of this post. The point I wanted to talk about is that during this interview one of the Skeptics happened to make a comment that I thought would be a good talking point. Chapman said that "As a European I find that Americans are very disinclined to look at things in an international way"
To which one of the Skeptics replied:
"In Europe, the countries are all so close they're very intermingled and here (US) it's almost like we're isolationist, because we don't have the opportunity or didn't have the advantage of living so close to other cultures and, you know, we're just pretty much by ourselves over here with Canada, and you know it's like Canada and the United States, we're the same people- as far as I'm concerned. The Canadians don't think that!"(laughter).

Now he qualified this by saying "who the hell am I to comment" and I'll quallify my comments the same way. This is purely my opinion-
Australia is even more geographically isolated than the United states. However the average Australian knows a fair bit about foreign cultures. Particularly American and Brittish because our media is full of it. From what I can gather, the US media is largly US-centric. A majority of their TV is all American, most of their news is America.
Here a large magority of our TV is American, or Brittish. There is a channel dedicated to international television.

I would say it's the American culture itself (or perhaps the media) that keeps it 'isolationist' and ignorant of other cultures. Speaking very generally there of course. I know many Americans who are quite knowledgable of other countries and thier cultures.

Thoughts. . . ?

Take On Me: Literal Video Version

2008-10-16T17:32:00.003+11:00

For your amusement.

Ahh, the sweet smell of Spring. . .

2008-09-25T09:07:00.002+10:00

What a lovely time of year to be walking around in. The sun is shinning, the air is fresh, there's the sweet smell of spring flowers in the breeze.

Then some twit goes and puts manure on their garden!

If a plant needs poo on it in order to survive, it doesn't deserve to live!

I don't want to ride to work in your bathroom!

2008-09-19T16:15:00.002+10:00

I wasn't going to work today, I was going to the osteopath, but I thought the above title sounded better than 'I don't want to ride to the osteopath in your bathroom'.

While on the train, I noticed a girl in the midst of her daily cleansing routine. By the time I got on, she was at the toner stage (I don't know how she managed the cleansing stage). She put some toner on a tissue and wiped it over her face. Over and over and over and over. She must've covered every inch of her face at least 16 times! Once she was finally satisfied with that she started with the moisturiser. Same thing, over and over and over. Her face was red from rubbing by the time she finally finished. As I was leaving the train, she was applying mascara.

Now, I've seen people put makeup on in public transport before. It always leaves me with a slightly odd feeling. Like they've decided to make the train into their bathroom, and we (the other passengers) have to be in there whether we like it or not.
It's NOT your bathroom, people. If you can't manage to put your makeup on before you leave home, either don't wear any or get up earlier! Geez, imagine if men performed their morning ablutions on the train. Doesn't bear thinking about really.

Slightly nutty rant over.

iTunes 8.0 big black balls

2008-09-14T17:22:00.004+10:00

I've recently downloaded iTunes 8.0
At first glance the new visuals are awesome! But they don't seem to vary as much as the classic version. You can still switch to the classic version though, if you get sick of the new ones. I've yet to get sick of them.
I like the big black space balls :)

The other nice new feature is the genius button. You select a song, then click genius and it creates a play list for you. Lots of fun to play around with, though I've found it doesn't work for every song in my library.

Crazy Rainbow Lady

2008-08-20T19:28:00.002+10:00

Is she for real? I mean, really? We didn't have rainbows in sprinklers 20 years ago? Man, the government's got a lot to answer for!! ;)

Short is Better Than Naught

2008-08-17T10:42:00.004+10:00

A couple of weeks ago I finally came to the end of the 'Get This' podcasts. Now, I'm enjoying the hunt for something new. Sure, I could just go back to the start and listen to 'Get This' all over again, but I think something new is what I need for now.

So far I've tried a number of different podcasts, none of which have really entertained me as much as 'Get This', though I have enjoyed them.

The first new one I tried was Russell Brand from BBC Radio 2. It was funny, but not quite what I'm looking for. A little too juvenile for me. That sounds a bit snobby doesn't it. What I mean by 'juvenile' is that the show seems aimed at a 20-something audience, and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not 20-something anymore. It could do with a little more intellectual humour. The hosts clearly aren't stupid. They do seem to be enjoying themselves.

I then tried John Cleese. This was just what I was looking for. However, they're quite short and most are videos. I need something a bit longer, and preferably audio, for train rides. Having said that, I think I'll continue to download these. Short is better than naught.

Then I tried Triple M's 'The Peter Berner Experiment'. Quite funny, but too short. They average about 10 minutes.

'The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe' is quite long (hooray). Some of their topics I found a bit boring (but you can't please everyone) and some fascinating. I did find it very American-centric (they can't help that, being American). At one point they quoted a lovely quote by Richard Dawkins, "Science is the poetry of reality. They couldn't quite leave it at that though, they had to do the typical American thing of putting on the phoney British accent. "Cor, blimey Guv'nor". Which I'm sure Richard Dawkins has never said in his life.

Having said that, I'm still going to give this one another go.

Then there's Nova's 'The Wrong Way Home'. Yes, this does feature Ed Kavalee (formally of 'Get This') along with Cal Wilson and Akmal Saleh. However it's not as good as 'Get This'. It's very much in the format of a Drive Time show, which is what it is after all. The beauty of 'Get This' is that it didn't fit any kind of format (probably one of the reasons for their axing). They just talked about whatever they liked and still managed to interest people.

The best thing about this podcast, is that I don't have to listen to Nova's music. I may give it a go for a bit longer.

So, still on the hunt for the perfect podcast. Suggestions are most welcome.

Fang the Sneaky Cat

2008-08-10T18:09:00.005+10:00

We all thought Fang was the good boy and Isaac was the naughty one.

Turns out Fang is a very sneaky boy. He deliberately chases Isaac so that he will jump up onto something he's not supposed to be on (ie. DVD cabnet, kitchen benches, TVs).

xkcd

2008-08-06T18:21:00.004+10:00

xkcd

Done Getting Things.

2008-08-03T18:06:00.001+10:00

You have to check this out now: Done Getting Things.

You'll love it, I promise.

2008-07-28T18:18:00.002+10:00

I like going to Medicare these days to get my refund.

You walk in, press the button for your ticket number, then you get to go sit in nice comfy chairs while you wait for your number to be called. It doesn't usually take long, then when they call your number it's a little bit like you've 'won'. You go to the counter and they give you money.

Nice :)

Much better than the old line up in a coral and wait system.

Service I didn't enjoy, however, came from the bank. Yes, surprise, surprise.

Yes ANZ, I'm happy to name which bank.

Firstly, they never sent me a replacement card when my old one expired. I didn't realise until I tried to use it! So, I ordered a new one. For the next bit of the story I have to digress a bit:

There had been a problem with my mail, which Australia Post investigated and fixed. Long story short, my mail was being marked 'return to sender' before it got to me. Somehow it was thought that I had a post office box in Rosanna, so the mail was sent there. Because I don't have a post office box there, they marked it 'not at this address' and sent them return to sender. The post office were very good in investigating this and fixing it for me.

So, when the card I ordered hadn't arrived, I figured it had been a casualty of my mail problems. I rang to cancel it and order a new one. A week and a half later it still hadn't arrived, so I called the bank. Again.

The lady on the phone spotted the problem right away. There was no mailing address for me! It was blank. She sounded confused, so I told her that I suspected they'd had some returned mail and that's why the address had been deleted. I didn't ask why no one had bothered to try to contact me and find out the correct address. They still had my correct phone numbers after all.

Anyhow, she put in my correct address and hopefully, my card was sent out today.

For the sake of posting

2008-07-25T14:58:00.004+10:00

Today I pruned my camellia bush. Not very exciting I know, but the poor thing was looking very spindly and badly needed it done. A nice lady at work, who is a whizz in the garden, told me that late July is the best time to do it. Fortunately, as I was chopping away I noticed lots of little green chutes. So hopefully, come spring, it will start looking nice and green again.

In other news, my health is on the improve. I nearly feel back to normal. I went to the gym this today. That's once this week, and once last week. Maybe next week I'll make it twice?

Life in general now is quite good (now that I'm healthy again). I'm feeling very comfortable and contented. Not a feeling encountered often, so I'm trying not to look a gift horse.

The house is continually taking shape. I've finally got a decent TV unit, and a chest of drawers! I'm making a rug (not art work, but creative nonetheless). A picture will be posted when finished. And, of course, I'm reading lots. I've just enjoyed two fantastic novels.

Recovery Man by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Days of Rage by Kris Nelscott (both actually the same author).

Both novels are part of series and, although they are both stand-alone stories, I'd still recommend starting from the beginning. They do refer back to earlier novels.

Recovery Man is a part of the Retrieval Artist series. Set on the Moon, Miles Flint is a 'Retrieval Artist'. His job is to find the 'disappeared' once it's safe for them to reappear. These are people who have changed their identity and their lives in order to escape alien justice. Alien laws differ from human laws, and sometimes what we would consider minor, turns out to be a capital offence, or worse.

Days of Rage is part of the Smokey Dalton detective series. It's set in late 60's America and Smokey Dalton is a black detective. Every time I read one of these novels, I am constantly amazed that a young white woman is so capable of getting into the head of a black male living decades past. Her research is amazing.

Star Trek Movie Posters

2008-07-19T19:23:00.006+10:00

The first promotional pictures are out. Click on here for more info.

Temporal Tunes

2008-07-11T16:03:00.004+10:00

What a pleasant day it has been listening to Melbourne's Triple M/ EON FM.

The station turns 28 years old today, and they've been playing nothing but 80s music. Not a Nickleback or Pink in sight!

Not that all eighties music was good. It seems that with the right amount of time, nostalgia can make up for what was thought of as really bad at the time. Certainly Johnny Diesel and the Injectors sound a lot better to my ears now than they did then. Or, is it just a that compared to some of the trash on the radio now days, the trash from the eighties sounds better?

It can work in reverse as well, leaving you to wonder what you ever saw in a particular song or band.

***

Also today, the iPhone 3G is available in Oz. Is anyone planning on getting one? I think I may wait for the next generation and the price to come down a bit.

***

Note to spammers: A subject heading like 'We have video of you naked ccope', is just stupid. Even if I was stupid enough to believe that and open the email, the fact that I'm being referred to as ccope is a dead give-away.

I'm also really tired of the ones that tell me how stupid I look and that I have a stupid face. That's just uncalled for.

Remember the Baghdad Blogger? (Now updated)

2008-07-04T10:17:00.009+10:00

Does anyone remember Salam Pax? I read his diary which was put together from his blog, when the book came out in 2003.

Here's a piece of a review from amazon, that gives you an idea of what it's all about.

I've been reading Salam's blog since before the war started, and continue to do so-- he is certainly no "ordinary Iraqi"-- His written English is better than 99% of Americans, his knowledge of Western popular culture is mind-boggling, and his snide digs at posturing of all kinds is world class. His genius brings us the gift of perspective and complexity in a situation reduced by American television to sound bytes and simple images...

For the rest of the review, click on the book image to the left.

Since reading the book I continued to read his blog, until he seemingly stopped in April of 2004, with an entry that simply said, 'I think Hiatus is the word. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.' I kept checking in hopes that he'd be back, and the only other entry that appeared in August 2004. It was just a dot. It was a link, but didn't appear to take me anywhere.

Recently I came across the page again, and clicked on the dot. It took me to a new blog! It appears Salam has kept right on blogging, as the archive goes back to August 2004. I've got some reading to do! Though, the latest entry is dated Tuesday, July 18, 2006. I wonder if there's another blog out there?

UPDATE: There seem to be other blogs:
Stuck In The Middle - Which doesn't appear to have any entrys, and
Salam's Notes - Which seem to be just notes.
There is another one called Where is Raed? the photographic supplement.
And finally, Mind the Globe - London news website launched by Salam Pax and other students in May 2008, which led me here.

The new look

2008-07-03T17:04:00.002+10:00

What do you think of the new look Conundrum?

Newest blogger on the block

2008-07-03T10:47:00.002+10:00

I've just added a new blog to my Bestest Blogger links. My 10 year old cousin, Cassie, has started her own blog, An Awesome Kind of Weird. Check it out. It's very good, you wouldn't believe she's only 10.

A cat and a tape measure. . .

2008-06-27T16:48:00.000+10:00

It's hours of fun. Try it.

In answer to your comments.

2008-06-18T10:06:00.002+10:00

I began writing this in the comments but it became rather long, so I thought I'd make a new post out of it.

Hmm, yes Pseudo-ephedrine. How did anyone ever survive a cold without it?

I am getting better, though the cold has migrated to my chest. I went to the doctor yesterday who provided antibiotics, so it should clear up soon.

I don't like it when my cats come into the toilet. It's one place I won't share with them. Isaac does love to sit on the seat though. And drink the water. Yep, cute and gross. :)

Well, if the curse doesn't abate, I just might rename my blog. Ha! Not only was I sick, Isaac was sick too. So he had a trip to the vet yesterday (It's a pity we couldn't combine our visits). He had been throwing up the past couple of days. The vet has him on some ant-acid and he's doing better. Doesn't help that He ate half of a hair-tie recently. The vet thinks it's still in his tummy, but should break down a bit and come through okay.

Just realised, some of that won't make sense to anyone who didn't post comments on my last posting. You'll just have to go look, now won't you. ;)

I must be cursed

2008-06-14T18:01:00.002+10:00

Wednesday. I spent all day feeling slightly ill. It was an odd sensation, like the one you get when you've swallowed water while swimming. Wednesday night and most of Thursday was spent vomiting. That evening after two shots in the behind from the doctor, I had a nice sleep and felt better the next day, sort of. As my tummy got stronger the pressure on my nose got worse. It's like someone is pressing down on the bridge of it. Gradually the tummy bug seems to have metamorphosed into a head cold. Lucky me.
Feeling better today (hence the blogging) probably due to the cold and flu tablets (weren't they a nice invention). Hopefully the head-cold doesn't metamorphose into yet another ailment.

Just to cap things off. On one of their 'let's run around the house at full-tilt' rampages, the cats leapt over me while lying prone on the couch. One of them (it was too fast to tell which) conked me a good one right on the nose! Geez!

I must admit though, Isaac has been rather good. He's been sitting with me most of the time, and whenever I've needed to go to the toilet, he's been waiting for me at the door when I've emerged often with Fang. Fang has been keeping an eye on me too, every now and then.
My little sister, Nadia has been very good too. She took me to the doctors and fed me.

Did you ever wonder how your mind works?

2008-06-06T18:42:00.006+10:00

If you've ever been curious about how your mind works, this book is worth a look. Written by Canadian, Jeff Warren, this book looks scientifically at different states of consciousness. There are many researchers around the globe investigating the brain and different areas of consciousness. Written similarly to a travel guide, the author takes us on a trip, exploring different states and showing us some amazing sights.

This is more than just your dry science text. Although the subject matter is fascinating, the author's personality and sense of humour really shine through. That is what makes this book such a pleasure to read.

The first part of the book is about sleep. As an insomniac, this is a topic I am fascinated by. I did a bit of a research paper myself on the topic when I was doing library studies. It wasn't a comprehensive study by any means, however, I did learn a lot about sleep and it's various stages. Delving into The Head Trip I found there is so much more to know. And questions I hadn't even thought to ask, like, 'Did humans always sleep the same way?' and 'Do different cultures sleep differently?'

The author also looks at hypnosis and meditation. Not something I've often seen looked at with a scientific eye.

I was lead to this book through an essay the author wrote for New Scientist. New Scientist doesn't give you full text articles on their website unless you're a subscriber. However, at my library we subscribe to Ebsco Host's Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, which gives me free access to full-text articles. It also allows me to email articles to friends for free. So, if you'd like a look at the article, let me know.

Toe in the water

2008-05-16T17:20:00.002+10:00

It's 20 past 5 on a Friday evening. It's rapidly darkening outside. Just thought I'd fill in a bit of time while waiting for Jo to turn up. She's coming over tonight after a no-doubt blissfully stress-free day at work, so I can show her where I keep the cat food.

Yeah, 'cause that's our idea of a fun time on a Friday night.

I'm off to Colac tomorrow to visit my Grand-nephew and Jo has kindly volunteered to feed the cats while I'm out in the country.

Don't really have a great deal to say in this entry. Just keeping my 'toe in the water', so to speak.
As I keep telling people, I write lots of entries in my head, they tend to disappear when I'm in front of the computer.

Interesting, I misspelled 'disappear' in the above sentence and the spell check suggested Chesapeake. ?? Weird.

Here's some news. . .
Yesterday I had my cat at my Mum's house, after a visit to the vet. Mum's dog, Polly, loves cats. Isaac was sitting on her chair and Polly could hear him purring. She started growling, which we thought was odd. It wasn't malicious though, as her tail was wagging and she looked happy enough. The tone of the growls changed, and we think she was trying to purr! Crazy dog.

Hilarious

2008-05-11T18:21:00.000+10:00

What do you call your ankles?

2008-05-10T15:59:00.005+10:00

I heard a radio topic the other day that I would've liked to call in for. However, because it was an old podcast and I don't have a time-machine, I couldn't call in.

The topic was: What item out of the movies or TV would you like to have?

I thought it would be cool to have the paintings Col. Potter did in M*A*S*H.

Photos

2008-03-23T14:14:00.002+11:00

My sister and I had a nice day out in the city. Click on the photo for more.

Can we keep our clothes on ?

2008-03-20T18:38:00.003+11:00

A strange week for me.
Monday morning I arrive at work to find the police waiting for me. We'd been broken into. The thieves broke a window and got into our workroom. They stole the float from the till. They missed the weekend takings which were sitting in a bag on top of the branch run in full view. They missed the Easter raffle money and honesty box in the kitchen. They missed the digital camera and didn't take any computers or equipment. Not very smart thieves.

Tuesday. Two of us are sitting at the information desk when we hear a woman call out 'excuse me?'. She was standing by the printer and needed help. Nothing wrong with that picture, except hang on. . . one of her breasts have popped out! She'd been breastfeeding, but the baby had moved away and she's just casually doing what she's doing with one breast hanging out.
Finally she tucks it back in, only to have the baby pull the other one out!
She went back to the computer and began working. I looked over and, yep, one had popped out again. While I wasn't bothered, I could just picture one of our more righteous borrowers complaining. To ward off the inevitable, I had to go and have a little chat with her. I told her we support breast feeding, but when the baby wasn't feeding she must cover up. I told her that if any of the other borrowers complained we'd have to call the police. It's 'indecent exposure'. She took it all with good grace and stayed covered up after that.

Wednesday coming back from the gym. There is a man standing next to a pole. Not facing it, mind you, but standing parallel. He is having a wee. There's a gym one side of him, and a train station the other. Both have toilets. Nope, he has to have a wee there, right where I can see his little pink pee-pee. Hmm.

To finish off this entry, here's a bizarre fact I learned recently.
297 milligrams of LSD will kill an elephant. So, don't give your elephant LSD. See here for more details and other bizarre experiments.

Would you like fries with that?

2008-03-07T15:31:00.002+11:00

I was at work trying to get through the branch run when I received a call from a lady at headquarters. She said she had one of our borrowers on the line. She asked if she could put her through and could call I her back and tell her what I thought of the request after I'd helped the lady.

So, The borrower is put through she says;

"Hello, I have a bit of a favour to ask. My son has ordered a DVD and it's arrived and he really wants it. The problem is my baby is asleep, so I was wondering if you could just put it through or whatever then wait at the front of the library and I'll drive past and pick it up?"

Stunned by the request, I responded "No, I'm sorry, we don't do drive through. It's very very busy here at the moment, we can't leave the branch to wait outside for you." Trying to sound as polite as possible.

(It was extremely busy in the library. It was toddler storytime, there were toddlers, parents and strollers everywhere. There was also our usual Wednesday crowd. It's our busiest day because our two closest neighboring libraries are shut. All those people and only four staff to handle it.)

"So, you mean I have to wake up my baby?" she says.

"Well, we can hold it a bit longer for you if you can't come in today." I replied.

"But he really wants it now," she says. "Oh well, that's okay. Thanks anyway."

I called the lady at HQ back to thank her for putting such a strange request through. Certainly brightened up my day.

2008-02-14T18:04:00.003+11:00

I've noticed an increasing trend in the city (she says having only been in the city about twice this year).
Buskers wearing headphones singing along.

There was a toothless drunk looking guy sprawled on Swanston Street today. He had big honking shiny headphones on that were plugged into a shiny stereo. So, he could hear what ever it was that he was singing along to, but not what he himself sounded like. Innocent bystanders however, could only hear him. Unfortunately.
Now I'm not sure where the shinny headphones and stereo came from. It didn't quite gel with the drunken toothless man. The singing did. Seriously, if you want money from people, better off unplugging the headphones so we can hear the stereo and shut up.

I've seen this before in the city. Late one night in Elizabeth Street. This time it did have a bit of entertainment value. There were two bogans with headphones on singing along to various different songs. They were pretty bad, but it was incredibly good value watching two bogans dancing around trying to belt out 'Are you gonna go my way'. They thought they sounded good and the amusement from onlookers only encouraged them.

Finally to answer the obvious, no one got any coins from me.

Star Trek Teaser Trailer

2008-02-14T16:56:00.001+11:00

Check out the Star Trek Teaser Trailer

Crystal Beale

2008-02-03T11:36:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, I got the train home after a long day at work. I'm listening to the Get This podcasts. It's still sunny and warm when I get off the train, and as I head toward the crossing, a strange looking lady approaches me. She has long frizzy salt and pepper hair tied back in a pony-tail. She's wearing a big baggy pink T-Shirt which doesn't disguise her droopy bra-less ampleness. There is a slight body-odour problem too. I'm always smiling when I'm listening to Get This, and I think people think I'm smiling at them. It gives the false impression that I'm some sort of friendly person ;)
She starts talking to me. I can't hear because of my iPod. I switch it off assuming she's asking for directions.
"Can you hear me?" she asks.
"Yes, I can hear you now."
For the life of me I can't remember what the first thing she said to me was, but it quickly turns into a discussion about shampoo and what I use to wash my face. Not only does she want to know what products I use, she wants me to give her advice on what she should use and how often she should wash her hair.
It was a bit of a surreal experience having a discussion like this with a stranger. Except for being slightly annoyed about her holding me up on my way home, it was an interesting experience. I didn't mind the chat at all, and said, "nice chatting with you" once she'd finally finished asking her questions.
"Nice to talk to you too," she said as she walked away. "You have nice hair," she said as she got a bit further down the path. "Thank you," I called.
"You're a very attractive woman," she yelled from further away.
"Thank you," I called ducking my head and hoping no one else was around.

Luke, I am your . . . Front Loader?

2008-02-01T13:18:00.000+11:00

You know that voom voom sound light-sabers make? I've just noticed my washing machine makes the same sound.

Kavalee's Face

2008-02-01T12:48:00.001+11:00

I watched Out of the Question last night. The first episode shows promise. I wonder if they will expand it from half an hour if it goes well? Glenn Robbins didn't seem very well prepared, but that was part of the charm.
The thing that stood out the most for me was Ed Kavalee's face! First I thought the colour was wrong on my telly, but Glenn Robbins looked okay as did the other two guests. Ed looked kinda orange and airbrushed. I loved his work on radio's Get This (I'm still listening to the podcasts) and Thank God You're Here. Seeing him last night I couldn't help thinking what a weird looking man he is. He's not really that weird looking, he just looked weird on the show.
My suggestion, maybe the make-up person should ease up on the foundation.

Katra

2008-01-28T19:14:00.000+11:00

Two entries in one day. Will wonders never cease?

I've had this one in my mind for some time. Time to put it down I think.

I recently re-watched all the Star Trek movies. I remember noting the contradictory comments made regarding Spock's death. McCoy at the end of The Wrath of Khan says "He's really not dead as long as we remember him." A beautiful sentiment however I identify more with Sarek's comments at the beginning of The Search For Spock. When, on learning that Kirk's brain does not hold Spock's Katra, he laments, "Then everything that he was, everything he knew, is lost."

I never understood the depth of pain contained within that statement until now. My Nan is dead, and we can remember her all we want. We can talk about her, and share memories. We can look at pictures, and think of her every day. She's still gone. I have a large majority of the books she owned. There are many topics that include; anthropology, philosophy, space exploration, nature, geography, fiction, crazy theories and many more. It made me realise her mind must have been an amazing place, and it's gone. It's something we'll never get back. Unfortunately she did not have a Katra to leave behind.
It would've been a wonderful thing.

Who's a big Star Trek geek then?

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000+11:00

Wil Wheaton, that's who.
Click on the pic for his photos of the Star Trek tour in Long Beach.

Welcome to the future baby!

2008-01-27T18:31:00.000+11:00

At the library where I work we've installed terminals where you can loan out your own items all by yourself. All you do is put the items on the bench in front of the terminal. Tap the 'borrow' button on the screen. Swipe your card down the reader on the side of the screen and the computer will sense all the items (via their RFID tags) and put them on your card for you.

Some borrowers find this rather magical, especially how it picks up all of the items at once. I told one man that I'd like to see the RFID tags keyed into a GPS system and when someone can't find their book we could look it up on the computer and tell them it's under their bed. Then, getting a little ahead of myself, I came up with an even better idea. If we had transporter technology we could program the books to automatically beam back to the library when they were due! I got a couple of very strange looks. One man showed me his Dr. Who DVD as if to say I was as crazy as the show, and another asked me if I was a Trekie.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

2008-01-07T21:34:00.000+11:00

Well, it's only the seventh day in, I can still say that.
I hope everyone had a good new year. I didn't do anything, just stayed in and watched DVDs. It was quite nice actually, except for the heat.
I really couldn't be bothered this year. I hadn't thought much past Christmas. I think everyone in my family would've been happy to skip Christmas this year, but we didn't. We did end up having a pretty nice one. Just the immediate family at Mum and Dad's house. So I managed to get organised enough for Christmas, but didn't really think about New Year.
Didn't get an invite anywhere, not that I'm sulking. I could've got my act together, made my own plans and invited people to join me. It all just seemed like too much effort and I was happy to spend some time in my own company. A good choice in the long run considering the heat. Man, it was hot!! I think my next major purchase may be air-conditioning.

I haven't made any New Year's resolutions. Just plan on doing what I do, and keep re-inventing myself. I do have a kind of special event coming up this year. On my 35th birthday I get to open a letter I wrote to myself when I was 18 (I think). I remembered it periodically at first, then forgot about it. I was reminded when I started re-watching 'Northern Exposure', where I got the idea from.

I'm not sure what it will say. I have a bit of an inkling, but don't remember the details. I wonder if I would meet with my younger self's approval. I certainly am not the person I thought I would be. Not that I had much notion of where I would be or what I would be doing at age 35. I do remember I was worried that I would still be single, and I am. (You never know I may not be in 9 months). I don't think that's such a horrible thing anymore. It would be nice to have someone to share life with, but I am surviving quite well as a single person and enjoying life (for the most part). Anyway I shall re-visit this subject in 9 months when I open the letter. Perhaps not in my blog, but it will be revisited.

I wish a happy and healthy 2008 to all.

Crowded House Live, Melbourne 8/11/2007

2007-11-22T18:46:00.000+11:00

Crowded House live at Rod Laver Arena (Tennis Centre) Melbourne.

It was a nostalgic trip. It's always great to hear those songs live. The band seem to breathe new life into them every time they're performed. Matt Sherrod's talents were showed off straight away in the opening song Private Universe. He seems to fit well with the band.
Paul Hester's constant chatter and antics were sadly missed though.

If I had to make one negative comment, it would be about the spot lights. During some of the songs large blinding spotlights shone out on the audience. It made it hard to see the band, and left blue dots in my vision. Other times the lighting was at it's usual brilliant standard.

Click on the image for more brilliant photos by Therese.

The Fang Montague Files

2007-11-09T16:55:00.000+11:00

Nan's cat found himself homeless for obvious reasons, so I've taken him in. There's a new album of photos to look at down the right hand column, or you can click on the picture to the left.

She originally named him Fang, but then later changed it to Montague. Everyone still calls him Fang, so I've decided to make it Fang Montague.

There are a few new pics in the Isaac Waldo Files too. Thanks to Therese for the happy snaps.

Phoebe Joyce Howard 13/1/1922 - 31/10/2007

2007-11-08T15:43:00.000+11:00

The following eulogy was put together by her son, Peter, with contributions from her siblings and children.

Phoebe Joyce was born at Stalker in the Otway Ranges in 1922. She grew
up surrounded by the bush, horses, sawmills and dairy farms. She loved
the tall trees, the wildlife and the cool creeks.

When she was young, her brothers and sister would walk 2 ½ miles to
the school at Barongarook following the Beechie train line for part of
the way. There was always something to see; blue tongue lizards,
birds, snakes and all kinds of plants and flowers. Her love of the
bush stayed with Joyce for her whole life.

As most of you would know, Joyce has always been a very independent
person. Her sister Amy remembers her being chastised for her
stubbornness on several occasions when they were young. Joyce was very
strong willed and even as a child had her own way of doing things,
especially with her art. She turned plants, stones and other objects
around the farm into artwork in very imaginative ways. We can just
imagine the smiles on her parent's faces.

Joyce remained very artistic throughout her life. She painted and
created art and craft in a very individual style. She had a way of
seeing 'into' things and getting inspiration from them - flowers,
trees, galaxies and rocks.

Joyce went through some tough times in her middles years, but she
would be the first to correct us and say they were 'interesting' and
'varied'. They weren't times she liked to talk about much, but they
helped make her who she was - strong willed and a loving tenderer of
family bonds.

She loved reading, doing cryptic crossword puzzles, adding to her
Buddha ornament collection, gardening, and shopping in $2 shops for
strange and quirky nick-nacks.

A lot of people here would have spent many an hour sitting with Joyce
over a cuppa or two discussing things as varied as quilts, flowers,
deserts and science. One of the wonderful things about Joyce is that
she always had time for you.

---

Joyce's siblings and children would like to share some of their own
special memories:

Amy holds dear to the memories of her early childhood with Joyce,
their trips around Australia together, and the loving letters and
talks on the phone: "Even though we lived a long way apart there was
always a bond of love between the two of us and I will miss her very
much. I will miss being able to pick up the phone to talk with her, to
share our family news and to hear her voice."

David remembers the early years, rising in the frosty mornings and
walking barefoot with Joyce in the bush.

Keith remembers "My sister Joyce was always ready and good at patching
skinned knees, etc. when I was a little bloke. As I grew into
adulthood she was ever ready with advice, etc. Then she really
excelled herself by introducing me to a young lady who has now been my
wife for 53 years."

Jenny, Joyce's daughter has a special memory of when she was 4 years
old, one day when it snowed, she watched Mum build a snowman on a
table on the back porch.

Lee will always treasure the times when after she and her Mum would
get home from work they would sit together and have a cuppa sharing
quiet times.

Mark can think of nothing better than the love she had for her all
children, and how that love will continue on.

Peter will always cherish the how his mother taught him to see the
world around him. To find patterns in bark, animals in the clouds, and
faces in the stones.

Honorine always treasured her Mum calling her what she thought was an
endearing nickname "Idget" - until she found out it was her Mums nice
way of calling her an idiot when she'd done something wrong.

---

Everyone here will have their own memories of Joyce - the strong-
willed sister, the kind but firm mother, the doting Nanny, always
reading with a stuffed toy, or just the good friend that always had
the kettle on. But there are certain things we would all agree on.
Joyce was strong-minded, but never in-your-face, she was feisty
without being brash, passionate but reserved, quiet but never meek,
and always loyal, steadfast, artistic, bright and clever.

When we lose someone like Joyce it's like losing the spine to a book -
we, the pages, may still be there, but now we're just fluttering in
the wind, having lost the thing that held us all together.

Goodbye Joyce, Mum, Nanny. We love you, and we'll miss you.

Just do it.

2007-10-26T11:21:00.000+10:00

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do it today and you like it, you can do it again tomorrow.

I'd like to take credit for that one, but it's from an aged British comedian I saw on Parkinson. The name of whom escapes me.

Still Trekkin'

2007-10-20T21:10:00.000+10:00

Keep forgetting to post this. Check out the cast for the new Star Trek movie. Scotty is of particular interest. Can't wait to see if it works.

Synchronicity

2007-10-20T18:42:00.000+10:00

It's a known fact that women who spend a lot of time together, whether it be at work or they live together or whatever, often end up 'synchronised' at some point. (Menstrually- for the less subtle minded)
This I found fascinating until I suddenly realised (and maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake, or just hadn't given it enough thought) that it would be a statistical improbability if we didn't synchronise at some point. No one has an exact 28 day cycle, so give and take a few days, there's going to be a time in your life when you've synchronised at least once with every woman you know.

Aren't you glad I pointed that out. :)

Now, further to may last post. We have received an email from the IT manager with a complex (but relatively easy to follow) flow chart of possible problems and solutions. He certainly put a lot of work into it. It doesn't help with the YP1 problem, but most everything else. I'm happy with the response. Maybe one day we'll get a new YP1.

Updates, thoughts and mad ramblings, etc.

2007-10-14T13:18:00.001+10:00

I've created a new photo album called 'Travel'. Went to Colac briefly last week to visit family. It's looking, unusually, incredibly green out that way. Hard to believe we're in the middle of a drought.
There's also new pictures in the Isaac Waldo files.

I've added some blogs to my Favourite blogs section, down the right hand column.

I started this entry a couple of hours ago, and got distracted by other parts of the internet. Particularly this interesting article on sleep that Carlos found.

I baked some scones this morning. Am I turning into a domestic goddess or what?

I've recently signed up to facebook. I wasn't going to, given all the internet accounts I currently have, it would've been just one more to keep track of. However I managed to acquire four friends before I even signed up, so took the plunge. It's a little bit of fun and will keep me amused for a while. Not sure how long I'll keep track of it though. I wanted to display my blog URL prominently on it somewhere, but can't see a way to do it other than put it on the wall to be buried under other comments. Oh well.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are entirely my own and may not be shared by the organisation I work for.

Rant time. . .
I feel more and more like weekend staff where I work are treated like second-class staff. Yes we do get paid more, however if we happen to fall sick and can't work we loose that extra pay. We also loose it if a public holiday happens to fall on the weekend. (Okay, I can sort of see the point of not paying someone penalty rates if they decide not to work, but where it's a public holiday we don't get the option). It's not like these are extra days for me. The weekend is my standard contracted hours, so if a public holiday falls, I'm short pay. Easter really did me in. I'm forced to take off time for a religious holiday and take a pay cut for it. Luckily Christmas isn't on a weekend this year.
Grr...
Recently the powers that be decided we no longer needed our IT staff to do on-call work on the weekend or after hours. We do have a number to call if our system goes down. However, the way I understand it, it needs to be a complete network failure. I have to clarify what we're supposed to do if the internet goes down. There didn't seem to be a provision for that. Our CEO seems to think that we are 'completely bedded down' and can survive. Well, YP1 (the server where our email and homepage lives) has been going down with regularity over the past few weekends.(YP1 is down as I type this, I know this because I can't access the homepage.)
This doesn't seem to be a high enough priority to fix over the weekend.
It means staff can't access their email. It also means the homepage is down, which means the public can't access any of our databases, or the catalogue, or renew their items, etc. Actually, the public can access our catalogue and renew items by going to the catalogue's direct address. I doubt may people are aware of that though.

Not only do the staff feel like second best on the weekend. The public aren't getting the same level of customer service that they would expect to get during the week.

And having ranted on that, I will now (or on Monday when I can actually access my work email) send an email to the manager to clarify just exactly what we can and can't call for. Who knows maybe my whole rant will be moot. Wouldn't that be nice.

Puddy Tat Kisses

2007-10-01T20:30:00.000+10:00

He also massages my head! Click on the picture to see.

Been a bit slack in the blogging department of late, so time for a little ramble I think.

Just had a birthday and I'm pleased to announce that a certain person at work asked if I had finally hit 30. He he he.

This may come as a shock to some (it certainly did me) but I've been doing some gardening!! A couple of weeks ago I planted two tomato plants, which area still alive!! I also put a number of pot plants in the ground. The previous owner of my house had a lot of potted plants in the garden. They weren't doing so well, because I don't water anything, so I pulled them out of the pots and put them in the ground.
I have been saving water. I have to run the kitchen tap for a bit before the hot water comes through. This I put in a watering can for the tomatoes. Also have to run the water a bit so it runs clear, because the pipe that brings up my main water is rusting. That also gets saved.

And today I pruned back a tree that is almost dead (if not dead already). I pruned it right back, but still left it pretty tall, and put the creeper that's in front of it over the bare branches. It doesn't look too bad.
You wouldn't believe how sore my hands are.

Stay tuned for a possibly more interesting post next time. . . or maybe not.

Spidey-Cat

2007-09-08T20:36:00.001+10:00

Now all he needs to do is work out how to use the door handle and he's set.

The Anti-David Post

2007-08-31T22:30:00.001+10:00

The title of this post actually refers to a conversation I had yesterday with David (just checking if you're reading this) and doesn't actually have anything to do with him at all.

In an earlier posting I wrote about people listening to music on their mobile phones, out loud with no headphones. Well yesterday on my way to the gym I notice a tradey-type-dude walking along with rap music blaring from his phone. Not only was he playing it out loud, he was rapping along with it.

Is this the naughties version of carrying around an 80s ghetto blaster? Though I never actually saw anyone doing this in real life during the 80s.

This was almost, but not quite, as strange as the bald tough-rocker-type-dude I saw rocking out with huge honking headphones on in between the train carriages. When the train go to his stop, he came back into the carriage, calmly picked up his briefcase(!) and got off.

Rock on people . . .

Sometimes a Great Notion

2007-08-29T23:33:00.000+10:00

I've been meaning to post about this for over a month now (someday I may write something on procrastination). It's almost midnight and I've a feeling that I'm about to suffer with insomnia for the third night in a row, so I figured I'd get up and write about it now.

I finally got one of my all-time favourite (if not 'the' all-time favourite) books back. I'd lent it to a friend more than two years ago (yes, that's right mister- if you ever read this- two years!). Having given up on ever seeing it again, and thinking about it recently I decided to give amazon a go. It's out of print, but I was pretty sure I could find a second-hand copy on amazon, which I did. An amazingly pristine copy, mind you. The seller promised a paperback in good condition with no creasing of the the spine, and that's what I got.

While pretty sure if I made myself annoying enough my friend would've given my original copy back, I was just as sure I'd get it quicker from amazon. I got my new copy, which was in better condition than my original, within about three days!

So, the book that caused the fuss is:
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey (there's a movie which is also known as Never Give an Inch with Henry Fonda and Paul Newman. I haven't seen it)

I began re-reading it as soon as it arrives. The book absorbs me. It focuses a logging family, the Stampers, living on the coast of Oregon during the 60s. While set mainly during one period of time, it does cover the family history over a few generations.

What I find most fascinating about the book, however, is the narrative. The point of view jumps from character to character, from first person to third person (and sometimes to a completely different character, not in that scene). This can happen all in one paragraph, or even mid sentence.
Makes it sound complicated, but you'd be amazed at how well the story just flows.
It's not like you're reading it at all. It's more like someone is telling you a story. You almost expect you can close your eyes and the story will just go on.

One day I hope to see the movie to see how this aspect of Kesey's story-telling was handled.

One for the Firefly fans

2007-08-29T20:33:00.002+10:00

Unshelved

2007-08-12T19:26:00.000+10:00

Go all the way down.
Down to the bottom of the page.
Check out Unshelved.

Spitting and other odd behaviour

2007-08-12T19:03:00.000+10:00

Why do people spit? Except for the odd occasion where I've had a chest infection and coughed up a big green goobie, I've never had the urge to spit. Even then, I'd rather spit into a tissue.
I was at the train station today and I saw a guy constantly spitting. It was disgusting (I've noticed this behaviour before at train stations). I swear the guy had a little puddle going between his feet. Surely one can't possibly have that much saliva?

Other odd behaviour I've noticed recently (and this is new), is kids listening to music on their mobiles. Well and good, but they're doing it without headphones. That's right, the music is playing out loud. Not only is this odd behaviour, I think it's rather rude. Why should I have to listen to their music. Especially on a train, what if more that one person decided to do it. Can you imagine the cacophony?

I'm soooo good.

2007-08-06T15:38:00.000+10:00

Here's what a wonderful person at work said about me:

There was once a lovely young lady bestowed with the name Crystal. She toiled away at work, trying to make things right, however she was oft met with much resistance:( She had a magic wand, and sometimes she used it to knock sense into people, sometimes; when provoked; she shoved it...well use your imagination here:) but most of the time she used it to fix things.

She was no ordinary lady, she had a title; BITS person, reveared far and wide by those with technophobia. She would seemedly wave her wand (or plug in the cable or plug) and machines would work again. One day an evil villan hid the 'driver' from Crystal, she searched high and low and yet it could not be found. So she called on her magic wand, uttered a spell(along with some choice four letter words) and it was fixed! The libraryfolk cheered, Crystal had saved the day...(yet again)

Heart shaped?

2007-08-05T21:20:00.000+10:00

From the right angle the dark patch above his left eye looks heart shaped. Don't you think?

For more photos click on the pic.
I like the one with the washing machine.

Woodface

2007-08-04T22:20:00.000+10:00

I just watched a documentary on Crowded House's Woodface. It was great to look back on this album and see it from a new perspective. I lived and breathed this album when it came out, back in the days when you sat back and listened to a whole album and didn't just download a song here and there to add to your iTunes shuffle.
I'm intimately familiar with every note, chord and lyric. Just as I'd lived and breathed Temple of Low Men before it, this one brought a whole new world of sound to my ears. It was music you could get lost in. Full of imagery and imagination.

It leaves the new album, Time on Earth, severely lacking. Admittedly I haven't listened to it as closely but it's not drawing me in the same way the first four albums did. I haven't listened to each and every lyric, but there seems to be no 'colour is it's own reward', no 'you can fight the sleep but not the dream'.
There are beautiful songs on the album and I love the very different Transit Lounge but it's somehow not quite the same.

So, after the documentary I sat back and listened to Woodface. The first time I'd sat back and listened to a whole album (any album) in years, and gave it full attention. It really made for a beautiful Saturday night.

Do yourself a favour. Get the album, put it on your iPod and listen to it alone in the dark on headphones. Experience it. You'll thank me (or them) for it later.

My Particular Brand of Teenage Angst.

2007-06-29T18:22:00.000+10:00

I had a big day today of cleaning out my office/art/sewing room. Came across a few lost and forgotten things. One was a letter to my dad from his sister with some photos from his wedding. Particularly poignant as she's since passed from breast cancer. Rang Dad and told him I had the photos.
Another thing I found is a note book with your typical teenage angst (terrible) poetry. Here's one that particularly stuck in my head over the years (at least the first line or so). Silly me never dated it but I'd say I was around 18 when it was written. Here it is:

Thought

Sitting alone, watching the red clouds roll by,
In your computerised world and an electric fly.
The grass is green, the sky is pink,
I can see the horizon, my eyes won't blink.
The vision is sucking into my head,
Twisting and turning, I'm turning red.
I close my eyes I cannot see.
This vision is crawling inside of me.
I'm full, I'm loaded, I cannot fire,
The electric fly is my desire.
I lie still in total blackness,
I feel nothing I'm totally weightless.
Floating on air, like the wind,
Slowly going- around- around the bend.
Colours attack me, they start to stare,
I feel scared, I cannot bear.
My name is lonely, I want to go,
I turn around and fall below.
My children speak, I cannot see them.
I have no children, now or then.
My mind is blank, I have no thought,
I see a lady being bought.
My eyes are open, yet they are closed,
I fall down deeper, cold are my toes.
I hit something, hard with a thud,
I am sitting alone in the mud.
Sitting alone, watching the red clouds roll by,
In your computerised world and an electric fly.

I seemed to like commas a lot back then. Typing it up just now, I can remember clearly composing it. The first two lines (which I think are the best) drifted into my head as I was falling asleep. The rest of it came to me that way, two by two.

Isaac Waldo's come home

2007-06-24T15:51:00.000+10:00

My little kitten has come home. Click on the image for more pictures.

He's a little bundle of energy. He's fascinated with my typing and tries to have a go. Or nibble my fingers and cuffs.

My sister and her boyfriend brought him around. Her boyfriend was using my computer and little Isaac decided to crawl up his pant leg. Very funny wat ching a near 7ft man trying to get a kitten out of his pants!

Communication

2007-06-20T22:48:00.000+10:00

Communication is a very effective tool. I know that sounds obvious and it's something I already know.
It may have been something I forgot.

Dwelling on something can be a very bad waste of time. It can do your head in.

I was dwelling on something which turned out to be pretty much a miscommunication. If I had talked to the person in question, it would've been solved and I'd have saved myself some heartache.

Live and learn. I was only just saying to someone today that you can learn from other people's mistakes but you still go ahead and make them yourself anyway.
I've proven my own point.

What do you do?

2007-06-11T22:33:00.000+10:00

How do you stop thinking about something?
What do you do when the memories that once brought joy and happiness, now bring a sense of loss and disappointment?
What do you do when the person you once went to when you were in pain, is now the cause of that pain?
What do you do?

The Isaac Files

2007-06-09T18:42:00.001+10:00

My new little kitty cat. My sister's cat had kittens about a month ago. It turns out that this little one is a boy and will be all mine in a couple of weeks. His name is Isaac.

Insignificance

2007-05-30T20:17:00.000+10:00

I was just putting up my 'New Scientist' map of the universe. Again. It had fallen down.
I noticed on the back that apparently there are 126,625 galaxies in the universe. 14,183 asteroids, 8420 satellites and only one Earth. (And before anyone asks, I don't know who counted them all).
Makes one human life seem rather insignificant don't you think? I mean I'm just a teeny tiny speck in the grand scheme of things. Why should I bother getting upset about things. Life goes on, and in the end nothing really matters.
So, I should just plod along through life and enjoy any good bits that come my way. If there are bad bits, plod through those until the good bits come around again. Just wish they weren't so far and few between. One day I'll be dead and it won't matter.

I can't work out whether that reads optimistic or pesimistic.

I learned an interesting fact today. Apparently some Mormons are not allowed to join libraries. They can use our facilities, internet, etc. They just can't become members. That has to be one of the most ridiculous religious constraints I've heard of. Kind of up there with not being able to eat sugar for two weeks. (True, I knew a girl at school. Don't know which particular religion it was though)

Stilnox

2007-05-11T20:07:00.000+10:00

Just like to point out that the last posting was posted under the influence of Stilnox. I am an insomniac. I try not to take sleeping pills unless absolutely necessary. It was around 1am when I gave in and took the tablets. I don't think I got to sleep until after three. I thought I'd dreamt writing that post. Turns out I actually did.

It's remarkably coherent, apart from a couple of slight grammatical errors.

I have done strange things on Stilnox before. This is a new slow-release version though. I was hoping it might be different. Apparently not.

I've heard of other people doing strange things on Stilnox. One that sticks in mind is someone woke up with paint on the front of them. Turns out they'd painted the front door in the middle of the night!

I don't I think I can relatet to these young kiddies,thesedays.

2007-05-11T02:39:00.000+10:00

I was at the gym and they were playing whatever station Jackie O is on these days. They were chatting to a teenage boy who had been sleeping around with other boys and not telling his girl friend. they in their infinite radio wisdom decided to tell the girl, live on air.

Have I become ultraconservative in my old age? I just think that's just plain wrong!

How would you feel in her shoes? Not only does she get dumped, but her boyfriend is seeing other men.And If that's not bad enough it all goes out live on air!

Poor, poor,little bogan girl.

Flip A Coin

2007-04-10T15:14:00.000+10:00

An interesting snippet I found in a periodical that circulates at work.

If in doubt, try tossing a coin when you can't make a decision. The idea is not to allow the coin to determine your choice but for the outcome of the flip to reveal your gut feelings of disappointment or relief.
-Well At Work, March 2007

Paradigm Shift

2007-04-09T18:59:00.000+10:00

I often experience what I call a Paradigm Shift. It can be (and usually is) very subtle, but there nonetheless. I will be ambling my way through the day and there will be a moment when suddenly my whole perspective changes. Sometimes an idle, ineffable thought will precede it, sometimes it will happen all by itself.

It's hard to describe but I find myself experiencing life in a particular way. It has a particular feeling about it, then that feeling changes.

The first time I can remember noticing this is as a small child playing an imaginary game. I'd be completely involved in the imaginary world of this game, sometimes by myself and sometimes with my siblings. Suddenly the game would no longer seem 'real' and that would be the end of it. Time to do something else.

It's sort of like waking up, except that I wasn't asleep. Sometimes this shift is accompanied by a new understanding of a particular facet of life. Sometimes I just feel different.

I wonder if I'm the only person who experiences this. I wonder if anything I have written here makes sense?

I've often wondered about this. What prompted me to think about it again today was cooking tea. It's funny how smells sounds, and tastes can put you in a different time and place. I was feeling particularly down today. It came to be tea time and I decided to have the traditional three veg and meat. A meal I haven't had for quite some time, but one that I was brought up on. The TV was showing National Nine News, I don't think I've watched it since before I'd moved out of home. It was the combination of the sounds from the telly and the smell of my three veg and meat cooking, along with a very decent cup of tea that caused this particular Paradigm Shift. It took me back to a time to where everything felt normal and comfortable. I came out of the fugue I had found myself in and inspired enough to compose this posting.

So, here's to a good meal and a nice cup of tea.

Great comeback

2007-03-30T16:40:00.000+10:00

Here's a great comeback for a self-involved teen, next time they give you one of those, 'oh please, you're, like, so totally lame' looks.

"What are you, 15? Do me a favour and when you get to be my age, remember this moment and smack yourself in the head."

Love

2007-03-26T20:19:00.001+10:00

Love is never unconditional. If you love someone you'll want them to love you back. That's a condition.

Belief

2007-03-23T14:18:00.000+11:00

A discussion the other day led me to the question, if I am an atheist just what it is I do believe in? Those who know me would probably suggest I believe in evolution. I'm not sure that 'believe in evolution' is the right terminology. I no more 'believe' in evolution than I 'believe' the sky is blue. I accept it as fact and move on.
I assume when people talk about 'believing' in something, they mean 'faith'. I've been to a few different resources to look at the definition of faith, and most of them have this among their definitions "firm belief in something for which there is no proof".
In this context I don't believe that I have faith in anything.
If we change the word to 'trust and confidence' then there are many things I have trust and confidence in. Primarily people. There are a few people in the world that I have absolute trust and confidence in. Those would be members of my family, very close friends and last (not least) my boyfriend.
People may think it sad that I have no faith. I am very happy. I think it much better to have complete trust and confidence in a person who is alive and able to be interacted with. A person who can actively enrich your life, and in turn you can enrich theirs.
If you are lucky enough to have people like this in your life, who needs the divine?

Blog this baby

2007-02-22T18:08:00.000+11:00

I've just done the virtual equivelant of screwing up this entry and tossing it in the waste paper basket. I'm starting over. I had written a whole pile of gibberish about not knowing what to write. Instead of blathering on around in circles, I think I will write about this:

Okay, did you ever have a really good day for no apparent reason and want to tell someone about it, only to find you have nothing to tell? I had one of those today.
Nothing special happened. I did my laundry and vacuumed the house. I went to the gym. I had lunch and watched a few episodes of Deadwood. I made some iced tea and potato salad. All in all nothing special, yet as twilight draws near, I feel happy and content that I had a nice day.
Perhaps it was because it was marginally cooler today. Melbourne has been in the grips of a heatwave, which, has made me seriously consider getting air-conditioning. I have ceiling fans, which are usually quite adequate to the task, but these past few days the heat has become too much. At least I am sleeping reasonably well, which is saying a lot for an insomniac. Perhaps another reason I feel good today.
One other reason my be the nice chat I had with VWB¹ on the phone, right before I went to sleep. I went to sleep feeling good, therefore woke up feeling good.

Then again I probably shouldn't look a gift horse. . . Tomorrow for no apparant reason I may find I feel completely crap.

¹Very Wonderful Boyfreind

Thank you

2007-02-16T21:16:00.000+11:00

More added to album

2007-02-09T13:37:00.000+11:00

I've just added a whole heap of pictures to my 'Visual Diary' album. Some of them are not so great. I think I may need to invest in a tripod and some better lighting. Maybe even a better camera?

New Album

2007-02-07T20:10:00.000+11:00

I've created a new album on my Picasa page titled 'Visual Diary'. I hope to put photos of pages in my visual diary there. At this stage there is only one, very poor, photo taken with my mobile phone.

The Beginning

2007-02-06T20:15:00.000+11:00

I've taken this week off work, just for a bit of a break. I had the intention of at least starting a few projects. It's only Tuesday and I think I've done pretty well so far.
I've started a painting. It is a triptych. I plan to do a nebula space-scape in oils over three canvases. So far I've painted the canvases black and they're drying.
Another project is this blog. My Very Wonderful Boyfriend* suggested I should have a webpage, and I should put my art on it. I'd been thinking about doing a blog for a while, though not sure what to blog about. I figured I could combine the two. I've set up a Picasa web album which is under the links section on the right. So far it only has the one picture on it, just trying it out. I plan to get some batteries for my digital camera and soon I will add lots of lovely pictures of my art work.

I spent most of this afternoon playing with the settings on my blog. Pretty happy with it at the moment though I do plan to create my own template at some point in the future.

Now all I have to do is think of topics to blog about. . .

*VWB also suggested the very cool blog title.